shall not be restored to the exercise of regall Power till he have signed their Desires and Propositions which his Majestie hath so often declared to be against his Honour and Conscience And then what may the Presbyters expect but that the inraged People having been so often deluded and tyred in expectation of a Settlement will take the first opportunity to rise all as one Man to banish them and their Faction out of England and upon their ruines restore both Prince and People to their former Liberty Thirdly it seemes not to be the Resolution of the Covenant-Abettors onely in Scotland but it is declared by that Party which pretends highest for his Majestie in Scotland and delivered in by them in their Answer to the Desires of the Kirke That they resolve â—oâ— to put into his Majesties hands or any other such power whereby the Ends of the Covenant may be obstructed but that his Majesty shall before any Ingagement give assurance under Hand and Seale for himselfe and Successors to agree to certain Acts injoyning the Covenant Presbbyterian Government c. and never to endeavour the change thereof Which resolution of theirs gives us cause to suspect that all the Bickerings heretofore between them and the Kirke were but meer ventilations acted on purpose to make the world beleeve some high Designe on foot there in the behalfe of his Majestie and to feed the Royall Party with hopes of great matters from Scotland that being held in suspence they might remaine the lesse active and give the Scots a more plausible and easie Ingresse into England Fourthly such a Resolution if it once come to a publique Declaration will make men apt to beleeve that under his Majesties name those royall Pretenders doe Act some particular Interests likewise rather then that of his Majestie and the Publique And further seeing Hamilton is the Chiefe among them it cannot be judged very improbable that He who is a convicted Person for aspiring to the Crown of Scotland and who was so bold in the dayes of his Majesties prosperity as to attempt it and to that end the better to compasse his Designe had a hand in widening the distance betwixt his Majestie and the two Houses and also in imbroyling the two Kingdomes should take opportunity now in his Majesties lowest condition and the present Division to weave in his owne ambitious Interest in hope to bring his Affaires unto perfection I cannot accuse him but if the Priestly Faction and his doe close with each other upon Covenant considerations it is a shrewd suspition The agreement betwixt them in plaine Termes is this That if HAMILTON serve the Presbyterian Designe in England the Presbyters of both Kingdomes shall in requitall connive at his doings or assist him in his designe upon the Crowne of Scotland and so his Majestie shall become a Sacrifice to the Covetousnesse and Pride of his malicious Adversaries Fifthly by an immediate and absolute Ingagement for his Majestie such jealousies as these will be quite taken away and the hearts of the English so inclined and obliged to the Scots that they will hezard both Lives and Estates in their assistance and be willing by way of re-tribution not onely to dis-burse toward the satisfaction of their Arreares but yeeld also that his Majestie shall gratifie them with such other Rewards and speciall Indulgences of Grace and Favour in this Kingdome as may tend highly to the Honour and Advantage of their Nation even farre beyond what they may gaine by advancing their Presbyterian Interest seeing it will be a long time ere the Kingdome can that way be stated by reason of the contrary working humours which will be ready to breake out ever and anon into new Insurrections whereby the faction will be so continually busied at an excessive charge and the People so impoverished that they will not be more unwilling then unable to raise such vast sums as are necessary for their satisfaction at most not the tithe of that proportion which they may receive suddenly from the hands of the King and with the love of the Kingdom Sixtly let not the Scots flatter themselves with a conceit of seeling their Presbytery amongst us whether we will or no for though they may do much by the strength of their faction yet both English and Scots of that gang may consider that the English are a valiant and generous people impatient of the yoke and though they may be beaten down for a time yet if the Kingdom were divided into twenty parts seeing I am confident at least nineteen of them are against Presbytery it cannot be in reason imagined that a few voting Punies relying meerly upon Scottish Arms should be able to trample down the spirits of this our magnanimous Nation for ever but rather that when they have smarted again under Presbyterian-tyranny for a time they may recollect themselves with so much courage and successe as will enable them to drive away the Scots and their faction and confine the last seene of war within the limits of Scotland where it had its Originall Seventhly though they may relie much upon a Party in the City yet the Citizens eyes being well opened to see that they have been made but stalking-horses to other mens private