own Notice that Libels were not only the Fore-runners but in a high Degree the Causes of our late Troubles and what were the frequent open and licentious Discourses of Cloak-men in Pulpits but the ill-boding Play of Porpisces before a Tempest We may remember also the false News of Plots agninst the Religion and Liberties of the Nation and how the King was charg'd as an Abetter of the Design We may remember likewise how the Irish Blood was cast upon the Account of his late Sacred Majesty even by Those men whose guilty Souls are to Reckon with Divine Justice for every Drop of it Neither have we forgotten with what Care and Diligence these Falshoods were dispers'd with what Greediness they were swallow'd nor what ensu'd upon it If we look well about us we may find this Kingdom at this Instant labouring under the same Distempers the Press as busie and as bold Sermons as factious Pamphlets as seditious the Government defam'd The Lectures of the Faction are throng'd with pretended Converts and scandalous Reports against the King and State are as currant now as they were twenty years ago These were ill Tokens then and do they signifie just nothing now What means all This but the new Christening of the Old Cause the doing over again of the Prologue to the last Tragedy Sir Francis Bacon proceeds That Disputing Excusing Cavelling upon Mandates and Directions is a kind of shaking off the Yoak and Assay of Disobedience especially if in those Disputings they which are for the Direction speak fearfully and tenderly and those that are against it audaciously Herein is judiciously expressed the Motion or Gradation from Duty to Disobedience The first step is to Dispute as who should say I will if I may The very Doubt of Obeying subjects the Authority to a Question and gives a dangerous Hint to the People That Kings are accountable to their Subjects To Excuse is a Degree worse for that 's no other than a Refusal of Obedience in a Tacit Regard either of an unjust Command or of an unlawful Power To cavil at the Mandates of a Prince is an express Affront to his Dignity and within one Remove of Violence Through these Degrees and slidings from Bad to Worse from one Wickedness to Another our late Reformers Travel'd the whole Scale of Treason as the Scene chang'd shifting their Habits till at last quitting the Disguise of the Kings Loyal Subjects they became his Murtherers What 's more familiar at this Day than disputing His Majesties Orders disobeying his Proclamations and vilifying Acts of Parliament Whereof there are so many and so Audacious Instances it shall suffice to have made this General mention of them Another Observation is that When Discords and Quarrels and Factions are carried openly and audaciously it is a Sign the Reverence of Government is lost This was the temper of that Juncture when the Schismatical Part of the two Houses and the Tumultuary Rabble joyn'd their Interests against Bishops and the Earl of Strafford which Insolence was but a Prelude to the succeeding Rebellion And are not Factions carried Openly and Audaciously now when the Promoters and Iustifiers of the Murther of the late King are still continued publick Preachers without the least pretence to a Retraction Dictating still by Gestures Shrugs and Signs That Treason to their Auditory which they dare not Vtter What are their Sermons but Declamations against Bishops Their Covenant-keeping Exhortations but the contempt of an establish'd Law How it comes to pass Heaven knows but These Honest Fellows can come off for Printing and publishing down-right Treason when I have much ado to scape for Telling of it Whither these Liberties tend let any Man look over his shoulder and satisfie himself When any of the Four Pillars of Government are mainly shaken or weakened which are Religion Iustice Counsel and Treasure Men had need to pray for fair weather To speak only of the last The want of Treasure was the Ruine of the late King Through which defect his Officers were expos'd to be Corrupted his Counsels to be Betray'd his Armies to be ill pay'd and consequently not well Disciplin'd Briefly where a Prince is Poor and a Faction Rich the Purse is in the wrong Pocket Multis little Bellum is an assured and infallible Sign of a State disposed to Seditions and Troubles and it must needs be that where War seems the Interest of a People it should be likewise the Inclination of them Touching the General Matter Motives and Prognosticks of Sedition enough is said We 'l now enquire into the special cause of the late Rebellion CAP. III. The True Cause of the late War was AMBITION THE True Cause of the late War was Ambition which being lodg'd in a confederate Cabale of Scotch and English drew the corrupted Interests of both Kingdoms into the Conspiracy to wit the factious covetous Malecontents Criminals Debters and finally all sorts of men whose crimes necessities or passions might be secur'd reliev'd or gratifi'd by a change of Government To these were joyn'd the credulous weak Multitude the clamour being Religion Law and Liberty And here 's the summ of the Design Pretence and Party This League we may presume was perfected in 1637. First from the Kings Charge of High-Treason against Kimbolton and the Five Members Secondly from the correspondent practices in both Nations appearing manifestly about that time Next 't is remarkable that the English pardon has a Retrospect to the beginning of the Scotch Tumults Ian. 1. 1637. Three Years before the meeting of the Long Parliament which Provision seems to intimate That Conspiracy And now the Poyson begins to work Upon the 23 of Iuly in the same Year according to a publique Warning given the Sunday before the Dean of Edinburgh began to read the Service-Book in the Church of Saint Giles whereupon ensued so horrid a Tumult that the Bishop was like to have been Murder'd in the Pulpit and after Sermon scaped narrowly with his Life to his Lodgings The particular recital of their following Insolencies upon the Bishop of Galloway the Earls of Traquair and Wigton the besieging of the Council-House and contempts of the Council their audacious Petitions against the Service-Book and Cannons I shall pass over as not belonging to my purpose Upon the 19 of Febru following a Proclamation was publish'd against their Seditious Meetings which they encounter with an Antiprotest and presently erect their publick Tables of Advice and Counsel for Ordering the Affairs of the Kingdom The Method whereof was This. Four principal Tables they had One of the Nobility a Second of the Gentry a Third of the Burroughs a Fourth of Ministers And these Four were to prepare Matters for the General Table which consisted of Commissioners chosen out of the Rest. The first Act of this General Table was their Solemn Covenant a Contrivance principally promoted by persons formerly engaged in a Conspiracy against the King and among others by the
