To the HONOURABLE Societies of GRAY'S- Inn, and of the rest of the Inns of Court, and to all the Professors of the LAW. I Have now spent forty five years in the Study of the Laws of this Land being my profession, under and by the conduct of which Laws this commonwealth hath flourished for some ages passed in great splendour and happiness (jam seges est ubi Troja fuit) The great and full body of this Kingdom hath of late years fallen into an extreme sickness, it is truly said that the cause of the disease being known, the disease is easily cured. There is none of you I hope, but doth hearty wish the recovery of our common parent, our native country (Moribus antiquis statres Brittannica) I call God to witness that this discourse of mine hath no other end then my wishes of the common good: How far I have been from Ambition, my life past, and your own knowledge of me, can abundantly inform you, and many of you well know, that I ever detested the Shippe-mony, and Monopolies, and that in the beginning of this Parliament, for opposing the excesses of one of the Bishops, I lay under three Excommunications and the Examination of seeventy seven Articles in the high Commission Court. His sacred Majesty: (God is my witness) made me a Judge in the parts of Wales against my will, and all the means I was able to make; and a patent for my place was sent me for the which I have not paid one farthing, and the place is of so inconsiderable a benefit that it is worth but 80. l. per annum when paid, and it cost me every year I served twice as much out of mine own estate in the way of an ordinary and frugal expense. That which gave me comfort was that I knew well that his Majesty was a just and a prudent Prince. In the time of the Attournyshipps of Master Noye and the Lord Banks, they were pleased to make often use of me, & many referrences concerning suits at Court upon that occasion came to my knowledge, & as I shall answer to God upon my last account this is a truth, that all or most of the references which I have seen in that kind (& I have seen many) were to this effect, That his majesty would be informed by his Counsel if the suits preferred were agreeable to the Laws, and not inconvenient to his people, before he would pass them. (what could a just and pious Prince do more?) Gentlemen: you shall find the Cause and the Curse of the present great distemper in this discourse, and God prsoper it in your hands, thoughts, and words, as the Case deserves. Hold to the Laws, this great body recovers: forsake them, it will certainly perish. I have resolved to tender myself a Sacrifice for them as Cheerfully, and I hope (by God's assistance) as constantly as old Eleazar did for the holy Laws of his Nation. Your wellwisher DAVID JENKINS. Now Prisoner in the Tower. Lex Terrae. THE Law of this Land hath three grounds. First Custom. Secondly Judicial Records. Thirdly Acts of Parliament. The two latter are but declarations of the Common-Lawe and Custom of the Realm, touching Royall-Government. And this Law of Royall-Government, is a Law-Fundamentall. The Government of this Kingdom by a Royal Sovereign, hath been as ancient as History is, The king's prerogative is a principal part of the common Law. Com. Littl. 344. or the memorial of any time; what power this Sovereignty always had and used in War and Peace in this Land, is the scope of this discourse; That Usage so practised makes therein a Fundamental Law, and the Common-Lawe of the Land is common Usage, Plowdens Commentaries. 195. For the first of our kings since the Norman Conquest, the first William, second William, Henry the first, Stephen, Henry the second and Richard the first, the Customs of the Realm, touching Royal Government, were never questioned: The said Kings enjoyed them in a full measure. In king John's time the Nobles and Commons of the Realm conceiving that the ancient Customs and Rights were violated, and thereupon pressing the said King to allow them in the seventeenth of King John, the said Liberties were by King John allowed, and by his son Henry the thyrd, after in the ninth year of his Reign confirmed, and are called Magna Charta, and Charta de Foresta, declared four hundred twenty two years sithhence by the said Charters. Now rests to be considered, after the Subjects had obtained their Rights and Liberties, which were no other than their ancient Customs (and the fundamental Rights of the King as Sovereign are no other.) How the Rights of Sovereignty continued in practice from Henry the thirds time until this present Parliament of the third of November 1640. for before Henry the thirds time, the Sovereignty had a very full Power. Rex habet Potestatem & jurisdictionem super omnes qui in Regno suo sunt, Hen. 3. ea quae suut jurisdictionis & Pacis ad nullum pertinent nisi ad Regiam dignitatem, Bracton temps H3. lib. 4. cap. 24. Sect. 1. habet etiam coercionem, ut Delinquentes puniat & coerceat; This proves where the supreme power is. A Delinquent is he who adheres to the King's Enemies Com. Sur. Littl. 261. This shows who are Delinquents. Omnis sub Rege, & ipse sub nullo nisi tantum Deo, non est inferior sibi Subjectis, Sect. 5. Bract. ibid. non parem habet in Regno suo. This shows where the supreme power is. Rex non habet superiorem nisi Deum, satis habet ad poenam quod Deum expectat ultorem. Brrcton lib. 5. tract. 3. the defaltis Cap. 3. Bracton. Lib. 3. Cap, 7. This shows where the supreme power is. Treasons, Felonies, and other Pleas of the Crown, are propriae causae Regis. This shows the same power. By these passages it doth appear what the Custom was for the power of Sovereignty before that time; the power of the Militia, of coining of Money, of making Leagues with foreign Princes, the power of Pardoning, of making of Officers, etc. All Kings had them, the said Powers huveno beginning. Sexto Ed. 1. Edw. 1. Com. sur. Littl. 85. Liege Homage, every Subject owes to the King (viz) Faith de Membro, de vita, de terreno Honore, the form of the Oath inter vetera statuta is set down; We read of no such, or any Homage made to the two Houses, but frequently of such made by them. It is declared by the Prelates, Earls, Barons and Commonalty of the Realm, 7. Ed. 1. statutes at large fol 42. that it belongeth to the King and his Royal signory, straight to defend force of Armour and all other force against the King's peace, at all times when it shall please him, and to punish them that shall do contrary, according to the Law and Usage of the Realm, and hereunto they are bound to aid their Sovereign Lord, at all seasons when need shall be. Here the supreme power in the time of Parliament, by both Houses, is declared to belong to the King. At the beginning of every Parliament, all Arms are, or aught to be forbidden to be borne in London, Westminster, 7 Ed. 2. 4 pars instit. 14. or the Suburbs. This condemns the multitudes coming to Westminster, and the Guards of armed men. All who held by Knights▪ service, 1 Ed 2. de Militibus. and had twenty pounds per annum, were distraynable ad Arma militaria suscipienda, This agrees with the Records of ancient time, continued constantly in all King's times, but at this Parliament 3. November 1640. The King, out of his Grace, discharged this duty, which proves that the power of war and preparation thereto, belongs not to the two houses, but only to the King. The two Spencers in Ed. 2. time, hatched (to cover their Treason) this damnable and damned opinion (viz.) Ed. 3. Calvin's Case Cook l. 7. fol. 11 That Ligeance was more by reason of the King's politic capacity then of his person, upon which they inferred these execrable and detestable consequences. First, if the King demeaned not himself by reason in the right of his Crown, his Liege's are bound by Oath to remove him. Secondly, seeing the King could not be removed by suit of Law, it was to be done by force. Thirdly, that his Liege's be bound to govern in default of him. All which tenets were condemned by two Parliaments, the one called exilium Hugenis in Ed. 2. time; the other by 1. Ed. 3. cap. 2. All which Articles against the Spencers are confirmed by this last Statute, the Articles are extant in the book called vetera Statuta. The separation of the King's person from his power, is the principal Article condemned, and yet all these three damnable, detestable, and execrable consequents, are the grounds whereupon this present time relies, and the principles whereupon the two Houses found their Cause. The V●lleine of a Lord, in the presence of the King, cannot be seized, Plowdon Com. 322. 