Lucifer made men Libertines and Atheists by my Principles Positions and Conclusions and consequently by that means promoted the fundamental Vices of your Empire Faction Sedition and Rebellion c. Have not I obtain'd to that excellent Art of Reasoning which like an Ignis Fatuus leads men into Bogs and Ditches whilest it pretends to give them light My reasonings I say and Positions from which the unwary Sparks draw those Conclusions which are most suitable to their Lusts and Extravagancies whilest to others as bad Buzzards as the former they make a shew of Tendency to the highest perfection of Nature and most sublime Morality Have not I the most admirable way of slurring an Argument of any mortal man Could any body so dexterously tack about with Times and Persons as I have done both in my Words Writings and Actions applying those things in my Defence against Bishop Bramhall as if respecting the King in Banishment when as your Lucifership full well knows that I designed them by way of complement to Your Vicegerent Oliver then upon his Throne Lastly Most Mighty Lucifer you know that after your Forces were routed in Heaven that the greatest Stratagem of yours that ever took effect upon Earth was the corrupting Humane Nature when it was in its Innocency and therefore do but consider in imitation of your Great Self to what a condition I have endeavoured to reduce mankind even now they are under the Covenant of Grace by that sublime speculation of mine In the state of Nature there is no difference betwéen Good and Evil Right and Wrong the state of Nature is a state of War in which every man hath a right to all things For from this fundamental Point in despight of all the Rules of the Gospel I have drawn most powerful Topicks of Violence Treason and Rebellion Lucifer seem'd extraordinary well pleas'd with him insomuch that he was ready to pronounce him Prince of all the Politicians and the Garland was order'd to be brought for him but Father Parsons stepping out called to him the Author of Plato Redivivus telling him that old Hobbs for all his Boots had been too nimble for him and that if he did not make haste he would lose what of Right did belong to him and what through their Interest they might procure for him He made what haste he could but when he came there was no need of speaking himself for after they had prevail'd with Lucifer to suspend his determination they told him that they had brought before him a Politician that was as much more deserving than Hobbs or any Philosopher of them all as the practical part of Politicks is above the speculative 'T is true said they Hobbs ' s Principles may gain some few proselytes but they signifie no more to the Rabble than if he had complemented them with Euclid ' s Elements but this Gentleman has been pleas'd to condescend to furnish their weakest capacities with Arguments for Rebellion to encrease their Fears and Jealousies to inflame their most brutish Zeal and to fit them in whole shoals for Hell and Damnation Your Mighty Darkness ought likewise to consider that an Anarchy is far more destructive to mankind than any Tyranny in one single Person whatever as witness the late Civil Wars in England wherein you gain'd almost as much as you lost in the Ten Persecutions And Lastly We do assure you that we your most faithful Friends and Privy Counsellors have furnish'd him with all those Rules and Instructions which are the most direct and ready way to revive the good Old Cause Lucifer was in so great suspence that he spoke not a word of a long time for indeed he knew not how to determine the Controversie between them Which both parties observing began to be so clamorous that he called to Bradshaw who had heard the whole matter and desiring him to sit Vice-President in his place he privately sneak'd away They were all so extreamly well pleas'd with their New President that there was a profound silence at the very first sight of him knowing him to be one that had far out-done the Devil and indeed the very first glance of his eye gave them general satisfaction For rising up with a Politick smile It is not the first time said he Men Brethren and Fathers that I have oblig'd and pleasur'd-you all It is not the first time that you have all stood to my final Judgment and therefore I do not question but you will as readily agree to my present determination The difficulties that are arisen here amongst us are about the pretensions that are made by several persons to the Hell-grave of Policy and you are not yet satisfied who most of all deserve to be the Head and Principal of our famous Society I must confess that both Mr. Hobbs and his Antagonist have made very fair but not full claims to this high Dignity I confess that there are many considerable Friends on both sides but as I will not extremely disoblige so neither can I satisfie either of them in this point For according to the merit of the Cause and the usual rule of ending Controversies of this nature I must dispose of it to a third Person And I do not question but that even the Principals in this difference will be the most ready to confer this honour upon him when they shall have seen him and heard the reasons I shall move in his behalf Every one was wondring and impatient to know who this remarkable Politician should be when to their amazement Mr. Baxter came creeping in leaning upon a Staff out of breath and with so ghastly a Visage that the most mortified Hermit in the World lookt like a Glutton to him with a faint and low voice Peace Brethren peace said he I have often laboured for peace Why are you at Variance amongst your selves Why are these Differences among you Oh that ye would lay aside this pride this contention Oh this selfishness this selfishness Oh this pride this selfconceit Oh my Brethren if you would but watch your thoughts you would not be so fierce in your words and actions I say watch your thoughts 1. Watch them that come in 2. Watch them that go out First Watch them that come in Therefore when you find thoughts arising one after another in your hearts call them all to an account keeping a Sentinel at the door of your heart saying Who art thou for If thou art for Christ give me the Word thou shall freely pass If thou art not for Christ and hast not his Word stand If thou come up one step further I 'le fire at thee Thus if you keep down and suppress these Rebellious thoughts this selfishness this pride this contention will not be found among you but oh I am faint faint worn out in the Vineyard of the Lord and so my Brethren farewel I could not sorbear smiling at this his slie Jargoon and Seignior Chr. turning to me said did you hear This
Evidence in a Controversie betwixt a Turk and a Christian And that most of the Assembly of Divines came from the Vniversities of Aleppo or Scanderoon for Mr. Ricaut tells us that the success of the Mahometan Arms produces an Argument for the Confirmation of their Faith that whatsoever prospers has God the Author for it and by how much the more successfull have been their Wars by so much the more hath God been an owner of their Cause Now do but examine the tenth proposition condemned at Oxford 1683. Possession and strength give a right to govern and success in a Cause or Enterprise proclaims it to be lawful and just to pursue it is to comply with the will of God because it is to follow the Conduct of his Providence This is the Doctrine of Owen Baxter and Jenkins and of all the great sticklers for the good Did Cause but I think the Laws of England and the Arms of Germany and Poland have almost put it out of fashion But moreover they do so fully agree in their Sanguinary positions and Violent Practices that our Saints Militant propagate the Faith of the Gospel by the Doctrine of the Alcoran and are therefore the worst of all Christians by thus sympathising with Turks To qualifie a man to be a true Christian according to the Peace as well as the Purity of the Gospel We will take Grotius his Word and Rule for once in his Book de veritate Christianae Religionis page 400. His words are these Revocatur etiam eâdem Occasione ipsis in memoriam arma Christi Militibus assignata non esse qualibus Mahumetes nititur sed Spiritûs propria apta expugnandis Munitionibus quae se adversus Dei cognitionem erigunt pro scuto siduciam pro Lorica Justitiam c. They call to mind upon the same occasion that the Arms assigned to the Souldiers of Christ are not such as support Mahomet but such as properly belong to the Spirit being fitted to the pulling down of strong Holds that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God for a Shield Faith and for a Breast-plate Righteousness of Life On the contrary Sir said I the way of Catechising mankind with Ammunition and sanctifying the Nations with Powder and Shot is the avowed doctrine and practice of the Dissenters and to joyn with Turks rather than with Papists for such they call the men of the Church of England does not come by any new way of inspiration into the Pericranions of the Saints for Cartwright popt that notion into their heads long ago as Mr. * Novemb. 