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england_n	elder_a	king_n	scotland_n	2,503	5	8.8004	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A52748	The case of the Common-wealth of England stated, or, The equity, utility, and necessity of a submission to the present government cleared out of monuments both sacred and civill, against all the scruples and pretences of the opposite parties, viz. royallists, Scots, Presbyterians, Levellers : wherein is discovered severally the vanity of their designes, together with the improbability of their successe and inconveniences which must follow (should either of them take effect) to the extreme prejudice of the nation : two parts : with a discourse of the excellencie of a free-state above a kingly-government / by Marchamont Nedham, Gent.	Nedham, Marchamont, 1620-1678.	1650 (1650)	Wing N377; ESTC R36610	87,941	112

death it turned to the Churches advantage the succeeding Pope seizing upon all as Heire of Borgia's Usurpations founded upon blood and treachery After this Pope succeeded Iulius who finding the Church thus made great the Barons of ●ome quite extinct and their Parties worn out by Alexanders persecutions found also the way open for heaping up moneyes never practised before Alexanders time wherewith acquiring Forces he endeavoured to make himselfe Master also of Bolonia to extinguish the Venetians and chase the French out of Italy in most of which Designes he gained happy successe And thus you see how his Holinesse himselfe came by a Title to his Temporall possessions yet as among the Iewes none but the high Priest might enter the Sanctum Sanctorum so the Roman high Priest that none might presume to enter upon his Territories hath ever since gilded these magna latrocinia these great Robberies with the faire Title of Saint Peters Patrimony so that having intailed it on himselfe first by the sword of Peter it hath been the easier ever since by vertue of the Keyes to lock the right Owners out of possession Out of Italy let us passe into France and there we finde Charles the seventh who when his Title to the Crowne was adjudged in Parliament lesse valid than that of the Queen of England appealed to his * sword as the only Protector and Patron of Titles Of this Truth the Realme of France is a most sad example at this day where the Tyranny of their Kings is founded and preserved by force not only upon the shoulders of the Peasant but on the destruction of their ancient Princes and the majesty of Parliament which retaines not so much as a shadow of their old Liberty What is become of the Dutchies of Normandy Britany Aquitaine Burgundy c. what Title had the French Kings to those Countries til they worm'd and worried out the right Owners by Force of Armes What Claim had they to this absolute Domination over Parliaments but Tyrannicall usurpation yet Lewis the † eleventh gloried in the Action as if the Fleurs de Lys never flourished so well as when they were watered with the blood and tears of the People For according to the antient Constitution that Kingdome retained a mixture of Aristocratical power so that the then supreme Court of Parliament at Paris had a principall share in the Government and nothing was imposed on the People but by the Consent of their Deputies But now having been mined out of their Authority by the powerfull Incroachments of their Kings and being overawed by armed Powers held continually in pay for the purpose their Authority is defunct and their common Interest in the Affairs of the Publique translated into a private Councell d' Estat which depends upon the meer will of the King And so the Parliament of Paris which was once the Supreme Councel having surrendred its Title to the Sword of the King serves now onely for a petty Court of Judicature and a meer Mock-show of Majesty Thus we see the French King's Title to what he holds at home and if we look abroad he hath but the same Right to what he got in Catalonia and Flanders And yet we must needs say it is as good every jot as that of the Spaniard whose best Plea is that his Theeveries there have been of a longer Prescription And upon the same Termes of late years They have both laine at Catch for the Dutchy of Savoy and severall parcells of Germany Here likewise I might sift the Title of the Family of Oldenburgh the stock of the late King to the Crown of Denmark and of Denmark it self to the Dutchy of Holstein but to bring this discourse to a Period I shall draw nearer home and make it as clearly appear likewise that the Power of the Sword ever hath been the Foundation of all Titles to Government in England both before and since the Norman Conquest First the Sword of Caesar triumphed over the Liberties of the poor Britaines and gave the Romans here a Title to their Dominion Afterwards their Liberty returning again when the Roman Empire fell to pieces a new Title was setled by the Sword of our Progenitors the Saxons who submitted for a Time upon the same Terms also to the Danes till the Saxons impatient of the yoke out-acted by way of Precedent the Parisian Massacre or Sicilian Vespers and made use of their Knives instead of