thirty thousand Pounds a moneth for the next three moneths Truly I thought it my duty to let you know that though God hath dealt thus with you yet these are but entrances and doors of hope wherein through the blessing of God you may cuter into Rest and Peace But you are not yet entered You were told to day of a People brought out of Egypt towards the land of Canaan but through unbelief murmuring repining and other temptations and sins wherewith God was provoked they were fain to come back again and linger many years in the Wilderness before they came to the place of Rest We are thus far through the mercy of God We have cause to take notice of it that we are not brought into misery But as I said before A door of hope open And I may say this to you If the Lords blessing and his presence go along with the management of Affairs at this Meeting you will be inabled to put the Top-stone to this Work and make the Nation happy But this must be by knowing the true state of Affair that you are yet like the People under Circumcision but Raw your Peaces are but newly made And it is a maxime not to be despised Though Peace be made yet it is Interest that keeps Peace And I hope you will trust it no further then you see Interest upon it And therefore I wish that you may go forward and not backward and that you may have the blessings of God upon your endeavours I'ts one of the great ends of calling this Parliament that this Ship of the Common-Wealth may be brought into a safe Harbour which I assure you it will not well be without your Counseil and Advice You have great works upon your hands You have Ireland to look unto there is not much done towards the Planting of it though some things leading and preparing for it are It is a great businesse to setele the Government of that Nation upon fit Terms such as will bear that Work through Yot have had I kewise laid before you the considerations intimating your Peace with some Forreign Status but yet you have not made Peace with all And if they should see we do not manage our Affairs as With that Wisdom which becomes us truly we may sink under disadvantages for all that 's done And our Enemies will have their eyes open and be revived if they see Animosities amongst us which indeed will be their great advantage I do therefore perfwade you to a sweet gracious and holy understanding of one another and of your business concerning which you had so good Coussell this day that indeed as it rejoyced my heart to hear it so I hope the Lord will imprint it upon your spirits wherein you shall have my prayers Having saâ—d this and perhaps omitted many other materiall things through the frailty of my memory I shal exercise plainnesse and freenesse with you in telling you that I have not spoken shese things as one that assumes to himself Dominion over you but as one that doth resolve to be a fellow-servant with you to the Interest of these great Affairs and of the People of these Nations I shall therefore trouble you no longer but desire you to repair to your House and to exercise your own Liberty in the choice of a Speaker that so you may lose no time in carrying on your Work His HIGHNESSE the Lord Protectors SPEECH to the PARLIAMENT in the Painted Chamber on Tuesday the 12. of September 1654. GENTLEMEN IT is not long since I met you in this place upon an occasion which gave me much more content and comfort then this doth That which I have to say to you now will need no Preamble to let me in to my Discourse For the occasion of this Meeting is plain enough I could have wished with all my heart there had been no cause for it At that Meeting I did acquaint you what the first Rise was of this Government which hath call'd you hither and in the Authority of which you came hither Among other things that I told you of then I said you were a free Parliament And so you are whilst you own the Government and Authority that call'd you hither For certainly that word implyed a Reciprocation or it implyed nothing at all Indeed there was a Reciprocation implied and expressed and I think your actions and carriages ought to be suitable But I see it will be necessary for me now a little to magnifie my Office which I have not been apt to do I have been of this minde I have been alwayes of this minde since first I entered upon it That if God will not bear it up let it sink But if a Duty be incumbent upon me ro bear my Testimony unto it which in modesty I have hitherto forborn I am in some measure now necessitated thereunto And therefore that will be the Prologue to my Discourse I call'd not my self to this place I say again I call'd not my self to this place of that God is Witnesse And I have many Witnesses who I do beleeve could readily lay down their lives to bear Witnesse to the truth of that that is to say that I call'd not my self to this place And being in it I bear not Witnesse to my self But God and the people of these Nations have born Testimony to it also If my Cilling be from God and my Testimony from the People God and the people shall take it from me else I will not part with it I should be false to the Trust that God hath plac'd upon me and to the Interest of the People of these Nations if I should That I call'd not my self