Lord Balmerino a Pardon'd Traytor and the Son of One. His Father had been a Favourite and principal Secretary to King Iames and rais'd by him out of Nothing to his Estate and Dignity Yet was this Thankless Wretch Arraign'd for and Attainted of High-Treason and after Sentence to be Drawn Hang'd and Quarter'd he was by the Kings Mercy pardon'd and restor'd Another eminent Covenanter was the Earl of Arguile of whom Walker gives this Accompt He brought his Father to a pension outed his Brother of his Estate Kintyre ruin'd his Sisters by cheating them of their portions and so enforcing them into Cloysters It must needs be a Conscientious Design with such Saints as These in the Head of it This Covenant was effectually no other then a Rebellious Vow to oppose the Kings Authority and Iustifie Themselves in the exercise of the Soveraign power which they assum'd to a degree even beyond the claim of Majesty it self pleading the Obligation of the Covenant to all their Vsurpations They Levyed Men and Moneys Seiz'd the Kings Magazines and strong Holds Rais'd Forts Begirt his Castles Affronted his Majesties Proclamations Summon'd Assemblies Proclaim'd Fasts Deprived and Excommunicated Bishops Abolish'd Episcopacy Issued out Warrants to choose Parliament-Commissioners Renounced the Kings Supream Authority Trampled upon Acts of Parliament pressing their Covenant upon the Privy-Council They gave the last Appeal to 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 within 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 the Incroachments 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 Insolencies against the Government committed and authorized 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 Ianuary 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 Resolved 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 justified by an ensuing Vote and his Majesty proclaiming him Traytor for it was Voted a Breach of Priviledge In May they pretended Governour of Hull sends out Warrants to raise the Trained Bands and the King then at York forbids them moving the County for a Regiment of the Trained Foot and a Troop of Horse for the Guard of his Royal Person Whereupon it was Voted That the King seduced by wicked Counsel intended to make a War against his Parliament and that whosoever shall assist him were Traytors They proceeded then to corrupt and displace divers of his Servants forbidding others to go to him They stop and seise 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 Soveraign Power resides in Both Houses of Parliament The King hath no Negative Voice The levying of War against the Personal commands of the King though accompanied with his Presence is not a levying of War against the King but a levying War against his Laws and Authority which they have power to declare is levying War 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 Power by an absurd illegal and impious severing of the King's Person from his Office their next work is to put Those Powers in execution and to subject the Sacred Authority of a lawful Monarch to the Ridiculous and Monstrous Pageantry of a Headless Parliament And That 's the Business of the 19 Propositions demanding That the great Affairs of the Kingdom and Militia may be managed by Consent and Approbation of Parliament all the great Affairs of State Privy-Council Ambassadors and Ministers of State and Judges be chosen by Teem that the Goverment Education and Marriage of the King's 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 Laws 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 Councel and that no Act of State may be esteemed of any validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority without Them Upon these Tearms they insisted and Rais'd a War 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 use to compass it The
A MEMENTO TREATING OF THE Rise Progress and Remedies of SEDITIONS WITH SOME Historical Reflections UPON THE SERIES of Our late Troubles By Roger L'Estrange THE SECOND EDITION Printed in the Year 1642 and now Reprinted for Ioanna Brome at the GVN at the West-end of St. Pauls MDCLXXXII A MEMENTO CAP. I. THE Matter and Causes OF SEDITIONS THE Matter of Seditions according to Sir Francis Bacon whose words and Authority I shall often make use of in this little Treatise is of two kinds much Poverty and much Discontentment The Causes and Motives of Seditions he reckons to be these Innovation in Religion Taxes Alteration of Laws and Customs Breaking of Priviledges General Oppression Advancement of unworthy Persons Strangers Dearths Disbanded Souldiers Factions grown desperate And whatsoever in offending People joyneth and knitteth them in a Common Cause These Inconveniences either seasonably discover'd colourably pretended or secretly promoted are sufficient to the foundation of a Civil War In which Negative and dividing Politicks none better understood themselves than the Contrivers of our late Troubles not only improving and fomenting Discontentments where they found them and creating violent Iealousies where there was but any place to imagine them but they themselves were the greatest Gainers even by those Grievances against which they complained Reaping a double Benefit first from the Occasion of the Difference and then from the Issue of it When a seditious Humour is once mov'd the best Remedy is to cut off the Spring that feeds it by pleasing all sorts of People so far as possible and by disobliging none but upon Necessity Which publick tenderness must be so managed that the Majesty of the Prince be not lost in the Goodness of the Person for nothing can be more Dangerous to a Monarch than so to over-court the Love of his People as to lose their Respect or to suffer them to impute that to his Easiness which ought to be ascrib'd purely to his Generosity Offences of that daring and unthankful quality can scarce be pardon'd without some hazard to the Authority that remits them Secret Contempts being much more fatal to Kings than publick and audacious Malice the latter commonly spending it self in a particular and fruitless Malignity toward the Person and that with Terrour too as being secur'd under a thousand Guards of Majesty and Power whereas the Other privily taints the whole Mass of the People with a Mutinous Leaven giving Boldness to contrive Courage to execute and if the Plot miscarries there 's the Hope of Mercy to ballance the peril of the Vndertaking For a Conclusion of this Point He that but thinks Irreverently of his Prince Deposes him Concerning the Materials of Sedition viz. Poverty and Discontentment it would be endless to dissolve these General Hâ—oâ—s into Particular Rules the best Advise in this Case must be General too that is to endeavour to remove whatever Causes them referring the Particulars to Counsel and Occasion 'T is very well observ'd by the Lord St. Albans touching Poverty So many overthrown Estates so many Votes for Troubles and if this Poverty and broken Estate in the better sort be joyn'd with a Want and Necessity in the mean people the Danger is Great and Imminent Which to prevent Above all things says the same Author good Policy is to be used that the Treasure and Moneys in a State be not gathered into few hands for otherwise a State may have a great Stock and yet starve And Money is like Muck not good except it be spread And again A numerous Nobility causeth Poverty and Inconvenience in a State for it is a Surcharge of Expence As to the Seeds of Discontentments they are as various as the Humours they encounter dependent many times upon Opinion and inconsiderable in themselves however Notorious in their Effects Touching the Discontentments themselves it is the Advice of the Lord Verulam That no Prince measure the Danger of them by this Whether they be Iust or Vnjust for that were to imagine people to be too reasonable Nor yet by this whether the Griefs whereupon they rise be in Fact great or small for they are the most dangerous where the Fear is greater than the Feeling Such were those furious and implacable Iealousies that started the late War which doubtless may more properly be accounted among the Dotages of a Disease or the Illusions of a dark Melancholy than the deliberate Operations of a sober Reason Proceed we now from the Matter and more remote Causes of Seditions to the Approaches and Prognosticks of them CAP. II. The Tokens and Prognosticks of Sedition IT is in many Cases with Bodies Politick as it is with Natural Bodies both perish by delaying till the Distemper be grown too strong for the Medicine Whereas by watching over and applying