Association and that even to a word viz. I. That he had so far prevailed as to create many and great Dependants upon him c. II. Vide Associat That notwithstanding all the continual endeavours of the Parliament to deliver His Majesty from his Councils and out of the power of the said Duke yet he has been so prevalent that Parliaments have been unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved when in hot pursuit of ill Ministers This was exactly the fearful out-cry against the Duke of Buckingham the praelude to the War that ensued and that is Verbatim the bold Associators Accusation of the Duke of York And very probably the Signal to the Rebellion he intends To proceed now to Parallel the rest of the Paragraphs in the Preface to that Oath of Association Associat And as we considering with heavy hearts how greatly the Strength Reputation and Treasure of the Nation is wasted and consumed by the intricate expences and management of these wicked destructive designs and finding the same Councils still pursued with the utmost divellish malice and desire of Revenge And now pray mark the Original Scoth sol Leg. And calling to mind the Conspiracies Attempts Practises of the Enemies of God and how much their Rage Power and Presumption is of late and at this time exercised and encreased whereof the deplorable distress'd and dangerous estate of this Kingdom are present and publick Testimonies What reason there was then of those complaints is best known to those that made them The state of the Kingdom was dangerous distress'd deplorable And I 'l give them leave to describe it in the most miserable terms that a tongue full of grief can express or a disturb'd Soul conceive and shall sympathise very much with them in their Lamentations But tell them that in these Hypocritical bewailings of their Countrey they much blazon their own cruelties towards it And shall shew how I apprehend the Nation came to fall into that lamentable condition It s State began to be dangerous assoon as the City to be discontented 't was distressed when the King was forc't to borrow money upon Loan 't was most deplorable when he was necessitated to take up Arms for his Life and at last with so much ignominy to lose it too But why this Associator should sing this sorrowful Ditty and think the present times so deplorable is not quite so intelligible unless he is conscious of his having contributed much towards their being so and this peevish complainer somewhat of the humor of those Mad-men who have almost an abstracted Idaea of those things they rave for imagine those Phrensies the real Objects of their deluded Opticks which in truth are onely of their distemper'd Intellectuals Poor tender heart how it grieves him to consider the Reputation Strength Treasure of the Nation so miserably wasted and consumed and in kind compassion to his distressed Countrey has thought on a Soveraign remedy to close its wounds and unite the pieces of a broken-hearted dejected and disaffected People a prescription much like those of our late Quacking Divines the Soul's Balm of Gilead the Salve and Ointment for a bruised Conscience And now we have got some closing healing Balsam of Association for the uniting of all disunited Protestants But I am afraid such Unctions as these will produce the same Symptoms that the Fat and Grease does in a Chandler's Shop make the little Tenement the more ready to catch at every spark and break out the sooner into flame And first this Honourable Person for certainly he is no small Man amongst the Faction is mightily concerned for the Reputation of the Nation when 't was a Covenant that made it scandalous even to the Rebellious Dutch and made our old Albion look like a pitiful Colony in New England full of Quakers Anabaptists and all the wild distraction of Schism and Division the decay of its strength shivers him into quaking Fits and dismal apprehensions of being knock't on the Head by the French when all this while not one mite must be contributed for the getting so much as a Cudgel-butt to ward the blow I fancy this Gentleman espouses the Maxims of the late Political Casuist at Malmsbury who has laid it down as a principle that Subjects owe no longer obedience to their Prince than he has strength and ability to defend them If so 't is no wonder the Treasury is so poor and the strength of the Nation so much decay'd as in spight of all reason to the contrary our Associator is willing should still be so for 't would be but madness in him and a breaking of his own measures to wish the King any Money or in a condition to protect his Subjects for that would remove those dispensations he would have to warrant his disobedience and then he must rebel without a License But certainly this is not only Transcribing of the Politicks of Mr. Hobs but Improving of them too shews him not only ready to dispense with his Allegiance to the King whenever his Exchequer is low but very willing it should always be so and then upon that account not barely to withdraw his obedience but very fairly draws up a Covenant for Rebellion and so puts in for another