ENGLAND's Present Interest DISCOVERED With HONOUR to the PRINCE, AND SAFETY to the PEOPLE. In Answer to this One Question; What is most Fit, Easie and Safe at this Juncture of Affairs to be done, for Composing, at least Quieting of Differences; Allaying the Heat of Contrary Interests, & making them Subservient to the Interest of the Government, and Consistent with the Prosperity of the Kingdom? Presented and Submitted to the Consideration of SUPERIORS.  And Abraham said to Lot, Let there be no Strife between me and thee; for we are Brethren, Gen. 13. 8. As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise, Luke 6. 31. 
Lex est Ratio sine appetitu.  
Printed in the Year 1675.   

THE CONTENTS.  

The Introduction to the Question, pag. 1.  
The Question stated, pag. 5.  
The Answer to the Question, pag. 5.  
I. Of English Rights, in the British, Saxon and Norman Times, pag. 6, 7.  
Particularly of Liberty and Property, p. 7, 8, 9, 10.  
Of Legislation, pag. 11, 12, 13.  
Of Juries, pag. 14, 15, 16.  
That they are Fundamental to the Government, and but repeated and confirmed by the Great Charter, pag. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.  
The Reverence paid them by Kings and Parliaments, and their Care to preserve them, pag. 25.  
The Curse and Punishment that attended the Violators, pag. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30.  
More General Considerations of Property, etc. The Uncertainty and Ruin of Interests that follow, especially where it is not maintained; Precedents: That it is the Prince's Interest to preserve it Inviolably from the fingering of the Church; that it is not Justly Forfeitable for Nonconformity to her; and that where she has the keeping of Property, the Government is changed from Civil to Ecclesiastical, King to Bishop, Parliament-House to the Vestary; for so the Clergy have the Keys as well of Civil as Church-Society, pag. 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37.  
II. Of a Balance, respecting Religious Differences, pag. 38, 39, 40.  
Eight Prudential Reasons why the Civil Magistrate should embrace it, pag. 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46.  
Three Objections Answered, p. 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 51.  
A Comprehension considered, but a Toleration preferred, upon Reasons and Examples, pag. 51, 52. 53, 54.  
III. Of General & Practical Religion, pag. 55. That the Promotion of it only is the Way to take in, and stop the Mouth of all Persuasions, being the Centre to which all Parties verbally tend, and therefore the fittest Station for a prudent Magistrate to meet every Interest: the Neglect of it pernicious; Instances: That it is the Unum Necessarium to Felicity here & hereafter, p. 56, 57, 58, 59  
An Exhortation to Superiors, pag. 60.  
A Corollary, pag. 61, 62.    

THE INTRODUCTION.  
THere is no LAW under Heaven, which hath its Rise from Nature or Grace, that forbids Men to Deal Honestly and Plainly with the greatest Personages in Matters of highest Importance to their Present and Future Good; On the Contrary, the Dictates of both enjoin every Man that Office to his Neighbour, and from Charity among private Persons, it becomes a Duty indispensible to the Public: Nor do Worthy Minds think ever the less kindly of Honest and Humble Monitors; and God, he knows, that ofttimes Princes are Deceived, and Kingdoms Languish for Want of them. How far the Posture of our Affairs will justify this Address, I shall submit to your Judgement, and the Observation of every intelligent Reader.  
Certain it is, that there are few Kingdoms in the World more Divided within themselves, and whose Religious Interests lie more seemingly cross to all Accommodation, then that we live in, which renders the Magistrate's Task hard, and giveth him a Difficulty, some think insurmountable.  
Your Endeavours for a Uniformity have been many; Your Acts not a few to Enforce it; but the Consequence, whether you intended it or no, through the Barbarous Practices of those that have had their Execution, hath been the Spoiling of several Thousands of the Free Inhabitants of this Kingdom of their Unforfeited Rights. Persons have been flung into Goals, Gates and Trunks broke open, Goods distrained, till a Stool hath not been left to sit down on; Flocks of cattle driven, whole Barns full of Corn seized, Parents left without their Children, Children without their Parents, both without Subsistence: But that which aggravates the Cruelty, is, the Widow's Mite hath not escaped their Hands; they have made her Cow the Forieit of her Consoience, not leaving her a Bed to lie on, nor a Blanket to cover her: and which is yet more Barbarous, and helps to make up this Tragedy, the poor Helpless Orphan's Milk boiling over the Fire, was flung away, and the Skillet made part of their Prize; that, had not Nature in Neighbours been stronger than Cruelty in such Informers and Officers, to open her Bowels for their Relief and Subsistence, they must have utterly perished. Nor can these in human Instruments plead Conscience or Duty to those Laws that have been made against Dissenters, since their Actions have abundantly transcended the severest Clause in them; for to see the Imprisoned has been Suspicion enough for a Goal; and to visit the Sick, to make a Conventicle: Fining and Straining for Preaching and being at a Meeting, where there hath been neither; and Forty Pound for Twenty, at pick and choose too, is a Moderate Advance with some of them. Others thinking this a Way too Dull and Troublesome, alter the Question, and turn, Have you met? which the Act intends, to, Will you Swear? which it intendeth not: so that in some Places it hath been sufficient to a Primunire, that men have had Estates to lose; I mean, such men, who through Tenderness refuse the Oath, but by Principle love the Allegiance not less than their Adversaries.  
Finding then by Sad Experience, and a long Tract of Time, That the very Remedies applied to cure Dissension increase it; and that the more Vigorously an Uniformity is coercively prosecuted, the Wider Breaches grow, the more Inflamed Persons are, and fixed in their Resolutions to stand by their Principles; which, besides all other Inconveniencies to those that give them Trouble, their very Sufferings beget that Compassion in the Multitude, which rarely miss of many Friends, and makes a Preparation for not a few Proselytes; so much more Reverend is Suffering, then making men to suffer for Religion, even of those that cannot suffer for their Religion, if yet they have any Religion to suffer for. Histories are full of Examples; The Persecution of the Christian. Religion made it more Illustrious than its Doctrine. Perhaps it will be denied to English Dissenters, that they rely upon so good a Cause, and therefore a Vanity in them to expect that Success. Arrianism itself, reputed the foulest Heresy by the Church, was by no Artifice of its Party so disseminated, as the severe Opposition of the Homousians.  
Contests naturally draw Company; and the Vulgar are justified in their Curiosity, if not Pity, when they see so many Wiser Men busy themselves to suppress a People, by whom they see no other ill then that for Nonconformity in Matters of Religion they bear Indignities patiently.  
To be short; If all the Interruptions, Informations, Fines, Imprisonments, Exiles and Blood, the great Enemy of Nature, as well as Grace, hath excited man in all Ages to about Matters of Worship from Cain and Abel's time to ours, could furnish us with sufficient Precedents, that the Design proposed by the Inflictors of so much Severity, was ever answered; that they have smothered Opinions, and not Inflamed, but Extinguished Contest, it might perhaps at least prudentially give Check to our Expectations, and allay my just Confidence in this Address; But since such Attempts have ever been found Improsperous, as well as that they are too Costly, and that they have procured the Judgements of God, the Hatred of Men; to the Sufferers, Misery; to their Countries, Decay of People and Trade; and to their own Consciences an infinite Gild; I fall to the Question, and then the Solution of it; in which, as I declare, I intent nothing that should in the least abate of that Love, Honour and Service that are due to you; so I beseech you, do me that Justice as to make the fairest Interpretation of my Expressions; for the whole of my Plain and Honest Design is, to offer my Mite for the Increase of your True Honour and my dear Country's Felicity.   

The QUESTION. WHat is most Fit, Easie and Safe at this Juncture of Affairs to be done, for Composing, at least Quieting Differences; for Allaying the Heat of Contrary Interests, and making them Subservient to the Interest of the Government, and Consistent with the Prosperity of the Kingdom?  

The ANSWER.  

I. An Inviolable and Impartial Maintenance of English Rights.  
II. Our Superiors governing themselves upon a Balance, as near as may be, towards the several Religious Interests.  
III. A sincere Promotion of General and Practical Religion.    
I shall briefly discourse upon these Three Things, and endeavour to prove them a sufficient, if not the only best Answer that can be given to the Question propounded.  

Of ENGLISH-RIGHT.  
THere is no Government in the World but it musteither stand upon Will and Power, or Condition and Contract: The one rules by Men; the other by Laws. And above all Kingdoms under Heaven it is England's Felicity to have her Constitution so impartially Just and Free, as there cannot well be any thing more remote from Arbitrariness, and jealous of preserving her Laws, by which all Right is maintained.  
These Laws are either Fundamental, and so immutable; or more Superficial and Temporary, and consequently alterable.  
By Superficial Laws we understand such Acts, Laws or Statutes, as are suited to present Occurrences, and Emergencies of State; and which may as well be abrogated, as they were first made for the Good of the Kingdom: For Instance; Those Statutes that relate to Victuals, clothes, Times and Places of Trade, etc. which have ever stood whilst the Reason of them was in Force; but when that Benefit, which once redounded, fell by fresh Accidents, they ended according to that old Maxim, Cessante ratione legis, cessat l●x.  
By Fundamental Laws I do not only understand such as immediately spring from Synteresis, that Eternal Principle of Truth and Sapience, more orless disseminated through Mankind, which are as the Corner Stones of Humane Structure, the Basis of reasonable Societies, without which all would run into Heaps, and Confusion: namely, Honest vivers, alterum non loedere, jus suum cuique tribuere; that is, To live Honestly, not to Hurt another, and to give every one their Right (Excellent Principles, and common to all Nations: Though that itself were sufficient to our present purpose) But those Rights and Privileges, which I call English, and which are the proper Birth right of English men, may be reduced to these Three:  
First, An Ownership, and Undisturbed Possession: That what they have, is rightly theirs, and no Body's else.  
2dly, A Voting of every Law, that is made, whereby that Ownership or Propriety may be maintained.  
3dly, An Influence upon, and a real Share in that Judicatory Power that must apply every such Law; which is the Ancient, Necessary and Landable Use of Juries, if not found among the Britain's, to be sure practised by the Saxons, and continued through the Normans to this very day.  
That these have been the Ancient and Undoubted Rights of English men, as three great Roots, under whose spacious Branches the English People have been wont to shelter themselves against the Storms of Arbitrary Government, I shall endeavour to prove.  

1. An Ownership and Undisturbed Possession.  
This relates both to Title and Security of Estate, and Liberty of Person, from the Violence of Arbitrary Power.  
'Tis true, the Foot. Steps of the British Government are very much overgrown by Time: There is scarcely any thing remarkable left us, but what we are beholden to Strangers for; either their own Unskilfulness in Letters, or their Depopulations and Conquests by Invaders, have deprived the World of a particular Story of their Laws 
Caesar. Com. Tacit. in vit. Agric. Dion. l. 6. Beda. M. West. an. 4 16. l. 1. c. 17  and Customs in Peace or War: However, Caesar, Tacitus, and especially Dion, say enough to prove their Nature and their Government to be as far from Slavish, as their Breeding and Manners were remote from the Education and greater Skill of the Romans. Beda and M. West minster say as much.  
The Law of Property they observed, and made those Laws that concerned the Preservation of it.  
The Saxons brought no Alteration to these two Fundamentals of our English Government; for they were a Free People, governed by Laws; of which they themselves were the Makers; that is, There was no Law made without the Consent of the People (de majoribus omnes) as Tacitus observeth of the Germans in general. They lost nothing by transporting of themselves hither; 
Hist. Germ.  and doubtless found a greater Consistency between their Laws, than their Ambition: For the Learned Collector of the British Councils tells us, That Ethelston, the Saxon 
Concil. Brit. p. 397.  King, pleading with the People, told them, Seeing ay, according to your Law, allow what is yours, do ye so with me. Whence Three Things are observable, 1st, That something was theirs, that no Body else could dispose of. 2dly, That they have Property by their own Law; therefore they had a Share in making their own Laws. 3dly, That the Law was Umpire between King and People; neither of them ought to infringe; the Law limited them. This Ina, the Great Saxon King, confirms; There is 
Ll. In● Lam.  no Great Man, saith he, nor any other in the whole Kingdom, that may abolish written Laws. It was also a great part of the Saxon Oath, administered to the Kings at their Entrance upon the Government, to Maintain and 
Miror. c. 1. §. 2.  Rule according to the Laws of the Nation. Their Parliament they called Micklemote, or Wittangemote; it consisted of King, Lords and People, before the Clergy interwove themselves with the Civil Government. And Andrew Horn in his Miror of Justice, tells us, That 
Miror. Just. c. 1. §. 3. §. 2. c. 4. §. 11.  the Grand Assembly of the Kingdom in the Saxon time, was to confer of the Government of God's People, how they might be kept from Sin in quiet, and have Right done them according to the Customs and Laws.  
Nor did this Law end with the Saxon Race: William the Conqueror, as he is usually called, quitting all claim by Conquest, gladly stooped to the Laws observed by the Saxon Kings, and so became a King by Leave, valuing a Title by Election before that which is founded in 
Hoven. Eadmur. Histor. l. 1. p. 13. M. Paris, in vit. Gulielm.  Power only: He therefore at his Coronation made a solemn Covenant to maintain the good, approved, and ancient Laws of the Kingdom, and to inhibit all Spoil and unjust Judgement.  
And this, Henry the first, his third Son, amongst others his Titles mentioned in his Charter, to make Ely a Bishopric, calls himself Son of William the Great, who 
Spicileg.  by Hereditary Right succeeded King Edward (called the Confessor) in this Kingdom. An ancient Chronicle of Leichfield speaks of a Council of Lords that advised 
Chro. Leichf.  William of Normandy, To call together all the Nobles and Wise Men throughout their Counties of England, that they might set down their own Laws and Customs; which was about the fourth year of his Reign: Which implies, that they had Fundamental Laws, and that he intended their Confirmation, as followeth. And one of the first Laws made by this King, which, as a notable Author saith, may be called the first Magna Charta in the Norman Times, by which he reserved to himself nothing of the Freemen of this Kingdom, but their Free Service; in the Conclusion of it, saith, that The Lands of the Inhabitants 
Ll. Gulielm. c. 55.  of this Kingdom were granted to them in Inheritance of the King, and by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom; which Law doth also provide, That they shall hold their Lands and Tenements well or quietly, and in Peace, from all unjust Tax and Tillage; which is further expounded in the Laws of Henry the first, ch. 4. That no Tribute or Tax should be taken, but what was due in Edward the Confessor's Time. So that the Norman Kings claim no other Right in the Lands and Possessions of any of their Subjects, then according to English Law and Right. And so tender were they of Property in those times, that when Justice itself became importunate in a Case, no Distress could issue without public Warrant obtained; nor that neither, but upon Three Complaints first made: Nay, when Rape and Plunder was rife, and men seemed to have no more Right to their own, than they had Power to maintain, even than was this law sufficient Sanctuary to all Oppressed, by being publicly pleaded 
Ll. Gulielm. cap. 42, 45. Gloss. 227.  at the Bar against all Usurpations, though it were under the Pretence of their Conqueror's Right itself, as 
Camb. Brit. Norf.  by the Case of Edwin of Sharnbourn appears.  
The like Obligation to maintain this Fundamental Law of Property, with the appendent Rights of the People, was taken by Rufus, Henry the 1st, Stephen, Henry the 2d, Richard the 1st, John, and Henry the 3d; which brings me to that Famous Law, called, Magna Charta, or The Great Charter of England, of which more anon; it being my Design to show, That nothing of the Essential Rights of English men was thereby the novo granted, as in Civility to King Henry the third it is termed; but that they are therein only repeated and confirmed: Wherefore I shall return to antecedent Times tofetch down the remaining Rights.  
The second part of this first Fundamental is, Liberty of Person. The Saxons were so tender in the point of Imprisonment, that there was little or no use made of it; nor would they so punish their Bondmen, vinculis coercere rarum est: In case of Debt or Damage, the Recovery thereof was either by a Delivery of the just Value in Goods, or upon the Sheriff's Sale of the Goods, in Money; and if that satisfied not, the Land was extended; 
Ll. Edw.  and when all was gone, they were accustomed to make their last Seizure upon the Party's Arms, and then he was reputed an Undone Man, and cast upon the Charity of his Friends for Subsistence, but his Person never imprisoned for the Debt, no, not in the King's Case: And to the Honour of King Alfred be it spoken, He imprisoned 
Ll. Alfr. c. 1. & 31.  one of his Judges for Imprisoning a Man in that Case. And we find among his Laws this Passage, Qui immerentem Paganum vin●ul●s 〈◊〉 stri●xer●t, dec●m solidis noxam sarcito: That if a Man should imprison a Pagan, or Heathen unjustly, his Purgation of that Offence should be no less than the Payment of Ten Shillings; a Sum very considerable in those days. Nor did the Revolution from Saxon to Norman drop this Privilege; for besides the general Confirmation of former Rights by William, surnamed the Conqueror, his Son Henry the 
Ll. Gulielm, c. 42, 45, 55 Ll. Henr. 1. cap. 5.  first, particularly took such Care of continuing this part of Property inviolable, that in his Time no Person was to be imprisoned for committing of Mortal Crime itself, unless he were first attainted by the Verdict of Twelve Men.  
Thus much forth first of my Three Fundamentals, Right of Estate, and Liberty of Person; that is to say, I am no man's Bondman, and what I possess is inviolably mine own.   

