carry on the work so happily begun to its utmost period It cannot be denied but that there brake forth then a most righteous majestick spirit And as they took in the whole compass and latitude of the cause as it was first stated and declared so they did explain it and annex some additionall enlargements most necessary to bring it to a perfection Neither did they make herein some faint overtures and essayes but as the exigency of the juncture did require They did bind themselves under most inviolable promises and ingagements unto the Nation to contend for them with all earnestness untill they were effected It was too just and universall a complaint That all things were out of course that Tyranny oppression and injustice had mingled themselves every where whereupon it was publiquely asserted that all expedients should be enterprised to remove all burdens and exactions that so righteousness might diffuse it self and run down like a mighty stream throughout all the Nation And because that the management of things in the hands of unrighâ—eous men was the great reason of such disorders and miscarriages It was declared that it should be their Principle to imploy the honestest and most upright persons in all places of power trust and advantage It was the wounding of the hearts of all good men that impositions should be put upon the understanding and upon the faith of another a cruelty more rigorous than ever the Aegyptian Task-masters exercised That any should be ensnared for his conscience sake and because he differs in some principles and apprehensions that he should be prosecuted as an heretique sectary blasphemer It was therefore resolutely contested for That there should be an universall liberty and toleration held forth and that no coaction nor compulsion should be layd upon any in matters of belief and worship It was very grievous to consider That the prisons should be fill'd with the free subjects upon any smal pretensions whatsoever either upon mistakes conjectures or suspicions which had not the least ground of beliefs but onely in the jealous head of some great Statist Or because the opinions of some do not in every thing suite with anothers understanding or because the rich being exasperated against some poor men who were indebted to them would forthwith cast them into durance not so much to gain their own as to gratifie their revenge or else because men of estates having a purpose to defraud their Creditors were resolved to convert a prison into their habitation It was therefore resolved on that all prisons should be opened to such against whom there was nothing objâ—cted but that they dissented from others in some points and principles of religion pertaining either to doctrine or worship That the poor who had nothing to pay their debts with should be freed from the bondage of a perpetuall confinement and permitted to follow their respective vocations for their subsistence that none should take a lease of a prison for his life but that all such illegall prisons should be inspected into and for the future regulated And that the Imprisoned either meerly upon suspicions or otherwise should be brought in some convenient time to their Trialls that either they might be acquitted or else being found guilty might receive punishments due to their Offences Moreover the groans and complaints of poor Consciencious men who upon just scruples durst not pay Tithes and yet were vexed imprisoned ' and ruined about it moving and exciting Bowells of compassion It was earnesty desired That all tendernesse might be had to such in that particular and that some way of ease and redresse if possible might be found therein Further upon due consideration had That the corruption and abuses which in tract of time had crept into the practice of the Lawes were unjustifyable as well as insufferable that the management of suits at Law was so tedious expensive and delatory that they were become at once both the shame and impoverishment of the Nation It was therefore expresly determined That some expedients should forthwith be made practicable for the regulating of the Courts for the mittigating of the Fees and for the freeing of the Nation from so horrid a cheat It being not reasonable that a generall good and advantage should be subjected under the emoluments of a particular party Upon the whole It was solemnely declared and professed that they would not imitate the unnecessary worldly formes of Power and Greatness neither would they graspe after empty Titles and a Lordly Domination But as there was a change of Persons and Things so there should be also of Principles and Practise and that they should alwayes rejoyce to be found walking in those even and uncrooked paths of Truth Honesty Humility and Moderation Surely these were the good things at first engaged for and promised which were again and again avowed as emergencies did arise Which were contested for unto Blood and which were sealed and witnessed unto by wonderfull and glorious Victories and Successes In the endeavours after those things that the Nation might at length reap the blessed fruit of them it was very clearly manifested that so excellent a Superstruction could not be erected upon a rotten decrepit foundation For the single Person the Lords and the corrupt Interests which were necessary to be shaken and abridged in their illegall usurpations if such things as those were once reduced in practise did unanimously combine together to retard and slugg their motions and if possible to disappoint them After many contests after many vain attempts used to reconcile things upon their old bottome Divine