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 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
the Fourth of that Name formally Degraded and Cast into a Monastery by Decree of Parliament and Pepin Install'd in his Stead Thus did the Son of the Last Great Subject make himself the First of the Second Race of Kings of which in requital for too much said upon the First I shall say nothing at all Nor much more upon This Subject save only that Charles the VII and his Successour Lewis the XI Laid the first firm Foundation of the Military Power to which Charles the VIII Francis the I. c. have since furnish'd their Additionals and Superstructures to make the Tyranny complete 'T is Truth the Splendor and Profusion of the Court and Camp is Dazling and Prodigious they swim in Pleasures and Plenty but he that turns his Eye toward those Miserable Animals the Peasants that with their Bloud and Sweat Feed and Support that Luxe and Vanity with hardly bread for their own Mouths will find it much a different Prospect the great Enhansers of the Charge clayming Exemption from the burthen of it He that would see the Glory of the One Part and the â—lavery of the Other needs only read L'ESTAT dela FRANCE of 1661. Treating of the Officers of the Crown Honours Governments Taxes Gabelles c. He shall there find the Venality of Officeâ—s and Their Rates the Privileges of the Nobility and Their Encâ—rochments Who are Exempt from Payments or rather that the Country-man Payes for All. To make an end let him also observe the Power and Partiality of their Supereminent Parliament of Paris The Book I mention is of undeniable Authority wherein Accompt is given of at the least Eight Millions English arising from Three Taxes only and for the sole behoof and Enterteinment of the Souldiery their Tailles Taillon and Subsistance Beside their Aydes an Imposition upon all sorts of Marchandise Salt excepted which must needs be a Vast Income and their Gabellâ—s upon Salt that brings in near Two Millions more Not to Insist upon Casualties and infinite other Inventions for squeezing which they Practise The Plough mainteins the Army Give them their Due their Noblesse are brave and Accomplish'd men and the Brunt of all Hazzards lies totally upon Them but scarce in Nature is there a more abject Commonalty and to conclude such is their Condition that without Warr thâ—y cannot Live if not Abroad they are sure to have iâ— at Home Let it be Noted too the Taxes follow'd their Army not their Army the Taxes for 't is One thing to Levy Mony to Raise Guards and Another thing to Levy Guards to Raise Mony the One appearing to be done by Consent the Other by Force I use Guards and Army promiscuously as only taking a Guard for a Small Army and an Aâ—my for a Stronger Guard IF a Standing Army subjects France to so many Inconveniences whereof History is full where the Strength lies in the Nobility How much more Hazzardous was it to England where the welfare of the whole depended upon the Affections and Interest of the Middle-rated People Especially under an Usurper that was driven to uphold himself upon the daily consumption of the Nation and a Body that becomes every day Weaker then Other must not expect to be long-liv'd So much for the Inconvenience of Cromwell's Standing Army as to the Situation of England together with a View of the Effects of it in France Wee 'll now consider what Welcome it was like to find upon the Point of Experience or Custome Alteration of Customes is a work of Hazzard even in Bad Customes but to Change Customs under which a Nation has been happy for Innovations which upon Experience they have found Fatal to them is matter of great Perill to the Undertaker But I look upon Oliver's Case as I do upon a Proposition of such or such a Mate at Chesse where there are several wayes to come within One on 't and None to Hit it The Devil and Fortune had a mind to Puzzle him He Prefers his Pawnes Transposes Shifts his Officers but all will not do he still wants either Men or Mony if he Disbands he has too few of the One if he holds up he has too little of the Other Such in Truth was This Tyrants Exigence that he was forc'd to That which the Lawful â—ossessours of the English Crown would never venture upon No nor the Usurpers neither before Our Blessed Reformers of 1641. But Where will Those People Stay That thorough God and Majesty make way Our Saxon Kings contented themselves with a Law What Armes every man of Estate should find and a mulâ—t upon such