The second part of A seasonable legal and historical vindication, and chronological collection of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, lawes, government of all English freemen; their best inheritance and onely security against all arbitrary tyranny and Ægyptian taxes. Wherein the extraordinary zeal, courage, care, vigilancy, civill, military and Parliamentary consultations, contests, to preserve, establish, perpetuate them to posterity, against all tyrants, usurpers, enemies, invaders, both under the ancient pagan and Christian Britons, Romans, Saxons. The laws and Parliamentall great councils of the Britons, Saxons. With some generall presidents, concerning the limited powers and prerogatives of our British and first Saxon kings; ... are chronologically epitomized, ... By William Prynne of Swainswick, Esquire. Seasonable, legall, and historicall vindication and chronologicall collection of the good, old, fundamentall, liberties, franchises, rights, laws of all English freemen. Part 2 Prynne, William, 1600-1669. 1655 Approx. 396 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 76 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2009-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A91269 Wing P4072 Thomason E820_11 ESTC R203292 99863286 99863286 115477 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A91269) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 115477) Images scanned from microfilm: (Thomason Tracts ; 125:E820[11]) The second part of A seasonable legal and historical vindication, and chronological collection of the good old fundamental liberties, franchises, rights, lawes, government of all English freemen; their best inheritance and onely security against all arbitrary tyranny and Ægyptian taxes. Wherein the extraordinary zeal, courage, care, vigilancy, civill, military and Parliamentary consultations, contests, to preserve, establish, perpetuate them to posterity, against all tyrants, usurpers, enemies, invaders, both under the ancient pagan and Christian Britons, Romans, Saxons. The laws and Parliamentall great councils of the Britons, Saxons. With some generall presidents, concerning the limited powers and prerogatives of our British and first Saxon kings; ... are chronologically epitomized, ... By William Prynne of Swainswick, Esquire. Seasonable, legall, and historicall vindication and chronologicall collection of the good, old, fundamentall, liberties, franchises, rights, laws of all English freemen. Part 2 Prynne, William, 1600-1669. [76], 76 p. Printed for the author, and are to be sold by Edward Thomas dwelling in Green Arbour, London, : 1655. Signatures: [A]² B-K⁴ ² B-² K⁴ L² . The first leaf is blank. "A legall and historicall vindication of the fundamentall, rights, and laws of England. Chap. III" begins pagination on ² B1. Annotation on Thomason copy: "Decemb: 19". Reproduction of the original in the British Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1649-1660 -- Early works to 1800. 2007-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-02 Mona Logarbo Sampled and proofread 2008-02 Mona Logarbo Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion THE SECOND PART OF A SEASONABLE LEGAL and HISTORICAL VINDICATION , and CHRONOLOGICAL COLLECTION Of the Good old Fundamental Liberties , Franchises , Rights , Lawes , Government of all English Freemen ; their best Inheritance and onely Security against all Arbitrary Tyranny and Aegyptian Taxes . Wherein the extraordinary Zeal , Courage , Care , Vigilancy , Civill , Military and Parliamentary Consultations , Contests , to preserve , establish , perpetuate them to Posterity , against all Tyrants , Vsurpers , Enemies , Invaders , both under the ancient Pagan and Christian Britons , Romans , Saxons . The Laws and Parliamentall Great Councils of the Britons , Saxons . With some Generall Presidents ▪ concerning the limited Powers and Prerogatives of our British and first Saxon Kings ; the Fundamental Rights , Liberties , Franchises , Laws of their Subjects , the severe punishments of their Tyrannicall Princes on the one side , and of unrighteous Vsurpers , Traytors , Regicides , Treason , Perfidiousnesse and Disloyalty on the other ( recorded in our Historians ) are Chronologically Epitomized , and presented to publick View , for the benefit of the whole English Nation . By WILLIAM PRYNNE of Swainswick , Esquire . Prov. 22. 28. Remove not the Ancient Land-markes , which thy Fathers have set . 2 Sam. 10. 12. Be of GOOD COURAGE , AND LET US PLAY THE MEN FOR OUR PEOPLE , and for the Cities of our God ; and the Lord do that which seemeth him good . Dan. 7. 25 , 26. And he shall think TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS , and they shall be given into his hand , until a time and times and the dividing of times . But the Judgement shall sit , and they shall take away his Dominion , to consume and to destroy it unto the end . London , Printed for the Author , and are to be sold by Edward Thomas dwelling in Green Arbour , 1655. ERRATA . IN the Epistle p. 2 : l , 38. r. 1540. p. 5. l. 10. r. secure , p. 9. l. 2. 5. r. s. p. 10. l , 37. r. Kings , Queenes , p. 16. l , 3. dele they . p. 19. l. 2. 1502. r. 1602. p. 22. l. 1. proceeding , p. 24. l. 20. Oath of Supremacy ; p. 25. l , 24. for this : p , 27. l , 4. r. 1653. p. 35. l. 20. r. and our religion from , &c. p , 47 : l , 18 : Constantius : l , 26 : for , if : p , 51 : l , 2 : & p , 52 : l , 37 : twenty four , r. fourty two : Margin . p. 20. l. 1. whether . In the Book , p. 2. l. 19 , 20. r. each single , p. 39. l. 19. Dubricius , p. 41. l. 11. quod , p. 47. l. 13. Christianismum , p. 53. l. 29. reservations , p. 62. l. 9. by r. of , p. 64 l. 20. Subditos , p , 67 : l , 23 : dat , r eat . p. 71. l. 31. r. Schoole , p. 72. l. 27. dele a. Margin . p. 55. l. 29. r. Eventibus . To all truely Christian Free-men of England , Patrons of Religion , Freedom , Parliaments , who shall peruse this Treatise . Christian Reader , IT hath been one of the most detestable Crimes , and highest Impeachments against the Antichristian a Popes of Rome , that under a Saint-like Religious Pretext of advancing the Church , Cause , Kingdom of Jesus Christ , they have for some hundred yeers by-past , usurped to themselves ( as sole Monarchs of the world in the Right of Christ , whose Vicars they pretend themselves to be ) both by Doctrinal Positions and Treasonable Practises , b an absolute , Soveraign , Tyrannical Power over all Christian Emperours , Kings , Princes of the World ( who must derive and hold their Crowns from them alone , upon their good behaviours at their pleasures ) not onely to Excommunicate , Censure , Judge , Depose , Murder , Destroy their sacred Persons ; but likewise to dispose of their Crowns , Scepters , Kingdom● and translate them to whom they please . In pursuance whereof , they have most traiterously , wickedly , seditiously , atheistically , presumed to absolve their Subjects from all their sacred Oaths , Homages , natural Allegiance , and due Obedience to them , instigated , encouraged , yea , expresly enjoyned ( under pain of interdiction , excommunication , and other censures ) their own Subjects , ( yea own sons sometimes ) both by their Bulls and Agents , to revolt from , rebel , war against , depose , dethrone , murder , stab , poyson , destroy them by open force , or secret conspiracies : and stirred up one Christian King , Realm , State , to invade , infest , destroy , usurp upon another ; onely to advance their own antichristian Soveraignties , Usurpations , Ambition , Rapines , worldly Pompe and Ends : as you may read at leisure in the Statutes of 25 H. 8. c. 22. 28 H. 8. c. 10. 37 H. 8. c. 17. 13 Eliz. c. 2. 23 Eliz. c. 1. 35 Eliz. c. 2. 3 Jacob. c. 1 , 2 , 4 , 5. 7 Jacob. c. 6. the Emperour Frederick his Epistles against Pope Gregory the 9. and Innocent the 4. recorded in Matthew Paris , and * others , Aventinus Annalium Boiorum , Mr. Tyndal's Practice of Popish Prelates , the second Homily upon Whitsunday ; the Homilies against Disobedience , and wilful Rebellion ; Bishop Jewels view of a seditious Bull ; John Bale in his lives of the Roman Pontiffs ; Doctor Thomas Bilson in his true difference between Christian subjection , and unchristian Rebellion ; Doctor John White his Sermon at Paul's Cross , March 24. 1625. and Defence of the Way , c. 6 , 10. Doctor Crakenthorpe of the Popes temporal Monarchy ; Bishop Morton's Protestants Apology ; Doctor Beard 's Theater of Gods Judgements , l. 1. c. 27 , 28. Doctor Squire of Antichrist ; John Bodin his Common-wealth , l. 1. c. 9. The learned Morney Lord du Plessy , his Mystery of Iniquity , and History of the Papacy . The Grimston's Imperial History . Matthew Paris ; Holinshed , Speed , Cambden , and others , in the lives of Henry the 3. Queen Elizabeth , and other of our Kings , and hundreds of printed Sermons on the 5 of November . The principal Instruments the Popes imployed of late years , in these their unchristian Treasonable Designes , have been pragmatical , furious , active Jesuites , whose Society was first erected by Ignatius Loyola , ( a Spaniard by Birth , but A c SOULDIER by Profession ) and confirmed by Pope Paul the 3. Anno 1640 , which Order consisting onely of ten persons at first , and confined onely to sixty by this Pope , hath so monstrously increased by the Popes and Spaniards favours and assistance ( whose chief Janizaries , Factors , Intelligencers they are ) that in the year 1626. d they caused the picture of Ignatius their Founder to be cut in Brass , with a goodly Olive Tree growing ( like Jesses root ) out of his side , spreading its branches into all Kingdoms and Provinces of the World , where the Jesuites have any Colledges and Seminaries , with the name of the Province at the foot of the branch , which hath as many leaves as they have Colledges and Residencies in that Province ; in which leaves , are the names of the Towns and Villages where these Colledges are situated : round about the Tree are the Pictures of all the illustrious Persons of their Order ; and in Ignatius his right hand , there is a Paper , wherein these words are ingraven , Ego sicut Oliva fructifera in domo Dei ; taken out of Ps . 52. 8. which pourtraictures they then printed and published to the World : wherein they set forth the number of their Colledges and Seminaries to be no less , then 777. ( increased to 155 more , by the year 1640. ) in all , 932. as they published in like Pictures & Pageants printed at Antwerp , 1640. In these Colledges and Seminaries of theirs , they had then ( as they print ) 15591 Fellows of their society of Jesus , besides the Novices , Scholars , and Lay-brethren of their Order , amounting to neer * ten times that number . So infinitely did this evil Weed grow and spread it self , within one hundred years after its first planting . What the chief imployments of Ignatius and his numerous swarms of Disciples are in the World , his own Society , at the time of his Canonization for a Romish Saint , sufficiently discovered in their painted Pageants , then shewed to the people , e wherein they pourtraied this new Saint holding the whole world in his hand , and fire streaming out forth of his heart , ( rather to set the whole World on fire by Combustions , Wars , Treasons , Powder-plots , Schismes , new State , and old Church-Heresies , then to enlighten it ) with this Motto ; VENI IGNEM MITTERE : I came to send fire into the world : which the University of Cracow in Poland objected ( amongst other Articles ) against them , Anno 1622. Their number being so infinite , and the f Pope and Spaniard too , having long since ( by g Campanella's advice ) erected many Colledges in Rome , Italy , Spain , the Netherlands , and elsewhere , for English , Scotish , Irish Jesuites , ( as well as for such secular Priests , Friers , Nuns ) of purpose to promote their designs against the Protestant Princes , Realms , Churches , Parliaments of England , Scotland , Ireland , and to reduce them under their long prosecuted h UNIVERSAL MONARCHY over them , by Fraud , Policy , Treason , intestine Divisions , and Wars , being unable to effect it by their own Power ; no doubt of late yeers many hundreds , if not thousands , of this Society , have crept into England , Scotland and Ireland , lurking under several Disguises ; yea , an whole Colledge of them sate weekly in counsel , in or neer Westminster , some few yeers since , under Conne the Popes Nuntio , of purpose to embroyle England and Scotland in bloody civil wars , thereby to endanger , shake , subvert , these Realms , and destroy the late King ( as you may read at large in my Romes Master-piece , published by the Commons special Order , An. 1643. ) who occasioned , excited , fomented , the first and second intended , ( but happily prevented ) wars between England and Scotland , and after that , the unhappy Differences , Wars , between the King , Parliament , and our three Protestant Kingdoms , to bring them to utter desolation , and extirpate our reformed Religion . The Kings Forces ( in which many of them were Souldiers ) after some yeers Wars being defeated , thereupon their Father Ignatius being a SOULDIER , and they his Military sons not a few of them i secretly insinuated themselves as Souldiers , into the Parliaments Army and Forces , ( as they had formerly done into k the Kings ) where they so cunningly acted their parts , as extraordinary illuminated , gifted brethren , and grand States-men , that they soon leavened many of the Officers , Troopers and common Souldiers , with their dangerous Jesuitical , State-Politicks , and l Practises , put them upon sundry strange designes , to new-mould the old Monarchical Government , Parliaments , Church , Ministers , Laws of England ; erecting a New General Councel of Army-Officers and Agitators for that purpose ; acting more like a Parliament then Souldidiers . And at last instigated the Army by open force ( against their Commissions , Duties , Oaths , Protestations , and Solemne League and Covenant ) to Impeach , Imprison , Seclude , first eleven Commoners ; then some six or seven Lords ; after that , to seclude seclude the Majority of the Commons House , suppress the whole House of Lords , destroy the King , Parliament , Government , Priviledges , Liberties of the Kingdom and Nation , for whose defence they were first raised , which by no other adverse power they could effect . This produced new bloody divisions , animosities , wars , in and between our three Protestant Realms , and Nations ; and after with our Protestant Allies of the Netherlands , with sundry heavy monthly Taxes , Excises , Oppressions , Sales of the Churches , Crownes , and of many Nobles and Gentlemens Lands & Estates , to their undoing , our whole Nations impoverishing , and discontent , an infinite profuse expence of Treasure , of Protestant blood both by Land & Sea , decay of Trade , with other sad effects in all our three Kingdoms ; yea , sundry successive New changes of our publique Government , made by the Army-Officers , ( who are still ringing the changes ) according to Campanella's and Parsons Platforms . So that if fire may be certainly discerned by the smoke , or the tree commonly known by its fruit , as the Truth it self resolves , Mat●h . 12. 33. we may truly cry out to all our Rulers , as the Jews did once to the Rulers of Thessa●onica , in another case , Act. 17. 6. THOSE ( Jesuites ) WHO HAVE TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN , ARE COME HITHER ALSO , and have turned our Kingdoms , Kings , Peers , Monarchy , Parliaments , Government , Laws , Liberties , ( yea , and our Church and Religion too , in a great measure ) UPSIDE DOWNE , even by those very Persons , who were purposely raised , commissioned , waged , engaged by Protestations , Covenants , Vows , Oathes , Laws , Allegiance and Duty , to protect them from these Jesuitical Innovations and subversions . Those who will take the pains to peruse all or any of these several printed Books ( most of them very well worth their reading ) written against the Jesuites and their Practises as well by Papists as Protestants , as namely , Fides Jesu & Jesuitarum , printed 1573. Doctrinae Jesuiticae praecipua capita , Delph . 1589. Aphorismi Doctrinae Jesuiticae . 1608. Cambitonius , De Studiis Jesuitarum abstrusioribus . Anno 1609. Jacobus Thuanus Passages of the Jesuites . Hist . l. 69 , 79 , 83 , 94 , 95 , 96 , 108 , 110 , 114 , 116 , 119 , 121 , 124 , 126 , 129 , 131 , 132 , 134 , 136 , 137 , 138. Emanuel Meteranus his Passages of them . Belgicae Hist . l. 9 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 21 , 23 , 26 , to 34. Willielmus Baudartius , Continuation Meterani , l. 37 , 38 , 39 , 40. Donatus Wesagus , Fides Jesu & Jesuitarum , 1610. Characteres Jesuiticae , in several Tomes . Elias Husenmullerus , Historia Jesuitici Ordinis , Anno 1605. Speculum sive Theoria Doctrinae Jesuiticae , necnon Praxis Jesuitaram , 1608. Pasquier his Jesuite displayed . Petrus de Wangen , Physiognomia Jesuitica , 1610. Christopherus Pelargus , his Novus Jesuitismus . Franciscus de Verone , his Jesuitismus Sicarius , 1611. Narratio de proditione Iesuitarum in Magnae Brit. Regem , 1607. Consilium de Jesuitis Regno Poloniae ejiciendis . The Acts of the States of Rhetia , Anno 1561 , and 1612. for banishing the Jesuites wholly out of their Territories , NE STATUS POLITICUS TURBARETUR , &c. mentioned by Fortunatus Sprecherus , Palladis Rheticae , l. 6. p. 251 , 273. Melchior Valcius , his Furiae Gretzero , &c. remissae , 1611. Censura Jesuitarum , Articuli Jesuitarum , cum commonefactione illis opposita , Anti-Jesuites , au Roy , par . 1611. Variae Doctorum Theologorum Theses adversus quaedam Jesuitica Dogmata . The Remonstrance of the Parliament of Paris to Henry the Great against the Re-establishment of the Jesuites ; And their Censure of Mariana his Book , to be publickly burnt , printed in French , 1610. recited in the * General History of France , in Lewis 13. his life , and Peter Matthew , l. 6. par . 3. Historia Franciae . Variae Facultatis Theologiae & Curiae Parisiensis , quam aliorum opuscula , decreta & Censurae contra Jesuitas , Paris 1612. Conradus Deckerus de proprietatibus Jesuitarum , 1611. Quaerelarum inclyti Regni Hungariae adversus corruptelas Jesuiticas defensio . Lucas Osiander , his warning about the Jesuites bloody Plot , Han. 1614. Jesuitarum per unitas Belgii Provincias Negotiatio , Anno 1616. Rodulphus Hospinianus , Historia Jesuitica , 1619. Bogermannus his Catechismus Jesuiticus . Ludovicus Lucius , Historia Jesuitica , Basil . 1627. Arcana Imperii Hispanici , 1628. Mercure Jesuite , in several Tomes , Geneve 1626. De Conscientia Jesuitarum , tractat . Censura sacrae Theologiae Parisiensis , in librum qui inscribitur , Antonii Sanctarelli societatis Jesu , de Haeresi , Schismate & Apostatia , &c. Paris , 1626. Anti-Cotton ; Ioannes Henricius , Deliberatio de compescendo perpetuo crudeli Conatu Jesuitarum , Fran. 1633. A Proclamation of the States of the united Provinces , Anno 1612. And another Proclamation of theirs : with two more Proclamations of the Protestant States of the Marquesate of Moravia , for the banishing of the Iesuites , London 1629. Alfonsi de Vargas Toletani , Relatio ad Reges & Principes Christianos , De Stratagematis & Sophismatis Politicis Societatis Iesu , ad Monarchiam Orbis terrarum sibi conficiendam : in qua Iesuitarum erga Reges & Populos optimè de se meritos infidelitas , ergaque ipsum Pontificem perfidia , contumacia , & IN FIDEI REBUS NOVANDI LIBIDO , illustribus documentis comprobatur , Anno 1641. Iubilaeum , sive Speculum Iesuiticum , exhibens PRAECIPUA JESUITARUM SCELERA , MOLITIONES , INNOVATIONES , FRAUDES , IMPOSTURAS , ET MENDACIA , CONTRA STATUM ECCLESIASTICUM POLITICUMQUE , in & extra EUROPEUM ORBEM ; primo hoc centenario , confirmati illius Ordinis INSTITUTA ET PERPETRATA , ex variis Historiis , inprimis vero pontificiis collecta , Anno 1644. ( a piece worth perusing ) Or else will but cast their eyes upon our own fore-cited Statutes , and the * Proclamations of Queen Elizabeth , King Iames , and King Charles against Iesuites , and Seminary-Priests . A brief Discovery of Doctor Allens sedicious Drifts , London 1588. Charles Paget ( a Seminary Priest ) his Answer to Dolman , concerning the succession of the English Crown , 1601. William Watson ( a Secular Priest ) his Dedacordon or Quodlibets , printed 1602. now very well worthy all Protestants reading . A Letter of A. C. to his Dis-Iesuited Kinsman , concerning the Jesuites , London 1602. Romish Positions and Practises for Rebellion , London 1605. The Arraignment of Traytors , London 1605. Iohn King Bishop of London , his Sermons on November 5. 1607 , 1608. King Iames his Conjuratio Sulphurea , Apologia pro Juramento fidelitatis : & Responsio ad Epistolam Cardinalis Peronii . An Exact Discovery of the chief Mysteries of the Iesuitical iniquity : and , The Iesuites secret Consultations ; both printed London 1619. William Crashaw his Iesuites Gospel , London 1621. William Feak of the Doctrine and Practice of the Society of Jesus , London 1630. The many printed Sermons of Doctor John White , Bishop Lake , Bishop Andrews , Doctor Donne , Doctor Featly , Doctor Clerk , and others , preached on the fifth of November . Lewis Owen his running Register , London 1626. His unmasking of all Popish Monkes and Jesuites , 1628. And his Jesuites Looking-Glass , London , 1629. John Gee , his Foot out of the Snare , &c. London , 1624. with the Jesuitical Plots discovered in my Romes Master-piece ; and , Hidden works of darkness brought to publick Light , London 1645. shall see the Jesuites and their Seminaries charged with , convinced of , and condemned for these ensuing Seditious , Treasonable , Antimonarchical , Anarchical Positions and Practises ; for which their Society hath by publick Acts and Proclamations been several times banished out of Hungaria , Bohemia , Moravia , Poland , the Low Countries Rhetia , France , Transilvania , Sweden , Denmark , the Palatinate , Venice , Aethiopia , Japan and Turkey , as well as out of England , Scotland and Ireland , as most insufferable Pests and Traytors ; in many of which they have yet gotten footing again . 1. That at least fifty several prime Authors of that infernal Society of Jesus , in several printed Books ( which you shall finde specified in Doctor John Whites Defence of the Way , c. 5. 10. Aphorismi Jesuitarum : Jubilaeum , or , Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 187 , 188. and the Appendix to my Fourth part of the Soveraign power of Parliaments , p. 187 , 188. ) have dogmatically maintained ; That the Pope hath absolute power , not onely to excommunicate , but judicially to suspend , mulct with temporal penalties , depose , dethrone , PUT TO DEATH , and destroy any Christian Emperours , Kings , Princes , Potentates , by open Sentence , War , Force , secret Conspiracies , or private Assiassinations , and to give away their Crownes and Dominions to whoever will invade them , by Treason or Rebellion , at the Popes command : and that in cases of Heresie , Schisme , Disobedience to , Rebellion against the Pope , or See of Rome , Male-administration , refusal to defend the Pope or Church against her adversaries , Insufficiency to Govern , Negligence , Tyranny , Excesses , Abuses in Government , Incorrigibility , Vitiousness of Life , and m NECESSITY OF THE PUBLICK GOOD , OR SAFETY OF THE CHURCH , STATE , OR CAUSE OF GOD ; as Antonius Sanctarellus the Jesuite particularly defines , in his Book De Haeresibus , Schismatibus , &c. printed in Rome it self , Anno 1625. who affirms it to be , multum aequum & Reipublicae expediens , ut sit aliquis supremus Monarcha , qui Regum hujusmodi excessus possit corrigere , & DE IPSIS JUSTITIAM MINISTRARE : sicut PETRO concessa fuit faultas PUNIENDI PAENA TEMPORALI , imo etiam , PAENA MORTIS , DICTAS PERSONAS AD ALIORUM CORRECTIONEM & EXEMPLUM . ( Whether the Erection , Title of , and proceedings against our beheaded King , in the late mis-named High Court of Justice , had not their Original from hence ; and whether the Army-Officers derived not their very phrase , n of bringing the King TO JUSTICE , with their pretended NECESSITY OF PUBLICK GOOD AND SAFETY , for it , from these very Jesuites , or their Agents in the Army ; let themselves , the whole Kingdom , and all Wisemen now consider . ) Moreover , some of these fifty Authors , ( as Robert Parsons the English Iesuite in his Philopater , Sect. 2. and De Officio Principis Christiani , chap. 5. affirm , That the whole School both of ( their ) Divines & Lawyers , make it a Position certain and undoubtedly to be believed , That if any Christian Prince whatsoever , shall manifestly turn from the Roman Catholick Religion , or desire , or seek to reclaim others from the same ; or but favour , or shew countenance to an Heretick ( as they deem all Protestants , and Dissenters from the See of Rome in any punctilio , such ) HE PRESENTLY FALLETH FROM , AND LOSETH ALL PRINCELY POWER AND DIGNITY ; and that BY VERTUE AND POWER OF THE LAW IT SELF , BOTH DIVINE AND HUMANE , EVEN BEFORE ANY SENTENCE PRONOUNCED AGAINST HIM BY THE SUPREAM PASTOR AND JUDGE , That thereby his Subjects are absolved from ALL OATHES AND BONDS OF ALLEGIANCE TO HIM AS TO THEIR LAWFUL PRINCE . Nay , that they BOTH MAY AND OUGHT ( * PROVIDED THEY HAVE COMPETENT POWER AND FORCE ) TO CAST OUT SUCH A PRINCE FROM BEARING RULE AMONGST CHRISTIANS , as an Apostate , an Heretick , a Back-slider , a Revolter from our Lord Iesus Christ , AND AN ENEMY TO HIS OWN ESTATE AND COMMON-WEALTH ; lest perhaps he might infect others , or by his example or command , turn them from the faith . And that the Kingdom of such an Heretick or Prince , is to be bestowed at the pleasure of the Pope , with whom the people UPON PAIN OF DAMNATION , ARE TO TAKE PART , AND FIGHT AGAINST THEIR SOVERAIGN . Out of which detestable , treasonable Conclusions , most Treasons and Rebellions of late times have risen in the Christian World ; and the first smoke of the Gunpowder Treason too , as Iohn Speed observes in his History of Great Britaine , p. 1250. 2. That the Iesuites have frequently put these treasonable Seditious , Antimonarchical , Jesuitical , damnable Doctrines into practice , as well against some Popish , as against Protestant King , Queen , Princes , States : which they manifest , 1. By o their poysoning Ione Queen of Navarre , with a pair of deadly perfumed Gloves , onely for favouring the Protestants in France , Anno 1572. 2. By their suborning and animating p Iames Clement , a Dominical Frier , to stab King Henry the 3 of France in the belly with a poysoned Knife , whereof he presently died , Anno 1589. for which they promised this Traytor , a Saintship in heaven . 3. By q Cammoles the Jesuites publick justification of this Clement , in a Sermon at Paris Anno 1593. wherein he not onely extolled him above all the Saints , for his Treason against , and murder of Henry the 3. but broke out likewise into this further Exclamation to the people : We ought to have some Ehud , whether it be A MONKE , or A SOULDIER , or a Varlet , or at least a C●w-herd . For it is necessary , that at least we should have some Ehud . This ONE THING ONELY YET REMAINS BEHINDE : FOR THEN WE SHALL COMPOSE ALL OUR AFFAIRS VERY WELL , AND AT LAST BRING THEM TO A DESIRED END . Whereupon by the Jesuites instigation , the same year 1593. one Peter Bariere , undertook the assasination of King r Henry the 4 of France , which being prevented , and he executed , thereupon they suborned and enjoyned one of their own Jesuitical Disciples , John Castle , a youth of 19 yeers old , to destroy this King : who on the 27 of December 1594. intending to stab him to the heart , missing his aim , wounded him onely in the cheek , and stroke out one of his Teeth ; for which Treasonable Act , he was justified , applauded , as a renowned Saint and Martyr , by the Jesuites , in a printed Book or two , published in commendation of this his undertaking . Yea , Alexander Hay , a Jesuite privy to Castle 's villany , used to say , That if King Henry the 4. should pass by their Colledge ( which he built for them ) he would willingly cast himself out of his window headlong upon him , so as he might break the King's neck , though thereby he brake his own . Yet was he punished onely with perpetual banishment . After which Jesuitical conspiracies detected and prevented , notwithstanding this King Henry ( before these two attempts to murder him ) had by their sollicitations , renounced the Protestant Religion , professed himself a zealous Romanist , recalled the Iesuites formerly banished for the murther of Henry the 3. * against his Parliament and Counsels advice , reversed all the Decrees of Parliament against them , razed the publick Pillar set up in Paris , as a lasting Monument of their Treasons and Conspiracies ; built them a magnificent Colledge in Paris , endowed it with a very large revenue ; entertained Pere Cotton ( one of their Society ) for his Confessor ( who revealed all his Secrets to the King of Spain ; ) bequeathed a large Legacy of Plate and Lands to their Society by his will , and was extraordinary bountiful and favourable towards them ; yet these bloody ingrateful villains animated that desperate wretch , * Ravilliac , to stab him to death in the open street in Paris , Anno 1610. Albigni the Iesuite , being privy to this murder , before it was perpetrated . 4. By their suborning , instigating sundry bloody instruments one after another to murder ſ William Prince of Orange , prevented in their attempts by Gods providence , till at last they procured one Balthasar Gerard to shoot him to death with a Pistol charged with three Bullets ; the Iesuites promising him no less then HEAVEN , AND A CANONIZATION AMONG THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS , for this bloody Treason , as they did to Iames Clement before , for murdering the French King. 5. By t their poysoning of Stephen Botzkay Prince of Transylvania , v for opposing their bloody persecutions . 6. By their manifold bloody Plots and Attempts from time to time , to depose , murder , stab , poyson , destroy our famous Protestant Queen Elizabeth , by open Insurrections , Rebellions , Invasions , Wars raised against her both in England and Ireland ; and by intestine clandestine Conjurations ; from which Gods ever-waking Providence did preserve her . Amongst other Conspiracies , that of Patrik Cullen , an Irish Frier ( hired by the Iesuits and their Agents to kill the Queen ) is observable . x Holt the Iesuite , ( who perswaded him to undertake the murdering of her ) told him , that it was not onely Lawful by the Laws , but THAT HE SHOULD MERIT GODS FAVOUR , AND HEAVEN BY IT ; and thereupon gave him remission of all his sins , and the Eucharist , to encourage him in this Treason ; the chief ground whereof ( and of all their other Treasons against this Queen ) was thus openly expressed by Iaquis Francis , for Cullens further encouragement ; THAT THE REALM OF ENGLAND , THEN WAS AND WOULD BE SO WELL SETLED , that unless Mistris Elizabeth ( so he termed his Dread Soveraign , though but a base Landress Son ; ) were suddenly taken away , ALL THE DEVILS IN HELL WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO PREVAIL , TO SHAKE AND OVETURN IT . Which then it seems , they * principally endeavoured , and oft times since attempted , and have now at last effected , by those who conceit they demerit the Title of Saints ( though not in a Romish Calender ) and no less then Heaven for shaking , overturning , and making it No Kingdom . 7. By their y Conspiracy against King Iames , to deprive him of his Right to the Crown of England , imprison , or destroy his person : raise Rebellion , alter Religion , and SUBVERT THE STATE AND GOVERNMENT ; by vertue of Pope Clement the 8. his Bull directed to Henry Garnet , Superiour of the Iesuites in England : whereby he commanded all the Archpriests , Priests , Popish Clergy , Peers , Nobles and Catholikes of England , That after the death of Queen Elizabeth by the course of Nature , or otherwise , whosoever should lay claim or title to the Crown of England , ( though never so directly or neerly interessed by descent ) should not be admitted unto the Throne , unless he would first tolerate the Romish Religion , and by his best endeavours promote the Catholick cause ; unto which by his Solemn and Sacred Oath he should religiously subscribe , after the death of that miserable woman ; ( as he stiled Queen Elizabeth . ) By vertue of which Bull the Iesuites , after her decease , disswaded the Romish-minded Subjects , from yielding in any wise obedience to King Iames , as their Soveraign ; and entred into a Treasonable Conspiracy with the Lord Cobham , Lord Gray , and others , against him , to imprison him for the ends aforesaid ; or destroy him , pretending , that King Iames was no King at all before his Coronation ; and that therefore they might by force of Arms , lawfully surprise his person , and Prince Henry his Son , and imprison them in the Tower of London , or Dover-Castle , till they inforced them by duress , to grant a free toleration of their Catholike Religion , to remove some evil counsellors from about them , and to grant them a free Pardon for this violence ; or else they would put some further Project in execution against them , to their destruction . But this Conspiricy being discovered , The Traytors were apprehended , arraigned , condemned , and Watson and Clerk ( two Iesuited Priests who had drawn them into this Conspiracy , upon the aforesaid Pretext ) with some others , executed as Traytors ; z all the Iudges of England resolving , that King Iames being right Heir to the Crown by descent , was immediately upon the death of Queen Elizabeth , actually possessed of the Crown , and lawful King of England , before any Proclamation or Coronation of him , which are but Ceremonies , ( as was formerly adjudged in the case of * Queen Mary , and Queen Iane , 1 Mariae ) there being no Interregnum , by the Law of England , as is adjudged , declared , by Act of Parliament , 1 Iac. c. 1. worthy serious perusal . 8. By their a horrid Gun-powder Treason Plot ; contrived , fomented , by Garnet ( Superiour of the English Iesuites ) Gerard , Tesmond and other Iesuites ; who by their Apostolical Power did not onely commend , but absolve from all sin the other Iesuited Popish Conspirators , and Faux THE SOULDIER , who were their instruments to effect it . Yea , the Iesuitical Priests were so Atheistical , as that they usually concluded their Masses with Prayers , for the good success of this Hellish plot , which was , suddenly , with no less then 36 Barrels of Gunpowder , placed in a secret Vault under the House of Lords , to have blown up and destroyed at once , King Iames himself , the Queen , Prince , Lords Spiritual and Temporal , with the Commons assembled together in the Upper-House of Parliament , upon the 5 of November , Anno Dom. 1605. and then to have forcibly seised with armed men prepared for that purpose , the persons of our late beheaded King , then Duke of York , and the Lady Elizabeth his Sister ( if absent from the Parliament , and not there destroyed with the rest ) that so there might be none of the Royal Line left to inherit the Crown of England , Scotland and Ireland ; to the utter overthrow and subversion of the whole Royal Family , Parliament , State and Government of this Realm . Which unparallel'd , inhumane , bloody Plot , being miraculously discovered , prevented , the very day before the execution , in perpetual detestation of it , and of the Iesuits and their traiterous Romish Religion , ( which both contrived and approved it ) the 5 day of November , by the Statute of 3 Iacobi , ch . 1. was enacted to be had IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE , that ALL AGES TO COME , might thereon meet together publickly throughout the whole Nation , to render publick praises unto God , for preventing this infernal Iesuitical Design , and keep in memory THIS JOYFUL DAY OF DELIVERANCE ; for which , special forms of publick Prayers and Thankesgivings were then appointed , and that day ever since more or less annually observed , till this present . And it is worthy special observation , that had this Plot taken effect , b it was agreed by the Iesuites and Popish Conspirators before-hand , THAT THE IMPUTATION OF THIS TREASON SHOULD BE CAST UPON THE PURITANS , TO MAKE THEM MORE ODIOUS : as now they father all their Powder-Plots of this kinde , which they have not onely laid , but fully accomplished of late yeers against the King , Prince , Royal Posterity , the Lords and Commons House , our English●Parliaments and Government , upon those Independents , and Anabaptistical Sword-men , reputed PURITANS , who were in truth , but their meer under - Instruments to effect them ; When as they c originally laid the Plots ; as is clear by Campanella's Book De Monarchia , Hisp . c. 25. and Cardinal Richelieu , his Instructions at his death , to the King of France . And it is very observable , that as Courtney the Jesuite , Rector of the English Jesuits Colledge at Rome did in the yeer 1641. ( when the name of Independent , was scarce heard of in England ) openly affirm to some English Gentlemen , and a Reverend Minister ( of late in Cornwal ) from whom I had this Relation , then and there feasted by the English Jesuites in their Colledge , That they now at last , after all their former Plots had miscarried , they had found out a sure way to subvert and ruine the Church of England ( which was most formidable to them of all others ) BY THE INDEPENDENTS ; who immediately after infinitely increased , supplanted the Prebyterians by degrees , got the whole power of the Army , ( and by it , of the Kingdom ) into their hands , and then subverted both the Parliament , King and his Posterity : So some Independent Ministers , Sectaries and Anabaptists , ever since 1648. have neglected the observation of the 5 of November , ( as I am credibly informed ) and refused to render publick thanks to God for the deliverance thereon , contrary to the Act , for this very reason , which some of them have rendred ; That they would not mock God in publick by praising him for delivering the late King , Royal Posterity , and House of Lords from destruction then , by Jesuites and Papists , whenas themselves have since destroyed and subverted them through Gods providence ; and repute it a special mercy and deliverance to the Nation from Tyranny and Bondage , for which they have cause to bless the Lord : Peforming that for the Jesuites and Powder-Traytors , which themselves could not effect . The Lord give them grace and hearts to consider , how much they acted the Jesuites , and promoted their very worst designes against us therein ; what infamy and scandal they have thereby drawn upon all zealous Professors of our Protestant Religion , and * what they will do in the end thereof . 9. ( To omit all other forraign instances cited in Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 124. to 130. where you may peruse them at leisure ) By d their poysoning King James himself in conclusion , as some of them have boasted . 10. By the Popes Nuntio , and Conclave of Jesuites Conspiracy at London , Anno 1640. * to poyson our late King Charles himself , as they had poysoned his Father with a poysoned Indian Nut , kept by the Jesuites , and shewed often by Conne the Popes Nuncio to the Discoverer of that Plot ; or else , to destroy him by the Scotish wars and troubles , ( raised for that very end by the Jesuites , ) in case he refused to grant them a universal liberty of exercising their Popish Religion throughout his Realms and Dominions : and then to train up his Son under them , in the Popish Religion ; To which not onely heretofore , but now likewise they strenuously endeavour by all possible means to seduce him ; as appears more especially by Monsieur Militierre his e late book dedicated to him for that purpose . Surely all these premised instances compared together , will sufficiently inform the world ; that the late unparellel'd capital Proceedings against our Protestant King , Parliament Members , Peers House , and forced , dissolved late Parliament too , proceeded not from the Principles of our reformed Protestant Religion , as this f Monsieur in his printed pamphlet , would make his Reader , the young King , to whom he dedicates it , and all the world believe ; but from the Popes and Jesuites forecited Treasonable Opinions , seconded with their clandestine Sollicitations and Practices , and that they , with some French Cardinals Jesuites , as well as Spanish & English , ( then present in England ) were the chief original Contrivers , Promoters of them , whoever were the immediate visible Instruments , as I have g elsewhere more fully demonstrated , for the wiping off this scandal from our reformed Religion , and the sincere Professors of it , who both abominated and protested against it in print . 3. That the Jesuites ever since the Establishment of their Military Order , * under Ignatius their Martial General , have been the principal Firebrands , Bellows , Instruments of kindling , fomenting , raising , continuing all the publick commotions , wars , seditions and bloody fewdes that have hapened in or between any Kings , Kindoms , States , Princes , Soveraigns or Subjects throughout the Christian world ; and more particularly , of all the Civil commotions , wars in France , Germany , Transylvania , Bohemia , Hungary , Russia , Poland , England , Scotland and Ireland , to the effusion of whole Oceans of Christian blood : which one poetically thus expresseth , h Quicquid in Orbe mali passim PECCANTE GRADIVO EST , Quicquid turbarum tempora nostra vident , Cuncta Sodalitio mentito nomine JESU Accepta Historiâ teste , referre licet . Ite modò & vestrae celebrate Encaenia Sectae , MILITIS INVENTUM , LOIOLANA COHORS . Yea , it is well worthy observation , i that Jacobus Crucius , a Jesuite ( Rector of the Jesuites Novices at Landsberge ) presumed to publish , in his Explication of the Rules of the Jesuites , Anno 1584. in these words : The Father of our Society OUGHT TO BE A SOULDIER ; because as it is the part of a SOULDIER , to rush upon the Enemy with all his Forces , and not to desist , till he become a Conquerour ; so it is our duty to run violently upon all , who resist the Pope of Rome ; AND TO DESTROY AND ABOLISH THEM , not onely with COUNCELS , WRITINGS , AND WORDS ; Sed invocato , etiam brachio seculari , IGNE ET FERRO TOLLERE ET ABOLERE , sicut PONTIFEX ET NOSTRA VOTA contra Lutheranos suscepta , VOLUNT ET MANDANT . But likewise by calling in to our assistance the secular Arm ( of an Army ) to take away , and destroy them with FIRE AND SWORD , as the POPE , AND OUR OATHES ( taken against the Protestants ) WILL AND COMMAND . And may we not then safely conclude , they have been the Original Contrivers , Fomentors , Continuers of all our late , intestine and forraign wars , by Land and Sea , with our Christian Protestant Brethren and Allyes , as k sundry Parliamentary Declarations of both Houses aver and attest ? 