THE SIX SECONDARY CAVSES OF THE Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre By D. P. P. JEREMIAH 8. 20. The harvest is past and the summer is ended and yet we are not saved Octob. 19. 1644. Imprimatur JAMES CRANFORD LONDON Printed by George Miller 1644. To the Reader IF a small Sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor a haire from our head without the will of our Heavenly Father we may be the more confident that nothing shall nor can be fall to us in this unnaturall Warre except it be by the speciall providence of God for it is he only that disableth or inableth the secondary Causes according as his will and pleasure is to humble or to blesse us And therefore if it doth seeme to some that I impute the spinning of this Warre more then I should to the secondary Causes I intreate them to be more charitable in their constructions for my only aime is to show that the first and essentiall Cause is our sinnes impenitency and ingratitude for mercies heretofore received of our gracious God that hath been inforced by them to disable the secondary Causes from executing that as they might otherwise have done if he had not intended to humble us for the aforesaid transgressions Neither doe I as they may suppose expose these secondary Causes to the publique view out of any private ends or Cynick humour to barke at on to consine the actions of these times though I may boldly say that it is not by our wisedome policy or experience in Warre that we are in so good a condition but by the meere mercy of our gracious God but out of a desire to contribute my mite to the advancement of the true Reformation begun and to lend a weake helping hand to draw this Civill warre with the helpe of God to a blessed and a more speedy end that is spinned out by these secondary Causes And so Prest Thy humble servant in the Lord D. P. P. The Contents I. THe retarding of the true Reformation II. The delay of Justice III. The neglect of occasions opportunities or advantages IV. The divisions and contentions that are among us V. The strange Method of our Warre VI The want of perseverance THE SIX Secondary Causes of the Spinning out of this Vnnaturall Warre The first Secondary Cause is The retarding of a True Reformation ALl the faithfull Ministers of God that were resident in this famous City and that are come to it from all the parts of the Kingdome as into a Sanctuary to preserve themselves from the cruelty of the Cannibals of these dayes or that have been summoned to settle the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church according to the Word of God and the forme observed in the best Reformed Churches of France Germany and Scotland Have not yet been able by their infatigable labours fervent prayers orthodox Doctrine profitable exhortations and loving admonitions to mollifie our hearts or worke in us a true and a cordiall Reformation but rather like a stiffe necked people we are growne more licentious in our lives and conversations then we were before this great light of the Gospell did appeare to us as a morning Sunne which impenitency and hardnesse of heart should be lamented if it were possible with teares of blood because it is not to be parrelled for it doth exceed that of Nineveh for they converted themselves unto the Lord and turned from their a wicked wayes by the preaching and the the threatnings of the Prophet Jonah But alas the preaching of all these faithfull Messengers of God nor the Judgements that have been inflicted these three yeares upon this Nation cannot move us to feare and apprehend the last b viols of the wrath of God that are ready to fall upon our heads so insensible and stupid are our hearts that they seeme like Nabals heart to be turned into c stones And yet there never was more Fasting nor more dayes of Humiliation nor prayers addressed to the Throne of Grace in this Kingdome then there is at this present time and since these warres began What may then be the reason that our prayers are rejected at this time by our gracious God It must assuredly be this That our Fasts our humiliations and our prayers are all formall and not sincere and that we applaud the d forme but deny the power of godlinesse and that we serve God with our lipps and deny him in our hearts we bowe downe our heads for a day like a * bulrush but all the moneth after instead of mortifying our lusts we inflame them by our carnall cogitations Instead of examining our selves and diving into the secret corners of our deceitfull hearts we censure and reprehend the carriage and actions of others instead of being lowly and humble in our own eyes we are swollowed up with pride and selfe-conceitednesse we can see a straw in our brothers eye but we cannot see a beame in our owne We are apt with our father Adam to transfer our own sins upon others or like the hypocriticall Pharisie blesse our selves when we are worse then Publicans we can say such a one is this and such a one is that or these mens sins are the cause of our present miseries but we doe not put our hands upon our brests and confesse ingeniously Lord my sins have a greater share in these publike calamities then any other mans sins O let us then in the Name of God returne unto him judge our selves that we may not be judged let us sweep before our own doores and the streete will be soon cleansed I meane let us every one in particular mortifie our own corruptions reforme our lives manners and conversations and abhorre formality the k Laodicean temper and be fervent sincere and zealous in the wayes of righteousnesse and not seeme only to be righteous but strive to be really so for by this spirituall dissimulation we may deceive others and our selves but we cannot deceive God that searcheth the hearts and will reward us not according to our faire showes but according to our reality or hypocrisie And this personall Reformation will be a good step to the Generall which will never be attained if every one of us doe not endeavour in particular to reforme our selves And as concerning the Generall Reformation of the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church we are all bound to petition to the Honourable Houses of Parliament that they would be pleased to make the same the first worke of their unparrelled labours And that it may have the precedency of the Civill Politick and Military Reformations because the blessed issue of these last depends altogether upon the setling of the first as I will endeavour to make it appeare by these reasons following 1. Our gracious God is a jealous God that abhorres all mixtures of Religions and hath been pleased to teach us to prefer his Glory before all other respects And that all other ends set
fought close to the very same towne where that Rape and Murder had been committed Plutarch affirming that the Gods were impatient to suffer any longer their delay of Justice 6. The Omission of Justice by Cicero and some other Senators upon Iulius Caesar that was of the Conspiracie of h Catilina was the cause of the losse of the Romanes Libertie and of the miserable end of Cicero and of the greater part of those Romane Senators 7. The Omission of Justice by i Henry the fourth King of France upon the whole Societie of Jesuites inhabiting his dominions for an attempt made upon his sacred Person by a Student of their Societie was the cause he was three years after perfidiously murdered by their instigation by that horrid Paricide Ravilliac 8. The deniall of Justice by the Inhabitants of k Gibeah for the Murder committed upon the Levites Concubine was the cause of the death of forty thousand Israelites and of the utter extermination of the Tribe of Benjamine six hundred men only excepted 9. The Indulgence of Eli to his two l sonnes Hophni and Phineas was the cause of his suddaine death of the miserable end of his sonnes and of this heavie curse upon his Posteritie I have sworne saith the Lord unto the house of Eli that the wickednesse of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever 10. The Omission of Justice by King m David upon Amnon his sonne for the Rape of Tamar was the cause of the Murder of Amnon of the rebellion and of the miserable end of Absalom 11. The Omission of Justice by King n David upon the house of Saul because he had contrarie to the Oath of the People of Israel destroyed the greater part of the Gibeonites was the cause of three yeares famine in Israel that ceased not before Justice had been executed upon seven men of the house of Saul 12. The Omission of Justice by o Ahab upon Benhadad was the cause of his death and of this fearefull denunciation against him Thus saith the Lord because thou hast let goe out of thy hands a man whom I had appointed to die thy life shall goe for his life and thy people for his people For the second of the benefits that accrew by the speedy and unpartiall execution of Justice 1. A certaine King of the Locresians having made a Law against p Adultery That whosoever should be convinced of it should have both his eyes put out His onely Sonne being the first he immediately caused his sonnes left eye and his own right eye to be put out before all his Subjects to authorize his Law and to execute Justice for which he was reverenced beloved and honoured by all men in his life time and is in these dayes admired for his unpartiall execution of Justice 2. Lucius q Iunius Brutus first Consul of the Romanes having been informed that two of his sonnes divers of his Nephewes and many young noble men had conspired to deliver up the City of Rome to Tarquinius he caused them to be apprehended sate with the Judges at their Triall and being convinced accompanied them to the block perswading the executioner to rid the world speedily of such Traitours to their Countrey and so by this unpartiall Justice of his he preserved his Common-weale and was so beloved and honoured of his Citizens that the Romane Ladies mourned a whole yeare for his death 3. Titus r Manlius Generall of the Romanes having caused to be proclaimed thorow his Army that none upon paine of death should fight against any of the Latines their enemies that were incamped within a mile of the Romanes Camp his sonne being appointed the next day to discover with a Troope of horse the posture of the enemie was challenged by a Chiefe Officer of the enemies horse to a single fight that came also to discover the Posture of the Romanes but he refused the Challenge because of his fathers Command yet being overcome by the insolencie of his enemie that accused him of cowardize he advanced before his Troope and fought with him slew him and carried away his Horse and Armes and was conducted with a great part of the Army in a Triumphant manner into the Camp But comming into his fathers Tent he was apprehended tried and executed in the presence of his father notwithstanding the great intreaty of the Officers of