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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	people_n	time_n	year_n	2,448	5	4.5380	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90251	Vox plebis, or, The peoples out-cry against oppression, injustice, and tyranny. Wherein the liberty of the subject is asserted, Magna Charta briefly but pithily expounded. Lieutenant Colonell Lilburne's sentence published and refuted. Committees arraigned, goalers condemned, and remedies provided.	Overton, Richard, fl. 1646.	1646 (1646)	Wing O636A; Thomason E362_20; ESTC R201218	54,600	73

their liberty then whlle they have continually maintained it And having once gotten possession of their ancient rights they will watch them so carefully and with such strength and vigour as that they will hardly be surprized again or their rights any more wrested from them As it fell out in the case of the Romane State when the Romanes having freed themselves of the government of the Tarquins their hertditary Kings the Nobility began to take upon the the rule of the people by the exercise of the like or greater tyrany the the Tarquins had done the people being inforced by a necessity of their preservations created Tribunes as Guardians of the publick liberty whereby the insolence and Arbitrary power of the Nobilty was restrained and the people re-estated in their ancient liberty which continued inviolable to them for the space of 800. yeares after 300. yeares oppression of the Nobility to the great honour and renown of their Nation and exceding enlargement of their Common-wealth Now as concerning the liberty which the people of this Common-wealth doe and of right both divine and humane ought to challenge it consists of these particulars following Liberty of conscience in matters of Faith and Divine worship Liberty of the Person and liberty of Estate which consists properly in the propriety of their goods and a disposing power of their possessions As touching liberty of Conscience it is due of Divine right to the people of God since that the conscience is a Divine impression or illumination in the soule of man which God instills into the heart by faith whereby man is instructed to worship him in Spirit and Truth and it is as it were the ingraven Character of the mind wil of God in the soul of man not passive nor consisting of bodily substance therefore it is not to bee constrained or inforced to submit to any other rule then what the Creator by his revealed will according to the Scriptures hath imprinted in it And for that cause is onely to bee accountable to him whose image it is as being the onely competent Judge of his owne will As touching the liberty of our persons That is founded not onely in Divine Law but in Nature ulso and as protected by the municipicall and known Lawes of this Kingdom For as God created every man free in Adam so by nature are all alike freemen born and are since made free in grace by Christ no guilt of the parent being of sufficiency to deprive the child of this freedome And although there was that wicked and unchristian-like custome of villany introduced by the Norman Conquerour yet was it but a violent usurpation upon the Law of our Creation Nature and the ancient Lawes of this Kingdome and is now since the clearer light of the Gospel hath shined forth by a necessary harmony of humane society quite abolished as a thing odious both to God and man in this our Christian Common-wealth Now that the liberty of mens persons hath ever been a thing most pretious in the eyes of our Ancestors and right deare and of most tender regard in the consideration and protection of the Law if we doe but consider the originall Lawes of this Realme the proceedings of our Ancestors in the Acquisition and defence of their just liberties and the continuall vigilance of them in making and ordaining good Lawes for their necessary preservation we shall easily find that there hath not been any earthly thing or more weighty and important care to them then the preservation of their Liberties To prove this Andrew Horn a learned man in the ancient Lawes of this Kingdome in his Booke called The Marrow of Justice written in the reigne of King Edward the first fol. 1. saith That after God had abated the Nobility of the Brittons he did deliver the Realm to men more humble and simple of the Countries adjoyning to wit the Saxons which came from the parts of Almaigne to conquer this Land of which men there were fourty Soveraignes which did rule as Companions and those Princes did call this Realme England which before was named The Greater Britaine These after great warres tribulations and pains by long time suffered did choose amongst them a King to reigne over them to governe the people of God and to maintain and defend