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<HEAD><HI>A PROCLAMATION, to all, of all &s;orts, high and low, rich and poore, wherein is Proclaimed the</HI> Law-Royall, <HI>which in keeping thereof is true Liberty: Given forth by force and Power for every one to ob&s;erve, upon pain of death.</HI></HEAD>
<P>AS there was, is, and alwayes &s;hall be an Omnipotent, Eternall, Infinite E&s;&s;ence, and Being, GOD, which created and fa&s;hioned the Earth and all that therein is, by which, whom, and none other, all things and appearances (light and darkne&s;s) were created and made: (and by which and whom they &s;halbe ended, and by none other.) In which Creation of Light, he placed Man chiefe King, Ruler, Father &amp; Governor, to Rule, &amp; Govern him&s;elf fir&s;t: then all other Creatures upon the Earth, according to their &s;everal natures: And gave unto him Laws, as adherent and inherent to his perfecti|on, profe&s;&s;ion, office, and nature: in, and according to which, he was, and is to walk, rule, and govern him|&s;elf, &amp; all others under him in the univer&s;e: which Laws were actually ob&s;erved, performed, and kept, by our fore-Fathers inviolable, and &s;tedfa&s;tly maintained to bee the fundamentals, foundations, pillars, and props of Government, by which they injoyed li&s;e and light, and were free: holding it better the Fabrick to break in &s;under, then the Law to be violated or broken.</P>
<P>Hearken therefore, O People, learn to know your Laws which make you free, (they are &s;hort and ea&s;ie) Make good all your conclu&s;ions with your mouths and hearts, and kindle your benummed &s;en&s;es with a con&s;tant zealous obedience to your greate&s;t Law-giver, greate&s;t King and Father JEHOVAH&punc; (the only end, center, and foundation of your under&s;tanding, judgement, peace, and re&s;t,) not regarding plea&s;ure, profit, honour, popularity, and the like glittering intere&s;t: but &s;tand &s;tedfa&s;t and clo&s;e in, and to his honour, wor|&s;hip, goodne&s;s, naked truth, and obedience, as it is pre&s;cribed in the Law of our fore-Fathers, abridged in two &s;entences, Love God withall thy heart, thy Neighbour as thy &s;elfe.</P>
<P>Every man is a King, Prie&s;t, &amp; Governor in, to, &amp; over him&s;elf: Every one in his family is him&s;elfe, &amp; every thing in that family is for good in that family to every particular per&s;on. And none hath any thing to do with him, but by his a&s;&s;ent, (except in a publick nece&s;&s;ity) if any one taketh any thing from him (other|wi&s;e) without his con&s;ent, it is no le&s;s then Theft and Robbery, and ab&s;olutely again&s;t the Law of our fore-Fathers, the Law of Nature, and again&s;t the liberty and freedome of the People and Nation: But if any one ruleth not well, let his judgement come from the Neighborhood, the people who be&s;t know him, yet gradually from the Peoples Tru&s;tees or Officers.) For judgement centers at every mans doore.</P>
<P>Man of him&s;elfe is ab&s;olutely free, &s;o long as he keepeth him&s;elf from Contract: but in ca&s;e he enters into Contract with another, he is no longer free, but bound: therefore that he is in bondage, it procee|deth from him&s;elfe, and thereby de&s;truction is of him&s;elfe, and there lieth his bondage&punc; for having once contracted, he and they ought to keep faith, &amp;c.</P>
<P>No man would make a Contract, if he were not thereunto compelled by &s;ome exigence; for Contract: leads to be performed in time and place; but no Man can command time, place, ability, or power. Surely he is only free, happy man, which keepeth him&s;elf from any Contract, but what God in Nature hath injoyned him. God in Nature hath made men Kings and Governors (as I &s;aid before) to govern well them&s;elves; now &s;ee wherein he is bounded by God in Nature, Do as thou woulde&s;t be done unto, and no otherwi&s;e: for therein lies the foundation of the Law, which &s;hall judge every particular per&s;on; for in every particu|lar per&s;on is the Judge plac'd which &s;hall either ju&s;tifie or condemn.</P>
<P>Follow not the opinions of others, which (rightly con&s;idered) are meere fancies, and depend more upon your conce&s;&s;ion, then truth. But (&s;tudy the Law of God in Nature) look into thy &s;elfe; remember thou art a Stem proceeding from the Stock of the greate&s;t King, Father, Prie&s;t, and Prophet, JEHOVAH: that thou art King, Father, Prie&s;t, Prophet, and Governor over thy &s;elfe, and all that he hath given unto thee. Rule Well, and thou art well, for hee that Ruleth mu&s;t be ju&s;t, Ruling in the feare of the Lord: if thou Rule not well, thou art not well, and di&s;quieted in thy &s;elfe: there is thy liberty and thy bondage.</P>
