Lawyers interest which from the first was grounded on corruption was but a Jelly a poor little puny thing For one friend coming up to London to the Term about his own cause for a little matter towards bearing his charges in his journey would appear and plead something for his friends or neighbors cause so that it soon came to this that he that was most versed in the tricks of the Law and these Courts would be desired by his Countrey neighbors about him to undertake a journey to London and to do their businesses too and so they would bear his charges and give him some small reward Thus honestmen would get sometimes Parents Friends Brothers Neighbors sometimes others to be in their absence Agents Factors or Sollicitors for them at Westminster and as yet they had no stately houses or mansions to live in as they have now called Inns of Court but they lodged like Country-men or strangers in ordinary Inns. But afterwards when the Interest of Lawyers began to look big as in Edward the thirdâ— days they got Mansions or Colledges which were called Inns and by the Kings favor had an addition of honor whence they were called Inns of Court Thus those that came to be versed in the niâ—â—ties and formalities of the Norman Laws every Term were employed by others of their friends in the Country and found it sweeter then to follow the Plough and as Controversies increased they increased in number and took up their quarters and by degrees grew up into an orderly body and distinct interest as now they are and after they were thus formed into a body they hired the Temple of the Knights-Templers for their abode together and as Contentions increased their Interest grew great and by a long series of time so great as it is now What grounds the good people of England have to expect the fall of these Norman Lawyers and restauration of our Liberties and Freedoms as at first by Oliver their Conqueror will appear first from their rise and interest secondly our bondage thirdly their trade and practises in sin To the first 1. The rise of the Lawyers was the will of a Tyrant or an Arbytrarâ—â—ower which was and yet is a plague to the free-born people of England 2. Their Interest comes from pride strife fulness of Broad and prosperity 3. It was at first but a bare title and upon the ruines of others and by corruption it grew up to an interest as it is now 4. Their interest grows great by sin as lying cheating wronging and robbing the poor and making merchandise of the Law to the free-born people of England 5. As their interest got up they would suffer none to plead or be a Lawyer unless he were brought up in their Courts and Inns in their trads tricks and cheats to sell the Law at a large rate to Chapmen called their Clients so that the Law must be bought and sold before it be had 6. This Interest taught them ever since to m 〈…〉 ize and ingross the Law into their own hands for their own gain and markets 7. It is an Interest that regards no other but its self yea and is resolved to promote its self though it be with the ruine of others round about 8. This corrupt tyrannical Interest for fear of a fall knowing how wickedly it stâ—le in with robbery and ruine to the people so that it is a wonder it is suffered to stand all this while I say for fear of a fatal blow it doth back and barricado its self with secular powers and use all wiles to establish its own greatness so as that the fall of it may be costly and chargable to the poor oppressed people Thus from the rise and interest of the Lawyers it is obvious to every rational capacity what a necessity there is for the throwing down this dangerous and destructive order of the Lawyers before we can be freed from slavery tyranny oppression arbitrary will and power and lusts of men lying and cheating away our estates and liberties and making merchandize of the Laws of England and Justice These must down I dare ingage my life on it before the people can be quiet or the Commonwealth flourish with Equity and Justice all Objections to the contrary we shall answer by and by Secondly Our further grounds are from the peoples slavery under this tyrannical order of the Lawyers For First Let a man now seek the benefit of the Law he shall lose it and his right too without the Lawyer be lustily feed for it and this was not before the Norman tyranny so that as the Jews were in Christs and the Apostlâ—s days subject to the Romans and could not have the benefit of their Law but by the Romans so the Commoners of England have been miserably abused to this day by a company of cheating Lawyers and cannot have the benefit of the Law but by these Norman Customers or Publicans that sit at the receipt of custom Secondly The free-born Subjects of England are under slavery by these Lawyers in that they will allow â—o Advocates but of their own coat forgetting their own first original to plead a cause â—hich I the more wonder for that the Norman and Dane were so near a kin that the Norman set up several of the Danish Customs but I beleeve purposely he omitted this that King James mentions in his Star-Chamber speech In some Countries sayes he as in Denmark all their State is governed onely by a written Law there is no Advocate or Proctor admitted to plead onely the parties themselves plead their own cause and then a man stands up and pleads the Law and there is an end Surely this Custom had been borrowed of the Danes too but that for the Lawyers who would lose their fees then This made some of the eminentest of them imagine me of a Lilburnian spirit for that I would ever speak in my own cause and in others honest causes too and would hire no mercenary fellow of them all but I have told their Masters and Lords several times that I would have my liberty to plead my own cause which I have done and carried it too against four Counsellors in fâ—â— against me But this made them most enraged enemies to me ever since and such are afraid their markets must fall if a man come once to plead his own or his fâ—iends cause which is our freedom to do And we finde it was good Statute-Law in 28 Edw. 1. cap. 11. For mens friends parents brothers or neighbors to plead for them without the help of a Lawyer This must be again ere the people can be quiet or sit down under their own freedom and then there will need no Solicitors Agents shirking Cheats and such alike mercenary train too at Committees but an honest man shall tell his own tale as Anaxilaus did in the Spartan Senate Diod. Sic. lib. 2. c.
