selfish and corrupt Interests whereby the people come to feel burdens under them and find want of fences to guard them from the insolencies and assaults of such as are above them which are very usual every where for every man I think I need not add almost though he be unwilling to have any tyrannize over him yet he is too prone to tyrannize over such as are under him Who would not when he feels oppression if he were able thrust the Oppressor out of his seat and yet who sees how ready he himself would be so soon as he hath done it to seat himself in the same throne of oppression and that he will as certainly do the one as the other if he be not hindered by outwards force or which is better by an inward principle Indeed man can by no means come to see this concerning himself but the people still come too soon to feel it Now the People who wear their Government finding by experience where it sitteth easie or pincheth what present loads they groan most under what future fences they stand in need of to shelter them from the injurious assaults of Powers above them accordingly chuse persons who lie under the same sense with them to represent consult about and redress these their grievances by punishing Offenders for misdemeanors past by opening the course of Law for time to come as also by adding thereto or detracting therefrom as the condition and need of the people requires c. These persons thus chosen are to come with the sense and desires of the particular Counties Cities or Boroughs for which they serve mutually to represent these and to consult together how all burthens may be taken off and all desires satisfied in such a way as may stand with the good of the whole After full debate had how these things may be done to come to an agreement of full setling them accordingly in the firmest way that can be which having done to dissolve and leave the people experimentally to try and reap the benefit of their care pains and fidelity and to return immediately into their former condition to lie with them sensibly again under the benefit or inconvenience of what they have done And this to be done with as much speed as the motion of such a kind of Body in Affairs so weighty can permit that if they chance to fail in effecting what is desired and expected from them the people may quiet themselves with the expectation of another remedy in its season approaching The reason why Parliaments should with all possible speed dispatch their work is for avoyding of that corruption which standing pools are subject to and which is most dangerous in them for what shall rectifie the last remedy if that be out of order and grow so corrupt that it hath more need of a Physician it self then to act the part of a Physician All things by degrees gather corruption the governing Power by degrees declineth from its first purity and so also doth the rectifying and reforming Power its deviation is as easie as the others and of far greater consequence more destructive less curable Therefore better were it for Parliaments to leave part of their work undone then to sit so long as to contract corruption It is better to want somewhat of the full application of a remedy then to have it poysoned But of this more by and by under a distinct head by it self Now the whole Right Liberty Welfare and Safety of the People consisting in Parliaments the right Constitution and orderly motion of them is of the greatest consequence that can be there being so much embarqued in this Vessel where if it miscarry it is irreparably lost unless it can be recovered again out of the Sea of Confusion Wherefore it becometh every one both in reference to himself and the whole to contribute his utmost towards the right steering of this Vessel towards the preserving of it pure both in its state and motions lest both the good and welfare of the whole and of every particular miscarry for want of due care and observation Towards which work the further to incite and provoke others I cast in this present offering making mention of those dangers which lie open to my eye in reference to Parliaments whereby the true and genuine fruit of them may either be hindered from growth or come to be corrupted whereby the People at least cannot but miss of the proper use and benefit which it ought to reap from them There are in reference to Parliaments six Cases or Considerations evident to me whereby the hazard of the people may be very great which I shall set down distinctly that they may be the better taken notice of weighed and judged 1. Want of Parliaments Parliaments are the proper Remedy to relieve the grieved People from their burdens and oppressions from any kind or the several kinds of oppressions that may befall them from the oppressions of any Government any Governors any Laws any Incroachments c. for by several ways means and instruments the people may be oppressed Now if Parliaments be wanting that is to say be not duly called according to the need of the people it being their proper engine whereby alone they can duly orderly and safely act their Right Liberty and Safety is much hazarded and they obnoxious to lie under the burden of oppression without remedy If diseases grow and a due course of physique be not to be had the body cannot but suffer damage and hazard There are two things essentially necessary to the health and well-being of a Nation as well as of other bodies both natural and politique which are the cutting off of exuberances and the supplying of defects both which in the principal and most weighty part of them are peculiar to Parliaments so that where there is want of them the radical life and vertue of the people must needs be obstructed languish