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<DATE>2-26-08</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<VID>114354</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE ARMY, HARMELESSE: OR, A di&s;pa&s;sionat and &s;ober di&s;cu&s;sion of the late and pre&s;ent proceedings of the Army, under the Command of His Excellencie, Sir THOMAS FAIRFAX.</P>
<P><HI>Wherein the equity and unblamablene&s;s</HI> of the &s;aid proceedings are demon&s;tra|tively a&s;&s;erted, upon undenyable prin|ciples and maximes, as well of Rea|&s;on, as Religion.</P>
<Q><BIBL>Matth. 12. 3. 4. 5.</BIBL>
<P>But he &s;aid unto them, have yee not read what David did when he was an hungry, and they that were with him; how hee entred into the hou&s;e of God, and did eate the Shew-bread, which was not lawfull for him to eat (viz. <HI>in ordinary ca&s;es)</HI> neither for them that were with him, but onely for the Prie&s;ts? Or have yee not read in the Law, how that on the Sabbath-daies the Prie&s;ts in the Temple prophane the Sabbath, and are blamele&s;&s;e.</P></Q>
<Q><L>Plus Togae lae&s;&ecirc;re Rempublicam, quam Loricae.</L> <BIBL>Tertul.</BIBL></Q>
<Q><L>Proteus non reddit Oracula, ni&s;i alligatus.</L></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>John Poun&s;et,</HI> and are to be &s;old at his &s;hop, at the Signe of the <HI>Hand</HI> and <HI>Bible,</HI> at the lower end of <HI>Budge-row</HI> neere <HI>Dowgate.</HI> 1647.</P>
</DIV1>
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<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>THE Army, Harmele&s;&s;e. OR The equity and unblamablene&s;&s;e of the Army under the Command of his Excellencie Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax,</HI> clearely and briefly demon&s;trated and a&s;&s;erted, as well upon <HI>grounds of Rea&s;on, as Religion; with all materiall objections An&s;wered.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_VPon the fir&s;t greeting between me and this &s;aying, <HI>That may &s;eeme manife&s;tly true to one man,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Eadem po&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="2 letters">t alteri manife&s;te vera, quae alteri videntur, ma|nife&s;te fal&s;a.</NOTE> <HI>which to another appeares manife&s;tly fal&s;e.</HI> I was for a while, under &s;ome demurre, what I &s;hould make of it, <HI>Trea&s;ure</HI> or <HI>Coales;</HI> the face, and fir&s;t interview of it, promi&s;ed (me thought) &s;omewhat more then ordinary; &s;o that I pre&s;ently apprehended, there was either &s;ome weight and worth of truth in it, or el&s;e &s;ome deluding notion of errour, of dangerous con&s;equence. But upon a little recollection, and con&s;ideration had; partly, of many &s;erious, (I wi&s;h there were no ground to &s;ay &s;ad) doings in the world; partly, of &s;ome things which I had learned both from God and men, effectually per&s;wa|ding the truth of it; I &s;oone &s;ub&s;cribed, and received it in|to the &s;ociety of tho&s;e unque&s;tionable principles and ma|ximes, which are in many ca&s;es of difficultie and ob&s;curity unto others, the &s;weet, light&s;ome, and &s;table &s;upports of my &s;oule. I could not (nor yet can) imagine how it &s;hould be po&s;&s;ible for the party of Presbyterian ingagement among&s;t us (at lea&s;t for many of them) to act with that <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 word"> and truculencie of &s;pirit for their way, did they not conceive
<PB N="2" REF="3">
it to be <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> the be&s;t &amp; mo&s;t agreeable to the word of God. Nor can I, on the other hand, judge, but that the per|&s;ons, who &s;uffer in that extremity, which many do, and are like to do further, for their non-comportment with that way, conceive, and judge the &s;ame to be <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> &s;infull, and al|together (taking the whole contexture and modell of it) re|pugnant to that Word. And &s;o againe, when I con&s;ider, what the Spirit of the mo&s;t and onely wi&s;e-God affirmeth, &s;aying, that <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Deut. 16. 19.</NOTE> <HI>A gift doth blind the eyes</HI> [even] <HI>of the wi&s;e, and perverteth the words</HI> [even] <HI>of the righteous,</HI> (with much more of like import) and what knowing and con&s;idering men frequently teach, in &s;uch &s;entences as the&s;e. <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Plato</NOTE> <HI>There is nothing &s;ound in a &s;ervile &s;oule, nor is it wor|thy a man of wi&s;dome to beleeve what &s;uch &s;hall &s;ay.</HI> And again, <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. Hom.</NOTE> <HI>Jupiter deprives men of halfe their wits or under|&s;tandings, when he &s;ubjects them in a &s;ervile way, to the will and power of others;</HI> with many other &s;ayings of like tendencie with the&s;e; when I con&s;ider (I &s;ay) the native and cleare con&s;equences and i&s;&s;ues of &s;uch a&s;&s;ertions as the&s;e, wherein both God and men agree, I fully and convincingly apprehend, how, and in what ca&s;es, it is very po&s;&s;ible, that men &s;ervile to their affections, and under the Command of &s;ini&s;ter and ignoble ends, may judge both &s;uch doctrines to be <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> fal&s;e, and &s;uch practi&s;es <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> unju&s;t, which unto men, who know no Intere&s;ts, but tho&s;e that are honourable, and of a faire and full con&s;i&s;tency with the pub|like good of men, &s;eeme (and are, according to truth) the one <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> Sound, Orthodox, and True; the other, as <HI>manife&s;tly</HI> righteous, and no waies trenching upon the due rights, or regular Intere&s;ts of any man.</P>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. II.</HEAD>
<P>Though unto me, and many thou&s;ands more in the King|dome, the tenour of the pre&s;ent and late proceedings of the Army is, not only unque&s;tionably ju&s;t, but emphatically ho|nourable al&s;o, and worthy men who&s;e Soveraign ingage|ments are, to ble&s;&s;e the world with what&s;oever is theirs, with all they are able to doe, or &s;uffer. Yet is it no offence
<PB N="3" REF="3">
unto me (nor I tru&s;t unto many others, though &s;orrow and &s;adnes of heart in abundance it be unto us) to heare and &s;ee, both the per&s;ons and actions of the&s;e de&s;erving men per&s;ecu|ted, with the the tongues and pens of &s;ome others, as if the Heavens had declared again&s;t them and written the iniquity both of the one, and the other, with a Sun-beame. The knowledge of the cau&s;e cau&s;eth as well the offence, as admi|ration, of the effect to cea&s;e. <HI>Say we not well</HI> (&s;aid the unbelee|ving <HI>Iewes</HI> unto <HI>Chri&s;t) that thou art a Samaritan and ha&s;t a Devill?</HI> <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Ich. 8. 48.</NOTE> Doubtles the&s;e Iews were as confident of Truth in the&s;e horrid Imputations, which they ca&s;t upon the Lord Chri&s;t, as any Anti-Armi&s;ts among&s;t us, of what gowne &s;oever whether Sacred or Civill, can be of any &s;uch inju&s;tice or impiety in the Army or proceedings thereof, whereof they accu&s;e them both before God and men, and that after the re&s;tle&s;&s;e and importune manner of the Grand <HI>Accu&s;er of the Brethren, night and day,</HI> <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Rev. 12. 10&punc;</NOTE> yea and pre|&s;umed they had as &s;ufficient grounds for the averrement of their charge, in the re&s;pective branches of it, as the&s;e can have to found any, or all their fiery pleas again&s;t the Army upon. And yet as the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t had &s;ufficient grounds to judge their Lord and Ma&s;ter neither a <HI>Samaritan,</HI> nor a man <HI>having a Devill,</HI> notwith&s;tanding the confident charge of the Iewes again&s;t him in both, and by vertue of tho&s;e grounds, were no waies troubled hereat, or &s;haken in their faith: &s;o may the Friends of the Army have (yea and have, <HI>de facto</HI>) grounds and rea&s;ons in abundance, in the &s;trength and pregnancy whereof to triumph, not only over the im|portune<NOTE PLACE="marg">See the eight Queries, and the nine, and nine more added to them, lately publi|&s;hed.</NOTE> confidence of him, who in his heat &s;eems to threa|ten the Kingdome, that as many as will not be re&s;olved by his Queries, that there is rebellion, trea&s;on, repugnancy, as well to the Lawes of the Land, as Priviledges of Parlia|ment, and what not in the proceedings of the Army, &s;hall be &s;tigmatized as men unworthy of their Nation; but likewi&s;e over all other colours, pretences, &s;emblances, pleas, Coun|ter-pleas, charges, challenges, arguments, in&s;inuations, ac|cu&s;ations, adjurations, conjurations what&s;oever, wherby the &s;aid proceedings as hitherto they have bin tempered and carried on, either have bin, or can be, impeached or defamed.
