matters of Law than for his strictness of Life in those of Religion From the Conquerors time downwards there have bin attempts of this kind almost in every Kings Reign But the Wars and Divisions and consequently Dissolutions that often happend between the Kings their Parliaments somtimes Lords somtimes Commons about the Liberty of the Subject or Prerogative of the Crown not without good reason concluded to have bin set on foot by the crafty Lawyers by this time grown considerable prevented bringing to pass the intended Reformation of the Law I wil not insist upon al the Kings Reigns where this was desin'd nor go farther back than Henry the Eight's time when ingenious Sir Thomas More was by him set on work to fram a Model But the succeeding accidents frustrated that attempt the Troubles and Revolutions that continued during the Reigns of Edward the sixth Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth hindred this work which at wise Burleigh's advise was resolved on by the later Queen The learned King Iames determined to finish it and the knowing Sir Francis Bacon was pitched upon to fram a Schem of new Laws or model the old But the discontents about Religion with the greater artifice of the Lawyers then more numerous diverted that glorious Enterprize Some living were Actors others Spectators of the Troubles that have since happen'd which gave way not to a Reformation but Confusion of the Laws and yet the Long Parliament or rather Conventicle knowing their great and good Master purpos'd it resolv'd upon a new Method of Laws But the Idol themselves had set up as a just reward of their Treason prevented this by turning them out of doors with their beloved Magna Charta calling it in Contempt Magna f Too many in other Countries no less than this have wholly lost their Freedom by endeavoring to enlarge it beyond Law and Reason as it has also somtimes befallen ambitious Princes who striving to augment their Power and Dominions beyond the boundaries of Iustice have instead of new Acquists forfeited their antient and lawful possessions The Gardiners Ass in the Apologue desining to mend himself by changing Masters found at a dear-bought experience none so kind as the first The Observation of the Evil of those days has given us reason to believe That wisdom best which is learnt at the cost of others and to remember the Wise mans advice Meddle not with those who are given to change This I speak as to the Fundamental of the Government which can never be alter'd by the Wit of Man but for the worse But the Superstructures of Hay and Stubble are grown so cumbersom and rotten that they are fit for nothing but the Fire Though I am far from giving credit to any prediction or Prophecy but those of Holy Writ yet I can't but remember you of that old Latin one Rex albus c. on which you know our wishes taught us to fix a pleasing interpretation This hint wil bring to your mind what perhaps has not been there almost these thirty Years That both for his Innocence and the accidental Snow that fel on his Herse the late King Charles was that white King who for some time was to be the last in England That afterwards his Son shoud from beyond the Seas return to the possession of his Crown and that in his dayes Religion and Laws shoud be reform'd and setl'd upon the eternal Foundations of Truth and Iustice. The fulfilling of this Prophesie now wil seem as miraculous an Effect of Providence as that of our Soverain's Restauration and wil as much eternize the Wisdom of the Parliament as the other their Loyalty What remains of this undon we might hope to see finisht as old as we are if they woud be pleas'd to espouse it heartily and defend themselves against the noyse wranglings and opposition of the Lawyers and Clergy who are no more to be consulted in this Case than Merchants concerning Exchange c. because as the Wise Syracides observ'd their Interest woud byass them There is saith he that counselleth for himself beware therefore of a Counsellor and know before what need he hath for he wil counsel for himself There was Law before Lawyers there was a time when the Common Customs of the Land were sufficient to secure Meum and Tuum What has made it since so difficult nothing but the Comments of Lawyers confounding the Text and writhing the Laws like a Nose of Wax to what Figure best serves their purpose Thus the great Cook bribed perhaps by Interest or Ambition pronounced that in the Interpretation of Laws the Iudges are to be believed before the Parliament But others and with better Reason affirm That 't is one of the great Ends of the Parliaments Assembling To determin such causes as ordinary Courts of Iustice coud not decide The Laws of England are divided into Common and Sâ—â—ate Law the Common are antient Customes which by the unanimous and continued usage of this Kingdom have worn themselves into Law Statutes are the positive Laws of the Land founded on particular accidents and conveniences not provided for by the Common Law Civil and Canon Law are of no force but as they are incorporated into the body of one or other of these Laws if either may be call'd a body which has neither head nor foot For they lye scatter'd in som few books Bracton Littleton Glanvil Fleta Cook Plouden Dier Crook c. their Commentaries or Reports or rather in the arbitrary Opinion of the Iudges or som celebrated Lawyers For nothing is in this Trade certain or regular what one gives under his hand for Law another gives the direct contrary Iudgments and Decrees reverst as if that coud be just one day that is unjust another and why in England must Law and Equity be two things Since Reason Conscience in all other parts of the World are one and the same and why cannot Laws be so plainly worded as that men of common sence may without an interpreter discover the meaning if they be not so order'd speedy and exact justice wil at best be retarded But you 'l tel me there woud be no need to complain if men woud follow Christ's advice If any man wil sue thee at the Law and take away thy Coat let him have thy Cloak also the Reason was so plain that it was needless to express it viz. least the Lawyer shoud com between and strip you naked even of your shirt This you see is prudence as wel as Religion as indeed al Christs precepts are in the very affairs of this World Whatsoever was true of the Iewish Lawyers the present practise of some of ours renders them Obnoxious to the censures of the sober the curses of the passionate most men agreeing that to go to Law is like a Lottery or playing at Dice where if the game be obstinatly pursu'd the Box-keeper is commonly the greatest Winner But since som men wil be fools or knaves why shoud not the
