own Notice that Libels were not only the Fore-runners but in a high Degree the Causes of our late Troubles and what were the frequent open and licentious Discourses of Cloak-men in Pulpits but the ill-boding Play of Porpisces before a Tempest We may remember also the false News of Plots agninst the Religion and Liberties of the Nation and how the King was charg'd as an Abetter of the Design We may remember likewise how the Irish Blood was cast upon the Account of his late Sacred Majesty even by Those men whose guilty Souls are to Reckon with Divine Justice for every Drop of it Neither have we forgotten with what Care and Diligence these Falshoods were dispers'd with what Greediness they were swallow'd nor what ensu'd upon it If we look well about us we may find this Kingdom at this Instant labouring under the same Distempers the Press as busie and as bold Sermons as factious Pamphlets as seditious the Government defam'd The Lectures of the Faction are throng'd with pretended Converts and scandalous Reports against the King and State are as currant now as they were twenty years ago These were ill Tokens then and do they signifie just nothing now What means all This but the new Christening of the Old Cause the doing over again of the Prologue to the last Tragedy Sir Francis Bacon proceeds That Disputing Excusing Cavelling upon Mandates and Directions is a kind of shaking off the Yoak and Assay of Disobedience especially if in those Disputings they which are for the Direction speak fearfully and tenderly and those that are against it audaciously Herein is judiciously expressed the Motion or Gradation from Duty to Disobedience The first step is to Dispute as who should say I will if I may The very Doubt of Obeying subjects the Authority to a Question and gives a dangerous Hint to the People That Kings are accountable to their Subjects To Excuse is a Degree worse for that 's no other than a Refusal of Obedience in a Tacit Regard either of an unjust Command or of an unlawful Power To cavil at the Mandates of a Prince is an express Affront to his Dignity and within one Remove of Violence Through these Degrees and slidings from Bad to Worse from one Wickedness to Another our late Reformers Travel'd the whole Scale of Treason as the Scene chang'd shifting their Habits till at last quitting the Disguise of the Kings Loyal Subjects they became his Murtherers What 's more familiar at this Day than disputing His Majesties Orders disobeying his Proclamations and vilifying Acts of Parliament Whereof there are so many and so Audacious Instances it shall suffice to have made this General mention of them Another Observation is that When Discords and Quarrels and Factions are carried openly and audaciously it is a Sign the Reverence of Government is lost This was the temper of that Juncture when the Schismatical Part of the two Houses and the Tumultuary Rabble joyn'd their Interests against Bishops and the Earl of Strafford which Insolence was but a Prelude to the succeeding Rebellion And are not Factions carried Openly and Audaciously now when the Promoters and Iustifiers of the Murther of the late King are still continued publick Preachers without the least pretence to a Retraction Dictating still by Gestures Shrugs and Signs That Treason to their Auditory which they dare not Vtter What are their Sermons but Declamations against Bishops Their Covenant-keeping Exhortations but the contempt of an establish'd Law How it comes to pass Heaven knows but These Honest Fellows can come off for Printing and publishing down-right Treason when I have much ado to scape for Telling of it Whither these Liberties tend let any Man look over his shoulder and satisfie himself When any of the Four Pillars of Government are mainly shaken or weakened which are Religion Iustice Counsel and Treasure Men had need to pray for fair weather To speak only of the last The want of Treasure was the Ruine of the late King Through which defect his Officers were expos'd to be Corrupted his Counsels to be Betray'd his Armies to be ill pay'd and consequently not well Disciplin'd Briefly where a Prince is Poor and a Faction Rich the Purse is in the wrong Pocket Multis little Bellum is an assured and infallible Sign of a State disposed to Seditions and Troubles and it must needs be that where War seems the Interest of a People it should be likewise the Inclination of them Touching the General Matter Motives and Prognosticks of Sedition enough is said We 'l now enquire into the special cause of the late Rebellion CAP. III. The True Cause of the late War was AMBITION THE True Cause of the late War was Ambition which being lodg'd in a confederate Cabale of Scotch and English drew the corrupted Interests of both Kingdoms into the Conspiracy to wit the factious covetous Malecontents Criminals Debters and finally all sorts of men whose crimes necessities or passions might be secur'd reliev'd or gratifi'd by a change of Government To these were joyn'd the credulous weak Multitude the clamour being Religion Law and Liberty And here 's the summ of the Design Pretence and Party This League we may presume was perfected in 1637. First from the Kings Charge of High-Treason against Kimbolton and the Five Members Secondly from the correspondent practices in both Nations appearing manifestly about that time Next 't is remarkable that the English pardon has a Retrospect to the beginning of the Scotch Tumults Ian. 1. 