27. ass. pl. 49. for the presence of the King is a protection for that time to him: This shows what reverence the Law gives to the person of a King. Reges, 33 Ed. 3. aid de Roy. 103. Fitz. sacro oleo uncti sunt capaces spiritualis jurisdictionis. But the two Houses were never held capable of that power. Rex est persona mixta cum sacerdote, 10 H. 7.16. habet Ecclesiasticam & spititualem jurisdictionem. This shows the King's power in Ecclesiastical Causes. The Lands of the King are called in Law, Com. Sur. Littl. Sect. 4. patrimonium sacrum. The Houses should not have meddled with that sacred Patrimony. The King hath no Peer in his Land, 3 Ed. 3.19. and cannot be judged: ergo The two Houses are not above him. The Parliament of 15. Ed. 3. was repealed, for that it was against the King's Laws and Prerogative. 4. pars. instit. fol. 52. This shows clearly the Propositions sent to Newcastle, ought not to have been presented to his Majesty, for that they are contrary to the Laws and his Prerogative. The Lords and Commons cannot assent in Parliament to any thing that tends to the disinherison of the King and his Crown, 4 pars Cookes instit. fol. 14.42 E 3. Parliament Roll: num: 7: Lex & consuetudo Parliamenti. to which they are sworn. This condemns the said Propositions likewise. To depose the King, to imprison him until he assent to certain demands, A war to alter the Religion established by Law, or any other Law, or to remove Councillors, 25 Ed: 3. cap. 2 to hold a Castle or Fort against the King; are offences against that Law declared to be Treason by the resolutions herein after mentioned, by that Law men are bound to aid the King when war is levied against him in his Realm. King, in this Statute must be intended in his natural body and person that only can die; for to compass his death, and declare it by overt Act is declared there by Treason, To encounter in fight such as come to aid the King in his wars, is Treason. Compassing of the Queen's death, of the King's eldest son, to coin his money, to counterfeit his Great-Seale, to levy war against him, to adhere to such as shall so do, are declared by that Act to be high Treason. This Statute cannot refer to the King in his politic capacity, but to his natural, which is inseparable from the politic, for a body politic can have neither wise nor child, nor levy war, 21 Ed. 4 14. nor do any act but by the operation of the natural body: A Corporation or body politic hath no soul or life, but is a fiction of the Law, and the Statute meant not fictitious persons, but the body natural, conjoined with the public, which are inseparable. The clause in that Act, R. 2. 11 anno cap. 13 4 pars instit. fol. 42 that no man should sue for grace or pardon for any offence condemned, or forfeiture given by that Act, was repealed by a subsequent Act in 21. R. 2, holden unreasonable, without example and against the Law and custom of the Parliament. This condemns the proposition for disabling the King to Pardon. 4. pars instit. fol. 42. The Act of 11. R. 2. so much urged by the other side, was an Act to the which the King consented, and so a perfect Act: yet Note the Army then about the Town: Note that that Law is against private persons, and by the 3. cap. thereof, the Treasons there declared, are declared to be new Treasons made by that Act, and not to be drawn to example, it was abrogated 21. R. 2. and revived by an usurper 1. H. 4. to please the people, and by the tenth chap. thereof enacts that nothing shall be Treason but what is declared by 25. Ed. 3, 16 R: 2: cap: 5. The Regality of the Crown of England is immediately subject to God and to none other. Plain words, H. 4 showing where the supreme power is. The Commission of Array is in force and no other Commission Rot. Parlm. 5. H. 4. numb. 24. an Act not printed, this Act was repealed by 4 & 5. P. & M. cap. 2. this repealed by the Act of 1. Jacobi and so it is of force at this day, for the repealing Statute is repealed, 4. pars institn. fol. 51. & 125. published sit hence this Parliament, by the desire of the house of Commons, their Order is printed in the last leaf of the Commentaries upon Magna Charta. Sir Edward Cook, by their party is holden for the Oracle of the Law, A book allowed by Sir Nat Brent, called the reason of the war: fol 95 who wrote the said fourth part, in a calm and quiet time, and I may say, when there was no need to defend the authority of the Commission of Array. For that objection, That that Commission leaves power to the Commissioners to tax men secundum facultates, and so make all men's estates Arbitrary: the answer is That in levying of public aids upon men's goods and estates, which are variable, and probably cannot be certainly known by any but the owners, it is impossible to avoid discretion in the assessments, for so it ever was, and ever will be. By this appears that the votes of the two houses against the Commission of Array, were against the Law. The death of the King dissolves the Parliament, H. 5: if Kings should refer to the politic capacity it would continue after his death, 4. pars Inst. 46. which proves that the King cannot be said to be there when he is absent, as now he is: there is no interregnum in the kingdom the dissolution of the Parliament by his death shows that the beginning and end thereof refers to the natural person of the King and therefore he may lawfully refuse the Propositions 2 H. 5. 4 pars instit. 46 2. H. 5. Chap. 6. to the King only it belongs to make Leagues with foreign Princes; This shows where the supreme power is. 8. H. 6. H. 6. numb. 57 Rot. Parl. Cooks 4. pars instit. 25. No privilege of Parliamenr. is grantable for Treason Felony or Breach of the peace; if not to any one member, nnot to two, not to ten, not to the Major part, 19 H. 6.62. The law is the inherritanc of the King and his people by which they are ruled, King and people; And the people are by the law bound to aid the king, And the King hath an inheritance to hold Parliaments and in the aids granted by the Commonalty. If the major part of a Parliament commit Trason they must not be Judges of it, for no man or body, ean be Judge in his own cause, and aswell as ten or any number may commit treason, the greater number may aswell. The King by his letters patents may constitute a County palatine and grant Regal rights, 32. H. 6.13. Ploughed. 334. this shows where the supreme power is. 17. Ed. 4. rot. parl. numb. 39 Ed. 4. No privilege of Parliament is grantable for Treason, Felony or Breach of the peace, if not for one, not for two or more, or a major part. The same persons must not be Judge and party. A corporat body can commit no treason, Calvin's Case 7 pars. fol. 11.12. nor can treason be committed against a corporate body, 21. E. 4, 13. and 14. but the persons of the men who make that body may commit treason, and commit it against the natural person of him who to some purposes is a body corporate, but quatenus corporate no treason can be committed by or against such a body; that body hath no soul, no life, and subsists only by the fiction of the Law, and for that reason the Law doth conclude as aforesaid; therefore the stature of 25. E. 3, must be intended of the King's natural person conjoined with the politic which are inseparable and the King's natural person being at Holmby, Blow. come. 213. his politic is there also, and not at Westminster; for the politic and natural make one body indivisible If all the people of England should break the league made with a foreign Prince, 19 Ed- 4.6. without the King's consent, the league holds and is not broken; and therefore the representative body is inferior to his Majesties. The King may erect a Court of Common pleas in what part of the kingdom he pleaseth by his letters patents; 22 Ed. 4. Fitz. jurisdiction last placite. can the two houses do the like? 1. Ed. 5. fol. 8. Ed. 5. 4 Ed. 4.25. 