to sickness as that which stands upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very tiptoes of most perfect Health This is the condition of this most irreprehensible Government of the English Monarchy whose eminency renders it obnoxious to Envy and whose Excellency and Innocence are not able to secure it from Malice those two mortal Gangrenes of all that can be called Great Good or Happy in humane Life Undoubtedly it is lawless Ambition and insatiable Desire of Sovereignty which are the true ground and foundation of all Rebellion and Disobedience though Innocent Religion and Christian Liberty are perpetually made the cloak of this malicious Wickedness and usurping Covetousness the root of all evil which are constantly made use of by all such deceivers who as S. Peter has well observed of them will not submit themselves to the King as Supreme and by their obedient honouring him by all quiet subjection to his Laws and Government give a manifest evidence that they really and truly fear God who commands that Duty to be done The two Opposites and Encmics of Monarchy Papacy and Presbytery THERE may be many Interests which may be disadvantageous to the safety security and happiness of the Imperial Crown of this Realm of Great Britain and its other Dominions as well as to the liberty and property of the people but there are two which are directly and fundamentally opposite and contrary to them both in their principles and practices and these are the pretensions of an Universal Supremacy and Spirituo-Temporal Monarchy of the Court of Rome or Papacy on the one hand and the Democratick Presbyterian on the other That both these are utterly inconsistent with the Safety and very Essence of Monarchy and particularly with that of these Nations as also with the Peace Happiness Liberty and Property of the Subject is that which I hope to prove by such undeniable Reasons and convincing Arguments as may oblige the consent of all such who are not willing to quit their share and claim to common Reason rather than the favour of their Interest Party or Opinion WE will begin then with the Papacy as being the ancient competitor for Sovereignty with all the Crowned Heads of Europe And in regard of the great concern of the Controversie this has been the Theatre of all the Polemick Wits of Christendom I hope it will not therefore be expected that I should repeat the Crambe in a Tedious discourse it can never be diverting to the Reader and I fear what is not so will rarely be profitable to him to swell this Discourse with long rehearsals of what has been so often better and more nicely discussed by the most famous Pens I will therefore succinctly and nakedly propose the thing it may be rather to satisfie some people that I am not a Papist than to pretend to offer any thing new in a point that has been so often treated of as will not permit me to entertain the vanity that I am able to say either more or more to the purpose than has already to the satisfaction of the World been said The Opinion of the Catholick Doctors about the Papal Supremacy and the New Roman Creed to confirm it NOW that by what they call the Popes Supremacy in Spirituals the Faction of the Roman Court do not only affect but endeavour to impose and establish an Universal Empire and Dominion over all Princes Kings Emperors and their Subjects and â—o propagate Sovereignty rather than Religion we will in short endeavour to manifest out of their most Authentick Records and Justified Confession Ex ore tuo can certainly be liable to no exceptions They who speak most modestly as Cardinal Bellarmine Bell. lib. 5. de Ro. Pontisice cap. 1. and those he calls the Catholick Doctors of the middle Opinion give the Pope indirecte quandam potestatem even over all Temporal affairs and by consequence a Supremacy over all Men. But some of them whose confidence does a little out-run their discretion Aug. Triumph Sum. de potest Ecc. q. 1. ar 1. q. 40. ar 1. passim alibi Alv. Pel. de planctu Ecc. l. 1. cap. 1. â— as Augustinus Triumphus Alvarus Pelagius and others loudly proclaim the Pope to have the fulness of all Power in all Temporal concerns whatsoever And a whole Volume of Names swim down this stream over-born with the impetuous Torrent of a Fancy overflowing with the pleasure of Terrestrial Empire and Dominion of the Church or the flattery of Popes from whom possibly they had great future expectancies and present dependencies Bulla Pii 4. super forma Juramenti in appendice Concil Tridentini BUT that which appears most considerable is the Bull of Pope Pius quartus where this Supremacy is made an Article of the Faith equal to that of the Apostles in these words or to this effect Vide si libet etiam Act. Concil Trident Sess de reformatione cap. 2. cap. 19. I N. N. believe that the Holy Catholick Apostolick Roman Church