1637. Three Years before the meeting of the Long Parliament which Provision seems to intimate That Conspiracy And now the Poyson begins to work Upon the 23 of Iuly in the same Year according to a publique Warning given the Sunday before the Dean of Edinburgh began to read the Service-Book in the Church of Saint Giles whereupon ensued so horrid a Tumult that the Bishop was like to have been Murder'd in the Pulpit and after Sermon scaped narrowly with his Life to his Lodgings The particular recital of their following Insolencies upon the Bishop of Galloway the Earls of Traquair and Wigton the besieging of the Council-House and contempts of the Council their audacious Petitions against the Service-Book and Cannons I shall pass over as not belonging to my purpose Upon the 19 of Febru following a Proclamation was publish'd against their Seditious Meetings which they encounter with an Antiprotest and presently erect their publick Tables of Advice and Counsel for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom The Method whereof was This. Four principal Tables they had One of the Nobility a Second of the Gentry a Third of the Burroughs a Fourth of Ministers And these Four were to prepare Matters for the General Table which consisted of Commissioners chosen out of the Rest. The first Act of this General Table was their Solemn Covenant a Contrivance principally promoted by persons formerly engaged in a Conspiracy against the King and among others by the
Grand Projectors knew very well that the strength of their Cause depended upon the favour of the Ignorant and Licentious Multitude which made them court all people of that Mixture to their Party for Men of Brain and Conscience would never have agreed to a Conspiracy against so clear a Light so just an Interest and Those they found their fast Friends whom neither the Horrour of Sin nor the brightest Evidence of Reason was able to work upon To fit and dispose Both Humors to their purpose the first Scruple they started was Religion which taken as they used it in the external form and jingle of it is beyond doubt the best Cloke for a Knave and the best Rattle for a Fool in Nature Under this Countenance the Murder of the King pass'd for a Sacrifice of Expiation and those Brute Animals that scarce knew the Bible from the Alcoran were made the Arbitrators of the Difference The fear of Popery was the Leading Iealousie which Fear was much promoted by Pamphlets Lectures and Conventicles Still coupling Popery and Prelacy Ceremonies and the Abominations of the Whore by these Resemblances of the Church of England to that of Rome tacitly instilling and bespeaking the same dissaffection to the One which the People had to the Other Their zeal was first imploy'd upon the names of Priests and Altar the Service-Book Church-habits and Ceremonies From Thence they stept to the Demolishing of Church-Windows Images Crosses the Persons of the Bishops went to 't next and then the Office Thus far the Rabble carry'd it the Leaders at last sharing the Revenues and here 's the Reformation of the Hierarchy compleat When by these Scandalous Impostures the Duties of a Christian and a Subject Conscience and Loyalty seem once to enterfere what can be looked for but Rebellion from a Loose Multitude that think themselves Discharged of their Allegiance All Governments are lyable to Abuses and so was Ours among the Rest where Personal Faylings and Excesses were emprov'd into the Fame of an Vniversal Prophaneness or Apostacy Nor did they reckon it enough to Expose and Aggravate particular miscarriages and Humane Frailties but the most horrid Crimes Imaginable were without either proof or ground or colour laid to the Charge of the Episcopal and Royal party Both which were ruin'd by the same Method of Calumny and Sedition The main Encouragement to their Attempt was that The Presbyterians had a strong Party in the Kings Councel and this His Majesty himself takes notice of in his Large Declaration of 1639. Pag. 124. by which means the Kings Councels were both Distracted and Betray'd and the Conspirators Secure at Worst of Mediators for a commodious Peace in case they Fail'd of a Successful War Nor did this Confidence deceive them in the following Enterview of the Armies near Barwick where the Covenanters had been almost as easily Beaten as look'd upon had not the Quarrel been taken up by an Importune and dear-bought Peace for that expedition cost more Mony only to face the Scotch Rebels then would afterward have serv'd His Majesty to have Reduced the English Throughout the Menage of their Affairs it may be Observed that they had these Three Regards still in their Eye and Care 1. To Reproach his Majesties Government 2. To Animate and Reward his Enemies And 3. To persecute his Friends And still as any thing Stuck a Tumult ready at a dead lift to help it forward For they were not Ignorant that the King was to be Defam'd before he could be Disarm'd Disarm'd before Depos'd Deprived of his Friends before Despoyl'd of his Rights and Privileges and That being their Design This was Rationally to be their Method Their first Uproar about the