2. A Voting of every Law that is made, whereby that Ownership or Propriety may be maintained.  
That the second Fundamental of our English Government was no Encroachment upon the Kings of more modern Ages, but extant long before the great Charter made in the Reign of Hen. 3. even as early as the Britain's themselves; and that it continued to the time of Hen. 3. I shall prove by several Instances.  
Caesar in his Commentaries tells us, That it was the 
Caes. Comm. l 5, 6. Dion. in vit. Sever.  Custom of the British Cities to Elect their General; and if in War, why not in Peace? Dion assures us in the Life of Severus the Emperor, That in Britain the People held a Share in Power and Government; which is the modestest Construction his words will bear. And 
Tacit. in vit. Agric. c. 12.  Tacitus saith, They had a Common Council; and that one great Reason of their Overthrow by the Romans was, their not Consulting with, and Relying upon their Common Council. Again, Both ad and Mat Westminster tell us, That the Britain's summoned a Synod, chose their Moderator, and expelled the Pelagian Creed: All which supposes popular assemblies, with Power to order National Affairs. And indeed, the learned Author of the British Councils gives some Hints to this Purpose, That they had a Common Council, and called it, KYFR-Y-THEN.  
The Saxons were not inferior to the Britain's in this Point, and Story furnisheth us with more and plainer Proofs. They brought this Liberty along with them, and it was not likely they should lose it, by transporting themselves into a Country where they also found it. Tacitus reports it to have been generally the German. Liberty, like unto the Concie of the Athenians and 
Tacit. Hist. Germ. Plat. in vit. Sol. & Lyr.  Lacedæmonians. They call their Freemen Frilingi, and these had Votes in the Making and Executing the general Laws of the Kingdom. In Ethelberts time, after Austin's Insinuations had made his Followers a Part of the Government, the Commune Concilium was tam Cleri quam Populi. In Ina's time, Suasu & instituto Episcoporum, 
Concil. Brit. 162. Ll. Sax Lam. Cant ab. f. 1. Ibid. f. 22.  omnium Senatorum & natu majorum sapientum populi. Alfred after him reformed the former Laws consulto sapientum. Likewise Matters of public and general Charge, in case of War, etc. we have granted in the Assembly, Regi, Baronibus & Populo. And though the Saxon Word properly imports the Meeting of Wise Men, 
Ll. Ed. Lam. Cant. f. 139.  yet all that would come might be present, and interpose their Like or Dislike of the present Proposition, as that of Ina, in magna servorum Dei frequentia. Again, Commune Concilium seniorum & populorum totius regni, the Common Council of the Elders and People of the whole Kingdom. The Council of Winton, Ann. 855. is said to be in the Presence of the Great Men, aliorumque fidelium 
Ll. Sax. Lam p. 1. Council. Brit. 19 Ingulph.  infinita multitudine; & an infinite multitude of other faithful People, which was nigh Four Hundred Years before the Great Charter was made.  
My last Instance of the Saxon Ages shall be out of the Glossery of the learned English Knight, H. Spelman: 
Spelm. Gloss. Tit. Gemote, f. 261.  The Saxon Wittangemote or Parliament (saith he) is a Convention of the Princes, as well Bishops as Magistrates, and the free People of the Kingdom; and that the said Wittangemote consulted of the common Safety in Peace and War, and for the Promotion of the common Good. William of Normandy chose rather to rely upon the People's Consent, than his own Power to obtain the Kingdom. He swore to them to maintain their old Laws and Privileges; they to him Obedience for his so governing of them: for, as a certain Author hath it, He bond himself to be Just, that he might be Great; 
Ll. Gulielm. c. 55.  and the People to submit to Justice, that they might be Free In his Laws, c. 55. We, by the Common Council of the whole Kingdom, have granted the People's Lands to them in Inheritance, according to their ANCIENT Laws. Matters of general Charge upon the whole Body of the People, were settled by this grand Council, by the Commune Concilium, especially in the Charge of Arms imposed upon the Subject. 
Ll. Guliel. c. 58. Spicileg. W. Malmbs, Hist. p. 101. Cart. mother. foeder. magn. sigil. ann. 1. Joh. ex vet. Reg in Arch. Cantuar. Archiepiscop. Rot. Cart. ann. 5. Joh. Memb. 5 n. 29. Rot. Par. 24. Edw. I. n. 22.  The Law saith it to have been done by the common Council of the Kingdom. So W. Rufus and Henry the First, were received by the common Consent of the People. And Stephen's Words were, Ego Stephanus, Dei gratia, Assensu Cleri & Populi in Regno Angliae electus, etc. I Stephen, by the Grace of God, and Consent of the Clergy and People, chosen King of England, etc. So King John was chosen tam Cleri quam Populi unanimo consensu & favore, by the Favour and unanimous Consent of the Clergy and People: And his Queen is said to have been crowned de communi consensu & concordi voluntate Archiepiscoporum, Comitum, Baronum, Cleri & Populi totius Regni, i. e. by the common Assent and unanimous goodwill of the Arch-Bishops, Bishops, Counts, Barons, Clergy and People of the whole Kingdom. King Ed. 1 also desired Money of the common Concilium or Parliament, as they have given in my time, and that of my Progenitors, Kings.  
All which shows, that it was Antecedent to the Great Charter, not the Rights therein repeated and confirmed, but the Act itself.  
And King John's Resignation of the Crown to the Pope, being questioned upon some Occasion in Edward the 3d's 
Rot. Par. 40. Ed. 3. n. 78;  Time, it was agreed upon, that he had no Power to do it without the Consent of the Dukes, Prelates, Barons and Commons.  
And as paradoxal as any may please to think it, 'tis the great Interest of a Prince, that the People should have a share in the making of their own Laws; where 'tis otherwise, they are no Kings of Freemen, but Slaves, and those their Enemies for making them so. Leges nulla alia causa nos tenent, quam quod judicio populi recepta sunt; The Laws (saith Ulpian) do therefore oblige the People, because they are allowed of by their Judgement. And Gratian, in Dec. distinct. 4. Tum demum humanae leges habent vim suam, cum fuerint non modo institutae, sed etiam firmatae Approbatione Communitatis: It is then (saith he) that human Laws have their due Force, when they shall not only be devised, but confirmed by the Approbation of the People. 1. It makes Men diligent, and increaseth Trade, which advances the Revenue; for where Men are not free, they will never seek to improve, because they are not sure of what they have. 2. It frees the Prince from the Jealousy and Hate of his People; and consequently, the Troubles and Danger that follow; and makes his Province easy and safe. 3. If any Inconveniency attends the Execution of any Law, the Prince is not to be blamed; 'tis their own Fault that made, at least consented to it.  
I shall now proceed to the third Fundamental, and by plain Evidence prove it to have been a material part of the Government before the Great Charter was enacted.   

3. The People have an Influence upon, and a great Share in that Judicatory Power. etc.  
That it was a British Custom, I will not affirm, but have some Reason to suppose; for if the Saxons had brought it with them, they would also have lest it behind them, and in all likelihood there would have been some Footsteps in Saxony of such a Law or Custom which we find not. I will not enter the Lists with any about it; This shall suffice, that we find it early among the Saxons in this Country; and if they, a free People in their own Country, settling themselves here as a new planted Colony, did supply what was defective in their own Government, or add some new Freedom to themselves, as all Planters are wont to do; which are as those first and Corner Stones, their Posterity with all Care and Skill are to build upon, that will serve my turn, to prove it a Fundamental; that is, such a first Principle in our English Government, by the Agreement of the People diffusively, that it ought not to be violated: I would not be understood of the Number, but of the Way of Trial; that is to say, that Men were not to be condemned but by the Votes of the Freemen. N. Bacon thinks that in ruder times the multitude tried all among themselves; and fancies it came from Grecians, that determined Controversies by the Suffrage of 34 or the major part of them. Be it as it will, Juries the Saxons had; for in the Laws of King Aetheldred, about 300 Years before the Entrance of the Norman Duke, we 
Ll. Sax. Lam ann. 675.  find enacted, in singulis Centuriis, etc. thus Englisht, In every Hundred let there be a Court, and let twelve Ancient Freemen, together with the Lord of the Hundred be sworn, that they will not condemn the Innocent, or acquit the Guilty: And so strict were they of those Ages in observing this fundamental Way of Judicature, that Alfred put one of his Judges to Death for passing Sentence upon a Verdict corruptly obtained, upon the Votes of the Jurors, three of twelve being in the Negative: If the Number was so sacred, what was the Constitution itself? The very same King executed another of his Judges for passing Sentence of Death upon an Ignoramus returned by the Jury; and a third for condemning a Man upon an Inquest taken ex officio, when as the Delinquent had not put himself upon their Trial. More of his Justice might be mentioned even in this very Case.  
There was also a Law made in the time of Aetheldred, 
Ll. Etheld c. 3. Lamb.  when the Britain's and Saxons began to grow tame to each other, and intercommon amicably, that saith, Let there be Twelve men of Understanding, etc. six English and six Welsh, and let them deal Justice, both to English and Welsh.  
Also in those simpler times, If a Crime extended but to 
Ll. Inae. Ll. Canut.  some shameful Pennace, as Pillory or Whipping (the last whereof as usual as it may be with us, was inflicted only upon their Bondmen) then might the Penance be reduced to a Ransom, according to the Nature of the Fault; but it must be so assessest in the Presence of the Judge, and by the Twelve, that is the Jury of Friling●, or Freemen.  
Hitherto Stories tell us of Trials by Juries, and those to have consisted in general Terms of Freemen, but PER PARES came after, occasioned by the considerable Saxons, neglecting that Service, and leaving it to the inferior People (who lost the Bench, their ancient Right, because they were not thought Company for a Judge or Sheriff) And from the growing Pride of the Danes, who slighted such a Rural Judicature, and despised the Fellowship of the mean Saxon Freemen in public Service; for the wise Saxon King perceiving the Dangerous Consequence of submitting the Lives and Liberties of the Inferior (but not less useful People) to the Dictates of any such superb Humour; and on the other hand, of subjecting the Nobler Sort to the Suffrage of the Inferior Rank, with the Advice of his Wittagenmote provides a third Way, most Equal and Grateful, and by Agreement with Gunthurne the Dane, settled the Law of Peers, or Equals; which is the Envy of Nations, but the famous Privilege of our English People, one of those three Pillars the Fabric of this ancient and Free Government stands upon.  
This Benefit gets Strength by Time, and is received by the Norman-Duke and his Successors; and not only confirmed in the lump of other Privileges, but in one notable Case for all, that might be brought to prove, that the fundamental Privileges mentioned in the Great Charter, 9 Hen. 3. were before it. The Story is more at large delivered by our Learned Selden; But thus; The Norman Duke having 
Spicil. 197.  given his half Brother Odo, a large Territory in Kent, with the Earldom; and he taking Advantage at the King's being 
S●igand.  displeased with the Archbishop of Canterbury, to possess himself of some of the Lands of that See: Landfrank that succeeded the Archbishop, informed hereof, petitioned the King for Justice secundum legem terrae, according to the Law of the Land; upon which the King summoned a County-Court, the Debate lasted three Days before the Freemen of Kent in the Presence of Lords and Bishops, and others skilful in the Law, and the Judgement passed for the Archbishop UPON THE VOTES OF THE FREEMEN.  
By all which it is (I hope) sufficiently and inoffensively manifested, that these three Principles:  
1. English men have individually the alone Right of Possession and Disposition of what they have.  
2. That they are Parties to the Laws of their Country, for the Maintenance of that great and just Law.  
3. That they have an Influence upon, and a real Share in the Judicatory Power, that shall apply those Laws made, have been the ancient Rights of the Kingdom, and common Basis of the Government; that which Kings under the several Revolutions have sworn to maintain, and History affords us so many Precedents to confirm; So that the Great Charter made in the 9th of Henry the 3d, was not the Nativity, but Restoration of ancient Privileges from Captivity; No Grant of New Rights, but a New Grant, or Confirmation rather of Ancient Laws & Liberties, violated by King John, and gained by his Successor, at the Expense of a long and bloody War, which showed them as resolute to keep, as their Ancestors had been careful to enact those excellent Laws.  
And so I am come to the Great Charter, which is comprehensive and repetitious of what I have already been discoursing, and which I shall briefly touch upon with those successive Statutes that have been made in Honour and Preservation of it.  
I shall rehearse so much of it as falls within the Consideration of the foregoing Matter, which is a great deal in a little; with something of the Formality of Grant and Curse, that this Age may see, with what Reverence and Circumspection our Ancestors governed themselves in Confirming and Preserving it.  

