sometimes united by the malice of his Holines Though armed with no more naturall weapons then what her mony puts into the hands of strangers the most unhappy Militia a State can imploy Yet because all her Senatours look one way and not a squint upon Forreign Interests as the Privadoes of our Kings have beene knowne to doe in relation to their respective Pensions Unity improves their small force to so much advantage as they have for these latter yeares not onely disputed the dominion of the Seas with the Grand Seigniour but forced him to wash away with his peoples bloud divers markes of advantage his multitudes of Souldiers had purchased him in the Levant So as if Monarchs were owners of so much Christianity as to spend but the tith of what is consum'd yearly in Masques and such unnecessary vanities this way a thing not to be hoped for till our good God have discovered to all Nations the curse of monopolized authority this enemy to Christ might be easily reduced Since all the force he can make returnes him from this single State nothing but dishonour and losse whereas the greatest German Caesar was never yet able to beare the least branch of his power without imploring and receiving aide from most of Christian Princes who are now so weltered in their own blood as they omit the opportunity Thinking themselves more charitably imployed in the ruine of their own people or Neighbours A Lunacy could never befall them were they not agitated by such ridiculous humours as Common-wealths disdaine to be affected withall where there is no roome for any disputation about such triviall things as crabbid Titles Legitimacy c. all being ejected there as spurious that conduce not to honour or safety And what advantage this State hath in the wise Conduct of affaires may be easily discerned by any eye that shall passe over the Transactions of this Senate and Paul the fift during the Interdict and compare them with the Treaties of our King James with Spaine the first redounding no lesse to the honour of that Republique then the latter to the shame and losse of this Nation Neither are these advantages peculiar to Venice onely but to all found under this Government which officiating in the double capacities of a King and a Councell both cannot choose but be wiser then the first and lesse subject to corruption then the latter it being as unnaturall for them to betray their owne power as it is usuall with the greatest Courtiers to sell the revelation of their Masters most secret Counsels Though Offenders under Free States are punished with the greatest severity it is with the least injustice and partiality Single persons being more subject to be agitated by the tempests of Fury Prejudice or Revenge then Popular Tribunals which in all reason are not capable of so totall a distemper as to utter such intoxicated Censures as ordinarily drop from single judgements who rather then confesse a mistake will with the Tyrant in Seneca make three guilty because they find one innocent Neither doth Covetousnesse the root of all evill prosper so well or spread so much in the hearts of Senaters as in those of Kings lest their Posterity should be forced to disgorge what they had devoured Too vast estates being so formidable to this Government as they cannot be pass'd by without observation and jealousie by such as know the cause of the reduction of the State of Florence under the House of Medici But Kings are such bottomlesse pits that they proclaime themselves responsible to none but God for all their rapines and injustice By which they doe not onely adjourne all reparation to the day of Doome but leave their oppressions for lawfull inheritances to their successours As the Monopoly Queene Elizabeth granted upon Glasses was improved since to very Raggs and Marrow-bones All a Senate can justly be charged with by way of disadvantage after perfectly founded is division which if pure from popular ambition may possibly occasion more good then hurt by keeping them upright One Faction remaining as a guard upon the rest Their owne safety perswading all Corporations to intend the generall welfare in which Reason gives the right hand of advantage to the Government by a Senate rather then that of a King whose best designes are retarded if not buried with his person whereas this Jurisdiction is never sick much lesse subject to drink or death but reacheth through a continuall suppliment to as immense an eternity as Providence hath afforded any humane Society not being apt to be scared out of the paths leading to their advantage consisting of too great a number to be subject to any clandestine attempt or abused by evill Counsels or corrupted by rewards whereas experience teacheth that Kings may be forced through feare or allured by flattery to resigne their reason and concede things not onely contrary to their peoples but their owne interest as appeared by that celebrated Prince Henry the Fourth of France who was not ashamed to confesse he durst not for feare of his owne life but revoke the just Ban he and all the Parliaments of France had pronounced against the bloudy Jesuits whose expulsion the Venetians make good against all their machinations threats of the Pope and mediation of Princes From whence I may observe That though experience proves by this State and the Catholique Cantons c. that the Roman profession may sute in some measure with all kinds of Government yet undeniable Reason of State renders Monarchy most acceptable to the Pope as it doth the Reformation to Free States who are too wise to admit willingly a Forraigne interest into the Common-wealth by a multiplicity of Ecclesiasticks independent on any other power but that of Rome which Kings being but single persons dare not resist for feare of the Knife it being besides a maine disadvantage in worldly policy to professe a Religion so odious to their neighbours that they are looked upon under no better notion then Heretickes and so no faith to be kept with them nor marriage contracted but by an especiall Indulgence from his Holinesse which Republickes have no use of And being already under the ill opinion of the Roman Church doe but desire a faire opportunity to free themselves from it and make booty of the Religious Houses long since looked upon by them as dens of Traiters and idle persons Therefore such as desire a through Reformation displease their ends by abetting Monarchy Kings being knowne not onely to have beene the Begetters and Nources but the onely Maintainers of Antichrist if the POPE be the man And if any in opposition to this truth object Queene Elizabeth her Brother Edward's Youth and short raigne rendring his inclinations abortive to the benefit of the Nation I answer whosoever considers how resolutely the Pope denied to reverse her Illegitimation refusing to give a decent reception to her Embassadours And with what affection the Parliament out of pure zeale hatred to the
