make not the General as his peoples Conqueror faithful to them herein it will light sadly on some of this Generation but yet his people shall be delivered as Esther 4. 14. For it is one of our priviledges promised us that we should be restored unto in these latter dayes as Isa. 33. 19. among the most excellent priviledges Gods people must partake off as freedom from bribes oppressions blood c. Vers. 15. is Thou shalt not see a fierce people a people of a deeper speech then thou canst perceive of a stammering or ridiculous language as such is the Lawyers Latin and Norman that thou canst not understand Antichrist in the State hath kept the poor people in darkness too under an unknown language and made this ignorance the mother of their devotion to his Civil Worship and Ordinances But it is now high-time to tumble seeing Gods Israelites are to have his Laws viz. Political in their own language Deut. 30. and that for these ends First That they should be in the mouths of all the people whereas now they are onely in the mouths of Judges Lawyers Councellors who are indeed Concealers of the Law and lock 〈◊〉 up till a silverkey come to open Secondly That they might teach them to their children 〈◊〉 know them which they cannot do now the Laws are in an unknown language unless their children be brought up at Inns of Court or the like Thirdly That the Laws might be all writ upon Posts and Gates for the people generally to know them all but now they must go to the Records which lie at Westminstâ—â— or Inns of Court or Judges or Counsellors Chambers and give a good sum of money too before they can come at them so as to know them All this is tyranny and oppression diametrically in opposition to the Word of God the promises of these latter days and the liberties of the Subjects so that our expectations must not be frustrated of our freedom from this Norman bondage 3. Whereas the people had Justice and Law at their own doors in every County and Hundred in this Nation and their Law was plain and honest and Controversies soon decided in few dayes by their honest neighbors of the Hundred who making the case as their own administred justice presently were it for a thousand pounds it might have been recovered at the charge of a shilling or two for there were several Courts in every County but the Supream Court in the County was called Genâ—rale Placitum being to determine those differences which the Parish or the Hundred Courts could not decide and also to ordain Sheriffs and other County-Officers c. But the Conqueror William alters the Law in this takes away the peoples liberties herein and instead of this he sets up Courts and Terms at Westminster takes away all Law and Justice out of the Counties and to keep up his own Darling under his eye brings all up to him hither by a policy For he commanded nine men out of every County to be chosen to make a true report what their Laws were before the Conquest and after they had so done he changed the most of them and brought in the Customs of Normandy in their stead commanding causes to be pleaded and all Matters of Form to be dispatcht in French He revived again the Danish Custom he being a Kin to the Danes in Tryals of Rights by twelve men so that for his own ends and profits it appears all his Laws were established and the people 's pulled away from them to this hour Hence the peoples freedom in their Gemote or Monethly convention for Law and Justice at their own doors was rent away from them as appears in the History of three Norman Kings pag. 98. And William the Conqueror ordained says the History his Councel of State his Chancery his Exchequer his Courts of Justice c. These places he furnished with Officers and assigned four Terms in the year for determining of Controversies among the people whereas before all Suits were summarily heard and determined at home in their own Counties and in every hundred without Formalities or delays Now it is highly incumbent upon this present Power and his Excellency the Lord General to redeem the free-born oppressed people from this Tyranny and servitude and that it is such a tyranny and bondage will appear several ways 1. In that by this injury done the free Commoners they are forced to come up to London from all parts of England and to wait at Westminster at great charges and expences during the four Terms for Right and Justice or recovery of their own which attendance on the Lawyers is well known to be lamentably chargable For though the poor Commoner that lives threescore or a hundred miles off could before for a little matter in a day or two at furthest have had justice and right at home Now he must wait long and lamentably till he make himself poor and his Lawyer rich before he can recover his own and I know them that have been beggered and undone by it for they not onely carried up to Westminster full purses and brought home empty but they have