To the first.

I Was examined by a Committee appointed by the House of Commons: I say and said that the House of Commons have no power to examine me, for that it is no Court, every Court hath power to examine upon Oath, this power the House of Commons never claimed; 5 H 4 c. 3. The Court of Pie-Powders, Court-Baron, Hundred Court, 3 H 6. 46. County Court, and every other Court of Record, or not of Record, 19 H 6. 43. hath power to examine upon oath, and an examination without Oath, 35 H. 6. 5. is a communication onely, exa­mination in Law is upon oath.

There is no Court without a power of triall, Sir Anthony Maynes case, Cook 5. pars, Reports, Lit. 2. lib. Sect. 194. 6 H. 4. 1. the House of Commons hath no power to try any offence, nor ever practised it by Bill, Inditement, Information, Plaint or Originall, to de­duce it to triall, nor to try it by Verdict, Demurrer or Exami­nation of witnesses upon Oath, without which there can be no condemnation or judgement; and that which can attain to no reasonable end, the Law rejects as a thing inutile, and uselesse: Sapiens incipit à fine.

The Writ whereby they are called gives them power Ad fa­ciendum & consentiendum, 4 pars, Instit. fol 4. & 9. to what? to such things Quae ibidem de communi Consilio ordinari contigerint, (viz.) in the Parliament: This makes nothing at all for a Court for the House of Com­mons; that consilium which that Writ intends, is cleared partly by the Writ for choosing Knights, &c. For the King by that Writ is said to resolve to consult and treat with the Prelates and Peers of the Kingdom, for and touching the great concernments of the Common-wealth (for the King never fits in the House of Commons;) and this also is made evident by the Writs to the Prelates, Peers, Judges, and to his Councell at Law; the words in their Writs are, To appear and attend the Parliament, Con­silium impensure, the one doth consulere, the other facere & consen­tire.

The House of Lords, 7 H 6. 28. where the King fits in person, assisted by his Lords, 1 H 7. 20. Judges, Serjeants, Atturney, Sollicitor, Masters of the Chancery, 14 E. 3. ca 5. is a Court of Record to many purposes, set down in the books of the Law, 1 Pa [...]s, Instit. pa. 21. and the Statutes of the Land; and that Courts is onely in the House of Lords, where the King sits.

[Page 12] A Court must either be by the Kings Patent, Statute Law, or by the Common Law, Plowd Com. 319. which is common and con [...]ant usage; the House of Commons hath no Patent to be a Court, nor S [...] ­tute Law to be a Court, nor common usage; they have no [...] Book but since E. 6. time: was there ever Fine by the House of Commons e [...]treated into the Excheque [...]? For murther o [...] Felony they can imprison no man, much [...]esse for Treason; the House which cannot do the lesse cannot do the greater.

I [...] is ordained, 25 E 3 c 4. that no man shall be imprisoned, or put out of his Franchise by the King or his Councell, 3▪ Car Peti­tion of Right. but upon Indict­ment or presentment of his good and lawfull Neighbours, where the deed is done, or by originall Writ at the Common Law, and so is Lex terrae the Law of the Land, mentioned is Magna Charta. cap. 29 expounded; and the said Magna Charta and Charta [...], are declared by the Statute of 25 E 1. [...]. to be the Common Law of the Land. All Judges and Com­missioners are to proceed, Secundum legem & consuetudinem Regni Angliae, as appears by all proceedings in all Courts, and by all Commissions: and therefore the House of Commons by them­selves proceeding not by Indictment, Presentment, [...] Origi­nall Writ, have no power to imprison men, or to put them out of their Franchi [...]e.

This no way trenches upon the Parliament, 4 pars, Instit. pag 1 for it is in Law no Parliament withou [...] King and both Houses; 3 Pars. Instit. p. 3. I have onely in my Paper de [...]ivered to Mr. Corbet, applyed my self to that Com­mittee, 12 H 7. 20. Prince case. that they had no power to examine me; but I never thought, said, or wrote, that the Parliament had no power to examine me: 8 Pars▪ Cook. 1 Pars, [...] p [...]59. the Law and custome of this Land is, that a Par­liament hath power over my life, liberty, lands and goods, and over every other Subject; 1 H 8 3 but the House of Commons of it self hath no such power. Dier▪ 38 H 8 60

For the Lord Cooks relation, that the House of Commons have imposed [...], 1 P [...]s, Instit p 19 [...]. and imprisoned men in Queen E [...]z [...]ths time, and since; Few facts of late time never [...] power nor Court, 4 [...] [...]stit ca. Parl. à [...] is no good [...] for the words of the Statute of 6 H 8 c. 16 that a [...]icence to dep [...]t from the House or Commons for any Member thereof is to be entred of Record in the Book or the Clark of the Par­liament, [Page 13] appointed, or to be appointed for that House, doth not conclude that the House of Commons is a Court of Re­cord.