5. 1683. Pelling observes in his excellent Sermon preached before my Lord Mayor at Bow But shall they have the rewards of Saints shall they receive the Crown of Righteousness that wish siccess to the Arms of Infidels Oh Heavens to what an height of wickedness are they now arrived They who had need of a Turkish Veil to hide their Hypocrisie have now more need of one to hide their Villany if they had any Shame for that for which an Atheist would blush and yet they call themselves the Reform'd Christians What mortal Tongue can tell the sad consequences of the taking the Imperial City What Crowds of innocent people would have been massacred What abominable rapes committed What terrours and desolations would those Ravaging Barbarians have carried along with them like a flood What Rivers of Blood would they have sent before to the very German Ocean My very Heart trembles at the thoughts that any such imaginations should ever enter into their O Sir replyed He I perceive you are a Novice too in these Cases let me propose one thing to you What do you think of those persons that would have sacrific'd the Garrison of Tangier to the Fury of the Moors rather than have missed of their designs in England Considering indeed how much the wellfare of Christendom depended upon the protection of Vienna it was a diabolical thought to wish it in the hands of the Turks but considering withal how much the Reputation of England depended upon the preservation of the Garrison and People of Tangier it was no less dishonourable no less unchristian-like to abandon them to the Moors Pray Sir who did so said I They said he who refused to comply with his Majesties just demands when he so earnestly and so frequently mov'd them for Supplies for that Garrison at that time so much in danger Now let us weigh the Case the first was the Result of the flashy Politicks of the Zealous of the Land over a Pipe and a Pot in a Tavern or an Ale house but the latter was the deliberate determination of those who in particular stiled themselves the Patriots of their Country and were the most active of all the great Council of the Nation assembled in Parliament 't is true they were not many of them but they had got such a trick of starting Bugbears at that time that the Loyal the Wise and the Honest knew not which way to turn themselves You know said I that the Nation was then in great danger of the Papists at home But reply'd He the Spanish Pilgrims that so affrighted us it seems were driven out of Spain to the Coasts of Barbary and not visible in these parts Sir said I again was it not reported to be a Nest and Harbour for Papists They said He that can make a Turk a true Protestant can by inverting the Rule make a Church of England man a Papist when they please No no Sir they knew as well they were no Papists as that they themselves were no Christians if they be none who designed the Ruine of so good a King and of so Righteous a Government and had not his Majesty whose Goodness extends it self to all his Subjects as far as the Sun shines when He had more need of their Help at home taken care to preserve them at his own excessive Cost and Charges they must have been all lost But for a further touch of the piety of our true Protestant Numidians and to determine the point Consider that our own Countrymen are dearer to us by the Laws of Nature and Nations than Foreigners and consider that the Moors are the worst sort of Mahometans the very spawn of Incestuous Saracens and the most barbarous Mongrels of all mankind and therefore show me now if you can in the Histories of all the Commonwealths that have been since the world began such an Instance of unnatural Barbarity When did the Athenians Lacedemonians Romans or Carthaginians ever do the like how many emblems of Honour and Reward do we meet with in ancient Coins ob Cives servatos for the saving the lives of fellow Citizens sed haecest fides Punica this is treachery with a vengeance and not to be parallel'd by any but those Rebels who after they had destroyed their King and Master put the Moors to less trouble and sold their fellow Subjects to them for Slaves Well delenda est Carthago if
disconsolate but as soon as they saw him they cry'd Welcome thou Man of God! Yea very welcome art thou unto us How hast thou been preserved in these dayes of tribulation Indeed said he the persecution waxeth hot against the people of the Lord the great Dragon is broken loose with his long tail and vomits out whole floods of Popish Holy-water after the Woman in travail the hunting Nimrods pursue us the Folds are broken down and the Sheep are scattered I am come therefore to refresh ye O ye scattered Flocks and since ye cannot hear the Gospel pray read it in these godly Bukes Here likewise take these holy things here is S. Russel ' s Picture and a Sliver of the Deal Board spotted with his Blood shed for the Good Old Cause Here is likewise the Picture of S. Sydney with an Inch of his Cane and here are the works of Mr. Baxter and Mr. Doolittle with their Effigies These are excellent Antidotes against the Powers of Popery and the Charms of Antichrist Oh ye pretty little Lambs that cry Meigh Meigh with earnest longings and groanings Here is Milk for Babes and Meats for Strong Men in four and twenty Sermons when ye have digested these the Man of Sin will never be able to prevail over the Babe of Grace In exchange for this Trash they privately crowded three or four Guinea's into his hand which he meekly took with his leave at the same time But one of them was so overwhelmed with grief and trouble for his going away that her sighs interrupted her speech for a long time at last a few broken sentences burst out and she cryed Oh how the Vision ceaseth and the Prophets prophesie not In the midst of this great Agony a Bramble-Bush chanc'd to catch hold on a deep Lace on her Petticoat and made a great Rent in it Good God! what an alteration was there in a moment She fell a scolding and railing at her Maid that followed waiting upon her as if she had been bewitch'd calling her all the ugly Names her fury could suggest as if by her carelesness she had been the cause of it when again spying us and fearing that we over-heard her she as artificially chang'd her Note Thou simple Wench thou dundernoles quoth she somewhat more softly and with a smile Canst thou not find the Chapter Fie Mary fie here take the Bible again look the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews and at the Thirty Seventh Verse there thou shalt find an account of our sufferings At this a little Old Man that stood behind her burst out a laughing and looking on me Don't this place of Scripture said he daintily suit their present Garb and Conditions Don't these look as if they wandered about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins You may soon imagine how much they are destitute afflicted or tormented These are the genteelest mourners in Zion that ever I met with all of them in the newest fashion I believe truly these Martyrs are more troubled about their Taylors than about their Executioners Well I little thought to find the women of England dissatisfied of all others in the world I am sure their freedoms and priviledges are so extraordinarily great that were there a Bridge from Calais to Dover we should have them scamper hither in throngs from all parts of Europe and had the last great Frost but lasted so long and sharp as to have laid all the Waters betwixt those two places they would have scrambled over in shoals though they had sopt their Constitutions to some purpose Sir said I to him if you fully