haughty Opinion he conceives of his being the only Person qualify'd for the Goverment of more Worlds than one declares his Resolutions of admitting no Rivals in Soverainty looking upon all other Princes but as so many smaller Stars or wandering Planets compar'd with him the Sun from whom after the antiquated and justly exploded Opinion of som Philosophers they are to receive their borrowed Light or Power as it shal please his Mightiness to dispense So that Crowned Heads Princes and Republics as wel as their Subjects are to expect the same meat that of Slavery and tho that be not sweet yet the sawce wil be sorer poinant to all tho perhaps a little differenc'd The former may be allow'd Golden while the later are to be manacled with Iron-Chains In order hereunto his Ambition has made him resolve the Conquering of the World after the Example of Alexander whose Title of Great as an earnest of his future Hopes he has already assum'd He has vow'd to make himself as Famous to Posterity by his Sword tho not by his Pen as Caesar has don That Paris shal give Law to the Universe as Rome once did and that the Ocean shal yield no less to the Sene than formerly it did to Tyber Now if England which alone is able to do it prevents the Execution of these vast Purposes what can we expect but that one time or other he wil seek a Revenge and notwithstanding his Promises and solem Confirmations of Peace try against us the success of his Arms and by numbers endeavour for this mighty Insolence to chastise those for whom even their own Histories wil convince them they are Man to Man a very unequal Match The dis-banding his Forces for the present is far from being a security since he may raise them again at his Pleasure Nor indeed do I imagin he wil discharge his Armies since that were to give them an opportunity of Rebelling for which he is sensible his People are sufficiently prepar'd and only want either Domestic Heads and Partisans or Forrein Assistance to rescu themselves from Tyranny and Oppression And is it fit while so potent and so near a Monarch is in Arms that we shâ—ud stand with our hands in our Pockets No I am perswaded tho a present Peace shoud be concluded that the King and his Ministers wil think it for the common safety and the particular Interest of England not only to enter with the Confederats into a strict Allyance offensive and defensive but also to put themselves into a Posture of War both at Sea and Land The end of War is Peace but a Peace with France seems to me to be the beginning of War or at least a Preparation for One and I must ingenuously profess tho War be a great Evil yet from all Appearances I dread the Consequences of a Peace more for that without great care it wil be of the two the most fatal to England But this Consideration as most fit I leave to my Superiors and wil only ask You whether before we engage in a War abroad it be not fit To secure a Peace at home To reconcile by Toleration our Differences in point of Religion That the French Emissaries or others may not be able to strike Fire into the Tinder already prepared for the least Spark It must not be forgot That to divert or disable Queen Elizabeth from assisting France or defâ—nding Holland Phillip the Second of Spain incouraged and assisted Tyrone to Rebel in Ireland That in the long War between Us and France it was the frequent Practice of that Crown to incite the Scots to make Incursions upon us And I presume it wil be consider'd Whether some ambitious Men of that Kingdom may not influence the People to favor or side with a Prince who maintains great numbers of their Nation by the Considerations that they are now but a Province that England denyes them an equal Freedom in Traffic That they may have better Terms from the French in that and Religion in which by denyal of Liberty they seem dis-satisfy'd Tho such persons can't possibly work on the Wise the considerative of the People yet sure it were not improper to study a course to prevent the unthinking Croud the Rabbles being deluded by such fals and groundless pretensions which in my Opinion are with more care to be provided against in Ireland where 't is said those and other Motives may be urged For there are computed to be in that Kingdom about eleven hundred thousand persons of which 800000 are Irish and of them above 10000 born to Estates dispossest these for their losses and others for restraint in matters of Religion are discontented not considering their own Rebellion occasion'd their Ruin by their Murmurings I perceive let the Sentence be never so just it wil not hinder the condemn'd from railing against the judg That besides their suffering in Estate and Religion they are yet further beyond the Scots renderd uncapable of injoying any Office or Power Military or Civil either in their native or any other of their Princes Countryes Their folly having thus reduced them to a condition more like that of Slaves than Subjects many of the Gentry go frequently into other Kingdoms but most into France who may possibly be incouraged to return to move the People to a new Sedition especially if they can give them assurance of forrein Assistance The King wisely foreseeing this directed in 1673. his late vigilant and prudent Vicegerent the Earl of Essex to disarm the Irish Papists and netwithstanding the exact execution of that command it s said that his Majesty intends to put himself to the further Charge of increasing his Army in that Kingdom beyond what now it is and to appoint a considerable Squadron of Ships to guard and defend its Coasts from any Attempts of Invasion without which there is not the least fear of any intestine Commotions This with the charge he has bin at in Erecting a new Fort in the Harbor of Kinsale the most likely place to prevent the entring of any Forrein Power into that Country shews he has bin watchful to secure himself and People against the French desines And now I touch upon Ireland I have heard som say that it is not only convenient but necessary to unite that Kingdom to this To make a new division of Shires To send only so many Members to Parliament as coud no more join to out-Vote us than Cornwal and Devonshire with two or three other Countyes But I see not if they were thus made one wherein their interest woud be different from ours many rather think they woud be losers by the Bargain Others fancy Pointings Act shoud be repeal'd that at first tho a trick it was necessary but now is not all the power and almost all the Land being devolved upon such as are mediatly or immediatly English and Protestants And that by an easy contrivance they might be still oblig'd to a dependence on the Crown
Master who am now ascending thither injoyn you to obey viz. To love one another hearken not to him for he is a Murderer and a Lyar a Cheat and an Impostor Neglecting this and having the Persons of Men in Honor they readily imbraced their Opinions and changing the name of Christians took up that of the Fathers of their Sects as of Arians c. These Divisions and Factions and the consequent Bloody Wars woud perswade us that Christ came not indeed to send peace on Earth but a Sword for these Ring-leaders imposed upon the credulous Multitude that al those superinduced new Fangles Diabolical Inventions unreasonable Whimsies and childish Fopperies were the great Pillars and Truths of Religion and therefore to be contended for unto Death While in the mean time they themselves were conscious that they disputed not for Truth but Victory for the sensual Gratifications of Ambition and vain glory of pride and Interest and if you wil but give your self leisure to look into the Controversies of former Heretics or into those of later date between the Reformed and the Church of Rome c. you wil find them al on one and the same bottom The Church of Rome has good Reason as to this World not to yield to any Truth in the point of Transsubstantiation of which certainly 't is enuff to believe simply Christ's own words This is my Body because no more is warranted and therefore not necessary and that indeed none of the Expositions are free from unanswerable Objections tho none appear so opposit to sense and absur'd as that of