Killing No Murder. Briefly Discoursed in Three Quaestions. By WILLIAM ALLEN. And all the people of the Land rejoiced: and the City was quiet, after that they had slain Athaliah with the Sword. 2. Chro. 23.21. Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the Lord, they made a Conspiracy against him in jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there. 2. Chro. 25.27. To his Highness, OLIVER CROMWELL, May it please your Highness: HOw I have spent some hours of the leisure your Highness hath been pleased to give me, this following Paper will give your Highness an account. How you will please to interpret it I can not tell, but I can with confidence say, my intention in it is, to procure your Highness that justice no body yet does you and to let the people see, the longer they defer it the greater injury they do both themselves and you: To your Highness justly belongs the honour of dying for the people, and it cannot choose but be an unspeakable consolation to you in the last moments of your life, to consider, with how much benefit to the world you are like to leave it. 'Tis then only (my Lord) the titles you now usurp will be truly yours, you will then be indeed the deliverer of your Country, & free it from a Bondage little inferior to that from which Moses delivered his. You will then be that true Reformer, which you would now be thought. Religion shallbe then restored, Liberty asserted and Parliaments have those Privileges they have fought for We shall then hope that other Laws will have place besides those of the Sword and that justice shallbe otherwise defined then the will & pleasure of the strongest, and we shall then hope men will keep oaths again, and not have the necessity of being false, and Perfidious to preserve themselves and be like their Rulers. All this we hope from your Highness' happy expirat on, who are the true Father of your Country for while you live we can call nothing ours, and it is from your death that we hope for our inheritances. Let this consideration arm and fortify your Highness' mind against the fears of death, and the terrors of your evil Conscience, that the good you will do by your death, will something balance the evils of your life. And if in the Black Catalogue of High Malefactors, few can be found that have lived more to the affliction and disturbance of mankind, than your Highness hath done yet your greatest enemies will not deny but there are likewise as few that have expired more to the universal benefit of mankind than your Highn: is like to do. To hasten this great good is the chief end of my writing this Paper and if it have the effects, I hope it will your Highness will quickly be out of the reach of men's malice and your enemies will only be able to wound you in your memory, which strokes you will not feel. That your Highness may be speedily in this security is the universal wishes of your grateful Country. This is the desires and prayers of the good and of the bad and it may be if the only thing wherein all Sects, and factions do agree in their devotions, and is our only common prayer. But amongst all that put in their Requests and supplications for your Highness' speedy deliverance from all earthly troubles, none is more assiduous, nor more fervent than he, that with the rest of the Nation hath the Honour to be May it please your Highness: Your Highness' present Slave and vassal. W. A. To all those Officers and Soldiers of the Army, that Remember their engagements, and dare be honest. I Hearty wish for England's sake, that your number may be fare greater than I fear it is; and that his Highness his frequent pargations may have left any amongst you that by these Characters are concerned in this Dedication. That I and all men have reason to make this a doubt, your own actions, as well as your tame sufferings do but too plainly manifest. For you that were the Champions of our Liberty, and to that purpose were raised, are not you become the instruments of our Slavery? and your hands that the people employed to take off the yoke from of our necks, are not those the very hands that now do put it on? Do you remember that you were raised to defend the Privileges of Parliament, and have sworn to do it; and will you be employed to force Elections, and dissolve Parlements, because they will not establish the Tyrant's iniquity, and our slavery by a Law? I beseech you think upon what you have promised and what you do, and give not Posterity as well as your own Generation the occasion to mention you with infamy, and to curse that unfortunate valour, and success of yours, that only hath gained victories (as you use them) against the commonwealth. Can ever England have thought to have seen that Army that was never mentioned without the titles of Religious, Zealous, Faithful, Conragious, the fence of her liberty at home, the Terror of her enemies abroad; Become her Gaolers? not her Guard, but her oppressors? not her Soldiers, but a Tyrant's executioners, drawing to blocks and gibbets all that dare be honester than themselves? This you do, and this you are; nor can you ever redeem your own honour, the trust and love of your Country, the estimation of brave men, or the prayers of good; If you let not speedily the world see you have been deceived; which they will only then believe, when they see your vengeance upon his Faithless head that did it. This if you defer too long to do, you will find too late to attempt, and your Repentance will neither vindicate you, nor help us. To let you see you may do this as a lawful action, and to persuade you to it as a Glorious one, is the principal intent of this following Paper: Which, what ever effects it hath upon you, I shall not absolutely fail of my ends; for if it excites not your virtue and Courage, it will yet exprobrate your Cowardice and Baseness. This is from one that was once one amongst you, and will be so again when you dare be as you were. IT is not any Ambition to be in Print, when so few spare Paper and the Press, nor any instigations of private revenge or malice (though sew that dare be honest now want their causes) that have prevailed with me to make my sel● the Author of a Pamplet, and to disturb that Quiet which at present I enjoy, by his Highness' great favour and injustice. Nor am I ignorant to how little purpose I shall employ that time and pains, which I shall bestow upon this Paper. For to think that any reasons or persuasions of mine, or convictions of their own, shall draw men from any thing wherein they see profit or security, or to any thing wherein they fear loss, or see danger, is to have a better opinion both of myself and them, then either of us both deserve. Besides, the subject itself is of that nature, that I am not only to expect danger from ill men, but censure and disallowance from many that are good; for these opinions only looked upon, not looked into (which all have not eyes for) will appear bloody and cruel; & these compellations I must expect from those that have a zeal, but not according to knowledge: If therefore I had considered myself, I had spared what ever this is of pains, and not distasted so many, to please so few, as are in mankind, (the honest and the wise.) But at such a time as this, when God is not only exercising us with a usual and common calamity, of letting us fall into slavery, that used our liberty so ill; but is pleased so far to blind our understandings, and to debase our spirits, as to suffer us to court our bondage, and to place it amongst the requests we put up to him; Indignation makes a man break that silence that prudence would persuade him to use; if not to work upon other men's minds, yet to ease his own. A late Pamphlet tells us of a great design discovered against the person of his Highness & of the Parlements coming (for so does that junto prosane that name) to congratulate with his Highness, his happy deliverance from that wicked and bloody attempt. Besides this that they have Ordered that God Almighty shallbe mocked with a day of thanksgiving (as I think the world is with the plot) & that the people shall give public thanks for the public calamity, that God is yet pleased to continue his judgements upon them, and to frustrate all means that are used for their deliverance: Certainly none will now deny that the English are a very thankful people. But I think if we had read in Scripture that the Israelites had cried unto the Lord, not for their own deliverance, but the preservation of their Task masters, and that they had thanked God with Solemnity that Pharaoh was yet living, and that there was still great hopes of the daily increase of the number of their Bricks: Though that people did so many things not only impiously and profanely, but ridiculously and absurdly, yet certainly they did nothing we should more have wondered at, then to have found them Ceremoniously thankful to God for plagues, that were commonly so brutishly unthankful for mercies; And we should have thought that Moses had done them a great