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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A Serious Avi&s;o TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THIS NATION, Concerning that Sort of Men, called Levellers.</P>
<P>By J. PHILOLAUS.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Juven.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Evertere domos totas aptantibus ip&s;is dii facilis.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>Peter Cole,</HI> at the Sign of the Printing-Pre&s;s in Cornhil, near the Royal Exchange. 1649.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="tract">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<HEAD>A SERIOVS AVISO TO THE LEVELLERS.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Dear fellow Citizens,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_WHen I con&s;ider the &s;trange di&s;pen&s;ations of pro|vidence upon us of this Nation, I cannot but be &s;wallowed up in admiration and deepe&s;t ac|knowledgement, how it hath been plea&s;ed to &s;courge us but with light afflictions, and not|with&s;tanding ble&s;&s;e us with &s;uch tran&s;cen|dent mercies as we &s;hould hardly have dar'd to have wi&s;h'd, though had we been after his own heart, nay the apple of his eye. <HI>Germany</HI> hath been drown'd in a &s;ea of blood, or wa&s;ted by fury of the fire, yet &s;till how far off a&s;&s;erting a true Liberty and Reformation? <HI>France</HI> notwith&s;tanding &s;he hath dar'd bravely, &s;til groans under her burdens (&amp; which is her grea|te&s;t burden) is forc'd to fawn upon a di&s;tru&s;tful Tyrant. But we among whom for almo&s;t a decad of years there hath been a con|tinual effu&s;ion of blood, know neither Rapes, nor De&s;olations, nay are ignorant almo&s;t of the common calamities of war, while we have puld down tho&s;e powers of the Earth that &s;tood between us and our Felecity, and have rendred our &s;elves a people ab&s;o|lutely Free, with le&s;&s;e blood&s;hed, and in le&s;s time than our Ance|&s;tors have often and more laboriou&s;ly and mi&s;erably &s;pent in obtaining &s;ome &s;pecious &s;hadow of freedom as a gift and bene|volence of &s;ome unworthy U&s;urper, or el&s;e in maintaining of &s;ome unju&s;t Title in order to the lu&s;t and vile ambition of &s;ome in&s;atiate Pretender.</P>
<P>When (I &s;ay) I revolu the&s;e things with my &s;elf (as truly I do often with a great deal of religious a&s;toni&s;hment) I in&s;tantly think that there is more in this than the hand of Man; nay that the hand of the Almighty Him&s;elf hath vi&s;ibly appeared: And
<PB N="4" REF="3">&s;ince when he Appears none may Re&s;i&s;t; I cannot but account it an ungrateful &s;tiff-neckedne&s;s in any who &s;hall not calmly clo&s;e with all the&s;e mercies, and willingly re&s;ign him&s;elf up into the power which hath miraculou&s;ly &s;nach't us from the &s;nares of op|pre&s;&s;ion, and vigorou&s;ly protected us in the full re&s;toration of our Liberties.</P>
<P>Now &s;ince the Parliament, that now &s;its, hath been the great In&s;trument of all this: As I have never yet been awanting faith|fully both to &s;erve and honor them; &s;o have I had too many oc|ca&s;ions of pitty and &s;orrow in their behalf, e&s;pecially &s;ince having from the beginning &s;trugled both with &s;uch <HI>inward</HI> and <HI>outward</HI> Re&s;i&s;tances, and patiently &s;uffered under &s;uch furious Invectives, Ra&s;h Engagements, as might well nigh deter the mo&s;t Re&s;olute vertue from per&s;i&s;ting its purpo&s;es: they &s;hould in the very End, when they were about to reap the Fruits of their Con&s;tancy and Integrety be thus afre&s;h a&s;&s;aulted, and that by a &s;ort of people &s;prung out of their own Bowels, di&s;&s;enting from their own En|gagement, and Actuating their Re&s;olutions with greater fury (and po&s;&s;ibly wor&s;e Con&s;equences) than could be expected from the Malice and Rancor of the&s;e very enemies, who&s;e Principals and Intere&s;ts are diametrically oppo&s;ite.</P>
