the Nature of Brutes and most certainly it is the Mother of all Confusion of which inevitable Ruine is the undoubted Daughter But as to the forms and manner of Government the opinion of the World has been as various as the practice and so it continues to this day One kind of Government not fit for all People Several kinds and frames of Government suit best with the several circumstances and natures of differing People and Nations So that though it be no great difficulty to determine which in its own nature is the best Government in the World yet it would be too hard if not arrogant positively to affirm that even that were universally the best for all sorts of people Custom and long continuance which can never admit of any alteration that is suddain and general without great inconveniences is certainly one great Rule in all Forms of Government according to that appearing Paradox though good State-Divinity Malum benè positum non est temâ—rè removendum Ill well establisht to remove A dangerous rashness oft does prove Of the three forms of Government However in order to my design it is necessary that we should briefly consider the three kinds of Government which have shar'd the Empire of the World amongst them Of Democracy WE will begin then with the lowest and that which has had the least part as well as the least reason to have a greater in the manage of publick affairs as being but one step from Anarchy and that is Democracy where all govern and yet all obey In this all the People have or pretend to have an equal Right to Power and the Laws are the Plebiscita the Votes of the Common people in general This way of Government is only practicable in small Bodies and Societies of Men it being impossible that populous Nations and of great extent should either congregate for the dispatch of every little affair of State or ever be brought to any agreement about them in any tolerable compass of Time and besides they must be forced to neglect the private concerns of their Country employs which are as necessarily to be attended for the good of the Common-weal as the greatest consultations of State the Populace being no less able to subsist without Corn and the other effects of good husbandry than they are without Counsel and Laws And supposing they should thus meet in multitudes all things would be managed by a tumultuary Faction rather than by Right and Reason with which necessary Qualifications for Government the Common sort of people are as seldom well provided as they are of understanding any thing that goes beyond the limits of their education in Tillage Husbandry and Mechanick Manufactures For these and many other Reasons if ever there was any such kind of Government it is impossible it should be of any long continuance which is the reason that it has been long since exploded out of all great societies of Men and where ever any of it does remain it is either in some particular small Municipal societies as with us in Corporations in England or else this right is committed to Delegates chosen by the people to represent them and act for them such as are the Members of the honourable House of Commons or the Common-Council-men of the City oâ— London and several small Republicks beyond the Seas Of Aristocracy or Optimacy THE second kind of Government is Aristocracy or Optimacy where the Nobility or principal persons have the charge and management of the publick Affairs This was that form of Government which several of the States oâ— Greece as Athens Sparta Thebes Corinth c. did at some times affect And this was the Government of the Roman Commonwealth under the Senate and Consuls Senatores à Senioritate and Consules à Consulendo who were chosen out of the Patricii or principal Nobility as their name imports for their age and experience to consult about the weighty affairs of State to make Laws according as the present necessity required and to alter or abrogate the useless or inconvenient THE third sort of Government is Monarchy Of Monarchy where all the whole frame of Government lies upon one single person who has power to make alter and abrogate Laws and to exact obedience to them and this kind of Government as it is by far the most ancient so it has been and is the most universal Insomuch that there is not any People Nation Country Language who either are not or have not been under this form of Regiment And the Original both of Democracy and Aristocracy must be attributed to Usurpation and will be found upon the search of all the Records of Time to have been founded upon Rebellion and a Regifugium which certainly if there were nothing besides were a sufficient Argument to keep all wise and sober men from being in love with such models of Government and Laws as took their first rise and birth from the breach of Laws and the apparent ruine of that establishment to which they were born subjects if not sworn vassals Some Considerations and necessary Animadversions upon our late English Republick BUT in regard it is grown to be but too popular an Error amongst us to entertain very kind thoughts of the Democratick way of Government which in the time of the late horrid Rebellion some Men managed by private ambition and insatiable desire of Sovereignty did endeavour invita Minerva to introduce and establish contrary to the Genius and inclination of the English Nation though they constantly abused the name of the people to countenance their unjust usurpations and in regard the same restless and dangerous Faction is as busie as ever to promote the same Design to the utter subversion of this most ancient flourishing and well-temper'd Monarchy we will consider this way and see whether in its own Nature it is so good and excellent as it is pretended to be by the Factors and Fautors of Antimonarchical principles who do so industriously labour to alienate the minds of the Subjects of great Britain from their ancient Loyalty and Allegiance to their Sovereign THAT we may therefore take a true and impartial survey of this adored and so much magnified Model of a Republick and that we may do them which they never did to any Justice we will take our Copy from their own Original and the most exact and curious draughts and elaborate pourtraicts in several Declarations published as they pretended for the satisfaction of the people of these Nations and more particularly of one presently after the Kings Murder wherein they express the grounds of their proceedings in setling as they term it the present Government in the way of a Free State or Commonwealth Where first they begin with the observation of Gods blessing upon Rebellion shewing the excellency of this way of Government from the example of the Romans who after their Regifugium for many years prospered far more than
is truly Pater Patriae the Father of his Country and as such must have a certain Natural tenderness care and concern for its Safety Peace and Happiness which he looks upon as it is to be his own BESIDES it is to be considered That there is an Art in Governing which Monarchs from their very Infancy are trained up and accustomed to which makes them by Experience and the second Nature of Custom come to a true Understanding of the great Affairs and secret Reason of State and therefore more ready in all publick dispatches more quick apprehensive and sagacious in perceiving what is conducive to the Common Good and what not than such who have not been Educated with all those advantages to Govern And then their Continuance for Life and the succession of their Posterity gives them the desire of Designing well for the publick good safety and security and the opportunities of finishing what was well begun Whereas all Governours in a Commonwealth must at first be much to seek in all great Affairs and one may as well expect that a man taken from the Plough should be able to Conn a Ship and carry her an East-India Voyage as that a Person though of the greatest Natural or acquired parts should at first be fit to Pilot the Government or skilful and dexterous in so great a Charge as is the steerage of the important affairs of a publick State And by that time that he is arrived to a competent skill he must resign his Place and Power to others as Raw and Unexperienced as he was and so must leave that Work which it may be was well laid and designed to the conduct and management of such Persons who possibly neither understand it nor how to conduct it if they did or if they do both yet may have envy enough to cross or ruine it because they had not the Glory of the first Invention SO that upon all accounts Monarchy appears to have been the most Ancient the most Universal the most Natural the most Useful and by unavoidable consequence the most excellent Government for promoting preserving and continuing the Common Happiness of all Mankind CHAP. V. Of the Excellency of the English Monarchy and Government It is not apt to degenerate into Tyranny The King having by his gracious Concessions given Limits to his absolute Sovereignty Of the Interest which the three Estates have in preparing Bills for the Royal Assent to be by that past into Laws and the great obligation which thereby the People have to Subjection and Obedience Of the Excellency of the English Monarchy THUS have we taken a view of the several Governments in the World amongst which Monarchy justly challenges the precedency