deal of wrong, if he had not suffered them to enjoy their slavery and left them to their Tasks & Garlic. I can with justice say my principal intention in this Paper is not to declaim against my L. Protector or his Accompl●es, for were it not more to justify others then to accuse them, I should think their own actions ●●d that work sufficiently, and I should not take pains to tell the world what they know before. My design is to examine whether if there hath been such a plot as we hear of; and that it was contrived by Mr. Sindercombe against my L. Protector, and not by my L Protector against Mr. Sindercombe (which is doubtful) whether it deserves those Epithets Mr. Speaker is pleased to give it, of bloody wicked, and proceeding from the Prince of darkness. I know very well how uncapable the vulgar are of considering what is extraordinary & singular in every case, and that they judge of things, and name them by their exterior appearances, without penetrating at all into their causes or natures. And without doubt when they hear the Protector was to be killed, they straight conclude a man was to be murdered, not a malefactor punished: for they think the formalities do always make the thing themselves, and that 'tis the Judge and the Crier that makes the justice, and the Goal the Criminal: And therefore when they read in the Pamplet Mr. Speakers speech, they certainly think he gives these Plotters their right titles; and, as readily as a High-court of Justice, they condemn them, without ever examining whether they would have killed a Magistrate, or destroyed a Tyrant, over whom every man is naturally a Judge and an Executioner; and whom the laws of God, of nature, and of nations expose, like Beasts of prey, 〈◊〉 be destroyed ●s they are met. That I may be as plain as I can, I shall first make it a question (which indeed is none) whether my Lord Protector be a Tyrant or not? Secondly, if he be. Whether it is lawful to do ●ustice upon him without Solemnity, that is, to Kill him? Thirdly, if it be lawful, Whether 〈◊〉 is like to prove profitable or noxious to the Commonwealth? The 〈…〉 makes Tyrants of two sorts. Tirannus sine Titulo and Tirannus Exercitio. The one is called a Tyrant because he hath no right to govern, First. Quastion the other because he governs Tyrannically. We will very briefly discourse of them both, and see whether the Protector may not with great Justice put in his claim to both Titles. We shall fussiciently demonstrate who they are that have not a right to govern, if we show who they are that have; and what it is that makes the power just, which those that rule, have over the natural liberty of other men. To Fathers within their private Family's nature hath given a Supreme power. Every man, says Aristotle, (a) Pol. l. 1 c. ● of Right governs his wife & children, and this power was necessarily exercised (b) Gen. 〈◊〉. 24 every where, whilst families lived dispersed, (c) Arist. ibid. before the constitutions of Commonwealths; and in many places it continued after, as appears by the laws of Solon, and the most Ancient of those of Rome. And indeed as by the laws of God (d) 1. Tim. 5.8. and nature, the care, defence, and support of the family lies upon every man whose it is; so by the same law there is due unto every man from his Family a subjection and obedience, in compensation of that support. But several Families uniting themselves together to make up one body of a Commonwealth, & being Independent one of another, without any natural Superiority or obligation, nothing can introduce amongst them a disparity of Rule and subjection, but some power that is over them; which pour none can pretend to have but God and themselves. Wherefore all power which is lawfully exercised over such a society of men (which from the end of its institution we call a Common wealth) must necessarily be derived either from the appointment of God Almighty, Vid: Hooker Eccles. Pol. lib 1. c. 10. who is supreme Lord of all & every part; or from the consent of the Society itself, who have the next power to his, of disposing of their own liberty, as they shall think fit for their own good. This power God hath given to societies of men, as well as he gave it to particular (e) Ex. 21.5. persons, and when he interposes not his own authority and appoints not himself who shallbe his Vice-gerents and rule under him; he leaves it to none but the people themselves to make the election, whose benefit is the end of all government. Nay when he himself hath been pleased to appoint rulers for that people, which he was pleased peculiarly to own, He many times made the choice, but left the Confirmation & Ratification of that choice to the people themselves. So Saul (f) 1. Sam. 10.1. was chosen by God, and anointed King by his Prophet, but made King by all the people at Gilgal. (a) 1 Sam. 12.2. David was anointed King (b) ●. Sam 16.14. by the same Prophet but was afterwards, after saul's death, confirmed by the people of Juda, (c) 2. Sam. 2.4 and 7. years after by the Elders of (d) 2. Sam. 5.3 Israel, the people's deputies, at Chebron. And it is observable, that though they knew that David was appointed King by God & anointed by his prophet, yet they likewise knew that God allowed to themselves not only his confirmation, but likewise the limitation of his power, for before his Inauguration they made a league (e) 2 Sam. 5. ● with him; that is, obliged him by compact to the performance of such conditions as they thought necessary for the securing their Liberty. Nor is it less remarkable, that when God gives directions to his people concerning their government, he plainly leaves the Form to themselves: for he says not, when thou shalt have come into the land which the Lord thy God gives thee, Statues super to Regem, But, Si [f] Deut. 17.14. Dixeris statuam. God says not, thou shalt appoint a King over thee, But if thou shalt say, I will appoint; leaving it to their choice whether they would say so or no. And it is plain in that place that God gives the people the choice of their King, for he there instructs them whom they shall choose, Emedio fratrum tuorum, one out of the midst of thy brethren; much more might we say, if it were a less manifest Truth, that all just power of government is founded upon these two bases, of God's immediate command, or the People's consent. And therefore whosoever arrogates to himself that power, or any part of it, that cannot produce one of those two titles, is not a Ruler, but an Invader, and those that are subject to that power, are not governed, but oppressed. This being considered have not the people of England much reason to ask the Protector this Question; Quis constunit te virum Principem & judicem super nos? Who made thee a Prince and a Judge over us? If God made thee, make it manifest to us. If the people, where did we meet to do it? Who took our Subscriptions? To whom deputed we our authority? And when and where did those Deputies make the choice? Sure these interrogations are very natural, and I believe would much trouble his Highness his Council, & his Junto to answer. In a word, that I may not tire my reader (who will not want proofs for what I say, if he wants not memory;) If to change the government without the people's consent: If to dissolve their Representatives by source, and disannul their Acts: If to give the name of the People's Representatives to confederates of his own, that he may establish iniquity by a law: If to take away men's lives out of all course of law, by certain Murderers of his own appointment, whom he names, A High Court of justice. If to decimate men's estates, and by his own power to impose upon the people what Taxes he pleases: And to maintain all this by force of Arms: If I say all this does make a Tyrant, his own impudence cannot deny but he is as complete a one as ever hath been since there have been Societies of Men. He that hath done, & does all this, is the person for whose preservation the people of England must pray; but certainly if they do, 'tis for the same Reason that the old woman of Syracuse prayed for the long life of the Tyrant Dyonisius, lest the Devil should come next. Now if instead of God's command or the people's consent his Highness hath no other Title but force & fraud, which is to want all Title: And if to violate all laws & propose none to Rule by, but those of his own will, Be to exercise that Tyranny he hath usurped, and to make his Administration conformable to his claim: Then the first Question we proposed is a Question no Longer. But before we come to the second, being thnigs are more Easily perceived & found by the description of their Exterior Accidents, & Qualities, than the defining their Essences: It will not be Amiss to see, whether his Highness hath not as well the outward Marks & Characters by which Tyrants are Known as he hath their Nature & Essential properties: Whether he hath not the Skin of the Lion & Tail of the Fox, as well as he hath the Violence of the one & Deceit of the other. Now in this Delineation which I intent to make of a Tyrant, all the Lineaments, all the Colours, will be found so Naturally to correspond with the life, that it cannot but be doubted, whether his Highness be the Original or the Copy. Whether I have in drawing the Tyrant Represented him: or in Representing him Expressed a Tyrant. And therefore lest I should be suspected to deal un-sinceerly with his Highness and not to have Applied These follownig Characters, but made them, I shall not give you any of my own Stamping but such as I find in Plato, Aristotle, Tacitus, & his Highness own Evangelist, Machiavelli. 