The Dissonant Harmony of Sacred Public Oaths, Postscript
A POSTSCRIPT.
MAny are the Preſidents of Gods ſevere perſonal and National Judgements inflicted upon perfideous perjurious Infringers of their Oaths and Covenants to their lawfull Soveraigns and their Heirs, aSee Huntindon Hiſt. l. 7. p. 367, 368. Hoveden Annal pars prior, p. 449.Both at home and abroad: For domeſtique Preſidents of this nature, I hauehave preſented you with ſome ſignal ones, in the Second Part of my Legal and Hiſtorical Vindication of the Fundamental Liberties, Rights and Laws of England, London 1655. p. 29 to 37, 44, 46, 47, 56, 57, 60, to 65, 79, 80. & Part 3. p. 23. 31, 54, 55, 58, 85, 97, 98, 102, 103, 106, 136, 138, to 146, 170, to 175, 201, to 229, 254, 256, 258. 260, 266, 267, 322, to 327, 333, to 370. before the Conqueſt. The like Preſidents ſince, you may peruſe in Henrici Huntindonenſis, Hiſt. l. 8. p. 291, 292, 293. Regeri de Hoveden Annalium pars prior, p. 483. Holinſhed, vol. 3. p. 46. and Doctor Beards Theatre of Gods Iudgements, Book 1. ch. 28. I ſhall inſtance only in two remarkable forein Examples of this kind.
The firſt is in the uſurping b-cCa…onis Chronicon. Grimſtons Imperial Hiſtory, in the life of Rodulph. Dr. Beards Theatre of Gods Judgements, l. 1. c. 28, p. 174 Henrici Mutii Chronicon Germaniae, l. 15.Emperour Rodulph, Duke of Swethland. Pope Hildebrand, antichriſtanly Excommunicating his Soveraign, the Emperour Henry the fourth, and abſolving his Subjects from their Allegiance to him, profered the Empire to this Duke Rodulph: who remembring his Oath of Allegiance ſworn by him to this Emperor, and how vile a part it would be for him to betray or ſupplant him he had ſworn to obey and defend, at firſt refuſed the Popes offer; yet afterwards by the ſophyſtry and perſwaſion of ſome Biſhops, he accepted and took upon him the Title of Emperour, oppoſing his Liege Lord Henry in four ſeveral Battels fought between them for the Empire; in the laſt whereof being vanquiſhed, he was ſore wounded, and loſt his right hand. When he was readie to die of his wounds, one brought his right hand cut off in the Battel unto him, which he beholding with much regret, in deteſtation of his Perjury, and Treachery through the Popes violence, brake forth into theſe memorable words in the preſence of many Biſhops who had perſwaded him to this rebellion. Behold here the right hand wherewith I ſwore faith and allegiance to my Liege Lord the Emperor Henry: this will be an argument of my breach of faith before God, and of your Trayterous impulſion and advice thereunto. Which having uttered, he immediately expired of his wounds in a kinde of deſpairing manner, as the juſt puniſhment of his Perjury and Treachery by his own confeſsion; magnumque mundo documentum datum eſt, ut nemo contra Dominum ſuum cenſurgat Nam *The right hand of a perjured perſon was to be cut off by ſundry Laws: Conſtitutionum Sicularum l. 3. Tit. 59. Capit. Caroli Magni, l. 5. Tit. 125. Legis Longobardorum, l. 2 Tit. 58.abſciſſa Rudolphi dextera digniſſimam perjurii vindictam demonſtravit, qui fidem Domino ſuo Regi juratam violare non timuit, et tanquam alia vulnera non ſufficerent, ad mortem acceſſit etiam hujus membri poena, ut per poenam agnoſceretur et culpa: as ancGermaniae Hiſtoriarum Tom. 1. Francofurti 1558. p. 383. Hiſtorian of that age obſerves in the life of Henry the 4th. Let thoſe perjurious perfidious Army-Saints and other Grandees who have taken, ſubſcribed the precedent Oathes, Protestation, League Covenant, with hands layd upon the Bible, and lifted up to the moſt high God; and yet have ſince taken, ſubſcribed with the ſelf-ſame hands, an Oath and Ingagement diametrically contrary thereunto, to the deſtruction of our Kings, Kingdoms, Parliaments and their Privileges; and are ſtill ſtretching out their perjured hands againſt the lawfull Heir and Succeſſor to the Crown, remember this ſad preſident of Rodulph with fear and trembling.