in all respects And against which there can be no objections made but such as may with ease be retorted upon any other form of Government and not only so but many more and more rational and just Exceptions may be made against all other kinds of Regiment AS for that thread-bare Topick out of Aristotle which is so perpetually in the mouths of all Democratick Factious people That Monarchy is apt to degenerate into Tyranny It is only possible to be true where Monarchy is absolute Arbitrary and unbounded But in our English Monarchy the case is clearly different for though the King be so absolute that where he has not precluded himself by his gracious Concessions to his People It is not apt to degenerate into Tyranny the King having by his gracious Concessions given Limits to his absolute Sovereignty his will is his Law and is not to be limited by any other Power than that of his own Royal pleasure Yet in this particular the condescensions of our English Sovereigns have been so many and so great and those compliances having been formed into Laws as measures and standards of Government are the Bounds and Limits which Monarchy has no less prudently than indulgently been pleased to give it self thereby to ease the Subjects of any just occasion of Fears or Jealousies which might receive their birth from the formidable redundancy of their absolute Power And by this means the Government is secured from the danger of falling into an Arbitrary and Tyrannical way of Ruling and the minds of the Subjects are freed from the dreadful apprehensions of slavery under it And as by this incomparable method of goodness and generosity in our Princes the people their Subjects of all degrees and conditions are the more powerfully obliged to all dutiful Allegiance to their Temperate Government so the Government it self is thereby rendred more capable of effectually answering all the Ends and Intentions of Society Let us therefore take a short view of this most admirable Monarchy which will discover unto us the matchless excellency and goodness of our present Government as it is now Established The English Monarchy Hereditary and admits of no Interregnum NOW the Excellency of it appears first in that the Monarchy is Hereditary and not Elective But the Son or Daughter or in defect of them the nearest of the Royal Line does upon the expiration of the former King so immediately succeed that our Law does not allow the Interregnum of one moments space and therefore holds it as an establisht Maxim Rex non moritur The King of England is Immortal and the young Phoenix stays not to rise from the spicy ashes of the old one but the Sour of Royalty by a kind of Metempsychosis passes immediately our of one body into another And this certainly is not the least of the advantages of our Monarchy For whereever there happens an Interregnum not only all Laws are for that time at a stand as to force and execution but also all lawless and disorderly persons take the greatest and most unlawful Liberties Thus at the death of the Ottoman Heir they Janizaries and other Martial men rifle and plunder the houses of the Jews and Christians at Constantinople and cease not to commit all manner of out-rages till the new Grand Seignior by his publick appearance and bounty to them puts an end to those Disorders Which may chance at that new Rome to verifie the saying of the Popes Jester who being ask'd which was the best Holy-day to the people of Rome repli'd The day on which the Pope dies because there likewise the common people by prescription plunder the Palace of that Cardinal who is elected Pope And this custom amongst the Turks which is become a certain expectancy to them and which they look for at the death of their Emperor as a priviledge and part of their salary though at first permitted them in malice to the Jews and Christians may in time prove so ill policy as may occasion the dispatch of the Ottoman Family one after another to their great Prophet and his Paradise in greater haste than ever Nature did intend or the safety of that great Monarchy can allow AND for the disadvantages of Elective Monarchies we need not
F H Van Hove Sculpsit CAROLUS Secundus Dei Gratia Angliae Scotiae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor etc. HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE THE COMMON INTEREST OF KING and PEOPLE Shewing the Original Antiquity and Excellency OF MONARCHY Compared with Aristocracy and Democracy And particularly of Our English MONARCHY AND THAT Absolute Papal and Presbyterian Popular Supremacy Are utterly inconsistent with Prerogative Property and Liberty By JOHN NALSON LL. D. LONDON Printed for Jonathan Edwin at the Sign of the Three Roses in Ludgate-street 1677. TO THE READER IN this following Discourse I have endeavoured to pursue the Point I had before made an attempt upon in the Countermine without any other Passion or Design than a Loyal Zeal to my Prince and Country and a Conscientious Discharge of my Duty which because every person is in his station obliged to do will I hope render an Apology as unnecessary as it is disagreeable to Your most faithful Servant JOHN NALSON The CONTENTS CHAP. I. THE two great Principles of Nature Self-preservation and the Ardent desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government Mr. Hobs refuted in his Impolitick Position That Fear was the first Origination of Society The Origine of Monarchy The occasion of the Primitive Wars The Original of Laws Monarchs or the first Leaders of Colonies the Primitive Legislators The reason of the Coercive power of Magistrates The Dangerous Error of those who make Law the Foundation of Monarchy when in truth all Laws were the Concessions of Kings and Legislators The Ill consequences of this mistake The Laws of Nature and Nations are of Divine Institution CHAP. II. Of the danger of Anarchy The necessity of Laws and Government to prevent it All People not fit for one kind of Government Of the three kinds of Government Democracy Aristocracy and Monarchy Some considerations and necessary Animadversions upon our late English Government by a Republick CHAP. III. The Government of a Republick examined whether in its own Nature so good for the Ends of Society as it is pretended The end of all Government the Happiness of the Society it consists in Protection Property and distributive Justice Democracy cannot in probability attain those Ends. It obliges the Supreme Magistrates to maintain a private separate Interest distinct from that of the Publick and the inconveniences that necessarily attend that imperfection Domestick Peace not secured by Democracy No security of Property or equal Distribution of Justice in a Republick in regard of the constant Factions which are inseparable from that form of Government CHAP. IV. Of Monarchy and its excellency proved from its Antiquity The first Essay to a Democracy the Rebellion of Corah and his Accomplices Secondly from the Universality of Monarchy The first popular State at Athens A. M. 3275. Thirdly Monarchy most agreeable to humane Nature by answering the three forementioned great Ends of Society and the Happiness of Mankind CHAP. V. Of the Excellency of the English Monarchy It is not apt to degenerate into Tyranny the King having by his gracious Concessions given Limits to his absolute Sovereignty Of the Interest which the three Estates have in preparing Bills for the Royal Assent to be by that past into Laws and the great obligation which thereby the People have to Subjection and Obedience CHAP. VI. Of the Priviledges of the English Government And first of the prerogative of the King The Imperial Crown of this Realm Hereditary Absolute and Independent The greatness of his power according to Laws The Kings person Sacred The priviledges of the People First in sending their Representatives to the Parliament Secondly in their Property secured Thirdly in the excellent and constant method of Justice In particular Priviledges and Franchises In all imaginable care to prevent the growth of the Poor and in providing for such as are so In committing the Execution of the Laws to such hands as will act with Justice And of the care that is taken to prevent all abuses of Laws CHAP. VII The great misfortune of Religion which is made the great pretence to ruine Monarchy A stratagem of the Devil to extirpate all true Religion The two opposites and enemies of Monarchy Papacy and Presbytery The opinion of the Catholick Doctors about Papal Supremacy and the new Roman Creed to confirm it Papal Supremacy devests the Prince of his absolute Sovereignty of his Legislative power and renders Monarchy insecure of Possession or Succession by bereaving it of the guard of Laws of the strength of Alliances of the Fidelity of their People Several Impolitick inconveniences which attend that Religion Papal Supremacy destructive of the peoples Liberty and Property CHAP. VIII Presbytery inconsistent with Monarchy proved from five of their Fundamental principles 1. That it is not the best form of Government 2. That the Right of Kings is not from God but the People 3. That Kings may be called in question for their Administration of the Government 4. That they may by the people be deposed 5. That they may be punished with Capital punishment CHAP. IX Presbytery in reality as great an enemy to Democracy and Parliaments as to Monarchy A short view of their Tyrannick Consistorian Government over the Magistracy Clergie and Laity Of the latitude and power of Scandal to draw all affairs into the Consistory Of their kindness to their Enemies The small difference betwixt a Jesuit and Geneva-Presbyter Both aim at Supremacy CHAP. X. Presbytery as destructive of the Peoples Liberty and Property as it is dangerous to Monarchy and all Government Some necessary Conclusions from the former Discourse Licensed Sept. 20. 