<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2007-12-20</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>proofed text and revised markup</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="A88032">
<STC T="W">L1704</STC>
<STC T="T">669.f.23[25]</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99870239</BIBNO>
<VID>163681</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>A LETTER to General Monk, expre&s;&s;ing the &s;en&s;e of many thou&s;ands of the well affected people of England.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">Old Parliamenters, and old Puritanes.</HEAD>
<LETTER>
<HEAD>To the Magnanimous and truly Excellent Generall Monk.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Noble SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_GOD hath made you the in&s;trument of conveighing one of the greate&s;t ble&s;&s;ings to this Nation that hath been be&s;towed upon it in the&s;e latter
days; even of re&s;cuing our Laws, Liberties, E&s;tates, Mini&s;ters, Religion, all that is dear to us out of the hands of men, who being in their
fir&s;t con&s;titution our &s;ervants, had by craft and treachery made them&s;elves Lords over us, and de&s;igned to &s;acrifice all the&s;e to their own ambi|tion.
But the mo&s;t wi&s;e and righteous God, who rai&s;ed you as a deliverer to this poor Nation, hath cau&s;ed them to fall before you without
&s;troke &s;triking, filling their hearts with fear, and their faces with contempt and &s;hame, for which his wonderful mercy, as thanks are rendred
to God by many on your behalf, &s;o doubt not honoured Sir, but many prayers are daily poured out before the Lord for you, that he would direct
your &s;teps in his ways, &s;o evenly and unerringly, that that deliverance which is &s;o happily begun may be perfected by your hand. Your Excellency,
(for that Title your merit gives you whether men do or no) cannot be ignorant that great per&s;ons (as your &s;elf is) in great actions (&s;uch as this in
which you are now imbarqued) are attended with great temptations, which though your own deep wi&s;dome and much experience be &s;ufficiently a|ble
both to di&s;cern and decline; yet will it not we hope be offen&s;ive to your Excellency to hear what the <HI>vox copuli</HI> is concerning the temptations that lie before you.
Fir&s;t, &s;ome think there is now lying before you a &s;ore temptation of making your &s;elf great, and to take the Supream Power and Government of the&s;e Nations into your own
hands, and make your &s;elf a Protector, a King, or what you plea&s;e, and it is verily thought you might do it with a far more univer&s;al acceptance then <HI>Oliver</HI> did; and it is
feared there may be &s;ome who may &s;ecretly whi&s;per &s;uch coun&s;els to you: But &s;urely Sir, it is hoped and believed you are &s;o much a Souldier, a Gentleman, a Chri&s;tian, as
that you de&s;pi&s;e and abhor the thought of any &s;uch thing, having declared the contrary as you have done. They that know you &s;ay you have too brave a Spirit, to purcha&s;e the
per&s;onating of a King with &s;o much guilt and infamy as <HI>Oliver</HI> did, who after he had played <HI>Rex</HI> upon the Theatre of the world, for a few years hated of &s;ome, &s;corned by o|thers,
flattered by a few, went off with reproach and hi&s;&s;ing, and his memorial is peri&s;hed with him; who had he had &s;o much hone&s;ty in him as a Heathen, would in&s;tead of his
pompous Funerals (yet unpaid for) have contented him&s;elf with a plain Tomb-&s;tone with this in&s;cription <GAP DESC="foreign">, &amp;c. Look upon me and learn not to be Treacherous,
Fal&s;e, Ambitious. So recent an example of Gods revenging wrath, &s;hould ca&s;t a damp upon the pride and ambition of men, but we &s;ee it did not: witne&s;s <HI>Fleetwood</HI> and
<HI>Lambert,</HI> who not thinking them&s;elves high enough till they were got into Phaetons (that is <HI>Cromwells</HI>) Chariot, had certainly &s;et this whole Kingdom on a flame, if God by
your hand had not ca&s;t them down as &s;uddenly and &s;trangely as if they had been thunder &s;tricken. But your Excellency is of <HI>another Spirit,</HI> even like that Noble Earl, that &s;aid
He had rather make a King then be a King. In which re&s;pect we fear not much your being overcome by this temptation. That therefore which others fear, and fear more
