and Oracle of Anti-Monarchical Meâ— would perswade us Cal. Inst lib. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 8. being of God own appointment choice and establishment amongst his peculiar people the Tribes of Israel for whom it oughâ— not to be doubted but he would chuse the best amongst all the kinds of Government extant in the World LET us therefore hear the opinion of Moses as to the Antiquity of Kings and Monarchy and as once a greater than he said of him They who will not believe Moses and the Prophets would not believe though by a miracle one should rise from the dead to convince and confute them That Adam Noah and the rest of the Ancient propagators of Mankind were Kings and exercised Regal authority though his writings do not tell us yet we must conclude in regard that their posterity were bound to honour and obey them both by the Law of Nature Reason and the Divine Eternally Moral Law which did and do for ever command it But the first mention of a Monarch is Nimrod Gen. 10.10 who was a mighty Hunter before the Lord and the beginning of whose Kingdom was Babel Which Empire according to the computation of Chronology began about 130 years after the Deluge and is the first established Kingdom and Government that we meet with in the Sacred writings There is likewise mention made of the Egyptian Kingdom Gen. 12. another of the most ancient Monarchies In another place there is an account of a great action that happened Gen. 15. in which Nine Kings were concerned and the place of their Kingdoms as also in the same Chapter oâ— Melchizedeck King of Salem beside Abraham who as appears by his victory over them with an Army of hiâ— own Militia the Trained-bands 〈◊〉 Troops of his houshold was also a greâ— King himself as the Children of Heâ—â— stile him My Lord thou art a mighty Prince amongst us Gen. 23. c. NOR is there any great doubt to be made but that at the confusion of Laâ—guages he who undertook to lead a waâ— a Company was their Prince and as afterwards they subdivided themselveâ— for more Room and convenience 〈◊〉 Pasturage for their Flocks and Herdâ— the Riches of those Ages still the priâ—â—cipal person of note undertook to coâ—duct them and was their King And the great increase of these as well as oâ—â— the people of necessity obliged them as it did Lot and Abraham to part onâ— from another and to seek out for their convenience new Lands and unpeopleâ— Regions and this seems to be the true Reason why in the early Ages of the World we find mention of so many little Kings that every considerable City in the small Continent of Canaan had its distinct King and Kingdom which did not a little contribute to the facility of their conquest by Joshua and the Israelites Josh 12. who is recorded to have subdued one and thirty of them in a few years AND that the Government of the people of Israel after their deliverance from the Egyptian slavery was Monarchical under Moses all the time of their Encampments and Decampments in the Wilderness is evident matter of fact as appears by that place where there is a description of their manner of Judicature And it came to pass Exod. 18.13 that on the morrow Moses sate to judge the People c. And though upon the wholsom advice of Jethro the Prince of Midian his Father-in-law he afterwards chose able men out of all Israel and made them Heads over the people Rulers of thousands hundreds fifties and tens yet the Supreme Power of Judging he reserved to himself for they Judged the people at all seasons in every small matter but the difficult causes they brought unto Moses for his determination as being the Supreme Governour both in Civil and Ecclesiastical affairs And that Moses did this not pro arbitrio dominandi libidine of his own Ambitious desire of Sovereignty but by Gods especial appointment he tellâ— them Hereby ye shall know that thâ— Lord hath sent me to do all these works Numb 16.28 anâ— that I have not done them of my own mindâ—â— And that he was a great Prince amongst them is apparent from the Charge of those Rebels Corah Dathan and Abâ—ram and their Accomplices who pretended that his design was not so much to Govern them and Conduct them 〈◊〉 the promised Land as to make himseâ—â— absolute Is it a small thing say they that thou hast brought us up out of a Laâ—â— that floweth with Milk and Hony Vers 13. to kâ—â— us in the Wilderness except thou make thâ— self altogether that is an absolute Tyrannical Prince over us The first Essay to a Democracy the Rebellion of Corah and his accomplices Here is the first Essay for a Republick or Democraâ—â— that is upon any Record which was founded upon Rebellion against the Prince and the Priest and by consequence as he declared against God himself from whom they had that Authority The 250 who undertook iâ— seems to be the peoples Representatives who were all holy and the Lords people as they stiled themselves Numb 16. v. 41. and the murmuring Tribes thought them so though they paid dearly both for their mutiny and mistake but upon this pretence of sanctity and equality they were all as fit to