Henry, by the Grace of God King of England, etc. 
9th. Hen. 3.  To all Arch-Bishops, Earls, Barons, Sheriffs, Provoses, Officers, unto all Bailiffs, and our faithful Subjects, who shall see this present Charter, Greeting.  
Know ye, that we, unto the Honour of Almighty God, and for the Salvation of the Souls of our Progenitors, and our Successors, Kings of England, to the Advancement of Holy Church, and Amendment of our Realm, of our mere and free Will have given and granted to all Arch-Bishops, etc. and to all Freemen of this our Realm, these Liberties underwritten, to be holden and kept in this our Realm of England for evermore.   
Though in Honour to the King, it is said to be out of his mere and free Will, yet the Qualification of the Persons, he is said to grant the ensuing Liberties to, show, that they are Terms of Formality, viz. To all Freemen of this Realm; for they must be free, because of these Laws and Liberties, since 'twas impossible they could be any Thing but Slaves without them; Consequently, this was not an Infranchising, but confirming to Freemen their just Privileges. The Words of the Charter are these:  

Ch. 14.  A Freeman shall not be amerced for a small Fault, but after the Quantity of the Fault; and for a great Fault, after the Manner thereof, saving to him his Contenements or Freehold: And a Merchant likewise shall be amerced, saving to him his Merchandise; and none of the said Amercements shall be assessed, but by the Oath of good and honest Men of the Vicinage.  

Ch. 29.  No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, nor be disseized of his free hold or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or any other ways destroyed; nor we shall not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by Lawful Judgement of his Peers, or by the Law of the Land; we shall sell to no Man, we shall deny, or defer to no Man either Justice or Right.  
I stand amazed, how any Man can have the Confidence to say, These Privileges were extorted by the Baron's Wars, when the King declares, that what he did herein, was freely or that they were New Privileges, when the very Tenor of the Words prove the contrary; for Freehold, Liberties, or Free Customs are by the Charter itself supposed to be in the Possession of the Freemen at the making and publishing thereof. No Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned; then he is free; this Liberty is his Right. Again, No Freeman shall be disseized of his Freehold, Liberties, or free Customs; then certainly he was in Possession of them. And that great Father in the Laws of England, Chief Justice Cook in his Proaem to the 2d Part of his Institutes, tells us, 
Cook, Proaem. Instit. part. 2.  that th●se Laws and Liberties were gathered and observed amongst others in an entire Volumn by King Edward the Confessor, confirmed by William, surnamed the Conqueror; which were afterwards ratified by Henry the first; enlarged by Henry the second, in his Constitutions at Clarendon, and after much Contest and Blood split between King John and the Barons concerning them, were solemnly established at running-Mead near Stanes; and lastly, brought to their former Station, and published by this King Henry the third, in the 9th Year of his Reign; And though Evil Counsellors would have provoked him to void his Father's Act and his own, as if the first had been the Effect of Force, the other of Nonage; yet it so pleased Almighty God, who hath ever been propitious to this Ungrateful Island, that in the 20th Year of his Reign, he did confirm and complete this Charter, for a perpetual Establishment of Liberty to all freeborn English Men and their Heirs forever, ordaining, Quod contravenientes per Dominum Regem cum convicti fuerint, graviter puniantur. i e. but whosoever should act any Thing contrary to these Laws, upon Conviction should be grievously punished by our Lord the King. And in the 22 Year of his Reign, it was confirmed by the Statute of Marleb. c. 5. and so venerable an Esteem have our Ancestors had for this great Charter and indispensibly necessary have 
52. Hen. 3. Stat. Marleb.  they thought it to their own and Posterities Felicity, that it hath been above 30 Times ratified, and commanded under great Penalties, to be put in Execution.  
Here are the 3 Fundamentals comprehended & expressed, to have been the Rights and Privileges of English Men.  
1. Ownershp, consisting of Liberty and Property, in that it supposes English Men to be Free, there's Liberty; next, that they have Freeholds; there's Property.  
2. That they have the Voting of their own Law; for that was an ancient free Custom, as I have already proved; and all such Costoms are expressly confirmed by this great Charter; Besides, the People helped to make it.  
3. An Influence upon, and a real Share in the Judicatory Power, in the Execution and Application of Law.  
This is a substantial Part, thrice provided for in those sixteen Lines of the great Charter by us rehearsed: 1. That no Amercement shall be assessed, but by the Oath of good and honest Men of the Vicinage. 2. Nor we shall not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by Lawful Judgement of his Peers. 3. Or by the Law of the Land, which is Synonymous, or a Saying of equal Signification with Lawful Judgement of Peers; for Law of the Land, and Lawful Judgement of Peers, are the Proprium quarto modo, or essential Qualities of these Chapters of our great Charter, being communicable, Omni soli & semper, to all and every Clause thereof alike. Chief Justice Cook well observes, that per legem 
Cook on c. 4. of 52. E. 3. Inst. 2. p. 50.  terrae, or by the Law of the Land, imports no more than a Trial by Process, and Writ original at common Law, which cannot be without the Lawful Judgement of Equals, or a common Jury; therefore per legale Judicium parium, by the Lawful Judgement of Peers, and per legem terrae, by the Law of the Land, plainly signify the same Privilege to the People: So that it is the Judgement of the Freemen of England, which gives the Cast, and turns the Scale of English Justice.  
These Things being so evidently proved by long Use and several Laws, to have been the first Principles or Fundamentals to the English free Government; I take leave to propose this Question; May the free People of England be justly disseized of all or any of these fundamental Principles, without their Individual Consent?  
Answ. With Submission to better Skill, I conceive, Not; for which I shall produce first my Reasons; then Authorities.  
1. Through the British, Saxon and Norman Times, the People of this Island have been reputed and called Freemen by Kings, Parliaments, Records and Histories; and as a Son supposes a Father, so Freemen suppose Freedom. This Qualification imports a supreme Right, such a Right as beyond which there is none on Earth to disfree them, or deprive them of it; therefore an unalterable fundamental Part of the Government.  
2. It can never be thought, that they entrusted any Legislators with this Capital Privilege further than to use their best Skill to secure and maintain it, that is, so far as they were a Part of the English Government; they never delegated or impower'd any Men, that the jure they could deprive them of that Qualification? and a Facto ad Jus non valet Argumentum, for the Question is not, What May be done? but what Ought to be done? Overseers and Stewards are impower'd, not to alienate, but preserve and improve other men's Inheritances. No Owners deliver their Ship and Goods into any Man's Hands to give away, or run upon a Rock; neither do they consign their Affairs to Agents or Factors without Limitation. All Trusts suppose such a Fundamental Right in them for whom the Trusts are, as is altogether indissolvable by the trusties: The Trust is the Liberty and Property of the People; the Limitation is, that it should not be invaded, but inviolably preserved according to the Law of the Land.  
3. If Salus Populi be suprema lex; the Safety of the People the highest Law, as say several of our ancient famous Lawyers and Law-Books; then since the aforesaid Rights are as the Sinews of this free Body politic, or that sovereign Cordial without which this free People must needs consume and pine away into utter Bondage; it follows, they are the highest Law, and therefore aught to be a Rule and Limit to all subsequent Legislation.  
4. The Estate goes before the Steward, the Foundation before the House, People before their Representatives, and the Creator before the Creature. The Steward lives by preserving the Estate; the House stands by Reason of its Foundation; the Representative depends upon the People, and the Creature subsists by the Power of its Creator. Every Representative in the World, is as the Creature of the People; for the People make them, and to them they owe their Being: Here is no Transessentiating or Transubstantiating of Being from People to Representative, no more than there is an absolute transferring of a Title in a Letter of Atorney; The very Term Representative is enough to the contrary: Wherefore as the House cannot stand without its Foundation, nor the Creature subsist without its Creator; so can there be No Representative without a People, nor that People free, which all along is intended (as inherent to, and inseparable from the English People) without Freedom; nor can there be any Freedom without something be Fundamental. In short, I would fain know of any Man, how the Branches can cut up the Root of the Tree that bears them? How any Representative that is not only a mere Trust to preserve Fundamentals, the People's Inheritance; but, that is a Representative, that makes Laws, by Virtue of this Fundamental Law, that the People hath a Power in Legislation (the 2d Principle proved by me) can have Power to remove or destroy that Fundamental? The Fundamental makes the People free, this free People make a Representative; Can this Creature unqualify its Creator? What Spring ever rose higher than its Head? The Representative is at best but a true Copy, an Exemplification; the free People are the Original, not cancellable by a Transcript: And if that Fundamental that gives to the People a Power of Legislation, be not annullable by that Representative, because it makes it what it is; much less can that Representative disseise Men of their Liberty and Property, the first Great Fundamental, that is the Parent of this other, which entitles to a Share in making Laws for the Preservation of the first inviolably. Nor is the third other then the necessary Production of the two first, to intercept Arbitrary Designs, and make Power legal; for where the People have not a Share in Judgement, that is, in the Application, as well as making of the Law; the other two are imperfect, open to daily Invasion, should it be our Infelicity to have a violent Prince: for as Property is every day exposed, where those that have it are destitute of Power to hedge it about by Law-making; so those that have both, if they have not the Application of the Law, but the Creatures of another Part of the Government, how easily is that Hedge broken down? And indeed, as it is a most just and necessary, as well as ancient and honourable Custom, so it is the Prince's Interest; for still the People are concerned in the Inconveniencies with him, and he is freed from the Temptation of doing arbitrary Things, and their Importunities, that might else have some Pretence for such Addresses, as well as from the Mischiefs that might 
5. Ed. 3. c. ●. 25. Ed. 3. c. 4. 17. R. c. 6. Rot. Parl. 42. Ed. 3. c. 3. Cook, 2. Inst. 43. Stamf. pl. cor. p. 150.  ensue such Actions. It might be enough to say, that here are above 50 Statutes now in Print, beside its venerable Antiquity, that warrant and confirm this Legale judicium parium suorum, or the Trial of English Men by their Equals.  
But I shall hint at a few Instances: The first is, The Earl of Lancaster in the 14th of Edw. 2. adjudged to die without Lawful Trial of his Peers, and afterwards Henry Earl of Lancaster his Brother, was restored: the Reasons given were two; 1. Because the said Thomas was not arraigned and put to Answer; 2. That he was put to Death without Answer, or Lawful Judgement of his Peers. The like Proceedings were in the Case of John of Gaunt, p. 39 coram Rege. And in the Earl of Arundel's Case, Rot. Parl. 4 Edw. 3. n. 13. And in Sr. John Alce's Case, 4 Edw. 3. n. 2. Such was the Destruction committed on the ●d. Hastings in the Tower of London by Richard the 3d. But above all, that Attainder of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, who was attainted of high Treason, as appears Rot. Parl, 32. Hen. 8. of which saith Chief Justice Cook, as I remember, Let Oblivion take away the Memory of so foul a Fact, if it can; if not, however, let Silence cover it. 'Tis true, there was a Statute obtained in the 11th of Henry the 7th, in Defiance of the Great Charter, which authorised several Exactions contrary to the free Customs of this Realm; particularly in the Case of Juries, both sessing and punishing by Justices of Assize and of the Peace, without the fining and Presentment of 12 Freemen; Empson and Dudley were the great Actors of those Oppressions, but they were hanged for their Pains, and that illegal Statute repealed in the 1st of Henry the 8th c. 6. The Consequence is plain; That Fundamentals give Rule to Acts of Parliament, else why was the Statute of the 8th Edw. 4. c. 2. of Liveries and Information by the Discretion of the Judges to stand as an Original; and this of the 11th of Henry the 7th repealed as illegal? for, therefore any Thing is unlawful, because it transgresseth a Law: But what Law can an Act of Parliament transgress, but that which is Fundamental? Therefore Trial by Juries or Lawful Judgement of Equals, is by Acts of Parliament confessed to be a Fundamental Part of our Government: And because Chief Justice Cook is generally esteemed a great Oracle of Law, I shall in its proper Place present you with his Judgement upon the whole Matter.  
5. These Fundamentals are unalterable by a Representative, which were the Result and Agreement of English Freemen individually, the ancienter Times not being acquainted with Representatives; for then the Freemen met in their own Persons: In all the Saxons Story we find no Mention of any such Thing; for it was the King, Lords and Freemen, the Elders and People; and at the Counsel of Winton, in 855. is reported to have been present the Great Men of the Kingdom, and an INFINITE MULTITUDE 
●●. Sax. Lam. Concil. Brit. 219. Ingulph.  of other faithful People. Also that of King Ina, the common Council of the Elders & PEOPLE of the WHOLE Kingdom. It is not to be doubted but this continued after the Norman Times; and that at Running Mead by Sta●●s the Freemen of England were personally present at the Confirmation of that great Charter, in the Reign of King John. But as the Ages grew more human, with respect to Villains and Retainers, and the Number of Freemen increased, there was a Necessity for a Representative, especially, since Fundamentals were long ago agreed upon, and those Capital Privileges put out of the Reach and Power of any little Number of Men to endanger: And so careful were their Representatives in the time of Edward the Third, of 
Rot. Parl. 13. Ed 3. n. 8. Cook, 4. Inst. fol. 14. n. 34.  suffering their Liberties and free Customs to be infringed, that in Matters of extraordinary Weight they would not determine, till they had first returned and conferred with their several Counties or Burroughs that delegated them.   

