REASON'S WHY THE Supreme Authority OF THE THREE NATIONS (For the time) Is not in the PARLIAMENT, BUT In the new-established Council of State, CONSISTING OF His Excellence the Lord General CROMWELL, And his honourable Assessors.  
Written in answer to a Letter sent from a Gentleman in Scotland to a friend of his in London. To which is added the Letter itself.  
Printed at London, and are to be sold by Rich. Moon, at the seven Stars in Paul's Churchyard, near the great North-door. 1653.   

The LETTER.  
THis late dissolution of the Parliament puts us all here in a maze, and the most of this Country conceive themselves thereby to be in a worse condition than ever; both for that the little blossoming hopes, which the People here (especially the Clergy) were beginning to entertain of some favour from the Presbyterian party sitting in the House, are now quite blasted and blown away: as likewise because we apprehend (how justly I cannot tell) that the unexperiencedness, and illiteracie of military men in the disquisition of divine or legal concernments, will by all appearance bring us to submit our necks to the absolute, , and arbitrary yoke of the sword: into which jealousies we are the more forcibly driven, that we think that act, whereby a rapture was made into the sacred authority of England, to have been both rash, unlawful, and strange: and that so much the more, that those Parliamentary men were accounted the refuge and sanctuary of the People, the Representatives of the Nation, the brains of that politic body, whereof the Army is but the hands, and choosers and preferrers of these very men to their respective places, that were the extruders of them. I pray you Sir let me have your opinion of this great and sudden change by the next Post, whether you think the proceeding illegal or no, if conducible or destructive to the good of Scotland, and how England and Ireland stand affected to the now established Council.  
This Tuesday May 10. 1653. Your most humble servant, C.N.   

The ANSWER.  
Sir,  
SOme other returns from me to former Letters of yours upon subjects of the nature of that, which came to my hands this Monday the 16 of May, having as often as they were sent received from you that acceptance, which, by spirits of your ingenuity, is usually bestowed on men of such unprejudicate opinions, as, out of my affection to truth (without by-endes of my own) I have oftentimes very freely laid before you: do now encourage me in answer to your last of the date of the 10 of May, by which you are pleased to demand my sentiment concerning the new established authority, after the abrupt dissolution of the late tridecennial Parliament, to give my pen as much scope, for your satisfaction, and the undeceiving of those, that possibly are misinformed of my Lord General, & his honourable Council of Officers, as in the interval betwixt the time of Mundays coming packet, & that of Tuesdays going one, I can get snatched from my other too too urgent occasions; Therefore do I expect of your courtesy, in case no more pressing business deprive me of leisure, that you would be pleased to pardon the contingence of my excursion beyond the ordinary limits of an Epistle; the prolixity will undoubtedly prove to you the less tedious, that you be thereby informed of the lawfulness of the change: of the Nations of England and Ireland's approbation of it: and of Scotland's greater apparent happiness under it then the former Government; of all being mentioned in your Letter) I am obliged in answer thereto, to give you the best account I can.  
Here do I intent to propound little or nothing of Necessity, although the most of the Parliamentary writers make that to be the main reason of turning the Monarchy of this Land unto a State; and that many others have said that the preservation of both the Army and Country did totally depend upon this late resolute action of breaking up the Parliament: it shall suffice me, and I hope not displease you, that I endeavour to justify the deed by the mildest and most moderate arguments can be devised, and of a nature averse from aspersing (but as little as may be) any former Judicatory.  
Now if the question be stated, whether the Supreme authority be in the Parliament, or the Army; and that for the establishment thereof both power and lawfulness be necessarily required, I doubt me all reason will carry it for the Army. Here would I entreat such as are of another opinion, to make appear what it is they mean by the word Parliament, whether it be that kind of convention which the army did allow to sit at Westm. or the preceding one, consisting of King, Lords, and Commons, which (as the soul of man is said to comprehend the rational, sensitive, and vegetative faculties) was first constituted triennial, and afterwards by virtue of the same Royal source, from whence the former grant did flow, prolonged or perpetuated at the pleasure and discretion of the sitters: I believe that those who having declared against Monarchy do cordially decline it, will rather admit of the former acception of the word; though perhaps it be said, that the army derived its power from the Parliament, and not the Parliament from it; for I may say that the Lords and Commons chose the Army; which Army (when the Lords & many of the Commons had, by pressing too hard upon the Liberty of the subject, forfeited their places) took into their protection that part of the House which voted down Monarchy, and was called the Representatives of England; by which means I take it to be clear enough, that the Supremacy is in the Army, till they be pleased to resign it in the fovour of new Representatives; for Parliaments were never hithereto called but by Kings or Queens of a regal power, and that to parley with them, and advise them in difficult matters, so that the very word thereof seemeth to savour of malignancy, and probably aught to have been altered, as the term of the lower House was turned to that of the House of Commons. Nevertheless passing by mere words, there being nothing more certain than that the thing signified by the word Parliament was nothing else but the King's great Council, there being no more King, such a Counsel by infallible consequence is a non-entity; and therefore Monarchy being extinct, the government of the Nation is inherent for the time in the persons of my Lord General, and his Council of Officers.  