the Army Titus Manltus answering either I must by the naturall compassion of a father overthrow for ever the Military Discipline of the Romanes in pardoning my son so great an offence or by an unpartiall Justice preferre the good of my Countrey to my sonnes life This unpartiall Justice of his upon so valiant a son although it seemed rigorous to the younger sort yet the ancient Senators did greatly commend it for it fell out to be very profitable to the Romane Common-weale because it maintained their Discipline in force for a long time untill Scipio his dayes the which was revived again by this noble action following 4. Publius Scipio Generall of a great Army of the Romanes in Spaine having in a manner finished the warres and reduced that Kingdome under the Romans yoke fell sick at new Carthage upon the report of his perillous sicknesse eight thousand Romane souldiers that lay in an intrenched Camp neare to the river Succo some twenty miles distance from Carthage to preserve the confederate Counties from the incursions of the enemies began to mutiny for their pay and some licentious souldiers among them fomented the same and after they had driven away their Colonels and Captaines that opposed their rebellious actions they made choice of Albinus Calenus and Atrius Vmber two licentious common souldiers for their Commanders in Chiefe and entertained correspondencie with Mandonius and Iudibilis the Generals of the enemie and so fell a plundering their associated Counties hoping to inrich themselves without danger upon the report of their Generals death but s Scipio being somewhat recovered and past danger he sent presently six well-affected Colonels to informe them of his recovery and to perswade them to submit themselves to his mercy whereupon they began to consult what they should doe to prevent their ruine and so resolved to leave their Armes in their Camp and to goe to Carthage for their pay and to recover their Generals favour disdaining any longer to submit themselves so low as to be at the beck of two such base and ambitious fellowes as Albinus and Atrius whereupon Scipio being acquainted of their resolution fained to undertake a designe and caused his forces and carriages to advance out of towne to free the mutiners of all suspition onely commanded some trusty souldiers to welcome the Heads of them and under colour of complement to goe along with them to their lodging by which meanes they were all apprehended and fettered that night and in the morning caused all the rest to be summoned to appeare before his Tribunal
where they were no sooner come but they were invironed with those Horse and Foot that seemed the day before to have gone out upon a designe and hereupon were extremely amazed for feare they should all be put to the sword But Scipio having commanded silence made an Oration to them and reprehended their rashnesse indiscretion and infidelity and that by the Lawes of warre he might make them all a publike example of Justice for the time to come but considering that they had been for the greater part seduced by some pernicious Agents of Albinus and Atrius he was contented upon Promise of Amendment to give them their pardon and would content himselfe with the death of thirty of the Chiefe Authors of this mutiny And so caused them to be brought forth fettered as they were and to be whipped with scourges before all the Army and afterwards to be beheaded This speedy and unpartiall Justice was very profitable to the Romanes to uphold their Military Discipline that began to be corrupted and Scipio obtained great honour by it and the love of all his Army having mingled Mercy with Justice This point deserves to be taken into consideration by them in Authoritie for our Generals are abused and their honour and reputation betrayd by the perfidious carriages and counsels of some of their Officers which deserve to be made an Example of Justice to others otherwise this warre is like to be spinned out till there be no more oyle in the Lampe to keep it burning 5. t Cambyses King of Persia notwithstanding that he was a Tyrant yet to winne the love of his Subjects he did administer speedy and unpartiall Justice for hearing of a Judge that took bribes to pervert Justice he caused him to be flead alive and his skin to be nailed upon the Chaire where the Judges sate to give Judgement for a memorandum to others to administer Justice speedily and unpartially 6. Absalom to withdraw the hearts of the people of Isreal from his Father and to win their love complained that Justice was neglected and used to utter this insinuating exclamation u O that I were made a Iudge in the land that any one that hath any suite or cause might come unto me And I would doe him Iustice c. 7. Charles the fifth and x Lewis the twelfth Kings of France were so beloved and honoured of their Subjects for their speedy and unpartiall administration of Justice that the first obtained the honourable attribute of a Wise King and the second of a Just Prince and the nursing Father of his People 8. y Henry the eighth King of England never obtained more honour nor more love of his Subjects then when he gave way that Sr Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley Esquire should be made publike Examples of Justice for the incredible oppressions they had committed upon his Subjects in his Father Henry the sevenths time 9. The speedy and unpartiall Justice of the Children of Levi in going out from gate to gate throughout the Camp slaying every man his z brother and every man his Companion and every man his neighbour according to the Commandement of Moses was so acceptable to God that it appeased his wrath 10. The speedy and unpartiall execution of justice by King David upon the a Amalekite that confessed before him that he had slain King Saul his mortall enemie was very acceptable unto God and was the cause that the Tribes of Iudah and Benjamine proclaimed him King with great joy 11. The speedy and unpartiall execution of Justice by the same King upon Rechab and b Baanah that had persidiously murdered Ishbosheth their Lord and Master hoping thereby to obtain some great reward of King David because he was his Competitor was acceptable unto God and the Cause that he won the love of all Israel and was suddainly after proclaimed King over all the twelve Tribes of Israel 12. It appeares in divers places of the second book of Samuel how much King David was discontented because he had not the power to administer speedy and unpartiall Justice upon Ioab Generall of his Army for his persidious Carriage toward Abner and Amasa whom he murdred under colour of love and courtly complements yet on his death bed he commanded King Salomon his sonne that he should not suffer the c hoary head of Ioab to goe down in peace to the grave by which command it appeares how much this good Kings heart was inclined to execute Justice and how just and wonderfull the judgements of the Lord are upon such murderers as Ioab was that could not escape at the end his avenging hand although it was deferred for a time Now I come to the third point to prove how acceptable the speedy and unpartiall execution of Justice is to God and how odious it is to him if it be delaid and omitted 1. The speedy execution of Justice by Phinehas upon Zimri and Cozbi was so acceptable unto the Lord that it turned away his wrath from his people of Israel and procured to d Phinehas this Promise Wherefore behold I give unto him my Covenant of Peace And he shall have it and his seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Priesthood because he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel c. 2. Moses the servant of God for an extraordinary blessing to the e Tribe of Dan saith And he came with the head of the people he executed the Iustice of the Lord c. meaning that this Tribe above all others should have Rulers that would administer Justice speedily and impartially which was in Moses opinion one of the greatest blessings that could befall men 3. f Bildad the Shuhite one of the three intimate friends of Iob to prove the incomprehensible Justice of God said to him Doth God pervert Iudgement or doth the Almighty pervert Iustice c. Now the more just and unpartiall Magistrates are in the administration of justice the neerer they approach in imitation to that incomprehensible perfection of Justice that is in God For by him g Princes doe raigne and doe decree Justice c. for they are indeed his Deputies to administer Justice 4. The Lord was so well pleased to see Justice unpartially administred by the Rulers that returned from the Captivitie of Babylon that he bestowed this blessing upon Jerusalem for it The Lord blesse thee O habitation of Iustice and Mountaine of h holinesse c. Justice being reputed here for a speciall degree of holinesse 5. To administer Justice unpartially it is to obey the Commandement of the Lord Keepe ye i Iudgement for my Salvation is at hand c. and again Defend the poore and fatherlesse doe k Iustice to the afflicted and to the needy c. 6. The Lords wrath is inflamed when Justice is delayed or omitted They aske of me saith he the l Ordinances of Iustice c. meaning to rebuke
to follow like a slave the Triumphant Chariot of Paulus Aemilius his Conquerour And yet it is not to be doubted but this King had wise Counsellours and Politicians about him but God had decreed that the Kingdome of Macedonia should be of the number of those Kingdomes that should exalt the Romane Monarchy 4. The omission of the opportunity that h Antiochus the great had to proclaime warre against the Romanes when their forces were busied in Macedonia was the cause that he was defeated in divers battels constrained to make a dishonourable peace with the Romanes and that Armenia the great was presently after brought under the Romane yoke by Lucullus and Pompeius neither did this great Monarch want great Politicians and experienced Commanders for Hannibal attended at his Court but God had decreed that his large Dominions should increase the Romane Empire 5. The omission of the opportunitie that Mounsieur the i Lautrec Generall of the French in the Kingdome of Naples had to take the Citie of Naples if he had pursued the Prince of Orange as the rules of warre required after he had routed his Army was the cause of this valiant Commanders death and the losse of the whole Kingdome of Naples 6. The omission of the opportunity of an houres time that Henry the fourth k King of France had to defeat the Duke of Parme and all his Army at a strait passage leading to the ford of a small River three small Leagues from Paris where he had purposed to fall upon him was the cause he was constrained to raise his siege and to see before his face that great City relieved that was then reduced to extreme Misery by want of Provisions This slip of opportunity proceeding certainly from the