THE Invention of Printing was doubtlesse at the first one of the most laudable and profitable discoveries that could have been made by man. By it Letters, which had long been under the rubbidge of Barba­rism, were restored to their former lustre, and conveyed through Europe; by it the Gospel, sullied and blemished by the corruptions of Popery, [Page 2](God in his wisdom so ordaining) after it was a little more purely taught, became to be dispersed, maugre Rome, and her Superstitions; by it there is not only better communicati­on of knowledge for the present, but greater hopes of preser­ving it for the future: And yet so unlucky hath it been, that since the mystery of it grew common, and the permission in a manner general, it hath been a pestilent Midwife to these accursed brats, Error in the Church, and Sedition in the State. Nor indeed if a man may dare to speak it, are the Governours themselves wholly blameless for such inconveni­ences. For Printing being ever accounted among the Regalia of every Government, as well as Coyning, &c. it should be looked on with such a jealous and strict eye; there should be such a circumspect care of prevention, and such painful pur­suance of misdemeanours, as would be required against the most dangerous crimes. For Libelling (which is never better assisted than by this way) hath not only abroad in all ages found its several severities, but, even at home, is Fellony at Common Law, Cooks Instit. part. 3. chap. 76. for it may not only ruine the reputation of a private man, but introduce tumult and combustion in the State it self. And if the in­ward man be once disturbed, the outward will be, and if the imagination be troubled, the hands will soon be at work.

But I have digressed in the very beginning, though I think not so far, but that those that neglect it, may find the inconve­niences.

Amongst the other things which have been spawned in this age, both to the dishonour of our Maker, and the disturbance of mankind, there was lately published; and (as much as lay in them) dispersed, a piece of Paper, with this title,

A Charge of High Treason against Oliver Cromwell Esq for several Treasons by him committed.

A Paper so sottishly impudent, and so ridiculously mali­cious, that were but the generality of the people in their sen­ses, and not mad with desire of novelty and prepossession, it were so unworthy the taking notice of, that there were no [Page 3]greater confutation of it, than to read it. But since that it happens in matters of this nature, that by the privatness of dispersion, and withall their aiming at great and eminent per­sons, they are conceived to contain in themselves somewhat considerable and of important consequence, I thought it worth my pains to give it a perusal, and not to let it bark without a whip at the tail. For though Bridewell, and the Pillory, may teach the Offendors, and the Fire the Papers, yet it is only Reason that can encounter their Folly; and sober Debate that must overthrow their Madness.

And since the thing talks big, and threatens an impeach­ment of High-Treason, we shall take the pains once for all to teach him what it is, and shew him how much he misses of his aim and application.

Treason, Crimen laesae Majestatis, as they say, or any offence, which aiming secretly at the lives of the Supreme Governours for the time being, or at the Government it self, was in the several times made Capital, but ever varied and altered according to the variations and turns of Government. That which concerned the Generality of Government, as Coyn­ing of money, killing of a Justice upon the Bench, &c. which concerns the very being of the publick peace, remaining firm, the other moveable and alterable, as for Example, by the 25. of Edw. 3. chap. 2. confirmed and quoted by many o­ther Statutes, tis Treason to compass the death of the King, Queen, or Prince; This the Act of July the seventeenth 1649. expresly repeals, enacting it Treason to do a­ny thing against the form of the Commonwealth; but for Coining, &c. of money, confirms it. Nor indeed does this want its reason, for the persons and Governments deter­mining, and ceasing, their protections also cease, and conse­quently the obedience in the Subject. For how can a man offend against a thing that is not in being? but for those ma­terial Supporcers of Government, that is to say, for preser­ving the Laws, traffique among the people, and the like, they are things so necessary and immutable, that if they once [Page 4]change or perish, a whole nation changes or perishes with them, whereas for the outward form of Government, it hath its several changes and shapes, according to the varia­tion of times, and revolution of circumstances.