Let not the Nation or any one therein startle at this, for as it is just where the power of Protection is, that there should be the Authority (all of us owing obedience to those that do protect us) so is it no new thing that so legal a right be practically exerced: is it not plainly set down in the Judges, how Ehud, after having killed King Eglon, ruled all Israel for the space of many years? did not the Empire of Rome enlarge itself farther under the command of the Soldiery than the Senate; and the Roman Commonwealth flourish more under Julius Caesar and Augustus, then ever it did either before or after their times? and yet I may very warrantably avouch, that the present Lord General of England was never so much subordinate to this State, as both of them were to that of Rome.  
〈◊〉 we look into the state of Nature, which is that where 〈◊〉 Monarchies and States are posited, both in relation to one another, and in the manner of their own establishment, we shall very evidently perceive, that in whose person or persons the power is devolved, there resteth the Sovereignty. Nor is it mere strength that bringeth one or many to this power, it being requisite that wisdom and other concurring qualifications contribute to so great a work: the Fox is wiser than the Lion, yet is the Lion king of brutes; not but that there are beasts stronger than he, (as is the Elephant) but that there is none in which strength, wit, agility, and generosity together are better commixed. My Lord General and the Officers of his Army are truly such: hath any people or nation out-witted them in their Treaties? hath any been more expedite in the active part? more valiant in the field, more patiented in hardships, or more noble and merciful than they after an obtained victory? Did all these endowments ever meet together in a Parliament, or concentre in a promiscuous unmilitary Body of Country-Gentlemen and Lawyers? It was the Army, I believe, and not the Parliament, by whose wit and valour Ireland was reduced, Scotland pacified, and England established.  
What though they be Swordmen, should that derogate from their Authority? I say, No; for that God, who is Goodness in the abstract, and Wisdom itself, although he be called neither God nor Lord of Learning or Law, is no more entitled the God of Peace than he is the Lord of Hosts; the later title, by all appearance (if I may say so) being the more honourable, in that we worship God because he is powerful, and love him for his goodness.  
Furthermore, there is hardly any Argument that the Lord brings in the Scripture for his being the God of Israel, that is not deduced from his power, as the drowning of Pharaoh's Army in the Red sea, the destroying of the Canaanites, the laying of the foundations of the earth, and setting of bounds to the Sea: nor were the new Israelites, who are the Christians, otherwise convinced of the Divinity of Christ, then by Miracles, which were the extraordinary effects of his power.  
Thus do I conceive that the sole power of the Land is in my Lord General and the Army, and that no State can be well governed, where Authority is divorced from Power; for without Power, Authority is but as a naked Virgin exposed to the raging lust of a satire; nor where these two are separated from each other, can the Good be rewarded, or the Wicked corrected; because a State, how peremptory and commanding soever it be in issuing out of Orders, will never be able without a considerable power to confer recompenses and inflict punishments. And if you think, that by such means we lie at the mercy of the Sword, being under the command of Military Officers; I must needs ask you, If you would rather be under Masters that have no Swords, and so be exposed to the devouring sword of Foreigners?  
The Safety of the People is said to be the Supreme Law, yet are those that have the power in their hands the fittest Judges of that safety; because they are the best able to consider what and where the strength is which is the Guard of the Nation: nor is there any reason why we should be diffident of the discretion of those Officers, who are men of Public spirits, & such as have not sought themselves; and therefore deserve to be accounted our Masters, by defending us from the violence of others, and preserving us in those Rights that belong unto us.  
We were made subject to this late Parliament (if we may so call it) by the mere virtue of that power wherewith the Army did protect it: and thus, by saving of our lives and goods, they have justly gained more dominion over us, than others can claim right unto. And seeing Egypt for several Ages together was well governed by the Soldier- Mamaluks, who were not a freeborn people, Should this Island grudge to be ruled by the freest spirited men in the world, and that under the conduct of my Lord General Cromwell, which title of General (for his sake) ought to be reputed no less honourable amongst us, then that of Imperator was amongst the Romans. And to mount yet a little higher, I must needs think, that the Lord of Hosts, who is not ashamed to take the name of Generalissimo upon him, would not have us to be so inconsiderate, as to disrespect the Government of a General; especially for that being commanded to be like our Father that is in heaven, that Government of all other is without doubt most rational, which draweth nearest to the model of His. God is our General, and did not only hazard his life for our good, but died for us in the person of his Son. Let the Cherubims and Seraphins take the title of Parliament upon them, if they will, yet still is the Lord of hosts above them. For my own part, I would prefer the Sword of Gideon to the Rod of Aaron, and the Laurel to the Long Robe. Is not the High-Constable of France above the Chancellor, and a Knight in the Field before a Doctor in the Law? So should the General of our Army be above any Member in the Commonwealth, and the Officers he adjoineth to him partake of his pre-eminence.  