1677. THE COMMON INTEREST OF KING and PEOPLE c. CHAP. I. The two great Principles of Nature Self-Preservation and The ardent Desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government Mr. Hobs refuted in his impolitick Position That Fear gave the first Origination of Society The Origine of Monarchy The occasion of the Primitive Wars The Original of Laws Monarchs or the first Leaders of Colonies the Primitive Legislators The reason of the Executive and Coercive Power of Magistrates The dangerous Error of those who make Laws the Foundation of Monarchy whereas in Truth all Laws and Establishments were the Concessions and Sanctions of Kings and Law-givers The Ill consequences of this Mistake The Law of Nature and of Nations anâ— of Divine Institution AMONGST all those Principles of Nature which Mankind and indeed the greatest part of the Creation receive at the same Instant with their Being there are two which as they are the most Universal so they are of the greatest Necessity and most constant Use The two great Principles of Nature Self-preservation and the ardent Desire of Happiness the Foundation of Society and Government THE first is that of Self-preservation or an inseparable Desire to keep themselves in Being by the obtaining and enjoyment of all those things which contribute towards the continuance of it or which give them a
Power and Capacity either to escape and avoid or to overcome and remove what they know or but suspect to be dangerous or destructive to their Natures This is the Foundation of all our Natural and Rational Desires and Aversions Hope Fear Joy Love Hatred and the other Passions of the Mind And even Reason it self that Monarch of the Soul if it may not be said to Obey yet does most constantly entertain this Principle as his most faithful Counsellor and chief Minister of State So that nothing passes as the Royal Command of the Will which is not first made Authentick by the approbation of this great Favourite and even in those Popular Insurrections of the Mind when the misled Passions those Common People of the Soul usurp the Sovereignty for a Time it is generally with the Vulgar Error of a Design of Self-preservation and amongst all that unruly Multitude when they are in the Highest Mutiny I know no Enemy this beloved Principle has amongst them besides Despair who yet never appears but in the field of extreme Danger and not there till Hope and all his Squadrons and Reserves are totally routed and intirely ruin'd and at all such times Despair the Mortal enemy of Happiness pretends a kindness and by the present less evil which he offers to our choice to prevent and secure us from the future greater evil and misery THE second Principle of Nature concerns the Benè Esse of every Being and is that ardent and Constant Desire of Happiness and all those Means which may in any measure obtain promote increase continue protect and secure it or recover it if it happen to be lost These are the two inseparable Guardians or good Genii of Humane Nature which attend upon every Mortal Man from his first entrance into the World and which with the most serviceable fidelity accompany him through all the vicissitudes accidents and various fortunes of his Life even to its utmost Period AS there can be no greater Demonstration of such a Supreme Being which we call Providence than these Principles which it is impossible should be the effects of undesigning Chance or fortuitous Atoms which can never be Parents to what is constantly Regular and without exception Universal so there is no doubt to be made but that the Minds of all Men were stampt with this Divine Impress for some Ends and Intentions suitable to the goodness and wisdom of that All-powerful and most excellent Supreme Being from whom they derive their Original Amongst many others to which they do contribute they seem to have a particular Address to Society Community and Government those necessary Columns and Pillars of the World without which there can be no such thing as Happiness on Earth of which these two Principles are the Foundation AND whoever will trace Society and Government to their first Originals will easily be convinced that it was that Love which naturally all men have for themselves and their own Happiness which first invited them into mutual Combinations and cemented several distinct Tribes and Families into one united Body The impolitick Error of Mr. Hobs refuted That mutual Fear was the first Origination of Society This is a thing so obvious and natural that I cannot but admire that a Master of so great Wit and Parts as Mr. Hobs should stumble upon an Error directly contrary to it in the very threshold of his Book De Cive and lay that down for a firm and solid foundation of his future City which is a perfect quicksand and if admitted will shipwrack all Laws Society and Happiness He tells us Hobs de Cive cap. 1. tit Libertas p. 6. Sect. 2. That it was only Fear of one another which gave the Origination to all great and durable Societies of Men. Now this is evident That I must first Love my self before I can Fear any thing all such Fear being properly the effect of that Love which teaches me to desire to preserve my self from all Enemies and Injuries And this mistake immediately rushes him upon a second Error to maintain his first Idem p. 8. Sect. 3. That there is in all Mankind a mutual desire of doing mischief one to another proceeding from that equality which by the state of Nature all Men are in Which second Assertion is false to every Reason unless he will revive the old Fable of Cadmus in Ovid and slurr it upon us for an Historical Truth and suppose all Mankind to be like the Harvest sprung from the Serpents Teeth unnatural Sons of the Earth born in Arms and immediately like fabulous Knights-errant entering upon martial Actions and a mutual Combat and slaughter of one another For there is no such thing as equality by the state of Nature but the Father by the very Priority of a Natural Cause must be superior to his Children c. I do not design a confutation of Mr. Hobs but these two Errors in his Principles have run him into many dangerous and impolitick errors in all his Writings which have by many others been severely animadverted upon only I was obliged to take notice of these in regard that they contradict the Original of Society and it may be the End of it which is Happiness and are no less dangerous to the very Foundation of all Government and Religion than contrary to most manifest Truth WE must therefore suppose what is not only natural and most rationally probable but most really and unquestionably true That in the beginning of the World in regard of the Lawfulness of Polygamy and the protracted Lives of those Primitive Propagators of Mankind even after the Deluge when their Days were stinted to a hundred and twenty Years that men did mightily increase and coming from one common stock it was yet some considerable time before their Numbers straitned them so much for Room as to oblige them to separate and divide and that they were embodied into one Community there is no question to be made of this Society Noah the Saturn and Janus bifrons of the Heathens said to have two faces one of which look'd to the time before and the other to that after the Flood was the Head and Governour till he was by the Ambitious Nimrod the Jupiter of the Heathens though Berosus makes him the Saturn despoiled of his Soveraignty Beros lib. 4. and the reasons that are given for their attemp◠to build the stupendious Tower of Babe◠confirm the opinion They had two motives still powerful enough in the mind◠of men to force them into Societies One was future Fame the other wa◠the necessity of Union lest they should be dispersed over all the Earth No◠indeed is it possible that Fear should give the occasion to that enterprise for of whom could they be afraid there were no other men in the World besides themselves and they could not be afraid one of another being of one Language and one and that so near Relation and it was particular Self-love and the