5 Ed. 4 29. It cannot be said that the King doth wrong, declared by all the Judges and Serj●ents at law then there. The reason is, nothing can be done in this Commonwealth by the Kings grant or any other act of his, as to the subjects persons, goods, lands or liberties, but must be according to established laws, which the Judges are sworn to observe and deliver between the King and his people impartially to rich and poor, high and low; and therefore the Justices and the Ministers of Justice are to be q●stioned and punished if the Laws be violated: And no reflection to be made on the King. All Counsellors and Judges for a year and three months nntill the tumults began this Parliament were all left to the ordinary course of Justice, what hath been done since is notorious. For great Causes and considerations an act of Parliament was made for the surety of the said King's person; R. 3. 1 R. 3 cap. 15. if a Parliament were so tender of King Rich. the 3. the houses have greater reason to care for the preservation of his Majesty. The Subjects are bound by their allegiance to serve the King for the time being against every Rebellion, H. 7; 11 H. 7. cap. 1. power and might, reared against him within this land, that it is against all laws, reason and good conscience, if the King should happen to be vanquished, that for the said deed and true duty and alligeance they should suffer in any thing, it is ordained they should not: and all acts of process of law hereafter to be made to the contrary are to be void, This law is to be understood of the natural person of the King, for his politic capasity cannot be vanquished; nor war reared against it. Relapsers are to have no benefit of this Act. It is no statute, 12 H. 7.20. H. 8. 24 H. 8. cap. 12. 25 H. 8. cap. 21 if the King assent not to it, and he may disassent, this proves the negative voice. The King hath full power in all causes to do justice to all men this is affirmed of the King, and not of the two Houses. The commons in Parliament acknowledge no superior to the King under God, the house of Commons confess the king to be above the representative body of the Realm. Of good right and equity the whole and sole power of pardoning treasons, felonies etc. belong to the King, 27 H. 8. cap 24. Note. as also to make all Justices of Oyer and Terminer, Judges, Justices of the peace etc. This law condemns the practice of both houses at this time. The King's royal assent to any act of Parliament signed with his hand expressed in his letters Patents under the great Seal, 33. H. 8 cap. 21 and declared to the Lords and Commons shall be as effectual as if he assented in his own person; a vain act if the King be virtually in the houses. The King is the head of the Parliament, Dier 38. H. 8. ●● 59.60. the Lords the principal members of the body, the Commons the inferior members, and so the body is composed, therefore there is no more Parliament without a King, then there is a body without a head. There is a corporation by the Common law, 14 H. 8. fol. 3. as the King, Lords, and Commons, are a corporation in Parliament, and therefore they are no body with out the King. The death of the King dischargeth all mainprize to appear in any Court or to keep the peace. 24 Ed. 3●48. 1 Ed. 4.2. 2 H. 4.8. 1 H. 7.10. 1 Ed. 5.1. The death of the King discontinues all pleas by the common law which agreeth not with the virtual power insisted upon now. Writs are discontinued by the death of the King; Ed. 6. 1 Ed. 6. cap. 7. Patents of Judges, Commission for Justice of the peace. Sheriff's Escheators, determined by his death; where is the virtual power? All authority and jurisdictions spiritual and temporal is derived from the King; therefore none from the houses. 1 Ed. 6. cap. 2. His Majesty's subjects, 2.3 Ed. 6. cap. 2.11 H. 7. cap. 1. Calvin's Case. Sa. pars Cook. according to their bounden duties, aught to serve the King in his wars, of this side or beyond the seas; beyond the seas is to be understood for wages; This proves the power of wars and preparation for war to be in the King. It is most necessary ●oth for common policy and duty of the Subjects, 5.6 Ed. cap. 11. to restrain all manner of shameful slanders against their King, which when they be heard, cannot but be audible to his true and loving Subjects, upon whom dependeth the whole unity and universal weal of the realm. This condemns their continuing of the weekly pamphlets who have beeve so foul mouthed against his Majesty. The punishment of all offenders against the Laws, Q. Marry. belongs to the King, and all jurisdictions do, and of right aught to belong to the King. 1 Mar. Pl 2.6.2 This leaves all to his Majesty. All Commissions to levy men for the war, 4.5 P. & M. c. 3 Q. Eliz. 10 Eliz. Pl. 315 are awarded by the King. The power of war only belongs to the King. It belongs to the King to defend his people, and to provide Arms and force. No speech of the two houses. Roy ad sole government de ses subjects. Corpse natural le Roy & politic sont un corpse, Blow. 234.242 213. Calvin's Case 7. pars fol. 12. Blow. come. 213. that is, The King hath the sole government of his Subjects, the body politic and the natural body of the King make one body, and not divers, and are inseparable and indivisible. The body natural and politic make one body, and are not to be severed: Blow. 934. 243 213. Calvin's Case 7 pars foe. 12. Ligeance is due to the natural body, and is due by nature; God's Law, and man's law, cannot be forfeited nor renounced by any means, it is inseparable from the person. Every Member of the House of Commons, 1 Eliz. cap. 1. 5 Eliz. cap. 1. Cawdries Case 5 pars fol. 1. at every Parliament, takes a corporal Oath, That the King is the supreme and only Governor, in all Causes, in all his Dominions, otherwise he is no member of that House; the words of the Law are, In all Causes, over all persons. The said Act of 1. Eliz. is but declarative of the ancient Law, 43 Eliz. 3 pars inst it. fo. 12. Cawdries Case ibid. The Earl of Essex, and others, assembled multitudes of men to remove Councillors, adjudged Treason by all the Judges of England. To depose the King or take him by force, 39 Eliz. Hil. 1 Jacobi ibid. to imprison him until he hath yielded to certain demands, adjudged Treason, and adjudged accordingly in the Lord Cobham's Case. Arising to alter Religion established, or any Law, 39 Eli. Brads. Case fol. 9 & 10. By all the Judges of England, ibid. 10 Eliz. Blow: 316, is Treason; so for taking of the King's Castles, Forts, Ports or shipping. Brooke treason 24.3. & 4. Philip and Mary, Dyer, Staffords Case concerning Scarborough. The Law makes not the servant greater than the Master, nor the subject greater than the King, for that were to subvert Order and Measure. The Law is not known but by Usage, 10 Eliz. Blow. 319. and Usage proves the Law, and how Usage hath been is notoriously known The King is our only Rightful and Lawful Liege Lord and Sovereign, K. James 1 Jaco. cap. 1. 9 Ed: 4. fol. 8. We do upon the knees of our hearts agnize constant Faith, Loyalty and Obedience to the King and his Royal progeny, in this high Court of Parliament, where all the body of the Realm is either in person or by representation: We do acknowledge that the true and sincere Religion of the Church, is continued and established by the King, And do recognize, as we are bound by the Law of God and Man, the Realm of England and Imperial Crown thereof doth belong to him by inhaerent birthright, and lawful and undoubted succession, and submit ourselves and our posterities for ever, until the last drop of our blood be spent, to his rule; and beseech the King to accept the same as the first fruits of our Loyalty and Faith to his Majesty and his Posterity for ever, and for that this Act is not complete nor perfect without his Majesty's assent, the same is humbly desired. This proves that the Houses are not above the King; that Kings have not their titles to the Crown by the two Houses, but by inhaerent birthright, and that there can be no Statute without his express assent, and destroys the chimaera of the King's virtual being in the Houses. To promise obedience to the Pope, 3 Jac. cap" 4: 23 Eliz cap: 1. or any other State, Prince or Potentate, other than the King his Heirs and Successors, is Treason; And therefore those persons who call the Houses the Estates offend this Law. Such Bills as his Majesty is bound in Conscience and Justice to pass, K. Charles Collection of Ordinances fo. 727. 