as did Detractare Militiae Edmond Ironside after his Duell with Camillus the Dane and a Composition to divide the English and Danish Kingdoms betwixt them and their Heirs kept no Army on Foot to Guard the Agreement Neither did The Danes who after His Death Treacherously Seiz'd the Kingdom to maintein their Conquest William the Conquerour that subdu'd both English and Danes thought himself safe enough in Creating Tenures by Knights Service and permitting Proprieties though at That time under such Jealousies that he took divers of his English Prisoners into Normandy with him for fear of a Commotion in his Absence William Rufus and after Him his Brother Henry the First tho' the Usurpers of the Senior Right of their Elder Brother Robert set up his Rest upon the same Termes And so did Henry the II. after a Long Contest with King Stephen and notwithstanding the unruliness of most of his Sonnes Henry III. and then Edward I. after the Barons Warrs Employ'd no Standing Army to secure themselves neither did Edward or Richard the Second notwithstanding a Potent Faction of the Nobility bandying against the Latter of them Neither did the Henries IV. V. VI. in the Grand Schism of York and Lancaster ever approve of it Nor Henry VII as Wise and Iealous as any of his Predecessours If any thing could have warranted the Adventure methinks the Tâ—epsie-turvy and Brouillery which Henry the VIII introduc'd might have perswaded or Provok'd it But neither There nor in the following Tosse and Tumble of Religion from Edward VI. to Queen Mary and then back again to Queen Elizabeth was it put in Practice King Iames had no temptation to it King Charles the Martyr was indeed charg'd with the Intention of it and so he was with being Popishly affected In Truth with what not and the One as True as the Other But who were They that laid This to His Charge Even Those very Persons some of them that advised Oliver to keep a Standing Army of 10000 Horse and 20000 Foot to Aw and Scourge the Nation A Course unknown to our Forefathers and by the Best and Worst of Former Princes equally disallow'd the Bad not judging it Safe nor the Good Expedient But other more Convenient and as Effectual means they had either to Prevent Dangers or Suppress them
at London Feb. 3. and upon the 7. comes out the 100000 l. Tax which produced a Common-Counsell the day following to advise upon it where it was Resolv'd To adhere to a former Vote of the Court in the Negative This Refusall puzzled the Counsell of State who without being Masters of the City and of Mony were able to do little so that they forthwith Order'd the Reducing of the City by Emprisoning half a Score of their Citizens and upon another Denyall to take away their Posts and Chains and destroy their Gates and Portcullisses which was accordingly Executed but with such Regret that thereupon they lodg'd the Government of the Army in Five Commissioners the General being One with Evident Design to wipe him of his Employment But Their Ingratitude wrought little with him whose Actions were only steer'd by the Compass of Loyalty and Prudence So that having humour'd the People at Westminster till they had made themselves sufficiently Odious and abundantly try'd the Affections of the City to his Design in hand Upon the 11 of Feb. he gave the House to understand the Necessity of their timely Dissolution in order to the right of Successive Parliaments the very hopes of which Release gave the People a Joy to the Degree of Madness Upon the 21. were re-admitted the Secluded Members of 1648. by whom were Writs Issued out for a Representative to meet upon the 25. of April 1660. and March 16. 1659. they formally Dissolve themselves Committing the Government in that Interval to a Counsell of State Upon the day Appointed the Convention meets but not altogether so Leaven'd as by the Qualifications was intended Excluding Father and Son of such as had serv'd the King from the Election In fine the Major Part of that Assembly according to their Duty gave the King his own again without Those shackles and conditions which the Qualifyers would have impos'd upon his Majesty Upon whose Legal and Imperial freedom depends the safety and well-being of his People CAP. VIII The Usurper Oliver was principally distress'd by the Warr with Spain and his Standing Army WE have now brought Rebellion from the Cradle to the Grave we have seen it Triumphant and now we see it in the Dust subjected at the Feet of our Most Gratious Sovereign to accompt for the