THE Commonwealths-man UNMASQUED: Or a Just REBUKE TO THE Author of the Account of Denmark.  
Quem Discordiae, quem caedis civium, quem Bellum civile delectat, eum ex numero hominum Ejiciendum, ex finibus Humanae Naturae exterminandum puto. Cicero. Philip. 3.  
In Two Parts.  
London Printed, and sold by Randal Tailor near Stationers-Hall, 1694.   

TO THE KING'S Most Excellent Majesty.  
May it please Your Majesty,  
THE Indignation I conceived at the Reading of the Author of The Account of DENMARK, and the Rude Affront that is therein offered to Your Sacred Majesty, has Transported me into this Presumption of Address: 'tis true, the Performance looks like an Exhalation rising from the Bowels of the meanest and the basest Earth; but such Exhalations have often darkened, and sometimes Eclipsed the Sun. I might here take occasion to insist largely upon Your Majesty's Character; but I consider I speak to a God by Deputation, therefore my words shall be few. The more Brave and Generous among Your Reputed Adversaries, confess you deserve to be Universal Monarch (if the highest Personal Merit and Valour may lay claim to such a thing;) and may Your Imbittered Enemies at length see their own Errors by the help of that Light and Glory that shall surround You. May the King of Kings conduct You in the Right Way, and lead You on to a just Establishment of the Nation's Tranquillity, and Your own. Which is the hearty Prayer of  
Your Majesty's humble and devoted Subject and Servant, S. S.   

THE INTRODUCTION.  
I Have been for some time no unconcerned Spectator of those improvident Heats, and darling Contentions, which, to the loss of the Common Cause of Christianity, have long since spread themselves over the Western World; and being quite tired out with contemplating the deformity of this black and melancholy Scene, I was willing to give my Thoughts some Diversion, by applying 'em to such worthy and important Considerations, as might afford some little ease and serenity even in sullen and dark times; and make the short life and leisure I enjoy, to pass away with some tolerable satisfaction. Riches and Honour, or the Respect of men, are pretty popular Beatitudes; and all sensual complacencies in their outward appearance, are very sweet and alluring; but considered in their final issue and event, they do rather amuse than satisfy the mind, and more affright than caress the Understanding; so that upon a full and impartial prospect of things, unless we can find out some more solid Principle or Basis of Security, the condition of mankind will appear sufficiently sad, and uncomfortable in this World.  
For man is become a forlorn and miserable Creature; and tho' he thinks himself Lord of this Lower World, yet he's born a poor helpless indigent Slave; full of wants, of fears, and disappointments: He fancies indeed, that he is some Godlike Being, and compliments himself with Divine Epithets, and Titles of Renown; but they serve only to add Solemnity to his shame, and advance the sport and Triumph of his Misfortunes. Imaginary Fears and Jealousies devour his Spirits, and insult over his blessings; nay, he is often imprinting that evil upon himself by an improvident anticipation, which can but once befall him in this life. He superstitiously trembles at the evil Influences of the Stars above; and dreads every little Meteor of the Night: he sinks under the apprehension of Eclipses, Comets, and ill Aspects of Heaven, while he carries the causes of his Misery within himself. Could he but look within, and take a true prospect of his own depraved Constitution, he would soon discern, That his Affections and Lusts are the only false Lights, that misguide and betray him; that Pride, Self-Love, Ambition and Discontent, are the only bad Omens, and amazing Prodigies.  
Neither are his hopes any better founded, or more proportionate than his fears; they are not directed by the inherent worth or quality of the Object, nor balanced by any determinate measures; but hurry him violently to precipices and dangers, to vain Transports and Fantastical Illusions.  
He meets with nothing that can terminate his desires, or allay the eagerness of his restless inclinations: He proposes indeed strange possessions to himselef; his thoughts are still busied with imaginary draughts of Elysium, and Golden Provinces; and if he could but compass the design in hand, he could fancy himself installed in Paradise again: But alas! He knows not the vanity of the thing he admires, till the enjoyment of it has undeceived his judgement and rectified his notions: And then he soon finds the disappointment as certain, as the desire; and he is now more tormented with the dissatisfaction and loss, than he was before with the Expestation.  
Thus (as David phraseth it) Man walks in a vain Shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain: He falls in Love, enjoys, and abhors; he chooses and hates the same thing: 'Tis true, his reason commands him to be contented, happy, and composed in every condition of Life; and yet he finds by experience, he cannot ●e so in any; but, as if he were still harast with some Malignant Distemper, he lies changing and tossing from side to side, between undue Objects and immoderate Desires. One while perhaps, through the unhappy Instinct of his Original Pride, he effects the great and venerable name of Philosopher, of Lord and Master over the Intellectual World: He considers with himself that a Philosophical Life, and insight into Nature, is one of the Noblest Badges of true Honour, the greatest Perfection and most useful Qualification that ●●n adorn a Rational Creature: But finding at length, that this Lamp within him, serves only to discover those Errors and mistakes, that before lay hidden and unobserved; perceiving also, that the more he understands, the more he sees his own Errors, and the greatest knowledge he has hitherto acquired, serves only to make him sensible that he wants it; his discontent begins proportionably to increase with his acquisitions, and his Hopes are driven to downright desperation.  
Besides, he observes that all knowledge is attended with great Toil and Vexation; with ungrateful relishes, and many painful Impressions; That each single Science will cost him many a Pang in the Performance; and that much Study is a weariness to the Flesh. He feels his Soul extended, as it were, upon a Rack, and all his faculties suffering a Convulsion; and as if he had adopted the Woman's Curse also, and Contracted the whole Apostasy within himself; he Travels with Pain, and brings forth with sorrow.  
Being thus tired out with his Learned drudgery, in the next place perhaps, he betakes himself to Morality and Religion; he has often been transported at the sight of some brave and Virtuous Exploits; and resolves to make such delightful Scenes, the future subject and entertainment of his Thoughts. He has heard of Socrates, and other celebrated Worthies, that illustrated and Adorned the Heathen Martyrology; he loves and even hugs the remembrance of 'em, and pronounces 'em good and happy among Men. But alas! How vanishing are such Pious Raptures, such Religious Impressions? How sweet and persuasive are th●se Baits and Temptations, that hurries the Sinner another way? How frail is Nature? How encroaching is Error? How weak is resolution? How strong is Passion and Lust? How soon does the Man that had formed such fine and curious Ideas of Religion and Virtue begin to falter and languish in his Duty, when he is brought forth to action, or engaged in a passive vindication of the Truth? How is his Soul put into an uproar, at the least touch or appearance of Evil, while his Affections and Senses dispute the goodness of the Cause, and his Rational Faculty stands by and unconcerned? The Man confesses, that his obligation indeed is very great, but yet it is cruel too: 'Tis good, but yet not necessary; 'tis just, but yet indiscreet; and therefore tho' he can sometimes advance to a single Act of Piety, yet to gro●● up to an ●niversal and Habitual goodness, is a talk and torture not to be endured.  
And now he begins to reflect a little upon the common Genius and Fashion of the World; and accutely observes that the general Bent and Vote of Mankind is directed another way: And why should he aspire to a Superiority of knowledge beyond his Brethren, or pretend to be a wiser, or a better Man than they? Nay he has more nicely observed, that a downright simplicity, regularity and decorum of words and Actions, does but recommend the good Man to the title of a Fool, and expose him to Laughter, beggary and contempt: That dissimulation and baseness are the nearest steps and ascent to dignity, and splendid accommodations; while honesty is contented with a few worthless Caresses, and pines and starves under Airy and Complimental Applauses.  
Thus wearied quite with this perplexing Subject, this devout and melancholy Employment; he thinks it high time to bid farewell to the World, as it was fashioned and designed by God; and to go into the same, as 'tis new modelled and transformed by the pride and artifice of Man: His Affections have hitherto been confined, as it were, to the Cell and Cloister; and yet he found it hard to keep 'em chaste and unspotted of the World: but now, like Dinah, they must go abroad to see and visit the Daughters of the Land: His Thoughts are now let loose to all the tempting varieties, all the charms and attractives of the sensitive World: He studies all the meritorious Arts of Flattery and Persuasion, and rallies together all the force and vigour of his soul and body to greet the opportunities of secular Greatness: He courts Religion no longer as a Mistress, and out of Love; but makes use of her as a Handmaid, to serve his turn and advantage: sometimes we find him in the House of Rimmon, and sometimes in the Temple; one while he seems to worship God, and yet when a good occasion does invite, he can readily bow the knee to Baal: And at another time, he holds it convenient for the design in hand, to hover in a dark Neutrality between both.   

THE Commonwealths-man UNMASQUED: Or a Just REBUKE To the Author of the Account of Denmark.  
IF this be not sufficient to illustrate the Vanity of Fallen and Darkened Mankind, I shall give a more full and comprehensive Character of it, as it lies contracted within the compass of one Man; I mean the puissant and Heroical Author of the late Account of DENMARK; who, while he pretends to new Lights and Discoveries, and more than ordinary Refinements; is himself as great an instance, as I know, of the depravation of of Humane Nature. He seems to carry at once an infallible Chair, and a High Court of Justice within the narrow circumference of his Brain; fancies himself to be wiser than the Clergy, both Universities, the King and Parliament to boot; and there is nothing extraordinary, honourable or sacred, but what he has perverted by a knackish and politic Construction: And all this he has done under the specious pretence of the All-attoning Freedom of the Subject, and mask of popular Liberty; such a Liberty I suppose, and 'twill appear by the sequel, as happened heretofore, when there was no King in Israel, and every Man did that which was right in his own Eyes.  
Now in order to carry on this Antimonarchical Project, and that Affairs may go on in true Fanatical Decorum,  
'Tis first necessary, That the Clergy should be defamed, and blackened with invidious Reflections. These are the main support, and known Pillars of the Throne: And therefore that the one may be more advantageously pulled down, it is held convenient by the choice and secret ones, to run a Tilt without distinction against the other. This was the exact method of the Saints in the days of Civil Broils and Desolation; when they were carrying on the luscious Work and blessed Trade of Sacrilege and Plunder: Every Loyal and Conforming Minister was rendered as Antichristian, and vile a piece of Formality, as a Dancing-Master was at Geneva, at the beginning of the Reformation; and he that was blest with a comfortable and plump Benefice, was in as Eminent Danger as the Fat-man in London-Derry. These things are too universally known, and infamous, to be any longer insisted upon. Let us see how near our Prefacer's Copy approaches the Original.  
Pref. The ecclesiastics of most Religions, who are allowed to understand and prosecute their own Interest best of any People, tho' they be generally persons whose function obliges them to a sedentary and studious course of life, etc.  
As some of the well affected heretofore blended Popery and Prelacy together, that they might the better destroy both under one Denomination; so here the Popish and conforming Clergy are involved in the same condemnation; and none seem excepted but the new Mechanical Priesthood. 'Twould have been much more Civil and ingenious, had he cried out in a Language of a Modern Poet, That Priests of all Religion's are the same.  
This is a very black and invidious charge; and only lets us understand that Travellers may talk by Authority: I do ingeniously own, that I know not one Quality more unbecoming a Man, that aspires to true Christian Wisdom and Philosophy, than an immoderate thirst after Wealth and Dignity; and may he be branded with the Name of Judas (for me) that sets too high a value upon this glittering insignificant Lumber of the World, and dares grasp at more than an Honourable Maintenance, which the Scripture allows, but our Prefacer seems to deny. 'Twas one main scope of the Evangelical Writings, to extinguish in us an inordinate Love of all Earthly Things; and so long as the Primitive Fervours did remain, all such unchaste and idolatrous Desires were restrained and mortified: But when the love of the World began to be advanced to an undue pitch, the love of God was proportionably abated, and the mystery of Godliness was quickly changed into the Mammon of Iniquity. When the Episcopal Office, which was at first accounted a degree of Martyrdom, was baited with Honours and Wealthy Accommodations, it became the more dangerous thereby; and though some good Men foresaw the Temptation, and declined the Charge, yet others, we find, could not be so perfectly consecrated as to apprehend it. And as Riches increased so did men's Affections too; till (as Platina himself tells us) The Church was defaced with riotous Pomp, and sordid Luxury; it looked more like a dissolute Wanton than the holy Spouse of Christ: Nay, to so prodigious a height was the Ecclesiastical Grandeur advanced towards the latter end of the 4 th'. Century, that it gave occasion to this Sarcastical Saying of a heathen Consul, Make me but Bishop of Rome, and I will straight turn Christian.  
And now the days of darkness were at hand, when the Roman Clergy, however illiterate (according to the mode and genius of the Times) wanted not subtlety to advance their secular Designs: Several gainful Articles were invented, Canons were forged, and Donations pretended, to promote the Royal Splendour of the Church, and abett the Pope's unlimited Jurisdiction.  
But do our English Clergy hold any mere pecuniary Doctrines, honorary Articles, or chargeable Propositions? If our Author will be so hardy to assert this, and so acute to prove his Assertion, I do solemnly promise, That (by way of Penance and Mortification for my Mistake,) I will get all Mr. P— n's and Mr. B— r's Books by heart; a task not to be performed standing upon one leg, and when 'tis done, cannot much improve the Christian or the Scholar.  
Therefore, whatever degeneracy of this kind may be found among some few (which ought not certainly to reflect upon the whole Order) must be ascribed to an unhappy particularity of Temper, to the weaknesses of Old Age, or some other such like Infirmity; when the Intellectual Fire begins to grow weak and languishing, and the Divine Particle is almost overwhelmed. For (to speak in the stile of the Learned Annotator upon Lux Orient.) The Constitution of Youth, in those that have not an unhappy Nativity, is far more Heavenly and Angelical, than that of more grown Age, in which the Spirit of the world is more usually awakened; men than begin to be wholly intent to get Wealth and Riches, to enlarge their Interests by the friendship of great Persons, and to hunt after Dignities and Preferments, Honours and Employments in Church and State: And so those more heavenly and divine Sentiments through difuse, and the presence of more filling Impressions are laid asleep, and their Spirits thickened and clouded with the gross Fumes and Steams that arise from the desire of earthly things; and it may so fall out, if there be not special care taken, that this mud which they have drawn in by their corpse Desires, may come to that opaque hardness and incrustation, that their Terrestrial Body may prove a real Dungeon, and cast 'em into an utter oblivion of their chiefest concerns in another State.  
If that sacred Character, which adorns and distinguishes the Profession of the Clergy, weigh little with our Prefacer; yet, methinks, that Knowledge which (as will appear anon) does a little distinguish 'em from the generality of Canting Travellers, should awe him into some degree of deference and respect: If he were actually as deep a Padder in Politics as he would seem, he would fear to affront an Order of Men, the meanest of which could give him just occasion to hang down the head, to blush, and to look sillily. But we find by daily experience, that as there is a Superiority of Education and Wit, as well as of Authority; so 'tis as natural to sordid and illiterate Wretches to run atilt against their Betters in Understanding, as 'tis to others to despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities.  