4. That they have endeavoured , attempted the convulsion , concussion , subversion not onely of the Empires , Realms , and ancient setled Governments and States of Germany , Russia , Bohemia , Hungaria , France , Poland , but likewise of England , Scotland and Ireland , and to new model them into l other Forms of Government . What mould of Government they intended to cast England into , is thus long since described by William Watson ( a Secular Priest ) in his Quodlibets , Anno 1502. p. 309 , 310 , 330 , 331. England is the main chance of Christendome at this present , by seditions , factions , tampering and aspiring Heads : the onely But , Mark , White , the Jesuites aim at , as well in intention as execution of their pretended expedition , exploit and action . I am of opinion , that no man on earth can tell what Government it is they intend to establish , ratifie and confirm , when they come to their preconceited Monarchy ; no not any of their Plot-casters . No question it is , but their Government sall be as uncertain as their New-conceited Monarchy ; their Monarchy as mutable as their Reign , and their Reign as variable as the winde , or Proteus in his Complements . But no question is to be made of it , but that the Government they do directly intend at this present , is A MOST ABSOLUTE SOVERAIGNTY , DOMINION AND STATE , CLEARLY EXEMPTED from any Subordination , TO ANY LAW or Legifer divine or humane ; and therefore it is rightly called DESPOTICON in the highest degree of exemplary immunity , IMPERIALITY AND ABSOLUTE REIGN , RULE AND AUTHORITY , as convaining in it three sorts of Government ; Scil. Monarchical , Aristocratical , Democratical , in matters of Counsel and managing of Commonwealths causes ; not in point OF REGALITY , HONOUR AND INHERITANCE ; For there shall be neither Title , nor Name , nor Honour given , taken or done to any Prince , Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount , Lord , Baron , or the like , ( all the Jesuitical Governours being Puritan-like , Seniors , Elders , Provincials , &c. ) neither shall there be any succession by Birth or Blood , TO ANY HONOUR , OFFICE OR MAGISTRACY from the Monarch , Pater General , to the Minor , Pater Minister , but ALL SHALL GO BY m ELECTION OR CHOICE . Whether our late and present variable floating New-Moulded Governments have not been cast by this long since predicted Jesuitical Mould , let wise men , with all our late and present Governours , now sadly consider and determine . 5. That as the whole House of Commons in their n Remonstrance of 15 December 1641. charge the Jesuites , and late Jesuited Court-Counsellors , with a Malignant and pernicious designe of SUBVERTING THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWES and Principles of Government upon which the Religion and Justice of the Kingdom are firmly established . So William Watson a Secular Priest , chargeth Father Parsons , the English Jesuite , and his Jesuited Companions , in their Memorial for Reformation of England , when it should be reduced under the power of the Jesuites ( as Parsons was confident it would be , though he should not live to see it ) written at Sevil in Spain , Anno Dom. 1590. that they intended to have Magna Charta , with our Common Fundamental Laws and Liberties , abrogated and suppressed : thus expressed by William Watson in his Quodlibets , p. 92 , 94 , 95. Father Parsons and the Jesuites in their deep Jesuitical Court of Parliament , begun at Styx in Phlegeton , have compiled their Acts in a compleat Volume , intituled : THE HIGH COURT OF REFORMATION FOR ENGLAND . o And to give you a taste of their intent by that base Court OF A TRIBE OF TRAYTORS sawcily ( like to Cade , Jack Straw , and Tom Tiler ) USURPING THE AUTHORITY OF BOTH STATES , ECCLESIASTICAL AND TEMPORAL IN ALL THEIR REBELLIOUS ENTERPRISES : these were principal points discussed , set down , and so decreed by them , &c. He first mentions three of them relating to * Church-men , Scholars , and Church , and Colledge-Lands : which were to be put into Feoffees hands , and they all to be reduced into arbitrary Pensions , &c. And then proceeds thus to the fourth . The Fouth Statute was there made concerning THE COMMON LAWS OF THIS LAND ; and that consisted of this one principal point , That , ALL THE GREAT CHARTERS OF ENGLAND MUST BE BURNT ; the maner of holding Lands in Fee-simple , Fee-tail , Kings Service , Soccage or Villanage , brought into villany , scoggery and popularity , and in few , THE COMMON LAW MUST BE WHOLLY ANNIHILATED , ABOLISHED , AND TRODEN DOWN UNDER FOOT , and Caesars civil Imperials brought amongst us , and sway for a time in their places . All whatsoever England yields , being but base , barbarous , and void of all sence , knowledge , or discretion shewed in the first Founders , and Legifers ; and on the other side ALL WHATSOEVER IS OR SHALL BE BROUGHT IN BY THESE Out-casts of Moses , stain of Solon , and refuse of Lycurgus , must be reputed for METAPHYSICAL , SEMI-DIVINE , AND OF MORE EXCELLENCY THEN THE OTHER WERE . Which he thus seconds , Quodlibet 9. Artic. 2. p. 286. First it is plain , that Father Parsons and his Company ( divide it amongst them how they list ) HAVE LAID A PLOT , as being most consonant and fitting for their other Designments , THAT THE COMMON LAWS OF THE REALM OF ENGLAND MUST BE ( forsooth ) EITHER ABOLISHED UTTERLY : or else , BEAR NO GREATER SWAY IN THE REALM THEN THE CIVIL LAW DOTH . And THE p CHIEF REASON IS , FOR THAT THE STATE OF THE CROWN AND KINGDOM BY THE COMMON LAWS IS SO STRONGLY SETLED , AS WHILST THEY CONTINUE , THE JESUITES SEE NOT HOW THEY CAN WORK THEIR WILLS . And on the other side , in the civil Laws they think they have some shreds , whereby they may patch a cloke together to cover a bloody shew of their Treasons for the present , from the eyes of the vulgar people . Secondly , the said good Father hath set down a course how every Man MAY SHAKE OFF ALL AUTHORITY AT THEIR PLEASURES , as if he would become A NEW ANABAPTIST , or KING JOHN OF LEYDON , to draw all the World into Mutiny , Rebellion and Combustion . And the Stratagem is , how the q Common people may be inveigled and seduced TO CONCEIT TO THEMSELVES SUCH A LIBERTY OR PREROGATIVE , AS THAT IT MAY BE LAWFUL FOR THEM WHEN THEY THINK MEET TO PLACE AND DISPLACE KINGS AND PRINCES , as men do their Tenants at will , hirelings or ordinary Servants . Which ANABAPTISTICAL AND ABOMINABLE DOCTRINE , proceeded from a turbulent Tribe of Trayterous Puritanes , and other Hereticks , this TREACHEROUS JESUITE WOULD NOW FOIST INTO THE CATHOLICK CHURCH , as a ground of his corrupt Divinity . And p. 330 , 332. He intends TO ALTER AND CHANGE ALL LAWS , CUSTOMES , AND ORDERS of this noble Isle . He hath prejudiced the Law of Property , in instituting Government , Governours , and Hereditary Princes to be , AD BENE-PLACITUM POPULI , and all other private possessions AD BENE-PLACITUM SUI , &c. Whether any such new deep Jesuitical Court of Parliament , and high Court of Reformation for England , to carry on this old Design of the Jesuites against our Laws , hath been of late yeers sitting amongst us in or neer Westminster , or elsewhere , in secret Counsel every week , as divers intelligent Protestants have informed me , & Hugh Peters reported to divers on his own knowledge ( being well acquainted with their Persons and Practises of late yeers ) it concerns others neerer to them , and more able then I , to examine . Sure I am , a Greater man by far then Hugh Peters , in an Assembly of Divines and others , for reconciling all dissenting parties , not long since * averred to them on his own knowledge , That during our late innovations , distractions , subversions , in Church , State , and overturning of Laws and Government , the Common adversary hath taken many advantages , to effect his designs thereby IN CIVIL AND SPIRITUAL RESPECTS . That HE KNEW VERY WELL , that EMISSARIES OF THE JESUITES NEVER CAME OVER IN THOSE SWARMES AS THEY HAVE DONE SINCE THESE THINGS WERE SET ON FOOT . That DIVERS GENTLEMEN COULD BEAR WITNESS WITH HIM , That they had a CONSISTORY AND COUNCIL ABROAD , THAT RULES ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THE THINGS IN ENGLAND . That they had fixed in England , in the limits of most Cathedrals ( of which he was able to produce the PARTICULAR INSTRUMENT ) an Episcopal power , with Archdeacons and other persons , to pervert and deceive the people : And all this , whiles we were in this sad and deplorable , distracted condition . Yea , most certain it is , that many hundreds ( if not some thousands ) of them , within these few yeers , have been sent over from Forraign Seminaries into England under the disguises of r converted Jews , Physitians , Chirurgions , Mechanicks of all sorts , Merchants , Factors , Travellers , Souldiers , and some of them particularly into the Army ; as appears by the late printed Examination of Ramsey the Anabaptized , New-dipped Jesuite , under the mask of a Jewish convert , taken at New-Castle in June 1653. and by sundry several instances I could name . To pretermit all instances of particular Jesuites within these few yeers , yea months , come over and discovered in England by persons of credit ; I shall for brevity acquaint you onely with one , discovering what swarms are now amongst us , under other disguises . An English Protestant Nobleman ( a person of honour ) whose Ancestors were Papists , being courteously entertained within these two yeers in the Jesuites chief Colledge at Rome by some eminent Jesuites , was brought by them into a Gallery having Chambers round about it , with Titles written over every door for several Kingdoms and Provinces , and amongst the rest , one for ENGLAND . Upon which , he enquiring of the Jesuites what these titles signified ; was answered by them , That they were the Chambers of the Provincial Jesuites , of each kingdom and Province ( written over the respective doors ) wherein they had any members and Emissaries of their society now residing , who received all Letters of intelligence from their Agents in those places every week , and gave account of them to the General of their Order . That the Provincial for England , lodged in the Chamber over which the title ENGLAND was written , who could shew him the last news from England if he desired to see it . Upon which they knocked at the door , which was presently opened : the Provincial being informed who and what he was , read the last news from England to them . Hereupon the Nobleman demanded of them , Whether any of their society were now in England ? how they could stay there with safety , or support themselves , seeing most of the English Nobility , Gentry , and Families that were Papists , were ruined in their states , or sequestred by the late wars and troubles , so as they could neither harbour , conceal or maintain them , as they had done heretofore ? They answered , It was true ; but the greater the dangers and difficulties of those of their society now in England were , the greater was their merit . And , that THEY HAD THEN ABOVE FIFTEEN HUNDRED OF THEIR SOCIETY IN ENGLAND , ABLE TO WORK IN SEVERAL PROFESSIONS AND TRADES , which they HAD THERE TAKEN UPON THEM , THE BETTER TO SUPPORT AND SECURE THEMSELVES FROM BEING DISCOVERED . This Relation I have heard from the mouth of a Reverend Divine more then once ; to whom this Noble Lord , upon his return into England not many Months since , seriously related the Premises , averring the truth of them upon his Honour . Yet for all this , since the stupendious pretended repeals and annihilations of the Oaths , and Allegiance , and that of Abjuration of Popery ( consented to by the late King in the Isle of Wihgt ) purposely made for the better detection and prevention of Jesuites , and their treasonable forementioned practises against our Church , Kingdomes , Princes , Religion , Parliaments , and Government , by the wisdom and * zeal of our best affected vigilant Protestant Parliaments ; I can neither hear nor read of any effectual means , endeavoured or prescribed by any in power , for the discovery of these Romish ●anizaries , or banishing , feretting & keeping them out of England , where they have wrought so much mischief of late yeers , and whose utter ruine they attempt : nor any encouragement at all given to the discoverers of their Plots and Persons ; but many affronts and discouragements put upon them , and particularly on my self , mewed up Close-Prisoner under strictest Guards in remotest Castles , neer three yeers space , whiles they all walked abroad at large , of purpose to hinder me from any discoveries of their practises by my pen , whiles they printed and vended publickly here in England , above 30000 Popish books of several kindes during my imprisonment , without the least restraint to propagate the Jesuites Plots , and antichristian Romish Religion amongst us , as you may read at large in the Stationers Beacon fired ; which seasonable book , and Discovery of these Romish Emissaries books and plots , some * Officers of the Army , in their Beacon quenched , publickly traduced in print , as a New Powder-treason of the Presbyterian Party , to blow up the Army , and that pretended Parliament ( of their own erection ) which themselves soon after blew up and dissolved in good earnest , to carry on their designes against our Laws . But most certain it is , there hath been of late yeers not onely a General councel of Officers of the Army sitting many months together in counsel , to alter and new model all our ancient Laws and Statutes , in pursuance of Parson's design ; but likewise two Conventicles of their own selection and election , sitting of late in the Parliament-House at Westminster , assuming to themselves the Name , and far more then the Power , of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England ; together with the transcendent ambitious Title of The Supream Authority of the Nation , ( in derogation of the Army-Officers Supremacy , who sufficiently chastised them this strange Usurpation ) who have made it their chief business , not onely to New-model our ancient Fundamental Government , Parliaments , Ministers , Universities , much according to Parsons and his Fellow-Jesuites forementioned Plat-formes , and Thomas Campanella his Instructions to the King of Spain , De Monarchia Hisp . c. 25. but likewise to New-mould , subvert , eradicate the whole body of our Laws , and with them the great Charter of our Liberties it self . And in their last cashiered , unelected Convention , ( as some of their Companions , now in greatest Power assure us in their ſ True State of the case of the Commonwealth of England , &c. London , 1654. p. 15 , 16 , 17 , 18. ) there was a strong prevailing Party whom nothing would satisfie , but A TOTAL ERADICATION of the whole body of the good old Laws of England ( the Guardians of our lives and Fortunes ) to the utter subversion of civil Right and Propriety : who likewise took upon them ( by vertue of a supposed right of Saintship in themselves ) to lay the foundation of a New Platform , which was to go under the Name of A FIFTH MONARCHY , never to have an end , but TO * WAR WITH ALL OTHER POWERS , AND BREAK THEM TO PIECES ; baptizing all their proselytes into this Principle and Perswasion ; that the Powers formerly in being , were branches of the t Fourth Monarchy ( of England , Scotland and Ireland ) which MUST BE ROOTED UP AND DESTROYED . And what other Fifth Monarchy this could be , but that projected universal Monarchy of the Jesuites , which should bring the whole Monarchy of Great Britain and Ireland , together with France , Spain , and all other Princes , States in Christendom under the Jesuites subjection , and break all other Powers in peices ; ( mentioned by Watson , in his Quodlibets , p. 306 , to 333. ) or else , that Elective New Monarchy of Great Britain and Ireland , projected by v Campanella , and Cardinal Richeleiu , which some Grandees now endeavour by their Instrument to erect and perpetuate for èver x without Alteration in themselves and their Successors , ( though they thus expresly brand it in others ; ) let themselves and wise men resolve ? it being apparent , by the practises and proceedings of all the Propugners of this new Project , that this Fifth Monarchy they intend to erect , is neither the spiritual * Kingdom of Jesus Christ in their own hearts , mortifying their ambition , covetousness , pride , self-seeking , unrighteousness , violence , rapines , and other worldly lusts ; nor the personal reign of Christ himself alone , in and over our three Kingdoms , and all other Realms and Nations for ever ; which they endeavour to evince from Dan. 2. 44 , 45. c. 7. 14 , 27. Micah 4. 1 , 2 , 7. Luke 1. 32 , 33. but a meer supream , arbitrary , temporal Authority without Bounds or Limits , enchroached by and erected in themselves and their confederates , without any colour of Right or Title by the Laws of God or the Realm , and no wayes intended , but refuted by all these sacred Scriptures , and others , which explain them . This design of the Jesuites , to alter and subvert the whole body of our Laws , was so far promoted by the Jesuitical and Anabaptistical Party in this last Assembly , ( elected onely by the y Army-Officers , ) that on August 20. 1643. ( as our News-books print , ) they Ordered , there should be a Committee selected , to consider of A NEW BODY OF THE LAW , for the Government of this Commonwealth , who were to new-mould THE WHOLE BODY OF THE LAW : according to Parsons his mould . And hereupon our cheating Astrologers ( especially Lilly & Culpeper , the z Jesuites grand Factors to cry down our Law , Tythes and Ministers ) from the meer visible earthly Conjunctions , Motions , Influences of these New wandring excentrick Planets at Westminster onely , ( not of any Coelestial Stars , as they would make Country-Clowns believe ) took upon them in their a Monthly Prognostications , for this yeer 1654. almost in every Month to predict , the pulling down of the Laws of the Nation , and of Lawyers , to the ground : the calling of the great Charter it self into question , with other Liberties , as not suiting with English mens brains at this time . The plucking up the Crabtree of the Law BY THE ROOTS , to hinder the future growing of it : there being no reason we should now be governed by the Norman Laws , since the Norman Race is taken away by the same instrument ( the Sword ) that brought it in : and the like . But these Predicters of our Laws and Lawyers downfals , could neither foresee nor predict the suddain downfal of these lawless earthly Westminster-planets from the Firmament of their new-created Power ; who should effect it by their influences . Wherefore , though I look upon these and all other their Astrological Predictions , as b meer Figments , Cheats , and Impostures , in relation to the Coelestial Planets , ( as are their twelve Signes and Houses of the Heavens , whereon all or most of their artless Art and Predictions are grounded ; ) Yet I cannot but take notice of them , as clear Discoverie : of a strange Jesuitical and Anabaptistical Combination of a predominant party amongst us , to carry on this ancient Plot of the Jesuites related by Watson , against the great Charter of our Liberties the whole body of our Laws . And truely , when I seriously consider the late great Revolutions , Changes both of our Government , Parliaments , Laws , and the manifold extravagant publick Innovations , changes , Proceedings , originally contrived by the Jesuites , but visibly acted , avowed , by Anabaptists , Independents , and some Pseudo-Presbyterians in the Army and elsewhere formerly reputed Puritans ; it puts me in minde of 3 memorable , Prophetical Passages of William Watson in his Quodlibets , printed 52 yeers since , ( Anno 1602. ) which I have frequently thought on of late yeers , as now experimentally accomplished ; I shall beseech our late and present Grandees , and New State-Mint-Masters seriously to consider them ; which I shall here relate in his very printed words . 1. c I make no question of it , if the Jesuites prevail in England , THEY INTEND AND WILL TURN ALL THINGS TOPSY-TURVIE , UPSIDE DOWN : Cinq shall up , Size shall under . In Parsons High Counsel of Reformation , ALL THE WHOLE STATE MUST BE CHANGED : and the Lands and Seignories of CLERGY AND NOBILITY , Universities , Colledges , and what not , must be ALTERED , ABRIDGED , AND TAKEN AWAY . And is not all this visibly effected already for the most part ; and the rest projected , and ne'er accomplished ? 2. d I verily think , that ALL THE PURITANS WILL JOYNE WHOLLY WITH THE JESUITES AT LENGTH , ( how far off soever they seem to be , and are yet in external profession of Religion ) there being at least half an hundred Principles , and odd Tricks concerning GOVERNMENT , AUTHORITY , TYRANNY , POPULARITY , CONSPIRACY , &c. which THEY JUMPE AS JUST TOGETHER IN , AS IF BOTH WERE MADE OF ONE MOULD . And is not this really verified of , by sundry Puritan Anabaptists , Independents , some temporizing Presbyterians , and by many Army-Officers Souldiers , ( in late or present Power ) if they will but compare their last six yeers actions with the Jesuites ? O let them consider it seriously in the fear of God ; and lament it with the greatest grief of heart ! 3. e The Jesuites without all question , are more dangerous , pernicicus and noysome , to the Commonwealth of England and Scotland then the Puritans ; as having more singular fine wits amongst them , and many learned men on their side ; whereas the Puritans have none but Grossum Caputs : they many Gentiles , Nobles , and some Princes to side with them : the Puritans but few of the first ; rare , to have any of the second ; and none at all ( unless it be one ) of the last on their side . And so by consequent , IF MATTERS COME TO HEARING , HAMMERING AND HANDLING BETWIXT THE JESUITES AND PURITANS ; THE LATER ARE SURE TO BE RIDDEN LIKE FOOLS , AND COME TO WRACK . And whether they have not been ridden , outwitted , wracked by the Jesuites plots , wits , wiles , instruments both in their late Councels , Innovations of Government , Forcible dissolutions , subversions of Parliaments , Laws , Liberties , Anomalous Proceedings , Designs , let our late dis-housed , dis-mounted Puritan Grandees and Statizers of all sorts , determine at their leisure ; and let those in present Power take heed , they be not ridden by them too like fools , as well as their Predecessors , yea , wracked by them at the last , when they have served those turns for which they set them up on horse-back , for to ride to death our Kings , Parliaments , Kingdomes , and utterly consume , devour them , with our Ministers Tythes , Glebes , Universitie & Colledge Lands by Monthly endless Taxes , Excises and a perpetual Law , Tythe-oppugning Army . It is worthy observation , a that Thomas Campanella prescribed the sowing and continual nourishing of Divisions , Dissentions , Discords , Sects and Schismes among us , both in State and Church ( by the Machavilian Plots and Policies he suggests punctually prosecuted among us of late yeers ) as the principal means to weaken , ruine both our Nation and Religion , and bring us under the Spanish and Popish yokes at last : witness his , JAM VERO AD ENERVANDOS ANGLOS NIHIL TAM CONDUCIT , ●UAM DISSENTIO ET DISCORDIA INTER ILLOS EXCITATA PERPETUOQUE NUTRITA , Quod cito meliores occasiones suppeditabit : and that principally by instigating the Nobles and chief Men of the Parliament of England : UT ANGLIAM IN FORMAM REIPUBLICAE REDUCANT , AD IMITATIONEM HOLLANDORUM : which our Reipublicans lately did by the power of the Army - Officers ; or , by sowing the seeds of an inexplicable war , between England and Scotland ; BY MAKING IT AN ELECTIVE KINGDOM ( as some now endeavour under another Notion ) or , by setting up OTHER KINGS , of another Race ; or , by dividing us into many Kingdoms or Reipublicks , distinct one from another ; and by sowing the seeds of Schismes , and making alterations and innovations , in all Arts , Sciences , and our Religion . The old Plots of b Campanella , c Parsons , and late designs of Cardinal Richelieu , and the Pope , Spaniard , Jesuites , to undo , subvert our Churches , Kings , Kingdoms and Religion , as the marginal Authors irrefragably evidence : all visibly set on foot , yea , openly pursued , and in a great measure accomplished by some late , nay present Grandees and Army-Officers , who cry up themselves for our greatest Patrons , Preservers , Deliverers , and Anti-Jesuites , when they have rather been but the Jesuites , Popes , Spaniards and other Forraign enemies instruments and factors in all the late changes , new-models of our Government , Parliaments , pretended reformations of our laws and Religion , through inadvertency , circumvention , or self-ended respects , as many wise and godly men justly fear . Certainly , whoever shall seriously ponder the premises , with these passages in William Watsons Quodlibets concerning the Jesuites , e 1. That some of the Jesuites society have insinuated themselves into all the Princes Courts of Christendom , where some of their Intelligencers reside , and set up a secret counsel , of purpose to receive and give intelligence to their General at Rome , of the secrets of their Soveraignes , and of all occurrents in those parts of the world , which they dispatch to and fro by such cyphers , which are to themselves best , but commonly onely to themselves known , SO THAT NOTHING IS DONE IN ENGLAND , BUT IT IS KNOWN AT ROME WITHIN A MONTH AFTER AT LEAST , AND REPLY MADE BACK AS OCCASION IS OFFERED , to the consequent overthrow of their own natural Country of England , and their native Prince and Realms , by their unnatural Treasons against them , that * so the Jesuites might be those long gownes , which should reign and govern the Island of Great Brittain . 2. f That the Jesuites hope and endeavour to have England , Scotland , and Ireland under them , to make these Northern Islands a JAPONIAN ISLAND OF JESUITES , and one JESUITICAL MONARCHY ; and to infeoffe themselves by hook or by crook IN THE WHOLE IMPERIAL DOMIMIONS OF GRAT BRITAIN with the remainder over TO THEIR CORPORATION , or puni-Fathers succeeding them , as heirs specially in their society by a state of perpetuity : PUTTING ALL THE WHOLE BLOOD ROYAL OE ENGLAND TO THE FORMIDON , AS BUT HEIRS GENERAL , IN ONE PREDICAMENT together . 3. g That the Jesuites have Magistracy , Kings , Magistrates , Ministers , Priesthood , and Priests in high contempt ; publishing many slanderous , seditious , trayterous , and infamous speeches , libels , and books against them , to render them odious and contemptible to the people , full of Plots , exasserations against the Church and Commonwealth , like rebellious Traytors , to bring all into an uproar , that they may have all Countries , Kingdomes , Governments , Successions , States , inhabitants , and all at their pleasure . 4. That the h Jesuites have taught the people ( ●n ●rder to get England under their power , & in order to God or Religion , as they stile it , ) That Subjects are bound no longer to obey wicked or heretical Painces and Kings destecting from the Catholick Religion , and drawing others with them , but till they be able by force of arms to resist and depose them . That the popular multitude may upon these grounds when they think meet , place or displace their Princes and chief Officers at their Princes and chief Officers at their pleasure , as men may do their tenants at will , hirelings or ordinary servants , putting no difference in their choice UPON ANY , RIGHT OR TITLE TO CROWNS OR KINGDOMS , BY BIRTH , OR BLOOD , OR OTHERWISE , then as these Fathers ( forsooth ) shall approve it . By this all things must be wrought and framed conformable to opportunities of times and occasions ; as for example : The people must have a right and interest in them , to do what they list in choice of their Kings and Supream Governours , till they have set such a person or Usurper in the Crown as they for their ends have designed ; and then the times and occasions changing , when such a one is setled in the Throne , the former doctrine and practises must be holden FOR A MISTAKING ; yet such , as seeing it cannot be holpen , the people must beware hereafter of attempting the like again . By this a check must be given to the publishers of such paradoxes , ( when they have accomplished their designed ends ) after that , a dispensation procured for the offenders , and then all shall be well ever after ; till a new opportunity for their further advantage . 5. That the Jesuites by absurd equivocations , i counterfeited perjuries , Sacriledges , and cousenage , become all things to all men , that they may gain all ; as to be Seminary Priests among Seminaries ; Secular Priests , among Seculars ; Religious men , among Religious ; Seditious men , among Seditious ; Factious Spainiards , amongst Spaniards ; ENGLISH TRAYTORS , AMONG TRAYTORS ; SCOTISH VILLAINS , AMONG SCOTS , &c. and amongst all these , to deny and affirm , to object and answer , to swear and forswear , whatsoever may be a gain to them , for their pragmatical Commonwealth and Society . No wonder then if they transform themselves into all shapes , and take upon them all prefessions , now . 6. That the k Jesuites by their devices and practises , have brought all to Machiavels rule , DIVIDE ET IMPERA , in sowing division , breeding of jealousies , and making of hostile strife , by opposition of King against King , State against State , Priest against Priest , Peer against Peer , Parents against children children against parents , sisters against brothers , servants against masters , wives against husbands , husbands against wives and one friend against another , raising up rebellions , MVRDRING OF PRINCES , making uproars every where , until they make those they cannot otherwise winne unto them , either yeeld to be their vassals to live quiet by them , or force them to flight , or drive them out of their wits , or otherwise plague them to death . 7. That the l Jesuits by their cursed positions , and machiavillian practises , have made religion it self a meer political and atheal device ; a pragmatical science of Figboys , and but an art of such as live by their wits , and the principles of Machiavel taught by their Robbies ; yea , a very ●o●ch potch of omnium gatherum , religious secular , clergical , laical , ecclesiastical , spiritual , temporal , M. ARTIAL , civil , Aecomenical , political , liberal , mechannical municipal , irregular , and ALL W●THOVT ORDER ; so that they are not worthy to be called religious , ecclesiasticks catholicks , nor temporal mechannical christians ; but rather Machiavillians , Athiests , Apostates ; their course of life shewing what their study is ; and that howsoever they boast of their perfections , holiness , meditations and exercises , as if they were all Superlatives , all M●●●physicians , all entia transcendentia ) yet their platform is heathenish tyrannical , ●athannical , able to set Aretine , Luc●an , Machiavel , yea , and Don Lucifer in a sort to school . Those , I say , who shal sadly ponder all these premises , and compare them with the late practises , policies and proceedings of some swaying politicians of our age and the constitution of our Church , State , Religion and publi●e affairs , must necessarily acknowledge , that these pragmatical Iesuits have , been very active , prevalent-powerful , suc●esful , and not onely militant but triumphant , of late yeares amongst us , under some disguise or other : that they have dangerously poysoned us with these their Machiavilian and Atheal pollcies , practises , positions , and have more real Disciples , Factors , if not Tutors , now amongst us , then in any former ages : And is it not high time then to endeavour to detect their persons , and prevent their dangerous designs upon us with greatest care and diligence ? Truly though most others be negligent and careless herein , yet that text of Ezek. 2 , 6 , 7. And thou son of man , be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their words , though bryars and thorns be with thee , and thou dost dwel among scorpions , be not afraid of their words , nor be dismayed at their looks , though they be a rebellious house : And thou shalt speak my words unto them , whether they wil hear , or whether they wil forbear , for they are most REBELLIOVS ; hath animated me to exonerate my conscience herein , and to say with the prophet Isai . 62. 1. For Zions ( Englands ) sake I will not hold my peace , and for Ierusalems sake I will not rest , until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness , and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth . Wherefore . Upon letious consideration of all these Premises . and of all those Sacred Solemn Oathes . that Protestation , Vow , league , and Nationall Covenant , which I have formerly taken ( lying still as so many f indissoluble Obligations on my Soul , notwithstanding the ingrate , malicious , unchristian Requitalls of all my former unmercinary services , Sufferings for Religion Laws , Liberties , and the publique , in times of greatest Danger , recompences only with long causeless , close imprisonments , injuries , affronts , losses of all kindes , by pretended friends and Patrons of our Liberties , as well as by professed causeless Enemies : And notwithstanding all other Discouragements from the generall baseness , cowardize , Sottishness , slavishness degenerated Spirits of the whole Nation , and their strange fearfulness even publiquely to own , much less cordially , to assist , defend , ( according to the sixth Article of the Covenant ) those few couragious Patrons who have hazarded their Lives , Liberties , Limbs , Estates , and all earthly comforts for the publique defence of Religion the Laws , Liberties , Priviledges of our Kingdome , Chruch , Parliament , against the old and late avowed subverters of them , whose very , g Company , visits the generality of their former friends and acquaintance have declined , ( as if they had some plague sores on them ; ) not only during their late restraints , but likewise since their enlargments out of them , ( enough to perswade them never to write , speake , act or suffer any thing more , for such ingrate unworthy , Creatures , but rather to put their helping hands , to make them and their posterities slaves for ever . ) I have yet once more out of pure zeal , love conscience towards my native Country adventured my life , liberty , and decayed estate , ( considering the lawlessnesse and Danger of the times , not the justice and goodness of the Common Cause , I plead ) for the necessary defence of the Fundamentall Liberties , Franchises , Lawes , Rights , Parliaments , priviledges and Government , of our e●slaved Nation , ( though every way unworthy to be beloved by God , or men of noble spirits ) in this Seasonable Legall , Historicall vindication and Collection wherein I have with all boldness , faithfulness , without the least fear or flatterie of any Mortals or created powers whatsoever , argued , evinced , maintained my own particular , with the whole Nations publique right and inheritance in them , and endeavoured ( as much as in me lyes ) to preserve them from the severall Jesuitical plots , & our religion , counsels , specified in the whole Commons House Remenstrance of 13. December . 1641 : exact Collection , pa 3. to 14. ( of late years revived , and more vigorously pursued than ever ; and to rescue them out of the Claws of Tyrany and all usurping arbitrary powers , which have avowedly encroached on , yea trampled them under feet of late , more than ever the worst of all our Monarchs , or beheaded King did though declaimed against , as the greatest of Tyrants , by some who have transcended him in his worst Regall Exorbitances ; and particularly in this , which the Lords and Commons in parliament in their * Declaration of Aug. 4 1642. thus grievously complained of , and objected against the Kings ill Counsellers , That the LAWS , were no protection or defence of any mans right , all was subject to will and power , which imposed WHAT PAYMENTS THEY THOVGHT FIT , to drain the subjects purses , and supply THOSE NECESSITIES , which their ill counsell had brought upon the King , and gratify such as were instrumentall in promooting most ILLEGAL and OPPRESSIVE COVRSES : Those who yeilded and complied were countenanced and advanced , all others disgraced and kept under , that so their mindes made poor & base ( as they were never so poor and base as now ) and THEIR LIBERTIES lost and gone ( as they were never so much as now ) they might be ready to LET GO THEIR RELIGION whensoever it should be resolved to alter it , which , was , and still is , the GREAT DESIGN and all the rest made use of as instrumentall and subservient to it . Vpon which consideration they thus concluded that Declaration : Therefore we the Lords and Commons are resolved to expose our lives and fortunes for the defence and maintenance of the true religion , the king , person , honor and estate , the power and priviledg of Parliament , the just rights and liberty of the subject . And we do hereby require all those who have any sence of piety , honor or compassion , To HELP A DISTRESSED STATE , especially SVCH WHO HAVE TAKEN THE PROTESTATION , and are bound in the same duty with us unto their God , their King and Country , to come in to their aid and assistance . That which hath not a little encouraged me hereunto , is not only this their publike call , but likewise this memorable passage , vow protestation of the Lords and Commons assembled in parliament , in their printed h Declaration in answer to his Majesties of October 23. 1642. Which I fear most of them since in power , have quite forgotten ; and therefore I beseech them now seriously to remember it . Though we know very well , there are too many of the Gentry of this Kingdome , who to satisfy the LVSTS OF THEIR OWN AMBITION , are content , like Esau , TO SELL THEIR BIRTH-RIGHT , & CARE NOT TO SVBMIT THEMSELVES TO ANY ARBYTRARY AND VNLIMITED GOVERNMENT , so they may FOR THEIR OWN TIME PARTAKE OF THAT POWER , to trample and insult over others : ( and have not , are not some of these declarers and censurers such themselves ? ) yet we are assured , that there are of the Gentry many worthy and true hearted patriots , ( but where are those many now ? ) who are ready to lay down their lives and fortunes , and of late have given ample testimony thereof , for maintenance of their Lawes , Liberties and Religion ; and with them and others of their resolution we shall be ready to live and die . ( But how many of these declarers have made good this publike engagement ? yea have not some of them been , and still are more ready to secure , seclude , disoffice , imprison , kill , slay any such true hearted patrons , as I have felt by sad experience , then to live and die with them ? And we must own it as our duty , to use our best endeavors , that the meanest of the Commonalty may enjoy their owne Birthrights , Freedome and Liberty of the Laws of the Land , being * equally entituled thereto with the greatest Subject . I trust therefore the Greatest Grandees in late or present power neither will nor can be offended with me , and that all the Nobility , Gentry , Commons , and true hearted Patrons in the Nation , who bear any love to the Laws , Liberties , Freedom of the people , for which their Ancestors and they have so long , so stoutly contended heretofore , and lately with our Kings ; will live and die with mee in this their Vindication and Defence , against any of their fellow-Subjects , who shall endeavor to subvert or deprive them of the full and free enjoyment of all or any of them , according to this engagement and Declaration : Wherein there are these further observable passages , relating to the Parliaments priviledges and its Members , which I desire our Army-Grandees , who impeached , secured , secluded my self with other Members of the last true parliament , levied war against and forcibly dissolved it ; with the Contrivers of our late New Modelled Governments , would seriously ponder , who in common justice must bee content to be as freely told of and reprehended for their faults in print ( where the publike and every mans private interest , Right , Liberty , Security , is concerned ) as they have censured others , as well their superiors , as equalls , oft in print , though perchance less peccant than themselves i in that they object against them . k For the matter of his Majesties raising an Army against the Parliament ( wherein many Papists , priests , Jesuites were imployed ) and taking away the priviledge thereof , we shall refer it to the judgment of every ordinary capacity , whether it be void of sense to say , that this war is raised against the parliament ; But the truth is , that it is not a few persons but the Parliament it self , is the thorn that lies in these mens sides , which , heretofore when it was wont to prick them was with much case by a sudden dissolution , pulled out : But now that is more deeply fastned by the Act of Continuance , they would force it out by the power of an Army . hath not this been the very practise of some Army-Grandees of late , here objected against the Kings Jesuiticall and Popish ill Counsellors ? And whosoever will peruse the severall Speeches and Declarations , made upon the breaking up of former Parliaments , since the beginning of his Majesties Raign , will find ; the pretences of those unjust and illegall Dissolutions , to be grounded upon the exceptions against some particular Members , under the name of A few factious and seditious persons : so that the aspersing and wounding of the Parliament through the sides of a few Members , is no new invention : ( And hath not this been the very Army officers practice , since the first year of their reigne till now , to wound the last real parliament ( yea , their own lare dissolved Mock parliaments since , though the sides of a few corrupt Members , or a corrupt Maiority in the House , as all their printed l Declarations upon their dissolutions attest . And is this then no crime ? or no Jesuiticall practise in them , though such in the late m King and his ill Counsellors ? ) And for the satisfaction of all indifferent men , that this war is raised against the parliament , wee shall refer them to former Declarations , issued out in his Maiesties name , being so many invectives and groundless accusations , not against particular Members only but against the Vote and proceedings of both Houses . And are not many of the Armies Declarations in 1647. and 16●● . yea , the late pamphlet of some present Grandees , 〈◊〉 A True State of the Case of the Commonwealth of England , printed 1654. Such ; let them now then see whence they took their pattern , even from the beheaded Kings n Iesuited evill Counsellors , whose steps they exactly trace in this . ) But if the truth were , as that Declaration seems to imply , That this Army is raised to force some o particular Members of this parliament to be delivered up , yet upon that ground would it follow , that the same is levied against the Parliament . For it cannot be denyed by any ingenious man , but that the Parliament by their p inherent rights and priviledges hath the power to judge and punish their own Members : [ yet the Army officers took upon them to secure , seclude them without charge , and their future new minded parliament Members , though only elected by the people , must be trye à iudged by the new Whitehall Members , ere they can be admitted to sit . Article 21. of the New Government . ] And we have often declared to his his Majestie and the world ; That we are alwaies ready to receive any evidence or accusations against any of them , and to judge and punish them according to their demerits ; yet hitherto q no evidence produced , no Accuser appearing : And yet notwithstanding , to raise an Army to compel the parliament to expose those Members to the fury of those wicked Counsellors that thirst for nothing more then the ruin of them and the Commonwealth : What can be more evident , then that the same is levied against the Parliament ? For did they prevaile in this , then by the same reason , pray observe it , They might demand twenty more , and never rest satisfied until their malice and Tyrany did devour all those Members they found cross and opposite to their lewd and wicked designs [ And was not this the practice of the Army-officers , who levied a reall actuall Warre against the parliament ? They first impeached , secluded , XI . Members of the Commons house ; and some Lords soon after , An 1647. then they secured , imprisoned my self , with 44. Members more , and secluded the greatest part of the Commons House , leaving not above 50. or 60. at first sitting , who confederated with them , in December 1648. within two moneths after this , they beheaded the King ; then suppressed the whole Lords House , to carry on their designs since acted : At last they dissolved their own Mock . Parliaments , when they crossed their ambitious aspires : What they did in September last since this was first penned , to those now sitting is , fresh in memory . ) Touching the priviledges of Parliament , which the contrivers of that Declaration in his Majesties name , ( and the Contrivers of sundry Declarations since in the armies name , who imitated them herein , ) seem to be so tender of , and to profess all conformity unto , and deny this army to be raised in any degree to violate : we shall appeale to the judgment of any indifferent man , how little truth is contained in this their assertion , ( or in the Army Officers printed papers to the same effect . ) The Parliament is to be considered in three severall respects . First , as a Council to advise . Secondly , As a Court to judg . 