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<DATE>2014-10-22</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>THE RIGHT CHARACTER OF A True Subiect, PROFITABLY DECLARING, How every man in this time of danger ought to &s;quare all his actions, that he may neither be taxed of di&s;obedience to the Maie&s;ty of the King, nor want of duty to the wi&s;ome of the Parliament.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">A thing in the&s;e times very nece&s;&s;ary, and of great con&s;equence.</HEAD>
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><ADD>August &middot; 10^t^h 1642</ADD></DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>_HOw difficult a thing it is to ob&s;erve a mean con|cerning matters of weighty importance, and to poy&s;e the actions of State by an impartiall judg|ment free from all re&s;pects. We may by the wri|tings of too many men, too immoderate in main|<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">aining their conceived opinions, plainly enough perceive. That mo&s;t unhappy divi&s;ion &s;o unluckily bred, and &s;o hotly nouri&s;hed betwixt His &s;acred Maje&s;ty and His mo&s;t honourable Parlia|ment, hath al&s;o &s;eparated the minds of Subjects; one part incli|ning to this, another to that part: and it were well if they did no more then incline, for then were it po&s;&s;ible, that by the evi|dent demon&s;tration of &s;ome undeniable arguments their minds perverted, and too deeply grounded in their conceived opinions, might be forced from a re&s;olved immutability: but wee now
<PB REF="2"> &s;ee it evident, that in &s;ome men re&s;pects, in others affection, in the&s;e &s;elf-opinion, in tho&s;e a peremptory re&s;olution neither to heare, or be moved by rea&s;on, &amp; in too many the known &s;trength of this or that &s;ide perverts judgment, and re&s;i&s;ts even verity it &s;elf, every one thinking it impo&s;&s;ible for that part to erre, who&s;e actions them&s;elves allow of; nay to &s;uch an immoderate licenti|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e are men grown, that they cannot &s;peak in the behalf of the Parliament, but they mu&s;t vent forth ill language again&s;t Him that is its, and &s;hould be their head too, His &s;acred Maje&s;ty, and as many that do well con&s;true the actions of the King as op|po&s;ite to his Parliament, will not &s;tick to u&s;e more then the li|berty of the &s;ubiect again&s;t both Hou&s;es of Parliament.</P>
<P>Although I confe&s;&s;e that between contradictories there can be no <HI>medium,</HI> and the affirmators and negators of the &s;ame thing cannot both erre, yet are not we competent iudges of the errour<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> of the&s;e men, or if we could di&s;cern truly who&s;e intenti|ons are right, and who&s;e ami&s;&s;e, yet are we not to think, much le&s;&s;e &s;peak di&s;honourably of either, &s;ince it is humane to erre, and an errour ought not to condemne every one that is deceived. He indeed that could finde out &s;uch a way of reconciling the&s;e differences which &s;hould be embraced by both the differing par|ties, would do the be&s;t act for his countrey that could po&s;&s;ibly be effected. But it is prepo&s;terous in men to diffu&s;e into the world their &s;everall fancies, this being &s;omtime quite oppo&s;ite to that, and one way being no longer approved then till another is heard, &s;o are mens iudgments that &s;hall peru&s;e them, to&s;&s;ed up and down with the light wind of every the lea&s;t probability, and &s;ome opinions, though in them&s;elves weak enough, being publi&s;hed, come into the hands of the more ignorant vulgar, who becau&s;e they are not able to pierce into their fal&s;ities, or confute them, do pre&s;ently credit them, and in the behalf of them, break forth into &s;uch acts, as may prove to His Maie&s;ty and the Parliament dangerous, and to them&s;elves preiudiciall. Nor do &s;ome men (&s;o free in delivering their opinions, and &s;o confident in their fraile rea&s;ons) any other then (implicitly at lea&s;t) taxe
<PB REF="2"> the King of being &s;educed, and the Parliament of errour. Sure|ly I think, the&s;e men, if any, be&s;t know the way of remedy, that can &s;ee into the cau&s;es of the di&s;ea&s;e, and difference: and that &s;urely none better are acquainted with then tho&s;e between whom it fell: let us therefore not take upon us to iudge of the erring party, but pray to the Father of truth, that (let it be which it will) it may know its errour, and be converted to the truth: this wil<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">w a &s;ubiects duty better then that, of which I think it will not be impertinent to &s;ay &s;omthing at this time.</P>
<P>Al<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">hough in the late Prote&s;tation made and publi&s;hed by the wo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">thy members of that honourable Hou&s;e of Commons is &s;ufficiently intimated what is the true &s;tamp of a loyall &s;ubiect, by the demon&s;tration of what he is bound to defend and main|taine, yet it will not be, I think, un&s;ea&s;onable (the honour of tho&s;e per&s;ons not empaired) in this time of fear and di&s;traction, to &s;eparate the &s;heep from the goats, and declare what a good &s;ubiects character is, that we may learn to know him, and to di|&s;tingui&s;h him from both the hypocriticall pretenders of loyalty and the hot-&s;purs of rebellion, and affecters of civill mutinies and home-bred di&s;&s;entions.</P>
