ENGLAND ANATOMISED: Her Disease discovered, and the Remedy prescribed. In a Speech by a MEMBER of the (so called) PARLIAMENT.  
Mr. SPEAKER,  
I Am not (I fear) the only person, that comes hither hopeless of doing any other good, (or good any other way) than by opposing 〈◊〉, and endeavouring to hinder the designs of those, who have brought the lives, liberties, and estates of the people of three Nations, to have no other support, than a Government without any basis or foundation. Although, I hope, we have not any of us so naturalised ourselves in the devil's dominions, by our habitual crimes, as not to return to the light of reason. Sir, I should willingly be silent, could the voice and cries, complaints and groans, of the many thousands in these Nations (that have felt, and feel, the weight of the oppressors) be heard. But whilst they are not heard, or not regarded; and others (as unconcerned for them, and too much for themselves) pursue not the trust reposed at their Elections to sit here, Nolo meam perdere: I will not, must not, dare not, stifle my reason, barter my conscience, nor lose any opportunity of declaring what I am, and think, others should be. And when Religion and Law, the two pillars of a Commonwealth, have Sampson's shoulders (the power of the Sword) set to pull them down, sit as a calm spectator. You know well, Sir, that it is the part of such as are called, to consult the concernments of the Republic; Semper vigilare & populorum suscipere curam; according to that Encomium of Hector by Livy, Nocturnu vigilans & reipub. providens, etc. But he that sleeping doth nothing, is more commendable, (or rather less culpable) than he that waking doth amiss. Give me therefore liberty, in discharge of myself, and as concerned for others, to be your Remembrancer of the occasion and business, for which we that now sit (and others, that, for aught I know, have as much right as ourselves to sit here) were at first convented. And if it appear (as questionless 'tis too obvious) that we have degenerated or deviated, gone contrary to, or, at least, walked out of the good roadway, to the peace, security, and advantage of the three Nations; I am unwilling to believe, that any man (out of a supposition that it is too late) will yet longer defer to return, and experience to himself, that, Nihil est comodius vel tutius via Regia. Mr. Speaker, I shall not so much as question, whether those sitting here, are, or are not, a Parliament. But sure I am, that many useful Members (if it were such) are wanting, to complete this Body; and as sure, that it were safest and best to join the Head to the Members. The Constitution of Parliaments was to consult and advise with the King, for the government of his Subjects; To that purpose were we called hither: And how far we have prosecuted that, all Europe, yea, the whole World, is made judge. Let us make some retro-spection, and take a short survey of the transactions, by, and amongst us, since our first meeting. We sat not long, before our inconsiderate folly and arrogancy gave the King just cause to absent, and to decline our actings. It did not then, (to some) but hath since (to all) appeared, that there were two great designs of two sorts of persons, sitting in the House; one of which (as in charity I do believe of many that were then Members) was, to purge the Council of the King, and to reclaim the insolence, and over-haughtinesse, of the Bishops and Clergy: The other, that which hath been since fatally effected, the destruction of them all. How to distinguish these persons (yet) I know not; there being many Members (doubtless) still in being, (and some, I hope, sitting here) than were then, and 〈◊〉 continue, hearty lovers of their King and Country. But all, or most of us, without distinction, are too guilty; some, by acting; others, by cowardly suffering that dismal Tragedy to be acted. I need not prompt your Intellects, in the nature of those horrid crimes we all have cause to mourn for: I fear, too many understood too well, and acted deliberately and resolvedly what was intended, to attain to what they proposed. The sum of all is plain; That out of pretensions to zeal for God, love to Religion, allegiance and duty to our King, and care for our Country, we caused so many thousands to be murdered, so many families to be ruined, the King (whom we promised and protested we would make a glorious Prince) to be betrayed and beheaded; his Queen banisHed, his Royal Children exposed to the mercy of Strangers, Religion discountenanced, the Church defaced, the Laws violated, men's persons imprisoned, their estates confiscate and sold. And all this to serve our own base ends, to enrich ourselves, and to advance Libertinism, Anabaptism, Quakism, and Papism. Mr. Speaker, I wish these were not undeniable truths; but such we all know they are: And yet such, as some, notwithstanding, can