benefit by him Now Princes though generally bad doe yet admit of comparisons as you may find the three Degrees in Elizabeth Iames and Charles For though Queen Elizabeth incroached upon the liberty of particulars She maintained Warre in France the Low-Countries with Spaine and Ireland yet never had unlawful tax or more then two Subsidies at once which put to the whole Revenue of the Crown as I have heard did not make 700000l per annum yet she kept a glorious Court paid all debts and was never known to breake her word with the Subject King Iames enters who never paid Army built House or was any way magnificently hospitable yet scrued the Revenue to a double proportion sold and gave away inestimable quantities of Woods and Lands omitting nothing wherein he might poll his Subjects Yet died in debt and scandalous for his breach of Faith besides the incomparable repute lost to the Nation by the sale of the Cautionary Townes to the Dutch King Charles succeeds who answers ths peoples love and vowes for his safe returne from Spaine and assumption to the Throne with a contempt of Parliaments and augmentation of the Revenue Ship-mony cast in to 1800000l yet never equal'd the magnificence of Queen Elizabeth nor the liberality of King Iames summes not be concealed by a more popular State or if possible easy to be retrived by squeezing the purloiners whereas this vast Treasure mouldred away in Masques and other effeminate vanities no waies for the honour or safety of the State Not to say more whose businesse is only to shew the blessings of a Free Regiment not all the curses attending the Government or faults incident to the persons of Kings which are rendred by our Clergy incurable as sheltred under a Divine Right But neither this foolish varnish daub'd on by flatterers nor prescription it selfe back'd by an unquestion'd consent of our Fathers can be of strength enough to dispossesse a people of so inherent a property as nature hath estated all Reasonable creatures in viz. The choise of the Lawes they intend to be governed by No more then a Parliament which is virtually the whole People can bind Posterity longer then shall sute with the will of the same power that did at first establish it And if the Parliament is oftentimes so cautious as to make Lawes probationary Can any think it sutable to the principles of Reason that a King obnoxious to the frailties of other mortals should be borne to a right above them and left to an absolute liberty not only to doe what he please but to cros any thing shall be offered from his Subjects by the inspiration of I know not what negative Power I wonder men are so indiscreet to give that to a child foole or mad man which they deny to a grave wise and experimented Pope whom they call Antichrist for nothing more justly then the arrogance he shewes in advancing his single judgement above a Counsel And if things be rightly considered you shall find them both hang upon the same irrationall string and likely to drop into the same bottomles pit the one vaunting to be Vicar general for things temporall the other for eternall Yet if we look neer we may find markes to demonstrate it was not thus from the beginning that Kings pretended to a Negative power as appears by the modest words he useth at the crossing of a Bill offered to him which are Le Roy s'advisera Though time and neglect may have taken such precedents of the file as they have a number more by which Kings were chalked a way to their duty a thing by them so much abhorred that the Records in the Tower have suffered a continuall suppression Besides it is notoriously known that this Negative Power so much insisted upon and employed by the last King against the peace of the Nation hath in all ages been subordinate to the will of a Wife or Favorite who have not seldome been found to give or sell it to the prejudice of the Common-Wealth Wherefore if the inconveniences of Kings assending without any opposition be so insufferable what mischiefe can escape the imagination if the sense of that people who have all of them according to Regal Law forfeited as Traitors all that is deare to nature either for opposing or want of assisting the dead King should any of his Line succeed which formerly so shackled us but is now unravelled by the same meanes it was twisted by William stil'd though unjustly the Conquerour As for places of Scripture alleadged in favour of wicked Princes by which their Parasites endeavour to remove them out of the way of Question They will upon examination rather prove suborn'd then competent witnesses as taught to speak by intressed Divines whose power and estates were wholly dependant on the Crown The extent of the Jurisdiction of our Monarchs held no proportion with that of Israel confessed by God to be founded in his wrath who used at first to allot them out of his own choice which rendred it if not presumption yet useles to limit them by Lawes But after this prepared Manna of just Government ceased to drop upon them from Heaven They had reason to provide wholsome Ordinances of their own to preserve them from corruption As we find the ten Revolted Tribes did by the processe against Naboth whereas Solomon gave no other reason for the death of men then his will by which alone Ioab and his own brother were tried and condemned And if want of wisdome hast or lack of experience made the people forget their own conveniency in the large extent of power they afforded them I know no place of Scripture binds us to follow their indiscretion No more then it warrants our Kings to imitate the vices of theirs And after Solomon I doe not find any bad Prince longer endured then the people were constrained out of meer necessity To whose distruction also they were oftentimes incited by God himselfe whose silence now cannot in reason be taken for his consent because he hath long since forborne to speake unto us otherwaies then by written examples which afford plenty of them Deposed and put to Death The mercinary Lawyers to keepe Kings safe behind the curtaine where they play at boh-peepe with justice as their holy Father the Pope doth by Religion make the King a party in cases touching Life By this meanes shrowding his Person so securely under his Office as nothing could rescue the people from tyranny but a through Reformation of the Common Law For in the condition we stood Magna Charta and all other Lawes extorted from our Kings in favour of the people are rendred invalid if Kings were responsible for no misdemeanors It being the Lawyers position in all cases That the King can doe no wrong Though it is apparent that no mischiefe fell to us but from his unlimited and usurped power Since therefore so many years experience proclaimes it a thing impossible to manacle a Supremacy
