I Don't Design here a particular an­swer to each Paragraph of his Hi­storical Discourse; which proba­bly has been as much falsify'd, as any thing the contrary of which could be verify'd on Record, and perhaps cramb'd with as many lyes as ever could be Corrected with truth; it would be The Worthy Dr. Bra­dys. a presumption and impertinence to pre­tend to answer that which has been al­ready done by some unanswerable Pens, the Knowledg of whose Persons, and Worth would deter me from such an And the Learned Author of the Great Point of Succession. undertaking, as well as the satisfaction of their Papers supersedes it; mine shall be but a few sober remarks, subsequent to their solid Confutation.

[Page 21] And truly in the first place all Histo­rians agree that our English History was uncertain before the coming of the Romans, and without doubt we had rea­son to want the Tradition of it; when needs we must, when we had nothing of Learning or Knowledg to deliver it down; unless we would imagin the silly simple Souls could have left ustheir own Skins for a Chronicle; and trans­mitted the painted Constitution of their Government in the Colours and Hiero­glyphicks of their Bodys. But since that Author owns, and that from the good Authority he quotes, that the Na­ture of it was uncertain; but that they Strabo, Tacitus, Caes. Com. were subject to many Princes and States, which last Expression I fancy was his own, to make it savour more of a Re­publick: which I am confident they were then as Ignorant of as we, truly now, of Tyranny and Oppression, which I gather partly from the Constitutions of all Nations at this time truly Barba­rous: Since both the East and West of the uncivilized World confirms the war­rantable Hypothesis, the most probable Conjecture, which is all at this present governed by its [...] Monarchs, and [Page 22] puny Princes, tho' some greater Empires too than any of ours in Europe, no small Argument for the Divine Right of Mo­narchy, by its being so generally embra­ced only by the light of Nature, whose Creation was, whose Subsistence is the sole Care of Divinity it self. And be­sides Dr. Heylin tells us, that at the en­trance of the Romans the Isle was di­vided into several Nations, governed by its several Kings, and particular Princes.

The Druids, as may be gathered out of Caesars Commentaries, had in those Ig­norant days all the Learning, and the Law; But too little alass to let us know whether their Princes were ab­solute So also Cae­sar, Bell. Gall. Lib. 6. Monarchs or limited, Hereditary or Elective; though 'tis to be suspect­ed they were both unconfined in their power as well as succeeded by their blood, those poor Embryo's of Know­ledg, the very primitive Priests of Bar­barous Heathens; that in their highest felicity were no happier than the first asserters of the Gospel, under Misery and Persecution; their reverend Hermitages, but the Woods, the Dens, and Caves of the Earth, were far sure from disputing the [Page 23] right of Sovereignty, when only capa­citated to obey; far from transmitting to us the frame of their Monarchy, un­less they had known the Egyptian learn­ing of writing on the Barks of Trees, and made their Libraries of the Groves in which they dwelt: The Princes and Monarchs of their Times were wont to frequent those pious places for Worship and Adoration; and had a Veneration too without doubt, for those reverend Bards that sacrificed; but were far I believe from subjecting their Regal Au­thority to that Divinely Pagan, tho' then the sacred Jurisdiction; tho' 'tis report­ed that upon Caesar's invading them, the very power of Life, and Death, and the Punishment for all manner of offences; was in their sacred Breast, and such as would not stand to their award, were forbidden their Sacrifices: which Interdiction then was the same, I believe, in effect, with the modern power of our Church to Excommu­nicate; but besides another reason, and the best too, why we have no­thing delivered from those sacred Ora­cles of Religion and Law; why the History of those times is still uncertain, [Page 24] and was never transmitted, is because they were expressly forbidden to trans­fer any thing to Posterity, or to com­mit it to Books and Letters, tho some­what of that sort of Communicating, must be supposed by that Inhibition to have been Imparted to them from the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, those Eastern Climes through which Learn­ing and Letters had their first Pro­gress.

But whether their Ignorance, or such a prohibition were the Causes why nothing descends to us of the Govern­ment of our old Britains, 'tis granted by all, and by this Author himself, that it was Monarchical, that Kings Reigned here ab origine, if not Jure divino; Though I look on their Antiquity no small Argument of their Divine Right, and for the probability of their Haere­ditary Succession, which I insinuated above, can, I confess, since we are so much in the dark, be only guessed by the light of Reason, and that I shall make to warrant the Conclusion, from the present Practise and Constitution of all barbarous Nations, where the next of blood still mounts the Throne, unless [Page 25] interrupted by Rebellion, and that's but the best Argument of our Author for the Power of his Parliaments; and if only for this certain Reason, we have more Authority to conclude it was then Haereditary, then he only from the uncertainty of the Story, has to conclude it otherwise.

In the next place, I see no reason why his Sentiments should determine other Peoples thoughts, and why we should not think that the following Heptarchy of the Saxons, (tho they had their seven Kings) yet still might agree in one rule of Succession, nay tho their Laws were so different too as he would insinuate, which is not abso­lutely necessary to suspect neither; for they being all one Nation, and then but just called from their home by our British King Vortiger for his assistance: may probably be supposed to have re­tained for the Main the general Rules and Laws of their own Countrey; tho when divided into those seven King­doms they might also make a sort of private by-Laws according to the diffe­rent Emergences of particular affairs that occurred in their several Govern­ments. [Page 26] Can he prove that the Succession of the Saxons in their own Coun­trey was not Hereditary, when they in­habited in their small Dukedom of Hol­stein; and that consequently they re­tained the same sort of Election, in their new acquired Government here, that they left in their own at home? this he does not undertake to suggest, because not able to prove, there having been a probable Monarchy all along He­reditary, if Paternal Right was wont to descend so: for that is proved by most learned Pens, and these Saxons are be­lieved to have been the relict of the race of Cimbrians, that inhabited that Cher­sonese, so called from its Inhabitants, of whom Gomer the Son of Japhet was the Original Father or Prince.

But what ever was their Government before, he allows them to have set up seven Monarchies here: only can't think they agreed in one Rule of Succession, be­cause governed by different Laws, which tho granted, is so ridiculous an Infinua­tion, that greater Differences, atpresent, between greater Kingdoms and Nati­ons, far more remote in Place, far more different in Religion, contradicts the [Page 27] Suggestion; who for the most part, now over the whole World, agree in an He­reditary Succession to the Crown; and the Argument would have been as strong, and as apparently foolish (if he de­sign'd it for a Specimen of his folly,) that since France, and Spain, Sweeden and Denmark, are govern'd by differ­ent Laws, we can't imagin them to have one sort of Succession: Which ve­ry Rebound of his own Pen wounds his Cause, more than any direct stroak of his Adversaries, for since we see those more different, more distant Nations agree in one Rule, 'tis sure a Logical Inference a Majori, that those that were less different might.

And for the Changes and Consusions of those Times, which he urges as an Ar­gument of their uncertain Succession: that is in effect, his very Alpha and O­mega; and his praefatory Suggestion on­ly proved through his whole History, that in times of Confusions and Rebelli­ons, Succession is uncertain; and so is all Property, and Common Right, all meum, and tuum; all that the Law of God or Man can make his own.

[Page 28] But as obscure as he makes our Suc­cession before the Romans came, 'tis not so dark and unintelligible, but that we may gather light enough from it to have been Hereditary. We won't rely on the How in his Historical reface to Stow's An­nals, con­tends migh­tily for such a story ci­ting all our antient Au­thors, for its Authority, and Camb­den a­mongst the Modern. Fable of Brute, and the Catalogue of near 68 Kings, that are said to have Reigned Successively here before the coming of the Romans, yet allowing it an entire Fa­ble, we may draw from it this Moral, at least, that a Fabulous Tradition some­times has somewhat of reality for its ground, as the patching up a Centaure, a Chymera with a thought, results from several Objects that are simply real abstracting from the compounded Ficti­on: And tho we might not have 68 Kings successive before the Roman Con­quest, yet that there were several ap­pears, and he owns; and I conclude Hereditary, from the common rule in all Barbarous Nations, when ever disco­vered, in which the further back we run in the History of the Old World, the more we are confirmed; as also the more forward we go in discover­ing the New.

But tho from the Roman Invasion he leaps presently into the Saxon Heptar­chy, [Page 29] yet we may read too, there were many petty Kings that they suffered here after their Conquest, it being the Roman Pride of having Kings their Sub­jects; and why those might not still re­tain an Hereditary Succession, I can­not understand, especially since Dr. Heylin reckons up 16 Kings that succee­ded after the Roman Forces had left them naked; as indeed they were with­out a Metaphor to the incursion of the Pict; the first five or six of them lineally Vid. Hey­lin's, Geo­graph. Britain. succeeding one another from Father to Son, and the rest not known to have succeeded so; only because there's nothing left us of them but their Names.

After the consolidating of that Hep­tarchy, into a single Monarchy, the learned Man whom I before have cited, has shown this disingenuous Author un­fortunately to have stumbled in the very Threshold, and proved by Au­thentick Citation, that his elected Eg­bert was the next of kin to the Royal Stock, that all the following Successi­on of the Saxon and Danish Monarchs ran in the blood, or was disposed of by the Will and Testament of the deceased Prince.

[Page 30] The renowned City of London, as he calls her, is obliged to him for his Civi­lities, and I shall thank him too for his Complement, in letting her know that her Approbation had heretofore no small Influence on the Succession: And for the securing the Crown on the right head, 'tis recorded to their Glory; and may that glorious act of their Ancestors be still perpetuated in our lasting Annuals, and imitated too by the Posterity of her present Inhabitants; who then ad­hered to King Edmond their Lineal and Lawful Prince, and that because they knew he was so; A Prince Worthy of a better time, and who had he found more faithful, and but better Subjects, might have been in Condition to have made it so: His Citizens then clave to him, when his very Clergy [...] him; but their Religion in those days was too little to expect their Loyalty much; whereas ours now, as the best Argument of their being truly Religious, still show themselves as eminently Loyal.

The Citizens then, (for I shall insist upon it for their Encouragement now) would not concur with Canute's Election Vid. Da­niel. by the Priests and Nobility: And why? [Page 31] because a perfect Exclusion of the right Heir, and the next Lawful Son and Succes­sor to their late King: And the Fiction that the Factious Author tells us, of a Child chosen in the Womb, proves but the Story, the Fable of a Monk; for which he might as well have cited their Legends M, Westminster, Paris, nor any other Authentick Historians ancient e­nough, so much as mention it, and our modern Baker says expresly upon [...] Death, his third Son, Edmund, call'd Iron-Side; but the Eldest living at his Fathers Death succeeded, and was Crowned at Kingston upon Thames; That a great part of the Nobility favoured the Dane, because they feared him; but the Londoners stood firm to Edmund, and [...] the Authors of his Election, and up­on his very using of the word here, I can't but observe, what the worthy Dr. has sufficiently proved too; how common among Historians that word Election is used only for a Confirmation or acknowledgment of the Right, and how against Reason he still misapplies it to Choice: why did he not undertake to prove from Baker too, that this Prince was elected by the Londoners; [Page 32] only because he says, they were the cause of his Election, which perhaps he would have done, but that he found he must have made that Author con­tradict himself; (as I believe he has done the rest,) who tells us just before, he was Crown'd at Kingston, as the el­dest living at his Fathers Death.

And the Interest of that Metropolis for the right Line was such, and so considerable, together with that Prin­ces own Courage and Conduct, that he re­mained Conqueror in three several Bat­tels, and had been so in the fourth too, the last I believe the Dane would have dared to offer, had not that false Edric, the Traytor to his Father, acted o're the same Treason to the Son, and revol­ted in the fight, when the Forces of the Foe, where on the point of fly­ing.

The taking but half his Kingdom at that Duel and Accommodation in the Isle of Alney, was more [...] than for­tunate, when still his trusty Citizens would have fought for the whole, and spent their last blood for the right Line, [Page 33] they had first espoused; the parting with some of his right was quickly suc­ceeded with the losing of all, and his Life to the Bargain, and England might well be too weak for its self, when 'twas made half Denmark, so dangerous is it to Princes to forgo the least of their right, which only introduces the loss of a greater share, or to part with a piece of Prerogative, for the patching up some popular divisions, whose twisted Interest like Cords that are a twining, if it catch but the Skirts of the Purple, will soon wind away the whole robe; the Observation is here verified upon our old Records, and been newly tran­scribed in Blood, in our latter days; and the Son of our Royal Martyr treads the best Politicks for the Prevention, in that unfortunate Testimony of his Father; and if Soveraignty be somewhat that is Divine, a Subjects robbing of the Crown must be next to that of a Church, and a sin that savours as much of sacriledg.

But to let you know, in short, the design of this Historian's Complement, upon which we have dwelt too long, the pretty Parenthesis was applyed to [Page 34] another purpose; 'twas publisht at a time when the City was Influencing an House of Commons that were for altering Succession; and they as great an Influ­ence with the City: At a Banquet of Po­liticks after their Parliament Feast; and His time to let them know, the Ap­probation of that renowned City, had then Stow men­tions not one word of this Athel­stan's Ille­gitimacy; and his own Author whom he cites for the falsehood relates it but as a Fable, by which Da­niel too was decei­ved. no little Influence on the Succession. And besides in the very same Page he had pre­pared for them the pretty President of the Saxons, preferring a brave and de­serving Bastard, before a cruel and Legi­timate Prince: He means that Athelstan, whom he resolves rather erroniously to suppose Illegitimate, than Ingeniously to allow him, as he truly was, the Law­ful Heir: But Baker and others tell us the Truth; tho' he will not, and say this Athelstan was the Eldest, and no way spurious: But the telling of the Truth, would have prevented this ma­licious Authors Factious insinuation of the D. Temper; which to make the more remarkable, he must mark out in Emphatical Italicks, only to save the crying Monmouth and York. But the Card is turned there now, and the Loyal Heart, Trump, instead of his Clubs; [Page 35] and to be hoped they'l make good the best part of the Observation, which he never designed they should, stand and fall with their Loyal Progenitors, in the defence of the right Line and the Royal Blood.

In short, upon the whole united, and happy union of the Monarchy of the Sax­ons, give me leave to observe this great Even in the Heptarchy it self, if you con­sult How you'll find the next of Blood still succeeded. Truth, That from their first King Egbert, to this Iron-side the last, no less then 14 in number; besides, that Edward the first, Edmunds Brother, all succes­sively Reign'd in Lineal discents of the immediate and next Heir of the Royal Blood; and most of them too, the Suc­cessors of the next immediate Brother; to their present Prince, no less than four several Brothers Sons to Ethelwolf the second sole Sovereign of the Saxons, succeeding one another; and then with what Face, unless with one more last­ing, then I [...] his corrupted History, by being all Brass, with what a Front, but such an one, can such a Libel, and Parsons, Inglefield, Allen. Imposture, a Legend fuller of Lyes than ever was penned by Papist, antient, or modern Monk offer at such a part of our History, for the dispossessing the [Page 36] present Brother of his King. But this Popish Plagiary, fetching most of the Materials of his Monumental Treasons from a Club of Jesuits, the Triumvirate of studious Traytors that forged for the subverting the Succession, their damna-Doleman, no wonder if he be as full of falshood as those copyed Ignatians whom he transcribes, or the Founder of them the Devil.

All the shadow that he has of any thing of Election, was that of the first Saxon King Egbert, whom he would have no way related to Brissicus the last King of the West-Saxons; but whom a more worthy Author proves from Westminster's own words, that he was the sole surviving branch of the Royal Stemm; and that he was banisht into France; and that only for fear of his Right.

But granting then what he is resol­ved Vid. The great point of [...], and Dr. B. cites the same out of Sim. Dunielm and [...]. to suppose; still right Reason will confute his Impertinence even in com­plying in unreasonable Concession; the Question here is of the Succession of our Establisht Monarchy: And he brings us an Instance before the Monarchy was Establisht, owns that the History of that [Page 37] Heptarchy was uncertain; and yet very certainly determins the point of his Ele­ction; and that we must take too upon an ipse dixit of this Dogmatical Histori­ans, for his being no way related, he cites just no body, and while, for his near alliance, you have the Authority of so many.

That other only broken Reed that in all these Reigns he has to rely on, and that like AEgypts too is ready to run into his side, so false, so dangerous to trust too; which is Edreds being crown'd in the Minority of his Nephews; when all the Historians say, it was only for their be­ing Minors: And the diligent Baker says he was not then made Protector: on­ly because that Authority was not then come into use; but crowned as King with purpose to resign, when the right Heir should come of age.

But lest his Modern Authority may Flor, [...]. Westm. Houden. [...]. and Stow, [...] he was [...] on But as a [...]. be not sufficient with those that malign any thing, that makes for the Monarchy; let them consult even the most of the Antients, and they all agree they were only set aside for their Nonage. But this Royal Protectorate soon expired, as if Providence laboured to prevent an [Page 38] Vsurpation; and provided for the right Heir, who succecded in his paternal In­heritance, before arrived even to the Romans civil age of Puberty 14. And the malicious Perverter might as well say as great a stress, as you'll find after­wards he truly does upon Richard the thirds Butchery and Usurpation; the breaking of the Laws of God and Man for a Crown: All the difference is. Here were only two Nephews for a while de­barred, there Butchered; and shall such bloody Miscreants pass upon the World for credible Authors, who for robbing of a Divine-right, can cite you Murder; and for the breaking of our Humane Laws, the blackest Crime in the Dec­logue.

And since this Antimonarchical Zea­lot, has shown himself thus elaborately studious, to rake every musty Record of those Reigns for a Rebellious remark; give me leave only from the same times to make this last and Loyal Observation; where Providence seemed to shew it self remarkably concerned for its crow­ned Head; and that in the subsequent Judgment upon the Proto-Martyrdom of the Saxon Edward; as well as what [Page 39] we suffered since for our Martyr'd Charles; tho there 'twas only for antici­pating a right by blood; but ours a bloody Usurpation of those that had no right at all.

Ethelred's passage to his Reign was but before his time, and the Almighty's; yet the Government suffered for it as many Pangs, till it quite miscarried; within fifty years the new Monarchy fell quite asunder, rent and torn by two several Conquests: He himself meets with the Defection of all his Nobility, forc't to raise his Danegelt, and his Sub­jects into Rebellion by it; prepared his Navies, only to be shattered with a tem­pest, or consumed with Fire; both Ele­ments But because he came to the King­dom, by ill means arose [...] Wars p. 86. and Heaven it self, seemed to con­spite to make him Miserable: Famine and Mortality were the dismal attend­ants of his Wars, the Depredations of In­vaders would not allow peace; the Reign that begun in a Murder, ended in a Massacre: The incensed Danes soon invade him, the perjured Edric falsely forsakes him; he languishes a long time, as well he might, under Guilt and Misfor­tune; and to put the only period to Vid. [...]. p. [...]. his days, Miseries and Kingdom toge­ther Dies.

[Page 40] You see how little success this Author met with among the Saxons Sovereigns for altering Succession; how much of Imposture his Reader may there meet with in him, and you shall as soon see, he deals as disingeniously with the Danes.

And here thorough his double dili­gence, this Parliament Historiographer has not omitted an Argument for his purpose, much of the same strength as those that he has used, viz. That Knute was no kin to Edmund, or Ethelred: And the Dane no way related to the Line of the Saxon, that is, the poor con­quered England, was not Consin Ger­man to Denmark the Conqueror, and yet the Title of the latter was prefer­red, and their King, acknowledged ours.

I can't conceive what necessity of Re­lation an Invader needs to the poor Prince he Invades; and whether that be not a pretty sort of an Argument for altering Succession, to say the Kingdom was Conquered; Swayn had before cut out a fine Title for his Son with the Sword: The North, West, and some of the South part of England had submit­ted [Page 41] frightned with his revengeful Cruelties, which their own had provo­ked: Canute himself after his Fathers Death, lands as soon at Sandwich with a Navy of two hundred, gave our En­glish a great overthrow, possest him­self of what Swayn had before harassed; the West; and because the Nobility fa­voured only whom they feared, and set him up in Competition for the Crown, whom they could not keep down from being a Competitor; ergo, therefore the Succession must not run in the right Line, and why? because here it did not; if more absur'd Inferences, can be drawn from matter of Fact, or grea­ter Solecisms from Historical Observati­on, I'le forfeit all the little Right I have to Reason; and with an Implicit Faith, believe the Legend, for a Bible, and his History for the Revelations.

But yet this Prince, though by Con­quest and Composition, he got half the Kingdom, and upon Edmunds Death the whole, foresaw what Power the pleas of Right, and Succession might have for animating an Interest in the defence of the poor injured Heirs; and there­fore took all the ways to ingratiate him­self [Page 42] with his wavering People; his young and unexperienced Subjects, and all manner of means for preventing the Lawful Heirs, for attempting for their Right; sticking at neither Murder, Ma­lice, and Treachery; and in order to the first, he made a shew of governing, with more Justice, then he conquered, and took mildness for the best means of his Establishment; and to let the Nation know he designed only to subdue them, sends away his Mercenaries, ships away his Navy; and for a popular Specimen of an Heroick Kindness, to the memory of the Saxons he succeeded, as a Satis­faction to their injured Dust, prefers Edricks perjured Head, to the highest place on the City Gate; and with that Expedient, reconciled himself at once to his own promise, deserved Justice, and the Peoples favour; and yet for securing himself from any danger, from the Law­sul Heirs, so politickly Cruel, that all the Royal Blood felt of his Injustice; sent the two Sons of his late Co-partner in the Kingdom, to be murdered abroad, and got his Brother to be butchered at home; such an experienced truth is it, that Powers usurpt, Successions altered, [Page 43] like the blackest Villanies can only be Ju­stifyed and defended by committing more.

At his Death 'tis true he disposed of his Crowns, by Testamentary Bequest, and well he might, when there was so little known for Kingdoms of Feudatory Law, and private Estates then far from being entailed; yet in that very Legacy you can observe, what Power the Con­sideration had with him of Right and Blood; for he leaves his own Paternal Dominions, Norway, to his Eldest son Swayn, and to his Youngest Hardicanute his conquered England; considering his Mothers Blood, which was Emma, Wife to the late King Ethelred, might (as indeed it did) give him some prece­dency to his middle Brother Harold; the one having somewhat of Saxon in him, the other all Dane; especially, if he was, as some say Illegitimate, tho' Baker calls him an Elder Brother by a former Wife; so that upon the whole, the Contest that rose about the Succes­sion, was but whether he had Right, and when at last Harald was preferred, 'twas upon the Resolution of his being Legiti­mate; so that here his own Inference [Page 44] contradicts the end for which 'twas brought; and instead of altering the discent, shows they industriously con­tended to keep it in the right Channel; and allowing they were mistaken in their Opinions of his Birth, the Lords to make amends for their error, streight on his Death fetch home Hardicanute; who dying without Issue, the Right of Blood prevailed again, and the Sax­on entred in Edward the Confessor, Edmunds Son only being past by be­cause his very being was unknown; and so they can only be blamed, for not seeking for the right Heir among the sup­posed Dead: Yet when this Edward had found him out, he designed both him Vid. Baker Vid. Stow says they did him wrong, and always it occasion'd civil War. and his Son Atheling for successive Mo­narchs, whose very name imported He­reditary, and next of kin, as much as our Prince of Wales, while the second Ha­rold, but usurpt upon him, against the sense of the Clergy, who even then lookt upon it as a Violation of the Right of the Heir, and also of their Ho­ly Rites: and tho Harald suggested that Edward had appointed him to be Crown'd, Historians say, that it was only to make him during the Minority [Page 45] of this Edgar; a Regent, and not an abso­lute King, and Mat. Paris, speaking of Edgar Atheling in the very first Leafe of his History, in these very words, says; that to him belonged the Right to the Kingdom of England; and if Birth could then give a Right, I don't see how then, or now, any Power can defraud a Prince justly of his Birth-right.

And now we'l begin our Remarks on the Norman Line, upon which the very first words of Baker are these, There were six Dukes of Normandy, in France, in a direct Line, succeeding from Father to Son, and yet this Inquisitive Mo­narch-maker, lays his mighty stress, his weighty Consideration on the single Suggestion of Duke William's being a reputative Bastard; be it so, have we not here the Majority of six to one, that succeeded, [...], Legitimately, and is not these then, like all the rest of their Objections against the Govern­ment, rather industrious Cavil, then real Argument? or allowing it still, is it not most impertinently applyed to his present purpose, to tell us that William the Conqueror was himself Illegitimate, and yet succeeded his Father in the [Page 46] Dutchy of Normandy? And therefore must we have another Natural, and Il­legitimate Duke to wear the Crown of England? or was the Suggestion only made because they had such a Duke in Readiness, that had already run the Popular Gantlet of Ambition; and been sooth'd into the Prospect of a Scepter, with the false Tongues of Flatterers and Sycophants? or else was the Nominati­on of the Normans to supersede the Fundamental Laws of our Nation; And our England a Dependent, a Tributary to that Crown before the Conquest? these Paradoxes must be reconciled by Mira­cle before such a ridiculous Instance can pass for Reason, or Common Sense, or vindicate the false suggester from Fol­ly and Impertinence.

But even here too his very Assertion fails him, and this Pretender to Truth both abuses his Reader with false Ap­plication, and telling a Lye: For this Duke William, tho' a Bastard Born, was not illegitimated, so as to be bar­red the Crown, and incapacitated for Inheritance; for it appears, as Baker says by many Examples, that Bastardy was then no Bar to Succession, and by [Page 47] the Canon and the Law of the Church that then obtain'd, the Children born before Wedlock, were de facto truly le­gitimated, if he afterward espoused his Concubine; and this his Factious Assist­ant, Hunt himself allows; when the Vid. Post­script. p. 53. 55. Wretch endeavoured to Bastardize the Progenitors of his Sovereign, and this many Writers say was the very Case of our Duke William, whose Father took his Mother Arlotte to Wife after­ward.

The Donation to William Rufus was again clearly Testimentary; which might be allowed sure to a Conqueror, whose will only gave what his Sword had gotten; Westmin­ster and Malembs­bury. Stow. p. 124. but however as I observed above in the Legatory Disposition of Canutus the Dane, where he gave his conquered Kingdom to his Youngest, and Norway his Patern­al Right to Swayn his Eldest, to whom 'twas most due; so here this Third Con­queror Daniel, says, he ob­tained it according to his Fa­thers will. pag. 44. of Old Britain, observ'd the same sort of Bequest, and left Normandy his Fathers Inheritance, and his own to Robert, to whom it appertain'd in Rea­son and Right; both these Instances, no small Demonstration, shewing how the Precedency of Blood even in those [Page 48] days obtained; and with those too whom our Factious Innovator, would have not to value it; for their giving to any Son besides their Eldest what was theirs by Arms, is no more than what we our selves do now by Laws; and tho the Fewds now obtain, and Entailments, yet still what's our own by purchase is unconfined, and not ty'd to descend by Primogeniture; but at an arbitrary Disposition of the Lord and Purchaser, and which is commonly disposed of too by the Father to some of the Younger Sons; and a Conqueror that purchases all by Blood, and Wounds, must needs be allowed as much Liberty, as the Mi­ser that obtains it by his Wealth, or a Land Pedler that buyes his purchase for a Penny.

But tho this might be a warrantable Donation, yet you may observe (as if the donor had not been in it alto­gether Just) so it never at all prosper­ed with the Donee; the very Gist it self, like Pandora's Box, was most fatal to those that received it; a Vice like Virtue is oft a Punishment to it self as that other a reward; the not suffer­ing the Crown to descend by entail; en­tailed [Page 49] what was worse a War, and both Brothers assault the Testamentary Usur­per at once; as looking upon it not­withstanding the specious pretext of a Will, but a plain wrong; and where this prejudiced Historian, makes this Rufus to rely on the consent of the No­bles, for the Confirmation of his Fathers Will, 'tis evident he only called them together, that by Largesses and Cor­ruptions, fair Words, and Promises, he might win them from assisting his Bro­ther Robert, whose Right he feared, notwithstanding the advantage he had by his Fathers Will might make the Game that he had to play more than even, or give Robert the better by their desert­ing this Rufus.

And that notwithstanding all his Ar­tifices they did; and Odo Bishop of Bayeux leads the dance, and notwith­standing says Paris, that he was their Mat. Paris An. 1088. last Edition London. crown'd King, their sworn King, and they must be perjur'd for it, they rai­sed a War against their King William, and set up Robert the First-Born for their King, all declaring the Right be­longed to him, and this the Opinion of several of the Nobility, Lords, Spiri­tual [Page 50] and Temporal; Persons alway I fancy qualified to recognise a Right, if Religious or Lay-Judges could decide it; and so well assured were they of the goodness of the Cause that they Verunta­men po­stea Nobi­les fere omnes, &c. conspired for it; rebelled, and were ba­nisht for it success; not always attend­ing a good Title, no more than it can Justify a bad. And at the last the most unfortunate end of this Testamentary Prince, may serve somewhat at least to discourage the Religious from invading of a Right, tho it may not the Politici­an; and for the Injury he did all along to the Right-Blood, Providence see­med to bring upon his head his own; and sent that sort of an Usurper too, to the Grave with the fate of Tyrants, not with a common dry Death, but in his own Gore; and he that had held the Scepter, but with a pretended Right by this disastrous Death, gave an opportunity to a perfect Intruder, that had none at all.

Henry the first, who being in new Forrest when his Brother was killed, did not stay long to consider the disast­er, or to get the Carcass Coacht home, instead of Carted, but rides to Winchest­er, [Page 51] seizes the Treasure; and that soon helpt him to put on the Crown: The Purple Robes soon followed those Gold­en Regalia, and the Power absolutely Usurpt, will irresistibly force a Corona­tion; Florence of Worst. but tho Crown'd he was, a good Author says, who liv'd and wrote then as great men then sent for Robert, promi­sed him his Right, and as resolutely stood by him too, and well they might when he had been debarred his Birth­right once before; and besides the Right of Blood, had refused his Assignation, his early Pension; and had compounded for his own Kingdom, which he had so much Title to without the Composition; But Mat. Paris tells us in the first Lines of this Kings Life, that the Nobility Magnates Angliae ig­norabant quid act­um esset de Roberto duce Nor­mannorum, An. 1100. were utterly Ignorant what was become of this Robert Duke of Normandy; but that when he sent privately to them in England, Letters alledging his being first Born, and that for that very Reason he declared the Right of the Kingdom be­long'd to him, assoon as they heard those Allegations of his unanswerable Right, promised him their best advice, and to lend him their Assistance; which they did too, and Robert came over, [Page 52] forc't his Brother to a Composition for 3000 Marks yearly, and at least, made the Vsurper but a Tributary King; and all the Argument out of this Reign, that our Elector here fetches for his ma­king Ibid. p. 46. Fidele Consilium pariter & Auxilium promise­runt. our English Monarch a King of Po­land, is this Usurpers courting the great Council to confirm it to his Son; but so would a Cromwell, the Parliament for the Succession of his Son Richard, and sure such Creatures have need to anticipate all sorts of security for their Sons Succession, that have gotten all their Right by Anticipation of anothers, or absolute wrong; but the parallel holds still between that antient Usur­per, and the more Modern I mention­ed; they both felt their Consciences prickt in their unjust obtaining of a Mat. Paris 1106. sen­tiens Con­scientiam Cauteria­tam, Judi­cium Dei formida­re, &c. Kingdom, they both feared the Judg­ments of the Almighty, both as unhap­py in their designed Heirs, one born to be Drowned, the other to be a Fool; and as their Fame stunk above Ground, so did both their Bodies before they went under, and Paris tells us the first committed Murder after he was Dead, and poysoned his Doctor before they could get him down into the Dust; tho he [Page 53] smartly observes this was the last Ultimus fuit ex il­lis quos Rex Hen­ricus occi­dit An. 1136. among the many this good King Henry had destroyed.

The last remark I shall make on this Mans Reign is, but what this malicious Historian has made very Remarkable, and that is from an Author that he cites, for saying that this Robert had discover­ed too much of the Cruelty of Disposition, of his averseness to the English Nation, and his proneness to revenge, and this Character must be most Emphatically markt out, that they might not miss of his meaning another Duke; a Prince to whose Valour and Conduct the Wretch ows his Freedom from a For­reign Yoke, and the Nation her safety and security, and so far does his malice transport the Sot that he falsisies for it the very Latin he translates, Perversus, contrarius et Innaturalis: He makes cru­elty Vid H. de Knyght C, 8. 2374. of Disposition, and for Proneness to revenge, not one Syllable in the whole Citation, and then besides the words of the Author he cites are the same ver­batim, which this Henry the first used against his Brother, when he makes a Speech to his Nobles, to make him odious, from whom this Author I believe [Page 54] borrowed it, and his as meer revgene Vid Paris 1107. ful malice to the Duke of York, as that against Robert the Duke.

It is here evident that this Gentle­mans Principles and Perswasions are clearly Democratical, and writ with a perfect design to please the People, as plain as if the rabble beast, the Monster Mobile were seen sawning upon this KEEPER of their LIBERTIES, and you saw the Sycophant spitting in its mouth; his Papers are the very Pi­cture of this piece, and the Representa­tion of Rebellion with a Pen.

The next that Mounts the Throne is STEPHEN, and the little Right (tho some) Relation he had to the Crown, to be sure won't be past by: when this Author for the sake of his sinking Cause, has caught at every Plank to hold up her Head in that de­sperate Condition, and where he could not meet the least solid substantial Ar­gument, graspt at every empty Shadow; And truly here he tells us, that STE­PHEN acknowledg'd his Election in the Pag. 4. very Words of a Charter, from the People, and so would any man that had no better Title; and tho I shall condemn his [Page 55] Usurpation, can allow of his Politicks, in letting them know how much he was beholden to them, and yet that People were strong enough to pull off his Crown too, which his own hands rather Stow says he was re­pulsed by them of Do­ver, shut out by them of Canterbu­ry, and un­justly took upon him the Crown of Eng­land. had put on; for as Bradshaw told the King, The People of England had con­stituted them a Court, when that un­answerable Martyr observed not half their Consents did concur, or were askt; so also in this Case, many of the Nobility, most of the Commonalty lookt upon it, as a manifest Usurpation, and those whose Concurrence he had, were but an handful of his Friends, and at his Coronation had but three Bishops, few of the Nobility, and not one Abbot, and also, as Historians observe, those ve­ry Malembs. Baker. perjur'd Prelates, and Lords came many of them to an ill-end, or else to worse Calamities before their life was ended.

And the revengeful Cruelties of the Scot lookt somewhat like a Judgment for their Perjury; when they spar'd nei­ther the Gray-Hair, for whom Reve­rence might plead, nor the Tender-In­fant for whom its Innocence, but Butcher­ed the one in their Beds, the other on [Page 56] their Mothers Breasts, the Barbarity of Mat. Pa­ris in ulti­onem Im­peratricis cui idem Rex Fide­litatem ju­raverat. An. 1138. those avengers is as horribly describ'd in Mat. Paris.

But agen, I cannot see why he was not as much an Invader, as his Grand­father the Conqueror, only that came from Normandy, this out of Boleign, that was forct to fight, first with Ha­rold an hardy Foe; this his Invasion fa­cilitated by the Weakness of a Woman; but as weak as she was, He knew her Title to be strong, and as strong as this Author would have him with the Peo­ple, yet he found himself too weak, on­ly with the pretence of his Election to defend his Vsurpation, found an Army of Flemmings would give him a better Title to the Crown, than all this Power of Parliament to the Peopledom, and that a good Garrison would hold out longer in his defence than our Authors House of Commons; and in truth his be­ing so good a Souldier would not suffer him to be long a precarious King, an hundred thousand Pound of the good old Kings Treasure, did him more good than all their suffrages; it brought Men and Arms out of Britany and Flanders, and built so many Castles for those sort [Page 57] of Monarch-makers, till the whole King­dom seemed all over but one CITA­DEL, and all its Government but an en­tire Garrison.

Yet as secure as he thought himself Exarserat namque rabies tan­ta con­tra eum, ut pene ab omnibus quatere­tur. ibid. Paris. both in Subjects and his Strength, the prevalency of Right and Justice soon encompast him with as many Dangers: His Nobility begin to be incensed against him, and that out of a sence of his having injured an Heir; The pro­vok't Empress Lands with a strong par­ty, and her presence soon proclaimed the Justice of her Cause, and made that Oath they had swallowed for her, without any Operation or Effect, to work, now as strongly; a pitcht Battle and a fierce one too is fought; his Souldiers forsook him at last, as well as his People, and he forc't to sight so de­sperately, for a cause that was ever as desperate, till himself is taken a Prison­er, by her from whom he took the Crown; and tho she brought a War for her Right, was received peaceably, enter­ed Her Capital City in Triumph, and by her Loyal Londoners welcom'd with Acclamation and Joy.

[Page 58] And pray what was the Consequence now of this debarred Right, but what always attends it, BLOOD; the Scots had with a Savage sort of a Revenge shed some for her before, she spilt a great deal before she came to this, and before the ground which had drunk so much Gore could be said to be dry, at Winohester 'tis moistened with a fresh supply, and that too with a War of Women; MATIL'D the Queen in­vades Maud the Empress, the worst cause, as it is wont, (prevails best) and here the Right Heir is again driven from the enjoyment of her Right, by that which commonly does it, the SWORD; and Mat. Paris Justitia de Caelo prospici­ente. then at last after all the various events of WAR, which whatever the Fortune be, must still end in the loss of Lives; that Just Astrea which then too seemed to have left the Earth, and upon it no­thing Henrici jus Haeredita­rium re­cognovit, Paris his own Words 1153. but wrong look't down from Hea­ven; this fierce King in fuller Assem­bly than in what he was chose, acknow­ledges that Hereditary Right against which he had fought, and Henry in the Right of his Mother Maud to be the Law­ful Successor.

[Page 59] And one would think now this suc­ceeding Monarch's Right should have been allowed Hereditary beyond dis­pute, beyond Contradiction, when so much Blood had been spilt in the De­fence of it; when acknowledged so by this Popular Advocates, own People, and before them owned too by him that had interrupted the Succession, and excluded the Right and Lawful Heir.

