the End of the World We are next to enquire how this Fag End of a Parliament behav'd it self having got the Power into their Hands or rather were the Substitutes the Properties of the Army for that is their truest Character And here to let the Nation see their Business should not be done by Halves they began with these Resolves 1. That the People under God are the Original of all just Power 2. That the Commons of England assembled in Parliament being chosen by and representing the People have the supream Authority of this Nation 3. That whatsoever is enacted and declared for Law by the Commons hath the Force of a Law 4. That all the People of this Nation are included thereby although the Consent of the King and House of Peers be not had thereto 5. That to raise Arms against the People's Representatives is high Treason 6. That the King himself took Arms against the Parliament and upon that account is guilty of the Blood shed through the Civil War and that he ought to expiate the Crime with his own Blood Whose Tryal they fell to immediately and with an unparallel Impudence founded their Dominion in the Blood of the Lord 's Anointed and their Liege Sovereign whereas granting their Position of the People's Right to be true as it is abominably false there was not the tenth Part of the Commons at the making that cursed Ordinance nor would one in a thousand of the People have assented thereunto and this the Lady Fairfax told them at the Tryal from an adjoyning Scaffold Had that Tool her Husband shewn the like Courage it might have turn'd to Account but Men that have a long time habituated themselves in Mischief God seldom permits to be Instruments of any Good To be sure as this cursed Fact rendred the Rump most infamous to all Degrees thoroughout the Nation so the Grandees of the Army after they had traiterously serv'd their turn paid them as little Respect and thought they were too contemptible a Body to manage so great a Trust to which purpose the Agitators as soon as they had first purg'd the House declared it was requisite to have a more equal Representative and accordingly printed a Model which they called The Agreement of the People and so continued frequently harping upon the same String and pressing to have it taken into Consideration which forc'd them upon what our Author declares Page 313. And now the Parliament being desirous to let the People see that they design'd not to perpetuate themselves after they should be able to make a compleat Settlement of Affairs and provide for the Security of the Nation c. Resolv'd that the House would upon every Wednesday Morning turn themselves into a grand Committee to debate concerning the Manner of assembling and Power of future successive Parliaments the Number of Persons to serve for each County that the Nation might be more equally represented c. And thus they continued two or three Years and would have till Doomsday according to their own Vote since they resolv'd not to rise till a compleat Settlement of Affairs and the Nation 's Security provided for But Cromwell was resolv'd they should not stay till then yet having a different Design from all his Fellow Rebels kept them in till that was ripe in Order whereunto Ireland must be first brought into perfect Subjection And then the Scotch gave him an Opportunity of retaliating their many Outrages Invasions and such like Covenant Kindnesses which he did to purpose And having gain'd the Crowning Victory as he term'd it at Worcester thought it then a fit Time to pull off his Vizard and send that Pack of Rascals as he call'd them at a Nobleman's Table a Grazing the Account whereof as our Author gives it from the 447th Pag. forward is very pleasant and shews that though they were every one profoundly practised in those Hellish Arts of Treachery and Dissimulation yet Cromwell infinitely outdid them all They were but petty Devils in Comparison with him that true Lucifer incarnate But what our Author saith of their being supported by the Affections of the People Pag. 459 because acting for their Interest is so gross so palpable a Lye as sure he could not believe his Memoirs should be printed till every Man then living was dead Next the Restauration I never knew any thing more grateful the whole Kingdom thorough than their Dismission it was the only popular Act wherein Cromwell oblig'd all Parties and made his Usurpation more tolerable by ridding us of the most contemptible Set of Men that ever sat at the Helm of any Government But 't is the common Cant of our Commonwealth Coxcombs and 't is us'd as much by our Author as any of them to give that Handful of Fools and Knaves which adher'd to them the Title of the Godly Party and all the good People of England Well now they are gone and had six Years time to fret and bite their Nails for we may guess at their Regret by the Spite and Revenge they were guilty of when got again in play which they could never do as long as Cromwell trod the Stage but when he was carried off the Army resolv'd to revenge his tricking them upon Richard who succeeded him and could think of no better Tools to effect that Work