to this place is my first Assertion That I bear not witnesse to my self but have many Witnesses is my second These are the two things I shall take the liberty to speak more fully to you of To make plain and clear that which I have said I must take liberty to look back I was by birth a Gentleman living neither in any considerable height nor yet in obscurity I have been call'd to severall imployments in the Nation to serve in Prliaments And because I would not be over tedious I did endeavour to discharge the duty of an honest man in those services to God and his peoples Interest and of the Common-wealth having when time was a competent acceptation in the hearts of men and some evidences thereof I resolve not to recite the Times and Occasions and Opportunities that have been appointed me by God to serve him in nor the presence and blessings of God bearing then Testimony to me I having had some occasions to see together with my Brethren and Countrey-men a happy period put to our sharp Wars and Contests with the them common enemy hoped in a private capacity to have reaped the fruit and benefit together with my Brethren of our hard labours and hazards to wit the enjoyment of Peace and Liberty and the Priviledges of
this But let that passe Indeed in Spirituall things the Case was more sad and deplorable and that was told to you this day eminently The prodigious Blasphemies Contempt of God and Christ denying of him Contempt of him and his Ordinances and of the Scriptures A spirit visibly acting those things foretold by Peter and Jude yea those things spoken of by Paul to Timothy who when he would remember some things to be worse then the Antichristian state of which he had spoken in the first to Timothy Tells them what should be the Lot and Portion of the last times and sayes in the last dayes perilous times should come for men should be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to Parents unthankfull c. And when he remembers that of the Antichristian State he tells them that in the latter dayes that State shall come in wherein there shall be a departing from the faith and a giving head to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils speaking lies in hypocrisie c. By which description he makes the state of the last times worse then that under Antichrist And surely it may well be feared these are our times For when men forget all Rules of Law and Nature and break all the Bonds that fallen man hath upon him the Remainder of the Image of God in his Nature which he cannot blot out and yet shall endeavour to blot out having a form of Godlinesse without the power these are sad stokens of the last times And indeed the Character wherewith this spirit and principle is described in that place is so Legiole and visible that he that runs may read it to be amongst us for by such the Grace of God is turned into wantonnesse 〈◊〉 and Christ and the Spirit of God made the Cloak of all villany and spurious apprehensions And although these things will not be owned publikely as to practise they being so abominable and 〈◊〉 Yet how this principle extends it self and whence it had its Rise makes me to think of a second sort of men who its true as I said will not practise nor own these things Yet 〈◊〉 tell the Magistrate That he hath nothing to do with men thus holding in for these are matters of Conscience and Opinion they are matters of Religion what hath the Magistrate to do with these things he is to look to the outward man but not to meddle with the inward And truly it so happens that though these things do break out visibly to all yet the principle wherewith these things are carried on so forbids the Magistrate to meddle with them as it hath hitherto kept the offenders from punishment Such Considerations and Pretentions of Liberty Liberty of Conscience and Liberty of Subjects two as glorious things to be contended for as any God hath given us yet both these also abused for the patronizing of villanies in so much as that it hath been an ordinary thing to say and in Dispute to affirm That it was not in the Magistrates power he had nothing to do with it not so much as the Printing a Bible to the Nation for the use of the people lost it be imposed upon the Consciences of men for they must receive the same Traditionally and implicitly from the power of the Magistrate if thus received The aforementioned abominations did thus swell to this height amongst us The Axe was laid to the Root of the Ministery It was Antichristian It was Babylonish It suffered under such a Judgement that the truth of it is as the Extremity was great on that I wish it prove not so on this hand The extremity was That no man having a good Testimony having received Gifts from Christ might Preach if not Ordained So now many are on the other hand that he who is Ordained hath a nullity or Antichristianisme stamped upon his Calling so that he ought not to preach or not be heard I wish it may not too to justly be said that there was severity and sharpnesse yea too much of an in posing spirit in matter of Conscience a spirit unchristian enough in any times most unfit for these denying Liberty to those who have earned it with their blood who have gained Civil Liberty and Religious