probitas laudatur alget plain dealing is good but he that useth it shall die a Beggar And for want of distinction Proverbial Sayings of this nature are sometimes the occasion of staggering in the progresses of virtue If the propensity be weak and the rational faculty indifferent such are the honest and good men of the world in a general report But if the provocations of nature are slow and the judgement exceeding good which is very rare for God Almighty for the most part puts a quick reason where there are strong passions then those are the best men some whereof have been called the Heroes of the World and others by the old Heathens Canonized for Gods And of this sort in later times was Epaminondas among the Thebans and Scipio Africanus among the Romans before whom the World would not have been able to stand had they been Soveraign Princes of any considerable Country In adverse fortune and in prosperity they are of equal temper content and glory The sorting of these people make diversities of factions and Religions of whom one which is the last is only safe for any Government to espouse But we must not conclude these observations without an exception where aeducation has been as it was in Alexander under Aristotle a great Philosopher which had great influence on him for during the strength thereof he lived virtuously and with great renown but after that began to wear out and the force of Nature to return and prevail the glory of his former life was shaded by his looseness and debauchery And the saying of another great Philosopher to his Scholers laughing at a Phisiognomer who declared him by the outward view a vitious person is not to be forgotten So I am says he by Nature but I have made a Conquest by Philosophy 4. IN the next place place we will consider the actions of Men now Law is the rule by which such or any other beings are governable The Law of Nations is what is generally practised among Neighbour Countries and has chiefly concernment in War and Peace If it be universally used it is said to be the Law of Nations through the whole world as we often call it and ought not to vary from the Law of God which is the Law of Reason If they be made by Man we call them humane Laws from the Author If they concern the constitution of the government of a Nation they are called Fundamental otherways not With us in England those that relate to private Corporations or Places or Persons in some particular considerations are named Privileges because they are private Laws such which have respect to all in general because they are common to all are called the common Law if they be made by Act of Parliament they may concern either Privileg'd men or Places in particular or the Community in general having an extensive power over all and goe by the name of Statutes The Laws of Nature I take it though some think otherwise is that Rule whereby all things in the World which have not reason or want the use of it have their actions governed and is solely managed by the Providence of God and may be said a necessity so the motion of the Stars the actions of Birds and Beasts and other Brute Animals are directed By the Law of Nature all Animals follow and observe their Appetites and to the preservation of themselves eat what is proper food for them where they can get it and take from and feed on one another as Birds and Beasts of prey and this by necessity for without that many could not live and God has design'd it for a good end for other wise some kinds would increase to an unfitting proportion for the Earth to sustain and what is done by this Law is no sin in respect of the necessity Among the old and some new Philosophers there are those who being too intent hereon have held a fate in all things and certain Christians a too strict praedestination Were it not indeed for the special Providence of God Almighty that rational Souls have some freedom of will and that the whole World will not be found in the same state it now is at such time as the position of the Heavens will be thus again hereafter perhaps it might not be absurd to think of Platonick years but those things will alter the Scene By the special Providence of God I understand his extraordinary works which are rare and do therefore argue the excellency of the Artist who has made a noble Engine with so much various curiosity as the World is and yet for many thousands of years it needs no correction or amendment that we can discover But we cannot otherways suppose then that some men draw absurd consequences of Atheism herefrom supposing there is no Deity because we have not converse therewith in special manner The Law of Reason which is sometimes called the Law Moral I understand that by which animate things rational ought to be governed and is also the Law of God because God directs it We call it the Law of reason because we find it out by reasoning and consists chiefly of two parts in respect of a double relation the one toward God the other Man That Law likewise which is revealed in Scripture is called the Law of God for the above mentioned cause and of the Law of reason is rather an explanation than any wayes different and seems ill interpreted where it dissents The Will is an Inclination of the Soul to do a thing It is sometimes disposed by the body from it's passions and at other times by the results of reason and very rarely is a Will without a Motion from the one or an Inclination from the other As either predominates so the Soul does generally Will unless the special direction