1 pgrs. ibid. fol. 728. are no Law without his assent. To design the ruin of the King's person, or of Monarchy is a monstrous and injurious charge. Vbi Lex non distinguit, non est distinguendum, ibid. fol. 865. all the aforesaid Acts and Laws do evidently prove the Militia to belong to the King: that the King is not virtually in the two houses: that the King is not considerable separately in relation to his politic capacity: that the King is not a person trusted with a power, but that it is his inherent birthright, from God, nature and law, and that he hath not his power from the people: These Laws have none of those distinctions of natural and politic, abstractum & concretum, power and person, in Caesar's time this Island had Kings, and ever since, which is almost 17 hundred years ago. No King can be named, in any time, made in this kingdom by the people: A Parliament never made King, for they were Kings before, the Parliaments are summoned by the King's Writts, which for Knight's Citizens and Burgesses gins thus, viz. Rex vic. Wilts. Saltem. Quia Nos de avisamento & assensu Consilij nri. pro quibusd. arduis & urgentibus negotiis nos statum & defensionem Regni nri. Angl. & Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus quoddam Parliamentum nrum. apud B. teneri ordinavimus & ibid. cum Praelatis magnatibus & proceribus dicti Regni nri. Colloquium habere & tractatum, ipsi vicecomiti pre●ipimus firmiter injungendo quod facta Pro clamatione in proximo Comitatu tuo post recepsionem ejusd. brevis, duos Milites gladiis ●inctos, etc. eligi facias ad faciendum & consentiendum hiis quae tun● ibidem de Communi Concilio nro. Angliae faventi Deo contigerit ordinari super negotiis antedictis ita quod pro defectu potestatis hujusmodi sen propter improvidam electionem Milium, Civium, & Burgensium pred. dicta negotia nra. infecta non remanerent. The King is Principium, Caput & finis Parliamenti, 4 pars instit. fol. 3 & 4. the body makes not the head, nor that which is posterior that which is prior: Concilium non est Preceptum, Conciliarij non sunt Praeceptores, for Council to compel a consent, hath not been heard of to this time in any age, and the house of Commons, by the Writ, are not called ad Concilium; the Writts to the twelve Judges, King's Council, twelve Masters of the Chancery are Concilium impensuri, and so of the Peers. The Writts for the Cominalty, Ad faciendum & consentiendum. Which shows what power the representative body hath, they have not power to give an oath, neither do they claim it. The King at all times, when there is no Parliament, The Oath of the Justices 18 of Ed. 3. among Statutes of that year. & in Parliament is assisted with the advice of the Judges of the Law, twelve to vumber, for England at least hath two Sergeants when fewest: an Attorney and Solicitor, twelve Masters of the Chancery, his Council of State, consisting of some great Prelates and other great Personages, versed in State affairs, when they are fewest to the number of twelve. All these persons are always of great substance, which is not preserved but by the keeping of the Law, The Prelates versed in divine Law, the other Grandees in affairs of State and managery of Government, The Judges, King's Sergeants, Attorney, Solicitor, and Masters of the Chancery versed in the Law and Customs of the Realm: All sworn to serve the King and his people justly and truly, the King is also sworn to observe the Laws, and the Judges have in their Oath a clause, That they shall do common right to all the King's people, according to the established Laws, notwithstanding any command of the King to the contrary, under the Great Seal or otherwise, The people are safe by the Laws in force without any new: The Law finding the King of this Realm assisted with so many great men of Conscience, Honour and skill in the rule of Commonwealth, knowledge of the Laws, and bound by the high and holy bond of an Oath upon the Evangelists, settles among other powers upon the King, a power to refuse any Bill agreed upon by both Houses, and power to pardon all offences, to pass any Grants in his Minority, (there are many great persons living hold many a thousand pound a year by Patents from Edward the sixth, passed when he was but ten years of age) not to be bound to any Law to his prejudice, whereby he doth not bind himself, power of war and peace, coining of Money, making all Officers, etc. The Law, for the reasons aforesaid, hath approved these powers to be unquestionable in the King, and all kings have enjoyed them till 3. Nou. 1640. It will be said notwithstanding all this sense about the Laws, the Laws have been violated, and therefore the said powers must not hold, the two Houses will remedy this. The answer to this is evident: There is no time past, nor time present, nor will there be time to come, so long as men manage the Law, but the Laws will be broken more or less, as appears by the story of every age. All the pretended violations of this time were remedied by Acts to which the King consented before his departure 10. Jan. 1641▪ being then driven away by Tumults. And the Houses for a year and almost three Months: From 3. Nou. 1640. to 10 Jan. 1641. as aforesaid, being a year and almost three months, had time and liberty to question all those persons who were either causes or instruments of the violation of any of the Laws. Examine how both Houses remedied them in former times. First, touching Religion, What hath been done this way? Both Houses in Henry the eights time tendered to him a Bill to be passed called commonly the Bill of the six Articles, this was conceived by them to be a just and a necessary Bill: had not Henry the eighth done well to have refused the passing of this bill? both houses tendered a bill to him to take the reading of the Scriptures from most of the laity: had not King Henry the eight deserved much praise to reject this bill? In Queen mary's time both houses exhibited a bill to her to introduce the Pope's power and the Roman religion; had not queen Mary done well to have refused this bill? Many such instances may be given. The two Houses now at Westminstar I am sure will not deny but the refusal of such bills had been just, the King being assisted as aforesaid, and why not so in these times? For the Civil Gournment what a Bill did both houses present to Richard the third to make good his title to the Crown; had it not been great honour to him to have rejected it? what bills were exhibited to Henry the eighth by both houses for bastardising of his daughter Elizabeth, a Queen of renowned memory, to settle the Crown of this realm for default of issue of his body upon such persons as he should declare by his letters Patents or his last will, and many more of the like? had not this refusal of passing such bills magnified his virtue and rendered him to posterity in a different Character form what he now hath? And by the experience of all times and the consideration of human frailty this conclusion is manifestly deduced, that it is not possible to keep men at all times (be they the houses, or the King and his council) but there will be sometimes some deviation from the laws, and therefore the constant and certain powers fixed by the ancient law must not be made void, and the Kings Ministers● the Laws do punish where the Law is transgressed, and they only ought to suffer for the same. In this Parliament the houses exhibited a bill to take away the suffrages of the Bishops in the upper house of Parliament, and have since agreed there shall be no more Bishops at all, might not the King if he had so pleased have answered this bill with Le Roy s'avisera, or ne veult: it was against Magna Charta; Articuli Cleri and many other acts of Parliament. And might have farther given these reasons if it had so pleased him for the same: first that this Bill destroys the writ whereby they are made two houses of Parliament the King in the writ to the Lords being Cum praelatis Colloquium habere; secondly they have been in all Parliaments since we had any, and voted, but in such wherein they themselves were concerned: And there have been Bishops here since we were Christians, and the fundamental law of the kingdom approves of them: if any of them were conceived offensive; they were left to justice, and his Majesty would put in in-offensive men in their places: but since his Majesty hath passed the Bill for taking away their votes in Parliament, it is a law that binds us so far. Upon the whole matter the law hath notably determined that Bills agreed by both houses, pretended to be for the public good, are to be judged by the King, for in all Kings reigns Bills have been