The downfall of Dagon: OR, CERTAIN SIGNS OF The Sudden and Unavoidable Ruin Of this PARLIAMENT And ARMY.  
With ACAVEAT To the City of LONDON.  
Printed at LONDON. 1653. Feb: 16 1652   

The DOWNFALL OF DAGON.  
I Having in a former Treatise laid open the rise, growth, and some of the practices of this everlasting Parliament and Army; I shall now enlarge myself a little farther, to show you the Fate that is hanging over their heads, and the unavoidableness of their fall; with some signs that the present Government is in a declining state.  
I shall first lay before you their breaking Covenants, and sweeting their souls to the devil, to promote their wicked ambitious ends; having raised themselves from the very scum of the people, to Lord it over their Superiors; and all by an Arbitrary, power, being backed on by a few Cobblers and Shoemakers, and a company of Desperado's.  
As for their Perjury; Swearing they regard not, nor Forswearing, so it conduce to their profit: and in that, they imitate their elder brother the Turk, who holds that there are no Oaths to be kept with Christians, any longer than they serve for their advantages. Nay, these Independents go beyond the Turks: for they are Heathens, but these are Atheists; these acknowledge not Christ, many of them; witness that blasphemous Book, entitled, THE THREE GRAND IMPOSTORS, written by an Honourable Member (forsooth) and printed for Giles Calvert, dwelling near the west-end of Paul's, at the sign of the black Spread-Eagle; that pure Saint, who, if he had had his desert, should have been hanged long since, for the many blasphemous Pieces by him dispersed. And now my hand is in, pray take notice of another Book by him lately printed in English, called, The Racovian Catechism: This Book, full fraught with damnable doctrines, denies the Divinity of Jesus Christ. (O horrid Blasphemy!) One of these I bought of Calvert, and he told me, That in that Book there was contained more sound Divinity, then in any book that over was printed.  
O England, wh●t a pass art thou brought unto! In stead of a pure Reformation, and a propagating of the Gospel, with an establishment of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, here is nothing but holding forth Confusion, as their Ranting spirit moves them.  
Nay, I must needs say, they are very zealous for the Cause of Christ (as they pretend) when they make a Laughingstock of the holy Scripture, denying the Holy Ghost to be God, and taking away the Divinity of Jesus Christ; and withal, terming the Sacrament of the Lords Supper a holy Fiction.  
You may plainly perceive, what temper our Sword men are of; when lately there came forth a small Pamphlet, entitled, A Beacon fired, humbly petitioning these Saints for a suppressing of Popish Books, which lately are come forth without control; whereupon, Colonel Pride takes up the Buckler against the Petitioners, and stands in defence of Popish Books: which made the Petitioners (at first) much to admire, seeing him write so contrary to the Principles that he had always seemed to profess; so that upon good considerations they answered him so effectually, that they have stopped his mouth with a Non obstante.  
Here, you may plainly see, that the Turks are better Christians then these men: for they acknowledge Christ for a great Prophet sent from God; but these Saints in their Book (as I mentioned before) called The three grand Impostors, (the main scope whereof is to prove Christ, Moses, and Mahomet, to be Impostors) have the impudence to do their endeavour to prove Christ an Impostor. These are the men that do stand up in the Cause of Christ, to pull down Anti●hrist, while they set up the Devil.  
But what will not these men stick to do, that have by a base Arbitrary power, and an unheardof Barbarism, after they had sworn Allegiance to their King, and taken a solemn Oath, in the presence of God, to bring him home to his two Houses of Parliament, and make him the most glorious Prince that ever reigned over. Great Britain? and yet CROMWELL, with his Minions, hurried him into the Isle of Wighl, and kept him a close prisoner: but then these Cameleons, that can turn themselves into any colour, began to show themselves in their right hue.  
And first, Cromwell in the House of Commons standeth up, with his nose flaming like some prodigious Comet, that threatneth devastation to some Kingdom; and, with his hands laid upon hss hypocritical breast, told the Speaker that it was unsafe to trust the King (a man of Blood, one that had betrayed that Trust which the people had reposed in him) and therefore he desired them that he might be brought to a strict account for all the blood that had been shed in this Nation in the late War.  
I shall insist no longer upon their perfidious and barbarous dealing about the King, seeing it is so notoriously known all the world over.  
No sooner had they murdered the King, contrary to their Oaths of Allegiance, and solemn League and Covenant, the many Imprecations, whereby God hath been called to witness that they never intended any harm to the King's Person; but now you may see what force an Oath is of, to bind these Miscreants, that, rather than they will miss of their ambitious ends, will damn their souls.  
With what face can these men appear before God at the last day, having their hands imbrned in the blood of their native Prince, to give an account of all their diabolical actions?  
They have not only stretched out their hands against the King, God's Viceroy; but also against the M●n●stery, by sending some to heaven, where (I am very sure) none of them will ever come; imprisoning of others, and sequestering their estates.  