been forced to borrow money at London besides that to suffice their Lawyers and to bear their charges home again with weeping eyes which brought them upon their knees and made them to work hard night and day with sweat and tears till their fingers ends aked again to get up some more money to fee their Lawyers for the next Term and to finde their long journeys to Westminster again and yet were compelled for all that to borrow again and again at London before they could get home and if this be not oppression and wrong to the people what is 2. The bondage of it is further for the delaying to do right when not a moneth nor twelve moneths nor twelve years sometimes will be enough for a Lawyer to remove actions out of one Court into another from one place to another to enrich himself and undo his Client nay threescore years have some been tormented and hurried out of one Court into another put to charges paying fees preferring Petitions retaining Counsellors and yet continue in that bondage and misery I know many who are in Law and some have been six others ten others twelve others twenty others thirty others forty others fifty years and yet as far from help relief and right as at first O what crying and complaining of this delay of Justice is in our streets notwithstanding many Statutes to the contrary as that of Edward the third An. 2. cap. 8. in these words That it shall not be commanded neither by the Great nor little Seal to disturb or delay doing right and although such commands come yet the Judges should not cease or delay to do right in any point So An. 20. of Edward the third cap. 1. That all Justices do
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
the Lawyers stink in our nostrils and bring forth vanities in some but righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost to his Saints and deliverance and sweet freedome and blessings to the Common-wealth In the meane time it is a shame that Ministers of Christ can see them live so in sinne and say nothing seeing those Agags that the indulgent eye of Sauls have spared and favoured must be met with by the two-edged Swords of the Samuels of God â— but so much to our Authority in the Legislative power for the advancing the Law of God as the only fundamentall Law of this Nation Secondly My word to the People is as a Remembrancer for when Cyrus King of Persia proclaimed liberty to the Jewes only those went out of captivity whose spirits God stirred up in Ezra 1. 5. This is the case we are freed from our Norman Captivity Now you whose spirits God hath stirred up why appeare for your Liberties and Rights returne home unto your owne it is high time be not longer Slaves to Norman Lawes or Lawyers This your liberty is Naturall and connaturall as Paul said Acts 22. 20. I am a free-borne Roman which was his Plea and unsuited his Adversaries and made them afraid which surely had never been had not this boâ—est man made use of his right and liberty and let his Judges and Governours know it Surely this liberty is more worth then all the Lands in the Nation to us and if we know it wee should not slight it so as we doe therefore honoured Ames cas l. 5. c. 22. tells us that this Libertas proxime accedit 〈◊〉 vitam ipsam Liberty a man counts next his life and will not loose it if it be possible but wil loose his estate yeaâ— the â—loâ—theâ— off his back first yea further for the Publick Liberty and common safety a faithfull man wil loose his very life and prizes it abundantly above his life as some honest hearts have done in England in most ages And if any wonder that I will â—rive thus against the streame seeing I cannot turne it I must tâ—ll them That the Fish which alwayes goes downe the streame we suspect for dead whilst the living Fish makes against the streame but the truth is as when Tides turne there is first a secret motion and turning at the bottome before it comes at top and so there is in the bottome of our hearts which wil ere long be more openly to all eyes in the meane time we must minde the People of the time of dâ—y and tell them what the Clock strikes for their liberty and deliverance is hard by And beleeve it Brethren the flaming Sword is in our sight turning hither and thither every way to drive out these Wretches that have lived so long upon forbidden fruits and although the bowles of Authority seemes to many to run Byass to a bad I was ready to say Mad Mistresse this wil be mended ere long when the Mistresse is removed but we must ballast our Ship before we put to saile therefore consider Country-men First of all No Governours are above the Peoples Lawes and Liberties hence it was that Kings could not De jure conclude or determine businesses according to their owne wills and Aristotle Alexanders Tutor tels us That absolute power in Governours is the next degree to plaine Tyranny yea had it not been for feare of offending Alexander I thinke