History & Policy RE-VIEWED, In The Heroic Transactions of his Most Serene Highness, OLIVER, Late LORD PROTECTOR; From his CRADLE, to his TOMB: Declaring his steps to Princely Perfection; as they are drawn in lively Parallels to the Ascents of the Great Patriarch Moses, in thirty Degrees, to the Height of Honour. By H. D. Esq.  Claud. de Theodos. Solus meruit regnare rogatus. 
LONDON, Printed for Nathaniel Brook, at the Angel in Cornhill. 1659.   

To the Most Serene HIGHNESS, OF RICHARD By the Grace of God, LORD PROTECTOR, Of England, Scotland, and Ireland, etc. Chara Dei soboles, magnum Jovis Incrementum.  
PArdon, Great Sir, the compellation; for though it be a piece of an Aenead (some will think of flattery) yet it is very manifestly, your most Serene Highness his Birthright, and plain prophetic truth, 
Third Transcend. Ascent, p. 271.  as is made more clearly to appear in one of those Parallels, that treat of your happy Promotion and Succession to the Throne, where you now sit.  
As for the imputation of flattery, it is known, that I have ever so much abhorred from all that, and those subtle Artists of Fortune, who make a Trade of it, that whilst I have been conversant in the Courts of some great Princes, and particularly known to many of their persons, I have been always most severely taxed, of too much of the other extreme: much less should I dare to offer any thing of that now, to your most Serene Highness, who are known to hold so much of the virtue, of your most Renowned Father in you, as to be better pleased to meet with an enemy, in open field, than a flattering friend in your Privy Chamber. Insomuch, that I am afraid to tell your Highness, some notorious truths; how all we your people, look upon you, as our second Joshua, in the place of our second Moses, as full of the spirit of Wisdom, Courage, and Piety, as he was, and that we cannot at all doubt, but your successes will be likewise most proportionable to his; how Walls, and Cities, shall fall before you, Giants wax pale, Rivers retire back, the Sun itself stand still, and as many Kings will undergo your yoke.  
I am afraid to tell you Sir, how we, that are your people, are all of us employed, in planting more Bays, and Laurel in our Gardens, to en-garland your Victorious brows, before you come to a Battle. In fine, I am afraid to tell you, how all our hearts, like Roses, withered upon the death of your glorious Father, now begin again to bloom afresh, and newly to open ourselves, at the benign, gentle, & glorious, Princely Aspect, of your most Serene Highness: No, I know to tell your goodness any thing of this, would be but to offend it, and to commit a sacrilege upon your most precious time: So I'll forbear, and only prosecute my petitions for more pardons still; and Princes upon their first inaugurations, seldom deny any, whose crimes carry not some extraordinary atrocity with them; much less can I doubt of indulgence, from your most Serene Highness, who are a Person so composed of Grace, and Clemency itself.  
Your pardon therefore gracious Sir again, that I presume to address these poor unpolisht papers, to so great a Patronage as yours. Indeed, mighty Sir, if that the transcendency of the Subject, treated on in these Discourses, had not given me great encouragement, I should never have dared to offer this Piece to your view, much less to your protection: but it being conscious to itself, that it contains nothing, but mere Commentaries upon your glorious Father's Words and Actions, it humbly conceives, that your Highness has so great a propriety in it, and that it has so near a Relation to your Highness, that it boldly begins to challenge, your most Serene Candour, and particular Protection: and would argue me of an extreme insolence, to go about to seek for its Birth, under any other favour. For may it please your Highness to take it as a little History, of your most Renowned Father; who should it come to for Licence, Approbation, Countenance, and Privilege, but your Sacred self, who are the Compendium of his incomparable Life, and the living Epitome of all his Perfections, and are growing up very speedily, to be as great a Volume.  
May it please your Highness, to take it as a piece of Architecture, or Mosaic Work (as it is) erected upon the Memory of your deceased Father; whom should it have recourse to, for its Pillar, and support, but only your Highness, who are the moving Model of all his Great Actions? And may your Highness please to take it, as a Table or Picture, of your Princely Father; Who is more concerned in it, than your Gracious self, that are as much the lively Image of his Virtues, as of the Majesty of his Person.  
Thus then, for the scope and business of the Book, I dare affirm it to be without exception, great and good, and so I dare present it boldly to your most Serene Highness, and avouch it equal to any King's Cabinet whatsoever in the World; though truly for the rusticity of its dress, which is merely my fault, it may not be, for aught I know, admitted by the overcurious. The plain truth is, and I am not ashamed to acknowledge it to your Highness, that I have been so intent upon the main matter, that it may be I have neglected something of the form, or to give it the due dress and ornament of Language; and to word it truly as it should have been, would have required no less than the pen of a Seraphim: but my comfort is, that your Highness, like your great Father, in that as well as all his other Excellencies, has been ever a most declared enemy to that kind of pitiful ostentation of words, as well as clothes, and knows how to make a value of a pure Oriental Pearl, though covered with a course shell, and how to accept of a precious sweet Perfume, though shut up within an abject Box. So I hope it shall not offend your Highness, and that will suffice me, not to have imitated those that preserve Oranges and Lemons, who neglecting the rich juice, and inside of the fruit, do candy and preserve the mere Rind, and outside only.  
But yet I have another pardon to beg of your most Serene Highness, which must be granted, after all this, or I am eternally ruined, and that is, for daring to undertake, or touch with my rude hands, this most curious piece of Mosaic Work, which should serve for a Monument upon your immortal Father's Memory, well knowing, that no tongue which has not expressions equal to his Expeditions, or a pen that cannot parallel his Sword, is capable to deliver any just Character of him.  
What Language, Pen, or Pencil, can possibly delineate, that most invincible Spirit of his, that encountered Men and Devils, and associating the Kingdom of his Virtues, to the force of his Arms, broke through all obstacles, to Crown his inspired purposes? how he in the hurry of War, and glory of Peace, bearing thunder and olive branches, throughout these Kingdoms, now blest under your most Gracious Protection, has happily rendered himself amiable at one time, and terrible at another, and yet ever prosperous, and awful in both?  
No, it is impossible for any Mortal to do it, His own Acts only can speak for him, and for ever will do more, than all the Panegyrics in the World can: For the Rose we know, is sufficiently beautified with its leaves, and the Sun with its Rays, and no more can our praises arrive at his perfections, than humane Arts can reach those of Nature.  
But this piece of infinite insolence, I stand now guilty of before your Highness, and unless your Gracious Serenity be pleased to pardon me, I must perish, even in the Haven of Hope.  
And Mighty Sir, to make some satisfaction, for my present audacious attempt, I will hereafter strive, better to resemble those devout adorers of the Sun, who not being able to affix Crowns, and Garlands, upon the head of his Statue, burnt Flowers always in sacrifice to it, to make their odour mount to the Heavens: So, since I can never be able to Crown his deceased Highness his Merits, with my weak humane praises, I will humbly offer up to Heaven my prayers and vows, for your eternal prosperities, who preserve still, the Idea of his late Highness his Authority, and Majesty, as well as that of his Sacred Person, here amongst us; and that I'll do constantly, with all submission, due to your most Serene Highness his most Heroic, Sublime, and true Princely Qualities, as becomes,  
Most Gracious Sir, Your Highness his most devoted, obedient, faithful, and loyal subject, H. Dawbeny.   

THE EPISTLE To the several sorts of READERS.  
REaders, if you are Persons any way preingaged, or tied to any present Factions, or Parties of the Times, I am bold to tell you beforehand, that I will neither ask nor expect a kindness from you, no not so much as ordinary candour: and I pray you pardon me, that I salute you so plurally; for I presume, there will be whole Junto 's, and Cabales of you, soon bundled together, to sit in Judgement upon, censure, and condemn, this little Infant, upon its first peeping into the World; And this I cannot but conclude, from the over-forwardnesse of some of you, to asperse its innocency, when lying in its first bed, and loose sheets in the Print-house; nay, while some part of it, remained yet in the womb of the Press, so could not be swaddled up into a Volume.  
Howsoever, I shall now advise you, (for your own good, more than mine) for take it how you please, I am indifferent) to suspend at least, so much of your partiality, as may otherwise offer violence to your reason, till you have heard all the Evidence read, which this little Book will exhibit in its own behalf, and that you have found the Warp, and the Woof, then censure on, and pass your judgements how you please.  
In the mean time give me leave, as most concerned, to advocate in my own Child's behalf; to obviate some, of your objections, that you have bolted out already.  
And the first is from you, O you envenomed Party, that shoot out your Arrows, even bitter words, against the precious Memory of his late Mosaical Highness, and striveing to trample on his ashes, are pleased to think too much of Panegyric said of him, in the very Title-page.  
I shall not now slain paper, with any of your impure language: but refer you for your further confutation, to the process of our Parallels, where you will find him to be a Person as much above your malice, as he has ever esteemed you, below his anger.  
It shall suffice me to consider, that if men will be now adays so curious as to vaunt to see spots in the Moon, where will they not find a fault? and if base envy will go about to shave an egg, what will it not do in a Meadow? It is notorious, that the Almighty handiwork, the Creation itself, could not scape the carping of a ridiculous Momus, who would needs undertake to correct the Divine Artifice, and persuade the World, that the Alwise Creator, was very much overseen, in planting the horns of the savage Bull, and other Beasts so armed, over their eyes, and that it had been much more accommodation for those Creatures, if their eyes had been set over their horns. I should desire likewise, that these our venomous Momus', would set their horns for spectacles under their eyes, and try whether they can better spy out their exceptions against our Mosaic Parallels.  
The next sort of enemies that I hear this little Infant has encountered, are indeed something more modest, but as I take it, they are, too, a little more nice than wise, (as our Proverb hath it) the very method forsooth, of this Discourse, giving great scandal to their tender consciences, and they are so deeply offended at it, that they cry out upon it, fie, a Parallel, or Comparison with Moses? O abominable profanation! Truly, I should be very unwilling to scandalise any weak Brother, and more troubled, not to be able to satisfy his scruple, if he please to be satisfied: and certainly, this Piece is not the first that has gone that way, we have very sufficient precedents, and authority too, to warrant us. Have we not seen a complete Parallel, between Elias and Dr. Luther, even to the Chariots of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof? and another betwixt his Successor Elisha, and Mr. Calvin, to the double portion of his spirit, and many of our Modern Doctors, put in scale with some of the Apostles themselves? Nor has this way of comparison, been taken up only by Divines, in honour of their own Function; but many Parallels we find in Print, between some of our late Kings, how well deserving, I say not; and some of those holy Princes, and Prophets of Gods own people, as David, Solomon, Josiah, Hezekiah, etc. and one very express Parallel, between Queen Elizabeth of famous Memory, and that great Princess and Prophetess Deborah. Then why should not our late incomparable Prince, and Protector stand as well placed in line Parallel, with that glorious Patriarch Moses?  
But now I hear of a third expedition prepared against us, another body of enemies, much more numerous, but less dangerous far, than the former, and yet they march furiously, and come to storm our little Work for a mere counterscarp of flattery; but they will find it by their approaches, to be a solid Brest-work of truth, able to endure all their battery, and that too so well lined with virtues truly flankerd, and well furnished with regular redoubts, and redoubted truths, that they must be beaten of with loss of honour, if not of themselves.  
There is no man sure lives, that dare deny the groundwork of all our Mosaical Ascents, and Stairs to Princely perfections, to be the indubitable dictate of the Spirit of God himself: and that all the foundations of our present Parallels, are most unquestionable truths, we have as much certainty, as any humane authority, experimental knowledge, or ocular evidence, can possibly make out. Now I would fain know, how two such mortal enemies, as truth and flattery are, can possibly squat in the same Form? Besides, it is certain, that no beautified thing, as our second Moses is now without dispute, can be a subject capable of flattery; but let his late Highness be reduced again, to his humane condition, and consider his due deservings, then tell me, whether all our grateful acknowledgements, and most extended Panegyrics, can possibly reach his, transcendent merits? Much less than sure can any man overreach so far, as to have his commendations reputed flattery, unless he should fall into profanation, or flat blasphemy, which I hope the most malicious eyes in the World, shall never be able to find out upon us here.  
He was indeed more truly that, which Pliny said of his Emperor, Vir hoc saeculo major, & dignus fabulantium miraculis vatum, qui tantum super omnes posterioris aevi Principes emine bat, quantum a privatis caeteri principes recesserunt: He was so much above the present pitch of men, that nothing but Romance can reach his Actions; and he as far surpassed all other princes of this later Age as any of those Princes, have outstripped private persons. What panegyrics then, can be too great for such a prince? what humane praise can ever amount to flattery? I must in the mean time acknowledge something of obligation to this sort of enemies, who are pleased to think my poor pen so capable to reach that, as to overreach it so, which is a Subject only fit for the pens of Angels, and whose praises, ought truly to be written with a stile of fire, or point of Adamant, and so engraven upon the gates of the Temple of Eternity.  
Now though I have pretty well, as I hope, got myself clear of a possibility of flattery, yet I am now cast upon another exception of my nearest friends, whose kind pity treats me more rigorously, than all the enemy's cruelty, and I must cry out with the Poet, Pol me occidistis amici, indeed at once they both pity and persecute me, for undertaking so difficult, if not impossible a task, as to carve such an Illiad in a Nutshell, or to go about to bind up in such little skins, so voluminous an Argument as to give the World an account of this incomparable person, from his Cradle, to his Grave, a thing more equal to large History, than a Paneygerical one, and of which, as the Evangelist tells us, of our Saviour's Words and Works, that the whole World would not be able to contain the Books, that might be written.  
Indeed Gentlemen, it will not be denied by any (shall be more confessed by me, though parcel guilty of the same crime) that he who shall take presumptuous pen in hand, or dare any other way undertake, to give the World an exact Survey, of all the particular great dispensations, and Divine indulgencies, vouchsafed to this high Favourite of Heaven, will quickly find himself overset in a Sea of Bliss. It is not therefore my Design at present, to sail in, much less to fathom, that Abyss, or delineate the whole Series of the Almighty providence, over his most precious Person, in every particular circumstance, from the first span that Nature measured out to him, to that immensity, which he afterwards so happily arrived at: it being no less than impossible, as the curious in that Art inform us, to polish so much as the nails of pieces of so great a Perfection. Nor indeed is it more impossible than impertinent, to go about to prove, that there is, and has been ever, from the first minute to the last of his life, a most gracious and indulgent providence, over his late most Serene Highness, his person, and proceedings, by all the singular footsteps of it; it being to light a Candle to the Sun, to dilucidate that which is already more clear to all that do not wilfully shut their eyes, than if it had been written with the Rays of it. I shall therefore satisfy myself, and I hope all ingenuous Readers, at present, to pick up some of the most remarkable particulars, that we may best moralise to our own instruction, and all impudent gainsayers, greater confusion: and that we may learn to make this use of it above all uses, that is to march out of all our old animosities, and submit ourselves to the gracious power that is now over us, and acknowledge it to be the clear resplendent Ray, reflected upon us, from the infallible foundations of the eternal Law.  
This is the uttermost of my design at present, and so I will be bold to begin at the foot of the Mosaic Mount, and show you his late most Serene Highness tracing the steps of the great Patriarch Moses, to the sacred summity of the Mount itself, and highest pitch of all princely perfection; and make good the parallel from their very Births, to their Triumphant entries into their blessed Tabernacle of Repose, and there to the happy expiration of their purified Souls upon the top of Pisgah, from thence to their glorious Graves, and from thence to the Magnificent Memorials, and Eternal Monuments, which they have erected in the hearts of all men: The Ascents which these two great Personages stand parallel in, amounting in all to thirty Degrees of Glory.  
So friends farewel, and enemies much good do it you, if you please, fall to and welcome, if you like it not you may leave it; and though you curse me for my cookery, yet I shall continue, with the Apostle to pray for you, That the Lord would give you understanding in all things, and me his grace, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content; and that we may all meet, in the unity of the Spirit, and bond of perfectness; which holy conspiracy that we may all happily agree in, we must all resolve to lay by all spleens and distastes whatsoever, and let them pass away with the old year, and think upon nothing now, but to take up new thoughts and better affections, with this new one coming in: we must forget all old grudges against, and ungrateful misprisions of our old departed Prince, and good Protector, (who though he was an incomparable Person, yet no wonder if he could not please all men; for that is more (they say) than God himself can do, raining, or shining) and dispose ourselves to the cordial and sincere service of this our gracious new one, who is now set over us by God, and his own Divine virtues, and has nothing in him but celestial sweetness, and is truly to be called, if ever Mortal was, the Delight of all Mankind; which Great and Gracious New-Years-Gift, that we may all receive, from the bountiful hands of Heaven, shall be the constant, as it is the instant prayer of,  
Your humble servant, H. Dawbeny.   

The First ASCENT.  
MOses was Nobly Born, 
Exod. 2.1.  extracted from an extraordinary Race, the most sacred Tribe, and Principal Family in Israel, 
Exod. ●  the House of Levi. A most Noble House indeed, of which the Lord himself had so high and honourable an esteem, 
Deut. 18.2 Exod. 28.  that he made it as it were, his own Impropriation and Inheritance; entailing upon it, all his own Menial Attendancies. 
Levit. 8.  O most unvalueable Privileges, and Prerogatives of a Family! 
Num. 4.  
Num. 8.  not only to be made the sole Household servants of the Living God; but to be set apart, 
Levit. 29.  to eat at his own Table, feed on his proper Sacrifices, and to have, as it were, 
Num. 18. Num. 3. Num. 1.50, 51.  the Monopoly of Altars, and all holy things. O thrice happy honours of a House! not only to be (as it were) of the Lord of Hosts own Lifeguard, 
Deut. 10.8  and have the sole charge of the sacred Ark of the Covenant committed to them; 
Num. 3.  
Num. 18.  but also to be adopted into the very Cabinet-counsells of Heaven, by the judgement of Vrim and Thummim, 
Exod. 28.30.  and to be alone permitted to have a free and frequent ingress, into the Sanctum Sanctorum itself. This was in short, the sacred Family, selected by the Almighty Jehovah himself, to be, as it were, his Princes, Peers, and only Familiars, here below, the only Grandees and Favourits of his most Magnificent Court upon Earth, which was to be established in his most holy, glorious, and costly Temple at Jerusalem: as is to be seen more at large in the whole course of sacred Scripture; to which holy leaves, I humbly refer every ingenuous Reader, for a further satisfaction in all these Particulars.  

The Parallel.  
Indeed, when we shall have duly considered, the great care, and holy caution, the sacred Scripture itself has taken throughout, in the recommendation of the Nobility of divers persons, we may very well conclude with the Heathen Orator, (what may be too as good Divinity as Philosophy) Deorum Immortalium munus, 
Plin. in Paneg. Constantin.  & primum videri & maximum, in lucem statim foelicem venire. Nobility of birth, is the first and greatest gift of God. I say, the first and greatest temporal dispensation of Heaven, is, to be born Noble, and so soon to be within the lists of felicity, as of nature; why else should we find such an exact account of the Nobility of this our great Prototype Moses, of the three valiant Children, held in the Captivity of Babylon, and that of the most valiant and renowned Eleazar, and divers other persons since the universal Deluge? which particulars are now too long to be insisted on. Nay, that Nobility of blood was in the like esteem both with God and man too; before the Flood, in the very first Age and Infancy of the World, will be quickly made appear, by the delineation of the Genealogy of No, 
Genes. 5.  which the holy Spirit is pleased to deliver to us, as if it intended, as it were, to act the part of a Herald, in giving to us the large Series of all his Generations: it seeming not only to make way through all the Patriarches, from whom he was descended; but to give a punctual rehearsal to us of all their Titles, and Signiories, of all their singular Acts and Achievements, and then concludes in the next Chapter, Hae sunt generationes No, 
Genes. 6.  vir justus erat atque perfectus: This is the Genealogy of No, he was a just man and a perfect. If then Nobility of birth be a blessing so considerable in the eyes of the Lord, and inferred by his holy Spirit, to be of no little avail to us in the way of virtue, and an apparent step to Piety and Sanctity itself; It will not be, I hope, thought incongruous, to bring our glorious second Moses, to encounter the first, upon this his first Ascent; and, as in all the rest, we shall find them sweetly kissing and embracing each the other. And yet I cannot say, his late Highness was extracted from so Priestly a Family, but altogether as Princely, being lineally descended from the loins of our most Ancient British Princes, and tied in near alliances to the blood of our later Kings, as by that thrice Noble Family of the barrington's, and divers others; which to make a Pedigree of, would take up more paper, than we intent for our Volume, and make me appear more a Herald, than an Historian. Nay, indeed, should I but go about to prove, his Highness' most illustrious House Noble, I should commit a sacrilege in the Temple of Honour, and only violate his most glorious Family, with a more solemn infamy.  
His Highness is unquestionably known to have descended from such a stem of Princely Antecessors, that whole Ages, which waste Rocks, and wear out Elements, have never altered to lessen, but rather advance the honour of his great House. He was derived from such a Family, that we may better say of it, than what was of the other, ex qua nescit aliquid Mediocre nasci, from whence nothing ordinary can proceed; as is likewise made notoriously evident, in those other mosteminent persons of Honour, now living, who are blest with a share of his incomparable blood: who have spread their glory abroad, so well as at home, and built themselves such Trophies, in the hearts of their very enemies, that eternity itself must celebrate; so no time can ever be able to demolish, or reduce into oblivion.  
And that I may not be thought to flatter so great a truth, I will be bold to hasten, and abruptly conclude this first point of our Mosaical Parallel; with saying only, that this sublime Person, his late most Serene Highness, our second, as the first great Moses, came into the World, like a Princely Pearl, and made it appear, by the quality of his Orient, that if Nature pleased to equal his birth, to the best of Noblemen upon Earth, he would equal his virtues to his extraction; as we shall see more plainly, when we mount a little higher, upon our Mosaical Ascents, and Parallels.    

The second Ascent.  
MOses was from his Cradle blest with a very beautiful body, 
Exod. 2.2.  for which he was most remarkable, in his infancy, so the sacred text tells us, that he was a fair and goodly child. Now, that bodily beauty is an indubitable blessing, and a Ray of the Divinity itself; none sure but a monstrous Thersites, or a Mopsus will dispute, and none, but an errand Apostate from Christianity, a mere perfidious and profane Manichee, dare deny. Does not the Lord himself proclaim, as he is the God of Nature, that beauty and graceful comeliness of body is entirely his gift? Nay, has he not often employed this his own glorious dispensation, to be an instrument of his mighty wonders, a lightning flash of his power, and as a resplendent Torch of his greatest Victories? which his Alwise Providence would never have done, did he not only approve the nature of, but intent to give the greatest honour to, 
Ibid.  that his own dispensation. Thus was the Lord pleased, to make the beauty of our little Moses the cause of his miraculous preservation, by affecting the heart of Pharaoh's daughter. And therefore we find it to be expressly said of Judith likewise; Dominus hanc in illam pulchritudinem ampliavit, 
Judg. 10.4  ut incomparabili decore omnium oculis appareret, The Lord so amplified her beauty, that she should appear incomparable lovely, and allure the eyes of all that should behold her: So God, purposing to stay the violent streams of Holofernes his arms, though he could with his omnipotent hand, have buried that vast Army, in the bowels of the earth, as he did Corah and his Complices, or have called out, from the centre itself, millions of armed men in Cadmean equipage (equal to the Poet's fancy) to have destroyed them, 
Chron 2.2  or might have (by an expedition of Angels) dispatched the business again, as he once did upon the host of Senacherib, under the command of insolent Rabsheketh, their proud Captain General: Yet he was pleased, without stretching of his hand forth, to any other miracle, to raise the beauty only of a gracious widow, to triumph over all those dreadful Legions, and to wage war with the most puissant Monarch of the world. Nay, it is expressly said, that God himself added a certain air, mine, or garb of attractive parts in Judith, to surprise the Citadel, the heart, of that barbarous Commander; that he, being made more drunk with love, then with wine, might be more easily taken in the snare of her eyes, and sacrifice his unhallowed head, to her fair hands. Nay, 
Esther 8.  the Lord fought with the selfsame weapon again, and raised only the same arms against, the proud and imperious Haman, to confound him with that lovely Engine only. For when he was upon the point to command, the throats of infinite numbers to be cut, of Gods own people, as sheep marked out for the slaughter: The omnipotent then, only opposed a poor frail female beauty against him, which tumbled him from the top of Fortune's wheel, and made him to swing under an elevated gibbet; God so turning in an instant, by the power of an excellent beauty only, the heart of a savage, Prince, from a Lion to a Lamb; and making Assuerus, clean contrary to his great Favourites design, to preserve the lives, and confirm the safety and liberty of his people: Nor is this high verity remarkable, only in feminine, but also masculine beauty, 
1 Sam. 10.23, 24.  which, besides the instance of our Moses, God himself seems to confirm in his election of Saul, to the government of his own people, of whom the greatest commendation we find written, is, that he was a very proper man, and when he stood amongst the people, he was higher than any other, from the shoulders upwards, and that there was none like him, for beauty of person, amongst all the people. I could be infinite in particulars, to dilucidate this divine dispensation, and tell you, how the Alwise God thought fit to confer that extraordinary favour, on all his principal servants, as David, Solomon, with all the rest of the Princes and Prophets of his people, not any one of which do we find marked out with any deformity, a thing in itself so unpleasing to God, that he has, by positive Law, banished all such persons, not only from serving at his holy, Altars, 
Deut. 23.  but from a capacity to bear any civil charge: But I must hasten to our beloved Parallel, so shall conclude this Ascent with some remarks upon the person of our blessed Saviour himself, whom all antiquity has delivered to us, to have had a most excellent humane beauty; and that doctrine of theirs, is not only grounded upon those many mystical, and indeed incomparable, beauties attributed to him in the Canticles, but more positively and clearly collected, out of that most remarkable passage of the Psalmist, Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum, 
Psal. 45.  Thou art fairer than the children of men, from whence, I say, all the ancient Doctors of the Church, do unanimously conclude and assure us, that our blessed Lord and Saviour, expressly selected for himself, a most excellent beauty of body, and an extraordinary supreme grace of speech. Nay, 
Niceph. l. 1.  Nicephorus goes about to describe to us certain lineaments of his body, his exact stature, colour, and perfect proportion of parts, which he pretends to draw out of all antiquity, and delivers them in all to be most gracious, lovely, and specious: from whence we may draw this most excellent use, to teach us [that since the Lord was pleased voluntarily to dispoil himself of all Honours, Riches, and worldly greatness, to give us an example of his high humility: yet would, notwithstanding, consecreate this thing called Beauty, in his own most illustrious person, and that of his blessed Mother] what value we ought to set upon so heavenly a gift, and how careful we should be, never to profane it; So I pass to the Parallel.  

The Parallel.  
We have seen in our Ascent the beauty of our Moses, and divers other persons, besides that of our Saviour's, celebrated in holy Scripture; and truly, I must be bold to add; not without a great deal of reason; for, the more admirable sure the piece of workmanship is, when it duly examines and contemplates itself, aught more to incite a man, and raise him to a higher love, and greater praise of the workman, which is (if the word may be pardoned) God himself, and he that has the fairest preparation, in his bodily Fabric or Structure; reason justly requires of him, that he should order his manners proportionably, and, according to the perfection of his soul, endeavour to make her appear more fair, being lodged in so complete and well-proportioned a body: And they that shall abuse this fair and inestimable gift of Heaven, to any impious, fond, carnal profanation, by devoting that, and themselves to any sensual, sordid, brutish life, do plainly drag the gift of heaven, and Divinity itself in the dust. Nay, they are guilty of a more barbarous ingratitude, than they that steal Silver and Gold from the Tabernacle, to make Altars to Baal or Ashteroth; or, that light their Lamps at the Altar-fire of the Omnipotent, to make pillage afterwards of his Temple; or, that take bread from the Master of the house with one hand, and stab him with the other.  
Well then, it may be granted, that a beautiful and well proportioned body, is an indubitable gift of God, and that the Lord confers it ordinarily, upon his dearest Saints and Servants. And I hope it will no more be doubted, whether the same Alwise Providence, has dealt less graciously, in favour of his deceased Highness, our second Moses, than he has done with the former, and other his dear favourits upon Earth. Indeed but barely to question it, were not only to argue a simple or malicious blindness in the Asker, but would convince him guilty of a perilous profanation, in the neglect of so much divinity instamped upon his sacred Person; nay would make him appear, impiously to traduce the Almighty Providence itself, to have been less careful, of our glorious departed Protectors most incomparable soul, than it should have been, in not preparing for it, an equal body to lodge in, who, with his body, and his soul, was preordained, to serve, as an instrument of Divine wonders, equally with his Grand Archetype Moses, that Prince of Patriarches.  
Now, that we may the better accomplish our happy Parallel, in this beautiful Ascent, it would not be amiss to exmine, what kind of beauty, the old Rabbins, and more ancient paintings, do deliver of that great Moses, and what is agreed upon all sides to be a beauty, most proportionable to a Prince. As to the former, we find by many ancient Pens, as well as Pencils, Moses drawn forth to us, with a goodly, large, and illustrious countenance, a cheerful, fair, and exporrected forehead, (such a one, as Justinian wished his greatest Judges and Generals to have) a severe, but graceful Aspect; a gallant, no gigantic stature, a robustious, yet well proportioned body, and in the carriage, as well as shape, of every limb, a gracious and most becoming Majesty.  
Now I appeal again to all but blind men, or malicious, whether this, be not his late Highness' Picture too? As for the next Quaere, what is the most amiable beauty in a Prince, I shall extract it, out of a most excellent Modern Author. 
Fred. de Marsel.  Forma Principis, non tam venustas est muliebris, quam dignitas, quae in obtutu gestibusque consistit, &, quemadmodum Tyrius ait, occulto & potenti introitu, hominum animis illabitur, & Majestas nuncupatur, consistit autem, in decorae magnitudine, in proportione membrorum, in line amentis aptis, in colore & succo, etc. Deformat hanc spectei dignitatem, quicquid nimis exquisitum est, de Pixide aut speculo comptum, & infrae virum. A Princely form, saith he, carries nothing of effeminate beauty in it, but a prerogative planted in the forehead, which consists in looks and gestures, and (as Maxim. Tyrius tells us) with a close and powerful entry, surpriseth men's souls, and is called Majesty. And this again consists in a comely largeness, in proportion of members, in apt lineaments, in colour, moisture, etc. This dignity of Princely beauty, is deformed, by any over-curiosity of tricking, or taking any thing out of the box, or borrowing too much from Barber or Looking-glass, all that, is below a man.  
Let any, again, but his Highness' most malicious enemies, say, whether this was not the late Protectors very Picture, and Character too? With this true Masculine beauty it was, that the great Marius, though proscribed, struck him to the heart, that was employed to have stabbed him: and made him flee from him, that with so much trouble and difficulty, had hunted and sought out for him. With this glorious perstringent aspect it was, that Octavianus Caesar, assaulted the Asassinate, and with the vigour (almost celestial) of his Majestic eyes, thunderstruckk the villain, that was otherwise resolved, to have tumbled him down from some Alpine Precipice. This is the true, virile, Princely beauty, which our second Moses had, in its perfection, equal to the former Moses, or either of those great Romans, by which he has frequently, confounded Traitors, dashed all asassinates, dissolved conspiracies, and rendered himself the wonder of the Age. 
Idem.  Adeo tanquam cum virtute ipsa, certamen haberet, haec naturae, sive dignitas, sive majestas, etiam ab iis, honoris, obsequiique tributa exprimit, qui adversus virtutem ipsam conspirasse videntur, says the same Modern Author; So as if this same Majesty of Princely beauty, would claim priority of virtue itself, exacting the tribute of honour and obedience, from the very haters themselves of, and conspirators against, virtue. I shall close up all this, with what a brave Orator, in a Panegyric, said to Constantine the Great, our Countryman, 
Plin. in Panegyr. Con.  and one of the goodliest, brave Princes that ever lived upon Earth. Te cum milites vident, admirantur & diligunt, sequuntur oculis, animo tenent: Deo se obsequi putant, cujus tàm pulchra forma est, quam certa divinitas: that Nature was sent, on purpose, by God, as a gallant Harbinger, to compose a body for him, suitable to his great spirit, as a stately house for a beautiful Lady to live in, and that only this exterior form of his, made him to be beloved and esteemed of all the World, as a certain divinity, or God descended from Heaven.  
This I am sure, (though malice it may be will not) ought every one of this Nation with as much justice and reason, say, of his late most Serene Highness, our second Moses, and Lord Protector, who, as the former, was, from his Cradle, known to be a most goodly Child, and during those his first, sweet, and tender years, kept still a very gallant Stature, tall, and straight, as a Palmtree, and radiant, as a Star; and, as the excellent Cassiodorus well expresseth it, 
Cassiod.  he was in all things so accomplished, ut ne de aspectu Principis possit errari. Every man might read a Prince in his Countenance.  
Thus beauty of body, we see, is not a little desirable in a Prince; but if the house answer not to the Frontispiece, what may we else say, but that Nature hath built up a goodly glorious Mansion, to lodge therein a great, though handsome Beast? It shall be, therefore, our endeavour in our succeeding higher Ascents, to make the internal Moses, in him, appear equal to the external, that so, foul-faced malice itself, may not have power to deny, the Parallel to be most Complete.    