BESIDES the very Foundation of such an Opinion is absurd and unreasonable for there can be no Laws till there be some frame of Government to establish and enact such Laws nor can any thing have the force or power of a Law or oblige men to obedience unless it does proceed from such a Person or Persons as have a right to command it and Authority to punish the Disobedience or neglect of those who ought to be subject to it And to say that this Right is in the People who by their suffrages Elect the Supreme Magistrate is so far from mending the matter that it makes it worse and more dangerous for then the People may in reason fairly presume when ever they please to say That the Sovereign Power is abused to their prejudice which was contrary to their Design in granting it to reassume their own Right and either keep the Power themselves or proceed to a new Election which is the direct Way to fulfil the prediction of the Necromantick Head which was once said at Oxford Bakers Chrons pag. 167. to have given this fatal Oracle Caput decidetur Caput elevabitur Pedes elevabuntur supra Caput which was tragically translated into English in the transactions of the late unhappy Times when Monarchy beheaded lay The head of Traitors bore the Sway. The feet of * Dan. 2.33 Iron and of Clay Became a monstrous head they say K. Charles Martyr O. Cromwell Army and Rump Parl. BUT further the universal Testimony of all Ages Nations and Places derive the beginning of Positive Laws from a Government justly impowred to make enact and command Laws and a superior Power that had a Right to exact Obedience to them So that it is almost impossible to find the least footsteps of Law Law of Nature and Law of Nations of Divine Institution that is by far so ancient as Government As for that Jus Naturae and Jus Gentium they are more properly Common and Universal Principles of Nature and all Nations than Laws and owe their establishment to a Divine Authority and not to any Humane Power and there is a vast difference between the very Words Jus and Lex though our Language does not admit of it in the common use of Expression for Jus properly signifies a Right or Propriety and such a Right as if it be common as the Right of Nature and Nations are every man by vertue of his Being lays a claim unto The word Lex or Law seems derived from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 finem facio termino to put an end and determination to things which before were undetermined or from the Latin word Ligc to bind and oblige as Laws do all people to Obedience or possibly as Tully observes à Legendo from chusing what is best for society So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 distribuo pasco rego to distribute Justice and Right to feed the people with care and diligence as a Shepherd his flock for which reason Homer calls Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Shepherds of the People who rule and govern them So the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is rendred Law signifies Doctrina teaching instruction because Laws teach and instruct all people what is their Duty All which words of the most ancient and universal Languages plainly intimate that there must be some person or persons who must have such Authority as may inable them to determine Differences oblige men to Obedience to those Laws they chuse as best for them seed govern and teach their Inferiors their respective Duties and who must therefore by necessary consequence be Governours before the Laws were made by which they and their successors afterwards directed and managed the Societies over which they were the Primitive Rulers Princes and Law-givers CHAP. II. Of the danger of Anarchy the necessity of Government and Laws to prevent it All People not fit for one kind of Government Of the three forms of Govenment Democracy Aristocracy anâ— Monarchy Some Considerations anâ— necessary Animadversions upon our laâ— English Republick THE goodness of the Divine Nature has not more visibly appear'd in any thing of humane affairs than in bestowing this principle of Self-preservation in so high a degree upon Mankind as to make it universally out oâ— Love to themselves oblige them to enter into Communities and Societies An effect so Noble that possibly that and Religion may more truly be said to distinguish Men from Brutes than Reason which though we ambitiously endeavour to ingross to our selves yet am I to learn how they can without some injustice be excluded from a share and lower portion of it some of their Actions being so remarkably Logical and Discursive as will never be solved either by mere matter and motion or the higher principles of bare sense and fancy But for this principle of Self-preservation though they enjoy a great measure of it in common with us yet not so much as to teach them for their security to enter into the mutual obligations of Laws Government and Society And 't is happy for us that this Wisdom was deni'd them since there are few Creatures so inconsiderable but if they had the Policy for their common safety to unite they would in a little time grow so numerous and powerful as to be able to enter into open hostility with Men and in probability either wholly extirpate humane race or at least as that Monopolizer of Wit and Fancy the most ingenious Mr. Cowley expresseth it Cowley Pind. Odes upon the 34. Cap of Esay stanz 6. pag. 50. And if of lost mankind Ought happen to be left behind If any Reliques but remain They in the Dens should lurk Beasts in the Palaces should Reign whereas now if they attempt any Rebellion or Disobedience they are easily subdued and kept under subjection by their own Disunion WITHOUT Laws or Government men would be but a more cunninâ— kind of Brutes and therefore we sâ—â— that where these prevail there humanâ— Nature is most refined civilized anâ— polite but where Laws are wanting iâ— any measure there in proportion meâ— degenerate into the greatest Barbarism Infidelity Ingratitude Treachery Inhumanity and almost brutish Anarchy and Confusion Nay their very Religion which is the highest exaltation oâ— the nature of Man and possibly the oâ—ly thing that perfectly and incommunâ—cably differences it by setting men in 〈◊〉 degree so superior to Beasts that they can never arrive at it even Religion 〈◊〉 self for want of Laws and Government becomes sensual and Barbarous if not Devilish THERE has therefore appear'd to all the World for self-preservation and mutual advantage an absolute necessity of Society The danger of Anarchy shews the necessity of Government Nor has it been less evident that it is absolutely impossible there should be any such thing without Government Superiority and Subjection For Anarchy is indeed the state of Nature but it is only of
their Party against it and therefore as they can blame no body but themselves so certainly all the loyal and good Subjects have a great deal of reason to complain of them who are the principal occasions of those Impositions which lye so heavy upon them AS for their conclusion that these and multitudes of other grievanceâ— should be taken away by turning the Monarchy into a Free State These were but fair words and fine promises to deceive the ignorant and credulous multitude for a miserable experience taught us the contrary And for one King who according to the most mild and easie Laws governed with the greatest wisdom and clemency they set up and established an Oligarchical Democratick Tyranny like that of the Thirty Athenian Tyrants And every one of these Parliament Demarchs was as absolute by himself as the Law of his own Will could make him Nor could any person question either their Actions or Authority without paying his Life and Fortune or one of them for so great a presumption And I remember when the late King at his Trial before their pretended High Court of Justice questioned their Authority they gave him no other answer but that they were abundantly satisfied with their own Authority and from his dreadful example it was easie to conclude that whoever would not be satisfied with their Power was certain to follow him in suffering under it and 't is easily remembred how arbitrarily all things were managed and the whole Kingdom brought into a slavery far greater than theirs who wear Canvass-cloaths and Wooden-shooes and look like Ghosts for they did not only amongst the multitudes of grievances which were redrest make men look like such but really made such of all those whom they either feared suspected or hated AND for their observation of the situation of the Nation for Trade and Manufactures it was so pretty a new Nothing to pin upon the peoples sleeves that it could not but please extremely As if all our Monarchs had liv'd in such profound Oscitancy and Ignorance that they never knew what Ports Havens or Creeks they had within their Dominions or as if the Sea-men knew not without this new Chart of discovery that Portsmouth lay more conveniently for a Trade with France than Robin Hoods-Bay or John-a-Groats-house in the remotest Orcades Or as if the common people whose great interest and constant employment it is from their very leading-strings were by these sons of Bacchus to be taught the art of Agriculture and under Monarchy could not tell the nature of their Lands or what Countries were fit for such or such Manufactures or any other thing relating to Trade or Husbandry but these great Ingeniosos of the Republick must have the honour of these happy Inventions which the people understood before far better than they could instruct them as is but too evident to all those Gentlemen who of late years having their Lands by the universal fall of Rents thrown upon their hands could never make those improvements and advantages of them which the Rusticks did by their better understanding of the Lands and the methods of Husbandry in which they had their education which the Gentlemen who are owners of the Land wanted And for their taking care for the Poor in one sence it was true enough they took all the care they could to keep the Nation as poor as it was possible that if ever they should have any such intentions or inclinations they might never