their Swords to recover their own Title against the Danish Tyranny Now if in these nationall revolutions of Government I should examine those also of the Regall Families we cannot from any examples produce more pregnant Instances concerning the Transitions of Title from Family to Family meerly upon the accompt of the Sword But I wave those and will take a view of our own Affairs at a lesse remote distance and see whether William the Conquerour translated the Government upon any better Terms into the hands of the Normans And upon examination it appears he had no better Title to England then the rest before mentioned had at first to their severall Countries or than his Predecessor Rollo had to Normandy it self For about 120. years before it hapned that this Rollo issued in the head of a barbarous Rout out of Denmark and Norway first into the Dutchies of Frize and Henault afterward he seated himself by force in the possession of Rohan in a short time of all Normandy and missed but a little of the Conquest of Paris From him this William was the sixth Duke of Normandy who though a Bastard legitimated his Title by the successe of severall Battels against six or seven of his Competitors more clear in Bloud than himself by which means having secured his Claim at home he became the more confident to tempt his Fortune with a design upon England As for any Right to the Crown he had none save a frivolous Testamentary Title pretending that it was bequeathed to him by the last Will of his Kinsman K. Edward the Confessor upon which pretence he betook himself to Armes and with a Collection of Forces out of Normandy France Flanders and other Countries landing in Sussex he gave Battel at Hastings and established himself a Title by Conquest upon the destruction of King Harold and of the * Laws and Liberties of the Nation as may be seen in all our Chronicles After him his Sonnes the two succeding Kings William Rufus and Henry the first made good their succession by the Sword against Robert their elder Brother as did King Stephen a stranger against Maud the Empresse the right Heire of that Henry Next to Stephen succeeded Henry the second the Son of Maud who as Heir of his Predecessors way of Usurpation Quarter'd the Armes of England with the Lordship of Ireland by the Sword as his Successor Edward the first by the same means cemented the Principality of Wales to the Kingdome of England with the

Scots gape after this gude Land who with those of other Nations must be Satisfied out of the Purses of our own whilst those that are their Leaders will be gratified with this that and the other Mans Lands and possessions And that this Insinuation is no Fiction but well grounded upon Precedents out of our owne Histories in the Practices of our Kings may appear by the Proceedings of the Conquerer who being forced to extraordinary Courses to satisfie his forein Soldiery made bold so frequently with the Estates of his Subjects that the great Lords of the Kingdom fearing it would come to their Turns at last to part with their Possesions by way of prevention fled out of the Land some into Scotland some into Denmarke and other Parts to trie if by aide from abroad they might recover Themselves and their Fortunes again at home But by this means they hapned to lose all so much the sooner for miscarrying in the Designe their Estates were possess'd and their Offices supplied by the Norman Favorites Thus also King Stephen himself being a Foreiner and relying most upon forein Arms to preserve him in possession was constrained to take the same Course for the satisfaction of his forein Auxiliaries which consisted most of Flemings and Picards whom he especially trusted in his greatest Actions neglecting and oppressing the English Thus did Henry the third also in his wars with the Barons against whom bringing in Foreiners He for reward invested them with others Lands and Honors and laid heavy Impositions besides upon the whole Kingdom to make Them Satisfaction And in those variations of Fortune between the two Houses of Yorke and Lancaster as often as either of Them had occasion to make use of forein Arms to assert their Titles the Estates of the Adverse Party and the Purses of the People were sure to goe to wrack for the Pay of the Soldiery From hence then it appears that if the Prince put himselfe in possession by Arms we shall be so far that way from any ease of our burthens that they will be doubled and trebled yea and tenfolded upon us Lastly The Prince's Confederation with the Scots and our English Presbyters were there no other Reason might be enough to terrifie any ingeniously minded People from giving their assistance be they Royalists or not For if the Kirke be able to bind the Prince to hard Conditions and prove like the Sons of Zeruiah too strong for him so that his Interest bow to theirs then in stead of a Regall which is more tolerable we must all stoop to the intolerable yoke of a Presbyterian Tyranny that will prove a plague upon the Consciences Bodies and Purses of this free Nation The Scots by this means will effect their Designe upon us by stretching their Covenant-union to an