People Place Custome or Government they were to work upon Concerning the People first Populi ferè omnes ad Aquilonem positi Libertatem quandam spirant 'T is Rodin's observation that your Northern Nations are Generally keen Assertours of Freedom which for their Parts the English made too true How could it be Expected then that a People which Oppos'd their Lawfull Prince for the fear of Slavery should ever finally Submit to a Rebellious Usurper under the Actual and Shameful Extremity of it This Reluctancy of Humour in the Generality joyn'd with the Particular Vigilance Loyalty and Enterprisings of the Royallists render'd those Courses Necessary at present to the Usurper which must certainly sink him in the End Nor was it more against the Genius of the People than against the Interest and Reason of the Place The Place we are to consider as an Island no Forreign Danger then in view to Palliate the Oppression of an Army nor any Subject whereupon to turn the Influence of it No Stranger in the Case concern'd only at Variance with our selves we breed and nourish in our proper bowels the Evill that Devours or at the best Consumes us The Army fear'd the Plots but 't was the Nation felt them and the Result of all was only a Dispute betwixt the Civill and the Military Power Law and Necessity so that Effectually the two Parties of this Division thus Enterwatching and Counter-Plotting one another we were rather in a State of Warr than a Posture of Security the People being at this Election either to Resist or Starve and the Army as much oblig'd to make good their undertaking or fall to nothing What could be Rationally the Issue of these Provocations and Animosities but either the Destruction of the Army by the People or of the People by the Army in Order to a General Quiet Neither of them being safe but by the Ruine and Subjection of the Other If the People refuse to Pay they are Presently Dis-affected if the Souldiery be their own Carvers they are look'd upon as Tyrannical and Insolent and here 's Matter furnish'd for a Civill Warr. Now That which makes the Case Worse is as I said that being Islanders and wanting the Colour of Arming against Dangerous Neighbours we are forc'd to spend That humour in Mutiny among our selves which might Otherwise be Diverted by and Employ'd upon a Publique Quarrell A Digression to the State of FRANCE Upon the Continent 't is Otherwise as in France for the Purpose where though the King Enterteins a Standing Army of 12000. and about Fourscore Regiments more in Flanders Italy Catalogne and Luxemburgh besides Strangers There 's yet the Countenance of an Interest and a Prudentiall Ground for 't to Ballance the Power or at least Check the Progress of his Ambitious Neighbour Spain For sayes the Duke of Rohan in his Interest of France Il faut opposer La Force à la Force Car ni les persuasions ni la Iustice des armes ne fera la loi à celui qui sera armè tellement que la France doit se retrencher de toute autre despense moins utile estre tousiours puissamment armè Force must meet Force for 't is the Sword that gives the Law to Equity and Reason wherefore let France rather be sparing in any other way then in the Constant Entertainment of a Puissant Army It may be Argu'd too that the Exercise of Armes is the Profession of the French Nobility and in Effect 't is only Warr abroad keeps them in Peace at home Yet even in France it self where the Necessity of a Standing-Army is bolster'd up with so many fair Appearances the Effects are Dismall how plausible soever the first Occasion seem'd Where it began or what it was not a rush matter but that by Gradual encrochments from small and Temporary Pretenses 't is now grown to a Constant and unlimited Excess he that knows any thing of France cannot be Ignorant They that fetch it from Guntran King of Orleans 587. look too far back methinks and entitle the Tyranny to too fair a President His Case being This. Guntran was the Surviver of Four Brothers Sons of Clotaire the First the other Three being Cherebert Chilperic and Sigibert The Eldest of These Died Childlesse and the Other Two were Murther'd by the Practises of Fredegonde first the Mistresse and afterward the Wife of Chilperic Sigibert supinely indulging himself in the height of his Conquests and Pleasures was Stabb'd in his own Palace by a Couple of Souldiours employ'd by Fredegonde who did as much at last for her Husband Chilperic having first Caused him to Murther his Son Clouis to Divorce one Wife and Strangle another The Story is Short and a little Curious Fredegonde had a Gallant called Landry de la Tour by Her Preferr'd to be Duke of France and Maire of the Palace The King comes one Morning in his Hunting-Dress into the Queens Chamber as she was busie about her Head with her Hair over her Eyes and without a word speaking tickles her on the Neck with the Twigg-end of his Riding-wand Ah Landry sayes she That 's not Cavalier like to come Behind The King was as much surpriz'd with the Discovery as Fredegonde with the Mistake and went his way with the Thought of it in his Countenance Landry is presently sent for by the Queen They discourse the Accident Debate the Consequences and in the End Complot to have Chilperic Murthered as he returns from the Chase which was Executed with much Ease and Security the King being only attended with a Single Page who Dy'd with his Master and the Murthâ—rers escap'd This Chilperic had by Fredegonde Clotaire the Second but Four Moneths old at the Death of his Father and the Regency of King and Kingdom was Committed to Guntran the young Kings Uncle by the Fathers side The Regent warn'd by the Miscarriage of his Brothers and being enform'd that the same Hand by which They fell sought His Life also Establishes a Considerable Guard Constantly to attend his Person which was both suitable to his Wisdom and Dignity as a Security against not only the stroke of Violence but the very Thought of it and a fit Circumstance of Majesty The Influence of This Foâ—ce went not far nor in Truth the Royalty of their fiâ—st Race of Kings much farther whos 's either Lâ—nity or Averserâ—sse to Business of State gave their Great Counsellours the means to Usurp and Transferr Their Authority which Confidence they abused to the Supplanting of their Masters Compleints Suits References Addresses must be made forsooth to the Majors not to the Kings They undertake the Disposition of Monies and Offices the Menage of Treaties and Alliances They Grant Revoke at Pleasure Briefly from 632. to 750. France was rather under a Majoralty then a Monarchy and Then Pope Zachary having first Absolv'd the French of their Oath of Obedience the Race of Childeric is Laid By Himself
them The Parliament was first in Danger the City Next and Then the Nation and as their Ielousies Encreas'd so must Their Forces till by Degrees they grow to an Army The King and his Adherents they call the Common-Enemy whom they Invade and Vanquish Here 's their work done in short what have they now to fear Only New-Modelling or Disbanding A blessed Translation of the Government from the Rule of the Law to the Power of the Sword and There to abide till One Army be remov'd by Another That is the Tyranny abides no matter tho' under several Formes and Tyrants Our LEGIONS of the Reformation were Rays'd by certain Rebellious Lords and Commons and Seconded by the City of London Wee 'll see now how they behav'd themselves towards their Masters and Friends In 1647. the Army Reformes and Purges the House Presses their Dissolution Seizes their General Pointz in the North Squeezes and Menaces the City of London Marches up to it and in Triumph through it Takes Possession of the Tower Charges the Maior with divers Aldermen and Citizens of High-Treason Alters their Militia's and Common-Counsel and finally gives the Law to the House and That to the Nation In Decemb. 1648. the Army gives the House another Purge and the year following Cromwel himself had like to have been out-trick'd by the Levellers about Banbury In 1653. The Army Casts off the Olâ— Conventicle and up goes Oliver who calls Another only to get a Taxe and a Title and when They had done the One half and made way to the Other off goes That too The Next was call'd in 1654. another after That in 1656. and Both were serv'd with the same Sauce If Cromwell could as easily have moulded the Army as That did the House his businesse had been done with half the Ceremony but Mony was Their business and Kingship His so that they help'd him in the One and Cross'd him in the Other In Septemb. 1658. Oliver Dies and Then they are Richard's Army whose puisne Highness must have His Parliament too They meet and notwithstanding a huge Pack of Officers and Lawyers the Vote prov'd utterly Republican and Friend neither to Single-Person nor Army Now Richard takes his turn but first down goes his Parliament and for a while the Army-Officers undertake the Government Some Ten dayes after up with the Rump again and then they 're Lenthall's Army which in Octob. 1659. throws out the Rump and now they 're Fleetwood's Army Enter the Rump once more in Decemb. and once more the Army comes about again The Rump's next Exit is for ever March the 16. 