is your being tempted to clo&s;e with this piece of the Parliament now &s;itting at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> and to a&s;&s;i&s;t and aid them in their &s;etting up of that which they call the Common|wealth
of <HI>England,</HI> though by all that ever we poor Plebeians could &s;ee or under&s;tand of it, it is but the &s;etting up of them&s;elves; And that which makes us &s;omething fear you
here is, that in many of your Declarations which you have emitted, you have expre&s;ly and in <HI>Terminis</HI> declared for this Parliament as it was &s;itting in <HI>Octob.</HI> 1659. and for the
e&s;tabli&s;hment of Government by a Common-wealth. The&s;e things make us fear; but when we con&s;ider that the&s;e Declarations were made by you when you were in <HI>Scotland,</HI>
or in the remote&s;t parts of <HI>England,</HI> where you neither did nor could know the &s;en&s;e of the Engli&s;h Nation; we hope that now God hath brought you among us, where you
may hear the &s;ighs and groans of your Brethren, and from our own mouthes under&s;tand what we groan under, and what we groan after, God may put other thoughts, and o|ther
re&s;olutions into your heart then what you have yet publi&s;hed or declared to the world. Give us therefore leave to declare and Remon&s;trate to you that a great part,
yea, the greate&s;t part of the godly people and Mini&s;ters in <HI>England,</HI> who adhered to the Parliament in all their conte&s;t again&s;t the King from 1640. to 1648. never did
own, nor never can prevail upon their con&s;ciences to own tho&s;e men that now &s;it at <HI>Westmin&s;ter</HI> for the Parliament of <HI>England,</HI> &s;ince they contrary to all Equity and Rea|&s;on,
contrary to their Tru&s;t and Duty, contrary to their Covenants and Prote&s;tations, &s;uffered &s;o con&s;iderable a part of their Members to be by the Army plucked from
them. Nay, not onely &s;uffered it, but we fear &s;ome of them contrived it, and all of them now &s;ince their la&s;t meeting abetted it. Re&s;olving upon a &s;olemn Vote next day after
their &s;olemn fa&s;t, that the&s;e Members were duly excluded: a thing &s;o contrary to the light of common rea&s;on, that every man is ready to blu&s;h at the reading of it; Is this the
fa&s;t that God hath cho&s;en? Is this to loo&s;e the bands of wickedne&s;&s;e, and to let the oppre&s;&s;ed go free? Nor, &s;econdly, can we (if this were not) look upon that handful of men
&s;itting at <HI>Westmin&s;ter</HI> as men to be tru&s;ted with the Lives and Liberties of the Nation, and lea&s;t of all with Religion. Some of them being per&s;ons of notorious loo&s;ene&s;&s;e
and debauchedne&s;s, others de&s;perate Athei&s;ts, de&s;pi&s;ers of the Word and Ordinances. The mo&s;t of them, (whether out of carnal policy, or what other principle God knows)
friends to all Sects, Errors, and Here&s;ies, even to Popery it &s;elf; witne&s;s their repealing penal Statutes made again&s;t Popi&s;h Recu&s;ants before their breaking up in 1653.
and their Vote pa&s;&s;ed in the Speakers Chamber before the la&s;t breaking up in 1659. wherby they gave Papi&s;ts equal protection with the mo&s;t pure and Orthodox of Prote&s;tants,
we hope your excellency when you are informed of the&s;e things, will not think it &s;trange that neither City nor Countrey can cheerfully accept the&s;e men for <HI>Englands</HI> Parlia|ment,
we hope your &s;elf having expre&s;&s;ed &s;o much zeal for the true Orthodox Prote&s;tant Religion, and for the Mini&s;ters and Ordinances of Chri&s;t, will not now give them up to
the mercy of the&s;e men. We have done with the Parliament, may it plea&s;e your Excellency to give us leave to expre&s;&s;e our &s;elves concerning the other particular, the changing
of the Government of the Nation into a Common-wealth. Fir&s;t, we call to remembrance that &s;aying of the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>Prov. 22. 28. Remove not the ancient Land-mark which thy
fathers have &s;et.</HI> Our forefathers according to the wi&s;dom given them of God, had very equally and ju&s;tly bounded both the Kings Power and the &s;ubjects Liberty. The late King
he went about to remove the ancient Land-mark of the Peoples Liberty, and this hath been the overthrow of him and his family unto this day. Let the People now take heed of