Several Authorities in Confirmation of the Reasons.  
So indubitably are these Fundamentals the People's Right, and so necessary to be preserved, that Kings have successively known no other safe or legal Passage to their Crown & Dignity, than their solemn Obligation inviolably to maintain 
Praeambls. 9  them. So sacred were they reputed in the Days of Henry the 3d, that not to continue or confirm them, were 
Henr. 3.  to affront God, and damn the Souls of his Progenitors and Successors; to Depress the Church, and Deprave the 
25. Ed. 1. c. 1.  Realm: That the Great Charter comprehensive of them should be allowed as the common Law of the Land, by all 
42. Ed. 3. c. 1. Rot. Parl. 15. Edw. 3. n. 10, 37.  Officers of Justice; that is the lawful Inheritance of all Commoners: That all Statute-Laws or Judgements whatsoever, made in Opposition thereunto, should be null and void: That all the Ministers of State and Officers of the Realm, should constantly be sworn to the Observation thereof: and so deeply did after-Parliaments reverence it, and so care 
Cook, 1. Inst. f. 81. Cook, 2. Inst. f. 525 526. 25. Edw. 1. c. 3. 28 Edw. 1. c. 1. 25. Edw. 1. c. 4.  full were they to preserve it, that they both confirmed it by 32. several Acts, and enacted Copies to be taken and lodged in each Cathedral of the Realm, to be read four times a Year publicly before the People; as if they would have them more obliged to their Ancestors for redeeming and transmitting those Privileges, then for begetting them: And that Twice every Year the Bishops, apparelled in their Pontificials, with Tapers burning, and other Solemnities, should pronounce the greater Excommunication against the Infringers of the Great Charter, though it were but in Word or Counsel; for so saith the Statute. I shall for further Satisfaction repeat the Excommunication or Curse pronounced both in the Days of Henry the Third, and Edward the First.   

The Sentence of the Curse given by the Bishops, with the King's Consent, against the Breakers of the Great Charter.  
IN the year of our Lord 1253. the third day of May, in the great Hall of the King at Westminster, in the Presence, and by the Consent of the Lord Henry, by the Grace of God King of England, and the Lord Richard, Earl of Cornwall, his Brother; Roger Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, Marshal of England; Humphrey, Earl of Hereford; Henry, Earl of Oxford; John, Earl Warren; and other Estates of the Realm of England; We Boniface, by the Mercy of God, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of England, F. of London, H. of Ely, S. of Worcester, E. of Lincoln, W. of Norwich, P. of Hereford, W. of Salisbury, W. of Durham, R. of Excester, M. of Carlisle, W. of Bath, E. of Rochester, T. of St. David's, Bishop, apparelled in Pontificials, with Tapers burning, against the Breakers of the Church's Liberties, and of the Liberties and other Customs of this Realm of England, and namely these which are contained in the Charter of the Common Liberties of England, and Charter of the Forest, have denounced Sentence of Excommunication in this Form, By the Authority of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, etc. of the blessed Apostle Peter and Paul, and of all Apostles, and of all Martyrs, of blessed Edw. King of England, and of all the Saints of Heaven, We Excommunicate and Accurse, and from the Benefit of our Holy Mother, the Church, we sequester all those that hereafter willingly and maliciously deprive or spoil the Church of her Right; and all those that by any Craft or Willingness, do violate, break, diminish, or change the Church's Liberties, and free Customs contained in the Charters of the Common Liberties, & of the Forest, granted by our Lord the King, to Arch-Bishops, Bishops, and other Prelates of England, and likewise to the Earls, Barons, Knights and other Freeholders' of the Realm; and all that secretly and openly, by Deed, Word or Counsel do make Statutes, or observe them being made, and that bring in Customs, to keep them, when they be brought in, against the said Liberties, or any of them, & all those that shall presume to judge against them; and all and every such Person beforementioned, that wittingly shall commit any Thing of the Premises, let them well know that they incur the aforesaid Sentence, ipso facto.   

