To the right Honourable the chosen and Representative body of England Assembled in Parliament.  
The humble Petition of L. C. JOHN LILBURNE A Free man of England.  
Shows,  
THat your petitioner hath and doth look upon this Honourable House, as the chosen and betrusted Commissioners of all the Commons of England, in whom alone (by right) resides the formal and legal supreme power of England, and unto whom all the Commons of England have given so much of their Power, as to enable you alone, to do all things whatsoever for their weal, safety peace and prosperity, the end of all Government, as is most excellently, by your Honourable declaration of the 17. of April last declared.  
The knowledge and understanding of which, hath made your petitioner as a Commoner (in his Country's straits and necessities) to take up arms as his duty, to fight against the King (the servant of the Common wealth) and all the forces raised by his Authority (who sought to destroy the end of Government, the safety and weal of the people) and to be faithful in your said service, in the midst of many deaths; contemning and slighting, the large proffers of the King's Honours and preferments, sent unto him by four Lords, when he was a prisoner for you at Oxford, for which he was immediately laid in Irons night and day, looked up close in a room, a Sentinel set at his door, that so he might not speak with any whosoever, forced to lie on the floor, kept without one farthing of allowance although he carried not one penny with him to the prison  
And within a few days after was (for his continued resolution) arraigned (in Irons) as a Traitor for his life before Judge Heath, before whom he pleaded to his indictment, professing unto him at the open bar (when he pressed your petitioner to save himself) that he your suppliant was not seduced by any to take up arms, but did it out of a principle of duty to himself, his country and the Parliament, and that he was resolved to spend his blood in the defence of his own and his Country's liberties; also your petitioner upon the same grounds, hath often been in the field since, and done good services, and hath continued faithful in all his engagements, and is resolved (by the strength of God) so to do to the death.  
Now for as much as the liberties and freedoms contained in the 28. & 29. chap. of the great Charter of England, are the best legal inheritance that your petitioner hath, and for the preservation of which, ye have so often sworn to spend your lives and fortunes, and enjoined the people that trusted you to do the same, and for the maintaining of which, your petitioner hath run the hazard of so many deaths and miseries as he hath done, amongst which liberties and privileges this is not one of the least (as your petitioner humbly conceives) that all Commoners whatsoever in criminal causes shall be tried by their equals or fellow Commoners; nevertheless the House of Lords (commonly so called) summoned your petitioner to their Bar to answer a criminal charge there, contrary to the tenor of the great Charter so often confirmed, and although your petitioner told their Messenger, and afterwards some of themselves, that by Magna Charta they had nothing to do with your petitioner in such a case, and that if he were called, he must and would plead this a●● their Bar, cost it him what it would, and also entreated one of themselves, to acquaint the rest of his fellow Lords, that he must and would protest against them, and appeal to his competent proper and legal tryers and judges your Honours,  
Yet notwithstanding they forced your Petitioner to their Bar, and would have compelled him, contrary to Law, reason, and Conscience, and to the fundamental liberty of all the free People of England, (so adjudged in his own case of the Star-chamber etc. by your honours and themselves) to answer to Interrogatories concerning himself, without showing him any formal and legal charge in writing, although he earnestly desired to see it, if they had any, which was refused, and your Petitioner pressed again and again with much vehemency, by their Speaker, to answer, verbal questions, which forced your Petitioner to deliver at their open Bar his Protestation, in writing under his hand and seal, as also his appeal to your Honours, his competent, proper and legal Tryers and judges; a true Copy of which is hereunto annexed, for which alone, they committed your Petitioner to Newgate prison, (as appears by the Copy of their commitment hereunto annexed) all which your Petitioner humbly conceives, tends to the disfranchizing him of his just liberties and freedoms, (and so to the making him a slave) and to the violation of their own Oaths and Covenants, and to the utter subversion, and alteration of the fundamental Laws and government of this Kingdom, for the preservation of which, so much blood and treasure hath already been spent.  
Your Petitioner therefore, as a freeman of England, (who to his knowledge never did any act that deserveth the forfeiting of his birthright) humbly appealleth to your honourable Bar and Justice, as his proper, competent, legal tryers and judges, and humbly prayeth.  
For as much as he is a free Commoner of England, and ought not to be proceeded against, nor his liberties and freedoms to be taken from him, in any arbitrary or extrajudicial way. And for that their Lordships have no power, nor jurisdiction, according to the Law and constitutions of this Kingdom, to try and adjudge any free Commoner thereof, for any criminal causes whatsoever, concerning life, limb, liberty, or estate; And for that your Petitioner is imprisoned, contrary to the form and tenor of the great Charter of England, and therefore altogether illegal, and merely arbitrary; That your Honours will be pleased, according to your unparaleld Declaration of the 17th of April last, whereby is set forth, that you will not exercise, nor suffer to be exercised by any other, any arbitrary power, but that you will provide for the safety and weal of the People, (the primitive end of all government) according to the great trust reposed in you, and committed to you, by your Impowrers, the Commons of England, you will take your Petitioner into your protection, and not suffer him any longer to be kept in prison, and spoilt of his Franchises and liberties, but according to the said Charter of liberties, your Protestations, Oaths and Declarations, the laws and Statutes of this Kingdom, he may freely be enlarged out of prison, and restored to his just liberty, with just reparations for his damages, for the great wrongs done unto him, by his reproachful imprisonment in the infamous prison of Newgate, and the vindication and freeing of the whole Kingdom (according to their long and just expectation) from the like usurpation, and encroachments of their just rights and priuledges, and your Petitioner shall ever be ready to spend his life for you, and his Country's just liberties, and in obedience to all just authority, to answer any Charge, when the same shall be in a legal way brought against him.  
And your Petitioner (as in duty bound) shall ever pray to God, to enable you to go on, to finish, and perfect the great things expected from you, according to the trust reposed in you.  
Newgate, june 16. 1646. JOHN LILBURNE.   

