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have, notwithstanding, run through all difficulties, and became considerable to their friends, as well as formidable to their enemies.

King Robert Bruce, about three hundred years ago, being likewise by the rebellion of his subjects, and the disloyalty of Baliol and Cumming, and their adherents, fiercely assailed by King Edward of England, who, at once, was possessed of most of the towns and strengths in Scotland, kept a parliament in St. Andrew's, took his queen prisoner, killed four of his brethren, amongst whom were those duo fulmina belli, defaced or removed all the monuments and registers of that kingdom, was constrained, with one or two servants, to hide himself among the hills; yet, notwithstanding all this, in a short time after, recovered his whole kingdom, was crowned with honour and glory, and forced his insolent enemy, in confusion, to fly from Sterling to Dumbar, and thence in a fisher-boat, Xerxes like, escaped narrowly with his life. I say Sterling,

Invictum, et fatale Scotorum propugnaculum :

Of which it is said,

Hic Latium remorata est Scotia cursum.

His Majesty's royal grandfather, Henry the Fourth, King of France and Navarre, yet of fresh memory, was in a lower condition, and had less power to resist those of the league and the powerful King of Spain; yet at last became victorious, in the overthrow of his enemies, to the great advantage and very considerable succour of the Netherlands.

The distressed condition of the predecessors of the high and mighty States-general, whom, after so many changes, the Almighty God hath, to the admiration of the whole world, brought into a safe haven, however Sirius, a Spanish writer, jesting with those of Holland and their confederates, did say, What can the Hollanders do against the King of Spain? As now, some scoffingly ask, How can the Scots stand against the powerful English? Is an eminent and visible example, that it is all one, with the Lord, to help with few or with many, and that, when all strength and human hopes do fail, he will arise gloriously, for the deliverance of the righteous, crowning them, in the end, with honour and good

success.

I. Shall we then look upon the present successes, and prosperity of that party, as alone unchangeable, for the which such strange grounds are by them pretended, as are no where found, being so diametrically opposite, according to the declaration of the said divines in and about London. To

1. God's holy word.

2. The instinct of nature.

3. Natural reason.

4. The laws of all nations.

5. The constitutions, particularly of the kingdom of England, who, above all other people, most obsequiously and affectionately regard and

reverence their Kings, as in those maxims of their law, Rex non moritur, Rex nulli facit injuriam, &c.

6. The judgment of all casuists.

7. Their oaths of fealty, supremacy, and allegiance, repeated particularly at the admission of every member into the House of Commons; their protestation, their covenant, their solemn league and covenant, and an hundred declarations, besides the publick faith of the kingdom of England, solemnly given to the commissioners of the kingdom of Scotland, upon their receiving his Majesty at Newcastle, in all which, they professed to the world, that they would maintain and preserve, with their lives and estates, the King's person, honour, rights, and royal posterity.

II. Or, shall we rest satisfied in the sophistry of those sectaries, who, out of Christ's answer to the subtle questions of the Herodians and Pharisees, if it were lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, answered, Ostendite mihi numisma, cujus hubet imaginem? infer that, fide implicita, the party now in England, is to be acknowledged, without any further enquiry or examination, since our Saviour's answer speaks nothing for their advantage. But, on the contrary, his commanding tribute to be given to Cæsar, whom the Jews formerly acknowledged to be their King, confirmeth and establisheth lawful power, and consequently condemneth sedition and rebellion; else David should have submitted unto and acquiesced in the usurped power of Absalom, who was possessed of all the land, even unto Jordan, and carried away all Israel after him; and Solomon in the power of Adonijah, Jehoiada in Athaliah's, and the Maccabees in the power of Antiochus Epiphanes, the grand enemy of the Jews; yea, the estates of the United Provinces should have then obeyed the force of the Duke of Alva, who, by the emblem of his statue formerly set up in Antwerp, did signify that he had invested himself with the absolute power. It is well said by one of the ancients, Omnis potestas est à Deo; sed acquisitio potestatis, furto, rapina, incendio, aut perduellione, non est à Deo, sed ab hominum affectibus et Satana mulitia.

III Or, may we suffer ourselves to be abused by the examples and precedents, which the said sectaries alledge of the Kings, Edward the Second, and Richard the Second, who, by reason of their incapacity, were forced to resign their crowns, the one to his son, the other to his competitor King Henry the Fourth, but neither of them to an inconsiderable, small remainder of an House of Commons, or the people? Only, in a full parliament, both their resignations were confirmed, and neither executed, but were always afterwards honourably entertained; yea, one Roger Mortimer, which is worth the observing, the chief author and actor in deposing of Edward the Second, and crowning his son Edward the Third in his father's place, according to which precedent his Majesty Charles the Second, ought by these to have been crowned, was by a parliament four years after, together with his fellow-murderers, condemned as a traitor and enemy to the King and kingdom, because he killed the said deposed King in Berkely Castle.

Besides, the now prevailing party, by solemn protestations, did publish and declare to all the world, that they did not intend to follow those accursed precedents, although they should suffer never so much by the King and his party. Exact. Collect. pag. 69.

IV. Should we not rather deeply apprehend, and with fear look upon those exemplary punishments inflicted upon perjury, and covenantbreaking, in God's holy word, as may be seen, to omit others, in the person of Saul, who, together with his posterity, as also the whole kingdom of Israel, was so severely punished, because he destroyed the Gibeonites, against the covenant made with Joshua, above two-hundred years before, notwithstanding they procured the same deceitfully? As likewise in the history of England, and other kingdoms, many pregnant examples to that purpose might be alledged; particularly that of William Thorpe, chief justice of the King's Bench in that realm, who for taking a bribe of eighty pounds sterling, was put to death, and all his goods confiscated to the King's use, in regard that in so doing he violated the oath of a judge, as the words run, Quod sacramentum domini regis, quod erga populum habuit custodiendum, fregit malitiose, falso, et rebelliter. Parl. 23 Edw. III.