position of that Eminent Philosopher A state of War But yet give me leave to inform this sorrowful Associator and with as merry a heart as he pretends his to be heavy that this his considering Cap is not rightly plac't on his factious Noddle and though he considers the Strength Treasure and Reputation of the Nation so much Wasted and Consum'd I apprehend no such thing at all but rather the quite contrary First Were our Reputation so low with our Neighbours as to make them think us a Bankrupt Kingdom a Parcel of poor Rascals forc't to cheat our Creditors and compound for Bread as this honest Patriot kindly fancies his Countrey to be I can't see why our Trade and Trassick and that almost with the whole World too should continue still interrupted and without the least danger of being impeded I know the Actions of the several Companies rise and fall upon the several emergencies of new affairs But certainly the Credit and Reputation of the Kingdom no way depends on those vicissitudes yet I grant there is a great noise of a certain great City's growing poor but I think it would be happier for a certain King that lives near it were it less wealthy it was Jesuran's waxing Fat that made him kick at God Almighty and 't is that I believe makes them to spurn at the Crown Secondly Were the Strength of the Kingdom so much decayed so weak and contemptible I can't imagine why our Assistance should be desired by our Neighbours when not in a capacity to defend our selves Sure the late League of Guaranty was not then proposed to our Nation nor tender'd to the King of England and his entrance desir'd before all the Princes of the Empire if we are look't
the Rats and Mice from falling out or persuade them to a Union against their common Enemies the Cats and Weasels the purport of the thing shews the intent that it was to be communicated and to such a Party too as by their own confidence they boast the mightiest and most numerous which if it were really so their licentiousness is such that I am apt to believe instead of keeping it in Closets some of them would have got it read at Crosses and Market-places proclaim'd it like some Bartholomew Show and with Drums and Trumpets gull'd the silly Rout into Rebellion as fast as the Fools use to croud into the Booth But 't is shrowdly to be suspected they are aw'd still into good manners and civility Sure otherwise it were but a panick fear so much to dread those Guards could they make so little resistance They would not be look't on with such Terrour and Amazement as is express'd in their Oath if they would but suffer these Frogs to fill the King's Chambers with their harsh and discontented Murmurings as they did the Aegyptians once with their Croakings These little Democraticks the scum of those beggarly Elements Mud and Water still as mean as the one and restless as the other and with their Brethren in the Apologue presently Petitioning their Jupiters for a new King as soon as weary of the old Could these timerous Rats but get these dreadful Guards truly to represent Aesop's Puss and be really hung up by the Gaunches we should have them soon grow as bold as Poll-Cats and quickly divide the spoil of the King's Houses and sure our Provident Patriot would never have exhorted the Subscribers to his Covenant to disband those mercenary Forces could they have march'd into White-hall with a Nemine Contradicente and have Rebelled without blows or knock But sure his Majesty has Friends and Forces enough to defend him besides those that he pays for his preservation The strongest Guards he has at present are the faithful Hearts of his Honest Subjects harden'd into Loyalty by the miseries they suffer'd for it with Arms steel'd against the Pistols and Blunderbusses of any new Rebels having so lately been prov'd in the blood of the old and why then must a Thousand Men or a handful of Guards frighten so many Millions block up one of the most popular Cities in the World hinder the resolute Rabble from posting into Rebellion and riding Tantivy to the Devil Now to satisfie any one that our English here are as well Vers'd in the cunning Arts of drawing up Leagues and Covenants as the Scot that universal ill in the North and proverbially wicked heretofore let him but consult those Compendious ways our Gentlemen here took to promote their Rebellion and he will find that they drew up several Oaths and Covenants one of which was agreed on and subscribed by a long List of Members the sixth of June 43. before the Scotch Solemn League came over into England which was not taken by the Parliament here till the twenty fifth of September following This first that they agreed to was an Instrument that would have cut through all Government and Monarchy and his Majesty's Head off too without seconding the blow with another Engine bought in the North. It was an agreement to Rebel unanimously to dispense with all the old Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to their King only by ramming down new ones to fight against him But yet as if they had distrusted an English Engagement and their own Oaths and Covenants