The True CHARACTER Of A Rigid Presbyter: With A NARRATIVE OF THE Dangerous Designs of the English and Scotish COVENANTERS, As they have tended to the Ruin of our Church and Kingdom. ALSO, The Articles of their Dogmatical Faith, And the inconsistency thereof with Monarchy.  
To which is added, A short History of the English Rebellion: Compiled in VERSE, By MARCHAMONT NEDHAM; AND Formerly extant, in his Mercurius Pragmaticus.  
LONDON: Printed by the Assigns of J. Calvin; and are to be sold by Z. Crofton Presbyter, at the sign of the Lay-Elder near the stool of repentance in White-Chappel. 1661.   

To the READER.  
'TIs not unknown to the meanest Capacity (I presume) that Presbytery has ever been a Faction of a very hot and fiery Constitution: And since this later Age has produced so many of these Hotspurs and Pulpit-Firebrands, I did imagine 'twere no abuse in me to divulge what our most refined Intellects have heretofore penned: for I do utterly disown the Piece, as the issue of my own Brain; and am bound to confess, that it is but a Collection of what has been penned by the best of our Modern Age; only huddled into the Mould of a Chararacter; not out of any contradictory temper of my own, or a vindicative spirit, but to satisfy the world, that what heretofore hath been predicted or mentioned of them, they were resolved to manifest as an infallible truth; and prove that an Oracle, which was delivered only as an Opinion. But 'tis inevitable, if we may give credit to what the Satirist boldly and truly affirms: 
Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem  
Testa diu, etc.   
The Vessel must of necessity relish of that Liquor that first it contained. Wherefore, since the Original of this pretended new Light of Religion was Rebellion, I am altogether ignorant of any Plea they have to a Jure Divino; since to make GOD the Author of so horrid a Crime, were absolute Blasphemy.  
Perhaps, Reader, thou art of an opinion contrary to what is here written; I confess, that for a time my mind was wand'ring too, till some Causes made me to reflect with an impartial Eye upon our present Government: Hereupon I took view of their Reasons and Judgements who I knew to be learned: and supposing they who wrote before these times were most likely to speak truth, as being uninterested in our affairs, from them I drew my Collections: then putting them in order, and comparing all together, they soon made a conquest over me and my opinion.  
I know the high Talkers, the lighter and censorious part of people, will shoot many a bitter Arrow to wound my reputation, and charge me with levity and inconstancy, because I am not obstinate like themselves, against Conscience, right Reason, Necessity, the custom of all Nations, and the peace of our own. But this sort of men, I reckon inter Bruta animantia; among whom to do well, is to hear ill; who usually speak amiss of those things that they do not, or will not, understand.  
But prithee read, and then do what thou list. I have only one word more, and that is to our Modern Pharisee, the Conscientious Pretender: If he will not be convinced by clear Testimonies, but raise more dust about our Ears to amaze the people, it must be concluded, that all this noise of Church-Reformation, Conscience, and Covenant, is a mere malicious Design to drive on a Faction, and set up themselves in the seat of Authority.  
Being convinced of the truth of these things, I conceive myself obliged to satisfy others; and therefore whatever I have been heretofore, I shall list myself henceforth,—  
For King and Parliament. Mercurius Pragmaticus.   

