ends and to the persons promoting them though other men who would yet be more confided in have found a way to employ men and desert them so that a reasonable man who weighs persons and things must conclude that the King is not likely to yeeld heartily to the settling of that power whereby he judges and rules but into such hands that have given open testimony or doe give secret intimations and hopes either by their pâ—omises or their persons that the power shall be used to the advance of prerogative and keeping the high way You say some body must be trusted I say trust them that have not deceived their trust you aske where they are to be found I with I could answer it As Luther once call'd for the 46th Psalme so I for the twelfth Helpe Lord for the godly man ceases the faithfull faile from the children of men But if our eyes were opened we might pretty well see whom not to trust neither with Lawes or Armes that is some tall Cedar posts whose varnish is now worne off the wormes seen the rottennesse discovered let not these be any longer accounted or used as pillars of the Common-wealth Trust not men that are really needy unlesse you be sure they can make no better bargaine trust not men that by covetousnesse make themselves needy they will make a bargaine for themselves and of you trust not men that are known vitious and sensually corrupt though forward assertors of Liberty they are in danger to be given up by God or to give themselves up to actions every way dishonourable The truth is though it sound like a Paradox where few can bee trusted more must and seeing we find men very subject to be corrupted by honour and authoritie especially in these times where such snares are laid and such baits propounded let the Law and Rule be made as plain and certaine as may be the Offices of Rule and Judicature must be made more temporary and arbitrary in respect of the people then formerly Though this will sound harsh to men even accounted moderate for I observe a generation that are extremely set for liberty only that themselves may be licentious and very hot against arbitrary Government till themselves have or hope to have a share in it as in the Earle of Straffords case whose steps you see men of sound repute now beginning to trace not thinking of his end In the next place let it be examined whether it be like to obtain of his Majestie in this conjuncture the suppression of that party Popish and otherwise Malignant in whose impunity it is impossible for us to be safe Whether I be mistaken let wise men judge but to me the popish faction the promoters of an arbitrary government by force for such is that I feare and the true patrons and lovers of truth and just liberty are as two scales or buckets if one be high the other must be low as it is against piety so is it beyond the reach of policy so to poyse them especially after such stirring the humours on both sides as to keepe peace in this Kingdome One must downe it concernes us neerely to see which First let us consider whether it is likely by out treaty so to abate the number and power of Papists as that they shall not remaine continuall thornes in our sides It is justly feared they have too deepe an interest and another kind of reward is expected by them and intended to them for their favour and usefull service at home and abroad all that they have done in Ireland is not like to prevaile so much to their discountenance as what they have done against Scotland and England to their favour they have been former preached to be and have now made good Squire Priests prophesie of the good Samaritane good subjects in the Kings sence though not in the kingdoms Shall they be discouraged shall they be discarded no let the poynt of the sword and their swords too be turned upon another sort of men who have rebelliously armed themselves to save a Parliament from assassination and a kingdome from ruine Shall not the Queene be gratified with the more free use of her religion after that abundant service in Holland for the provision of men and armes against us It requires doubtles a faith little short of presumption to beleeve that ever by treaty the Popish party shall be weakened faith may be kept with them though they keepe none So for delinquents of the same kind though another Religion though we allow as much as can be allowed that there be not a short and punctuall prosecution of all that have shewed themselves enemies to the State Is it possible to obtaine so much of his Majesties favour or justice as to have the heads or necks of some of them who have been most desperate and active in the embroyling this kingdome in this civill warre and the proportionable censure of the rest It is doubted nay it is despaired whom we call enemies of the State he calls friends and makes favourites and keeps them in his bosome who by the warmth of his favour are so heightned that those whose care and paines have been indefatigable for the preservation of the Kingdome from ruine both by sea and land are accounted the same to his Majestie as those counsellors to us where the Parliament thinks of punishments or should thinke his Majestie thinks of rewards and so on the contrary If you say that all must be remitted first the just and reasonable expectation and engagement of the Kingdome cannot be so satisfied Secondly we still keep within our bosome the fuell of a greater fire if possible and more ready after these exasperations to take fire upon all occasions and will be most ready of all when dried as they are like to be by the Parliaments impunity and the Kings favour 3. We leave our selves to the scorne and insolency of them whose pride and blasphemy is not like to stop till it