Govern as Moses and to offer Incense as Aaron and why should they take so much upon them It is worth our observation how these Primitive Reformers make use of the same popular Charms with which our Modern Republicans their true successors in the Art of Wheedling a credulous Populace do now Act viz. The fair and taking pretensions of their own Sanctimony and the peoples Liberty of Conscience from the Tyranny of the Government by a single Person and the Priesthood How acceptable this their Mutinous design of a thorough Reformation in Church and State was to God Almighty Numb 16.35 the sequel of the Rebellion did declare for this strange Fire which they pretended to offer unto God but which in truth was the Wildfire of their own Brains with which they intended to sacrifice Government and Religion to their wicked Ambition brought down Fire from Heaven upon the 250 Cenfor-men and the very Earth upon which such Monsters of Mankind were unfit to live Numb 16.34 opened her mouth and gave them a new and terrible way of Sepulture making them Eternal Monuments of that confusion and vengeance which both Heaven and Earth conspire to take upon seditious Rebels I heartily wish that all our Anti-monarchical and Anti-hierarchical people would soberly consider of it left whilest they run on headlong in a seeming Religious despising of Dominion and speaking evil of Dignities Jude 11. they also perish in the gainsaying of Corah AFTER Moses succeeded Joshus in the same way of Regal though not Hereditary Government after him several Judges whom upon extraordinary occasions God raised up to Rule Govern and Deliver
help and assistance of their tumultuous Power the Leaders of Faction are exalted to Dignity Riches and Authority none are more Arbitrary and Imperious than the one or greater Slaves than the other For Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum Exalted meanness still we see Proves the most rugged Tyranny And it can be nothing but their ill destiny in the common People of England who appear so inclinable to have a good esteem of these Ring-leaders of the Faction of Presbytery which blinds their Eyes with pretences of Sanctity from seeing that these People are the most malicious Enemies they have in the World who will not permit them quietly to enjoy that happiness which they do at present possess under a most peaceable and excellent Monarchy and Monarch but with the Witchcraft of Liberty of Conscience fears and jealousies of Popery and I know not what fine words to please Children and Fools they drill them still on towards the Confines of Rebellion into which if they do unluckily plunge them their Lives Liberties and Estates must either fall a Sacrifice to the offended and prevailing Justice of their exasperated Sovereign or become a prey to Ambitious Usurpation should they happen to be unfortunately victorious so that what side soever gets the better they are certain still to be losers and go by the worst For even those persons to whom they have made themselves a footstool to mount them into the supreme Power will be sure to keep them down and trample them underfoot lest they should turn to some other Party for the same Reasons and by the same Arts by which they before gained them to be of theirs there being nothing more certain which these men know well enough and that the People are never contented with their present condition than that a discontented Populace who have made no difficulty to shake hands with their Allegiance to their Lawful Prince will upon the least disgust wheel about either to their King again or to any other Power which speaks them fairest and bids most for their kindness by promises never intended to be kept AND if the Commons of England who are infected with this Lunacy of Presbytery will not be perswaded to believe this but that all their Prophets must have poor Cassandra's Fate Nunquam credita Teucris never to be credited when they speak the greatest truths it must be because to use their own word they are predestinated to Ruine according to the Adage Perdere quos vult Jupiter prius dementat Where Jove to ruine has design'd First he does always strike Men blind SO the Presbyterians first blind the common people with pretences of Piety and Liberty that they may more securely lead them either into certain Ruine or Democratique Slavery None so bold as blind Bayard is a great Proverb amongst the Countrymen I wish they could apply it to themselves and their present circumstances THAT the practice of these People carries a just proportion and exact correspondence respondence to these Principles all their former Actions have manifested beyond the possibility either of excuse or evasion It would be an ingrateful task to rip up all the transactions of the Late Times and it would be happy for us if they could be so buried in the Grave as well as with the Act of Oblivion as not to afford an Eternal precedent to succeeding Ages to dance a second Jigg to the same tune of these py'd Pipers as 't is said the Boyes and Girls of a City in Germany did after the Rat-Catcher