A SEASONABLE MEMENTO Both to King and People Upon this CRITICAL JUNCTURE OF AFFAIRS.  
Nullo modo eis Artibus placatur Divina Majestas, quibus Humana Dignitas inquinatur.  Aug. de Civ. Dei. 
LONDON, Printed in the Year 1680.   

A SEASONABLE Memento, etc.  
IT is grown into a Custom (I know) to smooth the way for the Gross of the Subject in Agitation, by some preliminary Apology or Compliment to the Courteous Reader; but yet, for reasons best known to myself, I shall at this time pass over the Ceremonious Flourish of an Introduction, and without Welt or Guard (as they say) fall upon my Province, which is to make out, That neither upon pretext of Religion, Personal Vices, Excesses in Government, or any other Colour whatsoever, the Subjects of the Crown of England may withdraw their Obedience, or make Hostile Resistance to King Charles our present Sovereign; being by right of Inheritance justly possessed of the Crown; his Title no way depending either upon his Divine or Moral Virtues; and the said Subjects having received him, and acknowledged him for their Only Supreme Governor, done him Homage, and sworn to him Faith and Allegiance, Absolutely and without Condition.  
AS for other Princes and Potentates, whether Elective Kingdoms, or such as (at the Erection of them) were received by the First King upon Express Covenant, and only with a Conditional Obedience; (as is pretended by those of Arragon, and Others;) of These I shall not here discourse. Neither shall I speak of those Kings and Princes who acknowledge (in Spiritual Matters) a Superior Jurisdiction in the Pope over them; who further stickleth (by necessary Relation and Dependency of the Temporal upon the Spiritual) to have also a Temporal Power over them, in ordine ad Spiritualia; And hath often put this his Claim in Practice, by accompanying his Spiritual Censure of Excommunication, with the Sentence of discharging Subjects of their Obedience to their Princes, and so consequently of Deposing them. Herewith I shall not meddle; None of These Cases being applicable to This in question of King Charles, who is no Elective King, but holdeth his Crown by an Unquestionable Title of Succession, derived to him by Descent from his Ancestors, for the space of more than Six hundred years: Neither was there ever any Pact or Condition with Him, or any of his progenitors, of Forfeiture; (which in This Case neither was, nor ever can be justly pretended.) True it is, that his Ancestors and Himself have been pleased to limit and restrain their Legal Right by many Concessions and Laws, in some Cases; as the making of Laws without Consent of Peers and People, the Levying of Money, etc. which he cannot Violate without great Injustice, as shall be after shown: But no such Pact or Covenant can be produced, whereby, upon Breach, he Forfeiteth his Sovereignty, or maketh it Justifiable for his Subjects to take up Arms against, or to inflict Punishments upon his Person, either by Dethroning, Death, or Imprisonment.  
THE Case likewise of Roman Catholic Princes no way concerneth Him, who acknowledgeth not in a Pope any such Superior Authority: So that whatsoever Pretences may be in some Cases, concerning such Princes as I have above specified; (wherein I shall not presume to deliver my Opinion) yet in the Present Case of Our King, there can be no colourable Pretence of taking Arms against Him, or of Deposing Him; which I understand to be (in effect) when he is divested of his Just Regal Power; Or of the Imprisoning of his Person, which I understand to be not only when he is actually in Bonds, or locked up in a Room; but also when the Liberty of Going, and the Freedom of Speaking is restrained, to such Places, or Persons, as Others shall please; and he remain under a Guard, not of his Own choosing, but imposed upon him by Others.  
IT must be acknowledged, that the Kings of England derive their Title and Right from William the Norman; who, although he came in by Conquest, yet his Successors (considering that a Right Acquired by Force, may likewise be Recovered by Force, by those upon whom the forcible Intrusion was made) were pleased, by way of Pact and Stipulation, to limit and qualify that (Imperium Absolutum) Absolute Dominion which is acquired by Conquest: And the People of England thereupon did submit themselves to his Government; and thereby was Constituted Imperium Legitimum, a Just and Rightful Sovereignty; the Kings remaining with Supreme Power, and the People with Common Right; whereby they were freed from the Servitude of Conquest, and remained under a Free Subjection; whereunto they had by their voluntary Consent submitted themselves.  
THE Kings likewise did recede from Absolute and Arbitrary Power, and remained with Supreme, but not with Absolute Empire.  