Law and Justice at every door in every County ☞ How Terms came in at Westminster How the Jury of twelve men came in How Councels of State Chancery Court c. came in Tyranny and slavery where in 1 Their oppression and misery for right and justice ☜ Their long and chargable journeys to London 2. Delays Whereas before all Causes of Controversie were fully and truly determined in fifteen days at farthest in Mirror of Just. fol. 8. ☞ Vide Captain N. Burts appeal from Chanceâ—y pag. 9. 3. Justice bought at too high a rate Example So Mr. Ch. dealt with one Henshaw borrowed all his money then kickt him out of doors then clapt him up in prison and by â—eeing the poor mans Lawyers kept him there The late Act of Parliament worth nothing Justice desired to be had at home ☜ Down with Terms and Westminster Courts Object Answ. 1. Trading would not be lost by it 2. 3. 4. From Tribute and Taxes Vide The lives of the three Norman Kings p. 91 98. Bucan Seneca Bartolus 5 From Fines and homage c. to Lords of the Mannor Holinshed 6 From the Norman Lawyers Lawyers their original 1. 2. 3. Terms Inns of Court when and how they began ☜ The Temple 1. The Lawyers rise and interest 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. ☞ 2. Peoples slavery by them 1. 2. ☜ ☜ Diodor. Sic. 3. Lawyers 1. Robbers Augustine Sim. Sutton Oppressors Acts Mon. p. 230. 2. Tyrants by practise how 1. Sim. 2. ☞ 3. Machiavil in principe Arist. l. 5. c. 11. Polit. 4. Solon 5. 6. Sim. ☜ 7. Sim. Dr. Featly Ser. p. 495. Sim. ☞ Col. Prides speech 8. Sim. ☞ Sim. Vacation times how ordered Sim. ☜ 3. For their Bribes No right in judgement is to be sold for Fees or Bribes Mirr of Just. fol. 258. Dr. Featly Sim. 4 For their incouraging contentions ☞ Râ—gers on Love p. 24. Sir H. R. and Mr J. R. Sim. 5. For their Frauds Sim. Diod. Sic Antiq lib 3. In Henshaws Case p. 55. Sim. ☞ Sim. Dr. Don. Sim. Mr. â— Mr. â— Sim. 6. For their Fees Sim. ☞ Sim. ☞ This is contrary to the Stat. Aâ— 18. of Ed. 3. And contrary to true Law Mir. of Just. fol. 64. Tully Sim. ☜ Sim Sim. ☞ Dr. Benson on Hâ—s 7. 7. ☞ Sim. ☜ Cook of Graisâ—nn at the laâ—e Kings tryall Thucydides ☜ The Parliaments great work about Tithes and Laws ☜ 7. For that they are strangers ☞ 2. Lawyers live by sin as 1. By Lying A Lawyer once attainted of false pleading or maintaining an unjust action or cause is to suffer bodily punishment Mirror of Just f. 230. Dangerous todeal with them ☜ A word to our Governors about them Robinsons Essayes ☜ 2. For Perjury Oaths unlawful ☜ 3. For innocent blood and murther Theeves * It is manslaughter to put any to death for meer theft and a bloody Law against Gods of Tyrants invention Mr. Châ—dley hath writ very well to this therefore say only thus that the Law in its virginity did ackowledg it that none ought to bee hanged for theâ—t Mirror of Juâ—â— fol. 102 257. Pretended Traytors and Enemies Holinsh Chron. Juries wronged Juries right Cooks Instit. Littleton A Lesson for Jury-men Judge Jermins speech Hide Cooke ☜ Oâ—to â—rising Châ—â—n l. 3. e 7. * Imprisonment of any man till he die in prison is manslaughter by thâ—â—â—â—y law viâ—â— Mir. p. 88. of Iustice â— 27 28 30. 274. so to suffer any though never so poor to perish for want p. 228. Or to delay to releive prisoners till any one dye is manslaughter f 30. One Judge Pâ—rine was hanged for this Expos. 4. For their cheating and stealing Judge Hall was hanged because he saved Tâ—ustrom the Sheriff from death who had taken away goods from many men against their wills though for the Kings use for that it was robbery vid. Mirror of Jusâ— f. 241 241. And do not the Lawyers rob thus daily ☜ Sim. ☜ Dalton ☞ 5. For oppression 22. Q. 12. a. 2. Ministers suffer by their tails Widows sufferings Example ☜ In his Discription of the World p. 196. â— For Pride ☞ The peoples eyes on the Lord General for deliverance from all these Norman Tyrants and tyrannies ☞ Vide chap. 5. And why so Reason 1. Oâ— the Conqueror conquered not for himself but for the people Augustine 1 Sam. 17. ☜ ☞ Josephus Vide Declaration Aprill 164 and Maâ—ch 16. 18 Sim. Reas. 2. They are ouâ— Countrymen that have conquered Strangers unsufferable Aemilius Object Answ. ☞ ☞ Our rights not lost ☜ ☜ A word to the Army 3. This liberty is our birth-right 4. There be several and solemn engagements made to do it ☞ ☜ 5. Fast actions best ☜ 6. Scripture promises Jer. 30. 21. Cap. Ch. Rev. 11. 15. Pythagoras ☞ 1 The end of humane Laws what 1 In generall Isidorus in dig vet l. 1 tit 3 lege 2. 24. Isâ—l l. 5. c. 211. 2. In specie 1. safety Zeneph de Reb. Laced ☞ Aristotle 1. 2. ☜ 3. Tho. Aquinas Cicero 4. 5. Cassius ☜ 6. ☞ Sim. ☞ ☜ Austin c. 4. 6. de civit Dei Pausanias Cicero ☜ 2 Freedom Cicero lib 3. Offiâ— Diod. sic l. â— 2. l. 1. D. ☞ ☜ Sim. ☜ Use. ☜ 2 The object of the Law who or what Trajan Zenophon Cyrus Use. Our English Laws persecute the honest ☜ 3. The foundation of the Law what Austin Aquinas 12 â— 93. 3. c. M. Tu Cicero Plutarch Plato Suarez Fundamentall Law what Augustin Reas. Fundamentall Laws meeâ— notions ☞ What Laws are most fundamental ☞ A Writ of Habeas corpus tyrannicall ☜ Imprisonment for debts illegal Mir of Just. 102. 257. ☜ 1. To the Parliament 1. As the Supream ☜ ☞ 2. As they have the Legislative power Isidorus in l. 5. c. 10. Etym. 1. Carneades The Parliament not supream power when ☜ Plutarch ☜ ☜ Cobwebs in Westminster to be swept down ☞ Plato 2 Justice cald for from the Legislators ☞ Men made good by good Lawes and bad by bad Lawes Sutton Embleme of Phisitians Ministers Magistrates 3 Legislators wils inspired by divine reason Aristotle 4 Legislators judgement sound Aegypt Sim. ☜ Aquinas 1. 