equality of Interest with us in our owne Affairs And the English-Grandees of that Party will seat themselves again in the House and exclude all others or else a New Parliament shall be called of Persons of their owne Faction so that if they should carry the day all the Comfort we shall have by casting off the present Governers will be only that we shall have these furious Jockies for our Riders Things perhaps shall be in the old Statu quo as they were when the late King was at Holdenby whose Son must then lay his Scepter at the Foot-stole of the Kirke or else they will restore him by leisure as they did his Father into the exercise of Royalty By which means we should be brought again as far as ever we were from a condition of Settlement and the Common-wealth reduced to Ashes by endlesse Cumbustions On the other Side put case the Prince have the better end of the Staffe of the Presbyters they relying upon his Courtesie as well as the rest of the People then in case he carry the day They and All are at his mercy and no Bar will be in the way to hinder him from an Ascent unto an unlimited Power So that you plainly see this present Combination of Royallists and Presbyters which soever of them be most prevalent must of necessity put the Nation in hazard between Scylla and Charybdis that we cannot chuse but fall into one of the pernicious Gulphs either of Presbyterian or Monarchicall Tyranny All these Particulars being seriously considered how Improbable it is in the first place that the Prince should goe on with Successe in his Designe and then what miserable Inconveniences must needs follow such a Successe in case he prevaile not only to the Prejudice of any one Party but of All I may undeniably conclude that all mistaken Royallists as well as others who live now under the Protection of the present Government are concerned out of necessity and in respect to their owne well-being and benefit to wish well thereunto rather than prosecute the private Interest of a single Family and of a few Fugitives its Dependants to the hazard of their owne Families with the Peace and happinesse of their native Country CHAP. II. Concerning the Scots I Am sorry I must waste Paper upon this Nation but seeing They make Themselves Considerable by being troublesome it will not be amisse to sound the Depth of their present Design which that I may the better doe give me leave to trace them in their Encroachments from the first to the last upon the English Nation Not to mention those of elder date let us begin with King James who being a native Scot out of love to his Country-men or rather to himselfe that he might keep them quiet by stopping their mouths with the sweet morsels of England was pleased to admit many of them into his Court then into his Councell and to be partakers of Honours and Offices equall to the best of our English His Son the late King knowing danger might come of discontent out of the Northern Corner followed the same Course that his Father tooke to oblige Them holding them in Pension giving accesse to all Beggars with such faire Entertainment that most of Them staid here and none returned empty This heaping of Favors upon Some stirred up the Appetites and Emulation of others who seeing themselves neglected and not like to share in any of these Enjoyments by the Favor of the King bethought them of an other way to make Themselves as considerable as the rest of their Country-men and gain an Interest with the English Seeing they could not thrive with the Court They would trie what They could doe without it Hereupon being men of Power in their owne Country They became most Zealous Assertors of the Presbyterian Discipline against the Episcopall by which means they gained the Friendship of all the Religious Party in England then persecuted by the Bishops who were at Court the only Favourites Hereupon these Leaders of the Scotish Presbyterians beginning to grow active and forward in establishing their own Form at home and also to propagate it abroad by encouraging their Friends gave

such an Alarm to the Bishops that they to crosse the Designe fell foule upon all of the Opinion here in England and not onely so but pressed the King to establish an Episcopall Vniformity in both Kingdoms even in Scotland as well as England The forcing of this upon the Scots was a Cause of the Commotions in that Kingdom whereupon a war ensued betwixt the King and Them through the instigation of the Bishops which was soon ended to the Advantage of the Scots in Money and Credit and to the dishonor of the King and the Episcopall Party This happy Successe wrought a very reverend opinion of them in the hearts of the well-affected Party in England who stood for the purity of Religion and a liberty of Conscience against Episcopall power and Innovations as also for the Lawes and Liberties of the Nation invaded by the Prerogative And for redresse of these things the King was necessitated to call a Parliament who not obtaining such Reliefe of Grievances as they expected by reason of a Corrupt Councell of Bishops and others about the King which alienated him from his great Councell the Parliament