Insurrection who kept not any one Article that was there agreed upon the King called a Parliament that met Aug. 13. 1640 which at first was thought to be well enough disposed till Sir Hen. Vane then Secretary of State demanded Twelve Subsidies in stead of Six which put the Commons into such a flame that upon May 4. his Majesty by the Advice of his Council thought fit to Dissolve them In August following the Scotch Confederates holding very good Intelligence with the English entred England with an Army which the King oppos'd with what force he was at that time able to Raise upon his own Credit His Majesty upon this pinch summons his Great Council of Peers to assemble at York Sept. 24. where they met accordingly and advised the King to a Treaty which was held at Rippon and a Peace was there Concluded and Signed Oct. 26. His Majesty being ply'd in the Interim with Petitions to call a Parliament and his work cut out ready to his hand in the matter of Property and Religion Those Petitions might have been spar'd the King having before hand resolved to call a Parliament to meet on the 3d of November next They were no sooner met but they fell upon Grievances and Impeachments beginning with the Earl of Strafford and the Bishop of Canterbury and so proceeding till all his Majestys Friends were made Traytors and the Law it self was found to be the Greatest Grievance There is a Malignant and Pernicious Designe says the Remonstrance of Dec. 15. 41. of subverting the Fundamental Laws and Principles of Government upon which the Religion and Justice of this Kingdom is firmly establish'd And there are certain Counsellors and Courtiers who for private Ends have engaged themselves to further the Interest of some Foreign Princes and States to the Prejudice of his Majesty and the State at Home Take notice now that the King had already by their own confession pass'd more Good Bills to the advantage of the Subjects then had been in many ages Coat and Conduct-money were all damn'd The Earl of Strafford beheaded The Archbishop of Canterbury Judge Bartlet and several other Bishops and Judges Impeach'd two Bills pass'd the One for a Triennial the Other for Continuance of the Present Parliament the Star-Chamber High-Commission Courts of the President and Council in the North taken away the Council-Table Regulated the Power of Bishops and their Courts abated Innovators and Scandalous Ministers terrifiâ—d by accusations the Forrests and Stannary-Courts brought within compass and yet after all this other things pa. 15. of main Importance for the Good of this Kingdom are in Proposition But their Intention pag. 19. is only to reduce within Bounds that exorbitant Power which the Prelates have assumed to unburthen mens Consciences of needless and superstitious Ceremonies Suppress Innovations and take away the Monuments of Idolatry To support his Majesties Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home with Power and Reputation abroad and by their Loyall Affections Obedience and Service to lay a sure and lasting Foundation of the Greatness and Prosperity of his Majesty and his Royall Posterity after him pag. 2. Declaring and Protesting further to this Kingdom and Nation and to the whole world pag. 663. in the presence of Almighty God for the satisfaction of their Consciences and the discharge of that Great Trust which lies upon them that no Private Passion or Respect no evill Intention to his Majesties Person no designe to the prejudice of his JUST Honour and Authority engaged them to raise Forces and take up Arms against the Authours of that War wherein the Kingdom was then Inflamâ—d Let us see now how well they acquitted themselves as to this Profession They put the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence by the Authority of Both Houses Pag. 96. They require anâ— Obedience to it Pag. 112. They Vote it a Breach of priviledge not to submit to any thing as Legal which they declare to be Law Pag. 114. And declare Pag. 150. that upon Certain Appearance or Grounded Suspition the Letter of the Law shall be emproved against the Equity of it and that the Commander going against its Equity discharges the Commanded from Obedience to the Letter to shorton the business they make it Treason upon any presence whatsoever Pag. 576. to assist his Majesty in the War with Horse Arms Plate or Monies and his Majesty Sums up the Malice of that Declaration in these Sixth Petitions First That they have an Absolute Power of Declaring the Law and that whatsoever they declare to be so ought not to be questioned either by King or people So that all the Right and safety of the Prince and Subject depends upon their pleasure Secondly That no Presidents can be Limits to bound their Proceedings which is so the Government of the Turk himself is not so Arbitrary Thirdly That a Parliament may dispose of any thing wherein the King or Subject hath a Right for the Publick Good speaking all this while of the remnant of the two Houses That they without the King are this Parliament and Judge of this Publick Good and that the Kings Consent is not necessary So that the Life and Liberty of the Subject and all the Good Laws made for their security may be dispos'd of and Repâ—al'd by the Major Part of both Houses at any time present and by any ways and means procured so to be and his Majesty has no Power to Protect