A SHORT WAY TO A Lasting Settlement: showing, 

I. That Parliaments are not Infallible.  
II. Who are Their great Enemies.  
III. How to Redeem their Reputation.    
WITH A WARNING TO ALL Loyal Gentlemen AND Freeholders, In a LETTER to Fanaticus Ignoramus.  
London, Printed for Robert Clavel, 1683.   

A Short Way TO A Lasting Settlement.  
SIR,  
I Perceive you are soon moved into Passion, and can grow Angry upon such a score as will much more reflect upon yourself, and the Party you have espoused. You pretend I am an Enemy to Parliaments; When really I am a much more hearty friend to them, than they are, or you yourself, as shall be clearly Demonstrated before I take leave of you.  
But I desire you to consider well what you mean by the word Parliament, that you may not( as too many Zealots do) mistake the Word for the Thing itself. The Parliament of England is the Assembly of the King, and the Three Estates of the kingdom,( which are the Lords Spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons) to debate matters of emergent Difficulty touching the Common-Weal; and to decide and settle them by mature advice to the best advantage thereof.  
Now the King being the Head of this Parliament( without whom it cannot so much as have a being, in the right Notion and true Nature of a Parliament) I hope I shall not be accounted an Enemy, at least to His Majesty, having served Him and his Royal Father of ever Blessed Memory, as well in the times of War as Peace, for Forty years together.  
Take a Parliament in the right Notion and just Constitution of it; and I am ready to Subscribe to the sense of that great States-Man, Sir Thomas Smith, in the Character he gives 
De Repub. Anglor. l. 2. c. 2.  of this supreme Court, In comitiis Parliamentariis, &c. The most high and absolute Power of the Realm of England, consisteth in the Parliament; for the Parliament abrogateth old Laws, maketh New, giveth Order for things past, and for things hereafter to be followed; changeth the Rights and Possessions of private Men; Legitimateth Bastards, Corroborates Religion by Civil Sanctions, Alters Weights and Measures; Prescribes and determines the Right of Succession to the Crown, defines doubtful Rights where there is no Law already made, &c. The Wisdom and Learning of the Kingdom supposed, in a great Measure, to be Assembled here, the Parliament may very well be able to resolve and assign, where The Right of Succession is, in doubtful Cases; But they can no more make a just Title of a bad One, or a lawful Prince of an Usurper, than they can make a Man a Woman.  
The King( we say, and the Law says so too) can do no wrong: But 'twas never said so of the Three Estates of Parliament. And if these do amiss, surely, I may justly be displeased at them, when they do so, and yet be no enemy to the Constitution. I may blame my Child, my Wife, and yet have a very tender Affection for them. But we must remember 'tis the Assembly Entire, and made up of all its Constituent Parts that we must value. Divide the Estates from their Head, or from one another, and you dissolve the Government. And when they are well United, and act regularly by common Suffrage and Consent, yet they are not inspired, they Act as men, and we are to attribute no more to them, we are to expect no more from them, then to and from a human Constitution.  
But the Author you allege, seems to make a Parliament Infallible; else how can he so confidently allege what they have done, to Evince the Legality of whatever they shall do hereafter? Does Matter of Fact always conclude a certain Right? He is a very ill Logician that so argues. For if this Rule were granted, the blackest villainies that Hell can invent or hatch, such as have filled the Age that did them with shane and horror, may be defended; all the most execrable Rebellions, Usurpations, Deposings of Princes, and Regicides, that have been Committed or done by Parliaments, even by that of Forty-One are to be levied; and not only so, but become fair Precedents to encourage the like hereafter. And to this purpose are all those Precedents produced by the Tory-Plot-Maker to destroy Successten.  
And if all that a Parliament does( that is, the Prime with the assent of the Three Estates) be warrantable, just and good, then the establishment of Popery in the dayes of Queen Mary was so too; and this Gentleman, who is so good at alleging Precedents, may be as well furnished perhaps with precedents on that side, if he had occasion for it. But if that were ill done by Queen Mary and her Parliament, it follows undeniably, that all Parliamentary proceedings are not warrantable, nor their Acts to be drawn into example.  
The Gentleman should distinguish betwixt a Power that is Uncontroulable, and that which is Infallible. An uncontrollable Power may be damnably Wicked,( so was Cromwels:) but an Infallible Power cannot be so. Indeed an Uncontroulable Power can take no wrong( while it continues uncontrollable:) but an Infallible Power can do none. A Parliament, because it is the supreme Court, is not Subject to Coercion; but for all that, it may do great, very great Injustice, and so be very blamable upon that account. If they were Infallible, what need such canvasing at Elections, and at Committees about them afterwards? Why such shuffling and cutting to Pack the Cards, and get a svit of Members into the House, to make sure our own Game? 'Tis but sitting down in their seats( as the Pope does in his Chair) and pass a Vote, and the business is done. All is just, if They be Infallible: But God knows 'tis far otherwise. This is Solemnly acknowledged by the Lord Hollis in his last Effort, and he cites Law for it in his Remaines( p. 60.) where He saith, The Authority of any one Parliament I know to be very great, yet it is a known maxim in the Law, Parliament poit Errer, A Parliament may err; and another Parliament may mend, what one doth amiss; Parliament-Men are Men, and may and do sometimes Mistake as well as other Men. Thus that Lord 
Of Judicat. in Parl. P. 22.  hath ingenuously acknowledged; and Mr. Selden tells us, that Anne pierce was unjustly convicted in a Parliament of 50. E. 3. and that the then Speaker of the Commons did confess it.  
But to come nearer home to ourselves; A Party in both Houses had a Design to take away the Life of the Earl of Strafford; but their Evidence was not sufficient in a judicial way, and according to the due Forms of Law. Hereupon they call in the Legislative Power to their Assistance; That they might proceed against him by the light of their own Consciences, without any further Proof or Testimony. But knowing of what dangerous consequence it might be hereafter, to the Lives and Fortunes of themselves and their Posterity; They added a Clause to the Bill, that it should not be drawn into example hereafter. Habemus Legem; We have a Law, and by that Law He ought to Die. The very Malice of the Jews could admit of so much Justice: But feramus Legem, Let us Make a[ New] Law, to take away his Life; This is little less than Barbarous. And whether it be a greater instance of Injustice to Suborn Witnesses to Prove a deadly Crime against the Innocent; Or, to Frame a New Law on purpose to make him Guilty, I shall not determine: But sure I am, the late Royal Martyr of Blessed Memory, 
〈◇〉. on the Earl of Straffords Death.  suffered much in the Remorse of Conscience, for passing that Bill into a Law, as is evident in his Divinest Meditations. Having reckoned up the Heads of his Accusation, They Enact, That he stand adjudged and attainted of High Treason, that he shall suffer Death, and forfeit all his Goods and Chattels, Lands and Tenements, &c. But then, as a Conviction of their own injustice in the Case, they add this Clause: viz. Provided that no Judge, or Judges, Justice or Justices whatsoever, shall adjudge or interpret any Act or Thing to be Treason, nor hear or determine any Treason, nor in any other manner, then he or they should or ought to have done before the making of this Act, and as if this Act had never been made. Thus have we Treason 
Observat. on the History of the Reign of K. Charles p. 231. &c.  and no Treason in the self-same action; that being judged Treason in this one man, which never was to be judged Treason in any other, as Dr. Heylen well observes.  
Besides, we know the Lords and Commons, yea and the Commons alone, nay a part, the worst and most factious part of them, have usurped the power of all the Three Estates, and then deposed and murdered their Prince; and shall any Subject dare to assert this to be double; and allege that it has been done; and therefore 'tis Lawful to do't again? yet this is the Sum of that doughty Argument which that Loyal Gentleman so much triumphs in.  