their persons and their goods in quiet by the Rules of Right and at the beginning they did cause him to sweare to maintaine the holy Christian Faith and to guide his people by right with all his power without respect of persons and to observe the Lawes And after when the Kingdome was turned into an Heritage King Alfred that governed this Kingdome about 174. yeares before the Conquest did cause the great men of the Kingdome to assemble at London and there did ordain for a perpetuall usage That twice in the yeare or oftner if need should be in time of peace they should assemble at London in Parliament for the government of Gods people that men might live in quiet and receive right by certain usages and holy judgements In which Parliament faith our Authour the rights and prerogatives of the Kings and of the Subjects are distinguished and set apart and particularly by him expressed too tedious here to insert Amongst which Ordinances we find That no man should be imprisoned but for a capitall offence And if a man should detain another in prison by colour of right where there was none till the party imprisoned died hee that kept him in prison should bee held guilty of murder as you may read pag. 33. And pag. 36. hee is declared guilty of homicide by whom a man shall die in prison whether it be the Judges that shall too long delay to do a man right or by cruelty of Goalers or suffering him to die of Famine Or when a man that is adjudged to doe penance shall be surcharged by his Goaler with Irons or other pain whereby he is deprived of his life And pag. 140. That by the ancient Law of England it was Felony to detain a man in prison after sufficient Baile offered where the party was plevisable Every person was plevisable but hee that was appealed of Treason Murder Robbery or Burglary pag. 35. None ought to be put in the common prison but onely such at were ATTAINTED or principally APPEALED or INDICTED of some capitall offence or ATTAINTED of false and wrongful imprisonment So tender hath the ancient Lawes and Constitutions of this Realme been of the liberty of their Subjects persons That no man ought to be imprisoned but for a Capitall offence as Treason Murder Robbery or Burglary And if for these offences yet ought he to be let to Baile which to deny were felony in case the prisoner were plevisable which is if he were not appealed indicted or attainted Nay you see it was Felony to detain a man in prison by colour of right when there was none Neitherwas the law tender of the persons of Innocents bailable

soli semper to all and every clause thereof alike Therefore we are to examine declare and publish to the world what this Legale judicium or Lexterrae this lawfull judgement or law of the land is and hath alwayes been taken to bee That the Free-borne subjects of this Kingdome may not dwell in the shade but that they may be able to understand them with clearnesse and perspicuity and to demand them with force and vigour as our Ancestors in times of old have in like case done To make a cleare demonstration whereof we will follow the order of the six Particulars before mentioned to be emergent out of this Charter of our liberties And first touching our caption and imprisonment Nullus liber homo capiatur aut imprisonetur nisi per legale judicium Parium suorum vel per legem terrae Let no freeman of England which is every man born in the Realm be taken or imprisoned but by lawfull judgement of his Peeres or the law of the land This is the context of this clause Every Arrest or Attachment is comprised within it See Cook 2. part Instit pag. 46. What the Law was before the making of this Law we have in part declared already we shall onely adde this That imprisonment without lawfull cause was so odious that among the lawes of King Alfred cap. 31. wee find this Qui immerentem Pagaum vinculis constrinxerit decem solidis noxam sarcito If a man should unjustly imprison a Pagan or a Heathen man hee should redeem his offence with the payment of ten shillings no small summe in those dayes This is a perfect badge of liberty by our lawes Let us now examine what it hath been since by the Stat. of 25. E. 3. cap. 4. It is ordained That none from henceforth shall bee taken by petition or suggestion made to our Lord the King or to his Counsell unlesse it bee by Indictment or Presentment of his good and lawfull people of the same neighbourhood where such deeds be done in due man-manner By the Stat. of 25. E. 3. cap. 3. No man shall bee imprisoned without being brought to answer by due processe of law By the Stat. of 4● E. 3. c. 3. It is accorded for the good Governance of the Commons That no man bee put to answer without presentment before Justices or matter of Record or by due Processe or Writ Originall according to the old law of