removing the other Landmark, lea&s;t the Lord &s;ee it, and it di&s;plea&s;e, and he lay their Liberty as low in the du&s;t as he hath done the Kings Authority. <HI>Extrema non durant,</HI> There
is al&s;o another Text that not a little troubles us when we think upon the&s;e changes, and that is <HI>Prov. 24. 21. My &s;on, fear God and the King, and meddle not with them that are
given unto change; for their calamity &s;hall ri&s;e &s;uddenly, and who knoweth the ruine of them both.</HI> Sir, you have merited &s;o well at our hands that we cannot but be very un|willing
you &s;hould be involved in that calamity which we are very confident will again &s;uddenly overtake the&s;e Members given to change. Secondly, we call to remembrance
how in the beginning of the quarrel between the King and Parliament. The King did lay to their charge that they had a de&s;ign to alter the Ancient Governments of the Nati|on,
and to let a flood of errours and here&s;ies into the Church, and that thereupon he was forced to take up armes for his own defence, and the defence of Religion; and now if
the&s;e men do indeed alter the Government, as they intend to do; and do &s;et open a door to all Errors and Here&s;ies, as they have begun to do; do they not thereby ju&s;tifie the
King before God and men (for whoever yet que&s;tioned but that it was lawful for a King to defend Religion, and his ju&s;t Authority again&s;t tho&s;e that &s;eek to &s;ubvert them) and
do they not hereby bring upon them&s;elves the guilt of all the blood that hath been &s;hed in <HI>England,</HI> and we are very loath you &s;hould &s;hare with them in that guilt. Thirdly,
we call to remembrance that the Parliament both in their an&s;wers to the forementioned Declarations of the Kings; and in all their Declarations both to this and neighbour
Nations, <HI>Scotland, Holland, &amp;c.</HI> did in the mo&s;t &s;olemn manner that could be di&s;claime this altering of the Government, and looked upon it as the greate&s;t &s;lander that could be
rai&s;ed again&s;t them, and therefore they cannot alter it without fal&s;ifying their word to forrain States and Princes, and incurring the note of fal&s;e and perfidious men. The ve|ry
&s;u&s;pition of which crime we are per&s;waded your noble &s;oul abhors. Fourthly, we call to remembrance the many &s;olemn Vowes and Covenants whereby the Parliament
bound them&s;elves and us to maintain the Government as it was then e&s;tabli&s;hed; and therefore they cannot alter it without incurring the guilt of Perjury or Covenant-breaking,
which God never &s;uffers to pa&s;s unpuni&s;hed, no not among the Heathens. Fifthly, we con&s;ider the blood and trea&s;ure that this attempt hath put <HI>England, Scotland</HI> and <HI>Ire|land</HI>
to already. The blood that <HI>Cromwel</HI> &s;hed in <HI>Scotland;</HI> and the blood that <HI>Cromwel</HI> &s;hed in <HI>Ireland</HI> (after your Excellency had ended the fir&s;t War with the Popi&s;h Rebels)
in what quarrel was it &s;pilt, but in the quarrel of this <HI>Idea,</HI> this <HI>Fairie Common-wealth</HI> (which we often hear the name of, but could never yet &s;ee.)
That va&s;t Trea&s;ure that hath been expended now for the&s;e eleven years in the maintaining of an Army here in <HI>England</HI> (nece&s;&s;ary for nothing but for the cudeling of People
into a complyance with every prevailing power) whom may we thank for it but the modellers of our Common-wealth. Sixtly, we cannot but fear that the altering our Go|vernment
into a Common-wealth, will be &s;o far from ending that it will but perpetuate our mi&s;eries from Generation to Generation; for &s;o &s;peak as Chri&s;tians, the founda|tion
of this intended Common-wealth hath been laid in &s;o much Treachery, Perjury, Blood, and there is &s;uch a cry of the Fatherle&s;s, Widow and Oppre&s;&s;ed goes up before the
Lord again&s;t it, as it can never be ble&s;t to <HI>England;</HI> and to &s;peak as men, the Ma&s;ters of this new Common-wealth know there is &s;uch a &s;preading family of the <HI>Stuarts,</HI> and their
intere&s;t is &s;o &s;pread and rooted in this Nation and among Neighbour Nations, Prote&s;tants as well as Papi&s;ts, that let them make never &s;o many Votes, Engagements, Oaths of
Abjurations, they will never dare to tru&s;t their Infant Common-wealth, as them&s;elves call it, without an Army Royal to back it. And &s;o the Nation mu&s;t