<P>Return fir&s;t into thy &s;elfe, do&s;t thou Rule well thy minde, thy thoughts, thy words, thy hands, thy feet, nay, even all thy action? (then to others as to thy &s;elf) if &s;o, then thou art well, and happy &s;halt thou be, for He that Ruleth well is worthy of double honor. To Rule your &s;elves well is the high way to be cho&s;en to Rule them which cannot rule them&s;elves well. Remember unruly <HI>Cain</HI> who murthered his brother <HI>Abel;</HI> the Scripture is full of them, as rebellious <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> covetous <HI>Ahab,</HI> proud <HI>Haman,</HI> la&s;civious <HI>Jezabel,</HI> and others; did they Rule well?</P>
<P>Wherefore were Rulers and Governors cho&s;en, but to Rule tho&s;e well that would not rule them&s;elves well? which Rulers, and Governors, as elected and cho&s;en by the people, are as &s;ervants to the people: and in Ruling well, immediate Officers and Servants to JEHOVAH: for they in their admini&s;tration, in|&s;truct and admoni&s;h tho&s;e which Rule not well: and from hence &s;prings the Magi&s;tracy, and Mini&s;teriall function, <HI>Aarons</HI> Rod, and Pot of Manna; Civill and Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall proceedings. Heere you may &s;ee the beginning of Writings, how <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> began, the re&s;t followed him: here O Men may you di&s;cern the end of all.</P>
<P>Now let us beare our &s;hame: we have lo&s;t our knowledge, we have peri&s;hed: hath not Covetou&s;ne&s;s, Pride, and Hypocri&s;ie beene a continuall &s;tumbling block? the Judges of the Land have judged unju&s;tly, and admini&s;tred fal&s;e judgement for bribes, and have led the people in ignorance.</P>
<P>The Preachers (called the Clergy) have preached fal&s;e Doctrine, venting tho&s;e things which accrued to their profit and advantage, practi&s;ing covetou&s;ne&s;s, pride, oppre&s;&s;ion, la&s;civiou&s;ne&s;s, &s;uper&s;tition, Idolatry, and hypocri&s;ie: Indeed preaching and practi&s;ing any thing, for ba&s;e lucre, profit, and gain. Thou ha&s;t no|thing to do but thy Fathers will: what is that will? ask the Law inherent in thy Nature.</P>
<P>Where a chiefe Ruler is cho&s;en, his Office and duty is, to defend and pre&s;erve tho&s;e that Rule well: from the pride, couetou&s;ne&s;s, and oppre&s;&s;ion of tho&s;e that Rule ill, and to remove, take away, and de&s;troy the cau&s;e of Ruling ill, and to &s;upport and cheri&s;h tho&s;e that Rule well.</P>
<P>Perhaps you will &s;ay, you have cho&s;e none to Rule over you: indeed every one is not fit to choo&s;e, becau&s;e they have lo&s;t their under&s;tanding; how can he which Ruleth ill him&s;elfe, choo&s;e well? his eyes are dim, and his under&s;tanding clouded? is the blind fit to lead the blind? (no) yet it is the indubitable right of the People to choo&s;e.</P>
<P>Now that the Government is not under&s;tood, you that have had the Ruling, and Teaching Powers, are to be blamed and fhamed, for you have lead the People in ignorance, and onely Ruled, taught, and Lorded for your &s;elves.</P>
<P>If you chalenge a right of governing, as being cho&s;en; then as Governors and Rulers you ought to have the Laws of our fore-Fathers planted in your hearts: which you are to ob&s;erve and practi&s;e: for if you challenge our fore-Fathers Powers in ruling over the People; then is it but ju&s;t, that the People challenge, you Rule in our fore-Fathers wayes and Lawes, and therein be limitted and bounded; for therein lies the liberty and freedome of the People, and your &s;afety.</P>
<P>Therefore they which choo&s;e, ought to have skill in Ruling well, in regard tho&s;e Officers, and Gover|nors are to be cho&s;en, who have skill in Ruling well: which Officers, and Governours, are no other then Servants, or Tru&s;tees to, and for the People: and ought not to make any by-Laws, but &s;uch as center upon the fundamentals, which before they be confirmed and enacted, ought of right to be pre&s;ented to the Peo|ple by the Sheriff of every County, at their County Courts: as al&s;o by the Stewards of every Hundred and Liberty at their Courts (which Steward ought to be &s;worn for the execution of his Office, which is altoge|ther neglected) to be approved and allowed of by the People: And in ca&s;e the People find them not good as to the Publick, they may refu&s;e obedience to that Law, and that Law ought to lie dormant untill the People have cho&s;en wi&s;er and more faithfull Tru&s;tees, for the altering, or rectifying of &s;uch Law: For all by Lawes are alterable, but the fundamentall Law is unalterable: Is not the People greater then their Tru&s;tees, and Officers? The Ma&s;ter is more worthy then the Servant.</P>