<PB N="4" REF="4">
And as the Di&s;ciples of Chri&s;t had &s;o much the le&s;&s;e cau&s;e to &s;u&s;pect their ma&s;ter for any thing charged upon him by the Jewes, becau&s;e his great Intere&s;t (which hee pro|&s;ecured home, and with all faithfulne&s;&s;e) was to oppo&s;e them in their wayes of ignorance, pride, and blood; &s;o have the well-affected to the Army, far le&s;&s;e cau&s;e to be jealous of the innocency or integrity thereof, notwith&s;tanding the many criminations, and &s;ore accu&s;ations levied again&s;t it, con&s;ide|ring the principall Intere&s;t which the Army drives, is to &s;e|perate between tho&s;e men, who now ri&s;e up &s;o full of in|dignation to oppo&s;e it, and their beloved lu&s;ts of oppre&s;&s;ion, tyranny and domination, and that in &s;uch a <GAP DESC="foreign"> or jun|cture of time, when they were ri&s;ing up to take po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion, and their hand &s;tretched out to lay hold on the prey, making no other account but that the <HI>bitternes</HI> of all oppo&s;i|tion and prevention had bin now <HI>pa&s;t.</HI> It would be no mar|vell to heare an hungry Lion roare, in ca&s;e the prey were ta|ken away from between his teeth. As the &s;ame &s;on was a <HI>Ben-oni,</HI> a &s;on of &s;orrow to his mother (his birth threatning and &s;oon after effecting her death) who was a <HI>Benjamin,</HI> a <HI>&s;on of the right hand</HI> unto his Father, <NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Gen. 35. 18.</NOTE> who expected &s;trength and &s;upport by him; &s;o is it no marvell if the &s;ame men, be &s;ons of deepe&s;t offence unto tho&s;e who are like to &s;uffer the lo&s;&s;e of their hopes by meanes of them, (no le&s;&s;e haply then a con&s;tructive death unto them) and yet &s;ons of uprightne&s;s unto others, who have cau&s;e to expect (through the ble&s;&s;ing of God) light, and life, and &s;trength, both for them&s;elves and their Nation, from their hand. And as the Name <HI>Ben-oni,</HI> which the mother in the bitterne&s;&s;e of her &s;oule, gave unto the child we &s;pake of, &s;oon vani&s;hed, the child (as it &s;eems) being called by this Name only by his mother; and this but for a &s;hort &s;ea&s;on neither, whereas the Name of <HI>Benjamin</HI> which his Father gave him, continued, and was the Name by which he was generally called and knowne, whil&s;t he lived, and is to this day: in like manner, it is not to be doubted, but that al&s;o tho&s;e Names of di&s;ho|nour, <HI>unju&s;t, unrighteous, di&s;obedient, rebellious,</HI> &amp;c. by which the Army is called by the party agrieved at their pro|ceedings,
<PB N="5" REF="4">
will &s;oone vani&s;h and be forgotten; and that tho&s;e appellations of honour, <HI>valiant, wi&s;e, ju&s;t, faithfull, religi|ous, denyers of them&s;elves, lovers of their Country,</HI> &amp;c. by which they are known and called by their Friends, will &s;tand by them, and be a memoriall to them and their proceedings, throughout all Generations.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. III.</HEAD>
<P>But that we may not &s;eem only to cro&s;&s;e affections with their adver&s;aries, and &s;etup our love in termes of honour, again&s;t their hatred of them which utters it &s;elfe in words of di&s;paragement, we &s;hall be willing to clo&s;e and joyn i&s;|&s;ue with them in a &s;edate &s;erious examination and debate of the cau&s;e it &s;elfe, not doubting but to make it more then to appeare, that tho&s;e who ju&s;tifie their proceedings, doe it not &s;o much out of intere&s;t, or affection, or out of light co|lourable pretences, or pa&s;&s;ionate exclamations (&s;uch as are &s;eldome wanting where&s;oever Intere&s;t and affection goe, what&s;oever the cau&s;e be, e&s;pecially, if rea&s;on be not at hand to protect it) but out of cleare and &s;olid grounds, and &s;uch con&s;iderations which have no communion with any intere&s;t, pa&s;&s;ion, or affection what&s;oever, except it be with the love of evidence and truth, together with all tho&s;e plea&s;ant and de&s;irable things, which naturally flow from the&s;e unto the world.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="4" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. IV.</HEAD>
<P>Fir&s;t then, from that great and Soveraigne Law, or ma|<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">me of State, the equitie, or Authority whereof (I pre&s;ume) was never yet que&s;tioned, or oppo&s;ed by any, I rea&s;on thus:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Salus populi &s;uprema lex.</NOTE></P>
<P><Q>If the &s;afety of the people, be the &s;averaign and &s;upreme Law, whereunto all Lawes, Cu&s;tomes, Priviledges, Po|liticke con&s;titutions, intere&s;ts of Princes and Rulers what&s;oever, ought to give place, then have the Army done nothing but what is ju&s;tifiable, yea, and what was their duty to doe, in the things for which they were ac|cu&s;ed by many.</Q></P>
<Q>But the &s;afety of the people is the Soveraign and &s;upreme Law, where<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="4 letters"> all Lawes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q>
<P><HI>Ergo.</HI> The Minor though for the <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 span"> of the <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="6" REF="5">
of the earth deny plainly enough in works, and many of their Para&s;ites, in the con&s;equentials of many un&s;ound Doctrines and po&s;itions which they a&s;&s;ert: yet becau&s;e I never heard of any man that denied it face to face, we &s;hall (for the pre&s;ent) &s;uper&s;ede the proofe of it. The con&s;equence in the Major Propo&s;ition, I argue and debate thus. The Ar|my in all they have done (I mean, in the matter under con|te&s;t) have no waies violated or tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed that &s;upreme Law, and con&s;equently have not tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed any other Law &s;ubordinate to it, or depending on it; and &s;o are blamele&s;&s;e. For in every combination or &s;ubordination, whether of per|&s;ons, or of things, no inferiours, or &s;ubordinate, whether per&s;on or thing, can be injured, but that which is &s;upream or fir&s;t in either, mu&s;t needs partake thereof, and &s;uffer wrong al&s;o; yea, the truth is, that the whole &s;ubordination, and that in every part or member of it &s;uffers wrong, when&s;oe|ver any one part or member of it &s;o &s;uffers: The meane&s;t Subject in a Kingdome or State cannot be injured, without injury and wrong done to the Prince, or &s;upreame Ruler of this State, &s;o that if the Prince be not injured, certain it is, that no &s;ubject under him &s;uffered wrong. Thus then evident it is, that if the Army have done nothing in way of violation of that &s;upream Law, the <HI>Safety of the people,</HI> nei|ther have they tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed any other.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>&sect;. 5.</HEAD>
<P>That they have not tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed that great Law we &s;peake of, is evident, becau&s;e in what they did, they ob&s;erved it and yeelded obedience to it, they acted for the &s;afety of the people, what they did had a full and a clear concurrence here|with&punc; and tendency hereunto; The &s;afety and well being of the people of their Land, was now laid upon the Altar, rea|dy to be offered up in Sacrifice upon the &s;ervice of &s;ome few mens lu&s;ts and intere&s;ts; upon the &s;ight whereof they put their lives into their hand, and ingaged them&s;elves for the re&s;cue, what is, or rea&s;onably may be objected again&s;t this Argument, the Sequell will an&s;wer.</P>
<P><PB N="7" REF="5">Secondly, From that great Law of Nature, which ob|ligeth<NOTE PLACE="marg">&sect; 6&punc;</NOTE> every part or member of the body, to &s;ympathize in taking the &s;ame care one of another, and to act according<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cer. 12. 25.</NOTE> to their be&s;t intere&s;ts, <HI>divi&s;ion,</HI> and <HI>coniunction,</HI> for the pre|&s;ervation and well-being of the whole, I rea&s;on thus.</P>
<P>If the Army were obliged to take care of, and to act ac|cording to their be&s;t intere&s;ts for the pre&s;ervation and well|being of the body of the Kingdom, then are they not at all culpable for acting according to the tenour of their late and pre&s;ent proceedings.</P>
<P>But certain it is that the Army, as every other per&s;on and &s;ociety of men in the Kingdom, both were and are obliged to take care of, and to act according to their be&s;t intere&s;ts, for the pre&s;ervation and well-being of the body of the Kingdom.</P>
<P>Therefore they are not at all culpable for acting according to the tenour of their late and pre&s;ent proceedings.</P>
