warranted by the National and Fundamental Laws of the Land We are then to believe that the Princes just Prerogatives and the Peoples safety are the common Good of this Nation and that their Lives and Fortunes equally depend upon those Provisions which the Law has so equally made for the security of the whole Body of the Commonweal of which the Soveraign Prince is the Head It is one of the Excellencies then of the English Laws that they provide for the Common good which is the end of all true Law For this is the general Axiom That the Reason and Substance of Law demands that every part should be fram'd for the Common Benefit Greg. Lop. in l. 9 â—â—t 1. part 1. which was the Condition that Alphonsus King of Spain requir'd also in his Laws And thus it is understood by the Interpreters of the Civil Law who affirm that the Law is a common Precept respecting the Benefit of all Aristotle observes that the chief end of a Commonweal is to live well and happily And therefore adds Ethied 4. c. 1. That the Laws are to be accommodated to the Commonweal not the Common-weal to the Laws In my opinion saith Plato the Law is made for Benefits sake In Dialog Hippias as intended by the Legislator to be the supream happiness of a Commonweal for the Law being taken away there is no well being in a City And in another place he shews at large that the end of Law is the common safety and felicity And Plutarch tells us In Problem tit 40. That Laws are then accompted good and wholsome when they procure the public Benefit Which is evident from the most sacred Laws of the Almighty For though they be ordain'd to the honour of God for that God cannot will any thing without himself nor operate but for himself yet in those Laws the great Monarch of Monarchs seeks not his own Benefit but the good and felicity of Mankind Suarez l. 1. c. 7. Which then also the Laws of Man most nearly imitate when they drive nearest to the same Perfection Therefore as Laws are impos'd upon a Community so are they to be fram'd for the good of that Community otherwise they are irregular For it is against all rectitude and justice to direct the Common good to private Interest or to make the whole relate to the part for the parts sake And therefore when the Law is fram'd for a public Society the good of that Society ought primarily and principally to be procur'd The same thing is apparent from the Order of small Causes For the end ought to be proportionate to the act its beginning and its virtual efficacy Now the Law is the common rule of moral actions and therefore the first principle of moral actions ought to be the first beginning of the Law For in Morals the End is the beginning of Operation and so the ultimate end is the first beginning of such Operations But common good and felicity is the ultimate end of a Commonweal therefore that also ought to be the beginning of the Law and therefore the Law ought to aim at the Common good This is illustrated by St. Austin who collecting a Consequence from the Relation of the part to the whole argues that a Master of a Family ought to take his pattern from the public Laws and so to govern his House as to be conformable and agreeable to the public Peace Therefore ought the public Laws to give a good Example of public Benefit and common Safety that Domestic Government may not be ruin'd by a bad President Suarez brings another reason from the Original of Law For that the ruling power which is in Men is either immediately from God as in spiritual Power or from men as in Power purely temporal But both ways Suarez l. 1. c. 7. such Authority is given for the public advantage of all in general For therefore are the Rulers of the Church call'd Pastors because it behoves them to lay down their Lives for their Sheep and Dispencers not Lords and Ministers not Primary causes and therefore they are oblig'd to be conformable to the Divine Intention in the use of such Authority Therefore also are the supream Magistrates call'd the Ministers of the Public as not being created for their own benefit but for the advantage of them from whom they derive their Power They are also call'd the Ministers of God and therefore ought to use the Power entrusted in their hands in imitation of the King of Kings who in his Government solely respects the common good of Mankind For which reason St. Basil makes this distinction between a Tyrant and a King that the one seeks his own proper advantages the other labours chiefly for the common good and benefit of all his Subjects not excluding himself as being the supream Member and consequently the first that ought to share in the publick and general Emolument The reason why so few People attain this summum bonum of Government appears by the ways of practizing Dominion already recited the want of a due poyse between Rule and