is the Mother and Mistress of all Churches I acknowledge vow and swear true Obedience to the B. of Rome the successor of S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ Jesus c. And a little after And this true Catholick Faith out of which no man can be saved which at this time I do willingly profess and truly hold I will be careful with Gods help that it be constantly retained and confessed whole and inviolable to the last gasp FROM this new confession of Faith these two Corollaries follow First That all Christian Kings Princes and People owe unto the Roman See all Temporal Obedience For there is no limitation but Obedience to the Pope in general and inclusive words is made a necessary Article of Faith and where any thing is spoken in general words it is always to be construed to extend to all that can be signified by those words in favour of that Power which it is designed to declare and promote SECONDLY If no man can be saved out of that Faith which are the express words of the Oath Kings and Emperors not being excepted the Pope is made the Supreme upon Earth and he can be no Christian who does not believe him to be so by which determination this is made a Heresie of the blackest Dye and subjects all persons who are guilty of it to all the Censures of the Church Excommunication Interdiction and all their dreadful consequents both here and hereafter NOR will it be of avail to endeavour to cover the dangerous fraud of the general words which are of such ambiguous latitude by pretending to restrain them and the Papal Power only to Temporals in ordine ad Spiritualia Since all Humane Actions being either Vertuous or Vicious in some degrees more or less must be brought within the Verge of the Spiritual Supreme Power and Jurisdiction And which must therefore finally vest the Papacy with a most absolute unlimited Sovereignty
their Graves there cannot be many betwixt their being deposed brought to Tryal and Execution and therefore you shall see the Conclusion of the whole matter and what a certain Catastrophe unavoidably follows and must fall upon Princes from the former premises The Conclusion of the former Principles of Presbytery That Kings may be brought to Capital punishments THE last result of all their Positions may more properly be called a conclusion than a principle of Presbytery That Princes may be punished with Capital punishments and loss of Life as well as Dignity and Power I need not give my self the trouble or the Reader the Fatigue by a long proof of the truth of this horrible and tragical Assertion which is the natural and proper effect of the former Principles which you see bring a King to the Infamous Block from whence there is no instance of any Prince that ever returned alive They have done it themselves Vestigia nulla retrorsum must be the devilish policy of such procedures and their late actions are still so fresh in all mens Memories that it were an endless pain Infandos renovare Dolores to repeat them over again and the very rehearsal of such unexampled miseries when the breath of our Nostrils the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits Lament 4.20 of whom we said under his shadow we shall be safe and live among those Heathens would be so sensible an affliction as would be next to the suffering of them The deep Tragedy to the Eternal Infamy of the Villanous Actors was not done in a Corner or behind the Curtain but by a prodigious Excess of remorseless Impudence upon the publick Theater of the World and by the glorious Lamp of Heaven which with amazement beheld an Action to the Parallel of which his bright Beams had never before contributed their Assistance and I hope he will never see such another gloomy Day I am not willing to do that over again and by an Ingrateful task Copy over this Horrid Piece which has been so well and often done by others and particularly by Mr. Fowlis in his History of the Wicked Plots and Conspiracies of our pretended Saints to which Book if any persons can want satisfaction in these too well known Truths they may have recourse and there receive it in most ample measure from the Records and Evidences of the Actors themselves AND though I cannot think them so dangerous to the State whose Principles and natural subdivisions will crumble them into confusion yet must not the off-spring of Presbytery think to plead exemption from the guilt of being Antimonarchical or scape scot-free more than their Brethren in Iniquity of the Kirk The common saying has but too much truth in it to excuse them from the Plea of Not guilty That the Presbyterians brought the late King to the Scaffold and held him by the Hair whilst the Independants cut off his Royal Head For a short tast of their Natures and a little of this is enough to surfeit a Loyal Ear take the words of one of the Chief of them who