but on extraordinary occasions That al Causes be determin'd at farthest in six months And that such as thro difficulty or other accidents can't be determin'd within that time the Parliament at next Sessions shoud decide them To oblige the Iudges to proceed exactly according to the strict Rules of the Law made by Parliaments For notwithstanding what the Lord Coke says 'T is their duty only Legem Dicere not Legem dare And therfore where ever any thing comes to be disputed of the meaning of the Statutes or that any Cause happens for which there is not exact and sufficient provision made they are to have recourse to the Parliament whose Power is not only Legem dare but dicere For it appears That in antient times when Iustice was more speedy and Statutes fewer or rather none at al the great business of the Parliament was to give Sentence in al difficult Causes and to correct the miscarriages or sinister Practise of al inferior Courts and Officers and therfore was commonly known by the name of Curia Magna Before the Conquerors time there was no such thing as Courts at Westminster-Hal The manner then of distributing Iustice was both speedy and cheap the County being divided into several Portions there was in every Manner a Court where al the Causes arriving within that Precinct were determined by the Thane and his assistants but if too hard they were removed by Appeal to the higher Court of the Hundred where al the chief and Wise Men within that Territory with the Hundreder or Aldermannus gave Iudgment And if any Cause proved too difficult for this Court then they appeal'd to the County Court where al the several Thanes and Hundreders with the chief of the County call'd Comes and somtimes Vicecomes judged it But such Causes as were too intricat for them were remov'd to the great Court or Parliament then known by several other Names Which jurisdiction was exercized some Ages after the Conquest Whence Sir Edward Coke may be wel suspected a greater Lawyer than an Antiquary or els the liberty they took was the occasion of his exalting the Iudges Power in expounding Statutes above that of the Parliament Having now made it plain That the Parliament has this Power and always had it were to be wished they woud make use of it in strictly regulating the Disorders of al inferior Courts as wel Ecclesiastical as Civil Which perhaps can never be better don than after the manner of the famous Venetian Commonwealth by erecting a new Magistracy or Court of Inspection public Censors men of great Candor and Integrity whose Power shoud extend to the Cognizance of al manner of Actions in Courts great and smal Of the demeanor of al Officers of the State of what degree or quality soever who taking care thus of the Execution of the Laws shoud be oblig'd from time to time to give a ful and impartial Information to the Parliament in whose Power alone it shoud be upon Conviction of the Criminal to Suspend Degrade or otherwise Punish according to the Provisions they themselves make in such cases That it may be lawful for all Persons to address themselves immediately to these Censors whose Information shall by them be fully Examined and neither their Informers nor themselves lyable to any Actions or Sutes upon account of their Proceedings to be accountable to the grand and supreme Court of Iudicature That their Number be such as may serve to go Circuits round the Kingdom These as the other Iudges to be altered every 3 Years And because nothing does more conduce to the good of man-kind next to wholsom Laws and the practice of piety than the Knowledge of things past not any thing being truer then that What is has bin and there 's nothing new under the Sun a perfect relation of which begets a great Understanding and deep Iudgment the sence whereof made a Wise King say None were so faithful Counsellors as the Dead That therefore the Parliament woud appoint two of the most learned of those Censors acquainted with al the most secret affairs of state which if not as Counsellors yet as Hearers under the same obligation of secrecy as Secretaries or Clarks of the Counsel they may understand to write especially the matters of fact of al affairs and occurrences The Annals not to be made public til the Writers and al concern'd were gon off the Stage The fear of Offending and the advantage of Flattery being remov'd future ages woud in the truth of History find that great Rule of Iudgment and Prudence the World has hitherto been deprived of There being a man may safely say no tru profane History in the World save that of the Wise Chineses who have observ'd this practice for several Thousands of Years keeping the Records as an Arcanum for their Princes who by these means have gain'd a steddy judgment in their own state-affairs which is the reason given for the long and prosperous continuance of that great Monarchy When the Laws and Execution of them are thus established every Man will be sufficiently secur'd in the Enjoyment of his Liberty and Property which tho commonly taken for two are in reality one and the same thing I understand by the first that Power Man has reserv'd to himself when he enter'd into Society that is a Liberty of doing any thing except what the Law forbids or of living conformably to the Laws not of speaking contemptuously of the Rulers of the People nor of doing what he please tho the Law restrain it By Property I conceive meant the right of Enjoying peaceably privat Possessions as bounded by Law Liberty then respects the Person and Property the Estate These two I perceive you have joyn'd with Religion as the three great Abstracts of Human Concerns For I presume you consider Religion as it is part of that Policy by which the State is govern'd and as such I shal chiefly take notice of it leaving it as it refers to the Soul and a future Life to Divines whose proper Office it is Taking it then for granted That every wise Man will study that which neerest concerns him and That the Interest of the Soul and eternal Life do's far exceed the valu of this our transitory Being That all Human Laws are therefore binding because agreeable to Nature or Reason that is to the Signatures of the Divine Will That true Religion was the Law of God and its end the Happiness of Man in this Life as well as in that which is to Come That it was divided into two Parts Duty to God and to One another which later to the thinking Man resolves into Love of himself who must find that his Happiness consisting in the Enjoyment of himself cannot be without the mutual Offices and Endearments of Love which obliges him in spite of all his Passions when he fully considers things To do to all Men as he would be don unto This then being Human Happiness and the
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
A DISCOURSE OF THE RISE POWER OF Parliaments OF Law 's of Courts of Iudicature of Liberty Property and Religion of the Interest of England in reference to the Desines of France of Taxes and of Trade In a Letter from a Gentleman in the Country to a Member â—n Parliament Salus Populi Suprema lex esto Printed in the Year 1677. The following PREFACE newly writ by the Book-seller's Friend WHoever buyes this Tract will do a small Kindness to the Bookseller but he that reads it will do a greater to himself The Title alone is a temptation to invite one to look into it in this time of Disorder But if Wit and Learning Reason and Piety the knowlege of Men and deep consideration of Goverment signifie any thing the Discourse is a perfect snare to captivate the Reader And it hath one advantage peculiar to it self to detain him That he will meet with many things there which no man ever writ or perhaps thought on before The Novelty alone will gratifie the men of Pleasure and Curiosity And as for the Grave and the Wise that Chain of Reason and good Nature which runs through it will make them scratch and think twice before they condemn it It was written to a Member of the last Parliament about Christmas last was Twelve-month and since that time has crept abroad into the World and is now made more Publick as well for the General as the Book-seller's particular good But a great Chang of Affairs happning in this Interval 't is fit to acquaint you That the Author never