1. Almost all Tyrants have been first Captains & Generals for the people: The Marks of a Tyrant. Arist. pol. lib. 5 c. 10. vid. mach. Discor. lib. 1 cap. 40. under pretences of vindicating, or defending their Liberties. Imperium evertant Libertatem praeserunt; cum perverterunt, ipsam aggrediuntur; says Tacitus (a) An lib. 1. Idem alibi. Caterum libertas & Speciosa nomina pra. texuntur, nec quisquam alunam servitium. & Demina ionem, sibi●●●cupivil, ut non eadem ista vocabula us●●paret. Mach. Discors. l. 2. c 13. to subvert the present Government, they pretend Liberty for the people, when the Government is down, they then Invade that liberty themselves, this needs no Application. 2. Tyrant's accomplshes their ends much more by fraud then force. Neither virtue nor force (says Machiavelli) (b) il princ. cap. 9 are so necessary, to that purpose as una Astutia fortunata, a Luckie craft: which says he (c) Disc. lib. 2. c 13. without force hath been often found sufficient, but never force without that. And in another place (d) Princ. c. 18. he tells us their way is Aggirare I cervelli de gli huo. mini con Astutia etc. With cunning plausible pretences to impose upon men's understandings & in the end they master those that had so little wit as to rely upon their faith & integrity. 'tis but unnecessary to say, that had not his Highness had a faculty to be fluent in his tears, and eloquent in his execrations: Had he not had spongy eyes, and a supple conscience; and besides to do with a people of great faith, but little wit: his courage and the rest of his Moral virtues, with the help of his Janizaties, had never been able so sarr to advance him out of the reach of justice, that we should have need to call for any other hand to remove him, but that of the Hangman. 3. They abase all excellent persons and rid out of the way all that have noble minds Et Terrae filios extollunt; and advance Sons of the Earth. To put A ristotle into other words, they purge both Parliament and army till they leave few or none there, that have either honour or conscience, either wit, Interest, or Courage to oppose their designs. And in these Purgations (Saith Plato) (e) Tyrants do quite contrary to Physicians; for they purge us of our humours, but Tyrants of our Spirits. 4. They dare suffer no Assemblies. Not somuch as Horse-races. 5. In all places they have theyre Spies & Dilators, that is, they have their fleetwood's, their Broughalls, their St. John's (besides innumerable sinalle spies) to appear discontented & not to side with them; that under that disguise they may get trust, and make discover●ers. They likewise have their Emissaties to send with forged letters. Arist Pub. l. 5. cap. ●●. Plato de Repub. l. 8. Ibid. If any doubt this let him send to Major general Browne, and he will Satisfy Him. 6. They Stir not without a guard, nor his Highness without his life guard. 7. They impoverish the people, that they may want the power, if they have the will to attempt any thing against them. His Highness' way is by taxes, Excise, Decimations etc. 8. They make war to divert and busy the people: Arist. Ibid. Arist. Ibid. Id Ibid. & Plato de Repub. lib. 2. And besides to have a pretence to raise ●oneys and to make new Levies, if they either distrust their old forces or think them not efficient. The war with Spain serveth his Highness to this purpose, and upon no other 〈◊〉 was it began at first, or is still continued. lawful, and furnish him with Title: his Highness will likewise be then content to understand Scripture in their favour & furnish them with Tithes. 10. Michiev. Pr. cap. 19 Machiavelli adds And do grateful things themselves. But that I omit; for I really am unprovided of an instance for his Highness, for I have not yet heard of any good he hath done himself. Arist. Ibid. Plato de Repub. lib. 8. Id. & Plut. passim. Things that are odious and distasteful they make others executioners of, and when the people are discontented, they appease them with Sacrificing those Ministers they employ: I leave it to his Highness his Major generals to ruminate a little upon this point. 11. In all things they pretend to be wonderful careful of the Public: to give general accounts of the money they receive, which they pretend to be levied for the maintenance of the State, and the prosecuting of the war. His Highness made an excellent Comment upon this place of Aristotle in his speech to this Parliament. 12. All things set aside for Religious uses they set to sale; that while those things last, they may exact the less of the people. The Cavaliers would interpret this of the Dean and Chapters Lands. 13. They pretend inspirations from Gods, and responces from Oracles to Authorize what they do, his Highness hath been ever an Enthusiast. And as Hugh Capet, in taking the Crown, pretended to be admonished to it in a dream by St. Valery, and St. Richard: so I believe will his Highness do the same, at the instigation of St. Henry and St. Richard his two Sons. 14. Lastly, Above all things they pretend a love to God and Religion. This Aristotle calls Artuae Tyrannic●rae potissimam; the surest and best of all the Arts of Tyrants, and we all know his Highness hath found it so by experience. Histor. of Franc. Ibid. lib. 5. c. 11. He hath found indeed that in godliness there is great gain; and that preaching and praying, well managed; will obtain other kingdoms as well as that of Heaven. His indeed have been pious Arms, for he hath conquered most by those of the Church, by prayers and (a) Preces & Lacrymae sunt arma Ecclesiae. tears. But the truth is, were it nor for our honour to be governed by one that can manage both the spiritual and temporal sword, and Roman like, to have our Emperor our High Priest: We might have had preaching at a much cheaper rate, and it would have cost us but our Tithes, which now costs us all. Other marks and rules there are mentioned by Aristotle to know Tyrants by: but they being unsuitable to his Highness' Actions, and impracticable by his temper, I insist not on them. As among other things (b) Pol. lib. 5. c. 11. Aristotle would not have a Tyrant insolent in his behaviour, nor strike people But his Highness is naturally chollerique, & most call men Rogues, and go to Cuffs. At last he concludes he should so fashion his manners, as neither to be really good, nor absolutely bad, but half one, half t'other. Now this half good is too great a proportion for his Highness, and much more than his temper will bear. But to speak truths more seriously, and to conclude this first question. Certainly what ever these characters make any man, it cannot be denied but his Highness is, and then if he be not a Tyrant, we must confess we have no definition nor description of a Tyrant left us; & may well imagine there is no such thing in nature, and that 'tis only a notion and a name. But if there be such a Beast, and we do at all believe what we see and feel; let us now inquire, according to the method we proposed, whether this be a Beast of game that we are to give law to, or a Beast of Prey to destroy with all means are allowable and fair? In deciding this question authors very much differ, Whether it be lawful to kill a Tyrant?. as far as at concerns supteame Magistrates, who degenerate into Tyrants. Some think they are to be born with as bad (c) Ames Parentem si aquns est; si non, seras. Parents; and place them in the number of those misc. iess (d) Sicut sterilitatem, aut nimios imbres etc. Tacit. that have no other cure but our patience. Others think they may be questioned by that supreme law of the people's safety; and that they are answerable to the people's Representatives for the bre cho their trust. But none, of sober sense, makes private persons judges of their actions; which were indeed to subvert all government. But on the other side, I find none, that have not been frighted or corrupted out of their reason, that have been so great enemies to common justice, and the Liberty of mankind; as to give any kind of indemnity to a Usurper, who can pretend no title, but that of being stronger; nor challenge the people's obedience upon any other obligation but that of their necessity, & fear. Such a person, as one out of all bounds of humane protection, all men make the Ishmael, (e) Gen. 16.12. against whom is every man's hand, as his is against every man. To him they give no more security than Cain, his