These are pure Saints, that thus do tyrannize over the Church, persecuting Christ in his Members, and, in as much as in them lieth, endeavour the utter subversion of the true Protestant Religion, by tolerating of all manner of Heresies and Blasphemies, advancing Schismatical persons both in Church and State; their main end being to bring in Atheism and Confusion.  
And thus they do (like Julian the Apostate) by taking away the maintenance of the Ministry, that so by Poverty, they may (of necessity) beforced to leave their Callings, and betake themselves to some other employment, to keep their wives and children from starving. And thus Julian the Apostate, (as we read) when his persecuting Sword prevailed on the Christians but little, took this course to make them leave Christ, and follow his wicked example.  
But there can be no men, let them be never so infamous for wickedness, but these men will (as nigh as they can) tread in their steps!  
O what a miserable thing it is, to see Great Britain, that hath been the most free and flourishing Monarchy upon the face of the earth! that hath been famous for the many Expeditions this English Nation hath made both by Sea and Land; to vindicate its honour against its foreign enemies! and by Land, how many Trophies of their Victories have they erected in France, and divers other parts of Eu●ope! how hath it flourished for the many excellent Laws in it established, and blessed (I may say) for the light of the Gospel, which it enjoyed, when other neighbour-kingdoms wandered in the darkness of Popish Errors.  
But now, O England, how is thy former glory vanished away! how contemptible art thou become to all round about thee, a scorn to all Nations! This is fallen upon us, by suffering a base mercenary Army, and a few men that carried the name of a Parliament, to murder our lawful King, that so they m●ght establish a Government that the like was never heard of before: but now when they had murdered the King, they immediately leap up into the saddle, and spur out the very heart and blood of the people, by their Oppressions.  
The first thing they do, is to make us a Free State; that is, our estates, purses, and persons must be free at their disposing. Then next, we must sit down like silly Asses, and let them load us with Excise of all things, Contribution, Freequarter, Taxes, Vexations, and what else they please to lay upon us. And yet Ship-money, that was a tyrannical illegal Tax, although the King did it out of a pure necessity: his Neighburs at that time (he being so weak at Sea) offered him many affronts, denying to strike Sail to his ships, as the custom of the Sea is, when they came in the Narrow, between France and England; His Guard of sh●ps being then so slender, that our Neighbours had them in contempt. Yet for all this, the King was so unwilling to impose any new Tax, that first he would have the advice of his Council, then of his Judges, that so he might not go contrary to the Laws of the Land. They all agreed that it was warrantable, and produced divers Records, how that many of his Progenitors had done the like before, in case of necessity.  
The King being thus convinced of the lawfulness of it, he then commanded that it should be levied, but in such a manner, that it should be employed to the same end and purpose that it was levied for, and not to run in by-Chanels, into any private men's purses, nor to the enriching of himself or any of his Court, but for the good of his subjects, and the honour of the Nation.  
Compare Ship money to those many Taxes that we lie groaning under, and judge who have been the greatest Tyrants and Oppressors of the People, either the late King, or (as you call it) the Parliament.  
We will begin first with Excise, that insensible devourer of the Poor and impoverisher of the Rich: you see our Curs, our Powdering-Tubs, our Washing-Bowls, our Kettles, our Hats, Doublets, Breeches, Stockings, Shoes; and nothing we eat, or drink, or wear, is free from being devoured by these men, that thus complained of the King for that inconsiderable Tax of Ship-money.  
Sequestration, that is another way they use, to gull men of estates. How many thousand families in this Nation have they utterly beggared by Sequestration? Most of the Nobility and Gentry, if they have had out the least spark of honesty in them, they have brought into as great a Want and Poverty, as some of them were in, when they waited on the Drays with the Slings on their backs, or with the Tallies by their sides. But now they have killed, and have also took possession: the King's, Queens, and Prince's Lands, the Lands of the Nobility and Gentry, they have shared amongst themselves; and yet all this, and much more, is too little to satisfy their insatiable appetites. And for all this, our mouths must be buttoned up, so that we are not suffered that  comfort of venting our griefs by way of complaint; but upon every light word, a man is in danger to be made an offender, to the utter ruin of him and his posterity.  
O London, these are thy golden Calves that thou hast set up, and dost worship; these be the Idols to whom you have sacrificed your sons and servants, to maintain their Oppressions over you.  
Excise and Sequestrations are too little to quench their insatiable covetousness: but they have another way to drain the Treasury of the Nation, and that is by Contribution. These Monsters of men (that like Vipers eat out the bowels of their mother) having no regard at all to the groans of the poor, nor the miserable slavery that we lie under (worse than the Israelites under their Egyptian Taskmasters) do persist in their abhorrible practices, to suck the blood of the people, and will at last enforce us to sell our wives and children, for to satisfy their greedy desires. You may see plainly that they are fully bend to strip us naked of all that we have, by that late Act of theirs for the raising the Tax thirty thousand pounds a month more than ever it was before. I shall say nothing of Freequarter, and many more exorbitancies and outrages committed in the Country by the Soldiery.  