We shall have occasion to apply this in the following Dis­course; to say only thus much for the present, that the Lord Generall, according to your own positions, hath done no­thing against the Act of Edw. 3. and according to the po­sitions of Reason, as little against the Act of July 1649. for he only chang'd the Governours, but the form of the Repub­lick it self is preserv'd, and by this means establish'd. So that here we find him not to be so great a Traytor, but I believe upon view of the whole, a person quite the contrary.

For the People whom he calls Lords, he must be taught, that though the people be the primary cause of Government, and the End thereof, and may by their consent, or disapprobation, either ratify or vacate any form therof, yet for the administration and execution of Government, its a thing the practice wherof is not feasible by the people and the effects of it, if it were endeavor'd, would be monstrous beyond all imagination. For to ima­gine that all the people of this Nation, of so many different humours, interests, and parties, would consult together as a few men, is as impossible as that all the letters of a Printing­house carelesly cast abroad, should without any other assist­ance compose this Book. But if the people be the end of Government, that which most aimes at the good of the people, comes the neerest that end; and sance the people in regard of the variety of humours, can neither well determine, nor con­sent about the circumstances of their own safety, he certainly doth a very laudable action, that turnes doubtful emergen­cyes, and dangerous junctures of time, into their advantage; It is as true as any thing that is said, Salus Populi Suprema Lex; but to continue on the Metaphor, tis the Physician, that is to say, The Wise man in power, that must be the Judge, not the patient, that is to say, the Multitude, in danger. So that by priority of cause we find the People Lords Re­mote, [Page 5]and Lords intended, but secondarily and in effect, we find the Governours Lords effective, and executive, the Being of the one being Metaphysical and abstracted, the Being of the other naturall and active. So that whoever of­fends against the Magistrate in being, trespasses against the People themselves, in the person of their Magistrates, the Majesty of the Magistrate being so join'd and allyed to the majesty of the people, that as the Statuary did his own picture in Minerva's, in such a manner, that if there were the least in­jury offered to his, it would also blemish that of the Goddess; even so, whoever blemishes a Governour, blemishes also the people governed, Governours being the understanding, the dis­course, and the defence of the people.

But of all men he hath certainly made a very indiscreet choice in fixing upon this person whom he hath chosen, a man, that as he hath already acquired the Reputation of one of the grea­test Captains of his time, or, for any thing I know, that ever was, so doubtless he will send down to Posterity a name as dear and venerable for the Love of his Countrey as any man of any nation. The hazards and exploits which he did in the first War are very well known, though God had not at that time lifted him up to this eminency, yet he that had seen him at Marston. Moor would have said our liberties were not a little obliged to him. Wonderfull was the presence of God with him at the defeat of Hamilton; And when once our liberty was restored, since we could not defend our selves with­out offending, how soon he over ran Ireland and Scotland with his Conquests, is unnecessary to tell here, when all Europe stands amazed at it. Yet even this man, that in all the Of­fices both of a Citizen and a Souldier hath given such faith­ful devoirs to his Countrey, while he is covered with laurels, and makes us enjoy the real fruit of his victories, must have his Soul pierc'd and transfix'd through with all the venemous ugly slanders that the Devil can put into the mouth of a can­ker'd malice.

But general returns are like general criminations, such as [Page 6]will neither satisfy nor fasten. To lay open therefore the im­portunate malice of this rascally paper, and withall the bet­ter to detect the vanity and insufficiency of his pretences, you may take it thus, with some brief animadversions, because the main things he insists on we have answered before, and for the form of it, we shall not much trouble our selves, since it is as easy, villanously to frame a Libel in the form of an In­dictment, as it is Atheistically, in the form of a Catechism. Examples of both which we have had within these few dayes.

