An Apology of an Appeal, Letter 3
TO THE REVEREND And Learned IVDGES.
RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL,
Your place and office of Iudicatury to which God and the King have called you, ingageth you to doe juſtice to all impartially, as being bound thereunto both by law, and conſcience. By law: For, *Magna Charta. cap. 29.Iuſtice ſhall not be ſold, deferred, nor denyed to any man. And, *2 Edw. 3. c. 8.No Commaundement under the great or little ſeale ſhall diſturbe or delay iuſtice, or right in any point. And, the Iustices of both benches, Aſsiſe &c. ſhall doe right to all men, without regard of letters, writs, or Commaundments * 18. Edw. 3. State, 3. 20. E. 3. c. 1. 2.&c. Secondly. by conſcience; For the law preſcribes, this Oath, unto you. Ye ſhall ſweare, that well and lawfully ye ſhall ſerve our ſoveraigne Lord the King and his poeple in the Office of Iustice and that lawfully ye ſhall counſell the King in his buſineſſe ye ſhall doe even Law and Execution of Right to all his Subiects rich and poore without having regard to any perſon &c. and in caſe that any of what estate or condition they be, come before yau in your ſeſsions &c. to diſturbe the execution of the Common law, or to menace the people, that thay may not purſue the law, that you doe their bodies to be arreſted, and put in priſon. And in caſe they be ſuch that ye may not arreſt them, that ye certify the King of their names, and of their miſpriſion haſtily, ſo that he may thereof ordaine a convenable remedy; and that yee deny to no man common right by the Kings letters, nor none other mans, nor for none other cauſe. And in caſe any letters come to you contrary to the law, that ye do nothing by ſuch letters, but certify the King thereof, & goe forth to do the Law, notwithſtanding the ſame letters. And in caſe ye be from hence-forth found in default in any of the points aforeſaid, ye ſhall be at the Kings will of body, Lands, and goods thereof to be done, as ſhall pleaſe Him, as God you helpe &c.
Now theſe things I recite (moſt Learned Iudges) not as if you were ignorant of them, or had altogether forgotten them, but that the remembrance of them might the better prepare you to doe iuſtice in a cauſe which here I preſent unto you. And yet when I doe but name the cauſe, namely for God and the King, what needs any other incitement to doe iuſtice, then your owne propenſity? In this caſe, which of you will not profeſſe to be For God and the King? Well. I take it for graunted, that you are and wilbe for God and the King. OnelyOnly give me leave in a word to intimate, what it is to be for God and the King. Firſt for God. Chriſt ſaith to perſecuting Saul, Why perſecuteſt thou me? Yet he perſecuted not Chriſts Perſon, but his members and Miniſters. And to his Diſciples he ſaith. He that honoreth you, honoreth me; and he that deſpiſeth you deſpiſeth mee. Are you then for Chriſt? Then you muſt be for his Miniſters, to doe them iuſtice in their iuſt cauſe. If ſo, than what meaneth the blearing of the ſheep, the grievous cōplaint of Gods Miniſters in many places of this land, who are unjuſtly oppreſſed, ſuſpended, excommunicated, outed of their livings, and ſo themſelves & families undone in their worldly eſtate? You will ſay, why doe they not complaine to us? If they doe not, it is becauſe ſome of them have done ſo, and yet found little or cold reliefe, and becauſe the common rumour goeth, that the courſe of Iuſtice is ſtopt in ſuch caſes, ſo as none dare plead their cauſe, or open their mouths againſt the Prelates. But I hope better. And if none be found to plead this cauſe of God, I hope your Worſhips will give me leave (according to the right of law) to plead it, and your ſelves will give true judgement. For as I am Chriſts Miniſter, ſo I am the Kings faithfull ſubject, & crave juſtice at your hands according to the Kings lawes, and oathes. Yea his Sacred Majeſtie himſelfe hath declared his will to this purpoſe, in the Petition of Right, ſaying, The *And ſhal the greatest Prelates will or pleaſure then countermand this his Maieſties will, and Royall printed mantate to your Worſhips I proue not.King willeth that Right be done, according to the Lawes and cuſtomes of the Realme; And, that the Statutes be put in due execution, that his Subiects may have no cauſe to complaine of any wrong, or oppreſsions, contrary to their iuſt Rights and Liberties: to the preſervation whereof he holds himſelfe in conſcience as well obliged, as of His Prerogative. And in Perſon thus: I aſsure you my Maxime is, that the Peoples Libertie ſtrengthens the Kings Prerogative, & the Kings Prerogative is to defend the Peoples Liberties. This being ſo, the Kings Prerogative, his juſt lawes, & the Peoples liberties, are ſo combined together that they muſt be altogether preſerved intire, ſo neither, can you be ſo for God, but you muſt be alſo for the true Religion, & for his faithfull Miniſters; nor ſecondly ſo for the King but you muſt be alſo for his Lawes, and his peoples rights & liberties, ſith the King and his people make one politicke body; and hee cannot love the Head, who ſeekes to hurt the members; or who ſetts the Head againſt the members, or who for advancing the Head, deſtroyes the members; or who maketh a Schiſme and rent betweene the Head and the members. And are not the Lawes of the Kingdome the ligaments, which faſten and unite the Head and members, the King & his people together? It is your charge to ſee that theſe ligaments bee not diſſolved, but preſerved ſafe and ſound: elſe the whole, both Head and bodie, (of which your ſelves and Poſterity are members) muſt needs ſuffer together. O then, what a waighty charge lyes upon your ſhoulders at this time, when the whole frame both of the Republick and