quality to reduce this Ancient Monarchy into a Democracy in order to which He imploys the whole stock of his malice to scoff and burlesque all the Sacred Orders of the Church as the ready way to ruine the State The truth is says he page 98. I could wish there had never been any Clergy the purity of Christian Religion as also the good and Orderly Government of the World had been much better provided for And so says Mr. Harrington An ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of Clergy Ocean p. 223. And Ministers of all others least understand Political Principles And then having vilisied Monarchy as the worst of Governments and the Corruption of all others He very Dogmatically proclaims the State of Venice to be the Perfectest pattern of Government now existent And so did Mr. Harrington in his Venetian Ballott To gain Authority and success to his Politick frame He recommended to this Nation he Caresses the People with the same unlimited and transcendent power which Doleman is most graciously pleas'd to bestow upon them by which they are inabled to change and depose their Princes at their Leisure and alter and model the Government at their pleasure to prompt them to this with his Father the Devil and Doleman He slights the Plea of Monarchs Divine right makes the King a sharer with and Trustee of the People and looks upon it as a pretence that they have their power from God And after all with an impudence only proper to himself He would cully the King out of his Prerogatives with the rusty Complement of giving him more Ease and of making him more Glorious These and other wicked and ridiculous Positions destructive both of King and People make up the Politicks of this filthy Dreamer who has more of Pythagoras his Ass than of Plato ' s Spirit in him If the Devil said I be in him I will make him come out of him if I can And with that I march't up to him You Sir said I that have so industriously laboured to change and new model our Government did like a Politician indeed to conjure up the Ghost of an Athenian a sort of sickle giddy headed people that felt more fatal Changes and Revolutions than any Nation under the Sun So like our present Fanaticks * Acts 17. â—1 That they spent their Time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing But Sir when you were scraping in the rubbish of their City for the Ghost of Plato you had done well if you had brought along with you the Statua of Jupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they erected to deter men from being perjur'd Hence 't is that one of their Poets wondring that such persons escap't when the Oak is sometimes thunder-struck said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the Oak is not for sworn Hence it was that they termed a righteous person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perjurious signified a wicked man insomuch that I meet but one among them fit to make a Foreman of a true Protestant Ignoramus Jury and that was Lysander who was so infamous for that saying of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That we ought to cheat Children with Cock all 's but Enemies with Oaths Now since your Friends at home are grown so scandalous for breaking the Third and Ninth Commandments which were given by Moses who was a King among the righteous You cannot tell how far such a Statua might deter them because set up by a Religious Commonwealth But you have brought nothing with you from thence but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Brazen face And 't is with this Brazen face you have the confidence to appear in defence of your many-headed Democracy to vilisie the present Establisht Government in despight of the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom and when you have done as I am told to appear in Westminster Hall at a time when one a very little worse than your self received Sentence of Death for High Treason And if the Platonick Year were true a man might easily guess your fate every Revolution of Saturn But to the purpose Greece is not able to contain your Politicks but you whip over into Italy and as the Painters of that Country use sometimes to summon the fairest Courtesans together and draw a Beautiful face for the Blessed Virgin Mary from the slagrancies of Harlots So from the Charming Constitutions of Rome in its Youth and Venice in its old Age would you model us a pure sound and glorious Government I would so replied Nevil For in the most turbulent Times of that Commonwealth and Factions between the Nobility and People Rome was much more full of vertuous and Heroick Citizens than ever it was under Aurelius or Anteninus p. 43. But said I are there not as many vertuous and Heroick Persons under King Charles the Second in England But now I think of it the late Shaftsbuty's Conspiracy would have left us as few had it taken effect as Catalines would in Rome And I believe that such a Protestant as you are who will allow of no Priests but those of Mars esteem a few Heathen Philosophers before all the Ministers of the Gospel He was a Conjurer like your self that was ravisht with the love of Tully for writing against Transubstantiation in his third Book de Natura deorum Cum Fruges Cererem vinum Liberum dicimus genere nos quidem sermonis utimur usit ato sed ecquemtam amentem esse put as qui illud quo vescatur Deum credat esse When we call Corn Ceres and Wine Bacchus we only use a customary way of Speech but whom do you think so mad as to believe that with which he is sed to be a God And just such a true Protestant Politick Antiquarian is the Authour of Plato Redivivus and just such a formidable enemy to Popery But Sir if Ancient Governments do not please you said he because out of Fashion What think you of the Venetian I declare it to be the best in the World at this day Indeed said I the Venetians I confess have not been altogether so Pope-ridden as some others have and their Dukes may marry the Adriatick Sea without a Licence from the Bishop of Rome but I hope you believe it cannot be done without the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of Rome And that the Pope has a great deal less Jurisdiction in England if ever you took the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy But you have lost your English Conscience and no body values your Protestant Policy For is not the King of England much better than a Duke of Venice Is not the Succession in the right Line as Authentick from Scripture as good by experience as Ballotting Is not the King of England by the Grace of God greater and better than a Duke of Venice by the vertue of Hocus Pocus He is greater said he but that greatness is not better either for himself or
THE VISIONS OF Government WHEREIN The Antimonarchical Principles and Practices of all Fanatical Commonwealths-men and Jesuitical Politicians are discovered confuted and exposed By EDWARD PETTIT M. A. and Author of the Visions of Purgatory and Thorough Reformations Morosophi Moriones pessimi LONDON Printed by B. W. for Edward Vize at the Sign of the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill M DC LXXXIV TO THE High Potent and Noble PRINCE JAMES Duke Marquess and Earl of ORMOND in ENGLAND and IRELAND Earl of Ossery and Brecknock Viscount Thurles Baron of Arclo and Lanthony Lord Licutenant General and General Governour of His Majesties Kingdom of Ireland Lord of the Regalities and Liberties of the County of Tipperary Lord Chancellour of the famous Vniversities of Oxford and Dublin Lord High Steward of His Majesties Houshold One of His Majesties most Honourable Privy Council in England Scotland and Ireland and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the GARTER May it it please Your Grace I Humbly presume to take this opportunity of congratulating the late Deliverance of your Grace's Noble Son his Excellency the Earl of Arran under whose Care and Conduct the flourishing Kingdom of Ireland injoyces both Peace and Plenty at this day and I hope Your Grace will be pleas'd to accept of these honest labours of my Pen in defence of that Monarchy which you have so long assisted with your Counsels so often vindicated with Your Sword My Lord There never was a wiser Government never a more Gracious Sovereign never a more faithful Subject than Your self All your Princely Vertues will make Your Grace an