Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	great_a	king_n	war_n	4,472	5	6.2395	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97094	The bloody proiect, or a discovery of the new designe, in the present war. Being a perfect narrative of the present proceedings of the severall grandee factions, for the prevention of a just peace, and promoting of a causelesse warre, to the destruction of the King, Parliament & people. Whereunto is annexed several expedients for an happy accommodation tending to the satisfaction of all parties, without the further effusion of blood. / By W.P. Gent.	Walwyn, William, 1600-1681.	1648 (1648)	Wing W681; Thomason E460_4; ESTC R3843	10,073	16

just grounds and upon the greatest necessity it being the saddest work in the world For the preventing whereof let us I beseech you examine what good things there are wanting that are essential to the Peace Freedom and happiness of the Nation that may not be obtained without fighting 1. Is there wanting the certain knowledg where the supream Authority is and of right ought to be It is confest no one thing is more wanting nor can the Nation ever be quiet or happy without it But can it be any where justly and safely but in the House of Commons who are chosen and trusted by the People Certainly did men consider that in opposing thereof they renounce and destroy their own freedoms they would not do it for any thing in the world If the consideration of the manifold evils brought upon us by this House of Commons deter them the next thing that is wanting is That a set time be appointed for the ending of this Parliament and a certainty for future Parliaments both for their due elections meeting and dissolving And who will be so unreasonable as to oppose any of these certainly the number cannot be considerable Is it also necessary that That Parliaments be abridged the power of impressing men to serve as bruit beasts in the Wars who will be against their being bounded therein a good Cause never wanted men nor an authority that had money to pay them Hath it proved destructive in Parliaments to meddle in Religion and to compel and restrain in matters of Gods Worship Are they evidently such things as cannot be submitto Judgment Doth every man find it so that hath a living Conscience Who then will be against their binding herein though they be entrusted to establish an uncompulsive publike way of worship for the Nation Is it unreasonable that any person should be exempt from those proceedings of Law unto which the generality of the People are to be subject Who is there then that will not willingly have all from the highest to the lowest bound alike That Parliaments should have no power to punish any person for doing that which is not against a known declared Law or to take away general property or to force men to answer to questions against themselves or to order tryals or proceed by any other ways then by twelve sworn men who would not rejoyce to have such boundaries Then that the proceedings it Law might be rectified and all Laws and the duty of Magistrates written and published in English That the Excise might have a speedy end and no Taxes but by way of subsidies That Trade might be free and a less burthensom way for the maintenance of Ministers be established then that of Tythes and that work and necessaries be provided for all kind of poor people Certainly for the obtaining of these things a man may justly adventure his life all these being for a common good and tend not to the setting up of any one party or faction of men These then are the Causes to be insisted on or nothing And if the supream Authority adhere to this Cause they need neither fear Scotch French nor English Enemies but if they decline this Cause they are to be declined the just freedom and happiness of a Nation being above all Constitutions whether of Kings Parliaments or any other For shame therefore Royalists Presbyterians Independents before you murther another man hold forth your Cause plainly and expresly and if any Adversaries appear either within or without the Land reason it out with them if it be possible deal as becometh Christians argue perswade and use all possible means to prevent another War and greater blood-shed your great ones whether the King Lords Parliament men rich Citizens c. feel not the miserable effects thereof and so cannot be sensible but you and your poor friends that depend on Farmes Trades and small pay have many an aking heart when these live in all pleasure and deliciousness The accursed thing is accepted by them wealth and honor and both comes by the bleeding miserable distractions of the Common-wealth and they fear an end of trouble would put an end to their glory and greatness Oh therefore all you Soldiers and People that have your Consciences alive about you put to your strength of Judgment and all the might you have to prevent a further effusion of blood let not the covetous the proud the blood-thirsty man bear sway amongst you fear not their high looks give no ear to their charms their promises or tears they have no strength without you forsake them and ye will be strong for good adhere to them and they will be strong to evil for which you must answer and give an account at the last day The King Parliament great men in the City and Army have made you but the stairs by which they have mounted to Honor Wealth and Power The only Quarrel that hath been and at present is but this namely whose slaves the people