the land And if any thing from henceforth be done contrary it shall be void in law and holden for error We need not cite the Petition of Right or other Acts of Parliament mentioned in our former Treatise for vindication of Liberty against Slavery Let us now examine the Responsa prudentū upon these Statutes and the Judgements given by those Sages 45. Ass Plea 5. Fitzherbert Title Assise nu 346. wee find that the Bayliffe of Chensford in Essex was indicted before Knevet and Thorp by vertue of a Commission of Oyer Terminer for imprisoning a man taking his goods by vertue of a Cōmission out of Chauncery which he pleaded in his justification The resolution was That the Cōmission and imprisonment were against law to take a man his goods without indictment or suit of the party or other due processe of law 33. E. 3. Fitzh title Trespasse 253. It is declared for Law That the Command of the Lord is not a sufficient warrant to one to take his villeine without due processe of law May 16. H. 6. Fitz. Monstrans de faites nu 182. It is declared for Law That if the King cōmand a man to arrest one and the party doth it in his presence the arrest is unlawfull the party arested may have his action of false imprisonment 24. E. 3. fo 9. Be. faux Imprisonment 9. You may find that a Commission was directed to men to take divers notorious Felons before they were indicted and this Commission was adjudged void in Law We need not mention the resolution of the Judges in this point of Liberty you may find it reported by Sir E. Cook in his Reports 9. Ja. f. 66. There are a thousand cases more cited in our books of law to prove this undeniable truth out of which we only cited these to inform the free Subjects of England That neither the King by his command or commission nor his Councell nor the Lord of a Villayne can or could imprison arrest or attach any man without due processe of law or by legall judgement and law of the land against the forme of our defensive Charter of Liberty no not a Pagan or Heathen could be unjustly imprisoned or arrested without due processe of Law But to discourse here the manifold imprisonments of the free-born people of this Kingdom contrary to their Birth-right this Free Charter and contrary to the known lawes of this Realm or to shew forth all the illegall processe whereby men are now adayes arrested attached or imprisoned contrary to this Charter and the lawes before recited as Latitats Capiats pro debito Attachments and Messengers would be infinite and require a volume Which is worth the making by it selfe Onely thus far we may be bold to demand by what Law Statute or other legall power the Committee of Examinations Committees of Excise and Sequestrations nay all Committees nay more their Sub Committees take upon them to commit to prison nay without Baile or Mainprise the free-born Subjects of this Kingdome without lawfull processe triall or conviction and most manifestly against the law of the land For if those whom we have elected to sit at the Helme of the government for us as our Trustees for preservation of our Liberties be by right of their places Judges we are sure they cannot depute their Authorities For a Judge cannot delegate his power to another nor make a Deputy to judge for him And this appeares by the Books of 2. H. 6. f. 37. 9. E. 4. f. 31. 41. 10. E. 4. f. 15. 11. E. 4. f. 1. I am sure wee have not sent them thither and given them the places of their trust to Them and their Assignes therefore their Committees or Assignees cannot execute their Judiciall power which as to the matter of imprisonment is one and the chiefest of their Judicial powers so it bee according to due processe of Law But wee will not wrong these Noble Patriots the Commons of England whom wee have chosen to be the Guardians of our Liberties either to suspect them not to be our competent Judges and Judges of Record too or that they intend to commit our liberties to their committing Commities since that by deputing such Committes and investing them with their own powers it argues the givers rather to be Ministeriall then Judiciall Officers We come now to the second particular which is That no man shall be desseised of his Free-hold or Liberties or free customes but by lawfull judgement of his Peeres or by the law of the land We need not insist