<P>The name of &s;ubiect is of all well enough (I &s;uppo&s;e) under &s;tood, and imports a duty to be performed to a &s;uperiour, nor doth eminency of place or condition free any from this duty of &s;ubiection (unle&s;&s;e that eminency be &s;upreme) but rather the more obligeth him. For tho&s;e that in degree are neare&s;t to their Soveraigne, ought to be &s;o much the more loyall, faithfull, and con&s;tant to Him, by how much they have received greater fa|vours, and more eminent dignities from Him, and His Royall Per&s;on is intru&s;ted with them. Be&s;ides, their acts wilbe more con&s;picuous, and are examples whereby the vulgar wilbe either more confirmed in their allegiance, or pricked forward to a re|bellion. Trea&s;on therefore in a noble Per&s;on is a crime more dangerous to his Prince and the State, more horrid in him, and giving a greater example to the people.</P>
<P>A true &s;ubiect therefore (de he of what rank &s;oever) is in his
<PB REF="3"> con&s;cience and by his allegiance bound with his life &amp; fortune<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> to maintain the per&s;on, honour and e&s;tate of his Soveraigne a|gain&s;t all foes, both dome&s;tick &amp; forraign. He is further bound, as not to commit him&s;elf, &s;o al&s;o to manife&s;t and reveal all trea|&s;ons, plots and con&s;piracies tending to the de&s;truction of his Prince, or the ruine of the State: as al&s;o to yeeld due obedience to his lawfull Magi&s;trates the executioners of equity &amp; ju&s;tice, e&s;pecially Parliaments, &amp; tho&s;e more generall Councels, which are called together for the good of the Church and Common|wealth, who&s;e priviledges he ought not to infringe, or &s;ee infrin|ged, he is bound al&s;o to ob&s;erve all laws by them and their pre|dece&s;&s;ours made while they are in full force, &amp; la&s;tly, to pre&s;erve as much as in him lies, unity and peace in Church and State. Neither doth this duty of a &s;ubiect any way in&s;lave him, or tend to the infringement of his liberty, but rather &s;trengtheneth that, and rendreth him more &s;afe, &s;ecu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e, and free. For it fareth not with a &s;ubiect, as with a &s;lave or &s;ervant, who&s;e ma&s;ters and lords have all power over them what&s;oever, &s;o that they cannot with|out his leave buy, &s;ell, or exerci&s;e any civill action, and who can impo&s;e what commands them&s;elves plea&s;e on their va&s;&s;als: for upon &s;ubiects living in a free kingdome there cannot be impo|&s;ed mulcts, taxes, or any &s;uch burdens, again&s;t their own con&s;ent and good will, private or manife&s;ted. But as the times of peace or war require, tributes, cea&s;ements and &s;ub&s;idies are gathered or relea&s;ed, not again&s;t the univer&s;all approbation of the people, but all that can be &s;aid to be a &s;ervants, belongeth to his ma&s;ter, &s;o that without his con&s;ent he may (and that unque&s;tioned) make u&s;e of any thing that is his. Indeed if &s;uch bee the extreme nece&s;sity of the State, that without taking the &s;ubiects e&s;tates, it cannot be repaired, the King &amp; Parliament may make u&s;e of them, otherwi&s;e not. Tho&s;e things which are enacted, ratified &amp; perpetuated by the co~mand of God and law of Nations, admit|ting of no repeal, unle&s;&s;e &s;uch weighty cau&s;es be induced, which are able to overpoy&s;e all contrary rea&s;ons, &s;uch, as I &s;aid, the ex|treme nece&s;sity of the State did require. For example, it was no more lawfull for <HI>Ahab</HI> to take away <HI>Naboths</HI> vineyard
<PB REF="3"> by force, which was his owne by hereditary &s;ucces&s;ion, althoug<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> the &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ituation of it were convenient and it &s;elfe plea&s;ant, then it was for no cau&s;e to take away his life, it ought therefore to be the ch<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">efe care of Kings, that they impo&s;e not on their Subjects grievious &amp; unlawfull taxes, which they nither can, nor are bound to bea<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e, for this is not only again&s;t the liberty of a freeborne Subiect, but al&s;o again&s;t all humanity and clemency, for it is cruelty in a Mulitor to lay vpon his pack-hor&s;es more then they can ab<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y beare, much more uniu&s;t is it to afflict with unlawfull imp<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;itions tho&s; (which tho they are not of the &s;ame dignity) yet are <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">hey of the &s;ame rea&s;on and liberty, by nature with our &s;elues: fir&s;t therefore it is not incon&s;i&s;tent with the &s;ubiects liberty, to mai<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">t<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">in &amp; defend the per&s;on honour &amp; e&s;tate of his Soveraign,</P>
