they could if they had us once but at their Mercy They are such blood-drawers as will give no Quarter Ral. But yet let me tell you they 're damnable timerous of the last Parliament's Vote against them and they dare not take away the King by violence for fear of their own Bacon Hod. No therefore they 'd fain run us on to the times of Forty One and so again Fain drive us to 41. d' ye mark their hints and all 's upon the Phanaticks as if it was only their Principles to cut off Princes Ral. He 'd have the world believe so Hod. Ay you shall hear how he makes the Phanatick speak When a Prince devests himself of Royal Power and Prerogative by Concessions and Condescensions or when a Mighty Parliament have beaten or Dethroned the King then to destroy him is no more Regicide than to shoot through the sign of the King 's Head or stab the Picture of his Majesty And to get this King to be brought to to the Bar too pag. 5 6. To which the POPE complimentally answers Well I will say you out-do the whole world in Politicks if you can bring two Kings to the Bar in one Age. And the plain English of all this is only to vizar-mask the business and if they can any how procure the Destruction of Charles the Second as no question 's to be made on 't but that they had the greatest hand in the death of Charles the First then to lay it wholly again on his now seemingly most dearly beloved Brother the Phanatick if they should not be able to go on any further or else which they sorely thirst after to make our streets an Aceldama with our own gore And to fill our streets with our own blood But I hope God Almighty will defeat all such wicked reaches or if it must light any where will let it fall upon their own pates Ralph Amen I pray God Hodg. Than to work he goes with a Certain Noble-Gentleman as he calls him There 's an unlucky Gentleman that Cross-bars them in their designs a person it seemes that out-wits them in all their Contrivances and whom I warrant they wish the Devil had with all their hearts for his standing in their way so and plaguily spoiling all their mischievous intentions But I wish we had a hundred of e'm Ral. Prithee now can'st tell who ' t is Hodg. Nay I bar the Dice there Good Ralph You know it 's dangerous nameing of persons but I would he had blurted out this Gentlemans name i ft had not been a scandalum that we might not be put so to the guessing at him and it may be miss the mark after all Ral. Well well but I have a lusty long snout of my own Hodg. Keep it to thy self then Ral. So I will but do'st mind how he squitches the Church of England away too Their squitching away the Church of England under the disguise of Phanaticks to make them the more odious calling it that Church that is rude to the Saints and will worship nothing in Heaven but God and nothing upon Earth but the King and his two Idols of Prerogative and Supremacy those pagan Teraphims to which says the Pope You and I will never bow 'T is the ruin of this Church that I do chiefly intend and if the King falls in the Quarrel he dies by accident pag. 6. Hodg. This is the same Haloo still he 'd fain set us together by the Ears as I have told you and then he 'd come swimmingly in and sweep away the stakes But I 'm apt to think his design there won't take for all that Admit all that he says of the Churches Corruption were true which You know is notoriously False does he think the Phanaticks such Buffle-heads and Buzzards Admitting the Church to be in some things corrupt which must never be granted yet so long as it remains entire for substance it ought not to be forsaken as not to know that Gods Ordinances remaining for substance perfect and entire ought not to be forsaken because of some faults in the Administrators or in the way of their Administration The Administration of God's Ordinances belong not to the People but to the Minister and if he fail in his duty by Administring them in a way that is not fit and it may be not so edifying it is my grief but his Sin Hophni and Phineas were corrupt in their Lives and brought in much corruption into the Service of God and rudeness into his Worship Yet Elkanah Hannah and many others of the Godly did nevertheless attend that Worship and Sanctuary 1 Sam. 1.2 And much Corruption was crept into both the Doctrine and Worship of the Jewes as also into the lives of the Administrators in the Church yet our Saviour though he still cry'd down their Corruptions and would not joyn in them yet he never forbad Communion with them in God's true Worship but joined with them in all the substantial parts and injoin'd others so to do And I hope so we shall all and never fall to pieces among our selves only because some of us cannot come up in all things to the height of the Church Ral. No doubt but we shall and as for the Furious Zealots as Dr. Saywel