secret will of God that decreed that Paris should be yeelded presently after to the will and obedience of her lawfull Prince without the shedding of a drop of bloud for Henry the fourth was one of the most active and experienced Commanders of that Age Now I come to prove by Instances out of the Word of God that all opportunities are guided and directed by the speciall providence of God 1. The favourable opportunity of l Rebekah comming the first of all the Virgins to the well according to the request of Abrahams servant cannot be said to be accidentall for the circumstances doe so clearly manifest that it was guided by a speciall Providence of God 2. The gracious opportunity of the m Ishmaelites comming by presently after Josephs brethren had cast him into a Pit that he might be sold and led into Egypt to become the preserver of all his fathers family came not casually but by a speciall and gracious providence of God proceeding from the love and care he hath of his Children 3. The blessed opportunity of n Pharaohs daughter comming down to wash her selfe at the River Nylus was not accidentall but directed by an admirable Providence of God to save Moses that he might be instructed in all the Sciences of the Egyptians to be more able to discharge the great and honourable charge the Lord had appointed him unto viz. to be the deliverer of his elected people of Israel that groaned under the cruell bondage of the Egyptians 4. The favourable opportunity for o Saul of the losse of the Asses of Kish his father came not accidentally but by a speciall Providence of God that Saul might be privately anointed King of Israel according to the will and pleasure of the Lord neither did those signes that the Prophet Samuel told him he should meet withall upon the way as he returned homeward happen casually but by the speciall Providence of God that the words he had spoken by his Prophet concerning the election of Saul to the Crowne of Israel might be confirmed 5. The gracious opportunity that p Hushat tooke by the fore-lock to overthrow the wise Counsell of Ahithophel came not accidentally but by an admirable Providence of God that Ahithophel might for his former impious Counsell concerning King Davids concubines runne head-long to confusion notwithstanding his worldly wisdome and that Absalom should receive the just reward of his persidious and abhorred rebellion against so loving a Father 6. The blessed opportunity that q Hezekiah King of Judah tooke upon the blasphemies of Rabshakeh against God and the Temple of Jerusalem to goe up into the House of the Lord and there rehearsed all the words of Rabshakeh and rent his clothes and humbled himselfe greatly was the cause that the Lord hearkened to his prayer and sent one of his Angels into the Camp of the Assyrians and smote one hundred and fourescore thousand of his men and caused Sennacherib to returne the same way he came 7. The gracious opportunity that r Nehemiah tooke upon the King Artaxerxes notice of his dejected countenance for his extraordinary humiliation because of the desolation of Jerusalem was the cause that he obtained a Commission from the King to erect again the Temple of Jerusalem and to restore there the true worship of God and to deliver from Captivity many thousands of the Jewes 8. The blessed opportunity that Queene s Esther took by the fore-lock to petition to the King Ahasuerus when he was invited to her banket for the preservation of herself and of her people was the cause of one of the greatest blessings that ever happened to the Church of the Jewes for it was the cause of the preservation of all the Nation of the Jewes and of the House and Family of King David from which our blessed Saviour according to the flesh was to descend and therefore an incomparable blessing By these and the former Instances we may see that the observations or omissions of all Spirituall Civill and Military opportunities depend upon the speciall Providence of God and that they are guided and directed by it to that end that God in his wisedome knowes to be most convenient to conduce to the greater advancement of his glory and the good of his Church And that we are to addresse our humble supplications to him alone if we intend for the future to prevent the slips of such opportunities as he shall be pleased to afford unto us againe or be able to embrace them as so many gracious mercies of his favour to us in Christ And that we are also to humble ourselves before our gracious God for having hitherto so carelesly omitted ten speciall opportunities that might greatly have conduced to obtaine a blessed peace and to procure a happy Period to this Unnaturall Warre if he had been pleased to have given us the grace to have embraced them by which omission of ours and by as many more faire opportunities omitted by the other party by the like Providence of his we may be perswaded upon a sure ground since it is his pleasure to poise in the balance of his divine Justice the events of this Unnaturall Warre so equally that our Humiliation
the true and faithfull Messengers of God that are among us might then be bold to propound to the people in their Sermons and publike Exhortations as r Elijah did to the People of Israel this Quaerie If the Lord be God follow him If Baal follow him for we cannot halt any longer between two opinions Moreover this Galimafrey of Sects and Religions and the licentious profane and impious men that shelter themselves in our Armies in the Citie and Counties are the very s Achans that are the cause of all our disgraces for they foment the contentions that arise between our Commanders in Chiefe betweene their Officers between the Lievtenants and the Committees of our Counties Nay they dare presume to foment them in our Senate Assembly between the Magistrates in our Militia Hals Citie and between the Citizens and Common People to the end they may subsist and fish in the muddy waters of these Civill distractions And therefore there is no likelihood that a true Reformation may be procured before these Sectaries and licentious persons be banished into the unknowne Islands that the venome of their contagious tenents may not infect no more any of the simple or ignorant souls of these three Kingdomes I am not ignorant that the Honourable Houses were very fervent at the beginning of this Parliament to give the precedencie of this intended Generall Reformation to the affaires of the Church and to the restoring of the Puritie of the Service and Worship of God and withall to have cleansed the Kingdom of this vermine of Sectaries and accursed thing of licentious and impious men as a most proper and peculiar work for such wise and pious Senators But alas our sins were the cause that this fervour was quenched and that holy resolution retarded by the cunning of Satan and the deluding insinuations of his agents I meane of the Prelacie and Jesuiticall faction which under the colour of the publike good infused the venome of these contagious positions into the hearts of men That there was neither Wisdome nor Policy to establish so speedily the Presbyterial Discipline in the Church of England because it would deprive the Parliament of the great contributions that might be collected out of the multitudes of these Sectaries that would rather goe beyond the Seas or side with the enemy then to submit or conforme themselves to that Discipline and that it were safer to delay till these differences were nearer to an Accommodation Wise and carnall men but blind and ignorant in spirituall things this Counsell being like to prove as fatall unto them as the counsel that t Ahithophel gave to Absalom to enter into his Fathers Concubines at noone day that he might make him uncapable of reconciliation with his father was to himselfe for it was as pernicious in a two-fold manner 1. That the Contributions of these Sectaries might prove among the Contributions of the Children of God as the mothers that breed or come in a piece of rich cloth that consume and spoile the same in a short time 2. That by the conniving at these Sectaries against the speciall Word of God we might be made irreconcileable with our gracious and heavenly Father And for to make this pernicious Counsell more plausible they said it was the Policy of the Hollanders that doe indeed give a free Toleration to all sorts of Religions because they are of all the Nations of Christendome the most addicted to the Laodicean Temper and will doe any thing for gain But this carnall Policy of theirs is like to prove fatall unto them for this Toleration of Religions hath already fomented so many divisions and contentions among them that will in all probabilitie be the cause of their ruine if they prevent it not by a speedy and a cordiall repentance for a Kingdome or a Common-weale divided within it selfe cannot u subsist And it is a wonder and a great mercy of God that we are not already consumed for never was a Kingdome more rent with divisions and contentions then England is Now it stands not with the Honour wisedome and pious inclination of the honourable Houses of Parliament to prefer carnall Counsels before the good of the Church of God They may be as prudent as serpents and as simple as doves but to allow of or connive at a small evill to avoide a greater it is not convenient to the Zerubbabels and the Nehemiahs of our times they are rather to say Should such a x man as I slee or should such men as we displease God in conniving for a time at Sectaries for their Contributions Alas these contributions are vanished away like the chaffe that is driven away by a whirle wind such a blow as we have had of late in the West would swallow three yeares of their Contributions and who can tell if it were not for their Toleration that it was given us and that these warres might have been ended two yeares agoe but for them But I am sure that y Achan was to be stoned before the Army of Israel could overcome Ai And that z Ionah was to be cast over-board into the sea before the ship and the Marriners could obtaine a calme Nay the erectors of our New Jerusalem are to be like Moses that rejected the honours riches and the pleasures of Egypt to suffer reproach and affliction with his brethren the Children of God And like Zerubbabel and Nehemiah that forsooke the great preferments that they had at the Court of Cyrus and of Artaxerxes the two great Kings of Persia for to erect the second Temple and restore the puritie of the ancient Service of the Jewes Now so much more as the building of this New Jerusalem doth exceed in worth and infatigable labour the reedifying of the old and as much as the restauration of the puritie of the Service and of the true Worship of God doth exceed the ancient Service of the Jewes So much should the Zerubbabels and the Nehemiahs of our daies endeavour to exceed in courage fervour and zeale in this great worke and acceptable Service of the Lord I meane in perfecting this true Reformation in hand But because they are but men and subject to the like passions and infirmities as we are we are all bound in generall and every one in particular to addresse our fervent prayers to the Throne of Grace That God will be pleased to indue them with all such abilities of courage resolution wisedome and unitie that they may speedily erect the foundations of this so long hoped for Jerusalem upon the Rock of the true Word of God that it may stand like Mount Sion for ever immoveable notwithstanding all oppositions whatsoever of the roaring waves of the swelling billowes and of the inraged seas of these Civill distractions to the great Glory of God to the everlasting Consolation of his Children and to the immortall honour of the Erectours The second Secondary Cause is The Delay of Iustice THe Heathen