The third Ascent.  
MOses was a high Favourite of Heaven, from his very Infancy, being then miraculously delivered, from the danger of the waters, upon which he was exposed (as Scripture teacheth us) in an Ark of Bulrushes. O the inscrutable paths of the Almighty! 
Exod. 2.3.  O the Heights! O the Depths of Divine Providence! Here we must pause a little, and consider the great Salvations of the Lord, before we can proceed to accomplish our Parallel.  
Lo, here we find a little Infant, our great Moses, exposed to the mercy of Nilus, in a strange bottom, a boat made of Bulrushes, 
Ibid.  or floating Cradle of Reeds. The poor tender Mother is wholly become heartless, and abandoneth her Child to death, to save him from the Savage cruelty of men, set on work, to destroy innocents', by the direful rigour of a stern Tyrant. The Aunt, not altogether so hopeless, but a little bolder, dares to follow the forlorn Infant, at some distance, so as to keep it within the compass of her eye, endeavouring to see (if she could) what would become of the Child; but her weakness, alas, could do nothing to warrant him from the imminent danger: Almighty God, in the mean space, is pleased to become the Pilot of this little Bark; he bears it upon the waves, and conducts it without Sails, without Rudder, without Oars, or any other help, of stream or tide, besides that, of his own eternal, and immense goodness, and so makes it arrive, beyond all humane expectation, in a most happy Haven, and there to discharge its lading in the arms of a Princess, with safety and comfort: A Royal Harbour for such a poor weatherbeaten boat, after so perilous a passage.  
Now the little Infant is drawn forth by the pity of the Tyrant's Daughter, and he who was exposed as a victim to Pharaohs cruelty, must be thus, by the Tyrants own Daughter, (his own flesh and blood) preserved to be a God of Pharaohs, and to live to bury them, or their posterity, in the bottom of the Red Sea, 
Exod. 4.16.  who would have drowned him in his infancy, in the River Nilus.  

The Parallel.  
I take it for a verity unquestionable, that great spirits set apart and preordained by Divine Providence, for the performance of future wonders, have most particular tutelar Angels assigned to them for their protection, from their very infancy; and those very persons, from their Cradles, are frequently pointed out to us, by the finger of God himself, in their most miraculous preservations. So we see in Histories, how the little King Mithridates, (that was to prove one of the greatest, and most puissant Monarches of the whole Earth) being involved in lightning flashes, whilst he innocently slept in his infant-cradle, the flames consuming his very swadling-cloaths and linens, yet he remained untouched in his body.  
In like manner, we find another Prodigy of Divine providence, so loudly proclaimed in the Greek Anthology, how a father and an innocent son, were equally surprised with a sad shipwreck, which took away the life of the father, and gave the son leave to arrive in a safe Harbour, having no other vessel or plank to carry him ashore, but the very corpse of his deceased father, who so afforded him a second life by his death: and this very child thus wonderfully delivered, grew up to be one of the bravest men in Greece.  
I cannot pass by one other effect of Divine providence, no less stupendious than the former, that fell out not long since in the Country of Apulia, where happened an Earthquake, the last day of July 1627. and so prodigious a one, that (as I have heard, and seen written) in the City of St. Severin alone, more than ten thousand souls, were taken out of the World; and yet in the horror of such infinite ruins, and sepulchre of so many mortals, a great Bell fell so fitly over a little child, that it not only did him no hurt, but miraculously enclosing him, made itself a Bulwark and defence for him against the danger of all the other ruins: and this Child is now grown up (as I am informed) to be one of the most considerable persons in all Italy.  
Thus little Romulus, like our Infant Moses, being exposed to the same merciless element, was most strangely preserved to be the Founder of the greatest City, Monarchy, State, and Empire, of the universal World. I should be infinite if I should run through the whole Series of sacred Providence, in the particular miraculous preservations, that have been showed upon such principal persons, from their very infancies. Yet, truly, if there were no other instances of Divine providence left us, but only these two, of our first and second Moses, we needed not allege more arguments to prove the singular care, the Lord takes over the persons of good Princes.  
We have seen on the one side, a little Infant floating on the waters of Nilus, in a cradle built of Bulrushes, and lying just like a worm hidden in straw, and whose afflicted friends, measured his Tomb with their eyes, in every billow of that faithless element; yet was preserved at length from danger, by the very blood of Pharaoh, to turn his Diadem into dust, and to bury him and his whole army, in the dreadful gulf of the Red Sea.  
They that have seen his late Highness, our sacred second Moses, in the like former imminent perils, and the great actions he has since, most gloriously arrived at, can best make a Parallel of the Providence. No Nurse or tender Mother whatsoever, could be half so careful to drive a fly from the face of her little Infant, whilst it slept, as the Providence of our gracious Lord, has ever showed its self affectionate, in the conservation of his Highness his most elevated soul: and, though I cannot say he was exposed upon, yet, as I have heard, he has been in equal dangers, by, the water, as his first Matter Moses was: and a great deal more by fire; tumbling from Precipices, falls from Coaches, Horses, and Houses too, and what not? insomuch that it is said, the imminency of those his Infant dangers, has struck the very hearts, and chilled the blood, in the veins, of all beholders.  
Thus than we see a very parallel providence, over these two great persons, their very Cradles kissing, and, as it were, conspiring to rock each other: and truly, not without a great deal of reason, that they should run parallel in their childhood-deliverances, (as we have seen) who were in their riper years, to serve equally, as inspired instruments of Divine wonders: and all the World, methinks, if it had not been wilfully blind, must needs have discerned, in his Highness his Infancy, that he was then, pointed out, by the Almighty Providence, to be the same person, which he has since, so gloriously approved himself to be. Those who had the honour to know his Highness, in those days, can tell us, how he was born, a Thaumaturgus, and like another Hercules Alexicacus, filled his cradle with no less wonder, than he has done the field since, and afterwards the Throne. Those his early wonders, yet, were but as the flashing streaks of a Cloud, to be so instantly turned into lightning; as we shall see more at large, in his diligent, and faithful imitation of his great Master, and Prototype Moses, in all his higher Ascents.    

The fourth Ascent.  
MOses was very liberally bred, and had all the advantages of a Noble and Princely education; being brought up, as the Text tells us, in all the learning of the Egyptians. Thus the Alwise God, 
Acts 7, 12.  having selected him, to be Conductor, and Captain General of a hundred and six thousand men at arms, to have, as it were, a Regency over the very Elements, and a power to replenish the whole World with Prodigies; provided likewise a breeding, equal to so high a Calling, to frame and fit him, for so supereminent a condition, and to accomplish him with all heroic virtues. He suffered him not to be trained up, as other Hebrew children were, in fear, and bondage, which often overwhelm the bravest dispositions; but brought him to the Court of Pharaoh, caused him to be nourished in all the exercises of Nobility, and to swallow all the learning of the Egyptians, who then had the reputation of the wisest, and the knowingest men of the whole World.  
How simple, in the mean time, absurd, and and contrary to express Scripture, is that opinion of some, which say, that Moses had no Egyptian learning at all, nor more letters, than what he received from Abraham and Enoch, or, what he heard from the mouth of God, by Oracles daily delivered to him?  
To confute this folly, though Scripture itself were sufficient, I shall produce further evidence. 
Philo de vita Moses.  First Philo the Jew, in his Book of the Life of Moses, gives us the exact History of his education, and assures us, that he learned of Egyptian Masters, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, both Theorical, and Practic; together, with all sorts of Philosophy, and the Secrets of Hieroglyphics. In all which pieces of learning, he grew to such perfection, that he was acknowledged for a Master, by the very Egyptians themselves: insomuch, that when Pythagoras and Plato, came to learn the Sciences in Egypt, 
Pythagoras. Plato.  they would first of all, study the Doctrine of Moses: whose name, in those times, as we find by them, was in great admiration through all Egypt: and it is more than probable, that from his Books, they did conceive all that Divinity, which they have delivered, and the reason of God, which they declare, under the notion of the first cause.  
After them Numenius, the famous Pythagorean, wrote many things, concerning Mosaical Doctrine, as Basil the great testifies; 
Basil.  and Numenius adds, that Plato himself, was no other, than Moses speaking in Greek. Nay, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eusebius, both say, 
Clem. Alex. Eusebius.  that the Gentiles received all the very mysteries of their Religion, from the Books of Moses; though enfolding them, in some odd fables; and Orpheus himself, confesseth, 
Orpheus.  that he learned divers things from the Doctrine of Moses; especially, in the Book which he made of the Sacred Word, that he says himself, he took out of the Mosaical Tables: as also, that which he sang concerning God, known to the only Chaldean Moses; which Verses of his, 
Fran. George in lib. de haerm Mund.  one Francis George, has reduced into Latin, in his Book of the Harmony of the World. Nemo illum nisi Chaldaeo de sanguine quidam Progenitus vidit. Now, some have been of opinion, that Orpheus meant by this Chaldean, Noath, and others Enoch, and the Platonists took him for Zoroastres, who was the son of Cham; but the following words convince, it could be no body else, but Moses. Priscorum nos haec docuerunt omnia voces, Quae binis tabulis, Deus olim tradidit illis; Now, to none of them, were the Tables of the Commandments given, but to Moses only. Thus we see, he was not only a perfectly well bred Scholar, but the very Fountain of all our Learning. A most excellent Natural Philosopher, he must needs be; for that learning than flourished most there: and besides, sure he must needs know, the true causes of all things, that was so well acquainted with all the Almighty's Counsels of Creation: then for his skill in Moral and Politic Philosophy, it must be altogether as undeniable, being entrusted with the supreme, Civil, and Military power, over Gods own people, for so many years, and holding forth to us still, such Moral & Political Laws, and Constitutions, that will never be matched, by any Legislator in the World. Then, for his Divinity, there need be sure as little doubt, who had the constant conversation with God himself, and did by particular direction from him, couch, all the sacred Mysteries of Religion, 
Exod. Num. Levit. Deut.  in the several joints and pieces of the Tabernacle, and the very hems of Aaron's garments; as may appear more at large, in his last four Books.  

The Parallel.  
We have hitherto conversed, in the Mosaical outworks only, and seen these two high Favourits of Heaven, our first and second Moses, marching hand in hand together, in most amicable Parallel, through some remarkable Ascents of their Infancy: We are now happily entering into the Inner Moses, and to reflect something upon the dispositions of their Adolescency, which there is no doubt, but we shall find, very agreeable to their Births. And, indeed, one of the greatest benefits, which youth can receive at the hands of God, is the favourable blessing of a good education; it is that, which polisheth and purifieth humane Nature, as one would do a precious Stone, obscured with earth, or base ordure; it is that, which as a late Doctor tells us, makes of men, (as it were) Angels: and, without it, doubtless the goodliest, and most precious natures, would perpetually dwell in a sad brutishness: But above all others, Princes ought to have an extraordinary advantage of Learning; for it is highly necessary, sure, that their souls should be fullest of lights, and flames, which are to serve others, for so great guides, and to be most exquisitely adorned with good letters, who know (as doubtless our second Moses did, from his Cradle) that they are to be set aloft upon pinnacles, to change their words into Laws, and lives into examples. And he that was to be Supreme Magistrate of so many Nations, aught, sure, with incessant study, read, unite, and incorperate in his sole self, the virtues, and faculties of many others. And so our glorious second Moses did, who was no less remarkable, for his true Liberal, Noble, & Princely education, than the former. And, truly, for this we must acknowledge eternal obligations to his Highness, his most honourable Parents, who had a principal care, to perfect the natural endowments of their Child, with those of Art; to the shame of many fathers, and mothers, at this day, who too much resemble Ostriches, who lay their eggs in the open way, without hatching them, abandoning their children to become a prey to misery, ignorance, and impiety: But his Highness, most illustrious Parents, desirous to live in the honour, of their incomparable Child, and to give him a breeding equal to his Nobility, Beauty, and Ingeny, and to those miraculous preservations, by which he was pointed out by Providence, to be a future Instrument of Divine wonders, as the former Moses was, would give him an education equal to his. And it is notorious, that he sucked in, a very great proportion of Philosophy, with the first milk, that he drew from his Mother University; as also, he devoured many other Pieces of profane learning, which, may be, were supererrogatory in a Prince; yet, by that means, he merited to be then as much thought the glory of the Gown, as he has since, proved himself the honour of the Sword; for, he attained to so stupendious a pitch of Learning, in so few years, that all that knew him then, thought it rather came, (which was suspected upon the former Moses too) by inspiration, than acquisition: and who could then but admire, those fair blossoms, of which we have seen since, such excellent fruits, Nor can there be less doubt of his perfection in Political knowledge, made by any man, that will but look upon his most Serene Highness, his Government, either Civil, or Military, over us, or the Laws that he has established, for the eternal safety, and comfort, of these Nations. And, as for Divinity, I mean, that of the heart, that Grand Cardinal Piece, and most principal part of Royal Learning, we all know, that was bred and born with him: a Divinity, I say, not lodged in the Schools, that is too knotty sure for Prince's heads; but that which is reposed in godly hearts, and that is the true fear of the Lord, which is acknowledged by Scripture itself, to be the beginning of all Wisdom: and, though we dare not assert, for it is unknown, what personal discourses he has had with the Almighty, yet we may affirm, that all his inspirations were Divine; and his conversation was ever so celestical, as if he lay, in the very bosom of the Deity. Upon the whole, then, as his first Master Moses, was bred up in all the Learning of the Egyptians, so was his most Serene Highness, disposed to consecrate his hopeful youth, to the study of the Arts, in one of our Universities; wherein he came to so much perfection, that he was pleased do descend to a degree, by which he made that, more than himself, Laureate, for so he was without it. Then, that the other most famous Sister, should not be dejected, he was pleased to crown her, with the acceptance of her highest degree of Honour, and to lay a further obligation upon her, and the whole Commonwealth of Learning, he has been pleased since to own himself, her Patron, Chancellor, and most particular Protector; and since his Highness his greater occasions, have hindered his attendance on that Charge, he has yet added to her obligations, by bequeathing that care, to his most excellent son, and Princely Successor, his now most Serene Highness, whom we may so justly entitle to be, Chara Dei soboles, magnum Jovis Incrementum: and can no more doubt that he will trace the steps of his renowned father, than he, our second, has showed himself to be a perfect imitator of his great Master the first Moses; as we shall still find his Highness, mounting after him, in the succeeding Ascents.    

The fifth Ascent.  
MOses lived a long retired life in his youth, contemning the pomp and greatness, of Pharaohs Court, and all the World besides: choosing rather to pass as a private Shepherd in a Desert, and to keep his father in Law Jethroes Flocks, 
Exod. 3.  than to be made a Companion of Kings. Now, here I must be bold to assert, that none but high bred, as well as high born, souls, are capable of understanding, much less of undergoing, such a blessed solitude, as this our old Master Moses did. In this he showed himself, to have attained to the very highest pitch of Philosophy, and all Learning, in so discreet a contempt of all the profits, pleasures, glories, and vanities, of the World.  
Here, then, behold, and admire, (all you pitiful plastered Puppets of the World) this grand Master of Honour, and Learning, Moses; who, though enriched, with all the fair perfections of mind, and body, requisite to the accomplishment of a Courtier, could not be brought, by all the powerful allurements of Pharaohs Daughter; no, nor yet by the solicitations, of his poor brethren, then in bondage, who stood in no little need, (God knows) of such a helper, lying then, under a most Tyrannical oppression: or, could be persuaded, to accept the charge, of any public employments; but, chose rather for a great while, to retire himself, and to live a free, and harmless Shephered, in a Desert, than to embroil his celestial soul, in any mundane matters, or to idolise his sinful captivity, in a Court.  
This is the highest point of Philosophy in the World, for a man, especially in his youth, to know how to make himself his own, to set light by, and trample underfoot, all that is without him; to look on all the pomps, and pleasures, of this World, as the old Egyptians did, upon those dangerous thiefs, whom they then termed Philistas, that were wont to tickle, fawn upon, and embrace, whom they had a purpose to strangle. And truly, if the headache, should seize upon us, before drunkenness, we should all beware of too much drinking; but sordid sensuality, the better to entrap us, makes her apparent pleasures, to march still before us, and hides perpetualy, her too rugged, and repentant tract from us. If we can arrive at so happy a knowledge, as to see into those miserable consequences beforehand, it must be only, by the pure help of Philosophy, or the immediate grace of God. And this was that, which our Patriarch Moses did see, and accordingly practice; not making, neither, such a sad, and valedictory retreat, as some Princes, and great Persons have done, to quit, and forsake the World, when either they have been weary of it, or that has been of them: but a true Mosaical retreat, a retreat of improvement, a retreat, to bring us on afterwards (as at a jump) with greater advantage, a retreat to cultivate, and enrich a soul: This was that, I say, our Moses did, who, when he had devoured all the learning of the Egyptians, he would retire himself a while, to digest it in the Land of Midian: when he had sucked in all the seeds of good literature from the Schools, he withdrew a while, to improve the growth of them in the fields; so avoiding all commixture of weeds, which many times, does strangle the best and most sublime parts in men: And, to conclude all this, our great Master Moses, chose to avoid all those pestilences, that usually attend upon Courts, and most Companies, to go to fructify in the Desert.  

The Parallel.  
Now, as we have seen our first Moses, making his rich retreat, and preferring it before all the delicacies of Pharaohs Court; so we shall see our glorious second, making haste after him, whose inspired wisdom, knew full well, even in those his youthful years, how to set a just value, upon all those empty nothings, pomps, pleasures, and glories, of the World, and look upon the Court then, no otherwise, than as his grand Master Moses before him had done, as the nest of envy, and ambition; and as a late Writer▪ most excellently extracts out of divers ancient Authors, that it was a mere den of darkness, where the heavens and stars, are scarcely to be seen, but through a little crevice: As a Mill, always skreaking with perpetual clatter, where men inchained like beasts of labour, are condemned to turn the stones: As a prison of slaves, who are all tied in the golden gyves of a specious servitude; yet, in all that glitter, suffer themselves to be gnawed upon, by the vermin of base abominable passions. As a list, where all the Combatants are stark mad, that enter, their arms nothing but fury, their prize smoke, their career glass, or ice, and utmost bounds, but precipices. As the house of Circe, where reasonable creatures, are transformed into savage beasts, where Bulls gore, Lions roar, Dog's bark, and worry one another; Vipers hiss, and Basilisks carry death in their looks. To conclude, as the House of winds, a perpetual tempest on the firm land, shipwreck without water, where vessels are split, even in the haven of hope: In fine, as a most miserable place, where vice reigns by nature, misery by necessity; and if any virtue be found there, it must be by miracle: 
Greg. in Job. 20.  So that we may fitly apply to those old Courtiers, that passage in Job, so much insisted on, by the great Gregory; Gigantes gemunt sub aquis, the Giants or great Men of the Earth, do groan under the waters, that is, being drawn into a little disgrace, by a furious torrent of envy, they sigh and mourn, as overwhelmed in an ocean of calamities. One frown of their Prince, is more formidable to them, than the look of a Basilisk, and more terrible than the crack of Canon, or thunder itself. Besides, what more base, abject, servile sort of men, is there in the World? they will bend, and bow, like a fisher's angle, they must stoop, turn, and wheel about, to all purposes, that they may arrive, at their pretensions? They buy all their honour, at the price of pitiful submissions, their Scarlet, at the rate of sordid ambition, and glory, with the coin of slavery, as is most excellently illustrated by eloquent Cyprian thus, 
Cyprian ad Donatum.  Qui amictu clariore conspicuus, fulgere sibi videtur in Purpura, etc. Quibus hic sordibus emit ut fulgeat? quot arrogantium fastus prius pertulit? quas superbas fores matutinus salutator obsedit? quot tumentium contumeliosa vestigia ante praecessit, un ipsum etiam salutantium comes postmodum turba praecederet? This silly Courtier, saith he, gazeth upon himself in Scarlet, but how many base submissions has the lustre of those clothes cost him? how many scorns, contempts, and repulses, has he swallowed from some more arrogant than himself? how many proud gates has he besieged every day, to perform his compliments? and how many times hath he made himself a stirrup-holder, or footboy, for the service of some disdainful Prince, to gain this train, that now attends upon himself.  
Indeed, such a condition, is more to be pitied, than envied; so it was well answered of an old Courtier, when asked, How he could continue so long in Court? Injurias accipiendo, saith he, & gratias agendo, by receiving injuries thankfully. Thus some men will fatten with affronts, and disgraces, as slavish dogs with bastenadoes. My Lords High Mosaic prudence, in the mean time, more feared, than envied, that course of life, and chose rather to lie hidden for many years, in his little privacy of a safe and sweet retreat, and a learned solitude, like a true Princely Pearl, under the waves, then to be worn about the necks of Monarches.  

Marc. Aur. Ant. de vit. sua, l. 4.  One of the greatest wits, as well as Princes, and the most virtuous man of a Pagan, that ever was under heaven, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, in his Book, that he writ of his own Life, so much commends this kind of retirement, which a wise man makes within himself; that he assures us, that in all the Palaces, Gardens, Orchards, and Delicacies, of all the Kings of the World, there is nothing so delightful as it. In which kind of life it is, that a virtuous and knowing soul, involves itself, in its little shell, and withdrawing itself out of the saltwaters of the World, lives purely with the dew of heaven. There it is where the soul, which is scattered in an overwhelming multitude of affairs, folds itself within itself: there it is, where it begins truly to suck in its own sap: there it is, where it accommodates, and prepares its hive, like a busy Bee, and endeavours to gather its honey, to communicate to all the World. There it is, and only there, where it enters into a new world, an intelligible world, a peaceable world, a world smiling with sweet serenity of air, and radiant lights, as becomes such a blessed solititude, a true Temple of repose. This was the Noble rich retirement, that our glorious second Moses chose to place his soul in, winding himself up in his private recesses, as within his own bottom, after the example of his great Prototype; nor could he ever fear to faint, or droop, through any tedious mind-tiring idleness, (the consequent of most solitarinesses) having such a stock of soul to improve, as he had, his Highness knew as well as that Scipio, nunquam minus solus esse quam cum solus: and, ut in solis sit sibi turba locis, never to be less alone, then when he was alone, and to supply himself with company of himself, as we shall see by the great profit he reaped, by his learned solitude; which will more clearly appear, in the process of our following Parallels.    

The sixth Ascent.  
MOses was most miraculously called by God from his retirement, to undertake the deliverance, care, and conduct, of his people, the Lord appearing to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. This Ascent, 
Exod. 3.1.  truly, of our great Patriarch, and Prototype Moses, is so Prodigious, and purely Divine, that I cannot pass it, without rendering a relation of the particular circumstances. As our retired Moses was in the midst of his beloved solitude, in the innocent society of his fathers-in-law sheep; 
Ibid. v. 2.  and as he was leading his flock to the back side of the Desert, and came to the mountain of God, 
V. 3.  even to Horeb. The Angel of the Lord appeared unto him, in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, 
V. 4.  and behold the bush burnt with fire, 
V. 5.  and was not consumed, And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great fight, 
V. 6.  why the bush is not burnt; And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the Bush, and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here am I▪ and he said, Draw not nigh hither, put off the shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest, is holy ground. Moreover he said, etc.  

The Parallel.  
Out of this miraculous Call, and Commission given to our first Moses, we may clearly collect, as a most remarkable Corollary, that the Lord Amighty, has not only a most particular providence over the estates and governments of Princes; but also a most extraordinary respect unto their persons, vouchsafeing them frequently, the favour, and familiarity, of his own discourses: and that either by his own personal calling upon them, as hear to our first Moses, young Samuel, and divers others, as stupendious Stories; or by the mission of Angels, as to Abraham, Loth, and divers other Princes, and Prophets of his people; or else by dreams and visions, as to Abimelech, King of Gerar, to forwarn him of Abraham's wife, and the like: So, not only the present text of our Ascent; but the whole current of Scripture, is consenting to our Corollary. Nay, this Divine favour, was not only wont to be conferred, upon the Princes of Gods own people only, but to mere stranger Kings, and sometimes Infidels.  
As first, to a former Pharaoh, God sent a dream, (which Joseph afterwards interpreted) by which the King prevented his own ruin, and the destruction of his people, by a dismal dearth. So was the like favour vouchsafed to Alexander the Great, as Quintus Curtius tells us, whilst that victorious Prince maintained the siege of the City of Tyre; by which means, he was made soon Master of the place, which but some few hours before, he despaired of, and resolved to rise from before it.  
We find likewise in Roman Story, that Calphurnia, wife to the adopted father of Julius Caesar, gave him timely notice of a dream of hers, concerning him, which he despising, and going fearless to the Senate-house, found her dream to sort to a woeful effect: But his wise Successor, Augustus, who was to be Revenger of his blood, upon the Conspirators, made better use of another's dream, that was Antonius his Physician; advising him, though he was sick, yet he should not fail to be present in the Battle, which was the next day to be given, by Brutus and Cassius, and by no means to stay in his Tent, which he would have done, had not Antonius used his most pressing persuasions to the contrary, which was the saying of his life; for the enemy won the Tents, and would have undoubtedly destroyed him, had they found him there. So by this means, he won the day, and the world together, and became the sole peaceable Monarch of the Roman Empire; that under his Reign, our Prince of Peace, and Glorious Redeemer, should be born, as he was.  
Now, God forbid, that we should think the Almighty Providence less solicitous, over the persons of Christian Princes, and their pious proceedings: no, he has, abundantly showed, that no Mother, or Nurse, had so much tender affection, and care over their sucklings, as his goodness has showed itself careful in their precautions and admonitions of dangers, and most frequent conservations, which all Christian Histories are full of: But indeed, we need go no further, than to the Histories of the holy War, written by Paulus Aemilius, and Gulielmus Tyrius, how often he has vouchsafed missions of Angels, and also holy Dreams, and Visions, to direct those pious Princes. Nay, the Lord kept the very birds of the air, in pay under Godfrey of Bovillon; for who can be but astonished, to hear it told, how, when he besieged Jerusalem, the Sultan having taught pigeons, to carry messages, dispatched one of them with a Letter, which she bore under her wings, to give some advice to the besieged; but Providence would have it, that a Hawk seizing on her, just over the Christian Army, took her, and made her bring her information to the Christians, touching the enemy's design. But as for Dreams, the three last Harry's of France, are undoubtedly the greatest examples, who all were divinely admonished of their approaching danger of death, by their Queens, and other Princes of their blood; but they with over-confidence would run on heedless, and headlong, to their own destruction. Nay, the middlemost of the three, besides the admonitions, he received from the Dreams of others, saw himself, in a Dream, how all his Royal ornaments, viz. his Linen Vesture, Sandals, Dalmatian Robe, Mantle of Azure Satin, the great and lesser Crowns, Sceptre, and hand of Justice, Sword, and Guilt-Spurs, all bloody, and fouled with people's feet, and that he himself was very angry with the Sexton of St. Denis, about it; and though he wanted not good counsel, according to the danger of his Dream, to stand securely upon his guard, and make use of the fair pre-monition of heaven; yet would, forsooth, out of his gallantry, expose his person to the malice of those, who kept a fatal blow in store for him.  
I cannot stand here to dispute with the learned Volaterranus, whether all men in general, going to Bed, not cloyed with bad affections, nor any superfluities of meat or drink, but being throughout virtuously and healthfully disposed, their souls in sleeping, may not foresee things to come: for I must hasten to accomplish our Parallel: and it is indeed, as much as concerns our present purpose, to say, that we are very certainly sure, of so much, (as by some instances has been showed already, and might be by many more) that the Dreams of Kings, and Princes, Prophets, Generals of Armies, Magistrates, and all Public Persons, that hold any Eminent Degree, either in Church, or State, are commonly prophetical, and monitory, of things to come, or to be done: This I say, by grace especial and Divine, not Natural, as may more plainly appear in this our precious Parallel. And indeed, to say, that our most gracious Lord, had not an equal care, of his late sacred Highness, our second Moses, as he had of the former, of an Alexander, a Julius, or Augustus Caesar (who was to be as glorious in his Victories, and a greater Instrument of Divine wonders, than any, except this his happy Parallel,) would be an infidelity greater as theirs, that oppugn Divine Providence itself.  
I dare not yet boldly affirm, that our second Moses in his retirement, met with any flaming Bush, and the Lord speaking to him out of it; or that he has had any such personal discourses, with the Almighty: if his late Highness has had any of those, they were only then known, as I believe, to the Lord, and to his own sacred self. But this I have most certainly been informed, that his Highness had many Revelations, and Divine Dreams, to the same purpose, admonishing him, what he should do, and foretelling him what he should arrive at: which that I may not prejudice, by my rude relation, I hold better to pass by with silence, till some that his most Serene Highness was pleased to make knowing of them, shall do the World the favour, as to make the discovery. But so much is notorious to all these Nations, that as our second Moses was retired like the former, and near the backside of the Desert too, but still near the Mountain of God: the Lord found him out there, and called him; for who can hide, what the Lord will bring to light? Sed quis te Cyllarus, aut Arion posset cripere, quem sequebatur imperium? as was most excellently said by Eumenius. What Horse or Dolphin is so swift, that can steal from mortal eyes, a person whom the Providence of God pursueth with Empire in hand? A burning, and a speaking Bush, must call the first Moses from his retirement, to deliver and conduct his brethren out of bondage; and no less, I am sure, than three Kingdoms all in a flame, with the united cries of so many millions, and in them too, the voice of God, for so is vox populi, could move our incomparable late Protector, to engulf himself, in the Ocean of Public employment. We have seen, that extraordinary Persons, must have extraordinary Calls, and our second Moses his first Call, from his dear, divine solitude, was a public Parliamentary Call, and there too, when he was most violently persuaded to appear; how long was it, before he could induce his most settled and serene Soul, to be capable of the sollicitudes of State? but for divers years sat in Parliament, and Committees, upon all the Commonwealth's occasions, as the Birds of Baruch, upon white thorns, and as the Giants of holy Job, before spoken of, which mourned under the waters: and this we shall see more plainly appear, in the process of our succeeding Ascents, and Parallels.    