preferred by both houses, which always are pretended to be for the public good, and many times are not, and were rejected with Roy s'avisera or Roy ne veult. This Parliament begun the third of November 1640 before that time in all the Kings reign no armed power did force any of the people to do any thing against the law: what was done, was by his Judges, officers Referees and Ministers from that time until the tenth of January 1641 (when the King went from London to avoid the danger of frequent tumults, being a year and three months, Privy Councillors and all his Justices and ministers were left to the Justice of the law, there wanted no time to punish punishable men. The Sphere of the house of commons is to represent the grievances of the Country, to grant aids for the King upon all fit occasions extraordinary, to assent to the making or abrogating of laws: The Orb of the house of Lords to Reform eronious judgements given in the king's Bench, to redress the delays of Courts of Justice, to receive all petitions, to advise his Majesty with their council, to have their votes in making or abrogating of Laws, and to propose for the common good, what they conceive meet, Lex non cogit ad imposibilia, subjects are not to expect from King's impossible things, so many Judges, Councillors, Sheriffs, Justices of the peace, Commissioners, Ministers of State, that the King should over look them all cannot be, it is impossible. The King is virtually in his ordinary Courts of Justice; so long as they continue his Courts: their charge is to administer the laws in being, and not to delay, defer or sell justice for any commandment of the King. We have Laws enough instrumenta boni saeculi sunt boni viri, good ministers, as judges and officers are many times wanting, the houses propose new Laws, or abrogation of the old; both induce novelty: the law for the reasons aforesaid, makes the King the only judge, who is assisted therein by a great number of grave, learned and prudent men, as aforesaid. For the considerations aforesaid the King's party adhered to him, the law of the Land is their birthright, their guide, no offence is committed where that it is not violated: they found the commission of Array warranted by the law; they found the King in this Parliament to have quitted the Ship money, Knighthood-money, seven Courts of Justice, consented to a triennial Parliament, se●led the Forest bounds, took a way the Clerk of the Market of the household, trusted the house with the Navy, passed an act not to dissolve this Parliament without the houses assent; no people in the world so free if they could have been content with Law's oaths and reason, and nothing more could or can be devised to secure us, neither hath been in any time. Notwithstanding all this we found the King driven from London by frequent tumults, that two thirds and more of the Lords had disserted that house, for the same cause, and the greater part of the house of Commons left that house also for the same reason: new men chosen in their places, against law, by the pretended warrant of a counterfeit Seal; & in the King's name against his consent, levying war against him, and seizing his Ports, Forts, Magazines and Revenue, and converting them to his destruction and the subversion of the law and land, laying taxes on the people never hard of before in this Land; devised new oaths to oppose forces raised by the King, not to adhaere to him, but to them in this war which they call the Negative Oath, and the Vow and Covenant. By several ways never used in this kingdom they have raised moneys to foment this warre, and especially to enrich some among them, namely first Excise, secondly Contributions, thirdly Sequestrations, fourthly Fift Parts, fifthly Twentieth Parts, sixthly Meale-mony, seventhly Sale of Plundered goods, eightly Loans, ninthly Benevolences, tenthly Collections upon their fast-days, eleventhly new Inpositions upon Marchandizes, twelvethly Guards maintained upon the charge of private men, thirteenthly Fifty Subsidies at one time, fourtenthly Compositions with such as they call delinquents, fiftenthly Sale of Bishop's lands & c- From the King's party means of susistance are taken; before any indictment their Lands seized, 1 R. 3. cap. 3. Bract li. 3. c. 8. Stanford. 192. Sir Ger. Fleetwoods' Case. 8. pars Cook 7. H. 4. laste leaf. their goods taken, the law allows a Traitor or Felon attainted, Necessaria sibi & familiae snae in victu & vestitu where is the covenant? where is the petition of right? where is the liberty of the subject? Frst We have aided the King in this war contrary to the negative oath and other votes, Our warrant is the twenty fifth of Edward the third, the second Chapter, and the said resolutions of all the Judges. Secondly We have maintained the Commission of Array by the King's Command, contrary to their votes: We are waranted by the statute of the fifth of Henry the fourth and the judgement of Sir Edward Cook, the Oracle of the Law as they call him. Thirdly We maintained Arch-Bishops and Bishops whom they would suppress. Our warrant is Magna Charta and many statutes more. Fourthly We have maintained the book of common prayer, they suppress it, Our warrant is five Acts of Parliament in Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabets' time 5. Peschae. 35. Elizabeth inter placita Coronae in Banco Regis; New book of Entries fol. 252. Penry for publishing two scandalous Libels against the Church government, was indicted arraigned attainted and executed at Tyburn. Fifthly We maintained the Militia of the kingdom to belong to the King, they the contrary, Our warrant is the statute of the seventh of Edward the first and many statutes since, the practice of all times, and the custom of the Realm. Sixthly We maintained the counterfeiting of the great Seal to be high Treason, and so of the usurpation of the King's Forts, Ports, Shipping, Castles and his Revenue, and the Coining of money, against them; We have our warrant by the said statute of the twenty fifth of Edward the third, Chapter the second and divers others since, and the practice of all times. Sevenethly We mintayne that the King is the only supreme governor in all caus●s. They that his Majesty is to be governed by them, Our warrant is the statutes of the first of Q. Eliza. Chapter the first, and the fifth of Q. Elizabeth Chapter the first. Eighthly We maintain that the King is King by an inhaerent birthright, by nature, by god's law, and by the law of the land, 9 Ed. 4. sol. 4. They say his Kingly right is an office upon trust, Our warrant is the statute of the first of king James, Chapter the first. And the resolution of all the Judges of England in calvin's case. Nynthly We maintain that the politic capacity is not to be severed from the natural. They hold the contrary: Our warrant is two statutes (viz.) Exilium Hugonis in Edward the seconds time, and the first of Edward the third, Chapter the second, and their Oracle who hath published it to posterity, that it is damnable, detestable and execrable treason, calvin's Case pars 7. sol. 11. Tenthly We maintain that who aids the King at home or abroad ought not to be molested or questioned for the same, They hold and practise the contrary. Our warrant is the statute of the eleventh of Henry the seventh, Chapter the first. Eleventhly We maintain that the King hath power to disassent to any Bill agreed by the two houses; which they deny. Our warrant is the statute of the second of Henry the fift, and the practice of all times, the first of King Charles, Chapter the seventh, the first of King James Chapter the first. Twefthly We maintain that Parliaments ought to be holden in a grave and peaceable manner, without tumults They allowed multitudes of the meaner sort of people to come to Westminster to cry for Justice when they could not have their will, Coll. of Ord. fol. 31. and keep guards of armed men to wait upon them. Our warrant is the statute of the seventh of Edward the second and their Oracle. Thirteenthly We maintain that there is no state within this kingdom but the King's Majesty, and that to adhaere to any other state within this kingdom is high Treason. Our warrant is the statute of the third of King James Chapter the fourth, and the twenty third of Q. Eliza. Chapter the first. Fourteen We maintain that to levy a war to remove Counsellors, to alter Religion, or any