MODERN POLICIES, Taken from Machiavel, Borgia, and other choice Authors, by an eyewitness. Hom. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Sallust. Fragm. Libidinem dominandi, causam belli habent, & maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putant. Plautus in Captivis. Nam doli, non doli sunt, ni si Astu colas, Sed malum maximum, si id palam pervenit. Trinummus. Ambitio jam more sanctaest, liberaest a Legibus, Petere honorem pro flagitio, more sit: Mores, Leges perduxerunt jam in potestatem suam. The fourth Edition. LONDON, Printed for Tho: Dring, at the sign of the George in Fleetstreet near Clifford's inn. 1653. To my very good Lord My Lord R. B. E. My Lord, I Was never so proud, as to think I could write any thing that might abide the test of your judicious eye; what I now send, appeals to your candour, entreating you to lay aside the person of a judge, for that of a Friend. It is at best but a Pamphlet, whether you consider its bulk, or worth. The result of a few pensive hours spent in recollecting what the memory had registered from public observance, or private reading, in a Theme so sadly copious as this is. If it be not impertinent to tell you what hinted to this trifle, it was this; Having had opportunity to look abroad into the world, I took some notice of the Contrastos of the Italian Princes; I remarked the Spaniards griping Portugal; his grounds for the challenge of that kingdom, & his way of managing those grounds; I looked upon his method of propagating Christianity in the West: (where one says the Indian is bound to be religious and poor upon pain of death.) Moreover, I observed with what Artifice the Pope moderated in the European quarrels, and with what devices he twisted the Gops●ll, and the Advantage of the chair toge●hir; and in all the strugglings and disputes, that have of late years befallen this corner of the: World, I found ●hat although the p●letence was, five and spiritual, yet the ultimate end, and ●●●●sedpe, was gold, and greatness, and secular glory. But (my Lord) to come nearer, when I saw kingdoms tottering, one Nation beeding against another, yea, one piece of a Nation justling the other, and split into so many parties, and petty enmities: and each of these quoting Bible to palliate his mad, and exorbitant opinions; I sighed, and it grieved me to see popular easiness, and well-meaning abused by Ambitious self-seeking men; for there is a Generation that is born to be the plague, and disquiet, and scourge of the Age it lives in; that gladly sacrifice the public peace to private interest; and when they see all fired, with joy warm their hands at those unhappy flames, which themselves kindle, tuning their merry Harps; when others are weeping over a kingdom's funeral. But above all, it pierced my heart to see the Clergy in such an high degree accessary to the civil distempers, and contentions that have everywhere shaked the Foundations of Church and State; so that (as a Catholic noted) there hath been no flood of misery, but did spring from, or at least was much swelled by their Holy-water. I searched Evangelical Records, and there was nothing but mild and soft Doctrines, I inquired into the breathings of the Spirit, and they were pacificatory; I wondered from what Precedents and Scripture encouragements these men deduced their practices; and at last was forced to conclude, that they were only pretended chaplains to the Prince of Peace; Those Torches that should have been for saving Light, were degenerated into firebrands; Those Trumpets that should have sounded retreats to popular furies, knew no other music but martial alarms. I have endeavoured in the sequel to represent to you the Arts of Ambition by giving you the picture of a person over covetous of glory, the piece is course, but yet like; drawn only in water colours, which some of greater Leisure and Abilities may possibly hereafter lay in oil. You know that the desires of man are vast as his thoughts, boundless as the Ocean, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, A bored tub is not more insatiate. 'tis pity that greatness should at any time be out of the road of goodness; and I would sometimes, if I durst, with Socrates, curse him that first separated profitable and honest▪ ● It does to me a little relish of Paradox, that where ever I come, Machiavelli is verbally cursed and damned, and yet practically embraced and asserted; for there is no kingdom but hath a Race of men that are ingenious at the peril of the public; so that as one said of Galba in respect of his crooked body: Ingenium Galbae malè habitat; so may I say of these in regard of their crooked use; That wit could not have chosen a worse mansion, than where it is viriated, and made a Pander to wickedness. If you ask me what I mean to trouble the world, that is already under such a glut of Books? You may easily perceive that I consulted not at all with advantaging my name, or wooing public esteem by what I now write; I knew there was much of naked truth in it, and though it might possibly be of some caution to prevent the insinuation of pious frauds, and Religious fallacies into my native Country: If any plain-hearted, honest man shall cast away an hour in perusing it, he may perhaps find something in it resembling his own thoughts, and not altogether strange to his own experience. It is not the least of our misfortunes, that sins and vices are cost times endeared to us by false Titles and compliments: being cozened with a specious name, though much incoherent to the thing we ascribe it: or el●e, omi●●ing the vice which is the main, it intimates only the ●e●i●e which is the By ● As for example, we call an ambitious man {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, a person of notable aim and high enterprise whereas in truth, signifies, an indirect affector of Grandeur: And I find that by incautelous entertainment of these Phrases, our judgements are often bribed to misapprehensions, & we seduced to bad actions. I have endeavoured in the ensuing discourse to wipe off the paint and fucu●: that so things may appear in their true complex●o●, unadulterated with the slights and subtleties of Deluders. My Lord, That your Lordship may be one of those which the dark Poet calls {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, that the youth of your Honours may be renewed to you, that your happiness may be acquainted with no other season but a spring, is the earnest vote Of your bounden SERVANT. THe name of Prince, which I often use, must be understood, as convertible with any person, or persons, whom God hath entrusted with a just supremacy; all the dialects of Government being concerned in the Abuse; I have made the chief, and most familiar, to represent the rest. I am not ignorant that the Quotations may justly seem more numerous than method, and the Rule of Art will conveniently allow; I have this to say, to vindicate me from affectedness; that I have been little studious of Elegance, and curiosity in the composure; esteeming nakedness to be the best dress of truth: and if I mistake not, those attendants I have here procured for her, may afford some material, though little ornamental advantage. A Praemonition. It is far from the design of this Treatise, to derogate from the honour of the calling, or worth of the person of any sober Statesman; 'Tis a knowledge that no man observes with more due respects then myself; Because, I know it is no mean degree essential to the peace, and flourishing condition of a kingdom or commonwealth. 'Tis a jewel to be locked up in some few rare Cabinets, and not to be made cheap, and exposed to irreverence, by being bared, and prostituted to every vulgar eye. The Pseudo-Policy here mentioned is contradistinct to that science, which is ever built upon piety and prudence; for upon these solid Bases, your wise Architect delights to raises he glorious superstructure of government in a Prince, and subjection in a people: so knitting the Interest of both with reciprocal mixture, that the welfare of the one may be involved in the good of the other: the Majesty may be preserved in its just splendour, and ye● the Liberty of the Subject remain inviolate: he is the Atlas of the falling State, cures it when sick, sets it when disjointed, meets it in its several pressures with suitable reliefs. Such was Philip de Commines, of whom one said, it was a measuring cast, whether Lewis were the wiser King, or Philip the wiser counsellor: such was Burleigh to our late Queen Elizabeth, whose advice had very eminent influence into the prosperity of her Reign, which was such, as I believe few ages can parallel, and future times will read her happy Annals, as written like Xenophon's Cyrus, Non ad historiae fidem, sed ad exemplum justi imperij; So that if we love Peace, or Plenty, or Liberty, we are bound in way of acknowledgement to own that in Plutarch, Cato Maior. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} pav. But as the corruption of the best things makes them worst, so this noble knowledge has been abused to lose and ambitious ends, Ophyogenes, & Pfylli. by some men who seem to have sucked the venom out of all politics, misapplying what was good, and creating new according to the urgency of their own occasions, like the laws that were made in Causinus his Babel, to berued by manners, Furialibus commentariis illustraut. and not manners by laws. They vex true Policy by misinterpreting, and false glossing; framing in their hearts Diana's of hypocrisy and subtlety, and worshipping them in their actions. The Rules following there are few so silly as to believe, though too many so wicked as to practise; and not only so, but by a bold imposture to persuade that such actions as are deduced from these principles, are justifiable, and if fortunate, commendable. That all may see these Rocks, and shun them, and detest knavery though never so specious, and nauseate sin, though robed in successes and triumphs, is my daily prayer. First Principle. The politician must have the shadow of Religion, but the substance hurts. THere is no superstition in politics more odious, then to stand too much uponniceties and scruples: and therefore Machiavel cut the hair, when he advised, not absolutely to disavow conscience, but to manage it with such a prudent neglect, as is scarce discernible from a tenderness: not permitting it to be tetchy and relucting, nor yet prostituting it, unless upon solemn and insuperable occasion: he notes it from Papirius in Livy, who slighted the Pullarii handsomely, and was rewarded; whereas Appius Pulcher did it grossly, and was punished. But because the politician is best able to tell his own documents, you may please to conceive you found these broken discourses in his study: to each of which I shall add an Antidote. External holiness invites awful regards; There is no mask that becomes Rebellion and Innovation so well as Religion; Nothing that so much conceals deformity, & pretends beauty. 'Tis an excellent thing so to dissimulate piety, that when we act strongly against it, in that very article of wickedness the people Saint us: Herod would fain worship, when he means to worry. — Ipso sceleris Molimine Tereus Creditur esse pius: This is that which leads the World in a string, that hallows the most hellish enterprises: for the common people (which are the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}) never see behind the curtain, a handson gloss is with them as good as the Text: I believe the great Naturalist was in the right, when h● called a● Deity a jolly inven●ion, Irridendum, Plin. l. 2.6.7. agere curam rerum humanarum quicquid est summum, sed credi ex usu vitae est, Let me enjoy the temporal advantages of Religion, and let others take the eternal; Let me use it for a cloak or a Crutch, and let others expect from it a crown. The River in Athenaeus is my emblem, 43 Fons in Mileto, cuius proflue●s aqua dulcissima, guae vero in imo falsa. whose upper waters were sweet and grateful, but towards the bottom brackish. Let me be a superficial, let others be fundamental Christians: I like the humour of the Samseans in Epiphanius, that were neither jewer, nor gentiles, nor Christians, but preserving a commodious Correspondence with all▪ whatsoever I act in reference to Heaven is merely theatrical; and done in subordination to some other interest. Lycurgus could never have ingratiated his laws so effectually, if he had not pretended a Dialogue with his goddess. 'Tis to me indifferent, whether the Religion I personate be true or false, so it be but popular: and if the people I mean to juggle with err fundamentally, I can by no means court them more, then by embracing their delusion; It buckles them very close to me in moral observance, to assist them in their spiritual soundness, and mix with their distemper; and therefore I commonly lead the Van in the Faction, and call it Iure Divino, though I never found it but in hell's black Canons. How comfortably the Pope and Cardinal conferred notes,— Quantum nobis lucri peperit illa fabula de Christo! O the rich income and glorious result of hypocrisy! This, this must be diligently studied and practised. — Da justum sanctumque videri, Noctem peccatis, & fraudibus objice nubem. Privacy for a sin, and cleanly conveyance for a cheat, make it to common eyes seem as white as innocency itself: the strictness of that thief was very notable, who always before he went about the work of his Calling (for so he called stealing) went to prayers that God would bless and prosper him: So I say grace to the Design, be it never so wicked, and give thanks for the success, be it never so bloody. But further in subserviency to a loose interest, there must be no such puling thing as conscience; Hell, and Heaven, and Scripture, and what else the Christian esteems most sacred, must all truckle under the plot, but not be observed when they come to oppose it: Had Alexander boggled at invading other men's kingdoms, he had never wept for the scarcity of Worlds. There is no greater obstacle to generous Actions, than a coy and squeamish conscience; 'tis pretty that some tell us that it strikes Surdo verbere, and then how can it be heard in the noise and bustle of a clamorous World? Had your mighty conquerors, and your valiant captains, and your thriving Popes, listened to this inward Charmer, their names had never swelled, and looked big in the Rolls of Fame. Colasterion. BUt let all sober Christians know, that this shell of Religion, though it may be of external conducement, yet there is nothing that God's pure and undeluded eye looks on with more abhorrency: We may possibly deceive men, but 'tis in vain to put Ironies upon God. A counterfeit Religion shall find a real hell, and 'tis pity that such a Sacred thing should be violenced, & made to obstetricate to rebellious irregular designs. As for such who have conspired with the wrath of God in the stupefaction of their consciences, though they may for a time struggle with those inward checks, yet there will be a day (if not in this life) when that witness, that Judge, that Jury will not be bribed. God hath fixed it in the soul as an eternal Register, Origen. as an impartial Diary as the Censor of the affections, and pedagogue of the passions. It does not only illustrate divine justice in an Autocat●crisy, but was meant by God for a bridle and restriction: And he that hath by an inveterate wickedness conquered the opposition which God seated in his heart to sin, may possibly consult well with his present advantage and greatness, but not at all with his future comfort; for besides the loss of that intimate pleasure which writes upon innocency; Vinum i● pectore. he ●eels sometimes those bosom quarrels that verberate and wound his soul,— for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Principle II. Thè Politician must by all means make the most insinuating applications to the people that he can; and lock up his own design, in pretence for Religion, Liberty, Restitution of Laws, Reformation of gabelles, &c. THE prosperity of Innovation depends in a high measure upon the right knack of kindling and fomenting jealousies and dislikes in the people; and then wielding those grudges to the favour & advantage of private ends; for the people are to the politician like tools to the mechanic, he can perform nothing without them, they are his wings, his wheels, his Implements, the properties that he acts with. That this may be done effectually, there must be an excellency in these following slights. First, To assign such a cause of grievances, and such a course for redress, as may open a way to the alteration he aims at: as if he means to alter the Government', or to engross the Supremacy, he must artificially convince of a necessity to arm, 1. Defensively, and if that succeeds, 2. Offensiv●ly; This he may do by false alarms of danger, inventing horrid News, and plying the people with such fictitious perils, as may make them believe, Religion and Liberty, and All is at stake, and that they are the Geese that must save the Capitol. Secondly, when he sees opportunity to reveal his own design, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} he must do it gradually, and by piecemeal; for that which at one view would be a Mormo to fright them, give it them in small parts, and they will digest it well enough. Thirdly, he must compose his very garb and gesture: 'tis a great matter to tell a lie with a grace; as, if Religion be the Mode, he must in his tales knock his breast, attest God, and invoke imprecations upon himself, if he does not do that, which he never intends. Fourthly, he gives them good words, and bad Actions, like those the Historian brands with a Crudelitatem damnatis, crudelitatem initis, ravishes them with apprehensions of Liberty, under the highest strain of oppression: for it is most certain if, you please them with the name, they will embrace it for name and thing. Something like this had been imposed upon Rome, when the