have the power or the purse to effect their Design in bringing back their banish'd Sovereign to his undoubted Right the Royal Throne of his Illustrious Ancestors for which purpose they kept a continual standing Army at Land and a Navy at Sea to the incredible charge oppression and impoverishment of the Subjects of these Realms both their Friends and Enemies though they had the policy to lay the heaviest load upon the backs of their Enemies if possible to break them and they kept the Loyal Gentry and Nobility so poor that many of them have not been able or ever will to forget the kindness of that Government which was the utter ruine of them and their families SHOULD the same method be made use of with them sure then they would make a horrible out-cry but some people may better steal a Horse than others look over the Hedge and what was Wisdom Prudence and Justice in a Republick would be Tyranny Oppression and Cruelty in a Monarch AS for the last clause that Monarchy never had the leisure effectually to advance or encourage the Trade of the Nation How comes our Statute-Law to be so full of such Acts as are for the Improvement and Regulation of all Trades and Manufactures How come all those Charters and Grants to Corporations Fairs Markets and to the several Companies of the City of London However we will agree to them that some of our late Monarchs have not had the leisure effectually to look after these affairs but who was it that gave the obstruction and how come they not to have so much leisure Even these kind publick-spirited Commonwealths-men who from the very moment that our Nation began to look abroad into the World and by Navigation to advance the Interest of our Country even these great Merchants of Faction Sedition and Rebellion began to set up for themselves and to spoil our Markets by giving such disturbances to Queen Elizabeth in the last years of her Reign to King James during all his and to the Royal Martyr whom at last they bought and sold that Monarchy had something of nearer concern to mind than Foreign Trade viz. Domestick Peace and found work enough to quench those flames which they saw ready to blaze out or already broken out in the State which were kindled and blown up by the fiery Zeal of these hot-headed Republicans And our Kings by that Charity which begins at home were obliged first to take care of their own Preservation which yet so violent was the rage of that unruly combustion that they were not able to effect but all was laid in heaps and ashes thank the good honest men of the Commonwealth for their industry and successful pains they took about it God reward them for it BUT God have the praise who had compassion upon our Ruines and pitied to see us lye in the Dust we have seen a glorious Resurrection of Monarchy we have seen all these frivolous calumnies confuted We have seen Monopolies taken away and yet the Court remain Purveyance restrained and both the Waggoner and Barge-man paid for serving the King to their own content we have seen unnecessary Protections taken away and Courtiers obliged to pay their just Debts which the Democratick Government for all their publick Faith never did We have seen all incouragement given to Manufactures Navigation and Merchandize the Pooâ— taken care of and all this done mosâ— effectually And much more we mighâ— see England the most Potent flourishing and quiet Kingdom in thâ— World
if it were not for those interruptions and disturbances which thâ— Devillish spirit of Democracy that stilâ— walks haunts and possesses so many Men even after the Body of it is deâ—â— and rotten has given our present Mâ—narch And it is the general hope of aâ— who wish for our peace and prosperity that he will have the leisure with thâ— united concurrence of his prudenâ— Counsellors to do far greater thing than these and conjure down this tumultuous Spirit to the Abyss of flamâ— and confusion from whence it firsâ— came and in despight of all their madness and opposition to fulfil the prophetick wish of his Glorious Father and since he is even by the experience of his greatest and the Nations Enemies Charles le Bon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Prince of Wales he will undoubtedly arrive to be Charles le Grand to which there is no other visible obstacle beside the unreasonable fury madness and eternal malice of these implacable Oligarcho-Democraticks CHAP. III. The Government of a Republick examined whether in its oven Nature so good for the Ends of Society as it is pretended The end of all Government the Happiness of the Society consists in Protection Property and Distributive Justice Democracy cannot in probability attain those Ends it obliges the Supreme Magistrates to maintain a private Interest separate and distinct from the Publick whereby they manage affairs rather for their own advantage than that of the Community No security against Foreign Force can be expected from a Democratick Republick especially in the greatest Danger Domestick Peace not so well preserved by it as by Monarchy No safety of Property in a Republick in regard of their constant Factions nor equal distribution of Rewards and Punishments BUT leaving these Impatient furioso's gnawing their Nails for madness to see their short-liv'd Commonwealth with infamy from Heaven and Earth hist off the stage of the World Republick Government in its own Nature considered whether so useful for the Ends of Society as pretended Let us come to examine the Constitution of a Republick way of Government in its self and see whether in its own Nature it is of so great advantage to the well-being of Society as it is by some pretended THAT we may do this we must look into the Ends of Government The end of all Government Happiness of the Society now the End of all Government is the Well-being and Happiness of the Society and here I shall only concern my self with this well-being in a Politick sence and not intermingle any thing of Society as to Religious affairs further than they have a respect and necessary influence upon the common concerns of Life Wherein it consists THE Happiness of any Society does principally consist in these three things First 1. In Protection in protection from Foreign Power and the Injuries of those who are not of the same Body Politick 2. In Peace and Property secured Secondly in preserving Domestick Peace and securing to every Member of the Society their particular Right and Property free from incroachment or oppression 3. In equal distribution of Rewards and Punishments Thirdly in the equal distribution of Justice to all according to their Merits by a due proportioning of Rewards and Punishments TO some or other or all of these three Intentions the Happiness of Mankind in this World must be reduced for no man can hope or expect a greater happiness in this mortal state than to live in safety under a Power that is both ready willing and able to afford him protection to enjoy with freedom and quietness what he can justly call his own and not only to be rewarded encouraged for his Industry and Diligence in promoting the publick and by consequence his own private good but to see all such severely punished who would rob him of his quiet and safety or dispossess him of his Right or any part of it either by fraud or violence IN general therefore as to all the concerns of Government and the happiness of any Society it must be considered what kind of supreme Power does most effectually contribute towards the attainment of these Ends which for this following reason a Republick can never do Democracy cannot in probability attain these Ends in regard the Supreme Magistrates must always maintain a separate interest distinct from the Publick which will oblige them to manage the affairs of State rather to their own advantage than that of the Commonwealth For whether it be Aristocratick or Democratick by Delegates chosen to represent the People which is properly Oligarchy and the form our Republicans dote on no place in the Government can be Hereditary nay many times those places of high Trust are only Annual or however but for some few Years and not for term of Life For it is their own Argument against the long continuance of this Parliament which is against the very foundation of a Democratick way it is highly unreasonable that any one company of men should for many Years ingross so great a trust of the People as to be their Representatives in the House of Commons and as good men as these present Members of the Counties and Corporations who have as much right according to the principles of Democracy to have their turn in the Government should be so long excluded Now whoever is chosen to such places must at the same time maintain a separate Interest of his own private affairs distinct from those of the publick And there being not only a possibility but the most tempting probability of a private and particular advantage to be made of all publick Trusts where there is Power and Profit which are rarely to be found so separated but that they may easily be United this is a perpetual spur to men of ambitious or craving spirits by all ways direct and indirect to make court to those employs of State which if they can obtain they assure themselves they will become most serviceable to their particular Interests by advancing their Reputation Honour and private Fortunes And the best men being not only the fewest but usually least forward and most modest in all probability such persons will generally sit at the Helm of the State as will steer the publick Bottom upon such a course as shall be most beneficial to themselves And then the consideration of the shortness of their Power will undoubtedly put them upon making Hay whilest the Sun-shine of their Authority lasts and forcing all private advantages with the greatest expedition and secrecy both to avoid the danger of losing their present opportunity as also to avoid the fear of a future after-reckoning And in regard it is very possible that the greatest part of such elective Governours may all be guilty of the same designs as well the present as those who are Candidates for the future they will the more easily be induced to connive at one another and by a joynt confederacy pass by