For first, that Law of 6. H. 8. c. 26. handles no such question, as that, whether the House of Commons be a Court, it is a maxime in all Laws, Lex aliud tractans nil probat, the word (Re­cord) there mentioned, is onely a memoriall of what was done and entered in a Book: A Plaint removed out of the County-Court to the Court of the Common-Pleas, hath these words in the Writ of remove, Fitzh Nat. Br 70 Recordari facias loquelam, &c. and yet the County-Court is no Court of Record, and so for ancient De­mesne, Fi [...]h. Nat, Br 13. in a Writ of false judgement, the words are Recordari fa­cias loquelam, &c. and yet the Court of ancient Demesne is no Court of Record; 12 H 4. 23. and so of a Court Baron, the Law and cu­stome of England must be preserved, 34 H. 6. 49. or England will be destroy­ed, and have neither Law nor custome.

Let any man shew me, that the Court of Lords, or the House of Commons in any age hath made any man a Delinquent (Rege dissentiente) the King contradicting it under his Great Seal. Sir Gi [...]es Mompesson, Michel, and others of late were con­demned by the prosecution of the House of Commons in King James his time; did King James ever contradict it? And so of ancient times, 4 Pars, Instit. Tit. Parl. p. 23. where the House of Peers condemned Latimer in 50. E. 3. the Kings pardon freed him: which shews cleerly, that the Kings expresse or implyed assent must of necessity be had to make a Delinquent.

The Gentleman saith, That the Parliament fits, or ought to sit by something greater then the Kings Writ, &c.

No Parliament did ever sit without the Kings Writ, nor could ever Parliament begin without the Kings presence in person, 4 Pars, Instit. p. 4. & 6. or by a Guardian of England by Patent under the Kings Great Seal, the King being in remotis, or by Commission under the Great Seal to certain Lords representing the Kings person, and hath been thus in all Ages unto this Session of Parliament, wherein his Majestie hath been pressed, and hath passed two Acts of Parliament, one for a Trienniall Parliament, and another for a perpetuall, 4 E 3. c. 14. if the Houses please, to satisfie their desires; 36 E. 3. c. 10. how these two Acts agree one with another, and with [Page 14] Statute in E. the thirds time, 21 I [...]c. the Act of Limitation of Actions, cap. 26. where Parliaments are ordained to be holden every yeer, and what mischiefs to the people of this Land such length of Parliaments will produce by prote­ctions and priviledges, to free them and their meniall servants from all debts during their lives, if they please to continue it so long; and how destructive to mens actions against them, by reason of the Statute of Limitations, which confines their acti­ons to certain yeers, and many other inconveniencies or greater importance, is easie to understand?

How can any man affirm, that the two Houses do act now by the Kings Writ which relates to counsell and Treaty with the King, 4 pars, Instit. pa. 14. concerning the King, the defence of his Kingdom, and of the Church of England, there are the three points which it tends to, as appears by the Writ. They keep their King prisoner at Holdenby, and will not suffer him to consult and treat with them. Vow and Co­venant, p. 11. They have made a Vow and Covenant to assist the Forces raised and continued by both Houses against the Forces raised by the King without their consent; and to the same effect have devised the Oath which they call the Ne­gative Oath: Is this to defend the Kings Kingdom, or their king­dome?

When by their solemne League and Covenant they extir­pate Bishops, Deanes and Chapters root and branch, is this to defend the Church of England? (that Church must necessarily be meant, that was the Church of England when the said Writ bore test) they were not summoned to defend a Church that was not in being; 3 Pars, Cook. De [...]n and Chapter of Norwich. to destroy and defend the Church are very contrary things; the Church is not de­fended, when they take away and sell the Lands of the Church.

The Gentleman saith, The King cannot controll other Courts of Justice, or prevent them from sitting or acting, and therefore not the two Houses, &c. It is true, the King cannot controll or prevent his other Courts, for that they are his ordinarie Courts or common justice, to administer common [...] un­to all men, according to the fixed Laws. The Houses make no Court without the King, they are no body Co [...]porate without the King, nor Parliament without the King, they all [Page 15] make one corporate body, one Court called the Parliament, wher­of the King is the head, 4 Pars, In­stit. p. 1. and the Court is in the Lords house, where the King is present: and as a man is no man without a head, so the Houses severed from the King, as now they are, have no power at all, and they themselves by levying War against the King, and imprisoning of him, have made the State for not dissolving, ad­journing, or proroging this Parliament of no effect, by the said Acts of their owne; they sit to no purpose without his assent to their Bills, they will not suffer him to consult with them, and treat and reason with them, whereby we may discerne what Bills are fit to passe, and what not, which in all Ages the Kings of this Land have enjoyed as their undoubted Rights, and therefore they sit to no purpose by their owne disobedience and fault.