ends and been gul'd out of so many millions onely to purchase slavery unto themselves dishonour unto their City and destruction to their Trades which cannot be recovered again but by a setled peace the Scots may guesse how little countenance or assistance they are like to obtain at their hands except they so declare for his Majesty as that they may receive assurance of his speedy restitution without which they are generally convinced there can be no hope of Peace unto the Nation Lastly if it should so happen that the Scots play false with his Majesty and drive both him and the Independent party to extremity it is probable they may unite upon reasonable considerations and mutuall compliance betwixt both their interests and then that Party being fortified by an addition of the Royall which wheresoever it fides brings in the affections of the whole Kingdom it is very possible the Scots may not onely be defeated in the hopes of that large Dominion and those golden mountains which they promised unto themselves here by an establishment of Presbytery but also be forced to pack home again without so much as one superstitious crosse to requite them for the pains they have taken in the work of Reformation and perhaps draw revenge upon themselves for all those affronts and injuries done unto his Majesty and the people of England and renew the old antipathy with perpetuall enmity betwixt the Nations From all which give me leave to sum up this Conclusion in a word that the Scots have no way to restore an Interest again in this Nation but by waving the corrupt interest of Presbytery and engaging absolutely for the Royall Interest of his Majesty as the onely means conducing to the weal and benefit of both Kingdoms Seneca in Thyeste Nemo confidat nimiùm secundis Nemo desperet meliorum lapsis Miscet haec illis prohibetque Clotho Stare fortunam FINIS
with an Army it must needs bee that an Ingaging against them cannot be carried on to a Conquest but through a Sea of Bloud and a generall devastation whereas an union betwixt them and his Majesty contracted upon moderate just and equitable grounds in relation to his Majesties Interests and due Rights and the People's Birthright will bee a meanes not only to prevent the afore-said Mischeife but so quell the Presbyterian Party in England that they shall not bee able to countenance any Scotish designes And so if the Scots do attempt an Invasion upon any Pretence whatsoever the Warr will bee brought home to their owne dores Fifthly seeing there is a necessity of some form it is probable the Complyance will extend so far as to let us have Bishops again And there is so much the more hope in regard the Independents have not yet absolutely agreed to the settling of any one particular way of Church-Government the execution of all Ordinances hitherto in relation to Presbyterie being permitted merely out of policie to pacifie that Faction for a time and not out of any respect to the Government it selfe which they looke upon as far more destructive to liberty and which brings in ten thousand such Inconveniences and Pressures as are not incident in a well-regulated Episcopacy Sixthly if it bee objected that there is little hope of the Independents yielding to Bishops seeing they have been as deeply ingaged in the sale of their Lands as ever Presbyters were it must bee considered that what they have done in this kind of Robbery was only as their elder Brethren the Presbyters gave them example in order to their Designe for alteration of Government which now being forced to quit as anon I shall prove by invincible necessity some other waies may and must bee taken for the satisfaction of the souldiery than by the Goods of the Church And then likewise it will bee no hard matter to make our purchasing Cormorants to vomit up all their sweet Sacrilegious Morsels Lastly though most of the Royall Party are rendred wholly averse to a Close with the Independent Party as Persons not to bee dealt with by reason of their grosse Juglings with his Majesty yet give me leave to say that as their Ambition avarice and over-weening confidence were the causes of their declining those faire Proposals and Pretences of their first Ingagement supposing that then they had an Oportunity to doe what they pleased so now being deceived in their expectations and having found by experience that they are not able to go through with their Designe and it being cleare also as I shall manifest that they have no hope of Safety or continuance in this Kingdom but by a Cordiall Close with his Majesty wee have little or no Cause to feare a second Baffle upon sophisticall Pretences in time to come especially if his Majestie 's wisdom bee laid in the Balance with their Necessity And so for these Reasons I conceive we may boldly affirm that as the royall Party ought by no meanes to admit of an Ingagement with or for Presbyterte though set on foot with the fairest Pretences so their true Interest at present is to seek and imbrace a timely discreet Complyance with that Party Paramount of this Kingdom which they call Independent II. Reasons drawn from the Interest of the ruling Independent