Britania Nova Illustrata BEING A MODEST and REASONABLE Defence of a Late BOOK entitled, BRITANIA NOVA; OR, A Seasonable Discourse, Demonstrating, How we may Serve our King and Country. By Discouraging profaneness and Immorality, &c. Most Humbly offered to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, To His High Court of Parliament, and to the Whole Nation, &c. It being Underiably made out in the first Book,( tho' Misapprehended, or not Understood, by some) that we may Double the Value of out Land, and the Number of our Naval Forces to every Man's Advantage, and to the Advancement of The Christian World. Defer not to be justified. London, Printed for E. Whitlock, near Stationers-Hall. 1698. Britainia Nova Illustrata. I Have been lately Informed, that the pretensions of some have found out a great many Faults in Britania Nova, besides those many, that( for want of more time and care) were committed by the Printers and the Correctors. I. The First fault they find is in the title, because Britania is not with a double n. But I have shown, in the Book itself, that if Ania,( according to the best Authorities) came from Anac, which signifies Tin in the Language of the Phaenicians, who first found it out in Cornwall( The Head-Land, or scape of the Kingdom) though now it is called, The Lands End; Now the tail which was once the Head. And if Brit came from Bright, G. H. being left out in the Name, as not Sounding in the pronunciation, then it must be Britania, according to this New, and not Britannia, according to the Old way of Writing. II. A Second Fault( which is the First they find in the Book itself) is this, That it is Founded † Queen Elizabeth Founded the Second Reformation on the Two Grand Committees in Parliament of Religion and Justice; then Religion and Justice were looked upon as the Two Principal Points of the Nations Policy. on Religion, and The Word of God. And what( say they) hath Religion, and The Word of God to do with The politics, or the Common-wealth? Yet I had shown( in sundry places of the Book, and particularly from The politics of Learned France, and from Cambden's * In his Life of Queen Elizabeth. own Wonds that Between Religion and the Commonwealth there can be no Separation. The Very God of very God came into the World to Teach us, First, The Kingdom, of God and his Righteousness, that Pure Religion and Undefiled Justice, whereunto all other things shall be added, according to the Word of God. So that those Men are against God, The King, and The Country, who say, That Religion and the Word of God have nothing to do with the politics and the Common-wealth. Our Saviour himself laid Religion and Justice For the Foundation of The Christian Empire, The King's most Excellent Majesty ( in the fullness of time) came into Great Britain, Hazarding every thing, to Rescue our Religion; And as God and the King preferred Religion, so the Honourable Representatives of This Great Land and Nation, are principally Founded, in The most High Court of Parliament, on The Grand Committee of Religion. Besides, the Four past Empires were Founded on the Religion of their first Authors, and to pretend To Erect a New Britania, and thereon to raise The Fifth Monarchy, or Christian Empire, without Religion and the word of God, would be to one part of the World A Stumbling Block, and to another foolishness. III. Third Fault, which they find, is with my Quotation of so much Scripture, and so many other Authorities already Printed. To which I Answer, That I have made a sufficient Apology, for that in my Preface, to Britania Nova. And( not to mention our Ministers Quotations of the Holy Scriptures, and other Authorities, though they were already Printed.) The New Testament of God's Will, doth tell us, That we have Moses and the Prophets, and my Adversaris may see( if they please) therein, who Quoted both, upon all Occasions, though they were Written, and Quoted before their Time. IV. A Fourth Fault which they find in the Book, is my making too much use of the Word of God &c. to speak too much thereby in Commendation of the King. To which I likewise Answer, That the King's Majesty, is most heroic, most Imperial, and most Excellent; Both his Words and Actions are above any Character which I can give of them; I choose therefore to do it, by the Word of God, and of some Great Men. And( not to mention others) I verily believed when I Wrote Britania Nova, Pa. 14. that the words of the Wise Son of sirach came nearest home to the Present King of This Great Land and Nation, The Emporium of the World, The words are these. Wisd. 8. I shall set the People in order, and the Nations shall be subject unto me. Horrible Tyrants shall be afraid when they do but hear of me. I shall be found good amongst the Multitude and valiant in War. I did also, and do still believe, That He shall never be moved, Vid. pa. 15. and that, His Righteousness shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance. And as The ungodly shall see it, and shall Gnash with his Teeth, so they