THE CHARACTER OF A Rigid Presbyter. WITH A Discovery of those dangerous Designs of the English and Scotish Covenanters, as they have tended to the ruin of our Church and State.  
TO give you an exact Character of him, is impossible; he is as changeable as a Proteus: yet if you please to have his Genealogy ab origine, which may be said to resemble a Welsh Pedigree, take it as it was left by one of the best Pens of this Modern Age.  
Never was there such a monstrous Babe, as this ruling & domineering Presbytery; the Father of it is Rebellion, the Mother Insurrection, the Midwife Sacrilege, the Nurse Coverousness, the Milk Schism, the Coats Armour, the Rattles Drums, a bloody Sword the Coral, Money the Baby it delights to play withal: it grows up to be a stripling, and goes to School to a Council of War; its Lesson is on the Trumpet, its Fescue a Pistol, its play-days the days of Battle, and black-Monday the Day of Judgement: it comes of age, and is married with a Solemn League and Covenant; it begets Children like itself, whose blessing upon them, is the power of the Sword; and whose imposition of Hands, are broken Pates. This Monster cries down the ancient Catholic and Apostolic power which the Bishops had, and then takes it up again, and exercises it in a higher nature than ever Bishop did; even to the deposition of Kings, and the delivering them up to the Executioner.  
Should we trace this viperous Brood from their first rise and original, we shall find their Designs founded on Rebellion, to the ruin and destruction of the Prince and Bishop of Geneva, under whose Dominions the Faction first pullulated. 'Twould be too prolix, and inconsistent with a Character, to tell you how they have dealt likewise with our Princes here at home, verifying that Maxim, NO BISHOP, NO KING.  
But take a short Epitome of their Actions in what followeth: And  
First of Geneva.  
Calvin with his Gladiators having expulsed the Prince and Bishop of Geneva, erects a Government so losty and unexpected, that the People would have nothing to do, either with him or it; and thereupon banished him: being in exile, he plots and contrives the pacification of the people's fury, by inventing his new fangle of Lay-Elders, which made them sharers in the Government, and endeared the people to him, so that all parties were agreed.  
As for our Princes here at home,  
Do but observe the behaviour of Knox and Buchanan, and the rest of that Gang, to Mary Queen of Scots, as it is related by King James himself, in his Discourse at Hampton-Court to the Presbytery. These two prementioned, viz. Knox and Buchanan, came to Mary Queen of Scots, telling her, That by right no Pope nor Potentate whatsoever had any superiority over her, in her own Dominions, either in cases Civil or Ecclesiastical, but that she was Supreme in both, and constituted by GOD, as the only nursing Mother of his Church within her own Kingdom; and therefore conjured her to have a care of the Evangel of Christ, as she would answer it at the dreadful Day of Judgement: She first gives them her Ear, and at last her Authority; they make use of it in the first place to the pulling down of Bishops, and exalted themselves in their places; and when the Queen expected an absolute Supremacy, behold, all that this Rabble would allow her, was not so much as to have one private Chapel for herself, nor one Priest to serve GOD according to her own Conscience. She finding her hopes frustrated, and herself so much deluded, endeavours to recall her Authority; she takes up Arms, they oppose her, combat her, beat her out of her Kingdom; she flees into England for refuge; they follow her with Invectives, thrust jealousy into the Queen of England's Bosom concerning her; whereupon she was consigned, and after a long and tedious imprisonment, put to death. Thus King James having put a period to his Discourse directed to Dr. Reynolds, Knewstubs, and the rest, turns to the Bishops, and closes his Oration with this Animadversion: Wherefore, my Lords, I thank you for my Supremacy: for if it were at these men's disposals, I am very sensible what would become of it.  
If you desire to be satisfied concerning their deal with King James, her Son, Father to the Martyr CHARLES the First, of blessed memory, you may find it in his Basilicon Doron: Crebrae adversus me in Tribunitiis Conscionibus Calumniae spargebantur; non quod ordinem aliquod designassem, sed quia Rex eram, quod omni crimine pejus habebatur. Are these men fit to make good Subjects? Did they not convene him, and catechise him like a Schoolboy? Did he not protest unto his son Henry, that he hated their proud and haughty carriage, ever since he was ten years of age? Did he not say, That Monarchy and Presbytery agreed like GOD and the Devil? And have not we found it so, if we consider the carriage of our new-fangled Presbyterians in England, to CHARLES the First, his Son? But alas! I am mistaken, they fasted and prayed, preached and writ against it, praying for a diversion of all such black intentions: and yet the Presbyterian took the Sceptre out of his hand, in taking away the Militia, of which it was an Emblem; cast down his Throne, by depriving him of his Negative Voice; took his Crown, the Fountain of Honour, off his head, by denying those Honour, on whom he had worthily conferred it, without them; took away his Supremacy, signified by the sacred Unction, wherewith he was anointed, in denying him the Liberty of his Conscience, in the point of Episcopacy and Church-government: nor would they treat a minute with their King, till they had made him acknowledge himself guilty (as they say) of all the blood that had been spilt throughout his Dominions: and notwithstanding all the Concessions on his part, that could possibly be granted, even to the very grating of his Princely Conscience; when he bid them ask flesh from his bones, and he would not deny it, if it might in any measure redound to the benefit of his people, praying that he might keep his Conscience whole, (the Queen Regent of all good men's actions, and he hoped there were none would force this Queen before him in his house, as Ahasuerus said to Haman) yet not withstanding all this, was it voted unsatisfactory so long, till the Independent Army came from Edinborougb, surprised and murdered him. He that said, The Presbyterian held him down by the Hair, while the Independents cut off his Head, said true enough. They murdered him as a King, before ever they murdered him as a Man: And when time serves, the Philosopher's Maxim will pass for good and currant Logic at Court, Qui vult media adfinem, vult etiam & ipsum finem; He that wills the means conducing to the end, wills also the end itself: Ergo (will the Royalists say) since the Presbyterian put such courses in practice, as tended to the King's ruin, they certainly intended it, and are as deeply guilty as others. Nay, may not the Independent say, You took off his Authority, and we took off his Head; you made him no King, and we made him no Body; you made him a Man of Blood, and we treated him accordingly. Therefore at your doors, O ye Presbyterian Hypocrites, his innocent Blood is laid: nor is it any other than your Actions have been all along; and those committed by your Ancestors to former Princes and Kings. But sure there is some Excuse remaining; they fought for Religion. I wonder when the Church did change her Weapons: Must Prayers and Tears be turned into Pike and Musket? Did GOD refuse to have his Temple built by David, a Man after his own Heart, because only his hands were bloody? And will he now condescend to have his Church repaired, and her Breaches made up with Skulls and Carcases? Must Blood be tempered with the Mortar that must bind the Stones of his Temple in Unity? Or are the smitings of brethren's strokes fit to polish her Stones withal? Hath GOD refused the soft voice, to remain in thunder? Or hath his Spirit left the gentle posture of descending down upon his Apostles, to the approaching of a mighty and rushing wind? To go about the reforming of a Church by humane strength, is quite as opposite to the nature of Reformation, as is the going about the repairing of a Castlewall with a Needle and Thread. He that looks to find such inestimable goodness within Iron-sides, may as well expect to find a Pearl in a Lobster. No, no, the Church must not be defended with Helmets, the Resisters of blows; but with Mitres, which have received the cleft already; not by broken Pates, but by cloven Tongues; not by Men clad in Buff, but by Priests clothed with Righteousness. Decisions in matters of Faith, must not be determined by Armour of proof; nor did the Sword of the Spirit ever make way to the Conscience by cutting through the Flesh. He therefore who takes up Arms against his Sovereign with pretences of defending his Religion, doth but take such courses as are condemned by the same Religion he would defend: and indeed, he doth but make Religion his stalking-Horse, to blind him, whilst he aims at that which he would have least suspect him; which when he hath effected, he means to get up upon the Horse, and ride him at his pleasure: they pretend the good of the Church, and intent nothing more but the Goods thereof; and like dissembling Lapwings, make a show of being nearest the Nest, when they are farthest off it.  
But they fought for Liberty: These are piaefraudes, & Religiosi doli; pious Frauds, religious Deceits: for pray what Liberties did they fight for? If for Liberty of Conscience, What do you mean thereby? If by Liberty of Conscience, you mean, That it shall be lawful for every one to make a free choice of his own Religion, or to be of his own Opinion, these are things which we ought not to have, much less to fight for; for then let us not blame every Painim, that bakes his cake to the queen of heaven, or every ignorant Votary, who creeps to his own Image, or makes his own Idol: for in this kind of liberty we do but sacrifice unto the net wherein we see ourselves caught, and burn incense to the drag that hales us to destruction. Christians are not to be at such Liberty: lose Christians are but lost men: true Christians will be contented to be bound up in the Unity of the same Spirit, and with the bond of Peace: if the bond be broken, the Sheaf of Corn is but so many lose Ears, and no way fit to be carried into the Lord's Barn: if we be Sons and Daughters, let us belong all to one House; if we be Servants, let us be all of one Family; if we be lively Stones, let us be all of one Building; if we be several Grapes, yet let us be all of one Cluster; if we be several Clusters, let us be all of one Vine; if we be Saints, let us have a Communion: for this is it which is called the Communion of Saints; this is it which is called Religion, which is derived à Religando, which signifies, to bind. Wherefore for the Puritan not to think himself bound to those Articles the Church proposes, is to be of no Religion; and ●o fight for this, is to fight for nothing.  
Perhaps the Presbyter may likewise maintain, that he fought for Liberty from Oppression: That is but a weak Excuse, and carries little of Reason or Sense in it: for there is not any Man or Woman, of what Quality or Condition soever he be, that understands what belongs to any such thing; unless it be some few that have liberty to do what they will with all the rest.  
But what if they took up Arms for the property of the Subject? Alas! I presume the Subjects had then so altered the property of their Goods, that had they but the old properties restored, they would not think it good fight for a new; their expectations being so much deceived, that instead of fight for the property of the Subject, they rather found themselves subject to have all things in common.  
If for the Laws of the Land; Whose Laws were they? Were they not the King's? And was it probable that he would not maintain the Foundation of his House from sinking? Would he not maintain his Legs under him? Were they not Supporters of that Body Politic whereof he was Head? Nay, does he not maintain himself, when he maintains them? for the King and his Laws may, without absurdity, be compared to GOD and his Word, both inseparable: for as GOD is the Word, and the Word is GOD; so the King is the Law, as the Life thereof; and the Law is the King, as the Body of that Soul. Wherefore there needed not any fight against the King upon this account, except it were by those who were ambitious to be Kings themselves.  
As for Privileges of Parliament, which possibly may come into the number of their pretences: I have read of Jack Cade, 
Speed's Chronicle.  in the Reign of Richard the Second, who coming up as far as London-Stone, and resting himself thereon, vowed, That within three days, there should be no other Law but what did proceed out of his own Mouth. Now if it stand with the Privileges of Parliament, to have a few Jack Cades, relying on their London-Stones, to tell them what they must do, and they will have; if it stands with the Privileges of the Presbyterian Parliament, to have Tumults to drive away their King, Armies to awe themselves, Countries to send up their Inhabitants in Multitudes, with Petitions in their Hats, Cudgels in their Hands, and Threaten in their Mouths, than they have fought to some purpose.  
But admit the Puritano-Parliament fought for all these Particulars, so did the King too: so that the King might safely expostulate with his Parliament, as St. Paul did with the rest of the Apostles: Are ye Fighters for the Protestant Religion? so am I: Are you for the Liberties of the Subject? so am I: Are you for the Laws of the Land? so am I: Are you for the Privileges of the Parliament? so am I: And in all these things, I have laboured more abundantly than you all.  
Where lies the Quarrel then? It must of necessity consist in nothing but this, That they did not believe one another: and in that they both fought for one and the same Thing, the means of Reconciliation is taken away: for, had they differed in their Grounds, the Law might have been Judge between them; Reason might be Judge, the World might be Judge; but Rebus sic stantibus, instead of having reason to fight, they did but fight against Reason: both contended for the same Power, like the two Women that contended for the same Child: Solomon judged the Child to belong to her who would rather part with it all, then have the Child divided: Now the Parliament would have this powerful Child divided, half to the King, and half to themselves; the King rather was contented to lose all. In whom there is most affection and pity, in him is the Right of true Parentage.  
But because there were no solomon's in that Age, we will go the downright way to work.  
The Presbyter fought in defence of the King's Person, Crown and Dignity; can you believe him? I'm sure you may believe and be confident the King did. They took up Arms to unite him to his Parliament, and make him a most glorious Monarch, by reviling his sacred Person, and bespattering him with malevolent Tongues; did they not then fight upon false Grounds? Did they not give themselves the lie? and shall they be believed still? But instead of being instructed by Solomon's divided Child, they divided their Solomon. But if they had remembered what ill luck the Nation ever had by imprisoning their Kings only, they would have desisted speedily from their hellish Enterprise: for when they had imprisoned the old Lion and the young, within their Grates, the third Henry and his Son, did they not make the whole Land shake? Had not the whole Kingdom a shrewd Ague-fit at that very time? Did they not (like fire too close besieged with Clouds) sally out in Thunder and Lightning, to the terror and destruction of all those that stood in the way? What success had the imprisonment of Edward the Second? Upon his Imprisonment followed his Deposition, and the murder of his Person was the consequent of the deposement of his Dignity. But what became of those that were the occasion of it, and did it? Is there one remaining of the Name of Mortimer? Was not that Mortimer who was the cause of his imprisonment, beheaded? Were not all those who had a hand in it condignly punished? Nay, was not the immediate Heir of this too much Conniver at his Father's Sufferings, and too ready Accepter of his Father's Office, imprisoned, deposed and murdered? And pray satisfy me in this likewise, What success had the imprisonment of Richard the Second? It cost the Kingdom whole Ages of miseries, 80 of her Nobility, and 100000 of her Commons, & the disposing of all her Royal Roses in their Buds, before they were half blown, until there was but one of a colour left in the Royal Garden of Great Britain; and they being married, made a composure of Red and White, as blushing at the former Mischiefs.  
The Presbyter is a Zealous Dragooner, the Holy Man of War, that is ever beating up his Drums against Loyalty and Nobility: search through the New Testament, and you may learn the Genealogy of our Saviour, by the Names in their Regiments; nor need the Muster-Master use any other List then the first Chapter of St. Matthew; which makes me admire how they could ever object to the King, the bringing in of Foreigners, when they themselves maintained such an Army of Hebrews. He is one that rifles Colleges, to promote Learning; and pulls down Churches, for Edification. He had once almost put out one of the Kingdoms Eyes, by clouding one of the Universities; and if that Scotch mist had farther prevailed, had extinguished the other. 'Twas never a good world, since the name of Church was turned into Kirk, and afterwards dwindled into a Conventicle; 'twas a sad time ever since a feeble By my truly did walk the Streets as familiarly among us, as Mine Here in Holland. But now we have his sacred Majesty restored to his right Title, we are confident of a better World, Velit nolit Smectymnuus, in spite of the Presbyters Teeth.  
He is one that hath as little mind to do the Kingdom good, as the Church hath to lap holy-Water. He is a Pulpit Boutefeu, that uses to give the Congregation a Scotish Jig, and so tune his Nose with Hymns and Songs for the destruction of the Nobility of our English Nation; a Butcher that exercised his Function, Cum Privilegio, in former times, endeavouring to bring Loyalty to the Shambles: one that never was quiet, till the Creatures of the Prerogative were all turned into the Pound together; till the Peers were pickled up with their King, to satisfy his ambitions on his Prince, and to feed on the Carcases of the People. He is one that thinks it is his Privilege, and would quote Scripture sored, To bind the Kings and Nobles of the earth in chains: and yet to dress out all for his more devout palate, the name of GOD must be placed in the front of his success, as if he were the only Darling of the Almighty, or rather, as if he were Precedent in all the Proceed and Consultations of the Presbyterian Israel. His God is his Money, and therefore will rather make Money of GOD and the Church, then fail of an Inheritance. He did endeavour some few years past, to convert our Times into the Primitive; and made Great CHARLES wear Fig-leave Breeches, like Adam, by stripping him of his Royal Robes and Revenues.  
As for the Scotish Presbyter, I am sorry I must waste Paper upon him: But being he hath ever endeavoured tooth and nail, according to his utmost ability, to make himself considerable by being troublesome, it will not be amiss to sound the depth of their constant Designs: which that I may the better do, give me leave to trace them in their Encroachments, from the first to the last, upon our English Nation.  
When they first found themselves powerful in their own Country, they became most zealous in asserting the Presbyterian Discipline against the Episcopal; by which means they gained the Amity and Friendship of all the pretended Religious Party in England: for they stood seemingly for no sinister ends, but merely for the purity of Religion, and Liberty of Conscience, against Episcopal Power and Innovations, as they termed the most ancient Doctrine of the Church; as also, for the Laws and Liberties of the Nation, invaded by the Prerogative: for the redress of which Abuses, a Parliament was called; who not obtaining such a relief of forged Grievances, as they expected; pretended a constraint of taking up Arms in defence of their Liberties; and the English Zealots had recourse to the Scots for their assistance, who immediately condescended thereunto, and thought it but Reason and Equity to join with them, without dispute or scruple, (pretty tender-conscienced Babes they were, in the interim! that's clear:) But they considering now was the time (if ever) to make their Markets, and their own Interest as much English as might be, came not off so roundly as they expected; wherefore they fell to bartering, like Hucksters, and no Bargain could be made, forsooth, without a Covenant: They would not join, except they might be (in a manner) all one with us; and this Union must be sealed with that Solemn League and Covenant: What their meaning was therein, you shall understand by and by, by taking a view of their Actions, which are the most sure Interpreters. Yet even at that time, some men had their eyes in their heads, and many Objections were made at divers Expressions in the Covenant, and many Desires for Explanations of some Articles more fully. But the Scots standing stiff upon their own Terms, and no Conjunction like to be obtained without the Covenant, and the English Presbyterians necessities requiring no delay, (as they imagined) were glad to take it as it was offered, without farther question, or demur.  
It was no sooner taken here at London, but immediately every one began to make his advantages, (through the multitude and ambiguity of Expressions) and by it to promote his several Interest; as if it had been made to engage unto a particular Party, not to unite two Nations in a common Interest. But above all, the Scots, having had the honour of this invention, conceived themselves much injured by any that denied them the Prerogative of making an Interpretation; and in matter of Religion, urged their own Discipline as the only Pattern to reform the Church by; and their Plea had been far better, could they have proved it to be [According to the Word of GOD] which Clause was most luckily inserted. Notwithstanding all the Reasons to the contrary, the Scotish Module was still pressed: The Scot was willing to ride; and having (as he thought) the English fast bridled with a Covenant, he began to switch and spur: The Throne of the Kirk was the stalking-horse to catch Geese; and if that could have been settled, then there had been no denying them whatsoever they could ask; they would have seated themselves finely in this fat soil, and surely too; there would be no removing them out of our Councils, whereof they had then been Members and Partakers. For had the Kirk-Interest been once confirmed among us, then by virtue of that Authority which they use, to control the Civil Power, the Parliament must have been subservient to all their Ends and Purposes; and since the English Puritans had been (as they say) constrained (to make their Party strong, and maintain Correspondencies for their own preservation) to gratify their Scotish Founders in all their Desires; so that the Scots might easily have translated the Covenant-Union, to as good as an absolute National-Union, by gaining a joint-interest with us, in our Affairs for ever; and consequently, in all the Profits, great Offices, Counsels and Concernments of this Nation.  
Now whether this were their Design or not, in the Covenant, ab origine, I shall not now determine; but let it be judged by their insolent behaviour here among us, after they were admitted to our Councils: And therefore in the next place, I shall examine their Proceed, which most evidently represent them in their intentions.— It sufficed them not after they were come in, that they had an equal Power with the Factions in the Committee at Derby-House, which was allowed them; but driving a powerful Party in both Houses, they took upon them to meddle with matters relating to the future peace and settlement of the Nation, much pretended, but not at all intended; and that dinstinct from their own too; and to provide for an equal Interest with the Presbytery of England.  
The first most notorious Evidence of this (though there had been many before) was discovered at the Uxbridge-Treaty, where the Propositions of both Houses being presented to his Majesty of blessed memory, it was found the Scots had so far provided for themselves by their Party in the Houses, That in time to come, the ordering of the English Militia, the power of making War and Peace, and all other Prerogatives of Government, were to be administered by a proportionable number of Scots, as well as English: A thing so ridiculous, and an Encroachment so palpable, that his Majesty, in one of his Answers, took notice of it, and said, He was not so much an Enemy to the English Nation, as to sign those Propositions: or somewhat (I'm confident) to that purpose.  
A second Evidence or Discovery of their Encroachments, was made upon the delivering in divers papers to the Parliament, at several times, wherein they disputed their claim, and ventured their Logic upon the Letter of the Covenant, to prove an Interest in disposal of matters merely relating to our welfare (as was thought;) which they reinforced afterwards, with new recruits of Arguments, when the King came into their Army.  
But not knowing how to maintain their Arguments, they were contented for that time to quit them, and the King too, upon such Terms as are notorious to all the world; who being at length reduced under the power of the Parliament and Army, Propositions were sent to him at Hampton-Court, wherein no such Provision being made for the Scotish Interest, as was in those at Uxbridge, their Commissioners here protested against them, accused the Parliament of Breach of Covenant, and complained highly in one of their Declarations, that they should be so neglected.  
This may serve as a third Evidence of their Covenant-Design of Encroachment: Whereto may be added one more: When the King, Father of our most gracious Sovereign, was at Carisbrook-Castle, whither the Commissioners of Parliament were no sooner arrived with Propositions again, but the Scots Commissioners were at hand, and for the same reason, pro●es●ed furiously against them. By which ●…ent Demeanours and Expressions from time to time, and crying up the Covenant for their defence, it is clear enough what their intentions were when they urged it unto the Presbytery of this Nation●; and notwithstanding all the specious pretences of Brotherly Love, their Design in it hitherto, hath been only to screw themselves into an equal Interest with this our Nation.  
Having smelled out their Project thus far, give me leave to trace them on to the end, as succinctly as may be.  
The Royal Party being suppressed, and so no farther occasion to make use of the Scotish Army, the Parliament with some difficulty made a shift to send them home into their own Country; but being defeated of their Aims and Expectations, they could not so rest: Having failed of their Ends by pretending for Parliament, they resolved next to try what they could do upon the King's Score; and so the Grandees turned the Tables, in hope of an aftergame, by closing with Duke Hamilton, upon the Royal Account; not doubting, but if they gained the Day this way, to recompense their Travels with much more advantage. The Covenant, like a Nose of Wax, apt to be turned any way, served this Enterprise every jot as well as the former; though the Design were different from what it was, the Great ones not caring much what became of the Kirk-Interest, since they had agreed for the security of their own; which must needs have been very considerable, if they could have redeemed his Majesty, and restored him into the condition of an absolute Monarch. Therefore the Kirk seeing themselves left in the lurch, thundered out their Curses amain, upon that hypocritical Engagement, as destructive to the Covenant.  
