once mov'd the best Remedy is to cut off the Spring that feeds it by pleasing all sorts of People so far as Possible and by Disobliging none but upon Necessity Which Publique Tendernesse must be so menaged that the Majesty of the Prince be not lost in the Goodnesse of the Person for nothing can be more Dangerous to a Monarch then so to over-court the Love of his People as to lose their Respect or to suffer them to impute that to his Easinesse which ought to be ascrib'd purely to his Generosity Offences of That Daring and Unthankfull Quality can scarce be pardon'd without some hazard to the Authority that remits them Secret Contempts being much more fatal to Kings then Publick and Audacious Malice the latter commonly spending it self in a particular and fruitlesse Malignity toward the Person and that with Terror too as being secur'd under a Thousand Guards of Majesty and Power whereas the Other privily teints the whole Masse of the People with a Mutinous Leaven giving Boldnesse to contrive Courage to execute and if the Plot miscarryes there 's the hope of Mercy to Ballance the peril of the Undertaking For a Conclusion of this Point He that but Thinks Irroverently of his Prince deposes him Concerning the Materials of Sedition viz. Poverty and Discontentment it would be endless to dissolve these General Heads into Particularâ—â—leâ— â—â—leâ— the best advice in This Case must be General too that is to endeavour to remove whatever Causes them referring the Particulars to Counsell and Occasion 'T is very well observ'd by the Lord St. Albans touching Poverty So many overthrown Estates so many Votes for Troubles and if this Poverty and Broken Estate in the Better sort be joyn'd with a Want and Necessity in the mean People the Danger is Great and Imminent which to prevent Above all things sayes the same Author good Policy is to be used that the Treasure and Moneys in a State be not gathered into few Hands For otherwise a State may have a great Stock and yet starve And Money is like Muck not good except it be spread And again A numerous Nobility causeth Poverty and Inconvenience in a State for it is a Surcharge of Expence As to the Seeds of Discontentments they are as various as the Humours they encounter dependent many times upon Opinion and inconsiderable in Themselves however Notorious in their Effects Touching the Discontentments Themselves it is the Advice of the Lord Verulam That no Prince measure the danger of them by This Whether they be Iust or Unjust for that were to imagine People to be too Reasonable Nor yet by This whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in Fact great or small For They are the most Dangerous where the Fear is greater then the Feeling Such were those furious and implacable Iealousies that started the late Warr which doubtless may more properly be accompted among the Dotages of a Disease or the Illusions of a dark Melancholy then the Deliberate Operations of a Sober Reason Proceed we now from the Matter and more remote Causes of Seditions to the Approches and Prognosticks of them CAP. II. The Tokens and Prognostiques of Seditions IT is in many Cases with Bodies Politique as it is with Natural Bodies Both perish by Delaying till the Distemper be grown too strong for the Medicine Whereas by watching over and applying to the first Indispositions of the Patient how easie is the Remedy of a Disease which in one day more perhaps becomes Incurable Some take it for a poynt of Bravery not to own any Danger at a Distance lest they should seem to fear it Others are too short-sighted to discern it So that betwixt the Rash and the Stupid a large Proportion in the Division of the World we are past the help of Physick before we can perswade our selves we need it Dangers sayes the Incomparable Bacon are 〈◊〉 more light if they once seem light and more danger have deceived Men than forced them Nay it werâ— better to meet some Dangers half way though they come nothing near than to keep too long a watch upon their Approches for if a man watch too long it is odds he will fall asleep Neither let any man measure the Quality of the Danger by That of the Offender for again 't is the Matter not the Person that is to be consider'd Treason is contagious and a Raskal may bring the Plague into the City as well as a Great man I do the rather press This Caution because Security was the fault of those to whom I direct it But what avails it to wary of Dangers without the skill and providence to foresee and prevent them Or what hinders us from the fore-knowledge of Those Effects to which we are led by a most evident and certain train of Causes States have their Maladies as well as Persons and Those Ill habits have their peculiar Aecidents and Affections their proper Issues and Prognostiques upon the true Iudgement of which Circumstances depends the Life and Safety of the Publique Not to play the fool with an Allegory Be it our care to observe the Gathering of the Clouds before they are wrought into a Storm Among the Presages of foul weather the Lord St. Albans reckons Libels and Licentious Discourses against the Government when they are frequent and open and in like sort false newes often running up and down and hastily embraced to the disadvantage of the State We need not run beyond our Memories to Agree This Point it being within the Ken of our own Notice that Libells were not only the Forerunners but in a high Degree the Causes of our late Troubles and what were the frequent open and Licentious Discourses of 〈◊〉 in Pulpets but the ill-boding Play of 〈◊〉 before a Tempest We may remember also the false Newes of Plotts against the Religion and Liberâ—ies of the Nation and how the King was charg'd as an Abettor of the Design We may remember likewise how the Irish Bloud was cast upon the accompt of his late Sacred Majesty even