fellow-murtherer and oppressor, promised to himself, to be destroyed by him that found him first. The reason why a Tyrant's case is particular, & why in that every man hath that vengeance given him, which in other cases is reserved to God and the Magistrate, cannot be obscure, if we rightly consider what a Tyrant is, what his crimes are, and in what state he stands with the Common wealth, and with every member of it. And certainly if we find him an enemy to all humane society, and a subverter of all laws, and one that by the greatness of his villainies, 〈…〉 of justice: we shall not at all think it strongs if then he have no benefit from humane society, no protection from the law, and if, in his case, justice dispenses with her forms. We are therefore to consider that the end, for which men enter into society, is not barely to live, which they may do dispersed, as other Animals: but to live happily; and a Life answerable to the dignity and excellency of their kind. Out of Society, this happiness is not to be had, for singly we are impotent, and desective, unable to procure those things that are either of necessity, or ornament for our lives; and as unable to descend and keep them when they are acquired. To Remedy these defects, we Associate together that what we can neither enjoy nor keep, singly, by mutual benesits and assistances, one of another, We may be able to do both. We cannot possibly accomplish these ends, if we submit not our passions and appetites to the laws of reason and justice. For the depravitie of man's will makes him as unfit to live in Society, as his necessity makes him unable to live out of it. And if that perverseness be not regulated by laws, men's appetites to the same things; their avarice, their lust, their ambition would quickly make Society as unsafe, or more, than Solitude itself, and we should associate only to be nearer our misery and our ruin. That therefore by which we accomplish the ends of a Sociable life, is our subjection, and submission to laws, these are the Nerves and Sinews of every Society or Commonwealth; Without which they must necessarily dissolve and fall asunder. De Civit. Dei. And indeed (as Augustine says) those Societies where law and justice is not, are not Commonwealths or Kingdoms, but Magna Latrocinia, Great Confederacies of Thiefs and Robbers. Those therefore that submit to no la are not to be reputed in the Society of mankind, which cannot consist without a law. Therefore Aristotle (a) Pol. lib. 3. c. 12. saith, Tyranny is against the law of nature, that is, the law of humane Society, in which humane nature is preserved. For this reason they deny a Tyrant to be Partem Civitatis; for every part is subject to the whole: and a Citizen (says the same author, (b) Lib. 3. c. 8. is he who is as well obliged to the duty of obeying, as he is capable of the power of commanding. And indeed he does obey whilit he does command, that is, be obeys the laws, which (says Tully) Macistratibus praesunt, ut Magistratus praesunt Populo, are above the Magistrates, as the Magistrates are above the people. And therefore a Tyrant that submits to no law; but his will and lust are the law, by which he governs himself and others, is no Magistrate, no Citizen or member of any Society, but an Ulcer and a disease that detroyes it, and if it be rightly considered, a Commonwealth by falling into a Tyranny all solutely loses that name, and is actually an other thing: Non est civitas quae unius est viri (says Sophocles) that which is one man's, is no city. For there is no longer King and People, or Parliament and people, but those names are changed (at least their natures) into Masters and Servants, Lord and Slaves: And Servorum non Civitas erit sed magna Familia (says Grotius) (c) de jur. bell. l. 3. c. 8. where all are Slaves, 'tis not a City but a great Family. And the truth is, we are all members of Whithall, and when our master pleaseth, he May send for us thither, and there bore through our Ears at the door posts. But to conclude, a Tyrant, as we have said, being no part of a Commonwealth, nor submitting to the laws of it, but making himself above all law: There is no reason he should have the protection that is due to a member of a Commonwealth, nor any defence from laws, that does acknowledge none. He is therefore in all reason to be reckoned in the number of those Savage Beasts, that full not with others into any heard: that have no other defence but their own strength; making a prey of all that's weaker, and, by the same justice, being a prey to all that's stronger than themselves. In the next place, let it be considered, that a Tyrant making himself above all law, & defending his injustice by a strength which no power of Magistrates is able to appose: he becomes above all punishment, above all other justice, then that he receives from the stroke of some generous hand. And certainly the safety of mankind were but ill provided for, if there were no kind of justice to reach great villainies, but Tyrants should be Immanitate Scelerum tuti, secured by the greatness of their crimes. Our laws would be then but Cobwebs indeed, made only to catch Flies; but not to hold Wasps or Hornets: And it might be then said of all commonwealths, what was said of Athens, That there only small Thiefs were hanged, but the great ones were free, and condemned the rest. But he that will secure himself of all hands, must know he secures himself from none: He that flies justice in the Court, must expect to find it in the street: & he that goes armed against every man; arms every man against himself. Bellum est in eos, Qui judiciis Coerceri non possunt (says Cicero) We have war with those against whom we can have no law. The same Author, Cum duo sint decertandi genera, etc. There being two ways of deciding differences, the one by judgement and Arbitration, the other by Force: the one proper to men, the other to beasts. We must have recourse to the latter, when the former cannot be obtained. And cerrainly by the law of nature, Grot. de jur Bel. l. 1. c. 8. ubi cessat Iudici●m, when no justice can be had, every man may be his own Magistrate, and do justice for himself. Ibid. For the law (says Grotius) that forbids me to pursue my right but by a course of law: Certainly supposes, Vbi copia est judicii, where law and justice is to be had: otherwise that law were a defence for injuries, not one against them: and quite contrary to the nature of all laws; would become the protection of the guilty against the innocent, not of the innocent against the guilty. Deut. 17. Now as it is contrary to the laws of God and nature, that men, who are partial to themselves, and therefore unjust to others, should be their own judges, where others are to be had: so is it as contrary to the law of nature, and the common safety of mankind, that when the law can have no place, men should be forbidden to repel force by force, and so be left without all defence & remedy against injuries. God himself left not the slave without remedy against the cruel Master: And what Analogy can it hold with reason, that the slave that is but his Master's money; and but part of his Householdstuff, should find redress against the Injuries, and insolences of an imperious Master, and a free people, who have no superior but their God, should have none at all against the injustice and oppression of a Barbarous Tyrant? And were not the incongruity fully as great, that the law of God permitting every man to kill a thief, if he took him breaking open his house in the night: because than it might be supposed he could not bring him to justice; But a Tyrant, that is the common Robber of mankind, and whom no law can take hold on, his person should be, Sacrosanct, cui nihil Sacrum aut Sanctum, to whom nothing is Sacred, nothing Inviolable? But the vulgar judge ridiculously like themselves. The glister of things dazzles their eyes, and they judge of them by their appearances; and the colours that are put on them. For what can be more absurd in nature, and contrary to all common sense, then to call him thief and Kill him, that comes alone, or with a few to Robb me: And to call him Lord Protector and obey him, that robs me with Regiments and Troops? Ex. 21. As if to rove with two or three Ships were to be a Pirate, but with fifty an Admiral? But if it be the number of adherents only, not the cause, that makes the difference between a Robber and a Protector: I wish that number were defined, that we might know where the Thief ends, and the Prince begins. And be able to distinguish between a Robbery and a Tax. But sure no English man can be ignorant, that it is his Birthright to be master of his own Estate; and that none can command any part of it but by his own grant and consent, either made expressly by himself, or Virtually by a Parliament. All other ways are mere Robberies in other names: Auferre, Trucidare, Rapere, falsis nominibus imperium, Ex. 22.2. atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem apellant: To