<P>'Tis of the&s;e people (beloved countrymen) that I would at this time (amid&s;t ha&s;t and di&s;tractions) bid you forbear, &amp; conjure by all your late &s;ufferings, pre&s;ent quiet, &amp; future expectations, to di&s;-favor and di&s;-beleeve; for as Divines &s;ay, tho&s;e Errors are the mo&s;t pernicious that keep neere&s;t di&s;tance from the Truth; &s;o in Politicks, the&s;e Factions are the mo&s;t dangerous that &s;eem to comply the mo&s;t with the true&s;t and direct intere&s;t in a Com|mon-weal. For walking in the di&s;gui&s;e either of Ju&s;tice or truth they are both more &s;trong and un&s;een, and yet they can (in due time, &s;etch out of their own principles, pretences enough for pre|varication and wickedne&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>This &s;ort of men who (like other factions, content in time to own tho&s;e Names which the &s;corn of others fir&s;t puts upon them) are called <HI>Levellers,</HI> were at fir&s;t mingled with the be&s;t Patriats, and A&s;&s;ertors of our Freedom, that if they them&s;elves had not violently bur&s;t forth, there had never been known a &s;eparation, but they had equally with them &s;har'd the glory of our Settle|ment, and never been noted Common di&s;turbers; But now &s;ince
<PB N="5" REF="3">by &s;uch a di&s;orderly avul&s;ion they have made them&s;elves another body and are either plea&s;ed to Fancy or Attempt great things; let us take the pains to examine the ba&s;e whereon they now &s;tand, and &s;ee whether al the&s;e gorgeous pretences and &s;plended Repre|&s;entations wil not quickly vani&s;h into Specters and Chymaeras.</P>
<P>And fir&s;t for the <HI>Per&s;ons:</HI> wherein we may con&s;ider 2. things. Fir&s;t, whether they are <HI>fit</HI> to do it. Or Secondly, whether they <HI>ought</HI> to do it. For fitne&s;s there needs not much be &s;aid concerning the Per&s;ons, who are all of them private men, utterly unver&s;t in Government, and &s;ome of them of boi&s;terous and turbulent Na|tures that would po&s;&s;ibly Recoyle at their own De&s;ignations if they were once &s;etled. Now how fit any man is to direct and de|&s;ign in any thing wherein through long and con&s;tant ob&s;ervati|on he cannot pretend to a piercing judgment and perfect in&s;ight, let any man judg: But how much of al affairs and ob&s;ervations, tho&s;e which concern the Republick are the Nice&s;t and mo&s;t en|tangled? Contingences, fraud of men, &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of time, be&s;ides the Narrow poor blindne&s;s of mans Rea&s;on will evince: and the frequent examples of of Common-wealths (who&s;e laws &s;till nee|ded alteration or explanation) demon&s;trate, That though it be ea&s;ie to frame an Idea, and to trick it up with Nice Capriccios and airy whimzies, yet this, if it come to be &s;etled and impo&s;ed would drag along with it more inconveniences, than the other if which it di&s;compo&s;ed; and therefore I am verily of opinion that Fanta&s;tick Eutopian Common wealths (which &s;ome witty men, &s;ome Philo&s;ophers have drawn unto us) introduced among men, would prove far more loath&s;om &amp; be more fruitful of bad con&s;equences than any of tho&s;e of the Ba&s;e&s;t allay yet known, and of this opinion I am the rather, becau&s;e they &s;eeme all to me rather &s;uited to the private conceptions and humors of their Architects than to the Accommodation and Penefit of Men, and that be&s;ides they contain many times, things naturally Mon|&s;trous, there would al&s;o appear abundance of Ab&s;urdities which only conver&s;ation and time could make apparent. Nay, and we &s;ee that the divine <HI>Plato</HI> (a man never too much commended for his other writings) yet when he came to handle this &s;ubject, has had the Fate to mannage it &s;o, that he has incur'd the cen&s;ure and exception of a many learned pens.</P>
<P>Omit al this: &s;ince we have not con&s;tituted the&s;e men our lawgi|vers;