protection of the law a●d not to be permitted to sue for a mans right or to bee staied by injunction or pronibition so that a man cannot proceed All which causes are illegall and contrary to this clause of the great Charter For every man ought to bee permitted to goe to triall judgement and execution in his cause according to the course of the law of the land And if he faile in his suit he shall pay costs and be amerced pro falso clamore Which amencement ought to bee reasonable salvo contenemento that he be not destroyed as is before declared Which payment of destruction is the fourth particular and now comes to be handled The words of the great Charter are That no man shall be any way destroyed but by judgement of his equals or according to the law of the land This word destruere amongst the Grammarians est idem quod penitus evertere diruere to destroy is all one as utterly to overthrow and demolish To destroy a man is to forejudge a man of life limb or liberty to dis-herit to put to torture or death any man without lawfull tryall due preparation to his defence or by SURREPTITIOUS IUDGEMENT All which are contrary to the law of the land It is the Genus of all the former particulars it is the most pernicious extent of all arbitrary power there have been to many examples of it Thomas Earl of Lancaster in the 14. E. 2. was destroyed that is adjudged to dye as a Traytor without lawfull try all of his Peers And afterwards Henry Earl of Lancaster his brother was restored First because that he was not arraigned and put to answer Secondly because that contrary to this Charter of Liberties the said Thomas being one of the Peers of the Realm without answer or lawfull judgment of his Peers he was put to death Such like proceedings were had in the case of John of Gaunt as appears P. 39. Coram Rege and in the E. of Aruudels case Rot. Par. 4. E. 3. Nu. 13. and in Sir John Alees case 4. E. 3. Nu. 2. Such was the destruction committed upon the Lord Hastings in the Tower of London by K. Richard the 3. who sware he would not dye before he saw his head off and thereupon caused him to be executed without tryall answer or lawfull conviction such was the destruction of the Lord Rivers and many other of sad remembrance but above all that Attainder of Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essen who was attainted of high Treason as appears Rot. Part. 32. H. 8. being committed to the Tower of London and forth-coming to be heard and yet never called to answer in any of the Houses of Parliament they sitting which we hope shal never be more drawn into president but wish with a clearned sage in the Law Quod auferat oblivio si potest si non utcunque silentium tegat which is let oblivion take away the memory of so foul a fact if it can if it cannot let silence cover it For the more high and honourable the Court is the more just and honourable it ought to be in the proceeding and to give example of Justice to inferiour Courts for these destructores subditorum dom Regis the destroyers of the free-born people of the Kingdom were ever-odious and hatefull to the subject and severe pains appointed for them as appears by the Statute of Kenelworth Par. 16. and by the old Statute of Rag-man and that this kind of destroying the Kings people is utterly against the Law of the Land is most evident not only by the great Charter but also by the Statute of 5. c. 3. c. 9. and 28. E. 3. c. 3. afore-mentioned and by the ancient Lawes of the Land as appears by Horn in his Mirrour of Justice c 2. sect 3. We proceed now to Exile which is the fifth particular The great Charter runs thus No man shall be exiled but by the Law of the Land Exile or banishment is of two sorts The one a voluntary which is at the Common-Law and that is when a man would abjure the Realm for a Fellony committed by him having taken sanctuary to avoid the punishment of death chusing rather perpetuall banishment then to put himself to the hazard of his life by a legall tryall for his offence as Stamf. Pl. Cor. p. 117. The other is when a man is inforced to banishment which is only legally done by Act of Parliament as appeares by the Statute of Westrn 1. cap. 20 35. El. c. 1. and 39. El. c. 4. and by that Judgment or Statute of banishment made of the two Spencers 15. E. 2. called Exilium Hugonis le-Despencer patris filii for though there was an Order or Ordinance made in the Lords house Anno 6. E. 3. Nu. 6. That such learned men in the Law as should be sent as Justices or otherwise to serue in Ireland should have no excuse yet saith Sir Edw. Cooke 2. part Instit p. 48. That Order or Ordinance being no Act of Parliament it did not bind the subject so that we that are the free-born subjects of England cannot at this day be enforced or compelled to depart the Realme or be exiled or banished from our native Country but by Act of Parliament And from this we passe to examine what is to be esteemed a lawfull Judgment of our Peers and what is here in this Charter meant by the Law of the Land This Great Charter was penned in Latine the words are thus Nec super eum ibimus nec super eummittemus nisi per legale judicium Parium suorum which are more emphatically in the Latine then in our English Translations of this Charter for the Translations