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Show 6 4 England's Prefent Interefl Conjider'd. VoL. I. 7 I r'ons Jnformauons, Fzner, Pl11nJers, lm· J675· To be fhort J If all the nurr:Jh{ch ;he rear Enemy of Nature, as well as ~ prifonmenu, Hx!le.r and Blood, 11 Ages ~bout Matters of Faith and \\Tor- Grace, hath excttcd Man to, 10 3 to our; could furni(h us with fufficient {hip, from Cam and iJJJefs Ttme fed b 'rbe InfiiEl:ors of fo much Severity, Prefidenrs, that thj D~gn tr;have rni'orher'd Opinions, and not inflamed, fJJal ever Allfv;t'rc ; t ft1 t -~ might perhaps at leaft prudentially, gt\'C but e:z:tingmfh'd onre. ; 1 d alla ml juft' Confidence in this Addrefs : Check to our ExpeEl:ano~s,v!~ver b!en ound Improfperous, as well as that But fince fuch 1tt.emp~s h:ve always procured the Judgments of God, and they are roo co{ ly, an h S ifferers Mifery . to thetr Co11ntrits, Decay the Hatred of ~tlj'" To J : /Tmr ow; Conj&ttfl~e.s an ext ream Guzlr; I fall of People a~g ra e~ 0~ :he Solur 1011 of it: In wh1ch, as I declare, Jm .. to the !l..tfe1' 1011' 3fu \d"· the leaft abate of that Love, Honour 11nd Se,.. tend nothmg dhat ou f~ I befeech you do me the Juftice as to make the vtce that are ue t.o youf Ex reffions? For the whole of my Plain and HFaoinreefftt IDnetfeirgpnr ~tat~n ~ my ltl~te fior ;be Increofe of your True Hono11r, IS, ,~.o oJ,~e.r my and my Dear Country's Fe!"''Y· The Q U E S T I 0 N. HAT . moft Ht Eofie and Safe, at tbi~ Junllure of Affairs, to be WI filS C d at '!eaft fJuieting Differences' for fl0aymg the ¢one, or] ompfi l(lg, nd moking'them Subfervient to the lnterefl of tbt ~~;!~:~~~,;~d nc:;}fl;~/witb rbe Profperity of the Kingdom f 'Tbe ANSWER. l AN Inviolable and Impartial Maintenance of Englijh Rights. . Il. Our Superiars Gover~i~g themfelves upon a Ba/Janu, as near as ma be towards the fc:veral Relrgzom lntere/ls.. . . III. A Sincere Promotion of General and Prall teal Rebgzon. 1 !hall briefly difcourfe upon there ~3reerfiThing\:;d e~d~vgoi~~~ot~r~~= them a s11.fficient, if not the Only Be;• ~P. wer, t ca Queftion propounded. Chap. I. CHAP. L ~ Of E N G L I s H R I G H T s. . . b B . 'lh S nd Norman Times. ParthMiarly I. OfEnglifh R,.eht.r, tn tote t.en·W .' 3~f"J:ries. n.u tkJ ue Fundamental ""~ of Liberty .tnd. Property. &1 atfi00'ed..., the Great Charter. The Revtrence P,l.ll G#Vt'71•mt, .urd ht R~peatcd .u~ti Con. rmCa "Jt referve them. The Curfe •nd Pumfb. , them bJ Kings andParhaments, and. their re o~'der•Nolu of Properf.! &c. 7k Uncer• ment th.u,mended theViclators. h!or~Gtnml.C ~~'d, Divers '"fide;u : ThatitU.tbe tainty •ltd Ruin oflnterells, ~~re ." ., ~ot *~"::'. ,;, '1Uil1 Forfeitable for Ecclefiaibc;'l 'Jiri,tt's -::'!: '" !i:b:,' ~k::~h:'~~PeJ:'tt S::,ifircJ for if, tbf GoYernment i4 dsn1. l fr::·~fvilto EJJfiaftical, Jrm the Parliament·Houfe so the Veftry. T HERE is no Governtllentin the World, but iTthmufl ei~e~ fia~: Men~ JtUJ J Power or Condition and ConuaO : e one .u ~s 1 d't ·the oth~r b; Laws. 'And ~bo~e all ~ingdot;ns under Heaven~ ~~~s ~~~:~aFelicity to have her Con(htuuon fa tmparnal)y J~ft ::m.d Frd Z 1 of pre· :11 b a y Thing more remote from Arbt~ran!lefs, an ea ous fu~~; th~ L~ws, by which it"s Rights are mamtamed. Su r~ Thefe Laws are either FNndamemal, and fa Immu~able; or more pe fi~ial and Teraporary, and tonfequentlf alterable. By By Superjitial Lawr, We underftapd fucb Aas, Laws or Statutes as are 167f· fulred to prefent OccurrenceS, .and Emergencies of Stare ; and whi~h may ~ as weU be a brogared, as rhey were . firft made, for the Good of the King· Chap. 1, . dom : For In fiance, thofe Statures that relate to Vtftuals, Cloarhs, Times ahd Places of Trade, f.!