<PB N="6" REF="4">&amp; therefore are not implicitly bound to accept what they propo&s;e, lets ask them from whence they have this draught, &amp; for what rea&s;on they conceive it for to urge it &s;o much to us? if they &s;ay they have it by in&s;piration or Revealation (as I think they wil not) we &s;hal begin to &s;u&s;pect black fumes of <HI>Hypocondriac</HI> me|lancholy or di&s;temper of the Imagination, if they &s;ay from ex|ample: from whence is it? do the people that live under it live happily by it? or are they &s;ure our clime and humor is fit to receive it? or how came they to offer the impo&s;ition, And if the people will not accept it, what then? if they &s;ay 'tis that which they conceive mo&s;t rational and nece&s;&s;ary, I ask again whether they have &s;ome &s;uperiority of rea&s;on above other men, if they have, it remains on their &s;ide to prove: for we po&s;itively deny it, if they have not, their conclu&s;ions are but the re&s;ultance of &s;o many private votes, For every man that has rea&s;on may have free liberty to u&s;e it; and then the thing hanging in doubt and &s;u&s;pence, where's the nece&s;&s;ity? If they &s;ay the thing be &s;o ju&s;t as that it will force it &s;elf unto all mens under&s;tandings, and vio|lentate them to comply with it, I mu&s;t demand whether they mean mankind in genral, or us in particular? if the former, alas the cu&s;toms, and educations, and complexions of &s;ome nations are &s;o different that the very rea&s;ons differ, and what rea&s;on is there they &s;hould all walk by one Rule? if the latter, they run but the <HI>Circle</HI> unle&s;s they tell us why to us only, and then demon|&s;trate them u&s;eful to us: which if they do, we mu&s;t again look whether they be &s;uch as may be better'd, or no, if they grant they may, then affirm I that he that produces a better plat-form ought out of their own principles (or which is &s;tronger, out of rea&s;on) to be receiv'd; and then why urge they this Sceptical de|&s;ign of theirs; if they &s;ay it <HI>Cannot:</HI> I mu&s;t return and ju|&s;ti&s;ie, that No humane government is ab&s;olutely perfect, and that particularly there are many things weak and trivial in theirs, and again ask them whether they would have it changable or unchangable, if changable, what need all this &s;tir for a thing of a day, and what nece&s;&s;ity is there &s;o to di&s;order the pre&s;ent frame and make our &s;elves liable to the De&s;igns and Dangers of Ene|mies for &s;o &s;mal a thing: if unchangable, Is it perfect? that I think they will not &s;ay, if imperfect, how will they offer to ob|trude it upon a people when it may every day grow more and
<PB N="7" REF="4">more hateful, and re&s;train them from a freedom of change, and whether were not the&s;e provi&s;ions of theirs, the Foundations of a mo&s;t ab&s;olute and exact Tyranny.</P>
<P>For point of duty, &s;ince your &s;elves are the mo&s;t eager for equali|ty of per&s;ons, 'tis but ju&s;t we &s;uppo&s;e ye equal to the re&s;t, &amp; if you be equal, I be&s;eech you how came you by the &s;uper-intendency, if it be in re&s;pect of per&s;onal endowments (as I perceive few among ye &s;tars of the fir&s;t magnitude) this might enable you to advi&s;e but not to command, Be&s;ides you being willing to melt all this Nation into one body, ye mu&s;t needs be but &s;uch a part of it, and &s;uch a number, and can ye &s;hew me why a greater number of pri|vate men (and ye are no more) not being Repre&s;entatives or Ma|gi&s;trates may not lay the &s;ame claim to their Moddel, and by con|&s;equence bring the <HI>Dagon</HI> of Monarchy once more among&s;t us, &amp; then have we not labored our &s;elves into a double Tyranny, if they &s;ay they do it in Right of the people, I demand how they can &s;hew their Authority from the people: If they &s;ay from the law of Nature, the di&s;&s;enting partyes mu&s;t be con&s;idered, &amp; heard; and who would you have Judges? If they deny the Repre&s;entative