dream't of the Horrid Plot which has bin lately discover'd when he pleaded for Toleration to honest and peaceable Dissenters He measur'd other persons by his own Candid Temper and did not think there cou'd be found a Sect of men who wou'd endevor the advancement of their Religion by shedding the Blood of their Prince in an Age when Rebellious Principles and their Abettors have receiv'd such Confutations as they have in this both by God and Man But Truth doth not vary with Time how much soever some persons may abuse it I cannot persuade my self but that Liberty of Conscience is a Natural Right which all men bring with them into the World For we must all give an account of our selves to God and stand or fall by our own Faith and Practice and not by the Religion of the State or Countrey where we happen to be dropt 'T is impossible for men to believe what they list or what others wou'd have them tho it shou'd be beaten into their heads with Beetles Persecution makes some men obstinate and some men Hypocrites but Evidence only governs our Under standings and that has the prerogative to govern our Actions The design of Christianity is to make men happy in the other World and in order thereunto it teaches them to regulate their Passions and behave themselves with all sobriety righteousness and piety in this The Doctrines whereby this is enforc'd are so few and so plainly deliver'd that they are at this day acknowledg'd by all the several sorts of Christians that make a number or are fit to be consider'd under a name in the World For how many are there who do not profess the Apostles Creed which was the Old Rule and Measure of Christian Faith unalterable unreformable from which nothing ought to be taken to which nothing need to be added as Irenoeus and Tertullian declare And if men wou'd be persuaded to preserve these Ancient Boundaries of Christianity inviolate and suffer the Primitive Simplicity to be restor'd the great occasion of Squabble and Contention wou'd be cut off and they wou'd not dispute for ever about a lock of wooll or the knots of a bulrush but instead of being extremely learned in trisles and extremely zealous for Moonshine they wou'd grow kind and charitable and lay aside their unreasonable Censures of one another Aquinas and Bellarmine and the Synopsis purioris Theologiae wou'd not be studied so much but the Sermon on the Mount a great deal more and upon casting up the Account it wou'd be found that what we lost in subtilty thereby we shou'd gain in Religion St. Hilary the Famous Bishop of Poictiers has an Excellent saying to this purpose Non per difficiles nos Deus ad beatam vitam quaestiones vocat nec multiplici eloquentis facundiae genere solicitat in absoluto nobis facili est aeternitas Iesum suscitanum à mortuis per Deum credere et ipsum esse Dominum confiteri God doth not call us to Heaven by understanding abstruse and difficult Questions nor invite us by the power of Eloquence and Rhetorical Discourses but the way to Eternal Happiness is plain easy and unintricate To believe that God rais'd up Iesus from the dead and to confess him to be the Lord of all The sense of this will soften the Minds of men and dispose them to mutual Compliances and Forbearances and then we shall not think it needful by severities and penalties to compel others to go to Heaven in our way with great uneasiness when we are resolv'd they may with safety and pleasure get thither in their own Upon these grounds the Wisest Emperors in Christendom have allow'd Liberty to Dissenters as Theodosius did to the Novatians who had separate Churches at Constantinople and Bishops of their own persuasion to Govern them and enjoy'd all the Priviledges of Catholic Christians And the Opinion of King Iames sent to Cardinal Perron in the words of Isaac Casaubon will be remembred to his honor whilst his name shall be known in the World as the best rosolution which was ever given of this Question Rex arbitratur rerum ad salutem necessariarum non magnum esse Numerum quare existimet ejus Mojestas nullam ad ineundam concordiam breviorem viam fore quà m si diligenter separentur necessaria à non necessariis ut de necessariis conveniat omnis opera insumatur in non necessariis libertati Christianae locus detur The King is persuaded that there is no great number of things necessary to salvation wherefore his Majesty believes there will not be met with a shorter way to peace than that distinction be carefully made between necessary things and those that are not so and that all pains be taken for agreement in necessaries but that allowance be granted for Christian Liberty in those things that are not necessary This is not a demand which has been only made of late since the Christian name has been so scandalously divided as it is at this day but 't is that which the Primitive Christians pleaded for as their right and due that they ought to be tolerated though they were mistaken so long as they were peaceable To this end Tertullian made an Address to Scapula the Governor of Africa and tells him humani juris naturalis est potestatis unicuique quod putaverit colere nec alii obest aut
it Behold I will make them of the Synagogue of Satan which say they are Iews and are not for they lye I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and know that I have loved thee Well Sir I am sorry my Tender of peace is so scornfully rejected upon the misapplication of such Texts of Scripture as equally and indifferently serve all Parties or are nothing to the present purpose You must not be angry if I strike the first blow rather than suffer you to take your own opportunity to knock me o th head When the cause comes to be tryed before equal Umpires you will be judg'd out of your own mouth that challeng'd Liberty which you wou'd not grant For you have transgrest the great Rule of Righteousness not to do to others what you wou'd have done unto your self Upon these terms the pretences to Liberty are destroy'd But if the Wisdom of any State shall confine their Indulgencies to Pious Obedient and Charitable Dissenters I cannot perceive the prejudice which difference in speculations and disputable Points can do in Religion or the Power of the Magistrate But at the same time I cannot but admire the admirable Temper and Moderation which is shew'n in the Church and Goverment of England That requires nothing necessary to Salvation but the acknowlegement of the Ancient Creeds That teaches nothing but what is Pious and Charitable Whose Lyturgy is Grave Wise and Holy whose Rites are few and material Whose Laws are full of Candor and Compliance allowing freedom to any Five Dissenters together to worship God in their own way Whose true Sons and Subjects are the greatest Favorers of Christian Liberty which are in the World And I pray God to give all people that disown it Wisdom to understand it THE Publisher to the Reader HAving I must own not without Pleasure read the following Papers and believing they might in several Instances I do not say all give som satisfaction to others and contribute to the Public Good for which I perswade my self even those Notions that seem most od and impracticable were intended I resolved to make them public But was check't again by calling to mind That he from whom I in some sort extorted them oblig'd me not to discover him Nevertheless considering I might do the One without the Other I pursued my former Resolutions yet taking this further care That even the Printer should