But what cannot Malice suggest, or Faction invent? till this transport against Government; this rage of Re­bellion suspends the calm Operations of the Soul, and the dictates of common Sense, till it hurry these blind Preten­ders to verity into the greatest false­hoods, transports them into perfect Lyes and Absurdities, and to labour even against the Contradictions of Truth and Reason: Here he still impudently tells us against plain matter of Fact, the Confessions of his own Creatures the Peo­ple, and the Acknowledgment of his own Favourite the Vsurper; That in all these Transactions there was no Conside­ration of any Right, but what universal consent conferr'd.

[Page 60] And his Exception to our Henry the Second's Right must also now result from his Mother Mawds Title before; I am glad we can get him to tolerate any such thing, as Title at all; but I would ask this Gentleman (if he has any thing to dispose of,) whether he might not cedere de bonis, as the Civilians in ano­ther Case Phrase it, only for the letting his Successor and Heir Inherit it, or whether upon such a Cession, or making it over, his Son should not succeed in­to this Patrimony, till he had knockt his bountiful Father in the head, or he was pleased to step aside into the next World, to let his Successor have more Room in this. I fancy he would be glad such a Resignation might pass, without an Attournment of his LIFE too.

Maud the Empress was sufficiently pleased only with the Succession of her Son, and as Writers say, quitted her Title too, which was apparently ac­knowledged in letting him succeed. Is the Mothers Right ever the less, when the Son does succeed in her Right, and is there no Difference between altering a Succession, and a refusing to succeed? [Page 61] Matt. Paris makes her live thirty years after Stephen's Death; time enough to have resented her wrong, if she thought she had sustein'd an Interruption of her Right, and she must be supposed to be willing to consent to those Conditions of peace, being all concluded with her privity, and she having suffered sufficiently with a troublesom War in England, went over to Normandy for Peace.

This Henry knowing his Right to the Crown was resolved to secure the same Right of Succession to his Son; and this Vid. [...] p. 48. Stow p. 146 very endeavour for a Lawful and a Li­neal discent, does this perverse Author turn into an Argument for Election, and because he only called his Barons Bi­shops and Abbots to let them know he would have him to be secured his Suc­cessor, by making him a Copartner in the Government, and to prevent his being wronged after his Death, was resolved to see him enjoy part of his Right in his Life; therefore from these fine Premi­ses he draws this Illogical Conclusion, that he was elected by their Consent, and when from Gervas himself whom he Cites it appears, they were by the Kings express Command call'd to his Co­ronation; [Page 62] and Paris says 'twas at his Sum­mons they came to Crown his Son, and by his Fathers own bidding; and if this Ad Man­datum Re­gis & Patre jubente. Paris. 1170. solemnity shall make our Crown Elect­ive; since the Conquest we have had none Hereditary, and our Kings must never suffer any Nobles or Commons at their Coronation, for fear of such Perverters making it a Parliamentary choice.

But if any thing could be condemned Stow says the King ex­preslycaused him to be Crowned by the Bishop of York, without mentioning any other. p. 132. And Baker says the same. p. 55. in this unhappy Solicitation for his Sons security to succeed, 'twas only in making him a King before he came to be a Suc­cessor, by defrauding himself upon a sol­licitous distrust, of part of that Divine Right, when he was by God entrusted with the whole, and making his Son to Anticipate that by his forwardness, for which he should have waited the Almighty's leisure: The Nature of Mo­narchy being inconsistent with a Duum-Virate, units may be as well divided; And the very Etymon of the Word contends for the sole Soveraignty it ex­presses.

And the very sad effects of this con­tradictory Nec Reg­na socium ferre pos­sunt nec tedae sci­unt. Coronation, were the best Evidence of its inconsistency, and verifies [Page 63] the Latin Aphorism of the Tragedian; that the Crown cannot admit of a share­er or competitor no more than the Bed, the making himself but half King, was like to have lost him the whole King­dom, Incongru­um Regem quem­libet esse, & Domi­nationem [...] in Regno non habe­re Mat. p­vit. H. 2. and almost made him none at all, they soon animated the young Monarch against his Old Father, and let him know that 'twas absurd for any one to be called a King, and to have nothing of Government that is essential to it in the Kingdom.

Daniel calls it the making the Common­wealth a Monster with two Heads (and what then must it be with many;) but withal tells us 'twas only the effect of jealousie that this King feared from his Mothers Example, and that some of his false Subjects might also break all Oaths of Fealty to his Son, (as well as this per­jur'd Author has that of his Allegiance to his Sovereign,) and I believe this alone made this King so carefully Praecipitous, as to prevent the Expiration of his Reign, with an Anticipation of the Grave, and a Resignation of his Rule, with a POLITICAL DEATH; for this Crown'd Son was soon by LEWIS of France embolden'd to that insolency [Page 64] from having the half, that in plain Terms he demanded the whole, and what the too bountiful Father had no Reason to grant by fair means, the ungrateful Son resolves to obtain by foul, sides with the King of France, and many of the divided Kingdom with Him, and are all in Arms ready for Ruin and Destruction; neither did they lie down their Swords, till it ended as all Alterations in a Mo­narchy, in BLOOD, and the Copar­cenary King shortly after, his Life; but a little before reconciled to his too provident Father.

I am sure this shows even the Par­ticipation of the Royal Power dange­rous, tho by those that had Right to Succession; and if such an Alteration in the Government can prove so fatal, much more then an altering the Suc­cession it self, and if a Crown can't like a common Conveyance with fafety be made over in trust; I dare say 'twill be less secure to cut off entail.

The next Reign that we have Reason to reply upon, is that of Richard the First, and with that his irrational Inferences have dealt as unreasonably; for he there [Page 65] by his own Confession has no other Au­thority for his Election (as his own words R. de Dae­to he quotes tho it should be de Dice­to, who ofi­ciated at his Coro­nation, Haeredita­rio jure promo­vendus, are his words [...] fore. have it) but the words of his Historian, and yet this very Historian, whom he there most impudently traduces and abu­ses, acknowledges his Hereditary Right to the Crown; by which he was to be promoted; before ever he tells you of the solemn Election of the People; which beyond contradiction confirms what the Worthy Dr. B. has as significantly suggested, that the common accepta­tion of Election amongst ancient Au­thors, imply'd nothing less than what our factious insinuators apply it to, and that they meant nothing else but Confirmation or Acknowledgment; for first, would such a Learned Authority as he cites, only labour under a learned Contradiction, and tell you such an one was promoted for his Hereditary Right, and then in the very subsequent words declare it was by solemn Election: Certainly such Immortal Authors could never wage with Sense and Reason a Mortal War; and he himself is so fa­vourable to their pious Memory, as to omit all the seeming Contradiction, because not reconc leable to his preju­dic'd [Page 66] Interpretation: and when Histo­rians tell you of any thing of Election, (which he would have popular,) be sure he omits what ever they say of Here­ditary Succession before; so has he done here: so in most of the Citations else­where.

And next also he tells us, that his Father had gotten the Succession confirm'd to him in his Life. Of which many of our modern Historians are totally silent, and afterwards that he was again Elect­ed by the People, of which in his sense, none truly speak: nether is it reconci­leable how they shou'd twice solemnly choose him for their King, when even in Poland it self once will serve: but besides, before his Solemn Coronation, (or as he wou'd have it) his popular E­lection, immediately after his Fathers Watson and Clarks Casse 1 Ja­cobi. Funeral; without doubt upon the con­sideration of his Hereditary Right, he exercised as he might well do, and as has been since resolv'd any King of ours may, Vid. Daniel. ex­igit castel­la & The­sauros pa­trissuiquos habebat, an absolute Power of a King before this Solemn Ceremony of Coronation; for pre­sently he seizes upon his Fathers Trea­sure in France, Imprisons, Fetters, Ma­nacles the late Kings Treasurer to ex­tort [Page 67] the uttermost penny. I think Says Paris, and has not one word of his Election, but only Co­ronation. such a severe sort of absoluteness, as they wou'd not now allow our Crowned King: He is there girt by the Arch-Bi­shop with a Sword; takes fealty both of Clergy and Lay; makes a Truce with the King of France, and all this before ever he came into England to be Crown'd or Elected.

And shou'd we yield to this perverse Imposture, the signification of his word for which he has so long labour'd, yet all this while we find his very People more willing to Elect him that had an Hereditary Right, than a spurious Invader that had none at at all, and did actual­ly Confirm him in his Succession: un­less the more powerful Usurper terrifi'd them from their Loyal Intentions, and truly the mistaken Gentleman might have as well prov'd that he was the third time Elected too; when after his Imprisonment that he suffer'd from Hen­ry the Sixth, the German Emperor, af­ter he came home, and had held a Par­liament at Nottingham, he was again recognis'd for their King, and Crown'd at Winchester.

But what can be better Evidence of [Page 68] the precedency that was allow'd to the nearest of blood in a Lineal Descent, then Constituit Arthurum Haeredem suam legi­timum si sine haere­de more­retur. Paris in vit. R. this Princes Care he took in appointing his Nephew Arthur to Succeed him, tho he had a Brother of his own, to whom he had shown a liberal largess of his Love when he began to Reign, in be­stowing on him no less than half a do­zen Earldoms, a good part of his King­dom: Certainly this Earl John was near­er to him in Blood and Affection, and then what cou'd move him to this Testa­mentary Disposition, but the more near­ness of the other to the Kingdom and the Crown?

But in spight of all Adoption and Right, JOHN as great an Usurper as any, laid hold of the Scepter and held it too, only as some of our Tenures in Law, by primer occupancy; he had his Brothers Army in the field, and that was then enough to have made a King of a Cromwel an Hewson, a Brewer or a Cob­ler, Vid. Dan. p. 108. Baker & Stow, say Arthur, actually did homage to France as King of England. powerful Arms that filence any Law. But still the Nobility were for main­taining the Right of Succession in Ar­thur, and as they call'd it the usual Custom of Inheritance; most of his Provinces in France stood firm to him, [Page 69] and so did the King of it; and had For­tune favor'd him, upon whom for the most part it frowns the Justest pre­tender, he had not been made a Pri­soner to his Uncle, to whom he was a King; and been murder`d by him after the Siege of Mirabel. But the Barons rebellious Insurrection soon aveng'd the Barbarous Butchery, and but bloody consequences here too attended the De­bar'd Right. He is forsaken of all his People; and the French Kings Son a perfect Forreigner invited in for a King; and his end at the last as unnatural, as the death he gave to his Nephew.

And here upon the Coronation of this intruding King John, the factious Historian rehearses the Clause of Hu­bert the Bishop of Canterbury's Speech, that declar'd the right to the Crown to consist only in the Election of the People; but disingenuously omits the very reason of the self same Prelate; who when he was pincht with the In­terrogatory why he would preach up such pernicious Principles, own'd it more a Design of Policy, than the Sense of Vid. Paris Edit. [...]. vita John. his Soul. But to give him a perfect Rowland for his Oliver, he will find in [Page 70] the Life of Richard the Second, a bet­ter Bishop, making of a more Divine Speech; and asserting the Right of Succession more [...] than ever this designing Metropolitan was able to confute. But that worthy Prelates Doctrine did no way countenance our Authors seditious Observations; and so directly different from his Huberts Vid. Baker & Trussel. vita Rich. II. Bishop Carlisle's Speech. Harangue, that he might well pass it by without reading, and which must cer­tainly have [...] him into Blushes to have read.

Henry the Third, a Prince too young to know his Right, much less to be a­ble himself to take Possession of it; was presently upon his Fathers Death Crown'd King. Certainly upon the Consideration of his Hereditary Right, or the Testamentary Donation of his Father, whom Paris says he appointed M. Paris vit. Joha. ad finem: primo­genitum suum reg­ni consti­tuens [...]. his Heir as his First-born; made the Kingdom swear Fidelity to him, sent his Mandatory Letter under the Autho­rity of his Great-Seal, to the Sheriff's of the Counties, to the Keepers of his Ca­stles, that they shou'd all be intent up­on the Business; and upon his death they show'd themselves as ready to per­form [Page 71] it; and what can the most factious Regnum (que) Angliae il­li jurare fecit, Li­teras cum sigillo suo munitas ad vice-co­mites & castellanos direxit ut smguli es­sent in­tendentes, & idem M. P. princip. vit. Men. 3. [...] Defuncto Johanne convene­runt ut Henricum exaltarent. Pen make more of this than an Acknow­ledgment of Hereditary Right; especial­ly when the same Author in the begin­ning of the young Kings Reign says; they only came together, to Exalt him to the Throne of his Father; and not one word of their Suffrages or Ele­ction: therefore what could not be pro­ved from matter of Fact, must be sug­gested with an Innuendo; and because the good Earl Marshal in a perswasive Speech exhorted them to adhere to their lawful Sovereign, it imply'd the Con­sent of the People requir'd: if such an Assent shall make the Kingdom Elective, 'twill be hard to proveany Hereditary; for all people that do not actually Rebel and Oppose, must in that sense be said to Consent and Elect; and when ever our Kings are Crown'd, 'tis so far with the Consent of the people, that they do not interrupt the Coronation. But can he prove in any of his pretended Ele­ctions, much less here, that ever in Eng­land they balloted for the Crown, or drew Lots for the Kingdom; that they had ever any certain number of Electors as in Germany, or carried it by Majo­rity [Page 72] of suffrages as in Poland; 'tho I be­lieve some of them would make no more of his Majesty than a Bourrought Represen­tative, or a County Knight, and [...] allow him the Freedom of a Pole.

But with what face can he urge it Stow says only he was [...] by Common consent, p. 175. here, when the whole drift of Pembrokes Oration was only to satisfy them the Suc­cession belong'd to the Son, and that the French Usurper Lewis would be the ruin of the Realm? which Speech was so ef­fectual too; that several of the Principal of the Barons not withstanding that open hatred to his Father, in spight of Ob­ligation of an Oath to Lewis, they still thought their Loyalty, and Allegiance more obliging, and revolt from the French-man: till all at last, deserted of all, he abjures his claim and the King­dom together. After he had been first routed by Land at Lncoln by Pembroke the Protector, and his fresh supplys at Sea near Dover, by Hubert the Gouer­nour: Vid Matt. Paris, who­told him that if his Master was dead he had left Sons and Daugh­ters alive. And the bold Speech of that stout Souldiers, to this powerfull Prince, when he demanded Dover on the Death of King John, was a better Evidence what sense the people had of a Lawful [...], than he from the Marshals can e­vince [Page 73] that he succeeded by Election and against the Laws of Descent; and all that he can pertinently draw from the Pro­tectors Oration, is, that an Infant King did not speak for himself.

But if ought be a blot in his Succession, 'tis what this praejudiced Historian I am sure does not care to Hit, and that is the weakness of his Fathers Title that forc't him to strenghten his Sons with a Donati­on: And Elenor the Sister of his Cousen Arthur who had a Stronger right, did not Paris 1241. In clausurâ Diuturna Carceris sub arcta Custodia reservata. dye in five and twenty years after he came to the Crown, and was kept con­tinually to her dying day in a close Con­finement; so strong a tide was the proxi­mity of Blood thought then, even by those that were the perverters of its Channel; that it would bear all the force of its foes before it, unless Bay'd back by as much force and violence; and we have found in some of our own Reigns, even that too little, a well guarded Prison, too weak to hold a Legitimate Prince, and that from thence too they have Mounted the Throne.

To the Succession of his Son Edward the first, one would have thought all his diligent malice or the Devils could [Page 74] never have afforded an Objection; for it seems he can't find so much as his own old dear word Elected, here amongst his abus'd Authors; but another False sug­gestion must supply the defect: And where his Trope of Inversion can't pervert the Truth, another part of Rhetorick must serve the Turn; Invention, and a Lye: for so is that which he would have us be­lieve, that his Second Brother Edmund was the First; (And truly I believe he could Invert the Course of Nature too as well as Blood, would it serve his turn;) and this we must take for unquestion'd Authority from the pretensions of the House of Lancaster that descended from him, and say he was only rejected for his Deformity; truly were there nothing to refute it but only their pretentions, the prejudice and partiality of the Preten­ders were sufficient to render it suspected; which aspiring Line Labour'd as much in its Genealogy, as ever any Welsh Gentleman in his Pedigree: But the best of it is, mat­ter of Fact contradicts it, Historians de­ny it, and none but himself would assert M. Paris Edward natus. An. 1239. Ed. mund An. 1246. it. It Appears from Paris that this primi­tive Lancastrian was no less than Six years younger. And he an Author that [Page 75] Liv'd in the same Reign and resided in Stow, says Edw. born 24 year of his Reign. Edm. in 29. So Daniel says & Baker: Fecit Iura­re Fidelita­tem & Lige­antiam Ed­wardo pri­mogenito, suo, Paris An. 1240. Vid. Bisp. Carlisle speech, Rich. 2d. in Baker or Trussel, who says he was neither Elder or deform'd. the very same Court, and says that the Londoners swore Allegiance to the First­born Edward but a year old, and then before the Second was so much as born. And for his deformity that he only gathers from the shallower Argument of his Name being Crouch-back, which as Ba­ker observes, was rather from his wearing a Cross upon his Back, and this I look upon as better Authority then Buck's in the accomplishment and polishing of Ri­chard the third, and the cleering of him from his crookedness; and yet I believe our good Natur'd Historian will readily credit that, because spoken in commen­dation of a Usurper, a Tyrant, and a Murderer; and one that came to the Crown, as he will have it, by the consent of the People, tho this of ours must by no means be believed, because it no way makes for his purpose.

The last was but little, and now the next Reign is as much for the Gentleman's purpose, and that's a Re­bellion of a Parliament, an actual Depo­sition of the present King, and the Murdering of his Sovereign, and of that, he makes as good use too, as if he [Page 76] designed not only to transmit it with his Papers to posterity; but with his Pen for the present Age to transcribe it into Practice, and what the Devil himself would have condemned in an History; has this Impious Wretch made a damna­ble President: It must be his Design, from the Season of its Publication, from the Proceedings of his Parliament, and from the subsequent Discoveries, the whole piece was nothing else in every Paragraph, but a Vindication of the Parliaments Power over Kings, and here in this he has made the Deposition of his King, like their ordinary Procee­dings warrantable by President; why did he not tell them too, Painted Cham­ber Vid. Their own Jour­nal Book Fol. 116. Monday the 29. ordered a warrant be drawn for Executing the King in the open Street before White-Hall. Sir Ar­thur Haslerig Reports from the Committee, ibid. March. 1648 that Charles and James Stewart, Sons of the late King should dye without Mercy wheresoever they should be found.

And he had certainly brought down his History to this too had the Times been but black enough to bear it; for the subsequent sacrificing of Richard the Second is as much his popular Theam; [Page 77] his Power of Parliaments, and his Election of the People: He tells them their An­cestors were weary of this Kings Irregu­lar and Arbitrary Government, and the malicious Wretch found some of their present Posterity, as uneasie under a mild, and merciful Reign; he tells them their Parliament publickly read a Paper containing Instances of the Kings Mis­government, Vid. pag. 6: of the brief History of Succession. and concluded that he was unworthy to Reign any longer, and ought to be deposed, and sent to him to renounce his Crown and Digni­ty, otherwise they would proceed, (that is, to do it for him;) but I think his piece was overseen, that it did not Vid. Pro­ceedings at the Old-Bayly. tell them too of another Paper as Bernar­diston told them at the Bar, that was talkt of in Parliament, about too, The Encroachments and Vsurpation of Arbi­trary Power, of following such Orders as shall from Time to Time be received from this present Parliament, or the Major part of the Members, when it shall be Prorogu'd or Dissolved, and obey such Officers as they shall set over us,

Certainly his making this unfortunate Edward's Deposition a Parliamentary [Page 78] President has unmaskt our Treasons Hi­storiographer, superseded even with men but of common Sense his designed Impositions, registred himself an inve­terate Traytor with his own hand, and Chronicl'd his lasting Treason to Poste­rity, which will blush at the reading of those Villanous Infinuations, which his most Licentious Pen could Publish with­out; 'twas then in that Kings Reign too, as appears in their Ordinances they made, the Tumultuous and Rebellious Vid. Dr. B. History, Fol. 20. Barons; (for the Commons were then not so considerable as to raise a Rebel­lion,) upon the Pretence of Gods Ho­nour and the Church; the Honour of the King and his Realm; made [...] to remove evil Councellors, reform the Court, and to force the King to let them name all the Judges of the Bench, and the chief Officers of the Crown; how near they then agreed with some of our late Transactions, and how well those have been copy'd since, I need not observe. And that the Narrative the Author of this piece presents to the Par­liament was offered only for the Designs I have suggested, appears also from this Instance, being no way pertinent, to [Page 79] what ought to be the right purport of his History, whose Subject should have been but of Succession; But that he found was not to be disputed here in this Reign, it being Hereditary beyond Contradiction, and 'tis now an unan­swerable Confirmation that those who are so much for altering the discent of the Crown, are as much for the deposing of him that wears it; 'tis now an attest­ed Truth under their own hands, and they must give themselves the Lye to confute it.

But whatever were the pardonable faults of this unhappy Prince, tho our 4 El. 246. Bracton Lib. 1. Chap. [...]. Law say, A King can have none, much less be punisht for it, when he can do no wrong: The greatest that Daniel con­demns Daniel p. 184. was his mighty favouring of his Minions, Gaveston and Spencer's, in Op­position to his Barons, ( and must it be criminal to a King to have a Friend?) But however in his History calls it the first Example of a deposed Prince, no less dishonourable to the State than to him; [...] calls the Bishop of Hereford, that Stow p. 225. then was busied in the Resignation, but a Mischievous Embassador; and pray what was the Fate of those that were [Page 80] the first Leaders of the Rebellion, and the most mutinous. The mighty Duke of Lancaster was by his own Peers con­demned to be Hang'd and Quartered, and was only Beheaded, and several Ba­rons besides, and afterward Mortimer the Queens own Minion and Favourite, was impeached in Parliament of Edward the Third, for making Dissention be­tween the late King and Queen; for murdering of his Sovereign, and ac­cordingly was drawn, Hanged and Quartered for it with several of his Ad­herents.

But as Unanimous and as Clamorous Vid. Rot. Parlia­ment 50. cited p. Dr. B. as they seemed for his Deposition, the greatest Contenders for it as some of our Historians affirm, lamented it with regret when it was done, and Stow tells us, that when the Queen understood Vid. Stow 224. her Son was Elected, she seemed to be full of sorrow, as it were almost out of her Wits, and the Son lamented too, and swore, that against his Fathers Will, he would never take the Crown.

And after all, what succeeded this most unjust Deprivation and Imprison­ment of a King but what still is its immediate subsequent, the Barbarous [Page 81] Murder; this was verified in the fol­lowing fate of King Richard, this was the unfortunate Consequence of our late confined Martyr; Mattrevers Iron soon followed the firsts Imprisonment in Cor­se and Berkley Gastle; Exton`s Poll-ax as quickly dispatcht the Second at Pom­sret, and the Block at White-Hall too soon attended the Confinements of the last Martyr in Carisbrook and Holmby, confir­ming even with his last breath, and ve­rifying in his latest Blood this too fatal Aphorism; that a Death soon follows Vid. Ei­kon Basil: the Deprivation of a King, and that there is, (in his own words) but a little distance between the Prisons, and the Graves of Princes.

And now the next that enters this Theater Royal, is Edward the Third, a Son too forward to accept of a Crown, before 'twas his due; But notwithstan­ding this Rebellious Instance he hath given, not so formally chosen, as to make the Kingdom Elective, for their very chusing of his Son, and that the Eldest, insinuates that in spight of their obsti­nate dissobedience, their resolute Re­bellion, they were still toucht with a sense of right, and priviledge of Primo­geniture, [Page 82] and the small remainders of Ma­jesty, the bare Right they had, left him, awd them so far, as to think it necessary to palliate their too open villanies, with the formality of a Resignation, neither would the Son accept it, neither was he proclaimed, or Crown'd, till his [...] had resigned; and let the bold au­dacious force they used for it; lie at their Door that vindicate it; his resig­ning entitled his Son, and he had a sort of Right in Civil Law besides He­reditary, pro derelicto.

Here 'tis pretty remarkable, the fine sort of Observation he makes on the Bi­shop of Canterbury's Text; vox Populi, Brief Histo­ry p. 6. that it was the voice of the Almighty too, and impiously upbraids the sacred Dust of their own Martyred Lawd; for placing a Divine Right in Kings, when some of his Predecessors had so well lodged it in the People; but did not the Impudence of his Brow almost exceed the villany of his Heart, his Conscience as hard as his Fore-Head, or both; he could ne­ver thus inhumanely reflect on him, whom they butchered too, as barbarously, and that with such a Reflection, that flies in his own Face, when the very Oppo­sers [Page 83] of this pious Praelates Opinion, ve­rifyed afterwards his Prophetick fear, and by the placing this Divine Right in the People, sent assoon his sacred Maje­sty to follow the Praelate.

But can ever Wretches show more in­dustrious Malice towards the Govern­ment, when they shall close with the Doctrines of their worst of Enemies, and which they would be thought so dam­nably to detest; to do it an Injury, cite you the Authority of the most Zealous Catholicks, when it will make against the Monarchy, yet baffle, and burlesque the very Bible, when it makes for it; the malitious Miscreant knows the Clergy then were all bound by their Oaths, besides their Opinions, to be the Bigots of Rome: He knows the Popes supre­macy, then would not admit of the Kings: He knows the pleasing of the People, was then the best Expedient for the promoting the Pope, that from them came all the Penny's, that paid them for their Pater-nosters, and that this beast of Babylon, (against which our Zealots pretend too as much Brutal rage) then only trampled upon the Necks of Kings, not only had Her stirrops held by [Page 84] them; but rid upon the very backs of Princes, and that only because the poor People were so Priest-ridden; would he have had that Popish Prelate preach to them the Kings Supremacy, told them he was not to be toucht, because jure divino; when themselves make it the Doctrin of their Church to dethrone them; certainly such Sycophànts dis­semble when they cry up the Reformati­on, that rely so much upon the Religi­on of those times before they were Re­form'd.

The Bishop, as he thinks, having now Principes Regni ha­bito Con­cilio apud Westm. Pol. Virg. Lib. 5. pretty well asserted the Peoples suprema­cy by making them Divine; he brings in as prettily Polidore Virgil, proving them to be all Princes, so that we have now but one Subject left, and that's the King; but by his leave the Govern­ments bark must be wrackt in a Rebel­lion and a storm, before they can come to Reign like so many Trincaloes in the Tempest: The Gentleman sure read Shakespear instead of Virgil, and thinks our Isle enchanted too; but to be seri­ous in matters of Blood, and Right, and that when both Royal, could any Per­son of sober sense be so simply sollici­tous, [Page 85] as from an Author forreign, un­knowing our Constitutions, calling some of our Subjects Principes to suggest their Supremacy, their Superiority; we know as well as he, what he means by it, or what he must mean, that they were some of the chief of the Realm, and will that make them Rulers too: the Latin Idiom sometimes applies the word Princeps, to subordinate suprema­cy, as well as to those that are sole Su­pream: But even the Authority that he cites for this silly Suggestion, and others; P. Virgil himself is sufficiently secluded In's Epistle to Queen Eliz. from being Authentick by Sir Henry Savill.

The next Factious Insinuation that follows, is that John De Gaunt, this Edward the Thirds fourth Son; but the Eldest surviving, disputed the Successi­on: But this, as a Learned, and Loy­al Author observes, so far from Truth, that he was at the latter end of his Fa­thers Life, made Lieutenant of the Realm, and Protector of it, during Ri­chard his Minority; certainly had his Competition come in Question, they would have been but dangerous Trusts, and against the Laws of all Nations and [Page 86] our own; for the Civil takes sufficient Care for the removing of all suspected Tutors, and our Common ordained up­on Instit. Lib. 1. Tit. 26. de suspect­is Tutori­bus. Cokes 1 Insti. sect. 108. Daniel p. 217. the Lord's loosing his ward, for dis­paragement, that the wardship of the Heir should never go to the nearest of kin, but to the next to whom the Inhe­ritance cannot descend: Daniel says King Edward, purposely to prevent the disorder, and mischiefs that attend the disordering Succession, setled the same in Parliament on Richard, lest John of Lancaster should supplant him as Earl John had done his Nephew Arthur, and this disingenuous Creature perverts the fear of Supplantation into a dispute of the Succession; and Stow tells us of nothing but his being made Prince of Wales on his Brothers Death: But this Uncle pro­ved a better Keeper of the King in his Protectorate, than this John or Richard the Third, had but the Poor Princes Subjects kept their Faith too, and not given [...]: perjured Author another In­stance for the renouncing his Allegiance, and a second president for the deposing of his King.

[Page 87] And here since this Historian has al­ready cited two or three Popish Archbi­shops, for the Countenancing of his Pu­ritanism, and the Doctrine of Bellarmin for the Counterpart of Buchanan, con­spiring in a perfect Harmony for the Deposition of their Kings, and their Murder; I'le tell him of another Canter­bury too, that blew the Trumpet to the dethroning of the next King, and the sacrifi­cing of his Sovereign upon that Altar of his Lips. For the first thing that the first Usurper attempted, that aspiring Prince when he landed, was the causing of Arundel, then the Metropolitan, to preach down King Richard; the Prelate had ready a Bull procured from Rome, pro­mising Remission of Sins to all those that should aid the said Henry, and af­ter their death to be placed in Paradice; which preaching as our Author says, Stow p. 320. moved many to cleave to the Duke: but this Popish Puritan knows our Bi­shops and Divines since the Reformation have taught him better Doctrine; and he licks up the very Poyson of his deadly Foes, only to spit the venom, in the Face of the Government.

[Page 88] But with what face can he tell us of a Parliament, here drawing up a Form of Resignation; which was just as much a Parliament as their late Major part of Members that were to be obey'd in their Association: An Invader, Usurper and a banisht Subject takes upon him in the name of his Sovereing to Summon it; and so did our late Rebels, fight and fire at his Majesty: but still with his own good Leave and Authority, this Con­vok't that Parliament, as Cromwel seclu­ded his, with an Army at his heels; on­ly those had secured their King in the Tower, these in the Isle of Wight; and shall these their Journals of Rebel­lion, make up a Book of Presidents? Is such a fellow fit to breath under a mild Government, that calls for Blood, where there is so much Mercy? that Recommends to your reading an Im­peachment of his King, and refers you to the Charge, and Articles that were drawn up for his Deposition, as a Brief [...] page. 7. worthy Subject and well deserving to be read: Why did he not tells us too? as well deser­ving to be imitated, Jan. 20, 48. The Sollicitor Cook presented the Charge against CHARLES STEWART Engrost, or­dered [Page 89] that it be returned to him to be ex­hibited.

Preposterous Lump of Law and It is a Maxim in Law Rexest Principi­um Caput, & Finis Parlia­menti. Logick revers'd! that prints himself the Contradiction to common Equity and Reason; can such a Body Politick justly convene it self, only to Rebel against its head, and to take away that Breath from whence it needs must have its be­ing; Vid. Bra­cton Lib. 1. C. 2. Leges Anglicanae Regum Authori­tate ju­bent. and can those Laws be made to conspire his Death, from whom them­selves acknowledge they receive their Life?

But as to the matter of Fact it self, you shall see what Sence some of the Times had of it: The King of France 22. E. 3.6. Resolved the King makes Laws by the Assent of Lords and Com­mons. was so sensible of this Injurious Pro­ceeding, that it ran him into a fit of Frenzy; Richard being related to him by the Marriage of his Daughter, he acquaints his Lords with his Resoluti­on of Revenge; and they shew'd themselves as ready to take it too, but were prevented here in England, by their taking away his Life; which made them desist, not able to serve him after his Death. This is but an Evidence how the Villany was resented abroad, and you may find they were as much [Page 90] upbraided with it at home, and that to their very face, when a Parliament was sitting, and their Usurper on the Throne, by the Loyal Prelate of Carlisle; whose Memory may it live as long as Loyalty can flourish, or our Annals last: so solid and [...] were the Suggesti­ons, so significant the Sense of this pious Vide Ba­ker and Trussel a­gree in the same of the Bishops Speech. Soul, that it silenc'd all the Senate that was sitting; and nothing but the pro­spect of some private or publick Favor and Preferment hindred their Convi­ction: their King was cool enough in prosecuting of his bold Truths, being scarce warm in his own Government; yet at last upon Debate, and Consulta­tion; they confin'd the bold Bishop for a while, for the Liberty that he took; and could only condemn his bold Indiscre­tion for shewing them so much the bad­ness of their Cause.

Hollinshed tells us this poor Prince was most unthankfully us'd of his Subjects. In no Kings days were the Commons in 3d. Vol. Chron. f. 508. greater Wealth, or the Nobility more cherisht: how near some of our pam­per'd Jesuruns that are satten'd to rebel; confirm the danger of too much Lux­ury and ease; the present fears from [Page 91] their experienced Attempts can best at­test. But the fatality that befel that unhappy Prince, affords us the best politicks for the prevention of the like Fate.

And now for his Henry the Fourth, he is forc't to [...] for his depending on the Parliaments choice, when in 1. H. 4. 12. 52. that was his least Relyance; for as little as he makes of his claim from Henry the Vid. Dr. B. p. 25. Third, it is apparent from some Rolls of Parliament, that he challenged the Realm upon that account, and the Lords were interrogated what they thought of that claim? upon which without de­lay they consented he should Reign, and as another Evidence of his Right to Rule, shewed them the Seal of King Richard as a Signification of his Will that he should fucceed him; but that which for ought I see he lay his greatest weight upon, was but what all Usurpers must most relie on, the Sword, and he himself assures them just after the Ser­mon was ended, at the time they con­sented to be his Subjects, that he would take no advantage against any Man's Estate, as coming in by Conquest, and Conquest is one of the first claims he [Page 92] puts in at his Coronation, and as Haw­ard Haward p. 98. Baker p. 15 is. relates it in his Life, not the least mention of his being elected is there min­gled with his Claim.

But neither did the success of a pros­perous Wickedness Countenance this U­surpation; for he was soon made sensi­ble that a Crown seldom sits easie on that Head, where it has so little Right to sit, and indeed before it could be well set­led, his Lords conspired against him at Westminster, set up Maudlin the Coun­terfeit, send to the King of France for assistance; Glendour stirrs up the Welsh to rebel; the Nobility fell from him, drew up the following Articles against him­self, viz. for having Articl'd himself against his Sovereign; for having falsified his Oath in medling with the Kingdom and the Crown, for taking Arms against his King, Imprisoning, Murdering Him; that he unjustly kept the Crown from the Earl of March, to whom of Right it be­longed, and vowed the Restoration of Him, and His Destruction; and our Au­thor Vid. Baker 161. now shall know these too are Arti­cles as well deserving to be read, and one thing more that deserves as much Ob­servation; that this his good Peoples [Page 93] Election, was the prime Principal Cause Notwith­standing all these claims Speed says he at his Death ow­ned he had no Right to the Crown, Speed Lib. 9. Chap. 14. Philip De. Comines which wrote then, says to his Rememb­rance 80. of Blood Roy­al dy'd. If they long for the draught of Slaughter and Blood that follow­ed this their Election of the Line of Lancast­er, then look upon the la­mentable List at the end of Trussel. of losing of Millions of Lives, and an Ocean of Blood; here entred that Line of Lancaster that had almost left the Nation Childless; the Nobility and Gen­try that escap'd the Sword, were still by the prevailing Party chopt off or gibbited, and in the space of about thirty year and somewhat upwards, they dreined more Blood in England, then e're was spent in the Conquest of France, or would have been spilt had it been again attempted, and that too never have been lost by their Henry the Sixth, had it not been for an altered Successi­on, and an injured Heir, and the Bloody Consequences of a debarr'd Right.

And now at last, he is forc't to allow an instance of a Prince, that succeeded without the least shadow of Election; and that in Henry the Fifth, to whom himself owns they swore Allegiance without staying for his being declared; we are obliged to him for this fair Con­cession; but this Kindness is only be­cause he finds it as clear as a Postula­tum in the Mathematicks, beyond his own Impudence to contradict; but however, he must malitiously observe [Page 94] that it was a thing strange, and without President, and why so? because his Po­lidore tells him, such an extraordinary Kindness was never shown to any King before; tis strange that his Italian should understand more of our own Govern­ment, than all our own English Au­thors; 'tis no wonder sure, if he that was a Stranger to our Affairs, should Write as strangely of it, and make our Mighty Monarchs of Britain, no more then some petty Prince of his own Italy, and as Elective as their Duke of Venice: But this perverse Gentleman shall know it was not without President, and that by several Instances.

And first Richard the First presently on his Fathers Death without staying for their suffrages, seised on his Father's Treasure, was girt with the Sword of the Dutchy of Normandy, took fealty both of Clergy and Lay, and exercised all the Authority that Sovereign power cou'd allow before he came to be recog­niz'd Vide Da­niel. by their Suffrages, or to his Co­ronation.

2. Hoveden's Account that he gives of King John's coming to the Crown, which as some Writers say, is the [Page 95] extant, says they swore Fealty to him when he was out of England, without mentioning any thing of Preceding Ele­ction; and he had his better Title, his Brothers Army then in the field; by which he cou'd have made himself soon their King, had they not been so ready to receive him.

3. Upon the Death of Henry the 3d. the States Assembled at the New-Temple, and proclaimed his Son Edward King: when they knew not Daniel. whether he was living or dead; swear Fealty to him, and cause a New-Seal to be made. Here sure are some presi­dents of Allegiance before their Electi­on, unless he'll make Declaring or Pro­claiming to be so; and then in Gods Name in that sense, let them as he con­tends for be Elected; for I think all will allow they are proclaim'd. But suppose on the death of a Predecessor there was no convention of any of the No­bility Vid 4 part In Stit. 46. and Jen­kins Lex Terrae. p. 7. or Commonalty; for Parliaments they then can have no Existence when the Breath is gone that gave them Be­ing; as all other Communitys, are de facto dissolv'd. If, I say, there were none met to Declare or Proclaim his Succes [Page 96] must the common Maxim be contradi­cted and the King dye too, for want of their Popular Breath to give him Life? or do our Laws admit that this interval between his Predecessors expi­ration and the proclaiming or crown­ing his Successor shall be call'd an Inter­regnum? they know the Constitutions of our Government admit no more of this than an Exclusion. They know that immediately by Descent King James was declar'd to be completely and abso­lutely 1 Jacobi Watson & Clark. Vid, also Calvins Case, Cokes Rept. part 7. King, and that by all the Judges of the Kingdom. I know the Kings Successor is always immediately pro­claim'd upon his death; and that per­haps is more for the proceedings of ju­dicial Processes; and that Writs may presently run in his name: But were such a Proclamation obstructed, I am satisfi'd he commenc'd an absolute King upon the very Minute of his Predecessors Expiration; and if the Law Maxim won't allow an Haeres viventis; there can be no Heir at all, if he begin not to be so presently upon his Predecessors Death; and for an Evidence of Fact, as well as Reason, this very King of whom we now treat, catcht at the Crown, [Page 97] while his Father was catching at his last breath; seised it as his own, as being his Vid. Baker 166. and Trussel. In fine vit. Hen. 4. Right assoon as the gasping Monarch did but seem dead, who only reviv'd to let him know how little that Right was by which he claim'd, and so sealed the wrong he had done with his last breath, the Successor declaring his own Sword should maintain what his Fathers had got.