pretends to be a great Friend to the Parliament Army and Congregational Churches but a greater to himself in concealing his name to one of the most Infamous Pamphlets that ever blotted Paper Printed by J.M. and Lodowick Lloyd and H. Cripps and sold at their Shops in Popes-Head Ally 1650. p. 57. which he Intitles One blow more at Babylon c. It is well known saith he that the late King was not Murdered by the Parliament but fell by the stroke of Justice and that so Legally and righteously administred for his bloody Crimes he became guilty of in the Face of Heaven that we doubt not but God was well pleased with it and will clear the inflicters of it if they keep their Integrity against all their Accusers and Condemners whatsoever HERE is a short Diagram of the Religion of Independency The King they say was guilty of bloody Crimes though never any one could be proved against him It was lawful for the Parliament to Question Judge and Condemn him this was Righteous and Legal Judgment and acceptable to God the taking away his life was not Murder but the stroke of Justice righteously administred All the misfortune is this man either was a false Prophet or God was not well pleased or the inflicters of this dismal stroke did not keep their Integrity for Divine vengeance by the miraculous and peaceable Restauration of the Gracious Son not only eagerly pursued but quickly overtook these villanous Murderers of the glorious Father and their Crimes were so publickly notorious and infamous to the whole world that they found not so much as a possibility of being clear'd against all their accusers and condemners or of the benefit of that general amnesty and pardon which speaks the Son as great and generous in forgiving as the unshaken Father was in suffering as some of their trayterous Heads still tell the World without a Tongue and make better speeches upon London bridge and the Prinnacles of the Parliament-House than ever they or any like them made within it whilest in their grinning Language they speak a terrible Talis eris to all Fire-brain'd Traytors and read a constant Lecture of Horror and Eternal Infamy to all perfidious and audacious Rebels who in those Monuments of Justice may see the inevitable destiny of Treason and Usurpation So that you may see Qualis Pater talis Filius Like Father Like Son 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Egg and Bird Independency the true though undutiful Son of Presbytery is as like it as if it had been spit out of its mouth but with this difference in the truth of the Case that the Presbyterians murthered the King the Independants only the Man As for the Anabaptist Leveller Quaker c. let Munster eternally complain of the first and England of them all The Rebel Army was a moving Amsterdam where it is said if a man has lost what he calls his Religion he may either find it or a new one every whit as good and most of these Sects and Opinions drew their Original from those Nurseties of Rebellious Saints and the People are like to be well tutor'd in Loyalty and the Principles of Allegiance who blinded by their bright pretences to light and sanctity commit themselves to the guidance and instruction of them scum and spawn of those trayterous Legions who are little inferior either in malice or design at least eventually to those who by the powerful command of divine humanity having quitted the miserable inhabitant of the Tombs enter'd by his permission into the prohibited Herd of the Gadarenes St. Mark cap. 32. for having once possest their followers and Disciples with their Devillish Doctrines they are not at quiet till they rush them violently down the steep Precipice of Rebellion to be drowned and swallowed up in the Ocean of Ruine and Confusion and the miseries we were so lately
delivered from by a Miracle makes even that appear small in comparison of our being again deluded by those Persons whose hands were washt in Rebellion and Murder instead of Innocence whose tongues are tipt with lies calumnies and blasphemy and whose Garments over which they throw the Prophets Mantle to keep them from discovery yet wear the indelible stains of that humane blood in which they were rolled of so many thousands of Illustrious and Innocent Lives as in that Unnatural War whereof they were the Occasions Maintainers and Defenders fell as Sacrifices to their fury and their Sovereigns Right and Countries Liberty I shall not attempt a solemn confutation of these Positions judging them far more fit for the conviction of the Law than of the Gospel to both which they are directly contrary as also in regard it has been so often done by others of greater abilities and better oppertunities However that Kings Reign by a Divine Right and if they do then all these Positions are Treason Rebellion and Usurpation not only against them but God I