not know from whence they came And now let me tell you whatever you shall think of this Discourse 'T is the Issu of a sober Brain tho perhaps a little too much inclin'd to Humor and rigid Vertu and not so agreeable or smooth as you would have had it if my Friend had dressed it for the eyes of any other besides my self to whom he sent it Sheet by Sheet and having writ it in less than eight of the last Holy-dayes you may believe had I allowed more time it would have come even to me reviewed As it is I make it yours and assure you what ever Censure you pass upon Him or Me we shall both be unconcern'd As Complesance made it mine so a good Intention of serving my Country makes it yours For my self I do not aim at being Richer or Greater The Patrimony left me satisfyed and invited my unambitious Mind to the Retirements of a privat Life which I have made easie by innocent Recreations Company and Books It was not my own seeking that I am now plac'd in a more public Station wherein tho perhaps I have done no Good yet I am pleas'd I never did any Hurt having alwayes pursu'd without Passion or Interest what ever my Conscience the best Rule and severest Iudge of Men's Actions convinced me was best As to my Friend he is one has read some Books and more Men thanks God he is that which the World calls a Fool a Good-natur'd Man one that heartily loves all Mankind and has so particular a Zeal for the good of his Country that I believe he would sacrifice his Life to serve it But almost despairing That ever Things will be better than they are and finding by what he has seen abroad That a Man may live more happily in England than in any part of Europe and now grown old by Temper more than Years he has resolv'd chiefly to mind himself whom to enjoy more fully he has bid adieu to all Thoughts of Business to which having never been bred by any Calling he has had the more Opportunities of considering all of improving himself and observing most sorts of Men and as a speculative Philosopher to the Entertainment of Himself and Friends he passes very free Remarks on all Actions and Things he judges amiss and being byass'd by no manner of Interest I am perswaded he speaks his Conscience And he has the good Fortune to make others often conclude He do's not only speak a great deal of Truth but also further satisfies them That it is much easier to find Faults than mend them That there ever were and ever will be Disorders in all Human Societies That there are fewer in that of England than in any other and that they are there more curable Thus much I thought fit to tell you to prevent any Misapprehensions concerning the Persons who are the occasion of this Trouble or Diversion call it what you please The CONTENTS 1. STate Affairs not fit to be discoursed by privat men Page 7 2. Of the Rise of Parliaments 11 3. Origin of Government with a brief account of Laws Revenues Trade and Natural Religion 12 4. A new Method of Electing Members Objections against this Present Parliament and their Answers 29 5. Of Lawes c. 37 6. Of better restraint of Offences than Punishment by death 48 7. Of Courts of Iudicature 60 8. Of Liberty Property and Religion 73 9. Differences in the last nor hurtful nor restrainable 81 10. How Toleration may be safely granted 92 11. How to prevent Divisions among Christians and to make all really not nominaly such 99 12. To Regulate and Reform the abuses of the Press the inconveniencies of Printing as now managed 104 13. The Intrest of England in Reference to France 116 14. Reasons why the King did not declare War against that Crown 119 15. The King's Care of Ireland to prevent French Designs 140 16. Of an Union between England and Ireland or the Repealing Poynings Act. 143 17. Of Taxes to make them great and perpetual most for the Peoples ease and common good 148 18. That 100 l. formerly was in Real value equivalent to 300 l. now and in use to 3000 l. With the reasons of the disparity 161 19. The dangers of not perpetuating apportioning and applying the Revenue to the particular charge and uses of the Crown or State and the advantage of doing so 166 20. The Objections against perpetuating the Revenue considered and removed 167 21. That French or any other Commodities are better Restrained by height of Duty than absolute
in the South are chosen for the North and therefore are to the injury of the People as much strangers to the affairs of the Places for which they serve as those two points are distant from each other That they pass Laws witness that against Irish Cattel c. not for the common good but to shew their interest and power to mischief a man they hate or to revenge som receiv'd or supposed Injuries or Affronts That therefore it is necessary to dissolve This as not being a free Parliament and to cal a new one That to do so frequently is most agreeable to Reason and to former Statutes And to that end several Causes are prepared to put a Difference between the two Houses in point of Iurisdiction c. But such as more seriously weigh things may I hope be convinc'd These are the groundless surmises of som and false suggestions of others discontented and il dispos'd persons the old disturbers of our Israel's Peace who delighting to Fish in troubled Waters endeavour once more to put al into a flame of tyranny and confusion to see what Fish they may by that treacherous Light bring to their OWn Nets That it is idle to imagin the Court the best refiner of wit and Languag shoud not have as piercing a fore-sight as the Country That being allow'd they must be sensible of the fatal consequence of a divided Hous or Kingdom their loss is at least as great as any others their Al is at Stake 'T is therefore contrary to their Interest which never lies consequently to their practice to endeavor Parties 'T is irrational no less than scandalous to conclud Because som mens sense by second thoughts and fuller consideration of things is alter'd that therefore they are brib'd as if personages of so much Honor Wisdom and public spiritedness coud be induc'd by any sinister practices or by-respects to betray their Country and intail upon themselves and their posterities more lastingly than they can their Estates great and inexpressible Calamities And can it be supposed the Ministers have so little understanding as not to foresee that the taking off violent Members any other way than by conviction of their Errors were endlesly to encrease their Numbers and Hydra-like by cutting off one Head to give occasion to the sprouting up of many Nor is it less absur'd to beleive the Parliament when they find the conveniences the reason of Statutes ceased wil not repeal them 'T is no affront to their Iudgments nor to their-Loyalties so to alter with the times an obstinacy in the contrary resolution woud indeed be a disparagement to their Understandings That it is to be hop'd the Wisdom of the Parliament is such as not to quarrel for trifles after the manner of Women or Children That they wil lay aside al partial regards and without heats or personal reflections intend the great Work the common safety recollecting that they were the home bred Divisions more than the Conqueror's Forces that occasion'd Harold's Overthrow and England's intire Subjection to the French even those very Men who invited William suffer'd in the Ruin So just and natural it is To love the Treason and hate the Traytor Does not every Man know That the Power of whol France is greater than that of a part that of