render it We will not passe upon nor condemn any man but by the lawfull judgment of his Peers or by the Law of the Land whereas the words in the Latine import That the King shall not in his own person when he is personally present in his high Court of Parliament or any other of his Courts of Justice cause any man to be otherwise tryed or condemned then by lawfull judgment of his Peers or the law of the Land nec super eum mittemus that is That no Judges Commissioners or Justices of the King shall by force of any Writ or Commission from the King under the Great Seal in his absence arraign try or condemn any man but by the lawfull judgment of his Peers or by the law of the Land Now this legale judicium parium suorum or lawfull judgment of a mans Peers is and hath alwayes had a two-fold construction in law the one is When a Lord of the Parliament hath committed treason or felony or other capitall offence whereby he is indictable at the Kings Suite there he by vertue of this Charter ought to be tryed by his Peers that is such as are Lords of Parliament that sit there by reason of their Nobility for no Noble-man that is not a Lord of

scruple in this particular we finde by the statute of Westm the 1. c. 12. That in case of Felony those that refuse upon their arraignment to put themselves upon the Enquest shall be put to pennance for t dure which is stoned or pressed to death because they refuse as the statute saith to stand to the Law of the Land And yet if the party accused stand mute and will not put himselfe upon the Enquest the Judge ought to examine the evidence and to enquire by the Iury whether he were mute of malice or by the Act of God before he shall give judgment against the Prisoner so tender is the Law of the Land of the life of every man that if an Offendor would wilfully cast away his life by contumacy yet he ought not to be condemned but per legale judicium parium suorum or lawfull verdict of a Jury which is according to the Law of the Land this appeares by Stamf. pl. Cor. p. 150. a b c d. Cookes Instit p. 2. part page 178. and so from this legale judicium parium or lawfull judgment of Peers or Equals we come to declare to the free-born subjects of England what this lex-terrae or Law of the Land is And first we say that this lex terrae or law of the Land is the absolute perfection of reason as Sir Edw. Cook 2. part Instit page 179. saith Secondly it is the law of England and therefore all Commissions made to the Judges of the Land run thus That they in all cases that come before them facturi sunt inde quod adjustitiam pertinet secundum legem consuetudinem Angliae the Judges by their Commissions are to judge and act only that which to iustice belongs according to the law of the land and custome of England as 2 part of Cooks Instit p. 51. and dayly experience tells us Thirdly it consists of the lawfull and reasonable usages and customs received and time-out-of-mind observed and approved by the people of this Kingdome for if a custome or usage be not lawfull it ought not to bind Quod ab initio vitiosum est non potest tractu tempor is convalescere saith Vlpian l. 29. Course of time amends not that which was naught from the first beginning and in Jur. Reg. v. 2. q. 117 art 1. non firmatur tractu tempora quod de jure ab initio non subsistat That which was not grounded upon good right is not made good by continuance of time and they must be reasonable too so is Augustines opinion in his Book de vera Religione cap. 31. mihilex essenon videtur que Justa nonest It seemes saith he to me to be no law at all which is not just It must likewise be received and approved by the people Therefore Ulpian F. de leg 32. Leges nulla alia causa nos tenent quam quod judicio populi receptae sunt the lawes doe therefore bind the Subject because they are received by the judgment of the Subject and Gratian in Dec. distinct 4. Thum demum humane leges habent vim suam cum fuerint non modo institutae sed etiam firmatae approbatione Comunitatis It is then that humane Laws have their strength when they shall not only be devised but by the approbation of the people confirmed Fourthly this law of the land consists of the antient Constitutions and moderne Acts of Parliament made by the Estates of the Realme but of these only such as are agreeable to the Word of God and law of Nature for as Gregory de valentia Ex Tho. q. 93. art 3. q. 94. art 34. well observes Humane law is a righteous Decree agreeing with the Law naturall and eternall and Augustine de libero Arbitrio cap. 36. nihil justum est atque legitimum quod non ab aeterna lege sibi homines derivaverint there is nothing just and lawfull which men have not derived unto themselves from the law eternall And Horn cap. 5. sect 1. saith That torvous usages and unjust decrees