by Those men whose guilty Souls are to Reckon with Divine Justice for every Drop of it Neither have we forgotten with what Care and Diligence These Falshoods were dispers'd with what Greedinesse they were swallow'd nor what ensu'd upon it If we look well about us we may finde This Kingdom at this Instant labouring under the same Distempers the â—â—esse as Busie and as Bold Sermons as factious Pamphlets as seditious the Government defam'd and the Defamers of it if Presbyteriane scape better then their Accusers The Lectures of the Faction are throng'd with Pretended Converts and Seandalous Reports against the King and State are as current now as they were twenty years agoe These were ill Tokens Then and do they signifie just nothing Now What means all This but the new Christening of the Old Cause the doing over again of the Prologue to the last Tragedy Sir Francis Bacon proceeds
This Watchfulness to Prevent Mischief any hinderance to the Readinesse of the Nation to Suppresse it The Nobility and Gentry that held by Knights-Service were still to be Ready with Horse and Armes at any Summons and upon pein of Forfeiture to attend the King or his Lieutenant Generall either at Home or Abroad for Forty Dayes at their proper Charge If That were not sufficient the King had the whole Body of the Common People for his Infantry and an unquestionable Right by his Commissions of Array to put the Nation in a Posture from Eighteen to Threescore Beside his Navall Guards to cleere the Seas and watch the Coast And This without any Dispute in those blessed days who should be judg of the Danger As Nothing was here wanting to the Security of the Nation which good Lawes could Contritribute so was there as little wanting to the Felicity of the People in regard of the Constitution of the Government If it be True as Salust sayes that the Desire of Rule is the Cause of Warr Where there 's no place for such Desire there can be consequently no Cause of Quarrell At least there can be no Ambitious Cause the Canker of Great Minds and deadly Enemy of all Politique Settlements This is the Happy case betwixt the King of England and the People Ambition presses forward still and he that 's Uppermost already is above it The Object of it is Conquest not Tyranny and in a Monarch as I have said else-where rather Enlargement of Empire then of Prerogative The People on the Other side They are as much Below it For the Nobility stands betwixt Them and Home and 't is not for a Faction to take Two Stairs at a step So that Their Businesse is but Freedome from Oppression without the least Thought of Dominion Yet Differences break out and Bloudy ones which by a Grosse Mistake we are too subject to assign unto Wrong Causes If ye would know the Right Cui prodest Scelus ille fecit The Gayners by a Publique Ruine are commonly the Contrivers of it and in all Wrangles betwixt the Royall and the Popular Interest we may observe that a Third Party reaps the Fruit of Their Division and seizes the Booty The People only giving in Exchange for the Name of Liberty the Substance of it sinking a Monarchy into an Oligarchy and slipping the Nooze of One Government to be Halter'd in another Were not the Multitude directly Mad they would understand that Their Well-beeing is so Inseparable from the King 's and His from Theirs that the One cannot long survive the Ruines of the Other And that when ever They Divide the Factious part of the Nobility deceives them Both. Therefore why should They either design upon the King or suspect His designing upon Them Touching the Peerage I think we may consider them under this Note of Participation either as Petty Kings or Powerfull Subjects In the One Capacity they may seem Dangerous to the People in the Other to the King If they presume on This hand The Commons are to Assist the King If They bear hard on the Other the King is to help the Commons by virtue of which Mediating mixture of Power in the Nobility as to the People and of Subjection as to the King together with the mutuall Need and Interest of a Fair Understanding betwixt King and Commons All Parties are Secur'd to the utmost possibility of Safety and Satisfaction Yet after all This There may be Danger of an Aristocracy But concerning Government and the severall Formes of it in all their Latitudes and Limitations the Rights and Interests of Kings and the Bounds of Subjects more then enough is said already and the Ball toss'd so long till both the Gamesters and By-standers are sick of the Dispute This Constitution which we have here represented so Eminent both for Defence and Comfort was neverthelesse by a Mean Wretched Faction undermin'd and yet no Age could ever boast greater examples of Love Faith and Duty of Christian Civill or of Military Virtues then were among the Assertours of That Government But all This stresse of Armes and Arguments was not sufficient to uphold the King the Church the Law the Freedome and the Honour of the Nation Their Actings were enough to Cleere the Cause but not to carry it for they Began too Late The Storme was Gather'd and the Shipp of the Publique engag'd among a Thousand Rocks before the Mariners would believe the Danger Accomâ—ting it in Truth too Little to be Consider'd till it was too Great to be Resisted But reserving the more Particular Accompt of the Late Kings Fate for the next Chapter Let us at present look about us where we are yes and Above us too for we have cause of Fear both from Divinity and Reason In This Place now do I expect Observatours in Abundance Here a Marginall Note for Taxing the Government There a for a Scandalum Magnatum And in fine Twenty Peevish Glosses upon my plain and harmlesse Meaning But let no man clap a false Bias upon my Bowle and carry That to the Wall that was Intended to the Hedg Yet let every man take his course I shall not