also for those who would thus impose upon them We may reckon among these our spirituall evils an evil that hath more refinednesse in it and more colour for it and hath deceived more people of integrity then the rest have done for few have been catched with the former mâ—stâ—kes but such as have Apostatized from their holy profession such as being corrupt in their Consciences have been forsaken by God and left to such noysom opinions But I say there are others more refined many honest people whose hearts are sincere many of them belonging to God and that is the mistaken Notion of the fifth Monarchy A thing pretending more spiritually then any thing else A Notion I hope we all honour wait and hope for that Jesus Christ will have a time to set up his Reign in our hearts by subduing those Corruptions and lusts and evils that are there which reign now more in the world then I hope in due time they shall do And when more falness of the Spirit is poured forth to subdue iniquity and bring in everlasting righteousness then will the approach of that Glory be The carnall divisions and contentions amongst Christians so common are not the symtoms of that Kingdom But for men to entitle themselves upon this Principle that they are the only men to rule Kingdoms Govern Nations and give Laws to people to determin of Property and Liberty and every thing else upon such a pretence as this is Truly they had need give clear manifestations of Gods presence with them before wise men will receive or submit to their Conclusions Besides certainly though many of these men have good meanings as I hope in my soul they have yet it will be the wisdom of all knowing and experienced Christians to do as Jude saith when he had reckoned up those horrible things done upon pretences and haply by some upon mistakes Of some sayes he have compassion making a difference others save with fear pulling them out of the fire I fear they will give opportunity too often for this Exercise and I hope the same will be for their good If men do but pretend for justice and righteousness and be of peaceable spirits and will manifest this let them be the subjects of the Magistrates encouragement And if the Magistrate by punishing visible miscarriages save them by that Discipline God having ordained him for that end I hope it will evidence love and no hatred to punish where there is cause Indeed this is that which doth most declare the danger of that spirit for if these were but Notions I mean the instances that I have given you both of Civil considerations and Spiritual if I say they were but Notions they were to
be let alone Notions will hurt none but them that have them But when they come to such practises as to tell us that Liberty and Property are not the Badges of the Kingdom of Christ and tell us that instead of regulating Laws Laws are to be abrogated indeed subverted and perhaps would bring in the Judiciall Law instead of our known Laws settled amongst us This is worthy of every Magistrates consideration especially where every stone is turned to bring confusion I think I say this will be worthy of the Magistrates consideration Whilst these things were in the midst of us and the Nation rent and torn in Spirit and Principle from one end to another after this sort and manner I have now told you Family against Family Husband against Wife Parents against Children and nothing in the hearts and minds of men but over-turning over-turning over-turning A Scripture very much abused and applied to justifie unpeaceable practices by all men of discontented spirits The Common Adversary in the mean time he sleeps not and our Adversaries in Civil and Spirituall respects did take advantages at these Divisions and Distractions and did practise accordingly in the three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland We know very well that Emissaries of the Jesuites never came in those swarms as they have done since these things were set on foot And I tell you that divers Gentlemen here can bear witness with me how that they have had a Consistory abroad that rules all the affairs of things in England from an Arch Bishop with other Dependants upon him And they had fixed in England of which we are able to produce the particular Instruments in most of the Limits of the Cathedrals an Episcopall power with Arch-Deacons c. And had persons authorized to exercise and distribute those things who pervert and deceive the people And all this while we were in this sad and as I said deplorable condition In the mean time all endeavours possible were used to hinder the work in Ireland and the Progress of the Work of God in Scotland by continuall Intelligences and correspondencies both at home and abroad from hence into Ireland and from hence into Scotland persons were stirred up and encouraged from these Divisions and discomposure of affairs to do all they could to encourage and foment the War in both these places To adde yet to our misery whilst we were in this Condition we were in War deeply engaged in a War with the Portugal whereby our Trade ceased and the evil Consequences by that War were manifest and very Considerable And not only this but we had a War with Holland consuming our Treasure occasioning