1660. Behold the Thorough-Reformation and every Change Seal'd with a Sacrament to have been an Act of Conscience and guided by a Divine Impulse Behold the Staff of the Rebellion both the Support and Punishment of it a Standing Army While Plots could either be Procured or credibly suggested the Innocent were their Prey and when That entertainment fayl'd them they worryed one-another never at Peace betwixt the Striâ—e first to Subject the Nation and Then to Govern it So long as the Royal Interest was in Vigour it was the Faction's Policy to engage all sorts of People whom they could possibly Unite against That Interest however Disagreeing among Themselves their first work being only to Destroy the King and This was the Composition of the first Army From Killing they Proceed to take Possession and here Ensues a greater Difficulty A Force is Necessary still but the State of the Dispute being Chang'd the Former Mixture is not for their present purpose the Conspiratours that agreed to overthrow the Government being now Divided who shall Enjoy it Hereupon they fall to Sorting and Purging of Parties the Independent at last carrying it and Oliver in the Head of them After this Decision of the Contest betwixt the Two Factions the Army it self divides and Cromwell is now more puzzled with the Private Contrivements of his own Officers then he was before with the open Power of his profess'd Enimie for they are cleerly for his Ruling with them but not over them so that unless â—e can both Uphold them for his Security and Modell them for his Design he does nothing In Both He labour'd and beyond Question Di'd in the Despaire of perfecting Either finding upon Experience that his Ambition was as Intolerable to his Party as the Charge of Continuing his Army was to the Publique and what the Latter was wee 'll read in own words deliver'd at a Conference April 21. 1657. The present Charge sayes he of the Forces both by Sea and Land including the Government will be 2426989 l. The whole present Revenue in England Scotland and Ireland is about 1900000 l. I think this was Reckoned at the Most as now the Revenue stands Why now towards This you settle by your Instrument 1300000 l. for the Government and upon That Accompt to maintain the Force by Sea and Land and This without Landâ—Taxe I think and this is short of the Revenue that now may be Raised by the Government 600000 l. because you see the Present Government is 1900000 l. and the whole Summe which may now be Raised comes of the Present Charge 542689. And although an End should be put to the Spanish Warr yet there will be a Necessity of the Preservation of the Peace of the Three Nations to keep up the Present Established Army in England Scotland and Ireland and also a considerable Fleet for some good Time untill it shall please God to Quiet and Compose Mens Minds and bring the Nation to some better Consistency so that Considering the Pay of the Army coming to upwards 1100000 l. per annum and the Government 300000 l. it will be necessary that for some convenient Time seeing you find things as you do and it is not good to think a Wound healed before it be that there should be Raised over and above 1300000 l. the Summo of 600000 l. per annum which makes up the Summe of 1900000 l. That likewise the Parliament declare how far they will carry on the Spanish War and for what Time and what farther Summe they will raise for the carrying on the same and for what Time and if these Things be not Assertained as one saith Money is the Cause certainly what ever the Cause is if Money be Wanting the business will fall to the ground and all our Labour will be Lost and therefore I hope you will have a care of our Vndertakings How many Souls Lives Millions and Noble Families How well a Temper'd Government How Gracious a Prince and happy a People were by This Cursed Army Destroy'd will need no more then their own Consciences to determine when Divine Vengeance shall call them to a Reckoning It brought forth briefly the worst of Crimes and Mischiefs without the least Tincture of a Comfort or shadow of a Benefit Nor was it likely to do other if we consider either the
share also his Authority with his Subject Therein both Endangering Himself and Grieving his People To Conclude it is Great Prudence in Publique Affairs to commit Little to Hazzard and it is no small Hazzard to expose a Favourite to strong Temptations Where there are Servants that will employ their Masters Bounty against Himself and of such only we speak if the Design be to supplant the Sovereign many Remedies may be found out to frustrate That Ambition Nay as I have already hinted whether there be such a Design or not 't is good to provide against the very Possibility of it For it is fitter that the Publique should be indebted for it's well-being to the Care of the Prince then to the Honesty of the Favourite Ambitious Natures do better in the Field then in the Court and better yet Abroad then at Home If they will advance they grow Dangerous for their Power if they receive a Check they become so for their Malice whence it comes to pass that we see Few Seditions without a Malcontent of This Quality in the Head of them These are a sort of People of whom a Prince cannot be too wary But we are here to provide against the Ambition of a Person Rais'd by Favour not Aspiring and from such a one the Perill is greater by reason of the means he has both to Compasse his Ends and to Disguise them Sir Francis Bacon proposes the Mating of One Ambitious Person with Another and in extremities the Puzzling of him with an Enterchange of Favours and Disgraces that he may not know what to Expect Courses no doubt advisable to put an Insolent Favourite to a stand if it may be as Safe to Disoblige him without Disarming him but That depends much upon the Complexion of the Person according as he is Bold or Fearfull There is not any thing which more fortifies and establishes a Monarch then the disposal of all Offices and Charges of Trust by his particular Choyce and Direction without the Interpose of any Publique Recommendation Nor can he transfer That Care to his Great Counsellour without a great share of his Power And here 's the Difference the one way they are the honourable dependencies of the Prince and the Other way they are the suspected Creatures of the Favourite who by This Indulgence makes One Party at Present and Another in Expectation A Warynesse in This Particular breaks the Neck of his Design It is good also for a Prince fairly and Publiquely to Refuse him some Requests and where the Suit is too bold to Check him for Others That the World may see that there are Some things which he cannot obtein and Others which he must not Dare to Ask. Whereas if he carries all without Reserve the Majesty of the Sovereign is lost in the Power of the Favourite The Advice of King Charles the Martyr to his Sacred Majesty now in Beeing shall put an End to This Point Never repose so much upon any mans single Counsell Fidelity and Discretion in menaging Affairs of the First Magnitude that is Matters of Religion and Iustice as to Create in your self or others a Diffidence of your own Iudgment which is likely to be alwayes more Constant and Impartiall to the Interests of the Crown and Kingdome than any mans This may suffice to Prevent a dangerous Over-greatnesse but if it be found Necessary to Crush it as in case of a bold and manifest Transgression of Duty and Violation of Law Something like an English Parliament does it best and much better to be promoted by the People then by the Sovereign A Second Danger is when a Prime Minister employes his Credit to uphold a Faction and it is the more Dangerous by the hardnesse to know what it is As whether it be Ambition Corruption Popularity or in fine some other Secret Interest It may be they have Need of One-another Nothing can be more perillous then This Correspondence when a proper Instrument has the menage of it Oh how he Detests the Faction But yet Truly in such and such Cases and for such and such Persons and upon This or That Nick of Time if Matters were Order'd so and so And Then the Insolence of a Schisme is Palliated with the Simplicity of a Scruple and for such Cases as will bear no Other Plea is found out the Colour of an indisputable Necessity Not to prosecute the seuerall Artifices by which some Truths are Disguised others Suppress'd Those Suits Promoted These Compleints Smother'd and finally by which both Men and Things are quite misrepresented Kings cannot possibly see all things with their own Eyes nor hear all things with their own Ears so that they must commit many great Trusts to their Ministers The Hazzard then is Great when the Confident of the Monarch is the Advocate for the Enemies of the State But above all if he be Surly and Imperious to the Try'd Servants of the Crown That looks like a Design to Introduce one Party to Betray the Prince and to discourage or Disable Another from serving him We are here upon a Supposition that a Master may be mistaken in a Servant and that a Servant may abuse his Credit with his Master In case This be What Remedy Supposing the Favourite still in Credit we must Imagine the Sovereign still in the Mistake and therefore not expect