Poets to induce men to reverence Justice fained her to be a Goddesse descended from Heaven wearing a skarfe over her eyes holding a paire of ballances in her left hand and a naked sword in her right To intimate by her skarfe her impartiality by the ballances her wisedome and by the sword her activity By her impartiality she is to make no distinction of persons whether they be noble rich or poore she is to doe Justice to all By her wisdome she is to poise a right all actions occurrences and circumstances whatsoever to aggrave or moderate her censure or judgement by her activity she is to be speedy avoiding delayes and reprives for time is a producer of accidents that perverts hinders the execution of Justice and so farre doth naturall morality instruct men concerning Justice But Gods Word and the Principles of Christianitie doth informe men That Justice is ordained of God and one of his greatest Attributes for he is as Just as Mercifull and that he hath intrusted the sword of Justice to Princes and Magistrates to execute impartially justly and speedily Justice and Judgement upon the sonnes of men that are naturally prone to evill and backward to good by the seed of their originall corruption that remaineth in them which like Tinder is apt to receive the sparkes of the fire that Satan strikes by the steele of his tentations out of those carnall objects that are more sutable to their naturall inclinations Now this aptnesse to evill increased by the allurements of Satan doth inflame their affections to all manner of licentious desires and by degrees drawes their will to assent to the execution of them and this execution or injoyment of sin doth create an habite in evill and this habite produceth an allowance of sinne that bringeth forth a shamelesse impudencie to uphold all manner of impiety and so by degrees conduces them to a hardnesse of heart and without a speciall Grace of God to a reprobate sense that would carry them head-long like wilde horses to eternall confusion if God by his Law and his restraining Spirit did not bridle their licentiousnesse Therefore knowing the naturall disposition of men he was pleased for to curbe their wicked inclination to write with his owne hand upon two Tables of stone his ten a Commandements for the regulating of his owne elected people of Israel over whom he committed his servant Moses and intrusted him with the sword of Justice as his speciall Deputy to administer Justice and Judgement to his People But he finding himselfe overburdered with so great a charge by the Counsell of Jethro appointed divers other subordinate Magistrates elected out of the wisest men of all the Tribes of Israel that judged the people but only in some difficult cases that he reserved to himselfe Now these ten Commandements have been and are the Ground-worke of all other divine and humane Lawes that have been multiplyed from time to time according to the increase of the malice and the impiety of men For in the yeare sixe hundred of the Foundation of Rome the Romanes had no Law for b Paricides but at that time an impious sonne having murdred his Father a law was made he should be sowne up into a lether sack and cast alive into the River of Tyber But it is not the multiplicity of Lawes that makes a Nation happy it is rather the speedy and the unpartiall execution of them for it fals out too often That delay of Justice is meere injustice because many men are undone by the long and tedious delayes of Justice and divers are constrained to suffer wrong rather then they will consume their estates in procuring of Justice Now if this multiplicity of Lawes are suffered to have a nose of wax that may be turned or construed on the right or on the left side as the Judge pleaseth Or like unto the she Spiders webb that serveth onely to insnare small flyes that the male Spider may devoure them but permits the bussing Waspe to breake thorow the same without impediment they will be like so many Leaches to suck the bloud of the common people and in a short time cast a Kingdome into intestine contentions as ours is at this time and all for want of the execution of the Lawes and wholesome Statutes that were established in Edward the sixth and Queene Elizabeths time against the Recusants and Sectaries The speedy and unpartiall execution of Justice is then the very Atlas that supports and maintaines a Kingdome in prosperitie and Peace It entertaines forraigne confederations It drawes the blessing of God upon it It foments love and unity among Subjects It increaseth Trade and commerce betweene Merchants and between Citizen Trades-men and countrey people Nay it is the very Court of Guard of all his Majesties Subjects In a word the Omission and delay of Justice is odious to God destructive to Kingdomes and fatall to families and private men the which I will endeavour to prove by Instances But that I may goe on in a Methodicall way I will in the first place insist upon the danger of the delay and the omitting of it Secondly upon the benefits that accrew upon the speedy and unpartiall execution of it And thirdly how acceptable a thing it is to God if Justice be uprightly administred and how odious it is to him if it be delayed or neglected 1. The Omission of Justice by c Tarquinius the Elder upon Sextus Tarquinius his sonne for the Rape of Lucretia was the cause that he and his Posteritie were deprived of the Romane Monarchy 2. The Omission of Justice by the nine Decemviri upon Appius Claudius their Collegue for his injustice and impiety concerning Virginia was the cause of the death of that chast d Virgin of the abhorred end of Appius of the perpetuall banishment of his nine fellow tyrants 3. The Omission of Justice by e Demetrius King of Macedonia to his poore Subjects for they having tendred him many Petitions to have their grievances redressed he cast them all into a river whereupon they were so incensed that they refused to assist him against his forraine enemies and so was deprived of his Kingdome and taken prisoner by Seleucus the great 4. The Omission of Justice by f Philip the first King of Macedonia upon some of his Favourites that had abused a Gentleman in his honour that petitioned for redresse was the cause that he was perfidiously murdered by the same Gentleman contrarie to the Lawes of God that doth not allow a Subject to avenge his private wrongs or to conceive an ill thought for them against his Soveraigne 5. The Omission of Justice by the g Ephores of the Lacedemonians upon two of their Military Officers for the committing of a Rape and Murder upon a Country-mans daughter was the cause that the Father of that Virgin slew himselfe out of despaire and that those two Officers and sixe thousand Lacedemonians more were slaine in a battell
whole Kingdome And this is the originall secondary cause of our state divisions from whence arose that unparalelled generall division and Antipathie of affections afore spoken of But these state divisions are not them that I purpose to speak of but only of those that raign and are fomented in the Religious partie and in all members of it of what degree soever And this proceeds specially from diversity of opinions in matter of Religion as I have said already in another place which is a greater signe that the wrath of God is greatly inflamed against us for it is against the course of nature against the Lawes of Nations and against the Principles of Religion That those that protest to fight for the true reformed Religion The Priviledges of Parliament The Lawes of the land And the Libertie of the Subjects should endeavour as much as it is possible for them to ruinate all these things at a blow by their daily contentions grounded many times upon punctilloes of vanity which they term honour But it is a vain and a carnall one and not a reall or Spirituall for the true and spirituall Honour is to be lowly and humble in our own eyes for the more we are such the more honourable we are before God and religious men Moreover every time we contend and hinder the Cause by our contentions everytime we breake our vowes and the solemne Covenant we have made lately before our God But to restraine or appease if it be possible these generall Contentions I will prove by Instances what danger there is to foment them first between particulars and families Secondly between Common-weales and lastly between Kingdomes and Empires 1. The envie and contention that Satan fomented betweene Cain and a Abel and between Romulus and b Remus was the cause the two elder brethren murdred their two younger brethren 2. The envie murmures and contentions fomented by Satan in the hearts of the sonnes of Laban was the cause that Iacob departed from c Laban and returned discontented to Canaan with all his substance 3. The spirit of division and contention that Satan infused by the permission of God betweene Abimelech and the men of Shechem because of the murder of the threescore and ten sons of d Zerubbabel was the cause of Abimelechs shamefull end and of the utter destruction of the men of Shechem 4. The contentions that were fomented in Carthage between Amilicar and e Hano and their families was the cause of the desolation and ruine of their Common-weales 5. The contentions that grew from a triviall occasion and fomented by the envie and ambition that raigned in f Marius and Sylla filled the City of Rome and all Italy with murders and bloud 6. The contentions fomented between Pompeius and g Caesar by their ambition and pride inflamed the fire of a cruell Civill warre in Europa Asia and Affrica 7. The contentions increased by favourites and factious Courtiers between h Augustus Caesar and Marcus Antonius divided the world into two parties and filled the same with miseries and desolations 8. The contentions and divisions that were fomented between the i Emperours of Constantinople and their adjacent neighbours the Christian Princes was the cause of the losse of the East parts of the world and that the