To which I ſhall annex another ſadder and more tragicall Spectacle, never to be forgotten;dAeneae Picolominei Cardinalis Status Europae ſub Frederico 3. c. 4. Knolls Turkiſh Hiſtory, p. 297, 298. Vladiſlaus King of Hungary, having made a Truce with Amurath the 2. (the ſixt King of the Turkes) which he ſealed and ſwore unto in the name of Chriſt: by the command of Pope Eugenius, and perſwaſions of his Legat, Cardinal Julian and other Prelates, who abſolved him from this Oath, he violated it in a moſt perfidious manner, and ſoon after taking Amurath unprovided to fight, gave him battle at Varna with a puiſſant Army, and was likely to rout him upon the firſt encounter. Upon which occaſion Amurath being in extream fear and danger, beholding the Crucifix in the diſplayed enſigns of the Chriſtians, pluckt the writing out of his boſome wherein the League was compriſed, and holding it in his hands with his eyes caſt up to heaven, uſed theſe words. Behold thou crucified Chriſt, This is the League thy Chriſtians in thy Name have made with, and ſworn to me; which yet they have without any cauſe on my part, violated; Now if thou be a God, as they ſay thou art, and as we dream, Revenge the wrong now done unto thy Name and me, and ſhew thy Power upon thy perjurious People, who in their Deeds deny thee to be their God. Upon the uttering of which words, the Battel preſently turned, Huniades, that valiant General and the Hungarians fled, the whole Army was routed, many thouſands of them ſlain, and taken Priſoners; perjured King Vladiſlaus, Cardinal Julian, with moſt of the Prelates and Nobles who perſwaded him to this breach of Faith ſlain in the field; the greateſt part of Hungary overrun, gained, and ever ſince poſſeſſed by the Turks, Vdaliſlaus his head cut off in the Battel, after was fixed on a poll, carried through Grecia and Aſia in triumph, and ſhewed to the people as a monument of Gods juſtice on him for his perjury. And will not the blood of our beheaded King, the diſinheriting of his Heir and Succeſſor, the abjuration of Kingſhip it ſelf, & the Houſe of Lord, the ſubvertion of all the Rights, Freedoms, Privileges of Parliament, by thoſe in late and preſent power, againſt all the premiſed Oaths, Proteſtations, Solemn League and Covenant, ſworn by them in the name, preſence of God himſelf, and the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, with hands laid on the Evangeliſts, and liſted up to Heaven, and then ſubſcribed for a perpetual Memorial; cry aloud to God and Chriſt for the like avenging Juſtice from Heaven againſt the perjurious Infringers of them in a far higher degre than Vladislaus was guilty of, if ſpread and held up before them by the diſinherited King and Lords? No doubt it will in Gods due time, if not ſpeedily, really and deeply bewailed repented of, by a plenarie ſatisfaction and reſtitution: And cauſe God to ſhake out every man (and his Poſterity too) from his Houſe, and from his labour, and empty him and his of all preſent honours and enjoyments, (as Nehemiah ſhaked and emptied his lap,) that performeth not theſe Oaths, Proteſtation, League, Covenant, to which he and all the Congregation have ſaid Amen, Neh. 5. 12, 13. Since theeTitus Livius Hiſt. l. 1. & 20. Caelius Rhodiginus. Antiqu. Lect. l. 21. c. 15. Alexander ab Alexandro, Gen. Dierum l. 5. c. 10. Grotius de Jure Belli. l. 2. c. 13. very Pagan Graecians, and Romanes inſinuated as much in the Ceremonies of their ſacred Oaths, wherein they prayed, That if they did not faithfully obſerve them without guile, that Jove and the other Gods would ſmite and ſlay them as they did the lamb they then ſacrificed to them, and that they might be caſt out and periſh like the ſtone they threw out of their hands when they ſwore; the Religion of an Oath, being ſo great amongſt the very Heathens, that they thought all human Society aboliſhed with its violation, and thoſe perſons unworthy to live or breath amongſt men, who durſt preſume to infringe it, though to their loſſe and prejudice. And ſhall they not condemn us Chriſtians, and thoſe moſt refined Saints of this Age, who like the perfidious AtheiſtecalfAlexander ab Alexandro l. 5. c. 10. Carthagenians, Theſſalonians, and Parthians, regard neither God, nor Altars, nor Covenants, nor Oaths, no farther than they ſerve their turnes to cheat and circumvent men; to whom profit is more ſacred than Faith or Oaths? No doubt they will.
Ezech. 17. 18, 19, 20, 21. Seeing he deſpiſed the Oath by breaking the Covenant, (when lo, he had given his hand) and hath done all theſe things, he ſhall not eſcape. Therefore thus ſaith the Lord GOD, As I live, ſurely mine Oath that he hath deſpiſed, and my Covenant which he hath broken, even it will I recompence upon his own head. And I will ſpread my net upon him, and he ſhall be taken in my Snare, And I will bring him to Babilon, and will plead with him there, for his Treſpaſſes that he hath treſpaſſed againſt me. And all his Fugitives, with all his Bands ſhall fall by the ſword, and they that remain ſhall be ſcattered towards all Windes; and ye ſhall know, that I the LORD have ſpoken it.
FINIS.
ERRATA.
P. 13. l. 6. 1647. r. 1657. p. 16. l. 6. Juſtification, r. Prevarication. p. 18. l. 2. Meetings, r. Mutinies.
Margin. P. 23. l. 7. r. Sacramenti.
End of the text · William Prynne, The Dissonant Harmony of Sacred Public Oaths (1659)