<P>You Powers, you Kings in power that give Power, Offices, and places of Tru&s;t (by the Peoples power) are impowred to call them to an account: Therefore look to it, for the People the Kings eyes are upon you. Did the by-Law-makers Rule well in running <HI>ad infinitum</HI> with by-Lawes <HI>Sans</HI> number, till they run them&s;elves out of doors, and left an <HI>odium</HI> behind them? do not you over-run your &s;elves, the Royall Law, the Peoples Right; it is better to &s;tand &s;till, le&s;t you run into confu&s;ion.</P>
<P>As the People have right to choo&s;e their owne Officers, it being their Liberty, an Appendix to their Birth-right and Freedome which doth gradually a&s;cend from the People to their chiefe&s;t Officers: So are they to let ju&s;tice gradually de&s;cend and center to, and in the People againe.</P>
<P>Did tho&s;e Rulers Rule well, when their benummed Sen&s;es preferred their own plea&s;ure, profit, honour, and the like, not regarding the honour, wor&s;hip, and obedience to JEHOVAH, when they flighted the Stock (from whence they proceeded) JEHOVAH the greate&s;t King, the Laws of God in Nature, the Laws of our fore-Fathers, the good and welfare of the People. Nay, &s;uffering the pure and perfect Law of God to be Monopolized into a Trade, permitting the inventions of men to be preached to the ignorant (for gain) which the wi&s;e&s;t could neither under&s;tand nor know how to reform, &s;o that the People peri&s;hed in want of knowledge, keeping the People in &s;ubjection, only Ruling and Lording it for them&s;elves.</P>
<P>Did they Rule well, when they converted the Publick Trea&s;ure to their own Intere&s;t? contracted them|&s;elves into a &s;maller number, that the Divident might be the greater to them that were left: conniving at each others ill ruling: gratifying one another (as they term'd it) with thou&s;ands, (when the Common|wealth wanted money to perfect their great affairs) fully intending never to give an account thereof; they endeavoured to perpetuate them&s;elves in their unlimited power; laying yoaks upon the Peoples necks, which makes them complain and groan under the burthen of them: denying the People to choo&s;e other Tru&s;tees (in their places who were &s;ecluded) whereby their actions might have been di&s;covered, and the People ea&s;ed.</P>
<P>Did they Rule well, when there was not an oppre&s;&s;ion in the Nation, but (if not contrived and acted by them) was &s;olicited by &s;ome of their Clerks, or Favorites, and connived at by them, whereby ju&s;tice was perverted, and Bribery and oppre&s;&s;ion practi&s;ed by Authority, (forgetting to be ju&s;t, Ruling in the fear of the Lord) forcing many to travel after them and their Lawes, till they have worne out their Peti|tions at the doore: denying a&s;&s;i&s;tance to ju&s;t reque&s;ts, when by a little lip labour they might have made tho&s;e happy, who have beene compelled by exce&s;&s;ive expence, (the Mother of want) to leave the pro&s;ecu|tion of a ju&s;t Cau&s;e, to the ruine and de&s;truction of them and theirs.</P>
<P>Did they Rule well, in making &s;o many Lawes the People can neither number, nor under&s;tand them; (if they keep them from their &s;houlders:) for in reading them, no man knows where to center; by which and their own wills (being their rea&s;ons) they made double, and treble con&s;equences, of mens words, ac|cording to their own con&s;tructions, whereby to accu&s;e, impri&s;on, and afflict them. (By the like practi&s;e Chri&s;t &s;uffered as a Bla&s;phemer) Mens Words are their own, and the interpretation of them.</P>