Subjection For in the Arbitrary Eastern Monarchies the People are altogether Slaves and may be only said to live not to live with any comfort or enjoyment of themselves In the Elective Kingdom of Poland the Nobility carry such an unbridl'd sway that the King is but a Cypher a King and no King which subjects the Royal Soveraignty to such an insufferable Bondage that the Title is hardly worth the acceptance of an English Knight A King in subjection to many Kings And all this while the People live miserably under the Slavery of a many-headed Tyranny The Emperor is so overmaster'd by his Golden Bull and so hamper'd with Electors and Dyets that in the most emergent affairs the slowness of deliberation many times renders him useless to his Friends and his Authority cumbersome to himself So that he never moves but like a Clock when his weights are hung on Such clogs upon Soveraignty are frequently the ruine of great Atchievments Neither do the Laws of God any where enjoyn the Kings of Judah when they should make either War or Peace The Ephori were added as a check to the Lacedemonian Kings Which tho' it grieved the Wife of Theopompus who upbraided her Husband for suffering such an Eclipse of his Authority yet was not Theopompus of her mind who return'd her answer So much the greater by how much the more lasting And this Remedy saith Plutarch was invented by the Lacedaemonians to prevent the evil accidents and ruine that befell the Kings of the Messenians and Argines who lost all for obstinately refusing to condescend a little to the Grievances of the People Plut. in vit Lyc. The Romans were terribly pester'd about keeping the ballance even between the People and the supream Magistrate For after they had ingratefully thrown out the Regal Government which had laid the Foundations of all their Grandeur they
Maxim of Tyranny only to keep the Subject poor To which auri vis Arist l. 5. pol. c. 11. Annal. l. 11. c. 1. opes infensae saith Tacitus Nero never gave to any Favorite any great employment but he added Thou knowst what we want Let us take care Sueton in Neron ne quis quidquam habeat And it is a Proverb relating to the great Turk That where he has once trampl'd there neither grow Leaves nor Grass On the other side we find with what a torrent the Portugals bore down all before e'm to recover their ancient Laws and the Soveraignty of their lawful Princes from the servitude and oppression of the Spaniards insomuch that when the Duke of Braganca had once declar'd his mind the revolt was universal and with such a rapid motion that one single day determin'd the contention with little blood so swift and astonishing was the surprize Nor must we forget how impatiently this Nation bow'd under Usurpation how hainously they bore the exilement of his present Majesty and the loss of their ancient Liberties almost buryed in a most impious Tyranny not ceasing till they had recover'd both their Prince and their Laws to the unspeakable joy of the whole Kingdom In France the King is Absolute and Arbitrary His word is the Law He may thank Lewis the XI for laying the Foundations and Richlieu and Mazarine for perfecting the work However Olden T. 2. as it is brought about the Final cause of the French Government at present is the Grandeur of the Monarch for the support of which the welfare of the People is but trampled under Foot The King squeezes with his Exactions the great Lords and Gentry for their Rents till the Commonalty are reduc'd to utmost penury For which reason France is compar'd to a most flourishing plain that feeds innumerable Flocks of Sheep which are to be fleec'd when the Shepherd pleases He is never safer than when he is in War to keep his haughty Nobility from hatching mischief But his own Subjects being so cow'd and out of heart for Infantry he is forc'd to hire among his Neighbours and Skins the servile Peasant for their pay by that means dilating his Territories to the intolerable detriment of his enslav'd People Only they are happy because they know no better In Swedeland it is quite otherwise Olden T. 2. for there the King is bound to govern by the Laws of the Country which he has no power to alter without the consent of the People So that the Character of the Swedish Government is this That it aims more at the welfare of the Subject than the Interest of the Prince And therefore it is observed that no Commonalty in the World live more happy than they Which renders them stout defenders of their Country and formidable to the most formidable of their Neighbours The Danish Government regards the Common Interest of the People who are govern'd by the ancient Laws of the Country which the King is sworn to observe at his Coronation Therefore the People thrive and live in a plentiful and flourishing condition Whether the English imbib'd