Tyranny as Mr. Baxter represents it to punish Dissenters with a Prison when some of them have been willing to croud thither only to make up a Conventicle perverting the very Penalties of the Law to a further opportunity of breaking it and making that subservient to the Crime which was intended to correct it This Animadversion on our Dissenters and their Advocates is both pertinent to this Discourse and favourable to those it reflects on The one because 't is certain their Faction is concern'd in this Association The other because such offenders deserve to be more severely handled And now you shall see the Disparity between a True Patriot and a Factious Associator the difference there is betwixt one that truly Loves his Countrey and him that only pretends it A True Patriot will endeavor the Peace and Quietness of the Kingdom wherein he Lives and if he sits at Helm will so steer the Bark that it may fail securely in the midst of the greatest danger neither split on the Rocks that threaten it on one side Or running into the Quick-sand that would cast her away on the other will endeavour to preserve the Nation from the Popery we fear and from the Fanaticism we have felt One that has helpt to make it flourish in Peace and Plenty this Twenty Years And will endeavour to keep it in the same Prosperity still One that will with Equal Courage resist an English Rebellion that he would a Spanish Invasion That won't endeavour to satisfie every discontended grumbler but remove all real motives to complaint and murmuring That will keep to the Rules of Law and Justice as the best means to keep the Peace too Free from all Passion and Interest and so can neither trouble the Kingdom by the Turbulency of the one or defraud it by the Temptations of the other A Factious Associator makes it his business to disturb the Countrey wherein he Lives with as much Fear and Jealousie as Thought can suggest or Malice invent for 't is Quietness and Peace that makes him idle and without Employ 'T is a sort of Sea-Monster that shows himself most before a Storm And endeavors to overset that Ship which he is not Capacitated to Steer His Eyes are set on the Publique Ministers of State not to pry into their Actions but murder their Reputations Not to search them like an Eagle but to sacrifice them like a Basilisk 'T is a State Cannibal that delights in blood and triumphs in the Miseries of a Civil War One that makes Religion a pretence for Rebellion Though as empty of the one as brim full of the other One that would flush himself in the Spoils of a New War though glutted almost with the blood that was shed in the Old 'T is the rarified Chamaeleon That out-does the natural one feeds not so much as upon Air But only Popular breath Sets the Nation all in Combustion and then like a secure Salamander lives in the flame One that seems Hells Purveyor and like the Devil makes his Covenanting Imps subscribe their Contracts in their own blood That Sails securely by tacking about with Wind and Tide and exposes the Government to be shatter'd in the Tempest That talks of nothing but the Consumption of the Body Politick only because his Natural one pines with discontent The one will with an earnest even anxious sollicitation of mind seek to reconcile the jarring hearts of Subjects to their Lawful Prince Let them understand the goodness and equity of the merciful King that governs will help his gracious Monarch to make all manner of good impression on his Subjects and give his people all imaginable satisfaction will perswade them to acquiesce with his Majesty's reasons for dissolving an old Parliament and his Gracious promises for calling a new one that will thank him for such kind Assurances and Declaration and not extenuate so gracious an action with a talk of Oath and Obligation will open the blind eyes of the deluded Rabble and take away the Veil of Popularity that blinds the discontented great The other pursues with the greatest aggravation the least slip in the Government stirs up Jealousies and Animosities between King and People to prevent the Reconciliation that would otherwise ensue for then the little Artifices he uses to foment Sedition would be illuded and his Engines of Rebellion Libels Associations Remonstrances would grow rusty and useless He is bound in prudence to make the Peoples Cause his Own and for his security to be guarded by his Whifflers the Rabble is grieved and afflicted when the King comforts his People perverts the best things to the worst sense daubs and disfigures all with his Colours which is like to wipe off the pretence and Varnish of his Cause cavils at the Declaration of his Prince because intended to satisfie the People proves the Parliament unreasonably dissolved because the King gives good reason for it makes the Nation believe it shall never see another when the he Declaration promises the contrary but yet thinks sit to extort it from the King by Petition for fear it should pass otherwise for his Gratious action deludes the silly Mobile with expectations of