2 Q. 100. 9. â— Averroes in 2 Rhet. c. 18. ☞ 5. All Lawes made known by Legislators â—â—idâ—r Vide Master Braine 's new â—arth Q. 1. A. 1. What Laws must be altered 2. 3. Augustine ☜ To the Parliament ☜ ☞ ☞ How we come by our owne without Lawyers Object Answ. ☜ A word in charity to warnâ— the Lawyers Prayer for our Governors ☞ Sim. Priests and Lawyers help one another Priests let them alone to live by sin and Lawyers in requital pleads for them to live by tythes 2. To the free-born people of England Our Liberty what it is ☜ The worth of it Ames Obj. Ans. Sim. Why we strive against stream ☜ Gen. 3. 1. Lawes and Liberties of the People are highest Aristotle de mundo lib. â— Polit c. 7. 2. Rulers are to be for the peoples good ☞ Caesar l. 5. 7. de bel Gal. 3. Else the people declare against them ☜ Rulers how Not by open armeâ— By new choice Why Cicera â—ivius ☞ 1. Macc. 1. 43. 2. 22. ☜ 4 This Conquest hath been on the peoples account ☜ 5 Cons. The Fifth Monarchy now hard by Which breaks the Laws and Law-givers of the fourth Monarchy apeeces 1. When Mr. Cam. Calvin Polanus The little horn i. e. Wil. the Conqueror 1 Unseen for a while Rose up 3 A vile person 4 By deceit 5 To subdue three Kingdoms ☞ 6 Speaks great words against God ☜ 7 Perplexes the Saints by changing their Laws 8 A fierce persecutor of the Saints till the Judgement Master Canne 9. Never to be more 10. The rest of the Hornes continue for a time 11. The fifth Monarchy When. When. ☜ 12 The last Monarchy ☜ 2. The manner how 1. By degrees 2. In a mystery ☞ 3. Suddenly and terribly 3. The Reasons 1 The Redemption of the people Gellius Redemption 1. From Ecclesiasticall slavery of soulâ—s 2. From Civil slavery of bodies Psal. 12. ☜ Of both Prophesies of the Sibyls Of the restauration of good Laws Of Pâ—â—acelsuâ— Of these warâ— with Holland To France Spaine Itâ—ly Laws plain and honest ☞ Prediction of Nostradimus Of France â—oannes Wolâ—ius Of Rome destroyed by our Army of England Predictions of Ioachim ☜ Concerning CROMWEL it is so be thought Romes ruin by the English English Preachers sent thither Predictions of B. â— Finius Of Rome Of Holland ☜ ☞ Predictions of Baptista Nazarus his Ital. dish Of Spain France Germany Rome The Turks by the English ☞ Predictions of the Sibyls Of new Lawes and godly Decrees 2. 2. The Supremacy of Christ over all Powers and Nations ☜ Who then Law-giver ☜ What Lawes then Who the best Lawyers then Vid. Brain 's new earth Vse 1. To the Parliament to model all for the fifth Monarchy 1. To intrust none but honest men ☞ ☜ Throw out men of sin 2. That the Lawes agree with Gods Lawes State Policy a great enemy ☞ 3. To doe all for Christ and his Monarchy Gods Law must be set up ☜ Gods Law Expos. In the Fifth Monarchy ☜ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 ☞ 4 To avoid factions and parties The pretty designs of the former Parliament ☞ So now parties about Tythes ☜ 5 To avoid Achitophel and Machiavell Vide Moderne Policies 1. Principle of Policy Machiavelâ— 1. Principle of Piety 2. Pr. of Policy Pindar 2. Pr. of Piety 3. Pr. of Policy Origen 3. Pr. of Piety 4. Pr. of Policy 4. Pr. of Piety 5. Pr. of Policy 5. Pr. of Piety 6. Pr. of Policy 6. Pr. of Piety 7 Pr. of Policy ☜ 7. Pr of Piety 8. Pr. of Policy Plautus Plutarch 8. Pr. of Piety Aristophanes 9. Pr. of Policy Cicero de offic lib. 1 9. Pr. of Piety 10 Pr. of Policy C. P. 10 Pr. of Piety Fulgos. lib. 5. c. 6. Gen. 34. 11 Pr. of Policy Caesar. 11 Pr. of Piety Scipio 12 Pr. of Policy ☞ 12 Pr. of Piety The price of blood for God only Jesuited who Sim. ☜ Use â— Word to the people to understand the times Object Answ. Against Astrologers The stinking â—â—lly Mirandula Understanding â—nlightned Daniel Then we shall fâ—ll to praying pell-mel ☜ A false Alarme given the Author to take him off of thiâ— Crofton ☜ 1655.
blanda facie sed caudâ— pungit occulte The Scorpion hath a flattering face and so these Locusts Revel 9. 7 8. Their faces were as the faces of men and they had hair as the hair of women But Vers. 10. their tails were like to Scorpions that had stings to torment men All this signifies their Hypocrisie and craft as well as cruelty to hurt us Exterius boni sed interius mali sayes one For Scorpio blanditur vultu sed percutit cauda these Scorpions will finely fawn to thy face but they torment with their tail when thou thinkest danger is over This signifies also their varias fraudes sundry sorts of tricks and frauds as Cotterius tells us to deceive and do mischeif with therefore they have womens hair as well as mens faces As the Apostle sayes 2 Pet. 2. 3. Through Covetousness with fained words they make merchandise of men for they seem the faces of men that are most discreet wise prudent eloquent yea and affable and courteous but as Pliny lib. 11. c. 25. sayes of the Scorpion Cauda semper in ictu est nulloque momento meditari cessat ne quando occasioni desit Their tail is continually in motion to torment us and every moment ready to take occasion to sting us and as Paul in Rom. 16. 18. sayes With fair speeches and flattering words they deceive the simple 2. As Scorpions ever since they were cursed in Gen. 3. 14. Thou art cursed above every beast of the field upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shalt thou eat all thy days I say ever since with their tails which torment us they gather up the dust of the Earth and feed altogether upon earthly things as their meat Scorpio cauda lingit isti spiritualia temporibus postponunt So they like the unclean beasts under the Law creep 〈◊〉 all four upon the Earth and all this upon their belly too O bitter curse they cannot abide the things above And this make them ready to receive Petitions opinions causes complaints many hours together about Bodies and Estates but cannot abide a Petition that concerns Soules which lately I tryed their patience with before the Lords Commissioners but upon the naming of a Scripture or two they would not hear it at which drawing my Bible out of my Pocket and telling them that that was the Statute Book to be used in such cases and beginning to open some Scriptures I came to that in Ezek. 22. 