to the first Indispositions of the Patient how easie is the Remedy of a Disease which in one day more perhaps becomes Incurable Some take it for a point of Bravery not to own any Danger at a distance lest they should seem to fear it Others are too short-sighted to discern it So that betwixt the Rash and the Stupid a large proportion in 〈…〉 of the World we are past the help of Physick 〈…〉 can perswade our selves we need it Dangers says the Incomparable Bacon are no more light if they once seem light and more dangers have deceived Men than 〈◊〉 them Nay it were better to meet some Dangers half-way though they come nothing near than to keep too long a Watch upon their Approaches for if a man watch too long it is odds he will fall asleep Neither let any man measure the Quality of the Danger by that of the Offender For again 't is the Matter not the Person that is to be consider'd Treason is contagious and a Rascal may bring the Plague into the City as well as a great Man I do the rather press this Caution because Security was the Fault of those to whom I direct it But what avails it to be wary of Dangers without the skill and providence to fore-see and prevent them Or what hinders us from the fore-knowledge of those Effects to which we are led by a most evident and certain train of Causes States have their Maladies as well as Persons and those ill habits have their peculiar Accidents and Affections their proper Issues and Prognosticks upon the true judgment of which Circumstances depends the Life and Safety of the Publick Not to play the fool with an Allegory Be it our care to observe the Gathering of the Clouds before they are wrought into a Storm Among the Presages of foul Weather the Lord St. Albans reckons Libels and licentious Discourses against the Government when they are frequent and open and in like sort false news often running up and down and hastily imbraced to the disadvantage of the State We need not run beyond our Memories to agree this Point it being within the Ken of our
Faction of the Two Houses Publish'd a Protestation which was but a Gentle slip into the Prerogative Royal to try their Interest and by degrees to inure the People to their intended and succeeding Usurpations Some four or five days after were signed those Two Fatal Bills for the Death of the Earl of Strafford and the Perpetuity of the Parliament And having now gain'd leave to sit as long as they please they have little futther to ask but that they may likewise do what they list Where Loyalty was made a Crime 't was fit Rebellion should pass for a Vertue Upon which suitable equity the Scots were Justified and Voted our Dear Brethren 300000 l. in Iune 1641 and Six-score thousand more in August following and so we Parted In this Perplexity of Affairs the King takes a Journey into Scotland it possible to secure an Interest there but the Conspiracy was gone too far to be composed by Gentleness Upon his Majesties Departure the Houses Adjourn and during the Recess appoint a standing Committee and They forsooth must have a Guard for fear of their own Shadows In which Interval of the King's Absence the Usurpers lost no time as appear'd by their readiness to Entertain him at his Return When the first Present they made his Majesty was the Petition and Remonstrance of December 15 which I cannot think upon but that Text comes into my mind of Mark 15.18 Hail King of the Iews and they smote him on the head with a Reed and spate upon him and bowed the head and did him reverence This Impious Libel was seconded with an Audacious Tumult even at the Gates of the King's Palace and it was now high time for his Majesty to enquire into the Contrivers and Abettors 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 Soveraignty and to improve a loose and popular Sedition into a Regular Rebellion Which was a little hastned to even beside the Terms of Ordinary Prudence to implunge their Complices beyond Retreat before they should discern that hideous Gulf 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 pre-judging and distemper'd People These were the means and steps by which they gain'd that Power which afterward they Employed in Opposition to those very ends for which they sware they Rais'd it leaving us neither Church nor King nor Law nor Parliaments nor Properties nor Freedoms Behold the Blessed Reformation Wee 'l slip the War 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 Blood and Treason maintain'd by Tyranny the Object of a General Curse and Horrour both of God and Nature only Vnited 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 stop Vsurpers are not rais'd by Miracle nor cast down by Thunder but by our Crimes or Follies they are Exalted and Then by the Fatuity 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 Vs The Presbyterians having first asserted the Peoples Cause against the Prerogative and attempting afterwards to Establish Themselves by using Pregogative-Arguments against the People found it a harder matter to Erect an Aristocracy upon a Popular Foundation than to subvert a Monarchy upon a Popular Pretence or to dispose the Multitude whom they themselves had Declar'd to be the Supream Power to lay down their Authority at the Feet of their Servants In fine they had great Difficulties to struggle with and more than 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 Rebound of their own Reasonings they Quitted to the Independent Thus departed the Formal Bauble Presbytery succeeded for the next Four years by the Phanaticism 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 compleat their Tyranny over the Kings Best Subjects and their Vsurpations 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 Betwixt these Rival States pass'd Six Encounters in 1652. most of them Fierce and Bloody 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 rais'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 Delays by Cromwell who with his Officers a while after Summon a new Representative and Constitute a new Counsel 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 Marriages was Theirs they pass'd likewise an Act for an Assessment 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
and Folly Two of these Fellows Pride and Berkstead quarrell'd upon the Bench at Hicks his Hall about the meaning of the PREAMBLE that went AFTER The Commons though a little late resented the Indignity of Truckling under such Cattell and not enduring an Vpper-House so like a Bear-Garden they presenly took in their formerly Secluded Fellowes and fell to work upon the Authority of That New Creation not sparing His that Plac'd them there This course would soon have bred ill blood and Cromwell after 15 Dayes tryal of their Humour did Prudently Dissolve them From that Degree of Confidence to Fall beyond Ressource and from That point of Power to become Ridiculous did but demonstrate to him the Vanity of his Ambitious Hopes and that he aim'd at Things Impossible Of all the Cross-Encounters of his life This sank the Deepest and the Impression of That Anguish went with him to his Grave as may be fairly Gather'd from the wild disproportion of his following Actions which well consider'd will appear rather the Products of Revenge Rage and Despair then the form'd Regular Politicks of his wonted Reason Yet that he might not seem to abandon the persuit and utterly despond some Five weeks after the breaking up of the late Assembly The Major of London and his Brethren were summon'd to White-Hall and there March 2. 