Here let the generous Reader give me leave to make a stand a while, and complain a little of the hard Fate of Learning in this Age: Suppose a Man has entertained and polished his Mind and rational Faculties with the Works of those Ancients, that rescued and preserved their natural Reason and Religion, amidst all the wildnesses of Pagan Darkness and Coufusion (such as Orpheus, Homer, Euripides, AEschylus, Menander, Xenophon, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Hierocles, and others,) together with all the Divine and Perfective Discourses of Cicero, Seneca, Virgil, Horace, and the rest of the Grecian and Roman Poets and Philosophers; let him add to all these the Pious and Seraphical Discourses of the Fathers; be able to recite and confute all Heresies from Nicholas and Cerinthus, Carpocrates and Valentinus, successively down to the times of John a Leyden, and all the rest of our Modern Innovators: Nay, though he comprehend all the Rarities and Treasures of the Vatican, the Escurial, the Ambrosian, Florentine, and Bodleian Libraries; yet that very wretch, whose Politics and Reading never raised him higher than the D●or of Hope, Poor Man's Cup, God's loud Call, A Token for Children, The Morning Seeker, None-such Charles, The assembly's Works, Scotch Psams, and the Account of DENMARK; shall start up as Grand a Resolver of Cases, expounder of dark Texts, confounder of Heresies, and modeller of States, as the most celebrated Oracle of Divinity or Law: Nay, a confident Traveller, by virtue of a hard Forehead, a set of Stories and Legerdemain of the Pen, shall on a sudden transform the most Excellent Body of Men, into a loose pack of Worldlings, and silly graceless Professors.  
Pref. Had these Countries, whilst they were free, committed the Government of their Youth to Philosophers instead of Priests, they had, etc.  
This Passage, if considered in its just and proper connexion and dependence, seems only to relate to the ill management of the Jesuitical Priesthood: But I am fully persuaded by Reasons obvious enough, that he designs here to stab the Canonical Priesthood in general; and that he would be thus understood by common and injudicious Readers. 'Tis hard and ill fencing with an Enemy that looks asquint; and such a Character is truly applicable to a great part of this rambling Preface. This sort of doubtful or double meaning has done far worse execution than the double Sword of the Bishops, which this tender Gentleman seems so much afraid of; and while some white eyed Jugglers have been railing and making faces against Antichrist, and the Man of Sin; The Church of England has fallen a designed, as well as unlamented Sacrifice. And here I shall observe, That our Prefacer is not only affectedly Vain and Romantic in his Projections, but commits unhappy Blunders in the management of 'em too: The two choice things which he chiefly seems to adore, and exalt above the King and every thing that is sacred, are the Commonalty and Old Philosophers; yet the former, even of these, he exposes upon the Stage, acting like Madmen out of a Principle of punctilious Baseness: and to render 'em the more contemptible and ridiculous, he shuffles them and the Clergy into one foolish and revengeful Plot, A Plot! to undo themselves and their Posterity. Account, pag. 49. 50. The latter, while he pretends to celebrate their Virtues, he represents as a vile Rout of Libertines and Atheists; For, says he, speaking of the Philosophers,  
Pref. Sometimes they made use of pious Cheats, as Elysian Fields, and an assurance of future Happiness, if they died in the cause of their Country; and even deceived their Hearers into greatness.  
Here again the Poet seems more ingenuous, and a better Religioso of the Two: For  
In Pious Times ere Priestcraft did begin.  
Supposes some Golden Age of Innocence, antecedent to all grave and oracular Impostures of this kind: But our Politician, I fear, has been dealing with Mr. Hobbs.  
Such pretty and acquaint Sayings are neither better nor worse than a dull insipid Reflection upon the Ancients; for the belief of a future State and Rewards is universally imprinted on the minds of all mankind, the Multitude as well as Philosophers: The Descriptitions of 'em are indeed fanciful and various; we read of the Isles of the blessed Souls in Plato, of the Fields of Elysium in H●mer; but an assurance of future Happiness to those that died well, was no pious Cheat of the Pagan Mystae, but the natural and universal suffrage of all Ages.  
Zamol●●s was a famous Lawgiver among the Thracians; He had been a Traveller indeed; but was likewise a Philosopher, bred up under Pythagoras: Upon his return home, he made many good and agreeable Laws and Sanctions for the better regulation and conduct of human Life; adding withal, That if the people industriously adhered to 'em, they should pass out of this into the other invisible World, in which they should enjoy all manner of intellectual Joy and Satisfaction. This has ever been the Vote of Nations, and the common bent of the rational Frame of Man; and we need not fly to Confutius, and the polished Philosophers of China for discovery of that, of which the Histories of Japan and Mexico, of the most rude and uncivilised Nations may sufficiently inform us.  
'Tis surely ominous, in a more than ordinary sense, to play with Names and Persons that are sacred; The Heathen could observe, That they, who can do such things, intimate, if it were in their power, they would pull Jupiter out of his Throne: And 'tis eminently conspicuous, that to vilify the Priesthood, and depreciate Majesty, is but a lesser kind of Profaneness, and a suspicious Forerunner of downright Blasphemy and Atheism.  
Indeed 'tis a matter of Experimental Observation, that the mind of every Sinner at first is very delicate, soft, and impressive; and consequently sin must sit very burdensome and uneasy upon him, in that he contradicts his natural No●mata, and the distinguishing taste of good and evil, which he brought with him into the World: 'Tis no pleasant Harmony to hear the loud voice of Infamy and Reproach resounding and hallowing in his Ears; 'tis no easy thing to suppress the clamours of a guilty Conscience, which are a constant Herald proclaiming an avenging God unto his Soul: In this desperate Juncture, some method must be found out, either to mince the Evil, or to mitigate the pain some other way; for he cannot live at ease upon this Rack, he cannot lie down with this Vulture at his Bosom: The modish Entertainments of Music and Jovial Airs, are no everlasting Diversions; he must sometimes converse with Darkness and lonely Shades; and then a sharp and severe recollection is the sad Entertainment of his solitude and retirement: To tell him of Repentance and a penetrating sorrow for sin past, were but to wound him more; this austere Remedy of Evangelical Mortification is more unsupportable to him than the Disease: Having therefore resolved to gratify the belov'd Herodias of his Breast, some Charm or Stratagem must be attempted to bring the sinner to a reconcilement with himself: And having heard of a certain Philosopher that can stifle the Murmurs and Complaints of Conscience with wonderful Reasons and infallible Demonstrations; I say, having his mind thus tinctured with this pleasant conceit, he swallows down readily the Arcanums and Nostrums of this profound Oracle, and commences at once both his Proselyte and his Slave.  
And now he is arrived with infinite satisfaction at the School of Atheism, where he looks back with contempt upon the former Pedantry of his Gospel Education; he has shaken hands with his Bible (that holy Wheedle of Reverend Impostors) it may perhaps entertain his vacant and his sportive Intervals, but the L●viathan wholly engrosses his Devotion. Next, he's prepared to solve the Phaenomenon of the Heavens above, as well as the Government of the World here below, without the help of a superintendent Deity; he laughs at the Pious Cheats and Eutopian Stories of a new Heaven and a new Earth, and the fantastic Geography of a World to come; Tales as absurd as the Relations of a Pliny, or the Poetical Dreams of Elysium, and as impossible to Reason as the infinite Extramundane space of Epicurus, or the whimsical Discoveries of the Cartesian world. And what is Heaven, but a mere airy Figment and visionary Scene? To what end was it made, since we shall all be as though we had never been, and our Souls vanish into soft Air? Thus does the Libertine change all his Notions into the malignity of his Temper, the pravity of his Disposition. This is the true Account of his most exalted Faith, and a Summary of his Political Creed.  
So desperate is the Case of Religion and Reason, when Pride has crept into the Chair, or Affections sway the Sceptre; when a Man devotes himself to the Service of the World, no inbred Remonstrances of Conscience can affect, no Schools of Piety or Learning can reclaim him: he takes not up his Profession, upon any wise or good consideration, but upon some Principle of Interest, or false Punctilio of Honour, and so turns his Oratory into a Court or Exchange. His Religion is not properly an Act of his Soul, but the Exercise of his Body, the mere work and labour of his Nerves and Muscles: And as a late Critic has observed of a Poet among the Latins, that he seemed to side with all Sects, but was really of none: So will this trim Gallantill●e still close with that side which is most agreeably adapted to his design, and be of that Party that can ●id highest for his Soul.  
He frames his whole Life, as the Astronomer does his C●●lestial Schemes, according to his Hypothesis and Humour; while Conscience perhaps, like some goodly Intelligence, is placed as superintendent over all the Turnings and Revolutions of his Fancy: And when Interest is backed with this sacred Name, it becomes a thing of wondrous Vogue and Authority: It can say to this man, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he cometh; and to another Servant, Do this, and he doth it. He that considers things round about him, and observes a little these contracted Enormities of the Christian State, will be apt to compassionate the blind Devotions of those deluded Heathens, that gave Fortune an Apotheosis, that built Temples to Honour, and made Proteus a God.  
Our Prefacer takes a special and industrious care, while he exalts the venerable Name of Philosopher above that of Priest, to tell us, That the Ancients recommended ab●ve all things the duty to our Country, the preservation of the Laws, and the public Liberty; but invidiously conceals those honourable Titles, and Prerogatives given to Kings by Homer, Plato, and other famous Philosophers among the Greeks: To talk of the Honour, Duty, and Allegiance which we owe to Crowned Heads, is the business of slavish and mercenary Priests, and below the consideration of brave Republican Spirits, whose Talon is, to despise the smiles of Princes as well as their frowns, if they stand between them and their duty to their Country. Methinks he might have done well, if he had put among the Ancients (whose Opinions and Lectures he so highly magnisies) some of the Learned Fathers of the Church: Quem Deus elegit— and Dominus Dei Vice of Tertullian; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of Athenagoras, sounds well and musically to true Christian Ears, and would have helped to allay the harsher Notes of the great Rights of the People, (Pref.) and Voices of the Boors in Denmark. (Acc. p. 39)  
But since the Example and Authority of the Philosophers is owned to be so Canonical and Sacred, I could heartily wish our Politician and his Admirers, would consider a little their Noble Sentiments about the danger of Ambitious Erterprises, and Vanity of secular Greatness: This would help, perhaps, to lay some restraint upon the busy and mercurial Tempers of the Age, and check the pert Sallies, or impetus of their Blood and Spirits: Now, a consideration or prospect of the mutability and imperfection of secular Grandeur, induced the Philosophers to be grave and sententious, as well as the Poets to be satirical, upon this Subject: They looked upon the public business of the World, as too corpse and material for the abstracted Purity of their Thoughts, and likewise repugnant to that true serenity of Mind, wherein the height of Felicity does consist; and though some of 'em were willing to accept of the Goods of Fortune, if they chanced to fall in their way, yet they would not creep and fawn, or Adorare Vulgus, & projicere oscula (as Tacitus observes of Salvius Otho) in order to their advancement: They thought necessity might subject a man to these lower Offices of life, but never esteemed 'em as matter of choice, or any anxious pursuit. Accordingly we find 'em insisting copiously upon the dispraise of those little and fine things, which the world calls greatness; and some of the Platonists thought the whole Corporeal or visible World, by reason of its poor and diminutive Entity, beneath the search of elevated Understandings.  
There are many that account a glittering Title little less than an Apotheosis, and a long Train of Vassals, a kind of Glorification: And on the other side, there are those who think, that all this pomp and noise is but a glorious clog and burden to the Mind; that a multitude of Servants are rather Spies than Attendants, and not so properly Guards as Executioners; I think the latter is at least the more plausible Folly of the two; methinks there's a pleasant and delightful Harmony, beyond all the charming prettinesses of State, in this one Saying of Horace: 
— Nunc mihi curto  
Ire licet mulo vel, si linnet, usque Tarentum.   
For suppose a man exalted and fixed in a shining Orb, and, as he sancies himself, giving Light to others with his borrowed Glory; Behold the Man surrounded with all the State and Grandeur, which his hopes could propound or his ambition could desire: May we now salute him by the Name of Fortunate, call him Happy, or pronounce him great? No: The more he commands the more he is a Slave; he is a fettered Vassel to the Tyranny of his Lusts, and he is to be looked upon as a Malefactor bound in Chains: He feels a pain amidst all his gaudy Diversions, and wants that quiet and repose of Mind, which may be found in a shady and obscure Retirement; and that generous Poverty, those magnificent Rags, wherein true Honour and Honesty are enthroned, can supply the possessor with more durable Joys, and enravishing Satisfactions. For, beside the inconveniences and loss of time which attend this Station, his fears of futurity must dash his Enjoyments with some sharp allay; he has doubtless heard of the sad instability of humane Affairs, of their various Turns, and hasty Revolutions: Every slight proverbial Talk about the Inconstancy of Fortune, puts him into an Agony, and makes him tremble with foreboding Apprehensions: For how can he tell, but one day may put an end to his Consulship, and blast his Expectations with an inglorious Defeat?  
Plato had but three Servants, Epictetus but one, and Zeno lived without any: 'Tis recorded, to the Glory of Terentius Varro, That he refused the Dictorship; and 'twas thought an excellent Example in Horace, that he could industriously decline Honours in the days of Augustus. He that has got the Command of his own time, and the happy liberty of thinking, enjoys a more valuable Empire than Antony fought for, or Caesar himself enjoyed. As he is not confined by Time, so he is not not circumscribed by place; and nothing bounds his soaring thoughts, but Eternity. Certainly, Tranquillity is the only true Settlement attainable in this life; the Furniture of the Mind is the brightest Wealth and Magnificence; and He has gained the most honourable Employment, that has enriched his Understanding with glorious Ideas, and useful Notices of Things.  
I had rather contemplate Aristotle in the Lyceum with the Sceptre of Philosophy in his hand, and the Crown of Wisdom on his head, than see him shining in the Court of Macedon. Anacharsis, Emp●docles, and the Milesi●n Thales, were known indeed to have an illustrious Descent; but they are famous among Posterity only for their Wisdom, Ovid was born to an ample Inheritance and Fortune, but commenced Immortal only by his Wit. The Poet Pindar was more highly reverenced than all the Families of Thebes; and amidst the devastation that twice befell that City, his house alone (as if it had been a sacred Temple) was inviolably preserved; and the divine Plato is more justly celebrated for the sweetness of his Philosophy, than for being descended of the Race of S●lon, and the Family of the Codri. Demetrius Phalerius had more Statues erected to him (for his Eloquence) than any great Captain or Hero of his Age; and we have another illustrious instance of this kind in Georgias Lcontinus, Father of the Sophists; who (as Philostratus notes) at any Grand Assembly of the Greeks, was used to offer to discourse, with an extemporary facility upon any Subject given: And this he could perform with equal pertinency too, to the surprise and astonishment of all that heard him. And for this he had a Golden Statue erected in the Temple of Apollo; a Dignity which no Man arrived to before his time.  
And as the Philosophers acquired an Immortality to themselves, so they gave a kind of Reputation and Lustre to their Kindred and Acquaintance too: 'Twas an Honour heretofore to a Gentleman to have been at Athens, and conversed with the Grecian Sages: Olorus had not been remembered by Posterity, but for his Son Thucydides; and Seneca observes, That the name of Sophronischus had been buried in oblivion, but for his Son Socrates. Nor had Aristo and Gryllus been known to after Ages, if it had not been for Xenophon and Plato.  
Pref. Germany was freer than any other part of Europe, till at length 'twas Lorded by Captains, which (in process of time grew Princes and Electors) and by Bishops with Temporal Authority, who may thank Charles the Great (a very bigoted Prince) for their double Sword of Flesh and Spirit. And again, They (speaking of the Clergy) have cast off the Opinions of Rome, in the Supremacy of the Pope and other Points; but they would retain the Grandeur belonging to that Church, and applaud us for doing both so dexterously. Account, cap. 16. p. 230.  
This is all over the exact Genius and Spirit, and almost the very stile of a brokenhearted Covenanting Brother; as will appear to any that shall peruse the Sayings of the great Lights o'th' Church, or new Reformation, 1641. etc. Nay, if I well remember, the Sweet-singers of Billingsgate canted in this Tune, and much after the same manner: 
The Oyster-women locked their Fish-up,  
And trudged away to cry no Bishop.   