Service-book was but a wild tryal how far the Multitude would Engage and the Magistrate Endure which appeared in This that the City-Magistrates did at first Earnestly and Publiquely protest not only against the Outrage but for the Liturgy not daring to do Otherwise till a while after Encouraged by the Boldness and Importunity of the Offenders and the Patience of some in Authority those very Persons did in their Pulpits and Discourses magnifie that Beastly Crew for the Worthies of the Age whom just before they had decry'd for Rogues and Villains The Truth is they were Then about to play the Rogues Themselves and when persons of Quality turn Rascals Then do Rascals become persons of Quality At the beginning of the Broyl half a douzen broken heads had saved Three Kingdoms Who would have own'd That Rabble had they been Worsted or What Resistance could they have made to any Legal Opposition But they were Flatter'd to be Quiet and That advanc'd this Tumult to a party the Faction growing every day more and more formidable As their Strength encreased so did their Pretences both in Number and Weight and nothing less would content them then to strip the King as bare as they had done the Bishops The particulars of their Insolencies are too many for a Treatise and in Truth too foul for a Story but in gross nothing was wanting to the perfection of the Wickedness which either Hypocrisie Perjury Treason Sacrilege Rapine Oppression Forgery Scandal Breach of Faith Malice Murther or Ingratitude could contribute All which in every Point shall be made good by several Instances if any Man require it We 'l now look Homeward where we shall find the English Rebellion wrought to a Thridd according to the Trace of the Scottish Pattern The Press and Pulpit were already at the Devotion of the Reforming Party the Covenanters had an Army on Foot and the Schismatiques were prepar'd for a General Rising at which time his Majesty Summon'd a Parliament to assemble in November following In This Contention those of the Confederacy made it their first work to engage the People by ripping up of Common Grievances Breach of Laws and Priviledges and by contending to assert their Rights Liberties and Religion against the Encroachments of Prerogative and Popery Being secure of their Party they propose next the Manner of accomplishing their Purpose which must be Effected by Craft and Terrour In Order whereunto They first attacqu'd Two of his Majesties prime Counsellors and Confidents the Earl of Strafford and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Two Persons worthy of the King's Trust and Kindness however Worried by the Multitude To weaken the Lords House they nulled the Bishops Votes and Committed Twelve of them for Treason Five of the Iudges were Committed likewise And to dispose the lower-Lower-House nothing was wanting which either Force Flattery Corruption or foul-play in Elections could Procure them So far as the King Granted all went well but if his Majesty deny'd them any Thing the Fault was laid upon his Evil Counsellors Under which Notion all his Friends were comprehended So that his Choice was This either to give away his Crown or to have it wrested from him In May the
Faction of the Two Houses Publish'd a Protestation which was but a Gentle slip into the Prerogative Royal to try their Interest and by degrees to inure the People to their intended and succeeding Usurpations Some four or five days after were signed those Two Fatal Bills for the Death of the Earl of Strafford and the Perpetuity of the Parliament And having now gain'd leave to sit as long as they please they have little futther to ask but that they may likewise do what they list Where Loyalty was made a Crime 't was fit Rebellion should pass for a Vertue Upon which suitable equity the Scots were Justified and Voted our Dear Brethren 300000 l. in Iune 1641 and Six-score thousand more in August following and so we Parted In this Perplexity of Affairs the King takes a Journey into Scotland it possible to secure an Interest there but the Conspiracy was gone too far to be composed by Gentleness Upon his Majesties Departure the Houses Adjourn and during the Recess appoint a standing Committee and They forsooth must have a Guard for fear of their own Shadows In which Interval of the King's Absence the Usurpers lost no time as appear'd by their readiness to Entertain him at his Return When the first Present they made his Majesty was the Petition and Remonstrance of December 15 which I cannot think upon but that Text comes into my mind of Mark 15.18 Hail King of the Iews and they smote him on the head with a Reed and spate upon him and bowed the head and did him reverence This Impious Libel was seconded with an Audacious Tumult even at the Gates of the King's Palace and it was now high time for his Majesty to enquire into the Contrivers and Abettors of these and other the like Indignities and Proclamation was accordingly made for the Apprehending of them which very Proclamation was declared to be a Paper False scandalous and Illegal After this Language what had they more to do but by Armed Violence to invade the Soveraignty and to improve a loose and popular Sedition into a Regular Rebellion Which was a little hastned to even beside the Terms of Ordinary