two Empires of Trebisonde and of Constantinople were reduced to the eternall dishonour of all Christendome under the insulting yoke of the Barbarous Turkes 9. The contentions fomented betweene the House of Austria and the Houses of Valois and k Bourbon have been and are still the cause of great effusion of Christian bloud and for no other cause but for the Precedencie and an ambitious desire of Superiority 10. The ambitious contentions of the Houses of l Orleance and of Bourgundy were the cause of the murder of two Dukes and of the death of many thousand men 11. The contentions fomented between the Houses of m Lancaster and York were the cause of the death of the greater part of the English Nobility and of the desolation of many Counties of this Kingdome 12. The contention fomented in Fance by the Spanish faction between the Royalist and the Catholike n League and of late yeares in Germany have been the cause of the death of divers millions of Christians whose lives might have been better imployed to destroy the enemies of Christendome But because the emulations contentions and the Antipathy of affections betweene Commanders in Chiefe are very dangerous I will shew here by instances that other Nations have to their cost as well as we found that it is perillous and destructive to a state to employ two Commanders in Chiefe in one and the same designe or Service if there be an Antipathy of affections between them 1. The emulation and contention that was naturally between o Appius Claudius and Lucius Volumnius Generals of the Romanes had like to have overthrowne their Common-weale if it had not been suddenly prevented by the Senate 2. The emulation and contention that grew between Fabius Maximus Generall and p Munitius the Master of his Horse had beene fatall to the Romanes if Fabius for the good and love of his Countrey had not with admirable humility and meeknesse endured the affronts of Munitius and relieved him in his eminent danger rather then let him perish to vindicate himselfe 3. The emulation and contention that was fomenced by some factious men betweene the two French Generals sent into Italy by Lewis the twelfth the Lord q Aubigni and the Lord Trivulce had been the cause of the losse of all Lombardia for what the one built with one hand the other flung downe with another If that wise King hearing of it had not presently sent them as far distant one from another as Picardy is distant from Lombardia The Antipathie of affections and the contentions that had been fomented formerly between the r Admirall de Villars and the Duke of Boullion when he first sided with the League and the other with the Royalists But being at that time all reconciled and united under the Service of Henry the fourth King of France They were with equall Authority and Power sent by the King to besiege Douclance and to over-runne and waste the Countie of Artois the Spaniards dominion but meeting a strong Army of the enemies they came to a fight wherein the Admirall furiously and valiantly ingaged himself so deep with a Regiment of horse in the midst of the Battalia of the enemies hoping it seemes to be as well seconded by the Duke that he was slaine and the greater part of this Regiment His death and want of reliefe being imputed to proceed from the sparkes of the fire of the former division of affections that were not utterly quenched in the brest of the Duke And so for a private vindication a great part of the French Army was routed and the siege of Dourlance retarded Many other Instances
might be produced to prove how dangerous it is for a State to employ Commanders in Chiefe in one Service that have had formerly or may yet have secretly some Antipathie of affections so much predominant are the passions of men over their naturall reason except they be curbed and restrained by a great measure of supernaturall Grace Now having sufficiently described some part of the deformity and of the dangerous effects of this fury of contention and division I come to shew the sweet Harmony and the excellent fruits of Unity and Concord The whole frame of nature without Concord and Unity would suddenly be changed into a Chaos of confusion if the powerfull hand of the Almighty did permit contention to raigne between any of the elements for we see what strange combustions happen in the aire for a small distemper that befals sometimes between the Meteors Concord and Unity is the humane saviour and preserver of Kingdomes and Common-weales A s Kingdome divided against it selfe cannot subsist saith our Saviour And how much lesse shall a weaker party subsist if it be divided by contentions and Antipathies of affections as ours is It was an ingenious Metaphor used by a Scythian t King to induce his sonnes to Unity To command a servant of his to bring before him a bundle of Arrowes knit together and to charge his sonnes one after another to endeavour to breake the same but they were not able whereupon he bad them to take them one by one and they brake them all easily Even so said he to them If you remaine constantly united one with another it will be impossible for the neighbour Nations to subdue or overcome you but if you let divisions and contentions be fomented among you you will become the prey of your meanest enemies And for the greater confirmation of the point I will endeavour to prove it by Instances both ancient and moderne 1. As long as the Ancient Greeks continued in unitie one with another it was impossible for u Philip the first King of Macedonia to reduce them into servitude But as soon as they by the covetousnesse of some of their Oratours were divided into factions it was an easie thing for him and Alexander the great his sonne to deprive them of their liberty 2. As long as the Romane Senatours were linked in unity one with another the Romane liberty was preserved and their Common-weale flourished and commanded the greater part of the world but as soon as they were divided into factions some for x Pompeius other for Caesar other for Crassus and other for Lepidus Caesar in a short time deprived them of their liberty 3. As long as the ancient y Gaules and Britanes were united together they flourished and sacked the Citie of Rome But when they were divided into factions by the Romane agents they were in a short time subdued by the Romanes 4. The Unitie and Concord that was among the z Commanders in Chiefe of the Protestant Party in the Civill warres of France was the only meanes after Gods favour of their subsistance for one cannot otherwise chuse that reads that History but admire the wisdome and meeknesse of the Admirall of Chatillon and the great industry he used to accord with the incompatible dispositions and naturall inclinations of some that were violent and fiery in all their designes and enterprises as was the Prince of Conde and Monsieur Dandelot and others yet with his humility and meeknesse he did quench all contentions that did arise from this Antipathy of dispositions and kept alwayes their will and affections constantly united to the Generall Cause 4. The unity and concord that was between Fabius Maximus P. b Decius two great Generals and Scipio and Lellius two other great Commanders was wonderfully profitable to the Romane Common-weale and that of Phocion and of Aristides to the Athenians Common-weale 5. The unity of c Themistocles and Aristides that were otherwise mortall enemies in their private affaires was extremely profitable to all the Greeks in the Councell of warre that was called by Euripidias their Generall before the battell of Salamine for their unity in opinion was the cause to obtaine that famous victory and of the preservation of all the Greeks 6. As long as the Duke of d Sommerset and the Lord Admirall his brother in the time of Edward the sixth King of England were united and linked in love and affections one with the other they preserved their credit and honours at Court against all their opposites But as soon as they came to be disunited and that by the instigations of their Ladies private discontents and contentions were fomented the Lord Admirall was presently arraigned by the connivance and the want of the assistance and support of the Lord Protector his brother and he himselfe shortly after by the potency of his adversaries brought to the same miserable end To conclude this point all the well affected Christians are obliged to pray daily to our gracious God that he will be pleased to indue abundantly the honourable Houses our Commanders in Chiefe the Assembly of Divines the Civill Magistrates the Militia the Committees in the City and in all the well-affected Counties the Citizens and common people with this speciall grace of Unity and Concord and with an unanimous spirit and resolution to maintaine his Truth his sacred Majesties just Prerogative the Priviledges of Parliament the Lawes of the Land and the Liberties of the Subject according to our last Covenant The fifth Secondary Cause is The unknowne Method of our Warre OF all the Judgements of God that are familiar to men the Pestilence the Famine and the Sword are reputed to be the greatest And of these three Warre is esteemed the most dreadfull And of all Warres the Civill is conceived to be the most destructive And therefore it is no wonder when the Lord sent his Prophet Gad to King David saying a Thus saith the Lord Choose thee Either three yeeres famine or three monthes to be destroyed before thy foes while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee or else three dayes the sword of the Lord even the Pestilence c. if that good King did rather chuse to fall into the hand of the Lord for very great are his mercies then into the hands of cruell men Neither doe we finde in any ancient or moderne Histories that any Nation or Kingdome hath been utterly destroyed by the Pestilence or the famine for these two Judgements proceed more immediately from the hand of God that is mercifull and leave alwayes a remnant as an evidence to men of his incomprehensible compassions and mercies But Warre seemes more to proceed from men yet there is not any warre that hath any beginning continuance or end without the speciall will and pleasure of God that are of a more cruell disposition then Tygers when the Lord hath cast the bridell of permission over their neckes And