The Sentence of the Clergy against the Breakers of the Articles abovementioned.  
IN the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen: Whereas our Sovereign Lord the King, to the Honour of God, and of holy Church, and for the common Profit of the Realm, hath granted for him, and his Heirs for ever these Articles above-xwriten, Robert Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, admonished all his Province once, twice and thrice, because that Shortness will not suffer so much delay, as to give knowledge to all the People of England, of these Presents in writing: We therefore enjoin all Persons, of what Estate soever they be, that they, and every of them, as much as in them is, shall uphold and maintain these Articles granted by our Sovereign Lord the King, in all Points: And all those that in any Point do resist or break, or in any manner hereafter Procure, Counsel, or in any wise Assent to, Testify or Break those Ordinances, or go about it, by Word or Deed, openly or privily, by any manner of Pretence or Colour; we, the aforesaid Archbishop, by our Authority in this Writing expressed, do Excommunicate and Accurse, and from the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and from all the Company of Heaven, and from all the Sacraments of Holy Church do sequester and exclude.  
We may here see, that in the obscurest Time of Popery they were not left without a Sense of Justice; and the Papists, whom many think no Friends to Liberty and Property, under dreadful Penalties enjoin an inviolable Observance of this great Charter, by which they are confirmed. And though I am no Roman Catholic, and as little value their other Curses pronounced upon Religious Dissents, yet I declare ingenuously, I would not for the World incur this Curse, as every Man deservedly doth, that offers Violence to the Fundamental Freedoms thereby repeated and confirmed: And that any Church or Church Officers in our Age, should have so little Reverence to Law, Excommunication or Curse, as to be the Men that either vote or countenance such Severities, as bid Defiance to the Curse, and rend this memorable Charter in pieces, by disseizing Freemen of England of their Freeholds, Lib●●ties & Properties, merely for the Inoffensive Exercise of their Conscience to God in Matters of Worship, is a Civil sort of Sacrilege.  
I know it is usually objected, That a great Part of the Charter is spent on the Behalf of the Roman Church, and other Things now abolished; and if one Part of the great Charter may be repealed or invalidated, why not the other?  
To which I answer; This renders nothing that is Fundamental in the Charter the less valuable; for they do not stand upon the Legs of that Act, though it was made in Honour of them, but the Ancient and primitive Institution of the Kingdom. If the Petition of Right were repealed, the great Charter were never the less in Force, it being not the Original Establishment, but a Declaration and Confirmation of that Establishment. But those Things that are abrogable or abrogated in the great Charter, were never a Part of Fundamentals, but hedged in then for present Emergency or Conveniency. Besides, that which I have hitherto maintained to be the Common and Fundamental Law of the Land, is so reputed, and further ratified by the Petition of Right, 3 Car. 1. which was long since the Church of Rome lost her Share in the Great Charter. Nor did it relate to Matters of Faith and Worship, but-Temporalities only; the Civil Interest or Propriety of the Church But with what Pretence to Mercy or Justice, can the Protestant Church null the Romish, that she may retain the English Part without conforming to Rome, and yet now cancel the English Part itself to every freeborn English Man that will not conform to Her? But no more of this at this Time; only give me leave to remind a Sort of active Men in our Times, that the cruel Infringers of the People's Liberties, and Violators of these Noble Laws, did not escape with bare Excommunications and Gurses; for such was the venerable Esteem our Ancestors had for these great Privileges, and deep Solicitude to preserve them from the Defacing of Time, or Usurpation of Power, that King Alfred executed 40 Judges for warping from the ancient Laws of the Realm. Hubert de Burgo, Chief Justice of England in the Time of Edw. 1. was sentenced by his Peers in open Parliament for advising the King against the Great Charter. Thus Spencer's, both Father and Son for their Arbitrary Rule and Evil Counsel to Edw. 2. were exiled the Realm. No better Success had the Actions of Tresilian & Belknap: And as for Empson and Dudley, though Persons of some Quality in the Time of King Henry the 7th, the most ignominious Death of our Country, such as belongs to Theft and Murder, was scarce Satisfaction enough to the Kingdom for their Illegal Courses. I shall choose to deliver it in the Words of Chief Justice Cook, a Man, whose Learning in Law hath not without Reason obtained a venerable Character of our English Nation.  
There was (saith he) an Act of Parliament, made in the 11th Year of King Hen. 7. which had a fair flattering Preamble, pretending to avoid divers Mischiefs, which were (1st) To the high Dispicasurs of Almighty God. (2dly) The great Let of the Common Law. And (3dly) The great Let of the Wealth of this Land. And the Purven of that Act, tended in the Execution contrary, EX DIAMETRO, viz. To the high Displeasure of Almighty God, and the great Let, nay, the utter Subversion of the Common Law, and the great Let of the Wealth of this Land;— as hereafter shall appear, the Substance of which Act follows in these Words.  
THat from thenceforth, as well Justices of Assizs, as Justices of the Peace, in every County, upon Information for the King, before them made, without any Finding or Presentment by Twelve Men, shall have full Power and Authority, by their Discretion; and to hear and determine all Offences, as Riots, unlawful Assemblies, etc. committed and done against any Act or Statute made, and not repealed, etc.  
By Pretext of this Law, Empson and Dudley did commit upon the Subjects insufferable Pressure and Oppressions; and therefore this Statute was justly, soon after the Decease of Hen. 7. repealed at the next Parliament, by the Statute of 1 Hen. the 8. chap. 6.  
A good Caveat to Parliaments to leave all Causes to be measured by the Golden and straight Metwand of the Law, and not to the incertain and crooked Cord of Discretion.  
It is almost incredible to foresee, when any Maxim, or Fundamental Law of this Realm is altered (as elsewhere hath been observed) what dangerous Inconveniencies do follow; which most expressly appears by this MOST UNJUST and strange Act of the 11th of Hen. 7. For hereby not only Empson and Dudley themselves, but such Justices of Peace (corrupt Men) as they caused to be authorised, committed most grievous and heavy Oppressions & Exactions, grinding the Faces of the poor Subjects by penal Laws (be they never so obsolete, or unfit for the Time) by Information only, without any Presentment or Trial by Jery, being the ANCIENT BIRTH RIGHT of the Subject; but to hear and determine the same, by their Discretions, inflicting such Penalty as the Statute not repealed, imposed. These, and other like Oppressions and Exactions by the Means of Empson and Dudley, and their Instruments, brought infinite Treasure to the King's Coffers, whereof the King himself, at the End, with GREAT GRIEF and COMPUNCTION REPENT, as in another Place we have observed.  
This Statute of the 11th of Hen. 7. we have recited, and showed the just Inconveniencies thereof, to the End that the like should NEVER hereafter be attempted in any Court of Parliament; and that others might avoid the FEARFUL END of those two Time-Servers, Empson and Dudley, Qui eorum v●●●igiis insistant, exitus perhorrescant.  
I am sure, there is nothing I have offered in Defence of English-Law. Doctrine, that riseth higher than the Judgement and Language of this great Man, the Preservation and Publication of whose Endeavours became the Care of a great Parliament. And it is said of no inconsiderable Lawyer, that he should thus express himself in our Occasion, viz. The Laws of England were never the Dictates of any Conqueror's Sword; or the Placita of any King of this Nation; or (saith he) to speak impartially and freely, the Results of any Parliament that ever sat in this Land.  
Thus much of the Nature of English Rights, and the Reason and Justice of their inviolable Maintenance. I shall now offer some more general Considerations for the Preservation of Property, and hint at some of those Mischiefs that follow spoiling it for Conscience sake, both to Prince and People.  
1. The Reason of the alteration of any Law, aught to be the Discommodity of Continuing it; but there can never be so much as the least Inconveniency in continuing of Liberty and Property; therefore there can be no just Ground for infringing, much less abrogating the Law that gives and secures them.  
2. No Man in these Parts is born Slave to another; neither hath one Right to inherit the Sweat of the others Brow, or reap the Benefit of the others Labour, but by Consent; therefore no Man should be deprived of Property, unless he injure another Man's.  
3. But certainly, nothing is more unreasonable then to sacrifice the Liberty and Property of any Man (being his Natural and Civil Rights) for Religion, where he is not found breaking any Law relating to Natural & Civil Things. Religion, under any Modification is no Part of the old English Government; Honest vivere, alterum non ladere, jus suum cuique tribeure, are enough to entitle every Native to English Privileges: A Man may be a very good English Man, and yet a very indifferent Churchman. Nigh 300 Years before Austin set his Foot on English Ground, had the Inhabitants of this Island a free Government. It is Want of distinguishing between It and the Modes of Religion, which fills every Clamorous Mouth with such impertinent Cries as this; Why do not you submit to the Government? as if the English Civil Government came in with Luther, or were to go out with Calvin: What Prejudice is it for a Popish Landlord to have a Protestant Tenant; or a Presbyterian Tenant to have a Protestant Landlord? Certainly, the Civil Affairs of all Governments in the World may be peaceably transacted under the different Trims of Religion, where Civil Rights are inviolably observed. Nor is there any Interest so inconsistent with Peace and Unity, as that which dare not solely rely upon the Power of Persuasion, but affects Superiority, and impatiently seeks after an Earthly Crown: This is not to act the Christian, but the Caesar; not to promote Property, but Party, and make a Nation Drudges to a Sect. Be it known to such Narrow Spirits, we are a Free People by the Creation of God, the Redemption of Christ and careful Provision of our (never to be forgotten) honourable Ancestors: So that our Claim to these English Privileges rising higher than the Date of Protestancy, can never justly be invalidated for any Nonconformity to it. This were to lose by the Reformation, which God forbid; I am sure 'tenjoy Property with Conscience that promoted it: Nor is there any better Definition of Protestancy, then protesting against Spoiling Property for Conscience. I must therefore take Leave to say, that I know not how to reconcile what a Great Man lately delivered in his Eloquent Harangue to the House of Lords: His Words are these,  
For when we consider Religion in Parliament, we are supposed to consider it as a Parliament should do, and as Parliaments in all Ages have done, that is, as it is a Part of our Laws, a Part, and a necessary Part of our Government: For as it works upon the Conscience, as it is an INWARD PRINCIPLE of the DIVINE LIFE, by which good Men do govern all their Actions, the State hath nothing to do with it, it is a Thing which belongs to another kind of Commission, then that by which we sit here.  
I acquiesce in the latter Part of this Distinction, taking it to be a venerable Truth, and would to God Mankind would believe it, and live it; but how to agree it with the former, I profess Ignorance; for if the Government hath nothing to do with the Principle itself, what more can she pretend over the Actions of those Men that live that good Life? Certainly, if Religion be this Principle of Divine Life, exerting itself by Holy Living, and that as such, it belongs not to the Commission of our Superiors, I do with Submission conceive, that there is very little else of Religion lest for them to have to do with; the rest merits not the Name of Religion, and less doth such a Formality deserve Persecution: I hope such Circumstances are no necessary Part of English Government, that can't reasonably be reputed a necessary part of Religion; and I dare believe, that he is too great a Lawyer, upon second Thoughts, to repute that a Part of our Laws, a Part & a necessary Part of our Government, that is such a Part of Religion as is neither the Divine Principle, nor yet the Actions immediately flowing from it, since the Government was most complete and prosperous many Ages without it, and hath never known more perplexed Contests and troublesome Interruptions, then since it hath been received and valued as a Part of the English Government; and God, I hope, will forbid it in the Hearts of our Superiors, that English Men should be deprived of their Civil Inheritance for their Nonconformity to Church-Formality: For no Property out of the Church; the plain English of public Severity, is a Maxim that belongs not to the holy Law of God, nor Common Law of the Land.  
4. If Liberty and Property must be the Forfeit of Conscience for Non conformity to the Prince's Religion, the Prince and his Religion shall only be loved as the next best Accession to other men's Estates, and the Prince perpetually provoked to expose many of his Inoffensive People to Beggary.  
5. It is our Superiors Interest, that Property be preserved, because it is their own Case: None have more Property than themselves; But if Property be exposed for Religion, the Civil Magistrate exposes both his Conscience and his Property to the Church, and disarms himself of all Defence upon any Alteration of Judgement. This is for the Prince to fall down at the Prelate's F●●t, and the State to suffer itself to be rid by the Church.  
6. It obstructs all Improvement of Land and Trade; for who will labour that hath no Propriety, or hath it exposed to an unreasonable Sort of Men for the bare Exercise of his Conscience to God, and a poor Country can never make a Rich and Powerful Prince. Heaven is therefore Heaven to Good and Wise Men, because they have an Eternal Propriety therein.  
7thly, This Sort of Procedure hitherto oppugned to the behalf of Property, puts the whole Nation upon miserable Uncertainties that are followed with great Disquiets and Distractions, which certainly it is the Interest of all Governments to prevent: The Reigns of Henry 8. Edw. 6. Q. Marry and Q. Eliz. both with relation to the Marriages of the first, and the Religious Revolutions of the rest, are a plain Proof in the Case.  
King Henry voids the Pope's Supremacy, and assumes it himself. Q. Marry his Daughter by his first Wife Katherine, repeals all those Acts made since the 12th of Henry 8. in Disfavour of the Pope; Oaths taken on both sides to maintain those Laws. Edw. 6. enacts Protestancy with an Oath to maintain it. 1 Q. Marry, c. 1. This is abrogated; Popery solemnly restored, and an Oath inforc'd to defend it. Comes Q. Elizabeth and repeals that Law, calls back Protestancy, ordains a new Oath to un-Oa●h Q. Mary's Oath. and all this under the Penalty of losing Estate, Liberty, and sometimes Life itself; which Thousands to avoid, lamentably perjured themselves four or five times over within the space of 20. Years: in which Sin the Clergy transcended, not an Hundred for every Thousand but left their Principles for their Par●sh●s. Thus hath Conscience been debauched by Force, and Property tossed up & down by the impetuous Blasts of ignorant Zeal, or sinister Design.  
8. Where Liberty & Property are violated, there must always be a State of Force: And (though I pray God that we never need those Cruel Remedies, whose Calamitous Effects we have too lately felt) yet certainly, SELF-Preservation is of all Things dearest to Men, insomuch, that being conscious to themselves of not having done an ill thing to defend their unforfeited Privileges, they cheerfully hazard all they have in this World; so strangely vindictive are the Sons of Men in Maintenance of their Rights: And such are the Cares, Fears, Doubts and Insecurities of that Administration, as render Empire a Slavery, and Dominion the worst Sort of Bondage: on the contrary, nothing can give greater Cheerfulness, Confidence, Security and Honour to any Prince, then ruling by Law; for it is both a Conjunction of Title with Power, and attracts Love, as well as it requires Duty.  
Give me Leave without any Offence, for I have God's Evidence in my own Conscience, I intent nothing but a respectful Caution to my Superiors, to confirm this Reason with the Judgement and Example of other Times. The Governors of the Eleans held a strict Hand over the People, they being in Despair, called in the Spartans' for Relief, and by their Help freed all their Cities from the sharp Bondage of their Natural Lords.  
The State of Sparta was grown Powerful, and oppressed the Thebans, they, though but a weak People, yet whetted the Despair, and the Prospect of greater Miseries, by the Athenians delivered themselves from the Spartan Yoke.  
Nor is there any other considerable Reason given for the Ruin of the Carthaginian State, than Avarice and Severity. More of this is to be found in W. Raileighs History of the World, lib. 3. who hath this witty Expression in the same Story, l. 5. of a severe Conduct, When a forced Government, saith he, shall decay in Strength, it will suffer, as did the old Lion, for the Oppression done in his Youth, being pintcht by the Wolf, gored by the Bull, and kicked also by the Ass.  
This lost Caesar Borgia, his New and Great Conquests in Italy: No better Success attended the severe Hand held over the People of Naples by Alphonso and Ferdinand. 'Twas the undue Severity of the Sicilian Governors, that made the Syracusans, Leontines and Messenians so easy a Conquest to the Romans. An harsh Answer to a petitioning People lost Rehoboam Ten Tribes. On the contrary, in Livy, Dec. 1 l. 3. we find that Petilia, a City of the Brutians in Italy, chose rather to endure all Extremity of War from Hannibal, then upon any Condition to desert the Romans, who had governed them moderately, and by that gentle Conduct procured their Love, even then, when the Romans sent them Word, they were not able to relieve them, and wished them to provide for their own Safety.  
N. Machiavelli, in his Discourses upon Livy, p. 542. tells us, that one Act of Humanity was of more Force with the Conquered Falisci, than many violent Acts of Hostility; which makes good that Saying of Seneca, Mitius imperanti melius paretur, They are best obeyed, that govern most mildly.  
9 And lastly, If these ancient Fundamental Laws so agreeable with Nature, so suited to the Disposition of our Nation, so often defended with Blood and Treasure, so carefully and frequently ratified, shall not be to our great Pilots, as Stars or Compass for them to steer the Vessel of this Kingdom by, or Limits to their Legislation, no Man can tell how long he shall be secure of his Coat, enjoy his House, have Bread to give his Children, Liberty to work for Bread, and Life to eat it: Truly, this is to justify what we condemn in Roman-Catholiks. It is one of our main Objections, that their Church assumes a Power of assuring People what is Religion, thereby denying Men the Liberty of walking by the Rules of their own Reason, or Precepts of Holy Writ. To which we oppose both: We say, the Church is tied to act nothing contrary to Reason; and that Holy Writ is the declared fundamental Law of Heaven, to maintain, and not to usurp upon which, Power is given to the true Church. Now let us apply this Argument to our Civil Affairs, and it will certainly end in a reasonable Limitation of our Legislators, that they should not impose that upon our Understandings, which is inconsistent with them to embrace; nor offer any the least Violation upon the Fundamental Law of the Land, from whence they derive their Power, to prosper such Attempts: Do the Romanists say, Believe as the Church Believes; Do not the Protestants, and which is harder, Legislators say so too,? Do we say to the Romanists, at this rate, Your Obedience is blind, and your Ignorance is the Mother of Devotion; Is it not also true of ourselves? Do we object to them; This makes your Religion sluid as the Rivers, one Thing to Day, and another to morrow, any Thing the Church saith or doth? Doth not our own Case submit us to the like Variation in Civils? Have we not long told them, that under Pretence of obeying the Church, and not controling her Power, she hath raised a Superstructure inconsistent with that Foundation she pretends to build upon? And are not we the Men in Civils, that make our grand Privileges to depend upon Men, not Laws, as she doth upon Councils, not Scripture? If this be not Popery in Temporals, what is?  
It is humbly beseeched of those Superiors, that it would please them to consider what Reflection such severity justly brings upon their Proceedings; and remember, that in their ancient Delegations, it was not to define, resolve and impose Matters of Religion, and sacrifice Civil Privileges for it; but, to maintain the People's Properties, according to the ancient Fundamental Laws of the Land, and to superadd such Statutes only, as were consistent with, and preservative of those Fundamental Laws.  
To conclude this Head; My plain and honest Drift has all along been neither more nor less than this, to show that Church Government is no real Part of the old English Government; and to disentangle Property from Opinion, the untoward Knot the Clergy for several Ages have tied; the which, it is not only the People's Right, but our Superiors Interest to undo: for it gauls both People and Prince. For, where Property is subjected to Opinion, the Church interposes, and makes something else requisite to enjoy Property, then belongs to the Nature of Property; and the Reason of our Possession is not our Right by & Obedience to the common Law, but Conformity to Church-Law; a thing dangerous to Civil Government; for 'tis an Alteration of old English Tenure, a suffering the Church to trip up & supplant the State, & a making People to owe their Protection not to the Civil, but Ecclesiastical Authority.: For let the Church be my Friend, and all is well; make her my Foc, and I am made her Prey; Let Magna Charta say what she will for me, my Horses, Cows, Sheep, Corn, Goods go first, my Person to Goal next; and here's some Church Trophys made at the Conquest of a peaceable Dissenter: This is that anxious Thing; May our Superiors please to weigh it in the equal Scale of Doing as they would be done by. Let those Common Laws that fix and preserve Property be the Rule and Standard. Make English Men's Rights as inviolable as English Church Rights: Disentangle and distinguish them; And let not Men sustain Civil Punishments for Ecclesiastical Faults, but for Sins against the ancient established Civil Government only, that the Natures of Acts and Rewards may not be confounded; so shall the Civil Magistrate preserve Law, secure his Civil Dignity and Empire, and make himself Beloved of English Men, whose Cry is, and the Cry of whose Laws has ever been, Property more sacred than Opinion, Civil Right not concerned with Ecclesiastical Discipline, nor forfeitable for Religious Nonconformity.  
But though an inviolable Preservation of English Rights of all things best secureth to our Superiors the Love and Allegiance of the People; yet there is something further, that with Submission I offer to their serious Consideration, which in the second place concerns their Interest, and the People's Felicity; and that is their Discord about Religion, notwithstanding their unanimous Cry for Property, a prudent Mannagement of which may return to the great Quiet, Honour and Profit of the Kingdom.    