Illustrious Pattern to the Ages to come who cannot be parallel'd by any that are past He that compar'd Your Grace to Barzillai did it because among all David's Worthies there was none that for Greatness Fidelity and long Experience might compare with You and yet You as far exceed his recorded Merits as the Irish Seas do the little River of Jordan May the ever-living God make Your Grace as far excel him in length of daies by adding to Your Illustrious Life those which in his Divine Wisdom he has been pleas'd to take from Your Right Honourable Father and from Your Noble Son the late Earl of Ossery and thus make up to us our loss here upon Earth and Yours with a late but glorious Immortality with them in Heaven This is the hearty Prayer of all that Fear God and Honour the King and in particular of Your Grace's most humble and obedient Servant EDWARD PETTIT THE CONTENTS VISION I. THe Introduction The Ghost of S. Jerom a Native of Hungary after a relation of the present State of that Kingdom condemns their Rebellion from the Doctrine and practice of the Christians of his time The Grand Confederacy against Christian Religion and Government discovered in a Dialogue betwixt the Ghosts of the late Vizier Cuperlee a General of the Jesuits and the Earl of Shaftsbury The reason why the Fanaticks of England lament the defeat of the Turks A parallel in some new Remarques betwixt them Whether was the more Unchristian to wish the success of the Turkish Arms before Vienna or of the Moors before Tangier The impious and foolish conceit of preventing Arbitrary Government under the Protection of the Grand Seignior p. 1 VISION II. THe miserable state of the Christians under the Turks the happy condition of the people of England Good Government the reason of it The Malecontens described and exposed The Argument that converted and confirmed a Jew in the Christian Faith He confutes and condemns the Fanaticks for their Rebellious Murmurings and Practices He proves Monarchy to be of Divine Institution and the best of Governments The Monarchy of England the best in the World The design of Hobbs's Leviathan and of Nevil's Plato Redivivus they are both in the extremes and both exploded The Ghosts of Hobbs Machiavel and some other modern Politicians quarrel about Preheminence Lucifer not able to decide the Controversie referrs it to Bradshaw He determines for Richard Baxter upon the account of that Maxim that Dominion is founded in Grace The Folly of it discovered in his Book intituled A Holy Commonwealth and the Villany of it in the Practices of the late Commonwealth of England p. 45 VISION III. THe monstrous Loyalty of the Fanaticks Their several Ridiculous Policies the growth and design of the late Hellish Conspiracy The two fundamental Principles of the Good Old Cause First That All Civil Authority is deriv'd Originally from the People The extreme villany and folly of this Proposition throughly examined and by a Civiliz'd Cannibal condemn'd The Second That Birthright and Proximity of Blood give no Title to Rule or Government and that It is lawful to preclude the next Heir from his Right of Succession to the Crown The great impiety and folly of this Proposition fully discovered and condemned by an Indian of New England The Authors and Abetters of them both exposed The great Wisdom and Goodness of our present Gracious Sovereign in securing to this Monarchy the right and lineal descent of the Crown p. 147 VISION IV. THe wicked Policy of raising a mean or evil opinion of the Sovereign in the minds of the Subjects The trivial and unreasonable occasions of such an opinion a pleasant instance thereof in the Case of the Salique Law it is condemned by an Hermaphrodite Better that the Sovereignty should be in one Woman than in five hundred men The Sovereignty of England in a single Person The Heresie of the Whiggish Lawyers Those that 〈◊〉 of the Antiquity of Parliamentes and those that vilifie them are Commonwealths men and enemies both of King and Parliament The Characters of several Commonwealths-men good advice to them A Panegyrick upon the King the Duke the Royal Family and all the True-hearted Nobility Gentry Clergy and Commonalty of this Realm an hearty Prayer for them p. 217 Books Printed for and are to be sold by Edward Vize at the Bishop's Head over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill A Discourse of Prayer Wherein this great Duty is stated so as to oppose some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks as they are contrary to the Publick Forms of the Church of England established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by Acts of Parliament A Discourse concerning the Tryal of Spirits Wherein Inquity is made into Mens Pretences to Inspiration for publishing Doctrines in the Name of God beyond the Rules of the Sacred Scriptures In opposition to some Principles and Practices of Papists and Fanaticks as they contradict the Doctrines of the Church of England defined in her Articles of Religion established by her Ecclesiastical Canons and confirmed by Acts of Parliament A Spittle Sermon Preach'd In Saint Brides Parish Church on Wednesday in Easter Week being the Second Day of April 1684. Before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor the Court of Aldermen and the Sheriffs of the now Protestant and Loyal City of London These three
Davenant in his twelfth determin'd Question sayes Induant quam velint isti Magistratuum Reformatores c. Let those Reformers of Magistrates mask under what vizor they please Religion may be their Plea but Rebellion is their Practice And this is so true of Mr. Baxter that as far as I can perceive he will confirm it with his last breath But the Mask he has on will appear to be that of the Fool as well as of the Knave for whatever he in one place denyes he most strictly and rigidly maintains in another and there is not a more ridiculous Book of Polity in the world He confesses indeed that he did not design an Accurate Tract of Politicks not a discovery of an Utopia or City of the Sun And indeed I am apt to believe him for it rather dropt from the concavities of the Midsummer Moon Had he spent his Itch of Scribling in writing his Wifes Life the History of Stew'd Prunes or the Pedigree of his Gib-Cat he had done much better than to have defiled so much good Paper with the indigested Excrements of his Brain upon such a subject For Mr. Baxter did not either honestly or seriously enough consider that his whole Pile of Politicks stands tottering upon a false and rotten foundation For he holds that the Soveraignty of England is in the three Estates viz. King Lords and Commons that the King has but a Co-ordinate Power and may be over-ruled by the other two This is the fundamental Maxim of all his Politicks without which he never could have pretended to the framing his Theocratical Government as he calls it or have made such a Bustle for his peculiar godly Friends and Associates but if this were true which is utterly false why may it not as well happen that the King and Lords should over-rule and consequently exciude the Commons And then what thanks is that House bound to give such a notable Aphorismmonger The Counsellors in that August Assembly are of three sorts by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Some are by Birth as the Barons some Lambards Archion p. 118. by Succession as Bishops and some by Election as Knights and Burgesses and these be all for the time the Kings Council Did ever any King call a Council to depose him But suppose according to Mr. Baxter they might or should do so who should then hinder the two that are by Birth and Succession from over-ruling and excluding the third that are by Election But the Bishops it seems must troop out after the King for fear Mr. Baxter should stumble upon such an horrid piece of non-sense as the making two Estates become three by the taking away of one No less ridiculous is Mr. Baxter in this deposing humour of his for he does like the Abbess who chid the Nun for Fornication when she her self had the Monks Breeches on her head instead of her Veil at the same time He pronounces very terribly Thes 327. That it is a most impious thing for Popes to pretend to disoblige Christians from their Oaths and Fidelity to their Sovereigns and to encourage their Subjects to rebel and murder