begg so much as a Favourable Construction but readily submit every Syllable and Action of my Life in what concerns my Duty to my Prince and Countrey to the Extremest Rigour Only a Page or Two of good Advice to my Back-friends and I Proceed Good People of what Sort or Quality soever ye are Pray'e do not spare Me if you can do me any mischief but spare your selves if you cannot You that have formerly abus'd Me to the King do so no more For when he comes to find himself Betray'd by your Mis-enformations and Distress'd for want of Those plain honest Offices which so God save me I have ever Meant and Pay'd him with the strict Faith and Reverence of a Subject Will not his Sacred Majesty abhorr you fâ—r it Or if ye are Resolved to Try the utmost force of Power and Calumny upon a Poor and Single Innocent be sure ye be no Advocates for the Kings Murtherers at the same time that ye are of Counsel against his Friends â—he People will suspect you to be of the wrong side else Again since Proofs in Matters of Fact are so Easie and in Poynts of Honour so Necessary Prove what ye say or say Nothing for wherein I am Faultlesse I am a Fool if I cannot clear my self and a Slave if I do not Consider next What if ye crush me May not the Consequence of That Injustice prove Dangerous to your Selves Beside I am not now Now to Learn what 't is to Suffer for my Duty But above all Remember There 's a God that knows your Souls and Mine And at the worst to his Infallible Decision shall I remit my Innocence Now must I arm my self against These Objections Whom does This Sawcy Fellow mean
Governs by his Laws at Home The Apprehension of Conspiracies and Plots in my opinion weighs not much or if there be any danger the failing is rather in the Constitution or Administration then in the want of Power to keep the Peopâ—e quiet Good Lawes and Good Officers will do the Business without an Army and if the Instruments be bad The Hazzard's Ten timeâ— greater with it It will be needful here for the Clearing of the Question to make a Particular Enquiry concerning Seditions and That 's the Point wee 'll handle in the Next Chapter which for Order sake we shall divide into Seaven Sections with their Subdivisions as occasion shall require CAP. IX Of Seditions in Particular and shewing in what maner they arise from These Seaven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative IN the first Chapter of this Tract we have touch'd upon the Matter and Causes of Seditions in General We must be now a little more Particular The Scene 's Utopia and wee 'll Divide it into Seaven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative the least considerable of which being in any great disorder hazzards the whole and That either by engaging in some Actual Violence against the Government or by some Irregularity of Proceeding that may Provoke or Cause it Of These in their Course and first of the Church Sect. 1. Seditions Arising from the CHURCH THose Troubles in the State which derive from Distempers in the Church proceed either from Faction Ignorance or Scandal The Strongest Tie upon Reasonable Nature is Conscience and the Stubbornest Consciences are Those that do they know not What they know not Why. In Truth what is Conscience without Understanding but a well-meaning Madnesse And That 's the Fairest Sense my Charity can Afford to the Blind Zeal of a Transported Multitude If Conscience bids them Kill the King Râ—b the Church and Tear up the Foundations of Both Governments They 'll do it Nay More This has been done and Providence it self Proclaim'd for the Doer of it Great Heed should then be taken what Persons are Entrusted with the Care of Souls since the Consequence of a Factious Preacher and a Mistaken Conscience proves many times the Ruine both of Prince and People Under the Note of Faction I comprize all Opinions delivered Publiquely and with Design against the Doctrine Practice or Authority of the Church Reduce it in Short to Haresie and Schismâ— The former whereof reflecting only upon Matters of Faith concerns rather Religion then Government and lyes beyond the Line of my Purpose but in This Place the Latter is the Question and briefly as we may wee 'll take a view of the Rise the Methode the Design and the Effects of it It is with Church-men as with other Mortals There are of all Sorts Good Bad and Indifferent Some we have known whom neither the Losse of Dignity Fortune Freedome no nor the Losse of Life it self could ever move from the strict Rule of Conscience Magnanimity and Duty Others we have seen to Exercise these Cruelties though Ecclesiastiques themselves upon the Nobler Sort of their own Function And some again we have Observ'd to shift with every Turn and Steer by Interest Still putting on the Livery of the Prevayling Party Squaring the Rule and Will of Heaven to tho Appetites and Passions of Humanity so that upon the whole 't is evident some Clergy-men are Quiet because they have Preferments and Others Troublesome because they want them The Principal Ingredients into Schisme are These Ambition Avarice Popularity and Envy The Scope of it is to destroy Authority and advance a Faction Now how to accomplish This is the great work for a Rent in the Church signifies nothing without a Sedition in the State and in This manner they Proceed First in a Stile of Holy Tendernesse they slily disaffect the People against the Rites of the Church as in themselves unlawful and utterly Destructive of Christian Liberty To strengthen and advance the Imposture what do they next but rip up all the Faylings and shew the Nakednesse of their Superiours still aggravating what they find and Creating Scandalous Matter where they want it When the Multitude are once mov'd in Conscience against the Impositions and in Passion against the Imposers their next attempt is upon the Authority