Prudence to implunge their Complices beyond Retreat before they should discern that hideous Gulf into which their Sin and Folly was about to lead them To keep their Zeal and Fury waking the Faction had a singular Faculty at Inventing of Plots Counterfeiting Letters Intercepting Messages Over-hearing Conspiracies Which Artificial Delusions especially asserted by the pretended Authority of a Parliament and a Pulpit could not but work strong Effects of Scruple and Iealousie upon a pre-judging and distemper'd People These were the means and steps by which they gain'd that Power which afterward they Employed in Opposition to those very ends for which they sware they Rais'd it leaving us neither Church nor King nor Law nor Parliaments nor Properties nor Freedoms Behold the Blessed Reformation Wee 'l slip the War and see in the next place what Government they Gave us in Exchange for That they had Subverted CAP. V. A short View of the Breaches and Confusions betwixt the Two Factions from 1648 to 1654. IT cannot be expected that a Power acquir'd by Blood and Treason maintain'd by Tyranny the Object of a General Curse and Horrour both of God and Nature only Vnited against Iustice and at perpetual Variance with it self I say it cannot be expected that such a Power as this should be Immortal Yet is it not enough barely to argue the Fatality of Wickedness from the Certainty of Divine Vengeance and There to stop Vsurpers are not rais'd by Miracle nor cast down by Thunder but by our Crimes or Follies they are Exalted and Then by the Fatuity of their own Counsels down they Tumble Wherefore let us enquire into the Springs and Reasons of their Fortunes and Falls as well as Gaze upon the Issues of them A timely search into the Grounds of one Rebellion may prevent another How the Religious Opposers of the late King advanced themselves against his Sacred Authority we have already shew'd be it our business here to Observe their workings one upon the other To begin with Them that began with Vs The Presbyterians having first asserted the Peoples Cause against the Prerogative and attempting afterwards to Establish Themselves by using Pregogative-Arguments against the People found it a harder matter to Erect an Aristocracy upon a Popular Foundation than to subvert a Monarchy upon a Popular Pretence or to dispose the Multitude whom they themselves had Declar'd to be the Supream Power to lay down their Authority at the Feet of their Servants In fine they had great Difficulties to struggle with and more than they could overcome I mean great Difficulties in point of Interest and Conduct for those of Honour and Conscience they had subdu'd long since They strove however till opprest by a general hatred and the Rebound of their own Reasonings they Quitted to the Independent Thus departed the Formal Bauble Presbytery succeeded for the next Four years by the Phanaticism of a Free-State The better half of which time being successfully Employ'd in the subjecting of Scotland and Ireland to their power and Model and to compleat their Tyranny over the Kings Best Subjects and their Vsurpations over his Royal Dominions Their next Work was to make themselves Considerable Abroad and 't was the Fortune of the Dutch to feel the First proof of That Resolution Betwixt these Rival States pass'd Six Encounters in 1652. most of them Fierce and Bloody the Last especially a Tearing one Upon the whole the Dutch lost more but the English got little beside the Honour of the Victory in which particular the Kingdom pay'd dear for the Reputation of the Common-Wealth This success rais'd the pride and vanity of the English so that at next Bout nothing less would serve them than an absolute Conquest But while they are providing for it and in the huff of all their Glory behold the Dissolution of the Long-Parliament which whether it began or ended more to the satisfaction of the People is a point not yet decided Dissolved however it is and Rebuk'd for Corruptions and Delays by Cromwell who with his Officers a while after Summon a new Representative and Constitute a new Counsel of State compos'd of Persons entirely disaffected to the Common-wealth This Little Ridiculous Convention thought to have done mighty Matters but the Plot Vented and Vanish'd Some of their Memorable Fopperies are These The Famous Act concerning Marriages was Theirs they pass'd likewise an Act for an Assessment of 120000 l. per Mensem they Voted down the Chancery and Tythes they Voted also a total Alteration of the Laws All of a mind they were not and for Distinction sake the company was divided into the Honest party and the Godly party Of the former were Cromwell's Creatures and of the Other Barebones or rather Harrisons the Person they had design'd for
