THE PARALLEL OR AN An ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH OF KNAVERY Under the PRETEXT OF Arbitrary Government AND POPERY With Some Observations upon a PAMPHLET ENTITLED An ACCOUNT OF THE Growth of Popery etc. London Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in S. Pauls Church-yard 1679. TO THE READER THere came forth about two years since a Couple of Seditious Pamphlets in quarto The one just upon the heel of the other The former was entitled An Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England c. which was followed by A Seasonable Argument to perswade all the Grand Juries in England c. the latter being only an abstract and explication of the designe of the other This Parallel was in the same Year Printed and Published by way of reflection upon the aforesaid Libles with references to the Pages of that Edition and the Controversy should have rested there if the Authour had not found himself honestly oblig'd to reprint the Reply the other side having reviv'd the occasion of it since the death of Andrew Marvell by a Posthumous Impression with his name at length to it There was at that time no mention or thought of the PLOT and a man may see with half an eye that his buzzing so much about the matter of Religion was only to make the sedition go down the better For the main drift and bent of his Discourse is only the paring of the Kings nails clipping the wings of his Prerogative advancing a pretended Soveraignty in the people and cutting his Majesty off from the most essential privileges of all Government defaming his Administration and furnishing the world with Cases and Expedients how a Subject may kill his Prince with a good Conscience Now if a body should speculate upon the Reasons of Re-publishing Mr. Marvells Pamphlet at this time it would make the Preface longer then the Book to recount them First there is money to be got by it and that 's five and fifty reasons in one Secondly the Writing or Publishing of a Libell is lookt upon by some to be the high-way to preferment as a prick-ear'd Anabaptist said t' other day about the Appeal from the Country to the City 'T is a Nationall quarel says he and the Nation will stand by me in 't Thirdly as the designe gets ground so it gathers confidence and that which in 77. would have been worth two or three hundred pound to the Discoverer may be worth twice as much now in 79. to the Publisher and Printer There may be a fourth end in it to Canonize Mr. Marvell now in his grave if not for a Saint yet for a Prophet in shewing how pat the Popish Plot falls out to his conjecture and that he sees further into a millstone then another man and why may not the Replicant as well be taken for a Prophet that foretold the Growth of Fanaticism as well as he did the Growth of Popery and upon as good grounds too Dr. Don in his Ignatius's Conclave makes Ignatius to be so indu'd with the devil that he was able to possess the very devil himself Now whether the Fanaticks bring on the Jesuits Plot or the Jesuits the Fanaticks by counterpossessing one another is not a farthing matter But that the devil and his dam are now at work in the shape of Angels of light to destroy our Sacred Soveraign the Church of England and the Civil Government there is no more doubt to be made then that if it were not for the hope of another world a man had better be hang'd out of the way then be Honest in this If the malevolent intent of the Book it self were not so gross and manifest that a man may run and reade it we could produce several other Instances of the same temper that fell from the same pen and spake the man as much an Enemy to the Monarchy of England as to the Ministers And it is no wonder that the Secretary to a Common-wealth should write with the Spirit of a Re-publican But we shall spare his memory in that particular and only tell the Reader in one word more that tho' the many turns of State that have hapned since Mr. Marvells Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government came first abroad have laid the book open to further confutation and censure we shall yet take no advantage of those Events but leave this following discourse to shift for it self naked and unlick'd as it came first into the world THE PARALEL OR AN ACCOUNT OF THE GROWTH of KNAVERY c. SIR TO give you my Opinion freely of the two Libels that you sent me methinks the Design of them lies too open to do much Mischief for I never saw so bare-fac'd an Araignment of the Government and all the Parts of it King Lords Commons Iudges Ministers of State they are all of them made Conspirators against the Sovereign Multitude forsooth and when the Libeller has done with the Body of the Commons he gives you a Defamatory List of betwixt two and three hundred of their Members provoking and abusing all Sober Interests Insomuch that he has left himself nothing to trust to but the contemplation of a General Tumult which is the very Point he drives at in his Appeal to the Rabble The