PRINCIPLE I. Religion is the best Cloak for our Po­lititian; he must have it in shew and pretence, but▪ not in Consci­ence and Practice.

ASqueamish stomach is not fit for sowre sawce; but he that hath an Appetite to every Relish, and is not offended at an evil Object, is Madam Na­tures best friend, and de­termines the indifference of the Aphorism, in being the Physician, and not the Fool. As in Physick, so in Politicks, a man must not stick at any means to compass his ends; and in both, there is no Superstition more dangerous and to be avoided, than to stand too much upon Niceties and Scruples: A desperate Disease must have a desperate Remedy.

He that will dig for Gold, must resolve to go through the Dirt; and he that aims to set up the Idol of his own ambition, (and resolves to worship that alone, till he findes it established on the summit of Gran­deur) must dive as deep as Hell to fix the foundation, lest the elevated and endless height thereof render it liable to tumble for want of a profound fixation. True Piety exercised in obedience to the com­mands of true Religion, is most obvious to the aims of a subtle Polititian; but if he makes a right use thereof, and has it onely in shew and pretence, and not in practice, it is the most necessary Tool he can work with: and therefore Machiavil split an Hair, when he determined not absolutely and openly to renounce Conscience, but to insinuate an opinion of his regard thereto by the plausible methods of his close de­signes. He notes it from Papirias in Livy, who sleighted the Pullarii handsomely, and was rewarded; whereas Appius Pulchre did it grosly, and was punished.

Nothing can so fairly gild and cover the deformity of Rebellion and Innovation, as the beauty of pretended Holiness and Reli­gion. 'Tis an excellent art to make the people Saint us even in the most hellish En­terprizes, by managing them with a dissi­mulate Piety, when we act most vigorously [Page 3]against it. Herod would feign Worship, when he means to worry.

And Oliver Cromwel seemed most fervent in Prayer, when his Zeal tended onely to win time of the General (by the prolixity of his Devotion) for his wretched Accom­plices to finish the great work of murdering the late King.

This is that which leads the credulous Rabble by the nose; for the common peo­ple (which are the [...]) never see be­hinde the Curtain; an hand some Gloss is with them as good as the Text: They are many times so easily caught, that although they perceive the Snare, they will greedily swallow the Bait; their affections (being always transported with the gilded delu­sions) are the strongest line by which our Polititian draws them on to their ruine, and his purpose; and new Projects are the dish on which he feeds their wavering ap­petites, without the least danger of a rela­cting surfeit.

Pliny was not much mistaken, when he called a Deity a jolly invention,Plin. l. 1. c. 7. Irridendum agere curam rerum human arum, quicquid est summum sed eredi [...] usu vitae est. Let Religion [Page 4]be my friend in helping me to the Blessings (the pleasures and advantages) of this life, and let others expect from, or use her as they please in the next; let me but use her as a Cloak for my practices here, and let others expect from it a Crown hereaf­ter. I like the humour of the Samseans in Epiphanius, that were neither Jews, nor Gentiles, nor Christians; preserving to themselves a commodious correspondence with all. As the Mountebank personates the Physician, so our Polititian does the Christian; whatsoever he acts in reference to Heaven, is meerly theatrical, and done in subordination to some other interest. Let me be a superficial, let others be funda­mental Christians; like the River in Athe­naeus, Cujus profiuens aqua dulcissima, quae vero in imo salsa. Lycurgus could never have ingratiated his Laws so effectually, had he not pretended a conference with his Goddess. No more could that grand Im­postor Mahomet have infected so great parts of the world with the venome of his Blas­phemy, without the help of his Pigeon. Nor could the Faction of our late times have carried on their own designes for their peculiar benefit, without the specious pre­text of a thorough Reformation.

'Tis to me indifferent (says our Politi­tian) what the doctrine and principles of [Page 5]my Religion be, whether true or false, so it be but Popular; and if the people I mean to juggle with, erre fundamentally, or prove obstinate Schismaticks, I can by no better means wed them to my interest, than by suitable compliances with their obstinacy and delusions: and when I have drawn them by slye insinuations into a credulous faith of my worth and abilities to maintain their Cause, there remains then nothing to further my projections, but to convince them of the necessity to arm in the defence of themselves and their righteous Cause; which is done in a trice: for men are ever ready to support that which they would be glad to set uppermost; and therefore I commonly lead the Van, and appear in the head of the Faction. I sanctifie their pro­ceedings with the old charm of Jure Divino, though I never found them registred but a­mongst Hells blackest Canons, signed with the dismal paw of Legend.

He that can privately act his Villanies, and neatly hocus his worst Impostures, is a man of parts; by which means he shall ap­pear as pure and innocent as the most exact Christian. It is of excellent use, for our Polititian to hallow his designes, by saying Grace before his impious actions, and to thank heaven for the Event, be it never so foul and bloudy. How comfortably the [Page 6]Pope and Cardinal conferred notes, — Quantum nobis lucri peperit illa Fa [...]ula de Chr [...]sto! O the rich Income and glorious Results of a well-managed Hypocrisie! This! this! our subtle Pharisce must with all diligence study, and throughly practice.

There is no greater hinderance to gene­rous Actions, than a coy and squeamish Conscience; which, as some tell as, vents its greatest force, surdo verbere, which can never be heard amidst the noise and bustle of a clamorous world. The Judgments of the Almighty threatned in Holy Writ, and what else may seem to terrifie the exact Christian, must not at all affright our po­litick Heree; nor ought he to distinguish betwixt good and evil, but by the bala [...] of Self-interest. Had Alexander boggled at invading other Princes Dominions, he had never wept for the scarcity of worlds. Had your mighty Conquerors listened to, and guided their Actions by the Rules of a righ­teous Conscience, their Faine had never been so felly great and they had died and been forgot like other men. But I'll live, and be great by any means.

Flectere si neque [...] Superes, Acheronta m [...].

PRINCIPLE II. The deformity of all his Actions he must cover, and that in pretence for Liberty, Religion, &c. and o­therwise endear himself to the People by Adulation, and the most slye Insinuations imaginable.

THe Multitude must be cultivated with perpetual Soothings and Encourage­ments, [...]ntil they grow immeasurably lu­xuriant in our Polititians gilded Delusions, and as absolutely believe he designes their good, as be most certainly does his own. He must transport them so far, even to the credulous faith of all he says and does, to be as sacred towards them, as their Persons and Estates, Religion and Laws are to them­selves; or rather as much esteemed by him, as they are useful to the furtherance of his designes. He must always accommodate himself to the matter he has to work upon; he must have his R [...]medium in omne morbum. [Page 12]The simpler sort of people he must busie with his horrid Plots and false Alarms; amuse the timerous with Tumults and for­reign Invasions; and deceive the factious by Covenants and Associations: In fine, his Party must be the Refuge and Receptacle for all sorts of Libertines and Malecontents.

Thus qualified, let him first possess the Rabble that the Government is become a Monster, and hath already devoured a great part of their Liberties; and make the hi­deous Out-cry throughout the Kingdom, of Breach of Priviledge, Priviledge of Par­liament, Magna Charta, &c. for our Poli­titian well knows, that Corruptio optimi est perniciocissima Pesti [...].

Then secondly, strike at Religion, worry her with the name of Heresie; re-establish and issue forth Writs De Haeretico comburen­do; build Piles in Smithfield; commit Mas­sacres; murder a King at his own door: And it you cannot abolish the Principles, be sure to sacrifice the persons of such as stand most eminently engaged in opinion opposite to those of the Faction. Serve up a John Baptist's or a Bishops head in bloud, that certainly will be grateful to the longing appetite of a Godly Sister, when perhaps her sq [...]eamish stomach (being lately surfeited) cannot so easily digest the coarser Diet of the common Shambles. Cry [Page 13]out against Popery with the thundering voice of Forty One. 'Tis the best way to destroy the Church of England, if your can handsomely insinuate her to be leaning that way, under the notion of Arminianism. And let all this and ten times more be done, our Polititian knows he may warrant his Actions fromThe late Times. approved Presidents, espe­cially if he act by the specious pretext of a tender Conscience, and get the Underta­king once to be christened God's Cause.

