contented it should never be done But are they thus backward in sinne or base actions no there they are in the forefront they flye with Eagles wings they send in their presents cast in their Thimbles and Bodkins appear in Buffe call in all their friends to arme and harnesse have their young Voluntiers and Maiden-Troops and what not Oh very quick active serious furious accelerating precipitating mischievous and scandalous things they are there they move navibus quadrigis with their Sea-forces and Land-forces Oh the holy Cause the holy Covenant made without either King or Scripture stand by it dye by it make no delay use no tarrying no Festinate viri jamjam mora nulla est Make hast ye men of Gods right hand though ye do the same things that ye condemn the Jesuites for yet this design is sanctified in the Pulpit and let their Zeal kindle you into a Jehu's heat March furiously go in the strength of the Lord and take with the Lord the Wings of the Morning let every man be Ocior câ—rvis agente nimbos ocior Euro swifter then Harts or the tempestuous East-wind Oh your day is dawned make no pausing lose not a minute but see ye be at your colours at the first beating of the Drumme Curse ye Meroz curse the Inhabitants thereof because they came not forth to help the Lord to help the Lord against the mightie the execration of holy Church lay upon him who if either absent or not active and expedite in such a pious Cause Corah is the formost to head a Rebellion and Judas doth lead the Van to betray his Master Tartessos fratrem medio Therone premebat One press upon the heels of another every one would be a Leader let it be a contrary act yet there is striving that a man may be a Prevaricator let it be an harsh song yet there is a desire to be a Praecentor let it be a bad Race yet there is an ambition to be a Prodromus a Praecursor But in matters of Vertue and Fame and Honour there is no such hast no there men stand gazing and expecting as if they must be drawn out forced on led forth how many scruples and demurres and feares and jealousies are there men are loth to shew their faces or lift up their feet or get into the way or keep the way a man would think they were undertaking a Pilgrimage or going to a gibbet or called forth to fight with Giants and Tygers If they yield their presence at all they are the last But on beloved learn more promptnesse in lawfull and laudable things it is a shame in matters of justice and equity to be pawsers as you may see here in bringing Judah who is disgraced for being the last Wherefore then are ye the last To bring back Now let us come to the action of moment discussed to bring back Could Absalon draw multitudes to his party and being drawn in do they not know how to get out Cannot the seduced be reduced Could the whole countrey rise to drive forth and cannot the whole Countrey rise to call home Or would the other Tribes advance the work and do Judah slacken it Is the Royal City most languishing towards the Royal Person Is not this her scandal her infamie Yes was she the first to banish and the last to bring back How is this urged upon her as her Reproach Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back From hence observe that a work of Restauration doth come off with an heavinesse It is an easie matter to rend and to scatter and to quench and deface but it is not so easie a matter to stitch together to gather up to kindle to repair This same work of Reformation and Redintegration to renew things in their first Beauty and to restore them to their pristine splendour doth come off with a difficultie it is Elephantis partus as the birth of an Elephant long in the bringing forth Hoc opus hic labor est This is the work this is the laborious Atchievment it is a wonder to see that aula sepulta resurgit a buried Court should rise again out of her Grave-cloathes Alexander at the motion of a Strumpet might soon burn Persepolis but neither he nor any of his Successours could raise it again to her ancient Glory Aerostratus in a mad humour might consume in a night the magnificent Temple of Diana but to this day there is nothing to be seen of it but wasted Ruines Fortunat. A disease is soon gotten but health is not so soon again regained it is an hard thing to bring men to the restitution of ill-gotten goods but it is an harder thing to bring men to the restitution of decayed Greatnesse As he wich is fallen is like a lamp that is despised in the thought of him that is at case Job 12.5 so that which is demolished is looked upon with an eye of neglect in the thought of him which minds nothing but his personal quiet and safety Let David come to a state of distress then every Which-scorning Nabal can say who is this David who is this sonne of Ishai 2 Sam. 25.10 then Bow down that we may passe over thee Es 5 â—5 at that time these is rather derision then sympathy If Jerusalem come to a weeping state how many are there which will bring her first smiles into her cheeks no amongst all her lovers there were none to comfort her Lam. 1.2 Who shall feed the sheep of slaughter their own shepheards will not pity them Zach. 11.5 By whom shall Jacob arise Zach. 7.5 God may lift him up but man will not readily set him upon his feet No men stand aloof from the sore and puffe at them which are in extremity The walls of Jerusalem being burnt Nehemiah and all his Friends were hard put to it to get them rebuilt People out of an high-brained fancy may quickly pull down places of Judicature and throw down Thrones but it will be no lesse