1658. the Citts are told a Formal Tale of the King of Scots 8000 Men in Readiness and 22 Vessels to Transport them A General Plot The City to be fired and twenty Terrible Things to start and Settle a New Militia which in some Six weeks time was perfected And Now from all Parts are to be procur'd Addresses which are no other then Leagues Offensive and Defensive Betwixt the Faction and the Vsurper Sweet London leads the way Then Michell's Ashfields Cobbetts Regiments The Officers of the English-Army and the Commission-Officers in Flanders All these in March In April the Officers of Biscoes Regiment and the Commission Officers of the Militia in Suffolk Leicester Sussex and my Country-men of Norwich After These follow the Souldiery of South-Wales and Daniels Regiment The Well-affected of Nottingham c. These Numerous and Pretending Applications were but False Glosses upon his Power and Cromwell was too wise to think them Other Gain'd by Contrivement Force or at least Importunity Half a Score pitifull wretches call themselves the People of such or such a County and here 's the Totall of the Reckoning 'T is Rumour'd that his Daughter Cleypoole in the Agonies of her Death-Sickness rang him a Peal that troubled him Whether 't were so or no 't is past Dispute his Grand Distress was for the Loss of That which while he hop'd to gain made the most horrid of his helpfull Sins seem Solaces and Pleasures While by the Artifice of These Addresses his broken Interest is pieced as Fair as well it may his Care is Divided between the engaging of One Party and the Destroying of Another And under the Masque of a pressing and Pious Necessity he breaks out into such Enormous Cruelties such Wanton and Conceited Butcheries that had not his Brain been Crackt as well as his Conscience Sear'd he would not have gone so Phantastical a way to the Devill Some of the Martyrs Hearts were quick and Springing in the Fire as I had it from several Eye-Witnesses Ashton did but desire to be Beheaded and it was seemingly Granted but the Order kept till 't was too late and Then tendered with a Ieere London was made the Altar for These Burnt Offerings God grant That City be not at last purg'd by Fire I mean before the General Confiagration for Those Polluting Flames The Crime was Loyalty and made out against them more by the doubling Artifice of Mercenary Tongues than any Pregnancy of Proofes What could This Furious and Inhumane Rigour avail That miserable Politician further then as it Gratifi'd his Malice and Revenge for his Lost Hopes and Fortunes Without a Paraâ—â—ment or somewhat like one he Perishes for want of Mony and an Assembly to his mind throughout he utterly despairs of so that no Remedy remains but by extremities of Violence and Bloud to do his Business And to That end he faintly labours the new Modelling of his Army a way which he had found by Long Experience made Enemies as well as Friends Those certain and Implacable These prone to change their Interest and without Mony True to None In fine his Fate was Irresistible and his Tormented Soul Inconsolable He Sinks Sickens and Dies Upon the Day of his grand Anniversary for Dunbar and Worcester Sept. 3. The Night before his Death arose a Tempest that seem'd to signifie the Prince of the Ayre had some great work in hand and 't is Remarkable that during his Vsurpation scarce any Eminent Action passed without a furious Storm I have drawn This Chapter to a length beyond my intention and should be too too Tedious to run through all his Wiles which were No other than an Habitual Craft diffused throughout the entire Course of his Tyranny But certain General rules he impos'd upon himself which must not be omitted One was to Buy Intelligence at any Rate by That means making every Plot bear it 's own Charges 2. Never to Engage Two Parties at once but to Flatter and Formalize with the One till he Ruin'd the Other Which was the Reason that he durst never make the Presbyterians Desperate for fear of Necessitating them to side with the King 3. To extirpate the Royallists by all possible means as Poverty Bondage Executions Transplantations and a Devise he had to dispose of several Levies out of That Party Some to serve the Spaniard Others the French that they might be sure to meet in Opposition and cut One the Others Throats 4. He ever made his Army his own Particular Care 5. To keep the Nation in a perpetual Hatred and Iealousie of the Kings Party which he promoted either by forging of Plots or Procuring Them So much for Olivers Temper Straights and Politicks CAP. VII A short Account from the Death of the Tyrant Oliver to the Return of Charles the Second whom God Preserve from his Fathers Enemies THe Heart of the Cause was broken long since and now the Soul of it is gone though the Protectorate be formally devolv'd to Richard as the Declar'd Successour to his Father Whether Declar'd or not was I remember at That time a Question But whether Thus or So it Matters not Oliver is Dead his Son Proclaim'd and at night Bon-fires with all the Clamor Bustle and Confusion that commonly attends those Vulgar Jollities The Souldiers took the Alarm and in my hearing threatned divers for daring to express their Joy so unseasonably but they came off with telling them that they were glad they had got a New Protector not that they had lost the Old In Truth the New Protector was look'd upon as a Person more Inclinable to do Good than
Preaching Ministry 8. The Reformation of Schools and Vniversities 9. The Exclusion of Cavaliers and loose Persons from Places of Power or Trust. 10. The Employment of the Godly in such Places 11. To provide for a Succession of the Legislative Authority 12. That Charles Fleetwood be Commander in Chief at Land 13. That the Legislative Power be in a Representative of the People and of a Select Senate Coordinate in Power 14. That the Executive-Power be in a Counsell of State 15. That the Debts of his Late Highness and his Father contracted since Decemb. 15. 1653. may be satisfi'd and Twenty Thousand Pounds per Annum setled upon him half for Life and half to him and his Heirs for ever The Principal point was Fleetwoods Command which they agreed to only reserving the Supreme Power to Themselves and constituting the Speaker Generalissimo in the Name of the Pariament which wariness shewed that they understood one-another For a while the Iuncto treated the Army like Apes with a Bit and a Knock Flattering some and Removing others as they saw expedient Particularly the Two Sons of the Late Usurper were fairly laid aside Submitting and Resigning in Excellent Form and without making two words on 't The High and Mighty did not all this time forget that the Key of the Work was Money nor in Truth did they well consider that they were call'd back by the Army only to Raise it But On they went through Thick and Thin and such Ignoble sordid Courses they took to Levy it that in Effect to Stop the Souldiers Mouths they brake their own Necks the Nation not enduring any Longer that such a pilfering Covy of Pick-Pockets should call Themselves a Parliament This Universal Hatred and Disdain of their Proceedings provoked a General Seizure of Men Horse and Arms and in Effect the Plot was General but what by Treachery Delays Babling Disappointments and Scruples of taking in the Royal Party by those that never meant His Majesty or his Friends should be the better for 't the whole was Dash'd I well remember one Particular in That Transaction that pass'd my Understanding and Methought smelt of Treason It was extreamly labour'd that the King might be perswaded to come Over and That too before any Port was secured or Men Embodyed on the bare hopes of the Design to engage his Sacred Person After the Cheshire-Rout Lambert Retires to his House at Craven and there 't is thought contrives the Ruine of the Rump Which unforeseeing Creature dreaming of nothing Less flies higher now then ever Imposing upon the House and the Militia an Oath of Abjuration not only Renouncing the Title of