and decay This is a very ill disease how ever those who never knew or experimented the sweetness of enjoying their Right and Liberty may not be considerably sensible of it 2. Want of fair Elections as thus If the people be by any means drawn from minding their own good from bending themselves to chuse persons who may be fit to act for them How easily may Parlâ—aments warp aside from easing and relieving the people unto further burthening and grieving of them if such persons be chosen to appear in their behalf who are friends to their Oppressors and have a particular advantage of sharing with them in the benefit of that which is the burden and cause of grief to the people And here is a great danger the people are very obnoxious to Their burdens commonly arise from the miscarriage of the still present Governors and these Governors cannot but have great advantages by their Power over them to have an influence upon their choyce Therefore if the people be not so much the more wary that which was
The Fundamental Right Safety and Liberty OF THE PEOPLE Which is radically in themselves derivatively in the Parliament their Substitutes or Representatives Briefly Asserted Wherein is discovered the great Good or Harm which may accrue unto the People by Parliaments according to their different temperature and motions Together with some Proposals conducing towards an equal and just Settlement of the distracted state of this Nation As likewise a touch at some especial Properties of a Supream good Governor or Governors By ISAAC PENINGTON junior Esq The Safety of the People is the Supream most Natural and most Righteous Law being both the most proper End and most adequate Rule of Government London Printed by John Macock and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the West end of Pauls 1651. To the present Parliament of England THE Righteous God loveth Righteousness and he alone rightly weigheth measureth and administreth in Judgment and Truth Man hath a selfish Principle within which secretly blindeth and draweth him aside in his purest aims and intentions Man knoweth not his own heart how much he is engaged for himself what little truth of love mercy and justice there is in him towards others Every man thinks he minds the publique Good and Interest little seeing or suspecting how straitly he is bound up within the narrow compass of himself Every man pretendeth to be just and very ready to amend the wilful or negligent miscarriages of others but where are the men who once attaining to greatness and power slide not by degrees into the same paths of Injustice which they condemned others for walking in Man cannot observe his own errors nor indeed can he bear to hear of them He loveth himself so well that he cannot discern that evil which is in himself nor endure to be told of it by others but thinks they deal injuriously with him if they take notice of it or warn him against it for it is not evil in him but an evil eye in them which makes them look upon it as so The Powers of this World being so apt to err and their errors being so like themselves powerful have great need of faithful Monitors and plain Dealers but seldom meet with them and their condition makes them little able to bear them Their condition hath commonly this double bad influence upon them it maketh them able to do ill able to do harm but unable to bear the sight or representation of them It blindeth their own eyes in reference to themselves and their actions and maketh them enemies to him who is not equally blinded with them Nor can it be otherwise Man cannot take it well to have others telling him of that evil which he upon search cannot find in himself or to have them still blaming him for that as evil which he himself accounteth as good O ye present great Ones I speak it not in disrespect but in honor acknowledging that God by his providence and dispose of things hath made you great Look upon that Snare which hardly ever man in your condition avoyded Consider this poor Nation its great Cost its great Danger your great Promises to it and let its Right and Liberty be precious in your eyes Consider if it be possible impartially its Right and lead it into the possession of it If ye walk in the way of man ye will come to the end of man If ye be Successors in unrighteousness ye will end in ruine Ye have an harder peece of Self-denyal to practise then yet ye have met with if ye will be safe Your danger is greatest when ye seem most out of danger As there have been hitherto many Cries for you so there are now many Cries to you and Cries against you dayly Complaints have seldom been greater it behoves you to look thorowly that it be without a cause on your part If the poor fatherless people be destitute of help and have none to cry to but the righteous One being wearied out with crying to man it may make him the more regardful of their Cries and the more speedy and strict in exacting an account of your Stewardship from you The FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT LIBERTY AND SAFETY of the People is here presented to your view in general with others to whom also it appertaineth It concerneth you most particularly to take notice of it and to use industry and fidelity answerable to your Power and Trust to instate them in it which how ever they may abuse yet they ought to enjoy And if ye cannot make them happy yet putting things into their due order according to right this will be a comfort unto you that they are only made miserable by themselves whereas if ye detain their Right from them though with never so good an intent that will not excuse you at present nor afford you comfort at the last Ye have expressed a great