them But as if it were a most pious thing in a Jack Presbyter he breathes nothing but perfidious Covenants Engagements Associations Seditions and murdering Treasons for several Pages together immediately after Like a Fool as he is to his own Good Old Cause he confesses pag. 461. that God has no where in Scripture told us whether England should be governed by one or two or an hundred but that where the King is Supreme it is the will of God that the people should obey him A strange things that the Politick Saint should want Scripture upon so material an account who is used to squander it away so plentifully upon every trivial occasion Well! since Scripture as he sayes cannot nothing more or better can declare the King of England to be Supreme unaccountable to none but God than the fundamental Laws of this Ancient and Just Monarchy But because Mr. Baxter who would never be govern'd has little or no knowledge of the Laws he sends his Reader in p. 458. to Bacon and Prynn who were as great Hereticks for Lawyers as he is for a Divine I wish that Mr. Baxter who has deserv'd to lose his Tongue as much as Prynn did his Ears would take example by him and lay things seriously and impartially to his heart that by better Aphorisms of Humility and Obedience he would grow so good a Politician indeed as at last to cheat the Devil For 't is a strange thing that a man who has taken so much pains for the salvation of other mens souls should so carelesly run on tick for the damnation of his own If it be true that the King is Supream and that they who resist him as Mr. Baxter has done shall receive damnation to themselves and as Mr. Prynn himself Prynn's Repub. or spurious Good Old Cause sayes they shall But I fear he will never be of so good a mind For like a Knave as he is by his Politicks in this Book and by his Schism and Separation to this day he practises those very Rules which in the beginning of this Book he discovers and declares to be the Jesuits Directions for preserving Popery and changing Religion in this Nation I do not wonder that the late Colonel Sidney who was so great a Crony of Father Oliva ' s the General of the Jesuits at Rome for several years together should borrow part of his Speech he left behind him out of Baxter ' s Holy Commonwealth for sayes he pag. 377. No Man or Family hath originally more right to govern a Nation than the rest till Providence and Consent allow it them Few Princes will plead a Successive Right of Primogeniture from Noah And this without doubt was the Original of that politick strain in Colonel Sidney ' s Speech as the directions of the Jesuits are of Mr. Baxter's Politicks and practices For sayes he himself the summ of Campanella ' s Counsel for promoting the Spanish Interests in England was in Queen Elizabeths daies 1. Above all to breed dissentions and discords among our selves To exasperate the minds of the Bishops against King James by perswading them that he was in heart a Papist and would bring in Popery To make the Kingdom Elective And lastly To perswade the chief Parliament men to turn England into the form of a Common-wealth Pray Sir said I do but hear what Mr. Baxter sayes for himself at the latter end of his Book p. 489. If any one saies he can prove that I was guilty of hurt to the Person or destruction of the Power of the King or of changing the Fundamental Constitutions of the Commonwealth c. I will never gainsay him if he calls me a most perfidious Rebel and tell me that I am guilty of far greater sin than Murder Whoredome Drunkenness or such like or if they can solidly confute my Grounds
subdued Wales and brought Scotland into subjection of whose King and Nobility he received Homage But a King it seems may be made Glorious at a cheaper rate than Victorious and our Antiquarian forgot in his Quotation that honest old Rule Incivile est particulam aliquam Legis sumere non perspect a tota Lege For he should as well have had respect to the end of their meeting as to the particular Persons that were there had he written as became a Loyal Subject and an honest man at that time and I do not at all question but he who seems so tender of wounding the Peerage would be the first were it in his power that would turn the Bishops out of the House of Lords although for the blood of him he cannot in all his reading bring the Burgesses into the House of Commons but must stumble over Archbishops and Bishops by the way I suppose reply'd Seignior Chr. He Dedicated that Book to the late Earl of Essex for the same reason that the last Edition of Gods Revenge against Murder is Dedicated to the late Earl of Shastsbury At this both the Antiquarian and He that kickt about his Parchments join'd together and came up to us with a great deal of Fury and had not I by chance catcht hold of his venerable Ruff and threatned to demolish that reverend relick we had not parted without a fray but he thus receiving some damage at the first onset they compounded the matter and so we parted pretty quietly No sooner were we got from them But you see said Seignior Chr. they both agree against any one that defends the Government and in the main design of changing this Ancient Monarchy into a Commonwealth For they who vilifie Parliaments if they do it not out of a rash and inconsiderate humour do it with an ill design to make the King suspected by his People and so at last would have no King and they who give to Parliaments that power that does not belong to them give them power to destroy themselves and so would have no Parliaments a true notion of a Commonwealth destroys the very being both of King and Parliament for he that diminisheth or taketh away the Prerogative of the King takes away the very Power of Parliament even when He pretends to give them the Kings Prerogative So they that fought for King and Parliament in the late Wars fought against them both as appear'd in the conclusion and England can never be a Commonwealth again until their be no King and then there will ipso facto be no Parliament As soon as we were out of the Castle we saw a world of people coming towards the Gates so that I fancied that we were formally Besieged but it seems they only came thither for Intelligence as their Custom was once or twice a week Upon which we fell in among them and found people of all Qualities and Conditions but most of the commonsort and a great many Women I do not know But methoughts I found my self strangely uneasie among them for they differed very much from men of Debonair and civil conversation they had such a dreaming way of talking such leering and suspicious looks that I never saw so much ill Nature together in a crowd all the daies of my life and almost fancied that they had a particular smell with them Seignior Christiano who saw me in a musing quandary taking me aside if there was said he but a small strinkling of Laplanders and Canibals among them they would be the compleatest Body of Commonwealths-men under the Sun However that they may not want some Foreigners to illustrate them they have a few Calvinistical and busie Walloons prickt in among them Have they not a few Rattoons and Baboons too said I Truly they have as much reason to be altering and changing the Government as any Walloon of them all Is it not an horrid shame and scandal that they who are naturaliz'd by the favour of the Prince and have here gain'd good Estates under the Protection of his Laws should grow insolent and mutinous and join with Rebels to ruin him and his Government You know the monstrous gratitude of a Factious Fanatick or you know nothing said Seignior Chr. how many men whose dulness his Majesty has covered with a Title of Honour and a Gold Chain have in requital acted as if they design'd the old Game of binding Kings in Chains ' T is nothing certainly but the Spirit of ingratitude pride ambition covetousness or revenge that makes so many Commonwealths-men in the Kingdom of England I could give you the exact Characters of these men their particular rules of Education and their behaviour in their several Imployments but they will not singly stand the shock of a reprimand and I have no time at present to do it therefore I will in general advise them all We being now got up a little hill and they all before us Men Women and Children said he Tag Rag and Bobtail since the good old Cause is in