27. Her Princes are ravening Wolves they seek to destroy souls to get dishonest gain c. but they fell a chasing and fuming and could not endure it But 3 Scorpions sting but not dead at first but the wound works by degrees and Pliny saies plainly that the venome runs along the veins by little and little till it comes to the heart and kils them The Lawyers like them sting deadly and it were better they killed us right out Rev. 9. 6. then to consume perplex paine grieve and afflict us to death by degrees the plague of them is the worse Habent venenatam suam potestatem Thus these Locusts are like Scorpions 8 These Locusts were Monster-forme and that multi-forme being made up of many sorts of creatures so the Lawyers are i. e. Foxes for subtlety Vipers for venome Dogs for mouthing it but Tygers for tearing it and cruelty But 1. In their Body horses prepared to battle Rev. 9. 7. Horses not common but kept up and fed pampered Jades that work not but feed hard and eate and drink of the best therefore saies the Apostle 2 Pet. 2. 12. They are as bruite beasts lead with sensuality and yet like Horses prepared to battle that is full of fury and rage for Antichrists designe and against the Gospell of the Lord Jesus Cum fervore impetu procedentes sine Dei timore discretione currentes in conculcationem electorum sicut equi saies Beda in loc non sua ratione sed sessoris impulsu aguntur ita diabolico spiritu agitati feruntur contra Christum They must needs go whom the devill drives and thus like the horses Job 39. 25. They mock at fear and go on as bold as blind Bayards furiously for Antichrists interest â—s his Army for Civill affairs Besides it seems they are cruell and given to Blaodshed and under pretence of Treasons breach of Law or the like they cause the faithfullest to suffer as Sir Walter Rawleigh told them to their faces 2 On their Heads as it were crowns c. So are these Locusts or Lawyers Antichrists Army of crowned men in State-matters as well as the Priests and Clergy his Army in Ecclesiasticall matters not only in their wear of Caps like Crowns but in that they get the legislative Power and have more regum in the manner of Kings Lords and such like persons imposed laws and ties to consciences tyrannizing and oppressing all the people of God as their Vassals and Subjects Thus the Lawyers are Antichrists Horses kept up for his battle being monster-form magni-forme and multi-form But Christ he rides upon his white horse conquering and to conquer 3. They had Faces like the faces of men That is least me should loath and abhor them for their cruelty and cursed dispositions they insinuate into great places Kings Courts and Pallaces c. by simulation and fine glozing flattering shewes of humanity and humility having learned the art of dissembling in the Inns of Courts having it infused as a principle which Kings and Rulers held by their authority that none was fit to Rule unlesse he can dissemble These Lawyers never more dissemble theâ— when they resemble the faces of men For they put the fairest faces on the foulest actions There be no greater Flatterers in the world and they smile at the most distance And methinks now the Lawyer is like one nigh drowned he fastens upon any neâ— hand in hopes to save himselfe but soft sir 4. Hair as the hair of women Rev. 9. 8. That is as Cotterius notes 1. Varias fraudes their variety of art to deceive anâ— insinuate 2. Ornatum illicitum their unlawfull attire to make a great show with fine soft and delicate ornaments And 3. Effoeminatos mores their effeminacy and womanish fancies aâ—â— fashions and like women O how they love their long hair delicate comam alunt pingunt mulcent powdering and painting it 5 Their Teeth as the teeth of Lyons Rev. 9. 8. Such an expression is in Joel 1. 8. Voraces truculenti sunt that is thâ—â— are ravenous and cruell so that in the description of them there is falsi boni simulà tio veri mali dissimulatio Aperâ— Saevitia A semblance of good in their faces a dissemblance fevill in their hair but dentibus crudelitas significatur by their teeth is figured out open cruelty and tyranny and bee sure these State Locusts or
dry again And I am of opinion meerly out of love to themselves here that their vacation times so called were ordered as in Michaelmas Term to end in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 November that the poor Countrey-man may go home again and thrash and sell out his corn to provide money for the following Hillary term which in the eleventh moneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called January begins and ends in the next month 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adâ—r and then the poor Farmer must home to put off his Cheese and Firkin-butter and all he can to come to the Lawyer again by Easter Term and because it is a dead time of the year the vacation is the longer until the second moneth following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ziu called April which holds to the next moneth called May or Sivan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then comes a Vacation time until the next moneth of June 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is indeed very short for that the Countreyman must have nothing to do but to go home and shear his sheep and make with what speed may be money of his wool and to come Post up again to supply his Lawyers pocket by Trinity Term which ends in the same moneth too to give the poor oppressed people a little breathing by a long Vacation as they call it for they think it too long onely they know their Clients are plying it hard for them and are following the Harvest to have out their hard corn with the first to make money and all for a company of Norman Tyrants These Lawyers methinks are much like the Beast called Rosomacha of the bigness of a Dog but his face is like a Cat the Emblem of Contention his back and tail like a Fox so we said