Whereas you say, that those Military men are not like to be such Politicians, in foreseeing the dangers may befall the Country, as the Members of Parliament; I answer, If that Policy consist in preserving us from the Invasion of strangers, and discovery of Plots amongst ourselves at home, That no men can be thought fit than those that are in hazard daily, by the prevention or withstanding of those inconveniences. Do not Apprenticeships make Tradesmen so perfect in their Callings, that the most ingenious Scholar, how pregnant soever he be in setting down the mysteries of a Trade, cannot be so exquisite in his skill therein, as he that hath served to it any considerable time. The application is easy. And what although (as you say) they were no Lawyers, so they be just; nor Divines, if pious? Yet let us not imagine they are the less these, because they are good Soldiers: should we think Armies want Reason, because they have Strength? I, on the contrary, think that the knowing of their strength adds to their Reason. Why may not a woman be fair, though she be chaste? yea truly I think her Chastity makes her the fairer: if plurality of good qualities were not compatible in one person, the concatenation of Virtues would not be a so generally received opinion amongst the Wise: as Lawyers sometimes are esteemed bold, even when they do but speak; so may Soldiers be called prudent, whilst they are in fight.  
A well-grounded power nevertheless is that which gives the essential being to Authority, and the Sword that which infallibly governs every where both in Monarchies and States. Is not the Man accounted the Head in Matrimony, because of his being more powerful and vigorous than the woman? Genoa chose Spain for her Protector, because of his Power; and Geneva the French King, not for his great Wit, as I conceive it: therefore is it that we should have a more  relation to our immediate Governors, and more intime application of our Obedience to their Commands.  
This I say not to justify every Conquest, although the Scriptures ordain us to be pliable to all superior powers, because power is from God; of which passage I refer the interpretation to Divines, and in the interim aver the unlawfulness of the Turks Authority, albeit it be seconded with sufficient Power; because the Question is not so much of Power alone, as of Power with Goodness, and the concomitancy of Moral Virtues; whereof there is such store in my Lord General and his Officers, that in the Legend of all the Worthies have not been read more glorious achievements with less ostentation, nor more self-denial in such actions as in former Ages have been honoured with the sublimest triumphs.  
I, but (say you) the Parliament chose the General. What then? Although I have already proved the contrary; Is not the King of Poland above the People that elected him? And besides, it is not the Parliament which by his Officers was dissolved, that made him General; the Army had purged it, and new-molded it several times before; and, which is more, if this late Parliamentary Authority was derived from the people, and that the People's safety, which is called the Supreme Law, consist in the welfare of the Army, Is not the Army by that means protector of both, and the Officers thereof the fittest Legislators when any danger is imminent? It is then upon that necessity (as many conceive it) of the preservation of the People's safety, which was thought to be in very great hazard, by the toolong sitting at the Helm of men of private spirits, minding only their own businesses, that my Lord General and his Officers did reassume that power which properly was theirs. Or rather, to express it more warily, as the Lord of hosts stirred up the Parliament to new-model the Army, for the better furtherance of the War: so hath the God of peace moved the Army, by way of retaliation, to new-model the Government, for the greater tranquillity of the People.  
Had it not been for the Army, the last Treaty (I believe) with the late King in the Isle of Wight, had, by establish 〈◊〉 him in his throne, hindered the erection of this Commonwealth; as being perhaps sensible, that the stream of a Parliament can have no longer influence with any show of right over the people, after the drying up of the Regal source from whence it sprang at first. It is that Army then, which by expulsing the old government, is become the true basis of the new one, and by destroying Monarchy hath set up that fabric of a State, the managing whereof lies upon their shoulders. Who burneth the wood engendereth the flame, which domineers over all the combustible stuff it can lay hold on: whilst the Parliament sat, it was the Army did animate them, the Army was their soul, and the Master-wheel by which they moved, in which sense I think my Lord General did acknowledge the Parliaments soveraginty, and in so doing did derogate nothing from himself and the Officers, who virtually governed by them, and thus in my opinion are to be interpreted all addresses of mentioning the Supreme Authority of this Nation, the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, of which authority the Officers of the Army were the very Soul, and they but the outward Organs Microtosmically Representative of the great body of the Republic.  
In your letter you attribute the brains to the Parliament, and to the Army nothing but hands; but I say it is more like the brains were in the Officers, or at least more brains, allowing still the hands and feet to the Common Soldiery: it is not the brains of the Parliament, that have a proper influence upon the body of an Army, for the brains readily admit not of so great a separation and distance from the hands; resolution and prudence should be still coupled together, else the body politic cannot long escape from ruin: timorousness in counsel maketh men forbear the doing of good, and too much temerity in the practical part prompteth hot spirits to the committing of wickedness, but together joined, they make a most excellent temper; for from uniting the vehement heat of the one, to the extreme coldness of the other, there resulteth a remisser quality in its mediocrity comfortable; this affording certainty in direction, and that a celerity in performance of what is good.  
Whereas there is a buzzing, that the only refuge of the People was in former times the Parliament: so may I say that the people of Israel in their stinging afflictions had the like recourse to the Brazen Serpent, which nevertheless was afterwards very lawfully taken down: we ought not to be such nominal Statesmen as to dote upon the words of Parliament, Law, Privileges, or I cannot tell what, whilst all the things signified by them are violated and infringed even by those that idolise them in outward professions: this is but like the doing of mischief in nomine domini, and wrapping a Wolf in a Lamb's skin. What is the matter of words, or how the Supreme Authority be called, provided the country be well governed? Would not any countryman that is hungry, be better pleased, to have a loas of bread presented to him, although you call it a stone, than a stone to break his fast upon, which you shall call a loaf? What else is a Parliament, a sacred assembly, the representatives of all the people? unless their proceed be accordingly very conscionable, and just, they are assuredly but words of no greater veneration then of old were Tyranny, Kingship, and Priesthood, which in Greece, Rome, and England, where they were most honoured, became afterwards odious: after the same manner, though this late Parliament was called the people's Representative, and that the whole Nation did own them for such, yet do the people in general seem to be very well pleased with their dissolution, and not only they, but the soundest part also of themselves, as is perceivable by the facility wherewith so great an action was performed; it being done without any noise, struggle, or yet discontent but of very few.  