Rob, to extort, to murder Tyrants falsely called to Govern, and to make desolation, they call to settle peace: in every asseasement we are Robbed, the Excise is Robbery, the Custoumes Robbery, & without doubt, when ever us prudent, 'tis always lawful, to kill the thiefs, whom we can bring to no other justice. Tacit. in Vid. Agric. And not only lawful, and to do ourselves right, but Glorious, and to deserve of mankind, to free the World of that common robber, that universal Pirate, under whom, and for whom, the lesser beasts prey. This Firebrand I would have any way extinguished: This Ulcer I would have any hand to lance. And I cannot doubt but God will suddenly sanctify some hand to do it, and bring down that bloody and deceitful man, who lives not only to the misery, but the infamy of our nation. I should have reason to be much less confident of the justice of this opinion, if it were new, and only grounded upon Collections and Interpretations of my own. But herein if I am deceived, I shall however have the excuse to have been drawn into that error, by the examples that are lest us by the greatest and most virtuous, and the opinions of the wisest and gravest men, that have lest their memories to posterity. Out of the great plenty of confirmations I could bring for this opinion, from examples and authorities; I shall select a very few; for manifest truths have not need of those supports; and I have as little mind to tyre myself as my Reader. de in Bel: l b 1. c. 4. First therefore a Usurper that by only force posseseth himself of government, and by force only keeps it, is yet in the State of war with every man, says the learned Grotius: and therefore every thing is lawful against him, that is lawful against an open enemy, whom every private man hath a right to kill. Luc. l b. 2. Hostis hostem occidere volui says Scaevola to Porsena; when he was taken, after he had failed in his attempt to kill him; I am an enemy and an enemy I would have killed; which every man hath a right to do. Contra publicos hosts, & Majestatis Reos, omnis homo miles est (says Tertullian,) Against common enemies, and those that are Traitors to the common wealth, every man is a Soldier. This opinion the most Celebrated nations have approved both by their laws & practices. The Grecians (as Zeaophon tells us) who suffered not Murderers to come into their Templs, in those very Temples they erected Statutes to those that killed Tyrants, thinking it fit to place their deliverers amongst their Gods. Cicero was an eye witness of the honours that were done such men, Graeci hominet etc. Pro milont The Greeks' (sayeth he) attribute the honours of the Gods to those that killed Tyrants: What have I seen in Athens and Other Cities of Greece! What Religion Paid to such men! What songs! What Eulogies! Plut. in Solon. By which they are Consecrated to Immortality, and almost Deified! In Athens, by Solon's Law, Death was not only decreed for the Tyrant that oppressed the State, but for all those that took any Charge, (a) Let his Highness' junto market this. De Repub. lib 8. In Public. or did beat any office while the Tyranny remained. And Plato tells us the ordinary Course they took with Tyrants in Greece. If (says he) the Tyrant can not be expulsed by Accusing him to the Citizens; then by secret practices they dispatch him. Amongst the Romans the Valerean law was, si quis injussu populi etc. Who soever took Magistracy upon him, without the command of the people it was lawful for any man to kill him. Plutarch makes this law more Severe, ut Injudicatum occidere eum liceret. Qui Dominatum concupisceret. That it was lawful by that law, before any judgement past, to kill him that but Aspired to Tyranny. Likewise the Consular law which was made after the suppression of the Tyranny of the Decemvirate, made it lawful to kill any man that went about to Create Magistrates, sine Provocatione etc. Without reference and Appeal to the people. By these laws and Innumerable testimonies of Authors, it appears; that the Romans, with the rest of theyre Philosophy, had learned from the Grecians what was the natural Remedy against a lyrant: nor did they honour these less that durst apply it. Who as Polybius Says (Speaking of Conspiracies against Tyrants) were not, Hist. lib. 6. Deterrimi Civium, sed Generosisiimi Quique, & Maximi Auimi; not the worst and meanest of the Citizens, but the most Generous, and these of Greatest virtue. So were most of these that conspired against Julius Caesar. He himself thought Brutus worthy to succeed him in the Empire of the world: And Cicero, who had the title of Pater Patriae; if he were not conscious of the design, Yet he at least affected the honour of being thought so. Quae enim Res unquam etc. What Act (says he) o Jupiter more glorious! Philip. 2. more worthy of Eternal memory, hath been done not only in this City, but in the whole world! In this design, as the Trojan Horse, I willingly suffer myself to be Included with the Princes. In the same place he tells us what all virtuous Romans thought of the fact aswell as he. Omnes Boni, Quantum in ipsis fuit, Caesarem occiderunt: aliis consilium: aliis animus: aliis occasio defuit, Voluntas nemini, All Good men (Saith he) as much as lay in them killed Caesat: Some wanted Capacity: some Courage: Others opportunity: But none the will to do it. But yet we have not declared the extent of their severity against a Tyrant. They exposed him to fraud, as well as force, and left him no security in Oaths, and compacts: that neither law nor Religion might defend him, that violated Both. Cum Tyranno Romanis nulla fides, nulla jurisjurandi Religio, Saith Brutus in Appian: Appian. lib. 7. de Benef. with a Tyrant the Romans think no faith to be kept, observe no Religion of an Oath. Seneca gives the Reason; Quia quicquid erat, quo mihi cohaereret etc. For what ever there was of mutual obligation betwixt us; his destroying the laws of humane society, hath dissolved: Sin. so these that thought, that there was in hostem nefas, that a villainy might be committed against an enemy: these that professed, non minus juste quam fortiter arma gerere, Id. to manage their arms with justice as well as Courage: these that thought faith was to be kept even with the perfidious, Saul of (b) Regulus Qui longum semper same etc. Senec. in exerc. 4.7. Mich. Ephes ad 5. Nich. yet they thought a Tyrant Can receive no injustice, but to be let live; and that the most lawful way to destroy him was the Readiest. No matter wether by force or fraud; for against Beasts of Prey, men use the toil and the net as well as the spear and the lance. But so great was their detestation of a Tyrant that it made some take their opinions from their passions; and vent things which they could but ill justify to their morality they thought a Tyrant had so absolutety forfeited all title to humanity, and all kind of Protection they could give him or his: that they left his wife without any other Guard for her chastity but age and deformity; and thought it not adultery what was committed with her. Many mote testimonies might I bring; for 'tis harder to make choice then to find plenty. But I shall conclude with Authorities that are much more Authentic; and examples we may much more sately Imitate. The law of God itself decreed Certain (c) Vtique morietur vir ille Deut. 17.12. death to that man that would do presumptuously, and submit to no Decision of Justice. Who can Read this and think a Tyrant ought to live? But Certainly neither that, nor any other law were to any effect, if there were no way to put it in execution. But in a Tyrant's Case Process and Citation have no place, and if we will only have Formal Remedies against him, we have sure to have none. There's ' small hopes of Justice where the Malefactor hath a power to condemn the Judge. All remedy therefore against a Tyrant is ehud's dagger, without which all our laws were fruitless, and we helpless. This is that high Court of justice where Moses brought the Egyptian: whether Ehud brought Eglon: Samson the Phililtins: Samuel Agag: and Jehoiada the she Tyrant Athaliah. Let us a little consider in particular these several examples, and see whether they may be proportioned to our purpose. First as to the case of Moses and the Egyptian: Ex. 2.11.12 certainly every Englishman hath as much call as Moses, and more cause than he, to slay this Egyptian that is always laying on burdens and always smiting both our brethren and ourselves. For as to his call, he had no other that we read of, but the necessity his brother stood in of his help. He looked on his brethren's burdens, and seeing an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, knowing he was out of the reach of all other kind of justice, he slew him. Certainly this was and is as lawful for any man to do, as it was for Moses, who was then but a private man, and had no authority for what he did, but what the law of nature gives every man; to oppose force to force, and to make justice where he finds none. As