GEntlemen, Friends, and Countreymen, I do not question but that the Stile, and Title of our Commissions under which we are now to act and execute the Authoritie and Power committed to our hands, being changed from Carolus Rex Angliae, to Custodes Libertatis Angliae Authoritate Parliamenti, works divers effects upon the Tempers and spirits of men, according as the spi­rits themselves are tempered and affected; and that some of those spirits (like the Sunne upon Wax) it softens into Obedience and compliance, and others of them again (like the same Sun upon Clay) it hardens into stiffnesse and oppression. Proud, Ambitious, and Malignant spirits finding themselves frustra­ted and defeated hereby of their designed Hopes and hope­full Designes, for obtaining their desired Ends; and being filled with prejudice to others, and self-love to their own opini­ons, and therefore having turned themselves aside from the use of their own Reason, and from all Overtures and Arguments of sa­tisfaction, and having given up their understanding to blinde Affections,— it startles and confounds with Passions and Amaze­ments, heightned into choller and disdaine; Because looking thorow the false Glasse of their own self-Interest, they finde no­thing therein but imaginary shakings of Foundations, overturn­ing of Laws, and confused heaps of Ruines & Distractions. But to these, if any such be present, (especially if they have been for­merly ingaged in open Warre against the publike Interest of the Nation, and so are cast by Gods justice for their Transgressions into a mean and low condition) All I shall say (with the poor comfort of calamity, Pitie) is this, That if they have not alrea­dy tasted enough of the Cup of Gods wrath for their misdoings, let them take heed they ingage not again, for fear that hereafter they be inforced to drink the Dreggs of his displeasure. Other silly spirits there are, who standing unbottomed upon any solid Principles of their owne, finde themselves tossed to and fro with the Winde which blows from others mouthes; one while, liste­ning to the Prophet who bids them go up to Ramoth-Gilead and [Page 6] prosper; and by and by again yeelding to him that bidds them not go up for fear of perishing, and so they are carryed into crosse and oblique opinions and actions, tending to, and endange­ring their utter Ruine and Destruction. And to these men, all I shall say, and advise, is this, That they will forthwith repair to the School of Reason, and suffer themselves to be guided and led by impartiall and wholesome Lessons and Instructions, to a better Information of their judgements, whereby they may be settled upon undenyable grounds in the knowledge of themselves and the truth, and of their own Right, Interest, and Concernment. But another sort of men there are, who are willing to let their eyes stand in the place where Nature set them, and to make use of that Reason and judgement which God hath given them, and with erected mindes, to apprehend the sense of their own future happinesse, and to hearken to the voyce which calls them to the flourishing actions of a reformed Commonwealth, and therefore do entertain this Change with sutable Opinions and Comply­ance from these grounds which they thus propound and argue with themselves.

1. That all Power and Authority is Originally and Prima­rily in God, and comes from God; and this they rest upon as being a Scripture truth.

2. That God, out of his Wisdome and Providence, hath dis­pensed and transmitted so much of this Authority and Power to men, as is necessary for their use. First, as in relation to the Infe­riour Creatures, to Rule and Governe them as Lord and King. And as in relation to one another from a Principle of Nature, [Conservatio sui-ipsius] To seek and endeavour their own preser­vation and security, which Principle draws them to this Conclusi­on [Salus populi suprema Lex,] The safety of the people is the supreme Law both of Nature and Nations. And from this Na­turall Principle, and supreme Law of Nature, however all men in their Originall Creation are all of one and the same Sub­stance, Mould, and Stamp, yet for preservations sake, they finde a fitnesse in Subordinations and Degrees among them, for the better ordering of their Affairs; and so they appoint Rulers, and authorize Governours over them, as Trustees for themselves. They also elect Government, create Rules, Orders, and Laws, by which they will have their Rulers and Governours to guide and Steer their Actions in the course of their Government, to which they will conform their obedience: and this Truth is ascertained from hence, That there were People before there were either [Page 7] Rulers or Governours of People, and that therefore these Ru­lers and Governours were but made by the People, and for the people, with this Reserve, That whensoever the people should perceive that their Trustees & Governours did turn potestatem in­to potenti [...]m, the Power and Authoritie of Government, by Rule and Law formerly agreed upon, and consented unto by the peo­ple, into an Armed Force; and that they did alter the Peoples Rempublicam into the Governours Rem privatam, and that their Government ceasing to be free, was made to hang over the peo­ples heads as a Lordly Scourge to their destruction; Then, and from, thenceforth, and that with good comlinesse of reason, the people betake themselves to thoughts of Reformation; and find­ing cause to dislike their former choice, being not tyed by any Scripture to any one Forme of Government, they choose againe and take some other Form, differing from that before, whereby they will avoid the evils they suffered under their former choice, and enjoy the good of a more beneficiall preservation; for, like Marriners and men in a Ship at Sea, they will no longer trust an unskilfull or perfidious Stearsman, lest they should be found guilty of their own ensuing Shipwrack and destruction.