very rare and uncommon persons who will espouse Vertue though the greatest Beauty in Nature without any other portion than what she has in her self of excellency and satisfaction And how happy any Society of men in process of a little time are like to be without Vertue and how long lived she is like to be upon so thin a diet where Probitas laudatur alget she is commended and starved I think I need not spend time or trouble the sober and judicious Reader with arguments to prove and demonstrate THE same may be said of Punishments as of Rewards And if it shall be said that the frequent changes of the Governours will be a means to prevent these inconveniences I answer it will indeed change the Governours but not the nature of the Government which of it self is inclinable to these Imperfections and apt to deprave the best Natures into these miscarriages which do attend the very Essence of its constitution and though the Governours may be altered yet it is probable the same Faction and Interest will bear the sway and in all common Policy will take what care they can of the succession notwithstanding which it will so happen sometimes that the contrary Faction will get into the Saddle and the more frequent such changes are it will render the condition of all people so much the worse uneasie and insecure in all the forementioned consequences of Faction for since first one Party will be uppermost and then another the remembrance of the injuries they may have received from their Enemies will prompt them to the like measure of severities against them when they are vested with the power of Revenge which few tempers have the moderation to resist or refuse when it is not only proportioned to the treatment they formerly received but necessary to keep their own Power and Authority in safety and Being SO that upon the whole it will appear that this way of Government by a Republick is not in any probability of attaining those excellent ends of Society which all men propose to themselves when they enter into it and the hopes and enjoyment of which can only render any Society durable and happy CHAP. IV. Of Monarchy and its Excellency proved first from its Antiquity The first Essay to a Democracy the Rebellion of Corah and his accomplices Secondly from the Universality of Monarchy and the Extent of its Limits The first Popular State at Athens Anno Mundi 3275. Monarchy proved the most excellent Government from its agreeableness to Humane Nature and because it does best answer the three forementioned great Ends of Society and the Happiness of Mankind Of Monarchy HAVING thus examined the Government of a Republick and found it insufficient as to the answering those necessary Ends of Society the Happiness of the Community Let us proceed to the Consideration of Monarchy or Government by a single Person and that we may discover its real Excellencies and that preheminence which it does most justly challenge over all other forms of Regiment we must take a view of its Antiquity and Original its Limits and Extent its agreeableness to Humane Nature and lastly its advantageousness as to the three forementioned principal Ends of Society in order to their Happiness and Duration The Excellency of it proved from its Antiquity WE will begin then with the Antiquity and Original of Monarchy and to do so we must consult the very beginning of the World and Mankind and herein we have the Universal Testimony and Consent of all the preserved Records and Monuments of Time both Sacred and Humane who all give it in evidence That Monarchy was the most Ancient and the Primitive Government of the World Insomuch that we never read any thing of the Origine of Nations but we likewise find mention of Kings and Royal Authority as the very first form of Government in the World Thus Sanchoniathon Sanchoniathon ut citatur à D. Stillingfleet Origin Sacrae cap. 2. who as Porphyry affirms of him is of greater Antiquity than any of the Greek Historians gives a large account of the Phâ—â—nician Antiquities and Monarchies and dedicates his Book to Abibalus King oâ— Berytus Thus the Egyptian Maneth Sebennyta who was the High Priest oâ—â— Heliopolis as the learned Vossius tells us and lived in the time of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus Voss de Hist Graec. lib. 1. cap. 14. at whose request he compiled the History of the Egyptian Antiquities and Government gives us a long at well as fabulous account and Cataloguâ— of the Monarchical succession and Government of God's Hero's and Men foâ— above 50000 years which he pretend to have taken from the Inscriptions oâ— the Pillars of Hermes Trismegistus Thâ— Greek History begins with Cecrops King of Athens And the History of the truâ— Berosus who is mentioned by Josephus Eusebius and others is concerning the Antiquity of the Babylonian Empire which he affirms to have been the most Ancient and Original Government oâ— the World And to this purpose is that of Justin in his Epitome of Trogus Pompeius who takes it for a Truth undoubtedly agreed to by all People when he tells us in the first words of his History Justin lib. 1. That Power and Government was from the beginning of the World and Original of People and Nations wholly and absolutely in Kings And it is impossible to find any Record that is really ancient that gives an account of any other kind of Government in the World prior to Monarchy And though those ancient Authors Manetho Berosus c. are not only with great reason suspected but with manifest certainty discovered to be guilty of most irrational fabulous and impossible fictions and falshoods especially as to the Chronological part of their writings yet were they never so much as accused by any person as guilty of depraving that part of the Records of Antiquity which concerns the manner and form of Government Which with a Nemine contradicente has been affirmed to have been Monarchy a Government which by the early approbation of the World as well as by the constant succession of Time has ever been esteemed the best According to that of the Prince of Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No good a Commonwealth can bring The best of Governments is a King But in regard as the learned Author oâ— Origines Sacrae has made it appear that all these writers are by many year younger than Moses the Penman oâ— the Sacred Volumes about the Worlds Original and because amongst us he passes for a Divinely inspired Author though it were enough for our present purpose if we gave him only the creditâ— which we afford to any other Historian we will the more willingly hear him speak the rather because it is growâ— a Popular error and prevailing opinion That the excellency of a Republick 〈◊〉 evidently to be proved from his wâ—â—tings That form of Government aâ— Calvin the great Patron of Free Stateâ—
any modest regular and unambitious desires And far more and greater would not be capable to satisfie the ambitious and unbounded Humour of perpetually craving Democracy which is like the meager and ill-favoured Cows in Pharaoh's dream Gen. 41. the very picture of envy and ill luck or rather the thing it self which would devour all our fat well-favoured and pleasant years of Plenty and be never the better it self after so full a Meal but in stead of the Liberty which it does flatteringly promise us would oblige us like the Egyptians in that dreadful Famine to pawn all for bread to eat and at last to offer up our selves and posterity its voluntary or rather necessary slaves for ever And in which it would exceed the severities of that calamitous time the Lands of the Priests which there met with a favourable exemption would here be the first Morsel with which rapacious Democracy would feast it self The truth is this Factious Republican Humour is like the hideous Gulph into which the noble Curtius leapt to satisfie the more cruel than ambiguous Oracle which cannot be perswaded to close its terrible Jaws with the richest appeasments of Silver Gold Pearl or Jewels unless it drink in whole Rivers of Innocent Bloud and at last the best Man become an attonement and Victim to that voracious Prodigy of a Factious Populace when inspired with a Religious Rebellion call'd a thorough Reformation TO conclude this particular All imaginable care used to prevent the growth of the Poor and to provide for such as are so the goodness of the English Government does not appear more in protection of the Rich Great and Noble than in providing for the Poor In which affair