to the cause of that action, we have much more to say then Moses had: He saw one Hebrew smitten, we many Englishmen murdered; He saw his brethren's burdens, and their blows, we our brethren's burdens, imprisonments and deaths. Now sure if it were lawful for Moses to kill that Egyptian that oppressed one man, being there was no way to procure an ordinary course of justice agains him: It cannot be but absurd to think it unlawful to kill him (a) vid. Et. Governador Christiano. c. 8. p 40. Qualquiera ciudadano me de repeter la fuerta etc. that oppresses a whole nation, and one that justice as little reaches as it defends. The example of Ehud shows us the natural and almost the only remedy against a Tyrant, and the way to free an oppressed people from the slavery of an insulting Moabite, 'tis done by prayers and tears, with the help of a Dagger, by (b) crying to the Lord, and the left hand of an Ehud. Devotion and action go well together; for believe it, a Tyrant is not of that kind of Devil that is to be cast out by only fasting and prayer: And here the Scripture shows us what the Lord thought a fit message to send a Tyrant from himself: judg. c. 3. v. 11.19.20. v. 15. A Dagger of a cubit in his Belly, and every worthy man that desires to be an Ehud, a deliverer of his Country, will strive to be the messenger. We may here likewise observe in this and many places of judges, that when the Israelites fell to Idolatry, v. 20. which of all Siunes certainly is one of the greatest: God Allrighty to proportion the punishment and the offence, still delivered them into the hands of Tyrants; which sure is one of the greatest of all plagues. In the story of Samson 'tis manifest, judg. 15. that the denying him his wife, and after the burning her and her father, which though they were great, yet were but private injuries, he took for sufficient grounds to make war upon the Philistians, being himself but a private man, and not only not assisted, but opposed (a) by his servile country men. He knew what the law of nature allowed him; where other laws have no place, and thought it a sufficient justification for smiting the Philistines hip and thigh to answer for himself, v. 11. that as they did unto him, so had be done unto them. Now that which was lawful for Samson to do against many oppressors, why is it unlawful for us to do against one? are our injuries less? out Friends and Relations are daily murdered before our faces. Have we otherways for reparation? let them be named and I am silenced. But if we have none, the firebrands, or the jawbone, the first weapons our just fury can lay hold on, may certainly be lawfully employed against that uncircumcised Philistin. that oppresses us. v. 14. We have too the opposition and discouragements that Samson had, & therefore have the more need of his courage & resolution. As he had the men of Judah, so we have the men of Levi, crying to us out of the Pulpit, as from the top of the Rock Etam, know you not that the Philistin is a Ruler over you? The truth is, they would fain make him so, & bind us with Samson in new cords, but we hope they will become as Flax, and that they will either lose from our hands, or we shall have the courage to cut them. Upon the same grounds of Retatiation did Samuel do justice with his own hand upon the Tyrant Agag. 1. Sam. 15.33. As thy sword (says the Prophet) hath made Women childless, so shall thy mother be childless amongst Women, nor is there any law more natural and more just. How many mothers has our Agag, for his own ambition, made childless? how many children Fatherless? how many have this reason to hue this Amalakite in pieces before the Lord? And let his own relations, and all theirs that are confederates with him, beware, least men come at last to revenge their own relations in them. in Discors. They make many a woman husbanlesse, many a father childless. Their wives may come at last to know what 'tis to want a husband, and themselves to lose their children. Let them remember what their great Apostle Machiavelli tells them; that in contestations for the preserving their liberty, people many times use moderation; but when they come to vindicate it, their rigour exceeds all mean, like beasts that have been kept up, & are afterwards let lose, they always are more fierce & cruel. To conclude with the example Jehoiada hath left us. 2. Kings. cap. 11. 2. Chron. 23 Six years he hide the right Heir of the Crown in the house of the Lord, and without all doubt, amongst the rest of God's services there he was all that time contriving the destruction of the Tyrant, that had aspired to the Crown by the destruction of those that had the right to it. Jehoiada had no pretence to authorize this action; but the equity & Justice of the act itself. He pretended no immediate command from God for what he did, nor any authority from the Sanedrym, & therefore any man might have done what Jehoiada did as lawfully, that could have done it as effectually as he. Now what citation was given to Athaliah, what appearance was she called to before any court of justice: Chron. 23.14. her fact was her trial, she was without any expostulation taken forth of the Ranges and only let live till she got out of the Temple, that that Holy place might not be defiled by the blood of a Tyrant, which was fit to be shed on a dunghill, and so they slew her at the Horsgate. And by the King's house, the very Whitehall, where she had caused the Blood-royal to be spilt, & which herself had so long anjustly possessed, there by Providence did she receive her punishment where she had acted so great a part of her crimes. How the people approved of this Glorious action of destroying a Tyrant, this Chapter tells us at the last verse. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the City was quiet, after that they had slain Athalian with the sword. 2 Chron. 23.14. 2. Chron. 24.16. And that it may appear they no less honoured the Authors of such actions, than other Nations did; as in his life-time they obeyed Jehoiada as a King, so after his death, for the good he had done in Israel (saith the Scripture) they likewise buried him amongst the Kings. I 〈◊〉 conclude this story without observing that Jehoiada commanded, Mr. Sirdercombs judge & jury may likewise consider of this point. that whosoever followed Athaliah should be put to death Letting us see what they deserve that are Confederates with Tyrants and will side with them, and but appear to defend them, or allow them, his Highness his Counsel, his Junto, and the Agaes of his Janissaries, may, if they, lease, take notice of this and repent, lest they likewise perish. And likewise his Highness his Chaplains, and Tryers who are to admit none into the ministry that will preach liberty with the Gospel; may if they think fit, observe, that with the Tyrant sell Mattan the Priest of Baal. And indeed none but Baal's priest's will preach for Tyrants. And certainly those priests that Sacrifice to out Baal, our Idol of a Magistrate, deserves as well to be hanged before their Pulpits, 2 Chron. 23.17. as ever Matian did to fall before his Altars. I should think now I had said much more then enough to the second question, & should come to the third and last I proposed in my method: but I meet with two objections lying in my way. Object. 1 The first is, That these examples out of Scripture are of men that were Inspired of God, and that therefore they had that call and authority for their actions, which we cannot pretend to, so that it would be unsafe for us to draw their actions into examples, except we had likewise their justifications to allege. Object. 2 The other objection is, that there being now no opposition made to the government of his Highness, that the people following their callings & traffic at home and abroad, making use of the laws, & appealing to his Highness courts of justice: That all this argues the people's tacit consent to the Government; and that therefore now 'tis to be reputed lawful, and the people's obedience voluntary. job. 1. To the first I answer with learned Milton, that if God commanded these things, 'tis a sign they were lawful and are commendable. But secondly, as I observed in the relations of the examples themselves; Neither Samson nor Samuel alleged any other cause or reason for what they did, but retaliation, and the apparent justice of the actions themselves. Nor had God appeared to Moses in the Bush when he slew the Egyptian; nor did Jehoiada allege any Prophetical authority or other call to do what he did, but that common call which all men have, to do all actions of justice that are within their power, when the ordinary course of justice ceases. Sol. 2 To the second my answer is, that if commerce and plead were enough to Argue the people's consent, & give Tyranny the name of Government, there was never yet any Tyranny of many weeks standing in this world. Certainly, we then extremely wrong Caligula & Nero in calling them Tyrants, and they were rebels that conspired against