till they lead them into the Gulph of Ruine and give occasion to date a new Aera Anno libertatis amissae though they should say as they did before restauratae But it is but too evident that the Presbyterian Anabaptist c. however in other things they differ'd as to Judgment yet they did all agree in the practice and though in the end they fell out amongst themselves and verified the Proverb That when Thieves fall out honest Men come by their own yet they were unanimous in the pursuance of those Principles and all the distances in the circumference of Religion met kindly together in the central point of Rebellion Nor were their odious practices any other thing but a manifest demonstration of their belief of this Doctrine That Kings are inferior to Parliaments and the People nay to the very fragments shreds and excrements of a Parliamentary Name That Subjects may take up Arms against them that they may enter into Leagues Covenants Combinations and associations against them and all the rest before-recited which I am tir'd with repeating IF the present Presbyterians c. are not of the same Judgment let them testifie to the World in a publick Manifesto and be ready to subscribe and confirm it with sacred Oaths that they do willingly renounce all these trayterous Positions and seditious Principles and Practices which is the least vindication they can make for themselves the smallest reparation they can make for the mischiefs they have done and the least satisfaction and assurance they can give to Authority that they will not do so again or indeavour it and let their actions go along with their words that we may believe them without which they are so low in Reputation by the monstrous breach of all their Promises Vows Protestations and solemn Oaths to the late King except the making him a glorious King that no person in his wits will now take their word any more so that they must get their Actions to become their Sureties for their good abearing towards the Kings Majesty and all his Liege People BUT instead of all this which is no more than if they mean honesty toward the Government they would willingly do they are taking a course by their present practice to manifest that they are still the same Men and as true to their Principles as steel or as Rebellion is to those Principles as if they were resolved to verifie the saying of a worthy Gentleman That men may possibly repent of Presbytery but Presbytery never yet repented of any thing And that they are plying their Sails and Oars for a second prize it is almost past time of day now to make a doubt do they not boldly print and spread abroad in publick their seditious Pamphlets Speeches Letters to their Friends from persons of Quality Benchers and God knows what who or where those are reflecting upon the Government the great Ministers of State the Learned Pious and Innocent Bishops not sparing even the King himself with which pocket Pistols hand Granadoes and Fire-balls of Rebellion they indeavour to murder the Government and set all into Flames and Combustion pestering the Country with those pernicious Pamphlets as the City is with their Writers the design of all which restless Indeavours and devilish Industry is only to delude the Subjects of these Nations by perswading them that they are upon the very brink of Slavery and Ruine to withdraw them from
Power and Capacity either to escape and avoid or to overcome and remove what they know or but suspect to be dangerous or destructive to their Natures This is the Foundation of all our Natural and Rational Desires and Aversions Hope Fear Joy Love Hatred and the other Passions of the Mind And even Reason it self that Monarch of the Soul if it may not be said to Obey yet does most constantly entertain this Principle as his most faithful Counsellor and chief Minister of State So that nothing passes as the Royal Command of the Will which is not first made Authentick by the approbation of this great Favourite and even in those Popular Insurrections of the Mind when the misled Passions those Common People of the Soul usurp the Sovereignty for a Time it is generally with the Vulgar Error of a Design of Self-preservation and amongst all that unruly Multitude when they are in the Highest Mutiny I know no Enemy this beloved Principle has amongst them besides Despair who yet never appears but in the field of extreme Danger and not there till Hope and all his Squadrons and Reserves are totally routed and intirely ruin'd and at all such times Despair the Mortal enemy of Happiness pretends a kindness and by the present less evil which he offers to our choice to prevent and secure us from the future greater evil and misery THE second Principle of Nature concerns the Benè Esse of every Being and is that ardent and Constant Desire of Happiness and all those Means which may in any measure obtain promote increase continue protect and secure it or recover it if it happen to be lost These are the two inseparable Guardians or good Genii of Humane Nature which attend upon every Mortal Man from his first entrance