than by setting their old Iournymen the Rump about it in order whereunto they plac'd them in the Workhouse and set them to the Business which they soon dispatch'd although they had much ado to find a Number sufficient for however our Author pretends he gave Dr. Owen a List of 160 which had sate since the Year 48 they were forc'd to send for Munson and Harry Martyn out of the Goal to make up a Quorum of 40. from which time forward to their final Expiration there can be nothing more comical in any History Romance or Play than the several Transactions Caballings and Intrigues amongst them as related all along by our Author what Iealousies and Distrusts they had of one another what Plots and Counterplots Turnings out and in Quarrels Treaties and Patchings up wherein our Author tells us what pains he took and with what Moderation he proceeded to little purpose God be prais'd One thing more especially they could never get over and that was a settled well fix'd Form of Government The Army were resolv'd upon a standing Senate of their own Body I presume to over-awe the civil Representatives The Rump on the other hand thought themselves so much their Masters as to vote the Speaker General and order that all even the most supream Officers should have no Commissions but from him whereupon what passed between Sir Arthur Haslerig and Lambert pag. 677 may be thought worth relating Lambert complain'd how that Act left them at Mercy only said Sir Arthur at the Mercy of the Parliament who are your good Friends I know not reply'd the other why they should not be at our Mercy as well as we
irritated as to Dissolve them whereat they were so far from being concerned as to stand in defiance thereof and indeed it seem'd to put them into their proper Post now it was right down opposition Treason all over and having none to curb them could the more confidently proceed to condemn all the Assemblies had been for 40 years before as prelimited and not Free Episcopacy to be sure must be declar'd unlawful with the like fate to the Service-Book Canons High-Commission and Articles of Perth They appointed the Covenant to be taken by all under Excommunication and then proceeded to the Process of the Bishop's notwithstanding their Declinator wherein being both Iudges and Parties they could not fail to carry all according to their Arbitrary Factious Wills Thus with three or four peremptory Votes they totally Abolished so far as power without Right can go whatever the Wisdom Prudence and Piety of Two Kings with all the sensible good men of the Nation had been for Fifty or Threescore years Establishing From this motly Assembly Ludlow proceeds and tells us That being inform'd the King was preparing an Army to compell them to obedience they agreed upon the raising some Forces to defend themselves And could they expect otherwise after such an ungrateful aswell as undutifull procedure yet notwithstanding they were always afore-hand with the King conscious of what they deserv'd provided accordingly Levy'd Forces impos'd Taxes block'd up his Majesty's Castles rais'd Fortifications c. whilst with specious pretences and Protestations they kept him in suspence though at last he could not but see into and thorough such Villanous Hypocrisies and betake himself to the Ratio Ultima Regum for which however Ludlow would have it a Bellum Episcopale the Clergy's War he had the greatest provocation upon the Civil the Temporal account that ever any Prince met withall indeed they were both intermixed and both superlatively Base take some of them as followeth 1. He could not endure that the Usurpations of an Ecclesiastical Assembly should abolish Acts of Parliament which strikes at the Foundation of Monarchy and indeed all other Government 2. To secure the three Estates of Parliament that one of them might not be destroy'd without his and the Parliaments consent 3. To punish such as have impos'd Taxes raised Forts Levied men and Arms c. all which by the Laws of the Kingdom are Acts of High Treason and Rebellion 4. To repress the Insolent Protestations of his Subjects against himself his Council Iudges Laws the constant practise of the Covenanters 5. To punish the ringleaders of Rebellion who have abused his Subjects by imposing upon them a Covenant and mutual Bond of Defence against his Majesties Person and without his consent contrary to the Laws of the Kingdom 6. To punish such as under the name of Tables or a Committee of the General Assembly shall presume to sit without his consent to order Affairs of Church and State refusing when questioned the Authority of his Majesty Council or Iudges and appealing to a General Assembly Blasphemously calling it Christ's own immediate Council and claiming a Sovereign Independency from King Council Iudges and Parliament These are some of the Reasons his Majesty himself gives for that unwilling War these furious Zealots forc'd him upon That the Clergy of England were not wanting to promote the New-Levies as Ludlow saith is true but That they were the principal Authors and Fomentors of the Troubles is absolutely False as likewise That what the Nobility