If you talk of Real Enemies to Parliaments, certainly they are the worst and greatest, who turn them into Idols, affect and Admire them beyond the measure of a Humane-Creature, and commit at least, such Civil Idolatry with them, as makes them not only suspected to aspire above the sphere of Representatives: but really to become a Burden to Prince and People, and indeed a greater Grievance than any they are consulted or entrusted to redress.  
'Tis not to be denied, the Parliament is the Supream-Court of the Kingdom,( when they are in conjunction with their sovereign) and therefore uncontrollable while they are so: But when they act against their Prince, the fundamental Laws, and the established Government, then they are not the Supreme-Court: but a Faction, that sets up itself against it: And tho their Numbers and Combinations may make them uncontrollable and secure for a time, yet really they are not unaccountable either before God or man; and I am sure 'tis an ill Precedent to the Prerogative of Authority to let them finally go unpunished.  
How undutiful and uneasy they have been to their sovereigns, is not to be reported in these Papers, because not to be comprised in fo short a Pamphlet as I design to publish. But that Learned Divine and Great Historian of a deep and piercing judgement, 
Dr. Heylen Observat. on the Hist. of the reign of K. Charles. Pag. 28. Printed 1656.  has a witty observation upon King James. Our Chroniclers saith He, tells us of King James, that at his first coming to the Crown of England, He used to go often to the Tower, to see the lion( the reputed King of Beasts) baited, sometimes by Doggs, and sometimes by Horses; which I could never red, saith He, without some regret; the baiting of the King of Beasts seeming to me an ill Presage of those many baitings, which He( a King of Men) found afterwards at the hands of His Subjects.  
But the baitings of that King of happy Memory was but Sport in comparison of what his Son and Successor, Charles the first suffered under them. And I shall content myself in transcribing some few particulars of the Account that is given thereof, by that judicious and knowing Observator.  
Never did any Prince so often veil his Crown to his People; which( as he observes) served to no effect, but to make them the more insolent and imperious. After many indignities and provocations given him by the disorder and tumultuous Carriage of some Members( which you may red, very handsomely and ingenuously described at large, in Mr. H. L'estrange his 
Of the reign of K. Charles. fol. 132.  History) His Majesty was forced to dissolve that Parliament; and it seems it was the opinion of most men, that the dissolution of that Parliament, was the end of All: And certainly, saith Dr. Heylyn, there was very good reason why it might be thought 
Ibid. P. 92, &c.  so, the King never having good Success in any of his Parliaments, since his first coming to the Crown; and withall having an example before his eyes, of the like discontinuance of assembling the Three Estates in the Realm of France, by the King then Reigning, and that upon far less provocations than were given King Charles. For whereas in an Assembly of the Three Estates Anno. 1614. the Third Estate, which represents our House of Commons, entrenched too busily upon the liberties of the Clergy, and some worthies and exemptions which the Nobility enjoyed by the favour of some former Kings; it gave the King so great offence, that he resolved, first to Dissolve them, and never after to be troubled with the like Impertinencies. Nor was there since that time any such Assembly, nor like to be hereafter in the times ensuing; those Kings growing weary of that yoke, which that great Representative did endeavour to impose upon them. But because he would not cut off all communication betwixt himself and his people, he ordained another king of meeting in the place thereof, which he called La Assembli des Notables, that is to say, The Assembly of some Principal Persons; composed of some Selected Persons out of every Order or Estate( of his own Nomination) whereunto should be added some counselor out of every Court of Parliament,( of which there are eight in all in France) throughout that kingdom; which being fewer in number, would not breed such a confusion, as the general Assembly of the States had done before, and be withall more pliant and conformable to the Kings desires; and yet their Acts to be no less obliging to all sorts of People than the other were. Such an Assembly as this( but that the Clergy had no vote in it) was that which was called here by the Lord Protector, immediately after the dissolving of the late long Parliament, who possibly had his hint from this Institution. And this may teach all Parliaments in the times Succeeding, to be more careful in their Councils, and use more moderation in pursuance of them; especially when they meet with an armed Power, for fear they should not only interrupt, but cut off that Spring, from whence the Blessings both of Peace and Happiness, have formerly been derived on this Church and State. No man can love his fetters tho they be of Gold. If therefore Parliaments should find no way to preserve the Liberty of the people, but to put fetters on the Prince or Power that calls them; if from being Counsellors, at the best they shall prove controllers, they must blame no body but themselves in case they should be discontinued for the time to come. In the mean time that saying of Paterculus may be worth their noting, Non turpe est ab eo vinci, quem vincere esset nefas; it is no shane to submit to those, whom it were sin to overcome. Thus far that discerning Doctor.  
How they used His Majesty in the Case of shipmoney, 
Heylyn 18. P. 219.  ought not to be forgotten; yet the opinion of the legality of it was so fixed in the minds of many understanding Men, that it could not easily be removed: 1. In regard of the great learning and integrity of the man, by whom it was first set on foot. 2. Because all the Judges had subscribed unanimously to the Lawfulness of it in time of danger, of which danger the King was declared to be the Judge. 3. Because being brought to a public Trial, after it had been argued by the council on both sides, in the Court of Justice, and by all the Judges in the Exchequer-Chamber, there passed a definitive sentence for it on bahalf of the King 4. Because voted down by the Houses of Parliament in a more Arbitrary way, than was expected without being brought to a review, neither the Kings council being heard, nor the judges called to show the Reasons of their Opinions. 5. Because it was ordered by the House of Commons, that the Arguments of Justice Crooke and Justice Hutton for the illegality thereof should be put in Print: those of the other Eight 
* These are now published in the Annals Printed for Robert Clavel 1681.  Judges which were for the legality of it, continuing suppressed; which gave occasion to most men to think, that there was more reason for it in those Arguments, then was thought fit to see the light. And last of all, because notwithstanding all this Care to Vote down this Assessment, they were fain to have recourse to the King, for obtaining of an Act of Parliament to secure them from it for the time to come. This we are obliged to that worthy Dr. for.  
But notwithstanding, they made it their business to encroach upon his Prerogative, His Majesty could not lay aside his proparty to be Gracious; and though some members of the House of Commons, in His Third Parliament,( being imprisoned for 
Heylyn 16. p. 31.  the refusal of a loan) brought with them both a Power and Will, to avenge themselves by the restraint of his Prerogative: yet was he so melted into tenderness by a Grant of some Subsidies, that he bid his Secretary tell them, He would deny them nothing of their Liberties, which any of his Predecessors had granted to them; and finally in the close thereof, He enacted the Petition of Right, and made it pass into a Law: Of which that Historian tells us, That never Arbitrary Power since Monarchy( was) first founded 
Mr. L'estrange.  did so, Submittere fasces, so veil his sceptre; Never did the Prerogative, descend so much from perch to popular lure, as by that Concession.  