<P>For this are we bound to by the Law of God, Kings being fir&s;t of divine in&s;titution &amp; not the invention of men, nor is it their meere denomination but their vnque&s;tionable authority where|by they are made &s;upreame, for <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Samuell</HI> were (though not of the &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">me title) yet of no le&s;&s;e power then <HI>Saul</HI> and <HI>David,</HI> which was long a goe experementally proved, in the unheard of pu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;hment of <HI>Korah</HI> and his company, who tooke upon them to que&s;tion the Legall power of <HI>Mo&s;es:</HI> it is &s;trange to &s;ee that Chri&s;tians are more apt to encline to the errours of the blinded Gen<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">es and &s;educed Heathens, then to imbrace the truth of the Mo&s;aicall hi&s;tory, and the Doctrine of the Prophets by which is evinc<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">d, that God alone is the author of Kingdoms, and the e&s;ta|bli&s;her of Kings. Nay, then His owne words when he &s;aith, <HI>Per me <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">eges regnant,</HI> and <HI>huic trade &amp; illi &s;ccptrum aufero.</HI> And S. <HI>Paul</HI> brings this as the Rea&s;on to induce us, to an orderly obedience to to t<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e higher powers, for &s;aith he, <HI>The powers that be are ordained by God.</HI> Nor is it God alone by which we are commanded to per<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">orm our duty to our Prince, but the Laws of <HI>England</HI> require the &s;ame, and that upon good rea&s;on: for the King is he which ta|keth upon him to de&s;end his Subjects liues and E&s;tats again&s;t all oppo&s;ers what&s;oever: and how &s;hall he be encouraged to defend us, if by us his honour be invaded; it is he upon whom depends
<PB REF="4"> the due admini&s;tration of the Laws, and they are the Laws which warrant our owne unto us, &s;hall we then oppo&s;e him that by all meanes po&s;&s;ible and honourable doth defend us. We are borne Subjects and therefore ought to obey, he a Prince, and therfo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e not to be &s;ubject, therefore to be <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">beye<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">, we are Members, he the head, are the members true that con&s;pire again&s;t the head? nay can the members &s;ub&s;i&s;t when the head is l<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t? nor is the Kings honour and per&s;on better maintained and d<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ended, then by revea|ling and di&s;covering tho&s;e plots and con&s;pir<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cies, which tend to the &s;ubvertion of it, and &s;uch are we b<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">und to a<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> well to detect in others, as not to invert in <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ur &s;elues, other<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> being able as dange|rou&s;ly to invade him as our &s;elues and our &s;elues as guilty as o|thers, that knowing their treachery, do not to our power defeat it. For is not he a traytor that will &s;tand &s;till, and &s;ee his Prince wronged, when it is in his power to defend him? It is in my opi|nion the di&s;chargment of our duty, to prevent anothers trea&s;ona|ble intents, as well as to be innocent our &s;elues, and I thinke al&s;o to reveale treachery in another, is the be&s;t demon&s;tration of our own innocencie: it cannot be a di&s;paragement to us to performe our true allegiance to him who is aboue all men, and to none but God Subiect, and &s;o is our King, let Papi&s;ts and their blind guide <HI>Bellarmine</HI> averre what they plea&s;e to the contrary, nor is it an ar|gument that all are not bound to obedience to a temporall Magi|&s;trate becau&s;e he can or doth erre. For is it not as apparent that &s;pirituall ones, &s;uch as are Cardinalls, Bi&s;hops, have as oft and as gro&s;ly offended? it is therefore infalibly true, that all &s;pirituall Rulers what&s;oever as well as temporall, are Subiect and ought to be Subiect and ought to di&s;charge their obedience to a tem|porall head, which they ought to account as &s;upreame, and are by his power to be iudged, in all matters which by humane iu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">gment can be controverted, another &s;ubiection we have of S. <HI>Au&s;tine</HI> and St. <HI>Ambro&s;e,</HI> becau&s;e &s;ay they the King <HI>Imago D<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i e&s;t,</HI> is the Image of God; <HI>ad regendum populos et corrigendum,</HI> and to &s;uch a <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">uely Image as is a King, it will be no Idoalatry to give reverence.</P>
<PB REF="4">
<P>But although the King hath the &s;upreame power ouer all and ought by all to be obeyed, yet can he not in his owne per&s;on excecute his whole authority he maketh u&s;e therefore of the eyes and hands of other men that through them he may ea&s;ilyer &s;ee and correct enormityes; he taketh unto him the councells of his w<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">bi<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cts, and &s;uch who&s;e con&s;ciences are as &s;incere as there iudgements &s;earching, that thay may as well performe as know iu&s;tice, bu<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> becau&s;e the authors and intruducers of vice and di&s;turb+ances are cumming with theire crafty pollicy by &s;ecret wayes and meanes undi&s;cerned they &s;omtimes &s;o conuay theyr plots thus they cannot be di&s;cuered by fore&s;ight but only by experience, and by their &s;ence and when they are felt &amp; di&s;couered they cannot but with unweared difficulty, and indefatigable paines be rooted out, the offenders being &s;ometimes &s;o grete, and &s;o