and Then they divide into Separate Assemblies which under colour of so many Conscientious Dissenters from the Ceremonies of the Church are infallibly so many contrivers against the Peace of the Kingdom For here comes in the Civill Power to prohibit their Seditious meetings and Then the Saints they cry are Persecuted The Cause is God's and they are ty'd in Conscience to bind their Kings in Chains and through all Extremities to persue a Reformation This is the Fruit of Tolerating a Faction under a Countenance of Conscience Nor is it any wonder to see Those wretches draw their Swords against Their Sovereign in the Field whose Souls are turn'd against him in the Pulpit But 't is Objected that some Ministers do really make a Conscience of Conformity Truly the better for Them if they forbear upon That Accompt but 't is the same Thing to the Publique upon what-accompt-soever for they Prescribe what they Practise and by the President of Sticking upon a Doubt of Conscience they open a Dore to Disobedience upon any Pretence of it breaking the Bond of Unity in favour of a Particular nicety of Opinion Very Notable is The Determination of the Lord St. Albans in This Case In Points Fundamental he that is not with us is against us In Points not Fundamental he that is not against us is with us Let this suffice to shew the Political Inconvenience of Enterteining Schismatical Preachers It may be now a Question How far a Christian Magistrate may justifie the sufferance of any man to exercise the Ministery within his Dominions that 's a profess'd Enemy to Episcopacy Which I Offer with the fit Modesty of a Proposal and with Reverence to the better-enform'd But if as the Danger of such a Mixture is Evident so the Lawfulness of it shall appear doubtful their own Argument is then turn'd against Themselves and we have both Scripture and Experience on our side over and above The Three Questions wherewith King Charles the Martyr Choak'd the Presbyterian Ministers in the Isle of Wight Remain still Unresolv'd and they are These First Is there any Certain Form of Church-Government at all prescrib'd in the Word Secondly If there be any Prescript Form Whether or no may the Civil Power Change the same as they see Cause Thirdly If any Prescript Form there be and That unchangeable If it were not Episcopal what was it In Fact the Constant Exercise of Church-Prelacy is so manifest that the whole stream of Story and Tradition Runs Episcopal which to Oppose were
Ty'd by evident Reason of State and by Political Equity both as a Wise Prince and as a Pater Patriae a Father of his Country Wherefore away with These Dividing Niceties since neither Prince nor Peapliâ— can be Secure but by Agreement What can a Single Monarch do without the Obedience Love and Service of his People Or what becomes of a Distracted Multitude without a Head to Govern Their Confussions But This in the words of a most Ingenious Person is a Text upon which the Wise part of the world has used in vain to Preach to the Fools Since so it is that the Vulgar will neither be Taught by Experience nor persuaded by Renson we are to take for Granted that some Grievances lead to Seditions almost as Orderly as Natural Causes to their Effects the Multitude ever siding with Interest against Virtue The Liberty of Exporting Native Commodities raw and unwrought and of Importing possibly the same Materials in Manufacture is a Matter of Evill Relish and of Dangerous Consequence So likewise is the Employment of Strangers where the Natives want Work and the advancing of Foreign Trade to the Sterving of it at home Concerning the Other Two Particulars before mentioned the One Relating to the Frame of a City-Government the Other to their Personal Privileges it shall suffice to Note that an Encroachment upon either of them Endangers a Sedition Subsection IV. Poverty THe Last and the most Irresistible incentive to Sedition in a City is Poverty That is a Poverty proceeding from Misgovernment Not but that Want upon what accompt soever is bad enough Whether from Dearth Losses by Fire or Storme Piracies Banquerupts the Ravages of Warr c. Yet Here there 's something in the Fate the Accident or Maner of the Calamity to allay the Anguish of it Men Quarrel not with Providence for ill Seasons nor with the Winds the Waves or Flames because of Wracks or Conflagrations To suffer by Pirates or Banquerupts is but the Chance of Traffique and the Extremities of Warr are Common Injuries But where a Pinching Poverty Seizes a Populous City and from a Cause too that 's within the Reach of Malice or Revenge That State 's concern'd betimes to look to the Disorder The Immediate Cause of This Necessity among the Common sort is want of Work which proceeds from the decay of Trade arising chiefly from a General Scarcity of Mony which may be Imputed to One or more of These Ensuing Reasons First The Insatiate Corruption of Rapacious and Great Officers in whose Coffers as in the Grave Monyes are rather Buried then laid up Nay as in Hell it self I might have said for they are as Bottomlesse and of the Treasure that lies There Condemn'd the Doom's almost as Irreversible 'T is as the Fox Observ'd to the Aegroting Lion Me Vestigia terrent Omnia te Adversum spectantia Nulla Retrorsum I can Trace Many Forward but None Back These Private Hoards cannot chuse but produce a Publique Penury when That Wealth which would suffice to Employ and Relieve Thousands that either Beg for want of Work or Sterve for want of Bread is drawn into so narrow a Compasse And yet in This suppos'd Extremity of Affaires I make a Doubt whether is more Miserable the Needy or the Oppressour Can any Composition more certainly destroy a Nation then a Concurrence of Power Pride Avarice and Injustice in the same Persons But Then again when the Storme comes These are the Ionasses that