shall be All the power that any hath was but a trust conveyed from you to them to be employed by them for your good they have mis-imployed their power and instead of preserving you have destroyed you all Power and Authority is perverted from the King to the Constable and it is no other but the policy of Statesmen to keep you divided by creating jealousies and fears among you to the end that their Tyranny and Injustice may pass undiscovered and unpunished but the peoples safety is the supream Law and if a people must not be left without a means to preserve it self against the King by the same rule they may preserve themselves against the Parliament and Army too if they pervert the end for which they received their power to wit the Nations safety therefore speedily unite your selves together and as one man stand up for the defence of your Freedom and for the establishment of such equal rules of Government for the future as shall lay a firm foundation of peace and happiness to all the people without partiallity Let Justice be your breast-plate and you shall need to fear no enemies for you shall strike a terrour to your now insulting oppressors and force all the Nations Peace to fly before you Prosecute and prosper Vale. Postscript CAn there be a more bloody Project then to engage men to kill one another and yet no just cause declared Therefore I advise all men that would be esteemed Religious or Rational really to consider what may be done for the future that is conducible to the Peace of the Nation If the Peace of the Nation cannot be secured without the Restauration of the King let it be done speedily and honorably and provide against his misgovernment for the future let his power be declared and limited by Law If the Peace of the Nation cannot be secured by the continuance of this Parliament let a Period be set for the dissolution thereof but first make certain provision for the successive calling electing and sitting of Parliaments for the future let their Priviledges be declared and power limitted as to what they are empowred and what not for doubtless in Parliaments rightly constituted consists the Freedom of a Nation And in all things do as you would be done unto seek peace with all men But above all things abandon your former actings for a King against a Parliament or an Army against both for the Presbyterians against the Independents c. for in so doing you do but put a Sword into your enemies hands to destroy you for hitherto which of them soever were in power they plaid the Tyrants and oppressed and so it will ever be when Parties are supported Therefore if you engage at all do it by Lawfull Authority let your Cause be declared and just also and let it be for the good of the whole Nation without which you will not only hazard being Slaves but also contract upon your selves and Posterities the guilt of Murtherers vale FINIS

The Bloody Proiect Or a discovery of the New Designe in the present War BEING A perfect Narrative of the present proceedings of the severall Grandee Factions for the prevention of a just Peace and promoting of a causelesse Warre to the destruction of THE KING PARLIAMENT PEOPLE Whereunto is annexed Several Expedients for an happy Accommodation tending to the satisfaction of all Parties without the further effusion of blood By W. P. Gent. Printed in this Yeare of dissembling 1648. The Bloody Project OR New design in the present War discovered IN all undertakings which may occasion war or bloodshed men have great need to be sure that their cause be right both in respect of themselves and others for if they kill men themselves or cause others to kill without a just cause and upon the extreamest necessity they not only disturbe the peace of men and familyes and bring misery and poverty upon a Nation but are indeed absolute murtherers Nor will it in any measure satisfy the Conscience or Gods justice to go on in uncertainties for in doubtfull cases men ought to stand still and consider untill certainty do appear especially when killing and sleying of men the most horrid worke to Nature and Scripture is in question Far be it from any man hastily to engage in any undertaking which may occasion a War before the cause he is to fight for be rightly and plainly stated well considered and throughly understood to be just and of absolute necessity to be maintained nothing being more abom●nable in the sight of God or good men then such persons who run●e out to shed blood for money or to support this or the other Interest but neither consider the cause for which they engage nor ought el●e but pay interest honour c. such are they who so eagerly endeavour to support the interest of a King by the destruction of the Peoples Interest the Interest of the Scots against the Interest of the English the Interest of the Independents by the ruine of the Presbyterians and because it best consists with their present honour profit or humours make it their busines to pick quarrels and encrease divisions and jealousies that so they may fish in the waters which they themselves have troubled But let such know who ever they be that though they may and do for a while brave it out and flourish yet a time is comming and draweth on apace when for all the murthers they have caused and mischiefs they have committed they shall come to judgement and then their Consciences will be as a thousand witnesses against them But especially let men pretending conscience take heed how they either engage themselves