comes at Where is now their God Which if it seeme good to the disposing hand of Heaven let me rather dye than see or suffer If any here thinke or say there is a great deale of reason his Majesty should grant what may be for the safety of the Kingdome it is for his own safety I answer my question is concerning will not concerning reason We are indeed told by him that undertakes the answer to the Observator that we must suppose that Prince out of his wits either not come to them or past them a mad man or a child that will not doe all for the safety and prosperity of his people in which he is safe and flourishes We are told this but find the contrary and have found it so often that it ceases to be a wonder It is not impossible for a man not out of his wits neither though in that particular he hath not the right use of them to do that which may tend to his own ruine
never attempt it mens wishes may be modest enough all things considered and yet not easily expressed The Parliament finde it an extreme hard thing to say what themselves would have they are as men walking among Quagmires know not where to fasten a foot No wonder though the poore people whose thoughts are all swallowed up in danger and distraction cannot say what they would have for their owne safety But for the matter of the Army this Treaty is not like to be of so speedy dispatch if safely carried but it will admit nay urge a consideration of maintaining the Army and finding out a settled way of maintenance The Kingdome hath hitherto supplyed the Army as the King supplyed himselfe before the Parliament by loanes and bargaines and a contribution liable to two great mischiefes trouble and uncertainty it were good some constant course were undertaken that we might be rid of our feares and the hopes of our enemies a little dash'd who flatter themselves with the failing of our treasure knowing we have not the Conscience to live as they doe And to this purpose an excize a weekly assessement or voluntary contribution must bee thought on As it is no contemptible summe that is paid upon a voluntary monethly contribution so it might be made more considerable if men were by some meanes or other brought to a levell for it is the unevenesse of the grounds men are upon that makes them stumble at this way of supply they say and say justly that unlesse the disaffected party be reduced to some proportionable termes they shall goe on to impoverish themselves and make themselves the objects of the scorne and insolencie of their enemies and the pity of their friends Here therefore let it be considered nay let it bee no longer considered Inretam iustâ nonest deliberandum whether with all diligence I had almost said with all violence the Ordinance for assessing the Non-contributors be not to be put in execution I am ashamed of the excuses made in this particular some that are employed pretend they are affraid of the ill will of their ill neighbours But what equitie is there in this proceeding it is a continuall quarrell ad ravim usque in the City that the Army marches not against brestworkes batteries and the mouth of the Ordnance when themselves doe not and pretend dare not with the advantage of an Ordinance of Parliament adventure upon the open mouth of a malignant upon the hopes of our ruine mounted against them But it may be some feare their hands more then their thoughts or tongues That is hard that the power of Parliament and Militia in the hands of men well-affected to the Parliament should leave grounds of terrour in the minds of the Citie let them assure themselves that feare this feare that they shall never have lesse reason to be afraid then now they have and if they let them goe on at this rate the thing that they feare will come upon them our diffidence is their strength We have so used them hitherto that they can bee more merry in a prison then we in our freest meetings And it is â—o mee a sad thought which the mention of a prison hath brought to my minde that our prisoners men of repute piety and valour should be so unworthily used by our adversaries and we in the meane time suffer theirs to enjoy not only unnecessary but unlawfull contents witnesse the plenty of wine and the resort of women where there be Cats there must be Vermine at Lambeth house How just were it that we had twentie or thirtie of the Chiefe of them some of the souldiers some of the Citizens sent to Windsor Castle or some other place where they might at the best fare but like souldiers or otherwise according to intelligence Let the Parliament bee assured that if they give up on these termes they will leave an everlasting discouragement upon their friends and not know where to find men to sticke to thâ—m for themselves see how they are abused by the petitioners for peace whose sense is fully enough expressed in the libellous complaint to the Commons when they shall have need which I am confident through the restlesse designes of them who lye at the bottome of this businesse they will quickly have But it will be here objected the Army give continuall disadvantage to their owne maintenance and encouragement by the ill managing the affaires committed to their trust To this I answer First that I would not be taken for the generall Advocate of the Army doubtlesse there are faults personall and reall more then I know more then can be excused But first there have been many things said against the Army that never were or could be proved and further the Army is prejudiced by the expectation of things impossible When the people are unchangeable and the Parliament infallible the Army shall be unblameable It is expected by the Parliament and Citie that the Officers should be all