not warrantable by Law nor sufferable by holy Scripture are not to be used or obeyed Out of all which premises wee conclude that the Law of the Land is the Law of England the perfection of reason consisting of lawfull and reasonable Customes received and approved by the people and of the old Constitutions and modern Acts of Parliament made by the Estates of the Realme and such only as are agreeable both to the law eternall and naturall and not contrary but warrantable by the Word of God whatsoever laws usages or customes are not thus quallified are not the law of the land nor are to be observed or obeyed by the people as being contrary to their Birth-right and the freedome and liberty which by the law of God the lawes of the Land and this great Charter they ought to enjoy The summe of all is that according to this Charter the statute and lawes afore-mentioned no man ought to be taken or imprisoned or disseized of his free-hold liberties or free-customes or out-lawed or banished or my manner of way destroyed nor condemned but by lawfull tryal of his Peers or Equals or by the law of the Land that is by due processe of Law by presentment or indictment of good and lawful men where such deeds he done in due manner or by Writ originall at the Common-law according to the old law of the Land Here we will answer an objection that we heare is made which is that this is an old Law and many lawes have been made against it since it was granted which weaken the strength of this Charter To this we answer That by the Statutes of 28. E. 1. called Articuli super Cartas 25. E. 1. vet Magna Charta fol. 137. and 37. called confirmatio Chartarum It is provided That if any judgment be given against any points of this great Charter or the Charter of the Forrest by any Iustices of the King or other his Ministers it shall be undone and holden for nought and by the statute of 42. E. 3. cap. 1. all Statutes made against Magna Charta are repealed True it is we find that 11. H. 7. c. 3. by the practises of Empson and Dudley there was a statute made in the face of this great Charter whereby many exactions and oppressions were put in practice upon the free subjects of England to their great trouble and vexation but Oh! for the like justice now and if it were not what would become of all our Ship-money Judges monopolizing Pattentee Merchants and arbitrary Committee-men we find withall that they were hanged that put it in execution and in the 1. H. 8. c. 6. That illegal Statute of 11. H. 7. was repealed and made void and the cause specified to be because it was against this Great Charter and the law of the Land but to put all out of doubt These clauses of the Great Charter which we have discoursed upon hitherto are all

common-wealth to punish an ill member then to reward a good act Wee also affirm that a State or a Common-wealth that will keep it selfe in good order and free from ruine Must cherish impeachments and accusations of the people against those that through ambition avarice pride cruelty or oppression seeke to destroy the liberty or property of the people So shall they keep their Estate free from envie and secure from supplantation for it is an efficacious meanes to continue the people in a faire obsequency to parlie often with them upon their grievances and to provide speedy and proper remedies We therefore humbly desire you to take into your serious considerations the great oppressions committed by these Countrey-Committees who thinke there is no better way to govern the kingdome then by lying with those Concubines of Sovereignty Tyranny and Arbitrary government as Absolom did with his fathers These Horse-leeches of the Common-wealth who hang upon the limbs of it and will continue sucking out the blood of the poore Countries till their bellies are full and then like 〈◊〉 and unprofitable vermin will fall off your service to their own ruse If you think to bind those people to you by the oppressive profits of their places you are deceived For benefits bind not the covetous but the honest and those that are but greedy of themselves do in all changes of fortune only consult the preservation of their own greatnesse Besides this inconveniency will attend their actions that by making a few rich you undoe multitudes and lose the hearts of many that by clemency may be gained to inrich a few by rapine that when they are grown wealthy will think of nothing more then to preserve their ill-gotten treasure and will never venture when necessity challenges it one drop of blood in your cause We speak not this out of any affection to the Royall party but out of our hatred and detestation to oppression and rapine it being the onely meanes to overthrow this State For it is most certain that these people are easily drawn into Commontion who