into the World and which with the most serviceable fidelity accompany him through all the vicissitudes accidents and various fortunes of his Life even to its utmost Period AS there can be no greater Demonstration of such a Supreme Being which we call Providence than these Principles which it is impossible should be the effects of undesigning Chance or fortuitous Atoms which can never be Parents to what is constantly Regular and without exception Universal so there is no doubt to be made but that the Minds of all Men were stampt with this Divine Impress for some Ends and Intentions suitable to the goodness and wisdom of that All-powerful and most excellent Supreme Being from whom they derive their Original Amongst many others to which they do contribute they seem to have a particular Address to Society Community and Government those necessary Columns and Pillars of the World without which there can be no such thing as Happiness on Earth of which these two Principles are the Foundation AND whoever will trace Society and Government to their first Originals will easily be convinced that it was that Love which naturally all men have for themselves and their own Happiness which first invited them into mutual Combinations and cemented several distinct Tribes and Families into one united Body The impolitick Error of Mr. Hobs refuted That mutual Fear was the first Origination of Society This is a thing so obvious and natural that I cannot but admire that a Master of so great Wit and Parts as Mr. Hobs should stumble upon an Error directly contrary to it in the very threshold of his Book De Cive and lay that down for a firm and solid foundation of his future City which is a perfect quicksand and if admitted will shipwrack all Laws Society and Happiness He tells us Hobs de Cive cap. 1. tit Libertas p. 6. Sect. 2. That it was only Fear of one another which gave the Origination to all great and durable Societies of Men. Now this is evident That I must first Love my self before I can Fear any thing all such Fear being properly the effect of that Love which teaches me to desire to preserve my self from all Enemies and Injuries And this mistake immediately rushes him upon a second Error to maintain his first Idem p. 8. Sect. 3. That there is in all Mankind a mutual desire of doing mischief one to another proceeding from that equality which by the state of Nature all Men are in Which second Assertion is false to every Reason unless he will revive the old Fable of Cadmus in Ovid and slurr it upon us for an Historical Truth and suppose all Mankind to be like the Harvest sprung from the Serpents Teeth unnatural Sons of the Earth born in Arms and immediately like fabulous Knights-errant entering upon martial Actions and a mutual Combat and slaughter of one another For there is no such thing as equality by the state of Nature but the Father by the very Priority of a Natural Cause must be superior to his Children c. I do not design a confutation of Mr. Hobs but these two Errors in his Principles have run him into many dangerous and impolitick errors in all his Writings which have by many others been severely animadverted upon only I was obliged to take notice of these in regard that they contradict the Original of Society and it may be the End of it which is Happiness and are no less dangerous to the very Foundation of all Government and Religion than contrary to most manifest Truth WE must therefore suppose what is not only natural and most rationally probable but most really and unquestionably true That in the beginning of the World in regard of the Lawfulness of Polygamy and the protracted Lives of those Primitive Propagators of Mankind even after the Deluge when their Days were stinted to a hundred and twenty Years that men did mightily increase and coming from one common stock it was yet some considerable time before their Numbers straitned them so much for Room as to oblige them to separate and divide and that they were embodied into one Community there is no question to be made of this Society Noah the Saturn and Janus bifrons of the Heathens said to have two faces one of which look'd to the time before and the other to that after the Flood was the Head and Governour till he was by the Ambitious Nimrod the Jupiter of the Heathens though Berosus makes him the Saturn despoiled of his Soveraignty Beros lib. 4. and the reasons that are given for their attemp◠to build the stupendious Tower of Babe◠confirm the opinion They had two motives still powerful enough in the mind◠of men to force them into Societies One was future Fame the other wa◠the necessity of Union lest they should be dispersed over all the Earth No◠indeed is it possible that Fear should give the occasion to that enterprise for of whom could they be afraid there were no other men in the World besides themselves and they could not be afraid one of another being of one Language and one and that so near Relation and it was particular Self-love and the