the Romanists and Lutherans For if this Power of working Miracles be taken from the Priest it may be thought he has nothing left to make him Iure Divino which if allowed he is quick enuff to foresee that other Princes may follow the Example of Henry the Eight Those mistaken on wilful Apprehensions have involved the several Kingdoms of Europe in blood and confusion intestine Commotions and Wars and wil imbroil them yet further if the Causes be not remov'd This has long been the wishes of some and the endeavors of others but by the success seeing the Disease is not cur'd but that its venom does daily spred more and more we may safely conclude Thaâ— Disputing is as incompetent a way to resettle the Truth of Religion as the Sword is to propagate it Every Man naturally hates to be accounted a Fool or a Lyar and therefore when worsted by the force of Arguments which may be to him unanswerable tho not convincing he fals into Heat and Passion which the other returning with equal warmth at length both lose the Question and fal from Words to Blows from Disputing to Fighting and not satisfy'd pedanticly for most commonly the Contention is only about Words to lash one another they further make Parties and Factions These hurried on with the Fury of a perverse Zeal the effect of Ignorance espouse the Quarrel and pursu the Folly and the Malice to the fatal Destruction of thousands of Millions as if there was no getting to the Heavenly Canaan the New Ierusalem but by wading or rather by swimming thro the Red-Sea of Christian Blood while in the meantime the first Disputants stand looking on or like sneaking Cowards steal away from the Rencounter as soon as they have ingag'd others more genrous but withal more foolish than themselves This England has to its Cost experimented and 't is to be fear'd if not timely prevented wil agen Others finding the way of Dispute insufficient believed that the Allowance of a Toleration to the several contending Sects woud do the work and that in truth the denyal of it so far as it might consist with the Peace of the Common-wealth seem'd to be a kind of Persecution not unequal to that of the Heathen Emperors in the beginning of Christianity This Opinion being by the Ring Leaders infused into the Peoples Minds who being apt to pitty al in distress from Pitty are induced to Liking and from liking to Love they at length espouse the Party and with so much the more Violence by how much the more it is oppos'd nothing being more natural than to resist Force and covet earnestly those things we are forbid The Consideration of this and his own observation that the more the Christians were put to Death the more they increased made the wise Pliny write to the Emperor Trajan to forbear Persecution telling him That sheading Christians Blood was sowing the Seed of the Church every Man's Death giving to the Multitude a sufficient proof of the Truth of his Profession and gaining more Proselites than Preaching coud By the Emperor's following this good advice the Christians gain'd their Liberty and he an Accession to his Army and the great increase of Converts was thereby much restrained The sense of this great Prudence joyn'd with his Majesties great natural Clemency has with good reason prevail'd upon his Ministers rarely to execute the Severity of the Sanguinary and penal Laws upon Dissenters and I am wel assur'd that did they not believe by those Statutes remaining stil in force That they are under Persecution or the dread of it instead of increasing much within these few years they woud certainly have decreased I am therefore perswaded that Toleration with convenient Restrictions woud lessen the Evil and remove most of its inconveniencies tho al can never be taken away without another sort of Education And if the Parliament that give it find it hereafter inconvenient they may alter or annul it how they please In this Toleration al Opinions are to be provided against that are destructive of good Life together with the consequences rather than occasions Atheism and Irreligion As the Venetians once excluded so must we for ever prohibit the Iesuits and other Regulars The number of secular Priests and Non-conforming Ministers or Teachers are to be limited They with their Flocks Registred and to be incapable of any Office in the Commonwealth and the Teacher to be maintain'd by themselves The richest of the Congregations to be security for their Preachers That they shal preach no Sedition nor have privat Conventicles That besides the State may send two to hear al taught That the use of al Controversial Catechismes and Polemical Discourses as wel out as in the Pulpit under strict Penalties be forbid Such things no less in their natures than their names signifying and begetting Distractions Rebellions and Wars Tho it be as impossible by Laws or Penalties to alter mens Opinions from what either their Temper or their Education has occasion'd as it is to change their Complections Yet if men pursu'd nothing but Godliness and Honesty they woud find their Differences in Opinion are no more hurtful than restrainable And to make them less so all names of hatred and division are to be taken away and the Parable of Christs seamless Coat to be really fulfil'd again That al whatever their single Opinions be be call'd by no other
composed shewing the Duty of Christians according to the express Words of the Text of Scripture without straining or misapplying any one as is don in two many of those now extant and without touching upon any one disputed point That al the Books of Controversial Divinity as wel those in privat hands as in Booksellers be bought up by the State and plac'd in the Kings-Library or burnt That al the Commentaries on the Bible be reviewed by sober moderate and learned Men and as many of them as contain more than what directly tends to the Illustration of the Text by recounting the Language Customs and Ceremonies of the Times and places it was writ in follow the fate of the others And because it is reasonable to believe There is no such intire Work extant in imitation of the Septuagint Translation there may be seventy appointed for this to be in Latin and for the Homilies and Catechism in English which being don let al the present Expositions be sent to the Library or the Fire That the same Persons or others be ordered to pick out of the Scripture al such Passages as tend to the encouragement of a Holy Life and to put them into one piece in English for common use I have heard som sober Men wish that English Bibles were not so common that the ignorant and unwary might not wrest the hard texts to their own destruction nor to that of the Public Peace But you know I have often told you I look'd upon the variety of Translations out of the Original into the vulgar Languages as the best Comment These things being don To take the Printing of Books into the state it is as necessary as the Mint false Coynage of Books has don England more mischief than ever that of Mony did or wil do The Licensing of Printing or importing from beyond-Sea wil not otherwise prevent great Evil to Church and State That there be but a convenient number of book sellers permitted Those to be under obligation to vend no other books then such as are Printed in this allow'd Printing-House where forrein books with advantage to the Public may be reprinted The hindering forrein Coyn from being current is not so useful and advantageous as the care in this wil prove to the Kingdom When Things are thus far settled the Bishops who are not to be chosen under forty are to see that al Ministers School-masters and Church-wardens do their respective Duties going about and visiting Parish by Parish as was the Antient Practice Confirming after Examination and exhorting al to continu obedient to the Laws of God and Man reprehending and suspending such as they find faulty without favor or affection the Ministers and School-Masters from Office and benifice the people from the Sacraments which is every where monthly at least to be Administred til after Repentance express'd in the reformation of their Lives As for the Iurisdiction of Ecclesiastical Courts because it is a kind of imperium in