Immediately upon this Henry the Fifths Death, his Son Henry the Sixth succeeded: This Author himself can talk of nothing of Election here neither, but that he succeeded as his Fathers Heir; but to make the power of Parliament prevail in this Kings Reign, he is forc't to fly to a President, that prevents any other Confutation of his whole History; for whereas he has contended all alone for a Parliamentary priviledge for altering the Succession, here he has brought upon the Stage one that con­demns it self, for doing so; here we find a Duke of York too, by the power (as this Gentleman would have it of a Hen. 6th. Parliament, but rather a perfect Vsur­pation upon the Crown) for a long time excluded from his Birthright, and to [Page 98] make way for one of their Usurpers that was a Monmouth too: That Exclusion was begun but with a Rebellion, and it ended in as much Blood; is our having been wretchedly miserable, an Argu­ment for our tempting the Almighty to make us once more so? shall we Plot against Heaven for our Destruction, and defie Fate to make us happy; 'tis mat­ter of Astonishment to find the very Presidents of our Nations ruin, to be preferr'd as expedients for its Preservation, unless they think a Prince, whose Just resentments themselves fear, and call revengeful, should now more tamely fore­go his Right; when for above two hundred Years agon, it was with so much Blood asserted, or do they think now an excluded Prince will find fewer Friends? no, these Political Suggestions do but give themselves the Lye; his Cou­rage they know, and for that they asso­ciated; his Adherents they fear'd, and for that they were to be destroyed; and here we have now by this Author's own Confession, after a thirty years bloody Vid. Rot. Par. 39. H. 6. no. 10. Stow P. 49. War, what in our next Parliament, per­haps we may have without, as well as in the late Loyal one in Scotland, a full Recog­nition [Page 99] of the Right of the Lawful Heir, and that no foregoing Act is of any force to foreclude the Right Inheritor of the Crown, and the Parliament approving of a Duke of York for their Sovereign, as a Right Heir, by Lineal discent from King Richard the Second.

And now the Succession of this next King Edward the Fourth, was the great­est Confirmation of the discent of the Crown to be by Proximity of Blood, that the most devout Heart the most zealous Contender for this undoubted right, cou'd wish or desire. Here we have the very Parliaments, those omni­potent Powers of the People, the God Almighties of these Idolatrous Adorers themselves acknowledging; that such a Succession is agreeable to the Laws of God; Nature, and Nations; Hu­man and Divine; and is this now as this factious Impostor would insinuate, only the Doctrine of Lambeth? The position of our Lawds and the Principle of our Prelate?

The first thing that was done, in the first of this Edward the Fourth, was the repealing of all the proceedings against Richard the Second, and all the three [Page 100] following Lines of Lancaster, declar'd absolute Vsurpers: That Henry the Fourth Vid. the Par. Roll. recited at length by Dr. B. in's History p. 30. had rashly, against Right and Justice, by Force and Arms, against his Faith and Allegiance, rais'd War against King Ri­chard, usurpt and intruded on the Royal Power, that the Tyrant Imprison'd, murder'd his Anointed, Crowned, Consecrated King, against Gods Law, and Mans Allegiance; and that there moving of the last Vsurper was according to the Laws and Custom of the Realm: Most of the proceedings of Par­liaments in there former Reigns were all null'd and vacated; and the Intrusion of the first Lancaster into the Throne, declar'd an Occasion of the ruine of the Realm; and the ground of all the Civil and Intestine Wars that followed.

But refractory Rebels may reply, This was after he had obtain'd his Right again with the Sword, and all the King­dom then his own Creatures: But still these prejudic'd Souls can't reflect that most if not all of those Elections, Vsurpa­tions, that they cite on their side, were only then the Sense of their Parliaments, when they did not dare to think other­wise, and when they were fright'ned into Faction with the Terror of the [Page 101] Sword; and forc't to comply for the fear of Arms: and are not their Votes and Suff­rages, their Resolves, and Orders; as warrant­ble for the declaring of an undoubted Right, as for an asserting of an absolute Wrong? But even such a suggestion is as really simple, as 'tis truly false, and so fails them too; for their own Author tells us, that the Duke of York did not Brief Hi­story fol. 8. think it worth the contending for, till his Ti­tle was declar'd in Parliament, and that was done when the last of the Usurpers was in a flourishing Condition, at the head of his House of Peers, and in the hearts of his People. And the rejecting 39. H. 6. Stow p. 409. To which they after diligent de­liberation had and ap­proved. Rot. Parl. 39. H. 6. of their Intruder, so far from being done by force, that they took all the Care, Counsel and Deliberation imagi­nable: as soon as the Duke put in his Claim, they reply'd 'twas an high mat­ter, and not to be consider'd without their Kings consent, to whom all their Lords present it, himself orders it to be examin'd, his own Title as far as could be found out to be defended; accordingly they send for all the Judges who declin'd (without doubt out of di­struct) the discussing it; then all the Serjeants are sent for, and they do the [Page 102] same, till forc't by their Superiors into these three or four extorted Objections.

1. The Oath they had takento this King.

2. The Entails made to the Heirs of Henry the Fourth.

3. That he claim'd as Inheritor to Hen­ry the Third.

The Replies of the Duke.

That no Oath was obligatory for the suppressing of a Right.

That the Entails were made only to supply the defect of a better Title.

And that Records would contradict his discent, from Henry the Third:

So sufficiently satisfied that honoura­ble Assembly, that they presently recog­nise his Right, and that for eschewing the many In conveniences that might ensue, upon an Exclusion. And for saving a lit­tle of their Kings Honor, as they call'd it, let the poor Usurper turn a Tenant for his Life; and that prov'd but after­wards at the Courtesie of the Heir.

Does not this blind implicit Adorer of his deify'd Creatures, this idolatrous Admirer of his own created Gods, see in these particulars, and even in his own pre­sidents that he cites the mutability of Mens minds, and the contradictory [Page 103] Conclusions of this his infallible Council, while Right it self must still remain the same, and the decrees of Heaven can't be cancell'd, since the very Laws of the Persians could not: and still when our own in this point of Succession were repeal'd, we find it turn'd all into Confusion and a Hell; and for a more sudden alteration in this vein and hu­mor of Parliament, observe but this single Instance, and that in the very season of which we are discoursing. In the 38 of this Henry the sixth, a Parli­ament vid. Stow 38. H. 6. p. 406. was held at Coventry; by that the Duke of York too is attainted of Treason, and all his Adherents. Their Heirs disinherited to the ninth degree, their Tenants spoiled of their goods, maim'd, slain; but in the very next year, of his Reign, the very same Coventry Parliament declar'd by another, to be a devillish Councel, celebrated for the de­struction of the Nobility; never elect­ed, unduly returned; desiring the de­struction rather than the Advancement of the Commonwealth.

And now can the most popular advo­cate of the Party, from the perusal of Stow 39. H. 6. p. 406. these their inconsistent irregular pro­ceedings, [Page 104] make them absolute Arbi­trators of Right? They must resolve themselves into this Absurdity for a reply; that the supream Power of the Nation for its own security, can just­ly do wrong.

We have seen several Subjects a­gainst all Reason ruin'd with an Act of Parliament; and therefore shall we think it alway to do Right? What Reason can we give that our Courts of Equity are still the same, but that they can't be controll'd by the muta­bility of their Statute-Law; and gran­ting this their Bill of Exclusion had past into Statute, that it had been En­acted a Royal Heir must be debarr d of his Birthright, I am sure the gene­ral Council of the world, would quick­ly have given their Opinions against this great one of our Nation. And tho their Codes and Digests don't obtain with us, yet I cannot see why a Prince shou'd be deny'd the priviledge of a private Person; And the Brother of our King, the claiming his Right in E­quity, what is allow'd the meanest Sub­ject when forecluded by the Law.

The next immediate Succession of the [Page 105] Crown descends as immediately to the Buck whom he cites in R. 3d reign no good Au­thority, who contradicts his Murder­ing of his Nephews' and makes him no way deform'd, a­gainst the sense of all Historians. But that prejudic'd Author might well flatter the Tyrantwhen one of his own name and family was the Monsiers minion and favorite by his own Confession. next of Blood, and as for the most part it has done since the time of the Saxons, from Father to Son; the Fifth Edward, as hopeful as unfortunate, and the more in affording our Factious fellow, another president for an Assembly of Rebels, that prefer'd the very Murderer of their Soveraign, and a pretended Par­liament that plac't the Butcher of his Bro­thers Children on the Throne: And truly this Monster might be said to be Elected by the People, whom no God or Nature design'd for the Crown; and who was forc't to break the Laws of both to come at it; and a sort of Election it was like those we had of late in the City, with Rout, and Ryot, and that in the same place too at their Guild-hall, where the Duke of Buckingham very solemnly con­venes the Mayor and Aldermen, and there propounds to them and the rabble, their new King Richard, and it was like Vid Stow Baker. to be a fine sort of National Choice, that was to be decided by the Freemen of L. Bacon calls him a King in fact. only, but Tyrant in Title 1. p. London. But whatever Influence, as this Gentleman observ'd, they had on the Succession, nothing of their consents could be gather'd but from their silence, [Page 106] for suffrages they had none, they being all surpriz'd with so strange a Propositi­on. Their Buckingham Elector with his Aldermen and some of their Retinue cry up a Richard, and so carry'd all with a House of Commons Nemine contradicen­te: And now for his Bill in Parliament, made rather by a pack't Convention of Buckinghams for the Bastardizing of his Soveraign's Issue, that very Roll of Rebel­lion acknowledges his right by Lawful Inheritance, grounded upon the Laws of Vid. 1. R. 3. the whole Record in the Exact Abridgment fol. 712. Nature and Custom, and God himself; al­so this which was rather a Convocation of Rebels than a Convention of States, ac­knowledgd what this inconsiderate Author cites them to Contradict, the Lineal and Legal discent of the Crown by Proximity of Blood, but in this acknowledging of an Usurper the good Bishop of Ely then op­pos'd and for it was Committed to Buc­kingham's Custody, and Stow calls it all a Stow p. 460. meer mock-Election.

And here enters all in blood, & that of the Blood Royal and Innocents, the meer Mon­ster of a man, that beyond her intention, seem'd to crawl into the World while na­ture lay asleep, with a distorted Body the proper receptacle for as perverse a Soul; [Page 107] and in him the third great Example that our Impious Author vouches for the Pra­cticable Presidents, of a Parliaments abet­ting the plain Usurpation of a Rebel to the Rebellious deposition of a King that Reign'd; and consequently, the subse­quent Murders of those that had the right, and those damnable Proceedings against Edw. 2d. and Richard 2d. and these poor Infants has he more Elaborately handled than all the rest of his abominable Trea­tise; and the Contradictory Wretch calls the Murder of the Nephews Barbarous, yet pleads for the power of a Parliament that Introduc'd the Tyrant for their Murder, for they were as much dispatch't by their suffrages in the senate, as by Tyrrel in the Tower; they were the Ministers of Inju­stice that sentenc'd them out of their Right, and that other only an Executioner to dispatch them of their Life; for the Hi­story of all Nations, and too sadly that of our own, verifies it for an experienc'd truth, that the Destruction of those that have right, certainly follows in all Monarchies, the bloody Vsurpation or the popular Ele­ction of him that has none, an Association will needs follow an Exclusion, for whom they have expell'd, they must destroy, for such [Page 108] Murders as are grounded upon MAX­IMS of State, must as necessarily follow the Foundations upon which they are lay'd; for whatever Usurpers undermine an old frame of Government, their Inter­est obliges them to remove as rubbish all that shall obstruct the raising of the new; and the dangers and fears from excluded deposed Princes, or the poor injur'd Heirs, soon makes it absolute necessity to ce­ment the Walls with their Blood.

The best remarks that can be gather­ed from the following Reign of Harry the Seventh, are to be found in the Lord Bacon's History, the best account of that King, and he tells us he had no less then three Titles to the Crown whatever that Italian States-man Commines could con­ceive to the contrary; first his Title in [...] of the Lady Elizabeth whom he was resolv'd to marry; secondly that of the Line of Lancasters long disputed both by Plea and Arms; thirdly, the Con­quest by his own: But the Learned Histori­an observes the first was look't on the fair­est, and Yorks line, been always lik't as the best Plea in the Crowns descent, and for Confirmation of it the Learned Lord tells us, that this Henry knew the Title [Page 109] of Lancaster Condemn'd by Act of Parlia­ment, Bacon Hist. H. 7. p. 3. Ibid. page 12. and prejudic'd in the Common opinion of the Realm, and that the root of all the Mischiefs that befel him was the discountenancing of the house of York, whom the General body of the Kingdom still affected; and whatever stress and re­liance this Prince might place in the PARLIAMENT's power, this able states­man observes there is still a great deal of difference 'twixt a King that holds by ci­vil Act of State, and him that holds O­riginally by the Law of NATURE, and DISCENT of BLOOD, so that we have here a Person vers'd in our own Laws, an excellent and allowed Scholar by the whole World, and not only Lauds, and Bishops, as our bigotted Author would have it, allowing a Divine right by the Laws of Nature, and (who I am sure was so good a Naturalist as best understood her Laws,) and that Natural discent by blood to be much more preferable, than any other Human title given by such Infe­riour powers of a Parliament, whom the most zealou's adorerssure won't acknow­ledg more Omnipotent then the God of Nature himself.

I shall observe another Historical In­stance that a true lineal discent was then [Page 110] taken for the best title, and even in those times had the greatest Influence, which was the Lord Stanley's Case, who tho the very Person that plac'd the Crown on this Princes head, yet suffer'd the loss of Vid Bacon Hist. his own only for saying somewhat that savoured of his kindness to the Succes­sion; and that if he was sure the Children of Edward were alive he would not bear Arms against them; so mightily did the sense of the right blood prevail with him that he sacrified all his own for it, and ra­ther than recant what he so well resolv'd, seem'd no way sollicitous for his Life.

But that which this Historian might have observ'd too, in this Reign as a discouragement to the designs of some of their popular Patriots then afoot, when he pen'd this his presumptuous piece, was the ill success that two several impostures met with in their pretensions to a Crown to which they were not [...], no great Inducement certainly for any one to bepersuaded to personate the Roy­al Heir, to set up for a Lambert or a Per­kin, only for their misfortune and fate.

Lastly, I shall conclude my remarks upon this Kings Reign, with an Ani­madversion upon a Paragraph or two [Page 111] that conclude his piece, very pertinent to this place, since it relates to the times of which we treat; and that is the reso­lution of the Judges, upon the Case of this their King; that the Descent of the Crown, purged all his defects, and at­tainder. This their opinion he refutes Brief Hist. p. 17. as Frivolous, Extrajudicial, and here Impertinent; but I hope to show this Point a most material one, the Re­solution to be a good Judgment, and their reply much to the present pur­pose.

First, sure it was a matter and that of a high Nature to know how he was qua­lify'd to sit in the House, that was to preside in it as the head: And tho he might in some sense be said to have won the Crown with Arms, yet he knew it would wear much Better, sit much Ea­sier, if setled, and establish't according to Law; and tho a Conquerer that has the Sword in his hand, can soon capa­citate himself to sway the Scepter; yet he'l soon find the most regular Proceed­ings tend most to the Establishment of his Reign; this made Henry the Seventh who had a Triple Plea for the Crown, and that one by discent from the Lanca­sters [Page 112] consult his Oracles of the Law, how far an Attainder past in the Reign ofthe Yorks, would still taint his Blood; and make it less Inheritable.

Secondly, their Resolution that all pre­ceding defects were purg'd in the dis­cent, was a Judgment both equitable, and reasonable; for 'twas sure but equal that an Heir to whom an Inheritance and that ofa Crown was allowed to dis­cend should be qualify'd to take too; for if he was a King, no Bill of Attainder could touch him, that was past too when he was none: And if he was no King, Vid Dyer H. 7. f. 59. The King is the head of the Parlia­ment, Lords and Com­mons but Members. So no more Parliament without a King, than a body with­out a head. It is no Stat. if a King assent not to it. 12. H. 7.20. all the concurrence of the Lords and Commons cou'd never have made him an Act for his being so; there being no Royal Authority, to pass it into Law, and nothing by the very constitution of our Government can be made a Law without; so that such a resolution cer­tainly was highly reasonable, and un­avoidable, that that should purge its own defects which no power had perfection anough to purge; wou'd he have a King pass an Act with his two Houses for the reversal of his own Attainder, or the two Houses reverse the Attainder of their King? If the first, the allowing him to [Page 113] pass such an Act, supersedes the end for which it should be past, and makes him de Facto capable whom they would ca­pacitate, if he allows the Latter then he must an Interregnum too; extinguish that Monarchy for a while, of which the very Maxim says the Monarch can't dye, and place that Supream power in the People, which all our Fundamental Laws have put in the King.

Thirdly, this Resolution is very per­tinent to the present purpose to which 'tis commonly now apply'd; and that is the Bill of Exclusion: But his passion, and prejudice; would not permit him to Examin the little difference there is be­tween them.

For certainly that ability that can dis­charge any attainder, is as efficacious for the voiding and nulling any Bill that shall hinder the descent for a Bill of Ex­clusion, would have been but a Bill or an Act of the House for disabling the next Heir; And an Attainder can do the same; and is as much the Houses Act; and to distinguish that in an Exclusion the Discent it self is prevented by a Law, makes just no difference, for whoever is Attainted has his Discent prevented [Page 114] by a Law too, and that antecedently also, before the Descent can come to purge him; so that they only differ in this formal sort of Insignificancy, In an Exclusion, the Discents prevention would be the sole Subject of the Bill, in an Attainder it is by Consequence and Common Law prevented, and so the dis­ability being but the same in both, the defects by the same means may and must be purged.

The president the Judges cite to justi­fy 1. H. 7. f. 4. B. Town dit que le Roy, H. 6. en son rea­deptiondel reign tant son Parlia. & il fuit atteint & ne fuit Reverse. Al auter Justice dise que il ne fuit at­teint, mes disable de son Crown &c. & dise que eo fac­to que ill prist [...] luy le Roy­al dignity que tout il suit Void. this their Opinion, is not only appli­cable to their Case for which 'twas cited, but much more so to the very project of Exclusion; which I'll prove too from this Sophisters own reasoning: It is the Case of Henry the Sixth, who by Act of Parliament was Disabl'd to hold the Crown; which was as particular an Act for the depriving him of his presum'd right, as this their Excluding Bill would have been of an unquestionable one; Town, one of the Justices that debated and argued this point, vouch't this H. 6. Case as an Attainder; but was Correct­ed by the rest, and told that he was not at­tainted, but Disabled to hold the Crown, but even that that was void assoon [Page 115] as he came again to wear it; and seem to conclude that then à fortiori that an Attaindere would be purg'd away by the Descent; and sure if this was then Law, and that even for the Line of Lancaster, who had Defects of Title to be purg'd besides of tainted blood: 'Tis strange to me why a York now, and such an one too; in whom both those so long disputed Titles Terminate and Concen­ter, should be Disabl'd for ever by that Expedient, which was resolv'd unable to prevent the Succession so long a­gon.

For Argument that an Attainder hin­ders the Crowns Discent, has this pre­sumptious Interpreter of the Law brought the most impertinent piece of Application, that the defect of sense could suggest, and so has as little reason, as Brief [...] page 7. Truth, to tell us that this Judges Reso­lution on Attainder, is not to the pre­sent purpose pertinent, for that a dis­cent is insufficient to purge attainted Blood, he cites the Sense of the King of France, and the Learned advice that was given him to send his Son Lewis Because King John's Blood was corrupt­ed; but he might as well have told us [Page 116] because John is said to make over his King­dom to the Moor, we are all now Sub­jects to the King of Morocco; the true reason of the French mans sending of his Son, is what will at any time incapaci­tate the Crowns Discent, and that is the Rebellion of the Subjects, and yet those very Barons that Rebell'd never insisted on his corruption of Blood, never made it so much as a Plea for their Rebellious Insurrection; nay themselves thought him so far from being disabl'd by it, that they prefer'd him even to the very right Blood, which was incorrupted in his Ne­phew Arthur; but allowing it then Law, this resolution that such Corruption is purg'd, was made long since, and must now be as Legal, tho the Contrary be­fore had been never so much Law, so that here he has only taken the pains to be impertinent and that too for the tel­ling of a Lye.

But as his Villanous heart, had falsely forg'd before that the Learned in King John's time invited Lewis over only be­cause they thought his Attainder had in­capacitated him to take the Crown: when all the while they made nothing but their Magna Charta and their privi­ledges [Page 117] the pretence for their Rebellion, and would have been certainly glad of such a suggestion, when they were so well Resolv'd to Rebel, (tho I look up­on this Inviting in of the French-man rather as a Retribution of a Remarkable Providence, that retaliated on his head the same sufferance from his Rebel Sub­jects, which his Soveraign and own Fa­ther had suffered from himself as Rebel­lious a Son, who sided against Henry the Second with Philip of France the Succe­ssor of a Lewis, as these did with a Lewis a Philips Successor.) With the same falsehood and forgery would he have the world believe that the Line of Lancaster was so long approv'd, only because that of Yorks was Attainted; which when purg'd in Parliament, he says, they then presently forsook the Lancastrian: But if he pleases to Consult my Lord History H. 7. Bacon he'l find that Learned Historian tell him another tale; and that the Lan­caster Line was always the less esteem'd by the people, and how the Parliament could purge the Duke of York only by declaring him Heir Apparent I cannot ap­prehend; for whatever can be warran­tably past by a Parliament to warrant [Page 118] Obedience, must be what is past into an Act too; unless one of their Order'd and Resolv'd shall resolve it self into a Law, for such a Statute must, (tho it were for the declaring an Heir Apparent to the Crown,) have the Royal Sanction of some Lawful King, which could ne­ver be Consistent here, with this their most inconsistent Declaration; for the granting the Duke of York to be their Heir Apparent, in the same Breath pro­nounc'd Henry the Sixth an Usurper; and the very words that declar'd York an Ap­parent Heir, made him de facto their Lawful King; for they must either allow that he was the Crowns Heir, and then that had devolv'd to him long before by Blood and Inheritance from Lionel Duke of Clarence, Elder Brother to John of Gaunt, from whom the Lancasters claim­ed, or else they declared their Lineal, Lawful King, an Intruders, Vsurpers Heir it is an unavoidable Dilemma; if the first, then an acknowledgment, of an irreparable wrong, done to their Lineal Soveraign that had an unquestionable right, if the Latter, then most absur'd and con­tradictory in making him an Heir to the Crown from that Henry, that himself [Page 119] never had the least Title to the wear­ing it.

From whence I conclude, that any such supposed Act (and it must be allow­ed that if not an Act that then it signifi­ed nothing too,) that purged Richard Duke of York from his Attainder, could never have the Royal Assent, unless most absurdly from one that was no King; for either it must be past by Henry the fixth, and then the thing he past un-King'd him; or else by the Duke the declar'd Heir, and then but a suppos'd Subject in the very Declaration, or rather a Law­ful and allow'd King in admitting him to pass a Bill, and so superseded such a fu­perfluous and Declaratory Act.

Lastly, even in this very point the Se­ditious Author supersedes the pains of any Loyal pen for the Confutation of the false Position he would prove, and in the very same Paragraph baffles him­self to prevent an Answer, and tells us that Richard Duke of York's Corruption Brief Histo­ry p. 17. was purg'd when declar'd Heir Apparent by the Parliament, and that therefore the Peo­ple forsook the Lancastrians, and set the House of York in the Throne; shall the being declar'd but an Heir Apparent purge [Page 120] an Attainder? And shall not an actual discent of the Crown take away the same defects? shall here be thought the bare opinion of a Parliament sufficient to clear a Corrupted Blood? And shall It was re­solv'd so by all the Jud­ges in the Cheques Chamber, 1. H. 7. and so not extra­judicial, but that which troubles them is, that these the Kings Jud­ges shou'd have the re­resolution of what is law which when we come [...] Mr. Sid­ney's paper that com­plains of it too we shall prove to be [...]. Vid. Stows Ann. page 409. 406. not for the same the resolution of all the Judges suffice? But as this contradicts all right and reason, so the very next Line all History and Truth; for it appears from all the Chronicles that can be con­sulted, that the house of York was rather own'd by the Parliament, for fear of the People, then that the People were pre­vail'd upon by the Parliaments opinion: for this Parliament of his had not above half a year before at Coventry declar'd the Duke and all his Adherents Tray­tors, Disinherited, and Excluded him and his Heirs. Ludlow a Town that belong'd to him sack't to the bare Walls, and as a Member in the late Houses moved for the [...] of Popish Women too; so did the Parliamentary rigor of those Times extend also to that Sex; and the Dutchess suffer'd then the same severe Exile with the Duke, and as our Author says, was spoiled of all her Goods, yet [...] rigorous as they show'd themselves in [...] violent Votes against him and [Page 121] all that was his, his Hereditary right was so rooted in the Peoples Hearts, that it form'd for him an Army, fought for him at Northampton; and brought both the Usurper and his Parliament to a Compo­sition for the Crown.

Thus much for the refuting of his lit­tle Reason, and his less Law upon the Brief Histo­ry fol. 18. Case: And his Historical Inference that follows for its Justification, fails him as much too, for he tells us the Tale of Richard the Thirds letting the Children of his Brother Clarence live, because their Father was attained in Edward the 17. Edw. 4. Fourths time, and that it was the Reso­lution of his Parliament that his Issue 1. Rich. 3. was thereby disabl'd to Challenge the Crown.

And truly the Case will admit of no better defence; the badness of his cause can never be made good, but with such a Justification as is much worse. He veri­fies that Aphorism of the Tragedian, that to secure your selfin your Villanies, you must commit more, and 'tis the Politicks too of a Matchiavel as well as a Seneca, and Seneca in Traged. this the practise now of our present Re­publican, who firstlays you down a Positi­on perhaps truly Treasonable, and then is [Page 122] forc't to fly to the Resolution of Traytors for the defence of the Treason; and proves that the Crowns Discent does not purge Attainder, because this Parliament of an absolute Usurper, rather a pack of Rebels then a convention of States, re­solv'd it so. Could it be imagin'd that those that had Bastardiz'd the Blood of their late Soveraign for him already, would Boggle to Declare that of a Cla­rence, and but their Kings Brother cor­rupt? would those that promoted the spilling of the Blood of the two Nephews, stick to Resolve that of the rest attainted? the Malicious Impostor knows, that they were then treating with a Tyrant, that they themselves had advanc'd to the Throne; and would he have had those demurred upon a point in Law, to have argued of his Crown again, which them­selves knew against all the Laws of the Land they had plac't upon his head?

But this President if allow'd, would still to the present purpose be as Imperti­nent, as 'tis Treasonable; for the Question is what was Law since H. 7. time, and he Labours to Confute it with what was said some three years before; and to Bassle the Resolution of all the Judges of the [Page 123] Kingdom; with the Suffrages of the Parliament, that even of their own Laws have no right to Judge, much less by any Preceding determinations of their house to Bind all the Succeeding Judges of the Realm; let him first prove a even Vsurper's Parliaments opinion Law, and then pro­ceed to refute the resolutions of the Judges of a Lawful King. In short, nothing can be Law there but what is Enacted, if Clarence his Attainder did not take away the Discent, the resolution of the Judges since is certainly the more just; if it did then, yet still their opinion never the less Justifiable now; for the opinion of that Parliament neither was or could be made Law, for if they would have made it an Act it must have been done before Richard was in the Throne, and then void for want of Royal Assent, if after they had Crown'd their Usurper, then sure too late to be enacted, unless they would have made the Tyrant his own Judge: And himself to have At­tainted the second Pair of Nephews, as well as he Butcher'd the First.

But as fearless as (he says) the Mon­ster was from the pretensions of the D. of Clarence his Children, whose Minori­ty [Page 124] might well make the poor Infants not very formidable, yet he did not think the Duke himself so Barr'd with his At­tainder, but that he might still have been a Bar against his Horrid Usurpati­on; that truly sent the poor Prince to Vid Baker p. 215. An. 1477. the Tower, and got the Brother of the Monstrous Assassin to be suffocated in the Malmsey Butt.

The discent to Henry the 8 was both by Blood and Entail, and so beyond con­tradiction, and with their own conces­sion Hereditary; but where that object­ion to the Birth-right fails them, there to be sure some subsequent Act of that Kings Reign shall be sifted, and made to Countenance their suggested false­hoods, tho the Succession of the Prince himself contradicts it; who had all the Consolidated Titles in him, that had been so long disputed, all that his Mo­thers Blood, and his Fathers Arms, and the Law could Invest him with, but be­cause his Exorbitant proceedings, his Arbitrary power and predominancy which themselves condemn'd him for over Parliaments awd them into an altering the Succession as often as he was pleas'd to Change his bed or chop off a Wife, there­fore [Page 125] must we conclude Parliaments to have a Power to do that by Right, which against all right perhaps they were com­pell'd to do? why does he not prove it a president for Polygamy, and Murder; because that furious Prince still sacrificed Women to his Lust, and Men to his An­ger? But yet allowing them such a Power of medling with the Succession, which certainly does not follow from their ha­ving some time Vsurp't it, or been put upon that Usurpation by their very Prince, for 'tis against reason to make that a right, only because they can plead Prescription for doing a wrong; but here those several alterations were all caus'd to be made for the securing of a Lineal, Legitimate and lawful Succesior to the Throne; for as a Reverend Author says, Bishp. God­wins Histo. H. 8. p. 37. the King Lamented that he should leave the Kingdom toa Woman whose Birth was questionable, and he willing to settle the Kingdom on his LAWFUL Issue; and for this reason he got the 25th to pass, against his Daughter Mary. And the very Preamble of the Act tells us, that it was for the Surety of Title and Succession and Lawful Inheritance.

Three years are scarce past till the [Page 126] 28 of his Reign repeals almost all that the 25 had Enacted, their Protestant Queen Elizabeth made as well as the Po­pish Mary, plain Bastard, and tho our prejudic'd Author may make the same Vid. Pulton, Stat. matter right and wrong, as he stands aff­ected, he must think this his powerful Parliament dealt a little hard with the latter, whose Mother was never di­vorc't but from her Life, and she pact off for a spurious Off-Spring, only upon the pretended suggestions of Anne Boleyn's unknown impediments, confess't sine to Canterbury. But whatever they were, the Canons of the Church, tho born be­fore Marriage, and since after the very Laws of the Land did make her Legiti­mate.

But however, this greater piece of In­justice to this good Protestant Queen, (which they'l say, now proceeded n's 31 as incontinency was made impediment in the first Anns Case, they declared the fuant of concupiscence an Im­pediment in the 2ds. and only upon his send­ing some of his Lords to the lower house the La­dy Cleves was unlaw­ful too. Vid Stow p. 581. Baker 288. Stat: 35. H. 8. from the Kings putting the Parlia­ment upon too much Power,) was palliated all along with the pre­tence of providing a Legitimate Lawful Successor, and so the clear Reverse and Contradiction of the proceedings of our late Patriots, to whose Privileges those sort of [Page 127] presidents were apply'd, for those Parlia­mentary In the 33 the Parlia­ment petiti­on'd to him whom they knew it would please for the Attain­der of Kat. Howard his 5th Queen. Powers secluded but Bastards to make room for Heirs Lawful and Le­gitimate, with us an Issue truly Legitimate should have been EXCLUDED, for the setting up of a SPURIOUS ONE.

But then at last comes the 35th of his Reign, and that like a Gunpowder Plot in the Cellars, blows up all the former foundations of the whole House; both the two former Stat. for Disabling, Ille­gitimating, are null, voy'd, repeal'd, the LADY MARY, Sister Elizabeth, in those seven years, suffered my Lord Bacons transmutation of Bodys; and were turn­ed all into new matter; and what was Spurious, Illegitimate, and in Capable, with the single Charm of be it enacted was be­come truly Lawful Lineal Heir of the Crown, and Capacitated to succeed in an HEREDITARY DISCENT; and so far from Invading the Prerogative, so full of giving were the bountiful Parliaments of those times, that they Impower their too Powerful Prince to dispose of his Crown by Letters Pattents; or an Arbitra­ry, Testamentary disposition, an Oblati­on I think his present Majesty might e­steem too great to be accepted, who [Page 128] knows his Successor to be the Crown's Heir, scarce his own, much less the PAR­LIAMENTS.

Edward the Sixth upon his Fathers death succeeded, an Heir, Lineal, Le­gal, and Testamentary, yet the first thing this Author observes upon him is the greatest falsehood; viz. That he took up­on him a power what surely no King ever had, to dispose of his Crown by Will: When in the very Preceeding president his own Father by his Will manifested he had the Power, and left it him by his last. But his he'll say was a Power given him by Parliament. But that is not so plain neither both from the Preamble, and the purport of both the dissonant Acts of 28, and 35 for the designs of both were only for the settling the Succession, and then upon supposition of the failure of issue from those upon whom it was setled, they fairly leave it to his last Will or his Let­ters Pattents; but supposing this Liber­ty had not been allow'd, can he ima­gin that a King that had got them to al­ter the succession at his pleasure in his Life time, would not upon the failure of the Limited Heirs have dispos'd of it by Will at his death, but that none but this [Page 129] Edward of our Kings took this power upon him is utterly false, from these se­veral instances. First the very first King of his name, in the Saxon succession, left it so to his Son to succeed: And Athel­stan, Malmsbury Lib. 2. c. 6. fol. 27. Ju­ssu patris in Testa­mento A­thelstonus in Regen acclamatus est whom above this Gentleman re­commended to the City of London for a Mon. and Illegitimate, against the sense, and silence of all Historians, was declar'd King by the Command, and last Will of his Father Edward the elder; in the Reign of the Danes, Canutus did the same; bequeath'd Norway to Swain his eldest, and England to his youngest Son; and for the Norman Succession, the very first King, and who had the most right to do so from the Sword, left to Rufus the right but of an Heir Testamentary, tho followed by his Son Henry the first, And Richard that had less reason so to do, for his Daughter Maud by the Law of the Land would have been his Heir without the Legacy; and so would to the latter his Nephew Arthur, and tho both were by Rebellion rejected, yet still sure their right remain'd.

But for this Edward the 6th disposing it by Will, it was not only against the Customary Discent of the Realm in a [Page 130] right blood; but of an Express Entail in several Acts of Parliaments. I am so far of this Authors opinion, that I believe it was no way warrantable, but never the sooner for his Parliaments settlement, had it not been at last upon the right Heirs; for tho those Princes of ours here­tofore took upon them to leave Succe­ssors by Will, they still nominated those that by Blood were to succeed without such a Nomination, so that the bequest was more matter of Form, then Adopti­on; only to let the Subjects know whom they look't upon to have the right of Succession, rather than to superadd any thing of more right, and that's the reason (or ought to be) that we properly call the next in Blood the Kings Successor, but the Crowns Heir.

'Tis a little prodigious Paradox to me, that it must be such a receiv'd Maxim that a Parliament can do no wrong, and that in plain Terms they tell us it can do any thing; mollifying it only with an Exception that they can't make a Man a Woman, yet that they bid pretty fair for too in these Presidents of Harry the 8th, when they made Bastard Females of those that were Legitimate and then Legitimis'd [Page 131] again the same Bastards; and 'tis as migh­ty a Miracle to men unprejudic'd, that our Parliament Patriots should contend for the disordering the Succession of the Crown, who still labour for the Lineal Discent of their own Common Inheritance, [...] I will appeal to the breast of the most [...] contender for this Power, whe­ther an Act made for the disabling one of their own Sons, or design'd Successors, would not by themselves be look't on as [...] if not utterly defeasible; and then [...] sure prodigiously strange where so many Learned Heads tell us of a sort of [...] from a power Divine, where the [...] Custom of the Kingdom has [...] a constant course of Lineal Discent, [...], as has been shown, a perfect [...] interven'd: And where themselves [...] this sort of Succession has [...] sometimes by Statute entail'd, yet [...] they should think that but Justice [...] their Kings Successor, which they [...] resent as an Injury to their own: [...] they may vouch for it, the common [...] of Recoveries from a right Heir, with too Cunning sort of vouching, and [...] too much practis'd; but I am sure no way agrees with the Laws of Forraign [Page 132] Nations, and has been a little [...] by some learned Heads in our own, [...] some that have brought it into [...] seem to have rais'd a Devil, not Vid. Dr and Student p. 49 to 58. soon to be put down; in their Dialogue but however this Objection is [...] analagous, nothing of a Parallel [...] for here is a Complication of both [...] Concern'd, and concluded upon [...] both their Consents, and where shall [...] find the perfect Proprietor of [...] and Scepters, and when God has told us [...] that by him they Reign that bear [...] and they'l hardly vouch the [...] for a piece of Injustice. But allowing for once a meer Human Constitution, [...] in their bandied Authority of Saint [...], an Ordinance of Man, and the [...] Consent with his Parliaments to [...] the Point, yet still the great [...] would call for a little longer [...] than a Common Recovery, [...] not presently to cut off the right of Heir to three Kingdoms, only [...] commonly done at Westminster of [...] to so many Cottages; and besides, [...] that has been practis'd so long, and [...] the test of Time, and this their [...] would have been the first President. [Page 133] And at last what has silenc'd their Advo­cates for ever, the non-concurrence of the King and his Lords, whose consent was by themselves suppos'd to be necessary because requir'd; and will like those recognitions of some of our former Par­liaments for an Hereditary Succession per­petuate that right, in spight of the Laws of others that were made for altering it, and should the Commons ever get such a Bill to pass; 'tis enough to say 'twas once rejected by the Peers, unless they can prove that the Question was put again, Whether the lower House should take ad­vice of the Lords in the Legislative power, and that 'twas Resolved that the House of 6. Feb. 48. carried in the Neg. p. 15. voices. Peers was useless, dangerous, and ought to be abolish't, and Order'd that an Act be brought in for that purpose.