But how comes that (say you) to be just now, which formerly in the late Kings coming to the House, but to require the number only of five members, was accounted unjust, and a ground sufficient for making a defensive war? I answer, The case is quite other; for besides that then was a time, wherein formalities were a great deal more to be regarded, Martial Law, and Military achievements being things in this Land at that time quite unknown, the late King by his thus forcible coming in unto the House did break the privileges which both his predecessors & himself had given, and therefore having resigned his power to that Parliament, by virtue whereof they then sat legally, he ought, if there were any refractory members, to have consulted with the remainder of the body concerning them, who together with the rest of the house had by him that placed them undoubtedly been raised, had not they been taken into the tuition and patrociny of the Army, whose Power being from God, he hath accordingly continued unbroken amidst the revolution of various and innumerable dangers, to the astonishment not only of this Island, but of the whole world besides.  
You say the action was violent: I say, No; for it was carried on with the greatest modesty and discretion that could be imagined. As for that which is called the rapture of the Parliament, it was as nothing: for if the action in itself was just (as I affirm it was) officious lingering circumstances, in such important matters as can admit of no delays, are not to be regarded: Formalities, at best, in such a juncture of occasions, are but imbellishing ornaments, or as paintings upon Sepulchers, where there is any tottenness in the main intendments covered by them. A Cordial in a Pitcher is more estimable than Poison in an Agate; and a Homely Friend better worth the accosting, than a Courtly Enemy. He that permits one to wear his Cloak for a while, expecting he will do it civilly, may afterwards require it from him, when he sees him abuse it. If those of the House be collationed with the Officers of the Army, we shall find that Parliaments are composed but of Country spirits for the most part, not much inclined to Milice, and who, though an humour of enriching themselves should impoverish the Country, will be so much the longer before they can goodly be made sensible of it, that suchlike men as they being but very little or seldom acquainted with dangers and losses, are never much nor often touched with a compassion or fellow-feeling of the sufferings of others: and any man will acknowledge himself more obliged to him or them that freely hazard their lives for him, then to such as will but faintly grant his Petition after a twelvemonth's delay perhaps, and expending more in attendance (to speak of nothing else) than he gets by it.  
Admit there be better Lawyers, and greater Scholars amongst those of the Parliament, than any in the Roll of the Army-Officers; yet will it make nothing for your purpose; for that such skilful men ought rather to be subservient to the Officers, than thereby to pretend any Mastery over them, is by this apparent, that Speculation ascends unto Action, wherein consists the life of all business, and consequently, those Literate men should very humbly and affectionately submit their studious elucubrations to the resolute disposure of these other worthy Patriots, who by a Practical industry make the Theory of the former useful to the furtherance of the benefit of this Commonwealth. Should not Law be subordinate to Equity; and Learning to Goodness? God hath revealed more to Good men then to Scholars; and we find not anywhere, that either Divines or Lawyers are men of better lives than others. Take along with you the tract of all the Prophets and Apostles, and you shall see that they were but obscure men both in Law & Literature: yea, their very Kings were taken and selected out of Shepherds, to signify unto us that Law depends not altogether upon Learning: our Minds are able to judge of Good and Bad, as our Eyes of Colours, although many time's self-interest distracteth the thoughts of these our minds, and quite diverteth them from the true and right apprehension of the object; as the Jaundice maketh every Colour appear yellow to the eye, which without that imperfection would have discerned aright of any thing exposed to the sight thereof.  
In my opinion, therefore, the Supreme power ought neither to be in Lawyers, nor Divines, nor both; because those that have been enriched by private contentions, will never harbour in their breasts such public spirits as shall suffice to establish domestic safety, and gain stand foreign invasion: for he is to be accounted the best servant, that doth his master's will, and not that other who says this is my masters will, yet doth but his own. Those acquaint expressions, and flourishes of Rhetoric which in gilding a bad cause, being the effects of depraved Learning, do but cast a thick mist over the eyes of the hearer's understandings, and fill their abused ears with empty sounds of new Nothings, are not to be expected from the Officers of the Army, who, delivering their minds ingenuously without either fared or affectation, prosecute good ends above-boord, by means void of all dissimulation and deceitfulness.  
Here will I not utter so much as one syllable either against the whole Body of the Parliament, or any of its members, in taxing them with unnecessary delays of granting the subjects just demands, their having intended and accordingly prosecuted their own affairs more than those of the Public, and suchlike, whereof there is a great deal already published by others; because I will not offer to do the Soldiery so much wrong, as to justify their actions by the indirect way of Recriminating others: I shall remain content with this comparative expression, in saying, That those who no less freely expose their persons for the defence of their Country, and maintenance of the Liberties thereof, into such extreme perils, as if they had the shift of a new life, wherewith to  themselves the next day (life being more precious than external goods) should be preferred to those that for their own enrichment (if any such there be) would do the meanest prejudice to the livelihood of another.  