This brings me to the next Assertion and Position, which I own as a most certain Truth and my greatest earthly assurance, That the People [under God] is the Originall of all just Pow­er, and that let the Government runne out into what Forme it will, Monarchy, Aristocracy, or Democracy, yet still the Originall Fountain thereof is from the Consent and Agreement of the Peo­ple. From this Assertion and Position I am led on further, by plain reason to understand, That Rulers and Governours are accoun­table to the People for their mis-government; namely, when they transgresse the Rules and Lawes by which the people did agree they would be governed. But let me not be mistaken, for when I say Accountable to the People, I doe not mean to the hu­mours and fancies of particular men in their single & naturall ca­pacities, but to the people in their Politique Constitution, law­fully assembled by their Representative.

Touching the Government of this Nation, it hath anciently been Monarchicall in the frame and constitution of it, but yet it never was a pure Monarchie, for a pure Monarchie is a clear Ty­ranny; but it was a Politicall Monarchie, or Monarchy govern­ed by Lawes, taking in thereto all the goods, and avoiding all the ills both of Aristocracy and Democracie; and so I may truly say, that look upon the Frame and constitution of it alone, and as it [Page 8] were, upon the Theoreticall and contemplative part of it; and supposing it possible that the Practise would answer the Theo­rie, no man can deny, but that it was a Frame of most ex­cellent Order and Beautie; For, first, it had a King the chiefest Officer, one single Person; and therefore avoiding the proud Fa­ctions and contentions usually happening in Aristocracy, as like­wise the disordered confusions common in single Democracy; but yet a King bounded and compassed with Lawes above him, be­ing the Rules already made and given him to Rule by; and with a necessitie of concurrence and complyance with Lords and Com­mons below him, for future Legislative Power and Authority, and so avoiding the danger of Tyrannie usually incident to Monar­chies, which commonly makes the Monarchs Will the Law, and so establishing the Government upon this Foundation, Voluntas Imperatoris Lex esto.

But [alas] when I have shewed you the Frame and Constitu­tion of the late Government, I have shewed you all the Beauty of it; for when you come to examine the practical part, you shall find nothing lesse then excellency or perfection in it. Look into your own Stories, and you shall alwayes finde the King and great Lords ( Comites suos, as they were called) incroaching upon the peoples Liberties & Rights, incroaching to themselves superlative Prero­gatives, and Dominion over them: On the other side you shall finde again the People struggling to preserve themselves and their own Interest, labouring still to avoid the miseries and to free themselves from the mischiefs of their sufferings.

The Times and Transactions before the Norman William got the Crown, and which past among the Brittains, Romans, Danes, and Saxons, being dark and obscure, I passe by, and therefore I shall onely speak something of the times and transactions since.

First, the Tyrannicall Domination of that first William and his sonne the second William, gave the People to see their ensuing miseries; for though they made choice of the second William, who was but a second sonne, and rejected Robert his Elder Brother, yet they soon found their kindnesse was suddenly forgotten, when once the Crown was obtained, and therefore they refused when he was dead to chuse again, till by ingagements, Oathes, and Royall Promises of better Government, they were cheated into a second Election of Henry the first, who was a younger bro­ther likewise. But it was not long after ere Monarchie plaid Rex, and Pleasure and Will Ruled, the whole Kingdom almost was turned into Forrests; the Lawes which the people were brought [Page 9] to live under, and obey, were the cruell and insupportable Laws of the Forrest, which were made rather to preserve the Beasts, then the People within the bounds of Forrests. Then the people finding no other remedy, betook themselves to thoughts of Re­formation, as I told you at the first. And in the time of King Stephen, at Renymeed, they demanded restitution of St. Edwards Laws, for so they call'd that Saxon Edward, who was dead many years before, without any Heir or Successor of that kinde, (for we never read of any St. King since him:) And by those Lawes they say they will be governed, and to those Laws they will con­forme. Hereupon a new Compact is made, the Articles of Re­nymeed, containing most of St. Edwards Lawes, are confirmed and established, by consent in Parliament, & so the people are for that time satisfyed, and think themselves very safe (as they well might think so) under the security of an Act of Parliament. But yet this Act proved no security, for in a short time after all was let loose again, and the same mischiefs and oppressions upon the peo­ple were still continued, as before, and many more additions made thereto, to the utter inslaving of the English Nation.