honest and faithfull what an unreasonable thing is this will you expect that in a Camp that you find not in a Court no not in the two great Courts of the Kingdome and City the Councell of the Commons and the Common-Councell And to make good my title and speake Plaine English The Parliament and City have shared in the power of the Army it is good reason likewise they should share in the blame They have recommended many of the Officers they finde fault with whatsoever other men are I can assure they are not all Saints that they have put into the Calendar For the consequent of corrupt Officers which is false Musters it is a great and a just quarrell which all honest men desire to remove the ground of But first let it bee considered that it is the common lot of all the Armies of Christendome the Prince of Orange makes the same complaint to which purpose I could tell you a story but that I am resolv'd against tediousnesse The noble and victorious King of Sweden did by his very great diligence provide against it as much as was possible But in stead of quarrelling let us attempt a not impossible redresse Let the Parliament or Citie if they can in this wicked world find some stoicall men that despise money Quos dignos spectatu arbitremur appoint pay-masters to every Regiment from whom the Officers and Souldiers should receive their pay let them attend constantly and pay two or three times a weeke at an appointed place in the quarter with the forfeiture of pay upon an unlawfull absence The honest Officers would heartily embrace this motion and be glad to be free from the continuall trouble they now endure from their importunate retinue as for Knaves they will not speake against it least they shew themselves so It being alwayes reserved that honest men upon better reason may speak against this motion to which I submit This would be a way to save money to keepe the souldiers together only let
mischiefe have a way to improve other mens principles and practises to theâ—r owne ends they see a Parliament is not for their turne they must have a war it 's a hard matter to find so many men of one mind as to agree to make an Army for the same quarrell with the same end therefore say they let us observe their principles and make them beleeve they doe their own work Is there a man that hath much to loose is through guilt afraid of it let him be possessd there is no way to keep it but by strong hand is he revengefull let him often heare of injuries reall or pretended is he proud let him be promised an unlimited absolute government let him be told how unworthy it is a great man to have so many joynd with him in the point next supremacy nay supremacie it selfe The legislative power Is there any that have endevourd the betraying their Couutrie the building their ambitious projects upon the ruines of our safety and liberty let them be possessed there is no mercy in a Parliament their estates if not persons must satisfie for their faults Are there a people as there are too many whose lust is their life that feare the power of Religion and strict discipline they must be possessed that there is an endevour of introducing a rigid Presbytery an absurd independencie Are there some who know not their own rights nor the state of our government let them be possest with the Majestie nay with the Deitie of a King what a horrid thing it is to oppose an unlawfull command though to save a Kingdome Are there an ignorant people that will be deluded with promises and pretences let the hopes of pillage be propounded to them Is there any thing men love that the ParliameÌ„t wil take away is there any thing they fear that they will do Thus do the contrivers of this mischiefe make use of every mans weaknesse or prejudice and either propound to them or let them propound to themselves ends according to their severall tempers and lead them on with hope of their owne ends to further theirs In summe the matter seems to be this Popery must grow up amongst us till it have overgrown us to accomplish that the sence of our vineyard our laws and liberties must be plucked up and that can hardly be done so long as Parliaments continue or at least continue in their power and priviledge to this purpose let them be defamed dismembred let an Army be drawne up to overawe them if that be prevented let another be raised under pretence of a guard to destroy them That this may be let the Prince fight for his prerogative for the maintenance or improvement of his falsly supposed violated power Let the Lords and Gentlemen fight for their lusts the Divines and Lawyers if yet they deserve such names for the keeping and getting preferments the Delinquents for their estates their offices shares in an arbitrary power the Welchmen for the word King and a common prayer booke the poor for pillage the ignorant they know not why in the accomplishing these ends they shal accomplish a work they think not of the distruction of our government an end they know not of the growth of Popery the wrong and ruine of the Protestant Religion here and in our neighbour Nations the work is done we are undone there wants nothing but the Plaudite of the Popish Iesuited faction and the late repentance of the unadvised furtherers of this mischiefe Now it were a question worth disputing and resolving what were the best way to prevent all this misery and mischiefe that is growing upon us I know wiser men have it in hand the Lord who is great in counsell and mighty in working direct and protect them and make them faithfull to them from whom they have found faithfulnesse But in this age wherein every man will be saying something I will adventure for a share It may be the last service if it be