imperio and that thro the greatness of the Bishops other Charge they cannot officiat in this to take away and prevent abuses it is to be laid aside and other or the same Punishments for the crimes there usually tryable inflicted in the ordinary Courts upon the Bishops or the Minister and Church-Wardens Certificate of the Matter of Fact in whom alone the Power of Examination shoud reside And because the office of Bishops Ministers and School-masters wil be of great Labor none shoud continu in them beyond Sixty nor so long unless they are found fitting After that Age al of 'um to have a handsom decent Retreat in Colleges purposely built where the superannuated of each province the emeriti in the Christian warfare may spend the Remnant of their days without Care in quiet and Devotion To assist and ease the Bishop there shou'd be as formerly Rural Deans over every ten or twenty Parishes Part of the Ministers Business shou'd be to instruct the Boys every Saturday in the Schools in al the Duties of Religion To Catechize and read the Prayers and Homilies on Sundays in public The rest of the Week between the times of Prayer to be celebrated twice a-day to go from House to House exhorting and dehorting as occasion requires visiting the Sick and examining the Needs of the Poor reconciling Differences between the Neighbors and taking care that in every Family the Children such as are found fit by the Electors appointed not by the Parents blind Fondness be constantly sent to School After the continued Practice of this course Christianity wil again flourish The years of the Minister wil make him sober and grave fit to give Counsel which from young Men is now despis'd There wil then be no need of spending time in writing Controversies or studying Sermons which as now Preach'd are rarely understandable or useful to the People of whom it may be said the one is always teaching to no purpose and the other ever learning and never coming to the Knowledg of the Truth The School-masters are not only to be learned but sober and discreet Men to be oblig'd never to whip or beat the Boys whose Faults are to be punished by Exercises by standing mute or kneeling for certain spaces or by fasting from their Victuals c. Those that are good to be incouraged by Priority of Places by commendatory Verses made by the higher Forms c. The Boyes that need beating are as unfit to be taught as the Man is to teach who uses that tyrannical way which too much debases the Meek-spirited and makes the Sullen more stubborn and il-natur'd That whatever any Persons bestow on the Masters be converted to publick Charitable Uses The Method of Teaching to be drawn up by som of the Members who 't is presum'd wil mix Things with Words and approv'd by the whole Royal Society that confirm'd and al others prohibited by Law That in the Universities none be suffer'd to continu beyond the Age of forty-five nor above two in any one House or Colledg after thirty-five That a new Method be likewise fram'd by the same Persons for al the Liberal Arts and Sciences and that new Academies be built for training up young Noblemen and Gentlemen in those Exercises which to the shame and loss of England are now learnt in France That handsom and sufficient Salaries be fixt and paid out of the public Revenu according to every Mans Quality Bishops equal to one another Deans to Deans Ministers and School-masters to each other and these to be chosen gradually as the pure Consideration of Merit shall invite the Electors And to inable the Public as wel in paying these Salaries as in building of Schools Churches Colledges and Hospitals the whole Revenues of the Church Free-Schools Universities and Hospitals shoud at the highest valu be annex'd to the Crown or sould to others that wil give more The Overplus sav'd by this new Model and the Mony they woud yield beyond any other Land of England
two following in sixty-five and seventy-one blowing up the Feuds on both sides pretending to take part with each but not really purposing it with either Having the same Desine of weakning both Parties as the Brittains formerly had in throwing a Bone of Contention between the Picts and Scots that they might in the end be the better able to overcom both In the mean time the French King gain'd an opportunity of building Ships of War and training up Seamen of which he was before destitute so that had not these Quarrels and our late Civil Wars given him a pretence of increasing his Maritin Power we might stil even by threats of burning the Ships upon the Stocks or in the Harbors as did Queen Elizabeth have kept that People under and our selves from fear But since by unavoidable Accidents the Dice are so thrown as that the Fore is lost let 's use the best of our art and skill to retreive an After-Game There is no need to attempt the proof of what is as evident as the Sun at Noon-day That the French King has a Power great enuff considering the present Circumstances of Europe to make him hope and al others dread his effecting that old Define which has bin the end of al Actions of that Crown for many years past which before he coud put in Execution his great Obstacle and Rival the Spaniard was to be removed out of the way in order to which he judg'd necessary to fortify himself with some Allyes and engage others Newters But foreseeing it was the interest of England and Holland to oppose the one and assist the other and therfore despairing to prevail upon either he contriv'd to make both fall out not long after he took the advantage of unexpectedly invading the Spanish Netherlands even while his Agent then in Spain was perswading that Crown of his Masters good intentions to continue in intire Peace and Amity with them The consequence of which we wisely foreseeing occasion'd our setting on Foot the Tripple League in the year 1668. by which a stop was put to his further Progress And now perceiving himself disapointed he makes various Attempts in the Years 1669 and 1670 to invite England to break that Alliance But finding his fineness Vain he oblicly endeavors it by renewing the old and inventing new grounds of Quarrels by such Agents and Pensioners in the State of Holland as his wealth had purchas'd which at last made them commit such insolence against the Honor of this Crown and the Interest of the People in point of Trade as brought upon 'um the last fatal War into which he no sooner drew the Hollanders than he rush'd into the very Heart of their Country This sudden event made them confess their Error and our King the sooner to conclude a Peace The Parliament was then and since very desirous His Majesty shoud ingage with the Dutch and Spaniards against France and without doubt he knew it woud be his interest so to do but not at that time For tho the undoubted Prerogative of the Kings of England intitle them to make War and Peace he did not wave the former because the Parliament urged it as the malicious suggest but because he saw it not convenient 'T is tru the Kings of England have bin pleas'd to advise in such matters with their Parliaments But that was an Act of Grace and condescension and ought not now if at al to be insisted on so as to deny the King that liberty which as a Man he cannot want that of examining and approving or disapproving what his great Council shoud advise For no man in his Wits wil dream the Lords and Commons have a power of imposing what they please upon the King when without his Assent they have neither Power nor Right to make any Act. The King considered That Peace is the happiness of a Kingdom That War being a real evil is never to be undertaken but to avoid a greater That his Treasures were exhausted by the War just finisht That his People had not recover'd their losses by the Plague Fire and Wars and therfore were unable to bear the Burden of heavy Taxes which of necessity must have bin imposed to carry on a new one for which great preparations ought to be made both of Men Mony and Shipping the former were no less wanting than the last much impaired and diminish't He consider'd That the French King had not only bin amassing great Treasure for many but had also bin three years training up an Army in al the Disciplines