be at the charge of maintaining continually an Army of fifty or &s;ixty thou&s;and men, to plea&s;e the humours, and maintain the Grandeur of fourty or fifty men that are (for&s;ooth)
the Common-wealths Repre&s;entative of <HI>England,</HI> for more there are not that are &s;ticklers for this new device. For this, &s;eventhly, we complain of as a very great grievance
and oppre&s;&s;ion that &s;o incon&s;iderable a number of men &s;hould a&s;&s;ume to them&s;elves the &s;ole Legi&s;lative Power, and impo&s;e Oaths and new formes of Government upon the
Free-both People of this Nation, not onely without their con&s;ent, but contrary to the known judgement and con&s;cience of the People of the Nation. For, Eighthly, this
them&s;elves know, and we will not hide it from your Excellencie, that if it were put to the Scrutiny, whether the People of this Nation would be governed after the forme of
a Common-wealth or no, there is &s;carce one man of 500. but would give his Vote in the Negative, except Papi&s;ts, Quakers, Anabapti&s;ts, and other Sectaries, or tho&s;e who
under the &s;pecious pretence of a Common-wealth, &s;eek their own private wealth, and have built their ne&s;ts upon the publick ruines. And into the &s;ecrets of the&s;e men we
hope your &s;oul will never enter. And that this aver&s;ene&s;&s;e to a Common-wealth may not be judged will and &s;tubbornne&s;s in us to all the former Rea&s;ons. 9. Let us adde this
(in the ninth place) that this device of changing the Government of <HI>England</HI> into a Common-wealth, it is a pure Popi&s;h Je&s;uitical device to alter and overthrow the true
Prote&s;tant Religion in <HI>England,</HI> witne&s;s father <HI>Par&s;ons</HI> his memorials for Reformation printed at <HI>Sevill, An. 1596. Campanella</HI> in his <HI>Monarchia Hi&s;panica,</HI> and Cardinal
<HI>Richilieu</HI> in his In&s;tructions. The&s;e things make this alteration of Government not only &s;u&s;pected but formidable to the&s;e that love the true Religion, as we doubt not but your
Excellency doth. And &s;uch cannot but with grief ob&s;erve, that under the&s;e men that are the Contrivers of our Common-wealth Religion, hath &s;uffered more detriment then
it did in a leven years before. 10. La&s;tly, we cannot but ob&s;erve how God from heaven hath apparently fought again&s;t this Idol of their brain. The&s;e men &s;aid in the pride
of their hearts (in one of their Declarations as &s;oon as they had cut off the Kings head) that they would &s;peedily &s;et up in the Nation a better Government then ever was un|der
any, even the be&s;t of Kings. (Surely they might have excepted <HI>David,</HI> or <HI>Jo&s;ia,</HI> or <HI>Hezekiah</HI>) But &s;ee how God hath befooled them from that day to this (which is now
eleven years) they have not been able &s;o much as to lay their foundation. Sometimes God divides their Tongues, and puts all in a confu&s;ion and di&s;order, as in the building
of <HI>Rabel;</HI> &s;ometimes he &s;catters them, &s;o in 1653. &s;o again in 1659. <HI>This is the Lords doing.</HI> Lord when thy hand is lifted up, they will not &s;ee, but they &s;hall &s;ee, if they be
not more blind then <HI>Balaam,</HI> he when the Angel of the Lord had &s;topt his way twice, the third time de&s;i&s;ted: Twice God hath &s;topt the&s;e men in their Eager pur&s;uits of a
Common-wealth, Let them de&s;i&s;t in time if they will not, yet we dare not &s;ay a Confederacy to them, lea&s;t we &s;hould be found de&s;ertors of our Covenant, &s;elf-condemned
and fighters again&s;t God.</P>
<P>And therefore we do humbly pray, That your Excellencie (according to the opportunity and Authority wherewith God hath betru&s;ted you) would interpo&s;e effectually with
that part of the Parliament now &s;itting at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> that their &s;ecluded members may be re-admitted, and vacant places may be filled up, then &s;hall we chearfully own
them as the Parliament of <HI>England,</HI> and humbly acquie&s;&s;e in their declared judgements. And in &s;o doing you &s;hall make us happy, your &s;elf Honourable to the memory of all
after ages; and oblige us, and our Po&s;terity after us to be</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Lord&s;hips mo&s;t humble Servants, 
The Commons of England,</SIGNED>
<DATE>January 22. 1659.</DATE></CLOSER>
</LETTER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