sayes in his Original of all Plots in Christendome c. the Epistle to all true English-Men that mingle Religion with secular Government Such disturbers of our Peace are the common Enemies of Man kind and go about by violence and bloodshed to plant their private Opinions and overturn Kingdomes and States destroy men's Lives and Fortunes Laws and Government under pretence of Conscience and Religion they ought to be subdued as common Enemies to Mankind Hodg. Absolute Dominion and Rule is at the bottom of all Religion is only the Guilded bait by which they indeavour to delude People Ral. Ay What the Religion of the Papists is here the Religion of the Papists is to have our Throats that so they may the more infallibly possess themselves of our Mannors and Lordships But we are too much awakened I think to be gull'd by them at this time o'day There are Posted within the Established Church Pag. 7. so many unconforming Ministers now that we have as it were reduced many hundred Parish-Churches into Conventicles and their Service and Assemblies scarce look like the Church of England as to the strictness of it Hod. Yes and you believe him I warrant Pag. 8. Ral. Why does he Juggle here too Hod. He Juggles every where he 's a great Hocus Pocus man all over He knows a house divided against it self cannot stand and therefore he puts all his shoulders to the work of dividing us He not only distinguishes between Protestants and Protestants Their great Work is to distinguish betwixt Church-Men and to divide them if possible but between Church-men and Church-men and there he has his high-Ropes and low-Ropes among them
ye shall behold nothing but a Cat or an Ape a Crocodile Goat or Dogg whereto they pay the most solemn Veneration So look upon the first leaf of the most dangerous Pamphlet that e're yet shew'd its face to the world and you shall find nothing but the smoothest and most delicate flourishes imaginable but dipp further into him and there you shall see ugly Monsters of Malicious fancy spitting out their loath some Venome to poison and infect the credulous These persons very well deserve the same reproof that a late ingenious and noble writer gave a rigid Praedestinarian Id. ibid. affirming that God delighed as our Author must needs in the death of Mankind Speak worse of the Devilif you can says he I am confident none can speak worse if not of the King I 'm sure of Parliament Church and People than this rancorous Dialoguer Ralph Prithee good Hodge let us take him in pieces a little and see what he 'll make then Hodge With all my heart but we have had of late so many Drolis come out of this kind that I protest I 'm quite weary of that Vein and therefore I 'll betake my self to plain English seriousness now so much out of mode and turnd to Redicule Ralph And I 'll as gravely lissen as if I were to pass the definitive sentence upon your Discourse Hodg. And first of all to speak of the general design of this Book The general design of the aforementioned Dialogue though to outward appearance it seems only to rail against the Presbyterians and Sectaries yet in truth it is a scandalous Libel levell'd at the whole Circle of the Orthodox Clergy and no doubt is writ by a hearty lover of the Tripple Crown Ralph Of his Prince and Country you mean Hodg. No No that 's a Sham I tell ye you forget Papists can act all parts for the better carrying on any wicked designs why your great sticklers for Rome can put on all shapes act all parts and are fit for all employments and think nothing comes amiss to them so they can by any wayes promote their own Cause About two years ago That Whitebread who was lately executed for being so deep in the Plot was a mighty holder forth among the Quakers as I have been told Whitebread formerly a Preacher among the Quakers Ralph What! will they become all things to all men Hodg. Ay if they see they can gain any thing by the bargain But as I was saying They 'd fain stifle all talk of a Popish to father a new Plot on the Presbyterians the main design now is to put an end to all further discourse of this most accursed Plot of the Papists and to Father a new one on the Presbyterians They see that all sober moderate men of what titles or denominations soever are fully bent against setting up of Popery and would all unanimously join in one body to oppose and down with it as they themselves are vigorous one way so these push Devilish hard the other as their common interest does strictly oblige them They dare not too much openly asperse the Church of England for fear of the Kings utmost anger against them and therefore the Only course that 's left 'em now is to try to break 'em Now as it would be too bare faced publickly in print to desame and cry out against the Church of England as it is established by Law and would not only too notoriously