so bad a condition that you can never expect to turn this Kingdom into a Common-wealth whilst ye live and think that without one you can never die in peace Let me advise you all to make a step to a certain place at the Head of the River Nilus where Sir John Mandevil in his Travels tells us the People themselves have none but that like Flounders they wear their eyes and mouths in their Breasts these would be fit Companions for you Commonwealths-men for those who will have no King or no Bishops are properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without heads truly solks Niceph. l. 18. c. 45. ' t is not sit ye should stay here for ye have made your selves such monsters of men as the world never knew You that stickle so for a Commonwealth have taken such wicked courses to procure one as are condemned by the Laws of all the Common-wealths that ever were since the World began the Gallant Romans under Consuls and Tribunes scorn'd to make use of treachery breach of Faith secret Assassinations against their most dangerous and formidable Enemies in Time of War or at least they were forbid in the Civil Law but you have added the invention of Blunderbuzzing against your own Gracious and good Prince in Times of Peace Perjury of which you have been so scandalously Guilty was a crime so detestable to all Nations * Sanderson de Jur. oblig Prael 7. that a learned Casuist tells us Perjurium autem vel ipsis etiam Ethnicis inter gravissima illa Crimina est habitum quae credebantur Deorum Immortalium Iram non in Reos tantum sed in Posteros ipsorum imo in universas Gentes accersere Perjury even by the very Heathens was reckon'd among those highest crimes which were thought to stir up the anger of the Immortal Gods not only against those that were Guilty of it themselves but also against their Posterity ay and against
by Thomas Pittis D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Advice to the Readers of the Common Prayer and to the People attending the same With a Preface concerning Divine Worship Humbly offered to Consideration for promoting the greater Decency and Solemnity in performing the Offices of Gods Publick Worship administred according to the Order established by Law amongst us By a well meaning though unlearned Laick of the Church of England T. S. The Life of the Learned and Reverend Dr. Peter Heylin Chaplain to Charles I. and Charles II. Monarchs of Great Britain Written by George Vernon Rector of Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire The Crafty Lady Or the Rival of Himself A Gallant Intriegue Translated out of French into English by F. C. Ph. Gent. ERRATA The Reader is desired to take notice of two mistakes which escap'd the Press PAge 22. line 16. for Castles read Cabalâ— p. 29. blot out with Liquors not Symbolical THE First VISION OF GOVERNMENT The CONTENTS The Introduction The Ghost of S. Jerom a Native of Hungary after a relation of the Present State of that Kingdom condemns their Rebellion from the Doctrine and Practice of the Christians of his Time The grand Confederacy against Christian Religion and Government discover'd in a Dialogue betwixt the Ghosts of the late Vizier Cuperlee a General of the Jesuits and of the Earl of Shaftsbury The Reasons why the Fanaticks of England lament the Defeat of the Turks a parallel in some new remarques betwixt them Whether was the more Unchristian to wish the Success of the Turkish Arms before Vienna or of the Moors before Tangier The impious and foolish conceit of preventing Arbitrary Government under the Protection of the Grand Seignior THE Famous Story of the Apparition of Buda in Hungary after the successful Victory which the Christians obtained over the Turks at Barkan is so generally known that I need not relate it again I am sure that when it was first told to me it made such an impression upon my Fancy all that day that I no sooner slept at night but I dream'd at such a swift rate that I was got as far as the Berg Towns famous for those profound and rich Mines of Silver in possession of the Rebells under the Command of Count Teckeley Whether it was my Fear or Curiosity that let me drop down to the bottom of one of them I cannot certainly tell But I no sooner found my leggs again but methought I march't through a dark and narrow Passage at the farther end of which I espied a very old Man with a long white Beard sitting at a Table with a dim Light and a Book before him and laying his right hand upon a Deaths-head he seem'd to weep very bitterly Bless me quoth I Where am I In Limbo Patrum Have I stumbl'd upon one of the Antediluvian Patriarchs What Venerable Sage is this I am resolv'd to know what part of the Chronology he belongs to In order to it I advanced three or four steps with a design to ask him his Name but as soon as he lifted up his head I perceived that it was S. Jerom the most eminent Scholar that ever that * Born at Stridon Nation bred and a worthy Father of the Latin Church I was extreamly amaz'd to meet with him so far under ground and being desirous to know the Reasons of it he prevented my boldness by saying You may wonder to meet with my Effigies or Ghost in any other place under the Sun but in the Chappel of the Nativity of Bethlehem * Sandys Trav. p. 141. where I spent the latter part of my Life in those Religious Duties which became so Sacred a place you may wonder that I who liv'd and dy'd where the Saviour of the World and the King of Glory was born should here appear where the Mammon of Unrighteousness is hatch'd in the Womb of the Earth I should be much more surpriz'd Holy Father said I to meet you upon the surface of it which is all o're stain'd with the Garbage of Insidels steep'd in whole streams of Christian Blood as if they had utterly banisht the Doctrine of that Prince of Peace How cry'd he have the Goths over-run the World again Is my Native Soyl trodden down once more by those impure Barbarians No cry'd I they are not call'd Goths nor Vandals neither but they style themselves The Brethren the Elect Holy Saints and Reformed Christians These are reply'd he fine Titles which some ancient Hereticks usurp'd and abus'd but pray let me know their present case as short as you can I shall with all submission said I give you an impartial account of them to the best of my memory This your Native Kingdom of Hungaria after many revolutions from being a Province of the Roman Empire fell at last into the possession of the Austrian Family which now upholds the small remains of the Western parts of it in Germany Ferdinand the Brother of Charles the Fifth laid claim to it in right of his Wife who was Sister to the unfortunate Ludovicus the Second but the Hungarians made choice of John Sepusio Vaivod of Transylvania who to settle himself call'd in Solyman the Magnificent Emperour of the Turks John Sepusio dying left only an Infant who was Crown'd in his Cradle upon this the Turkish Emperour who had restor'd the Father under pretence of protecting the Son seized the Regal City of Buda with many other Towns and filled them with his own Garrisons upon which the Hungarians seeing their growing danger did with universal consent elect the aforesaid Ferdinand their King as best able to defend them in whose Family it has continued for an hundred and forty years their Elections being matter of Formality only They took the best course reply'd the Father What is the reason that they now revolt from them You must understand said I that these Princes of the House of Austria are great Patrons of the Jesuits a pestilent sort of Hereticks who have poison'd the Christian World with their damnable Doctrines of Deposing and Killing Soveraign Kings and Princes and though one would think this were enough to enflame all the Potentates of the Earth against them yet they have gain'd so much upon the Emperour that upon the account of their forsaking the Romish Superstitions they have not only advised him to abridge them of some of their Civil Rights but to persecute them with extream Rigour for the sake of their Religion upon which a Party of them have renounc'd their Allegiance to their Temporal Lord have set up one of his sworn Subjects against him and to confirm him have recall'd the Turks the Disciples of one Mahomet who has damn'd many Millions of men with his impure Doctrines made up of a monstrous confusion of Arianism Judaism and Paganism and now threatens all Religion with his Blasphemies and all Christendons with his Arms. What! said he looking as austerely upon me as if Ruffinus had peep 't over