An Answer to their memorials.

THE memorials I pass over, as monstrous, and which, by inevitable consequence, not only tend to cut off all treaties and alliances between the King's Majesty and this state, and all commerce with his loyal and faithful subjects, but likewise, in some cases, to the not suffering them to dwell or reside in these parts.

A demand which is against the band of common society amongst men, the sovereignty of the United Provinces, and liberty of the same, which have ever been a sanctuary for honest men, and a receptacle of all nations whatsoever. In a word, such quale victor victo dare, non socius socium rogare solet. The cruelty of Tiberius, Nero, Domitian, and others, hath, for the most part, been confined within the walls of Rome, or the borders of Italy, without persecuting their opposers, in a strange land, as an omnibus umbra locis adero.

Concerning the thirty-six articles of the treaty.

THE thirty-six articles evidently tend,

I. To hinder his Majesty's just right, and restitution to his hereditary crown and kingdom of England.

II. To involve the high and mighty States-General in a labyrinth and great inconveniences, who, at present, have no enemy.

III. To encourage and strengthen the King's irreconcileable enemies, and rebels, as the fourth, fifth, sixth, and thirty-first articles do import.

IV. Against the forementioned resolutions of the high and mighty States, in the year 1642, concerning the keeping a neutrality between

his Majesty's father, of blessed memory, and his parliament of England, namely, those of the first of November, and thirtieth of December, 1642, and the sixth of November, 1648.

V. Against a declaration and protestation of the noble and mighty States of Holland and West Friesland, dated the sixth of November, 1649, to the same purpose.

VI. Against all former treaties and alliances between his Majesty's royal predecessors and this State.

As, amongst others, that of the fourteenth of February, 1593, likewise consisting of thirty-six articles, between King Henry the Seventh of England, his heirs and successors, made in his name, and by his authority, as the words of the said treaty do bear, and Philip, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Burgundy, which bind and oblige, to this very day, divers of the United Provinces, and the chief members and towns thereof, to assist the said Henry the Seventh and his heirs, (which unquestionably pleadeth for my master Charles the Second, he being the sixth from him in descent, in linea recta) and to afford them all favour and friendly assistance, as well by sea as by land, and prohibiteth any treaty and alliance to be made with the rebels, and the enemies of one another.

Whose undoubted right, according to God's sacred word, the laws, and the fundamental constitutions of the kingdom of England, as, Rex non moritur, &c. is firmly radicated in his Majesty's person, however he by violence be kept from it:

Non unquam perdidit ordo
Mutato sua jura loco.

Insomuch that the ancient Romans, by the light of nature, did refuse to enter into any alliance with Nabis, the usurper of Lacedæmon, but continued the same with the just and lawful King Pelopides. Amicitia et societas nobis nulla tecum est, saith Titus Quintius, in the behalf of the Roman empire, apud Livium, lib. 34. sed cum Pelopide rege Lacedæmoniornm justo et legitimo facta est.

Finally, against the renewed treaty in the year 1550, December the fifteenth, made at Bins in Henegow, called the Perpetual Treaty, between the tutors of Mary, Queen of Scotland, in her minority, and Queen Mary of Hungary, regent for Charles the Fifth in the Low Countries, renewed again in solenni forma, word by word, at Edinburgh, 1594, between King James the Sixth and the high and mighty States, after the baptism of the late Prince Henry, his Majesty's son, celebrated at Sterling.

be

In the which it is promised and agreed upon, inviolably to maintain and preserve mutual friendship one with another, for all ages to come, and, as far in them lay, to prevent and hinder any damage that may fall either of them; that they shall traffick in safety and security, and likewise, that they shall assist each other with ships, and all sort of ammunition, as may be seen at length in the treaty itself, inserted by Peter Borr, in his thirtieth book.

But how opposite this is to their fourth, fifth, and thirty first articles, propounded to your Lordships, appeareth clearly out of the words there contained, where they not only deny to the King, and his subjects, privativè, all favour, friendship, and provision of war, but likewise endeavour to oblige your Lordships, de facto, to infest and make war upon them, as having now no other enemies, as they themselves give out, but Scotland.

But, expecting better things of the high and mighty States, and a religious observation of all treaties, resolutions, protestations, and declarations, your Lordships are intreated not to give ear to the said propositions, and memorials; as also, that the said thirty-six articles, perishing in their birth, may not be taken into any further consideration.

The Lord will reward every one according to his works; and, I wish, that he may ever bless the high and mighty States with his fatherly protection, and keep them from contracting any league and alliance, which may be attended with dishonour and damage unto them.

NEWS FROM FRANCE,

OR

A DESCRIPTION of the LIBRARY OF CARDINAL MAZARIN, Before it was utterly ruined.

Sent in a letter from Monsieur G. Naudæus, keeper of the publick library.

London, printed forTinothy Garthwait, at the little north door of St. Paul's, 1652. Quarto, containing six pages.

Gentlemen,

TO THE PARLIAMENT OF PARIS.

SINCE all the ordinances of your famous company are like thunderbolts, which dash in pieces each person whom they strike, and make dumb, or astonish every one that sees them fall: Give me leave to tell you, yet with all respects and submissions possible, that what you thundered out on the twenty-ninth of the last, against the library of the most eminent Cardinal Mazarin, my master, hath produced these two effects, with so much force and violence, that forasmuch as concerns the said library, it is not likely it should ever recover those losses which it hath already suffered, nor yet avoid those wherewith it is still threatened, unless by some very remarkable effect of your singular goodness and protection.

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