to repaire himselfe than assist others The French are his Invaders the Portugalls Revolters and the Neapolitans Rebells The French are busie in maintaining what they have gotten and seeking after more But if they were at leisure little might be expected from them unlesse it were to foment our differences and as they first helped to unsettle us so still to keep us from setling that England which is the ballancing power of Europe and her King Arbiter orbis Christiani the Arbitrator in all differences of Christendome being broken by her owne strength at home might have none to spend abroad to hinder that prodigious design wherein the late successes of the French have heightned them to become Rivalls and Competitors with the Spaniard for an Vniversall Monarchy Denmark hath enough to do in repairing those ruines which were brought on them by the late Swedish Incursions The Hollanders esteem it a safe way to conform themselves ever to the prevailing party in England seeing they have a great part of their livelyhood by Indulgence from the English Nation Moreover though at first they esteemed the Match of the Prince of Orange with the eldest daughter of England as a matter of much honour yet now they look upon it as a businesse that in time may prove of ill consequence fearing so great an alliance might dispose the Prince to aspire and establish a greater Interest of his own than is meet for a Member of a Republike if Monarchy were at its height againe in England And further many among the Dutch supposing that the Grandees here aime at the same forme of Government with themselves doe flatter themselves in conceit that such a neighbourhood would be willing to admit of a nearer friendship and complication of Interests than can be hoped for from a Monarchy though there be farre more reason to suspect the contrary So that wee see how little his Majesty may expect from any of his Neighbors And truly it is no small part of our happinesse in the midst of these distractions that we have had and are like to have so little of their Company The hopes then of his Majesties restitution being wholly founded upon the affections of his People and bounded within his owne Dominions let us take a view of each within their station The Scots seem to bee divided among themselves some pretend absolutely for his Majesty others only upon condition of signing the Covenant c. In Ireland a Cessation will open a way for supplies out of that Kingdome In Wales they are in arms already for his Majesty and all the Royall Party in England wait but for an Oportunity in the same way to free themselves from their present vassalage under the power of the Independent party in the Houses wherein likewise the Presbyterian party are as much concerned as any seeing the other of Brethren are become their bitter enemies and would shew them as little courtesie as others were it not to stop the mouthes of their leading men at home and in hope to work upon the prime Presbyters in Scotland What the Refult of the Scotish resolutions will be is yet not certainly knowne If the pretending royall party there carry an Ingagement simply for the King no doubt but the Royallists here joyning with them they may finish the work by subduing both the Factions But if they bring in a mixt Ingagement for the King and the Covenant which we have great cause to fear I conceive the Royallists ought not to joyne with them but to expect and indeavour a Close with the Independent party who will be forced for their owne safety to wave their high-flowne Resolutions and bethink themselves of a Complyance with his Majesty which ought rather to be sought after and imbraced as lesse dangerous to the royall Prerogative than a close with the Presbyterian Touching the probabilitv and conveniency of a Complyance betwixt his Majesty and the Independent party in case the Scots ingage for Presbyterie I shall endeavour to fortifie my opinion by undeniable Reasons But first give me leave to manifest the great danger of closing with the Presbyterian Party though accompanied with never so many specious pretences That a Scotish Ingaging for the Covenant resolved on as it seems will be clearly destructive to Monarchicall Interest I shall prove in severall particulars First because they aim thereby at the introduction of Presbyterie and the over-turning of Episcopacy the maine pillar of Monarchy as it hath ever been esteemed in this Nation And therefore it was that all the Kings of England from time to time have so willingly sworne to grant and to preserve unto the Bishops and to the Churches commited to their Charge all Canonicall privileges and due Law and Justice and to protect and defend them c. And King JAMES who had long experience of the sad effects of the alteration of that Government in the Church of Scotland was so fully convinced of the neare relation betwixt Episcopacie and Monarchy that hee left this for a sure Aphorism to his Posterity No BISHOP No KING For it having been of so long continuance here and deeply rooted in the Lawes of this Kingdom it must needs be that a change in the one will work an alteration in the other Secondly The Truth hereof was so well knowne to the Master-builders of this Reformation whose Aime appears now to have been ab origine how contrary soever their Pretences were for an alteration of the civill government that they first began their work with pulling downe of Episcopacie that in the ruines thereof they might lay the foundation of their new designe Thirdly It is very apparent of what ill consequence the extirpation of Episcopacie will be to his Majesty seeing it is a meanes to clip the Crowne of a very considerable part of its Revenues which by the Lawes of the Land are annexed thereunto as the collation of Bishopricks and Deaneries the first fruits and profits of their Lands and Revenues during their vacancies the first fruits and yearly Tenths out of all Ecclesiasticall Promotions and sundry other privileges profits and emoluments arising out of the State Ecclesiasticall Fourthly to ingage for Presbytery is to indeavour the introducing of a Democraticall form of Government which is directly incompatible with a Monarchy and as it cannot stand with the power of our government so it withstands the Honour of our Governer debasing the Majesty of Monarchy into a popular parity without respect of his most sacred Person Fifthly by ingaging for Presbyterie they labor to erect a power in the State Ecclesiasticall distinct from that of the Civill for it is a Maxim among all Presbyters and we find it pleaded for at large in the Confession of Faith agreed upon by the Assembly at Westminster which as yet the Houses have been more wise than to confirme that there ought to be a power in the Church distinct from that of the Civill which Tenet of distinction must bee the same in effect