by the Rabble will be first cast Over-bord to save the Vessâ—ll And This they cannot but forethink and Tremble at at least if ever they get Leisure for a Sober Thought And let them Look which way they Please Backward Forward Round about Upward Downward Inward they are beset with Objects of Terrour and self-affrighted from the Glasse of their own Consciences Behind them they see dreadful Presidents of Corrupt Ministers thrown from their Slippery and ill-menaged State of Greatnesse Torne by their Enemies scarce Pitty'd by their Friends the Mirth of their own Creatures and the meer Mockery of Those that Rays'd them Forward they find Themselves upon a Precipice and in great hazzard to encrease the Number of those sad Presidents If they look Round about them they are Encompass'd with the Cryes of Widows and of Orphans whose Husbands or whose Fathers lost their Lives in the Defence perhaps of their Prince and Country With These are Mingled the Faint Grâ—ans of Sterving Wretches in their Last Agâ—nies whose Modesty chose rather to Die silent then Compleining and to abide the worst Effects oâ— Want rather then tell the more Intolerable Story of it But This to Them is not so much as to perceive Themselves at Bay amids a Snarling Multitude In short Above them there 's an All-seeing Eye an Unchangeable Decree and an Incorruptible Iudg that Over-looks and Threatens Them Below them Hell or rather 't is Within Them an Accusing Conscience If This be their Prospect how Deplorable is their Condition Are not Their Pillows stuff'd with Thornes Or when they Venture at a Nap do they not Dream of Robberies and Seditions Whom or What do they not fear Where is 't they think Themselves Secure Is not Their Table Spread with Snares Does not Every Bribe look like a Bait Every Servant like a Spy Every Strange Face like somewhat that 's worse And what are their Near Friends but either Conscious Partakers or Dangerous and Suspected Witnesses They find Themselves Arraign'd by the Preacher Condemn'd by the Iudg and Strangled by the Executioner For being Guilty of the Crime and Worthy of the Punishment They cannot but Apply the Processe to Themselves and in Imagination bear the Malefactour Company even from the Pulpit to the Gibbet Add to all This the Sting of an Incessant Restlesse Iealousie Not a Look Whisper Hint or Action but they suspect Themselves the Subject of it The Holy Text it self where it Reproves Their Sins Sounds like a Libell to Them Nay were This silly Innocent Description of them but in a Tongue which any man Concern'd could understand some of Their Ears would Tingle at it A General Scarcity of Mony may in the Second Place arise from Taxes and That either Immediately in Respect of the Burthen or Consequentially in respect of the Occasion the Inequality the Maner of Imposing or Levying Them or the Subject Matter it self of the Tax Touching the Burthen and Occasion It Properly belongs to Those in Power to Judg of it as well how much as to what end So in the Rest The People are likewise to Subject Themselves to such Determinations as their Superiours hold Convenient Only in case of an Undue Authority Imposing or some Illegal Course of Levying Taxes there may be some Allowances which to proportion to their Various Instances is neither for This Place nor for my Meaning That Subjects are to Obey Lawful Commands without disputing
Fore-runner of Destruction and the Cause of it but the Loud and Crying Provoker of it Sect. VI. The COUNTRY THat Interest which contributes the Least to a Sedition and suffers the most by it is That of the Country which is properly comprised under Tillage and Pasture For I reckon all Populouâ— Places whether Towns or Villages that subsist by steady Traffique or Handy-crafts to be no other then Dependencies upon the Metropolis which is usually That in Proportion to the Kingdom which the Principal City of every Province is to the Other Parts of it This Interest seldome or never leads a Sedition upon it's own Accompt and when it does engage under Protection possibly of the next strong Hold or in favour of some neighbouring and Seditious Market-Town we do not find much hurt the Country-man does so long as the Sword and Plough are menaged by the same Hand If they forsake their Husbandry and turn Souldiours they fall under another Notion But in short let the Cause be what it will and the event of a Warr what it can They are sure to be undone by 't wherefore They may well be Friends to Peace to whom Warr is so great an Enemy Is there a Warr commenced Their Cariages must waite upon the Army Their Provisions feed them Their Persons attend them yes and Their Contribution Pay Them Their Teams must serve the State Their Wives and Girles the Souldiery They must be Mounting Dragoons when they should be Plowing Lugging their Beanes and Bacon to the Head-Quarter when they should be Sowing and at last scarce a Lame Iade to get in that little Harvest which the wild Troupes have left them Their Cattle are Driven away by one Party to day Their Corn taken by another to Morrow and when they are Throughly Plunder'd because they had something they must afterward expect to be Beaten too because they have Nothing Are not These faire Encouragements to make Husbandmen Seditious And yeâ— This Interest is severall wayes made use of to Promote Sedition Particularly by Three sorts of People The Discontented Nobleman the Rich Churle the Stiff and Contentious Free-born-Subject A Great Person may become Weary of the Court and withdraw into the Country out of divers unquiet Considerations Out of Ambition Pride or Revenge If his Trouble be Ambition his Course is to strengthen himself by Popularity and make a Party by spending his Revenue in a Bountifull and Open Hospitality upon the People which is the most Winning and the most spreading of all Obligations