reveal them but too highly and justly incense the King be a means utterly to extinguish his Mercy towards them and to awaken all his Laws if not to sharpen them with new ones more severe against them they avoid that Rock and content themselves with secret whispers at Coffee-Houses meetings and other Clubs But they get into Coffee-houses and there rail at 'em to purpose where they will be sure to riggle themselves in and make One there they 'll tell them Well we see plainly enough which way all things are going now notwithstanding all our endeavours Popery will get the better on us Alas our Bishops what are they but meer Romanists at Core and the leading Clergy and you know they carry all before 'um now Sad times absolutely Church Papists What makes them d' ye think stickle so else to get into Commissions and Justice-ships but only that they might the more securely hamstring us We may e'en very well shut up our Shops and betake our selves to our arms for trading is gone and every thing else is sinking as fast as 't can we are inevitably ruin'd and undone unless Mercifull Providence steps in and almost works a Miracle for us Ral. But hark you can't a body easily find out such a Black Dog Vnderminer Hodg. No no he layes the dawb of his Hypocrisie so thick it is impossible to see through it he 'd go near to trick the Devil at his own art of baldernoing Ral. Well and I suppose this is to enrage the Sectaries against the Church men Hodg. Thou tak'st me right They print any Lies in the world against the Phanaticks to blacken them as much as they can Then they venture to print any thing in the World against the Phanaticks and rail like the Devil in Hell at them they care not what damn'd Lyes they invent and bespatter them with to make them Odious they tell you they are a hundred times worse than Papists and especially more dangerous Enemies at this day for a Roman Catholick if he dares but to peep his head out he 's presently nab'd by some Zealously Officious Justice or other and sent to Scurvy durance whereas these appear like Swarming Locusts almost covering the face of the whole Earth and enjoy all the peace and quietness that any honest heart can wish for And always endeavouring to bring them into the Plot. but yet they cannot cease from Plotting No this proud Beast Hierarchy must be brought low No mess of par-boyl'd Popery as a very ingenious Gentleman makes them call the Common Prayer Book must be indured in God's Sanctuary the Calves of Bethel and the High places must be taken away and the work of the Lord must go on prosperously in their hands Ral. And all this is to stir up Commotion and Rebellion is it not Hodge Hodg. Yes Yes to foment Fears and Jealousies in the people to stir them up to mutinies and clashings one party against another and to embroil the whole Nation But I hope God Almighty will so order it that none of these designed libellous forgeries shall be able to disturb our Vnity And I think since the King hath commanded us The King commanded us by the Act of Oblivion to forget things done formerly by his Act of Oblivion to forget the actions of the late former times it would be put a piece of dutifull good manners in us to leave off contracting our hearts with envy and Malice to each other by any sharp memory
of what hath been unneighbourly or unkindly done heretofore And therefore not to do so is to rebell both against his Person and Example For otherwise it is but to rebel against the person of the King against the Excellent example and vertue of the King and against the very Act it self Ral. That was a very good Act to put an end to all Differences and heats among persons and to settle peace and love and concord Hodg. Ay The King calls it a Happy Act. Ralph so the King thought no question when he said that happy Act was the principal corner stone which supported this excellent building that created kindness in us to each other and Confidence is our Joint and Common security Confidence our joint and common Security Therefore sayes he further You may be sure I will not only observe it Religiously and inviolably my self but also exact the observation of it from others and if any person should ever have the boldness to attempt to perswade me to the contrary How inviolably the King will observe it and how angry he would be with any that shall dare to perswade him to the contrary he will find such an Acceptation from me as he would have who should perswade me to burn Magna Charta Cancell all the old Laws and to erect a new Government after my own Invention and appetite Ralph But why does he make the Pope and the Phanatick such Cater-Cozins I thought verily they had been the most bitter Enemies one to another that were in the World Hodg. O' my conscience so they are The Pope and Phanatick bitter enemies to each other