it is the constant care of the Government first if possible to prevent the growth and increase of them by incouraging Industry providing of stocks to set them at work upon and punishing all dissolute Idleness And in the next place by making such competent necessary and constant provision for all such as are truly Poor Aged or Decrepit or who by unavoidable accidents or misfortunes come to be distressed and necessitous that in some Places and amongst some Natures the certainty of a future provision for them and their posterity by the respective Parishies and Places of their aboad does rather make them careless and improvident than thankful and Industrious which at the same time manifests the compassionate and charitable temper of the Government and the slothful Ingratitude of those persons who take a Commission to be careless and Idle from the encouragement of those Laws which were intended in pure compassion to preserve them from misery and starving All possible care taken to commit the Execution of Laws to such hands as will act with Justice and to prevent all Abuses Frauds Perjuries and Delays of Law and Justice IN short as the Laws are in their own nature choice prudent safe advantageous and universal and by long experience found to be such as correspond to all the Intentions of the durable happiness of Society so there is the most exact Government by those Laws and a constant administration of Justice by persons of the greatest Integrity and ability as also a constant care taken to prevent all miscarriages oppression or perverting of Justice by Bribes Forgery Perjury or Partiality and there can scarcely a speck of Rust appear upon the bright sword of Justice or the least grain of corruption be thrown in to turn the equal balance of the Law but by the curious eye of vigilant Authority it is taken notice of corrected prevented and amended for the future And what can be more desirable or desired in any humane Society who pretend to be bounded either with Modesty or Reason I am yet to learn If there be any thing wanting to make the Happiness of the Subjects of the English Monarchy complete they must expect it from themselves and their own peaceable acquiescence under the Laws and Government And if they are not utterly Incapable of satisfaction his most gracious Majesty has made his repeated Instances to the two Houses of Parliament that they would consider what is wanting and has given such constant and unquestionable assurances of contributing all his Authority to whatsoever shall be thought fit to be offered for a further security of every mans Interest as to Property and Religion as will not permit the least scruple but that we live at present under the best of Princes as well as under the best of Laws and Government CHAP. VII The great misfortune of Religion which is made the great pretence to ruine Monarchy A stratagem of the Devil to extirpate all true Religion out of the World The two Opposites and Enemies of Monarchy Papacy and Presbytery The Opinion of the Catholick Doctors about Papal Supremacy and the new Roman Creed to confirm it Papal Supremacy devests the Prince of his Legistative Power of his absolute Sovereignty and renders Monarchy insecure as to Possession or Succession bereaving it of the Guard of Laws of the Strength of Alliances of the Fidelity of the People Several Impolitick inconveniences which attend that Religion Papal Supremacy destructive of the Peoples Liberty and Property FROM what has been most truly said as being matter of most evident fact and of so publick demonstration that no person can deny it who will not at the same time manifest shameless Confidence and notorious Ignorance of that Constitution and those Laws the benefit of whose Goodness he does continually enjoy it does appear that there can be nothing wanting to complete the happiness of all sorts and conditions of Men who live under this admirable Government but the knowledge of it which would bring them to a real belief that they are the most Happy People in the World that so they might be satified of the great obligations they have to Unity amongst themselves and all ready compliances of Obedience to the Commands of the Supreme Authority in those Laws which are so much both their own Choice and Interest which is the only rational way to continue increase and secure their Happiness and to render this most happy Government impregnable against all the malicious attempts of theirs because its implacable Enemies ONE would difficultly be perswaded if unerring Experience did not afford an unquestionable conviction that it were possible to find either so great Malice or Mistake as could be capable to transport any person so far beyond the confines of Reason as to endeavour so much as in a thought much less by their actions to alter or subvert a frame of Government so beautiful and in all its parts most exact and excellent And if nothing besides were able one would judge That the impregnable strength of so well a built and fortified a Constitution were sufficient to discourage the most daring Villains and desperate Natures amongst Mankind To attempt such an enterprize as appears in all Humane probability the very next thing to impossible to be
effected must suppose the Designers to act according to the Principles not of hope or reason but of a brutal Rage or rather desperate Fury and revengeful Frenzy For an impatient Bajazet who was once a mighty Monarch to dash out his despairing brains against the Bars of his Iron Cage admits of some reason and excuse but for people to do it who are free and happy is certainly a most unaccountable madness And whoever goes about to undermine and overthrow a Pile of that weight and bigness if they do unfortunately succeed in the strange attempt cannot in probability expect to rejoyce in those Ruines which in all likelihood will fall upon them and crush them to Atoms And certainly only such who have lost the eyes of their reason can be ambitious of such a rude Mausoleum as that of Sampson who pull'd down the house to be revenged of his enemies and thereby gave himself an uncommon Monument amongst the perishing croud And one would believe that Eternal infamy were no tempting Epitaph to be written upon such Tombs of Rubbish as are rais'd by the fall of the State and Government But if they do not succeed but happen from their high attempts and lofty expectations to fail of their designs and fall upon the well-built Pyramid they must unavoidably run the fate of Phaeton and cool those flames which their wild ambition has thrown abroad in the World by attempting upon the reins of Government in the Ocean of Ruine Notwithstanding all which affrighting considerations yet such men there are if they who are divested both of Reason and true Religion can deserve that Name or rather Monsters in Humane shape and too many of them there are to be found Inhumane and Unnatural whom no Happiness is able to content but what is built upon the Ruine and Misery of others No Government can please but whose foundation is laid upon the subversion of the present and cemented with bloud And whose very principles are destructive of themselves because of all Government Society and Happiness in this World The great Misfortune of the World which makes Religion the great pretence to ruine Monarchy BUT the greatest of all our Misfortunes is That these dangerous Enemies to our present Peace and future Happiness pretend to draw both their Principles and Practice not from Politicks but Religion which certainly was designed by the Almighty Creator to oblige men to Obedience and intended to be the great support of Government See the unhappy Chymistry of over-heated Brains and Religion or Fancy rather under that Sacred Name run out of its Wits which by the late discovery of New Regions of Faith and New Lights of Religion has given such disturbances to the Old and can force that which in its own Nature is undoubtedly the greatest security of Crowns and the Interest of any People to become the greatest Traitor to the one and Treachery to the other which can make even Religion not only stoop to wicked Designs but turn Renegado and deny the Ancient Catholick Faith of Christ But alas it is not Religion That is all Bright Peaceful and Innocent It is a Cloak a Vizor a Form of Godliness or an appearance without the Power the Soul of Piety which Counterfeit and Impostor works all these dismal effects That Wisdom which is from above is like its Author and the blest Regions from whence it comes 5. Jam. 3.14 Pure and Peaceable full of Good works But that is Earthly Sensual Devilish which is the Mother of our Strife Confusions and every evil Work And however with the most fair appearances and sanctimonious pretences it may deceive the Unwary and cover the Malicious yet certainly it is one of the most refined stratagems of the Primitive Arch-rebel the degraded Lucifer that implacable Enemy of Mankind and the perpetual envious disturber of their Happiness For under this pretence of Religion he does but too successfully endeavour to ruine it and whilest he perswades the Credulous that there is no other design in a New Faith or thorough Reformation but to repair the House he certainly knows he shall pull it down or at least deface it Thus some unforeseeing people overcome with the old temptation whilest they would know Good