Charles Stuart but the whole Line of the Late King Iames And then besides Excise Customs Forfeitures and Confiscations out comes an Assessment of 100000 l. per Mensem They dis-incorporate the City of Chester c. In the Carier of their head-strong and unbridled Fury the first Check they receiv'd was from a Petition and Proposals then on foot in Lamberts Army Whereupon they Order Ashfield Cobbet and Duckenfield Three of the Principal Abettours of it to bring in the Original Paper which was accordingly done and Caus'd this Vote That to have any more General Officers in the Army than are already settled by Parliament is needless chargeable and dangerous to the Common-wealth Upon this Vote the Officers appear'd to acquiesce but Octob. the 5. Matters were re-enforced Disborough presenting the House with a Representation and Petition from the Generall Councell of the Army For which from the Teeth outwards the Officers had Thanks The Conventicle and the Army began now to speak English and the Members seeing their Dissolution at hand however cast This Block in the Armies way Enacting That it should be adjudg'd High-Treason for any Person or Persons after the Eleventh of Octob. 1659. to Raise Monies without the Peoples Consent in Parliament This being passed They Vncommission'd Nine of the Army-Officers to wit Lambert Desborough Berry Kelsey Ashfield Cobbett Creed Packer and Barrow They voyded Fleetwoods Commission also Investing the Command of the Army in Seven Persons himself being one and any Three to be a Quorum Hereupon the House adjourns and Hazelrigg Morly and Walton Three of the Seven repair to the Speakers Chamber forthwith dispatching Orders to Draw their Troops together The Army-Party do the like and March to the Palace-Yard at Westminster their Appointed Rendezvouz where The Two Parties for That Night and part of the next day made Faces at One another and finally the Souldiery dismiss'd the Senate Now was the Government once again in the Army who after Thirteen days deliberation how to bestow it Octob. 26. Disposed of it to a Committee of Safety consisting of 23 Persons Empower'd at Large to advise upon Occasion with the Principal Officers of the Army and within Six-weeks time to bring in a Form of Government Their Reign was short and troublesom as 't is reported Feak told Sir Harry Vane upon his Vnction that his was like to be They make Fleetwood their Commander in Chief and constitute a New Militia Scarce were these Worthies warm in their Seats but the News comes that Scotland's in Disorder and Barwick in a wrong hand Whereupon Lambert marches Northward soon after which comes on a Treaty that gave General Monk now Duke of Albemarle leisure to purge his Army and to put Icotland in a Posture of Security By These Delays and want of Monys Lambert's Army Moulders away and briefly London is left to Thin that Sir Harry Vane's Privy List of Congregationals was the danger they most Apprehended The first step toward their Deliverance was a Petition desiring the Assistance of the Common-Counsell for the Procurement of a Free-Parliament Promoted by the Honest-Part of the City and Cross'd by some Factious Magistrates of the Wallingfort Leaven This Baffle did but more Incense the Petitioners and upon Monday Decemb. 5. Horse and Foot were Commanded into the City to hinder the prosecution of it Where by surprize Hewson the Cobler knocks Two or Three Citizens on the head barbarously wounding and affronting others till at last Multitudes being drawn together and ready to fall in among them where not a Red-Coat could have scap'd without a Miracle the Quarrel forsooth was taken up by some of the Formalities and then excus'd to the Committee of Safety as if the fault had been the Cities The Army had at this time their Guards in Pauls and Gresham-Colledge During these Broyles Hazelrigg Morly and Walton possess themselves of Portsmouth and the Forces employ'd to reduce it joyn with them The Fleet drives the same Interest likewise only the Troops in London were at a stand and fair for any Purchaser but the Opportunity was slipp'd Upon the 26. of Decemb. the Rump sits once again and Empowers Seaven Commissioners or any Three of them to Command the Army Here the Secluded Members of 1648 put in for their Right of Sitting whereupon
and Provincial Governments Call it a Guard still for the very Name of the Other sounds like a Grievance The One supposing only the Peoples Care of their Soveraign the Other intimating the Soveraigns Jealousie of his People Let me not be understood as in allowance of This Over-proportion for such a Guard is but an Army in Disguise There may be Temporary Occasions indeed for Temporary and Extraordinary Levies but the word Temporary is commonly attended with such a Train of Reasons for Perpetuity that if the Occasion be not very Manifest the World is apt to doubt of the Necessity Not that the Generality have any Right to judge of or Debate the Grounds of a Change but I suppose that Their Opinions and After-feelings will not be deny'd to have some Influence upon the Event of it To Conclude That Pince is Great Safe and Happy that Commands by his Armes Abroad and Governs by his Laws at Home The Apprehension of Conspiracies and Plots in my opinion weighs not much or if there be any danger the failing is rather in the Constitution or Administration then in the want of Power to keep the People quiet Good Laws and Good Officers will do the Business without an Army and if the Instruments be bad The Hazzard's Ten times greater with it It will be needful here for the Clearing of the Question to make a Particular Enquiry concerning Seditions and that 's the Point we 'l handle in the Next Chapter which for Order sake we shall divide into Seven Sections with their Subdivisions as occasion shall require CAP. IX Of Seditions in Particular and shewing in what manner they arise from These Seven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative IN the first Chapter of this Tract we have touch'd upon the Matter and Causes of Seditions in General We must be now a little more Particular The Scene 's Vtopia and we 'l Divide it into Seaven Interests The Church the Bench the Court the Camp the City the Countrey and the Body Representative the least considerable of which being in any great disorder hazzards the whole and That either by engaging in some Actual Violence against the Government or by some Irregularity of Proceeding that may Provoke or Cause it Of These in their Course and first of the Church § I. Seditions arising from the CHURCH THose Troubles in the State which derive from Distempers in the Church proceed either from Faction Ignorance or Scandal The Strongest Tie upon Reasonable Nature is Conscience and the Stubbornest Consciences are Those that do they know not What they know not Why. In Truth what is Conscience without Vnderstanding but as well-meaning Madness And That 's the Fairest Sense my Charity can afford to the Blind Zeal of a Transported Multitude If Conscience bids them Kill the King Rob the Church and Tear up the Foundations of Both Governments They 'l do it Nay More This has been done and Providence it self Proclaim'd for the Doer of it Great Heed should then be taken what Persons are Entrusted with the Care of Souls since the Consequence of a Factions Preacher and a Mistaken Conscience proves many times the Ruine both of Prince and People Under the Note of Faction I comprize all Opinions delivered Publickly and with Design against the Doctrine Practice or Authority of the Church Reduce it in Short to Haeresie and Schism The former whereof reflecting only upon Matters of Faith concerns rather Religion then Government and lyes beyond the Line of my purpose but in This Place the Latter is the Question and