a Remedy as to the Person but rather fetch Relief from some Generall Rules of Government which shall neither disoblige the Favourite if he be Honest nor eâ—â—pose the Prince if he be 〈◊〉 But This is better done at the Beginning of a Kings Reign then in the Middle of it better upon Iudgment of State then Urgency of Occasion The Certain help is a fit Choyce of Officers and Servants Especially in such Places as have Numerous Dependencies for otherwise Three or Four Persons Leaven the Court half a Dozen more the Souldiery and in Conclusion a Great Favourite with a few select Instruments of his own making may at his Pleasure seize the Government This was the Rise of the Second Race of Kings in France Yet God forbid that Princes should make Themselves and their Privadoes miserable by Eternall Causelesse and Unquenchable Iealousies That Kings should be Debarr'd That Blessing and Relief without which Life's a Plague and Royalty a Burthen That is the Use and Comfort of a Friend to whom as the Oraculous St. Albans he may Impart his Griefs Ioys Fears Hopes Suspicions Counsels and whatsoever lies upon his Heart to oppresse it in a kind of Civill Shrift or Confession and from whence with the same Authour he may reap Peace of affections and Support of Iudgment Nay take the Subject's Interest in Too what can be more Desirable then for a Prince to have a Watchfull Wise Faithfull Counsellour and the People a Firme Prudent Patriote in the same Noble Person Accursed be the man that envies Either Yet Here 's a Line still
once mov'd the best Remedy is to cut off the Spring that feeds it by pleasing all sorts of People so far as Possible and by Disobliging none but upon Necessity Which Publique Tendernesse must be so menaged that the Majesty of the Prince be not lost in the Goodnesse of the Person for nothing can be more Dangerous to a Monarch then so to over-court the Love of his People as to lose their Respect or to suffer them to impute that to his Easinesse which ought to be ascrib'd purely to his Generosity Offences of That Daring and Unthankfull Quality can scarce be pardon'd without some hazard to the Authority that remits them Secret Contempts being much more fatal to Kings then Publick and Audacious Malice the latter commonly spending it self in a particular and fruitlesse Malignity toward the Person and that with Terror too as being secur'd under a Thousand Guards of Majesty and Power whereas the Other privily teints the whole Masse of the People with a Mutinous Leaven giving Boldnesse to contrive Courage to execute and if the Plot miscarryes there 's the hope of Mercy to Ballance the peril of the Undertaking For a Conclusion of this Point He that but Thinks Irroverently of his Prince deposes him Concerning the Materials of Sedition viz. Poverty and Discontentment it would be endless to dissolve these General Heads into Particularâ—â—leâ— â—â—leâ— the best advice in This Case must be General too that is to endeavour to remove whatever Causes them referring the Particulars to Counsell and Occasion 'T is very well observ'd by the Lord St. Albans touching Poverty So many overthrown Estates so many Votes for Troubles and if this Poverty and Broken Estate in the Better sort be joyn'd with a Want and Necessity in the mean People the Danger is Great and Imminent which to prevent Above all things sayes the same Author good Policy is to be used that the Treasure and Moneys in a State be not gathered into few Hands For otherwise a State may have a great Stock and yet starve And Money is like Muck not good except it be spread And again A numerous Nobility causeth Poverty and Inconvenience in a State for it is a Surcharge of Expence As to the Seeds of Discontentments they are as various as the Humours they encounter dependent many times upon Opinion and inconsiderable in Themselves however Notorious in their Effects Touching the Discontentments Themselves it is the Advice of the Lord Verulam That no Prince measure the danger of them by This Whether they be Iust or Unjust for that were to imagine People to be too Reasonable Nor yet by This whether the griefs whereupon they rise be in Fact great or small For They are the most Dangerous where the Fear is greater then the Feeling Such were those furious and implacable Iealousies that started the late Warr which doubtless may more properly be accompted among the Dotages of a Disease or the Illusions of a dark Melancholy then the Deliberate Operations of a Sober Reason Proceed we now from the Matter and more remote Causes of Seditions to the Approches and Prognosticks of them CAP. II. The Tokens and Prognostiques of Seditions IT is in many Cases with Bodies Politique as it is with Natural Bodies Both perish by Delaying till the Distemper be grown too strong for the Medicine Whereas by watching over and applying to the first Indispositions of the Patient how easie is the Remedy of a Disease which in one day more perhaps becomes Incurable Some take it for a poynt of Bravery not to own any Danger at a Distance lest they should seem to fear it Others are too short-sighted to discern it So that betwixt the Rash and the Stupid a large Proportion in the Division of the World we are past the help of Physick before we can perswade our selves we need it Dangers sayes the Incomparable Bacon are 〈◊〉 more light if they once seem light and more danger have deceived Men than forced them Nay it werâ— better to meet some Dangers half way though they come nothing near than to keep too long a watch upon their Approches for if a man watch too long it is odds he will fall asleep Neither let any man measure the Quality of the Danger by That of the Offender for again 't is the Matter not the Person that is to be consider'd Treason is contagious and a Raskal may bring the Plague into the City as well as a Great man I do the rather press This Caution because Security was the fault of those to whom I direct it But what avails it to wary of Dangers without the skill and providence to foresee and prevent them Or what hinders us from the fore-knowledge of Those Effects to which we are led by a most evident and certain train of Causes States have their Maladies as well as Persons and Those Ill habits have their peculiar Aecidents and Affections their proper Issues and Prognostiques upon the true Iudgement of which Circumstances depends the Life and Safety of the Publique Not to play the fool with an Allegory Be it our care to observe the Gathering of the Clouds before they are wrought into a Storm Among the Presages of foul weather the Lord St. Albans reckons Libels and Licentious Discourses against the Government when they are frequent and open and in like sort false newes often running up and down and hastily embraced to the disadvantage of the State We need not run beyond our Memories to Agree This Point it being within the Ken of our own Notice that Libells were not only the Forerunners but in a high Degree the Causes of our late Troubles and what were the frequent open and Licentious Discourses of 〈◊〉 in Pulpets but the ill-boding Play of 〈◊〉 before a Tempest We may remember also the false Newes of Plotts against the Religion and Liberâ—ies of the Nation and how the King was charg'd as an Abettor of the Design We may remember likewise how the Irish Bloud was cast upon the accompt of his late Sacred Majesty even by Those men whose guilty Souls are to Reckon with Divine Justice for every Drop of it Neither have we forgotten with what Care and Diligence These Falshoods were dispers'd with what Greedinesse they were swallow'd nor what ensu'd upon it If we look well about us we may finde This Kingdom at this Instant labouring under the same Distempers the â—â—esse as Busie and as Bold Sermons as factious Pamphlets as seditious the Government defam'd and the Defamers of it if Presbyteriane scape better then their Accusers The Lectures of the Faction are throng'd with Pretended Converts and Seandalous Reports against the King and State are as current now as they were twenty years agoe These were ill Tokens Then and do they signifie just nothing Now What means all This but the new Christening of the Old Cause the doing over again of the Prologue to the last Tragedy Sir Francis Bacon proceeds