under any of their Kings or Emperors from the State of Venice the Swisse Cantons and our Neighbours of the United Provinces IN the next place to make their Way appear the best they tax the Government by Monarchy with Injustice Oppression and a design of enslaving the people telling them that if the King and his Party had prevailed the fate of England was to have been the same with a neighbouring Monarchy where the Commons are glad of Canvass-cloathing and Wooden-shooes and look more like Ghosts than Men and for proof they instance in Forest-lands as a great oppression in protections against Arrests Purveyance exaction of Money unnecessary Salaries Pensions Gifts and the luxury of the Court as they are pleased to call the innocent diversion of Masques and Plays concluding with the charitable application of a snap out of a Latin Poet exeat aula Qui volet esse pius In the last place like most worthy Patriots truly Zealous for the good and interest of their Country they promise that these and multitudes of the like grievances will be prevented the situation and advantages of this Land both for Trade abroad and Manufactures at home will be better understood when the dangers of Projects Monopolies and other obstructions thereof are together with the Court the Fountain of them removed and a free Trade with incouragement of Manufactures and provision for the Poor be setled by the Commonwealth which Monarchy had never yet the leisure effectually to do Parturiunt Montes Sure if ever the Proverb was verified it was now the Devils shearing of his Sheep when he mistook Hogs for them All Cry and no Wool AS to their first observation of the blessing of God upon them in their unlawfully established Free State or Republick they acted the Prophets too soon and all the World is witness according to their own measures who are wont to judge the goodness of Actions by their prosperous successes how much they were mistaken and there can be no plainer testimony from their own Topick of observation how grateful their Government was to God by his blessing it and how agreeable it was to the Genius of the English Nation appears by the long and happy duration of their State For this young Republick which seemed to affect and emulate the long-liv'd Roman Commonwealth for all its excellencies and advantages could not out-live one single Roman Lustrum nor continue so many years as the other did hundreds before the strong byass run it round into a single though mistaken person again I wish all our stiff Republicans would seriously consider this and no longer dirigere Brachia contra torrentem tire and toil themselves and trouble our calm Waters which would run most smoothly if they did not endeavour to trouble them by perpetually swimming against the strong current of Nature Law Reason Providence and Religion AND for the Roman Common-wealth which they did so admire and pretended to imitate it is well known that was an Optimacy and no Democracy as this was which these men by being the peoples representatives did endeavour to establish and therefore never like to prosper long or flourish like the Roman Republick for there was always a distinction betwixt the Plebs or ordinary Rank of People and the Patres Conscripti Patricii or Senatorian Order And upon this account the Roman Senate never owning themselves the peoples Delegates or Representatives many great quarrels arose betwixt them the Populace endeavouring by Representatives to get a share in the Government and the Senate as stoutly opposing all such Incroachments and Innovations From hence arose many mutinies and popular Insurrections in one of which the whole Commonalty forsook the City and in a pet run from their houses to the Aventine Mount T. Liv. lib. 2. and the Senate was forced to Lure the Haggards down again by gratifying them with the Tribuni Plebis who were certain persons chosen by the people to look particulary after their concerns in all the Debates of the Senate And at another time they contended to have the Election of one of the Consuls and the dispute was so hot that the Senators durst not come to the House but so great was the fury of the inraged Populace that there was a five years Anarchy the true result of Democracy T. Liv. lib. 6. And at the last the Senate was obliged to condescend to their resolute Importunity and grant them the choice of one of the Consuls which plainly manifests that the Government of the Roman Commonwealth was originally Aristocratick BESIDES it is absolutely false which is said That the State of Rome flourished more under that Government than under any of their Kings or Emperors for it is notoriously known and confessed that Rome never came to its perfect greatness and splendor till the Empire of Augustus Caesar AS to the State of Venice which they mention that likewise is an Optimacy mixed with a restrained and elective Monarchy for such is the Doge or Duke of Venice and the same may be said of our Belgick neighbours who next to the assistance of the English Monarchy under Queen Elizabeth are obliged for their greatness and duration to the Illustrious House of Nassau Ancestors to the present Prince of