Orator writ to his Friend Atticus, Ingeniosi muse pulatores. — Nominu rerum perdidimus, & licentia. militaris libertas vocatur, that they were cheated in names, for military Licence was miscaled Liberty; This is well described by Plautus in Truculentu. In melle sunt lingu● sitae vestrae, atque orationes, Lacteque: corda felle sunt sita, atque acerbo aceto. Elinguis dicta dulcia datis, at cord amare facitis. Fifthly, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. He observes that they receive probabilities wisely propounded, more greedily then naked truths: and therefore he is very studious to glass and polish his Impostures, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. that so they may to a loose eye dissemble truth, according to that of Pindar, — {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}— {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}: Or that of Menander: {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Sixthly, when he hath by the assistance of the people got the sword into his own hands, he awes them with it, and frights them into future compliance. He tha● courted them before with all the adulator● terms, that ambition could invent, or they receive; as if he had bee● vowed their Martyr, and ready to sacrifice his dearest enjoyments upon the Altar of public liberty and freedom; as if his veins knew no other blood, but such as he would be proud to spend in their service, having now served himself of them, he forgets the bosom that warmed him, they hear from him now in a Palinode, he curls up his smooth compliments into short laconics, and exchanges his courtship for command. Colasterion. FIrst, We may be assured that there is no greater Index of ambition, than an affectation of popularity: which appears in meek addresses to the people, wooing and familiar condescensions, bemoaning thei● sufferings, commending a more vigorous sense o● them; that of the Comit● is no bad rule, Non temerarium est ubi dives ble● de appellat pauperem, Aitera manu fert Lapicadem, pa●● ostentat altera: Nemini crede, qui longe blanduest 〈◊〉 ves pauperi. Or that which Livy notes of a Crandee, Credebant haud gratuitam in tanta superbid comitatem fore, the extreme kindness or fawning of great persons, is always suspicious, because often fraudulent: remember the Sileni, that use to kill with hugs, and embraces. Secondly, Know it's very usual for men to personate goodness, till they have accomplished their ends; 'tis observed of Appius, when he had his wish, Finem fecit gerendae alienae personae; 'tis an old note, Maxima pars morem hunc homines habent, quod sibi votunt, Dumid imperiant▪ honi sunt, se●● ubi iam penes sese habent, Ex bonis pessimi, & fraudulentiss●● sunt. Athon●●s tells a pretty story, of one Atheni●● born obscurely, who 〈◊〉 long as he was priva●● and poor, excelled in 〈◊〉 soft and tractable disposition, but when by jug●ling he had obtained th●Athenian Governmen● there was none more ●dious for a cruel, cove●ous, & barbaric tyra●ny: as it is reported 〈◊〉 Caligula, there was nev●● a better Servant, and a worse Master. Thirdly, We know that a good aim, much ●ess a good pretence cannot justify a bad action, and therefore we ought to be as Solicitous about the lawfulness of the means, as about the goodness of the end. It ●s a Maxim in Morality, that bonum oritur ex inte●●●s, and in Christianity, ●hat we must not do ●vil that good may come ●f it; & we may possibly ●escue ourselves from ●uture cozenage, if we ●xamine the lawfulness ●f every circumstance leading to the end propounded, before we are tickled and transported with the beauty of the pretence. Principle. III. If the Supremacy be invaded, the Lapses of the former Magistrate must be inculcated with the greatest advantage, and what is wanting in reality, must be supplied in Calumny. IT cannot easily be imagined of what singular importance the aspersing and blotting of a Prince is, to boil up popular discontent to that height which is requisite for a rebellion; and here it must diligently be inquired if there have not been indeed such lapses, as have galed the people; and though they be old sores and skined, yet they must be searched and refreshed, and exasperated with all the urging circumstances, that come within the invention of scandal; It must be remembered, if any persons of public note have suffered under the Sword of Justice, whose crimes can by Art or eloquence be extenuated, whose hard measure must be mentioned with tears, that so old traitors may be propounded for new Martyrs. This hath been the ordinary Method of Ambition, as you may find it noted by a great Scholar in these words, Barclay contra Monarch▪ 30. — Fuit haec omnibus saeculis, & adhuc est ad occupandum tyrannidem expeditissima via, dum summo se amore; ac pietate in patriam esse simulant, principum vitia, & populi miseriam, apud suos primum, deinde palam queribunda voce lamentantur, non quo plebem, cuius solius commodis inservire ●ideri volunt, ab illo servitutis jugo asserant in libertatem; sed quo populari aura subnixi, aditum ●ibi & januam ad eam ipsam dignitatem, nequiora aliquando ausuri patefaciant. And therefore if the Prince be severe, he gives him Nero's brand, a man kneaded up of dirt and blood: if he be of parts and contrivance, he calls it pernicious ingenuity: If he be mild and favourable to tender consciences, he declaims against his toleration: If he urge uniformity, and decency in Divine service, he rails at his Superstition. And because there is no such aequilibrious virtue, but has some flexure to one of the extremes he is very careful to publish the extreme alone, and to silence the virtue. But if the Prince hath by carriage of extraordinary innocence, Candida vita. vindicated himself from obloquy (Which shall scarce be, if small faults be rightly improved) then Machiavel's advice must be followed, to calumniate stoutly, till the people have entertained something to his prejudice: 'Tis a Figure in politics to make every infirmity a fault, and every fall a crime: and if the people be disposed to alteration, these must be first urged against a Monarch to depose him, or if need be to murder him; which is commendable, if you can dress him up like a Tyrant, as you may find it justified by an honest Scot, Buchanan. who complains that there are not some glorious rewards appointed for Tyrannicides: and by the best of Orators, Pro Mil●ne. — Graecos Deorum honores tribuisse iis, qui Tyrannos necaverunt: and by the Tragedian, Hercules furens. Victima bawd ulla amplion potest. Magisve optma mactari jovi, Quam Rex iniquus. And secondly, these personal faults must be artificially devolved upon Monarchy itself. There remains to disperse the commendations of that Government which is intended for a Successor: if Arstocracy, the long-lived prosperity of Sparta and Venice, is a very plausible evidence of its goodness: If Democracy, the happiness of the Romans under their Tribunes is very memorable; to which may be added this out of Machlavel: ●pon Livi p. 22. that they are the most suitable guardians of any thing, who are least desirous to usurp it: and without doubt considering the designs of the Nobility and the people, we must confess, that the first are very ambitious of rule, the last desire only not to be oppressed. Colasterion. I Presume that person is very rare, that can boast of such an absolute saintship whilst he is amongst mortals, but that there will now and then some actions fall from him, which confess humanity, and require candour: some leaves in the volume of the fairest life, that are Legenda cuno venia: If this be a common frailty, why do we six such rigid censures upon the miscarriages of Princes or why do we deny them the same mildness which we use, when we commiserate the infirmities of other Men? 'Tis yet much more disingenuous to revive and poor upon a few bad actions, which it may be have been long ago expiated with many good: Take this from no mean Statist.