The action (say you) is rash, unlawful, and strange. I think it truly more strange, that any such expression should proceed from a rational man: for as for the good of the Universe, water sometimes mounteth, and air descends, quite contrary to the propension of their own natures; so is it that what many times hath been found unlawful in private actions, may in public ones be esteemed very just. Had Moses stood upon his principles of subjection & obedience to the Laws of the Prince of his native Country, (which nevertheless the Army was not so much liable unto in reference to the Parliament) what had become of the Liberty of the people of Israel, and enlargement of the house of Jacob? However, although at the first appearance it seem to be an act of Will, yet is it so far from being unreasonable, that it is the last act and result of the highest pitch of Reason, and more praiseworthy than that action of the hands, whereby is brought a wholesome Potion to purge the brain for the safety of the whole body. If the Reasons have not as yet been made known, it is because of those worthy Gentleman's being employed about matters of greater moment; theirs being the practical, & so fit for Government, and that of others but Speculative, which grounded merely upon an aerial discourse of Laws, of aquum, of bonum, or other suchlike specious things, proving, for the most part, or rather always, in such spirits as are not bend on action, but common and general notions, do never produce any considerable thing; which defect is not to be found in my Lord General, nor the Officers of his Army.  
You say they are not so literate as those of the Parliament: I say, For any thing you know they are; but albeit they were not, it is not much matter, so they be positively good, and comparatively better than such as are more learned; which I trust they are: for with so much knowledge as is fitting they are endowed; and in stead of superfluous additions of Literature, they make a serious application of the skill they have (wherewith they are qualified in a competent measure) to the perfect accomplishment of the most commendable actions. It is not he who makes the best definition of Virtue, that is therefore the most virtuous man. The best Divines are not the godlyest persons, nor were there any Lawyers in the Golden age. Subtilty in circumstances, trivial quirks, and curious researches, in sub-distinguishing of abstracted flimflam-notions, help very much to cry up men to the title of good Scholars, in the estimation of frothy Wits.  
That we have men powerful, and such as are good, to rule over us, is all we should desire: and if by misfortune we were necessitated to make election of one alone of those qualities, it were better (in my opinion) our Governors were destitute of goodness, then that they lacked power: for good men, without power, would but leave us to the spoil of every body, whose wickedness they are not able to suppress, and abandon us as stubble before the fire, to those would bring us to a sudden & utter desolation: but so they have power, although otherwise they be bad enough, they will in all probability protect us against both foreign and domestic Invasions, were it to no other end, but to pray upon us themselves; which nevertheless they will be loath to do with too great extremity, because by those means not being able to do it long, they would by injuring others but weaken themselves, and so at last abstain from it out of the mere motive of self-love. If Power be thus much to be preferred, when it goeth fingle, which I speak in favour of the Soldiery, Why then should not the Officers of the Army have their due pre-eminence above any other, seeing besides the sacred power that is in their hands, they are the greatest patterns of Piety, and examples of Goodness, that the world affordeth?  
It is absolute and uncontrollable (say you) and therefore dangerous: I answer you, If an absolute power must rest somewhere in every government (according to the doctrine of the best politicians) it can (in my opinion) abide in no more convenient place then its own Sphere. What earthquakes happen, and violent concussion of things of great weight, even by what (to our seeming) is of far less moment, when they are debarred the liberty of working about their own centre, as air or fire enclosed when either of them appetes an expansion!  
Though other States now adays be not governed so, what then? all States are not governed after one way, nor Monarchies neither; because the different inclinations of those that have the power, make what is unjust in one place to be accounted elsewhere just, and yet possibly there may be latitude enough for justice in both. Was not the body of the Israelites an Army, led under the conduct of their General Moses? who albeit he admitted of elders to ease him of a burden, yet did not any acknowledge the Supreme Authority to lie in them. Would you in Scotland be like the jews in their convenanting, and yet disagree from them in that wherein did consist their greatest honour? There is in Scotland (as I conceive it) no other kind of native but Cavalier or Presbyterian; and seeing this latter one thrust out the master of that other, these others will (in my opinion) be content to be ruled by those that did protect them against the Malignancy of their competitors: if the other party be not pleased with it, I must think certainly, that it is upon a ground more destructive to that country, such as to have the Ministry to overmaster it, and all the people implicitly tied to have their dark faiths pined on those men's black sleeves, although most of them, for covetousness, cruelty, and oppression, be equal to the most corrupt of the laity.  
You are afraid that by this change Scotland shall be more in slaved then ever. I must confess it hath not that show of liberty, which it had in the days of Malcolm Kianmore; but taking it in general (some few persons only excepted that squeezed the rest) the Egyptian bondage was hardly greater than that which it endured under Presbytery, whose yoke in that Nation becoming lighter, as the power of the English increased therein (though not altogether taken off; because of the supposed prevalency, which some of the Presbyterially-affected Members of the late dissolved House, had over the counsels of the prime rulers there) you have now just reason to thank God, that by this change you are like to be relieved out of the jaws of so wild a monster, and freed from that Knoxian slavery, which made you miserable within yourselves, and despicable unto all the other Nations of the World. Nor needeth any of you to grudge at his being constrained (when it shall so happen) to submit no longer to the supreme discipline of the Kirk; seeing the taking of such a coercive course is to use no more violence, then when one is hindered from prosecuting his own ruin, and yet (I think) the Commonwealth of England is not able to provide you with Governors that shall be more tender in laying of burdens upon your consciences, than my Lord General, and those select Officers of his Army, under whose command you are, who are all of them haters of contentious divinity, and the forcing of men's minds to embrace unknown opinions; and who having done so great matters both in England and Ireland, will be now (I hope) very careful not to eclipse their reputation by misusing Scotland.  