Hereupon the people stand up once more for their Liberties and Native Rights in the ancient Lawes of the Land, and de­mand the second time to have them confirmed, and to be kept from violation; and so in the ninth year of King Henry the third was the great Charter of the Liberties of England [being but a Declaration of the ancient Common Lawes of the Land, and little differing from the Articles of Renymeed, together with the Char­ter of the Forrest,] framed and consented unto in full Par­liament, and are the first Acts of Parliament now extant in Print. And so the people sat down again under the protection of this second Securitie; but how weak a Security it prov'd, let the pra­ctise of the next King, and all succeeding Kings tell you, though it hath been confirmed and allowed by themselves two and thirty times; for in the two next Kings times you shall finde the good­men of the Land discountenanc'd, and vain, loose, and wanton persons to be the men in highest esteem; nay, Murderers and Robbers and the like, cherisht and maintain'd; and if brought to publike justice, and condemned for their misdoings, yet pardo­ned again, and set at Liberty, and though [by the Fundamen­tall Law] Parliaments [the usuall Salve for the peoples Soars] were to bee called and held twice a year, yet were they laid aside, and rarely made use of; and then when they were called, it was but to serve the Kings turn for granting Subsidies, or the [Page 10] like And this when the people perceived, in the time of King Edward the second, they thought fit to question his mis-govern­ment by Articles of Impeachment in Parliament against him, and then to depose him from his Kingly Office, and to make his Son (during his Fathers life-time) Warden of the Kingdome, and shortly after they made him King (while his father lived) by the name of Edward the third. And now are Acts of Parliament made against the former mischiefs: first, against the Kings granting Pardons to Robbers and Murderers; and four Acts of Parliament are made in the neck of one another, 6. E. 1. 9. 2. E. 3. 2. 4. E. 3. 13. 10. E. 3. 2. 14. E. 3. 13. and pursuing one another before telling the King plainly, that he may not, hee must not grant Pardons, but where he may do it by his Oath, namely, in case of Homicide, by misfortune, and Homicide in his owne defence. Secondly, for more frequent holding of Parliaments, namely, That they should be held once a year, and oftner if need be. But little effect did these produce, for the mischiefs have continued, and the people have still suffered (by the breach of those Laws, even untill these very times) the very same mis­chiefs as before.

In the time of King Richard the second, the disorders of the Court, and Oppressions upon the people from thence were so great and unsupportable, that the people Articled against that King, and likewise deposed him; and so they afterward did in like manner Depose King Henry the sixt, & K. Edward the fourth by consent in Parliament. Thus you see how the exercise of Kingly Office within this Nation hath been made use on to the damage of the people, and how the people again have put in ure their Authoritie over their Kings, to call them to an account for their mis-governments. Touching the last King much hath been said, and too much hath been felt by this Countie, in relation to the last Warre. But (pardon me if I tell you so) it was a just punishment of God upon us of this Countie; for, I may truly say, the Warre had its Rise and Beginning here, here in this Countie, nay, here in this Court, for this was the first place in Eng­land where any Grand-Juries of the Countie charged them­selves and their Countrey men with any Taxe to raise a Warre against the Publike Interest of the people, as they did here when at Summer Assizes in the year 1642. they charged the Countie with a Tax of 8600 pounds, to maintain 1000 Dragoons upon pretence to keep the Country in Peace. But, alas, the Dragoons were no sooner raised, but they were made use on for another [Page 11] Service, namely, to attend the Kings Standard at Nottingham, and from thence were carryed to fight at Edgehill against the Parlia­ments Forces, for better keeping the Peace in Yorkshire. And though it be true, that this Tax of 8600 pounds was never levy­ed, yet our own great Lords and Gentlemen made it the Founda­tion and Rise of another Tax of thirty thousand pounds, which they laid and levyed upon the Countie in October after, for bring­ing in the Earl of Newcastle and his Forces.