Queen Mary succeeds her Brother In the very first of her Reign there was an Act made de­claring her Succession and Inheri­tance to be by right of Blood. Edward, with all the Right of Blood, with all the Law of God, and Man too on her side; for whatever the Parlia­ment pretended, they could never [...] that which was begotten in Matri­mony, celebrated according to the Laws of the Church and the Realm; for what­soever defect there was found subsequent to the Consummation of the Marriage in [Page 134] common reason and equity ought not to have extended to the making that Issue spurious, which had all the requisites to the making it truly Legitimate; [...] perhaps the subsequent discoveries [...] be sufficient to cause a Divorce; and in the too Common Case of Adultery, 'twould be severe, far from Equity to make Bastards of all that were born be­fore the Conviction of the Fact; but it may be reply`d to this, That these were such Impediments as related to the Con­tract ab Juitio, and where that's [...] there the Children begotten after [...] be suppos'd Lawful Heirs when the Con­tract it self is against Law; but tho [...] I shall look upon that as a rigorous re­solution; when I think Innocents and Infants ought to be more favour'd, es­pecially when there is a Maxim in the Quod fieri non debet factum va­let. Law even in the like Cases, that the fact may be valid tho the doing of it can't be justifi'd; and besides there being a Rule that obtains amongst Civilians, That Leg. qui in provincià Sect. divs H. de Rit. Nup. l. 4. Marriage contracted without any pre­conceiv'd Impediment, tho it after [...] to be dissolv'd as unlawful, yet [...] begotten in such a state are reputed truly Legitimate; and tho Appeals to [...] [Page 135] were then Punishable with a Premunire, yet the Civil Law then obtain'd much more than it does now; that Stat. being very young as well as the Reformation, and by the Laws of the Church long be­fore it; they were such Latitudinarians in this point, that the subsequent Marriage would Legitimate those that were born before the Contract, but that I confess was 20. H. 3d. rejected here in 20 Harry the 3d's time, because contrary to the common Laws of the Realm which the Parliament re­solutely declar'd they would not change.

But what ever power they had of Nullifying this and making Mary spuri­ous, 'tis certain another, and latter Act 35. H. 8. made her as much Legitimate by making her Hereditary, insomuch that what e­ver Edward her Brother was prevail'd upon, a young Prince and a dying one, whose forward Understanding might be well disorder'd with an approaching Death, and an untimely end, and which might be easily prevail'd upon in such Circumstances, by the Cruel sollicitati­ons of the defigning Northumberland, Stow. 609 Vid. Bishop of Here­ford's last year of E. 6. whose Son had but just Married Suffolk's Daughter the designed Queen; yet [...] then [...] the truly Loyal Bishop [Page 136] and as true a ( Protestant, of which his [...] to the right of the Crown was the best testimony, tho now 'tis made but a preposterous Emphatical expression of that Religion to invade it;) that worthy Prelate tho he suffer'd in the Succeeding flames of a real Persecution, when de­manded by these State Projectors his sense of the setting up of this Testamentary Queen, declar'd it was no way agreeable to Equity to disinherit the two Sisters, and that the Succession could not be Lawfully alter'd upon any pretence; tho Religion then too, was the very thing pretended; the Bishop of Hereford that was as good a Protestant observes upon the Suffolk men siding with Queen Ma­ry, tho they knew she was for setting up of Popery, says that our English are in their respects to their Prince so Loyally Con­stant, that no regard, no pretext of Religi­on, Ibid. page 157. can extenuate their Affections to their Prince and Lawful Soveraign. And he writ it in a Time when the most maliti­ous can't object it was to flatter a suspect­ed Successor, and when most of the Prelates themselves were so far from Rome, that there was scarce an Armi­nian.

[Page 137] Upon the death of her Sister; Doctor Health Arch-Bishop of Canterbury present­ly Stow, 635. declar'd Queen Elizabeth's right to the Parliament then sitting, who did not put it to the Vote, as our Republi­can would insinuate they use to do, but however did as much as was usual; ac­knowledg'd that she was right Lawful In­heritor; and presently she was proclaim­ed in Westminster-hall; and in the next vote they do declare moreover in full Assembly Lords and Commons, That this 1. Eliz. c. 3. their Queen Elizabeth is their Lawful Soveraign, by the Laws of God, (and so not only in relation to 35 H. 8.) by the Statutes of the Realm, and the Blood-Royal; and in this open and generous Recognition, they must Implicitly dis­claim all power of Election, or give them­selves the Lye, and so must our Impostor put upon them a falsehood, if here his Parliamentary Choice must pass for a Truth; but where matter fails them before, and he can't prove his Election antecedent to the Monarchs right, then as in some o­ther places and here at present he can make the Prince tho own'd Hereditary, by some subsequent Act of his own to make himself Elective, and for this he [Page 138] cites you the 13 of this Queen; the pur­port 13. Eliz. of which is, to disable any one even after her Death to inherit the Crown, that shall pretend to it during her Life: But does not every one know that this was Enacted as all the fore-mention'd ir­regular Acts of her Father, with her own seeking and desire? and the bringing this for a president for a Parliamentary Power, is just as pertinent as that of palliating the Treason of their late Cove­nant, with the Title and Pretence of an Association, made in her Time too with her own Consent, and for the same pur­pose that this Act was past, both being contriv'd in opposition to the pretences of the Queen of Scots; and must the on­ly thing that has Blacken'd her clear In­tegrity with Injustice, and Blemish't her Virgin Innocency with Blood, be brought upon the Stage for an Imitation to our State, and because the Grand-mo­ther suffer'd with a Bill of EXCLVSION and an AXE, and the Father with the same Fate, must the Son too that has ex­perienc'd exile, dangers, and all but death from this power of Parliament, Succeed on­ly in their Misfortune, and his Blood be made Hereditary only in being Split?

[Page 139] All that he says of King James is but 1. Jacob. what makes against him, and what he might have said of all the rest, that they made a Recognition of his right upon his coming to the Crown, and truly such an one as must silenc'd all such [...]; for they acknowledg him, Lineal, Law­ful, Liege Lord, by the Laws of God, and Man; this may suffice for my sense of his History; and all honest hearts will con­cur with my Sentiments, his subsequent observations are but the same with the Principles of his ASSOCIATES that fol­low, where I shall reflect upon them toge­ther as they are combin'd. And here on­ly give him an omitted Instance, as per­tinent as the Presidents he has propos'd, to bring down his Narrative to the Times.

Charles the first; notwithstanding his proximity of Blood, his possession of the Crown, and his pretended right from God, [...] the Parliament impri­son'd him, MVRDERED him, and put the Power in the People.

And now what can any Rational Soul See all the 3 Votes in their Jour­nal Book. living infer, even from this Authors own Observations; but that those Parlia­ments which he brings us here for Pre­sidents [Page 041] both for disallowing the Discent of the Crown to purge the Defects of the Prince upon whom it descends; as also those that concern'd themselves in altering the Lineal Discent it self; are so far from warranting the same Practises and pro­ceedings, that they stand upon Record, are Chronicl'd in History, register'd in Coke, Ch-Treason 2d. Inst. resolv­ed by all the Judges of the Land the deposers were all Traytors. their own Journals, declar'd by Special Acts, REBELS and TRAYTORS; and then no wonder if the poor People are encourag'd to Rebel, when the ve­ry Presidents of TREASON, shall be publish't as a Parliamentary Practise; the deluded filly Souls, don't so soon con­sider, that if every Seditious Senate's determination, shall decide too the Descent of the Crown, that this conse­quence which even themselves may blush to own, must as inevitably follow, that from the Vnion of the Seven under Egbert, to our present Soveraign the first Born Heir, to our Three Vnited Kingdoms; there never was, or could ever be, a REBELLION, or ever one USURPER in the whole Catalogue of Kings.

Henry of Bullingbrook, by this unrea­sonable sort of supposition, had as much [Page 141] right to the Crown, as that Unfortunate Richard from whom it was rent and torn; Edward the Third but a Son; In­titl'd to the wearing it, before his Fa­ther had done with it himself, and that Butcher of his Brothers Babes, and the Monster of Men, as Lawful a King as his Nephew that he Murder'd: That Arch-Rebel that of late mounted the Throne, Cromwel himself, as much right to sit there; as a Charles the best of Monarchs they Martyr'd; all these were by Par­liament 1. Ed. 3d. 1. Hen. 4. 1. Rich. 3. acknowledg'd for their Lawful Soveraigns, against the very Fundamen­tal Laws of all the Land; Laws that even with the Allowance of one their late most Laborious, most popular (and pillor'd Advocate for this Power of Par­liament, Prynn's power of Parliament fol. 107. Pryn himself,) have still plac't the Discent of the Crown in the right Heirs at Common Law; and who himself Confesses that Acts of Parliament have translated it from them, to others who had no good Title; and then certainly such a translation at best can be but bad, and Evidences that there is somewhat else requir'd besides their Power to the making of a King; so powerful and prevalent are the Dictates of Truth and [Page 142] reason that they force their Confessions sometimes from the very Mouths of those that Labour to give them the Lye, drop from them unawares, and steal from their unadvised Lips.

Lastly, 'Tis most prodigiously Strange that such Seditious Sycophants as fawn upon this Parliamentary Power, for alter­ing the Succession, and asserting of an absolute wrong; yet are such unreasona­ble Souls as not to Consider the several Acts of the self-same Powers that have declar'd it unalterable, and maintain'd the Monarchs Vnquestionable right. Ed­ward 1. Edw. 4. the 4th's first Parliament they them­selves know declar'd those that came to the Crown by the Common Consent of the People to be but Vsurpers; Kings only de Facto, which implys 'its con­trary, to be just, and that some de jure must be Kings; they know the first of James declares his Royal Office an Heri­tage 1. Jacob. Inherent in the very Blood of him, and also that all our Books of Law be­sides the Fundamental Constitution of the Land, do make the Regal Power Hereditary and not Elective, and such an Elected Usurpers Laws can no further oblige the Subject; of England then they [Page 143] they'l submit; no more then the Czars of Muscovy, a pecuniary [...] must be but a bare oppression; and a Capital Punish­ment MURDER: But Will. Prynn, I Pryn's. That the Parliament and King­dom are the Sovereign power, a piece Print­ed by Order of the house of Commons. Confess in another of his Treatises that he Printed, will have all such Acts made by Consent of Vsurping Kings, bind the right Heirs of the Crown that Reign by a just Title: That all such Acts oblige them is utterly false, for one of them is commonly for their Exclusion; but that some are admitted to bind is as really True, but that is rather upon a Political account of their being serviceable to the Publick and the Country's Good. And is it not now an unaccountable boldness; that the very same Cases of Usurpers upon the Crown, that this Indefatigable piece of Faction publish't against the Father they fought, and Murder'd; should be retrieved against the Son whom the kind Heavens ev'n by Miracle so lately restor'd?

But at last allowing those palpable falsehoods they so much Labour for; falsehoods so gross that they can be felt, to be matter of Fact, contradict the true sense of all Chronicle; with a Seditious Supposition; to be secur'd of Truth, give all the Laws of the Land the Lye; raze [Page 144] Rolls and Records, the better to rise a Rebellion; and grant the Kings of Eng­land have been all Elected, all almost from that Union of the Heptarchy in the Saxon; to that of our three Kingdoms in the Scot, (and sure no Soul living can conclude with them in a fairer Concessi­on than in granting the very Postulate they require) yet since they then in the End of K. James, tho but so lately had set­tled the Succession and made it Heredi­tary; can with men of Common sense the Presidents of its having been former­ly Elective, prevail for an utter Subver­sion of such a Settlement? Popery was once in England by Law Establish't, and must it therefore again be Establish't by Law? Certainly all succeeding Refor­mation, must null and abolish that from which they Reform; and a Repealing Act will hardly be made Declaratory of the very Statute it Repeals; if these be but their best Arguments, the same you see will reason us back into the very Re­ligion of Rome; we have seen several Rebellions, and some even of late to have lain the Land in Blood; and can such sad Sufferance be made to Prescribe for our Misery, warrant some such as Bloody [Page 145] to succeed; but since all this suppos'd suggestion, must vanish like to soft Air, since the Succession has been settled for so many several ages; to rake every mu­sty Record only for a sad Review of some Time of Confusion, is certainly but an Impi­ous Industry to Confound the work of the very God of Order: We may as well be dis­contented at the Frame of his World he so well digested, and plead for Prescrip­tion the Primitive Chaos.

THE best Animadversion that I can make on his whole first days Discourse, is, that it wants none; that it's Impertinence has superseded reproof; and the fulsome flattering Dialogue as unfit for a seri­ous Answer, as a Farce for a Refutation out of a Sermon.

[Page 146] The great acquaintance these pre­tending Platonicks would be thought to have with that Sect of Philosophers, did not oblige them to be so morosely reserv'd as to know none other; and they may remember an Ephesian Sophy I believe as Learned too in his Politicks, that was never so much tickl'd, as when he saw the dull Animal mumbling of the cross-grain'd unpalatable Thistle; the disputing against the Laws of the Land, and the Light of Reason, they'l find as uneasie, as absurd; and the latter as Im­pious and Profane, and which deserves to be assimulated to a more serious sort of Obstinacy, that of so many Sauls kicking against the Pricks; but the Pleasant and Ridicnlous Disputants put in for a­nother pretty Quality of that insensible Brute, the length of their sordid and stu­pid Flattery outdoes their Original Beast, and the sad Sophister would force one Smile more, to see three of the same sort of Creatures for a whole day clawing one another.

Certainly whatever they fancy the Dialogues of Plato, whatever the Fa­vourers of his Principles can suggest, surely they were never fill'd with such [Page 147] Fustian: But that good old Philosopher did as plainly cloath his Disputes as well as himself in an honest homely Drugget of Athens: Tho I confess they tell us of his rich Bed, and his affectation of State, which a Soul so sublime could not but Contemn; while these Sectaries are such refin'd Academicks, so much polisn't with Travel and the breeding of the Times, That all the Fops of France, the Dons of Spain, his Adulano of Italy, seem melted down into one Mass of Imperti­nence; they can't pass by the thin A­partments of a Page without a Congee Bon-Grace, and a formal Salutation up­on one anothers Excellencies, the Doctor claws the Patient with his Lenitives, Fri­cations, Emollients of Praise and Adula­tion, and the Patient (who in the literal sence must be said to suffer with such a Doctor, (if not in Body Natural, I am sure in the Politick) as in Cordial Affecti­on and Common Civility he is obliged; returns him the reputation of his Book De Corde; for the tickling the very Au­ricula's of his Heart; (for Praise must cer­tainly be Pleasant for an AEsculapius that sets up for a Matchiavel;) confutes So­lomon and the Bible, as he says, for say­ing, [Page 148] the Heart is unsearchable, tho but Vid. Argu­ment to the Book. an Ordinary Divine without the Cri­ticks, Tremellius, or a Munster would say, that in the Text there is nothing meant but the mind: But Cor hominis must not be Inscrutabile now, only because the Doctor has handl'd its fibres; and thus this Triumvirate of Fulsomness and Fa­ction, treat one another with their Fustian and Foppery through the whole piece; I seldom care to lard our English with the least scrap of Latin; but because 'tis the property of such pedantick Scrib­lers, who still most affectwhat is most ridi­culous, Foppery and Folly, I'll only give them an Argument out of the Mathema­ticks fora Demonstration. of their agreea­ble Faction and Foolishness; and for his Cor hominis as it relates to this Doctors Pharmaceutria, let him take one of Euclid's Postulates that has a greater re­ference to their mighty Three: In Quae con­veniunt uno Tertio conveni­unt inter se. English thus, and if they will have Lat­tin 'tis in the Margin: Those that agree in one Third, must needs agree among themselves. The Venetian Claws the Doctor, the Dr. our English man; and he the Doctor and Venetian, one of them must be somewhat of the Ass among [Page 149] them; and then 'tis Demonstrable they have a great share in it all, and because the great Galen of the Times, is so bold with his Catharticks as to set up for his Purging of the Court of Chancery; tho I Page 129. am no Practiser in it, yet I shall take the pains to defend it against the Doctor in its due place; and since the Mounte­bank for the Body Natural is here all a­long made an Empirick for the Diseases of the POLITICK; and from his Col­ledg brought to the Coffee-House, to talk only of the Marasmus of State, I'll give him my sence tho no States-man of this whole Work, in his own Phraseo­logy: The Piece seems to me like a sort of Preparation among the Doctors; a meer Amalgama; the Chymical Ope­rator understands it better than many a Politician the Marasmus; 'tis a Com­position of meer Quick-silver, and Lead, tho this Political Spagyrist, perhaps will call it Saturn and Mercury, here this Author with the help of the Fire of his hot Brain, has incorporated his volatile thoughts and his dull ones together, gay Compliments and Air, Faction, and Hell in a lump: And tho this homely Physician won't allow himself to have [Page 150] been abroad, tho the courteous Veneti­an contended for his breeding in Padua, Page 81. yet the frequency of Murders here too, would make a Body mistrust it; and however their Human Bodys escape, such Principles I am sure have Poyson'd some of their Souls; and thus I have plac'd my Pleasant Observation, upon their Ridiculous Stuff together, that I might only reflect hereafter on what they would have thought serious, and I shall worth a Reflection without the Mixture of Mirth: Their mingl'd Foppery must otherwise provoke a little Laughter as well as their Principles of Sedition in­cense; and I cannot Trim my Passions so well, as to keep them in a pure [...] of Mirth and Anger. If any affect­ed to the Cause, or disaffected, thinks his Introduction deserv's a more serious Reply; let him take the pains to give [...] a more solid Elaborate Confutation.

In the Second day they wisely agreed not to play the Fool; and [...] well they [...] upon't for the sake of their Senses, and the first Observation of the Venetian is as long as his Noble gown, down to the very heels of two Pages, but for brevity you shall have it in as many words. [Page 151] Why that our English Nation signifies so Plat. Red. Page 16. little abroad, yet makes such a great sight at home; our Author having been so much Conversant with Dons and French can't forbear falling to his Formality agen, and after a soft sort of Compliment to the Courteous Stranger and the Govern­ment, thus Thunders out his Negative Reason: Evil Counsellors, Pensioner Parliament, Thorough pac'd Judges, Flat­tering Ibid p. 20 Divines, designing Papists, French Councils. So I have seen at another sort of Cabal where such Disputants use to as­semble for Edification, and Doctrine, not Dialogue and Dispute; the Jack-Pudding of their Pulpit has seem'd to whisper his God Almighty in the Ear as a common Zany does his Mountebank for Instructi­on; and then raves out to the list'ning and Attentive Rabble, his Choledochons, Phlegmagogons, Balms of Gilead, Consci­ence Salve, Curse ye Meroz, Sword of Gideon; and for this Enthusiasm too those Harleqins of their Assemblies the Burlesques of the Bible; shall Blaspheme with the very Book, and vouch the Al­mighties coming to them in a still voice, and sometimes in a rushing wind, and the Devil of Sedition shall be countenanced [Page 152] with the word of God; I should hardly pardon my self the Liberty of sullying the sacred Text with so much as the repe­tition of such a Simile, did not I know the Zealots themselves had vouch't it for a Iustification of their sudden Raptures and Inspiration; and for this Preacher of the Politicks, tho I never saw him in his Geer and Gestures, I am sure he makes just such another Figure in his Speech, on a sudden 'tis all Aposeiopesis soft and fair, and assoon all in Exclamation [...] Ecphone, and these heats and lucid In­terval's of raving, run through his whole Work.

But first for his Forreigner, with his Observation, is it a Mathematical Postu­late that our Nation is so despicable with our Neighbour's, that it must be granted assoon as ask't? or has he rather beg'd the Question; or can the Noble Stu­dent from his Geometry, measure the same and reputation of the Kingdoms of the Earth; but whatever his skill be in the Doctrine of Triangles, I am sure he is much out here in his Measures, and what­ever reputation England has at Venice, or a compleat Monarchy with a mixt Republick, I am sure with better Go­vernments [Page 153] it has as much esteem; and when ever it loses any, it must proceed from the Scandals and Infectious breath of such Authors and Seditious Vipers, that wound the Reputation as well as the Bowels of their Dam.

But that matter of Fact may contra­dict what Malice does but suggest; near the very same Time this most Impu­dent About 80. or 81. Observation was made, did they propose to our present Prince the Lea­gue of Guaranty, and desire HIS entrance before that of the Empire: But I can tell him what once brought a Scandal indeed upon the Nation, made it a reproach to it's Neighbours; in a thing of the like Nature, not to mention the Murder of their King, for that supersedes all hopes of regaining it's former Esteem, for did not the Proceedings of that Rebel Par­liament, make us a by-word to the Hea­then, and a Scandal even to the revolted Holland? did not the very Turks bless themselves at the Villany, and the Dutch since in Derision cut off the Tails of their Currs, to let us know we made less of a Kings head, than a Dogs Neck? But this we mean to apply related to it's reputa­tion upon a League too; this was a [Page 154] Scandal also brought upon it by a Par­liament; this was the effect of unjustly altering the Succession. And this was in the Time of Henry the 8, when the Princes of the Empire would have made him Head of the Protestant League, but upon hearing of his Extravagant Par­liamentary Proceedings, of their repu­diating what Wives he pleas'd; and al­lowing a more cruel Divorce of a Pious Protestant Queen from her Life as well as his Bed, and severing her Head from her Shoulders, as well as the Crown; when they saw the Senate of England so Inconsistent with themselves as to Legi­timate Bastards, and then make Bastards of those they thought Legitimate: Then be­gan our Nations Reputation to be low with our Neighbours? Then began our Parliament's to be look't upon as in­significant, and the Supream Power of our [...] Assembly, to Forreign Coun­cils seem inconsistent, and their mighty Credit so mean that they could not be trusted; and thereupon all the Leaguer's [...] rejected Henry whom they had preposed for their Head.

And well might they distrust the Councils of such a State, that while they [Page 155] pretended the Reformation of Religion could chop off the Head of the most zealous Reformer, and as Baker calls her Page 284. one of the first Countenancers of the Go­spel; make her Issue spurious, that was like to and afterwards did prove the most Protestant Princess, and all this but to please a Lididinous King that could make her suffer for his constant Crime, Inconstancy, when that too was so little prov'd and her Innocency so much; what­ever Papists were then Martyr'd for opposing their Kings Supremacy, Protestants the Mass, a sort of Par­liament persecution destroying both. Witness the 6 Articles set forth in 31 of his Reign. Burnets Abridg­ment, pag. 157. Viz. The Protestant Queen. prospect these pretenders of Refor­mation gave to the Princes of the Em­pire that they should think of making the head of this dissembling Parliament that of their League too; I am sure they must all of them as Oates did when he took the Mass, the Sacrament for his Religi­on, only pretend it; and tho they made the World and Forreign Princes think well of their affections to Reform, tho they had excluded the Pope, still they and their King could remain Pa­pist's; and a Reverend Author that has had the thanks of the House, says that a Parliament was Summon'd that was re­solv'd to destroy her; so that we see a Parliament could then contrive to make our Nation signifie so little abroad, and [Page 156] that our present King without one, sig­nifies so much, that he stands the sole Arbitrator of War, and Peace, and Eu­rope only debar'd of the benefits of it, by the very Faction; that upbraids the Government with its being disesteem'd, and this Noble Traveller, not only ta­ken the Liberty to Lye with Fame, but given Fame it self the Lye.

After he has Thunder'd out his Ana­thema's Page 20. against the State in the Jargon I recited above, of Evil Councellors, Pen­sioner Parliament, thorough pac'd Judges, which still the most malitious Soul can't allow to be the true Reasons of our Ma­ladies and Distempers: But however the State Negromancer, with his Rosa­crucian the Doctor, knew these terrible Names with the Populace are swallow'd like his Pills without chawing, and which they understand no more than his Catharticks with which they are compos'd with that unhappy effect too; that they can no more discern the bitter cheat, when these Prepossessions are got into the Guts of the Brain, then that of the drug when in those of the Belly; but like Persons absolutely possess'd rave and rail only with the same words that are [Page 157] dictated by their Devil, yet, after all this, and having Libel'd Courtiers that con­trary to the true meaning of the Law, as well in this Kings time as in that of the Late, they have got Parliaments Dissolv'd, Vid. p. 20, 21. Plato Red. Proroug'd, for the keeping of the Govern­ments Life and Soul together; after all these Seditious suggestions still he defines but Negatively, that none of these are the Causes, but the effects of some Pri­mary Cause that disturbs it; but I am a­fraid this Primary Cause, to him is yet an occult one, unless the Discovery of our late Plots, has so far illuminated his Understanding, as to disclose it, or he consulted his Doctor, for his Diagno­sticks; and got him to make a better Crisis and Judgment of the distemper of the State.

But for those Acts by which he thinks his Majesty is oblig'd to call a Parliament, for the Triennial one, I think runs with a Clause and a Proviso that it may be oft­ner call'd and within the Term if occa­sion be; and pray who shall be Judg of that occasion; the King who calls them, or the People who would be call'd; and what if it be Judg'd an occasion, not to call them at all? the Preservation of [Page 158] the Prerogative may as well exclude the force of this, as some new Emergencies, which themselves plead for upon a ne­cessity; and for the Common-wealth and Peoples Benefit and Advantage can Invalidate others; but for that ob­ligation, and Law for the Parliaments sitting in the late Kings time, that which he would truly have reinforc'd, is their Page 21. being perpetual again and not to be dis­solv'd; but for that I think he need not perswade the Courtiers to Address or be so bold to Petition himself, unless he would tell his Majesty they must a­gain have the Militia; they must fight once more against his Person for the sake of his Authority, and sit taking of Covenants, and Associations, till they have taken off their King.

But after our English-man has been so tedious in his Impertinence, so Fulsom in his Complement, that the Venetian is forc't to condemn his troublesome Civi­lity (that is) our Author begins to be asham'd of himself: Why then we come to know, that before this great Secret that occasions our Disquiet, can be dis­closed before we can come to know the Distemper, that disturbs our own. We [Page 159] must Discourse of Government in general; and for the Original of it, the Gentle­man is resolv'd to doubt: And why? Because this Government must be An­tecedent to such Authors as could give us an account of it, and the matter of History, as I suppose he must mean, did occur long before they could get Histo­rians to transmit it to Posterity: as for particular Governments, he is forc't to allow the Knowledg of their Originals to be possibly transmitted, and truly, that he might well in Civility consent to, what in Modesty he could not contra­dict, and Rome and Athens will be found what they were in their Primi­tive Plutarch, Florus, Paterculus &c. State, so long as we can find Au­thors that can tell us of a Romulus a Theseus for their Founder.

But when the Gentleman is so cruel to himself as to keep close to the Text, that there is no Origen of Original Pri­mitive Government known (for in truth, these last mention'd might be Modern, and I believe that Rome and Athens were never heard of, when Sodom and Go­morrah were burnt with Brimstone,) then he is forc't to give himself the Lye, and the word of Truth it self, God and [Page 160] the Bible; and that he does in except­ing Moses from the number of those that had the Help, and Information of any Constitution Antecedent; as the Founders of the foremention'd Mo­narchies that were Establisht so long af­ter, might well be supposed to have had for their Instruction; and yet does that sacred Penman inspired by God himself, almost Coaeval with the World, give us a clear account of all Original Go­vernment, from the time that there was a Man to Rule, or a Beast to be gover­ned; and that too of an absolute Mo­narchical Empire: So that all what the sublime Speculations, of this refin'd Politician can cavil at, is only, that we can't give him an account what was done before Adam, what truly was the Constitutions of their Government, and He allows Moses to have had no help of any Pre­ceeding ad­ministrati­on, but only the aid of God him­self. Pag. 29. whether the Prae-Adamites liv'd like our English-men under a true Monarch, or like the Venetian Republick, under an in­significant Duke: For this certainly must be the Consequence of his Inconside­rate Assertion, that Original Govern­ment is unknown, at the same time that he excepts Moses from the Number of those that Establisht a Particular one; [Page 161] which by the Consequence of his own Concession must be the first General and Original, unless he allow another be­fore it, dis-believe the very Bible, and give his God the Lye: But he is not the first Author that has fancyed Prae-Ada­mites, and writ about them too: Be­sides his Brother Heathen the Stagyrite, as great a Philosopher as his Plato, tho not so Dogmatical, makes it more than an Hypothesis, one of his Principles that our World was Eternal; and then indeed we shall be puzzled for this Original of Government in General, for lack of a Creation; when the Bible shall be baffled, and Books of Moses at a loss.

But I wonder since he allows that Pri­mitive Penman, to be one inspired by God; and excepts him too from the Number of those that have transmitted an account of the Original of particular Governments, which must imply that he did of that which was General, and so contradict his first Position, (That we wanted such a Tradition;) that yet all the while he won't take notice what is the account he gives, and what's the first, this Moses mention'd, without doubt he [Page 162] knew the very Consideration of it would confute him, and that he would be confounded by the very First Chap­ter of [...]: And therefore he pre­sently takes it for granted that Politi­cians [...], (tho none but such as himself) that nothing but Necessity Page 29. made the first Government: But then, what does he think of the Dominion that the Almighty gave in express Words to his created Man? was it only to extend to the Beast of the Field, and Genesis 1. Fowls of the Air, and every Living thing that then moved upon the Face of the Earth? or ought it not in Reason be applyed to those Beings too that should be hereafter the product of those Beasts, and that of his own Loyns; but even God himself confirm'd the Donation of this power afterward, to make it more sure, made him Ruler In an [...] Subjection over his Wife Eve, and af­terward subjected Abel in a subordinate one to his Brother Cain.

'Tis strange and prodigious to me, that Men professing Christianity, Prote­stants even to a fault, in being fill'd with Fury instead of a sober Zeal, yet should so warmly contend for the Do­ctrines [Page 163] of profest Atheists, and pursue with heat the Principles of avow'd Pa­pists. Does not Mr. Hobbs teach us our Ibid. only Mr. Hobbs says, Fear, this Fel­low, calls it Necessi­ty made the first Govern­ment, Hobbs de cive ch. [...] Original State? was that of War? and this Political Atheist tells us as much, that Man was first born like a Beast, [...] to prey upon one another; does not Bel­larmin declare by Nature all Men were equal, and this Pseudo-Protestant informs us, Every Man has a Right to every thing. What can this Harmony mean with the profest Foes to all Religion, and a­vow'd Enemies of our own; but that these Sycophants dissemble with their very God, when they declare for his Worship, and would close with the De­vil for its Extirpation? 'Tis plain, they do with the Positions of the rankest Je­suites, and the Fiends in Hell can't be made more black than themselves do commonly paint that Society, whom I am afraid, as the Indians do their Gods, they only make the more ugly for Ado­ration:

In the next place, all Paternal Right Plato, p: 31. must be laid aside; that's a thing so ri­diculous as not to be mention'd: But I hope 'tis only so because inconsistent with his Principles, when we have so [Page 164] many Texts of Scripture for its Confirm­ation; and Aristotle that learn'd Heathen, tho a Native born even in a Republick, places that Original of all Despotical power in the heads of Families, and I can't [...] where a man that has a Power to [...] it over some few, has not a share of Sovereignty too, as well as he that has an Empire over many more: The Government of those Families, and the setting their Father a Ruler over them in their several Tribes, was really from God, as appears plain enough from the Old-Testament; and that without doubt made Paul to make this of a lar­ger extent and Interpretation in the new, when he tells us expressly that all Powers are ordain'd by God, and there are none but what are from him: But they'll say this may be applyed to any Democracie which is a Power too: But then it may be as boldly replyed, That they are not of his Ordination; for we have the Authority for the sole Sove­reignty of every Father of a Family, from the very first Original of the World, and that of their Popular Supre­macie, never commenced, but by some Division in a Tribe or Family, and e­ven [Page 165] then they made some Head in that Division, which was no more than what we now call Rebellion and Vsurpation.

The first Original of Monarchy, he re­solves Page 33. into the Corruption of the Times, which the preposterous Statesmen ought rather to have made the product of their Purity, at least of their desire to be bet­tered and purg'd, for allowing what he says, some better Government (tho the greatest Opposers of the Divine Right, grant that of a King to be the best) might degenerate, upon the disorder of Times and Debauchery of Manners, into Monarchy, (which the resolute Republican is resolv'd shall be the worst;) yet still his own very Argument shall contradict his reasoning; and in spight of his Villanous Principles prove it the best: For if manners be deprav'd un­der another Form of Government, and that the People grow so careless as to neglect the Constitution and Frame of it, as not worth the keeping, and so uneasie under it as to admit any Usur­pation and Intrusion of a sole single So­veraignty; certainly they must have a very bad Esteem of their preceding Government to suffer it to be utterly [...] [Page 164] [...] [Page 165] [Page 166] abolish't, and somewhat at least of a good opinion of that new Soveraignty in a single Person, so easily to admit [...]; for the depravity of Mens manners can ne­ver arise to such an Acme of transcen­dent Wickedness, as only for mischief sake to undermine a Government they think the best, and for an Instance, their own Malitious Accusations as common as they are False, fly in the very Face of this Conjecture; for they make now the most Debauch't Atheists at present, the greatest Sticklers, for our Government. Now if the Depravity of their manners would make them neglect the Monarchy they love, I am sure we have such a Number of true Profligate Villains on their side that as Mortally hate it, that we should soon have it undermin'd: 'Tis a strange Paradox that a Republick which was always the result of a Rebellion, and which is restless till it return to that Go­vernment from which it revolted; should be lookt upon by these prejudic'd, pre­posterous Politicians, for a piece of [...], which can proceed from nothing else, but from the Turbulent Hunjour, and discontents of some rest­less Spirits, that dislike the Constitution [Page 167] of that under which they were Born; and would that of any to which they are Subjected, yet still can Fancy that Monarchy which they will have Esta­blish't by the common Consent of the People, to proceed from a Corruption of their Manners; when this their Peo­ples Consent, and Unanimous Agreement for it, should determine him at least to think it eligible for the best: And if the People that in a defection from a Go­vernment (who must be supposs'd the least Number,) shall be allow'd to re­form for the better by running into a Republick; as I know he thinks of the Re­bellious Dutch; yet why should not even there the Universal Consent of almost all the King of Spains Subjects in retaining of their Monarchy make it preferable; much Over-ballance the Scales, against the revolt of an handful of Rebels? unless he Fancies the Nevills, the Sydneys, the Harringtons, &c. the Wisest and the most Honest part of the World. And that they are always among such Rene­gadoes.

And can in Reason three or four petty Common-wealths, most of them in Europe too, and such as by the Machi­nations [Page 168] of some of these sort of [...] Contents, and by the Poison of their Principles, were Debauch't in their Loyalty, and animated to Rebel; be so prevalent an Argument as to perswade Men in their Wits, that the Monarchy's in which almost all our Christian World Conspires, and all the Heathen agrees as far as it is known; and which Government we have still found even in those unknown parts as far, and as fast as they have been Discover'd; that this all the while must be the worse Frame, only from it's being by so few rejected, and so generally receiv'd?

But to Convince any reasonable Soul unprejudic'd, that these Democratical Devil's wont stick to give their God the Lye, and set themselves a Contradicti­on to all History and Truth, this Dae­mon of Plato (as an Ingenious Author and Answerer of his Diabolical Princi­ples has Naturally nam'd him;) let him but consider this [...] Falsehood of his Factious Heart, tho that I believe fails him too, in asserting this Impudent Paradox: That Moses, Theseus, Ro­mulus, Page 52. were the Founders of Democracies, when for the First his own God, if he [Page 169] believe any, and against whom he Re­bels too if he do, had appointed him the Supream Ruler, and also a Judge, to lead On the morrow Moses sate to Judg the people Ex. 18.13. them in their Decampments, and give them their Laws in the Camp, against whose absolute Monarchy he can object no­thing but that they did not call him King, and yet even that is done too by those Primitive Rebels in the Rebellion of Corah; when they Expostulate with him for making himself altogether a Prince over them; that is, what our Modern ones call Arbitrary, Absolute; but even that is literally said, and Mo­ses was King in Jesurun. And will our Numb. 16. Murmurers at the Lords Anointed never be Convinc'd till they are Confounded with the same Fate, till Fire come again from Heaven, or they go quick down into Hell?

The Survivors of those discontented Mutineers upbraiding Moses for destroy­ing of that Rebellious Brood, whom God only in his Judgments had destroy'd, the Almighty would have Consum'd them too in a moment; neither was his Anger stay'd till Fourteen Thousand fell in a Plague, our Land has Labour'd under all these Judgments; but because [Page 170] the Almighty's resentments of our Rebel­lious Practices; are not declar'd to us as of old, out of a Cloud, and he does not reveal himself now to his Vice-gerent, as then to his Servant Moses; and the Glory of the Lord discends not in a vi­sable Brightness upon our Tabernacle, Must we therefore be so vainly blind as to think they were not sent us for those Sins that have most deserv'd them, our Conspiring against our Rulers; espe­cially when the manner of our Punish­ments has been so Remarkably the same with their sufferings, as well as our tran­scrib'd Villanies the very Copy of their Crimes?

For that of Theseus we have the good Authority of an Authentick Historian that writ his Life, who tells us when he first went to reduce them to one City, and the Government of ONE; the Common Ordinary people were well enough pleas'd with his Proposal: And Plutarch. In Theseo. Remp. abs­que Regia dominati­one sore si Regem se constitue­rent. to those that were Powerful and Great, he told them his Government should not be altogether Regal, ( which in their Greek, was Tyrannical,) if they would allow him for their King; this prevail'd he says upon them too, either out of [Page 171] Fear of his Force, or the Power of his Perswasions; now can such a False and Factious Imposture, can such a Wretch Insinuate well his being no King, that calls himself so; and only because he Consulted their Opinions in Weighty Affairs make it a Democracy? then we need not contend here for a Republick, our King still Consulting his great Coun­cil in Arduis Regni.