a service that I can doe I will speake as if it were the last First there is no man or at least no Christian that doubts but a safe and honorable Accommodation betwixt his Majestie and his Parliament were to be preferd not only to the danger of a war but the certainty of a victory for in the one we should get an interest in his heart by the other only in his Person the effusion of innocent bloud would be prevented But the great difficulty is whether these just and honourable termes are likelier to be procured by faire means or by foule by treating or fighting To the resolving of this it must first be considered what is a safe and what an honorable Accommodation And here it must be supposed that no government that is setled by men or in men can be absolutely out of the reach of danger and destruction The governments of men areas men are subject to corruption As the Poet of persons and vices Vitiis nemo fine optimus ille Qui minimis urgetur So I of governments none without it 's wants and inconveniences that the best which hath least we must never look either by peace or war so to settle our selves as not to be unsetled Yet it concernes us toward a safe Accommodation to labour so to order things as not to lye open to manifest or justly suspected misery or mischiefe Let it therefore be considered whether we can be safe unlesse the power of the Militia bee placed in men of knowne trust and faithfulnesse to the Kingdome Some are of opinion it had better never been medled with that it hath occasioned this trouble I much doubt it this businesse was resovl'd should be on that ground or some other That Accommodation can only be safe to this Kingdome which shall place the power of it in the hands of them that may be groundedly presum'd will use it for the preservation of it selfe and consequently not leave or place it in the hands of them who have or are likely to abuse it to the destruction of the Kingdome Some say let every man stand upon his owne guard leave it undetermin'd it was alwayes unfit and unsafe now most of all both in regard of our selves and forraign nations We have received the first fruits of Ireland something from other Nations as a pledge of more in convenient time We have a desperate Delinquent Popish party among our selves that cals for the settlement of the power of the Kingdome so as to be used for its owne safety Reports concerning Denmarke have been accounted ridiculous by them who thought they had contrived their businesse so cunningly that it could not be known It 's true that work of darknesse hath been so clandestinely carried as that a judiciall proofe could not be produced to satisfie the world but besides the scornd relation of the Skipper at Roterdam who we yet see may speak as true as a Courttier and the common fame which runnes abroad I
by or for us God grant it may be done by that wisdome which is from above that is first pure then peaceable without partiality without hypocrisie And then the fruit of righteousnesse will be sowne in peace to them that make peace But suppose if it be lawfull to be supposed that the Parliament through the absence of many resolved men now imployed in particular services for their owne Countries out of an intolerable wearinesse of this present condition and feare of the event agree to the making up of an unsafe unsatisfying Accommodation This would beget a question which I hope I shall never have occasion to dispute whether in case the representative body cannot or will not discharge their trust to the satisfaction not of fancy but of reason in the people they may resume if ever yet they parted with a power to their manifest undoing and use their power so farre as conduces to their safety And it this doubt cannot be resolved to the advantage of the people but be found either unlawfull or otherwise impossible I know but two waies more betwixt which the choise is very hard hang or flye As for hanging I should not much like it though it were in a blue ribband but for flying you will say the way is open I would it were as I could wish it if ever God bring us to such a strait But in the meane time if honest and engaged men be so farre deserted as to be constrained to flight it will be full of dishonour and danger Dishonour to them by whom they have been so engaged and employed and danger to the Nation which by their absence will be the more exposed to an inrode of superstition and tyranny It may be there are some that will be ready to say a faire riddance they are the troublers of Israel who are thus full of jealousies as to runne away from the shaddow of their owne dreames but there will be others as wise as they of another mind who know that the Puritans though they be thought a little factious and troublesome in the Church yet they are good Common-wealths men resolute asserters of publique liberty that will pay roundly and fight too if need be and cannot well be spared And truly as there is a great deale of unsafety in it in reason so doubtlesse it would give God an advantage against the Nation and make him proceed without any such demuire as How shall I give thee up O Ephraim O England But one thing further Although an Accommodation may be probable yet I meet with many who hold a strong conveniencie if not an absolute necessitie of sending propositions in whose deniall may be advantage But it is in vaine for me to dispute that which the Parliament have determin'd I onely wish the sending of them may doe as much good as the delay in framing of them hath done harme It is expected the not granting of them should bring off some of the Kings party I am sure the making them at this time hath lost some of the Parliaments it hath divided the