Man I confess is a great Master of VVords but then his Talent is that which the Lord St. Albans calls Matter of Wonder without Worthiness being rather the Suppleness and Address of a Tumbler than the Force and Vigor of a Man of Business And you cannot but observe too that his Excursions many of them are unmannerly and Vulgar and fitter for the Stage of a Merry-Andrew or a Iack-Pudding than for a Paper of State You would have me guess at the Author and you might as well bid me tell you the right Father of a Child by a common Strumpet But I think I may call him Legion for they are MANY and there 's a Club to his Pen as well as to his Pocket This I dare assure you that the Author of A Letter from a Parliament-man to his Friend in the Country concerning the Proceedings of the House of Commons c. in 75. is very particularly acquainted with the Author of An Accompt of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government c. and the Seasonable Argument c. that follow'd it in 77. The Pretence of the former Pamphlet is exhibited in the Title of it viz An Account of the Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Government in England And more particularly from November 1675 to Iuly 1677. Upon these Nineteen Months the Composer has bestow'd precisely Nineteen Sheets of Paper and laid himself out most wonderfully in his Politicks and Conceits for the better Grace and Relish of the Discourse But the Malignity of it is so rank that there 's scarce a Page where the Poyson has not eaten quite thorough the Vernish and discover'd the Spring and Malice of the Design View it narrowly and
and the Discharge of that great Trust which lies upon us make this Protestation and Declaration to this Kingdom and Nation and to the Whole World that no private Passion or Respect no evil Intention to his Majesties Person no Design to the prejudice of his just Honour and Authority engag'd us to raise Forces and take up Arms against the Authors of this War wherewith the Kingdom is now enflam'd And does not our Libeller follow the Remonstrants in their Hypocrisy too This Book says he p. 156. though of an extraordinary Nature as the Case requir'd and however it may be calumniated by interressed Persons was written with no other Intent than of meer Fidelity and Service to his Majesty and God forbid that it should have any other Effect than that the mouth of all Iniquity and Flatterers may be stopped and that his Majesty having discerned the Disease may with his healing Touch apply the Remedy For so far is the Relator himself from any sinister Surmize against his Majesty or from suggesting it to others c. The Pamphlet I confess is as he calls it A Book of an Extraordinary Nature but why does he say As the Case requir'd Where 's the Importance of it unless he means that it was the very Nick of Time for him to embroyl the Nation And for the Interessed Persons who he says may Calumniate it they are only the King and His Ministers who are all of them the subject of his Scoptical and Malevolent Satyre Of his Intent we shall speak hereafter This is not the first time that we have heard of Words smoother than Oyl which yet are very Swords It is the very Stile that brought the Late King to the Block and the Saviour of the World was betray'd by a Hail Master and a kiss It is the very Crown of the Paralel betwixt 77 and 41. Now to proceed What was the Old Remonstrance but a Spiteful and Invidious Misrepresentation of the State of the Kingdom under the Notion of Declaring Common Grievances For His Majesty's Healing Touch too no doubt and is not that also the very Aim and Profession of these two Libels What is the Publication of This same Scandalous List but the Old Trick over again of Posting those Members for Staffordians that would not consent to the Death of the Earl of Strafford And is not their Tampering of the Grand juries to Petition for a New Parliament the Old Practice reviv'd of drawing and folliciting Petitions against Grievances of their own framing and menaging Affairs of State by Tumults Would not our Remonstratour of 77 rather than his Life be at the Old Sport again with a Kennel of Brutes at his Heels in full Cry with No Bishops No Popish Lords No Evil Counsellors No Rotten Members No Porters Lodge and at last No King too which was the very Fact in Consequence upon this Method So soon as the Remonstrants those Sons of 〈◊〉 had laid open their Father's nakedness with a Malicious Aggravation of all Errours and Misfortunes beside Falshoods innumerable to Irritate the Multitude against their Superiours their next Art was to draw that Party to themselves which they had now detached from the Government with an Oh! That we were made Judges in Israel Boasting what wonderful things they had the◠upon the Anvil for the Publick Good and not forgetting to arrogate all those Acts to themselves which his Majesty had passed of his proper Grace and Bounty Other things say they p. 15. of main Importance for the Good of this Kingdom