of Almighty God or a spontaneous Motion does vary it Some likewise will urge a fatal necessity having their minds chiefly intent upon the last result of reason as others taking notice both of that and the impulse of nature but the Will though it is rarely known to act freely yet one would think it might by this Instance Put the case the Appetite do dispose a man to a vitious house his Reasoning to more sober and convenient affairs yet it seems not improbable he may Will and in some cases do an act distinct from and not mov'd by either Many disputes concerning the freedome of the Will have been the subject of great controversie in Philosophy and Professors of Religion have brought it into question in Divinity delighting rather in such vain altercations than to observe and promote the substance of Gods worship in which the world does generally agree Without reason it seems there could be no Sin as there is not in irrational Animals nor likewise virtue for they both proceed from the comparing or reasoning faculty of the Soul of man Hereupon it follows that to be chast by a disposition of body or
THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND EXTENDING To the Conquest of so much of Britain as was Subjected by the Romans With an Introductory Preface to the whole Written in the YEAR 1666. LONDON Printed for J. C. and are to be sold by William Grantham in Westminster-Hall Henry Brome at the Starr in Little Britain Thomas Basset under St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet Robert Horne at the Angel and Horn in the first Court in Gresham Colledge out of Bishopsgate-Street 1668. AN INTRODUCTION to the READER HAving had opportunity and leisure for some time during the late Revolutions to observe several remarkable passages and the consequences thereof which have been fatal amongst us here in England such perhaps as the World cannot overmatch if equal for variety and value And taking notice further that the root from which they sprang was double pointed the one part whereof consisting in mistakes the other in designs I thought I might not do an unacceptable Work to my Country in endeavouring an Explanation of the one and to lay open the other and in committing Errors hope to be the rather pardoned since what is here set down is not founded on any other bottom than that of a sincere meaning Hereupon I thought it good to write of the Actions of men and confine the subject to those of this Nation wherein notwithstanding having a large Field we might as we pass along take full liberty to observe and report what is conducible to the second purpose and in the beginning by way of Introduction discuss certain Principles of great notice in the World and not of different nature with the chief subject which may tend to unfold some misapprehensions and also produce a general and beneficial Influence in our passage through the larger Work The beginning must be low of some necessity even upon the very first rudiments of Nature though it seem at present distant and foreign to the purpose in hand Neither can it well be otherwayes than somewhat large but this is our confidence though the proportion of the entrance to the following Edifice is not very just and suitable especially at this first impression when a very small part only discovers it self yet they may hereafter or it will at least render the Fabrique more stable and capacious Some Philosophers hold that the Universe is an entire Mass infinite in respect of extent and divisibility that is as much as to say without termination or bounds and may be divided into parts alwayes divisible and but of one nature or disposition seeing then that there is motion in it consequentially it may follow either that such moving is ab aeterno for it is a contradiction to say that some other thing moves it or that the Universe has power of it self to cause it 's own motion if the first were true does it not follow likewise that there is no God in the World which is against the light of reason and the impressions in all mankind and if the second that he is of the same nature with the other parts of the Mass as Earth or Water and so of further consequence that every chip of Wood or Stone is part of the Godhead which is absurd It may seem also inferreable of like necessity that the faculties or powers of the Soul of Man or other Animals to know to move to be in pain or to be pleased are but the effects of the frame of those bodies wherein they are and arise from the figure and composition of part of the world and unavoidably that Religion is but a craft whereby men are kept in awe all which in some parts appear insensible in others contrary to the light of nature and of reason to common sense the universal apprehension of sober and wise men in all Ages and would bring in with it a train of unspeakable mischiefs to a Commonwealth and all Mankind were it generally believed and admitted and thereupon contrary even to the nature of Truth the fruits whereof are alwayes good Other Philosophers think that the universe is compounded of a certain number of beings indivisible in themselves though in respect of their quantity they may be Mathematically and Imaginarily divided and that they are all of one nature that their motion is not from any power within them but either ab aeterno or from the composition of some or all of them the consequences are much alike with those of the foregoing Doctrine and for the reasons then mentioned are to be rejected A third there are who suppose several