them Fourthly That a Member of either House ought not to be troubled or medled with for Treason â—lony or any other crime without the Cause first brought before them that they may Judge of the Fact and their leave obtained to proceed Fifthly That the Soveraign Power resides in Both Houses of Parliament the King has no negative Voice and becomes Subject to their Commands Lastly That the Levying of Forces against the Personal Commands of the King though accompany'd with his presence is not Levying War against the King But to Levy War against his Laws and Authority which they have power to declare and signify is Levying War against the King and that Treason cannot be committed against his Person otherwise then as he is intrusted with the Kingdom and discharging that Trust and that they have a power to judge whether he dischargeth it or no. And all this still for the maintainance of the true Protestant Religion the Kings JUST Prerogatives the Laws and Liberties of the Land and the Priviledges of Parliament Pag. 281. Nay they will not allow the King any great Officer or Publick Minister the Power of Treating upon War or Peace or any matter of State conferring Honours no not so much as the Power of appointing any Officer Civil or Military without leave of the two Houses The Scale of their wickedness in One Word wherein their hireling-Pulpitiers fail in as pat with them as two Tallies was this First they fell upon the Kings Reputation they Invaded his Authority in the
A SEASONABLE MEMORIAL IN SOME HISTORICAL NOTES UPON THE LIBERTIES OF THE PRESSE and PULPIT WITH THE Effects of Popular Petitions Tumults Associations Impostures and Disaffected Common Councils To all Good Subjects and True Protestants LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in S. Pauls Church-yard 1680 A Seasonable MEMORIAL c. THis Title may perhaps give the Reader an expectation if not a Curiosity to hear more then the Authour is willing to tell him For it is his intent only to expose the Mistery of the Contrivance of our late Troubles without the names of the Persons and to shew that the great work of Destroying three Kingdoms was only the Project and Influence of a Private Cabal and that the Rebellion it self was excited and carry'd on by the Force rather of an Imposcure then of a Confederacy The Generality of the people being powerfully and artificially Possess'd by the pretended Patrons of our Religious and Civill Liberties that Popery and Arbitrary Power were breaking in upon us and the design promoted by the Interest of a Court-Faction It could not chuse but create in them the tenderest affection imaginable for the one Party and as violent a Detestation for the other Especially considering that the Person and Authority of the King were as yet Sacred and uot any man open'd his Mouth but for his Honour and safety the Purity of the Gospel and the Peace of the Kingdome For such was the Reverence the Nation had at that time for the King and the Law that the least word against the Government had spoyl'd all This Double-refining spirit came into the World even with the Reformation it self when by flying from one Extreme to another it left the Truth in the middle which Calvin himself rakes notice of in a Letter to the Protector in Ed. 6. There are two sorts of Seditious men says he speaking of the Papists and the Puritans and against both these must the sword be drawn For they oppose the King and God himself It was the same Spirit that mov'd the Distemper afterward at Frankfort and the same still that made such havock in Scotland and flew in the face of Q. Eliz. her Parliaments and Councill till she was forced to suppress it by Severity and Rigour Her successor King James after a long Persecution in Scotland and a fresh attempt upon him at Hampton Court by the same Faction took them up roundly once for all and so past the rest of his days in some measure of quiet But the Plot succeeded better under King Charles when taking advantage of his Majesties necessitys with the Infinite goodness of his Nature that made him apt to believe the best of all men and a Popular mixture in the House of Commons that was still ready for their turn they pursu'd him with Remonstraâ—ce upon Remonstrance through four Parliaments and at last by the help of the Act for the continuance of the Parliament Tumultâ— and that Execrable Libel of Dec. 15. 1641. Entitled A Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdome they accomplished their ends under ehe Countenance of the Fifth By what steps and Methods they gained their Poynt comes now to be consider'd Their first advance toward a Sedition was the introducing of a Schism by distinguishing themselves under the Name of the Godly Party from the rest of the Nation which they found to be the safest way of approach and the most plausible expedient To this end they brought in Lecturers over the Heads of Parochial Ministers whose maintenance being dependent upon the Faction made them wholly at the devotion of their Patrons They had their Emissaries also in all Corporations and Populous parts of the Kingdom that were appointed as Feoffees to deal for Impropriations under the charitable pretext of making a better Provision for the Ministry And these were men of publick business in the World as Clergy-men Lawyers c. well known and made famous for their Zeal by the Reputation