the generality of the People discharging Counsellors and Iudges of their Allegiance and threatning them with Excommunication in case they disobeyed the Assembly All this they did according to the Covenant and whether This was Religion or Ambition let the World judge These Affronts drew the King down with an Army to the Borders and with two miles of Barwick the two Bodies had an Enterview March 28. 1639. But the Scots craving a Treaty his Majesty most graciously accorded it Commissioners were appointed Articles agreed upon and a Pacification Concluded Iune 17. Not one Article of this Agreement was observ'd on the Covenanters part but immediately upon the Discharge of his Majesties Forces the Scots brake forth into fresh Insolencies and Encroachments upon the Prerogative addressing to the French King for assistance against their Native Soveraign And yet the Quarrel was as they pretended for the Protestant Religion and against Popery In August 1640. they entred England and upon a Treaty at Rippon soon after a cessation is agreed upon referring the decision of all differences to a more General Treaty at London In November began the Long Parliament and now the Scene is London Where with great License and Security Parties are made and Insolences against the Government committed and Authorised under protection of the Scotch Army and the City-Tumults By degrees matters being prepar'd and ripened they found it opportune soon after to make something a more direct attempt upon the Soveraignty but by request first and resolving if that way fail to try to force it In Ian they Petition for the Militia In February they secure the Tower and in March Petition again for 't but so that they Protest if his Majesty persist to deny it they are Resolv'd to take it And the next day it is Resolv'd upon the Question That the Kingdom be forthwith put into a Posture of defence by Authority of both Houses of Parliament In April 1642. the Earl of Warwick seizes the Navy and Sir Iohn Hotham Hull Refusing the King entrance which was Iustified by an Ensuing Vote and his Majesties Proclayming him Traytor for it was Voted a Breach of Privilege In May the pretended Governour of Hull sends out Warrants to raise the Trayned Bands and the King then at York forbids them moving the Country for a Regiment of the Trayned Foot and a Troop of Horse for the Guard of his Royal Person whereupon it was Voted That the King seduced by wicked Counsell intended to make a Warr against his Parliament and that whosoever should assist him were Traytors They proceed then to corrupt and displace divers of his Servants forbidding others to go to him They stop and seize his Majesties Revenue and declare that whatsoever they should Vote is not by Law to be Questioned either by the King or Subjects No Precedent can limit or bound their proceedings A Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or People have any right The Sovereign Power resides in Both Houses of Parliament The King hath no Negative Voyce The levying of Warr against the Personal commands of the King though accompanied with his presence is not a levying of Warr against the King but a levying Warr against his Laws and Authority which they have power to declare is levying Warr against the King Treason cannot be committed against his Person otherwise then as he was Intrusted They have Power to judge whether he discharge his Trust or not that if they should follow the highest precedents of other Parliaments Patterns there would be no cause to complain of want of Modesty or Duty in them and that it belonged only to them to Judge of the Law Having stated and extended their Powers by an Absurd Illegal and Impious severing of the Kings Person from his Office their next work is to put Those Powers in Execution And to subject the sacred Authority of a Lawfull Monarch to the Ridiculous and Monstrous Pageantry of a Headlesse Parliament and That 's the Business of the 19. Propositions demanding That the great affairs of the Kingdom and Militia may be menaged by consent and Apprebation of Parliament all the great affairs of State Privy Councell Ambassadours and Ministers of State and Judges be chosen by Them that the Government Education and Marriage of the Kings Children be by Their consent and approbation and all the Forts and Castles of the Kingdom put under the Command and Custody of such as They should approve of and that no Peers to be made hereafter should sit and Vote in Parliament They desire further that his Majesty would discharge his Guards Eject the Popish Lords out of the House of Peers and put the Penal Lawes against them strictly in Execution and finally that the Nation may be govern'd either by the Major part of the Two Houses or in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major part of the Councell and that no Act of State may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority without Them Upon These terms they insisted and Rais'd a Warr to Extort them So that 't is clear they both design'd and fought to Dethrone his Majesty and exercise the Soveraign Power Themselves which was to suit their Liberty of Acting to That of Sitting and to make themselves an Almighty as well as an Everlasting Parliament CAP. IV. The Instruments and Means which the Conspirators imployed to make a Party THat Their Design was to Usurp the Government is Manifest Now to the Instruments and Sleights they us'd to compass it The Grand Projectors knew very well that the strength of their Cause depended upon the favour of the Ignorant and Licencius Multitude which made them court all people of That Mixture to their Party for men of Brain and Conscience would never have agreed to a Conspiracy against so clear a Light so just an Interest and Those they found their fast Friends whom neither the Horrour of Sin nor the brightest evidence of Reason was able to work upon To fit and dispose Both Humours to their purpose the first scruple they Started was Religion which taken as they used it in the external form and jâ—ngle of it is beyond doubt the best Cloke for a Knave and the best Rattle for a Fool in Nature Under This Countenance the Murther of the King pass'd for a Sacrifice of Expiation and those Brute-Animals that scarce knew the Bible from the Alcoran were made the Arbitratours of the Difference The fear of Popery was the Leading Iealousie which Fear was much promoted by Pamphlets Lectures and Conventicles Still coupling Popery and Prelacy Ceremonies and the Abominations of the Whore by these resemblances of the Church of England to That of Rome tacitly instilling and bespeaking the same Disaffection to the one which the people had to the other Their Zeal was first employ'd upon the Names of Priests and Altar the Service-book Church-habits and Ceremonies From Thence
comes into my mind of Mark 15. 18. Haile King of the Iews and they smote him on the head with a Reed and spat upon him and bowed the Head and did him Reverence This Impious Libell was seconded with an Audacious Tumult even at the Gates of the Kings Palace and it was now high time for his Majesty to enquire into the Contrivers and Abettours of these and other the like Indignities and Proclamation was accordingly made for the Apprehending of them which very Proclamation was Declared to be a Paper False Scandalous and Illegal After This Language what had they more to do but by Armed Violence to invade the Sovereignty and to emprove a loose and Popular Sedition into a Regular Rebellion Which was a little hastened too even beside the Termes of Ordinary Prudence to emplunge their Complices beyond Retreat before they should discern that hideous Gulfe into which their Sin and Folly was about to lead them To keep their Zeal and Fury waking the Faction had a singular Faculty at Inventing of Plots Counterfeiting Letters Intercepting Messages over-hearing Conspiracies which Artificial Delusions especially asserted by the pretended Authority of a Parliament and a Pulpit could not but work strong Effects of Scruple and Iealousie upon a prejudging and distemper'd People These were the means and steps by which they gain'd That Power which afterward they Employ'd in Opposition to those very Ends for which they sware they Rays'd it leaving us neither Church nor King nor Law nor Parliaments nor Properties nor Freedoms Behold the Blessed Reformation Wee 'll slipp the Warr and see in the next place what Government they Gave us in Exchange for That they had Subverted CAP. V. A short View of the Breaches and Confusions betwixt the Two Factions from 1648. to 1654. IT cannot be expected that a Power acquir'd by Bloud and Treason maintain'd by Tyranny the Object of a General Curse and Horrour both of God and Nature only United against Iustice and at Perpetual Variance with it self I say it cannot be expected that such a Power as This should be Immortal Yet is it not enough barely to argue the Fatality of Wickedness from the Certainty of Divine Vengeance and There to stopp Usurpers are not Rays'd by Miracle nor cast down by Thunder but by our Crimes or Follyes they are Exalted and Then by the Fatuâ—ty of their own Counsels down they Tumble Wherefore let us Enquire into the Springs and Reasons of their Fortunes and Falls as well as Gaze upon the Issues of them A timely search into the Grounds of one Rebellion may prevent another How the Religious Opposers of the late King advanced themselves against his Sacred Authority we have already shew'd be it our business here to Observe their workings one upon the other To begin with Them that began with Us The Presbyterians having first asserted the Peoples Cause against the Prerogative and attempting afterward to Establish Themselves by using Prerogative-Arguments against the People found it a harder matter to Erect on Aristocracy upon a Popular Foundation then to subvert a Monarchy upon a Popular Pretense or to dispose the Multitude whom they themselves had Declar'd to be the Supreme Power to lay down their Authority at the Feet of their Servants In fine they had great Difficulties to struggle with and more then they could overcome I mean great Difficulties in point of Interest and Conduct for those of Honour and Conscience