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<DATE>2007-10-01</DATE>
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<NAME>Elspeth Healey</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed text and corrected markup.</ITEM>
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<STC T="W">B6325A</STC>
<STC T="T">E985_4</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99863328</BIBNO>
<VID>168597</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>MOLA ASINARIA:
OR,
The Unrea&s;onable and In&s;upportable
BURTHEN
Now pre&s;s'd upon
The Shoulders of this groaning NATION:
BY
The headle&s;s Head, and unruly Rulers, that u&s;urp upon
the Liberties and Priviledges of the oppre&s;&s;ed People.
Held forth in a
REMONSTRANCE
To all tho&s;e that have yet &s;ound and impartial
Ears to hear, and duly weighed in the Scales of
Equity and Ju&s;tice.</P>
<P><HI>By</HI> William Prynne, <HI>Bencher of</HI>
Lincolns-Inne.</P>
<P>Wherein is demon&s;trated,
What Slavery the Nation mu&s;t &s;ubject it &s;elf
to, by allowing the lawfulne&s;s and u&s;urped
Authority of the pretended
<HI>LONG PARLIAMENT</HI>
Now unlawfully and violently held at WESTMINSTER.</P>
<P>Ju&s;&abque; datum Sceleri.</P>
<P>Printed at <HI>London,</HI> in the Year MDCLVIX.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>Mola A&s;inaria,
&amp;c.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Countrymen:</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THere is not any thing in the Univer&s;e de&s;erves
le&s;s to be a Member of it, then a &s;elf-&s;eeking
Man, who unconcern'd in the publick Good,
regards onely his private Intere&s;t. The World un|willingly
contributes to his maintenance; and Na|ture
le&s;s abhors a <HI>Vacuum,</HI> then that any place
&s;hould be filled by a Subject &s;o empty of de&s;ert. He
is a &s;avage Creature in the mid&s;t of civil People,
not de&s;erving to be born of others, as not caring to
live, but for him&s;elf. Nay, it is worthily reputed a
kind of civil death, to do nothing el&s;e but live: for
as long as we have a Country to abide in, we have
a duty to tender it. All we have, we have from it;
and by con&s;equence owe it all we have. Our Lives
and Fortunes are &s;afe&s;t, when ventured for the pub|lick
Intere&s;t; and he is the true&s;t Lover of Law
and Liberty, that affects rather to be ruled, then to
rule; he the free&s;t Subject, that creates him&s;elf
a voluntary Slave to his Countries &s;ervice. Take
from the world this inviolable Law, (that is not
writ in bra&s;s, but deeply imprinted in loyal hearts)
and it &s;hall again turn &s;avage and barbarous. This
<PB N="2" REF="3">
is a truth &s;o manife&s;t, and not to be di&s;&s;embled, that
never yet was there a Tyrant, but pretended to be a
Saviour of the people. Liberty, Con&s;cience, a
glorious Nation, <HI>The Good Old Cau&s;e,</HI> and &s;uch &s;pe|cious
Names are made u&s;e of:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Tacit.</NOTE> <HI>Nec qui&s;quam alienum
&s;ervitium &amp; dominationem concupivit, ut non eadem
i&s;ta vocabula u&s;urparit.</HI> The&s;e Machiavilian Tricks,
and political Cheats &s;o often put upon the people
of our Nation, me thinks &s;hould have by this time
undeceived us with a &s;ad experience of the mi&s;eries
we have &s;ubjected our &s;elves to, by a perpetual itch
of reforming, annulling, creating Laws, and framing
new Governments to the model of every Grandees
ambition; and yet we are againe ready to thru&s;t
our Necks into a new yoak of Slavery, rather then
any man will engage his private Fortunes, and ven|ture
to redeem his Country from Bondage. It is
laid to the charge of Engli&s;h-men by Forraigners,
that we are <GAP DESC="foreign">, and above all Nations under
Heaven pretending to civility, the greate&s;t &s;elf-&s;eekers;
as regarding much more our own particu|lar,
then the general concerns. I mu&s;t needs &s;ay,
other Nations would have canonized for Martyrs,
and erected Statues after their death to the memo|ry
of &s;ome of our Compatriots, whom ye have
barbarou&s;ly defaced and mangled yet alive, for no
other motive, but their undaunted Zeal. It has
been (I know not whether I &s;hould &s;ay) your mi&s;|fortune,
or my glory, to become a Sufferer for a
Legal Vindication of the Liberties of our King|dom;
but yet I never knew what it was to fear,
when I perceived my &s;elf engaged in &s;o good a