them; except we will believe, that all the while they reigned, that in Rome they kept their shops shut, & opened not their Temples, or their Courts. We are likewise with no less absurdity, to imagine that the whole eighteen year's time which Israel served Eglon, & six years that Athaliah reigned, that the israelites quite desisted from traffic, plead & all public acts: otherwise Ehud and Jehoiada were both Traitors, the one for killing his king, the other his queen. Third Question. Having showed what a Tyrant is, his marks and practices: I can scarce persuade myself to 〈…〉 prove of Advantage to the Common wealth or not? for methinks 'tis to inquire whether 'tis better the man die or the Impostume be lanced, or the Gangragened limb be cut off? But yet there be some whose Cowardice & Avarice furnish them with some Arguments to the contrary; and they would fain make the world believe, that to be base & degenerate, is to be Cautious & prudent: and what is in truth a servile fear, they falsely call a Christian patience. It will not be therefore a miss to make appear that there is indeed that necessity, which we think there is, of saving the vineyard of the Common wealth if possible, by destroying the wild boar that is broke into it. We have already showed that it is lawful, & now we shall see whether it is expedient. First I hae already told you that, to be under a Tyrant is not to be a common wealth; but a great Family, consisting of master & Slaves. Vir bone servorum nulla est usquam civitas says an old Poet a nember of Slaves makes not a City. So that whilst this Monster lives we are not members of a common wealth, but only his living tools & Instruments, which he may employ to what use he pleases. Servi tua est fortuna Ratio ad te nihil says an other; thy condition is a slaves; thou art not to inquire a Reason, not must we think we can continue long in the condition of slaves, and not degenerate into the habits & temper that is natural to that condition: our minds will grow low with our fortune, & by benig accoustumed to live like slaves, we shall become unfit to be any thing Else Etiam fera animalia si clausa teneas virtutis obliviscuntur says Tacitus (a) Hist. lib. 4. the fiercest creatures by long constraint, lose their courage. And says Sr. Francis Bacon, the blessing of Issachar & that of Judah falls not upon one people, to be Asses crouching under Burdens, & to have the Spirit of Lions. And with theyre courage 'tis no wonder 〈◊〉 they lose their fortune as the Effect with the cause, and Act as Ignominiously abroad, as they suffer at home. 'tis Machiavells (b) Discors lib. 1. c. 24. observation that the Roman Armies that were all ways victorious under confulls, All the while they were under the slavery of the Decemviri never prospered. And certainly people have Reason to fight but faintly where they are to gain the victory against themselves; when every success shall be a confirmation of their slavery, and a new link to their chain. But we shall not only lose out Courage which is a useless & an unsafe vertu under a Tyrant, but by degrees we shall, after the example of our Master, All turn perfidious, Deceitful Irreligious, flatterers, and what ever else is villainous and Infamous in Mankind. See but to what a degree we are come to already: can there any Oath be found so fortified by all Religious Ties; which we easily finde not a Distinction to break, when either profit or Danger persuades us to it? Do we Remember any Engagements; or if we do, have we any shame to break them? Can any Man think with patience upon what we have profesed, when he sees what we vildly do, and Tamely Suffer? what have we of nobility amongst us but the name; the luxury & the vices of It? poor wretches these that now carry that title, are so fare from having any of the virtues, that should grace and indeed give them their titles, Doctor Locker Doctor Owen Mr. lenkins etc. that they have not so much as the generous vices that attend greatness, they have lost all Ambition & Indignation. As for our Ministers; what have they, or indeed desire they, of their Calling, but the Tithes? How do these horrid prevaricators search for distinctions to piece contrary Oaths? How do they Rake Scriptures for flatteries? And Impudently Apply them to his monstrous Highness? what is the City but a Great Tame Beast, that eats & Carries & cares not who Rides it? what's the thing called a Parliament but a Mock? Composed of a people that are only suffered to sit there because they are known to have no verute, After the Exclution of all others that were but suspected to have Any? What are they but pimps of Tyranny, who are only Employed to draw In the people to prostitut theyre Liberty? What will not the army fight for? what will they not fight against! What are they but Janissaries, slaves themselves; and making all others so? what are the people in General but Knaves, Fools, & Cowards; principled for Ease, vice & Slavery? This is our temper, this Tyranny hath brought us to already; and if it continus, the little virtue that is yet left to stock the Nation, Disc. lib. 3. cap. 3. must totally extinguish, and then his Highness hath completed his work of Reformation. And the truth is till than his Highness can not be secure. He must not endure virtue, for that will not endure him. He that will maintain Tyranny must kill Brutus says Machiavelli. A Tyrant says Plato (c) must dispatch all virtuous persons or he can not be safe (s) de Repub. lib. 8. so that he is brought to that un happy necessity, either to live amongst Base & wicked persons, or not to live at all. Nor must we expect any Cure from our patience Inganno si gli huomini, Disc. lib. 2. cap. 14. says Machiavelli (a) credendo con la humilit à vincere la superbia. Men deceive themselves that think t0 〈…〉 weak, 'tis in the winter of his fortune when this Serpent bites not: we must not therefore suffer ourselves to be cozened with hopes of his amendment: for Nemo unquam (d) Tacit. Hist. lib. 1. Imperium flagitio quaesitum bonis artibus exercuit; never did any man manage the Government with justice that got it by villainy. The longer the Tyrant lives the more the Tyrannical humour increases in him, says Plato, (e) de Repub. lib. like those beasts that grow more cursed as they grow old. New occasions daily happen, that necessitate them to new mischiefs, and he must defend one villainy with another. But suppose the contrary of all this, and that his Highness were vi Dominationis convulsus, & mutatus, changed to the better by great fortune (of which he yet gives no symptoms) what notwithstanding could be more miserable then to have no other security for our liberty, no other law for our safety, than the will of a man, though the most just living? Cic. Phil. 4. we have all our beast within us, and whosoever (says Aristotle) (f) Pol. lib. 3. c. 12. is Governed by a man without a law, is governed by a man and by a beast. Etiam si non sit molestus (a) Dominus; tamen est miserrimum posse si velit, says Tully, Though a master does not Tyrannize yet 'tis a most miserable thing that 'tis in his power to do so if he will. If he be good, so was Nero for five years, and how shall we be secure that he will not change? Besides the power that is allowed to a good man, we may be sure will be claimed and taken by an ill. And therefore it hath been the coustume of good princes (b) Lycurgus. Theopomp. plut. in Lycurg. to abridge their own power, it may be distrusting themselves, but certainly fearing their Successors, to the chance of whose being virtuous; they would not hazard the welfare of their people. An unlimited power therefore is to be trusted to none, which if it does not find a Tyrant, commonly makes one: or if one uses it modestly 'tis no argument that others will, & therefore Augustus Caesar must have no greater power given him, than you would have Tiberius take. And (c) Cicero's moderation is to be trusted with a consideration, that there are others to be consuls as well as he. Vid Orat. Caesaris in Sallust. consp. cat. But before I press this business farther, if it needs be any farther pressed, that we should endeavour to rescue the honour, the virtue and liberty of our nation I shall answer to some few objections that have occurred to me. This I shall do very briefly. Some I find of a strange opinion, that it were a generous and a noble action to kill his Highness in the field; but to do it privately they think it unlawful, but know not why. As if it were not generous to apprehend a thief till his sword were drawn and he in a posture to defend himself and kill me. But these people do not consider that whosoever is poslest of power any time, willbe sure to engage so many either in guilt or profit, or both, that to go about to throw him out by open force, will very much hazard the total ruin of the Commonwealth. A Tyrant is a Devil that tears the body in the exorcising, Sueton. in vit. Caleg. & they are all of Caligulas' temper, that if they could, they would have the whole frame of Nature fall with them. 