of divers nature some whereof have a power to resist penetration within the Sphere of their own beings which is also a cause of their capacity to be moved and are or may be called simple beings others have withall further a faculty to know to be in pain to be pleased to move c. and are or may be named Souls some whereof and not others have also a power to reason and are called rational Souls risibilitie seems to flow from the faculty of reasoning and not to be one in it self they are likewise of opinion there may be other beings such as we call Spirits or Angels and some past stories make mention of their appearances and actions but of their nature faculties and business they presume that we have scarce any knowledge unless by revelation but strongly conclude their employment is not to frighten and sport with Women and Children and the weaker sort of melancholick men but rather that such kind of institutions were first promoted by certain Silver-Smiths who making Shrines for the Temple of Diana did thereby bring no small gain unto the Crafts-men They doubt not of a fifth being different from the other four who fram'd the World and all things therein and does still govern it Which Opinions are agreeable to those of Wise men in all Ages to the impressions in our Nature the light of Reason the benefit universally of Mankind and upon which neither inconvenience nor absurdity appears to follow I forbear to make a more particular entry into the first principles or use other arguments to my intended purpose because this part would too much increase and I choose rather for confirmation to any that shall doubt to refer him to the searches of his own reason and the body of this Introductory Discourse from the congruity whereof to the light of Nature and of Reason and the consent within it self may some arguments perhaps flowe 2. Of those beings before-mentioned in this place we shall chiefly consider Man under which word is comprehended Male and Female and either consist of Soul and Body The first is a single being the second compound also because the one is not divisible as we think and the other may be actually divided Whether the parts of the Body or the Soul it self had not a being ab aeterno it may be is not penetrable by reason and then we must have recourse to revelation and out of Holy Writ
we are taught that Almighty God created both To proceed a little further what is not constituted by some Agent is so by chance now by the many thousand purpose that one may observe the parts of Man made for it may well be concluded it was in such estate by contrivance and not casually Further that there was a first man of every Family because men are born in time and the Notions of time that are intelligible have periods That there was only one at first or Male and Female seems not unreasonable in respect that in all times the Actions generally of Men much resemble one another In a Body is considerable the Appetite which is a propensity arising from the constitution of the consistent parts and the quality of the fluid without which Children for want of Notions and Fools and Madmen from a defect in the parts of the Body not being able sufficiently to exercise the faculties of their Souls could not subsist They are many some whereof are these a propensity to eat and drink which begins early even from the birth to live and when we come to a full growth and so not far from the beginning of our decay which God designs also to generate and propagate our species and when they are born to nourish and defend them not being capable of securing themselves and many other which are all common to man with other animals From an exorbitant disposition therein proceeds generally the violence of one Animal upon another and is in Man more extravagant usually than in others but in him is a rational Soul to correct and regulate it In the Soul is observable a faculty to know now knowledge seems to be an impression on the mind imprinted from without by the conveyance of the Senses if it come through the Eye it is called a sight through the Ear a sound the Pallate a taste the Nose a smell and any other part of the Body a touch Hence it follows that of Bodies which are fit objects of our senses we discourse with some certainty as of the learning about quantities called Mathematical and not considerably improved since the antient time of Euclid and our minds not being infinite but quantities limited we have no intelligible notions of infiniteness or aeternity Hereupon further that of what makes no impression on the mind we talk of but by guess as we do of Spirits or Angels and have no knowledge of them unless revealed and of such things which are at so great a distance as we cannot receive well distinguisht notions of them we do but conjecture at too as of those of Astronomie and of such as are so little that they come not into the mind but imperfectly or not at all we likewise but guess at as of the Elements of Nature in natural Philosophy yet in both these two last greater knowledge hath come into the World by the improvement of the optick Science of late times rendring in effect some things nearer and others more large than the World wherein Aristotle lived and many worthy Philosophers was acquainted with The rational faculty seems to be a power to compare the notions in the mind and that to be an Act of the Soul from within If the comparison be rightly and fully made it is called right reasoning if but in part and as yet no disagreement found we say it is