their love of Liberty from their ancient Ancestors the Danes is not material here to discuss Yet certainly no Nation under Heaven enjoys those Rights those Priviledges that uncontroul'd Propriety with more ample provision and careful circumspection of Law or a more equal ballance between the Prince and the Subject than the People of England which makes them jealous of their infringement sometimes even to excess For the Laws of England are made with the consent of the People themselves By which means they prevent the imposing any oppressive Burden upon their own Shoulders So that it may well be said that the safety and security of the English People their Lives their Liberties and peculiar Proprieties are as it were entrusted to the Guardianship and deposited in the keeping and defence of Laws and Constitutions of their own framing Not of yesterday but deriv'd from the provisions of distinct Legislators and Princes from the most ancient to these present times carefully deliberated and debated among the most eminent for Wisdom and Counsel in the Nation The want of Laws in the greatest part of those Governments already recited sufficiently declare how little the People have to trust to that are only govern'd by Will and Power On the other side those People who are govern'd by Kings not Tyrants are the most happy and those Kings approach nearest to the King of Kings who govern like Shepherds not like Wolves Which is the reason that David calls God himself the Shepherd of Israel Now then the Common good being the Rule and Quadran of good Government the better the Laws are and the more they tend to the Common good their ultimate end the better must that Government be in regard that where the Law is predominant the Common good can receive no injury and where the Common good is so secur'd there the People are safe in all things that concern their Civil welfare And in this appears the excellency of those Laws that mainly design the common Benefit that they resemble nearest the Laws of God whose Dispensations of Justice were the same to the Peasant as to the Prince And as it was most certainly a greater Prerogative of the Hebrew Kings above all other Kings and Monarchs whatsoever that they govern'd by the Law of God so does it not admit of much dispute whether the Monarchs of England may not claim a Prerogative of the same kind over all other Potentates by governing by a Law the nearest to Divine of any extant more justly far deserving the Title of most Christian Kings than they who glory only in commanding numerous swarms of Slaves But where the National Constitutions of a Kingdom have so interwoven and twisted the Interest of Prince and People that they are inseparable without detriment to both there the Laws are the safety of the Prince and the security of the People and as the ballance kept but duly even render's the Obligation and reciprocal relation between the one and the other indissoluble so it perpetuates their mutual happiness and tranquility Now the People claim their security by the Law from the equal distribution of Justice the preservation of their Freedom and Proprieties and protecting the publick Peace from Tumult and Disorder On the other side the Prince expects all due Obedience from the People in the execution of the Law and an exact condescension to his just Prerogatives without which his Authority lessens and grows into contempt The Laws of England ordain to these ends a limited Authority to the Prince and a consin'd freedom to the Subject thereby providing at one and the same time for the safety of the Prince and the security of the People For it is as equally dangerous and wicked for the People to deny the Prince his just Prerogatives as it is of ill consequence to deny the People their Freedoms
Slavery For submission out of fear denotes compulsion and compulsion is a mark of servitude and vassalage rather then of real Homage and Obedience But the Fidelity and Obedience of a true Subject proceeds from the obligation of Conscience and is the same Tye to his Prince by which the Prince is bound to God Himself by Conscience to do Acts of Justice and Mercy as being the Vice-Pastor of the People of God and the Vice-gerent of the King of Peace and Justice Nay he is the living Image of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And how comes that to be The Light of Nature tells us shining even among the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that having obtain'd a Kingdom he is to shew himself most worthy of so supream a Dignity Which high deserving Excellence then most radiantly displays it self in Majesty when it appears array'd with the Beams of Divine Attributes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As to bodily substance a King is like another Man but in the power of his