of War That it was necessary before one King entred into a War to compare his own and the others strength whether with Ten he were able to meet him with Twenty Thousand That he ought to make Alliances and to have cautionary Towns before we declared our selves Enemies That so great a desine was not to be made public before things were Ripe least the Dutch and French might clap up a Peace and that potent King turn against us the fury of his Arms for whom certainly in those circumstances we shoud have bin a very unequal match I am perswaded That these with other much wiser considerations not obvious to every man convinced the King A War was on no score at that time seasonable And to this Opinion I am mov'd by my sense That the King coud not but reflect That when the French King had subjected al the rest of Europe he woud not fail to ad England to his Conquests in which our Kings losse must needs be greater than his Subjects For it is unreasonable to think that tru Policy woud let the French King suffer any of the Royal Family especially the King of England and France at whose Title and Arms-bearing he is not a little offended to outlive the loss of the Crown since he coud not but believe they woud be perpetually endeavouring the regaining their own Right For tho subjection be unequal to al 't is not so intolerable to any as to those us'd to govern And therfore t is an idle and and senseless inconsiderat fancy to imagin the King and Duke coud forget their own Interest or be Frenchifi'd upon any promise or bargain as is maliciously insinuated that they might be more absolute which can't possibly be in their thoughts or wishes Who know that between Kings or States Covenants are binding no longer than convenient that the French King has ever shewn that his Interest only or his Wil is the Rule of convenience That he that makes War for his Glory has more ambition to put his Chains upon Princes than on the People his thoughts are as large as any of the Roman Emperors and they esteemd it a greater Glory to lead one King in Triumph than many thousands Subjects of several Kingdoms And it is not to be suppos'd that the natural strength and situation of England can be a sufficient Defence against the Power of France when to that he has already is added that of
to make good all Horses stolen out of their Stables or Pastures An Imposition on all Stage-Coaches Carts Waggons and Carriers set aside for the wel ordering the Roads woud be of general Advantage as woud a Tax upon Periwigs forving in part as a sumptuary Law A year or half a years Rent charg'd upon all the new Buildings since 1656 woud not only much oblige the City of London enabling them by the Difference of Rents to Let those many wast Houses which now to the Ruin of Trade remains un-tenanted also gratify the Kingdom by easing them from the common thredbare Land-Tax I do not question but in this Conjuncture the Wit of Men wil be contriving new Ways to supply the present occasions of a War for that a Land-Tax is slow and unequal and I am apt to fancy that of the Poll-Mony wil be pitcht upon as the most speedy Levy but must not be too great As to my self I am not sollicitous what Course they take but wish it such as may be equal and so wil be pleasing to most But be it great or smal the King as formerly wil be agen defrauded unless there be special care taken The way I apprehend is That for twenty-one Years to com neither Plaintif nor Defendant be allow'd the Benefit of the Law without producing an authentic Acquittance or Discharge that they have paid this Pol-Mony and averring the same in their Actions or Pleas. That the Ministers be forbid to Marry within that space any who do not Women as wel as Men produce such Certificats That none be admitted to any Office or Command Civil or Military Administration or Executorship Freedom or Privilege in Town City or Corporation or receiv'd into any of the Public Schools Inns or Universities if of the Age limited by the Act except they make out the said Payment which in three months after ought to be Registred with the persons Names and Qualities Now in regard that England is already very much under-peopled and wil be more so if there be a War To provide against those Evils and to obviat in som measure the Loosness and Debauchery of the present Age I have thought of a sort of Tax which I believe is perfectly new to all the World and under which 't is probable if it takes I have made Provision for my own Paying the Crown no inconsiderable Sum during my Life 'T is a Tax upon Caelibat or upon unmarryed People viz. That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and other Degrees of Nobility upwards shoud Marry by twenty-two compleat all their Daughters by Eighteen and Yonger Sons by Twenty-five All Citizen's Eldest Sons not Gentlemen by Twenty-three all other Men by Twenty-five All the Daughters not Servants of all Men under the Degree of Gentlemen to marry by Nineteen all Maid-Servants by Twenty That all Widdowers under Fifty Marry within Twelve Months after the Death of their Wives all Widdows under Thirty-five within two Years after their Husband's Decease unless the Widdowers or Widdows have Children alive I allow the Women as the softer and better natur'd more time to lament their Loss That no Man marry after Seventy nor Widdow after Forty-five That all Men cohabit with their Wives That the Eldest Sons of Gentlemen and all other Degrees of Nobility upward and all other Persons not Married by the times limited as afore-said shal pay per annum a peece these following Rates viz. Dukes Marquesses and their Eldest Sons Forty pound other Lords and their Eldest Sons twenty Pound Knights Barronets ten Pound Esquires eight Pound Gentlemen five Pound Citizens three Pound all other Retailing Trades-men two Pound The Yonger Brothers or Sons of all the fore-going Persons respectively half so much and likewise the Maiden Daughters or rather their Fathers or Gardians for them All Servants Laborers and others six Shillings eight Pence All the above-said Widdowers or Widdows not marrying again under the Age afore-said half but marrying again after the Ages above limited double according to their Qualities respectively and all marryed Men not cohabiting with their Wives to pay quadruple You may perceive I do not forget in this Scheme to practice som of the Courtesy of England towards the Women That in regard it is not fashionable for them to Court an hardship Custom and their own Pride has foolishly brought upon them they are Tax'd but at half what their Elder Brothers are These things I do not set down with a Design of giving People a Liberty of playing the Fool as now in Matters of Fornication under those Penalties For all single Persons that do so I woud have oblig'd under an indispensible Necessity to Marry one another And coud wish a further severity of Punishment were inflicted upon Adultery by the State since 't is so much neglected by the Church It woud also be of great and public Advantage that all Marriages were Celebrated openly in the Church according to the Canon or Rubric and the Banes three several Sundays or Holy-days first published But if this must be stil dispensed with that then all Dukes and Marquesses and their Eldest Sons shoud pay twenty Pound all Noblemen and their Eldest Sons fifteen Pound every Knight and his Eldest Son seven Pound ten Shillings every Gentleman or others five Pound to the King as a Public Tax for such License over and above the present establisht Fee in the Consistory Court That if all Children may not be Baptized openly in the Church the Births of all even of the Non-conformists may be duly Registred the knowing the exact Numbers of the People woud be of great Advantage to the Public-Weal and conduce to many good and noble Purposes which for Brevity sake I omit to mention This Course may perhaps prevent many Inconveniences that young Men and Women bring upon themselves and the Public And since the Concubitus Vagus is acknowledged to hinder Procreation the Restraint thereof wil be one Means of advancing Trade by adding more People to the Common-wealth which perhaps in the following Particulars you wil find to be the greatest occasion of its Decay An Inconvenience by all possible means to be removed For that Trade is the Support of any Kingdom especially an Island enabling the Subjects to bear the Taxes and shewing them wayes of living more agreeable than those of the Savage Indians in America whose condition is but few Degrees distant from that of Brutes Since then it is so necessary it deserves the Parliaments best Care to restore it to what it has been or make it what it shoud be The first thing to be don is The Erecting a Council or Committee of Trade whose Work shoud be to observe all manner of things relating thereunto to receive Informations of all Trades-men Artificers and others and thereupon make their Observations To consider all the Statutes already made and out of them form such Bil or Bils as shal be more convenient and present them to the Parliament to be enacted There are
