is declared in 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. which is supposed to be High Treason do happen before any of his Majesties Judges those Judges shall tarry without giving Judgment till the Cause be shewn and declared before the King and his Parliament whether it ought to be judged High Treason or no Yet these Tyrannical Men the remnant of a Rebellious House vote and declared things to be High Treason which could not be so by the English Laws and which had never been declared to be High Treason neither by the Law by which they themselves were Traitors nor by the Judges in any Case nor by the King and his Parliament and by these and other Arbitrary doings they made the Free-born Subjects of this Nation as meer Slaves as the Subjects of the Grand Seignior and their Lives and Liberties their Goods and Fortunes as absolutely depending upon them as theirs depend upon him It would be endless to recite all their Sultanical Ordinances Their Ordinances for Sequestring of Delinquents as they called Loyal Persons Estates for Taxing such as had not contributed to the War or not contributed according to their Estates and Abilities for sequestring the Temporalities of many Bishops and then for selling all the Bishops and Church-Lands for assessing all the Members of either House that absented from or were in Arms against the Parliament as they arrogantly miscalled themselves for voiding the places of Clerks of Record that did any thing in their Offices in Favour of the Crown for regulating as they called ruining the two Universities for removing of Scandalous as they called Loyal Ministers for taking away the fifth part of Delinquents Estates for disabling of them to bear any Office or Place of trust or to have any Voice in Elections for setting free all Apprentices from their Masters that had served the Parliament for Abolishing the House of Peers for selling the Kings Lands not to mention all their new Devices by which they squeezed out of the People of this Land above twenty Millions in seven years Time A Greater sum than all the Kings of England had levied from the Conquest until that time or herhaps until this day Their oppressions in these and such like Instances were very visible not withstanding all their Religious disguises and all their pretended Zeal for the Glory of God insomuch that great Complaints began to be made of them by those who had set them up and their Tyranny increasing at length came out a bold Remonstrance against them in 1647 in which they are accosted thus Seeing it is high time for the Free Commons of England to look after the enjoyment of that good Land Peace Freedom and Justice which you promised us at the beginning give us leave to expostulate a little How comes it to pass that we reap not the Harvest of this promised Seed-time and that such fair Blossoms yield such slender Fruit Whence comes this muttering and groaning and these Exclamations against Oppression Tyranny and Injustice in our streets How comes it to pass that we see Courts of Injustice Justice we cannot call them even at the Parliament-Door nay within the Parliament-House How comes it to pass that so many Irregular and Illegal Votes Orders Declarations and Ordinances pass for current one day and counterfeit the next Whence proceeds this Spirit of Ambition Contention Oppression and Sedition which Reigns so powerfully among you Did you so vehemently declare against Prerogative to destroy us by Priviledge Did you Exclaim against Injustice in others that your selves might be singularly and superlatively unjust Must your Will be our Supream-Law Was the taking a little of our Estates illegal in others but Justice in you to take all Is this the end of our Labour the return of our Expectation and the prize for which we have sweat so much Blood We looked for Justice but behold Oppression we looked for Liberty but behold Slavery and our end is worse than the beginning We beseech you to look to the Rock from whence you are hewn were you not Fellow-Commoners with us and are you not accountable to us by whom you are impowered and intrusted Have you not declared that the Law ought to be the Rule of the Kings actions and must it not be Rule of yours Have you formerly declared That they who give Law to others ought not to be without or above Law themselves And therefore we the Free Commons of England expect reparation and relief against all your Arbitrary and Exorbitant Practices Have you not declared That no Free Commoner ought or might be disinfranchised of his Liberty without Indictment and that the Fining and Imprisoning of Men without due Process of Law was a breach upon the Law and destructive to the Subjects Liberty How comes it then to pass that since the time of your declaring of it to be so unjust in others you have so frequently used it your selves What Prison is there free nay what County or Corporation but hath some Sufferers being Imprisoned by the Arbitrary Subject-destroying Power of you and your Committees Have you not complained that the Publick Stock was converted to Private