City the Parliament the Kingdome almost starved the Army and brought things to confusion For when people conceive the Parliament recide from their principles and votes whereby they have formerly declared themselves in an incapacity of treating and give litle lesse then an implicite consent to an accusation of treason against their instruments they begin to withdraw their hearts and hands not knowing how low they meane to goe themselves or bring their friends It were therefore to be wished that preparations for warre and peace were carried on with an equall hand that the enemies of the Parliament had not so much encouragement nor their friends so much discourragement For let us be assured if the Parliament give them whom they called malignants equall interest in them with their friends friends will be harder to finde then ever they were and furthest off when there is most need of them And what a lamentable thing a Parliament is without the people in all just cases to stick to them if you know not remember the fourth of Ianuary the great Army by land and Navy by Sea the pikes and protestations that have been mentioned with a jeering indignation But I here seriously aske pardon for making that my worke which is the work of wiser men I am lead to a discourse I hope beyond exception which will be a just inference from that which hath been said concerning Accommodation We all know that force and arms must now do that which faith and truth before this Iron Age were wont to doe and whether we treat or not it is of absolute necessitie that there be an army till the King see fit to discharge his guard If this army be dissolv'd he is a wise man that knowes where to have another If we have none we shal never need to think of making propositions they shall bee made to our hands or to our heads and necks It is left therefore to indifferent men to judge whether it be not fit that this persent Army raised by the Parliamet and maintained by the City and Kingdome may not in justice expect countenance and maintenance from them by whom and for whom they have been employed and engaged For the first which is countenance they stand not so much upon only as it is a part of their reputation but the latter is the maine I finde even among the Parliament men many who have conceiv'd and expressed I thinke unjust I am sure unpolitike jealousies of the army which have so farre wrought upon many considerable men in it that in case the like necessity againe returne I very much feare whether they would not rather fly to save their owne lives then stand to fight for them who so requite them It is a strange and unhappy turne that where the safety not long since was and to a right judgement now is there the danger should be Cannot we bee content to be jealous of our enemies But it is not to be wondred at when the people who have been their immediate safety find the like measure from some of them who begin now to suspect that they have been so forward for their supplyes and defence only that they might make use of them to doe some strange thing and be midwives to some Chimera which yet no body knowes what to make of I guesse at such thoughts by some expressions I have heard from them who say they doubt the people aime at some great infandum something to big for their mouthes though not for their hearts which they are so horribly affraid of being serviceable to that they many times doubt whether themselves should doe their owne duty because they suspect other men forget theirs Not considering that this is the way to beget a counter-jealousie which may undoe all but the Parliament first There are some men it may be that will not speake what they would have it is as likely that they will
beleeve there wants not some who know the earnest endevour of calling in forces from thence the way and instruments of prosecuting that unworthy motion What hath been acted in Holland may be a sufficient argument of what hath been attempted otherwhere all the world knowes how and by whom that worke hath been carried on and let all the world judge whether the power of the Kingdome ought to be put or left in those hands who have endevoured to raise power against it or to be left undetermind when there are and have been such determinations against us from abroad and such bitter quarrels at home among our selves who need after these desperate instigations no crueller enemies then one another It 's true though it be said that it much matters not who hath the command of our trained Bands who have hitherto served for little use but to arme the Kings forces against the severall Countries and the Parliament but what hands the principall forts armes and Ammunition are and especially the Navy is of as much consequence as the safety of the Kingdome 2 Let it be considered whether we can be safe till the neck of this mentioned designe be broken of whereby the servants of tyranny and superstition indevour to bring us under It is beleeved that they are a restlesse generation that are alwayes either conceiving mischiefe or bringing forth iniquitie Our interests must be untwined from the interests of Spaine and Rome for so long as my Lo. Cottingtons house stands so neere the Spanish Embassadors and Bristow is so convenient a harbour for Spaine we must looke for little safety but lesse Religion Now that this fire may be quenched and not onely raked up it will be necessary that the fuell and fuellers be removed that the instruments and matter of compassing this designe be abandond The instruments are conceived some particular men who besides other characters plaine enough upon them may be knowne by their advancing an arbitrary Government in the King and the