BY Free Subjection, I understand when a People live under Laws to which they have given a Free Consent, and not under the Mere will of the Prince; and that they retain such a Propriety in that which is their Own, that without Their Assent, or Legal Forfeiture, it cannot be taken from them: And this is a true difference betwixt a Free Subject, and a Slave or Servant. Quicquid acquirit Servus, acquirit Domino; Liber, quod acquirit, acquirit Sibi; Whatsoever a Slave gets, he gets for his Master; but what a Freeman gets, is for Himself. And so although the Dominion of All belongs solely to the Prince, yet Propriety refers to Every man; Dominium Totius apud Caesarem, Proprietas apud Singulos.  
THE Difference that I understand betwixt a Supreme, and an Absolute Empire, is, That in Absolute Empire the Rule of the People's Obedience is only the Sovereigns Will. So it is in Turkey, Muscovy, and all such Princes as retain Entire the Right of Conquest; and was in some sort under the Roman Emperors after the Lex Regia was established by the People's Consent; whereby they transferred their Entire Right unto Him.  
Supreme Empire I understand to be, when a King has a Supremacy and Sovereignty over all, but his Absolute Power is limited and restrained by reciprocal Pacts, Laws, and Stipulations betwixt Prince and People; which is the Case of the Crown of England: and to these Pacts the King and People are equally bound before God and man; and the King is as much bound to Justice, to the Protection of his Subjects, and to the Observance of the Laws, (not only out of Religion, but even of Moral Honesty also) as the Subject is to Obedience. And he is not only accountable to God, but even his People have certain Just and Legal ways to seek Redress, wherein he shall do Wrong; notwithstanding that Axiom of our Common Law, That the King can do no Wrong; which is false in many senses, and may very well be called Fictio Juris, a kind of Metaphysical Fiction: Le Roy ne fait Tort, being only to be understood in the ordinary Course of Justice; which the King administering by his Ministers, and not in Person, it is They that are the Wrong-doers, and not the King; and the Subject, against Them, is to seek his Remedy. For Kings may do Wrong, and be as wicked as Other men, commit Murder, and wrongfully take away Other men's Estates; which no Fiction of the Law can make not to be Wrong; although his Person be exempt from Punishment. And that Abstract Consideration of the King, for his just Power and Office, as it hath often, Heretofore, been ill used in way of Ostentation; so, in our Late Troubles, there was as ill use made of it, on the Other hand; when the taking up Arms and the Fight against him, was pretended not to be against the KING, but only against CHARLES STVART. But (to speak in plain Intelligible Terms) a King both may do Wrong, and the People may seek their Redress, in such sort as the Law of the Land allows. And the difference betwixt King and Peoples Failing in their Reciprocal Duties, is not but that they do wrong alike, offend God alike, and are both of them liable to be questioned, according to the Extent of the Law, by both their Consents established. The Subjects transgressing the Law, shall be punished according to the quality and measure of the Offence: Felony, by the Loss of their Goods and Chattles, and by a Milder Death; Treason by a more Severe Death, and Confiscation both of Goods and Inheritance. But hereof they must be Convict, per Pares, by People of their own Condition, and adjudged by a Superior Jurisdiction; which can be derived Only and Singly from the King. So that the King, not having his Peer, nor any of his Own Condition, cannot have a Legal Trial; and having no Jurisdiction Superior to Himself, cannot be Adjudged or Sentenced by any: for neither the Extent of the Law, nor any Condition of the Pacts, or Stipulation, do reach to the Punishing of the Person of the King, or the Forfeiture of his Dominion over us. Certain it is that (in Civil things) Trials may be, (and often are) brought against the King; and Kings do give way that the Judges be sworn to do Equal Justice betwixt Them and their Subjects: and in points of Oppression and wrong, we may Remonstrate our Grievances, and challenge Redress by our Petitions; which, if they be not condescended unto, we may insist upon them as our Right, and claim them as a Due, and not as of Grace: But yet we must do it by way of Petition, as being a Dutiful Form of Subjects bringing their Plea against the King; for in other sort He ought not to be Impleaded. Beside these Petitions of Right, we may also Remonstrate, enter our Protestations, and take all those Courses which the Laws allow. Neither ought the King to take Offence at these Legal Contestations with him; because, by his Assent unto the Laws, he hath Assented unto Them: Nay he ought, in Them, to do us Right; being obliged thereunto by the Law of God, by his Oath, and by Moral Honesty and Justice. But yet if he fail in all these Duties, Our Jurisdiction reacheth not to his Personal Punishment. Therein he is Sub Nullo nisi sub Deo, under none but God; and the Law stops There, and tells us, Satis sufficit ei ad paenam, quod Deum habet Vltorem, that it will be a sufficient punishment to him that he hath God for an Avenger. Yet are we not altogether left without Remedy; for Kings although they be God's Vice-gerents, yet they cannot work as God does, saying Fiat, and it was done; Kings