— Iniqua in omni re accusanda, praetermissis bonis, malarum enumeratio, vitiorumque selectio; namne ullus quidem isto modo magistratus vituperabilis no●erit. As greatness gives a gloss to the virtues of a Prince, so it mitigates his vices; for if we look upon him as circled with honour, and all outward enjoyment; we see withal that variety of temptations he hath to struggle with above others, having no other Guard, no other weapon than his mere virtue; sometimes we are defended from a sin by our very impotency, it may be above our sphere, or out of our reach; we do not, because we cannot; how often are our wills offenders, when our hands are innocent? we are checked from without, he commonly from within, having nothing to dispute with his immoderate desires but himself. This is that which enhances the goodness of a Prince, as that excellent Poet leads his Temperate Knight through all the delicacies and charms of pleasure, Spencer. and delivers him a conqueror. But suppose a Magistrate really tyrannical; it is no contemptible question, Whether the evils of the redress may not be equivalent to the mischief. I remember Livie's, Nec morbum ferre possumus, nec remedum: and Plutarch's, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}: and Tacitus, Ferendae Regum ingenia, neque usui esse crebras mutationes: vitia erunt, donec homines, sed neque haec continua, & meliorum interventu pensantur; and Seneca, Infaeliciter aegrotat, cui plus periculi a medico quam à morbo. Poise the miseries of a civil War with the grievances of an unjust Magistrate, and the politician must take many grains of allowance from fallacy to make the scales even. For though the fury of incensed tyranny may fall heavy upon many particulars, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Arist. Pol. 7. yet the bloody consequences of an intestine Sword, are more epidemical, and more permanent. As to the charging the faults of a governor upon the Government itself, Isocrates. I see nothing in it but delusion, nor can there be a more gross abuse, then {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. For King-killing, because I know it a tetchy subject, I shall wholly omit all discouse of it; only I find it damned by an able English Divine Jesuitical; Io. Goodwin, in his Anticavalerism. and Tacitus commends to subjects rather scutum than gladium, the shield of patience and toleration, rather than the Sword. Principle IV. The politician must nourish some mercenary Jesuits, or other Divines, to cry up his aims in their Churches, that so the poison may insinuate more generally into all the parts. HE that peruses History, will find that there hath been no Innovation so gross, no Rebellion so hideous, but hath had some ecclesiastical Fomentors: for such as want worth enough of their own to reach preferment in a regular way, are most apt to envy the just honours of better men; and despairing to obtain their end by learning and piety, they aspire to it by the crooked means of faction and schism; nor are these despicable instruments to the politician; for the sharpest sword in his Army cannot vie services with a subtle quill: You may see his business in the comic, Aristoph. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. The Jesuit reckons it in the number of his merits, Concutiunt populos, vexant regna, solicitant bella, diruunt Ecclesias. if he may by any sinister ways ruffle and disorder Heretical kingdoms (so he calls them) encourage weak and unstable minds to slight Magistracy', irritate divisions, tumults, rebellions, absolve from oaths, and all sacred ties; so that it is hard to find any tragical Scene, or bloody Theatre, into which the Jesuite hath not intruded, and been as busy as Davus in the Comedy, contributing in a very high measure to every fanatic insolence, Justifying the old Lemma of Loiola's Picture, Cavete vobis Principes: These are the firebrands of Europe, the forge and Bellows of sedition, infernal Emissaries, the Pests of the Age, men that live as if huge sins would merit Heaven by an Antiperistasis. 2. Nor is any Nation without some turbulent spirits of its own, the dishonour of the Gown and Pulpit, the shame, Classica canere. and sometimes the ruin of their country; you would think they had their Text from a Gazet, because you hear so much of a coranto in the Application●: That these may be fit implements for the politician, there are th●se requisite qualifications. 1. There must be a principal gift of wresting the Scripture, vexing & urging the holy Text, constraining it to patronize the design; the great Apostle expresses this in three very emphatical terms; 1. Cogging the Dye, making the Word speak what they list; 2. Crafty applications, and expositions of it; 3. All the Methods and Arts of consenage, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. gilding and varnishing rotten doctrines, and this must be done. 1. In public, vomiting out flames and Sulphur from that Sacred Pegma, where he should deliver none but mild and soft, that is, Evangelical Embassages. 2. In private, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. at Parlour Sermons, Evangelioptho. ri. and meeting houses, where he is listened to as an Oracle, and here commonly he is more euthsivast than Scripturist, and his Auditors believe his dreams to be as Canonical as the Revelation; like those Melancthon speaks of, Quicquid somniant, volunt esse spiritum sanctum, or those that the Father chides, when he tells them that every whimsy is not prophesy {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. 3. He ought to be of some abilities in disputing, and what he wants in logic, he must supply in Garrulity: for whatsoever he affirms, the interest he hath in his seduced hearers improves into a syllogism; Populi. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} if you ask after his topics; ●l●. St. H●erom Ex officina carnificum argumenta petit: if after his weapons, Armat se ad latrocinium per Christi nomen, Strada. and the woun●● he makes is Faction; those consciences which will not surrender to his parley, his Master takes by storm: And thus he abuses Christ, by pretending his Favour to unwarrantable Actions; he abuses his Prince, by alienating the affection and allegiance of his subjects; he abuses the Church, by shattering it into rents and schisms; wounding it with a feather from its own wing, snatching a coal from the Altar, Ecclesiae nomine armamini & contra Ecclesiam dimicatis. Aug. to fire both Church and State; and lastly he abuses himself, for when the politician hath made his best use of his seditious spirit, he leaves him to his own wild distempers, having directed his own thoughts to another goal. Colasterion. ALthough we have caution enough against these in sad and frequent experiences, these latter Ages groaning under the effects of an exorbitant Clergy; yet such is the easiness and credulity of the Vulgar, such the subtlety and dissembled sanctity of the Impostor, that he meets with as great a proneness in the people to be couse●d, as he brings willingness to delude; for it is a true Observation, that these Clancular Sermocinators bear as great sway in popular minds, and make as deep impression upon their consciences, as the Loyolists do, when they impose upon their blind Laity. I dare only subjoin these few advices. First, I should suspect ● Clericall Statu●, I mean such a one as in the dispensation of Sacred Oracles, tampers with secular affairs, unless it be in case of high concernment to his Auditors souls. Secondly, I should believe him a juggler, that sprinkles his Sermons with murmurs against the lawful Magistrate, ecclesiastical, or civil, unless he hath some better ground for his dislike, than a th' warting his humour, in things controversial and Adiaphorous. Thirdly, I should more than doubt his knavery, that should suborn Scripture, to attest, or incite to illegal Actions, as a kin to that, which Salvian calls Religiosum scelus. 4ly. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} All news in Religion, whether in Doctrine or Discipline, is 〈◊〉 common screen of private design; Let {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} tell it, Apud. Dion. Cass. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Which is noted by the great Causabon in his Epistle before his Baronian exercitations, thus; Cupiditas novandi haec secum mala semper trahit, Christ● inconsutilem tunicam lacerate, sectas novas parit, & statim multiplicat, Ecclesiam & populum concutit &c. 'tis sad to see Vra●ti● divine Urania enrolled i● blood, the Stars and Luminaries of the Church, to shed such black and malignant influences; in lieu of pious documents, to hear none but furious incentives; Ite a●acres, tantaeque precor confidite Causae; Papirius. The Cause they serve, is the doctrine and the use, the egg, the apple, the head and foot of all their discourses; if you like to confer notes, you may find a piece of their Sermon in Barclay to this effect, Con. Monarc. p. 32. Se Evangelij libertatem praedicare, ●ill●m Christianis animis vim inferre, suam cuique conscientiam liberam relinquere, verbo ducere, non vi quemquam adigere; ea● esse Evangelij doctrinam, u● omnes conscientiae fruantu● libertate: sibique ut id liceat, votis omnibus postulare. Principle. V. If success waits upon his Enterprises, he urges it to authenticate his Cause. THere is no Argument more popular than success, because the bulk of men is not able to distinguish the permission of God, from his approbation: And although it be in its self fallacious and feeble, yet the misery of the conquered denies them the opportunity to dispute it; for the opposition of the Sword will never be confuted by the bare fist of logic. Nor doth the Victor commonly permit any ventilation of his dictates; for when the body is a slave, why should the reason be free? {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, In Pompeio. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}; as the soldiers in Plutarch wondered any would be so importunate to preach Laws, and moral reasons to men with Swords by their sides; {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}: And if arms knew not how to descend to rational inquiries, but were enough justified by an odd kind of necessity of their own creating; like those in Livy, In armis jus ferre, & omnia fortium virorum esse. I have often considered with myself, what should move Tyrants to Print Justifications of themselves, and assertions of their proceedings, which I suppose never made an understanding man a Convert, nor met with a cordial reception in any; unless the abuse of a few, poor, shallow believers, be thought a triumph worth their pains. I have sometimes thought they do by these papers please themselves in their abilities to delude, and so gratify their tyranny over the noblest part of man, by denying the Liberty of the thought, and subduing the powers of the soul to an implicit coherence with their own magisterial opinions. But our politician, by quoting the success of his undertakings, besides the plausibleness▪ and insinuating nature of the Proposition itself, hath the advantage of power to make us believe him. Nor▪ is this bait contemptible, many of parts and prudence, yea and of Religion, have been staggered by it; some question whether Diagoras deserved the brand of atheism, considering the wild conceits they then had of their Gods; or differed from the common Creed, crying out, O how the God's favour sacrilege! when he had a merry gale, after a sacrilegious attempt. The best of the Roman Historians calls the Victory, the just arbitress of the Cause, eventus belli velut aequus Iudex, unde jus stat, ei victoriam dabit: So hard it is to persuade mere reason, that virtue may b● unfortunate, and vi● happy. He was no small Po●● that argued himself o●● of his Gods, by seei●● wickedness honoured, 〈◊〉 worth slighted: whi●● he expresses thus; Memtor to Li●●us tu mulo iacti● at Cato parv●, Pompeiusnullo, guis putet esse De● In English. Licinus does in Marble sleep, A common urn does Cato keep Pompey's ashes may catch cold, That there are God's, let Dou● 〈◊〉 Hipp. There may be so●● use made of that in Se●●ca, Honesta quaedam scelera successus facit, prosperous mischiefs are Cardinal virtues in the world's ethics; & therefore the Tragedian repeats it, Prosperum ac faelix scelus, Her. Eur. virtus vocatur. The unwarrantableness is hid and concealed in the glory of the success: we often praise the Macedonian Conquest, but seldom mention their boundless and unjust ambition. On the contrary, if an undertaking really good miscarry, we censure it: so that according to the vogue of the World, 'tis the event that gives the colour to the action, and denominates it good o● bad. Old. To {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Colasterion. THere is some of this Leaven in the judgements of most, notwithstanding those brighter discoveries, in the noon of Christianity we live under. A Bible throughly observed, would expound to us much of the riddle, and dark passages of providence: we are so shortsighted, that we cannot see beyond time, we va●ue things, and men, by their temporal prosperities, and transient glories; whereas if we put Eternity into the othe● seal, it would much out-poise that worldly Lusstre, that so much abuses our eye, and cousins our understandings. I find not in holy writ that God hath in separably annexed goodness and greatness, justice and victory: he hath secured his servants of the felicities of a better life, but not of this. Ch●ists kingdom was not, our happiness is not of this World. Nor doth my Bible show me any warrant for appeal to heaven for th●● decision of this, or that ●ntricacy, by bestowing success upon this party, or that cause, according to its righteousness, and due merit. There is a vast difference betwixt {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, even in Scripture construction. The great Turk may justly exult, and prune himself in discourses of this nature, if they be once admitted, & owned by Christians: And I shall forbear any longer to think Mahomet an Impostor, and must receive the Alcoran for Gospel; ●f I shall be convinced that temporal happiness and triumph, are a true Index of divine Favour▪ Our Religion hath something more to invite our closure with it; it proposes a conveniency on Earth, but the Crowne● and Garlands are reserved for Heaven. The Money-god in Aristophanes pretends a command from Jupiter to distribute as great a Largesse to the wicked, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. as to the good; because if virtue should once impropriate riches, that fair goddess would be more wooed for her Dowry▪ than for her native beauty: So if Religion were attended with those outward Allurements that most take the senses; we should be apt to follow Christ for the loaves, and overlook the spiritual charms, and more noble ends of Christianity. The Heathen could say, Foelix praedo mundo exemplum inutile, Happy piracy is a thing of unhappy presidency; Fortunate sins may prove dangerous temptations; But to say that God doth signally at test the actions of such a person, or the justice of such a cause, by permitting it to prosper, and taper up in the world, is such a deceit, as deserves our serious abhorrency— I leave it with Ovid's wish, — Careat successibus opto, Quisquis ab eventu facta not anda putant. Principle VI. The politician must change with the times. THAT Alterations & Revolutions in kingdoms are the rods with which God scourges miscarrying Princes, Comin. 170 is resolved by my Lord of Argenton: to which may be added out of Aristotle in the fift of his politics— Per fraudem & dolum regna evertuntur, That the ruins of a Kingdom are often derived from fraud and subtleties: I shall omit inquiry into other Causes, as foreign to my present purpose. The politician knows best how to improve these popular Gusts, because he caused them▪ such a storm is his seed time. 'Tis the boast of a Dutch man, that he can sail with all winds; the aspiring man observes the quarter whence the fairest gales of preferment blow, and spreads the sails of his Ambition to entertain them; nor can the compass breath more varieties, than his dextrous soul has changes and garbs, and suitable compliances. What the Orator calls his top and perfection, to make happy application to the several humours and genius of all sorts of men, qualifying his address with what he knows will most charm the person he treats; that the politician does not only with his lip, but life you may find all those Figures and Tropes digested into his actions, and made practical, that are in the other only vocal. He remembers that of an English marquess ●awlet of Winchester) who having successfully served four Princes, and still in the same room of favour, Nantons Regalia. unshaken with the vicissitudes he had run through, being asked by one, by what means he preserved his fortune, he replies, that he was made, ex salice, non ex quercu, of the pliant willow, not stubborn Oak, always of the prevailing Religion, and a zealous professor. This detractness and bending is of absolute necessity; for, if the same temper, which insinuated in violent times, were retained in a composed and settled government, it would be altogether distasteful; and so on the contrary. Therefore if Religion be fashionable, you can scarce distinguish him from a Saint: He does not only reverence the holy Ministers, but if need be, he can preach himself: If cunctation prevails, he acts Fabius: If the buckler must be changed for a sword, he personates Marcellus: If mildness be useful, Soderini of Venice was not more a lamb than he: If severities are requisite, Nero's butcheries are sanctities, compared with his: As Alcibiades in Plutarch, shifted disposition as he altered place (being voluptuous and jovial in Jonia, frugal & retired in Lacedaemon) so he proportions himself to time, place, person, Religion, with such aplausiblenesse, as if he had been born only to serve that opinion, which he harboured but as a guest whilst it continued in sway: having a room in his heart, if occasion be, to lodge the contrary, and to cry it up with as much ardour; as he once used to extol the former. And thus like a subtle Proteus, he assumes that shape that is most in grace, and of most profitable conducement to his ends, In eo stant confilia, quod sibi conducere putat. He abounds in that which Varo calls, ver●atile ingenium, a voluble wit, like the changeling derided by Plautus, as more turning then a potter's wheel. Rota figulari versatilior. He hath this advantage of the chameleon, that he can assume whiteness; for I find him often wearing the vest of innocency, to conceal the ugliness and blackness of his attempts. Finally, he is the Heliotrope to the Sun of Honour, and hath long since abjured his God, Religion, Conscience, and all that shall interpose, and screen him from those beams, that may ripen his wishes and aims into enjoyments. Colasterion. BUt the true Statesman is inviolably constant to his Principles of virtue, and religious prudence; his ends are noble, and the means he uses, innocent: he hath a singl eye on the public good; and if the ship of the State miscarry, he had rather perish in the wrack, than preserve himself upon the plank of an inglorious subterfuge. His worth hath led him to the helm, the Rudder he uses, is an honest and vigorous wisdom the Star he looks to for direction is in Heaven; and the port he aims at, is the joint welfare of Prince and people. This constancy is that solid Rock upon which the wise Venetian hath built its long-lived republic: So that it is not improbable the maiden-queen borrowed her Motto of Semper eadem, from this Maiden Common wealth. 