probable because we find no difference but do not conclude because we have not made a thorough observation If there be a disagreeing we say it disagrees from reason Again what we can well compare we can well reason of as we may of the Notions of things large and near what we can compare but in part we can make but a probable conjectare of and what not at all we cannot reason of Reasoning seems thus to be done First the Soul applyes it self to or fancies or calls to mind a notion of a thing we know well and then makes application to another notion of a thing not so well known and after comparing them observes how near they are alike in quantity figure colour noise smell taste action c. and if we would perswade another man to be of our opinion we usually goe some such way as this to work First we affirm there is such a thing which we think to him is very well known and that there are such particulars about it then we say the thing we would prove is the same with that in such a respect upon comparing has such circumstances and therefore in that consideration is the same thing which seems likewise the foundation of Syllogismes and Logical Arguments For example by reasoning we find there is a Deity who orders and disposes all things in the world for we thus argue Concerning all the notions we have of things we observe the figure and places of some in a respect to others have the marks of a Contriver and there are them which have none the first we say cannot be without design the other come by chance that is without contrivance Further if we come to a Town and find several things of certain figures in places to an intended purpose we conclude and rightly that they were contrived by the head and acted by the hands of men because in comparing it with what we have heretofore seen we never yet did observe such things without contrivance or made without hands but if we see a heap of rubbish we resolve it might be in that shape by chance for so we have formerly taken notice such things have been If we come to look into the admirable composition and figure of man wherein to a vast number of purposes divers things are plac'd and compare it with what we have seen and heard has been done by chance or the power of men or any other animate thing we converse with we shall presently conclude they came neither by contingency nor by the Art of any thing we have knowledge of and therefore by some thing which we do not know and give it the name of a Deity We fetch another Argument to this purpose from the nature of motion for we say every thing we converse with has some cause to move it and that nothing moves originally where there is not a Soul or Spirit to stir it and thence also that the whole order of nature in motion proceeds from some Soul or Spirit which we call likewise a Deity But whether this be a single person or there be more than one we cannot find out by reason because we have no particular and distinguishing notion of it and so can make no comparison to this purpose and thereupon must have recourse to revelation and by Holy Writ we find that there are three persons yet but one God which does not disagree from reason for where is no defect in Judgement nor violence of appetite there may be no disagreeing in will For the like reason we cannot discover the special place of residence nor attributes
of the Godhead and therefore we do well when we say that we know better what he is not than what he is or when less and rest in admiration When the mind is moved from without to the Soul in any particular notion if we are awake we say it comes into the mind if asleep we call it a dream and is without a motive force from the Soul that is without our will and with Man and Beasts is alike As to call to mind or to reason seems peculiar to the rational Soul and to be a motion from within So little being known is one cause there are so many Scepticks Atheists and variety of Phylosophers There may be a divine revelation different from the knowledge before mentioned but it seldome comes and is difficultly discovered the world being full of Artifice and deceipt but as we are capable enough to receive it so doubtless God is powerfull sufficiently to infuse it If it be asked what becomes of the Soul after dissolution of the body we must answer we know not that is we can but conjecture probably had we not a Revelation from holy writ that it enters a place of joy or torment proportionably to the good or bad deeds acted in the time of its conjunction with the body which neither does disagree from reason for a being created may be continued and what is from aeternity may be to aeternity now if the Soul has a being when the body is dissolved as it may and probably has it is then somewhere and being capable of pain and pleasure before it may be so on the dissolution Let us go a little further we observe that some men who run an oblique course to the rule of reason whom we call wicked men are punish'd in this world in equal proportion to their offences and others not and again they that walk regularly with great care and pains are sometimes rewarded here below but not alwayes which ha's been a stone whereat many have frequently stumbled Now if there be not rewards and punishments after this life and there be also a God he will then be unjust which is disagreeing to reason for we see even men of reason if they are not overpowred by their appetites or passions do just and reasonable things much more honourably ought we to think of the justice of Almighty