refer these Haters of Monarchy and Plagues of Mankind the implacable Enemies of our Peace and Happiness to that place in Daniel Dan. 4.25 to which if they do not assent they are Insidels and no Christians and deserve the strange doom of Nebuchadnezzar to be driven from amongst Men and to have their dwelling amongst the Beasts of the Field to eat grass as Oxen and to be wet with the dew of Heaven till they know and acknowledge that the most highest ruleth in the Kingdom of Men and giveth it to whomsoever he pleaseth From which place it is as clear as the brightest Day That the sole Sovereignty and disposal of Crowns is immediately in the hands of the most high God and that they who have them hold them of his Gift and if that be not a Divine Right there is no such thing in Nature and if they have a Divine Right no People or Parliament or Earthly Power can pretend by calling them to an account deposing or punishing them to rob Kings of this Title and Authority which they hold by the immediate Grant of Heaven but at the same time they invade the Prerogative of the most High Ruler of Heaven and Earth and rob him of his incommunicable Right in the disposal of Crowns I cannot believe them so ignorant but that they know what must be the end of such an audacious Sacriledge If they admit Kings to have a Divine Right which they must either do or deny this to be Scripture they cannot pretend to any Power to take it from them for nothing can invalidate any Grant but the same or a greater Power than that which gave it and therefore if Kings offend though Subjects may in all humility Remonstrate and Petition for Redress yet are they by the Laws of Religion utterly prohibited to make use of force or violence either to obtain their desires or satisfie their Revenge for as our learned Bracton religiously observes Deum expectat Vltorem And if God Almighty reserves vengeance as his peculiar Prerogative and will not permit us to execute it upon private men Dearly Beloved avenge not your selves for vengeance is mine saith the Lord and I will repay it how can any person in reason think that private Men and Subjects should have a power to execute it upon Princes who bear his immediate Characters and are his Vice-gerents and as he himself stiles them Earthly Gods Or if they dare attempt to do it 1 Sam. 26.9 Or if they dare attempt to do it Who can lift up his hand against the Lords Anointed and be guiltless Undoubtedly whoever does it is guilty not only of Treason against the King but of Rebellion against God and whoever is so audacious to draw his Sword against his Sovereign does so far as he is able indeavour to wrest the dreadful Sword of the Lord out of the hand of Omnipotence to carve out vengeance for himself and I dare boldly say that whoever takes that Sword against his Will shall perish by the Sword for this is an Honour which he will not part with Hear him speak himself and he who will not believe God when he speaks is not to be believed to have any Religion which is properly the fear of God whatever he may pretend Deut. 22.34.35.40.41.42 Is not this saith the Almighty laid up in store with me and sealed up amongst my Treasures To me belongeth vengeance and recompence for I lift up my hand to Heaven and say I live for ever if I whet my glittering Sword and my hand take hold of Judgment I will render vengeance to my Enemies And what greater Enemies to God than such persons as indeavour to rob him of that which he has not only laid up but sealed amongst his Treasures And they who are so audacious as to attempt this Sacrilegious Felony against Heaven to break up his treasury whatever they may say of themselves cannot be supposed to fear either God or the Devil and certainly all Mankind have a great deal of reason to fear and indeavour to suppress men of such daring confidence and mischievous Principles CHAP. IX Presbytery in reality as great an Enemy to Democracy and Parliaments as to Monarchy A short view of their Tyrannique Consistorian Government over the Magistracy Clergy and Laity Of the latitude and power of scandal to draw all affairs into the Consistory Of their kindness to their Enemies The small difference betwixt a Jesuit and Geneva Presbyter Both aim at Supremacy THUS have we seen that Presbyterian Supremacy is by its avowed Principles not only inconsistent with but destructive of Monarchy Let us examine it a little more severely and we shall find that it is absolutely inconsistent with all Government except it s own oligarchique Spiritual Tyranny and even that adored Democracy Presbytery in reality as great an Enemy to Democracy and Parliaments as to Monarchy which it pretends to hug and embrace with so much tenderness and affection and the kindness which it seems to have espoused to a Parliament which has so unfortunately decoy'd some people into that