Sense of the Injuries which the People have suffered by being deprived of their Rights and Liberties and have undertaken to restore them to the possession of them again do it in truth Let not Jealousies of what may happen cause you to turn aside from the direct path of Righteousness Put them as well as ye can into a way of minding and prosecuting their own good but take heed of overthrowing their Right and Liberty though from never so great a desire to do them good I am exceeding-jealous over you lest ye should unwittingly be deceived by your own hearts and unawares deceive the People forgive me this Jealousie It ariseth both from love to you and the People because my desire is so great on the one hand to have the People free and happy and on the other hand to have you the Instruments of it For as my desire was towards those which went before you while their day lasted that they might rather have found the way of administring Righteousness to others then of occasioning ruine to themselves So is my desire now towards you while your day remains and O that ye could see at least in this your day the things that concern your peace and the good of this Nation Every thing is bounded but few things know their bounds and so passing beyond them both give and receive wounds which always smart and afflict be they never so slight but if they be very deep tend to death KINGLY POWER did pass its limits we may now speak it Doth PARLIAMENTARY POWER keep within its limits How shall we resolve this fairly and clearly resolve it indeed we may in our own Judgments and Consciences when the limits of it are not determined And if things should yet devolve lower into the great and confused Body of the People is it likely they would keep their limits O GOD how is man entangled So far from attaining true inward spiritual Liberty that he cannot reach the shadow the outward part the earthly part the liberty of man So far are we from enjoying Liberty under any Government that we can at best but
imperfect things they are While ye cry out so much against any means or instruments on the one hand or so much magnifie any on the other hand as every one almost doth according to his different esteem of them ye cannot so fully be taken up with observing the principal Agent If God intend himself to bestow what ye desire upon you he may hold his hand while ye expect it from man If God intend at last to put forth an excellent peece of strength and wisdom for your rescue he may defer till he hath tired out yours And if that should be his intention ye are out of the way while your expectation is fastened elsewhere 5. And lastly Groan and pant unto him who is skilful to save after your own deliverance and after the deliverance of his people He who wanteth deliverance and knoweth not where to obtain it what is more proper for him then to groan and pant after it The whole Creation is continually in a condition of groaning and travelling after deliverance not of enjoying it Bear a part with the Creation as ye are a part of it yea the higher your extremities grow the greater let your groans be Be content with your travelling pangs which is the common track and rode unto bringing forth And groan likewise for the liberty of the sons of God for what do ye know but your Liberty may spring up with theirs Israel is in bonds the Lord hath smitten him the Lord hath hid his face from him yea the Lord hath made him a reproach and by-word among all the Heathen and while he frowns upon him he knows not how to smile upon any else The people of God have ever had hard usage in this World and particularly in this Nation Can ye expect that God who disposeth of all things should be forward to give you your Libertiâ—s while ye are not willing they should enjoy theirs Can they submit to the Laws Ordinances and Constitutions of man concerning their God while an higher light is set up in them No they cannot though they were in the dark If ye can be content and desire to do so do so quietly live your selves in Egypt if ye like it and ye may better do it for it will not be a Land of bondage to you but let my people go that they may serve me said God concerning his people when alass they knew not how to serve him This is a ticklish point and of more consequence to the Welfare of Nations then they are aware of Therefore if ye love your selves your own Peace 〈◊〉 own Liberties your own Happiness beware of this take heed of enthralling them in spiritual things who were never in that respect but only in outward in things common to man put under your yoke But in stead thereof wish after their Liberty and though ye cannot heartily desire it in respect to them yet do it in reference to the enjoyment of your own your selves because for ought ye know yours may lie wrapped up in it All this have I spoken unto you not from any design in me in reference to any thing or person but truly and faithfully from my very heart commending unto you what to me in this my state of weakness appears best for you Which having done I now take my leave of you wishing you the best benefit this can afford or rather the full fruition of that which this doth but weakly and imperfectly drive at viz. the quietest enjoyment of your selves in your present condition and the safest and swiftest passage to a better This is the heart of him towards you who earnestly desireth to be Yours in true Love and Faithful Service Isaac Penington junior THE Right Liberty and Safety OF THE PEOPLE Briefly Asserted THe Right Liberty and Safety of the People lieth chiefly in these three things in the Choyce of their Government and Governors in the Establishment of that Government and those Governors which they