3. As it is the body representative of the whole kingdome , to make , repeal , or alter lawes & whether the Paarliament hath enjoyed its priviledges in any of these respects ( under the Army Officers and powers , as wel as late King ) let any that hath eyes open judg . For the first , Wee dare appeal even to the Consciences of the Contrivers themselves , [ and to the consciences of the Army-Officers , Souldiers , and Whitehall men themselves ) whether matters of the highest importance , ( witness all the publike proceedings against the late Parliament , King , Peers , Government ; the warrs with Scotland , Holland : their new Magna Charta repealing the old , entituled , The Government of the Commonwealth of England , Scotland and Ireland , wherein they take upon upon them such an Omnipotent Soveraign power , as , To pass a decree upon the waveting humors of the people , and to say to this nation , yea to Scotland and Ireland too , As the almighty himself said once to the unruly Sea : Here shall be thy bounds hitherto shalt thou come and no further ; as ome most arrogantly if not blasphemously publish in print to all the world in their True State of the Case of the Common-wealth , p. 34. Their making of new binding Laws and Ordinances , repealing old Laws and Statutes in and by pretext of this Instrument , out of Parliament , as their manifold VVhit-hal Folio new Edicts amounting to near 700 pages attest ) have not been agitated and determined ( in and by the Armie-Officers , General-Councel and other unparliamentary Juncto's , ) not onely without but even contrary to their Advice , ( and Votes too ; ) and whether Private , unknown Councels ( in the Army , VVhite-hall , and elswhere ) have not been hearkned unto , approved and followed , when the Faithfull and wholsome advice of the great Counsel hath been scorned and neglected ( by the Army Officers and their Confederates . ) And 〈◊〉 can deny , but it is one of the Principle ends why a 〈◊〉 called , To Consult the great Affairs of the Church and State. And what miserable effects and 〈…〉 neglect of the great Councell , and preferring of unknown and private Councels before it , hath proved ; let the present Distractions of this Kingdome bear witnesse . ( with all the bloody , unchristian VVars , Taxes , Oppressions , Distractions , since the Armies force upon the King , Members , Houses ; Anno 1647. and 1648. to this present time . ) Concerning the Second , it sufficiently appears by the making the Kings Court , by the Force and Power of the Kings Army ; the Sanctuary and re●uge of All sorts of Delinquents against the Parliament and Kingdome , and protecting and defending them from the Justice thereof : and by admitting such to bear places of great trust in the Army , and to stand in defiance of the Parliament and the Authority thereof ; ( and it is not a far greater crime to make the Parliaments Army it self , a Delinquent against the Parliament and Kingdome ; the fanctuary of such Delinquents against both , and to continue such Officers in places of greatest trust in the Army , who have levied actual war against the Parliament , secluded , secured members of Parliament , kept divers years under their armed guards in defiance of the Parliament , refusing to release them , even when the Serjeant was sent from the House it self , to demand the Members seised ? ) By all which it is apparent , how our Priviledges have been torn from us by piece-meals , from time to time . And we might mention many passages , whereby they were endeavoured to be * pulled up by the root , and totally subverted . As the attempt to bring up the late Army from the North to force Conditions upon the Parliament : His Majesties Letters and Commands to the Members of both Houses ( which found obedience in a great many ) to attend him at York ; and so , By depriving the Parliament of their Members , destroy the whole body . ( And was not the actuall twice bringing up of the Parliaments own Army , by the Army Officers , against the Parliament it self , to impeach secure some principall members of both Houses ; seclude the Majority of the Commons House , suppresse the whole house of Lords ; break off the Preaty , behead the King , ( the * Head of the Parliament ) against the Parliaments Votes , alter the government , force conditions on the Parliament it self , ( to omit the 12 , 21 , 24 , 32 , 37 , 38 , 39. Articles of their New government , ( with the secluding of all the Members lately admitted by Armed Souldiers till they took a New Engagement , and keeping out all others ) a taking of the Priviledges of the Parliament from them all by whole-sale , and a more desperate pulling up by the Roots , and totall subversion of all the Priviledges and whole body of the Parliament , then this objected against the Northern Army , or the Kings Jesuiticall ill Councel ? VVhich is enough to prove the vanity of the Contrivers of that Declaration ( and of the Army Officers too ) to feed themselves with hope of beliefe , That the Priviledges of Parliament are not Violated , but intended to be preserved , with all due observance . Concerning the Allegation , That the Army raised by the Parliament , is to murder the KING , ( oft alledged by the * King and his Party , in many printed PROCLAMATIONS , Declarations before and after this , here mentioned ) VVe hoped the Contrivers of that Declaration , or any that professed but the name of a Christian , could not have so little charity as to raise such a SCANDALL , especially when they must needs know , the * Protestation taken by every member of both Houses ( and Army Officers too ) whereby they promise in the presence of Almighty God , TO DEFEND HIS MAJESTIES PERSON . The Promise and Protestation made by the Members of both Houses upon the nomination of the Earl of Essex to be Generall , and to live and die with him ; wherein is expressed , THAT THIS ARMY WAS RAISED FOR DEFENCE OF THE KINGS PERSON , Our oft earnest and most humble Addresse to his Majesty to leave that desperate and dangerous Army , &c. A request inconsistent with any purpose to offer the least violence to His Person , which hath and * ever shall be dear unto us . And concerning the imputation laid to our Charge , of Raising this Army , to Alter the whole Frame of Government and Established Laws of the Land , ( which the King and his party * frequently objected in print ) we shall need give no other Answer but this : That the Army Raised by the Parliament is to no other end , but for the Preservation of his Majesties Person , to Defend themselves , the Laws of the Land , and the true Protestant Religion . After which , they there and elswhere conclude . And by this time ( we doubt not ) but every man doth plainly discern through the Mask and Visard of their Hypocrisie , what their ( the Kings ill Counsels ) design is , To Subject both King and Parliament and Kingdome to their needy Ambitious and Avaritious Spirits , and to the violent Laws , Martial law , of Governing the People by guards and by the Souldiers . But alas for greife , how superlatively have many of the Army Officers , and their confederate members ( though parties to these Declarations and Protestations ) violated them , and both Houses Faiths , Trusts , intentions , ends in raising the Army , in every of these particulars ? How have they verified , justified the Kings Declarations , Jealousies , concerning the Parliaments Army , in every point , here ( and * elswhere ) disclaimed by both Houses ? How have they exceeded , out acted the Kings Jesuiticall Counsellers , and most desperate Popish army , in violating , subverting both the Parliaments Priviledges , Members and Parliaments themselves , together with our * Fundamentall Laws , Liberties , Government ; for whose preservation they were onely raised , paid ? How have they pursued the Kings and his worst Counsellors●ootsteps ●ootsteps in all the charges here objected against them by both Houses , in relation to the Parliaments priviledges , Members , Constitution , Rights , Lawes , to their utter Subversion , dissolution , and waged warre against them ? And doth not every man plainly discern through the Mask and Visard of their Hypocrisie , ( to use both houses expressions ) that their designe is just the same with that here objected by the Parliament to the Kings ill Jesuited Counsellers , and Popish army ; even to subject both King ; Parliament and Kingdome , to their needy , ambitious , avaritious spirits , and to the violent Laws , marshall Law , of Governing the people ( yea parliaments themselves ) by guards and by the Souldiers ? and * By Conquest to establish an absolute and unlimited power over the Parliament and good subjects of this Kingdome ; as the Houses elsewhere thrice objected against the late King , his Army and party : being the very designe ( as many wisemen fear ) of the 27 Article of their new Government ; to settle a constant Annuall revenue for the maintenance of 20000 foot and 10000 Horse and Dragoones , for the Defence and Security of England , Scotland and Ireland ? O that they would now in the name and fear of God ( as they tender the eternal salvation of their souls , the honour and priviledges of all future Parliaments , the ease , welfare , settlement of our Nation . ) Lay all this most seriously to their Hearts , and make it a matter of their greatest lamentation , and repentance ! Besides this , have they not falsified that memorable * late Declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament , Novemb. 2. 1642. in Answer to his Majesties ( well worthy perusall now ) and made good ( both for the time past and all succeeding Parliaments whiles there shal be any standing Army in England able to over power them ) all the odious , scandalous positions , in relation to the English Parliament , its Members and priviledges ( deduced from the Kings Declaration , onely by inference , but disclaimed by the King ) summed up by them , in the close of that Remonstrance , and published in these ensuing terms , as will evidently appear , if applied to the Army , and their Generall Counsel of Officers , by adding or exchanging their names , onely for the Kings in a parenthesis ? 1. * That the King ( the Army , General , and their Generall Councell of Officers ) when he pleaseth , may declare the Major part of both Houses , a faction of Malignant , Schismatical , and ambitious Persons : so that all Parliaments that have been heretofore and SHALL BE HEREAFTER , AND ALL LAWS MADE IN THEM , may by this means be called in question at pleasure ; yea nulled and repealed for ever , as some former parliaments have been , when held and over-awed by armed power , or unduly elected , packed , summoned without Lawfull Authority , or some of the Members forcibly secluded , as you may read at large in the Statutes of 21. R. 2 c. 11 , 12. 16 , 17 , 18. 1. H. 4. c. 3. 1 H. 4. Rot. Parl. n. 22 , 23 , 36 , 48 , 66 , 70 , 39 H. 6. c. 1. and 17 E. 4. c. 7. worthy the serious perusal of our present Grandees , and all illegitimate Parliaments , where they may read the fatall end of all new unparliamentary projects , laws , devices , wherein many now so much glory , as if they would continue firm for ever : when as in a few years space , they will all probably prove nullities , be for ever reversed ; yea , branded to posterity , as most pernicious presidents . 2. That his Majesty ( the Army and their Generall Councell ) may declare what is the known Law of the Land , against the judgement of the Highest Court , and consequently of all his Courts : So that the safety and right of King and people , and THE LAW IT SELF must deupon his Majesties ( the Armie , Generall and their Councels ) pleasure . 4. That as the King hath a property in his Town Forts , and Kingdomes ; so he ( the Army and their Generall Councell ) may dispose of them as he pleaseth ; and the Representative body of the whole Kingdome may not intermedle in discharge of his Majesties ( the Armies Generalls , Councels , ) trust , though by the advice of evill Councellers , they see it diverted to the hazard of the publique peace and safety of the Kingdome . 5. That his Majesty ( the Army , General , and their Councell ) or any other person may upon suggestions and pr●tences of Treason , Felony , or breach of peace ( or of their Trusts , a fourth * Army new minted cause ) Take the Members of Parliament , without giving satisfaction to the House , whereof they are Members , of the grounds of such suggestion or accusation , and without and against their consent ( as in the case of the late secured , secluded Members , and their two Juncto's since ) so they may * Dismember a Parliament , when they please , and make it what they will , when they will. 6. That whosoever shall follow the King ( Army , Generall , and their Councell ) in the wars ( against the Parliament ) though it were to destroy Laws , Liberty , Religion , the Parliament it self , and the whole kingdome ; yet he shall be free from all crime or punishment . And that on the other side , to oppose by force any such force , though in the most legall way , and by authority of the representative body of the whole kingdome , is to leavy war against the King ( Army , Generall ) and TREASON ( with in the Letter of 25. E. 3. or of their new Knacks since ) So our Lands , Liberties , Lives , Religion , and Laws themselves , Whereby all the Rights , both of King and people are due to them and preserved for them , shall be at the sole will and pleasure of the Prince ( Army , General , and General Councel of Officers , in their new High Courts of Injustice , or other martiall Judicatories . O consider , consider seriously by these particulars , to what a sad , low , despicable condition all English parliaments are now for ever reduced , by the late Army practises , violences , and rebellions insolencies against them , never to be parallel'd in any age which hath really verified this clause in the Declaration of both Houses , Aug. 4. 1642. objected against the King and his popish Army , in relation to themselves . That if the King ( by his army ) may force this Parliament ( as the parliaments army both forced and dissolved it ) they may bid farewell to all Parliaments for ever receiving good by them ; and if parliaments be lost , they ( the people ) are lost , their Laws are lost , as well those lately made , as in former times , All which will be cut in sunder with the same sword , now drawn for the Distruction of this Parliament . * Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria ( about the year of our Lord 340. ) objected this as a great crime , barbarisme , cruelty and violation of the priviledges of Councels to the Arrian Emperour Constantine . That whensoever he called a Councel , or Assembly of Bishops , it was but for a shew : For he would not permit them to be guided by the ecclesiasticall Canont , but his will alone must be their onely Canon . And when they advised him not to subvert the ecclesiasticall order , nor bring the Arrian Heresie into the Church of God , he would neither hear nor permit them to speak freely , but grievously bending his brows ( for they had spoken crosse to his designes ) and shaking his sword at them commanded them to be taken away . Whereupon he thus infers , What Liberty for perswasion , or place for advice is there left , when he that contradicteth , shal for his labour lose either his life , or his Country ? VVhy hath the Emperour gathered so great a number of Bishops , partly terrified with threats , partly , inticed with promises to condescend , that they will not communicate with Athanasius ? And Hilary Bishop of Poictou An. 360. in his first Book against this Tyrannical Arrian Emperours Constantius , thus censures his violent proceedings of this kinde , to the subversion of the freedom and priviledge of Councils and their members . Thou gatherest COVNCILS , and when they be shut up together in one City , thou TERRIFIEST THEM WITH THREATS ( as the Army Officers did the secluded members 6 and 7 Decemb. 1648 when they shut them up all night in Hell , on the bare boards without beds in the cold , and kept them fasting all the next day at Whit-Hall , till 7 a clock at night ) thou pinest them with hunger , thou lamest them with cold , thou depravest them with Dissembling : O thou wicked one , what a mockery dost thou make of the Church and Councels ? Onely Dogs return to their vomit ; and thou compellest the priests of Christ , to sup up those things which they have disgorged , and commandest them in their confessions , to allow that WHICH BEFORE THEY CONDEMNED : what Bishops hand hast thou left innocent ? What tongue hast thou not forced to falshood ? Whose heart hast thou not brought to the condemning of his former opinion ? Thou hast subjected all to thy will , yea , to thy violence . And have not some swaying Army Officers , by their frowns , menaces , frauds , open force upon the Parliament and its members , beyond all the presidents in any ages done the like , and exceeded this Arrian Tyrant ? And is it not then high time for all friends to Parliaments to protest and provide against such detestable , treasonable violences for the future , destructive to all Parliaments if permitted , or silently pretermitted without question , censure , righting of the imprisoned members , or any provision to redresse it for the future . Our prudent Ancestors were so carefull to prevent all violence , force , arms , and armed men , in or near any places where Parliaments were held , to terrifie , over Qaw , or disturb their proceedings or members ; * That in the Parliament of 7 E. 1. ( as you may read in Rastals Abridgement , Armour , 1. Provision was made by the King ; by common consent of the Prelates , Earls , and Barons , by a geciall act , That in all Parliaments , Treaties , and other Assemblies , which should be made in the Realm of England FOR EVER , every man shall come without Force , and withour Armour , well and Peaceably to the honour of the King and of the peace of him , and of his Realm ; and they together with the Commonalty of the Realm upon solemne advise , declared . That it belonged to the King , and his part it is by his Royal Signiory , strictly to defend wearing of Armour and all other Force , against his peace at all time , when it shall please him ( especially at such times , and in places where such Parliaments , Treaties , and Assemblies are held ) and to punish them which shall do contrary according to the Laws and usage of the Realm . And hereunto they are bound to old the King , as their Soveraign Lord , at all seasons , when need shall be . Hereupon our Kings ever since this statute , by virtue thereof , and by the Law and Custome of the PARLIAMENT , ( as Sr. Edward Cook in his 4 Institutes c. 1. p. 14. informs us ) did at the beginning of every Parliament , make a speciall Proclamation , prohibiting the bearing of arms or weapons , in or neere the places , where the Parliament sat , under pain of forfeiting all they had ; Of which there are sundry presidents cited by St. Edward Cook in his Margin ; whereof I shall transcribe but one ( which he omits ) and that is 6. E. 3. Rot. Parliament . n. 2. 3. Because that before these dayes , at the Parliaments and Councels of our Lord the King , Debates , Riots , and commotions have risen & been moved , for that people have come to the places where Parliaments have been summoned and Assembled , Armed with privy cotes of plate , spears , swords , long knives ( or daggers ) and other sort of arms , by which the businesses of our Lord the King and his Realm have been impeached , and the great men which have come thither by his Command , have been affrighted : Our Lord the King , willing to provide remedy against such mischiefs , defendeth , that no man of what estate or condition soever he be , upon pain of Forfeiting all that he may forfeit , to the King , shall be seen armed with a Coat of Male , nor yet of plate , nor with an Halberd , nor with a speare , nor sword , nor long knife , nor any other suspicious arms , within the City of LONDON , nor within the Suburbs thereof ; nor any place neer the said City , nor yet within the Palace of WESTMINSTER , or any place neere the said Palace , by Land or Water , under the foresaid pain : except onely such of the kings men , as he shall depute , or by his command shall be deputed to keep the peace within the said places : and also except the Kings servants , according to the Sta●ute of Northampton . And it is not the intention of our Lord the King , that any Earle , or Baron may not have his Lance brought to him in any place , but onely in the Kings Presence , and in the place of Councell . The like Proclamations were made in the beginning of the Parliaments of 9. 13 , 17 , 18 , 20 , 25. Ed 3. and sundry others , more necessary to be revived in all succeeding English Parliaments now , then ever heretofore , since the unpresidented forces upon the late Members of both Houses , and the Parliament it self by the Army-Officers and souldiers , raised to defend them from violence : The Treasonablenesse and Transcendency whereof being at large related in my Epistle to the Reader , before my Speech in Parliament 4 December 1648. I shall not here criminally presse , or insist on , but referre them thereunto : However for the future security and freedome of our Parliaments from violence ; I must crave liberty to imform these Army Parliament-drivers , forcers , dissolves , ( habituated to this trade ) That if the * late Kings march to the House of Commons accompanied onely with some of his Pensioners and others , armed with Pistols and Swords , meerly to demand but five Members thereof , to be delivered up to Justice , particularly impeached by him of High-Treason some dayes before : to wit , That they had traterously endeavoured to Subvert the Fundamentall Laws and Government of this Kingdome : To deprive the King of his Royall power : To place over the subjects an Arbitrary and Tyrannicall power , To Subvert the very Rights and being of Parliaments : and by force and terrour to compell the Parliament to joyn with them in their designs ; for which end they had actually raised and countenanced Tumults against the King and Parliament . Or if the * Kings bare tampering with some Officers of his own Northern Army , to draw a Petition from them to the Houses , or march towards London from their quarters ; ( not to seise upon , force or dissolve the Parliament or its Members , but only to overaw them , and impeach the freedome of their debates , Votes touching Episcopacy , Church-Government , and the Kings Revenews ) were such high transcendent violations of the Priviledges and Freedome of Parliament , and unsufferable injuries , as both Houses of Parliament seperatly , and joyntly proclaimed them to all the world , in severall * Declarations , during his life ; Or such capitall crimes , as those who condemned and executed him for a Traytor and Tyrant , have published in the Declaration of 17. March 1648. ( touching the grounds of their proceedings against him , and setling the Government in the way of a Free State , without King or House of Lords ) since his beheading , in these very words . But above all the English Army was laboured by the King to be engaged against the English Parliament ; a thing of that strange impiety and unnaturalnesse for the King of England , that nothing can answer it , but his being a Forraigner ; neither could it have easily purchased belief , but by his succeeding visible actions in full pursuance of the same ; as the Kings comming in Person to the House of Commons , to seise the five Members , whether he was followed with some hundreds of unworthy debauched persons , armed with swords , and pistols , and other arms ; and they attending him at the door of the House , ready to execute what the Leader should command them . This they charged against the King , as the highest of his unparralleld Offences ; for which they appeal to all the world of indifferent men to judge , whether they had not sufficient cause to bring him to Justice ? Though neither he nor his followers then seised , secured , secluded , injured any one Member , when they thus went to the Commons House ; Yea presently retracted and offered all satisfaction that should be desired by the House for this breach of Privilege : and though the Northern Army , nor their Officers ever advanced towards , or offered the least violence to the Houses , or their priviledges by Petition or otherwise . Then certainly the Parliaments own Army - Officers , Counsels , manifold ●high printed Declarations of Aug. 18. 1647. Sept. 6. 1648. ●and others before and since , their professed open Oppositions , Impeachments , against the very Proceedings , Votes , Orders , Ordinances , Members of both Houses of Parliament , which first raised them principally for their defence ; b See their Impeachments , printed in their Books of Declarations . The History of Indepency , and my Speech in Parliament ] their Impeachment of eleven Members of the House of Commons , and sundry Lords at once ; their securing of above 40. and secluding of above five parts of six of the whole House of Commons at once , their avowed marches with the whole Body of the Army , in Battalia severall times to force the Houses , seise their Members , overaw , affright , dismember , dissolve the Parliament it self , and their own new erected Junctoes since , and justification of it to all the world in print [ See their humble Answer touching the secured and secluded Members , Jan. 3. 1648. The free state of the life of the Common-wealth of England , 1654. and their Declarations concerning their dissolution of their two Jun after these Misdemeanours of the King without the least repentance for them , must needs bee farre more execrable , unwarrantable and criminall than the Kings , and deserve a severer censure than his Peccadilioes in respect of their crimes . And if by the whole armies printed Remonstrance , August 18. 1647. the tumult of some unarmed London Apprentices , who offered some small force to the Houses to the violation of their Priviledges , ( without securing or secluding any one Member ) deserved a speedy and exemplary capitall proceeding against the principall contrivers and Actors in it , as they then declared , and vehemently urged again and again in that Remonstrance . Nay if by their own late printed Instrument of the Government of the Common-wealth of England , &c. Articles 14. 16. all and every person and persons , who have aided , advised , assisted , or abetted in any war against the Parliament since the first day of January , 1641. ( unlesse they have since been in the Service , of the Parliament , and given ●ignal testimony of their good affections thereunto ) shall be disabled , and be uncapable to be elected , or to give any Vote in the Election of any Member to serve in the next , or in the three succeeding trienniall Parliaments , and all Votes and Elections given to the contrary , shall be null and void . And if any person so made uncapable , shall forfeit one full years value of his reall estate , and one full third part of his personall estate , in case he shall give his Vote for election of Members , to serve in Parliament : as they there adjudge ; though such persons as they intend thus to disable never waged any actual war against the Parliament it self , or its Members , immediately , but onely against the Forces raised by the Parliament , and so mediately and indirectly only against the Parliament ( the case of all the late Kings adherents and assistants , not within the letter , but meaning of these Articles ) then doubtlesse those Army Officers , souldiers , and their Confederates , who advised , aided , assisted , abetted , in one or more warres against the Parliament Houses , and Parliament Members themselves , whom they immediately assaulted , forced , secured , secluded , dissipated , dissolved , destroyed , and have justified it severall times , in print , without giving signall testimony of their good affections to the Parliament ; and in this their Instrument have laid * many Chains , clogs , restraints , on all new future Parliaments , of their own framing , inconsistent with the Honour , freedome , priviledges and being of real Parliaments , are by their own verdict and Instrument , totally disabled ( as much as the archest Malignants and Cavaliers ) by the very letter of these Articles , to be elected , or give any vote for the election of Members in the four next succeeding Parliaments ; and those who have given their Votes in the late Elections , have thereby forfeited at least one full years value of their reall , and one full third part of their personall estates ; and deserve as high , ( if not an higher ) censure , as any sequestered , or other Delinquents condemned formerly by them , for bearing arms , levying and abetting any war , but onely mediately against the Parliament ; and as high an uncapacity to be put not onely on themselves , but their Heir males to serve in Parliament , as the Statute of 21 R. 2. c. 6 imposed heretofore on others , for a farre lesse offence ; to secure the Members and Priviledges of all succeeding Parliaments , from such unpresidented , forcible violences , ruptures , dismembrings and dissolutions as the last Parliament , sustained by the Armies outrage and confederacy against them ; of which I desire onely to make them truly sensible . And farther to convince the Army-Officers , souldiers , of their late great injustice to , and affronts , contempts , against the Parliament which raised them , in relation to our ancient fundamentall Government and chief Members of the Parliament ; I shall desire them and all their confederates in cold blood , seriously to consider , whether they have not , by their undutifull , violent proceedings against them contrary to the Votes , Declarations , Remonstrances of the PARLIAMENT , endeavoured ( as much as in them is ) to falsifie this clause in in both Houses Declaration Nov. 2. 1642. * Although they would perswade his Majesty , That there is little confidence to be placed in our Modesty and Duty ; yet AS GOD IS WITNESSE OF OUR THOUGHTS , SO SHALL OUR ACTIONS WITNESSE TO ALL THE WORLD ; that TO THE * HONOR OF OUR RELIGION , and OF THOSE WHO ARE MOST ZEALOUS IN IT ( so much strucken at by the contrivers of that Declaration , under odious names ) we shall suffer more for and from our Soveraign , then we hope God will ever permit the malice of evill Councellers , to put us to : And although the happinesse of this and all Kingdomes dependeth chiefly , upon God ; Yet WE ACKNOWLEDGE , THAT IT DOTH SO MAINLY DEPEND UPON HIS MAJESTY , and THE ROYALL BRANCHES OF THAT ROOT , that as WEE HAVE HERETOFORE , SO WE SHALL HEREAFTER , esteem no hazard too great , no reproach too vile , but that we shall willingly go through the one , and undergo the other , That we , and the WHOLE KINGDOME MAY ENJOY THAT HAPPINESSE , which we cannot in an ordinary way of providence expect FROM ANY OTHER FOVNTAIN OR STREAM , then those from whence ( were the poison of evill Councels once removed from about them ) no doubt , but we and THE WHOLE KINGDOME SHOVLD BE SATISFIED MOST ABOUNDANTLY . And on the contrary , have they not fully and actually verified , in respect of themselves and their Confederates in the Houses , this Odious aspersion , then ( only in prediction ) cast by the KING on the PARLIAMENT , but by them at that time renounced with greatest detestation ; and drawn those sad consequences on the whole Kingdome , wherewith both HOUSES conclude that Declaration in these words ? ) 7. * That the Representative body of the whole Kingdome ( since dissolved by the Army ) is a Faction of Malignant , Schismaticall , ambitious Persons , whose DESIGNE IS AND ALWAYES HATH BEEN , TO ALTER THE WHOLE FRAME OF GOVERNMENT , BOTH OF CHURCH AND STATE AND TO SUBJECT BOTH KING AND PEOPLE TO THEIR OWN LAW●ESSE ●●BITRARY POWER AND GOVERNMENT , and that they DESIGNE THE RUINE OF HIS MAJESTIES PERSON and OF MONARCHY IT SELF ; and consequently that they are TRAITORS ●nd all the Kingdome with them ( for 〈◊〉 act is the act of the whole Kingdome ) And whether their punishment and ruine may not also INVOLVE THE WHOLE KINGDOME IN CONCLUSION , AND REDU●●● INTO THE CONDITION OF A CONQUERED NATION ( as some ARMY-OFFICERS , and SOULDIERS openly averred we are now reduced to by and under them ) NO MAN CAN TELL : BVT EXPERIENCE SHEWETH V● and now we finde it most true in the * ARMY-OFFICERS , COUNCELL , SOULDIERS ) THAT SVCCESSE OFTEN DRAWS MEN NOT ONELY BEYOND THEIR PROFESSION , but also many times beyond their first intentions . Surely as the Armies and their Confederates late proceedings in relation to themselves , ( though not unto the forced , dismembred , dissolved Parliament , and secured Members ) have fully verified this charge in every particular , then reputed most false and scandalous ; ( which I thus press upon their consciences at this time , and so largely insist on , not to defame or asperse them to the world ; but to vindicate the Innocency , Integrity of the Majority and secluded Members of both Houses , against the scandalous printed aspersions of Militiere and other Papists , to preserve and justifie the Honour of our Reformed Religion , and of the most zealous Professors thereof ; to restore , re-establish if possible , the Priviledges , the Freedom of all Future Parliaments , much impaired , endangered by their heady violent Proceedings , to convince them by what Jesuitical , Popish , old Court-Principles , Counsels , Practises , they have hitherto been mis-guided ; and to reclaim them , as much as in me lieth , for the future from the like destructive Practises , for the publick Safety , Peace , Settlement of our distracted Kingdoms ; and do most earnestly beseech them , as they are English men , Souldiers , Christians , seriously to repent of and lay to heart , lest they perish eternally for them at last . ) So the Army-Officers , Souldiers , Great Successes in all their Wars , Designs and forcible Proceedings against the King , Parliament , Kingdom , Government , Laws , and Liberties ; as it hath caused them not onely beyond their Professions , but also beyond their first Intentions , Commissions , Protestations , to forget that Gospel-Precept given to Souldiers , Luke 3. 14. to advance themselves to a more absolute Soveraign arbitrary Power over them , then ever any Kings of England claimed or pretended to , ( as their late Proceedings , Remonstrances , and transcendent Instrument of the Government of the three Kingdoms manifest ; ) so it hath been the s principal Ground whereby they have justified all their unpresidented forementioned Exho●bitances as lawful , commendable , Christian , and that which hath struck such a stupyfying pannick fear , such a stupendious cowardize , baseness , sottishness , into the Generality of the Nobility , Gentry , Ministery , and Commons of our late most heroick English Nation , that there is scarce t a man to be found throughout the Realm of any Eminency ( though we should seek after him like Diogenes , with a Candle ) that dares freely open his mouth against the most irregular , illegal , violent , destructive arbitrary Proceedings , Usurpations , Innovations , Oppressions , Taxes , Projects , to the shaking and utter subverting of our ancient Fundamental Laws , Liberties , Rights , Properties , Parliaments , Parliamentary Priviledges , Government ; and taking away of the very Lives of some ( and thereby endangering the Lives of all other ) English Freemen of all Degrees , in mischristened High Courts of Justice . Such a strange Charm is there in Success alone , to metamorphise Men into meer v temporizing , slavish , sordid sotts and beasts ; yea , to cause not onely persons truly honourable , but the very x Devil himself , and the worst of beasts , to be wondred after , applauded , adored , not onely as Saints , but Gods. We read Rev. 13. of a Monstrous deformed BEAST , to whom the Dragon ( the Devil ) gave his Power , Seat and Great Authority ; whereupon , all the world wondred after the Beast , and worshipped not onely the Dragon , that gave him power , but the Beast likewise ; saying , Who is like unto the Beast ? WHO IS ABLE TO MAKE WAR WITH HIM ? And there was given unto him a Mouth speaking Great things and blasphemies , and power was given him to continue and make war forty and two months . And power was given unto him to make war with the SAINTS , AND TO OVERCOME THEM ; and power was given him over all Kindreds , and Tongues , and Nations , And ( HEREUPON IT FOLLOWS ) all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him , whose names are not written in the Lambes Book of Life . And another Beast ( under him ) caused the earth and all that dwell therein to set up the Image of this Beast , and to worship it ; and he caused all both small and great , rich and poor , free and bond to receive the mark of the Beast in their right hand , and in their foreheads ; and none might buy or sell , but he that had this mark ; and as many as would not worship this Beasts Image , were ordered to be killed . Yet this Blasphemous Beasts reign and power continued but twenty four Months , Rev. 13. 5. This Beast , ( in the height of his Power and Victories ) was by God himself , threatned to go into captivity , and be killed with the Sword , as he had led others into captivity , and killed them with the Sword , ver . 10. All his followers and worshippers shall ( soon after ) drink of the wine of Gods wrath , and be tormented with fire and brimstone , &c. Rev. 14 , 9 , 10 , 11. The Saints at last shall get this victory over the Beast , Rev. 15. 2. And the Beast himself ( notwithstanding all his former Victories , Friends , and great Armies ) was at last taken , and his false Prophet with him ; and were both cast alive into a lake burning with fire and brimstone , and all his Forces were slain with the Sword , and the fowls were filled with their flesh , Rev. 19. 19 , 20 , 21. From which Texts I have frequently silenced , confounded some of our conquering Army-Officers and Souldiers , whiles prisoner under them , when they were vapouring of their Great Victories , Successes , and concluding from thence , both their Saintship , and the Goodness of their Actions ; saying oft-times like the Beasts followers here , Who is able to make war with us ? And that with these genuine deductions from these Texts , which they could not reply against ; worthy all Souldiers their saddest meditations . 1. That God may , nay oft-times doth give great power to the very worst and most blasphemous of all Men and Beasts ; & that not only over one or two , but many Tongues Nations , as in this Text , and Dan. 7. 3 , to 29. c. 8. 4. to 27. 2. That such Beasts many times may and do not onely make war with , but even overcome the very Saints themselves in battel , as the Babylonians , Assyrians , and other ungodly Beasts did the Israelites , Gods own Saints and People , Psa . 79. 1 , 2 , &c. Dan. 7. 21 , 23 , 24 , 25. Isa . 10. 5 &c. c. 14. 16 , 17. Jer. 26. 6 , 7 , 8. c. 25. 9 , &c. yet they were but blasphemous Beasts , and wretches still , not Saints . 3. That if such Beasts have but Great Power and Success in their Wars , Enterprises , against their Enemies , or the Saints themselves ; though their mouths utter blasphemies against the God of Heaven , his Name , Tabernacle , Saints ; though their Actions , Designs be never so impious , atheistical , treasonable , detestable , their Power but short and fading , yet whiles they are in Power and Prosperity , the whole world will wonder ▪ run after , worship , flatter , Saint , Deifie and Adore them for Gods , ( as y Alexander the Great , and Julius Caesars friends , flatterers did them ; and some wicked Popes Favourites them too ; ) yea , set up and worship their very Images , receive their marks in their hands , foreheads , and extol them to the skies , saying , Who is like unto the Beast ? who is able to make war with him ? 