But the Grandees being at a loss likewise, upon Duke Hamilton's Defeat, were glad to cry Peccavi to the Kirk.  
Within a while after, a new Door of Hope being opened to them, by the Right of Succession which they knew belonged to his present MAJESTY; they to ingratiate with him, proclaim him their King: and here the Grandees and the Kirk joining hands again, become Friends, and offer their service for his Restitution upon Terms of the Covenant, which was pretended to be framed at first for the preservation of the Parliament, and the Liberties of the people, against Regal power; but is, now that the Scots can serve their Design no longer that way, become the ground of their compliance with his MAJESTY; being resolved this way, since they have failed in all the rest, to try whether they could accomplish their profane Projects through the Covenant, by insinuating themselves into places of Honour, Profit and Power, that they may domineer in the Possessions, as their Pharisaical Priests would over the Consciences of the English.  
Thus having made way, in discovering what the Design of the Scots hath ever been, and is at this instant; certainly no Man, that is Master of a true English Spirit, but will abhor the Hypocritical Pretences and Encroachments of that  Nation.  
Therefore it being evident that their Design in urging the Covenant upon the Presbyterian here in England, was only to insinuate themselves into an equal Interest with our own Nation; I shall in the next place, discover the great Inconveniencies and Hazards that our Nation must of necessity have undergone, in case it should happen as they ever endeavoured, to be knit together in a National Union.  
A National Union hath been often whispered among them heretofore; and there's no doubt but they would bid high for it, if ever they have occasion; and than it must needs have been a very fine world, when we had been confounded with a miscellany of Scotish and English; when Scots should have been competitors with us in point of privilege, vie wealth with us in our Possessions, Honours and Dignities; and they would either have imposed new Laws upon us, or altered the old, according as they judged it for their advantage; for a Scotch Covenanters stomach will allow no distinction betwixt Presbyter and Independent, but can digest the Estate of an English Covenanter, without so much as a scruple of regret or compassion.  
But it is a very great wonder, since the stage-play of the Covenant, and the Actors are brought on this side the Curtain, and we know what they are, through all their Disguises, and what they aim at, that yet many of our English Nation should be so stupid as to be led away with their cheats and pretences for a Reformation; since it is evident that their chief Leaders and Sticklers gape only after Profit and Preferment, and (according to the custom of all Foreigners in Arms) will make no distinction between Friend and Foe, so they may satisfy their covetous and ambitious ends.  
And for a conclusion to the whole, as to their actions, that these particulars may appear more solid than mere insinuation, give me leave to confirm what we have said concerning them, by some Authentic Examples; it being an ordinary case in the World, That 
* 
Ab istis exercitibus quos defendendi sui causa attraxerunt evertuntur. Peucer.  
Auxiliatores ut solet fieri, posteà fiunt Domini. Strigel. 2 Paralip. 28.   Commonwealths and Kingdoms have been often oppressed by those Foreigners, that came, or were invited in, as Friends, to give their assistance; and so would they have done undoubtedly, had their power been suitable to their will.  
Here before I proceed, let me call to mind a story of the Hedgehog in the Fable, who being almost dead with cold, chanced to light upon a Fox's Kennel; where, ask for entertainment, the Fox more compassionate than wise, grants his Request: but the Hedgehog, as soon as he recovered warmth, began to bristle and prick the Fox; who complaining of his unworthy carriage, the Hedgehog made answer, That if he found him troublesome, he might leave him, and seek a new Lodging. I shall leave the Application to those that would entertain the Scots as Friends, to consider whether they should find more courtesy from them, if they had power here, than the Fox did from the Hedgehog, or then other Nations have had from the friendly pretences of foreign Auxiliaries.  
Concerning this, there are several Precedents.  
The Macedonians being invited by the Thebans, 
Justin.  to assist them against the Phocians, made a shift not only to seat themselves among the Thebans, but under the conduct of King Philip, made way to the Conquest of all Greece.  
So the Persians, 
Xenophon, li. 7.  coming as Friends to aid one party in a Civil Division in Caria, suppressed both, and deprived that Commonwealth of its liberty.  
And the Carthaginians in the first Punic War, received more prejudice from the Celtaes, their Confederates and Brethren in Covenant, then from the Romans, their Enemies.  
The Goths and Vandals, 
Pezel. par. 4. pag. 613.  being invited by the Emperor Theodosius for his assistance, deprived him of Italy and Spain. Afterwards, the Longbeards, or Lombard's, being called in by Narses, against the Goths, seated themselves for above 200 years in that part of Italy, which from them, was called Lombardy.  
A quarrel happening between the two Saracen Sultan's of Persia and Babylon, 
Circa Annum Christi 870. Chytraeus in Apoc. cap. 9  the Persian called in the Turks, under the conduct of their Captain Tangrolipix, out of Scythia, who seated themselves first in a part of his Dominions.  
In the time of the Emperor Frederick the Third, the Princes of Italy being in contention, the Pope called in the Spaniard, and several other Princes, to compose the Quarrel; 
In Chron. Phil. li. 5.  which being done, a new one arose betwixt the Auxiliary Princes, for the Lordship of Italy; but the Spaniard drove away the rest, and made bold to keep possession himself.  
Thus likewise the Spaniards being invited into Sicily and Naples, to free them from the French, did indeed expel the French, but possessed both Kingdoms themselves.  
On the other side, a controversy arising betwixt Lewis, and John Sforza, for the Duchy of Milan; John called in the Spaniards to his party, and Lewis the French; but the French driving John and the Spaniards away, made themselves at that time Masters of the Dukedom, and carried their Friend Lewis prisoner into France.  
Thus, in old time, our Ancestors, the Saxons, being called in by Vortigern, 
Sam. Daniel.  the British King, to assist him against the Invasions of the Picts and Scots, turned their Arms against the Britain's, and driving them into Wales, transmitted the possession of this Island, to us their posterity.  
So the Scots likewise (as Bodin affirms) 
John Bodin. li. 5. cap. 5.  being called in to the assistance of the Picts against the Britain's, possessed themselves of the best part of that Kingdom, which they hold at this day.  
And now I would fain know of the Admirers of the Scotish Nation, what assurance they can have, notwithstanding their five Flourishes of pretended Friendship, that they should not serve us, as their Ancestors did the Picts; or as others did other Nations, whom they oppressed under as glorious pretences, in case they should get the power into their hand; especially since of late time they have made so many palpable Discoveries of Encroachment upon the English.  
Seeing therefore, that their Covenant-Cause appears a Cause for Entrenchment upon our National Interest, rather than for Religion or Monarchy; I may reasonably conclude, That it concerns all Parties whatsoever (if not for the misery that would follow it, yet out of a detestation of their Designs and Endeavours) to shake them off, and utterly relinquish them.  
As for the English Presbytery, whence it was, hath been manifested already; but for what ends brought into England, is not here to be disputed: But if we should grant the intentions of its first Fautors to be pure in the Fountain, (as they would fain maintain, though we are satisfied to the contrary) yet it appears polluted in the streams, by the corruption of their Successors: for, as the Primitive Pretences of it were high and glorious, in its infancy; so being grown up to maturity, it hath (after the manner of all other things that participate of worldly mixtures) in time contracted so many Adulterations of worldly Interest, that it hath lost the Beauty which it once appeared to have, and serves every Sophister, as a Cloak to cover his ambitious Designs.  
But since it is arrived, notwithstanding, to such a height, in the opinion of many, as to be cried up for the only Pattern of Government under the Gospel, this is to be imputed to the blind Zeal of those that are misled, and the Deceitfulness of the Leaders, rather than the intention of its Author, Mr. Calvin, as it appears: for he never seemed to stretch his Module so far, as the Necessity and Universality of a DIVINE RIGHT; but seems only to have hewn part of the Building out of the Rock of the Scriptures, and pieced up the residue by politic Rules, such as he conceived might sound nearest the Text, and serve most conveniently to cement the disjointed Members of the then broken and tumultuous Commonwealth of Geneva, into an entire and well-compacted Body.  
It was no sooner licked into Form there, but (as it is the fate of all things new) it began to be much extolled and admired; and the fame thereof spreading in England, as well as other parts, wrought in many of our Countrymen, an itching desire to go thither, and instruct themselves in the Nature and Customs of the Government; where, of Spectators, they soon became Proselytes; and returning home with new affections, looked with an Eye of Disdain upon the Bishops, as if themselves had indeed found out the Pattern in the Mount, because (forsooth) the words, Presbytery, Elder, Deacon and Assembly, etc. sound more Gospel-like, than Diocese, Churchwarden, , and High-Commission, etc. With these Terms the 
* Maxima pars vulgi capitur Ambagibus.  ordinary sort of Religious Persons, not able to see through the Shell of words, into the Kernel or substance of the business, were easily led to a belief of high matters; whereas this new form, like the Trojan Horse, brought an Army of Mischiefs in the belly of it, which have of late years been sufficiently discovered.  
For immediately after the Episcopal Form was abolished here, as corrupt and Antichristian, the chief Sticklers of the Presbyterian Faction began to show their Teeth; and sitting in an Assembly cheek by jowl with the Parliament, intermeddled with their Affairs, laboured to twist their Church-Discipline with the interest of State; claimed in their open Pleas, Discourses, and their Confession of Faith, a Power in themselves, distinct from the Civil, and demanded the voting of this in both Houses, as Jure Divino, that so by degrees they might creep, till they had got to such a height, that none should be sole Lords and Masters, but they and their Confederates.  
These, and many other pranks they played, in hope to erect their intended Domination: And though (being often required) they were never able to show their Pedigree from the Apostles, or derive the Lincaments of their Form from the Body of the Scripture; yet they pressed it on still, and wanted not their Party in Parliament, with the assistance of the Scots (whose Interest it was) to second them. But all is blasted, and their specious pretences found out to be nothing but Hypocrisy and Dissimulation.  
Yet were there perpetually, when they found their Cause to falter, Presbyterian Juggle in private, Murmur abroad, and Mutinies in the Pulpit; such well-acted Lamentations for the glory of the Kirk departing, and the loss of their Diana, that every Prayer was a Stratagem, and most Sermons mere Plots against the Government they lived under.  
Thus the nature of their Design being discovered, give me leave in the next place to manifest the vanity of their Hopes, that if men will not forbear for shame of its hypocrisy, they may yet, in consideration of the many sad Consequents which may follow.  
For though they use all possible means to draw in the Royal Party to their own, yet it can never be effected: for the Royalists look upon them still (and that not without apparent reason) as the Authors of their misery; for they reduced our most sacred King CHARLES the first, Diminutione Capitis, in the condition of a Captive; they spoiled him as a King, before others executed him as a private Man; they deprived him of his Earthly Crown, and kept him languishing; whereas a reverend Father of the Church says, 
* See the Irish Bishop's Sermon at the Hague, in print.  Others were more courteous in sending him to an Heavenly.  
As for the inconveniences which the Presbyterian Design would bring upon the whole Nation, guess at them by these following Particulars.  
Besides the many Mischiefs it would bring upon the Nation in general, the Royalist can no ways be content with it; nor indeed, have they any Reason sort, being absolutely destructive to Regal Dignity.  
It never was embraced yet, by any one Nation, in a National Form, but by Scotland; this, as 
* See the Case of the Kingdom stated. Anno 1647.  One observed; was done in the Miriority of King James, when the Scotch Lairds and Clergy doing all as they listed, at length parted stakes, (though the Clergy then got, and still hold the better) that when be came to age, he found the Fable of Ixion's Juno moralised upon himself: for, as he embraced a Cloud, in stead of a Goddess; so the King, when he thought to grasp his Sceptre, laid hold on a Manacle, which kept his hands so fast, during his abode there, that he could never act but what they pleased to let him, according to their own Directory of Church and State. And in process of time, this Heat of Presbytery proved such an Hectic in the Body politic of Scotland, that the substance of Kingly power was utterly consumed (and nothing left) as we see at this day, but the bare Bones, the very Skeleton of Monarchy.  
But 'tis taken pro confessa, the Presbyterian would have a King; yet such a one as should only bear the Name, a Scarecrow of Royalty: and he does pretend to maintain the Monarchical Form, yet actually destroys the very Fundamentals of Monarchy. Now what prejudice will it be to us, if this Discipline should take? for besides, though this mad Presbyterian Form destroys Bishops, and eclipse the wings of Regality, it will not be so contented, but entrench also upon the Gentry in their own Lordships, by a strange way of Parochial Tyranny, and bring all People into the condition of mere Galleyslaves, while the blind Priests fit at stern, and their Hackney-Dependents, the Elders, hold an Oar in every Boat.  
Now were these Priests seated here (〈◊〉 they are in Scotland) in a sure Succession (as it hath been long since 
* See the Case of the Kingdom stated.  supra.  observed in Print) a correspondency being cherished between a Clergy of the same Garb and Humour, in both Countries; they might finely toss Thunderbolts of Excommunication on both sides, to gratify each other; and so be able to terrify all persons that durst be averse in either Nation; and promote such only to places of Honour and Profit, whose poorer spirits will vassalize their Genius to serve the ends of the Kirk-Domination. And this it was that at first caused so much bawling about the Covenant.  
Besides, one Reason more why Presbytery is so much destructive, is, because of the 
* In ordine ad spiritualia.  Popish Trick taken up by the Presbyterian Priests, in drawing all secular Affairs, within the compass of their spiritual Jurisdiction, And this they do, by means of that awe wherein they pretend to hold the Consciences of Magistrate and People; the one being liable, as well as the other, by Suspensions and Excommunications, to be exploded at pleasure, as scandalous sinners. This appears by that large extent of their Authority, in judging of scandalous sins, which reaches almost to every action of humane life; so that all the people, besides their Favourites, (from the Counsellor to the Beggar) must at every Turn stoop like Asses, to be ridden by them and their Arbitrary Assemblies.  
Now therefore considering what the Nature and Design of the Presbytery is, and what mischievous inconveniences must unavoidably follow it; I leave it to every reasonable man, whether he thinks he ought not disengage himself from that unreasonable and factions Party.  
But I must not leave him thus; I have a Word or two more for him, like it, or leave it.  
He is one whose Loins are far more fruitful than his Brain, and the Issue of both, alike spurious. He is one of the more serious Rabbis of the time; a Linsy-wolsie Elder of the people, who weaves his homespun Lectures with News and Divinity, and dresses all his Politics and Discourses in a Scripturemode, to make them pass the more currant among his Proselytes; and yet will set both Scripture and Conscience upon the wrack to bring about his own end. He has ever had an ambition to ride a Cockhorse upon Jure Divino: but sure men will have more wit, then to be ridden like Asses, or the foals of Asses, by the Babylonish Jockeys, notwithstanding their Jus divium.  
He came out of Scotland mounted on a Galloway-Nag, to Westminster at first, and the Houses were fain to furnish him with Provender; therefore it would be but impudence in him to think to pra●…e and caper as he has done heretofore. He can sing a Hosanna to the Mother-Kirk, and will offer to conjure up Saint Peter and Saint Paul, with all the rest of the Disciples and Primitive Saints, to bear witness to her Christendom, unless it be Timothy and Titus, whom they look upon as Bishops, and so no competent witnesses touching the right of Classical or Congregational Elderships. He will be sure to cry down the Divine Right of Episcopacy, and so be the cause, that like wild Beasts without Bridling, Men wander and range as they please, with all Licentiousness in Doctrine and Manners, and run over all the Boundaries of Civil Relations or Propriety, to make way for a Pious Parity and Communion, whereby we may all walk together in pure Familiarity, without either respect of Persons or Sexes. He has a Motley Face, and a Medley Conscience; and 'tis a thousand pities but that his Picture should be taken after the fashion of those squint Italian Pieces, which present a Saint on one side, and a Monster on the other.  
He's a divine Jockey, that drives as furiously as Jehu; and will run out of his small Wits with switch and spur, for preferment. He could willingly creep into the Vice-Chancellour's Scarlet, or the Deanery of Christ-Church; and if he does at any time, 'tis translated into the name of Mastership; to show that he never intended Reformation should reach any farther than to change the profane names of Bishops and Deans, into Elders and Deacons; who may enjoy the old Possessions under a new Form, without such unsanctified and superstitions Titles, which are the only stumbling-blocks to the converted Gentiles, in the Highway of Sacrilege.  
He's a vile Cobbler of Controversy, a dull a-la-mode-Reformer, a Translator of Antiquity, that hath pulled the Church all to pieces, and knows not how to patch it up again; that hath shaken the very Fundamentals of Religion, and then endeavours to bungle it with odd fopperies of his own invention: for the ancient Creed of the Church being quite out of fashion, he has cut out a Confession of faith, according to the large proportion of his own Wisdom; and wyre-drawn the business above twenty yards in measure beyond the Alcoran or Talmud. He is one that drives a great Trade in the Trafficks of rich Live, betwixt London and the Country; and so gets a pretty Revenue to hold up Usury, and find Candles of Consolation to cherish his Zeal, and leave Portions to the Children of Presbytery.  
He is a Stoical Pretender, a Mammonist, an Epicure of the Long Robe, and delights infinitely to bathe himself in the Golden Streams of Sacrilege. He's a bleating Bell-wether of the General Assembly; and wheresoever there appears any Loyalty, he gives an Alarm to his Lung-pipes immediately; then out comes the Son of the Kirk in array, with all the Bag and Baggage of Use and Application, to bring up the Rear of his Sermon. Nay, rather than fail, Antichrist and Monarchy shall both be brought together to the Stake, and baited by the mad Dogs of the times, to inflame the Multitude.  
But though they have done this over and over, 'tis all to no purpose: for the Bagpipes draw little or no Company at all now; and are as little regarded as Ballad-singers, that are always in one Tune. Reformation and Chevy-Chase are much of the same credit and standing. And since the people have seen Covenant and Concupiscence (the two Twins of our Mother-Kirk) walk hand in hand together, they are willing now to part them. He's a holy Bellows-mender of the fleabitten Synod, that knows how (upon any occasion) to blow the coals of the Altar, to make a Sacrifice of Cities and Kingdoms. Be confident that he acknowledges no holidays, because there is superstition in Easter, but none in Usury; and he is not at leisure to mind the Resurrection, or seek those things that are above, having so much to dispatch about Traffic here below; which business he prosecutes with extreme devotion. But if you see him upon a Fast day, at a Summer's Exercise, when he baits his Text, and himself into a , you would take him in the Pulpit, for Cornelius in his Tub; and if a Cavalier chance to preach on Good-Friday, be confident he's clapped in prison, to show unto the world, that their Easter-Devotions are suitable unto their Christmas; and that they care as little for the sufferings, as the birth of our Saviour. For Zeal (forsooth) that fiery Gossip will not permit an Union with the Cavaliers, by any means, unless they will yield to have their Consciences cramped with the Covenant. He's a Divine Puppet that is trimmed and tricked up with the fine Fantasies of the Directory, and Confession of the New Cut; as also all the Whimsies of the Modish-Garb of reforming. He's a true Boanerges of the Kirk, that can levelly his Thunderbolts against all such as shall presume to be obedient to their Civil Governors. Nor are the Governors in any better condition than the people; for they are affronted by every ranting Presbyter, that raves in the Pulpit, like a Conjurer in his Circle; and dares first raise the Devil with false Doctrine, and then deliver up to him all the Peers of the Realm by an Excommunication: from whence there can be no redemption, but at such a rate, as shall cost them the best of their Privileges, and make them untruss upon the Close-stool of Antichrist, better known by the name of the Stool of Repentance. He is never well but when he is riding both King 
* GOD bless his Majesty. , Lords and Commons at his pleasure, and whipping them on with sharp Censures, that like tame Mules of the Kirk, they may carry all the Bag and Baggage of the Brethren to the promised Land, whither they have ever been journeying to fetch that pattern out of the Mount, which will make us all weary of our lives, if we ever be so mad as to entertain it when they get it. But if these present times hold, wherein Loyalty flourishes, and Majesty sways the Sceptre; the blue Sir john's may return to their ten pounds per annum, and Sunday-pudding: which is a sad thing to think on, and will sooner break the hearts, than the bellies, of the fat Calves of Reformation.  
In fine, Mr. John is all Zeal, no Knowledge; all Purity, no Humility; all Simplicity, no Honesty: and if you never trust him, he will never deceive you. Now as for the Northern Fraternity, whose brotherly Zeal transported them heretofore on this side Jordan, to help drive out the Amorite and Hittite, Heaven send them the blessing of Increase and multiply, at home; suffer Presbytery and Bagpipes to flourish beyond Berwick; and keep them (for the future) from making a Mousetrap of the Covenant to catch Englishmen; and send them good store of Charity and Success to plant their Discipline where more need is among their Brethren, the sons of Anak, in the Highlands.  
To conclude, take this short Description of our Presbyterian-Jehu, as it was formerly penned by divers that in other Ages had experience of him.  
A Presbyter is an Essence that needs a double Definition: for he is not what he appears to be. He's a Church-Rebel, or one that would exclude Order, that his Brain might rule. In things but Ceremonial, will spurn at the grave authority of the Church; and out of needless nicety, be a Thief to himself of those Benefits that God hath bestowed on him. A Thing of so cross-grained a temper, that should the Church enjoin clean Shirrs, he'd wear such as were lousy. Show him a Ring, he runs back like a Bear, and hates square-dealing, as being allied to Caps: A pair of Organs blow him out of the Parish, and is the only Glister-pipe to cool him: A Surplice will sooner cure him of the Chincough, than the sight of a Bear. He is a diseased piece of Apocrypha; bind him to the Bible, and he corrupts the whole Text: Ignorance, and Fat Feed, are his Founders; his Nurse is Railing Rabbis, and Roman Breeches; his life is but a borrowed blast of wind: for between two Religions, as between two Doors, he is ever whistling. Truly, whose Child he is, is not yet known; for his Faith willingly knows no father. When he makes a Speech, 'tis somewhat ominously with his Neck awry, as if Mahomet's Pigeon should come and prompt him in the Ear. He gluts himself with Sacrilege, fearing no surfeit upon the sweet Morsels of the Crown and Cathedrals: He fasts once a month, and feasts all the year after, to starve Loyalty quite out of the Kingdom: His tender Conscience can strain at a Gnat, and swallow a Camel: The flame of his Zeal shined so brightly, that it once converted all the Ornaments of the Church into Tinder, to furnish his own fancy with new Lights. He turns the Church into a stable, and stables into Churches, that our Saviour might be preached where he was born. Reformation is his stalking-horse; and though he be no Roman Catholic, yet he is a Parish-Pope; one that knows no subjection to Mitre or Sceptre: No Jesuit demands more blind and absolute obedience from his Vassals; no Magistrate of the canting society, more slavish subjection from the Members of that travelling state, than the Presbyterian Hypocrite expects from his Lay-Pupil. Nay, they must not only be obeyed, fed and defended, but admired; and that their Lay-Proselytes do as sincerely, as a shirtless Fellow with a Cudgel under his arm, does a Face-wringing Ballad-singer. 'Tis a demure creature full of Oral sanctiry, and Mental impiety; a fair Object to the Eye, but stark naught to the Understanding. He holds it lawful to steal, so it be from the wicked Egyptians. He hates no Wore, like the Whore of Babylon. If he meet per accidens with a Tabytha, he can court her with a Hail Sister to be her Incumbent; and persuade her 'tis the pr— of Zeal that moves him forward. He's a snuffling Rabbi known by these marks; a long-wasted Conscience that can out-stride a Colossus, a Gnomon-Nose, a wrought Cap, a swaggering pair of ears, and not an inch of hair.  