understood the Humours of some of the people of this Nation and the happiness they enjoy you would say that the men have as little reason to be turbulent and mutinous as the women to be Peevish and Discontented They have less reason to be so said he than any people under the Heavens I think I have seen most of the Nations of Europe and when I consider the singular advantages of peace and plenty which you here enjoy it infinitely aggravates the base Ingratitude of a stubborn and factious Generation of men among you that endeavour to subvert so excellent a Government and to disturb the peace of so noble ond flourishing a Kingdom To deal freely with you I am a Jew by Birth I was born at Lublin in Poland but by the grace of God I am now a Christian and I confess to you that the happy condition of the Christians of the Reformed Church of England is a sufficient Argument fully to confirm me in my Conversion For besides the removal of those prejudices which the Church of Rome gives us by their Pictures and Images I find the People of England far to exceed the Ancient Israelites in all Temporal Blessings even in the most prosperous Times wherein they possest the Land of Canaan First In the Situation For besides the old Inhabitants of the Land that were left to be * Judg. 2. v. 3. thorns in their sides they were encompassed with Enemies round about besides the Philistines they had the Assyrians the Aegyptians the Aromites the Edomites the Moabites and Amorites nay the Tribe of Asher that bordered along the Sea Coasts were never Masters of Sidon But they were governed by their own Magistrates as was Tyre till taken by Alexander or rifled by Nebuchadnezzar to no purpose sometimes before But you have the Seas not only open unto you for traffick but around about you for a Guard and Defence and I look that the Union of the Kingdom of Scotland to England might prove as great a Blessing to Great Britain as the separation and revolt of the Ten Tribes was a Curse and Calamity to the whole Body of the Israelites in General 'T is true Boccalin tells us That in his Time when England was in the Scales that it weighed some hundreds of thousands of grains less after Scotland was added to it than it did before But you know what Devil it was that plaied that paradoxical Gambol it was the frothy Spirit of Light headed Fanaticism which is in such a fair way to be Conjur'd down or Blow'n off that it will prove heavy enough to some body over the Water one of these daies If I be not mistaken In the mean time well might one speaking of the Bloody designs of the Jesuits Nov. 5th say of Great Britain * Barclai de Conj Ang. Non videbatur posse Tentari fundamentum tam bene vallati Imperii That it did not seem possible that the foundation of an Empire so well intrencht could ever be shaken But England exceeds the Land of Canaan Secondly In all manner of plenty though it does not feed such vast numbers of people for the small Circuit of Ground yet her Valleys are like Eden her Hills like Lebanon her Springs like Pisgah a Land which not only injoys those Blessings in the fullest extent which God promised to the most exact Obedience of the Israelites But by its successful
old Fellow sayes He is worn out in the Vineyard of the Lord when as he has been sowing the Tares of Sedition and Heresie for above forty Years in the Field of the Church He will certainly carry the Garland for both Hobbs and Nevil do despair and stand staring like two Scotch Runts that have all to bedighted the Fair but let us hear what the President is going to say At this Bradshaw stood up and with a Countenance very compos'd and grave said Gentlemen we do adjudge pronounce and declare this man whose very looks bespeak him what his words and actions aloud proclaim him to be the greatest of all Politicians for these following Reasons First Without the Help of his Politicks all ours had been insignificant and in Vain that good old Cause You value your self so much upon had never been brought to perfection had not he mightily assisted us You might as well have attempted to whistle the Moon under your Hats as to have laid the Head of the King upon the Block under the Axe of the Executioner had not he the Preacher first sentenc't him from the Pulpit 't was the Magick of his voice that raised whole Legions of Reforming Zealots and preacht them into Rank and File against their Sovereign 't was He snivel'd the Rabble to the Devil in such mighty Shoals as they crowded the High-wayes to Hell for several years together This you Jesuits do so well know that you venture drawing hanging and quartering for the sake of preaching in Seditious and Schismatical Conventicles in his shape and after his way and therefore what signifies any other mans Writings either Hobbs or Nevils when in competition with him who has out-preacht outwrit outdone out-reform'd you all Secondly He is most worthily to be accounted the chief Politician upon the account of that singular and unparallelled Spirit of Contradiction which is in him in a double portion and in a double sense And therefore when His Serene Darkness Lucifer askt me with what Confidence I could bring King Charles before his own Bar of Kings Bench when the very form of the Writ runs Coram nobis ubicunque in his own name and Authority My Answer was That I brought the King before himself by the same Rule that Richard is against Baxter Thirdly We must and do acknowledge him to be the most extraordinary Politician in the world for he has not only deceiv'd many thousands of people but he has cheated himself more than any body else For first He thinks himself very Humble when he is so very proud that he is Proud of his Humility a sort of pride which Lucifer never dreamt of Secondly He thinks himself very meek and merciful when as he is really more bloody and cruel than any Tyrant he can either fear or describe witness his many sanguinary and virulent Sermons he has preach't witness his behaviour to one Major Jenning in the late Wars in a Battle fought in the County of Salop between Lynsel and Longford where the Kings Party being unfortunately routed the poor Major was stript almost naked and left for dead but He with one Lieutenant Hurdman taking a walk among the wounded and dead Bodies and observing some life in the Major Hurdman run him through the Body in cold blood Baxter all the while looking on and taking off with his own hand the Kings Picture from about his neck telling him that He was a Popish Rogue and that was his Crucisix and kept it some years after Thirdly He thinks him very wise fit to direct rule and govern all mankind whenas he mistakes that to be the Spirit of wisdom in his heart which is nothing else but the whisperings of that Eating and Cancrous Wolf that has possest the nape of his neck Lastly If He whose Faith is Faction whose Religion is Rebellion whose Prayers are Spells whose Piety is Magick whose Purity is the gall of Bitterness who can cant and recant and cant again who can transform himself into as many shapes as Lucifer who is never more a Devil than when an Angel of Light and like him who proud of his perfections first rebell'd in Heaven Proud of his Imaginary graces pretend to rule and govern and consequently rebel on Earth be the greatest Politician Then make room for Mr. Baxter let him come in and be Crown'd with wreaths of Serpents and Chaplets of Adders let his Triumphant Chariot be a Pulpit drawn on the wheels of Cannon by a Brace of Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing Let the Ancient Fathers of the Church whom out of Ignorance he has vilified the Reverend and Learned Prelates whom out of Pride and Malice he has abused belyed and persecuted the most Righteous King whose Murder I speak my own and his sense contrary to the light of all Religion Laws Reason and Conscience He has justified then denied then again and again justified Let them all be bound in Chains to attend his Infernal Triumph to his Saints everlasting Rest Then make room Scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites Atheists and Politicians for the greatest Rebel on Earth and next to him that fell from Heaven After this the Court arose every one even the two Antagonists going away very well satisfied Seignior Chr. and I were left alone and had a fair opportunity to reflect upon what we had heard The first thing