briefly as we may we 'l take a view of the Rise the Method the Design and the Effects of it It is with Church-men as with other Mortals There are of all Sorts Good Bad and Indifferent Some we have known whom neither the Loss of Dignity Fortune Freedom no nor the Loss of Life it self could ever move from the strict Rule of Conscience Magnanimity and Duty Others we have seen to Exercise these Cruelties though Ecclesiasticks themselves upon the Nobler Sort of their own Function And some again we have observ'd to shift with every Turn and Steer by Interest still putting on the Livery of the Prevailing Party Squaring the Rule and Will of Heaven to the Appetites and Passions of Humanity So that upon the whole 't is evident some Clergy-men are Quiet because they have Preferments and Others Troublesom because they want them The Principal Ingredients into Schism are These Ambition Avarice Popularity and Envy The Scope of it is to destroy Authority and advance a Faction Now how to accomplish This is the Great Work for a Rent in the Church signifies nothing without a Sedition in the State and in This manner they proceed First In a Style of Holy Tenderness they slily disaffect the People against the Rights of the Church as in themselves unlawful and utterly Destructive of Christian Liberty To strengthen and advance the Imposture what do they next but rip up all the Failings and shew the Nakedness of their Superiours Still aggravating what they find and creating Scandalous Matter where they want it When the Multitude are once mov'd in Conscience against the Impositions and in Passion against the Imposers their next attempt is upon the Authority and then They divide into Separate Assemblies which under colour of so many Conscientious Dissenters from the Ceremonies of the Church are infallibly so many Contrivers against the Peace of the Kingdom For here comes in the Civil Power to prohibit their Seditious Meetings and Then the Saints they cry are Persecuted The Cause is God's and they are ty'd in Conscience to bind their Kings in Chains and through all Extremities to persue a Reformation This is the Fruit of Tolerating a Faction under a Countenance of Conscience Nor is it any wonder to see those wretches draw their Swords against Their Soveraign in the Field whose Souls are turn'd against him in the Pulpit But 't is Objected that some Ministers do really make a Conscience of Conformity Truly the better for Them if they forbear upon That Accompt but 't is the same thing to the Publick upon what account soever for they Prescribe what they Practise and by the President of Sticking upon a Doubt of Conscience they open a Door to Disobedience upon any Pretence of it breaking the Bond of Vnity in favour of a Particular nicety of Opinion Very notable is The Determination of the Lord St. Albans in This Case In Points Fundamental he that is not with us is against us In Points not Fundamental he that is not against us is with us Let this suffice to shew the Political Inconvenience of Entertaining Schismatical Preachers It may be now a Question How far a Christian Magistrate may justifie the sufferance of any man to exercise the Ministery within his Dominions that 's a profess'd Enemy to Episcopacy Which I Offer with the
fit Modesty of a Proposal and with Reverence to the better enform'd But if as the Danger of such a Mixture is Evident so the Lawfulness of it shall appear doubtfull their own Argument is then turn'd against Themselves and we have both Scripture and Experience on our side over and above The Three Questions wherewith King Charles the Martyr Choak'd the Presbyterian Ministers in the Isle of Wight Remain still Unresolv'd and they are These First Is there any Certain Form of Church Government at all prescrib'd in the World Secondly If there be any Prescript Form Whether or no may the Civil Power Change the same as they see Cause Thirdly If any Prescript Form there be and That unchangeable If it were not Episcopal what was it In Fact the Constant Exercise of Church-Prelacy is so manifest that the whole stream of Story and Tradition Runs Episcopal which to Oppose were to deny the only Means of knowing whether it were so or not Is it the Right they Question Take then the learned Bishop Sanderson's Deduction of it Leaving other men to the liberty of their own Iudgments my opinion is that EPISCOPAL GOVERNMENT is not to be derived meerly from Apostolical Practice or Institution but that it is originally founded in the Person and Office of the Messias our Blessed Lord JESUS CHRIST Who being sent by his Heavenly Father to be the great Apostle HEB. III. 1. Bishop and Pastor 1 PET. II. 25. of his Church and anointed to that Office immediately after his Baptism by JOHN with power and the Holy Ghost ACT. X. 37 8. descending then upon him in a bodily shape LUK. III. 22. did afterwards before his Ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him in like manner as his Father had before sent him JOH XX. 21. to execute the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral Office for the ordering and governing of his Church untill his coming again and so the same Office to continue in them and their Successours unto the end of the World MAT. XXVIII 18 20. Thus far the Reverend Bishop Some will Pretend that This only proves the Authoritative Power they receiv'd by their Mission but no Succession to the Office For That Observe the Mandate Go Teach ALL Nations Personally and Actually they could not do it but in Effect and Virtually 't is out of doubt they did it and How but by their Delegates For otherwise our Saviour Commanded them a Thing Impossible Briefly if the Gospel was to be Preach'd to All Nations which no Christian will deny and if according to the Literal direction of the Order the Gospel could not be Preach'd to all Nations by so few Persons as were Then Commission'd what follows but the Evident Necessity of a Substitution which Delegation being granted clears the Dispute for 't is Indubitable that What Authority soever our Saviour vested the Apostles with the same likewise was from Them transmitted to their Successours Who in the words of his late Sacred Majesty succeed into the same Apostolical Power and Function which the Apostles as Ordinary Pastors had Qui in Dominium alterius succedit Iure ejus uti debet He that succeeds to the Government of another succeeds also to his Rights of Governing And Mark This further that the Apostles Powers and Commissions were granted before the Descent of the Holy Ghost and relating only to matters of Ordinary use and perpetual Establishment in the Church the extraordinary Gifts of the Apostles not at all proving them extraordinary Officers Now how far a Prince may safely either Act or Suffer the violation of a Church-Government of This Authority I am not yet instructed In fine it is most certain that a Divided Clergy makes a Divided Nation and by how much Religion is the fairest of all Pretenses Conscience the deepest of all Impressions Preaching and Praying the most Popular and Publick of all Operations by so much are Disaffected Church-men the most Pernitious and Intolerable of all disloyal Instruments No Calumny being so Plausible as That which drops from the Lips of Persons famous for an External form of Piety No Hypocrites so abominable as Those that Tithe Mint and Cummin and yet neglect Mercy and Iudgment that under colour of long Prayers devour Widows houses c. And no sting so Deadly as That from a Snake in a mans own bosome We have now done with the Schismatick the Active and Industrious promoter of Seditions The Matter he works upon is Scandal either Suppos'd or Real and That comes next In all Invectives against the Church the Scandalous Negligent and Insufficient March hand in