then a miracle from Heaven to restore Judges as at the first and Princes as at the beginning Es 1.22 Behold the teares of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter Eccles 4.1 Many are of the mind of Agesilaus who being desired to stay his march till his sick friend recovered he never regarded the motion but went on with his march only saying Arduum est misereri sapere It is an hard thing to pity and. to be wise so by many amongst us it is counted meer folly to be too compassionate Many can wound few can heal many can expel few can bring back Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back Application This doth serve to exhort men to forbear from outragious courses many men have no greater civility then ictu discludere turres Disturbare domes avellere signa trabeisque Et monumenta virum demoliri atque cicre Lucret. l. 7. To throw down Towers Palaces Ensigns Monuments yea Diruta
ENGLAND'S BACKWARDNESSE Or a lingring PARTY In bringing back a lawful KING DELIVERED In a SERMON at Waltham Abbey Church in the County of Essex at a solemne fast By THOMAS REEVE D. D. Preacher of Gods Word in that Parish Aegrè facimus facimus tamen LONDON Printed for William Grantham at the black Bear in S. Paul's Church yard near the little North Door 1661. To the Right Honourable THOMAS Earl of Southampton Lord high Treasurer of England and one of his MAIESTIES most Honourable Privy Council length of dayes and increase of Honour Right Honourable and admired Peer WHat is man if but meer man where grace doth not sanctifie what is natural wisdome but a subtil Cacodaemon we may see it in this Synopsis of Davids troubles what variety was there of strange prodigious Wits the Prototype was in Davids time the Antitype hath been in our time There was an Absalom that took up arms against his natural Father and what have we had but Absalom amongst us for these many years Subjects which are political Sons appearing in an hostile manner against their natural Soveraign the true Father of the Countrey we have had the chariots horsmen prepared men persons of servile spirits and complying dispositions to run before the Designer yea the trumpets of sedition have been blown and the popular perfidious cry hath been heard Absalom reigneth in Hebron and our Land hath been filled with as many Spies Intelligencers Face-triers Speech-latchers the vermine of corrupt Commonwealths as ever Israel abounded with in Absaloms dayes And as Absaloms rebellion began with glorious pretexts of religion and reformation so have not we been sprinkled with the Rebels holy Water what was there in this Nation for a great while but paying of vows in Hebron Lectures Fasts Self-denying Ordinances and telling the people that the Form of Government in this Nation was distempered but if any had a cause or suit and they would repair unto them they would do them justice Thus all the engines of execrable policy were set on work And as in those dayes there was a Zibah that betrayed his dear Master Mâ—phibosheth so have not we had many a Zibah Yes what have we had but infinite treacherous servants and supplanting neighbours which to gain the estates of renowned Noblemen and worthy Patriots have used all manner of undermining practises and blemishing informations Si sat sit accusasse quis erit innocens If a bare accusation be enough to make a man guilty who shall be innocent yet a meer aspersion was enough for a Sequestration if this stratagem hath cost me three thousand pounds how many Millions have there been drained by these hellish contrivances from many innocent and eminent men in this Land And as there was a Shimei that cursed David and had no better terms then bloody man and Son of Belial and telling him that the justice of heaven did pursue him and that he was taken in his mischief so have not we had as cursing a generation Yes what was the spittle of many mens lips but sirnames and nicknames Malignants Delinquents limbs of Antichrist hellish Fire brands Cyprianus was called Caprianus and Athanasius Sathanasius no scandalous names they thought were ignominious enough to avile us revile us and reproach us to the people and this by men that professed the spirit of meekness and knew that it was not lawfull to say unto a brother Racah and did they not pronounce upon us and say that we were taken in our mischief judged from heaven and that the hand of the Lord was lift up against us Oh what adoe was there with the righteous cause and of vengeance printed upon our brows by the stigmatizing finger of God Almighty These were a people of high revelations and seemed to be Secretaries of State to the hidden Councils and Decrees of the great God That party carried it in that height as if it had been Master of the Ordinance to the Lord of hosts or been the very Council of War in heaven by authority to sentence poor Malignants as they called us to be shot to death And as Ahithophel was the busie active man in that rebellion so have not we had an abundance of Mercurial brains and dangerous Craftmasters in this Insurrection such as have advised Absalom to lye with his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel I mean to counsel our State Masters to do the most nesarious detestable abominable things which ever the Sun beheld yea to plunder rifle imprison gibbet to make their own countrymen Vagabonds at home to sell them for Slaves beyond sea to break in pieces the great Seal nay the Crowns and Scepter to rase Palaces to demolish Castles to set up Eunuch Parliaments Hermaphroditical