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The Conclusion.
1. IF this be so, That by so great Authority (viz. so many Statutes in force, The sun∣damental, of the Common Law, the Essentials of the Government it self, Magna Charta, The King's Coronation Oath, so many Laws of God and Man;) The Parliament ought ro sit to Redress Grievances, and provide for Common Safety, especially in times of Common Danger. (And that this is eminently so, who can doubt, that will believe the King; so many Parliaments, The Cloud of Witnesses, the Publick Judicatures, their own sense and experience of the manifold Mischiefs which have been acted, and the apparent Ruine and Confusion that impends the Nation, by the restless Attempts of a bloody In∣terest, if speedy Remedy is not applied.)
Then let it be Queried, Whether the People having thus the Knife at the Throat, Ci∣ties and Habitations Fired, and therein their Persons fried, Invasions and Insurrections threat∣ned to Destroy the King and Subjects, Church and State; and as so lately told us, (upon Mr. Fitz Harris's Commitment) the present Design on Foot was to Depose and Kill the King; and their only remedy hoped for, under God, to give them relief Relief thus from time time, cut off, viz. Their Parliaments, who with so much care, cost and pains, are Elected, sent up, and Intrusted for their help, turned off ré infecta, and rendred so insigui∣ficant by those frequent Prorogations and Dissolutions.
Are they not therefore justified in their important Cries, in their many Humble Peti∣tions to their King, Fervent Addresses to their Members, earnest Claims for this their Birth∣right here Pleaded, which the Laws of the Kingdom, consonant to the Laws of God and Nature, has given them?
2. If so, what then shall be said to those who advise to this high Violation of their Countries Rights, to the infringing so many just Laws, and exposing the Publick to those desperate hazards, if not a total Ruine?
If King Alfred (as Andrew Horne in his Mirror of Justice tells us) hanged Darling, Segnor, Cadwine, Cole, and Forty Judges more, for Judging contrary to Law; and yet all those false Judgments were but in particular and private Cases: What death do those Men de∣serve, who offer this violence to the Law it self, and all the Sacred Rights of their Coun∣try? If the Lord Chief Justice Thorp, in Ed. 3d's. time, for receiving the Bribery of One hundred pounds was adjudged to be Hanged as one that had made the King break his Oath to the People; How much more guilty are they of making the King break His Corona∣tion Oath, that persuade him to Act against all the Laws for holding Parliaments, and passing Laws therein, which he is so solemnly sworn to do? And if the Lord Chief Ju∣stice Tresilian was Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered, for Advising the King to Act contrary to some Statutes only; What do those deserve that advise the King to Act not only against some, but against all these Ancient Laws and Statutes of the Realm?
And if Blake, the King's Council, but for assisting in the matter, and drawing up In∣dictments by the King's Command contrary to Law, tho it is likely he might Plead the King's Order for it, yet if he was Hang'd, Drawn and Quartered, for that, What Justice is due to them that assist in the Total Destruction of all the Laws of the Nation, and as much in them lies, their King and Country too? And if Ʋsk, the under-Sheriff (whose Office is to Execute the Laws) for but endeavouring to aid Tresilian, Blake, and their Ac∣complices against some of the Laws, was also with Five more Hang'd, Drawn and Quar∣tered; What punishment may they deserve that Aid and endeavour the Subversion of all the Laws of the Kingdom? And if Empson and Dudley in Henry the Eighth's time, tho two of the King's Privy Council, were Hanged for Procuring and Executing an Act of Parlia∣ment contrary to the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom, and to the great vexation of the People; so that tho they had an Act of Parliament, of their side, yet that Act being against the known Laws of the Land, were Hang'd as Traytors for putting that Statute in Execution: Then what shall become of those who have no such Act to shelter themselves under, and who shall Act not only contrary to, but to the Destruction of the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom? And how Harmonious such Justice will be, the Text tells us, Deut. 27.17. Cursed be he that removeth his Neighbours Land mark: and all the People shall say, Amen.
That this present Session may have a happy Issue, to answer the great ends of Parliaments, and therein our present Exigencies and Necessities, is the incessant Cry and longing Expectation of all the Protestants in the Land.