Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
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A54588
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The visions of the reformation, or, A discovery of the follies and villanies that have been practis'd popish and fanatical thorough reformations since the reformation of the Church of England by Edward Pettit ...
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Pettit, Edward.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing P1895; ESTC R31108
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84,657
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252
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Mouths after it and act what Villainy they will if they do but wash their Hands when they have done a ceremonious sort of Varnish left for a Legacy by Pontius Pilate to the Jesuits and which came by the way of France in company with the Holy League to the Covenanters of Great Britain for when Henry the 4th was prevailed upon by the Solicitations of others and his own natural Clemency to give them leave to enjoy their former Privileges in that Kingdom from which they were banish'd with Infamy for the treacherous Murther of his Predecessour they had such a strong fit of Obedience that they at last became absolute Masters of his Heart Sir said I if I may not interrupt you too long I will wedge in a small Caveat which shall be A-la-mode and not at all unseasonable at this Juncture of time Boccalin in his third Advertisement concerning the Civil Warrs of France and the Murther of Henry the Fourth brings in Apollo commanding that 60000 Pack-horses should be sent from Arcadia into France and when it was answered that there was no danger since they had so noble and numerous a Cavalry He replyed That since the peace and quiet of that Kingdom depended upon their Vnity they could not come to it by any better means than by the Remembrance of their former Miseries as those Pack-Horses which by Instinct of Nature did detest passing a second time by the same way wherein formerly they had run the Hazard of breaking their Necks I wish said he that the English would take Example of the French who being not half so wise as the Pack-Horses are become a Pack of Asses so that their King is not improperly styled Rex Asâ—norum for he has laid Burthens upon their Shoulders almost as bad as breaking their Necks But our dull stupid Asses who fancy themselves fit Cronies to bray with Jupiter are so far from taking warning by the Harms of others that they have forgot their own and whilst the Jesuits privately prick them forward their Teachers have these twenty Years been leading them by the Ears into another Rebellion therefore if you will go along with me I will give you as pleasing an account of all their Actions ever since the King came in to this day as your Heart can wish I will lay before your Eyes at one view all the Stratagems and Designs both of Jesuited Papists and Protestants by which we may guess what a Superlative Reformation we might expect for the Future if they had their Wills for the Present With all my Heart Sir said I as soon as you please nothing can oblige me more so away we went as we passed along You must know said he that the King was scarce setled on his Throne and the Brethren hardly recovered of that dreadfull Astonishment that sudden Change had put them into justly fearing to be made Examples for all the bloudy Villanies they had perpetrated in that Rebellion but in contempt of his unparallel'd Mercy and of his Justice too they began to play the old Game over again and to run on Tick upon a new Score The Murtherers of the King his Father of Blessed Memory were represented to the People as the Righteous Sufferers in a glorious Cause and their last Speeches recommended as the groaning Oracles of dying Martyrs but if those be their Saints what are their Devils Surely never such Villains were canoniz'd before since the World began Yes Sir replyed I their Fellow-Labourer James Clement is as much extoll'd by Mariana the Jesuit for killing Henry the 3 d of France when mentioning the manner of that treacherous and diabolical Fact He cryed out * Marian. Lib. 1. De Rege Regis Justit Insignem Animi confidentiam facinus memorabile caeso Rege ingens sibi nomen fecit Oh admirable confidence of Mind O memorable Action by killing the King he got himself a great Name But Sir never trouble your self about them they may be Martyrs of the Army but we shall never find them in the Army of Martyrs and so fare 'em well in saecula saeculorum Just as I had spoken these Words we were come to a place that look'd like The Devil's of Peak Hold Sir said I I think we are come to the very fag end of the World surely this is the Den wherein the Ghosts of the Rump-Parliament do revell Nemine Contradicente Come on said he you shall receive a great deal of satisfaction but no harm I know no reason why I should not be as valourous as a Glister-Pipe although I thought it an odd kind of Portico to the Sthadt-House of Darkness and so in we went he carried me through a great many narrow windings and turnings that I fancy'd my self wilder'd in small Gutts untill at last I came to a pair of Gates all crusted and embroidered with Salt-Peter as soon as they opened we entred a spacious and large Hall at the upper end of which stood that Greekish Gentleman old Mr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alias Time with a Scythe in his Hand and a true Protestant Hour-glass of a large size on his Head This is said my Friend the Chronicle Room wherein are laid up all the Archiva of Fanaticism this is the Register Office of the Democraticks a Place which they are unwilling that any but those of their own Faction should see I think Sir said I that we were forc'd to creep in at the wrong end of the Body Politick before we could come at it 't is no matter for that replyed he now you are here pray observe those 22 large Tables all along the Walls which are engraven with red Letters what are they said I Why they are the 22 Years last past with the Contents of all their Designs and Villanies upon them and over them you see the Historical part of them painted in large Figures to the Life we will not examine them all because some of them contain the same things over again but what you think the most remarkable I will expound to you Sir said I I think they did little in 1661 onely I observe some of them grumbling over a good thick Quarto-Book That is said he their Liturgy of 76 Quarto Pages for the Excellency of which they appeal to the People because the King and Bishops would not admit of it But here is to doe and to doe in the Year 62 yonder is some of them going to Execution upon Hurdles those are Tong Gibbs Phillips and Stubbs who then suffered for High-Treason replyed he and perhaps they were engaged in the bloudiest and most barbarous Conspiracy that ever was hatch'd in which several Presbyterians joyn'd with them as is evident from the Particulars of their Tryal the End of it was to destroy the King and Duke of York the chief Ministers of State all the Bishops most of the Nobility of the Gentry and Commonalty all that should any way oppose them or had formerly disgusted them and all to reform