But having prevailed upon his goodness to take himself down thus low, they were resolved to keep him under; for, having brought him to this pass, saith my Author, how easily did they( through their importunity, or rather violence) gain from him several Acts, for suppressing the Authority of the clerk of the Market, and the Court of Stanneries, for retrenching the 
●. P. 248.  Preambulation of the Forrests, and repealing the old Acts for Knight-hood; and finally( not to say any thing of the Militia, with the Forts and Navy, wherein they had not his consent) with what a strong hand did they draw him to the abolishing of shipmoney, the Star-Chamber, the High-Commission, the Courts of the marquis on the North, the Jurisdiction of all the Ecclesiastical Courts, some privileges formerly enjoyed by the council Table, &c. But this is not all: For,  
Having driven him away by Tumults, they endeavoured by Remonstrances, Declarations and Propositions, to make his Return impossible. In June 42. the faction sends a Petition with Nineteen Propositions to his Majesty, many of which his Majesty declared he could neither in Honour or Conscience consent unto. One of which saith the Royal Martyr,( in his Chapter of the nineteen Propositions) was, To bind myself to a general and implicit Consent to whatever they shall desire or propound; which were as if samson should have consented not only to bind his own hands, and cut off his hair, but to put out his own eyes, that the Philistians might with the more safety mock and abuse him; which they choose rather to do, then quiter to destroy him, when he was become so tame an Object, and fit occasion for their sport and scorn.  
But by this time, the Faction( having drawn the Seditious part of the City and Country in to their Alliance) began to entitle themselves to a share in sovereignty, and a Coordinate 
Parem non habet Rex in Regno suo. Omnis sub eo est, & ipse sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo. Ea quae Jurisdictionis sunt & pacis ad nullum pertinent, nisi ad coronam & Dignitatem Regiam, Nec a corona separari possunt. Braction.  Power with His Majesty. And that, Coordinata se invicem supplent, such Powers as are Coordinate may supply the defects of one another, being a most undoubted maxim in the Schools of logic, the two Houses take upon them to act without the King, and against him; then a part of both Houses oppose the King and all the rest; and at last the Factious part of the Commons exclude the Lords. And to give themselves some Colour of Authority,( 1648.) they pass this Vote, That the Representative of the People in Parliament have the supreme Power of the Nation: and whatsoever is enacted or declared for Law by the Commons in Parliament, hath the form of a Law; and the People are concluded thereby, tho the Consent of King and Peers be not had thereunto.  
Because Coordinates can supply the place of one another; The two Houses take the Rule upon them without( and against) the King; Then a Part of both Houses: Then the Commons excluding the Lords. And having raised an Army and seized the Militia by Sea and Land, possessed themselves of His Majesties Towns, Forts and Castles; and proving successful in their attempts, They presumed Their Power was incontroulable; and then They call the King to an account( Horresco referens,) tho the Law says, The Parliament may not give judgement against the King, If we may believe their Darling Sir Edward cook 
* Instit. 2. v. Shep. abridge. Tit. prog. p. 52. The great point of Succession Discussed, pag. 14. : And there is good reason for it; For if the Breath of the Kings Nostrils was necessary to give them their Being, it is a little irrational to suppose, they could thence derive a Lawful Power to destroy the Author of their life: besides( as a very, ingenious Person iargues) how can it be supposed they could proceed justly to pass a final sentence upon Him, whose concurrence was absolutely required to give birth to any Law which might concern His Meanest Subjects, tho they thought it never so convenient?  
Yet such Doctrines were spread abroad by many of their Schismatical and Seditious Divines, especially by their Proud, Bold and Heady Chaplain Mr. Baxter. For, taking it for granted, that the sovereign Power, by the Constitution of this Government, is divided between the Prince, and Senate,( by which he expresseth himself in many places of his Pamphlets and Writings, 
See. The History of Separation the 2d. part. pag. 11. 54, 55, &c. passim.  to mean the House of Commons) He saith, That the Legislative Power being divided between a Prince and Senate, the Prince invading the Senates Right,( tho 'tis evident the Senate he pleads for were the Aggressors) may justly be resisted, and lose his Right; Nay and his life too; and he thinks they could never engage an Army to defend them upon other terms. And these Doctrines do not drop from his Pen by chance and without advisement; for he repeats it over and over upon all occasions in his Writings, as you may find them collected to your hand in the Book mentioned in the margin. If the body of a Commonwealth, or those that have part in the Legislative Power, and so in the Supremacy, should unwillingly( but the Faction he pleads for were designedly) engaged in a war with the Prince, and after many years Blood and Desolation, judicially take away his Life, as guilty of all this Blood, and not to be trusted any more with Government; and all this they do not as private men, but as the remaining sovereign Power, and say they do according to the Laws:( and what Rebel or traitor will not say so?) undoubtedly the case differs very much from Papists Murdering of Kings. If you be not already sick of this Seditious Doctrine, II give you a little more; He saith, That the Law that saith the King shall have the Militia, supposeth it to be against Enemies,( and are not Rebels and Traytors such;) and not against the Commonwealth, nor them that have a part in the sovereignty; and to resist him here, is not to resist Power, but Usurpation and private Will. And where the sovereignty is divided into several hands, as into King and Parliament, and the King invades the other part, they may lawfully defend their own by war, and the Subject lawfully assist them; yea tho the Power of the Militia be expressly given to the King, unless it be also expressed that it shall not be in the other. Holy Commonwealth. Thes. 363.  
And this Mr. Baxter delivers not as his own single sense; for he tells us, Surely it was the judgement of the Parliament( so he calls any thing that pretended to a Power to oppose the King) upon the division( between the King and them) the Power was in them to defend themselves and the Commonwealth, and suppress all Subjects that were in arms against them: and that those that did resist them, did resist the Higher Powers set over them by God, and therefore were guilty of the damnation of Resisters.  
Quo teneam nodo.—  
What Law or Gospel can secure the Rights or Life of Princes from the Distinctions of this Seditious Casuist.  
What Prince can be in love with any Parliament of this Complexion? Wherefore They, who published such Doctrine, and make so close an Application and Use of it in their practise, have the greater sin, and are the greatest Enemies to Parliaments.  
For our present Gracious sovereign( whom God long preserve in health and happiness) their usage of him is fresh in every mans Memory. When the Lord return'd him from his Exile, then were we like unto them that Dream. All Loyal hearts were warmed with joy, and the Factious Child with guilt, no less than with their old fears and jealousies. This kept them quiet while: but as soon as the Act of Oblivion had secured them against those Fears, and the King had taken many of them into his warm bosom, then the( lately benumbed) Serpent began to hiss and shoot out his Sting anew. And being well red and practised in the Arts of Dissimulation and Wheadling, they soon felt how the Pulse beat in every Party, and began to work upon the Weakness of some, and the Discontents of others, whose Ambition or Avarice had met with disappointments.  
When they had mustered up their Numbers and came to know their own strength, then they began to strike up, The second Part to the same Tune of Forty One. And altho the Title was not now set up at the House of Commons door, as it was then; A King and no King; yet the Play was the very same, which they were Acting within( as many of us can very well remember) with the addition of some new Scenes and Actors. And so eager they were in the pursuit of their Design, they were resolved to sacrifice any thing to carry it on, as their own Votes and Speeches have informed us.  
What regard they had to the Honour of the Nation, we may esily Calculate from Their neglect of Tangier; the preservation Whereof( considering the Circumstances 'twas in) was no less a Wonder than the Mole erected there; Which Divine Providence reserved for the Glory of His Majesty to accomplish.  
And whereas, of ancient times, it was no less the Generosity, than the Duty and Affection of English Subjects to raise their Contributions freely to support the Crown, now of late, through the insinuation and contrivance of men, These aids and Subsidies are never granted, but to make a merchandise of it.  