he had called it absolute Tyranny and said true too Therefore are Kings and Magistrates the Organs or Instruments of executing the Peoples Lawes and must receive their Lawes from the People Hence it is that the Emperor King of France Kings of Spaine England Poland Hungarie or Princes of the house of Austria Dukes of Brabant Earles of Flanders or Holland before their Coronation or Creation to the Governments do ingage to keep the Laws of their Country and their breach of the Laws is or ought to be as punishable upon them as any others And to shew how the Laws and Liberties of People are above their Governors God alwaies gave Laws to such as should govern the people for the peoples good Deut. 17. which their Rulers ought not to alter vid. Brains New Earth Secondly All Rulers and Governors are bound to execute their Offices and Authorities for the peoples benefit and publick good and the greatest Treason is against the peoples Laws and Liberties And Caesar himselfe in his Commentaries tels us that Amblorix King of the Eburons confessed that such were the conditions of the Gaulish Empire that the people lawfully assembled had no lesse power over the King then the King had over the People but rather more So we find there how Vercingentorix gave an account of his actions before the people how they were for their good and freedom Thus in England Ireland and Scotland the Representative of the People have the greatest authority i. e. as from the People the like in Spaine especially in Aragon Valentia and Catalonia cum aliis c. There is a Justitia Major who stands for the Peoples Rights and Liberties hath more power then the King or his Councel and therefore at his Coronation the Lords of the Kingdome use these words in their own Language to the King p. 60. Nos qui valemos tanto como vos y pâ—demos mas que vos vos elegimos Rei con estas è y estas conditiones entra vos y nos un que mandamus que vos We who are in as much value as you and have more power then you yet have chosen you King upon conditions c. and there is between you and us one that commands both you and us i. e. the Justitia Major who is altogether for the peoples Laws Right and Liberties and to see that for this end the Kings and Princes govern But in case Governors doe not rule for the publick good then Thirdly The People may orderly declare against the dangerous Practises of their Rulers and make an orderly resistance for their owne Rights and Liberties Now let me not be mistaken for I fear this Doctrine will not please some selfish Rulers but this I say whilst I call upon the people to appear for their own freedome and rights I mean not by armes to fight or wage war against their Governors in a rash disorderly way O no! not for a world that we should bee guilty of so ungodly a Rebellion for really I would bee one that would spend my blood against them that so doe but this I say let them mildly declare against the mis-governments of such men as seek their owne private more then the publick good and let them use means to correct that mis-government to admonish the offenders to petition to the Parliament or to our Conqueror the Lord Generall with the same importunities the poor Widow used to the unjust Judge till she was answered and so continue untill the
quenched and if thou waitest for the word these Consumers in their flame may hap to have the mastery and do more mischiefe of a sudden then we are aware of Thus our Warrant is signed in the second place by the Law of Nations Thirdly The Law of God saies Luk. 10. 27. Love the Lord thy God c. and thy Neighbor as thy selfe Besides the Law of Nature and Nations the Law of God is unavoidably necessary ad ultimum finem Now this Law of God gives me Warrant as a Minister and as a Man to proclaime the injustice oppression lying cheating deceit and villanies of this wicked Tribe as Amos 4. 1. Hear the Law of the Lord O yee Kine of Bashan yee which oppresse the poor and crush the needy that is O yee Judges and Lawyers that are fed with the best and fattest things abounding in wealth and stores and they are such Kine whose bellies are filled for a day of slaughter which is signified by Bashan and they say to their Masters bring wine By the poor is meant the borrower but by the master is meant the creditor now these wretched Lawyers do not as they ought to doe justice for the reliefe of the poor Debters against hard hearted Usurers but rather they oppresse the poor and fulfill the desires of the rich misers to the wrong of others and then they say come your cause will carry it bring us wine a quart or pottle of wine to make merry with But God will confound this their carnality and covetousnesse Amos 5. 