shall chuse and in the Alteration of either as they find cause This belongs to every people though few if any are in possession of it and that people which enjoyeth these enjoyeth its Right is indeed free and safe while it so remaineth 1. The Right Liberty and Safety of the People consists in the Choyce of their Government and Governors It is their Right for in Civil Societies Nature hath not cut out the body into form and shape but hath left it to be done by the will and wisdom of man having imprinted in him a sense of and desire after the enjoyment of Justice Order Love Peace and whatsoever else is good and profitable for him both particularly in himself and in common with others which desire throughly kindled in man and guided by the true light of Reason will lead man to chuse that which is properly good both for himself and others And though man may possibly or probably abuse this yet that is no sufficient ground for depriving him of his right Their Liberty lies in it too They only are a free People who have their Government of their own choyce Such upon whom others do intrude or upon whom other Laws or Regents are imposed then what themselves judg meet and necessary and besides that which they themselves voluntarily and by free consent submit unto for their good and welfare are so far under slavery and such a miserable subjection as Nature never appointed them unto Their Safety likewise lies in it for to be sure they will chuse nothing but what in probability will conduce to their own good and happiness whereas others making Laws for them or setting Governors over them may respect their own particular benefit and advantage and not so much the good of the People which is the main end why Laws Governments and Governors are appointed and to which they should in a direct line be guided And upon this ground I conceive it very requisite that men who are chosen to sit in Parliament to make or alter Laws to set up or alter Governments or Governors for and in behalf of the People should as soon as any lie open to the force of all the Laws they make or of any thing they do in that kind that no Law they make should take effect till they be dissolved and come to lie as liable to it as any otherwise they will not be sensible enough of the Peoples condition and consequently not fit to stand in their stead or to act for them in cases that concern them so nearly The greatest security the People have concerning their Parliaments is that they chuse persons whose condition will keep them from injurying them for if they prejudice them they prejudice themselves if they neglect their good they neglect their own good This security is good while the people chuse them that are of their own rank and while these make no Laws for them which shall have any life or vertue to do good or hurt till they come also to be exposed
have been guided by Principles of Reason and Righteousness unto common good There is not one sort of men upon the face of the Earth to whom I bear any enmity in my spirit though in some respect I must confess my self an enemy to every sort of men but wish with all my heart they might all attain and enjoy as much Peace Prosperity and Happiness as their state and condition will bear There are not any to whom I should envy Government but who ever they are they should have my vote on their behalf whom I saw fitted for it and called to it Indeed I am offended very much offended with most persons and things and I have a deep Charge against them which at present I keep secret not intending to bring it forth till I come upon that stage where I may have fair play Yet thus much I will say which toucheth a little upon it I am offended both with Light and Darkness or rather with that which pretends to be Light and that which is acknowledged to be Darkness I am offended with that which pretends to be Light because it doth not more fairly overcome Darkness but while it blames it for its dark paths of Tyranny Cruelty and Oppression it self seeks not by the pure vertue and power of Light but by the same weapons viz. of dark violence to conquer it and if it ever prevail this way to do it effectually I shall be much mistaken I am also offended with Darkness because it is not true to it self not just to it self not at peace with it self nor keeps within the sphere of its own dark Principles even those which it doth acknowledg in its own motions or in its opposing either Light or Darkness Christians dishonour themselves and their Principles They speak indeed of the Light of God of the Life of God of the Power of God of the great Name of God but are fallen short of the true vertue and glory of all these both in Religion and in their course in the World Men dishonor themselves and their Principles falling short of that common love good will and righteousness which very Nature would teach them to observe notwithstanding its depravation were their ears open But I delight neither to complain nor accuse onely I cannot but wish that all cause and occasion of complaint and accusation were taken away from him who doth delight in either All the liberty I shall now make use of is onely freely to express what I conceive necessary in the present confused state of things to reduce them into some certain safe and well-grounded order according to plain Principles of Reason and Righteousness without aiming either at the throwing down or setting up of any person or thing Which what interpretation soever of weakness folly or disaffection may be put upon it I finde not my self very prone to value This temper hath long attended my spirit not much to regard what account either I my self or any else put upon things but rather to expect