The seventh Ascent.  
MOses being in his own judgement, and in all outward appearance, unfit for so great a Charge, was very unwillingly persuaded by God, to undertake it; insomuch, 
Exod. 3.11.  as it came to a very high expostulation between them. Was there ever such a dispute with the Almighty? Or was there ever seen such a difficulty in man, to be persuaded to so high a point of preferment? Behold what arguments he raiseth against the Lord, and his own self. And his first refusal seems to proceed, from a vice of over-modesty; for the sacred Text tells us, That Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, 
Ibid v. 12.  and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? which the Lord was pleased graciously to answer, and satisfy with an assurance, that he world be with him, etc. Then he proceeds to something of a double diffidence; first objecting, Behold when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, 
V. 13.  the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? To which the Lord was pleased to reply, by condescending to give him his Name, 
V. 14.  I am that I am, and commanded him to say, to the children of Israel, that I am had sent him unto them, and so furnished him with a large Commission, and instructions. But yet our Moses will be doubtful still of the force and effect of his Almighty Commission; for he answered and said, But behold they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; 
Exod. 4.1.  for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. Now this redoubled doubt, and diffidence of poor Moses, the most gracious Lord pleased to reform with two stupendious miracles, and so to frighten him into a better obedience: 
V. 2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.  First with his own Rod turned into a Serpent, and returned into a Rod again; and then with his own hand, made Leprous, and whole again, all in a moment; so drawing, as it were, its contagion, and cure from his own bosom. Nay, further, to fortify his faith, and credit his Commission, with the children of Israel, the Lord assures him, that he shall have the power to turn the water of the River into blood upon the dry Land.  
Now after all this, was it possible that there should be any more evasion found out, by our too modest Moses? Yes surely, and to something savouring of a very high infidelity: For Moses replied unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, 
V. 10.  neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech, and of an impedited tongue: But yet behold the benignity of our gracious God, who is pleased still to confute him, without any taking of offence: only ask him the question, 
V. 11.12.  Who made man's mouth, or who maketh the dumb or the deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? then assuring him, that he will be with his mouth, and teach him what he shall say. What could be expected after this, but a ready assent? yet instead of that, behold he flies out to a flat denial; to all this over-modesty, diffidence, and almost infidelity, he will yet add obstinacy, and a dismal disobedience, as ever was heard of, and plainly bid the Lord send whom he would. 
13.  Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; yet so mercifully, as to be pleased to reconcile himself to him instantly again, and by further assurances of his Almighty favours, with the promised assistencie of his brother Aaron, so to convince his doubting servant, 
14.  and to convert him to a more resolute faith, and active obedience.  
Thus then, the business now stands agreed on, our poor, modest, diffident, and fearful, Moses, is now become a faithful, and a stout one; and the Lord who full well knew before, his capacities to discharge, is now pleased to pardon his long unwillingness to perform, his so great, and weighty Commands.  

The Parallel.  
Now truly our second Moses, cannot appear less Parallel to the first, in this his unwillingness to accept of all public Charges, than he has done in all his accomplishments of parts, or any of the past Ascents. And yet this unwillingness of his, never proceeded from any diffidence of, or disobedience to, any Divine Commands, which was indeed, the fault of our former Moses: but partly from his own humility, over-modesty, and high contempt of all earthly things. His sanctified spirit looked upon all those flattering flourishes, of this world's greatness, no otherwise, than as the true gardens of Adonis, which in the beginning make a fair show of some si●ly flowers, but in conclusion, afford nothing but thorns. He always reckoned, that the Careers of the greatest honours here below, were but of ice, and most commonly bounded with headlong ruins. He found in his younger judgement, as we have seen, (though certainly it was an inspired piece of prudence) that all the pitiful felicities of this life, were only floating Islands, which recoil backwards, when a man thinks for to touch them, with his fingers; or as the Feasts of Heliogabalus, where were fair invitations, many reverences, and many services; but in the end, nothing but a Table appears, set out with a Banquet made of wax, which melts before the fire, and from whence a man must return, more hungry than he came: Or yet, more like the enchanted egg of Oromazes, wherein the impudent Magician, boasted to have enclosed all the happiness of the Universe; but when it was opened, there was found, nothing but wind.  
These were the solitary considerations that moved his late most Serene Highness, to his so long and close concealment of himself. And indeed, the heavenly Providence over this great Person, (if we look well throughout him) can never be otherwise read, than (as letters written with the juice of Limon) by the help of fire, or flame of a burning Bush, as before, which must not only flame neither, but must consume even to his own door, may be ready to involve all in a general conflagration, before he would at all think himself to be concerned, or busily bestir himself to quench it: or before he would undertake (the unhappy necessities of State then requiring a war) any part of his incomparable Mosaical conduct. So that we may at last affirm, and conclude of him, as Claudian does of his brave Emperor Theodosius, that Solus meruit regnare rogatus, there is none worthy of a Crown, but he that must be importuned to it.  
Now some we know there have been, that have had an most enraged desire to Empire, and yet would feign themselves to have all the aversions in the world against it; and so have caused themselves, to be carried to their Thrones, like unwilling beasts to the slaughter. The truth of it is, the heart of man, as the Scripture tells us, is inscrutable above all things, and more especially so, in point of ambition; and I have often considered those three difficult questions which the Angel proposed to Esdras, to weigh the fire, to measure the wind, and to number the veins of the Abyss, and really I find, the intricacy of an exorbitant ambition, to be all that. Ambition is a devouring fire, who can poise it? It is a most robustious violent wind, who can hold, or fathom it? It is a bottomless Abyss, who can count the issues, and the sources of it? The middle of the Earth, hath been found, the depth of the Sea hath been sounded, the height of the Alps, and Riphaean Hills, themselves has be taken, and measured, the remotest limits of the hollow caverns of Caucasus, have been dived into; the head-spring of Nilus itself, hath not escaped the discovery: only, in the hearts of men, we cannot find the bounds of desire of commanding.  
This (I say) is too true, in the community of men; but his Mosaical Highness, has ever given such visible and apparent proofs, of his divine selfdenying spirit, and such irrefragable arguments, of his real reluctancies, against all offers whatsoever, of worldly greatness, that malice itself, cannot object, the least spot of ambition to have possessed his inspired bosom. For first, we have seen, how long he was pleased to conceal himself, like his dear Master Moses, in the backside of the Desert, near to the Mountain of God, where he could have no conversation, but with him, and his own soul; and we all know how unwilling he was, to forsake that his beloved humble retreat, which sure he had never done, if he had not studied most thoroughly the best of Poets, so often repeated, Sic vos, non vobis: and been more divinely taught, that all which is most excellent in creatures, is not for the creatures, which possess it; as light is not in the Sun, for the Sun itself, nor waters are in the Ocean, for the Ocean itself. The great God of the Universe, who gave Brightness to the one, and Rivers to the other, would, that both should tend to the public commodity of men, and has thereby ordained them, to pass on to the glory of the Sovereign Being.  
His inspired Highness, full well knew, that Kingdoms were not made so much for Kings, as Kings for their Kingdoms; for they are made so, and set over them, to this end only, to do them, not themselves, good, and to protect them, and preserve them, as the goods of God himself. His Highness likewise considered, that so soon as a man is born with, and bred up to, fair and worthy parts, he is to employ himself, and them, for the public good; and he who would retain to himself, what Divine Providence gave in common, commits a sacrilege in the great Temple of the God of Nature; and he that perpetually reflects on himself in all things, and draws, as it were, all to himself, as if he were so made, only for himself, opposeth his Creator, and Judge, and makes himself corrival with the Sovereign Majesty of Heaven.  
Now after that our second Moses, had, upon these Divine considerations, been drawn to put himself forth upon public Services, we all know, how unwilling he has been to receive the deuce of his own honours, and how desirous he was rather to wrap himself up, nay, to bury himself, if he could have done it, in his first colours, than to proceed to higher Commands, which being still enforced upon him by his own Mosaical merits, we have seen likewise with what humility, and great candour of spirit, he has ever managed them. And when the pressing necessities of State required, that one single person should sit at the Helm, and that he was pointed out, both by God and man, for that purpose; how unwilling was he to accept the Charge? insomuch, that when the Protector at of these Nations, was so violently pressed upon him, by the then wearied Parliament; who knows not, with what sighs, and groans, not to be uttered, and sad regrets, less to be understood, he was at length pleased to undergo the Charge? Nay, yet further, Is it not most evident, how to his very last day, he has with an incomparable constancy, and magnanimity of spirit, refused and resisted, all those urgent importunities of Parliament, and People, Council, and Army, pressing the Crown, and the Title of King upon him? And in all this, has he not most perfectly proved himself, the follower of his pattern, and great Master Moses? who was not only unwilling to receive the honour of Captain General over his Brethren, but refused and contemned the whole Court, and Kingdom of Pharaoh.  
Thus our blessed Saviour, the Pattern of all patterns, to convince the World, that he was the Example of all perfection, would appear only great in refusing of a whole world, which the Devil did, as it were, unfold to him, before his feet. So, doubtless, it was his Divine will likewise, that the virtue of the greatest men, should appear clearly in the refusal of the greatest honours, when as, by his Spirit, the blessed Baptist, refused the greatest of all Titles, which was to own the high honour, and name of the Messiah. Indeed, it is a most particular grace, and favour afforded by God; to make a man to open his eyes upon himself, to know himself as he ought, to measure himself, and to set limits upon his own desires.  
Now this especial grace, we see the Lord has largely bestowed upon these his two extraordinary Servants, our first and second Moses. And indeed, my Lord always looked upon those spirits with pity, who outrageously mad after greatness, pursue it with all manner of toil, and sinister practices, and never counted them to be otherwise, than as bubbles, that rise on the water in the time of a Tempest, which both increase, and crack in a moment. That wretched sordid ambition it was, which made the great Roman Emperors of old, to sit so slippery upon their Thrones, and to live, indeed, but the age of flowers, still driving one another out, as nails do; or as the waves that are still beating one another, to be broken against Rocks. No, our glorious second Moses, like the first, was ever elevated to so high a pitch of Holy, and Divine contemplations, that he looked upon all the greedy Great ones of the World, but as so many pitiful Ants, furiously contending for a poor simple grain of earth: and truly, the vast distance of his high spirit, from all sublunary things, made the whole Globe of the World, appear to him no otherwise, than as a little point, and that almost imperceptible: good reason therefore had his Mosaical prudence, to be unwilling, to trouble himself at all about it; but enough has been said as to that, so we'll hasten, from the unwillingness of these our two Grand Masters to accept, to celebrate their promptness, fidelity, and activity, in the glorious execution, of their several Charges: which will abundantly appear in our after Ascents, and Parallels.    

The eighth Ascent.  
MOses found the Lord faithful, in the performance of all his promised assistance to him: by which means, 
Exod. 7.  he wrought stupendious miracles in Egypt, and by those, so quickly brought to a confusion, all the Learning, Policy, Sorcery, and Malice, of the Egyptians. And indeed, to go about to prove, that there is fidelity in the Lord of Heaven and Earth, towards his servants here below, would be altogether as impertinent, as to demonstrate water to be in the Sea, or light in the Sun: especially when he (that is the eternal Truth) has said it, that he is righteous, in all his ways, and faithful, in all his words and works.  
Our Moses is now to meet with men, and devils; but the Lord will enable him, as he promised, to withstand, and subdue all their malicious and magical oppositions.  
First Pharaoh, upon our Moses his coming to Court, and receiving his first summons, (instead of being obedient to the Lords commands, and giving the people their desired liberty to go and serve him) calls his Cabinet-Council about him, 
Exod. 5.  and by their politic advices, increaseth presently the Israelites Tasks, on purpose to inflame them to a mutiny, and make them murder those that came about to deliver them. 
Exod. 6.  But the Lord, who stills the roaring of the waves, and the madness of the people, is pleased quickly to pacify them, and make them comfortably to submit, to their barbarous burdens, and peaceably and patiently to expect the day of their desired Redemption.  
When this subtle piece of kingcraft, would not serve proud Pharaohs turn, and all his politic Junto, were at a stand, the Devil must be presently employed, and all the Magicians of the Land, sent for, that they, forsooth, may beard this great Ambassador of God, and vie with their diabolical enchantments, 
Exod. 7.  divine Miracles: So Moses could no sooner cast his Rod down upon the ground, to become a Serpent; but those devilish Sorceress, would do as much, though all theirs, were to be devoured by the Divine Rod. Nay, Rivers turned into blood, and producing of innumerable Frogs, could not outdo their cheating enchantments. But when the sacred Rod was to be stretched forth again, and the dust of the earth smitten into louse, 
Exod. 8.  then, Ars tua Typhe jacet, the Magicians are all at a gaze, there their Sorcery is quite confounded, and they are constrained to confess, that the Devil, their good Lord and Master, hath a power limited; for silly lice, of which man is naturally a creator, are 
Ibid v. 19  enough to confound these great Negromancers, and make them acknowledge, and adore the finger of God.  
Now, after all this, when malice, and Magic, could do no more, yet the Tyrant will be stiff still, till his Court and Kingdom too be infested, and invaded, with huge Armies of flies, whose grievous swarms, boldly stormed the Royal Chamber of Pharaoh; then he begun to be inclined to let the children of Israel go: but he had no sooner got from under the Rod, but he relapseth into his old disobedience, obstinacy, and hardness of heart, neither would he let the people go. Then followed the miraculous Murrain upon beasts, 
Exod. 9  with the plague of boiles, and blains, upon the more beastly, and brute men, with the most stupendious storm of fire, and water, mingled together, that ever the earth felt before or since, before Pharaoh would be brought to incline, to our Moses, and his people's request: But he had no sooner got once more a respite from those plagues, but he stood at a defiance with God Almighty again, and his Ambassador too. Then must millions of Locusts be sent for, to make his hard heart relent, which he did again soon, for a little time, 
Exod. 10  but returned presently to his insolence, and Tyranny. Then prodigious palpable darkness must be sent, a darkness thick enough to be felt; yet proud Pharaoh himself, had no feeling, longer than he remained under the importunity of the plague: still relapsing into his old obduration of heart, till the Lord was pleased, at midnight, to smite all the firstborn of the Land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, that sat on the Throne, to the firstborn of the captive lying in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. Then was the Tyrant throughly startled; he rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house, where there was not one dead.  
This was a blow indeed, that reached to the very heart of Pharaoh, and all his people; who now, 
Exod. 12.  with tears in their eyes, are turned from being Tyrants, to be suppliants, and do humbly beseech their Petitioners, to be masters of their own desires; nor only so, but offer to accommodate them for their journey, with all necessaries, lend them all their Jewels of Silver, and Jewels of Gold, and Raiment, and to give all such things as they required. O wonderful conversion! but yet Tantae molis erat, etc. So great difficulties had our great Patriarch Moses to encounter, before he could arrive to be a Captain-General. And now he has begun his most miraculous March, with a Pillar of a Cloud before him, for his Quita sol by day, and a Pillar of fire for his Torch by night; 
Exod. 14.  Yet Pharaoh will have another fling at him, and thinks now by force of arms, to destroy those abroad, whom he could not securely keep at home, in quiet bondage, by all his arts and policies: But behold the Prodigy of all Prodigies; The Red Sea is cut into a Royal highway, for the Israelites, and made a dreadful grave for the Egyptians: Those mighty waters stand all on heaps, and congeal themselves into walls, as it were of brass, for the defence, and safe passage, of the people of God; but dissolve themselves into liquid floods, for the overthrow of Pharaoh, and all his Chariots: who were no sooner entered, than overwhelmed; and so they sunk down as lead, in those mighty waters; as our great Moses himself expresseth it, in his Song of thanksgiving to God, for that stupendious Deliverance.  
I should be infinite, if I went about to relate, the Myriads of wonders, that our Moses showed afterwards in the Desert, in the conduct of this chosen Army; which quickly becoming faithless, and mutinous, yet by the prayers, and for the sake, of our most admirable Moses, was the Almighty pleased never to forsake them; but to feed them constantly with miracles, showering Quails upon them for flesh, and the Bread of Heaven for them to eat; and gave them continual Prodigies to drink, from the very first bitter waters at Marah, which he turned to be sweet, to the strange tapping of the Rock in Horeb. So happy are the people, who have the Lord for their God, and so dear and dutiful a servant of his, for their Leader, as this our first Moses was, and our second cannot but appear to be.  

The Parallel.  
I believe, truly, that there is no intelligent Person living, that looks upon this long Story, of our present Ascent, but would take the particulars of the children of Israel's Deliverance, to be throughout Typical of ours, and all the circumstances of effecting it by the first Moses, as plainly to apply themselves, to our glorious second. Can any say, that his late Highness has done less wonders for us, and our Deliverance, or found the Lord less assistant to him, in his miraculous undertake, than the former? If any such there be, we shall very easily convince them.  
True it is, we cannot say literally, that his Highness was enforced to bring so many miraculous plagues upon our Egyptians; but we all, as well the people of God, as their Taskmasters, lay under the perfect moral of all those plagues, before he, like another Hercules Alexicacus, did rise up in our Israel, and undertake, our so great and wonderful Delivery: and so we will now look upon him, marching in a perfect line Parallel, with all those very actions and singular circumstances; I say still in the moral, and will dare to equal him here too, with the former mighty Moses, even in those his most stupendious passages.  
And first we may see, how our second Moses, had no sooner cast his sacred Rod upon the ground, here in England, that is, did vote in open Parliament, to undertake so just and honourable a War, as that for the redemption of this people, out of their Captivity, then more than Egyptian, but the Magicians of England likewise, that is, the pretended Prelates, and their party, would endeavour to do the like, and, in effect, did so; for they turned their crooked Crosier's, into frery Serpents too, raising of men, and arms, to resist our Mosaical Reformation; but the sacred Rod, of our second Moses, as that of the former, has manifestly devoured all their bloody and serpentine endeavours. Nay, when rivers of blood, were made to run upon English ground, in our just defence, they would needs, likewise, by their Necromantic malice, make those Rivers to overflow with blood too, for the support of their Tyrannical and usurped power: which that they might the better do too, they would raise their swarms, and infinities of Frogs to follow them, I mean, those croaking and skipping Churchmen, that were the truest Trumpets of the War, whose Religion only was interest, and God their gain, so made it their business, to cover their pernicious prelatical designs, with the cloak of the Gospel, not caring, so they might, by preaching, infuse their malice into others, to become Castaways themselves; as the Apostle forwarns us of them, and our blessed Saviour too, terming them Wolves in Sheep's clothing. But yet, when our glorious second Moses, was pleased to stretch forth his Divine Rod again, and smite the dust of the earth into Lice (sit verbo venia) that is, when he raised from the dust of the earth, those poor, humble, selfdenying creatures, that were as much nothing in their own, as in the world's eye, I mean those incomparable Persons, as they have since proved themselves, whom he then new modelled into an Army; Then those, all the pretended Great ones, were at a gaze; their malice nor magic could do no more.  
But yet further, let us observe, and remember how poor We, suffered under the moral, of all those other plagues of Egypt too, until our sacred second Moses, undertook that mighty Work, has Terris & Templis avertere pests: Were we not oppressed in like manner, with those innumerable armies of Flies, those insolent animals, strange swarms of buzzing Courtiers, that were still begging of their easy Master, some private Boon, or other, to the prejudice of the Public, putting their fingers in every dish, and picking something out of every man's pocket, or property; and has not our second Moses delivered us likewise from all those? Then for the miraculous plague of Boils and Blains, had we not enough of those too, by the malice of our Monopolists, Projectors, and other Encroachers, upon the poor subject's liberties, and properties, which have been truly called in all Ages Vlcera Rei Publicae: the Ulcers and Imposthumes of the Commonwealth? And has not his Highness, our second Moses, his sacred Rod, that is, his Sword, most happily, and timely, lanced those sores, and given us a sure and perfect Cure? Then, as for those horrid storms of Hail, Thunder, and Fire mingled with water, of which the Earth never saw the like, as the Text tells us; What did they emblematize to us, but those dire ebullitions of Tyranny, over our Religions, liberties and properties, which went not only about to destroy our present fruits, but to take away all our Natural, and Eternal Rights in them? And has not our glorious second Moses, given us a blessed delivery from all that mischief too? Then for those millions of Locusts, that invaded the Land of Egypt; what legions of lewd Lawyers had we, that swarmed amongst us like to Caterpillars indeed, from the unjust Judge, to the sordid Advocate, and from him, to the meanest Clerk? a sort of men, that could accommodate their Laws, like a nose of wax, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, making the sacred Seat of Justice, itself, a stalking-horse to Tyranny; Law to countenance oppression, and Truth itself to lie? And has not our second Moses, pretty well delivered us from all those pettifogging plagues too? Then was there ever any more prodigious darkness, over the face of a whole Land? so gross an ignorance of Religion? all Divinity, forsooth, and saving knowledge, being bound up, and roosting itself in a pitiful, lazy, luxurious, Bishops Rotchet, as in its only Sanctuary; I am sure the whole light of the Gospel, was concealed under the ridiculous covering of their Canonical coats, as they call them, and we kept in more than Egyptian Darkness, till by the flaming Sword, of our second Moses, we were restored to that wonderful light, which we lately have, and do still enjoy, under his late Highness his, and his Princely sons, Government. Then, for the last plague of all, which was the smiting of the firstborn, what can be more parallel to it, than the savage cruelty, formerly exercised by the Court of Wards, over the heirs of all the Principal Houses of England? who were there doubly smitten, both in their persons, and estates; Their lands pillaged by every poleing Guardian, and themselves sold like slaves, or horses in a Market, and condemned to what is commonly worse than death, to a wife of another man's election. From all these Plagues, and Diabolical enchantments, has not our second Moses most happily freed us too? and, to crown all his glories, as the former Moses did, Has he not seen a Pharaoh and his Armies drenched in a Red Sea of their own blood?  
Now, how impossible it is to conceive, that all this could be brought about, without the miraculous assistance of the Almighty, they can best judge, who have been the witnesses of his great Actions, and know how remarkable his proceedings have been, from the very first undertaking of these Nation's Deliverance: For, first he began but with one poor single Troop, which how instantly grew into a Regiment, and that into an Army, and that Army to give Laws, as it were, to all the World, no man can believe, that has not seen it, or else been taught faith enough, to understand the Cloud, that Elias saw no bigger than a hand, which in a moment, overspread the whole heavens; or that Fountain of Mardochaeus, which, in the beginning, crept on with little noise, through the Meadows, and in an instant, turned into a great River, & that River into Light, & this Light into a Sun, and such a Sun which afforded both lustre, and water, to all the World. The plain truth is, that the accession of his Highness' Forces, as his successes, have been so miraculous, that they appear more like visions, than realities; and, as antiquity can find nothing in the like kind, (unless this precedent of our first Moses) for to equal them: so Posterity will be as much puzzled to believe them, as we shall see more at large, in our future Ascents, which treat of the invincible Valour, matchless Prudence, and incomparable Greatness of Military Conduct, in these two our Mosaical Masters.    

The ninth Ascent.  
MOses was most miserably disturbed, and injuriously persecuted, with the frequent misprizions, malicious repine, and ungrateful murmurings, of the common people: And, indeed, it is not a little wonderful, to observe, how our Patriarch, has no sooner escaped from the face of Pharaoh, and malice of his Magicians, but, he is brought to a terrible trial of his patience, with his own people: who find themselves, no sooner out of bondage, by his means, but they must presently set their tongues at liberty, to rail against their glorious Captain, and Deliverer.  
Now, first they begin their game, upon the sight of Pharaohs pursuit of them; flying upon him thus. Because there were no graves in Egypt, 
Eod. 14.1.  hast thou taken us away to die in the Wilderness? etc. Nor were they sooner delivered from that danger, being led dryfoot through the middle of the Ocean, which had swallowed up the fury of Pharaoh, and all his Host: but coming on the other side of the Sea, they must murmur again, 
Exod. 15.24.  against poor Moses, because the waters there, were something bitter, and so he was constrained to deal a double Miracle, the one to sweeten the waters, the other them; so the people were for the present pacified.  
Now their thirst was no sooner quenched, but they must be murmuring again, for want of bread, and upbraid their Redeemer, for their very Deliverance, telling him in plain terms, to his face, that he might have done well to have let them alone, when they sat by the fleshpots of Egypt, and did eat bread to their full, taxing him of a design, to starve them in the Wilderness. 
Exod. 16.3.  Then was bread most wonderfully reigned down from Heaven, to stop their mutinous mouths, and yet that most miraculous, and celestial food, could not content them; for at the very next turn, they must make as fierce an outcry for a little water. Nay, the Text tells us, that they were so insolent, as to chide with Moses for it, 
Exod. 17.2.  and the place was called Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel: Yet the Lord being pleased to appease so perverse a people, 
V. 7.  made Moses whom the murmured at, to bestow another miracle upon them, and to broach a Rock, to afford them drink.  
And yet after so many stupendious supplies of their wants, and more miraculous forbearances, to punish their repining spirits, the Devil of disobedience, and sedition, will not so be satisfied, but this rebellious people, must be still grumbling again against Moses, till the fire of Heaven, had almost consumed them all; 
Num. 11.  and yet at the importunity of good Moses, that all was no sooner quenched, but they must nauseat, and loath, the very bread of Heaven; and cry out, forsooth, for flesh. Nothing we know can satisfy irregular appetites, yet that lust of theirs must be satiated too, by such a shower of Quails, as never the earth saw, though there, that meat was made a mortal poison to the mutineers. Nay, yet, after all these fair warnings, so many miraculous supplies, and so much long-suffering of the Lords, and his servant Moses with them, they must pick a quarrel with him still; nay, go about to make a general revolt, and to depose him from his Charge, and all, forsooth, because they saw before them, the huge bugbear Giants of the sons of Anack: 
Num. 14.  for they said unto one another, We are brought hither, to fall by the Sword; Come let us choose another Captain, and let us return into Egypt.  
This was a dismal mutiny indeed, and for that, the Lord would have extirpated them all, but for the importunate prayer of our injured Moses: Though it was so contrary to his own interest too; for the Lord offered him, to make of himself a people, mightier, and a greater Nation, than they were: but the gracious Lord was so taken off from his vengeance, and our Clement Moses was content to continue the Charge, and still charitably to conduct so rebellious, and disobedient a people, though their many after mutinies, and base murmurings, drew more and more plagues upon them, as that of the terrible fiery Serpents, and divers others, too tedious now to relate, being called to hasten to our precious Parallel.  

The Parallel.  
No other treatment than this, can all good Princes, 
Jud. 8.  and Governors expect from the rude Populace, qui ipsam dominationem spernunt, & majestatem blasphemant, who are always addicted to despise Dominion, and blaspheme Majesty itself, as the Apostle tells us; They are never better pleased, then when they can, as Austin well expresseth it, in Principes petulantem ingenii sui libidinem procacitur exercere: 
August.  spend the lust of their petulant tongues upon their Princes. The same humour was not amiss remarked, by the acute Historian in his time, Loquax sane & ingeniosus, 
Tacitus.  in contumeliam Praefectorum, populus; inter quos qui vitaverit culpam, non effugit infamiam: The people, saith he, are naturally talkative, and love to show their little wits, in casting of contumelies against their Governors, none of whom, can carry themselves so well, as to be clear from blame, though they are free from fault: and the Philosopher gives some reason for it, 
Seneca.  Male de illis loquuntur Nequam homines, quia bene loqui nesciunt, faciunt non quod merentur illi, sed quod solent ipsi: wicked people, saith he, speak ill of their Princes, because they know not how to speak well; and so what they do, is according to their own custom, not the others deserving.  
Indeed, we full well know, that this great Beast, the people, is a monster of many heads, and those heads, have as many horns, to gore, and gall, their Governors. Since then this mischievous humour has prevailed in all Ages, and amongst all Nations, and is become now perfectly customary to the mad multitude, from whom, neither the Crowns of Kings, nor Mitres of the greatest Prelates, can be secure; Why should our second Moses, his late Highness, trouble himself more about it, than his great Pattern, and Prototype, the former Moses did? They both knew full well, that such wicked, illnatured, depraved, and perverse people, there would be still in the World, and that by God's especial permission too, for the exercise of his servants virtues. Vinegar is said to be very necessary, for the purifying, and polishing of some precious Stones, which have their fire (as it were) frozen over, and their lustre eclipsed, by some dark substance, or earthy interposition: So great spirits, aught to have some little touch or taste of Acerbities, to enlighten their valours, and illustrate all their other virtues: And so I doubt not, but that we shall without much difficulty, in this particular, accomplish our happy Parallel.  
Has our glorious second Moses been less injured by venomous tongues? less persecuted with the misprizions, repine, and malicious murmurings, of these mutinous Nations, than our first Moses has been, with his stiffnecked Israelites? Or, has his Highness showed less patience in bearing, or greater magnanimity in contemning those cursed contumelies, with which some Diabolical creatures have attempted to asperse his Divine virtues, than that his first Pattern or Prototype has done? No, his most Serene Highness, could never be disturbed with those petit clouds of vulgar ignominies, no more, than the Supreme Sphere of the celestial Bodies, can be moved, by any distempers here below.  
His Sacred Highness, likewise knew, that he had a greater example, than that of his Master Moses too, to follow, in that grand point of temper, towards his people, and that is the Almighty Lord of Heaven himself. Who has borne more injuries from the wicked mouths of men, than his Divine Majesty has done? insomuch, as old Tertullian tells us, 
Tertul.  That to bear an injury gallantly, is a true ray of the Divinity itself: and Cyprian, 
Cyprian: de patientia.  as elegantly as he, in his Treatise that he composed of patience, confirms to us, That this brave bearing of injuries, is not only the proper virtue of true Nobility, but a most glorious property of the Deity. Est nobis (saith he) cum Deo virtus communis, inde patientia incipit, inde Claritas ejus & dignitas caput sumit; So he is bold to make it not only to be the very Essence of God, but the Clarity, and Dignity of his Nature. And indeed, when we deeply consider, the great long-suffering of our good God, for so many Ages, how he has permitted to stand so many Temples of abominable Idols, that were erected to the very contempt of his holy Name, and in the defiance of his Power: How he has been pleased still to suffer days and times to circumvolve, rivers to glide, winds to blow, the Spring to put on a green, and the Autumn a saffron Robe, grapes and corn to ripen, the Elements to serve, and hold universal Nature in breath, to supply a thousand millions of Sacrifices, every day offered to Hell itself; How he has still continued to cast even flowers from Heaven, with a bountiful and free hand upon the audacious heads of his most contumacious enemies, who better deserved to have received so many strokes, of his angry Thunderbolts.  
So, when we consider, the great long animity, and patience, of our ever blessed Saviour, in bearing the cursed contumelies, and insolences of the perfidious Jews, which were so horrid, that total Nature itself groaned under them, the Sun could not behold them, but be eclipsed, nor the Stars attend, but in their sad and mourning weeds, and the whole frame of the Universe, suffer a most sharp convulsion, both above, and below his Cross; and yet he in the mean time, as unconcerned in his own sufferings, was pleased to remain upon it quietly, though bloodily affixed to it, and undisturbed as in a chair of State, without any the least emotion.  
Who would not now suffer himself to be carried away, with the study of this most glorious virtue, of Magnanimous longanimity, and suffering unworthy injuries? And sure, next to this un-imitable pattern of the Almighty's, which we have seen, that of our first great Master Moses, is most considerable, whose steps, in this too, our most pious second, has so clearly traced, that they may be more truly called the very same, than Parallel: Only here's the difference remaining,; our first Moses courageously and kindly suffered the reproaches, frequent murmurings, and mutinous distempers of a company, of poor, wandering and hungerstarved Jews, in a Desert; and our glorious second, has been ever graciously pleased to pass by the more malicious rail, and revile, of our own too high-fed, pampered, inebriated, brutish people.  
I should be infinite, to enumerate the infamous abusive libels, they have cast out against his goodness, with the particular Calumnies & disgraces, they have endeavoured to asperse his Highness' Serene Person and Government withal; and indeed the foulness of them, would slain through the cleanest language, that I could wrap them in, I shall therefore pass them by without reciting, as he has done without taking notice of, or revenging them: For he, just as the Royal Prophet David, did choose to bear those honourable wounds, which the envenomed tongues of such as Shimei, had thrown upon his reputation, and so was to mount to the Throne of Saul, by his steps of patience; witnessed in suffering Saul.  
So I will be bold to conclude, that his late Highness, like a perfect true man of honour, did no more trouble himself with those injurious dealings of the wicked World, and receiving those ill returns, from his most unfaithful, and unworthy backbiters, than does the Sun in the firmament, to behold the Clouds, which he himself had drawn, from the mire and fens of the earth, to make himself a Scarf of. He knew very well, that he should, as he could not choose, but for ever have the upper hand of them, and though they might darken his aspect something, for a time, and maliciously hinder themselves from the enjoyment of his most excellent virtues; yet they could never deprive him, of his proper light, or other sober, well-tempered, and more thankful souls, from receiving the favour of his better influences; as we shall continue to prove in the process of our succeeding Ascents, and happy Parallels    

The tenth Ascent.  
MOses was most malignantly looked upon likewise, 
Num. 16. Num. 12.  by some of the Elders themselves, and a dangerous head of Rebellion was made against him, by some of the Princes of the people; nay, he was assaulted nearer home, with an unnatural sedition in his own Family. So true it is, as the Psalmist tells us, Many are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver him out of all. Now is our Moses come to the Test, indeed; for, all that was said before, was but a mere flea-biting to this fiery trial.  
The plague of popular tongues, is indeed something tolerable; but the unkind conspiracies of Princes, and such as should be persons of honour, and have better understanding of their obligations, cannot but cut to the heart of any Captain-General: yet this very sad disaster, befell our glorious Patriarch, in the Rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abyram, 
Num. 16.  who rose up before Moses, with two hundred and fifty more Princes of the Assembly, famous in the Congregation, and men of Renown; and they gathered themselves together against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them; 
V. 2. V. 3.  Ye take too much upon you, seeing that all of the Congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is also amongst them; wherefore then do you lift up yourselves, above the Congregation of the Lord? This, when our dear Moses heard, he fell on his face, to show his great humility, and replied only, You take too much upon you, you sons of Levi; speaking only then to Korah, and his company; but when Dathan and Abiram were sent for, they tell him plainly, 
V. 12. V. 13.  that they will not come up to him, and expostulate the matter thus by message with him, Is it a small thing, that thou hast brought us up out of a Land, that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the Wilderness? but thou must altogether make thyself a Prince over us? Then Moses, to show his magnanimity, the Text says, was very wroth, and said unto the Lord, Respect not thou their offerings, etc. Here it is to be observed, that Korah was of the same Tribe with Moses too. Nay, 
Num. 12.  yet the Lord would bring a nearer trial to his dear servant Moses, & permit his own right hand, and only helper appointed to him by God, and one Brother in blood, to revolt against him, and join himself with a silly woman, to raise a sedition against him, in his own Family; but that business was quickly quashed by Moses his most Clement proceedings with them: by whose powerful intercessions to the Lord, Aaron escaped only with a bare rebuke, and Miriam was chastised with a Leprosy, for seven days. These must of necessity be very heart-breaking blows, to our poor Patriarch; but he that had an assured safe retreat in his own heart, and the sweet repose of a clear and a quiet conscience, is no more moved with those unkindnesses of kindred, and unfaithfulnesses of friends, than the firmament itself, and serene Empyrean heaven, used to be, with all the clatter, and combustion, fury, and confusion of the inferior Orbs.  