not bold and rebellious enough to carry on their designs Messengers are dispatch't into Scotland to fetch the draught of their Solemn League for a better Specimen and to Complement the Scot into a Rebellion which he had shewn himself ready enough to embrace and to shew their own readiness to swallow any thing that look't like a Combination against Monarchy down goes the same Solemn League with our Parliament here which had been drawn up and Subscrib'd by the Scots there And now both Nations are agreed and have very solemnly Sworn the Destruction of one unhappy Monarch And no doubt rather than the prosperity of the King's affairs should have obstructed the deep Designs of our Rebellious Senate to subvert the Government some of the timerous Members that were alarm'd with the noise of it would have Voted an Embassy to the Turks or Tartars invited Mahometans to their assistance Sworn and Subscrib'd to the very Alcoran otherwise certainly they would never have submitted to such weak Concessions to promise conformity to the Kirk admit the Scot into the Kingdom and let Forreigners share in that plunder and booty which at first they had only design'd for themselves To such extremities does the undertaking of one Villany oft reduce Men that they are forc't many times to be wicked even beyond their intention and with a preposterous sort of the Politicks to resolve on those Measures which are partly destructive to their own Cause I think we can't at present invert the proceedings of the late Times and prove that the Scot is now likely to call upon us for our late Association as we did heretofore on them for their Solemn League And much rather that the Loyalty of the present Scotch-men should prevent the making such a dangerous Trope and fatal Inversion then that their reciprocal affection to our late Covenant should give occasion for it But though their kindness to the Government hath of late been thus eminently manifested in their last Parliament yet it is only of those that are most eminent among them And this our Male-contents here can make use of both as an argument to strengthen their Cause as well as to shake the Butteress of our own and with an ingenious sort of Sophistry pervert the argument of their Opponents to their own advantage They know though no hands can be found to their Association in the Council of Scotland yet they can be met with in a Field-Conventicle and though the Test has been by many swallowed without so much as a Grimace yet there are as many that have made very sower Faces at it some squeamish stomachs quite refused it some made an Explanation of it before it came to their mouths others after it was in their Bellies and some to Droll off the Authority of the Imposers and ridicule the Oath are said to have tender'd it to their Dogs and hang'd the Curs for refusing it witty waggs no doubt and such as can give the World a Specimen of their parts by being ingenious Traytors these are their politick surmises and presumptions upon which for all this they build great expectation from the North which I hope though they may serve to animate the Party will never be sufficient to strengthen it prove but the slender Twiggs of slight Argumentation and such as none but bare hope and a sinking Cause would take hold of The first Factious Union we read of that was made use of to resist any
satisfaction depos'd And God will make the Sons of Princes bow down unto ye the greatest that have afflicted and despised ye shall lye at your fect Heyrick to the Commons May 27. 46. p. 31. The natural horror and detestation I have always had of these late proceedings though onely acquainted with their Narratives has oft made me thank my God that I had no being in this World when it was arriv'd to such an Insuperable wickedness when Vice seem'd to have fix'd her Pillars here in this Isle and made it sin almost to a Non ultra the kind breath that I first drew was with a restor'd Peace and a recall'd Soveraign and with both those I hope it will expire too And this just resentment and pardonable passion against such villainous Practices will oft transport me into some digression the design being only to make a comparison between those two Old Covenants and our late New One but if the Parallels are not so Mathematical or the Lines observe no such Geometrick distance any deflexion will be very excusable when the very hand trembles that draws them But to go to the Comparison though our late Association does not carry in its impudent Front an impious Name too though Holy League now be none of the Sanctified Title for Rebellion yet the effects of it may be as dangerous and the intent as full of Treason neither would it have been a piece of Policy or even common Prudence in the Contrivers to have call'd it either League or Covenant for those very people that would have applauded the design might have dislik'd such an Appellation And many that are ready enough to engage in a Treason would be loath to have a T burnt in their Fore-head Association will be easily swallow'd when League might stick a little in the Throat The distinguishing