in one single individual it cannot but be most safe to divide it amongst more Many not being so apt as one to be intoxicated by the fumes of power and flattery The childish Love the Common people beare the gaudy person of a King gives occasion to beleeve that popular Goverments are rather results of Princes disorders then the naturall effects of the peoples inclinations and therefore founded with the more difficulty But after establishment easiest maintained wise men being apter to connive at a fault in this Goverment out of hope to have one day the happinesse to mend or commit it themselves The first Monarchies were purely tyrannicall as Babylon and Persia who used to try both Plaintif and Defendant in a Starchamber of Beasts Yet though absolute tyrants over their people so much enslaved to their own passions as what was uttered against the life of the Prophet in folly was not after repealable in judgement And under these arbitrary Monsters the world laboured till necessity the pregnant Mother of all conveniency taught their Subjects to temper them with Lawes But sinding absotute Princes of so faithlesse a nature that they were not tenable by compact delighting like the Demoniaques in the Gospell to rome in the estates and among the graves of their Subjects some Nations exploded them quite as formerly severall Citties of Greece and Rome c. and of later years the united Provinces who having obtained their liberty and so not being exhausted by the exorbitant and vast expences of a King nor shackled by the distracted and contrary interests of a foolish and suborn'd Counsel were able from their infancy to teare such morsells out of the throat of his great Catholick Majesty as the weakenesse of France suffered him to swallow and the feares of King James caused him to sell to prevent the danger he was perswaded by his jealousies and some of his Counsellors more servants unto that State then to him wayted upon the delivery or deniall of the Cautionaâ—y townes to the King of Spaine which this poore spot of Earth doth not only dare to owne as their birthright But have brought him to that passe as he hath twice concluded peace with them under the free notions of an Independant State And some Nations never at all admitted any Kings and such as are celebrated for most wisdome felicity and continuance Apparent in the State of Venice who hath outliv'd the story of her own birth and seen the often repeated funeralls of all the Kingdomes in Europe being now by her account onward of her twelfth Century And though France seems to boast of little lesse continuance deriving her originall from the uncertain history of Pharamond supposed her first King Yet the impartial reader may find her subject to the discipline of strangers and her own inferior Princes till Lewis the eleaventh's wisdome had compounded for her wardship and if Edward the fourth his contemporary had been owner of so much prudence as the Free Cantons of the Swisse he had mis'd of his marke Fulnes of bread that inclines a people to Idolatry makes them so proud and wanton as to think any of their own body too mean to Governe choosing rather with the Froggs in the Fable a Storke for their King though it be his nature to devoure them then a selected number of their own tied in reason to preserve them Not perceiving that Monarchy is a sacrilegious overcharging a single person with more honour and power then so fraile a creature is able to beare without falling into the distempers of excesse which renders industrious Nations more capable of freedome as neerer to a parity then such as time and luxury have overstock'd with Nobility and Gentry who scorning to be subject to those of their own quality and not so well able to tyrannize over inferiours upon their own single score cry up Princes whose faults they cover with a false varnish made up of an imaginary Divine Right glistering only in the eyes of fooles wise men owning it as borrowed from the Easterne Idolaters who were never better pleased then when they saw something carried before them gloriously adorned with the eare-rings jewels and spoyles of the people Which gives all Politians occasion to to pronounce that a Prince cannot disparrage his affaires more then by suffering his power to fall under a popular contest Nor a Republick decline sooner into a tyranny then by continuing that shadow which decency constraines Free Governments to retain of Monarchy too long in one Family as the Dutch did without change or some vigorous opposition For however Insurrections like thunders are terrible for the present They render Liberty more serene and cleere Princes being apt with Alexander to apprehend themselves more then humane unles they be now and then besprinkled with their own blood Affliction and opposition being better able to put them into the way of duty then flattery or prosperity so as if Feare were not more prevalent with them then Love Subjects would be farre more miserable since it is without question that the interest of Princes lookes with a contrary aspect to that of the People His gaine being for the most part their losse as in case of illegall taxes which if once carried cleer without question are conveyed as an inheritance to their posterity who improve rather then diminish any thing layed in charge by their Predecessours Therefore Governours out of their own body in reason should be more naturall then these fathers in Law who see nothing about them but what they falsely imagine to be their own Now though a Senate may have inclusively the same power they are more tender of using it for feare the evill consequence should reach their Children who in these impartiall Governments mingle among the people and participate of all their inconveniencies unles wisdome and good parts makes them capable of their Fathers dignities which happens rarely Able Statesmen finding their virtues commonly wanting in their Children And this discovers another grosse inconvenience in successive Kingdoms where not only Law and Custome but Religion if you trust Regall divinity teacheth the people to cry Hosanna to the next Heyre Though nature or which is worse his wicked inclinations render him unworthy the government of a Asse Whereas a Senate is continually fill'd with the most able men Not to loose time in casting up the account Antiquity made of this Government upon whose approbation it is the nature of men to looke through the prospective of multiplying opinion as they doe upon lesse remote verities with the eies of envy and contradiction The progresse and vertues of the State of Venice are patterns not found in the greatest or match'd by the best of Kings Who hath received nothing her situation only excepted but from the benevolence of Heaven and her own vertue which hath inabled her though but a Pamphlet in comparison of the Voluminous power of other Nations to beare the opposition of all her Neighbours in their turnes and