that lash with their Tongue, as some now do, may live to see him, Judge the folk Righteously and Govern the Nations upon Earth. Psal. 11. But, If the foundations be destroyed, what can the Righteous do? I do likewise verily believe that as the Ruin of many places, hath been Respited for one reason and another, so the time for raising this Nation might be shortened, if All things( according to the Prayer of the Church) could now be ordered and settled on the best and surest foundation, for Peace, and Happiness, Truth and Justice, Religion, and Piety, and for Discourageing ●rophaness and Immorallity. But there is one thing Necessary( not here to be mentioned) which must be done before all things can be so Ordered and Settled, and before it can come to pass, That, In his dayes, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell in safety. But then, They shall no more say, the Lord Liveth that brought up the Children of Israel out of egypt. But the Lord liveth, which brought up, and lead the House of Israel out of the North country, and from all Countrys where I had scattered them, and they shall dwell in their own Land. For 〈…〉 spoyled of the Hea 〈…〉 safely, and none shall make them 〈◇〉: 〈…〉 is a Righteous Branch. V, The Fifth Fault, which my Enemies find in 〈…〉 s, That it hath not at all an 〈…〉 of the Title page.. To which I answer again, and for all, That All Books have their fate, according to the Capacity or Prejudice of the Readers; And if they please to Search Mine( I call it Search, because I could not Compose it more Regularly, considering all things) they will find, that it will Answer the Title page. to all Intents and Purposes, if the People will( as they now may) put it into practise. I have shown plainly, That the best ways and means, To preavent Blasphemy, To discourage profaneness and Immorality, and to keep the People from Cursing and Swearing, and from Damning one another, is to Reform the Nation a Third time, by Regulating( in the first Place) The Commutitive and Distributative Justice thereof, * See that part of the Book, which is for sending a sufficient Fleet into the Mediterranean, to Protect the Oppressed Greeks from the Tyranny of the Turks, &c. that our Saducees may no longer deny the Resurrection, and that others may no longer be said, Neither to Reverence God, nor Regard Man. Without these Ways and Means, That Great Land and Nation of the North, cannot be The Holy Place, which is to be The Destruction of Babylon, because the Quirks and Delays in Commutitive and Distributive Justice, are altogether as Anti-Christian, as any thing that can be practised by the Pope of Rome, or any of his Condisciples, against that Perfect Religion and Law, which our Lord and Saviour Taught us, as the best and surest ways and means, to prevent to remedy profaneness and Immorality. I have also plainly shown, how we may prevent a great deal of robbery, Injustice and Oppression, not only in England, and our own Isles, but in the Isles of the mediterranean, in all The Maritine Places, and in all the Isles of the Gentiles, &c. by ways and means mentioned at Large in Britania Nova, and particularly by the Amphibeous Fleet that may serve this nation, and the Whole World, by sailing to and fro, both as Men of War and Merchantmen in the British-Sea, the Medeterranian, and the Sea of Jamaica; And there cannot be better means of making this Nation Greater then its Name, then by preventing thereby the Exportation of Wool and Fullers Earth, by those Ways and Means mentioned at Large in that Book, whereof this is but an Abstract. I have also shown at Large in that Book, how we may Relieve and employ the Disbanded Souldiers, by Maintaining the one part of them at Sea, and setting the other A work at Land, where they may Beat up their Swords into Plowshares, and their Spears into Pruning-Hooks, upon Doubling the Wages of the Poor, and the Price of Corn, &c. And both these ways, of Relieving and employing those Souldiers, will,( in one particular) prevent a great deal of profaneness, Immorality, robbery, Injustice, and Oppression. I have likewise shown at Large, how we may supply The Deficiency of the Fonds, by making a Law to proportion the Allowance and Wages of the Poor, with the high Prices of Bread and Flesh, which will be a Prodigious advantantage to the Landed Men † And because the Landed-Men will bear the burden of the Land-Tax, and because the Farmers will otherwise have the greater Advantage, as they lately have had upon the Low Value of Land, the high Value of its Products, and the High Price of Guineas, it is necessary( upon Doubling the Land-Tax) a Law be also made, That all Farmers shall pay Double the Value to the Landlords, for the Estates they have, and shall hold of them, after the said Law be made, although they have had Leases already Grantell for any Term of years to come. , whose Interest will Increase thereby, as Interest upon Interest doth; And therefore our Representatives may the rather Double the Land-Tax to Discard all the Fonds, that