The Parallel.  
Of all the cruel unkindnesses in the World, there are none that pierce so to the quick, or are so deeply sensible to a Noble nature, as those which it receives from persons whom it has obliged.  
Indeed, we find that those ungrateful returns of injuries, for favours received, do bring astonishment even to the gates of Heaven itself; which caused the Almighty Father, to sigh out those lamentable complaints, by the mouth of the Prophet Hieremy: 
Hieremy.  How comes it to pass, that my beloved hath committed so many outrages, so many misdemeanours in my house? as much as to say, Have I then, O my beloved, lodged thee in my Temple, have I nourished and bred thee up from thy Cradle, with my Fatherly hand, and cherished thee in my bosom; now to betray my honour, and thus to defile the glory of my Altars? 
David.  So the Royal Prophet tells us, that he could have born any thing from an enemy, or a stranger; but from one that he trusted, or from an intimate familiar, and bosom-friend, to receive an injury, or unworthy return, was beyond his power to bear with patience: and the truth is, it were enough to stagger the greatest Saint: Yet this was our first Moses his miserable condition, as we have seen, and shall find it fully paralleled in our second.  
Now it is manifest, that it is our Heavenly Father's constant course, to put his children to the full proof and exercise of their virtues, to instruct them to the highest pitch, to be as near imitators, as they may be, of his own Divine virtues; who does nothing but good to ungrateful man, and receives nothing but ill from him; as we showed at large in our last Ascent. And such trials as those, are questionless very necessary for his servants; for it is undoubted, that his most practised servants, a very Moses himself, would putrify in long prosperities, as in a dead Sea, which produceth nothing: so that the Alwise God, out of great kindness, to his most dear servants, does sometimes strike such blows as these, that they, as Jonathan, may have their eyes still open, and suck in honey from the very end of the Rod, that scourgeth them, and in the severe chastisement of a father, find the consolation of true children. O what a goodly Theatre, is a good conscience! and what a beautiful Arcenal it is, to have the Arms of virtue still in a readiness, as our first and second Moses have had against all essays? whom no unkindness of unthankful friends, or conspiracies of ungracious enemies, could ever startle from their sweet, and serene repose.  
Now, that we may make good our Parallel, we must reflect a little upon the barbarous ingratitude, that his late Highness has met withal, from Persons of other obligations, and Princes too of our Assembly. And truly, who would not have thought, after so many wonderful Deliverances, by the hand of our second Moses, as we have seen, and the beating down of all open oppositions, to the destruction of the common enemy; but that our miseries should have had an end, and our glorious Captain-General some rest? But yet I must say, with a sigh, and to the eternal exprobration of some persons, late in power, that we found no other, but aliud ex alio malum, one mischief to follow upon the very heels of another. How many malignant parties of our own have gone about to disturb that happy peace, purchased with the price of so much blood? and no stone left unstirred, to throw us into a second, and a third, and (may be) into more confusions, and greater than the former, and that by some of our Elders too, as I have said, and Princes of the Assembly? Nay, our religious brethren of Scotland too, must be set on foot again by them, to make their Covenant a stalking-horse for Rebellion, and to renew a war in all probability, more cruentous and dangerous, than the former: But our most Renowned second Moses, being born upon the wings of that Providence, which never failed him, made a most happy, and quick dispatch, of that work; putting an end to all those Kirk enchantments, both here, and there, for the present, and I hope for ever. And yet after all this, that by the gracious providence of God, and his Highness' great care and prudence, all means of making head, and imbodying themselves again, was taken from them: I should be infinite to tell, how often those of that leven, have showed their venomous teeth, against his Highness, his happy, and most godly designs, to disturb him again, and our peace. Nay, some of those, that have had the greatest share in his Highness his Successes, I mean, some of those Elders, and Princes, of the Assembly, most ungrateful, undutiful persons, that durst with the Atlantes of old, shoot their malicious arrows against the Sun, and cast stones at him, that gave them bread: nay, some of them too, when they could not bow Heaven to their purposes, would endeavour to stir up Hell against him, confound elements, and mingle stars with the dust of the earth, to come to the end of their most exorbitant pretensions: But the Lord, who always took him to his most especial care, set him so far above theirs, and the Devil's malice, that hurt him they could not, though themselves they might, like the Basilisk, with the repercussion of their own poison: The faggot smokes only when it begins to burn, but when the flame has once got the upper hand, there will be then no smoke at all.  
Natural Philosophy informs us, that the Rainbow in the Heavens, is not easily to be formed at Noon, in the heats of Summer; because the Sun being then vigorous in his altitude, dissipates and wastes those Clouds: So our second Moses, being mounted, as he was, to the highest pitch of Heroic virtue, dispelled all opposition. Malice itself could neither find Bow nor Arrow to reach him; but burst itself with its own venomous intention: so did all calumny crack itself before the truth of his virtue, which darted resplendent flashes into all eyes. We know it's said of old, that felicitatis umbra invidia, There are no shadows without light, nor is there any envy without some gift of God. No man thinks it strange that Cantharideses should fix themselves upon Roses; it is certain, that vermin will not be satisfied, but with the fairest and the sweetest flowers. But that which seems most strange to me, and truly it is not a little admirable, that men heretofore so honoured for wisdom, and good affections to the Public, should run so stark mad with malice, as to go about so extravagant a business, as to swim against the stream with the silly frog, hoping to stop the flood, and constant current of the Rhodanus or Danubius; or with the foolish fly, soar up to Heaven, to fix her feet upon, and stay the course of the primum mobile: but by this time, I believe, they are all more amazed than bridled geese, and look as ghastly as dead men, four days after their Funerals, taken from their graves: and indeed, our second Moses, never made more reckoning of such as those, than of so many angry hens, that have indeed the eyes of dogs, but the hearts of hares. It would be an endless piece of work, to enumerate the infinite plots, conspiracies, treasons, and asassinats, contrived and practised upon his sacred Person; but he securely slept in the arms of the everwaking providence, and could not but be confident in spite of all the malice of men and Devils, but he that had so raised him to, would still preserve him in, his most illustrious state and condition.  
I shall only take leave to expostulate a little with those persons, and so conclude this Parallel. Are you not ashamed yet of your ingratitude, you children of the Scottish Belial? Had you had one drop of true English blood in your bodies, you would have been readier to spend that for him, than to take his from him. What, you would be all Kings? we remember indeed, too lately, that you were so; and you would have a perpetual seat in Parliament too, as you once thought you had got? and truly, it is great pity, but it were so again, especially being so good Patriots as you have been? I wonder truly, that then you did not vote yourselves to be immortal too. Let any temperate and knowing man in England now be Judge, whether when you sat so, with all your power and splendour about you, so loudly proclaiming yourselves such Magnifical members, you did not stink in the nostrils of all the people? Who generally looked upon you then, but as busy Apes upon a house top? and as a smoke in the socket of a greasy candlestick? 
Bern. lib. 1. de Consid. cap. 7.  for such (as the Learned Bernard tells us) are all dignified persons without merit: and so accordingly, his Highness' sacred wisdom, spied you out, and amongst the rest of his most incomparable Heroic Actions, which he has engraven with a Pen of Adamant, to consecrate to all Posterity, he then sent you out in your own snuff, the stench whereof, is not yet, nor will be, I believe, in the next Age, extinguished.  
Thus we see, the Moon may seem for a time to darken the Sun, when it is eclipsed; but yet she daily renders the tribute of her light: So all the malice in the World, that has made a show to darken his Highness for some time, cannot at all obscure, but must increase his praises, by its slanders, as it did advance his repose by its oppositions, and augment his Crowns by his humiliation. Nay, my Lord being of nothing so ambitious, as to be like his Great Master Moses, has traced the steps of that his great Archetype, to the very height of all charity, towards these his most violent, and undeserved adversaries, and all their Complices. Have we not seen him, like that his first Master, frequently prostrating himself at the foot of the Tabernacle, praying, and almost binding up the hands of God, to stay the course of his vengeance, against those that persecuted him even to the Tabernacle; nay, would take into himself likewise, a piece of Reverend Aaron for his Pattern, standing in the Majesty of his Priestly habit, with the Incensory and Sacrifice in hand, to appease the anger of God against his persecutors, when Heaven was all on fire over their heads, and the Earth became a devouring gulf under their feet, to swallow them up. Our most Renowned Lord Protector, could never be less than a Moses to them, though they did continue never so much to be a Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, unto him: So we shall proceed from those wretched injuries, he received from ungrateful men, to those Noble, Princely, and high exaltations, that he always found within his Mosaic self.    

The eleventh Ascent.  
MOses was a Person of a very high courage, himself, and every way accomplished with parts requisite to a good Soldier; and he was no less curious in the choice of those whom he was to receive to serve under him as soldiers. 
Exod. 2.11, 12.  For his own personal Courage it sufficiently appeared in his minority, when he slew an Egyptian, that was abusing of an Hebrew, one of his brethren: which was improved highly in his maturity, and was most visible, in his embracing so many difficulties; as his frequent confrontings of Pharaoh, and all the fury of the Egyptians, and overpassing all the perverse oppositions of his own people. He was no less choice in the election, and approbation, of such as were to be made soldiers; as is to be seen in the rule that he gave for those which were to go to war: ordering, that those which were to go out with the Host against the enemy, 
Deut. 23.9.  should keep themselves clear from all wickedness, nor so much as be stained with any uncleanness, etc.  

The Parallel.  
Nor less doubt can there be sure of the personal Valour, of our second Moses, who though he slew no man, that ever I could hear of, in any private quarrel, yet was known to be always ready to draw his Sword upon a good occasion.  
His Highness was never of the temper of those spirits, that upon the misconstruction of a word, or a cold countenance, must presently desire to see a man with his sword in his hand, and swear that they will evict reparation from him, sealed with his blood. No, it cannot be but an argument of a base spirit, and of ignoble extraction, to seek out occasions of quarrelling, and Duelling; for by that sure, they must have some design, to blot out some ignominy of their births, or other unworthiness. Heretofore truly, none but slaves, lackeys, butchers, gladiators, or such kind of fellows, did use that trade of Duels; but now forsooth, the opinion of some fools, will make it fit for Gentlemen: But our first, and second Moses, ever had such pitiful Hectors in extreme contempt, who go about by that means, to purchase glory out of vice, gain hell by their execrable carriage, and but acquire on earth, the qualities of a Clown. They have taught us, that we are not to make our selves like Fierabras, nor the Knight of the burning-sword, in matter of valour: and I dare aver, that if there were a hundred such like Rodomonts, brayed, and stamped to powder in a Mortar, they would not be able to make up one half ounce of true fortitude. Nay, I have seen some of those most importunate fellows, to fight Duels, when they come to bear arms in a good cause, where they ought to show true valour, and an undaunted resolution, they have been the first that have most desperately run away; they have passed over hills, without being sensible of the ascents, through woods, without seeing of a tree before them, and measured many miles without casting one look behind them; nay, sometime whole flocks of them together, that will run away like sheep, with the very appresion of a fear, that the noise of their own feet gives them.  
Our first and second Moses, were as little given to make discourses of their own Valour; Those who brave it most in words, are most commonly found most failing in performance. When Homer makes his bravest Captains to march, he gives them always silence for a guide; chose, he makes cowards to babble, and chatter like Cranes. The first pass along like great Rivers, letting their streams glide softly with a silent majesty; but the second keep a murmuring, and bubbling, like little Brooks: Indeed, the world is too full of these Rodomonts, now called Hector's, who are transported with odd, arrogant, and sudden furies, like Rabsheketh in Scripture, and yet will tremble at the Lancet of a Surgeon, and cry out for a little pain, more than a woman in Labour: in short, the true sign of not being valiant, is to strive to seem to be so.  
Our second Moses was known to be none of all this Swashbuckler brood, sprung from the race of Cadmus, derived from the teeth of Serpents; and yet never more ready to eat, than to fight, upon a good occasion, nay, a Duel out too, if there were a cause for it; that is, either in the Head of an Army, by public consent, against some Goliath, to defend the honour of his Nation, and so to end some notable War, and stay a greater effusion of blood: or else, if justly called to it, in his own, or any dear friends vindication; not upon some silly Chimaera of spirit, upon the interpretation of some ambiguous words, or, which is worse, for the love of some unchaste woman, who will not be otherwise propitiated, but with the sacrifice of humane blood. No, this is no part of our Mosaical courage: The men of this make, were always those that his Highness fought against, and proved upon them in the end, that, to be a true complete Christian Soldier, was not to become a braving Cyclops, without any feeling of God, or sense of Religion, but such a one as his Master Moses would have him to be, that goes into the field; that is, clear from all wickedness, and uncleanness: and so accordingly did our second Moses, always make his sacred choice of men. His inspired wisdom, knew full well, that none are fitter to go to War, than those, who had made their peace with God, nor can there be any more valorous, than he that has a true fear of the Lord before him: for first, such a man's soul is a Fort impregnable, which cannot be scaled with ladders, for it reacheth up to Heaven, nor be broken with batteries, for it is walled with brass, nor undermined by Pioners, for he is founded upon a rock, nor betrayed by treason, for faith itself has the keeping of it, nor be burnt with granadoes, for that can quench the fiery darts of the Devil, nor yet be forced by famine, for a good conscience is a continual feast.  
It was not for nothing then, that these two great souls of honour, our first and second Moses, would not only be so provided themselves, but have all that followed them, be so likewise, and to carry about them, the whole armour of St. Paul; for undoubtedly there is nothing so strong, nothing so invincible, and triumphant, as a valour, which marcheth bravely under the Rules of true Christian Religion: Whatsoever Mr. Machiavelli would persuade us, that Devotion and Piety, are the greatest weakners of courage, and warlike dispositions, and that honesty and virtue, do but expose a Prince to dangers; the truth of it is, of a Prince as he has proposed him, he has made little better, than a wild beast, and yet would persuade us, 'tis a man, and none I presume, will believe it, but such as carry their eyes in their heels.  
The brave Belizarius, sure was of another opinion, who was one of the most excellent Captains in the World, being to put some lewd soldiers to death, for some military crimes, declared his mind so freely to his Army, in these Terms, 
Procop. lib. 1. de Bello Vandal.  that Procopius recites: Know ye (saith he) that I am come to fight with the arms of Religion, and Justice, without which, we can expect neither Victory nor Happiness; I desire my Soldiers should have their hands clean to kill an enemy. Never will I suffer any man in my Army, that hath fingers crooked or bloody, were he in arms as terrible, as lightning: force is of no worth, if it have not equity and conscience for companions. This now, methinks, was spoken like a Soldier indeed, like the very spirit of our Moses.  
And this is most certain, that no man can lose his courage, but he that never had it, and no man can have it, if that he beg it not of the true Lord of Hosts. Where is light to be sought for, but from the Sun? or water, but in Rivers? and heat, but in Fire? and where think you to find true Strength, but in the God of the strong? I mean, not that strength of body, that Milo had to carry a heavy beast, but the strength of soul and courage, to carry a man through all extremities; which hath its root in reason, its increase in piety, and its Crown in true glory: and this courage our second Moses had to the full, and that I hope, there is no man but will grant, is so far from being lessened, that it is only heightened by Religion, and godliness. His sacred Highness therefore chose for his Companions in arms, none of those roaring, ranting fellows, that think there is no way to be esteemed valiant, but to dare to be impious, to make the pillars of heaven, to tremble with their blasphemies, and have nothing of soldiers in them, but to pill, and ravage, in their Quarters, like Harpies, and to feed themselves with humane blood; and in a word, have but this one shame left to them, that is, not to be shameless. What a ridiculous thing is it, in the mean time, for people to live like Cyclopes, that they may be accounted valiant, and act the part of Turks, to gain the reputation of good Christian soldiers? But here his Highness his pious wisdom, most eminently, after the example of his Great Master Moses, has ever showed itself, and made us to know such persons well enough: his inspired judgement, could never be subject to so much fallacy, as to take chaff for Gold, hemlock for Parsley, or an Ape for a Man; and he has plainly taught, and proved to us, that all their pretended courage, is nothing else but despair and rage, boiling in their passionate breasts, and counterfeiting virtue. So I hope we shall have no more such false spectacles clapped over our eyes, by that spirit of lies forged in the shop of Hell, to make us take that glass for Diamond, and those Kestrells for Falcons; indeed, fitter for Stallions, than Warhorses; all their courage is nothing but a boiling fury in their hearts, like to that of some Lunatics, or possessed with an evil spirit, which makes very children, and women, to be sometimes stronger, than many men; But such as these, were none of our second Moses his election; for he being to go on God Almighty's errand, would have no associates, but such as the Lord should approve of, and were free from all manner of uncleanness, as that Great Master of War, and his incomparable Precedent, both prescribed, and practised.    

The twelfth Ascent.  
MOses was well entered into years, but retained a strong sense still and understanding, before he was called out upon Public Employment; he was a most vigilant, faithful, and skilful Officer in the field: For his age, we find it was not overgreat, considering how men lived about that time, but his vigour was very extraordinary; for the Text tells us, that he was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, 
Deut. 34.7.  yet his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Now by all the computations of Chronologers, he was above fourscore years old, when he was called out upon this great Action, of Delivering the Lords own people out of bondage, and by consequence, he must have been then, of a much more vigorous constitution, than afterwards: For his vigilancy, there is none sure will doubt, 
Exod. Levit.  that pleaseth to peruse the sacred Text, where he is to be found always watching, and praying for his people, and either pleading something for them to God, or for God to them; for his care and fidelity, the Lords own acknowledgement likewise may serve turn, who has expressly testified of him, 
Num. 12.7.  that he was faithful in all his house.  

The Parallel.  
By equal calculation of our Modern Naturalists, as well as Chronologers, we do find, that God indulged double the life to men, before the Flood, to that he has done since the very next Age after; and yet to them too, vouchsafed twice so much time of living, as he has done to us: So that if those great Secretaries of Nature, and Antiquity do not deceive us, our second Moses, his forty years and upwards, may appear parallel to the former's fourscore, at, or about, which times, they both were pressed forth into Public employment. By which we may observe, How the Lord is pleased to honour a well-seasoned age; for, as the late Learned Philosopher tells us, 
Fred. de Marsel.  Prudentiae mater, & adjutrix est experientia, quam aetate provectiores, multorum observato curriculo temporum, negotiorum, exemplorum, comprobatam magis habere possunt: quip quam dies dat, qui ut posterior prioris fit discipulus, & seris venit usus ab annis. The Mother and Nurse of Prudence, is experience, which the more ancient, by the observation of a larger course of times, practices of businesses, and precedents, must of necessity, have in a greater proportion; This skill, days, are commonly the Donors of; for we find the following day is still the Scholar of the former, and as the Poet tells us, True experience is not got without process of time. Thus we find the best incense always comes from old Trees, and Torches, made of Aromatic wood, cast out their best, and most odoriferous exhalations, when they are almost wasted. O that I had never said that word, my tongue falters to speak, my pen is palsie-strook to write, and my heart trembles to think, that our second Moses, his days were so soon to have an end; for we had no temporal good thing more to pray for, in order to the State, or ourselves, but that the blessedness we enjoyed under his late Highness, might be eternal, and that we might perpetually live and flourish under the comfortable and pleasant shadow of his Palms; but we have too lately seen, that he, as a Moses, is gone as he came, and left us nothing, but our own peace, and his precious memory behind him. But I must pass by this passion, lest it make me guilty of too great a digression, it being a discourse more proper for the close of our Parallels. And indeed, however we find our second Moses Parallel to the first for number of years, That I cannot so certainly determine, as I can for the vigour of his soul, and acuteness of his sense, no one of which, to the very last Scene of his life, was any whit dulled or diminished, more than the eye of his Great Master Moses was; an extraordinary blessing doubtless, vouchsafed by the Divine goodness, to his dear servants, to get youth by years, and beauty itself by time; as we have seen perfectly proved, in the person of his late most Serene Highness, our second Moses, as has been recorded of that our first Great Patriarch his Prototype.  
Then for his great diligence, fidelity, care, and skill, in discharging all Trusts committed to his Charge, no man can at all dispute, that has either seen, or heard, of the indefatigable labours of his Life. His Highness knew that idleness was a mere moth of Noble minds, and iron itself sure, if it had the reason to discourse, understanding to choose its one commodity, would cry out to us, that it better loved to be kept in constant use, and exercise, than to lie rusting, and consuming in the corner of a horse: Wherefore we see, that God does not ordinarily entertain great souls, in the pleasures of an idle life, but in the rigid exercises of virtue; for we know that there are many most excellent fishes that will die in standing waters, and are delighted in the most bubbling sluices, and turbulent seas, and rivers; and the best birds, will always be abroad in the most troubled air. Our glorious Eagle therefore, was always seeking out for action, and never to be found lazing, or beating of his wings in the lower Regiment of the air, but soaring always aloft, amongst the furies of Lightnings, Tempests, and Whirlwinds, playing with Thunderclaps and ever having his eye, where the day was to break. His painful vigilancies were so great in Court, as well as Camp, City, and Field, that we may say of him, as was once of the Great Constantine, 
Plin.  Tam assiduus in actione sua constitit, ut vel labore refici ac reparari videretur, He was so conversant in action, that it seemed to be nothing, but his continual recreation, Gaudent siquidem, saith the same Author, divina perpetuo motu, & jugi agitatione se vegetat aeternitas, His constitution was so strenuous, that it must needs have been akin, to those celestial bodies, that refresh themselves with their own motion, and perpetual agitation. So true it is, 
Seneca.  what Seneca tells us, Contempta res est home, nisi supra humana se erexit; A man is a very pitiful, vile, and contemptible thing, unless he be ambitious to raise himself above all the ordinary courses of the World: but that saying is to be verified in no sort of men so much, as the Noble Soldier, whose honour depending upon the most superlative degree of virtue, must seek out, and pursue, ways beyond all equality: and such a person, is sure of attaining his end; for Polyaenus has assured him, 
Polyaenus.  that Voluntas ad laborem propensa cuncta vincere & superare consuevit, A propense will, or a soul prone to labour, has been ever wont to conquer, and overcome all difficulties. And Appian gives the like encouragement, 
Appian. de bell. Hispan.  when he proclaims, Nihil tam arduum quod industria & animi fortitudine superari non possit; Nothing so high, or hard, but is to be compassed and overcome by industry, and a willing valiant mind: What these, and all the Philosophers, Poets, Orators, or Historians, have said, or could prescribe, his late most Serene Highness, has always fully understood, and most perfectly practised, as no one of the Army that has served under him, but must bear him witness; how present he would be upon all Guards and Watches, as if he were ubiquitary; how incessant in all his Actions, and Labours, as if he were impassable; how always taking order for, and moving about his body, as if he were immortal. Indeed, this laborious virtue, which is no small one in an officer, his Highness was more Master of, than any that I ever heard, or read of: If any Work were to be raised, his hand must be in it first, if any duty to be done, his precedent must be still the foremost; so by rare skill mingling the Captain, and the common Soldier together, he did both intend the diligence of others, from whom he might, though not so effectually, have exacted it; and ease the burden of their labour, by making himself a companion and partaker of their pains and travel: But of this, and his other great pieces of Conduct, we shall say more in our next Ascent, where we shall represent him a most complete Captain-General.    

The thirteenth Ascent.  
WE have found our Moses a most valiant and virtuous Soldier, and a most vigilant, skilful, and careful Officer; but that he might be all, and yet not fit to command in Chief, and a shepherd, is not very likely to make a great General; fitter he must be sure in the opinion of most, to lead his flocks, than to conduct an Army of men: Yes, we shall find him a most glorious and accomplished Captain-General, 
Exod. 3. etc. Levit. Num. ●eut. Num. 11.12.  otherwise he would never have been selected sure by the Divine Wisdom, to conduct, and command, so great and troublesome a body, as that of the most mutinous, perverse, and rebellious people in the World, and to carry them in his bosom, as a Nurse beareth her sucking child; or if there could be yet any danger of doubt in any of this, I would refer that doubting person, to the whole current of holy Scripture, where he shall find by the exact discipline observed in his Army, the ordering of his several Marching, and Encamp; the Election of his ablest Officers, as well as Soldiers, and the fight of his Battles, his extraordinary and incomparable skill in Military Conduct.  

The Parallel.  
Good Soldiers get honour to their Captains and Officers, and all together being gallant men, must of necessity, make a glorious General. It highly concerns him therefore, who is to Command in Chief, to let his prime and principal care be placed in the Election of his inferior officers, as our first and second Moses have so exemplarily done; for this is the first step of all Military Conduct, wherein I am sure, he has outdone all the Generals that ever were before him, unless this, to which he is so parallel. Is it not plain, that his Highness found such horrid abuses in all the former Armies, that he was fain to new model this, to bring about those his great, and mighty works, that he has done? And what sort of Officers were they that he chose, and instruments that his inspired wisdom picked out, and fitted for his purpose? even such as his Soldiers were, before spoken of, men of clean hands, and purer hearts, that were to fight the Lords Battles. He rejected ever those gay gaudy outsides of the world, those petit spirits of the Abyss, before spoken of, sprung from the race of Cadmus; I mean those silly fencing fellows, swaggering swashbucklers, and Hector's aforesaid, who appear like Comets of fire and blood, to bring murder, pestilence, and poison, into houses; who (as I said) make the Pillars of Heaven to tremble with their blasphemies, & have nothing else of soldiers in them, but to pill and ravage in their Quarters like Harpies, and feed themselves with humane blood, who are ever readier to show their valour, for a cold countenance, an extravagant word, or a Caprichio of spirit, than they would either be, for God, their Country, or the whole World. A most wretched and abominable sort of men, that never think of, or look up to Heaven, but to blaspheme it; indeed, more like Centaurs, than men, and have their hearts all spotted over like the skin of a Panther. No, these were the pitiful things, as we have said before, that his Highness always fought against, and proved in the end, that to be a true complete Christian Captain, or Soldier was not to become a mere Cyplop, without any feeling of God, or sense of Religion, and that the Lord who has pulled down the mighty from their Seats, and does exalt the humble and meek, will always bless the endeavours of such as those. Poverty therefore may be said to resemble the Isle of Ithaca, which (as Archesilas tells us, though rough and bushy, failed not to breed the bravest men of Greece; and has not our great Ulysses proved the same in England? and herein his Highness has not only showed, an especial piece of his incomparable Conduct; but proved himself to be likewise full of the Divine wisdom, which hides always its most precious Treasures under the bark, and mantle of persons, base, and abject in appearance, as we read in Scripture, Quae stulta sunt mundi elegit Deus, God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise: 
1 Cor. 1.  For simple Fishermen, almost as dumb and mute as the very fishes themselves, are set apart, and chosen to catch in their Nets Philosophers, Kings, Cities, Provinces, and Empires: and thus in the old Law, the Master Statesman, and Captain of the World, our Patriarch Moses, being but a poor stammering Shepherd in show, is chosen out to carry the Word, to a most puissant Monarch, to shake and to overturn with a poor wand, the Pillars of his Empire, to divide Seas, to calm Billows, to open the bowels of Rocks, to command all the Elements, and fill the World with wonders. So did he make a like Election of his Officers, and Soldiers, and do the works of Giants, with the reputed Pigmies of the world: I hope I have not hitherto undeservedly brought him for my late Lord Protectors pattern, d Indeed, this is the ordinary custom of Almighty God, to keep his richest Pearls in shells, and most precious perfumes in poor boxes.  
Men of this World, we know, do quite contrary, as we saw manifestly proved by the other party, where moved the old Magadepies of the Church, and Butterflies of the Court, with some other great things, called Lords, who because they had (it may be) a gallant valiant man forsooth, for the Grandfather, thought that they might, very securely, be Cowards, so spending still upon the stock of their great Antecessors (though to be doubted, whether they were lawfully begot, or not) ruined their own selves. These pretty gaudy things, lived in the world just like Snails, keeping their glorious houses over their heads, and in their grave Majestic courses, (almost as slow as theirs too) made very fine long silver traces, but were nothing else indeed within, but mere froth. They had always their backs like Cushions, covered with Velvet, Satin, and what not, but their inwards we see, were nothing but hay, or straw. They made a glorious ostent of leaves to the World, and a fair verdure, like an overgrown wood; but are within replenished with nothing but Serpents.  
These persons sure, having nothing at all praiseworthy in them, would dignify their persons with apparel, showing us plainly, that they had like Peacocks, little heads, less brains, beautiful feathers, and a long tail; which yet it seems, by their strutting about the streets, are none clipped short enough, with some of them, though in good time, I doubt not but they will be. So I pass from these pitiful nothings, (whom his Highness, inspired prudence, and skilful conduct, would never admit to serve under his Ensigns) to some other more worthy piece of his Mosaical Conduct, and the next shall be the exact Discipline our second Moses always observed, which is indeed, the very soul of an Army, and without which, they would march, as the Historian tells us, Multi homines, pauci viri, Many bodies, but a few men, or indeed, more like Savages, than Christians. From the neglect of this it is, that we have seen in time of War, so many Cannibals in arms, that cast nothing but fire, and blood from their throats, Menaces always marching before them into Quarters, and ruin and desolation bringing up the Rear: Barbarous villains, that think because they have a sword by their side, they are therefore to be Masters of the lives, and estates of other men. It is most certain, great courage is necessary to make a true Martial Discipline be observed; but yet it is to be done, as we see in this very Army of our late Lord Protector, that he has left behind him, to be in truth, a mirror of Armies, and never yet was equalled, no not by that which Alexander Severus commanded, as Lampridius relates, 
Lamprid.  all whose soldiers, marched to the Persian War like Senators, and the Country Peasants loved them as their Brothers, and honoured their Emperor, as a god: 
Marcus Scaurus.  Nor yet by that which Marcus Scaurus writes of, whose Regiments encamped round about a great Tree laden with fruit, and yet the soldiers were kept in such order, as not to dare, though they were to depart the next morning, to take one apple from the Master of the place. In this very manner, did our glorious second Moses always conduct his men, 
Vopisc. in Aurel.  giving them that Admirable Lesson, which the most pious Emperor Aurelian gave to some of his Officers: My friends, said he, if you will be Captains, nay, if you will live, contain your soldiers in their duties: I will not that a Peasant so much as complain, that he has been wronged in the value of a chicken, nor that any has taken a grape from his Vine, without his permission. I will have an account of every grain of salt, or drop of oil, unjustly exacted. I desire my soldiers should grow rich with the spoils of enemies, and not by the tears of my Subjects. I would have them carry their riches on their swords, not into their Huts, or Cabins. I would have them chaste in the houses of their Hosts, and not any the least quarrel or disorder heard of amongst them, etc. If Heathens could teach us such Lessons of civil deportment in arms, what a shame is it then for some Christians, to march as we see them do, more like Scythians and Arabians? and that men who are made we know, for the support of men, and who are not strong, but for the defence of the feeble, should be more pernicious one to another, than Wolves and Bears, nay, than fire, hail, serpents, inundations, and famines? By this means it is, that warfare, otherwise a most honourable profession, is made a detestable trade, and the Commanders of those unruly Armies, are likely the first that suffer by them, themselves, and all the countenancers of such debauched doings, must find the cup of Divine anger mingled with gall, and the poison, of Dragons poured forth upon their guilty heads.  
All this his late most Serene Highness, always abhorred, and prevented; for which reason it was sure, that all the hearts of the poor people, of this Nation, which so much sighed under the former miscarriages of our Civil War, being indeed reduced, to almost a perishing condition, by the ill conduct of former Captains, freely bloomed, and newly opened themselves, as Roses, at the benign, gentle, and yet severe brave aspect, of this incomparable person, our second Moses, when he came into general Command; for which reason it was sure, that God so blest him in all his Battles▪ Assault, and warlike Enterprises, that he was successful in them all; for Plunderers we know, never fight well, and besides, 'tis certain, that the just God ties a secret virtue to those Standards which march for his glory, and are not besmeared with the blood of innocents'.  