new Diana in hope to bring better advantage thereby unto themselves then they could hope to attain under the government of Bishops and in processe of time their Doctrines being brought into reputation by the addition of an artificiall and counterfeit piety they stole away the hearts of many well-meaning people throughout the Kingdom whom they poysoned with disaffection to the present Government So here was the rise of the old Presbyters which passed heretofore under the names of Non conformists or Puritans Manifold were the Bickerings which they had with the Bishops during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James yet the Faction was then kept under hatches by great care and policy as it was likewise all the former part of the reign of our gracious Sovereign CHARLES though the humours began to work more strongly then ever insomuch that having gained a party in every Parliament which presumed to insist upon very high particulars of Government both in Church and State and question such Officers of both as stood in the way of their designe his Majesty was necessitated by reason of those audacious and factious proceedings to a frequent dissolution of Parliaments which though they publikely exclaimed against yet inwardly they were glad enough of it working advantage thereby to scandalize his Majesty in the opinion of the people as one utterly disaffected to Parliaments and that intended to govern altogether by an arbitrary power This and other Scandals were treasured up against the time wherein they hoped to have occasion to use them but having often tryed their own single strength to be too weak to shake the Government then the Grandees of the 〈◊〉 not knowing otherwise to repair their broken fortunes began to have recourse unto the Scots a people as needy as themselves and who it was presumed would be glad to entertain any occasion to mend their Fortunes and establish an Interest in this Nation Besides their hope was the greater to thrive among the Scots because they were a people that had been discountenanced and discontented by the Bishops and had embraced the same form of Government that was aimed at by themselves and therefore could not but be willing to contribute their best assistance toward the settlement of it in England Therefore the motion was no sooner made from hence but it found joyfull entertainment in Scotland and Counsels were mutually imparted by the grand Presbyters on both sides and in fine it was agreed that Reformation should be the stalking-horse to the whole Design The aime of the Scots therein was the gaining of Treasure and an union of interest with England The aime of the English Presbyters was the quelling of their Oppsites at Court and supplanting them in their Offices the destruction of Episcopacy and with it of Monarchy and the enriching of themselves with the Wealth of the Kingdom the Revenues of the Crown and the Goods of the Church all which become a prey unto that monster of Presbytery till it was wrested out of their jawes by the new brethren of the Independent party By which brief draught of Discourse it appears that as a great part of the Commons of England have been drawn in upon religious pretences to the faction of Presbytery to serve worldly ends so now that the hypocrisie and dissimulation of those proceedings is manifest unto the world without doubt the true interest of all honest-meaning Presbyters in England is the very same with that of the Nation in generall to seek peace and ensue it to quit all considerations of siding or faction to open their eyes and see how they have been deceived to loath the vanity and prevent the misery of all engagements in and for Presbytery to endeavour simply the restoring of his Majesty and to joyn with any for that end but with none that are contrary and also to content themselves with a regulated Episcopacy for these following Reasons First seeing it is most true that there can be no settlement in this Kingdom but by a compliance with the royall interest it is altogether impossible to expect peace if a design be still cherished for the establishing Presbytery because of that absolute antipathy or incompossibility betwixt Monarchicall and Presbyteriall Government as I have manifested before God and Belial light and darknesse may as soon agree together and therefore it must not be expected that his Majesty should yeeld up his Honour Conscience and Crown in sacrifice to so pernicious a rivall in his Prerogative Secondly if there be a fresh engaging for Presbytery to crush Independency what more hope of peace have we when this prevailing party shall be down and the other up again are we not where we were before shall not his Majesty remain as lyable as ever to the old vexatious Popositions and have not the Presbyters of the Kirk told us plainly beforehand that they are resolved he shall sign all their desires before his resolution to the exercise of his Regall power what then may we expect from Presbytery after all the miseries and desolations of a second War but that his Majesty shall remain in durance as he did at Holdenby or does now in the Island without all hope of remedy to himself or end of those intolerable oppressions lying upon this afflicted Kingdom Thirdly it being cleer that the design of a Presbytery hath been carried on meerly for the private ends of particular men what madnesse is it for men that pretend wisdom Religion and godlinesse to hazard themselves and their Estates to draw on the guilt of innocent blood by embroyling their fellow subjects and infringe their Obligations to their Soveraign by prostituting their consciences purses and endeavours to serve the ambition of a few whose practises when they are invested with power will be as they ever have been to make them share with others in the common calamity at present and intaile slavery upon their Posterity for ever Fourthly Presbytery wheresoever it settles is destructive of liberty by reason of that popish trick taken up by the Presbyterian in drawing all secular affaires within the compasse of their spirituall jurisdiction and this they do by means of that awe wherein they hold the consciences of the Magistrate and People the one being lyable as well as the other by excommunications and suspensions to be exploded as scandalous sinners when they please to pronounce them such as appears by that large extent of their Authority in judging of scandalous sins which reaches almost to every action of humane life so that all the rest of the Kingdom besides their favourites from the King to the Beggar must stoop like asses to be ridden by a few ambitious Priests and Lay-ignoramuses Fiftly a regulated Episcopacy must be the onely government for this Nation in regard it is most suitable to the constitution of the Monarchy and the Lawes of the Land whereto through continuance of time it hath a very neer relation and also to the humours and good liking of the