or perswade others to engage to fight and kill men for a cause not rightly stated or not throughly understood to be just and of necessity to be maintained for it is one of the most unreasonable unchristian and unnaturall things that can enter into the mind or man though it be to be feared that more then a few that have of late both in the Citie and Country and at present are active to engage in killing and sleying of men cannot acquit themselves of this abomination I beseech you you that are so forward and active to engage in the defence of the Kings Presbyterian or Independent interest and yet know no just cause for either consider was it sufficient that the King at first invited you in generall termes to joyn with him for the defence of the true Protestant Religion his own just Prerogatives the Privileages of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subject but never declared in particular what that Protestant Religion was he would have defended or what Prerogative would please him what priviledges he would allow the Parliament or what Freedoms the People Or was it sufficient thinke you now that the Parliament invited you at first upon generall termes to fight for the maintenance of the true Protestant Religion the Libertyes of the People and Priviledges of Parliament when neither themselves knew for ought is yet seen nor you nor any body else what they meant by the true Protestant Religion or what the Liberties of the People were or what those Priviledges of Parliament were for which yet neverthelesse thousands of men have been slain and thousands of Familyes destroyed It is very like that some of you that joyned with the King upon his invitation thought that though the King had formerly countenanced Popery and Superstition had stretcht his Prerogative to the oppression and destruction of his People by Pattents Projects c. yet for the future he would have been more zealous for the truth and more tender of his People and not have persisted notwithstanding his new Protestations to maintain his old Principles And so likewise many of you that joyned with the Parliament who had formerly seen felt or considered the persecution of godly conscientious people by the Bishops and their Cleargy with the reproaches cast upon them and their grievous and destructive imprisonment did beleeve the Parliament under the notion of Religion intended to free the Nation from all compulsion in matters of Religion and from molestation or persecution for opinions or non-conformity and that all Lawes or Statutes tending thereunto should have been repealed But since you find by killing and destroying their opposers you have enbled them to performe all things that might concern your freedome or be conducible to the peace of the Kingdome But do you now find that they do mean that or the contrary And will your consciences give you leave any longer to fight or engage in the cause of Religion when already you see what fruits you and your friends reap thereby And no doubt many of you understood by the Liberties of the People that they intended to free the Commons in Parliament the peoples Representative ftom a Negative voyce in King or Lords and would have declared themselves the highest Authority and so would have proceeded to have removed the grievances of the Common-wealth And when you had seen Pattents Projects and Shipmoney taken away the High Commission and Starchamber abolished did you ever imagine to have seen men and women examined upon Interrogatories and questions against themselves and imprisoned for refusing to answer Or to have seen Commoners frequently sentenced and imprisoned by the Lords Did you ever dream that the oppressions of Committees would have exceeded those of the Councel-table or that in the place of Pattents and Projects you should have seen an Excise established ten fold surpassing all those and Shipmoney together You thought rather that Tythes would have been esteem'd an oppression and that Trade would have been made perfectly free and that Customs if continued would have been abated and not raysed for the support of domineering factions and enrichment of foure or five great men as they have been of late times to the sorrow and astonishment of all honest men and the great prejudice of the Trade of the Nation Doubtlesse you

War to kill and sley men but upon a lawfull call and invitation from the Supream Authority or Law-making power Now if the Supream Authority of this Nation were never yet so plainly declared as that you understand certainly where it is and who are invested therewith you have then had no Warrant for what you have done nor have any Plea in Law for your Indempnity as some of all Parties have lately found to their costs And that this point of Supream Authority was ever certainly stated is absolutely denyed for according to the common supposition it is 3. Estates which till within these few yeares were ever taken to b● 1. Lords Spirituall 2. Lords Temporall 3. The Commons in Parliament assembled Now if these three were essentiall and equall as all former Times seem to allow How could the Lords Temporall and the Commons cast out the Lords Spirituall For by the same rule the Lords Spirituall and Lords Temporall might have cast out the Commons but the casting out the Bishops hath both answered the question and ended the controversie Since when the supream Authority is pretended to rest in the King Lords and Commons and if so when did the King assent to your