For the ordinary Courts at Westminster, 27 H. 8. c. 24, 28. H. 8 11. Dier. the Iudges in all those Courts are Iudges by the Kings Patent or Writ, otherwise they are no Iudges: the Houses can make no Iudges, they are no Iudges at all who are made by them; the whole and sole power of mak­ing Iudges, belongs to the King: the King cannot controle or pre­vent his own Iudges from sitting or acting, but the Houses he may for they are not the Kings Iudges, but the Iudges of the two Hou­ses. 2 R, 3. 11. In his other Courts, the King commits his power to his Iudges by his patent, and they are sworne to doe common right to all men, and the King is sworne not to let them from so doing: the King cannot judge in those Courts, nor controule; but the King is both Iudge and Controller in the Court of Parliament: Quoad. Acts, for his assent or dissent doth give life or death to all Bils. Many Lawyers have much to answer to God, this Kingdom, and to posterity, for puzling the people of this Land with such Fancies, as the Gentl▪ who wrote the Answer to my Paper, and others have published in these Troubles, which hath bin none of the least causes of the raysing and continuing of them: And so I have done with the first part of his answer.

A. D. 2.

For the Non sequitur, in the second Section of the Gent▪ An­swer, the Antecedent and the Consequent are his own.

My words are, that the King is not vertually in the two houses [Page 16] at Westminster, to enable them to grant pardons, for that whole and sole power by the Law belongs to the King. My Paper hath no such thing, as that the KINGS power cannot be deri­ved to others or the vertue of his power: 27 H. c. 24. For His power, and the vertue of His power is in all Patents to his Iudges, in Char­ters to Corporations, in Commissions of all sorts, and in the Par­liament assembled by force of his Writ of Summons, so long as they obey him; but when they renounce that power, and claime it not from the King, and declare to the Kingdome that hee is not in condition to governe, and imprison him, and usurpe to them­selves all Royall Authority, as the two Houses now doe, no reaso­nable man can affirme that they act by the power of their Priso­ner, who hath no power to give them, that by force of Arms take all the power to themselves.

The Gentl. saith, the King grants Commissions daily of Oyer and Terminer, 4 E 4, 39. which hee cannot frustrate nor elude. 5 E. 44. The King may re­voke and discharge the Commission by his Writ, 1 E [...]. Dy [...]r 165. as hee may re­move all Judges, and place other men in their roome; and many Kings death determines all the Iudges Parents of Westminster-Hall, 1 Mar. Bro [...]ks case 447. Commissions of Oyer and Terminer, &c. and so hee might dissolve both Houses in all times, by his Writ under the Great Scale, untill that by this Parliament, by his owne concession, the King of his goodnesse hath secluded himselfe; which goodnes hath bin full ill requi [...]ed.

The Gentl. affirmes, That the power the Parliament hath, is con­current from the King and Kingdome; which he conceives, is pro­ved by the Grant of Subsidies to the King by the Parliament. The mistaking of this word (Parliament) hath beene mischievous in these times to this Land, 4 Pars, in­stit. p. 1. and it is affectedly mistaken, which makes the sinne the greater, for the two Houses are not the Parliament as before is declared; and at this time so to inculcate it, when all men know, that of the 120. Peeres of the Kingdom, who were tem­porall Peeres before the troubles, there are not not above 30. in the Lords house, and in the house of Commons about 200. of the prime Gent. of the Kingdom left the House, and adhered to his Majesty, who is imprisoned by them, shews no such candor as to be desired