mancipation of themselves to the promiscuous service of the Queen who is professedly zealous in this point and followes the plot by inheritance The neck of this designe will scarce be broken till the necks of some of the principall authors and actors be and the rest disabled And to that purpose the Papists who are the dryed fuell of this fire must be brought into another condition the damnable compositions throughly damned the lawes against them made up into one good law which in some cases may destroy them in every thing disable them This poynt of delinquents though made a very tender poynt in regard of particular interests and relations which make hast to destroy the publike is of exceeding consequence to our safety Our neighbours though they may possibly not doe us the expected good teach us this but that we are resolved to learne nothing by their complement in the businesse which hath made them I feare unable to help us and in us themselves and makes them turne the thought of their neighbours welfare into a more direct solicitude for their owne in regard of her now dangerous and it 's like shortly desperate party left amongst them and left able to hurt them They flatter themselves with their hardy poverty that it will not be worth the while to attempt them that is sure but a poore refuge wrath is outragious and anger is cruell but who can stand before envie and revenge Let them be assured that if we be overborne with this feared mischiefe and that party whom they know to have beene the instruments of their trouble as well as ours prevaile they will find the malignity of our Nation to have a strange influence into theirs to the doubling of their enemies among themselves and from us to whom especially some among us they owe a great deale toward their present safety they must expect fewer friends then formerly unlesse they shew themselves more friendly and so we shall have a third union of the two kingdomes an union in bondage But pardon this digression though I be out of the Kingdome I am not much out of the way 3. How can we be safe unlesse our Lawes be so by which we are preserved and how can that possibly be unlesse there be some new power established or the old power if it be found only to have been deficient in respect of the persons trusted in new hands how shall we be the better for our Lawes were our Lawes better then they are unlesse some exact course be taken to give us the benefit of them and though it seemes an unreasonable thing to nominate officers in the behalfe of him who hath commanded and countenanced the violation of law that doubtlesse must bee the least and no man no reasonable man but sees the case extraordinary The God of Heaven direct to a better remedy then for ought I heare is intended In the next place let it be considered what is required to an honourable Accommodation An honourable Accommodation must be so in regard of God and of our selves And here I crave mercy from our over-forward Accommodators I meane them from whom it is in vaine to crave justice and truth that I mention God who sure is not in all their thoughts they feare God in a wrong sense they feare lest hee should rule among us whom yet if we give occasion to depart from us which we shall do by unworthy termes our defence is departed from us whom if we now forsake he may justly cast us off for ever An honourable Accommodation in respect of God is a safe one in regard of our selves his honour is bound up with our happinesse were it possible to settle peace without truth we should yet be but what the French say of a beautifull harlot A Paradise to the eye but a Purgatory to the foule Now in regard of God that Accommdation can be only honourable that may establish his true Religion in puritie and plenty Such as one as may extirpate Popery and superstition lay the grounds of a pious painfull Ministry and to that end cast out those scandalous seditious persons who have now shewed themselves as ill affected to the state as formerly to the Church and if this advantage against them of stirring up the people to warre against the Parliament be neglected I know no way of ejecting them such an one as may purge our doctrine free it from such expressions as Sancta Clara and the Arminians take advantage of reforme our Discipline and make it more conducible to the end of all Discipline the preservation of a Church from corruption in Doctrine and manners And let it be weighed whether that can be done without the supplanting those plants which our heavenly father never planted the Bishops which have hitherto brought forth the fruits of prophannesse ignorance superstition and from whom little other can be expected If you suggest Put better men in the places We answer the places will make them worse
care be taken that the men to whom this trust is committed be of good repute and able sometimes at a pinch to disburse some money to the common Souldiers But I leave this in the midst Another great quarrell is but the most unjust that they march not that they are not active The Souldiers hands indeed go not so fast as other mens tongues Action is not so quick as thought especially thoughts wing'd with earnest desires Desiderio etiam â—â—leritas in mora est Are there not continuall parties out and that with no contemptible successe according to which if men glorified God and were thankfull they would not be so vain in their imaginations Let them look upon other Armies in forraign Nations upon the Kings Army whom it concerns to be active if they had opportunity To assault Reading nay to gaine it would not countervaile the hazard and losse it is likely they would attempt Oxford though against reason if the Parliament and City