that came into my head was the last part of Bradshaw's determination wherein he compar'd the Motives and Grounds of Baxter ' s Rebellious Politicks with Lucifers For my part said I in his Preface to his Holy Commonwealth He seems to deny that Position That Dominion is founded in Grace and proves that Godliness is not Authority And that the Saints are not the rightful Rulers of the World And many people that read that Book would think that he wrote it with a great deal of Zeal and Piety for the promotion of Gods glory and the improvement of all virtues He condemns both Trranny and Democracy shews a bloody Tyrant in his proper Colours peppers the Rabble with whole Vollies of stinging Epithetes is very earnest for the Reign of Christ the dignity of Saints and the Reformation of the World He seems not so much concern'd for any particular sort of Government as that we may be secured in the Main and yet judges a Mixt Monarchy the best He layes open the Contrivances of the Jesuits exposes the Papal Vsurpations over the Civil Magistrate has garnisht his Book all over with Quotations from good Authors and confirm'd his Propositions with numberless authorities from Scripture From Scripture reply'd Seignior Christiano smiling Did you never read that Satan is transform'd into an Angel 2 Cor. 11. 14 15. of Light and therefore 't is no marvel if his Ministers also be transform'd as the Ministers of Righteousness And Vincentius Lirinensis tells us Nullam esse ad fallendum faciliorem viam quam ut ubi nefarii erroris subinducitur fraudulentia ibi divinorum verborum praetendatur Autoritas And Bishop
THE VISIONS OF Government WHEREIN The Antimonarchical Principles and Practices of all Fanatical Commonwealths-men and Jesuitical Politicians are discovered confuted and exposed By EDWARD PETTIT M. A. and Author of the Visions of Purgatory and Thorough Reformations Morosophi Moriones pessimi LONDON Printed by B. W. for Edward Vize at the Sign of the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill M DC LXXXIV TO THE High Potent and Noble PRINCE JAMES Duke Marquess and Earl of ORMOND in ENGLAND and IRELAND Earl of Ossery and Brecknock Viscount Thurles Baron of Arclo and Lanthony Lord Licutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland Lord of the Regalities and Liberties of the County of Tipperary Lord Chancellour of the famous Vniversities of Oxford and Dublin Lord High Steward of His Majesties Houshold One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council in England Scotland and Ireland and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the GARTER May it it please Your Grace I Humbly presume to take this opportunity of congratulating the late Deliverance of your Grace's Noble Son his Excellency the Earl of Arran under whose Care and Conduct the flourishing Kingdom of Ireland injoyces both Peace and Plenty at this day and I hope Your Grace will be pleas'd to accept of these honest labours of my Pen in defence of that Monarchy which you have so long assisted with your Counsels so often vindicated with Your Sword My Lord There never was a wiser Government never a more Gracious Sovereign never a more faithful Subject than Your self All your Princely Vertues will make Your Grace an Illustrious Pattern to the Ages to come who cannot be parallel'd by any that are past He that compar'd Your Grace to Barzillai did it because among all David's Worthies there was none that for Greatness Fidelity and long Experience might compare with You and yet You as far exceed his recorded Merits as the Irish Seas do the little River of Jordan May the ever-living God make Your Grace as far excel him in length of daies by adding to Your Illustrious Life those which in his Divine Wisdom he has been pleas'd to take from Your Right Honourable Father and from Your Noble Son the late Earl of Ossery and thus make up to us our loss here upon Earth and Yours with a late but glorious Immortality with them in Heaven This is the hearty Prayer of all that Fear God and Honour the King and in particular of Your Grace's most humble and obedient Servant EDWARD PETTIT THE CONTENTS VISION I. THe Introduction The Ghost of S. Jerom a Native of Hungary after a relation of the present State of that Kingdom condemns their Rebellion from the Doctrine and practice of the Christians of his time The Grand Confederacy against Christian Religion and Government discovered in a Dialogue betwixt the Ghosts of the late Vizier Cuperlee a General of the Jesuits and the Earl of Shaftsbury The reason why the Fanaticks of England lament the defeat of the Turks A parallel in some new Remarques betwixt them Whether was the more Unchristian to wish the success of the Turkish Arms before Vienna or of the Moors before Tangier The impious and foolish conceit of preventing Arbitrary Government under the Protection of the Grand Seignior p. 1 VISION II. THe miserable state of the Christians under the Turks the happy condition of the people of England Good Government the reason of it The Malecontens described and exposed The Argument that converted and confirmed a Jew in the Christian Faith He confutes and condemns the Fanaticks for their Rebellious Murmurings and Practices He proves Monarchy to be of Divine Institution and the best of Governments The Monarchy of England the best in the World The design of Hobbs's Leviathan and of Nevil's Plato Redivivus they are both in the extremes and both exploded The Ghosts of Hobbs Machiavel and some other modern Politicians quarrel about Preheminence Lucifer not able to decide the Controversie referrs it to Bradshaw He determines for Richard Baxter upon the account of that Maxim that Dominion is founded in Grace The Folly of it discovered in his Book intituled A Holy Commonwealth and the Villany of it in the Practices of the late Commonwealth of England p. 45 VISION III. THe monstrous Loyalty of the Fanaticks Their several Ridiculous Policies the growth and design of the late Hellish Conspiracy The two fundamental Principles of the Good Old Cause First That All Civil Authority is deriv'd Originally from the People The extreme villany and folly of this Proposition throughly examined and by a Civiliz'd Cannibal condemn'd The Second That Birthright and Proximity of Blood give no Title to Rule or Government and that It is lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession to the Crown The great impiety and folly of this Proposition fully discovered and condemned by an Indian of New England The Authors and Abetters of them both exposed The great Wisdom and Goodness of our present Gracious Sovereign in securing to this Monarchy the right and lineal descent of the Crown p. 147 VISION IV. THe wicked Policy of raising a mean or evil opinion of the Sovereign in the minds of the Subjects The trivial and unreasonable occasions of such an opinion a pleasant instance thereof in the Case of the Salique Law it is condemned by an Hermaphrodite Better that the Sovereignty should be in one Woman than in five hundred men The Sovereignty of England in a single Person The Heresie of the Whiggish Lawyers Those that 〈◊〉 of the Antiquity of Parliamentes and those that vilifie them are Commonwealths men and enemies both of King and Parliament The Characters of several Commonwealths-men good advice to them A Panegyrick upon the King the Duke the Royal Family and all the True-hearted Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonalty of this Realm an hearty Prayer for them p. 217 Books Printed for and are to be sold by Edward Vize at the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill A Discourse of Prayer Wherein this great Duty is stated so as to oppose some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks as they are contrary to the Publick Forms of the Church of England established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by Acts of Parliament A Discourse concerning the Tryal of Spirits Wherein Inquity is made into Mens Pretences to Inspiration for publishing Doctrines in the Name of God beyond the Rules of the Sacred Scriptures In opposition to some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks as they contradict the Doctrines of the Church of England defined in her Articles of Religion established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by Acts of Parliament A Spittle Sermon Preach'd In Saint Brides Parish Church on Wednesday in Easter Week being the Second Day of April 1684. Before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor the Court of Aldermen and the Sheriffs of the now Protestant and Loyal City of London These three