Cleaveland.  If you meet any that do thus attire 'em,  
Stop them; they are the Tribe of Adoniram.  
He is an unlucky Bird that used formerly to croak about Westminster-abbey; and if this Daw were not often crammed, you were sure to hear of it in the next Fast-sermon: then would he beat up all his Drums in the Pulpit, and thunder against the ungodly. He's a pious Thief that did so pill the Royalist, that he looked as bare as a Scotch Laird in sackcloth, sitting on the stool of Repentance. He has trimmed the Cavalier worse than the angry Barbers of Grays-Inn use to do a Bailiff of Middlesex. His fiery Zeal keeps him continually costive, which withers him into his own Translation; and till he eat a school-man, he's hidebound: Give him advice, you run into Traditions; and urge a modest course, he cries out, Councils. He dares not be honest, for that loves order; yet, if he can be brought to ceremony, and made but Master of it, he is converted. He's a gilded Pill composed of two virtuous Ingredients, Natural Dishonesty, and Artificial Dissimulation. Women and Lawyers are his best Disciples: the one (next fruit) longs for forbidden Doctrine; the other, to maintain forbidden Titles: both which he sows among them; yet he lives religiously according to outward appearance, and will not revel it in a shoreless excess. He can better afford you ten Lies, than one Oath; and dare commit any sin guilded with a pretence of sanctity. He had rather see Antichrist, than a picture in a Church-Window; and chooseth sooner to be half hanged, then see a Leg at the Name of JESUS, or an Auditor stand at rehearsing of the Creed. He usually makes moving sermons; for most of the people go out of the Church before he has done. His hums and has with the help of salvation, consume the best part of the hour; and is of so good discourse, that he dare challenge the Almighty to talk with him Ex tempore. Besides, he is so sure of his salvation, that he will not change places in heaven with the Virgin Mary without boot. He has nicknamed all the Prophets and Apostles with his sons, and begets none but Virtues for his daughters. He will be sure to thwart the Bishops, though it be accompanied with an absurdity: like the Islanders near adjoining unto China, who salute by putting off their shoes, because the Chineses do it by their hats. 'Tis such a creature as Pliny ne'er wrote of; and the like was not to be seen in Noah's Ark. 'Tis a violent Thing made up of contradiction: if he fast on any set day, 'tis certainly on Sunday; but he will be sure to feast on Friday. His opinion has turned his zeal into madness and distraction; and out of his blind and uncharitable pride, censures and scorns others as Reprobates; or out of obstinacy fills the world with brawlings about undeterminable Tenants: and being once elated with the pride of his Faction, doth so contemn all others, that he does infringe the Laws of humane society. He's a saint of the new Translation; or if you please, a sainted Salamander, that lives in the flames of Zeal. A stubble-goose, that hath fed high in this Harvest of Reformation: the prime Gandee of the factions flock. An Apocryphal piece of University-Mummery: a holy Pick-lock, that can open men's consciences, and pick the purse of the City with ease and dexterity. A Gunpowder Politician, that loves to make Fireworks for the destruction of the Loyalist. A Divine Squib-crack. The meek man of God, or the hypocrite in grain. An University-Canker-worm. A grievons Plunderer of the saints in Church-windows. A right Pharisaical Jew; one that will compass sea and land to make a Proselyte. A pious Pulpit-Cuffer. A deadly spit-fire. Such a stubborn lump of sanctified flesh, that you may as soon persuade the Scot to forsake his craft, the Jew his avarice, or the Pope St. Peter's Chair, as the Presbyter to leave off his Fanatic Whimsies. In fine, he is so much Knave, that 'tis nonsense to call him Fool.  
I could make it appear, how all seditions almost and rebellions in Scotland, have been set a foot or fomented by this Government Presbyterian: how neighbourly Feuds have been increased and entertained: how moneys collected for the relief and support of Geneva, were by the chief Gamaliels and Presbyters interverted, employed to raise and pay soldiers to aid and assist the Earl of Bothwel and his complices in Rebellion against the King. I fear I have wearied you already; the subject is everlasting, and I am weary of it.  
If I should give account of the late practices and tenets of this late Covenant, it were possible to let you see that it hath far exceeded all the mischiefs ever their forefathers did, although they tread in the same footsteps.  
To shut up all, give me leave, in the close, to give the Articles of their Apostatical Creed inconsistent with Monarchy, which they hold as the twelve Articles of the Apostolical Symbol. I will touch only the prime of those; for their other Articles, they are so many, and of so vast an extent abounding in Negatives, that as King James saith well, He that would keep them, is not able to retain them in his brain, but must keep them in a Table-book.  