And for Romulus his founding his Lucius Flor. Hist. pri­ma aetas sub regibus fu­it prope 250 per Annos. Rome a Democracy, so far from truth that I defie him to show the least shadow from any Colour of History for such a piece of Imposture; Florus in the very First line of his Prologue calls him King Romulus, and in the same tells us Rome in it's first Age and Infancy, for about two hundred and fifty years, was Go­vern'd by Kings: Tacitus too in his very Tacit. An. Lib. 1. Urbem Romam à principio Reges ha­buere. first, Remarkable too for an unintended verse, tells us, that in the beginning 'twas Kings had the Government of the City of Rome; and afterward tells us this ve­ry Romulus Govern'd them Arbitrarily and at his will, Sext. Aur. vict. says Sext. Aur. de vir. Il­lustr. he was the first King of the Romans, that he lead them forth against the Sabines; that he sought, and that he made a Lea­gue, [Page 172] which none I think but Kings by Romulus ordein'd an 100 Se­nators, which grew to 300, in Fortescues time there were just so many in our House of Com­mons, For­tescue. C. 18. fol. 40. Coke. 4 Inst. C. 1. And had we there­fore then no King, their num­ber is grea­ter now, and must therefore our Mo­narch be less. themselves can do; so that should it be allow'd, what is contrary to some of the very Express Words of our formention'd Historians, that Romulus was not an ab­solute Prince; yet still here is still mat­ter, and Evidence enough to make him a Monarch, and the Government of Rome Monarchical: which surely Con­tradicts his extravagant Assertion, That it was a Democracy; unless he can recon­cile the Contradiction of, Sole Sove­raignty with the Government of a nume­rous Senate.

Another of his pretty Paradoxes is, that all Empire is founded in Dominion and Property; and that must be understood too of a Propriety in Lands; so that where a Prince has not a foot of Land, he can't have twelve Inches of Power, a Position that would confine some Princes Autho­rities in the Dimension of a Span; not­withstanding Kings are said to have such long Arms; but pray let this positive Politician tell me, How it comes to pass that the Property of an owners Land is so inconsistent with the Prerogative of a Prince over those very Lands that he owns, or why those that have the great­est [Page 173] Interest in this his property must pre­sently have the greatest Portion too of Power and Property, in the Govern­ment; that is (only to contract his Ab­surdity) why the Peasant that has two Acres of Land, and the Prince that has but one, should not presently be pre­fer'd to be the Prince, and the Prince Condescend to be the Peasant? The Que­stion might be soon answer'd with ano­ther Quere, Why this King cannot be as well Born an Heir to the Crown, as his Countryman to the Cottage, tho the latter commonly has Land about it when per­haps a Crown may have none; For cer­tainly according to his Position, a King must have but an Insignificant Power, that has not a Foot of Crown-lands, and then to have it to any purpose, to extend his Empire over all his Subjects, the Heredi­tary Lands of the Crown; must by his own Rule necessarily make up more Acres then all the Kingdom besides; and as he observes, that within this 200 years the E­states Page 37. of our greatest Nobility by the Lux­ury of their Prodigal Ancestors being got into the hands of Mechanicks or meaner Gentry, by his own Platonick Dogma these Plebeians must have the Power and Au­thority [Page 174] of our Nobles; that is a Rich Com­moner must presently run up into the House of Lords, and a Lord perhaps less wealthy descen'd into their lower-House, for they must allow their Lyes more power in our House of Peers, they be­ing a Court of Judicature, which the other can't [...] too.

The Disorders, Confusions, and Re­volutions of Government, [...] would ensue from the placing this Empire, and Power, only in Dominion and Pro­perty; which according to his own ex­travagant Position, I think may be bet­ter render'd Demesn, would be altogether as Great, as those absur'd Consequen­ces of this Foolish Maxim are truly ridi­culous; for we must necessarily have new Governours as often as a new Demesn All Lands are medi­ately, or immedi­ately held of the King as Sove­raign Lord. Eliz. 498. Ass. 1 13. could be acquir'd; for meaner Persons must have greater share too in Publick Administration's, assoon as they grow mightier in possessions: But besides this simple suggestion as full of Folly as it is, carries in it's self as much Faction too, it is but another Invention of setting our Parliament again, above our King, and the making him according to their old Latin Aphorism, Greater than a single Repre­sentative; [Page 175] and less than all the Body Major sin­gulis, mi­nor Uni­versis. Collective; for he thinks it may be pos­sible the King may have a greater porti­on of Land than any single Subject, but I am sure it can never be that he should have more than all; but this Sir Poli­lick [...], has wander'd so much in the wide World, that his Wits are a straggling too; so full of Forreign Go­vernments that he has forgot the [...] of his own. Is it not a receiv'd Maxim in our Law, that there is no Vid. Eliz. 498. Ass. 1. 18. Lands in England, but what is held me­diately, or immediately from the King, that are in the hands of Subjects? does not himself know we have nothing of an Allodium here, as some Contend they have in Normandy and France? tho they too are by some of our best Civilians Duck. de Authorita­te, Lib. 1. c. 6 contradicted; and as great many Emi­nent Lawyers of their own tell us that the Feudatory Laws do obtain, and are in force through all the Provinces of France too; so that their Lands are there held also still of some superiour Lords; and he knows that our greatest Estate here in Fee, is not properly free, but held mediately or immediately of the King or Donor to whom it may re­vert; [Page 176] and 'tis our King alone as our Laws still acknowlege that has his Demesn his Dominion free and holds ofnone but God; and our Lord Cook tells us, whom this Gentleman may Credit, as having in Vid. Cook. 1. Inst. C. 1. Predium Domini Regis est dominium directum cujus nul­lus Author est nisi Deus. some things been no great Friend to the Monarchy as well as himself; yet that Eminent Oracle tells us that no Subject here has a direct Dominion, properly, but only a profitable one, (not much bet­ter perhaps than the Civilians usufructua­ries,) and what becomes now of this Gen­tlemans & the peoples Power, & Empire, founded in Dominion and Demesne? must the King have the less Power over his Tenants, only because they hold the more, and can't he have a right of Soveraignty over the Persons and Estates of his Sub­jects without Injuring them or their property? or must his Subjects, accord­ing to this unheard of Paradox, as this their Property grows greater, encroach the further upon his Power and Praero­gative? none but our Elect Saints must shortly set up for our Governours, and I know this Factious States-man can't but favour his Friends Anabaptists and Quakers, his absurrd Politicks here Ex­traordinarily suit with some of their [Page 177] mad extravagant Principles, he lets them know, Empire is founded in Domini­on; and they thank him, kind Souls, and tell him Dominion is founded in Grace.

Two or Three whole Leaves the Co­pious Page 98. 99, 100. Author has alotted for the ser­vice of the Church and Glergy; and there we find the Devil of a Re-publick has so possest the Politician; that he o­penly declares against God and Religion, and his Atheistical Paracelsus that confirms his Brother Brown's Aphorism, to be none of his Vulgar Error; that 'tis thought their Profession to be so; I mean the Doctor in his Dialogue, inter­rogates his Matchiavel what he thinks of our Clergy, why truly 'tis answer'd: He could wish that there never had been a­ny, Page 98. the Christian Religion would have done much better without. He presumes much it seems upon his own Divinity, but if that be no sounder then his Poli­ticks either of them is enough to send him to the Devil; and on he goes, in a tedious railing against the Frauds and Rogueries of our Church when twas Romish, all impertinently apply'd to the present, that is now so much re­form'd. [Page 178] But would not the most re­fractory He call's ours a mungrel Church, from it's Innovati­on he means of Ceremo­nies. Jew, take this Snarling Cur, for a Mungrel Christian, that libels that only Church that maintains the Gospel in it's greatest purity; and as a wise Prince well observ'd the most reform'd in the whole Christian World.

And 'tis [...] wonder now, that such irreligious Impostors, who have so lit­tle veneration for the Church, should broach such pernicious Doctrines against our State; to which, after so long and preliminary Impertinence that half the piece is made a Preface, the Courteous Traveller is at last arriv'd. And first he begins with their old Factious assertion that the Soveraign power of England is in King, Lords, and Commons, making his Majesty but one of their three States: we all know when this per­nicious principle was first set a foot, what it terminated in, BLOOD, and that in the Destruction of the best of Govern­ments, with the best of Kings; we quick­ly saw, when once they had made their Prince Co-ordinate, they soon set up their own Supremacy, and then assoon made him none at all. Did this prophe­tick Daemon foresee from his Astrologi­cal [Page 179] Judgments, that his House of Com­mons were drawing another Scheam of Rebellion, and that they had prepar'd a draught of a second Covenant not on­ly for making our King Co-ordinate but Leveling the Monarchy with the Ground; yet'twas convincing enough to me before that the broaching of the very same prin­ciples, did as really design the same sub­version of the State; this Plot might as well have been seen in 80. when this Author and as great Incendiaries appear'd in pub­lick, and so popular; and well might a late House of Commons animadvert on our Judges for suppressing such Seditious Libels, which were so Zealously kind, and impudently bold, as to set up their Su­premacy, it had been ingratitude not to stand by those Villains that for their sakes had forfeited their Necks.

This very same Principle of the Sub­jects Soveraignty was Printed, and pub­lish't in 43. preparatory for the Cove­nant, which the Commons had then call'd for out of Scotland; and up rises this Ghost again in 81. as if even then it had heard, (for Spirits are very Intelli­gent) of an Association talk't off in Par­liament; but I'll tell him in short why [Page 180] the Soveraign Power of England, is not in King, Lords, and Commons; because King, Lords, and Commons are not all Soveraigns, may not our Monarchy be call'd Mixt in Opposition to its being Absolute, and Tyrannical; without mak­ing it a meer Hotch-potch, that if our King will have any thing of his right of a Soveraign power, he must put it in Medley with that of his Subject, as our Sisters are oblig'd in Co-parcenary: But tho he take his Treasonable Maxim, for Reason, and Truth, without shewing the least Law or Reason, I shall shew him from all of them, that it is both Irratio­nal, Illegal, and a Lye.

First, 'Tis against Reason to Imagin there can be three such Powers Co-ordi­nate to make up one Soveraignty; and that our King can at the same time pass for a Monarch, for Soveraignty is insepara­ble from a King, and that's the Reason without doubt we promiscu­ously The King calls them, Adjourns, Dissolves them at his pleasure, and this long Practices prov'd from the Chro­nicles of our Land and its Fundamental Law. Speed, 645. 4. Inst. 27. 2. call him our King, or Sove­raign; and if our Lords and Com­mons will assume it, they may ee'n take the Crown too; we saw how the participation of a So­veraign power, tho it was but [Page 181] in a shadow, and that by him that had a better pretence for the Soveraignty then all the Common Subjects can have, by being the Crowns Heir, was like to have unhinged the very Monarchy it self in the Reign of Henry the Second; and rais'd such Commotions in the State till it was almost overturn'd: And I am sure we have found, and felt, that this Co-ordinacy of their three States, ter­minated at last like the participation of that Co-parcenary Prince, into an inso­lent demanding of the whole, and what they had made but half the Kings, they soon made all the People's; until the Government was quite run of the hooks, and the Nation engaged in an unhappy War, and a down-right Rebellion.

Does not the very Etymon of Monar­chy it self express the sole Soveraignty of that Government they would make so preposterously Mixt, and even Ar­chon alone, which was the next Titular Appellation, the Loyal Athenians gave to the Son and Successor of their Match­less Medon. Codrus; only because they thought that no Succeeding Prince could deserve the Title of Tyrannus; which they made to terminate with him, only because [Page 182] they presum'd his goodness [...] imi­tation. Tyrant then was not apply'd, as Sidney, whose ve­ry Motto, [...] haec inimica Tyrannis. some of our Inveterate Traytors have done it since, in it's Corrupted sense, (tho to the most merciful King,) for a Tarquin or Caligula; yet even this word Archon without addition of Sole that Moròs that has since succeeded to make it Monarch, was then an Absolute Govern­ment of one amongst the Athenians, and continued so in the same Family for a long Season; till at last by popular en­croachments it was made Annual, and this Contender for this Co-ordinate power of the People, has expos'd his Damna­ble designs so plainly to his Disputants, that his own Conscience and Soul up­brai'd him for the Villany, and makes his Venetian interrupt him for making an English Monarch, but a Duke of Venice; Page 114. tho the Doctor, the Pontaeus of the people, that sucks up all the Poyson of Rebellion, like that of Toads, only for the Tryal of his Skill, and then thinks to cheat the Devil with an Antidote: He po­litickly opines however, that he has made him too Absolute, if ever there were a medley of more Malitious Villains [...] Page 105. to Libel a Government I'll forfeit my [Page 183] Neck too it, as well as they; Heaven and Hell must be reconcil'd (which without a Recantation, will be so for their Confusion) before these their Con­tradictory defamations can be made con­sistent: But in this the Politick Rebels agree, to secure an Odium upon our Mo­narchy in both extreams; and making the most opposite Objections serve for one and the same purpose, it's absoluteness and Tyranny must make it all Bug-bear formidable, frightful, at the same time that their holding the Reins shall render it all Hobby-Horse, Ridiculous and Con­temptible.

Secondly, I'll shew that this their con­founded principle of perfect Confusion, is not only against the Fundamental Law of the Land, but against the sense of e­very Law, that ever was made in it. Eve­ry preamble, of an Act; and that ofe­very Proviso there, runs with A, Be it It is no Stat. if the King assent not, 12. H. 7. 20. H. 8. Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Ma­jesty, by and with the CONSENT of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons in the present Parliament Assem­bled. And then let any sober person Judge where lies the Soveraignty, would it be suffer'd to be thus exprest were they [Page 184] not satisfy'd they were not all Soveraigns, or if they were, ought it not according to this Rebel and Republican, run, We the King, Lords, and Commons Enact, but I'll let him know how and what the Libertine would again have that Enact­ing part of an Act of Parliament to be, tho the Politick Knave; fear'd it was too soon yet to declare plainly for an U­surpation, viz. Be it Enacted and or­dained An Act. March 1657. Vid. Act of Oblivi­on, 51 by his Highness the Lord Protect­or. Or the Parliament of England hav­ing had good Experience of the Affecti­on of the people to this present Govern­ment, by their ready Assistance in the defence thereof against Charles Stewart, Son of the Lale Tyrant, and his Forces invading this Nation, do Enact, &c.

That our Kings in the time of the Sax­ons, Danes, and some part of the Nor­mans had more absolute Power over their Subjects, than some of their Suc­cessors [...], himself can't deny, the Charter of Liberties being made but in the Reign of Henry the Third; and when the People had less of Priviledges, the Kings must be supposed to have had more of Praerogative; therefore we shall examine only what and where the Su­premacy [Page 185] is at present, and where the Laws of the Land; not the Will of the Prince do place it. In the Parliament that was held at York in Edward the Se­conds time, The Rebellious Barons that 15. Ed. 2. had violently extorted what Concessi­ons they pleas'd from the Crown, in His (like those in the three foregoing Reigns, when they seal'd almost each Confirm­ation of their Charter in Blood;) were all censured, and condemn'd, and the encroaching Ordinances they made in those Times all repeal'd: Because says the Statute, The Kings Royal Power Great Stat. Roll. 26. H. 3. to Ed. 3. 1. Ric. 3. Exact A­bridg. fol. 112. was restrain'd, against the Greatness of his Seigniory Royal, contrary to the State of the Crown, and that by Subjects Provisi­ons over the Power Royal of the Ancestors of our Lord the King, Troubles and Wars came upon the Realm: I look upon this as an absolute Acknowledgment of a Royal Power, which is sure the same with his Soveraign; sufficiently distin­guisht here from the Parliaments, or the Peoples co-ordinate Supremacy, for those condemn'd Ordinances were lookt upon as Usurpations upon the Kings Supremacy, which they call the Power Royal of his Ancestors, and not as our [Page 186] Author would have too, of the So­vereign power of Lords and Com­mons.

At the Convention of the three E­states first of Richard the Third, where 1. R. 3. the Parliament call themselves so; themselves expound also what is meant by it. And say it is the Lords Spiritual, Temporal, and Commons of this Land assembled in present Parliament; so that we have here the whole three States, besides the King, owning themselves such, with­out assuming to themselves a Soveraign power: recognizing the Right of Richard, and acknowledging him the Sovereign: And tho I shall for ever condemn, as well as all Ages will, their allowing his Usurpation a Right, which was an abso­lute wrong; yet this is an undeniable Argument, that then they did not make their King Co-ordinate with themselves; made themselves, declared themselves, three States without him, and acknow­ledged their King the Sovereign and Supream.

That Act that punisht appeals to Rome with a premunire in Henry the Eighth's time, gives this Reason why 24. H. 8. none should be made to the Pope, nor [Page 187] out of the Kingdom; because the King alone was only the supream head in it: It tells us expressly, That Eng­land is an Empire, that the King the Su­pream Head has the Dignity, and Royal Estate of the Emperial Crown, unto whom a body Politick divided into Terms and Names of Spirituality and Temporality, been bounden [...] next to God, humble Obedience, &c. Who has furnisht him with Plenary, Entire, Power, [...], Authority, Prerogative, and Juris­diction: Here his Body Politick is devi­ded into Spiritual, and Temporal, here he is called the supreme Head, and here I think is a full Recognition of his sole Sovereignty: And 'tis strange that what a Parliament did in Opposition to Po­pery, should be so zealously contradi­cted by such Sycophants that pretend so much to oppose it.

In the next place, he tells us of an error he lay under, that he thought our Commonalty had not formally assem­bled in Parliament, before Henry the Thirds time; but of that now is fully Page 103. convinc'd, by the Labours of some lear­ned Lawyers whom he names, and lets them know too how much they are ob­liged [Page 188] to him for the Honor: But I sup­pose he reads but one sort of Books, and that such as suit with his Humor and Sedition, and of that Nature he can meet with Variety; for I dare avow that within the space of six years, all that ever was or can be said against the best of Government; our own, all that was, or ever will be rak't up for justi­fying a Rebellion, and restoring a Re­publick, from falsifyed Roll, and Re­cord; from perverted History, and Matter of Fact; by Pens virulent, and Factious, with all the Art and Industry, and whatever thought could invent for its Ruine and Destruction, has been Printed and Publisht; such an Univer­sal Conspiration, of Men of several Fa­culties, each assisting with what was his Excellency, his Talent in Treason, which seemed to be the Task-Master of the Town, and Monopolizer of Trades.

But our Politician might return to his old Opinion again; did he but con­sult other Authors, I believe as learned Antiquarians; I am sure more Loyal Subjects: who can shew him that the Saxons Councils call'd the Witena Ge­motes had in them no Commons: That [Page 189] the Conqueror call'd none of them to his great Councils, none in those of his two Sons that succeeded, nor none in any of the Parliaments down to Henry Coke first Institutes Lib. 2d. C. 10. T. Burgage. the Third; my Lord Coke tells us of the Names this Parliament had before the Conquest, as Sinoth, Michel, or Wite­na Gemote, which he says implyed the Great Court or Meeting of the King, and all his Wise Men: And also some­times of the King with his Council of his Bishops, Nobles, and the Wisest of the People; and unless from the wisest of the People, and all his Wise Men, they can make up an House of Commons; I am sure from this Authority, they can have no proof, and from Wise Men can be gathered nothing, but such as were No­ble, or chief of the Realm; for the meaner sort, and that which we now call the Commonality, were then far enough from having any great share of Learning, or common Understanding; and then besides these Wisest of the Peo­ple were only such whom the King should think Wise, and admit to his Council, far from being sent by their Borroughs as elected Senators, King Al­fred had his Parliament, and a great one [Page 190] was held by King Athelstan at Grately' which only tells us there were Assemb­led some Bishops, Noble-Men, and the Wise-Men whom the King called, which implies no more then those he had a mind should come.

But the Antiquity of a Parliament, or that of an House of Commons is not so much the thing these Factious Roll and Record Mongers contend for, 'tis its Superiority, Supremacy; and there en­deavours to make them antient is but in order to the making their Power Ex­orbitant, and not to be controul'd by that of their King; whom in the next place, this Re-publican can scarce allow the power of calling them at his Plea­sure, and dissolving them when he plea­ses: But so great is the Power of Truth, and the Goodness of the Cause he Op­poses; that he is forc't to contradict himself to desend his Paradoxes. For he tells us the King is obliged with an hear say Law, which his learned in the Faculty and Faction can't find out yet, Page 111. to call Parliaments as often as need should be, that is they think fit: And also not to dissolve them till all their Petitions were answered; that is, till they are [Page 191] willing to be gone: But then will I de­fie the Gentleman to shew me the diffe­rence between this their desired Parlia­ment and a Perpetual sitting: do not these industrious Endeavours for such a perpetuity of them plainly tell us, 'tis thats the only thing they want, and that they are taught experimentally; that, that alone run the three King­doms into absolute Rebellion, and rui­ned the best of Kings: and can as cer­tainly compass the Destruction of the present: But I'll tell the lump of Con­tradiction first the words of our greatest 4. Insti. 27. 2. 1. Inst. Sect. 164. Lawyer, and then his own, Cooke says, none can begin, continue or dissolve a Parlia­ment but by the Kings Authority: Him­self Plato Red. page 105. says that which is undoubtedly the Kings Right is to call and dissolve Parlia­ments. 'Tis impertinent to labour to contradict that which he here so plainly confutes himself, the Statesman being so big with his Treasonable Notions, so full of his Faction that his Memory fails him, makes him forget his own Maxims, and makes his subsequent Pages wran­gle with the Concessions of those that went before.

[Page 192] His next Observation is a perfect Comment upon his Text that had in it implicit Treason before; he tells us in Justification of the Barons Wars, which all our Historians represent as a perfect Page 107. Rebellion, That the Peers were fain to use their Power; and can he tell me by what Law Subjects are impowred to Rebel. He calls it arming of their Vassals for the defence of the Government: That Bill by which they would have associa­ted of late, that I confess had it past in­to Act would have made Rebellion Sta­tutable, And they themselves must in­deed have had the Sovereign power, when they had gotten their Sovereign to suffer himself to be sworn out of his Su­premacy, they might well have armed their Vassals then; when they had got his Majesties leave to commence Rebels, and Traytors, for the Protection of his Person, and the Preservation of his Crown and Dignity: But these humble Boons were no more [...] that Bill must have begged; and these kind Concessions, no more than was expected from the Grant of a King so Gracious, a Petition that might well have been answered like that of Bathsheba's, by bidding them ask the Kingdom also.

[Page 193] The Barons standing in open defiance Ibid. page 108. to the Laws, (tho they stood up too so much for them): He calls the Peers keep­ing their Greatness, and this is the Sove­reign Power the Rebel would have them again set up for, to be great in their Arms, as well as Quality, and demand with the Sword again the Prerogative of their Kings, and the grant of the Regalia; which in their preposterous Appellations; was abused with the pre­tence of priviledge, and right, and which the force of the Field can soon make of the greatest [...] and 109. wrong: But in the very next Page 'tis expounded clearly what has, may, and must be done in such Conjunctions; that is, to your Arms. He tells us after they had obtained the framing of their Char­ters, and I think they were as much as the most condescending Monarchs could grant, or the most mutinous malecon­tents require; Then arose another grie­vance [...] and [...] for: This was the Intermission of Parliaments, which could not be called but by the Prince, and he not doing it, they ceast for some years to be Assembled; if this had not been speedily remedied, The provo­king [...] [Page 188] [...] [Page 189] [...] [Page 190] [...] [Page 191] [...] [Page 192] [...] [Page 193] [Page 194] Rebel, (for certainly he is as much so, that Animates a Rebellion, as he that is actually engaged in it, and is by Law so declared) tells us the Barons 25. Ed. 3. Plat. pag. 109. must have put on their Armour again, and the brisk Assertors of their Rights, not have acquiesc'd in this Omission that ruined the Foundations of the Govern­ment: After all the kind Concessions of the Prince, the putting him upon that which was the taking away of the very remains of Royalty, puts me in mind of one of our late Expressions of a popular Representative, that could declare in open Assembly, as attested by some of the very Members of it, that tho this their Bill of Exclusion were past, (which was more we see than the most mildest Monarch could grant, or even our House of Peers, sure the bet­ter part of our Nation; could in Mode­sty require;) yet still there was more work to be done, and a Reformation to be made in the Church, as well as the State: The Patriot was prepared to lanch out in such kind of Extravagancies, and told the truth of the Plot before his time, had not calmer Heads interposed and cool'd his hot one into common [Page 195] Sense: several of the Speeches spoken in Parliament, for which its Publisher deserves to be Pillor'd, if not Authentic and True; and brought before them on his Knees at least for his Presumption if they are: It being here as Criminal to Print Truths at all times without an Imprima­tur, as 'tis to tell it without leave, even inseveral of those Speeches Publisht in that Paper I reflected on in the beginning, where the Pedantick Author has expo­sed me in the Tail of his History, that History of the Asso­ciation Printed by Janeway. lookt like the Narrative of a Rump: There are as bold Expressions, of as dangerous Designs; for at the end of one of their Harangues, the beginning of which is only marked with R.M. and its Author may be loth to let any more Letters of his Name to be known; you have these following Lines; If at the same Page 3. time we endeavour to secure our selves a­gainst Popery, we do not also do something to prevent Arbitrary Power, it will be to little purpose; I think nothing can prevent that better than frequent Parliaments, and therefore I humbly move, that a Bill for securing frequent Parliaments be taken into Consideration, can any thing be more Expressive than that the Bill so [Page 196] much clamour'd for, was only the bur­den of the Song, and that the Ballad it self must have been all to the Tune of 41. when Arbitrary Power never ceased its Cry, till the Parliament was made Frequent, its Frequency never sufficient, till standing and perpetual; which proyed too as dangerous as a standing Army; never restless till it had really raised one too, and the Kings Head from his Shoul­ders; Hunt in post. pag. 92, 93. and can these worst of Criminals make it a Crime, to make the Nation fearful of Parliaments, when there are such Speech-Makers in it: I shall to such Accusers Faces defend them to be formidable, not out of any Apprehen­sion of fear for my self; for whenever such a Seditious Senate, their Commons, become dangerous again to good Sub­jects, the safety of the Government must be but in as bad Condition: But it may well terrify even a Crown'd Head, and frighten him from their Frequency, when some of their most popular Mem­bers have been since found in an actual Conspiracy, for p [...]lling the Crown [...] [...] [...] [Page 197] suffered publickly for Traytors.

Sir. G. H. I do agree a Bill for Banishing Ibid. page 3. Papists may do well: But I hope if you Ba­nish the Men you'll Banish some Women too, consider how to prevent the Royal Family marrying Popish Women; — No man can doubt but the Protestant Interest has been much praejudiced by his Majesties marrying a Princess of that Religion, Popish Instru­ments having [...] themselves under her Protection: The Country Gentleman wanted the Civilities of the Court being a declared Enemy to all Ladies; but this shows plain their aims were beyond that of the Duke, and that it was the Sense of some of the House, the Queen was in the Plot, as well as the Opinion and Asseveration of Oats his Oath, against his exprest Testimony given before, Sir E. H. — Have we not ordered several good Bills to be brought in for the securing us against Arbitrary Power; and shall we now lay aside all those, and be content with the Exclusion Bill only? which I think will be worth nothing unless you can get more, and what some of those more are is explain [...] ed in the next Oration to it, W. G. — I do admire no body does take notice of [...] standing Army, which if not [...] [Page 198] such a Number as may be but convenient for Guards, and limited as they may not be encreased: All your Laws signify no­thing; the words of that Hellish Associa­tion only differ thus, when they swear more modestly only to endeavour entirely to disband all such Mercenary Forces as are kept up in and about the City of LONDON.

These are some of the very Words as our Author relates them as they were spoken in his House of Commons; I do them only that Justice, that this Histo­rian has done to their Honours, or they to themselves: so if these accounts are Authentick; (tho I remember when dan­gerous to Question even the Authority of an unlicensed piece of Sedition;) then [...] see that many of our late malecon­tents of the Commons, as 'well as our Plato's Rebellious Barons, were not like to be contented any more with our Kings granting them all the security themselves could ask for their Religion; then these Imperious Lords were after all their Liberties were fortyfied with an extorted Charter, and made as firm as Fate, [...] their foresight could provide. But that nothing would satisfy, unless [Page 199] both lopt off the best Limb of their Prerogative, and allowed them to have Parliaments, without Intermission; or at least frequent enough for an Usurpa­tion of all the Power that is Regal; for as the Doctor of Sedition observes, upon the Kings being allowed to Call and Dissolve them, That our Liberties Page 105. and Rights signify just nothing: So might [...] this politick Pis-pot have remarked, That when once it comes to the Power of the People to summon themselves; or sit so long a Season, till their own Order shall determine the Session; that truly their Venetian Doeg would be a Prince to the Monarch of Great Britain, and we should soon have less left of a King in England, than such implacable Republicans have of Loyalty; for I am sure we must in reason have better Ground to dread those dangers, and utter Subversion of the State from their too much sitting, that has been experien­ced, than they for that panick fear of Tyranny from their [...] so often Dis­solved, which they never yet felt.

But to see the boldness of such Vil­lains for encouraging an Insurrection: The briskness of their Barons that rebel­led, [Page 200] for a Charter, and frequent Parlia­ments, was most providentially brought upon the Stage, when they knew they had forfeited most of their own by their Faction; and made their House of Com­mons, from their obstinate proceedings, not likely to be soon summoned when once Dissolved: so that here was a plain downright Encouragement of a resolute Rebellion as Occasion should serve; and letting the People know they must put on their Armour as well as the Barons, and be as brisk upon Intermission of Par­liaments. How far this good Exhorta­tion encouraged an Assassination of our Sovereign, and the succeeding Plot, may be gathered from their attempts to put it in Execution; and for which both Author and Publisher Merit full as well the Fate of those that dyed for the practising those Principles that they the more primitive Traytors had instill'd. In short, to insist no longer on this black Topick of plain Treason, With what Faith and [...], with what Face and Countenance, can he call that per­fect Conspiracy of a parcel of Faithless Peers, a Defence of the Government, that Page 107. for almost forty Years laid the Land all [Page 201] in Blood? and with their Witchcraft, their sorceries of Rebellion, that brisk­ness as he calls it, of putting on their Ar­mour, made it imitate an AEgypts Plague, and Anticipate the very Judgments of the Almighty, by purpling her Rivers with the Slain? can the Defence of a King­dom consist with its Destruction, or those be said to stand up for their Country that invited an Invader, and swore Al­legiance to Lewis a Frenchman, against him that was their Liege Lord: I am sure this was making over their Faith to a Foreigner, and many may think it as much to bee condemned as that of their King his Crown to a Saracen: e­specially when that by some Historians is doubted; but their falsehood's confir­med by all: Then was our England like to have been truly France, which they now but so vainly Fear.

In the next place, he is pleased to grant the Militia to be in his Majesty's Power; But 'tis only until such a sort of Rebels have strength enough to take it out; for he tells us the Militia being Page 116. given but for an Execution of the Law, if it be mis-imployed by him to subvert it, 'tis a Violation of the Trust, and making that [Page 202] power unlawful in the Execution: And that which shall violate this Trust, has he reduced to three of the most Villa­nous Instances, that the most Excrable Rebel could invent, or the most bloody Miscreant concelve, the Murder of three Kings by their Barbarous and Rebelli­ous Subjects: And in all three their strength and Militia were first taken a­way, and then their Lives; first he tels us Edward the second forfeited his Executive Power of the Militia; In Ibid. misapplying his revenue to Courtiers and Sycophants: Richard the Second for [...] Worthless People to the greatest pla­ces. And Charles the First, in the Case of Ship Money; can now the most viru­lent Democraticks hug such a piece with­out Horrour at its Inhumanity? or the vi­lest of the Faction preserve it from the Flames: can those popular Parliamenta­rians, and the most mutinous of all our murmering Members, of whom my self have known some that could Counte­nance this very Book? can they here defend iusinuated Treason, when Stanley Stanley's Case H. 7. dyed for a more Innocent Innuendo? but if Faction has forc't from their Souls the poor remains of Reason, will Humane [Page 203] Nature permit such precedents to pre­vail, that terminated in the misera­ble Murder of as many Monarchs? 'Tis remarkable, and 'tis what I remember; these very Papers were Publish'd near a­bout one of their late Sessions wherein they were nibbling again at the Milit­tia; and could so merciless a Miscreant be put in the pocket of a Member of Parliament, much less then into his Heart, and drop from his unadvised Lips? can those that come to give their consent for the making Laws, be thus Ignorant of those that are already made? has not the Military power, for above this 500 years been absolutely in the Crown? and almost by their Parliament it self decla­red so in every Reign, was it ever taken out, but when they took away the Life of their King too? was ever his Head protected from Violence, when this, the Guard of his Crown, was gone? or can any Hand long sway the Scepter, when it wants the Protection of the Sword? 1 Edward 3. 1 C. 3.

1st. Edward 3d. Chap 3. The King willeth that no man be charged to Arm himself otherwise than he was wont in the time of his Progenitors Kings of [Page 204] England, In H. 7. declared by Stat.: All 2 Hen. 7. Subjects of the Realm bound to assist the King in his Wars. Queen Mary 4. 5. Mary. and all her Progenitors acknowledged to have the Power to appoint Commis­sioners This Com­mission was in force, Rot par. 5. H. 4. n. 24. repealed by this 4. and 5. of P. M. but this re­pealing Stat. is a­gain repeal­ed Jacob. 1. and so of force in this King, now, as well as when they deny'd it to his Father. 2. Ed. 6. 2. C. 2d. Cook 2. Inst. 30. Car. 2. C. 6. to Muster her Subjects, and ar­ray as many as they shall think fit: The Subjects holding by Serjeantry hereto­fore all along to serve their Sovereigns in War in the Realm, and a particular Act obliging them to go within or without, with their King; He and only He has the ordering of all the Forts and Holds, Ports and Havens of the Kingdom, confirmed to this very King, and Cook tells us no Subject can build any Fortress Defensible, Cook Litt. p. 5. And since some of our late Members of the lower House were so tickled with this Authors soothing them with the Kings Executive Power of War forfeitable; I'll tell them of an Act expressly made in some Sense against their Assuming it; and for another Reason too; because some mutinous Heads would argue to my Knowledge for their Members comming armed to the Parliament at Oxford; and which was actually done too by Colledge and his Crew.

[Page 205] It was made in Edward the First's time, 7. Ed. 1. and expressly declares that in all Parlia­ments, Treatises, and other Assemblies, eve­ry Man should come without Force, and Armour; and of this the King acquain­ted the Justices of the Bench: and more­over that the Parliament at Westminster, had declared that to us belonged straightly to desend Force of Armour, and all other Force against our Peace, at all times when it shall please us, and the Judges were ordered to get it read in the Court, and enroll'd. And now can it with common Reason or Sense be suggested, that the letting Favourites have some of the Treasures of the King­dom, or Courtiers, as he calls it, the Reve­nue, or the preferring of such Persons as they shall think Worthless and Wicked, which with such Villains as himself are commonly the most deserving; that this shall be a sufficient violating (as he terms it,) of a Kings Trust, to the for­feiture of his Power of putting the Laws in Execution, with which the common con­sent, of almost all the Laws, and all Ages, have invested their King, as an absolute, [...], singular Right of the Crown. Certainly such an Opinion is as extrava­gant, [Page 206] as Treasonable, and could enter into the Head of nothing but a Madman, the Heart of none but a Traytor.

Next we meet with another Asser­tion as false as Hell, and then its clear contrary nothing but the God of Heaven is more True; He tells us, (after having hardly allowed His Majesty a Negative Voice, at least as such an Insignificant one, as not to be made use of) That Plat. pag. 124. 'tis certain nothing but [...] of Par­liamentary requests produced the Baron's Wars, and our last dismal Combustions; when I'll demonstrate to him, as plain as a Proposition in Euclid, that nothing but their too gracious and unhappy Con­cessions, to their perfidious and ungrate­ful Subjects, made those mighty Mo­narchs miscarry: read but any of our Histories, tho pen'd by the most preju­diced, and those that ware at best but moderately Popular, of our first Civil Wars. The Barons, Daniel that speaks Daniel 53. H. 3d. most commonly as much as the Peoples Case will bear, tells us his thoughts of those unhappy Dissentions, that neither side got but Misery and Vexation: We see that notwithstanding as often as their Charter, and Liberties were confirm'd; [Page 207] notwithstanding all the Concessions of those two yielding Monarchs, still more K. John. Henry 3. was demanded. The Charter in Henry the Third's was no sooner several times confirmed in one year, but in the next; presently they fell upon his Justiciary, Hugo de Burg. and he must be removed, Vld. Stow page 183. or they threaten to do it with the Sword; Then the poor Prince complies and sends him to the Tower; Next the Bishop of Winchester is as great a grie­vance as the Chies Justice was before, for bringing in the Pictavians; and un­less all those are put from him they tell him plainly they'll depose him from his Kingdom, and create a new: The Bi­shop is sent away and those Pictavians expelled; but still were there more grie­vances, and assoon as one was removed, be sure another would be found out; and the true perfect Occasion of those Intestine Broils was rather the Conces­sion [...] King Henry in his Youth; they having been used with so much Com­plyance in his Minority, that being em­boldened afterward with Age he grew too much a Soveraign to be overaw'd, or overreach't by his Subjects; and they having been accustom'd not to be op­pos'd [Page 208] in their encroachments on the Crown, which they had been long Ha­bituated to, he being Crown'd an In­fant and they having the fresh Precedent before them with what arrogance they us'd his Father John, upon any the least denyal betook themselves to the Sword, for this you'l find; if Occurrences of those Times be but Impartially examin'd: and for his Second Instance of our late Kings time, his abominable Falsehood so far from Truth that not only Narrative and Record, but the very Memory of man can give him the Lye; did he not grant them, these very Villains insolent demand Parliaments at last without In­termission? was there not a Triennial one first Insolently demanded, and as Graci­ously consented to? was not that as un­gratefully thought insufficient, and no­thing could satisfy, till unhappily settl'd during the pleasure of the two Houses, an Act of Concession which the [...] Prince could himself call, (as [...] it was) unparallel'd by any of his [...]. Predecessors; nothing but their Ingrati­tude could equal so much goodness, and only for bettering of theirs, the Wretches [...] his own affairs should be the [Page 209] worse, what punishment would the Law have found for such Monsters of Ingrati­tude, that punisht once all Common Of­fenders in it with Death? were not his Gracious Answers at last to the Proposi­tions, so full of Concession, that some of the Cannibals that thirsted for his Blood, could Vote it a Ground for the House to [...]. [...]. 5. [...]. 1648. proceed upon for Peace. Lastly had he not granted to his Inveterate Foes, whose Necks were forfeited to the Gibbet, the Heads of some of his best Friends, till he had none left to dispose of but his own, and that at the last must be brought to the Block. And can such an impudent Daemon, the very spawn of the Father of Lyes, thus confidently now declare that obstinacy, Denyal in the late King was his Ruin; but his misery and misfortune, has unhappily left tho for us happy (could a Nation be said so under such a loss) such Politicks written in his Blood, that all those of such Rebels and Republicans can never undermine.