quiet and timely submission would estate them or their Children in an undoubted capacity to share in what is or shall be established Inabling them to alter what they may find amisse Whereas otherwise it would be an act of the highest indiscretiō for people so long beaten by the cruell stormes of a Civil Warre to refuse for the present any Harbour though never so incommodious and to venture againe the wrack of so sacred a Vessel as the Common-Wealth for no richer commodities then an uncertain hope of boying up such Honours profits and Jurisdictions as the feares wilfulnesse and evil Counsels of those formerly at the Helme caused them to cast away since experience hath taught us we may live happily without them Neither are those thus desirous of alteration able to procure it by their own strength but must borrow of such suspected friends or known enemies as are unlikely to shew much more favour to their Inviters then those that shall labour to keep them out Were it not more discretion to let her lye quietly a while in the Dock under the trimming of our new Masters Who cannot be long uncompel'd if not by affection to themselves and their Children yet by strong necessity to set her a float under Justice and good Government hitherto obstructed by your selves and new declared Malignants who have nothing to shew for their Lives and Fortunes but the mercy and courage of those they so bitterly exclaime against Yet are not able to screen themselves from their Power although as far from being pleased with it as they can be safe without it Others presuming on the Articles conceded at Oxford or elsewhere protest themselves injured by that innocent Act for Subscription But did they please to look back now upon the naked condition they stood in then destitute of all hope of Reliefe they might find greater cause to celebrate the goodnesse then arraigne of rigor those did begirt them For had the total destruction of those Lords and Gentlemen been so gratefull to the State as some in spleen others in ignorance doe since represent the siege need have been continued but a few daies and all must have perisht by the hands of despaire or without caution have cast themselves into those of Mercy or say the Commanders in chiefe never known prodigall of blood or time to give an honourable pretence for the rendition of that place which the enemies had made impregnable by so many Oathes nnd Protestations did yeeld to more then in reason could be asked or granted from so imperative a Power It cannot be imagined they meant to situate them in a higher condition then they were themselves making that arbitrary and at the will of the Vanquished which is imposed without exception on all that Overcame By which they had not only bound their own hands from punishing all future disobedience but left their enemies the liberty to subscribe to the ruine that they refuse to the preservation of themselves and their country Consult seriously your own consciences and catechise them with this Question What Oathes Confiscations Restraints and Obligations should have been imposed on all had survived your revenge In case providence had cast the Die of War to the like advantage on your side And you will not only blush at your own shame but confesse your selves doubly subdued first by the Valour then the Civility of those you pronounce the meanest of men The Norman Conquest hitherto the fairest flower in the Crowne of our Kings and this of the Armie's were cut out with the same Iron by the hand and direction of a like Providence The difference is he was a Stranger these Natives He established a Monarchy whose nature is to decline into Tyranny These a Government stiled by all Politicians Free And if you find it otherwise you may thank your selves who will neither be happy nor suffer others But oppose so obstinately the Publique Establishment out of no more weighty reason then to reinitiate splendid Titles so farre from being essentiall to humane felicity that such Nations as have them were never thought the happiest no more then those that want them the most miserable Were I so uncivil as to draw the curtayne charity hangs before the Actions of dead Princes I could match out of the Annals of your own Government as great disorders and oppressions as you note in this The latter being rendred so much the more excusable because not only precedented by the former but created and continued to prevent such mischiefs as your implacable Spirits doe foment in the hearts of ignorant and abused people To whom though a Government be most necessarie this kind or that is as absolutely indifferent Yet if your doctrine be infallible That a King is only responsible to God for his worst actions it cannot but increase al wise mens affections to a Jurisdiction so modest as to acknowledge their best correspondent to the people at least in their Representative And if you will suffer such a Government as these drive at quietly to be setled it may be gest by Venice and the Vnited Provinces though inconsiderable for strength in respect of England what wonders may be expected the first having stood a bulwarke for above a thousand years against the Turkes as the later hath from her infancy a wall to the King of Spaine's incroachments I doe not believe those daily Alarum 's you give the State are beaten by your consciences but the lowder Passions of Ambition and Revenge And if you could remaine quiet you might abundantly satisfie both by sharing in the Government and helping farther to chastise the perfidious Scot who under God's vengeance for our Sins was you think the cause of all these distempers You are to blame if you have not already done your best to set up that Interest your Consciences for the present taught you to maintaine and if so you are freed from the shackells of all former Oaths and engagements Man being bound to no performance beyond possibility yet least this should seem too weake a discharge for so much honour and fidelity as you pretend to owe your King God hath called him to an higher Court And that he hath reserved all cognizance of the manner of his removeall wholly to himselfe appears by placing the Authors of it above the reach of any power but his own It shall not be the project of this Discourse either to naturalize or make invalid the Lines of Princes though the truth or falsehood of them is made so contingent by the infidelity of Women as it doth much abate my zeale and may doe all others in the prosecution of their interests before that of a Free State in a Nation so exhausted and tattered by divisions already as it cannot but expire under a milder conflict then these new and Victorious Governors will make rather then part with their power on which depend their heads as deare to them as a Crown can be to those that bid for it