For they are afraid the burden of the Crown should oppress the English Liberties,( tho the truth is, These Liberties have 
English Liberties.  met with very favourable Seasons to shoot forth: and the Branches thereof have been Complicated and imbellisht with so much Artifice by a cunning hand, that they are come to a pretty Convenient Head, to emulate the Crown itself, if not affront it: And to make this Luxuriant three the more useful, every man, at the price of a single shilling, may have it Planted at his own door, to shelter him from almost all the Storms and Thunder of the Penal Laws, and Coercive Government.) For all this, I say, They are afraid, the weight or dreeping influences of the Crown should quench the growth of their English Liberties. Wherefore they attempt, as fast as they can, to pluck away the massy Flowers of it; And filling up their places with sharp Crosses, They encircle it with a wreathe of thorny Cares, that it may sit uneasy upon their Princes Head, and make him the more willing to let them pull it off.  
Though it was our Saviours charge, that we should Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, pointing at the very Tribute-Mony 
Rom. 13. 6.  which bore the stamp of Caesars Image and Superscription; And tho the great Apostle accounts such Tribute a Debt, that belongs to Caesar as Gods Minister, to support the Charge and Honour of a Divine Vicegerency, yet our English Liberties teach us other things. We say the King can have none of our Estate without our own Consent: And to be sure, We have a Free-born-People, that will never give him their Consent to any Money-matter unless they see Good Reason for it. The Bodypolitick is very apt to breed the Kings-Evil: His Majesty could heal it with a touch of his Prerogative, but 'tis Resolved, No Cure, No money; Nor indeed will they trust him,( who has the best Reason to know it) to judge of the Distemper. They know their own Grievances, and those are the things they are concerned for.  
There is an odd Constitution called a Church, and this, they say, is a Divine Establishment; and the Godly party can make no Effort upon the Government by their Common-Wealth-Principles; but this Church-Party are ready to twit them for disloyalty, for Schism and Sedition; they cast them in the teeth with the Oath of Allegiance, and reproach them with the Severe Homilies against Rebellion. Verily this is a great grievance to the Godly-party.( tho the Prince Himself may think otherwise.)  
And indeed, Monarchy itself is the Sum Total of All that Party can complain of; and 'tis not long since they opposed it as a Grievance. And let us not believe they can so easily forget their old Sentiments. Can they ever travail with so Noble a Design as to make the Crown Flourish? No, no, They will do all they can to tarnish the Splendour, and whither the Beauty of it: They make it their business to shrink up the sinews of the Royal Power, and to Cripple the Government; And when by an obstinate denial of all timely aid, they can bring it to pass, that the King cannot stand without them, then they will set up themselves, and Govern in Aid of him( as the Spencers would have had it) and that shall be in lieu of all future Subsidies to their Prince. And to this end they will hang their own Arbitrary Padlocks upon our private Pockets, that whatever our Duty and Affections may oblige or prompt us to, it may not be in our Power( if they can help it) to relieve our Prince in his greatest exigence.  
If this be not the Design of that Party, what mean those 
His Majesties Declaration. 1681.  endearing Votes of the seventh of January, 1681. as followeth.  
Resolved, That whosoever shall lend or cause to be lent by way 
Here they put Padlocks upon our Purses, and allow not a Dominion over our own Estates; is not this Arbitrary?  of Advance, any Money upon the Branches of the Kings Revenue, arising by customs, Excise, or Hearth-Money, shall be adjudged to hinder the sitting of Parliaments, and shall be responsible for the same in Parliament.  
Resolved, That whosoever shall buy any Tally of Anticipation upon any part of the Kings Revenue, or whosoever shall pay any such Tally hereafter to be struck; shall be adjudged to hinder the Sitting of Parliaments, and shall be responsible for the same in Parliament.  
Were not these very endearing Resolutions? What Prince would not hug such a Dutiful House of Commons for them? That Party that could take the Confidence to pass such Votes about the Revenue of their sovereign, without all question, would have seized it into their own hands, if their Association-Army had been ready for it.  
But notwithstanding all this, His Majesty is as an Angel of God, to discern betwixt a prevalent Faction, and the Convention of the Three Estates duly qualified; and therefore he was pleased in His Gracious Declaration, to give us this Caution: Let not the restless Malice of Ill Men, who are labouring to poison our people,( some out of fondness of their Old Beloved Commonwealth-Principles, and some out of anger at their being disappointed in the Particular designs they had for the accomplishment of their own Ambition and Greatness) persuade any of our Good Subjects, that we intend to lay aside the use of Parliaments: For we do still Declare, That no Irregularities of Parliaments, shall ever make us out of love with Parliaments, which we look upon as the best Method for healing the Distempers of the Kingdom, and the only Means to preserve the Monarchy in that due Credit and Respect, which it ought to have both at home and abroad.  
This is his Majesties Gracious Declaration, Sense and Temper, and all Good Subjects will readily subscribe to it, and follow such a pattern.  
But for all this( being upon this inquiry) are not they Enemies to Parliaments, who give the highest provocations that may be to set the Church against them? yet this hath been done by that fanatic Party. After such great pretences and brags of their own Care and Zeal for Religion, one would have expected, that( had they not laid down their estates at the Apostles feet) they would have opened their purses and laid out( at least, as Ananias and Saphira did) some part of it, for ostentation; that they would have bought in all Impropriations, and laid them again to the Church for the encouragement of Orthodox and faithful Ministers: but we were egregiously deluded in this expectation. The Rights and privileges of Holy 
D. Heylyn Ib. p. 60.  Church, confirmed in the very first Article of Magna Charta, and sworn to by all Kings Succeeding, were never so infringed, as by that Act of Excluding the Bishops from sitting in the House of Peers: Where assuredly they had sate longer, in their Praedecessors, than any of the Lay-Nobility in their Noblest Ancestors; and had as good right of Sitting and Voting there, as either the prerogative Royal, or the Laws could give them. But the Design of that Party was to pull down the best Reformed Church in Christendom, and so they did. And altho they let in upon us an Inundation of all Opinions, Sects and Heresies( to the Scandal of all foreign Churches, and the reproach of Christianity) yet our late Pretenders to Reformation were so far from taking warning at that mischief, that they made it their business to lay all Waste and Common. For those many wise and sober Acts, which our Ancestors, with great deliberation and prudence had been contriving ever since the first Reformation, and established for the Security of this best of Churches, and the most Apostolical and Primitive Religion; This Party had designed to cut them all off at one fatal blow, by a hasty Bill of some few dayes standing; which had it taken effect according to their Projection, had most infallibly blown up this established and Reformed Religion; For then a Conventicle would have been planted at every Church door, to intercept and distracted, nay, to divide and confounded us in our public and Solemn Meetings. Whereupon, to my own knowledge, some of the wisest of the Roman catholics do look upon the defeat of that Fanatical Party in that attempt, to be no less Miraculous for the Preservation of this Church, then his Majesties Happy Return was for the Restauration of it. And for this so Miraculous a preservation of this Church, from that Fanatical Design, next and immediately under Divine providence,( as far as ever I am able to understand) we are solely obliged to thank the tender care of our most Gracious King. By which pious worthy dead, He hath most eminently deserved, as well as levied, his own Title, The Defender of the Faith, and shown himself a true Nursing-Father of the Church.  
For those Chaplains, which were set up by this Faction, the encouragements they gave them, were not for preaching Peace and Righteousness, not for Propagating the Gospel, as was pretended, but Sedition; which how effectually they performed, He that list, may red, in the First and Second Part of the Dissenters Sayings, or Evangelium Armatum, to which I refer the Reader for his better satisfaction. And  
For the Papists, this sort of men have no such aversion to them, but upon occasion they are ready to take Sanctuary among them; For Mr. Baxter, in his first Plea, p. 233. tells us, It is but reasonable, if on such necessity they should accept of favour from any Papist that should save them( viz. from the Penalties of Conformity.) By which( says an ingenious Author) the Reader may judge, who is a greater friend to Popery, the Old 
The second part of the Hist of Separ. P. 201.  Protestants, who have made Laws to keep it out; or the Dissenters, who would destroy those Laws to let it in.  
