Canoneers lives that would otherwise be exposed to the Canon shot of the enemies If it be a City or a great garrison Towne then it requires two platformes and two batteries with six Canons apiece the one on the one side of the towne and the other on the other side and both these platformes and batteries are to be made and to begin to play at the breake of the day that shall be appointed for the storme and so they are to continue without intermission untill they have made two breaches of twenty yards broad apiece and the dikes to be levelled with the rubbish even with the firme ground Now if these breaches cannot be done in one day then are the Commanders to give order that some Companies of Musquetteers be appointed to stand on the two flanks of the breaches all night one company after another to fire their Musquets at randome into the breaches to hinder the defendants to repaire the breaches or from retrenching of themselves within it And then the next morning to storme againe without intermission untill the breach be sufficient and the dike levelled as afore-said And in the meane time the Commanders may set in order their reserves to come to a generall Assault after this manner following 6. In our manner of Assaults There is an erroneous opinion crept in the minde of some men that say we are not to take Townes or Castles by storming assaults to avoid the shedding of Christian bloud but we ought rather to take them by famine But these men are either ignorant of the events of warre or desire this unnaturall warre should be spinned out untill the Kingdome were utterly consumed For it is certaine that long sieges consume more men by diseases ten for one then are slaine by storming or assaults as it shall be proved by Instances 1. 2 Vigentia a great City in Italy was besieged ten yeares by the Romans and at that siege was the use of Tents first of all invented because of the number of Souldiers that perished by diseases that did proceed from the wet and cold they endured in Winter time and Furius Camilius took the same in a moneth by a Mine and a generall assault 2. The siege of a Marseilles under Francis the first and the siege of Mests under Henry the second Kings of France consumed above threescore thousand men by diseases because the Emperour Charles the fifth strove to take them by famine 3. The Protestants in the second Civill warre of France besieged the City of b Poitiers with an Army of thirty thousand men and because they did not storme it at their first coming they lost above six thousand men by diseases and were inforced to raise the siege 4. The c Earle of Foix Generall for the French in the Kingdome of Naples having besieged the City of Naples lost his owne life and the greater part of his Army before it by the Pestilence because he fell not a storming of it at his first coming In a word long sieges consume more men treasure and time then townes that are taken by assault There are so many accidents that happen by the long time that a Towne requires for to be taken by famine that the events of it are very seldome successefull or happy and there is no towne or Castle but may be taken by storming as it may be proved by instances 1. Henry the fourth took d Moutmeillan Castle in eight dayes that had required two yeares siege for it stood upon a steep Rock judged of the greater part of his Commanders impregnable and well provided of Ammunition and provisions But he having viewed thes at of it himselfe saw there was another steep rock within Canon shot of it whereupon he gave a Regiment of Switzers a Largesse to draw up upon that rock six Canons with the strength of their armes and these being pointed and storming the same furiously the defendants yeelded upon composition If the like was done to Scarborow Castle it would be taken in three dayes for it is nothing to the fore-named in seat and fortifications and it hath also a hill that commands the same and likewise Beaver Castle that is also commanded by a hill 2. The Towne of Gravilling one of the strongest Garrisons in Flanders that had required two yeares siege to take it by famine because it had three double dikes of forty foot broad and twenty foot deep and all flanked with bastions made with Casamates and no probabilitie to come to an assault without Galleries yet the French did so terrifie the defendants by their furious batteries and assaults that they were constrained to deliver the same upon composition before it had been fully besieged three months 3. Our brethren the Scots might have endured many a wet and cold night before New-Castle and have spinned out that siege untill the next Spring if they had not nobly and valiantly stormed the same If Basing house and Banbury Castle had been stormed with sixe Canons that might have made such breaches as are spoken of before and had the besiegers given such an assault so ordered and the men so armed as followed they had not lost their reputation as they have nor left that work undone to spinne out this warre to the next yeare When a breach of twenty yards broad is made and the dike filled up as aforesaid even with the firme ground then are three reserves to march after one another in this manner but if there be two breaches then six reserves are to be in a readinesse and every reserve is to consist of fifty nine men that is for every breach one hundred threescore and seventeen men and for the two breaches it is three hundred fifty foure men These men are to be chosen men of the most valiant and experienced souldiers of the Army for raw souldiers are not to have that honour neither would they stand to so furious a storme but would turne back and run away and over-throw the designe for among the French the Marshals of France Earles and Barons doe not disdaine to be of the first ranke that go up to the breach and those of the first ranke are to be of the most e eminent in birth and degree this first ranke are to be all Rondachiers armed from the head to the knees with armour of proofe with broad swords in their right hands to cut the enemies pikes their Rondachiers in the left and a Pistoll ready charged at their girdle and are to be placed a foot asunder that the next ranke of nineteene Musquetteers may fire their Musquets between that foot light and these Musquetteers are to be armed with good swords on their side a buffe coat on their back and a Pistoll ready charged at their girdle and a head piece on their head they are to march two yards distant from the Rondachiers and next to them are to be a ranke of twenty Pike-men armed with Corselets and Cuisiers of