Normandy could be That William can't be suppos'd to have been more watchful to seize the Prey than Lewis is who perhaps has set those very Men at least their Leaders on work that openly pretend most to oppose his Desines while in the mean time by sowing underhand Discords and Fears among the People they best promote his Purposes 'T is no unheard-of Practice for Politicians as well as Water-men To look one way and Row another But I hope no cunning Achithophel will be able to divert the Parliament from the great Business of this Conjuncture When they have don That I wish they woud think it worth their Labor To look into the Laws and observe what of them are fit to be repeal'd and what continued The Happiness of a State consists in a regular Form of Goverment by just and equal Laws few and plain fitted to the most ordinary Capacities These Qualifications are as necessary to the well-being of the People as that of Promulgation was ever accounted to the essence of a Law But such is the Fate of England that the Laws are almost numberless which makes them unpossible to be remembred and what is worse are so very intricat that they may more reasonably be looked upon as the devices of cunning men to entrap the simple than as the Rule by which al are to square their Actions and their Lives And what is yet worse They were never promulgated tho provided for by those Statutes that enact the reading of som of them in Cathedrals at least once a year and of others four times Is it fit or just Men shoud be punished by Laws they neither know nor can remember There is no one intire Body of Laws That of the Statutes is so tedious and som yet remain in the Parliament Rolls not printed that it can hardly be read over in a months time tho an hundred times reading wil not enable a man to remember them and yet he may suffer for not observing what he has not or if he had coud not remember But what is the greatest Evil If they coud remember they coud not understand since the very Iudges who have not only been bred at the Feet but are themselves the Gamaliels of the Law and much more are wont to spend whol Terms in the reconciling and expounding of particular Statutes And it often happens That after these long Advisements they being divided in their Opinions the Parties concern'd wearied in those Toyles endeavor after all their Cost and Labor to quit their Right or impatiently expect the making of new and more intelligible Laws These great disorders have bin occasion'd by several conspiring accidents length and warping of Time crooked Interests of some Lawyers and the continual Wars Forreine or Domestick with which this Country has bin harassed I might say since the Invasion of the Romans c. But to com nearer our own times since the Conquest since the first making of these Acts England has not enjoyed one half Century an intire Peace To which unhappiness I know not whether the vexation of the Law or Bigottre of Religion have contributed most I do not doubt but in other Ages they were as sensible of the Evil as we are in this But the same Accidents continuing rendered it remediless Edward the Confessor regulated the Saxon Laws but his care prov'd of little advantage after the coming in of the Conqueror who desining to set up a new Form more agreeable to the Customs of Normandy or his own Will made himself deaf to the peoples desires of being govern'd by the Rules of that holy Prince who was deservedly Sainted no less for his Zeal and love of Iustice in
it woud be for the advantage of al That the Parliament woud exert its antient Power In regulating the many Abuses crept into inferior Courts Into which if there was ever need of looking there is now at this day when the complaints are loud By which tho perhaps Mole-hills may be made Mountains Yet al this Smoak cannot be without som Fire This I have bin told for certain That their Iudgments are founded as much upon Rules or interpretations of Statutes of their own pleasure introduc'd by the intrest of Lawyers and Officers as upon the strict letter of the Lawes in which your Education tho not your Practice and your long Observation has made it superfluous for me to particularise the many Irregularities in the administration of Iustice which woud fil a larg Volum But to begin with the Courts I think it were convenient that each of the Four at Westminster shoud be reduced to their antient Practice and not suffered to Encroah upon one another to the Subjects great vexation who often quits his Cause rather than follow it thro al the mazes of the several Courts where at last after som years tossing by Writs of Error c. from Post to Pillar if his mony does but hold out to make the Lawyers that sport he may sit down by his loss or have recours to the Arbitriment of two honest Neighbors which at first had bin the speediest and cheapest way of justice In antient days the Kings Bench intermedled only with the Pleas of the Crown But now an Ac Etiam ushered in by a feignd assertion of Force and Arms and by supposing the Defendant to be in Custodia Marescalli or the Plaintiffe privileg'd som other way in that Court robbs the Common Bench whose jurisdiction even by Magna Charta is of al Common Pleas between Party and Party The Common Bench by practice of Atturneys not to be behind hand has likwise of late days introduced an Ac Etiam and several Debts or Promises are suppos'd with intent to bind the Subject to special Bail wheras I am confident it cannot either by Common or Statute Law be evinced that antiently special Bail or a Capias before Summons was in any action required and that therfore it is a meer invention to get mony and to vex and impoverish the Subject The Exchequer was only to hold Plea of such Actions where the Plaintiff was really indebted to the King and perhaps too not able otherwise to pay it or where the Parties were by their Priviledg to plead or to be impleaded in that Court But now by falsly suggesting They are indebted to the King and not able to pay him but out of the thing in demand they are suffered to su in that Court alleadging a Quo minus c. in their Declaration But before such Irregularities were introduced it was not so much Law as Honesty Prudence and skil in Arithmetick that were the necessary Qualifications of the Barons In which Court a Chancery was erected to moderate the Rigor of the Fines and Amerciaments estreated into that Court and to extend to the Kings Debtors those favors which the Barons coud not shew The Causes then remaining for the High Court of Chancery were the Penalties and Forfeitures between man and man which at Common Law were du and al other Causes that for want of Evidence were no where els tryable But such have bin the mighty contrivance of the Practisers in that Court that they have found out a way for the Trial of al Causes there where notwithstanding a mans pretence in his Bil That he wants Witnesses tho that be but a tric to intitle the Court to the action after he has Obliged the Defendant to swear against himself contrary to the Common Law that of Nature Nemo tenetur prodere seipsum which seems to be the possitive intent of Magna Charta he takes out a Commission to Examin Witnesses In the Civil Law the Complainant if required is obliged as wel as the Defendant to swear the Truth of the Bill and sure that is as fitting to be don in the King 's great Court of Equity and Conscience as in the ordinary Courts of Iustice in other Nations Nor woud it be amiss That al Witnesses