7. Hear O yee that turne judgement into wormwood and have made the Laws bitter to the poor and honest people and have made their remedies worse then their diseases and have managed the causes of the righteous with so much sin as have filled them with frequent sorrows and tears abhorring true reason and equity Vers. 11. For as much therefore as your treading is on the poor c. That is your greatest violence disdaine abuses and base injuries are done to them to screwze and grinde them under your filthy feet Ver. 12. I know your manifold transgressions and mighty sins in afflicting the just taking Bribes or Fees and turning aside the poor in the gate from their right i. e. when the poor have nothing to give them they get them into prisons to lie and rot there The Germans have a Proverb that the rich are hanged up by their purses and the poor by their necks Thus by injustice as the Prophet saies the Tyrannicall Tribe of Judges and Lawyers grow great get estates build stately houses have pleasant Gardens and ruffle it out in Angles of luxury and pride and whilst Angels protect them they behave themselves like Demi-gods But God will reward them in their kind Micah 2. 1. 2. Woe to them that devise iniquity that is in Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lye vanity c. who do this like the Lawyers and when the morning is light they practise it So away they run to Westminster and there plead their lies V. 2. They covet fields and take them by violence and houses and take them away So they oppresse a man and his house even a man and his heritage But thus saith the Lord Vers. 3. Behold against this Family i. e. of Lawyers or these Inns of Courts do I devise an evill c. and Vers. 4. In that day shall one take up a parable and lament with a dâ—lefull lamentation and say wee be utterly spoiled Thus the Lord complaines and threatens them very speedily and to purpose as will appear ere I have done with them Now Gods Word gives me warrant all along to cry aloud and spare not Should Whoredome be suffered in the open streets without open reproofes or Drunkennesse or the like Why theâ— should oppression injustice lying perjury violence cheating and such like Knavery is not one sin as much sin in the sight oâ— God as another I apprehend my Commission to lead me as largely against the Lawyers who make a daily trade of sin aâ— lying swearing cozening oppressing and wronging the Fatherlesse and Widows and all this in open sun too hereby getting mony as it does against Drunkards Swearers Whoremongers whâ— every day live by their sins making a trade of them and getting mony by them O how bitterly God complaines Heaven Earth and Creatures groan at such a company of as vile wretcheâ— as the earth bears that live by sins and have no other trading and that they should be yet tolerated to have open practise Jeâ— 6. 29. The Founder melteth in vain for the wicked are nâ— plucked away I wish one day it appeare not all one with opeâ— toleration of Drunkennesse Whoredomes or the like But I am bound in conscience to bear testimony against it and say with thâ— Prophet behold the end is come the end is come â— watcheth for thee behold it is come Ezek. 7. 6 7. their timâ— is come their day of trouble is near these judgements are inculcated because the Lawyers will not beleeve it may be Ver. 8 Now will I shortly poure out my fury upon them Ver. 10 11 12. Behold the day behold t is come the morning is gone forth the rod hath blossomed violence is risen up into a rod of wickednesseâ— None of them shall remain Nor of their multitudes Neither shall there be wailing for them The time is come The day draweth nigh Gods Word to me is to declare against their Injustice and Tyranny Cheating and Lying and to warn them Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear Ezek. 2. 7. And if they will hear Ezek. 33. 12 15. Say Son of Man if the wicked will restore the pledge and give again what they have robbed and walk in my statutes without committing iniquity they shall live and not die Thus far the Law of God gives me power So Psal. 82. 2 3. How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked But to come to the directive power of Gods Law see Judg. 5. 23. Curse ye Meroz curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof And that it is incumbent upon us by Gods Law to defend our Liberties against all Tyrants and Oppressors as I said before is without doubt Hos. 5. 11. 1 Cor. 7. 23. See what Mattathias said to his Brethren Come let us restore the decayed state of our people and let us fight for our people and for the Sanctuary So that it plainly appears we may do all we can for the decayed estate of this Commonwealth against the corrupt cruel and cursed innovations of the devouring Lawyers as well as other Tyrants that were Lords over us and for the restoration of our Primitive liberties and freedom of Justice as we shall show by and by at every mans door That righteousness may run down like a River in every street Isa. 48. 18. And be as common as the waters in
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