disconsolate but as soon as they saw him they cry'd Welcome thou Man of God! Yea very welcome art thou unto us How hast thou been preserved in these dayes of tribulation Indeed said he the persecution waxeth hot against the people of the Lord the great Dragon is broken loose with his long tail and vomits out whole floods of Popish Holy-water after the Woman in travail the hunting Nimrods pursue us the Folds are broken down and the Sheep are scattered I am come therefore to refresh ye O ye scattered Flocks and since ye cannot hear the Gospel pray read it in these godly Bukes Here likewise take these holy things here is S. Russel ' s Picture and a Sliver of the Deal Board spotted with his Blood shed for the Good Old Cause Here is likewise the Picture of S. Sydney with an Inch of his Cane and here are the works of Mr. Baxter and Mr. Doolittle with their Effigies These are excellent Antidotes against the Powers of Popery and the Charms of Antichrist Oh ye pretty little Lambs that cry Meigh Meigh with earnest longings and groanings Here is Milk for Babes and Meats for Strong Men in four and twenty Sermons when ye have digested these the Man of Sin will never be able to prevail over the Babe of Grace In exchange for this Trash they privately crowded three or four Guinea's into his hand which he meekly took with his leave at the same time But one of them was so overwhelmed with grief and trouble for his going away that her sighs interrupted her speech for a long time at last a few broken sentences burst out and she cryed Oh how the Vision ceaseth and the Prophets prophesie not In the midst of this great Agony a Bramble-Bush chanc'd to catch hold on a deep Lace on her Petticoat and made a great Rent in it Good God! what an alteration was there in a moment She fell a scolding and railing at her Maid that followed waiting upon her as if she had been bewitch'd calling her all the ugly Names her fury could suggest as if by her carelesness she had been the cause of it when again spying us and fearing that we over-heard her she as artificially chang'd her Note Thou simple Wench thou dundernoles quoth she somewhat more softly and with a smile Canst thou not find the Chapter Fie Mary fie here take the Bible again look the Eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews and at the Thirty Seventh Verse there thou shalt find an account of our sufferings At this a little Old Man that stood behind her burst out a laughing and looking on me Don't this place of Scripture said he daintily suit their present Garb and Conditions Don't these look as if they wandered about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins You may soon imagine how much they are destitute afflicted or tormented These are the genteelest mourners in Zion that ever I met with all of them in the newest fashion I believe truly these Martyrs are more troubled about their Taylors than about their Executioners Well I little thought to find the women of England dissatisfied of all others in the world I am sure their freedoms and priviledges are so extraordinarily great that were there a Bridge from Calais to Dover we should have them scamper hither in throngs from all parts of Europe and had the last great Frost but lasted so long and sharp as to have laid all the Waters betwixt those two places they would have scrambled over in shoals though they had sopt their Constitutions to some purpose Sir said I to him if you fully understood the Humours of some of the people of this Nation and the happiness they enjoy you would say that the men have as little reason to be turbulent and mutinous as the women to be Peevish and Discontented They have less reason to be so said he than any people under the Heavens I think I have seen most of the Nations of Europe and when I consider the singular advantages of peace and plenty which you here enjoy it infinitely aggravates the base Ingratitude of a stubborn and factious Generation of men among you that endeavour to subvert so excellent a Government and to disturb the peace of so noble ond flourishing a Kingdom To deal freely with you I am a Jew by Birth I was born at Lublin in Poland but by the grace of God I am now a Christian and I confess to you that the happy condition of the Christians of the Reformed Church of England is a sufficient Argument fully to confirm me in my Conversion For besides the removal of those prejudices which the Church of Rome gives us by their Pictures and Images I find the People of England far to exceed the Ancient Israelites in all Temporal Blessings even in the most prosperous Times wherein they possest the Land of Canaan First In the Situation For besides the old Inhabitants of the Land that were left to be * Judg. 2. v. 3. thorns in their sides they were encompassed with Enemies round about besides the Philistines they had the Assyrians the Aegyptians the Aromites the Edomites the Moabites and Amorites nay the Tribe of Asher that bordered along the Sea Coasts were never Masters of Sidon But they were governed by their own Magistrates as was Tyre till taken by Alexander or rifled by Nebuchadnezzar to no purpose sometimes before But you have the Seas not only open unto you for traffick but around about you for a Guard and Defence and I look that the Union of the Kingdom of Scotland to England might prove as great a Blessing to Great Britain as the separation and revolt of the Ten Tribes was a Curse and Calamity to the whole Body of the Israelites in General 'T is true Boccalin tells us That in his Time when England was in the Scales that it weighed some hundreds of thousands of grains less after Scotland was added to it than it did before But you know what Devil it was that plaied that paradoxical Gambol it was the frothy Spirit of Light headed Fanaticism which is in such a fair way to be Conjur'd down or Blow'n off that it will prove heavy enough to some body over the Water one of these daies If I be not mistaken In the mean time well might one speaking of the Bloody designs of the Jesuits Nov. 5th say of Great Britain * Barclai de Conj Ang. Non videbatur posse Tentari fundamentum tam bene vallati Imperii That it did not seem possible that the foundation of an Empire so well intrencht could ever be shaken But England exceeds the Land of Canaan Secondly In all manner of plenty though it does not feed such vast numbers of people for the small Circuit of Ground yet her Valleys are like Eden her Hills like Lebanon her Springs like Pisgah a Land which not only injoys those Blessings in the fullest extent which God promised to the most exact Obedience of the Israelites But by its successful
Traffick to all the parts of the Terrestrial Globe possesses several Delights and Treasures which all the Four great Monarchies of old never heard or dream't of And Thirdly In the improvement of all Arts and Sciences if Solomon had more Knowledge in natural Causes than any man living 't was his Prerogative as King for none of the Ancient Vertuosi neither Heman nor Chalcal nor Elcan nor Darda have left any Philosophical Transactions behind them If He understood the nature of the Loadstone and taught the Tyrians and Phoenicians the use of it as * Fuller one of this Nation affirms 'T is a strange thing that the Graecians a people so Curious and Inquisitive so near Neighbours to them so famous for Shipping and among whom it was first found and had a name should be utterly ignorant of so noble a Mystery If He understood the Circulation of the Blood and knew all Trees and Plants from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop on the wall his Philosophy vanish't with his Religion For He little considered the nature of that wood or of those Minerals whereof those gods He afterwards worshipt were made But you have a numerous Society of excellent Philosophers of whose knowledge there is more certainty and greater variety and that a Royal Society too incouraged by a King wise as Solomon in his Government and more Knowing both in Philosophy and Navigation Who need not to send to foreign Nations for Mariners for his Shipping as †2 Chron. c ◠◠18. Solomon did or for Workmen to build his Temple And were his Government so absolute and despotical or his Tribute and Taxes so * 2 Chron. 