<P>The minor Propo&s;ition in this Argument al&s;o is unque&s;ti|onable; That which lies as a duty upon every particular member, Corporation, or Society of men in the King|dom be&s;ides, doubtle&s;&s;e re&s;ts upon the &s;ame termes, and after the &s;ame manner on the Army al&s;o. For what can be imagined &s;hould make the difference?</P>
<P>The connexion in the former Propo&s;ition, this con&s;i|deration avoucheth for Truth. The be&s;t Intere&s;t they had and that which was mo&s;t, if not onely, probable to contribute any thing con&s;iderable towards the Pre&s;erva|tion of the Nation, from tho&s;e devouring evilis of op|pre&s;&s;ion, &s;lavery, and blood, which were now comming upon it like an armed man; was to keep them&s;elves in a Body and Po&s;ture of &s;trength and power; the common intere&s;t of Petitioning, which was wont to operate effe|ctually towards the healing of grievances of People with
<PB N="8" REF="6">
tho&s;e upon whom they had ca&s;t the honour of making them their Phy&s;icians, being now trodden and trampled under foot, yea ca&s;t into the fire and con&s;umed by the Phy&s;icians them&s;elves. So that had the Army bowed down their backs to a di&s;&s;olution, they had deve&s;ted them&s;elves of that opportunity which both God and men had put in|to their hand to &s;ave their Nation in a day of danger and extremity; their disbanding (the pre&s;ent <GAP DESC="foreign"> and con&s;ti|tution of things in the Kingdom con&s;idered) had been a con&s;tructive &s;urrender and delivering up of this Nation into the hand of a more cruel &s;ervitude and va&s;&s;alage then ever it &s;erved &s;ince it was a Nation, to this day. Never did a red and lowring morning with more empha|ticalne&s;s of pre&s;age, portend a tempe&s;tuous day; than the burning of the humble addre&s;&s;es and reque&s;ts of the peo|ple, coming from their aggrieved and &s;orrowful &s;ouls, pre&s;age a &s;ea&s;on of tyrannie and blood, coming apace up|on the Land, yea even at the doors. When petitions are burnt, the Petitioners are no le&s;&s;e then threatned with the fire. The heathen Poet &s;aid,
<Q><L>Offendunt nunquam thuro, prece&s;&abque; Iovem&punc;</L>
<L>With Incen&s;e Jove was ne'er incen&s;ed known,</L>
<L>Nor with the prayers of men bowing down.</L></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="*" PLACE="foot"><Q><L>Qui duro ducit vivos &egrave; Marmore vultus,</L>
<L>Non facit ille De<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">s: qui rogat, ille facit.</L>
<L>VVho out of Marble living faces maketh,</L>
<L>Makes yet no Gods; but he that &s;upplicateth.</L></Q></NOTE> When great men are highly offended with poor people, onely for making or acknowledging them for Gods (I mean for pre&s;enting their petitions unto them) doth it not argue a mo&s;t precipitate and unnatural inclination and di&s;po&s;ition in them unto a micanthropie, cruelty, and blood? If our A &s;tro|norners &s;hould de&s;cry the jovial and plea&s;ant lu&s;tre of JUPI|TER, exchanged into the fiery and menacing a&s;pect of MARS</P>
<P><PB N="9" REF="6">were it not enough to make them all turn A&s;trologers and Pro|phets of &s;ome portentuous and formidable di&s;a&s;ter coming up|on the world: It is the demand of an Heathen, <GAP DESC="foreign">. It water choaks men what can they drink with &s;afety. If petitioning, which is of all applications and actions the cleere&s;t and mo&s;t innocent, and that by men to whom the petitioned, yea, and the who&s;e Kingdom al&s;o, under God, owe them&s;elves, their lives, and beings; yea and unto men who&s;e pre&s;ent inve&s;titure and authority being interpreted, is (in one of the main and primitive intentions of it) to receive petitions, and gra<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="2 letters">e Petitioners; yea moreover, if petitioning to &s;uch men by &s;uch men, not for half their Kingdoms, nor for any thing likely to &s;train either their <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 word">, or their bounty in point of condefcention, but onely for their regular and known hire, for that bread which they had dearly bought with their &s;weat and bloud, and &s;uch things as the petitioned them&s;elves acknowledged to be due unto them: I &s;ay, if petitioning on &s;uch terms, under &s;uch circum&s;tances as the&s;e, did &s;o far work upon the brow of the petitioned, ca&s;t them into &s;uch an exta&s;ie of in|dignation, as to declare to the whole world that they &s;hould look upon the Petitioners as <HI>enemies to the State,</HI> unle&s;s they de|&s;i&s;ted; what innocency, what moderation, what peaceablene&s;s, what &s;ubjection to laws, yea what tenor of actions, lives, or con|ver&s;ations, could either the Petitioners, but e&s;pecially the re&s;t of the people of the Kingdom, imagine &s;hould be able to pro|tect them again&s;t the unnatural, inhumane, and prodigious in&s;o|lencies of &s;uch men. When innocency in conjunction with &s;o|veraignty and height of merit, &s;hal be trampled upon as <HI>clay and mire in the &s;treet,</HI> by men in power&punc; what doth it portend, but the preparing of a yoke of iron for the neck of the Nation? <HI>Elian</HI> re|ports that in one of the States of <HI>Greece,</HI> when the &s;heep of one <HI>Nicippus</HI> brought forth a lyon, it was Ju&s;tly concluded that it por|tended a tyranny, and change of the State, from a peaceable to a bloody government: &s;o when fair, ju&s;t, and peaceable actions in inferiors, &s;hall produce fierce, violent, and mennacing oppre&s;|&s;ions and deportments in &s;uperiors, it is a &s;igne fully demon&s;tra|tive
<PB N="10" REF="7">
that they are in travel with oppre&s;&s;ion, cruelty, and blood: yea and begin to cry out to be delivered.</P>
<P>So then, there being the&s;e and many other mo&s;t apparent &s;ymptomes upon the Nation of a death of their liberties, and all their ju&s;t rights and comforts, approching; and withal, there be|ing no vi&s;ible, no nor probable means to prevent the coming and prevailing of this great de&s;truction over it, but onely that intere&s;t of power and &s;trength which yet remained in the Body of the Army; in ca&s;e the Army had deve&s;ted them&s;elves of this intere&s;t at the in&s;tance and demand of tho&s;e who demanded it, what had this (in due con&s;truction) bin, but the delivering of that &s;word out of their hands, for the &s;miting of the Nation with violence and oppre&s;&s;ion, which both God and the Nation it &s;elf (by their Tru&s;tees) put into their hand, for the pre&s;ervation and protection of it from, and again&s;t the&s;e evills? <HI>Qui non vetat, peccare, cumpo&s;&s;it, jubet.</HI></P>
<P>Thirdly, from one principal branch in that Covenant, which they &s;olemnly &s;ware and covenanted both with God and men: I further argue,</P>
<P>If the Army <HI>promi&s;ed, vovved, and prote&s;ted in the pre&s;ence of God</HI> (promi&s;ing, vovving, and prote&s;ting herein nothing but what was lavvful) <HI>to maintain and defend, as far as lawfully they might, vvith their lives, powers, and e&s;tates, the lavvful rights and liberties of the Subject,</HI> &amp;c. then are they not to be blamed, but honoured ra|ther as Covenant-keepers in their proceedings.</P>
<P>But this is the ca&s;e, the Army did thus <HI>promi&s;e, vovv, and pro|te&s;t,</HI> and therein promi&s;ed, vowed, and prote&s;ted nothing but what was lawful.</P>
<P>Therefore not to be blamed, but rather honoured as Co|venant-keepers in their proceedings.</P>
<P>The former part of the A&s;&s;umption is evident from the te|nour of the fir&s;t branch of the Covenant, together with the
<PB N="11" REF="7">
known Act of the Army (at lea&s;t of the chief and greate&s;t part of them] in taking it. The latter part is granted by the Par|liament them&s;elves, and all tho&s;e, who having taken the &s;aid Covenant, do not repent thereof.</P>
<P>The Con&s;equence in the Propo&s;ition is evident al&s;o upon this &s;uppo&s;ition, that the Army in what they have done, have gone no further then lawfully they may, to maintaine and de|fend the lawful rights and liberties of the Subject.</P>