Cic pro leg. Manil.  But I must hasten to accomplish our Captain-General, and, as Tully tells us, In summo Imperatore quatuor hae virtutes inesse debent, scientia rei militaris, virtus, Authoritas, & felicitas, There are requisite to a General, these four qualities, To have knowledge of the soldier's trade, To be valiant, To have his Army in good awe, And to be always followed with good success; of the three first requisites, we have sufficiently discoursed already, so the last only remains to be produced, for the accomplishment of our second Moses, in his glorious Captain-General-ship: or else if we look upon the four most remarkable properties in Julius Caesar, who was the Phoenix of all warlike Princes in those Ages, we shall find them all improved to the highest pitch, in this our late Great Protector: Labour in negotio, fortitudo in periculo, industria in agendo, celeritas in conficiendo, Labour about business, invincible valour in point of danger, a thorough industry in all actions, and a quick dispatch in all expeditions: there remains none but the last of these four Caesarean properties, unapplyed to our happy Parallel; So I shall endeavour to celebrate those his glorious dispatches, and successes, in our next most sublime Ascent and Parallel, that may concern his Highness, in any of his warlike Relations.    

The fourteenth Ascent.  
MOses was by the extraordinary indulgence and favour of Heaven, attended with a glorious felicity, in all his undertake. All his Actions were Crowned with success, and his Battles with Victory: All which is sufficently cleared, by the sacred Text, 
Exod. 14.  in his miraculous Deliverance of the Israelites, and overthrow of the Egyptians, the discomfiting of the Amalekits, 
Num. 21.  and defeating of King Arad, and his Canaanites, with Sihon King of the Amorits, 
Deut. 2. & 3.  and Og the King of Bashan, and Conquering in one pitched Battle, five Kings of Midian. 
Num. 31.  So true likewise is that piece of Apocrypha, which tells us: And Moses the beloved of God and men, brought he forth, 
Eccles. 45.1, 2, 3.  whose remembrance is blessed; he made him like to the glorious Saints, and magnified him by the fear of his enemies; by his words he caused the wonders to cease, and he made him glorious in the sight of Kings, etc.  

The Parallel.  
Though it be very true, 
Dio. Halicar. lib. 1.  what Dionysius Halicarnasseus tells us, that Virtus est felicitatis mensura, non fortuna, Virtue is the ell by which we are to measure felicity, not fortune: and what Paterculus affirms of Mithridates, that he was Vir virtute eximius, aliquando fortunâ, 
Patere.  semper animo maximus: So every virtuous and valiant spirit, though not always great by the favour of fortune, yet must be so in his own courage; for to judge things only by event, is to turn the wrong end of the book upwards. Yet it is as true, what the judicious Orator assures us, 
Plin.  that Exercituum Imperatores, nisi prospero, & Martiali quodam astro nati, frrustra fortes strenuique sunt, frustra virtute bellicá instructi; Generals of Armies, if not born under some happy, and martial Constellation, do exercise their virtue and skill in Military matters, to little or no purpose; Et de unius fato ducis, militum victoria persaepe pendet; The Valour and Victory of Soldiers, is sometimes lost by an unlucky Captain.  
It has been therefore the practice of most Princes, to adopt into their chiefest Commands, only such as have been successful Captains, and have received no foil at all from fortune. Now the greatest favourite of fortune, or properly speaking, the dearest Darling of Divine Providence, that ever the Christian World produced, was this most excellent person, his late most Serene Highness. His successes were so constant, that we may say, he had struck a nail in Fortune's wheel, that she should never be able to turn it again. He has not only that Lady for his Guide, as some have boasted to have her, or his companion, as others; but the Lord made for him a footstool of Fortune, and gave him Victory for his Handmaid: and as the same Orator says of Constantine the Great, Nusquam pedem suum extulit, quin ubique eum gloria quasi umbra comitata, sit; He never set his foot forth of doors, but glory attended him as his shadow; and what was said of the Great Alexander, likewise might more truly be verified in him, Quod plures prope victoriam reportârit quam pugnas inierit, plures urbes ceperit, quam obsederit, plures hostes fuderit, quam noverit: He gained more Victories than he fought Battles, he reduced more Cities, than he beleaguered, and routed more enemies, than he ever met withal. But now here, before I proceed any further, I must be bold to make a stand, and sadly intermix the water of my eyes, with my sorrowful ink, and with a mourning pen, deplore the madness of those men, who engaged us in our late unnatural Wars. Ah poor England, Paradise of the Earth, Eye of the World, Pearl of all Beauties, How many times by the means of those infernal spirits, hast thou seen thy fruitful bosom, heretofore Crowned with ears of Corn, and Guilded with Harvests, all bristled over with Batalias? How many times hast thou seen, thy land covered with Swords, and thy Seas with Ships? How may times hast thou felt the arms of thy children encountering within thy proper entrails? How many times hast thou seen flames of brother's hostility flying through thy fat and fragrant fields? when hast thou not sweat in all the parts of thy beautiful body? when have not rivers of blood been drawn from thy veins, and such blood as would have cemented the best Bulwarks for thy defence against all foreign enemies whatsoever, and if well employed, had made the great Enemy of Christendom, the Turk, ere this to tremble at thy Standards, and have replanted again, the plains of Palestine? But all has been sacrificed to Furies: But I forbear, lest that I lose myself in my provoked Passion; and indeed, I would willingly pass over this discourse with silence, as over coals covered with ashes, were it not, that as it was fit to expose massacred bodies to view, thereby to cure the madness of the Milesian Maids, so we are bound to discover the bloody effects of this unnatural war, to raise a horror in all good souls, against the unhappy causes of it. And yet truly, we have no little reason to rejoice in those very sufferings, & congratulate with ourselves, the bloodshed itself of those barbarous Wars, if we could at no cheaper rate, have acquired the enjoyment of those most inestimable blessings, and benefits, which we have since received; and above all the rest, the sovereign influence of that most precious person, our late Lord Protector, and second Moses.  
Thrice blessed England, in such a purchase, though with so much cost and pains. O happy voice of Thunder, which made this Hind bring forth so glorious a birth, after so many terrible throws, and such direful agitations of many years. And for the happy close of all this, we may again remark another piece of Heavens especial Providence, and quiet all the distempers of our souls, with an humble acknowledgement of that mercy, and submission to the Divine Justice, which in short, amounts to this. When the Lord is pleased to purge a Kingdom, or Nation, defiled with sin, he chooseth always a people more righteous and religious than they were, it being forever most just, and reasonable, that they should enjoy their goods, who will have no share in their vices. So our Moses, and his Israelites, pillaged and overthrew the wicked Egyptians; So Arbaces vanquished the debauched Sardanapalus; 
Salvian.  So Alexander conquered the effeminate Persians; And so the Goths gained the Empire of Rome, as holy Salvian, more at large illustrates: So to return to our late great Generals successes, and dispatches, which as it is notorious, have been so stupendous, that the present spectators of them, did take them, as aforesaid, more for visions, than realities. The celerity of his Expeditions was so great, a virtue so much commended in Julius Caesar, that he always as far outwent his veni, vidi, vici, as ever he did, the Cunctator Fabius. Jebu, a man of an active spirit, was employed against the house of Ahab, to bring it to a quick confusion; for God Almighty, when he means to shave clear, always chooseth a Razor with a sharp edge, and never sends a slug upon a message that requires haste; So our great Oliver, we see when he came into General command, dispatched more work in one year, than all the Armies of England, had done in three, or four, before.  
This it was to have one of the Lords own election to command over us, and so much according to his own heart, that we see he has constantly tied, as aforesaid, a secret virtue to his Standards, making winds and tempests, to fight under his Ensigns, opening for him lands inaccessible, calming stormy Seas, making him with petit handfuls of men, to discomfit huge Royal Armies, to take in Towns impregnable, cleave Rocks, and hew through Mountains; nay, to do the works of Giants, as aforesaid, with the reputed Pigmies of the World, and find facility in all that humane reason conceived impossible; So that we may count more Victories of his, than Encounters, his Palms being perpetually verdant as well in the frozen ice of Winter, as in the scorching heats of Summer. Nor was England alone the Scene of his great Actions, but the very mists and fogs of Scotland, as well as the woods and bogs of Ireland, will all come in to attest his glories; for the barrenness of the one, nor the barbarism of the other, could set a period to his proceedings, or give a foil to his fortune.  
Now to sum up all his Soldierlike Excellencies; (for I must hasten out of this large Field, lest I be lost in't) if we may by the most eminent qualities of inferior creatures, be capable to conceive his matchless perfections. The most exquisite character of a complete Captain, or Man at Arms, is by several Authors delivered to us thus; That is one, who has the assault of the wild Bull, the defence of the wild Boar, the flight of the Wolf, the courage of a Lion, and the craft of a Fox: This strange composition, his Highness had to its highest perfection, as he has been sufficiently seen in all postures; but above all, what a spectacle it was, sometimes to behold him in his Lion-like posture, and almost covered over with blood and dust, amongst the ranks of his affrighted men, and performing both the office of a great Captain, and most Courageous Soldier, and so by that means, restoring a Day in danger to be lost. Then sometimes again, to see him, leading his well Disciplined Army, into enemy's Quarters, and by his mere Conduct, conquering vast Armies, and reducing their strongest Garrisons, without one drop of blood; and such dry Victories, were always his dearest delight: as indeed they are always most honourable. Ingens victoriae decus, citra domesticum sanguinem bellanti, saith Tacitus, The greatest glory of a Victory, is that which a Captain gains by the least expense of homebred blood: And this was his Highness his constant study to do; nay, his endeavour likewise was, to save as much as he could of his very enemy's blood. He never sought to purchase fame, by such a cruel vanity, as Pompey the Great did, who building a Temple to Minerva, caused to be engraven over the Gate of it, how he had taken, routed, and slain, two millions one hundred fourscore and three thousand men; pillaged, and sunk, eight hundred forty six Ships: made desolate one thousand five hundred thirty eight Cities, and Towns. If this be the way to glory, his late Highness sure has steered a clean contrary course; for he has written, and engraven by his Actions, on the Gate of the Temple of Eternity, the Men, Ships, Cities, and Towns, that he has preserved. Haec divina potentia est, gregatim, & publicè servare, 
Senec. de Clem. l. 1. c. 26.  saith the most excellent Seneca; It is a piece of Divine power, to save publicly, and by Troops. By the other way, it may be, his Highness might have rendered himself more remarkable and terrible, like a dreadful Comet, by the ruin of the World; but our glorious Protector, knew, nothing could be so honourable as to save: So we never saw his Highness put up his sword, but his anger too, ever holding with Nicetus, 
Nicetus.  that Naturae injuriam facit, & humanitatis legem violate, qui ultra victoriam, iracundiae indulget: He offers an injury to nature, and violates a law of common humanity, that can continue his anger after a Victory: Nay, I'll be bold to add, that it is a most unpolitick proceeding likewise; for which his Highness only may be sufficient witness, who after his most bloody Battles, always Conquered as much with sweetness, as he had done before with the Sword: which has been, under God, the most happy cause, that after so fierce and quick a War, we have not scarce a footsteep to be seen of it, not a Town fired, and very hardly now, a man mist: our cattle as plentiful as ever, our fields no less fertile, and fragrant; nor yet our hillocks are less filled with ears of corn, all which we must needs attribute, to his Highness his pious preservation, in whose power it was, for our ingratitude, to have thrown all into a deserved desolation: by which means, he has built himself a Monument in the hearts of all honest people, in which he will live more honourable a thousand times, and so be represented to after-ages, than all the greatest Monarches of Egypt, in their rich Marbles, Pyramids, and Obelisks. Thus craving pardon for our too long insisting upon these Military excellencies, of our two great Generals, our first and second Moses, I shall hasten in our succeeding discourse to give the World some taste likewise of their most extraordinary State perfections.    

The fifteenth Ascent.  
MOses was a most absolute great Statesman, a perfect Master of the Politic Science; which, though it may be sufficiently argued, by all the advantages which he had of breeding within the Tropics of Pharaohs Court; 
Exod. 2.  so must of necessity have sucked in the very quintessence of all State influences, as also being trained up in all the Learning of the Egyptians, 
Acts 7.12.  than the most knowing people in the World, as we have already seen: Yet, is made more clear, by the Lords own designation of him, to the Civil, 
Exod. Levit. Num. Deut.  as well as Military Government, of his people, by his prudent managery of Affairs, and by the most excellent Laws and Ordinances that he made for their Government, in peace as well as war; which proves irrefragably, that he understood how to command Towns, as well as Armies, and to conduct Citizens, as well as Soldiers; but above all, he appeared a most perfect Politician, in sticking close to the interests of God, not swerving in the least from his Divine Will; and for that we have the Lords own attestation, 
Num. 12.7.  that he was faithful in all his house, and that must of necessity be the highest point of Policy.  

The Parallel.  

Xenoph. l. 1. de instit. Cypri.  Ingens sanè, & arduum opus est, recte imperare, saith Xenophon, It is the highest, and the hardest thing in the World, to command well, who, as he gave us, Effigiem justi imperii, as Cicero describes him, the Portraiture of a just Empire, under the name of Cyrus, must of necessity mean, that of the Civil, as well as Martial Government. And doubtless this Politic virtue, which is to constitute a true, and excellent Statesman, is the most rare, and sublimated Piece, and as it were, the very cream, and most purified part of humane wisdom, and of which, great and Noble spirits, are only capable. 
Tit. Liv. lib. 2. Dec.  And therefore, Titus Livius, tells us, that Ars quâ civem regant, (That art of Policy, or good Government, was ever more as honourable, if not more, than that) Quâ hostem superent, the art of War itself: and the same Livius gives the reason in another place, Parare & quaerere arduum, 
lib. 37.  tueri vero difficilius; from whence the Poet seems to have borrowed, O faciles dare summa Deos, eademque tueri, Difficiles; 
Lucan.  It is much easier to attain the ends of high desires, than to keep them being got; and better is the assurance of seeking, than of possessing any thing. For to be great, and of a large proportion, doth not at all take away the casualties of inconveniencies, nor can any greatness give privilege to free things from distemperature; Tall men, we see, are as subject to Fevers, as others of less stature; and great Empires are as easily disturbed, as the States of petit Princes. Besides, an excellent Author tells us, Tueri quaesita, difficilius est quam acquirere, quoniam in acquirendo, ignavia possidentis saepe plus confert, quam propria virtus, tueri autem quaesita, sine propria virtute nemo potest. It is harder to hold, than to Conquer; for the sloth and negligence of the Possessor, may more conduce to the acquiring of any thing, than the virtue of the Conqueror; but hold what is so acquired, none can, but by especial virtue.  
Now both these pieces of incomparable Prudence, had our most Renowned Lord Protector, our second Moses; and I dare say, in equal proportion with the former, he governed the War itself, like a complete Statesman, and managed peace, like a prudent Captain. He knew as well as Caesar did, 
Caesar Comment. 6. belli gall.  that Non minus est Imperatoris, consilio superare, quam gladio, A good General will Conquer more by his Counsel, than Sword: And as applicable to his Highness, was that which King Antigonus said of himself, That his warfare, was rather of times and seasons, than of Arms, and no less did we see made good by his Highness upon all occasions, what Polybius tells us, that the least things which are done in war, are those which are handled with sword and violence; but the most eminent of all, are executed by the knowledge, how fitly to manage an opportunity. If this piece of warlike, as well as State prudence, were ever verified in any Person, it has been most remarkably made good in all our second Moses his State dispatches, as well as Warlike Expeditions: for had he not in the very nick of time, crushed several eggs, of cursed Cockatrices, that had been laid against him, he must have hatched them in his own bosom, that would have destroyed both him, and us.  
Are you not yet ashamed of your ingratitude, you viperous brood of Rebels? that have so often endeavoured to eat through the heart, and bowels of him, that has given you so often a life? Do you not know, that when one Star riseth, the opposite must fall? Be no longer like ungrateful Prentices, who usually when they are at liberty, spurn at their Guides, and are not only content to set up Shops for themselves; but seek by all means they can, to discredit their Masters.  
By this time, methinks, you should be sensible, that you have too long opposed yourselves, against his late Highness, most pious, and prudent intentions, who with sword in one hand, and trowel in the other, that is, arms, and policy, as a Statesman, and a Soldier, at once did defend, and build the walls of our Jerusalem.  
It is time for you sure to give over busying yourselves about your Babylon, and its building, which when you have done all you can, will appear to be but like a City, which I have seen in ancient painting, built upon ruins, in a land of Quicksilver, cemented with blood, and overthrown with frequent Earthquakes, and outrageous winds: You see by your own sad experience, if you please to make use of it, that if the arm of the Lord sustain not an Affair, the more advancement it receives, the deeper ruins it finds; and that all Maxims of State, that depend not on the Maxims of God, are but the mere effects of carnal prudence, and so must consequently end in flesh, and fail like it: And all Councils of State whatsoever, that depend not, and rest themselves upon him, who with three fingers supporteth the Globe of the Universe, rather pursue the way of precipice, than path of exaltation; Give over, I say, in time your Antichristian contentions, lest you be found to fight against God. Imitate, now at last, this blessed and most worthy Piece of our Mosaical wisdom, which our Great Prototype, and his Typified Parallel, have so closely pursued, that is, in the first place to seek the interests of God, and then all other things will be added, as we have seen proved upon both them, a constant success attending all their undertake. On the other side, we find whatsoever Machiavelli may object to the contrary, that God Almighty is pleased, sometimes, to stupefy the most practised Statists in the world, that are the greatest professors too of Policy, and Knowledge, and make them so drink of the cup of error, that we coming afterwards, to discourse upon their judgements, find they have committed some grosser faults, in the governments of Kingdoms, and Commonwealths, than the simplest, and most illiterate Peasants would have done, in the direction of their own houses; all which we have seen most particularly made good upon the late King and his Counselors, and to be foretold likewise by the Spirit of God himself, dictating to the person of the Prophet Isaiah, who speaking of the wicked Counselors of Pharaoh, 
Isa. 19  says, The Princes of Tanais, are become fools, the Princes of Memphis are withered away, they have deceived Egypt with all the strength, and beauty of her people: God hath sent amongst them, the spirit of giddiness, and made them reel up and down, in all their actions, like drunken men. 
Job. 12.  No less doth holy Job tell us, in these terms; God suffereth the wise Counselors to fall into the hazards of senseless men; God makes the Judges stupid, takes away the sword and belt from Kings, to engird their reins with a cord; God maketh the Priests to appear infamous, supplanteth the principal of the people, changeth the lips of truth speakers, takes away the doctrine of old men, and poureth out contempt upon Princes, etc.  
There is no man, that has either been Actor, or Spectator, in our troubles, but will take, I presume, those Scriptures, to be directly pointed at our times, and to be an exact prophecy, of part of our late Wars: so will neither require any more comment, application, or parallel. It is a most certain truth, and that his late Highness knew full well, and as frequently declared, that no wisdom or policy, merely humane, can be perfect: such as forsake God, in the curiosities of their Counsels, shall be forsaken by him, and shall find each where, a long web of perplexities, and a rolling wheel of immortal troubles.  
When a man goes on in the right way, he is probable to find an end, but if he wander across the fields, he makes steps without number, runs into errors without measure, and falls into miseries without remedy. Let all the Politicians of the World take example by our second Moses, and take into their serious consideration, as his Highness did, that the greatness of a Statesman, consists not in treasuring up the Commonwealth of Plato, and Xenophon, in his imagination, nor in amassing together a huge heap of politic Precepts, nor in being acquainted with all the Cabales, and Mysteries of the World, nor in the profession of great subtleties, and stratagems; for we have seen by the experience of all Ages, that in affairs, there is a certain stroke of the Divine Providence, which dazleth all the worldly wise, disarms the strong, and blindeth all the most Politic, with their own lights: for swimming up and down, as they do, in the vast Ocean of business, and the infinities of reasons of their proper inventions, they resemble bodies overcharged with abundance of blood, who through that great and extravagant excess, find death, in the very treasure of life. Then seeking to withdraw themselves, from the road of common understandings, they figure to themselves strange subtleties, and chimaeras, which are but as the Towers of the Lamiaes, that Tertullian speaks of, which no wise man did ever really believe, or will; which is the true cause that their spirits floating still in such a great tide of thoughts, seldom meet with a happy dispatch of affairs. Not unlike the Sun, that sometimes draws up such a great quantity of vapours, that he cannot dissipate; so these undertaking Politicians, do but lay up together, a vast lump of business in their brains, which their judgements can never dissolve into any successful expedition.  
He that will take the pains to read the lives of Otho, Vitellius, Galba, Piso, Balbinus, Florianus, Basilius, Silvianus, Tacitus, Quintilius, Maximus, and Michael Colophates: or behold the falls of Parmenio, under Alexander, Sejanus under Tiberius, Cleander under Commodus, Ablavius under Constantine, Eutropius under Arcadius, Vignius under Frederick, Brocas under Philip, Cabreca under Peter, and others of the like kind, must find, or be wholly insensible, that to raise a State, and build Fortune, as well as to conserve it, we are to proceed, as his late Highness did, securely therein, with a principal eye upon the Maxims of Faith, Religion, and Honesty, unless that we will expect, in the course of an uncertain life, a most certain ruin.  
It will manifestly, I say, appear, out of all Histories, as well sacred as profane, how (contrary to Machiavillian doctrine) all they, who disunited from the Eternal Wisdom, thought to play the Politics and prosper in Governments, Honours, and worldly Affairs, have proved but as so many Icarus', that counterfeit birds, with waxen wings, with which they may soar aloft indeed, for some little time; but the least ray proceeding from the Throne of the Lamb, will sure dissolve them to nothing, and make their heights, which they so foolishly fly at, serve them for no other use, but to render their falls, the more remarkable.  
I shall now only add, for the further confusion of all Machiavillians, and satisfaction of good men, one excellent observation, out of Paulus Orosius, who, in his Book of History, 
Paulus Orosius, lib. 1. cap. 18.  dedicated to the great Augustin, remarkes, that the very tracks of our proud and politic Pharaohs Chariots, after his most detestable death, and the destruction of his whole Army, remained a long time, on the sands of the Red Sea, to be a preaching example to all Posterity, to inform them, how dangerous a thing it is, to go about, as he did, by any State-tricks, and devilish subtleties, to fight against God. Let then our Master Machiavillians, march on still, if they think fit, amongst so many shelves, and precipices, not so much as once opening their eyes to behold the Abyss, they have under their feet: So many heads crushed in pieces, under the Dvine vengeance, which lie like broken masts, and shivers of a shipwreck, advanced upon the promontories of Rocks, to give notice of their deplorable events, whose steps they still pursue. Let them look on still, I say, with arms across, and dally with those dangers, like wanton Victims, that leap and skip, between the axe and the knife, whilst we the happy people of England, and all good Christians, shall fully satisfy ourselves, in following the examples of our two Mosaical Masters, who used no other line of Policy, but such as they derived from Heaven, always managing their great Charges, and Government of others, by their own duties, and obedience to Almighty God: and that is the highest point of State-Wisdom, which our second Moses had in its perfection: As we shall see more in the 21. Ascent.    

The sixteenth Ascent.  
MOses was most faithful, and careful, in providing able and honest Officers for the Civil Government, 
Exod. 18.14.  as well Ministers of State, as Justice. For his father-in law Jethro, coming to see him, and finding him to sit alone, to Judge the people, which stood about him from the morning until evening, was much troubled at it, and gave him a true fatherly counsel indeed; which was to divide the burden of the Government, between some sufficient persons, amongst the people, 
Ver. 19  that were accomplished for so great a work: So Moses chose out Men of Courage, fearing God, men dealing truly, hating covetousness, 
Ver. 22.  and appointed them to be Rulers over Thousands, and over Hundreds, and over Fifties, and over Ten. Then upon those whom he appointed Judges, he presseth the point of incorruption, thus; Wrest not the Law, nor respect any person, neither take reward; 
Deut. 16.19.  for reward blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the just: That which is just and right shalt thou follow, that thou mayst live, and possess the Land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So our Moses cannot but be acknowledged as careful a Father of his people, as he was a faithful Deliverer, and glorious Conductor, or Captain-General.  