Here is a strong mixture of Ignorance, and Ill-manners; nor is it easy to determine, which is the most predominant Ingredient. Every Prince, it seems, that is zealous for the Honour of the Church and Clergy, is with him an half-witted Bigot (and consequently not fit to Govern,) and every Modern Prelate and Usurper. Nothing does more daisy envious and weak Eyes than Ecclesiastic Splendour, and a peaceable flourishing Condition of the Church: He could make, no question, as bold a stroke at the Picture of Constantine himself, upon occasion; and I shall venture to tell him, That he has already libelled most of the Courts and Governments of Europe: For the European Princes, upon the the first entertainment of the Evangelical Codes, admitted the Episcopal Order into their Courts of Judicature; so does Adam Bremensis particularly speak in Relation to the State of Denmark; Starovolscius of Poland; Loccenius of Sweden; Hin●m●r and Bignonius of France; The Toletane Councils of Spain; and Arumaeus a Germane (a much better Lawer and Protestant than our Prefacer) speaking of Bishops sitting in the Diets, both as Prelates and Princes, commends the Wisdom and Justice of that Constitution, in relation to true Polity, and safety of Religion: Indeed, the imperial Constitutions, before the Papacy began, give allowance to Bishops to be Judges in Civil Causes, as well as Ecclesiastical; which, I presume, laid the Foundation of this sort of Episcopal Rights and Jurisdiction; and all Donations and Favours of this kind from Princes in After-Ages, were only a glorious Transcript of this Original.  
The Prefacer seems to have espoused the Doctrine of the Leviathan (part 3. cap. 47.) where Mr. Hobbs endeavouring to overthrow Christ's Kingdom in this world, represents that Notion as a design or artifice of the Roman Clergy, to support their secular Greatness: But how Christ's Kingdom upon Earth should be a Popish Imposture to advance ambitious Ends, when this Doctrine was first preached by our Saviour himself, afterwards by his immediate Disciples, and propagated by succeeding Apostolical Men in the Ages of Persecution; is a mysterious Riddle which I cannot comprehend. But this State of Affliction was not to be perpetual and unalterable; for when Kings should become Nursing Fathers of the Church, the Evangelical Priesthood was to make a more Glorious Figure in the World: St. Peter mentions a Royal Priesthood; and this is so far from carrying a new and surprising sound to the more rational part of Mankind, that it has been ever owned by the more polished and civilised Nations. Among the Romans, the Pontifices were carried in a Chariot of State to the Capitol, and were allowed to interpose in matters of Polity, and civil Concernment, as well as of Religion; as Cicero speaks at large in his Oration for his Ho●se.  
Among the Babylonians and Egyptians (as Josephus writes in his Tract against Appion; and which I would have the Author of the Account of Denmark particularly observe,) there were none thought worthy to be honoured and entrusted with the Office of an Historian, but the those of the Sacerdotal Character: Every peddling Observator was not then thought fit to communicate the Actions of Princes and brave Men, or recommend the Examples of Heroe's to Posterity: To give an Account of t●● vast Affairs of State, the Revolutions of Governments, the various turns of Providence in the advancement, declination and fall of Empires, and of great Personages; to discern the more hidden Springs, the private Walks, and all the Masques of Villainy; to trace fallen Virtue through the Cloud and Veil, to distinguish nicely betwixt the Prosperous and Brave, the Bad and the Unfortunate, was thought a task that required a great and unwearied industry, a penetrating Judgement, a sublime Learning, an impartial Reason, and other extraordinary Accomplishments in the Undertaker. But now each Youthful or Grey-headed Pedant aspires to the Historical Faculty; 'tis but rambling a little about the Globe, casting his eyes around, and travelling till he is tired; and then he shall lie down, fall into Dreams and Visions, and rise up an illuminated Historian in a moment: and not contented to take the Office out of the Rightful Hands, he fancies it to be his peculiar Province to expose the Sacred Office to contempt, and ridicule the Priesthood; like the Evil Spirit that perpetually haunts him; he seeks, but can find no rest: And that worm of impertinence that is got into his Brain, can never lie still, till the whole Nation's disturbed by its wriggling.  
Secondly, Another preparatory Step towards the carrying on an Antimonarchial Project, is making a senseless pother and noise about Tyranny and Arbitrary Power: For the people are governed by Names, and the power of Words, and seldom see beyond the surface of things; and any little J●ggling Politician, can, in the view of the people, make an unfortunate Sally, an involuntary Tax, or some other trivial Digression, appear ● terrible advance towards Tyranny, and absolute Dominion. This was heretofore the Logic of the Saints as well as of Gottam) to uplift the Good Cause in the days of Regeneration; and to show, how good Wits can jump upon occasion, I shall set down the very words, nay, the Heart and Soul of the Prefacer●  
Pref. Good Learning, as well as Travel is a great Antidote against the Plague of Tyranny.— The Heroe's celebrated in the Books of the Ancients are for the most part such, as had destroyed or expelled Tyrants.—  
Good Learning indeed (which the Prefacer wants) is an Antidote against all Immorality; against Hypocrasy, Impudence, Calumny, and Treason, as well as Tyrannical Dominion; and I wish, that Travel had always proved a Preservative against Schism, and (which now walks in darkness) the Pestilence of Rebellion. I know not what Notion of Tyranny he entertains, nor what use he intends to make of his own Maxims: With some a King and Tyrant are equivalent Names; but at present 'tis not his proper business to distinguish or define. When a kinder season or opportunity shall give the Alarm, he may, if he pleases, draw Daggers, Pistols, Swords, Guns, and all the Artillery of Death, out of such licentious Suggestions. As for my own part, I am much more afraid of the smug and plausible Names of a Free People, and the precious Jewel Liberty, than at all his clutter and noise about a Double Sword, a Bigoted Prince, Tyranny and slavish Opinions. Our puissant Prince has yet given no Reason for such ungenteel and sordid suggestions; and 'tis a crooked piece of intolerable Insolence to be perpetually playing thus with hard Names, to hover aloof in Amusements and Generalities, because he dares not yet come to particulars; to lie shrugging, spawling, and making mouths (in the very face of Majesty) for want of a little more courage to speak plain. A little more of this artificial Thunder, may make the people believe, that they shall not carry a whole skin to their Graves, nor be permitted to walk uncroped along the Streets.  
Were his Majesty as truly absolute and despotical as an ●astern Monarch, or were his mere Sovereign unaccountable Will, the Standard of all his Actions (a Province to which his Genius seems not to incline him,) yet I should rather choose to live under his protection, than under the imaginary Freedom of the purest popular State.  
Fallitur● Egregio quisquis sub Principe credit  
Servitium; nunquam libertas Gratior extat  
Quam sub Rege pio.—  
All Kings are intrinsically limited and bounded by the eternal laws of Right Reason; and are under a more immediate influence and direction of the Deity they represent: They must be wilfully and unaccountably wicked indeed, before they can quite forfeit the oversight and care of those Tutelary Angels that attend 'em from their Birth; and when they have done so, no wonder if there is nothing so unlovely or impious, which they canno readily commit. This was the case of Nero, and other persecuting Emperors; who in the hands of God, were the Real Whips and Scourges of Mankind; and yet, as bad they were, I Believe, they have been overcharged by some Historians, who, under pretence of Liberty, and to please a Party, have written perhaps as licentiously, as the other liv'd● Under Titus and Aurelius and other Emperors of the same Stamp and Complexion, there was more security and freedom among the Romans, than in the cried up Popular State; and even at this day, some of the Eastern Kings (if Travellers o'th' better Strain may be Believed) demean themselves with true Political decorum towards their Subjects, whose prerogative 'tis, as well as Duty, to Obey.  
But when the People bear Sway, and the multitude decree justice; what true settlement can be hoped for under Governors so wild and uncertain? what lasting security even in the midst of ease? what Liberty or freedom in the midst of Fears, and distracting apprehensions of Things? The People, while they move in their proper Sphere, and are instructed how to obey, may perform their office regularly and well enough, like other ordinary parts of the Creation; and 'tis principally the fault of designing Politicians, if they are debauched from their due Allegiance, which is their undoubted Privilege and Glory: But if once they are drawn up into the Element of authority and power, what Confusions, Storms, and Earthquakes must they raise? Nature is quite untuned by the discords which they create, and the intellectual World groans under their Government and Fury.  
What precious and Brave times should we see again, if a John of Leyden should start out of his grave and set up for a King? or Kett a Tanner should Lord it dapperly among us? ●●● a Bedlam should ●● h●ve ●●● (●●●●s a Learned and good Historian) if the inferior Ru●●icks of Kent, Essex, etc. ●nder Wat Tyler a Tailor, Jack Straw, and other such low born Chieftains, h●d pr●●●● against King Richard the ●●●, who endeavoured to destroy the King, Nobility and Clergy; extirpate all Learning, and overthrow all Government, by their levelling Humours? for which purpose, t●ey murdered all Persons of Quality, which fell into their Clutches, if not of their Society; burnt and destroyed the best Houses in London, and had so little respect of Persons, that every Slave amongst them, would sport themselves upon the King's Bed, and impudently invite the King's Mother to kiss with them, whose He●d they also broke in a Tyrannising Frolic: And that their villainy might be complete by a Bloody Sacrilege, they took Simon Tibald, Archbishop of Canterbury, and in their Devilish Fury, by eight Mangling Strokes, cut off his Head; and for more Infamy, set it upon London-bridge.  
The Rebellious Mobb in Valentia heretofore, designed to destroy all the Gentry; which made a poor Woman in the same City, seeing some Gentleman go by, show 'em to her Children; Telling them withal, when you come to be Men, you may say you have seen Gentlemen.  
The worst and rankest Effluvium's do not strike more ungratefully upon the Organs of Sense, than Moral good upon the highest and Noblest Faculties of the People: Madness is their Character upon sacred and inviolable Records Their Minds are so Tinctured with false Ideas, corrupt Hypotheses, undue apprehensions, and fantastical Images of things, that they scarce retain (when bewildered with Dreams and Visions of Original Power) the common rudimental Principles of Humane Nature: The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or notices of Moral Beauty and Deformity, are perfect strangers to their Being's; tell them, if equals be substracted from Equals, what remains must be equal, and you may be in danger of being arraigned for a dealer in Art-magick: what the eyes of Bats and Owls are with respect to the Light, such are their minds in reference to Justice, Gentility, and good Manners; and whosoever pretends to entitle 'em to Grand Rights, Immunities, and Superiority; must do it by that Figure, by which Idiots and Madmen are under the actual Sanction of no Law.  
Pref. In Russia and Muscovy the Government is as Tyrannical, as in any of the more Eastern Monarchies; the Priests there have very much contributed to make it so. To the end, that the People may be kept in the requisite temper of Obedience, none are permitted to Travel upon pain of Death, except such as have special Licence, lest such Travellers should see the Liberty of other Nations, etc.  
Gravely! and Goodly! I find our Prefacer loves Perseverance as well as the best Covenanting Saint among'em all. I warrant, he could hold forth against Priests and Tyrants a whole week together for the Edification of a Free People; and before he has time to cool (if his power ●●● equal to his opinion) he would find in his heart to finish 'em all at a Blow.  
But the ca●e of Russia and M●sc●vy, is not the case of England; nor is the State of Denmark the condition of our Nation: And why either of 'em should be so industriously touched upon at this time, seems to carry more with it of Design than Curiosity: O! but the grand Duke of Muscovy is such a cruel and unnatural Father of his Country, that he will not give Licence to all his Children to Travel! This is a lamentable story in good earnest, and touches in a tender and sensible part, when a Child has a mind to play the Truant abroad, or a rambling Fancy shakes him by the Crown. But may it not be worth our while to make a short Enquiry, before we pronounce rashly in this matter, whether this hard Treatment be the mere effect of a sullen and crabbed Humour in the Father, or occasioned by the undutiful Deportment of his Sons, which may have forced the Old Gentleman to this seemingly undecent severity. Now 'tis plain to any man, that has made some inspection into the Affairs of Muscocovy, that the people of that Country are as great affectors of new Schemes and Innovations, as some half-witted Zealots in other parts of the World: And therefore to give leave, without the least exception, to travel to all parts (but especially to Denmark) might be a matter of fatal importance to the Public; though I could name an Author that has Forehead enough to deny it. This various and unquiet Temper of the Muscovitish people, has obliged the Great Duke to put a restraint on Preaching as well as Travelling, and to correct the Follies and Exorbitances of the Pulpit. For when it grew manifest, that by a free and popular use of Sermons, men's Hearts were inflamed, Errors were advanced, and the Government began to suffer by such Disorders; he obliged all Priests to a set number of Homilies of the Greek and Latin Fathers, translated faithfully into the Russian Language; which are to be read without the least diminution or addition of their own; and this course I find applauded by some as an eminent instance of his Wisdom and good Policy.  
Our Prefacer makes a mighty wonderment and noise about the rare effects of Travelling into Foreign Countries; as if the main Excellence and Qualification of a Gentleman consisted in viewing the Imperfections or Extravagancies of some Governments, and the agreeableness of others, and telling Romantic Stories upon a return home. No Pilgrim that ever footed it to Loretto, or zealously trudged to Jerusalem, was ever half so proud of his Performances and hard Labours: I own, that men of a good Bottom and Education, or of fixed or solid Brains, such as may be bred and qualified in our Universities, (where, as he notes, Travelling Fellowships are established,) may possibly make good Discoveries abroad, and happily reap much cultivation and improvement: Nay, many of our Gentry, after spending their time and some Wealth abroad, have made, I believe, a bright and considerable Figure in our Senate.  
But every man at thirty or forty years of Age is not fit to be trusted abroad without a Governor: For the Generality that make a sally through the World, run into Pedantic, or ingenious whimsies at best; rather gratify their fancies, than improve their understandings; they go out blockheads, and returns Fops; the Ignorance of the one is homebred and plain, in the other 'tis a little Embroidered; and I know no great material difference (in point of Eminency) betwixt the one and the other: And tho' it may seem a necessary provision, that some Select Persons should be Devoted to this employment, yet our main felicity and Consolation consists in this, that we have Schools of Learning and Polite Education at home, equal to the best in Europe: and here let the Prefacer tell me (if he dare) upon what account our Nobility and braver part of ●ur Gentry, whose Education is domestic and yet universal, who have lived always at home, yet have seen all the World in Books and the best Conversation, are inferior to the most accomplished Travellers or Courtiers? let him tell me, if he can, wherein they may not vie with the most Celebrated Personages of Athens and Old Rome; in Learning, Bravery, and an exact decorum, or true Politeness of manners? Among these we meet with a gay freedom, a generous Charity, a Triumphant Compassion, Sweetness, and Affability; Noble Friendships, and a Victorious Constancy; a true Philosophical greatness of mind, and yet a cheerful Subjection to their Prince: And what more can be desired to make up the real Ornaments and accomplishment of Humane Nature? such Illustrious Personages as these appear like Being's of some Superior Order among the vulgar magnified part of mankind: Such were some of the Ancient and Brave Romans, who were most Lovely and Pleasant in their Lives, and at last sedate and composed in Death itself: Such were many of the Platonic Order, whose affable Deportment, Justice and Benignity, rendered 'em the delight and admiration of all about 'em: Such was Plato himself, who had all the Charms and Delicacies of a pleasant Wit, the sweet uncommon Graces of Conversation, excelling all in the Court of Dionysius; and after a long life elegantly acted (as the Roman Orator words it) breathed out his quiet and pacifical Soul in a steady Contemplation.  