who being out of possession are not so likely to find friends as enemies especially in this conjuncture when most Nations have need of more swords then their own and therefore likelier to borrow then lend assistance Neither is it a slight omen of their continuance that the wise Spaniard courts them As for France they have worke sufficient cut out already or in case of want we are neere enough to send them more Concerning Danes and Swedes they may like the Cat desire the sweet milke of England but will hardly venture wetting their feet or the encountring an English Navy It being not likely that such Forraine Princes as stood still all the Fathers time who had an Army might secure their landing will in his vanquisht Sons be active who hath now almost nothing left to assure successe but the unarmed discontent of some Subjects which cannot be so unadvised as to venture what is left at the curtesy of strangers much lesse can their hopes be so buried in the dispaire of the moderate government of their countrymen as to think to measure out a better by the splinters of that broken reed Scotland That hath no cleanlier way to redeeme her selfe from being the by-word and hissing of the World for former Treacheries towards their Native Kings then by selling us and our children to a perpetuall slavery under one of their exasperated Sons Neither durst they have ventured so much beating had they not been encouraged by a mouldy Prophecy That England in which you have yet a great share and may keep it if you will be quiet must be one day ruin'd by the basest of people which in their own apprehention can be understood of none but themselves The Apostle Paul commands Christians to submit to the present power for Conscience sake And justifies this Precept so far by his own example as to appeare before a Court of Justice no lesse illegall in regard of the Nation of the Jewes then corrupt in respect of the Judges where by his Rhetoricall expressions he teacheth us to own all Jurisdictions God hath pleased to endow with an Imperative power Else we should deny that to the Magistrate which we make no conscience to concede to Theeves from whom we take our selves to be happily discharged if we escape only with the losse of our mony and a promise never to doe any thing to their prejudice Nor can I think Panl would have shewn lesse compliance or used courser language had his triall fallen out in the daies of Galba Otho or Vitellius the which had no stronger titles then the sword estated them in being all strangers to the line of the first Caesars or any adopted by them Nay had Pisoe's Conspiracy succeeded and Rome by wise Seneca's perswasion been reduced to their ancient Liberty would the Apostles unwillingnesse have been more to subscribe to that then the Title of Nero Can you think he would have pretended antiquitated Oathes Covenants or I know not what Protestations formerly exacted which if offered he could not have avoided a refusall being as unsutable to his Doctrine as safety For we never heard newes till these times of State-Martyrs The primitive Saints thinking all Kingdomes too poore to dye for but that of Heaven Indeed Shimei of the House of Saul would needs be cursing where God blest which gave occasion to Solomon to leave a Precedent under which you are sallen for the like luxuriousnesse of speech And here note by the way how short liv'd the love and forgivenesse of Princes are Since the best though he could forget Jonathan his friend was sure to remember Shimei his enemy both secured by Covenant the first of Amity the latter of Charity in acknowledgement of his kindnes in meeting him Now if David could not dye quietly intestate to Revenge what huge Legacies may we expect from the Heire of a Faher who lost not only his Crowne but the Head that ware it or if so much temperance might be found in his Successor as might mortify so high provocations Yet the daily cryes and clamours of the Widows and Fatherlesse whose Husbands Fathers and Estates were lost in his defence could not choose but call revenge up againe It being an ordinary course for Princes to esteem that part of their assistance as is lost in ill successe so little below enimies as they oftentimes confiscate their Estates only to encrease the encouragement of those from whom they hope to receive better And if it be not the complexion of Kings to be ingratefull I pray give me the Reason why Henry the 7th cut off Stanlies head after he had set the Crown upon his own Therefore let not the sound of your discontent be heard in other Nations to the prejudice of the happinesse of your own By which the eares of all that delight in warre are so tickled that the Sea this Iland is encompassed with were too shallow to keep them out but that t is assisted by a greater depth of Gods mercy Such as oppresse unnecessarily the people shall never want enemies nor those that truly stand for Liberty friends Therefore have patience and assure your selves that God which harh taught the Army the waies to so much miraculous successe will suddainly after this generall submission I perswade to inspire them with an Enstablishment may make us happy or in case they neglect it undoubtedly send as exemplary a ruine upon their own heads Let me therefore entreat you to imitate your Ancestors who suffered the Crown of England with more patience to be transferred from one Strangers head to another then you doe contribute to the setting it on your own and your childrens There being nothing able to render you uncapable of it but an unseasonable desire to wring it out of their hands who I hope have no more ambitious ends in retaining it so long then to make it fit and easy for you Neither can any be in a right capacity to receive it till brought to such a temper as it is indifferent to them either to obey or command If you are so desirous the letter of the Law should be exactly observed doe nothing contrary to the sense of it which is the preservation of the Government in being whose quiet it is now as naturally to intend as it was formerly that of Kings Alter but the Name and contribute the like obedience and you are just where you were But if this be denied doe not wonder that new trials are opposed to new offences For if ordinary Jurers will assigne no punishment for them which act by the Kings Authority it is fit the State should provide others to take care that in case it be employed against their safety such as doe it may not escape without punishment Since God that hath given them such vast successes hath also endued them with more Prudence then to be ruin'd by niceties Neither are they lesse resolved to defend themselves from unavoidable ruine then you to obtaine a more uncertaine reward