what things will then appear to be when they shal be made manifest by that Light which doth discover them as they are and will pass such a judgment upon them as they deserve and shall not be able to gainsay or avoyd It is a kinde office and a commendable peece of service to help out of the mire or to offer so to do yet can hardly be so esteemed by him who observeth not himself to be in the mire and consequently hath no sense of any need of help He will rather entertain it with disdain then acceptation it implying him to be in such a condition as he is unwilling to own or acknowledg But how ever as I have on the one hand expressed my sence though very sparingly of our present entangled condition wherein we finde our selves at a loss in our very remedy so I shall on the other hand offer what help my Reason and Judgment presents to me as proper and necessary to dis-involve us and bring us into a right course To come then to what I drive at first I shall speak a word in general towards setling and then propound more particularly what things are needful considering our present state towards the setling of affairs in order justice and safety both to dis-engage us from fundamental miscarriages and dangers which it is very easie to slip into and very hard to wade out of especially after our so long treading in such an unusual track as of late we have been much driven into and to set us straight Towards setling in general I should say three things First That we should look well to our setling look well how we settle Secondly That we should be careful of avoyding Arbitrariness of Government in our setling Thirdly That we should have regard to the Rights of the People and especially to their rectifying Right that it have its free current 1. We should look well to our setling Shakings generally tend to setling and setlings frequently make way for future shakings Shakings are sudden and violent most commonly not flowing so much from deliberation as from force but setlings require great wariness and circumspection lest that corruption which caused our disturbance and should be shaken out put on a new guise and settle again on our new foundation whereby there are not onely new seed plots strown of fresh ensuing miseries but also preparation made for a new Earthquake Therefore it behoveth us to look well about us and to settle warily that we may settle surely 2. We should be careful to avoyd Arbitrariness of Government in our setling If Arbitrariness of Power and a Government by Will not Law was our burthen and that which we so strongly desired and endevored to throw off from our backs then surely they to whom it appertaineth and who have engaged themselves to free us from it ought to be exceeding careful and watchful against involving us again in it If it hath already miscarryed in one hand it may also do in another However in reason we are not to be tyed to run the venture It is not the change of the hand but the change of the Rule which we expect as our foundation of Safety He that doth us good in an arbitrary way and by an arbitrary power to day may by the same way and power do us harm to morrow 3. In our setling regard should be had to the Rights of the People and especially to their rectifying Right that it have its free current The Rights of the People were the main thing presented to view in this great conflict and therefore in equity should be mainly prosecuted and most principally those which are their most needful and useful Rights Our Laws are our Rights and we should be loth to be deprived of any of them whose reason was both good at first and remaineth still in force But there are some Rights and Liberties which are the root and foundation of our Laws and our ultimate Refuge for
succour and safety and therefore much nearer to us and more essential to our happiness then others are These are especially to be regarded And this so much the rather because the people are so fit a Body to be subjected and trampled upon that it is very hard for those which are great in power to keep their feet from off their necks Alas the people have no way to avoyd danger but by running upon the Rocks they have no way to shun ruine but by hasting into ruine Those they chuse to govern them gently to defend them may fit hard upon their backs yea themselves may make a prize of them And if they can in length of time through many difficulties obtain and appoint Trustees to rectifie these miscarriages yet how many temptations they have to mismanage it they think not of and how they will manage it they know not Experience doth still shew how difficult it is throughly to mind the good of the people One half of the work is sometimes done sometimes very often viz. the crushing of Oppressors but the other half viz. the breaking the yoke of oppression is very rare and hard even for them to do who have prevailed to shake the Oppressors out of their seats Thus much in general Now more particularly there are four things appear to me as necessary unto a fair and firm setling 1. A clear distinction between the administrative or executive Power and the legislative or judicative that as they have in themselves so they may retain in their course their clear and distinct natures the one not intermixing or intermedling with the other That the administrative may not intermingle it self or meddle with the legislative but leave it to its own free course nor the legislative with the administrative by any extemporary precepts directions or injunctions but only by set and known Laws Things which are severed in their nature must likewise be severed in their use and application or else we cannot but fail of reaping those fruits and effects