and afterward caused Him to breake out into a warre against Them were constrained likewise to take Armes in defence of our Liberties Hereupon recourse was had to the Scots for their assistance who having the same Enemies at Court and being equally involved in the same common Danger it was supposed they were concerned in Reason to joyn with the Parliament without any Dispute or Scruple But They considering now was the Time to make their Markets if ever and their owne interest as much English as might be came not off so roundly as was hoped but fell to bartering like Hucksters and no Bargaine would be forsooth without a Covenant They would not joyn except They might be in a manner all one with us and this Vnion must be sealed with that solemn League and Covenant What their meaning was therein we shall know by and by by taking a view of their Actions ever since which are the most sure Interpreters Yet even at that time some men had their eyes in their heads and many Objections were made at divers Expressions in the Covenant and many Desires for explanation of some Articles more fully But the Scots standing stiffe upon their owne Terms and no Conjunction like to be obtained without the Covenant and the necessity of the Parliaments Affairs admitting no delay we were glad to take it as it was offered without further question or Demurrer It was no sooner taken here at London but immediately every one began to make his Advantage through the multitude and ambiguity of Expressions and by it to promote his severall Interest as if it had been made to engage unto a particular Party not to unite two Nations in a common Interest But above all the Scots having had the honor of this Invention conceived themselves much injured by any that denyed them the Prerogative of making an Interpretation and in matter of Religion urged their owne Discipline as the only Patern to Reform the Church by and their Plea had been fair enough out of the Covenant could they have proved it to be according to the word of God which Clause was most luckily inserted Notwithstanding all the Reasons to the Contrary the Scotish Module was still pressed The Scot was willing to ride and having as he thought the English-man fast bridled with a Covenant he began to switch and spur The Throne of the Kirke was the Stalking-horse to catch geese and if that could have been setled then there had been no denying Them whatsoever they would ask They would have seated themselves surely in this fat Soile There would have been no removing them out of our Councels whereof the necessity of our Affaires had made them Members and Partakers For had the Kirk-Interest been once confirmed among us then by vertue of that Authority which they use to controll the Civill power the Parliament must have been subservient to all their ends And since it would have concerned the English Clergy to make their Party strong and maintein Correspondencies for their owne preservation to have gratified their Scotish Founders in all their Desires the Scots might easily have translated the Covenant-union to as good as an absolute Nationall union by gaining a Joynt-Interest with us in our Affairs for ever and consequently in all the Profits great Offices Councels and Concernments of this Nation Now whether this were their Designe or not in the Covenant ab origine I shall not determine but let it be judged by their insolent behaviour here among us after they were admitted to our Counsells and therefore in the next place I shall examine their Proceedings which most evidently represent them in their Intentions It sufficed them not after they were come in that they had an equall Power with us in publique Affairs in the Committee of both Kingdoms at Derby-house which was willingly allowed them for a time so far as concerned the Common cause of both Nations in prosecuting the war but driving a Powerfull Party in both Houses They tooke upon them to meddle with matters relating to the future Peace and Settlement of this Nation distinct from their owne and to provide for an equall Interest with us therein The first most notable Evidence of this though there had been many before was discovered at the Vxbridge-Treaty where Propositions of both Houses for Peace being presented to the King it was found the Scots had so far Provided for Themselves by their Party in the Houses That in time to come the ordering of the English Militia the Power of making War and Peace and all other Prerogatives of Government were to be administred by a proportionable number of Scots as well as English A thing so ridiculous and an Encroachment so palpable that the King Himself in one of His Answers took notice of it and said He was not so much an Enemy to the English Nation as to signe those Propositions or somewhat I am sure to this Purpose A second evidence or discovery of their Encroachments was made upon their delivering in divers Papers to the Parliament at severall times wherein they disputed their Claim and ventured their Logick upon the Letter of the Covenant to prove an Interest in disposall of matters meerly relating to our welfare which they re-inforced afterwards with new Recruits of Argument when the King came into their Army But not knowing well how to maintaine their Arguments They were contented for that time to quit Them and their King too upon such Terms as are notorious to all the world who being at length reduced under the Power of the Parliament and Army Propositions of Peace were sent to him at Hampton-Court wherein no such Provision being made for the Scotish Interest as was in those at Vxbridge their Commissioners here protested against them accused the Parliament of Breach of Covenant and complained highly in one of their