Good English Or Certain REASONS Pointing out the safest way of Settlement in this KINGDOM Drawne from the nature of the Aims and Jnterests of the severall Parties ingaged and as the Case now stands this second day of MAY. 1648. A Peece of serious observation wherein the secrets of every Party as they stand in a probability of Complyance or Opposition to His Majesty are fully discovered Seneca in Hercule fur Prosperum ac foelix scelus Virtus vecatur Sontibus parent boni Ius est in armis Quaritur belli exitus Non Causa Nunc pereat omnis memoria Et victor arma ponat victum decet Deponere Odia Printed in the Yeere 1648. To the Lord Generall Fairfax My Lord THis plaine Pamphlet was written partly for your sake and those under your Command that you may at length consider what necessitie lies upon you to secure your selves and settle this Kingdom by an humble honorable and speedy reconcilement with His Majesty Know this that what I have written here is written couragiously and without respect of Persons And because the truth of it is of so universall concernment that it requires the perusall of all sores of men within the Kingdome I have sent it abroad in a more homely stile than usuall that it may find entertainment in the meanest capacities The reason that induced me to make this Addresse unto your Lordship is because it aimes principally at your Interest who are the Captaine of that Army which hitherto hath lengthened our miseries by breach of Faith with the King and Kingdom And though I am apt to believe as well as others that you had the least share in that odious and abominable designe of imprisoning our Soveraigne yet the world knowes you may if you please and is almost perswaded you will become the happy instrument of his deliverance It is the humor of our owne and other Nations to talke as if the Military Affaires were swayed wholly by your Lievtenant-Generall I cannot tell how farre he and his potent Party may have wrought upon you heretofore by specious Arguments or presumed to act many Extravagancies at such a time when you could not safely oppose them but this I assuredly know that they are all laid upon your score and that now is the time wherein you may quit scores and become your selfe who of your selfe I am confident are indued with such excellent principles of honor reason and resolution that you cannot but doe like your selfe having so faire an oportunity Nor is it may opinion only but the hope and perswasion of many gallant men which yet retaine some thoughts of honor concerning you for your bravery and civility in your Conquests Oh let not the memory of them which may be applauded in after-times though not for the Cause yet for the gallant performance be obliterated by sinister and prodigious undertakings Remember that you stand in the rank of Nobility and may transmit this honor with the addition of greater unto your Posterity acquit then your self nobly and let not the fountain from whence you derived your honor be thus prophaned and vilified by the very filth of the people Consider the miseries that must fall upon your Country by an Army of hungry Strangers now ready to invade us Imagine that the eyes of the Nation are upon you as one that may prevent all or at least shorten their abode here by uniting with his Majestie Banish that accursed Principle of not trusting an injured Prince which becomes none but implacable and incorrigible Traitors See that such Terms be propounded unto him that may not clash either with his Conscience or Honor that it may appear unto all men you desire Peace at his hands who is the most peaceable pious gracious Prince living But if you entertain other Counsells know that you will be look'd on by the people as the cause of all those desolations which shall befall them and the time of Revenge will come from above wherein you shall with sorrow confesse your neglect of this honest Advice given from a private hand that would thinke it an honor to kisse yours if your Lordship please first to kisse Majestie 's upon just and honorable conditions Good English OR Certaine Reasons pointing out the safest way of settlement in this Kingdome Drawne from the nature of the aimes and Interests of the severall parties ingaged and as the case now stands this second day of May 1648. First by reasons drawne from the Interest of the Royall Episcopall Party HIs Majesty must owe the ruine of his affaires to the emulation of his Superior Officers and the security and intemperance of the Inferiour The Houses though Conquerors must attribute the great deficiency and instability of their affaires to private Interest and Faction the very Twins of all popular ingagements The Factions are divided into these two notions Presbyterian and Independent both of them humours inconsistent with the true temper of the Body Politique of England And they may fitly be compared unto two poysons of a contrary quality which maintaining a war within the Body naturall vex it with many dire symptoms to the disturbance of the whole Oeconomy and never rest till being evacuated by some strong Purger or else tired out by re-action the strife ends And so nature recovering her first vigor reduces the Body into its former state Such as the event in this case is in the body of man the like may we expect at length to be the issue of these counter-workings of the two venemous Factions within the bowells of this Land For it must needs be either that in long running they will tire out each other or else the Constitutions of the people not being able to beare them any longer they may at last be vomited out of the Nation But rather than the Kingdom should be tormented in expectation of the issue of so pernicious a Conflict betwixt those two extremes it were convenient his Majesty as a third party should speedily clap in to ballance the one against the other or else conquer both there being but these two wayes to end the Controversie Touching the Conquest of both though it be the farthest way about he hath one maine advantage which may carry him through with the work and that is the large Empire which he yet holds in the hearts of his people which is exceedingly confirmed and daily augmented by reason of those intolerable burthens that lie upon them the sense whereof makes them looke upon the King as their companion in misery and on the two Factions as the Fountaines from whence all these evills flow As for Foraine aids it is confessed the Affairs of Christendom are at this time so disposed and every Potentate so exhausted or ingaged that some want leisure others ability to assist him And others that have both ability and leisure yet refraine out of some particular Reasons of State The Spaniard hath his hands full every way and hath more cause to seeke