in process of time will be styled by the Godly of the Land The calling in of the Brethren By my troth a good Dose of Opium a la mode de Turcoise would do well to lay their Politick Noddles asleep But Sir by this your Anatomy of the Saints we ought rather to pity them for their Disease than condemn them for their Sin for if this be the cause of their Phrensies they cannot help them They may and ought replyed he 't is true it has more of the nature of the Devil in it than any other Humour of the body but then consequently 't is more odious to the mind and cannot so soon soften us into a compliance with it as Love or other Passions of that nature But if a man will run into the Temptation he deserves to be punish'd for the Sin He that goes into a Conventicle takes as direct a course to be a Craytor in the sense of S. Peter as he that goes into the Stews to be a Whoremonger in the sense of S. Paul And I do not find that S. Chrysostom condemns any thing more than the very Curiosity of those Christians in his Time that went to the Synagogues of the Jews Truly Sir said I I perceive a man had need have a care how he goes into a Scotch Kirk for he is in a very fair way to a Turkish Mosch Indeed replyed he their Cupolas ' do now and then put me in mind of a Blue Bonnet and now it comes into my head I have observed so many Customs Principles and Practices which are common both to Turks and True Protestants that methinks they all ought to wear Turbants A good way said I to prevent Popish Corner'd Caps Pray Sir said he don 't interrupt me I tell you seriously that the design of Servetus that great Impostor and Heretick of reconciling the Turkish Alcoran to the Christian Religion as he calls it had something more than bare Whimsey and unpracticable Speculation O Lord Sir said I how can that be What fellowship hath Christ with Belial said the Apostle and I may say What Fellowship hath Christ with Mahomet You may as well perswade me that the Loadstone that draws up Mahomets Tomb was a piece of Christs Sepulchre but let us know what the Blasphemous fool would be at He says reply'd my friend 't is easily done 't is but saith he taking away the Article of the Trinity and these two being joyned together a great hindrance would be removed and that the asserting that Article had ingaged to madness whole Provinces I believe then Sir said I that Marvel by his Mischiefs of Creeds and Impositions meant this Madness of whole Provinces That Merry Andrew of Hull made a fair way for his project by vilifying the Athanasian Creed and calling that glorious Champion of the Truth Satanasius which Creed of his you know was composed to distinguish betwixt the Orthodox and the Arian and to confound those Blasphemies from which Mahomet drew his infernal doctrines But Sir said I this is but one man Oh Sir said He those whom He and others call the Sober trading part of the Nation all the impious Heretical and Blasphemous Schismaticks that abuse the Sacred Orders of the Church and vilifie the Sacraments are no small friends of Mahomets The Sober said I What! Because Mahomet forbad the drinking of Wine Why replyed He do you think that the only reason why Mahomet forbad the drinking of Wine was to prevent the evil Consequences of excess and intemperance So 't is said reply'd I Do you think said He that the Devil was such a dull Politician as to discountenance a vice so pernicious to mankind had he not had a design at the bottom of it of more fatal consequence to them Well! I 'll tell you what just now comes into my head I believe that Mahomet was so well acquainted with the frame of the Christian Religion and with the nature of those duties required of us and of the Sacraments enjoyn'd us that he concluded it impossible to overthrow the Christian Faith and make way for his doctrines unless he could abolish the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Now by prohibiting the tast of Wine to his Disciples and Followers that Sacrament according to Christs institution must consequently be neglected or forgotten And now what think you of those who never will receive or of those stupefied Rascals that have abused it with Asymbolical Liquors with Liquors not Symbolical and yet all this while come in for a share with our True Protestants I have often wondred said I at the great progress of so ridiculous and absurd a Religion as Turcism but when I consider the fatal Phrensies of several Hereticks disposing them before hand for it I rest satisfied However 't is no wonder that the Trading part of them should side with Mahomet for they cannot but admire him for leaving his Merchandising to go a Preaching and Fighting What Trades are they of pray said He. Why Sir said I I have heard of Fishmongers Ironmongers and Whoremongers I will not reflect said He upon any mans Calling there are a great many honest men of all Trades excepting of the last if that be one but of the Factious this must be said that without any great stretching of a Metaphor they may e'en turn Musselmen I believe that of the 72 Sects among the Turks there is scarce any one we could not parallel among the True Protestants What is a Silent meeting of Quakers but an Herd of Enthusiastick Mutes And they will no more pull off their Hats than a Turk his Turbant and would sooner chose to call their Congregation together with the noise of a Cryer than with the sound of a Bell. The Turkish Marriages are perform'd by a Caddee or Civil Judge as the Fanaticks by a Justice of the Peace in the late Times How deliciously would our Anabaptists soak and dabble in their Bagnio's And in the doctrine of Fatality they do so jump with our Presbyterians that one would think that the Turks fought under Calvins long Beard instead of a white Horse's Tail Fleaing alive is a Turkish Cruelty threatned by our meek-hearted and such an Assassin as Rumbold would make a true Saracens Head with one eye It was a strange thing and worthy our observation that in the same year wherein our True Protestants put King Charles the First to death that their Brethren of the Thracian Bosphorus should slay Ibrahim the Second their Grand Seignior and still more strange that the Jesuite should so be-devil the uttermost parts of the Earth as about that Time to bring in the holy Tartars to assist those Rebels of China who drove their Emperour Zunchinius to those extremities as to hang himself But to go on one would think that the Foreman of the late infamous Ignoramus Jury had learnt his Art of the most Malicious sort of Turks when amongst them for they hold it meritorious to be perjur'd or bring in a false
those Patriots aforesaid who are gone in Pilgrimage for the sake of the good old Cause to the Kings Bench in Southwark instead of going over the Thames were to cross the Seas and had as many men as that Town would hold with nothing but a single Wall for their defence and that Charity of theirs aforesaid they would soon know what it is to nuzzle with the Monsters of Africa and the Serpents of the Desarts would hiss at them for a Generation of Vipers Pious Patriots truly said I but pray tell me in short what are the pretended Reasons for such exorbitant Wishes and Resolutions To prevent replied He Popery and Arbitrary Government and that they might obtain Liberty of Conscience It seems Sir said I that they are mightily taken with that Liberty of Conscience which they hear is granted to Christians of all sorts over all the Turkish Dominions and since you have been a witness of it 'Pray give me an account of it Mr. Paul Ricaut replied he tells you Page 188. Histor of the Present State of the Ottoman Empire That Mahomet granted Toleration but it was before his Religion was fully established by the Sword and to comply with the Heretical Christians of his Time who favoured any Innovations against the Catholick Faith But in some places of his Alcoran he is of another mind and gives his Musselmen Instructions to destroy them utterly hip and thigh root and branch So that his Toleration is just like the late Presbyterians and only giving quarter to a man in the heat of the