all our Freedom and Liberty lost Now to conclude this Chapter know the poor oppressed people and free-born Commoners are passionately looking upon the Lord General for a restauration of their Rights and Liberties which they lost by William the Conqueror for these Reasons 1. William the Conqueror waâ—â—ed upon his own account and for his own Ends and fought meerly for himselfe and so robbed the people of all But our Generall Oliver the Conquerer went out to War and ingaged against the Normans and got the Garland through mercy upon the Peoples account and for the people to free them from tyranny and oppression and this he hath often and often declared to the Nation and Commonalty and for this next to the Interest of Christ he hath had the peoples prayers and purses and persons and hearts estates blood and all and upon this score have so many Battles been fought Towns taken and Victories obtained in these Nations Therefore as Austin speaking of the History of David and Goliah Serm. de temp saith nemo pugnavit in valle Terebinthi donec David veniret ad praelium no man ever fought in the valley of Elaâ— or Terebinth Turpentine trees till David came So no man did ever appear so openly so publickly so solemnly to act the part of so excellent chivalry in the peoples cause against the Goliah's and those that bid defiance to Israel as this our Generall did who is the peoples Champion The cheifest Oath the Athenians ever took was this Pugnabo pro sacris pro patria cum aliis solus I will fight for God and my Country whether I fight with my fellows or alone for it Wholesome meat breeds good blood so a good cause good courage in men this good Cause on the side of our Conqueror carryed him out and brought him off with good Successe and can it now be forgot or abandoned Tu pia tela feres saies the Poet. The Jewes never acquitted themselves so worthily nor fought so faithfully as when they fetched their Armour out of the Temple from the Priests hands nor could our Country men have been such Conquerors â—nder the Lord Generall had not the faithfull godly people of this Nation brought them armour and magazine out of the Temple of the Lord insomuch that they fought with consecrated weapons which were kept in their hands by the faith and prayers of Gods dearest and the Commonwealths faithfullest Servants and shall they now be left in the lurch God forbid when the Israelites went to war they first consulted with God and the Priests gave answer from God by the Ephod though in latter times says Josephus they guessed at the ovent by the glowing or duskishnesse of the Diamonds on the Breast-plate which if they shined bright shew good successe but if they looked dim and failed or changed into a pale Colour it portended ill successe all along these late Wars the precious Diamonds that are on Christs the High Priests Breast-plate did shine the most excellent and discerning Saints in England did confidently foreâ—ell and foreshew the good successe of these wars and they glowed to have Israel go and so they do now as much if not more to have the Army march on and to remember their work on the other side the water and not to rest on this side Jordan as wee said in the first Chapter although the Diamonds doe looke dimly as to some selfe-seeking Gaddites who are alwaies almost aâ— Worcester-house or Drury-house to have their portion allotted them here and to go no further But ah alas is all done is all done at home yet why doe not we follow the victory over the Norman Tyrants Hâ—nnibal said to his Souldiers Qui hostem vicerit mihi erit Cart haginensis so let my Lord General say come sirs we fought and have conquered for the people and upon their account now let us deliver them up their own Laws and Liberties and free them fully from these Norman Intruders and Intrusions and whosoever hath conquered shall carry the tryumph of an Englishman over all these Normans we will noâ— seek nor set up our own private Interests though power be in our hands because we ingaged all along for the Peoples and the publicks and for that end God hath given us power in our hands to deliver them and throw down the Normans As when Titus had taken the City of Jerusalem his Army saluted him Emperor and presented him with Crowns and Garlands by way of congratulations which he modestly refused saying He had done nothing more then lent his hands and help to God and his people who hath declared here by our Conquest his fiâ—rce wrath against this sinful people Thus should his Excellency say I have but lent my help to God and his poor people that were held in unsufferable slavery by the tyranny oppression and injustice robbery and wrongs which William the Conqueror brought upon them from all which we are to deliver them and against all which with all the Norman Lawyers and Oppressors God hath justly declared by our conquest of them in his fierce wrath against them This is the first Reason why the peoples