and Gentry did was rather out of complement than affection to the design there was a party indeed whom the Scotch had Bit and made as Mad as themselves but all men of sound Prinples and sober judgments foresaw that the neighbour Kingdom being on Fire if good care were not taken to quench it ours might shortly catch the Flame and both be consumed together contributed with all the alacrity and satisfaction imaginable neither had there ever appear'd upon those Borders a braver Army or more resolutely bent to beat the Scotch into better manners whatever Arts were us'd to affright and intimidate them for those of that Nation in his own Family did him more mischief than the whole Covenanters Army by betraying his Counsels misrepresenting their strength and more especially letting him know how averse his Majesty was to come to the extremity otherwise his Army wanted neither power nor will at one single blow to have decided that dispute which afterward cost so many and to very little purpose 't is said that when the old Arch-bishop of St. Andrews who knew his Country-men aswell perhaps better than most others came to take his leave of his King at his setting forward to the North desired leave to give his Majesty three Advertisments before his going First that he would suffer none of the Scotch Nation to remain in his Army assuring him that they would never fight against their Country-men but rather hazard the whole by their Tergiversation The Second was That he should make a Catalogue of all his Counsellors Officers of Household and Domestick Servants expunging every one of the Scotch Nation beginning with the Bishop himself by which means he could not be accused of Partiality when a person who had served him and his Father above Sixty Years so Faithfully appear'd in the Front A third was that be must not think to win upon them by condescentions the sweetness of his disposition or Acts of Grace but resolve to reduce them to their duty by such ways of Power as God had put into his hands Thus far that wise experienced Person and his Majesty not following such wholesome advice I take to be the Origin of all his following Troubles and Ruine for the Scotch taking him now to be in good earnest and knowing how ill provided they were to make opposition having not above 3000 compleat Arms amongst them whatever flourishes those false Lowns their Countrymen made both in Court and Camp thought it requisite to divert that approaching danger they had so justly drawn upon themselves and hereupon addressed themselves to the Earl of Essex whom the King had sent before from York to take possession of Berwick to him they complained of some of their own Countrymen who had provoked the King against them protesting still their own Innocency Loyalty to the King and Affection to the English requesting him to procure a Pacification by any means whatsoever which should be thought expedient on both sides the like Address they made to the Earl of Arundel General c. Earl of Holland Lieftenant General of the Horse in whom they had a more than ordinary confidence as knowing how well that whole Family was affected to their Covenant cause and therefore not only justified themselves in their former proceedings but requested his assistance to promote their desires in a Petition tendred to his Majesty's hands By these and such-like sly Addresses his Majesty's good nature was too easily wrought upon to comply and
Prosecutions this might have done something towards an Expiation and put away the Guilt of Innocent Blood amongst us by neglect whereof to return the Text upon Ludlow and his Party 't is to be feared the Land still continues defiled therewith And next to this of Blood-guiltiness give me leave to add my Suspition that we have another deep Arrear for their gross Abuse and Profanation of Scripture whereof our Author hath given an exact Specimen in the two foremention'd Texts although he is very sparing in comparison with his Fellow-Rebels especially the violent Pulpit-Drivers who studied nothing so much as to pervert it and that not only to their own but the whole Nations destruction Curse ye Meroz c. did more Mischief than all the Trumpets in the Army and made as loud a Noise and their numberless Fast-Sermons were but a wresting so many Texts to Sedition and Treason In the same manner likewise they manag'd Controversies All Church-Government must be fram'd according to the new-fangled Conceits of their Geneva Rabbies though the continued Sense and Practice of Antiquity speak the quite contrary And because the Doctrine of Obedience is so expresly laid down in 13th to the Romans and elsewhere they hammer'd out this Impudent Evasion that the Apostles deliver'd what the Circumstances they lay under forc'd them unto not having Strength to make Opposition otherwise might have been as very Rebels as themselves In the mean while the AEquivocal Sense of our English word Power was thought to give them so great a Latitude as they might submit to whatever came uppermost and if you urg'd them with the different Acceptations of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original 