'tis an opinion that deserves no other refutation than the manifest absurdity of itself; that it should be lawful for me to destroy a Tyrant with hazard, blood, and confusion, but not without. An other objection and more common is the fear of what may succeed if his Highness were removed, one would think the World were bewitched. I am fallen into a ditch where I shall certainly perish if I lie, but I refuse to be helped out for fear of falling into another, I suffer a certain misery for fear of a contingent one, & let the disease kill me because there is hazard in the cure. Is not this that ridiculous policy, Ne moriare, mori. To die for fear of dying. Sure 'tis frenzy not to desire a change when we are sure we cannot be worse. Et non incurrere in pericula, ubi quies centi paria metnuntur, Seneca. and not then to hazard, when the danger and the mischiefs are the same in lying still. Hitherto I have spoken in general to all Englishmen, now I address my discourse particularly to those that certainly best deserve that name, ourselves, that have fought, however unfortunately, for our Liberties under this Tyrant; and in the end cozened by his oaths, and tears, have purchased nothing but our slavery with the price of our blood. To us particularly it belongs to bring this Monster to justice, whom he hath made the instruments of his Villainy, and sharers in the Curse and Detestation that is due to himself from all good men. Others only have their Liberty to vindicate, we our Liberty and our honour: We engaged to the people with him, and to the people for him, and from our hands they may justly expect a satisfaction of punishment, being they cannot have that of performance. What the people at present endure, and posterity shall suffer, will be all laid at our doors: for only we under God have the power to pull down this Dagon which we have set up. And if we do it not, all mankind will repute us Approovers of all the Villainies he hath done: and authors of all to come. Shall we that would not endure a king attempting Tyranme, shall we suffer a professed Tyrant? We that resisted the Lion assailing us, Cic. in Epist. ad Octau. shall we submit to the Wolf tearing us? If there be no remedy to be found, we have great reason to exclaim, utinam te potius (Carole) retinuissemus quam hunc habuissemus, non quod ulla sit optanda servitus, sed quod exdignitate Domini minus turpis est conditio servi. We wish we had rather endured thee (o Charles) then have been condemned to this mean Tyrant, not that we desire any kind of slavery, but that the quality of the Master something graces' the condition of the slave. But if we consider it rightly what our duty, our engagements, and our honour exact from us, both our safety and our interest oblige us to, And 'tis as unanswerable, in us, to discretion as 'tis to virtue, to let this viper live. For first he knows very well 'tis only we that have the power to hurt him, and therefore of us he will take any course to secure himself: he is conscious to himself how falsely and perfidiously he hath dealt with us, and therefore he will always fear that from our revenge, which he knows he hath so well deserved. Lastly he knows our principles, how directly contrary they are to that arbitrary power he must govern by, and therefore he may reasonably suspect, that we that have already ventured our lives against Tyranny, will always have the Will, when we have the opportunity, to do the same again. These considerations will easily persuade him to secure himself of us, if we prevent him not, and secure ourselves of him. He reads in his Practice of Piety (a) the Diviene Padron, Mach. pr. c. 5 etc. He that makes himself master of a city, that hath been accoustumed to Liberty, if he destroys it not, he must expect to be destroyed by it. And we may read too in the same Author, and believe him, that (b) Ibid. c. 3 those that are the occasion that one becomes powerful; always ruin, that is, if they want the wit and courage to secure themselves. Now as to our interest, we must never expect that he will ever trust those, that he hath provoked and fears: He will be sure to keep us down lest we should pluck down him. 'tis the rule that Tyrants observe, when they are in power never to make much use of those that heipt them to it, and indeed 'tis their interest and security not to do it: for those that have been the authors of their greatness being conscious of their own merit, they are bold with the Tyrant and less industrious to please him. They think all he can do for them is their due, and still they expect more: and when they fail in their expectations, (as 'tis impossible to satisfy them) their disappointments make them discontented, and their discontents dangerous. Therefore all Tyrants follow the example of Dionysius, who was said to use his friends, as he did his Bottles, when he had use for them ●e kept them by him, when he had none, that they should not trouble him and lie in his way, he hung them up. But to conclude, This already overlong Paper, let every man to whom God hath given the Spirit of Wisdom and Courage, be persuaded by his Honour, his Safety, his own good and his Countries, and indeed the duty he owes to his Generation, and to Mankind, to endeavour by all Rational means to free the World of this Pest. Let not other nations have the occasion to think so meanly of us, as if we resolved to sit still and have our Ears bored: or that any discouragement or disappointments can ever make us desist from attempting our Liberty till we nave purchased it, either by this Monster's death or by our own. Our nation is not yet so barren of virtue, that we want noble examples to follow amongst ourselves. The brave Sindercombe hath showed as great a mind, as any old Rome could boast of, and had he lived there, his name had been registered with Brutus, and Cato; and he had had his Statues as well as they. But I will not have so sinister an opinion of ourselves (as little generosity as Slavery hath left us) as to think so great a virtue can want its Monuments even amongst us. Certainly in every virtuous mind he e●re Statues reared to Sindercombe. When ever we read the Eulogies of those that have died for their Country: when we admire those great examples of magnanimity, that have tired Tyrant's cruelties: When we extol their constancy, whom neither bribes nor terrors could make betray their Friends: 'tis then we erect Sindercombe Statues, and grave him Monuments; Where all that can be said of a great and noble mind, we justly make an Epitaph for him. And though the Tyrant caused him to be Smothered, lest the people should hinder an open murder; yet he will never be able either to smother his memory, or his own Villainy. His poison was but a poor and common device to impose only on those that understood not Tyrant's practices, and are unacquainted (if any be) with his cruelties and falsehoods. He may therefore if he please take away the Stake from Sindercombs Grave; and if he have a mind it should be known how he died, let him send thither the Pillows and Feather-bedds with which Barkstead and his Hangman smothered him. But to conclude, ●et not this Monster think himself the more secure that he hath suppressed one great Spirit, (a) & what may, Clccil and Toop expect for their Treachery an perjury? he may be confident that, Longus post illum sequitur or do idem petentium decus. there's a great Rowel behind, even of those that are in his own muster-Rowles, that are ambitious of the name of the Deliverers of their Country: and they know what the action is that will purchase it. His bed, his table is not secure, and he stands in need of other Guards to defend him against his own. Death and destruction pursues him where ever he goes: they follow him every where, job. 20. like his fellow-travellers, and at last they will come upon him like armed men. Darkness is hid in his secret places, a Fire not blown shall consume him; Whitehall. Hampton-court. etc. it shall go ill with him that is left in his Tabernacle. He shall flee from the Iron weapon, and a bow of Steel shall strike him through. Because he hath oppressed, and forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a House (a) which he builded not: We may be confident, and so may be, that ere long, v. 5. all this will be accomplished: For the Triumphing of the wicked is but short, and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a moment. Though his Excellency (b) He hath now left that title for Highness; and will shortly leave that for King. mount up to the Heavens, and his Head reacheth unto the Clouds, yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung. They that have seen Him shall say, where is Herald POSTSCRIPT. Courteous Reader, Expect another Sheet or two of Paper of this Subject, if I escape the Tyrant's hands, although he gets (in the interim) the Crown upon his Head, which he hath (underhand) put his Confederates on to petition his acceptance thereof.