Dignity he is like to God who is above all So that when the Authority of a King is like the Authority of God and Righteous and true are all his ways there to refuse Obedience to the King is the same impiety as to refuse Obedience to God himself However it is not to be imagin'd that so much strictness can be expected from Mortality the resemblance is enough to fix our Veneration Therefore all Princes are by the Psalmist stil'd Gods tho he is very severe against those that deviate from the Resemblance of the Heavenly Prototype Niloxenus also the Wise Man being ask'd what was the most profitable and useful Thing in the World answer'd a King as most resembling God in his works of Justice and Mercy and to whom therefore the People by Conscience are bound with all humility to pay the Tribute of Homage and Obedience And for this reason all persons of what Quality Condition or Sex soever tho they never took the Oath of Allegiance are as firmly bound by it as if they had taken it as being written by the Finger of the Law in the hearts of every one and the taking it is but an outward Declaration of the Act it self For as it is proprium Imperiis imperare per leges So is it proprium Subjectionis obedientiam praestare per leges Which is no more then the reciprocal Stipulation of God himself with his Creature Man I am the Lord thy God that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt therefore thou shalt have no other Gods but me I am the Lord thy God c. therefore obey my Commandments And it is remarkable that God always expostulates with his People for their Ingratitude for signal benefits receiv'd before he punish them for disobedience Now there is one prevailing Lure that draws Men into the Snare of Disobedience and that is call'd pretence of Religion which falling into the management of Crafty Heads proves the pernicious Coverture of Rebellious and Trayterous designs and therefore one of the greatest Enemies of Law and Government in this World It ought to be mark'd for destruction as Cain was for his preservation For it is a hard matter to discover it so exactly do the Incendiaries and Promoters of Sedition paint and dress their false Plantagenets and Pseudo-Mustapha's in resemblance of the real Portraiture Especially when they come to be fucuss'd and periwigg'd by the Skilful hands of Spiritual Ambition for the support of Ecclesiastical Pomp and Superstition It is nefarious any where but never proves worse then when it ascends the Pulpit From whence it ought to be exterminated with all the care imaginable there being nothing more fatal to all good Government then to foster it in the Bosom of Interest Which sully'd the Encomium of Ferdinand of Arragon a most prudent and happy Prince in whom says the Historian there was nothing to be desir'd but that Integrity with which he us'd to cloak his ambition and immoderate desire of enlarging his Dominions under the pretence of Religion Thuan. l. 1. Nor need there any farther Examples of the mischiefs of dissembl'd Piety then those which so lately imbru'd their hands in the bowels of this Nation However the truest touch-stone of feigned Zeal and counterfeit Religion is the Fundamental Law of the Land which being grounded as hath bin already made out upon the Law of God and Nature nothing of true Zeal nothing of sincere Religion nothing of Conscience will adventure to violate or disturb No real Christian Subject no person of Conscience no man professing the true grounds of Religion will deny his Prince the least tittle of his lawful Rights or refuse him the least Mite of his Legal Tributes or whisper the least undecent Murmur against his just proceedings according to the Fundamental Law of the Land which if true Prerogative it self cannot pretend against much less are the Encroachments upon it of dissembl'd Piety and masqueraded Zeal to be endur'd So that whatever pretence of Religion impugnes the Fundamental Law of the Land the pretence is unjust and irreligious and such pretences are to be grappl'd with as the intending Introducers of Confusion and Subversion Not that this extends to the inforcement of Obedience to any unjust Law which the self-Self-ends of Interest may produce For according to the Sentence of all the Grand Casuists now in Fame and of Suarez among the rest an unjust Law is no Law L. 3. de leg c. 19. and therefore lays no obligation upon the Conscience or Moral Obedience of the People but is rather to be peremptorily refus'd Now whither any Law be unjust or no is to be decided by Magna Charta for that all Laws made contrary to That are by other Fundamental Laws of the Realm adjudg'd to be void and of no effect And thus the Great Charter becomes the Judge of True Religion as well as True Law For True Law commands nothing but what is just and consonant to true Religion