Law established, is high treason, They hold the contrary. Our warrant is, the resolutions of all the Judges of England in Queen Elizabeth's time, and their Orracle agrees with the same. Fiftteenthly We maintain that no men should be imprisoned, put out of his lands, but by due course of Law, and that no man ought to be adjudged to death but by the law established, the customs of the Realm, or by Act of Parliament; Th●y practise the contrary in London, Bristol, Kent etc. Our warrant is Magna Charta Chapter the twenty ninth, the Petition of right. the third of King Charles, and divers laws there mentioned. We of the King's party did and do detest Monopolies, and ship money, and all the grievances of the people as much as any men living, we do well know that our estates lives and fourtunes are preserved by the laws, and that the King is bound by his laws, we love Parliaments If the Kings, Judges, counsel or ministers have done a miss, they had from the third of November 1640 to the tenth of January 1641, time to punish them, being all left to Justice; Where is the King's fault? The Law saith the King can do no wrong, that he is medicus regni, pater patriae, spousus regni, 11 pars. Cook's Reports. Magdalen College Case qui per anulum is espoused to his Realm at his Coronation; the King is God's Lieutenant, and is not able to do an unjust thing, These are the words of the law. One great matter is pretended that the people are not sure to enjoy the acts passed this Parliament, A succeeding Parliament may repeal them; The objection is very weak, a Parliament succeeding to that may repeal that repealing Parliament. That fear is endless and remediless, for it is the essence of Parliaments being complete and as they ought to be, of head and all the members, to have power over Parliaments before; Parliaments are as the time are; if a turbulent faction prevails; the Parliaments are wicked, as appears by the examples recited before of extreme wicked Parliaments: if the times be sober and modest, prudent and not biased, The Parliaments are right, good and honourable, and they are good Medicines and salves, but in this Parliament excessit medicina modum. In this cause and war between the King's Majesty and the two houses at Westminster, what guide had the subjects of the land to direct them but the Laws? What means could they use to discern what to follow, what to avoid but the Laws? The King declares it Treason to adhere to the Houses in this war: The Houses declare it Treason to adhere to the King in this War. The Subjects for a great and considerable part of them (treason being such a crime as forfeits life and estate and also renders a man's posterity base beggarly and infamons) look upon the Laws, and find the lettr of the law requires them to assist the King, as before is manifested, was ever subject criminally punished in any age or nation for his pursuit of what the letter of the Law commands? The Subjects of the kingdom find the distinction and interpretation now put upon the Laws of Abstractum & Concretum, Power and Person, body politic, and natural, Personal presence and virtual, to have been condemned by the law: And so the King's party hath both the letter of the law and the interpretation of the letter cleared to their judgements, whereby they might evidently perceive what side to adbaere to, what satisfaction could modest peaceable and loyal men more desire? A verbo legis in criminibus & poenis non est recedendum, hath been an approved maxim of law in all ages and times. If the King be King and remain in his Kingly office (as they call it) than all the said laws are against them without colour: Coll of Ordinances 777. they say the said laws relate to him in his office, they cannot say otherwise, Commissions and pardon in the King's name, and the person of the King and his body politic cannot, nor aught to be severed as hath been before declared: 5 Eliz. cap. 1. 1 Eliz. cap. 1. And the members of both houses have sworn constantly in this Parliament that the King is the only supreme Governor in all causes over all persons at this present time. For that of verbal or personal commands of the King which is objected, We affirm few things to be subject thereto by the law: But his Majesty's Command under his great Seal, which in this war hath been used by the King's command for his Commission to levy and array men, that is no personal command (which the law in some cases disallowes) but that is such a command, so made, as all men hold their lands by, who hold by Patents; All corporations have their Chartera which hold by Charters, and all Judges and officers their places and callings. Ob. It is objectd the King cannot suppress his Courts of Justice, and that this war tended to their suppression. 7 pars The Earl of westmerland's Case. 1 Eliz. Dier 165. 7 pars Cook. Sol. The answer is the King cannot, nor aught to suppress Justice or his Courts of Justice, nor ever did: But Courts of Jnstice by abuser or non user cease to be courts of Justice; when Judges are made and proceed in those courts holden by others than Judges made by the King, and against his command under the great Seal, and his Majesty is not obeyed, The case of discontinuance of Process. but the votes of the houses, they cease to be the King's Courts and are become the Courts of the houses, and his Judges breaking that condition in law, of trust and loyalty, implied in their Patents, are no longer his Judges; they obey and exercise their places by virtue of writts and processes under a counterfeit Seal. The King only can make Judges, the twenty seventh of Henry the eighth, Chapter the twenty fourth, Justices of the Peace, etc. twenty eighth of Henry the eighth Dier the eleventh, the King's Patent makes Judges: The chief Justice of the King's Bench is made by the Kings writ only of all the Judges. The great Seal is the key of the kingdom, Auticuli super chartas cap. 5. and meet it is that the King should have the key of his kingdom about him; 2 pars instit 552. which confutes their saying that the King got the Seal away surreptitiously. The King, and he only, may remove his Courrs from Westminster into some other place, Britton sol. 23. at York the Terms were kept for seven years, in Edward the sirst's time: but for the Court of Common pleas, the place must be ceataine; for the King's Bench and Chancery, the King by the law may command them to attend his person always if it seem so meet unto him: but the removing of the Common pleas must be to a place certain, and so notified to the people. All the books of law in all times agree, 34. Assis. pl. 24. 22 Ed. 4. Fitz: jurisdiction last placit. 6 H. 7.9. 6 Eliz. Dier 226. that the King may grant cowsance of all Pleas at his pleasure within any County or precinct to be holden there only, and remove the Courts from Westminster to some other place (for the Common Pleas, the place must be certain and so notified to the people) and adjourn the terms as he sees cause. All which the two houses have violated. Plebs sine lege ruit. Some seeming objections of Master Prinn's, seettered in divers books, answered and the truth thereby more fully cleared. Ob. 1 The first of Henry the fourth reviveth the statute of the eleventh of Richard the second, and repeals to the twelfth of Richard the second, whereby certain persons were declared traitors to the King and kingdom, being of the King's party. Sol. True, but note, the eleventh of Richard the second, A Parliament beset with 40000 men, and the King assents to it, so an Act, and besides the first of Henry the fourth declares that that treasons mentioned in the act of the eleventh of Richard the second, being but against a few private men shall not be drawn into example, and that no Treason should be but such as the twenty fist of Edward the third declares. 