For the dissolution of the late Parliament, there hath been enough said to an fro about it, and it hath both by the De­claration of the Army, and other pieces writ, besides the Confession of the Grand Politique Informer himself, and this very Pamphleteer (though conditionally) as may appear by the last line of this Paragraph. The necessity of which thus appearing, I shall mention no otherwise, but only observe thus much, in passing, that it is not the dissolving of the late Parliament that sticks in their stomacks, for that they are satisfyed well enough with, but they are unsatisfyed because the Nation is not turn'd wild into an irregular and dangerous Liberty, and consequently permitted either to return into new quarrels, or reduc'd under its former Tyranny. For certainly, no man would else, considering the different impressions that the late Civil Wartes have made upon the minds of the people, permit them to a choice of their own Governours, they being so divided and discompos'd, as for the present they are, and working and being unquiet as the Sea after a storm.

For the General being a hired Servant to the people of this Nation, tis very true, as well as every Magistrate; since in one Relation they are Servants, in another, Masters, Ser­vants in Intention, Masters in Execution, since without Ma­stery they could not serve, and tis but the same thing under a different notion.

For keeping of Armes in his hands, and preventing such an Extravagant Election, as the Pamphet aims at, is as much as to say in plain English, that he made choise of a very good way for the security of the people, and took care to put it in execution. For the former way being so dangerous, and the [Page 9]course chosen, which since was effected, and which we repent not of, it had been madness to have endeavoured an end, and yet neglected the means, or to say better, put the same means into other hands for contrary ends. And therefore since, if the people had made use of that freedome, there had been lit­tle reason to have trusted the elected, without great considera­tion of their persons and garbling, and that this was a business which could not be done but by a third power, it was rather thought fit, to stay, till he that can stop the raging of the Sea, would quiet the peoples minds, to select some particular worthy persons, of good life and conscience, out of the several Counties, to that High and Supreme Trust.

Tis also false, that they were summoned under great pe­nalties, when the very Summons it self, I cannot tell how printed at that time, speaks little more than a bare Summons, or Intimation; And for the reason of delivering a Parchment sealed, there hath been so much said of that matter, in the Grand Politique Informer better Informed, p. 10, 11. that it is needless to transcribe any thing hither.

When they were invested with this power, and begun to settle to the business, that is, advancing the Gospel in its purity, the Reglement of the Law, stating the Accounts of the Nati­on, and those corruptions which have infected all professions; they had turned their back from the Plough, if upon a few seditious addresses, of a rabble of Apprentices, and no body knows what, they had deserted so great a beneficial work, and to have suffered things to relapse into their former confusion.

Before I have done with this Paragraph, I must needs ad­mire the acumen of the man, who sayes that my Lord hath made that Treasonable, which otherwise would not have been Treason. This is a subtilty above Scotus himself, a Treason conditionall, ex post facto, whereas our Law ever adjudges Treason out of the matter of fact it self, not by actions after the fact, and in moral things, the Act is judged good or bad according to present circumstantiation, not following [Page 10]contingencies or subsequent Actions. But look whither he hath brought himself; He grants the dissolving of the late Par­liament not to be criminal, but only by consequence, which consequence is invalid, and so justifies the action, and so confutes all he had said before.

But further, he the said Oliver Cromwel having not the fear of God before his eyes, and being instigated by the Devil, did contrive or caused to be contrived a certain book, called, A Copy of Draughts of Acts of Parliament, out of which this mock-Parliament are to take their lessons, and out of which the late Act of Marriages was taken, and in which is the invention of unheard-of Cruel Torment aswell for those that offend or opppose him and his confederates in this unheard-of Tyranny, as for the Transgressors of the laws of Civil Societies.

Par. 2. For this Book of the Laws which he talks of, he is to be acquainted, that My Lord General had not the least hand in that Book; for the late Parliament called a company of select Gentlemen together, to consider the abuses and cor­ruptions of the Law. These Gentlemen, after long and patient debate, found the reformation of a great many other things ve­ry needful, and according to the directions of the Parliament, drew up several means of redress, which were entered into a Book, and presented ready for debate, and what necessity there was for taking away some corruptions of the Law, not the Law it self, is a thing so visible that it needs not be insist­ed on.