Clergy or feare of refunding the profits made of Abby Lands did offer to cover her blemishes with the Crowne must conclude there could be no better refuge for her in prudence then to side with such as did maintaine the Church of Rome it selfe to be Basterdized And for the dangers probability might threaten to such a totall defection all being avoided by her tyrannicall Father her Councell in whom she was the happiest ever waved the English Scepter thought a dispencing with them lesse prejudiciall to her affaires then the tedious ceremonies incident to a Reconciliation with Rome Neither was the progresse the Protestants made in Germany France and Switserland a small provocation who by letters instigated her to this resolution the hopes of the Councell of Trent not being quite lost because they found a generall desire in all Princes to see the power of Rome moderated And that she was rather throwne by necessity then fell of her owne accord from the Church of Rome appeares by the Ceremonies used at her Inauguration all purely Catholique so as though she was not unwilling to give the new Profession hope she could not be brought suddenly to put the old in despair not indeavouring to bring in a greater Reformation then she found but suffered the Bishops to besprinkle her Raigne with the bloud of some and inrich her Exchequer with the livelyhoods of many more that were so zealous as to desire a review of such errours as they presumed the base ends of Henry the Eighth had let slip And these were then persecuted though of most exemplary lives whose followers God hath in our daies beene pleased to requite with the most miraculous successe that ever crowned the endeavours of an Army And for a farther confirmation that this totall separation from the Pope grew rather in the minds of the people then the Prince All the endeavours they could use were not able to abrogate the ceremonies of Crosse Ring and Surpleece though confess'd by all of no more absolute necessity then what they derived from the breath of Authority But their true end was to discover such consciences as were irreconcilable to Rome unto which they had then and doe still drive on a designe of returning Provided they could by an universall conjunction of Princes bring the Pope to renounce the power he pretends to have over Kings in that which is meerly temporall And if I am not fouly mistaken the too vigorous prosecution of this project was the cause of the murdering the two last Henryes of France Therefore such as hinder the establishing a Free State oppose the most probable way of suppressing Superstition and discovering Truth which in time will by the blessing of God worke it selfe into Vnity I doe not write this out of an humour of singularity or to cast dirt upon the Memory of Queene Elizabeth who in my opinion deserves to be celebrated above all the Princes I ever heard of but to manifest this truth That Monarchs look upon all Religions with love or disdaine as they find them sute with their worldly concernments The like may be said of most of the Princes in Germany who tooke part with Luther to have a pretence to seize upon the rich Monasteries and Lands of the Church And though humane policy may inject the same thoughts into the minds of Senatours yet purity of Religion is likelier to find friendship among many then one Neither is the small countenance the French give to those of the Reformation under a shallower policy then to balance all partiality which the Pope may be terrified out of a dread of his power to shew the King of Spaine to the French King's disadvantage being allwayes able by their assistance to make the like booty of the Gallican Church as Henry the Eighth did of the English Neither had the rich revenues of the Roman Profession which Christian Princes have long since surveyed as too great a patrimony for a few Priests beene untaken in but that the Catholique King is tied not onely by a contrary but a stronger interest to keepe up the Pope from a totall suppression because he hath nothing to shew for the possession of divers of his territories and the dispensation of so many incestuous Matches but the power his Holinesse arrogates to make any thing lawfull towards God or Man Yet if any desire farther satisfaction Why Spaine remaines so true to the bondage of Rome whilst other Nations are in labour with divisions it may be said That besides the Inquisition her naturall pride and affected gravity renders her proofe against Innovation especially in order to a Profession lesse splendid then her owne being like the Jewes more delighted with well drest Ceremonies then naked Truth Neither have they any generall propensity to the study of Controversies or the writing of any thing besides Romances to which the Roman Religion best sutes being replenished with the high Rhodomontadoes of Saints and miraculous Stories A Monarchy both in Church and State is most sutable to the English Clergy whose maintenance being raised out of the sweat of the Labourer can find none so ready the Pope excluded as Princes to protect them Commonwealths making no such roome for flattery as Kings to whom those Churchmen are dearest and readiest to be preferred by them as having the faculty to discover Virtues where none are and hide Vices where they most abound to which qualities James and Charles were the indulgentest Princes since the Reformation For Queene Elizabeth standing faire in her Subjects opinions was bold to make exchanges with them to their disadvantage The cause the sweetnesse of her Raigne is no more legible This proves it madnesse to expect a pure Reformation under Kings the Roman Religion being in all policy most necessary for them because they have his Holinesse ready at any time as an honourable Vmpire friendly to cement them together by fair means or in case they will not agree to excommunicate the contumacious party No small advantages to Kings who participating of the same vindictive humours with other private mortals fall upon most destructive wars onely to revenge personall affronts As the last quarrell we had with Spaine rose from no more serious a bottome then a misprision the Duke of Buckingham stumbled upon in his lust And the same Kings Expedition to the Isle of Reez had as noisome a source which are things below a Senate not apt to run a madding like unadvised Princes who are distempered upon the least bite of a passion Adde to what hath beene said the vast summes correspondent to the charge of a Court and wanton affections incident to Kings James of England having throwne away upon Dunbarre Carlisle Sommerset and Buckingham only according to computation two millions and you cannot but conclude a Free State the thriftiest Government for the people about whom no such summes can be found but under the hazard of a present or future question Besides consider the excessive expence the Nation would be