Providence by degrees did point out the necessity of the change of Government and Kingship being laid aside as unnecessary chargeable and dangerous it was divolved into a Commonwealth This being a certain Rule That corrupt and degenerate States cannot be perfectly healed and regulated but by stepping in to those formes which are the farthest distant from those wherein they were corrupted And withall such as the Principles are such must the form of Government be Those principles that are pure and refined that more specially regard the interests of the People cannot be attained to and made practicable but in the current of a Popular State The tendency then of our late occurences having been to staine the pride of all glory to bring down the loftinesse of all fleshly excellencys to serve the Liberties of the people of God and to set the Nation free from all Yoaks and slavery It will be a vain thing to imagine that those can be otherwise propagated and upheld than in the most unblended and unblemished interests of a Commonwealth But I advisedly put a stop here And draw a Curtain over what remains and since it is night since the day is eclipsed and darkened I think it most proper to be covered with Sables and to wander solitary in shades and obscurity The Conclusion God with us the establishment of the Commonwealth TO conclude Behold then here as in a Christall Mirrour the good old Cause purg'd from those dreggs and defilements which in time it had contracted You that scost at it you that have started from it you that have mix'd it may herein clearly veiw as in a Summary and Compendium The Cause in its first rise and management and as it was seconded and re-inforced with its circumstantiall explanationss It hath been the price of Blood if you desert it now and basely betray it inâ—o the power of any it will either argue that the blood spilt therein has been innocent and causeless or else convince you of stupour and sorrishness that you know not the value of that which you have so dearly purchased It hath been confirmed by your many and solemne Covenants and Engagements if you are not conscientious to fullfill them you will leave on your names to all Posterity the stain and blem sh of Falshood and Unfaithfullness It hath been signally owned by God having had the impresse of his Name and Presence upon it If you shall court the worldy Powers Advantages and Grandures which he hath blasted and forsaken you may indeed embrace a shadow but you will lose the substance you may indeed have the empty shinings of mans favour but you will therein be depried of the face of God It will certainly be our safety it will be our honour to preserve these two in an inseparable union and conjunction and to have them alwayes ingraven together as it were in letters of Gold upon burnisht brass GOD WITH US THE COMMON-WEALTH OF ENGLAND THE END
THE GOOD OLD CAuSE DRESS'D IN IT'S PRIMITIVE LUSTRE AND SET FORTH TO THE VIEW OF ALL MEN. Being a short and Sober Narrative of the great Revolutions of Affairs in these later times By R. FITZ-BRIAN an affectionate Lover of his Country LONDON Printed for G. C. at the Black-spread Eagle at the West end of St. Paul's Church-yard 1659. The good old Cause drest in it's primitive Lustre c. The Preface When it is that changes evenes in States THe changes and revolutions in States and Common-wealths as they have by degrees issued out of the corruption and male-Administration of Governments so have they usually been accompanyed with most remarkeable Providences And by how much the more spiritual the designs of God are in the wombe of such productions by so much the more visibly doe's He let out the signal Testimonies of his Presence and Glory When States are at the worst when vitious and peâ—cant humours are every where predominant when the prevalency of evil Counsells doe's take place to the introducing of new and Arbitrary impositions contrary to the established Constitutions They must then either necessarily sinke under their own weight and crumble into disorder Anarchy and ruine Or else there will follow some notable alterations And the distempers being so great and enormous that they cannot possibly admit of a redress and healing and conserve still their old frame Things must unavoydeably wheele about and fix themselves upon another Basis In such a Mappe as this may we view the more than ordinary transactions of our later times which though they were small in their beginnings yet have they by severall steps and progressions been advanced to a considerable height And I may say there have been such interweavings of stupendious Providences such diversifications in the manner of proceeds such glorious exertings of power and goodness such astonishing successes and such legible characters of divine ownings That we are now bigg with just hopes of arriving in the end unto some eminent establishment even above the magnificence of all those forms which meerely have the worldly stamp upon them Sect. I. The true Sources of our late Revolutions IF we suffer not our selves to be misguided with prejudices buâ— impartially trace things into their beginnings we may easily discover tâ—â— inlet of all our mischiefs and the naturall spâ—ing of our late alterations The hinges upon which they gradually turned were the prelaticall Tyranny of the Bishops innovating in things of Religious concernment and laying insupportable burdens upon the consciences of tender Christians And the secret and politick insinuations of evil Councellours and Favourites invading all rights subverting the fundamentall constitutions and forcibly swayâ—ng all things unto an absolute