proofe and are to march within two yards of the Musquetteers as it is here prickt downe Now these three reserves are to march within three yards one of another that if the first give ground the second may succeed and so the third but if it get ground they are to presse on Now the nineteene Musquetteers of every reserve having fired their Musquets are to wheele about to shelter themselves behinde the Pikemen for to charge their Musquets againe And the Pike-men are to advance in their place to second the f Rondachiers and to make good the breach untill the other reserve comes up to the breach if in case the Rondachiers were tired or some of them wounded Now on both sides of the breach there are fresh Regiments or Companies of Musquetteers to be placed for to second these reserves in case they loose ground or to enter furiously the breach if the enemies loose it for it is continuance and constancy that carries it away in assaults for the besiegers being foure to one will by continuance tire the defendants as it came to passe at the siege of Malte In a word if our breaches were made so broad and our men so well armed and this order observed I make no question but our men would go on like Lions but when they are to enter into Coney-holes in stead of breaches and have no armour of proofe to withstand the Musquet shot and the Pikes of the Defendants it is no marvell if they turne their backes and come off with dishonour now if there be two breaches or more made by Mines or by the storming of the Canon they are all to be entered at one instant for the greater diversion of the enemies forces and besides these breaches it is wisedome to have two hundred Ladders ready and commandement to be made they should be placed as farre distant from the breaches as they can that fresh souldiers may get up upon the rampier and so wheele about to fall upon the backes of the enemies while they defend the breaches for by this stratageme Scipio tooke the strong City of new g Carthage in one day notwithstanding it had a garrison of eight thousand men within it Now I returne to the seventh difference of our Method of warre 7. In our stratagemes of warre The stratagemes of warre increase according to the acute ingenuity of Commanders and are very usefull to reduce strong holds or to preserve an Army if it be over-powred or brought in narrow wayes or in necessity of Provisions Now of all the ancient Commanders Caesar Hannibal have exceeded all others in stratagemes of war 1. Caesar being constrained by a storme at Sea to land near to a garrison Towne of the enemies called h Adrumet seated upon the coast of Affrica with onely three hundred horse and three thousand foot used such admirable stratagemes of warre that he defended himselfe so valiantly against the potent Army of Juba of Scipio and of Labiennus that they could not force him in his Camp nor streighten him frō provisions but he continued there three moneths untill new supplies came to him from Sicilia and then he took the field and by stratagemes more then by valour defeated them although their Armies exceeded his foure for one 2. Hannibal being in Italy was led by the ignorance or the infidelity of his guides into a valley incompassed with high mountaines where he was presently invironed by Fabius i Maximus Army And there he had perished with his Army if he had not found out this stratageme of war to free himselfe He caused some dry Bavins of shreds of Vines to be fastned between the hornes of two thousand oxen that he led along with him for the provision of his Army and at the beginning of the night commanded his souldiers to set them all at an instant on fire and to drive the said oxen with violence up the narrow passages of the mountaines at which strange sight the Romanes that guarded them were so amazed that they all run away for feare and so opened a passage for him and his Army to passe without impediment 3. k Henry the fifth King of England being incompassed by an Army of the French near to Agincourt exceeding his Army foure for one commanded his souldiers to dig in the night great and deepe trenches round about his Camp and to stick in them long pointed stakes and then to fill them againe up as lightly as they could with the loose earth by which stratageme the French Army was utterly defeated for the French horse coming in the morning furiously to fall upon the English Camp they fell upō one anothers backs in these hallow grounded trenches where the English Archers slew them at their pleasure 4. Charles the eighth King of France at his returne from the Conquest of the Kingdome of Naples was incompassed by an Army of all the confederated Princes of Italy exceeding in number his Army three for one as he came downe the Mountaines of the Alpelins neare to l Farnone where he had perished and all his Army for want of provisions if he had not by a stratageme freed himselfe from the strait he was in by commanding over night that all his Ordnance carriages and baggage should be placed at the breake of day in the midst of his foot and that his horse should equally be divided into two Brigades the one for the Van and the other for