are in Proposition as the Establishing and Ordering the King's Revenues that so the Abuse of Officers and Superfluity of Expences may be cut off and the necessary Disbursements for his Majesty's Honour the Defence and Government of the Kingdom may be mor◠certainly provided for the Regulating of Courts of Iustice and Abridging both the Delays and Charges of Law-Suits c. See now if our Reformer of 77. does not fish with the very same Bait. The House of Commons says he p. 63. took up again such Publick Bills as they had on foot in their former sitting and others that might either remedy present or prevent future Mischief As the Bill for Habeas Corpus That against sending Men prisoners beyond Seas That against Raising of Many without the Consent of Parliament That against Papists sitting in either House c. The Libels in sine of 77 are so exact a Counterpart of the others of 41 that two Tallies do not strike truer and undoubtedly such a Correspondence in Method cannot be without some Conformity also of Design There needs no other Argument to prove the Late Rebellion to have been originally a Conspiracy against the Government than the Proportion that appears betwixt the Means and the End and the orderly Connexion of proper Causes and Regular Effects For it was a Perfect Train of Artifice Hypocrisie and Imposture from one end of it to the other The Confederacy was form'd in a Cabal of Scotch and English Presbyterians as appears not only from their Correspondent Practices in both Nations but from his late Majesties Charge against the Five Members and likewise from the Care that was taken upon his Majesties Restauration to date the English Act of Indemnity from the beginning of the Scotch Tumults Jan. 1. 1637. which was three Years before the Meeting of the Long Parliament in November 1640. The two Ministers that stood in the Gap betwixt the Conspiracy and the Government and who were only cut off as appear'd by the Sequel to clear the passage to the King himself were the Earl of Strafford and Arch-Bishop Laud So that their First Attaque was upon the Earl and their next upon the Archbishop under the Notion of Evil Counsellors and upon the Common Charge of Popery and Arbitrary Proceeding their Impeachments were carried on by Tumults and these Brave Men were rather baited to Death by Beasts than Sentenc'd with any Colour of Law or Justice And as they liv'd so they dy'd the Resolute Assertors of the English Monarchy and Religion The Earl of Strafford in May 41 But the Archbishop was kept languishing in the Tower till Ian. 44. And their Crime was not in Truth their being Men of Arbitrary Principles themselves but for being the Opposers of those Principles in Others As the Remonstrants in 4◠for want of Papists in Practice and Profession directed their Spleen against the Kings Ministers only as Persons Popishly affected which in time came to be most Injuriously apply'd to his Majesty and his whole Party Just so does our Libeller in 1677. Were these Conspirators says he but avow'd Papists they were the more Honest the less dangerous and their Religion were Answerable for the Errours they might commit in Order to promote it But these are Men says he in the next pag. Obliged by all the most Sacred Ties of Malice and Ambition to advance the ruine of the King and Kingdom and qualify'd much better than Others under the Name of
toward their own Tragedy And why does he blame them for Sitting by And like Idle SPECTATORS unless he would have them enter into Tumult and Action A very fair Encouragement to make Men bestir themselves and without more Ceremony lay violent Hands upon the Publick Good God! That ever such a Creature as this should propound to himself by the Dash of a Pen to move the Foundations of the English Government From the Parliament he descends to the Iudges Alas says he the Wisdom and Probity of the Law went off for the most Part with Good Sir Mathew Hales and Iustice is made a meer Property And then he raves upon The Constant Irregularities and Injustice from Term to Term of those that administer the Iudicature betwixt his Majesty and his People p. 154. This Poysonous Arrow meaning the Choice of the Judges strikes to the very Heart of Government and could come from no Quiver but that of the Conspirators What French Council what Standing Forces what Parliamentary Bribes what National Oaths and all the other Machinations of Wicked Men have not yet been able to effect may be more compendiously Acted by Twelve Iudges in Scarlet p. 66. And is not this directly 41 again When no Iudges would serve the Turn but those that betray'd the People to Slavery and His Sacred Majesty to the Scaffold He has another Fling at the Sheriffs If any Worthy Person says he p. 80. chance to carry the Election some Mercenary or Corrupt Sheriff makes a double Return and so the Cause is handed to the Committee of Elections c. And truly he does not give either the King or the Monarchy of England much better Quarter than he allows the