before who useth when he hath filled his paunch as full as it can hold to get betwixt two Trees standing together and so by squeezing his belly between them empties it and then returns to his carrion again And thus the greedy Lawyers betwixt two Terms squeeze all out to fall a fresh upon the oppressed peoples purses and devour them by whole sale Let but Reason speak for the Commonwealth in this case and if any man that hath Reason or is a Friend to the free-born Subject of England can show better reasons or more righteousness for their standing then we can for their stownding and downfal I have lost my senses Thus for their tyranny Thirdly Englishmen as rational men may no longer abide them for the abominable Bribes which they take to the corrupting and gangreening of honesty and justice and they must have them over and above their Fees and that by their Clients adversaries too if near a Tryal Philip King of Macedon said of a strong Castle That it was impregnable if he could not drive in an Ass loaden with gold and so many causes are battered down by golden peeces For the Lawyer oftentimes like the Hunter hunts a man at his Form but leaves his cause at a loss Doctor Featly tells us of a famous Lawyer that refused for a while to patronize a bad cause which is a wonder that a cause can be bad enough for them to refuse but when the party cast before him a sum of good Hungarian Gold on which were stamped the Images of armed Souldiers he then cryed out Thou hast taken me captive for who can resist so many armed men Quid now mortalia pectora cogis Auri sacra fames Virg. The injection of a dram many times turns the scales of Justice among those men For as Lewis the eleventh King of France said He often won the victory by fighting with golden and silver spears so may many a great man say who should else have been surely cast by the honest causes that have come against them in Law And as the French answered the Helvetians once who bragged That their Countrey was so environed with Rocks and Alps and high Hills that it was unconquerable say the French We could easily climb those Hills and overcome those Rocks if we have but Guns that will send in Golden Bullets among you So certainly the best cause may be betrayed and have been lost by bribes Such showres of bribes have brought many a dreadful Thunderbolt in the tail of them Fourthly Rational men do abhor their rise and the rise of all their riches being from Quarrels and Contentions The Lawyers are but Brethren to the Worms for both are engendered out of mans corruption They are then worse then the worst of our Excrements or the Dung of this Commonwealth and do they not stink in our nostrils Why then we are not well and have lost our senses sure Why else should Englishmen be so mad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to run to these Norman Lawyers Anviles for sharp Instruments to hurt their own Countrymen with whilest they use Upper Bench Writs bâ—â— as Westminster Mastives to bait the Country with The Lawyers like the Indians strike fire by rubbing two sticks And some that follow suits in the Law of their managing are like the Hare in the Epigram who to save her self from the Hounds leaped into the Sea and so was devoured of the Sea dog I have heard many say they had better lose their right then lend it them though it be but to recover it seeing it is so costly For as two that contend one hath a blew face the other a bloody nose but both are well beaten before they leave off and so it is with going to Law It is not long since two Brothers of good quality sell out about their estates and were hot to go to Law until a Letter which was intercepted written from one Concealer I should say Counsellor of the Law â—o acounted to another was read to these Brethren SIR I Am retained for one Brother and take you the other and I will warrant you we will quickly pluck them as bare as two Birds that have not a Feather left to hide their skins c. This Letter ended their Law suits for else as the Mouse and Frog were both devoured of the Kite so would Plaintiff and Defendant have been both devoured and eat up by these Lawyers who live like Salamanders best in the hottest fires of contention Fifthly Their variety of Frauds and Arts to deceive do render them unsufferable to rational men For as the Fox said to the Lyon that indeed his tongue was Soveraign but he had ill neighbors meaning his Teeth So certes we may say of the Lawyers when their tongue is fairest their teeth are fearfullest and they intend to tear away most estate and money then For whiles a true friend like a Chesnut keeps a sweet nutrimental Kernel under a plain rinde such fainers as these are like Peaches that have harsh rugged stones under a Velvet Coat There is an Island beyond Arabia sayes Diodorus Siculus where the Inhabitants have Cloven tongues
so that therewith they can alter their speech as they list and imitate Birds in tunes and speak perfectly to two persons and two purposes at once to one with the one part of their tongue and to the other with the other part thereof Now I know none but Lawyers like them in this for they will speak for a Fee for one and yet I know them that have given Advice and Councel to the other and taken the others Fee too They are like the Amphishaena who hath two heads and moves two contrary ways at once The Italians put a Proverb upon Caesar Borgia and his father Pope Alexander saying The one never thought as he spake and the other never spake as he thought So indeed it may be said of many of these Lawyers who like Hebrew Letters must be spelt backward if once we read them aright And now O what Parasites they are as the English Papists in Queen Elizabeths days durst temporize to purpose so do these begin apace but as the Coriander hath a corrupt root an unsavory leaf but a sweet seed so hath this Faction a filthy root unsavory actions but as good words as one would wish if need be Yet let them look to it Gods curse like a Promoter must search for all their ill-gotten goods ere long And as when the crafty Fox that had deceived the Crow of her break-fast hugged himself for joy to think of his project till when he had eaten it he found himself poysoned with it and then he repented and wished the Crow her own again So stoln goods are sweet to these Deceivers and they hug themselves in their cheating tricks and knaveries till their bowels begin to gripe them for it For the day of Christ that is coming will be a terrible time of torment to them And as Christ brought that fish to the Hook that had the money in his mouth Matth. 