10. v. 11. heavy upon his People would be as rich himself Therefore when with these things I consider the admirable frame of your Government the wonders that have been wrought for its preservation and Continuance I conclude that the Doctrine of Jesus is the last Will of Heaven and that those that profess it are in the favour of God by the blessings they receive on Earth And although my own condition be mean yet to the clear understanding of Types and Prophecies having by the same Doctrine learnt the admirable Lessons of Patience and Obedience I wonder that men should not become better Subjects for the same reasons for which I am become the better Christian That very Plenty Sir said I that is an Argument to make you become an humble Christian makes them proud Traytors Nay their very Plea for Rebellion is the very same which the Apostle uses for Obedience viz. for Conscience sake Though the Government be never so good yet a Kingly Government they say is against their Consciences that 't is not according to the will of God They will rip you up a great number of Kings that did evil in the sight of the Lord and are often buzzing in your ears the sentence of the unjust King they tell you that the Apostles and Martyrs were brought before Kings c. and positively affirm that the Israelites sinned very grievously in asking a King They did so replied He very hastily and what then Do they know wherein the nature of their sin consisted that they apply it as a Rule to themselves all their other Objections are ridiculously frivolous but I will clear this by proving that though the Israelites sinned in asking a King yet it was the will of God that they should be governed by Kings His Promise and his Blessing too And this I 'll do by considering wherein the sin of the Israelites consisted First Then it consisted in this that they preferred the Government of an Earthly King before * 1 Sam. c. 8. v. 7. having God for their King for their Government under Judges was Theocratical They were confirm'd by Miracles and rais'd immediately for their deliverance by God himself Secondly Their sin consisted in that they who were Gods chosen and peculiar people should ask to be govern'd by a King like all the Nations I do not speak Here of the Prohibition * Deut. 17. v. 15. Thou maist not set a Stranger over thee to be King For that and Marriages and all other Communion with the Nations was forbidden them for fear of Idolatry But they were not to be like all the Nations as to the Manner of their Kingly Government 1. Because God had given a particular Rule for the King He should set over his own people Deut. 17. v. 18. 19. And 2. We read 1 Sam. chap. 10. v. 24. that Samuel told the people the Manner of the Kingdom and wrote it in a Book and laid it up before the Lord. Thirdly The sin of the Israelites consisted in that They the People askt a King In that they would be their own Carvers and Chusers That they that were redeem'd from being slaves in Aegypt should not depend upon the same Providence for their station and Condition in Canaan By thus asking they seem'd to chuse before God had chosen and moreover they who were prohibited to say that they possessed the Land through their own Righteousness might be presum'd to say they injoyed that Government by their own Wisdom And Fourthly Their sin consisted in that they Then askt a King in that they would not wait Gods appointed time Therefore because they preposterously askt a King He gave them one in his wrath one that was not qualified according to the Prophecy nor did He answer their expectation But in his Anointed Servant David He fully confirm'd it to be his Time his Will his own Ordinance and that Government which He foretold and provided in his Law for his own People And as the Condition of the Israelites both in Church and State was the most flourishing and splendid under the Reign of his Successor King Solomon that ever it was before or after So the Taking away their King was the greatest Judgment that was threatened Deut. 28. v. 36. the Lord shall bring thee and thy King which thou shalt set over thee unto a Nation which neither thou nor thy Fathers have known and there shalt thou serve other Gods Wood and Stone And it was the greatest Judgment that ever was executed Lament 2. v. 9. Her King and her Princes are among the Gentiles The Law is no more the Prophets also find no Vision from the Lord. So that you see that as the King was appointed by God in the Law so with their King they lost that Law But the severest Judgment of all was that with the loss of their King They lost the surest and directest rule of finding out the Messias given to them in Jacobs Prophecy Gen. 49. v. 10. The Scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a Law giver from between his feet until Shiloh come For as by the Alterations Change and loss of the Law they were deprived of the right understanding those Types which foreshew the Manner of his Coming So though the Prophecy held good by the loss of their King in their
of the Scales all the Commonwealths that have been under the Sun let them clap in the Ephori of Sparta the Demarchi of Athens the Tribunes and Consuls of Rome the Gentlemen and Senators of Venice the Hoghen Moghen States of Holland the Cantons of Switzerland the Leagues of the Grisons the Elders of Geneva with whole Bundles of Hans Towns and all the late Holy Brethren that are fled to them and I will put but one single Monarchy into the other and it shall as certainly weigh them all down as the Bible does the Pope and his Trinkets the Devil and all his works in the Book of Martyrs What Monarchy is that said he The Ancient and Flourishing Monarchy of England said I a Monarchy which has the singular advantages of all the three known Forms of Government without the Inconveniencies of any one of them a Monarchy so divinely good as neither Jew or Gentile knew of Old and such an one as none other Christians besides enjoy at this day Pray Sir said he give me a short account of it As well as I can said I with all my heart You must know that this Monarchy of England is a Paternal Hereditary Monarchy the Kings thereof not using that absolute Despotical Power which the Kings of Judah sometimes did No mans Life is taken away from him by any of the Kings Messengers but he may clear himself if Innocent or give better satisfaction to the world if guilty by being tryed according to Law And where the Chronicles of England seem to speak the contrary those persons as Tho. Becket c. are to be considered as Traytors in the very act of open Hostility and Rebellion or protected from the proceedings of the Law by the Pope or the People But our present Gracious Soveraign hath given such admirable instances of his great Justice Clemency and Patience as no History can parallel even the very Murderers of his Father who would scarce allow him to speak before their impious Tribunal were permitted to say what they could in their own defence And those very Barbarous Villains that did not design to * at the Ryeâ— allow him time to say his Prayers were not only legally try'd convicted and justly condemned with all manner of regular proceedings but had afterwards the charitable assistance of his own Chaplains And although upon the relation of such an horrid design against his Royal Person if He had cut them all to pieces without any more ado no mortal man could have question'd or have call'd him to an account for it yet such is the malice of that implacable Party that for his great Clemency they insinuate that he wants Courage and for his Justice they do as much as say he is a Tyrant But as the King so are his Laws so good for the People that King James did as truly as solemnly declare That the Common Law of England was as proper for this Nation as the Law of Moses was for the Jews But still to supply the defects of the Common Law we have our Statute Laws which were made at sundry times and upon divers occasions in Parliament and these Laws receive matter from the Lords and Commons but form and life from the King and then our Ecclesiastical and Maritine Courts are governed by the Civil Laws which are the result of the Wisdom and Prudence of the best Law-givers that have been in all Ages