The Parallel.  
This was a Noble Ascent indeed, and not only becoming a man of State, but so highly necessary, that our Master Moses himself, stood in need of an Admonitor to it, and probably had not mounted it, but by the sage advice of his good father-in-law Jethro, as we have seen in the Ascent: which as in all the rest, our second Moses, his late Highness, has so exactly patterned, that he is to be drawn into example by all succeeding Princes, and his prudence to be adored by all Posterity, as well as the present Age,  
There is none, I believe, will doubt, but that it is a Sovereign and Supreme Piece of Politic virtue, to make diligent search, and inquiry into the abilities, and integrities, of all such as are to be employed, as Ministers of State, or Justice; and this, I say, concerns not only the Chief, but all inferior Magistrates; for let the person in government be never so great, and absolute a Master in all State matters himself, if he be disserved by those, whom he does employ, his virtues will be but betrayed by the crimes of others, and expose the people to multiplied injuries. This point therefore of Politic prudence, in a Prince, is much beyond any other personal perfections, 
Tho. Aquin. 2.2. q. 58.  that may be called accomplishments in a Statesman, as the Learned Aquinas tells us, and gives the reason, Quia bonum commune praeeminet omni bono singulari; This politic virtue exceeds all others, as much as the public good surpasseth any particular; for he that it contented to draw himself within the guard of his own virtues only, and neglect the looking into the manners of others, that are to be his instruments of State, will of necessity be ensnared in his own goodness, and will signify no more to the public benefit, than those foolish Musicians, that made all their harmony within themselves, and were content to see all the World besides out of Tune.  
This horrid negligence, has made many good Kings odious to their Subjects, and though excellent persons in themselves, yet tamely suffering themselves to be lead by their Favourites, have fallen not only into the reputation, but ruin of Tyrants, and stink still in the nostrils of the people. Some great Secretaries of Nature, as Theophrastus de Plantis, and that excellent Naturalist, Joannes Roellus, 
Theoph. de Plantis. Jo. Roellins.  assure us, That there is a very goodly, and profitable Plant, called Affodil, or Scepter-Royal, which breeds very bad little worms about it, that gnaw out the very heart, and perish the whole, substance of it, hiding themselves under the leaves, and shadow of it, till such time, that getting wing, they become a kind of Butterfly, all speckled over with gay flowers, and brave it over men in the air, whom they durst hardly not long before, behold upon the earth. Just so, do careless Kings and Princes, like this pitiful, though Rbyal Plant, cover under their fair verdure, creatures which gnaw like worms in the beginning, upon the substance of their Master, and afterwards frame themselves wings, all enameled with glory, at the charge of the Public, to take their flights over the heads of so many Mortals, whom they look upon as scornfully as if they had forgot the earth that bore them; but sometime, they meet with a fall, proportionable to their flight, and their Royal Masters and Makers, are always involved in inevitable ruin.  
Our first, and second Moses, we see, full-well understood that danger, and have taken course accordingly, to prevent it, by employing none in Public Charges, but men of piety, as well as parts, known integrity, as well as ability; knowing nothing to be so perilous to Princely greatness, as wicked Ministers, and that good Officers, must make great Statesmen, as well as Captains-general. Has not, I say, our second Moses, made out his Parallel in this, to its perfection? Was there ever such a choice, since that of the first Moses, as he has made of men of Courage, fearing God, dealing truly, and hating covetousness, whom he has adopted into all the Offices about his Person, Estate, Army, or Justice? Look back upon his Highness sitting in his Family, and then, how can you but fancy, the beautiful Rose surrounded with the fair attendance of its elegant leaves, all in a Livery? Consider him in his Council, what can you say less of him, than that he was a Princely Palm, encompassed with most stately Cedars, and but reflect upon him, in his warlike equipage, and with his Martial men about him; he will then shine forth like the Sun, when glorified with his most illustrious rays. And last of all, if we but look upon him in his power representative, and Courts of Judicature, there is not a Poet sure, but would say, that his Highness had Courted, Reconciled, and Reduced, Astraea to the earth again. Philostratus tells us, in Vita Herodis Attici, 
Philost. in vita Herod. Att.  how that Athenian Herod, appointed four and twenty Pages for his son, every one of whom, bore the Title of a Greek letter, which was written on their breasts, that so he might soon learn his Alphabet, by only calling of his servants. But our Princely Protector, and second Moses, would have all his Officers, and Instruments about him, to appear to his people, like those ancient Statues of Polycletes, Phydias, and Sisippus, of which there was not a Lineament, but was said to speak. But I am too general in the application of this Parallel, and may be pardoned, I hope, if I shall reduce it nearer home, by particulars: though I am sure to incur the censure of flattery, for it amongst fools: And I'll begin, with his chief Minister, or Secretary of State, the intelligence of his Counsels, and as it were, the Angel-Guardian of his Government, who was so present with his great Master, our second Moses, in all his actions, counsels, interests, and designs, as certain flowers are said to wait on the Sun, and penetrated to the very Centre of his great Soul; so could not but contract many of his most Mosaical perfections: He is certainly known to be, what his name renders him by Anagramm, a True Holy one, that is, a Statesman after Moses his manner: viz. fearing God, and dealing truly, etc. a person of most incomparable piety and parts; Prudent as a Serpent, and yet pure as a Seraphim, virtues so rare in a Statesman, that we may justly call him, the true holy Phoenix Politician of the Age.  
I have not time, nor paper to insist so particularly, upon every one of his Highness' most honourable Privy Council; but this I can affirm, that never was a more complete body of Council, or more exquisite composition, of so many excellent Tempers together in the World; insomuch, that we see notoriously in every day's dispatches, how they are that perfectly, what the old Historian Velleius says of Sejanus flatteringly, That he was, Actu otiosis simillimus, (in earnest, a most excellent character, howsoever of a Statesman) that he seemed in the midst of his greatest employments, as if he were idle. My Lords likewise of his Highness' Council, are so exactly knowing in affairs, that it was never heard, that any of those six common obstacles, did ever obstruct their dispatches, which are, disorder, confusion, passion, solicitude, irresolution, and precipitation, so they have done all things warily, fully, and peaceably, without showing the least anxiety. They have by their great piety and prudence, kept this State so well united within the bands of concord, and charity, that it cannot but appear to foreigners themselves, as it were a little Temple of Peace, though in the very heat and hurry of War, embracing all affairs, & governing them, with that sweet temper, and equality of spirit, that they resemble those active spirits, which move the whole Heavens, not using in themselves, the least agitation.  
Amber-Greece is nothing so sweet, in itself, as when it is compounded with other things, so these Godly, Wise, Courageous, and, every way, Excellent Counselors: improve themselves by the communication of their counsels together, and do, (even as Flint-stones, which by their proximity, do make their sparkles to fly) by a holy emulation which they use, in the pursuit of God, not only enlighten others, but enkindle in each others hearts, a more sensible, and pious apprehension of God, and all good things, by a mutual reverberation: But I must hasten; for when I have said all, that can Be said, it will fall short of their most Mosaical merits; So I shall conclude with them, in saying only, that they are all persons, composed according to Jethroes character, and that when our second Moses adopted them into his secret counsels, we could none of us deny, nor can yet, but that it seemed his late Highness had drawn so many Angels from Heaven, to fix them at the stern of his Estate; for they are all of them, as unlike their Predecessors, as all the World can wish them. Then, if we but consider a little, the excellent choice, his Highness has made of Commissioners, and Keepers of his Great Seal, we cannot but acknowledge that they are persons, without any exception, fitted, for so great a work, that carry a constant Court of Chancery engraven in their breasts, and bear, jus aequum & bonum, written in their very foreheads.  
For the Lords Commissioners of his Highness' Treasury, they cannot be questioned to be of as exact a choice, and equal disposition for the great Trust, still men of our Mosaical temper, fearing God, and dealing-truly; and so we may safely affirm, that our second Moses, selected Persons for that employment, as well as other, to whom he might as safely have reposed his conscience, as he did his purse: Men all as honourable in their breed, as Noble by their births, of as profound Learning, and ability in the Laws, as of sublime honesty and fidelity to their Country; and of a most unspotted integrity, both towards God, and his Highness, their late Mosaical Master.  
I should be infinite, to insist upon all the particular men of Honour, employed by his Highness: So I shall speak only something to our Parallel of Mosaical Judges, to which our present Ascent naturally leads us, and leave the rest, to be made out, by ingenuous Readers themselves.  
And first, for that incomparable pair of my Lords the Chief Justices, with the several Sets of ingenious and godly Judges, Attorney, and Solicitor-General, all his Highness' Council at Law, with other Officers, and Appendices, to each Court: They are all such select and eminent Persons, and indeed, the plurality of Lawyers, from the Purple, to the Sable Robe, of this present Age, so accompplisht with piety, and parts, that the Divine Themis herself, will not be ashamed to call herself a prostitute in former Ages, and acknowledge this production of hers, to be only genuine, and their generation only own to be Legitimate; and all this we must attribute to his late Highness his most Mosaical influence. Their Lordships, I mean, those excellent persons in supreme Judicature, are known to live the Laws, as well as to see them put in execution: Evecti in excelsum, inde magis vitia despiciunt, as the wise Cassiodorus well expresseth it: They know that God, and his Highness, 
Cassiod.  have set them on high, for no other cause, but to behold vices beneath them, which whosoever does exalt, will find himself quickly trampled underfoot, by them, and made to drink the greatest part of the poison, which he mingles for others, and he that breaks down the hedge, 
Eccles. 10.8.  as the Scripture threatens, the Snake shall sting him first. Their Lordships, I say, have given sufficient evidence to the World, that they know all this, and practise the contrary course; They know themselves to be looked upon, as Stars in the firmament; and Philosophy tells us, that the more light a body has, the more it ought to have of participation, and favourable influences, for objects, that are in a lower degree than it. Nihil vile, 
Cass.  nihil cupidum, judices decet, claras suas maculas reddunt, si illi ad quos multi respiciunt, aliquâ reprehensione sordescant, says the same excellent Cassiodorus, Nothing vile or covetous, becomes Judges; the spots of persons in power, are quickly spied; for they being aloft, every eye dwells upon them. We have seen in foreign parts, and heretofore here in England, Judges enough neglectful of their duty, and Courts of Justice resembling rather old Cyclopean Caverns, than Temples of peace; for which we have seen the very fields themselves weeping; nay, filled with large pools, and standing waters, gathered together from the tears of Orphans, and Widows, and an infinity of other persons, under oppression; and this by the wickedness of some, who take delight to stretch out suits of Law with their tongues, as Shoemakers do their leather, with their teeth; which made holy Cyprian cry out, 
Cyprian. Epist. ad Donatum.  Inter leges ipsas delinquitur, inter jura peccatur. Innocency is seldom so ill treated any where, as in those places, where profession is most made to defend it: The Serpents of the Desert, have less gall and spleen, than such Serpents that make the house of Justice to echo with their clamours, loud as the waves, which are heard to roar, upon the shore of the Aegean Sea, and flourish in the World, as Cato tells us, 
Cato.  like Princely Theives, Fures privatorum furtorunt in compendibus, Publici in auro vitam agunt, saith he, Gibbits, nay Wheels and Racks, are prepared for some miserable Criminals, because they were yet but little Theives, who had they grown to be greater, it may be their Crimes had rather been Crowned, than chastised.  
Plutarch very aptly compares those Courts, 
Plut. de Curiosit.  and Cities, where these raging injustices are committed, to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, those nefast and fatal Portals, ill boding Doors, whereof Histories make mention, that were never opened, but to pass away bodies of condemned persons, all villainy, carrion, and stinking ordure. How much are we indebted in the mean time, to his late Highness his pious care, and Princely provision for us, to advance only to his Tribunals, such glorious Judges, who are themselves, speaking Laws, and do more right to the Public, by their words, and examples, that all the written Labels in the World could propagate? Men so much of Moses his make, Courageous, fearing God, dealing truly, and hating covetousness, not wresting the Law, nor respecting persons, neither taking reward; that we may boldly affirm, that they have already put on incorruption, bearing always in their minds, That great Dignities are oblgations of conscience, binding more than the chains of Medea to give a perfect lustre of Divinity: Happy are the people who have the Lord for their God, and such Judges and Governors set over them: and this happiness we owe to his late Highness, his most Mosaical care over us, placing over us such persons in power, that he might as well answer for, to God, as for himself; by which means we must needs be sensible how he has left us a government so sweetly still established, that we can compare it more properly to nothing, than to the Halcyons nest, which calms the brow of Heaven.  
I shall conclude this Parallel therefore, with an exclamation of a most ingenuous Scotchman, 
Parcl. Arg.  against a sort of Kings, meaning, it may be, some of his own Country: 0 strange and silly providence of Princes, saith he, to keep then but a few Hawks, to have their stables full of Capreoling Horses, as in an army of Sybarits, or not speedily to repair the loss of a Hound, if a wild Boar happen to kill one of them! These things, I say, not more for the use, and pleasure of Princes, than for mere ostentation and show of Majesty, they hold a sin to be omitted; nay, they can waste their Gold, and spend their whole Treasure, upon pitiful and base fellows: But O, it is too too chargeable, to have a choice of brave minds about them, here their Parsimony is remembered, here their Exchequer fails: and so very judiciously proceeds to show, what choice of brave men should be about the Person of a Prince, and indeed very congruous to our Mosaical character, which our great second Moses has so strictly observed, in those brave spirits, which he has picked out, and preferred to have power over us; that we may safely say, he has by that, as by any other of his glorious Actions, outgone the condition of mortal men; by that, he sees himself alive still, and in health, much better than by perfumes, and an Eagle escaping from his Funeral Pile, does he see himself likewise to be deified: By this, he shall triumph over time, with the applause of all men; These Persons likewise shall be his Pageants to all eternity; these his rich spoils of Nations, of whose flowers, as it were, he has so made himself a glorious Garland.    

The seventeenth Ascent.  
MOses was not only curious in the choice of his Officers; but continued still his own constant care over his people, and above all things, rendered himself most remarkable, by the clemency, and mildness, of his Government, tempering always his severity with sweetness, and carrying his people, (like an indulgent father) as sucking children in his arms, 
Num. 11.12.  and bosom, not trampling them like slaves, under his feet, and interposing frequently between the wrath of God, and them, to save them from destruction. Nay to the height of that, he offered himself to be blotted out of the Book of Life, to save them,  

The Parallel.  
We have already seen in our former Ascents, the first Moses his promptness to pardon all private injuries, and offences, how great soever against himself: nor shall we find his great goodness less unwilling to proceed to punishment of public transgressions themselves; insomuch, that we find him frequently desiring himself to suffer for his subjects faults: always carrying them in his bosom, like children, and never imposing any hard tax or burden on them, etc.  
A most pious clement Prince he was indeed, and no less vigorously followed in this, than in his other Sovereign virtues, by our glorious second Moses. Did ever any Prince in the World go more obliging ways in his Government; than his late most Serene Highness has done? Has he not ever showed a greater affection to sway the Sceptre over us, than to brandish the Sword? and to govern us more by Laws, than Arms? Nay, when the Laws themselves (as in many things they are most cruel) were likely to bring a legal injury, and a ruin upon any man; how has he always endeavoured to sweeten the rigour of them? and that not only to do good to the innocent, but by pardoning the culpable themselves; for very little indeed, is that Clemency to be esteemed, which does only abstain to strike those who give no offence: No, my Lord did ever consider, that mercy was made only for the miserable, and knew that in punishing or revenging injuries, he could only do like the men of the earth, but by gracious clemency, and practise of pardoning, he was to share in glory with the great Monarch of Heaven, who daily makes his Sun to shine on criminal heads, as well as the most innocent. Nay, his eminent mercy was used to extend itself, not only to common Malefactors, but to his most malicious enemies themselves, as we have fully seen: and indeed, a most precious goodly sight it is, and as the holy Father calls it, the most glorious spectacle in the World, 
Ambros.  and able to attract Angels to the Gates of Heaven to behold: It is not theatres, nor Amphitheatres, Pyramids, or the like great worldly wonders, but such a man, as knows how to do well, and bear ill, and to vindicate himself from ill, by doing well. This very Angelical spectacle, must my Lord be acknowledged to have been, by all that knew him. So throughly has his Highness practised that true, and Princely, though very ticklish rule of the good Father Augustin, 
augustin.  Disce diligere inimicum, si vis cavere inimicum, The means to preserve from enemies, is to love them, which agrees with the Poet's policy too, who cries, Vt ameris, ama, It is only love, that makes to be beloved; and that our second Moses has ever taken for the surest guard of his Princely greatness: Nor was that the course of his Civil, and peaceable proceedings only; but of his very Marshal.  
How often have we seen him, even in the very hurry of a Victory, and heat of execution, sounding a retreat to himself, and sheathing his sword in clemency, which drawn, threatened nothing but destruction, and a whole deluge of blood. His well complexioned soul, could never understand the temper of that Tyrant, 
Dio. Halic. l. 5.  of whom the Historian complains; Come victor extiterit, lictor protinus evasit, After his Victory made himself, as it were, a Hangman, but always supported the opinion aforesaid, quoted out of Nicetus, that naturae injuriam facit, 
Nicetus.  & humanitatis legem violate, qui ultra victoriam iracundiae indulget: He is a violater of all humanity, and injurious to very Nature itself, that can be angry beyond his Victory: but upon this we have enlarged already, so I shall pass over it now, with saying only, that as the gracious Lord of Heaven, was pleased to establish his Highness his Throne in mercy, so he always guarded it secure to himself, by his Clemency; for by that, he commanded hearts, which he knew to be of much more force, than to be a Master of men. Omnia vicit qui animum expugnavit; To conquer affections, is the greatest piece of victory, and that can never be obtained, but by the arms of love and sweetness; and by those arms likewise we see offenders are oftener reform, than by all the violence, and severity of rigour: Monendo certius quam minando, cedendo quam caedendo scelera interdùm coercentur, and this accorded so well, with that old piece of Aristotelian Policy, Praestat mille nocentes absolvere, quam innocentem opprimere vel unum, Better let a thousand guilty persons pass unpunished, than to injure one only innocent; that his Highness has always taken it for the surest groundwork of his happy government: and for this, he had not only the example of his Master Moses, but the very precept, and practice of God himself: for did not he command our first Moses to carry the people in his bosom, and is it not his common practice to govern the World by his mercy? of which if any should be of so reprobate a judgement as to doubt, let him consult the Prophet, who tells us, that God measures the waters with his fist, and poiseth the heavens in the palm of his hand; which signifies, (according to the best Interpreters) that the Lord goes with a close shut and contracted hand to punishments, intimated by waters, but proceeds with the whole extent of his goodness to reward, that is represented by the heavens.  
The Rainbow, which the Lord has taken for the symbol of his reconciliation with man, and environeth the Throne of the Almighty, as we find in the Apocalypse, it is Arcus carens sagittâ, as holy Ambrose observes, Qui terrere magis vult, quam ferire, A bow without arrows, that is bend, more to terrify, than to strike. Nay, the Lord makes it so great a matter to pardon an offender, that he will rather permit his whole Essence to be touched, than his Clemency to be so much as questioned: his very Title of Godhead to be invaded, rather than his glory of pardon. And yet our boldfaced Florentine, will go about to teach his Prince, 
Mach. Princ. cap. 17.  to establish himself by cruelty; as if no government should be, or could possibly be made secure, that was not built on the bloodshed of subjects; and this he goes about to prove, by the examples of Caesar Borgia, and the stern Emperor Severus, etc. And then he proceeds to affirm it, for a fundamental Maxim of State; That it is better for a Prince to be feared, than loved; for men, saith this wise Secretary, do love as it pleaseth them, but do fear as it pleaseth the Prince; and therefore infers, that a wise Prince, will found himself sooner, and rely surer on that way, which depends on himself, than upon that which depends upon another.  
A very subtle inference indeed, if it were possible for a Prince to keep his people, so perpetually under still, as to make them always stoop to kiss the yoke for fear: but experience plainly proves the contrary, that no Tyrant in the World, be he never so terrible, could, or can, so keep his people under the lash, but they will sometimes get loose, and unyoking themselves, make the effects of their forced fear, felt by the Authors of it. And this is apparent by the issues, that most Tyrants have found of their cruelties; as Nero, Caligula, Otho, Vitellius, and Domitian: as also Julianus, Heliogabalus, Gallienus, Maxentius, Philippus, Pocas, Carinus, Zeno, and divers others, who did all finish their lives, and Empires together, most tragically by the sword. And truly reason itself, seems clearly to me to prove, it must be so.  
Does not Philosophy assure us, that no violence can endure long; but this kind of cruel government by fear only, is set upon the highest pitch of violence; therefore impossible to be of any considerable continuance. And truly this politic Thesis of Nicholas Machiavells, seems so absurd to himself, that presently after he has asserted it, he begins to recant, and temper it thus; I grant, saith he, that Prince to do best, who can join to be feared, and loved together; but that being a thing very difficult, if not impossible, to be compassed, as he says, he counsels to procure fear, rather than love. Just so, he tells us, in another place, that piety is a thing impossible to be in a wise Prince: Thus does our Politic Secretary serve us, like a lewd ignorant Physician, who is pleased to make the sick party to despair of health, because he cannot tell how to cure him. This mischievous Maxim of his, he drew doubtless, from the mouths of two of the greatest monsters of Tyranny that ever were in the World, 
Sueton. in. Calig. cap. 30.  and they were Caligula, who, as Suetonius tells us, did frequently usurp that impious Proverb, Oderint dum metuant, and Tiberius, who would seem to mitigate the malice of it, by saying, Oderint dum probent, the one saying, Let them hate, so they fear, the other, Let them hate, so they allow: But I am so much of Machiavels mind, that the seeming Moderator in this point, is in the greatest extreme; for certainly, his eyes were never matches, that could see hatred, and approbation, march in couples together: and I shall willingly grant so much more to our Machiavillian Politics, that some mixture of fear with love, does make the most excellent composition in Government: for though the strongest Citadel, or Castle, that a King can have, be his subject's affection, and their hearts his best Treasury or Exchequer: yet it cannot be denied, that love without fear, quickly turns to scorn, and fear without love, as soon converts to hatred, both equally dangerous to any Prince his estate.  
Now, though Machiavelli, and his crew, did never know how to be so good Apothecaries of State: yet our prudent Patriarch, and his Parallel, our late Protector, we see understood full well, how to make that admirable mixture; for though they were great Justicers always, yet never forgot to be most loving Fathers of their people, and in that sacred composition, rests, not only the mystery, but the lustre of a true Statesman, 
Greg. in Job. 27.  as the Great Gregory assures us; who says, that in every good Government, there must be such a mixture made of oil and wine, that the wounds of men, may be healed in such sort, that their minds may not be ulcerated with too much severity, nor yet grow too remiss, by an excess or indulgence and lenity; the rod must be used to touch, and the staff to support, and then they will both be comfortable to us, as the Psalmist tells us: The scale of Justice must be so equally carried, that neither love should too much soften, nor overgreat rigour transport people into a despair.  
This right Princely temper, I say, was perfectly understood by our gracious Patriarch Moses, the first and greatest Statesman in the World, and no less by our glorious second Moses, his Parallel. Behold them both burning inwardly with the fire of charity towards their people, and outwardly wholly enkindled with the flames of the zeal of Justice: as loving Fathers, they have offered their souls to God, even to the wish To be blotted out of the Book of Life, to save their people; and as glorious Judges, they took the Sword in hand, and bathed it in the blood of wicked men. They have showed themselves in all things, such accomplished Captains, as became courageous Magistrates, and Ambassadors from God, and admirable Mediators to him; pleading before him, the cause of their people, with prayers, and before the people, the cause of God, with their swords: and though there is none which can deny, but our second Moses his zeal to Justice was very great, a Divine virtue in him; yet we must acknowledge that his benignity, mansuetude, and clemency were virtues more natural, and agreeable to him, which he always improved too, both by the pattern of his Master Moses, and God himself, who as the Scripture tells us, Etiam iratus, misericordiae recordatur, In his very wrath remembers mercy, and shows his anger to us more often, by Thunder, Lightning, fiery Comets, blazing Stars, Storms, and Tempests, and the like, than he makes us to feel it; nor yet sends them so often as we deserve; which the Pagan Poet could observe, when he told us, Si quoties peccent homines, etc. If Jupiter should spend his angry Thunderbolts so often as men deserve them, he would very suddenly disarm himself; but, Christianly indeed, we may say thus, That if his Divine Majesty should disarm itself of mercy, we should quickly be reduced to misery; and therefore it was, that he commanded our Moses, to follow his example, and carry the people in his bosom, like sucking children, and loudly proclaims in his Word, that Misericordia & veritas custodiunt Regem, & roboratur clementiâ Thronus ejus, Mercy and Truth, are the greatest guard for Kings, and Clemency is the greatest support of their Thrones. All this, I say, our second Moses has sufficiently showed himself to know and follow, and yet his Clemency has never exposed him to those extremes before spoken of, to render his goodness contemptible; no, he happily arrived at the blessed mixture, and sweet composition, that we have remarked in our first Moses; and always ruled us according to the holy Rule given by an ancient Father, Eâ, qui praeest, mensurâ, se moderetur, quatenus & arridens timeri, & iratus amari debeat, He that is set over men to govern them, aught to carry himself with that moderation, so as to be feared, when he is pleased, and to be amiable in his very displeasure.  
This was the very Mosaical temper of our late precious Lord Protector, who had so much of that Divine Art of compounding his sweetness with severity, that we may safely say for truth, though a very prodigious one, that his Justice, and his Love, (though both they are said to be blind) did yet lend one another eyes; he so sweetened his Sword with his Love, and so sharpened his Love with his Sword, that his very severity might seem to proceed from his love, and his punishments themselves, put on the face of obligations. Castigavit, non quod odio habuit, sed quod amavit; As he reform always by his favours, so were his chastisements still turned into true fatherly corrections.    

The eighteenth Ascent.  
MOses was not only an accomplished Prince, in all kinds of Pity and Piety, towards the persons of his People: but he did extend it likewise, towards their very Purses: restraining frequently, their abundancies of love, in all their contributions, 

Exod. 36.6.  
Levit. 25.35, 36.   and very liberalities, not only towards himself, but to God. In short, he kept not the course of common Policy, which renders Princes little better than Publicans; he exacted nothing, but love from his subjects, nor imposed any thing upon them, but their own happiness.  

The Parallel.  
We have seen at large, in our last Ascent, as well by the practice of our two Mosaical Masters, as divers other elucent arguments, that singular Axiom made good, which tells us, That dinturni magister officii metus esse nequit, Fear alone, can never contain men in a lasting duty: for otherwise the Devil's policy would have more influence upon the hearts of men, than that of God himself. It is the part of every petit Minister of Justice, to use cruelty and severity, but the practice of pity and clemency, (though it becomes all men) does most properly belong to Kings, and Supreme Magistrates. Regia crede mihi res est succurrere Lapsis, Non alia major quaeritur arte Favor, Pity, and Clemency, are Princes privileges, and parts of their prerogative; Justice itself, can be but their duty, at most, but the only art of Government consists in the excellent mixture before spoken of, in our last Ascent: And therefore Alexander, being asked who was the greatest Prince upon earth? answered, Qui amicos donis retinet, & inimicos beneficiis amicos facit: He that holds his friends fast by courtesies, and converts enemies into friends, by benefits: So dealt Augustus with Cinna, and made of a Traitor, a true Friend: And this has always been the wisest Kings Royal highway; as most particularly, of our late great Prince, and Protector, of whose most obliging ways of Government, we have been all made so sensible, that we may cry out, 
Bernard.  as holy Bernard did upon the like occasion. O suaves nexus, queis, animi, obsequiis quasi compedibus illigantur, & tanquam beneficiorum cumulis insepeliuntur: O sweetest ties of obligations, with which souls are fast bound as with fetters, and as it were, buried in heaps of benefits. His late most Serene Highness, like that his most exemplary Master, the former Moses, full well considered all this, and collected, that if this were the true way to glory, for all great Ones to go in, to oblige subjects by beneficence, as we have hitherto seen it is; how ignominious and ugly a thing it must needs be, in those, that go about to pillage, spoil, and prey, upon their people, with unjust Taxes, and impositions, as some ill tutored Tyrants have done, who have been, it may be, contented to spare, nay, to compliment the persons of their people, whilst they have most theevishly picked and oppressed their purses, serving them, as Prospero Colunna did his Goose, who was still plucking the old feathers, that the new ones, as he said, might grow the better; and so continue to milk their people, till they draw blood from their very hearts; for they have pretty tricks, as they say, when the Cow slacks, to press her nipples too. And however this was said to be the practice of a very great Politician, late in France, I must be bold, (according to our Mosaical Rule) to pass my censure on, and condemn it, as utterly unchristian, and a very unprofitable policy. Notwithstanding, as I have heard, he was used to boast. That La France est un beau Pre, qu' on tondoit trois fois la'nnee; France was a very fair Meadow, and fit to be mowed at least thrice a year. He always laughed at that pious Principle, which called the people's hearts, the King's best Exchequer; but reflected oftener on that Maxim, Populus aut humiliter servit, aut superbè dominatur, The common people either must serve slavishly, or will rule insolently; and that they were like fire and water, Good Servants, but the worst Masters; therefore he would take a course to keep them under, by perpetual impositions, and a pitiful poverty, and so, upon the matter, made them worse than Asses, to become mere Dromedaries, who not only submit to bear their heavy burdens, but humbly kneel down, to receive them: yet, by his good leave, he might have reflected something upon what that grave, learned, 
Boetius.  and eminent Statesman, Boetius told his Gothick King Theodorick, that the common people, did participate much of the nature of the herb called Basil, which rendereth a good pleasant and wholesome savour, as Naturalists inform us, if gently handled, but turns to be poisonous and creates Scorpions themselves when rudely chafed.  

Quint. Curt.  Alexander, I am sure, was commended by Quintus Curtius, and all Wise men, that have written of him, for making his subjects the keepers of his Treasure. Then Sextus Aurelius Victor, 
Sext. Aurel Vict.  tells us, that Fiscus est Reipub. lain, quo crescente artus reliqui tabescunt; The Fisk or Exchequer is the spleen of the Commonwealth, the over-encrease, or swelling of which, makes all the other members to consume; 
Claud.  and Claudian gives the Emperor Honorius this great Elegy, Nec tua privatis crescunt aeraria damnis, That his coffers did never increase, by any private man's losses.  
Basilius often advised his officers, 
Basilius.  that the money, which they were to raise for him, should not be at any time dipped either in the tears, or blood of his subjects: 
Cic. l. 2. de Offi.  and Cicero in his Offices, wisely premonisheth all Statesmen in those occasions, Vt omnes intelligant, si salvi esse velint, necessitati esse parendum: That the people's private purses, were but so to be opened, as to keep them shut, and safe from those enemies, that might otherwise-seize upon, and consume all.  
I might be infinite, to sum up all that has been said, by the gravest and most judicious men of the whole World, upon this point, and to oppose them against that French Politician, but I am obliged not to digress too far from our Parallel, whose Mosaical example only, were enough to confute so heretical a piece of policy. He sufficiently knew all that stuff, to be but a clear chip of the old block of Machiavelli, and certainly in his own pious opinion, did very much blame, and would as willingly have redressed, if he could, those grievances of our neighbour-nation, as he did our own; and certainly those counsels are as unlikely to prove successful to France, as they have done to other Princes, and Provinces, where they have been practised. I am sure, that Kingdom has smarted for them, pretty well already, and they are in a fair way to be causes of greater confusions.  
His Mosaical Highness, in the mean time, was contented to follow his old Master Moses, rather than Mr. Machiavelli, and frequently has been heard to honour the judgement of that most excellent Person, and pious Politician, Boetius, 
Boetius.  before spoken of, who was used very often, to inculcate to his King Theodorick, better Principles; and once in a most elegant Oration, after this manner, That Kings were but God's Shepherds, and so permitted to shear their Flocks; not to stay them. That a body overcharged, could not but sink to the ground, and that there was no Tribute comparable to the precious commodities, derived from the love of subjects. That a King was made to reign over men, not as a man, but as the Law; to bear his subjects in his bosom, and not to trample them under his feet; to teach by his example, and not constrain by force; to be a father of Citizens, and not a master of Slaves: That Kings were given by Heaven, for the use, and benefit of the people, and that they ought not to have so much regard to the extent of their power, as not to consider the stint, and measure of their own obligations; and to handle the matter so on all occasions, that the greatness of their Majesty, should appear in its goodness only; and then concludes his sanctified counsels, with a most pious and politic Maxim, That a good Prince, aught to fear nothing so much, as to be too much feared. And all this, I am sure, was the Mosaical policy of his late Highness, who never imposed Taxes upon, or drew blood from his people, but when driven by the greatest necessities in the world, after the pattern of his Great Prototype, our transcending Patriarch; and that truly, I should humbly conceive to be enough (without respect to the precepts or practices of any other, though the godliest, gravest, and wisest, persons, in all Ages, as we have seen) to convince, any fanatical Florentine, or French Politician whatsoever, under whose depraved Policies, we find all Cities, and Countries, that are subjected to them, still pitifully complaining, the rigorous concussions, that they yet feel, to satisfy with their sweat and blood, the avarice of some cursed particular Officers, who are notwithstanding as greedy as fire, and more insatiable than the Abyss, or Hell itself.  
But I shall forbear at present, to prosecute this dispute any further; for I conceive by what is already said, there is no sober Christian, but will conceive, that Cyclopaean piece of policy, is so far from being Mosaical, profitable to, or becoming the dignity of, a Christian Prince, that it must be absolutely contrary, and destructive, both to Prince and people; nay, fitter to be styled Barbarism, than a Civil Government. So I hope, we may now securely proceed, to the conclusion of our precious, and happy Parallel. And as for this great point of Piety, in not pressing upon the people's purses, or squeezing their estates, so remarkable in our former Moses, there is no man sure, so perverse, as to deny our second, to be his perfect Parallel; for though, Bella sustent antur pecuniarum abundantiâ, as Dionysius Halicarnassaeus tells us, The support of all Wars, 
Dion. Ha●icar. lib. 6. Tacit. Annal. 13.  is from a great treasure, and plenty of money; and what Tacitus observes, is most certain, that Dissolvitur imperium, si fructus quibus Respub. sustinetur, diminuantur, There is no State or Kingdom can continue long, without a certain, and a large revenue; yet his late Mosaical Highness, has been ever so tender of entrenching upon the particular purses of his people, to supply those public occasions of State, that he has been almost guilty of transgressing in the other extreme, by permitting the General good to be neglected, at least, to suffer some prejudice for want of it. Much less sure, can any such thing as unjust coveting, or craving of other men's estates for himself, be objected to him, which most of his malicious adversaries, before mentioned, have been guilty of, in the highest degree. Their fingers were like Talons, and Claws of Harpies, to scratch and scrape what they could for themselves: His hand and heart were always open to do good to others, as appeared by his manifold charities, in the relief of the poor, especially such as were made so by the sad distress of War; and I dare say, his expense that way, has been far greater, than all the sharers of the Church and Kingdoms spoils put together, have disbursed.  
There was a notable Inscription upon one Gillias', as Valerius Maximus tells us. 
Val. Max. l. 4. c. 8.  Quod Gillias possidebat, omnium quasi commune patrimonium erat, hic ipsius liberalitatis praecordioe habuit, & domus ejus quasi quaedam munificentiae officina fuit: What Gillias' had, was the possession of all mankind; this man had his heart, and entrails, composed even of charity itself, his house was a shop of bounty; and all this sure, was never more applicable to any person, than to his late Mosaical Highness, whose hands were kissed by millions, when he was alive, in acknowledgement that they were the gracious distributors of so many blessings, and his grave, now he is dead, will be sprinkled with as many flowers, in gratitude for the preservation of so many lives. His bounty, I say, was a most eminent virtue in him, ever holding with Cassiodorus, 
Cassiod. l. 1. Ep. 19 Idem. l. 1. Ep. 16.  that Periculosissima res est in imperante tenuitas, That narrowness of soul, and griping hands, were the most perilous qualities that could appear in a Prince; and with the same excellent Writer concluded likewise, that Regnantis facultas fit ditior, cum remittit, & acquirit nobiles thesauros famae, neglecta utilitate pecuniae, A King's Treasure is increased by giving, and forgiving, and the less money he plucks into his Exchequer, the more glory he carries about his Court.  
Did his most Serene Highness ever draw any thing from private men, but in order to their own preservation? He never desired, or studied, any thing more, than that we should be safe, nor never sought ours, but us. He never accounted himself rich, but when his people were so, making their hearts, as that great Alexander did, his best Exchequer.  
In fine, what was once said of Hadrianus Caesar, must be acknowledged to be his Highness his most especial Character, Sic suum semper gessit Principatum, ut res sit Populi tota, non sua, Whatsoever he has done in his Government, has been more for our advantage, than his own; he has not only forborn to burden us himself, but has most mercifully released us, from many of the heavy Taxes, that were imposed upon us, by our terrible Taskmasters of the long Parliament, and like a true Soul of Honour, never sought for any other recompense of his great Actions, than the glory of doing well, and the private satisfaction of his own conscience. Thus are hearts gained here, and Crowns of immortality hereafter. Thus truly is Heaven itself obliged, and Earth made tributary to virtue: for by that means, he has rendered himself to be truly that, which was said of Octavianus Caesar, Deliciae humani generis, The love and delight of all mankind, which cannot but more and more appear to us, as we proceed to mount higher upon our Mosaical Ascents and Parallels.    