Domination Both these joyned hand in hand together and mutually conspired to accomplish the same design The tendency whereof was in the issue to trample upon all Lawes to inthrall us at pleasure and to subject us under the iron yoke of an absoluâ—e disposall The Episcopal Jurisdiction was in it's day very fierce and lofty witness those severe sentencings to imprisonments to wh ppings to Pillories and to stigmatizingâ— which were then frequenâ—ly thundred against many honest innocent persons in whom there was found nothing criminall but that they worship't God in purity of spirit and durst not conform to their superstitious in junctions What a rabble of exotick ceremonies unwarrantable traditions were then brought in and imposed All that consult with the naked history of that generation may easily take notice of And as if a prophane and profligate spirit were the fittest to swallow down and without scruple to live under such superstitious rites and observances They decryed and discountenanced Preaching they pleaded publiquely for and with the face of Authority tolerated sports and pastimes on the Sabbath dayes Hence was it that these two being thus twisted and married together there sprung up a monstrous brood of all disorders and usurpations And the generality having thereby their reason darkned and besotted as well as their consciences were in a pliant temper to receive the impressions of slavery and unjust encroachments In this juncture the precious people of God who were at once made the object both of their scorn and fury were trampled upon by the foot of pride and insolency They were driven into corners They were made to serve with rigour and hard bondage Their ruine and extirpation was designed Many of them being haled to their illegall Courts endured cruelties as barbarous as are acted in the Inquisition And others being willing to preserve peace wiâ—hin and to free themselves from their mixtures and defilements were enforced to exile themselves from their native comforts and relations here and to wander desolate in forrain deserts At the same time and confederate with this Exorbitant power did the evill Councillâ— of the Nation in things also of civill cognâ—zance hurry all things head long into one absolute Grandeur The great Master-piece of their design was if possibly to elude all Parliaments knowing that those oneâ—y stood in the way to hinder and dâ—sappoint their intendments And the better to strengthen themselves herein They starred many projects and inventions hoping either by their Monopolies or by â—heir Knighthood or by their shipp-â—onies or by some such obsolete quillet to have preserved their Treasures full and entire And they ceaâ—ed not to screw up and distort as well their own wiâ—sâ— as our rights by endeavouring to make those devices of their's to appear with the face and colour of a Law Things being thus postured there wanted but very little of effecting what they so strenuously sought after to be the absolute Masters of our lives liberties and estates at their own pleasure The whole current of the Administration of Justice being out couâ—se the Judges of the Land that should be the directours of what is Law and Right either corruptly opposing or else not daring to declare the truth And those that did speak their judgements freely and honestly being upon that very account immediately displaced and put out of Office Sect. II. The dawning of the day of Reformation WHen the thickest darkness of the night had thus overshadowed us and the declining of the Sun towards its Biuniall solstice had sufficiently assured us that it was a sharpe and rigorous winter Bâ—hold all on a sudden the day began to dawn and the return of the long absent Sun gave us the unexpected hopes of an approaching Summer The grievances of the Nation were become insufferable Arbitrariness and Lordly Domination was risen up to the height all things were stretch't out to their utmost length and the whole frame of affairs was so deplorable that we were as hopeless of having redress as we were certain that we were plunged under ruin Yet even then did the light breake forth and that very dismall season when it was at the blackest prov'd the vertical point which at once put a stop to the further carreer of our designed miseries and
to the one sometimes to the other party There was much blood spilt much treasure exhausted and yet a desired and happy end thereof was to the eye of reason as remote and far distant as ever But in a good and beautifull season well known to the wisdome and love of our God to whom we had silently committed our selves and our cause There was on a sudden the breaking forth of a mighty presence the displayings of an invinsible spirit to decide the Controversie And when men failed some deserting and proving treacherous some designing the ruin of the Instruments engaged in the worke and almost all contemning them as uncapable to carry it on Even then did the Lord exalt himself and accompanying those poor despised ones even to wonders blessed them with uninterrupted successes It was then when the Providence of God contrary to all humane appearances and beyond their intentions had modelled and brought together his own people and imbodied them in an Army to effect his great designes It was by these that he thrash'd the Mountains that he hew'd downe the towring Okes that he brake the insulting tyranicall powers And whom he particularly singled out from amongst all others to accomplish the great Affaires then on the Wheel As if he distinctly pointed out thus much that he had reserved for them the honour of the day that it was peculiarly