grete in favour that they cannot be &s;trucken at, but by the perill of their impeach|ers, the &s;afety and nece&s;&s;ity of the &s;tate required that greter coun|celles &s;hould be called, and the&s;e are Parliaments, the happy reducers of wronges, and compo&s;ers of &s;trifes, of which all mem|bers may freely and without danger utter their opinions and votes concerning all matters in controuer&s;y, and to which it is lawful for the meane&s;t per&s;ons to manife&s;t their greuances. they enioy|ing &s;uch priuledges which canot be without iniu&s;ti&s;e infringed, and the&s;e &s;uch libarty as may be a meanes to free them from all kind of wrong, and heere greatnes may be <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1+ letters">eached, neither can it in its golden plumes hide the enormity of ba&s;e actions: to the&s;e councels, and to all that &s;halbe by them enacted, if we yeeld due ob&s;ervance, we perform our duty to the King, they being his coun&s;ellers and advi&s;ers in matters of State, and the &s;etlers of peace and order in the common-wealth, and their acts are to be obeyed, not que&s;tioned by &s;ubiects. For if every malignant &s;pirit might in interpreting or ob&s;erving the co~mands of coun|cels u&s;e their own liberty, what can be expected, but ruine? for where there is no order, there is confu&s;ion; and where no go|vernment is, there i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> no order, and all government requireth its co<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">relative obedience: if the&s;e be wanting, who would not ra|ther
<PB REF="5"> wi&s;h to be the meane&s;t &s;ubiect, then the highe&s;t ruler? if to the place of a Magi&s;trate were annexed neither &s;afety, nor au|thority? although the Papi&s;ts them&s;elves c<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">nnot prove but that it is po&s;sible for the greate&s;t Councels that are to erre, yet mu&s;t we think it very improbable that &s;o many men cho&s;en out of a<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">l parts of the kingdome, &s;hould want &s;i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">cerity in con&s;ci|ence, and per&s;picacy in iudgment. And in ca&s;e that in &s;ome one thing or other they did erre, better were it to &s;ubmit to that one mi&s;take, then that every man &s;hould exe<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ci&s;e the liberty of his own fancy, if &s;ueh &amp; &s;o many men be voluntarily &s;lack in th to|tall performance of their d<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ty, the more is their own perver&s;e will to be blamed. Better it i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> for us to p<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ay unto our wonderful Councellour to rectifie their actions, then our &s;elves to iudg<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> of them or condemne them.</P>
<P>One part of the &s;ubjects du<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y may &s;eem to be &s;till behind, and that a nece&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ry one too, the maintaining of peace &amp; union, thing<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> in this time of di&s;traction of all men de&s;irea<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">le, and indeed it is that which maketh a nation truly happy, it is that without which heaven and earth coul<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> not con&s;i&s;t. Peace is a word which men and Angels love to heare, a modell of happine&s;&s;e, the epitome of felicity, the knot of true love. The body politike is comp &s;ed of contraries as well as the naturall body, one member being p<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">one to rebell again&s;t another, and all again&s;t the head: and without the moderation of peace, which is the &s;oul of this body, it is not po&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">ble that it &s;hould &s;ub&s;i&s;t: how to expre&s;&s;e the incomparable &s;weetne&s;&s;e of it, ex<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">eeds my po<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">er. But th<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y &s;ay the be&s;t way to expre&s;&s;e a thing is by its cont<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ary, we may be&s;t learn by mi&s;ery what is happine&s;&s;e, by &s;orrow what joy by war what is peace. But I pray God we have no occa&s;ion this way to know it. The way to attain it hath been already &s;hewed, he that performs as he ought hi<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> allegiance to his King in the pre&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">vation of his per&s;on ho|nour and e&s;tate: his duty to the Parliament, in maintaining their privi|ledges, and obeying the lawes ena<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ted by them, and nouri&s;heth no trea&s;on in him&s;elfe, but detects it in others, doth truly, rightly and &s;incere<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">y to his p<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">wer maintain peace and unity, and doth fully di&s;charge the duty of a l<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">yall and well-affected &s;ubiect.</P>
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<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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