of so pious an Undertaking By this project they advanced considerable Sums of Money but the Incumbents little the better for it For either it stuck to the Feoffees fingers or it was applyed to other uses and with the Tithe of a Parsonage in one place a Lecture was set up in another After the Choice of fit Instruments their next work was to secure them from any trouble of Church-Censures To which end they bought some Headship or other in an University for some Eminent man of their own way for the training up of Novices in their Discipline And then they had a kind of a Practical Seminary at St. Antholines in London where their Disciples were in a manner upon a Probation for Abilities and Affections and out of this Nursery they furnish'd most of their New-bought Impropriations These young Emissaries of theirs had their Salary and were subordinate to a Classis or Clero-Laicall Consistory to be transplanted at their pleasure And yet this Consistory did not so strictly confine themselves to their Own Members but upon Letters Testimonial from the Patriarchs of the Party that such or such a man was fit for their turn or had given proof of his fidelity to the Cause by undergoing some sentence for contemning the Orders of the Church and persisting Obstinately in that disobedience to such a man I say in such a Case they commonly allow'd a Preference And the better to avoid the danger of the Spiritual Courts they made it their business to provide Commissaries of their Own Leaven where they had any special Plantation And Lastly to make sure of their Agents that they should not fall off when they had serv'd their own turns they kept them only as Pentioners at pleasure and liable to be turn'd out at any time either if they cool'd in the Holy Cause or fail'd of Preaching according to the direction of the Conclave Let it be noted here by the by that the design and mischief of those Lecturers when they could nor so well Congregate in Private Meetings is in our days supply'd if not outdone by a greater number of Conventicles to the very same Intent and God grant it prove not with the like effect They were as yet but upon the Preparatory to the great work of their Thorough Reformation which in plain English was the Dissolution of the Government So that the Pulpits had nothing more to do at present then to dispose and accommodate the Humours and Affections of the People The Common Subject of the Pulpit and they all sung the same Song was First to irritate the Multitude against Popery which had been well enough if they had not Secondly by sly Insinuations under the Notion of Arminianism intimated the Church of England to be leaning that way By this Artifice the People were quickly brought into a dislike of the English Communion and by degrees into as fierce an Aversion to the One Church as to the Other Now whatsoever the Government Lost the
by he cry'd unto him thus saith the Lord because thou hast let go a man whom I appointed for Destruction therefore thy Life shall go for his Life Now see how the King of Syria after this answers Ahab's love about three years after Israel and Syria engaged in a new War and the King of Syria gives command unto his Souldiers that they should fight neither against small nor great but against the King of Israel Benhadads Life was once in Ahabs hand and he ventur'd Gods displeasure to let him go But see how Benhadad rewards him for it Fight neither against Small nor Great but against the King of Israel Honourable and Worthy If God do not lead you to do Justice upon those that have been great Actors in shedding Innocent Blood never think to gain their Love by sparing of them for they will if Opportunity be ever offer'd return again upon you And then they will not fight against the poor and mean ones but against those that have been the Fountain of that Authority and Power which have been â—mproved against them 〈◊〉 you not sins â—now of your Own says another but will ye wrap 〈◊〉 selves up in the Treachery Mâ—ther Blood Câ—uelty and Tyranny 〈◊〉 â—thers p. 17. Set some of those Grand Malefactors a mourning that hâ—e caused the Kingdom to mourn so many years in Garments rollâ—d in blood by the Execution of Justice c. P. 19. Tamum Religio potuit suadere Malorum And we are not yet at the Top on 't neither For to look back upon that hideous Impiety not only without remorse but with satisfaction is a piece of hardness and Inhumanity till this Age and this Case perhaps unheard of Worthy Patriots says another of the same Order you that are our Rulers in this Parliament 't is often said we live in times wherein we may be as good as we please wherein we enjoy in Purity and plenty the Ordinances of Jesus Christ praised be God for thisâ— Even that God who hath deliver'd us from the Imposition of â—relatical Innovations Altar-Genuflexious and Cringings with Crossings and all that Popish trash and Trumpery And truly I speak no more then I have often thought and said The Removal of those Insupportable Burthens Countervails for the Blood and Treasure shed and spent in these late Distractions Nor did I as yet ever hear of any Godlymen that destâ—ed were it possible to purchase their Friends or Many again at so dear a rate as with the return of these to have those soulburthening Anti-christian Yoaks re-imposed upon them And if any such there be I am sure that desire is no