with that of the Church of Rome's supremacy seeing those which now plead for a power without the Civill will not bee long before they arrive to such a height of presumption as to act above it or against it in pursuance of their own designes It will be a hard matter to keep such a Governmeut within its limits in any Common-wealth and therefore with much difficulty will it submit to bee governed by a free Monarchy especially a Democracie of this new Nature which makes the same Persons civill Subjects and ecclesiasticall Superiors Sixthly it is not like that Presbyterie should prove the Mother of Peace considering that shee was born the Daughter of sedition and hath ever since been nursed up by Tumults and Rebellion For Geneva was the Land of her Nativity where M. Calvin was her Father and no doubt considering the state of those Affairs conditions of men among whom hee was conversant it was a commendable invention and very necessary for bridling the tumultuous Humors in a free City And so far we may beleeve hee intended it yeelding to a popular Parity and not as an universall perpetuall form of government for all reformed Churches Seventhly it is observable that this ill weed hath growne in none but popular gardens in some parts of France and Germany till some seditious Planters and Waterers caused it to spring up among the Thistles of Scotland And of what sad consequence it hath proved to Monarchicall government in that Kingdom let the world judge For the Foundation of it was laid in the ruine of our King's Grandmother and the superstructure continued to the perpetuall discontent and vexation of his Father till hee was most happily possessed of the Crown of England Nor could hee have been secure here but that by his great wisedom hee staved it off And now at length the Faction having with great subtilty gotten footing in this Kingdom wee see at this day how faire a stroke it hath given toward the ruine of his Son our most gracious Soveraigne and his whole Posterity For though he languish now under the power of the other Faction yet the first designe of war was laid in and by Presbyterie and his Majesty suffered Restraint first under the Presbyterian power whose audacious carriage toward his Person in hope to tire him out of his noble principles taught others so much impudence as to endeavour to serve their ends upon him by a close imprisonment Eightly seeing His Majesty is resolved to keep so close to his Principles as is well knowne unto all the world that he will never yeeld to the extirpation of Bishops what then may we expect from a Presbyteriall Ingagement but that when they have made use of the King's Name to quell the Independent Faction as the Independent did to quell them they will upon his Majesties refusall of their demands which he hath ever declared to be against his conscience and honor returne againe to their old vomiâ— and either keep his Majesty in the same condition he now is or worse till they can settle themselves and their pernicious Presbytery past all hope of remedy And then perhaps he shall be called out of prison to be manacled in his Throne as his Father was in Scotland who could never act but when they pleased to let him and then onely according to their Directory of Kirk and State From hence I conceive we may positively and plainely affirme that the Issue of a Presbyterian Ingagement though usher'd in with never so many specious pretences for his Majesty will be utterly destructive to the Royall Interest of this Kingdom And therefore if the Scots come in upon such termes the Royall Party ought not to ingage with them nor to countenance them but to expect and indeavour a Complyance with the Independent as I shall further illustrate by reason First though some may object that it cannot stand with his Majesties Honor to comply with those that have already abused his inclination in that particular yet if they duly consider what urgencie lies at present upon his Majesty and how little hope there is of any better way of restitution they may conceive it far more politique to obey necessity than stand upon nice Punctillo's of honor which I must confesse a Prince in prosperity ought to have regard unto ad conservandam Majestatem Imperii but if once he be trampled under the feet of fortune ceremonious respects must be laid aside to Court the first Oportunity which reason shall point out for a deliverance Secondly if it be objected that the Independent party have a designe for alteration of government I answer so I believe the Presbyters have too onely here is all the difference betwixt them that the Independents would not have a King so much as in Name the Scots Presbyters would have no more but the Name of a King The one aimes downright at an Aristocraticall forme of Government the other pretends to maintain Monarchicall Government yet actually destroyes the very Principles of Monarchy And as for the Independent it is cleare by their imprisoning of the King their declaring against him and to settle the Kingdom without him that they have had and still may continue a designe to change the Kingly Government and in plaine termes declare themselves Free Sates if by any meanes they can allay the Scots But there being little hopes of that we may guesse how unable they are to maintaine their Station having over-strained the sinews of the City and the heart-strings of the Country and so it is probable they will scarce be so hardy as to venture to stand upon their single leggs against the streame of a generall dis-affection at home and an invasion by their opposite Faction from abroad but may when there is no hope of carrying on their designe any longer that way retreat with moderation toward His Majesty Thirdly seeing it is dangerous in case the Scots come in for Presbytery that the Royall party should ingage with them it is all the reason in the world they should with speed indeavour an Agreement with the Independent For if Presbytery receive a foile from the Independents then they will undoubtedly be heightned with confidence to prosecute their designe against Monarchy and perhaps in time attaine so much power as to establish themselves And on the other side if Independency receive a foile from the Presbyters then Presbyteriall Government will usurp over Monarchy both which inconveniencies will be prevented by a timely close with the Independent For there is no other way to re-establish his Majesty unlesse we suppose his Party able to carry it by force of Armes against both the Factions which if it were possible cannot be effected without length of time extreme difficulty and the sad consequences of a Second War Fourthly an Agreement with the Independent is the only way to hinder a Second war For They being Possessed of all or most of the places of strength in this Kingdom and back't besides