Committees Cyclopical High Courts of Iustice to seiz upon Church-land to expel the most reverend Churchmen out of their just Cures Oh how have we had Anabaptistical and Phanatick principles of State delivered as the fundamental Laws of the Kingdome these Ionadabs these wily men these Ahithophels were accounted as the Oracles of God in those dayes And did this rebellion go on onely with a State-vapour or a daring bravado no as in Absaloms dayes the battle was scattered over the face of the whole Countrey and there fell twenty thousand men and the wood of Ephraim devoured more then the sword so our treason was it not a most satal and destructive attempt to the Nation how many pitched battels were there fought what horrid slaughters were there committed as if here and elsewhere there had been nothing but slaughterhouses to be seen What corner hath not been sprinkled with bloud how many mournful Families hath this war caused we might justly be called Acheldamah The losses of precious treasure is grievous but the losse of mens precious lives is an astonishing dismaying Spectacle Now my honourable good Lord what shall the result of this hideous passage be but to conclude with Samuel that Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Sam. 15.23 For if men had not been bewitched it could never have entred into the hearts of men or Christians or especially such Christians as seem to defie Iesuites for treason and rebellion to perpetrate such barbarous things upon their natural Country and Countrymen Some say there are no Witches and some say there are no Rebels those that are called Witches there are that say they are but Venesitae Poysoners or Ventriloquae Speakers through the belly so those which some call Rebels are but such as have a rare art in a new way to take away the enemies of State can speak through the belly in a mysterious way to cry up the liberties of the people or if they be Witches they are to be called but Sagae the prime Wits of the time or White-witches that do more good then hurt But I doubt they will be found Maleficae black Witches and their very practises will declare it 1. as Witches are discontented people so these are Malecontents
2. as Witches for the most part look ill so these have a bad physnomy they look with glating eyes and ominous countenances 3. as the Devils sucks a pap in Witches so those have their consciences sucked 4. as Witches deny their Christendome so these have denied all the ancient principles of faith and morality 5. as Witches enter into league with the Devil so these have their covenants and engagements 6. as Witches are fair and plausible in speech so these have their inchanting language 7. as Witches are pernicious they destroy cattel and living souls so these consume the estates and lives of men 8. as Witches seldome repent for it is a rare thing to hear of a Witch to be a true penitent so these seldome have remorse for their most wicked and wretched actions it is a rare thing to hear of a Rebel to turn true convert some of the Paradoxes of their old Witchcraft will a long time sticke in their consciences what a do had David with his Witches they had cast him out and they would keep him out it was a tedious thing unto them to bring back their King so what a do had we with our cunning people they had expelled a King and how backward were they to reinstate him in his known and antient rights we had much strife with them to get them leave their old sorceries Some would not have had the King brought in at all and some would have had him brought in upon conditions when they did it they did it after an irkesome expectation yea the Text may justly be applied unto them Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King But peerelesse Peere in the midst of this Tragical passage this was the comfort the honour the happinesse that when so great a part of the Nation was under as they use to say ill hands yet some were free from the Witchcraft for as in Davids time some stood firme to him in them midst of the rebellion as Zadok and Abiathar the Priests Ittai the Gittite that great States-man Hushai the Archite that renouned Countrey worthy Barzillai the Gileadite Shobi the son of Nohash of Rabbah and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar c. So there were amongst us some stable and invariable to the King and the Kings cause who were true Mourners all the time of his absence and never quiet till they saw him brought back amongst whom I may reckon your Lordship One and a conspicuous One you need not my pen to Characterize your worth wisdome integrity fidelity constant affection and unshaken loyalty to your lawful precious and pious Prince the whole Land is filled with the Bruit and fame of your high endowments and your unspotted obedience to your dread Soveraigne and truely honoured Lord this is the motive of this dedication Had the Duke of Somerset been living I should have made bold to have made you two the joint Patrons of this worthlesse piece but He to whom I was so infinite obliged though I never saw his face being translated to the glorious presence of God Almighty Let me humbly intreat your Honour to whom I am as much unknown as I was unto him to be the sole Shelter to this way-faring Pilgrime which must travayle through the whole Nation and perhaps into some neighbouring Countries I love to choose Patrons by fame aswell as familiarity and report as acquaintance Accept of your Suppliant Servant who doth devote himself to the honouring of your high perfections and doth