at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI> a Parliament, I mu&s;t enquire, why they deny it to be one: They will &s;ay, it was call'd by the King's Writ, and the King's power determining with his death they ought to di&s;&s;olve. But then I will ask whether the joynt Con&s;ent of the 3. E&s;tates (as they &s;tood) were not more binding than any &s;ingle Act of the Kings; this I think they deny not: Well, the King and they agree (and it was then adjudged an excellent Act) That they &s;hould not di&s;&s;olve without the con&s;ent of all the 3. E&s;tates: Now there being no King to di&s;&s;olve them, may not we as well affirm that they are indi&s;&s;olvable, nay better; then that they are <HI>de jure</HI> di&s;olv'd already upon the King's death, For when <HI>Two powers are put together, the &s;tronge&s;t needs mu&s;t prevail:</HI> and that power by which they &s;it being greater than that power by which they &s;hould not &s;it, it follows they ought to &s;it, and if they &s;it they are a Parliament, and if a Parliament, why ought a company of private men to &s;tir again&s;t them without the penalty of di&s;obeying Parliamentary power: And &s;ince the A|ctions of private men not derived from their Authority are unva|lid and illegal, I wonder who can ju&s;tifie theirs.</P>
<P>To prove my A&s;&s;umption, That the Parliament is a Parliament,
<PB N="8" REF="5">I mu&s;t de&s;troy that common objection which comes from al &s;ider, That 'tis Imperfect, under Re&s;trant, &amp; mangled of a many Mem|bers. For their imperfection, &s;ince they exceed Fourty you need not care, and I beleeve not many months &s;ince you could have been content they had been a le&s;s number; and though in the <HI>A|greement</HI> (as you call it) you multiply the dimini&s;hing of the Par|liament to two hundred at lea&s;t, yet I am confident that if it &s;erve any de&s;ign of yours, you could ea&s;ily be content to abate the Rigor of this Rule and &s;hrink into a le&s;&s;er number: however what Laws they find till they be Repeal'd they mu&s;t &s;tand by, and you that traffick &s;o much in <HI>Cooks.</HI> In&s;titutes may there find &s;ome text to adjudge it, for my part I value the argument of as little force, as the Hou&s;e them&s;elves conceive the re&s;traint to be, which you &s;ay lies upon them, for they have declared them&s;elves free from all &s;uch kind of fear; if they were guarded any other|wi&s;e than for their own nece&s;&s;ary defence, 'tis a wonder why their guards remove &s;o oft up and down upon their commands, or why they a&s;&s;ert their liberty in not &s;atisfying the &s;ouldery point-blank at every humour, although in re&s;pect of their &s;ignal and faithful &s;ervices they are de&s;irous to u&s;e all indulgence to them, as to that means which under God hath pre&s;erved them in that &s;afety and flouri&s;hing pro&s;perity wherein they now &s;it: and for the &s;ecluding of the Members, if there were any injury at all, it was to the Gentlemen them&s;elves, and yet what injury it was to put re&s;traint upon them who manife&s;tly violated their tru&s;ts and endeavoured to comply with the enemy, ye may judg, it &s;eems ye once had the charity to forgive it, for till ye had di|vore'd your &s;elves from us ye were not known to complain of it, but rather (&s;uppo&s;ing it inju&s;t) were content to connive at it &s;o long as it conduc'd to your own ends, and indeed were there nothing in the world to excu&s;e it, The &s;overaign nece&s;&s;ity &amp; high da~ger to excu&s;e it were enough, the good party being at that time almo&s;t overborn into an unworthy conclu&s;ion of an inju&s;t Trea|ty, and we ready to receive again the Ba&s;ilisk into our armes, But how you can urge or demon&s;trate any &s;uch danger &s;eems impo&s;&s;i|ble to me e&s;pecially concurring with &s;o benign a Parliament who ha&s;ten with that &s;lowne&s;s which is but requi&s;ite to ju&s;tice to make a full accompli&s;h for all your de&s;ires &s;o far as they con|duce to the happine&s;s of the people whom they repre&s;ent and do