<P>The truth of this &s;uppo&s;ition is fairly demon&s;trable thus. That is lawful for men to do: which upon good and warrant|able grounds they judge nece&s;&s;ary to be done, for the pro|curing and effecting of that which by duty they &s;tand bound and obliged to do. That the Army &s;tood bound in duty, and by the band of their Covenant, to maintain and defend the lawful rights and Liberties of the Subject, is evident, and above all contradiction. The grounds upon which they judged it nece&s;&s;ary to &s;teere the cour&s;e which they have hitherto held; partly in not disbanding; partly in impeaching &s;ome members of Parliament in pur&s;u|ance of their Covenant, in the particulars mentioned, are the&s;e [with their fellows] Fir&s;t, they cleerly &s;aw, and the world round about cleerly &s;eeth, that the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subiect, were not onely threatned, or a&s;&s;aulted, but &s;orely wounded and endangered al&s;o, [and con&s;equently &s;tood in eminent need of mainte|nance and defence] havock and &s;poyl being made of them from day to day; in burning their Petitions, and decla|ring tho&s;e Enemies to the State, who onely petitioned, and that in a peaceable way, for what the Parliament it &s;elf acknowledged to be ju&s;t and equal to be granted un|to them: be&s;ides the numerous Arbytrarie and illegall, yea cau&s;le&s;s and rea&s;onle&s;&s;e impri&s;onments of the per&s;ons, &s;eque&s;trations of the e&s;tates, and many grievous and un|ju&s;t mole&s;tations otherwi&s;e, of the free-born &s;ubjects of the Nation. The Civil Law &s;aith (and not without ground)
<PB N="12" REF="8">
<Q>That he which hath hurt one, hath threatned many: and by the rule of proportion it may be as truly &s;aid, that they who have hurt many, have threatned all.</Q></P>
<P>Secondly, They cleerly &s;aw and under&s;tood, that there was no vi&s;ible, nor in any degree probable means now left unto the Nation, for the maintenance and de|fence of the &s;aid lawful RIGHTS and LIBERTIES of the Subject, but onely that Intere&s;t which was ve&s;ted in them, being yet an Armie, and an united body. The prevail|ing party of tho&s;e men, who EX OFFICIO and according to the ducture and engagement of the great Tru&s;t repo&s;ed in them, &s;hould have a&s;&s;erted the&s;e RIGHTS and LIBERTIES, had turned head upon their Tru&s;t, and judgement into WORMWOOD; and had not only laid their foundations; but being active in their way, made no &s;mal progre&s;s in building up them&s;elves and their own exorbi|tant Greatne&s;s, in the ruines of the RIGHTS and LIBER|TIES of the people, (as hath been &s;hewed) Yea, by the lawle&s;s Law of Prerogative and Priviledge con&s;piring to|gether, had now the &s;ee-&s;imple of tho&s;e places, and that power &s;etled upon them; by the advantage of which, they might have done not onely what they plea&s;ed (and what this is, and was like to be, they have re&s;olved us with|out putting it to the Que&s;tion, by their actions) but while&s;t they plea&s;ed al&s;o; and this without any bridle of fear in their lipps of being countable unto any for what&s;oever they &s;hould doe. So that now the Army was the onely SPES GREGIS, the &s;ole hope of recove|ry, under God, to the drooping and dying freedoms of this Nation.</P>
<P>The Army could not but apprehend, that had they willingly walked after the Commandment of tho&s;e, who required their disbanding, and not &s;tood fa&s;t by their In|tere&s;t of union and power (at lea&s;t for a &s;ea&s;on) they had been like water &s;pilt upon the ground; or (in the Pro|phets
<PB N="13" REF="8">
compari&s;on) <HI>like unto a Potters Ve&s;&s;el, &s;o broken in pieces, that there vvould not have been found in the bursting of it, a &s;heard to take fire from the harth, or to take water withal out</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 30. 14.</NOTE> <HI>of the pit.</HI> * they had been wholy unu&s;efull and un&s;ervice|able to that great Intere&s;t of the Nation, <HI>the maintenance and defence of the lavvful Rights and Liberties of the Inhabitants thereof:</HI> and &s;o had deprived the Kingdom of all hope (yea and po&s;&s;ibility in an ordinary way) of receiving their <HI>dead</HI> (Liberties) rai&s;ed to <HI>life again;</HI> * the &s;oft breathing of which<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.</NOTE> hope, is now of more value and refre&s;hing to the Nation, then all the &s;ilver and gold that is in it, and all the Trea&s;ure be|&s;ides.</P>
<P>Fourthly, It is no whit le&s;s then evident, that they who made tryal of a pretended or imaginary right to di&s;&s;olve and &s;catter a reall power, in the disbanding of the Army, (for no per&s;on nor per&s;ons of what capacity &s;oever, have any power, either to act, or to enjoyn any thing de&s;tructive to the lawful Rights of any man, much le&s;s of a Kingdom) no waies intended to ea&s;e the Nation of the burthen of an Ar|my; but onely to ca&s;t down and make a plain of that mountain of men which &s;tood in their way, and ob&s;tru|cted their pa&s;&s;age to that Lordly paradi&s;e of a perpetual and unaccountable domination, the figure whereof they had taken up and committed folly with in their imaginati|ons. As for the Nation, the ca&s;e is plain enough, that their intent was, to take off the weight of the <HI>little finger</HI> of the Army, that they might gain an opportunity in&s;tead thereof, to lay the weight of their owne <HI>Loynes</HI> up|on it.</P>
<P>Fiftly, (and la&s;tly for the impeaching of the mem|bers) &s;uppo&s;ing their guiltine&s;&s;e, or be it but a &s;trong pre&s;umption of Truth, in tho&s;e high mi&s;-demeanours, which are now charged upon them (beneath which their greate&s;t Friends (I pre&s;ume) and Confederates cannot fa|vour&punc;
<PB N="14" REF="9">
them) the Army had rea&s;on in aboundance to lift up their hand to this expedient al&s;o. Becau&s;e fir&s;t, Had not this &s;alt been ca&s;t into the Parliamentary fountain, the bitter waters thereof could not have been healed; nor re|duced to any &s;uch &s;weetne&s;s, that the Families of the Kingdome might with comfort and &s;afety drink of them. It was no waies likely that ever this fountaine would have purged or clarified it &s;elf, as naturall Fountains being roy|led and muddy, &s;ometimes do: becau&s;e the mudde and filth that was in it, was in &s;o great a quantity, and &s;o compacted withal, that the vent or i&s;&s;ue, through which, being open, the fre&s;h waters &s;ucce&s;&s;ively &s;pringing and ri|&s;ing up, &s;hould have wrought the cure, was hereby ob|durated, damm'd, and quite &s;topt up. Secondly&punc; There was none other hand in the Kingdom, but onely the va|liant and dreadle&s;&s;e hand of the Army, that probably dur&s;t, or however, could with that Authority or hopefulne&s;&s;e of &s;ucce&s;&s;e, lift up it &s;elf to &s;o great and honourable an attempt as this. He had need of the &s;trength and courage of <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> that &s;hall take a Lyon by the beard. And to &s;ay to a Junto of Parliamentary Grandees, ye are wicked; requires an Army at lea&s;t in the Reere.</P>
<P>Now whether the grounds mentioned be not fully warrantable and &s;ufficient for the Army, to judge that cour&s;e which they have &s;teered, nece&s;&s;ary for the perform|ance of that great duty, <HI>the maintenance and defence of the</HI> LAWFVLL RIGHTS and LIBERTIES of the SVBJECT, which by &s;olemne VOW <HI>and</HI> COVE|NANT, they &s;tood bound to perform&punc; and con&s;equently whether ju&s;tifiable and lawful, I leave to the Judgements and Con&s;ciences of their greate&s;t Adver&s;aries to con&s;ider; and upon con&s;ideration, either to build them up by an inge|nuous and free &s;ub&s;cription, or by a cleer and &s;olid refuta|tion, to ca&s;t them down.</P>
<P><PB N="15" REF="9">That which is, or indeede can be objected again&s;t the premi|&s;es is of little value, and very opportune for &s;atisfaction.</P>
<P>1. The Army with their proceedings, are burthened with di&s;obedience to authority, and re&s;i&s;tance again&s;t the higher powers, in refu&s;ing to disband, upon an Ordinance of Parlia|ment, I an&s;wer.</P>
<P>1. The Army did not, neither yet doth ab&s;olutely refu&s;e to disband, and that in &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion to Parliamentary Authority. They onely de&s;ired, that their disbanding might be re&s;pited for a time; and have humbly offered their grounds and rea&s;ons of this their reque&s;t, unto the Parliament. A Servant is not therefore unfaithfull or di&s;obedient to his Mr. if now and then upon occa&s;i|on, and due con&s;ideration had of the nature, or con&s;equence of &s;ome command which he &s;hall receive from him, he &s;hall for a while &s;u&s;pend his obedience, and &s;ubmi&s;&s;ively debate with his Mr. either the equity or expediency of his command, e&s;pecial|ly in order to his own affaires. <HI>Ioab</HI> was never charged by any man with di&s;&s;obedience unto <HI>David,</HI> though a King, and that of divine de&s;ignation, and this in an extraordinary way too, be|cau&s;e he did not pre&s;ently upon his Command, and without di&s;|pute, <HI>go and number I&s;rael and Judah,</HI> the Scripture is playne, that <HI>Ioab</HI> did argue and rea&s;on the ca&s;e with his Lord and Mr. the King, before he would &s;ubmit to his Command: and how hap|py a thing it had been both for the King him&s;elfe, and his King|dome, if this Command of his had never been obeyed, the &s;e|quel of the &s;tory &s;ufficiently manife&s;ts.</P>