à Foedere discedere nam Capita Foederis singula conditionis vim habent If one Party break a Covenant the other is no longer bound to it For each particular head of a Covenant carries with it the force of a Condition which Condition in relation to the Covenanters is that either of them observe it with Fidelity to each other But the Scots have been so far from observing that the whole Nation have been involved in the Breach of it by dividing the King from the People the People from each other and at length by a perfidious Nationall Invasion so that except they can shew us some new Foundation whereon that Breach is repaired the Covenant must needs be defunct in point of obligation For aith the same Author Foedus tacitè renovatum intelligi non debet Non enim facilè praesumitur nova obligatio nisi ex actibus qui nullam aliam interpretationem recipiunt A Covenant being once at an end cannot be supposed to be renewed ta●itly For a new Obligation is not easily to be presumed but by such Acts as declare it and admit no other Construction Therefore till the Scots and their Partisans can produce evidences of a renovation of the Covenant by positive Acts of State they must of necessity grant that all Covenant-obligations and Relations are expired between the two Nations of England and Scotland A second tacit Condition latent in Oaths promissory is expressed in these words out of the Divinity of the Stoicks by Seneca Tun● fidem fallam constantiae crimen audiam si cum omnia cadem sint quae erant promittente me non praestitero Promissum Alioqui quicquid mutatur libertatem facit de integro consulendi fidem meam liberat Then saith he let me be accused of falshood and Inconstancy if when all things remain the same as they were at the time that I promi●ed I shall not then perform my Promise Otherwise any alteration whatsoever leaves me wholly at liberty and freeth me from my Enagement And a little after saith he * Affairs ought to be in the same condition they were when thou didst promise to bind thee to the performance And in his 39 Chapter he becomes more particular and saith In all promises do lurk these tacit Conditions or Exceptions Si potero if I am able Si debeo if I ought Si haec ita erunt if Things continue as now they are If you require the performance of my Promise bring Affairs into the same posture that they were in when I made it But if any new alterations happen why dost thou wonder my condition being otherwise than it was when I promised that I am changed in my intentions Render things the same and I am still the same And that this holds good in Christian Divinity as well as Stoical appears out of the afore-mentioned Doctor whose Doctrine is equivalent and his Terms convertible with those of Seneca declaring that all Promises have these tacit Conditions Suppositions or Exceptions Si Deus permiser it if God permit which answers to Seneca's Si potero Quoad licet as far as lawfully I may which answers to his Si debeo Rebus sic stantibus as long as things thus stand which answers to his Si haec itaerunt According to which severall Suppositions in order I shall examine both the Oaths of Allegiance and Covenant and prove their Non-obligation First No man that enters into an Otah or Covenant can be so stupid as to promise the performance of any thing without this tacit Reservation within his own Soul that he will do it if God permit considering we can do nothing without him who exerciseth his Wisdom and Soveraignty in the disposition of all human Affaires according to that of the Apostle James who bid us say If the Lord will we will do this or that If so then having sworn in the Oaths before-mentioned to continue true and faithfull to the King and his Heirs c. it cannot be meant otherwise then with this Clause If God please to permit their continuance in the Government But we plainly see God is not pleased to permit their continuance since all men will confesse that at least by a permissive Act of Providence another Form of Government is erected quite contrary to the Old Therefore if we consider the Oath of Allegiance and Covenant according to this first Supposition they are now of no force and obligation but it may serve to satisfie a private mans Conscience if in times past he have done his utmost to perform the duties required by those Oaths during the former establishment The Reason is saith the same * Doctor Because seeing all things are subjected to Divine Providence and Pleasure and that it is not in the power of any man to regulate all accidents which happen in the future therefore he that hath used his whole endeavour to perform what he promised hath paid his Allegiance and fulfilled the intent of his Oath the Obligation ceasing when things cannot possibly be effected as the Doctor saith ex Impossibilitate Facti Praelect. 