His Iades his Kites his Currs are free to all comers his Family is the whole World and his Companions are the Wits and the best of Good-fellowes If his Retirement be out of Pride as chusing rather to be the first Person in the Country then the Second or Third at Court His businesse is Popularity too though perhaps not Ayming so high for there are a sort of People insufferably haughty in their Looks Garbe and Language that have not Courage enough to be Ambitious This Man 's attended by the best Parasites that are to be had for Mony The Third Distemper is Revenge and That 's the worst of the Three In Ambition there 's somewhat that 's Noble Pride indeed is a Base and Abject Vice that is a Cowardly â— Pride Nay 't is at best but a Simple Sin But Revenge is Black and Diabolical Let it proceed whence it will Whether from some Affront Repulse Neglect Nay a Wry Look or a Mistaken Hint raises this Devill This is a Humour now of another Complexion Morose Unpleasant and rather watchful to Emprove an Opportunity of Mischief then Laborious to prepare it In the House of a Person haunted with â—his Fury you shall find Throngs of Silenc'd Ministers Discharged Officers Crop-eard Schismatiques Broken Citizens c. These are the Dangerous Malecontents whose Differing Inclinations of Temper are no hinderance to their Unity of Design where the Safety of the Prince and Government is the Question Next to This Discontented Nobleman Follows the Rich Churle which is a Creature that opposing Wealth to Dignity becomes the Head of the People for his Saucinesse of bearing up against the â—â—wer and Nobility of the Court It is scarce to be Imagined The Interest of This Chuff in a Popular Scuffle especially if he has gotten his Estate by a Rustical and â—lodding Industry for Then the Vulgar Reckon him as One of their own Rank and support him as the Gracâ— and Dignity of their Order We come now to the Stiff and Contentious Free-born Subject the Queintest and the Sharpest Youth of the Three Hee 'll tell ye to a hair upon what Point Prerogative becomes Tyranny How far a Subject may promote a Rebellion and yet be honest himself and Cleave the very Atome that divides the Rights of King and Subject Does any Minister of State or Iustice passe his Commission but the tenth part of a Scruple he cryes 'T is Arbitrary Illegal and an Encroachment upon the Birth-right of a Free-born Pâ—ople Let him be Question'd and the Matter Scann'd here 's his Dilemma Either by Carrying the Cause he Iustifies and Puffs up the People or by Suffering for it he Enrages them but still Obliging them both wayes the One way as their Champion and the Other as their Martyr Upon the Summe of the Matter That Government must be Carryed very even which These Instruments in Combination shall not be able to discompose Touching the Common Sort it is so little it their Power to Embroyle a Kingdome and so much lesse their Interest to do it that This Little is enough said concerning Them setting aside the Influence they have upon the Subject we are now entring upon Sect. VII The Body Representative THe Seaventh and Last Interest we are to Treat of is the Body Representative which is but One Grand Interest made up of all the Rest and as the Whole stands well or ill-affected to the Government so commonly does That Yet it falls out sometime that the Diligence and Stickling of a Faction gets the Start of a General Inclination It would aske an Age to reckon up all the Inconveniences which may arrive from the Evill Composition of This Assembly but so strict an Accompt will not be Necessary in regard that the Prince may at his Pleasure Remedy all by Dissolving them One great Defect is that in many places they have no Stated Rule how far their Cognisance extends No Measure of their Privileges through which Default more Time is spent and too too oft more Passion Stirr'd about the bounds of Their Authority then the main Businesse of their Meeting Beside the desperate Influence of This Mysterious Incertainty upon the Prince and Publique â—nder which Colour nothing so Seditious but it may both be Introduc'd and Protected Suppose a Motion in the Assembly directly against the Crown The Prince takes Notice of it and demands Reason for it Is 't not a fine Reply that
Who meddles with him He must be Directing the Church and Modelling the State What has he to do with the Government This Sawcy Fellow means Those Worthy Persons that have endeavour'd to make him odious to the King and for no other Reason as in his Name I swear that he imagines but because he is too Honest for Their Interest If there be any such Those are the Men he Means If There be None He has Offended no body His Bolt is Shot and the Exception Vanishes But Then who meddles with Him The Right Honourable the Earl of Anglesyes Chaplain meddles with him The Bishop of Worsters Animadverter meddles with him My Lord BRADSHAW Lord Chiefâ—Iustice of Chester his most obliged most Thankful and most humble Devoted Servant meddles with him He that would have Ravish'd the Ioyners Wife neer the Blew Bore in Oxford meddles with him He that in effect Read Aretine to his School-boyes meddles with him He that Betray'd and would have Ruin'd his Master that both Taught and Fed him meddles with him He that hath written against the Government both of Church and State and commended the Putting of the Late King to Death meddles with him He that thinks himself Free to use any Posture in the Church which he may in his Chamber meddles with him He that wrote the Answer to all that L'S intends to say meddles with him And in fine EDWARD BAGSHAWE St. of Ch. Ch. meddles with him But alas These are a Pittyfull Meddler and below the Honour of a Title to my least Concern There are that do Ill Offices betwixt the Best of Princes and the most Loyall of Subjects And These men Meddle with