prostrate his inconsiderable self and these his unpolished labours at your Lordships feet Thus beseeching God long to preserve amongst us such an invaluable Patriot and prizelesse Peere with all reverence to your Graces and ardent desires for the increase of your honour submissively I take leave and rest My Lord The vowed servant to your Honours person and the high admirer of your rich and pretious qualifications THOMAS REEVE 2 SAM 19.12 Wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King HEre is a King to be fetched home and a people to be fetched out the King may come home but there are come that will not invite him home no when others shew their forwardnesse they shew their backwardnesse averse perverse they are Some are eager and passionate to have him return acrius omnes Incumbunt generis lapsi sarcire ruinas Virg. 4. Georg. their hearts have sent Messengers to him their desires have prepared Charrets to convey him if longings and yearnings could have brought him home he had been there long ago their breasts are full of nothing but pantings their lips are full of nothing but earnest cryes for his Return they wish him among them Et gemitu Ovid. 1. Met. lachrymis luctisono mugitu With groanes and teares and dolefull plaints saying Oh that we could see the Kings face oh that the Royal Throne had the Royal Gemme to adorn it oh that we could behold David in as much lustre and Majestie as ever we could leap out of our houses and leap out of our Tribes to take a solemn journey about such an happy occasion This Party hath filled the Land with suffrages to set forward the work Virg. 9. Aeneid oneravitque aethera votis and laden the Ayr with Votes But Quid prodest coelum votis implesse Neaera Tibul l. 3. What matter if one Party be forward and another be backward some were not so propense as others were opposite Mulciber in Trojam Virg. pro Troja stabat Apollo The Tribes are at a difference they cannot agree upon the design Martial Alia voce pscittacus alia coturnix loquitur The Birds have several notes and tunes What love and loyaltie was there in the ten Tribes How did they consent together and even contend one with another that the work might be concluded upon nay hastned to regain the sight of the King in his proper place and wonted Glory All the people were at strife throughout all the Tribes of Israel saying The King saved us out of the hands of our enemies and delivered us out of the hand of the Philistins and now he is fled out of the land for Absalon And Absalon whom we anointed over us is dead in battail now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing back the King Verse 9.10 Oh generous expressions Oh honorable motions but are all as loyal in their affections and royal in their intentions Zenod. no Unicum arbustum non alit duos Aerithacos Cui quaeso ut suadeas ne vescentium dentibus edentulus invideat oculos caprearum talpa non contemnat Jeron It is a rare thing to see a whole Land conspire together in the most worthy Resolutions They which want teeth and sight hate them which can chew their meat and disinguish of colours The Tribes of Israel are very fervent for a King but there is a Tribe a sullen Tribe which is not half so warm and glowing No
of mony which were drained and wrested out of this impoverished Nation shew one glorious Monument that they left behind them either to State or Church or Universities be it but a famous Hospitall or a beautifull Colledge or a poor Library what the best government and shall Herod the proud and Nero the cruell exceed them in magnificence here are lean jaws indeed to live under as it was said of Tyberius Patroclus might then have been the Patriot or Martials Paternus might have been supreme Governour who couched down upon his treasures lest any of them should have been conveyed to publick uses such Governors are just like Visbur the Gothist King who got wealth by extortion and sacriledge Largiris nihil incuâ—usque gazae ut maâ—nus Dâ—aco quem canunt poetae custodem scithici fuisse Luci. Maâ—â— l. â—â— nihil autem praestari pereas ingentes divitias sudore sanguine pauperum comparatus officere curavit Joh. Magnus l. 7. but never did any famous work by all those vast treasures which were gotten with the sweat and blood of the poor these Governours when they should have given any thing to their countrey they were ready to say as Herachus did to the Saracens shall we take our childrens bread Who Ensing l. 7 c 9. and feed dogs with it when they should have given any thing to the Church they were ready to have said with Alexander Mammeae in templo quid facit aurum Sabel l 6. Aenead 7. What should the Church do with gold pitifull Countrey-men lamentable Church-men they were the family must needs have been upon the starving point when the stewards name was inhospitalis Nigard Yet these were our rulers and these were all the Donatives like beautifull Princes in so long a reign that they bestowed upon us But under Monarchy was there no more munificence expressed Yes then might have been seen pravus â—agis quam condus there was no close fist nor hiding eye but the wide hand Deut. 15.8 and the bountifull eye Prov. 22.9 It was the age of sending portions sowing besides all waters giving offerings of a faire eye men delighted in nothing more then to be as those that comforted the mourners the poor were brought up with them as with their Father the whole land smelt of their sweet odours they grudged at no charge Silver and Gold was not regarded in those dayes they were the people of