The Articles of the Dogmatical Presbyterian Faith inconsistent with Monarchy.  

Their Dogmatical Creed.  1. THey preach and maintain, that the Church is the house of God, the civil policy and Government are only the hang.  
2. Next they believe, all Ministers are pari consortio honoris & potestatis praediti, that there must be a parity in the Church. Join these two together, and you have a fair way for Democracy.  
3. They vindicate to themselves and their Consistory, a sovereign, complete, universal, independent power in all things spiritual that concern salvation: they have not only the directive power, but the Legislative also; and all temporal things in order to salvation and religion, come within the verge of their Sceptre. All sovereign power, wheresoever you fix it, (whether in one, as in a Monarchy; or in few, as in an Aristocracy; or in many or all by vicissitudinary turns) have only the Executive power to do as they command; and is bound to preserve by its power, Laws, and Arms, their sacred and Celestial privileges and sovereignty.  
4. Whatsoever Laws civilly enacted by King or Parliament, they conceive to be against the Laws of the Kingdom of Christ; by their native proper  right immediately derived from Christ, they may repeal and make void, discharge the subject to obey them. They may decree not only different Laws of their own from the standing Laws of the Kingdom; but contrary, contradictory and destructive of them. And have withal so much co-active power, that if obedience be denied to the Laws of this sovereignty, they can destroy the Souls of the subjects, by delivering them over to Satan.  
5. No Minister preaching in Pulpit sedition or treason, or railing at King, Council, the prime Judges, is accountable, or punishable by King, Parliament, Council, or any Judicatory whatsoever; but from all he may appeal to the Sanhedrim and Consistory as the sole and proper competent Judge.  
6. What Corroboration or civil Confirmation or Sanction they demand of the King, which he is able to do civilly, (for they will give him no formal interest in any sacred or religious thing) he is bound to grant it, and to obey them as Christ's immediate Vicegerents: otherwise they may excommunicate him.  
7. Reformation and preservation of Religion, especially to prescribe the way and orders for reformation, is solely theirs.  
8. The King is bound to put their orders in execution; but if neither He, nor his Council, nor his Parliament will do it, the inferior Judges, the Nobles, the Commons, nay, every individual man to his utmost power, at their direction, are bound to do it.  
9 That they may without warrant of supreme authority, assemble where and when they will, for God and Christ's cause, and for the liberty and peace of subject and Kingdom in ordine ad spiritualia; and there they may covenant together, swear and subscribe for the glory of God, the advancement of Religion, and conspire and combine in a mutual defence one of another in this holy Cause and League.  
10. They teach and maintain, that all sovereignty and Majesty in a King, is originally, immediately and properly derived from the Community, and that only by way of a fiduciary trust, so that it is habitually and radically still in the people, and the King hath no greater portion or proportion than he hath by the first popular fundamental constitution: And in case of deficiency, the collective body may supply in Church or State the defects of his Government. For maladministration, the King is censurable; for ernormous errors, he is deposable; and they may disinherit his posterity.  
11. That a defensive War is lawful against a bad King, or a weak King seduced by malignant counsel.  
12. They may oppose and resist all his Officers and Commissioners by force and violence, if they come to execute his illegal commands: and if he will be so obstinate that he will come in arms against these good Christians, they resist not his authority, but his will; not his office, but his person.   
Besides, their practice upon these grounds, is to bring all cases, all causes, under their cognition and judgement, sub formalitate scandali, by which the King is rob of his sacred prerogative, the Judges of their authority, and all subjects of their right and quiet. The rest of their extravagant Maxims inconsistent with Monarchy and the peace of Government, are reduceable to those heads.  
Thus not intending hereby to reproach any person particularly whatsoever, I have writ This, but to lay open to the world how dangerous a Government this is, not only for Monarchy, but for all Governments whatsoever: and that our eyes being opened, we may choose rather to endure any torment temporary, then to enter into this treacherous and damnable Covenant, destructive to Religion, King, Church, Peace of all, and the liberty of the subject. To swear to these things as established de jure divino, and to put on poor people to act treason and rebellion, making them believe they are Confessors and Martyrs. If this gives the Reader any satisfaction, I have what I desire: If he doubt of the truth of anything, I hope I am able to make all here good by faithful and autnentick Records or Testimony of such as are worthy of r●ust.  
God save his Church, our King and Realm, from this Scourge; and give us Peace and Truth. AMEN.  
FINIS.   

A SHORT HISTORY Of the English Rebellion. Compiled in VERSE, BY MARCHAMONT NEDHAM; AND Formerly extant, in His Weekly Mercurius Pragmaticus.  
LONDON: Printed in the Year 1661.   

A short HISTORY Of the ENGLISH REBLLION.  

WHenas we lived in peace (GOD wots)  
A King would not content us;  
But we, forsooth, must hire the Scot,  
To all-be-Parliament us.   

Then down went King and Bishops too;  
On goes the holy Wirk,  
Betwixt them and the Brethren blue,  
T' advance the Crown and Kirk.   