And although there should be found in it some discrepancy in matters of faith from the upright and true one; yet so long as those opinions break not out into action, and do only hover about things concerning another world, there is no doubt but that they will acknowledge, how without the help of man, or any need of his coacting power, God hath a way of his own for the reclaiming of such: this strain to any judicious man will seem more moderate than that of the Presbyter, whose ambition it was to have the Scotish Covenant tread underfoot all the other professions in the world.  
Tell me, I pray you, were not all of you (and that not long ago) epidemically infected with the dease of believing that in the year of the last jubilee, the said covenant should be pompously set up in Saint Peter's Church at Rome? nay further, was there any thing more commonly preached amongst you, than the cursing of Meroz for not coming out to help the Lord against the mighty? which text they applied both for and against Monarchy, whilst the enemy remained still one and the same, so cunning they were in making a nose of wax of the Scriptures: as likewise the cursing of those that did the work of the Lord negligently, and withheld their hand from blood. After this manner they stirred up (you know) the people there to be active in going about the design of making an universal Kirk, which if they would do, promises were made to them, of being Gods select and covenanted people, of the driving of the Nations before them, and their eating the fat and drinking the sweet: all which had events so suitable to my apprehension, though contrary to their predictions, that now there is no more common saying, then that your Ministers have been false Prophets from the beginning, and men of doctrines inconsistent with any secular government, being so much the more dangerous, that they did always speak of God, and accounted their cause to be his.  
For had they been contented to have said in their Pulpits, Gentlemen, I am to tell you a story, and a tale truly worthy your hearing, although it might have been thought a kind of irreligious expression in a place of such reverence; yet would it have been of less prejudice to the auditory, and impiety in the speaker, then to have expressed themselves after this fashion, Thus saith God, this is the meaning of his covenant, even when what they spoke was upon contrivances of their own; for the promoval of by ends destructive to many duties which God requireth of us.  
Such as were not Presbyterians, they aspersed with the name of Papist; and would have continued still so, if Providence had not put the power in the hands of those, who, though better Protestants then they, do nevertheless acknowledge the Papal authority to be less tyrannical than theirs, the effects whereof are so pernicious, that it were better for you in that Country to be left to your selus, without any Government at all, the mere common laws of Nature, in such a case of Anarchy, being able to retain you in those duties, which, being drunken with the dregs of a submission to Hierarchical Sovereignty (whether in one or many) you would otherwise be enforced to violate.  
These, and many other such reasons (which any thing amply to deduce would require a Treatise apart) do give sufficient evidence against Ecclesiastical supremacy, whereof we stand in no great need; seeing all divine Laws are naturally imprinted in the heart of every good man. Covetousness expelled the Papists from amongst you, Pride overthrew the Bishops, & Lying, with both these, is like to pull down your Ministers; neither of all which qualifications, whether jointly or severally, are any way beseeming men of a Legislative Jurisdiction.  
Your Presbyterian Tenets, like Scyrrus and Procrustes beds (to which long men were equalled by curtaling, and the short by racking out their limbs) will have all manner of Consciences so adapted to them, as to make the tenderest hearts shed innocent blood, and bring the proudest Potentates to submit to their Mas-Johns Delphian Oracle, who possibly pretending to a Prophetical spirit, leaveth almost no place untouched with his entousiastick bolts, but that wherein is fixed the blank of Truth, which he maketh show to levelly at. Thus, without considering the various tempers of minds, they would befool all men alike, and take the same course with the highest spirits, which Numa Pompilius did with the Commons of Rome, by means of his Nymph Agyria: or Sertorius in Spain by his white Hind with the inhabitants there, & so possess men with conceits of their infallibilities in the dispensations of providence, even when they say no more, but, This will come to pass, for so God hath decreed it: Presbytery must rule, for it is according to the Word; it being more easy to say any thing, then to give a good reason for it: for, to speak truly, they never bring any reason but Testimony, and that only grounded upon their own bare interpretations, flowing from worldly respects, self-interests, and private designs towards dignity, profit, or pleasure, which for many years together hath run so impetuously in that country, to the stirring up of choler and indignation in the auditory, against those at whose professions or inclinations they had any dislike, that, as a clown who hath long fasted, will with a little strong drink be quickly fuddled, those incendiary Churchmen do just so work upon the spirits of such as by a long abstinence from any nourishing doctrine are with their hot-waters of sedition apt to be inebriated; there being no more several kinds of strong liquor, than there is variety of operating upon such addle-brained heads.  