Party WHen first his Majesty became a Prisoner to the Independent Party the Kingdom as well as himselfe was filled with great hope of such a mutuall Complyance betwixt him and them as might usher in the long-desired settlement of this distracted Nation Our expectations in this particular were exceedingly heightned by the many specious Declarations Representations and Proposalls sent abroad from the Army which promised much in relation to the just Rights of his Majesty and his Royall Posterity and the true satisfaction of all Interests as well as their owne together with many glorious pretences of moderation toward those of the Royall Party and the easing of all burthens which lay upon the Subject These were indeed most rich and glorious pretences And without controversie this way of Complyance was at that time their true Ineterest and had they prosecuted it according to their Proposalls they had laid a stable foundation of their owne and the Kingdoms future happinesse But they forsaking the true paths which led to Peace immediately fell a wandring from these Principles in such an erroneous course that as the wiser sort of men fore-saw so themselves now begin to feare and feele the fatall consequences of their wretched dissimulation which is like to bring no lesse sorrow upon the Ring-leaders of that Faction than it hath done already upon their Fellow-Subjects and their Soveraigne The Reasons which induced them to deale so perfidiously with his Majesty were no doubt as I mentioned before Ambition and Avarice as hath since appeared by their seizing all places of profit in the hands of themselves and their Kindred and Creatures And also by their grosse and palpable designings for a change of Monarchicall Government Upon a Change for certain they were all resolved but what new form to introduce in the place of it was unknowne and is as yet at this day even to the principall among themselves For as the Cause at first was split into the two Factions of Presbyterian and Independent so this of Independency is sub-divided into that Party which is commonly called Independent and the other Party most rightly called Levellers The Grandees of that Party commonly called Independent are some of the superior Officers of the Army and Members of either House the greatest part of whom are visible in the State-Committee at Derby-house And though when his Majesty was first imprisoned they then pretended and would still seem to be one in designe with the Levellers yet time hath manifested their aim to be at an Aristocraticall Form of Government and in plaine terms to declare themselves and their select Confederates FREE STATES The other Party called Levellers consist onely of some Colonells and Commanders of Inferiour Rank in the Army with whom are joyned some few Members of the Commons House and a confused Rabble of Sectaries in the Army City and Suburbs and some parts of the Country Their aime is at a Democraticall form of Government investing the power wholly in the people So that this wild Faction ex professo are enemies alike both to Monarchy and Optimacy and will be governed neither by Kings nor States Hence it was that as soon as his Majesty was juggled away into the Isle of Wight the superior Officers in order to their State-designe saw there was a necessity of crushing the Levellers Party after that they had served their ends upon them by drawing them into an ingaging upon the same pretended common Principles with themselves And therefore their first work was with all speed to dissipate the Councell of the Army contrary to their first ingagement and surprize them with a new ingagement
Majesty In the mean time the Cessation will make way for Supplyes auxiliary Forces out of that Kingdom to joyn with any discontented Party in this where it is evident that the People are so far exasperated that they will joyne with the Scots Irish yea or the Turk upon hope of freeing themselves restoring their King rather than continue in thraldom at the will and pleasure of their present Lords and Masters Fifthly though the Houses have voted the sending of Forces over to hold play with Inchiquin in Munster and so to divert his intentions from England yet People are not so silly but to see they are so far unable to raise or keep up an Army in that Country that they want wherewithall to mainteine their owne in this And moreover they are now in so ill a condition to spare men that they dare not part with any considerable peece of this Army to reduce the Welsh for feare that if themselves were left naked they might be surprized unawares knowing this that there is no sitting without a powerfull Army to guard them whereof they are not a little conscious as appeares by drawing up the major part of the Army into Quarters at a neare distance about the City Sixthly as they have innumerable causes of fear from others they wil find little ground of security even among themselves For if we consider the constitution of the Army in the several parts of it it appears to be an aggregate of differing interests opinions perswasions among whom the Grandees have the lesse numerous party being over-ballanced by