they had subdu'd long since They strove however till opprest by a General Hatred and the Rebouud of their own Reasonings they Quitted to the Independents Thus departed the Formal Bauble free- Presbytery succeeded for the next Four years by the Phanaticisme of a Free-State The better half of which time being successfully Employ'd in the subjecting of Scotland and Ireland to their Power and Model and to complete their Tyranny over the Kings Best Subjects and their Usurpations over his Royal Dominions their next work was to make themselves Considerable Abroad and 't was the Fortune of the Dutch to feel the First proof of That Resolution Betwivt these Rivall States pass'd Six Encounters in 1652. most of them Fierce and Bloudy the Last especially a Tearing one Upon the whole the Dutch Lost more but the English got little beside the Honour of the Victory in which particular the Kingdom pay'd dear for the Reputation of the Common-wealth This Success rays'd the Pride and Vanity of the English so that at next Bout nothing less would serve them than an Absolute Conquest But while they are Providing for it and in the Huff of all their Glory behold the Dissolution of the Long-Parliament which whether it Began or Ended more to the Satisfaction of the People is a Point not yet decided Dissolved however it is and Rebuk'd for Corruptions and Delayes by Cromwell who with his Officers a while after Summon a new Representative and Constitute a new Counsell of State compos'd of Persons entirely disaffected to the Common-wealth This Little Ridiculous Convention thought to have done mighty Matters but the Plot Vented and Vanish'd Some of their Memorable Fopperies are These The Famous Act concerning Mariages was Theirs they pass'd likewise an Act for an Assessement of 120000 l. per Mensem they Voted down the Chancery and Tythes they Voted also a total Alteration of the Laws All of a mind they were not and for Distinction sake the company was divided into the Honest Party and the Godly Party Of the Former were Cromwell's Creatures and of the Other Barebones or rather Harrisons the Person they had design'd for General if they could perswade Cromwell to quit his Security for some additional Title of Dignity These Zealous Patriots Commonly brought their Bibles into the House with them and as I am Enform'd diverse of them were seeking the Lord with Vavasor Powell when This following trick was put upon them An Hour or two sooner in the morning then usuall Decemb. 12. he that they call'd their Speaker took the Chayre and it was presently Mov'd and Carry'd for several Reasons to re-assign their Power to him from whom they had it which was immediately persu'd and so they made Cromwell a Prince for making Them a Parliament This gratious Resignation produc'd that blessed Instrument of Government by which the Hypocrite was made Protector and now forsooth the style is chang'd from The Keepers of the Liberry of England by Authority of Parliament into Oliver Lord Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland c. who was Installed and Sworn Decemb. 16. 1653. To his Assistance was Appointed a Counsell of 21. the Quorum 13. By whom immediately upon the Death of the Present Protector should be chosen one to succeed him alwayes excepted the Right Line from the choice 'T is suppos'd that Lambert had an eye upon himself in the reach of That Article and a Particular influence upon the drawing of it being at
Governs by his Laws at Home The Apprehension of Conspiracies and Plots in my opinion weighs not much or if there be any danger the failing is rather in the Constitution or Administration then in the want of Power to keep the Peopâ—e quiet Good Lawes and Good Officers will do the Business without an Army and if the Instruments be bad The Hazzard's Ten timeâ— greater with it It will be needful here for the Clearing of the Question to make a Particular Enquiry concerning Seditions and That 's the Point wee 'll handle in the Next Chapter which for Order sake we shall divide into Seaven Sections with their Subdivisions as occasion shall require CAP. IX Of Seditions in Particular and shewing in what maner they arise from These Seaven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative IN the first Chapter of this Tract we have touch'd upon the Matter and Causes of Seditions in General We must be now a little more Particular The Scene 's Utopia and wee 'll Divide it into Seaven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative the least considerable of which being in any great disorder hazzards the whole and That either by engaging in some Actual Violence against the Government or by some Irregularity of Proceeding that may Provoke or Cause it Of These in their Course and first of the Church Sect. 1. Seditions Arising from the CHURCH THose Troubles in the State which derive from Distempers in the Church proceed either from Faction Ignorance or Scandal The Strongest Tie upon Reasonable Nature is Conscience and the Stubbornest Consciences are Those that do they know not What they know not Why. In Truth what is Conscience without Understanding but a well-meaning Madnesse And That 's the Fairest Sense my Charity can Afford to the Blind Zeal of a Transported Multitude If Conscience bids them Kill the King Râ—b the Church and Tear up the Foundations of Both Governments They 'll do it Nay More This has been done and Providence it self Proclaim'd for the Doer of it Great Heed should then be taken what Persons are Entrusted with the Care of Souls since the Consequence of a Factious Preacher and a Mistaken Conscience proves many times the Ruine both of Prince and People Under the Note of Faction I comprize all Opinions delivered Publiquely and with Design against the Doctrine Practice or Authority of the Church Reduce it in Short to Haresie and Schismâ— The former whereof reflecting only upon Matters of Faith concerns rather Religion then Government and lyes beyond the Line of my Purpose but in This Place the Latter is the Question and briefly as we may wee 'll take a view of the Rise the Methode the Design and the Effects of it It is with Church-men as with other Mortals There are of all Sorts Good Bad and Indifferent Some we have known whom neither the Losse of Dignity Fortune Freedome no nor the Losse of Life it self could ever move from the strict Rule of Conscience Magnanimity and Duty Others we have seen to Exercise these Cruelties though Ecclesiastiques themselves upon the Nobler Sort of their own Function And some again we have Observ'd to shift with every Turn and Steer by Interest Still putting on the Livery of the Prevayling Party Squaring the Rule and Will of Heaven to tho Appetites and Passions of Humanity so that upon the whole 't is evident some Clergy-men are Quiet because they have Preferments and Others Troublesome because they want them The Principal Ingredients into Schisme are These Ambition Avarice Popularity and Envy The Scope of it is to destroy Authority and advance a Faction Now how to accomplish This is the great work for a Rent in the Church signifies nothing without a Sedition in the State and in This manner they Proceed First in a Stile of Holy Tendernesse they slily disaffect the People against the Rites of the Church as in themselves unlawful and utterly Destructive of Christian Liberty To strengthen and advance the Imposture what do they next but rip up all the Faylings and shew the Nakednesse of their Superiours still aggravating what they find and Creating Scandalous Matter where they want it When the Multitude are once mov'd in Conscience against the Impositions and in Passion against the Imposers their next attempt is upon the Authority and Then they divide into Separate Assemblies which under colour of so many Conscientious Dissenters from the Ceremonies of the Church are infallibly so many contrivers against the Peace of the Kingdom For here comes in the Civill Power to prohibit their Seditious meetings and Then the Saints they cry are Persecuted The Cause is God's and they are ty'd in Conscience to bind their Kings in Chains and through all Extremities to persue a Reformation This is the Fruit of Tolerating a Faction under a Countenance of Conscience Nor is it any wonder to see Those wretches draw their Swords against Their Sovereign in the Field whose Souls are turn'd against him in the Pulpit But 't is Objected that some Ministers do really make a Conscience of Conformity Truly the better for Them if they forbear upon That Accompt but 't is the same Thing to the Publique upon what-accompt-soever for they Prescribe what they Practise and by the President of Sticking upon a Doubt of Conscience they open a Dore to Disobedience upon any Pretence of it breaking the Bond of Unity in favour of a Particular nicety of Opinion Very Notable is The Determination of the Lord St. Albans in This Case In Points Fundamental he that is not with us is against us In Points not Fundamental he that is not against us is with us Let this suffice to shew the Political Inconvenience of Enterteining Schismatical Preachers It may be now a Question How far a Christian Magistrate may justifie the sufferance of any man to exercise the Ministery within his Dominions that 's a profess'd Enemy to Episcopacy Which I Offer with the fit Modesty of a Proposal and with Reverence to the better-enform'd But if as the Danger of such a Mixture is Evident so the Lawfulness of it shall appear doubtful their own Argument is then turn'd against Themselves and we have both Scripture and Experience on our side over and above The Three Questions wherewith King Charles the Martyr Choak'd the Presbyterian Ministers in the Isle of Wight Remain still Unresolv'd and they are These First Is there any Certain Form of Church-Government at all prescrib'd in the Word Secondly If there be any Prescript Form Whether or no may the Civil Power Change the same as they see Cause Thirdly If any Prescript Form there be and That unchangeable If it were not Episcopal what was it In Fact the Constant Exercise of Church-Prelacy is so manifest that the whole stream of Story and Tradition Runs Episcopal which to Oppose were