Streamers of Blew and Green Ribband at present take mightily though the bloody colours of a Parliament Army would not be presently so pleasant a spectacle But yet here there is almost an Identity of practice the Almighty is most solemnly invok't in the beginning of the Oath Priviledges of Parliament Laws of the Kingdom Liberties of the Subject Popery Protestant Religion all the same numerical pretensions the same Words Expressions and Out-crys and what can be the consequence but that the same Rebellion will follow too When that Holy League was bought by the City in forty three at forty thousand pound when the Citizens had been the Parliaments Chapmen it was thought fit they should be their Factors too and in order thereunto they were hired to put off those gross Commodities of Mutiny Petitioning Besieging of West-minster and White-hall railing at the King abusing of his Council bawling for Justice with Noise Tumult and Insurrection and all the confus'd representations of a wild and distracted people Such Factious drudgery being most proper to be carried on by those Tylers Straws and Masinelloes unbecoming the gravity of a Senate that sate brooding on the pure Elements of Treason drawing out the Schemes and Plat-forms of a Common-wealth and being too certain in their State-Astrology calculated the future ruine of Three Kingdoms Circumstances I fancy were much the same when this Modern Vnion with Oath and Obligation was first contrived which 't is very probable was drawn up by some politick Head that knew what Influence it would have on the Juncture of affairs no doubt 't was first hatch't when the last Parliament sate at London when the Licentiousness of the City was such as nothing but the Tumults in the late Times could exceed it and perhaps nothing but an Act and fear of Punishment obstructed the concourse of the Rabble with their Old way of Petitioning with Blunderbusses Pikes and Staves White-hall was then often times block't up with this Armed Rout when their Leagues and Covenants were on the Anvil And we have those now that when this Association was a hammering could threaten to pull the black Man out of it Dissenting Protestants were then to be favoured and conniv'd at And now the Laws to be Repealed for exempting them from punishment The King then declar'd a favourer of Popery Now suspected ready to introduce it The Queen then traduc'd for a Plot on the Nation And now aspers'd with the same Accusation His Majesties Friends past for Evil Counsellors And now Betrayers of the Liberties of the Subject Judges and Privy Counsellors were then impeach't And I think some of them meet with the same dealing at present The proceedings in Ecclesiastical Courts were then examin'd Now taken into consideration Montague Manwaring Clergy-men scouted Thompson and others taken into custody The King to have no Money till Grievances were redressed None now till the Bill of Exclusion is past Tumultuous Petitioning then encouraged and promoted Now a Proclamation against it to be examin'd and the advisers punish'd Arbitrary Power then the sole cry Now the doleful burden of the Song This was the state of Affairs when their Leagues were a making This our Condition now the Association is a Foot All the difference is the King is not yet driven out of his Palace nor a Parliament Army yet in the Field Thus having Parallel'd the Circumstances of Time and Affairs when these Engines of Rebellion were set a work we will fall a comparing these Instruments of the Devil themselves The Introduction to the Solemn League and Covenant begins in this manner Solemn League We Barons Knights and Burgesses And in the same words the Contriver Ushers in his Association Associat We Knights Burgesses c. But one would think this Verbal transcription might have been civilly spared till these Knights and Burgesses had shaken off all their Allegiance to their Prince and been upon the same terms with the King that they were when they called in the Scot and took the Covenant that was cut and dried for them in the North. I fancy were the rude Animal that Penn'd it known to the Lower House he would have but little thanks for complementing them with the first place in his Paper and placing so many worthy persons in the highest rank of his Treason as if they were to be as Eminent for that as they are for their Love and Service to their Countrey why had it not better and more civilly begun without naming any body Or if there must needs have been some Head to this Rebellious Monster the word Citizens might have serv'd to compleat this prodigy of intended Treason I am sure this Instrument expresses more the sense and clamour of their mighty Babylon than of the Countrey Representatives And then why not We Mayor Aldermen and Sheriffs as well as Barons Knights and Burgesses But he proceeds very methodically and according to the true Standard of all Leagues and Covenants Associat Finding to the grief of our Hearts the Popish Priest and Jesuits with the Papists and their Adherents and Abettors have for several years pursued a most Pernicious and Hellish Plot to Root