eyes are so on his Excellency being their Conqueror 2. William the Conquerors Army were strangers and outlandish cruel Kites and therefore made all that was the peoples of England their prey without mercy but the case is now altered this Army were our own Countrymen and Fellow-members under the Norman tyranny with us so that the Law of Nature calls upon the Army of our Brethren for our deliverance and recovery from these alienâ—tions We finde this in France Anno 1483 1522 1531 1549 1560. by divers Decrees of Parliament the care they had to recover and wring the power out of the hands of strangers intruders invaders and usurpers So in the Assembly of the Estates at Toures where King Charls the Eighth was in person divers alienations made by Lewis the Eleventh were repealed and annihilated and divers great places of power and trust were taken away from strangers and given to their own Countrymen as from the Heirs of Tancred of Casthel c. So also they did in their last Assembly at Orleans What makes so much opposition now in France against their yong King and the old Queen about Mazarine but that he is an intruder and a stranger How can we then be content to have Usurpers Intruders and Out landish Normans to eat us up and possess our Estates Laws Liberties and all Charlemain sayes Paulus Aemilius lib. 3. did once endeavor to subject the Kingdom of France to German strangâ—rs but the free-born Frenchmen most stoutly withstood it to the face of their King and chose the Prince of Glasconny for their mouth most couragiously to declare against it that they would not suffer it that forrainers should rule over the subâ—ects of France and certainly had Charlemain proceeded in that business it had
FOURTH MONARCHY Improved with use to the PARLIAMENT and the PEOPLE THe consideration of the Fifth Monarchy now entering is very pregnant to our purpose For all the Laws and Ordinances Civill and Ecclesiastick of the Fourth Monarchy must tumble at the entrance of the fifth That there is such a Kingdom to come is obvious to all intelligent men by abundance of Scriptures as Dan. 2. 35 36 37. and 7. 17 23. 25. Rev. 11. 15. Isa. 9 6 7. Psal. 2. 5 6. Psal. 72. 8 9 11. Luk. 1. 32. 39. Rev. 17. 14. and 16. 11. 19. Jer. 15. 25 26. cum multis aliis and it is for this fifth Monarchy which must remaine for ever Isa. 9. 7. Dan. 2. 44. Luk. 1. 33. Psa. 72. 8. and 47. 2. Mic. 4. 7. Zach. 9. 10 c that all other Kings and Kingdoms Powers and Policies Laws and Lawyers in the fourth Monarchy must be shaken and broken into fitters and shivers like potsheards That there is such a mighty Monarchy a coming which must be universall all over the World is without doubt but to our matter we must examine First When it enters Secondly How it enters Thirdly Why it enters to the ruin of the other First As to the Time though men be of divers minds as to the precise time yet all concur in the nighnesse and swiftnesse of its coming upon us The graduall entrance of it as to us being just by although the universall discovery of it all over the world is like to be about forty years hence as appears in Chap. 3. of my Tabernacle for the Sun or Idea of Church Discipline But to clear the time as to us see Dan. 7. 17 22 23 26 c. The Prophet tels us there expresly of the foure Monarchies now the fourth Kingdome as he cals it ver 23. or earthly Monarchy he distinguishes from the three foregoing for its tyranny and extent ver 7. agreeing with Rev. 13. 2. c. and tels us that it had ten horns that is ten Kings Rev. 17. 12. which are enumerated by Mr. Cam in his voice from the Temple p. 12. but after this that Daniel had seen the ten hornes in the head of this fourth Beast or Monarchy ver 8. hee looked well and then saw what see v. 8. and behold there came up among them another little Horne before whom there were three of the first hornes pluckt up by the roots Pray note it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I considered saies he with great attention and serious intention i. e. to something very observable in this Vision and that is to the rise of this little horne that ravenously got up in the room of three hornes Some there be that interpret this of the Pope others of the Turke others of Julius Caesar so Calvin others of Antichrist So my friend Mr. Canne others to Antiochus Epiphanes so Polanus But I must differ from them all for that the Prophecy agrees with none of them all fully but though I may seem singular yet with much assurance and clear sight I assert it that William the Conqueror was this little horn and so all along the Line of William and the Norman Kings on our English Throne And that for these Reasons 1. This Little horne was unseen and none a while even after the ten horns were seen for he arose after them all and was at his first rising seen besides them and another vers 8. 