the Reasons of Them is beyond Question Yet is 't not in the Power of Humane Nature to keep men from Surmising and from Guessing at them Wee 'll Grant ye too that in some Cases some People will in some Sort do some Things as they ought to do Yet we are where we were that is they will be Guessing still If Taxes follow quicker and run higher then Ordinary and This too when a Nation 's Poor already that 't is the way to make it Poorer I think 's no Secret for sure the More men part with the Lesse they have Remaining At first Good God! they cry so much and the next Question 's Why 'T is true they should not Aske but who can hinder them Is it for the Honor or Safety of the Prince 'T is Consequently for the Publique Good and he deserves to be expell'd Humane Society that narrowly prefers his Little dirty Interest before so Sacred and so great a Benefit But are These Levies to be so Employ'd Who Gathers Who Receives or Who Disposes of them Are they not Shar'd or at least so Reduc'd by Private hands that not a Twenty'th Penny goes to the Publique Are they not for some other Purpose no matter what All This is Nothing to the Subjects Right either of Enquiry or Refusal Yet These Miscariages of the Common Treasure make People wary and provide betimes for fear of Troubles Some Call In Their Monyes Others will Let none out a Third sort that dare not stand the Change they fear dispose of Theirs Abroad and This may passe for another Cause of a General Scarcity of Mony A Third is the Inequality of Taxes the Over-pressing of any One Party As if the Burthen lies heavyer upon the City then Country upon the Gentry then Yeomanry c. If upon the City they call it Spite if upon the Country Oppression And in fine fall the Disproportion where it fall can it breeds ill bloud for That Weight breaks the Back of any One Interest which evenly dispos'd would seem no heavy Load upon the Shoulders of All. Ferre quam sortem patiuntur Omnes Nemo recusat The Consequence of This Inequality is a Generall Ruine but piece-meal and One Part after Another Touching the Maner of Imposing or Levying we waive That and passe to the Subject Matter of the Tax A point how little soever regarded scarce lesse Considerable then the Totall Amount of it If the Device be Novell the People shy and ticklish if there be Factions Stirring and the Prince not absolutely Master better raise Thrice the Value in the Rode of Levyes then hazzard the Experiment of a By-way 'T is Machiavell's advice concerning Sanguinary Cruelties where Cruelty is Necessary do it at once or at least seldome as possible But then be sure to follow it with Frequent Acts of Clemency by which Means you shall be fear'd for your Resolution and belov'd for your Good-Nature whereas a Little and Often Terrifies Lesse and Disquiets people much more imprinting Jealousies of further Inconveniences so that they know not what to Trust to Most Certain it is that as Many petty Injuries deface the Impression of One Great Benefit so in like maner do Many slight Benefits deface the Impression of One Great Injury the Last Act sinking deepest For 't is from Thence Men Measure their expectation of the Future and as they look for Good or Bad they are Peaâ—eable or Troublesome Wherefore as it is Duty to do Well alwayes so 't is Wisdom to do Well Last and where a Pressure cannot be avoided not to leave standing so near as may be any Memorial of it Least â—When your Children shall ask their Father in time to come saying What mean you by these Stones c. The wayes of Supplying Princes are Various according to their Several Interests Practices Powers and Constitutions Not to lose my self in Particulars One General shall serve for all It behoves a State to be very wary how they Relieve a Present need upon the Foundation of a Lasting Inconvenience for though in some Extremities there is no Choyce yet it very rarely happens that a Prince is the Better for the Mony where he is the worse for the President Sir Thomas Rowe in a Speech at the Counsell-Table 1640. directed to the dashing of a Project tending to the Enfeebling of the Quoyne as he Phrases it Cites the Lord Treasurer Burleigh and Sir Thomas Smith giving Their Opinion to Queen Elizabeth in These words That it was not the short end of Wits nor starting holes of Devises that can susteyn the expence of a Monarchy but sound and solid courses Hâ—race his Rem facias Rem Si possis Rectè si non quocunque modo Rem will not serve the turn 'T is sharply said of Sir Francis Bacon That the Wisdom of all These Latter Times in Princes Affaires is rather fine Deliveries and Shifting of Dangers and Mischiefs when they are near than solid and grounded Courses to keep them aloof but sayes he again It is the Solaecism of Power to think to Command the End and yet not to endure the Mean These are the Sleights the Ill-husbandry of Government through which mistakes insensibly a Great Revenue moulders away and yet the State never out of Debt Excessive Building is another Cause of Generall Scarcity for it leaves the Country too Thin and over-peoples the City Enhansing the Rate and consuming the Meanes of Living It wasts the Nobility and Gentry It Empoverishes also and Disobliges the Populacy All that is got in the Country being spent in the City beside the Hazzardous disproportion betwixt the Head and the Body One Reason of This Scarcity may be from some Defect in the Law it self as where sufficient Provision is not made for strict and Peremptory payment upon Bond. Men will not part freely with their Mony where they may be put off by Shifts and Delayes and driven to a Vexatious Sâ—it to get it In again Another great Inconvenience proceeds from a General Grasping aâ— more Trade then they can Master which causes many Faylings one upon the Neck of another To what 's already said not to be endless wee 'll only add Two Causes more The One is the deceipt and Knavery of Artizans and Trades-men who for a Private Gain betray the Interest of the Publique and invert the Ballance of Trade by such Abusive Manufactures as are neither Saleable abroad nor Serviceable at Home which both Necessitates the Importation of Forreign Commodities and hinders the Issue of Native beside the Treble Charge their Dearnesse and their little-Usefulnesse consider'd We shall Conclude with Pride which were 't in nothing else but what 's expended upon Guildings Gold and Silver Lace and Forreign Curiosities of Needle-work would not be inconsiderable But where 't is General and extends both to all sorts of Superfluities and all Degrees of Persons That City goes by the Post to Ruine for Pride is not only the
Fore-runner of Destruction and the Cause of it but the Loud and Crying Provoker of it Sect. VI. The COUNTRY THat Interest which contributes the Least to a Sedition and suffers the most by it is That of the Country which is properly comprised under Tillage and Pasture For I reckon all Populouâ— Places whether Towns or Villages that subsist by steady Traffique or Handy-crafts to be no other then Dependencies upon the Metropolis which is usually That in Proportion to the Kingdom which the Principal City of every Province is to the Other Parts of it This Interest seldome or never leads a Sedition upon it's own Accompt and when it does engage under Protection possibly of the next strong Hold or in favour of some neighbouring and Seditious Market-Town we do not find much hurt the Country-man does so long as the Sword and Plough are menaged by the same Hand If they forsake their Husbandry and turn Souldiours they fall under another Notion But in short let the Cause be what it will and the event of a Warr what it can They are sure to be undone by 't wherefore They may well be Friends to Peace to whom Warr is so great an Enemy Is there a Warr commenced Their Cariages must waite upon the Army Their Provisions feed them Their Persons attend them yes and Their Contribution Pay Them Their Teams must serve the State Their Wives and Girles the Souldiery They must be Mounting Dragoons when they should be Plowing Lugging their Beanes and Bacon to the Head-Quarter when they should be Sowing and at last scarce a Lame Iade to get in that little Harvest which the wild Troupes have left them Their Cattle are Driven away by one Party to day Their Corn taken by