In the next place the State Empirick comes upon the Stage and that only to vilify our Court of Chancery, which with all Persons that can but distinguish E­quity from the Rigour of the Law, must­be [Page 210] had in Estimation; the greatest Ob­jection his utmost Malice can asperse it with, is only, That it may be Cor­rupted, and so may the best of things, whose Corruption is the worst. There may be Roguery in Clerks, he thinks, Plat. pag. 130. in entering Rules; and so their may be more Dangerous Knaves among Do­ctors, that can prescribe a dose of Sub­limate Which has been done too as one of [...] own Authors tells us. [...], in's Centu­rie, Hist. [...], the Grand Court of Equity & [...] mode­rating the common [...]. [...]. Crompt­on Juris­diction. for Mercurius dulcis; and such a Villany in his Art, is sure more fatal then the worst that can occur in their faculty, that at the worst can but be­reave you and that long first of your E­state. This Ruffian in a Moment robs you of your Life; and I should chuse to live a little in the World, tho a Beggar, than be sent out like a Rat. The Ridicu­lousness of his Objections can't be an­swer'd, but with such Merry ones as I make. But to let him know I can de­fend the Constitution of the Court in Good Earnest, so far is it from Obstruct­ing his right by the Common-Law as he Ignorantly Objects, that it's a [...] Com­monly never to relieve him here when he can have his Remedy there, but always in Justice and Equity renders him that right which the Rigour of the rest many [Page 211] times forecludes him off, where the Com­mon can't Compel a man to an agreement this will enforce it, Recoveries of Lega­cies, Performance of Wills; otherwise Irrevocable, and not to be Compel'd shall be obtain'd here. It enforces the Hus­band to give the Wife Alimony, and per­haps the Doctor dislikes it for that, and For more of this Courts power & practise, see [...] & [...] Reports. certainly this must be a greater Solaecism than he can suggest in contradiction to the Court, that a Court of meer Equity to moderate the Rigour of the Common Law, should Injure their Petition of Right or Invade the Liberty of Magna Charta.

But that which is more Ridiculous The Chan­cellor [...] two Pow­ers one ab­solute, the other ordi­nary, by the first he is not [...] as [...] Judges or limited [...] the Letter of the Law. Vid. [...]. [...]. Cap. 20. fol. [...]. and False, is his Foolish fear of Injustice from such a single Judge sitting in the Judicatory, and his Impudent assertion that never any Country in the World had such a way of Judging. For the first, (should we not consider the prudence and In­tegrity of that Honourable Person that presides in it at present whose Equitable determinations were sufficient to super­sede and silence such a [...] suggestion) it is morally impossible there to meet with Injustice; where nothing is decreed but upon a Fair, and Full Examination of [...] [Page 206] [...] [Page 207] [...] [Page 208] [...] [Page 209] [...] [Page 210] [...] [Page 211] [Page 212] Witnesses and the Judges hearing what can be alleaged by Counsel on both sides. All the Panick fear that Alarms him, is that the Prince (for such is the Malice of a Republican that nothing can be thought Wicked enough for a King,) may put in a Person that may Act against Right and Reason, carried away by Passi­on and Prejudice, and at best but a Tool for the State. If the possibility of such vain suggestions shall prevail for an Extirpa­tion of an Officer of Justice Co-oeval, if Polldore Virg. makes the Chancel­lor only Coaeual with the Conque­ror, but [...] in that too as well as others. Mr. [...] shews us they were long before in's Orig. And so my Lord Coke also in his 4 [...]. not before the Conquest, and still Re­corded for his just Administration, I will allow what can't well be granted, this Emperick to pass for a Politician, and the same Monumental Folly, will serve for as Ridiculous Objections a­gainst all other Courts of Judicature, where the King, has the power of place­ing in it whom he pleases; and they all Subject to the Passions and Infirmity that any single person, and in their Breast too lying all the Decisions of any Contro­verted Law. But that such a single Judge sitting in Judicature, such a Tribunal is scarce in any Country of the World, is most absolutely FALSE; the Civil, the Law of Nations, and that of almost all [Page 213] the Civiliz'd part of the World has no other Method in deciding Civil causes. Their Libels, are but Bills of Plaint, as in this the Subpaena requires the Defendant's appearance at a certain day in Court, by them a Day in Court is assign'd him to Answer, their Replicati­ons, Exceptions, here are Answer and Demurrer. They pronounce Contumax and Ex-communicate. Here goes out At­tachment and Commission of Rebellion, through the whole process the same Pra­ctise observ'd the same Rules as in all For­reign Courts of Civil Judicature; where the Decretum finale, or Sententia Definiti­va, is in the sole Breast of a single Person as our Common Decres in Chancery.

But what is the Law of all Nations Certain it is that both Bri­tish and Saxon Kings had their Courts of Chancery. Coke 4. Inst. C. 8. Vid, Mir­ror C. 1. §. 3. Glan­vll, lib. 12. C. 1. [...] Lib. 2. C. 12. will be soon Rebelliously Condemn'd, by those that can't bear with our own; and are so truly Licentious that they would live without any: But for that Justice of the Venetians which he extols so much in opposition to our own, his Re­publican Soul would be loth to venture there it's Human Body notwithstanding it's Equal Distributive Justice, which he would make Arithmetical too, by make­ing it so exactly proportionable to the [Page 214] Crime, should he be found there as great a Criminal against that State, as his Publisht Treasons have here render'd him to our own, he would hardly come to know his Fault there till he came to feel the punishment, and would find a Banditi with them to make the best Executioner; 'tis there Sedition, and the Defamation of the Government is punisht assoon as Information is receiv'd, and that with nothing less than Death, and commonly drowning; no Tryal per Testes and Examinants, but Ferry'd a­way in one of their Gondola's, which must prove your Infernal Boat too, and the first sight of your Sin is with that of a Confessor, and a Hangman, and thesesure must be most Malicious, Inveterate Vil­lains, that can commend such Judica­tures that are rather shambles, for But­chery and Murder, before those of their own Nation; where a Penny property can't be taken away without a Tryal per pares, and the Law, much less their Life. But if our Republican when he commends so much the Justice of that State, means only what is distributed in their Decemviral Council which is the Supream, let him for a Confirmation of [Page 215] his Error and Folly Consult only the Vld. Reliq. Wotton p. 307. Case of Antonio Foscarini one of their own Senate; whom upon the bare Testimony of too profligate Russians, that he held correspondence with the Spanish Embassador, (which with any forreign one for a Senator is their Death by the Law,) without any Colla­teral or Circumstantial Proof, without seeing his Accusers, was seiz'd, mussl'd up, clapt in a dark Dungeon, and in a few days sentenc'd to be strangl'd, and which was done accordingly; the Con­spiracy of the Witness was soon after­ward detected, his Innocency declar'd; and the poor Gentleman for want of a due process at Law, plainly Murder'd; and all the Conviction I wish to such unjust reproachers of the Constitution of any of our Courts of Judicature, that they may never have the benefit of those Laws they Condemn, and only have the Fate to Fall by that Justice of the Republick they so much extol.

The Villains that sign'd the Warrant for our late Kings Execution; did not more Sacrifice his Person, than this Im­pious Wretch has Murder'd him again in Effigie, with a redoubl'd Cruelty, to [Page 216] blast that unblemishable reputation; which if Dearer than Life, must be the greater Treason: He tells us the Parlia­ment Pages 167, 168, 169, &c. [...]. Jour­nal. never made War upon him, because by Law, ( says the Sycophant) He can do no wrong, but this shall not be allow'd for a Maxim with such Malecontents when it makes for the Monarch: But what if a Parliament of Rebels, put out in their Declaration, that He has wrong'd the Law, and vote that he Levies War to destroy the Fundamental Liberty of the People, to set up Arbitrary Government; send down a Traytor to keep him out of his own Garrisons, when their Guards could not secure his Life from the rage of the London Rable instigated too by that Villanous Assembly that made his Repairing to Hull for the Preservation of himself, an Insurrection of their King for the Destruction of the People: And can such a senseless piece of Sedition im­agin that undistinguishing Bullet they brought into the Field, could be com­manded to take off none but Evil Councel­lors and Seducers; or that ARMS which soon silence all LAWS, especially when lifted against their Soveraign, would fa­vourable consider his Right, and a Max­im [Page 217] of our own that he could do no wrong. He tells us the King was displeas'd for parting with his Power to dissolve Par­liaments, and took unheard of ways to de­mand Members with Arms: Most Inhu­mane Wretch even to the Pious Memory of so good a Prince, to give him the Lye in his Grave; does not himself tell us, as if his Prophetick Soul had foreseen the suggestion of such a Rebel, in his making it his deepest plaint, The Injury of all In­juries [...]. is, that some will Falsely divulge, that I repining at the Establishment of the Parliament endeavour'd by force and open Hostility; to undo what by Royal assent I had done. While at the same time the Contradictory Wretches would asperse him for a resolv'd, and a wilful occasio­ner of his ruin; but for the demand of the Members, so far from Irregularity: That this Malicious Accuser, is a double Traytor to his Memory, by being an A­better of those, that were truly so; and representing it False, the King was ad­vis'd in Scotland of those Conspirators having Invited that Nation to come in­to ours Arm'd: And shall not bringing in a Foreign Power, an Actual Levying War be allow'd Treason: He had his [Page 218] Witnesses ready for the proving every Ar­ticle; his Attorny had drawn up all their Impeachments, and could not their King have the benefit of those Laws, he gives Life too? Could not their King Im­peach a Commoner? when they themselves can any Lord. He order'd Him to inform the House of Peers with the Matter of the Charge, and a Serjeant at Arms to accuse them to the Commons: did they, or could they call this an unheard of way, or Irrogular Proceeding? and will the protection of their House extend to an Inditement for High-Treason, as well as No privi­ledge of Parlia­ment holds for Treason, Felony or even Breach of the Peace 4. part Inst. 25. an Execution upon Debt? certainly this President won't be found among all the Miscellanies of Parliament, tho that In­dustrious Author might have cited too his Majestys Murder out of their Journal. But let them blush at their late Arbitra­ry Proceedings against their Fellow Sub­jects, and Remember what they deny'd their King.

Here was an obstruction of Justice, that was already a Rebellion against the Executive Power of the Law, such an one, as only their next Ordinance for seizing the Militia, could make it more so; the Serjeant that was sent to Arrest [Page 219] their Persons is countermanded, and if again attempted, 'tis Order'd, and Re­solved they'll stand upon their Desence, and make Resistance; how should the Mildest Father of the most Merciful Son, Mollifie so many Tygers Tugging for the Praerogative, with the pretence of Privileges. Why he tells us, himself went attended with some Gentlemen his [...]. followers, much short of his Ordinary Guard; to desire he might proceed against Traytors only in a free, and Legal Tryal, that he had furnisht himself with proof and wanted nothing for that Evidence which he could have produced: But what ( I am sure they were resolv'd to deny their Soveraign) even what they made the Rabble clamor for against himself, JUSTICE; the Chronicle tells us, none of his Followers mov'd farther than the Stairs, but only he himself with the Palsgrave enter'd the House, demanded whom before he had Accus'd, and the Villains themselves so Conscious of his E­quitable demand, and their own Guilt, that they fear'd their very delivery from their Friends, and that Death I doubt they had so justly deserv'd, the Crimi­nals were fled, he renews his Charge [Page 220] and so satisfy'd, returns; but so were not those whom nothing could Content at last but his Life, they load it with all the Ob­loquies, and Exasperations imaginable, such Protectors of Liberties could only think Treason against him worthier of Protection, then their injur'd King; an Execution of Law, is Voted a Breach of Priviledge, the demanding the Benefit of it by him that gives it it's being; they made MURDER, the City Guards are set up in several places, the Train-Bands are Commanded down to Westminster, a greater Army sure then only the Kings Retinue to protect Impeacht Traytors, and with the late Hosanna's of our Old-Baily they lead in Triumph, that Primitive Council of Six accus'd for High-Treason, and what Security had this present King that the like Cabal should not have been as well Secur'd from his Justice, had they been but detected in some of their late Sessions, they were all Members too, the Difference between our King and Commons in as high a ferment, the Charge that then was given to the Lords, the Articles that were offer'd to the Commons appear upon Record but the Counterpart of this Kings Declaration; [Page 221] only there they had not come so far as to contrive his Murder, their Accusati­on was, for aspersing of his Majesties Go­vernment Vid. Baker p. 516. An. 1641. Vid. Kings Declar. 1683. and altering the affections of his People, Countenancing Tumults against him, inviting a Foreign Nation, the Scots, as too this Actually did, and Conspiring to Levy War, as these did to Raise an Insurrection: And might not any Jea­lous Soul fear such Parliaments, that protected such Traytors? and might not such Traytors been again protected by such Parliaments, when the City too was their own again, the Guards set, the Watches plac'd, the Streets Chain'd, and that when they could accuse no King for Breach of Priviledge or Coming to their House with Arms, and the having a Guard for their house was offer'd at now when nothing but their King was again in danger? and can the retrieving the Memory of those immediate For­runners of our first Misfortunes be made a Crime? And the most Flagitious Vil­lains Hunt, Pla. to p. 169. concern'd in it no way Criminal, can such a Senate sit till it has Murder'd a King? and shall not an experienc'd King secure himself from such a Seditious Se­nate? that the design of the whole House [Page 222] of late was to raise a Rebellion, is utter­ly false, but that some of the late Mem­bers have actually design'd it since, is Certainly true, 'tis attested in their Suffer­ings and Seal'd in their Blood: The Honour of that Assembly may be no way Tainted, tho both Blood and Issue of some that did sit in it, is since at present so by Law; a man of Common Sense can appre­hend the Constitution of a Body Politick to be one thing, and the Constituent Mem­bers another, and this without the help of Metaphysicks or Abstraction, I am Sworn, besides that Natural affection I still shall have for my Soveraign, to be Faithful to my Liege Lord, and should I fail in my Faith, I should be for-sworn; I know the privilege of having a Par­liament is the Interest of every Subject, and should I contend against that, I should be a Fool; but because there is a necessity of obeying your King, does the same Obligation tye you to an Vsur­per. A Parliament is a great Privilege to a Nation, but not so when it Vsurps all sorts of Privileges, that you saw took away it's head, lay'd the Land of it all in BLOOD. I'll maintain with my last Breath that a Parliament is the Sub­jects [Page 223] Birth-right; but God forbid we should be Born to all sort of Parliaments, that would make us Traytors by a Law, and we have many besides what in this Kings were declar'd, by Statute Trea­sonable. Coventry Parl. 38. H. 6. de­clar'd Develish by 39. H. 6. 1. Edw. 4. that of Rich. 2 Treasona­ble. Par. Car. 1. 1641.

But to return to what is the Blackest piece of Treason our PLATO, was the Glorious Martyr the First aggressor too, or did they first seize his Militia, when they could not have it by Consent? was the withdrawing of the King, Trea­son to his Parliament? or were the Par­liament the Traytors that made him to withdraw? did the King Rebel against his own Garrison at Hull, or was Ho­tham the Rebel that kept out his King, let even prejudice here determine, what the worst of Malice can suggest: Does Matchiavel he cites, countenance the Li­centiousness of the People, or rather al­low too much Liberty to his Prince, and make an Hero, of a Tyrant, an Agathocles, and Grotius whom [...]. in Princip. C. 8. qui itaqae hujus viri rerum gestarum, ra­tiones animo reputa­ret nihil aut parum in [...] animadverteret aut fortunae asseribendum. he Libels as much when he makes him to favour a Rebel­lion, and who has expresly Condemn'd our own. After this Re-publican like a Roman [Page 224] Velite, has held our Monarchy his Foe in play, all in the front of the Book, he begins to rout it entirely when he comes up with the Body, to the Battle, and the Rear, there he tells us plainly the Sweetness the profitableness, of a Com­mon-wealth, that only 'tis not to be Plato page 221. p. 234. p. 236. Making Leagues absolutely in the King, 19. Ed. 4. 239. 249. 252. set up during these Circumstances, that is, 'tis too soon, to Rebel yet, and he has found out better expedients; the King has too much Power, the Presidents of John and Henry the Third, are trumpt up again for being Compell'd to give it away, the Murder of Edward, and Richard the Second, at least the Deposition, of which that is an absolute Consequence, is two or three times again Recommended for Instruction; and now he tells the Parliament plainly what Branches of the Praerogative, they must insist upon, Power of making War and Peace, Treaties and Allyances, which the Kings wicked Mi­nisters have made Destructive to the Inter­est of our English Nation: You have here the best of Kings in effect, tho ap­ply'd to the Courtiers, of which I think he must be the Chief, resembl'd to the ve­ry Rebel that Vsurpt upon his Crown; as if it were design'd by him as well as a [Page 225] Cromwel, (that had no right to maintain himself in the Throne, but the Power of the Sword) to Crave aid from FRANCE, Plat. 239. to keep Vnder his People of ENGLAND. The Militia must be granted them, be­cause out of Parliament, or Session, it being in his hand they cannot raise the County Bands, nor those of the City to Guard themselves, that some irusty Members whom if the King pleases may take care of his Houshold, that a Parlia­ment Plat. p. 249. meet of Course at a certain Day at the usual place without Writ or Summons, and that because Peers depend so much upon the will of their Prince for Creati­on, they should never be made but by Act of Parliament, I appeal to the most Plat. 252. moderate mild Soul Living, whether a­ny single Line of all this absolute Trea­son has not of late, almost since the Publication of this Damnable piece been [...] to be put in Execution, was not the Haereditary Discent, struck at in the Duke? was not the Militia offer'd at in some of their Votes? Frequency of Par­liaments which would have been as good as without intermission, Clamour'd for in some of their Speeches; the No­mination of some of the Officers of Power [Page 226] by the People. And lastly was it not a­greed to meet without Writ and Sum­mons, when the Major part of Members were to be conven'd after Dissolution, and can any still say that an alteration of the Government was never design'd, by those that were then so busily con­cern'd, and when some of the most po­pular and Active, have been since Actu­ally Convicted for the Compassing all this, by the Blood of their King, which they dispair'd of obtaining from his Le Roy vult: But 'tis to be hop'd that the God of Heaven, who has brought to Light the Darkness even of Hell, has so much illuminated Peoples understanding as well as Eyes, that the next Assembly that shall constitute this Politick Body, truly Honourable, adsolutely Necessary in it's Constitution, will be such, as will transcend, what has been one of their best Presidents; An healing one; and that of those wounds such [...] and Doctors have scarifi'd instead of clos'd, and with a merited Vote Condemn such Devils to their own Element the Fire, that have so Seditiously set three King­doms in a Flame.

But tho this refin'd Statesman, this po­lisht [Page 227] piece of the most accomplisht Trea­son, may perhaps value himself upon the Product and Invention of his own Villany, proud of the being reputed a witty Republican, whose greatest Glory here is to be at the best, but an Ingeni­ous Rebel; yet his very Reputation, tho it be but in his Roguery, must sink too. When you consider (what I shall soon satisfy any sober Person in, any Soul that has but so much Sense as to distin­guish an Author from a Plagiary a Man of Honesty from a Thief,) that even the very Notions and Principles he Prints for the establishing this Government were formerly Publisht, and proposed by the very Villains that actually subverted it; not one Expedient in all his Politicks, but what was by sad Experience the very Propositions of declar'd Traytors: The Blessed Wit would rob the Records of an old Rebellion; and that only to put in for an Inventor of a new; the worst of Felons, and in Forreign parts punisht as the greatest that Steals his Fel­low from the Gibbet: His Book has not only borrowed all from Harrington, I'll allow it him with all my Heart, and that [...]. by what follows you may find.

[Page 228]

[Page 230]These made the Substance of those Se­ditious Propositions, that they prest up­on the poor Prince, with which they would have forc't our Charles the First, to the Misfortune and Fate of a Richard the Second; the most aggravated Misery that can befal a Monarch, the deposing of himself. These were they that filled their Parliament Papers and Proposals to their King at York, the most Insolent that could be proposed surely to a Prince, that was then in a Condition more like­ly to demand with Arms, what he was denied against Law, whom they might expect to see as they did soon after at the Head of good Souldiers, as well as in the Hearts of Loyal Subjects; such In­solencies as would have been Insuffer­able had they tryed, and gained, what was afterward so unhappily gotten that unlucky Fortune of the Day, had they then, (what their Prosperous Villany did at last effect,) made their Mighty Monarch their Peoples Slave, and a meer Captive of a King. Carisbrook, and the Isle of Wight could not have born with of much Indignity, as was offered to him here; when even at Nottingham and York, their Non Addresses when his Person was [Page 231] in the Castle, were less hard, than such an Address when his Standard was in the Field: These were those that provok't even the Mildest Prince to Protest in Vi [...]. [...]. some rage, That if he were their Prisoner, he would never stoop so low; These were those by which he must have made Him­self, what our Republican would have him now made, of a King of England, but a Duke of Venice; and with These did they never cease to perplex his un­shaken Heart, his unmoved Soul, conti­nually upon all their Messages, Treatises and Remonstrances and Petitions, These still the Subjects of their demands, when their Commissioners were sent to Oxford after their Newbury Battle; these when the perfidious Scot had gotten him in their Power and Hands at Newark and New-Castle, but bandied then only for the better buying of their King, whom his own Country as basely sold; then of­fered rather to make matter of delaying War then truly design'd for Peace, that there might be somewhat in Agitation till the Summ was agreed upon, and his Majesty diverted with the small Hopes of being at last a Titular King, while they were selling him to Foreigners for [Page 232] an absolute Slave. Lastly, with these did they Plague and Pester the Poor Prince, when they had made him a perfect Pri­soner at Hampton Court, and how well these Proposals of the late Rebels, agree with the Politicks of this present Republi­can, I'll submit even to the most partial Person of the Party, upon the perusal of this Parallel.

And what could be the design then, at such a Season, of Publishing such a piece, of our Mutinous Members hug­ging in their Hearts, and applauding with their Tongues, Printed and Pub­lisht Treason? But that what was offered in their Plato, was once presented in Parliament, that the Politick Rebel, could be pickt even out of the Journals of their House: That they had Presidents there too for a Common Wealth, as well as in Starkey's Shop; and hoped to see her Revive again by Vote, as well as by Book.

But these blessed Expedients, tho but proposed out of the Press, are the more Pernicious; at the same time, its Pub­lisher makes them pertinent to what I have here applyed them, the Propositions of a Parliament; for he tells us he would Plato p. [...]. [Page 233] not have them wrested from his Majesty; but that he be petitioned to part with them, very seasonably suggested; I con­fess, when we were so full of petitioning. He would not have it effected by the Power of the Sword, the Politician it seems is mightily for Peace, and the Pre­servation of his Majesties Person; but would only have them raise at first a ci­vil War upon his Soul, use the Son a lit­tle more kindly than they did the Fa­ther, and not seize his Militia with an Ordinance, because they cannot Fight him with his consent, nor Rebel first a­gainst their King with an open War, and then send him Propositions for Peace, and the making him a Slave.

And since some of our Seditious Souls have not only a great Veneration left for these Parliamentary Projects, and as great esteem for this Statesman, for the reviving them in his Politicks; since some that would be thought Persons so­ber and moderate, can think the Kings Complyance in some of these Grants and Concessions somewhat necessary, and a Trifle of the Crowns prerogative to be pared from the State, as requisite as a Surplice, or Ceremony to be part­ed [Page 234] with in the Church; since the Pro­positions of that Rebel Parliament, and the Politicks of this rank Republican, make up so perfect a Parallel; It will supersede some separate labour and pains, to be able to animadvert upon them to­gether, and at once; (His Answerer will be somewhat obliged to his Authors be­ing but a Thief,) and will shew, (that whatever some think, that such pieces of Power might be par'd from the Crown like some sappy Excrescencies from the Trunks of Trees, for the better Nourish­ment of the Stock,) that all, and every one of them strike directly at the very Root: That the Government cannot well subsist without them, all; and that all of them are inseperably settled in the Crown, by all, the Fundamental Laws of all the Land.

The first that feels the reforming Cook. 4. Inst. Cap. 2. p. 53. Vid. [...] several Rolls of Par. cited by him for it's [...], Rot. Par. 50. Ed. 3. n. 10. 1. [...]. 2. [...]. 4. &c. stroke of their Fury, we find to be the Kings Privy Council; and what is that? why their own Oracle of the Law will assure them, the most Noble, most Hono­rable and reverend Assembly, consulting for the publick good, and that the number of them is altogether at the King's Will: And shall those be numbered now, and regu­lated [Page 235] at the Will of a Parliament, whom their own Acts, Statutes, Rolls, declare, acknowledge and confess to depend upon the Nomination, Power and Plea­sure of the Prince? would they repeal those Laws of their Ancestors enacted even according to the greatest Reason, only for an Introducing their own Inno­vations against all Reason and Law? Can it be consonant to common Sense, that those whom their King is to Consult, and Sit with at his Pleasure; and that accor­ding to the very express Words of Au­thentick Rolls and Records, that those Rot. Claus. 12. Ed. 3. Par. 2. m. 19.39. Ed. 3. fol. 14. should depend for their being, and Ex­istence upon the suffrages of such a se­nate, whom all our Laws declare, has it self no other being, but what it owes to the Breath of that Sovereign, over whom they would so [...] Su­perintend as to set a Council? can they think that even the Spartan Ephori would have ever been Constituted, had their Kings by as strong Presidents of the Laws Ad mode­randum Regum [...]. Calvin's 2. edit. Stras­burg, 1539. of their Land, been allow'd the Liberty of Chusing their own advisers? or would Calvin himselfhave recommended them, and the Roman Tribunes, the Demarchi, the Decemviral at Athens, had he been [Page 236] assured that their Decrees and Edicts had all along placed it in the power of their Prince to be advised by whom he plea­sed? and this Rebellious Project we now are examining, I am sure would prove a greater Scourge, and curb, to our own Kings, than ever the Romans, or Athe­nians had for the management of theirs; we must turn about even the very Text, and invert our Prayers to the Almighty; when a Parliament shall come to Coun­sel his Counsellors and teach his Senators Wisdom; when it shall be in the Subjects power to set himself at his Soveraigns Table, you may swear he'll be first served too, and that with his own Carving; and therefore were they not forc't to rase Rolls and Records for the making such a Reformation in the State; Reason it self is sufficiently the Faction's Foe, and as much on the side of those that are the Kings Friends. For let any sober Per­son but consider, whether the greatest Confusion, Disorder and Disturbance in the State, would not be the Con­sequence of this very distracted Opini­on; do we not already too much expe­riment the disquiet of a divided King­dom to be most dangerous, when but a [Page 237] tumultuous part of a Parliament too much Predominates, this Gentlemans Quaran­tia, Plat. page 241. (or if you please) the Kingdoms four General Councils, are to be named in Parliament; and then what would be the result of it, but that his Majesty must be managed by a standing House of Commons, or at best some Committee of Lords; they need not then Labour for the Triennial Act of the late King, con­firmed 16. Car. 1. 16. Car. 2. by the too gracious Concession of this; His Councils once their own Crea­tures, would have too much Veneration for their kind Creators, to diswade their King from a speedy Summons of a Se­nate; tho assured, secured of its being sufficiently Seditious, they would soon supersede as supersluous one of the ve­ry Articles of such a Counsellors 4. [...]. p. 54. Oath, where he swears to keep Secret the Kings Counsel; for by such a Constitution they would be obliged to make a Report from the Council-Board to some Chair­man of a Committee; a better Expedient, I confess, than an order for Parl. 25. Car. 1. just so took upon them to search the Signet Office, and that of the Secretary, whereof the King as justly com­plain'd. Vid. [...] Coven­try speach to the Commons. Sr. Stephen's bringing in the Books: And indeed none of the Kings Services should be then called Secret, they would be soon Print­ed with their Votes, and hardly be fa­voured [Page 238] voured with some of their own Affairs of Importance, to be referred for the more private Hearing, to a Committee of Secrecy; the good advise his Majesty might expect from such Councils, might be much like those of late from his Petitio­ners, And he again told to be the mightiest Monarch, by condescending to be the Ibid. p. 57. most puny Prince: My Lord Cook tells us, those Councils are there best proposed for the Kingdom, when so that it can't be guess'd which way the King is encli­ned, for fear, I suppose, of a servile Complyance; but here the knowledge of his Inclination, would be the most dangerous to the King; which to be sure would be opposed, and only because known; the good the King would re­ceive from such Counsellors might be put in his Eyes, and the Protection the Na­tion could receive from such a King, must be but in good Wishes, and are we come to deny our Soveraign at last, what every Subject can Consult, his own Friends.

But tho this bold Gentleman as arro­gantly tells us, that this Privy Council is no part of the Government; (his ima­gined one he must mean) a Common­wealth; Plat. page [...]. I'll tell him more modestly, and [Page 239] with better Authority than a Dixit only of a Platonick Dogmatist, that he might as well have told us too, (what indeed are such a Republicans real thoughts,) that the King Himself is no part of it, and shew him both from Law and Rea­son, that they have a great share in it too.

And that the Laws great Oracle tells us too, who is so far from letting them have no part in the Government, that he tellsus they have a very great part e­ven Cook 4. c. 2 Inst. Stanford 72. F Se­nators sunt partes corporls Regls. in the very King. That they are in­corporated to the King himself. His true Treasurers, and the most profi­table Instruments of the State: And without doubt this great part they had always in Publick administrations made them of old so much esteem'd, that in all Rolls, and Acts of State, they were mention'd with so much reverence and respect; certainly had they been no con­stitution allow'd of by the Fundamen­tal Laws of our Land, they would ne­ver have been transmitted to posterity, with such veneration to their Memories, and that too through every Reign and all the Records of Time; let them have but the benefit and priviledge of a Com­mon Burrough, and let their President, an [Page 240] Office as old as King John's Time, and that Holl. fol. 169. Matt. Paris, 205. by Letters pattents, but have as fair play as one of their Port-Reevs, prescription would incorporate them into the Go­vernment, as well as entitle those to their Franchises. 'Tis an absolute Contra­diction to Imagin that Rolls then the [...]. Par. 3. H. 6. [...]. 3. very Parliaments Acts, or Opinions in Transcript, should have recorded them so Honourably, for their Publick Ad­ministration; were they not allow'd by the people so much as to be Ministers for the Publick good; and such Honour was given them too by our Ancestors; such Semblance of Soveraignty to their Persons, that their Houses had in some sense, the self-same privilege of the ve­ry Kings Palace and Verge; wherein if Coke. 4. Inst. p. 53. Inas c. 46. a blow was given it was punisht with a Fine, the loss of a good Summ of Money as in the other, of a Hand: And is it not at present Treason to destroy them; and can Absurdity it self imagin that the Laws which are made always by those that Go­vern, would make such provisions for those that were no part of the Govern­ment.

And lastly, to prove this proposition of our Republican, but a Rebels Plot; [Page 241] and a fair progress towards a Rebellion, I'll shew this presumptious projector, how vainly he presumes upon his parts and Invention, that he is a double Plagi­ary, not only borrow'd this [...] project against the present Privy Coun­cil from these proposals of our Seditious Senate in England, but his very Quaran­tia of Venice was set up, long before he could for an Author, by those Zealots that were so resolutely resolv'd to Rebel in Scotland; and he shall see those Dae­magogues too, those Devils of Sedition, look't upon it even then as a praeparato­ry project and the best Expedient for their Invading of the Kingdom, and the Crown.

Their Edenburgh, their Metroprolis, as Anno 1638. well as ours here, was then the Seat of Se­dition, so truly great, that it's Faction and Villany was Commensurate even with it's very Walls: And those too, when Casually fallen were not suffer'd to be built; as if they would have let the World known by praediction, their Ominous Treason was to extend further: 'twas here that the Sycophants at the same time they pretended so much for their Kings preservation, that they protested against [Page 242] the pious Prince's Proclamation only for the dispersing of that dangerous Rab­ble that seem'd to denounce with an O­men, what too fatally follow'd, his Death and Destruction; his Majesties sincerity to them and their Religion, was repeat­ed in it, often with assurances; but what was as Sincerely promis'd from a King by these Monsters of the People was as Rebelliously Ridicul'd with scorn and derision; and that the Government might be satisfy'd with a sure report of their Se­dition, Vid. Sir Will. Dug­dale's short view. 45. & p. 48, 49, 50. they made those Heralds that proclaim'd their Princes pleasure, to wit­ness how much it displeas'd his Rebel Subjects, and in defiance to their very Faces read their own Protestation.

Big thus with Rebellion; and La­bouring with their teeming Treason, at last they are fairly deliver'd of the same Rebel Brat, this Republican would a­dop't for his own, a QVARANTIA: they Covenant and agree (and 'twas time to Vnite for a Justification of those Vil­lanies, which nought but a Combination could defend;) for erecting four princi­pal Tables; and 'twas time too to set up their own Councils, when they had so Seditiously resisted their Kings. To pur­sue [Page 243] the Contempt of this Proclamation, which by his Majesties Council and Com­mand was publish't; for a further Vio­lation of the Regal Authority they set up this truly Popular, the first of their four Councels to consist of their Nobili­ty; the second of the Gentry, the third of their Burgesses, and the fourth of their Ministry; and the Decrees of these their principal and general Tables (as they call'd them,) as if as Universally to be receiv'd as Moses his Two of Stone, what Baker 406. they did, and was approv'd of by the General one, the Choice Flow'r of all the Four, was to be forc't as the Peoples Law, but far I am sure from the Funda­mental one of the Land, from this their Rebellious assuming of the Soveraignty in their pretended Councils, (as they call'd them too) but in truth a Conven­tion of Conspirators; proceeded present­ly the Renewing of their Negative Con­fession; their Band, their Covenant im­pos'd on all sorts of People, with arti­side, force, and Blood it self: And can a Test now establish't by Authority and Law, be look't upon an Imposition e­ven by those that impos'd Oaths Vnlaw­ful and Rebel'd against both? it being [Page 244] by them expressly declar'd in two several 10. Jac. 6. Act 12. & Parl. 9. Regn. Ma­rlae. Act 75. Acts, that all Leagues of Subjects amongst themselves, without their Princes Privity, to be Sedition, and their Authors and A­betters to be punish't as movers of such.

And what did this Venetian Govern­ment terminate in in Scotland, but a plain Confederacy to confound all, and tho the Civil and Courteous contriver of our Ruin and Subversion minces the matter with making his Majesty to Ex­ercise his four Magnalia with the con­sent of these four Councils, 'twould puz­zle his Politicks to tell me the distincti­on between them and those principal Ta­bles of the Scot, what should confine them from Confederating against their Plato p. 240. King, instead of Consulting for him? what would signifie his Majesties having a president among those, of his own place­ing, when every one of them would be their own Masters, and out of his power to displace? what should hinder those from protesting with their old Rebellious As­sembly in Scotland against all their Kings desires, intentions, and Inclinations for the publick good, while they presume their own Maxims the wisest, and their measures the best? and to tell us that these are to [Page 245] give Account and to be answerable to such a Parliament, who chuses them, is to say a Sidney is the best Judge of the Misde­meanor of a Nevil, most qualifi'd to answer his Quaere whether this project be not a better Expedient than the Justitia of Arrogan, or the Spartan Ephori, or to Plato 242. tell us one that has suffer'd for Treason to a Monarchy, is the fittest to Try him that would betray it to a Common-wealth.

The second Proposition in the Paral­lel is, that Affairs of State be managed by the Parliament, or by such Councils as they shall appoint: The true Spirit, the Life, the Soul of Sedition, that in­formes, and animates the whole Body of the Faction, speakes here the Dictates of this Daemon this Devil of a Republick; that has possest the Nation for this five years, with greater Phrensy then e're he did before the Restoration, when by the very Finger of God he was first calt out; and would now return too with more worse than himself, only because he finds it swept and garnisht: For I de­fie the most diligent Perusers of the most pernicious Libels that were Printed in 1642. the most Pestilent time, when Treason was Epidemick, and spread as the Plague [Page 246] it self more than once did; and that in their Mighty Babylon, their Metropo­lis too. I challenge even those to shew me so much Penn'd even then to persuade the setting up a Republick, as has so lately been Published in this very piece.

His Majesty upon the presenting these Vid. Rings Answer to the 19. proposi­tions. their Proposals I have parralleld, told them they designed him for a Duke of Venice; and that they only dared to do, when they had bid him defyance to his Face, and made him fly for re­fuge to his Friends, when they had a fund for Rebellion in the City; A Gene­ral, and an Army in the Field; but here we have a single Republican declaring expressly for the good Government of the Venetian, Arraigning of our Monar­chy, condemning of our Courts, reform­ing of our Councils, only to set up their Republick, for the framing their Decem­viral, the constituting their Quarantia, the making every Member of Parlia­ment; Rex est principl­um, caput & Finis Parl. Vld. Modus renend. Parl. & 4. Inst. fol. 3. but a Noble Man of Venice, and his Mighty Prince, that presides in it by Law as a Principal Head, but a plain puny Doeg; and all this at a time the Government stood firm upon its Foundations, and the best of Basis its [Page 247] Fundamental Law, to what an height of exalted Insolence was the very Soul of Sedition then aspired to, to suffer such a Serpent to see the Light that hist at the sight of a Soveraign, and spit its Ve­nom in the very Face of Majesty.