4. That such adulatious Speeches , Vaunts , Practises as these , and such Arguments of Saintship or the Goodness of mens causes , undertakings , actions , onely from their present Power , Victories and Successes , are the arguments , practises , of worldly , earthly , beastly men ; of worshippers of the Beast and Dragon , of z Assyrians , Turkes , Popes , not of the Elect real Saints of God , whose names are written in the Lambes book of life ; who will neither flatter , worship nor adore such Beasts , nor receive their marks in their hands or foreheads though they be prohibited to buy or sell , or slain for refusing it , by their instruments , Rev. 13. 8 , 15 , 17. Dan. 3. 12. to 29. 5. That such Beasts in power , will never want under-Beasts and Instruments , nor yet a false Prophets to perswade or enforce Obedience & Subjection to them , even by disfranchisements , death , lying wonders , flattering Prophecies , Speeches , Sermons , &c. 6. That the Power and Dominion of such Beasts , is given and derived to them immediately by the Dragon ( the b Prince of the power of the air ) onely by Gods permission , not his approbation , Rev. 13. 2. Hos . 8. 4. 2 Thess . 2. 4 , 8 , 9. And that in wrath , for the punishment of the peoples sins , and destruction of the beasts themselves at last , Hos . 13. 11. Rev. 13 , and 14 , and 19. Psal . 64. 23. Jer. 51. 24 , &c. c. 52. throughout . Hab. 2. 6 , 7 , 8. 7. That this their Dominion , Raign and Triumph is commonly very short , like this Beasts here , for twenty four Months , Rev. 13. 5. which is but three yeers and an half . c Julius Caesar that great first Conqueror of this Island and a great part of the World ; usurping the Supream Power over the Roman Senate , and changing the Government , lived onely FIVE MONTHS A SOVERAIGN LORD IN PEACE , and then was suddenly stabbed to death in the Senate-House , by those friends in whom he reposed greatest trust ; for his Tyrannical Usurpations , and alteration of their former Government , for endeavouring ( as was suspected ) to make himself KING OF THE ROMANS , though he rejected the Title of King when offered unto him by M. Antonius , saying , That Jove was onely King of the Romans , that so he might seem to be compelled to receive it by the people , being their King in deed , though not in name : and for saying , That the Commonwealth was but a Voice or Name , without a Body or Substance . Nullum violentum est diuturnum . See Isa . 10 , and 14. Job 20. 4 , 5 , &c. Psal . 37. and 73. Psal . 92. 6 , 7. Isa . 17. 13 , 14. 2 Chron. 23. and Sir Wa●ter Rawlies Preface to his History of the World , worth serious perusal by the Grandees of these times . 8. That in conclusion such Conquering Usurping Beasts , notwithstanding all their Power , Friend , Followers , Confederates , Armies , Poli●ies , are usually conquered , taken , slain on earth , and cast into the lake burning with fire and brimstone for ever , for their Tyrannies , Blasphemies , Bloodsheds , Oppressions of the People and Gods Saints : and their Confederates , Arm●es false Prophets , followers , adorers * destroyed with them even on earth ; and then made to drink the cup of Gods wrath , fury and torments for ever in hell , Isa . 10 , and 14. Jer. 50 , and 51. Rev. 19. 12 , 20 , 21. 9 , That though they continue Conquerors and victorious for many yeers ; and conquer not onely , one , two or three , but many Kings and Kingdoms ; cut off not onely the thumbs of their Kings , that they might not lift up a Sword against them , and their great toes , that they may not run from them , but their Heads too ; Yet God at last ( in his retaliating Justice ) doth usually pay them home in their own coyne , as is e●ident , not onely by * Bajazet the Turkish Emperour , our * King Penda , and others in prophane Stories ; but by that memorable History of Adoni-bezek● ; d who after his Conquest of no less then seventy Kings , ( who ever in this later age , conquered one quarter so many ? ) and tyrannizing over their persons , was , by a small party of Judah and Simeon , fought with on his own dung-hil , his victorious old Army totally routed , ten thousand of them slain , himself forced to fly , pursued , and taken prisoner by these contemptible Enemies , who cut off his thumbs and his great toes . Whereupon Adoni-bezek ( though an idolatrous Canaanite ) used these memorable words , worthy all Conquerors and Tyrants memorial ; recorded by God himself to all Posterity , Judg. 1. 7. Threescore and ten Kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off , have gathered their meat under my table ( like so many Dogs rather then Kings ) AS I HAVE DONE , SO GOD HATH REWARDED ME : and they brought him ( Prisoner ) to Jerusalem , and there he died ▪ See the like retaliation threatned , inflicted . Hab. 2. 6 , 7 , 8. Isa . 31. 1. Dan. 7. 23 , to 27. Obad. 15. Ezech. 35. 5 , 6 , 15. Rev. 16. 5 , 6. Jer. 51 , and 52. Nah. 3. 1 , &c. Rev. 13. 10. Joel 3. 6 , 7 , 8. 2 Chron. 22. 10. compared with c. 23. 12. to the end . 10. That the Elect Saints of God , do by faith in the Word of God , and upon consideration of the usual Providence and Justice of God towards such Beasts and bloody Conquerors , most assuredly foresee their downfal , and with patience expect it , Rev. 13. 9 , 10. If any man have an ear let him hear . e HE THAT LEADETH INTO CAPTIVITY , SHALL GO INTO CAPTIVITY ; HE THAT KILLETH WITH THE SWORD , MUST BE KILLED WITH THE SWORD : Here is THE PATIENCE AND THE FAITH OF THE SAINTS . O that we had this Faith and Patience within us now ! 11. That upon this Faith and Assurance , the true Elect Saints of God , neither will , nor do , nor dare to admire after , follow , worship or adore such Beasts , or their Image , nor receive their marks in their hands , or foreheads , though all the world else readily do it without opposition ; enduring patiently rather to be warred upon , killed , secluded from buying or selling any thing , then unchristianly to adore , subject , or enslave themselves unto them , Rev. 13. 2 , 15 , 17. Esther 3. 1 , to 7. 2 Kings 3. 13 , 14. John 10. 4 , 5. Dan. 3. 4 , to 30. 1 King. 19. 18. 2 Chron. 11. 13. to 18. Which serious seasonable considerations , as they should daunt the hearts and allay the high Presumptious Spirits of the most Successful Conquerours , Powerful Usurpers over , and violent Invaders of the Liberties , Lives , Estates , Rights , Properties of their Lawful Superiors or Christian Brethren , and all Subverters of the Laws , Priviledges , Parliaments , Government of their Native Country , especially against their Oathes and Trusts : So the Meditation on them , together with the contemplation of the infinite Power , Wisdom , Faithfulness , Justice , Holiness , Presence , and gracious Promises of God , have at all times and seasons hitherto , invincibly animated , steeled , fortified my Sonl in the midst of all my sufferings , both under the domineering Prelates , Parliament-assaulting Army-Officers , the late Tyrannical cashiered Republicans , and all other self-created oppressing Powers , which ( if not already dead and buried in the dust , with all their thoughts and high aspiring Projects , ) yet shall certainly f die ere long like men , and become as dung ; yea , they have enabled me by Faith and Patience , to be g more then a co●quering triumpher over them : and to sing aloud with magnanimous David ( a man after Gods own heart ) long before their down-fall , Psal . 27. 1 , 2 , 3. The Lord is my Light and my Salvation , whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life , of whom shall I be afraid ? When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh , they stumbled and fell . Though an Host should encampe against me , ( as they did at Westminster , at my House , and in sundry Garrisons , where I was a Prisoner under Souldiers ) my heart shall not fear : though war should rise against me , in this I will be confident . I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about . And to cry out in Pauls words of defiance against all Enemies and Perils in the cause of my God and Country ( uttered in his own and all true Elected Saints names ) Rom. 8. 35 , &c. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? ( or my Native Country , as well actively as passively considered ; ) Shall tribulation ? or distress ? or persecution ? or famine ? or peril ? or SWORD ? ( of an whole Army or other Powers ) Nay , in all these things we are more then Conquerors through him that loved us . For I am perswaded , that neither death , nor life , nor Angels , nor PRINCIPALITIES , NOR POWERS , nor things present , nor things to come , nor height , nor depth , nor any other creature , shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And to say with him in all threatned Dangers for my sincere consciencious publick Services , Act. 20. 22 , 24. And now I go bound to Jerusalem , not knowing the things that shall there befall me , save , that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every City , saying ; that Bonds and Afflictions wait for me . But none of these things move me , neither count I my life dear unto me , so as I may finish my course with joy , and the Ministery which I have received of the Lord Jesus , &c. And verily methinks the serious contemplation thereof , and of all the premises , with that of 2 Sam. 10. 12. Isai . 51. 12. Jer. 1. 8. Ezech. 2. 2 , to 6. Matth. 10. 26 , 28. Isai . 1. 12 , 13. coupled with Psal . 11. 2. If the foundations be destroyed , what can the righteous do ? Prov. 24. 22 , 23. My Son , fear thou the Lord and the King , AND MEDDLE NOT WITH THOSE WHO ARE GIVEN TO CHANGE , For their calamitie shall rise suddenly ( which we have seen verified in many late Changers , Mock-Parliaments and self-created new Powers , ) and who knoweth the ruine of them both ? should now at last banish all base carnal fears out of all timerous hearts , rouse up the lan●uishing , fearful , dead , stuped Spirits of our degenerated English Nation , and engage them all unanimously , undauntedly to claim , vindicate , regain , re-establish those ancient undoubted Hereditary Fundamental Rights , Liberties , Priviledges , Franchises , Laws , Government , ( purchased with their Ancestors and their own dearest Blood , Treasures ) which belong to the whole Kingdom , to all true English Parliaments , Freemen in general , and to every of them in particular ; whereof they have of late yeers been forcibly disseised or hypocritically cheated by pretended Patrons , Preservers , and Propugners of them , the substance whereof I have here set before their eyes in ten brief Propositions , and by Records , Statutes , Presidents , Histories , Contests , Resolutions in all ages , undauntedly , ( as their Common Advocate ) asserted , fortified to my power , for their Encouragement and president in this publick work . And if they will now but couragiously second me herein , with their joynt , bold , rightfull Claims , Votes , Declarations , and Resolute Demands of all and every of their enjoyments , and future inviolable Establishments , according to their Oaths , Vows , Protestations , Duties , manifold late Declarations , Remonstrances , Solemn League , Covenant , and the encouraging memorable Presidents of their Ancestors in former ages here recorded ; I dare assure them ( by Gods blessing ) a desired good-Success , whereof their Ancestors never failed : no mortal Powers nor Armies whatsoever , having either Impudency or Ability enough to deny , detain them from them , if they will but h generally , unanimously , couragiously , importunately claim and demand them as their Birth-rights . But if they will still basely dis-own , betray and cowardly desert both them and their Assertors , and leave them to a single combate with their combined Jesuitical enemies ( whom none take care to discover , suppress or banish out of our Realms , where they now swarm more then ever ) and Armed Invaders ; the Fate of our old English Britons , when they improvidently neglected to unite their Counsels , Forces against , and fought onely singly with the invading united Armies of the Romans , is like to be Englands condition now ; i Dum pugnant singuli , vincuntur universi : the single Champions of our Liberties , Laws , Rights , will be easily over-powered , destroyed , for the pesent ; and all others ( by their unworthy Treachery and Basenes● , in not adhering to , but abandoning their present Patrons ) discouraged , disabled to propugne , regain them for the future : & the whole Kingdom vanquished , enslaved to them for eternity in all humane probability , to those who have broken your k former yokes of wood , but instead thereof have made for , and put upon you yokes of Iron : and by the Jesuites Machiavilian Plots and Policies , will reduce you by degrees under a meer Papal yoke at last , having deeply leavened many in power and arms , with their forementioned most desperate Jesuitical Positions , Practises and Politicks , which will soon usher in the whole body of Popery and all damnable Heresies whatsoever , to the ruine of our Religion , as well as Laws and Liberties . Wherefore , seeing it neither is , nor can be reputed Treason , Felony , Sedition , Faction , nor any Crime at all , but a commendable bounden Duty , to which our Protestations , Oaths , Leagues , Covenants , Reason , Law , Conscience , our own private and the publick Interest , Safety of the Nation engage us , for all and every Freeborn Englishman , joyntly and severally to claim , maintain , preserve , by all just , honourable , publick and private wayes they may , their unquestionable Hereditary Birth-rights , Laws , Liberties , Parliamentary Priviledges , &c. here asserted & presented to them , after so much Blood , Treasure , Labour spent to rescue them out of the hands of old and late oppressing Tyrants ; nor any Offence at all , but a praise-worthy fervice now in me , or any other , publickly to encourage them to this duty , ( and the strenuous defence of our endangered undermined Protestant Religion subverted , with our Laws and Liberties , and living or dying together with them ) at this present , as I have done heretofore upon all occasions ; And seeing none can justly censure them or me , for discharging our Oathes , Consciences , Covenants , Protestations , Duties in this kinde , but such as shall thereby declare themselves Publick Enemies and Traytors to the whole Nation , Laws , Government , Parliaments of England , as the Resolutions , Presidents , herein cited , yea their own best friends , ( and our reformed Religion too ) have already adjudged them : I shall therefore exhort the whole English Nation , and all real Lovers of their own or their Countries Liberties , Peace , Laws , Ease , Safety , Religion , and future establishment in this common Cause , in the words of the Philistines one to another in a time of need , when they were greatly affraid , 1 Sam. 4. 9. Be strong and l quit your selves like men , O ye Philistines , that ye be not servants to the Hebrews , as they have been to you : quit your selves like men , fight , &c. That so ( as the Apostle writes in the like case , Phil. 1. 27 , 28. ) Whether I come and see you , or be absent from you ; I may hear of your affairs , that ye stand fast in one spirit , with one minde , striving together for the faith of the Gospel ; ( and the ancient Fundamental Laws , Liberties , Rights , Priviledges , Parliaments , Government and Religion of our Realm , which the Jesuites and their Instruments make their Master-piece totally to undermine and subvert ) And in nothing terrified by your Adversaries , which is to them an evident token of Perdition , but to you of Salvation , and that of God. If the Presidents of your renowned Ancestors here recorded ; the Paterns of m many Gallant Pagan Romans , Graeoians , who have spent their Lives , for their Countries , Laws , Liberties ; Or if my example and these my Lucubrations shall provoke you hereunto ; I shall think my labour well bestowed ; and you and your Posterities worthy to live like English Free-men . But if you will now neither manfully demand , speak or contend for them any more , out of a slavish fear of a prevailing Army raised onely for their just defence , or any other humane Powers whatsoever ; nor once adventure with united Spirits now at last so much as confidently , and boldly to ask these unquestionable Birthrights at the Thrones of any mortal Grandees , your Fellow-Subjects , when God Almighty himself commands you , to come with boldness to his coelestial Throne of Grace , that you may obtain ( not meer right as here , but ) Mercy it self , and Grace to help in time of need , Heb. 4. 16. Qui timide rogat , docet negare ; you can neither hope for , nor ever obtain them for the future , but deserve eternally to forfeit them , and you and yours to be made slaves for ever : However I ( though these Collections prove successless ) shall carry this as a comfortable Cordial with me to my grave , That I have faithfully discharged my Conscience and b●unden Duty to my degenerous Native Country , by endeavouring all I could both to make and preserve it free indeed , to detect and prevent all Jesuitical Plots and Practises , to undermine , embroyle , divide , subvert , ruine it ; and used my utmost sincerest constant endeavours in my place & calling herein . But if through the Malice , Tyranny or Injustice of any prevailing Enemies of publick Freedom , or Jesuitical Agents , I shall chance to suffer for it in any kinde ( as I have formerly done for most of my publick services of this nature ) be it close-imprisonments , Fines , Pillories , Stigmatizings or Death it self ; I shall onely say beforehand , as Gregory the Great did heretofore : Indict . 2. Epist . 78. In causa qua Deo placere cupio , homines non formido : and as noble Heroick Esther did , in a like publick case for her endangered captivated Nation , n If I perish , I perish : and this my unrighteous suffering , shall be a new Glorious Crown of Martyrdom to my head , both in earth and in o heaven it self : when the Crowns , Names , Fames of all my causeless malicious Enemies , Adversaries , Persecutors , and all Enemies to our Laws , Liberties , Priviledges , Parliaments , Kingdoms , Church , Religion , shall fade , stink , perish like dung , and be had in perpetual execration in all our three Kingdoms ; yea , my Bonds , Blood , Books , shall ( I hope ) through Gods own blessing on them , prove SEMEN ECCLESIAE , REIPUBLICAE , REGNI , LEGUM , LIBERTATUM AC PALIAMENTORUM ANGLIAE , in future ages , when their carcasses , who are publick Enemies to , and subverters of them , shall lie rotting in their Graves , and their Souls ( without sincere repentance ) be scorching , roaring in infernal flames , if not rise up in Judgment against and condemn them before all the Tribunals in Earth and Heaven , both now and hereafter , at that Great Judgment-day , when I , they , and all mankind shall and must p appear naked , upon equal terms ( stript quite of all armed Guards and earthly Greatness , to secure them from being brought to Judgement ) before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ himself , ( in the view of all the Holy Angels and Mankinde ) to give an account of the things done in the body in this world , according to that I and they have done , whether it be good or evil ; When all Hypocritical Maskes , Disguises , Carnal State-policies of pretended Necessity , Publick Safety , Danger , Justice ; with all other Machiavilian unrighteous Practises to guild over the most unrighteous , impious , oppressing , bloody , Treasonable , Perfidious publick Actions , will prove but so many Aggravations of Politicians Crying Sins , and of their Eternal Punishments for them . To draw towards a conclusion ; I shall recommend to the whole English Nation and all cordial well-wishers to the Prosperity , Peace , Settlement of our distracted Kingdoms , Churches , and endangered Religion , either in or out of power , these five Considerations more , which have deeply affected my Spirit , and particularly engaged me in this undertaking , for their better information , and our common preservation from total and final impendent ruine . 1. That a Father Parsons , the trayterous English Jesuite and his Jesuitical society some yeers since prophesied , That they have it by revelation , that by special commandment from God , their ORDER AND SOCIETY , was miraculously instituted for this end , to work a DISMAL CHANGE amongst us : that the time is come , WHEREIN ALL LAWS , CUSTOMS AND ORDERS MUST BE ALTERED , AND ALL THINGS TURNED UPSIDE DOWN : and that they being the onely men that have the name , office and authority of Jesus , BY THEM IT IS , THAT THIS MARVELLOUS CHANGE & ALTERATION SHALL BE WROUGHT in such sort , AS FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD WAS THE LIKE NEVER HEARD OF BEFORE , TO THIS PRESENT . And may we not then justly suspect , fear , conclude , that all our late dismal changes and turning all things upside down in our Church , State , Kingdoms , Parliaments , were originally promoted , contrived by the Jesuites , and effected by the seduced Officers and Souldiers , as their del●ded instruments ? 2. That this Jesuite Parsons in his Books of the Reformation of all the States of England , as he prescribed Reformations to the Prince , Court , Counsellors , Noblemen , Bishops , Prelates , Pastors , Universities , Lawyers , Laws , in which he will have STRANGE METAMORPHOSES ; so likewise , THE COURT OF PARLIAMENT HE WILL HAVE BROUGHT TO BETTER FORM , as W. W. ( a secnlar Priest ) in A Dialogue between a Secular Priest and a Lay-Gentleman , Printed at Rhemes , Anno 1601. Watson in his Quodlibets , p. 92. to 96. 320. to 334. William Clark ( a secular Priest in his Answer to Father Parsons Libel , p. 75. &c. ) in direct terms attest . And may we not then justly suspect , that the late New-models and Reformation of our Kingdoms , Parliaments , Government , Laws , &c. proceeded primarily from the Jesuites Projections and Plots against them , if the Statutes of 23 Eliz. c. 1. 27 Eliz. c. 2. 35 Eliz. c. 2. 1 Jac. 1 , 2 , 4 , 5 , 7. 7 Jac. c. 6. and the manifold Declarations of both Houses of Parliament , Exact Collection , p. 491 , 462 , 497 , 498 , 616 , 631 , 666 , 698 , 813 , to 828. may be judges ? 3. That the Jesuites drift directly is ( immediately by means of * CONQUEST intended for England ) to bring it and all Christendom into an uproar , FOR COMMON SOULDIERS TO EXAMINE THEIR SOVERAIGNS , WHAT TITLE THEY HOLD BY ; that thereupon themselves by craft , money and multitudes gathered together through their Policy , may bring England , ( and then ) Spain , and all the rest under their subjection and Monarchy : And that principally by this Jesuitical Position , That every Precopie , or Tartarian multitude , getting once the stile and title of a PUBLICK STATE , or HELVETIAN COMMONWEALTH , may alter , change and innovate the course of inheritances and succession TO CROWNS AND KINGDOMS , and also to every private Persons heritage holden in Fee-simple : as d William Watson assures us in these very terms . And whether the Jesuites have nor instructed our Army-Officers and Common Souldiers upon this pretext , and for this very end , to examine their Soveraigns , yea , our Parliaments Titles , Priviledges , and Powers too of late , and dispose of them at their pleasure ; let themselves , the whole Nation , with all in present power , in the fear of God , most seriously consider , without passion or affection , before it be over-late . 4. That the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance specially made & prescribed by our most wise , zealous , c Protestant Parliaments , to prevent the Treasonable Plots and designs of Popes , Jesuites , and Papists , against our Protestant Princes , Realms , Parliaments , Religion , though confirmed by many Statutes , and containing in them onely the Declaration of such a Duty , as every true and well-affected Subject , not onely by the bond of Allegiance , but also by the COMMANDMENT OF GOD , ought to bear to the King , his Heirs and Successors ; and none but persons infected with Popish Superstition formerly oppugned , ( as the Prologue of the Statute of 7 Jacobi c. 6. positively resolves ) have by late State-innovators , not onely been discontinued , suspended , but declaimed against and repealed ( as much as in them lay ) as d UNLAWFUL OATHS , e The New Oath for abjuration of Popery , with all Bills against Jesuites and Papists , presented to the late King by both Houses the last Parliament , and by him consented to in the Isle of Wight , wholly laid aside , and quite buried in oblivion . The Solemn Protestation , League and Covenant prescribed by the last Parliament , and taken by all the well-affected in all the three Kingdoms ( to f prevent the dangerous plots of Papists and Jesuites , and our common enemies to destroy our Religion , Churches , Realms , Government , Parliaments , Laws , Liberties ) quite antiquated , decried , detested , and a g New Engagement forcibly imposed under highest penalties and disabilities upon all men , diametrically contrary to these Oaths , Protestations and Covenants , which have been ( by a new kinde of Papal Power ) publickly dispenced with , and the people absolved from them , to become sworn Homagers to other new self-created Lords and Masters . And are not all these , to considerate zealous Protestants , strong Arguments of the Jesuites Predominancy in our late counsels changes of Government ? 5. That the Notion of THE PRESENT GOVERNMENT , ( in my weak apprehension ) deriving its original from the Jesuites-late invented h PRESENT CHURCH , the onely Supream Power , and Judge of Controversies , which all men must submit unto without dispute by their determination as they must do to that present Republican Government , and new Optimacity , and Popularity lately set up instead of our Monarchy . Which two forms of Government , as they were the inventions of Factious Graecians at first , which put all their Cities into Combustions , fury , frenzy , and civil wars against each other , to their utter overthrow in conclusion , witness these verses of i Heniochus an ancient Greek Comaedian : Tum geminae ad illas accesserunt Mulieres ( RITAS QUAE CUNCTA CONTURBARUNT : OPTIMA - Est nomen alieri : alteri POPULARITAS ; ( RUNT . Quarum incitatu PRIDEM EXTERNATAE FUso k Parsons , l Campanella , m Cardinal Rech●li●u , designed to introduce and set them up amongst us in England , Scotland and Ireland , of purpose to divide and destroy us by civil wars and combustions , and bring us under their Jesuitical power at last , as the marginal Authorities declare to all the world . And if this be undeniable to all having any sence of Religion , Peace or publick Safety left within their b●ests , is it not more then high time for us to awake out of our former lethargy , and sordid , selfish stupidity , to prevent our ruine , by these and other forementioned Jesuitical practises ? Or can any English man , or real Parliament be justly offended with me for this impartial discovery of them ? And for my endeavours to put all the dislocated Members and broken bones of our old inverted Fundamental body Politick into their due places , joynts and postures again , without which there is no more n possibility of reducing it to its pristine health , ease , settlement , tranquility , prosperity , or of preserving it from per●ecual pain , inquieration , consumption and approaching death , ther●of a natural body whose principal members continue dis-joynted , and bones broken all in peices , as all prudent State-Physitians must acknowledge . These five Considerations , together with the Premises ; will I presume sufficiently justifie this my undertaking and impartial discovery of Jesuitical Plots to ruine our Church , Religion , Kingdoms , Parliaments , Laws , Liberties , Government , against all malicious Enemies , Accusers , Maligners whatsoever , before all the Tribunals of God or Men , where I shall be ready to justifie them upon all occasions . In perpetual testimony whereof , I have hereunto set my Hand , and by God's Grace shall ever be ready to seal them and the truth of God with my blood , if called out to do it . Swainswick , Aug. 12. 1654. Will. Prynne . A Legall and Historicall Vindication of the Fundamentall , Rights , and Laws of England . CHAP. III. I Have in the two precedent Chapters fully proved , That the Kingdome , and Freemen of England have some antient hereditary just Rights , Liberties , Franchises , Laws and Customes properly called Fundamentall , together with a Fundamentall Government , no wayes to bealtered , undermined , subverted directly or indirectly to the publick prejudice , underpain of high Treason in those who shall attempt it , especially by fraud , force or armed power ; and given you likewise the heads of the chiefest of them in X brief Propositions . I shall now in the third place proceed , in a Chronologicall way , to present you with a large Historicall Catalogue of the severall Nationall , Parliamentall , Legall , Martiall publick and private contests , great Charters , Lawes , Statutes , Votes , Declarations , Remonstrances , Claimes , Records , Evidences , Writs , Oathes , Vowes , Protestations , Covenants , Excommunications , Confirmations , Judgments , Resolutions , and principall Authorities in all ages , both under the antient Britons , Saxons , Danes , Normans and English Kings , till our present times ; plentifully , undeniably evidencing , declaring , vindicating , asserting , establishing , perpetuating these Fundamentall , Hereditary Rights , Liberties , Priviledges , Franchises , Customes , Lawes : and abundantly manifesting the extraordinary zeal , courage , wisdome , and vigilancie of our Ancestors , to defend , preserve and perpetuate them to posterity , without the least violation or dimin●tion . I shall begin with the highest Antiquities extant in our Histories , pertinent to my Theame , and so descend to those of punier times , relating all of them for the most part ( except here and there where the identity of the subject matter and desire of brevity occasion me to vary somewhat from this intended method ) according to their Antiquity and Chronologicall series of time , referring such particulars of them as relate to each of the forementioned X. Propositions in the second Chapter , only with figures in the margin , designing the severall Propositions unto which they have more immediate reference ; without reducing these Historicall Collections to distinct heads under every Proposition in order , as I have proposed them ; which course would have interrupted my Chronologicall Method , and caused a frequent repetition of sundry passages , Charters , Acts , Oathes , Records , relating to severall of these Propositions for the most part , not to one of them alone , which I shall now avoid by affixing the number of single Proposition whereunto they refer in the margin , eachwherewith the Reader may easily compare them , with more delight , and as much satisfaction , as if I had marshalled them all in rank and file under those distinct Propositions whereunto they have relation . As for those Historicall passages which contain the severall publick Parliamentall or Martiall contests of our Ancestors , with their Kings and other invading Nations , for their Liberties , Rights , Laws , Customes , and great Charters in the generall , I have annexed no figures unto them , every of them for the most part , referring to all or most of these Propositions in grosse , though not particularly specified in these contestations for them . And because I intend for the better confirmation of our antient Fundamentall Liberties , Priviledges , Freedomes , Rights , Lawes , Government , and greater benefit of Posterity , briefly to passe through the severall successive Reigns and Dominions of the Britons , Romans , Saxons , Danes , Normans , as well as of our English Kings since the Conquest ( as we usually style it ) whereon I shall principally insist , as of greatest , nearest concernment to us of this generation , I shall for order sake , divide this Chapter into distinct Sections : the rather , because the largenesse of it may occasion the Stationer to publish it ( as he did the two first Chapters ) in severall parts , as they shall be Printed , the compleating of the whole requiring longer time ( in respect of my remotenesse from the Presse , and the largenesse thereof ) then the present usefulnesse of each part , and the longing desires of some Readers after it , would willingly allow for its publication in one whole volume , which every mans purse who desires it , cannot so easily purchase in these necessitous times , as it may do in parcels . SECTION I. Concerning the Ancient Britons contests for their Liberties and Lawes , against Tyrants , and Invaders of their Fundamentall Government Rights , and of their great Councels till the Romans Couquest . IT is agreed by all our Historians , that the Britons were the originall known Inhabitants of this Iland , from whom it was stiled Britain ; but from what forrain Nations the Britons descended , our Antiquaries differ in opinion : our later writers herein dissenting from those of former ages , with whom I must begin . Most of our a antient Historians , and the whole famous Parliament held at Lincolne , Anno 28 E. 1. ( in the learned * Letter therein compiled and agreed to be sent by the King to Pope Boniface , to prove the subjection and homage of the Kingdome and Kings of Scotland from time to time to the Kings of England Iure Dominii , as Supreme Lords thereof , by Historicall precedents in former ages , collected out of all Histories and Records then extant ) unanimously record , That the Britons originally descended from the Trojans ; that they arrived here in Britain about the dayes of Ely the Priest , under Brute their first King , who divided it at his death into three distinct parts and Kingdomes between his three Sons ; leaving that part thereof now called England ( then Loegria ) to Loerinus his eldest Son and his Heirs , as an hereditary , not elective Kingdome , according to the custome of the Trojans ; b Petebal enim Troana consuetudo , ut dignitas Hereditatis primogenito perbeni●et , as our Historians ; and that whole Parliament of 28 E. 1. resolve . So that an Hereditary Kingdome and Monarchicall Government by Kings , was the originall Fundamentall Government setled in this Iland by Brute ; and that as well in those parts thereof since called Scotland and Wales , as England , which all our c Historians , asserting this originall of the Britons unanimously attest , with that answer which Diana gave unto Brute before his arrivall in Britain , when she directed him to come and seat himself therein , further evidenceth , if we may give any credit hereunto . Brute sub occasu Solis , trans Gallica Regna Insula in Oceano est , undique clausa mari : Insula in Oceano est habitata Gigantibus olim , Nunc deserta quidem , Gentibus apta tuis . Hanc pete , namque tibi sedes erit illa perennis , Hic fiet natis altera Troja tuis . Hic de prole tua reges nascentur , & ipsis Totius terrae subditus orbis erit . With this concurreth the more authentick testimony of d Cornelius Tacitus ; The Britons heretofore were governed by Kings ; now they are divided by petty Princes into Parties and Factions : with that of Pomponius Mela , Britain bringeth forth Nations , and Kings of Nations . The very first act that made their first King Brute most famous before his arrivall in Britain , e was his delivering of 7000 Trojans , his native Countrymen ( with their wives and children ) from their Servitude and Bondage under King Pandrasus and the Graecians , whom he vanquished and took Prisoner in Battle , and thereby restored them to their lost Liberty . After which Victory , Brute major●● na●u convocavit , assembling the Elders of the People ( in nature of a Parliament ) demanded their advice , what he should do with Pandrasus , and what things and conditions he should for their benefit demand of him , which he would willingly grant being in their power . Whereupon some advised him to demand a part of his Kingdome for them freely to inhabit : others counselled , rather to demand of him free liberty for them all to depart thence , with accommodations for their voyage to seek another habitation elsewhere ; others advised to bring Pandrasus forth a●d to put him to death , and seise upon his Realme , in case he refused to grant their demands . At last Mempritius , a great Counsellor standing up said , Regem interficere cupiditate Dominandi nefas mihi videtur , cum omnibus licitum sit pro patria pugnade ; To slay a King out of a desire of reigning in his stead , seemes a wickednesse unto me , seeing it is lawfull to all men to fight for their Country : ( this was the Divinity and Morality of the very Pagan Britons in that age ) Whereupon I rather advise , that we should demand his eldest daughter from him as a Wife for our Captain Brute , and a good sum of Gold and Silver with her for her dowry , with Ships and all other necessaries for our jouruey , and free license to transport our selves to some other Country , because we can never hope to live peaceablely there , seeing the Children and Nephewes of those which we have newly slain in these Warres , would meditate revenge . To the which , Tota Multi●udo acquievit , all the Multitude assented ; and Pandrasus to save his life and gain his inlargement , willingly condescended to , furnishing them with Ships and Provisions . With which Brute and all his associates arriving at Totnes in Albion , seating themselves there , Brute from his name styled this Iland Britain , and his Companions Britons , destroying those few Gyants which formerly possessed it ; and then building a City which he styled Troy-Novant ( now London ) dedicavit eam civibus jure victuris , deditque legem qua pacifice tractarentur . In this History of our first British King Brute , we have these 5. remarkable particulars ; 1. A Warre to shake off Slavery , and recover publick Liberty . 2. A kinde of Generall Parliamentary Councell summoned by Brute , of all the Elders of the Britons , to advise of Peace , Warre , and of their common safety and affaires . 3. A resolution against killing even a Tyrannicall oppressing King , taken in the field in Battle , out of Covetousnesse to enjoy his Crown and Dominions , as a most wicked act . 4. A setling of an hereditary Kingly Government in this Isle upon the very first plantation of the Britons in it . 