17. 27. So will these wide mouthed money mongers be hooked for it fearfully ere long They have gotten great Estates and bought Mannors and Lands and taken exact Surveys of them but they have not yet taken an exact survey of their Consciences how they came by this money which purchased these Lands says Dr. Don Ser. fol. p. 818. Our coyn hath the State on one side and God with us on the other and surely if we see not God with us in what riches we have gotten they are but counterfeit and falsly gotten and will gripe us grievously till we have vomited them out When Vespasians covetous Officers had filled themselves like spunges by Rapine and Extortion the Emperor squeezed them out dry again into the common Treasury till they had nothing left Now although many wish for the fall of the tree that they may gather up the chips yet the Lord knows this is not in my heart but beleeve it the Laws of God and Nature require a restitution and that what they have ill gotten from the people be brought into the publick bank again for they have robbed the Nation with a great deal of ravenousness and art One Cacus a cunning theif when he had stoln any Beasts he would drag them to the Cave by their tails backward that by the contrary track of their feet he might be freed from suspition of theevery such art and subtlety have the Lawyers had in deceiving and robbing us that they seems to take another track quite contrary to it and to go under the name of dues and fees And besides their decerts are many in the Law too which like a Cob-web to Spiders whilest they make it their dwelling it is a prison to entangle others in as flies to feed them So many Meanders and Intricacies there are in the Law that like snakes they hide themselves by folding into many doubles Wherefore like the Foxes they must have depth of soyl to Earth the wrongs of their poor Clients and hide their own Crafts which are too many to live much longer seeing the honestest cause must miscarry by their cunning tricks and fallacies and a bad cause shall be so beautifully varnished over by their arts and cheats that the most innocent honest man that is shall suffer ruine by them I have a Neighbor by me who was arrested for two hundred pounds debt to a man whose name he never heard nor face ever saw before and he was laid in prison thereupon to his utter ruine till he proved the Bond forged the Plaintiff a cheat that lived by such tricks and yet he escaped scot-free though there was a knot of them that lived by such cheats Hence Sir Walter Rawleigh upon his tryal hearing the Lawyers for the King plead violently against him he turns to the Jury and sayes Gentlemen I pray consider that these sort of men meaning the Lawyers do usually defend very bad causes every day in their own Courts yea and against men of their own Profession too as able as themselves what then will they not do against me ◠I know now an honest Gentleman that had a good personal estate who lies yet in the Fleet eat up almost with lice and near starved and all his estate taken from him by the meer cheat of the Lawyers upon a forged Bond too for another onely a man whose face he never saw before pretending his hand to be in that Bond But to finish this O how miserably tyrannical they make the Law to the free-born Englishman They make it like a Milstone which they drive about with a wheel artificially full of cogs and spoaks under which they grinde the innocent and harmless ones to powder And can we hear their groans sighs sad complaints and fearful cryes and we sit still like senceless stones shall we Sixtly Lawyers unsufferable Fees fill all mouths with wofull exclamations and eyes with willing expectation of their fall For as no sooner was the Apple in Adams mouth but the Devill was in his Maw So no sooner does one Fee them with an Earth-Angel in their hand but the Devil doubles fees with Hel angels in their hearts and they fall to lying pleading cheating wronging and oppressing as fast as they can without fear of Heaven or Hell It would make an honest mans heart to ake to hear how fast and confidently they will lye and like it well too We laugh at the Indians for casting in such store of Gold every yeare into the River Ganges as if the streams would not run currently without it and others laugh at the English as much for when the current of Justice is stopped as 't is oft in many Courts the foolish people can as yet it seems find no better way then that the Indians use to open them and shal we never be wiser Indeed Pliny reports of Apis the Aegyptian God that he never gave answers to private men but è manu consulentium cibum capiendo by taking meat out of the hands of such as were his