are Deficient, and thereby the better to enable the King's most Excellent Majesty and Themselves, To prevent a great deal of profaneness, Immorality robbery, Injustice, and Oppression. To supply the Deficiency of the Fonds, and to Discharge the Nations Debts. I have likewise shown at large, how we may Ease and Advantage the Poor, by proportioning their allowance and the Wages of the Labourer, with the prices of things, as they may be raised higher and higher to the Benefit and Advantage of This Great Land and Nation, and to the Advancement of The Christian World. Now as The Christian Empire may be very near coming in, as The Roman Empire may be very near quiter going out( according to what I have written in Britania Nova, of the past State and present Condition of the Venetians, who value themselves for being the only relics of The Roman Empire) so, in order to Introduce so great a Revolution, We may, at once, and that very Speedily, raise the Right Regular Interest of the Poor, the Rich, and The most Renowned Emperor, only by adhering to Moses and the Irophets, and by following the Precepts of The Old and New Testament, whatever profaneness or Immorality may think of either. When Moses was Conducting the Children of Israel into The Land of Canaan, which was( as it were) a Type of This Great Land and Nation, and of The Christian Empire, he said unto every one of them. The Lord shall greatly bless thee in the Land which the Lord thy God Giveth thee for an Inheritance to possess it. Thou shalt Keign over many Nations, but they shall not Reign over thee. Only if thou carefully harken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these Commandments which I command thee this day. * Ye shall not Swear by my Name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God, I am the Lord. Ye shall not Steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. Thou shalt not defraud thy Neighbour, nor rob him. The Wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee, I am the Lord. † Lev. 19. Note here, That after Moses( who was amongst the Righteous as King) had Preferred Religion ( us a true Politician ought to do) he Prescribeth Commutative and Distributative Justice. * If these things had been more Minded since the Second Reformation, we should not have so Great Occasion for a Thid. Ye shall do no Unrighteousness in Judgement, in Mete-yard, in Weight, or in Measure. Just Ballanhces, Just Weights, a Just Ephah, and a Just Hin shall ye have, I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the Land of egypt, &c. And God will most certainly make This Great Land to flow( as it were) with Milk and Honey, if we observe these things, so as to do them † And nothing can make us do them better, than Four Grand Committees in the Honourable House of Commons of Religion, &c. . Whatever the Atheist may say, and the Hypocrite think and do, Keligion and Justice( and without the latter the former cannot be pretended to) are the two principal Supporters of Church and State; and without a perfect Reformation of both, we cannot so much as think, of Regulating profaneness and Immorallity, nor of Raising This Great Land and Nation to be,( according to its Natural situation) the Seat of The Universal Empire. Now Charity and Justice in the Original are all one according to the Hebrew word Tsedaka; and as St. Paul tells us, that Charity worketh all things. So if we proportion the Allowance and the gospel-privileges of the Poor, with the rising Prices of every thing, we may raise this Nation, by that means, to that degree of Honour and Glory, for whigh God and Nature hath most Certainly designed it. It is be asked here, How we shall all live if we raise things higher, when some of us cannot live because some things are raised so high already. I Anser. That the reason why we have so many Poor amongst us, and why we are not all so Rich as to want Nothing, is because we do not Naturally proportion the Allowance and gospel-privileges of every Poor Person, with the Price and Natural Value of every thing, and the Value and Price of every thing, with the Wages and Allowance of every Poor Person. We must all answer for things done in the Body politic, as well as in the Body Natural, as I shewed in Britania NOva. And if we will really and truly Discourage profaneness and Immorallity, prevent a great deal of robbery, Injustice and Oppression; Relieve and employ the Disbanded Soldiers, Supply the Deficiency of the Fonds, Discharge the Nations Debts, Ease and Advantage the Poor, Double the Value and Rents of Land, Double the number of our Seamen and Naval Forces, Promote the Christian Monarchy by the English Empire of the Ocean, and bring on The Golden Age, we must follow the divine Example of St. Pual, who,( writing to the Corinthians) tempered his Body politic as God tempered the Body Natural, That there might be no Schism in it; and when another Body politic shall be so tempered I cannot yet see how we can fail of Promoting The Christian Monarchy by the English Empire of