There is hardly any judicious man but knoweth, that it was neither learning, piety, nor patriotism that persuaded any of that Nation to Presbytery, nor had they any of those three qualities in them that were the persuaders; yet let us not think it strange: for, as a cup of good Sack will make one fight, where Reason cannot prompt him to it, when he is sober; so will the vapouring words of fiery preachers oftentimes intoxicate a giddyheaded populass, when sound and solid instructions are able to make no impression.  
But that all Scotland, comprehending all the degrees of its inhabitants, should have been brought under that yoke, is (in my opinion) the only miracle that was performed by Presbytery, and one (I think) never a whit lesser than any mentioned in the Romish Legend, had that people of late been endowed with spirits equal to those of their predecessors. This degenerate deviation hath made most of the Nations of Christendom (if not all) look asquint upon them.  
When the Presbyterians of Scotland prevailed against the King's party, they entitled themselves The people of God, because of their victories; which appellation, for such a reason, is every whit as due to the Great Turk, by having subjugated to his Sceptre all the Christians of Greece and Armenia. They likewise prove in Scotland the same conclusion by their being afflicted; which title (should it require no other cause) might as properly have been applied to the Canaanites and Gibeonites. After such a manner of reasoning, we may infer all things to be precious and sweet, that are of the colour of Gold and Honey: we may very well know, that affirmatively to attribute one general thing to two, makes not therefore those two things to be one.  
In a word, if that their seeming wisdom in Divinity had been turned to a more real performance of goodness towards one another, they would have gained more Proselytes. I would not here have any man to think, that in twitting those men, I speak against Learning, but plainly assever that the Divines, both Episcopal and Presbyterian, by curbing men's Fancies, and suffering nothing to pass the Press which did not like them, buried much Learning under the ashes of their sullenness, which since their fall hath begun to break forth into flashes of a most comfortable flame and cheerful light. Of Presbytery at this time will I not speak much more, because to rip it up to the full would require a Volume by itself.  
Another part of your Letter seemeth to import, that you do not hold yourselves under this Government so altogether free as formerly you were. What is (I pray you) the freedom you had under the Presbyter? was there any but such as shored up their interests, that could say he had a propriety to his own goods? was there ever any thing more common amongst the Kirk-men there, then to preach men out of their estates, which no other Protestants of this Isle did offer to do, but they? By which tyranny of theirs, and other pressures proceeding from them, the most part of the inhabitants of that Land were so heavily oppressed, that laying aside those that are sequestered, whereof there are not many, the remanent of the Country is now under a far more easy yoke than it was at any time these nine years past: for although the Sess in Scotland be six times greater than in England, and truly more than that poor Country can well bear; yet is it much less than it was under the Government of Presbytery: for I have known Gentlemen there, whose whole rents were taken up to the payment of Public deuce, etc.  
It sticks (I know) in your stomaches, that the English should be your Masters: yet to be united with England, and to be accounted as one Nation, I believe you would not think dishonourable. The territories of these two dominions God hath joined and united; and truly I think that in former Ages it was the devil did disunite their hearts; of which division the Frenches taking advantage, struck in with the Scots: but what gain was it to Scotland to have their brothers in England their enemies? or did your joining with France every Scotland? Did it make your Traffic to flourish, or put your Gentlemen into any happy state? or rather, did not your falling out with England put you into a quite contrary condition, and made you such, that you had almost hardly any thing else to brag of, but an ancient poverty, and invincible hatred against your brothers?  
I know your common regret and condolement is, that Scotland was never so before as it is now, it having enjoyed a longer Series of Kings, without interruption of a Conquest, than any other kingdom in Europe, although their subdument was attempted by the Romans, Picts, Danes, Saxons, and others, some whereof went thorough with their designs in this your neighbour-nation of England. What then? though England hath had more change of Governors, so have fair women of suitors, even unto prostitution: and therefore, if besides the valour and prudence of the natives, any thing else, such as hills, bogs, heath, hunger, cold, or suchlike, proceeding from the inaccessibility and poverty of the Country, hath kept you till now a Virgin-nation, unexposed to the embraces of a foreign Conqueror, you have nothing there to boast of more than others, whose valour being equal with yours, hath been oftener broke, for the want of these rugged assistances which do constantly attend you; a resistance made from an  virtue, being much more commendable, than a non-admittance because of outward impediments: as a chaste woman at a Royal Court, is more praiseworthy than an encloistered Nun.  
To be a free Nation, is to be subject to reasonable men: for, to conquer our own passions, and submit ourselves to a just power, is the greatest freedom of any. To be left at random without Governors; to be in a continual state of war with your neighbours; or, like Cannibals, to be still devouring one another, without fear of Law, or terror of punishment, is not to enjoy the liberty of a free Nation; for that permission to do wickedly, cannot be accounted liberty in a humane society; nor is the freedom of such of the West-Indian Savages as remain unconquered, any great honour to them. After the Roman conquest of Greece, (which nevertheless was accounted (and that deservedly) a very warlike Nation) the Athenians and Lacedmonians, who before that time did constantly war against one another, lived then together in a very peaceable tranquillity, and were not ashamed of their subjection to the Roman Authority. What feuds have you had in Scotland, to the utter undoing of several great Families, even when you did repute yourselves as free a people as any in the world? If now you would attain to the renown of being an honourable Nation, strive with the English by way of emulation, who shall love other best, who shall show most valour against a foreign invader, who shall be most judicious in Counsel, who shall give greatest encouragement to Trading, and Merchandise it with most dexterity. You would have thought it a most glorious thing to have conquered England, although but to have done that in matter of the union of both Nations, which king James, for all his somuch-cried-up wisdom, could not get effectuated. What although the English have conquered the best part of Scotland, if they have the same end before their eyes, which you would have had? Nor can I imagine, so that you jointly become one Nation, that there is any greater matter in it, whether the English or you have been most instrumental in the means whereby that great work is accomplished, then whether with the right or left hand we shall eat, so the meat be good, and that we digest it well.  