His Coat must be of divers colours, and his Shape as alterable as that of Proteus; he must look through the eyes of Argus, miss no opportunity, fit all seasons, and neglect no means: for 'tis most certain, that the prosperity of Innovation depends upon the right knack of kindling and fomenting Jea­lousies and Dislikes in the people, and craf­tily wielding those Grudges to the favour and advantage of private ends; for the va­rious humours of the Rabble are like the different Tools of the Mechanick, necessary to produce one and the same effect.

And if our Polititian aims either to alter the Government, or to ingross the Suprema­cy, he must first assault the people with false Alarms of imminent dangers, invent horrid News, and ply them with such fictitious perils, as may make them believe Religion and Liberty and all are at stake, and that [Page 14]they are the Geese which must save the Ca­pitol. And when by these methods he has cajoled them into Fears and Jealousies, they begin then to be [...]it Instruments for the boldest and most unwarrantable Under­takings, and so soon as they are once toucht in the Noddle with these Conceits, 'tis but sadling their Noses with a pair of State-spectacles, and you may perswade them upon Newmarket-heath, that they are tumbling down Dover-cliff. After all this, it will not be difficult for our Polititian to conjure them into Petitions, Tumults, As­sociations, Oaths, and Covenants for the common Safety; and when by such means he has made them stark mad, he need not doubt of being chosen Governour of the Bedlam.

Secondly, he must compose his very garb and gesture: 'Tis an excellent gift, to tell a lye with a boon grace. And if Religion be in vogue, he must pretend mightily to the gift of the Spirit, and call his Followers the people of God. He must be well skilled in the impressing art of Canting and Whi­ning, and must deliver his Tales and Sto­ries with Ardour and strong Affection, and zealously knock his breast, call Heaven to witness, and invoke all manner of Im­precations on himself, it he fails to do that which he never intends, or so much as [Page 15]thinks on, with the least inclination to per­formance.

Thirdly, he gives them good words and bad actions: he ravishes them with the ap­prehensions of Liberty, into the strongest chains of Oppression and Slavery: Nomina rerum perdidimus, & licentia militaris Liber­tas vocatur, saith the Roman Orator: And Plautus in Truculento, sings excellently well to the same purpose:

Fourthly, he observes that they swallow Probabilities, wisely offered, with greater greediness than naked Truths. Our subtle Crafts-master is therefore very curious in gilding his Impostures, and never reveals his designes, but at fit seasons and conve­nient opportunities; and that by piece­meal too: for the prodigious view of his monstrous Projects (intirely delivered) would greatly amaze and look big, even beyond all hope or possibility of digestion: whereas the same thing delivered by par­cess, and at proper seasons is swallowed with greater ease, and will produce the same effects.

But further,S. M. p. 12. to give you a more concise [Page 16]touch of our Polititian's principles, we can­not better do it, than by setting forth the admirable harmony and consort that ap­pear'd (in the Rebellion of our late Times) betwixt the Lay-Cabal and the Ecclesia­stick; both agreeing in the same method, in the same steps, in the same cause, and in the same opinion: Onely that which was matter of Policy in private, was made matter of Conscience and Religion in pub­lick. First, They finde out Corruptions in the Government, as matters of Grievance, which they expose to the people. Second­ly, They petition for Redress of those Grie­vances, still asking more and more, till something is deny'd them. And then, Thirdly, They take the Power into their own hands of relieving▪ themselves; but with Oaths and Protestations, that they act onely as Trustees for the common good of King and Kingdom. From the pretence of Defending the Government, they pro­ceed to the Reforming of it: which Re­formation proves in the end to be a final Dissolution both of Church and State. Then! then our State-Chymist hath brought the Elixir of his Machinations to perfection: He may now apply his stron­gest Remedies to the feeble State, and work upon the peoples weakness what projects he please; but must always take heed that [Page 17]the recovery of their strength does not out­run the growth of his power.

'Tis [...]idst the Divisions of the people, our Polititian wrests the Sword into his own hand; and 'tis through the flood­gates of their Disser [...]tions, he rusheth to the summit of Grandeur. The Power once obtained, the Scene begins to change; and he that of late made the most servile com­pliance with the humours of the Rabble, begins to sing, Tempora n [...]tamur! — and resolves both to awe and force them into a state of Bondage. He that courted them before, with all the adulatory terms that Ambition could invent, or they receive; as if he had been vowed their Martyr, and ready to sacrifice his dearest enjoyments up­on the Altar of publick Liberty and Free­dom; as if his veins know no other blood, but such as he would be proud to spend in their service; having now served himself of them, he forgets the bosome that warmed him: They hear from him now in a Pali­node; he curles up his smooth Comple­ments into brief Laconicks, and changeth his Courtship for Command. He is now at liberty, and repeats all his Villanies in open view: He had long since purchased an habit of doing ill, and hath now acqui­red a daring impudence to maintain it; which in a politick wisdom makes all things [Page 18]good and lawful. Having so unlimited a Power, his passions are now become indo­mitable, his Will's the Law, and his Hand the Executioner of all his Arbitrary Deter­minations; according to that of Grotius, Jus dicitur esse id quod Validiori placuit, De Jure Belli. l. 2. c. 6. ut intelligamus fine suo carere jus, nisi vires mi­nistras habeat. And our Polititian sees now that (to justifie his greatest Tyranny) he may impose the greatest hardships on his conquer'd Vassals, as just and legal; since that onely which it pleaseth the stronger Party to ordain, is said to be Law; since nothing can accomplish the end of a Law, except it be attended by force and power to constrain Obedience.

PRINCIPLE III. He that aims at Soveraignty, must be sure to beat down the Bulwark of Government (the Prince's Cre­dit) by the powerful force of irre­sistible Calumny.

THis part was most curiously plaid by our subtle Gamesters of Forty One; and from the Chronicles of that time, our Polititian may furnish himself with the most effective Instances and Examples; and [Page 24](besides that which is requisite for his purpose) he may leave enough for the greatest Tyrants, both to imitate and ad­mire, even to the worlds end. First they fell upon the Kings Reputation,So they be­gin now-a­days. Wit­ness the false News, Libels, &c. then they invaded his Authority, after that they as­saulted his Person, then seized his Revenue, and in conclusion, most impiously usurped the Supream Power, by taking away his sacred Life.

It cannot easily be imagined of what singular importance the aspersing and blot­ting of a Prince is, to boyl up popular Dis­content and Faction to that height, which is requisite for a Rebellion: And therefore in our late times of Apostacy, our then Re­forming Bigots having extreamly discom­posed the people, upon the apprehensions of Popery and Arbitrary power, and shaken them in their Allegiance upon a belief of a strong Designe in the Government it self to introduce it, well knew how to build upon this foundation. And first they invei­gle the people into strange and unreasonable Petitions,Popular Petitions. (which are the most compen­dious method of attempting a Commotion, being the gentlest of political inventions for feeling the pulse of the people) Prote­stations, Associations, and Covenants, for the common defence of themselves, for the safety and preservation of their Lives, Re­ligion, [Page 25]and Liberties; and into a favoura­ble entertainment of any plausible pretext, even to the justification of Violence it self; especially the Sedition coming once to be baptized God's Cause, and supported by the Doctrine of Necessity, and the un­searchable instinct and equity of the Law of Nature: And all this recommended to them by the men of the whole world,Private Pastors. upon whose integrity and conduct they would venture their very Souls, Bodies, and E­states.

How to make a Traytor lie a Martyr.Our Polititian must further remember, by art and eloquence to extenuate the crimes of such that have suffered by the stroke of Justice for the Cause, and so cry out upon their hard measures, and bewail their loss with an abundance of sighs and tears; that by such tricks old Traytors may be propounded for new Martyrs. This hath been the ordinary methods of Ambi­tion, as you may finde it noted by a great Scholar in these words:Barclay contra monarch. 30. Fuit haec omnibus Saeculis, & adhuc est ad occupandum Tyranni­dem, expeditissima via; Dum summo se a­more, ac pietate in patriam esse simulant; Principum vitia, & Populi miscriam; apud suos primùm, deinde palam quaeribundâ voce lamentantur: Non quò Plebem (cujus solius commodis inservire videri volunt) ab illo Ser­vitutis jugo asserant in libertatem; sed quò [Page 26]populari aurâ subnixi, additum sibi & januam ad eam ipsam dignitatem, nequiora aliquando ausuri patefaciant. And therefore if the Prince be severe, he gives him Nero's brand, a man kneaded up of Dirt and Bloud; if he be of Parts and Contrivance, he calls it pernicious Ingenuity; if he urge Unifor­mity and Decency in Divine Service, he then rails at his Superstition and Idolatry: And because there is no such equilibrious Vertue but hath some flexure to one of the Extreams, he is very careful to publish the Extream alone, and to silence the Vertue; and his words are full of imbitter'd Sar­casms.