rest as you shall see by and by So that nothing less than the Thorough Reformation of 41 will do the Work of 77. And the whole Frame of the Government must be unhing'd to gratify the Caprice of a Pragmatical Mal-content The Passion and Malice of the Libeller is so evident that he does half confess it himself by an Anticipation of the Charge The Relator says he pag. 155. foresees that he shall on both hands be blam'd for pursuing this Method Some on the One side will expect that the very Persons should have been Nam'd whereas he only gives Evidence to the Fact and leaves the Malefactors to those that have Power of Enquiry If he can but acquit himself on the Other hand for Writing the Libel as well as on This for not Naming the Persons he will do well enough For first It is not his Business to Prove but to Defame Secondly The Naming of Particulars would have restrein'd the Calumny whereas his work is to wound All the Kings Ministers that Faithfully adhere to their Master in the Generality of the Scandal Thirdly He judges it sufer and more expedient to amuse the Multitude with Iealousies that cannot be Disprov'd than point-blank to fasten upon Particulars an Accusation that cannot be Prov'd What does he mean by saying that he gives Evidence to Fact It is the first Libel certainly that ever was given in Evidence But where 's the Relator himself all this while upon whose bare word Parliaments are to be-Dissolv'd Ministers of State Arraign'd Judges Displac'd and the whole Government new Modell'd What if he should appear and be found at last to have been one of Oliver's Cabal Would any Man desire a more Competent Witness for Charles the Second than the Martherer of Charles the Frst But he has been so us'd to call the King himself Traytor that he may be allow'd to call his Friends Conspirators On the other hand says he pag. 155. some will represent this Discourse as they do all Books that tend to detect their Conspiracy against his Majesty and Kingdom as if It too were written against the Government For now of late as soon as any Man is gotten into Publick Employment by ill Acts and by worse continues it he if it please the Fates is thenceforward the Government and by being Criminal pretends to be Sacred This is only crying Whore first to call those People Conspirators who are likely to censure him for a Libeller which with his Learned Leave is but a Course Figure neither and runs much better in the Common Billinsgate of You are a Knave your self to say that I am one Which in few words is all that 's in 't For he does not offer so much as one Syllable in his Justification but with another Lash or two at the King's Ministers winds up his Period Now of late says he he means I suppose since Oliver went out of Play as soon as any Man is got into Publick Employment by ill Acts c. He should do well to consider who Governs before he says that Villany is the ready way to Preferment He if it please the Fates is thenceforward the Government and by being Criminal pretends to be Sacred I answer That in the Case of a Publick and Legal Accusation the Minister is not the Government for the Charge terminates in and operates no further than his Person but in the Affront of a Nameless and Indefinite Libel the King himself is wounded in a General Reflection upon his Ministers for it is his Choice and Commission not the Officers Misdemeanour that is there in Question Nor does he pretend to be Sacred because he is Criminal but the Libeller who still writes after the Remonstrance makes every thing Criminal that is Sacred and gives the Construction of Rebellion to Loyalty and of Loyalty to Rebellion But if there be not Mischief in the very Project of this Libel there 's nothing at all in 't for I cannot frame to my self the least Colour or Possibility of any other End He says It was his Design indeed to give Information but not to turn Informer That is to say He would set the People together by the Ears and no body should know who did it Now see the End he propounds That those says the Relator to whom he as only a Publick Enmity no Private Animosity might have the Priviledge of States-men to Repent at the last hour and by one single Action to expiate all their former misdemeanours Which is e'en as Civil a way as a body would wish of Recommending a Publick Minister to his last Prayer It remains now to speak a word to the Timing of his Enterprize which in a wicked Sence is in Truth the Glory of it I shall not need to speculate upon the Power and Designs of France the deplorable State of Flanders or the Consequences that must inevitably reflect upon England in the Loss of the Spanish Neitherlands the matter being agreed upon at all hands that an Union of Affections Counsels and Interests was never more necessary to this Nation than at this Instant it is and that Delay is Death to us This being given for granted it is likewise as certain that nothing under Heaven but the Credit of this Sitting Parliament and the Blessing of a Fair