But when that these had reigned a time,  
Robbed Kirk, and sold the Crown;  
A more religious sort up climb,  
And crush the Jockeys down.   

But now we must have Peace again,  
Let none with fear be vexed:  
For, if without the King these reign,  
Then heigh down they go next.   

A Peace, a Peace, the Country cries,  
Or else we shall be undone:  
For this brave War we thank the wise  
Confiding Men of London.   

Sure now they may, as well as we,  
Know how to value Quiet,  
When th' Army comes their Guests to be,  
For a twelvemonths Cash and Diet.   

Free Quarter is a tedious thing,  
And so is the Excise.  
None can deliver us but the King,  
From this damned Dutch Device.   

The Parliament hath served seven years;  
True vengeance than we see  
Upon feigned Jealousies and Fears;  
For yet they are not free.   

Long Peace a Plenty did beget,  
And Plenty brought forth Pride;  
Through Pride to Faction men were set  
In Parties to divide.   

The new-formed Priests first led the way,  
And said it was no sin  
By force to drive the King away,  
And draw the City in.   

The Lords and Commons they consent  
To what each Rabbi saith;  
And so the Catholic down went,  
T' advance the public Faith.   

This brought a War and Taxes on,  
T' enslave a freeborn People:  
And now the work is thus far gone,  
Next have at Crown and Steeple.   

Our wise Reformers, brave and gay,  
Have ta'en a goodly course  
To fight, to feast, to fast and pray,  
And milk each honest Purse.   

The Crown's Revenue goes to wrack,  
While they sing Hymns and Psalms;  
And rather than themselves will lack,  
The King must live on Alms.   

We are, the learned Synod says,  
The Church of England's Nurse,  
Who make them bless the Sabbath-days,  
And all the week to curse.   

The Plough stands still, and Trade is small;  
For Goods, Lands, Towns, and Cities,  
Nay, I dare say, the Devil and all,  
Pays Tribute to Committees.   

A Scot and Jesuit joined in hand,  
First taught the World to say,  
That Subjects ought to have command,  
And Princes to obey.   

These both agreed to have no King;  
The Scotchman he cries further,  
No Bishop: 'tis a godly thing  
States to reform by Murder.   

Then th' Independent meek and sly,  
Most lowly lies at lurch,  
And so to put poor Jockey by,  
Resolves to have no Church.   

The King dethroned! the Subjects bleed!  
The Church hath no abode;  
Let us conclude they be all agreed,  
That sure there is no GOD.   

Our Statesmen (though no Lunatics,  
No Wizards, nor Buffoons)  
Have shown a hundred Changeling-Tricks  
In less than three New Moons.   

The Devil's foot is cleft (men speak)  
And so (GOD knows) are they:  
The Factions rule by fits, then take  
Their turns, and run away.   

They vote, unvote, and vote with noise  
What they cried down before,  
As ready as if London-Boys  
Were knocking at the door.   

To day an Independ outside;  
And then a Scotch to morrow:  
Thus shuffle and cut, they do divide  
Our Wealth, whilst we know sorrow:   

O happy Treason! See how Wealth  
Is made their Heaven! They swell  
With Pride! and live by Blood and Stealth,  
As if there were no Hell!   

No Sadduces but must confess,  
Those Monsters which are told  
In Story, are risen now no less  
Prodigious than of old.   

Both Cain and Judas back are come,  
In Vizards most divine:  
GOD bless us from a Pulpit-Drum,  
And a preaching Catiline.   

They feed upon a Kingdoms Curse,  
And prey upon a King!  
The devil provide a second Course,  
And then a Voider bring.   

Now CHARLES, thy Conquest is complete,  
And all the World shall see,  
That GOD which guides the Royal Scot,  
Will thy Avenger be.   

O House of Commons, House of Lords,  
Amend before September:  
For 'tis decreed, your Soldier's swords  
Shall then you All-dismember.   

But like fair Chapmen, 'twas well done,  
To give you time and day  
To cast accounts; for one by one  
They will you sound pay.   

The Kingdom all in pieces torn!  
Your time is fairly spent;  
To make yourselves a very scorn,  
Your King but Jack-a-Lent.   

Now, now we see 'twas for the Crown  
The Houses both did fight:  
For since the Cavaliers are down,  
They put the King to flight.   

The Adjutators stern and proud,  
Said, He should have no Quarter,  
Because he is a King; and vowed  
To make the Saint a Martyr.   

Their Officers cried, Hail, O King;  
The rest made mocks and scorns;  
The Houses vinegar did bring;  
And all did plat the thorns.   

Thus crucified, Great CHARLES did live  
As dead, is gone away:  
For Resurrection, GOD will give  
A new Cor'nation day.   

Rouse up! King Charles hath missed the snare  
Laid for his Royal Feet:  
Let th' Adjutators now take care  
Each for his Winding-sheet.   

The Army rendezvouzed are,  
And do they know not what;  
The Scots and they, are like to jan:  
Let us thank GOD for that.   

The Houses know not what to think;  
The Ci●…'s horn-madded be:  
They must be whipped until they stink:  
A joyful sight to see!   

Thus Cavaliers cast up your Caps,  
And tell the Rebels plain,  
That Charles, in spite of all their traps,  
Shall shortly rule again.   

For Liberty, and Privilege,  
Religion, and the King,  
We fought; But, O! the Golden Wedge!  
That is the only Thing.   

There lies the Cream of all the Cause;  
Religion is but Whig;  
Pure Privilege eats up the Laws,  
And cries, For Kings a Fig.   

The Houses may a Christmas keep,  
The Countrymen a Lent,  
The Citizens (like silly sheep)  
Must fast, and be content.   

Then where is Liberty, (I pray)  
With Justice, Truth and Right?  
Sure they and Conscience fled away  
With Charles, to th' Isle of Wight.   

Gape, gape for Peace, poor Countrymen;  
The Members mean to treat:  
And we shall see fair play again,  
When they no more can cheat.   

The King shall come to Westminster,  
It may be to his Grave,  
Or of a glorious Prince must there  
Be made a Royal Slave.   

But 'twere more wise to let him reign  
Out of his People's sight,  
For fear he should bring Peace again,  
And put them in a fright.   

Sure Martin lay in of a Clap,  
And Say himself did dote;  
The Devil too, wore a sick Cap,  
When th' Houses past this Vote.   

Come let us live, and laugh away  
The follies of this age;  
Treason breeds care; we'll sing and play  
Like birds within a cage.   

Fetters are th' only favours now  
The Houses give (we see)  
And since the King them wears, I vow,  
'Twere baseness to be free.   

Then let us all our sorrows drown  
In Sack and merry Glee:  
Ye Citizens of London-town,  
What jolly Slaves are we!   

For Common-prayer, ye have Excise,  
Freequarter too is coming  
To pay you for your Mutinies,  
Feasts, Covenants, and Drumming.   

No Puritan, no Popish Priest,  
Nor Prot'stant now shall be;  
Nor Law, but to live as we list,  
'Tis Heaven thus to be free.   

Can Babylon's great King now sit  
In Counsel with our Nation,  
He were the only man to sit  
Us with a Reformation.   

The glorious Golden-Idol than  
Might shine in each Dominion;  
Both Factions and their Brethren  
Would soon be one-opinion.   

Away, thou Pagan-Cavalier,  
This God must not be thine;  
But for the Saints at Westminster,  
Whose souls are more divine.   

Live, drink, and laugh, our Worthies may,  
And kindly take their fills;  
The Subjects must their reckon pay,  
The King must pass their Bills.   

No Princes now, but they; the Crown  
Is vanished with our Quiet;  
Nor will they let us use our own  
Devotions and Diet.   

All Plums the Prophet's sons defy,  
And Spice-broths are too hot;  
Treason's in a December-Pye,  
And Death within the Pot.   

Christmas, farewell; thy day (I fear)  
And merry-days are done:  
So they may keep Feasts all the year,  
Our Saviour shall have none.   

O happy Nation heretofore,  
When Seas our Walls have been!  
Unhappy now we see no shore,  
But are all Sea within.   

Factions, like Billows, rage and toss,  
And Death mounts every Wave;  
Yet in this Storm we are so cross,  
We will no Pilot have.   

Just such a Tempest seized upon  
Blessed Paul, the Scripture says,  
When he had seen no Sun nor Moon,  
Nor Stars for many days.   

Our Sun and Moon no beams create,  
Our Stars dispersed we see:  
Such as was his, will be our Fate,  
We must all shipwrackt be.   

A glorious Prince this Parliament  
The King should be, did swear;  
But now we understand they meant  
In Heaven, and not here.   

Let them invade the Throne, and part  
His Crown, and vote his Fate;  
Yet know, in each true Noble Heart,  
He keeps his Chair of State.   

Prince's may be, like other men,  
Imprisoned, and kept under  
A while, as fire in clouds, but then  
At length appear in Thunder.   

And, as in hidden Caves the wind  
Sad tremble doth created;  
So Monarches, by their own confined,  
'Cause Earthquakes in the State.   

Farewell the Glory of our Land;  
For, now the Freeborn Blades  
Our Lives and our Estates command,  
And ride us all like Jades.   

Faith and Religion bleeding lie,  
And Liberty grows faint:  
No Gospel, but pure Treachery,  
And Treason make the Saint.   

Oh! 'tis a heavenly Cause (I trow)  
Which first baptised the Round-head  
In Noble Stafford's Blood! but now  
Must on the Kings be founded.   

Yet know, that Kings are Gods on earth;  
And those which pull them down,  
Shall find it is no less than Death  
To tamper with a Crown.   

'Tis true, as Harry Martin said,  
The Scots away must pack;  
The Covenant shall a side be laid,  
Like an Old Almanac.   

Come then, and buy my New, true, New,  
New Almanac most true,  
Such Accidents of State to show,  
The like no Age ere knew.   

Since that we lost our King and Laws,  
Since Jealousies and Fears,  
Since Peace, pure Truth, and this Paul Cause,  
It is full seven years.   

Poor Charles pursued in Forty one,  
Unking'd in Forty seven;  
The Eighth will place him on his Throne,  
In Earth, or else in Heaven.   

Three Kingdoms brought to a fine pass,  
Whilst that our Saviour's Rule,  
The Country is become an Ass,  
The City but a Mule.   

Each University now pines,  
The Church may hang and rot;  
They banish all our true Divines,  
The Lawyers too must troth.   

Come, Sirs, more Sacks unto the Mill,  
More Taxes, more Freequarter;  
'Tis fit our Laws be your bare Will,  
And the Excise our Charter.   

Godspeed the Plough: plague Rooks and Crows,  
And send us years more cheap:  
For, I am sure, whoever sows,  
The Houses mean to reap.   

Money, the Soul of Man and Wit,  
But yet no Saint of mine!  
While th' Houses vote, and Synod sit,  
Thou ne'er shalt want a Shrine.   

Reforming is a dull Device,  
Dreads nought but strife and rage:  
Thou puttest us into Paradise,  
And bring'st the Golden Age.   

Thou art Religion, God, and all  
That we may call Divine:  
Thy Temple is Westminster-Hall,  
And all our Priests are thine.   

Tush, tell not us the way to Heav'a,  
Thou juggling Clergy-Elf,  
That set ' if the world at six and seven;  
Money is Heaven itself.   

Betwixt those Atheists feigned of old,  
And ours, there is no odds;  
For, both this one opinion hold,  
That Fear did first make Gods.   

Hell now is thought an idle Dream  
To fright men from their Crimes:  
Religion but a crafty Theme,  
Made to  the Times.   

The Bible and great Babel's Whore,  
May both together burn;  
For the Religious Fit is over  
Now they have served their turn.   

Only, one Text may scape their hands,  
Since they have ta'en such pains,  
To lay their Lords in Iron Bands,  
And bind their Kings in Chains.   

Copernicus, thy learned skill  
We praise, since we have found  
The truth; for now doth Heaven stand still  
Whilst that the Earth runs round.   

See how the Wheel of Providence  
Back Old Confusion brings!  
Cashires' us once more of a Prince,  
To plague's with Petty Kings.   