the Levellers and others of the inferior Officers private Souldiers whom we may reckon as men of fortune who continue in the Army not out of any devotion or affection to the Cause but only for subsistence therefore being rather affectionated to his Majesty will be ready as they receive oportunity to shew themselves in his service And as for the Levellers though all the industry in the world be used to pacifie them from the remembrance of former injuries and draw them in to a conjunction with the Grandees against the King and the Scots yet it is probable they will never sell their bloud and fellow-subjects at so vile a rate as to purchase a sure dominion for such tyrannicall Masters who when they have help't them to do the work will be ready as they did before to crush them and pay them their wages with perpetuall slavery Seventhly their Party is very inconsiderable at Westminster the House being no longer theirs than whilest they over-awe it by force as themselves well know so that if it happen the Scots come in the Presbyterian party being once back't with an Army will soon out-vote them And then the time will come on wherein they shall be called to an accompt for all their forcible attempts upon the Houses and the city and those Members that went and joyned with them therein bee brought upon the stage for breach of trust and have the shame of high-Treason retorted upon themselves and their August-Ingagement Eighthly by a timely agreement they may settle an Interest with his Majesty to make themselves certainly great forasmuch as it is possible both their Interests may stand together with discretion entire by the restitution of Bishops and upon assurance given for liberty of conscience within sober limits Lastly his Majesty is the very basis of peace and the balancing power to all Parties in this Kingdom and without him no settlement can be expected and with whatsoever side he joynes that will assuredly prevaile To manifest the truth thereof let it be remembred of what concernment his complyance was to the Independents in subduing their opposite Faction both in the Houses and the city while he resided among them in the Army And as by this meanes at that time they advanced themselves to the height of fortune so now that they are in the eyes of all the world in a declining condition they may if they please give a check to the triumph of their Presbyterian adversaries by applying themselves more cordially and sincerely to the same way of complyance with his Majesty This wil be a means to oblige him and his Party so far that all injuries being buried in oblivion the people gladded by the return of a long desired peace the old enmity and malice will be soon abated and the Royall Party and themselves strengthened in one by an addition of the whole Body of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty against all Presbyterian incroachments either within or without the Kingdom From all which we may sum up this conclusion that as his Majesty is obliged in point of interest to wave all Presbyteriall Ingagements and indeavour an agreement with the Independent so likewise it appears that the true interest of the Independent Party is with all speed to recall those prodigious Votes of Non-Addresse and apply themselves unto his Majesty with such moderate desires that may stand as well with his honor as their safety be a means to remove all jealousie distast betwixt him and them and upon just and necessary grounds lay a sure foundation for a lasting peace III. Reasons drawn from the Interest of the Presbyterian Party in England WHence it was and for what ends the designe of Presbytery was first brought into this Nation Time the mother of Truth hath at length fully manifested for as the pretences of it were high glorious so the issue hath been fallacious dishonorable and to it we must ascribe the originall cause and continuance of all our miseries That it arrived to such a hight in the opinions of many as to be cryed up for the onely pattern of Government under the Gospel must be imputed to the blind zeal of some and the deceitfulnesse of others rather then the intention of its founder Master Calvin For it doth not appear that he ever stretcht his model so far as the necessity and universality of a divine right but seems onely to have hewen part of the building out of the rock of the Scriptures according to the literall signification and pieced up the residue by politick and prudentiall rules such as he conceived might sound neerest the Text and serve most conveniently to cement the disjoynted members of that 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 extol'd and admired and the fame thereof spreading it self in England as well as in other parts wrought in many of our Country-men an itching desire to go thither and observe the manners and customes of the Government where of Spectators they soon became Proselites and returning home with new affections and opinions had an evil eye upon the ancient Apostolicall government of Episcopacy which they prosecuted with invective Libels from the Presse and Pulpit as Antichristian in the mean time extolling their