God And if there be no Deity it will be incongruous to the general constitution of nature and of the universal world which is regularly and justly framed and thereupon we may inferr there is a Heaven and Hell that is as much as to say that Souls after this life have pains and delights according to their merit in this world unless where the special mercy of God on penitential applications does lighten if not extinguish the afflictions Further not much differing from the same purpose it may be observ'd that generally men of virtue though for some time they may lye under scandals and misery yet for the greatest part of their years they prosper and are happy but this is not alwayes so And on the contrary the wicked leading their lives according to their lusts though they may have pleasing dayes yet have they many more miserable but it is not thus constantly From hence it may be conjectur'd that probably God Almighty hath usually rewards for the virtuous in this world as we often phraise it and punishments on vitious persons to encourage the one and discountenance the other but not alwayes to the intent they might not expect to set up their rest here but conclude upon a being hereafter and rewards and punishments according to the course of their lives What the mind is which I call that part of man where the Notions are treasur'd up is difficult to discover This is observable that Notions will decay and wear out as men of Age discover and the mind it self seems to perish in certain diseases from which a conclusion might be drawn that it is of nature with the body and little differing from that of other Animals to the preservation of whom it is necessary but must say we think there may be a faculty in the Soul to receive them 3. FUrther as to man in general from the extent of his appetite in the particulars of his passions that is to say of lust to meat drink or venery of anger and the like and from the degree of his capacity to reason proceeds the different dispositions and tempers of mankind These two roots are well express'd in the Poet video meliora proboque which was the result of reason deteriora sequor which was the impulse from the passion of revenge prevailing in Medea the Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak saith the Scripture and again there is a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our minds These constitutious of men may be divided into many kinds with great difference but I shall only take notice of some few particulars which make remarkable dispositions If the appetite be violent and the reason weak it renders that man giddy inconsiderate and dangerous I speak not here of Fools or Mad-men If a heady passion meet with an indifferent judgement it makes those who are the worst men of the world they are alwayes making Disturbances heading of Factions laying of Plots they have a smattering of knowledge and so presume more than the foregoing sort and their outside is for sometime fair but by their Ambition Covetousness Lust and other Violencies destroy afterward all that they with tollerable and formal reason did before discourse of They study the Infirmities of Princes keep Factions alive to awe them with and render themselves considerable and commit a thousand absurdities in making out their Interests If they are preferr'd to the employments of a Prince by their vitions lives they stain and bring an evil report upon the best causes and sometimes ruine a Commonwealth their Soveraign and many honest men that adhere to his just Authority if they are not advanc'd they are the leading malecontents of a Nation and oft thrusting themselves into the head and disguise of wel-meaning men lead such into errors before they are well aware of what these are within their bosomes Of this kind was Caesar Borgia Machiavells Prince who never staid at any Villany in order to the execution of his project and in the end fail'd of all Those that have the most extended appetites but strongest reason undertake great matters and oft perform them to admiration but not without many Violencies and much Injustice by the praedominancy of their passions such was Julius Caesar and Alexander the great If the propensity be in the lowest extent and meet with a judgement of the like low degree of capacity the men with whom it is so are generally free from offence because of the weakness of their appetites and foolish for want of judgement they are the Innocent soft men of the world Of these it is meant when it is commonly said
to be temperate in Meat Drink or Venery on the the same cause is not a virtue To be valiant upon the warmth of wine or by the natural heat of the brain a wearisomeness of the world upon greater skill in a weapon than another upon strength of body a bruitish nature or an absurd fear of being accounted Cowards if they refuse to put their lives upon the chance of a Die as many do with unmanly weapons is not true Valour nor oft accompanied with the courage of Nature nor practised in well govern'd Commonwealths or amongst the truly Valiant and Victorious sort of people and is at this day in greater esteem no where than amongst the most effeminate Men and Nations Neither is it a virtue to be just and temperate when the design is to purposes of ambition but then are men said to do an act of virtue when they have respect alone to the command of Almighty God either revealed or found out by reason Hereupon likewise we do count Children Fools Madmen and such as are of non sane memory by Sickness or Age