A Postscript, containing a general Proposition.  
GOD, the absolute Sovereign Lord and King, of all things in heaven and earth, the original fountain, and cause of all causes, who is circumscribed, governed, and limited by no rules, but doth all things merely and only by his sovereign will, and unlimited good pleasure, who made the world, and all things therein, for his own glory, and who by his own will and pleasure, gave man (his mere creature) the sovereignty (undor himself) over all the rest of his Creatures, Gen. 1.26.28.29. and endued him with a rational soul, or understanding, and thereby created him after his own image, Gen. 1.26.27. and 9.6. the first of which was Adam, a male, or man, made out of the dust or clay, out of whose side was taken a Rib, which by the sovereign and absolute mighty creating power of God, was made a female, or Woman called Eve, which two are the earthly, original fountain, as begetters and bringers forth of all and every particular and individual man and woman, that ever breathed in the world since, who are, and were by nature all equal and alike in power, digniy, authority, and majesty, none of them having (by nature) any authority dominion or majesterial power, one over or above another, neither have they, or can they exercise any, but merely by institution, or donation, that is to sav, by mutual agreement or consent, given, derived, or assumed, by mutual consent and agreement, for the good benefit and comfort each of other, and not for the mischief, hurt, or damage of any, it being unnatural, irrational, sinful, wicked and unjust, for any man, or men whatsoever, to part with so much of their power, as shall enable any of their Parliament men, Commissioners, trusties, deputies, Viceroys, Ministers, Officers or servants, to destroy and undo them therewith: And unnatural, irrational, sinful, wicked, unjust, devilish, and tyrannical it is, for any man whatsoever, spiritual or temporal, Cleargy-man or Layman, to appropriate and assume unto himself, a power, authority and jurisdiction, to rule, govern, or reign over any sort of men in the world, without their free consent, and whosoever doth it, whether Cleargy-man, of any other whatsoever, do thereby as much as in them lies, endeavour to appropriate & assume unto themselves the Office and sovereignty of God, (who alone doth, and is to rule by his will and pleasure) and to be like their Creator, which was the sin of the Devils, who not being content with their first station, but would be like God, for which sin they were thrown down into hell, reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgement of the great day. jude ver. 6. And Adam's sin it was, which brought the curse upon him and all his posterity, that he was not content with the station and condition that God created him in, but did aspire unto a better, and more excellent, (namely to be like his Creator) which proved his ruin, yea, and indeed had been the everlasting ruin and destruction of him and all his, had not God been the more merciful unto him in the promised Messiah. Gen. Chap. 3.  
From my Cock-lost in the Press yard Newgate. per me john Lilburne. june 19 1646.   

Courteous Countrymen to fill up this vacant place I shall desire thee to read the words of the Declaration of the House of Commons, published 27. Ianu. 1641. which you shall find in the 41. pag. of the book of Declarations thus.  
And this House doth further declare, That all such persons as have given any Council, or endeavoured to set or maintain division or disl●l●e, between the King and Parliament, or have listed their names, or otherwise entered into any combination or agreement, to be aiding, or assisting, to any such counsel or endeavour, or have persuaded any other so to do, or that shall do any the things above mentioned; And shall not forthwith discover the same to either House of Parliament: or the Speaker of either of the said Houses respectively, and disclaim it, are declared Public Enemies of the State and Peace of this Kingdom, and shall be inquired of, and proceeded against accordingly.  
Secondly the three Votes of both Houses May 20. 1642. which you shall find in the book of Declarations pa. 259.  

Resolved upon the Question 
1. That it appears, That the King (seduced by wicked Counsel) Intends to make War against the Parliament, who (in all their consultations and actions) have proposed no other end unto themselves, but the care of His Kingdoms, and the performance of all duty and loyalty to His Person.   
Resolved upon the Question. 
2. That whensoever the King makes War upon the Parliament, it is a breach of the trust reposed in Him by His people, contrary to His Oath, and tending to the dissolution of this Government.   
Resolved upon the Question. 
3. That Whosoever shall serve, or assist Him in such Wars, are Traitors, by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom, and have been so adjudged by two Acts of Parliament, and aught to suffer as Traitors. 11. Rich. 2.1. Hen. 4.    
Joh Browne Cler. Parliament.   

3. The Declaration of both Houses in pa. 576. in these words, Whereas the King etc.  
4. The words in their Declaration for the vindication of Ferdinando Lord Fairfax. as you shall find pa. 914. in these words. The said Lords etc.  
FINIS.