the Ocean, and of Bringing on The Golden Age. We must now by all the best and surest Ways and Means endeavour to serve our God, our King and our Country, not by pretending to discourage profaneness and Immorallity, and by raising Fonds that are Deficient, but by serving them in reality, as Cyrus was served upon the raising of The Persian Empire, with Silver and with Gold and with Substance, &c. And as we must serve our Prince, with Substance and in Reality, we must, in order thereunto, and in the first place, serve the Poor as aforesaid, by proportioning their Allowance and Wages with the high Prices of every thing, and by proportioning the Price of every one thing with the Price of the other, without which we cannot form The Body politic( as God hath framed The Body Natural,) to that perfection, which will make good the Title page. of Britania Nova. I have shown at large throughout Britania Nova( and for this it is necessary to Search the whole Book) that we cannot discourage Navigation and Trade, by raising the Price of things, on The Emportium of the World; for all Markets are naturally governed by the first Market Price; and as all other Nations will follow the Example of their Emporie, when it comes to stand in Effect to the World, as the Roman Goddess stood in the Figure, with the balance in one hand, and the Horn of Plenty in the other, so * It is the Customary Trade of Merchants, to Buy Cheap, and Sell Dear; but it is the Truest Policy, and most for the public Good, that they should Buy Dear, and Sell so too. And the Dearer all things are, the more Provident the Richer sort of People will be for their own Benefit, or the more Extravagant to the Nations Advantage. the dearer all Merchants Buy, the dearer they will Sell again; and what a vast advantage our Amphibeous Fleet aforesaid, will be to this Nation, may be seen to the full in that Book, whereunto I have referred the Reader. All that can be said now is this, That we shall not be able to Proportion the gospel-privileges of the Poor Labourers with the Prices of every thing, because some Labourers deserve more, and some less To which I Answer, That we must Proportion the gospel-privileges of the Labourers, as we Proportion the Allowance of the Poor, that is to say, they must share all alike; As he that Laboured but one hour, had altogether as much gospel-privileges, as he that bore the burden and Hear of the Day, or otherwise, Religion and Justice, according to our Saviour, and Charity, according to St. Paul, cannot work all things for us. Moses. Commanding the Children of Israel aforesaid in order to bring them to Empire, said unto them all, Lev. 19. Thou shalt not Curse the Deaf, nor put a Stumbling-block before the Blind, but shalt fear thy God, I am the Lord. And whereas it is common for a Landlord( in some Cases that I know) to hire an Old Labourer, for half gospel-privileges, and, upon the whole, to receive his full share of Gain, because the rest of the Labourers make good the Work; so, if we will make good that work which we now may go upon, to Advance The Christian World withall, we must, by the way, take due Notice, and make due Application of what our Saviour saith, The Poor you have always with you, and when-soever you will you may do them good. And they, who will not, when they can, do this Good for the poorest sort of Labourers, are Good neither to God, their King, their Country, nor Themselves; And it would be Just with God to deal with them, as he did with Ananias and Saphira, for their Hypocritical Irophaness and Immorality before God, in pretending publicly to give that to the Poor, which they Secretly reserved for Themselves. He that giveth unto the Poor, lendeth unto that Lord who hath Exalted our King, as a Palm-Tree in Engeddi, and as a Rose in Jenicho— Of whom the Earth traveled: and brought forth a Man-To plant the Tabernacles of his palace between the Seas, in the Glorious Holy Mountain— That he may be more Precious than Fine Gold, even above the Wedge of Gold of Ophir. And nothing can be more Precious to God and his Country, then A King of the North, that shall Execute judgement and Justice on the Earth, and give Example and Laws to the Whole World. THE CLOSE. ALtho' a Man,( according to a Divine Prediction) may be thought Mad, by those that are so themselves, yet I cannot but believe, that( upon the Rising of The Christian Empire, God, by his Vice-Gerent) will Judge the Folk Righteously, and Govern the Nations upon Earth; and that, Then the Earth shall bring forth her Increase. And for as much as a politic Confumption is as Necessary as The Natural Increase, I have shown in the Book itself, how the one and the other may be occasioned. And as I designed it for a General Satisfaction, so that which doth not please one Man, may be left by him to another, who will not be Offended at it. The Title page. is very Great, and The heroic virtues of The King's most Excellent Majesty, and, The Emporial Advantages of this Great Land and Nation( both which I was obliged to