exempt from the Law of God which is of reason and generally through the whole world in humane Laws they are not punished no more than Beasts when they do mischief because for the time they are deprived of their reason they are in like condition with other Animals If a man in a capacity to reason do not reason aright this seems no sin in him nor if he acts according to his reason for no man can be expected but that he should do according as he judges But if a man shall reason aright and not do accordingly to him it is sin and again to reason aright and act from thence is a virtue to reason wrong and from thence do wrong may be called a good meaning or to reason wrong and do differently may be said an ill meaning but enquire whether they be virtuous or sinful actions It follows further that to punish men barely for their opinions is unjust and unreasonable but if they endeavour to divulge them though they are conceited that so they ought to do if that may prove mischievous to a Commonwealth they are to be restrained notwithstanding as one ought to take a sword out of a Madmans hand or as he that is infected with the Plague ought not to be punish'd for having a Disease yet if he will go abroad to endanger others the Laws of this Land do reasonably justifie the punishing of him even in some cases to death upon this ground chiefly to prevent danger in others and they that pretend an opinion but are not thereof perswaded designing under that colour to disturb a Nation and raise advantages to themselves ought to have inflicted on them heavy penalties Furthermore seeing by reason we find out that there is a God by the like reason we are taught we ought not to speak or act irreverently concerning him or to set up any seigned Godhead against or equal with him seeing he made the world and continues it in a wonderful order in case of evil or mischief happened or impending he is we may conclude most able to relieve us Hereupon it follows that we ought to desire help of him reason tells us he will succour us the rather for so doing and that we ought to be humbly thankfull for what mercies he shews which is our duty toward God Come we then to what we owe toward Man By the Law of Nature we do suppose that every man may have a right to every thing but by the Law of reason no more than an equal right to all things in the first case man may have what he can get which is the state common to other Animals and in the second there ought to be an equal division in convenient proportions which is peculiar to rational creatures and having been made we ought to be content with our parts and not either by strong hand or cunning circumventions take from our Neighbours their shares In some sort also we have a duty toward other Animate Creatures for by the Law of Nature we may make use of them but to afflict them especially when we have no benefit thereby as it is not agreeing with reason but against it so is it abominable even to the nature of man 5. ANother faculty of the Soul is to be delighted and pained if they be not divers The things which cause the first are called good and on the contrary those that occasion the other evill and in the abstract good and evill and according to their degrees are they said to be more or less so Now if the question be asked what is the chiefest good before we answer we must distinguish and say if it be meant of the Original cause doubtless God Almighty if it be spoken to the means as to our own furtherance we may reply a virtuous life if to the thing it self the greatest pleasure is that which is largest in extent duration and freedome from evil and is the center of our designs and end of our labours But let our endeavours be never so capacious without a special providence of Almighty God Virtue can rarely if at all make a happy man in this world when fortune is wanting which is the state of a thing without design and of all contingencies that is most conducible when one lives amongst a happy people for an unfortunate Nation like the rapid motion of the eighth Sphere spoken of by some Philosophers forceth against their proper motion all Inferiour Orbes to a confusion of them and a necessary yeilding to that first great Circle And a happy Country does much improve the Fruits of a virtuous life to all that live therein 6. THat then in the concerns of a mans life having so great a share in the next place let us enquire thereof The strength and happiness of a Nation seems chiefly to consist in these things that they have a good Government that the people be many in number and that they be conveniently provided of all necessaries The Graecians having their eye especially upon the chief men that governed the several Commonwealths in their Country which was divided into many and observing some were directed by one man principally others by many of better sort that is to say by the richer and some by the people generally did call the first kind a Monarchy the second an Aristocrasie the third a Democrasie for the reasons expressed particularly in the derivation of their several names and those denominations have been brought through the Romane Conquests to us at this day But this seeming to be too general there are them who do say that there be also mixt Governments The way of division we will chuse shall be this All Governments are either of an absolute Monarchy an absolute Republique where the Authority is divided or mixt By an absolute Monarchical Government I mean and as I take it it is the general acception of the word