growne more opulent in wealth then all other Nations in Christendome This may seeme a paradox to some yet it is most certain for although the French are extraordinarily burdened with taxes yet because the Countrie men are freed from plundering and pillaging and their cattell and corne secured and trades men set at worke and the commerce of all manner of Commodities in request to furnish the great Armies they entertaine upon the enemies frontiers the money of their contributions remaineth in the Kingdome as it goes out of one hand for taxes and contributions so it comes in on the other for the great utterance they have of all their Commodities But alas it is cleane contrary in this Civill and Unnaturall Warre of ours for the trading and commerce is utterly decaid in the City and in all the Boroughs and Market Townes of the Kingdome most of the Countrey people are plundered of their moneys goods and cattell the Gentlemen have their grounds cast up upon their hands although they pay all charges and abate halfe their rent and no redresse to be had and the Sequestrations of the one side or the other bring them to penury and disable them be they never so willing to contribute any longer to this warre by which meanes this Kingdome is likely to fall into an incurable consumption because of three pernicious qualities besides the miseries above-said that pertaine to her alone and not to other Civill warres 1. It is of a consuming nature 2. It is accompanied with an unparalelled infidelity 3. It is of an unknowne Method I. For her consuming nature it may justly be compared to the Hectick Feaver that consumes not onely the flesh of all the members of the body but also by degrees the vitall spirits the radicall humours and the very marrow in the bones of her patients untill she hath brought them to their grave more like an Anatomy then a Corps Or like unto a fire kindled in a house seated in one of the corners of a long street the flames of which fire being driven by a violent wind along that row of houses doth at last consume the whole street for want of pulling down speedily three or foure houses next to that house that was first of all set on fire to stop the flames of it to proceed any further Even so the flames of the fire of this unnaturall warre that brake forth in the North was driven by the violent winds of jealousie and discontent into the North West and then to the South West and at last to the furthest part of the West and so by degrees hath consumed already three parts of the Kingdome and left in the other part but a small degree of vitall spirits for want of pulling down three or foure houses to stop the flame of it from going any further I meane for want of such Counsell as was given to g Charles the seventh King of France by his wise Counsellours that he should give over to quench the fire of the Civill contentions fomented between the Houses of Orleance and Burgundy that had almost consumed his Kingdome into the hands of Justice at the request of Philip Duke of Burgundy some of his Favourites that had their hands in the murder of his father to which Counsell he condescended unto although this murder had been committed with his assent whereby such a firme reconciliation was procured between these two Houses that it fell out to be the secondary Cause of the restoring of that desolated Kingdome into its former flourishing Estate Or for want after the Noble Ambassage and the humble Petitions of the Honourable Houses had been rejected to have sent speedily a thousand horse in the North untill a strong Army had been sent to stop the flames of this fire to goe beyond the River of Trent But by our accustomed delayes and the small forces that were sent to Woster the fire of this Unnaturall Warre hath spread it selfe as it is to be seen at this present day and is like to spread further and to consume the rest if God in his Mercy prevent it not and induce the Honourable Houses to change the Method of this lingring and destructive Warre II. For the unparallelled infidelity of some of the Agents of one of the partiés all the Civill warres of the ancient Greeks and Romanes or of the moderne intestine warres of the French and the Germane Nation cannot produce so much infidelity and apostacy as may be collected out of these three yeares warre For where they sided at the first they remained constant to the last in that party and never deserted the same untill an Accommodation was procured Nay divers of them have sealed their constancie with their h death rather then to accept of their liberty upon condition to serve against their party But divers of ours that make show to fight for Religion more then for pay betray the trust reposed in them and doe us more mischiefe then any of the contrary party And it is no wonder for Christian Runagadoes are more cruell to Christians then the naturall Turks and the Protestant Apostates are greater enemies to the godly then the professed Papists and the hypocriticall Saints are more violent against the true Power of Godlinesse then the Prince of darknesse The cause of this infidelity may proceed 1. From the toleration of divers religions for men that are not well grounded in the true Principles of Religion are never cautious of their wayes and will betray their own fathers for money 2. From the great Clemencie of the Honourable Houses for if the perfidious Synons of the North had been severely punished so many Iudasses would not have been found in the West to procure that blow that we have received there lately Clemencie is an Heroicall vertue but infidelitie is incapable of it because it is so pernicious a seed that except it be pulled up by the root it will over-grow the garden of the Common-weale 3. From the partiall election of our politick and Military Officers that are for the greater part preferred by favour and not for their sincerity in Religion or for their integrity and wisdome in politick or Civill affaires nor for their valour or experience in Martiall exploits but for feare to displease or to please some in Authoritie and that is the reason why we have so many weake Committees in the City and in our Counties and so many unexpert Commanders and Officers in our Armies that dare not look the enemies in the face nor know not how to leade a Troope of horse to a charge nor set a Company of foot in a posture of defence And these are they that out of timiditie inconstancie and for want of experience in warlike affaires spinne out this unnaturall Warre by surrendring of places of great concernement that will prove deare favours unto us The remedy of this is to punish severely the Synons of these dayes and to imitate in our elections the method and
wisedome of k Charles the fifth King of France for it is recorded that he never elected any of his Chiefe Commanders or Officers of warre or any of his Counsellours of State Judges or Magistrates to favour any of his favourites or at the sute of any of his Peeres but for their own merits made known to him by their former actions in Military Politick and Civill employments And by this Method and unpartiality in his elections there never was King more successefull in his Military enterprises nor more happy in his Politick Resolutions nor more beloved of his Subjects because Justice was unpartially administred in his dayes III. For the unknowne Method of this warre it is different from the Method of the ancient Greeks and Romanes and from the moderne Method of the most warlike Nations of these dayes In these particulars 1. In the true season of warre 2. In our Scouts 3. In our marches 4. In our preparations 5. In our Discipline 6. In our rules of warre 7. In the stratagems of war 8. In the true Maximes of warre 1. In the season of our warre There hath been from time to time one season more fit and convenient for warre then another as it may appeare 1. Chron. 20. 1. l At the time that Kings go out to battell Ioab led forth the power of the Army and wasted the countrey of the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah c. But because the seasons doe differ according to the climate of the seat of every Countrie or Nation I will ground this observation according to the Climate of those that come nearest to ours In * Affrica the latter end of February was the ordinary season for Armies to take the field In Italy in the midst of March and in France in the beginning of April so that our most convenient season should be to take the field at the furthest in the midst of April and to withdraw our armies into their garrisons at Holland Tide or at the latter end of October But if we made use of Tents as we should indeed for the greater expedition of this warre then we might conveniently keepe the field untill the latter end of November But as the watermen that row against tide make lesse speed and have far more labour to goe to their Journies end then those that take the opportunity of the Tyde Even so to spinne out this Warre and to increase the labours of it and to waste our men and money we ordinarily imploy the greater part of the Winter time in actions of warre and suffer the Summer to passe away in recruiting our Armies or in our preparations of warre whereas Winter is the most convenient time to raise and inrole Forces and Reserves to recruit those Forces and to get ready all manner of provisions and necessary implements for warre And this is a great cause of the spinning out of the publike miseries 2. In our Scouts One of the greatest Secondary causes of the spinning out of this warre is our want of faithfull and diligent Scouts The City of London should never be without sixteen young active and faithfull Scouts that it might have every other day true intelligence from all the parts of the Kingdome and every day from our Armies for it would be the best spent mony of any and that would soon come in again twenty for one besides it would prevent many false rumours that are daily spread in the City greatly prejudiciall to the City and State Moreover for want of faithfull Scouts the City may very well be surprised or taken unprovided of many necessaries for a defensive posture as many other have been for want of them and divers others preserved by the speedy activity of their Scouts as I might prove by instances if I did not feare to make this Treatise greater then I purpose to doe And for our Armies faithfull and active Scouts would be the only preservation of them and the way to prevent for the time to come the slips of such Military opportunities that they have lost heretofore but these Scouts are to be experienced souldiers and very swift horsemen and not sillie countrey men or unexpert souldiers but such as are acquainted with all the stratagems of warre and that have the capacity to judge by the march of the enemies their project or intentions m Asdrubal Generall of the Carthaginians was defeated and all his Army for want of diligent Scouts for he never was acquainted that Claudius Nero and his Army was joyned with his Collegue Marcus Livius untill his Army was routed and himself mortally wounded 2. n Lewis the eleventh and Charles Duke of Burgundy and both their Armies were extremely terrified and amazed and like to fly away by the false report their Scouts brought to them that both Armies were advancing because they judged in a misty morning some high thistles that grew upon a high and long banck in the fields between the two Armies to be so