cau&s;e; not envy nor &s;narling Pamphlets &s;hall &s;top
the cour&s;e of my Pen freely running into my Coun|tries
<PB N="3" REF="3">
defence, which my Profe&s;&s;ion and Age forbid
me to vindicate by the Sword. Let young Men &s;erve
it with their &s;trength and arms, let old Men &s;ecure
it by their heads and coun&s;el: for my part, I de|&s;ire
to live no longer then I can in &s;ome &s;ort contri|bute
to &s;o glorious a work. I have of late been
&s;narled at for it by certain licentious Scriblers, that
dur&s;t not own their names for fear of di&s;covering
their A&s;&s;es ears: however, they are plea&s;ed to
twitch at the honourable remnant of mine. They
thought to have &s;topt my mouth by their brauling
and braying; but I dare yet &s;peak louder; and I
hope I &s;hall be heard by all &s;uch as have yet &s;ound
and impartial ears: but if my cry will not reach
you, I fear (dear Country-men) the voyce of blood
will &s;peedily interrupt your &s;lumbring &s;ecurity.
Tho&s;e that will be Lawle&s;s, finde fault with my
Writings, becau&s;e I vindicate the anciently e&s;ta|bli&s;hed
Laws of <HI>England;</HI> and tax me of de&s;perate
Non-&s;en&s;e, becau&s;e I will not allow them an unli|mited,
unlegal Legi&s;lative Power to repeal, annul,
alter, and enact what Laws &s;oever they deem be&s;t
to &s;erve their own turns. They deceitfully cry out,
<HI>Salus populi &s;uprema lex e&s;to!</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cicero.</NOTE> an Axiome that I no
ways deny to be true; but I would de&s;ire to be in|&s;tructed
who are to be Judges, of what is expedi|ent
for the good of the people? The Author of the
forecited Maxime &s;ays, <HI>Leges Magistratibus prae&s;unt,
ut Magistratus prae&s;unt populo:</HI> And the great Doctor
St. <HI>Austin</HI> not doubted to affirm, that tho&s;e &s;ocieties
where Law and Ju&s;tice is not, are not Common|wealths
or Kingdoms,<NOTE PLACE="marg">De civit. Dei.</NOTE> but <HI>Magna latrocinia,</HI> great
thefts and trapanning cheats. As for the power of
altering Laws, or bringing in new ones, and &s;etting
<PB N="4" REF="4">
up new Governments, it is allowed by wi&s;e men,
that all power lawfully exerci&s;ed upon a Com|monwealth,
mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily be derived either from
the appointment of God, who is &s;upreme Lord of
all; or from the con&s;ent of the Society it &s;elf, that
hath the next power to his, of di&s;po&s;ing of their
own Liberty, as they &s;hall think fit for their good,
who&s;e benefit is the end of all Government. There|fore
whoever arrogates &s;uch power to him&s;elf, that
cannot produce one of the&s;e two Titles, is not a
Ruler, but an Invader, or a Tyrant. Now how this
pretended Long Parliament, re&s;tored by the force
of Souldiers, by who&s;e force it had fir&s;t been di&s;&s;ol|ved,
and was before annulled by the death or mur|ther
of King <HI>Charles</HI> the fir&s;t, that &s;ummoned it, he
being <HI>Principium, cau&s;a, &amp; finis Parliamenti;</HI> after his
murther, the hou&s;e of Lords and Monarchy being
aboli&s;hed, and &s;o many of the ancient Members
thrown out, new ones unduly elected, and &s;uch hor|rid
thefts, rapes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> committed by them upon the
people, can lawfully be &s;aid the Peoples Repre|&s;entatives,
and authorized by them, is the greate&s;t
Riddle that ever was propounded to a puzzled
State. It was in the year 1649, that I publi&s;hed
<HI>a Legal Vindication of the Liberties of</HI> England; in
which I demon&s;trated the nullity of the then-pre|tended
Long Parliament; and lately I &s;et forth a
lively pattern of the &s;purious <HI>Old Cau&s;e</HI> pretended to
be revived and vindicated by the fine Pageant or
now-&s;itting Gho&s;t of the long-&s;ince departed Long
Parliament; neither need I rea&s;on farther with
rea&s;onable Per&s;ons about it: Yet &s;ince this Phan|ta&s;tical
Hob-gobbling appears &s;till to fright the
quiet people, and tempts them (like an evil Spirit)
<PB N="5" REF="4">
to give them&s;elves to &s;uch an unruly Devil; I will
here onely hold forth to the view of all good Eng|li&s;hmen,
what &s;lavery they mu&s;t needs &s;ubject
them&s;elves unto, if they re&s;olve to ca&s;t off forever
their lawful Ma&s;ter and Soveraign, and take for
new Ma&s;ters the&s;e up&s;tart domineering Tyrants.