Orange their Hereditary Stadtholder The advantage and necessity of which Office in his present Highness they have in this War with France been sufficiently made sensible of and possibly had not the private envy of a prevailing Party of the French Interest De Witt. during his Minority neglected both Him and the Office with a Design of utterly abolishing it for the future they might have been in a condition with the assistance of their Allies to have put a stop to the victorious Arms of France whereas by their Intestine disorders and the great advantages which his most Christian Majesty made of their disagreement they have unhappily drawn in the greatest part of Christendom into a most fatal and bloudy War AND for the States of Switzerland it was an unlucky Precedent and not much unlike the Reformation they practised to the ruine of the Nobility and Gentry But if we may credit Geographers and Travellers for I never was there nor desire to see it the Country will scarcely invite an Enemy to invade or pay the purchase of a Conquest and therefore they may be safe with any Government if they can be secure amongst themselves And therefore they can never be a pattern for England a rich populous and fertile Nation who upon that account stand in need of the best Government to secure us from Intestine quarrels to which all populous places are most subject as also to protect us from Foreign force to which the goodness and riches of the Country may give the most tempting invitation So that our Republicans are out in the measures they took of comparing themselves and their new Commonwealth with any of those mentioned by them in their Declaration FOR the second part of their
from their Arbitrary will and determination So that hereby the Great Assembly and the Moderator for the time being is the absolute and supreme Sovereign Power of the Nation where Presbytery bears the sway HAVING thus by the Power of the Keys lockt up the Temporal Sword in their Ecclesiastical Scabbard and made sure that they will be out of the danger of its Correction Let us see how they manage their Empire and Government towards their Brethren of the Clergy their friends of the Laity and their Enemies of both such as differ or dissent from them in Opinion or Practice though but in the most indifferent things Their Tyranny over the Clergy It was a saying of a wise man That no Government was so happy as where either Kings were Philosophers or Philosophers Kings and which certainly deceives many of the Spiritual Function they think and are made believe by the Arch-Presbyters that those would be Golden and Halcyon days indeed where Presbyters who are all equal and may hope for a turn in it should come to have the sole and supreme management of all affairs and not be subject to the temporal Power of the Laity on the one hand nor the Tyranny of the Episcopal Hierarchy on the other but being equal in their Function calling and office should all be Brethren and sharers of the Common Happiness of Rule and Government over the People of God But soft my Masters lest a great and sudden joy prove dangerous Great expectations are often defeated by contrary events I must tell you there is a little mistake The Metropolis or Capital City is the Watch-tower and the rural Presbyters for all their hast and the parity must not only give the Wall to the grave City divine but must be wholly at the direction and will of the Synod the Synod at the will of the great Assembly and the Assembly at the will of the Moderator and his Faction during the Session and in the Interregnum of the Session at the disposal of the virtual Council which is the Grand Cabal in Epitome who rule the rost all the year long the Inferior Presbyters must believe such things as he or they shall command teach such Doctrines as they shall appoint use such modes gestures and habits as they enjoin and command though never so much against his Judgment or Conscience for if he trips never so little into a wilful disobedience against a commanded Punctilio of Opinion or Practice up goes little Don Presbyter's heels and a more edifying that is a more slavish Brother is clapt into his Benefice unless he will openly recant and do Penance at their discretion and if he has a good and inviting Living let him resolve either to be a bustler and busie stickler and by those Talents exalt himself and make a Party which is the best way to be secure and somebody or otherwise he must resolve to be an absolute Slave and by perpetual presents which is a very safe Tenure and a kind of Post Simony keep in with the top and top Gallant of the Junto for otherwise he shall be sure of a remove to a leaner Parish And pray what is now become of the Glorious Parity of Presbyters of the Dear Liberty of Conscience and Liberty of Prophesying What difference now betwixt a Lord Bishop and a Lord President of the Assembly good Mr. Rural Minister Only this that what the one is falsely said to do to Lord it over the flock of Christ the other outdoes in reality Methinks I see a second Peters strutting in querpo beaten