the reare and himselfe riding in the front of his Van charged the enemies so furiously that he broke thorow their Army slew divers thousands of them and opened a passage for himselfe and all his Army to returne into France without impediment Now had we not beene so barren in stratagemes of war as we are our Army in Cornwall had as well as these come out of their straits with honour and reputation for it was inferiour to all these But as I have said heretofore It was Gods pleasure it should be so to humble us by that blow 2. Strong holds that would require long sieges may be reduced by a stratageme of warre in an houres time m Montluc having intelligence by his Scouts that the Governour of a strong Castle seated upon the lake of Canstance did usually goe to recreate himselfe at a farme house of his within two miles of his Castle placed an ambush to intrap him that tooke him and brought him before his Castle gate and by threatning to strike off his head from his shoulders the Castle was yeelded and surrendred up A good memorandum for some of our Governours that goe a hunting with five or six horse and indanger themselves and their garrison to be surprized by the enemies 2. The Governour of Dorlance took the strong City of Amiens with this stratageme he laid an Ambush in the night time within halfe a mile of the City of two thousand foot and of a thousand horse and sent sixe Waggons laden with Hay under
to follow like a slave the Triumphant Chariot of Paulus Aemilius his Conquerour And yet it is not to be doubted but this King had wise Counsellours and Politicians about him but God had decreed that the Kingdome of Macedonia should be of the number of those Kingdomes that should exalt the Romane Monarchy 4. The omission of the opportunity that h Antiochus the great had to proclaime warre against the Romanes when their forces were busied in Macedonia was the cause that he was defeated in divers battels constrained to make a dishonourable peace with the Romanes and that Armenia the great was presently after brought under the Romane yoke by Lucullus and Pompeius neither did this great Monarch want great Politicians and experienced Commanders for Hannibal attended at his Court but God had decreed that his large Dominions should increase the Romane Empire 5. The omission of the opportunitie that Mounsieur the i Lautrec Generall of the French in the Kingdome of Naples had to take the Citie of Naples if he had pursued the Prince of Orange as the rules of warre required after he had routed his Army was the cause of this valiant Commanders death and the losse of the whole Kingdome of Naples 6. The omission of the opportunity of an houres time that Henry the fourth k King of France had to defeat the Duke of Parme and all his Army at a strait passage leading to the ford of a small River three small Leagues from Paris where he had purposed to fall upon him was the cause he was constrained to raise his siege and to see before his face that great City relieved that was then reduced to extreme Misery by want of Provisions This slip of opportunity proceeding certainly from the secret will of God that decreed that Paris should be yeelded presently after to the will and obedience of her lawfull Prince without the shedding of a drop of bloud for Henry the fourth was one of the most active and experienced Commanders of that Age Now I come to prove by Instances out of the Word of God that all opportunities are guided and directed by the speciall providence of God 1. The favourable opportunity of l Rebekah comming the first of all the Virgins to the well according to the request of Abrahams servant cannot be said to be accidentall for the circumstances doe so clearly manifest that it was guided by a speciall Providence of God 2. The gracious opportunity of the m Ishmaelites comming by presently after Josephs brethren had cast him into a Pit that he might be sold and led into Egypt to become the preserver of all his fathers family came not casually but by a speciall and gracious providence of God proceeding from the love and care he hath of his Children 3. The blessed opportunity of n Pharaohs daughter comming down to wash her selfe at the River Nylus was not accidentall but directed by an admirable Providence of God to save Moses that he might be instructed in all the Sciences of the Egyptians to be more able to discharge the great and honourable charge the Lord had appointed him unto viz. to be the deliverer of his elected people of Israel that groaned under the cruell bondage of the Egyptians 4. The favourable opportunity for o Saul of the losse of the Asses of Kish his father came not accidentally but by a speciall Providence of God that Saul might be privately anointed King of Israel according to the will and pleasure of the Lord neither did those signes that the Prophet Samuel told him he should meet withall upon the way as he returned homeward happen casually but by the speciall Providence of God that the words he had spoken by his Prophet concerning the election of Saul to the Crowne of Israel might be confirmed 5. The gracious opportunity that p Hushat tooke by the fore-lock to overthrow the wise Counsell of Ahithophel came not accidentally but by an admirable Providence of God that Ahithophel might for his former impious Counsell concerning King Davids concubines runne head-long to confusion notwithstanding his worldly wisdome and that Absalom should receive the just reward of his persidious and abhorred rebellion against so loving a Father 6. The blessed opportunity that q Hezekiah King of Judah tooke upon the blasphemies of Rabshakeh against God and the Temple of Jerusalem to goe up into the House of the Lord and there rehearsed all the words of Rabshakeh and rent his clothes and humbled himselfe greatly was the cause that the Lord hearkened to his prayer and sent one of his