Let then every hone&s;t freeborn Subject of <HI>England,</HI>
lay his hand upon his brea&s;t, and ask of his own
Con&s;cience, whether notwith&s;tanding all former
Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, Prote&s;tation, &s;o|lemn
Leagues and Covenants, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> he can voluntari|ly
&s;ubmit to, and thereby freely acknowledge, con|trary
to his former knowledge and the &s;aid Oath,
<HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>1. That there may be, and now is a lawfully-a&s;|&s;embled
Parliament of <HI>England</HI> actually in being,
legally continuing after the late Kings death, or
lawfully re-a&s;&s;embled without King, Lords, or mo&s;t
of their fellow-Members, con&s;i&s;ting onely of a few
late Members of the Commons Hou&s;e.</P>
<P>2. That this Parliament re-e&s;tabli&s;hed by a Mi|litary
force&punc; and packed together by Power of an
Army combining with them, hath ju&s;t and lawful
Authority, and had it before;
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. To arraign, condemn and execute their lawful
King him&s;elf, with the Peers and Commons of this
Realm.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. To di&s;-inherit the Kings Po&s;terity of the
Crown.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. To extirpate Monarchy, and the whole hou&s;e
of Peers.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. To violate the Priviledges, Rights, Freedoms,
Cu&s;toms, and alter the Con&s;titution of Parlia|ments
them&s;elves; to change and &s;ubvert the ancient
<PB N="6" REF="5">
Government, Seals, Laws, Writs, Courts and
Coyn of the Kingdom.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. To &s;ell and di&s;po&s;e of all the Lands, Reve|nues,
Jewels, Goods of the Crown, with the Lands
of Deans and Chapters, for their own advantages,
not for the ea&s;ing of the people from taxes.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. To di&s;po&s;e of the Forts, Ships, Forces, Offi|ces
of Honour, Power, Tru&s;t or Profit, to whom they
plea&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>7. To rai&s;e and keep up what Forces by Land or
Sea they plea&s;e, and impo&s;e Taxes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to make
what new Acts, Laws, and rever&s;e what old ones
they think meet.</ITEM>
<ITEM>8. To ab&s;olve them&s;elves (by more then a Papal
Power) and all the &s;ubjects of this Land, from all
the afore&s;aid Oaths, Engagements, Prote&s;tations,
<HI>&amp;c.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>9. To permit, &s;ettle, or invent what Sect, Here&s;ie,
or Religion they plea&s;e, provided they be not Pa|pacy
or Prelacy, and that they allow not bla&s;phe|my
again&s;t the Trinity.</ITEM>
<ITEM>10. I ask now if every freeborn Subject that hath
not rai&s;ed him&s;elf an Intere&s;t by villany, or an E|&s;tate
by robbery, or incurred a guilt to the Gallows
for having his hand in blood, had not better ven|ture
Life and Fortunes to reduce the true and lawful
Heir into a peaceful Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of his right, then to
authorize by his con&s;ent a new-fangled Govern|ment
compacted of Trea&s;on, U&s;urpation, Tyranny,
Theft and Murder?</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
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