For the Act of Marriages which this man seems much to quarrel at, it would be known that marriage, being the means of the propagation of the people, and consequently of the continuance and preservation of Government, ought by all wise Statists to be lookd upon as the greatest concernment of it, because that it being a means of succession, and the onely [Page 11]direction of Inheritance, there depend so many formal circumstances on it, and so many incon­veniences are prevented by a Publick Solemnizati­on thereof, as there is scarce in any other thing belonging to a Commonwealth. And that this should be put into the hands of the Civil Magi­strate, whose power Circa Sacra, we shall not now meddle with, is neither so strange nor ridi­culous, since the essence of marriage being pro­mis'd, and that promise fit to be known and regi­stred in order to Legitimation, and prevention of stealths and carryings away, there cannot be any person fitter than the Civil Magistrate. And we shall leave it proposed to the Divines, whether there be any thing in Scripture, or by direct con­sequence from Scripture, that restrains the So­lemnization of Marriages to the Ministry, but that it is rather a devise set a foot by the Popes, to inrich their Clergy, at the time that Christianity became to be clouded and infected with Superstition.

And further, the said Cromwel hath by himself, and others, forced this mock-Parliament to take away the body of our Laws that hath been our Bulwark, and defence, and only weapons counted against absolute­ness, to the end and intent that thereby the Lords the People of England, may be subject to the will, pleasures, and intended Tyranny of him the said Cromwel; All which considered, we humbly pray, the Lords the peo­ple of England, that Justice may be had against this abominable Traytor and Enemy to God and Mankind, Oliver Cromwel.

Par. 3. This charge were a heavy one indeed [Page 12]if it were true, but tis so monstrously false, as there needs not much to be spoken unto it; for what benefit could the General make by alteration of the Lawes, since in every action every man wil propose to himself one thing or other? or where did he ever appear in any action or any debate tending this way? But to matter of fact; The lawes (which he calls our Bulwark and defence) are so far from being taken away, that the superfluities and inconveniences, the tedious and vexatious pro­ceedings are only taken away, to as much preju­dice to the life of the Law it self, as tis to purge a gross body of its noxious and corrupt humours.

And to the end that this may be effected, it is de­sired, that upon the 16. of October 1653. being the next comming, that all the people of England would as one man, as well Masters Sons, as Servants, repair into every County Town, or some other convenient place within England and Wales, appear armed with such weapons of war as with conveniency they can, then and there to elect and choose such and so many persons as the people of the respective Counties, Cities and Bo­roughs, wont to chuse to represent them in Parliament.

And further we do hereby declare, that such of the Army as shall join in this our shaking off this yoke, shall be received into the favor of the Lords the people of England, and be continued in their trusts of Armes; for our Encouragement, we know this of old since man was placed upon the earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is but short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment; for a long time their Tabernacle have only prospered, though they be robbers, and such as provoke [Page 13]God, and that make the upright man the greatest suf­ferer, yet for all this the multitude of their lies shall not make all men hold their peace.

The close of this business shewes the aim of the writer of it, that is to say, a double sedition, both of the People and Souldiery, so extravagant in the proposition to the people, that it hath produced no other effect, than the remembrance of the bare proposition of his folly; so foolish in that to the Souldiery, that it is not like to be entertained with any thing by them but laughter. For my part, to either of them, I have only this to say; That since it hath pleased the Lord to make his own arm bare, and to conduct us through all these changes and turnes of Providence, into this estate of Liberty wherein we now stand; it behooves us as men following the meek and gentle doctrine of Christ himself, not only to walk in humility and obedience to the present powers, who are of God, but also to be duly and sincerely thankful to that hand which hath taken off from our necks that i­ron yoke of Monarchy. and put us into that con­dition of Liberty, which we and our posterity, if we can but know our own happiness, are likely, with Gods blessing, to enjoy.