and then what comfort will the City or others reap by all their paines and expences Therefore it concerns the Citizens to looke well before they leape and not to be deluded any longer with the stale pretences of a glorious Reformation the end whereof is nothing else but oppression and confusion both of King and People Fiftly the Citizens may doe well to consider what little benefit they are like to gaine unto themselves in lieu of all that mischiefe that they will bring upon King and Kingdome if the Presbyterian Faction shall prevaile againe It may be it will somewhat tickle them for a time to be revenged on the Independent party and 't is like they shall have their Members out of the Tower and be put into the repossession of that and their Militia so long as they imploy all to the behoofe and benefit of the Faction But if the Presbyter-Citizens shall after a little time upon the discovery of the Inconveniences brought upon the whole Kingdom by the standing out against his Majesty in point of Presbytery begin once to grow discontented and weary of their new Masters they may surely expect to be served the same measure that is now meted unto them by the Rulers of Independency it being a Rule with all Vsurpers no longer to countenance any that they have drawne into their Party then they are willing to run on with them in Designe but if once they begin to flag to bury all their former merits in oblivion also to reckon them as enemies and use them accordingly Sixthly if they shall discover themselves so farre as to ingage againe for Presbytery let the Designe be attended with never so many pretences of loyalty towards the King and his Posterity yet it being cleer notwithstanding that such an Ingagement would be destructive to the Royall Interest his Majesty and the Royall party can looke upon them no otherwise then as absolutely disloyall and resolved to continue their Rebellious courses And then if it shall so happen as probably it may that there be a Complyance betwixt the Royall and Independent Party the Doore will be in a manner bolted against any accommodation betwixt them and his Majestie and then by the union of those two Powers before named the Pillars of their Faction both Scottish and English being shâ—ken and driven out of the KINGDOME They will remaine wholly at his MAJESTIES mercy touching the forfeiture of their Charter and Priviledges c. and give him opportunity to bethinke himselfe of such wayes and meanes to quell their Pride and such meanes as may secure himself and his Successors from the rage of all turbulent and seditious humours in time to come Seventhly the Citizens ought to bestir themselves with such alacrity and give such testimonies of their loyalty as may serve to abate the career of our Independent Grandees who will otherwise never be brought down to a compliance with his Majesty and to this end it will be their wisdom to pretend high toward an engaging any way rather then endure them at this passe any longer but still notwithstanding to reserve within themselves a cordiall tender respect to the true interest of his Majesty Moreover if the case shall so stand that an agreement be concluded betwixt his Majesty and the Independents which certainly will be happiest for this Nation if it can possibly be effected then the Citizens ought not to let their spleens boil with the remembrance injuries received from this Faction nor flatter themselves with imaginary benefits which they suppose they might enjoy by advancing the other but lay aside all emulation and respect of faction on the one side or the other and be ready to applaud any course which his Majesty shall judge most convenient for the composing of these unhappy differences Lastly since the restoring and selling of his Majesty is the onely way of true peace then in case the Independents should continue obstinate to the last against any agreement it concerns all the honest and wise men of London to be wary upon what terms they admit of a Scottish engagement and not to be drawn in as they were formerly but rather to observe the motions and directions of the royall party and conform themselves wholly that way as being the safest honestest and most honourable because free from faction and by-ends and which hath for its sole end the restitution of his Majesty and his royall Posterity the preservation of the Church and the establishment of true Religion Peace and Liberty throughout his Majestes Realms and Dominions V. Reasons drawn from the Interest of Scotland The People of England being fully satisfied that the design for alteration of Church-government under pretence of Reformation was first set on foot by the English and Scottish Grandees meerly for ambitious worldly ends and respects and the Scots having had sufficient experience of the stoutnesse of our English stomacks that they will by no means digest the Presbyteriall government and since it is look't on by all knowing men as absolutely inconsistent with and destructive of Monarchy without doubt it concernes the Scots to bethinke themselves of some other way wherby to settle an Interest and Inter-course with this Nation than by introducing