being great and perswades the Nobility they are not truly so without a Popular greatness The one is for the uniting the people in affection and charity if he can't obtain it in Perswasion and Religion won't multiply foes by Suspition or create dangers out of a Panick fear one that will never hugg a Popish Plot as tenderly as the Nursing-Father of it a Jesuit No such Ambidexter as to make a Bugbear and Darling of the same thing and both equally subservient to his purpose No such mimical Ape as with distorting squinting looks ridicules every thing in his countenance that does not suit with his froward Genius He is a perfect piece of sincerity and never makes a Juglers-box of his Conscience swallowing down Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and bringing up nothing but Treasonable Covenants and Associations like those Impostors that are seen to let down but harmless Tape and Ribband yet disgorge Knives and Daggers He will submit to the Lawful Authority of the State and conform to the constant Discipline of the Church will with an awful respect look upon the Crown and pay his due reverence to the Mitre will oppose the Toleration of all Religion as the ready way to have none He will truly stand up for the Liberty of the Subject and not make it a pretence to enslave them One that will trust his Prince with Money for the support of his Crown and Dignity and allow him a competent Guard for the preservation of his Person One that will swear Allegiance to none but his King And lastly never out of fear of a contingent danger will raise a present War for altering Succession The other is so far from reconciling differences in Religion that he can hardly admit of a good opinion of any not of his own sentiments transubstantiates
the Rats and Mice from falling out or persuade them to a Union against their common Enemies the Cats and Weasels the purport of the thing shews the intent that it was to be communicated and to such a Party too as by their own confidence they boast the mightiest and most numerous which if it were really so their licentiousness is such that I am apt to believe instead of keeping it in Closets some of them would have got it read at Crosses and Market-places proclaim'd it like some Bartholomew Show and with Drums and Trumpets gull'd the silly Rout into Rebellion as fast as the Fools use to croud into the Booth But 't is shrowdly to be suspected they are aw'd still into good manners and civility Sure otherwise it were but a panick fear so much to dread those Guards could they make so little resistance They would not be look't on with such Terrour and Amazement as is express'd in their Oath if they would but suffer these Frogs to fill the King's Chambers with their harsh and discontented Murmurings as they did the Aegyptians once with their Croakings These little Democraticks the scum of those beggarly Elements Mud and Water still as mean as the one and restless as the other and with their Brethren in the Apologue presently Petitioning their Jupiters for a new King as soon as weary of the old Could these timerous Rats but get these dreadful Guards truly to represent Aesop's Puss and be really hung up by the Gaunches we should have them soon grow as bold as Poll-Cats and quickly divide the spoil of the King's Houses and sure our Provident Patriot would never have exhorted the Subscribers to his Covenant to disband those mercenary Forces could they have march'd into White-hall with a Nemine Contradicente and have Rebelled without blows or knock But sure his Majesty has Friends and Forces enough to defend him besides those that he pays for his preservation The strongest Guards he has at present are the faithful Hearts of his Honest Subjects harden'd into Loyalty by the miseries they suffer'd for it with Arms steel'd against the Pistols and Blunderbusses of any new Rebels having so lately been prov'd in the blood of the old and why then must a Thousand Men or a handful of Guards frighten so many Millions block up one of the most popular Cities in the World hinder the resolute Rabble from posting into Rebellion and riding Tantivy to the Devil Now to satisfie any one that our English here are as well Vers'd in the cunning Arts of drawing up Leagues and Covenants as the Scot that universal ill in the North and proverbially wicked heretofore let him but consult those Compendious ways our Gentlemen here took to promote their Rebellion and he will find that they drew up several Oaths and Covenants one of which was agreed on and subscribed by a long List of Members the sixth of June 43. before the Scotch Solemn League came over into England which was not taken by the Parliament here till the twenty fifth of September following This first that they agreed to was an Instrument that would have cut through all Government and Monarchy and his Majesty's Head off too without seconding the blow with another Engine bought in the North. It was an agreement to Rebel unanimously to dispense with all the old Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to