party is nothing else but a politick flattery and temporizing godly fraud the real design is to dash a Parliament against a King to break them both in pieces and like the Ape in the story to make a Cats foot of a House of Commons to pull the Nut out of the Hot Ashes of Rebellion into which they shall have reduced the Monarchy for when once by that assistance they shall have procured their own establishment they will render it as absolute a Slave as they would do Monarchy For according to the Model of their Consistorian Government the supreme and ultimate underivative Authority is resient in the High and Mighty Sanhendrim or annual Assembly of Presbyters and Elders to whose definitive sentence a Parliament must be subordinate the Authority of that being from Christ the Power of the Parliament
help and assistance of their tumultuous Power the Leaders of Faction are exalted to Dignity Riches and Authority none are more Arbitrary and Imperious than the one or greater Slaves than the other For Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum Exalted meanness still we see Proves the most rugged Tyranny And it can be nothing but their ill destiny in the common People of England who appear so inclinable to have a good esteem of these Ring-leaders of the Faction of Presbytery which blinds their Eyes with pretences of Sanctity from seeing that these People are the most malicious Enemies they have in the World who will not permit them quietly to enjoy that happiness which they do at present possess under a most peaceable and excellent Monarchy and Monarch but with the Witchcraft of Liberty of Conscience fears and jealousies of Popery and I know not what fine words to please Children and Fools they drill them still on towards the Confines of Rebellion into which if they do unluckily plunge them their Lives Liberties and Estates must either fall a Sacrifice to the offended and prevailing Justice of their exasperated Sovereign or become a prey to Ambitious Usurpation should they happen to be unfortunately victorious so that what side soever gets the better they are certain still to be losers and go by the worst For even those persons to whom they have made themselves a footstool to mount them into the supreme Power will be sure to keep them down and trample them underfoot lest they should turn to some other Party for the same Reasons and by the same Arts by which they before gained them to be of theirs there being nothing more certain which these men know well enough and that the People are never contented with their present condition than that a discontented Populace who have made no difficulty to shake hands with their Allegiance to their Lawful Prince will upon the least disgust wheel about either to their King again or to any other Power which speaks them fairest and bids most for their kindness by promises never intended to be kept AND if the Commons of England who are infected with this Lunacy of Presbytery will not be perswaded to believe this but that all their Prophets must have poor Cassandra's Fate Nunquam credita Teucris never to be credited when they speak the greatest truths it must be because to use their own word they are predestinated to Ruine according to the Adage Perdere quos vult Jupiter prius dementat Where Jove to ruine has design'd First he does always strike Men blind SO the Presbyterians first blind the common people with pretences of Piety and Liberty that they may more securely lead them either into certain Ruine or Democratique Slavery None so bold as blind Bayard is a great Proverb amongst the Countrymen I wish they could apply it to themselves and their present circumstances THAT the practice of these People carries a just proportion and exact correspondence respondence to these Principles all their former Actions have manifested beyond the possibility either of excuse or evasion It would be an ingrateful task to rip up all the transactions of the Late Times and it would be happy for us if they could be so buried in the Grave as well as with the Act of Oblivion as not to afford an Eternal precedent to succeeding Ages to dance a second Jigg to the same tune of these py'd Pipers as 't is said the Boyes and Girls of a City in Germany did after the Rat-Catcher till they lead them into the Gulph of Ruine and give occasion to date a new Aera Anno libertatis amissae though they should say as they did before restauratae But it is but too evident that the Presbyterian Anabaptist c. however in other things they differ'd as to Judgment yet they did all agree in the practice and though in the end they fell out amongst themselves and verified the Proverb That when Thieves fall out honest Men come by their own yet they were unanimous in the pursuance of those Principles and all the distances in the circumference of Religion met kindly