many Regiments of their enemies Lanciers 3. o Marcellus an active and valiant Generall of the Romanes was slaine and his Collegue mortally wounded and his men defeated by Hannibal for want of faithfull Scouts to discover an Ambush that was laid to intrap them 4. Tiberius p Graccus and all his followers were slain by another Ambush of Hannibals for want of Scouts to discover the same 5. And q Crassus a Romane Commander was preserved and all his followers by the diligence of his Scouts 6. Sir William Waller was surprised the last yeare at the Vises and my Lord Generall was insnared this Summer in Cornwall for want of faithfull Scouts for to acquaint the one in time of the sudden coming of the enemies and the other of the straites and narrow passages to Foy The want then of diligent and faithfull Scouts in the City and in our Armies is a Cause of the spinning out of this Unnaturall Warre 3. In our Marches The Romane Souldiers did alwayes march when they did intrench themselves in a fortified Camp r eight miles a day and carried upon their backs three dayes provision their Armes and a Pallisado for the parapet of their Camp and when they carryed nothing but their Armes and three dayes provision they marched 16. miles a day the Germans in Hungaria marched in my time three Germane leagues which is 15. miles when they had Waggons to carry their Lumber and the French Armies march ordinarily 5. French Leagues that is above ten miles a day and Claudius Nero marched with his Army sevenscore miles in six dayes by which activity and swift March he defeated Hannibals brother and all his Army And s Caesars Marches were so swift that he and his Army passed the Craggie mountaines of the Alpes before the Romane Senate could have intelligence by their Scouts that he was departed out of France But our Armies require six weekes time to march sixscore miles which is the overthrow of all
Martiall expeditions and the cause of the spinning out of this Unnaturall Warre for by these long and tedious Marches the enemies conjoyne their Forces or recruite their scattered Armies and so make our designes vanish away to smoake In a word speed and activity in all Military attempts is as needfull as valour to conduce an intestine warre as ours is to a blessed Period 4. In our Preparations If our Marches are tedious our preparations are yet longer and yet we omit in them the most necessarie implements of warre I meane Tents Pick-axes Shovels and Spades Waggons Hand-barowes and Wheele-barowes Tortues Mantelets and Ladders If the Militia of the City of London doth then desire to see a speedy and a blessed end of this unnaturall warre they are to provide this Winter these necessaries following for if our Armies were provided with them they would expedite more warlike attempts in one month then they can now doe in three months as it shall be proved when I come to speake of intrenching and sieges 1. They should alwayes have ready twelve hundred Tents of six yards broad and eight yards long 2. Foure hundred Waggons two hundred of them close covered and two hundred uncovered 3. Foure hundred Ladders two hundred of sixteen foot long and two hundred of twelve foot long 4. Fourescore light flat botes to crosse Rivers 5. Foure hundred Barowes two hundred with Wheeles and two hundred Hand-barowes 6. Twenty Tortues and twenty Mantelets that are Engines that goe upon Wheeles to preserve Souldiers from the Musket-shot when they make their approaches and are to be so made that they may suddenly be dismounted and carried in Waggons 7. Two thousand Pick-axes two thousand Shovels two thousand Spades 8. Eight Sommes of six peny Nailes foure Sommes of ten peny nailes and two Sommes of double ten peny nailes 9. Foure hundred deale boards of twelve foot long and foure hundred round deale Poles of twelve foot long and of six Inches thick 10. And twelve Canons twenty-foure Colverins forty eight Drakes ready mounted with all their appurtenances Balls Pouder and Match proportionable 11. One hundred Ovens of iron plate to bake a Bushell of bread at a time 12. Forty Bakers forty Brewers forty Butchers twelve young Carpenters with their Tooles and twelve Commissaries of Victuals having every one of them six Waggons apiece belonging to themselves to provide the Army with all maner of Provisions for if this warre continue but one yeere longer our Armies will be famished and not able to advance because the Counties will be so desolated except there be Commissaries of Victuals appointed to provide the Armie by Waggons out of the Adjacent Counties But some will say you perswade us to incredible and unnecessarie charges for the greater part of these things we can procure in those Counties thorow which our Armies doe march or intend to lay siege against any of the enemies Garrisons I answer it is a great improvidence for an Army to be without the necessaries that belong to it and we know by experience that before the Countrie can be summoned to bring in Ladders Barowes Pick-axes Shovels and Spades for that only can be found in the Country that an Army may be intrenched about a Garrison Towne and suppose they bring them in sooner yet are they so worn broken and out of repaire that they are of no service but to spinne out time I remember when one of our Armies was last yeare to storme or to scale Basing House that they were constrained to send to London to have them made and so lost a fortnight of faire weather and then when the Ladders came the weather being rainy and cold they were inforced to raise the siege for want of Tents Now had they had all these implements with them they had come off with honour and taken that house and not left the worke to be done this yeare or for the next as they carry themselves before it The very charges then that hath been cast away about that house would have paid for ten times as many implements as are here specified besides the losse of the time which is worth as much more and the blemish of the reputation of the undertakers which is more then all the rest I conclude then that an Army is not to advance without all these implements to crosse Rivers to besiege Townes to intrench it selfe to make mines to erect plat-formes gabions and to storme or assault strong-holds without loosing halfe a dayes time by staying for materials to hinder their prosecution in any warlike attempt 5. In our Discipline Our indulgence in Military Discipline is also a great cause of the spinning out of this warre for Souldiers doe what they please their Generals Commands are not regarded at all For an Officer this Summer against the speciall order of his Commander forsook his Station and by it indangered the whole Army and was the cause of the losse of many valiant men And in the West many have this Summer forsaken their Station appointed by their Generall and by their disobedience sold his honour and Reputation And the last Brigade of the five Regiments that went out of the City notwithstanding that an Order was expresly published a moneth afore they went out to be ready at an houres warning yet there went out very few with their colours but lingered away the time two or three dayes our runawayes are neither degraded nor punished and that is the cause they make a custome of it as they have lately done at Banbury where three moneths time and a great summe of money hath been cast away If any t Officer or Souldier among the Romanes did forsake the Station appointed to him by his Generall it was present death if Souldiers did not go out of the City with their colours they were tried by a Councell of warre if they runned away before the enemies the tenth man suffered for it the Officers were degraded and the rest cashiered The ten u thousand that ran away from the battell at Cannes notwithstanding the Romane Common-weale had never so much need of men as at that time yet all the Commanders and Officers were degraded of their Nobility and cashiered for ever to beare Armes and the common Souldiers banished for ten yeare into Sicile And surely if our Military Discipline be not reduced to the Roman austerity or after the Greeks that was that all runawayes should stand three market * dayes in womens apparell upon a stage to be derided at for their cowardize all will goe to confusion and this Unnaturall warre will be spinned out till there be no more oyle in the lamp of this Kingdome to give it life 6. In our Rules of warre The order or rules of warre were never so neglected as they are in our dayes 1. In intrenchments 2. In fortifying Camps 3. In scaling 4. In mining 5. In storming 6. In our manner of assaults Of all which particulars I shall speake of as briefly as
may be 1. How we are to intrench our selves in a siege By the Rules of warre a Commander in Chiefe that undertakes to besiege any strong hold if he doth not begirt the same with a strong trench and incamp his Army in a fortified Camp in a fortnights time and chance to be routed or constrained to raise his siege is to be tried by a councell of Warre This ancient Romane Law hath been lately revived in France and many have been punished for neglecting of it And a Commander in Chiefe in Artois had lost his head for it about three yeares since if some great ones had not obtained his pardon And our neglect of it hath been a great cause of the spinning out of this warre for by this onely neglect we have been foiled at Newark at Basing house both this yeare and the last and now of late in Cornwall and at Banbury Castle And had also been foiled at York if God in his mercy had not prevented the same All intrenchments are to be lined and directed by an experienced Engineer that may according to the situation of the hold and the small or great circumference of it order the same after a regular or irregular forme if it be but a Castle or a house a square or a long square or a Patagonde forme will serve the turne so there befoure or five small Redoubts to flanke the trenches if it be such another Towne as Newarke an Octogone forme will serve so there be two bridges erected over the river and two small redoubts erected to secure them that the one side may be presently relieved by the other if it be a great City the Dyadecagone forme is to be used and the trenches are to be lined within pistoll-shot from the wals or rampiars for the neerer the safer And for the approches that are of al things the most dangerous they are to be directed by the Engineers by whose advice and some Mantelets to preserve the Pioners from the enemies musket shot there will be no great losse so there be Brigades appointed to stand ready to hinder the Sallies out of the enemies Two good Engineers in a siege may doe more service to the state then a thousand men by their counsell and directions And for want of experienced ones we are daily foiled there can be no money better imployed nor that will be more beneficiall to the