Religion ſo ſhaketh, as it threateneth ſudden ruine, if the Lawes, whereon they are eſtabliſhed, bee not maintained in their full ſtrength and vigour? Doe not your Wiſdomes ſee a new generation of Innovators riſen up in this Land, who uſurping and practiſing a Papall and Antichriſtian Power and Iuriſdiction, exempted from the Kings Lawes, and not depending (as they pretend, and profeſſe) on the Kings ſole Prerogative and Authority, doe thereby beginne to overtoppe the Royall Throne, and trample the Lawes, Liberties, and juſt rights of the Kings Subjects under their feet? What meaneth that difficulty of obteineing of Prohibitions now adayes whereby the Kings innocent Subjects ſhould be relieved againſt their unjuſt moleſtations & oppreſſions in the Eccleſiaſticall Court and high Cōmiſſions? What meaneth that conſternation of ſpirit among Lawyers, that few or none can be found to plead a cauſe, be it never ſo juſt, againſt an oppreſſing Prelate & are either an menaced or impriſoned if they do it? What meaneth that timidity in Miniſters & people, who chuſe rather to ſit down with loſſe of al, even of the cauſe of religion it ſelfe, thē go to law, againſt a Prelate? What meaneth that lawleſſe inſolency and boldneſſe of many Prelates? who againſt law and conſcience, againſt the expreſſe Doctrines of our Church, and againſt Gods word, the ground and rule of our Faith and Religion, dare of their owne heads bring in, ſett up in Churches, and impoſe upon Miniſters new rites and ceremonies (contrary to the Act of Parliament before the Communion Booke) Altars, Images, and Crucifixes, with ſundry ſuperſtitious geſtures of bowing, ducking, & ſtanding up, with other notorious innovations (as even your ſelves cannot be altogether ignorant of, and may further in one view behold in thoſe ſermons following) ſuſpending, excommunicating, and outing thoſe Miniſters, that will not, dare not conforme unto them. What meaneth that Antichriſtian pride, & lawleſſe power in vexing & conventing the Kings good ſubjects, for obſerving the Kings Lawes, and executing of iuſtice upon, or lawfully ſuing and indicting at the Common law, tranſgreſſors of the ſame by their bold innovations? the very hight of Antichriſtian tyrranny, ſedition and rebellion. I beſeech your Lordſhips well to examine the originall roote and cauſe of all theſe inſolent irregularities and illegalities, which not only tend to, but haſten on inevitable ruine both to the Church and ſtate, if not ſpedily prevented? And ſo vindicate yourſelves herein, as that you may cleare yourſelves from being the prime and principall cauſes of all the miſchiefes and maladies in the land; by either fearing denying, or delaying to doe iuſtice upon and againſt theſe inſolent Innovators. Have we not the beſt King in Chriſtendom who hath ſo frequently & ſolemnly, as in the late Petition of right, ſo in his royall *Declaration before the Articles of Religion And Declaration of yet Cauſes of diſſolving the Laſt Parliament: Printed by his Maieſties authority. 1628.Declaration proteſted, calling God to witneſſe, that neither in Doctrine or Diſcipline he will ſuffer the leaſt innovation to creep in, but will maintaine that Religion, which was in Queen Elizabeths Raigne, & under which this Kingdom hath ſo long floriſhed? Notwithſtanding all which, ſhall any up ſtart Innovators dare to ſet up their Popiſh rites and ſuperſtitious Formes of worſhip in our Churches, contrary to the expreſſe Lawes of the Realme, and can you the Reverend Iudges but be touched both in conſcience of your duty of office & Oath, and in care of the peace an welfare of this Kingdome and Church, and of the Kings honor, and ſafety? Can ſuch furious and outragious alterations of Religion be in any ſtate without drawing a long with it and after it infinit diſtractions and rents in the Kingdome and intolerable diſcontents and heart burnings in the peoples myndes, both tending to ſtirre up ſedition within, and to expoſe the ſtate to forraine invaſion? For Gods ſake therefore, ſith his Majeſty hath committed, to you the ſword of Iuſtice, draw it forth to defend the lawes againſt ſuch Innovators, who (as much as in them lyeth) divide betwen the King & his people. Your ſelves know better then I can tell you that if there be oppreſſions in the Common weale, eſpecially againſt the ordinary Courſe of the Lawes, and againſt the Liberties of the ſubject eſtabliſhed by law, how hardly it is digeſted, and what dangerous diſcontents it may breed: how much more perillous are ſuch alterations of religion, which would by a ſtrong hand, and that after ſo long and cleare light of the Ghoſpell, bring us backe againe under an Antichriſtian yoake, which tyranizeth over the conſcience, ſoule, body, goods, and liberties, poyſoning religion with Idolatry, ſuperſtition, and all manner of Will-worſhip in human inventions, and traditions, condemned by Chriſt and his Apoſtles? Vp therefore, and play the men; diſcharge that great truſt, which the King hath repoſed in you which your Sa-Oaths require of you, which all the good people of the Land expect of you, and which Chriſt himſelfe the great Iudge of quicke and dead will call you to a ſtrict account for, which you know not how ſoone hee may doe; for though you be as gods, yee ſhall dye like men, and fall like one of the Princes. Therefore, as Chriſt ſaith, Be inſtructed, yee Iudges of the earth: feare and tremble before this great God: Kiſſe the Sonne, least he be angry, and yee periſh from the way; when his wrath is kindled but a little: Bleſſed are all they that put their truſt in him: Which that you may be, it ſhall be the prayer of
Your Worſhips daily Orator at the throne of Grace, Henry Burton.
End of the text · Henry Burton, An Apology of an Appeal (1636)