together in the central point of Rebellion Nor were their odious practices any other thing but a manifest demonstration of their belief of this Doctrine That Kings are inferior to Parliaments and the People nay to the very fragments shreds and excrements of a Parliamentary Name That Subjects may take up Arms against them that they may enter into Leagues Covenants Combinations and associations against them and all the rest before-recited which I am tir'd with repeating IF the present Presbyterians c. are not of the same Judgment let them testifie to the World in a publick Manifesto and be ready to subscribe and confirm it with sacred Oaths that they do willingly renounce all these trayterous Positions and seditious Principles and Practices which is the least vindication they can make for themselves the smallest reparation they can make for the mischiefs they have done and the least satisfaction and assurance they can give to Authority that they will not do so again or indeavour it and let their actions go along with their words that we may believe them without which they are so low in Reputation by the monstrous breach of all their Promises Vows Protestations and solemn Oaths to the late King except the making him a glorious King that no person in his wits will now take their word any more so that they must get their Actions to become their Sureties for their good abearing towards the Kings Majesty and all his Liege People BUT instead of all this which is no more than if they mean honesty toward the Government they would willingly do they are taking a course by their present practice to manifest that they are still the same Men and as true to their Principles as steel or as Rebellion is to those Principles as if they were resolved to verifie the saying of a worthy Gentleman That men may possibly repent of Presbytery but Presbytery never yet repented of any thing And that they are plying their Sails and Oars for a second prize it is almost past time of day now to make a doubt do they not boldly print and spread abroad in publick their seditious Pamphlets Speeches Letters to their Friends from persons of Quality Benchers and God knows what who or where those are reflecting upon the Government the great Ministers of State the Learned Pious and Innocent Bishops not sparing even the King himself with which pocket Pistols hand Granadoes and Fire-balls of Rebellion they indeavour to murder the Government and set all into Flames and Combustion pestering the Country with those pernicious Pamphlets as the City is with their Writers the design of all which restless Indeavours and devilish Industry is only to delude the Subjects of these Nations by perswading them that they are upon the very brink of Slavery and Ruine to withdraw them from
their Loyalty and Allegiance to their King and Obedience to the Laws and Government whenas in truth no People in the World in humane probability are at a greater distance from those imaginary dangers than we unless by believing these men and their Principles we precipitate our selves headlong into them nor is there any thing wanting to render us compleatly happy and secure at home and abroad besides Unity amongst ourselves and Loyalty towards our Prince of both which it is the main design of these Enemies of our Peace Prosperity and Happiness at once to rob us and whoever will take the pains to consider the rise growth and continuance of this Doctrine of Calvinism will find it a meer Salamander of Religion bred in the Flames of Rebellion nourisht with the fire of mistaken Zeal at best and that it constantly delights to dwell in the blaze of Contention The peace and settlement of the Nation are its utter Enemies and opposites and no wonder then if the Patrons of it are the Enemies of our Peace and as a Pope once said to Charles Brother to the French King concerning Conradine King of Naples and Sicily which gave him his Death The Life of Conradine is the Death of Charles Vrsper p. 11. and the Death of Conradine is the Life of Charles so may we truly say The Peace and Unity of our Monarchy is the Death and Ruine of Presbytery and the Death of Presbytery is the Life of Monarchy which is the true reason why they struggle for their Life to keep up discords differences and animosities and it may be are all of the sudden become so Zealous for a Foreign War the discovery of their Plot having put them out of hopes of one at home So long as the Government is but busie and the Crown necessitous they do not only think themselves secure but are in hopes that the expences or unforeseen accidents of War may at last occasion differences at home upon which ill humors of the body Politick like Plagues and Gangrenes they always feed and increase and hope in the end to prove fatal to it for they know by experience that Corruptio Vnius est