hospitality and had began to hang all their Countrey with garlands what was the genious of that age but to found Hospitals build Churches and to erect Colledges how many famous works had they done and how many by this time would they have done if gorgon iâ—on amazon or if ye will steel bonnet and buff-coat had not frighted them from what was intended I could tell you their names but they have engraven them themselves in their everlasting Monuments Oh then they were men of beneficent spirits heroick dispositions Oh these were the right Protestants the building Protestants they did not pluck down popery onely by the pick-axe by digging up crosses and dashing in pieces imaged and crying out against the mass and calling the Pope Antichrist and telling fine stories but they pulled down Popery by the trowel in building as fast as any Papist and shewing to all the earth that if pious works were a way to Heaven the Protestant Catholick would vye with the Roman Catholick they were ambitious to be firnamed the Hospitable as John of Alexandria was called the Eleemosinary their chiefest honours with Alphonsus the tenth of Arragon they esteemed to be dona insignia Sygeb Chron. hountifull gifts Yea they were not onely works of charity Marin l. 11. rer Hispan that those times were blessed with but they abounded in every thing that might bear the name of good If people were not blinded and infatuated with an externall holiness and charmed with a few studied phrases and apt to call primitive devotion Popish superstition they would say that that was the age of an operative saith and of the power of godliness for laying aside all passion and partiality to a particular cause let men of any moderation and conscience say if they can if there were not more piety and purity justice neighbourhood integrity fidelity sincerity of doctrine uncorruptness in Courts of judicature cherishing of learning and advancement of trade under kingly government then ever there was under the multiplicity of governments which we had by our new rulers Kings dealt with us really but Sphinx spake very intricately Oh it was the enigmatical age poor deluded people were taught to tell many a lye as that they did but hold up their hands to sight for their liberties and yet their hands are bound by Scripture that they must not fight for their liberties that they fought for the King and Parliament and yet neither the King nor the better part of the Parliament ever gave them authority to do any such courtesie for them that they fought to preserve the King in his rights and prerogative and yet allowed him neither rights nor prerogative that they fought for the power of the Militia and yet the King doth bear the sword that they fought to separate the King from his evil Councellers and yet they their selves were but Counsellers and it is against reason that Counsellers should be Commanders and that every one should not have libeâ—ty to choose his own Counsellors and that fighting men should be counted better Counsellors then they that did not fight till their throats are ready to be cut that they fought to make the King a glorious King yet when they had him in their possession kept him as a prisoner that thay fought to pull down Archbishops and Bishops yet they were ordained by a primitive institution that they fought to bring the King to his Parliament and yet when they had him never brought him to his Parliament that they fought to bring malâ—factors to condign punishment and yet no malefactors according to any known Law nor Malignants except to follow the King and to discharge their Oath of Allegiance with all their might power and ability be malignancy that they fought to settle the Protestant Religion according to the best Reformed Churches and yet the best Reformed Churches cannot be private Cities Cantons and States would the Kingdoms of Denmark Sweden and the great Lutheran Princes in Germany ever allow of them to be so called Are these and many other truths they must have larger consciences and more capacious judgments then I have to conceive them or believe them I believe them to be no more truths then Sarahs non risi timore perterita I laughed not being affraid Gen. 18.15 or Abrahams Soror mea est She is my Sister Gen. 20.2 or Iacobs Ego sum Primogenitus I am thy First-born Gen 27.9 or the old Prophets speech to the young Prophet from the Lord Reduc eum in donum tuam bring him into thy
house 1 Kings 13.18 or the Father of the Blind mans speech Quomodo autem nunc videat neseimus But how he doeth now see we know not Ioh. 9.21 or the Devils Praecipita te scriptum est enim Angelis suis mandabit de te ut tollant manibus ne impingas pedem in lapidem Mat. 4.6 Cast thy self down headlong for it is written he shall give his Angels charge over thee to lift thee up least thou dost dash thy foot against a stone Mat. 4 6. There may be some shew of truth in these things but as far from the essence of truth as Michals pillow stuffed with goats haire was from the body of David They are blear-eyed that will not see them falshoods and partial and parasitical which will not acknowledge them to be so The result is if the fifth of November were an unlawful attempt why should the Protestant smell of the Romish Gunpowder If Equivocation be unlawful why should we have new Jesuites under colourable disguises I am afraid that at the latter day of judgement these things will be found to be worse Poperie then crossing Infants or Organs or Cap Cope and Surplice How can such be heard speaking against any