at Ware destructive to the other at New-Market whereinto the Souldiery were partly allured by soothings and partly driven by terror one of their fellow-souldiers being condemned for resistance by a Councell of Warre and shot to death before their faces at the generall Rendezvous The Levellers Party being thus quell'd there remained yet one Rub more in the way to this new STATE and that was the Presbyter Party As for the Royall Party they were crushed alreadie undone for want of their Estates or by unmeasurable Compositions to regain them and their King reduced to a forlorn despicable condition of imprisonment so that it was presumed he or they could have little hope or meanes to revive againe There remained then onely the Gulph of Presbytery to saile through to their desired Haven They knew very well that the Breasts of the Presbyterians boiled high with indignation and revenge against them as their contrary Faction that had over-awed and subdued them by force and subtilty to become possessors of what was once theirs and share in the glory of that new Government which had been designed and devoured in hope long before by the Presbyters Therefore the Presbyterian being a potent Faction by reason of the great interest it hath in the City of London and their neare union with Scotland and indeed the major Party in the House on their side if it were not over-awed they judged it necessary to bethinke themselves of some way to pacifie the Presbyterians To this end they first fell to bribing of the grand Presbyterian-sticklers in the House either with sums of money in recompence of pretended losses or of Arreares or else with great Offices which staid their stomacks and held the rest of the Presbyters in suspence upon hope of the like in time according to their merits As for the Scots it was with high confidence presumed that they might bee taken off upon good valuable Considerations wherein the aspiring States have not been wanting by prodigious Offers though all will not prevaile As for the City if after the pacifying of the Presbyterian in the House they could likewise have made sure of the Scots connivence the Presbyterian Party of Londoners must have fallen of course as not able to stand out by themselves And so here now we have a full view of the Designe of the present ruling Independent Party For if after they had crushed the Levellers they could by any meanes have made sure work with the Presbyters at home and in Scotland then there had been nothing betwixt them and home but his Majesty and his posterity who being all of them at their Disposition and power besides the Prince and hee not likely to receive much comfort by succour from foraine Parts I leave the world to judge what should have been the consequence of their wretched designe But since it appeares and themselves are now perswaded in their hearts that God hath otherwise determined concerning his sacred Majesty and his numerous flourishing posterity seeing their last hopes faile them and they begin to languish in the Close of their Work certainly it is high time to retreat before the Dore be bolted against all hope of Pacification and it must needs bee their true Interest to recall his Majesty to let him Treat with freedom and bethink themselves of some necessary expedients toward an honorable equall and perfect reconciliation as the only meanes of safety to Themselves comfort to their afflicted King and peace to these distressed Kingdoms which I shall indeavour to prove by strength of Reason First though it bee a Maxim among godlesse Statesmen never to trust Princes whom they have highly offended yet if the Independent Grandees should have no other assurance upon Agreement than his Majestie 's bare word for their Jndempuity I am confident they might trust him it being a knowne Principle ingrafted in his nature not only by morall Impression but also by Christian perswasion to forgive those that have persecuted him and dispightfully â—used him For undoubtedly the whole Course of his life hath manifested him if men would lay aside their Splene and but speake their Consciences to bee of a most gracious inclination equall to any of his Predecessors and an exact patern of true Clemency to succeeding Generations Secondly there is no doubt but that upon Termes of Agreement his Majesty will condescend to give any reall assurance for their security that shall in reason bee required that is so it extend not to the Infringement of his just Rights and royall Prerogative For it must bee ever supposed that where an Accommodation is intended betwixt adverse Parties there must bee a Condescension on both sides wherein the ordinary Principles of right Reason and Equity must bee the Rule For if either side keep to any one extreme the old enmity will never want Fuell and so the very Pretences of Accommodation will bee utterly destroyed and end in more furious flames of Dissension Thirdly there is a necessity of their Complyance with his Majesty because the hatred of the People is so great that if once they receive a Foile upon Battell there is little possibility of recruiting when the Hearts and purses of both City and Country are shut against them And therefore it were madnes for men to set their whole Stock at one Cast and hazard the fortune of themselves and Friends upon the uncertain chance of one single Conflict whereas wise men before they pitch upon Enterprizes of so high a Nature cast about rather how to repaire themselves upon occasion of losse than dream altogether of Victory For such a provident Jealousy usually leads men to fafety whilst the consident imaginary prosperity of Fooles destroyes them Fourthly None can have greater cause of Jealousie touching the successe of their owne Affaires than the present ruling Grandees now have For besides the instability of their condition in respect of contrary Humors and parties ready to ingage against them at home it is visible that they will bee invaded from abroad The Covenant-Faction of the Scots are concerned in point of Interest to wage war against them for the restoring of their party againe in England and his Majesties Party in Scotland will not as indeed they ought not stand neutrall And though they have great hopes here that the difference between his Majestie 's Party and the Covenanters there touching the Nature of an Ingagement against England may rise so high as by busying them against each other to keep them from ingaging this way at all yet rather than suffer things to remaine at this passe in England it is evident they will supersede all bandyings among themselves and consider of some middle way wherein to mannage their Counsels and resolutions to bee revenged upon the Independent Usurpers Besides it is very observable that the late falling away in Ireland may from a cessation proceed to a perfect Peace with the Irish and then both joyne in one against the Houses for the restoring of his