a Presbytery where it is so extreamly distasted by the generality of the People That there is no way for the Scots to settle a beneficiall and lasting Interest here but by an absolute and sincere Close with the Royall Interest I shall manifest by severall Reasons First if they come in and declare in a mixed manner for the King and the Covenant they give the world to understand that they come but to Act the old Cheat over again seeing the Covenant though there be words in it mentioning the Honour and happinesse of the King and his Posterity would prove in effect the destruction of both For if it works not an absolute change of Government in the State as well as the Church yet it is cleer that it will regulate it into a posture farre beneath the dignity and condition of a Monarchy Therefore upon such Termes they will lose that assistance which otherwise they might have from the Royall Party in England Secondly by so declaring they will draw the Curtaine now placed betwixt them and us and give a perfect discovery of their Intentions and we shall conclude that their ayme is no wise at the good of his Majestie but onely to serve their owne corrupt Interests And we shall beleeve they bring in an Army for no other end but to back their Party of Presbytery in the House and the City so to crush the opposite Faction of Independencie and then by removing the King to one of his Houses reduce him and the Affaires of the Kingdome in Statu quo prius as when he was at Holdenby where he shall languish in the condition of a Prisoner as long as he lives or at least as long as they reigne it being resolved on before hand that he
people insomuch that the Brethren of the contrary way after all their art industry and perswasion have found by experience that it is impossible to force any other upon them therefore without all controversie a Bishop mortified and pruned of his superfluities moderated in the jurisdiction of his Court and the compulsive power and assisted by the Clergy of his Diocesse will in the end appear to be the most excellent Governour Sixtly if any Presbyter object that he hath sworn to the extirpation of Bishops he may do well to consider the unlawfulnesse of such an Oath it having never been enjoyned by any lawfull authority but expresly without it and against it and moreover to the destruction of that which is lawfull viz. the government of the Church confirmed by the Lawes of the Land which appears also by the undoubted testimony of ancient Records and later Histories to have been continued with an universell uninterrupted unquestioned succession in all the Churches of God and in all Kingdoms that have been called Christian throughout the whole world for fifteen hundred yeers together without any considerable opposition made against it and which if it be not of divine right hath a fairer pretension and may lay a juster title and claim to a divine institution then any other form of Government can do and therefore it having been worthily of such esteem in all Times and Places and established by Law certainly an Oath binding to extirpate it without Law and against Law is utterly unlawfull and so rather to be repented of then stubbornly maintained Seventhly by standing out for a Presbytery they give the more hopes and encouragement to the Independent party to persist in a way of obstinacy against his Majesty and oppression of the Subject because it will be a means to hinder a cordiall joynt engaging betwixt the Presbyters and the Royall party and enflame the old enmity to the destruction of each other whilest Independents gather strength and opportunity to triumph in the ruines of their division whereas by a speedy compliance with his Majesties interest they may quell the pride of Independency and either fetch them down to a composition with his Majesty or in case they continue perverse be surely enabled to expell them out of the Kingdom Lastly by a sincere absolute close with his Majesty upon rationall grounds they do no more then what the prevailing party among their Brethren the Scots pretend to engage for and truly if their intents be otherwise they will finde but cold entertainment in England therefore if the Presbyters of England would but acquit themselves like reasonable men the work of restoring his Majesty might be done without the Scots and all those miseries and inconveniences be avoyded which must certainly follow the admission of a forreign Army which besides the pressures that they must bring upon the exhausted Northen parts will expect a large retribution of Treasure for a reward of their engaging and perhaps not depart in quiet but upon such Termes as may be exceedingly prejudiciall and dishonourable to the English Nation From hence I once again infer the true interest of the Presbyters is to counter-work the Independents in their interest which they now drive against his Majesty and to this end to quicken themselves to a joynt engaging with the royall party as the onely means to beat down the ambition of the ruling Grandees of the Independent party to prevent the miseries of a long-languishing War with the in conveniences of a Scottish