and for the Good of others as well as of our own Nation If your Laws said he be so very good how comes it to pass that there are so many Controversies long and vexatious Suits such endless Differences and Quarrels among the Subjects What is the reason that those who have been Factious Turbulent and Seditious should go so long unpunished The Reason Sir said I is because the King will govern by Law but they will not be ruled by it But have a little patience Hemp is not ripe in a day 'T is no Magical plant rais'd by the sin of Witchcraft and yet 't will conjure down the Devil in Time Easter Term is coming on a pace and as some of their mouths have been pretty cool the last great Frost So if others be not more quiet for the Future they will not have so much money to burn in their pockets against the next To your first Question I might Answer by asking you the reason of so many Disputes and Janglings in Religion I am sure you confess that you are satisfied as to the excellency of the Christian Faith and yet you might as well object against the Truth of it because there have been so many Heresies in the Church as against the goodness of our Laws Because there are so many peevish subtil and factious persons in the State There are likewise Hereticks among the Lawyers as well as among the Divines For if the Laws of God are not free from the false Glosses and Expositions of ambitious or covetous Casuists how shall any Law of man escape them To conclude after all our Government is a Miracle of a thousand years working And although some will tell you the Times and Occasions of Enacting or Repealing any Statute Law and the Originals of all our Courts of Judicature Yet considering the many and strange revolutions that attend all sublunary Principalities and Powers 't is a work beyond the reach of the most exquisite Judgment to unravel the whole Series of Affairs that have brought this admirable frame of Government to perfection Truly Sir said he I do not perceive that the People of England have any reason to fear Arbitrary Government under so gracious a Prince or to he weary of a Monarchy so vastly differing from those four which were so formidably represented in the Ancient Vision of the Prophet Daniel I am sure said I there is none in being that may at this day compare with it all the Eastern Empires and Monarchies are absolutely Tyrannical and of the West the people of France have lost their Liberties the Kingdom of Spain suffers extremely by the clashing Interests of the Jesuits with other Orders and their treachery to the House of Austria and so does the Empire of Germany the Kingdoms of Denmark and Bohemia have not been so long Hereditary and the Kingdom of Poland is Elective to this day Now said he you are come to my Native Country I can assure you that there are great Inconveniencies attending the Time of the Interregnum and Election too And however our present Magnanimous and truly Illustrious King has by his Conduct and Valour gain'd himself immortal renown Yet 't is better for the people to have Peace than a prosperous War And the King of England has had as hard a Task and which has required as much Courage and Prudence to subdue and quell his Turkish Protestants at home as the King of Poland had to conquer the Protestant Turks abroad Against which sort of true Protestants the true Turks shall arise in the Judgment
unexpectedly summoned to appear there was but being told that it was the highest Court of Politicks and that he was to give an account of his Writings he began to tremble exceedingly and seeing so grave and venerable an Assembly imagined they had been all Saints and verily thought Lucifer had been one of the Apostles or Primitive Patriarchs therefore addressing himself with all submission I hope said he Reverend Fathers that at this Time and in this Place I shall vindicate my self from those unjust aspersions which the subtlety and malice of some men have cast upon my Name and Memory for this whole Age last past charging me with three things First That I should vilifie Monarchy and preser Democracy before it To which I answer * In a Letter to Zenobius Buon-delmontius That if I speak largely in Commendation of the latter it ought to be considered that I was born bred and employed in a Free City which was then under that form of Government and if you read my History of Florence you will find that it did owe all its wealth greatness and prosperity to it what I said of the glorious Atchievements of the Commonwealth of Rome was to shew the perfection of that Government in its kind but not to propose it by way of Imitation for all other people for how can any man pretend to write upon Policy who destroyes the most essential part of it which is obedience to all Government therefore I protest that the animating of private men either directly or indirectly to disobey much less to shake off any Government how Despotical so ever was never in my Thoughts or Writings and I alwayes did and ever will declare that in every Monarchy the interests of the King and People are the same At this there was a murmuring all over the Court and Lucifer seem'd somewhat displeas'd upon which some that stood by me said as we have cheated the world above fourscore years about this man and made his memory stink among the True Protestants who have at the same time an esteem for Politicians vastly more Diabolical so for diversion we will ee'n sham the Devil himself for once and away Silence being made Machiavel went on The second thing objected against me is That I should encourage Princes to Perjury and Breach of Oaths and Promises To which I answer That any man that reads my Book entituled The Prince with ordinary charity may perceive that 't is not my intention therein to recommend the Government of those men there described to the world much less to teach them to trample upon good men and all that is sacred and venerable upon earth If I have been too punctual in describing those Monsters and drawn them to the life in all their Lineaments and Colours I hope mankind will know them the better to avoid them my Treatise being both a Satyr against and a true Character of them I speak not of Great and Honourable Princes such as the Kings of France and England and others who have the States and Orders of their Kingdoms with excellent Laws and Constitutions to frame and maintain their Government and who reign over the Hearts as well as the Persons of their Subjects I speak only of those Vermin bred out of the Corruption of our own small Commonwealths and Cities or engendred by the ill blasts that come from Rome as Olivaretto da Termo Borgia the Baglioni and the Bentivoglii At this Lucifer grew so impatient that he had certainly broke loose if some of his Counsellors had not advised him to Moderation and Hypocrisie for a little while and then Machiavel went on The third thing said he laid to my charge is that I have vilified the Clergy and abused the sacred Orders of the Church of Rome To this I answer That 't is they have vilified and abused themselves insomuch that if the Apostles of Christ should be sent again into the World they would take more pains to confute the Gallimaufry of Opinions and Innovations in that Church than they did to preach down the Traditions of the Pharisees and the Fables and Idolatry of the Gentiles and would in all probability suffer a new Martyrdom in that City under the Vicar of Christ for the same Doctrine which once animated the Tyrants against them As for Government this I must say That whereas all other false worships even of Heathens have been set up by some Politick Legislators for the support and preservation of Government This false this spurious Religion brought in upon the ruines of Christianity by the Popes hath deform'd the face of Government in Europe destroying all the good Principles and Morality left us by the Heathens themselves and introduc'd instead thereof Sordid Cowardly and Vnpolitick Notions whereby they have subjected mankind and even great Princes and States to their Empire and never suffered any Orders or Maxims to take place where they have power that might make a Nation Wise Honest Great or Wealthy Lucifer burst out into such a fury that the fire flew out of his eyes for very wrath crying How aborninably am I cheated and abused by these Politicians I