the fruit of lying cheating oppressing perjury deceit and tyranny For surely surely such a weak purgation as some men speak of will but stir the rough and tough humors and anger them the more Shall such men as these scape scot-free and nothing but thunder and lightning upon many honest men and Ministers of this Nation Some of our new Parliament have already put heart into these vermine whilst they have caused to my knowledge some vertuous souls to sit weeping behind doors or in corners complaining that they cannot tel where to have Justice or to whom to petition for right yea a Gentlewoman big with child that did but beg for an order to have her linnen and things fit to lye in that are detained from her by a Malignant in the Country and shee poor heart must be turned by for all her tears most hard-heartedly and bid to go to the Law which was the ready way to ruine her and like the Flounder to leap out of the dish into the fire Well the Lord make them wise for if they begin thus I fear they will end worse and if they be so ready and prodigall to cause the godly people to shed their tears I pray God they prove not as ready to cause them to shed blood But in the mean time to shew mercy to the wicked is cruelty to the good as one said And as Thucydides says lib. 1. They are not only Tyrants which make other men Slaves but they are much more so who have power and means to suppresse Tyrants and to prevent their oppression and yet doe it not nor take care about it but rather continue the oppression upon the poor c. O sad Let the Magistrate look to it then Their worke is great as to the Law and Lawyers as well as to the Tithes and Priests and it is not soft wood or bending lead which is fit matter for a Carpenters Rule nor are such flexible dispositions as wee have met with hitherto fit for the work of this Generation Salomons Throne had carved Lyons not Apes nor Asses nor yet Foxes are fit for that throne of Judicature in our daies which is to be for the typified Salomon Wherefore the Lord the Counsellor be with the Parliament so as to execute true Justice upon these Norman Tyrants and if it fall upon them in a vehement showre or storm seeing they are ripe in the field it shall onely be to lay them down that are fittest for the sickle or the sithe Lastly Reason suggests to us that it is time to be freed from them seeing they are strangers and of the Norman Line that have usurped this power over us When the will of their great master William advanced them upon our Tombs and Ruines many an honest Noble Britain was brought to beg their bread and their possessions taken from them sayes Holinshed and given these his greedy followers And then as the Lord of Oxford said to Queen Elizabeth as she was playing on the Virginals and the ledge being taken away for the Jackâ— to be seen Your Majesty may see sayes he how Jacks went up and Heads went down together Well I shall mention no more to this then what the foresaid Thucydides sayes in his 1. Lib. That amongst others they were the Tyrants and Traytors which assumed the title of Protectors of Greece and Defenders of the Country and yet stirred not to deliver the Country from the oppression of strangers Is he not a Nero that can see the burning and ruine of his City without reluctancy or trouble And have we not some Caligula's that could wish all the honest men in England especially the Ministers had but one head that they might strike it off at a blow But to conclude the peoples expectation as they are rational in the downfal of the Lawyers up-start and ungodly Interest several other things might be said but this is all now that Justice calls for it as to the Commonwealth and Charity challenges it as to set the oppressed free Secondly The people cannot as religious as well as they are Rational longer endure this notoriously wicked interest of ungodly Lawyers for that of all the Nation they are the men that are tolerated to live by sin and to make a trade of sin openly and hourly as briefly to instance in some 1. Lying which is as the Nerves and Sinews of their Calling for they cannot plead a Cause without lying one or the other must be the lyer in every Cause Let them not think at the day of the Lord to escape scot-free for their art in lying though they call them witty evaâ—ionâ— or pretty homoâ—ynies or at the most but equivocations At the day of judgement no such Pleas nor Fees will be taken or serve turn to help them nor can their Father the Jesuite Bercana be able to save them in that day nor all the subâ—leties of the Jesuites their Brethren Wherefore the Lawyer needed not to have been so angry with the poor Scotchman for speaking broad when he reading his Morning Service out of Joh. 8. with these words Your Father the Devil was a lyer from the beginning pronounced it as well as he could Your Father the devil was a Lawyer from the beginning But the Lawyers I hear were angry with him and what need they can one be a Lawyer and not a lyer then there may be fire and not heat seeing as heat is an unseparable property of fire so is lying of a Lawyer and the ablest Lawyer is so accounted because he is the ablest lyer and can best plead the worst Causes and the wickedest untruths These as the Prophet sayes Isai. 32. 7. Devise wicked devises to destroy the poor with lying words even when the needy speaketh right the words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for as the vulgar reads it Fraudulentia instrumenta sunt pessima And these consult and study tricks and lies to wrong us of our right as the Man of God tells us Job calls such Forgers of lies Job 13. 4 5. or Inventors that have gotten the art and trade of making lies insomuch that an honest man may blush but to read over one of their Declarations against another O the grossest palpable known lies that they own in every Declaration But sayes Job O that ye would hold your tongues which were more wisdom for you So Isai. 59. 3. 4. Your lips have spoken lies your tongues have muttered perversness none calleth for justice nor any of you pleads for the truth but trust in vanity and plead lies conceiving mischief and bringing forth iniquity and making it indeed a cause of the Devils seven times more the Devils then it was before And if they get an honest mans cause though a good cause into their hands yet by their lying and sinful management of it they make it dangerous and deviâ—ish Hatching Cockâ—trices eggs Vers. 5. and bringing out iniquity insomuch that it is very dangerous