/ c. which have fver ftood, wh'ilftthe Reafon of the~ was in Fotce; but when that Benefit, which did once redound, feU by fre1n Accidents, they ended, according to that Old Maxiin, Cejfiihre rati1!tt /egu. ceifatle.JI. . By Fundamental Lar.r I do not only underft3nd rJch as lmniedlately fprln~t from Slnterejir (rhat Eternal Principle of Truth and Sapierice) more or leis · diffemmated through Mankind, whtth are as th'e Corner-Scones of Humane Strufture, the Balis of Reafonable Societies; without which a1l would run into Heaps and Confufion; tCS Wit, Honefl~ vivefe, .Aittrum non htdere, fils fu11m cuiq; trib11ere, that is, To live fioneftly, not to hurt another, an'd to give every one their Right, (Excenent Principles, and Cbmmon ~o all Nati· ems) though that it felf were fufficient to our prefem Pu'rpofe : But tftOfe Rights and Prlvlledges, which I call Englij/J, and Whiclf are tHe proper Jlirtb·Rigbr of Englijh111en, and may be reduced to rhefe Three. 1.1 ''""i . tll: I. An O"nrrjhip, and Undif/utbed Po.f!ejfion, That tl!b•t they Bnve, iJ Rightly thiirs, dnd 110 Body's dfe. II . .A. Voting of evtry Law thai is made; wherdy I hat OtUittrjhip or Pro- "' priety may be maintained. HI . .dn lnjliunct upon, oiid a Real Shore in thdt Judicatory Power that 1/Juf! apply every Juch Law, whi&h is tlJe Ancient Nece.ffarj and Lt~udahle Ufe tJ/ ]urtes: If notj;ounl amb7tg the Britains, to be Jute Pralllfed bJ the Sax· ons, and ctintinue throJJgb the Normans rat his very Day. That thefe have been the Ancient and Undoubred Rights of Englijhmut; as Three great Roots, under whofe Spacious Branches tbe l!."'nglijh People have been wont to fhelter themfelves ag:tinft th:e StO'rnrs of ~'lrbitraiy GdJ vernment, I iliatl endeavour to prove. I. An Owner/flip anil UnJijlutheil Poffe/fioil. This relates both to Title and Security of Ej/arl-, and Liberty of Perfon, from the Violence of Arbitrary PoWer. 'Tis true, the Foot-Steps of die Britijb Government are Very much over· grown by Time. There is fcarcely any Thirlg remarkable left uS, but wha:r we are beholden to Strangers for: Either their own Unfkilfulnefs in Letters, or their Depopulations and Conquefi:s by Invaders, have deprived the World of a paru~lar Story of their Laws and Cufi:oms, in Peace or \V:u. Howe\'er, C~far, Tt1cit111, and efpecially Dion, fay enough to prove t~etr ~r~r1s.cy'!i· Nature and their Governmem to be as far from Slavifh, as their Breeding A a~i~~ In 1~ and Manners were remote from the Education and greater Skill of the Ro-- nfoo.l. 6. mms. Beda and M. Wcfiminfler fay as much. M.W,jl.AP.n() The Law of Property they obferved, and m:tde thofe Laws th:tt concetn'd -t:t6.J, t.c.i7• the Prefen•ation of it. The Saxonr brought no Alteration to thefe Two Fundamenra·ts of out Englijb Governmenr ; for they were a Free Pedple, govern,d by Laws, of which they themfelves were the Makers: .TI~:It is, there w~s ~o Liw rnlde wirhout the Confent of the People, de 11IOJinhtH omtzts, as Taottn obfervedi Uift Germ.. ()( the Germans in general. They loft nothing by Tr;~nfporting o.f rhem~ felves hither; and doubrletS found a greater Confifi:ency hetween.rhelr La~s, . than their Ambition. For the Learned Colleftor of rile Britijh Counctlt 4 Concil. Dm; tells us, That l!lbelj1on, the Saxon King, pleading _Wi1h the Peop1e, t~ld P·l97· them, Seeit1g I, according ttJ your LofiJ, aUortJ w"~' ts yo11rs, do ye fo amb 1u. Whence Three Things arc: obfervable. Fn·/1, That fomerhmg WJS Theirs, that no Body elfe could dlfpote · of. Situn,llj, :rhat ~hey hJ.d Pru· ttny by their owg Law, the.refore Jti rh:d3 a Shart 1n makmg rhe1~:~ |