Angels into the Camp of the Assyrians and smote one hundred and fourescore thousand of his men and caused Sennacherib to returne the same way he came 7. The gracious opportunity that r Nehemiah tooke upon the King Artaxerxes notice of his dejected countenance for his extraordinary humiliation because of the desolation of Jerusalem was the cause that he obtained a Commission from the King to erect again the Temple of Jerusalem and to restore there the true worship of God and to deliver from Captivity many thousands of the Jewes 8. The blessed opportunity that Queene s Esther took by the fore-lock to petition to the King Ahasuerus when he was invited to her banket for the preservation of herself and of her people was the cause of one of the greatest blessings that ever happened to the Church of the Jewes for it was the cause of the preservation of all the Nation of the Jewes and of the House and Family of King David from which our blessed Saviour according to the flesh was to descend and therefore an incomparable blessing By these and the former Instances we may see that the observations or omissions of all Spirituall Civill and Military opportunities depend upon the speciall Providence of God and that they are guided and directed by it to that end that God in his wisedome knowes to be most convenient to conduce to the greater advancement of his glory and the good of his Church And that we are to addresse our humble supplications to him alone if we intend for the future to prevent the slips of such opportunities as he shall be pleased to afford unto us againe or be able to embrace them as so many gracious mercies of his favour to us in Christ And that we are also to humble ourselves before our gracious God for having hitherto so carelesly omitted ten speciall opportunities that might greatly have conduced to obtaine a blessed peace and to procure a happy Period to this Unnaturall Warre if he had been pleased to have given us the grace to have embraced them by which omission of ours and by as many more faire opportunities omitted by the other party by the like Providence of his we may be perswaded upon a sure ground since it is his pleasure to poise in the balance of his divine Justice the events of this Unnaturall Warre so equally that our Humiliation
must be greater and more sincere before we can be esteemed fit for to see a gracious deliverance and a blessed end of these publike miseries I should now in this place to illustrate this point relate these twenty opportunities or advantages omitted on both sides but I desire to be excused since they are already but too evident to ingenious spirits and therefore will leave them to be exposed to the publike view in the next succeeding age by some that may then relate them truly and unpartially without feare to offend any of the Parties And will conclude this point with this Christian admonition to the true Children of God that they are all obliged in the generall and every one in their particular to pray day and night unto the Lord that he will be pleased to indue his sacred Majesty the honourable Houses of Parliament the Generals of their Armies their Magistrates and all their subordinate Officers with such supernaturall Graces Wisedome and fore-sight that they may imbrace cheerefully all such opportunities and advantages that he shall be pleased to offer unto them to obtaine a blessed Peace with Truth and to give a happy Period to these Civill distractions jealousies and contentions that will by degrees if God in his Mercy and they in their care and Wisedome prevent it not reduce this Kingdome to an incurable consumption for all advantages and opportunities in warre except they aime and tend to that blessed end of peace above-said are commonly fatall to such as require it not when they have an advantage to doe it for so it fell out with the Samnites and with Hannibal as it doth appeare by the two first instances quoted in this Chap. for it is too late to entertaine Treaties of Peace when a Kingdome is so extenuated of meanes or abilities that it can no longer contribute to the charges of warre because such a peace can neither be profitable or honourable to any of the parties for Necessity hath no law and necessity will constraine men to hard conditions There is more honour and wisedome to give a Peace then to accept of it This was the t Maxime of Henry the fourth both with his owne subjects and with the House of Austria whereby he obtained great honour and restored a desolated Kingdome into a flourishing estate over-rigorous conditions to one of the parties makes a peace of no continuance It fell out so with u Charles the fifth Emperour of Germany by the rigorous peace he inforced upon Francis the first King of France because of the advantage he had the said King being then his prisoner but it proved fatall unto him for after he had consumed in warre thirty millions of gold and spilt much Christian bloud he wonne not a foot of ground in France for all his labour and charges God grant we may rather give an honourable Peace so it be with the continuance of his Truth and his Gospell then to accept of a Peace of no continuance with seeming advantages c. The fourth Secondary Cause is Our Contentions and Divisions APelles the famous Athenian Painter was not more excellent in his Art then in wit and ingenuity for to cast the beholders of his works into a greater admiration he used to place next to the Picture of his beautiful Venus when he did expose her to the view of the Athenians the picture of an old deformed and wrinkle faced woman that by her swarty complection grim favour and ill shape the excellent Symetry lineaments and rare feature of his Venus might seeme the more wonderfull Even so it will not be impertinent for me to set forth the deformity of Contention and the dangerous effects of this infernall fury before I