Methods to be used a­gainst Loy­alty.And if after all this, he cannot utterly crush the power of his Prince's Reputation, being too firmly rooted in the hearts of his Loyal Subjects, he has a Remedy for this too; either by Bribery with ready Money, or promises of great Rewards and Prefer­ment; or else by subtle Insinuations expres­sed in a most seemingly sensible Zeal for their infatuations, and want of sence to ap­prehend the danger, and so most affectedly he seems to lament and bewail their sence­less stupidity. And if these means prove ineffectual to trepan them into the Faction, he has yet others left which more power­fully does the work; which is, to draw the whole Party on their backs, by putting [Page 27]on a Saint-like Indignation, and giving them sharp and open reproofs for their wilful blindness. And if after all this, they prove inflexible, he must then be sure to cry out against them as Enemies to God's Cause, and haters of the common Good, to combine in the horrid Conspiracy; and so render them to be meet partakers in the same destruction which he has before de­termined to bring upon the Government.

'Tis a figure in Politicks, to make every infirmity a fault, and every fault a crime. And because there have been Plots in France, henceforward no Embassadour shall go, without making the people believe that his business is to contrive their ruine, and bring upon them everlasting Slavery. And if you can by any means (though never so wicked) dress up a King, and represent him in the odious habit of a cruel Tyrant, and transport the people into passionate desires of Liberty and Self-preservation; it will become a matter then very easie to dis­pose them either to murder or depose him: Which sort of practice is both warranted and commended by the excellent Orator— Graecos Deorum bon [...]res tribuisse iis, Pro Mil. qui Ty­rannos necaverunt. And by the Tragedian,

And Buchanan complains that there are not some glorious rewards appointed for Tyrannicides.

And the better to render these plagues of Government epidemical, our subtle Poli­titian must be sure not to suffer his Do­ctrines to be immured within the single compass of the Metropolis, (whose bowels were onely fit for its first conception) but to transmit them into the Country, where the innocent and unwary Rustick (who because he contrives, expects no harm) being bewitched by the beauty of its out­ward figure, and partly for the sake of its novelty, will be dotingly fond, and cherish this Viper, till he be throughly infected with its venome. And thus (like the Bear in the Fable, which for the sake of imaginary Honey, was seduced by the crafty Fox to his own destruction) are the credulous Rabble, by the delicious baits of our State-Impostor, sweetened into their own Ruine, and hurried (by the stimulations of ground­less jealousies) in the [...]ager pursuit of an imaginary Liberty, until, like the Dog in the Fable, they catch at the shadow and lose the substance.

And notwithstanding our Polititian aims at Soveraignty, he must not think to per­swade the people to put that Crown on his head which they were sick to see upon a­nothers; [Page 29]but must compass his ends some other way: And to draw them the better to his Lure, he must be sure to cry out a­gainst the sinking State, and pot stick to devolve the personal faults of each Minister upon the Monarchy it self. He must strongly urge with Machiavil, Ʋpon Livy, p. 22. That they are the most suitable Guardians of any thing, who are least desirous to usurp it, and must seem himself to be that mo­dest man. He must now play the Hypo­crite, dissemble Piety, and cover his Ambi­tion with the greatest Humility, that so the Rabble (whilst he is the most scrupulous and careful in finding out a fit person) may pitch upon him to be their Protector.

PRINCIPLE IV. To render the Contagion epidemical, our Politian must always have some dissenting Pastors, or merce­nary Jesuits, to justifie and appland his Designes and Actions in the Separate Congregations.

NOthing more abundant in Examples! nothing more notorious in History! than this, That there has been no Innova­tion so gross! no Rebellion so hideous! but hath had some Ecclesrastical Fomenters! for such as want Worth enough of their own to reach Preferment in a regular way, are most apt to envie the just Honours and [Page 38]Promotions of other men; and despairing to obtain their ends by Learning and Piety, they aspire to it by the crooked means of Faction and Schism. These men mainly support the pretended Piety of our Politi­tian's Designes; they never fail to carry him through the greatest Dangers, and are able to retort the most pernicious Events: for the keenest Sword in our Polititian's Army▪ cannot vie services with a subtle Quill.Aristoph. Concuti­unt Popu­los, vexant Regna, Sol­licitant Bella, Di­ruunt Ec­clesias. Dr. Oates's Narrative printed by authority of Parl. p. 63.67. proves that the Jesuits herd a­mongst the Dissenters: And how shall we discover them, but [...]y their Fruit, their Do­ctrines? You may see his business in the Comick, [...].

The Jesuit accounts it in the number of his Merits, if he can by any sinister means ruffle and disorder Heretical Kingdoms, encourage weak and unstable mindes to sleight the Magistracy, irritate Divisions, Tumults, Rebellions, absolve from Oaths and all sacred Tyes: so that it is hard to finde any tragical Scene, or bloudy The­atre, into which the Jesuit hath not intru­ded, and been as busie as Davus in the Co­medy; contributing in a very high mea­sure to every Fanatick Outrage, whose a­ctions dayly approve the old Lemma of Lojola's picture▪ Cavete vobis Principes. And so we finde Father Faircloth, in his Sermon on Josh. 7.25. preaching Rebellion; To you of the honourable House of Commons, Ʋp, for the matter belongs to you; We, even all the godly Ministers of the Country, will be with [Page 39]you. And likewise Father Call, in his Speech at Guild-hall, Octob. 6.1643. quoth he, Here is an extraordinary appearance of so ma­ny Ministers to encourage you in this Cause, that you may see how real the Godly Ministry in England is unto this Cause: And if I had as many lives as hairs on my head, I would be willing to sacrifice all those lives for this Cause. And you shall read, Numb. 10. that there were two silver Trumpets; and as there were Priests appointed for the convocation of their Assemblies, so there were Priests to sound the silver Trumpets to proclaim the War. And Deut. 20. when the chil­dren of Israel would go out to war, the Sons of Levi, one of the Priests, was to make a Speech to encourage them. But hearken to what the Provincial says,Baxter's holy Com­monwealth, p. 72.459, 460. The real Soveraignty here in England, was in King, Lords, and Commons: and those that conclude, That the Parliament being Subjects, may not take up Arms against the King, and that it is Rebellion to resist him; their Grounds are sandy, and their Super­structure false. And the same worthy Au­thor, in his Cases of Conscience,Theses 137 181. An. 1659. casuistically resolves (upon the point of his Majesties Restauration, then in hope and prospect,) That the King himself could not (in that state of things) justifie the resuming of his Government, nor his [Page 40]People the submitting to it.Jenkins's Sermon be­fore the Commons, Sept. 25.1656. p. 23 Worthy Pa­triots (says another of the same Order) you that are our Rulers in this Parliament! 'Tis often said, we live in times wherein we may be as good as we please; praised be God for this, even that God who hath delivered us from the imposition of Prelatical Inno­vations, Altar-genuflections, and Cringings, with Crosses, and all that Popish Trash and Trumpery. And truely I speak no more than I have often thought and said, The King's murder ju­stified. The removal of these insup­portable Burthens, countervails for all the Bloud and Treasure shed and spent in these Distractions. Nor did I as yet ever hear of any Godly men that ever desired (were it possible) to purchase their Friends or Mo­ney again, at so dear a rate as (with the re­turn of them) to have those Soul-burthening Antichristian Yokes reimposed upon them; and if any such there be, I am sure that Desire is no part of their Godliness; and I profess my self in that to be none of the number. Good God! says a modern Author, that any thing in humane shape, that glories in the murder of his Soveraign, should make a face at a Ceremony! And Father Cockayne, in his notable Sermon before the Com­mons,The King's murder per­swaded. November 29. 1648. both urgeth and perswades the murder of that Royal Martyr, by comparing him to Benhadad [Page 41]King of Assyria, whose life Ahab King of Israel had spared, against the Will of the Lord. And Mr. Baxter says as much (viz.) That having often searched in his heart,Holy Com­monwealth, p. 486. whether he did lawfully engage in the War, and encourage so many thousands to it, he tells us, That he dares not repent of it, nor forbear doing the same, if it were to do again in the same state of things. The Scotish Ministers printed it, That our late martyr'd Soveraign had shed more Bloud in these three Nations, than was shed in the ten Christian Persecutions. And upon the same account, Mr. Love proclaim'd in the Pulpit at Ʋxbridge-Treaty, That no Peace ought to be had with him. And Father Calamy says,Calamy's Sermon, Dec. 25.1644. p. 18 Those that made their peace with the King at Oxford, were Judas­ses of England; and it were just with God to give them their portions with Judas.