'Tis true, something is to be conceded to the place, and time, and person; & I grant that there are many innocent compliances; Virgil's Obliquare sinus is observable, there may be a bending without a crookedness: We may circumire, and yet not aberrare; Paul became a Jew, that he might gain the Jews, but he did not become a sinner, that he might gain sinners; He was made all things to all men, but he was not made sin to any: that is, his condescensions were such, as did we● consist with his Christian integrity. Greatness, and Honours, and Riches, and sceptres, those glorious temptations, that so much enamour the doting world, are too poor shrines for such a sacrifice as conscience, which the politician hath so much abused by an inveterate neglect, that it is become menstruous, and Ephemerall. Principle VII. If the politician find reason to impose oaths, Let them be of such ambiguity as may furnish with a sense obliging to the design, and yet so soft as the people may not feel the snare. IT appears by sad experience, that in propounding of oaths, requiring promises, and other solemn ties; there have been multitudes induced to bind themselves upon some secret Loose, and men tall reservation; w●ch they have framed to themselves as a salvo in case of breach: so apt we are in affairs of greatest importance, to advise more with corrupt▪ wit than sound conscience. In the Catalogue of self-delusions, you may possibly find these; 1. We are ready to interpret the words too kindly, especially if they be ambiguous; and 'tis hard to find terms so positive, but that they may be eluded indeed, or seem to us to be so, if we be disposed. 2. Some are invited to illicite promises qu● illicit, because they know them to be invalid. 3. Some are frighted into these bonds by threats, and losses, and temporal concernments, and then they please themselves that they swear by Duress, and so are disengaged. 4. Some are oathproofe; I mean there are such sear-souled men, as will swear Pro and Con. 5. Some have learned from the Civilians, Grot. de iur. belli, 245. that though we swear to a thing not materially unlawful, yet if it impedes a greater moral good, it becomes void. Some take Liberty to swear, because they judge the person to whom they swear incapable of an oath: as Cic●ro defends the breach of oath to a thief, from perjury, and Brutus to a Tyrant: as it is in Appian, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. The first sort of thes● falls most properly under the notice, and practise of our politician; though he may also use the last, but at different times. It is not difficult for him to cast his desire into such soft glib expression as will down with most▪ Yea, with many that would absolutely disavow the same thing in rough Language. If he be unskilled in this black art, I commend him to the pedagogy of the Delphic devil. Now it is most certain, there is no other tye of such security, and establishment, to a person that hath ravished greatness, and acquired it by violence. Usurpation hath only these two pillars, it's own arms, and Militia, and public oath and acknowledgement; and it is scarce worth query, whether, when the gross of a Nation is thus bound, the Oath be not as valid, and the conscience as much concerned, as if it had been sworn to a lawful Prince. It is reasonable that a● usurping power cannot upon any prudent persuasion have the same confidence in the love of the people that a Just hath: Nor is the following government enticing, as Tacitu● notes, Nec qu●squam imperium malis artibus quaesitum benè administravit. The same with Guazz●, De civil converse. l. 2. p. 132. where one objecting the vices of Princes, receives this answer, Perchè non erano Prencip● per natura, ma per violenza, & erano più temuti che amati: And therefore if the politician can by the blessed means forementioned gain a superiority, there is no trusting to those ingenuous Guards, his own goodness, and the love of others: His best defence is awe, and fear, and Scaffold, and Gibbet, and the like. For he that hath no voluntary room in the hearts of his people, must use all means to gain a coercive. For his own promises he puts them into the same bottomless bag, which the Poets say Jupiter made for lovers asseverations: His word is as good as his oath, for they are both trifles, as it is in Plautus. — Pactum non pactum est, Aulular. un pactum pactum est, cum illis Lubet. 'Twas he that first invented that useful distinction of a Lip-oath, and a heart-Oath; you may find him in Euripides. Jurata lingua est, mente iuravi nihil He makes good use of that in Plutarch, Apoph. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that children are to be cozened with rattls, and men with oaths. 'Tis an huge advantage that man hath in a credulous world, that can easily say and swear to any thing; and yet withal so palliate his falsifications and perjuries, as to hide them from the conusance of most. The politician must be furnished with handsome refuges, that may seemingly heal miscarriages this way. He need not spend much time in inquiry after such helps; these declining ages will abundantly furnish his invention. Colasterion. AN Oath is in its self a religious affirmation, a promise with God's seal; And therefore it concerns Christians to be cautelous before swearing, to swear Liquidly, and to observe conscionably. 'Tis pity such slender Evasions should satisfy us, as have been scorned by heathens. We are bound (Says one of them) to the sense of the imposer, or else we do {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, we are bound to the performance of what we have thus sworn, or else we do {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}: 'tis much, that a moral conscience should more check them, than a clearer light can awe us: As if they more honoured the Genius of a Caesar, than we revere the presence of a God: or else we should never engage in new protestations, that do interfere, yea, and sometimes positively quarrel with old. They had their {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, their perjury revenging Gods; to whose vindictive powers they referred their offenders: they punished such as swore falsely by their Prince with fustigation; But such as abused their Gods, were left to the dispose of their injured Deities, as if they were at a loss how to find a punishment equal to the sin. Hear how soberly Plato mentions it (out of the noble Commentator upon Philostratus) En toutes manieres sà este un fort belle ordinance & institutition, de n' user point du nom des Dieux Legerement, de peur de Les contaminer; ca● la Majeste des Dieux ne se doit imployer, qu' en un saint & venerabile puretè. See what real honour they gave to their counterfeit Gods: Let us have a care that we ascribe not counterfeit honour to the true God. Our God hates every false Oath: Causabon exercitat. 202. It appears in his severity to Zedekiah, for breaking Covenant with the Babylonian Monarch, though a Tyrant of the first magnitude. Were all Subjects duly solicitous about the weight of this bound, we should be less prone to take, and more studious ●● observe it; I remember the Scholiast upon Aristoyha●es, p. 848. derives {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, It hedges in and shuts up a man, and ties his hands behind him; I know not how some conquerors may cut this knot with the Sword; or how some Samson's may shake off these cords; or what gaps the Licentious may make in this hedge; But such as value God, or heaven, or Prince, or Peace, can discover it no way better than in a sincere use of so divine an Ordinance. There can be no certain rule given, when to believe, and when not, what such as are, or would be great, please to inculcate to us: I find more wracks upon the rock of credulity: and ●tis no heresy to affirm, that many have been saved by their infidelity; I commend that of Epichar●●●● {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Principle VIII. Necessity of St●te, is a very competent Apology for the worst of Actions. IT has been observed, that in all Innovations and Rebellions (which ordinarily have their rif●● from pretences of Religion, or Reformation, or both) the breach and neglect of Laws hath been authorised by that great Patroness of Illegal Actions— Necessity. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} ●eva ne●essitas Now the politician is never without such an Advocate as this; For he cares not to distinguish whether the necessity be of his own creating, or no, as for the most part it is▪ being indeed an Appendix to the wrong he undertakes: and signifies no more, then that he is compelled to cover wrong with wrong, as if the commission of a second ●in were enough to justify the first. He changes that old charitable advice— Benefact a benefactis al●js per●egito nè perpluant; into vitia vitijs aliis pertegito nè perpluant: that so heapi●g one crime upon another, the later may defend the former from the stroke of Justice. He adores that maxim in Livy, justum ●●t bellum quibus necessarium, & pia arma quibus in armis spes est: It were very incongruous to desire that man to leave his crutch, that cannot walk without; 'tis no less unnatural to invite him to quit his sword, whose life and fortune leans entirely upon it. If he can insinuate the scope of the war to be legal, a little daubing will serve to Legalize the circumstances: that of the Civilians must be remember— Licere in bello quae ad finem sunt necessaria, Victor. de Iure Belli, nu. 18.39. the Oracles of the Gown are too tender for swordmen; and it may be he had wit in his anger, who affirmed, that martial Law was as great a solecism, as martial peace. If the people be once possessed that his aim and intention is fair, they will never expect that the Media for attainment of his end should be retrenched by the strict Boundaries of Law: he manages that Rule very practically, Rem alienam, ex quâ certum mihi peri●ulum eminet, citra culpae alienae considerationem invadere possum; Now he can very plausibly make this periculum, certum, or incertum, as shall best suit with his affairs. De jure Belli, l. 424. 'Tis a broad Liberty that Grotius concedes, Quare si vitam aliter fervare non possum, licet mihi vi qualicunque arcere eum qui eam impetit, licet peccato vacet; & hoc ex jure quod mihi pro me natura concedit. Mach. on Livy, 627 When Life, and Liberty, and safety come in question, there ought no consideration to be had of just or unjust, pitiful or cruel, honourable or dishonourable: Now when the people have according to his desire got over the great obstacle, and digested the plot for pious; it is easy to set all future proceedings upon the score of Liberty, Safety, Religion: And if he be constrained to use means grossly unlawful, 'tis but to make them seem holy in the application, and all's well; For it is the humour and genius of the vulgar, when they have once rushed into a party implicitly, to prosecute it as desperately, as if they were under demonstrative convictions of its Justice. Finally, He must make a virtue of Necessity, because there is no other virtue will so easily be induced to serve his proceedings as this; she may well smile upon licentiousness, who hath herself no Law. Colasterion. LEt that great Rule be received, that no man can be necessitated to sin: Our Divines generally damn an officious lie; and the equity binds from any officious sin. It would soon cut the nerves of the eighth commandment, If Necessities and Urgencies, though real, were pronounced a sufficient excuse for stealing. But that which our politician calls Necessity, is no more than necessity of convenience, nor so much, except we interpret that convenience, which may favour his own ends, and so is convenient for his design. He uses Necessity, as the old Philosophers did an occult quality, though to a different purpose; that was their refuge for ignorance, this is his sanctuary for sin. ●ess. l. 11, 12. ●ub. 12. 〈◊〉 70. Those Civilians that are most charitable to Necessity, make it no plea at all except it be absolute and insuperable; as by the Platonic Laws only those persons are allowed to drink at their Neighbours Well, that had in vain sought a Spring, by digging fifty cubits deep in their own ground. We allow the disburdening of a ship in imminent peril of wrack; But this will not excuse those, who upon a fond or feigned prevision of a State-tempest, shall immediately cast law and conscience overboard; Discard, and quit Hudder and steerage, and so assist the danger, they pretend to fear. Pausanias tells of a chapel in Acrocorinth, Caelius Rhodig. 1025. dedicated to Necessity and violence; those TwinGoddesses may be fit objects for the worship of Heathens; but 'tis pity they should be so much adored by Christians. If I mistake not, the fundamental deceit lies in a greedy entertaining those first pretences, and seemingly candid Propositions are made to us, before they have passed those scrutinies, and severe inquiries, they deserve; or been examined by the test of God's word, and national laws: All the rest are but ugly consequences of that absurdity we first granted, according to the ancient philosophic maxim, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. Principle ix.. The politician must wave all Relations, both Sacred and civil, and swim to his design, though in a Sea of blood. SUch as study to be great by any means, must by all means forget to be good; and they that will usurp Dominion over others, must first become slaves to the worst of Tyrants, a lust after greatness. Crescit interea Roma Albae ruinis, begins one of the decades, that the walls of Rome were cemented with blood, Upon Livy l. 2. c. 3●Thebe maritum, T●moleon fratrem, Cassius filium ho jure interfecore. is known and commended by Machiavel; Although the superstructure was brave, yet if we search the foundation, we shall find it laid in the rod ruins of her wasted neighbours; That the first Founder became a fratricide upon reason of State, to guard his new Conquest, by freedom from a Competitor; is not only vindicated from cruelty, but asserted to be a piece of meritorious policy. Nor did this happen to the City in its structure alone, but after in its reparation; when the Sons of Brutus were sacrificed to the design of their Father: So that Rome was not only nursed with blood, but after growth and ripeness, she sustained herself; jived and thrived upon Magna & sanguinolenta latrocinia; so that our politician can scarce want examples in the applauded actions of this City, to patronize the most crimson and scarlet sin, that ambition can prompt. He admires the generosity of nero's Mother, who is reported to have said of her son, A {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}, Let my Son be my murderer, so he may be a Monarch; According to the advice of an high-spirited fury, Pro Regno velim patriam, penates, conjugem flammis dare, Imperia pretio quolibet constant bene; An Empire cannot be purchased too dear, though it cost the blood of Millions. He is much taken with the Gallantry of the Mammalukes, who abused the easiness of the Egyptian Sultan, and wore the Supremacy three hundred years, upon the length and keenness of an usurping Sword. And rather than want a bongrace, he commends the Ottoman wisdom; for the great Turk rivets himself to the imperial Chair, with the bones of his murdered Brethren. Aspiring desires are not only insatiate, but admit of any sin; that will promote their ends: See Bass●anus murdering his Brother Geta in his mother's arms; Andronicus strangling his Cousin Alexius, lest he should have a part in the Empire that had right to all: See Caesar slighting the oaths by which he had obliged his obedience to the Roman Senate. Finally, Ambition knows no confinement, nothing so sacred but it violates. The Gods must bow and yield to it, In Apologer. as Tertullian, Id negotium sine Deorum injuriâ non est, eadem strages manium & Templorum, tot sacrilegia Romanorum, quot trophaea; tot de Diis quot de Gentibus Triumphi. Colasterion. THe Italian politician seems to intimate a scruple, when he says,— Si jus violandum est, regnandi causâ violandum est, His (If) dictates an uncertainty; and if we appeal to the bar of Nature, or Divinity (though possibly the entire assertion may have something of truth) yet we shall find that wicked (●f) absolutely banished. 