and Evil and become like Gods by tasting the forbidden Apple of State they run the hazard of making themselves and posterity become like the Tempter malicious and miserable to a degree below the Beasts that perish NOR can this old guilded Serpent with all his Generation of Vipers A stratagem of the Devil to extirpate all true Religion by feeding upon the Mother that brought them forth propose any Way more probable to undo the Reputation of the true Religion than by making others as like in appearance as may be and endeavouring to obtrude their shining and painted Glass upon the World as the true and inestimable Jewel of Piety By which Artifice the true and innocent Religion shall become chargeable with the Wars Tumults Seditions and Disorders of the World which in reality are the products of the Counterfeits And whilest by Disobedience and Rebellion Disloyalties and Treasons Plots and Conspiracies under the pretences of Conscience such disturbances are given to the safety and security of Sovereign Princes and Mankind in general a fair train is laid to blow up all Piety and to introduce Atheism and at once to extirpate all Religion from the minds of Men who must look upon it as a pernicious Impostor which pretends one thing and acts another directly contrary to it And if once men come to hate it and wish there were no such thing in the World it would not be long before it would be so nor can any thing bid fairer to effect this than such Actions as may perswade the Monarchs of the Earth to entertain aversions against it as a principle which runs their Subjects into Mutinies Disobedience and Rebellion and which intrecches too much upon the Royal Prerogative by a continual cutting off the skirts of the Robes of Majesty and not being always innocent of attempting against their Lives and Crowns And could this transformed Angel of Light and his reforming Ministers of Righteousness but effect this which with all their I wish I could say mistaken Zeal they so industriously labour to do and are in the ready way for it The fatal consequences may without difficulty not only be conjectured but most certainly foretold THERE is no creature so innocent that is without its particular enemies to whose violences that does often give encouragement and invitation Neither is there any vertue without its opposites and extremes which manage a continual either open hostility or secret war against it The soundest Constitutions and most healthful Bodies are not without a mixture of such fermenting Spirits and Humours as are the stamina morborum which sometimes rush them into violent and dangerous distempers and if we will credit the sons of Aesculapius there is no state of Body so near
their Graves there cannot be many betwixt their being deposed brought to Tryal and Execution and therefore you shall see the Conclusion of the whole matter and what a certain Catastrophe unavoidably follows and must fall upon Princes from the former premises The Conclusion of the former Principles of Presbytery That Kings may be brought to Capital punishments THE last result of all their Positions may more properly be called a conclusion than a principle of Presbytery That Princes may be punished with Capital punishments and loss of Life as well as Dignity and Power I need not give my self the trouble or the Reader the Fatigue by a long proof of the truth of this horrible and tragical Assertion which is the natural and proper effect of the former Principles which you see bring a King to the Infamous Block from whence there is no instance of any Prince that ever returned alive They have done it themselves Vestigia nulla retrorsum must be the devilish policy of such procedures and their late actions are still so fresh in all mens Memories that it were an endless pain Infandos renovare Dolores to repeat them over again and the very rehearsal of such unexampled miseries when the breath of our Nostrils the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits Lament 4.20 of whom we said under his shadow we shall be safe and live among those Heathens would be so sensible an affliction as would be next to the suffering of them The deep Tragedy to the Eternal Infamy of the Villanous Actors was not done in a Corner or behind the Curtain but by a prodigious Excess of remorseless Impudence upon the publick Theater of the World and by the glorious Lamp of Heaven which with amazement beheld an Action to the Parallel of which his bright Beams had never before contributed their Assistance and I hope he will never see such another gloomy Day I am not willing to do that over again and by an Ingrateful task Copy over this Horrid Piece which has been so well and often done by others and particularly by Mr. Fowlis in his History of the Wicked Plots and Conspiracies of our pretended Saints to which Book if any persons can want satisfaction in these too well known Truths they may have recourse and there receive it in most ample measure from the Records and Evidences of the Actors themselves AND though I cannot think them so dangerous to the State whose Principles and natural subdivisions will crumble them into confusion yet must not the off-spring of Presbytery think to plead exemption from the guilt of being Antimonarchical or scape scot-free more than their Brethren in Iniquity of the Kirk The common saying has but too much truth in it to excuse them from the Plea of Not guilty That the Presbyterians brought the late King to the Scaffold and held him by the Hair whilst the Independants cut off his Royal Head For a short tast of their Natures and a little of this is enough to surfeit a Loyal Ear take the words of one of the Chief of them who pretends to be a great Friend to the Parliament Army and Congregational Churches but a greater to himself in concealing his name to one of the most Infamous Pamphlets that ever blotted Paper Printed by J.M. and Lodowick Lloyd and H. Cripps and sold at their Shops in Popes-Head Ally 1650. p. 57. which he Intitles One blow more at Babylon c. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murdered by the Parliament but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and righteously administred for his bloody Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their Integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever HERE is a short Diagram of the Religion of Independency The King they say was guilty of bloody Crimes though never any one could be proved against him It was lawful for the Parliament to Question Judge and Condemn him this was Righteous and Legal Judgment and acceptable to God the taking away his life was not Murder but the stroke of Justice righteously administred All the misfortune is this man either was a false Prophet or God was not well pleased or the inflicters of this dismal stroke did not keep their Integrity for Divine vengeance by the miraculous and peaceable Restauration of the Gracious Son not only eagerly pursued but quickly overtook these villanous Murderers of the glorious Father and their Crimes were so publickly notorious and infamous to the whole world that they found not so much as a possibility of being clear'd against all their accusers and condemners or of the benefit of that general amnesty and pardon which speaks the Son as great and generous in forgiving as the unshaken Father was in suffering as some of their trayterous Heads still tell the World without a Tongue and make better speeches upon London bridge and the Prinnacles of the Parliament-House than ever they or any like them made within it whilest in their grinning Language they speak a terrible Talis eris to all Fire-brain'd Traytors and read a constant Lecture of Horror and Eternal Infamy to all perfidious and audacious Rebels who in those Monuments of Justice may see the inevitable destiny of Treason and Usurpation So that you may see Qualis Pater talis Filius Like Father Like Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Egg and Bird Independency the true though undutiful Son of Presbytery is as like it as if it had been spit out of its mouth but with this difference in the truth of the Case that the Presbyterians murthered the King the Independants only the Man As for the Anabaptist Leveller Quaker c. let Munster eternally complain of the first and England of them all The Rebel Army was a moving Amsterdam where it is said if a man has lost what he calls his Religion he may either find it or a new one every whit as good and most of these Sects and Opinions drew their Original from those Nurseties of Rebellious Saints and the People are like to be well tutor'd in Loyalty and the Principles of Allegiance who blinded by their bright pretences to light and sanctity commit themselves to the guidance and instruction of them scum and spawn of those trayterous Legions who are little inferior either in malice or design at least eventually to those who by the powerful command of divine humanity having quitted the miserable inhabitant of the Tombs enter'd by his permission into the prohibited Herd of the Gadarenes St. Mark cap. 32. for having once possest their followers and Disciples with their Devillish Doctrines they are not at quiet till they rush them violently down the steep Precipice of Rebellion to be drowned and swallowed up in the Ocean of Ruine and Confusion and the miseries we were so lately