<P>2. Neither is all di&s;obedience to &s;uperiours, or men in autho|rity, a di&s;obedience to authority, or to that <HI>higher power,</HI> where|with &s;uch per&s;ons are lawfully inve&s;ted, the lu&s;ts or arbitrary de&s;ires or wills of men in authority, are no part of their autho|rity; for certaine it is, that neither God, nor men ever gave unto rulers, or men in authority, any authority or power to do whatever they li&s;t; but onely that which upon good grounds they judge to be ju&s;t, and expedient for the weale and &s;afety of the people under them, &s;o that it no way followes that becau&s;e the Army hath not obeyed the per&s;ons of men &s;itting in Parlia|ment, and inve&s;ted with Parliamentary power, therefore they have not obeyed Parliamentary authority. Though, <HI>Shadrach,
<PB N="16" REF="10">
Me&s;hach, and Abe dnego, changed the Kings word,</HI> or com|mand, <NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Dan. 3. 18. 28.</NOTE> refu&s;ed to obey it, yet did not they re&s;i&s;t his authori|ty, or if they did, the King him&s;elfe &s;oone after ble&s;&s;ed God for it.</P>
<P>3. There are many Commandements of God him&s;elfe though unque&s;tionably lawfull and good (for &s;uch are all his Com|mands) a non-performance whereof notwith&s;tanding in &s;ome ca&s;es is very lawfull, and free from offence. It was a ju&s;t and righteous Command of God that <HI>Aaron and his Sonnes onely, and not &s;trangers &s;hould eat of the holy things</HI> <NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Exod. 29. 32. 33. Levit. 24. 29 Mat. 12. 4.</NOTE> and particular|ly of the <HI>Shewbread;</HI> yet <HI>David</HI> and his men, though they were none of <HI>Aarons</HI> Sons, in a ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity, eating of this bread, are acquitted by our Saviour him&s;elfe, from &s;in in &s;o doing, In like manner the Command or law concerning the &s;trict ob&s;erva|tion of the Sabbath, was a ju&s;t and holy and good Law: Yet Chri&s;t him&s;elfe out of the Law, pronounceth the <HI>Prie&s;ts blame|le&s;&s;e,</HI> though prophaining the Sabbath, though they did that which was contrary to the letter of the Command concerning the Sabbath, as it related unto, and obliged the generality of men. So then, if the Commands of God which are unque&s;tiona|bly ju&s;t, holy, and good, and of univer&s;all expediency unto men, yet as occa&s;ion and circum&s;tance may be, may very law|fully, and without the lea&s;t touch of &s;in be tran&s;gre&s;&s;ed, much more may the Commands of men, e&s;pecially &s;uch Commands, the equity and expediencie whereof for publike good are very dubitable, upon ju&s;t occa&s;ion, and in due order to &s;ome impor|tant good, be di&s;obeyed, not onely without &s;uch height, and heighnou&s;ne&s;&s;e of guilt, as the pa&s;&s;ionate, but withall rediculous exclamations of many import to be contracted to the Army; but without any touch or tincture of guilt at all.</P>
<P>4. And la&s;tly, as the &s;aying is that <HI>there is no generall rule but hath its exception,</HI> one or more; &s;o there is no ordinary or &s;tan|ding Law, but mu&s;t give place, and yeeld obedience to that Law, which is the Law of Lawes, the Law of nece&s;&s;ity; when this &s;peaketh, it is like <HI>a King upon his Throne, again&s;t whom there is no ri&s;ing up;</HI> all other Lawes mu&s;t keepe &s;ilence before it, and
<PB N="17" REF="10">
bow downe to it as their Soveraigne. It is true, this law when it &s;peaketh, commonly troubleth the world; by turning the ac|cu&s;tomed and &s;etled cour&s;e of things in it up&s;ide downe. The voice of it &s;omtimes is like the <HI>roaring of a Lyon,</HI> which maketh the bea&s;ts in the <HI>Wilderne&s;&s;e to tremble,</HI> but herein it maketh &s;ome kind of recompence, it troubleth not the world often, it but &s;eldome interpo&s;eth, to the prejudice, or non-ob&s;ervance of &s;tan|ding<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nece&s;&s;ity is by the Iewes called lex ho|rae 1. the law of an houre and by others lex temporis the Law of the times. Davevant Detrem. <HI>p. 191.</HI> Nece&s;&s;itas e|nim tollit, &amp; evertit omnes leges: mio nulla habet legum vincu|lae luth. T. 2. wittenb. <HI>P. 376.</HI> Nece&s;&s;itas tollit legem nece&s;&s;itas in|ducit privi legium. &amp;c.</NOTE> Lawes; yea and when it doth interpo&s;e, the rule and King|dome of it &s;oone hath an end: like to the tempe&s;tuous winds, which (as &s;ome Mariners have ob&s;erved) &s;ometimes blow up|on the Coa&s;ts of the I&s;land <HI>Brava,</HI> who&s;e onely pray&s;e it is, that they continue not above an houre, but within this time they commonly change all the points of the compa&s;&s;e. <HI>Nece&s;&s;i|ty</HI> (&s;aith Luther) <HI>takes away and overturnes all Lawes; yea it hath no band or tye of any Law or Lawes upon it.</HI> And &s;uch &s;ayings as the&s;e. <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity takes away the Law, Nece&s;&s;ity brings a priviledge with it, &amp;c.</HI> are very common in the civill Law. And though the <HI>Jews,</HI> e&s;pecially in their doctrinalls, were very &s;trict and rigid for the ob&s;ervation of their Sabbath, yet it is a knowne rule among&s;t them, that <HI>Periculum, vitae pellit Sabbathum,</HI> 1. dan|ger of life drives away the Sabbath. But the &s;aying of <HI>Iunius</HI> a late learned Divine, is very memorable to this purpo&s;e. This (&s;aith he) <HI>belongeth to como~n Law &amp; equity, that unto extraordina|ry evils, extraordinary remedies mu&s;t al&s;o be applyed.</HI> It were ea&s;ie to multiply both rules &amp; examples, out of the be&s;t approved Authors, to ju&s;tifie the doing of many things in ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity, which out of &s;uch ca&s;es are unlawfull, as being contrary to ordinary Lawes, and &s;tanding rules. So then, the Law and Command concer|ning obedience to Magi&s;trates and Rulers, being an ordinary and &s;tanding Law; it is, and ought to be &s;ubject to the Law of ne|ce&s;&s;ity, neither ought any man, or any &s;ociety of men in or for his obedience to this to be judged culpable, or any wayes de|linquent, though it be with di&s;obedience to that other. There|fore it no wayes followes. The Army have di&s;obeyed the Com|mands of their Superiours, therefore they are not cen&s;ureable as evill doers. But</P>
<P>Secondly, it is like it will here be yet further objected and
<PB N="18" REF="11">
&s;aid. Yea but who &s;hall Judge of a ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity? if inferi|ours and they that are under government, and ought to obey &s;hall be allowed to Judge, and to determine of ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;i|ty, it is like, that whenever the commands of their Superiours do not plea&s;e them, or &s;uit with their ends or de&s;iers they will pretend and plead <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity</HI> in way of barre to their Obedience And &s;o the Ordinance and law of Maie&s;tracy, will upon the matter be made void, and of no effect, and then a Chaos and confu&s;ion of Anarchywil &s;oon over&s;pread the world. In the pre|&s;ent ca&s;e, the Patliament who is the mo&s;t competent Judge, if not the only Judge of a ca&s;e nece&s;&s;ity e&s;peciallyin order to the publike good and wellfare of the e&s;tate and Kingdome, did not apprehend any nece&s;&s;itie at all. for the Army to deny their obedience and &s;ubiection to their ordinance and command for disbanding; and is it lawfull for inferiours, and by name for the Army to oppo&s;e the judgment of the &s;upreame Iudicatory of the Kingdom, e&s;pe&s;ially in a ca&s;e of &s;uch a referrence and import as that? To this al&s;o I an&s;wer. 1. in generall. 2. in parti|cular.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, for ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity they are for the mo&s;t part very ea&s;ie to be judged and di&s;cerned, mens &s;en&s;es u&s;ually infor|ming their under&s;tandings when they fall. When <HI>David</HI> and his men were an hungry, and &s;aw no po&s;&s;ibility of being &s;upplyed, or relived otherwi&s;e (&s;uppo&s;e them all per&s;ons of far le&s;&s;e under|&s;tanding then they were) they were and had been (ever under &s;uch a &s;uppo&s;ition) the mo&s;t competent, and be&s;t quallified Judges in the world of that ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity which was now in upon them, <HI>viz.</HI> to do that <HI>in eating the Show-bread which in other ca&s;es was not lawfull for them to do.</HI> By the way, this in&s;tance con+cerning <HI>David,</HI> and his men, being made a <HI>Booke&punc;ca&s;e</HI> by Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, cleerly proveth that extremity of hunger, is a reall and authori&s;ed <HI>ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity;</HI> and con&s;equently priviledgeth tho&s;e that are under it, whil&s;t it continueth upon them, from &s;ubjection to &s;uch Lawes, which oppo&s;e the reliefe of it, and whereunto they are, and ought to be &s;ubject, at all other times. And if hunger, though but of one or of a &s;mall number of men, be warranted by Chri&s;t, for a ca&s;e of nece&s;&s;ity, and as a di&s;pen|&s;ation