They say the Saints all rule must take,  
And others must have none:  
Their Privilege it is to make  
A Footstool of the Throne.   

The Laws o'th' Land say, Charles must reign,  
And Conscience pleads his Cause:  
But Conscience is a thing most vain,  
Their Gospel eats up Laws.   

Never such Rebels have been seen,  
As since we led this Dance:  
So we may feast, let Prince and Queen  
Beg a-la-mode-de-France.   

Let Conscience pine, and cry 'tis strange,  
We'll say 'tis bravely done,  
To make the King take in Exchange  
A Dungeon for a Throne.   

Away with Justice, Laws and Fear;  
When men resolve to rise,  
Brave Souls must scorn all Scruples where  
A Kingdom is the Prize.   

Then let us what our Labours gain,  
Enjoy, and bless our Chance:  
Like Kings let's domineer and reign  
Thus, a-la-mode-de-France.   

King and no King, was once a Play,  
Or Fable on the Stage:  
But see! it is become this day  
The Moral of our Age.   

Newcastle was the first best Scoene,  
Then Holmby, Hampton-court;  
Next, from a Palace to a Den  
Translated, to make sport.   

Each State-Buffoon a part did take;  
Some played the Fool, some Knave;  
But still the Plot was laid to make  
Their King a Royal Slave.   

Brave Actors! we admire your skill;  
Your Play none understands;  
Yet make an Exit when you will,  
We all shall clap our hands.   

At Westminster two wondrous Beasts  
This day are to be seen, 
March. 14. 1648.   
Called Liberty and Privilege,  
(GOD save the King and Queen.)   

Say, Monsters strange, what kin are ye  
To Tigers or the Lion?  
For shame boast not your Pedigree  
From the sweet Sons of Zion.   

This Liberty first whelped the Cause;  
The Cause then lay at lurch,  
To gull the City, damn the Laws,  
And quite cashier the Church.   

But Privilege (O monstrous Thing!)  
Eats up poor Cavaliers,  
Feeds on the Gentry and the King;  
But next have at the Peers.   

Once more the Kingdom lies at Stake,  
No matter then who wins;  
Two Schismatics the Wagers make,  
And now the Game gins.   

The Scots and Sects, two godly Cheats,  
Debar both Ace and Sice:  
To rook each other with fine Feats,  
They both bring in false Dice.   

The first throws for the Covenant,  
Next who shall rule and sway:  
For Jockey now doth swear and rant,  
He'll have no more foul play.   

The Sectaries cried, Have at all,  
When first the Dice were thrown;  
But rather than the Scots shall brawl,  
They'll part stakes in the Crown.   

The Devil's reign is short, though fierce;  
Then let our Music sound;  
The Drawers all the Hogsheads pierce,  
And make the Healths go round.   

Here's a Health to the King in Sack,  
To the Houses in Small-Beer;  
In Vinegar to th' crabbed Pack  
Of Priests at Westminster.   

Next, to revive our fainting States,  
Fill out some Aqua vitae:  
'Twere pity on the Bridge such Pates  
Should meet in a Committee.   

Let's water th' Royal Plants with Tears  
Of rich, divine Canary:  
Drink on, Cav'liers, t'all Loyal Peers;  
Then end with Charles and Mary.   

Full forty thousand Scots, by Vote,  
Must visit us ere long:  
Brave Army sure! when every Scot  
Is forty thousand strong!   

Though th' Houses have deserved these plagues,  
GOD keep our Nation free:  
Like Egypt, let not us, by Rags  
And Vermin conquered be.   

For shame, for shame, call home your King,  
With Honour let him treat:  
His Nature is without a sting;  
His Motto, To forget.   

Return, return, Disloyal Crew  
Of men forsworn: if not,  
Rather than thus we'll stoop to you,  
We'll Idolise the Scot   

Come, Mahomet, thy Turn is next;  
Now Gospel's out of date:  
The Alcoran may prove Good Text  
In our new Turkish-State.   

Thou dost unto thy Priests allow  
The sin of full four Wives:  
Ours scarce will be content with now  
Five Live, and nine Lives.   

Thy Saints and ours are all alike;  
Their Virtues flow from Vice:  
No Bliss they do believe, and seek  
But an Earthly Paradise.   

A Heaven on Earth they hope to gain,  
But we do know full well,  
Can they their glorious ends attain,  
This Kingdom must be Hell.   

From Prison now return the King,  
The Queen and Prince from France;  
For Cousin Charles the Welsh-men sing,  
And stoutly lead the Dance.   

The Scotch-Bag-Pipes, the Pulpit-Drums,  
And Priests sound high and big:  
Once more the Cause and Covenant comes  
To shows a Scotish Jig.   

The Irish will a Voyage take,  
To jon their force in one;  
And whilst they frisk a Galliard, make  
The Houses sing, O Hone.   

Three Kingdoms thus must dance the Hay;  
But ere the Members run,  
We'll see they shall the Music pay,  
And then the Dance is done.   

Seven years by frantic Votes and Fits,  
Our Worthies bore command;  
Then did they run out of their Wits,  
But now out of the Land.   

No more shall they the City ride  
Like a fine Golden Ass;  
The Navy's rigged with Wind and Tide,  
They stay but for a Pass.   

But if they linger long behind,  
And keep their King in Bands,  
I'll undertake it shall be signed  
By a hundred thousand Hands.   

For prosperous Gales then on the Deep;  
Let their Priests prate and pray  
By Order, and at Margaret's keep  
An Humiliation-day.   

The Factions now each other rout  
With Jealousies and Fear:  
The Independents face about,  
The rest cry, As you were.   

The Presbyters put forth their Horns  
To guard their Goods and Homes;  
The She-Militia likewise scorns  
Their Cocks should lose their Combs.   

Then toll (I pray) the Passing-Bell  
For our new State-Committee:  
These monstrous Votes, which made them swell,  
Are cowed down by the City.   

Sweet John-a-Nokes and John-a-Styles,  
And worshipful Jack-Straws,  
Of both the Juntoes, leave your Wiles,  
And give's our King and Laws.   

Betwixt two thiefs our Saviour once  
Suffered for us, and died:  
So 'twixt two thievish Factions  
Our King is crucified.   

Caesar, not Christ, the ancient Jews  
Paid tribute of their Treasure;  
Our Jews no King but Christ will choose,  
And rob, and cry down Caesar.   

Now, for the King the zealous Kirk  
'Gainst th' Independent bleats,  
Whenas (alas!) their only wirk  
Is to renew old Cheats.   

If they can sit, vote what they list,  
And crush the new States down,  
Then up go They, but neither Christ  
Nor King, shall have his own.   

The Pox, the Plague, and each Disease,  
Are cured, though they invade us:  
But never look for Health and Peace,  
If once presbytery jade us.   

When every Priest becomes a Pope,  
Then Tinkers and Sowgelder's  
May, if they can but 'scape the Rope,  
Be Princes and Lay-Elders.   

If once the Kirk-men pitch their Tents  
With our Assembly-Asses,  
Synods will eat up Parliaments,  
Courts be devoured by Classes.   

Look to it, ye Gentry, else, be Slaves  
To Slaves that can't abide ye:  
Though ye have been cowed down by Knaves,  
Oh! let not Fools now ride ye.   

But seven years of a thousand ('tis)  
Our Saints must Rulers be:  
So they shall lose in years of bliss,  
Nine hundred ninety three.   

No more than let those Rabbis trust  
Unto the Revelation;  
For their Interpreter is Lust,  
And Pride makes Application.   

Religion but a Packhorse is,  
To carry on Designs;  
The Bible like a Jugglers Box,  
Used by our State-Divines.   

Texts are tormented one by one,  
Like Votes, now here, now there:  
Thus Hocuspocus is outdone  
By them at Westminster.   

The Banes are asked, the Marriage next  
Goes forward in the City:  
For now the Match is made betwixt  
Them and the State-Committee.   

Thou Strumpet (London) tell not us  
Of Babel any more;  
If from thy King thou partest thus,  
Thou art the greater Whore.   

Thy Bags their Portion now are meant,  
As well as Crown and Church;  
But when that all is gone and spent,  
They'll leave thee in the lurch.   

Thou Bawd of Treason, then for all  
Thy cursed Fornication,  
Thou and thy Priestly Panders shall  
Be Carted through the Nation.   

The Market's made; the King shall treat,  
(They say) and buy his own:  
But is not this a very Cheat  
To set the price, a Crown?   

Alas! the Members run by rote,  
And show us many a Feat:  
Thus all the year they'll vote, unvote,  
For Money,  and Meat.   

'Tis fit that they uphold their Trades,  
What ere Malignants speak:  
So they can thrive, the City-Jades  
Their Backs and Necks may break.   

Poor, What d'ye lack? small gains can show,  
With many an empty Shelf:  
The House spoils Shops; 'tis Ay and No,  
That brings in all the Pelf.   

Rebellion makes our Nation bleed  
With fresh Alarms (we see:)  
But yet it is not well agreed  
Who must the Rebel be.   

The Round-head first the Rebel was,  
(If truth be in the Laws)  
Till Treason did for Gospel pass,  
To bolster up the Cause.   

The thriving Cause with high disdain,  
In Fortune's full Career,  
Throws Rebel in the face again  
Of King and Cavalier.   

Thus Prosperous mischief makes it good  
Against all Law and Reason:  
Not to spill Royal, Loyal Blood,  
But, to be conquer'd's Treason.   

Five months ago, 
June 20. 1648.  our mighty States  
Were pleased to vote No King;  
But two months since, to act new Cheats,  
Their Votes the Changes ring.   

'Tis time the Bells of Westminster  
Chime Backwards, and retire  
To quench the Flame, whenas we heat  
The Kingdom's all on fire.   

But yet (it seems) they make a stand,  
And cry it is no matter:  
What need they care for Fire on Land,  
Whose Journey lies by Water?   

GOD send them Ships, fair Winds and Tide,  
With Passage quick and good;  
Or else I fear (to scourge our pride)  
They'll swim through Seas of Blood.   

The Holy War goes on apace,  
Yet brings the Saints no Pay:  
In triumph now they ne'er say Grace,  
But only Fast and Pray.   

They many an hungry Conquest get,  
But no Thanksgiving Dinners:  
The City knows they scorn to eat  
With Publicans and Sinners.   

The Members cannot spare one Meal;  
Their Bags lie sealed in Town:  
What though they broke the King's great Seal,  
They'll not undo their own?   

The Country bids them starve, or hang,  
They'll be no more kept under:  
The Cavaliers will sound bang  
Them all, and spoil their Plunder.   

Reformation, thou Stalking-Horse  
Of our Hip-shotten State,  
Th' Appendix of the Public Purse,  
And Midwife of our Fate!   

'Twas Thou, and Beldame-Conscience first,  
That set the world a madding;  
And you yourselves, like Cain accursed,  
Have ever since been gadding.   

Pox take th' unlucky Cause, for me,  
It is a wild Vagary;  
The Bane of Boon society;  
For that first raised Canary.   

Poor Sinners now must snap a crust;  
Ye deadly seven, farewell:  
For since y'are all Excised, we must  
Pay dear to purchase Hell.   

What, though the Factions are agreed  
The Kingdom still to cheat?  
Do what they can, it is decreed  
The King shall come and treat.   

Come from the Dungeon to the Throne,  
(Great Charles) and quell the rage  
Of th' Iron world; with Thee alone  
Revives the Golden Age.   

Those very Saints, which joyed thy Fall,  
And said thy day was done,  
Will now like Persian-Pagans, all  
Adore the Rising-Sun.   

No more wrapped up in Clouds remain,  
Secluded from the Nation:  
May Thou and Thine shine bright, and reig●…  
A Glorious Constellation.   

It is decreed (Great Prince) thy Fate  
Shall check their damned Plots;  
Though London jade it for the State,  
And bandies at the Scots.   