describe the perfection of the Angelicall beauty of Concord and Unity that she may bee more cherished and admired and the other more abhorred in these times of civill divisions Contention proceeds from ambition pride and envie as we may daily see by experience that contentious persons are generally tainted with these vices that come from fulnesse of bread ease and a long and continued Peace Now contentions produce divisions and divisions breed factions and factions an intestine warre and all these an Antipathie of affections which never was greater in any Kingdome then it is in this at this present time for the father is divided against his sonne and the sonne against the father and the husband against the wife and the wife against her husband one brother against his brother and one servant against his fellow servant So that there is not a City Borough Towne Village Hamlet House or Family at this present in this Kingdome but is infected with this contagious disease or venome of Contention And this is not happened casually nor accidentally but by the speciall Providence of God for our correction and humiliation if we returne unto the Lord unfainedly but for our utter destruction if we remaine and continue in our impenitencie and hardnesse of heart But some may say From whence doth proceed this Epidemicall disease or this general division we that are but wormes cannot dive into the Counsels of God yet we may by his permission aime at the secondary causes of these our Civill divisions and antipathie of affections which I conceive to be these The long peace that we have injoyed in the time of Queene Elizabeth King Iames and for 16. yeares together under our Soveraigne King Charles his raigne hath increased this Kingdome in wealth and inured us to ease idlenesse vanitie and licentiousnesse riches hath bred in some of us ambition pride envie and self-conceitednesse the very incendiaries of contentions and divisions And ease and idlenesse have begotten in us lascivious desires stubbornnesse and obstinacie to doe and beleeve what seemeth good in our own eyes and so by degrees we have forgotten our Maker and like stubborne horses have kicked at and rebelled against our gracious God I meane that we are growne desperately sinfull and have despised his Ordinances erected a will-worship and gone a whoring after new Innovations And hereupon the ambition pride covetousnesse and profanenesse of the Prelacie seconded with the Loanes Conduct and Ship-money and the apparent approaches and inclinations to Popery by the bowing crouching and kneeling at Altars Railes have made us groane for a Reformation in Civill and Ecclesiasticall miscarriages The which to oppose the Prelacie and the Jesuiticall faction under colour to increase his Majesties Prerogative have withdrawne his love and his person from his most faithfull Parliament perswaded him to forsake his Royall Seat to goe to York to raise an Army under colour of a Guard for his Person to annihilate the Priviledges of Parliament the Laws of the Land and the Liberties of the Subjects and so formed the first partie in the North whereupon the honourable Houses were of necessity inforced to gather forces not to oppose his sacred Majestie but those that under his name endeavour as much as they can to undoe the
therefore it is by warre that so many Nations Kingdomes and Common-weales have been utterly destroyed and consumed and above all by an intestine and Civill warre for a Nation being weakned by her own hands it breeds an opportunity for forraigne Princes to fall upon it and subvert and conquer the same But forraigne warres are often profitable to Kingdomes or Common-weales so they be managed without the limits of those Kingdomes or Common-weales Carthage flourished as long as b Hannibal wasted Italy But when Scipio came with a great Army to their gates misery and destruction issued upon it c England flourished when war was maintained in France but when the English were driven home it was wasted and desolated by Civill commotions and an intestine warre And therefore it is a sound and a sure Maxime or Reason of State to entertaine warre abroad that a Kingdome may be freed from it at home And this Maxime was carefully observed by the Romanes for a long time but as soon as they neglected the same they fell into civill contentions and into intestine warres As long as the French Nation entertained warres in Italy to recover the right they had in the Kingdome of Naples and in the Duchy of Milan France did prosper and flourish but as soon as that fatall Peace was concluded between d Henry the second King of France and Philip King of Spaine by the procurement of the Constable of France that aimed more at his own ends then to advance the honour of his King and the good of his native Countrie And that Savoy Piedmont and the rest of the dominions that the French held in Italy were made over to the Duke of Savoy as an inconsiderate dowry of King Henries daughter that he tooke to wife then issued presently after the destructive Civill warres of France that continued three and thirty yeares and consumed above eight hundred thousand men of the French Nation and brought that Kingdome to the very brim of destruction But when it had pleased God by an unexpected mercy and by the wisedome valour and clemencie of * Henry the fourth to reunite the alienated affections of that populous nation and to keepe or observe the above-said Maxime and to drive this intestine warre into Artois and Flanders and to fire the dominions of the Incendiarie of the French Civill warres then began that Kingdome to flourish again for this diversion procured an honourable peace of ten yeares for the French in the which that politick King to entertaine the foresaid Maxime sent most of the licentious and contentious spirits of his Kingdome unto Hungaria and into the low Countries