But an unjust Law is ex parte materiae unjust as commanding that which is dishonest and Irreligious of which only the pretence of Religion will adventure to be the Patron and which they who wrest the favour of the Law to protect can never be accompted Men of Religion or Piety And therefore the vigorous defenders of pretended Religion cannot be too severely censur'd as being breakers of the Law For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A wicked Orator pollutes the Laws defending Falshood by Fallacy and Imposture by deceitful Argument Which tho they have their successes for a time yet no sooner comes the Storm of Reformation but they dash to pieces against the Rock of Fundamental Law Against which all the Cabals and Combinations of Policy and pretence of Religion have not yet been able to prevail Even the most Potent and Arbitrary Usurpation that ever hamper'd this Kingdom and the most powerfully defended in all it 's specious Pretences tam
neither be willing nor indeed know how to live asunder but that like Bees they should always stick to their Hives and be always ready about their Prince to receive and execute his Just Commands Neither did he care to put his Laws in Writing as judging that those things which most conduc'd to the felicity of the City and the bravery of the Inhabitants were to be planted in their Minds by Education and Custom At length having done as much as he thought could be done to advance the Glory and Renown of his Country and the Welfare of the Realm that he might render the effects of his labour diuturnal he assembles the People and takes an Oath from the highest to the lowest that they would observe the Form of Government which he had establish'd among them till his return for that he was then going to consult the Oracle about something farther of great Importance for the Common Good To the Oracle thereupon he goes and after Consultation sends back Apollo's Answer that Lacedemon should flourish so long as they observ'd Lycurgus's Institutions which done he starv'd himself to death at Delphos that he might not absolve the People from their Oaths by his Return Solon also refus'd the Kingdom of Athens when he might have had it Justiu l. 2. c. 7. A Person of that extraordinary Justice that he is by the Historian said to have made Athens a new City behaving himself with that equal Temper between the Senate and the People that both himself and his Laws were equally grateful to both And Lucian also brings in Anacharsis Dial. de Gymnaâ— highly commending him as one that had fram'd most excellent Laws and introduc'd most useful Customs into the Country where he liv'd to the great benefit of the Publick Which Laws as Lucian afterwards in the same Dialogue makes Solon to acknowledge were publickly expos'd in the City of Athens for every one to peruse that so they might understand when they did well and what they were to avoid He could not 't is true reduce the Athenians to that austerity of living to which the Institutions and Education of Lycurgus had enur'd the Lacedemonians as being of a quainter and more airy Geniuâ— where Mercury had an equal ascendant with Mars and would therefore have an equal share in the publick Concerns Yet the renowned Captains that Athens bred the many and famous Victories which they won the Learning of her Philosophers the Liberty of the People and the long flourishing Estate of the Government make it appear that there is more than one way for a Nation to be happy by her own Laws And that Laws agreeable and consentaneous to the Temper of one People will not correspond with the Humour of another On the other side when a Kingdom is once establish'd under settled Constitutions which are found to suit with the Disposition of the People those Constitutions are the Safety and Protection of that People and the Change of such Ordinances has been always the fore-runner of their destruction as by History has been fatally verify'd in the Athenians Lacedemonians and Romans themselves But they who laid the Foundations of Despotic Turanny and Absolute Dominion in War and Devastation cannot be said to have those noble aims of bequeathing Liberty and Safety to the People under their Subjection but only the advancement of lawless Power as believing all Mankind besides to be their Vassals and Slaves and therefore in the heighth of their over-soaring and presumptuous Mortality calling themselves Lords of the Earth and Kings of Kings which swelling Titles were derided in Alexander tho' in the midd'st of his Victories by his Followers better observing the Laws of Nature and Reason All this while they disregarded the equal distribution of Right and Propriety to any and deny'd the Priviledge of Liberty to all while most liv'd miserably and contemptibly none liv'd free This unhappy Bondage