Bloud of his Royal Father Be it our Business next to enquire What hinder'd Oliver from Establishing himself Upon what Reason of State Cause Errour or Necessity That prosperous Usurper fayl'd But some will not allow he fail'd as if the sole Fatality of the Cause was his Decease and the Design only miscarryed through the ill menage of a Weak Successour For granted by good order it might have been Caudled up and kept above ground a little longer but still it seems to Me that before Oliver Dy'd the Cause was Bed-rid and Hectique past Recovery Opinion is Free Any Man 's as Mine and Mine as Any Mans so that submitting my Reasons to the Wise and Recommending my Weakness to the Charitable I Proceed Cromwell did wisely to take his Rise to the Sovereignty upon the Necks of those Usurpers whom he cast out in 1653. For in the same Action he Oblig'd the People Master'd his Enemies and Fill'd his Pockets Yet were not Those Means that advanc'd the Tyrant sufficient to Establish him One Obstacle was the Inconsistence of his Doctrine with his Design for the same Arguments that Rays'd him Ruin'd him The People were instructed to Destroy Kings not to set them up and beside he that had so many Sharers in the Hazzards of the Rebellion could not fail of some Competitors for the Benefit of it Further he had no considerable Party sure to his Interest and all but his Meer Creatures and Allies were utter Enemies to it The City Hated him for their Losse of Trade the Countrey for their Taxes the Royallists for his Rebellion and Cruelty the Presbyterians for his Breach of Covenant That is for not destroying the King after Their Way The Levellers for his Ambition and in fine all the hope he had was to New-Modell an Army to his purpose that fayl'd him too at last for want of Mony and Credit to maintein it Which Want was chiefly hasten'd and procur'd by his precipitate Breach with Spain together with the Necessity of keeping up a Standing Army The Former of These was doubtless his Mistake or rather a Temerity scarce advised upon For having brought the Hollander to his Knees the only Stranger he had then to fear and after That shak'd hands with him his next Course should have been by Thrift and Popularity to Ingratiate himself at Home and not by a Rambling Needlesse and Expensive Warr to squander away the life-bloud of the Nation and in That Indigent Extremity of the State to make Ducks and Drakes with the Publique Treasure Nor was the Consequence lesse Fatall to him than was the Enterprize to a common Eye Imprudent the hopes of carrying his Design in no wise Countervailing the risque he ran of losing all he had Got in case he missed it I might Instance in a Thousand wayes of profusion and Oppression Common to all Usurpers both practised by Him and exposing him to great Necessities but I shall rather bestow the rest I have to say upon the Fatality of that Tyrant's Condition Which forc'd him to make use of for his Safety the greatest of all Dangers to wit A Standing Army For Order sake Wee 'll first Consider Upon what Pretense and to what end 't was Rays'd In the Next Place Wee 'll see what it produc'd and weigh the Benefits with the Inconveniences Lastly Wee 'll look into the probable Effects and Influence of it as related to the English Temper Custome and Government To the first what I here call a Standing Army was but the Emprovements of a Slight Temporary force rays'd in pretense at first as an Expedient against Plots being indeed it self the Greatest but Encreas'd Continued and Carried on by Policy and Power This Project came from the Cabale in 1641. Couch'd under the Notion of A Guard for the House of Commons Who conceiv'd that they could not with the Safety of their Persons upon which the Safety and Peace of the whole Kingdom did then depend sit any longer Unarmed and Unguarded so great were their Apprehensions and just Fears of mischievous Designs to ruine and destroy them This was the Popular Colour for that Guard Plots and the Safety of the Publique Where the Plot was in Truth and where the Reall Danger may be gather'd from the Practises of Those Armies whereof The Guard aforesaid was but the Rise and Foundation And That 's the point we handle next The setting of This little Force a-foot was a fair Step toward the Militia One Guard begetting Another and the same Reason standing good for the Augmenting and Upholding of Those Troupes which was employ'd for the first Raysing of