hand to which are opposed a Party that stile themselves a Godly Painfull and Able Ministery Thus with the Boasting and Censorious Pharisee does the Proud Schismatick advance himself above his Brethren calling Good Evil and Evil Good imposing equally upon the People by an uncharitable Iudgment and Report on the One side and a fictitious Holiness on the Other Not to excuse all Clergy-men nor to extenuate the Crimes of any of them Iudas his Treason was the Fouler because of his Profession and yet the Eleven were never the worse because of Iudas his Treason We 'l Grant that for a Minister to spend one Hour of the week in a Pulpit and the rest in a Tavern to Undo a good Sermon by an Ill Example and to discredit a Strict Doctrine by a Loose Life is to extinguish the Reverence that is due to the Function and to make Preaching look only like a Politick Ordinance to keep the People in Order Not that the Doctrine is ever the worse for the Person nor the Priesthood the less Venerable for the abuse of it but it ministers matter of Scandal and Exception and with the Simple it passes for an Argument against the Government But as the Habit of Drunkenness and Prophaness in a Church-man is most unsufferable so is it on the other hand a Practice Diabolical to put all their Actions upon the Tent and Skrew up every allowable and social Freedom to the construction of a Scandal As if there were no Medium to be admitted betwixt the Angel and the Brute Are they not Men and equally subjected to Infirmities with other Men 'T is true their Calling is Divine but their Persons are Humane and as much is required in regard of Their Ministery so somewhat also is to be born with in respect of their Humanity Remember there were those that call'd our Saviour himself a Wine-bibber Alas For a Minister to Drink a Glass of Wine in a Tavern is made a mighty business Nay to be only Pleasant and well-humour'd is by some cast in their dish as an Ayre too Light for the Severity of their Profession as if the Messengers of Ioy the bearers of good-tidings to the world were only to be sad Themselves and look as if either They suspected the
Truth of their Errand or their Title to the Benefit of it However since there are Those that will make use of small Occasions to do great Mischiefs It is a Point of Pious Prudence fairly to shun appearances of Scandal but 't is indeed of high and absolute Necessity to Punish or Remove the Scandal it self as That which both provokes a Judgment from Heaven and stirs up the People to execute it Yet let us put some difference betwixt Sins of Appetite and Sense and Sins of Malevolence in the Former a man playes the Beast but in the Latter he playes the Devill I look upon Ignorance also as a Species of Scandal even although in a Good Man for every Good Man makes not a Good Minister nor do I know which is more tolerable Habitual Prophaneness and Sensuality in a Divine or Ignorance in a Teacher the hazzard of False Doctrine or the Influence of an ill Example Touching the Body of the Clergy enough is said to shew the dangerous Effects of Schism and Scandal the One tending Directly to Sedition the Other Consequentially There remains another Stumbling-block and That concerns the Governours of the Church who are commonly charged with Innovations Rigour Pride or Avarice They are capable of All This as they are Men but never the more blameable for a Clamour Levell'd at them as they are Rishops There being great Difference betwixt Personal Reproof and a Factious Confederacy betwixt the seasonable Freedom of Counsel or Reprehension duly Circumstanc'd and the contumacious Insolence of Subjects toward their Superiours In fine a likely Tale does their Feat as well as a certain Truth only they accommodate all their Stories to the Design of over-turning the Government and to the Gust of the Multitude The Sound of Innovations and of Popery in some places goes a great way with the Common People toward a Sedition They Fear they Wish they Love they Hate they know not what and yet against this Terrible Nothing shall they engage their Lives and Fortunes as Zealously as if their Souls lay at Stake and as Ridiculously as if they Phansy'd These same Innovations to be an Army of Flying Dragons and the Pope leading them on upon a Hobby-horse With this Device the Multitude is first startled and then every Bush is a Thief Church-Habits are the Trumpery of Rome Decency is Superstitious Kneeling direct Idolatry And finally to Impose all This is interpreted A violence upon the Consciences of the Godly Thus from the very Method of Agreement is rais'd an Argument for Separation and Christian Liberty is render'd Destructive of Humane Authority Another General Objection among the Prouder Brethren is the Pride of Bishops their Lording it over God's Heritage which through the Person Wounds the Office Incensing the Multitude against the Power it self under pretext of blaming the unlawful Exercise of it Suitable to the Dignity of Bishops and Correspondent to the Duty of them ought to be the Revenue that is sufficient both for Honour and Hospitality in which Particular the Ecclesiastical Patrimony is by some People thought as much too Large as the Iurisdiction and from a false and envious Calculation of Bishops Rents occasion is taken to inveigh against their Avarice exposing them at once both as a Grievance and a Booty Thus like the Devil the Schismatick advances his Kingdom by Slander and thrives by the Sins of the People We have dwelt long upon this Subject of the Church but with the next The Bench we shall be quicker §. II. THE BENCH THe Two main Springs that Move and Govern the Affections of reclaim'd Nature are Conscience and Law By the Former we are oblig'd in relation to our Immortal Beeing and by the Other as Men Link'd in Society Our Priests and Iudges are the Oracles we depend upon for Counsel and Instruction in both these Grand Concerns and if They deceive us what greater Misery can befall a Nation than to have Iuglers and Impostors take up the Bench and Pulpit Cousening the Vulgar with False Weights and Measures of Truth and Reason and uttering their Licentious Prevarications for Law and Gospel In which Case the greater the Modesty and Vertue of the Common-people the greater is the Peril of the Delusion it being their Duty to submit to the Reason of the One and to Believe the Doctrine of the Other without disputing either unless in Matters most Notoriously Repugnant to the Elements of Polity and Religion And he 's not his Crafts-master that cannot give even to the foulest Purpose a Colour fair enough to cheat a Multitude What Wickedness is there for which a corrupt Divine shall not produce a Text and a shifting Lawyer a President But enough is said of the Former and too much in Preface to the Latter Those Faults among the Professors of the Law which frequently cause Seditions although not in Themselves Seditious are Corruption Partiality Oppression Chargeable Delays or in a word the Non-administration of speedy Iustice Whereupon must necessarily ensue Poverty Factions Animosities c. The Consequences are Dangerous likewise of over-straining the Prerogative and so of Depressing it both which may be done either out of Zeal or with Design But be the Intention of the Doer what it will the Effects of the Thing done are Mischievous for it injects Fears and Iealousies of Tyranny on the one side and begets False and bold Opinions and Attempts of Liberty on the other engaging all Humours against the Government whom either the Hopes and Gust of Freedom or the Dread of Oppression can work upon But Personal Vices and Mistakes we may put upon the Roll of Slow Poysons that do the Deed though it be long first There are another sort of Lawyers whose Malice is of a Quicker