The ninteenth Ascent.  
MOses was a most exemplary person, in all manner of Piety towards God; a duty most becoming a great Prince, to be highly zealous for the true honour, and Divine worship of his Almighty Maker, the Lord of Heaven and Earth. And this plainly appeared, not only in his frequent spreading of his hands, and sometimes falling down upon his face before the Lord; 
Exod. Levit. Num. Deut.  and prostration we know, is the highest part of Religious worship; but also in his most indefatigable pains, speedy care, and expedition, in preparing of the Tabernacle, with all its appertinencies, and providing offerings for it.  
Then in his punctual and precise care, 
Exod. 25.  for the ordering of the particular Ceremonies, 
Exod. 28.  and Circumstances of Divine Service, to the very Garments of Aaron, the Vrim, and the Thummim, and the Consecration of Priests. 
Exod. 29.   
Then in the constitution of many most costly and reverend Sacrifices, 
Leu. 2.  as the continual Burnt-offering, the Meat-offering, 
Leu. 3.4, 5.  the Peace-offering, the Sin-offering, etc.  

Exod. 30.  Then in his erection of the Altar of Incense, his appointment of the course, for the ransom of Souls, for the making of the holy anointing Oil, the manner of making, with the ingredients, for the composition, of the holy Perfume.  
Then in taking order, for an infinity of other Rights, Ceremonies, and holy Feasts; as the Feast of Passeover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Feast of Tabernacles, etc. Finally, giving the people such a Law, so solemn, and so strict, in the Service of the Lord, as if they should have nothing almost else to do, but to render their duty to the Omnipotent, and spend all their time, 
Levit. Num. Deut.  in paying him the honours of a glorious Service, as is to be seen at large, throughout his Sacred Writings.  

The Parallel.  
If we look upon the Piety of this our Great Patriarch, or his happy Parallel, our late Lord Protector, in the largest extent of it, we should find it, as boundless as the Sea, and ourselves swallowed up, in the contemplation of it; So we have restrained ourselves, to the discourse of that part of their piety only, which has relation to God-ward, and a true zeal to his holy Worship: And first we find our Patriarch so severe and punctual in all his performances, that he would have the least omission of a puntillo of them, to be a mortal, at least a capital sin, the offender being to be cut off from the World, or from communion with the people: and so sumptuous he was in his appointed worship, that all the World might see, that he thought nothing too costly for a bare ceremony of Divine Service, and that the people should take notice, that, the All they had, was from the Lord, to whom they were to pay back so large a proportion in Sacrifice. A most Royal, Stately, and Magnificent, manner of Worship it was, 
Levit. Num. Deut.  which every man must acknowledge that reads the several solemnities instituted by him in those blessed Books, and worthy of the spirit of so great a Prince, Prophet, and Patriarch, as our great Moses was.  
Now, has our glorious second Moses, showed less Religious zeal, or true Princely piety towards God? or less extraordinary care, and pious curiosity, in providing for the honour, splendour, worship, and service of his Holy Name? No his Mosaic Highness, full well knew, that if all the mountains of the World, were amassed into one, and all the woods of the Earth made into one Libanus, and were set on fire, and all the beasts of a thousand fields and forests were turned into victims, for his Sacrifices, they would be all as nothing in value, in respect of his heavenly Majesty: and if all the voices of men were tuned into one, and that one voice, so musically made, could speak like Thunder, and be heard loudly to proclaim from Pole to Pole, the glory of the Almighty, it could not be sufficient so resound his holy praises.  
To this purpose it was, that his Highness, was pleased frequently to approve that worthy and ingenious fancy of Philo that great and Learned Jew, 
Philo Judaeus in Planta Noe.  who has a Story, though in it, may be, nothing at all of verity, yet I am sure, the morality of it, is very excellent.  
This great man, in a Book of his called Noe's Plant, relates as a certain tradition of the Sages of his Nation, from the very beginning of the World; That God the Creator, after that he had form this goodly Globe of the Universe, and composed it as a glorious Scutcheon of his own immense Greatness, a compendium or contracted table of his chiefest Titles, and a perfect Mirror, of his Divine Wisdom and Power: demanded of those blessed Spirits about him, which were the Angels (it may be then in glory) what they thought, of that great piece of Work? upon which, one amongst the heavenly throng, after he had very highly commended, the curious Architecture of the Universe, acknowledging it to be a most complete Fabric in all things, but one, and that one thing, he said, was wanting to the perfection of so goodly a Frame, which he required as a noble Seal, to set upon so incomparable a Piece. What is that, said the Eternal Father? I would desire, replied the holy Spirit, That there might be a strong, powerful, and penetrating harmonious voice, which borne upon the wings of the winds, & Coaches of the clouds, and Charioted through the air, might replenish all the parts of the World, with an applause of so accomplished a Piece of Work, and incessantly to echo forth both night and day, the glories of God, with praises and thanksgivings for his Divine Majesties most inestimable benefits.  
This Story truly may pass very well, for a pretty invention at least, and not unworthy of an Angelical spirit, that was zealous for the honour and glory of the Lord, his Master and Creator. Yet by the leave of this good spirit, I must be bold to say, that his exception, if we take it as so, was in something very frivolous; or his Compliment, if we take it as so, was over-officious. For first, the Almighty had sufficiently provided, against that pretended defect, in composing the World, in the frame chat we behold, as a fair large Clock; and then proportionably giving to man the place, which this celestial and critical spirit seemed to require. Now, that this great Clock of the Universe, should be always in tune, to his service, and Divine disposition, he has laid his particular commands and orders upon each wheel, and pin, to do their parts. The first wheel of this grand Clock, is that primum mobile, which we find in Philosophy, the continual motion, and the secret influences of antipathies, and sympathies, which lie, as it were hidden, in the bowels of Nature. The hand of this universal Horologe, is that goodly embowed piece of checkerwork, and frettizing of the heavenly Orbs, which we behold with our eyes. The twelve Signs in the Zodiac, serve, as it were, for distinctions of the twelve hours of the day. The Sun itself, exerciseth the office of the steel, and gnomon, to point out time to us, and in its absence the Moon: the other Lights and Stars, contribute thereto, their lustrous brightness. The Sea gives in the azure of its waves for ornament; as also the Earth produceth its varieties of herbs, flowers, and fruits, for enamel of the outside, and its whole body, for a perfect counter-poise: its stony Quarries, Metals, and Minerals, for to exercise the wisest, and learnedst Naturalists, in the search and knowledge of this great Creator: The lesser and inferior animals, are the small chimes; and Man himself, is the great Clock, which is to strike, the several hours, and so perpetually to render thanks, honour, glory, praise, service, and worship, to this Almighty Maker.  
And the most vocal Clock to celebrate the praises of his Creator, (that these later Ages have produced) was this Man of men, our most pious late Lord Protector.  
All this, I say, his Highness knew full well, as our great Patriarch, his Prototype did, and the necessity too, that there was on the people's parts, to give the most gracious Lord of Heaven and Earth all adoration due to him; wherefore we find, how he enjoined such solemn observancies upon them, which though but barely typical, and ceremonial; yet were hugely necessary to strike a reverend dread of the Divine Majesty, into so rebellious a people.  
Our Princely Patriarch therefore, and his Parallel, our late Lord Protector, knowing themselves (as all other Rulers, and persons in power are) to be set upon Pinnacles, to change their words into Laws, and lives into Examples, were the first and foremost always, in the practice of this, and all other piety. The lives of Princes (they knew) are more read, than their laws, and generally more practised; yea, their examples pass altogether as current as their coin, and what they do, they seem to command to be done; cracks in glasses, though past mending, are no great matters, but the least flaw in a Diamond, is hugely considerable; yea, their personal faults, become National injuries. It is held by the Learnedest amongst the Ancients, that when the Sun stood still in the time of Joshua, the very Moon, and all the Stars, did make the like pause; so all Princes, and Governors, whose spirit is the first wheel, whereunto all the other are fastened, it is necessary should give a good and godly motion.  
Our sacred second Moses, therefore found himself (as his Princely Archetype before him did) obliged to be exemplary to his people, in all kinds of piety, proposing no Highness to himself, equal to that, which he enjoyed in his humiliation before his God: he never found himself well at ease, but when he was paying those duties of piety, praise, honour, and glory, reverend service, and worship, to his Divine Majesty. Insomuch, that we may more truly say of him, that which the Pagan Orator said of his Emperor, 
Plin.  Sanctiores effecit ipsos Deos, exemplo suae venerationis; He made the gods themselves more holy, by the example of his pious worship: that is, he gave a reverence extraordinary to Religion, by his manner of serving it. The verity of this is evident, for we find that he has so happily inflamed all his people about him, and such as well studied him, to so high a pitch of piety, by his most exemplary good words, and works, that we can esteem them no otherwise, than as Thunderclaps to Hinds, for the powerful production of Salvation.  
His Highness was unquestionably one of the greatest patterns of Princely piety that ever the World produced, since that of our first Moses. He had so great a fear of the Lord, that he apprehended the least shadow of sin, as death. Then he had a love so tender towards his God, that his heart was always as a flaming lamp, that burned perpetually before the Sanctuary of the living Lord. His faith had a bosom as large, as that of eternity, his hope was as the bow of Heaven, ail furnished with Emeralds, which can never lose its force, more than they their lustre, and so his piety must of necessity have been an eternal source of blessings. His care to gather, together so many living-stones, for the edification of God's house, (that is to say, so many good, godly, and religious men) has been more than all theirs, that have heaped together so many dead ones, in stately piles of Temples. Finally, his whole heart, we know, was perpetually towards God; his feet were ever walking towards the Church, or his other devout retirements: his arms were perpetually employed in all manly and pious exercises, and works of charity; and his whole body, was most dutifully disposed to the sacrifices and victims of his soul; and both his soul, and body, with all his faculties, were a constant Holocaust to the Lord: Insomuch, that neither all the cares and confusions of this World, nor multiplicity of affairs, that he has been ever involved in, have been at all able to withdraw any part, or parcel of him, from the course of true piety; but he has always appeared in the midst of all those encumbrances, as those sweet Fountains (which we read of) that are found in the salt-sea, or those happy fishes, that do still preserve their plump white substance, fresh and free from the infection of all the brackish waters that they live in: his pious spirit could be never so much disturbed, as to be extinguished, or taken off, from the refreshment of his devotions; as we shall see more at large in our next Ascent, and happy Parallel.    

The twentieth Ascent.  
MOses was endowed by God, with a most singular gift, and spirit of prayer, by which he was extraordinary powerful with the Lord, and prevailed with him, almost how he pleased. We find in the sacred Text, that he had so great a familiarity with the Lord, that he was called the friend of God: it is no wonder then, that he should be endowed with so extraordinary a spirit of prayer, the only means to communicate with the Almighty, and violently persuade him to divert his indignation from his people.  

Exod. 8. Exod▪ 9 Exod. 10.  First let us see, how by the power of our Moses his prayers, and by the frequent spreading of his hands, before, and crying unto, the Lord, all the plagues that were inflicted upon hardhearted Pharaoh himself, and his perverse people, were graciously removed.  
By the same powerful means, does he appease the great anger of the Lord, kindled against his own rebellious people, for their frequent murmurings and clamorous repine against himself, and his servant Moses, imputeing constantly no less than murder, base ambition, and malicious designs, unto him: yet for all that, the Lord confers nothing but miracles upon them, at the importunity of our Moses his prayers. And first, he makes bitter waters sweet, for such unsavoury sinners, 
Exod. 15. Exod. 16. Exod. 17.  as they were: then he procures bread to fall down from heaven, as from a replenished Oven, to fill their rebellious bellies: Then no less than a stony-rock, yet not so hard as their obdurate hearts, must be set on broach, and made to afford a River of water, to satisfy their contumacious thirsts. In short, our Moses prevailed so often with his prayers, to mollify the Lords displeasure against them, that one would think that reads the Story, there had been a vy, between mercies, and rebellions, and a sharp contention between the Lord, and them, whether they should offend, or he forgive oftenest.  
Then see the unnatural sedition of his brother Aaron, and his companion Miriam, 
Num. 12.  and her leprosy cured by his prayer: But there is one thing yet, that we may well instance in for all, when the people's inveterateness in sin, had added idolatry, to all their other disobediences, and made themselves worse than beasts, in rendering the honours due to God alone, to a pitiful creature of their own making, a gay Golden Calf forsooth; and the Lord was so highly offended with them, that he would have utterly destroyed them all for it: then our Moses betook himself again to this his tried weapon of prayer, and openly assaults the Lord so with his close arguments, expostulations, 
Exod. 32.11.  and importunities, as if he had been fencing with him, beseeching him, after this most earnest, and humble manner, Lord, why doth thy wroth wax hot against thy people, 
V. 12.  which thou hast brought forth of the Land of Egypt with a great power, 
V. 13.  and with a mighty hand? wherefore should the Egyptians say, for mischief did he bring them out, 
V. 14.  to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn thee from thy fierce wrath, and repent thee of this evil against thy people; Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them; I will multiply your seed, as the Stars of Heaven, and all this Land that I have spoken of, will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. Then the Text immediately following, tells us, That the Lord repented him of the evil, which he thought to do unto his people.  
And when the Lord was angrily resolved at another time utterly to extirpate the people, for their incessant rebellions, Moses made such another, 
Num. 14.  though something longer, yet no less effectual, prayer, to the Lord for them, and the Lord, as if he had been able to deny his Moses nothing, or as if (with reverence be it spoken) good Moses his word, had been a Law unto him, he presently replied, I have pardoned them according to thy word: nay, how often has the Lord desired Moses to let him alone, as if he had been struggling with him, and tired with the importunity of his prayer. It would make another Book of Numbers, to recount the particular Deliverances, which that disobedient people had from the Divine wrath, how often from being consumed by fire, and eaten up by fiery Serpents, and the like, by our Moses his most powerful, and importunate prayers: as also their many miraculous Victories over their enemies; all of which, were obtained, more by his prayers, than their forces: as particularly in the defeat of the Amalekites, who were visibly more conquered, by the holding up of his hands, than by their dextrous managery of arms; our Moses his blessings upon, and prayers for, them, being of more force against the enemy, and gave them more deadly blows, than all their Cuttleaxes, and warlike Engines.  

The Parallel.  
By so much as has been showed in our Ascent, of our Moses his happy power in prayer, I doubt not, but it does plainly appear, how great a preservation it was, to that perverse people, to have a Prince and Captain over them, that had so familiar an address unto God: and I hope it will never more be called in question, by any knowing Christian, whether that Divine gift of prayer, be a qualification equal to the dignity, or requisite to the profession of a Prince? though I know, some of our Modern Politics, have impiously gone about to dispute that too; whom for shame I shall forbear to name, though I'll be bold to give the World, the ungodly words of one of the Principal of them. Non suadeo Principi, stupenda in fanis latitatione, neglectis iis quorum cura eum maxime solicitum tenere debet, omne otium conterere, aut sanctuli nomen, gestusve affectare: bonus animus gratissimus Deo cultus est: & optimè orat, qui officio gnaviter functus patriae incolumitatem procur averit, unde tot hominum salus dependet, etc. Now, not to trouble you with a literal translation (for I hold the words not worth it) he tells us, That he would not have a Prince addicted to too much Devotion; nor to affect to be a little Saint: he says his prayers best (quoth he) that does his business happiliest, etc.  
It is in my opinion, a very pitiful, vain, and a false presumption, that this Gentleman makes, and never indeed can be brought into question, by any discreet, or sober Christian, whether a Prince should be so addicted to Devotion, as to intend no other business at all? that were a madness in any private person, much more than must it be in any man that is concerned in the public: for besides the inconsistency of such a Devotion, with every man's particular vocation, (which God has commanded likewise to be followed) it is altogether in its own self, unacceptable to God: Otherwise we should enter into Religion, as if we were to be lifted upon a rack, to be tortured; and I say besides, it is an injury to the Lord himself, to think, there can be no true piety or devotion in the World, if our bodies be not torn in pieces, and our spirits quite beaten down. And therefore Gilbertus a great Doctor, writing upon that sentence of Paul to the Crinthians, 
Doctor Gilbertus. 1 Cor. 6.  Glorificate & portate Deum in Corpore vestro, Glorify and bear God in your bodies, makes this most elegant, and remarkable observation: You must bear Jesus Christ, not drag him, Portari vult Christus non trahi, So he proceeds, Non est foenum Christus, sed flos campi, & fasciculus mirrhae, inter ubera sponsae, etc. Now, he plainly drags him, who makes himself surcharged with him, and who indiscreetly afflicts himself in the service that he rendereth to the Divine Majesty, not considering that Jesus Christ is the flower of the field, or the poesy of myrrh, between the breasts of the Spouse, and not a load of hay, to be drawn, under which we must needs groan, like a wheel ill-greased.  
This was so foolish a superstition, and so old a one, that the Philosopher himself, a Pagan, 
Senec. Epist. 114.  could not but find fault with, when he said, Superstitio amandos timet, quos colit, violate. It is a very fond superstition indeed, saith this wise Pagan, and raised by simple people only, which through a gross error, fears, what it should love by virtue, and very scarcely can have any knowledge of, or approach to God, but by violating his Clemency (a thing most hateful to him) through a false presumption of his severity. They must be very silly souls indeed, and have very little or no feeling of the Divinity, that can apprehend God (whom we know to be infinitely merciful) to be as terrible as a Minos, or a Radamanthus, mentioned in poetical Fables, who were always represented in those fictions, to be most spiteful deities, to come and pry into all humane actions, to number all men's steps, and taking pleasure to prepare punishments for them, were wont to raise themselves Trophies, upon poor men's ruins.  
It would be a very pretty piece of Christianity, one would think, now to be preached, That devotion, and all labours in Religion, should be undertaken by us, without any relaxation, perpetual disturbances undergone by Christians, without any repose, and miseries without any remedy, or comfort at all. Sure this must be thought the extreme of all extremes; and yet our Modern Politics will suppose, so sottish a devotion as this, that they may the better lay their foundation, of a wretched incuriousnesse in Religion, and profane neglect of that Divine duty. But I must not make it my business now, to enter the lists formally, with that sort of people (who we know are accustomed upon all occasions, to throw dirt in the very face of the Deity itself) for I have another way to go at present, and so will hasten to our Parallel.  
For my part, I am fully satisfied, and so I hope, will be every discreet and understanding Christian, that the frequent exercise of prayer, is as necessary to a Prince, Governor, or Statesman, for the well management of all affairs, as it is for an animal to breath. The spirit of the best man, we know, is no otherwise than as a Sundial, which is of no use at all, but when the Sun reflects upon it. Nor can any Prince, or Statesman in like manner expect, that his understanding should receive any true light or direction for the government of people, if not enlightened with the true rays of God: and that light is not to be had, but by the means of prayer: The practice therefore of this holy duty, has been ever styled, and esteemed by the holy Fathers of the Church, The Key of Heaven, and the confusion of Hell, the Standard of our Christian warfare, the conservation of our peace, the bridle of our impatience, the guardian of our temperance, the seal of chastity, the advocate of offenders, the consolation of the afflicted, the passport of the dying, etc. for the Just do live and die in prayer, as the Phoenix in her perfumes. A Christian doubtless without prayer, is no more than a Bee without a sting, which can neither make honey, nor wax. From the defect of this duty, have proceeded all the desolations of the earth: from hence are daily derived so many falls, so many miseries; for that men will not apply themselves to taste the things of God, in prayer, as our glorious Patriarch, and his Parallel have always done.  
No man living can deny sure, but that it was the perpetual preservation of the children of Israel, that their Moses had that happy faculty to its perfection; for it is manifest, that they had otherwise been swallowed up, by the Divine vengeance; and in stead of being brought to the Land of Canaan, they had been fearfully cut off from the land of the Living.  
I hope it is already made as evident, in our past Parallels, that we have received as great Deliverances, and preservations, by the means of our second Moses, which could never have been, but by his free, frequent, and powerful, accesses to God in prayer; as I shall show more at large presently. In the mean time, I will be bold from these two great patterns of piety, to draw a closing Corollary, and lay down the whole state of the question (if it may be worthy to be called one) in one single naked Proposition.  
Every good Prince, being a public Person, and charged with so important affairs, that depend wholly upon Providence, and expect the motion of the Divine will, aught, after these two grand exemplars of Piety and Policy, to consider, That he is to hold a great deal of commerce with Heaven, where his business so much lies; and therefore should resolve, to set apart according to the proportion of his time, and other occasions, some principal hours, (of leisure, shall I say, or business▪ at least) of retirement, to negotiate with God particularly about his government: in imitation, I say, of these two greatest Statesmen, our first and second Moses, who had so familiar a recourse to the Almighty, that as the one was, so the other, for aught I know, may be, entitled, The friend of God. O matchless Title!  
His most incomparable Piety, knew sufficiently, what Gregory Nazianzen tells us, That if we are to have the Lord in our minds so often as we do breath, How much more suitable it is, to a Statesman, to be conversant in that holy duty, having most need to suck in the lifegiving spirit, as from the Fountain of the Word, by the means of prayer. It is not therefore unfitly styled, The spirit of prayer; for it is the breath of the inward-man. Os meum aperui, saith the Scripture, & attraxi spiritum; I opened my mouth, and drew in the spirit. We are all ready to be choked with flesh and fat, and to be devoured with flames of concupiscence, unless we upon all occasions, open our mouths to take in that gentle air of God.  
By this blessed means it was, that our incomparable Pair, our first and second Moses, have arrived at this great perfection: to whom, the Lord has vouchsafed so much of his familiarity, as to treat with them as friends, and to declare himself (as it were) unable to deny them any thing.  
As for the first, we have seen enough already in sacred Story, and for our glorious second Moses, our own manifold observations, and frequent experimental knowledges, may be sufficient to inform us. For that his late most Serene Highness had the purity and excellency of this precious spirit, is not only manifest, to those that have had the happiness to be present at his daily spreading of his hands, and pouring forth of his spirit, before the Lord, and to join with him in his Devotions; but to the whole Nation, except the most stupid, and malicious part of it, that either will not, or cannot, be sensible of the great benefits, that we have for so long a time received by his powerful addresses unto God. How many times has the Divine vengeance been diverted from falling upon our sinful heads, by his importunate intercessions? How many pestilences, famines, and other plagues, (which our impenitency, hardness of heart, and ugly ingratitude, had as well deserved, as either the cursed Egyptians, or murmuring Israelites) have been kept off from us, by his means? Has he less often than the former Moses, conquered his enemies, more by his own prayers, than his soldier's arms? Has he not by that means obtained (as we have seen) a secret virtue, to be fastened to his Standards? making winds and tempests to fight under his Ensign, that we may almost cry out with the Poet, 
Claud.  O nimium dilecte Deo, etc. How often has he opened, as aforesaid, Lands inaccessible, calmed stormy Seas, taken Towns impregnable, and with petit handfuls of men, discomfited huge Armies? How often have we seen him (give me leave to repeat those wonders) cleaving of Rocks, hewing through Mountains, and to do the works of Giants, with the reputed Pygmes of the World, and find facility in all that humane reason conceived impossible? And how, I say again, could all this be, but that the Lord could no more deny any thing to the prayer of this his dear servant, and favourite, our second, than he could to the former Moses? His fair soul, was no whit less elevated upon the pitch of highest contemplations, from his very infancy, than the former great Moses was. His high soul, was not unlike that Ibis, the stately bird of Egypt, that always builds her nest in Palms: So it was perpetually conversant in high contemplations, and had no more impressions of earth, than the supreme Sphere of celestial Bodies. Or else, more truly yet, resembling the Palmtree itself, where that brave Bird builds, which as it is the tallest and straightest of all trees, so bears its best, and most solid strength on its top: So had our most gracious Protector, and second Moses, all his vigour always in God, and for God. His life was a perpetual Sabbath, Sabathum delicatum, a delicious Sabbath, as the Prophet calls it, nourishing, and reposing his soul, with the constant draught of this holy spirit of prayer. He made it not only his lock and key of the day, but his bolt of the night; nor only so, but his very meals, and recreations; and all that, his Highness did, more in a becoming silence, than any exterior ostent, resembling those Rivers which run under the earth, choosing to steal from the eyes of the world, to seek for the sight of his God only; So his Devotions did ever study solitude and retirements, and were always best, when shut up within themselves.  
Nay, farther yet, after the example of a greater than Moses, that is our Blessed Saviour himself, he used to spend many whole nights in prayer, pernoctans in oratione, as the Scripture expresseth it: and like those best of Christians, 
Luc.  in the Primitive times, that were called the Crickets of the night, because at any time, if some interruption of sleep happened, they ever made it out, with ejaculatory prayers, and elevations of the heart. Those that love God truly, will have recourse to him, at all hours, and upon all occasions, not confining their devotions to time, or place. Ionas, and the three Children, found sufficient Chapels, in the Whale's belly, and the fiery Furnace, because the love of God, the wisest Architect, had erected them, and the Lord was as near them, in the entrails of a Fish, or the midst of Flames, as he would have been, in his own most holy Temple.  
In fine, our second Moses has not only reached after the former, as we have already seen, but he has summed up all example, to perfect himself in the practice of this Divine duty. He ever distributed his fastings, watchings, prayer, repast, counsel, study, with so prudent an oeconomy, for the service of his God, and held his life so admirably interlaced, between action, and contemplation, that he made on earth, a perfect figure of Angels ascending, and descending, receiving already a taste of those benefits, which he was to hope for, in the other; insomuch, that he seemed to have his soul in Heaven, whilst he was on earth, to understand mysteries, and enjoy an antipast of Paradise itself. O thrice, and four times happy were we, if we could have, known our own happiness, to have had such a Person set over us, by God, and his own Divine virtues, that had so clear and free access to the Throne of Grace, and so near an union to God himself, as a finite was capable of, with an infinite, and might be styled, as the former Moses was, The familiar friend of God, and was not only always ready, to stand in the gap, between us, and the Divine vengeance, as the first Moses did; but was wont to storm Heaven for us, and pull down blessings by force upon us, though we were a most ungrateful, and undeserving people; nor so only, but that was always ready to instruct us by his precept, as well as practise, if we could dare to follow him, in all other pieces of Piety, and Divine duty; as we have in part seen already, and shall more at large in the next succeeding Ascents, and Parallels.    

The one and twentieth Ascent.  
MOses was a most exemplary Person, in all the practical parts of true Piety; He had always so reverend, and faithful a feeling of the Majesty of God, as not to serve him, with exterior shows, and semblances only of Religion; but sincerely, cordially, 
Sap. 1.  and constantly, Sentiendo de domino in bonitate, as the Book of Wisdom describes it, always thinking on the Lord, with a true good heart.  
This was most eminently visible in the whole current of his thorough Religious life, but principally remarkable in the denial of himself, and all his own desires, when any thing that concerned the glory of his God lay at the stake, or was called into the least question, submitting always all worldly ends, and humane reluctancies, to the interests of Heaven, and pure Religion. Was not this, I say, first notorious in him, when he would hazard the disoblidgement of his wife (a thing that men ordinarily fear, 
Exod. 4.25.  more than a disobedience to God) nay would incur her displeasure so far, as to be thought, and called by her, a cruel hardhearted person, and a bloody husband, rather than omit the performance of one Tittle of his Almighty Master's commands. Nay, State Policy itself, which now adays is held to be almost inconsistent with true Piety, could not hinder his heroic practice of piety. And this did most manifestly appear, in his refusal of all the favours that Pharaohs Court, 
Exod. 2.  or his daughter's countenance, could afford him, for the service of his God, postponing every thing of his own affection and interests, to the zeal for his Religion, and the quiet of a good conscience. This is, I say, a most remarkable piece of Princely piety indeed, to hold all the Maxims of State, and proper interests whatsoever, under the rules of Religion, and Conscience, and to be disposed, rather to hazard all, than to lose God by one sole sin. This noble Princely piece of piety, to its perfection, both of profession, and practise, our great Patriarch showed in the whole course of his life, loudly proclaiming, and as strictly observing, to love the Lord God, 
Exod. Num. Levit. Deut.  with the whole heart, and him only to serve, which no man can do, that mixeth any thing of humane, with divine obligations; that is but to serve God by pieces.  