These are the methods of murdering a Prince with a tender Conscience; and these are the men that can act the basest Villanies under the shadow of Religion; nothing can resist the force of their holy Violence: These are Sampson's Foxes, that have always Fire-brands in their tails; the Forge and Bellows of Sedition, infernal Emissaries, the Pests of the Age: These are the men, who by their Life and Doctrines prove, that In nomine Jesu incipit omne ma­lum.

There was never yet any Kingdom or Country without some turbulent Spirits of its own,False Pro­phets. the dishonour of the Gown and Pulpit, the shame and sometimes the ruine of the Commonwealth. You would think they had their Text much rather from a Gazette, or Domestick Intelligence, than from the Holy Scriptures, their whole Dis­course being but a continued Narrative of invective Fables against the Government.

Nevertheless, to render these wholly fit for our Polititian's purpose, they must be throughly skilled in these requisite Qualifi­cations. First, They must be well verst in that most excellent gift of wresting the Di­vine Oracles, by vexing and urging the holy Text, and constraining it to patronize the most barbarous and bloudy Designe. The great Apostle expresseth this in three very emphatical terms: [...]. First, Cogging the Dye, making the Word speak what they list. Secondly, Crafty Applications and Expositions of it. Thirdly, All the me­thods and arts of Cousenage, [...], gilding and vamishing rotten Doctrines. And this must be done, First, In publick vomiting out Flames and Sul­phur from that sacred Pegma, where should be delivered mild and soft, none but Divine and Evangelical Embassies. Secondly, In private, at Parlour-Sermons and Meeting-houses, [Page 43]where he is listened to as an Ora­cle; and here commonly he is more En­thusiast than Scripturist, and his Auditors believe his Dreams to be as canonical and infallibly sacred as the Revelations; like those Melancthton speaks of, Quicquid somni­ant, volunt esse Spiritum Sanctum; or those that the Father chides, when he tells them that every Whimsey is not Prophesie, [...]. Thirdly, He ought to be of some abilities in Dispute; and what he wants in Logick, he must supply with Impudence and Garrulity: for what­soever he affirms, the interest he hath in his seduced Hearers, improves into a Syllogism. If you ask after his Topicks,S. Hierom. Ex officina Carnificium argumenta petit; if after his weapons,Strada. Armat se ad latrocinium per Christi nomen: and the Wound he makes is Fa­ction: Which is so putrified with occur­ring variety of malignant Qualities, that Nature her self cannot afford a Cataplasm to work its Cure; and in spight of the most skilful Artists, it will fester into Rebel­lion; which admits no other Remedy but what is extracted from it self, by the dis­mal effects of a fatal and long Experience.

PRINCIPLE V. Our Polititian must urge every pro­sperous Event, as sufficient to prove the Justice of his Cause.

THis is the Doctrine of all Impostors, by which they must charm the com­mon people into a credulous belief of all they say, and a sure approvement of every thing they do. So cunningly were the projects of our late Usurpers carried on from time to time, and with that success, as it became a matter extreamly difficult to distinguish the iniquity from the prosperity of all their actions, especially for such who either affect novelty or change. And as the surest means of rendering their delu­sions palliable, the Faction were well aware [Page 52]of that excellent use of hallowing their Designes,The use of publick Fasts by the Faction. by appointing days of Humilia­tion and Fasts, immediately to precede the birth of any notable Enterprize; as like­wise publick Thanksgivings for every E­vent, whether luckie or unfortunate: for such was their Cunning, that the people should be sure to hear nothing of ill, nei­ther understand or perceive any thing, but by reflection from the imaginary Brightness of the Cause.

There is no Argument more popular, than to urge and perswade the Justice of the Attempt, as a most certain conclusion from the goodness of the Event: for the Bulk of Mankind is not able to distinguish the Permission of the divine Goodness from his Approbation: And yet notwith­standing the pernicious subtilty of this Ar­gument is both perceived and understood by some, yet the insupportable miseries of the Conquered, deny them the opportunity to dispute the Justice of their Sufferings; and that which they might possibly have prevented by a prudent foresight, serves onely now to strengthen and increase the Fetters of their woful Captivity; and the most sacred and usual pleas of Liberty or Magna Charta, can now neither resist or one jot allay the rigours of their greatest slave­ry: They shall now learn to know that [Page 53] Inter arma silent leges; they must now look upon the Conqueror with the greatest re­verence, and behold him in glory; they must yield themselves Vassals to his usurped Arbritary Power, who but of late courted them with the most servile compliances, and seemed to be a slave to their interest. [...].Philo. The Souldiers in Plutarch wondered any man would be so impertinent as to preach Laws and Mo­ral Reasons to men with Swords by their sides;In Pomp. [...]; as if Arms knew how to descend to rational Enquiries, and are not enough junified by an odde kind of necessity of their own creation; like those in Livy, In armis jus ferre, & omnia fortium virorum esse: Such are now the proceedings of France; and I fear, whenever time serves to give them opportunity to play their pranks,French procee­dings. and us occasion to examine the justice of their Doings, they will give us onely pretensions for the just necessity thereof, and convince us of the rest (as our Neighbours have felt by sad experience) with knocking Argu­ments. Numberless Examples likewise of this kind, our Polititian may meet with from the History of our late Rebellion, suf­ficient to direct him in the most desperate Exploits, without further search into for­reign Presidents.

Why Ty­rants pre­tend to publick Justificati­ons.I have often considered with my self, what should move Traytors and Tyrants to offer publick Justifications of themselves even in the most barbarous Acts and Cruel­ties (which I conceive never made any understanding man a Convert, or ever met with a cordial reception in any) unless the abuse of some few ignorant and shallow Be­lievers, be esteemed a triumph worth their pains: I have sometimes thought they do by such Manifesto's please themselves in their abilities to delude; and so gratifie their Tyranny over the noblest part of man, by surprizing the liberty of the Thought, and subduing the powers of the Soul to an implicit coherence with their own Magi­sterial opinions. These were the me­thods that were dayly practised through­out the continuance of our late unnatural Broils, Remonstrance and Declaration, and Declaration and Remonstrance continually followed one another at the heels, till at length (by the prosperous success of all their projects) they have gained the ad­vantage of Power to enforce the compli­ance of such who wanted faith enough to digest their impostures.Men of Parts de­luded by the Doctrine of Success. Yet notwithstand­ding these Baits have sometimes proved so successful, that many, even of Parts and Prudence, have been deluded and surprized by them: Some question whether Diago­ras [Page 55]merited the brand of Atheism (consi­dering the wilde conceits they then had of their Gods) or differed from the common Creed, crying out, O how the Gods favour Sacriledge! when he had a merry gale after a sacrilegious attempt. The best of the Roman Historians calls the Victory, the Impartial Arbitress of the Justice of the Cause, Eventus Belli velut aequus Judex, unde jus stat, ei victoriam dabit. So hard it is to detect this falshood, and convince meer Reason, that the most accursed Vice (being too frequently clad in the glistering Robes of a prosperous success) hath set her self upon the Throne of Vertue, and been adored for a Deity. He was no small Poet, that argued himself out of his Gods, by seeing Wickedness honoured, and Worth sleighted; which he thus expresseth:

In English thus:

There may be some use made of that in [Page 56] Seneca, Honesta quaed [...]m Scelera, successus fa­cit; Hipp. prosperous, Mischiefs are cardinal Ver­tues in the worlds Ethicks; and therefore the Tragedian repeats it,Herc. fur. Prosperum ac foelix scelus virtus vocatur, the prosperity and glory of the Event, is an excellent subter­fuge for the unwarrantableness of the A­ction: We often praise the Macedonian Conquest, but never regard or mention their unlimited and endless Ambition.