Fishing and all other Maritine advantages but by robbing them of Trafick as they had done the Venecians and not only so but give Law to all Christendome by reason of the commodiousnesse of their harbours and multitudes of their ships Yet our bl brethren of Scotland were so liquerish after the dainty shadow of being sharers with us in England by the mediation of a King they meant to have set over us that they let fall the substance of as great a felicity of their own having Sea roome and greater advantages then the Hollander began with or can yet purely call his own To that obvious objection That reason did alwaies concede an advantage to the absolute Jurisdiction of a single person in the field prescribing to that end but one Generall to an Army for feare of divisions upon contrary Counsels and Commands May be replied that no King had ever greater successe waited on his person then this Government hath been ordinarily presented with from her Subjects Who are not only heated with as great a sense of Honour but also moderated by that of Feare being subject to question as well for Victory if attained under too hazardous or improbable an adventure as Losse Whereas Princes take liberty to expose their people without controle upon all occasions and pretences though never so triviall disadvantagious or unjust Neither are Generalls taken up on trust as Kings are in successive Monarchies who have nothing more to shew for their Legitimacy then the word of their Mother nor better Reason and sufficiency for the execution of their Regality then that his Majesties Father had rendred the people miserable before him And here I am constrained by truth to attect That no Nation was ever more blest in the conduct and successe of a Generall then England is now whose valour and judgement hath not only broke through such difficulties for which Kings were wont to Triumph but is become so familiar with Victory as it may seem shee dares not leave Him for feare of being overcome her selfe Neither is the good use may be made of Kings excluded in a Free State but continued as in the Duke of Venice and heretofore in the Prince of Orange c. Who have the custody of such Honours and Ceremonies as are not with decency or conveniency communicable to more then one And such a Prince is not likely nor in my poor judgement fit to be kept from a Common-Wealth Provided his admittance be with that Caution as no trespas may be committed upon the Peoples Liberty Free States have been alwaies looked upon as most auspicious to men of parts Whereas Monarchs preferre a good face the importunate recommendations of a Mistres or their own solitary affection before all the desert attending upon parts or breeding because empty themselves they feare to be sounded by those more sufficient Being as unable to resolve as unconstant in the prosecution of the better councells of others which wise men communicate to Kings with much caution as knowing that what they advise is upon no lighter penalty then their ruine if it be not as sutable to the Favorites humours as their Masters own safety which makes them either conceal their true judgement or comply with such as preferre their single interest before the Publick This renders the best designes of Princes addle exposing their Subjects to a succession of evill events in the midst of their most probable advantages A punishment inflicted upon the generality of Kings for their Murthers Rapines and Blasphemies it being rare for any of them to hold their Principalities from a more legitimate Tenure then Poyson or the Knife their births being so sophisticated by the surer side That they have oftentimes no more of the bloud Royall in them then the consent they lent to their Predecessors destruction hath clog'd their consciences withall And if the possession of the Crowne alone be esteemed sufficient in the sense of the Law to expunge the grossest spots yet found in any that wore it may it not as well charifie a Republick from any imputation can be objected to the means they ascended by It being the custome of all supreme powers to shape their Result to the patterne Prudence and successe hath cut out for them and not according to the fashion of old formalities so little regarded by Princes as the oath was never yet sworne but they have broken nor Stipulation so strong as to hold when they saw the least advantage before them They have therefore the lesse cause to complaine being only whipt with their own Rod or like Haman rather who was the justlier executed because it was upon the same Gibbet he had set up for the people of God Therefore if men will not render themselves deafe to the voyce of Providence in no worldly thing so audible as a continued successe They may conclude what is done is by the approbation of God himselfe He having manifested his power as well on the high and barren hills of Scotland as in the fat and rich vallies of England and Ireland Neither are his blessings wanting in the deepe where our Navies are no lesse successefull then our Armies on the Land Though looked on with an evill eye and cursed by the Kings of the Nations whom the same God hath so weakened or employed as they have had no power or leisure to doe us hurt So as he that after all this shall seem to apprehend more Divinity lost in a King succeeding by Conquest c. Then may be found in a State using as decent a proceedure as can be expected in such a conjuncture and from so many implacable humours and oppositions cannot but be blinded by Passion or some selfeish interest For though Government may be by Divine Institute yet This or That is as indifferent as whether your cloathes be made after the Dutch or the French fashion It being sufficient if They defend us from the injuries of the Weather and This protect us against our enemies and prevent Sin and Disorder the true occasions of all Government I doe not find particular Interests that are usefull and safe much worsted by this change For if our ancient Nobility consider how basely they were trampled upon by those two beggerly Princes Rupert and Maurice who had nothing to beare the charges of their Pride but the charity of those they scorned and the gracious aspect of a Vnkle who could not love them but for his own ends What precedency or Honour could they have expected had the Royall Issue been dilated to the probable number in three Descents it might have attained to whereas now there is no likelyhood any more will be made it not being sutable to Republiques to give honours of that Magnitude Though those few the cruelty of the Catholick King left in the Netherlands still retain the same Dignities and Possessions the State found them in As I doubt not but thâ—se may doe here if the implacablenesse of their Spirits doe not render