Uses and do not you do the same And have you not often declared against the King for keeping and protecting Delinquents from Tryal and do not you your selves protect and defend many False and Traiterous Members under pretence of Priviledge There are many other Complaints in this Remonstrance against our Reformers which for Brevity-sake I omit And after they were thus openly rebuked for their Oppressions and Corruptions their Credit began sensibly to decay till at last they were dissolved or rather reformed into a new Council of State which called themselves the Keepers of the Liberties of England which after a short blaze resigned all their Power to the Victorious Rebel from whom they had it under the style of Protector and how the Nobility Gentry Clergy and the whole Nation were enslaved by him his own Acts are yet extant to declare He and his Council made new Laws for Treason and for levying and raising of Money He confined a great part of the Loyal Nobility and Gentry and such as he suspected of Loyalty to their Houses he forbad them to wear Swords and all others to meet at any Huntings Horse Races and the like Diversions He made his Proclamations Laws he tolerated all Religions but Popery and Prelacy which he craftily joined together to make the People believe they were both alike He was succeeded by his Son who was deposed by the Officers of the Rebel-Army they call back the remnant of the Old Long-Parliament to the House the Parliament presently erects a Council of State afterwards they and the Army clash the Army prevails settles a Committee of Safety this shortly expires and is succeeded by the Remnant of the Long-Parliament again They presently fall to Imprison several of the most Eminent Citizens of London and commanded the General of happy memory to take away their Posts and Chains and
quod Principi placuit Legis habet Naturam that the Princes pleasure was a Law Or such as was the Power of all Kings in the Kingdoms of Ancient Times founded after the Flood when as Justin in his Epitome tells us arbitria Regum pro Legibus erant that the will of the King was a Law unto the People Or lastly such as is now the Power of the Turkish Russian Persian and Morocco Emperors who rule purely by Regal Authority without any Political Regulation having Absolute Uncontrollable Power over the Lives Fortunes and Liberties of their People and of whom I may truly say as Daniel said of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.19 for the Majestly that the High God hath given unto them all their People Nations and Languages tremble before them for whom they will they slay and whom they will they keep alive whom they will they set up and whom they will they pull down I say Civil Slavery or Capativity consists in being obnoxious to such an Unlimited Arbitrary Dominion as this which rather deserves the name of Military than Civil Power but the People that are Subject to a Conquering Rebel or Rebels are subject to such an Unlimited Absolute and Arbitrary Power which is under no Civil Regulation but as the forecited Fortescue wisely saith of meer Regal Power it can give Laws to the People and lay all manner to Taxes and Burdens upon them without their consent and let me add take away their Lives by a High Court of Justice or by any other Arbitrary way without Tryal by Law or Peers nay without any Tryal at all For their Power is an Usurped Military Power not under the wholsom regulation of Laws but as Arbitrary as the Sword and as Tyrannical as their Lusts will make it and if they do not oppress the People after they have mastered the Lawful Government it is generally because their Policy over rules their Ambition and Cruelty and not that they are truly good It is seldom that Rebels have any regard or tenderness to the Peoples Blood or Treasure or if as Cicero saith of men who make their Interest their Supream End the goodness of their Nature may chance to over-rule their Evil Principles yet the People that are subject unto them are all the while in the Lions Den the Beast may perhaps be good humoured and Generous but still he may eat them when he will Therefore every successful Rebellion makes the victorious Rebel a grand Seignior the Sword is his Title and his standing Armies the Laws by which he Governs so that in the most absolute Monarchy that ever was Rebellion may alter the Governors but not the Government which will be still as Arbitrary as the will and pleasure of the Conqueror can make it and all the Benefit that People under such a Revolution can possibly reap by a prosperous Rebellion will only be that of the Ass in the Fable who complained that tho' he had changed his Master and Paniers very often yet still the burden was the same I say in the most Arbitrary Government where the People are perfect Slaves Rebellion will not likely mend their condition because the Conquering Rebels will still be their Lords and Masters and they must still abide Slaves They change their Master but not their Service their Lords but not their Vassallage all the difference is that they have an Usurper