and by these meanes restored that desolated Kingdome into a most flourishing estate And his Counsellours of State that had the managing of the Military and Politick affaires of the Kingdome after his death during the Minority of Lewis the 13. his son perceiving that for want of forraigne employment the French Nobility began to soment Civill Commotions in the Kingdome aided by the Spanish faction they were constrained to embrace again this ancient Maxime which they have constantly observed to this day and have by it maintained the honour of their King and much increased their Dominions Even so out of this principle or Reason of State did Queene e Elizabeth undertake the protection of the Low Countries that the English Nobility might have employment abroad and exercise themselves in Military exploits that she might have alwayes ready some experienced Commanders and Officers of Capacity to leade an Army if her enemies attempted any invasion upon her dominions and this her wise and politick course succeeded most happily for she maintained thereby her Kingdome in peace and in a prosperous condition suppressed the rebellions in Ireland aided the French with her Treasures and with experienced Commanders Officers and Souldiers curbed the insolencie of the Spaniard by Sea and made the naturall colour of that element to be often changed into Crimson by the undaunted valour and the great experience of her Commanders Officers and Mariners in Sea-fights And by her warlike expeditions to Cales and the West India increased her Ships and Navies and all manner of Trade and commerce and left at her death England and Ireland in a prosperous peace and condition By these Instances and many more that might be produced to the same end it is apparent that forraigne warres are often times profitable in these foure cases so they be managed out of the limits of a Kingdome or Common-weale 1. It purgeth them of licentious men 2. It frees them of Civill commotions and intestine warres 3. It is a Nurcery for Commanders and experienced Officers 4. It increaseth commerce and trading and doth rather inrich a Kingdome then waste the same 1. The Romanes never inroled any souldiers for their forraign warres out of their inhabitants or Citizens before all the licentious and contentious men that are apt to breed Civill commotions had been f inroled and when they had subdued a Kingdome or Province they erected Colonies in it where they sent all the most licentious men of their City and their old souldiers to whom they appointed so much land as they might live with all 2. It frees a Kingdome from Civill commotions for if licentious and needy people find but some discontented Nobles to side withall they will presently foment a party and kindle the fire of a Civill warre but as the only way to quench a fire is to take from it the combustible matter that increaseth the same even so to prevent Civill distractions we are to purge the City and Kingdome of licentious and decaied men and to send them away into forraigne warres 3. Few or none are ignorant that the Germane and the Low Countrie warres have beene the Nurcery of the greater part of the experienced English French and Scotch Commanders and Officers that are now in these dayes It is true that of these three Nations the number of the English is the smallest because that in the peaceable Raigne of King James Commanders and Officers of experience in warre were not regarded yet those that out of a naturall inclination to Armes went thither to be trained up are not inferiour to any but the number of them is so small that they are now constrained to employ licentious Germanes for principall officers but Germany Sweden and England it selfe is beholden to the Scots for Commanders and Officers of warre And for the French the Maxime of Henry the fourth afore related hath much increased the Capacity of the French Nobility and of their foot souldiers in martiall exploits so that for seiges or battels they are not inferiour to any And therefore forraigne warres are the Nurcery of experienced Commanders and Officers of warre 4. For the increase of Trade and Commerce the forraigne warre that the French and the Hollanders have maintained these many yeares against the House of Austria hath much increased their trade and commerce and are now
growne more opulent in wealth then all other Nations in Christendome This may seeme a paradox to some yet it is most certain for although the French are extraordinarily burdened with taxes yet because the Countrie men are freed from plundering and pillaging and their cattell and corne secured and trades men set at worke and the commerce of all manner of Commodities in request to furnish the great Armies they entertaine upon the enemies frontiers the money of their contributions remaineth in the Kingdome as it goes out of one hand for taxes and contributions so it comes in on the other for the great utterance they have of all their Commodities But alas it is cleane contrary in this Civill and Unnaturall Warre of ours for the trading and commerce is utterly decaid in the City and in all the Boroughs and Market Townes of the Kingdome most of the Countrey people are plundered of their moneys goods and cattell the Gentlemen have their grounds cast up upon their hands although they pay all charges and abate halfe their rent and no redresse to be had and the Sequestrations of the one side or the other bring them to penury and disable them be they never so willing to contribute any longer to this warre by which meanes this Kingdome is likely to fall into an incurable consumption because of three pernicious qualities besides the miseries above-said that pertaine to her alone and not to other Civill warres 1. It is of a consuming nature 2. It is accompanied with an unparalelled infidelity 3. It is of an unknowne Method I. For her consuming