9 Ed. 4. fol. 80. All these are Acts passed by the King and the three estates, not to be drawn into example in a tumultuous time, by a besieged Parliament, with an army, and the confirmer 〈◊〉 Henry the fourth being an usurper makes that act of the first of Henry the fourth to secure himself. Also what is this to the votes of the two houses only at this time. Ob. 2 The Court of Parliament is above the King, for it may avoid his Charters Commisions &c. granted against the law. Sol. And the Law is above the King. By the same reason you may say that the Courts of Chancery, or any of the Courts of law at westminster are above the King, for they make of no effect the King's Charters, which are passed against the law: and the King is Subject to law, and sworn to maintain it. Again it is no Parliament without the King, and the King is the head thereof, he is principium Caput & finis of a Parliament as Medas tenendi Parliament. hath it, and two houses only, want principium Caput & finis of a Parliament and it is a sorry Parliament that wants all these. And therefore to say that Parliaments are above the King, is to say that the King is above himself. Ob. 3 The Parliament can enlarge the King's prerogative, therefore it is above him. Sol. If the King assent otherwise not, and then it is an act of Parliament and otherwise no Act. Ob. 4 Bracton saith God, the Law, and the King's Court (viz) his Earls and Barons are above the King. (viz) in Parliament, as Master Prinne expounds it, Sol. Where is then the house of Commons? Indeed take God, the Law, and Earls and Barons together it is true, but to affirm that the Earls and Barons in Parliament are above the King (the King being the head of the Parliament, and they one of the members) how an inferior member is above the head, is hard to cenceive; besides that position destroys all Master Prinns discourse, who attributes so much to the house of Commons. Ob. 5 The King is but one of the three estates of Parliament, and two are greater than one; therefore above, Sol. The Legs Arms and trunk of the Body are greater than the head and yet not above: nor with life without it; The argument holds for quantity but not for quality, and in truth the King is none of the three estates, but above them all, the three estates are the Lords spiritual, the Lords Temporal, and the Commons; Cook their Oracle in his Chapter of Parliaments, Folio the first. Ob. 6 In corporations the greater number of voices make all the Acts of the corporation valid; therefore so in Parliament. Sol. By this reason the King's assent is needless and to no end, and all the Acts of Parliament formerly mentioved, and law books have quite mistaken the matter which with unanimous voice requires the King's assent as necessary. Besides the Corporations are so constituted by the King's Charters, that the greater number of votes shall make their Acts valid. Ob. 7 The King, as King, is present in his Parliament as well as in all other his Courts of Justice, how be it he is not there, Sol. In his other Courts of Justice he hath no voice, he is none of the Judges, in the Parliament he hath, if his presence be not necessary his voice is not, nor his assent. Ob. 8 The original prime legislative power of making Laws to bind the subjects and their posterity, Sovereign power of Parliaments. 46.47. rests not in the King, but in the kingdom and Parliament which represents it. Sol. Master Prinne in the same lease affirms, and truly, that the King's assent is generally requisite to pass laws and ratify them, the King is the head of the kingdom and Parliament, how then can a body act without a head? Ob. 9 A major part of a Corporation binds, therefore the Major part in Parliament, and so of by Laws. Sol. The Corporation is so bound, either by the King's Charters, or by prescription, which sometimes had the King's concession: but prescription, and Law, and practise, always left the King a negative voice. Ob. 10 The King cannot alter the Bills presented to him by both houses go. Sol. True but the King may refuse them, Ob. 11 Acts of Parliament and Laws ministered in the Reigns of usurpers bind rightful Kings. gᵒ. Sol. What is this to prove the two houses power only, which is the question, A King de facto must be obeyed by them who submitted to him, and they are his Subjects by their submission, and not Subjects defacto to the true King, 9 Ed. 4.12. and such being Traitors and Rebels to the regent King (having renounced the true King) when the lawful Kings is restored, may be punished by him for their treason against the usurper. But here is a King still in both cases, and the proceed at law holds; The Judges having their patents from the being Kings, in the reigns of Kings, de facto or dejure, for all Kings are bound and sworn to observe the laws. Ob. 12 A King dies without Heir, is an infant, non Compos mentis etc. the two honses may establish Laws. go Sol: There is no Inter-regnum in England, as appears by all our books of law, and therefore the dying without Heir is a Vain supposition, and by their principle he is considerable in his politic capacity, which cannot die at all: The protector assisted by the Council of the King at law, his twelve Judges, the council of state, his Attorney, Solicitor and two Sergieants at law, his twelve Masters of the Chancery, hath in the King's behalf and ever had, a negative Voice; but what is this to the present question; We have a King of full age, of great wisdom and judgement, The power of the two houses in such a case to be over the King cannot be shown. Ob. 13 The King cannot disassent to public and necessary Bills for the common good. go Sol. Nor ever did good King, but who shall be judge whether they be public and necessary? The major part in either of the houses for passing of bills so pretended may be but one or two voices or very few; and perhaps of no judicious men, is it not then fit or more agreeable to reason; that his Majesty, and Council of State, his twelve Judges, his Sergieants, Attorney and Solicitor, twelve Masters of the Chancery should judge of the conveniency and benefit of such Bills for the public good, rather than a minor (of which sort there may be in the houses) or a weak man, or a few, who often times carry it by making the Major part, which involves the consent of all? Let reason determine. Ob. 14 The Kings of England have been elective, and the King by his Coronation Oath is bound to maintain justas leges & consuetudines quas vulgas elegerit. go Sol. Popery hath been in the kingdom and therefore to continue it still will not be taken for a good argument, when things are settled for many ages, to look back to times of confusion, is to destroy all repose: The Act of Parliament of the first of K. James. Chapter the first and all our extant laws say, that the King's office is an heritage inhaerent in the blood of Our Kings and their birthright. And usurpers that come in by the consent of the people, 1 Ed. 4. cap. 1. are Kings de facto but not the jure as appears by the acts of Parliament declaring them so. And by all our law books and the fundamental constitution of the Land, Regal power is herditary and not elective. For the words (vulgus elegerit) if vulgus be applied to the house of commons, 1 H. 7. they if themselves can make no laws? The Peers were never yet termed vulgus, but allowing they be so called, the laws to be made must be just and who is fit to judge thereof is before made evident. Ob. 15 Customs cannot refer to future time, and both are coupled, Laws and Customs. Princes have been deposed, and may be by the two houses. go Sol. The deposers were Traitors as appears by the resolution of all the judges of England; Cook Chapter: Treason in the second part of the Institutes. And never was King deposed but in tumultuous and mad times, and by the power of Armies, and they who were to be the succeeding Kings, in the head of them, as Edward the third and Henry the fourth. Ob. 16 The appeal to the Parliament for errors in judgements in all Courts, is frequent. go Sol. This is only to the house of Lords, and that is not the Parliament: the house of Commons have nothing to do therewith and in the house of Peers, if a writ of error be brought to reverse any judgement. There is first a Petition to the King for the allowance thereof, and the reason of the Law in this Case is for that the Judges of the Land all of them, the King's Council, and twelve Masters of the Chancery assist there, by whose advice erroneous judgements are redressed. Ob. 17 The Parliaments have determined of the rights of Kings, as in Henry the sixts time, and others, and Parliaments have bound the succession of Kings, as appears by the statute of the thirteenth of Q. Eliza, Chapter the first and the descent of the Crown is guided rather by a Parliamentary Title then by common law. go Sol. If this objection be true, that the Title to the Crown is by Parliament then we had no usurpers, for they all had