But (as I said before) Gods punishment is just upon us, for as the Warre began here, so it hath ever since continued among us, even at this day, when all the rest of the Kingdome is in Peace and quietnesse, onely we are now upon Sieging, at our owne Charge, of you cursed Castle at Pontefract, which began at first, and continues to be the last of all our Enemies Holds and Garrisons within this Nation.

But to return to the point of the Kings Incroachments upon the Peoples Liberties, and therein I will clearly tell you my own thoughts in one particular, and instance in that one, (but it is to my Apprehension, Ʋnum magnum, and instar omnium) it is as the Lyon said of her Whelp when the Fox upbraided her, That she was not so fruitfull in procreation as the Fox, but brought forth onely one Lyon at once, ('tis true, saith the Lyon) but that one is a Lyon: And so I may say by the Kings Negative Voyce in Parliament, for admit but this one peece of Preroga­tive to be just, and consonant to the Constitution of the Govern­ment, and I dare affirm, that the English Nation were in a pos­sibility (by that Constitution of Government) to be as arrant Slaves and Vassals, as were in Turkie, or among the Moors in the Gallies: For let the King put what Oppression he will upon the People, let their grievances and burthens be never so great, and let him [at the peoples Desires] call Parliaments for redresse thereof never so often, and let never so good Bills be prepared and pre­sented to him, for Reformation, yet still he shall put them off with this Royall Complement, Le Roy Sadvisera, signifying ( quoad the Practise) in plain English, I will not help you, nor release the unjust Burthens and Oppressions I have laid upon you.

But add to this that other Incroachment of the Lords Negative Voyce upon the people, which they also have with much Lordli­nesse practised in answer to the Commons Bills, though of highest concernment for their Weale, (however they expresse that Nega­tive in Court Language and good words, We will send an answer by Messengers of our owne; as if the people should expect they [Page 12] meant to return some concurrence with them, when [God knows] nothing is lesse thought upon, or meant by them.)

And now let the people see their own condition, now let them consider how they have been abused by good words and phrases, which if they had clearly & universally understood the meaning of; or if these Negatives had been clearly exprest, in down-right language, [ We will not help you, or, We will not ease you of your Burthens or Oppressions that lie so heavy upon you,] truely then I presume the people would long since have been stirr'd up to help themselves, and to have endeavoured as well to take away the mischief, as to avoid the miserie of such a Government. For mine own part I speak it freely from my heart, That as I am a Free­man both by Birth an Education, and am Inheritable to the Laws and Free-Customes of England; so I do naturally desire the security of Government, and I do willingly submit to the justice of known Lawes: But I have ever adhorred all Arbitrary Pow­ers, or to be subject to the Wils or Passions of men; & therefore I have alwayes thought (since I could think any thing upō grounds of Judgement or Reason) That so long as these two fore-mentio­ned Negatives remained upon the people, there could be no secu­rity or freedome in their Government; and there was no one thing that hath so firmly fixt me in the way I have gone, where­in I now am, and to oppose the other, as the mischiefs I under­stood to bee in the two Negative Voyces of the King and the Lords. Adding to these two fundamentall Court-Errours, and destructive Positions, maintain'd and held forth to the people by flattering Royalists, and proud and ambitious Prelates and Cour­tiers, viz. First, That the King had an Originall right to Rule; And secondly, That the King was accountable to none but GOD for his misgovernment: Lay but these two together with the Nega­tive Voyce, and let any man judge what they may and must ne­cessarily produce in point of Tyrannie and Oppression over the people.

Thus have I shewed you the true Originall of all Power and Authority, and from whence it is that the Exercise of Authority and Power is practised among men, over one another; I have shewed you also the justice which lies in this, That Kings, Rulers, and Governours [and particularly the King of this Nation] should be accountable to the People for their misgovernments; and how de­structive a Tenent it is to say, That a King hath right to Rule over men upon Earth, and that yet GOD hath not given a Power to earth­ly men to call him to account for misgovernment; unlesse you will [Page 13] suppose that Kings at first did fall from Heaven, and were sent down from above to exercise their wils, and act their lusts below.