<PB N="9" REF="5">not go <HI>beyond the Altar,</HI> withal the army were in a publick capa|city, cemented and engaged by a many declarations, owned by &s;everal endearments of the Parliament: and crowned by a ma|ny of noble victories, whereas you being a di&s;-joynted &s;ort only of private men lie not under any &s;uch capacity nor cannot other|wi&s;e, then by wi&s;hes or propo&s;itions intermeddle (as I told you) with any thing of publick concernment and therefore I hope I may from the re&s;ultance of what hath been &s;aid, affirm, <HI>That this Parliament are at this time the &s;ole Tru&s;tees of the Republick that the &s;ame penalties ought to fall upon them who actually di&s;obey them, as upon tho&s;e who violate the maje&s;ty of a people.</HI></P>
<P>And I am rather encouraged to &s;ay this; for &s;uppo&s;e that in the late convul&s;ion of government all the exi&s;tant power what|ever had been Null'd or Su&s;pended, yet &s;urely that which fir&s;t &s;ei&s;ed of the Rule, or fir&s;t re&s;tor'd it &s;elf, was for that time the lawful and only Government; But the Parliaments power was &s;o far from being vacated, that they continued &s;till entire (un|le&s;s that &s;ome putrifi'd limbs were lop't off) and therefore ought &s;till to be obeyed. But put the ca&s;e (as ye &s;ay) that the &s;word prevail'd only, yet the &s;words acknowledgment tacitly enve&s;ted and enabled the Parliament, had it not been able before, e&s;peci|ally if (as ye lately objected in a Letter to the Lord General) the Army were a di&s;tinct intere&s;t &amp; combin'd only together with the intent of performing &s;uch and &s;uch re&s;olutions; Moreover, granting either the Army could confirm the Parliament or were not &s;ubordinate, or &s;tood meerly upon their own engagement, yet &s;o long as they per&s;i&s;t, having as publick, vi&s;ible, and po&s;&s;i|bly good rea&s;ons as your propo&s;itions, I &s;ee not why they being in a publick capacity &s;hould not rather be fir&s;t heard.</P>
<P>But &s;ince the Army are under the pay and &s;ervice of the Parlia|ment, let tho&s;e men that have but been acquainted with the Name or Notions of bare moral hone&s;ty be Judges, whether you take a manly or gentile cour&s;e in effectuating of your de&s;ires, in Endeavouring by your Spies and Emi&s;&s;aries to foment jealou&s;ies in the Army; debau&s;h the minds of Souldiers, withdraw them from the obedience of their Commanders, and retard our &s;ervice in <HI>Ireland,</HI> the pre&s;ervation of which does in our politick intere&s;t almo&s;t as neer concern as the pre&s;ervation of our own <HI>Harths</HI> and <HI>Altars:</HI> Is this the way to con&s;umate a many glorious pretences,
<PB N="10" REF="6">by in&s;inuating into the &s;oldiers &s;pirits arguments of contumacy? For my part I &s;hall ever be jealous of that <HI>good</HI> which is effected by &s;uch bad means, and &s;uppo&s;e that under the gilded pretences of &s;uch as make u&s;e of them; there ever lies &s;omething both poy|&s;onous and formedable.</P>
<P>For your de&s;ires them&s;elves, &s;ince the Parliament have prevented you in the mode&s;t and rea&s;onable part of them, and are &s;till going forward with pi|ous provi&s;ion for &s;ettlement, I think they may very wel be excu&s;ed to decline tho&s;e parcels of yours which are ra&s;h and vile, and truly I think, both parties con&s;idered together, that they wil be found the Abler to judg of them: For whereas there is on the one &s;ide a many Raw, Incon&s;iderate, Unexperienc'd young men: There is on the other a many grave and &s;age per&s;ons, long ver&s;t in the Arts of Government and humors of the people, who&s;e very Intere&s;t oblieges them to ju&s;tice and a due quietation of the people: For as we are ne|ver like to have again a Repre&s;entative &s;o throughly purged and winnowed, &s;o &s;hall we never have any one again who&s;e obligations will be &s;o point blank oppo&s;ite to the adver&s;e party and their head.</P>