And whatever Recommendation this virulent Republican gives us of the Ve­netian Justice, he would find sufficient severity, sublim'd Cruelty, instead of Law, distributed to such daring Offenders, as should offer at a Monarchy there, tho but a mixt; and of which they seem to have some necessitated resemblance in their constant creating of a Duke, as if there were yet some remains of Royalty left which they could not extirpate; and like Nature it self whom all the Art of Man can never expel; the Libeller would not be long then without an Hal­ter; Vid. Reli­quiae Wot­ton. [...]os­carino's case, the Jealous State would soon send him the sight of his Sin, and Sentence together, and that by the Hands of his Hangman, and some little Gondula to Ferry him to the deep. No Magna Charta, no Petition of Right, no privi­lege of a Tryal of Peers, or even a Plea allowed to the Prisoner; and whom with a Praevious Sentence too, they [Page 248] many times dispatch assoon as seiz'd: And shall a Monarchy here founded up­on Kingly Govern­ment has been the usage of the Land beyon'd History it self; & the Common Law is but Common usage. Plowd. Comment p. 195, Le Com­men Ley n'est que Commen use. 2. part of the Inst. fol. 496. Kings Prae­rogative is part of the Law of England. on its Fundamental Law, and that for fifteen hundred years, be invaded with impunity, by the Pen of every virulent Villain, each Factious Fellow that can but handle the Feather of a Goose.

I confess, when they were arriv'd here to their Acme of Transcendent Villany, when Vice had fixt her Pillars here, and that in an Ocean too, but of Blood; when they had washt their Hands even in Insu­perable Wickedness, and shed that of their Prince, when by a Barbarous Rebellion they had subverted thebest of Civil Go­vernments, our Monarchy, and establisht their own Anarchy, a Common Wealth, then they might well be so bold, as to write their Panegyricks upon their own Usurpation, when they were to be paid for it by the Powers instead of Punish­ment.

Then they might tell us (as indeed they did;) that the greatest of Crimes was the committing of High Treason against the Majesty of the People: That the Ro­mans gave us good Presidents for Re­bellion, Merc. Pol. Num. 107. in the turning out of their Tar­quins, and the Government together; [Page 249] that Caesar Usurpt upon the power of the People; Marius and Sylla on the Juris­diction of the Senate; Pisistratus turned Tyrant at Athens, and Agathocles in Sicily; Merc. Pol. Jun. 17. 52. that Cosmus was the first Founder of a Dukedom, and a fatal Foe to Florence; that Castruccio made himself the Lord of all Luca, and oppressed the Liberty of all the Freeborn Subjects of the Land; that all our Kings from him they called the Conqueror, to the Scottish Tyrant, were but the same sort of Usurpers upon the power of the People. All this with much more Execrable Treason was Prin­ted, Publish'd, and Posted through the Kingdom, with Approbation of Parlia­ment, and which we shall in its proper place represent in its own blackness, black as Hell it self, the seat of such Seditious Souls, full of Anarchy and Confusion; But why we should now have so lately left us such daring desparadoes to re­trieve to us the same Doctrine, to tell Plato. us that Affairs of State must be managed by a Parliamentary; that is in their own Phraseology a meer popular Power, could proceed certainly from nothing but the deepest, the most dangerous Cor­ruption of the Times; from the despe­rate [Page 250] Condition of a Government, ready to be undermined, by Treachery, Plot, and Machination, brought so low; that it did not dare to defend it self; and its boldest Assertors so far frightened into a dishonest and imprudent sort of Diffi­dence, as to distrust the strength of their own Cause; and that was evident too, from the sad servile Complyance of some fearful Souls, otherwise well affected, that seemed to give up their Govern­ment like a Game lost, that had rather sink then swim against the Tyde.

But for a more direct Answer to this Proposition we shall shew, that Affairs of State must be managed by our Mo­narch; that matter of Fact has prov'd it by Prescription; that it is our Kings Prerogative by the Lands Law, and his unquestionable Right, by the force of Reason.

For the first 'tis evident from Histo­ry, that for above 600. years, near a thou­sand before the Conquest, we had Kings that had an Absolute and Soveraign sway over their Subjects, as appears from the Gildas B. who was born Anno 493. most Antient Writer of our British Histo­ry; it is apparent that all our Monarchs, Britains, Saxons and Danes exercis'd [Page 251] unlimited Jurisdiction without having their Affairs Govern'd by any estabisht Council much less a Parliament, and that to be prov'd beyond Contradiction from the several Authors, that These were Nennius a Monk of Bangor who liv'd An. 620. Bede a Saxon, who wrot in their Heptarchy, dy'd in the 733. Asserius Menev. who writ the Acts of King Alfred. Colemannus Ang. who liv'd in the time of the Danes and Harold the first. Vortiger the Bri­tish King on his own Head, call'd in the Sax, on without his Sub­jects consent. Egbert an absolute Monarch of the Saxons over all the Isle. Canutus as absolute among the Danes, call'd only his Convention of Nobles at Oxford about 1017. Lived, Wrote, and were Eye Witnesses, of the manner and Constitution of their Govern­ment, and then sure must be suppos'd to understand that to which they were Subjected, from those good Authorities can be easily gather'd that the power of Peace and War was always in the Prince, that they were Govern'd by him Arbi­trarily and at his Will, that he call'd what Councils, of whom, when, and where he pleas­ed; so far from being Limited, that the most popular Parlia­mentarians would be loth his present Majesty should prescribe to such an Absoluteness, and which nothing but the kind Concessions of some of his Pre­decessors, to their Clamourous Subjects has given from the Crown and dispens'd with that power and right enjoy'd by their Royal Ancestors.

[Page 252] 'Tis strange and unaccountable that those which stretch their Wit and In­vention for this power of Parliament, and run through all the Mazes of Musty Records, for the proving it so Ancient, yet will not allow that of their King so long a standing, and which after all their fruitless Labour lost proves at last no­thing but the Council of their King, those Noble and Wise-men he would please to Assemble; their Gemotes the name of that most Ancient Assembly implying nothing more, as appears even from 1. Inst. §. 164. p. 110. Magn. Chart. Chart. Forrest. Stat. of Ireland made H. 3. the 1. Laws we had from their ve­ry words seem all made by the sole pow­er of the King. No Commons mentioned in Stat. Merton, 20. H. 3. only discreet men mention'd in Stat. of Marlbrigd. 52. H. 3. But all the Commo­nalty is said summon'd in the praeamb. to Stat. West. 1.3. E. 1. In Stat. Bigamy 4. Ed. 1. Stat. Mortemain 7. E. 1. Art. sup. Chart. 28. E. 1. Stat Escheat. 29. E. 3. not summon'd, 34. E. no Law to be made without Kt. and Burg. their own Cook himself, and their Commons whom this Au­thor would have now so great as to Govern his King; far from having the least concern in pub­lick Administrations, there be­ing in all Historical Accounts of [...] Antient times no men­tion of them in those very Conventions; whereas Nobles Bishops, and Abbots are ex­presly nam'd. The greatest Co­lour they have for 'its Conject­ure is only from the word Wites or wise-men which Constituted their Witena; and the Pre­faces [Page 253] or preambles to all their Laws im­ply that they were with the assistance of the Wise-men, made by their King; but can any person of sence and Impartial, conceive this Term the more applicable to the Common sort of People and meer Laymen, than to the Nobles the Bishops, the Lords; and then as we may well believe the most Learned of the Land; their Literature sure was then but little, and then I am sure that of the meaner Layity must be less, certainly the word Wites will import no more than an Ex­pressive Character of those Qualifica­tions, such Nobles were suppos'd to have that are still expressly said to be sum­mon'd; Vid. also Dr. B. An­swer to P. [...] 10. But still left to the King how many of those he wou'd call. And per Stat. 7. H. 4. the [...] was first fram'd di­recting 2 to be cho­sen for each County & Burrough. and to say that by Wise-men were still understood the Commons; such an Emphatical denomination could not be so well resented by their Lordships, since it would seem in some sence to Exclude them from being so, but as a Learned and Labourious Answer of this popular point has observ'd, and what will nearly make it Vnanswerable, that in thir Laws when the Senate was generally signified and the whole Constitution it self, then Wise-men or Wites expressed it; but where any sort of the Constituent Members are Par­ticulariz'd [Page 254] there you'll [...] nothing but Nobles nam'd; so that such an Assembly, and that all of the Nobility, depending upon the choice and Election of the [...], was not much more than our present Privy Council: But then they were able to make Laws, and these now but Orders and Proclamations, and Par­liaments then were so far from Usurp­ing upon their King, that they were in a Literal sence but his own Counsellors.

But were it granted, what the Faction so furiously contend for, that Commo­ners Of Antient time both Houses sate toge­ther first sever'd. a. H. 4.4. Inst p. 2. were understood by the word Wise­men, they were still far from [...] such a Senate as [...] wherein they now sit, only some few [...] joyntly with the Nobility, call'd there by their Soveraigns sole Summons and Choice; and this is granted by one of their most [...] Advocates, when he tells us [...]. p. 95. the Dr. has only found out what no Historian is unacquainted with, that our Parliaments were not always such as now Constituted; if so, why then all this Labor for the proving them such? why so much of the Commons Antiquity Asser­red? why must the Press be pester'd with three or four Volums for the purpose? [Page 255] Laborious Drudges of Sedition! 'tis not Jani [...], &c. Argu­ment. Anti Norman. there Antiquity you so much contend for, and so little able to defend; the pains to prove them Antient, is only in order to make them more Exorbitant: M. P. must Print their Rights, and that at a time when they were even rea­dy to Rebel, and with a superfluous piece of Sedition tell them of their Pow­er, Miscel. Parl. when all good People thought they Usurpt too much. Hunt must Harangue upon their Integrity to their Prince, and State, when some have since suffer­ed, been proved Principal Actors for the Destruction of both: These like the Roman Velites, were fain to Skirmish in the Front, and entertain the good Go­vernment their Foe, with a little light Charge, of the Commons power and priviledge, faithfulness and sincerity; 'tis a Plato they permit to bring up the Bo­dy to the Battle, and assail it with the Subjects supremacy, and making the Com­mons a standing Council for the manage­ment of Affairs of State, and the bet­ter Government of their King, poor prejudic'd Souls, that to please a party contradict themselves, give all History the Lye, and then constrain themselves [Page 256] to believe they tell a Truth; you say Postscript. [...] sup. Parliaments were not always so powerful as now, and won't you be satisfyed then they had once less power. All our Chro­nicles tell us our Kings of old, never allowed such Priviledges to the People; and cannot this People be contented e­ven with an Usurpation upon their Kings.

And as it will from those Authors ci­ted before plainly appear, that the old Britains, the Saxons, and Danish Prin­ces were far more absolute than of late our succeeding Sovereigns: so was the Conqueror, the Norman too for several A Priest of [...]. Successions. Consult Alfredus that lived in his time, aud writ down to it, or Gulielm. Pictaviens. that writ a Treatise of his Life; who tho an absolute Prince by Conquest and Arms, yet themselves will allow that he governed by Laws, and that our English ones too; yet those very Laws, were then of such a Latitude, that they allowed him what his Parlia­ment of Lords would never have al­lowed had he been obliged to consult them, he singly ordeined, what of late Vid. Baker, has been so loudly clamoured for, that no Prelates should have any Jurisdiction [Page 257] in Temporals, and disarmed all the com­mon People in general throughout the whole Kingdom; the first themselves, tho such Sollieitors and Petitioners for the compassing it, would not now al­low his Majesty alone, to exclude from their Votes, (tho for their own Satisfacti­on) without an Act of Parliament, and for the latter they'll hardly allow, tho granted by the Law, and tho it be only disarming and securing some Seditious Souls that disturb the Peace.

William the Second layd his own Tax­es Vid. Ead­merus a Monk who writ the Life of William 2d. lived in his Time. on the People; a sufferance no Sub­ject can sustein now but with his own consent and Permission, he could for­bid his People by Proclamation not to go out of the Kingdom, not to be done now but with a ne Exeat, a Writ and Process at Law, confirmed, as all others are, by Act of Parliament. Henry the First had as great a power and preroga­tive, and exercised it too; punishments Vid. Baker p. 34. [...]. William 2d. before his time, which were Mutilation of Members, he made pecuniary; provi­sions for his House which were paid in kind; he made to be turned into Mo­ney; an Alteration of Custom and Law, not now to be compast but by particu­lar [Page 258] Act: Baker makes him first to have So also Florence of Worst. instituted the form of an High Court of Parliament, and tells us that before, on­ly the Nobles and Prelates were called to consult about Affairs of State: But he called the Commons too as Burgesses elected by themselves; but this can't be gathered from Eadmerus the much bet­ter Authority, who in the Titles and the Stile of near Nine or Ten Councils of his time not so much as mentions them.

King Stephen what he wanted, and was forc't to spare in Taxations, which were not then granted by the suffrages of the Common People, tho they commonly bear the greatest burden of it; tho he did not according to the Power he was then invested with, raise great Sums upon his Subjects, and the greatest Reason, be­cause he could not, the Continual Wars having impoverisht them as well as their Prince; and it has the proverbial Autho­rity of necessitated Truth, That even where it is not to be got, the King him­self must foregoe his Right; yet this mighty Monarch's power was such; that Confiscations supplyed, what he could Baker p. 49. not Tax; and as our Historian tells us [Page 259] upon light Suggestions, not so much as just Suspicions, he would seize upon their Goods; and as I remember the Bi­shop of Salisbury's Case in his time con­firms: But tho the Menace of the threat­ning King, the Text, be turned now in­to the clear Reverse, and our Kings Loyns, no heavier then the very Finger of some of his Predecessors, still we can The words of a Priest lately try­ed and convicted of High Treason. find those that can preach him down for a Rehoboam, or some Son of Nebat that makes Israel to Sin.

Henry the Second resum'd by his own Act all the Crown Lands that had been sold or given from it by his [...], and this without being questioned for it, much less deposed or murdered, whereas when our Charles the First at­tempted only to resume the Lands of Religious Houses, that by special act of the Parliament in Scotland, had been set­tled on the Crown; but by Usurpation were shared among the Lords, when 'twas only to prevent their Scandalous defrauding of the poor Priest, and the very box of the poor, to keep them from an [...], and even a cruel Lording it over the poor Peasant, in a miserable Vassallage beyond that of our [Page 260] antiquated Villains; and when he en­deavoured all this only by the very Law of all the Land, by an Act of Renovati­on, Legal Process, and a Commission for the just surrendring Superiorities and Tyths, so unjustly detain'd from the Crown: but our modern Occupants of the Kirks Revenue, had far less Reve­rence for the State, chose much rather to Rebel against their Prince, for being, as they would Phrase it, Arbitrary, than part with the least power over their poor Peasants, which themselves exerci­sed even with Tyranny: This was the ve­ry beginning of the first Tumults in that Factious Kingdom, and 'tis too much to tell you in what they ended.

Richard the First had a trick I am sure would not be born with now, he pretends very cunningly to have lost his Signet, and puts out a Proclamation, that whoever would enjoy what he had under the former, must come and have it confirmed by the new, and so furnisht himself with a fine fund; he could fair­ly sell and pawn his Lands for the Jerusa­lem Journey, and as fouly upon his re­turn resume them without pay: And all this the good peaceable Subject could [Page 261] then brook, without breaking into Re­bellion, and a bloody War; and as they had just then none of their Great Char­ter, that made afterward their Kings the less; so neither had they such Rebellious Barons, that could not be contented e­ven with being too Great: as they were then far from having granted so graci­ous 3 Car. 1. a Petition as that of Right; so nei­ther, you see, so ready to Rebel, and that only because they could not put upon their Prince the deepest Indignities, the greatest wrong.

And these warrantable proceedings of our Princes, whose power in all probabi­lity was unconfin'd before the Subjects Charter of Priviledges was confirm'd, must needs be boundless, when there were yet no Laws to Limit them; yet these two Presidents were as impertinently applyed (by the Common Hackney Goose quils, whose Pens were put upon by the Parliament to scribble Panegy­ricks upon a Common-wealth,) to prove 1648. 49. 51. Mer­cur. Pollt. n. 64. 65. all our Kings a Catalogue of Tyrants; tho the Presidents they brought from those times were clear Nonsense in the Application, and no News to tell us, or reproach to them, that those Princes [Page 262] were Arbitrary, when they had yet gi­ven no grants to restrain their Will.

Here I hope is sufficient Testimony, and that too much to Demonstrate that our Kings of old, by long Prescription were so far from being guided and go­verned by a Parliament, as our Factious Innovator would have them now, that in truth they never had any such Con­stitution; and the People then insisted so little on their own Priviledges, that they could not tell what they were; and the Princes Prerogative so great, that e­ven their property could hardly be cal­led their own: But these being but Pre­sidents before their Charters were grant­ed, or the Commons came in play, tho these preceding Kings might deviate from the common Custom of the Realm, in many, that some may call irregular Ad­ministrations; yet the Customs of the Vid. Lex Terrae. Kingdom relating to the Royal Govern­ment, in all those Reigns were never questioned, much less altered; they ne­ver told their Kinge then, as this piece of Sedition does now, that their Nobles were to manage their Affairs of State, as well as he would have even a Council of Commons.

[Page 263] We come to consider now whether An. Reg. 17 John. from the granting them Charters, which was done in the next Reign, that of King John, when the long tugged for Liberties, were first allowed, or from the Constitution of admitting the Com­mons to consult, which by the greatest Advocates can't be made out handsome­ly, before this Kings time or his Son, and Successors; who might well be ne­cessitated to Consult the meaner sorts when all the great were in Arms, and wisely flatter their Commons into peace, when the Lords had rebelled in an open War; tho' still good Authorities will Vid Dr. B. Introduct. p. 72. 105. &c. p. 149. The King calls Parl. per advisam entum Con­cilii. Vid. Bract. Parl. 4. Inst. p. 4. and shall they sup­press those by whose advice they are call'd. not allow them to be called in either of their Reigns, not so much as to be men­tioned in any of their Councils, and that even to the 18 of Edward the First; wee'll see I say now whether from these, as they count them the most happy times, That blessed Epoche wherein their Kings were first confined, down to those which Posterity will blush at, the Period of Vil­lany, when this Proposition was among the rest proposed, whither ever the Par­liament pretended (unless when they actually rebelled as they did here,) to manage their King, and his Affairs of State.

[Page 264] The greatest Lawyer, and the most E­quitable Bracton, l. 4. Cap. 24. one, that lived in this Henry the Thirds time, tells us the King has a pow­er and Jurisdiction over all that are in §. 5. ibid. his Kingdom, that all are under him, that he has not an Equal in the Realm; and sure the Project of putting the Par­liament upon choosing of his Council for the managing of his Affairs, or assuming Plat. prop. themselves to manage it, certainly would make the Subject have some power over him, make him more then Equal or Co­ordinate, as the more modern Contend­ers for the Peoples Supremacy very Ma­gisterially are pleased to Phrase it.

In the Reign of Edward the First the [...]. Edw. 1. Parliament declares, they are bound to as­sist their Sovereigns at all Seasons, and in that very Sessions declared the Supream pow­er to be his proper and peculiar Prerogative, and so far from taking upon them to ma­nage Him, or His Affairs, or the setting a Council over Him as a superintendent.

In Edward the Second's time, they [...] Ed. 2. several times confirm'd to him the power of the Sword, as his Sole undoubt­ed, [...] Ed. 2. unquestionable Prerogative, and that he could distrain for the taking up of [...], all that held by Knights Service, [Page 265] and had twenty Pounds per An. and I think that allowed him to be his own Adviser, when it put him into an abso­lute Condition to Command.

But I confess, his Seditious and Rebel­lious Subjects, afterward served Him just as these our Proposers did their Sove­raign; took upon themselves to reform his Council, managed His Affairs till they did all the Kingdom too; deposed him with that power of the Sword, they themselves had several times in his very Reign put in his Hand, as ours also deny­ed His Majesty the Commission of Array, Vid. dugd. Baker. 5. H. 4. 1. Jac. which they well knew the Laws allow­ed: But as this Usage was shown to both, so was it done to bind them both, that both might be more easily Butchered.

In the following Reign of this unfor­tunate Prince's Son, too forward to Edw. 3d. mount the Throne before his Father had thoroughly left it, which he could not be said to relinquish but with his Life; there I'll grant this Republican his own Rebel Tenent was as stoutly maintained; Exilium Hugon. Edw. 2. 1 Edward 3d. C. 2. but by whom? why by the very same Wretches, whom too several Parliaments had condemned, for the same sort of [Page 266] damnable Opinions; and solemnly sent them into Exile too; the daring and presumptuous Spencers, who being the first Authors of that Seditious Sophistry, that damnable Distinction of parting His Majesties Person from his Vide Jenkins's Lix Terrae first Edit. p. 5. political Capacity, that is, making Allegiance no longer Law, than their King could maintain his Authority with Arms, for that must be the meaning of such Trea­sonable Metaphysicks; for if they'll owe but Obedience upon that political ac­count of his being a King, assoon as they can but find out some blessed Expe­dient for the proving of him none, that is, Misgovernment, Vid. Parl. De­clarations. 41. p. 4. Arbitrary Power, And Pro­ceeding of L. [...] in the Old-Bayly. Popish Inclinations, and the like pret­ty Pretences to make him fairly forseit it; why then truly all the Majesty va­nishes like a Shadow, before this New Light; and if he can't hold his Scepter in his Hand with the power of his Sword; why they have Metamorphosed Him in­to a common Man, and may pluck it out with theirs.

And truly the In three several Places in Plowden they are made inseparable, p. 234. 242. 213. Corps politick include le Corps natural. Son Corps politick & natural sont indivisible Ceux Deux Corps Sont as encorporate une Person. Peoples Politick Capacity is such, they will soon [Page 267] make their Kings uncapable; when once they are grown so strong in the Field as not to fear it: Here was the Rise of that Rebellious reasoning that run all indispensable Obligation of our Obedience to the Prince, into the Ca­pricious and Arbitrary Conjecture of the People, whose Title, and Deposition must depend upon his own Demeanor, and that to be decided according to the diversity of thought, which in a discon­tented Vulgar deserves the better Epi­thet of Distraction: The good King would have a Right to his Crown, as long as his kind Subjects would be plea­sed to think so; and we have more than once found, their Politicks have too soon made them uncapable to Govern; and then deposed, and murdered their very Persons, for the want of this their poli­tick Capacity: I am sorry to say, and po­sterity will blush to hear, that such Sedi­tious, and sophisticated reasoning obtain­ed even to the ma­king Ed. 2. in whose time 'twas first started. Vid Lex Terrae, Rich. 2. because by mis­demeanours he had made himself unca­pable Vide Trussel. Three migh­ty Monarchs in a most miserable man­ner to miscarry; and it appears still too plain in their Prints; [Page 268] and those too Charactered in Royal Blood; that they never [...] severing our late Charles the 1st. the Parlia­ment declares because the King had not granted the Propositions; ( i. e.) deposed himself, he could not Exercise the Duties of his place. Answer of the Com. to the Scots Com. p. 20. and the Scots expound their preserving the Kings Person in the Covenant; but as it related to the Kingdom ( i. e.) in English, if they please they may destroy him. Soveraign's Person from his Crown, till at last his Head too from his Shoulders.

I could not but with some passionate Digression reflect upon this pernicious Principle; and so the best of it is, I can be but pardonably impertinent; but which I would apply pertinently to this Republi­cans and Parliamentary Proposition for their managing all State Affairs is one of the Consequences that may be drawn, and which those Sycophants, the Spencers did actually craw from this their damnable Doctrine, for so they did conclude from it too (as well they might) That in default of him their Liege Lord, his Lie­ges should be bound to govern the Af­fairs of State; and what Newes now does this Devilish Democratick tells us? Why the very Doctrine of two damnable Parasites, whom themselves have condem­ned for above two or three hundred years agon, who to cover their own Treason

[Page 269] (as they then too call'd it) committed against the People; and that but in Vid. Cook 4. Inst. C. 2. Evil Counselling of their King, invented ve­ry cunningly this popular Opinion, to preserve themselves, and please the Rab­ble they had so much [...].

And could after so many Centuries, after so long a series of time, the Princi­ples even of their execrated Enemies, by themselves too; be put into practice, and what is worse still, shall the sad effects that succeeded the practising it so lately, encourage our Seditious Libellers for its Reimpression? if this most Rebelli­ous Nonsense must re-obtain, all their declaratory Statute, the determin'd Treasons of their good King 25. Ed. 3. Edward may pass for a pretty piece of Imperti­nence; they may do, as once they truly did, they may Fight, Shoot at, Imprison, Butcher the Natural Body, the Person of their Soveraign, and tell us the Laws designed them only for Traytors, when they could destroy him in his politick. The same Laws make it Treason to com­pass his Queens Death, or Eldest Sons; and must it be meant of their Monarchs being Married in his politick Capacity; as well as murdered, or of his Heirs that [Page 270] shall be born by pure political Concepti­on: they might e'n set up their Com­mon-wealth then, if these were to be the Successors to the Crown.

But yet with the same sort of silly So­phistry, that they would separate the Kings natural Capacity from his political; did the same Seditious Rebels as Ire­member, make their own personal Relati­on to a politick Body Inseparable? Re­bellious Lumps of Contradiction! shall not your Soveraigns sacred Person be preserved by that Power and Authority derived even from the [...]? and whose very Text tells us, touch not mine Anointed; and yet could your selves plead it as a Bar to Treason, because per­petrated under a political Denomination, and a Relation only to that Lower House of Commons, that was then, only an incorporated Body of Rebels and Regi­cides? and this was told us by that Mis­creant Vid. Try­al of the Regicides. page 50. Harrison, the most profligate, the vilest, the most virulent, of all the Fa­ction concerned in that bloody Villany, the MURDER OF A KING; the silly Sot had it infused by his Councel as Senseless, as Seditious: That it was an Act of the Parliament of England, and [Page 271] so no particular Members questionable for what was done by the Body.

I consess the good excluded Members, and the bubbl'd Presbyterian Senate would not allow it for a Parliamentaty Process; and why? because themselves did not sit in it; and truly upon that unexpect­ed and most blessed Revolution, might hugg themselves, and shrink up in a si­lent Joy, that they were kept out: And I cannot but smile to see Vid. Ib­id pag. 52. two or three sit upon the Bench, and upbraiding the Prisoner, for pulling them out of the Parliament, and making themselves none; This was pleaded too by Carew p. 76. Trea­sonable words sworn against Scot. spoken in Parliament, he pleads Priviledges of the House for speaking Treason, tho 'tis expressly decla­red not pleadable, no not so much as for the breach of the Peace. 17. Ed. 4. Rot. Parlia­ment. N. 39. Persons whom Policy had on­ly placed there, when the poor Prince was forc't to compound with a party for a Crown, forc'd to prefer those that had dethroned his Father before, only the better to settle himself in it, and to compass more easily the punishment of those that murdered him after, Persons, (and a great one too, that I could name,) that have serv'd him as ungratefully since, and been as deservedly rejected; [Page 272] Persons, that had his late Majesty's Arms, been but as Victorious as his Cause was good, had been as much liable to the Laws, and their Crimes as Capital for fighting him in the Field with an Ordi­nance of the House, as those that brought him to the Scaffold, and Butchered him on the Block; from the time that their Tumults forc'd him to fly from their Houses, they were no more a Parlia­ment, than those were afterward that pulled them out, and it lookt a little loathsome to see some sit a simpering, and saying, all Acts must be past by the King, who themselves once had helpt Tryal of the Regi­cides. pag. 52 to pass many without; and they could no more justify themselves; (had it been but their turn to be brought to Justice,) by their Memberships, political Refer­rences to the two Houses) then the Cri­minal at the Bar by his Relation to the Rump.

I have their own Authority for it, their very Answer of the Commons to the Scots Com. that the King had [...] the executing the Duties of his Place, and therefore could not be left to go where he pleased. Anno. 1646. Imprint. Lond. p. 20. Houses Act, that they declared, designed, and actually made their King a Pri­soner: For they told the persidious Scot, that [Page 273] his denying their Propositions, (and what were those but Expedients to destroy Him?) had debar'd him of his Liberty; and that they verifyed too, (when they had got their poor purchase at Holdenby) in a usage of their Prince, with a re­straint, that would have been Cruelty to a Peasant; and which even his very Mur­derers enlarged when their Joyce took him from his Jaylers: And I am sure tis provided, that to Imprison him till He assent to Proposals, shall be Parliam. Roll. Num. [...]. Lex & Consuetu­do Parl. 25. Ed. 3. El. 1 Jac. High-Treason by particular Act, as well as to Murder him, is made so by the 25. And whatever the Mildness of H. post. sc. p. 89. Mr. Hunt, the Moderator of Rebellion would have this Mystery of Iniquity, would not have it so much as remembered; it was these his own darling Daemagogues, whom he defends and adores; and that even for Ibid p. [...] Restorers; who stript him in his politick Capacity, anticipated his Murder, and then left his naked Person to be persued by the Salmasius has the same sort of simile. page 353. defensio [...]. Wolves that worried it; they had turned their House into a Shambles, and that of Slaughter; and were the Butchers the less Bloody, that only bound Him, and left to their Boys the cutting of his Throat: yet this Barbarity must [Page 274] be defended; this extenuated by them, and the help of their Hunts, and such Advocates; the guilt not to devolve to each individual Member, because an Act of an Aggregated House.

But base Caitiff's (to use even the very Hunt. page 94. Lawyers own Language,) your selves know that a politick Body may be guilty of a most political Treason, and tho the 21. Ed. 4. 13, 14. and noted. Cat [...]'s Case. Laws tell us it has no Life or Soul, and so can't suffer; yet its constituent Mem­bers may lose both, be Hang'd and Damn'd in their proper Persons, and that for committing it too against such another political Constitution.

It would otherwise be a fine Plea for Corporators, that have been many times Defendants in the Case, when their King has been Plaintiff: And against whose more dangerous Sedition there was lately made special Provision by a particular Act for Regulating Corporations, where they particularly swear, they abhor the Trayterous Proposition of raising Arms by His Majesties Autho­rity against His Person. Oath.

Lastly, to conclude the Confutation of this sad silly sort of Sophistry, this Seditious Nonsense, 'tis shrowdly to be suspected that from the same sort of So­phisters, [Page 275] fallacious Inferences was first insinuated that prejudicial Opinion (I call it so, because it looks like a Do­ctrine of some concerned party) That Societies were not punishable in the next World for the Villanies they had com­mitted in this: That is, the Members were not to suffer there, for what they had acted in Relation to such a BODY here: this Religious Absurdity has been publisht by some Seditious Pens from the Press, I wish I could say not imposed upon Loyal ones too, both from that and the Pulpit; for Errors, especially when coloured with the bait of Interest, tho first hatcht by the Brooders of all bad Principles, till well examined may delude the very best: I know it may be returned with some seeming Reason, that Crimes committed here, as a Mem­ber of a body politick, can't well in Ju­stice be laid to the Charge of any parti­cular Person hereafter; for upon the dis­solution of the natural one, the Relation to such a Community [...]asing, the Guilt and Crime contracted should dye too: But the Judge of Heaven has declared he won't be mockt, tho they thought those of the Land might. How contentedly [Page 276] would some of the Regicides have given up the Ghost, could they have pleaded to the Almighty their Innocence of the Royal Blood, from the shedding it in Parliament? But tho National Sins, may require reasonably the sufferings of a Nation, and no more than what for this very Sin, our own has since suffered; therefore to suggest the single Individual, the singular Sinner shall escape with Im­punity hereafter, because not punisht here, or that because several of them suffered here for that Martyrs Blood; and the Treasons of an Vniversal Body seem'd to be punisht in as general Conflagration; that therefore the Criminals have super­seded their sufferings in Hell, and may now dare Heaven; for my part, seems an Opinion as ridiculous as the Popish Pur­gatory, and their being saved by a fan­tastick Fire: Tis almost an Irreligious excuse for all manner of Crimes and Im­moralities; the Constitutions, Circumstan­ces of Men being so various, that I dare avow scarce any Villany, but may be com­mitted by Communities, or the Politick Relation of the private Person to some publick Society. In short such Law, and such Divinity, would make the worst of [Page 277] [...], (that is incorporated ones) fear Hell no more than they would the Hang­man, and baffle the Devil, as well as the Gibbet.

And I may well here so warmly con­demn these sort of damnable Doctrines, when they were so hotly maintained by the rankest of our Rebels and Republicans; and this very Daemon, this Devil of Se­dition, can only countenance his Rebel­lious Positions with the making use of His Majesties Authority for the Ratificati­on of his Proposals, that is, the Destructi­on of his own Person: For 'tis a great Truth, I wish I could not say an experi­mented one, that the granting them these Regalia, would not only be an Act to bereave him of his Crown and Digni­ty, but would pass his very Person into the Donative; a yielding up of his last Breath, the making himself his own Exe­cutioner, as well as a Betrayer of his Trust: This Project is only the pernicious Prin­ciple improved; the late Rebels falsely assumed His Authority, for the Fighting against His Person; but the prevailing upon him for these Destructive Grants, would make Him truly Fight against Himself.

[Page 278] In all the Reigns of the three follow­ing Henries, their Soveraign's Supremacy was still [...], and that over Parlia­ments too, tho one of them was but an Usurper on the Crown, and then I am sure as great an one upon their Privi­leges; and tho themselves had placed the First in the Throne, themselves also acknowledged 1. H. 4. the Regality of the Crown of England to be Subject to none but God: To the 2 H. 5. Cap. 6. Second, they acknow­ledged that to Him only belonged the Ma­nagement of Foreign Affairs, with Foreign Princes: To the 32. H. 6. 13. [...]. 334. Third, that he could constitute County Palatines, and grant any Regal Rights per Letters Patents. And these were Matters and Affairs, them­selves then declared they could not pre­tend to, tho this Gentleman would now have them or their Counsel man­age all.

In Edward the Fourth, and the [...] time, 'twas always received Law, then made, and should I hope, hold still, that State Affairs were to be manag'd by the Prince; for it was then allowed for 22. Ed. 4. Law, That if all the Common People of England should break a League, by agree­ment with any Foreign Nation, it shall [Page 279] still be reputed firm and unviolated if without his consent: And in his very 1 Edw. 5. fol. 2. Sons that Succeeded, resolved by all the Judges and Serjeants, that he was the only Person in the Kingdom, that could do no wrong; which sufficiently declares him above all them that could; and then who so fit for all absolute Pow­er in all publick Administrations, than whom the very Law presumes always to do Right? and whom Reason tells us must be most impartially concerned for the publick good; having no de­pendance upon any Superiors, from whom an Apprehension of Fear, or hopes of Favour might prevail upon to degenerate into that servile and sordid Complyance, to prefer his own private Interest before the publick good, What­ever Presumption the Law had of it then, I am sure they have a Prince that justifies the Supposition now; and then the most ungrateful Paradox, and against Sense it self, for our Seditious Souls to suggest, and insinuate his Real Intenti­ons for their Good, to be nothing but Design and Plot upon them for Ill. An ORDER of Council, with such Syco­phants is turned into a trick of Court; [Page 280] And their Kings Proclamations are [...] only because they cannot conveniently, resist, as if the whole Board was packt only to please a designing Prince.

But, base Villains, your selves know that his aims have ever been for the pub­lick Peace and Prosperity, even at the same time your dangerous disorders have made it almost inconsistant with his own safety, and security: You see your Sove­raign Sit and Act in a Sphere, (and that only He) where Favour cannot charm, or Fear frown into Compliance: And who can be supposed, then, besides him, less prejudic'd, or more concerned for your good? Would you have your Gen­tlemen of the Shop and Yard take their Measures of the State too? We have experimented already that those made the very Government a Trade also; and by those your very Properties and Lives too, would be bought and sold, we too lately saw some Symptoms of that state Distemper; when some of the Seditious Souls had but gotten the Government of a single City; and that but under a Soveraign their Supream; and sure 'tis an Argument unanswerable that those Sales­men [Page 281] of his Prerogative would assoon Bar­ter your Properties.

See the sad experienced result of all the Democracies since their first Instituti­on; what was left the poor Lacedaemoni­ans upon putting in Execution, that popular Project, their So also in Syracuse. Petalism, or Im­poverisht Athens her self upon such ano­ther Order of her [...]? why both were beggar'd of their Nobility, the Scum, the Scoundrels of the Town turn'd the Mighty Massinello's of the State: The Tod-Pole Train, the product of those beggarly Elements Mud and Water, Lord­ed it even over all the Land, And those Rulers naturally retaining in this Medley, this Mixture of Sway, the Native Prin­ciples of that Abject Matter from whence they came, still as mean as the one, and restless as the other, could never reduce them to composed States, till they had recalled the good Governours they had Banisht before. Vid Mer­cur. polit. June 17. 1652. you know all this is too true, and your selves too, vile Caitiffs, have owned it in Prints.

Lastly, Let your Lords too be allowed for once, your only, as well as it is your beloved Government: Let Aristocracy for once obtain for the best, and Banish your [Page 282] Monarch; set up that Idol, and fall down to the Gods of your own Hands, that good Government must still be of many, still of as much divided Interest; there would still be many then to mind the making their own Hay in the fair Sun­shine; whereas should your Prince per­jure himself for the minding only his private concern, and neglecting the pub­lick good; which he must do if ever he is Crown'd, where an Oath is admini­stred for his very disavowing it; yet still here would be pursued but the In­terest of a single Person, there of so many.

When the rash and unadvised Romans had upon that bandied Argument, the Dissoluteness of their Tarquin, the po­pular president of the Party, for the Ba­nishing of all Kings; (as if the Practice of a Rebellious Rome against a single dis­solute Prince, and that so long since, could with the same Reason prevail at present, for an extirpating the Govern­ment even under the best of Princes;) yet this very precipitous Act of Rage, and Rashness, was afterward even by the relenting Romans, as much repented of, and their Error, best understood in [Page 283] their following Misfortunes; and of which they were soon sensible too, soon saw it in their subsequent sufferings; for the first Frame of Government they con­stituted after this Expulsion, was the Rosin. Ant. Rom. L. 7. C. 9. Consular; and one would think that being but of two of the [...] among them, that it might have lasted, as indeed the best sort of Aristocracy, coming within an Ace of a Monarch, a Duumvi­rate: yet even from those they suffered more, than from the first Constitution they had abolisht; their more immode­rate power broke the Laws more Consu­lum im­moderata [...] omnes me­tus Le­gum [...]. Liv. Lib. 2. im­moderately, than the Lustful, Licentious, and Lewd Monarch, they made to fly with his Fugitive Government: We shall in some other place consider the restless Revolutions they ran through, from their turning out this Monarchy, till they tumbled into it again. This serves only to let us see that publick Ad­ministrations, even in the hands but of two of the best of the People, are not always the best managed. What pray better can be expected, when the Optima­cy is made up of so many more?