5. Lawes made and given to the people , whereby they might live peaceably without injury or oppression . This Kingdome descended in lineall succession from Brute and his Posterity , to f Leir Son of King Bladud , who reigning 60. years , and having only three Daughters , Consilio procerum Regni , by the Counsell of the Nobles of the Realme ( assembled in Parliament ) gave two of his Daughters in marriage to the Dukes of Cornwall and Albania , with one Moiety only of the Iland whiles he lived , and the whole Monarchy of Britain after his death . After this , Porrex slaying his elder Brother Ferrex to get the Crown , was slain by his own Mother and her maids for his Treason and Fratricide ; whereupon civill discord arising a long time , the Kingdome thereby was subjected to five severall Kings , who infested one another with mutuall slaughters , till g Dunwallo Molmutius succeeding his Father Clotho King of Cornwall in the Crown , slaying the usurping Kings of Loegria , Wales and Albania , reigned alone over them ( about the time of Nehemiah ) After which he enacted certain Laws , called Molmutine Laws ; which for many ages after were very famous and generally observed among the Britons ; yea used , commended by the Saxons and English , and inserted into Edward the Confessors Lawes , being famous till William the Conquerours time . What these Lawes were in particular , in relation to the Liberty and Property of the Subject , appeares not ; but the issue proves , that they tended to publick peace , and preservation of the Subjects persons and estates from violence . For in his Reign after these Lawes published ( for confirmation whereof he built the Temple of Concord in Troynovant , where he was afterwards buried ) Latronum mucrones cessabant , Raptorum saevitiae obturabantur , nec l●erat usquam qui violentiam alicui ingereret ; The swords of theeves ceased , the cruelties of Plunderers and violent takers of mens Goods and possessions were prevented , neither was there any to be found in any place , who would offer violence to any man. Moreover he ordained , That the Temples of the Gods , and Cities , and the wayes leading to them , and the Ploughs of Husbandmen should enjoy the priviledges of Sanctuaries , so as every person who fled unto them through guilt or otherwise , might depart quietly with leave and without arrest before his enemy . After his death ( about 400. yeares before our Saviours Nativity ) his two Sons Brennus and Belinus , by consent divided his Kingdome between them ; till Brennus the younger Son , aspiring after the Monarchy of the whole Iland , was vanquished and expelled by his Brother into France . In which Warre Gurthlac King of Denmarke , ayding Brennus , was taken Prisoner by Belinus , Qui convocavit omnes Regni proceres , &c. who called together all the Nobles of the Realme to Yorke , consilio eorum tractaturus , to debate by their Councell ( in nature of a Parliament ) what he should do with Gurthlac , who proffered to submit himself with his Kingdome of Denmarke to him , to pay him an annuall Tribute , and to ratifie this agreement by his Oath , and sureties for his inlargement and ransome ▪ Whereupon the Nobles Resolved , that he should be enlarged upon this condition , which was done accordingly : Convocatis proceribus cum id judicatum fuisset assensum prebuerunt cuncti that he should be enlarged upon these conditions , ; as the Marginall Authors record . After which King Belinus obtaining the Government of the whole Iland , Confirmed his Father Molmutines Laws , commanding upright and stable Justice to be done throughout the Land , and the wayes to the Temples to be marked out in all places with stones , that they might not be ambiguous , being priviledged from arrests and violence . This King addicting himself constantly to Justice , the people thereby became more wealthy in few years , then ever they had been in former times . After this Brennus arriving with an Army out of France to recover his right ; Belinus being ready to encounter him in a set Battaile , their Mother mediated a Peace between them , whereupon they lovingly embraced each other : and going to Troinovant , inito concilio quid agerent ; having there hold a Councell what they should do , they Resolved to send a common Army to conquer France , and other Forain parts , which they put in execution . Here we have matters of Warre and Peace , and Lawes concluded and ratified in and by a Parliament of Nobles in this age . King i Guithelin , to whom the Crown lineally descended from Belinus , married Martia a Noble woman , learned in all arts , who invented the Law which the Britons called Martiana ; which King Alfred approving , translated into the Saxon tongue and called it Marchen Leage . King Edward the Confessor making use of it in the collection and compiling of his Lawes , hereafter mentioned . Though this Queen first invented this Law , no doubt it was ratified by publick consent of the King her Husband , and the Nobles in their generall Councell in that age , else it could not have the force of a Law , by her bare penning of it . Gorbonius grandchild to Guithelin and Martia coming to the Crown by descent , governed his people most justly according to these forecited Lawes , it being his continuall custome , to give due honour to the Gods in the first place , and then to administer right justice to the people . He encouraged Husbandmen in their tillage , and defended them from the injuries of their Lords ; and he inriched his Souldiers with gold and silver , so as none of them had need to do any injury or violence to any other . k Archigallo his Brother succeeding , degenerated from him in all his actions ; for he endevoured every where , Nobiles quosque deprimere , to depresse all that were Noble , and to advance ignoble persons , to take away rich mens goods and mony by violence , thereby heaping up infinite treasures : which the Nobles of the Realm refusing to endure any longer , rose up against and deposed him from his royall Throne , creating his brother Elidurus King in his stead . He , after five years reign , meeting his deposed brother in a wood as he was hunting , ran to him , imbraced , kissed and brought him to his own royall Bedchamber privately , and then summoned Proceres omnes et principes , all the Nobles and Princes of the Realm to come speedily to his City of Alclud ; who repairing thither , he saigning himselfe to be very sick , commanded every of them one by one , to come into his Bedchamber to visite him : which they thus doing , he threatned presently to cut off all their heads as they entred singly , unlesse they would consent to submit themselves again to Archigallo as their Soveraign ; which they , through fear of death assenting to , he made an agreement between them , and then carrying him to Yorke , took the Crown from his own head , and set it on his brothers Archigallo . For which memorable self-denying pious act to his brother , he was styled Elidurus pius . Archigallo upon his restitution corrected his former errors , deposed all ignoble persons , advanced the Nobility , permitted every man to enjoy what was his own , and administred right justice to his people . Ennianus his Son ( King after him ) treating his Subjects ill , was deposed by them from the Throne of the Kingdome , because he contrarying justice , preferred Tyranny ; Edwallo being made King in his place : who instructed by his Predecessors oversights , Jus atque rectitudinem colebat , followed Law and rectitude , as did others of his successors . Our m Histories record , that about 54. years before our Saviours birth , Julius Caesar having conquered France , espying Britain from thence , having learned the name of the I le and Nation , sent messengers thence to Cassibelan King of Britain , exacting with threats an annuall Tribute from him and the Britons to be paid to the Roman Senate , as well as from other Naiions , else he should be enforced to transport his Army and shed their bloud . Whereupon Cassibelan returned this answer to him in writing . Cassibelanus King of the Britons to Cajus Julius Caesar , Marvellous , O Caesar , is the covetuousnes of the Roman people , who thirsting after gold and silver in all places , cannot suffer us placed beyond the World , within the perils of the Ocean , to be quiet , but presume to affect our Tribute and Revenues , which we have hitherto peaceably possessed . Neither verily will this suffice , unlesse renouncing our Libertie we shall make subjection to him ; and thereby undergoe perpetuall servitude ; therefore Caesar thou hast demanded A shamefull thing ; seeing the vein of common Nobility flowes from Aeneas , both to the Britons , and Romans , and one and the same bond of kindred , lives still in both , whereby they ought to be knit together in firme amity . This therefore should have been required of us , not servitude , because we have learned , rather to give this then to bear the yoake of Servitude . For we have been so much accustomed to inioy Liberty , that we are altogether ignorant what it is to obey Servitude . Which Liberty if the Gods themselves should endeavour to take from us , verily we would strive with all our might to resist them , that we might retain it . Be it known therefore to thee Caesar , That we are prepared and resolved to fight for it , and for our Realm , if , as thou hast threatned , thou shall begin to come upon the Isle of Britain . Hereupon C●sar preparing his Navy and Forces , arrived with his army at the mouth of Thames : the Britons though at civill warres among themselves before , upon this necessity , united themselves together to oppose the Romans , and communi consilio , ( as n Caesar himself and others write ) by common advice and assent , ( in a Parliament of that age ) elected Cassibelan for their Generall , and committed the managing of the Warres to him : who gathering the whole strength of the Britons together consilium querens a Principibue Regni , as some , and a proceribus suis , as others record ; taking councell with the Princes of the Realme and his Nobles , how to re●●e the enemies , they resolved to resist their Landing , and to assault them in their tents , before they had fortified themselves , or taken any Towne , and so to repell them . Which advice they pursuing , opposed their landing , and forced the Romans that were landed to their ships , and compelled Caesar to returne into France , as our British Historians assert , though Caesar in his Commentaries , to cover his dishonour , relates the contrary . The year following Caesar recruiting his Army landed again in Cornwall , and was repulsed by Cassibelan the second time with great losse . Whereupon Cassibelan joyfull of his victory , returning to Troinovant , Edictum fecit , ut omnes proceres Britannie Convenirent , made an Edict , that all the Nobles of Britain should assemble together at Troinovant , to offer publick prayses and Sacrifices to his Gods , who had made him to triumph over so great an Emperor as Caesar : At this assembly , Evelin Nephew to Androgeus Duke of Trionovant , playing with Herelgas Nephew to Cassibelan , upon a sudain quarrell between them , cut of Herelgas head ; at which the King being very angry , commanded Evelin to be brought before his presence , and to be ready , sententiam quam proceres Dictarent , or talem sententiam quam proceres Regni judicarent subire , to undergoe such a sentence and judgment as the Nobles and Peers of the Realme should pronounce , that Herelgas might net remain unrevenged , in case he were unjustly slain . Androgeus suspecting the Kings minde towards his Nephew , answered , Se●e suam curiam habere et in illa diffiniri debere , * quicquid aliquis in homines suos clamaret : Si ergo rectitudinem Evelino decrevisset appetere , ipsum in urbe Troinovanto ex veterum traditione recepisset . That he had his own Court , and that in it what ever any one complained of against his men , ought to be determined , therefore if he decreed to desire justice against Evelin , he might receive it in the City Troinovant , according to the custome of the Ancients . Upon this answer , they departing discontented one from another , Cassibelan threatned to invade and waste Androgeus his Country withfire and sword , unlesse he delivered up his Nephew to justice ; which he peremptorily refusing , Cassibelan wasted his Country accordingly , notwithstanding all his entreaties by his kindred and friends to divert him from it . Hereupon Androgeus sent messengers to Caesar , complaining of this ingrate and injurious violence , and craving assistance from him against Cassibelan , ( who endeavoured to disinherit him of his Country by whose meanes he had inherited his own , and gotten the victory over the Romans ) promised to joyne his forces with him , and so make him Lord of all Britain , if he would by his power restore him to his former dignity and possessions : for which he giving Hostages to Caesar ; he thereupon returning into Britain routed Cassibelan and his whole Army by Androgeus his means , and besieged him in a steep mountain to which he fled , where he was very likely to be taken prisoner in a few dayes by famine . Cassibelan thus destressed , sent to Androgeus , to remit the former injuries he had done him , and to make his peace with Caesar . Upon which he returning to himself , taking pity on his own nation , and Soveraign , though he had done him so much injury , repaired and used these memorable words to Caesar . Behold thou hast sufficienily revenged thy self upon Cassibelan , and subjected Britain to thee by my assistance ; Noluerunt dii omnipotentes nostri , ut Dominum meum morte turpissima condemnnari , aut vinculis patiar irretiri . Habeto igitur misericordiam de eo ; Quia me vivente ipse periolitari non poterit , cui auxilium meum reddere non erubescam , nisi consilio meo parueris . For our omnipotent Gods will not that I should suffer my Lord and King to be condemned to a most shamefull death ; or to be bound in Chaines . Have mercy therefore upon him ; because whiles I live he shall not be in danger , to whom I will not be ashamed to contribute my aide , unlesse thou wilt obey my counsell . ( O the memorable faith and Loyalty of this much oppressed , injured Noble Pagan Briton , to his Soveraign in his distresses , notwithstanding all his former injuries and oppressions , worthy all heroick Saints and true Christian Loyall English Subjects imitation , and shaming some strange extravagant contrary practises of late times ! ) Upon which speech , Caesar being pacified , made this agreement with Cassibelan : That he should promise to render to Caesar and the Romans , three thousand pounds of silver every year , by way of Tribute . And so being made friends they bestowed mutuall gifts on each other . After which Caesar wintering in the Island , returned in the Spring with his Army into France , and from thence marched towards Rome against Pompey . From these few passages of the antient Britons , before and till the Roman Conquest , it is apparent ; 1. That the ancient Fundamentall Government of the Britons in this Island , was only an Hereditary Kingship and Dominion . And although , about Caesars time , they had many petty Kings and Kingdomes , yet those Kings had the style , honor , power of Kings , within their respective Kingdomes , and were hereditary , as Tacitus , Dion , and others cited by q Mr. Camden attest , as well as our British stories . 2. That the British Kings were obliged to governe their subjects justly , and righteously , according to the established Lawes of those times , which secured their Liberties , Properties , Goods , Lives against all violence and arbitrary Tyranny , Rapines , Taxes . 3. That the r Britons had their nationall Councels or Parliaments , consisting of their Kings , Princes and Nobles , wherein they consulted of all weighty affaires , concluded of Warre and Peace , and enacted and confirmed publick Lawes . And the rarity of these Common-Councels ( by reason of their intestine discords ) was the greatest help and advantage the Romans had to conquer them , as Tacitus observes in the life of Agricola . 4. That they had Legall and proper Courts for trying all differences and malefactors according to their Lawes and ancient Customes and tryals by their Peers . 5. That they were very zealous carefull and , couragious to defend their Liberties , Properties , Laws against all Tyrannicall oppressing Kings , Usurpatio●s and forain Invaders , and to spend their lives in their defence , not induring Slavery , Bondage , or Tributes . 6. That their Nobles were persons of greatest power , had in great respect , and consulted with by their Kings upon all occasions , as their Great Councell , they doing nothing of moment but by their advice and consent . 7. That though they were stout opposers of Tyrannicall oppressing Princes , yet they were very Loyall and obedient to those who were just , and never offered violence to any of their persons , whom they deposed for misgovernment . And so much concerning the ancient Britons before and till their begun Conquest by Julius Caesar , before our Saviours Nativity 54. years . SECTION II. Concerning the Britons Contests and Warres against Tyrants and forain Invaders for their Liberties , Couutry , Lawes , and their Great Councels ( or Parliaments ) from Caesars Conquests , during the Romans Dominion , and untill the Saxons supplanted them , and succeeded in their places . AFter the death of Caesar and Cassibelan the Britons continuing for a time under the Government of their own hereditary Kings * Tennancius the next succeeding King , though he was warlike , yet vigorem Justitiae colebat , he executed Justice vigorously . Kymbelinus his Son succeding him , being educated by Augustus Caesar , fell into so great friendship with the Romans , ut cum possit Tributum eorum detinere , gratis impendebat ; that he freely bestowed their Tribute on them , when as he might have detained it , being imposed on Cassibelan only by power of the invading sword of Caesar without right , which bound neither him nor the Britons in Justice or conscience , both Caesar and Cassibelan being dead . In the 5. year of his Reign our Saviour Christ was borne . In the † 22 year of our Saviours Nativity Guiderius succeeding his Father Kymbelinus , refused to render the accustomed tribute to the Romans , which none of his Ancestors from the time of Julius Caesar durst to refuse . Hereupon Anno Christi 44. the Emperor ●laudius with a great Army invaded the Island , to conquer and reduce it under Tribute , who was encountred and routed by Guiderius at the first , but he being afterwards slain by the policy of Laelius Hamo , the Britons being likely to lose the field , Arviragus the slain Kings brother , putting on his Armes , encouraged the Britons so , that they forced the Romans to forsake the field . Claudius afterwards besieging Arviragus ( who succeded his brother ) in Winchester , they fell to a treaty . Claudius proffered Arviragus , that he should marry his daughter , and hold the Kingdome of Britain peaceably from the Romans under the ancient Tribute ; upon which , suaserunt majores natu Arbiago promissionibus Claudii acquiescere ; The elders ( assembled no doubt in councell about it ) perswaded Arviragus to consent to Claudius his promises , for they said , it was no disgrace to him to be subject to the Romans , seeing they enjoyed the Empire of the whole ; world : Paruit Arviragus & consilio suorum Cesari subjectionem fecit : Arviragus obeyed , and by the advice of his councell did homage to Caesar . Anno Christi 52. Arviragus refused to be any longer subject to the Roman power , or to pay them Tribute . Whereupon Claudius sent Vespasian to reduce him to obedience ; who after one battaile fought with great losse on both sides , came to an agreement . After which * Anno 63. Joseph of Arimathea with XI . more of Phillips Disciples arrived in Britain , and preached the Gospell boldly ; to whose Preaching Arviragus ( cum proceribus suis ) with his Nobles and People , hearing such new and unaccustomed things , utterly refused to consent to their Doctrine , neither would they change the traditions of their Fathers yet because they came from far , and their lives held forth modesty and meeknesse , the King at their Petition , granted them the Isle of ; Glastonbury , then horrid and untilled , surrounded with woods , bushes and lakes , to inhabit . Which grant his two next successors Marius and Coillus , † ( who exercised Justice and Law , reverenced the Nobles of the Realme , and paid the Tribute to the Romans , because all the world was subject to them , ) by his example confirmed ; giving to each of them one hide of Land a piece ( to this day called the 12. hides of Glastonbury ) confirmed to the Abby of Glastonbury , afterwards by the Charters of many of our Christian Saxon Kings , ratified in their great Councels and Parliaments . By these passages it is clear , That Taxes and Tributes not granted and assented to in Parliament , though imposed by a Conquering Invader , binde not the Nation , or succeeding Kings . That matters of Peace and Warre were determined in Common-Councels and Parliaments in that age ; That no publick change in Religion or Customes could be made without the Kings and Nobles consents ; and that the grant of the King of any Crowne Lands without common consent in Parliament , bound not his successors , unlesse they specially confirmed them by their new Charters . How many bloudy Battails with various successe the ancient Britons under the conduct of their Kings and Queens fought against the Roman Emperors , Claudius , Vespasian , and their Generals , Officers and Forces after Julius Caesars time , for defence of their Native Liberties , Rights , Lawes , Government , Country , and to exempt themselves from all Tributes , Taxes , Purveyances , imposed on , or exocted from them by the Romans . How impatient they were of bearing any Taxes or Imposts , they never knowing what Servitude was , being borne only for themselves , and alwayes free unto themselves , free from all contagion of Tyranny . How oft they revolted from , and rebelled against the Romans from time to time for their Oppressions , Taxes , turning them out of their ancient inheritances by force , and using them rather like Slaves then Freemen . You may read at large in Cornelius Tacitus , Annal. l. 14. and in the life of Agricola , in Mr. Camdens Britannia , p. 24 , to 48. Speed , Holinshed and others , and more especially in the notable speeches of Caractacus and Galgacus , encouraging the Britons manfully to fight for their Country , Liberty , Lawes , &c. recorded in these Authors ; the later of them thus justly taxing the Romans Usurpation , Ambition , Covetousnesse , Rapines and Tyranny in these words ; a Robbers they be of the world , who having left no more land to spoile , now search also the Sea. If their enemies be rich , they covet their wealth ; if poor , they seek to gain glory ; to * take away by main force , to kill and spoyle , they falsely terme Empire and Government : when they lay all wasie as a Wildernesse , that they call Peace . That every man should hold his own children and bloud most dear , nature hath ordained : and even those are pressed for Souldiers and caried away to serve as Slaves elsewhere ; our substance they draw from us for Tribute ; our Corne for provision ; our very Bodies and Lands they wear out and consume , in paving of Bogs , and ridding of Woods , with a thousand stripes and reproachfull indignities besides . Slaves yet , which be born to bondage , are bought and sold once for al , and afterwards fed and found at their own expences . But Britain dayly buyeth , dayly feedeth , and is at dayly charge with her own Bondage . And as in a private retin●e of household Servants , the fresh man and last comer is laughed and scoffed at by his other-fellowes , even so in this old servitude of the whole World , our destruction only is sought , as being the latest and vilest in accompt of all other , &c. We as yet were never touched , never foiled , never subdued ; as men therefore that mean to maintain their Freedome , not for the Present but for ever , let us shew straightwayes in the first joyning , what manner of men , Caledonia reserved in store for her self , &c. It is not by their own vertue , but by our jarrings and discords that yet the Romans are grown into fame : to our shame be it spoken , many of our own Nation , now lend their lives to establish a forain Vsurper , not out of any loyall affection , but out of fear and terrour , weak linkes and bonds of love . Remove but them once , those who shall cease to fear , will soon begin to hate . The free Cities are discontent and in factions , while those who are under them , obey with ill will , and they that do govern , rule against right . Here is the Generall , and here is the Army ; there are the Tributes , here be the metall mines , and other miseries inseparably following them that live under the subjection of others ; which either to continue or endure for ever , it lyeth this day in this field . Wherefore as you are going to Battle , bear in your minds , both the Freedome of your Ancestors , and the Bondage of your Posterity . Upon which Speech they manfully sought with the Romans , preferring their Liberties before their lives . About the year of Christ 50. the Romans extraordinarily oppressed the Britons under Claudius the Emperor . Laetus Decianus their Procurator , renewed the confiscation of their goods , which Claudius had pardoned . The Roman Colony at Camolodunum , thrust out the ancient Inhabitants , seating themselves in their possessions , without any other recompence but reproachfull termes , calling them , their drudges , slaves and vassals , and the Temple there erected in honour of Claudius , was now become an eye-sore to them , as an Altar of their perpetuall subjection , whiles the Augusta●l Priests there attending , wasted all their wealth under pretext of Religion . And that which was their greatest grievance , Prasutagus King of the Iceni , famous for his riches , which he had been a long time gathering , by his will made Claudius and his own two daughters his heir ; thinking by his flattery to make his Kingdom and house sufficiently secure from Injurie : which fell out quite contrary : for his Kingdome by the Roman Centurions , and his house by Slaves was seised on and spoyled as lawfull booty , his wife Boadicia whipped , his Daughters deflowred , the chiefest persons of that Province dispossessed of their lawfull Inheritance , and the Kings kindred reputed and used as slaves . Hereupon the Icenians began seriously to discourse of their present bondage and miseries , made subject to a Lieutenant , which sucked their bloud , and to a Procurator that sought their substance , whiles with a servile fear they yealded to please the meanest Souldier , as though the Heavens had framed them only for servitude , and the earth appointed to bear their injuries unrevenged ; and meeting together in secret consultations , they ripped up their wrongs and oppressions , and aggravated them to the highest , saying , that no other good was to be looked for by their sufferance , but that more grievous burdens should be imposed upon them still , as men ready to bear all willingly , &c. That the Roman Souldiers from whose unsatiable avarice and unbridled lust nothing was free , were but a handfull in respect of the Britons : that if they would but endevour to follow the prowess and valour of their Ancestors , and not be dismayed with the doubtfull successe of one skirmish or two , they would soon enforce them to recede out of the Island , &c. In fine they resolved , That Liberty was to be preferred though bought with their lives , and Bondage to be avoided if not otherwise then by their deaths . Whereupon chusing Boadicea for their Leader , they suriously fell upon the insulting oppressing Romans , slew no lesse then seventy thousand of them and their confederates , sacked and plundered their free Town Verolamium , resolving to extirpate and drive them out of the Island . Upon this Suetonius the Roman Governor collecting all the Forces he could raise against her , She made a most gallant encouraging Oration to her Britons , thus aggravating their oppressions . What abuse can be so vile that we have not suffered , or indignity so contemptible , that we have not borne ; my stripes , yet felt and seen against their own Laws , do witnesse well what Government they intend . Your wealth is consumed by their wastfull wantonnesse , your painfull travels upholding their idlenesse , do seal the issues of our succeeding miseries , if not timely prevented by one joynt endevour . You that have known the Freedome of life will with me confesse ( I am sure ) that Liberty ( though ) in a poor estate , is better then fetters of gold ; and yet this comparison hath no correspondency in us , for we now enjoy no estate at all , nothing being ours but what they will leave us , and nothing left us that they can take away ; having not so much as our very heads tole free . Other subdued Nations by death are quit from Bondage , but we after death must live servile and pay tribute even in our graves . Have the heavens made us the ends of the world , and have not assigned us the ends of our wrongs ? Or hath nature among all her free works created us only Britons , for bondage ? Why , what are the Romans ? are they more then men , or immortall ? Their slain carcasses sacrificed by us , tell us , they are no Gods. But you will say , they are our Conquerors . Indeed overcome we are , but by our selves , our own factions still giving way to their invasions . Our dissersions have been their only rising , and our designes been weakned by homebred Conspiracies . We have as much to keep as birthright can give us , that is , our Island possessed by our Ancestors from all antiquity ; ours by inheritance , theirs by intrusion , claimes so different in the scale of Justice , that the Gods themselves must needs redresse . Whereupon the Britons fighting valiantly , lost eighty thousand of their lives to redeem their Liberties ; and Boadicea seeing her Army routed , chose rather , out of a noble spirit , to end her life and miseries together by poyson , then to live under the Roman bondage and see her Country languish under their intolerable oppressions . About the year of our Lord 179. ( or rather 185. ) s Lucius King of Britain ( who succeeded his Father Coillus by descent ) being converted to the Christian faith with most of his Nobles and Subjects ( the first Christian King and Kingdom in the world ) petitioned Pope Eleutherius ( as the marginall Authors testifie ) Ad Petitionem Regis , et procerum Regni Britannie ( assembled no doubt in a general Councell when they made and sent this Petition ) to send a copy of the Imperial Roman Laws to govern the people by : who returned the King this answer in writing . You have requested from us , that the Laws of Rome and Caesar might be sent over , which you desire to use in the Realm of Britain . The Roman and Caesars Laws we may alwayes reject , but the Law of God in no wise . You have received of late through Gods mercy in the Realm of Britain , the law and faith of Christ ; y●u have with you in the Realm both Testaments , out of them by Gods grace , per consilium Regni vestri sume ●egem , by the Councell of your Realm take a Law , and by it through the patience of God govern your Realm of Britain ; For you are Gods Vicar in the Realm ▪ &c. The Kings children are the Christian Nations who live and consist in the Realm under your protection and peace , according to that in the Gospell , As the hen gathereth the chickens under her wings ; the Nations and people of the Realm are yours , which being divided you ought to congregrate into one , t● reduce to concord and peace , and to the faith and Law of Christ , and to the holy Church ; to foster , maintain , protect , governe and always to defend from injurious and malicious persons and from enemies . Woe to the Realm whose King is a childe , and whose Princes eat in the morning . I call not a King a child from his Nonage , but for his fol●y , iniquity and madnesse , according to the royall Prophet , Bloudy and deceitfull men shall not live out half their dayes , &c. A King is denominated from ruling , not from a Kingdome . Thou shalt be a King while thou rulest well : which unlesse thou shalt do , the name of a King shall not appear in thee , and thou shalt lose the name of a King , which God forbid . Almighty God grant you so to rule the Realm of Britain , that you may reign for ever with him , whose Vicar you are in the Realm aforesaid . This Epistle shewes , that the power of making Laws was vested only at that time , in this Popes judgment , in the King and his great Councel of the Realm , and that Kings only ought to rule and govern their people righteously , according to the Laws of God and the Realm , as Gods Vicars upon earth , and to protect them from all violence , wrong and enemies . t Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury , thus comments on this Epistle : That in condendis legibus , in making Laws , the King needed not the Popes authority or assistance , having the books of the old and new Testament , out of which adhibito procerum consilio , by the Counsell of his Nobles , he might take holy Laws , without any error , being sufficiently supported with his own , not a forain authority he being Gods Vicar in his own Realm ; and representing his power to his people . After which , this King ( by advice and consent of his Princes and Nobles ) built and endowed many Churches with Glebes and Lands , abundantly confirming them with Charters and Muniments , and likewise ordained , that Churches and Churchyards should be so free , that no Malefactor or other persons flying to them , should be arrested , or suffer any violence in them . King u Lucius dying without heir ( Anno Dom. 201 ) thereupon discord arose amongst the Britons , which gave great advantage to the Romans ; who thought at first they x suffered the British Kings to reign under them , making them the instruments of their own and their peoples slavery , by their compliance with the Romans ; yet at last perceiving , that divers of th●se British Kings , y to regain their own and their peoples Liberties , did oft times rebell and raise up warres and seditions against them : Thereupon after King Lucius his death ▪ to keep the Island in greater quietnesse and subjection under them , they made a decree , That none of the British bloud or race should from thence forth be invested with royall dignity in the Isle ; ( as the principall means to keep them in perpetuall slavery ) and insteed of one King , they placed over the Britons in every Province First , a Lieutenant with severall * Garrisons of horse and fo●t , who disarmed all the Natives they suspected , sucked the peoples bloud , and vexed them with Souldiers and Contributions . Next a Procurator and Publicans ▪ who like greedy●Cormorants and horse-leeches , confiscated their goods , preyed upon their estates , and vexed them with perpetuall exactions , extortions and reproachfull abuses . Also a Pretor and Proconsul , with absolute power and commission to govern them after the Roman Laws , ( not permitting them to use the ancient Laws of their Country ) and to minister Justice in all capitall matters with great pompe and severity . So that the Roman Lawes were now only in use and force amongst the Britons , which a learned Poet thus expresseth , Cernitis ignotos Latia sub lege Britannos . And withall they endevoured , constantly to nourish discord and division amongst the Britons themselves , and by these wily Policies kept them in subjection under them , who yet upon all occasions and advantages endevoured to shake off the Roman yoak , and restore their native Liberties , Laws , Government with the hazard of their lives , as our Historians largely relate . About the year of Christ 286. Carausius a Briton , having gotten a Commission from Rome , z to defend ▪ the Sea coasts of Britain from the incursions of barbarous Nations , raysing great forces under that pretext , promised the Brit●ns , That if they would chuse him for their King , he would expell the Romans , and free the whole Island from the Barbarians : Whereupon they all consented and made him King ; upon which he denied to pay the Romans their accustomed Tribute . The Senate being informed hereof , sent Alectus into Britain to reduce it ; who joyning battail with Carausius , slew him , and made a great slaughter of the Britons , because they revolted from the Roman republick , and subjected themselves to Carausius ; who preferred their liberties before their lives . Alectus taking upon him the royall Diadem was soon after slain with most of his Roman Souldiers by Asclipiodorus Duke of Cornwall and the Britons fighting to regain their Liberties ; who crowned Ascl●piodorus King by common consent : He ruled them for X. years with right justice , restraining the cruelty of Plunderers and swords of Robbers , and freed them from the Roman tribute . Coel Duke of Colchester slaying him , and making himself King ; the Romans having lost their tribute for above ten years space , sent Constantius into Britain to reduce it under obedience : who no sooner landed , but Coel hearing of his great fame , and victories in other parts , sent Ambassadors to him , craving peace , and promising subjection , which he accepted of , exacting nothing but the usual tribute . Coel deceasing shortly after ▪ leaving one only daughter Helena to inherit the Kingdom , Constantius maried and begot upon her that famous Constantine the Great . This Emperor a Constantius Chlorus , coming into Britain to govern it about the year of Christ 302. finding the ill effects of others tyranny and rapine , shewed himself very loving , gentle , affable and kind to the people , little regarding his private profit , but altogether reigning to enrich his subjects : and to that end would often say , ( I would our late and present Tax-imposing Governours would remember it ) That it was more behoovefull for the publick , that the wealth of the Land should be dispersed into the Commons hands , then to lie locked up in Princes coffers ( or in such a Common Treasury , as our new Projectors have provided for it by the 28 , 29. Articles of their Ill-sounding instrument , after which they would have us henceforth dance . ) The b Emperor Constantine the Great , his Son ( borne and crowned both King and Emperor in Britain ) amongst other good Laws , made these two memorable ones , for the relief of poor Christians injuriously banished , and deprived of their Lands , and Goods by Diocletian , Maximinian , Licinius and other persecuting Pagan Roman Emperors , about the year 313. wherein he restored the banished Christians to their native Countries , Lands and former dignities , as the Marginall Authors witnesse . Which Lawes are recorded in c Eusebius de vita Constantini , l. 2. c. 30 , 31. The first of them , is intituled , A Law for fre●ing ( or relieving ) banished men ; to this effect . Therefore all those who being brought under the cruell sentences of Iudges , at what time soever it befell them , have been compelled to change their Country by exile , because they neglected not what made for the honour of God and Religion , to whom they had consecrated themselvos with the whole powers of their souls : All these , I say , being restored both to their hereditary Possessions , and their accustomed tranquillity , may give thanks to God the setter free of all men . And those who having been deprived of their Goods , & oppressed with the losse of their Estates , have hitherto lived a most contemptible life , these being likewise restored to their former houses , families and goods , may chearfully prayse the beneficencie of God , who is best and mightiest . The second inscribed , A Law reducing those who were banished into Islands , in these words . Moreover we command , that those who are now detained in Islands against their wils , shall enjoy the benefit of this our provision and care ; to wit , that whereas hitherto they have been shut up on every side in the narrow cliffs of mountains , and invironed with the raging waves of the Sea , being now freed from that bitter solitarinesse , utterly repugnant to the nature of men , they may return again to their most beloved friends . And whereas they have lived a long time in a filthy sordid and odious condition , having obtained a returne , as a sudain and unexpected booty , and being freed from cares and troubles , they may hereafter live a life void of fear , under our Empire . In the year of grace 376. d Octavius King of the Britons dying without issue male ; leaving one only daughter , there fell out a difference among the Britons , to whom they should marry her , with the Kingdome ; at last in the year 379. Magnates Britannie , the Nobles of Britain , that they might obtain a firme Peace concluded ( no doubt in a generall Councell ) to send Embassadors to Rome , to tender the Lady with the Crown to Maximian a Roman Senator , Son of Leolin a●Briton , Unkle to Constantine the Great ; e Geoffry of Monmouth and his Epitomizer f Ponticus Virunnius thus relate the story . That King Octavius being old and having one only Daughter , quesivit a consiliariis suis , demanded of his Counsellors , whom they desired to advance to be King after his decease ? Whereupon some of them advised , that he should bestow his daughter , together with the Realm , on some of the Noble Romans , to procure a firme peace . Others advised , that Conon his Nephew should be installed in the royall Throne of the Realm , and his Daughter with gold and silver married to some forain Prince . Whiles these things were debating , Caradoc Duke of Cornwall came in , and gave his advice , that they should invite Maximinian the Senator , descended of British and Roman , as well as royall bloud , to come into Britain to marry the Kings Daughter , and with her the Realm , whereby they should enjoy perpetuall Peace . Which Conan for his own interest opposed , but major pars Laudabat , the major part of the Nobles approved it , and consented thereunto . Whereupon Caradoc sent his Son Maurice to Maximinian , who related to him , that Octavius being aged and sick , desired nothing more then to finde out such a person of honour , on whom he might bestow his Kingdome with his daughter , consiliumque a proccribus suis quesivit ; and that he had demanded counsell from his Nobles , to whom he might marry his only daughter , with the Crown ; That the Nobles in obedience to his command , Decreverunt ut tibi Regnum et puella concederetur , had decreed that the Kingdom with the Damsel should be granted to him , & that they had decreed he should come and give him notice thereof . Whereupon Maximinian imbracing the offer , came into Britain , and landed at Hampton , with a great train of Souldiers ; the King suppofing them to be an Army of Enemies , commanded all the forces of the Kingdome to be assembled and march against them , under Conan ; which Maximinian admiring at , and unable to resist them , sent Embassadors to Conan with olive branches , telling him , they were sent from Rome to the King , and required peace till they knew his pleasure . And when Conan doubted whether to give them Peace or Battaile , Caradoc Duke of Cornwall and the rest of the Nobles disswaded Conan from fighting with them , and advised him to grant them Peace , which he did : who being brought to London to the King , he , communi consensu , by common consent of his Nobles gave his Daughter with the Kingdome to Maximinian . By which it is apparent , that the King without consent of his Nobles in Parliament , could not dispose of his Daughter nd ●heir to the Crown , nor of his Kingdome to another ; That the Nobles in that age , were the Kings great Councell and Parliament of the Nation , and that the major part of them swayed all businesses , in their Councels by the majority of voices : the ends for which I relate it . In the year 390. g Maximus the Tyrant King of Britain , invading Armoric● in France , caried such a multitude of Souldiers with him out of Britain , that he left almost all Britain empty of Souldiers and Forces to defend it , carrying all the Souldiers and Warlike young men with him , leaving none but unmanly and country people behinde him ; and having subdued all Armorica that year , he styled it little Britain . The next year he sent for one hundred thousand Britons more to people it , and thirty thousand Souldiers out of Britain to garrison the Townes , and the next year he sent for eleven thousand Virgins , and sixtie thousand other persons , to be transported into little Britain ; whereby old Britain was almost quite dispeopled , and left destitute of all defence . Hereupon the Huns and Picts invaded and infested the Britons very much , slaying the Britons and wasting their Cities and Towns : the Britons sending to Maximus for assistance , he sent Gratianus a Senator with two Legions to aide them , who slew many of the enemies , and chased the rest into Islands . Anno 392. Maximus being slain at Rome , thereupon Gratianus taking upon him the Crown of Britain , made himself King thereof , after which he exercised so great Tyranny towards the Britons , that the common geople gathering together slew him . Whereupon the former expulsed enemies returning , oppressed and afflicted the Britons very much for a long time . Upon this the Britons , Anno 420 , and 421. sent to the Roman Emperors for aide to expell these invaders , which they sent accordingly , but in small proportion , who chasing away the enemies for the present , then encouraging and teaching the Britons how to defend themselves , and make wals and Fortifications to resist their invasions , returned back again by reason of other Warres : Upon this , their former enemies infested them more then formerly . As last , Anno 434. in the 8. year of Theodosius the younger , the Romans by occasion of other Warres withdrew all their Souldiers out of Britain , leaving the Britons destitute , like so many sheep without a Shepherd , exposed to the Wolvish cruelty aud depredations of the Picts , Scots , Norwegians , Danes , who forced them to flie from their Cities and Houses into Woods , Mountains , Caves , Rockes , and there to hide themselves from their bloudy fury . In this distresse they sent Messengers to Rome with this short mournfull relation of their lamentable condition . Agitio ter Consuli , Gemitus Britonum , salutem : Nos mare ad Barbaros , & Barbari ad mare propellunt : Inter haec autem duo funerum genera oriuntur , aut enim submergimur , aut jugulamur . The Messengers returning without any aid from Rome , which was denied them , and relating to their Country-men their sad repulse , the Britons taking counsell together , how to redeem themselves in this forlorne estate , withheld the payment of their ancient Tribute to the Romans , which they had a long time paid them : and sent Guithelin , Archbishop of London , to their Brethen in little Britain for aid ; where being honorably received by King Androenus , he acquainted him with the cause of his coming , and the great miseries