shoud in that Court as wel as others give their Testimony Viva voce and that there shoud be som unalterable Rules both for the Officers of the Court and the Clients since Conscience and right Reason are alwayes the same and unalterable which woud prevent the Reversing of Decrees a tacit Confession They were unjust and other Inconveniences too many to be recounted only One is so notorious I cannot pass it by The assuming a Power of Impeaching Iudgements at Common-Law which the Statute declares to be Premunire Another Practice as inconvenient as any is The Iudges giving too great an Authority to a former Iudges Report or Opinion It were to be wish'd That in the rest of the Courts the present Practice of the wise Lord Chancellor Finch were observed who considering That a Report is founded upon such Reasons as are not with the Report convey'd to us that only stating in brief the matter of Fact and that the Case is alterable by any one Accident rightly infers That no Report but the Reason of the present Case squared to the Rules of the Law ought to guide his Iudgment To this may be added That in every Court there shoud be a setled Number of Clerks Attorneys Lawyers as wel as Iudges That these how just soever shoud not continu above three Years in any one Court Whatever the Sherifs Power was formerly sure I am That exercised by the Iudges exceeds what now they are possest of and yet the Wisdom of former Ages thought not fit to intrust the former two years together That they shoud be oblig'd to give an Account in public of al their proceedings at the expiration of the said time That they be under a pecuniary Mulct besides an Oath to administer justice impartially in imitation of God who to mind them of their great Duty graces them with his own Title saying Ye are al. Gods and therfore must do as I do ye shal not regard in judgment the Power of the Mighty nor the Distress of the Poor That the Iudges Lawyers Atturneys and Clarks shoud have out of the public Revenu sufficient establisht Salaries To take no Fees or Gratuity whatsoever directly or indirectly It not seeming reasonable that the people shoud pay any thing for Iustice But as that Charge may be included in the public Taxes That no Offices whatsoever be Sold and nothing but Merit to intitle any man For if Offices be purchased by the interest of Friends or Mony it is unreasonable to expect That Iustice too may not be bought and sold And for this Reason it is as fit to make Laws against this practice in others as against Simony in the Clergy No man to have two Offices or to act by Deputy
all the rest of Europe unless you can dream they may have a Fleet greater than all and may at once resist by those Walls the Invasion of others and defend their Merchant-men at Sea which if not don without an Invasion by spoiling the Trade England will be destroy'd or which is altogether as bad be render'd very poor and inconsiderable And that this has bin his Majestyes sense may be guess'd by the Progress he has made since the War mediating a Peace as best became a good King and giveing his Subjects an opportunity of enriching themselves and inabling them to bear the necessary Taxes by ingrossing most of the Trade of Europe and at length finding his endeavours ineffective he prepar'd himself to resist the French desines by force by providing a Fleet and knowing that he that fights with another must have skil at the same Weapons he suffer'd such of his Subjects as were willing but on capitulations to return when he pleased to serve either the Confederates or the French not only to be fitted to lead others but also to understand the new Arts of fighting which are greatly alter'd from what they were in former times The King having thus prepared things I hear he is so far from being backward to declare War with France that he wil gladly do it if his Parliament wil but find out a sufficient means for carrying it on effectually which I apprehend must not be ordinary for that the War if undertaken is like to be of long continuance And you wil guess that 't is no longer to be delay'd if you wil but bring before your Eyes the danger we and all Europe are expos'd to by comparing the present Power of France with what it was in the Days of Francis the First and observing what he was then able to do when assaulted by Charles the Fifth who was not only Emperor but had all the Power of Spain the Seventeen Provinces of Naples Sicily Sardinia the Dukedom of Milan and the Riches of the West-Indies who was as Wise Couragious and Fortunat a Captain as most Ages of the World have known one who manag'd his own Councils like Alexander in every Action appear'd at the Head of his Army who had above a hundred Thousand wel disciplin'd Men led by many great and experienc'd Commanders who was able by a mighty Naval Power to begirt France on both sides from Flanders and from Spain Yet at that time France Courting the same Mistriss the universal Monarchy was so powerful a Rival that he durst not attempt his removal out of the way of his Ambition without the aid and assistance of Henry the Eighth the Pope and several Princes of Italy nor even then did he think himself secure til he had drawn to a defection Charles Duke of Bourbon the most considerable Prince of France And yet after all he was forc'd to clap up an Accommodation on Terms sufficiently advantageous to that Crown If so mighty a Power and so united coud not prevail against Francis the First How unlikly is it to resist Lewis the Fourteenth a much greater Prince when that Power is now so much lessen'd by being broken and divided into several Hands When the Emperor gives himself up more to Devotion than Martial or State-Affairs When the King of Spain is a Youth of Sixteen and when the Seventeen Provinces are canton'd between the Spaniard and the States General When these several Divisions and Interests occasion long Debates different Opinions and slowness in Preparation and Action When all that was formerly manag'd by one single Head is by these Accidents brought under the Conduct of several Governors of whom it 's possible som may prefer their privat Advantages to the Interests of their Masters This has made som Conjecture the French King has open'd more Gates with Silver Keys than by Force of Arms and has induc'd others to conclude That the Confederates wil hardly be able to defend the Remainder of the Spanish Netherlands another Campagne if not assisted by the joynt Power of the rest of Europe This you wil easily believe not to be ill grounded if you consider the present Greatness of France Lewis has about four times the Revenu Francis had and at least four times the Army Nay rather all his People are now in a manner Souldiers 'T is not only scandalous but a vain attempt for any Gentleman there to make Court for a Wife before he has serv'd a Campaign or two nor are any of the Nobless sufferd to live at ease in the Country that do not go or send som of their Sons to the War These practises enabl'd him last summer in fifteen days to send forty-five Thousand Gentlemen with their Servants at their own Charge to raise the Siege of Charleroy And to make the Monarchy more absolute Matters have bin so order'd that their Parliaments are become ordinary Courts of Iustice and have no other Laws than the Edicts of the Prince's wil And if at any time he condescends in Formality to assemble the three Estates who had in Francis the First 's time the Power of Parliaments 't is but to