the Europeans contemn'd While Conon refus'd to worship the Persian Monarch in all his Glory Just l. 6. c. 2. and Manius the Consul call'd the Asiatic Grecians and Syrians Liu. Hist l. 36. Levissima Hominum Genera Servituti nata For here was no Safety no Security for the People whose Lives were at the Mercy and Beck of one Man They Till'd the Earth and Labour'd only for him they got Posterity only for him to sport away in the bloody Games of War and wilful Vexation Whereas in well Constituted Governments the People enjoying all those Priviledges with which they are satisfy'd themselves by the same Law that warrants their security are bound to pay the Homage of their Obedience to the Prince for his continual Care of their safety And Princes can claim a security of their own without fear or hazard which Tyrants in continual distrust and jeopardy are forc'd to hire and largely pay for Thus if we consider the mighty Ottoman Empire we find him indeed expanding his vast Dominion over the largest part of the habitable World yet through those Violences which his Inhumane Constitutions of Self-safety commit against the Dictates of Nature and Primitive Reason he may be said to be an Emperour rather over Solitudes and Desarts and the wild Beasts that ravage the forsaken Habitations of Mankind than the potent Lord of Numerous Cities He is indeed surrounded with populous Guards but what are they the inforc'd Tribute of Christian Children through the neighbouring Territories under his Subjection who are more his Lords and Masters than he theirs If those his own Domesticated Lyons once begin to roar for want of Pay or other discontent all his Majestic Titles tremble and he must appease their fury with the Heads of his best beloved Favourites His Armies a confus'd Rabble of several Nations brought together to stop the Mouths of Cannons and overbear his less powerful Adversaries with the weight of Multitude In whom there is no faith or confidence neither as not being reciprocally oblig'd by any Act of Kindness which his care confers upon them and therefore following him for Fear not Love And then their own Thrones so tott'ring that they never think 'em fix'd till they have cemented them to the Floor with the Blood of their Brethren or oblig'd their Stipendiaries with a Magnificent Overplus like Amurath the Third Thuan. l. 104. And yet notwithstanding all their Care and Courtship an Ibrahim lies strangled at the feet of his Stipendiaries In a word the Emperours Will is his Law a Capricio lutestrings the most deserving of his Princes And to preserve himself in this excess of Arbitrary Power he deprives the People of their self-Defence their Arms and puts them under the domineering Mastership of Christian Apostates So that in short all things are carry'd on for the sole benefit and advantage of the Tyrannical Monarch without any regard to the good and welfare of the People contrary to the true end of Law and Justice which equally respects the good of all and therefore advances the
still the same they can be guarded by no better security then what has hitherto preserv'd them as upon which the Salvation of the Princes Soul and the Exaltation of the Church depend and all redounding to the Honour of God Neither could Time it self dissolve this Charter as being granted to all the Freemen of the Kingdom to be held and enjoy'd in the Kingdom for ever But what those Liberties were and what the Amendments were is better seen by the Charter it self in regard that what was good by Amendment was on the contrary evil and unjust in practice No Man may be taken or imprison'd or disseis'd of his Free Tenement his Liberties or Free Customs or be Outlaw'd or Exil'd or any way destroy'd nor will we enter upon his Possession Nec super eum ibimus nec super eum mittemus nor Commit him so Selden renders the last words but by the Loyal Judgment of his Peers or Men of his Condition or by the Law of the Land By this Paragraph of the Charter it is plainly to be made out that the Estates and Liberties of the English Subjects are desended and guarded as well by the Law of Nature as by the Law of the Land as having embody'd those Principles of Morality which most conduce to Publick Honesty which is the Common Security All which are muster'd up under that General Head of Alterine feceris quod tibi fieri non vis Which being the Law of Nature is also the Will of God who is the Author of Nature So that as God can command nothing but what is purely honest and just no more can the Law of Nature Now that the Materia prima of this Law is the same with that of the Law of Nature is apparent from hence that it enjoyns necessary Honesty and forbids the Evil contrary to it To clear the point a little farther This Paragraph contains nine Branches relating to the Liberty of Person the