incursion and also to procure the speedy settlement of the King in his just Rights and the Kingdoms in firm peace and tranquility IIII. Reasons drawn from the interest of the City of London This great and populous City is the epitome of the Kingdom whereof as it is a member it hath the same common interest with the whole yet being more excellent then any other part by reason of the dependance of the rest upon it as being the principall Fountain of Traffick and also by reason of its abundance of Wealth the grand Priviledges of their Charter and the multitude of their Revenues and Inhabitants they have much the greater share in the common interest of the Nation which is Peace and Prosperity The speciall interest of this City is a free trade as well within as without the Kingdom The onely enemy thereto is a civill warre which destroyes commerce betwixt man and man whereof the Citizens have had sad experience these tumultuous times by the decay of Trading the like hath not been many hundred yeers So that the only way to recover againe is to endeavour after a happy Peace and seeing there is no possibility of attaining it but by an establishment of his Majestie I shall present them with a few Considerations First they may doe well to remember how they were cheated heretofore with religious pretences into an Ingagement against his Majesty and how that the whole Kingdome must owe its ruine and desolation to their warlike preparations and Contributions Therfore as it hath been their unhappinesse to have the first hand in driving away the King and un-setling the Kingdom so let them account it their honor to be active and industrious in bringing him back again and to settle him in peace on the throne of the Kingdome Secondly in effecting this they ought to have respect onely to the Royall Interest without the mixture of any factious ingaging whatsoever under pretence of Covenant c. lest while they seem to act in the behalfe of his Majesty they unawares drive on the design again of some particular Faction instead of the Publick Good and so leave open a Gap still to Division Thirdly in case that the Scots come into this Kingdome againe the Citizens ought to see very narrowly to the Principles of their ingageing ere they condescend to supply or countenance them secretly or openly If they come in with the old cheat of Reformation Covenant and Presbytery it will be the wisdome of the Citie to consider that this will be but a new On-set to the first designe of Scotish incroaching upon English Interest and the maintaining of a Faction to serve the ends of Scotland and the ambition of a few Scotified English whose Aymes have been and are to share Dominion with the Scots to the dishonour and prejudice of the Nation and the ruine of Monarchy the alteration of Church-government how speciously soever set forth being but a businesse subordinate to the private ends of particular Grandees among the Laity and obscure Rabbies of the Clergy Fourthly they may be pleased to observe that the Game plaid hitherto betwixt the two Factions of Presbytery and Independency hath been onely which of them should be our Riders and it s to be supposed now that all the strugling of the Presbyterians against the present ruling Grandees is not by dismounting of them to free us but onely to get themselves againe into the Saddle that they may domineer over King and Kingdome
at Ware destructive to the other at New-Market whereinto the Souldiery were partly allured by soothings and partly driven by terror one of their fellow-souldiers being condemned for resistance by a Councell of Warre and shot to death before their faces at the generall Rendezvous The Levellers Party being thus quell'd there remained yet one Rub more in the way to this new STATE and that was the Presbyter Party As for the Royall Party they were crushed alreadie undone for want of their Estates or by unmeasurable Compositions to regain them and their King reduced to a forlorn despicable condition of imprisonment so that it was presumed he or they could have little hope or meanes to revive againe There remained then onely the Gulph of Presbytery to saile through to their desired Haven They knew very well that the Breasts of the Presbyterians boiled high with indignation and revenge against them as their contrary Faction that had over-awed and subdued them by force and subtilty to become possessors of what was once theirs and share in the glory of that new Government which had been designed and devoured in hope long before by the Presbyters Therefore the Presbyterian being a potent Faction by reason of the great interest it hath in the City of London and their neare union with Scotland and indeed the major Party in the House on their side if it were not over-awed they judged it necessary to bethinke themselves of some way to pacifie the Presbyterians To this end they first fell to bribing of the grand Presbyterian-sticklers in the House either with sums of money in recompence of pretended losses or of Arreares or else with great Offices which staid their stomacks and held the rest of the Presbyters in suspence upon hope of the like in time according