't was Heathen Greek to them the Language of the Beast and ought not to restrain the Liberty of their perverse Spirits neither are such Prejudices altogether laid aside but seem rather to be assum'd afresh too many of our present Divines being very backward to consider those two Words themselves or attend to the Information of others and yet a very nice Case depends thereupon But commend me to our Modern Commonwealth's Men who finding with how ill Success their Predecessors made use of Scripture have taken a much shorter Cut set up for Theists or Atheists and thereby supersede all Authority from thence What he relates as to the Treaty in the Isle of Wight is a barefac'd discovery of their Design that having got the King there with the Parliament and City under their Lash they were now resolv'd to kill and take Possession his Majesty therefore is no more caress'd by the Army Sir Barkly's cold Entertainment from the Officers at Windsor was a full discovery of what they all along had in purpose Yet since he takes no Notice of the King's Deportment in that grand Affair but represents their Jealousies of him according to the Guilt of their own just Deservings I shall take leave to observe that never any Prince strugled with so many different and violent Interests as this good Man at that Treaty nor deported himself with greater Honor Iudgment and Discretion The Presbyterian Iunto in the House tho sensible of that deplorable Condition they had brought both King and Kingdom into yet stood so stifly upon their first Propositions as their Commissioners were not allow'd to recede one Ace from them The Scotch likewise stood by rather to serve themselves than him and observe how they should next play their Game for now every Eye could discover whatever Protestations they made Mony and Covenant was the only Diana they contended for The Independent Party in the House tho out-Voted as to the Treaty yet were able to start so many Scruples Restrictions and Delays as might baffle much sincerer Intentions than appear'd in their Opponents Yet contrary to all their Expectations the King in his own Person manag'd the whole Debate with such incredible Prudence found out such Temperaments for their harshest Demands and made such Concessions with a reserve both of Honor and Conscience as astonish'd them all and wrought a full Conviction in such as had any Reserve even of Humanity left in their Breasts One Passage I must needs relate from our Author whereby we may guess at his and all his Complices Ingenuity he saith when some Commissioners who had been with the King pleaded in the House for a Concurrence with him c. p. 268. Sir Henry Vane oppos'd it and inveigh'd against the King in his Reasons against it concluding that if they should accept of these Terms without consent of the Army it would prove but a Feather in their Caps And yet this base Fellow Vane perswaded the King at the Isle of Wight not to be too prodigal of his Concessions that he had already yielded more than 't was fit for him to give or them to ask and undertook to make it evident to the whole World How could any Prince or indeed other Person of a steady Virtue and undesigning Integrity deal with such Proteus's as these Quo teneam nodo What Hold can be laid on them What escape from so damn'd a Perfidy All which his Majesty at that time fully discover'd that tho' some were of a sensible Complyance yet those of most Power were most obstinate intended nothing less than Peace nor could they more than his Destruction The breaking off that Treaty by the Army their Force upon his Majesty there bringing him from thence to London with the Hellish Pageantry of his Tryal was insult enough for our Author 's bloody Mind to relate Matter of Fact in Common with others and is too Melancholy a Subject for me to repeat Only what he saith as to Bishop Iuxton must be all his own and probably invented to be reveng'd on him and the King because his Majesty he saith and I believe truly refused such Ministers as their Court of Injustice had appointed to attend him amongst whom that unhallowed Buffoon Peters was one and the rest had been all most violent Fire-brands of Rebellion and therein of his Murder At last therefore tho' with some Reluctancy and I doubt not but with Ludlow's Negative it was granted that Bishop Iuxton should be permitted to attend his King and Master in this his Translation from a Temporal to an Eternal Crown and though doubtless it was with unexpressable Regret as to the manner of his Departure that he was put upon these holy Offices yet that he should declare himself altogether unprepar'd or complain for want of warning as having nothing ready is a true Piece of Fanatick Wit that is a snarling Reflection without any Truth at the Bottom or Ingenuity in the Expression as no Man approv'd himself more Eminent both for Parts and Integrity than this worthy Prelate in those several Publick Trusts Ecclesiastical and Civil committed to his Care so his Piety and exact Understanding in all Religious Rites qualified him for the most devout Performance of all holy Duties With like Rudeness and