which we desire from them and which otherwise they might bear and we enjoy 2. A prescription of clear and distinct Rules and Bounds to each That the Trust Power Priviledges and Duty of each which flow from the common light of man and are intended for the common good of man may be made evident to that common light that the people may know hereby what they are to expect from each what they are to expect from the Parliament what they are to expect from their supream Governor or Governors and so may be understandingly sensible of good or ill usage There is nothing among that nature of things we now treat of of it self unlimited and the more clearly the limits of any thing are set and known the greater advantage hath it both to move safely and to vindicate the integrity and righteousness of its motions If the limits of Power be not described and made known it will be left too loose in its actings and the people also will be left too loose in the interpretation of its actings neither of them being groundedly able to justifie themselves in either unto the other neither of which is safe If the Parliament hath one apprehension of its limits and the people another they can neither be satisfied in the other but the people must needs disrelish the actions of the Parliament and the Parliament cannot but think themselves injuried by the people which may occasion the laying of a dangerous foundation of discontent and division between them Yea hereby the Parliaments best friends may be forced to become its enemies and it may be forced to deal most sharply with its best friends and so weaken its best strength and the best strength of the Nation Those that are friends to things are not friends to persons any further then they are subservient to things It is as hateful to true-bred-spirits to idolize the name of a Parliament any more then of a King it is righteousness rightly administred in its own proper way and channel by persons in place and power which alone can make them lovely to such as love not men but righteousness It was the error of the foregoing governing Power to esteem it self more at liberty then in right it was it may also be the error of the present legislative power yea their condition exposeth them more unto it their Liberty being larger or of a larger kind and therefore they ought the more abundantly to beware of it and to apply themselves to produce or cause to be produced a true and fair discovery of those bounds and limits wherein they are by the nature of things circumscribed for if they do not know them it will be impossible for them to keep within them and if the people do not know them it may be difficult in many considerable cases to them to believe that they do keep within them 3. An unquestionably free and equal Parliament It is not every cause which will produce a true and genuine effect but the cause must be rightly tempered to bring forth kindly fruit It is not every Parliament which can heal or settle a Nation or that the people have just cause to rest satisfied in but a Parliament fairly chosen equally representing the people and freely acting for the people Now every man knoweth force to be opposite to freedom That which is free is not forced and that which is forced is not free This Parliament hath visibly to every common eye been more then once forced and it is not very easie after violence to break forth again into perfect liberty the sense and remembrance of the former force together with an inward fear of the like again if the like occasion shall happen may be a secret though not so apparant a bond upon their spirits which may in some particulars incline them both to do what they would not and to neglect the doing of what they would Besides it may be considered how far that visible force which caused so great an alteration in the Parliament and such a change in affairs did intrench upon the freedom of Parliament For though every detention of some or many Members may not disanul the freedom of a Parliament yet some kind of detention so and so qualified necessarily doth An occasional or accidental detention is not of so great force as an intentional yet if such an accidental detention of some of the Members should happen whereby the state and course of the Parliament should be changed it might well be disputed whether the rest still sitting and acting contrary to what was done before those Members were detained might be accounted a free Parliament when such a force was visibly upon some part of it as changed the whole state of affairs in it for this were plainly an accidental bending of the Parliament from its intended course from its free current and so far as it is bent it is not free But in the case in hand there was yet
but might be left free therein and might be incited to wariness by being instructed of what concernment their choyce is that if they chuse amiss they contribute towards the laying a foundation of enslaving themselves and the whole Nation The people have a sense of their own good as well as a desire to please their Superiors and if that sense were by suitable means quickened in them at the time or season when they chuse they would be so much the more careful to make choyce of such as were fittest to represent that sense In such a great and extraordinary Remedy there should be extraordinary care about every step and degree of the framing and constituting of it that we may be sure as sure as possibly we can to have it right and fit for its appointed end and use for one error here is as it were a womb of danger and misery which hereby it is in a way to bring forth Now that the people might put themselves or rather be put for they can hardly do any