must work by Mediate Instruments; and if they command Illegal Things, the Executioners of them are Responsible, and must make satisfaction to the Parties injured. And therefore the King ought not Immediately to Imprison, nor in Person to Execute any thing; because that in case of Wrong-doing, the Subject would then be destitute of all means of Redress, in regard the King's Person is not to be Impleaded by Law. I know the usual Objections, In case Kings will do that which they ought not to do, and will, by their own immediate Warrants Commit, and be the Personal Actors of the Injuries, or not suffer the Executioners of their Illegal Commands to be Legally proceeded against; shall the Subject be left wholly without Remedy, and debarred the Benefit of that Right of Nature, inbred in all Creatures, of self Preservation? Yes; we must be contented with that Condition wherein God hath placed us; and wherein, by our Own Consents, and Stipulations of Subjection, We have placed ourselves; and may only right ourselves by those means which, by the Laws, (whereunto we have given our Consent) are permitted unto us: Neither is our Native Liberty hereby ravished from us; but as we have parted with it by our own Voluntary agreement, so neither can we resume it, but by those ways which we have reserved in the Stipulations of our Submission. And beside that herein there is no Injury, for that Volenti non fit Injuria; it would be more Hurtful to Mankind, if it were Otherwise: for there is a necessity that in all sorts of Governments, as well as in Monarchy, there should be an Impunity, and Power, somewhere, of not being questioned; otherwise all would be hurled into Anarchy and Confusion; Neither could there be any final Determination of Controversies, if there were not a Derniere Resort, and Last Appeal, wherein we are bound to Acquiesce. Now this Power must be trusted in some hand, and That must of necessity be, where the Sovereign Power remaineth; otherwise, there must be supposed a Superior Power to that Sovereign Power, and so in Infinitum, until we come to some such Power as hath nothing above it; and than That must be entrusted, and be submitted to, without being accountable to Any but to God; because on Earth there can be to it no Superior Jurisdiction. And this Power is in the King of England in all things, such only excepted, wherein Himself or his Ancestors have, by Laws and Stipulations, limited their Absolute Power; as was said before. And This we are by the Law of God, and of the Land, bound to Obey, and not to make any Resistance, but what the Law alloweth us: We must, in the Rest, have recourse unto God, if our Princes be Wicked; neither may we Mutiny, or Repine at God, when we have Ill Kings, more than when he sendeth Diseases, Plagues, Caterpillars, Blighting or Blasts. For wicked Kings are but Blast of the People that God is pleased to Punish: neither must we think Our Condition worse than that of Wicked Kings; (notwithstanding their Temporal Impunity) for certainly it is much Better, both in regard of Punishment in the World to Come, and commonly in This. For the Next World as Their Sin is greater; so it is declared that their Punishment shall be greater also, Hear, Oye Kings, and Understand, etc. Because, being Ministers of God's Kingdom, you have not judged aright, nor kept the Law, nor walked after the Counsel of God; horribly and speedily shall he come upon you, for a sharp Judgement shall be to them that are in High Places, for Mercy will soon pardon the Meanest, but Mighty men shall be mightily Tormented. Wisd. 6. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Whereas Subjects, who suffer with Patience, because they are so commanded by God, make him their Debtor by their Sufferings; and he always payeth faithfully, who saith, that if we suffer with Christ, we shall also Reign with him. And for this World, their Wickedness and Oppression is still accompanied with these Fears, Distractions, and Horrors of Conscience, which have ever been inseparable from Tyrannies; by which their Lives are rendered more uncomfortable, than the Unhappiest of their Subjects. And for the most part, their Ends are as miserable as their Lives; for what they Fear, and by their Tyranny seek to prevent, doth commonly fall upon them: Their People do Revolt and Rebel; and although they be never so well Chatechized in the points of Obedience; yet their Natural Inclination to recover their Liberty, much more to cast off  Burdens, and Oppressions, is such, that sleight and weak Arguments will easily persuade them to that, whereunto they are so strongly inclined, and the least pretence of Religion, or Colour of Reason or Lawfulness, countenancing or tolerating the Freeing themselves from Subjection, in any Case, will be more prevalent with them, than the most passitive Precept of God's Word, enjoining Obedience. If in any case taking up Arms be admitted, theirs shall ever be that Case. And if the Wickedness of their Prince shall be allowed as a ground of their Rebellion, their Prince shall ever be the most Wicked: Of all this, all Ages have produced many Examples, and especially these Later Times, through all the Estates of Christendom. And wicked Princes will find, that Precepts in this ease will not serve the Turn; for tho' Hostile Resistance against the King be expressly prohibited by the Word of God, both in the Old and New Testament; though it be against the Doctrine and Practice of the Primitive