and distresses of his Countrymen , pressing him with many arguments , to goe and receive the Kingdome of Britain , which of right belonged to him , and expelling the Barbarians , to dispose of it at his pleasure , and restore his Country to it pristine estate , which had formerly subdued to it Kingdomes far remote . To which the King answered , I formerly would have accepted of this offer of the Kingdome of Britain , but in respect of its present misfortunes , it is made more contemptible to me , and odious to my Princes . But above all other evils , the Roman power hath so much prejudiced it , that no man can enjoy a stable dignity within it , but be must lose his liberty , and be burdened with a yoake of servitude ; and who would not possesse lesse elsewhere , with liberty , then enjoy the wealth of Britain under a yoak of bondage ? Notwithstanding because my Grandfather and great Grandfather have enjoyed that Island , I will deliver to you my Brother Constantine with 2000. Souldiers , which by Gods permission will free the Country from enemies , and being there crowned King , shall possesse the Kingdome with glory and honour . Whereupon Constantine undertaking the expedition , the Archbishop used these words to him ; Christ hath conqueted , Christ reigneth , Christ commandeth , let the grace of Christ be therefore present with our King of Britain , who is our defence , our hope , our joy , that he may restore the miserable Island to its pristine liberty . Constantine taking shipping arrived at Totnes with 2000. Souldiers , to whom the dispersed Britons creeping forth of their holes and dens where they hid themselves , repaired from all parts ; and fighting with their enemies , obtained a great victory over them by the diligence and valour of their new King. After which facta in Cicestria concione , calling an assembly at Chichester , they made Constantine King , and gave him a wife extracted out of the linage of the noble Romans educated by Guithelin . Anno 445. King Constantine being slain by a Pict , ( suborned by Vortigerne ) as he was hunting , h there arose a dissension among the Nobles , which of them should be made King ; for Aurelius Ambrosius and Vther , the Kings Sons , were sent over into little Britain to be educated , and if they had been present , they could not reign by reason of their childhood . Whereupon Vortigerne Consull of the Gewis●i , who aspired after the Crown with all his endevour , going to Winchester , and taking Constans a Monk ( Son of Constantine ) out of his Cloister , brought him to London , and there made him King , the people scarce consenting to it , because he was a Mo●k : and acting the part of a Bishop ( Guithelin being dead ) he set the Crown on the Kings head with his own hands . The King thus crowned referred the managing of all affaires to Vortigerne alone * who craftily committed all the Castles and Forts of the Realm to his own Souldiers , and having gotten all the Forts and Power of the Realm into his own hands , he cunningly devised , how he might destroy the King and get the Crown for himself . Whereupon , he seised upon the Kings treasures , augmented the number of his Soldiers and servants , and perswaded the King to intertain a Guard of one hundred Picts ( who were at his own command , and ready to execute any Treason and treachery he should prescribe them ) to guard his person day and night from enemies . The King at his perswasion entertaining these Picts , Vortigerne so inriched them with stipends , and feasted them with most delicate meats , that they did in a manner adore him , and aryed openly through the streets , that he was worthy to Reign . When he had thus highly ingratiated himself in the favour of them all , he made them all drunk on a certain day , and then told them with tears , that he would depart out of Britain , seeing he had not enough of his own to maintain 50. Souldiers . After which , departing as it were sorrowfull to his lodging , he left them drinking in the hall ; which the Picts hearing of , murmured one to another , saying , Why do not we slay the Monke , that Vortigerne may enjoy the throne of the Kingdome ? Rising up therefore , being drunke , they made an assault upon the King , and slew him , and brought the Kings head to Vortigerne . Which when Vortigerne understood , he feigning himself to be very sorrowfull , brake forth into a weeping , that he might palliate the treason committed under the vaile of tears . Then calling the Citizens of London together , he acquainted them what had hapned , and commanded those Picts to be slain and beheaded , that he might render his own fraud exeused from this wicked act . At last when he saw no man equall to himself , he set the Crown of Britain on his own head and overwent al the Princes . He being thus advanced , the contagion of all wickednesse began to increase : scurrilous wickednesse , hatred of truth , contempt of God , wrangling , contention , riot , villany grew outragious ; so as Vortigerne alone might seem to be a vessell of all wickednesse , and that which is most contrary to royall honesty , Nobiles Deprimens , depressing the Nobles , and advancing ignoble persons both for manners and bloud , he became odious to God and Men. Anno 447. When the iniquity and levity of minde of King Vortigerne was divulged to all Nations round about , the Scots and the Picts ( one hundred of whose fellow Citizens Vortigerne had slain for that Treason which he suborned them to act that he might get the Crown ) rose up against him , and most grievously infested him and impunged the Realm of Britain : for consuming all things with the sword , fire , preyes and rapines , they ground to powder the sinfull Nation , because it favored this Vsurpers royall estate ; and thus the common people contaminated together with the King , communi percellitur ultione , is pierced through with a common revenge . And as the sword devoured many on the one hand , so the Pestilence did more on the other , so as the living were not sufficient to bury the dead . The King therefore with the desolated people , tyred out with warlike incursions , not knowing what he might do against the irruptions of their enemies , inclined to desolation ; for Vortigerne hereupon awaked with the cryes of the people , assembled a Councell ( or Parliament ) to consult what they should do in this publick distresse , requiring the advice of his Nobles therein . Which our Historians thus relate , Super statu publico in medium consulit sententias magnatum suorum explorans . So William of Malmesbury . Britanni injerunt consiium quid agendum ; so Henry Huntington ; and Ethelwerdus , placuit omnibus cum rege suo Vortigermo ; or as Ethelwardus records it , Concessit tota Nobilitas , &c. At last they all agreed , and all the Nobility together with King Vortigerne granted and resolved , that they should call in the Saxons and English out of Germany to their aid , being valiant in armes , and then fixed in no setled place ; by which they conceived they should reape a double benefit : for being invincible in armes , they would easily repulse their enemies ; and being unsetled , they would reckon it for a very great benefit if they might receive some barren squalid soile and cliffs to inhabit ; and that they would never attempt any thing against them , or their Country , because the memory of benefits would mollifie the genuine fiercenesse of their manners . Which advice appeares to be ordered by divine providence ( write Mathew Westminster and others ) that evill might come upon these evill Britons and their bloudy Vsurper . This Counsell being approved by all , they sent eminent men Embassadors into Germany , who might worthily represent the person of their Country . The Germans hearing the businesse , which they of their own accords desired , requested from them with a thousand intreaties , presently sent over Hengist and Horsa with three Ships fraighted with Souldiers and Armes ; Explentes petitionem Regis Senatusque . The King upon their arrivall meets them , bestowes rewards and the people large favours on them : then giving them their faith , they received the Isle of Tanoth to inhabit . This agreement likewise was made between them , That the English and Saxons with invincible labours should defend the Country against their enemies , and that the Britons should pay them their military stipends , for whose safety they pretended to watch . And thus they received pay and Lands from the Britons , Quasi pro patria pugnaturi , re autem vera expugnaturi susceperunt , ( as some of their profession and progeny have done of latter years ) These English and Saxons ( who arrived Ann. 449. ) soon vanquished and drove the Scots and Picts out of the Realme , and then taking notice of the Kings and Britons idlenesse , leudnesse , and the riches of the Isle , Hengist acquainting the rest of his Countrymen therewith , sent over for more forces by degrees , and for his daughter Rowena ( a very beautifull maide but a Pagan ) whom he maried to Vortigerne , whereby he incurred the enmity of his Nobles and Sons , and thereupon favoured the Saxons ( who promised to establish him in his Throne against his enemies ) more then the Britons , bestowing all Kent and Northumberland on the English and Saxons . Upon this the Britons growing jealous lest their new Gardians and Protectors should utterly supplant , extirpate and disinherit them of their native Country by degrees ( as they did in the conclusion ) they all petitioned Vortigerne , to banish them out of the Realme , being Pagans , who ought not to communicate with Christians ; but he contemning suorum consiliis acquiescere , to follow the advise of his Nobles and native Subjects , thereupon Magnates Britannie , the Nobles of Britaine , Anno 454. deserting , and then depriving Vortigerne of his Royall Power , made his Sonne Vortimer King. Qui consiliis suorum in omnibus acquiescens , who following their Counsels in all things , began to expell the Saxons , and to restore the Britons to their possessions , which the Saxons had invaded , repairing likewise the Churches and Christian Religion , which they had almost quite ruined , till at last he was poysoned by Rowena his Mother in Law , Anno 460. cum quo simul spes & victoria Brtionum est extincta , & retro fluxerint . Such an incomparable losse is a good King to a Nation . Vortimer being thus poysoned , Vortigerne reassuming the Crown , sends privately to Hen●ist into Germany , to come over to him with a small train , lest coming otherwise the Britons should resist him with their united forces . Hengist An. 461. lands with 4000 armed men , which being related to Vortigerne and THE NOBLES OF T●E REA●M , they were very angry at it , resolving to give him battle ; of which Hengist being informed by Ro●ena , excused the matter , that he came with so great a force for fear of Vorti●er , whom he thought to be alive , but being now 〈◊〉 of his death , he would commit himself and his p●ople to the Kings disposall , to return or send away to 〈…〉 then as he should direct , desiring him to appoint 〈…〉 and place , UT HAEC 〈…〉 CONSENSU , that these 〈…〉 by common consent : Whereupon the 〈…〉 appointed a meeting at 〈…〉 , for the 〈◊〉 and Saxons to treat : Hengist 〈…〉 all the Saxons that went to the Treaty , to 〈…〉 under their Garments , and upon a Signall given 〈◊〉 , that every one of them should kill the Bri●on that 〈◊〉 next him : Whiles they were treating , Hengist took hold of Var●●iger●●es cloke ( which was the signall ) upon which the Saxons drawing out their Knives , suddainly sl●w about 460 of the 〈◊〉 NOBLES , BARONS , and * CONSU●S , being unarmed , and suspecting no such thing ; but Consul El●●● ▪ beholding the Treachery , took up a Stak● , which he there found by chance , and with it slew 70. Saxons , till his Stak● was quite spent , and then saved himself by flight . The King they took Prisoner , enforcing him to grant them Kent , Sussex ▪ Suffolke , and Norfolke , which he confirmed to them with an Oath , and then they rele●sed him : After which they wast●d most of the Ki●gdom with fire and sword , pulled down Churches , slew the Pr●●sts , burned up the Bookes of the holy Sc●ipture , leaving nothing undone , that Tyranny could effect ; and forced Vortigerne , with m●st of the Britons , to retire into Wales for shelter in the M●●●taines . The Britons thus distressed by the Saxons under this bloudy Usurper ( who first called them in , and under hand encouraged them against the Natives ) Anno 464. sent Messengers into Little Brittain to Aurelius Ambrosius and Vt●r Pendragon ( then of full age , and right heires to the Crown ) to come speedily over to them , with what forces they could raise , to expell the Saxons , and the Vsurper Vortigerne , and receive the Crown and Kingdome of Brittain , of right belonging to them : Who thereupon arriving with great forces , Anno 466 : the Britons repair'd from all parts to Aurelius Ambrosius ( the elder Brother ) and assembling the Clergy , forthwith crowned him for their King. Which done , the Britons exhorting him , in the first place , to assault the Saxons ; the King mindfull of the Treason done to his Father and Brother by Vortigerne , refused to doe it , till he had first destroyed this bloudy Traytor : Whereupon marching with his Army to Gen●rium a Castle in Wales , wherein Vortigerne was , he spake thus to his Captaines . Consider most noble Captaines , if these walls of this Tower can pr●tect Vortigerne , who hath wasted a fertile Country , destroyed holy Churches , almost deleted Christianity from Sea to Sea , and that which I think is more to be lamented , HATH BETRAYED MY FATHER and BROTHER . Now most Noble Countrymen play the Men , and in the first place revenge your selves on him , by whom all these things have come to passe , and after that turn your armes upon your Saxon Enemies . Presently upon these words , they endeavoured to throw down the Walls with divers Engines . At last when other things failed , they put fire to the wooden Walls , which taking hold on them , burnt both the Tower and Vortigerne to ashes , as some record : whereas others write , it was done with fire and lightning then sent from heaven by God upon him . The bloudy Usurper being thus destroyed , this King and the Britons valiantly encountred the Saxons , slew many thousands of them in sundry battles against Hengist and Ella , whom they routed and chased throughout the Realm . This King in his march , finding the Churches every where destroyed to the ground by the Saxons , Anno 468. sent for Work-men , and caused them to be new built , placed Preshyters and Clerkes in them , restored divine Service to its due state , utterly destroyed the prophane Temples and Idols of the Saxons , blotting out their memory from under heaven : Moreover , he studied and commanded to observe Justice and Peace to Churches and Church-men , conferring many Gifts on them , out of his Royall bounty , with ample Rents ; commanding all to pray for the prosperity of the Realm and State of the Church . The year following , by his Letters directed to all the Coasts of Britain , he commanded all who could bear Armes speedily to repair to him , and to endeavour to exterminate the Pagans out of the confines of Britain . Whereupon all of them being assembled together , he marched with them against Hengist and the Saxons ; after a bloudy battel Hengist was taken Prisoner by Duke Eldol ( fore-mentioned ) and his whole Army routed . The King upon this victory , coming to Glocester , calling his Captaines and Nobles together , commanded them to resolve , WHAT OUGHT TO BE DONE CONCERNING HENGIST ? upon which Eldad Bishop of Glocester , brother to Duke Eldol , commanding all to be silent , grinding his teeth for anger , said : Although all would set this man free , yet I will hew him into peices . O effeminate men , why doe yee demurre ? Did not Samuel the Prophet , when he hewed the King of Amaleck , taken in warre , in peices , say , As thou hast made many Mothers childlesse , so will I this day make thy Mother childlesse among women ? So doe yee likewise concerning this other Agag , who hath bereaved many Mothers of their Children . Upon which words , Eldol drawing forth his sword , led Hengist out of the City , and cutting off his head , sent him packing to hell . After this CONVOCAVIT REX CONSVLES ET PRINCIPES REGNI EBORACVM , The King called the Consuls and Nobles of the Realm together to York , and commanded them to repair the Churches the Saxons had destroyed , himself building the Cathedrall there . Then marching to London Anno 490. Octa and the other Saxons unable to withstand his power , submitted to him , confessing his God to be stronger than their Gods ; with whom he made this agreement , that they should leave Kent , and those other places they possessed , and seat themselves in a Country neer Scotland , which he gave them . Then going to Ambri , he caused great stones ( there remaining to this day ) to be set up as a Monument , for the Noble Britons there treacherously slain . Where he holding A COUNCIL WITH HIS BISHOPS , ABBOTS and OTHER NOBLES , was Crowned again on Whitsunday , and granted the Metropolitical Sea of York , then void , to Sampson ; and that of the City of London to Dubritius , and likewise REGNVM DISPOSVIT , LEGESQVE RENOVAT ; set the Kingdomes in order , and renued the Lawes . After this he and the Britans had many battles with the Saxons , to defend and recover their Country , Liberties , Lawes ; till at last he 〈◊〉 tr●yterously poysoned Anno 497. whose death the B●itons 〈◊〉 : cum quo simul MILITIA ET 〈◊〉 B●●TONVM EXPIRAVIT , as Mathew Westminster , and others write . From this memorable Story of Vortigerne , Aurelius Ambrosius , and the Britons , and Saxons , these particulars are observeable . 1. That the British Kings in those times , debated all their weighty affaires , and concluded all matters touching Warre , Peace , and the publick defence of the Realm against invading Enemies , in Grand Parliamentary Councils , in which they likewise made Laws and Edicts . 2. That the Princes , Dukes and Nobles ●ere the onely or principle Members of the Great Councils of the Realm in those dayes , by whose advice all things were managed . 3. That Traytors to and Murderers of their lawfull Soveraignes , usurping their Crownes , bring commonly great fearful Judgements on the whole Kingdome and Nation , in case they comply with them therein . 4. That Vortegernes Treason in murdering his Soveraignes , and usurping their Crown , was the occasion of , and punished with the long-lasting Warres with the Picts and Saxons ; yea , the original cause of the great revolution of the Government , Kingdome and Country of Britain from the Britons to the Saxons . 5. That although a bloudy usurping Traytor may reign and deprive the right heir of the Crown of his right for many yeares , yet his reign is usually full of warres , vexations , dangers , troubles , his end tragicall , and the right heir called in and restored by the people themselves at last , as her● Aurelius Ambrosius was after 21 , yeares usurpation of his right : and Joash in the seventh year of Athaliah's usurpation . 2 Chron. 23. 6. That usurpers are apt to depresse the Nobility , and oppresse the Natives of the Realm , for fear they should oppose their T●ranny and dethrone them . 7. That a●l Heresies , vices , contempt of God and Religion , usually s●●ing up and overspread the Realm under Usurpers , who give publick countenance to them to please all sides , to suppo●● u●just authority over them . 8. That it is i very dangerous to call in forrain Forces upon any necessity into a Kingdome , as assistants , who commonly prove worse Enemies in conclusion , than those they are called in to 〈◊〉 . 9. That all Mercenary Guards and Souldiers ( especially Forraigners ) are for the most part very Treacherous and Perfidious , for●ibly suppressing supplanting , destroying those Princes and Nations they are hired to guard and protect . 10. That lawful hereditary Kings are the cheifest Patrons of Gods Ministers , Churches , Religion ; and the death of such ( then religious , just , valient ) the greatest losse and misery that can befall a Nation . 11. That all Subjects are obliged to defend with their armes and lives , their Native Country and lawful Kings against Invaders and Usurpers . 12. That the worst of Kings and Usurpers , in cases of extream danger , are enforced to all Common Councils , and to crave the advice and assistance of their Nobles ( as Vortigerne did here ) as well as the justest Kings . Aurelius Ambrosius dying by poson , without Issue , Anno 497. k Vther Pondragon his Brother , and next heir , posting to Winchester , assembled the Clergy and People of the Realm thither , and took upon him the Crown of the Realm ; which done , PRAECEPIT VTHER CONSVLES SVOS AT QUE PRINCIPES AD SEVOCARI , VT CONSILIO SVORVM TRACT ARET , QVALITER IN HOSTES IRRVPTIONEM FACERENT : Vther commanded his Consuls and Nobles to be called to him , that by their advice he might debate , in what manner they should assault the Enemies . whereupon they all assembling in the Kings presence , upon mature debates , they all agreed to the advice there propounded by Gorlois ; and encountring the Saxons , slew many of them , routed the rest , took some chief Commanders Prisoners , and put them in Prison at London , whether the King repaired . The feast of Easter approaching , REX PRAECEPIT PROCERIBVS REGNI IBI CONVENIRE . The King commanded all the Nobles of the Realm to assemble TOGETHER AT LONDON , that wearing his Crown , he might celebrate the holy day with due honour . ALL PRESENTLY OBEYED , and the King celebrated the Festivity with joy . Among other Nobles , Gorlois Duke of Cornwall was present . The King not long after being taken with a great sicknesse , Octae and Osa , the Saxon Generals , bribing their Keepers , efcaped out of Prison , and then collecting all their forces , resolved to extirpate the Britons and Christian Religion out of the Island ; in pursuance whereof , they wasted the Land from Sea to Sea , sparing neither Bishops , nor Churches , overruning all places without resistance . The Britons deserting their sick King , fled into Woods and Caves , refusing to follow the Counsel and Conduct of Consul Lotho , a most valiant man , whom the King had made Generall of his Forces . Hereupon King Vther being much grieved for the Subversion of the Realm , the Oppression of the Church , the Desolation of the Nobles , and Dispersion of the People . Anno 512. CONVOCATIS OMNIBVS REGNI SVI MAGNATIBVS , calling together all the Nobles of his Realm ( in a General Parliamentary Councel ) sharply reproved them both for their Pride and S●othfulnesse , and casting out many bitter words with reproaches against them , informed them , that he himself would lead them against the Enemies , that so he might reduce the minds of them all to their pristine state and audacity . And commanding himself to be carried in his sick bed in a Litter into the Camp , ( his infirmity not permitting him to be carried otherwise ) he marched therein with all the strength of the Kingdome against the Enemies , who scorned to fight with him being sick in his Litter , and at last forcing them to fight , after many bloudy encounters , utterly routed their forces , and slew Octa and Osa their Generals . Anno 516. k The Saxons treacherously poysoning this Noble King , the Bishops , Clergy and People of the Realm assembling together , buried him honourably at Ambri , within the Quire of Giants . The funeral being ended , Dubricus , the Arch-Bishop , SOCIATIS SIBI EPISCOPIS ET MAGNATIBVS , associting the Bishops and Nobles to him , magnificently advanced his Son Arthur ( a youth but sixteen yeares old ) to be King ; to which Solemnity , CONVENERVNT EX DIVERSIS PROVINCIIS PROCERES BRITTANNORUM , the Nobles of the Britons assembled out of divers Provinces to Ca●rleon , and there crowned King Arthur , who having routed the Saxons in twelve severall Battles ; afterwards ( if we believe our British Fables , as Malmesbury stiles them ) conquered all France , and keeping his Court at Paris , CONVOCATIS CLERO ET POPVLO STATVM REGNI PACE ET LEGE CONFIRMAVIT . Whence returning into Britain in triumph , about the year 536 Pentecost aproaching , he resolved to keep that Solemnity at Caer-●eon , and there to be new Crowned . Whereupon he sent Messengers into all the Kingdomes and Countries subject to him , inviting ▪ ALL THE KINGS , DUKES . and NOBLES SUBJECT TO HIM , TO COME TOGETHER TO THAT SOLEMNITY , that he might ren●e a most firm Peace between them . Whereupon no lesse than thirteen Kings , three Arch-Bishops , with sundry PRINCES , DUKES . CONSULS , EARLES and NOBLES there assembled , whose names you may read at large in Geoffry Monmouth . The King being solemnly crowned by D●bricius Arch-Bishop of 〈◊〉 , in the midst of the Feasts , Sports and 〈…〉 at this Coronation , behold twelve men of mature age , of reverend countenance , bringing Olive branches in their right hands in token of their Embassy , with grave paces came to the King , and having saluted him , presented him with 〈…〉 Luciu , Tiberius , Procurator of the Roman R●publi●k , to this effect : I exceedingly admire the frowardnesse of thy Tyranny , a●d the Inj●ry thou hast done to Rome , that going out of thy self , thou refusest to acknowledge her , neither dost thou consider what it is to offend the Senate by unjust actions to whom thou art not ignorant , the whole 〈…〉 Service , For thou hast presumed to detain THE TRIBUTE OF BRITAIN , which THE SENATE COMMANDED THEE TO PAY , because Caius Julius and other Romane Emperours have injoyed it for a long time , neglecting the command of so great an Order . Thou hast taken away from them the Province of the Switzers , and all the Isles of the Ocean , whose Kings , whiles the Roman power p●evailed in those parts , pai● Trib●te to our Ancestors . Now because the Senate hath diverced , to demand Justice concerning so great heapes of thy injuries , I command thee to rep●ir to Rome . to answer them on the midst of August the year following , the time pr●fixed to thee ; that satisfying thy Lords , thou maist submit to that sentence , which their Justice shall pronounce . But if thou refusest , I my self will come in person into thy Quarters , and will endeavour to restore by the Sword , what ever thy frenzy hath taken away from the Republick . This Letter being read in the presence of all the Kings and Nobles present , King Arthur went apart with them , to consult concerning this businesse : where craving their unanimous advise and sense conce●ning these Mandates ; He said : That he thought the inquietation of Lucius was not much to be feared , since ex irrationabile causa , from an unreasonable cause he exacted the Tribute , which he desired to have out of Britain : For he saith , that it ought to be given to him , because it was paid to Julius Caesar , and the rest of his Successors , who invited by the divisions of the old Britons , arrived with an Army in Britain , and BY FORCE and VIOLENCE SUBJECTED THE COUNTRY TO THEIR POWER , SHAKEN WITH DOMESTICK COMMOTIONS . Now because they obtained it is in this manner ; Vectigal ex ea INIVSTE RECEPERVNT , They RECEIVED TRIBUTE CUT OF IT , unjustly . Nihil enimu od vi & violentia acquiritur , juste ab ullo prossidetur qui violentiam intulit . Irrationabilem ergo causam pretendit , qua nos jure sibi tributarios arbitratur , &c. FOR NOTHING WHICH IS ACQUIRED BY FORCE and VIOLENCE , IS JUSTLY POSSESSED BY ANY MAN WHO HATH OFFERED THE VIOLENCE ; Therefore he pretends AN UNREASONABLE CAUSE , whereby he supposeth us of right to he Tributaries to him , Now because he presumes to exact from us , id quod injustum est , THAT WHICH IS UNJUST , by the same reason let us demand Tribute of Rome from him , and he which shall become strongest , let him carry away that he desires to have . For if because Julius Caesar , and the rest of the Roman Emperours , have in times past subdued Britain , he determines , that Tribute ought now to be rendred to him out of it ; in like manner I think , that Rome ought now to render Tribute unto us , because my Ancestors have in ancient times obtained it . For Belinus , that most noble King of the Britons , using the assistance of his Brother Brennus Duke of the Allobroges , having hanged up four and twenty of the most Noble Romans in the midst of the market place , took the City , and being taken , possessed it a long time . Moreover Constantine the sonne of Helen and Maximianus , both of them my neer Kinsmen , both of them Kings of Britain , one after the other , obtained the Throne of the Roman Empire . Doe yee think therefore , that Tribute is to be demanded by the Romans ? Concerning France , or the Collaterall Islands of the Ocean , I am not to answer to them , seeing they deserted their defence , when we substracted them from their Power . The whole Council of Kings and Nobles present , assenting fully to this his opinion and resolution , promised him their assistance in this cause against the Romans . Whereupon he returned Answer to the Roman Emperours by the said Messengers , THAT HE WOULD BY NO MEANES RENDER THEM TRIBUTE , NEITHER WOULD HE SUBMIT HIMSELF TO THEIR JUDGEMENT CONCERNING IT , NOR REPAIR TO ROME ; yea , that he demanded from them , that which they had decreed , by that their judgement , to demand from him . And hereupon ( some say ) he writ this Letter unto the Senate of Rome , in answer of theirs . Vnderstand among you at Rome , that I am King Arthur of Britain , and FREELY IT HOLD and SHALL HOLD ; and at Rome hastily will I be , not TO GIVE YOU TRUAGE ( Tribute ) but to have Truage of you . For Constantine that was Helens Son , and others of mine Ancestors , CONQUERED ROME , and thereof were Emperours , and that they had and held , I shall have and hold by Gods grace . Whereupon Lucius Tiberius , by command of the Senate , raising great forces amongst the Eastern Kings to subdue Britain , was encountred and slain by King Arthur , with all his Roman forces , in the valley of Soisie in France Anno Dom. 537. since which this Tribute was never demanded . This History ( whether true or seigned ) as it declares by the Resolution of thirteen Kings , and a great multitude of Princes , Dukes , Nobles , Prelates , Souldiers , that Titles and Tributes gotten by Force , Violence , Conquest , are both irrational , unjust and illegal ; So it resolves , That the Matters of Warre , Peace and other great Affaires of the Realm , were determined in Parliament . That the Kings , Princes and Nobles were the onely Parliaments and Parliament men of that age : That the Realm and Kings of England are neither tributary , nor subject , nor responsible to any Forraign Powers , Jurisdictions , or Courts whatsoever ; and that no Tribute or Tax can justly be imposed on , or exacted from the Inhabitants of this Island , but by their own voluntary Grants and Consents , even by the Lawes and Customes of the Realm in the Britons times ; and that whatever Tax or Possession was then gained by force , conquest , or armed power without just right and Title , was both unjust and unreasonable . And so ought to be reputed now . Quod ab initio non valet , tractu temporis non convalescit , being a Principle in our Law. I read in the Lawes of King Edward before the Conquest , c. 35. in Mr. Lambards Archaion , fol 135 , 136. and Sir Edward Cook his 7 Report ; Calvins Case , fol. 6 , 7. That this most famous King Arthur first invented and inacted this Law , That all the Princes , Earles , Nobles , Knights , and all Free-men of the Realm of Britain , ought to make and swear fealty to their Lord the King in the full Folkemote or Leet , in this form ( commonly used in Leets till within the six yeares last past . ) You shall swear , that from this day forward , you shall be true and faithfull to our Soveraign King Arthur , and HIS HEIRES , and truth and faith you shall bear to him of life , and member , and terrene honour ; and you shall neither know nor hear of any ill or dammage intended to him , that you shall not defend . So help you God. And that by Autherity of this Law , King Arthur expelled the Saracens ( it should be Saxons , for no Saracens ever invaded Britain ) and Enemies out of the Realm . And by Authority of this Law , King Etheldred in one and the same day slew all the Danes throughout the whole Realm . Surely such Oathes of Fealty , Loyalty and Homage are very ancient , as our Histories manifest . King Arthur being mortally wounded in the battell he fought with his Nephew Mordred ( who usurped the Crown in his absence ) Mordred being slain in the fight , Arthur despairing of life , gave the Crown of Britain to Constantine his Kinsman Anno Dom. 542. who , together with the rest of the British Kings , neglecting all Lawes and Justice , warring against each other , and degenerating into Tyrants , Usurpers , Murderers , Perjurious Persons , Oppressors , and the like , declined daily in their power , the Saxons continually incroaching upon them in all parts , and about the year of our Lord 586. they were quite driven out of their Kingdomes , together with their British Subjects , by the Saxons into Wales , Cornwall , and Little Britain in France , and reduced to the extremity of all misery , as you may read at large in Gildas , de Excidio & Conquestu britanniae ; and l others out of him . Who thus describes the Tyrannies and vices of those times . Vngebantur Reges non per Deum , sed qui caeteris crudeliores extarent ; & paulo post ab unctoribus , non pro veri examinatione TRUCIDABANTUR , ALIIS ELECTIS TRUCIORIBUS . Si quis vero eorum mitior , & veritate aliquatenus pronior videretur , in hunc quasi Britanniae Subversorem , omnium odia telaque sine respectu contorquebantur ; & omnia quae displicuerint Deoque placuerint aequali saltem lance pendebantur , si non graviora fuissent displicentia . Sicque agebant cuncta , quae saluti contraria fuerunt , ac si nihil mundo medicina a vero omnium medico largiretur , &c. Ita cuncta veritatis & Justitiae moderamina concussa ac subversa sunt , ut corum , non dicam fastigium , sed ne monimentum quidem in supra dictis propemodum ordinibus apparent , exceptis paucis , & valde paucis , &c. Reges habet Britannia , sed TYRANNOS : Judices habet , sed impios : saepe praedantes & concutientes , sed innocentes : vindicantes & patrocinantes , sed reos & latrones : CREBRO JURANTES , SED PERJURANTES ; VOVENTES , & CONTINUO PROPEMODUM mentientes : belligerantes , SED CIVILIA ET INJUSTA BELLA AGENTES ; per patriam quidem fures magnopere insectantes , & eos qui secum admensam sedent non solum amantes , sed & munerantes ; in sede arbitraturi sedentes , sed raro recti judicii regulam quaerentes ; innexios humilesque despicientes , sanguinarios , superbos , parricidas , commanipulares ( qui cum ipso nomine certatim delendi sunt ) pro ut possunt efferentes ; vinctos plures in carceribus habentes , quos dolo sui potius quam merito proterunt , catenis onerantes ; inter Altaria jurando demorantes , & hoec eadem ac si lutulenta paulo post saxa despicientes . Cujus tanti nefandi piaculi non ignarus est immundae Leaenae D●mnoniae tyrannicus Catulus Constantinus . Hoc anno post horribile juramenti Sacramentum ( quo se devinxit nequaquam d●los civibus , Deo primum j●requejurando , Sanctorum demum choris & Genetrice comitantibus frelis facturum ) in duarum venerandis matrum finibus , Ecclesia earnalisque sub sancti Abbatis amphibalo , Latera regiorum tenerrima pucrorum , vel praecordia crudeliter duum totidemque nutritorum , inter ipsa , ut dixi , sacrosancta Altaria , nefando ense hastaque prodentibus laceravit , &c. Quid tu qu●que catule Leonine Aureli Canine agis ? Nonne pacem Pa●riae mortiferum ceu serpentem odiens , CIVILIAQUE BELLA & CREBRAS INJUSTE PRAEDAS SITIENS animae tuae caelestes portas pacis ac refrigerii praecludis ? Quid tu etiam insularis Draco , MULTORUM TYRANNORUM DEPULSOR TAM REGNO QUAM ETIAM VITA , snpradictorum novissime in nostro stylo prime in malo , major , multis potentia , simulque malitia , Largior in dando , profusior in peccato , robuste armis , sed animae forti●r excidiis , Maglocune , in tam vetusto scelerum a●ramento stolide volutaris ? Quare tantas peccaminum regiae cervici sponte , ut ita dicam , ineluctabiles celsorum seu Montium innectis moles ? Nonne in primis adolescentiae tuae annis avunculum Regem , cum fortissimis propemodum militibus acerrime ense , hasta , igni oppressisti ? Parum cogitans propheticum dictum : m Viri inquiens sanguinum & doli , non dimidiabunt dies suos . Quid pro hoc solo retributionis a justo judice sperares ( & si non talia sequerentur , quae secuta sunt ) itidem dicente per prophetam , n Vae tibi qui praedaris , nonne & ipse praedaberis ? & qui occidis , nonne & ipse occideris ? & cum d●siveris praedari , tunc cades . These sinnes brought the ancient British Kings , with their Kingdomes and People to ruine . Legitur in Libro Gildoe Sapientissimi Britonum , Quod ijdem Britones , propter Avaritiam & rapinam Principum , propter iniquitatem & injuriam Judicum , propter desidiam praedicationis Episcoporum , propter luxuriam & malos mores populi Patriam perdiderunt , write Alcuinus and o Malmesbury . The Lord grant they may not bring our Kingdomes and Nations to like ruine and desolation now . How many bloudy Warres and battles the Brotons , after they were driven out of their Country into the Welsh Mountaines by the Sa●ons , fought with them for the defence of their Country , Rights , Liberties , under the conduct of valient Cad●in , who after twenty four yeares civill Dissention amongst the Britons , and so long an Inter-regnum , was p by the UNANIMOUS CONSENT OF ALL THE PRINCES and NOBLES OF THE BRITONS ASSEMBLED TOGETHER ( in a great Parliamentary Councill ) AT LEGECESTER ELECTED and MADE 〈◊〉 OF THE BRITONS ; Which Nobles and Counsellor , would not permit him to give way , that Edwin the Saxon , by his permission , should be crowned King of Northamberland : Aiebant enim CONTRA IVS VETERVMQVE TRADITIONEM ESSE , Insulam unius CORONAE DVOBVS CORONATIS SVBMITTI DEBERE . And after his decease , under Cadwallo his Son , who succeeded him in the Crown ; and under famous Cadwallader , succeeding Cadwallo his Father in the Kingly Government , by lineall d●scent ; by whose death , both the royall blond , with the Government of the Britons , and the very name of Britain it self expired ; you may read at large in Geoffry Monmouth , B●da , Gildas , Maelmesbury , Huntindon , q Mathew Westminster , Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton , Speed and others , being over tedious to relate . The divisions and discords amongst the British Nobility , during Cadwalladers sicknesse , seconded with eleven yeares sere p●stilence , famine and all sorts of miseries , whereby the land became desolate , enforced them to forsake their native Country , and to seek relief in forraign parts . Whereupon the Saxons sending for more of their Countrymen into Britain , replenished and planted the vacant Country , dispossessing the Britons totally of their ancient rightfull Inheritance ; which they never since regained : after they had possessed it from Brute to Cadwallader , for two thousand seventy six yeares , under one hundred and two Kings , as John Brompton records in the beginning of his History , col . 725. And this shall suffice concerning the Britons Contests and Wars for their Liberties , Laws , Government , Country , Religion , against the Romans , Saxons , and touching their Great Parliamentary Councils , & Proceedings in them , from Julius Caesars to the Saxons Conquest , and total supplantation of them by Treachery , Violence and the Sword ; of which violent Intrusion , Laeland our famous Antiquary , and Archbishop Parker in his Antiquit●tes Ecclesiae Britannicae , p. 12. give their Censure in point of Conscience ; who writing of Pope Gregories conversion of the Pagan Saxons ( who expelled the Britons ) to the Christian Faith , conclude thus ; Debuerat Gregorius admonuisse Saxones , GENTEM PERFIDAM , ut si syncere Christia●issim●m admittere vellent , BRITANNIAE IMPERIVM , QVOD CONTRA SACRAMENTVM MILITIAE PER TYRANNIDEM OCCVPAVERANT , IVSTIS DOMINIS AC POSSESSORIBVS RESTITVERENT . That is : Gregory ought to have admonished the Saxons , a PERFIDIOUS NATION , that if they would sincerely embrace Christianity , they then ought to restore the Kingdome of Britain , which they had seised upon by Tyranny , against the Oath of their Militia , to the just Lords and Possessors thereof ; ( a Doctrine fit to be pressed on others now by all our Ministers ) which because they neglected to doe , you may read what a divine retaliation their Postetity received from the Pagan Danes , in the insuing Sections . CHAP. III. SECT . III. Comprising some remarkable Generall Historicall Collections ; proving the limited Power and Prerogative of the first Saxons Kings of England , disabled to make any Lawes , Warre , Peace , alienate their Crown Lands , impose any Taxes , Tributes in any Necessity , or kind whatsoever , but in and by common consent in the Generall Parliamentary Councils of their Nobles and Wisemen , which they were obliged to summon upon all occasions , when there was need , and to govern their people justy according to Law. The Saxons proceedings against their Tyrannicall oppressing Kings ; and the severe Judgements of God upon some Saxon Subjects , for their Perjury , Treachery , disloyalty , Rebellion against ; expulsions , murders of their lawfull Soveraignes , and unrighteous violent disinheriting the Christian Britons by the sword , of their Native Country . THe British Kings and Britons , being for their Tyranny , Perjury , Treachery , Injustice and other sinnes related , reprehended by Gildas , driven out and dispossessed of their Royalty and Country by the Saxons a they ( about the year of our Lord 576. ) divided it into seven Kingdomes , and set up seven Kings in severall parts of the Island ; who soon after waged civill Warres , and more than civill Warres one with another . These Kings all agreed , utterly to delete the name of Britain , and the memory of the Britons ; Whereupon they by common consent ordained . That the Island should not be called Britain from Brute , but England . b These Kings were at first elected by the Saxon Nobles and People , to reign over them , to govern the people of God , and TO MAINTAIN and DEFEND THEIR PERSONS and GOODS IN PEACE BY THE RULES OF RIGHT . And at the beginning ( so soon as they turned Christians ) they made their Kings to swear , that they should maintain the Christian faith with all their power , and GOVERN THEIR PEOPLE BY RIGHT , without respect to any person , and should be SUBJECT TO SUFFER RIGHT AS WELL AS OTHERS OF THE PEOPLE . And although the King ought not to have any Peer in his Land , for as much if he did wrong , or offended against any of his people , he , or any of his Commissioners , should not be both Judge and party , it behoved of RIGHT , THAT THE KING SHOULD HAVE COMPANIONS FOR TO HEAR AND DETERMINE IN PARLIAMENT ALL THE WRITS AND PLAINTS OF THE WRONGS OF THE KING , OF THE QUEEN , AND OF THEIR CHILDREN , and especially of those , OF WHOSE WRONGS ONE COULD NOT HAVE RIGHT OTHER WHERE . And these Companions are now called Counts , after the Latine word Comites ; every o●e of which had at first a Country delivered to him , to guard and defend it from the Enemies ; which Country is now called a County , and in Latine Comitatus : and these Counties , together with the Realm , were turned into an Inheritance . So Horne in his Mirrour of Justice ▪ in the reign of King Edward the first . These English Saxons from the first Settlement of their K●●gdomes and Monarchies , had no Soveraign Power at all t● make , alter , or repeal Lawes , impose Taxes , or alien their Crown Lands , but onely by common consent in General Parliamentary Councils , much lesse to imprison , con●emn , exile , out-law any m●ns person , or to deprive him of his Life , Lands , Goods ▪ Franchises , against the Law , without any Legall triall , as these Subsequent Historicall Collections will at large demonstrate . That they had no Power nor Authority to make , alter or repeal any Lawes , but onely by common advice and consent of their Nobles and Wise-men , in their Great Parliamentary Councils of the Realm , is evident by this passage of our Venerable c Beda , concerning Ethelbert King of Kent , the first Christian Saxon King and Law-maker : He , about the year of Christ 605. Inter caetera bona quae genti suae consulendo conferebat , etiam Decreta illi , juxta exempla Romanorum , CVM CONSILIO SAPIENTVM CONSTITVIT . Quae conscripta Anglorum sermone , hactenus habentur , & observantur ab ea . In quibus primitus posuit , qualiter id emendare deberet , qui aliquid rerum vel Episcopi , vel reliquorum ordinum furto aufernt , volens scilicet tuitionem eis , quos , & quorum doctrinam susceperat praesiare . Malmesbury and Huntingdon write of him . Quin etiam curam extendens in posteros LEGES PATRIO SERMONE , TVLIT , quibus bonis praemia decerneret , improbis per remedia meliora occurreret , NIHIL SVPER ALIQVO NEGOCIO INFVTVRVM RELINQVENS AMBIGVVM . The first Law this Christian King ever made BY THE COUNCIL OF HIS WISE-MEN , was for God , his Church and Ministers , to protect them and theirs from violence ( a Jove principium : ) and the next for to Protect Great Councils and their Members from Injury : thus recorded by d Sir Henry Spelmau , out of a famous ancient Manuscript called Textus Roffensis . 