Battel with an intent to cut his Throat in cold Blood and the Mahometans now tolerate Christian Churches but if they happen to be ruin'd by fire or any other accident they dare not rebuild them as in the fire at Constantinople 1660. wherein many Christian Churches and Chappels were ruin'd and when almost rebuilt by the piety of the Christians were commanded to be thrown down by the Turks as contrary to their Law Now since they dare not meet in any other places Christianity must necessarily wear out with the Walls of their Churches which they dare not so much as repair and indeed considering the ignorance of the Greeks and Arabians the conservation of the Christian Faith is to be attributed to the strict observation of Fasts and Feasts If Sir said I our true Protestants who in the late times abolisht them were but to put in their helping hand I perceive by what you last said That they with the Turks would blot out the very memory of Christianity from off the face of the Earth if it were possible for men or Devils to do it but after all methinks 't is very strange that they should wish themselves under the protection of the Grand Seignior for fear of Arbitrary Government You will think so said he if you will take a small Journey with me With all my Heart Sir said I and with that methoughts I followed him a great way through many subterranean windings and turnings until at last I espied the light of the day through a hole at a great distance and as soon as we were got into open Air I have brought you said He this way to avoid the Confines of Hungary which are neither pleasant nor safe by reason of the present Wars But now you are in Turky come mount with me this winged Steed he 'll out-do either Pegasus or Pacolet and carry you swift as thought can flie and we shall survey the present State of it in a small time We went indeed very swiftly yet I was amaz'd considering the noise of their vast Armies to see such desolate Wildernesses to see those rich Countries so famous of old for their strength and glory now nothing but vast Desarts to see almost all Judea a barren Rock excepting some little shaded Valleys that were green and so much of those Countries of Greece so famous for Husbandry and Pastorals under the Heathens lye overgrown and untill'd Religion quite banisht from the one and Learning from the other the High-waies indeed had some numbers of People upon them and their Caravansera's or Publick Inns but their room was better than their Company the Cities some of them large and populous but withal old and ruinous and the Inhabitants rude and barbarous the Janizaries insulting over the natural Turks and all over the miserable Christians You see now said He what a Curse a Tyrannical Government is to mankind and what a vast Part of the best Habitable World it has blasted The Grand Seignior is the most absolute Monarch that is or ever was in any Age and has one thing peculiar to his Government which never was known before in the World which makes him so prodigal of the Lives of his Soldiers and that is this He is absolute Lord of all the Lands of his Empire and all his Timariots hold of him in Capite for which they serve in the Wars if he loses his men in Battel Sieges or any other chances of War He gets by their death all New-comers being obliged to renew their Leases with a considerable summ of money and the oftener they fall the more he gets whatever in the frame of his Government seems commendable as the speedy execution of Justice c. is by chance out of necessity and depending upon the various Humours of his Tyrannising Slaves their Common Law if I may call it so signifying little or nothing and they all at his will the Policie of his Government still argues the Misery of his Subjects and infamous Lusts of the Great Ones the extreme wants of the Poor and the perpetual dangers of them all make up their whole lives and 't is under this unlimited Tyrants Banners the Teckelites of Hungary sight and the true Protestants of England wish success to his Arms whose Lust twenty Nations cannot satisfie nor twenty Kingdoms his Gluttony who ravishes and deflowrs from the Danube to Tigris and from the Desarts of Libya to the Forests of Russia They take the same course Sir said I to be free from Arbitrary Government by Turcism as from Popery by Jesuitism But pray let us away for England for I have had enough of Turky With all my Heart replied He but by the way You see what are the consequences of Schism and Separation you see how under the pretence of avoiding those Ceremonies which they themselves count indifferent in the Church of England they would take Sanctuary in a Turkish Mosque and be contented to mingle with the impurest Vnbelievers rather than join in Communion with us and when they have done stand it out and justifie it in the face of Heaven and Earth I protest it quite confounds me but that Epiphanius tells us of Hereticks Haer. 18. that boasted of their Kindred with Cain and the Sodomites and Judas and said That they only were indued with wisdom from on high And I have read of the Beguardi a sort of scrupulous Buffoons in the XIV Century that held
Davenant in his twelfth determin'd Question sayes Induant quam velint isti Magistratuum Reformatores c. Let those Reformers of Magistrates mask under what vizor they please Religion may be their Plea but Rebellion is their Practice And this is so true of Mr. Baxter that as far as I can perceive he will confirm it with his last breath But the Mask he has on will appear to be that of the Fool as well as of the Knave for whatever he in one place denyes he most strictly and rigidly maintains in another and there is not a more ridiculous Book of Polity in the world He confesses indeed that he did not design an Accurate Tract of Politicks not a discovery of an Utopia or City of the Sun And indeed I am apt to believe him for it rather dropt from the concavities of the Midsummer Moon Had he spent his Itch of Scribling in writing his Wifes Life the History of Stew'd Prunes or the Pedigree of his Gib-Cat he had done much better than to have defiled so much good Paper with the indigested Excrements of his Brain upon such a subject For Mr. Baxter did not either honestly or seriously enough consider that his whole Pile of Politicks stands tottering upon a false and rotten foundation For he holds that the Soveraignty of England is in the three Estates viz. King Lords and Commons that the King has but a Co-ordinate Power and may be over-ruled by the other two This is the fundamental Maxim of all his Politicks without which he never could have pretended to the framing his Theocratical Government as he calls it or have made such a Bustle for his peculiar godly Friends and Associates but if this were true which is utterly false why may it not as well happen that the King and Lords should over-rule and consequently exciude the Commons And then what thanks is that House bound to give such a notable Aphorismmonger The Counsellors in that August Assembly are of three sorts by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Some are by Birth as the Barons some Lambards Archion p. 118. by Succession as Bishops and some by Election as Knights and Burgesses and these be all for the time the Kings Council Did ever any King call a Council to depose him But suppose according to Mr. Baxter they might or should do so who should then hinder the two that are by Birth and Succession from over-ruling and excluding the third that are by Election But the Bishops it seems must troop out after the King for fear Mr. Baxter should stumble upon such an horrid piece of non-sense as the making two Estates become three by the taking away of one No less ridiculous is Mr. Baxter in this deposing humour of his for he does like the Abbess who chid the Nun for Fornication when she her self had the Monks Breeches on her head instead of her Veil at the same time He pronounces very terribly Thes 327. That it is a most impious thing for Popes to pretend to disoblige Christians from their Oaths and Fidelity to their Sovereigns and to encourage their Subjects to rebel and murder them But as if it were a most pious thing in a Jack Presbyter he breathes nothing but perfidious Covenants Engagements Associations Seditions and murdering Treasons for several Pages together immediately after Like a Fool as