<PB N="19" REF="11">
from an ordinary and &s;tanding Law; much more are the like, and e&s;pecially greater concernments of greater numbers of men, to pa&s;&s;e in our judgments for ca&s;es of like nature name and import.</P>
<P>Secondly, though &s;ome may pretend and plead a ca&s;e of ne|ce&s;&s;ity where none is, to exempt them&s;elves from &s;ome lawes or commands, which they have no mind to be &s;ubject unto (who are ju&s;tly puni&s;hable upon &s;ufficient evidence of their di&s;&s;imula|tion) yet this is no competent ground or motive to deny a law|fullne&s;&s;e of power unto mea in generall, to judge of &s;uch ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity, whereof they are capable by principles of common &s;ence, and ordinary under&s;tanding. Though many are hipocrites in Religion, and profe&s;&s;e they beleeve in God, when they doe nothing le&s;&s;e, yet this is no rea&s;on to interdict any man, either the triall or judging of his faith, or the profe&s;&s;ion of it. when in|deed he hath it and doth beleive.</P>
<P>3. Though men in places civill Iudicature and Magi&s;tracy be ordinarilyand in the generall the mo&s;t competent Judges of &s;uch ca&s;es of nece&s;&s;ity which are of publick <HI>Intere&s;t</HI> and concernment: yet fir&s;t, con&s;idering what was &s;aid towards the begining <HI>viz.</HI> that a guift (and con&s;equently any thing of like influence and operation upon the heart of men&punc; as vehement de&s;iers, and hopes of irregular &amp; undue injoynments in anykind &amp;c) <HI>blinds the eyes of the wi&s;e, and pervert the words of the righteous;</HI> 2. The richly te&s;ti|fied &amp; long approved integrity of others, who though (haply) not ve&s;ted in any place of civill authority, yet are men of &s;ound judg|ment and ofexecellent abilities to di&s;cern in many ca&s;es the di|judication of &s;uch an intere&s;t we &s;peak of, as farr more compe|tent and proper for &s;ome private men, then for tho&s;e that are above them in Authoritie and power. When a man not &s;uff&s;iently acquainted with the way. which he is to Travaile, &s;hall hier, and take a guide along with him&punc; who knowes the way, to direct him, though in this ca&s;e it be ordinarily more regular and rationall, for &s;uch a man to follow his guide, and to be directed by him; yet in ca&s;e his guide fals blind by the way, he is fitter from thence forth to be his own guide, and to follow the dictates of his own eyes and judgement, then to be led along, haply into ditches and precipices by a blind man,</P>
<P><PB N="20" REF="12">Or &s;uppo&s;e a wi&s;e and di&s;cret woman, &s;hould joyne her &s;elfe in marriage to a man of worth, and con&s;iderable ability: though it were mo&s;t agreeable to the will and law of God, and to the principles of naturall order and rea&s;on, that this woman &s;hould obey and be &s;ubject to the councells and directions of &s;uch an husband, whil&s;t God &s;hall plea&s;e to keep him &s;ound in his intel|lectuals; Yet in ca&s;e God &s;hall take of the Chariot wheeles of this mans rea&s;on and under&s;tanding and &s;mite him with <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter"> phren|&s;ie or madne&s;&s;e, in this ca&s;e, it is more meete that the husband though naturally the head, &s;hould follow the councell and di|rections of the woman, though more generally the <HI>weaker ve&s;&s;ell,</HI> then that the woman being di&s;creet and &s;ober, &s;hould be di&s;pe|&s;ed off, or concluded by the will or commands of the man. It is a true ob&s;ervation and &s;aying of <HI>Bazil,</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">: (Lib. <HI>D Spiritu fancto</HI> cap. 20.) that is according to the order and cour&s;e of nature, that which is wi&s;e or prudent is to order, and rule. So that in ca&s;e a per&s;on, one, or more advanced to the place of Magi&s;tracy and civill power, at fir&s;t judged upright, and capable of the things appertaining to his place&punc; and to the publique good by tho&s;e who advanced him, &s;hall in time &s;o farr degenerate, and become unlike him&s;elf, that either by bribery, covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e, ambition and impotency of de&s;ire of arbitrary domination, or the like, he &s;uffers his <HI>eyes to be blinded,</HI> and loo&s;eth his habit or principle of di&s;cerning mat|ters of publick concernment: in &s;uch a ca&s;e privat men, yea the generallity of men are more competent judges of their common concernment then he, And as the Lord Chri&s;t in that &s;aying, <HI>If the blind lead the blind, they &s;hall both fall into the ditch.</HI> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Matt. 15. 14.</NOTE> gave men a piercing <HI>Item</HI> in their &s;pirituall affaires, to &s;eeke for eyes of their own wherewith to find out them&s;elves, and to be able to judge of the waies of life, upon a &s;uppo&s;all that their <HI>leaders</HI> would &s;ometimes, if not very frequently, prove <HI>blind,</HI> in which ca&s;e, unle&s;&s;e them&s;elves had eyes to &s;ee, and &s;hould walke accor|dingly, they would certainly peri&s;h for ever: &s;o is it in mens temporall and civill affaires proportionably: <HI>If the blindlead the blind.</HI> If <HI>blind</HI> Magi&s;trates &s;hall lead a <HI>blind</HI> people, or a <HI>&s;ee|ing</HI> people, (for there is no difference in ca&s;e the one be <HI>led</HI>
<PB N="21" REF="12">
a&s;well as the other by the <HI>blind</HI>) if the people&punc; (I &s;ay) whether <HI>blind</HI> or <HI>&s;eeing</HI> &s;hall &s;ubject them&s;elves without due examination and triall, to what&s;oever their <HI>blind</HI> Rulers, whether in pretence, or in reality of intention (for their is no difference in the ca&s;e we &s;peak of) &s;hall command them to do in order to their peace; they run an iminent hazard of falling into the Politicall ditch of externall mi&s;ery and ruin. Nor is their much que&s;tion to be made, but that men are in every whit as much danger of being <HI>led by the blind,</HI> in their politique and civill concernment as in their &s;pirituall: The bench and throne affoording commonly more du&s;t to <HI>blind</HI> mens <HI>eyes,</HI> then the Chaire or Pulpet. But</P>
<P>Fourthly, Suppo&s;e Rulers and Judges, &s;hould be men of inte|grety (for the maine) yea and for wi&s;dom and vnder&s;tanding in their appropriate affaires, men not much, lower then <HI>Angels of God,</HI> yet we know the common &s;aying <HI>humanum e&s;t errare,</HI> men have nothing more incident to them then error and mi&s;take: and this many times in matters of very materiall con&s;equence both to them&s;elves and others, yea the wi&s;e&s;t of men have their <HI>turbidaintervalla,</HI> and now and then <HI>dead flyes</HI> are found in their <HI>Oyntment. David</HI> was a man <HI>after Gods own heart</HI> for uprightnes and &s;incerity and had a very rich annointing al&s;o of the &s;pirit of wi&s;dome and under&s;tanding; Yet we know the time was, when he commanded, and that with much importunity and vehemen|cy of conte&s;t, that which was of very &s;ad con&s;equence, both to him&s;elf and many thou&s;ands of his people: the evill tendency of which command, though him&s;elf for the pre&s;ent apprehended nothing of, yet was it as it &s;eemes re&s;ented by <HI>Ioab</HI> a &s;ouldier and Generall of his Army, who conte&s;ted with him a while for a re|ver&s;al of it. If then Rulers and Governors though men of cleere&s;t both hearts and parts, may &s;ometimes, through incogitancy, or weakne&s;&s;e of judgment or by rea&s;on of &s;ome pre&s;ent over&punc; &s;had|dowing with &s;ome corruption, temptation or the like, command &s;uch things to be done, which have a direct and cleere tendency to the puplique prejudice and dammage of that &s;tate and people who are &s;ubject unto them, and this di&s;cernable to private men who are &s;tanders by: ought not the&s;e men to judge, and &s;peake what they &s;ee, and beleeve in the&s;e ca&s;es, yea and to charge the commandements of their Rulers, rather then to obey them both
<PB N="22" REF="13">