another to Morrow and when they are Throughly Plunder'd because they had something they must afterward expect to be Beaten too because they have Nothing Are not These faire Encouragements to make Husbandmen Seditious And yeâ— This Interest is severall wayes made use of to Promote Sedition Particularly by Three sorts of People The Discontented Nobleman the Rich Churle the Stiff and Contentious Free-born-Subject A Great Person may become Weary of the Court and withdraw into the Country out of divers unquiet Considerations Out of Ambition Pride or Revenge If his Trouble be Ambition his Course is to strengthen himself by Popularity and make a Party by spending his Revenue in a Bountifull and Open Hospitality upon the People which is the most Winning and the most spreading of all Obligations His Iades his Kites his Currs are free to all comers his Family is the whole World and his Companions are the Wits and the best of Good-fellowes If his Retirement be out of Pride as chusing rather to be the first Person in the Country then the Second or Third at Court His businesse is Popularity too though perhaps not Ayming so high for there are a sort of People insufferably haughty in their Looks Garbe and Language that have not Courage enough to be Ambitious This Man 's attended by the best Parasites that are to be had for Mony The Third Distemper is Revenge and That 's the worst of the Three In Ambition there 's somewhat that 's Noble Pride indeed is a Base and Abject Vice that is a Cowardly â— Pride Nay 't is at best but a Simple Sin But Revenge is Black and Diabolical Let it proceed whence it will Whether from some Affront Repulse Neglect Nay a Wry Look or a Mistaken Hint raises this Devill This is a Humour now of another Complexion Morose Unpleasant and rather watchful to Emprove an Opportunity of Mischief then Laborious to prepare it In the House of a Person haunted with â—his Fury you shall find Throngs of Silenc'd Ministers Discharged Officers Crop-eard Schismatiques Broken Citizens c. These are the Dangerous Malecontents whose Differing Inclinations of Temper are no hinderance to their Unity of Design where the Safety of the Prince and Government is the Question Next to This Discontented Nobleman Follows the Rich Churle which is a Creature that opposing Wealth to Dignity becomes the Head of the People for his Saucinesse of bearing up against the â—â—wer and Nobility of the Court It is scarce to be Imagined The Interest of This Chuff in a Popular Scuffle especially if he has gotten his Estate by a Rustical and â—lodding Industry for Then the Vulgar Reckon him as One of their own Rank and support him as the Gracâ— and Dignity of their Order We come now to the Stiff and Contentious Free-born Subject the Queintest and the Sharpest Youth of the Three Hee 'll tell ye to a hair upon what Point Prerogative becomes Tyranny How far a Subject may promote a Rebellion and yet be honest himself and Cleave the very Atome that divides the Rights of King and Subject Does any Minister of State or Iustice passe his Commission but the tenth part of a Scruple he cryes 'T is Arbitrary Illegal and an Encroachment upon the Birth-right of a Free-born Pâ—ople Let him be Question'd and the Matter Scann'd here 's his Dilemma Either by Carrying the Cause he Iustifies and Puffs up the People or by Suffering for it he Enrages them but still Obliging them both wayes the One way as their Champion and the Other as their Martyr Upon the Summe of the Matter That Government must be Carryed very even which These Instruments in Combination shall not be able to discompose Touching the Common Sort it is so little it their Power to Embroyle a Kingdome and so much lesse their Interest to do it that This Little is enough said concerning Them setting aside the Influence they have upon the Subject we are now entring upon Sect. VII The Body Representative THe Seaventh and Last Interest we are to Treat of is the Body Representative which is but One Grand Interest made up of all the Rest and as the Whole stands well or ill-affected to the Government so commonly does That Yet it falls out sometime that the Diligence and Stickling of a Faction gets the Start of a General Inclination It would aske an Age to reckon up all the Inconveniences which may arrive from the Evill Composition of This Assembly but so strict an Accompt will not be Necessary in regard that the Prince may at his Pleasure Remedy all by Dissolving them One great Defect is that in many places they have no Stated Rule how far their Cognisance extends No Measure of their Privileges through which Default more Time is spent and too too oft more Passion Stirr'd about the bounds of Their Authority then the main Businesse of their Meeting Beside the desperate Influence of This Mysterious Incertainty upon the Prince and Publique â—nder which Colour nothing so Seditious but it may both be Introduc'd and Protected Suppose a Motion in the Assembly directly against the Crown The Prince takes Notice of it and demands Reason for it Is 't not a fine Reply that
to dispense with Common Formalities in Order both to the Discharge of his Duty and the Wellfare of his People His Oath of Protection Implying him Vested with a Power of Protecting â—nd his Conscience as a Governour obliging him to be careful of his Charge The Objection is Frivolous that This Supposition opens a Dore to Tyranny because that at This Rate a Prince has no more but to pretend a Danger and Then to do what he Pleases 'T is very right a Prince may Tyrannize under This Colour but 't is as certain that a People cannot Scruple This Inconvenience without incurring a Greater for 't is an Opinion Destructive of Government it self all Subjects being equally expos'd to the same Hazzard under all Governments and it is inevitable that either the King must have it in his Power to Oppresse his People or the People have it in Theirs to Destroy their Sovereign and betwixt the Ills of Tyranâ—y and Rebellion all the world knows the Disproportion Wherefore let Subjects hope and believe the Best of their Prince his Will and Inclination without medling with his Power for it is not lesse His Interest to be well Obey'd and Belov'd then it is Theirs to be well Govern'd Yet when a Prince by Exigencies of State finds himself forc'd to waive the Ordinary Path and Course of Law the Lesse He swerves the Better and the more unwilling He appears to Burthen his People the more willing shall he find Them to serve Him Especially he should be Cautelous where men's Estates or Freedoms are the Question to make the Necessity as Manifest as is possible and the Pressure as Light and as Equall as Consists with his Honour and Convenience Mixing however with This General Indulgence such a Particular Severity where his Authority is Disputed that the Obedient may have Reason to Love his Goodnesse and the Refractary as much to Fear his Displeasure By These Means may a Prince preserve himself from the Hatred of his People without exposing himself to their Contempt and in Order to the avoiding of That too wee 'll take up This Observation by the way That Subjects do Generally Love or Hate for Their own Sakes but when they despise a Prince it is for some Personal Weaknesse or Indignity in Himself Nothing makes a Monarch Cheaper in the Eyes of his People then That which begets an ill opinion either of his Prudence or Courage and if they find once that he will either be Over-reach'd or Over-aw'd they have his measure By Courage here we do not intend a Resolution only against Visible and Pressing Dangers but an Assurance likewise and Firmness of mind against Audacious and Threatning Counsels The Prudence we intend is of a more extensive Notion and from the most Mysterious Affaires of Royalty descends to the most Private and Particular Actions of a Princes Life It enters into his Cabinet-Counsels and Resolves his Publique Acts of State his very Forms of Language and Behaviour his Exercises and Familiar Entertainments In fine It is scarce lesse Dangerous for a Sovereign to separate the Prince from the Person even in his dayly â—ractices and Conversations then to permit Others to Divide Them in their Arguments And in a word to secure himself from Contempt it behoves a Monarch to Consider as his most Deadly Enemies such as Brave his Authority and by no means to allow even in his most Acceptable Servants and most Familiar Humours too great a Freedom toward his Person Not but that a Sovereign may in many Cases Familiarize with his Subjects and by so doing win the Reputation of a Wise and Gracious Prince Provided that the sweetnesse of his Nature cause him not to forget the Severity of his Office and that his Stooping to his People prove not an Emboldening of Them to come up to Him This is a Course to Prevent Sedition in the First Cause and check it in the Bud. But if it come once to shew it self and spread there is first Requisite upon a Cleare and Open Proofe a Speedy Execution of Lawes to the Utmost Rigour I say upon a Cleare and Open Proof for in such cases 't is of great Advantage to a State to make the Crime as evident as the Punishment that the People may at once Detest the Fact and Approve the Iustice. I say Likewise a speedy execution