1. Quicunque Res Dei vel Ecclesiae abstulerit , duodecima componat solutione ; Episcopires , undecima solutione ; Sacerdotis res , nona solutione ; Diaconires , sexta solutione ; Clerici res , trina solutione : Pax Ecclesiae violata duplici emendetur solutione : Pax ( Monachi ) duplici etiam solutione . 2. Si Rex populum suum convocaverit , & hos ILLIC . quispiam injuria afficerit ; duplex esto emendatio , & praeterea 50. Solidos Regi pendito . Let the forcers of Parliaments consider it . To these I might subjoyn , all the Ecclesiasticall and Civil Lawes , Canons , Constitutions of all our other Saxon Kings , before the Normans reign , recorded in Mr. Lambards Archaion , and scatteringly mentioned in Beda , Ingulfus , William of Malmesbury , Huntindon , Mathew Westminster , Florentius Wigorniensis , Brompt . Antiquitates Eccl. Britannicae , Mr. Seldens Titles of Honour , Mr. Fox Acts and Monuments , with other Antiquaries and Historians , all made , altered , amended , repealed from time to time by common advice and consent in their Great Parliamentary Councils : which , because I have particularly insisted on in my Antiquity Triumphing over Novelty , and Historicall Collection of the ancient Great Councils and Parliaments of England , I shall forbear here to repeat at large , being never yet denied by any , and a truth beyond contradiction . That our Saxon Kings from their original institution , could not alienate or transferre to any other uses ( no not to endow Churches , support Gods Worship or Ministers ) any of their Crown Lands , Demesnes or Revenues , without common consent of their Nobles and Prelates in their Great Parliamentary Councils , is apparent by the three first Charters we read of granted by e Ethelbert , the first Christian Saxon King , to the Church of Peter and Paul in Canterbnry , Anno Dom. 605. Wherein the King , CVM CONSENSV venerabilis Augustini Archiepiscopi AC PRINCIPVM MEORVM ; by the consent of Archbishop Augustine and his Princes , first gave and granted a parcell of Land , of his Right , in the East part of the City of Canterbury , to build a Church and Monastery to the honour of St. Peter ; and after that by a second Charter of the same date , confirmed by his own , the Arch-bishops and Nobles subscriptions thereto , with the Sign of the Crosse , he gave and granted other Lands in Langeport to God and his Church ; and after that by a third Charter , Anno 610. he granted other Lands and Priviledges to it , as a testimony of his gratitnde to God , for his conversion from the Errour of false Gods to the worship of the onely true God ; adjuring and commanding in the name of the Lord God Almighty , who is the just Judge of all things , that the said Lands given to this Church by the said subscribed Charters , should be perpetually confirmed ; so that it should not be lawfull for himself , nor for any of his Successors , Kings or Princes , or for any Secular or Ecclesiasticall Dignity , to defraud the Church of any part thereof . And if any shall attempt to diminish or make void any thing of this Donation , let him be at present separated from the holy Communion of the body and bloud of Christ , and in the day of Judgement let him be separated from the fellowship of all the Saints . The two first of his Charters and Donations to this Church , were approved and confirmed in a Common Councill assembled by this King at Canterbury , 5. January Anno 605. Omnium & singulorum approbatione & consensu , BY THE APPROBATION AND CONSENT OF ALL AND EVERY OF THEM , as you may read at large in Sir Henry Spelman , and William Thorne . This truth is further abundantly confirmed by the f Charter of Immunities of Withraed King of Kent , granted to the Churches under him , Anno 700. The Charter of Ethelbald King of Mercia to the Church of Croyland , An. 716. The Charter of King Ive , of Lands and Priviledges to the Church of Glastonbury , Anno 725. The Charter of King Offa of Lands and Priviledges to the Courch of St. Albanes , Anno 794. The Charter of King Egfred to the same Church , Anno 797. The Charter of Bertulph King of Mercia to the Abbot of Croyland , made in the Parliamental Great Council of Biningdon , Anno 850. and of Kingsbury , Anno 851. ( a memorable president recorded at large by Abbot Ingulphus , Hist p. 858. to 863. ) the Charter of King Aethelstan to the Abby of Malmesbury , An. 930. The Charter of King Edmond to the Abbot of Glastonbury , Anno 944. and of the same Edmund to the Abby of Hyde , Anno 966. and to the Abby of Croyland the same year ; and to the Abby of Malmesbury , Anno 974. with many other Charters of our Saxon Kings , to Abbies , Bishops and Churches , recorded in Ingulphus , Malmesbury , Spelman and * others ; all which were made and confirmed by these Kings , with the consent and approbation of their Bishops , Abbots and Nobles , assembled in their Great Parliamentary Councils , and ratified , confirmed by them , being else void in Law , and repea●lable , as appeares by the Generall g Council of Kingston , Anno 838. Wherein the Manor of Mallings in Kent , which King Baldred had formerly given to Christs Church in Canterbury , being afterwards * revoked and substracted from it , because the Nobles offended with the King , would not ratifie that donation , nor suffer it to remain firm , was resetled and confirmed to this Church in and by this Council ( specially summoned for that purpose ) by King Egbert and his Son Athelwelfe , CONSENTI ENTIBVS DEMVM MAGNATIBVS : the Nobles now at last consenting to it in this Council , which they refused formerly to doe . A clear Evidence of the Noble-mens Negative and Affirmative Voyces to the Saxon Kings grants of their Lands and Charters to pious uses , and of their invalidity without their concurrent assents thereto . In most of these forecited Charters of our Kings to these Churches and Monasteries , it is observable , that they exempted them and their Lands , AB OMNIBVS PVBLICIS VECTIGALIBVS , ONERIBVS , REGIIS EXACTIONIBVS , ET OPERIBVS , nisi in structionibus Arcium , vel Pontium , quae nunquam ull●s possint Laxari . From which notwithstanding King h Ive exempted the Abby of Glastonbury ; and King Aethulwulfe and Beorred the Abby of Croyland ; & ab expeditione militari . And therefore , as they could not thus exempt them from publick Tributes , Burdens , Regal Exactions and Services without common consent in Parliamentary Councils , so they could not impose any publick Tributes , Burdens , Exactions or Services on them without common grant and consent in such Councils , ( unless by special referrations ) as I shall by ensuing Presidents most fully evidence . How carefull the Saxon Nobles and Subjects were from the first erection of their Kings and Kingdomes in England , to preserve their Priviledges , Liberties , Properties , Lawes , from the usurpations , Invasions , and arbitrary power of Tyrannical Kings or Usurpers , and how un●nimous , magnanimous they shewed themselves in their just defence , will appear by these few Presidents of their Proceedings against their Tyrannicall Oppressing Kings , which I shall muster up together in their Chronologicall Order . Anno Dom. 756. i Sigebert King of the West-Saxons , growing insolent and proud by the Successes of his Predecessors in their Warres , became intolerable to his People , treating them very ill by all kind of meanes , LEGESQVE ANTECESSORVM SVORVM PROPTER COMMODVM SVVM VEL DEPRAVARET , VEL MVTARET ; endeavouring to d●prave or change the Laws of his Ancestors , for his own private luchre , and using EXACTIONS , & CRUELTIES UPON HIS SUBJECTS , setting asid●● ALL LAWES . Whereupon his most Noble and Faithful Counseller Earle Cumbra , lovingly intimating to him , the complaints of all the people , perswaded the King to govern the people committed to his Charge more mildly , and to lay aside his inhumanity , that so he might become amiable to God and man ; he thereupon soon after commanded him to be wickedly slain , and becoming afterwards more cruell to the people , augmented his Tyranny . Vpon which the rest of the P●ers , seeing their State and Lives were every day in danger , and the Common Subjects , WHOSE LAWES WERE THUS VIOLATED , being incensed into fury , all the Nobles and People of his Realm assembling together , rose up against him , and upon provident mature deliberation , AND UNANIMOUS CONSENT OF ALL , they ( before he had reigned full two yeares ) expelled him out of the Kingdom , and elected and made Kenulphus ( sprung from the bloud royall ) King in his stead . Whereupon flying into the Woods like a forlorn person for shelter , he was there slain by Cumbra his Swineherd , in revenge of his Masters death . Ita cr●delitas Regis omnem pene Nobilitatem pervagata , in homine ultimae sortis stetit , writes Malmesbury . To which Henry Huntindon addes this memorable observation : Ecce manifestum Domini Judicium , ecce quomodo Domini justitia nonsolum in futuro seculo , verum etiam in isto digna meritis recompensat . Eligens namque Reges improbos ad contritionem promeritam subjectorum , alium diu insanire permittit , ut & populus pravus diu vexetur , & Rex pravior in aeternum acrius crucietur , veluti Ed●lboldum regem Merce praesatum : alium vero cita disterminatione praeoccupat , ne populus suus nimia Tyrannide oppressus non respiret , & immoderata Principis requitia , citissimas ultionis aeternae debito paenas incurrat , veluti Sigebertum hunc de quo tractamus . Qui quanto nequior extitit , tanto vilius a Subulco interf●ctus , a d●lore in dolorem transiit . Vnde Domini justitiae aeternae laus & gloria nunc & semper . In the k year of our Lord 758. the people of the Kingdome of Mercia rising up against their King Beornred , pro eo quod populum non EQVIS LEGIBVS , sed PER TYRANNIDEM GVBERNARET , because he governed his people not by their JUST LAWES , but by arbitrary Tyranny , they all of them , as well NOBLES as IGNOBLE , assembled together in one , and Offa a most valiant young man being their Generall , they expelled him out of the Realm : which being accomplished , BY THE UNANIMOUS CONSENT OF ALL , as well Clergy as People , they crowned the said Offa , King. This Beornred treacherously murdered King Ethelbald his Soveraign , whose Captain he was , and then usurped his Crown , but was himself deprived of it , and slain soon after by Offa ( who succeeded him ) by divine retaliation . So l Edwin King of Mercia in the year 857. for his Misgovernment , his despising the Wise-men and Nobles of the Realm , who hated his vicious and oppressive courses , affecting and fostering ignorant and unrighteous persons , his forcible expelling the Monkes and others out of their possessions by armed men , his banishing Dunstan into France for reprehending his vices , and other injurious and Tyrannicall Actions against Law and Right , was utterly forsaken and rejected by all his Subjects , and by the unanimous consent of all , dejected , deposed from his royall Dignity , and his Brother Edgar Elected King in his place , Deo dictante , & annuente populo , by the dictate of God himself and the peoples consent , AB OMNI POPVLO ELECTVS . as our Historians write . By these Presidents , pretermitting others , it is apparent , that the ancient Saxons held their Kings Supremacy to be bounded within the rules of Law and Justice ; and that they esteemed their Kings to lose both the name and office of Kings , when they ceased to Govern them according to Law and Justice , or exalted themselves above their Lawes and Liberties ; which was not onely the ancient Divinity of those former times , as appeares by Pope Eleutherius his forecited Letter to King Lucius , but the received Law amongst the Saxons , as is evident by the Lawes of King m Edward the Confessor , Lex 15. hereafter cited . The Law was the sole Umpire between these Kings and their people ; n which Law , as no Great man , nor any other in the whole Kingdome might violate or abolish , as Ive the great Saxon King confesseth in his Lawes : So the Kings themselves were to submit thereto in all things , as well as their Subjects ; Whence o Aethelstan the Saxon King , in his Prologue to his Lawes , made at the Great Councill of Grat●ley , Anno Dom. 928. by the advice of the Arch Bishops , Bishops , Nobles and Wise men of the Realm , used this memorable expression , as the Law of that age , between King and people ; Ea mihi vos tantum modo comparatis velim , QVAE JVSTE AC LIGITIME PARARE POSSITIS . Neque enim mihi ad vitae usum QVICQVAM INJVSTE ACQVIRI CVPIVERIM . Etenim cum ea ego vobis , LEGE VESTRA omnia benigne largitus sum , ut MEA MIHI VOS ITIDEM CONCEDATIS , prospicitote sedulo ne quis vestrum , neve ●●rum aliquis qui vobis paruerit , offensi●n●m aut divinam , aut nostram concit●tis . Indeed some of the Saxons , being too much addicted to Faction , Treason , Sedition and Rebellion against their Kings , abused their just Liberties and Priviledges to the unjust murther and dest●●ction of their Kings , especially those of the Kingdome of Northumberland ; to prevent which excess●s , in the famous Council of p Calchuth Anno 787. held 〈…〉 of Northumberland , his Bishops and Nobles , and Of● . King of Mercians , and his Bishops and N●lles , there 〈…〉 memorable Lawes and 〈◊〉 , both for the Security , Immunity of King and people , which they with all their Subjects assented to ; and with all devotion of mind , to the uttermost possibility of their power , vowed through Gods assistance to observe in every point . Cap. XI . Of the Duty and Office of Kings : Vndecimus Sermo fuit ad Reges & Principes , ut Regimen suum cum magna cautela & disciplina peragant , & cum Justitia judicent , ut scriptum est : q Apprehendite disciplinam , ne quando irascatur Dominus & pereatis , &c. Habentque Reges Consiliarios prudentes , Dominum timentes , moribus hon●stos , ut populos bonis exemplis Regum & Principum eruditus & confirmatus , proficient in laudem & gloriam omnipotentis Dei. Cap. XII . De Ordinatione & Honore Regum ( who were then r generally Hereditary not Elective ) We decree , that in the Ordination of Kings , none may permit the assent of evill men to prevail ; but KINGS SHALL BE LAWFULLY ELECTED BY THE PRIESTS and ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE ; and those not begotten of Adultery or Incest : for as in our times by the Lawes , a Bastard cannot be admitted to the Priesthood , so neither can he be able to be the Lords annointed : and he who shall be born out of lawfull Wedlock shall not be King of the whole Realm , and Heire of his Country : the Prophet saying ; ſ Know yee that the Lord ruleth in the Kingdom of men , and the Kingdome is his , and he will give it to whomsoever he will , Therefore we admonish all in generall , that they would , with a unanimous voice and heart , intreat the Lord , that he who electeth him to the Kingdome , would himself give unto him the regiment of his holy discipline to govern his people . Likewise honour is to be rendred to them by all men ; the Apostle saying ; t Honour the King : and in another place , Whether it be to the King as Supream , or to Governours , as to those who are sent by him , for the punishment of Malefactors , but to the praise of them that doe well . Likewise the Apostle , u Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers , for there is no power given but of God : And the powers that are are ordained of God. Therefore who ever resisteth the power , resisteth the Ordinance of God , and those , who resist , acquire damnation to themselves . Let no man detract from the King : for Solomon saith : x Thou shalt not detract from the King in thy mouth , neither shalt thou curse the Prince in thy heart , because the birds of the air shall carry the voyce , and that which hath wings shall tell the word . LET NO MAN DARE TO COMMUNICATE IN ( or conspire ) THE KINGS DEATH , BECAUSE HE IS THE LORDS ANOINTED : and if any shall have adhered to such a Wickednesse ( or Treason ) if he be a Bishop , or any of the Priestly Order , let him be thrust out of it , and cast out of the holy inheritance , as Judas was ejected from his Apostolicall degree : and every one , whosoever he be , who shall assent to such a Sacriledge , shall perish in the eternall bond of an Anathema , and being associated to JVDAS THE TRAITOR shall be burnt in sempiternal burnings , as it is written : y Not onely those who doe such things , but those also who consent to such who doe them , shall not escape the Judgement of God. For the z two Eunuches consenting to slay Ahasuerus , were hanged on a Gallowes . Consider what a David said to the Captaines , when the Lord had said unto him , I will deliver Saul into thy hands ; when he found him sleeping , and was exhorted by the Souldiers to slay him ; Let this sin be farre from me , that I should stretch forth my hand against the Lords anointed . Yea , he cut off the head of that Souldier , who after his death came unto him , protesting that he had slain Saul ; and it was reputed unto him for righteousnesse , and to his seed after him : And it is often proved among you by examples , that WHOEVER HAVE HAD A HAND IN b THE MURDER OF THEIR KINGS , HAVE ENDED THEIR LIFE IN A SHORT SPACE , & utroque Jure caruerunt , ( it should be corruerunt ) and have perished by both Lawes ( civill and sacred . ) Cap. 13. De Judiciis Justis ferendis . Let Great and Rich men execute just Judgements , neither let them accept the Person of the Rich , nor contemn the Poor , nor swerve from the rectitude of Judgement , or Law , nor receive gifts against the innocent , but judge in righteousnesse and truth ; the Prophet saying , Judge justly yee sons of men : Also elsewhere , c Thou shalt not doe that which is unjust , nor judge unjustly : thou shalt not stand against the bloud of thy neighbour . Likewise Isaiah d Seek Judgement , releive the Oppressed , judge the Fatherlesse , defend the Widow : then come and let us reason together , saith the Lord. Also elsewhere , Vndoe every bond of iniquity , undoe the heavy burdens , let those who are oppressed goe free , and break every yoak . Then shall thy light break forth as the morning , and thy health shall spring forth speedily . The Lord saith in the Gospel , e For with whatsoever judgement yee judge , you shall be judged , and whatsoever measure you meet , it shall be measured to you again . Neither shall you take BY FORCE FROM ANY ONE THAT WHICH IS HIS OWN ; as it is said , f Thou shalt not covet the thing which is thy Neighbours . Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours wife , nor his house , nor his oxe , nor his sheep , nor his field , nor any thing that is his . For the Prophet threatneth , saying , g Wo to you who joyn house to house , and lay field to field , till there be no place , that you may be placed alone in the midst of the earth . These things are in my eares , saith the Lord of Hosts . Again the Prophet crieth ; h Deliver the poor and needy , rid them out of the hand of the wicked . Remember what he deserveth , who shall offend one of these little ones : but whosoever shall receive one of these , receiveth Christ , from whom he shall deserve to hear in the day of Judgement ; i Come yee blessed , inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world . Cap. XIV . De cohibendis Fraude , RAPINIS ET TRIBVTIS ecclesiae INJVSTE IMPOSITIS . Let Fra●d , VIOLENCE AND RAPINE BE FEARED ; AND NO UNJUST OR GREATER TRIBUTES IMPOSED ON THE CHURCHES OF GOD , then by the Roman Law and THE ANCIENT CUSTOMES OF FORMER EMPEROURS AND PRINCES HATH BEEN USED . He who desires to communicate with the holy Roman Church , and St. Peter the chief of the Apostles , let him study to keep himself free from this vice of VIOLENCE . So concord and unanimity shall be every where between Kings and Bishops , Ecclesiasticks and Laicks , and all Christian people : that there may be unity every where in the Churches of God , and peace in one Church concurring in one faith , hope and charity , holding the Head which is Christ , whose Members ought to help one another , and to love one another with continuall Charity , as he himself hath said . k By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples , if you shall love one another . These old established Saxon Lawes and Canons backed with sacred Scriptures , manifest the Duty of our old Saxon Kings , and their Officers towards their Subjects , whom they could not injure , oppresse or tax in any kind against their ancient Lawes , Customes , Priviledges ; as likewise what Loyalty and Obedience the people owed to their Kings : which bounds when their Kings exceeded in an exorbitant manner , you have seen how they proceeded with them ; and when the people exceeded them on the other hand against their Loyalty and Duties , they did not escape unpunished . Take but one memorable general president in this kind , in the Seditious , factious , rebellious Saxons of the Kingdom of Northumberland , who were infamous for their Insurrections and Rebellions against , and Expulsions and Murders of their Kings . l William Malmesbury and m Huntindow give us this Abbreviation of their Rebellions , Treasons , Regecides : Osulf son of Egbrick reigned one year , and was betrayed and slain by his Subjects ; and made way for Mollo , who reigning diligently for two yeares , was compelled to lay down his Regality , and slain by Alred : who succeeding him , reigned eight yeares , and then was chased out of his Realm , and deposed by his people from the Throne he had invaded : Adelred Son of Mollo succeeding him , reigned three yeares , and then was driven out of his Kingdome , and forced to fly from the face of his Rebellious Dukes and Captaines . Then Celwold ( alias Alfwold ) being cried up King , after ten yeares reign , mourned under the Treachery of his Subjects , being slain without fault by the Treason of Duke Sigga : Osred his Nephew ( the next King ) reigned scarce one year , and then was chased by his Subjects out of the Realm , and afterwards slain . Adelred Son of Mollo reigned again four yeares ( taking severe vengeance against those Rebellious Dukes and others who first expelled and deposed him ) and then was slain by his alwayes most wicked people , being unable to avoid the fate of his Predecessors , Ardulf his Successor reigned twelve yeares , and then was chased out of his Realm by his rebellious Subjects : And Oswold after him , holding the Title of King onely for twenty eight dayes , was forced to save his life by flight unto the King of Picts . After which the Northumbrians preoccupated with the madnesse of their folly , continued divers yeares without a King. For n many Natives and Nobles , being offended with these Rebellions and Murders of their Kings , fled out of their Country , as fearing some heavy plague to befall it . Alcuinus , that Country-man ( then in France with Charles the great ) being ready to return to his Country with gifts to King Offa from Charles the Emperor , thought best to continue where he was , writing thus to Offa ; That he knew not what to doe amongst his Country men , amongst whom no man could be secure , or doe any good in giving wholesome Counsell to them , their holy places being wasted by Pagans , their Altars defiled with perjuries , terra SANGVINE DOMINORVM ET PRINCIPVM FAEDATA , and their very land it self polluted with the bloud of their Lords and Princes ; and the raining of bloud then at York , in the Lent time , where their Religion first took its beginning in that Nation , presaged that bloud should come from the Northern parts upon that BLOUDY LAND and Realm of Northumberland , almost brought to desolation for its intestine dissentions , bloud-sheds and fallacious Oathes ( which they violated to their Soveraignes . ) The Emperour Charles himself , having prepared divers Presents and Letters to be sent by Alcuinus and others to King Offa , and King Ethelred , and the Bishops of their respective Realmes , after his Presents and Letters delivered into the hands of the Messengers ; hearing of the murther of King Ethelred , and the Treachery of this Nation to their Kings ( by Messengers returning through Scotland from King Offa ) recalled all his Presents and Gifts , and was so farre incensed against that NATION , which he called PERFIDIOUS , AND PERVERSE , AND MURDERERS OF THEIR KINGS , ESTIMATING THEM WORSE THAN PAGANS , that unlesse Alcuinus had interceded for them , he had presently substracted all the good he could from them , and have done them all the hurt that possibly he could devise . * Malmesbury records , that after Ethelred no man durst ascend to the Kingdome , whiles every one feared ( in particular ) lest the chance of these foregoing Kings should befall himself , and would rather live safe in inglorious idlenesse , then reign pendulus in doubtfull danger : Seeing most of the Kings of Northumberland departed out of this life by the Treachery and destruction by their Subjects . Whereupon they having no King for thirty three yeares , THAT PROVINCE WAS EXPOSED TO THE DERISION AND PREY OF THEIR NEXT NEIGHBOURS ; and the Barbarous Danes speedily in great Numbers , invaded , spoiled and possessed it all that time , slew most of their Nobility and people , till at last they were enforced to subject themselves to the power and pleasure of the West-Saxon Kings , to defend them from the Danes , who infested , invaded , and miserably slew , wasted , destroyed these Seditious , Treacherous King-deposing , King-murdering Northumberlanders o Henry Huntindon and Mathew Westminster record , that the year before the Northumberlanders trayterously slew their King Ethelred , there were fiery Dragons seen flying through the air ; after which followed a very great famine , which destroyed many of them ; soon after the Pagan Nations from Norwey and Denmark invaded and miserably destroyed those of Northumberland and Lindesfa●ne , horribly destroying the Churches of Christ , with the Inhabitants ; at which time Duke Sigga , who unworthily betrayed and slew his Soveraign King Alfwold of Northumberland , worthily perished ; the whole Nation being first almost quite consumed with civill Warres , and by these Pagan invaders , whose Plague was farre more outragious and cruell than that of the Romans , Picts , Scots , or Saxons Invasions and Depredations in former ages ; they most frequently invading and assailing the land on every side , desiring not so much to obtain and rule over it , as to spoile and destroy it , with all things therein ; burning their houses , carrying away their goods , tossing their little children , and murthering them on the top of their pikes , ravishing their wives and daughters , then carrying them away captives , and putting all the men to the Sword : which sad and frequent rumours from all parts , struck such terrour into the hearts of King and people , that their very hearts and hands failed , and languished , so that when they obtained any victory , they had no joy nor hope of safety by it , being presently encountred by new and greater swarmes of these Pagan Destroyers . The cause of which sore Plague and Judgement he together with p Mathew Westminster , thus expresse . In the Primitive Church of England Religion most brightly shined ; but in processe of time all vertue so withered and decayed in them , VT GENTEM NVLLAM PRODITIONE ET NEQVITIA PAREM ESSE PERMITTERENT , that they permitted no Nation to be equall to them IN TREASON AND WICKEDNESSE ; which most of all appeares in the History of the ( forecited ) Kings of Northumberland ▪ For men of every Order and Office , DOLO ET PRODITIONE INSISTEBANT , addicted themselves TO FRAUD AND TREASON , in such sort as their impiety is formerly described in the Acts of their Kings . Neither was any thing held disgraceful , but Truth and Justice , Nec honor nisi , BELLA PLVS . QVAM CIVILIA , ET SANGVINIS INNOCENCIVM EFFVSIO & causa dignissima caedis Innocentia . Nor any thing reputed honourable , but more than civill Warres , and effusion of the bloud of Innocents , and Innocency , reputed a cause most worthy of death . THEREFORE the Lord Almighty sent a most cruell Nation like swarmes of Bees , who spared neither age nor sex ; to wit , the Danes , with the Gothes , the Norwegians , and the Sweeds , the Vandals , with the Prisons , who from the beginning of King Edelwolfe , to the coming of the Normans under King William , wasted and made the fruitfull Land desolate for 230. yeares , destroying it from Sea to Sea , and from man to beast . Which sore and dreadful long continued Judgement of God upon the Land , for those crying sinnes now abounding amongst us , as much almost as amongst the Northumberlanders and other Saxons then , may cause us justly to fear the self same punishments , or the like , as they then incurred , and the Britons before that under the bloudy Usurper Vortigenne , unlesse we seriously repent and speedily reform them . From these unparalleld prodigious Treasons , Insurrections , Regicides , Rebellions of these Northumberlanders , I conceive that infamous Proverb ( used by Maximilian the Emperor , and frequent in * Forraigne and other Writers ) first arose touching the English : That the King of England was , REX DIABOLORVM , a King of Devils ( not of men or Saints ) SVBDICOS ENIM REGES EJICERE TRVCIDARE because the English ( especially the Northumberlanders ) so oft rebelled against , expelled , deposed and murdered their Kings , beyond the Spaniards , French and other Nations . Which Proverb the late extravagant Proceedings of some Jesuitized pretended English Saints , have now again revived out of the ashes of oblivion . But I hope these sad recited old domestick Presidents will hereafter instruct both Kings , Magistrates , Parliaments and people , to keep within those due bounds of Justice , Righteousnesse , Law , Equity , Loyalty , Piety , Conscience , Prudence and Christian Moderation , which the Lawes of God and the Land prescribe to both , and the Council of Calchuth , forecited long since prefixed them . That the ancient English Saxon Kings at and from their primitive Establishment in this Realm , had no power nor prerogative in them to impose any publike Taxes , Imposts , Tributes , or Payments whatsoever on their people without their Common Consents and Grants in their Great Councils of the Realm , for any spiritual or temporal use , I shall evidence by the four first General publick Taxes that I meet with in the Histories of their times , which I shall recite in Order according to their Antiquity , though I shall therein somewhat swarve from my former Chronological Method , in reciting some subsequent Lawes and confirmations relating to every of them , for brevity sake , out of their due order of time , and coupling them with the original Lawes for , and Grants of these general Charges and Taxes , to which they have relation , and then pursue my former method . Henry Huntindon , in the Prologue to his fifth Book of Histories p. 347. writes thus of those Saxons , who first seised upon Britain by the Sword. Saxones autem pro viribus paulatim terram ( Britanniae ) bello capiscentes , captam obtinebant ; obtentam , adificabant , adificatam LEGIBVS REGEBANT : not by arbitrary Regal power without or against all Law. The first Taxes and Impositions ever laid under the Saxon Kings Government , after they turned Christians , upon the people of England , were for the maintenance of Religion , Learning , Ministers , Schollers , ( long before we read of any Taxes imposed on them for the publick Defence of the Nation by Land or Sea ) all and every of which were granted , imposed onely by common consent in their Great Councils ( before the Name of Parliament was used in this Island , which being a French word came in after the Normans , about Henry the third his reign ) without which Councils grant they could neither be justly charged , nor levied on all or any Free-men of this Island , by any civill or legall Right , by those to whom they were granted , and thereupon grew due by Law. 1. The first General Tax or Imposition laid on and paid by the Saxon Subjects of this Land appearing in our Histories , was that of Caericsceatae ( id est CENSVS ECCLESIAE ) in plain English , Churchets , or Church-Fees ; in nature of First-Fruits and Tythes . The first Law whereby these Churchets , Church-Fees , or First-Fruits were imposed on the people , and setled as an annuall duty on the Ministers ( paid onely before that time as voluntary Free-will Offrings to the Ministers of the Gospel by devout and liberal Christians ) was enacted by q Ive , King of the west Saxons , in a Great Councill held under him Anno Dom. 692. Wherein , by the exhortation , advice and assent of Cenred , his Father , Heddes and Erkenwold , his Bishops , AND OF ALL THE ALDERMEN , ELDERS AND WISE-MEN OF HIS REALM , and a great Congregation of the Servants of God , he established this Law ( among sundry others ) which none might abolish . Cap. 4. De Censu Ecclesiae : Cericsccata ( i.e. Vectigal , or Census Ecclesiae ) reddita sint in Festo Sancti Ma●●tini : Si quis hoc non compleat , reus sit IX . sol : & du● decuplareddat ipsum Cericsceatum . So one Coppy renders it out of the Saxon : another thus , Cyricsceata : ( idest PRIMITIAE SEMINVM ) ad celebre divi Matini Festum redduntor : qui tum non solverit , qua raginta Solidis mulctator , & ipsas praeterea Primitias duodecies persolvito . After which there is this second Law subjoyned , Cap 62 De Cyricsceatis . Primitias Seminum quisque ex eo dato domicilio , in quo ipse natali die Domini c●mmoratur . These Duties were afterwards enjoyned to be paid by the * Lawes of King Adelstan Anno 928. c. 2. Volo ut Cyricsc●atha reddantur ad illum locum cuirecte pertinent , &c. By the Lawes of King Edmund made Anno 944. in a Great Synod at London , AS WELL OF ECCLESIASTICAL AS SECULAR PERSONS summoned thither by the King , c. 2. Decimas praecepimus omni Christiano super Christianitatem suam dare & emendent Cyricsceattam , id est Ecclesiae censum . Si quis hoc dare noluerit , excommunicatus : sit . By the Lawes of King Edgar Anno 965. c. 2 , 3. r and the Lawes of King Aethelred ; made by him and his Wise-men apud Habam , about the year of Christ 1012. Cap. 4. DE CONSVETVDINIBVS sanctae Dei Ecclesiae reddendis . Praecipimus , ut OMNIS HOMO super dilectionem Dei & omnium sanctorum DET CYRISCEATTAM , ET RECTAM DECIMAM SVAM , sicut in DIEBVS ANTECESSORVM NOSTRORVM FECIT , quando melius fecit : hoc est , sicut aratrum peragrabit DECIMAM ACRAM : & omnis consuetudo reddatur super amicitiam Dei , ad Matrem Ecclesiam cui adjacet , ET NEMO AVFERAT DEO QVOD AD DEVM PERTINET , ET PRAEDECESSORES CONCESSERVNT . * By which Laws it seemes , that these Cyricsceata , or Church-Fees , were of the same nature with Tythes , ( if not Tythes in truth ) and the tenth acre , or tenth part of all their Corn and arable Lands increase ( Tithes both in the s Fathers , Councils , Writers of this and some former ages , being usually stiled , First-Fruits ) though most esteem them duties different from Tythes . Which duty the people being backwards ( as it seems ) to pay , King Kn●te by the advise and consent of his Wise-men in a Great Council Anno 1032. quickned the payment of them by this additionall Law , increasing the first penalty by a superadded fine to the King. * Cyricsceata ( which the Latine Translation renders , Seminum primiciae ) ad festum Divi Matini penduntor : Si quis dare distulerit , eas Episcopo undecies praestato , ac Regi ducenos & viginti Solidos persolvito . Et dat omnis Cyricsceot ad matrem Ecclestam per omnes Liberas domus . I find by the Surveyes and Records of our late Bishops Revenues ; That these Churchets of later times were certain small portions of Corn , Hens , Eggs , and other Provisions paid by each House or Tenement ( according to the several values of them ) for the Maintenance and Provisions of the Ministers ; which were constantly rendred to our Bishops by their Tenants under the name of Cyricsceata or Churchets , * in divers Mannors , till they were lately voted down . This was the first kind of publick Tax imposed on the people for the Maintenance of the Ministry : and that onely by common grant and consent in Common Councils of that age ; as were their t annuall Tributes for Lights , Parish Almes , and their Soul-shot or Mortuaries at every mans decease , first granted by common Consent in Parliamentary Councils , which I shall but name . 2. The second principle annuall Charge or Tribute imposed on and paid by the people under the Saxon Kings , was Tythes of the annuall increase of their Lands and Goods , for the maintenance of Gods Worship , Ministers and Religion ; which though due by Gods Law and a Divine Right to Ministers ( as the first Law made for their due and true payment recites , and I have lately proved at large in my Gospel-Plea , &c. ) yet they could not be legally imposed , nor exacted from the people by the Ministers in foro humano , without publick consent and grant . Whereupon in the * Generall Councill of Calchuth ( held in the year of our Lord 787 ) Cap. 17. Vt Decimae solvantur ; this Law was made . In paying tithes , as it is written in the Law ( of God ) Thou shalt bring the tenth part of all thy Corn and First Fruits into the House of the Lord thy God , &c. Wherefore likewise WE COMMAND with an obtestation , that all men be carefull to render Tithes of all things they possesse , BECAUSE IT IS THE PECULIAR PORTION OF THE LORD GOD , &c. Which Law being read in that publick Council by Gregory Bishop of Ostia , before King Alfwoldus , Arch-Bishop Eanbald , and all the Bishops , Abbots , Senators , Dukes and PEOPLE OF THE LAND : they all assented to it , and with all devotion of mind , * according to the uttermost of their power , bound themselves by vow , that by Gods supernall assistance they would observe it in all things ; ratifying it with the Sign of the Crosse and Subscription of their Names thereto , according to the Custome of that age . After which it was read before King Offa in the Councill of the Mer●ians and his Senators , Jambertus Arch-Bishop of Canterbury , and the rest of the Bishops of the Realm , with a loud voyce , both in the Latine and Germane tongue , that all might understand it : who ALL WITH A UNANIMOUS VOYCE AND CHEARFUL MIND ASSENTED TO IT , & promised that they would ( by Gods Grace assisting them ) with A MOST READY WILL , to the best of their power , observe this ( and the rest of the Statutes there made ) in all things . And then ratified them with the sign of the Crosse and subscription of their Names thereto . It seemes very probable by this Clause in the Lawes of u Edward the Confessor ( confirmed by William the Conquerour ) Cap. 9. Of Payment of Tithes of Cattel , Bees and other things ; Ha●c enim beatus ▪ Augustinus praedicavit , & docuit : Et haec CONCESSA SVNT A REGE , ET BARONIBVS , ET POPVLO , That upon the preaching of Augustine , ( first Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ) Ethelbert King of Kent , with his Barons and People ( assembled in a great Parliamentary Council ) after their Conversion by him to the Christian Faith , granted Tithes of all things to him and their Ministers by a speciall Act or Law ; ( which if true ) must be about the year of our Lord 603. at least one hundred and eighty years before the Council of Calchuth . But because I find no such speciall Law of his extant in any Author ; and this passage may be intended of Augustine Bishop of Hippo ( flourishing about the year of Christ 410. ) who hath sever all Homiles concerning the Due payment of Tithes ; as Hom. 48. inter Sermones , 59. Sermo De Tempore 219 ad Fratres in Eremo . Sermo 64. and in Psal . 146. and because this clause may be as well intended of King Alfwold , or King Offa , and his Barons and People in the Council of Calchuth , as of King Ethelbert and his Barons and People ; I have therefore begun with their Law for Tithes , being extant , certain ; whereas the other is but conjecturall : yet made by common grant and assent of the King , and his Barons , and People , if there were any such . After this Councill of Calchuth , I find very many Lawes confirming , continuing , establishing in all successions of ages , till this day , this charge and payment of Tythes ( all made by Common Consent in Generall Councils or Parliaments , both before and since the Conquest , which because they are all extant in John Bromptons Chronicle , printed at London , 1652. Mr. Lambards Archaion , Sir Henry Spelmans Councils , Rastals Abridgement of Statutes , and accurately collected in a Chronological order , by Mr. Selden in his History of Tythes ch . 