thought that I had been sure of as good a Secretary as ever managed the affairs of the Kingdom of Darkness and on the contrary he is for bringing our whole Mysterie of Iniquity to light For my part I do not know whom to trust or which way to turn my self Are you my friends And is this your Politician that has made such a noise in the world How comes this to pass May it please your Mighty Darkness replyed one of the Jesuits it was necessary that we should reproach this man to all the world who had been so severe upon the Church and Court of Rome and besides from his character of Tyrants and Usurpers we took occasion to render Just Princes odious to their People as if they observed those Maxims of Breach of Oaths and Promises and in the mean time have taught the people to practise them in good earnest So that in lieu of this one Politician we can pleasure you with hundreds much more serviceable to your Mighty Darkness In the mean while we will strip him of all his Infernal Honours and Titles he has so long enjoyed so that he shall no longer be called Old Nick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor shall his Disciples be quibbled again into the highest form of Politicians with the Honourable and Redoubted Pun of Match-less Villains Take him away therefore Guards let him make room for persons vastly more deserving of this High Court. The next that came was Hobbs who seem'd infinitely vex'd that Machiavel had had so long an Audience and therefore with a kind of snarling scream he told them That he thought truly that he did not only deserve to be heard most of all but first of all too considering the great service he had done for the President of that Honourable Court For have not I Sir said he to
their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvellous Work amongst this People even a marvellous work and a Wonder for the Wisdom of their Wisemen shall Perish and the Understanding of their Prudent shall be hid This Sir said I would have been a good Text to have Preacht upon before the Wittena Gemot or meeting of the Wisemen at S. Margarets in Westminster about the Year 1641. Oh! replyed Seignior Christiano it had been a Malignant Text and the Preacher would have been committed to the Custody of the Black Rod. For they were then scrambling for the Sovereignty to share it amongst themselves however they soon lost it by the same Principles by which they Usurpt it and whilst they kept it they made so ill use of it that had the Protestants in Queen Maries Reign been then alive they would have commended her as much as the Fanaticks have done Queen Elizabeth So dreadful was that Judgement when inflicted upon England which was anciently threatned to the Israelites for their rebellion against their Sovereign * Hos 3. 4. the Children of Israel shall abide many daies without a King and without a Prince c. Lord Sir said I if it was dangerous to preach then upon such a Subject before the Wise Men at Westminster 't is in vain to preach it now to some people for they very learned in the Law will tell you that they did not set up another King a Jeroboam to which that Text relates but that they more prudently transferr'd or at least fixt the Sovereign Power in a Parliament and therefore will say What signifies your old fashioned Divinity to the Learned in the Law Those Lawyers reply'd Seignior Christiano learnt their Seditious Principles in the State from Schismatical and Heretical ones in the Church And they that maintain that the Sovereignty of England is not in one single Person are as great Hereticks for Lawyers as the Archontici the Marcionites the Heracleonites the Colarbasians or Valentinians were for Divines and they were Hereticks who were condemn'd for holding several Beginnings Truly Sir said I I think here comes one of these antient sort of Gentlemen you talk of For we now overtook a Comical old Fellow in such a Garb as I never before had seen he had a great Ruff-band on which needed no imbroidery for it was made up of old Saxon Manuscripts and the Trimming to his Cloaths was old Parchment tassels tagg'd with Wax upon which was the Impression of King Arthurs Tooth and of the Fangs of all his Knights This is a pleasant Antiquarian said Seignior Christiano let 's brush the Cobwebs off him a little and make our selves merry with him We needed not to seek long for an opportunity for he immediately came up to us saying Gentlemen my Business in this World is to vindicate the honour of our English Parliaments from the Calumnies of those who say That the Commons of England were introduced and begun An. 49 H. 3. Therefore pray come along with me into yonder Castle and there I will shew you all the ancient and undeniable Records under the British Saxon and Norman Governments We willingly followed him until he brought us into a very large Room where there was Provender enough for the Rats and Mice of twenty Generations He had now pull'd his Hat off and made a low obeysance to an heap of musty Parchments when a bold Fellow came up and with a great deal of scorn kickt them all about the room You old fop said he look you here I have in this Cabinet of mine a sett of Antiquities worth a thousand loads of your mouldy Parliament Rolls Here is said he the Tongue of that Parrot that was first Speaker to the House of Commons in the Parliament of Birds and here are two of his Speeches Here is the Ancient Charter of the City Mouse which he forfeited for eating too far into an Holland Cheese Here is a Tobacco stopper made of Log the first King of the Froggs What do you talk of your Records and Parliament Rolls and House of Commons a fart for your House of Office We did certainly expect that the Antiquarian would have blead him alive to have made new Vellum of his skin for the affronts he put upon his old Parchments But what was extraordinary strange we could not discover that he was in the least angry with him at which we much wondred and therefore I examined those Parchments and found them to be the same which Mr. Petyt of the Inner Temple had made use of for Asserting the Ancient Rights of the Commons of England Printed in the Year Eighty And therefore said I to Seigntor Christiano the writing that Book at a Time when the just Priviledges of Parliament were not in the least call'd in Question but on the contrary when not only the Kings Prerogative but his life also was in Danger by a Conspiracy formed among several that were Members of that House was just as if one should have written of the Antiquity of the See of Rome and of the Grants of our English Kings to several Popes at that very Time when the Popish Plot was first discovered Why truly reply'd Seignior Christiano 't is pitty but that Mr. Petyt should have the same reward the next Parliament which that last Parliament would have bestowed upon such an Authour and that he may not want company some hope that the next Parliament will take the Ignoramus Jury into consideration it being a case according to Mr. Lambard his own Antiquarian not within the reach Archion f. 105. of any standing Law or Statute and in which the Parliament hath Jurisdiction But Sir said I I further remarque upon that Book that whilst he pretends to assert the rights of the Commons he hinders the main Ends of Parliaments What a noise does he make of Baronagium Generale placitum and Communitas Regni and several other denominations by which the Common Council or Parliaments were expressed But not with any design to the right ends for which they were called One great end according to his own Quotation out of †Preface f. 43. Knighton de Event Angl. is ut Inimici Regis Regni Intrinseci hostes extrinseci destruantur repellantur that the Domestick and foreign Enemies of the King and Kingdom may be destroyed and repelled And in order to this it is very requisite that the King should have those that are all Loyal Subjects in that Great Council that He should be supplied with moneys to defray the Publick Charges and therefore what signifies a great many of the Records he has quoted and that in particular of the 34 E. 1. unless he had design'd that the last Westminster and Oxford Parliament should have considered Onera Domino Regi incumbentia as that Parliament did by which dutiful Considerations of his Parliament King Edward I. became a Victorious Prince for he awed France