people insomuch that the Brethren of the contrary way after all their art industry and perswasion have found by experience that it is impossible to force any other upon them therefore without all controversie a Bishop mortified and pruned of his superfluities moderated in the jurisdiction of his Court and the compulsive power and assisted by the Clergy of his Diocesse will in the end appear to be the most excellent Governour Sixtly if any Presbyter object that he hath sworn to the extirpation of Bishops he may do well to consider the unlawfulnesse of such an Oath it having never been enjoyned by any lawfull authority but expresly without it and against it and moreover to the destruction of that which is lawfull viz. the government of the Church confirmed by the Lawes of the Land which appears also by the undoubted testimony of ancient Records and later Histories to have been continued with an universell uninterrupted unquestioned succession in all the Churches of God and in all Kingdoms that have been called Christian throughout the whole world for fifteen hundred yeers together without any considerable opposition made against it and which if it be not of divine right hath a fairer pretension and may lay a juster title and claim to a divine institution then any other form of Government can do and therefore it having been worthily of such esteem in all Times and Places and established by Law certainly an Oath binding to extirpate it without Law and against Law is utterly unlawfull and so rather to be repented of then stubbornly maintained Seventhly by standing out for a Presbytery they give the more hopes and encouragement to the Independent party to persist in a way of obstinacy against his Majesty and oppression of the Subject because it will be a means to hinder a cordiall joynt engaging betwixt the Presbyters and the Royall party and enflame the old enmity to the destruction of each other whilest Independents gather strength and opportunity to triumph in the ruines of their division whereas by a speedy compliance with his Majesties interest they may quell the pride of Independency and either fetch them down to a composition with his Majesty or in case they continue perverse be surely enabled to expell them out of the Kingdom Lastly by a sincere absolute close with his Majesty upon rationall grounds they do no more then what the prevailing party among their Brethren the Scots pretend to engage for and truly if their intents be otherwise they will finde but cold entertainment in England therefore if the Presbyters of England would but acquit themselves like reasonable men the work of restoring his Majesty might be done without the Scots and all those miseries and inconveniences be avoyded which must certainly follow the admission of a forreign Army which besides the pressures that they must bring upon the exhausted Northen parts will expect a large retribution of Treasure for a reward of their engaging and perhaps not depart in quiet but upon such Termes as may be exceedingly prejudiciall and dishonourable to the English Nation From hence I once again infer the true interest of the Presbyters is to counter-work the Independents in their interest which they now drive against his Majesty and to this end to quicken themselves to a joynt engaging with the royall party as the onely means to beat down the ambition of the ruling Grandees of the Independent party to prevent the miseries of a long-languishing War with the in conveniences of a Scottish incursion and also to procure the speedy settlement of the King in his just Rights and the Kingdoms in firm peace and tranquility IIII. Reasons drawn from the interest of the City of London This great and populous City is the epitome of the Kingdom whereof as it is a member it hath the same common interest with the whole yet being more excellent then any other part by reason of the dependance of the rest upon it as being the principall Fountain of Traffick and also by reason of its abundance of Wealth the grand Priviledges of their Charter and the multitude of their Revenues and Inhabitants they have much the greater share in the common interest of the Nation which is Peace and Prosperity The speciall interest of this City is a free trade as well within as without the Kingdom The onely enemy thereto is a civill warre which destroyes commerce betwixt man and man whereof the Citizens have had sad experience these tumultuous times by the decay of Trading the like hath not been many hundred yeers So that the only way to recover againe is to endeavour after a happy Peace and seeing there is no possibility of attaining it but by an establishment of his Majestie I shall present them with a few Considerations First they may doe well to remember how they were cheated heretofore with religious pretences into an Ingagement against his Majesty and how that the whole Kingdome must owe its ruine and desolation to their warlike preparations and Contributions Therfore as it hath been their unhappinesse to have the first hand in driving away the King and un-setling the Kingdom so let them account it their honor to be active and industrious in bringing him back again and to settle him in peace on the throne of the Kingdome Secondly in effecting this they ought to have respect onely to the Royall Interest without the mixture of any factious ingaging whatsoever under pretence of Covenant c. lest while they seem to act in the behalfe of his Majesty they unawares drive on the design again of some particular Faction instead of the Publick Good and so leave open a Gap still to Division Thirdly in case that the Scots come into this Kingdome againe the Citizens ought to see very narrowly to the Principles of their ingageing ere they condescend to supply or countenance them secretly or openly If they come in with the old cheat of Reformation Covenant and Presbytery it will be the wisdome of the Citie to consider that this will be but a new On-set to the first designe of Scotish incroaching upon English Interest and the maintaining of a Faction to serve the ends of Scotland and the ambition of a few Scotified English whose Aymes have been and are to share Dominion with the Scots to the dishonour and prejudice of the Nation and the ruine of Monarchy the alteration of Church-government how speciously soever set forth being but a businesse subordinate to the private ends of particular Grandees among the Laity and obscure Rabbies of the Clergy Fourthly they may be pleased to observe that the Game plaid hitherto betwixt the two Factions of Presbytery and Independency hath been onely which of them should be our Riders and it s to be supposed now that all the strugling of the Presbyterians against the present ruling Grandees is not by dismounting of them to free us but onely to get themselves againe into the Saddle that they may domineer over King and Kingdome