already many Discourses publishtâ— som of them woud be worth their view and did they Sit constantly many would bring their Remarks and I my self shoud be able to give som Notions on this Subject which for want of time I cannot now give you The two great Principles of Riches are Land and Labor as the later increases the other grows dear which is no otherwise don than by a greater Confluence of industrious People For where many are coop'd into a narrow Spot of Ground they are under a necessity of Laboring because in such Circumstances they cannot live upon the Products of Nature and having so many Eyes upon them they are not suffer'd to steal Whatever they save of the Effects of their Labor over and above their Consumption is call'd Riches and the bartering or commuting those Products with others is call'd Trade Whence it follows that not only the greatness of Trade or Riches depends upon the Numbers of People but also the Deerness or Cheapness of Land upon their Labor and Thrift Now if Trade be driven so that the Imports exceed in valu the Exports the People must of necessity grow poor i. e. consume the Fundamental Stock viz. Land and Labor both falling in their price The contrary Course makes a Kingdom Rich. The Consequence is That to better the Trade of England the People which wil force Labor must be increas'd and Thrift incouraged For to hope for a vast Trade where People are wanting is not only to expect Bric can be made without Straw but without Hands The great Advantage a Country gains by being fully peopled you may find by the following Observation viz. That the valu of the Labor is more than the Rent of the Land and the Profit of all the Personal Estates of the Kingdom which thus appears Suppose the People of England to be six Millions their annual Expence at twenty Nobles or six Pound thirteen and four Pence a Head at a Medium for Rich and Poor Young and Old wil amount to forty Millions and if wel consider'd cannot be estimated much less The Land of England and Wales contain about twenty four Millions of Acres worth one with another about six and eight Pence per Acre or third part of a Pound consequently the Rent of the Land is eight Millions per annum The yearly Profit of all the Peoples personal Estate is not computed above eight Millions more both together make sixteen Millions per annum this taken out of the forty Millions yearly Expence there wil remain twenty-four Millions to be supply'd by the Labor of the People Whence follows that each Person Man Woman and Child must Earn four Pound a Year and an Adult laboring Person double that Sum because a third part or 2 Millions are Children and Earn nothing and a sixth part or one Million by reason of their Estates Qualities Callings or Idleness Earn little so that not above half the People working must gain one with another eight Pound per annum a peece and at twenty Years Purchase wil be worth Eighty Ponnd per Head For tho an Individuum of Mankind be recon'd but about eight Years Purchase the Species is as valuable as Land being in its own nature perhaps as durable and as improveable too if not more increasing stil faster by Generation than decaying by Death it being very evident that there are much more yearly Born than Dye Whence you may plainly perceive how much it is the Interest of the State and therefore ought to be their care and study to fil the Country with People the Profit woud not be greater in point of Riches than in Strength and Power for 't is too obvious to be insisted on that a City of one Miles circumference and ten Thousand Men is four times stronger and easier defended than one of four Miles with double the Number Now there are but two ordinary wayes of increasing the People that of Generation and that of drawing them from other Countries The first is a Work of Time and tho it wil not presently do our Business yet is not to be neglected I have shewn how it may be hasten'd by obliging to Marriage and more might be added by erecting Hospitals for Foundlings after the manner now used in other Countries and practised with great Advantage in Paris by the Name of L'hostel pour les enfants trouves where there are now reckon'd no less than Four Thousand This in all parts of England especially London woud prevent the many Murders and contrived Abortions now used not only to the prejudice of their Souls Health but that of their Bodies also and to the general Dammage of the Public This woud likewise be an Encouragment to the poorer sort to Marry who now abstain to prevent the Charge of Children Strangers are no otherwise to be invited than by allowing greater advantages than they have at home and this they may with more ease receive in England than in any part of Europe where natural Riches do much abound viz. Corn Flesh Fish Wool Mines c. and which Nature has bless'd with a temporature of heathful Air exceeding al Northern and not inferior to most Southern Countries has given it commodious Ports fair Rivers and safe Channels with possibilities of more for water carriage these with what follows woud soon make England the Richest and most powerful Country of the World Naturalization without Charge plain Laws and speedy Iustice Freedom in all Corporations Immunities from Taxes and Tols for seven Years and lastly Liberty of Conscience the Restraint of which has been the greatest Cause at first of unpeopling England and of it s not being since repeopled This drove Shoals away in Queen Maries King Iames and King Charles the First 's Dayes it has lost the Wealth of England many Millions and bin the occasion of spilling the Blood of many Thousands of its People 'T is a sad Consideration that Christians shoud be thus fool'd by obstinat Religionists in whom too much Stiffness on one side and Folly and Perversness on the other shoud have bin equally Condem'd being indeed the Effects of Pride Passion or privat Interest and altogether Forrein to the Bus'ness of Religion which as I have already told you consists not in a Belief of disputable things of which if either part be tru neither are to us necessary but in the plain Practice of Piety which is not incompatible with Errors in Iudgment I see not therefore why the Clergy shoud be wholly heark'nd to in this Affair since 't is really impertinent to the Truth of Religion and I dare appeal to all the sober understanding and considerative Men of the Church of England Whether the Opposition of this be not wholy founded upon Interest which being but of particular Men ought not nor wil not I hope weigh more with the Parliament than that of the Public which is so highly concern'd in this matter And tho it may be objected That as Affairs of Religion now stand