utter Exclusion of the Contrary by Prohibiting Private Meetings or Conventicles and by taking heed to the Presse A Watchfulnesse in These Three Points Secures the Church from Schismes and Consequently the State from Conscientious Seditions at least if I am not Mistaken in my Presumption that there is not any fourth way of Dangerous Communication Touching the Licentious abuse of the Presse and the Freedome of Riotous Assemblies the Distemper is not as yet grown Bold enough to avow Those Liberties But from the Non-Conforming Ministers we must expect hard Pleading What shall the Faithfull Guides be ejected upon the accompt of Forms or Ceremonies because they dare not do that which they Iudge to be so great a Sin against the Lord May not a Dissenting Brother be an Honest man Our Reply shall be short and Charitable If the People take them for Guides they will be the apter to follow them so that the fairer their Credit is the worse is their Argument Nor are they laid aside as if the Difference it self were so Criminal but for the evill Consequences of Reteining Them First it advances the Reputation of the Dissenting Party to have the matter Look as if either the Power or Reason were on Their side Next it Subjects the Prince to be Thought Diffident either of his Authority to Command or of the Iustice of the Thingâ— Commanded Thirdly a Dissenting Minister makes a Dissenting Congregation Fourthly it makes Conscience a Cloak for Sedition and under Colour of Dividing from the Church it Ministers Occasion for People to unite against the State Fifthly it not only leads to Novell Opinions whereof the Vulgar are both Greedy and Curious but it Possesses the Multitude with These Two Desperate and Insociable Persuasions First That the People are Iudges of the Law and Next That because God alone has Power over Their Souls the Sovereign has none over their Bodies As to the Honesty of a Dissenting Brother his Honesty is only to himself but his Dissent is to the Publique and the Better the Man is the Worse is the President Upon These hazzards depends the Royalty of That Sovereign that dispenses with the Law to Indulge This Faction and which is the great Pitty of all the better he deserves the worse they use him So that the only way for a Prince to deal Safely with These People is first to lay aside That Dangerous and Fatal Goodnesse and Steer his Resolutions by the Compass of a Severe and Inexorable Reason Not that Kings are Gods in any Respect more then in their Power and Mercy but there are certain Cases and Instances wherein That Power and Mercy may be Restreyn'd and wherein 't is possible that what is Excellent in Nature may be a slip in Government 'T is One Thing for a Party to ask Pardon for a Fault already Committed and another thing to beg a Dispensation beforehand to Commit it And there 's This Difference also in the Issue of the Grants The Prince has the Faction at His Mercy the One way and the Faction has got the Prince at Theirs the Other But to the Point Will the Monarch's Yielding to this or That Content them They 'll say 't is all they aime at and truly I 'd believe them would they but shew mee out of their whole Tribe any one Instance of This Moderation to save the Credit of my Charity Any Presbyterian Interest in Nature that is not Rays'd upon the Ruines of a Prince and Cimented with Broken Vowes and Promises If it be Thus Nothing lesse then a Miracle can secure That Monarch that makes This Faction Master of the Pulpit and This King Charls the Martyr prov'd by sad Experience For not a Soul that by the Instigation of Schismaticall Lecturers deserted the Church but became an Enemy to the State So that Effectually a Gracious Toleration in some Cases is by Some people understood no otherwise then as a Tacit Commission from the Person of the King to Levy a Warr against his Office And it is very rarely that such an Indulgence is better Employ'd In which Opinion we are not a little Confirm'd by the Reflections of That Blessed Prince above mentioned I wish says he I had not suffered My own Iudgment to have been overborne in some Things more by others Importunities then their Arguments My Confidence had lesse betrayed My self and My Kingdoms to Those advantages which some men sought for who wanted nothing but Power and Occasion to do Mischief And after the utmost Tryall of Bounty and Remisâ—nesse to That Faction These are his words to his Royall Successour I cannot yet Learn That Lesson nor I hâ—pe never will you That it is safe for a King to gratifie any Faction with the perturbation of the