II. Our SUPERIORS governing themselves upon a BALANCE, as near as may be, towards the several Religious INTERESTS.  
TO perform my part in this Point, I shall not at this time make it my Business to manifest the Inconsistency that there is between the Christian Religion, and a forced Uniformity; not only because it hath been so often and excellently done by Men of Wit, Learning and Conscience, and that I have elsewhere largely delivered my Sense about it; but because Every free and impartial Temper hath of a long time observed, that such Barbarous Attempts were so far from being indulged, that they were most severely prohibited by Christ himself, who instructed his Disciples, to love their Enemies, not to persecute their Friends for every Difference in Opinion; That the Tares should grow with the Wheat; That his Kingdom is not of this World; That Faith is the Gift of God, That the Will and Understanding of Man are Faculties not to be worked upon by Corporal Penalties; That TRUTH is all-sufficient to her own Relief; That ERROR and ANGER go together; That base Coin only stands in need of Imposition to make it current, but that True Metal passeth for its own intrinsic Value; with a great deal more of that Nature: I shall therefore choose to oppose myself at this time to any such Severity upon mere Prudence; that such as have No Religion, and certainly They that persecute for Religion, have as little as need to be, may be induced to Tolerate THEM that have.  
First, However advisable it may be in the Judgement of some wise Men, to prevent, even by Force, the arising of any New Opinions, where a Kingdom is universally of another Mind; especially if it be odious to the People, and inconsistent with the Interest of the Government; it cannot be so, where a Kingdom is of many Minds, unless some One Party have the Wisdom, Wealth, Number, Sober Life, Industry and Resolution of its side, which I am sure is not to be found in England; so that the Wind hath plainly shifted its Corner, and consequently obliges to another Course; I mean, England's Circumstances are greatly changed, and they require new Expedients and other sorts of Applications. Physicians vary their Medicines according to the Revolution and Commixture of Distempers. They that seek to tie the Government to obsolete and inadequate Methods (supposing them once apt, which Cruelty in this Case never was) are not Friends to its Interest, whatever they may be to their own. If our Superiors should make it their Business so to prefer One Party, as to depress the rest, they insecure themselves by making them Friends to be their Enemies, who before were one another's. To be sure it createth Hatred between the Party advanced, and those depressed; Jacob's preferring Joseph, put his Brethren upon that Conspiracy against him. I will allow that they may have a more particular Favour for the National Religion (if they can think she deserves it) then for any other Persuasion, but not more than for all other Parties in England: that would break the Balance, the keeping up of which will be, to make every Party to owe its Tranquillity to their Prudence and Goodness, which will never fail of Returns of Love and Loyalty; for since we see each Interest looks jealously upon the other, 'tis reasonable to believe, they had rather the Dominion should lodge where it is, while universally impartial in their Judgement, then to trust it with any one sort of themselves. Many inquisitive Men into humane Affairs, have thought, that the Concord of Discords hath not been the infirmest Basis Government can rise or stand upon: It hath been observed, that less Sedition and Disturbance attended Hannibal's Army, that consisted of many Nations, than the Roman Legions, that were of one People; It is Marvellous, how the Wisdom of that General secured them to his Designs: Livy saith, that his Army for Thirteen Years, that they roaved up and down the Roman Empire, made up of many Countries, divers Languages, Laws, Customs, Religions, under all their Successes of War and Peace, never Mutined: Malvetzy as well as Livy asscribes it to that Variety, well managed by the General. By the like Prudence Jovianus and Theodosius Magnus brought Tranquillity to their Empire, after much Rage and Blood for Religion. In Nature we also see, all Heat consumes, all Cold kills; that three Degrees of Cold, to two of Heat, alloy the Heat; but introduce the Contrary Quality, and over-cool by a Degree; but two Degrees of Cold to two of Heat, make a Poyz in Elements, and a Balance in Nature. The like in Families: It is not probable, that a Master should have his Work so well done, at least with that Love and Respect, who continually smiles upon one Servant, and severely frowns upon all the rest; on the contrary, 'tis apt to raise Feud amongst Servants, and turn Duty into Revenge, at least Contempt. In fine: It is to make our Superiors Dominion less than God made it; and to blind their Eyes, stop their Ears and shut-up their Breasts from beholding the Miseries, hearing the Cries and redressing the Grievances of a vast number of People, under their Charge, vexed in this World for their Belief and inoffensive Practice about the next.  
Secondly, It is the Interest of Governors to be put upon no Thankless Offices, that is, to blow noCoales in their own Country (especially when it is to consume their People, and it may be, themselves too) not to be the Cat's Foot, not to make Work for themselves, or fill their own Hands with Trouble, or the Kingdom with Complaints: It is to forbid them the Use of Clemency, wherein they ought most of all to imitate God Almighty, whose Mercy is above all his Works; and renders them a sort of Extortioners to the People, the most remote from the End and Goodness of their Office. In short; It is the best Receipt that their Enemies can give, to make them uneasy to the Country.  
Thirdly, It not only makes them Enemies, but there is no such Excitement to Revenge, as a raped Conscience: He that hath been forced to break his Peace, to gratify the Humour of another, must have a great share of Mercy and Self-denial to forgive that Injury, and forbid himself the Pleasure of Retribution upon the Authors of it: For Revenge, in other Cases condemnable of all, is here looked upon by too many to be the next way to their Expiation. To be sure, whether the Grounds of their Dissent be rational in themselves, such Severity is unjustifiable with them; for this is a Maxim with Sufferers, Whoever is in the Wrong, the Persecutor is never in the Right. Men, not conscious to themselves of Evil, and harshly treated, not only resent it unkindly, but are bold to show it.  
Fourthly, Suppose the Prince, by his Severity, conquers any into a Compliance, he can upon no prudent Ground assure himself of their Fidelity, whom he hath taught to be Treacherous to their own Convictions. Wise Men rarely confide in those whom they have debauched from Trust, to serve themselves: At best it resembleth but forced Marriages, that seldom prove happy to the Parties. In short: Force makes Hypocrites; 'tis Persuasion only that makes Converts.  
Fifthly, This Partiality, of sacrificing the Liberty and Property of all Dissenters, to the Promotion of a single Party, as it is the lively Representation of J. Calvin's Horrendum Decretum of Predestination; so the Consequences of the one belong unto the other, it being but that Illnatured Principle, practised; Men are put upon the same desperate Courses, either to have no Conscience at all, or to be Hanged for having a Conscience not fashionable; for, let them be Virtuous, let them be Vicious, if they fall not in with that Mode of Religion, they must be reprobated to all Civil and Ecclesiastical Intents and Purposes. Strange! that men must either Deny their Faith and Reason, or be destroyed for acting according to them, be they otherwise never so Peaceable. What Power is this? But that men are to be protected upon Favour, not Right or Merit; and that no Merit out of the English Church-Dress should find Acceptance, is severe. That Father we justly blame, that narrows his Paternal Love to some one of his Children, though the rest be not one jot less Virtuous than the Favouriter: Such Injustice can never flow from a Soul acted by Reason; but a Mind governed by Fancy, and enslaved to Passions.  
Sixthly, consider Peace, Plenty and Safety, the three grand Inducements to any Country to honour the Prince, and love the Government, and the best Allurements to Foreigners to trade with it, and transport themselves to it, are utterly lost by such Intestine Jars; for instead of Peace, Love and good Neighbourhood, behold Animosity and Contest! One Neighbour watcheth another, and makes him an Offender for his Conscience; this divides them, their Families and Acquaintance: Perhaps with them, the Towns and Villages where they live, most commonly the Sufferer hath the Pity, and the Persecutor the Odium of the Multitude; and when People see Cruelty practised upon their Inoffensive Neighbours by a Troublesome Sort of Men, and those countenanced by a Law, it breedeth Ill Blood against the Government. Certainly, haling People to Goals, breaking open their Houses, seizing of their Estates, and that without all Proportion, leaving Wives without their Husbands, and Children without their Fathers, their Families, Relations, Friends and Neighbours under Amaze and Trouble, is almost as far from the Peace of a well-governed Kingdom, as it is from the Meekness of Christianity.  
Plenty will be hereby exchanged for Poverty, by the Destruction of many Thousand Families within this Realm, who are greatly Instrumental for the carrying on of the most Substantial Commerce therein, Men of Virtue, good Contrivance, great Industry, whose Labours not only keep the Parishes from the Trouble & Charge of maintaining them and theirs, but help to maintain the Poor, and are great Contributors to the King's Revenue by their Traffic: I his very Severity will make more Bankrupts in the Kingdom of England in 7 Years then have been in it upon all other Accounts in 7 Ages; which Consequence, how far it may consist with the Credit & Interest of the Government, I leave to better Judgements.  
This Sort of great Severity that hath been lately, and still is used amongst us, is like to prove a great Check to that Readiness, which otherwise we find in Foreigners to trade with the Inhabitants of this Kingdom; for if Men cannot call any Thing their own under a different Exercise of Conscience from the National Way of Religion, may their Correspondents prudently say, We will not further concern ourselves with Men that stand upon such tickling Terms; what know we but such Persons are ruined in their Estates by Reason of their Nonconformity, before such Time as we are reimbursed for Money paid, or Goods delivered: Nay, we know not how soon those who are Conformists may be Non-Conformists, or what Revolution of Councils may happen, since the Fundamental Laws, so jealous of the People's Property, are so little set by with some of their own Magistrates; for though we are told of very worthy and excellent Laws for the Security of the People's Rights, yet we are also told, that they all hang at the Church's Ear; and no Church-Conformity, no Property, which is, no Churchman, no English-Man; so that in Effect the Rights of their Country depend upon the Rights of their Church; and those Churches are so numerous, and have taken their Turns so often, that a Body knows not how to manage one's self securely to one's own Affairs in a Correspondence with any of them: For in King Henry the eight's Day's Popery was the only Orthodox Religion, and Luther, Melanchton, Oecolampadius, Calvin, etc. were great Heretics: In Edward the sixth's Time, they were Saints, and Popery Idolatry: A few Years after Q Mary makes the Papists Holy Church, and Protestancy Heresy: About six Years complcats her Time, and Q. Elizabeth enters her Reign, in which Protestants are good Christians, and the Church of Rome the Whore of Babylon: In her Reign, and King James ' s, and Charles' the first's, sprung the Puritans, who divided themselves into Presbyterians and Independents; the Bishops exclaimed against them for Schismatics, and they against the Bishops for Papistical and Anti christian: In the long Parliament's Time the Presbyterian drives out the Bishop; O. Cromwell defeating them, and sending the Presbyterian to keep Company with the Bishop, confers it mostly upon the Independent and Anabaptist, who kept it through the other Fractions of Government, till the Presbyter and Bishop got it from them; and the Bishop now from the Presbyter; but how long it will rest there, who knows.  
Nor is my Supposition idle or improbable, unless Moderation take Place of Severity, and Property the room of Punishment of Opinion; for that must be the lasting Security, as well as that it is the Fundamental Right of English People.  
There is also a further Consideration, and that is, the rendering just and very good Debts desperate, both at home and abroad, by giving Opportunity to the Debtors of Dissenters to detain their Deuce: Indeed it seems a natural Consequence with all but Men of Mercy and Integrity, What should we pay them for, may they say, that are not in a Capacity to demand or receive it; at least to compel us? Nay, they may plead a sort of Kindness to their Creditors, and say, We had as good keep it; for if we pay it them, they will soon lose it; 'tis better to remain with us, then that they should be pillaged of it by Informers; though Beggary and Want should in the mean time overtake the right Owners and their Families. Nor is it unworthy of the most deliberate Thoughts of our Superiors, that the Land already swarms with Beggars, and that there is no so ready Course to increase their Number, as the severe Prosecution of Dissenters; so that though they immediately Suffer, the Kingdom in the End must be the Loser: For besides a Decay of Trade, etc. this driving away of Flocks of Sheep, and Herds of cattle, seizing of Barns full of Corn, breaking open of Doors and Chists, taking away the best Goods those Instruments of Cruelty can find, sometimes All, even, to a Bed, a Blanket, wearing Apparel, and the very Tools of Trade, by which People honestly labour to get their Bread, till they leave Men, Women and Children destitute of Subsistence, will necessitate an extreme Advance of the Poors Rate in every Parish of England, or they must be Starved. Oh that it would please them that are in Authority to put a Stop to this Inhuman Usage, lest the Vengeance of the Just God break forth further against this poor Land.  
Safety, another Requisite to an happy Government, must needs be at an End, where the Course oppugned is followed: And it is but some prudent Foreigners proclaiming Liberty of Conscience within their Territories, and a Door is opened for a Million of People to pass out of their Native Soil, which is not so extremely improved, that it should not want two or three hundred thousand Families more than it hath, to advance it, especially at this Time of Day, when our Foreign Islands yearly take off so many necessary Inhabitants from us: And as of Contraries there is the same Reason; so let the Government of England but give that prudent Invitation to Foreigners, and she maketh herself Mistress of the Arts and Manufactures of Europe: Nothing else hath hindered Holland from truckling under the Spanish Monarchy, and being ruined above therescore Years ago, and given her that Rise to Wealth and Glory.  
Seaventhly, Nor is this Severity only Injurious to the Affairs of England, but the whole Protestant World: For besides that it calls the Sincerity of their Procedings against the Papists into Question, it furnisheth them with this sort of unanswerable Interrogatory: The Protestants exclaim against us for Persecutors, and are they now the very men themselves? Was Severity an Instance of Weakness in our Religion, and is it become a valid Argument in theirs? Are not our Actions (once void of all Excuse with them) now defended by their own Practice? But if men must be restrained upon prudential Considerations from the Exercise of their Consciences in England, why not the same in France and Germany, where matters of State may equally be pleaded? Certainly whatever Shifts Protestants may use to palliate these Procedings, they are thus far condemnable upon the Foot of Prudence.  
Eightly, Such Procedure is a great Reflection upon the Justice of the Government, in that it enacts Penalties inadequate to the Fault committed, viz. That I should lose my Liberty and Property, Natural Endowments, and confirmed Civil Privileges, for some Error in Judgement about Matters of Religion; as if I must not be a Man, because I am not such a sort of religious Man as the Government would have me, but must lose my Claim to all Natural Benefits, though I harmonise with them in Civil Affairs, because I fall not in with the Judgement of the Government in some Points of a supernatural Import; though no real Part of the ancient Government. Perhaps instead of going to the Left Hand, I go to the Right: and whereas I am commanded to hear A. B. I rather choose to hear C. D. my Reason for it, being the more Religious Influence the latter hath over me, than the former; and that I find by Experience, I am better affected, and more Religiously edified to Good Living. What Blemish is this to the Government? What Insecurity to the Civil Magistrate? Why-may not this Man Sell, Buy, Blow, pay his Rent, be as good a Subject, and as true an Englishman, as any Conformist in the Kingdom? Howbeit, Fines and Goals are very ill Arguments to convince sober men's Understandings, and dissuade them from the Continuance of so harmless a Practice.  
Lastly, But there is yet another Inconveniency that will attend this Sort of Severity, that so naturally follows upon our Superiors making Conformity to the Doctrine and Worship of the Church of England, the sine qua non, or Inlet to all Property, and Ground of Claim to all English Civil Privileges, to wit, that they make a Rod, for aught they know, to whip their own Posterity with; since it is Impossible for them to secure their Children to the English Church; and if it happen that any of them are never so conscientiously of another Persuasion, they are liable to all the Miseries that may attend the Execution of those Laws: Such a King must not be King; such Lords and Commons must not sit in Parliament; nay, they must not administer any Office, be it never so inferior, within the Realm, and they never so virtuous and capable; their very Patrimony becomes a Prey to a Pack of lewd Informers, and their Persons exposed to the Abuse of Men, Poor or Malicious.  
But there are three Objections that some make against what I have urged, not unfit to be considered. The first is this: If the Liberty desired be granted, what know we but Dissenters may employ their Meetings to insinuate against the Government, inflame People into a Dislike of their Superiors, and thereby prepare them for Mischief.  
Answ. This Objection may have some Force, so long as our Superiors continue Severity; because it doth not only sharpen and excite Dissenters, but it runs many of them into such Holes and Corners, that if they were disposed to any such Conspiracies, they have the securest Places and Opportunities to effect their Design. But what Dissenter can be so destitute of Reason and Love to common Safety, as to expose himself and Family, by plotting against a Government that is kind to him, and gives him the Liberty he desires, and could only be supposed in common sense to plot for. To be sure, Liberty to Worship God, according to their several Professions, will be, as the People's Satisfaction, so the Governments greatest Security; For if men enjoy their Property and their Conscience, which is the noblest part of it, without Molestation, what should they object against and plot for? Mad Men only burn their own Houses, kill their own Children, & murder themselves. Doth Kindness or Cruelty most take with men that are but themselves? H. Grotius with Campanella, well observed, that a fierce and rugged Hand was very improper for Northern Countries. English men are gained with Mildness, but inflamed by Severity: And many that do not suffer, are as apt to compassionate them that do. And if it will please our Superiors to make Trial of such an Indulgence, doubtless they will find Peace and Plenty to ensue. The Practice of other Nations, and the Trade, Tranquillity, Power and Opulency that have attended it, is a Demonstration in the Case, and ought not to be slighted by them that aim at as high and honourable things for their Country: And if we had no other Instance than our own Intervals of Connivance, they were enough to satisfy reasonable men, how much more Moderation contributes to public Good, than the Prosecution of People for their Religious Dissent; since the one hath ever produced Trade and Tranquillity; the other, greater Poverty and Dissension.  
The second Objection, and by far the more weighty, runs thus:  
Obj. The King and Parliament are sworn to maintain and protect the Church of England, as established, etc. therefore to tolerate other Opinions, is against their Oath.  
Answ. Were the Consequence true, as it is extremely false, it were highly unreasonable to expect Impossibilities at their Hands. Kings and Parliaments can no more make Brick without Straw, than Captives: They have not sworn to do things beyond their Ability. Had it been in His and their Time and Choice, when the Church of England had been first disturbed with dissenting Opinions, it might have reflected more colourably a kind of Neglect upon them: But since the Church of England was no sooner a Church, than she found some sort of Dissenters; and that the utmost Policy and Severity of Q. Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles' the 1st, were not successful towards an absolute Uniformity; Why should it reflect upon them, that the Church of England hath not yet rid herself of Dissenting Parties? Besides, it is Notorious, that the late Wars gave that Opportunity to Differing Persuasions to spread, that it was utterly impossible for them to hinder, much less during the several Years of the King's Exile, at what time the present Parliament was no Parliament, nor the generality of the Members of it scarce of any Authority. Let it be considered, that 'twas the Study of the Age to make People Antipapistical and Anti-Episcopal, and that Power and Preferment went on that side: Their Circumstances therefore and their Ancestors are not the same; They find the Kingdom Divided into several Interests, and it seems a Difficulty insurmountable to reduce them to any one Persuasion; wherefore to render themselves Masters of their Affections, they must necessarily govern themselves towards them on a Balance, as before expressed; otherwise, they are put upon the greatest Hazards, and extremest Difficulties to themselves and the Kingdom, and all to perform the Uncharitable Office of suppressing many Thousands of Inoffensive Inhabitants for the different Exercise of their Conscience to God: This is not to make them resemble Almighty God, the Goodness of whose Nature extends itself universally, thus to narrow his Bowels, and confine his Clemency to one single Party of Men: It ought to be remembered, that Optimus went before Maximus of old, and that Power without Goodness is a frightful Sort of a Thing.  
But Secondly, I deny the Consequence, viz. That the King is therefore obliged to persecute Dissenters, because he or the Parliament hath taken an Oath to maintain the Church of England: For it cannot be supposed or intended, that by maintaining Her, they are to destroy the Rest of the Inhabitants: Is it impossible to protect her without knocking all the rest on the Head? Do they allow any to Supplant her Officers, Invade her Livings, Possess her Emoluments, Exercise her Authority? What would she have? Is she not Church of England still, in the same Regency, invested with the same Power, bearing the same Character? What Grandeur or Interest hath she lost by them? Are they not manifestly her Protector? Is she not National Church still? And are not the greatest Offices, Civil, Military and Maritin conferred upon her Sons? And can any of her Children be so insensible as either to challenge her Superiors with Want of Integrity, because they had not performed Impossibilities? or to excite them to that Harshness, which is not only destructive of many Thousands of Inhabitants, but altogether injurious to their own Interest, and dishonourable to a Protestant Church? Suppose Dissenters not to be of the visible Church, are they therefore unfit to live? Did the Jews treat Strangers so severely that had so much more to say then herself? Is not the King Lord of Wastes and Commons as well as Enclosures? Suppose God hath elected some to Salvation, doth it therefore follow he hath reprobated all the rest? And because he was God of the Jews, was he not therefore God of the Gentiles? or were not the Gentiles his People, because the Jews were his peculiar People? To be brief; They have answered their Obligation, consented to severe Laws, and commanded their Execution, in that they have still preferred her above Every Interest in England, to render her more Powerful and Universal, till they have good Reason to be tired with the Lamentable Consequences of those Endeavours, and to conclude, that the Uniformity thereby intended, is a thing Impracticable.  
And I wonder that these men should so easily forget that great Saying of King CHARLES the 1st (whom they pretended so often and with so much Honour to remember) in his Advice to the present King: where he saith,  
Beware, of Exasperating any Factions, by the Crossness and Asperity of some men's Passions, Humours, or Private Opinions, employed by You, grounded only upon their Differences in Lesser Matters, which are but the Skirts and Suburbs of Religion, wherein a Charitable Connivance and Christain Toleration often Dissipates their Strength, whom Rougher Opposition Fortifieth, and puts the Despised and Oppressed Party into such Combinations as may most Enable them to get a Full Revenge upon Those they count their Persecutors; who are commonly Assisted with that Vulgar Commiseration, which attends all that are said to Suffer under the Common Notion of Religion.  
So that we have not only the King's Circumstances, but his Father's Counsel, who saw not the End of one half of them defending a Charitable Connivance, and Christian Toleration of Dissenters.  
Obj. 3. But it may be further alleged, This makes way for Popery or Presbytery to undermine the Church of England, and mount the Chair of Power and Preferment, which is more than a Prudential Indulgence of Different Opinions.  
And yet there is not any so probable an expedient to vanish those Fears, and prevent any such Design, as keeping all Interests upon the Balance; for so the Protestant makes at least six Parties against Popery, and the Church of England at least five against Presbytery; and how either of them should be able to turn the Scale against five or six, as free and thriving Interests as either of them can pretend to be, I confess I cannot understand: But if one only Interest must be tolerated, which implies a Resolution to suppress the Rest, plain it is, that the Church of England ventures her single Party against six growing Interest, and thereby gives Preshytery and Popery by far an easier Access to Supremacy, especially the latter, for that it is the Religion of those Parts of Europe, which neither want Inclination, nor Ability to prosper it. So that besides the Consistency of such an Indulgence with the Nature of a Christian-Church, there can be nothing more in Prudence advisable for the Church of England, then to allow of the Balance propounded; in that first, no Person of any real Worth will ever the sooner decline her; on the contrary, it will give her a greater Reputation in a Country so hating Severity: and next, it gives her Opportunity to turn the Scale against any one Party that may aspire after her Power and Endowments: And she never need to fear the Agreement of all of them to any such Design, Episcopacy not being more intolerable than Presbytery in Power, even to an Independency itself; and yet between them lies the narrowest Difference that is among the Dissenting Interests in this Kingdom.  
But this seems too large, and yielding; and therefore to find a Medium, something that may compass the happy End of good Correspondence & Tranquillity, at least so to fortify the Church of England, as that she may securely give Law to all other Religious Interests, a Comprehension is pitched upon, and diligently pursued by both Episcopalians and Presbyterians, at least some of each Party.  
But if it becomes wise men to Look before they Leap, it will not be unadvisable for them to weigh the Consequences of such an Endeavour: For, in the first place, there is no one People I know in England, that stands at a greater Distance from her Doctrine as it is maintained by her present Sons, than the Presbyterians, particularly about absolute Reprobation, the Person of Christ, Satisfaction and Justification; and he must be a Stranger in the Religious Contests of our times that knows not this.  
In the next place, None have governed themselves with a plainer Denial and more peremptory Contempt of Episcopacy, and the whole Discipline and Worship of the Church of England, than the Presbyterians have ever done; let them put me to prove it, if they please, even of their most reverend Fathers.  
3dly, Who knows not that their reciprocal Heats about these very things, went a great way towards our late lamentable Troubles? Now if the same Principles remain with each Party, and that they are so far from repenting of their Tenaciousness, that on the contrary they justify their Opposition to one another in these matters, how can either Party have Faith enough to rely upon each other's Kindness, or so much as attempt a Comprehension? What must become of the Labours of Bp. Witgift, R. Hooker, Bp. Banckroft, Bp. Lawd, etc. in Rebuke of the Presbyterian Separation; and the Names of those leading Dissenters, as Cartwright, Dode, Bradshow, Rutterford, Galaspee, etc. so famous among the present Presbyterians, and that for their Opposition to the Church? This considered, what Reason can any render, why the Episcopalians should so singularly Provide for, and Confide in an Interest that hath already been so Destructive to theirs? On the other hand, With what Prudence may the Presbyterians embrace the others Offer that intended it not in Kindness to them, and who they must needs think, cannot but owe Revenge, and retain deep Grudges for old Stories?  
But 4thly, The very Reason given for a Comprehension is the greatest that can be urged against it; namely, The Suppression of other dissenting Persuasions. I will suppose a Comprehension and the Consequences of it, to be an Eradication of ALL Interests; the Thing desired: But if the two remaining Parties shall fall out, as it is not likely that they will long agree, what can the Presbyterian have to Balance himself against the Ruling Power of Episcopacy? or the Episcopalian to secure himself against the Aspire of Presbytery? They must either all become Episcopalians, or Presbyterians, else they will commix as Iron and Clay, which made ill Legs for the Image in Daniel; Nor, is it to be thought, that their Legs should stand any better.  
But some are ready to say, that Their Difference is very minute. Grant it; Are they ever the more tolerable for that? Certainly, Forbearance should carry some Proportion with the Greatness of the Difference, by how much it is easier to comply in smalller matters: He that dissents fundamentally, is more excusable than those that sacrifice the Peace and Concord of a Society about little Circumstances; for there cannot be the same Inducement to suspect men of Obstinacy in an Essential as Circumstantial Non- Conformity.  
Besides, How far can this Accommodation extend with Security to the Church of England? Or, on what better Terms will the Presbyterians conform to her Discipline and formal Acts of Devotion, than those upon which Peter du Moulin offered to preach the Gospel at Rome? viz. That if the Pope would give him Leave to preach at Rome, he would be contented to preach in a Fool's Coat. I question if the Presbyterian can go so far, I am sure he could not; and as sure, that Peter du Moulin hoped by preaching there in a Fool's Coat, to inculcate that Doctrine which should un-Mitre the Pope, and alter his Church, the very Thing the Church of England ought to fear: For Peter du Moulin intended to preach in a Fool's Coat no longer, but till he had preached the People Wise enough to throw it off again. So the Presbyterians, they may conform to certain Ceremonies (once as sinful to them, as a Fool's Coat could be ridiculous to Peter du Moulin) that they may the better introduce their Alterations both in Doctrine and Discipline.  
But that which ought to go a great Way with our Superiors in their Judgement of this Matter, is not only the Benefit of a Balance against the Presumption of any one Party, and the Probability, if not Certainty of their never being overdriven by any one Persuasion whilst they have others to more than poiz against the growing Power of it; but the Conceit itself, if not altogether impracticable, is at least very difficult to the Promotors, and an Office as thankless from the Parties concerned. This appears in the Endeavours used for a Comprehension of Arrians and Homousians under one Orthodoxy, related not only in our common Ecclefiastical History, but more amply in the Writings of Hilary, an Enemy to the Arrians, and Mariana's Spanish History. These public Tests, or comprehensive Creeds were many, Nice, Ariminum, Sirminium, etc. in order to agree both Parties, that neither might stigmatize the other with the odious Crime of Heresy; but the Consequence of all this Convocation and prolix Debate was, that neither Party could be satisfied, each continuing their former Sentiments, and so grew up into stronger Fractions, to the Division, Distraction, and almost Destruction of the whole Empire; recovered a little by the prudent Moderation of Jovianus, and much improved, not by a Comprehension, but Restauration of a Seasonable Liberty of Conscience by Theodosius Magnus.  
Also in Germany about the Time of the Reformation, nothing seemed more sincere than the Design of Union between the Lutherans and Zwinglians: For Luther and Zuinglius themselves by the earnest Endeavours of the Landgrave of Hessen; came together; but the Success was so small, notwithstanding the Grave's Mediation, that they parted scarcely Civil; To be sure, as far from Unity as Controversy is. Luther & Cardinal Cajeten met for a Composure of the Breach betwixt the Protestants and the Pope; but they were too wide for those Conferences to reconcile, no Comprehension could do the Business. A second Essay to the same Purpose was by Melanchton, Cassander & others; the Consequence of it was, that the Parties were displeased, and the Heads suspected, if not hated of their Followers: Nor had Bucer's Meeting with Julius Pflugg any better Success. And how fruitless their Contrivances have been, that with greatest Art and Industry have of a long Time endeavoured a Reconciliation of Lutherans and Calvinists, is well known to those that are acquainted with the Affairs of Germany; and such as are not, may furnish themselves from those public Relations given by those that are employed about that Accommodation; where besides a dull and heavy Progress, the Reader may be a Witness of their Complaint, not only that both Parties are too tenacious, but that they suffer Detraction for their good Endeavours, each Side grudging every Tittle they yield, and murmuring as if they were too hardly born upon. And if Persons so disinterested, and worthy in their Attempts have had no better Issue, I cannot see how those who seem compelled by Worldly Interest more than Conscience to seek and propagate a Comprehension, especially, when it determins in the Persecution of the rejected Persuasions, can with any Reason expect from God or Good Men any better Success to their Design.  
Lastly, there is nothing any Man touched with Justice and Mercy, can allege for a Comprehension, that may not be much better urged to procure a Toleration; they are Men as well as those of other Persuasions, their Faith is as Christian, they believe as sincerely, live as conscientiously, are as useful in the Kingdom, and manage their Dissent with as much Modesty & Prudence, the Church of England herself being in a great Measure Judge, as those on whose Account a Comprehension may be intended: To be sure they are English Men, and have an Equal Claim to the Civil Rights of their Native Country, with any that live in it, whom to persecute, whilst others, and those no better Men, are tolerated, is, as I have already said, The Unreasonable and Unmerciful Doctrine of absolute Election and Reprobation put in Practice.   