for their sakes that he had brought about those unexpected Revolutions That as they had been the chiefest sufferers and been trampled upon by the haughtinesse of those insufferable Oppressors so they should be the chiefest and most eminent that should at once both worke those deliverances and enjoy the fruits of them And though they were of different apprehensions and judgements in some things pertaining to the Conscience yet they were all indifferently made use of and in the bonds of strictest love united in the carrying on of that common Cause And there was not the least inconsistency but that they might still have mutually joyed in the Advantages arising from thence without jarrings and discords untill the day should dawn that by the revelation of Truth in its clearest appearances expelling all mists and mistakes they might firmly fix and center in one heart and in one mind Sect. 5. The interposall of a jurisdiction as destructive as the former AFter that this righteous Cause had been so triumphantly owned and witnessed unto even beyond the face of a deniall After that the name of God had been so lifted up and magnified in the vindication of it that all the adverse Forces were scattered and broken with all their Complices and Adherents After that we had risen up to full grown expectations that we should undoubtedly reape the blessings of our long and difficult contests and of the expence of all our toll treasure and blood There presently brake forth a furious fiery party which endeavoured to erect a Dominion as rigid and as destructive to the Peace and Liberties of the people of God as ever that Power was which had been formerly extirpated who breathing out threatnings and being of fierce spirits twisted severe rods for our backes and layd impositions upon our consciences as heavy and grievous to be born as those were under which the former generation had miserably groaned It is well known to what an height the Presbyterian jurisdiction did all on a sudden Mount how ruggedly they dealt with many precious tender hearts that could not in all things conform to their prescriptions And as if they had set themselves not onely to equall but even to outvy the Episcopall Tyranny they cast into prisons such as did encourage and frequent Christian meetings in private houses Wherein they did very little differ from their Predecessours the Bishops who branded the spirituall communion of the Saints in those daies with the name and crime of Conventicles They exacted Tythes without remorse they arrogated to impose Articlâ—â— of Faith to be necessarily owned and believed suitable to the narrow limits of their darke understandings They condemned for blasphemy errour heresie and sectarism all such opinions as did in the least differ from their over-weening conceits and apprehensions and assuming as it were an infallibility to their dictates and interpretations They prosecuted all dissenters with fire and sword and suited for them respective punishments according as their Arbitrary and enraged wills did hurry them They ambitiously aspired to seat themselves in the chaire and like the Episcopal Grandeur they encroach't over the civill power setting their foot upon it and wieling it at once both to serve their own Interests to execute the severity of their injunctions They grasp't after a Lordliness to inslave the Nation under their girdle and as their pride inconsiderate zeal and hot tempers did sway them they laid the foundation of a most bloody and insupportable persecution It was strange to see how all our hopes were dasht on a sudden how the heavens were overcast and the serenity which we rejoyc'd in for a season was obscured with the interposall of a thick dark cloud What a poor and barbarous requitall was it to the Army and to those good Hearts that had borne the burden of the day that had willingly hazarded themselves in the vindication of the just liberties of the Nation to be put to this streight for their conscience sake either to imbrace a prison or else to chose an exilement from their native comforts relations and into remote and forraign countries How dissonant was it not onely to all Ingenuity but even to the very ends and intrinsick intendments of their ingaging at first in that quarrell to have the name only changed but to be really under as great yokes pressures and burdens to have arbitrarinesse oppression unrighteousnesse and slavery perpetuated under as strong enforcements as they were before the beginning of these differences Yet surely if we will not betray and forfeit our understandings we must needes say that the power which then had risen up with a new shape as dreadfull and dangerous as that former was which had been abandoned and subdued Sect. VI. The cause in it's second appearance explained and enlarged BUt in this difficult perplexed juncture the Lord of glory who had great discoveries of Love and goodnesse to dispence forth did not then desert his people nor their cause He was pleased to take that advantage to advance their's and the Nations concernes to an higher and more flourishing State than at first was in the eye I had almost said in the wishes of our Reformers The Army therefore groaning under those unjust provocations Having bleeding hearts for the enthralments and sufferings of their fellow-bretheren being excited and awakened by the Lord being assisted with the united prayers and counsells and strength of his people they did seasonably interpose And according to the duty incumbent on them and to the opportunity offered them They did endeavour as well to remove the miseries then impending and threatned as to