20. which the Prophet makes observeable seeing hee saw him not before at his first rise he was the least and the last this was K. William the Norman who arose by usurpation over the other horns on the head and so his Line therefore 2. He rose up or thrust in among the rest i. e. as Will the Conqueror did by force and armes not by choyse and election not naturally with the rest of the horns by the suffrage of the people 3 He was as is in Dan. 11. 21. a vile person or base borne as we have it in p. 37. of the English Chronicles Robert Duke of Normandy the sixt in descent from Rollo riding through Fallis a Town in Normandy he spied certain Damsels dancing near the way among whom he fixed his eye upon one Arlote a fair Maid but of mean Parentage a Skinners Daughter whom he procured that night to be brought unto him of whom he begat a Son who afterward was named William c. So that this Will the Conqueror was the base Son of Robert the sixt Duke of that Dutchy This is the vile person who rose up so by usurpation of power whence all the Norman Kings that sat since upon the English Throne came 4 After the League made with him he shall work deceitfully c. Chap. 11. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or with fraudes and arts did not Will. the Conqueror thus See but the third Chapter how oft he broke his Oaths and Promises and contrary to all set up the Norman Interest and pulled down the peoples with the losse of all their Laws and Liberties to this day 5 This Little horne was to wax great and famous in time and to subdue three Kingdomes and get up the roome of three Hornes or Kings ver 8. 20. 24. as one more stout then all his other fellowes This was fulfilled by William the Conquerour and that Norman race in England and by none else this Line of William by degrees got up all the roome of three Kings in England Ireland and Scotland and took up those three hornes himselfe who was so little at first as a poor Skinners Girles Bastard In whom could this be fulfilled else not in Pope nor Turke nor Antichrist nor Caesar nor Antiochus but only in this English Horne usurping the place of the other three and plucking them up by the roots 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6 This little Horne shall speake great words against God ver 25. and as Chap. 11. shall doe according to his owne will ver 36. and exalt himselfe and magnifie himselfe above God and prosper untill the indignation be accomplished After Will. the Conqueror and his Race had made themselves great and gotten up all the Brittains wealth and riches their fattest fields and Meddows c. as Chap. 11. Ver. 24. he grew great in pride and Tyranny and Arbitrary power according to the lust of his heart as the Hebrew hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this got up into such a height at last in the late Charles that he not only opposed God but refused to be accountable pretending no Mortals must question him and thus he magnified himselfe usque ad consummationem irae till his head was off which indignation was to begin with him first for his height of Arbitrary Will Lust and Tyranny in which as Chap. 7. 20. he was more stout then all his fellowes wherefore this horn must needs be the English by Will. the Conqueror 7 This little horne
Then shall new Preachers be sent to thee that shall not only rebuke the People but also thunder against the Priests and put to silence the lofty and swelling Masters and they shall so bruise the forehead of that lewd Whore that it shall be reputed Righteousnesse to them that rebuke thee Finally saies he chap. 30. the LORD shall not make an end till New things doe arise and that there come a Generation bringing forth good fruit and a full Reformation be Then Qui in tenebris ambularunt ad lucem redibunt quae erant divisa dispersa consolidabuntur c. Besides him we have anothers Judgment in a Prediction of long standing and that is one Cataldus Finius once Minister of Trent When Rome saies he begins to hear the loâ—d bellowing of the fat Cow I know not who that is unlesse the English Nation as seems by what followes Woe woe then be to thee O Flanders full of blood and Zealand and Holland full of treacheries as if this were the way of the war to Rome Alas alas weep thou unhappy Babylon thou damned pit of Priests for the dayes of affliction are come upon thee and like unripe corne thou shalt suffer a threshing for thine iniquities Many shall come against thee yea from the foure corners of the Earth the Holy ones of God shall bee gathered together against thee Over and above all these one Baptista Nazarus hath translated a prophecy out of Hebrew how in the sixth thousand years which is now shall begin great wars to vex Nations and they shall come into Spaine France and Germany and put the Romans to the edge of the sword and that the English shall combine with others and the Venetians shall enter into a holy league with the English I conceive that to be meant a league upon theaccount of Christ against Antichrist c. and they shal go on conquering and have the chief hand in vanquishing the Turks So that it seems long since it was foresâ—en what God would do in and by this Nation and how fast from them the Fifth Monarchy should goe on and grow up to the ruine of the fourth Monarchy in all Nations which appears to strike terrible strokes at the Ecclesiasticall and Civill Interest of Babylon I could heap up many more Prophesies and Predictions of this nature But I shall end them in one more of the Sibyls lib. 3. p. 268. 