III. A SINCERE PROMOTION of General & Practical RELIGION.  
I am now come to the last, which to be sure, is not the least Part of my Answer to the Question propounded, viz. The Sincere Promotion of general and practical Religion, by which I mean the Ten Commandments, or moral Law, and Christ's Sermon upon the Mount, with other Heavenly Sayings, excellently improved, and earnestly recommended by several Passages in the Writings of his Disciples, which forbid Evil, not only in Deed, but Thought; and enjoin Purity & Holiness, as without which no Man, be his Pretences what they will, shall ever see God. In short, General, True and Requisite Religion in the Apostle James' Definition is, To visit the Widow and the Fatherless, and to keep ourselves, through the Universal Grace, unspotted of the World: This is, as the most sacred, so the most easy & probable Way to fetch in all Men professing God & Religion; for that every Persuasion acknowledges this in Words, be their Lives never so incongruous with their Confession; And this being the Unum necessarium, that One Thing only requisite to make Men happy here and hereafter, why should Men sacrifice their Accord in this great Point for an Unity in minute or circumstantial Things, that perhaps inobtainable, and if it were not, would signify little or nothing, either to the Good of Human Society, or the particular Comfort of any individual in that World which is to come? No one Thing is more senseless and condemnable among Men, than their Uncharitable & Mutinous Clamours and Contests about Religion, indeed about Words & Phrases, whilst they all verbany meet in the most, if not only necessary Part of Christian Religion: For nothing is more certain, then if Men would but live up to one half of what they know in their own Consciences they ought to practise, their Edge would be taken off, their Blood would be sweetened by Mercy and Truth, and this unnatural Sharpness qualified; they would quickly find Work enough at home; each Man's Hands would be full by the Unruliness of his own Passions, and in Subjection of his own Will; and instead of devouring one another's Good Name, Liberty, or Estate, Compassion would rise, and mutual Desires to be assistant to one another in a better Sort of Living. Oh how decent, how delightful would it be, to see Mankind (the Creation of one God, that hath upheld them to this Day) of one Accord, at least in the weighty Things of God's practical Law! 'Tis Want of Practice, and too much Prate, that hath made Way for all the Incharity and Ill living that is in the World. No Matter what Men say, if the Devil keep the House: Let the Grace of God, the Principle of Divine Life (as a great Man lately called it in his Speech) but be heartily and reverently entertained of men, that teaches to deny Ungodliness, and converse Soberly, Righteously and Godlily in this present evil World; and it is not to be doubted but Tranquillity, and a very amicable Correspondence will follow. Men are not to be reputed Good by their Opinion; nor is that, nor ought it to be offensive to the Government; but Practice is what must save or damn, temporally or eternally. Christ in his Representation of the Great Day, doth not tell us that it shall be Well SAID, or Well TALKED, but Well DONE good and faithful Servant: neither is the Depart from me YOU, directed to any but the Workers of Iniquiry. Error now is brought from the Signification of an Evil Life to an unsound Proposition, as Philosophy is from Mortification, and well living to an Unintelligible Way of Wrangling. And a man is more bitterly harraced for an Erroneous Proposition, though the Party holding it thinks not so, and the Party charging it denies all Infallible Judgement in this World (so that it may as well be true as false for all him) then for the most dissolute Life. And truly it is high Time, that Men should give better Testimony of their Christianity; for Cruelty hath no Share in Christ's Religion, and Coercion upon Conscience is utterly inconsistent with the very Nature of his Kingdom: He rebuked that Zeal, which would have Fire from Heaven to devour Dissenters, though it came from his own Disciples; and forbade them to pluck up the Tares, though none had a more gentle or infallible Hand to do it by: He preferred Mercy before Sacrifice, and therefore we may well believe, that the Unmerciful Sacrifices some Men now offer, I mean, Imprisoning Persons, spoiling of Goods, and leaving whole Families destitute of common Subsistence, are far from being grateful to him, who therefore came into the World, and preached that Heavenly Doctrine of Forbearing, and Loving of Enemies, and laid down his most Innocent Life for us, whilst we were Rebels, that by such peaceable Precepts and so patient an Example the World might be prevailed upon to leave those Barbarous Courses: And doubtless, very lamentable will their Condition be, who at the Coming of the great Lord shall be found Beaters of their Fellow Servants. In vain do Men go to Church, pray, preach, and style themselves Believers, Christians, Children of God, etc. whilst such Acts of Severity are practised, and any Disposition to molest harmless Neighbours for their Conscience, so much as countenanced. A Course quite repugnant to Christ's Doctrine and Example  
In short; the promoting of this General Religion by a severe Reprehension and Punishment of Vice, and Encouragement of Virtue, is the Interest of our Superiors several Ways.  
1. In that it meets with, and takes in all the Religious Persuasions of the Kingdom; Penal Laws for Religion is a Church with a Sting in her Tail; take that out, and there is no Fear of the People's Love and Duty: And what better Obligation or Security can the Civil Magistrate desire? Every Man owns the Text; 'tis the Comment that's disputed: Let it but please him to make the Text only sacred and necessary, and so leave Men to keep Company with their own Meanings and Consequences, and he not only prudently takes in all, but suppresseth nice Searches, fixes Unity upon Materials, quiets present Differences about Things of lesser Moment, retrives Humanity and Christian Clemency, and fills the Kingdom with Love and Respect to their Governors.  
2. Next, A Promotion of general Religion, it being in itself practical, brings back again ancient Virtue: Good Living will thrive in this Soil; Men will grow Honest, Trusty and Temperate; we may expect good Neighbourhood and Cordial Friendship; one may depend more upon a Word then now upon an Oath. How lamentable is it to see People afraid of one another; Men made and provided for of one God, and that must be judged by that one Eternal God, yet full of Diffidence in what each other says, and most commonly interpret as People read Hebrew, all Things that are spoken backward.  
3. The third Benefit is, that Men will be more industrious; more diligent in their lawful Callings, which will increase our Manufacture, set the Idle and Poor to work for their Livelihood, and enable the several Countries with more Ease and Decency to maintain the Aged and Impotent among them. Nor will this only make the Lazy conscientiously industrious, but the Industrious and Conscientious Man Cheerful at his Labour, when he is assured to keep what he Works for, and that the Sweat of his Brows shall not be made a Forfeit for his Conscience.  
4. It will render the Magistrates Province more facile, and Government a safe as well as easy Thing; for as Tacitus says of Agricola's instructing the Britain's in Arts and Sciences, and using them with more Humanity than other Governors had done, that it made them fitter for Government: So if that practical Religion, and the Laws made to maintain it, were duly regarded, the very Natures of Men now wild and froward by Cross and Jealous Interests, would learn Moderation, and see it to be by far their greatest Interest to pursue sober and amicable Conversation, which would rid the Magistrate of much of his present Trouble: And the Truth is, 'tis a Piece of Slavery to have the Regiment of Ignorants and Ruffains; but there is true Glory and Royalty in having the Government of Men instructed in the Justice and Prudence of their own Laws and Country.  
Lastly, Heaven will prosper so natural, so noble, and so Christian an Essay, which ought not to be the least Consideration with a good Magistrate; and the rather, because the Neglect of this practical Religion hath been the Ruin of Kingdoms and Common Wealths among Heathens, Jews and Christians. This laid Tarquin low, and his Race never rose more. How puissant was Lacedaemon and Athens in Greece, till Luxury had eaten out their Severity, and a pomp●…●…ing, contrary to their Excellent Laws, rendered their Execution intolerable? And was not Hannibal's Army a Prey to their own Idleness and Pleasure, which by esseminating their Natures conquered them, when the whole Power of Rome could not do it? What else betrayed Rome to Caesar's Ambition; and madeway for the after Rents and Divisions of the Empire? The Conquest and Inheritance of a well governed People for several Ages, as long as their Manners lasted. The Jews in like Manner were prosperous while they kept the Statutes and Judgements of their God; but when they became rebellious and dissolute, the Almighty either visited them from Heaven, or exposed them to the Fury of their Neighbours. Nothing else sent Zedekiah to Babylon, and gave him and the people a Prey to Nebuchadnezar and his Army.  
Neglect of Laws and dissolute Living, Andrew Horn (that lived in the Time of Edw. the ●st. as before cited) tells us, was the Cause of their miserable Thraldom and Desolation the Britain's sustained by Invaders and Conquerors. And pray, what else hath been the English of our sweeping Pestilence and dreadful Fires of late Years? Hundreds of Examples might be brought in this Case; but their Frequency shall excuse me.  
Thus have I honestly and plainly cleared my Conscience for my Country, and answered, I hope, modestly, and though briefly, yet fully the Import of the Question propounded, with Honour to the Magistrate, and Safety to the People by an happy Conjunction of their Interests. I shall conclude,  
That as greater Honour and Wisdom cannot well be attributed to any Sort of Men, then for our Superiors, under their Circumstances, to be sought to by all Persuasions, confided in by all Persuasions, and obeyed by all Peswasions; and to make those Persuasions know, that it is their Interest so to do, as well as that it is the Interest of our Superiors, they should, which the Expedients proposed naturally tend to; So, for a further Inducement to embrace them, let it be constantly remembered, that the Interest of our English Governors is like to stand longer upon the Legs of the English People, then of the English Church; since the one takes in the Strength of all Interests, the other leaves out all but her own; and it may happen that the English Church may fail, or go travail again, but it is not probable that English People should do either, while Property is preserved, a Balance kept, General Religion propagated, and the World continues.  
May all this prevail with our Superiors to make the best Use of their little Time, remembering in the midst of all their Power and Grandeur that they carry Mortality about them, and are equally liable to the Scrutiny and Judgement of the last Day with the poorest Peasant, and that they have a great Stewardship to account for; that Moderation and Virtue being their Course, they for the future shall steer, after having faithfully discharged that Grand Trust reposed in them by God and this Free-People, they may with Comfort to their Souls, and Honour to their Names and Actions, safely anchor in the Haven of Eternal Blessedness: So prays with much Sincerity,  
An English-Christian-Man, William Penn.    