add to their confidence in committing, the impudence of justifying and defending them, asserting their right and authority by their power and violence: Though it be as ridiculous to wise men to maintain an Authority, in the subject of dethroning and deposing their Sovereign, as 'tis profane and damnable to entrench upon the prerogative of Heaven. And if the King be, Sicut Vicarius Dei, & Minister in terra; How dare any, but the great Emperor and Deputer of that Viceroy, undertake or design his removal. It was, Sir, (no doubt) just cause of sadness, upon the spirits of all honest persons, that had been too eminent in the prosecution, of what received so ill success, to have that little power or possibility they had of retriving, what, before the murder of our late King, seemed possible to be recovered, wrested from them, by the force and violence of the then, and now pretenders to reformation, having no other warrant then their rebellious swords, which hath been the only Corrilium they have used, like the unskilful Physician, Omnium occulos sanare. And when afterwards some were left sitting, that were seriously sensible of their miscarriages, and endeavoured to evidence their remorse, by resetling and reducing what they found wholly out of frame; then for some few self-interessed, irreligious, sacralegious persons, by mere supremacy of power, to enforce their dissolution, and give way to the succession of a corrupt, anabaptistical, Jesuitical sect of people, to introduce an absolute arbitrary Government, without Rule or Law, save only that of the wills of the Legislators, that altered as their occasions and advantages prompted. What must it then be to us, if there be any hear (as God forbidden the contrary) that dare be honest, to see the Tragedy continued, acting and acted for so many years together; and when we now pretend an Authority, and have thereby opportunity to become men again (having hitherto appeared to the universal spectators, as Beasts, Woolus, Tigers, and a mere Antropophagis, devouring, and causing one another to be devoured) and to demonstrate how fully sensible we are of our fat all and damnable errors, to find the people ready to be entangled in another Labyrinth, out of which, 'tis evident to all rational capacities, there is no clue to conduct us, but that thread of Government which hath been rashly cut in sunder. Mr. Speaker, I must not waste your time, nor need not (I think) speak much of this subject, all of us having too great testimony in ourselves of the sad truths I mention. But (Sir) I beseech you, let us not amidst our ills be so desperate, as to believe ourselves altogether unsafe, without attempting greater. No, let us rather take up the Nunquam sera; and whilst some possibility remains of such a compensatory restitution, as may render us capable of mercy, do something may procure it. I cannot boast the Art, whereto some here pretend, of Preaching, although I may more justly now assert a legal Call, to preach Repentance (evidencing my own by a free confession) than they to ascend the Pulpit, and become Umpires of Scripture, without other warrant, than what they collect by abuse of that part on't, which reacheth them to provide for those of their own household, which they have done so successfully, that they have inverted the Text, and are worse than Infidels. But, Mr. Speaker, I shall beg your consideration only of two things; First, Of the condition wherein we, and the three Nations now are; and, if I may speak my own thoughts freely, I hope I shall speak some of yours too in them. 'Tis not unknown, that we were sometimes the wonder of the world, famous for Good, though now for Evil, and our Nation so Glorious, and happily enriched with Fruitfulness, Peace and Plenty, and Governed by such wholesome Laws, that those in League with us, loved and honoured us, and our enemies envied and admired us: And now we are become so hatefully ridiculous, that we are passed the benefit of love or pity, and are, and must be, looked on by all (save such as by-respects seduceth) as a People without a Government, or Governors: and what consequence may be from thence expected, is easily inferred from the fatal dissensions, and general misfortunes of those people we read of, When there was no King in Israel. I may, Sir, challenge the best, and most critical Etymologist, to give the Government we now are under (if we have any) a significant Christian name. I am confident none, or very few here can think, (what ever it may be expedient for us at present to say or declare) that it is a Parliamentary Government, every man rational, having so much natural Logic about him to evince the contrary. Parliaments were never heard of before Kings, nor never made, legally called, or constituted, but by the King. If then there be no King, what follows? Cessante causa, cessat etiam effectus.  