The Prefacer owns, That Travelling has hitherto been so mischievous, that 'tis well it has been so little in fashion. (What he affirms, I shall prove by and by, though in a different way from his meaning and intention.) The most common return is an affected foppishness, or a filthy Disease, for which they sometimes exchange their Religion. (I shall tell him presently which way Religion has been principally endangered by Travelling; and shall plainly show, That some Religious Affectations, and Diseases of the Brain, and Mind (introduced this way) have been of more dangerous and pernicious importance to us, than all the French Fashions and modish rottenness of the Bones) Travelling seems as necessary to one who desires to be useful to his Country, as, etc. Enter Reason; Such worthy men as are employed abroad, may bring home generous Notions of Liberty, and make admirable Remarks on the contrary State; which being inculcated from the Pulpit, and enforced by the Learned Arguments of Able Divines, must needs overthrow those servile Opinions, which of late have been too much backed by God's Authority, almost to the Ruin of a Free People. Good Sir● Circumstantio, I beseech you, hold a little: My head has ached almost an hour with the noise and rattle of such Jargon and Impertinence: Therefore now to get a little breathing space, I shall put an end to this Dispute about Travelling. Here we have before us a true Platform of our Author's Grand Design; together with an exact delineation of the manner and conduct of the Villainy, through all its steps and gradations. This was the darling method which the Rabbi's of the Separation used heretofore, to new plant the Gospel, and to pull down the High Places of the Church and Monarchy together. The Project was first set on foot by English and Sc●t●h Travellers; who having unhappily sojourned a while at Franckfort, and in the strange Land of Geneva; became bewitched at length with the Charms of a New Discipline: Upon a return home, they made such a pother with Fantastical Notions of Liberty, and such pert Remarks upon the Admirable Constitutions of the English Church, that the whole Nation soon rang with the Jingle of Reformation: Innovations, Grievances, & disobedience to Rulers, were inculcated from the Pulpit, and the multitude rendered uneasy both to their Governors and themselves, by calumnies, scruples, and such like Arguments of good and able Divines. The Authority of Magistrates was blasted and run down, by the fair and specious pretensions of a Free People; and Christian Loyalty, patience, and submission, were quiet dashed out of Countenance by the horrible outcry of dangerous and Slavish Opinions. Never was any black and infamous project so graduated along with good names; nor the power of Godliness so stifled with inward suggestions of the Spirit.  
The Ring Leaders of the Faction drew the Rabble after them with the Hallowed Whistle of Conscience and Inspiration; with prayers unmerciful, elevation of hands and voice, and eyes lifted up to Heaven; while their hearts were fixed on Sacrilege and Rapine (that Inheritance of the Saints) and other Creature Comforts here below. The tickling of wanton and itching Ears, was called touching the Conscience; and he was thought the fittest Champion to Sacrifice Antichrist to the Beasts of the Field and Fowls of the Air, that could boldly and fluently utter the most edifying Nonsense. They caught the simple, even all the Sons and Daughters of the Separation, with the Witchcraft of Rebellion at last; as once a Pied Piper drew Children after him, with the unaccountable strains of Magic and enchantments: And after they had run through the various Stages of Heterodoxy and Schism, Liberty and Insurrection, Profaneness and Blasphemy, Plunder and Devastation; they Completed their Reformation in the ruin of the Church and State; the depression of the Nobility, Selling the Gentry for Slaves, the exaltation of Sovereign Mob, and the Murder of the best of Princes.  
I do verily Believe, (and surely the Black Annals of those unhappy times have put it beyond all question) that if all the Religious Barbarities and Executions, which were Acted by those, who are now Sainted up to Everlasting Rest, and, as it were, conjured to Heaven by the Republican Chaplains of those times; if all the Consequences too, under which the whole Reformation groans at this very day, could be represented at once unto the view; 'twould be the most sad and astonishing sight, the most Tremendous Object of Horror and Compassion, that ever Eyes beheld; and would easily convince us, that our Travellers and Reformers did not Copy the Example of him who was meek and lowly; and who came not to destroy Men's lives but to save 'em.  
Thirdly, Another bold step towards pulling down Monarchy, is venting strange Oracles, and a great deal of Hallowed Gibberish about the vast Rights, Power and Privileges of the People, public Liberty, King Killing Doctrine, etc. for instance, When Magistrates cease to do their Duties, God giveth the Sword into the People's Hands; for a Portion of the Sword of Justice belongs to the multitude. Dang● Posit. Parliaments are the People's Servants, the King and all other Magistrates are so too— if they break their trust, they may punish 'em according to desert, and turn 'em out of Service; Mene Tekel. What had we got if the Prelatical Party had been set up?— Bondage of our Estates, Liberty and Consciences. Burroughs, 164●. Draw this Arrow, as Jehu did against Jehoram: Green. 1644. Let us be active against the Kings and Princes of the Earth, those Claws of the Cruel Beast. Feak. 1653.  
I hope, my Prefacer and Author of the Account will not fail me here, in this Grand Point, out of a Formal and affected Modesty: No, we are told, that once upon a Time, Denmark was Governed by a King chosen by the People of all sorts, nay, even the Boors had their voices, Acc. p. 39  
He might have added out of Saxon Grammaticus' Account (Dan. Hist. lib. 10.) A certain Story of a Bear that fell in Love with a Female, got her into his Den, enjoyed her, and begot a Son, from whom descended many Northern Kings; if he had also vouchsafed to mention the Favourable neighing of a Horse, which led the way to the Royal solemn inauguration of Darius; it had been almost as applicable and pertinent in this Case. All which I mention, because we are told in Pref. Every one ought to know how great the Rights of the People were very lately in the Elective Kingdoms of Sweden and Danmark. As if, in order to carry on the Grand Intrigue, the lowest of the People amongst us ought to assume the same Rights: But he goes on.  
Pref. The Estates of the Realm being convened to that intent, were to Elect for their Prince such a Person, etc. p. 1.  
This looks like a Lucid Interval in our Author; & I would trust him alone, if I knew he could stop here: But I find that good humour is as short and vanishing with him, as Frenzy is with more Sweet and happy Complexions. Nay he's grown more furious and implacable than he was before; as if he had retreated to rally with the greater force; for see how he raves and hectors on a sudden.  
If after such a choice they found themselves mistaken, and that they had advanced, a cruel, vicious, Tyrannical, Covetous, or wasteful Person; they frequently deposed him, oftentimes banished, sometimes destroyed him— (nay) if grown too powerful to be Legally contended with, they dispatched him without any more Ceremony, the best way they could, Acc. p. 41.  
Now add to his the precedent Remark, viz. Every one ought to know etc. And the whole carries with it a pretty stabbing Emphasis; a brave Heroical Suggestion, becoming the Dignity & Grandeur of a Freeborn Subject, that owes small manners and Allegiance to his Prince.  
'Tis certainly a very bitter ill natured cur, that growls while he is fed; and 'tis more than common insolence and ingratitude, and less than Irish civility in our Author; to give such spiteful and encouraging Innuendo's: What Prince or Person (especially if he be stamped with a sacred Character) can we suppose to have such a commanding Aspect, but some will brand him with the name of Cruel, Vicious, Wasteful, Covetous, or Tyrannical? We have Men among us, whom a Moses would exasperate; a David would disoblige; and who are too wise in their own conceits, to be Governed by a Solomon: Nay, should our Saviour descend again, and bless the World with his presence; we want not those who would revile his person, despise his Office, and applaud his Crucifixion.  
Pref. The Books that are left us of the Ancients are full of Doctrines, Sentences, and Examples, exhorting to the conservation or recovery of the public Liberty.  
Here he would fain shelter himself again under the authority of the Ancients; who (as I have shown before) have already turned him out of their Society, for his Insufficiency and false Accusations. The Ancients ne'er dreamt of such a Liberty as he would inculcate; sinceed was the main design of their Philosophy, to curb all irregular sallies of our Nature, and bound our Appetites with a prudential restraint. Public Liberty in the mouth of a Flaming Enthusiastic Zealot, is, like a naked Sword in the hands of a Lunatic Brother, dangerous and destructive; and the one should no more be trusted alone without a limitation, than the other without a Scabbard. 'Tis a Licence to Kick, By't, Swear, and play the Libertine through all the various Scenes of carnality and lust; to be Covetous, and (what's worse) to Rebel for Conscience-sake, Write Treason Directly or Indirectly, and cheat our neighbour with a zealous twinkling of the Eye, or in saying of a Prayer. He that is Freeborn, is likewise born in a State of Subjection to Laws; and though by his Birthright he's Entitled to certain Privileges and Civil Rights, yet he is also Entitled to some certain measures of obedience, as he's a Subject: And whosoever talks so loftily of the one, and industriously conceals the other; does but abuse the Multitude into dangerous Sentiments, with a nonsensical jingle of Words; and is so far from being a True English Politician, that he's a downright shuffling Impostor.  
Again, though the Conservation of Public Liberty (which he so feelingly talks of) may admit a soft and easy Interpretation; yet to talk of the Recovery of it at this time (as if it were totally lost) seems to carry with it an ill-natured Republican Sound, such as can strike musically upon none but the Long-eared Rout, as the Comic Poet describes 'em. But to proceed:  
Pref. Heroe's there celebrated are for the most part such, as had destroyed or expelled Tyrants; and though Brutus be generally declaimed against by Modern Schoolboys, he was then esteemed the true Pattern and Model of exact Virtue.  
I am so far from favouring the name of Tyrant, that I am almost sick and nauseated with the Repetition: I had rather He had told us some prodigious Tale of Sir Guy, Bevis, Garagantua, or Tom Thumb; such Romantic Raveries would have suited much better with the prerogative of a little Traveller; they had also done as much good to the public: But then (as he is cunning enough to discern) it seems, He had done less harm and execution. As to the Heroe's which he dotes on, and seems to admire, They were, some of 'em (like the celebrated Gods among the Heathens, or the Modern Saints in our New Martyrology,) the vilest and basest of Mortals; and fit only to be extolled by such a fulsome Orator as himself. I know but one Modern Hero that comes near him for blustering and proud Language; and that is the Great Almanzor in the Play, who in a vaunting stile describes himself after this manner: 
I am as free as Nature first made Man;  
ere the base Laws of Servitude began,  
When wild in Woods the Noble Savage ran.   
Seneca advises us, always to bear in our Minds the Idea of some Great Man, for whom we have a singular Veneration: And his Authority will help to fix and purify our Thoughts, and be a good Conductor of our Lives. Now some perhaps upon perusing this Direction, would have thought of the Divine Plato; others of Socrates, who (as Solinus, AElian, and Maximus Tyrius report,) was of a sweet and even Temper all his Life: But our Prefacer scorns to be confined within such narrow and ordinary Rules; or to soar so mean pitch. No less than Brutus, his beloved, magnanimous, the Brave and King-killing Brutus, must be his Guide and Director; He's the true Pattern and model of exact Virtue.  
Apuleius heretofore wrote in favour of an Ass, Sextus Empiricus in commendation of a Dog, Erasmus of Folly, Scaliger of a Goose, and Heinsius of a Louse, all which may pass for ingenious Extravagances, and Innocent Trials of an Exuberant Wit and Fancy: But to commend the action of Brutus, touching the Death of Caesar, is a Sally of a different Nature, Character and Consequence; and appears a flight beyond the Vanity of Cardan himself, who wrote a Panegyric upon Nero. We meet with but few, even among the Orators and Poets, Euthusiastical enough to justify this Act of Brutus; and they that have done so, had better eternally been silent; for it has left a Stain and Blot upon their Memories: Tho Milton (who durst say any thing in the perilous Times of Darkness and Usurpation) has made use of this instance to grace his Insolent Triumphs; yet R. F. (no great pretender to Modesty, or Assertor of Kingly Government) has not confidence enough to make the least Apology for the Fact, but exposes Cicero for his Justification of the Villainy: Adding withal, Had we nothing but the Sentiments of Philosophers to conduct us in our Loyalty, no Prince could be secure. Of Moral Virtue and Grace, p. 229.  
I must freely own, That I could never contemplate the Fate of Caesar, without a mixture of compassion, horror and detestation; I consider, that Men of the most bright and eminent Station and Character, have their Faults and Deviations; and then 'tis customary with mean and obnoxious persons, to make their invidious Remarks and Observations: If the lesser Lights digress, the world is little concerned; but should the Sun make a false step, the generality of Mankind would immediately fear a bad Omen and Desolation. But whatever faults lay mingled with Caesar's Virtues, Brutus must still be his equal; If Caesar was ambitious, Brutus was too aspiring: If Caesar was Tyrannical, Brutus was ungrateful; and therefore we have in him an Abridgement of all Iniquity. This celebrated Action was not the effect of Piety to his Country (the everlasting pretence of Villains in such cases) but of a wretched Pride, Popularity, and Affectation: In the Death of Caesar, at least, we may behold all the Lineaments of a Gallant and Brave Soul, while in the Action of Brutus we see nothing but cowardly Insult, and all the lamentable Marks of a grovelling and abject Spirit.  
Now, there is nothing gives a more deadly wound to a great and ingenuous Mind, than Desertion in time of Extremity, and a secret treacherous Blow, from the Party whom we love. They that have courted Danger in all its Images and Forms, and have been glad to meet an open generous Enemy in the Field; have grown pale, and trembled at the sight of a sneaking Adversary, under the false Colours of a Friend: This was the Case of Caesar at his last hour; when surrounded with Assassins of meaner Note, he struggled with 'em like a Lion in the Toil, and looked Great, as when he Thundered in the Field: But when Brutus at length, his unkind Brutus, joined with the Conspirators; when that Arm which ought to have been wielded in his Defence, was stretched forth against his life; The Great Man grew tame and feeble in a moment, & Ingratitude piereed deeper than all the Instruments of Death.  
But no wonder that he should espouse this Villainous Cause, who can sport himself with the names of Christian Kings, and trample upon the Ashes of our own Deceased Monarches: For he tells us, 'Tis a true, though but a Melancholy reflection, that our late Kings half undid us, and bred us up as narrow Spirited as they could— etc. Which piece of disingenuous cant, sounds like the Famous Raree Show, in which, one King is charged with, 
Fleecing England's Flocks,  
Long fed with bits and knocks, etc.   
Nor do I wonder that a man of his stern temper and complexion, should make so bold with the dead, since 'tis his Talon and Principle to bid defiance to living Princes, to despise their smiles and frowns, nay reproach and death itself, if they stand between him and what he shall call his Duty. All which is precisely Almanzor the Second part; for thus that extravagant and Tempestuous Bravo Vaunts it to a King's face: 
No man has more contempt than I of breath,  
But whence hast thou the power to give me Death?  
Obeyed as Sovereign by thy Subjects be,  
But know that I alone am King of me.   
There is certainly some Civil deference and submission due to Crowned Heads, though Kings should look angry and frown with a cause: 'Tis thought an excess even of Poetical Licence in Homer, that he represents Achilles saucy to his Superior, and despising the Smiles and Frowns of Agamemnon. The world must needs be growing to a fine pass, when a man, that's made up of Burlesque, Romance, Gallimaufry and Raree Show, shall set up for a Critic and Tutor to a whole Nation. As for my part, I am so far from thinking him fit or capable to Read Lectures of Policy for the improvement of the Community, that I cannot find he has made any tolierable Improvement of himself. I will as soon believe, that the whole Corporeal World in a wise Animal (as some of the Ancients conceived) as think him qualified to be Governor to a Prince. I see nothing in him like clear Intellectual preception; Imagination is the Noblest and Supreme faculty about him; his Wisdom is the mere effect of distemper, and his Solidity lies no deeper than his Scull. His Heroical flights are nothing but the Spleen; and the Height of his Puissance, like the courage of a Rat, consists in a depraved and irregular ferment of his Blood and Spirits; and I dare be bold to prophesy, if his Maxims succeed, that we must shortly make enquiry into Newgate and Bridewell for Free-Spirited Gentlemen, and ransack Bedlam for Hero's.  