none need leave England for want of Toleration yet certain I am without it none wil return or com in a-new And if our Neighbors thrive and increase in People Trade and Wealth we continuing at a stay or growing stil poorer and poorer by that means rendred unable to resist a Forrein Power are like to fal into such Hands as wil force us to Worship God after the way which almost all of us now cal Heresy and many Idolatry Which induces me to conclude That nothing but Inconsideration can move even the Clergy to oppose this thing on which their own as wel as the safety of all others do's so very much depend But in regard the Defects of Trade can't presently be supply'd by bringing in more People because a work of time it is necessary to make those we have useful by obliging the Idle and unwilling to a necessity of working and by giving the Poor that want it a ful Imployment This wil in effect be a great increasing of the People and may be easily compass'd if Work Houses be Erected in several Parts of the Kingdom and all Persons forc'd into 'um who cannot give a satisfactory Account of their way of Living This woud prevent Robbing Burglary and the Cheats of Gaming Counterfeiting of Hands Mony clipping c. by which our Lives and Fortunes woud be much better secur'd This woud put Men's Wits upon the Rack Hunger which eats thro Stone-Wals woud make them in getting their Livings by the Sweat of their Brows Masters of Arts a Degree perhaps more useful to the Common Wealth than those of the University This woud put them upon the Invention of Engines whereby their Labor woud not only becom more easy but more productive of real Advantages to the Whole rendring the Poet's Fable of Briareus his hundred Hands a certain Truth one Man doing more by an Instrument than fifty or a hundred without it Wit wil thus in som measure make amends for the want of People Yet so dul and ignorant so insensible of their own Good are the Vulgar that generally instead of being pleas'd they are at first almost implacably offended at such profitable Inventions But it appears the Parliament had another sense of Things in that they allow'd the Advantage of fourteen Years to the Inventor which Law with Submission might be alter'd to better purpose if instead of a fourteen Years Monopoly som Reward out of the Public Stock were given to the Ingenious That the many Supernumeraries in Divinity Law and Physic with which the Kingdom especially London swarms all Mountebancs and pretenders to Astrology together with the Supernumeraries in all manner of Retailing Trades even the Trade of Merchandizing has too many Hands especially all Pedlers or Wanderers that carry their Shops on their Backs Lap-Women c. who contribute little or nothing to the Charge of the State be par'd off and made useful to the Public to which by the vast increase of These and the great number of Idlers and Beggars not above two Thirds even of the ordinary sort can be lookt upon as bringing in any real Advantage the other Third but like Droans living on the Labor of the rest And to speak more freely 't is unreasonable and impolitic especially in a great and over-grown City to suffer any Retail-Trades to be manag'd by Men when Women with the help of a few Porters about the most cumbersom things may do it much better They wil invite Customers more powerfully than Men can and having nothing to do in the way of their Shop-Trades wil not be idle their Needles employing them while the Men perhaps from two three or four to seven lusty young Fellows sit idle most part of their time with their Hands in their Pockets or blowing their Fingers few of these sort of Trades finding one with another above two Hours work in the whole Day The Men woud study som more beneficial Employments and the Women having by this means somthing to do woud not as now induc'd by Idleness more than Want be occasions of so much Wickedness and Debaucheries to the general Prejudice of the Common-Wealth and the particular Ruin of many good Families To set on foot the Fishing Trade and to allow to all such as wil undertake it Strangers or Natives the same Benefits and Priviledges I have mention'd for the bringing in of the former and I think if beyond that Houses were built for them in Linn or Yarmouth c at the Public Charge Rent-free for seven Years every Man woud say it were for the general Good who considers that this Trade is the only basis of the Grandeur and Power that the States of Holland are no less Lords of in Europe than in the East-Indies to which it has rais'd 'um in less than an Hundred Years from the Poor and distressed States to be one of the Richest and Mightiest of the known World This I coud at large make appear but that it having bin don already with the want of time hinders me I wil only say That Holland has not the tenth part of those Natural Conveniences for effecting this England Scotland or Ireland have That the same Encouragements be given to all such whether Natives or Forreiners that shal joyntly carry on the particular Manufactures of Iron Tinn Earthen-ware and Linnen c. in the last at three Shillings four Pence an Ell one with another is reckon'd consum'd by us above six hundred thousand Pound all which might be sav'd and the Poor set at work by promoting that Trade within our selves To restore the Woolen Manufactures almost decay'd and to take the same Care in that and all other as the Dutch have don in that of the Herrings The neglect in this has been a main Reason that our Cloathing-Trade is much lessen'd Reputation in Commodities is as necessary as in the Venders which makes the Dutch even at this Day put on English Marks and thereby for the antient Credit now in a manner lost ours were in they have gain'd for their own Manufactures the Markets we want The Decay of our Cloathing-Traffic has been occasion'd by several Accidents One and no final one is that of Companies which indeed are as much Monopolies as if in one single Person They ruin Industry and Trade and only to enrich themselves have a Liberty by which they impoverish the rest of the Common-Wealth Whatever Reason there was for first Erecting them viz. to begin or carry on som great Undertaking which exceeded the Power of particular Men there appears less or none now for their Continuance The Enjoyment of Liberty and Property requires that all Subjects have equal Benefit in Safety and Commerce and if all Subjects pay Taxes equally I see no Reason why they should not have equal Privileges And if part of those Taxes be impos'd for guarding the Seas I do really believe it woud be more Advantage to the King to send Convoys to the East-Indies and to Guinea with any
Labor and Thrist are increas'd and that the making Idlers work is in effect an increasing the People And that all such shoud be forc'd into several Work-houses which tho the Parliament has taken into consideration yet for want of Stock is not hitherto put in any forwardness I wil now give you my Thoughts how this may probably be brought about with little or no Charge but to such only as upon prospect of Advantage do change the Scenes of their Lives as by Marriage Imployments Callings c. or by assuming new Titles and Degrees of Honor and consequently as their respective Proportions or Payments are here propos'd they cannot account them burdensom or grievous To perfect this I think it necessary That all Hospitals Alms-houses and Lands for charitable uses be sold more stately and convenient Ones erected into which none but diseased Persons or others perfectly unable to Earn their Living shoud be receiv'd And to the end they might the sooner be Restor'd to Health a convenient number of Physitians Nurses and Tenders ought to be appointed and sufficient Salaries establish'd England to Her great shame is in this Instance much behind Her Neighbors of France and Holland in the Practice of which I know not whether there be more of Charity or of Policy of Heavenly or of Earthly Interest That the several Directions of the Act for raising a Stock be strictly put in Execution That all Fines for Swearing Drunkenness Breaches of the Peace Felons Goods Deodands c. for a certain number of Years be converted to this Use This woud bring in twenty times more than is now receiv'd on these Accounts and may perhaps prevent the late much practis'd trick of finding all Felo's de se mad That all Contributions for maintenance of the Poor which are so considerable that I have bin told in som single Parishes in London they amount communibus annis to Five thousand Pound a Year be added to this Stock And that it be further enacted That every Man at his Admission to Freedom pay one Shilling upon Marriage what he thinks fit above one Shilling Every Clergy-man at Ordination ten Shillings at Instalment into any Dignity twenty Shillings Arch-Deacons