The procee­dings and period of a factious People.When (by any means) a People are drawn in to abet a Faction, they seldom square their actions by what is just or e­qual, and never so much as once consider the dangerous effects that must naturally flow from their headstrong proceedings; they become immediately conjured into a Circle for the service of By-ends; and what they seem to pursue (their Liberty) is always furthest off when popular Fury is seen to follow it: But that's the Jewel which they prize, that's the Game they aim at; he that once names that to hit their humour, may work them as he please; the basest Villanies shall then pass for Acts of Grace, and the most unspotted and firm basis of Government, can never stand up in defiance of the peoples hatred. In fine, they matter not what they undertake; if Success attends their doings, they then be­lieve Heaven allows that Blessing to the ju­stice [Page 57]of their Cause. When our Polititian has brought them to this pass, he need not much doubt (by so strong an interest) to remove the greatest difficulties, to finish his designes in the complement of his Gran­deur; which is nevertheless so strangely brought about, that his interest which stood at first upon the same bottom with that of the people, and could never be wrought without their help, must now subsist in their defeat and destruction: And thus that li­centious freedom which they have used in all their actions to the plague of their fel­low-subjects, is now justly retorted on them­selves in the greatest Servitude and Oppres­sion.

This follows too upon that Doctrine of Success, as the strongest Argument to sup­port our Polititian's power,This was urged to keep the King out, and to re­concile the Royalist to the Rump. And may serve now to secure this Go­vernment, if that Party will du [...]ly ob­serve this Doctrine. That if a Go­vernment be altered, and another Power in possession of it, all are bound, as private men, to submit to the present Powers, be­cause ordained of God; (for such the A­postle hath declared all Powers in being, whatsoever, to be;) and that the former Government ceasing, which was the Object of Obedience, the Obligation thereunto must of necessity cease likewise: for no man can be concerned in any respect or re­lation to that which is not; and so when a thing cannot be done, the Obligation to it***** [Page 58]must needs be void, ex impossibilitate facti. And may we not infer from hence, that the prosperity of the Success denominates every action either good or evil? [...].Did.

PRINCIPLE VI. Our Polititian must be sure to turn with the Tyde, and change with the Times.

'TIs the boast of a Dutch-man, That he can sail with all manner of winds: Our Polititian must never sing Tempora mu­tantur, without a Nos mutamur in illis; he must never fail to observe that quarter of the Compass whence the fairest and most propitious Gales of his interest and prefer­ment blow, and be sure to entertain them in the spreading Sails of his endless Ambi­tion.

Nor indeed can the Compass breathe more variety of changes, than the dexterous soul of our Polititian hath correspondent and suitable compliances: He is most ex­cellently well skilled, even to perfection, in those methods which Varro calls Versatile Ingenium, a voluble Wit, like the Changeling derided by Plautus, as more turning than a Potters Wheel, Rotâ figulari versatilier. He is as the Heliotrope to the radiant beams of the glorious Sun of Honour, and can en­dure no Shades: He hath long since abju­red [Page 65]his God, Religion, Conscience, and all that should either interpose or skreen him from those beams that may ripen his Wishes and Aims into fruition: And Satan-like, if his projects be discovered under the bright appearance of an Angel of Light, he can presently transform himself, and ap­pear in another shape, and yet retain the same black, hellish, and devilish designe, seeking whom he may devour. And again, he can assume whiteness; for I often finde him wearing the Vail of Innocence to co­ver the horrid deformity and blackness of all his actions. If Religion be in vogue, you can scarce distinguish him from a Saint; he doth not onely respect and reverence the holy Ministers, but if occasion serve, he can preach himself; and if he fail in Me­thod, he can nevertheless (never heeding Blasphemy) perswade the Rabble that his Whining Cant and Babbling is truely Spi­ritual and Holy, as proceeding immediately by Inspiration from the Holy Ghost. If Cunctation prevails, he acts Fabius; if the Buckler must be changed for a Sword, he personates Marcellus; if Lenity and Meek­ness be useful, Soderini of Venice was not more a Lamb than he; if Severities are re­quisite, the Butcheries of Oliver and Nero are acts of Grace and Mercy, if compared with his. What the Orator esteems his [Page 66]Master-pieces in Rhetorical Harangues, (happily to apply to the various humours and genius of all sorts of men, qualifying his Address with what he knows will most charn the person he treats) that our Po­lititian doth not onely perform most ex­actly with his Lip and Tongue, but also most artificially with his Life and Actions. And like the English Marquiss,Nanton's Regalia. being asked by what means he preserved his Fortunes, amidst the various difficulties of so many Changes he had run through (having successfully served four Princes, and still in the same station of favour) he replied, That he was made ex Salice, non ex Quercu, of the pliant Willow, not sturdy Oak; that he was always of the prevailing Reli­gion, and a zealous Professor. This is notable for our Polititian; and such an ea­siness of Flexibility is indispensibly requisite in the prudent conduct of his Affairs: for those violent methods which are necessary either to resist or abate the force of oppo­sing Interests, are improperly applied to a composed and quiet Government; and so on the contrary. Even as Alcibiades in Plutarch shifted his disposition as he altered place (being jovial and voluptuous in Io­n [...]a, frugal and retired in Lacedaemon) so must our subtle Polititian proportion and [...]pply himself to Times and Seasons, Places, [Page 67]Persons, and Religions, with suitable ad­dresses to the humours of that Faction or Opinion which most prevails; as if he had been born to no other ends, but for the service of that alone. He may so court the Rising Party, as to enamour them with his Zeal and Abilities; and though he seem to espouse their Cause, he must not so throughly engage, but that the departure of their strength and power (which is the life of every Faction) may justifie the se­paration of his interest; yet because the greatest power will somewhere reside, he must be sure to follow her, and both cry up and applaud the Pretensions of that Party, where he meets it next, as he once used to extol the former. Thus like a subtle Proteus, he assumes that shape which is most in grace and favour, which by con­sequence is of most profitable conducement to his ends and purposes; In eo stant Con­silia, quod sibi conducere putat.

Sometimes our Polititian must dive into the very gulph of Hell, and both favour and maintain any Opinion, be it never so pro­digious, bloudy, or extravagant, (as a late Author has it;) I have read, says he,C. M. 34. of a Sect called Cainites, because they praised Cain in murdering his brother Abel; others that have commended Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, as stout Independants and Libertines, that [Page 66] [...] [Page 67] [...] [Page 68]would not be comptrouled by never a Moses or Aaron of them all: Nay, I have read of one Bruno, that writ an Oration in applause of the Devil and his Luciferian pride. Nor will it be impertinent for our Polititian to observe what the same Author says, speaking of the Spirit of Antichrist's continually shifting up and down, sometimes working in the Spirit of Popery, and at other times in the Spirit of Fanaticism; but still with the same mischievous designe. The hellish Po­pish Plot was swom by Dr. Oates and o­thers, to be a designe carried on by the Pa­pists, for the destruction of our Lives, Reli­gion, and Government; but that project at this day seems in a great measure qua­shed: The principal Contrivers of that Machination are now removed, the Jesuits hanged, the Lords in the Tower, and the Great men, secured from action: Yet ne­vertheless the same bloudy Tragedy is still acting,The Popish Plot carri­ed on by the Schisma­tick, or ra­ther by the Jesuit in Masque­rade. and the cursed Designe carried on, by the Popes other Engines; and the Spirit of Antichrist is shisted from the Conclave to the Conventicle. The grand Designe, at first, was carried on by the Jesuits for the destruction of the Church of England, to introduce Popery; and as matters are now managed by the Schismatick, the same Church must be traduced as Popishly af­fected, and strongly charged asA strange Paradox! Parties to [Page 69]the Popish Conspiracy against it self, for bringing about the same ends. This they know is the readiest way to rid the Church of England; and this follows, That what before was a designe in the Papists for the ruine of that Church, is now a project a­mongst the Fanaticks to the same purpose, but to different ends; for as one endeavours to bring in Popery, so the other strives to make way for the Schism.

Our Polititian must practise in these Disorders, and be sure to cast his Baits when the People swallow any thing; and when he has wrought them into a Disor­der, he may from thence date the rise of his Power, [...],Arist. Ethick. l. 8. c. 12. Regni quidem defectio tyrannis est: And that Pow­er once acquired (being obtained by fraud) must be imposed with the strongest vio­lence, that so the people may not be able to rise up under the weight of their oppres­sions. He must court some, and correct o­thers; he must always remember to pra­ctise his part of the Philosophers distinction, [...].Ibidem. Tyrannus quidem suam utilitatem spectat, Rex subditorum.