security of Property and Possession and the general execution of Justice 1. No Freeman may be taken or imprison'd That is as the Lord Chief Justice Cooke expounds it No Man shall be restrain'd of his Liberty by Petition or Suggestion to the King or his Council but by Indictment or Presentment of good and lawful Men where such deeds be done For Liberty is the power of living at pleasure And no Man lives as he pleases who is not permitted to enjoy that repose and tranquility both of Mind and Body which he proposes to himself Which Liberty was given him by Nature and in some measure granted even to the wild Beasts themselves And therefore to deprive him of the Power of himself is to deprive him of the gift of Nature to which there is nothing that he can have more Right until he forfeit it back to the Law by transgressing it And that it is the gift of Nature is evident from that Love of Liberty which Nature has infus'd even into all the particular Members of the Creation The Elements themselves disdain the Curb of Servitude Imprison'd Fire when it gets loose revenges it self with greater fury The fetter'd Ocean foames and roares at his Confinement The Winds against their will detain'd in the Earth's bowels put the Earth into most violent Convulsions We see how impatiently young Horses brook their Imperious Curbs and how the little Birds at first bewail the Captivity of the Cage Liberty is one of the chiefest Felicities Man has to boast of that he is by Nature Lord of himself and has only Reason to be his Governour Nor does the Law require slavish Subjection from him but natural and necessary Obedience which is therefore so far from being oppressive that it becomes delightful to him because he finds thereby his Liberty preserv'd For these reasons every Man that enjoys his Liberty is said to be the treasurer of a most inestimable Jewel the Priviledge of Nature and his Birthright which they who ravish from him by violence and against the Law of Nature despoil him of the Benefit of Heaven and reduce him to the slavish condition of Beasts as if he were only made for the use of Tyrannizing Power Therefore says this Law let No man be restrain'd of his Liberty or imprison'd but by the Law I omit the fatal Consequences of endangering the Liberty of a People enur'd to Priviledge and Freedom the love of which to them is so excessive that accounting nothing dearer to them in this World they prostrate Life Estate and all at the feet of its Preservation On the other side Popular Licence is with all the severity imaginable to be restrain'd for that unhinges publick Safety and makes an Inundation upon the true Justice of Government Then which nothing can be more pernicious to the Publick Security and the Common Good of Prince and People 2. Let no man be disseis'd or dispossess'd of his Freehold that is of his Lands Livelyhood Liberties or free Customs as belong to him by his free Birth-right And this also depends upon the Law of Nature For no sooner was the World Created but immediately appear'd Propriety Abel was a Keeper of Sheep and Cain a Tiller of the DGround And therefore was Man endu'd by Nature with Industry to advance his Estate to the end he might not only live but live comfortably upon what by his Labour he enjoy'd Which being obtain'd by his own industry and pains Nature instill'd that Moral Principle among Men that it was but just that every man should quietly and peaceably enjoy what he had got by his Labour and the sweat of his Brows And this is evident from the Law of Inheritance the Institution of God himself For if by the Law of Nature he had not power to possess and keep he could not have power to dispose But the undeniable Power of disposition confirms the right of Property and Possession So that for a Man to be despoyl'd of the fruits of his Labour or of the Inheritance of his Ancestors is against the Law of God and Nature Thou shalt eat of the Labour of thy hand happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee and He that gathereth by Labour shall encrease This was the Establishment of Property by two of the best of Kings by the dictate of God himself And therefore for Tyranny to waste the Labours of the Subject profusely upon illegal Innovasions and unnecessary Pomp and Riot is a piece of Injustice of the highest Nature And therefore this Law grounded upon the Law of God and Nature takes especial care to secure the Property of the Subject from Exorbitancy and Oppression Not that hereby the Laws of legal Tributes are any way contradicted For they are impos'd upon the People and given to the Prince as a publick Person for the Common Good of which the support of his Dignity is a part And generally in England they are given with the Subjects consent And this is also warranted by Scripture For this reason you pay