for Delay brings many Inconveniences It gives a Faction Time to Contrive and Unite and Boldnesse to Attempt for it looks as if They that sit at the Helme were either more sensible of The Danger or lesse mindfull of their Duty then becomes them Lastly whereas it is added to the Utmost Rigour My meaning is not to extend the Severity to a Multitude of Offenders but to Deterre the Generality by making some few and Dreadfull Examples Nay my Advice should be to Pick These Few too They should not be Fools Madmen or Beggers but the Boldest the Wisest the most Circumspect and Wealthy of the Party the Leaders and first Starters of the Quarrell to shew that neither their Confidence should Protect them nor their Shifts and Politiques avayle them But above All let not their Mony save Them for That 's no other then Setting of a Price upon the Head of the Sovereign Another Expedient to Stop a spreading mischief is for a Prince to keep a watchfull eye over Great Assemblyes which are either Irregular and Lawlesse or Regular and Constant or Arbitrary and Occasionall Concerning the First it is seldome seen where the Maner of a Meeting is â—umultuary that the Businesse of it is not so too and where Many Concurrâ— in One Unlawfull Act 't is no hard matter to persuade them to agree in Another So that to frustrate the Ends and Prevent the Consequences of such Meetings the surest way is for the Soveraign to employ his Authority Timely and strictly to Prohibit them If That does no Good He has no more to doe but Instantly to Scatter them by force and single out the Heads of the Riot for Exemplary Punishment Touching Conventions which are Regular and Steady It concernes the Chief Magistrate not to be without his Creatures and Discoverers in Those Assemblies and to see that they be well Influenc'd as to the Government For Instance when the People Meet to Chuse Officers when Those Officers meet to advise upon Businesse 't is worth the while for a Prince to learn how the Pulse Beats and Principally to Over-watch Churches and Courts of Iudicature Both in regard of the hazzard of Errours in matters of Law and Religion and of the Multitude being ever in readiness and Humour to Entertein them As to Meetings Arbitrary and Occasionall heed must be taken to the Persons assembling the Occasion which brings them Together and the Matter whereupon they Treat which we shall handle in their proper places and so passe from Generalls to Particulars beginning with the CHURCH Sect. I. By what means Haeresies and
Schismes may be kept out of the CHURCH Their Encrease hinder'd and the Seditious Consequences of Them Prevented with the Remedies of other Mischiefs arising from Disorders in the CHURCH SInce so it is that Divisions in the Church have no further Interest in This place then as they Lead to Seditions in the State the shortest Cuâ—t I know will be to reduce all of That Tendency to Sr Francis Bacon ' s Notable Comprizall of Them under Two Properties If a New â—ct have not Two Propertyes fear it not for says he it will not spread The One is the Supplanting or the Opposing of Authority established For Nothing is more Popular than That The Other is the Giving Licence to Pleasures and a Voluptuous Life For as for speculative Heresyes such as were in Antient Times the Arrians and now the Arminians though they work mightily upon Mens Wits yet they do not produce any great Alterations in States except it be by the Help of Civill Occasions Now when a Prince meets with a Faction Thus Marq'd let him Look to himself for there are against him the best Counterfeit of a Friend and the most Deadly Composition of an Enemy the Strongest of all Allurements the most Popular of all Designs and the most Rationall Meanes to Accomplish it But the Question will be How to Prevent what is not as yet Discover'd To which we answer that the Sect here spoken of is New either Absolutely or Comparatively If Absolutely Observe what Carnall Interest they drive If Comparatively marque what Copy they follow and Measure the Disciple by his Master One Safe and Certain Remedy be the Novelty what it will is not to suffer any Innovation whatsoever without a warrantable Authority no not so much as a Publick Dispute against an Establish'd Order from a Private Person Nay more let the Dissent be Right or Wrong 't is the same thing as to the Reason of Government though not so to the Conscience of the Dissenter Suppose the Subject of an Idolatrous Prince within his Masters Dominions and Contrary to his Expresse Order Preaches against the Religion there Establish'd he does well to Discharge his Conscience but let him have a Care of the Consequence for if in Order to the making of Good Christians he makes Bad Subjects his Zeal will hardly acquit him of Sedition God does not allow of Proposing Good Ends by Ill Means and of Reforming Religion by Rebellion Let him have a Care likewise if he comes to suffer for well-doing how he behaves himself for if he but open his Mouth against the Civill Magistrate as a Persecutour he betrayes himself to be an Hypocrite There are Two Sects whom I dare say This Doctrine will not please i.e. the Pontifical Presbyterians and the Rigid Iesuites The Latter of which have for Convenience sake been True to One King The Former give the Devill his Due since Presbyterians had a Being were never True to Any or if they ever were let him that Loves Them best or knows them better shew me but when where how and with a Noverint universi I do here declare I 'll make a Publique Recantation Till Then wee 'll take the Presbyterian for the Cock-Schismatique and if Sir Bacon's Note holds Good the Dangerous New Sect against Whom no Caution can be too early no Importunity too Earnest no Restriction too Severe These are They that according to the Lord St. Albans Propagate Religion by Warrs Force Consciences Nourish Seditions Authorise Conspiracies and Rebellions That put the Sword into the Peoples hand and Dash the first Table against the Second In short all Those Popular and Supplanting Politiques which we find only here and there Scatter'd and Thin in Other Sects are by These People drawn into a Practicable Methode a Set-form of Sedition They Govern Their Looks their Words their Actions Nay their very Dresse Garbe and Accent by a Rule They are Instructed when to Beseech and when to Expostulate when to Flatter and when to Threaten when to Offer and when to deny when to Presse Swearing and when to Declaim against it when to Save and when to Kill In the first Scene ye have the Schismatique upon his Knees begging his Prince into a Dispensation for Scrupulous Consciences that perhaps stick at such and such Ceremonies the Crosse the Surplice or the like Let but the Sovereign Comply Thus far and what 's the Fruit of This Indulgence Within a Day or Two they come for more and by Degrees more still till at the Last they find the Government of the Church as Troublesome as they did the Rites of it and Bishops as great a Grievance as Ceremonies Where the King Stops They Cavill and now from Petitioners for Freedome to Themselves they are Grown to be most Insolent denyers of it to Others Their Art is next to Tune the People which is best done by the Pulpit where One half of their Businesse is Invective against Prelacy and the Other is spent in Well-Acted Supplications that God would turn the Kings Heart Accompting His yielding to all They Aske as a Divine Assurance that their Prayers are heard But if the Monarch still holds out what Pitty 't is they Cry so sweet a Prince should be Misled and Then they fall upon his Evill Counsellours still Taking all he Gives and Strugling for the Rest till having first Disrob'd him of his Rights Depriv'd him of his Friends Step after Step they attempt his Sacred Person and at last take away his Life Here 's their Glorious King the End of all their Vwues and Covenants Their Prayers and Fastings or in a word the summe of their Religion It was great Blasphemy says Sir F. B. when the Devill said I will Ascend and be like the Highest But it is greater Blasphemy to Personate God and bring him in saying I will Descend and be like the Prince of Darknesse and what is it better to make the Cause of Religion to descend to the Cruell and Execrable Actions of Murthering Princes Butchery of People and Subversion of States and Governments He that stands firm against not the Wit or Bravery but the Fawning and Treacherous Insinuations of This Faction may make himself sport with all Other Practices and Combinations whatever and That Prescription which helps This Evill serves for all other Publique and Intestine Maladies I think we may be Positive that there neither is nor ever was in Nature any Society of Men without a Vitious Mixture under what Government or Governour-soever I think we may be as Positive likewise that Those Ambitious and Unsatisfy'd Particulars with which all Constitutions are infested are only Deterr'd from troubling all Governments by the want of Opportunities to Plot and Contrive and by the Hazzards they meet with in putting Those Plots in Execution Wherefore it ought to be a Prince his first Care to Choak These Seeds of Discord which may be Effected by a Provision of Orthodox Ministers to the