nature it may justly be compared to the Hectick Feaver that consumes not onely the flesh of all the members of the body but also by degrees the vitall spirits the radicall humours and the very marrow in the bones of her patients untill she hath brought them to their grave more like an Anatomy then a Corps Or like unto a fire kindled in a house seated in one of the corners of a long street the flames of which fire being driven by a violent wind along that row of houses doth at last consume the whole street for want of pulling down speedily three or foure houses next to that house that was first of all set on fire to stop the flames of it to proceed any further Even so the flames of the fire of this unnaturall warre that brake forth in the North was driven by the violent winds of jealousie and discontent into the North West and then to the South West and at last to the furthest part of the West and so by degrees hath consumed already three parts of the Kingdome and left in the other part but a small degree of vitall spirits for want of pulling down three or foure houses to stop the flame of it from going any further I meane for want of such Counsell as was given to g Charles the seventh King of France by his wise Counsellours that he should give over to quench the fire of the Civill contentions fomented between the Houses of Orleance and Burgundy that had almost consumed his Kingdome into the hands of Justice at the request of Philip Duke of Burgundy some of his Favourites that had their hands in the murder of his father to which Counsell he condescended unto although this murder had been committed with his assent whereby such a firme reconciliation was procured between these two Houses that it fell out to be the secondary Cause of the restoring of that desolated Kingdome into its former flourishing Estate Or for want after the Noble Ambassage and the humble Petitions of the Honourable Houses had been rejected to have sent speedily a thousand horse in the North untill a strong Army had been sent to stop the flames of this fire to goe beyond the River of Trent But by our accustomed delayes and the small forces that were sent to Woster the fire of this Unnaturall Warre hath spread it selfe as it is to be seen at this present day and is like to spread further and to consume the rest if God in his Mercy prevent it not and induce the Honourable Houses to change the Method of this lingring and destructive Warre II. For the unparallelled infidelity of some of the Agents of one of the partiés all the Civill warres of the ancient Greeks and Romanes or of the moderne intestine warres of the French and the Germane Nation cannot produce so much infidelity and apostacy as may be collected out of these three yeares warre For where they sided at the first they remained constant to the last in that party and never deserted the same untill an Accommodation was procured Nay divers of them have sealed their constancie with their h death rather then to accept of their liberty upon condition to serve against their party But divers of ours that make show to fight for Religion more then for pay betray the trust reposed in them and doe us more mischiefe then any of the contrary party And it is no wonder for Christian Runagadoes are more cruell to Christians then the naturall Turks and the Protestant Apostates are greater enemies to the godly then the professed Papists and the hypocriticall Saints are more violent against the true Power of Godlinesse then the Prince of darknesse The cause of this infidelity may proceed 1. From the toleration of divers religions for men that are not well grounded in the true Principles of Religion are never cautious of their wayes and will betray their own fathers for money 2. From the great Clemencie of the Honourable Houses for if the perfidious Synons of the North had been severely punished so many Iudasses would not have been found in the West to procure that blow that we have received there lately Clemencie is an Heroicall vertue but infidelitie is incapable of it because it is so pernicious a seed that except it be pulled up by the root it will over-grow the garden of the Common-weale 3. From the partiall election of our politick and Military Officers that are for the greater part preferred by favour and not for their sincerity in Religion or for their integrity and wisdome in politick or Civill affaires nor for their valour or experience in Martiall exploits but for feare to displease or to please some in Authoritie and that is the reason why we have so many weake Committees in the City and in our Counties and so many unexpert Commanders and Officers in our Armies that dare not look the enemies in the face nor know not how to leade a Troope of horse to a charge nor set a Company of foot in a posture of defence And these are they that out of timiditie inconstancie and for want of experience in warlike affaires spinne out this unnaturall Warre by surrendring of places of great concernement that will prove deare favours unto us The remedy of this is to punish severely the Synons of these dayes and to imitate in our elections the method and