Lord Balmerino a Pardon'd Traytor and the Son of One. His Father had been a Favourite and principal Secretary to King Iames and rais'd by him out of Nothing to his Estate and Dignity Yet was this Thankless Wretch Arraign'd for and Attainted of High-Treason and after Sentence to be Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd he was by the Kings Mercy pardon'd and restor'd Another eminent Covenanter was the Earl of Arguile of whom Walker gives this Accompt He brought his Father to a pension outed his Brother of his Estate Kintyre ruin'd his Sisters by cheating them of their portions and so enforcing them into Cloysters It must needs be a Conscientious Design with such Saints as These in the Head of it This Covenant was effectually no other then a Rebellious Vow to oppose the Kings Authority and Iustifie Themselves in the exercise of the Soveraign power which they assum'd to a degree even beyond the claim of Majesty it self pleading the Obligation of the Covenant to all their Vsurpations They Levyed Men and Moneys Seiz'd the Kings Magazines and strong Holds Rais'd Forts Begirt his Castles Affronted his Majesties Proclamations Summon'd Assemblies Proclaim'd Fasts Deprived and Excommunicated Bishops Abolish'd Episcopacy Issued out Warrants to choose Parliament-Commissioners Renounced the Kings Supream Authority Trampled upon Acts of Parliament pressing their Covenant upon the Privy-Council They gave the last Appeal to the generality of the People discharging Counsellors and Iudges of their Allegiance and threatning them with Excommunication in case they disobeyed the Assembly All this they did according to the Covenant and whether This was Religion or Ambition let the World judge These Affronts drew the King down with an Army to the Borders and within two Miles of Barwick the two Bodies had an Enterview March 28 1639. But the Scots craving a Treaty his Majesty most graciously accorded it Commissioners were appointed Articles agreed upon and a Pacification concluded Iune 17. Not one Article of this Agreement was observ'd on the Covenanters part but immediately upon the Discharge of his Majesties Forces the Scots brake forth into fresh Insolencies and the Incroachments upon the Prerogative addressing to the French King for Assistance against their Native Soveraign And yet the Quarrel was as they pretended for the Protestant Religion and against Popery In August 1640 they entred England and upon a Treaty at Rippon soon after a Cessation is agreed upon referring the Decision of all Differences to a more General Treaty at London In November began the Long Parliament and now the Scene is London Where with great License and Security Parties are made and Insolencies against the Government committed and authorized under protection of the Scotch Army and the City-Tumults By degrees Matters being prepar'd and ripened they found it opportune soon after to make something a more direct Attempt upon the Soveraignty but by Request first and resolving if that way fail to try to force it In Ianuary they Petition for the Militia In February they secure the Tower and in March Petition again for 't But so that they Protest If his Majesty persist to deny it they are resolv'd to take it And the next day it is Resolved upon the Question That the Kingdom be forthwith put into a posture of Defence by Authority of both Houses of Parliament In April 1642 the Earl of Warwick seizes the Navy and Sir Iohn Hotham Hull Refusing the King Entrance which was justified by an ensuing Vote and his Majesty proclaiming him Traytor for it was Voted a Breach of Priviledge In May they pretended Governour of Hull sends out Warrants to raise the Trained Bands and the King then at York forbids them moving the County for a Regiment of the Trained Foot and a Troop of Horse for the Guard of his Royal Person Whereupon it was Voted That the King seduced by wicked Counsel intended to make a War against his Parliament and that whosoever shall assist him were Traytors They proceeded then to corrupt and displace divers of his Servants forbidding others to go to him They stop and seise his Majesties Revenue and declare That whatsoever they should Vote is not by Law to be questioned either by the King or Subjects No Precedent can limit or bound their Proceedings A Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or People have any Right The Soveraign Power resides in Both Houses of Parliament The King hath no Negative Voice The levying of War against the Personal commands of the King though accompanied with his Presence is not a levying of War against the King but a levying War against his Laws and Authority which they have power to declare is levying War against the King Treason cannot be committed against his Person otherwise then as he was Intrusted They have Power to judge whether he discharge his Trust or not that if they should follow the highest Precedents of other Parliaments Patterns there would be no cause to complain of want of Modesty or Duty in them and that it belonged only to them to judge of the Law Having stated and extended their Power by an absurd illegal and impious severing of the King's Person from his Office their next work is to put Those Powers in execution and to subject the Sacred Authority of a lawful Monarch to the Ridiculous and Monstrous Pageantry of a Headless Parliament And That 's the Business of the 19 Propositions demanding That the great Affairs of the Kingdom and Militia may be managed by Consent and Approbation of Parliament all the great Affairs of State Privy-Council Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges be chosen by Teem that the Goverment Education and Marriage of the King's Children be by Their Consent and Approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdom put under the Command and Custody of such as