Velvet like a lofty Cedar of Presbytery over-looking and over-shaddowing all the little bramble Brethren of the Wood condemning reproving placing displacing injoining and punishing like a Geneva Massanello with the wink of his Eye or the motion of his Finger and like that Insolent Fisherman wanton with his unbounded and most dreadful Power Then should you hear the groaning Presbyters and whining Elders sighing under the heavy burthen of Arbitrary Spiritual Government and lamenting the loss of Episcopal Liberty Leaving therefore these Ruling Elders and their Lay Brethren with a shaddow of Liberty Equality and Rule but the substance of the most servile slavery let us see after what rate this Government will treat their Friends of the Laity by whose industrious folly they have obtain'd their Dignity and Power Their Tyranny over the Laity And here you shall see that these high obligations can raise no sense of Gratitude in the Rigid Presbyter the People whom but just now they flatter'd with the supreme Authority have done no more but their duty in defeating themselves of it to bestow it on the Ministers and you shall see into what a condition those people plunge themselves who put their tame necks under the Yoke of the Consistory for first the Parish Minister and his Elders are absolute Judges and Lords of all their Actions and if they be refractory can bring before the Lords of the Synod and they hoist them up to the Grand Assembly and there they are sure to be swing'd for contumacy or contempt tempt of their Authority So that though a man could keep the whole Decalogue yet can he not be secure against Malice or Envy but by the trap of Scandal he shall be drawn into this Geneva Inquisition The Latitude and Power of Scandal to draw all affairs into the Consistory It is easily remembred what a Tumult a poor Ball or Dancing meeting made at Geneva and how the Gentleman that made it though a principal person of the City and a Souldier too and a man of a good ruffling Spirit yet was at last forced to dance into banishment for that horrible scandal If your goods commit a rape upon Mr. Elders Corn or Hay and you will not make him an unreasonable recompence 't is odds but he claws you off with a Scandalum Magnatum against his Elderships freehold if a young Lady refuses Mr. Booby the Elder 's Son for a Husband let her have a care how she converses with another for if she do he will clap a scandal upon her back which if their tongues be any slander may spoil her Reputation and her Marriage as long as she lives and the report is credited and in truth so great is the Latitude of the Power of Scandal that I am perswaded if Virtue her self could be tempted to converse with the Elders as once the surprized Susanna did they would treat her with the same measure as those their brethren did that Innocent Lady and bring her into the Consistory for a scandal Nay so long Ears and Armes has this Scandal that your House which is your Castle your Table nor your Bed can be secure from it but if you be so indiscreet to discover your follies to your Wife and she in pet or zeal reveals it to the good Minister he will not fail to make you do publick Penance for your fault and folly If you make a contract with
their Loyalty and Allegiance to their King and Obedience to the Laws and Government whenas in truth no People in the World in humane probability are at a greater distance from those imaginary dangers than we unless by believing these men and their Principles we precipitate our selves headlong into them nor is there any thing wanting to render us compleatly happy and secure at home and abroad besides Unity amongst ourselves and Loyalty towards our Prince of both which it is the main design of these Enemies of our Peace Prosperity and Happiness at once to rob us and whoever will take the pains to consider the rise growth and continuance of this Doctrine of Calvinism will find it a meer Salamander of Religion bred in the Flames of Rebellion nourisht with the fire of mistaken Zeal at best and that it constantly delights to dwell in the blaze of Contention The peace and settlement of the Nation are its utter Enemies and opposites and no wonder then if the Patrons of it are the Enemies of our Peace and as a Pope once said to Charles Brother to the French King concerning Conradine King of Naples and Sicily which gave him his Death The Life of Conradine is the Death of Charles Vrsper p. 11. and the Death of Conradine is the Life of Charles so may we truly say The Peace and Unity of our Monarchy is the Death and Ruine of Presbytery and the Death of Presbytery is the Life of Monarchy which is the true reason why they struggle for their Life to keep up discords differences and animosities and it may be are all of the sudden become so Zealous for a Foreign War the discovery of their Plot having put them out of hopes of one at home So long as the Government is but busie and the Crown necessitous they do not only think themselves secure but are in hopes that the expences or unforeseen accidents of War may at last occasion