Armes that hath three degrees 1. The slow 2. The swift 3. The moderate and constant The slow is irksome and of no performance the swift is fiery dangerous and of no continuance but the moderate and constant carries the Bell away and this is the degree of Perseverance that we should endeavour to attaine because the want of it is the cause of the spinning out of this unnaturall war but it is altogether unknowne to us but the slow and the swift are too familiar with us The slow is seen in our tedious marches and preparations and the swift appeares in our fights and skirmishes that are fierce and fiery but of no greater continuance then the fire of thornes under a Pot. r Sertorius a wise Commander of the Romanes that was constrained to fly into Spain to avoid the tyrannicall proceedings of Sylla to induce his Army that was composed of raw souldiers to this constant and moderate perseverance in war I speake of caused a strong and a weak horse to be brought before them and commanded one of his strongest souldiers to endeavour to pull off the weakest horse taile at a pull but being derided by the Army for his vaine attempt Sertorius charged a young youth to pull haire by haire the taile off the strong horse and so by degrees pulled the same quite away in a short time whereupon Sertorius spake thus to his Army If you persevere constantly in your Military attempts it will be as impossible for the Romanes to overcome you as it was for this strong souldier to pull off this weake horse taile at a Pull but if you fight by fits and then lye still as your Method is It will be as easie for the Romanes by their constant perseverance in Armes to reduce you under their yoke as it was for this youth to pull away by degrees this strong horses taile This Metaphor cannot be applied in a more seasonable time then this for our warre may properly be compared to barley-breake players for after they have by their swift running brought in some of their opposites that were issued out of their Centry they breathe and rest themselves for halfe an houre together and so goe to it againe Even so if we have obtained by Gods favour some victory we breath and rest our selves so long till our enemies have recruited their routed Armies stronger then ever they were before The Lord was pleased to fight for us at Keinton at Newbery and neare to Winchester but for want of this constant perseverance in war I speake of we made no use at all of these three victories And yet such goodly Trees according to the rules of war should not come without fruits I meane without the reducing of some Counties or strong holds of the enemies our Commanders can by Gods favour overcome their enemies as well as Hannibal but we lack a * Maharbell a Master of their horse to tell them they can make no use of their victories And as it is with our Armies so is it with the forces of our Garrison townes in the greater parts of our Counties for if they have by Gods blessing defeated the Forces of one of the enemies garrisons and greatly weakned the same in stead to make use of their victory and suddenly according as the rules of war doe require to besiege and to begirt with strong trenches that towne and to endeavour by storming and violent assaults to carry it away while the defendants are amazed and weakly manned because of their last blow They retreat homeward breathe and rest themselves for three months together and then they will endeavour to have another bout Or will it may be undertake to besiege that towne when there is no probability to take the same because it is better provided then ever it was and so are inforced to come off with the same reputation as the besiegers of Basing and Banbury have done Surely this is not the way to conduce this war to a speedy and a blessed period but rather to spinne out the same untill the Kingdome be consumed It must be upon a constant perseverance in Armes that we must relye upon for to obtain a blessed peace it is not thirty threescore or an hundred or two hundred horse taken in this or that skirmish that will give an issue to these warres that is as a little oyle cast into the fireto inflame it the more The Counties are to be freed of these garrisons and all the fire of this war is to be driven into a small circumference of ground by potent Armies that it may be the sooner quenched and our advantages in war are to be followed close at the heeles for it is more dangerous for souldiers to play with the advantages of war then it is for children to play with sharpe edged tooles s Hannibal lost himself and his Common-weale by this kinde of play and Monsteur de t Lautrec and a great part of the French Nobility came to a miserable end by it in the Kingdome of Naples and many other more And therefore the ancient Romans held it for a speciall honour if they were speedy in their expeditions of war and Titus u Livius in his Decades doth purposely record the names of divers Dictators that delivered their Countrie in sixteen twenty and thirty dayes of perillous war that would require so many yeares in these spinning times of ours for their greater glory And since it is the end of the work that crownes the head of the workman and that the triumph could not be obtained by the ancient Roman Generals before the war they undertook was ended by armes or by a firme peace I doe therefore wonder that our Commanders in Chiefe doe not endeavour to attaine to this honour to be called after God the deliverers of their Countrie And specially since they fight for the advancement of Gods glory his sacred Majesties just prerogatives the Priviledges of Parliament and their own liberties x Solon being demanded by Croesus King of Lydia which of all the Citizens of Athens had in his opinion lived and died most happily he named a Citizen of Athens that had lived vertuously and died valiantly fighting in a battell for the defence of the liberty of his Countrey Now if this heathen did repute him happy that lived and died thus our Commanders Officers and Souldiers have better grounds to be perswaded that they shall be eternally blessed if they live religiously and die valiantly in the defence of the cause they have in hand And this assurance should in my opinion be a great motive to induce them to expedite this war and to conjoyn with their constant perseverance in armes the spirituall perseverance that I now come to speake of for the first will not availe without the second that is of a higher nature and of greater concernment then the Civill Politicke and Military as much as the Salvation of mens soules is more precious and more excellent