They should approve of and that no Peers to be made hereafter should Sit and Vote in Parliament They desire further That his Majesty would discharge his Guards Eject the Popish Lords out of the House of Peers and put the Penal Laws against them strictly in Execution and finally That the Nation may be govern'd either by the Major part of the Two Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major part of the Councel and that no Act of State may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority without Them Upon these Tearms they insisted and Rais'd a War to Extort them So that 't is clear they both design'd and fought to Dethrone his Majesty and exercise the Soveraign Power themselves which was to Suit their Liberty of Acting to that of Sitting and to make themselves an Almighty as well as an Everlasting Parliament CAP. IV. The Instruments and Means which the Conspirators imployed to make a Party THat their Design was to usurp the Government is manifest Now to the Instruments and Sleights they use to compass it The
and now the Arminians though they work mightily upon Mens Wits yet they do not produce any great Alterations in States except it be by the Help of Civil Occasions Now when a Prince meets with a Faction thus Markt let him look to Himself for there are against him the best Counterfeit of a Friend and the most Deadly Composition of an Enemy the Strongest of all Allurements the most Popular of all Designs and the most Rational Means to Accomplish it But the Question will be How to Prevent what is not as yet Discover'd To which we answer That the Sect here spoken of is New either Absolutely or Comparatively If Absolutely Observe what Carnal Interest they drive If Comparatively mark what Copy they follow and Measure the Disciple by his Master One Safe and Certain Remedy be the Novelty what it will is not to suffer any Innovation whatsoever without a warrantable Authority No not so much as a Publick Dispute against an Establish'd Order from a Private Person Nay more let the Dissent be Right or Wrong 't is the same thing as to the Reason of Government though not so to the Conscience of the Dissenter Suppose the Subject of an Idolatrous Prince within his Masters Dominions and Contrary to his Express Order Preaches against the Religion there Establish'd He does well to Discharge his Conscience but let him have a Care of the Consequence for if in Order to the making of Good Christians he makes Bad Subjects his Zeal will hardly acquit him of Sedition God does not allow of Proposing Good Ends by Ill Means and of Reforming Religion by Rebellion Let him have a Care likewise if he comes to suffer for well-doing how he behaves himself for if he but open his Mouth against the Civil Magistrate as a Persecutor he betrays himself to be an Hypocrite There are Two Sects whom I dare say This Doctrine will not please i.e. The Pontifical Presbyterians and the Rigid Iesuits The Latter of which have for Convenience sake been True to One King The Former giving the Devil his Due since Presbyterians had a Being were never True to Any or if they ever were let him that Loves Them best or knows them better shew me but when where how and with a Neverint universi I do here Declare I 'le make a Publick Recantation Till Then We 'l take the Prebyterian for the Cock-Schismatick and if Sir Francis Bacon's Note holds Good the Dangerous New Sect against Whom no Caution can be too Early no Importunity too Earnest no Restriction too Severe These are They that according to the Lord St. Albans Propagate Religion by Wars Force Consciences Nourish Seditions Authorise Conspiracies and Rebellions That put the Sword into the Peoples hand and Dash the First Table against the Second In short all Those Popular and Supplanting Politicks which we find only here and there Scatter'd and Thin in Other Sects are by These People drawn into a Practical Method a Set-form of Sedition They Govern Their Looks their Words their Actions Nay their very Dress Garb and Accent by a Rule They are Instructed when to Beseech and when to Expostulate when to Flatter and when to Threaten when to Offer and when to Deny when to Press Swearing and when to Declaim against it when to Save and wâ—â—n to Kill In the first Scene ye have the Schismatick upon his Knees begging his Prince into a Dispensation for Scrupulous Consciences that perhaps stick at such and such Ceremonies the Cross the Surplice or the like Let but the Soveraign Comply Thus far and what 's the Fruit of this Indulgence Within a Day or Two they come for More and by Degrees More still till at Last they find the Government of the Church as Troublesom as they did the Rites of it and Bishops as great a Grievance as Ceremonies Where the King Stops They Cavil and now from Petitioners for Freedom to Themselves they are Grown to be most Insolent Denyers of it to Others Their Art is next to Tune the People which is best done by the Pulpit where One half of their Business is Invective against Prelacy and the Other is spent in Well-Acted Supplications That God would turn the King's Heart Accounting His yielding to all They Ask as a Divine Assurance that their Prayers are heard But if the Monarch still holds out what Pity 't is they Cry so sweet a Prince should be Miss-led And then they fall