three Pound Deans five Pound Bishops ten Pound Arch-Bishops twenty Pound Gentlemen upon Admittance into the Inns of Court ten Shillings upon their being call'd to the Bar forty Shillings when made Serjeants or King's Council five Pound Every Man upon Admission into the Inns of Chancery three Shillings four Pence when Sworn Attorney ten Shillings Lord High Chancellor Keeper Lord High Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal twenty Pound Chief Iustice Chief Baron Chancellor of the Exchequer Master of the Rolls and Atturney General twelve Pound a piece Every of the other Iudges and Barons the Sollicitor-General and the Six Clerks ten Pound a piece The Masters of Chancery and other Officers not nam'd in that or other Courts any Sum not exceeding six Pound a Man as shal be thought convenient by the respective Iudges All Knights five Pound Baronets ten Pound Barons Vice Counts Earls twenty Pound Dukes and Marquesses fifty Pound All Aldermen of London twenty Pound of other Cities and Corporations three Pound Mayors ten Pound All Masters of Arts in Universities twenty Shillings Doctors of Law and Physic forty Shillings of Divinity four Pound Heads and Masters of Colleges five Pound All Executors and Administrators that undertake the Charge two Shillings All Persons entring into Estates either by Descent or Purchase one Shilling over and above one Shilling for every hundred Pounds per annum of such Estate That every Sunday there be Collections in all Churches of the Kingdom which with what shal be receiv'd at the Communion are to be thus appropriated And that all Street Door and other Charitable Doles in broken Meat or Mony as the great Encouragements and chief occasions of Idleness and Vice be forbid under severe Penalties That Briefs be issued thro the Kingdom for voluntary Contributions That the Names of such as shal be eminently Bountiful be convey'd to Posterity by placeing their Coats of Arms and registring their Munificence in the respective Work-houses of the City Corporation or County where they live I do not doubt but in a very short time a Stock woud be thus rais'd sufficient to imploy all the idle Hands in England And tho I believe that after a little while there woud be no need of using Art or Severity in bringing People into these Nurseries of Labor and Industry The Sweets of gain and trouble of Idleness which certainly is not the least of toyls to such as have bin inur'd to Labor or Business being of themselves strong Allurements yet to lay the first Foundation with success I conceive it necessary That both Men and Women who have no visible ways of Maintenance Criminals of what Quality soever punish'd as before in the Discourse of Laws the Children taken out of the Foundlings Hospital as soon as able to do any thing be all sent to these Work-houses That the great numbers of People going out of this Kingdom Scotland and Ireland to other Parts of Europe be restrain'd and none be spirited into the West-Indies or suffer'd to go abroad unless to trade That such as by Infirmity or Age are absolutely disabled among which neither the Lame nor the Blind are to be reckon'd be maintain'd and confin'd within the public Hospitals That every Constable in whose ward or Precinct any Beggar is found forfeit twenty Pound and the Person or Persons entertaining or lodging any five Pound to the Use of the Work House That those who are commonly sent to the House of Correction or Bridewel and those found Guilty of Petty Larceny be sent to the Work-House For that indeed Whipping the Punishment intended for their Amendment does but take away the sense of Shame and Honor rendring them Impudent and Incorrigible in their Iniquities But granting its operation so forcible as to be able to reclaim them yet certain it is that its best effect is but to hinder them from doing further Mischief whereas by this Course not only that will be avoided but a considerable profit redound to the Public To these also shoud be added all Prisoners for Criminal matters tho acquitted if by Circumstances they appear suspicious it being reasonable to conclude som Rogues and Vagabonds tho the evidence required by strictness of Law be not strong enuf to Convict them Hither likewise are all to be sent who for trivial inconsiderable causes and somtimes out of pure Malice are thrown into Prisons and there forc'd to spend the remainder of their miserable Lives the exorbitant extortion of Fees and the merciless rage of their Enemies swelling their Debts beyond the power or hopes of Satisfaction whereby they becom not only useless but a burden to the Common-wealth And because the Benefit of Clergy was introduc'd for the advancement of Learning in the ruder dayes of our Ancestors and that there is now no such
need the Kingdom being so far from wanting that it is rather Overstockt in every Faculty with such as make Learning a Trade and the intercourse of our Affairs almost necessitating all others to Read and Write I hold it convenient to take it quite away not only because useless but because it is an encouragement to many to trangress the bounds of the Law That all of what degree or condition soever Men or Women literat or illiterat convicted of any of the Crimes for which Clergy is now allow'd be condem'd to the Work-Houses for Seven Years or pay to its Use sixty Pounds or more according to their Qualities By what I have already said you see I am no friend to Pardons but if any must still be granted that then any not a Gentleman obtaining one pay Twenty Pound a Gentleman Forty Pound an Esquire Sixty Pound a Knight-Batchellor Eighty Pound a Baronet or other Knight One Hundred Pound a Lord Two Hundred Pound a Marquess or Duke Four Hundred Pound The Eldest Sons of every of these to pay equal with the Fathers And in case after all this People shoud be wanting Ireland may furnish yearly Hundreds or Thousands of its Children which will prove not only advantageous for Encreasing the Wealth of England but also for securing the Peace and Quiet of that Kingdom by making so many of the Natives one and the same People with us which they will soon be if taken away so Young as that they may forget their Fathers House and Language And if after seven eight or nine Years when Masters of their Trade return'd into their own or suffer'd to abide in this Country I will not trouble you with recounting in particular the many advantages that wou'd soon flow thro all the Tracts of this Land from this source of Industry if thus supply'd with Mony and Hands All Trades and useful Manufactures of Silks Linnen Canvass Lace Paper Cordage for Ships Iron Tin c. may be there set on foot and carryed on to a far greater profit than single men can drive them In this Work-House shoud be Taught the knowledg of Arms and the Arts of War on all Festivals and Holy Dayes and the lusty young Fellows sent by turns to Sea for a year or two of the Time of this their State-Apprentiship By this means the King woud be enabled at any time without Pressing to draw out of this great Seminary a sufficient Army either for Land or Sea-service The wayes methods and orders for Regulating the several Work-Houses I coud fully demonstrat did I not think it needless at present 'T is enuf that I here Promise to do it at any time when the Great Council shall think fit to take this matter into Consideration or when you please to impose your further Commands But give me leave to say That laying aside all other Reformations of the State this alone woud secure our Lives and Fortunes from Violence and Depredation not only increase our Wealth and Power beyond what now it is but make them far exceed whatever any of our Neighbors are possest of and consequently establish a firm and lasting Peace at Home and make us terrible to the Nations abroad This great Happiness is the Wish of every tru English-man but can only be effected by the Care and Wisdom of the King and Parliament to whom I most passionatly recommend and humbly submit it I have now at length run thro all the parts of my uneasy Task you wil say I doubt not very Slubberingly to be before hand with you I do confess it I never undertook any thing more unwillingly therefore have