by their poverty are assured to lose nothing being by nature alwayes desirous of innovation Wherefore we heartily wish the suppression of those ravenous Committees as utterly destructive to the peace and assurance of the present State and Government But if they shall say in defence of their actions that they onely poll the Royall parly and such as have been in Armes against the Parl we wish they were so innocent as they pretend rhemselves that they would pay the Souldiers better cleare their accounts to their masters that have imployed them which when they shall effect they shall receive our better opinion and till that time they must be content to labour under their crying accusations But admitting their objection to be true yet we are of opinion that courteous and charitable acts work much more in mens minds that are subdued then those that are full of violence cruelty hostility For Seneca saith Mitius imperanti melius paretur they are best obeyed that govern most mildly And Machiavel ubi supra p. 542. observes that one act of humanity was of more force with the conquered Falisci then many violent acts of hostility Therefore we wish these eager Committe-men to consider for the good of the State they pretend to serve that it is commodious for those that lay the foundation of a new State or Soveraignty to have the fame of being just and mercifull For as Justice and Clemency in good Princes or Soveraignes are the best meanes to keep the subject fast bound unto them in obedience and duties so are cruelty oppression and rage bridles wherewith tyrants keep their subjects in awe and subjection unto them and themselves in their estates And let these Committee-men so order their actions in screwing the Countries that they sow not a jealousie among the free-born people of England that they intend to hold up that common Maxime of all oppressing States which is That their interest is to maintain the publick wealthy and the particular poore which if once the common people apprehend they are not long to bee held in obedience For where a State holds their subjects under the condition of slaves the conquest thereof is easie and soon assured And when a forced Government shall decay in strength it will suffer as did the old Lion for the opprssion done in his youth being pinched by the Wolf goared by the Bull and kickt also by the Asse as Sir Walter Raleigh l. 5. fol. 501. wittily observes And then when it is too late they complain of their hard fortune for sorrow can give remedy to mischiefes past and anger is vaine where there wants forces to revenge Correct those mercilesse sons of Cerberus those greedy Goalers excessive demands and extortions of fees from their distressed prisoners Suffer not that vengeance which the complaints and groanes of those miserable and oppressed soules will draw down from the most just God for this kind of oppression to fell upon your heads by your connivence at and tolleration of their exactions And if that cannot move you yet let us advise you not to permit them to create Presidents of oppression to enslave your posterity in future times For who knowes what a day may bring forth There is no new thing under the Sun Therefore there is no confidence to be had in our present condition since as the Preacher tells us Eccles 1. 4. One generation passeth and another cometh but the earth endureth for ever Be just and mercifull therefore O yee Rulers and Judges of the earth and remember that for all these things you shall one day be brought to judgment And this consideration prompts us further to intreat and implore you to keep and observe the known written and promulged laws of this land if you keep them they will keep you Abolish and abandon as an infectious disease to your State all arbitrary power and discretionary government in prerogative times falsly called the Prudentiall way There is nothing of worse example in a Republick then to have good lawes and not to observe them Good government procures love from the Subject and it is onely their love that supports a State in time of adversity The Nations that endure the worst under their own Governours are not greatly fearfull of a forraign yoak whereas men when they are well governed never seek after other liberty That government is of all most sure where the people take joy in their obedience The Samnits rebelled against the Romanes because Peace was more grievous to them in subjection then War to those that enjoy their liberty And on the contrary Petillia a City of the Brutians in Italy chose rather to indure all extremity of War from Hanniball then upon any condition to forsake the Romanes who had governed them moderately and by that good government procured their love yea even at the time when the Romanes sent them word they were not