sinne when such palpable dissimulation is apparent the grief is this that if Protestants may be allowed to weare this pocket-dagger every Prince doth stand in fear of his life which doth reign over them if they cannot preach them into their own Paradoxes there will be fighting to the worlds end and they shall be christened to be the Lords battels as if they were waged against Paynims and Infidels in what streights doth a King live when he hath Anabaptists on the one side which would destroy all Magistracy and others which if they cannot subject Magistracy to their own bents will fight it into order an odd weapon I never find that Christ and his Apostles ever armed Subjects thus against their lawful Soveraigns lusty Popes indeed have done thus and this is plain Popery I beseech you therefore by your hatrâ—d against Popery and your reverence to Protestancie by the name of Authority and the fame of obedience by the passion of Christ which could have freed himself and by the patience of Martyrs which would not free themselves by the miseries of War and the blessings of union by the subjection of Pagans and the concord amongst Devils by Christs rebuking his Disciples when they would have fire fetched from heaven and by Christs commanding S. Peter to put up his sword into his Scabbard by Davids heart smiting him when he had cut off the lap of Sauls garment and by S. Pauls checking himself when he had called Ananias painted wall by the black infamy of this action and the horrid effects of it by the certainty of divine providence and the uncertainty of events by the thraldome which ye have long endured and the pardon which ye have obtained by the assistance which ye may yeeld to your friends and by the plots which ye ought to prevent against your enemies by the fruits of the flesh and the arm of flesh by the propagation of truth and the flourishing of Trade by the honour of your profession and the obligation of your oaths by Christs legacy of peace and by the Gospel of peace by prace in the time of your pilgrimage and by peace at the hour of your passage that ye never list a Souldier nor set up a Flag nor undertake a March nor discharge a Canon against a lawful Soveraign Bella gerant alii Let others if they will fight against their just Princes but let the Protestant have the honour of being a peaceable and patient Professor for how else Subjects how else Christians Blessed is he that is not condemned in that which he doth allow Rom. 14.22 Doubtless ye cannot but have inward convictions self-smiting Consciences The fear that begetteth pain and then there is a bloodier war within then there is without it were well therefore that you would confess your error purge away the scandal of it by some Christian satisfaction yea to procure the inward peace of your own souls and to inform the souls of them whom ye have misled to pacifie offended minds and to give assurance to Prince that ye will hereafter prove truly loyal that ye would defie and execrate a thing so abominable to the whole world but if out of obstinacy or modesty ye will not do this yet that we may for ever rase out of our brests the memory of all the injuries and miseries which we have endured by this rash and fatal design let us from henceforth find you reall Converts learn war no more study not commotions preach not up the Gantlet and the Pole-axe this is the way whereby we may heartily forgive you embrace you and bless you think how many watchful and implacable enemies we have abroad and how full the land is of Sectaries Hereticks Papists and Jewes and if ye have any apprehentions of dangers love to your Country pitty upon a distracted Church fears that ye may perish with us in a common fate or desires for the preservation of Religion government prosperity lay down animosities yeeld to conveniencies let us and you which differ but in a few things and doe equally lay open to the general spight for the same sword will draw bloud from us both alike if ever Papist or Anabaptist or Phanatick get the upper-hand agree in this one fundamental of mutual preservation that order shall never be disturbed nor authority assaulted but our Countrey-men shall sit quiet in their houses and Kings sit quiet in their Thrones if ye have any grievances debate them kindly argue them meekly petition as much as ye will dispute what ye can and what ye cannot convince by reason submit to with quietnesse but fight no more let us never hear your drum beating nor your trumpet sounding nor have any more of your solemn League and Covenant nor fighting for King and Parliament for Kings are sacred persons and are not to be sacrificed unto with Gunpowder no et Iesuites or Devils offer such oblations but let not Protestants have any such bloudy victimes If ye then have unroosted any such Kings do ye settle him if ye were the first that drove him away be not ye the last to bring him back For wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the King Thus beloved have ye heard an expostulation about David's return and ought not we to have the like disquisition about our Kings return hath not the fate been alike to both yes as David had his Absolom that conspired against him so have not we had many which have broken the yoke and to all their other disrespects have added rebellion to their sins which with Absoloms feigning lips have stolen away the hearts of the people and with the complements of putting forth of hands endeering kisses and large promises of high reformation that if they were made Iudges in the Land