mention) being( in all Probability) Predestinated to Commence The Fifth Monarchy: I could not make the Book much less then it is, nor Compose it in any other Method, then that which I laid down for my Foundation. ☞ * I do not value myself on the Composition of it, neither indeed can I, But( as Sir Thomas Brown saith) 'Tis Opportune to look back upon Old Times, and Contemplate our Fore-fathers. Great Examples grow thin, and are to be fetched from the past World. Simplicity flies away, and Iniquity comes at Long-strides upon us. We have enough to do to make up ourselves, from present and past Times, and the whole Stage of things scarce serveth for our Instruction. A complete Piece of virtue must be made up from the Cento's of all Ages, as all the Beauties of Greece could make but one handsome Venus. Whether the Book be red or not, I do here Affirm; That by the ways and Means therein mentioned, we may Commence and Maintain The Christian Empire; That The Christian Empire( which will be Universal) cannot be Acquired, nor Maintained, by any Prince on the Continent, because it is not to be Acquired by Universal Conquest, nor Maintained by Land-Forces, as the Four past Empires were, so long as they had a being; That The Fifth or Christian Empire, may be * The Universal Fleet, Proposed in the First Book, will keep a Universal Peace, and make our King the Neptune of the World. But his Trydent must be the Third Reformation. , both Acquired and Maintained by The English Empire of the Ocean, which Henry the Eight and Queen Elizabeth began, and King William may complete; That this Head Isle of the Gentiles( which gave the Romans, the first Christian Monarch Constantine the Great and had the first Christian King Lucius) may be now made The Glorious holy Mountain, and Principal Seat of The Most Remowned Emperor, by those must heroic means( mentioned in Britania Nova) which Moses commanded and Joshua executed, in order to gain The Land of Canaan; That The Cunning † Nothing( saith my Lord Bacon) hath done the World to much Mischief, as that Cunning Men pass for Wise Men in it. Wisdom of the World, is, not true Policy, but, Foolishness with God, whatever some Men may think of it; And that we( on This Emporium of the World) must first seek the Kingdom of God, and his Righteousness, before we can truly serve God, by Discountenancing profaneness and Immorality, and our King, by Advancing the Interest and Honour of This Great Land and Nation. If these things cannot be spoken against, I hope they will be put into Speedy Execution, for the Benefit and Advantage of The Whole World, which I am a Well-wisher to. But for as much as we may have some Gallio's amongst us, That care for none of these things, I do not Address this to them, but To the King's most Excellent Majesty, To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, And to the Honourable, the Commons of England in Parliament Assembled, &c. As they are Founded on that Religion, which hath the Promise as well of this Life, as of that which is to come. And, I hope, it will never be said in this King's Reign, as it * Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety, page. 316. was in Anothers, That Bitterness, which first Tainted the Waters of the Sanctuary, hath, from thence Diffused itself into our Common Streams, and, like the egyptian Plague, left none Uncorrupted. Under the Shades of the Nocturnal Day, being born In Glory and Goodness sovereign shall shine, Shall cause to spring again the Blood of the Ancient Urn. And into Gold the Brazen Age Refine. Which prophesy was Written on King William; But no King in the World can Refine this Brazen-Age into Gold, but by that Golden-Rule in the Gospel, for seeking first the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness. And if we will begin( in Earnest) to Discourage profaneness and Immorality, by these Ways and Means, we may, be those other Ways and Means herein mentioned, and in Britania NOva, make Good the Title page. of that BOOK. And because Doubling the Land-Tax upon Doubling the Value of our Money, and the Value and Rents of our Land, by the Ways and Means already mentioned, is absolutely nececessary for Doubling our Naval Forces, Supplying the Deficiency of the Fonds, and Effectually Paying off the Seamen and Souldiers, &c. in Specie, I do here say, That it may be easily done, and that it will be of Great Benefit, both to the King and Country for the present, and of Vash Advantage to the Landed Men especially for the Future, when there will not be so great an Occasion for so great it Tax. Under his Reign the Fates decrce Increase; Conquest abroad, which end in happy Peace. And what may not the CZAR of Muscovy hereafter do againsts the Infidels, and towards the Advancement of The Coristian World, if we Protect the Greeks, and Jews from the Tyranny of the Turks, by a Sufficient Fleet in the Mediterranean, &c. FINIS. BRRATA. page. 4. l. 7. deal Learned. After from Incert the Learned. In the Notes of the same page., 2d Line, after Justice, r. and.