PRINCIPLE VII. If Oaths are requisite in the conduct of Affairs, let them be of such ambiguity, as may furnish with a sence obliging to the Design, and yet so soft as the People may not per­ceive the Snare.

TO compose the wavering minds of the Multitude, and to oblige them to the service of our Polititian's most impious ends, there is nothing so binding as Oaths of all sorts and sizes, according to the ne­cessity of Affairs; as solemn Leagues, Co­venants, &c. And though the practices leading to the end propounded be never so barbarous and bloudy, yet the strength of a solemn Oath does so firmly binde them to the seeming Justice of their undertaken Cause, that no Divinity or Precepts (though never so just and holy) shall ever inter­pose betwixt them and their propounded ends; but what is urged against the Cause, shall be taken to proceed from the wicked, and be deemed as Malice and Imposture.

Did ever man read of more bloudy Mas­sacres,A pretty Couple. than under the conduct of the Pa­pists, covenanted together in France by the name of the Holy League? Did ever any thing parallel it, except those hellish Con­trivances and bloudy Butcheries in this Island, under the favour and influence of the Solemn League and Covenant? 1 Tim. 4.1, 2. These are your men of seared Consciences; and none but such as these are fit for our Poli­titian's purpose, that can swallow Oath up­on Oath, kill and rob, plunder and steal, sequester and behead, and still their Con­sciences blunt no more than a piece of brass. Hear what a noble Lord said in the House of Peers, December 19. 1642.A Disper­sation for Perjury. They (says he) who think that humane Laws can binde the Conscience, and will examine the Oaths they have taken according to the inter­pretations of men, will in time fall from us; but such who religiously consider that such moral Precepts are fitter for Heathens than Christians, will never faint in their Duty. And in another place of the same Speech, he says, They cheerfully undertook to serve against that Army wherein they knew their own Fa­thers were; Dutiful Sons. and on my conscience (I speak it to their honour) had they met them alone, they would have sacrificed them to the Com­mands of both Houses.

And that our Polititian may see how [Page 78]some even of the Tribe of Levi, have stood up for and maintained these delusions, let him but read the two Speeches of John King and John Kid, Ministers, lately executed at Edenburg for the trifling sin of Rebellion;Aug. 14. 1679. and he may there see how, in the very hour of death, they both bear witness to the solemn League and Covenant: And the words of Mr. Kid are very remarkable (says he) That if ever Christ had a People or Party wherein his soul took pleasure, His Speech, p. 27. I am bold to say, these Meetings (blasphemously nick-named Conventicles) were a great part of them. Oh, that Scotland were a mourning Land, and that Reformation were our practice, according as we are sworn in the Covenant!

The advantage is great which that man hath in a credulous world, that can casily say and swear to any thing, and yet with­al so subtly palliate his falshoods and per­juries, as to conceal them from the conu­sance of most: Our Polititian must never want an handsome Subterfuge to cover the natural deformity of his otherwise-ugly actions, and must be able on all occasions to cure all Miscarriages.

Mankind are too prone, even in affairs of the greatest importance, to advise rather with corrupt and pemicious Ingenuity, than with soundness of Judgment or Con­science. Hence it is (upon that cursed [Page 79]Doctrine of mental Reservation) that the prosperity of flourishing Kingdoms, hath often been transposed into most lamentable Scenes, perspicuous in the various calami­ties of every Individual; but more terrible and notorious in the accumulative Miseries and Disasters of the whole. Our Polititian is never without such means; he has still new Inventions; and amongst all his pack of Delusions,Salvo's to avoid Per­jury. he will be sure to apply Salvo's to the tender Conscience.

First, We are ready to interpret the words of an Oath, and all other sacred Tyes, too kindly, especially if they be am­biguous; and it is hard to finde Terms or Expressions so clear and positive in them­selves, but that they may be cluded indeed, or at least seem to us to be so, if we be dis­posed.

Secondly, There are some, who being frighted into these Bonds by threats or los­ses, or other temporal concernments, please themselves that they swear by Duress, and so conceive and fancy that they are ipso facto disengaged.

Thirdly, There are some who have lear­ned from the Civilians, Gr [...]t. de Jure Bell [...], 245. that though we swear to a thing not materially unlawful, yet if it impede a greater moral Good, it thereby becomes void.

Fourthly, Some take the liberty to swear, [Page 80]because they judge the person to whom they swear, incapable of imposing an Oath. So Cicero defends the breach of an Oath to a Thief, from the imputation of Perjury: And Brutus, to a Tyrant, as it is in Appian, [...].

The first sort of these is most fit for our Polititians purposes, though he may make use of the others as occasion serves; and be­ing throughly skilled in this sort of Meta­physicks, it will not be difficult for him to model his Proposals into such soft and glib Expressions, as will easily down with most; yea, with many that would otherwise con­demn and disavow the same thing in a rougher Language. Let him but observe the Protestation of May 1641. (the world knows what success that met with, by wo­ful Experience;) I A. B. do in the presence of Almighty God, The Prote­station of May 1641. promise, vow, and protest, to maintain and defend [as far as lawful­ly I may] with my Life, Power, and E­state, the true Reformed Protestant Religion expressed in the Doctrine of the Church of England, against all Popery and Popish Inno­vations within this Realm, contrary to the same Doctrine, and according to the duty of my Al­legiance to his Majesties Royal Person, Honour, and Estate; as also the Power and Priviledges of Parliament, the lawful Rights and Liber­ties of the Subject, &c. Now, says a late [Page 81]Author, As the whole Pretext was plausi­ble,L'Estrang. so the Saving Clause in it [as far as lawfully I may] made it go down without much scruple. Which Oath was of subtle policy, contrived for the service of by-ends: for take it as it runs with the aforesaid qualifying Clause, and there is nothing more in it than what every man is obliged to do without it; so that without some mystery in the bottom, the thing appears in it self to be wholly idle and impertinent, and not answerable to the solemnity of ma­king it a National Duty. Was ever any thing in appearance more harmless, loyal, or conscientious, than this Protestation? And if the fellow of it were now in agita­tion, how would the Town ring of any Church of England-man, for a disguised Papist, that would refuse to take it? And yet what ensued upon the peoples joyning in this officious piece of misguided Zeal? when they were once in, there was no longer any regard had to the Grammar or literal construction thereof, but to the List of those that took it, as the discriminating Test of the Party; and every man was bound, upon the forfeiture of his Life, Li­berty and Estate, to observe it in their sence.

But let us see what became of this so so­lemn a Protestation, after it had been swal­lowed [Page 82]by the Multitude: Why, it made way for an Oath of a larger size, the So­lemn League and Covenant; The Cove­nant, An. 1643. which had the same Salvo with the Protestation, and the very same specious pretences for the Protestant Religion, the Honour of the King▪ the Priviledges of Parliament, and the Liberty of the Subject: onely enlarged to the setting up of the Scotish Discipline and Government, the extirpation of Epis­copacy and Popery, and the bringing of Delinquents to punishment. So that from the maintaining of the Government which they swore in the Protestation, they are now come to the dissolution thereof in the Co­venant; and what is this, but to do like the Jesuit, J [...]r [...], Per [...]ra, Secret [...]m prodere nol [...]?

Usurpation hath onely these two Pillars, its own Arms, and publick acknowledge­ment▪ And it is most certain, there is no other Tye of that strength and security, as this of Oaths, and it is scarce worth the Q—Whether when the gross of a Nation is thus bound, the Oath be not as valid, and the Conference as much concerned, as if it had been sworn to a lawful Soveraign. As for the solemn Oaths, Promises, and o­ther Engagements of our Polititian, he puts them into the same bottomless bag which the Poets-feign Jupiter made for Lovers [Page 83]Asseverations. His word is as good as his Oath; for they are neither to be regarded, but for the service of his Interest; and are both Trifles, as it is in Plautus, Pac [...]um non pactum est, non pactum pactum est, cum illis lubet. 'Twas he that first invented that useful distinction of a Lip-Oath and an Heart-Oath; you finde him in Euripides, Jurata lingua est, me [...]e juravi nihil. He makes good use of that in Plutarch, [...], That Children are to be cousened with Rattles; and Men with Oaths.