<P>But le&s;t ye object that I fraudulently in&s;i&s;t only upon generals, I &s;hal brief|ly touch at &s;ome of your propo&s;itions (for to do it particularly &amp; fully may be a task by it &s;elf) and from hence demon&s;trate, that you only lay the founda|tions of a frantick Democracy and vile confu&s;ion, I &s;hal not much in&s;i&s;t upon that wherein you deny that any Member of Parliament &s;hal be cho&s;en for the next, Becau&s;e I beleeve it proceeds rather out of malice and untoward pre|vention, than any &s;erious rea&s;on or di&s;cretion; only I &s;ee no rea&s;on why tho&s;e men who&s;e fidelity we have &s;o long and largely ta&s;ted (tho&s;e who&s;e mi&s;de|meanors have ejected them I plead not for) &s;hould be debarred from confir|ming us in our opinions, and a&s;&s;i&s;ting us with their Coun&s;els the next time; But this &s;eems &s;trang to me, that if the Parliam, wil not ju&s;t when you di&s;mi&s;s them di&s;&s;olve, that you wil be ready with an Anti-Parliament for them, &amp; &s;o di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;s them, yet &s;uppo&s;e they were upon &s;uch Noble Coun&s;els as you your &s;elves could not really di&s;like (as no doubt they wil be upon &s;uch as good men cannot di&s;like) would you break the thrid of their Debates, becau&s;e it was your plea&s;ure as that time? what a violation were it to Ju&s;tice &amp; Parliament! and what an hiddeous act and example of yours, and how far were the Con|ven<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ion from being a Tumult? It were me thinks a very &s;trang thing to &s;e|ver a company of choi&s;e Gentlemen, &amp; that in the very mid&s;t of their debats, which being of publick relations mu&s;t be oft Repeated, often di&s;cu&s;&s;ed, and many to be &s;atisfied, it is not to be &s;uppo&s;ed, they can have &s;o &s;udden a determinotion as the Re&s;olutions of a few private men con&s;piring in a Chamber; But pray let me ask you, &s;uppo&s;e you could glean up a Mock-Synod, whether could you hold it lawfull or unlawful? if the fir&s;t, whether were it actually a Patliament before that other di&s;|&s;olved, or not till it were? if it were a true Parliament before the other broke up, then there were two Parliaments together, a thing never dream'd of but at Oxford, and then whether were they both true
<PB N="11" REF="6">Parliaments, and whether might they not both vote contrarieties and con|tradictions: if not till the Parliament were di&s;&s;olved, then all the Elections were void, and &s;uch a &s;u&s;pen&s;ion is both again&s;t Law, Rea&s;on and Example; if it be unlawful, it were but a Seditious &s;ort of people tumultuou&s;ly ga|thered together, and &s;o to be remanded to their own homes: Yet I &s;peak not this any way to maintain a perpetuity in this Parliament, but onely to a&s;&s;ert their freedom of &s;itting and di&s;&s;olving, free from all ex|ternal force and power whatever; and if it be &s;o intirely within them, I &s;ee not why they &s;hould not choo&s;e their own time, both in re&s;pect of Right (as I have proved) as in re&s;pect of Duty, le&s;t they &s;hould leave things imperfect or un&s;etled, and con&s;equently leave a way for greater Breaches: and that we have &s;ome Rea&s;on to think thus, is, That they have appointed a day to con&s;ider of the choo&s;ing of a New Repre&s;enta|tive; and for mo&s;t of the Gentlemen them&s;elves, they are &s;o oppre&s;&s;ed with the continuance and weight of the publique Burthen, that they de&s;ire nothing more then to be ea&s;ed of it.</P>