Church, and the present Tenets, and Confessions of Faith, of all the Reformed Churches in the World, though it be contrary to the Solemn Oath of Fidelity, and Allegiance sworn to the King; the Laws of the Land (which make it Treason) and Moral Honesty and Justice; yet will it be in this point of Resistance (as Tacitus says of Divinations in Rome) which was a Wickedness that had been, and ever would be forbidden, yet ever would be Retained: Semper Vetabitur, & semper retinebitur. And so to Princes that will highly Oppress, and make their Will, and not the Laws, the Rule of their Government, although (I say) to resist be a Wickedness, and that it be against the Law of God and Man to do it; yet where the Wrongs are Great, and a Fair Opportunity offered of Prevailing, it will be ever done: For that amongst men, there are a Thousand for One, that prefer their own Interest or Inclination, before Duty or Conscience. And certainly, a Prudent and Foreseeing Prince, that will impartially examine things, cannot but expect it should be so. For why should he suppose, that Other men will be more Honest, or more Religious than Himself? And when he breaks through all the Bonds and Ties of Oaths of Divine Precepts and Moral Justice, only to stretch and extend his Power and Greatness; why should we not expect, that Subjects should make as bold to transgress the same Duties, in hope of Recovering Liberty; with even the False show, whereof People are apt to be further transported, than by any Earthly Desire whatsoever? Neither will the Fear of Death or Danger restrain them; because they will not Attempt, until Opportutunity make them hopeful of Prevailing; and then they consult by Power to provide for their own Impunities.  
BUT besides this Proneness in People to be easily led and persuaded into Rebellion, under the false and specious Show of recovering Liberty; the great Monarches and Princes of Christendom have been (in great part) the Fomenters and Upholders of it, and their Doctors have not so much by their Preaching and Wriing beaten it down, as the Kings themselves have, by their Examples and Actions, given Encouragement unto it; for although I shall ever speak with Reverence of Princes and their Proceed, yet I shall hope that the humble Representation of this, Truth will receive a fair Interpretation. For it is undeniably true, that in this latter Age, all the great Monarchies and States of Christendom have been rendered unhappy by Intestine Wars, which have been encouraged (if not contrived and designed) by one Christian Prince against Another, every one countenancing and indulging Rebellion, until it become his Own Case, and then he is offended. Of this I shall give no particular Instances, the Notariety of it is too great, and I fear every State may too easily apply it to what themselves have done: And it may be apprehended, that the sad Condition of many States of Christendom, at this present day, may exhibit something of God's Judgements, upon that Account, who hath said; With what Measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. Mat. 7.12.  
AND wicked Kings, as they are sure they shall not 'scape the severe Judgement of God in the next World (if they do believe the Scripture) so (if they will believe ancient Histories of what has passed in former Times, or their own Experience of what they see daily with their Eyes; or that they do believe that God will repay unto them that which they have either countenanced or contrived against others) they must expect to have troublesome and uncomfortable Lives, accompanied with Hatred, Hazzard, and Infamy. And if these Considerations will not restrain them, yet We must not be Wicked, because They are so: Neither will God admit of Recrimation for our Excuse. Our Duty of not resisting is Positive, upon pain of Damnatition; from which no good Success or Prevailing, can keep us, although it may save us from the Gallows. Beside this great Hazard of our Souls, Moral Prudence teacheth us, that a Civil War which (I hope yet we have no great reason to fear) is commonly a Cure much worse than the Disease: For no Oppression, nay no Tyranny, brings with it half those Miseries and Calamities, which of Necessity, do ever accompany an Intestine War. Wicked Kings may be cruel, covetous and licentious; yet their Oppressions and their Lusts are restrained to some Wickednesses, and to some Persons: But in a War, Rapes, Murders, Robberies, Sacrileges, and all manner of Impieties break in, and all sorts of People are made miserable, which the poor Kingdom of England has found true by sad Experience; where, in the Space of five years only, (from 1641 to 1646) more was taken from the Subject, than would have been exacted by Subsidies, Projects, or any unjust Taxes whatsoever, by the worst of Kings, in the Space of a Hundred and so were all other Wickednesses increased proportionably.  
I SHALL conclude this Discourse with my humble and hearty Prayers to God Almighty to avert his heavy Displeasure (which the Multitude of our Sins may give us just Cause to dread) from this Nation; at present the most prosperous and flourishing of any in Europe; and that the public Calamities that befell the Kingdom in the late unhappy War, and the lamentable Distractions, and Confusions that were wrought by our Dissensions, both in Church and Commonwealth, may be a Lesson to the People to value and esteem Peace, and not so wantonly to engaage themselves afresh in New Miseries.  
THE END.