part of their Godliness and I PROFESS MY SELF IN THAT TO BE NONE OF THE NUMBER And M. Baxter likewise in effect says as much viz. That having often searched into his heart whether he did lawfully engage in the War or not and whether he did lawfully encourage so many thousands to it he tells us that the Issue of all his search was but this that he cannot yet see that he was mistaken in the main Cause nor dares he repent of it nor forbear doing the same if it were to do again in the same State of things We might carry the aggravation yet a step farther in a Remarque or two upon his Political Theses where he took as much pains in 1659. to keep out his present Majesty as he did in the late War to drive out his Royal Father casuistically resolving upon the point then in Hope and Prospect that in that state of things the King himself could not justifie the resuming of his Government nor his People the submitting to it But this is enough to recommend the same persons over again to the care of another Reformation that were so dutifull in the former and the Government needs not doubt but they will be just as kind to his Majesty as they were to his Father Good God! That any thing in Humane shape that Glories in the Murther of his Sovereign should make a face at a Ceremony Here 's no amplyfying of the Matter no forcing of constructions Packing of Presidents or suborning of Proofs But the Doctors of the Schism Cited Produc'd and Judg'd out of their own mouths and in so clear a manner too as to leave no place for a doubt either of the Fact or of the Designe We could give you an account of the many good Offices they did in the various Revolutions of the War and upon the Pinching Exigences of the State As the promoting of Petitions Tumults Protestations Oaths and Covenants of all sizes and colours the Consecrating of the Rebellion by Authorities of Scripture Dividing Wives from their Husbands Sons from their Fathers Preaching away the Apprentices from their Masters and setting Jesus Christ in the Head of the Sedition The artifices of their Fasts and Thanksgivings their Cajolling the City out of their Bags and the simple multitude out of their Lives and Duties the Influence they had upon bringing in the Scots their faculty both of Creating Fears and Jealousies and of Emproving them their miraculous Discoveries of Plots of their own making Their Sermons were a kinde of Domestique Intelligence and people went to Church as to a Coffee-house to hear News and Fables We could shew you likewise how they shifted their Principles with their Interests and from 1640. to 1660. how these Mercenaries of the Pulpit complied with every turn of State But we have rak'd far enough already in this puddle and it is high time to proceed If a man might with a fair Decorum call so direfull a Tragedy a Puppet-play we should tell you that you have hitherto seen only the Puppets of this Pretended Reformation and that they signified nothing of themselves but as they were guided by the Masters of the Machine from under the Stage or behinde the Hanging Now we cannot better lay open this Practice and Confederacy then by setting forth the admirable Harmony and Concert that appear'd betwixt the Lay-Caball and the Ecclesiastick agreeing in the same method in the same steps in the same cause and in the same Opinions Only that which was matter of Policy in Private was made matter of Conscience and Religion in Publick First they finde out Corruptions in the Government as matter of Grievance which they expose to the People Secondly they Petition for Redress of those Grievances still asking more and more till something is deny'd them And then Thirdly they take the Power into their own hands of Relieving themselves but with Oaths and Protestations that they Act only as Trustees for the Common Good of King and Kingdom From the pretence of Defending the Government they proceed to the Reforming of it which Reformation proves in the end to be a Final Dissolution of the Order both of Church and State This we shall deduce as briefly as we may After the Fatal Pacification at Berwick June 17. 1639. upon the Scotts
them still Bolder and Bolder More and more Greedy still and more Insatiable They must have the Militia too the Command of the Kings Towns and Forts and put the Kingdom into a posture of defence themselves They cry for Justice upon Delinquents the very Rabble demanding the Names of those in the House of Peers that would not consent to the Proposition made by the House of Commons concerning the Forts Castles and the Militia when it was rejected by a Major Part twice And declaring them for Enemies to the Common-wealth Loyall and Legall Petitions being still rejected and the seditious countenanc'd In a Word they grew higher and higher till they brought the King to the Block which was no more then a Natural Conclusion from such premises And the First Petition how plausible soever was the Foundation of all our Ruines These Petitions you must know do not ask to Obtain but to be Deny'd and only seek an Occasion to pick a quarrel and if they cannot finde it they 'l make it If this be not provided for they tell us It is the Case of many a Thousand in England and great troubles will come of it The very Stile of them is Menacing and certainly nothing can be more Evident then their evil Intention There 's Malice in the Publication