Proceedings in this War which all the art in the world will not perswade him to be for him but against him and to ruine him and his Or when did the Parliament assent to the proceedings of you that joyned with the King in the late war pretendedly raised for the defence of Religion the priviledges of Parliament and Liberty of the Subject and if the supream power reside in all three King Lords and Commons how can the King justly do any thing without the consent of the Lords and Commons or the Lords and Commons without the King May not the King and Lords as justly proceed to make Laws War or Peace without the Commons as they without the King If they are not equal which of them are supream and declared and proved by convincing reason so to be If any that you are to observe If none what have you done what can you lawfully do That there should be either three or two distinct Estates equally supream is an absurd nullity in government for admit two of them agree and not the third then there can be no proceedings or determination and if there be but two as is now pretended in Lords and Commons whose Ordinances have served how justly judge you to make War and confiscate mens estates admit they agree not then also nothing can be done which in Government is ridiculous to imagine besides it is now a known case that their Ordinances are not pleadable against the Laws and give no Indempnity which were they the known supream Authority could not but be effectual That the King single and alone is the supream Authority himself never pretended to it claiming only a negative voyce in the Law-making Power by which rule nothing can be done without him then which nothing is more unreasonable The Lords also never pretended to more then an equal share with the Commons which in effect is a negative voyce and as unreasonable as in the King And when the Commons have been by Petitioners stiled the supream authority they have punished the Petitioners and disclaimed the supream Authority and as two years since so very lately they have voted that the Kingdom shall be governed by King Lords and Commons which is a riddle that no man understands for who knoweth what appertains to the King what to the Lords or what to the House of Commons It is all out as uncertain as at first and if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself for the battel If by all your endeavors you cannot prevail to have the supream Authority declared and proved how can you lawfully fight or upon what grounds with a good conscience can you engage your selves or perswade others to engage in killing and slaying of men And if you should have the supream Authority rationally proved and declared to be in the Commons distinct from any other as being the sole Representative of the people you must note that you are a free people and are not to be pressed or enforced to serve in Wars like horses and bruit beasts but are to use the understanding God hath given you in judging of the Cause for defence whereof they desire you to fight for it is not sufficient to fight by lawful authority but you must be sure to fight for what is just Lawful authority being sometimes mistaken and many times so perverted and corrupted as to command the killing and imprisoning men for doing that which is just and commendable and for opposing what is unjust and destructive Therefore as you are to forbear till you see the supream Authority distinctly and rationally stated so also you are not to engage till the Cause be expresly declared lest after your next engagement you are as fa● to seek of a just cause as now you are and after you have prevailed in stead of finding your selves and your associates freemen you find your selves more enslaved then you were formerly For by experience you now find you may be made slaves as effectually by Parliament as by any other kind of Government why then persist you to divide and fall into Factions to kill and slay men for you know not what to advance the honor and interest of you know not whom the King Parliament great men in the City and Army can do nothing without you to disturb the Peace of the Nation upon you therefore both Soldiers and People who fight pay and disburse your estates is to be charged all the evil that hath been done if you on all hands had not been and were not so hasty to engage for the advancement or Interests to the prejudice of the Nation it is very likely we had not only escaped those late bloody turmoils that have happened among us but also might prevent greater threatned dangers which like an inundation begin to break in upon us And if you now stop not your Consciences will be loaded with all that is to come which threatneth far worse then what is past Therefore if ye are either men or Christians hold your hands till you know what you fight for and be sure that you have the truth of Freedom in it or never medle but desist and let who will both fight and pay Certainly there is none so vile considering what hath been said that will again incur the guilt of murtherers and fight before the Cause be plainly stated and published and if that were done as it ought to be possibly it may be attained without fighting and might have been all this while the difference not being so great as was imagined Besides where is the man that would fight against the supream Authority and a just Cause and certainly there is none of you whether Royalists Presbyterians or Independents so wicked as to desire to kill men without exceeding