It cannot reasonably be supposed that a usurped Power can have the same confi­dence in the love of the people, which a just and lawful Power hath: Therefore if our Polititian get uppermost, he must never trust to those ingenuous Guards, His own Goodness, and the Love of others; his best defence is Awe and Fear; and if that will not do, he must apply Fire and Sword, Scaffold and Gibbet: for he that hath no moderate means left to gain a voluntary subjection from the people, must use his ut­most Rigours to compel their compliance, N [...]c quisquam Imperium, Tacitus. malis artibus qu [...]s­tum, bene administravit. The same with G [...] ­zo, where one objecting the Vices of Prin­ces, receives this Answer:De Civil. Converse, l. 2.2. p. 13 Perchè non eran [...] Prencipi per natura, ma per violenza, & era [...] più temuti che amati.

PRINCIPLE VIII. Necessity of State is a very competent Apologie for the worst of Actions.

OUr late Usurpers never wanted a pre­tence to justifie their most hellish En­terprizes, and it has been observed, that in all Innovations and Rebellions (which ordinarily have their rise from pretences of Religion, or Reformation, or both) the breach and neglect of Laws, hath been constantly allowed and authorized by that great patroness of illegal actions, Necessity. Hence those of the Late Times metamor­phosed the Common Law of the Land, into the Lands common Calamity; that instead of the common benefit which the Laws in community should yield to all; we have now perverted the same to the private in­terest of some few.

Our Polititian is never without his [...] Sava Necessitas, either to insi­nuate or enforce his ends and designes: He cares not to determine, whether the ne­cessity be of his own creating, or from whence it grows; but for the most part it proceeds from himself, being indeed no­thing else but an Appendix to the wrong he undertakes; and signifies no more than that (by the necessity of such mediums to compass his ends) he is compelled to heap Injury on Injury, and so to cover his past wrongs with renewed acts of Injustice and Oppression; as if the committing a second sin, were enough to warrant or justifie the iniquity of the former. Thus a worthy Patriot (speaking under an Allegorie) ur­ging the doleful miseries of our late mar­tyr'd Soveraign, as they were by degrees, both impiously and severely laid upon him; Mr. Speaker (says he) Our Adversaries do alleadge, Speech in the Com­mons House 1647. That our obedience to his Majesty is apparently manifest many strange ways: We have disburthened him of his large Revennes; we have eased him of the charge of Royal House-keeping; we have cleared him from re­pairing of or repairing to his stately Palaces, magnificent Mansions, and defensive Castles and Garrisons; and we have put him out of care of repairing his Armouries, Arms, Am­munition, and Artillery; we have been at the [Page 92]charge of keeping his Children and most trusty Servants for or from him; we have taken or­der and given Ordinances, that he shall not be troubled either with much Money or Meat, and that his Queen and lawful Wife, shall not so much as darken his Doors; and we have striven by open Rebellion to release him of troublesome life and reign, by hunting him like a Partridge over the Mountains, and by shooting Bullets at his Person, for his Maje­sties preservation, on purpose to make him glo­rious in another world; we have also eased him of a great number of his Friends, Sub­jects, and Servants, by either charitable Fa­mishing, brotherly Banishing, liberal and free Imprisoning, Parliamental Plundering, friendly Throat-cutting, and unlawful Beheading and Hanging, or utterly ruinating as many as we could lay hold of, that either loved, served, or honoured him. All this was necessary to be done for the sake of their Thorough Refor­mation; and in truth they did a great deal more, and never left, until they had undone us all.

Massacres encouraged by the Fa­naticks.Our Polititian may now learn from the Rabbies of Schism and Rebellion, how to justifie the most barbarous Villanies: He may now work on; and though his acti­ons contradict all Humanity, yet shall he never want Vouchers even for the most un­warrantable and horrendous Cruelties. [Page 93]See what a pretended Levite (but a real Priest of Baal) urgeth, both to encourage and justifie such proceedings:Bridges, on Revelati­ons 4.8. Whensoever (says he) you shall behold the fall of Ba­bylon, say, True, here is a Babylonish Priest trying out, Alas! alas! my Living! I have Wife and Children to maintain. Aye, but all this is to perform the Judgment of the Lord; though as little ones they call for pity, yet as Babylonish they call for justice, even to Bloud. Hear another: In vain (says he) shall you in your Fasts, with Joshua,Herle, on Psal. 95.11. p. 31. lie on your faces, unless you lay your Achans on their backs: In vain are the high praises of God in your mouths, without a Two-edged Sword in your hands. Idem, on Gen. 22.5. p. 23. The bloud thas Ahab spared in Benhadad, stuck as deep and as heavily on him as that which he spilt in Naboth. But what says another? The Lord is pursuing you, Faircloth. on Josh. 7.25. if you execute not vengeance on them betimes, p. 48. Why should life be further granted to them, whose very life brings death to all about them?!! p. 50. And again, Cursed be he that with-holdeth his sword from bloud; Case, on Dan. 11.32. p. 44. that spares, when God saith, Strike, &c. Thus our Polititian sees how to father his most hellish Enterprizes on the divine Goodness, and may hence learn to enforce the most sacred Oracles (God's holy Word) to sing Songs of Triumph, and plead his justifica­tion amidst the most barbarous and impi­ous [Page 94]Cruelties, Massacres, and Murders.

Our Polititian must invert that old cha­ritable advice, Benefacta, benefactis aliis per­tegito nè perpluant, into Vitia vitiis aliis per­tegito ne perpluant; that so heaping one Crime upon another, the latter may de­fend the former from the stroke of Justice. He adores that Maxime in Livy, Justum est Bellum quibus necessarium; & pia arma, qui­bus in armis spes est. It were very unnatu­ral to desire that man to leave his Crutch, which cannot walk without it; 'tis no less a Soloecism to invite or perswade him to quit his Sword, whose Life and Fortunes lean intirely upon it.

That designe will certainly seem just and reasonable, which the people are bewitch­ed to believe pious and legal; and the goodness of the end, will at once both le­gitimate and commend the otherwise pro­digious and unlawful means and circum­stances:Victor. de Jure Belli. nu. 18.39. That of the Civilians must be re­membred, Lioere in Bello, quae ad finem sunt necessaria: The divine oracles are too ten­der for Sword-men; and it may be he had wit in his anger, who affirmed, That Mar­tial Law was as great a Soloecism as Martial Peace; Inter arma silent leges. So that if our Polititian can by his Subtilties and Im­postures convince the Rabble that he as much intends their good (in the redress [Page 95]of grievances, &c.) [...]s his aims are just, they will never expect that his methods should be retrenched by the strict bounda­ries of Law; but where that stands in competition with his ends, and may seem, to oppose the project, they will give it Club-law, and cry out that summum j [...] est summa injuria: He manageth that rule very practically, Rem alienam, ex quà mibi certum periculum eminet, citra culpa alienae consider ationem invadere possum: Now he can very plausibly make this Peticulum either Certum or Incertion, as shall best suit with the emergency of his affairs. Hear what the learned Grotius says,De Jure Belli, 424. the liberty that he concedes is very broad, Quare si vitam (inquit) aliter servare non possum, licet mibi vi qualicunque arcere eum, qui eum impelit, licet peccato vacet; & hoc ex jure quod mibi pro me natura concedit: Mach. on Livy, 627. When Life, Liberty, and Safety, come in question there ought to be no consideration had of just or un­just, pitiful or cruel, honourable or other-wise.

When by these Arts our Polititian hath thus wrought the people into a good opi­nion of his worst actions, so that according to his wishes and desires, they have either outlookt the mischiefs, or otherwise suffer­ed them insensibly to slip their understan­dings, and that under the brightness of the [Page 96]delusion; it will then become a matter not difficult, to set all future proceedings (though never so bloudy) upon the score of Liberty and Religion: and if it so fall out, that he be constrained to use means grossly unlawful, he has then, notwithstan­ding, nothing more to do than to sanctifie and make them seem holy in the applica­tion, and all's well: for such are the hu­mours of the unwary Multitude, that when they have once rushed into a Party impli­citly, to prosecute it as desperatly as if they were under demonstrative convictions of its goodness.

In fine, because no Vertue can be indu­ced to truckle under the service of our Po­lititians base designes, he is therefore en­forced to make a vertue of Necessity: she may well favour and smile upon Licen­tiousness, who will be tyed up to and con­fined by no Law. An habit of doing ill, and a daring impudence to maintain it, makes all things in a politick wisdom, law­ful.

PRINCIPLE IX. Because our Polititian's Designe lies deep, he must plunge to the bottom, though in an Ocean of Bloud, for buoying it up.