or Senate of Usurpers to rule over them instead of their Natural Soveraign and have set up their Fellow Subjects in his Place This generally speaking is so true and so agreeable to the common report of Histories that would the Subjects of the most Absolute Monarch consider it they would never follow the most plausible Ring-leader into Rebellion against their Natural Soveraign but most of all would the People of a limited and regular Government who have their Properties and Liberties secured by Law consider That a Conquering is an Absolute and Unlimited Power they would abhor the thoughts and abstain from all appearance of Rebellion which in the end must either render their own Soveraign or the Victorious Usurpers which is ten times worse absolute Lords over them and themselves by consequence perfect Slaves For if their rightful Soveraign against whom they rebell prevail then they and their Estates must ly at his mercy and they will be content on any condition to redeem their forfeited lives but if their pretended Patriots their Leaders into Rebellion prevail then They become their Absolute Soveraign and may dispose of their Lives and Fortunes without asking their consent What can hinder a successful Traitor at the Head of his Conquering Legions from doing what he pleases And who even among those who first set him up and lent him their Assistance dares say unto him What dost thou 2 Sam. 15.5 At first he was their humble Servant he did obeisance unto them and put forth his hand unto them and kissed them at first he sighed for their unhappiness and bemoaned their Grievances and begs but their own assistance to set them free but as soon as he prevails then they must say unto him as the Trees said unto the Bramble in the Parable of Jotham Come thou and reign over us Judges 9.14 15. and when it is once come to that then he will plainly say unto them If in truth ye anoint me King over you then come and put your trust in my shadow but if not let fire come out of the Bramble and devour the Cedars of Lebanon Soon after Absalom had stoln away the hearts of the People by his fair Carriage and Speeches the next News was Absalom reigneth in Hebron and in his short Reign or Usurpation he and his Captains did so enslave and oppress the Subjects of David after they had revolted from him that he compared their condition under the Power of their young Idol to Captivity saying When the Lord bringeth back the Captivity of his People Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad He had assured them before that he desired nothing more 2 Sam. 15.4 than to be in a condition to remove their Grievances Oh saith he that I were made a Judge in the Land that every man that hath any suit or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice This and such like was his Language at first but when he had got a great Army at his Command and had beat the King out of Jerusalem then he could lye with his Father's Concubines upon the top of the House in the sight of all Israel and he and his Adherents could eat up the people as they eat bread The poor oppressed Commonalty saw their own slavery too late and when God besides their expectation had delivered them from it they were so glad of it that they were at strife throughout all the Tribes who should bring the King back Oh said the men of Israel the King saved us from the hand of our Enemies 2 Sam. 19.9 10. he
delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines and now he is fled out of the Land for Absalom and Absalom whom we rebelliously anointed over us is dead in Battel now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King These Considerations of the great Blessings they enjoyed under David would weigh nothing with them before but after they felt the Calamities of War and the smart of Arbitrary Government under a prevailing Traitor after they had run into that under Absalom which they had but feared under David then they saw their Errour and the men of Israel were angry with the men of Judah for not letting them join with them in bringing back the King And what happened unto the People of Israel and Judah under the prevailing Rebellion of Absalom hath happened I believe upon all the successful Rebellions in the World Did ever People rebell with success and mend their condition by it Nay did ever People succeed in Rebellion and not afterwards groan under the Arbitrary Dominion of the Victorious Rebels Or were Grievances and Oppressions ever sewer under Usurpers than under the lawful Head It is as I have shewn inconsistent with the Nature of that Arbitrary and Military Power with which Conquest doth invest every prosperous Rebel and though it be easie to reply that it is possible for one that rises up against his lawful Soveraign to be free from self-interest and ambition and purely to design the Ease and Liberty of his Fellow-Subjects yet in all the Instances and Examples of successful Rebellion very few or none such are to be found You see what Impostors Absalom and Achitophel were and how they falsified all their Pretensions to the