he is to his own Good Old Cause he confesses pag. 461. that God has no where in Scripture told us whether England should be governed by one or two or an hundred but that where the King is Supreme it is the will of God that the people should obey him A strange things that the Politick Saint should want Scripture upon so material an account who is used to squander it away so plentifully upon every trivial occasion Well! since Scripture as he sayes cannot nothing more or better can declare the King of England to be Supreme unaccountable to none but God than the fundamental Laws of this Ancient and Just Monarchy But because Mr. Baxter who would never be govern'd has little or no knowledge of the Laws he sends his Reader in p. 458. to Bacon and Prynn who were as great Hereticks for Lawyers as he is for a Divine I wish that Mr. Baxter who has deserv'd to lose his Tongue as much as Prynn did his Ears would take example by him and lay things seriously and impartially to his heart that by better Aphorisms of Humility and Obedience he would grow so good a Politician indeed as at last to cheat the Devil For 't is a strange thing that a man who has taken so much pains for the salvation of other mens souls should so carelesly run on tick for the damnation of his own If it be true that the King is Supream and that they who resist him as Mr. Baxter has done shall receive damnation to themselves and as Mr. Prynn himself Prynn's Repub. or spurious Good Old Cause sayes they shall But I fear he will never be of so good a mind For like a Knave as he is by his Politicks in this Book and by his Schism and Separation to this day he practises those very Rules which in the beginning of this Book he discovers and declares to be the Jesuits Directions for preserving Popery and changing Religion in this Nation I do not wonder that the late Colonel Sidney who was so great a Crony of Father Oliva ' s the General of the Jesuits at Rome for several years together should borrow part of his Speech he left behind him out of Baxter ' s Holy Commonwealth for sayes he pag. 377. No Man or Family hath originally more right to govern a Nation than the rest till Providence and Consent allow it them Few Princes will plead a Successive Right of Primogeniture from Noah And this without doubt was the Original of that politick strain in Colonel Sidney ' s Speech as the directions of the Jesuits are of Mr. Baxter's Politicks and practices For sayes he himself the summ of Campanella ' s Counsel for promoting the Spanish Interests in England was in Queen Elizabeths daies 1. Above all to breed dissentions and discords among our selves To exasperate the minds of the Bishops against King James by perswading them that he was in heart a Papist and would bring in Popery To make the Kingdom Elective And lastly To perswade the chief Parliament men to turn England into the form of a Common-wealth Pray Sir said I do but hear what Mr. Baxter sayes for himself at the latter end of his Book p. 489. If any one saies he can prove that I was guilty of hurt to the Person or destruction of the Power of the King or of changing the Fundamental Constitutions of the Commonwealth c. I will never gainsay him if he calls me a most perfidious Rebel and tell me that I am guilty of far greater sin than Murder Whoredome Drunkenness or such like or if they can solidly confute my Grounds
I will thank them and confess my sin to all the world but Malicious railings I take for Rebellions themselves I shall not regard I will not rail on Mr. Baxter replyed Seignior Chr. for 't is a difficult thing to nickname Schism Sedition Murther and Treason but this I must say of his writings If they were made hangings to his House of Office as Olivers Porters Papers are to his Cell he might do himself the kindness of hiding the one side of them that contradict the other for certainly no man living ever gave himself the lie so often or complemented himself into so many titles of Infamy in one breath since the world began no man ever took so much pains to justifie himself as Baxter has to expose and condemn himself For would you know what sin he is most guilty of that is so ready to make his Confession 't is certainly that which he most declaims against how dangerous a thing in his most serious Meditations upon these his superfine Politicks saies he is pride of heart When once it grows to an enormous height it will make men swell with self conceit and think none so fit to govern Countries and Nations as they nor any so fit to teach the Church nor any so meet to judge what is good or evil to the Commonwealth This he saies at the end of that Book wherein he dogmatically prescribes rules of Polity for the State as since he has done for the Church in opposition to all the rules of Modesty and Obedience and contrary to all the Laws of God and man To conclude for all Mr. Baxter's pretences to Gods glory and the increase of Religion these his impracticable whimsies would be so far from procuring that good to this Nation which he promises to himself and pretends to us that they would certainly over-run us with Enthusiastick Knaves and Hypocrites and from Elihu in Job we may learn the fatal consequences of his ridiculous Politicks for we gather from Job 34. 30. that He maketh an hypocrite to reign when he is minded to scourge a sinful people We have learn't said I dear friend we have sufficiently learnt the truth of this by late and sad experience we have found the wicked and dismal Conclusions of this and other villanous Maxims of Fanatical and Hypocritical Policy for twenty years together wherein the Courts of Justice were fill'd with Violence and Oppression the Churches with Sacriledge and Blasphemy the Earth with the dead bodies and Hell with the souls of Rebells wherein there was more wickedness committed in this one Island than in all the world besides so that Foreigners said that the King of England was King of Devils and I will swear that there is none to compare with the white ones THE Third VISION OF GOVERNMENT The CONTENTS The monstrous Loyalty of the Fanaticks Their several Ridiculous Policies the growth and design of the late Hellish Conspiracy The two fundamental Principles of the Good Old Cause First That All Civil Authority is deriv'd Driginally from the People The extreme villany and folly of this Proposition throughly examined and by a Civiliz'd Cannibal condemn'd The Second That Birth-right and Proximity of Blood give no Title to Rule or Government and that It is lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession to the Crown The great impiety and folly of this Proposition fully discovered and condemned by an Indian of New-England The Authors and Abetters of them both exposed The great Wisdom and Goodness of our present Gracious Soveraign in securing to this Monarchy the right and lineal descent of the Crown THE more haste the worse speed cry'd a blundering Fellow that stumbled upon me and had almost beaten me down Whither so fast friend what is your business said Seignior Christiano to him I am upon life and death Sir said he pray don't stop or stay me I am going for Cordials for a matter of forty or fifty people in the next room that are all ready to swoon and dye away This broke off our discourse and we hastened immediately to know what was the matter and who they were At our first entrance how wonderfully was I surpriz'd to see Hobbs and Boxter Knox and Buchanan Hunt and Gilby Milton and the Jesuits sitting all together like friends but in a very disconsolate posture Some complained of grievous pains in the Spleen others were sick at the Heart but all of them were most dismally tormented in their heads Whilst I stood looking on them I can tell you what they all ail said a Gentleman to me whom I took to be a Physician I can tell what they ail without feeling their pulses do but follow me He open'd a door which led us into a Court like that of the Scholes at Oxford in the midst of it there was a great Fire and an Officer very solemnly threw a great number of Books into it These are said the Gentleman the Books and Writings containing those infamous Heretical and Blasphemous Propositions which that famous Vniversity condemn'd and sentenc'd in their Convocation July 21. 