tel them by his Chancellor the King Wils you do thus or thus you are not to advise or dispute but immediatly ratify his Commands which accordingly are obey'd as the Effects of a Despotic Power In the beginning of the Year 1665 he was not able to man out twenty Ships of War and now he has about two hundred He has not only vast Treasures heaped together but the Strings of all the Purses of his Slaves rather than Subjects in his own hands If without any Assistance he has already gain'd Lorrain Franche Comte a great part of Flanders and no inconsiderable Footing in Germany and Sicily and in the beginning of the last Campaigne three such strong Holds as Valenciennes St. Omer and Cambray the weakest of which most men thought woud at least have made him whole a Summers work what wil he not be able to compass against the rest of Europe when he has got the accession of Germany and all the Low-countryes to that already too boundless Power by which he has fetter'd his own People and subjected them to an absolute Vassalage Wil other Nations expect better Terms than he has given his own 'T is wel if he wil allow them even Canvas and Sabows But above all what can England hope having for many years forc'd him to check the Reins of his Ambition and is I presume at this time ready to put on the Caveson Books have already bin printed shewing his pretentions to this Country which tho weak and silly may help to spur him on in the pursuit of his Glory Nor can less be expected from those who by a Confederacy with the late Usurpers gave an opportunity of taking away the Life of the first Charles and of pursuing that of the Second to whom his own Cousin German unhospitably deny'd the continuance of a retreat when the
were kept out of their Rights he must have contracted vast debts for the support of himself his Army and his followers That the great Revenu of the Crown was in a manner gon That other Kings had squees'd vast sums from their Subjects by Loanes Monopolies c. of which no mention was made in the computation That the building of ships and above four years of such War at Sea consum'd more than any one hundred years War at Land since the Conquest That the consideration of the vast Charge Dunkirk put the Crown to at least three times more than it yeilded occasiond the Advise of its Sale That Tangier has stood the King in very great sums That til of late the supporting the Charge of Irelana helped to drein the Exchequer of England That the intrinsic Valu of one Million formerly was equal to that of three Millions now and in real use to thirty millions For the tru intrinsic Valu or worth of Mony is no otherwise to be computed than according to what it wil purchase for our present Consumptions which I have reckond to exceed those of old but by ten tho I have heard others say much more But that which has made these Complaints so loud has not bin only inconsideration or perhaps malice but the inequallity of imposeing the Taxes Those great inconveniencies may be easily obviated for the future by makiâ—g and applying to particular Uses such sufficient and equal Fonds as are necessary to be setled I wil only instance in one That of the Customes which seems originally to have had its Rise for that End therefore ought to be appropriated to the Use of the Navy I wish it were great enuff for such as our safety requires And if this Course be taken in apportioning the Revenu the Public and Privat Expences are to be generously computed the doing so wil remove Iealousies and Distrusts on all sides the King wil be under no necessity of straining his Prerogative by hearkning to the devices of Projectors the People wil be quiet and at ease and then every Man may safely sit under his own Vine and his own Fig-tree and enjoy with pleasure the Fruits of his Labor If you look into the Histories of past Ages you wil find the Disputes of the Prerogative on one hand and of Liberty on the other were alwayes founded on the want of Mony and he that considers the Evils that have ensued wil soon believe it very necessary to prevent the like for the future by applying to every use of the Crown or State I do not say to the Person of the King whose greatest Share is the Trouble while the Subjects is Security and Ease a sufficient and perpetual Revenu This Act wil beget an intire Confidence and Love and so unite us to one another as wil make it impossible for any Storms without or Commotions within to shake this Kingdom so founded on a Rock against which all who make any attempts must needs split themselves and Fortunes I have according to my wonted Freedom given you my Thoughts why I think it more convenient both for Public and Privat That the Revenu were sufficient and perpetual against which I never met but with one Objection to wit That if that were don the King woud not so frequently if at all call his Parliament As if there were no use for this great Council but raising of Mony The altering or repealing the old and making new Laws the reforming of Errors and Abuses in Inferior Courts of Iustice the deciding the Controversies those Courts coud not and many other things woud make their Meeting necessary The King woud see 't were his Advantage to cal them often since besides that there is safety in the multitude of Counsellors all that happens to be severe and harsh woud light on them and yet none coud be offended because the Act of the whole Nor coud His Majesty but be sensible that all Innovations are dangerous in a State for it is like a Watch out of which any one peece lost woud disorder the whole That the Parliament is the great Spring or Heart without which the Body of the Common-wealth coud enjoy neither Health nor Vigor Life nor Motion That while they mind their Duty in proposeing and advising what is best for King and People without privat Respect leaving him the undoubted Prerogative of Kings of Nature and Reason of Assenting or Dissenting as he is convinc'd in his Conscience is best for the Common Good which is to be his measure in all Actions as the Laws are to be the Subjects Rule I see not why it shoud not be his interest to cal them frequently That none can be suppos'd to advise the contrary unless som few great Men to avoid not so much perhaps the Iustice as the Passion Envy and Prejudice of som in that Iudicature to whom they may think themselves obnoxious But granting this 't is unreasonable to think so wise and so good a Prince wil prefer the Privat Interest of any single Man tho never so Great before the general Good and Satisfaction of his People I shoud rather think He wil in the Words of his Royal Father in a Speech to his Parliament give in this a ful Assurance I must conclude that I seek my Peoples Happiness for their slourishing is my greatest Glory and their Affection my greatest Strength His Majesty wel knows with what tenderness and Love his Subjects are to be treated that 't is more safe more pleasing and more easy to erect his Throne over their Hearts than their Heads to be obey'd for Love rather than Fear the Dominion founded on the later often meets the same Fate with a House built upon the Sands while that establish'd on the former continues firm and immovable as a Rock He is not ignorant That as the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world so does the Being and Wel-Being of the English Nation consist in the frequent Counsels Deliberations and Acts of King and Parliament in which Providence has so blended the King and People's Interests that like Husband and wife they can never be sunder'd without mutual inconvenience and unhappiness The sense and observation of this makes our King's Reign prosperous and gives Him a more Glorious Title than that of King viz. The Father of the Country and the great God-like Preserver of his Children's Rights and Liberties who out of a deep sense of Duty and Gratitude must own and remember who tels them That a wise King is the upholding of his People and therefore cannot but pay him even for their own Interest all imaginable Loyalty Deference and Respect giving up their Lives and Fortunes for His or which is all one their own Safety who studies nothing so much as their Good and wel-fare Besides the King has already past an Act that a Parliament shal sit at least once in three Years and in several Speeches he has declar'd himself ready to do