will undertake for their own securitie in the interim and make good the necessary damage of a winter siege Oh how easie a thing is it to give a hard censure to fare well and lye warm and to condemne poore souldiers to lye in winter-trenches at the mercy of wet and cold Sure there are many men that think it as easie a matter to win a Towne though fortified as to make a breach in the wals of a Christmas Pie But as I undertook not an absolute justification in the other complaints so neither doe I in this but doubt not but they may receive satisfaction from them whose experience makes them able to say more then I can but of late the complaint hath bin reciprocall The souldiers would not act for want of pay the people would not pay for want of action The best way is to mend both together In fine let us be well assured that whosoever suffers his discontent against the Army to grow up to revenge means in the issue to strike himself And whereas it is said that the putting the Army into an expectation of constant supply would make them unwilling ever to disband how void of reason is this exception whereas in the hands of the Parliament and Citie are those nerves and ligaments which hold the Army together which they may shrinke or cut as they see cause But from the necessitie of an Army I passe to the conveniencie if not necessitie of an Association And how could I now wish that my pen could drop spirit and vigour into the hearts of my plannet-stricken Country-men Or rather that he who formeth the spirit of man within him and fashioneth the hearts of the children of men would give them so much of his own spirit which is a Spirit of truth and action as to make them valiant for the truth once committed to them How sad a thing is it to see what a French tincture our English Nation hath gotten as if there were a bridge made from Calis to Dover What an apish disposition hath possessed our Gentry what an asinine disposition our Commonalty which if not timely shaken of will make way for the worst of France to be ruled by horses in stead of men which is a thing I have long feared Heare O people Consider that you are considerable or might be if good counsell would be taken Do not you see how you are courted by the King what care the Parliament take for your satisfaction Sure you are not so contemptible a thing as some would make you your right is much and your power no lesse if you would know the one and use the other I am sensible how offensive this discourse is like to be but it never was my intention had it bin possible to please all men But let me not bee mistaken I am farre from the Monster of a Democracy that which I call to the people for is but a quick and regular motion in their own sphere to do that which the Parliament hath sometimes call'd upon them for to contribute their best helps to two great works of mercy and justice Mercy to the Kingdome in its preservation Justice to its Enemies in their destruction Suppose they hit not upon the same meanes but through the narrownesse of their precept which can scarcely be extended to all circumstances and opportunities be constrained to out-run a command their faithfull prosecution of the end design'd them which is the safety and preservation of the Kingdome and in it their owne may justly excuse them if not commend them As by the votes of acceptable service may appeare And here I confesse my selfe at a stand I know not what remedy to prescribe to this Lethargy the things that one would have thought should have quickned the people have stupified them If the dint of the sword the noise of the Canon directed and discharged against themselves their lawes and liberties their wives and children cannot awaken them I know not what will unlesse it be the thunder of some terrible judgement from heaven that will at once awake them and lay them downe to a perpetuall sleep How strangely are mens eyes dimmed and hearts deaded Not above a year since upon the noise of bringing up an Army to put the Parliament in wardship upon the attempt of an illegall seisure upon some of their members what a high and yet just tide were men flowen to Quantum mutatus ab illo Hectore We now see that done with open face which was then studiously concealed a mighty Guard actually raised brought up as neer the Parliament as feare would suffer them for notwithstanding that short Covering of the Brainford businesse to knowing men it is undoubted that the designe was upon the Parliament and Citie where if God had not mercifully and miraculously prevented after their Sabbaths dayes plunder of London their usuall Sanctification strange Acts might upon Munday morning have been made at Westminster when terror had seized upon the good and confidence if not impudence possessed the evill We now see in stead of those 6. at least 26 accused of treason for the same cause that they were that is being forward and active for the preservation of the Kingdome from the Kings Guard It is the same season of the yeare a more unquestionable cause where are your pikes and protestations your courage and resolutions Do you conceive your danger more your enemies more formidable should not your valour encrease with your danger if it were so when the cause remaines the same But look seriously about you you will not want encouragement Look West or North or South to Sussex Devonshire to Lancashire and Yorkeshire but especially look above you to heaven it self you can want no arguments to stirre you up in this service let no man be dismayed by the dreame of impossibility Do you say that life is sweet is not Religion is not Liberty so likewise they should be as delightsome as they are wholesome Summum crede â—efas animam