'Tis true, we may more justly pity him, that swallows a bait fair and glistering, than a person that tempts temptations to deceive him; or catches at Flies, and trifling allurements because in the first case a greater reluctancy is requisite, and the dart may possibly be so sharp, as to pierce through the Armour of a sober Resolution; But all this will little succour ●im, who knows it to be a bait, and hath beforehand designed its beauty, and fairness, to apologise for the foulness of the sin: for here the greatness of the Temptation will not at all extenuate ●●e grossness of the ●rime: No more than he mitigates his Robbery, who shall plead, that he stole nothing but Gold and Jewels. The World is much mistaken in the value of a sceptre or Crown; we gaze upon its brightness, and forget its brittleness, we look upon its glory, and forget its frailty; we respect its colour, and take no notice of its weight. But if all those gay things which we fondly fancy to ourselves were really to be found in greatness, yet still he pays too dear, that pawn●● his Heaven for it● he that thus buys a shor● bliss, gives not twenty, or an hundred years' purchase, but (if mercy prevent not) Eternity. It will be little advantage here, to introduce the example of a Roman, or Turk, or Christian, if unlawful; such precedents may perchance baffle the Vulgar (in whose creed you may insert what you please) but will be very cold answers, when we appear before a severe tribunal: It concerns us rather to observe how ambition claims kindred with every other vice, stoops, and takes up every sin lies in its way; and, if upon enquiry we find it to be indeed such a complicated mischief, it will become us studiously to shun it ourselves, and seriously to detest it in others. Principle X. A general Innovation contributes much to the growth and security of usurpation. We may receive this as a Tradition, handed to us from the great Patriarchs of Policy, attested by the practice of the subtlest times; I presume it may be grounded upon these, or the like persuasions. 1. Because such an Innovation raises the dust, and begets a cloud for the main design; for when the waters are troubled, 'tis hard to see the bait. 2. Because the Parenthesis betwixt an old and new government, flatters the hopes of all parties, soothing those desires that are for a relapse into the old, and yet encouraging those that wish for the establishment of a new. 3. Because when all things are reduced into a Chaos and rude heap, when all the lines and Lineaments of the former Government are blotted out, that which is new written will be more legible, and the old sooner forgotten: for suppose a Kingdom made a Lump, without shape and void, and it is like materia prima, prone to embrace any form; when an Instrument is distuned, you may set it to what key you please; and he that cannot sometimes lo●s●n the strings, will never make good music upon Synesius his Harp. 4. Because by n●w moulding of Jurisdictions, and offices of State, there may be a fair opportunity offered, of gratifying those that have served us; and for others its very familiar to see some stubborn and rigid opiniators, who have continued long unshaken either by threat or argument, at length to surrender their Principles, and bow the knee before the Dagon of Honou● and Riches; such is the flexanimous power of golden Eloquence, as it is in the Adage, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Besides, we can find no better way to breed an absolute dependence, and make others adhere to our fortunes, then by winding the concernments of other men upon the same bottom with our Interest; we may observe this from the practice of great Favourites, who always delight in these Props, and are careful to set their whole Tribes in the sunshine of favour. 5. Because such a general Deordination gives a taste and relish to the succeeding Government, though in its self not so delectable; 3 Po●, for Aristotle notes, that Democracy is better than Anarchy. There are many other advantages to be made by a due improvement of these turbid intervals; as the occasion of subdividing, and parcelling out your great end; for by this means they which refused to close with it in gross, will receive it in retail: and having entertained some portions of it, the grudge they bore to the whole will be by degrees quieted and appeased. Besides, when all things are ruffled and confused, it is then the devil's holiday, and therefore our work-day: The noise is so loud, that it drowns the voice of the law; and there may be some truth in his waggery, who said, That such as mean to commit a Rape upon the Body politic, must put out the laws; as others upon a like occasion use to put out the Lights. Finally, If we ever hope to sin with Impunity, to usurp prosperously or to govern Arbitrarily; we must take out that Lesson in Plantus: Idem facere, quod plurimi alij, quibus Res timida aut Turbida est; Pergunt turbare usque, ut ne quid possit conquiscere. Colasterion. 'tIs most certain, that sinister ends are promoted by Innovations; but it lies in our bosoms to promote or quench the Innovations themselves, which we can no way better do, than by a strict adherence to the Laws; for as long as we maintain them, they will maintain us: If we observe these, it will rescue us from the hands of State-Novellists; for we are not fit for their turns, till we are cross-byassed with faction. As a caution against changes in Government, give me leave to repeat, what was long since told us by an ingenious Lord,— That all great mutations are dangerous; Faulkla● even where what is introduced by that mutation, is such as would have been very profitable upon a primary foundation: and it is none of the least dangers of change, that all the perils and inconveniencies which it brings, cannot be foreseen; and therefore such as make title to wisdom, will not undergo great dangers, but for great necessities. But further, let me appeal to general experience, yea, let me ask thee (Reader) if thou hast never before heard, or read of a Nation, that was once the gaze and envy of its Neighbours; and yet being insensible of its happiness, or possessed with fond hopes of bettering its condition, has closed with pretended friends, and real enemies, and gladly contributed to its own ruin. So apt men are to catch at the shadow, though they hazard the substance: we may guess at the moral of the Frogs in the Fable, who could find no satisfaction in a still Prince, and were after forced to abide the severities of a Tyrant they prayed for. But if there be such distempers in a State, as shall necessarily require amendment; Let it be done with the Pruning-hook of the Law, and not with the Sword of violence: For I never read, that illegal, or Tumultuous, or Rebellious, were fit Epithets for Reformation. And 'tis fit Christians should forbear the use of such surly physic, till they have levied a Fine in the Court of Heaven, and cut off the entail of the seventh Beatitude. This may suffice to reveal in some measure, Arcanum Ambitionis, {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}. I could add much more, but that I judge it a fitter task for our Nephews, when Pens shall be enfranchised. And now (Reader) let us mix our prayers, that God would for ever banish this cursed Policy out of Europe, and the whole Christian World; and damn it down to Hell, from whence originally it came, and let such as delight to abuse others, think of that self-cozenage, with which in the interim they abuse themselves; God permitting the devil to revenge the Imposture. And whilst we are busy with politic stratagems, and tortuous arms to invade the rights of others; Let us all consider that this is not the violence which takes Heaven. Let it be a piece of our daily orisons, that God would guard our Pulpits from such Boutefeus, as like A●tna and Vesuvius, belched out nothing but flames, and fiery discourses; using the Scripture as preposterously and impertinently, as some Pontificians, who transported with the vehemence of Hildebrandian zeal, think the temporal Monarchy of Popes sufficiently scriptural, from the saying of Christ to Peter— Pasce oves. far be it from us to entitle the Spirit of God to exorbitant doctrines, it is easy to distinguish the Vulture from the Dove. The miscarriages of the Clergy have a deeper stain from the sacredness of their function, as probably he that invenomed the Eucharist has the more to answer for his Triple Crown. It is manifest, that we are fallen into the dregs of Time; we live in the rust of the Iron Age, and must accordingly expect to feel, V'tima se●escentis mundi deliria, the dotages of a decrepit World: What is become of truth, sincerity, charity, humility, those Antiqui mores, whither are they gone? Did they attend Astraea into Heaven? And have left such degenerous successors, as cruelty, pride, fraud, envy, oppression, &c. Such qualities as abundantly justify the worst of Heathens, and dishonour the name of Christians: I think it may safely be affirmed, That if a new Europae speculum were sincerely written, it might be contracted into this short Summary; Novi ego h●c seculum quibus moribus sit; Malus bonum, malum esse vult, ut sit sui similis; turbant, miscent, Trinummus. mores mali; Rapax, Avarus, Invidus, sacrum prophanum, publicum privatum habebit; Hiulca Gens, &c. THat eternal Majesty, which raised so brave a fabric, out of such indisposed materials; that wields the world with his finger, ever since it was made; that controls the wave, and checks the tumult of the people: that sits above, and laughs at the malignant counsels, and devices of wicked men: Let his mercy be implored for the speedy succour of his distressed Church; That the Rod of Aaron may blossom; That the Tabernacle of David may be raised; That the subtle may be caught in their own snares; And that the Result of all afflictions, may be the greatning his glory, and exalting of his sceptre. FINIS.