Now when a sober and learned Clergy have with great pains, & to as great satisfaction, levied the present establishment of the best of Churches, in her Doctrine, Liturgy, and Government, How can they be well pleased to see a Faction( tho under the protection and Countenance of both Houses) so scornfully neglect a Convocation, the Legal and Signal Instrument of our Reformation, and carry on Debates about Church-Matters to such a prodigious height of extravagancy, as has exposed us more than ever, among our enemies, to the Reproach of deserting the practise of the catholic Church, to give ourselves up to the Desultory Votes of a Parliament, or( which is all one) to embrace a Parliamentary-Religion?  
How violently did this Party fall upon the Synod of 1640. which consisted of as Learned and Pious men as ever met in such a Convention, and made as Prudent needful and seasonable Canons as ever were extant? Poor men, says Dr. Heylyn, to 
observe. from p. 176 to 198.  what a distress were they brought? in danger of the Kings displeasure if they rose, of the People fury, if they sate; in danger of being beaten up by Tumults while they were at the work, of being beaten down by the following Parliament, when the work was done; and after all, obnoxious to the lash of Censorious Tongues for their good intendments. For notwithstanding their great Care, that all things might be done with decency, and to edification, every one must have his blow at them. And they were encouraged hereunto by this Faction. Nor can we forget the Eleventh Persecution,( as it was called) carried on against the most Conformable, Orthodox, and Eminent of the Clergy, with Barbarous rigour by Mr. White and his Committee, under the Parliament of Forty One. If any of those suffering Gentlemen became Enemies to Parliaments, I need not tell you who made them so; and your own Reason will tell you, they that did this, were the Parliaments first and greatest enemies; for Per quod unumquodque est tale, id Magis tale.  
And if the generality, of the most Loyal and Sober Commons, have an aversion to Parliaments, 'twas the same Phanatick-party raised it in them. And are not they great enemies to Parliaments, who make the Constitution a terror and a grievance to the Subject. The Devil is called a Roaring-Lion, and a Destroyer; and why is he represented so terrible, but to make us hate him? we are  told that Rulers are not a terror to good Works, but to the evil: if thou dost well, be not afraid of the Power. But when the Power is set up Paramount to all Law and Equity, and they that should encourage it do make themselves a scourge to Loyalty and Obedience, they become a terror to good men and the very best of Subjects. Hereupon the Author of the 
Vindicat of his R. H. Pag. 7.  remarks upon Julian, tells us, I cannot but with Horror remember the Tyrannical and Oppressive Authority which the House of Commons durst usurp over their fellow-Subjects: how many of us were persecuted by their Ban-doggs and Pursuivants? how many, that knew not so well the Charter of their Liberty, were forced to yield Obedience to their unwarrantable and peremptory votes, lead in Captivity shamefully several miles through their Native country up to London, Committed to illegal and chargeable prisons, harassed with Arbitrary fines or censures, brought on their knees, forced to undergo the basest forms of submission, unworthy the Honour of the English Liberty; and all by an usurping and unwarrantable Power, whom they had never offended, and against 
pag. 3.  whom no offence lay! I hope, says He, we shall feel the scourge of such a Tyranny no more. I hope it will never come to that, that we of the country, who sand up Members to serve for us in the great Convocation of the Kingdom, shall stand in awe of the Power we trust 'em withall: I hope they are to sit there for our good and our peace: not for our terror.  
And yet is it not a Common thing for the most stubborn Non-Conformists to threaten even such as are in Authority with a Parliament? and upon what account, but because they Prosecute them for their misdemeanours, and inflict the penalty of the Laws upon them for their disobedience? Do but check a Protestant of the New Edition, for despising Dominions and speaking evil of Dignities; and he'll tell you, we shall have a Parliament. Tax a Conventicle, tax an Associator, tax an Ignoramus-Jury, tax the most malicious and injurious Republican, They'll tell you We shall have a Parliament. Is not this the way to make them a terror unto Loyalty? If we thought they would prove, what the men that use these Menaces, would have them, we should be far enough from having any fondness for their Convention. For who can have a true value for such as are set up to be a terror to their virtue. Such therefore as use these threatenings, and much more such as suggest for Precedents, those matters of fact( which have been looked upon with horror in all Ages) are to be condemned as the greatest Enemies unto Parliaments.  
I confess, what you say is true, we should hid the nakedness of our Fathers, rather than expose it: Shem and Japhet, received a signal Blessing for it: but that story is very impertinent in this Case. We are not now to treat a Patriarch, but our Representatives, in whose miscarriages we are concerned, and so much the more, when they are committed against our King, the Father of our country. Shall we see the Beacon on fire and take no notice of it? May we not inquire, when we find a Gracious King displeased, and our own expectation disappointed. May we not then inquire into the grounds of it? This sure, we are obliged to do upon a double account, that is, as well for the Justification of ourselves, as for a Caution to posterity. For,  
1. Silence would argue consent; and I hope you would not have us bid them God-Speed, in their heats and violences, much less in their exorbitances against all Law, and in their notorious undutifulness to their sovereign. In matters of Fact, when the proceedings are irregular, we must reflect upon them, that we may disown them; and we are obliged to disown them, that we may discharge ourselves, and throw all the guilt upon such as have deserved it. We hope the Body of a Kingdom has as much Power and Right as you have taught a Petty Jury.  
2. And some care should be taken for Posterity: Dies Diem docet: We are to make the best we can of a bad market; and the best use we can make of a Past-miscarriage, is to turn it into Caution for the future. Why are Sea-marks so carefully set up and preserved, but to prevent a future shipwreck? When we observe that such Reformado-Commonwealths-Men, or Cromwellians, as have got into the House of Commons, have brought their old Seditious Principles along with them, and steer their Course( in all Debates) by their old carded and Compass, to misled others, and drive the Vessel they are embarked in upon Rocks and Quicksands; certainly ' it s our Duty, in prudence, to take notice of it; that in future Elections of Members for that great service, we may not instead of a Worthy Patriot, make choice of an Incendiary.  
'Tis true, in some sense, They ought not to be questioned for their freedom of Debating in the House, where matters are fit and allowed them to debate of. But it would argue too great a want of modesty to beg freedoms of speech of His Majesty, and then to take the rude Liberty to reproach him. To spit in his Face, who has given me leave to open my Mouth; every Man of common sense will condemn to be no less rude and unjust, than disingenuous and ungrateful.  
If therefore, they shall vent themselves in such expressions as may become Seditious, when they come to influence the Common People, certainly if they publish them( which cannot be construed but to be to that effect) they ought not to be past over as Innocent; and 'tis a sign the King has few Friends in the House, or at least, that the mayor part are not his Loyal Subjects,( whatever they may pretend in words of course or compliment) if they let such undutiful expressions be made Popular, and pass the House without a censure. I am well assured, the practise was otherwise in the Reign of Q. Elizabeth, and in the late Kings time, some were justly fined and Imprisoned upon that account; for which you may see the Example of Mr. morris, in the account Mr. Townesend has given of the journal of Parliaments in some years of that Queens Reign, and in the Observations of Dr. Heylyn. P. 95, 96.  