Pref. 'Tis none of the smallest advantages which his Majesty has procured us by his accession to the Crown, that we now make a greater figure in the World than formerly.  
This look like a Wonderful change indeed; a conversion in an Instant: Yet all that I can gather from it is this, That Judas can still Kiss, despisers of Magistracy can still Address, the Jesuit can Fawn, and Whores and Pick-Pockets Embrace. 'Tis plain from what we have already said, that all this is Pageantry and Scorn, and not spoken out of a Loyal intention to his Majesty, but mere service to himself: For can he be a Friend to his present Majesty, that insists so studiously (and scurvily at this time) upon the people's Prerogative of dispatching Kings; and tells us Emphatically we ought to take notice of it? Can he be a Friend to his present Majesty, that by aspersing the Memories of wise and good natured Princes, libels even Monarchy itself? Can he be a good Subject, or Friend to Monarchy, that gilds o'er the memory of A. Sidney (that rare Arcadian Hero) that Died a Martyr for the Good Old Cause, by his own Dying confession; and urged a Fanatical Argument in its Defence? No: the Antimonarchical ears peep through the borrowed Skin; such a cloak as this is too trite and thin to hide the Republican Brother. So long as such loose Diabolical Principles are asserted with a magisterial air and haughtiness, and pressed with stabbing hints and innuendoes; the intermixtures, of a softer and finer dialect and phrase, will appear but Insignificant and Artificial nothings, like Faith and Grace in the days of Sequestration; and are no more to be valued than some treacherous Addresses to the late King, which were as truly base and infamous (if possible) as the Ancient vote of non Addresses to his Father.  
And here I might justly enough take occasion to lament the Fate, as well as admire the Glory of puissant and great Princes; whom a Symnel, or Jack-straw, a Prefacer, or daubing Historian may expose to infinite Hazards and Disturbances: Though they Govern their People with the mildness and clemency of Guardian Angels, yet they must not partake of their Divine Tranquillity; their Character is not always their Security, nor their Bravery their Protection. For suppose 'em adorned with all Royal Qualifications; with the Laws of Generosity, Punctilios of true Honour, and all the Niceties of Justice; grant that they ascend the Royal Throne with the gladsome Shouts and Acclamations of the People, and gain a Diadem by Inheritance or Desert: Yet they can only hold Intelligence with the Faces of Men, but cannot spell out Intrigues, and converse with Inclinations. Due Allegiance and Honour is all the Tribute that Subjects can defray, or they themselves can exact; and how shall they know, but the most seemingly regular and plausible forms of Speech, may be nothing but a neat well acted Hypocracy, and a mere studied Disguise? Unnecessary Offers, and overhasty Officiousness smell strong of Interest and dark Design; how then can they tell, Whether the most grave and submissive Application, be the free result of a good Intention, or mere solemn Flattery, and Artificial Address? Nay, how can they be assured, but their greatest enemies may be those of their own Household? Whether they that are adopted into the Secrecy of their Bosoms, that depend on their Smiles, and sport themselves for a while in their warm Beams, will help to guard the Throne, or to shake it?  
Fourthly, Another way to advance the darling Antimonarchical Design, is by bringing the Public Schools and Universities into disgrace: These are the dangerous strong holds of Antichrist, where Principles of Loyalty, and Passive Doctrines are sucked in with greediness; and therefore 'tis held convenient, to throw some dust in these eyes of the Nation, that the Freeborn Projectors may more commodiously come at the Head. And this was the great Pride and Luxury of the Brotherhood in the former Days of Tyranny and Civil Combustion: When the Sweeting Teachers, after a few Winks and Groans, began to thunder against vain Philosophy, and Wet their Handkerchiefs, in running down the necessity of Humane Learning: This was not only inculcated from the Tub, but from the Press also in solemn formidable manner; as may be seen in the Authors of Light out of Darkness, and the White Stone: But here, we find, the Republican Doctors differed among themselves: For some were not absolutely for pulling down, but only Regulating the Constitution of our Academies, and proposing Expedients for Reforming of Schools, and promoting of all kinds of Science: Thus speaks the Author of Academiarum Examen, Dedicated to M. General Lambert, viz. Seeing Divine Providence hath made you (with the rest of those Faithful and Gallant Men of the Army) signally Instrumental, both in Redeeming the English Liberty, almost drowned in the deluge of Tyranny, and Self-interest, etc. I hope the same Providence will also direct you to be assistant to continue the same, etc. And moreover, guide you to set your hand, and endeavour for the Purging and Reformation of Academies, and the Advancement of Learning, which hitherto hath been little promoted or looked into.  
'Tis not my intention to heap Reflections upon the Memory of the Right Honourable Major General Lambert (as the Dedicator styles him) Tho' our Prefacer has offered a fair occasion by insulting over the Tomb of our Deceased Martyr: My Province at present is to speak of a Gentleman of a meanner Figure; and to show how well the Dedicator's Project is followed, and Aped by the Prefacer. Therefore to proceed.  
Pref. The Constitution of our Universites, as to Learning, seems as Unfortunately Regulated, as it is to Politics.  
Here is a plain Transcript of the Old Reforming Humour; but without the reason, genius, and abilities of the more Learned Dedicator: For the Author of the Examen did not merely find fault, censure and talk magisterially; but, with a seeming modesty (a Quality unknown to our new Regulator,) he confesses 'tis far more easy to demolish, than to erect a complete Structure; especially for a single person of a mean Talon: And after he had offered some plausible Expedients for a rectification of Logic, Metaphysics, Grammar, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy; he owns himself obnoxious to many Errors; and hopes that better and more Able Pens will help to supply his Defects.  
But the Prefacer's Talon lies wholly in Spanish downright Positivo; and if he can but cast a mist before Vulgar Eyes, he takes no care to understand what he affirms, nor can he move his Pen the breadth of one Letter towards the Proof of what he asserts.  
I heartily wish (for a perfect cure of his Distempered Imagination,) he would once take heart, and visit our Universities, at some time of public Festivity; when Jugglers, Mountebanks, Jack-puddings, and Punchianello, divert the whole Town with their wonders; and try what a stately Figure he could make.  
The spruce and finical Gallant, whose Curiosity led him to visit Athens, expected to have received little less than Divine Honours for his outside Qualifications; he went pompously attended, was wonderfully dressed and garnished, and took especial care to bow in the right place; least by ducking the head a little immethodically, and moving the hand or leg maladroitly, he should seem to spoil the Honour of his Family. But he was soon convinced of his genteel and conceited Folly by the facetious● Remarks of the ingenious Platonists; who, though they were well skilled in all the Arts of Behaviour and Conversation, yet never prostituted these Inferior Morals to empty Noise and Formality; but made use of 'em to adorn and set off Essential Goodness: They thought a decent simplicity of manners to be the best and purest gentility; and a generous bent and inclination to do good, the truest Grandeur and Magnificence.  
I am almost persuaded, That our New Regulator would meet with the same Fate, at least the same means of Conversion, if he would but deseend to Travel, and show himself amongst our Academical Sages. What a woeful and sorry wight must he appear (with his new Models, Foreign Experiments, and Ideas of Government, with other Chimerical Baubles) amongst a Learned and Venerable Assembly? Nay, how would each Junior Sophister (lately dismissed from School) give him cause to sneak, beg Pardon, and Repent, in the strength of Hesiod and Homer? The former of these (as Borrichiu● notes) has written with so much Wisdom and Acumen, that he may, even now, be read with singular Advantage, by those that apply themselves to Politics, and Moral Philosophy. The latter (as Rapine thinks) had the vastest, sublimest, and most universal Genius that ever was: 'Twas by his Poems that all the Worthies of Antiquity were formed: From hence the Lawgivers took the first Platform of the Laws they gave to Mankind. The Founders of Monarchies and Commonwealths from hence took the Model of their Polities. Hence the Philosophers found the first Principles of Morality, which they have taught the People: Hence King's and Princes have learned the Art to govern, and Captains to form a Battle, to encamp an Army, to besiege Towns, to fight and to gain Victories, etc.  
I have read of one Argentine, a Scholar of Oxford, who about A.D. 1407. had the confidence to go to Cambridge, upon no other Errand, but to challenge the whole University to Dispute; and he is justly branded with the Character of impudence to succeeding Generations: And yet, as blustering and impudent as he was, he was tender-fronted and bashful in comparison; for we have now met with one, that has the face and assurance to defy both Universities; nay, condemn 'em too without a Trial or Dispute. I have no tickling itch or desire, to make the defence of our English Academies my Province; nor is it highly necessary, to expose the folly of this uncivilised Barbarian, since 'tis sufficiently transparent at first view to discreet and rational Judges; Yet something I shall think fit to return to his invidious Charge (as it occurs) for the sake of some fanciful weak-headed Gentlemen among us; who may be apt to admire him (as they do Tumblers and Rope-dancers) for uncommon Performances; and doing those things without concern and reluctance, which others are afraid, even cautiously, to attempt.  
Pref. We receive the Directions of our Studies there, from Statutes made by those, who understood nothing of the matter, who had a quite different notion and taste of Learning from what the World has at present.  
The Compilers of those Statutes, which he ignorantly explodes, knew very well what they did; and though they had a different taste or notion of Learning from what he entertains, yet it follows not, but they may have been in the right. As they could not then understand (as he over-wisely intimates) the present state of Learning in the World; so they never designed, that Students should be limited and tied all their Lives to a particular System, when the Empire of Knowledge or Philosophy should be enlarged. I know no greater Assertors of Philosophical Liberty, than the Gentlemen that have had their Education in our Universities: And if some are particularly (tho' not exclusively) directed to study Aristotle, and his Works, 'tis no more than what's proper, just, nay necessary, upon the account of extrinsical Motives and Inducements. For the Peripatetic Terms, and Modes of Expression, are new interwoven, throughout a great part of the Roman-Catholick Theology, which is better defended by Arguments drawn from a Metaphysical System, than by Reasons, Texts, and Deductions from Holy Writ; and if we cannot confront our Enemies with their own Weapons; and define, divide, distinguish artificially, unravel cryptical Syllogisms, and subtle Arguments, with equal facility and readiness, we may betray the Cause which we would willingly maintain, and give them occasion to Triumph.  
The Greek and Latin Fathers encountered the Pagans, Jews, and Heretics, with such Philosophical Weapons, as the necessity of those Times required; and it may look at this time like a kind of defection, a betraying the Protestant Cause, to slight the Logical and Metaphysical Learning taught in the Universities: But this is no part of the Prefacer's main care, nor does it (I believe) in the least concern his Conscience. No: a King or no King, is now the Grand Question, and important Controversy among us; and a few generous Republican Notions about Liberty, outweigh with him, all the Learning and Divinity of Europe.  
Pref. 'Twas not to learn Foreign Languages, that the Grecian and Roman Youths went for so long together to the Academies and Lectures of their Philosophers. 'Twas not then, as now with us, when the Character of a Scholar is to be skilled in words; when one who is well versed in the dark Terms and Subtleties of the Schools, passes for a profound Philosopher, etc.  
What profound Notion of Learning our Prefacer has found out, for the Instruction of Mankind, I am not worthy to know; for I am no Interpreter of Dreams. He may value, for aught I know, the Language of Gypsies above Greek and Hebrew: He may extol, if he pleases, the Inspection of Urine above all parts of Physical Knowledge: He may fancy, perhaps, that the Dissection of a Flea, or the Tail of a Fish, or such like curious employment, is a most admirable and useful part of Natural Philosophy: That calculating the Nativity of a Commonwealth, and the fall of a Monarchy, is an excellent and profitable part of Modern Astrology: This he may call speaking pertinently, and acting like a Man; and the extinguishing all remorse, compassion and good nature, may pass for a subduing the Passions in his Philosophy.  
I find, the Author of Acad. Examen, was a great Admirer of the Feats of Physiognomy, which he calls a laudable and profitable Science: And this (says he) so necessary a Knowledge both in the Genus and Species of it, is altogether omitted by the Schools. They teach nothing of the subcaelestial Physiognomy, whether Elementary, Meteorological or Mineralogical, but are utterly ignorant in all these, contenting themselves with a few frivolous, false, and formal Desinitions and Notions, Exam. p. 76.  
But I know no reason why these Notions and Definitions, or dark Terms and Subtleties (as the Prefacer calls 'em) should give place to such Fooleries, and Fascinations of a decrepit Fancy; or be eternally banished, because men of weak and creeping Intellectuals, are not able to comprehend the use of 'em. The Church and Civil Government may subsist well enough, though Mechanics, Travellers, and Men of ordinary Talents should not understand the heights and depths, and usefulness of School-Divinity; nor is it material or requisite, that men, whose proper business should be to learn, and practice Obedience, should be qualified to set up for Moderators in the Schools: If they complain that School-Terms are too dark and mysterious, there are some that will answer, That the fault lies not in the obscurity of the Terms, but in the incapacity of the Noddle: And no Man ought to be offended at the Sun's Meridian Lustre, though blind men cannot discern it.  
'Tis true, in some few cases the Schoolmen appear too definitive and nice, in determining the Modus, where the Scripture is silent, or only asserts the Thing: But, generally speaking, they are of excellent use in the managery of Controversies; They teach us to avoid Absurdities, help at once both to detect and confute the Errors of our Adversaries, and conduct our minds into an exact notion, and true apprehension of things, by a methodical Brevity, and regular Disputations.  
One great reason, I suppose, that induced the Prefacer to undervalue the Old Philosophy, and Aristotelian Doctrines, is this: Aristotle, it seems, both in his Ethics and Politics, affirms in plain terms, that of all Forms of Government the Monarchial is the best: He Asserts, That Wise Men are fitted by nature to command, and that others of strong Bodies but weak Intellectuals, are chiefly designed for Subjection and Obedience; than which nothing can be more grating and disobliging to Men of a Republican Temper and Inclination. 'Tis likewise to be remembered, That his constant Friend and Tutor Mr. Hobbs (in several Chapters of his famous Leviathan) complains of the barbarous Terms, and obscure stile of the Schoolmen; their insignificant Language, and frivolous Distinctions; That Aristotle's Metaphysics are absurd, his Politics repugnant to Government, his AEthicks ignorant, his Natural Philosophy a Dream. Yet after all, I find, that Men of the brightest Wit, and comprehensive Genius speak reverently of his Name. Scaliger and Casaubon count him the great Incomparable Hero of the Intellectual World; and esteem those people to be no better than Batts, Owls, and Dunces, that pedantickly talk against him: Cardan admires him, Zanchy applauds him, and Melancthon adds, That 'tis necessary he should be Studied and Read in the Universities, since without him no exact Learning or Method can be attained.  