to their owns prejudice, and the prejudice of many millions of men, who&s;e wealth, and &s;afety they &s;tand bound in con&s;cience with the be&s;t of their intere&s;ts, and endeavours to procure. It Chri&s;t doth not onely allow the generality of Chri&s;tians to try, examine, and judge, of the Doctrines of their teachers, if they be able; but injoynes them (as we heard) at the perill of their &s;oules to ve&s;t in them&s;elves &s;uch an ability, by which they may be able &s;o farre to di&s;cerne and judge of their Doctrines, as to determine whether or no their teachers be <HI>blind</HI> or <HI>&s;eeing,</HI> ad|moni&s;hing them further if they be <HI>blind,</HI> at no hand to be <HI>led by</HI> them, for feare of <HI>falling into the ditch</HI> doubtle&s;&s;e, he alloweth (at lea&s;t) the generallity of men, a right and intere&s;t of judge|ing and di&s;cerning, if they be able (and what &s;hould hinder of being able to acquire a faculty of judging temporall and civill things, when Chri&s;t him&s;elfe &s;uppo&s;eth them capable of ob|taining an ability to judge of &s;pirituall and heavenly things) the politick Doctrines. 1. the Injunctions and Commands of their civill Rulers: and if he alloweth them to judge and determine of them, whether they be truly politique, and con&s;i&s;tant with the publike good and &s;afety, or no, certainely, he allowes them withall, either to obey, or di&s;obey according as upon good grounds, they &s;hall judge them to be.</P>
<P>It is like it will be here replyed and demanded.</P>
<P>Yea, but by what rule &s;hall inferiours judge of the Com|mands of their Superiours? Or by what Character or marke, &s;hall &s;uch Commands which may lawfully be di&s;obeyed, be &s;o cleerly di&s;tingui&s;hed from &s;uch others, which are nece&s;&s;ary to be obeyed, that the con&s;cience of him that obeyeth not, may be &s;ecured in peace, in, and under his non-obedience? I an|&s;wer.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, the con&s;cience of the inferiour who di&s;obeyeth, may upon every whit as cleere, and &s;atisfactory termes, be &s;ecured, concerning the lawfulne&s;&s;e of his non-obedience, as the con&s;ci|ence of the Superiour, concerning the lawfulne&s;&s;e of his com|mand. Nay, of the two, there are more &s;nares and temptations upon the &s;uperiours to impo&s;e unrighteous Commands, then upon the inferiour to mi&s;&s;-judge or mi&s;take, tho&s;e which are righteous for unrighteous&punc; The Superiour is in little or no danger
<PB N="23" REF="13">
at all (I mean in re&s;pect of any civil puni&s;hment or &s;ufferings, if he judgeth any command of his what&s;oever unju&s;t, refu&s;ing ac|cordingly to obey it: yea he is in danger of &s;uffering both from God and men in ca&s;e he mi&s;-judgeth any &s;uch command upon &s;uch termes, &s;o that there is nothing &s;o much danger, that the inferiour him&s;elf &s;hould mi&s;-judge his &s;uperiours command, as that the &s;uperiour him&s;elf &s;hould mi&s;-judge it, and &s;o &s;in in the propo&s;all of it.</P>
<P>Secondly, Were it to be granted, that the Inferiour who is to obey runs &s;ome hazard of mi&s;take, when ever he judgeth and concludeth any command of his &s;uperiour to be unju&s;t: yet, 1. the &s;uperiour runs the &s;ame (or a greater) hazard, (as hath been &s;aid) when&s;oever he judgeth that which he commandeth to be ju&s;t; &s;o that if the po&s;&s;ibility or a danger of a mi&s;take, in the in|feriour, be a ty or engagement upon his Con&s;cience, to forbear any act of judgement at all about the command of the &s;uperiour: the &s;ame of greater po&s;&s;ibilitie or danger in the &s;uperiour mu&s;t oblige his Con&s;cience al&s;o from impo&s;ing any command at all upon the inferiour, and con&s;equently, all both commanding and obeying &s;hould cea&s;e from the world, and the intere&s;t of Magi|&s;tracy and government wholly be di&s;&s;olved. 2. As the inferi|our &s;hall run a hazard of mi&s;take, when&s;oever hee &s;hall judge it righteous: it being every whit as difficult cleerly to determine what is righteous and ju&s;t, as what is unrighteous and unju&s;t, &s;o that if the danger of a mi&s;take, in judging the command of his &s;uperiour to be unju&s;t, be an engagement upon his con&s;cience, to forbear all &s;uch judgement, by the &s;ame rule, and upon the &s;ame ground, he &s;hould never judge any &s;uch command to bee ju&s;t neither: in which ca&s;e all his obedience mu&s;t needs be &s;in|full, as not being performed in faith: 1. Out of a knowledge or wel-grounded per&s;wa&s;ion of the lawfulne&s;&s;e of it. But</P>
<P>3. Evident it is, that in &s;ome ca&s;es there is no danger at all, no hazard run, in judgeing the commands of &s;uperiours, unlawfull: no not when the &s;uperiours them&s;elves &s;hall be mo&s;t confident of the lawfulne&s;&s;e of them: <HI>Shadrach, Me&s;hach and Abednigo</HI> ran no danger of a mi&s;take, when they judged the command of <HI>King
<PB N="24" REF="14">
Nebuchad-nezar,</HI> for the wor&s;hiping of his golden image, to be unlawfull and unju&s;t: and yet the King him&s;elf (as appears by the &s;tory) yea and all his Nobles, were violently confident of the equitie and ju&s;tne&s;&s;e of it. Nor did <HI>Daniel</HI> run hazard of a mi&s;|take, when hee judged the command of <HI>Darius</HI> his Prince and Councellours, that <HI>no man for thirty dayes &s;hould ask any Petitions of any God, or man, but of the King only,</HI> to bee unju&s;t: though it is no wayes like, but that at lea&s;t the major part of them, judged it very rea&s;onable and ju&s;t. That mixt A&s;&s;embly of Ru|lers and Prie&s;ts (Act. 4. 5. 6.) were confident more then enough, that they did well, in <HI>commanding Peter and Iohn, to preach no more in Chri&s;ts name,</HI> (ver&s;. 17. 18.) yet the men ran no hazard at all of mi&s;take in refu&s;ing to obey it, as unju&s;t. So by the way, it no wayes followes. The Parliament it &s;elfe, (at lea&s;t the major part of it&punc; judged their Ordinance or Command for the pre&s;ent disbanding of the Army, to be ju&s;t: therefore the Army &s;inned, or ran a hazard of &s;inning, in refu&s;ing to obey it according|ly. But</P>
<P>4. In ca&s;e the inferiour &s;hould at any time mi&s;take, in judge|ing &s;ome command of his &s;uperiour unlawfull, having con&s;ci|enciou&s;ly u&s;ed compitent means for his due Reformation, and judging of it as he doth, in the &s;implicity of his heart, not out of any &s;ini&s;ter end, or re&s;pect as neglect of Magi&s;tracy, &amp;c. yet &s;uch a mi&s;take, with the new obedience accompanying it, is a far le&s;&s;e offence, much more pardonable or excu&s;able, then ei|ther the &s;wallowing downe of all commands what&s;oever from &s;uperiours without examination, and much more then his &s;ub|jection to this or any other command again&s;t judgement and con&s;cience would be: &s;o that though a non obedience in an in|feriour upon &s;uch a mi&s;take, as was now di&s;cribed in the com|mand of his &s;uperiour, be not &s;imply ju&s;tifiable or lawfull, yet it is comparatively ju&s;tifiable, being a far le&s;&s;er &s;in, &s;uppo&s;ing the invinciblene&s;&s;e of the errour, or mi&s;take, by ordinary meanes, then the contrary, yea then any other department would bee mi&s;takes upon diligence, and rea&s;onable m<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="2 letters">ns con&s;cientiou&s;ly u&s;ed for the prevention of them, as they are the frequent, &s;o are
<PB N="25" REF="14">
they the lighte&s;t mi&s;-carryings of the Saints, and lea&s;t obnoxi|ous to the di&s;plea&s;ure of God.</P>
<P>5. (And La&s;tly for the&s;e) There are the&s;e three characters and &s;ymptomes very incident (among&s;t &s;ome others) to the commands of &s;uperiours, which being found upon them, ren|der and declare them manife&s;tly unju&s;t, (in which ca&s;e the in|feriour runneth little or no hazard in judging them according|ly) Fir&s;t, When they are calculated and formed with a peculi|ar and cleere antipathy to the comforts and peace of &s;uch as are religious, and withall peaceable in that way of Religion wher|in they wor&s;hip God. This is one character of an unju&s;t com|mand. It is not material in this ca&s;e, whether the &s;uperiours we &s;peak of or others void of Religion, know who are Religious <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 word">. That may bee clear and manife&s;t to Religious per&s;ons them&s;elves, which is either unknown or doubtfull, unto o|thers. Secondly, When &s;uch commands &s;mile upon the inte|re&s;ts of the Commanders them&s;elves, or any prevailing party or faction of them, as upon their profits, plea&s;ures, honours, pow|ers, &amp;c. and withall lowre and frown upon the ea&s;e and acco|modations of the comminalty of the people under them. This is another manife&s;t character or &s;igne of their inju&s;tice, ea&s;ie e|nough to be di&s;covered. Thirdly, (and la&s;tly,) When they have &s;trong and pregnant conjunction, in point of conver&s;allity, whether privative or po&s;&s;itive, with any &s;uch de&s;igne, whether reall, or ju&s;tly &s;u&s;pected, which tends either to the en&s;laving of the generallity of the people, or to the extingui&s;hing and de|feating of their ju&s;t rights and liberties; and withall, have no connexion at all, with any imaginable benefit or good, of e|quall con&s;ideration unto the people. This al&s;o is a pregnant character of iniu&s;tice in &s;uch commands. Suppo&s;e there be no &s;uch de&s;igne as wee &s;peake of really intended, as for the en&s;la|ving of a free people (or their liberties) yet if there bee any &s;trong pre&s;umption (much more i<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter"> many) that there is indeed &s;uch a de&s;igne intended, &s;o that there is a great Jealou&s;y and feare of &s;uch a thing, generally fallen upon the people, yet in this ca&s;e, for &s;uperiours, e&s;pecially tho&s;e who are mo&s;t &s;u&s;pected