their King only by ramming down new ones to fight against him But yet as if they had distrusted an English Engagement and their own Oaths and Covenants not bold and rebellious enough to carry on their designs Messengers are dispatch't into Scotland to fetch the draught of their Solemn League for a better Specimen and to Complement the Scot into a Rebellion which he had shewn himself ready enough to embrace and to shew their own readiness to swallow any thing that look't like a Combination against Monarchy down goes the same Solemn League with our Parliament here which had been drawn up and Subscrib'd by the Scots there And now both Nations are agreed and have very solemnly Sworn the Destruction of one unhappy Monarch And no doubt rather than the prosperity of the King's affairs should have obstructed the deep Designs of our Rebellious Senate to subvert the Government some of the timerous Members that were alarm'd with the noise of it would have Voted an Embassy to the Turks or Tartars invited Mahometans to their assistance Sworn and Subscrib'd to the very Alcoran otherwise certainly they would never have submitted to such weak Concessions to promise conformity to the Kirk admit the Scot into the Kingdom and let Forreigners share in that plunder and booty which at first they had only design'd for themselves To such extremities does the undertaking of one Villany oft reduce Men that they are forc't many times to be wicked even beyond their intention and with a preposterous sort of the Politicks to resolve on those Measures which are partly destructive to their own Cause I think we can't at present invert the proceedings of the late Times and prove that the Scot is now likely to call upon us for our late Association as we did heretofore on them for their Solemn League And much rather that the Loyalty of the present Scotch-men should prevent the making such a dangerous Trope and fatal Inversion then that their reciprocal affection to our late Covenant should give occasion for it But though their kindness to the Government hath of late been thus eminently manifested in their last Parliament yet it is only of those that are most eminent among them And this our Male-contents here can make use of both as an argument to strengthen their Cause as well as to shake the Butteress of our own and with an ingenious sort of Sophistry pervert the argument of their Opponents to their own advantage They know though no hands can be found to their Association in the Council of Scotland yet they can be met with in a Field-Conventicle and though the Test has been by many swallowed without so much as a Grimace yet there are as many that have made very sower Faces at it some squeamish stomachs quite refused it some made an Explanation of it before it came to their mouths others after it was in their Bellies and some to Droll off the Authority of the Imposers and ridicule the Oath are said to have tender'd it to their Dogs and hang'd the Curs for refusing it witty waggs no doubt and such as can give the World a Specimen of their parts by being ingenious Traytors these are their politick surmises and presumptions upon which for all this they build great expectation from the North which I hope though they may serve to animate the Party will never be sufficient to strengthen it prove but the slender Twiggs of slight Argumentation and such as none but bare hope and a sinking Cause would take hold of The first Factious Union we read of that was made use of to resist any
the Wing although there be no Guns in the Field or Nots in the way Sure they may thank themselves too for their own Disturbance And 't is evident to the most discontented Wretch though his froward Soul force him to lye even in despight of Grace and the Suggestions of Conscience to the contrary That since the King's Restoration the Libertie not so much as of the meanest Subject has ever been Infringed or Violated unless merited by his own Guilt and warranted by the Law nor so much as one Tittle of Property denyed to the Proprietor besides what hath been forfeited by Rebelling against his Majesty or the Laws of the Kingdom What there was before those best know that suffered by the Tyranny of that Usurpation So that all that can be meant by these Associators when they cry out Propertie is but supposing themselves to have a Right where they have none at all and then cry out they are denyed their Share in this and that when all the while they have no right to the Dividend So that I think the reserv'd Gentleman that drew it up might have been more free and open and in plain terms bespoke the People as a certain Ignoramus Criminal is said to have done Look you my Friends there is a black Man at Whitehall keeps a great deal of Room and Land of which we were once in quiet Possession And I don't see why we should for go those Properties that were held vi armis by our Grandfathers 't is but knocking the Guards on the Head and in with our Blunderbusses make those Red-coated Lobsters swim a little in their own