and Stronger Operation under whose Lips is the poyson of Asps or rather whose Tongues are Daggers turning the Point of Law upon the Law it self wounding the Eagle with a Feather from his own Wing and Stabbing the Persons of Princes with their own Authority These are the Execrable Regicides and the Tumultuary Rabble are but the Ministers of their vile Purposes Alas in Matter of Law by whom should the simple Multitude be directed if not by Lawyers as by Divines in point of Conscience Whether is the greater Offender then that Ignorant Wretch that draws his Sword against his Soveraign on the behalf of Law and Religion as he supposes Or Those Abominable Seducers that by wrested Scriptures pretended Inspirations by misconstruction of Laws misapplying of Presidents Torturing or Embezelling of Records inveigle the Poor Creature into a Good Opinion of so foul an Enterprize What signifies the Event of a Popular Action compared with the deliberate Contrivance Allowance and Direction of it more than the Effect of some dull Passive Instrument employed by such or such an Agent Or if a Prince be Murther'd whether's the more to blame the Axe or the Executioner the Bullet or the Marks-man So
say Divert though to forbear helping the Right or not to hinder the Wrong because of such or such an Interest is but a Negative Oppression Those that are mov'd by Passions from their Duties are not less Culpable than the Rest. For a Good Patriot fears Nothing but to be Dishonest Hates Nothing but Iniquity and knows no other Friend but Iustice. Is any Thing propos'd which to my Reason appears of Dangerous Consequence Vnlawful to my Conscience Dishonourable to my Prince or Country Do I Discharge my Soul to God and to the World in not opposing it because forfooth 't is my Lords Interest or Project Where 't is my Office to withstand a Publick Injury 't is my Act if I suffer it Nor will it serve the turn to say Alas I 'm but one Man what should I struggle for A Noble Truth and Equity though single ought to be maintain'd against the World But very rarely is That the Case for those Particulars that under Colour of this Singleness relinquish and withdraw would in Conjunction cast the Ballance The Question is but This Whether shall I rather venture the Loss of an Office or the Loss of my Country Whether shall I rather disoblige a Powerful Subject or betray my Lawful Prince Whether in fine shall I rather choose Modestly to Oppose a Faction or Tamely to desert my Conscience Some we find Prepossest with Personal Animosities and these Particular Piques are many times the Bane of Publick Designs They do not so much heed the Matter as the Man that Promotes it They are Resolv'd to like Nothing from That Hand and while they are Cavelling about Niceties and Nothings the adverse Party runs away with the Sum of the Contest Another Infelicity is where Elections are Carried by Recommendation Fortune or Affection without any Regard to the Abilities of Persons These are a Dangerous Party and a fit Subject to work upon for being more addicted to follow the Appearances then Capable of Comprehending the Reasons of Things They are not only Liable to fall into Mistakes but Obstinate Maintainers of Them and in all Cases Determinable by Plurality of Voices the Greater Number of Fools weighes down the more Prudentiall Counsels of Fewer wise Men Nay which is most Ridiculous and Miserable but that in Popular Suffrages it must be so His Vote many Times Casts a Kingdom that has not Brain enough to Rule his Private Family Deciding the Question without understanding the Debate We have Prosecuted This Theme of Miscariages far enough From the Discovery our next advance is to the Remedies of them The harder undertaking for Faults are more easily found then mended 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 THe Two main Pillars that support Majesty are Love and Reverence To which are oppos'd as the Foundation of a Prince his Ruin Contempt and Hatred What are Disloyal Actions but the Issue of Disloyal Thoughts Or what are General Tumults but the Rationall Effects of General Discontents The Violent part being no other then the Manifestation of a Treason already Form'd and Perfected in the Affections So that to set the Heart Right is the Prime Duty of a Good Subject and Then to observe the Law for Love of the Authority Kings are first Render'd Odious or Despis'd and in Persuance of Those Passions they come at last to be Dethron'd or Murther'd That is to be Dethron'd or Murther'd Actually for even the first Malitious Motion was Murther in the Heart and betwixt God and our own Souls every Seditious Thought is a Rebellion Although no Prince can be Mighty without the Love of his People or Secure under their Hatred the One being Necessary to his Greatness and the Other Sufficient to his Vndoing yet must we not suppose the Subjects Love more Needfull to their Prince then His to Them since upon His Protection depends Their Welfare no less then upon Their Support His Power Because the Hazard of disuniting is mutuall it must not be suppos'd that it is therefore equal nor that the Crime is so where Tumult and Oppression are the Question They are Both ill but with exceeding odds of worse betwixt them The One does but affront the Mode of Government the Other strikes at Government it self the very Ends and Reason of it Peace Order and Society A Prince without the Hearts of his Subjects is in a bad Condition but he that falls from Hatred to Contempt his Case is Desperate For when they neither Love his Person nor Fear his Power They are both Provok'd to Contrive mischief and Embolden'd to Execute it These are the Generall and Enflaming Grounds of Seditions which may be easily prevented and Cut off in their next Immediate Causes The Difficulty is for a Prince to be Popular without making himself Cheap to Gratifie his People without Derogating from his Authority and so to Comply with the Interest of his Subjects as not to be wanting to the Necessities of his Crown In the Due Temperation of which Mixture Consists in a Great measure the skill of Governing and thereupon depends the Peace and Safety of the Government In all well-ordered Monarchies there are certain Metes and Boundaries that Part the Rights of King and People and These are either Laws or Customs providing for the Common Good and Safety both of the Subject in his Obedience and of the Soveraign in his Authority Let a Prince therefore stick to his Antient-Laws and he may be sure his People will stick to him and more he needs not ask being by Those Laws armed with Power sufficient to the Intent of Government or at the worst if any Defect there be the Fault is imputed to the Constitution and not to the Person There may indeed occur such Cases and Emergencies of Imminent and Publick Danger as being un-foreseen by the Wisdom of former Times are left without a Rule Of These beyond Dispute The only Supream Governour is the only Supream Iudge and under so strict a Necessity he not only may but ought to dispense with Common Formalities in Order both to the Discharge of his Duty and the Welfare of his People His Oath of Protection Implying him Vested with a Power of Protecting and his Conscience as a Governour obliging him to be careful of his Charge The Objection is Frivolous that This Supposition opens a door to Tyranny because that at This Rate a Prince has no more but to pretend a Danger and Then to do what he pleases 'T is very right a Prince may Tyrannize under This Colour but 't is as certain that a People cannot Scruple This Inconvenience without incurring a Greater for 't is an Opinion Destructive of Government it self all Subjects being equally expos'd to the same Hazard under all Governments and it is inevitable that either the King