they can beare seeing that Subjects are not to bee dealt with as Slaves and Bondmen But God himselfe in his Law to Kings Deutr. 17. 15 20. calls his people his brethren and so David did own them for his Brethren 1 Chron. 20 2. and so one Bartolus a famous Lawyer in Tract de regim Civit. says Subjects are to be held and used by Kings and Governors in the quality and condition of Brethren and not of Slaves so that our Governors and the General must use and ease the free-born Englishman as their Brother Fiftly Wil. the Conqueror brought in another Iron Yoak which the people call for ease from and that appears in p. 99. of the History of the lives of the three Norman Kings That in all those Lands William the Conqueror gave to any man as he did much give away to the Normans yet this covetous Tyrant he reserved dominion in cheife to himselfe for the acknowledgement whereof a yearâ— rent he caused to be paid unto him and a Fine whensoever thâ— Tenement or Land did aliene or die these were bound as Clients to him by oath of fidelity and homaâ—e and if any died whoâ— Heir was in his minority the King Conqueror received the profits of the Land and was his Guardian til the age of one and twenty This bandage of slavery is great though it is in part taken awâ—â— by the fall of the Court of Wards yet there remaineth a very greâ— Tyranny under such as are called Lords of the Mannor for eveâ— since says Holinshed as Lords and Great ones have held this 〈◊〉 the King so also have inferior persons and the poorer sort of people held this of their Lords and in case of disobedience the proprâ—itâ—ly does revert Hence came Lords of the Manor Landlord Tenaâ—â— Holds Tenures c. which are all slavish ties and badges origâ—nally grounded upon mâ—er conquest and Power inslaving the people Now let us but consider the nature of this bondage foâ— when thou that art a free Commoner hast bought a peece of Copyhold-land and paid all to a penny for it of the Owner and toâ— farthing the full worth of it yet the Lord of the Mannor foâ— sooth must have his Fine or else you shall not have a foot of the Land but hee will ceize on it that never pald a penny for it Nay more if you leave it though it be presently another Fiâ—â— fals upon it or if you die your poor Widow or Fatherlesse chilâ— that is in need and comfortlesse must pay another Fine for it too oâ— a Herriot of the best goods left which the Lord of the Mannoâ— must have or else the Land be forfeited O these arbitrary tyrannous customes For as Jer. 5. 26 27. Among my people aâ—â— found wicked men they lay waite as one that sets snares thâ—â— set a trap to catch men As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich These grievous Laws are snares indeed So that foâ— Fines and â—â—rriots they covet Fields Amos 4. 1. and take them by force and houses and take them away so they oppresse â— man and his house hear O yee kine of Bashan which oppresse the poor and which crush the needy Amos 8. 4. These as the Prophet Isa 59. Turn Judgment backward Equity cannot enter and he that refraineth maketh himselfe a prey These oppressors takes pledges of the poore which is forbid Joâ— 24 9 and they turne aside the needy from righteousnesse and take away the right of the poor that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the Fatherlesse Isa. 10. 2. Is it not time Fellow-Commoners to call for our freedome from this formality and lust of man what are these Lawes but the direct issue of Tyranny and the badges of our slavery shall rich men thus reign over us and contrary to all Reason or rule of Righteousnesse thus oppresse the poor and widows and fatherlesse and all with â—ealtieâ— Homages Oaths Fines c. What Law is this but Lust and Will Power and Custome which is insufferably corrupt and full of that Feminine which Juvinall speaks of Sic volo sic â—ubeo sic pro ratione voluntas This absolutenesse in some men over the persons and estates of others is plaine Tyranny and without Reason which the ravenous Conqueror brought in and will not our Religious and Rational Conqueror take it away then Shall men as the Psalmist says Psal. 94. forge wrong or frame mischief for a Law God says plainly they shall not oppress the poor and the widow c. Exod. 22. 22. Zach. 7. 10. and will not all the godly say so too Then surely this Supream Power so called i. e. the Parliament of England had need to arise and redeem the people who expect it from this arbitrariness and absoluteness of men who oppress the poor fatherless and widow with this iron yoke of fines rents and herriots to Lords of Mannors and the like which was brought in by the lust humor will pride and covetousness of a Tyrant Pure Religion visits the fatherless and the widow Sixthly and lastly There is another and that a most notorious servitude and misery which William the Conqueror brought the free-born people of England into which by Oliver the Conqueror the people expect deliverance from or else their lives will be but a burthen to them This bondage is by Lawyers for whereas before when the Law was delivered at our own doors every man was heard to plead his own cause without Sollicitors or Attorneys since that the Customs of Normandy were advanced by William the Conqueror the Courts set up at Westminster and the Laws commanded to be made and causes pleaded in French the poor Commoners must of necessity retain Norman Lawyers seeing they themselves understood neither the Law nor Language Thus the poor people were miserably abused and forced to buy their Law and come by their own at a dear rate whilest Lawyers pleaded their causes and at one tryal of a suit sucked up more money may hap then a poor man could get by his work and labor in half a year So that their rise may be ascribed first to the unknownness of the Law in a strange tongue secondly to the intricateness and fallacies of it whereby an honest plain man was rendred unable to extricate himself therefore he must have recourse to the shrine of the Lawyer unless he have learned State-Jesuitism tricks and quiddities in some of the Inns of Court and thirdly the Terms at Westminster whilest the Lawyer like the Roman sets up his god Terminus for all the Country round to fall down and adore The common sort of Lawyers carry a head full of Idea's of right or wrong and so can run on in a round oâ— formulary of words to couzen poor simple people I trust God will undeceive us But as yet in King Williams time the