<P>Neither do I know whether or no in your Agreement, you give the peo|ple too great a &s;wing, and render their power far more Unlimited and Arbitrary then is even con&s;i&s;tent with Democracy it &s;elf: For truly, he that con&s;iders the giddine&s;s, incon&s;tancy, and &s;ometimes perver&s;ne&s;s of the Multitude, would be loath that the whole Ruines of Government &s;hould be turned into their hands immediately, and that their power &s;hould not be &s;omewhat re&s;trained and regulated. From this we read &s;uch ridiculous, contradictious and pitiful Changes in the Populacy of <HI>Athens;</HI> and from hence came all tho&s;e various Di&s;turbances, which for a long time afflicted <HI>Florence:</HI> whereas if it be mode&s;tly di&s;po&s;ed, and &s;weetly tempered (as we have rea&s;on to hope will be the Re&s;ultance of the Councels of the Parliament) it is the be&s;t a&s;&s;urance of the happine&s;s of a people, who&s;e Li|berty is not to be valued according to the Extent, but U&s;e and Safety.</P>
<P>Nor do I think I any way plead the cau&s;e of tho&s;e in&s;atiable Cormo|rants the Lawyers, nor yet defend either the Intricacy or Subtilties of the Law it &s;elf, if I affirm, That in endeavoring to take away &s;ome intangled Knots, and cau&s;es of unnece&s;&s;ary Delay, you pluck up the whole Roots of the Law, and render it nothing but a means of &s;peedy Inju&s;tice: Not that I could wi&s;h any thing pre&s;erved in it, that might foment Debates, or hin|der a ju&s;t Cau&s;e: But that I know there will be &s;uch Contingencies and Perplexities happen in the cour&s;e of life, that it will be impo&s;&s;ible for a Countrey Jury, or &s;ome Annual Magi&s;trate, not ver&s;t or bred that way, ever to determine.</P>
<P>Another thing is, That this <HI>Buskin</HI> of yours is fitted to all Intere&s;ts,
<PB N="12" REF="7">and ye endeavor to catch all Broken-Parties within the Drag Net of your Intere&s;t: yet you may con&s;ider, left in ca&s;e you &s;hould prevail, Whe|ther tho&s;e men would not be <HI>Coloquintada</HI> or no in your Broth; the Countreymans Snake (in the Fable) lay as dead in the cold, but once warm, began to hi&s;s and &s;ting: Believe it, if you nouri&s;h the&s;e Serpents, you may expect no better from them; for who knows not what danges there is in the Reconciliation of a Civil Enemy; and your &s;elves cannot be ignorant, what contrariety your Principles and Intere&s;t holds with all the other of the Nation.</P>
<P>Others I could adde to the&s;e, but that I purpo&s;e not to &s;well above my intended Brevity; and I &s;uppo&s;e, whoever is really po&s;&s;e&s;t about the&s;e, may have a &s;hrewd gue&s;s at the re&s;t. For my part, whatever Ends drive you on to the&s;e cour&s;es, whether you occultly act the de&s;igns of the King|i&s;ts, as &s;ome &s;uch not to &s;ay, or that ye are driven on by private Enmity and Animo&s;ity, or that you are di&s;contented at the pre&s;ent State, and labor a Change, or that 'tis onely your Indi&s;cretion hurries into all the Tumults, I &s;hould earne&s;tly &s;ue unto you, That you would peaceably apply your &s;elves to your &s;everal Callings, and not put your Sickle into that Harve&s;t, in which, it &s;eems, Providence hath not appointed you Laborers: but &s;it|ting down, and expecting the out-going of the Divine Will, you may all in your &s;everal &s;tations, enjoy the &s;weet Comforts of Peace and Ble&s;&s;ing promi&s;ed to peaceable men; and withal, avoid that puni&s;hment and igno|miny which mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily happen to the Firebrands of a Countrey.</P>
<P>And for you (my Countreymen) who are not as yet touched with the Venom, I &s;hall onely wi&s;h this Paper an Antidote to pre&s;erve you, that you may not &s;hut your eyes at the mighty Appearances of Providence, nor turn Renegado's from his In&s;truments, but quietly awaiting the i&s;&s;ue of the&s;e things, you may perceive and feel what a ble&s;&s;edne&s;s it is, Not to joyn in the De&s;igns of wicked men, who though they may for a while &s;torm and pro&s;per, yet at the length they mu&s;t be overthrown, and have their faces covered with Shame and Confu&s;ion.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>21 <DATE>11 <HI>Maii,</HI> 1649.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
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