It is true, 25 Eliz. 1. Confirma­tio charta­rum, cap. 6. that no Tallage can be layd upon the People of this Land, but by their consent in Parliament, as appeareth by the Lawes mentioned in the margent, but you shall finde in Mr. Sel­dens [Page 17] learned Book, 24 Eli. 1. cap. 1. de Tallagio non con­cedendo. called Mare Clausum, a number of Presidents in Henry the thirds time for Ship-money, justly condemned this Parliament, to which his Majesty assented; and in truth, that Ship-money was condemned before, by the said two Statutes of 25. E. 1. & 34. E. 1. de Tallagio non concedendo. Dane-gelt, Englitery, and many grievous burthens were layd upon the people, and born, untill that memorable Princes time. But I am of opinion, that the Common Law of the Land did alwayes restraine Kings from all Subsidies and Tallages, but by consent in Parliament; which doth appeare by Magna Charta the last chap. where the Prelates, Lords, and Comminalty gave the King the fifteenth part of their move­ables. In truth it is no manner of consequence, because the King cannot take what he pleaseth of the subjects goods, that therefore they have a concurrent power in Parliament: there have bin many Parliaments, and no Subsidies granted, Parliaments may be with­out Subsidies, but Subsidies cannot be without Parliaments: of ancient time Parliaments rarely granted any unlesse it were in the time of forraine Wars; and in my time, Q. E. refused a Subsidie granted in Parliament, and in the Parliament of 1. Jac. none were granted. The Gent. should make a conscience of blinding the peo­ple with such untrue colours, to the ruine of King and people.

A. D. 3.

The Gent. affirms, That the sending Propositions to the King, and desiring his concurrence, is scarce worth an answer, for Subjects may humbly petition for that which is their strict right and property, &c. The Propositions sent to Newcastle, are in print; wherein the two Houses are so farre from humbly petitioning, that they stile not themselves his Majesties Subjects, as appeares by the Propositions.

That they have a strict right or property to any on of these Pro­positions, is a strange assertion, every one of them being against the Lawes now in force: Have the two Houses a strict right and property, to lay upon the people what Taxes they shal judg meet? To pardon all treasons, &c. that is one of their Propositions. Have they a strict right and property to pardon themselves? and so for all the rest of their Propositions.

These Propositions have been Voted by both Houses, 12 H. 7. 20 the Kings assent (they being drawne into Bills) makes them Acts of Parlia­ment: 1 Iac. c. 1. Hath the King no right to assent or dis-assent? 1 Car. c. 7. Was the [Page 18] sending but a Complement? All our Law-bookes and Statutes speak otherwise. This Gentl. and others, must give an account one time or other for such delusions put upon the people.

A. D. 4.

The Gent. saith, They affirme not, that the Kings power is separa­ted from his person, so as the two Spencers affirmed, &c. His Maje­sties person is now at Holnby under their Guards; have they not severed his power from him, when by no power they have left him, he can have two of his Chaplaines, who have not taken their Covenant to attend him for the exercise of his Conscience?

For the three Conclusions of the Spencers, 15 Ed. 2. Exilium Hugonis do not the two Hou­ses act every of them? They say his Majesty hath broken his trust, touching the government of his people: They have raised Armies to take him, 1 E 3. c. 2. Calv. case 7 Pars, Re­ports 11. they have taken him, and imprisoned him; they go­vern themselves; they make Laws, impose Taxes, make Iudges, Sheriffes, and take upon them omnia insignia summae potestatis: Is not this to remove the King for misdemeanours, to reforme per aspertè, to governe in aide of him; the three conclusions of the Spencers? Doe they think the good people of England are becom stupid, and will not at length see these things?

The Gentl. saith, Plowd. 4. E. 213. the Kings power and his person are indivi­sible. they doe not separate his power from his Person, but distinguish it, &c. His power is in his legall Writs, Courts, and Officicers: when they counterfeit the Great Seale, and seale Writs with the same, make Iudges themselves, Courts and Offi­cers, by their own Ordinances against his consent, declared under his true Great Seale of England (not by word of mouth, letters, or ministers onely) their Seale is obeyed, their own Writs, their own Iudges, their owne Courts, their own Officers, and not the Kings: The time will come when such strange actions and dis­courses will be lamented.

A. D. 5.

The Gentl. goes on, Stanfor. Pleas. 99. 27. H. 8. c. 24. Dier. 163. Wee take not from the King all power of par­doning Delinquents, we only say it is not proper to him quarto modo, &c. What doe you meane by quarto modo? I am sure, Omnis Rex Angliae, solus Rex & semper Rex can doe it, and none else: read the bookes of the Law to this purpose collected by that Reverend and learned Iudge Stanford, from all antiquity to his time, who dyed in the last yeare of King Philip and Queene Maries Reigne, [Page 19] you shall find this a truth undenyable; and this power was never questioned in any age in any book by any untill this time, that eve­ry thing is put to the question: You Gentlemen who professe the Law, and maintaine the party against the King, return at length, and bring not so much scandall upon the Law, (which preserves all) by publishing such incredible things.

