" And again, in his
speech to the Parliament, 1609, he hath these words: "The king binds
himself, by a double oath, to the observation of the fundamental
laws of his kingdom- tacitly, as by being a king, and so bound to
protect, as well the people as the laws of his kingdom; and
expressly by his oath at his coronation; so as every just king, in a
settled kingdom, is bound to observe that paction made to his
people, by his laws, in framing his government agreeable thereunto,
according to that paction which God made with Noah after the deluge:
'Hereafter, seed-time, and harvest, and cold, and heat, and summer,
and winter, and day, and night, shall not cease while the earth
remaineth.' And therefore a king, governing in a settled kingdom,
leaves to be a king, and degenerates into a tyrant, as soon as he
leaves off to rule according to his laws." And a little after:
"Therefore, all kings that are not tyrants, or perjured, will be
glad to bound themselves within the limits of their laws, and they
that persuade them the contrary are vipers, pests, both against them
and the commonwealth." Thus, that learned king, who well understood
the notions of things, makes the difference betwixt a king and a
tyrant to consist only in this: that one makes the laws the bounds
of his power and the good of the public the end of his government; the
other makes all give way to his own will and appetite.
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