That we should not speak evil of the Dead, has some truth and piety in it: but I do not think, the Tory-Plot-Monger takes his measures aright, when he applies it to a dissolved Parliament. For when the Dispute was about the Body of Moses, if the Devil cries it up so High, as to have it worshipped, I hope it is no offence to the great Law-giver to say, he was subject to Infirmities; and for all this, if the Devil will yet insist upon't, to have such honour bestowed upon him, as is no way due to him, sure though Michael bring no railing Accusation, He may be allowed to say, The Lord rebuk thee.  
When men die, Charity should bury their-evil Deeds with them. But if fond and superstitious men will Canonize their Memory so far as to make their very errors, and the very worst of Actions become precedents, 'tis no Sin but Duty to call them to remembrance, and remark them to Posterity.  
Sir, I beg your pardon, in that I had almost forgot the pretended sovereignty you mention, tho indeed 'tis scarce worth the remembering: Whatever the Late practise of that Party hath assumed, if I mistake not, Mr. Baxter hath been the Principal herald at arms that has proclaimed it,( and he is audacious enough to publish any thing.)  
I confess there is a sovereignty in Parliament, as it is the supreme Court of England. But when we speak of the two Houses, and much more, if we speak of the Commons in distinction from, and opposition to the King, there is no such sovereignty belongs to them.  
The Statute of 25. Hen. 8. c. 21. saith thus, in the preamble of it, Whereas His Majesties Realm Recognizeth no superior under God, but only His Majesty. If the whole Realm recognise no other superior, do They, by their Election of Members for Parliament, set up so many new sovereigns over Themselves? Is the whole Realm under the King as their only superior, and are their Representatives, presently, Hail-Fellow-Well-met, with his Majesty? Who sends abroad Ambassadors? Who makes Peace and war? But we need not travail from home for Marks of sovereignty: Who has the command of the Militia by Sea and Land? How come the two Houses to sit together? Do they sign Warrants with their own Signets to Summon or Dissolve Themselves? No, these are marks of the Kings Prerogative, and a branch of His Royal sovereignty, which the House of Commons share as little in as they which sent them; which is not at all.  
We are  told, that King James once said in a time of Parliament,( but whether in way of jeer, or otherwise, who can tell,) That there were now five hunded Kings besides himself. Tho great advantage have been made of those words, yet to any man that rightly understands the constitution of an English Parliament, the Commons are so far from being either 
Observat. pag. 58.  Lords or Kings, that( Dr. Heylyn affirms) they are not so much, as a part of the Supream-Councel; it being easy( saith He) to be evidenced out of the Writ, which commands their attendance, that they are called only to consent and submit to such Resolutions and Conclusions as should be then and there agreed on by the Kings great council, or the great council of the Kingdom. The word of the Writ import no more. 
The power of the Lords and Commons, pr. 1680.   
Ad faciendum & Consentiendum his, quae tum ibidem de Communi consilio dicti Regni nostri( favente Deo) contigerit ordinary. Before Henry the 3d. all Laws and Ordinances passed by the King and Peers. In point of Judicature, the judgement belongs to the Lords only, saith Mr. Selden: 
* Of the Judicature of Parliam. p. 132 & p. 133.  and the House of Commons disclaimed it( 1 Hen. 7th.) by Solemn Protestation. Nay He tells us further, That They had no Power formerly to judge of the Election of their own Members. 
† Ib. p. 10.  And perhaps, since there has been such factions and violent stickling to make Parties, it were happy for the Government, if that were the practise at this Day. And how came this Change? Doubtless as the Tares came into the Field: The Crafty Enemy did it while men slept.  
That the Supremacy should be divided betwixt the Two Houses is a Riddle to me, and that the Power of the Commons should be Coordinate with His Majesties, much more. Are they not His Subjects when they enter into the House? How come they to put off their Subjection? Does their privilege exalt them presently above all that is called God( by creation and office) and all that is Civilly worshipped upon that account? In their Personal Capacities we know they are all but Subjects: They all swear Allegiance to the King, and if they Act otherwise, they are all forsworn before God; and when he calls them to account he will judge them so. Grant them to be the Representatives of all the Commons, and in that sense the Body of them; yet they must have a Head; and if so, yet still they are Subordinate. If their Conjunction gives them a share in the Supremacy, at what Period of time, by what Form of words, or Symbolical Ceremonies is that Power derived to them? Why are the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy tendered to them at their entrance of the House, but on purpose to prevent that surmise? And when they are most and best United in the House, why do they, in all their Addresses to His Majesty, style themselves His most Loyal and most Humble Subjects? They should take the Title of His Partners and Associates in the Royal Power if they were Coordinate: But the Name of Subjects, and Faithful and Obedient Subjects: in their Addresses, is an utter disclaimer of all pretence to such a Coordinate Power and share in the sovereignty.  
For their pretence to the Legislative Power, there is a great deal more made of it, than it will amount unto. Without the Kings Royal Assent, no Law can be made or changed. And without His Assent, no Orders or Ordinances of one or both the Houses( of Lords and Commons) can be good, to make or change Laws. And this Prerogative of the King( saith Mr. Shepperd 
a Tit Prerog in Parl. p. 5.  in his Abridgement) is not grantable over to any other,( whereas the Power of Judicature is communicable.)  
The Houses, you say, have a Hand in the Legislation: So hath the Beggar in my alms. When a thing is said to be 
Remains p. 59.  enacted by the King, with the advice and assent of the two Houses, That Advice and Assent of the two Houses is their passing and enacting of it, as to their Part, saith the Lord Hollis. For to speak properly, No man has a Legislative Power, Originally, but he whose Will is a Law; I say Originally; for in process of time, and upon emergent Compacts, Customs and Consent, the Constitution may be otherwise. And so it is said, in the Preamble of the Statute of 25 Hen. 8. 21. That this Realm is free from Subjection to any Mans Laws, but only such as have been devised, made and ordained within this Realm for the weal of the same, or to such others as by the Sufferance of the King and his Progenitors, the People of this Realm, have taken at their free Liberty by their own Consent, to be used among them, and have bound themselves by long Custom to the observance of the same.  
But, as I was saying, Originally none has a Legislative Power, but he whose Will is a Law. And this is the purport of that Trite saying among the Civilians, Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem: The Princes pleasure hath the Force of a Law; and this appears from the manner of making Laws amongst us, Le Roy leveut: The King Wills it shall be so: And this Declaration of the King's pleasure passeth it into a Law.  
This is the King's Will fixed and bounded; and it is in this sense, that Bracton saith, Rex in Regno suo Superiores habet Deum & legem: The King in his Realm hath two superiors, God and the Law. For when the King's Will is fixed by a standing Law, that Law becomes, in some sense, superior to Him: That is, His Deliberate and Fixed Will is preferable and superior to that which is but Transient and Arbitrary. And thus, having made a Grant of any thing, and tied up our own Hands by that Means; 'tis an usual saying with us, That such a thing is not in our power; because we have already made it over for the benefit of another, and it is become His Right, which( then) we cannot divest Him of without His own Consent.  
Having laid down this, I shall give my Reasons, why the Legislative power cannot properly be attributed to the Two Houses of Parliament.  
First, Because every Law is an Act of Grace in the Prince; and an Act of Grace it must needs be, because it is a restraint of his Will, and a bounding of his Prerogative. 
‖ Dignatur cedere de jure suo Regio. And he passes Acts non ex debito justitiae, but ex Gratia. See Antid. of Britain. pag. 108. &c.  Hereupon the Preface to Magna Charta runs thus; Henry, by the Grace of God, &c. Know you, that We of our mere and free Will have given and Granted, &c. What is an Act of Grace in the Prince, cannot be an Act of Power in the Subject; for that would confounded Prince and Subject; which is irrational, inconsistent, and absurd.  
