For the Liberty of unlicenc'd Printing. T Hey who to States and Governours of the in a private condition, write that which they foresee may advance the publick good; I suppose them as at the beginning of no meane endeavour, not a little alter'd and mov'd inwardly in their mindes: Some with doubt of what will be the fucceffe, others with feare of what will be the cenfure; fome with hope, others with confidence of what they have to speake. And me perhaps each of these dispositions, as the subject was whereon I enter'd, may have at other times variously affected; and likely might in these foremost expreffions now also disclose which of them sway'd moft, but that the very attempt of this addresse thus made, and the thought of whom it hath recourse to, hath got the power within me to a passion, farre more welcome then incidentall to a Preface. Which though I stay not to confeffe ere any aske, I fhall be blamelesse, if it be no other, then the joy and gratulation which it brings to all who wish and promote their Countries liberty; whereof this whole Difcourfe propof'd will be a certaine testimony, if not a Trophey. For this is not the liberty which wee can hope, that no grievance ever fhould arise in the Commonwealth, that let no man in this World expect; but when complaints are freely heard, deeply confider'd, and speedily reform'd, then is the utmoft bound of civil liberty attain'd, that wife men looke for. To which if I now manifest by the very found of this which I fhall utter, that wee are already in good part arriv'd, and yet from fuch a steepe disadvantage of tyranny and superstition grounded into our principles as was beyond the manhood of a Roman recovery, it will bee attributed firft, as is moft due, to the strong affiftance of God our deliverer, next to your faithfull guidance and undaunted Wisdome, Lords and Commons of England. Neither is it in Gods esteeme the diminu tion of his glory, when honourable things are spoken of good men and worthy Magistrates; which if I now firft should begin to doe, after so fair a progreffe of your laudable deeds, and fuch a long obligement upon the whole Realme to your indefatigable vertues, I might be justly reckn'd among the tardieft, and the unwilling eft of them that praise yee. Neverthelesse there being three principall things, without which all praising is but Courtship and flattery, First, when that only is prais'd which is folidly worth praise: next, when greatest likelihoods are brought that fuch things are truly and really in those persons to whom they are afcrib'd, the other, when he who praises, by fhewing that fuch his actuall perswasion is of whom he writes, can demonftrate that he flatters not; the former two of these I have hereto fore endeavour'd, refcuing the employment from him who went about to impaire your merits with a triviall and malignant Encomium; the latter as belonging chiefly to mine owne acquittall, that whom I fo extoll'd I did not flatter, hath been referv'd opportunely to this occafion. For he who freely magnifies what hath been nobly done, and fears not to declare as freely what might be done better, gives ye the best cov'nant of his fidelity; and that his loyaleft affection and his hope waits on your proceedings. His highest praising is not flattery, and his plainest advice is a kinde of praifing; for though I should affirme and hold by argument, that it would fare better with truth, with learning, and the Commonwealth, if one of your publisht Orders which I should name, were call'd in, yet at the fame time it could not but much if redound to the luftre of your milde and equall Government, when as private persons are hereby animated to thinke ye better pleas'd with publick advice, then other ftatifts have been delighted heretofore with publicke flattery. And men will then fee what difference there is between the magnanimity of a trienniall Parlament, and that jealous hautineffe of Prelates and cabin Counfellours that ufurpt of late, when as they fhall observe yee in the midd'st of your Victories and fucceffes more gently brooking writt'n exceptions against a voted Order, then other Courts, which had produc't nothing worth memory but the weake oftentation of wealth, would have endur'd the least signifi'd dislike at any sudden Proclamation. If I should thus farre prefume upon the meek demeanour of your civill and gentle greatneffe, Lords and Commons, as what your publifht Order hath directly faid, that to gainfay, I might defend my felfe with ease, any should accuse me of being new or infolent, did they but know how much better I find ye esteem it to imitate the old and elegant humanity of Greece, then the barbarick pride of a Hunnish and Norwegian statelines. And out of those ages, to whofe polite wisdom and letters we ow that we are not yet Gothes and Jutlanders, I could name him who from his private house wrote that discourse to the Parlament of Athens, that perfwades them to change the forme of Democraty which was then establisht. Such honour was done in those dayes to men who profest the study of wisdome and eloquence, not only in their own Country, but in other Lands, that Cities and Siniories heard them gladly, and with great respect, if they had ought in publick to admonish the State. Thus did Dion Prufous a stranger and a privat Orator counsell the Rhodians against a former Edict and I abound with other like examples, which to fet heer would be fuperfluous. But if from the industry of a life wholly dedicated to ftidious labours, and those naturall endowments haply not the worst for two and fifty degrees of northern latitude, so much must be derogated, as to count me not equall to any of those C |