and then what comfort will the City or others reap by all their paines and expences Therefore it concerns the Citizens to looke well before they leape and not to be deluded any longer with the stale pretences of a glorious Reformation the end whereof is nothing else but oppression and confusion both of King and People Fiftly the Citizens may doe well to consider what little benefit they are like to gaine unto themselves in lieu of all that mischiefe that they will bring upon King and Kingdome if the Presbyterian Faction shall prevaile againe It may be it will somewhat tickle them for a time to be revenged on the Independent party and 't is like they shall have their Members out of the Tower and be put into the repossession of that and their Militia so long as they imploy all to the behoofe and benefit of the Faction But if the Presbyter-Citizens shall after a little time upon the discovery of the Inconveniences brought upon the whole Kingdom by the standing out against his Majesty in point of Presbytery begin once to grow discontented and weary of their new Masters they may surely expect to be served the same measure that is now meted unto them by the Rulers of Independency it being a Rule with all Vsurpers no longer to countenance any that they have drawne into their Party then they are willing to run on with them in Designe but if once they begin to flag to bury all their former merits in oblivion also to reckon them as enemies and use them accordingly Sixthly if they shall discover themselves so farre as to ingage againe for Presbytery let the Designe be attended with never so many pretences of loyalty towards the King and his Posterity yet it being cleer notwithstanding that such an Ingagement would be destructive to the Royall Interest his Majesty and the Royall party can looke upon them no otherwise then as absolutely disloyall and resolved to continue their Rebellious courses And then if it shall so happen as probably it may that there be a Complyance betwixt the Royall and Independent Party the Doore will be in a manner bolted against any accommodation betwixt them and his Majestie and then by the union of those two Powers before named the Pillars of their Faction both Scottish and English being shâ—ken and driven out of the KINGDOME They will remaine wholly at his MAJESTIES mercy touching the forfeiture of their Charter and Priviledges c. and give him opportunity to bethinke himselfe of such wayes and meanes to quell their Pride and such meanes as may secure himself and his Successors from the rage of all turbulent and seditious humours in time to come Seventhly the Citizens ought to bestir themselves with such alacrity and give such testimonies of their loyalty as may serve to abate the career of our Independent Grandees who will otherwise never be brought down to a compliance with his Majesty and to this end it will be their wisdom to pretend high toward an engaging any way rather then endure them at this passe any longer but still notwithstanding to reserve within themselves a cordiall tender respect to the true interest of his Majesty Moreover if the case shall so stand that an agreement be concluded betwixt his Majesty and the Independents which certainly will be happiest for this Nation if it can possibly be effected then the Citizens ought not to let their spleens boil with the remembrance injuries received from this Faction nor flatter themselves with imaginary benefits which they suppose they might enjoy by advancing the other but lay aside all emulation and respect of faction on the one side or the other and be ready to applaud any course which his Majesty shall judge most convenient for the composing of these unhappy differences Lastly since the restoring and selling of his Majesty is the onely way of true peace then in case the Independents should continue obstinate to the last against any agreement it concerns all the honest and wise men of London to be wary upon what terms they admit of a Scottish engagement and not to be drawn in as they were formerly but rather to observe the motions and directions of the royall party and conform themselves wholly that way as being the safest honestest and most honourable because free from faction and by-ends and which hath for its sole end the restitution of his Majesty and his royall Posterity the preservation of the Church and the establishment of true Religion Peace and Liberty throughout his Majestes Realms and Dominions V. Reasons drawn from the Interest of Scotland The People of England being fully satisfied that the design for alteration of Church-government under pretence of Reformation was first set on foot by the English and Scottish Grandees meerly for ambitious worldly ends and respects and the Scots having had sufficient experience of the stoutnesse of our English stomacks that they will by no means digest the Presbyteriall government and since it is look't on by all knowing men as absolutely inconsistent with and destructive of Monarchy without doubt it concernes the Scots to bethinke themselves of some other way wherby to settle an Interest and Inter-course with this Nation than by introducing a Presbytery where it is so extreamly distasted by the generality of the People That there is no way for the Scots to settle a beneficiall and lasting Interest here but by an absolute and sincere Close with the Royall Interest I shall manifest by severall Reasons First if they come in and declare in a mixed manner for the King and the Covenant they give the world to understand that they come but to Act the old Cheat over again seeing the Covenant though there be words in it mentioning the Honour and happinesse of the King and his Posterity would prove in effect the destruction of both For if it works not an absolute change of Government in the State as well as the Church yet it is cleer that it will regulate it into a posture farre beneath the dignity and condition of a Monarchy Therefore upon such Termes they will lose that assistance which otherwise they might have from the Royall Party in England Secondly by so declaring they will draw the Curtaine now placed betwixt them and us and give a perfect discovery of their Intentions and we shall conclude that their ayme is no wise at the good of his Majestie but onely to serve their owne corrupt Interests And we shall beleeve they bring in an Army for no other end but to back their Party of Presbytery in the House and the City so to crush the opposite Faction of Independencie and then by removing the King to one of his Houses reduce him and the Affaires of the Kingdome in Statu quo prius as when he was at Holdenby where he shall languish in the condition of a Prisoner as long as he lives or at least as long as they reigne it being resolved on before hand that he