a vast burthen upon the people A War that cost this Nation full as much as the Taxes came unto The Navy being one hundred and sixty Ships which cost this Nation above one hundred thousand pounds a moneth besides the Contingencies which would make it fixscore thousand pounds a moneth That very one War did engage us to so great a charge At the same time also we were in a War with France The advantages that were taken at the discontents and divisions among our selves did also foment that War and at least hinder us of an honourable peace every man being confident we could not hold out long And surely they did not calculate amiss if the Lord had not been exceeding gracious to us I say at the same time we had a War with France And besides the sufferings in respect of the Trade of the Nation it 's most evident that the purse of the Nation had not been possibly able longer to bear it by reason of the advantages taken by other States to improve the'r own and spoil our Manufacture of cloth and hinder the vent thereof which is the great Staple Commodity of this Nation This was our condition spoyl'd in our Trade and we at this vast expence thus dissettled at home and haying these engagements abroad These things being thus as I am perswaded it is not hard to convince every person here they were thus What a heap of Confusions were upon these poor Nations And either things must have been left to have sunk into the miseries these premises would suppose or a remedy must be applied A remedy hath been applied That hath been this Government A thing that I shall say little unto The thing is open and visible to be seen and read by all men and therefore let it speak for it self Only let me say this because I can speak it with comfort and confidence before a greater then you all that is before the Lord That in the intention of it as to the approving our hearts to God let men judge as they please It is calculated for the Interest of the people for the interest of the people alone and for their good without respect had to any other interest And if that be not true I shall be bold to say again let it fpeak for it self Truely I may I hope humbly before God and modestly before you say somewhat on the behalf of the Government That is not to discourse of the particular heads of it to acquaint you a little with the effects of it and that not for oftentation sake but to the end that I may deal at this time faithfully with you by acquainting you with the state of things and what proceedings have been upon this Government that so you may know the state of our affairs This is the main end of my putting you to this trouble It hath had some things in desire And it hath done some things actually It hath desired to reform the Laws to reform them and for that end it hath called together persons without reflection of as great ability and as great integrity as are in these Nations to consider how the Laws might be made plain and short and lesse chargeable to the people how to lessen expence for the good of the Nation and those things are in preparation and Bills prepared which in due time I make no question will be tendered to you There hath been care taken to put the Administration of the Laws into the hands of just men men of the most known Integrity and Ability The Chancery hath been reformed and I hope to the just satisfaction of all good men And the things depending there which made the burthen and work of the honourable persons intrusted in those services beyond their Ability It hath referred many of them to those places where English men love to have their rights tryed the Courts of Law at Westminster It hath endeavoured to put a stop to that heady way touched of likewise this day of every man making himself a Minister and a Preacher It hath endeavoured to settle a way for the approbation of men of Piety and Ability for the discharge of that work And I think I may say It hath committed that work to the trust of persons both of the Presbyterian and Independent judgements men of as known
Ability Piety and Integrity as I believe any this Nation hath And I beleeve also that in that care they have taken they have laboured to approve themselves to Christ the Nation and their own Consciences And indeed I think if there be any thing of quarrel against them it is though I am not here to justifie the proceedings of any I say it is that they go upon such a Character as the Scripture warrants to put men into that great Imployment and to approve men for it who are men that have received gifts from him that ascended up on high and gave gifts for the work of the Ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ It hath taken care we hope for the expulsion of all those who may be judged any way unfit for this Work who are scandalous and who are the common scorn and contempt of that Administration One thing more this Government hath done It hath been Instrumentall to call a free Parliament which blessed be God we see here this day I say a free Parliament And that it may continue so I hope is in the heart and spirit of every good man in England save such disconted persons as I have formerly mentioned It is that which as I have desired above my life I shall desire to keep it so