[Page 284] And where then? into what form? to whom, shall we run for the best main­taining of this popular Darling? this dangerous Violation that has been cla­moured for, rebelled and fought for, the Peoples RIGHT, but to that Sove­raignty, which our very Laws say can do no wrong, to a Monarchy, where Me­chanicks can never meddle with Affairs of State, to make them truckle to their own; or the Nobility so powerful as to be all Soveraigns; and under what Prince can we better acquiesce for this enjoy­ment, than the present, that has so often declared for its Protection? And shall the Speech of some Noble Peer be bet­ter assurance, promise more, than the word of a King? All Subjects under him have either Riches or Honor for their private Aim, to make them act more par­tially for the publick; and which the Laws presume therefore they may injure, and have therefore made the greatest pu­nishable, But him exempted from all He can't so much as be a dissci­sor 4. El. 2. 4.6. The King has no Pcer in the Land, and so cannot be Judged, 3. Ed. 3. 19. Statutes that are Penal: And these sort of Arguments, I can assure them, their King himself has used to prove the publick Interest his own; and that he a­lone of all the Kingdom can be presu­med [Page 285] most impartially concerned for the good of the publick. A Reason worthy of so good a King, and which the worst, the most Seditious Subjects cannot An­swer.

Did not the Parliament, in Richard the Third's Time, give even that Vsur­per an Arbitrary Power greater than any they can dread now from their most Lawful Soveraign? Did not Vid. Exact A­bridgment fol. 713. they de­clare him their Lawful King by Inheri­tance, tho they knew they made him Inherit against all Law? Did not they declare it to be grounded upon the Laws of God and Nature, and the Customs of the Realm? whereas we now can op­pose this Divine Right, from the panick fear of making our true Legal King too powerful, and the Succession of a Right Heir must be questioned by our Parlia­ments now, when their Predecessors de­clared it unalterable even in a wrong. Did Vid. [...] 717. they not to him but an Usurper, a Tyrant, own themselves Three Estates without including himself, and say that by them is meant the Lords Spiritual, and Temporal and Commons? and shall the Press be pestered under our undoubted Soveraign, and the mildest Prince, to [Page 286] make him Co-ordinate with the People? Did they not make particular Provision in 1. R. C. 15. Parliament, for the preservation of His Person, that was the very Merderer and Destroyer of His Subjects? And shall our [...] ones Associate for the Destruction of the mildest Monarch, whose greatest Care is their Protection? Was this Monster ever questioned or censured for the Murder of several of His Subjects, as well as the more Bar­barous Butchery, the spilling almost of his own Blood in his Nephews? and must our most gracious one stand the mark of Malice, and Reproach, and that only for desending that of his Bro­thers? who Reigned more Arbitrary, and managed all Affairs more Monstrously, than this very Monster of Mankind? And must a Parliament, be now the Manager of the mildest Monarch? and think him dangerous if not governed, by them­selves?

The two Succeeding H. 7. H. 8. Henries had their Power as much confirmed: Henry the 7th. had his Negative Voice, the thing, those Seditious discontented Grumblers, so much repine at, maintained, asserted, for his undoubted Prerogative. It is at [Page 287] present by the Law of 12. H. 7. 20. 7. H. 7. 14. his Time, no [...] if the King assent not: A Prince beloved and favoured, only because he was their King; who tho he had as ma­ny subsidies granted, more than any before him, His Subjects you see never thought it a Grievance then to contri­bute to their [...] being Great: but acknowledged his Supremacy even under their greatest pressure: His [...] upon penal Statutes Vld. 4. Inst. Baker page 248. Historians call and the Law, the most [...] way for raising of Money that was ever used; yet still had he the Hearts of his People, as well as their Purses: They thought Rebellion then could not be justifyed with clamor of Oppression, as since by Ship-money and Lone, tho le­vyed by a King whom themselves had Opprest. The simplicity of those times made them suffer like good Subjects and better Christians, when the refined Politicks of such Authors, and a [...] age, can tell them now to be Wise, is to Rebel.

I need not tell him who managed Af­fairs in Henry the H. 8. Eighth's Time, when Parliaments seemed to be frightned in­to Compliance with a Prown, and [Page 288] Bills preferr'd more for the pleasure of the Prince, than the profit of the People: Their Memberships then so far from medling with the measures of the State, that they seemed to take them for their sole Measures; so far was then an Order of the House from controuling that of the Board: And I can't see that the Peo­ples 1 Car 3. Petition of Right has since [...] away too the King's Prerogative; yet it was affirmed for 25. H. 8. C. 21. Law in this King's Time, that he had full power in all Causes to do Justice to all Men. If the Parlia­ment or their Council shall Plato. manage Af­fairs, let them tell me what will become of this Power and Law.

His Son Edward succeeded him, and tho a Minor, a Prince whose Youth might have given the People an opportu­nity for an Encroachment upon his Power; and the Subject commonly will take advantage of the Supremacy, and that sometimes too much, when the So­veraign knows but little, what it is to be a King: I am sure they were so Sediti­ously Wise in that Infancy of Henry the Third; and yet he had Protectors too, as well as this: But notwithstanding such an Opportunity for the robbing [Page 289] the Rights of the Crown; you shall see then they took the first occasion for the asserting them: In the very First year of his Reign, it was resolved that all Authoritie and Jurisdiction, Spiritu­al and Temporal, is derived from the King; but this Republican has found out another Resolution of resolving it into the power of the Parliament. And in this very 5 [...]. [...]. c. 11. Reign too, it was provided as the common Policy and Duty of all Lo­ving Subjects, to restrain the Publishing all manner of Shameful Slanders against their King, &c. upon whom dependeth the whole Unity and Universal weal of the Realm; what Sentence then would the Parliaments of those times have past upon Appeals to the City, vox patriae's, and a Plato Redivivus, upon a Libel that would prove the [...]. [...] 117. Kings Executive power of War forfeitable, and that the pag. 237. Preroga­tive which is in the Crown, hinders the Execution of the Laws; tho I am sure those very Laws are the best Asserters of the Prerogative? there next resolve would have been to have ordered such an Author to the [...], by the Hands of the Hangman, instead of that Hono­rable Vote, the thanks of the House.

[Page 290] In Queen Mary's Time too, the Law left all to her Majesty, tells her all 1. Mar. c. 2. Ju­risdiction does, and of Right ought to belong to her. In Queen Elizabeth's 1 El. c. 1. Time, what was Law before; they were obliged even to Swear to be so. Every Member of the House before qualified to sit in it, forc'd to acknowledg his Sove­raign SVPREAM, in all Causes, over all Persons: And were their Memberships to be modelled according to the Com­mon-wealth of this Plato, their Oath must be repealed or they perjur'd. Their very Constitution would be Inconfistant with his Supremacy; they must manage and Command at the same time they Swear to submit. and obey.

Was there ever a more full acknow­ledgment of Power and Prerogative, than was made to King Jac. c. 1. James upon his first coming to the Crown? And tho I confess they took upon them to manage Affairs, in his Son and Succes­sors time: yet this was not until they had openly bid him defyance to his Face, and actually declared War against His Person; then they might well set up their Votes for Law, when they had vio­lated the Fundamental ones of the Land; [Page 291] yet themselves even in that Licentious, and tumultuous time, could own K. [...] his Collect. [...]. 1. part [...]. 728. that such Bills as His Majesty was bound even in Conscience and Justice to pass, were no Laws without his Assent: What then did they think of those Ordinances of Blood, and Rebellion, with which themselves past such Bills afterward? so unconscionable, so [...]: Here it was, I confess, these Commons of this pernicious Projector, took upon them the management of the State; their Councils, their Committees, set up for regulating the Kings: Then their Vid. wil. Prynns [...]. right to elect. privy [...]. Pillor'd Advocate that lost his ears, as this with his Treasonable Po­sitions, should his Head; Publisht the ve­ry same Proposal in his pestering Prints; the very Vomit of the Press, to which the dangerous Dog, did in the Literal Sense return to lick it up, still dischar­ing again the same choler he had brought up before, in a Nauseous Cram­be: A Wretch that seemed to Write for the Haberdashers and Trunk-makers instead of the Company of Stationers that Elaborate Lining the Copious Library for Hat-cases, and Close-stools, that Will with a whisp, whose fuming Brains were at last illuminated for the leading Men in­to [Page 292] Boggs and Ditches, Rebellion and Sedition. The Confusion of others only for the confounding of himself, Vid. his Memen­to to Juncto, for the for a King, for the 2d. his Parlia­ments So­veraigns Power. For the Parliament, for the 3d. his Lords, Bi­shops, none of the Lords, Bishops or the Buc­kle of the Canonical Girdle tur­ned be­hind. Presbyters, for every thing, for no­thing, but that ONE thing Scribble.

Compare the power of his Parliaments, and his Vnparliamentary Juncto; the meer Lumps of distorted Law, or Legal Contradiction, with the 25th. of Ed­ward. He first deposes his King, and even there then finds his Deposition Treason. Their Divine Baxter never baffled him­self more with the Bible, and the Gospel, than this Elaborate Legislator with the Statute, and the Law. William Writ a­gainst Pryn too, in one Page proves his King Supream, in the other his Parlia­ments Supremacy, the most Mutinous Member would needs be Loyal, when it was to late; and the most Malitious Miscreant at the Pen, Publisht his Me­mento, when his Money with his Mem­bership was sequestred from his own Home, as well as his self from the Parlia­ments House, and then palliated it with a piece against his Majesties Murder: I the more Liberally enlarge upon this, because his party the Presbyter would [Page 293] appropriate to themselves from some [...] Papers, the Vindication of their King; but what I am sure in sincerity was their own Revenge, They, the Scot, and the Todpole Spawn of both; that Independant, made use of unanimously the Defence of their Prince for the De­struction of his Person, and then the dif­fering Daemagogues, with the very same Vid. Answer of our English [...] to the Scots Commissioners. The Scots reply from their Camp at Newark. The Members to the Army. The Armies Answer to the Members. The Scots Remonst. to the Army. The Armies reply. Pretences strove to put upon each other, that is, both alike, full of the same falshood, both alike, fancyed their own Integrity: they seemed to Labor for the two sublimated Vices, Hypocrisie and self­conceit, whereof the one made them twice Villains, the other double Fools: And this Confounder of Paper, as well as the People, Publisht then, ‖ the very same An. From 41. to 48. Pamphlets or waste Papers. 125. Principles this starch't Republican has proposed now for new Politicks of State; Pryn and Plato differ only in this, one Labour'd to make Law speak Treason, the other Sense.

Lastly were not the Parliament very tender of this last, this present Princes Power and Prerogative, when they ena­cted [Page 294] a new Act for Regula­ting Cor­porations. Oath, to be taken by all in Office, for the Renouncing the Tray­terous Position, of resisting his [...], with his own Authority: And this Re­bellious Proposal of our Republican is to make even the Parliament it self to make use of his Vid. Plat. Parl. of Commons begun with H. 3. with­in 400 y. Kings in Caesars time 1000 y. since. Authority, even for an Usurpation upon his Prerogative; and when once they come to Manage that, they may be sure they'll be his Masters too, and I hope 'tis now in some Mea­sure proy'd even in the several particu­lars, I undertook should be so, that our Monarchs had heretofore an absolute Ma­nagement of Affairs, without an Interfe­ring of Parliaments, which then had not so much as Being, and which were, since they had it never called, as their very Writs express it, but to Delibera­turi de ar­duis. 4 Inst. 2. p. consult, that they never offer'd to set a Council o­ver their King, much less themselves (as this Plato. popular Pedant calls it) to Manage his Militia, and demonstrated this as was designed, from Prescription, even beyond Chronicle, from the Laws of every Reign, and my little Light of Reason.

All the following Propositions are as much against Reason and Law, for the third is, that the Judges be nomi­nated [Page 295] by Parliament; which as it would divest the King of part of his Suprema­cy; so it would make themselves in ef­fect, both Judges, and party, for those, then their own Creatures, would have the Exposition of those Laws, which themselves had made: The Cook 5. fol. 62. 9. Ed. 4. Cook 8. f. 145. Law allows all the Four Courts at Westminster, to be all Courts by Prescription; and then let them tell me to whom belongs the power of Electing those that are to pre­side in it, to the Kings of England, that can prescribe to their Government, e­ven from the very Britains before Caesar ever set Foot in it, neer 1700 Years a­gon, and with whom, their Courts of Judicature were ever Coeval? or the Constitution of a Parliament, that first within this four hundred years could be said to have a Being? and so that which themselves would now controul, had a Priority even in time to their Existence, for near 1300 Years: It is called the Court of Kings Bench: Let them name the Judges; it must be no longer His, but the Parliaments: 'Tis Rehellion in them to assume it, for they must at the same time too take the Soveraignty, the Supremacy; and 'tis that such Seditious [Page 296] Proposals must aim at, and truly do; for 'tis expresly declared for 3 El. Dyer 187. Cook 4 Inst. c. 7. p. 73. Law, that the Justices of the Kings Bench have Su­pream Authority; the King himself sits there in them, as the Law intends, if the Parliament can chuse their Kings Repre­sentatives, they can their King too, and make the most Hereditary Kingdom Elective, before the Reign even of Ed­ward the Ibid. p. 74. First, the Chief Justice of this Court was created by Letters Patent; 'tis out, ever was, and will be out of the Parliaments power to create per Patents, even a petty Constable; 'tis the King alone that by these his 32. H. 6. 13. Letters can constitute Courts, and grant all Regal Rights: He can erect a Plowden 334. Court of Com­mon pleas, in what part of the King­dom he pleases, and shall he that has a power over the very being of the Court, not be able to place his Ministers of Ju­stice in it?

The Chancery is a Court of such Anti­quity, that long before the Conquest, we have several accounts of it, tho some that were Pollid. Virg. Foreign to our Laws as well as Land, would make it com­mence with the Conqueror. Our very 4 Inst. 6. 8. ibid. British Kings are said to have had such [Page 297] a Court, and Ethelred the Saxon, grant­ed the Mirror c. 1. §. 12. Fleta. l. 12. c. 1. Glan­vil. l. 12. c. 1. and all the most ancient Lawyers speak of it. Chancellorship even in Succes­sion; I need not, it would be Nonsense to design to prove Parliaments had no­thing to do with such Affairs so long be­fore they themselves exsisted; and in this Monument of Antiquity fam'd for the Distribution of the most Equal Justice (since they cannot pretend without shame to the power of Electing such an Antient Officer of the Crown;) why, what they can't presume to mend, must Plato. be quite Marr'd, and utterly Abolisht; Pryn himself could never pretend, that this Great Officer was the Peoples; tho that popular piece of Absurdity might have prov'd it too as well he did the rest from the paradox of all our Princes being Elected; which tho allow'd them from their perverted Histories, yet still those whom they say were Chosen, had the Liberty of Chusing their own Mini­sters sure; they can't have the least sha­dow for such a silly Conjecture, therefore this Prvn's Parl. right to elect great Offi­cers and Judges. Sophister having just so much sense as to conceive from the begging one false Principle the most Damnable Falsehoods can be deducted, concludes, but yet ve­ry Cautiously, with a (beleive so) [Page 298] that since Kings were first Elected by the People, Officers of the Crown were so too; that is, first he Lyes like a Knave, and then infers like a Fool.

But the Printing and Publishing now the Reasons for the rejecting this Judi­catory is only to try how near the natu­ral Sons can tread in the Prints and the ve­ry footsteps of the former Rebellion of their Fathers; for in the Reign of Henry the Third; when this Mighty Parlia­mentary Power was first hatcht, far from being brought to the Maturity to which Time and their popular Encroachments have since ripen'd it, then the [...] Em­bryo of State just modell'd and conceiv'd. The Rebellious Barons being then the Parents; as also a Rebellion since the Nurse of such Seditious proposals; de­manded the very same piece of Praeroga­tive, to have the An. Reg. H. 3. 22. Dom. 1230. Vid. Baker p. 84, 85, 86. Vid. Stow. Chief Justice the Chancellor, and Treasurers to be chosen by themselves; and then exercis'd the power when they had got it like so ma­ny Tyrants too, that Ostracism upon the Kings Officers of State, succeeded no bet­ter then that at Athens, only to make room for so much worse; the Leaguers in Vid. Da­vila. pag. 482. France Petition their King to re­move [Page 299] his Counsellors and Officers, that they might put in others of their own, and shall the Presidents of Papists, and that of Rebel ones obtain, even with our Puritans, to Rebel; will they bold­ly own themselves Protestants, and not Blush in the practices of those very Ca­tholicks they condemn.

Did not our late Rebels and Regi­cides show themselves more Modest, and Regular in their Attempts for Reforma­tion, than this more insolent Repub­lican; they never entered upon Abo­lishing this Court, till they had extirpa­ted the Monarchy; it was the 5 Aug. 1653. Vid. Scob. Coll. Council of State, that then voted it down; the Rump it self, the very Nusance of the Nation, had but just thought it conve­nient, among the midst of all their Inno­vation, to root out a Constitution so Old; they had but just Voted for the taking it away, when Pride's Purge came aud scour'd both these Legislators and the Law, and tho then, the Chancery was criminated with the same Aspersi­ons; we find lain upon it in Plat. Red. this Libel, for Vid. Ex­act Relati­on of the Parl. Dis­solved. De­cemb. 53. Chargeableness, Dilatories; yet e­ven by those most virulent Villains, it was allowed, if well managed, to com­pare [Page 300] with any Court in the whole World; Plat. p. 130. whereas the ‖ Doctor of Sedition here thinks, that at the best, there is not to be found a worse Tribunal in the Uni­verse, neither was it easily compast e­ven in those Times of Confusion; there being no less than three or four Bills brought in for the purpose, before they could with the Corrupt Committees of that Council agree on one; for the Com­missioners for this Regulation, under­standing as little Law, as they had bro­ken much, had hardly the Sense to pro­pose their own Sentiments in such a way, as might make the Members Sensible, there was any Reason for the prosecu­ting the very Work they had Underta­ken; they seemed to resolve only to Ruin a Court constituted with the Mo­narchy it self, before they could agree for the reestablishing another in its Room; there seemed a sort of Sympathy between that and the Government, both founded, both fell together, and both before the Subverters, had or were like to find out a better; Livy tells us like it, of another such a sort of rash Rebelli­ous Reformers in Itaely, a distempered State, that fell out with their Aristocra­cy, [Page 301] and designed a Deposition of their Old Governors, and that only to chose new. But before they could agree upon choice, they found it, I'll assure you as difficult to get better, as it was easie to destroy whom they thought worse, and, so with a wise Acquiescence, were sa­tisfyed, and sate down with an unin­tended Submission: It had been well for ours, had they been so wise as to have thought so, and done so too. But so furious were they here, in this very point of Reformation, that tho Vid. Ex­act Relati­on of the Proceed­ings of the Parl. [...], Vid. Decemb. 12. 53. they could not agree upon what they would Reform before the Term approacht, the Members that had Voted for the Abo­lishing, (as they call'd it, this Corrupt Court) would not care to pass through the Hall, while it was sitting, but mo­ved to have its Jurisdiction suspended, till they were agreed for the manner of its utter Extirpation; and on they went with their Legislative Swords, their Ar­med suffrages, till they past that Second Vote for the new modelling of all the Law, and so not only supprest the Chan­cery, but that Malignant party, Justice and Equity was Banisht by those very Villains that had broke all the Statutes [Page 302] of the Land. In short, they never did destroy these Judicatures; but when they did [...] their King, they ne­ver chose their Judges, but when they had [...] the Supremaey, they never can do either without subverting the Mo­narchy; for 'tis their own Soveraign that sits and presides in them, and the [...] Officiate but for him, because not Et pur ceo que nous ne [...] in nostre pro­pre Person Oyer & Terminer, &c. Vide [...]. f. [...]. Vid. [...]. [...]. [...]. sufficient for it himself, and there­fore has committed all his power of Ju­dicature to these several Courts of Ju­stice. The King is said to Judge by his Judges, [...] the Parliament elect them, they are none of his; they chuse their Soveraigns Representatives, while they would think it hard his Majestie should make the Peoples, or nominate but to a [...] Burrough.

Thus much for their Management of the State, the next part of the Propositi­on, is their modelling of the Church, and in that our modern Republican a­grees with our Old Rebels, for the de­priving the Bishops of their Votes: That was one of the Projects was set afoot, as the very forerunner of our former Troubles, that was publisht Vid. Bi­shops Right, and Discousre of Peerage 81. over a­gain in several Papers and Pamphlets [Page 303] now, besides in this very piece: and could they condemn our Fears of a Sub­version of the Government, when their Libels in & about 80, lookt only like the new Editions of those in Vid. [...] Libel on the [...]. and [...] in Eng­land. 41, as if print­ed Rebellion was to suffer but a [...].

You shall see how they began with the Bishops just before the last War in their Libels, and then how of late they began to War upon Episcopacy a­gain in their Papers and Pamphlets, you shall see how the Parliament Espoused the Peoples Quarrel to that Hierarchy then; and how near our late House of Commons was for falling upon the Pre­lacy now? Leighton, a virulent Scotch­man, led the Dance, with a Zeal like that the Nation it self shewed afterward against that Apostolical Order; he told the People plainly, they must Murder all the Bishops: And in his canting Phraseology, Vid. Leighton's Sions Plea. [...], ed 1636. Smite them under the fifth Rib. 'Tis true the Government of Church and State, stood yet so strong upon its Basis tho shaken with an undermining Plot, that it dared to punish such an Execrable Villain, with the Pillory; and sentenced he was in the Star-Cham­ber, [Page 304] to be stigmatised, cropt and slit, and tho the Parliament had not openly declared themselves against this good Government of the Church, yet they had shown such Symptoms of their Dis­affection to it, that this Impudent Li­beller could presume to make them his Patrons, and present them with his Plea. And I ha'n't found in all their Journal, any Order for so much as the censu­ring him for such a piece of Presump­tion.

To exclude the Bishops from Voting in their Assembly, the Confederates of Scotland drew up a Libel against them, one in the Literal Sense, full of Scandal and Reproaches: But the denying them there their Rights in Parliament, was soon seconded with the Robbing them of all too they had in the Church, whom they had excluded, they soon [...], and then abolisht ut­terly the sacred Order, so did also with­in two years after the good Parliament of England begin with the Prelacy too. Pennington with his packt Petition of Prentices, presented to them their Ab­horrence of that Hierarchy, the cun­ning and counterfeit Commons; that [Page 305] Honse of Hypocrisie, seemed a little dis­satisfyed with an Alteration of the Church Government it self, (that is) they did not care to pluck it up present­ly, Root and Branch, but fell upon ano­ther Argument somewhat more plausible, tho to the Zealots less pleasing; but what in truth was but Introductory to the same thing they more deliberately de­signed, that they might proceed some­what like Senators soberly to Sedition: and that was about the Synod, and Con­vocation, Canons, and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, which they soon resolved to be against the Fundamental Laws of the Land: But these Lay-Members were only mighty loth the Clergy should here have their Representatives, as well as the Laick; they must otherwise have seen, that such a Resolution would up­braid them to their Faces with a Lye; for this their Court of Convocation, was as much founded upon Law, and more too perhaps, than even that of the Commons themselves, who with their in­consistent Votes with Contradiction it self, condemned it.

Exclude the Clergy, and the very Foundations of your House must fall: [Page 296] Did not former times allow you Repre­sentatives, that every one might have an Hand in the Composuion of that, which he had an Obligation to obey? Banish the Bishops, your Assembly, and tell me by what Proxies the Church shall be represented; and what shall tye her to the Observation of those Laws, to whose Constitution she gives no con­sent.

For a Thousand Years before they had a being, there were such Beda tells us August­ine the Monk call­ed one of the Britain Bishops. An. Dom. 686. King [...], a Convo­cation of Cletgy An. Dom. 727. of the Saxons. Synods Assembled, never called but by the King's Writ; and they have no other Authority for their own Sitting; and might as well have Voted, that their own Assembly, as indeed it was after­ward, was The very Words of their Vote against the Cannons Vid. Journal. against the Fundamental Laws of the Realm, Prerogative of the King, Property of the Subject, Right of Parliament, and did tend to Faction and Sedition: And tho those Canons and Constitutions were streightned and li­mited in Henry the Register F. N. B. 4. Inst. p. 322. c. 71. Eight's Time; and it was provided, that none for the fu­ture, that had not the Royal Assent should be put in Execution; yet such Reverence and Respect, had the Parlia­ment of those Times (which I think was [Page 293] made up of a better sort of Reformers, than what past their suffrages for the setting aside this Synod) that notwith­standing that Limitation, they put in an express Proviso, Vid. 25. H. 8. for their Anti­quity. see Bractonl. 3. f. 123. Hol. 303. 6. H. 3. Rot p. 18. Ed. 3. that such Canons as were made before that Act, so long as they did not contradict Law, should be still in force after, and this was at a time too, when they were so far from being the Bigots of Rome, that they were reforming from Her, and acknowledged their Kings Supremacy even in 26. H. 8. c. 1. several of those Convocations, tho whatever Religion they were of, Common Reason cannot make it a Crime, the countenan­cing of the Churches Right; but these Violators of her Privileges soon disco­vered their Design upon her Patrimony too, for in the same Session, and that soon after, they that thus set aside the Churches Synod, sent up an Impeach­ment of Treason against its Metropoli­tan, and that by the Hands of Hollis, a hot-headed Member, whom his Majesty could have made appear, and within a year after did demand for a greater Tray­tor too: That Honoured Hollis, that lived so long, and so lately to Murder the Bishops once more in their Hls Dis­course of Peerage. London 1679. whom Hunt himself could oppose. Peerage [Page 308] as well as Person [...] but having gone so far, what they had scribbled down before with their Libels, they soon damn'd with a Vote. And in the same Year past that Bill, that their Spiritual Lordships should have no suffrages in the Senate of Lords.

And when they were come to this once, to deprive them of their prescrib'd Privileges, and their Legal Rights, to send twelve of them to the Tower, only because they would not tamely forego the very Church's Birth-right, but en­tered a Protestation against the betray­ing of their Trust, you might think their Order it self, tho never so Primi­tive, never so much Apostolical, was not like to be long liv'd; for in the very next Year, tho it was the good Kings gi­ving one, when Star-Chamber was abolisht, the High Commission put down, Ship Money relinquisht, with six or seven several Acts besides for disclaiming Pri­vileges, still his Seditious Subjects had so little Sense of his Goodness, that e­ven in that very season of Grace, a * Bill was brought in for Abolishing 1641. this sacred Order, Root and Branch; 'tis true, 'twas then husht up in the [Page 309] House; the provident Patriots under­stood how to time it better, they had not yet come to covenanting, and con­cluded with the Kirk; but as soon as they had framed their Holy League Mildmay's Oath ta­ken 15. of Junt 43. Scob. Col. page 42. in Imitation of the Scots solemn one, which they afterward swallowed up too, and called their Assembly of Divines by spe­cial Ordinance; then itwas as soon or­dained, according to the Resolution of the Lords and Commons, that all that Hierarchy, should be utterly Abolisht, as an Impediment to Reformation and Religion.

Thus you see their Mar Prelates, their Pryns, their Leightons, with their Libels, then first led the Dance, for the destroying that Order; and I wish we had never seen so great an Assembly as the Senate of England seduced to fol­low them; but shall we not suggest the danger of a second Destruction, when the same Designs were afoot? Did not a Temporal L. [...], Letter. Peer some ten years agon fall very foul upon these Spiritual ones, in a Libellous Letter, that laid all the Ob­loquies that Malice or Lyes could in­vent upon their Lordships? Was not there [...] of Peerage 16. 89. p. [...]. [...]. Hollis. Papers Publisht, when the late [Page 292] Popish Peer was to be put upon his Try­al, to prove that they then had not so much as Right to sit as Peers; tho they never set themselves aside, but with a salvo jure? Did not they debate it even now in Parliament, where such a thing was never questioned, but when the Order it self was brought into Question? Did not these Plat. pag. 237. the 5. Proposi­tion. very Republicans about the same time, publish that the Clergys having a share in the Soveraignty, would ever be a Solecism in the Government? Was not the Paper of Vnion about the same time to be presented to the Parliament, just such another piece as Pennington's Petition? Designing Knaves! your selves supersede all such serious Expostulation: Your selves are satisfyed, you had several Designs on Church and State, which you may well disown now, since the sad success seems now to make you Fools too; that presumed upon your Parlia­ments patronizing, whatever the most profligate Person could 35. of [...]. petition'd to be [...] too in the late Rebellion, and actual­ly was [...]. Act for re­lief of pea­ceable [...], against the Rigor of former Stat. 27. sept. 16 57. propose; and defyed your King for getting better Pa­triots; consider only the sacredness of that Order, the Antiquity of the Con­stitution, and the fundamental Law up­on which it is founded. And then tell [Page 289] me whether without Irreligion, Inno­vation, or Rebellion, by which it once was, it can be once again abolisht? Ma­litious [...]! those that in the worst of Times could in publick Parlia­ment Lord F. Speech to the Com. 1641. up­on Com­mitment of the Lon­don Peti­tion. compare them to the Pharisees, to the Dog in the Fable, to the Destroy­ers of Vnity, upon pretence of Vnifor­mity: yet those were forc'd to confess, that the very first Planters of Christia­nity, the Defenders of the Faith, against Heresies within, and Paganism without, both with their Ink, and with their Blood, were all BISHOPS. And here I am sure Establisht even with Christia­nity it self, a Convention of them be­ing called by Austin, the first Founder of it here: The L. Digby's Speech to the Com. upon the same. Noble Peer, that was for Clipping the Wings of the Prelates, was compelled from the Suggestion of his own Conscience, to allow, forc't in spight of Faction, to grant that their Vid. Lord Newark's Speech. yet Assem­bly of Di­vines de­clared it against the Acts of all reformed Churches. Function was deduced from all Ages of the Church; a Function confirmed by the Apostles; a Function dignifyed with the Piety of the Fathers, a Function glorifi­ed in the Blood of the most Primitive Martyrs, admired by all the Reformed [Page 312] Churches abroad, and till that time flourished in our own at home.

The Sacredness of the Institution, you see is sufficiently declared; the Saviour of our Souls, sending such to work out our Salvation: His Embassadors, his own Apostles, sent their Successors, the pri­mitive Martyrs, and least Laborious Cavil and Industrious Detraction, should make these primitive Prelates be bare Elders, prime Ministers, or Assembly Men, the very Text, the Testament it self, tells us, even in all its Translations, they were BISHOPS: tells us that was their Ti­tle; his Disciples, his own Emissaries officiated under that Denomination, and all our Vid. Eusch. Lib. 4. c. 5. 6. who tells us Constant [...] In his Expediti­on, against the [...] had his Bi­shops a­bout him to consult in a Coun­cil of War. and is their judging now in Capitals a Crime? I am sure that other was a more Bloody Business. Ecclesiastick Writers deliver it down to posterity, that by that very order all the Christian Churches through­out all Asia, where they were first Esta­blisht, to their Progress Westward, as far as they were propagated, were all under their Government and Jurisdicti­on. I need not insist on it, on their being the most Divine, or the most An­tient Order in the whole World, Envy, and their Enemies, Faction and their very Foes confess it, all that's left is to shew how the Laws of the Land confirm it:

[Page 313] And that those of the very Britains, [...] themselves, and Danes demon­strate: the Brittish An. Dom. 686. Cook 4. Inst. C. 74. pag. 322. Bishops were As­sembled in a Synod for a thousand years agon; and Athelstan one of the First So­veraigns of the Saxons, (with whom I am sure they never then disputed the Legislative;) even in his own Leg. A. thelst. C. 11. Episco­po jure pertiner. omnem [...] promovere Del & se­culi, omne Legis sci­tum & Burgi mensuram Spelm. p. 402. Laws al­lows them the Management both of Mat­ters Civil as well as Ecclesiastical, from a just Presumption of their Knowledg in the Statutes of the Land; they pre­sumed as much upon their Equity, and Justice, and made them Managers of all the Measures and Weights, and such was their publick Administrations then, and so since, that they were still made the Chief Ministers of State, which made them not only Famous in their A­ges, but beneficial to posterity; and tho I never enjoy'd the Benefits of their Boun­ty, shall for ever Reverence their pious Memory. It was from their Liberal Largesses, most of those solid semina­ries of sound Learning and Loyalty, were first founded and establisht: They can boast of more Bishops, for their Founders, than ever Kings for their nur­sing Fathers, tho their Princes goodness [Page 304] was the more to be admired in prefer­ring those that did so much good; and were these, thou venom'd Head, the Plat. p. 101. Vi­pers of their Age? the Cheats, the Hypo­crites of those Barbarous Times, whose blessed, and most Monumental Labours, can make the most Civil ones now to Blush?

In the time of the Danes, the first Harold himself, call'd Harefoot, at a Con­vention of the Princes and Prelates at Oxford was Proclaim'd, and Crown'd Kings Writ of Summons runs cum Prelatis, colloquium habere. King by Elnotheus, Archbishop of Canter­bury; and sure then the Law allowed him to meddle with Matters of State; In all our old Councils Vid. 1. Inst. p. 110 for five hundred years before the Conquest; and for above two hundred after, Bishops and Abbots, made up the best part of those petty Parliaments, and that so long be­fore these Contenders for their exclude­ing them their suffrages, ever sate in that Assembly as part of the Senate. And that antient piece that tells us of the Modus tenend. Parl. manner of holding Parliaments, tells us too, that such Ecclesiasticks were al­ways summoned. Seditious Souls! let those that are to take Care of them too, have the same Subjects Liberty, you so [Page 301] much Labour for: Let Bishops be al­lowed their Birth-Right, as well as your Lay-Lord-ships too; your Vid. Magna. Charta the 1st. thing in the first Chap. Arti­culi cleri-Vid. Cook Com. on both 2. Inst. Magna Char­ta, was made for the Loyal Bishops as well as the Rebellious Barons, and that expressly declares the Church shall enjoy all her Rights inviolate; and tells us as plainly, one of them was to sit in Parliament; your selves know a dis­contented Stratford Arch-bi­shop. Ed. 3. Canterbury, and I hope you'll side with him because he was so, claim'd for four hundred years agon, his Privilege of Peerage, in Opposition to His Prince, petitioned for his Right, and protested against the wrong, for fifteen hundred years, for so long our Mo­narchs can be Chronicl'd, can in every Reign, the Clergies being concerned in Parliament, be proved upon Record, and may they with the Monarchy last, that with its Christianity commenc'd: They seemed always to sympathize in their very sufferings, never to cease but by consent; and Bishops were never exclu­ded from their Votes; but when their King himself had never a voice.

The Sixth pernicious Principle they propose is for Marriages, Alliances, Trea­tises for War and Peace to be put in the [Page 316] power of the two Houses: And shall the meanest Subjects be Mightier than their Soveraign? Not allow'd the Mar­rying his Issue when, where, and to whom he pleases: That the Parliament has presumed to intermeddle with this undoubted Prerogative of the Sover­aign, (since the Birth-Right of the poor­est Subject,) can no more be denyed, then that the two Houses have also actu­ally Rebell'd too; but they never pre­tended to make Matches for their Mo­narch, but when they were as ready to make War too: There was somewhat of that Mutinous Ferment got among the Members, in the latter end of King * James's his Reign, who tho they migh­tily 19. Jacob. 1621. soothed their Soveraign, with some Inconsiderable subsidies, for the reco­very of the Palatinate; so small that notwithstanding the Preparation for War, the poor Prince was forc'd to pur­sue Peace, and to tell the Men at West­minster so much too, that he intended to compass the Palatinate with an Ally­ance with Spain, which he was not like to obtain from the smallness of their Subsidy, and Aid: But tho the Com­mons did not care much for the main­taining [Page 317] the War, they were as much startled with this seeming tendance to Peace; they knew their Prince poor, and therefore thought that the time to show the Subject bold: and so began the Pu­ritan-Party to represent in a Remon­strance, Popery, Power, Prerogative, and their Averseness forsooth to the Spanish-Match. The pious Prince tho none of the boldest to resist an invading Peo­ple; yet took the Courage to tell them they took too much upon themselves, very warmly forbad them farther to meddle with his Government, Dudg­dale's short View. 21. and deep Affairs of State; and particularly with the Match of his Son, with the Daugh­ter of Spain: And this account they'll surely Credit since it comes from an Rusworth Col. p. 40. Au­thor, a partial and popular Advocate for this power of Parliament.

And did not the Commons intermed­dling with an other Spanish Match of Queen Mary's, send their Memberships into the Country to mind their own Business, and were presently Dissolv'd for meddling so much with their Sove­raign's: And this I hope will be as Burnet's Abridgm. 236. Au­thentick since it comes from an Author that has had the Thanks of the House.

[Page 300] But this Disposal of the Kings of his own Children, and the Marrying them to what Princes he pleases, has such an absolute Relation, to the making Leagues and Allyances; that the Laws; which have declared the latter to be solely in the Soveraign, are as Declara­tory that the other is so too; and this power of the Prince of making War and Peace, Leagues and Allyances, is so settled in him by the Laws of the Land that till they are subverted, it can never be taken out. In Henry the Fifth's Time, a Prince under whose Courage and Conduct the Nation, I think, was as Flourishing at Home, as it was formida­ble Abroad: A Prince that kept a good Sway over his Subjects, and wanted no­thing to the making him a good Mo­narch, but a better Title; though his Expensive War in France, cost his Peo­ple a great deal of Money, as well as Blood; yet they were far from being animated into an Invading this part of Prerogative; but declared, as appears by the Law of his Time, that to their King belonged only to make Leagues with Foreign Princes; and so fully does this Fundamental Law of the Land place [Page 297] this power in the Prince, that it abso­lutely excludes all the Pretences of the People; for it tells us 2. H. 5. c. 6. 22. Edw. 4. Fitz. Ju­risd. expressly, that if all the Subjects of England, should break a League, made with a Foreign Prince; if without the King's Consent, it shall still hold and not be broken: And must the Laws of our own, as well as those of all Nations be subverted, for the set­ting up a Supremacy of the People, which both declare is absolutely in the King?