of them too beside that by the Number of the Subscripâ—ions they take an Estimat of the strength of their Party which is their safest way of Muster The Last Section under the Head of Popular Petitions is the Effect of them which in our Case was no less then the destruction of Three Kingdoms and let the Matter be what it will the Method is a most necessary Link in the chain of a Rebellion And it is the securest experiment too of attempting a Commotion being the gentlest of Political Inventions for feeling the pulse of the People If it takes the work is half done and if Not 't is but so much Breath Lost and the Design will be kept Cold. But may not Men Petition you will say and Petition for a good thing Yes if the thing be Simply Good the Petitioners Competent Judges of it and every man keep himself to his Own Post I see no hurt in 't But for the Multitude to interpose in Matters of State as in the Calling or Dissolving of Parliaments Regulation of Church Government or in other like Cases of Doubtful and hazardous Event wherein they have no Skill at all nor any Right of Intermedling why may not 20000. Plow-Iobbers as well Subscribe a Petition to the Lord-Mayor of London for the Calling of a Common-Council Or as many Porters and Carmen here in London put in for the better government of the Herring-Trade in Yarmouth every jot as reasonable would This be as the Other And that 's not all neither for the Thing they take to be a Cordial proves many times to be a Poyson and after Subscription they are yet to learn the very meaning of the Petition And then the Numerous Subscriptions prove it manifestly to be a Combination For the Number of Hands adds nothing to the Weight of the Petition and serves only for Terrour and Clamour It is a kinde of an odd way of putting the Question as who should say Sir May we be so bold and the sufferance or Patience of the Prince seems to answer them Yes you may and so they go on The Transition is so natural from a Popular Petition to a Tumult that the One is but the Hot Fit of the other and little more in effect then a more earnest way of Petitioning By these says his Late Majesty must the House be purg'd and all Rotten Members as they please to call them cast out By these the Obstinacy of men resolv'd to discharge their Consciences must be subdu'd by These all Factious seditious end schisâ—natical Proposals of Government Ecclesiastical or Civil â—st be back'd and abetted till they prevail God forbid says Mr. Pym that the House of Commons should proceed in any way to dishearten people to obtain their jâ—t desires in such a way It would fill a Volume to tell the Insolencies of the Rabble upon Lâ—mbeth-House upon the Persons of the Archbishop of York and all the Loyall Members of both Houses their Oâ—tcries for Justice upon Laâ—d and Strafford under the Conduct of Ven and Maâ—waring Their Exclamations No Bishops No Popish Lords Proclaiming several of the Peers by their Names to be evil and râ—tton-hearted Lords Their besetting of Sheriff Garnets House when the King Dinâ—d there crying out Priviledges of Parliament their aâ—onting the Lâ—rd Mayor Sir Richard Gourny and tearing his Chain from about his Neck and using Sir Thomas Gardiner the Recorder little better following them with Reproaches Remember the PROTESTATION Nay the King himself had his Coach stopt and Walkers Seditious Libel To your Tents O Israel thrown into it in the street This was upon the dispute about the Five Members when at their Return from Westminster they made a stand at White-hall-gate bauling out that they would have no more Porters Lodge but speak with the King when they pleas'd About a hundred Lighters and Long-Boats were set out by water laden with Sacres Murthering-Pieces and other Ammunition drest up with Mast-cloths and Streamers as ready for fight calling out as they past by Whitehall Windows what 's become of the King whither 's he gone The Tower of London and Hull being both besieged at the same time Now what was the End of These Tumults but over and above the Guilt and Calamities of a Civil War a Vengeance in the Conclusion upon the Heads of all the First Abetters of them These very men that first by Tumults forc'd away the King from Whitehall and their Fellow-members from attending their Duty at Westminster were Themselves afterward cast out by succeeding Tumults under the Character of Persons Disaffected the Independents at that time being too hard for the Presbyterians and the City too was whipt with its own rod. No man is so blinde says the Late King as not to see herein the Hand of Divine Justice They that by Tumults first occasioned the Raising of Armies must now â—e chastened by their own Army for new Tumults In fine a Tumult is a seditious action in Hot Bloud and only accounted the less Criminal for that there is not in it the Malice Prepence of a Rebellion If it succeeds the Principals of the Faction form it into a Conspiracy but if it miscarries it passes only as That did in Scotland 1637. for an Outrage of the Rabble Where many People agree in the Desiring of the same thing they seldom fail of Engaging afterwards towards the Procuring of it and so the Project advances from Petition to Protestation or Covenant the One Leading so naturally to the Other that the Late Popular Petition was no sooner set on foot but it was immediately followed upon the