Blood Seize the Heir and the Inheritance is our own again Then for its black Lyes and Contradictions They are like the Darkness of Hell it self so gross that they may be felt what an impudent piece of Falshood is it to perswade a Nation that it is guilty of a thing of which to its very self it is no way Conscious and make it swear that the Guards are kept up to the Terror and Amazement of all good People when all the while they believe no such thing Strange that this Amazing sit should on the sudden surprise us of which we have had not so much as a Symptom this twenty Years I suppose it would puzzle this quacking Statesman to give the true cause of this sudden shivering Distemper in the Body Politick as much as it doth most Physicians truly to define the matter of Agues in the Natural But the Associator presumes much upon the Ignorance of the People or his own Wit and Parts And that they are as ready to swallow a gross Lye as he is to ram it down with an Oath Or else sure he would not be so bold as to perswade them that one or two thousand Men in Arms would cut the Throats of so many Millions this is establishing Paradoxes on the Credulity of Fools and Idiots 'T is the Happiness these man have to make the wildest Extreams subservient to their Cause The Infidelity of a prejudiced Ignoramus keeps it up on the one side and the Credulousness of those that are truly Ignorant must be the Butteress on the other I have heard of a Fellow that was often drunk and Lunatick and in either of those sits had such dreadfull Appearances of Fiery Dragons and strange Visions and the Delusion of his fancy so violent that he could never be satisfied till he had imposed the same belief on all those that were about him who to avoid the troublesomeness of the Impostor were forced to seign themselves Spectators too I think this will be all the Terror and Amazement the Wise People and the Good will lie under and as for the Fools and Knaves we care not how much they are frightned by such Sir Eglamores the Champions of the State and their Dâ—agons and then what a pretty piece of Contradiction is it for them to swear to defend his Royal Majesties Person and Estate and then in the next line to talk of opposing Arbitrary Power which seems to me somewhat like the proceedings of that Traitor Judas come on with a Hail Master and then delivering him to be crucified Declaring both offensive and defensive War at the same time and against the same Person For who can be thought to set up Arbitrary Power and who can be meant in that expression but his Majesty a Prince that has ruled them this twenty years with a Clemency almost to a Crime and made himself the Object of their discontent only by his Gracious Indulgence Lastly that there are Treasonable Positions in it is pretty plain from the last Clause of obeying their fellow Subjects some little Regiment of a disbanded Committee when there is an Act of Parliament that makes it high Treason on any Pretence whatsoever to enter into Combination or take up Arms against the King 't is true this Monster of a Vnion seems with it's Head to defend the Crown and Scepter but with it's Tail lashes the one from his Majesties Head and the other out of his Hand destroys the Monarchy erects a Common-wealth enslaves the People with the Bait of Freedom and to save the silly wretches from Popery damns them to the punishment of Treason and the torments of Hell And now I hope the charge I laid down above is proved in its several particulars and from the agreeableness of it to such Projectors from its Treason will be thought the contrivance of a Republican from its Aequivocation of a Jesuit from its Lying of the Devil And now we shall consider the poor Arguments that are used by the party to defend it and the first Champion that enters the List seems armed with all the authority the Supream power of the Nation can invest it withall said by the Factions Abettors of it to have been the discourse and Design of the Parliament which is the plain insinuation of the Fore-man when my Lord S. was to be put on his Triall vid. Proceedings at the Old Baily where these glancing Interrogatories are still put to Mr. Secretary Don't you know there was a discourse in Parliament Did not you know of such a debate in Parliament Han't you heard there was a talk of Association in Parliament Prety Questions indeed and is this one of them they took so much time for this all the egg that is laid after so much cackling and laying their heads together I thought a Grand Jury such Good men and true were sworn to fift things impartially without being Counsel for the Prisoner in opposition to the King If so let any man judge how pertinent this Question was to the detecting the truth and since they are so tickled with Interogatories Quaere whether these two or three Quaeries may not as well be put 1. Whether if all the Council assigned to Fitz Harris could have pleaded more for his Lordship than these Gentlemen of the Grand Inquest 2. Whether Ignoramus Juries ought not to be considered