WIthout doubt Mr. Kid, the Scotch covenanted Presbyterian Jesuit, [Page 103]told a great Lye, even in the very hour of death, when he asserts in the 25 page of his Speech at the Gallows, That a publick Spirit in contending for God in his matters in substance and circumstance, according to ourThe Co­venant. Vows and Obligations, is much wan­ting amongst us at this day: And surely he might have asserted his innocence, since he had forget the matter for which he came to be hanged: might assert, did I say? He does at the same time both confess the Fact, and with the self-same breath justifie the Rebellion. The Jesuits did ground their Plea of Innocence upon a peremptory de­nial of the Crimes laid to their charge; but this man doth proceed upon the merits of his Cause, and strive to enervate his guilt by a down-right justification of theThe Re­bellion. matter of fact. As concerning that for which I am condemned (says he, page 18.) I magnifie his Grace, that I never had the least challenge for it; but on the contrary, I judge it my honour, that ever I was counted worthy to come upon the Stage upon such a consideration. But because he's dead, I'll rake no further into his Ashes, but leave his Disciples and Fellow-labourers to exult and glory in his Martyrdom, as he himself did in his Trea­sons and Rebellion. Another of the same Cabal, without doubt he is, and, did time serve, would prove an excellent Example [Page 104]in our Polititian's present case of bloud; but however, he helps forward and preaches good Doctrine in the interim; which will in the end do the work (unless Heaven prevent) and make our streets serve but as so many channels to convey that bloud, which he thinks fit to shed for the satisfa­ction of that execrable gust which still lives in the prodigious womb of their ac­cursed Covenant. Observe his Doctrine: When Rehoboam (says he) had prepared a great Army to reduce the Israelites, he was forbidden by the Prophet. Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up nor fight against your bre­thren, for they are from me. Mark (says the Libel) he calls them Brethren, not Re­bels. And farther adds, That passive obedi­ence is therefore simple, and fit for such that know no better.

Such as study to be great by any means, must by all means forget to be good.In Apolog. Am­bition knows neither Law nor Limits; nothing so sacred but it violates; the Gods themselves must bow and yield to it, as Tertullian, Id negotium sine injuria Deorum non est, eadem strages moenium & Templorum, tot Sacrilegia Romanorum, quot de Diis, quot de Gentibus Triumphi. And again, Crescit in­terea Roma albae ruinis, begins one of the Decads. That the Walls of Rome were ce­mented with bloud, is both known and [Page 105]commended by Machiavil; although the superstructure was brave,Ʋpon Livy, l. 2. c. 3. Thebe ma­ritum Ti­mole [...]m fratrem, Cassius fi­litum hoc jure inter­ficere. yet if we search the foundation, we shall finde it laid in the red ruines of her wasted Neighbours. That the first Founder became a Fratricide upon reason of State to guard his new Conquest by freedom from a Competitor, is not one­ly vindicated from cruelty, but otherwise applauded and maintained for a piece of meritorious policy: Nor did this happen to that City alone in its Structure, but after in its Reparation, when the Sons of Brutus were sacrificed to the designes of their Fa­ther. So that Rome did not onely suck and thrive upon bloud in her Infancy, but likewise at her full growth and maturity she supported her self and lived upon Magna & Sanguinolenta Latrocinia: So that from this City, and from the Barbarisms of our Late Times, our Polititian cannot be with­out most effective Instances and Examples, both to commend and warrant the most bloudy Tragedies that Ambition can in­vent. He must not so much as wink or startle, where horrour may justly terrifie and amaze a tender Conscience, but must perpetrate all manner of Villanies, and be­hold the miseries of such as dayly languish under his severest cruelty, as the common objects of his sport and derision.

He both admires and applauds the gene­rosity [Page 106]of Nero's Mother, who is reported to have said of her Son, [...]: Let my Son be my murderer, so he may thereby become a Monarch. According to the advice of an high-spirited Fury, Pro Regno, velim Patriam, Penates, Conjugem flammis dare; Imperia pretio quo [...] bet constant bene An Empire cannot be purchased too dear, though it cost the bloud of millions. This Lesson was well learnt and put in pra­ctice by some; yet such was our misery, that we may boldly challenge the world to produce but one instance of any Tyrant that ever ruined and wasted his People at that bloudy rate as we butcher'd and destroyed one another.

The immi­nent dan­gers of these times.And again, it is now high-time for our Polititian to look about him; he hath got­ten his Tools at work, and the Sword of the Spirit of Fanaticism is half out, looking onely for his help to quit the Scabbard: People now again speak evil of Dignities, both talk and justifie themselves in acts of Treason and Rebellion, and in down-right terms disown and disavow the present Go­vernment. The most contemptible Mem­ber of the Rabble doth now-a-days act the part of a Privy-Counsellor; and the most discreet and sober determinations of Law and State, are dayly censured and traduced by the Vote of the Multitude: No Power [Page 107]owned but that of the People, and their force seems wholly bent against the safety both of Church and State.A new Co­venant. Witness to all this, the draught of the new Covenant, which we have very lately heard of from Scotland, surprized in the possession of Mr. Donald Cargile a Preacher in the Field-Conventicles, and Mr. Hall (who were both actually in the late Rebellion there;) by which they swear to advance the King­dom of Christ and the true reformed Reli­gion, to extirpate Kingly Government and Prelacy, &c. This a man would think had been sufficient to express their meaning; yet they proceed more plainly to remove all doubts of what they pretend. After a so­lemn procession and singing of Psalms, they published and affixed on the Cross at San­chaer, a certain Paper, wherein they declare, That for themselves, Presbyte­rian Decla­ration, June 22. 1680. and all that will adhere to them as Representatives of the true Presby­terian Church and Covenanted Nation of Scot­land, They do disown Charles Stuart, who hath been reigning or rather tyrannizing on the Throne of Britain these twenty years past, as having any right or title to, or interest in the Crown of Scotland, or Government, as forfeited several years since, by his Perjury, and breach of Covenant with God and his Church, and usurpation of his Crown and Royal Prero­gatives therein, &c. This is but like Thun­der [Page 108]afar off, which ere long riseth up against the orderly course of the Wind, till it break out with its terrour over our heads:The con­founded methods of Fanaticism This fiery Exhalation is from the over-warm Zeal of Fanaticism (the same here as in Scotland) and the Government is that Cloud which would contain it within the happy bounds of Peace and Tranquillity; but the connatural fury of that Zeal being hot and violent beyond all moderation, cannot be contained by a well-tempered mediocrity, but is still bustling from place to place, and hurries about, until it break out of all order into horrour and confu­sion.

A mischie­vous Comet to the heaith of the Govern­ment.But hold! the Clouds gather, and the Storm is already rising; and we may now guess, since we perceive the disposition of the true Presbyterian-Church of Scotland, from whence proceeds those terrible Thun­der-claps against the Kings most sacred Ma­jesty, expressed in that Libel which is en­tituled, An Answer to the Kings Declaration concerning his Marriage, &c. Which in a most horrendous impudent manner, giveth his Majesty the Lye, and urgeth the same and such matters with the Scotch Declara­tion, in reproach and scandal of his most sacred Person and Government.

Presbyteri­an Zeal.These are terrible! hideous! execrable! prodigious! lamentable! and malicious [Page 109]Belchings or Evulsions! from the burning Aetna of Presbyterian Zeal!!! These be­ing incessantly supplied with fuel from the Good old Cause, (constant Libels, and false News,) will in the end involve us all in bloud, and bring us to ruine and destructi­on, unless the wisdom of Heaven so direct our Councils, to prevent their designes by anticipation from the Sword of Justice.

The great Turk rivets himself to the Imperial Chair with the bones of his mur­der'd Brethren: Aspiring desires are not onely insatiate, but admit of the foulest sins. See Basianus murdering his brother Geta in his mothers arms; Andronicus strangling his Kinsman Alexins, lest he should have a part in the Empire, which had a right to all. See Caesar slighting the Oaths by which he had obliged his obedience to the Roman Senate. But to come nearer home, see how the Tragedians of our Late Times laid their very first Scene in theThe King signed t [...]at Bill to [...] please the people. bloud of my Lord of Strafford; and so they proceeded by degrees, till they had enveloped three Kingdoms all in purple Gore. On this crimson Torrent did our lateOliver. Usurper waft his Ambition, and seat himself on the Throne of our Murder'd Soveraign.