Laws in which is wrapt up the Publique Interest and the Good of the Community Finally Those Perfidious Creatures which at first Petition'd their Sovereign afterwards fought against Him and Imprison'd Him Refusing him in his Distresse the Comfort of his own Chaplains in Requitall for having Granted them the Liberty of their Consciences Who strook the Fatall Blow it matters not If He had not been Disarm'd he had not been Kill'd Subjects do not Hunt Kings for Sport only to Catch Them and let them go again To Conclude He was persecuted with Propositions worse then Death as by his Choyce appear'd for he Preferr'd rather to Die then Sign Them But to Signalize the Honour of his Memory and the Glory of his Martyrdome take his Last Resolution and Profession I look upon it with infinite more content and quiet of Soul to have been worsted in my Enforced contestation for and vindication of the Laws of the Land the Freedome and Honour of Parliaments the Rights of my Crown the Iust Liberty of my Subjects and the true Christian Religion in its Doctrine Government and due Encouragements then if I had with the greatest Advantages of Successe over-born them all as some men have now Evidently done whatever Designs they at first pretended From a Supposition of the first Inclination to Schism Proposing also how to strangle it in the Birth we are now to Consider it in some Degree of Growth and Progression and to enquire after the best means to prevent such Mischieves as may arise from the further Encrease and spreading of it That is the Mischieves of Conspiracy which may be Promoted either by Speech or Writing The first great Hazzard is when Popular Persons are put in Popular Employments and in Populous Places A Cunning and a Factious Minister is a Dangerous Instrument in a City and the more Dangerous if Tolerated for Then he Stirs up Tumults by Authority and who shall blame the Flock for Following the Shepheard The Liberties of Conventicles and Pamphlets are likewise of Desperate Influence upon the People but These as is already said are easily Suppress'd by the Seasonable Execution of Laws But There 's no Dallying with
Rebells to admit a Treaty and thereupon soon after to Conclude a Pacification whereof the Covenanters kept not One Article Nay after This they Libell'd the Kings Proceedings Broke forth into Fresh Insolencies and Sollicited the Assistance of the French King against their Native Sovereign We see the Faith and Loyalty of the Scotch Presbyterians Marque now if the English use him any Better And That but in a Word or Two for 't is a peevish Subject His Majesty calls a Parliament that Meets Novemb. 3. 1640. Which by the violence of Tumults abroad and the Artifice of Iuggles within-doors is with much adoe Modelled into a Faction Observe now the Proportion betwixt the Favours of the King and the Returns of the Party and see the Fruits of Clemency here likewise His Majesty passes the Trienniall Bill Abolishes the Star-chamber and High-Commission Court Passes an Act for the Continuance of the Parliament Not to insist upon the several other Concessions concerning Ship-mony Forrests and Stannary Courts Tonnage and Poundage Knighthood c. In Requitall of these Benefits The Presbyterians Clap up and prosecute his Majesties Friends Prefer Enlarge his Enemies Reward the Scots for a Rebellion Entertain their Commissioners Vote them Their Dear Brethren for Invading us Call in all Books and Proclamations against them Take away the Bishops Votes Impose a Protestation Deny the Earl of Straffords Life to the Intercession of his Majesty Present him with a Libellous Remonstrance to welcome him out of Scotland Charge 12. Bishops of High Treason Declare the Kings Proclamation to be False Scandalous and Illegall Petition for the Militia Keep the King out of his own Towns and Seize his Armes and Ammunition Send him 19. Propositions for the Delivery up of his Authority Vote a Generall and Raise an Army against him They give the King Battle Levy Monies Vote the Queen a Traytour Hang up the Kings Friends Enter into a Rebellious League Counterfeit a Great-Seal Call in the Scots Again Abolish the Common-Prayer Seize and Imprison the King Share the Revenues of the Church and Crown Sequester Banish Imprison his Majesties Adherents Sell him Depose him and at last call themselves his Majesties best Subjects because they did not MURTHER him Upon the whole Matter That Blessed Martyr's Transcendent Charity undid him How many did he Oblige and Advance in hopes