Indeed the Old Philosophy (as we vulgarly call it) as well as School-Divinity, has its Imperfections; and I know none among all my Philosophical Acquaintance, that are zealous Sticklers for the Ingenerability and Incorruptibility of the Celestial Bodies, the Existence of solid Orbs, or the Element of Fire under the supposed sphere of the Moon: And 'tis ignorantly or maliciously done by the Prefacer, when he endeavours to extol the Grecian and Roman Education of Youth, above that of the present Age; since we retain what is good of the Ancient Learning, and have the advantage of Modern Improvements. I consider, that Philosophy, properly speaking, is neither Pythaegorean, nor Socratical, nor Peripatetical, nor Epicurean, but rather a comprehension of those Truths and Dictates, which Humane Understanding, freed from the mixtures of Partiality and Prepossessions, and assisted by Reading, application of Thought, Experiments and long Observation, can clearly discern, or make out by necessary consequence and deductions. 'Tis not a little System of Doctrines, or the Opinions of a Sect, but whatsoever among all Parties is fit to be approved. There is something sure, besides Dark Terms and Subtleties, in Aristotle's Rhetoric, Ethics, and History of Animals. I will, when he thinks fit to call me to an Account, tell him somewhat of the Diviner Philosophy of Plato, of Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus too (as 'tis illustrated and refined by Petrus Gassendus) which may be learned in the Universities. I will give him some Account of the Excellency of the sublime Science of Pyrotechny, and its various State, Alterations and Refinements from the Times of Hermes, Geber and Lullius, down to Valentinus, Paracelsus, and the acute Helmont. I will acquaint him, if he please, with the condition and state of Anatomical Learning, from the Times of Herophilus, Galen, and the Alexandrian School, down to the days of Cesalpinus, Harvey, Riolanus, and the young Esculapius of O●on.  
Qui genus Humanum ingenio superavit, & Omnes  
Praestrinxit stellas, exortus ut AEthereus Sol.  
I will also tell him some of the wonderful Feats of Polygraphy and Steganography, so much talked of by Claramuel, Cornelius Agrippa, Silenus and Friar Bacon; and for fear of hurting his Head with dark Terms and Subtleties and Old Philosophical Quirks, which breed Stiffness, and Positiveness in Opinion, we'll talk of the stupendious effects of the Magnetical Philosophy, improved by Cabaeus, Athanasius Kercherus, and the Learned Gilbertus; as also of the great importance of Emblems, Hieroglyphics, and the Universal Character of great Vogue and Repute (if we may believe the Author of the Examen,) in some of the Oriental Nations. I could here tell some of the strange Performances of the Thermometer, Barometer (or Aerometer, as some call it,) the discoveries of the Telescope; and, without the help of the Torricellian Experiment, or Air-pump, undertake to prove even a coacervate Vacuity in Nature: And, because he is offended with the Greek and Latin Tongues; I think I could oblige his squeamish and diseased Fancy with a luscius and wonderful Secret, (approved of by his Old Friend the Author of the Examen, as well as by the divinely inspired Teutonick, and Rosicrusian Fraternity) called the Language of Nature, or the Paradisical Language of the out-flown Word, which Adam understood while he was in the state of Innocence. This is that Angelical Language, which speaks and breathes forth those Central Mysteries, that lay hid in the heavenly Magic, and wrapped up in the Bosom of the eternal Essence, wherein were hidden and involved all the Treasury of those Ideal Signatures, which were brought to light by the Peripherical Expansion, and Evolution of the Outflowing Fiat, and so became existent in the Womb of that generative and faetiferous Word, from whence sprung up the wonderful and various Seminal Natures, bearing the true Signatures of the divine and characteristical Impressions; like so many Harmoniacal and Symphoniacal Voices, sounding forth in an heavenly Consort, the Wisdom, Power, Glory, and Might of the transcendent central Abyss of Unity, from whence they did arise; and all speaking one Language, expressing in that mystical Idiom, the hidden Virtues, Nature and Properties of those various Sounds, which tho' one in the Centre, become infinitely numerous in the Existence and Circumference. Exam. p. 27.  
The Prefacer, if he please, may consider gravely of this, and improve it at his leisure: At present I shall only beg of him (and 'tis a very reasonable request,) that he would be so civil and good natured for the future, as to give God leave to Govern the Kingdoms of the Earth in his own way; that he would acknowledge all power is from God, that by him Kings Reign, and Princes decree Justice. That he would have so just and favourable Opinion of the Wisdom of the Parliament, as to think 'em sufficiently qualified (without his help) to contrive good and wholesome Laws for the benefit of the Public: That he would know, to despise and vilify the Clergy, is to dishonour that Being that sent 'em to instruct him: That, if he cannot curb his busy & impetuous fancy, he would at least direct and bend it some other way; and betake himself either to Microscopical Curiosities, the solving of Problems, or catching of Flies (as Dometian used to do) and dissecting 'em, if he will, for the advancement of his Knowledge; or, if that be too minute and fine a performance, that he would, with Galen, Anatomize Apes and Monkeys for the improvement of himself. That instead of too curiously meddling with the Body Politic, he would with Democtitus, inquire into the Nature and Situation of that Thing, which has given us this disturbance: That, instead of employing his talon and thoughts about the Mysteries of Government, he would look into the Wonders of the little World; and lastly, that instead of bewildring his fancy in the Doctrines of Machiavelli and Hobbs, he would seriously read, and endeavour to understand the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments in the Vulgar Tongue, and be further instructed in the Church Catechism, set forth for that purpose.  
Fifthly, Another bold stride to push on the Republican Plot, is to amuse the Multitude with much Talk about a Contract betwixt King and People and drawing wild Inferences from it: If the King fail in his Promise, the People are exempt from their Obedience; The Contract is made void, and the Right of Obligation is of no force. Vindic. Cont. Tyrant. This is the Old Style, and heretofore did great Execution; God send us a good Deliverance. For the Prefacer rally's upon us with this Engine too, and makes it a part of the Duty we owe to our Country, to preserve our Constitution upon its true and natural Basis, the Original Contract. All other Foundations being false, nonsensical, and rotten, derogatory to the present Government, etc.  
He triumphs and shows his mettle in talking proudly of the Rights of the People, and the Duty we owe to our Country; all this he can shrewdly inculcate twice in one page: But instead of meeting with the Rights of Sovereignty, and Allegiance due to their Majesties, we hear nothing but the rough and blustering Sounds of the Plague of Tyranny, and dispatching Kings without Ceremony. This I take to be a strong Symtom of an Antimonarchical Distemper in him. Nay, he does in effect undermine the Present Government, by making it depend upon an imaginary Basis, or Foundation that can no where be found, but in such Heads as are stuffed with Dreams and Visions, and perfect airy Imaginations.  
The most Learned in the Law, with whom it has been my good-Fortune to converse, know nothing of this Original Contract; and though some have made as much declamation and as horrible din about it, as others do about Original Sin; yet I challenge the Prefacer to afford me half so plain and pregnant proof of the one, as he has given of the other. Let him not think to trifle, or put us off with fanciful Conjectures, random Inferences, ipse dixit's, and wild conclusions from fantastical Premises (which I value no more than a Jest of Poor Robin's, or a Prophecy of B— y's) the Grand Enquiry is about a Contract upon Record, at the first Erection of the English Monarchy: If he knows where to find it, let him place it in open view, & erit mihi Magnus Apollo.  
But methinks I see him stand like a man enchanted, and fumbling about the matter: The man of Confidence becomes meal-mouthed and bashful on a sudden; the high-mettled Hero will not jog on this way: No, 'tis too choice a Nostrum to be publicly exposed; 'tis too precious a commodity to be laid upon the Stall; profane and unsanctified eyes must not behold it.  
In Magna Charta (which is the great Record of our Liberties) the People's Rights and Privileges are fetched purely from the King's Grants and Donations, viz. Of our free and mere Will, we have given and granted to our Bishops, and to all free men of our Realm, these Liberties following: And the higher we ascend in the Scale of Monarchy, we find the King's more unlimited and free; There were no restrictions or reserves under the first and most Ancient Governments; no Laws, but what lay in the Prince's Bosom; as any Beardless Boy, that has read Justin and Virgil, can sufficiently inform him.  
And 'twill bring but little Glory to his Cause, if I tell him, that the first notorious Encroachment upon the Rights of Majesty in England, were made by Popish Aggressors: This was first attempted in the time of King William the First, whom we commonly (tho' perhaps not properly) call the Conqueror: But he was too wise and puissant to admit the least diminution of his Regality, and tho' he was very generous and candid in his Concessions, yet he dismissed the Pope's Legate with an Alterum non Admisi. In the Reign of Henry the Second, Monarchical Power was at a low ebb indeed, when the imperious and barbarous Monks of those times dealt with their Prince, as some rude Heathens do by their Gods, viz. chastise and whip 'em, if they do not answer their insolent Expectations. The Case of King John is too derogatory, and sad, for a true Loyal Englishman to think on, or to repeat: And the Condition of Poor England in the time of Henry the Third, is a fair indication of what pernicious importance it may prove to the Public, when Princes shall admit a Superior, and controlling Power, even in the softest acceptation of the Word.  
Sir W. T. tells of an ingenious Spaniard he met at Brussels, who would needs have it, That the History of Don Quixot had ruined the Spanish Monarchy; for when all the Love and Valour of the Spaniards was turned into Ridicule, they began by degrees to grow ashamed of both, and to laugh at Fight and Loving: What ill influence and impression, this Fabulous and Romantic Account, may leave behind it, by representing persons and things sacred in a Ridiculous Garb and Colours, I cannot yet determine: However, 'tis good to make Provision against the worst; and since an Apologue has had its good as well as evil effects, I shall here confront one Fable with another.  
It happened, that a great sedition was in Rome, and the common people were so incensed against the Senate, Nobles, and Rich Men, that all things seemed now to be a running into confusion: Whereupon the Senate sent one Menenius Agrippa, an eloquent and wise person, to the multitude, to persuade 'em: Who being admitted amongst 'em, and finding 'em all in a hurry, is said, to have Addressed himself to 'em after this manner: Upon a time there arose a great Sedition among the Members of the Body against the Belly; the eyes, ears, hands, and feet said, That they all of 'em performed their several Offices to the Body; but the Belly doing nothing at all, as a lazy King, enjoyed their Labours, and idly consumed all those things which were purchased with the sweat of the rest. The Belly replied, That indeed these things were true, and therefore, if it pleased them, from henceforth they should allow it nothing; The Members all agreed, That nothing should be given to it for the time to come: But when this had been observed for some little time, the Hands and Feet lost their strength, and all other Members began to fail; so that at length they perceived, That the Food which was given to the Belly, was also advantageous to all the rest, and upon this consideration they returned to their Obedience.  
Upon the hearing of this Fable, the People understood, That the Wealth which was in the hands of Great Men, was also in some sort beneficial to themselves: And upon some kind promises of the Senate, they were reconciled to their Superiors.  
It has not been my main business of late, nor is it worth a thinking man's while, to read o'er the Licentious Histories that peep abroad, or the Popular Accounts of things: I knew nothing of the inside of the Account of Denmark, till the Third Edition appeared upon the Stage; about which time I was desired to make some Remarks upon it, and give it a just Answer and Castigation: Had I had more time and leisure for the performance, I should, perhaps, have been more copious in my Animadversions; but I hope I have said enough to tame a little the impertinence of that Man, who had insulted over the Nobility, Clergy, and both Universities, and made the Names of Princes his Sport. I have bound him to some method, and I hope to better Behaviour for the future; and tho' I find little of Argument throughout the whole, yet I have proceeded fairly and argumentatively against him. I have plainly shown, That all the choice means and expedients used heretofore, to destroy the Monarchy and Church, are exactly transscribed by him, and crowded into a Preface: And certainly, That man has a greater share of kind Nature, than good Apprehension, that can think he has singled out the same Antichristian Methods, without the same black Intention and Design.  
I know his Admirers have one Infallible way of answering all opposers, and that is by Ill Names: They have not Wit enough to discern the Reason of things; nor know they when to laugh, or be severe in the Right place: If the Prefacer, without Reason, roll in hard words and Names (such as Ide●t, Ass, Tyrant, Nonsensical Blunders, and the like) it passes with 'em for the Mettle of a Pree-orn Subject: But if we upon just provocation, prove the same upon them, O 'tis sad scurrility and Railing: They are meek, lowly, and poor in Spirit, while they are saucy to their Superiors, and despise Dominion: But 'tis pride, and crying presumption in us, if we offer to correct a little snarling Republican: If they trample upon Bishops and Blaspheme Kings; They are only Zealous and concerned for God and his Glory: but if we expose the Scismatical Licentiousness of the disobedient Brotherhood, O 'tis rank Malice, and a degree of persecution. The World has ever been full of such precious Judges and Arbitrators as these: And we know the Pharisees were even (this way) with the Saviour of the World, for telling 'em in plain Words, They were of their Father the Devil.  
If Children will be perpetually playing in the dirt, they are deservedly corrected for it: And if men will be always sporting themselves with foul and unclean Invectives against their Betters; they ought not to take it amiss, if they are sometimes snubed for their Sauciness and ill Manners. This is the true State of the matter here before us. If any man can show, that I have transgressed the limits of Justice or true Decorum; none can be more forward to make a generous Recantation, than myself: In the mean time, I submit what I have written, to the impartial Censure and Correction of my Superiors, in the Church and Parliament of England.  
The end of the First Part.   

THE Consolations of the CROSS: OR THE Two Grand PILLARS OF MAN'S SECURITY In this WORLD. Containing a Second Part of REBUKE TO THE Author of the Account of Denmark.  
London Printed, and sold by Randal Tailor near Stationers-Hall, 1694.   

THE Consolations of the CROSS: OR THE Two Grand PILLARS OF MAN'S SECURITY In this WORLD, etc.  
THE Reader will easily discern from what has been said, that some Men who enjoy the Benefit of the Sun, as well as those that are penned up in Dark Rooms, can Fancy themselves to be as great as Popes and Emperors: And I can further assure him, that this unhappy Brother and Traveller here before us, who seems to swell, and look big among the living, has been a long time Dead in a True Philosophical Sense, although he may still make a mighty Figure in the Mundus Plebejorum.  
Now 'twas eagerly maintained by some of the Philosophical Sages heretofore, That the Animal Life, which is still drawing down the Soul to unlovely Objects, did more properly deserve the Name and Character of Death; which seems to be the result of wise deliberation, as well as fine thought and Fancy: For certainly Life, in a moral acceptation, does not consist in breathing common Air, and having a flowing plenty of worldly Accommodations; but in knowledge and contemplation, in Divine and Rational exercises 'Tis certainly a great Disparagement to the Dignity of Humane Nature (which is framed so near a kin to the Angelical) to place the Essence of Life in the Enjoyment of Outward Things; and the Pleasure resulting from it is rather a Lethargy, than true Tranquillity of Mind: He that has vital powers, and faculties, is potentially alive; but he alone is actually so who does Nobly and agreeably exert 'em.  
Pref. Health and Liberty are without dispute, the greatest natural Blessings Mankind is capable of enjoying.  
The Health of the Rational Frame consists in acts conformably to the Dictates of right Reason: This the Philosophers called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Intellectual Harmony, Health and good disposition of the Soul of Man.  
The Liberty of Man consists principally, in his being Free from Perturbations, or the Dominion of irregular and tumultuary Passions, and vicious Habits, that usurp the place of right Reason: In which sense of Liberty, The Turks themselves, who are Lords and Masters, and live well and pleasantly (as he notes, Account pag. 241.) are no better than Vassals: And some of their Conquered Slaves (as he calls 'em) do at present enjoy a comfortable degree of Liberty. And the Popish Religion is not the only one, of all the Christian Sects, proper to introduce and establish Slavery in a Nation, as he tells us, Account, pag. 235.  
The Gentleman, under my present care and inspection, talks, as if the condition of Men here below, were a kind of Epicurean State of Carnal Ease and Complacency: Christianity with its dark Train of Passive Doctrines, is a slavish and unintelligible Thing in his Esteem. Never was any fond man so blind an Admirer of his Mistress' Charms and Perfections, as he is a lover of his country's Legal Liberties, without any regard to the safety of Religion: Never did good St. Augustin declaim with more vehemence against the salvability of the Heathens; than he has done against these Slavish Opinions sucked in at the Schools; and which some have been so unfortunate, to carry to their Graves; and (he might have added) to Heaven.  