Secondly, The Houses properly have no share in the Legislative power; because they obtain our Laws by prayer. In making of our ancient Laws, saith Mr. Selden, The Commons did petere, 
Ubi Sup. p. 132.  the Lords Assentire, and the King Concludere. The Commons did Pray, the Lords did Assent, the King Conclude. The Lords did Assent, not to the Law; for it is no Law when it is brought to them for their Assent: But to the Petition of the Commons, to be made a Law; and the Lords Assent unto it, as a thing that will tend to the Honour of the Crown( whereof they are, or should be the Guardians) as well as to the Benefit of the Subject, whom the House of Commons Represents; and on whose behalf they do Petition.  
Now if the Petitioner, tho' never so highly recommended, obtains his Request, yet 'tis very Catacrestical to call him his own Almoner upon that account; and tho' he reaps the profit of it, yet to allow him a share in the Authority and Grant of the Benefaction, would be a great Derogation to the Honour and Generosity of the Benefactor.  
That this is the Case in making of Laws, besides Mr. Selden's Authority, we have the style of our Laws at this day to justify it. In the 13 Car. 2. c. 1. The Act runs thus: We, the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled, do most humbly beseech Your most excellent Majesty, That it may be Enacted( This is the Lords and Commons part) And be it Enacted by the Kings Most Excellent Majesty: This is Le Roy leveut, the King's Fiat to it, which gives it the Authority and Force of a Law.  
Thirdly, Another Argument against their having an( Authoritative) hand in the Legislation is this: No Legislator, that is, no sovereign is under the Coercive Power of his own Law. But if the Lords and Commons, or any of them shall commit Felony or Treason; Will their Membership, or pretended sovereignty give them a privilege, and exempt them from Prosecution? I trow not. Why do they beg freedom to Debate when they enter the House, if they were not liable, both to miscarriage, and to be questioned for it?  
Fourthly, I will conclude this with one Instance, which I am sure is unanswerable. If they have a Legislative Power in all Statutes, then in An Act of pardon and oblivion. 
* 13 Carol. 2. c. 1. They aclowledge it, His Majesties incomparable Grace and Goodness to His People.  Do the Lords and Commons( Authoritatively) make this? then they Pardon Themselves; which is a greater Power than any Priest or Pope did ever yet pretend to.  
But we are to inquire what is to be done to recover that Veneration, which hath been ever paid to these ancient and Honourable Constitutions? Certainly Parliaments can never do themselves more Right and Honour, then in bringing such Seditious Politico'es to condign Punishment; for till such Principles be rooted out of our politics, neither Prince nor Loyal Subject can be safe; nor indeed can the Government stand secure; For such maxims will not only Countenance but Legitimate any Faction( if they can make Head and get strength enough) to Subvert it: But that is not All.  
To do as we would be done by, if we were in the same Circumstances, is a Rule that will go far, and hold good to all Relations. And there is Another no less authentic: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.  
The things of God are Deposited in His Church; and Hear the Church, saith our Blessed Saviour. The Church is The Ground and Pillar of Truth 
† 1 Tim. 3. 14, 15.  in England, as well as it was at Ephesus, 
‖ 1 Tim. 1. 3.  where Timothy presided, as Metropolitan. This Church( of England) tho' overwhelmed while with an Inundation of Sects and Heresies, yet( all the while) stood firm under Water( as a Rock) till those Floods were dried up or stagnated in Conventicles. And they will flow again into the bosom of the Church, or sink into the Earth, and come to nothing.  
Hear the Church therefore, as She speaks to you, upon occasion, in Synods, or( which is all one) in Convocations: Hear Her in her Doctrine; Hear Her in her Liturgies, wherein She speaks to you continually; & Hear Her in her Discipline, wherein She is ready to speak to you, as soon as you are ready to give Her Audience.  
It was Resolved by the House of Commons in the Parliament at Westminster, Jan. 10. 1680.  
That it is the Opinion of this House, That the Prosecution of Protestant Dissenters upon the penal Laws, is at this time, grievous to the Subject, a weakening of the Protestant Interest, an encouragement to Popery, and dangerous to the Peace of the Kingdom.  
This Vote did not tend to Heal or Unite, but much more to break and scatter us: And the jesuits( who have their Speaking-Trumpets in our Conventicles, to suggest such Doctrine at a distance) will thank them for it.  
To restore Parliaments to their due and ancient Veneration, They must give God his Due, which He demands of us by His Church: And Caesar must have his Due too. If any encroachment therefore has been made upon the Crown, let Parliaments take care to redress it. For we shall never be at ease and quiet, till we be reduced to our primitive Constitutions. If it can be truly said, Ab initio non fuit sic, from the beginning it was not so, then we must come to that Rule, What is Written in the Law? How readest thou? 〈◇〉: 
* Conc. Nicen. Can. 6.  Let old Customs be kept; In this case, As you were, the Souldiers Posture, will be the best for our Defence and Safety.  
In our Magna-Charta, it is ordered that no Freeman be amerced, but salvo contenemento suo; What Contenement signifies is some question: but that it signifies some useful and commendable thing, that belongs to him is out of all question, Ne suo honorabili Contenemento amittet; saith Glanvil. The Law provides 
† On Magna Chart. cap. 14.  that he loseth not this advantage,( whatsoever it be.) Sr. E. cook saith, it signifies a mans Countenance which he hath together with, and by reason of, his Freehold. And they say, the armor of a soldier, and the Books of a scholar, as well as the Wainage of a villain,( which is name in the Charter) are their countenances.  
Now Books are not more needful for a scholar, nor armor for a soldier, than His Prerogative is for the King: He cannot Govern the Realm, He cannot defend Himself, He cannot enforce the Laws, He cannot protect the just, nor punish evil doers, without it. If we allow him to have any Freehold, His Prerogative is his Contenement, the very countenance of his Majesty; and if it were not for that, He and We should be at a loss in a thousand Accidents.  
Salus populi suprema Lex, was the old saying, The safety of the people is the supreme Law: but it is not the peoples Law, nor, are they to be entrusted with the execution of it. 'Tis the Royal-Law, which the Prince prescribes unto Himself; and wherein that safety of the People does consist, and by what means and methods it is to be preserved, is in the Princes breast to determine. But it cannot be performed, or effectually provided for, without his Prerogative. And therefore tis not usual with God Himself to take any Amerciament of a Prince, but Salvo contenemento,( as we see in the signal example of nabuchadnezzar) 
* Dan. 4. 36.  and I am sure 'tis the Subjects Duty to be as careful of the Kings Interest as he is of theirs; That the English-Liberties may not devour the English-Monarchy; And whatever Princes grant, 'tis with this Exception, Of impeaching His Prerogatives, as is to be seen in the Statute of Westminster. For as much as the King hath ordained these things,( viz. this Stat. of West. 1.) for the honour of God and the Church, and for the 
1 West. 1. 48. 3. E. 1.  Common-Weal, and for remedy of such as are grieved, He would not that at any other time it should turn in prejudice of him, or of his Crown, but that such right as appertain to him should be saved in all points.  
These( as the Lawyers tell us) are some Branches of the 
‖ Shep, abridge, tit. Prerog. pag. 56.  Kings Prerogative, 1. That generally Statutes of Restraint, be they in the affirmative or negative, do not bind him, unless he be expressly name: or it be a Statute to Advance Religion, suppress fraud, or other wickedness.  
2. That in the construction of a Statute, nothing is to be taken by equity against the King.  
3. That he shall have Advantage by an Act of Parliament, tho he be not name in it.  
4. That he is favoured in the exposition of any Statute.  
5. That where an Act of Parliament gives any thing to him by the name of King, this generally shall enure to Him and his Successors; so that every King shall have it after him.  