The Presbyters now fain would ride,  
And show us t' other Feat;  
Therefore to quell the Saints high pride,  
They say the King shall treat.   

Were he in their hands, the Town's their own,  
The Houses too must work,  
To vote the Independents down,  
And mount the Rascal Kirk.   

Away, ye juggling, palty Crew  
Of well-affected Knaves;  
Rather than free your sovereign, you  
Yourselves will live like Slaves.   

Stand to it, ye Lords, we'll stand to you,  
And clip the Commons wings:  
Let not the Lev'ling Rascal-Crew,  
Thus domineer like Kings.   

The Lower is the Upper-House,  
And hath been so seven years:  
Your Votes they value not a Louse,  
Ye Antichristian Peers.   

They give you many a Rattling Peal,  
And bait you one by one;  
For should a Treaty take, their Zeal  
And Saintships are undone.   

My Lords, of Gotam, not of Greece,  
Your wisdoms I shall sing;  
And sell you all for pence apiece,  
If you reject your King.   

No Camel like the London breed,  
To drudge, pray, pay, and feast;  
In Body, and in Purse to bleed:  
O 'tis a patiented Beast!   

If you'll needs pray, pray stay at home;  
Tell GOD your sad condition:  
'Tis Popish to the Saints to come  
And put up your Petition.   

This wondrous Idol of the States,  
The Stomach hath of Bell:  
Like Moloch it Mankind doth eat,  
And quick devours like Hell.   

As th' Horseleech (Give) it ever cries,  
And rages like the Dragon;  
As the old Serpent it is wise.  
But it must fall like Dagon.   

Would you know why the Plague hath ceased  
These last seven years now spent?  
Because GOD knows no greater Pest  
Than this same Parliament. 
1648.    

How many thousands hath it swept  
Of Bodies, Souls, and Gold!  
King, Church, and People, (none except)  
Have all been bought and sold:   

Our merry Pipes, for Trumpets shrill;  
Our Tabers changed to Drums:  
Princes are braved by Jack and Gill,  
What Tilers, and Tom Thumbs.   

'Tis time those Bags, which caused the War,  
Should make the War to cease;  
For the State's Music is to jar,  
But our best music's Peace.   

Now shall the King enjoy his own;  
And that new Virtue, Treason,  
Whereby the Saints do claim the Crown,  
Be baffled with high Reason.   

Great Charles, thy Virtues I desire,  
Not solomon's, nor his Stores;  
For who can tell most to admire  
His Wisdom or his Whores?   

His Vices so eclipsed his Grace,  
That wranglers cannot tell,  
Whether as yet they may him place  
In Heaven, or in Hell.   

But all that was in him Divine,  
And more, to Thee is given;  
That where so many Grace's shine,  
A Prison must be Heaven.   

Another Blow! will not the Scot,  
And Loyal English do?  
Sure, Jove himself is of the Plot,  
An Independent too.   

Is he a King, and will he see  
Rebels assault the Crown?  
Had they but hands to reach, 'tis he  
Should next resign his own.   

Is he a God? and shall this Tribe  
Go on as they begin?  
Atheists will say, They do him bribe  
For Privilege to sin.   

If these be Saints, 'tis vain indeed  
To think there's Good or Evil:  
The world will soon be of this Creed,  
No God, no King, no Devil.   

Of all those Monsters which we read  
In afric, Ind, or Nile,  
None like to those now lately bred.  
Within this wretched Isle.   

The Cannibal, the Tiger fell,  
Croc'dile and Sycophant;  
The Turk, the Jew, and Infidel,  
Make up an English Saint.   

By these were Lisle and Lucas crowned;  
Two Worlds, both great and good:  
For Men, Arts, Arms, were all ne'er drowned  
I' th' Deluge of their blood.   

The Trump of Fame's too low and weak,  
That of the General Doom  
Is only fit their praise to speak,  
The World to be their Tomb.   

The Treaty holds; and some men are  
Convinced the Wars will cease:  
Fond Folk! To think the Men of War  
Will e'er endure a Peace.   

Go, bid the Scot quit English Ground,  
The Swede the Germane Air;  
Holland obey the Spanish Crown,  
The Pope leave Peter's Chair.   

Woe the great Statesman to his Grave,  
Preach Gospel to the Jews;  
To Turks, that Mahomet's a Knave,  
Platonic Love to Stews.   

Let Citizens loathe sacred things,  
Presbyters pride and ease;  
When these are done, make Saints love Kings,  
And then we may have Peace.   

See in what glory Charles now sits,  
With Truth to conquer Treason;  
And prove he is the King of Wits,  
The World, Himself, and Reason.   

Angels bear witness, GOD looks down,  
The Graces too attend;  
Sure, none but Devils than will frown  
Upon a blessed end.   

Ten hundred thousand Loyal Hearts,  
All bleeding at his Fate;  
As many Wishes from all parts  
Fly round his Chair of State.   

Come then, ye dirty, Sainted Elves,  
Worse than Church-window paint:  
By this fair Glass abhor yourselves,  
Learn here to be a Saint.   

The King the four great Bills must pass,  
And none but Saints be free:  
Th' Irish and Cavaliers (alas!)  
Must th' only Rebels be.   

New Lords, new Laws, new Saints are we;  
Religion's in fine pickle,  
When 'tis resolved the Church shall be  
A three-years Conventicle.   

Militia too, they needs must gain,  
Those pretty carnal Tools:  
For Paul's old Weapons they disdain,  
As fit for none but Fools.   

Thus Royally Charles lets to Lease,  
Lays Sword and Sceptre down,  
To show he values Us and Peace  
Above a glorious Crown.   

Give me the Dragon's Gall for Ink,  
His sting to be my Pen,  
To blast the Scot, and make him stink  
wrose then the Dregs of men.   

See now the Reformation-Wirk,  
For which they made us bleed,  
Is to cashier King, Church and Kirk,  
On this and that side I weed.   

Let them with Egypt's plagues be crossed,  
Yet still find new and worse;  
And since I have Jobs patience lost,  
Give me his skill to curse.   

At Home and Hell may they e'er dwell;  
And for quick passage thither,  
As they have juggled all full well,  
So may they hang together.   

Let me be Turk, or any thing  
But a Scotch Calvinist:  
First, he damned Bishops; next, his King;  
Now he cashires his Christ.   

Good faith, Sir, they the Pulpit bang,  
But let their Gospel down;  
For, the old Saviour needs must gang  
Now a new one's come to town.   

The Saints, whom once their mouths did curse,  
Dear Brethren are, and Friends:  
Which proves their Zeal a Stalking-horse  
For Knavish-godly ends.   

Then rail no more at Antichrist,  
But learn ye to be ●…vil:  
And since ye have King Cromwell kissed,  
Shake hands too with the Devil.   

Since they have damned all Saints of old,  
No new shall be for me:  
Like Jews, they worship Gods of Gold,  
Their King they crucify.   

Were he the King of Kings, his Crown  
Can not be safe from Foes:  
Like Jesuits, they no Gospel own,  
But Murder and Depose.   

Like Turks, their Heaven lies all in Sense,  
In Wenches, Tarts and Jelly:  
No Hell they fear, when parted hence;  
They serve no God, but Belly.   

All this, and more, (by Jove) is true,  
If they the Treaty cease,  
To juggle with the Lev'lling Crew  
That cry, No King, No Peace.   

No Lord, no Knight, no Gentleman,  
For Honours now are Crimes:  
The Saints will form us (if they can)  
All to the Frim'●ive times.   

Brave days, when Adam was a King  
Without Crown, Lands, or Riches!  
So, stripped of Royal Robes, they'll bring  
Great Charles to Fig-leave Breeches.   

Princes with Plowmen ranked shall pass;  
Ladies, like the first Woman,  
Must spin, or else be turned to Grass,  
Now all things are in common.   

Thus Cov'nanting, and Levelling,  
Three Kingdoms have o'erthrown,  
And made all fellows with their King,  
A Football of the Crown.   

Tell me, thou Presbyterian Ass,  
Why thou at first didst jar:  
Thy peevish Plea (No Bishops) was  
The first ground of the War.   

Next, to thy shame, thou didst combine  
With the Sectarian Routs;  
Our Charles should be no King of thine,  
Or but a King of Clouts.   

Both King and Bishops thus exiled,  
The Saints not yet content:  
Now with fresh flames of Zeal grow wild,  
And cry, No Parliament.   

Well may we then this Maxim prove,  
Treason no end can know,  
But levels at the Gods above,  
As well as those below.   

Hark, how for Peace the Kingdom groans,  
That warred they knew not why!  
Yield then, or else the very stones  
Will out against you cry.   

For shame, ye Bastard-saints, give over,  
Or else the world will think  
Your Mother is great Babel's Whore,  
If blood you love to drink.   

The State's grown fat with Orphan's Tears,  
Whilst Widows pine and moan;  
And tender Conscience in seven years,  
Is turned t' a heart of stone.   

Return, hard hearts, the Treaty ends,  
Our breasts with Hope do swell;  
Your Bags are full, then let's be friends,  
Or bid the World Farewell.   

No Gods above, nor Gods below,  
Our Saints (I see) will own;  
Allegiance is Rebellion now,  
Treason to wear a Crown.   

Nor King nor Parliament will please,  
'Tis Gospel to rebel:  
Nay, they'll Remonstrate against Peace,  
Be it in Heaven or Hell.   

Pluto, beware, (to thee they come  
When here their work is done:)  
For they'll break lose, and beat up Drum,  
And storm thee in thy Throne.   

Then John-a-Leyden, Nol, and all  
Their goblin ghostly Train,  
(Brave Rebel-Saints triumphant) shall  
Begin their second Reign.   

Brave Reformation! now I see  
London's a blessed place,  
To find the Saints their Quarters free,  
And nurse the Babes of grace.   

Oh, may they suck, and drain them quite,  
Whose thousands caused these Curses;  
For the tame Slaves will never fight  
Till they have empty Purses.   

Come then, ye lousy wanton Wags  
Of sainted Chivalry,  
And free their poor condemned Bags  
That groan for Liberty.   

March on, boon Blades, here's store of Cash,  
Their King they will not pity:  
Then spur them on, and sound lash  
These Dullmen of the City.   

Dull Cuckolds! we are dainty Slaves,  
And well may be content,  
When thirty Fools, and twenty Knaves,  
Make up a Parliament.   

They banish all men in their Wits,  
Vote King, Lords, all Offenders;  
And authorise the frantic Fits  
Of our longsword State-Menders.   

'Tis Nol's own Brewhouse now, I swear;  
The Speaker's but his Skinker:  
Their Members are, like th' Council of War,  
Carmen, Pedlars, and Tinkers.   

Fine Journey-Junto! pretty Knack!  
None such in all past Ages!  
Shut shop; for, now the godly Pack  
Will next pay you your Wages.   

Gone are those Golden Days of yore,  
When Christmas was an High-day,  
Whose sports we now shall see no more;  
'Tis turned into Good-Friday.   

Now, when the King of Kings was born,  
And did salvation bring,  
They strive to crucify in scorn  
His Viceroy, and their King.   

Since th' ancient Feast they have put down,  
No new one will suffice;  
But the choice Dainties of a Crown,  
Princes in sacrifice.   

No Powers are safe, Treason's a Tilt,  
And the mad Sainted-Elves  
Boast when the Royal Blood is spilt,  
They'll all be Kings themselves.   

Like jolly Slaves, ye goodly Knaves,  
We'll bid th' old year Adieu:  
Old Sack, and things must pass away,  
And so shall all your new.   

Now for a Noking, or a New;  
For th' old, they say, shall pack;  
The new may serve a year to view  
Like an old Almanac.   

New Houses, new; for, th' old ones dote,  
And have been thrice made Plunder;  
The Saints do vote, and act by rote,  
And are a Nine-days-wonder.   

Then let us cheer, this merry New-year;  
For Charles shall wear the Crown:  
'Tis a damned Cause, that damns the Laws,  
And turns all up-side down.   
FINIS.