We hold only what the Law holds, 1 Pars. In­stit. p. 44. Plowd. 3. Eliz. 236, 237. the Kings Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty are determined, and bounded, and measured by the written Law what they are; we do not hold the King to have any more power, neither doth His Majesty claime any other but what the Law gives him; the two Houses by the Law of this Land have no colour of power, either to make Delinquents, or pardon Delinquents, the King contradicting: (and the Army un­der Sir Thomas Fairfax (howbeit but Souldiers) do now under­stand that to be Law, and doe now evidently see and assuredly know, that it is not an Ordinance of the two Houses, but an act of Parliament, made by the King, Lords and Commons that will se­cure them, and let this Army remember their executed fellow Souldiers) And the Law was alwayes so taken by all men untill these troubles, that have begot Monsters of Opinions.

A. D. 6.

The Gentl. sayes, The Parliament hath declared the King to be in no condition to Governe, &c.

There is no end of your distinctions, I and you profess the Law, shew me Law for your distinctions, or letter, syllable, or line, in any age in the Bookes of the Law, that the King may in one time be in no condition to govern, and yet have the habit of governing, and another time he may (viz.) when the two Houses will suffer him: the Law saith thus, Vbi lex non distinguit, non est distinguendum.

Hee sayes, The King is not barred from returning to His Parlia­ment, (as he calls the two Houses) he knowes the contray, the whole City knowes the contrary, No [...] juris consulti sumus sacerdo­tes, (as Justinian the Emperour hath it, in the first Book of his In­stitutions) and therefore knowledge and truth should come from our lips: Worthy and ingenious men will remember, and reflect upon that passage of that good and wise man Seneca, Non quaitur, sed qua eundum; follow not the rayes of the Lawyers of the House of Commons. God forgive them, I am sure the King will if they be wise and seeke it in time.

A D. 7.

The Gentl. sayes, We sweare that the King is our supreame Gover­nor over all persons and in all causes, &c. Why hath he left out the word (only?) for the oath the Members now take, is, that KING Charles is now the only and supreme Governour in all causes, 5 Eliz. c. 1. Cawdreys case 5 pars, fol. 1. over all persons, and yet they keep their only Supreme Governour now in prison, and act now in Parliament by vertue of their Prisoners Writ, and by a concurrent power in this Parliament, and by their own strict right and property, (as the Gentl. affirmes in his an­swer) these things agree well with their Oath, This Oath is allowed by the Common Law of the Land. that the King is the only Supreme Governour in all causes, over all persons; this Oath is taken now in the Parliament time, by all the Members of the House of Commons, and is required by the Law to bee taken in all Parliaments, otherwise they have no power, nor colour to meddle with the publike affaires.

This Oath being taken in Parliament, that the King is the only and Supreme Governour in all causes, then it followes in Parliament causes; ever all persons, then over the two Houses; let them keep this Oath, and we shall bee sure of peace in the Land: and good Lawyers ought to desire peace, both for the publike good and their private, and not dishonour that Noble profession, as many doe in this miserable time.

The Gent. sayes, We do not sweare that the King is above all Law, nor above the safety of his people; neither doe we so sweare, but His Majesty and we will sweare the contrary, and have sworne, and have made good, and will by Gods grace make good our Oath to the world, that the King is not above the Law, nor above the safe­ty of his people, the Law and the safety of his people are his safe­ty, his honour and his strength.

A D. 8.

The Gentl. concludes, That Acts of Parliament are not formally binding, nor compleat without the Kings assent, yet the Houses have a virtuall power without the Kings particular assent, to doe things in or­der to publike Justice and safety, (viz.) In setting up the Excise, in raising and maintaining of Armies, in taxing the people at plea­with fifth and twentieth part, fifty Subsidies, Sequestrations, Lo [...]nes, Compositions, imprisoning the King, abolishing the [Page 21] Common-Prayer-Book, selling the Churches Lands, &c. all these are in order to publike Iustice and safety.

Mr. H. P. you are of my profession, I beseech you, for the good of your Country, for the Honour of our Science, perswade your selfe and others, as much as in you lyes, to believe and follow the monition and Councell of that memorable, reverend, and pro­foundly Learned in the Lawes and Customs of the Land, the Lord Coke, who writes as becomes a great and a learned Iudge of the Law (a person much magnified by the two Houses) in these words: Peruse over all Bookes, 3 Pars, Inst p. 36. Records and Histories, and you shall finde a Principle in Law, a Rule in Reason, and a tryall in Experience, that Treason doth ever perduce fatall and finall destruction to the offender, and never attaines to the desired end (two incidents inseperable thereun­to) and therefore let all men abandon it, as the poysonous bait of the de­vill, and follow the Precept in holy Scripture, SERVE GOD, HO­NOƲR THE KING, AND HAVE NO COMPANY WITH THE SEDITIOƲS.