the Pope hates the Phanatick as much as we say the Devil hates Holy water he would damn him and all his Heretical Fry Souls and Bodyes of them if it lay in his Power They are the most termagant Creatures the veryest Bull-Dogs that ever yet he grappled with O his fingers itch to be at their bloods and because he would have the World hate them as implacably as himself does he has taken this Course of joyning 'em with himself and has given them ten times the worse face of the two all this is nothing but Masquerading if he could to gain over the Church of England men to him and to make them join in the Concert of damning the Presbyterians to the lowest pit of Hell For if he cannot distract and break us he will never overthrow and destroy us Ral. What then you think the sober All moderate men are pretty well agreed together moderate party of the Church of England and the peacable quiet party of the Phanaticks are in pretty good Intelligence together Hodg. If they be not I 'm sure they had need to be for it is not the Papists aim whatever their outward pretensions may be only to purifie the Church from Enthusiastick Phanaticism The Papists aim at the Protestant Religion root and branch but it is to cut off the Protestant Religion Root and Branch so as it is now established by Law Ralph Why all this while they would fain perswade me that it was only the Presbyterian Protestantism that they aim'd to root out Hodg. You were a blind fool in the mean time then I say their design is at Archbishop and Bishop as well as at Jack Presbiter English Lawn sleeves and Circingle men shall meet with no more favour when once they are uppermost than turn'd up Eye-lids and your endeavouring Saints after a more thorow reformation Ral. Why then what will you make of this Dialoguing Pamphlet Hodg. Why what I should do that it is a perfect Mock Cant and Juggle a meer trap-stick to bang the Phanaticks about You see the very first leaf of him presents you with his main design to trouble the Waters of our peace and quiet that so he might fish in them the more securely and pass undiscovered Ralph Ay If the Pope owns he 's in this plot to be sure he 'll do what he can to make the world believe the Phanatick is much more so but he owns himself to have a small hand in the Plot. Hodg. Very good but it is with this proviso that if he be found up but to the Ankles in it he 'll make the Phanaticks wading as deep as to the Loyns I can proceed no further sayes he than the first scene of a Plot but I see Fate will reserve the last Act to be your part and then he mentions his Miscarage in 88. the Powder Plot and that he should have had no better success in the late Revolutions if He had not been greatly assisted by his Holiness the Presbyterians in carrying on the War Ralph Yes The thoughts of a High Court of Justice revived yes I remember it and he extolls mightily his high Court of Justice above that damned cowardly way the Italians take of Killing Kings by Poison and Pistolling Hodg. Ah Ralph That 's only to fling up more dirt on that party they 're sure somewhat will stick by it but yet methinks there 's one thing worth remarking in 't and that is That in all these Treasons the Pope is in to purpose and he taxes the Phanaticks but of this last viz The Death of King CHARLES the first and God knows that was too much if it be true that they did take away his life Ralph Why do'st make a doubt on 't Man Hodg. I can say nothing to it for I 'm not old enough to make a competent Judgment of the transactions then but this I 'm sure of This Nation smarts deeply to this day for the sin of the 30 Jan. 48. that the Nation smarts to this day for the sin of the Thirtieth of January in forty eight Ralph Ay ay we have not yet paid the full price for Royal blood Hodg. No so the Papists tell the Church-men though if some Reports may be believed that are in print I question much if they had not the chief hand in the Actual beheading of our Kings Father but however they have turn'd it off like Crafts-Masters upon the Presbyterians as they would fain too this Plot but all won't do yet Ralph Why That 's it so confoundedly vexes them Hodg. True but they do whatsoever they can to get 'em into the trap Papists would fain have us fall out among our selves Oh! they 'd fain blow 'em up to a Flame if they could but once make them rise the work was done to their hands but they find 'em such a company of Restive Curs that no trick or Malice can move ' em Ralph Oh! they are all enlightened now and I warrant you for their ever offering to rise unless they should see the Papists fall to cutting of throats once and then I know not what they might do to save themselves Hodg. In troth Ralph if we don't look very well to our hits I know not how far they 'll venture to it for they 're as busie Plotting still as