A Corollary.  
THat the People are under a great Dissatisfaction.  
That the Way to quiet Differences, and render contrary Interests subservient to the Interest of the Government, is,  
First, To maintain inviolably the Rights of it, viz. Liberty and Property, Legislation and Juries, without Neglect. That slighting and Infringing them hath been the Injury of Prince and People, and early or late the Ruin of the Contrivers of so ill Designs; and when all has been done, the only Expedient has been, to come back again to English Law: This takes in all, pleases all, because it secures and profits all; sacrificing Privileges for the sake of Conformity, makes a Breach upon the Civil Government, alienates the People's Affections from their Prince, lodges Property in the Church, so as none can come at it, but through Obedience to her Rites; for she at this Rate has the keeping of it, a Thing Unknown, as well as Unsafe to the Ancient English Government.  
2dly, That the Prince govern himself upon a Balance towards all Religious Interests; that this best poizes Parties to his Security, renders him Master of an universal Affection, and makes him truly and safely Prince of all his Country; but the contrary Course narrows his Justice and Mercy, makes the Government to shine but upon one Patch of the Kingdom; to be Just but to one Party, and disinherit the rest from their Birthright; that this Course ends in great Disadvantage to the Peace, Plenty and Safety of Prince and People.  
3dly, And lastly, Instead of being Uncharitable, Severe and Cruel for Modifications, let them sleep, and General and Practical Religion be promoted, that which receives an Amen in every Man's Conscience, from the Principle of Divine Life (as the Lord Keeper well called it, in every Breast: That all agree in the most weighty Doctrines; and that nothing will sooner sweeten men's Blood, and mollify their Natures, then employing that Time and Pains they bestow on fruitless Contests, in Living up to what they both Know, Believe and Accord in; that this leaves Men to keep Company with their own Comments, and makes the Text only Sacred, and Holy Living necessary, not only to Heavenly, but Earthly Places, I mean, Preferments, whence Virtue becomes the Door to Favour, and Conscience (now smothered in the Crowd of Sinister Interests) the Noble Rule of Living.  
God Almighty, if it please him, beget Noble Resolutions in the Hearts of our Superiors to use these plain & safe Expedients, that Charity may supplant Cruelty, Contest yield to Good Life, and present Distances meet in a Just and Kind Neighbourhood.  
Great and Honourable is that Prince, Free and Happy that People, where these Things take Place.  
W. P.   

ERRATA.  
Page 6. l. 30. read and may. p. 12. r. Rege. Marg. r. Plut. f. 162. r. 126. f. 19 r. 350. p. 14. l. 13 r. above. l. 14. r. 100 Marg. r. 975. p. 218. p. 17. l. 21. f gained. r restored. p. 21. l. 20. r. never so. p. 23. l. 20. r. there. p. 35. l. 16 r. Rites. pag 44. l. 30. r. Sirmium. l. 35. r. Factions. p. 47. l. 29. r. perhaps is. p. 51. l. 15. r. of the.