Having said thus much upon this subject onely to give a hint, from whence you may observe (till the Parliaments own Decla­ration be publisht, which I hope will fully and clearly set them out) what the Grounds and Reasons were that the Parliament hath found the Kingly Office within this Nation to be uselesse, and dangerous, and why therefore they will no more trust the Crown upon the Head of any one Person, nor transferre the cu­stodie of the Liberties of England and Englishmen into the Pow­er of another, who may abuse them; and therefore why likewise they resolve to keep the Crown within its proper place the Ca­binet of the Law, and to allow the Law onely to King it among the people, and that the people themselves [by their Represen­tatives] shall be the onely Keepers of their own Liberties, by Authoritie derived from their own Supreme and Soveraign pow­er; which brings me now to the stile of our Commissions, Custo­des libertatis Angliae Authoritate Parliamenti.

And touching the King of England his right to Rule, or Title of Law by Inheritance and Descent to the Crown of England, thus much may be safely and truely said, That if it be an Ancient and Originall Inheritance fixt in one Family, it was gain'd at first by the power of the sword, and by Conquest, which Title in Law is but a disseisin and an unlawfull Title, and therefore may bee again as justly regained, as it was gained at first by Force, and by the stronger Arm and sharper Sword; And as it was so gain'd at first, so it hath been ever since either by the like pure force, or else by consent in Parliament upon particular cases kept and maintained; and so you will finde if you look how every King since the Norman William (call'd the Conquerour) came to the Crown; For of all those four and twenty Kings and Queenes which have since that time Kingd it among us, there are but seven of them who could pretend Legally to succeed their former Pre­decessors, either by Lyneall, or Collaterall Title. I have not lea­sure to repeat the particulars, and this I have said may serve to give you occasion (if you be so minded) to look further into it, and to satisfie your judgements herein, and by consequence to keep you from ingaging against your selves and the Nation, for a Name, or for a Thing which is not truth.

Now I come to that which is our true businesse, our work of the first magnitude, Opus diei in die suo, the Articles of your Charge which I intend [for the better helping of your memories] [Page 14] to deliver to you in writing, with the Laws and the punishments, and briefly to runne over the rehearsall of the Facts onely, with­out further mention concerning them; yet with such necessary Expositions and Explanations of particulars as shall be needfull in my passage through them; adding onely this for an Animad­version to you, That you and I are trusted at this time with the administration of Justice in our own Countrey, amidst all the Temptations which our severall Relations of Friends, Kindred, or Acquaintance can Offer unto us; which shews, that they who do so trust us, have great assurance and confidence in us; and then we must conclude, that this confidence puts a greater obligation upon us to fidelitie and integritie in the discharge and performance of that Trust committed to us; adde to this that [Vinculum animae] the Bond of the Soule the Obligation of an Oath, and I doubt not but it will be found, that though Love, Fear, and particular Interest be the usuall Cords which halter Justice, that yet at this time they will be found to be among us but sorry and unmasculine pieces of Rhetorick, either to af­fright us from, or soften us in our duties.

The matter of your Charge will be to inquire into, and finde out the severall Offences which have been committed and done against the Politique Body of the Commonwealth, as so ma­ny severall Diseases and infirmities in the severall parts of the na­turall Body of a man, which distemper and endanger the health of the whole, and they are of four sorts.

First, such as are against the Peace of the Commonwealth, or whereby Publike Peace is disturbed, and those I call Diseases in­dangering the heart of this Politique Bodie.

Secondly, such as are against the Justice of the Common­wealth, or whereby publique justice is perverted, and those I call Diseases indangering the Head of this politique Body.

Thirdly, such as are against the plenty of the Commonwealth, or whereby publike plenty is diminished, and those I call Disea­ses against the stomack of this politique Body.

Fourthly, such as are against the beauty and good Complexi­on of the Commonwealth, or whereby this beautie and good Complexion is discoloured and defaced, contained under the Name of Common Nusances, and those I call Diseases against the Senses, the Leggs and the Feet of this politique Body.

Touching those against Peace, they are of five sorts.

1. Treasons, which againe are either High-Treason or Petty-Treason.

[Page 15]2. Felonies, which again are done either against the Person, or Possession of another. 3. Premunire. 4. Misprisions. 5. Trespasses.