2. Sect. 12. 2 As concerning the Dr's Quoadlicet the second tacit Condition or Excption it is to be presumed no man swears to any thing but with this Reservation as far as lawfully he may If so then in case it so happen that we cannot lawfully act in prosecution of those things which we have sworn to our obligation ceaseth ex Impossibilitate Juris as in the former by an Impossibility of Power in us to effect what we were obliged unto so in this by an Impossibility of Right in us to act in order thereunto For saith he that is said to be impossible by an Impossibility of Right which a man hath no lawful power to endeavour But as to the restauration of Kingly Government now that another is established by as good a Title I have proved as ever the Kingly was I would fain know what right or lawfull Power any private man hath and which way he can ground it upon the Oath of Allegiance and Covenant to indeavour the destruction of the New Form of Government and a restitution of the Old For private persons have no right to question those that are in Power and are no competent Judges in Controversies of that nature nor ought they to meddle with them but as Grotius saith rather to follow Possession Yea put case they were unlawfully possest Vsurpers Invaders and Tyrants yet the same Author saith Privato vi dejicere summi Imperii Invasorem non licet It is not lawfull for any private Person to indeavour the thrusting them out by Force Nor is this founded only upon humane Reason but also upon Scripture That place in the 13. to the Romanes There is no power but of God The Powers that be are ordained of God is sufficient to convince every private conscience of the necessity of Submission that is to

Scots and Supplies drain'd out of the Dregs of severall Countries make shift to patch up an Army or two to trie his Fortune yet 't is ten to one but They ruine his Designe For first the introducing of Forrainers will soone alienate the Affections of the English as experience hath proved in all times Secondly Auxiliatores conducti ex diversis locis nec disciplinâ inter se nec affectione consentiunt † Mercenary Auxiliaries that are collected out of severall Nations seldome agree either in disciplin or Affection The reason of this is given by the same Author For saith he since the Customes of Nations are diverse therefore men of severall Countries differing both in habit and manners cannot long continue together without discovering an Antipathy or Contrariety in their natures even to the ruine of that Party with whom they are ingaged To passe by the Testimonies of many other States men we have two very pertinent ones afforded us out of our own Affaires witnes that emulation discovered between the Scots and English in the Hamiltonian Invasion and also of late between the English and Irish under Ormond in Ireland whereupon the English chose rather to joyn with the Parliament-Party than continue any longer ingaged with the Irish Lastly Those Forrain Mercenaries will upon the least misfortune of War desert the Prince and take up Arms under the Parliament For as saith Patritius The * Faith of Mercenaries depends upon Fortune and if she turn to the Adverse Party thither They follow and incline their hopes and affections Yea so little trust is to be given to these Mercenaries that notwithstanding their Condition be good yet saith another † They are easily corrupted with Money and with rewards and promises of better Pay bought over to any other Party respecting gaine much more than the Cause of their Engagement Judge then how the Prince is like to thrive with his Forrain Auxiliaries if he shall have any either in England or Scotland for the Reason of these Things holds good in one Nation as well as another Thirdly since it appeares how small Successe he is like to have by the Aides of other Princes let us see whether he have any better hopes by Forrain Aid out of Scotland or Ireland to make a Conquest of England As for Ireland he hath but poore expectations thence since the Lord Lieuten●nt hath swept away those Adversaries with the Besome of Vengeance and made way by a continued chain of miraculous Successes to Shackle that Rebellious Nation and doubts not ere long to bind their Princes with Chaines and their Nobles with links of Iron since every month brings in fresh Laurels of Victory to their Terror and amazement But Ireland being given for lost let us see next whether the Royallists are like to receive any more comfort from Scotland It s an old saying Nullum bonum ex Aquilone No good comes out of the North and of all others Royallists should be the least apt to beleeve any benefit to come out of that Nation from whence proceeded the Ruine and Destruction of the late King and all their Party nor can they hope much better of them in time to come For first They adhere to the Prince not out of any love to his Interest but onely in hope to