perform'd it not only il but carelesly studying nothing so much as to com quicly to an end which indeed was my greatest Labor the fields you commanded me to take a turn in were so spacious that being once enter'd considering how short a while you oblig'd me to stay I coud not easily find my way out again which put me to a necessity of running and the hast not giving me leave to see the Rubbs in my way forc'd me to stumble What I have don can serve to no other purpose than for hints to enlarge your better thoughts upon Had these Papers bin Worthy I woud have presented them by way of New-years Gift but that was not my fault most of what you meet with here we have often discoursed with our You must not read them to any other For I am perswaded they woud tel you the Man was Mad Perhaps I was so for Writing but I am sure I have yet madder thoughts For I do seriously believe all I have here said is tru and this to boot That the World is a great Cheat That an honest man or a good Christian is a greater Wonder than any of those strange ones with which Sir H. B. has often entertain'd us This you are sure of I have spoken nothing for Interest I am but a bare stander by no Better and therefore neither win nor loose let the Game go how it wil. But to trifle no more I am not concern'd what any think I live to my self not others and build not my satisfaction upon the empty and uncertain Vogue or Opinion of men If I did I should put into their Power to make me unhappy when ever they please To conclude The Result of all I have here said is That England might be the happiest Country in the World if the people woud be content to make a right use of their Power that is to Act by the Rules of Reason on which their own Constitutions are founded For since they have the power of Reforming the old and enacting new Laws in which every man the poorest that is worth but forty shillings per annum has his Vote no man can be offended with his own Act But if he be the Remedy is at hand So that here every one living according to Reason and that making every man a Iudge all must see to their great Comfort That the Interest of the King and People is really one and the same That the Common good is every single mans And that who ever disturbs the Public injures himself which is to the whole the greatest security imaginable and to every privat man a lasting Happiness That the Laws are not exact because the Parliament harken to the Counsel that not the Lawyers but their Interest dictates neglecting to follow that advice which they may have for nothing viz. Let the Counsel of thine own Heart stand for there is no Man more faithful unto thee than it For a Mans mind is wont to tell him more than seven Watch-men that sit above in an high Tower That is consult with no Man who advises with regard to himself which is plain from these Words Every Counsellor extolleth Counsel but there is that counselleth for himself beware therefore of a Counsellor and know before what need he hath for he wil Counsel for himself lest he cast the Lot upon
thee and sar unto thee Thy way is good and afterwards he stand on the other side to see what shal befal thee Whether this be a Prophecy of what the Lawyers will do or a bare Narration of matter of Fact what they daily Practise I leave to every discerning mans Iudgment The Short of this is to advise That in making of New Laws or in altering or repealing the Old the Members trust not the Gentlemen of the long Robe unless they promise to joyn the Law and the Gospel To give their Advice without Mony or the Hopes of Gain And yet if their Charity or Generosity shoud perswade them to undertake the Cause thus in forma Pauperis That they give sufficient security not to starve it That is not to be back-ward in their giving Advice according to Conscience not Interest When this is don we are not secur'd unless the Parliament provide That no infringer of the Laws be Pardon'd that is to say That equal Iustice be distributed making no distinction between the Persons of the highest and the lowest when their Crimes have made them equal Which can't probably be otherwise effected than by constituting as is don in Venice a new Magistracy of public Censors who shal have inspection into the actions of all the Courts of Iudicature and public Offices whatsoever whose Account shal by the Parliament be receiv'd as Authentic and make the Offenders Obnoxious to degradations and pecuniary Mulcts to the satisfaction of the injur'd and a farther overplus to the Public unless in their judgments the accused fairly acquit themselves That Religion as now manag'd is made an Art or Trade to live by and to enable the Professors to abuse the Credulous and Unwary That if Intrest be not remov'd and not Opinions but a good Life be the Character to distinguish real Christians from those who pretend themselves such we shal never have Peace here nor assurance of Happiness hereafter That in granting Liberty of Conscience Clergy Mens Advice is not to be harkn'd to unless they wil resine their Livings and Dispute only for Truth That Toleration is at this time more especially for three great Reasons absolutely convenient First to unite us at Home next to enable us now and hereafter to resist the Power of France This certainly requires all our Strength which without Union we cannot have The Third and great Reason To Advance our Trade That the French are to be stopt in their Career That to do so it is necessary a large and sufficient Revenu for ever if it be don wisely be fixt and setl'd on the Crown on the State I do not say on the Person of the King for He is indeed if rightly consider'd but God's Steward and has so great a share in the trouble that it is an unresolved Question notwithstanding all his Glory and Power Whether the Roses of the Crown make amends for its Thornes and Whether the Softness of any Lining can ease the weight of the Burden He undergoes whose Nights and Dayes are made restless by the Pressures of that mighty Care to which by the safety of three Kingdoms He is continually sollicited If half a Loaf as they say be better than no Bread 't is more eligible to part with som than to expose all to the Mercy of an Enemy and Conqueror from whom the greatest Favor we can expect is to becom not a subordinat Kingdom but an enslaved Province That Trade is to be promoted by all possible Care and Diligence because by that we must be enabled to pay our Taxes without which we cannot withstand Forrein Violence That Trade is to be better'd by inviting more People into the Kingdom and employing all the idle Hands we already have That this is to be effected by proposing Advantages and Rewards to Strangers fit Employments Threats and Punishments to Natives by ascertaining all Ease and Security in their Persons Estates and Purchases by an uninterrupted and speedy course of Iustice firmly establishing the three great satisfactory Desirables Liberty Property and Religion Salus Populi Suprema Lex From this 4th of Ianuary 1677 8. SIR I am c. FINIS ERRATA The Reader is desir'd before he runs thro this Discourse to mend with his Pen these few Errata's which are all that alter the Sense IN the Title Page for Member in read Member of p. 2. to the Reader l. 2. r. unfashionable rigid Vertu p. 21. l. 15. r. destructive p. 28 l. 3. r. Grace or Policy p. 63. l. 3. r. actual Summons p. 69. l. 4. r. arising p. 91. l. 19. r. a Red Sea p. 118. l. 20. r. finess p. 122. l. 10. for unequal r. uneasy p. 145. l. 7. r. claim a greater p. 149 last Line for make r. may p. 190. l. 9. r. many many De Trinitate Lib. 10. circa finem Epist. Isaac Casaub epist. 316. pag. 385. Tertull. ad Scap. Cap. 2. Lactant. lib. 5. c. 20. Chrysost. Homil. 19. in Matth. Sulpit. Sever. Lib. 2. C. 54 55 c. Athanas. Epist. ad Solitarios Cod. Iust. l. 1. tit 5. de Haereticis c. Cod. Theod. 2. 5. Sulpit. Sever. Lib. 2. C. 65. Optat. Cont. Parmen l. 1. C. 3. Aug. contra Epist. C. 1 2. De Gubernet Dei lib. 5. pag. 142. Of the Rise and Power of Parliaments Origin of Government Of Laws Of the Courts of Iudicature Of Liberty and Property Of Religion The Interest of England in refrence to France Of Taxes Of Trade Magister artis ingeniqque largitor venter