He would fain make the wondering World believe, That Passive Obedience and Legal Liberties, are inconsistent things; and that one is fatally destructive of the other: But that is his want of Judgement, and sound Understanding. St. Paul (who was undoubtedly as great an Assertor of Passive Obedience, as ever was in the World) pleaded such Liberties as these under Nero, and before the Magistrates of Philippi: But he likewise knew, that Civil Rights can have only a Civil Defence; and if that fail, there is no higher Appeal, or Remedy to be expected, but the Divine Protection.  
My business at present shall be to show, That these Passive Doctrines (which he in an insulting and histrionical manner calls Slavish and Unintelligible) are a very Reasonable Service; and this I shall make out,  
First, With respect to God's Sovereignty or Dominion over us: And,  
Secondly, With respect to the pure Essential Goodness of his Nature, as it particularly exerts itself in our Afflictions. And,  
First, With respect to his Sovereignty.  
Now by God's Sovereignty, or Dominion over us, the Learned usually understand a Fundamental Right to dispose of all his Creatures, so far as 'tis consistent with the Rules of Justice, Goodness and Truth; for 'tis He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; and in Him we live, move, and have our Being. His overruling Providence was awake from all Eternity; before the World began, he neither slumbered nor slept: But by his incomparable Wisdom, he contrived the Ranks and Orders of every Being, and had before him the exact Idea, and Lineaments of all his Creatures: And when they afterwards commenced in time by virtue of his Power; he gave them their limits and agreeable Stations; he adorned them with Usefulness, Elegancy, and due Proportion, and saw they were very good: Indeed the whole World was but one Sacred Temple, till Man by his Sin and Sacrilege profaned it: 'Twas founded by God's own immediate Arm, dedicated to his Great Name, are raised to his Glory; and though a ridiculous Affectation hath tempted some to derive the management, as well as Original of it, from no higher Principle than that of Chance; yet God saw, in the boundless Circuits of his Wisdom, That even in the proper Functions of its Nature, it was dependent on him, and therefore he resolved to preside over it; to supply it with a proportionable Concurrence of his Might, and render his Name more venerable and glorious in the conservation and guidance of it. Hence he assumes the Character of the Great King, by the Mouth of his Holy Prophet; and illustrates his own Greatness to Job in the wonderful and astonishing Prospect of his Creatures. Hence Abraham calls him the Judge of all the Earth; and David summons the Sun, Moon, and Stars, nay the whole Creation, to sing his Praises: Nay, the very Heathens themselves had such an awful Impression of his Majesty upon their hearts, that they durst scarce approach him without a trembling Veneration; they acknowledged him to be the Supreme Lord and Governor of all the World, and accosted him with all the high-strained Epithets of Honour and Jurisdiction.  
And certainly, tho' Christianity has enriched our Natures with many Noble Privileges, yet it cannot cancel the Obligation of a Creature: Tho' it has entitled us to a brighter participation of the Divine Image, yet it has not brought us to a loser dependence on him; and though 'twas designed to draw us nearer to God, yet it does not invite us to so bold an intimacy and freedom with him, as to dispute his Authority, or the Wisdom of his Dispensations. The very Angels above are subject to his Will, tho' with this glorious Advantage, that they cannot Disobey: And 'tis a Law interwoven in the constitution of Rational Being's, that, since they are capable of Moral Government, they should be governed by one that is infinitely more wise and powerful than themselves: But who can challenge this great Prerogative, but the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords? 'Tis he that is the immediate Donor of our Being's; the great Proprietor of Heaven and Earth, and all Right is fundamentally vested in himself: In his Hand is the Soul of every living thing, and the Breath of all Mankind: He disappointeth the devices of the Crafty, so that their Hands cannot perform their Enterprise: He leadeth Councillors away spoiled, and maketh the Judge's fools. He leadeth Princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. When Alexander is designed to be God's Vicegerent over the Nations of the Earth, Darius shall not be saved by the multitude of an Host, nor delivered by his strength: And when Caesar is appointed and ordained by God, to be Lord and Master of the Roman World, the Gallant Pompey, that never shrank at the sight of Danger before, shall soon falter and tremble at the Head of his Army, and at length steal away in a poor disguise, like a mean and infamous Coward.  
What is the just Latitude or Extent of God's Dominion in reference to mankind, has been variously asserted by Men of bold and Speculative Inclinations; and some have been so officiously impertinent, as to fly to the hidden determinations of Heaven, to make out this Mystery and amazing Riddle: But what proud Dust and Ashes are we, that we should thus grasp at Mysteries beyond our reach, and pry into those things, which none can see but he who is Invisible, which none can comprehend but he who is Incomprehensible? When we soar aloft into these Regions that are above us, we are bewildered and lost amidst Clouds and Darkness; we exceed the just bounds and Limits of our Creation, and gain nothing else but the Reproach of our own Folly: I shall therefore Industriously wave this kind of procedure, and confine myself to those clearer Dispensations mentioned in Holy Writ; and which chiefly concern the condition of this present Life.  
Now that God does not Limit his Beneficence and Rewards to any Personal Performances, but sometimes Blesseth one Relative for another's sake, is abundantly Evident from the Benefits which he conferred upon Abraham's Posterity, as also from his willingness to save Sinful Sodom for the sake of Ten Righteous Persons: And by equality of Reason he may punish one Relative upon the account of another's failance, the one being as consistent with the Rights of his Dominion, as the other with his Goodness. Thus David's Sin in numbering Israel and Judah, (or, as some would have it, in neglecting to pay the Shekel) was severely punished by three Days Pestilence, upon the chosen Men of Israel; and the Iniquity of Ahab, though pardoned in himself, was to be punished in his Children, as God himself pronounces to the Prophet in these words; Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the Evil in his days, but in his Sons days will I bring the Evil upon his House. Now in such singular Incidencies, God does not so directly visit as a Judge, but makes use of his Sovereignty to advance the unquestionable Designs of his good Providence; and we are bound to be cheerfully Passive and Resigned, whether he is pleased to take away our Lives by Pestilence, Famine, the Iron-hands of a Tyrant, or Sword of the Destroying Angel.  
And hence I might proceed to make out the Justice of that Original Visitation, that defaced and sullied the whole Scene of Nature, and overwhelmed all Mankind with Anxiety and Sadness. God made Man happy and upright at first, and endowed his Nature with all agreeable perfection; but he by his Non-attendance and Disobedience, did soon plunge himself in an Estate of Sin and Misery; and thus proud Man who was so Nobly Descended fell at Odds with his Maker, disrobed himself of all his Original Glories, and shook the whole Universe by his Fall.  
We read that the Wisemen of the Eastern World were sadly concerned at this unaccountable State of Things: You may hear the Platonist pouring out his Soul in Complaints and mournful strains; and telling strange Stories of some sins committed in a Former State. to make out the Mysterious Vanity of this Life: You may see Aristotle sitting down and weeping by the Water of Euripus lamenting the shortness of his Intellectual Sight, the disorder and dimness of his understanding: Nay, Solomon himself the very Boast of Nature and Great Secretary of Heaven) after he had seen and enjoyed all the satisfactions of this life, in the little narrow compass of himself, concludes at length with this pathetical Exclamation, All is Vanity.  
This is now the condition of our Natures; this is our present Case: The Body has lost its Beauty and Gloss, and the brightness of those Lineaments, which were at first drawn by the finger of God; the Soul is driven out of her former Paradise into a Region of Diseases, of Tempests and thick Darkness, and exposed a Prey to all the wretched Calamities of a Mortal Life: And yet, far be it from Fallen Man, to renew the Old Apostasy, and Quarrel with those Alotments which are plainly consistent with the mildest Justice: God might have made Man the subject of many Temporal Inflictions, without respect to an Antecedent Fall, and recompensed all this with the blessed Assurances of a Future State; and certainly, the Light of Nature may inform us, That since we are wholly subordinate to another, we ought also to be accountable for every transgression, accordingly as our Superior shall determine or think fit; who because he is holy, just, and good, neither can nor will inflict more upon us than what our Sins and Iniquities shall exact.  
Secondly, That the Practice of these Passive Doctrines is a very reasonable Service, will yet more eminently appear, if we consider 'em with respect to the Divine Goodness, as it particularly exerts its self in our Afflictions.  
But here we meet with some, that have formed very dark and dangerous Notions of the Deity which they adore; and, as if they meant to cut-vye even Lucifer himself, have accused their Maker of Pride and Moroseness, and an evil Inclination towards his Creatures. What Satan only suggested out of design, men have solemnly aavowed, and ratified for sound Doctrine: And this was the first Engine which the Devil played against the Happiness of Mankind: 'T was the Argument he used to our first Parents, to make 'em forfeit their Estate of Primitive Perfection: He endeavoured to tincture their Minds with an Opinion, that God was of an envious, unlovely Disposition, and that which was no where to be found but in himself, he fastened upon that Being, from whom all Goodness in the World is derived: For God does know (says he) that in the day you eat thereof, ye shall be as Gods, knowing Good and Evil.  
From this fatal Intercourse and subsequent Fall, there were many Heathens (who had some Fragments of Scripture communicated to 'em, or else understood somewhat of the matter by the less faithful conveyance of Oral Tradition) that began to entertain ill Notions of God, thinking he had forbid 'em the Tree of Life, out of Pure malignity or ill intention: Hence they proceeded to tell very sad and ominous Tales of the envious Temper of the Deity above them; his industrious care to dash all Prosperity with some sharp allay, and overwhelm all Greatness with a swift Destruction. And indeed, it had been happy for the Christian World, if such barbarous Notions had kept their due distance on the other-side the Partition Wall, if they had been confined for ever to the Outer-Court of Gentilism. Men have been so forward to advance God's Sovereignty above his other Attributes, to oppose his Protestation to his Design, and make his Revealed Will such a Mystery to his Creatures, that they seem solemnly to imply, That all the Divine Expostulations and Promises, though seconded with full Solemnity of Attestation, are intended only to promote the Credit of the Imposture, and advance the ends of Tyranny and Deceit: An Opinion so Romantic, and big with Absurdity! that it represents the Almighty a Bugbear in a worse sense, than the Atheist ever intended; and looks as if 'twere designed to justify the Rebellion even of Lucifer himself; and proclaim to the World, that he fell in a good Old Cause.  
In short, Love is the Gospel-Definition of the Divine Essence; and 'tis very plain, without any affected Jingle, or Ambiguity; and infallible true as any demonstration. If we take away his power, he would be but a kind of Epicurean Deity; but take away his Goodness, and he would be no Deity at all: The Apostate Angels may partake of his Power, but they cannot of his Goodness; and if it were lawful to reduce our Conceptions of the Divine Essence to Figures and Proportions; we may justly presume (by a little altering the Philosopher's Notion) that he would assume Light for his Vehicle, and Love for his very Soul. Every Act of God is a Communication of his Beneficence; his most rigorous Justice is nothing else but a certain disposition, a peculiar mode of his goodness; he corrects us only out of Love; he does not willingly afflict the Children of Men.  
Now that Afflictions are a sign and Character of Adoption, will readily and evidently appear; if we do but consider, that this has been the constant Portion of the greatest Favourites of Heaven: The Holy Patriarches spent all their days in sorrow, and in Travel; the Schools of the Prophets were so many Seminaries of Affliction: And it hath pleased God, by an uncontrollable display throughout all Periods and Ages, to render the Sufferings of our Blessed Saviour more illustrious than his Miracles, or all the Monuments of his Power: The Crusified Jesus has been prefigured by a longer Catalogue of Worthies, than the Triumphant Redeemer; and he has had more Types of his Passion than of his Glory. The Greatness of man was too imaginary and frail to represent the Majesty of our Saviour, and our degeneracy had rendered our Miseries so justly real, as to be weak and imperfect Emblems of his Sorrow.  
Besides, it seemed a necessary Provision, that some unfortunate Worthies should rise up to his Character, as near as Humanity could aspire, to reconcile his Tribulation to his Integrity, and recommend his Person to the acceptance of the World; and yet, alas! so great was the darkness of benighted Mankind at the Brightness of his rising, that they shut their Eyes against this Sun of Glory; among all the Prophecies which he punctually fulfilled; this one was too soon, and too fatally verified, He is despised and rejected of Men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.  
His Birthday was observed with no other Solemnity, than that of a Massacre; and his coming into the world was congratulated with a Conspiracy; and tho' Abrabam afar off rejoiced to see his day, yet his degenerate Offspring did even scorn and deride it. Never was Majesty so rudely treated, nor Virtue exercised with such contumelious disgraces; his unspotted Innocence did not so much endear, as exasperate the World against him; his Poverty of Spirit was improved into Ambition; and his Miracles courted their Incredulity in vain: And after all the base and inhuman Affronts that were leveled against his person; after he had run through all the afflicting Stages of Poverty, Sorrow and Disgrace; He stooped to the dreadful formality of a Trial, expected the fatal pleasure of his Enemies, and submitted at length to the most Illegal Sentence that ever came from the mouth of Blasphemy.  
And next behold him hanging upon a Cross; behold a dying and a bleeding Saviour embalming corruption with the effusions of his dearest Blood! Behold the brightest Order & Immortality Prefaced with the wrack of Universal Nature, the Crucifixion of the Whole World! Those glorious Bodies whom David calls upon to praise the Lord, did then sympathise with his Agony and Passion. The Heaven's were darkened, the Earth gave up her Dead, and all things see●d shuffled into another Chaos to prepare the way for a new Creation. Thus did Christ suffer, and leave us an Example, that we should follow his steps: Thus did he adorn the Cross with his own Practice, and bequeath it to us as the distinguishing Character of a True Disciple. This was his lot, and 'tis our Predestinated portion, for hereunto are we called; and whosoever will list himself a true follower of him, must resolve to partake of that bitter Cup, whensoever Providence shall give him an Alarm.  
And that this is no slavish or unaccountable Doctrine, will yet more abundantly appear, if we consider,  
Secondly, The Natural Power and Influence of Affliction upon the Soul.  
Health, Liberty, Prosperity and much Ease, are dangerous and bewitching things; and tho' they are lent us as a gentle Remedy against anxiety and care, yet through our own ill management they often become a Charm, and the Antidote itself turns to a Disease: For since the World cannot so easily fubdue us by Threats and Hostility, by Assaults, and open Force, it immediately flies to all the Arts of Policy, to Stratagem and Retreat; like a subtle Magician, it presently turns its Rod into a Serpent; it dazzles our Senses with a delicious prospect of its Counterfeit Glories, and so leads us in Golden Fetters to Destruction: For the World, like the Old Enemy of Mankind, does first deceive the Female Parties within us; it caresses each Lust and tender Passion with fair and specious Allurements, and when these have embraced & swallowed the Golden Delusion, our Masculine Faculties are too soft and flexible to resist the pleasing Temptation, and proselyted Reason begins to hearken to the Dictates of our Senses.  
And thus having at length enslaved our Understandings, it begins to play the Tyrant over us, to engross our Time, our Thoughts, and all our Actions. If we chance to be in a religious or thoughtful mood, the World soon turns it into Hippocrisy and Disguise; if we enter into Discourse about sacred Mysteries, it soon perverts it into Burlesque and wanton Talk; and when we would draw forth our honest intentions by the Rules of strict Morality, it brings 'em out in the Dialect of Friends, in Crusing and bitter Calumny; when we are busy and employed about our necessary Callings, it instructs us in the acquaint, and artificial Methods of Knavery and Deceit; and when we retire from them for a sober Indulgence and Refreshment of our Natures, the World is ready at hand to overwhelm us with Luxury and Excess: Nay, if we enter into our Closets for the Exercise of our Devotion, the World does there likewise pursue us; it imprints its Image upon our very Hearts and Minds, challenges all our Thoughts and Attention, and so turns our lawful Prayers into Idolatry.  