settle their own upon his Shoulders and therefore if they can make a better Bargain elsewhere they wil cast him off or if he be in their power sell him off as they did his Father upon the first occasion What else can he expect from a Party whose Interest was first founded upon the ruine of his Great Grand-mother continued and augmented to the perpetuall vexation of his Grand father and at length prosecuted to the destruction of his Father Secondly it is impossible to reconcile the two Parties Royall and Presbyterian even as impossible King James was wont to say as to reconcile God and the Devill Thirdly if They cannot be reconciled or stand together then whatsoever Agreemens may be made it will be but from the Teeth outward nor can there be an union betwixt them upon any designe but in the prosecution thereof they will mind the advancement of their severall Interests which must make them jealous of each other divided and partiall in their Counsels and cause the inward rancor to break out to the prejudice and utter ruine of the whole Engagement Fourthly let the Scots invade us again upon the Royall or what score else they please They will never be endured especially in the Northern Parts having heretofore by their perfidious and Tyrannical behaviour fixed an odious Impression upon the Spirits of the People and quickned the old Antipathy betwixt the two Nations So that if the Prince come in with them or by them he will fare never the better but much worse for their Sakes or their Company Lastly they come if they dare come a most nasty lowzie beaten Generation against one of the most generous best accomplished and most Victorious Armies in Christendome an Army that must needs be dishonoured by such an Enemy from whom neither Credit nor Advantage is to be gotten yet it is meet they should be chastized since the Almighty out of love to the future Peace of our Nation seemes to decree that Belial and Dagon Montrose and the Kirk with her Worthies should be sent after Hamilton This indeed would be a fair step to Reformation by letting out the Corruption of that Country which sticks like a Scab upon the faire Body of this Fortunate Island Now in the last place to conclude this particular touching the Improbability of the Prince's Successe since he hath little ground to hope for any by the assistance of other Nations let us examine what hope he hath from our own Severall Reasons may be given to the contrary As first the People's hatred of Foreiners and their feare of that Plague universall Free-quarter with their aversnesse to War having tasted some time of the Sweets of Peace And though they are sensible of some necessary Burthens yet considering another War will increase new ones more exorbitant every man would be content with things as they are for the Common people as the Poet saith Duas tantùm res anxius optat Panem Circenses will be satisfied with Bread and Quietnesse rather than hazard their Ease and Security to serve the Ambition of others Secondly They will be the lesse apt to engage in any new Insurrections and Parties since the last thrived so ill to the Prejudice and shame of all the Undertakers Examples make Men wise and though many of them escaped without punishment in regard this * Government was not then declared yet now that it is established and Laws are made to defend it against all that offend in time to come men will beware I suppose how they meddle since they can expect nothing lesse after another War than the punishment of Traitors Thirdly Put case the Counties were

worldly Interest that it hath lost the Beauty which it once appeared to have and serves every Sophister as a Cloake to cover his ambitious Designe But since it is arived notwithstanding to such a hight in the opinions of many as to be cried up for the only patern of Government under the Gospel this is to be imputed to the blind Zeal of those that are led and the deceitfulnesse of the Leaders rather than to the Intention of its learned Founder Mr. Calvin For it doth not appear that ever he stretch't his Module so far as the necessity and universality of a Divine Right but seems only to have hewn part of the Building out of the rock of the Scriptures and peeced up the residue by politique and prudentiall Rules such as he conceived might sound nearest the Text and serve most conveniently to cement the dis-joynted Members of the then broken and tumultuous Common-wealth of Geneva into an entire and well-compacted Body It was no sooner lick't into Form there but as it is the Fate of all things new it began to be much extoll'd and admired and the Fame thereof spreading in England as well as other Parts wrought in many of our Country-men an Itching desire to goe thither and instruct Themselves in the Nature and Customs of the Government where of Spectators they soon became Proselytes and returning home with new Affections looked with an eye of disdain upon the Bishops as if Themselves had indeen found out the Patern in the Mount because forsooth the words Presbytery Elder Deacon and Assembly c. sound more Gospel like than Diocesse Church-Warden Arch-deacon and high-Commission c. With