Mee among the Rest though the unworthiest of Them Further concerning my Directing of the Church and State I have been hitherto only upon the Defensive and I hope it is as lawfull for Me to Assert the Cause as for Others to Oppose it Nor have I stickled more about the Government then belongs to a Private Person If I have discover'd Traytours 't was but my Duty and I had been a Perjur'd Villein if I had done Lesse That They are Winck'd at Protected or Brought off is none of My Fault If I have dealt in Presbyterian Prognostications and represented Dangers such as I thought them First 't was well Meant for I have kept my self within my Bounds I had no Interest in 't and I have got Nothing by it Next 't was not ill Guess'd and they that compare Times will easily Acknowledg it I am come now within a Little of my Purpose and that This formall Preamble may not raise Expectations of a larger Liberty then I think either Safe or Warrantable within These Limits I resolve Strictly to Confine my self That is within the Limits of what I ow to the Office Person and Government of his Sacred Majesty Within the Compasse of my Duty to the Establish'd Law and within the Termes of a befitting Reverence to the Actions and Authority both of the Parliament now sitting and of the Counsell He must be Deaf that does not hear almost a Generall Compleint And Blind too that does not perceive a great part of the Reason of it There is a Party that Designs it should be so wherefore let them be wary how they impute the Malice and Contrivance of a Faction to any Disorder in the Government Their way is first to Disoblige the Nation in the King's Name as far as possible for in the End they are sure that all His Enemies will be Their Friends The Subject wants so does the King They should not want that Serv'd him else There are that doe not But let That Passe Another main Prop of their Interest is that they have got the means of Upholding both in Power and Credit That Party which Oppos'd the King which in the Consequence Reproches and Sterves those that were for him While the Lay-Faction are in this maner upon Modelling the State the Ministers in good time are moving their Scruples in the Church Wherein beside the Amusement that it gives even to Those in Authority the Doubtfulnesse of the Right betwixt Them which it suggests to the People and the Reputation which it gives the Faction when they appear in the Ballance against the Law and the Government there is yet one further Mischief which transcends all These That is it Intimates and Colours to the Multitude the Right of the Last Warr and by Iustifying the Pretenses of That Rebellion subministers the Reason Allowance and Encouragement of Another Let it be observ'd If These People should Strike again to morrow upon the old Score whether they might not safely say that they have been True to their Principles for they have never as yet renounc'd them When by These Artisices herein mention'd they shall have Cast the Body of the People into a deep Disquiet Confirm'd their own Party and either by Forreign Employments or Domestique Injuries and Necessities when they shall have Dissipated Suppressed nay actually Faâ—â—ish'd and totally Extirpat'd the Try'd Servants of the King where they 'll be Next I leave the Reader to Imagine Nor will any man think Me Uncharitable that Considers but their Dayly Actings for the Project is as cleer as the Light Does not every body see what Art and Industry is employ'd to Retard the Settlement of the Kingdome and with what Vigorous Diligence they prosecute the Contrary Nor will they want any thing that is to be had either for Mony or Fair words The One Costs them Nothing and if they can do any thing by the Other they have good Security however the Interest of the Three Kingdomes standing Engag'd for the Repayment of it Marque Me I say IF they can I do not say either that they CAN or DOE To This Damn'd Cunning observe now but the Luck they have How many Persons have I my self Deliver'd up and Discover'd for Publishing This King to be a Tyrant his Father to have been a Traytour and lawfully put to Death for Defending the Covenant c. and all This since the Act of Indemnity These People had the good hap to be fetch'd off and the Discovery render'd more Dangerous then the Treason Of Late there came forth Two Libels bearing the Title of Letters of Animadversion from the same hand The One against the Bishop of Worcester the Other against Mee The Authour of These Libels has the fortune to be Chaplain to a Privy-Counsellour and The Printer has Confessed upon Eâ—amination that he deliver'd Five Hundred Copies of each to â—agshawe's own hand for that 's his Name in the Earl of Anglesyes house His Lord must be suppos'd a Stranger to These Papers for They are Treasonoâ—s and Seditious beside the Forgery in them which alone renders the Contriver fitter for a Pillory then a Pâ—lpit It is further to be Presum'd that his Lordship is not well acquainted with his Character for otherwise he would not