State then by a good round pay to procure the most ingenious and experienced Engineers that can be obtained 2. Of a fortified Camp There is no erecting of fortified Camps without Tents and that is the reason why I presse the Militia to have a thousand or twelve hundred alwayes ready of that size spoken of for to expedite sieges that will be long and tedious without them and will consume a number of men by diseases but having Tents a fortified Camp is to be erected upon a raising ground without Cannon shot of the Towne if it be no bigger then Newark one fortified Camp will serve so it be seated in the midway of the circumference of the Trenches between the two Bridges that reliefe may be sent to all the trenches speedily but if it be a great City that hath a river running in the midst of it then there is to be two fortified Camps on either side at a just distance on both sides of the river I meane that there may be no more distance on the right hand to the river side then on the left and from each of the two Camps there are lines of Communication to be made to relieve without danger the trenches or the two Brides that are erected on both sides the City I will therefore set out the proportion of a fortified Camp to containe twelve hundred Tents of that size abovesaid that will harbour foure thousand horse and eight thousand foot with conveniencie if the Army be greater it is to be increased if smaller it is to be diminished proportionably The forme of this Camp is to be square and of six hundred yards on each side of the square that makes foure and twenty hundred yards of continent and is to have foure bulwarks at the foure Corners to set two pieces of Ordnance in each bulwarke for to flanke the Dikes of it that are to be of six yards broad and foure yards deep the rampier to be of six yards thick in the bottome and of foure yards thick at top and three yards high besides the Parapet that is to be foure foot high and two yards thick This Camp is to have foure broad gates one in the midst of each side of the square and a square market place of two hundred yards one each side of the square that make eight hundred yards of continent just in the midst of the Camp then it is to have foure broad streets that are to be drawne upon a strait line from every gate to the market place of twelve yards broad in manner of a perfect crosse and foure great streetes more drawne out from one corner of the Camp to the other and every one distant from the rampiar ten yards that the souldiers may without impediment come from all parts to defend the rampier Now the foure angles that remaine are to containe the Tents that are to be set up back to back and on both sides a street of eight yards broad to come in to the Tents the ends of which are to be close together that there may be no passage between them The two Angles toward the South are to be reserved for the lodging of men and the other toward the North for the horse The Generals Tent and other Chiefe Officers Tents are to be set up in the foure corners of the streetes next to the market place that all the officers may the more speedily repaire to him and the Courts of guard are to be placed in the eight Tents that make the eight corners of the foure Crosse streetes next to the gates A Camp thus fortified and so ordered having lines of Communication to the trenches of the circumference that begirt the Towne or City will be able to make good a siege against an Army that should come to raise the same of forty thousand men as Caesar did in * Affrica before Adrumet and Henry the fourth did before x Amiens against the Archduke Mathias and the last King of Sweden before y Norenberg against the Duke of Walstaine This fortified Camp may be finished by six thousand foot souldiers in eight dayes if the Army be provided as it is abovesaid so the souldiers have but four pence a day paid them every night above their pay as a gratuity to encourage them in this work and a Towne so besieged will be sooner reduced in a moneths time then it will be in three moneths if the Army quarter in the adjacent villages and with more ease and lesse danger of the enemies or of any diseases to infect the Army for in such a Camp with
this perseverance You acknowledge will they say in your last Chapter that our Civill warre is the greatest evill and the most dreadfull judgement of God that could fall upon this nation And notwithstanding you perswade us to persevere in it and complaine that the want of our perseverance in it is the cause of the spinning out of this war which seemes a paradox to us because we conceive the lesse we persevere in it the sooner we shall have an end of it I answer that I do not perswade any to persevere in this war to the end to prolong the same but to endeavour by a constant Perseverance in Armes to obtaine by Gods favour a blessed peace from which we are deprived yeare after yeare by our want of perseverance in Military actions as it shall be proved in this Chapter Neither doe I complaine onely that it is the cause of the spinning out of our miseries But do also wish that my head were full of d water and mine eyes a fountain of teares that I might weep day and night for the desolations that this unnaturall war and this want hath brought already upon this Nation The which to redresse if it be possible I will endeavour to prove that a constant perseverance in all professions is the way to attain to honour in this life to peace in this world and to eternall blisse in the life to come If a tradesman be indued with this gift of a constant perseverance in his trade he will excell all others in excellencie of worke If a merchant be indued with this gift he will excell all other merchants in wealth and commerce if a student be indued with this gift he will excell his fellowes and will attaine to great promotion before them If a Statesman be indued with this gift he will excell in Policy and reasons of State all his fellow Councellours If a simple Christian be indued with this gift of a constant perseverance in the wayes of Righteousnesse he will excell the learned Doctors in the power of Godlinesse and dive deeper in the Mysterie of our Salvation and in the Resolutions of difficult cases of Conscience then they shall If a Commander in Chiefe be indued with this gift above others he will excell all other Commanders of that age in Martiall exploits As it shall appeare by these great Commanders hereafter expressed because they persevered in Arms from their youth to the end of their lives Publius e Scipio rescued his father in a battell out of the enemies hand at fifteen yeares of age and at five and twenty he was Generall in Chiefe for the Romanes in Spaine and in Affrica f Hannibal was sent from Carthage into Spaine to be trained up in Armes under Asdrubal Generall of the Carthaginians at nine yeares of age g Pompeius the great appeased a mutiny in his fathers Camp at fifteen yeares of age and triumphed at Europe Asia and Affrica before he was thirty yeares of age Alexander the h great conquered the greater part of the world before he was three and thirty yeares of age i Caesar was a Commander in Chief at two and twenty yeares of age and for his active and constant Perseverance in Armes he excelled all the Commanders that ever were to this day k Henry the fourth King of France was sent to the Protestant Army at eighteen years of age and was their Commander in Chiefe at two and twenty Gustavus the last King of Sweden was trained up in Armes very young under his father and persevered constantly in Military exploits in Polonia Lituania Prussia and in Germany till he was slaine in the second battell of Lipsick And so all these admirable Commanders crowned their heads with Military Trophees by a constant perseverance in Armes But these following perished or blemished their reputation by their discontinuance in Military exploits m Marcus Antonius the competitor of Augustus Caesar in the Empire for want of this constant perseverance in Armes was surprised by the activitie of Augustus his Army defeated and he himselfe inforced to fly to Alexandria where he slew himselfe The Noble Prince of Transilvania n Sigismundus Battor that was in his youth the Bulwarke of Christendome against the Turkish Invasions and had defeated in open field Sinan Bassa the Grand Visier of the Ottoman Emperour for want of this constant Perseverance in Armes made over his Principality of Transilvania for a petty Countie in Slesia and a yearly revenew to the Emperour Rodolphus to the great blemish of his former reputation and to the incredible losse of Christendome o Henry the third King of France by his discontinuance in Armes lost the honour he had obtained in his youth in Military exploits and was inforced to give over the managing of his Army to the Duke of Guise and to some others of his Abbettors of the House of Lorraine whereby he came to be so despised of his Nobility and of his meanest Subjects that they grew so impious as to plot and combine in his own court the Catholique League that endeavoured to dis-throne this indulgent King but their plot being prevented by the death of the Duke of Guise they caused him to be perfidiously murdred by a Jacobin Friar The victorious Army of p Hannibal was utterly overthrowne for want of Perseverance in Armes for in stead to keepe the same in their Winter Camp as his use was he lodged them in the lascivious City of Capua whereby they became so effeminate that they lost by it their former valour and could never be reduced againe to their austere Military Discipline And for this reason did q Marius and divers other wise Commanders of the Romans keepe their Armies in their Winter Camps farre from any Citie or Market Townes that they might exercise their souldiers in the austere labours of war and rather then they should be idle for idlenesse breeds licentiousnesse they kept them at work in digging deep channels to come out of one River into another to inrich the Countrey by Navigation This point deserves to be taken into consideration by them in Authoritie that the Winter quarter of our Army may be placed upon the enemies Counties and as far distant from the City of London as may be for it is the bane of our Officers and souldiers because they grow licentious and effeminate by their swilling and drinking in the City all the Winter time whereas if they lay constantly in their Winter quarter farre from the City and in the enemies Counties they would be constrained to be in action and this would inable them in the perseverance of the austere labours of war and greatly preserve our Counties that are now wasted by our owne Armies and by degrees would reduce the enemies to that smallor circumference of ground of which I have spokē of before Now we may conceive by all these Instances how necessary it is for us to obtaine this constant perseverance in