above my life I did before mention to you the plunges we were in in respect of Forreigne States by the War with Portugal France with the Dutch the Dane and the little assurance we had from any of our Neighbours round about I perhaps forgot it but indeed it was a Caution upon my minde and I desire that it might be so understood That if any good hath been done it was the Lord nor we his poor Instruments I did instance in the Wars which did exhaust your Treasure and put you into such a Condition that you must have sunk therein if it had continued but a few moneths longer This I dare affirm if strong probability can give me a ground You have now though it be not the first in time peace with Sweathland an honourable peace through the endeavours of an honourable person here present as the Instrument I say you have an honourable Peace with a Kingdom that not many years since was much a friend to France and lately perhaps inclineable enough to the Spaniard And I believe you expect not very much good from any of your Catholick Neighbours nor yet that they would be very willing you should have a good understanding with your Protestant friends Yet thanks be to God that peace is concluded and as I said before it is an honourable Peace You have a Peace with the Dane A State that lay contiguous to that part of this Island which hath given us the most trouble And certainly if your enemies abroad be able to annoy you it is likely they will take their advantage where it best lies to give you trouble there But you have a Peace there and an honourable one Satisfaction for your Merchant Ships not only to their content but to their rejoycing I believe you will easily know it is so You have the Sound open which was obstructed That which was and is the strength of this Nation the Shipping will now be supplyed thence And whereas you were glad to have any thing of that kinde at the second hand c. You have all manner of Commerce and at as much freedom as the Dutch themselves there and at the same Rates and Toll and I think I may say by that Peace they cannot raise the same upon you You have a Peace with the Dutch a Peace unto which I shal1 say little because so well known in the benefit and consequences of it And I think it was as desirable and as acceptable to the spirit of this Nation as any one thnig that lay before us And as I believe nothing so much gratified our enemies as to see us at odds so I perswade my self nothing is of more terrour nor trouble to them then to see us thus reconciled As a Peace with the Protestant States hath much security in it so it hath as much of honour and of assurance to the Protestant Interest abroad without which no assistance can be given thereunto I wish it may be written upon our hearts to be zealous for that Interest for if ever it were like to come under a condition of suffering it is now In all the Emperours Patrimoniall Territories the endeavour is to drive them out as fast as they can And they are necessitated to run to Protestant States to seek their bread And by this conjunction of Interests I hope you will be in a more fit capacity to help them And it begets some reviving of their spirits that you will help them as opportunity shall serve You have a Peace likewise with the Crown of Portugal which Peace though it hung long in hand yet is lately concluded It is a Peace that your Metchants make us beleeve is of good concernment to their Trade their assurance being greater and so their profit in Trade thither then to other places And this hath been obtained in that Treaty which never was since the Inquisition was ser up there That our People which Trade thither have liberty of Conscience Indeed Peace is as you were well told to day desirable with all men as far as it my be had with Conscience and Honour We are upon a Treaty with France And we may say this That if God give us Honour in the eyes of the Nations about us we have rason to blesse him for it and so to own it And I dare say that there is not a Nation in Europe but they are very willing to ask a good understanding with you I am sorry I am thus tedious but I did judge that it was somwhat necessary to acquaint you with these things And things being thus I hope you will be willing to hear a little again of the sharp as well as the sweet And I should not be faithfull to you nor to the Interest these Nations which you and I serve if I should not let you know all As I said before when this Government was under taken we were in the midst of these Divisions and Animosities and scatterings Also thus engaged with these Enemies round about us at such a vast Charge Sixscore thousand Pounds a moneth for the very Fleet which was the very utmost penny of your Assessments I and then all your Treasure was exhausted and spent when this Government was under-taken ALL accidentall wayes of bringing in Treasure to a very inconsiderable Summe consumed That is to say the Lands are sold the Treasures spent Rents Fee-farms Kings Queens Princes Bishops Dean and Chapters Delinquents Lands sold These were spent when this Government was under-taken I think it is my duty to let you know so much And that 's the reason why the Taxes do yet lie so heavy upon the People of which we have abated