the Kingdom to a Common-wealth again This was so far from being a Sham-Plot that in order to it they had their Council of Six their Committees of Secrecy their General Officers Agents Treasurers and Magazines held Correspondence in most Counties design'd to secure the Castle of Windsor the Towre of London had appointed the very time to begin their Villany in which was to have been on All-Hallows Eve a proper time for our modern Saints to commence Devilism in and all under the Notion of a Popish Massacre Now let us observe what were the more publick humours of those Days Why the several Factions began their separate Congregations made a formal Schism united their broken Interests and by all Arts imaginable endeavour'd to lay the Foundations of another War they preach'd nothing but Persecution Persecution and set the dolefull Coxcombs of their silenc'd Ministers before their Farewell Sermons Libels flew about in Swarms and * Address to the Free-holders pag. 19. one which recommended to the People the Example of Ehud who stab'd the King of Moab was just upon the Wing but was stopt in the Press many other Circumstances if I had time I might relate but these are enough to shew you that the Saints were no Sluggards They began said I to play their Pranks so early that I believe they will never make an end never said he untill there is an end made of them for in the Name of them all old Arthur Jackson in a Letter of his dated Feb. 26. 1662 and at a time when he said he was come to Jacob's must die tells his Friend that the 2 d Reason why he too did not conform was * Charge of Schism renewed against Separation pag. 11. The doing of any thing contrary to the covenanted Reformation which they had so earnestly prayed for or that might be scandalous to those that rejoyced in the first Fruits of it and do still desire and endeavour to promote it Well Sir said I enough of old Arthur and the Year 62 But I wonder to see them so busy in the Years 65 and 66. which were dreadfull enough with the immediate Judgment of God upon the Nation and the City of London particularly but instead of appeasing the Wrath of God they seem active to stir up the Fury and Indignation of Men against one another by encreasing the astonishment of the People with fabulous Prophecies and terrible and romantick Stories by hinting that their Governours were the Causes of their Calamities thus making the Pestilence a Motive to Wars with a Zeal more raging than the Flames that consumed the City and more contageous than the Plague that destroyed the Inhabitants so that when we reflect upon the virulency of their Principles and the destructive Practices they have produced we conclude Mr. Cowley was more than a Poet when he said Come Pestilence and reap us down Come God's Sword rather than our own But Sir said he look upon the Year 1673 is not that a pleasant Change It looks Sir said I like a Year of Jubilee I never saw so many People of different Humours so well pleased what is that that makes them so devoutly Brisk and Jolly They had then gain'd a Toleration replyed he by the means of my Lord Clifford whom you see leading a Phalanx of Romanists on one side and the Earl of Shaftsbury at the Head of a Fanatical Herd on the other Toleration said I is a thing of very ill Consequence ever since the Horses of the Sun broke loose and ran away with Esquire Phaeton and so made the first Leap-year from which time we date all the unhappy Divisions among Judicial Astrologers But did the Papists help to procure a Toleration No wonder then we so often hear of Jesuits in the Conventicles of Fanaticks and that they both of them have ever since more industriously conspired the destruction of the Government Now you speak said he of the Destruction of the Government look upon these two Tables that contain the Discovery of the Popish Plot. I cannot well reade them said I I think 't is wrote in Sir Thomas More 's Characters and so sullied that although there is a certain account of a Plot yet I cannot understand many particulars surely they who first contrived it found out this way in case of discovery to sham it But what do you think said he of him that discovered it I cannot tell said I well then replyed he I will tell you a Story There was a certain good natured Man who lived within a Mile of an Oak and he was one Day sitting in his House when there came a little wandring Fellow to him and told him that in such a place there lay a hideous and dreadfull Wolf with a design to devour both him and his whole Flock of Sheep he being carefull to preserve his Flock as well as himself prudently contrives to apprehend and secure the Wolf as he was going he had like to have fallen into an Ambuscado of Bears which were the Relations and Friends of him that discovered the Wolf and altogether as ravenous upon this he carefully retires to consult what was best to be done Certain it was there was a terrible Wolf of the very race of the Wolf that was wet Nurse to Romulus and Remus but the Bears lay in the way who were as dangerous for they would beat down all the Bee-Hives the Emblems of Monarchy for the sake of the Honey and besides they alarm'd the Wolf so that he sculk'd away for the present at last one advis'd him thus Sir you have a Lion and a Vnicorn in your House the best in the World and without more adoe set them briskly on both the Wolf and the Bears and if they come any more I will be bound for their good Behaviour I understand the Moral of it Sir said I but that Picture for the Year 1680 does quite pose me the Painter deserves to be rewarded as the Poet Choerilus was for the few good Lines in it Whilst said he you stand right against the Central Line you can make nothing of it but come this way what do you see now The Pope said I. Go that way what do you see now Jack Presbyter Just so said he according to this Rule of Painting have they intermix'd the Popish and Fanatical Plots that if a Man be not rightly fix'd they confound one another if he be he sees them both in their proper Colours But as they have had traiterous designs upon the Government for above 100 Years last past so since the Toleration they have been more than ordinarily active in their Conspiracies which their more open and publick humours do sufficiently prove and if you will not believe me pray observe them At this a pair of great Gates open'd and discovered a spacious Court full of all sorts of People like the Exchange-Walks at our first entrance a Fellow with a whole Basket of Pamphlets had like to run over me crying