The Picts have been amongst you, and you expelled them: so were the Danes and Saxons, and you likewise overthrew them: the Romans have been there also, and you embraced their language: nor do I think it is for nought that you have these many ages passed spoke the English tongue: they are now come to dwell amongst you, to acquaint you as well with their virtues, as with the dialect of their speech; and if they do it in somewhat more than equal terms, do not you nevertheless offer to repine thereat; the Sabins were in a better condition than ever, after their conjunction with the Romans, although the Sabins were the more ancient people, and that the Roman name swallowed up the glory of the other. You should not flatter yourselves with fond conceits, and thereby incur the danger of losing the substance for the shadow; for to be such a Free-Nation as to be civil with authority above others, is a thing rather to be wished for then expected by you: the sovereign of the Planets hath removed his beams the further from you, and N●ptune fettered you with his watery shekels, that you may not harbour in your mind such ambitious thoughts: it is much if the whole Isle unanimously joined, perform such magnanimous achievements.  
Now for your further information in this particular, I have thought it not unexpedient to send you with this Letter, another of that worthy gentleman N. LL. written to a gentleman in the country touching the dissolution of the late Parliament, and the reasons thereof; wherein is shown you, how providence, many times, by several invisible degrees, brings forth her proposed intendments with those instruments, which seem to do the contrary; how many of the Parliament-men were content to self-center, and lay little designs for their own greatness, as if they had been called to the house to make up private breaches, and not public ones: how private interests were carried on by way of exchange: how incredibly long their delays were in granting of the most just petitions: how they did spin out the time in the tossing of a feather even whilst they suffered the weightiest mats of any to sink: how unjust they were in the courses taken for paying of Soldier's Debenters, and in their emitting of Surveyors for overvaluing and undervaluing of lands to their own private advantage, and palpable prejudice to the Commonwealth; and how by such means men of inconsiderable fortunes before they were memberfied, had afterwards raised themselves to huge and vast estates.  
He shows us also in in the same Letter, how God hath singularly owned my Lord GENERAL and his ARMY, in crowning them by very remarkable successes, and how without the Army the Parliament had been exposed to the affronts of the multitude, as when by the Apprentices they were shut up within doors: he tells us how the liberty of the people being recovered by the sword, the Army ought to be the supervisor of those liberties, that no encroachment be permitted to be made thereupon: and that he who hath power to command, hath also power to guide, the one without the other being insignificant: he expresseth likewise, how the formerly-mentioned defects and abuses were to be redressed and remedied either by the Parliament, People, or Army: the first were so cunning they would not; the second so unskilful that they could not; and that therefore it was incumbent to the third like wise guardians to do it: and thus as arbitrators taking into their most serious consideration the safety of the people, whereof themselves were a part, after they had perceived that neither addresses, reasons, proposals, nor petitions could prevail any thing, they were forced to have recourse to that of the Physician ure & seca: furthermore he shows, to the end we startle not at the change of the Supreme Authority from the name of Parliament to that of Counsel, that it is of as little effect, and signifieth no more than if a King or State should make some alteration in the titles of their credentials: being pleased hereto to subjoin this Question, Whether it be better to be in slavery under the name of Liberty, or in liberty under the effects of slavery. All which, with many more, you in the said letter may peruse at leisure, without omitting that passage of his where he sayeth, that the Presbyterian is a Jesuit in a Geneva-cloak, only some what more insupportable.  
Here without Latin, Greek, or any other language then plain English, have I delivered my mind unto you, and that barely, without searching so much as one testimony, or citing any place in either sacred or humane writings; for that the truth seeks neither corners, nor embellishments; and that it is true which I have written; it is my firm opinion, in which I intent to continue, till with stronger arguments I be convinced, then as yet I have mentioned, or shall be able to produce, in asserting my Lord Generals proceed, and vindication of his Excellency and honourable Council of Officers.  
These things (I hope) you will take in the better part, that they have proceeded from me who you know was never nor am a Papist; who am not, nor ever will be a Presbyterian: and who affects no Sectarianism; but loves to be such a sincere professors of the name of Christ, as to lay hold on faith in him, and accordingly regulate the whole course of my life thereby: and who besides those adjuncts will not decline this other one, that I am a compatriot of yours, and such a one (which I speak without either flattery or self-love) as hath ever from his years of discretion upwards, studied the promoval of the honour of his native country, and prosecuted it to the outmost of his endeavours.  
This Tusday the 17. May 1653. Your humble servant  
FINIS.   

In the title Page, next line but one before the imprinted, for added read premised. Pag. 2. line 21. Read Prolixity whereof. page 2. lin. 25. read all which,