upon his Evil Counsellors still Taking all he Gives and Strugling for the Rest till having first Disrob'd Him of his Rights Depriv'd Him of his Friends Step after Step they Attempt His Sacred Person and at last take away His Life Here 's their Glorious King the End of all their Vows and Covenants their Prayers and Fastings or in a word the Summe of their Religion It was great Blasphemy says Sir F. B. when the Devil said I will Ascend and be like the Highest But it is greater Blasphemy to Personate God and bring Him in saying I will Descend and be like the Prince of Darkness and what is it better to make the Cause of Religion to descend to the Cruel and Execrable Actions of Murthering Princes Butchery of People and Subversion of States and Government He that stands firm against not the Wit or Bravery but the Fawning and Treacherous Insinuations of This Faction may make himself Sport with all Other Practices and Combinations whatever and That Prescription which helps This Evil serves for all other Publick and Intestine Maladies I think we may be Positive that there neither Is nor ever Was in Nature any Society of Men without a Vitious Mixture under what Government or Governour-soever I think we may be as Positive likewise that Those Ambitious and Vnsatisfi'd Particulars with which all Constitutions are infested are only Deferr'd from troubling all Governments by the want of Opportunities to Plot and Contrive and by the Hazards they meet with in putting Those Plots in Execution Wherefore it ought to be a Prince his first Care to Choak These Seeds of Discord which may be Effected by a Provision of Orthodox Ministers to the utter Exclusion of the Contrary by Prohibiting Private Meetings or Conventicles and by taking heed to the Press A Watchfulness in These Three Points Secures the Church from Schisms and Consequently the State from Conscientious Seditions At least if I am not Mistaken in my Presumption that there is not any fourth way of Dangerous Communication Touching the Licentious abuse of the Press and the Freedom of Riotous Assemblies the Distemper is not as yet grown Bold enough to avow Those Liberties But from the Non-Conforming Ministers we must expect hard Pleading What shall the Faithfull Guides be ejected upon the account of Forms or Ceremonies because they dare not do that which they Iudge to be so great a Sin against the Lord May not a Dissenting Brother be an Honest man Our Reply shall be short and Charitable If the
An Army without Pay is the most Dangerous Enemy Money is the Interest of the World What 's the Benefit of a Standing Army The mischief and danger of it A Royal Guard necessary and sufficient With the timely execution of good Laws Conscience the strongest Tye. The Rise of Schism The method of it The motion of Schism into Sedition The Design And Effect of it Note Qu. May an enemy to Bishops exercise the Ministry Three Questions propoundded by King Charles the Martyr concerning Church Government The derivation of Episcopal Government Christ's Mandate to the Apostles Episcopacy unalterable Corruptio Optimi Pessima The method of Schism A Scandalous Clergy makes a Seditious Layety Slander is the Sin and Practice of the Devil Shun Appearances of Scandal Ignorance a Species of Scandal Bishops blamed by the more blameable Fears and Jealousies Bishops charged with Pride by the prouder Brethren Conscience hnd Law govern the World Occasions of Sedition Seditious Lawyers and Schismatical Divines are the most abominable Seducers Plotters of Sedition Are of three Sorts Usurpers Monarchomachists Jesuited Puritans Time is the best Tryal of Fidelity The Knowledge of Persons is more then the Understanding of Matters The Noblest Natures most easily Deceived Abuses from Great Persons hardly Rectify'd What he must do that undertakes it The Art of Flattery Conscientious Sedition An Ambitious Person The Test of an Honest Favourite An ill sign Another as bad Note Mark again The Advantages of a Confederacy in Councell Their Method Rather to Countenance a Sedition then Head it How to know the Faction By their Haunts By their Cabales By their Debates By their Domesticks By their Favourites The Composition of a fit Instrument for a Corrupt States-man By their Conversation and Behaviour An honester sort of Ill Subjects A Caveat to Courtiers The Politicks of the Vulgar The Effects of Corruption in a Court. Court-Beggers Non-payment of Debts The Interests of the Souldiery An Ambitious Commander does better Abroad then at-Home A Holy War is a Contradiction Hazard not a Rebellion in one Place for fear of a Sedition in another The Constitution of a Guard-Royall Court and City seldom agree The Reason of it The Power of a City The Manner of Preparing the People for Sedition A Seditious Principle The King only Accountable to God and the People to the King Cursed be the Sons of Cham. Religious Sedition either referring to Heresie or Schism Rebellion upon a point of Heresie more Pardonable then That from Schism Seditions arising from Schism The Means of provoking Sedition The Advantages of Great Towns for Seditions Cities are inclinable to Seditions from the Temper of the Inhabitants Religions Innovatours begin with Women Four Reasons why A Zealous Sister And her Confessour A Shee-Proselyte Oppression causes