Parliaments to back them, yea Richard the third, that Monster. All our books of law say they have the Crown by descent, and the Statutes of the Land declare, that they have the same by inherent birthright. And the Statute of the thirteenth of Elizabeth, the first Chapter, was made to secure Queen Elizabeth, against the Queen of Scots, then in the Kingdom, claiming the Crown of England, and having many adherents. And that Statute to that end affirms no such power in the two Houses (which is the Question) but in Queen Esizabeth, and the two Houses, which makes against the pretence of this time. Master Prinne, fol. 104. of his book entitled the Parliaments supreme Power, etc. Objecting the Statute of the first of Queen Elizabeth, and his own Oath, That the King is the only supreme Governor of this Realm. Answers; The Parliament is the supreme Power, and the King supreme Governor. And yet there he allows him a Negative Voice, And fol. 107. confesseth that Acts of Parliament, translated the Crown from the right heirs at Common-lawe to others who had no good Title; Then the Parliamentary Title makes not the King, so powerful is Truth, that it escapes from a man unawares: To make a distinction between Supreme Governor, and Supreme Power, is very strange, For who can Govern without Power? The King assembles the Parliament by his Writ, Vide Speed 645. 4 pars Instit. 27. & 28. Adjourns, Prorogues and Dissolves the Parliament, by the Law at his pleasure, as is evident by constant practice, the House of Commons never sat after an adjournment of the Parliament by the King's command. Where is the Supreme Power? Ob. 18 The King, by his Oath, is bound to deny no man Right, much less his Parliament, To agree to all just and necessary Laws proposed by them to the King. This is the substance of the discourse against the King's Negative Voice. Sol. The King is so bound as is set down in the Objection, but who shall judge whether the Bill proposed be just and necessary: For all that they do propose are so pretended and carried in either House, sometimes by one or two voices; or some few as aforesaid, and certainly as hath been shown, the King, his Council of State, his Judges, Sergeants, Attorney, Solicitor, and twelve Masters of the Chancery can better Judge of them, than two or three or few more. Master Prinne fol. 45. In his book of the Parliaments interest to nominate Privy-Councellors, etc. calleth the opinion of the Spencers to divide the person of the King from his Crown, a strange opinion, Calvin's Case 7 pars fol. 11. and citys calvin's Case, but leaves out the conclusions therein mentioned, fol. 11. Master Prinne saith there, But let this opinion be what it will: without the King's Grace and Pardon it will go very far, and two Acts of Parliament there mentioned are beyond an opinion. And in his book of the opening of the Great Seal fol. 17. The Parliament hath no jurisdiction to use the Great-Seale for Pardons General or Particular. Where is the Supreme power? Ob. 19 Master Prinnes (opening of the Seal) Page 19 saith, The noblemans and State, the day after the funeral of King Henry the third (king Edward the first his son being in the holy Land) made a new Great-Seale, and Keepers of the same: And in Henry the sixts time, in the first year of his Reign, the like was done in Parliament. Sol. A facto, ad jus, is no good Argument, for that in Edward the firsts time, it was no Parliament, for King Henry the third was dead, which dissolved the Parliament, if called in his time, and it could be no Parliament of Edward the first● time, for no writ issued to summon a Parliament in his name, nor could issues but under that new Seal, it was so suddenly done after Henry the thirds death, King Edward the first being then in the holy-Land, it was the first year of his Reign, and no Parliament was held that year, not the second year of his Reign, The first Parliament that was in his Reign, was in the third year of his Reign, as appears by the Printed Acts. Also the making of that Seal was by some Lords then present, What hand had the Commons in it? Concerning the Seal made in Henry the sixts time, the Protector was viceroy according to the course of Law, and so the making of that Seal was by the Protector in the King's name; and that Protector Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, as Protector, in the King's name, summoned that Parliament, and was Protector made by the Lords, and not in Parliament, as appeareth plainly, for that Parliament was in the first of Henry the sixth, and the first holden in his time, and power given by Commission to the said Dake, than Protector, to summon that Parliament. Prinne ibid. fol. 19 But the new Counterfeit Seal was made when the King was at Oxford, in his own kingdom and not in the holy-Land. Ob. 20 Master Prinue in his Book of the two Houses power to impose Taxes, restrain Malignants against any Habeas Corpus, etc. saith that the Parliament is above Magna Charta, and folio 15 ibid. The Parliament hath power over Magna Charta to repeal the same when there is Cause. Sol. This Argument supposeth that they have the King's power, which hath appeared formerly they have not. But suppose they had, Magna Charta contains many moral Laws, which by the Law of the Land a Parliament cannot alter, 21. H. 7.2. Dr. & Student, 2. Dialogue. For example, it saith cap. 18. Justice shall not be sold, dlayed nor denied to any man, but by this Argument the Parliament may make Law to delay, deny, and to sell Justice, which surely is a very ill position to maintain. What they would have doth now by the Propositions sent to Newcastle to his Majesty appear, whereby they would have him divest himself and settle in them all his kingly power by Sea and Land, and of themselves to have power, without him, to lay upon the people of this Land, what Taxes they think meet, to abolish the Common-prayer book, to abolish Episcopacy, and to introduce a Church government not yet agreed, but such as they shall agree on. His Majesty finding a prevailing party in both Houses to steer this course, and being chased away with Tumults from London, leaves the Houses for these reasons. (viz.) FIRST, Because to alter the Government for Religion, is against the King's Oath. Secondly, Against their Oaths: For every of them hath sworn in this Parliament, That his Majesty is the only supreme Governor in all Causes Ecclesiastical and over all Persons. Thirdly, This course is against Magna Charta, the first Chapter and the last. Salvae suis Episcopis omnes libertates suae, Confirmed by thirty two Acts of Parliament, And in the two and fortieth of Edward the third, in the first Chapter enacts, If any Statute be made to the contrary it shall be holden for none, and so it is for Judgements at La we, in the twenty fift of Edward the first, chapter the first and the second, The great Charter is declared to be the Common-lawe of the Land. Fourthly, They endeavour to take away by their Propositions, the Government of Bishops, which is as ancient as Christianity in this Land, and the book of Common-Prayer, settled by five Acts of Parliament, and compiled by the Reformers and Martyrs, and practised in the time of four Princes. Fiftly, These Propositions taking away from his Majesty all his power by Land and Sea, Rob him of that which all his Ancestors Kings of this Realm have enjoyed. That Enjoyment and Usage makes the Law, and a Right, by the same to his Majesty. They are against their own Protestation made this Parliament (viz.) to maintain his royal Person, Honour and Estate; They are against their Covenant, which doth say that they will not diminish his just Power and Greatness. For these Reasons his Majesty hath left them, and as is believed will refuse to agree to the said Propositions, as by the Fundamental Law of the Land he may (having a Negative Voice) to any Bills proposed. The result of all is, upon the whole matter. That the king thus leaving of the Houses, and his denial to pass the said Propositions, are so fare from making him a Tyrant, or not in a condition to Govern, at the present; That thereby he is rendered a Just, Magnanimous and Pious Prince, so that by this it appears clearly to whom the Miseries of these Times are to be imputed. The remedy for all is, an Act of Oblivion and a General Pardon. GOD save the KING. 28ᵒ. Aprilis 1647. David Jenkins. Now prisoner in the Tower.