It might very well become the duty of a Parliament,( as well as the Generosity of the English Nation) & would tend much to the redeeming of their Honour, To restore what has been clipped off the Crown by surprise or fraud; and return what has been taken from the Prerogative by duresse, or thrown overboard upon the violence of some Storm, or stress of Weather. For, if as all Casuists hold, those Oaths and Promises which are extorted by fear or force, are not obligatory; I cannot tell why those things which by mere necessity Princes are compelled to, as well for the preservation of their Body Natural as politic, should be denied the privilege of being dissolved upon that very score, that other things of the same Nature are; as is very well argued by the Author of The great point of Succession Discussed, page. 22.  
In a Monarchy of this Complexion, great care should be taken to keep the balance even; For in Hen. 3. his time: when the Lords were grown too High, it was found and felt, Quot Domini tot Tyranni: So many Lords so many Tyrants; And may not the Commons grow so great and insolent too, as to Lord over the Prince and Nobles. There can be no doubt of this to such as can remember the proceedings of that Faction, which sprung up in the House of Commons in 41. Sr. Edw. Deering in the Collection of his Speeches, tells us, That, If they could bring the Lords to sit in the House of Commons, and the King to be but as one of the Lords, then their work was done. And what that was( which was driven home with a witness at last) some of the Noble Peers have as little reason to forget as his Majesty.  
It concerns us therefore to strengthen the Kings hands, that he may be able to Govern and Hold the balance even; Else when there are Factions got into both Houses, and the Lords and Commons contend who shall sway the Beam; they will jostle the scales one against another( as they have done too often in our memory) and we shall never be at quiet betwixt them.  
But whom may we trust to accomplish so great as well as needful a Work? All Gentlemen and Freeholders, are concerned to be inquisitive, and careful that they be not imposed upon, and take false measures.  
There are a Generation of men, who have not only a froward Indignation against the Persons of their Prince and governor, but an Aversiou to the Government itself. This Antipathy, and Distemper many times is hereditary, and, like some diseases Runs in a Blood, through whole Families; take special heed of such men. For 'tis their Inclination, they have ever don't, and they will ever seek occasion to embroil us.  
Take heed of such as are Discontented at their Disappointments in the pursuit of their designs of Avarice or Ambition; These Commonly are Murmurers and Complainers; and 'tis a part of their Character( as well as practise hereupon). They separate themselves, or have a kindness for separation, and therefore are not very like to Unite us. They are mainly in love with novelties and changes, and can hold to nothing that is well settled. How many forms and shapes did they change into, in the late times? New forms of Confessions, of Catechisms, of Discipline, in the Church; till we had not the face of a Church left amongst us. And what changes and forms had we in the Civil State? Instead of King and Parliament of the old Regular Constitution, we had a Parliament without Bishops, then without and against the King, without Lords; and at last one made up of a Rump of Commons; we were under Keepers of our Liberties, till we had none left to help ourselves; at last we were enthralled under the Arbitrary Power of a Protector and his Mercenary Army. And to this pass, That Society of Reformed jesuits, did design to reduce us, as is clear in the Model of their late Association. We have paid dear for our skill in Ringing such Changes; which I hope will teach us to take the Wise-mans Caution, My Son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to Change.  
Take heed of such as have feathered their Nests heretofore, with Crown and Church-Lands; who have partend with their Prince and their Religion to purchase the Revenues, which belonged to them; For these having been stripped of their unjust Acquists by the happy Restauration of the King and Church, they will Study to embroil us, if not to recover their lost Booty, yet at least to be revenged on the Right Propriators.  
Beware of your subtle Politicians, who will shift their Principles to gratify a Party for their own Ends; For they that can part with Religion and Conscience upon such unworthy terms, will never stick to Sacrifice their King and country to their Interest. And the Atheist, who is under no awe of a Deity, or the Powers of the World to Come, He makes Religion nothing but a Reason of State to govern fools; and He will be sure, rather than run any hazard, to do the like.  
And there are a set of Pragmatical, jealous and designing zealots, who are better skilled at Creating plots and dangers, than at suppressing or preventing them. These have their Arts to inflame the people's passions, that they may have the honour to alloy them at the Charge of the Kings Prerogative. These are generally Partial in their Conformity, and make choice of a Popular Religion; not to save their Souls, but to enhance their Reputation, and serve their factious interest. They are not Uniform in their obedience; but while they pretend to abhor Idols, they will make no scruple to Commit sacrilege. They will Court you as your humble Servant, and cut your throat for their own Ends, and the Good Old Cause shall bear them out in it.  
I must Caution these Gentlemen likewise against Raw and ignorant Novices, who may follow the Cry of a Factious Party, but want Sagacity to take the Sent of Truth and Justice. I have known some of these, who have resolved to Vote down divers things, which afterward,( when the Fit of Reforming was abated) they have Confessed they did not understand. Such as these will prove Physicians of no value; They are not skilled in the Pulse, or Constitution of the Body politic; They may be for violent Purgings, Amputations, or Phlebotomy, as if the Body were affencted with a Calenture or a Gangrene, when the Distemper is nothing else but the Spleen or a Flatus of Fanaticisme.  
Such as have drawn their Sword against their Prince, no doubt, they have learnt the Rule of their Master Machiavel, and cast away their Scabbard. These Persons are to be looked upon as having the traitorous and bloody Blade still naked in their hands, ready, if occasion serves, for assault and execution. Who therefore are by no means to be employed in the council of Peace, which are to be transacted with all imaginable Calmness. And if the Law does not allow such as Trade in Blood( tho it be but in the blood of Animals) to be impanneld upon any Jury, wherein life is concerned, How can it consist with the Prudence of the Nation, to entrust such as have served a Voluntary apprenticeship in Rebellion, and glutted themselves with the blood of their Prince and his Loyal Subjects, to Consult about the terms of our common Safety, or Act towards the Settlement of our Tranquillity? But there are true Sons of the Church of England, who pay a strict and constant observance to all the commands of their Ghostly Mother, who have a great Veneration for the Crown, the Laws and Government, and look upon the Person and Majesty of their Prince as Highly Sacred; such men( chosen for our Representatives) would study Religiously to bring us to a present Union and Settlement.  
In the mean while, His Gracious Majesty hath offered very fair towards it; and if the Subjects would carefully, in their Respective Stations, perform their Duty, there would be little reason for Complaining in our Streets. When his Majesty( as much as is possible) endeavours to see with his own Eyes, and hear with his own ears, that He may not be surprised to pass Acts either to the Prejudice of his good Subjects, or his own Prerogative; when His Officers are persons of great Skill for their employments, and of known Integrity; when the Laws are duly put in Execution; when Rewards and Punishments, are equally distributed to Encourage Virtue and Correct 'vice; what can we desire more?  
The rest lies on our part, let us lay aside our Factions and Animosities: let us learn to love the Truth, and Justice, to abhor schism, Sedition, and sacrilege, as much as we pretend to hate Idolatry: let us believe Almighty-God, That, To obey, is better than Sacrifice: and let our practise be according to that belief; let us make use of Religion, not to make ourselves popular, and purchase a baneful Reputation, but to advance Gods Glory; not to save our Estates, but our Souls: let us frequent the Church( and attend to all her Administrations) as the best School of virtue, and the Sanctuary of Devout & Pious Souls; then may we sing In convertendo, and rejoice in the happy return of our Prosperity; Wherein I can Rest with very great Contentment.  
SIR, 
 Your Humble Servant.