credulous People and would the time permit and the Solemnity of the day allow of it I could verifie the truth of my first Observation in many such Popular Cheats But I will wave all Foreign and confine my self to Domestick Examples to prove that a state of prosperous Rebellion is a state of Slavery and Captivity as King David in my Text and our late Blessed Soveraign who was wont to bewail the sad condition of his People in the late prevailing Rebellion frequently observed I need not tell you what fair Promises and gilded Pretences the Ring-leaders of it made unto the deceivable People They first possessed their Heads with imaginary Fears and Grievances and then promised to secure them against all the Dangers which they feared At first they exhorted and invited the Common Citizens and People and then Commanded them first they begg'd and borrowed Supplies of them and took their Money by way of Contribution and Loan but afterwards when they had got the Power into their own hands they levied it as fast by their own Authority and demanded it by way of Tax I shall say nothing of the illegality of their Rebellion against their Prince no Law being better known to the People than that which declares it to be High Treason to Levy War against the King but I design to set forth their oppression of their Fellow-Subjects and shew in a few Instances how they inverted all the Fundamental Laws of the English Liberties and how their little Finger was much heavier then their Lawful Princes Loins It is a Fundamental Law of the English Government and the first Article of Magna Charta Quod Ecclesia Anglicans libera sit habeat omnia sua Jura integra libertates illaesas That the Church of England shall be free and have all her Rights kept intire and her Liberties inviolable and yet to make Way for their Wicked and ungodly Ends they voted the Bishops out of the House of Peers where as Mr. Pryn afterwards told them they had sat in their Predecessors as long as the Lords Temporal had sat in their Progenitors and longer than the Representatives of the Commons of England had sat in the House of Commons The Lords at first refused to consent to such a fundamental alteration perceiving very well what might be the consequence theoreof upon which the People were brought down in Multitudes to the Parliament Doors to Cry against the Bishops several days successively till the Terrors of those Tumults did force them to Consent After this was done to the Bishops they did what they pleased to the Loyal Clergy and the Universities Imprisoning and turning them out of their Free-Holds in a most Arbitrary and Tyrannical manner as may be seen in a little Book called the IIth Persecution and many other Narratives of the late Times to which I refer you for the particulars that you may see how little regard these Patriots of England falsly so called had to the first Article of the great Charter which concerns the Rights and Liberties of the Church But 2ly It is a fundamental Law of the English Liberty That no Free Man shall be taken or imprisoned without Cause shewn or be detained without being brought unto his Answer in due form of Law This is part of the 29th Article of Magna Charta and the whole Subject matter of the 28th of Edw. 3. and of the Petition of Right which these very same Patriots to endear themselves unto the People would not let the King rest till he had passed again and again Yet after they had got the Sword into their own Hands they Imprisoned whom they would thousands of Innocent Men and good Subjects of all Ranks without assigning any Reason but the general Reason of Malignancy and without bringing them to answer for themselves as the Law requires 3ly It is a fundamental Law of the English Government That no Man shall be disseized of his Free-hold or Liberties but by the known Laws of the Land This likewise is contained in the 29th Article of the great Charter and the 28th of Edw. 3. And it is that which makes England a Paradise and the English the most happy People in the World Yet these very Men from the moment they got the Power into their hands against all form of Law disseized sequestred decimated and forced Multitudes of Free-born Gentlemen of England to compound for their own Hereditary Estates 4ly It is a fundamental Law of the Liberties of England That no man shall be Condemned or put to Death but by lawful Judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land in an ordinary way of a Legal Tryal But these great Patriots and Patrons of the Peoples Liberties condemned one of the Kings greatest Subjects by an Arbitrary Ordinance made by the remaining Parts of both Houses united into one which made him say upon the Scaffold that he was not only the first Arch-bishop but the first English-man that dyed by an Ordinance of Parliament if the two Houses sitting without the King and in open Hostility against him much less if a part of the two Houses so sitting ought to be called by that happy and Honourable Name Lastly It is a fundamental Law of the English Government That if any other case than what