these Terms * the ordinary Sort of Religious persons not able to see through this Shell of words into the Kernell or Substance of the businesse were easily led to a belief of high matters whereas this new Forme like the Trojan Horse brought an Army of mischiefs in the belly of it which were never so fully discovered as till this Parliament For immediatly after that the Episcopall Form was abolished here as corrupt and Antichristian the chief Sticklers of the Presbyterian Clergy began to shew their Teeth and sitting in an Assembly Cheek by Jo●e with the Parliament intermedled with their Affairs labored to twist their Church discipline with the Interest of State claimed in their open Pleas Discourses and their Confession of Faith a Power in themselves distinct from the Civill and demanded the Voting of this in both Houses as Jure Divino that so the Parliament might for ever cut the throat of their own Authority and Magistracy These and many other Pranks they played in hope to erect their intended Domination And though being often required they were as little able as the Bishops to shew their Pedegree from the Apostles or to derive the lineaments of their form from the Body of the Scripture yet they pressed it on stil and wanted not their Party in Parliament with the assistance of the Scots whose Interest it was to second them And here it might be wondred that so many knowing men and of able Parts should prove so degenerous as to prostitute Themselves and the Majesty of the Nation to serve the ambitious ends of a few Priests but that they had their Ends in it too and were willing to follow the Example of the Scotish Grandees by gratifying the new Clergy in the form of a Nationall Church with Accruments of worldly pomp and Power the better to support their Owne in the State For this Cause it was that They stooped so unworthily to the Designe of the Scots and the Clergy and being all of them combined in Interest they were in a manner necessitated to countenance and comply with each other in their mutuall Encroachments to the dishonour of our Nation the debasing of Parliaments and the extreme hazard of the Libery of our Soules and Bodies All which being considered you may see how exceedingly we are obliged to our present Governers that they strove so mightily against the stream to prevent Them all in their severall Designings and what necessity lay upon them to expell that corrupt Interest out of Parliament and to follow the Counsell of the Poet in cutting * off a rotten Part for the Preservation of the whole by the Power of the Sword By reason of this necessary and magnanimous Act it is that they have made Themselves so many Enemies to the Presbyterian Party For the Scots being defeated of their English Interest the Secluded Members of their Hopes and Priviledges and the Clergie of their Kirk-domination incline all immediately to face about to the Prince and to hedge in him and his Interest with their owne as well as they can in hope of private Revenge and a Recovery without any regard at all to the good and peace of the Publique Then Gentlemen if they prevaile ye will be but in the old posture again As You WERE yea and far worse than you were since all those Church-usurpations which were then but in designe must needs be confirm'd by a new alteration For this Cause it is there are so many Presbyterian Juglings in private such Murmurings abroad and so many Mutinies in the Pulpit such wel-acted Lamentations for the glory of the Kirke and the losse of their Diana that every Prayer is a Stratagem most Sermons meer Plots against the State and upon their Hearers Thus the Nature of their Designe being discovered give me leave in the next place to manifest the Vanity of their Hopes that if men will not forbeare for shame of its hypocrisie they may yet in consideration of the many sad Consequents which may follow As to the Improbability of their Successe First our English Presbyterians are very inconsiderable now in England because above three Parts in four are fallen off since they were able to see through the Pretences of the Grandees of their Party so that the small Remainder can doe little of Themselves and all their hope leans upon Scotland that bruised Reed Secondly As their Party is but small of its Self so there is small likelyhood of an Increase because all the Rest of this Nation are Opposite to them and their waies being either Common-wealths-men or Royallists And though they use all Indeavours to draw in the Royall Party to their own yet it can never be effected by reason that the old Antipathie will revive upon every little occasion For the Royallists looke upon them still as the Authors of their Misery and the Prince who is Head of that Party though He may feed Them with fair Promises can never cordially imbrace them being the old Enemies of his Family Nor will he count them any whit the lesse guilty for their hypocriticall protesting against the Death of his Father For They reduced him Diminutione Capitis into the condition of a Captive They spoil'd him as a King before others executed him as a private man They deprived him of his earthly Crowne and