But now we see, by woeful experience, the difference between the mild Government of our late Sovereign King CHARLES, and the destructive domineering of our new-fangled State. They cried out on him for his Oppressions, and have themselves gone beyond him, and all others that our Modern Histories ever make mention of.  
But who have been the main causers of all our sorrow? even this rebellious City of London, a most ungrateful City: the King making it his Royal Seat, and place of abode, (whenas he might as well have removed his Court to York, or some other place, for the more commodious addresses of his people of Scotland and Ireland unto him) and all to make it famous and flourishing: but in requital, they have been the only stirrers up of Sedition and Rebellion against his person, and at last have made themselves infamous, by being accessary to the murder of their King.  
But now behold the just judgement of God, that ere long will undoubtedly fall upon them for their unparallelled wickedness. I may very well pronounce this judgement against it, which was once pronounced against Jerusalem, in Ezekiel the twenty fourth, and the sixth: Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it. Bring it out piece by piece, let no lot fall upon it. And in the two and twentieth Chapter; the Prophet giveth a reason for the Woe he had pronounced against it: For, saith he, thou art become guilty in the blood that thou hast shed, and hast defiled thyself in the idols which thou hast made, And thou hast caused thy days to draw near. and art come even unto thy years. Wherefore I have made thee a reproach unto the Heathen, and a mocking unto all countries.  
Without question; the judgements of God will suddenly fall upon this City: and God's Justice will the more manifestly appear, in causing those Idols that they have set up (the Parliament, that they so much adore) to be the main causers of the depopulating, and finally the destruction of it. For now the main Project that they have in hand, is the altering of the Law, and joining the Counties into Provinces, and then to adjourn the Terms into the several Provinces! so that the Term, that is the main supporter of the Retayll Traders, and upholder of the pride of the City, being taken away, the inhabitants must either be enforced to go down into the Country to self their commodities, or else starve for want of Trading.  
Besides this, divers other ways there are now under consultation, for to bring down the pride and arrogancy of this London, and make it know that God can and will make wicked men the executors of his just indignation against this so rebellious and seditious a City as this is and hath been.  
And moreover, if it doth not suddenly repent for all the blood that it hath been the only causers to be shed in this Kingdom, God will very suddenly pour out his vengeance upon it, and, as the Prophet saith, will make it a reproach unto the heathens, and a m … unto all Countries.  
Next of all, I will show you that God, who is the avenger of the oppressed, a father the fatherless, and the comforter of the widow, is now making inquisition for the blood of the King, of the Noblemen, of the Ministers; and all the blood that hath been spilt in these Nations of England and Scotland, among the privy actors of their murders; And that he is now bringing the Destroyer to destruction, as it is said in the twelfth Psalm, and fifth verse: For the oppression of the poor, and for the sighting of the necdy, now will I arise (saith the Lord) I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. God will not let blood go long unrevenged. And although there can be no account given to the Nation of all or any of the vast sums that they have raised in or since the late Wars; yet God he will make them account for all their wickedness, and make them know there is a God, although they deny him in all their actions.  
We may see plainly that God hath designed them to destruction, in raising up the Dutch against them, and giving them good successes this last year, by beating their invincible Navy (which they so much vaunted of, as if no power on earth could overcome) out of their own Sea (as they call it) burning and sinking their ships in their Harbours, landing their men, and plundering the Country: so that the very name of a Dutchman is enough to fright their guilty consciences into a Tertian Ague.  
Besides the Dutch, the Dane is making great preparations against next Summer, for to jerk their spiritual Army by Land.  
The Highlanders in Scotland have beaten them out of the Highlands into the Lowlands, and do there get ground of them every day more and more: but not one tittle of this must come into their feigned Letters out of Scotland, that are printed in their weekly News-books.  
The Irish, they quit themselves like men, standing up manfully in defence of their Country, and will accept of no Parley, since Cromwell (in the year 1649.) under a pretence of a Confederacy, lurched Oneal: they have gone so resolutely on, that they cannot deny but that they have taken some petty Garrisons (as they call them.)  
The King of France he demands satisfaction for Piracy that they have committed; and withal, for taking his Ships going to the relief of Dunkirk; so that he having received no satisfactory answer as yet by his Ambassador sent to them lately, is making all the preparations he can to join with the Dutch, and right himself as well as he can of all the wrongs he and his Subjects have received from them.  
Now join all these Preparations of our Neighbours together; and consider withal, these men's guiltiness of Conscience, and despairing of Pardon; their distrustfulness of one another, and the divisions among themselves; and then consisider also, whether it is not plain that God hath a special hand in all this.  
How hath he beset them on every side! above, before, behind, and every way. God he is above, fight against them; their Neighbours round about them: so that they stand like a Murderer on the Gallows, hedged in with Halberdiers to perform the execution.  
Then at last they shall see that there is a God that doth ●●●● in heaven, and from his allseeing eye there is nothing 〈◊〉: he knoweth their secret consultations, as well as their open practices: He hath suffered them for a while to Lord it over us; and to run their courses, that so the measure of their sins might be full, and that then God might pour out the vials of his wrath and indignation upon their heads.  So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord.  
FINIS.