Sedition A Presbyterian Trick The Politick Hypocrite Loyalty is Indispensable Citizens are tender of their Priviledges Principally in point of Trade Their Immunities are Precarious Neither Prince nor People can be secure but by Agreement Poverty an Irresistible Incentive to Sedition The most dangerous Poverty Corruption the Cause of Scarcity Private Hoardsbreed Publick Penury The Composition of wicked Ministers of State The Misery of them If either they look back Forward Round about Above them Below or within them The Sollicitous estate of the Guilty Taxes may cause or occasion a Scarcity divers ways Subjects are to Obey without Disputing Leave no Mark standing to remember a Discourtesie by Josh. 4.6 Shifting passes for Wisdom Excessive Building Knavery of Tradesmen The Country is sure to be undone by a War The Fruits of it A Discontented Nobleman Ambition Pride Revenge The Rich Churle The Contentious Free-born Subject The Dangerous mixture of a Representative The Designing Party Their Industry and Combination The Matter they work upon Their manner of Proceeding The Permitters of Seditious Contrivements The Deserters of their Trust are taken off by Profit Pleasure Vanity by Sloth and Neglect by Partiality Passion Fear or Personal Animosity Fools are fit Instruments for Knaves Love and Reverence are the Pillars of Majesty The Power of a Prince depends upon the Love of his People The Grounds of Sedition Let a Prince Stick to his Laws and his People will stick to him The Oath of Protecting implies a Power of Protecting Where a King has it not in his Power to Oppress his People They have it in Theirs to destroy their King A Mixture of Indulgence and Severity Obliges the Loyal and Aws the Refractary The Influence of Prudence and Courage A Prince that bears Affronts and Familiarities from his Subjects Lessens himself How to hinder the Spreading of a Seditious Humour Let a Prince keep an Eye over Great Assemblies Let him be Quick and Watchful The most dangerous of all Seets A sure way to prevent Schism Have a Care The Presbyterians Set-form And Method Their Modesty The means of Preventing Schism Object Petition for Peace pag. 4 5. Answ. The Hazards of Toleration The Foundation of Presbytery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pag. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 239. Let Pagans blush at These Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 263. The Growth of Schism A Noble Resolve Let the Prince Reform betime And Impartially Ambition is the Cause no matter what 's the Cry Corrupt Divines and Lawyers are in the forlorn of all Rebellions But the Contrary are the Pillars and Blessings of Society The Common Crime of Vitious Lawyers is Avarice The Basest of Corruptions An Ignorant Judge is a Dangerous Minister And so is a Timorous A hard matter to make a good Choice A Rule to Choose by Hae nuga Seria ducunt in mala A way to prevent Treasonous Mistakes The Contrivers of Seditions are of Three Sorts The Puritan Religion is but Talk Every man for himself A Traytour is of no Religion No ill Story The Presbyterian has gotten a Strain A Ceremony may be as well impos'd as a Tax Ambition dangerous in a Favourite A Caution Ambition does better in a Souldier then in a Counsellour It is the Interest of a Prince to dispose of Offices by Particular Direction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pag. 240. How to crush an Insolent Favourite The Danger of a Favourite that upholds Faction And manage of his Design Sir F. Bacon How to disappoint an Ambitious Design Favourites necessary to the Prince And desirable to the People Concerning the Choice of Servants Let them be Honest and Fit Of approved Loyalty to the Father Nor upon Recommendation Publick Natures for Publick Places Not One to all Purposes Let a Prince set his Confident his Bounds afore-hand In Points of Conscience Honour and Convenience let not a Favourite press the Soveraign The Danger of Over-greatness as to the People A Proud man in Power Easily crush'd A Covetous Great man The Mischief of False Intelligence Good Advice to a Counsellor Prudence provides for the worst Reward and Punishment keep People in Order Honest Truths are Dangerous A Case put The Lower Region of the Court. Four or Five Beggars in Chief Corrupt Officers a General Pest. An Excellent way of Raising Moneys Ill-pay the reason of Ill-payment Want of Money makes People Religious The Ill-principled Courtier Dangers from the Camp How Mutinies may be caused Good Pay will bear good Discipline Modelling and Disbanding are dangerous How to New model an Army How to Disband The Causes of Revolts A good Choice is the best Security against a Revolt The Danger of an Ill-order'd City Pretext of Religion is a dangerous and wicked Quarrel Is there a God Or is there None All Seditions proceed from Misgovernment Begin with the Clergy to prevent Schism Let the Magistracy be well-affected Oppression procur'd by Ill-Instruments Though the Levy be Extraordinary let the Way be Ordinary Priviledges are Sacred Poverty is a terrible Enemy The Prince not to forsake his Metropolis Let the Choice be Legal and Prudent Better the Soveraign Reform than the Councel The Effects of a good Choice and of a bad The Mischieves of Partiality Better a Tyranny than an Anarchy