them unworthy of that favour in thinking it not felicity enough To be free from oppression themselves unlesse they be in such a condition as they may exercise with impunity a Tyrannicall power upon others as formerly they did when like burning glasses they multiplied the heat of the Kings Oppressions It is a wonder to me to see how nice they are now of their Honours And what a scruple they make of submitting to this power not to be denied Superlative when I remember how basely I have seen them or their Fathers lying at the feet of the Court Minnion scrambling for his durty Neeces not leaving Innes Shopps and if not belied worse places unsought to find some of his femall Kindred for their Heites Forgetting that he is more Noble who hath ventured his Life for Liberty then he that hath nothing to shew for his Honour but a good face or an Acquittance for so much money Look upon our General in his Cradle and you shall find him as good a Gentleman as most of these one of that House and Name having been a principall Instrument in overturning those Hives of Drones and freeing us from the tyranny of the Pope But consider him in his Saddle and you will think such low spirits unworthy to be his footmen If he hath any faults they lye neither in his Valour Conduct Prudence nor Humanity Being as far from Pride as Basenes and known to be as faithfull in the Preservation of his friends as Providence hath made him successefull in the subversion of his enemies I had not writ this for feare of being accused of Flattery but that I know he is so employed in purchasing new Honours and setling this Nation that he hath not the leasure to heare what he hath already deserved Concerning the Interest of the Ministry I mean such as have no other end then the glory of God They may be more happy under this then Monarchicall Government For though sublimer Titles the Diana of more licentious times be taken away yet since the Kingdome of Jesus Christ is promised to be set up in the place They ought with patience to expect Assuring themselves That God would never give so miraculous successe to men design'd for the ruine of Truth Neither is it sutable with the rest of the Prudence used by those who have the absolute power of determining to take away the decent maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospell or to demolish the Vniversities But rather hold the hands of such as like blind Samson might goe about to pull them down and ruine their own selves by their folly and indiscretion It is past humane prevention That two factions both so fruitfull in Learning as the Protestant and Papist should not fall into so many subdivisions as it is impossible to keep them all in Vnity Under a lesse severe restraint then an Inquisition as repugnant to charity as unsutable to the spirits of a free people Or els by enjoying so indulgent a Liberty as may leave every Conscience free All civil Obedience presupposed as due to the present Government Now such as conclude from this Permission That the Catholicks will then in a short time Master all Doe not consider how much easier Oxen are kept out of a Pasture then Conies or Hares The Papist having rendred himselfe so unsociable to all opinions but his own as he is detested in Amsterdam where the Jewes find as good if not better protection Therefore the Vnited Provinces and all other Free States whose Foundations were layed under the mixt occasion of maintaining Religion and Liberty together are not reprovable for making use of and indulging tender Consciences though they retaine some things superfluous or have not yet the strength to concoct into practice all things necessary For as Rome was not built in a day so it is as impossible to pull it down in so short a time Wherefore I desire men to be more charitable in their censures since the Primitive Christians were so farre Independent That they retained only so much of the Truth as the tyranny of those times and the stronger or weaker light they walked by gave them opportunity to snatch up Some running away with a beleefe of the Holy Ghost others without so much as ever hearing of such a thing some with simple Baptisme others with a mixture of Circumcision Some with the bare knowledge of the Baptisme of John yet judged mighty in the Scriptures Some with a religious respect to Daies and Meats others without it And yet Paul is so farre from reproving them that he attests it was all done to the Lord. Neither is it lesse manifest that they all did teach And if the same Apostle would never eate Flesh rather then offend a weake brother what charity appears in those High Presbyterians that clamour for a Coercive power as Saul did before his conversion that they might deliver these men bound I would faine have them tell me What is meant by building with Hay Straw Stubble which shall raise at least the Builders to heaven provided Christ the Foundation be kept And if so let us take heed least a woe doe not follow the scandalizing these men who without doubt are our Saviours little ones And since we cannot recover the whole seamles coat of Christs righteousnesse let us not despise any about whom we find the undeniable peeces though spotted with the frailties of humanity The last Interest is the Peoples which if not already better under this present Government then a Kings they may thanke themselves who by their own intemperance and non-compliance occasion the major part of these heavy taxes Which the State can take no pleasure in raising Their own lands being as obnoxious to them as the meanest Subjects Therefore if all would willingly submit to the power God hath set over them The Tradesman might live free from being interrupted by Monopolies and the Husbandman from the rapine of Purvoyers Comissaries Deere Carriages Shipmony Wardships and an innumerable number of other illegall impositions Whereas otherwise it is impossible to make a Nation happy that is resolved to be miserable and to seeke their own ruine by hating to be Reformed FINIS