Page:The Leveller movement; a study in the history and political theory of the English Great Civil War (IA levellermovement01peas).djvu/131

 mentary committees; for ex officio examinations violated the spirit of the Great Charter, the Petition of Right, the Star-Chamber act, the Protestation, the Covenant, and above all “the infallible Rules of Gods own most sacred Word, which forbids that any man should answer upon questions to accuse, condemne and consequently kill and destroy himself, or that any man should be condemned before he be heard.” To support his interpretation of the laws of England, Lilburne appealed to the law of God.

His readiness to seek a higher justification for the laws of England became more apparent in a third pamphlet, Innocency And Truth Justified; in 1645 as in 1642 constitutional discussion led to reflection on the principles of government. Lilburne quoted Henry Parker’s statements on the origin of government in compact between the governor and the governed, and on the people’s right of binding their government; but as Lilburne’s logic was not disturbed like Parker’s by the idea of the indivisibility of Parliament and nation, he concluded that Parliament itself was bound by the compact with the people in which its power had originated. Moreover, in support of his conclusion Lilburne appealed to the law of reason. As he conceived it, the law of reason existed by virtue of a perceptive power innate in every man, taught or untaught, enabling him to distinguish right and wrong, good and evil. The law of reason taught every human being to know what was just and