Generatio Alterius A dead Monarchy fly-blown by Presbytery breeds the short-liv'd Maggots of a putrified Common-wealth But these things have been so well taken notice of and their whole Intrigue discovered by the charitable hand of the Author of the two Pacquets of Advices c. that a clearer exposing of them is altogether needless IT is the wishes prayers and hopes of the best subjects of these Nations that the dangerous noise and clamours which they make themselves will oblige Authority to take notice of them and their mischievous intentions and that this very Parliament which they fear and therefore hate with all their Hearts as is plain by their Ringing so loud its passing Bell and perswading the World it is Dead that their Cruelty may be satisfied with the Revenge of burying it alive will take notice of such an affront to a King and his Parliament as no Age can parallel nor any persons be guilty of but Presbyterians and offer some expedients according to their Wisdom and Prudence to ease the Loyal and faithful Subjects amongst which they challenge the first rank themselves of those just fears and jealousies and those uneasinesses which afflict them by reason of the growth increase and confidence of these implacable malicious sanguinary and restless Antimonarchical and Anti-Parliamentary spirited People and their Principles TO conclude From the former Discourse these necessary consequences follow Some necessary consequences from the former Discourse First That no person whatsoever let him pretend never so much Religion Sanctity or Innocence can possibly be a good Subject so long as he continues a true Presbyterian or of their off-spring in regard they always carry about with them as the main of their Religion such Principles as are directly contrary to Monarchy and destructive of Loyalty to which he can never be a firm true and assured Friend who owns a Power Superior to that of his Prince within his Dominions and that such a Power may of right depose him and take away his Crown and Life which has been proved to be the avowed Doctrine of the Consistorians of Geneva Scotland and England both in Print and Practice Secondly That no Monarch can be safe or his best Subjects at ease and secure so long as this faction is either owned tolerated permitted or favoured publickly or privately within his Dominions especially the Ring-leaders of the Party which guilded Snakes can no sooner be warm in the Bosom of Indulgence but they begin to hiss and sting and are constantly either the Whisperers or Trumpeters of Sedition and Rebellion the very practice of what they call their Religion in prohibited Conventicles and Assemblies being but the younger Brothers of Tumults and Insurrections and Rebellion against the King and Government both Civil and Ecclesiastical in a demure dress and garb of Innocence which is so far from making it better than that in the Field with Drums and Colours that it renders it worse because more dangerous and apt to deceive many people being willing to become Volunteers to the Pulpit as Hudibras calls it The drum Ecclesiastick When beat with fist instead of a stick Hudibr Cant. 1. Who would not list themselves into open and barefac't Rebellion till from thence they hear the dreadful thunder of a Curse ye Meroz or The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon AND let them not call this necessary Caution for the publick and all honest mens preservation the effect of a persecuting Spirit since though they may charge the Government with Cruelty it is they who are cruel to themselves and the whole Community by being evil doers busie bodies seditious trayterous heady high minded opposers of Government disturbers of Order Enemies to our Peace Unity and Happiness and to the very Fundamental Laws Establishments Constitution and whole Frame of the National Government both in Church and State I appeal to all the Records of time both our own and of other Nations which will witness That whoever did act thus contrary to the publick Interest have in all Ages in all Places by all Laws and Persons in Authority been esteemed justly and deservedly punished as being the common mischiefs of nature directly opposite to the security and happiness of all mankind in general not excepting themselves out of the number whose restless uneasie discontented humor certainly renders them the most unfortunate of all humane race because ever most unquiet and unpleased being indeed utterly uncapable of satisfaction the concessions and condescensions of Authority to day emboldening them to demand greater tomorrow and Indulgence being so far from making them grateful that it gives them the pain to invent new Requests their desires being therefore boundless and unlimited because they neither know positively what they would have nor are able to determine what it is