differences at home upon which ill humors of the body Politick like Plagues and Gangrenes they always feed and increase and hope in the end to prove fatal to it for they know by experience that Corruptio Vnius est Generatio Alterius A dead Monarchy fly-blown by Presbytery breeds the short-liv'd Maggots of a putrified Common-wealth But these things have been so well taken notice of and their whole Intrigue discovered by the charitable hand of the Author of the two Pacquets of Advices c. that a clearer exposing of them is altogether needless IT is the wishes prayers and hopes of the best subjects of these Nations that the dangerous noise and clamours which they make themselves will oblige Authority to take notice of them and their mischievous intentions and that this very Parliament which they fear and therefore hate with all their Hearts as is plain by their Ringing so loud its passing Bell and perswading the World it is Dead that their Cruelty may be satisfied with the Revenge of burying it alive will take notice of such an affront to a King and his Parliament as no Age can parallel nor any persons be guilty of but Presbyterians and offer some expedients according to their Wisdom and Prudence to ease the Loyal and faithful Subjects amongst which they challenge the first rank themselves of those just fears and jealousies and those uneasinesses which afflict them by reason of the growth increase and confidence of these implacable malicious sanguinary and restless Antimonarchical and Anti-Parliamentary spirited People and their Principles TO conclude From the former Discourse these necessary consequences follow Some necessary consequences from the former Discourse First That no person whatsoever let him pretend never so much Religion Sanctity or Innocence can possibly be a good Subject so long as he continues a true Presbyterian or of their off-spring in regard they always carry about with them as the main of their Religion such Principles as are directly contrary to Monarchy and destructive of Loyalty to which he can never be a firm true and assured Friend who owns a Power Superior to that of his Prince within his Dominions and that such a Power may of right depose him and take away his Crown and Life which has been proved to be the avowed Doctrine of the Consistorians of Geneva Scotland and England both in Print and Practice Secondly That no Monarch can be safe or his best Subjects at ease and secure so long as this faction is either owned tolerated permitted or favoured publickly or privately within his Dominions especially the Ring-leaders of the Party which guilded Snakes can no sooner be warm in the Bosom of Indulgence but they begin to hiss and sting and are constantly either the Whisperers or Trumpeters of Sedition and Rebellion the very practice of what they call their Religion in prohibited Conventicles and Assemblies being but the younger Brothers of Tumults and Insurrections and Rebellion against the King and Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical in a demure dress and garb of Innocence which is so far from making it better than that in the Field with Drums and Colours that it renders it worse because more dangerous and apt to deceive many people being willing to become Volunteers to the Pulpit as Hudibras calls it The drum Ecclesiastick When beat with fist instead of a stick Hudibr Cant. 1. Who would not list themselves into open and barefac't Rebellion till from thence they hear the dreadful thunder of a Curse ye Meroz or The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon AND let them not call this necessary Caution for the publick and all honest mens preservation the effect of a persecuting Spirit since though they may charge the Government with Cruelty it is they who are cruel to themselves and the whole Community by being evil doers busie bodies seditious trayterous heady high minded opposers of Government disturbers of Order Enemies to our Peace Unity and Happiness and to the very Fundamental Laws Establishments Constitution and whole Frame of the National Government both in Church and State I appeal to all the Records of time both our own and of other Nations which will witness That whoever did act thus contrary to the publick Interest have in all Ages in all Places by all Laws and Persons in Authority been esteemed justly and deservedly punished as being the common mischiefs of nature directly opposite to the security and happiness of all mankind in general not excepting themselves out of the number whose restless uneasie discontented humor certainly renders them the most unfortunate of all humane race because ever most unquiet and unpleased being indeed utterly uncapable of satisfaction the concessions and condescensions of Authority to day emboldening them to demand greater tomorrow and Indulgence being so far from making them grateful that it gives them the pain to invent new Requests their desires being therefore boundless and unlimited because they neither know positively what they would have nor are able to determine what it is