8. where all may peruse them , I shall wholly pretermit them here , and referre the Reader to these Authors : All which Lawes are clear Evidences of the first Propositions verity . The third General ancient Saxon Tax and Charge occurring in our Histories , imposed on the People , was that of x Rome-scot , or Peter Pence ; to wit one penny out of every House each year , paid on the Feast of St. Peter ad vincula ; for and towards the maintenance of the English School and Schollars at R●me : from the payment whereof all the Lands belonging to the Abby of St. Al●anes were exempted by King Offa , by whom this Tax or Almes was first granted , for the maintenance of the English Schollars at Rome , and that by the UNANIMOUS antecedent and subsequent CONSENT , of Arch-Bishop Humbert and his Suffragans , ET PRIMATIBVIS SVS VNIVERSIS , and of all his Nobles or chief Men , assembled in a PROVINCIAL COUNCIL at Verolam , in the year of our Lord 793. This School ( as Malmesbury De Gestis Regum Angliae l. 2 c. 1. and Balaeus Cent. 1. c. 15. record ) was first founded by King Offa before his going to Rome , which Sir Henry Spelman proves out of Brompton and others : But it appeares by y Mathew Westminster , that this School was there first built and endowed with Peter-pence by King Ive 66. yeares before King Off●aes grant and endowment . For he writes ; that King Ive going to Rome Anno 727. built a House in that City , by the consent and will of Pope Gregory , which he caused to be called , the School of the English : To which the Kings of England , and the royall Stock , with the Bishops , Elders and Clergy-men might come to be instructed in the Catholick doctrine and faith , and so , being stedfastly confirmed in the faith , might return home again . For the Doctrine and Schooles of the English , from the time of St. Augustine , were interdicted by the Roman Bishops , by reason of the daily Herisies which had sprung up by the coming of the English into Britain , whiles the Pagans intermixed with the Christians , corrupted both the grace of holy conversation , and the Christian Faith. He likewise built a Church , dedicated to the Honour of the Virgin Mary , near to this School , where the English coming to Rome , might celebrate divine Mysteries , and be likewise buried if they died there . Then he addes , ET HAEC OMNIA VT PERPETVAE FIRMITATIS ROBVR OBTINERENT , STATVTVM EST GENERALI DECRETO ( made in General Council of the Realm ) PER TOTVM REGNVM OCCIDENTALIVM SAXONUM , in quo praedictus Ina regnabat , ut singulis annis de singulis familiis denarius unus qui anglice , ROME-SCOT appellatur , beato Petro , & Ecclesiae Romanae mitteretur , VT ANGLI IBIDEM COMMORANTES VITALE SVBSIDIVM INDE HABERENT . Which grant , Offa King of Mercians first inlarged and granted in his Kingdome ( distinct from that of Ive ) 66. yeares after this , as aforesaid . This Annuall Contribution towards this Schooles maintenance , was afterwards confirmed , and the due payment thereof prescribed , under penalties by the z successive Lawes of King Edgar , King Ethelred , Canutus , Edward the Confessor , and William the Conquerour , made in successive GREAT COUNCILS held in their times , BY AND WITH THE ADVICE AND ASSENT OF THEIR ARCH-BISHOPS , BISHOPS , WISEMEN , NOBLES AND SENATORS . in the years of our Lord 967 , 1009 , 1012 , 1032 , 1060. ( or thereabouts ) and 1070. By vertue of which Lawes this Tax was duly paid every year in all succeeding ages , till it was finally abolished and taken away by name , by the Statute of 25. H. 8. c. 21. being perverted from its primitive intended use , and made a constant Revenue by and for the Popes themselves , against the Donors mindes , and their Successors , who so long continued it for the foresaid uses , of the English schoolings . These three most ancient Taxes and Charges , originally granted , imposed , and afterwards continued onely by Common grant and Consent of the King , Nobles , People in Generall Councils and Parliaments , are a most pregnant proof of the first Proposition , and of the Peoples most ancient Originall Fundamentall Right of Property in their Goods and Estates , exempt from all Impositions and Tallages whatsoever , but onely by their free Grants and Consents in Parliament . For if our ancientest Christian Saxon Kings and greatest Monarchs could not by their Prerogatives or absolute Power alone , but onely with and by the free and common consent and grant of their Nobles , Wise-men , Prelates and People in the Great Parliamentary Councils of their Realmes , impose the Payment of First Fruits and Tithes upon their Subjects , * though due by the very Law of God , towards the Maintenance of Gods Worship and Ministers , for the publick good , instruction , salvation of all their Soules : nor yet the Payment of Peter-pence , for the Maintenance of Learning and Schollars , to supply the Ministry , and furnish the Realm with able learned Men , for the common benefit both of Church and State , being things of greatest Concernment for the Peoples , Kingdomes Happinesse , Government and Prosperity : much lesse then could they lay on them any other Tax , Tribute , Aid or Assessement whatsoever , of lesse necessity and concernment , for any inferior uses , or for Defence of the Realm by Land or Sea against Enemies or Rovers , by their own absolute Authority , but onely by and with their voluntary Grants and Consents in Generall Parliamentary Councils of the Realm , as every rationall man must acknowledge . The fourth Publick Tax or Imposition on the people in point of time , is that of Danegeld ( the first Civill Tax we everread of ) whereof there was two sorts . The first , paid to the Danes themselves by way of Composition , as to a prevailing Conquering Enemies , to prevent their Plunders , Rapines , Incursions . The second , paid for the maintenance of valient Souldiers and Mariners , * to defend the Sea Coasts and Seas against the Invasions , Piracies of the Danes and other Enemies . The first Payment I find of any monies to the Danes by way of Composition , was in the year of our Lord 871. When Bernredus King of Mercians compounding friendly with them , Pecuniis Inducias impetravit , obtained a Truce with them for money , as Mathew Westminster records : After this Anno 873. Merciarum Gentes , dato munere , appeased those Pagans with a Gift . What the sum of Money or Gift was , is not expressed , nor how it was raised : nor yet upon whom : but the words imply , that it was done by common consent of the Nobles in a Generall Council , for their Common Preservation from Plunder ( not imposed or raised by the Kings Prerogative without their free consents in a General Council or Parliamentary Assembly , for so it was assessed and levied in succeeding times . b Anno Dom. 983. The Danes infesting all the Parts of the Realm , and the people not knowing where or how to resist them ; DECRETVM EST A VIRIS PRVDENTIBVS ▪ It was decreed by the Wise-men , ( no doubt in a Generall Councill assembled for that end , not by the Kings absolute Authority ) that they should be overcome with Money , who could not be vanquished with the Sword. Wherefore they satisfied the Covetousnesse of the Danes with the payment of ten thousand pounds . Anno 991. A Tribute of 10000 l. was given them BY THE ADVICE OF SIRICIVS , DUKE ETHELWARD AND OTHER NOBLES OF THE REALM , that they should cease their frequent Rapines , Burnings and Slaughters of men which they used about the Sea Coasts . Anno 994. King Aethelred CONSILIO PROCERVM SVORVM , by the Counsell of his Nobles ( no doubt in a Parliamentary Assembly ) gave them a pension of 16000 l. collected of all England , that they should cease from the Rapines and Slaughters of innocent men : And Anno 1002. the same King HABITO CONCILIO CVM REGNI SVI PRIMATIBVS , utile duxit , a Danis dextras accipere , &c. And CONSILIO PRIMATVM SVORVM , by the Counsell of his Nobles ( or Chief men ) gave them 24000 l. and Anno 1007. CONSILIO PRIMATVM SVORVM , BY THE COUNSEL OF HIS NOBLES . he gave them 30000 l. gathered out of all England , that they should desist from Rapines , and hold a firm Peace with him . Anno 1012. Duke Edric and ALL THE NOBLES OF ENGLAND OF BOTH ORDERS ( to wit , the Lords Spirituall and Temporall ) were assembled together at London before Easter ( no doubt in a Great Council ) and continued there so long till the Tribute promised to the Danes should be paid , which was 48000 l. All which is recorded in these expresse termes by Mathew Westminster , Florentius Wigorniensis and Simeon Dunelmensis in their Chronicles and Histories of these respective years ; and by Polychronicon , Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton , Speed and other late Historians out of them . So as this Tax or Tribute paid to the Danes , was undoubtedly imposed and levied by common Consent in the Parliamentary Councils of those times , not by the Kings own Power and Prerogative alone . True it is , King Suanus the Dane having conquered most of the Land , exacted it from the people , and levied it perforce against their wills , for the payment of his Souldiers : But the Inhabitants of St. Edmonds-bury refused to pay it : Whereupon he threatned by force to spoile and destroy the Town ; but in the midst of his Jollity and Nobles , he suddainly cryed out , that he was struck through by St. Edmond with a Sword , or Speare , no man seeing the hand that smote him : and so with great horrour and torment died three dayes after at The●ford : as Hoveden Annal. pars prior : Simeon Dunelmensis de Gestis Regum Angliae . Anno 1014. col . 170. Math. Westminster Anno 1014 p. 394. Ranulsus de Diceto , Abbreviationes Chronicorum col . 465. Johann . Brompton Chron. col . 892. Fabian part 6. c. 200 Polychronicon l. 6. c 16. Speed in his History l. 7 p. 420. with others relate . A memorable Punishment for this his illegal Exaction and Oppression . As for the Tax of Danegeld imposed on the People , ( to wit ) 12 d. as some , * or 2 s , as others , to be annually paid out of every Hyde or Plowland throughout the Realm , ( except the Lands of the Church , and some others exempted from it by special Charters ) it was imposed by Authority and Acts of Generall Councils onely , ( not by royall Prerogative ) for Defence of the Kingdome by Land and Sea against the Danes , and other Enemies and Pirates , as is evident by the Lawes of King Edward the Confessor cap. 12. The Black Book of the Eschequer l. 1. c. 11. Sir Henry Spelman and William Sonmer their respective Glossarium : Tit. Danegeld ▪ p ; 200 , 201. Mr. ●elden his Mar● Cla●sum l ▪ 2 as I have irrefragably proved at large in My Humble Remonstrance against the Illegal Tax of Ship-mony p , 19. to 25 , to which I refer you for fuller satisfaction . Anno 1051 : this unsupportable Tax of Dane●el● was ●●leased for ever to the People of England by King Edward the Confessor , 〈…〉 towards his oppressed People , to wit , in the 38. year from the time that Suanus King of the Danes commanded it to be yearly paid to his Army , in the reign of King Ethelbert , Father to this King Edward : Which Abbot Ingulph in his History p : 897. Iohn Brompton in his Chronicle col . 938 , 9●3 . Simeon Dun●lmensis De Gest . Reg : Angl : col : 184. Ailredus Abbas Rievalus de Vita & miraculis Edwardi Confess col : 383. Radulfus de Diceto Abbrev. Chron : col : 475 Henry de Knyghton de Eventibus Angl l , 1 c. 9. col : 2331. Mr : Selden in his Marc Clausum l , 2 Sir Henry Spelman in his G●ossary , Title D●●eg●ld , and others thus relate in Ingulphus words . TRIBUTUM GRAVISSIMUM quod DANEGELD dicebatur , OMNI ANGLIAE IN PERPETUUM RELAXAVIT ; & DE TAM FERA EXACTIONE NE IOTA UNVM VOLVIT RETINERE : re●oring to the People all the mony then collected and brought into his Bed-chamber by his Officers , and there laid in heaps ; upon which this most holy King ( as some of these record ) saw a Devil dancing and triumphing with over much Ioy : and calling it , HIS MONY , QUIA INJUSTE ADQUISITA EST DE SUBSTANTIA PAUPERUM ; because it was * unjustly gotten out of the substance of the poor Subjects . ( though by coulour of former Grants by common consent in Parliamentary Councils ) upon which occasion this good King forthwith rest● red all that was collected , and perpetually released for the future this great and heavy Tribute ( which had continued near fourty years ) to the English-men for ever , so that after that day it was no more gathered ; as Roger Hovedon Annal : pars prior . p , 447. Hygden in his Polychron : l , 6. c , 24. Capgrave , Surius , Ribadenicra , Holinshed in the life of Edward the Confessor●Math ▪ Westm : Simeon Dun●lm●nsis , and Florent . Wigorniensis An : 1051. Grafton in his Chronicle p. 180. Speed in his History of Great Britain l , 8. c , 6 Sect 7 , p , 419. Fabian in his Chron : part 6. c , 210 p , 282 , with the other forementioned Authors joyntly attest . By these four first Generall Taxes and publick charges thus imposed on the ancient Saxons and English , onely by common grant and consent in the great Parliamentary generall Councils of the Realm , both for the maintetenance of Gods Worship , Ministers , Religion , Learning and defence of the Realm against forraign Enemies and Invasions , the truth of the first fundamentall Proposition in the precedent Chapter , is abundantly confirmed , during all our Saxons Kings Reignes ; which I shall confirm in subsequent Sections , by Presidents in all succeeding ages to this present : who never granted any Subsidies , Aids , Taxes , but by full consent in Parliament , and that in smal proportions ( one * Subsidy , or Escuage , or Fifteen , or Tenth at most , and no more , not endlesse Monthly Taxes , much lesse Excises coupled with them , as now , and many times refused to grant any Aid or Tax at all , as I shall prove at large in Henry the third his raign ) and then not before all their Greivances first redressed and the Great Charter , and their violated Liberties first confirmed by new Grants , Oathes , Acts , Charters , Excommunications , not so much as thought upon now , after such unparalleld violations and subversions of them , which all our late endl●ss● Aegyptian Tax-masters of several kinds , even out of Parliaments , by their own usurped authority , without the oppressed peoples grants or consents in any ●e●ll English Parliaments , may doe well to consider ; and withall to peruse that notable Discourse of Gulielmus Peraldus , Bishop of Lions , De Virtutibus & Vitiis . Tom. 2. De Avaritia cap. 3. DE INJVSTIS TALLiIS f. 4● , 45 Where he largely demonstrates * the greatness and odiousness of the sin of laying and levying unjust illegal Taxes on the people ; proving , that besides the sin of RAPINE , there is PECCATVM PRODITIONIS the sin of TREAS●N in it ; to other with the sin of INGRATITUDE , and CONTEMPT OF GOD and ANGELS . And withal resolves ; That if Rul●●● , Souldiers shall impose or levy any unjust Taxes upon the People , or exact more from ●hem 〈…〉 just wages , contrary to the Gospel precept , Luc. 3. 14. 〈◊〉 PRODITORES , they are TRAYTORS : Spoliant enim filios De. 〈◊〉 fidei 〈◊〉 commendatos ; for they spoil the people of God committed to their good f●●●● and tuition , and use them no otherwise than if they were Enemies : and who knowes not that it is the Crime of TREASON , cum amicis inimicitias exercere ; to exercise acts of enmity towards their freinds ? and like the Devi● himself to render affliction and punishments to those , instead of protection and ●●●●ibution , who serve and pay them best . Quibus ▪ dici potest quod secundum 〈◊〉 DOMINATIO EORVM DIABOLICA EST : as he there d●●ermines , to rectifie the mistakes of those , who now think this kind of new Tax imposing Government , not Diabolical , but Angelical or Saint-like . I now return to my former Chr●nolog●cal method and Collections , during all the reignes of our Saxon and Danish Kings , which I shall prosecute in the nex● Section , till the English supplantation by the Normans ; of which John Brompton of●●rual ●●rual gives this reason ( by way of divine ret●●i●tion ) which I desire all Sword-men and othe●s , who ●epute Conquest , and th● longest Sword , a just and Saint-like Title to other Men● Lands , Poss●ssions , and all temporiz●ng Divines ( who like Augustine the fi●st A●ch bishop of Canterbury , who converted the English to Christianity QUI PRAETEXTV FIDEI GEN●EM ADVENAM IN ALIE●● CONFIR●AVIT IMPERIO UT SVAM ET ROMANA● JURISDICTIONEM DILATARET , instead ●f preaching , of pressing the Doctrine of RESTITUTION to them , for which he is justly taxed by Laeland & * Math. Parker , as being longe , dissimilis Pa●●a●●o tunc Scotorum Apostolo , qui Constantinum eorum Regem ( test . Polydoto ) multis precibus hortatus est , ne gentem Saxo●um IMPIAM contra BRITANNOS CHRISTIANOS IVVARET ) seriously to ruminate upon * Hoc autem Dei nutu factum esse constaet , ut ●●…lum contra IMPROBOS ANGLOS postea IUSTO DEI IUDICIO tempore disposito adveniret . Nam SICVT ANGLI quos DEUS , sceleribus suis exigentibus , disterminare proposuerat , BRITONES peccatis suis exigentibus , humiliaverant , & A TERRA ANGLIAE MINUS IUSTE FVGAVERANT ; SIC I●●I DUPLICI PERSECUTIONE , prim● DAC●RUM saevienti●● , postea NORMANNORVM superuenientium fortitudine GENTIBVS EXTRANEIS SUBDERENTVR , quod in sequentibus appareb●● . FINIS . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A91269-e770 This Epistle should have been printed before the first part ; but was omitted through hast . a See the several Epistles of Frederick the ● Emperor against Pope Gregory the 9 , and Innocent the 4 recorded by Matt. Paris , p. 33● . fol. 690. sparsim . b See Extrav . de Ma●oritate & Obedientia : Augustinus Triumphus , Bellarminus , Becanus , and others , De Monarchia Romani Pontificis . * Henricus de Knighton , de Eventibus Angliae , l. 2. c. 14 , 15. c See Maffaeus V●gius & Petrus Ribadeniera in vita Ignatii Loyolae . Heylius Microcosme , p. 179. d See Lewis . Owen his Jesuites Looking-glass , printed London 1629. the Epistle to the Reader , and p. 48 to 58. Jubilaeum , sive speculum Jesuiticum , printed 1644. p. 207 to 213. * And are there not some thousands of them here in England under several disguises ? e Mercure Jesuite , tom . 1. p. 67. Speculum Jesuiticum . p. 156. f See Lewis Owen his running Register , & his Jesuited Looking glass . The Anatomy of the English Nunnery at Lisbone . g De Monarchia Hispanica , p. 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 204 , 234 , 235 , 236 , 185 , 186. h See Thomas Campanella de Monarchia Hispaniae . Wa●sons quodlibets , Cottoni Posthuma , p. 91. to 107. Cardinal de Ossets Letters . Arcana Imperii Hispanici Delph . 1628. Advice a tous les Estat's de Europe , touches les maximes Fundamentales de Government & disseiendes Espaginols Paris , 1625. i See my Speech in Parliament , p. 107. to 119. and the History of Independency . k Exact Collection , p. 651 , 652 , 662 , 666 , 813 , 814 , 816 , 826 , 827 , 832 , 902 , 904 , to 920. A Collection of Ordinances , p. 267 , 313 , 354 , 424. l See Putney Projects , the Histo●y of Independency , and Armies Declarations , Papers , Proposals . * p. 1180 , to 1184. and Continuation , p. 26 , to 60. * Now out of date . m Quando eorum malitia hoc exigit & Reipub. vel Ecclesiae NECESSITAS sic requiri● Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 168 , 169 , 170. Mercure Jesuite , Part 1. p. 884 , 885. n See their Remonstrance from St. Albons 16 Nov. 1648. and other Papers since . * See Watsons Quodlibets , p. 295 , &c. o Hist . Gallica & Belgica l. 1. p. 126. Speculum Jesuiticum . p. 46. p See Speculum Jesuiticum and the General History of France in H. 3. q Speculum Jesuiticum . p. 75. r See the General History of France in the life of Hen. 4. and Lewis 13. Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 77 , 80 , 126 , 235. * Speculum Jesuit . p. 102. to 135. * See the General History of France in Hen. 4. & Lewis 13. ſ See Grimstons History of the Netherlands p. 764. Thuanus l 79. p. 186. Speculum Jesuiticum p 60 , 6● . t Speculum Jesuiticum p. 127. v See Speed and Cambden in her life . Bishop Carletons Thankful Remembrance of Gods Mercy London 1624. x H●spinian Hist . Jesuitica , Speeds History p. 1181. Cambden , Stow , Holinshed in the Life of Queen Elizabeth . Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 73 * See Watsons Quodlibets . y See Speeds Hist . p. 1240. 1242 , 1243. John Stow , and How. 1 Jacobi . z Cook 3 Institutes , p. 7. and Calvins Case 7. Report f. 10 , 11. 1 Jac. c. 1. * See Fox , Holinshed , Speed , 1 Mariae . a See 3 Jac. c. 1 , 2 , 4 , 6. Speeds History , p. 1250 , to 1256. The Arraignment of Trayto●s , with others . Prayers for the 5 of November . b Speeds Hist . p. 1242. The Arraignment of Traytors , and M. John Vicars History of the Gunpowder Treason . c See my Epistles to Jus Patronatus , and Speech in Parliament . * Jer. 5. 31. d Romes Master-piece , p. 8 18 , 19. * Romes Master-piece , p , 8. to 22. e The Victory of Truth , Anno 1653. f Page 5 , 7 , 8 , 18 , 33 , 39 , &c. g See my Speech in Parliament , and Memento . The Epistle to my Jus Patronatus , and Tho. Campanella De Monarchia Hisp . c. 25. * See the Declaration of the secured and secluded Members , The London●Ministers and others , Representation to the General , and the second part of the History of Independency . h Jubilaeum , sive Specutum Jesuiticum Epigramma . i Hasenmullerus Hist . Jesuit . c. 1. Speculum Jesuiticum , p. 61. k Exact Collection , p. 12. to 20 , 97 98 , 106 , 108 , 207 , 461 , to 465. 491 , 492 , 498 , 508 , 574 , 616 , 631 , to 638 660 , to 670. 812 , to 828 , 832 , 834 , 849 890 , to 918 , 651 , 652 , 653. l Exact Collection , p. 3 , 4 , 461 , 462 , 491 , 49● , 497 , 498 , 617 , 631. m See the New Government of the Commonwealth of England , Ar. 25 , 26 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 41. n Exact Collection , p. 3 , 4 , &c. o Quere whethe HIGH COURT of Justice , had not it's Title from hence ? * See W. Watsons Dialogue between a secular Priest and Lay Gentleman : printed at Rhemes , 1601. p. 96. p And is not this the chief Reason of their late endeavoured Alterations ? Nota. q And was not this the very principal engin lately used to alter the Government , cut off the King , and div●●● his Posterity of their 3 Kingdoms , witn●ss the Armies printed Declarations , and the Junsto●s Vo●es in ●u●suance of them , Jan. 3. 1648. See Mene Tekel Perez by John Rogers . * This he hath since this Epistle penned , affirmed in a printed Speech before a greater Assembly , Sep. 4. 1654. p. 16 , 17. r As amongst other , Eleaza● , and Joseph Bar. Isaiah , 2 cheating Impostors and Villains , who have cheated good people of some thousands of pounds . The 1 of them would have forcibly ravished a maid in March last , and fled away in the night to avoid apprehension , from Dursly in Glocestershire . He confessed in his drink , he was a souldier in Prince Ruperts Army . Nota. * 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5 Eliz. c. 1. 3 Jac. c. 1 , 2 , 3 , 5. 7 Jac. c. 6. * T. P. the New Fa●x is first . ſ And since this in a printed Speech , Sept. 4. 1654. * Hath not the Army done this in our 3 Nations ? t The Monarc●y of England hath been , 1. In the Britons . 2. In the Saxons . 3. In the Dan●s . 4. In the Normans Royal Line , and now the 5 must be Elective in others . v De Monarchia Hisp . c. 25. See the Epistle to my Jus Pa●●●●●tus . x A●t . 1 , 2 , 12 , 25 , 32 ▪ 33 ▪ 41 , 42. * Luke 17 21. Rom 14. 17. 2 Pet. 1. 11. Col. 1. 13. Heb. 12. 28. Rev. 12. 10. y A True State , &c. p. 13. z See Thomas Campanella , de Monarch . Hisp . c. 23 , 25 , 27. a See their Almanacks in January , February , September , October , December , 1654 b See Sixtus ab Hemminga . Astrologiae Refutatae Jo. Francus Officius de diu . Astrorum faculitate , in larvatam Astrologiam . Corn. S●epp●●us contra Astrolog●s . Alexander de Angelis in Astrologos , Hie●om Savanorola adve●sus Divinatric●m Astrono●iam : & Apologeticus pro tractatu ejus adversus Astrologos , 1581. Picus Mirandula contra Ast●ol . Pu thas Pilgrimage , p. 12 , 13 , 64. Mr. Gatakers Vindication of his Annotations on Jer. 102. London , 1653. Sixtus Senensis Bibl. Sanct. p. 56 , 331 , 424 , to 429. c Quodlibet 5. A●●●● . 4. p. 144. d Quodlibet 6. Art. 4 p. 169. See p. 27 , 28. e Quodlibet ● . Artic. 1. p. 26 , 27. Nota. a De Monarchia Hispanicia c. 25. p 204 , &c. b De Monarchia Hispan . c. 25. c See Watsons Quodtibets , p. 286 , to 332. A Dialogue between a secular Priest and Lay Gentleman , printed at Rhems , ●601 . p. 93 , 94 , 95. Conte de Galeazzo Gualdo 〈◊〉 , Hist . part 3. Veneti●s 1648. p , 175 , 176. e Quodlib . 3 ar 4. p 65 , 41. * Nota. f Quodlibets p. 39 , 209 , 233 , 234 , 305 , 306 , 307 , 309 , g Quodlibets p 11 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 42 , 45 , 50 , 283 , 285 , &c. 332 , 333. A D●alogue 〈◊〉 a secular Priest and a L●y Gentlem●n . Anno 1601. h Quo●libets p. 〈◊〉 ●o 313 , ●8 , ●86 , 287. 〈…〉 1617. See J. ● . his Treatise of the Right and 〈…〉 Prelate and Prince , print●ed 1616. and reprinted 1621 , by 〈◊〉 Jesuites . i Quodlibets , p. 26. k Quo●libets , p. 62 , 69 , and elsewhere . l Quod 〈◊〉 p 43. 61. 62. 64. 16. f Iosh . 9 , 19. ●0 & Psal . 89. 34. Psal . 154. Heb 6. 17 , 18. g When our Saviour himself was a prehended , c●rrie● away priso●e ▪ , and like to bee crucified , all his D●sc●ples so ●ook him & fled , and Pe●e denyed h●m with in oath , M●t. 26. 56. 70 to 75. And at Pauls first appearance before 〈◊〉 no man stood with him , but all me● forsook him , I pray God it be not laid to their charg ; 2 Tim. 4. 9. 16. And so i● is now with most p●blike s●fferers . * Exac . Collec . p. 492 , 497. 494 h Exac . 〈◊〉 p. 650. 659 660 * Nota. i See h● 〈…〉 : old and new Declarations ●gainst the Parliament & Member . Their T 〈…〉 e state of the commonw●alth &c. w 〈…〉 h , 〈…〉 is but a direct Ar 〈…〉 g●n out of themselves under t●e name of oth●r . k Exac . collec . p. 1652. 654. 655 , &c. l S●e ●heir decl●r●ti●●s in May , Iune , Iuly . Aug. 1647. in Novemb. Decem. Ian. 1648. Ian : 1652 & 1653. and 〈…〉 of the ca●e of the common-wealth of England , &c. p. 4 c. 35. Anno 1654. with som othe● Pa●ers and Speeche , since . m Exac . collec . p. 3. 4 , to 16. n Exac . collec p. 3. 4. to 16. 651 , 952. 653. o 〈◊〉 one member sister . all the members suffer with it . 1 Cor. 12. 26. p See Kooks 4 insti● . ch : 1. p. 15. 1● , 17. 23. 24 25. & 〈…〉 for the Lord. q N●r yet aga●●st my self and other secured 〈◊〉 & long in prisoned Members . * And are they not so now , almost past hopes of any future replanting . * Modus tenendi Parliamentum . Cook 4. 〈◊〉 c. 1. * Exact Collection p. 550. 595. 321 , 322 , 364. 618. 894. 895. 919. 920. A Collection of Ordinances p. 28. 39. 116 , 117 * Let those who who took it , remember their violations of it and repent . See Exact Collect . p. 497 , 498 * Was this verified by many of these Remonstrants ? * Exact Collect. p. 262. 282. 284. to 289. 297 , 298 , 490. 424. 500 , 502 , 404 , 514 , 517 , 521 , 522 , 526 , 528 , 530 , 531. 534. 550 , 551. 554 , 558 , 56● , 564 , 574. a Collection p. 117. 452 , 453. * Exact Collect. p. 688 , 689. 696 , 697. * So stiled Exact Coll. p. 4. 12 , 34 61 243. 262 121 , 500 , ●02 . besides the authorities in the 1. Chapter . * Exact Collect. p. 617 , 631 , 730. * Exact Coll. p. 686 , to 730. * Exact . Coll. p. 729. * See their impeachment of the xi . Members , and the humble Answer of the General Councel and Officers of the army , &c. Jan. 3. 1648. * Have they not lately done so since this was penned , as well as heretofore ? * Epistola ad solitariam Vitam agentes . Sr. Christopher Sybthorpe his Reply to an Answer made by a Popish Adversary Dublin 1625. p. 27 , 28 29. * See the Declaration of the Lords and Commons June 6 1642. concerning this Statute . * Exact Collect. p. 34. ●6 . 66 , 67 , 98 , 76 , 77 , 198 , 200 , 201 , 202 , 246 , 695 , 723. 729. * Exact Coll. p. 118 , 195 , 207. to 237. 248 , 273 , 293 , 523 , 524 , 525 , 617 , 631 , 660 , 695. * Exact Coll. in the pages quoted before . * Article 10 , 12 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 27 , 30. 32 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39. * Exact Collect. p. 696. * How much it hath been dishonoured by the contrary , let the Army Officers read at leasure in Militiere his Victory of Truth ▪ Nota. * Nota. * Who in their Letters of July 1. 1647. Propositions of Aug. 2. and other of their Declarations , professed to all the world , That it was fully agreeable to all their Principles , and should be their desires and endeavours to maintain Monarchy the Priviledge and Freedome of the Parliament ; and the Rights of his Majesty and Royall Family , that so a lasting Peace and Agreement might be settled in this Nation , &c. Which otherwises must not be hoped for nor expected : Let them now consider it ? s Psal . 37. 7. Psal . 73. 3 , &c. Eccles . 8. 11 , 12. t Ezek. 22. ●● . v See 2 King. 10. 1 , to 12. x Deut. 32. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 20. Rev. 9. 20. Ephes . 2. 2. y Plutarch , Arrianus , Qu●ntus Curtius , Suetonius , Grimston , in the 〈◊〉 of Alexander , and Julius Caesar . Balaeus , his Lives of the Popes . Mon●y ' s Mystery of Iniquity . z 2 King. 18. 33 , 34 , 35. c. 19. 17 , 18 , 19. Isa . 10. 7 , to 16. a Rev. 13. 11 , to 18. c. 16. 13 , 14. c. 19. 20. 1 King. 22. 6. to 24. b Ephes . 2. 2. c 〈◊〉 , Plutarch , Su●onius , Grimston , and othe●s in his Life . Jacobus Usse●iue Annabum pars posterior , p. 366 , 367. * See 〈…〉 A● . 655. * See the Turkish History in his life . * See Huntingdon , Mat. ●est . An 655. Grafton , Speed , Holinshed , Fabian Brompton , in the life of Penda . d Judg. 1 , 2 , 〈◊〉 8. e S●e Joel 3. 6 , 7. M●t. 26. 52. and Sir Wal. Rawleighs Preface to his History of the World ; and Dr. Beards Theatre Gods Judgements ▪ on the 6 and 8 Commandm●n●s . f Isa . 51 6. 12. c. 26. 13 , 14. Psal . 82. 7. Psal 146. 3 , 4. g Rom. 8. 36 , 37. Psal . 3. 6. h See 1 Sam. 8. 4 , to 2● . ch . 12. 2. 2 Sam. 18. 2 , 3 , 4. Jer. 38. 5. i Tacitus in vna Agri●●●e . k Jer. 28. 13 , 14. l 1 Cor 16. 13. m Recorded in Livy , Tully , Plutarch , and others . Recta honesta digna Imp●ri● , digna populo Romano , omnia pericula pro Republica subire , mori pro Patria . Cicero de Finibus bonorum , &c. p. 365. and Tusc . Quaest . p. 445. n Esth . 4. 16. o 2 Cor. 4. 16. 2 Tim. 4. 7 , 8. p 2 Cor. 5. 10 , 11. Mat. 25 31 , 32. a Wa●sons Quodlib●ts 9. Quod. Art. 10. p. 332. Nota. * Do not many now boast , talk , write , of such a conquest ●y the Army ov●r England ? d Quodlibets , p. 322 , 323 , 〈◊〉 , 333. c 1 Eliz. c. 1. 5 Eli c. 1. 1 Jac. c. 4. 3 Jac. c. 4 , 5. 7 Jac. c. 6. 18 Carloli . The Act for Tri●nnial Parliaments . d See the printed Edicts repeating them , and enforcing the Engagement An. 1649. e See the Propositions for the Treaty . f See the Preface to the Covenant . g See the Edicts for the Engagement , An. 1649. h Bellarmin de Pontif. Romano . Sir Humph. Linde his Via devi● . i See Grotius de ●ure Belli & Pacis , l. 3. c. 15. p. 537. k Watsons Quodlibets , p. 320 , 321 , 312 , 332 , 333. l De Monar . Hisp . c. 25. m Conte De Galiazzo , Gualdo Priorato part . 3. p. p , 165 , 176. Prorato Hist . n See 1 Cor. 12. 12. to 31. 25 H. 8. c. 22. 1 Jac. c. 1 , 2. 3 Jac , c. 1 , 2. Notes for div A91269-e18850 a Heur . Huntindon hist . l. 1. p. 1. Galfr. Monum . hist . l. 1. Math. Westm . Flores Hist . Aetas 3. p. 23 , 24. Ponticus Virunnius hist . l. 1. Polychronicon , Fabian , and sundry others . * Walsingh . Hist . Angl. p. 49 , &c. b Tho. Walsingham . Hist. Angl. 〈◊〉 . 1232. p. 50. c Galfr. Monum . hist. l. 1. c. 11. Math. West . Floreshist . p. 16 , 17. Ponticus Virunn . hist . l. 1. d See Camd. Brit. p. 29 , 30. e Galfr. Monum . hist . l. 1. c. 4 , to 12. and Math. West . p. 14 , 15 , 17 , 18. Proposit . 5 , 6 , 9. Proposit . 5. 10. f Galfr. Monum . Hist. Reg. Brit. l. 2. c. 11. Ponticus Virunnius hist . Brit. l. 2. Mat. Westm . p. 27 , 28. g Gildas hist . c. 19. Galfr. Monum . l. 2. c. 17. Math. West . p. 51. 52. Tho. R●dburni Chron. Dr. Vsher De Brit. Eccles . Primordiis . p. 127 , 128. Fox . Acts and Monuments Vol. 1. p. 211. 212. Ponticus Virunmus Brit. hist. l. 2. Proposition 2. 4. 5. ( h ) Galfr. Monum . hist. l. 3. Ponticus Virunnius . Brit. Hist . l. 3. Math. Westm . Aetas 5. p. 53. 54. Proposit 5. 9. Proposit 5. 6 9 ▪ Proposit ▪ 9. i Galfr. Monum . & Ponticus Virunn . hist . Brit. l. 3. Math. West . Aetas . 5. p. 5. 6. Fox Acts and Mon. vol. 1. p. 211 , 212. Proposit . 5. k Galfr. Monum . hist . Brit. l. 3. c. 16 , 17. Math. West . p. 56 , 57 , &c. Ponticus Virunnius l. 3. Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton , Speed in their lives . ( l ) Galfr. M●num . hist l. 3. c. 19. Ponticus Virunnius l. 3. Math. West p 67 m Galfr. M●num & Ponticus Virunnius hist . Brit. l. 4. Math. West . p. 66 , 67. Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton in the life of Cassibelan . n Comment . l. 5. John Stow his Survay of London p. 2. Speeds Hist . of Great Britain p. 48. Proposit . 5. 9. Proposit . ● . * Or , si quis adversus aliquem suorum querimoniam haberet , as others render it , q See Camd. Brit. p. 15 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 35 , 41 , 43 , 44 , 48 , to 53. Speed Hist . p. 47 , to 51. Dr. Vsher de Brit. Eccles . Primordiis c. 4. r See Ca●nd . Brit. p. 15 , 30. * Galfr. Mon. hist . l. 4. c. 11. Ponticus Virun . l. 4. & Mat. West . † Galfr. Mon. l. 4. c. 13. to 17 ▪ Ponticus Virun . l. 4. Mat. West . ann . 22 , 44 , 57 , Anno Dom ▪ 22 , 44 , 52. * John Trivianth , Malmesb. and others , cited by Bishop Vsher de Brit. Eccles . Primordiis c. 4. Mat. Pa●● . Anti. Brit. p. 3 , 4 ▪ † Mat West . ann . 73. 78. Galfr. Mon. l. 4. c. 17 , 1● . Pontiens Virnun . l. 4. a Tacitus in vita Agricolae . Camd. Brit. p. 58 * Is not this our condition now ? An. Dom. 50. Tacitus Annal. l. 14. Speeds Hist . of great Brit. ● . 66 , to 70. Camd. Brit. p. 49 50 Proposit . 1. 4. Is not this Englands condition now ? An. Dom. 185. s Mat. West . An. 185. 187. Galfr. Mon. l. 4. c 19 , 20. l. 5. c. 1. Ponticus Virun . l. 4 , & 5. Lambards Archai●n . Bish●p Jewel reply against Harding Artic. 3. div●s . 24. p. 141 , 142. Antiq. Eccles . Brit. p. 5 , 6. Fox Acts and M●n . vol. 1. Spelm. Concil . p. 32 , 34 , 35 Haris●ns Desc●ip . of Brit ▪ l. 1. c. 9. Godwin Conversion of Brit. Dr. Vsher de Eccles . Brit. Primordiis c 3 , 4 ▪ 5. Holinshed , Speed , Grafton ▪ Stow in the life of Lucius . Proposit . 5. Proposit . 5. t Antiq. Eccles . Brit. p. 6. Proposit . 5. u Mat. West . anno 201. An. Dom. 201. x Tacitus in vita Agricolae . Camd. Brit. p. 43 y Math. W●st . anno 201. Balaeus Cent. 1. Scrip. Brit. c. 30. Boetius l. 5 hist . Scotorum . Fo●don . Scotichronicon . l. 2. c. 31. Dr. Vsher de Eccles . Brit. Primordiis . c. 3. p. 43 , 44. Spelm. Concil . p. 35. Camd. Brit. p. 47 , 49 , 62 , 63 , 67 , Tacit. Annal . l. 14. * Is not this in a great part our present condition ? An. Dom. ●●6 . z Mat. West . ann . 292 , &c. Galfr. Monum . l. 5. c. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. Ponticus Virun , l. 5. Holinshed , Fabian , Grasion , Stow , Speed. a Pomponius Laetus , and Speeds History . An. Dom. 302. Proposit . 1. Anno 313. b See Beda Eccles . hist. l. 1. c. 6. Math. West . ann . 313. p. 131. Gildas . de Excid . Britan. Zonaras , Paulus , Dia●conius and others in his life c See Euseb . Eccles . hist . l. 3. c. 15. Proposit . 2. An. Dom. 379. d Math. West . anno 376 , 379. Proposit . 5. e Hist . Regum Brit. l. 5. c. 9 , 10 , 11 , 12. f Hist . Brit. l. 5. See Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton . Proposit . 5. 10. Proposit . 3. g Mat. West . ann . 39● , 391 , 392 , 420 , 4●1 , 434 , 435. Galfr. Monum . & Ponticus Virun . l. 5 , & 6. Fabian , Holinshed , Speed , Grafton , Gildas de Excidic Brit. Malmesbur . de Gestis Regum Angl. l. 1. c. 1. Camd. Brit. Anno 390 , &c. Anno 434. Proposit . 5. 9. Anno 455. Proposit . 5. An. Dom. 445 , to ●98 . h Mat. West . ann . 445. to 498. Will. Malmesb. de Gestis Regum l. 1. c. 1. Galfr. Monum . & Ponticus Virun . hist . Reg. Brit. l. 6 , 7 , 8 H●my Huntind hist . l. 2. Ethelwerdi hist . l. 2. Antiq. Eccles . Brit. p. 9 , 10. Fabian , Holinshed , Speed. Grafton , Stow , in the lives of Vertigerne & Aurelius Ambrosius . * Have not others of late times done the like ? Anno 447. Proposit . 5. 9. Anno 449. Anno 454. Proposit . 5. Anno 460. Proposit . 9. * Whom we usually now call Earls Proposition 3. Proposition 9. Proposition 5 , 6 i See Heylins Microcosme , p. 756 , 757 718 394 , 412 , 5●7 177 , 178 , 642 672 , 709. Anno Dom. 498. k Galfr. Monum . l. 8 c. 17 , 18 , &c. Math. Westm . An. 497 &c. Authors . Proposit . 5 , 9. Proposit . 5. 9. Anno 516. k Galfr. Monum ; Hist . Reg. Brit. l. 9. c. 10 to 20. & l. 10. c. 1. to 14 Math. Westm . An 525 , 537. Walsingham Hist Angliae , p. 50. Speeds History p , 273. Propos . 5 , 6 , 9. Propos . 5 , 6 , 9. Nota. Proposition 7. Proposit . 8. Anno 542. l See Holinshed , and Dr. Vsher , de Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis p. 535 to 547. Speeds History p. 275 , 276 , 277 , 278. m Psal . 54. 24. n Isay 33. 1 o De Gestis Regum Angl. l 1 c. 3. p , 26. p Galfr. Morum . Hist . l. 12 c 1. ● , 5. Speeh Concil . p. 112. q See Math. Westm . Anno 74● . 811. 853 Anno Dom. 586. a Math. Westm . Anno 586. p. 208. Fabian , Grafton , Holinshed and others . b Andrew Hor●es Mirrour of Justice , c. 1. Sect. 2. p. 7 , 8 , 9 , Malmes bury , Huntingdon , Beda , Ethelwerdus , Holinshed , Speed , and others . Prep . 1 , 2 , 3 , ● . Proposition 5. c Eccles . Hist . Gentis Anglorum l. 2. ● . 5. Huntingd. Hist . l. 3. p. 226 Malmesbury De Gestis Regum Ang l. 1 c. 1. Chron : Johann : Brompton col ; 738 : Anno 605. d Concil . Tom. 1. p. 127. Proposition 3. Proposition 5. 6 Anno 605. Proposition 10. e Chronica W : Thorne col : 1761 , 1762 2123 : Spelm : Concilia , p 118 , 119 , 120 , 126 127. Proposition 7. f Spelmani Concil . p. 198 , 227 , 228 , 334 407 , 427 , 428 435 , 441. Ingulphi Hist . p. 851. 853 , 864 , &c. Malmesbury De Gestis Regum Angl. l , 1. c : 2. l : 2. c : 6. Math. Westm . Anno 794 , 797 , 945 * Chronicon I●han : Brompt : Chronica W : Thorne , Evidentiae Ecclesiae Christi Cantur & Chronologia August : Cant. g Spelmanii Concil : p. 340. Evidentiae Ecclesiae Christi Cant : col : 2018 * Sed quia ille Rex cunctis Principibus non placuit , nolu●runt donum ●jus permanere ra●tum , &c. Proposit . 10. h See Ingulphi Hist . p : 853 864. Spelmanni Concilia p : 198 , 227 , 228. i Math. Westm . Anno 756 : p : 274. Will. Malmesb : De Gestis Reg. Angl : l : 1 : c , 2 : p. 15. Henry H●ntindon Hist : l , 4 , p 341 , 342. Chron : Iohann : Brompton col : 770 , 796 : Speeds Hist . p , 2●9 . Holinshed , Grafton , Fabian , and others in his Life . Prop : 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 Anno 756. k Math : Westm : Anno 758 ▪ p , 275 : Huntindo● Hist : l , 4. Speeds History p , 254 , 367. See Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton . Propos . 1. 2 , 3. Anno 758. l Math : Westm : Anno 957 : p , 370. Will : Malmesbury De Gestis Regum l , 2 : c , 7 p , 55. See Huntindon Speed , Holinsh : Grafton , in his Life , and Fabian . Chron : Johann : Brompton col : 863 ▪ Hen , de Knighton : de ●●●itibus Angl : l , 1 : c , 1 : Anno 957. m Spelmanni Concil : p , 622. n See Lambards Archaion Brompton col : 761 o Spelmanni Concil : p , 396 , 387 ; Chron : Iohann : Brompton col : 841. p Spelmanni Concil : p , 291 , &c : 29● , ●96 , 298 , 300 : Anno 787. q Psal . 2 : 11. r See Math. Westm : Anno 886 : p , 339 , 340 , 341. Proposition ſ Dan : 4 : 17 ▪ Prop. 7 , 8. t 1 Pet : 2 : 17 , 13 : u Rom. 12. 1 x Eccles . 10 : 20. y Rom. 1. z Esth . 2 : 21 22 , 23. a 1 Sam. 24. 4 , 5 : c , 26 , 7 , 8 , 9 : 2 Sam : 1 : 4 , to 17. b See Dr : Beards T●eatre of God Judgements . Math. Westm : An : 786 , ●02 , 821 , 838 , 854 934 , 946. 979 1001 , 10●6 , 1017 , 1054 , Prop , 1 , 2 , 3● . c Lev : 1915. d Isay 1 , 17 : c , 58 : 6 , 7 , 8 ▪ e Math : 7 : 2 : f Exod : 20 : 17 : g Isay 5 : 8 , 9 h Psal : 82 : 4 i Math. 25 , 34 : Prop. 1 , 2 , 3. k John 13 : 35. l De Gestis ▪ Regum Angl. l , 1 : c , 3 : p , 26. m Historia : l , 4 ▪ p , 342 , 343 , 344. Speeds History p , 244 , 245 , 246. See Fabian , Holinshed , Grafton , Math. Westm . Anno 789 , 798 , 808 8●4 , 848 , 871 872. n Malmesb : De Gestis Reg : l , 1. c , 3 : p , 26 , 27. Speeds History p , 248. Alchuvini Opera p , 1667 ; 1668. * De Gestis Reg ▪ l , 1 〈◊〉 , 3. o Histor : l , 4 : p. 343 , 344 , l , 5 : p , 312. Watb : Westm . An : 873 , 875 , 876 , 886. p Flores Hist ▪ Anno 83● : p , 301 , 302. * Tractatus Joannis Aven●ini de Rebus Turcicis p , 117. Heylins Microcosmus in Germany . Proposition 1. Anno Dom. 692. Proposition 1. q Spelmanni Concil : Tom : 1 : p , 183 , 184 , 185 , 187 : Chron : Johann : Brompton col : 761 , 762 , 766 * Lambard : Archaion : Chron. Johann . Brompton col : 341 , ●58 . Spelm : Concil : p , 402 , 419 , 420 , 444. r Spelmanni Concil : p , 530 , 531. * See Gulielmi Sonmeri Glossarium Title : Cyricsceattam . s Irae●eus , l , 4 : c , 34 : Origen Homil : 11 in Num. Hicron : in Malach : c , 3. Augustin : de Tempore Serm : 219. Cassianque c , 25 , 33. Isiodor Pelusio ta : l , 1. Ep. 317 Antiochus Homil . 120 : Concil : Arelatense 4 : Can : 3. * Spelm ▪ Concil : p , 563 Chron : Iohann : Brompton col : 920. * See Spelm : Glossarium & Guli : Sonmeri Glossaerium Title : Cyricscea●●am . t Spelmanni Concil : p. 375 , 563 , 564 , 571 Anno Dom. 787. Proposition 1. * Centur : Magd : 8 ▪ c , 9. Spelm : Concil : p , 292 , 293 , 298 , 299 , 300 301 , . Mr. Seldens History of Tithes ch : 8 , p , 188 , 189. * Let our Tith-opposing Souldiers and others observe it . u Spelmanni Concil . p , 621. Hen : de Knyghton De Eventibus Angliae l , 2 , col , 2336. Anno Dom. 727 , 793. x Spelmanni Concil . p ▪ 308 , to 313 , 290 , 261. Radulsus de Diceto Abbreviationis Chronicorum col , 446 , Chron. Iohann . Brompton col : 754 , 776. Proposition 1. y Math. Westm . Anno 727 , p , 265. Propo. 1. z Spelmanni Concil . p. 445 , 446 , 517 , 530 ▪ 544 , 621 , 625 633. Mr. Lambards Archa●●n . Johannis Brompt Chron. col . 871. 902 , 920. Henr. de Knighton de Eventibus Angliae l , 2 ▪ col , 235 ● . * See my Gospel Pl●a , for Tithes , &c. 1653. Anno Dom. 871 , 873 , 983 , 984 , &c. Proposition 1. See my Humble Remonstrance against the Illegal Tax of Ship-money p , 19 , &c. * Mat. Westm . An. 871 , 873 983 , 991 , 994 &c. Simeon Dunelmensis Hist . de Gestis Regum Angliae p , 162 , 163 , 164 , 166 169. b Math. Westm . Anno 983 , 991 , 994 1002 , 1007 , 1012. Simeon Dunelmensis Hist . col . 162 , 163 , 164 , 168 , 166 * Chron. Johan . Brompton col . 957. Anno Dom. 1051. Proposition 〈◊〉 * See Mich. Leckm . Ser 83 & Sueni Ros●l●● Tit. Pedagium . * See Mathew Paris in Henry 3 & Cookes 4 Justitutes c , 1. Rastal Taxes . * See Alexand. Fabrit . Destr . Vitionem pars 4 c , 5. who is fuller than he herein . * Antiqu. Eccles . Brit. p , 12. * Chron. Iohan. Brompton col . 883.