1683. upon the discovery of the late Hellish Conspiracy And those men you just now past by are Fanatical Wizards who are in pain whilst their charms of Rebellion are burning but yonder Fellow is giving them a refreshing Cordial made of a composition of Impudence Contradiction and Obstinacy and you shall see them all recover themselves immediately What he said prov'd true for Hunt grew presently as brisk as a Body-Louse and smiling and turning himself round about It is very certain said he good people that these Protestant Subjects namely the Dissenters have cheerfully given their Assistance to the support of the Government It is well known that they are an Industrious Trading People that willingly pay whatsoever Taxes the Law requires And it is remarkable that no people ever exprest a greater zeal to oppose the various attacques of a Foreign Anti-spiritual Power than these Dissenters And could I know any one of them that would shrink from his Princes service when his Royal Person and Government are menaced I would esteem him not only a Fool but a Traytor to boot We are very much beholden to you indeed reply'd Seignior Christiano a smart fellow truly I think you wrote the Postscript not long before and what you now say is in a Book entitled Compulsion of Conscience condemn'd and that came out a little after the discovery of the late Conspiracy and would you call him a Traytor Surely Judas himself never look'd damnation in the fate with half that impudence with which the Author of the Postscript has done Hell it self within an inch of the Gallows and thus to justifie his or their pretended Innocency out-does him that hang'd himself and so confest his Treachery What Devil said he turning towards us can trace these Infernal Changlings who if their villany succeeds are Righteous if it miscarries are Innocent Indeed Sir said I they are no Changlings
subdued Wales and brought Scotland into subjection of whose King and Nobility he received Homage But a King it seems may be made Glorious at a cheaper rate than Victorious and our Antiquarian forgot in his Quotation that honest old Rule Incivile est particulam aliquam Legis sumere non perspect a tota Lege For he should as well have had respect to the end of their meeting as to the particular Persons that were there had he written as became a Loyal Subject and an honest man at that time and I do not at all question but he who seems so tender of wounding the Peerage would be the first were it in his power that would turn the Bishops out of the House of Lords although for the blood of him he cannot in all his reading bring the Burgesses into the House of Commons but must stumble over Archbishops and Bishops by the way I suppose reply'd Seignior Chr. He Dedicated that Book to the late Earl of Essex for the same reason that the last Edition of Gods Revenge against Murder is Dedicated to the late Earl of Shastsbury At this both the Antiquarian and He that kickt about his Parchments join'd together and came up to us with a great deal of Fury and had not I by chance catcht hold of his venerable Ruff and threatned to demolish that reverend relick we had not parted without a fray but he thus receiving some damage at the first onset they compounded the matter and so we parted pretty quietly No sooner were we got from them But you see said Seignior Chr. they both agree against any one that defends the Government and in the main design of changing this Ancient Monarchy into a Commonwealth For they who vilifie Parliaments if they do it not out of a rash and inconsiderate humour do it with an ill design to make the King suspected by his People and so at last would have no King and they who give to Parliaments that power that does not belong to them give them power to destroy themselves and so would have no Parliaments a true notion of a Commonwealth destroys the very being both of King and Parliament for he that diminisheth or taketh away the Prerogative of the King takes away the very Power of Parliament even when He pretends to give them the Kings Prerogative So they that fought for King and Parliament in the late Wars fought against them both as appear'd in the conclusion and England can never be a Commonwealth again until their be no King and then there will ipso facto be no Parliament As soon as we were out of the Castle we saw a world of people coming towards the Gates so that I fancied that we were formally Besieged but it seems they only came thither for Intelligence as their Custom was once or twice a week Upon which we fell in among them and found people of all Qualities and Conditions but most of the commonsort and a great many Women I do not know But methoughts I found my self strangely uneasie among them for they differed very much from men of Debonair and civil conversation they had such a dreaming way of talking such leering and suspicious looks that I never saw so much ill Nature together in a crowd all the daies of my life and almost fancied that they had a particular smell with them Seignior Christiano who saw me in a musing quandary taking me aside if there was said he but a small strinkling of Laplanders and Canibals among them they would be the compleatest Body of Commonwealths-men under the Sun However that they may not want some Foreigners to illustrate them they have a few Calvinistical and busie Walloons prickt in among them Have they not a few Rattoons and Baboons too said I Truly they have as much reason to be altering and changing the Government as any Walloon of them all Is it not an horrid shame and scandal that they who are naturaliz'd by the favour of the Prince and have here gain'd good Estates under the Protection of his Laws should grow insolent and mutinous and join with Rebels to ruin him and his Government You know the monstrous gratitude of a Factious Fanatick or you know nothing said Seignior Chr. how many men whose dulness his Majesty has covered with a Title of Honour and a Gold Chain have in requital acted as if they design'd the old Game of binding Kings in Chains ' T is nothing certainly but the Spirit of ingratitude pride ambition covetousness or revenge that makes so many Commonwealths-men in the Kingdom of England I could give you the exact Characters of these men their particular rules of Education and their behaviour in their several Imployments but they will not singly stand the shock of a reprimand and I have no time at present to do it therefore I will in general advise them all We being now got up a little hill and they all before us Men Women and Children said he Tag Rag and Bobtail since the good old Cause is in so bad a condition that you can never expect to turn this Kingdom into a Common-wealth whilst ye live and think that without one you can never die in peace Let me advise you all to make a step to a certain place at the Head of the River Nilus where Sir John Mandevil in his Travels tells us the People themselves have none but that like Flounders they wear their eyes and mouths in their Breasts these would be fit Companions for you Commonwealths-men for those who will have no King or no Bishops are properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without heads truly solks Niceph. l. 18. c. 45. ' t is not sit ye should stay here for ye have made your selves such monsters of men as the world never knew You that stickle so for a Commonwealth have taken such wicked courses to procure one as are condemned by the Laws of all the Common-wealths that ever were since the World began the Gallant Romans under Consuls and Tribunes scorn'd to make use of treachery breach of Faith secret Assassinations against their most dangerous and formidable Enemies in Time of War or at least they were forbid in the Civil Law but you have added the invention of Blunderbuzzing against your own Gracious and good Prince in Times of Peace Perjury of which you have been so scandalously Guilty was a crime so detestable to all Nations * Sanderson de Jur. oblig Prael 7. that a learned Casuist tells us Perjurium autem vel ipsis etiam Ethnicis inter gravissima illa Crimina est habitum quae credebantur Deorum Immortalium Iram non in Reos tantum sed in Posteros ipsorum imo in universas Gentes accersere Perjury even by the very Heathens was reckon'd among those highest crimes which were thought to stir up the anger of the Immortal Gods not only against those that were Guilty of it themselves but also against their Posterity ay and against