Particular Every single Person has Nine Spies upon him Another means which as I hear is now in Agitation may be the Assurance both of Reward and Pardon to the First Discoverer of a Conspiracy though one of the Complotters and This by Proclamation Sir Francis Bacon ' s advice is that the King either by himself which were the Best or by his Chancellour should make use of the Iudges in their Circuits Charging them at their Going forth according to Occurrences and receiving from them a Particular Accompt at their Return home They would Then sayes he be the best Intelligencers of the True State of the Kingdome and the surest means to prevent or remove all growing Mischieves within the Body of the Realm To These Generall excogitations of Prudence somewhat of more Particular relation to the matter in Question might be admitted as â—â—rst an Expresse Abrenunciation of Their Cause and Covenant They do not Deserve their Lives sure that refuse to confesse their Fault As to the Relief of Distressed Royallists I speak of such as want almost to the Degree of Perishing and there are many such 'T is but time Lost to Hunt for new wayes of Device and Project when every Bush is Beat already If it migh but now seem as Reasonable to allow them the Benefit of Forfeitures made since the Act of Indemnity as it did erewhile seem Convenient to debar them of all Remedy for Injuries suffered before it That might in some Proportion stay their Barking stomacks or at least yield them This spiteful Comfort not to fall Alone But possibly if This Course were Experimented it would afford more then the World Imagines I should End this Chapter here but that before I break off This Discourse I think 't is â—it to give some Reasons why I undertook it First it may serve to Those in Power as a Memorial or Note of certain Particulars which deserve not to be Neglected or Forgotten Next it may serve to instruct the People concerning the true Cause of some Miscariages which Popular and Licentious Ignorance is but too apt to place elsewere for in Truth there are many peevish Circumstances which the Discreet Pause upon and the Vulgar neither like nor understand In the Last Place I reckon my self bound by my Duty to the King and Nation not to conceal what I have here Declar'd And Particularly That Treasons are Encouraged by Impunity The Offenders Countenanced and brought off The Prosecutours Menaced and the most Pestilent Enemies of the last King as good as Protected in their Seditious Practises against This. If This falls into a Good hand good use may be made of it for I doe not speak at Guesse However at the worst Our Cause is the same Our Duty the same and our Affections ought to be the same The Sun is not lesse kind because his Influence may be intercepted by a Fogge which Time will certainly dissolve Nay and perchance Discover over and above that some of Those Blazes which the Common People take for Stars of the first Magnitude are in Effect but Comets Portents of That Mischief which they seldome live to see Accomplish'd But enough of These ungratefull and Seditious Machinatours against Their Prince and their Preserver And so from These Indignities against the Son wee 'll passe to Those Fatalities that made way to the Ruine of the most Pious Patient Mercifull and yet Murther'd Father CAP. XII What it was Principally that Ruin'd King CHARLES the MARTYR TO see an Imperial Prince Unking'd Arraign'd and Beheaded with all Formalities of Law and Iustice by his own Subjects and Those too People of sworn Faith and Holinesse Can any man forbear Demanding For what Prodigious Reasons so horrible an Action was Committed Was it for Religion No Hee Dy'd a Martyr for that Cause which to maintein They Sware they Fought Was it for Tyranny of Government Neither for ere the Warr began he had granted more in Favour of the Subject then all his Ancestours put them together Was it for Cruelty of Nature No nor That I can scarce call to Mind where ever he deny'd his Grace to any man that besought him for it unlesse where Mercy had been a sinne and where his Power was stinted by his Conscience Was it for want of skill to Rule or Courage to Protect his People For That his very Murtherers acknowledg'd him a Prince of singular Abilities and Valour And touching his Morals or Devotions Malice it self could never deny That King to be a Person of a most Regular Piety and restrein'd Appetite How came it then that a Prince Authorized by his Birth Sacred by his Office Guarded by his Laws Religious in his Practice Gracious in his Nature Temperate in his Likings and lastly Accomplish'd in his Person should come to Fall in the Heart of his Dominions before the Gates of his own Palace and by the Hands of his own People But Christ himself was Crucify'd Ambition drives Furiously and in the way to a Crown Those Christian Rubbs of Conscience or Humanity are not so much as Bulrushes In fine That Blessed Martyr's Actions were so Innocent they were fain to Quarrell with his Thoughts and for want of Faults to ruine him by abusing his Virtues This we shall manifest to have been Their Practice But wee 'll first take a short View of their Approches Never since Calvin bound the Head of the Holy Discipline was ever any Monarch Quiet that admitted it 'T is a Specifique Poyson to Monarchy And the Ground it gets is not so much by working upon the Iudgment as upon the Good Nature of Princes It Looks so Sillily and Beggs so Heartily 't is a hard matter to resist so great an earnestnesse accompanyed with so little shew of Danger If They are Repuls'd Good God! they cry That any man should go about to Damne so many Thousand Souls for such a Trifle when 't is come to That once 't is gone too far for such an Exclamation is enough to raise a Tumult King Iames his Answer to Knewstubb upon the Conference at Hampton-Court was as it should be and no Prince ever had a Truer measure of Sir Iohns Foot then himself Knewstubb desir'd to know how far an Ordinance of the Church was binding without offence to Christian Liberty The King turns quick upon him Le Roy s' avisera says he Wee 'll no more of Those Questions How far you are bound to Obey what the â—hurch has once Ordeyn'd Had he dealt otherwise his Majesty had given the Presbyterian the first Hold. At the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth brake forth Those Broyles in Scotland wherein the Lords of the Congregation so was the Faction distinguish'd Deprived the Queen-Regent by the Approbation and Advise of Willock and Knox to whom the Case was Referâ—'d The French assisted the Queen Dâ—wager and the Lords of the Revolt were for some Reasons of State assisted by Queen