<P>Did they Rule well, when they &s;uffered the poor, blind, and lame to peri&s;h in the &s;treets, &amp; high-wayes, (permitting them to want work, and their children bread,) &s;etting up the Metall Money (which hee that hoords it de&s;erves to eat and drinke nothing el&s;e untill the poore be &s;atisfied:) above the whole Creation: Monopolizing the Earth, which if (by the project of a <HI>Kilverti&s;t)</HI> they could have Monopolized totally to them&s;elves, (by their owne Lawes) they might have ejected the people (their Ma&s;ters) out of the Land: and it is thought they would have Monopolized the Sun, Moone, and Stars, if it had beene po&s;&s;ible; nay, God him&s;elfe, if they could have known where to have found him.</P>
<P>Did they Rule well, when they were ten Months of twelve in the Country; WAITEing to catch nece&s;&s;i|tated men in Bargains, (extorting and oppre&s;&s;ing the People) for them&s;elves and others? what excu&s;ed them in their ab&s;ence; who when they were in Town, could make their appearance in the morning, and all the day after &s;it drinking in Taverns, Bowling Alleys, or&mdash;making the members of their bodies (the Temples of the Holy Gho&s;t) to be the members of Harlots? Particular failings produce inevitable de|&s;truction: were they not all breakers of the Royall Law of God planted in Nature?</P>
<P>A word to tho&s;e that Rule not well: Do&s;t thou &s;ay, do not murder, and wilt thou murder? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, do not commit Adultery, and wilt thou commit Adultery? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, do not &s;teal, and wilt thou &s;teal? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, do not covet, and wilt thou covet? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, be not drunke, and wilt thou be drunke? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, be not envious or malicious, and wilt thou be envious and malicious? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, do not oppre&s;s thy neighbour, and wilt thou oppre&s;s thy neighbour? Do&s;t thou &s;ay, doe not &s;weare, cheat, and lye, and wilt thou &s;weare, cheat, and lye? Do &s;o &s;till: he that is filthy let him be filthy &s;till: you are the cau&s;es of confu&s;ions: There would be no need of Stocks, Hou&s;es of Correction, Whips, Pri|&s;ons, nor Gallows, but for you, who&s;oever thou art; Governors, Rulers, and Councels, (yea, and Par|liaments too) might meet and have nothing to doe, were it not for you unruly Members; but goe your wayes, you have lo&s;t your Kingly Government, your Prie&s;tly Government, and Propheticall Office; and &s;o are laid a&s;ide, as u&s;ele&s;s: Will you over-run God in Nature, the Royall Law inherent in you? O the darkne&s;s within, which makes the confu&s;ion without!</P>
<P>A word to all Rulers, and to all of all &s;orts: The greate&s;t King with the greate&s;t Powers is at your heels; he comes with &s;uch force and Powers, that neither Crowns nor Ca&s;tles, walled Cities, nor your weapons of war &s;hall prevail: he will put an end to your Tumults, and evil doings by the brightne&s;s of his coming; then &s;hall you come, and give an account of your King&s;hip and Governments: have you Ruled well, or not well? hearken! what means the noy&s;e from the North, from the South; nay from all quarters? &s;ome crying out of Pri&s;ons, &s;ome in Pri&s;ons, &s;ome in the Streets and High-wayes; the Creation groanes, and their cries are gone up to the greate&s;t King JEHOVAH: if you will not amend, and help, and plead the cau&s;e of the poore, and oppre&s;&s;ed; and &s;et open the Pri&s;on doors, the greate&s;t King comes with &s;alvation and deliverance; and you &s;hall &s;tand by as Cyphers, and be a&s;hamed.</P>
<P>Here I have &s;et down your work, you need not trouble your &s;elves, except to do well be a trouble to you; (if you plea&s;e) under&s;tand the excellent foundations of God, his Lawes planted in Nature, which will in|&s;truct you to the under&s;tanding of his Prophets, Apo&s;tles, the Scriptures; yea, things to come: Wherefore if you covet any thing, let it be Love and Meekne&s;s, towards all; Man being indeed limitted, and boun|ded within that excellent Law of God in Nature: which is for the ordering of every particular Member, in every particular Man in good and for good; and if he &s;teps out of that bound to govern another, it mu&s;t be by contract; for otherwi&s;e it begetteth enmity; from hence &s;pringeth the great confu&s;ions in the world: If we &s;ee one that Ruleth not well, it is our duty to advi&s;e him in love and meekne&s;s, that he Rule well.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Well-Wi&s;her, William Covell.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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