to their merits As for the Scots it was with high confidence presumed that they might bee taken off upon good valuable Considerations wherein the aspiring States have not been wanting by prodigious Offers though all will not prevaile As for the City if after the pacifying of the Presbyterian in the House they could likewise have made sure of the Scots connivence the Presbyterian Party of Londoners must have fallen of course as not able to stand out by themselves And so here now we have a full view of the Designe of the present ruling Independent Party For if after they had crushed the Levellers they could by any meanes have made sure work with the Presbyters at home and in Scotland then there had been nothing betwixt them and home but his Majesty and his posterity who being all of them at their Disposition and power besides the Prince and hee not likely to receive much comfort by succour from foraine Parts I leave the world to judge what should have been the consequence of their wretched designe But since it appeares and themselves are now perswaded in their hearts that God hath otherwise determined concerning his sacred Majesty and his numerous flourishing posterity seeing their last hopes faile them and they begin to languish in the Close of their Work certainly it is high time to retreat before the Dore be bolted against all hope of Pacification and it must needs bee their true Interest to recall his Majesty to let him Treat with freedom and bethink themselves of some necessary expedients toward an honorable equall and perfect reconciliation as the only meanes of safety to Themselves comfort to their afflicted King and peace to these distressed Kingdoms which I shall indeavour to prove by strength of Reason First though it bee a Maxim among godlesse Statesmen never to trust Princes whom they have highly offended yet if the Independent Grandees should have no other assurance upon Agreement than his Majestie 's bare word for their Jndempuity I am confident they might trust him it being a knowne Principle ingrafted in his nature not only by morall Impression but also by Christian perswasion to forgive those that have persecuted him and dispightfully â—used him For undoubtedly the whole Course of his life hath manifested him if men would lay aside their Splene and but speake their Consciences to bee of a most gracious inclination equall to any of his Predecessors and an exact patern of true Clemency to succeeding Generations Secondly there is no doubt but that upon Termes of Agreement his Majesty will condescend to give any reall assurance for their security that shall in reason bee required that is so it extend not to the Infringement of his just Rights and royall Prerogative For it must bee ever supposed that where an Accommodation is intended betwixt adverse Parties there must bee a Condescension on both sides wherein the ordinary Principles of right Reason and Equity must bee the Rule For if either side keep to any one extreme the old enmity will never want Fuell and so the very Pretences of Accommodation will bee utterly destroyed and end in more furious flames of Dissension Thirdly there is a necessity of their Complyance with his Majesty because the hatred of the People is so great that if once they receive a Foile upon Battell there is little possibility of recruiting when the Hearts and purses of both City and Country are shut against them And therefore it were madnes for men to set their whole Stock at one Cast and hazard the fortune of themselves and Friends upon the uncertain chance of one single Conflict whereas wise men before they pitch upon Enterprizes of so high a Nature cast about rather how to repaire themselves upon occasion of losse than dream altogether of Victory For such a provident Jealousy usually leads men to fafety whilst the consident imaginary prosperity of Fooles destroyes them Fourthly None can have greater cause of Jealousie touching the successe of their owne Affaires than the present ruling Grandees now have For besides the instability of their condition in respect of contrary Humors and parties ready to ingage against them at home it is visible that they will bee invaded from abroad The Covenant-Faction of the Scots are concerned in point of Interest to wage war against them for the restoring of their party againe in England and his Majesties Party in Scotland will not as indeed they ought not stand neutrall And though they have great hopes here that the difference between his Majestie 's Party and the Covenanters there touching the Nature of an Ingagement against England may rise so high as by busying them against each other to keep them from ingaging this way at all yet rather than suffer things to remaine at this passe in England it is evident they will supersede all bandyings among themselves and consider of some middle way wherein to mannage their Counsels and resolutions to bee revenged upon the Independent Usurpers Besides it is very observable that the late falling away in Ireland may from a cessation proceed to a perfect Peace with the Irish and then both joyne in one against the Houses for the restoring of his