shall not be restored to the exercise of regall Power till he have signed their Desires and Propositions which his Majestie hath so often declared to be against his Honour and Conscience And then what may the Presbyters expect but that the inraged People having been so often deluded and tyred in expectation of a Settlement will take the first opportunity to rise all as one Man to banish them and their Faction out of England and upon their ruines restore both Prince and People to their former Liberty Thirdly it seemes not to be the Resolution of the Covenant-Abettors onely in Scotland but it is declared by that Party which pretends highest for his Majestie in Scotland and delivered in by them in their Answer to the Desires of the Kirke That they resolve â—oâ— to put into his Majesties hands or any other such power whereby the Ends of the Covenant may be obstructed but that his Majesty shall before any Ingagement give assurance under Hand and Seale for himselfe and Successors to agree to certain Acts injoyning the Covenant Presbbyterian Government c. and never to endeavour the change thereof Which resolution of theirs gives us cause to suspect that all the Bickerings heretofore between them and the Kirke were but meer ventilations acted on purpose to make the world beleeve some high Designe on foot there in the behalfe of his Majestie and to feed the Royall Party with hopes of great matters from Scotland that being held in suspence they might remaine the lesse active and give the Scots a more plausible and easie Ingresse into England Fourthly such a Resolution if it once come to a publique Declaration will make men apt to beleeve that under his Majesties name those royall Pretenders doe Act some particular Interests likewise rather then that of his Majestie and the Publique And further seeing Hamilton is the Chiefe among them it cannot be judged very improbable that He who is a convicted Person for aspiring to the Crown of Scotland and who was so bold in the dayes of his Majesties prosperity as to attempt it and to that end the better to compasse his Designe had a hand in widening the distance betwixt his Majestie and the two Houses and also in imbroyling the two Kingdomes should take opportunity now in his Majesties lowest condition and the present Division to weave in his owne ambitious Interest in hope to bring his Affaires unto perfection I cannot accuse him but if the Priestly Faction and his doe close with each other upon Covenant considerations it is a shrewd suspition The agreement betwixt them in plaine Termes is this That if HAMILTON serve the Presbyterian Designe in England the Presbyters of both Kingdomes shall in requitall connive at his doings or assist him in his designe upon the Crowne of Scotland and so his Majestie shall become a Sacrifice to the Covetousnesse and Pride of his malicious Adversaries Fifthly by an immediate and absolute Ingagement for his Majestie such jealousies as these will be quite taken away and the hearts of the English so inclined and obliged to the Scots that they will hezard both Lives and Estates in their assistance and be willing by way of re-tribution not onely to dis-burse toward the satisfaction of their Arreares but yeeld also that his Majestie shall gratifie them with such other Rewards and speciall Indulgences of Grace and Favour in this Kingdome as may tend highly to the Honour and Advantage of their Nation even farre beyond what they may gaine by advancing their Presbyterian Interest seeing it will be a long time ere the Kingdome can that way be stated by reason of the contrary working humours which will be ready to breake out ever and anon into new Insurrections whereby the faction will be so continually busied at an excessive charge and the People so impoverished that they will not be more unwilling then unable to raise such vast sums as are necessary for their satisfaction at most not the tithe of that proportion which they may receive suddenly from the hands of the King and with the love of the Kingdom Sixtly let not the Scots flatter themselves with a conceit of seeling their Presbytery amongst us whether we will or no for though they may do much by the strength of their faction yet both English and Scots of that gang may consider that the English are a valiant and generous people impatient of the yoke and though they may be beaten down for a time yet if the Kingdom were divided into twenty parts seeing I am confident at least nineteen of them are against Presbytery it cannot be in reason imagined that a few voting Punies relying meerly upon Scottish Arms should be able to trample down the spirits of this our magnanimous Nation for ever but rather that when they have smarted again under Presbyterian-tyranny for a time they may recollect themselves with so much courage and successe as will enable them to drive away the Scots and their faction and confine the last seene of war within the limits of Scotland where it had its Originall Seventhly though they may relie much upon a Party in the City yet the Citizens eyes being well opened to see that they have been made but stalking-horses to other mens private ends and been gul'd out of so many millions onely to purchase slavery unto themselves dishonour unto their City and destruction to their Trades which cannot be recovered again but by a setled peace the Scots may guesse how little countenance or assistance they are like to obtain at their hands except they so declare for his Majesty as that they may receive assurance of his speedy restitution without which they are generally convinced there can be no hope of Peace unto the Nation Lastly if it should so happen that the Scots play false with his Majesty and drive both him and the Independent party to extremity it is probable they may unite upon reasonable considerations and mutuall compliance betwixt both their interests and then that Party being fortified by an addition of the Royall which wheresoever it fides brings in the affections of the whole Kingdom it is very possible the Scots may not onely be defeated in the hopes of that large Dominion and those golden mountains which they promised unto themselves here by an establishment of Presbytery but also be forced to pack home again without so much as one superstitious crosse to requite them for the pains they have taken in the work of Reformation and perhaps draw revenge upon themselves for all those affronts and injuries done unto his Majesty and the people of England and renew the old antipathy with perpetuall enmity betwixt the Nations From all which give me leave to sum up this Conclusion in a word that the Scots have no way to restore an Interest again in this Nation but by waving the corrupt interest of Presbytery and engaging absolutely for the Royall Interest of his Majesty as the onely means conducing to the weal and benefit of both Kingdoms Seneca in Thyeste Nemo confidat nimiùm secundis Nemo desperet meliorum lapsis Miscet haec illis prohibetque Clotho Stare fortunam FINIS