But suppose an Impossibility, that there was a Parliament in England which did survive the King that caused it; yet, was it not dissolved, and legally too, notwithstanding the Act we door on, that it should not be dissolved but by Act of Parliament? However, others may truly expound that Act of force, a wrong; we are estopped by our assent, to say it was illegal. Was the standing at the  door, before the late King's death, and with violence denying entrance to men, duly chosen by their Country, imprisoning their persons, and appointing a certain number of their own to sit, and directing them to enact what they had designed, and nothing else. Was that lawful? Were those persons than left a complete Parliament? and were the rest lawfully secluded? And is it not as lawful for the same persons, by the same power, when those sitting begun (or were feared) to be too honest for their purposes, utterly to annihilate and dissolve them? I beseech you, Sir, let us not befool ourselves into an opinion, of cheating the eyes of the world with a mask, that every one may see through. But finding now our constitution, and the state of our maladies; let our next consideration be, how, with the skilful Physician, to restore our own and the people's health, so manifestly impaired, and become almost incurable. To which purpose, (Sir) it will not be amiss to consult, whether many, yea, most (now) that undertake to prescribe remedies, are fit persons to administer this kind of Physic. It is a rule most consonant to reason, in all Trials at Law or Equity, that persons concerned in any cause depending, shall not have power to assert by their own testimony their right or interest, much less to adjudge their own properties. And how much more unreasonable and unjust is it, that those persons who are become purchasers, and possessed of the Estates and Inheritances of the Person, whose Title upon no other ground is oppugned, to be judges of his right and interest, and to give Laws, by no other authority, than what is founded upon Rebellion and Treasons? And what justice can be expected from men, that have no rule but their carnal and diabolical principles, to guide their partial agitations to their own present advantages?  
Mr. Speaker, I could wish that more of us, than I fear there are, were of Menander's judgement; and could be persuaded that, Honestius & tutius est pauperem esse quàm injuste divitem; and that (sure) would deter us from adventuring upon temporal gain, by an eternal loss; and from digging into the Mines of other men's treasure, by murders, thefts, rapines, treasons and rebellions, which must inevitably determine in our own and the people's destruction. Let us cast our thoughts a little upon the fate of Ziba, Achitophel, Absalon, Adonijah, Adoram, Judas, and others, amongst the many Traitors in Holy Writ; of Persons, Grac●hus, Catiline, Decius-Brutus, Trebonius, Milo, Caepio, Marcus, Lollius, Bessus, and others, in History abroad; and Straw, Cade, Tiler, Cromwell, and others at home: And let us not dare to pursue their hellish stratagems, unless we would willingly suffer the same destiny. We have, Sir, by sad experience, at too dear a rate, bought and learned the knowledge of our errors, and how unsuitable the Government we pretend to is, unto the constitution of these Nations, having introduced nothing but confusion, and opened the gap to all licentiousness; confirming that for truth which others heretofore have found, that, Multos Imperitare malum.  
Sir, I shall instantly make an end (for this time) of speaking, and hearty desire, we all would now begin some seasonable acting. And by way of prevention, (lest too soon it become too late, to do what now we may; and that be forced from us, which now, by making a virtue of the necessity incumbent on us, we may with advantage offer) speedily lay by our private interests, and reassume the public spirits befitting us;  our King, re-settle the Government under him, bear that durus sermo, freely to surrender what any of us. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from him; and join together with him in a firm establisHment of the Church and State, Law and Religion; that the Land may once more flourish, and the honour, plenty, and prosperity of the people be again revived. And that we (now) should be persuaded thus to do, I find no reason to despair, having such violent inducements, by the opportunities abroad and at home now tendered us. The sickly reign of Treason, in all probability, (whether we will or not) coming near its period, Can we, Mr. Speaker, be so sottish, or bewitched in our security so much, as to believe our scarlet sins have not ere this reached Heaven, and that the great Avenger of blood will not soon overtake us, unless we fly to the Sanctuary of Penitential Expiation? No, Sir, be we assured, if men concerned should cease to act their duties, Heaven itself, by some miracle, would create a way to such an eminent Justice. It is for want of this the Nations mourn; for this, the silent sighs of the immured prisoners, the longing wishes of our unjustly banished Countrymen, the afflicted mother's lamentations for their murdered sons; the pitied wants of the innocent unsuspecting Infants, of their undone Parents, do invoke Heaven. In fine, the voice of GOD commands, and all good men desire it; let none therefore dare to contradict it.  
FINIS.