<PB N="26" REF="15">
for contrivers and drivers on of &s;uch a de&s;igne, to command &s;uch a thing, which hath a palpable and notorious con&s;i&s;tency, with &s;uch a de&s;igne in ca&s;e it be intended, and withall but a faint and &s;lender connexion, e&s;pecially if none at all, with any proporti|onable benefit unto the people, is at lea&s;t even in the be&s;t and mo&s;t innocent tendency of it, to torment the people with fears and Jealou&s;y, which is uniu&s;t for the&s;e to do, who&s;e intere&s;t of duty is, to be Nurfing Fathers unto them: and though there be no demon&s;trative, or Logick &s;entence, that &s;uch or &s;uch a com|mand as we &s;peak of, comming from a per&s;on, one or more &s;u|&s;pected, of the de&s;igne &s;pecified; hath a reall coniunction with &s;uch a reall de&s;igne, yet if there be a politicall or morall certain|ty, which &s;tands in &s;trength and pregnancy of probability and pre&s;umption, this is &s;ufficient to cleare and ju&s;tifie, as well the iudgement, as the practice of tho&s;e; who iudging the &s;aid com|mand to be unlawfull and uniu&s;t, &s;hall accordingly yeeld obe|dience to it. It is well ob&s;erved by <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> that a con&s;idering man ought onely to require and bee content with &s;uch Argu|ments and proofs, as the nature of the &s;ubiect under con&s;iderati|on, what&s;oever it be, will bear and admit. From Mathema|titians we may expect clo&s;e and exact demon&s;trations, becau&s;e the &s;ubiect of this &s;cience will beare it; but from Oratours, or men handling politicall, and morall matters, we ought to bee &s;atisfied with probabilities, and topique arguments; becau&s;e the nature of &s;uch &s;ubiects as the&s;e, will not admit of regular and perfect demon&s;trations. Suppo&s;e a per&s;on, one or more, have a reall intention to de&s;troy or en&s;lave a nation? it is not lightly po&s;&s;ible for any other man po&s;&s;itively and with a Mathematical evidence, or certainty of knowledge to affirm it, untill it be effe|cted, and then it is too late to prevent it. Therefore when there is a grand probability before us, a re&s;ult of many circum&s;tances, &s;trongly inducing a beleef of &s;uch an intention, it is &s;ufficient to build any &s;uch practice or engagement upon, which is nece&s;&s;a|ry for the prevention of it. Thus in generall for an&s;wer to the main obiection and demand la&s;t propounded.</P>
<P>For the particular I &s;hall need to add little, all circum&s;tances
<PB N="27" REF="15">
relating hereunto, being generally known unto this Kingdom. The command for the di&s;-banding of the Army, being contri|ved and procured by, and comming from &s;uch per&s;ons (though haply in coniunction with others) who are &s;trongly, and upon grounds wel-nigh irre&s;i&s;table, &s;u&s;pected of a machievation or de&s;igne de&s;tructive to the peace, lawfull Rights and Liberties of the Kingdom; and moreover, the &s;aid command notoriou&s;ly comporting with &s;uch a de&s;igne as directly tending to breake in &s;ander that bar of Iron which only ob&s;tructed the birth and ex|ecution of it; and yet farther, having no complyance at all with my con&s;iderable or proportionable good unto the nation: and yet more, being &s;o exactly bent again&s;t, and level'd at the faces of &s;uch as are really con&s;cientious and religiou&s;ly peaceable in the Land; to whom the Army by rea&s;on of their union and power, were <HI>a little Sanctuary,</HI> and as that &s;haddow of a Rock in a weary Land. The&s;e things laid together, and duly con&s;i|dered cannot in the eye of any rea&s;onable or di&s;-ingaged man but abundantly, and with honour acquit and vindicate the Ar|my in what they have done, though ten thou&s;and angry and impertinent Querents more, &s;hould be levied again&s;t them, to attempt the avilement and aba&s;ement of tho&s;e to whom the God of heaven hath &s;aid, <HI>Be ye honourable amongst men.</HI></P>
<P>As for that which is wont to bee objected, touching breach of priviledge of Parliament, it is of no con&s;ideration or compa|ri&s;on with the objections already an&s;wered; and be&s;ides, there is abundantly &s;ufficient in the premi&s;&s;es, to cut the &s;inewes of a|ny &s;uch objection. Though priviledge of Parliament, really &s;uch, and not &s;imply but truely &s;o called, bee truely honourable and little le&s;&s;e then the light, and life, and &s;trength of the free|dom of the nation: yea, no man as yet hath, nor while&s;t I live &s;hall take away this crowne from my head, of beeing cordially zealous in the defence and maintainance of them; yet are they not of equall con&s;ideration with the holy Lawes, and righteous commands of God. Therefore if the&s;e may, and ought not|with&s;tanding the jealou&s;y of God over them, &s;ometimes want
<PB N="28" REF="16">
that obedience and &s;ubjection from men, which in ordinary ca|&s;es is mo&s;t due unto them, much more ought the priviledge of Parliament, notwith&s;tanding any &s;overaignty of great <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 word"> in them, how downe at the feer of that &s;overaigne and &s;upreame Law, <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Solus populi,</HI> the &s;afety of the people, which cer|tainly is above all Parliaments and Parliament priviledge what|&s;oever. Yea, it is a truth unque&s;tionable, that nothing that it &s;infull, nothing that is incon&s;i&s;tent with the honour, peace, &s;afe|ty, ju&s;t rights or liberties of the people, can for ever be, or make a priviledge of Parliament. And while&s;t men act in a due and cl<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">er concurrence with this great Law, <HI>the &s;afetye of the people</HI> un|po&s;&s;ible it is that they &s;hould intrench or make the lea&s;t breach upon any priviledge of Parliament what&s;oever. And whether the Army have thus acted or no, I am freely willing to leave to the judgements and con&s;ciences of all tho&s;e who have diligent|ly read, duly con&s;idered, and retain in memory what hath been argued in their behalf in their papers, to judge and determine. There may be (I confe&s;&s;e) &s;ome other things of lighter moment objected again&s;t their proceedings&punc; unto which, though these have not been given an an&s;wer in <HI>the letter,</HI> yet confident I am&punc; that there is none of them all able to &s;tand before <HI>that &s;pirit</HI> that hath &s;poken, and yet &s;peaketh in the premi&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>The God of all grace and glory, continue the Parliament in a full and peaceable inioyment of all their priviledges and ho|nour; make &s;treight that which is croocked, &s;weet that which is bitter, righteous that which is unju&s;t, peaceable that which is trouble&s;ome, holy that which is profane among&s;t them; lea|ving nothing in their A&s;&s;embly that may offend either the eyes of his own glory, or the mindes of the &s;ober and wel-affected people of the Land. The &s;ame ever ble&s;&s;ed God, who is the <HI>Lord of ho&s;ts,</HI> vouch&s;afe &s;till to delight in that Army in which he hath greatly delighted hitherto, and out of the mid&s;t where|of he hath looked, as &s;ometimes he did out of the cloudy and fiery pillar, when he took off the <HI>chariot wheeles of the Egypti|ans, and cau&s;ed them to drive heavily:</HI> while&s;t they were in hot
<PB N="29" REF="16">
pur&s;uit of his people I&s;rael, direct them in all their coun&s;els, give them a pattern from the mount, to make and forme all their proceedings by; keep them in righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, peace, and honour, and make them an happy band in his hand to binde up a &s;cattered and undige&s;ted Nation, which &s;carce knowes where to finde a right end of it &s;elf, into a compacted and well made up bundle of love, unity, and peace.</P>
<P><FIGURE>
</FIGURE></P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