thing themselves orderly into such a posture as they might chuse most advantagiously to their own good and that those whom they chuse might the better understand the end work c. for which they are chosen and the better apply themselves thereto that both these might be more commodiously done I shall propound these three things And here I desire free scope in the ballance of every ones Judgment for I propose not these things from any conceit of them but meerly from the strength of that reason which representeth it self to me in them having no desire they should take place so much as in any ones mind any further then the reason in them makes way there for them and it will be my delight and joy to see them give place to any thing which is better or more solid 1. That the Counties Cities or Boroughs meet together as they were wont to do to chuse their Knights Citizens or Burgesses to chuse a convenient number of their Commonalty as a Committee to chuse their Knights Citizens or Burgesses for them for that one time I speak now in general concerning a convenient way of chusing but if I were to speak concerning a sudden new choyce I should add this That none should be admitted either to be chosen or to vote in this choyce but such as have been faithful to their Country in the late great defection for which end that exceptions should be drawn up and great penalties annexed to them to be inflicted on such as should venture to give their vote who are excepted from chusing or such as shall accept of the choyce who are excepted from being chosen Only these exceptions should be so plain as there may be no cause of doubt or scruple concerning the interpretation of any of them lest they prove a snare to any to deprive them of the exercise of their just Right and Liberty herein It is undeniably just and rational that the people having fought for their Rights and Liberties and purchased them with the expence of their blood should now enjoy them and not permit such a participation of those among them who endeavored and fought against them as may cause a new hazard of the return of that into their hands which hath been thus difficultly and costlily recovered from them 2. That this Committee immediately upon their being chosen before or at their first sitting may have an Oath administred unto them to this intent That without partiality regard to friendship or any other by-respect they shall chuse either from among themselves or elsewhere him whom they shall judg most fit both for ability and fidelity to serve his Country in general and that County City or Borough in particular 3. That this Cōmittee immediately after they have finished their choyce consult about and draw up and that an Oath be administred for this end likewise or a clause for it inserted in the former Oath a Copy of what according to their Consciences they conceive them to be entrusted with by the people with what kind of power in what sphere and to what end which might be before them as a Light and Rule unto them though not absolute yet it might be very helpful Whereas otherwise without some such help persons called to that employment may be ignorant what their work is and from this ignorance and their own modesty together may joyn with others in the way they find them in if a Parliament be sitting or in the way some who are most looked upon may propose in the mean while they themselves not understanding where they are to what direct end or upon what ground they act And I must confess this hath ever made me unwilling to venture upon that employment not having clear and certain instruction how or what to act therein and I must confess my self somewhat unsatisfied to undertake a Trust the nature whereof is not clearly manifested unto me I am content to serve my Country with all my poor strength but withall cannot but be shy of such a snare of doing them disservice in stead of service as my own remediless ignorance herein may necessarily expose me to And perhaps there may be some others who may stand in need of this help as well as I however a clear and plain way of knowledg methinks should be burdensom to none Such kind of things as these are proper transactions for a Parliament for there may be errors or defects in this kind which the people cannot come together to consult about and heal yet it is requisite such things in this kind amiss should be healed who therefore fitter to do it then their Representatives And what might not be done in this nature and entertained thankfully by the people if it were so managed upon such plain grounds of Reason and principles of Justice and in such a plain clear way as might carry conviction that it was not done from any selfish respects but for common good It is a jealousie in the people that their Substitutes neglect them and mind themselves which makes them interpret their actions so ill which jealousie by this means would easily be rooted out of the people nay it would fall of it self These are the things which to me seem necessary to set us right And if it were once thus that Powers were rightly distinguished according to their own natures rightly bounded within their own spheres ranks orders and places if there were also a Parliament in every respect fairly chosen set right in its constitution and rightly acting according to its own nature end and work within its own bounds there might be some ground of hope both towards the well setling of things at present and the easie further amending of what should be found amiss afterwards But I dare confidently affirm it that until the true way course and end of Nature be discovered and observed let there be never so many other advantages a Parliament never so