These Dangers of Prosperity have struck such an awe upon the Spirits of Great Men in former Ages, that they never considered 'em without trembling and astonishment. Hence 'tis Recorded of many Ancient Hero's, that after some Signal Victories and Achievements, they have grown pensive and melancholy, and changed their August and sprightly Countenances, into a sad dejection and captivity of Spirit: And tho' some late Vertuosis have ascribed these effects to the Effluviums and Darts of some envious Eyes about 'em, yet I question not, but this will ever pass, among the thinking part of Mankind, for a very derogatory and ungrounded Fancy. It was not the Envy or the Frowns of Men, but fear of the just Anger of the Gods that made the Renowned Cato cry out in Livy, That the more he prospered, the more he grew afraid: And for the same reason Augustus Caesar once every year laid aside his Regalities, and receiveed Alms with all the humble Ceremony of a Beggar; he feared his long uninterrupted Prosperity, suspected the Anger of the overruling Deity, and therefore endeavoured to divert his wrath by a Voluntary Humiliation.  
And if we look into the Annals of the Christian Church, we shall meet with some, in the hot Interval of the Heathen Persecution, bewailing themselves that God not yet called them to the Glories of Tribulation, the Illustrious Toils of Martyrdom; and after this Pagan Storm was blown over, and the Church of God was adorned with honourable Endowments, we shall find many wise and venerable Bishops climbing very heavily into the Episcopal Chair, and, when they were there placed, as sadly lamenting the Danger of their Station; they looked upon such heights as a Temptation rather than a Duty, and more a Punishment than Promotion.  
And if we cast our eyes forward, and observe the succeeding Centuries of the Church, we shall be tempted to think, that this noted suspicion was no Panic Dread, but a very just and necessary circumspection; for as Tacitus has observed of the Roman Empire, that after its martial Humour was abated by Peace and a gentle Discipline, it became dispirited by Riots and intestine Factions; so may we plainly discern a most deplorable alteration in the State of Christianity, so soon as the Heathen Tyranny was overpast.  
While the First Christians were treated with Severities, their Lives were a genuine Transcript of their Profession; they convinced the world with the best Argument of a Religious Conversation, insomuch that the Heathens submitted at length to a tame and a gentle Discipline; and Christianity appeared a True Mystery of Godliness: But when, through the favour of a milder Providence, it became the Imperial Profession; when its Votaries were dismissed from the Lectures of the Cross, and the Prevailing Council of Afflictions; they quickly closed with the treacherous Solicitations of Flesh and Blood, and flattering Vanities of the World.  
And this was the immediate Doom of Christianity, so soon as the Pagan Tyranny was overpast; for then Christians themselves renounced all Obligations of Meekness and Humility, and turned the former Glories of the Cross into the Scandal of Persecution; Their former Unity became broken and subdivided by the Pride of Arrians, Donatists, and Novatians; and those latter Ages were almost as remarkable for Ambition, Luxury, and a Tyrannical Zeal, as the former had been for an incomparable Piety, and victorious Martyrdoms.  
So natural is it for Men to turn their Liberty into Vanity, by too high an Admiration of it; and to corrupt their Food by the Poison of their own Natures: And when Men are become such Vassals to the World, such Votaries of Sense and Pleasure; they must also languish in their Duty towards God, and fall off proportionably from the divine Assistance: For how can they listen to the call of Heaven, amidst all this Pomp and Secular Distraction, or bestow one Thought upon Futurity and Judgement?  
But when at length some signal Calamity shall give the daring Sinner an Alarm, when Afflictions, the Welcome Harbinger of God's Love, fall like a Dew upon him; This shows him the Vanity of his Carnal Ease and Security, and opens a prospect into the Land of the Living: For the apprehensions of a God, and of our Duty to him, are so essential to our Souls, and inseparable from our Natures; that tho' Men may seem to drown 'em for a while, they lie dissolved in delicacy and pleasure; yet the least touch of anguish will sometimes awaken us into severe Reflections, and dash all the Harmony of our Blood and Spirits. 'Tis is very pious Remark of that Great Philosopher, whom wise Antiquity hath justly honoured with the Title of Divine; That when a Man perceives, that he is just drawing towards his latter End, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. He is then seized with a doubtful Trembling, and an Enquiry into those things, which before he would scarce vouchsafe to think upon: And tho' he might once laugh at the Pious and grave Cheats of Immaterial Being's, and Immortal Spirits; yet now the very Tales of Ghosts and Fairies will affright him; he will be ready to shrink at the least Shadow of Danger, and be terrified with the Visions of his own Imagination. Indeed 'tis an easy thing for a Man, in the lustful Pride of his Nature, to seem Witty and Eloquent against Heaven, and to outface the Ferrors of the Invisible World; but when Providence shall cast him out of his Beloved State of Bodily Health and Security, into a Bed of Sickness, or the confinements of a Prison; when the cold Damps shall appall and allay the gaety of his Temper, and all his worldly Oracles stand mute, and cannot help him; Then he will think of his former Gallantry with reluctance and vexation; he will then experiment the Folly of his own choice; and no longer adore the glittering Frailties of humane Wisdom, but Reason will be fwallowed up in Revelation; he will then confess that every Creature is fearfully and wonderfully made; that every little Insect is a System of Divinity; and his eyes will be opened to spell out a Soveveraign Disposer of all Events in the Works of his own Creation.  
Such Considerations as these will be our Entertainment, when we lie under the Discipline of a severer Providence; when God in Mercy has befriended us with Afflictions, and covered us with Misery as with a Garment: For the Soul of Man is active and restless, and must have some Object, whereupon to fix its Desires; and when it has nothing from without to employ it, it will no longer look abroad, but draw its Activity inwards; and then the Appeals of Reason will be heard, and the Cries of Wisdom will not be rejected.  
Thirdly, That this Passive State is not a State of Slavery, but of Adoption and Glorious Liberty, will be further evinced, by considering the divine Supports and Succours that attend it. For since God has● promised, That we shall not be tempted beyond what we are able to bear, he stands engaged, when the ordinary means of comfort do forsake us, to furnish out an extraordinary Supply. And tho' this may seem an uncouth Paradox to the Animal Man, a very harsh incongruity to Flesh and Blood; yet it has been unquestionably made out by the Practice of the Apostles, and many illustrious Examples in the Primitive Church. For there have been some, whose minds have been so fortified by Assistances of the Divine Spirit, that they could even smile in the Grim Face of Persecution; look down without concern upon all the frightful Judicatories of the World, and like the Leviathan in Job, could laugh at the shaking of a Spear: Nay, there have been some, who when Persecution has rode in Triumph, have carried the Bible as a Monument to their Graves; when walled about with fire, they have hugged it in their Arms, while their pains grew rapture, and their burnings extacy: And when their Tongues were no longer able to form faint Sounds into Vocal Hymns, with lifted up Eyes, they have continued their Devotion, and offered Dumb Praises to the Saviour of the World.  
And certainly 'tis a Sufficient Ground of Consolation to any generous Believer, when he considers that Afflictions are not the Blind Product of a Random destiny, but founded on the Basis of God's Decree or Permission: And when we are once fortified with this puissant consideration, that must needs be best for us, that is commissioned by the hand of a good and Gracious God; that he is the Sole Disposer of all Events, and that he does not stand by as an unconcerned Spectator of the Mournful Scene of our sufferings; that the miseries we undergo are the reproach of Christ, and that they are far more Honourable before God, than they can be ignominious before the World; this must needs cause our Souls to bear up bravely against all the Scorn and Terrors of the World, against Natural Contradictions.  
Lastly, if we can entertain a strong hope and assurance, that what we sow in sufferings we shall reap in Glory; that a violent Death does but conduct us a little sooner to Heaven, that a glorious Martyrdom does but Antedate Immortality; this is ravishment enough, to tempt us, like Cato, to be our own Executioners, did not God restrain us by his word, as an Angel did the Father of the Faithful: This is enough to make us cling to the Cross, to take Heaven by a more than Ordinnry violence; to breath out our Souls in Eucharistical Strains, and return a Psalm of Thanksgiving for every Wound.  
He that can thus consider things well about him, will be all peace and calm within himself, when circled around with Wars and Destruction: A Prison or a Dungeon will be no confinement to him; his Soul is still free to converse with his Redeemer, while a good Conscience becomes his Security: Tho he hear the Voice of his Maker in the Clouds, yet he flies not the Adam behind a Tree; nor like the guilty Emperor, beneath a Bed for Protection. He torments not himself with Jealousies and Tears, and superstitious forebodings of Evils to come, but is industriously thankful for those blessings and mercies which at present he enjoys: He knows, that by the assistance of the Divine Spirit he can turn a Dungeon into a House of Prayer; that Christ's presence will Consecrate the horrors of a Prison, and make Darkness itself Glorious: And if the Light of his Countenance do but shine in upon him, he shall be Happy, tho' in the midst of a Roman Furnace, or a Scottish Inquisition.  

The Close.  
THat perfect Happiness or Assimulation with God is the ultimate end of every Rational Being, is a Truth so obvious, that even the Light of Nature could discover it; and as 'tis the ultimate end of our Being's, and consequently our Duty; so is it likewise the insatiate desire of every Man, the common Thirst of our Natures: Hence it was, that the Renowned Plato did banish all absurd and licentious Notions of the Immortal Gods out of his famous Republic, and admit no other Descriptions of the Deity, but such as were consonant and agreeable to his nature, which he concludes to be pure and unalterable Goodness.  
Now since 'tis the natural Ambition of every Man to rise up to a Conformity with what he adores; such lovely and amiable Representations of God, must needs kindle a sweetness and benignity in our Tempers, and naturally tend to advance the Peace and Stability of the World: Especially, when we consider, that 'twas the great business of our Blessed Saviour's coming into the World, to consummate Peace betwixt Heaven and Earth; to reconcile all Mankind to an incensed God, and by sweetening our Tempers by the infusions of Grace, to make us love one another The Law indeed, like a Typical Canaan, might seem to shadow out the brighter Discoveries of this new Dispensation, but it did not enjoin 'em in that universality of Extent, and eminency of Degree, which our blessed Saviour has advanced 'em: for what more astonishing than that dreadful frequency of cursing their Enemies under the Law, in the most rigorous and solemn Forms of Execration? Whereas the Christian Religion allows no such Precedure against the most Capital Enemy: If he be a Celsus, a Porphyry, or a Julian, we must do good good unto him; but we seem to forget that we are Christians, if we go about to pray for his Destruction.  
Bless and Curse not is the Motto of Christianity, the great and conquering Precept of the Gospel: 'Twas this that was the inoffensive Armour of a Primitive Christian; that gave a lustre even to Martyrdom itself; that kindled a Veneration, and an awful Dread in the Breast of the persecuting Heathen: 'Twas this that softened the rudenesses of Tyrants, that captivated Rome's flying and triumphant Eagles, and made Arms and Empire truckle to Religion.  
Again, this will help to guard us against the dangerous Rocks of Presumption and Despair; for even God's Goodness is mostly to be feared in a state of Impenitency, though 'tis the only Refuge for the humble and repenting Sinner. His Wisdom (by which he comprehends the Ideas and mutual Referencies of all things) if separated from this Attribute, might degenerate into the extremest Tyranny and Imposture. His Holiness speaks little comfort to our Souls, for he is of purer Eyes than to behold Iniquity. His Justice alone must needs terrify and affright us, for if he should be extreme to mark what we do amiss, there's no Man can abide it. His Power without Goodness is the very Emphasis of Condemnation; for he is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell: But when we have his Love interceding for us, all other Attributes, as they partake of this, will close in perfect Harmony for our Salvation; his Justice will reward our mean Services and Endeavours for the sake of Christ's Merit, and his Sovereign Power for ever will protect us.  
This will also secure us against all worldly Accidents and foreign Contingencies; render us undaunted in the midst of Dangers, steady and immovable, though all the world should be in an uproar against us: For when we are once environed with this gallant Consideration, That that is best which now is, since it comes from the hands of a wise and indulgent God; our Inclinations and Desires will all be wrapped up in the divine Will, and we shall act with full freedom and approbation of Mind, whensoever the fiercest Calamities shall assault us; like some departed Spirits caught up to Paradise, we shall stand above the reach of Fortune, and the malice of the World; and our Souls will shine bright, unsullied and unmoved above Clouds and Storms, like the Lamps of Heaven.  
Thus much I have thought fit to Discourse, for the sake of the Author of the Account of DENMARK; for I know no Man that has more need of a Sermon or Solemn Lecture than himself. If I have contributed any thing towards a better Settlement of his Head and Fancy, I have an abundant Recompense. However, at least, I hope he will not take it unkindly at my hands, that I suppose him not quite hardened against Conviction.  
I have ever thought, and do persevere in my Opinion, That the Pride of the Animal Life, a too ardent Love of Riches and Worldly Honours (which are pretty glittering Baubles indeed to please Children in Understanding) and a want of contemplating the glories of another Life, are the main Fundamental Objection and Argument against the Passive Doctrines, maintained by the genuine Sons of the Church of England: This fills men's Hearts with coarse and sordid desires; and makes their Heads swell with the Wind of Fantastical Doctrines about Liberty, without a just restriction; Till at length the Distemper or Malignancy breaks out into a vain Outcry against Tyranny and Slavish Opinions. This makes Men play pragmatically with the Names of Princes and great Personages; and think it a fine thing to find out, and correct the Errors of their Superiors: 'Tis this has occasioned the Heats and darling Contentions of the Age; which have almost changed the state of Christianity into a state of War, and turned the World into a dreadful Theatre of Bloodshed and Confusion.  
And now, since I have just mentioned the Church of England, which is so much Carped and Railed at, I will add thus much, that 'tis the purest Church throughout the whole Compass of Christendom, that I know of; That she maintains the nearest resemblance and conformity to true Primitive Christianity; and notwithstanding all the little Braveries, and vain contradictions of her despairing Enemies, does still retain her Ancient Motto, I mean, Her unshaken Allegiance to her Prince: And therefore if God, out of a just and anger and Indignation for our Offences, should suffer his Beloved to be carried into Captivity, or laid waste by a Foreign or Domestic Power; Yet this shall be her Triumph in the midst of her Tribulations, That She was never guilty of Idolatry or Superstition, Sacrilege or Rebellion; and that nothing else but those crying Abominations, which her Principles disclaim, have ruined and destroyed Her. I desire to embrace her with an Apostolical warmth, and a Primitive Resolution, and may say unto Her, as our Saviour does to his Beloved in the Canticles, O my Dove that art in the Clefts of the Rock, in the secret places of the Stairs, let me see thy Countenance; let me hear thy Voice, for sweet is thy Voice, and thy Countenance Comly. O thou Lily among Thorns! O Fairest among the Daughters! Let me enjoy thee Living; and when Death shall come, may I die in thy Embraces, and breath out my Soul in Amorous fits of Devotion: That Phaenix-like, being refin'd by Corruption, and kindling anew in the very Act of Extinction, I may mount aloft into the Bridegroom's Palace, and fly out of thy Arms into Abraham's Bosom.  
FINIS.    

ERRATA.  
TIT. pag. pr. Caedis r. Caedes. Pr. Philip. 3. r. Philip. 13. Pag. 23. l. 11. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Pag. 27. l. 24. f. Dictorship r. Dictatorship. pag. 73. l. 7. f. in r. is. Page 99 f. Democtitus, r. Democritus. Pag. E. r. A Pag. a. r. 1. etc.