Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n
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A84301
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An Express from the knights and gentlemen now engaged with Sir George Booth; to the city and citizens of London, and all other free-men of England.
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Delamer, George Booth, Baron, 1622-1684.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing E3892; ESTC R234609
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3,869
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1
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An EXPRESS from the KNIGHTS and GENTLEMEN now engaged with Sir GEORGE BOOTH To the CITY and CITIZENS of LONDON And all other Free-men of ENGLAND Worthy Citizens and all other our English Free-men and Brethren AS we are English-men we are all incorporated into one Body and though distinct and different Families Fortunes and Qualities yet Fellow Members and Coheires of one and the same Birthright not only by nature as we are the Sons of men nature obliging all in one Common and equal Bond of Freedome and Unity but by certaine sacred Laws and Customes of peculiar and inherent Right to this Nation generall equall and impartiall to all without respect of Persons Rank Quality or Degree derived through all successions of Ages by the Blood Justice and Prudence of our fore-Fathers to us their posterity as Ours and the Right of our Children after us not Disinheritable Though this Age were wholly made up of Apostates and Traytors to Common Justice and Freedom and should make sale of and deliver up their Children as Slaves and Vassails yet English Right abideth to wit our Just Lawes and Liberties and may Justly be reinforced as Opportunity may present Sometime they Sleep but never Dye their totall Extinguishment is not to be imagined so long as any English-man or English-blood abideth and whoever undertaketh though by Armes or otherwise their Recovery and Redemption is justifyed in that very Action by the Laws of God of Nations Nature Reason and by the Laws of the Land and within the Bowels of our Nation amongst our selves no War can be justifyed but upon that Score the contrary is Sedition Murder Treason Tyranny and what not and the Instruments thereof no other in the Eye of English Freedom and Right but as Beares Woolves and other Beasts of Prey Now right Worthy and Noble Citizens and all other our English Brethren let us consider and lay to heart the Sad and Deplorable condition of our native Countrey Oppression Injustice and Tyranny raigneth Division Discord and Dissimulation fomented and fostered Trade and Industry discouraged our Land rent into Parties and Factions and the Common Band of Unity Cancel'd our Fundamentall Laws supplanted High Courts of Justice Introduced the Blood of War shed in times of Peace Arbitrary and Illegall Imprisonments Pattents Monopolies Excise and other Payments brought upon us and continued contrary to Magna Charta and the Petition of Right no forme or face of Government of English Constitution amongst us the name and Authority of the People in Parliament Usurped and Abused and the Stamp thereof put upon Strange and Prodigious Actions Vexing and Oppressing the People with dayly Changes and Alterations in Government as the interest of some Few Ambitious Grandees alter and change or get Advantages one of another and all under the Name of a Common-wealth when as the Nature is not practised or intended at all it being utterly inconsistent with their very Temper and Interest they are wrapt up and compounded of nothing but Guilt Blood and Tyranny and Equall and Common Justice the Essence of a Common-wealth are utterly repugnant thereto and whatsoever they can doe must be Planted and Maintained by Sword and Violence against the very Heart and Sence of the Nation and they know not where nor how to centre an Oligarchy or something they would have to be Masters of the People and Perpetuate their Power and Tyranny and therefore would Amaze and Confound us with their New Debates of a Coordinate Power or Senate for Life such as our English Lawes and Liberties know not of and of pernitious Consequence to this Nation So that from these men that thus handle the Sterne at Westminster there is no expectation of any Just Settlement of Peace or freedom from Oppression especially considering the Apostacy Hypocrisie Deceipt and Perjury of those Men their manifold Solemne Engagements Oaths Vows Protestations Appeales unto Heaven Promises Remonstrances Declarations all by them broken again and again never keeping Faith Truce or Oath being Unbounded Unlimited Certain to nothing not to be held either by the Law of God of Man of Conscience or Reason And from such Persons in Government good Lord deliver us and all the good people in England and that all this is true of them your Consciences Noble Citizens and all other the Free People of England can witness there is no Tongue no Pen is able to Vindicate them in this Point it is known of all owned by all and can be denyed by none how then can any Honest or Just man shed any Blood in their Quarrell or lend them Assistance surely that Blood will be required at their hands and we doubt not but you will be carefull what you do And therefore from those Considerations and Just Provocations we have taken up Armes in Pursuance of and Inquisition after our Government Laws and Liberties that every English-man may be Protected and Secured in his Religion Liberty and Property and though it may be suggested that we intend to introduce Persecution for Conscience into the Land again we doe hereby in the presence of Almighty God Protest and Declare against all Coercive power in matters of Religion and that to the utmost of our Strength through Gods Assistance we will endeavour to the hazzard of our Blood and Fortunes the Freedom and Protection of all Virtuous and Religious People by what Name soever differenced from Us equall with our Selves And that no Forraign or other Authority save only the Civil be Exercised in England That the Practise of the Law be Reformed all Corrupt Statutes Repealed Annuall Elections of all Officers and Magistrates with the constant Succession of Parliaments restored our Fundamentall Laws cleared and asserted and whatever is contrary thereto be abolished That no Tryals be admitted in England for Life Limb Liberty or Estate but by the good old way of Juries and that they be restored to their Originall power and purity That all Extrajudicial and Illegal proceedings by High-Courts of Justice or otherwise with all Illegall and Arbitrary Committees be strictly provided against That the Excise and all other Payments and Taxes such as our Ancestors never knew of together with all Monopolies and Pattents destructive to Trade and the Common good of the Nation be also abolished And that our Parliaments and Magistrates be secured from all Force and Violence and utterly cleared from all boundlesse Prerogative and unlimited Priviledge That the Right of the Poor in the Commons of England all Donations for Charitable Uses and all Lands formerly belonging to the People be restored again And that Mercy and Justice be truly established amongst us And for these ends and what else may be of publick good to the Nation we do desire and indeed challenge as of English Right the speedy Election of a New Free Parliament And thus most Noble Citizens Brethren and fellow Free-men of England we have dealt Truly and Plainly with you and given you the reall Grounds and Reasons of our Taking up