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
few honest be as much secured as possible When the Parliament have setled the Laws I wish they woud think of som more fitting restraint of Offences than what the penal Statutes direct almost for every crime The Loss of Life If we examin the severity of this practice we shall find it contrary to the Law of nature the positive Law of God Thou shalt not Kil and ineffective of the intent of Laws Amendment Self preservation is the chief design of Nature To better which and not to destroy it was the ground and end of Goverment and Laws which makes it contrary to Reason That any Means shoud be made or declared such which were destructive of the end for which they were made If then the loss of life as it most certainly do's puts an end to al earthly happiness 't is evident that it never was nor ever coud be judg'd an Instrument productive of that end perhaps it may be said that this may be true of every single man as such and yet may be false when consider'd with respect to the whole as a Member of the Society I answer It can't be true in the later if false in the former Because we must believe that at first every man consider'd what was absolutely best for himself without any respect to another on whom he cannot be suppos'd otherwise to look then as he was or might be subservient to his own particular and immediate happiness And since the whole is made up but of several individuals it must be granted that every of them had the same considerations and since it was not in the power of any to transfer that right to another which nature had deny'd to himself we may then safely conclude it is against the Law of nature i. e. against reason to believe that the power of Life or Death ' by consent of al without which there was no law coud at first be vested in any supreme power and that the useing of it does naturally put us into a state of war the Evil because directly destructive of Happiness design'd to be avoided This is a truth imply'd in the Law of England not only by binding the Criminals to restrain their Warring but also by the punishment inflicted on Felo's de se which supposes no man to have power over his own life as certainly he must have had if he coud have given it to another Nor wil the difficulty be remov'd whether we derive goverment either of the other two ways Paternal right or the immediat gift of God for Parents had no such Power by nature in the state whereof we are al equal We are little more oblig'd to them for our being than to the influence of the Sun both as to us are involuntary causes that which binds children to an indispensable duty of gratitude is the parents care in providing for their wel-being when they are unable to shift for themselves and their giving them virtuous education that which is of al the truest obligation than which nothing is among us more neglected which has made som at the gallows not without cause take up the advice of Iobs Wife against God first curse their parents and then dye Children may indeed be ungrateful which is the worst or the Al of crimes but parents cannot revenge this by death without being unjust because there ought to be a proportion between the crime and the Punishment and a warrantable Authority in him that inflicts it which in this case are al wanting for Ingratitude Theft Rapin and what ever else is practis'd by the wicked are in themselves repairable and the sufferer may in an equal measure be compensated for his loss for bona fortunae or the goods of Fortune are exterior to us and consequently accidental and when we are despoil'd of them by any we have ful satisfaction by a restitution in specie or in value this cours is the measure and square of al Civil contracts for if I detain wrongfuly the mony you lent me I am compellable but to repay you Why then shoud it be Capital to take your Horse without consent when either restitution or a punishment more commensurate to the Offence may be had As for the authority of the punisher which must be warrantable it is plain the Father has no such over the Children who in the state of Nature are equal with him for since he gave not the Being he cannot legally take it away and for the Act destroy the Agent punishment being design'd not only for the terror of others but for the amendment of the Offender To destroy then the last that such as are guiltless may continue so is to my apprehension a piece of the highest Injustice Besides no Prince claims a right over the Subjects Life what ever he does to his Crown otherwise than by the positive Laws of the Land which suppose the man himself to have given that power by his consent which is already prov'd impossible Therefore we may conclude the inflicting of Death is against the positive Law of God who has reserv'd this to himself as a peculier Prerogative and altho he has allow'd the Rulers of the Earth to share in his Titles yet least they shoud intrench on his Honor of which he is very jealous by exceeding the bounds of Reason he immediatly subjoyns but ye shal dy like men to put them in mind that they were to act as such It cannot then be suppos'd that human constitution can make that just which the Almighty declares unlawful He that does so sets himself up above al that is called God destroys moral good and evil makes Vertue and Vice but only names which if allow'd we may bid farwel to the People and Princes security for this roots up the very Foundations of Peace on Earth as wel as joy in Heaven Nor will it serve to say This was practised in the Iewish Common-wealth That was God's own peculiar Province and He that was sole Author of Life might dispose on 't at his pleasure and tho every part of that Oeconomy be not accountable yet 't is not without good Grounds suppos'd because the Iews Happiness or Misery seems to have consisted in the enjoyment or want of Temporal Blessings that the taking away Life here was in lieu of that punishment which Sinners under the Gospel are to receive in another Life And unless Human Laws might as immediatly be call'd His and that every Magistrat were a Moses I coud not believe it lawful for them to follow that Example especially considering that they do not write after this Copy in the punishment of al Crimes I will not make Comparison in many yet I can't but take notice that Idolaters and Inciters to it were there punisht with Death while among us Atheism and Irreligion do not only go free but the Professors of those admirable good Qualities pass for Wits and Virtuoso's Drunkenness and Gluttony are esteem'd as Marks of good Breeding computing the Abilities of