269. which saies that in the last daies after grievous and intestine wars shall be set up instead of the cruell Lawes and wils of men the most venerable Decrees Laws and Ordinances of the Lord and then shall the beloved People of God flourish again So that it seems the Sibyls fore-saw how sadly the poor people would be oppressed and enslaved by cursed and cruel Laws and Lusts of men all along the fourth Monarchy and what redemption herein the fifth Monarchy would bring them for as in Psal. 72. 3. 7. Christ the King shall reigne in those dayes and then the Mountains Kings Princes Parliaments Generals and the Hils viz. Judges Justices c. shall bring peace to the people by justice and thorough righteousnesse and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in those daies the righteous shall flourish and abundance of peace shall be so long as the Moon endures and Christ shall reign from Sea to Sea i. e. by degrees at first till it come to the ends of the Earth but thus for the first Reason Secondly This fifth Monarchy must enter a pace for that Christ hath of right the Supream Authority of the Nations therefore Dan. 7. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Kingdome i. e. the fifth Monarchy and the summa potestas Regni the Supreame authority of the Nation is his or the absolute Soveraignty is given him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Heaven and in Earth Wherefore woe be to those Usurpers that trade and triumph with the title due to Christ alone who is now coming for his own No wonder Holland hath so hard a tug now to keep the title of I was going to say Almighty but High and Mighty which Christ has a Commission to take from them with a powder Doe but observe de Wits Letter to them dated 11 alias 1. Aug. 1653. lying before the Texel who ends it thus Which is the account sent to your High and Mighty and Noble Great and Mightinesses So ending I remaine Your High and Mighty and Noble and Great and Mightinesses faithfull Servant Cornelius de Withe Witte And he deserves the Withe for flattering men so This must not be endured ere long and it were well for us if we took not that Title which Christ alone must and will have ere long to himselfe as his by right Besides Christ alone must be the Law-giver and have the Legislative Power in this Monarchy Isa. 33. 22. Jekovah is our Law-giver So Gen. 49. 10. Shiloh should be their Lawgiver so Psa. 60. 7. Judah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Christ of the Tribe of Judah is my Lawgiver 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t is as much as to say there is no stability in Government or Laws till Christs Fifth Monarchy till he come 〈◊〉 give it them He hath the Judicial Power too John 5. 22. 27. But although he doth delegate a Judiciall Power to his Servants Isa. 1. 27. 1 King 6. 12. and subordinate Officers Isa. 60. 17. Dan. 7. 27. Rev. 19. 14. which must all be Saints too yet he keeps the Legislative Power to himselfe and will not part with it nor can he to Princes or Parliaments He alone is to have the absolute Soveraignty as the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dan. 7. 14. So that his will his word or command is the Law and the Law ought to be none but his Word all grounded and fetched from the Word of God which is to be the Statute-Booke Psal. 147. 19. He sheweth HIS Statutes and HIS Judgements to Israel Then the ablest Lawyers wil be such as are most conversant with Christ his Scriptures and Ordinances O happy dayes then the Lawes will bee healing as Soveraigne Medicines and the Magistrates like Pâ—ysitians must apply them for these and divers other reasons we looke for the fifth Monarchy and doe continually cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly Let every one that longs for these new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwels righteousnesse 2 Pet. 3. 13. Pray Our Father thy Kingdome come that thy will may be done in earth as it is in heaven Matth. 6. 10. that we may have none but Christs Lawes Statutes and Government but forget all old Formes of Civil or Ecclesiasticke for which end Lord hasten this fifth Monarchy Vse My first word is full to our Governours in the Honourable Court of Parliament if so be the fifth Monarchy is so nigh us it concernes them to set upon their Generation-worke then in these dayes