to Win and Reclaime them How many did he Pardon and Cherish in Confidence of their Pretended Repentance How long did his Patience forbear Others in expectation of their Return And how unwilling was He to call any thing Schism which the Faction call'd Scruple Till Alas too Late he found his Bounties Abus'd His Mercies misplaced His Waitings Frustrated His Charity Deluded and in short no other use made of all his Pieties and Virtues then to his proper Ruine For while his Sacred Majesty suspended the exercise of his Politicall Severity under the amusement of a Religious Tendernesse the Sectaries became Bold upon his Favour and strong by the advantage they made of his Patience There were indeed some other praevious Encouragements to the Warr as the Remissnesse of Diverse Bishops in Matter of Uniformity The sufferance of Factious Meetings c. But the Two Grand Fatalities were These The King WANTED MONY and TRUSTED PRESBYTERIANS Dum Clementiam quam praestiterat expect at INCAUTUS ab INGRATIS Occupatus est Vell. Paterc Hist. Lib. 2. The End of the First Part. THE CONTENTS OF THE First Part. CAP. I. THE Matter and Causes of Seditions in Generall Pag. 1. CAP. II. The Tokens and Prognosticks of Seditions 4. CAP. III. The True Cause of the Late Warr was AMBITION 10. CAP. IV. The Instruments and Means which the Conspirators employed to make a Party 16. CAP. V. A short View of the Breaches and Confusions betwixt the Two Factions from 1648. to 1654. 24. CAP. VI. The Temper Streights and Politiques of Cromwell during his Protectorship 30. CAP. VII A short Accompt from the Death of the Tyrant Oliver to the Return of Charles the Second whom God Preserve from his Fathers Enemies 48. CAP. VIII The Usurper Oliver was principally distress'd by the Warr with Spain and his Standing-Army 61. CAP. IX Of Seditions in Particular and shewing in what maner they arise from These Seven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Country and the Body Representative 85. SECT I. Seditions arising from the CHURCH Pag. 85. SECT II. The BENCH 96. SECT III. The COURT 99. Subsection I. Over-greatnesse in One Counsellour 100. Subsection II. The Combination of Divers Counsellours 106. SECT IV. The CAMP 114. SECT V. The CITY 117. Subsection I. Seditions arising from Religion 121. Subsection II. Oppression 126. Subsection III. Privileges 128. Subsection IV. Poverty 130. SECT VI. The COUNTRY 139. SECT VII The BODY REPRESENTATIVE 143. CAP. X. How to prevent the Beginnings and hinder the Growth of Seditions in General together with certain Particular Remedies apply'd to the Distempers of Those Seven Interests mentioned in the foregoing Chapter Pag. 152. 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 â— with the Remedies of other Mischieves arising from Disorders in the CHVRCH 159. SECT II. How to prevent Seditions arising from the Disorders of the BENCH 171. SECT III. How to Prevent or Remedy Seditions arising from the Disorders of the COURT 177. Subsection I. The Remedies of certain hazzards arising from the Over-greatnesse of One Counsellour 182. Subsection II. How to frustrate a Combination of Diverse Counsellours 197. SECT IV. How to Prevent Disorders arising from the CAMP 201. SECT V. How to Prevent or Remedy Seditions arising from the CITY 205. SECT VI. How to Prevent Seditions from the COUNTRY 212. SECT VII Certain Cautions directing how to prevent and avoid Dangers arising from the BODY REPRESENTATIVE ibid. CAP. XI Certain Reflections upon the Felicity and Advantages of the Government of England with some Observations upon the Present Juncture 217. CAP. XII What it was Principally that Ruin'd King Charles the MARTYR 236. The End of the Contents of the First Part. The Matter of Sedition The Causes of it The Remedy Contempt more fatal to Kings then Hatred ☞ Poverty breedâ— Sedition ☜ A numerous Nobility causeth Poverty Fears and Jealousies The danger Libels ☜ Sir F. B. Sir F. B. ☜ The Rise of the late War The first Tumult against the Service-book The Covenanters Usurp the Supreme Authority The Institution of the Scotish Covenant The Promoters of it Hist. Iudep Appendix pag. 14. The Covenant a Rebellious Vow A Plea for Treason The Usurpâ—tions of the Covenanters A Pacification with the Scots Their Infidelity They enter England The influence of the Scotish Army and the City Tumults upon the long Parliament The two Houses usurp the Militia The Rebellion begins at Hull The Kings Defence of himself Voted a Warr against his Parliament Treasonous