The Parallel.  
We have alreay gone far in the discourse of our great Patriarches, and his happy Parallels, most Princely and exemplary piety; clearly to be collected from the visible zeal, they ever bore to God's glory, and devotions to his Service; but all this, may be said to be (as indeed it is in most of this Age) but a mere outside only, the very heart and marrow of Religion consisting in the interior, which we can make no other judgement of, than by the apparent practice of piety, true godly and religious lives of men, and a dutiful submission of all humane interest, to God; and if all this, were ever eminent in any Persons, it has been in these two great Princes, our first and second Moses.  
Now it is very observable, that all this Princely practice of true piety, is but an effect, or consequent at least, of that zeal to God's glory, before spoken of, and of that precious spirit of prayer; 
Thom. Aquin. 2▪ 2. q. 32▪  for true Devotion, as the great Aquinas has described it, is nothing but a prompt will to the service of God; his words are these, Voluntas quaedum prompta tradendi se ad ea, quae pertinent ad Dei famulatum: a very prompt, and affectionate vivacity in things, which concern God's business. Nay we may find as much said by Porphyry himself a Pagan, and one of the most Atheistical ones, 
Porphyrius  that ever lived. Deus, saith he, omnium pater, nullius indiget, sed nobis est bene, cum eum adoramus, ipsam vitam, precent ad eum facientes, per inquisitionem, & imitationem, de ipso: that is, God the Creator, and Father, of this great Universe, hath no need at all of our service, but it is our good to honour, serve, and adore him, making our life a perpetual prayer to him, by a diligent inquiry after his perfections, and a holy imitation of his virtues. All this, holy Augustin, the Oracle of the Latin Church, recites out of that Heathen, to teach us faith from the Philosophy of the most perfidious, and Religion, from the writings of the most irreligious man that ever lived: just as if an honest man, should pull a thing stolen, out of a Thief's coffer. And it is indeed a most evident truth, that the best life, is the best prayer; and therefore holy Nazianzen tells us, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Nazian. in Jamb.  is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a dumb work, is better than the most eloquent Oration; a golden tongue, and a leaden heart seldom march together: yet we know, that some there are, who have appearance enough of the spirit, and will pray like Angels, but practise like Devils, resembling the Ass in the Fable, that carries to the Hothouse daily, wherewithal to shift and cleanse others, and yet go themselves perpetually bemired and slovenly: or yet more truly like the impertinent drone, they can go buzzing up and down with their empty prayers, and yet neither make honey, nor wax. To what purpose, in the mean time, is it, to be Vox, & praeterea nihil? to warble like a Nightingale, or a well-touched Lute, and to be deaf to all harmony? Is it not to be as the Apostle tells us, but as sounding brass, at best, or as a tinkling symbal? Undoubtedly, all the devotion of a soul truly Christian, tendeth to practise, as the line to its centre; and therefore holy Cyprian likewise tells us, Philosophi factis, 
Cyprian l. de patientia.  non verbis sumus, nec magna loquimur, sed vivimus. Our Philosophy, and Christian wisdom, saith he, is a prudence of works, not of words, and we are to live, not talk great things.  
We should march in our Christian warfare, like the brave soldiers of Gideon, with the torch in our hands, as well as the Trumpet on our lips: and therefore it was said of the great and holy Athanasius, that his voice was a Thunderclap, and his life a Lightning flash: and truly words, let them be never so good, can never thunder well, if the living example enlighten not.  
All which, our most gracious late Protector, and second Moses, knew full well, and practised accordingly, in imitation of his great Master, the first Moses, our Princely Patriarch, who was not only ready to exercise his holy spirit of prayer, in the behalf of, and for his people, but also to make practice of his piety before them, to inflame their lives to holiness and charity, as well as to preserve their persons in peace, and plenty; to be active in his obedience to the Almighty's will, as well as outwardly zealous for his glory.  
Now, by this only it is plain, that our first and second Moses have clearly been of a quite contrary Religion, to Machiavelli, before cited, 
Mach. Princ. c. 2. Decad. c. 12.13.  and all his Crew, who would have a Prince, or Statesman, practise Religion, only according to the necessity of their affairs, and to learn how they may sometimes be wicked, that is, to make show of Religion, and honesty, so far forth as may serve their turns; but in very deed, to be complete knaves.  
Every man in power forsooth, must be a Hypocrite, his face always masked, and the vizard too, aught to be more lovely, than the visage, he must make his apparencies better than his substance, and court opinion, more than conscience. O rare Machiavillian divinty, and very pious policy! But our Patriarch Moses, (a wiser man sure, than a million of Machiavels) we find, was clean of another opinion, as well as practise too; he understood sufficiently, how the Lord Almighty had ever reproved, condemned, and chastised, with a most particular indignation of his heart, that abominable plastered kind of life in Princes, as well as common people; and therefore he ordered in his Law, that the Swan, and the Ostrich, should never be made use of, in Divine Sacrifices. 
Levit. 11.18.  Upon which Mosaical ordinance, all the Interpreters of Scripture, are jointly of opinion, that the Swan was first rejected, notwithstanding the whiteness of her feathers, and sweetness of note, so much ascribed to her; because under those pure white plumes, she hides so black a flesh. Then for the Ostrich, which carries only an ostentuous boast of fair large wings, and very little or no flight at all, she could never be admitted into the number of Divine victims: so much the Lord abhors apparencies, fruitless, and effectless.  
Now, I would very fain know of all those pitiful Politicians, who pursue like Machiavillian Maxims, with such corrupt hypocritical spirits, as the Florentine proposeth, what they will answer me further upon this Ascent of our Moses, and his Parallel? For the first, it is clear, that if he had been to choose and cherish, only a Religion, that suited best with State policy, or temporal designs, it had been much more prudence in him, to have joined himself with the Religion of Egypt, and to have been associated with the Magicians themselves, than to have kept so close to the Commandments of God. And if he had been to value his private interest, before his honesty, and conscience, sure the powerful favours of a great King's Court, and more enticing importunities of a Princess, would have been greater attractives to his ambition, than a poor, simple, Shepherd's life, in a Desert.  
Nay, before we approach our precious Parallel Moses, what can they, I mean the Disciples of that wise Secretary, say, to another glorious Countryman of ours, one of the most Christian, and Victorious Princes, that ever swayed a Sceptre, and that was Constantine the Great? First we shall find upon a clear account, twelve or thirteen great Persons, at that very time, all arguing upon the Diadem of the Empire with him. Now, if there had been any necessity for him to despoil himself of honesty, and innocency, that he might be invested with the Crown, and Palls imperial, Why did he take the way of the Empire, by that of sanctity? If use must be made of Religion only as of an Instrument of State, and that alone to be taken up, which hath the greatest vogue, and credit, in the opinion of the people, be it right, or wrong; Why went he about then to fix himself upon Christian Religion, and at that very time, when the greatest part of the World, was ingulpht in Gentilism?  
We see how Maxentius, like a miserable Machiavillian, courted that interest, and according to the ordinary custom of the people of Rome, caused all the pretended Books of the Sybylls', to be turned over, consulted with the Augurs, and Aruspices, and accordingly offered sacrifices to his Pagan gods: all this gave him a reputation of piety, with a people then as Infidel as himself. Why did not our Constantine pursue the same politic ways? Why did he fix the sign of the Cross upon his Standards, which was enough too, to disoblige his own Army, that very figure, being then esteemed most fatal, and of an ill presage, by the most part of the World? Moreover, what help or succour could he possibly expect, from the poor Christians at that time? Had he a Design to extract Treasures from their coffers? they were most wretchedly poor, and despoiled of all possession. Was he of opinion, that he might raise huge Armies of them, for his service? they were so daily cut down, that they were scarce visible at all: one only month, not long before, saw seventeen thousand heads of them lopped off, and tumbling upon the ground? How could he persuade himself, that there was any considerable humane strength in their Religion, when they were all either massacred, maimed, or banished? Could he look for counsel amongst them? they were men of no esteem at all in the World, and thought utterly void of all learning and policy. Was it any credit, that he could expect they might confer upon his Cause? they were most despicable creatures, and trampled underfoot by every body, like dirt in the streets, reputed mere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Apostle tells us, as the dung, and offscouring of the world. Behold here a piece of State-prudence, fit only for the pens of Angels, whereunto the brains, and wit, of this pitiful Florentine, could never arrive: his cunning alas could reach no further, than some petit humane tracts, indeed mere knacks of Atheistical knavery. This is a light, whereat all the bleared eyes of those buzzards are dazzled. This is an Abyss wherein all carnal men are quite lost, and swallowed up: For we find that our Great Constantine's prudence, grounded upon Divine providence, and his own piety, has conducted him to the Sovereignty of the Empire of the whole World, by degrees, utterly different from those, which Mr. Machiavelli hath prepared to lead his Prince in.  
On the other side, do but look a little on his son-in-law Julian, coming to the Empire, and holding it by Machiavillian Rules only, how well did he prosper in his policies? who merely out of spite to the Christians, not any affection, to the Jews, indeed to baffle Christianity itself, resolved to re-edify the Temple of Jerusalem, and to that purpose issued out a Commission, to an Infidel like himself, one called Alippius: but mark how his Machiavillian plot succeeded, Balls of fire were seen to issue out of the very foundations, as fast as they laid them, which made their design as frivolous, as the place was inaccessible: after all this observe what became of him, he reigned but one year, & seven months, and then died struck with a blow from Heaven, which the Pagan's themselves confess to be ignorant, of from whence it came: howsoever, this is most certain, that he died perfectly phrenetick, which caused him to fill his hand with his own blood, and cry out, Thou hast overcome, O Galilaean, and so dying, has left a memory so odious behind him, that it stinks still, and so for ever will, to all Posterity.  
I might be infinite, if I should run over all the examples, that we have before us, of such impious Politicians, who have made all the interests of God, and Religion, subservient to their own base ends. Great Volumes might be written of their miserable mortalities, which make all theatres at this day to resound, and Tragedians to deplore. I shall only now therefore produce our Parallel, to convince all those pitiful Politicians, of the Machiavillian make, and so conclude this discourse.  
Did ever any person so contradict all the Maxims of humane wisdom, and struggle with, and against, all proper interests, as our second Moses has done? If it had not been for his obligations to God, true Religion and a pure conscience, what madness must it needs have appeared in his Highness, to have still been opposite to all prevalent parties, which in plain humane probabilities, would have destroyed him, and us?  
As first, the late King, and his corrupted Court; Then the Kirk, and all its Consistorians; Then the violent levelling Parties within his own body, and all the men of metal, forsooth, that were for the fifth Monarchy; Then the long-lived (as his Highness himself used to call it) long-reigning, and indeed, ruining Parliament, with all its appertinencies, and divers others since, that, it may be, had the same, or worse designs. Good God, with what wonder, and amazement am I seized, when I consider the dangerous difficulties, his most Serene Highness has encountered, for the honour and glory of his God, the good of this ungrateful people, and the satisfaction of his own conscience, upon grounds utterly unpolitick, as to humane apprehension, and clearly contradictory, to his proper interests.  
This high towering Eagle, as we have seen, winged only with Piety, and Religion, from the very first time that he was called forth into action, to this very day, could never be found (as aforesaid) beating of his wings, in those lower Regions of the air, conversing with those pitiful humane policies, but borne, I say always, upon those heavenly wings aforesaid; soared always amongst lightnings themselves, tempests, and whirlwinds, and ever had his eye, where the day broke; that was, on God, the Fountain of Light, and his own conscience, the sure Orient of all his pious actions.  
The great Secretaries of Nature, do observe further, of that brave Bird, I mean the Eagle, that her feathers, are so imperious, that they will not mix, with the plumage of other Birds, if they are by chance cast in amongst them; they will straight consume the others, as with a dull file: and can the Lord of Heaven and Earth, who is an incomparable wisdom, a store of riches inexhaustible, a purity infinite, be mingled with such feeble pretensions, as those of humane interests? which can have nothing but frenzy for beginning, misery for inheritance, and impurity for ornament? Our Mosaical Protector therefore, was ever seen, to separate himself, from his self, denying his own desires, disowning his own glories, and adhering only to the interests of God, and giving the honour of all his actions to him; as we may hear his Highness yet speaking for himself, in a printed Speech of his, to a late Parliament.  
It was, say some, the cunning of the Lord Protector (I take it to myself) it was the craft of such a man, and his plot that hath brought it about. And as they say, in other Countries: There are five or six cunning men in England, that have skill, they do all these things: Oh what Blasphemy is this! etc. Because men that are without God in the world, and walk not with him, and know not what it is to pray, or believe, and to receive returns from God, and to be spoken unto by the Spirit of God, who speaks without a written Word sometimes, yet according to it: God hath spoken heretofore in divers manners, let him speak as he pleaseth. Hath he not given us liberty? nay, is it not our duty to go to the Law, and to the Testimonies? and there we shall find, that there have been impressions in extraordinary cases, as well without the written Word, as with it, and therefore there is no difference in the thing thus asserted, from truths generally received, except we will exclude the Spirit, without whose concurrence, all other Teachings are ineffectual; He doth speak to the Hearts and Consciences of men, and leadeth them to his Law and Testimonies, and there he speaks to them, and so gives them double teachings, according to that of Job, God speaketh once, yea twice; and that of David, God hath spoken once, yea twice have I heard this. Those men that live upon their Mumpsimus and Sumpsimus, their Masses and Service-Books, their dead and carnal Worship, no marvel if they be strangers to God, and the works of God, and to spiritual dispensations. And because they say, and believe thus, must we do so too? we in this Land have been otherwise instructed, even by the Word, and Works, and Spirit of God. To say that men bring forth these things, when God doth them judge you if God will bear this. I wish that every sober heart, though he hath had temptations upon him of deserting this CAUSE of God, yet may take heed how he provokes, and falls into the hands of the living God by such blasphemies as these, according to the tenth of the Hebrews, If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. (It was spoken to the Jews, that having professed Christ, apostatised from him) what then? nothing but a fearful falling into the hands of the Living God.  
They that shall attribute to this or that Person, the contrivances and production of those mighty things God hath wrought in the midst of us, and that they have not been the revolutions of Christ himself, upon whose Shoulders the GOVERNMENT is laid, they speak against God, and they fall under his hand without a Mediator, that is, if we deny the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the glory of all his works in the World, by which he Rules Kingdoms, and doth administer, and is the Rod of his strength, we provoke the Mediator; And he may say, I'll leave you to God, I'll not intercede for you, let him tear you to pieces, I'll leave thee to fall into God's hands, thou deniest me my Sovereignty and Power committed to me, I'll not intercede nor mediate for thee, thou fallest into the hands of the Living God. Therefore whatsoever you may judge men, for, and say, This man is cunning, and politic, and subtle, take heed, again I say, how you judge of his Revolutions, as the Products of men's inventions.  
Then, how much he valued the interests of God, and his influence upon all his actions, we may see what he says in the same Speech.  
— and were it not that I can make some Dilemmas upon which to resolve some things of my Conscience, Judgement, and Actions, I should sink at the very prospect of my Encounters; some of them are general, some are more special, supposing this Cause, or this Business, must be carried on, either it is of God, or of Man, if it be of Man, I would I had never touched it with a finger; if I had not had a hope fixed in Me that this Cause, and this Business is of God, I would many years ago have run from it. If it be of God, he will bear it up. If it be of Man, it will tumble, as every thing that hath been of man, since the World began, hath done. And what are all our Histories, and other Traditions of actions in former times, but God manifesting himself that he hath shaken and tumbled down, and trampled upon, every thing that he hath not planted? and as this is, so the Alwise God deal with it.  
If this be of humane Structure, and Invention, and it be an old Plotting and Contrivance to bring things to this Issue, and that they are not the Births of Providence, than they will tumble. But if the Lord take pleasure in England, and if he will do Us good, he is able to bear us up; Let the difficulties be whatsoever they will, we shall in his Strength be able to encounter with them. And I bless God I have been enured to Difficulties, and I never found God failing when I trusted in him; I can laugh and sing in my heart when I speak of these things to you, or elsewhere.  
Here is a piece of Divine Policy indeed, and fetched doubtless from the Gates of the City of God. Thus was his late Mosaical Highness always pleading, to acknowledge the truth of that most excellent Maxim, delivered by Augustin, 
August. lib. 3. de libero Arbit. c. 24  Cui bonum non est Deus, sibi ipsi vult esse bonum suum, sicut sibi est Deus, He that holds not God for his greatest good, would be to himself his own good, as God is to himself: He that thinks to escape from the bands of dependence, that he has on God, makes himself his own blessing, and his end his God.  
His Highness therefore so constantly steered himself, and all his actions; by his obedience to Divine Commands, that he chose always to perish with a good conscience, rather than to flourish without one; and though he was from the very beginning, like a pure Oriental Pearl in the salt-sea, so continually involved in the cruel acerbities, and confusions of our times, yet he always kept his Noble lustre, in than midst of them, and by his invincible affection toward, and confidence in, his God, he arose still from them, with more and more splendour, and made all those his perplexities which threatened him with many an imminent ruin, but higher ascents and steps to the Temple of glory. Virtue and Piety, he always compared to, and took for, the Geometrical Cube of his life, which we know in Mathematics, on what side soever it be cast, always finds its Basis.  
Where are you now, all you, I say, who are the pitiful followers of Nicholas Machiavells policy, poor tricks of carnal wisdom? What will become now of all your mighty Maxims of hypocritical knavery?  
Let this one example only of our Christian Moses, parallel to that of his Great Master, the Patriarch, which we have seen in his Ascent, serve now for all, to inform you, That there are none, but such as are perfectly blind, that seek after your Principles, and miserable they must be, who find them, the sottish who will descend to serve them, and the utterly reprobate, and forlorn, who can stoop to tie themselves unto them: but the wisdom that is of Heaven, our Mosaical wisdom, is so transcendently sublime, above all your untrue and trivial inventions, as the light of Stars surpasseth all the sparklings and petit sprey fires of the Earth.  
And though such humane interests and designs, may possibly, and will still, hold the Ascendent in the hearts of some sort of people; yet we find, how my Lords, high, holy, Mosaical spirit, could no more than that of his Grand Archetype, condescend to steer his course, or counsels that way; nor yet more, than those Angels, now standing in glory, follow the example of those Luciferian spirits, which fell by such Machiavillian counsels, into the pit of Perdition.  
No, our most pious late Protector, and second Moses, could never induce himself to court any thing, that had not Heaven, and the Stars to give him for a Reward.  
So I hope, we may at length happily conclude, that under the heart of this our second, as well as we have seen under that of our first Moses, there remained always prepared, a Temple of true Piety; and our Parallel in this particular likewise, to be accomplished.    

The two and twentieth Ascent.  
MOses was not only accomplished in all points of Piety, that were expedient for so great a Prince, and Patriarch; but he was advanced by God, to the highest dignity and perfection of a Prophet; and he was endowed with so extraordinary a spirit of Prophecy, that never any man before, or since him, had the like.  
He was that really, which the old Poets in their fabulous superstitions, fancied of their god Janus, with his double face, to look both before, and behind him.  
The Great Moses was an inspired Prophet, à parte Post, as well as à parte Ante; how could he otherwise have writ the History of the Creation of the World, the Deluge, 
Genes.  and of all those things, that happened before his time; of which there could be no Record, either in writing, or secure Tradition at that time, so his whole Book of Genesis, must of necessity be extracted, out of the Chronicles of Heaven only. That he prophesied of futurities of the highest concernment, 
Exod. Levit. Num. Deut.  his other four Books give sufficient evidence, and to all this, the Lord Almighty himself hath set to the seal of his own approbation; first, that he was faithful in all his house, 
Num. 12.7, 8.  and that with him, he would speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the similitude of the Lord, 
Deut. 34.10.  shall he, behold, etc. Then the Lord is pleased expressly to declare concerning him, That there arose not a Prophet since in Israel, like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Over and above all this, when prophesying of the Mystery of Mysteries, a futurity then of the highest concernment to mankind, 
Deut. 18.15.  the incarnation of the Word, the Spirit of God is pleased to resemble Moses to the Messiah that was to come, saying, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee, a Prophet from the midst of thee, 
Acts 3.22.  of thy Brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken: which words are verbatim quoted, for the proof of that Word incarnate, both by the Proto-Apostle Peter, and the Proto-Martyr Stephen; 
Acts 7.37.  and sure in reason, some great similitude of God he must needs contract, who had so free, frequent, and full, conversation with the Deity, face to face.  

The Parallel.  
That Moses was a great, yea the greatest Prophet of the old Law, I believe is made abundantly manifest by our Divine Ascent; and that our most pious, gracious, and glorious, late Lord Protector, and second Moses, was a great Prophet too, according to his proportion, I hope will be made out by the process of our precious Parallel.  
But now because the name of Prophet here, seems to sound something equivocal, and is really capable of very various acceptions, it may be worth our pains, to dilate a little upon, and to fix, it, before we proceed to make up our happy Parallel.  
Indeed, there has been an infinite number of persons, which have passed under the reputation of Prophets, that in very truth, were no better than Wizards all, or Wiseacres, in our Country Language; that is, in plain English, madmen, fools, or knaves: but all such fanatical Prophets as those, we shall at present pass by, as impertinent to our purpose, and not at all worthy of any share in this discourse; and enter into a cursory debate only concerning those, who have more justifiable pretensions, according to the most genuine signification of the word, to that highest and most sacred humane dignity: and three sorts of men there are, that do, and may lay just challenge and claim, to that most excellent Title, according to all the judgement of Antiquity, as well as the present Age.  
And the first are those inspired witty Prophets, or Prophets of fancy, which go under the common name of Poets.  
The second sort, are those inspired prudent Prophets, or Prophets of Affairs, received now under the stile of Statesmen.  
And the third sort, are those inspired Divine Prophets, or Prophets of Religion, who though they have the only true, legal, and proper right, to that Divine honour; yet the others are not quite to be cast out, or rashly disinherited of that title. The first we may call Airy or Poetical Prophets; the second more Earthy and Political; the third all Fiery and Celestial. For this first sort of Prophets, our Moses was amongst them too, as is sufficiently to be seen, in the many Hymns, that he composed for the glory of his God, and the comfort of his people; as also the many Poetical expressions, phrases, and prosopopieas, that he useth, rendering God, as it were, coming towards us, in his glory and Majesty.  
This first sort of Pretenders, then have indeed a pretty fair claim, right, and title, to be taken into this supereminent Degree; and that may first here appear, from the very name that all good people, in all Ages, ever gave to the skilful in that heavenly mystery, which was always Vates, or Propheta, as much as Diviner, Forseer, or Prophet. Then none will deny, but that they had the only right in times of Gentilism, being the only Pagan Prophets, and Conservators of Religion in those days.  
Nay, both Clemens Alexandrinus, 
Clem. Alexand. Eusebius.  and Eusebius, themselves confess, that the ancient Poets, did receive the mysteries of their Religion, from the Jews, and preserved them still as sacred, though folding of them up, in some Fables.  
As first it is plain, that the History of Deucaleon, was taken out of that of No, and so kept up the remembrance still of that dismal Deluge. The stupendious Story of the retrogradation, and going back of the Sun, in the time of Ezekiah, was continued in that famous fiction of Phaeton.  
They that would behold the building of that proud Tower of Babel, which was undertaken by Nimrod, and his Associates, to climb up, as it were, by ladders into Heaven, and scale its battlements, to see what was done there; shall find it, though under certain allegories, amply described in Homer, 
Homer. Odyss. l. 11.  under the fabulous fancy of the Giants Oetus, and Ephialtes, sons to Iphimedia; where he describes their height, and wonderful vast strength and bigness, and how they went about to lay the mountain Ossa upon that of Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa; all which Story Ovid recites likewise, with divers others in his Metamorphosis, 
Ovid. Metam.  hiding under seeming Fables, many of the most Divine and considerable truths: but most particularly, he recites the manner of the Beginning, and Creation of the World, just as our Moses did, and must of necessity have received it from him. Nay, Homer, 
Homer. Hesiod. Linus.  Hesiod, and Linus, must undoubtedly have borrowed from his Books, all that they said of sanctifying the seventh day.  
The Golden Age, and Reign of Saturn, was gathered as certainly from the most happy estate, wherein Adam was before he sinned. Nay, Orpheus yet ancienter than any of them, confesseth, 
Orpheus.  that he learned divers thing, as we have showed before, from the Doctrine of Moses, mentioning, as we have showed in our Ascent, his very Tables, etc.  
Well might they then have the reputation of Prophets amongst the Heathens, who looked with as much reverence upon the Theogony of Hesiod, as we Christians do upon the Genealogy of Jesus Christ; they valued Homer's Illiads as highly, as we possibly can the Books of the Gospel, and had as great a respect to the Apothegms of Pythagoras, as we can have to the Commandments of God.  
Let them pass on then with their reputation of Prophets still, especially since St. Paul himself, is pleased to afford it to them, saying, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Tit. 1.12, 13.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one of themselves, even a Prophet of their own said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, flow bellies: then asserts their witness to be true, and that is rare indeed for Poets, one would think.  
Well, a most Noble, and inspired faculty, yea Prophesy itself, let Poetry be; for truly, I think, a man may be born to one, as well as the other: But, what is this to our late Great Protector, who never dealt in any such trivial Arts, say some of our Misomusi? No, my Lord never esteemed that honourable, and illustrious Art full of Divine fury, after that manner, though it may be, his greater occupations could not permit him the practice of it: he ever had a most reverend esteem of so Divine a profession, when regulated after the true Divine way, and was a most magnificent Maecenas to its professors.  
For the Profession, 
Aristot. Bembus. Scaliger.  he believed with Aristotle, that it was the Treasury of the Grecian Divinity; and with Bembus, that it was the first bringer in of all Civility, and with Scaliger, that no Philosophers precepts can so soon make an honest, and a valiant good man, as the reading of Virgil, etc.  
Then for the Professors, Was there ever a more bountiful Benefactor, than he has been to all the virtuous persons of it? To instance in one for all; What obliging favours has he cast upon our English Virgil here (I mean Mr. Edm. Waller) and merely for that, and his other virtues, having in some other relations, little capacity enough to deserve them. My Lord has sufficiently showed his own most excellent judgement in Poetry, by his approbation and election of him, to be the object of his great goodness, who is clearly one of the ablest, and most flourishing wits, that ever handled a pen, and he does it, with that natural dexterity and promptness, as if he had begun to write, so soon as to live; and whosoever considers the worth of his Writings, cannot but wonder, how so many graces and beauties, which others labour for, and never attain to, increase in him, as in a soil natural for wit and eloquence; If he goes about to translate any thing, the dead Authors themselves are ready to rise out of their graves, and request him to exchange his Englished Copies, for their Originals. In all his own things, his conceptions are unimitable, his language so sweet and polite, that no Ice can be smother; his sentences are always full of weight, his arguments of force, and his words glide along like a river, and bear perpetually in them, some flashes of lightning, at the end of each period. He perfectly knows how to vary his eloquence upon all occasions, to be facetious in pleasing arguments, grave in severe, polite in laborious, and when the subject requires fervour and invective, his mouth can speak tempests; In short, he is the wonder of Wits, the pattern of Poets, the mirror of Orators in our Age. All this I say of him, not so much out of design to applaud him, as to adore the judgement of our great Augustus, who always chose him out, and crowned him for the Virgil of this Nation; but his favours likewise were extended most liberally, to all those that did deserve them, either here, or in either of his Universities: He was a perfect Philomusus, and why not by that, qualified for a Poetical Prophet? the father having, at least, or aught to have, an equal portion, with the children of the Prophets.  
And so I pass to the second sort of Prophets, that is, of our Prudent and Political ones, commonly called Statesmen, who indeed must foresee futurities too, or they can never order their affairs aright; for if they look not into all casualties of inconvenience, how shall they be ever able to prevent them? And Seneca very wisely forewarns all Statesmen, 
Senec. Epist. 24.  of the necessity of this foresight of all futurities, when he tells them, that they are bound Quicquid fieri potest, quasi futurum cogitare, To conceive, that all things may, that can come to pass.  
And therefore Josephus, that Learned Jew, 
Joseph de Bell Jud. l. 2.  tells us most judiciously also, that Bonum est, dum adhuc stat navis in portu, praecavere tempestatem futuram, & non eo tempore, quo in medias irrueris procellas, trepidare: It is necessary for him that goes to Sea, to foresee a storm coming, if he can, and not to rush into the fury of the Seas; and tremble at the tempest afterwards; that will a veil little, but for to be rendered ridiculous for his own rashness.  
This holds altogether as true in him, that holds the Helm of a Kingdom, or Commonwealth, as in any Pilot of a Ship whatsoever. By this it may be collected, how hugely necessary it is for a Prince, or Supreme Magistrate, to hold a constant communication with God, without whose Divine assistance, it is impossible to manage State matters well, as we have partly showed already: by his Divine inspirations only it must be, that they can prophesy upon affairs, as they should.  

Xenoph. de instit. Cyr.  Therefore that great Statesman Xenophon, who drew so well the portraiture of a perfect Empire, tells us, that Tam erit arduum prescribere quae facienda sunt, quam futura omnia praescire, quod solius Dei est, & majus conditione mortali: It is as difficult to prescribe what is to be done in State-businesses, as to foreknow all futurities, which is proper to God alone, and above the reach of all Mortals: and yet this, that is so hard a task, is imposed upon Princes: So that great Statist proceeds, Ecce aliquid Dei, sic Princeps sustinebit, in ventura scilicet excurrere, qui ut sibi constet, sufficiatque, primum consiliis & conatibus suis, à Deo fulcrum prudentiae & sapientiae jugiter flagitabit, nam illa quae capite humano tantum stat, infirma est & incauta quaedam temeritas, ad nullam autem Provinciam erit inhabilis, ad nullam virtutem indocilis, qui pietatem didicerit, numinisque cultum. Behold here, saith he, how a Prince must of necessity have more than ordinary of God in him, to have an insight into the events of things, and to discourse upon futurities; which true spirit of prophecy, that he may have, that he may be constant to himself, and stable in his counsels, he is perpetually to seek that capacity, and support from God; for the greatest wit of man, of itself, will be nothing but temerity; but he that is a true servant of Gods, and delights in his worship, shall be so inspired, as to be able to encounter all extremities of State, and difficulties of affairs whatsoever.  
It were now to be wished, that our Christian Kings and Princes, would study and practise some of these religious Pagans admirable Divinity, though they will not strive to mount up our Mosaical Ascents, as his late most Serence Highness has done, by which he has arrived, as we have seen, to the perfection of this Political spirit of prophecy.  
The wise Philosopher assures us, 
Seneca.  that Sapiens non semper it uno gradu, sed una via: A prudent person, keeps not always one pace, though still one and the same way, by which way, he must unquestionably mean, this Divine and prophetic way, this way of dependence upon God, in all his counsels; for no way else can be one, all humane ways being various and uncertain, as has been sufficiently showed in our precedent discourses, together with my Lords, our second Moses his, as the firsts great relations to the Lord in all their affairs; so I may hold my hand now, from any further enlargement upon their prophetical Policies: but conclude, that his late Highness, was a most complete Prophet in this sense also.  
So now, we come to the third and last acception of Prophets, and that is the true one indeed, the Divine Prophets, I mean, immediately illuminated by God, as our first Moses was, and had free and frequent conversation with the Deity, even to the enjoyment of him face to face.  
Of this sort of Prophets, we find a distinction likewise in Scripture, and they are termed by the Spirit of God, either Videntes, or Evangelizantes, Seers, or Preachers: The Seers were those which used to converse with God by Visions, or Divine Dreams, and to have some miraculous Revelations of things, and many future Events. This truly is the proper high pitch of prophecy, the sublimest condition sure, that mortality can arrive at, and that, our first Moses had in the greatest proportion of any mere man that ever lived, as we have seen in our Ascent; nor truly dare I venture our second Moses here, to the perfection of Parallel with him; for, as I have said before, we are yet unknowing to those particular private dispensations of Heaven to him, though this we may securely conclude, as the Scripture speaks, that the Secret of the Lord was with him; and that he had the testimony of Jesus, which to have, is to have the Spirit of prophecy; for the testimony of Jesus, is the Spirit of prophecy, 
Revel. 19.10.  as is expressly delivered to us in the Revelation.  
Then for the second sort of Divine Prophets, which are the Evangelizers, or inspired Preachers, they are such as the Apostle describes at large, in the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, Chapters of his first Epistle to the Corinthians: and exhorts us all, 
1 Cor. 12. Ib. 13. ib. 14.  to covet to be, above all things, and to speak unto men, to edification, to exhortation, and comfort. Now if ever this sublime Piece of Divine prophecy, was made out to any mortal man, of his condition, it was most eminently glorious in him: his very life was a perpetual Prophecy, his sanctified example, was a constant living Sermon, and the words which the Spirit gave him, when he was pleased to open his inspired lips, were, as we have hinted before, as thunderclaps to Hinds, for the production of salvation.  
His way of prophesying, was not like theirs now adays, that make a trade of it, and employ their Pulpits more for coin, than conscience, and to pluck the fruits of the earth from their Parishioners, than to improve the fruits of the Spirit in them: No, his inspired Highness ever hated that canker of worldly spirits, so predominate in the most pretended Prophets of this Age, who indeed more zealously preach themselves, and their own vile interests, than the pure and saving word of God.  
Others forsooth, there are of them, that will preach nothing but placentia, sow pillows under sinful elbows, and stroke and tickle their Auditors in the mean time with strange stories, or vain curiosities, and yet this they will call prophesying; but be it what it will, they care not, so it be for their own profiting; and they have brought a great part of the people too, to be satisfied with that kind of stuff; nay, even strangely to delight in it.  
The generality now, comes only to hear Preachers, as of old they used to do to the Athenian Orators, or a curious Lute-player, or a Comedy: but if he that preacheth has no other intention but to please, and they that hear, have no other purpose, but to soothe their own curiosity, he may weary his lungs in the mean space, and they hug the itch in their ears; but the time will come, when he shall have the worm in his heart, to gnaw him, and they the tingling of the ears for their punishment.  
The seller, and the buyer, both shall be paid home with the coin of reprobation; for whosoever speaketh not, and who heareth not, to do, and become better, abuseth the gift of prophecy itself, and a word signed with the blood of Jesus Christ, the account of which, they will find inestimable, and the loss of the least jot of it, most damnably dangerous.  
His inspired Highness, I say, out of his true Prophetic wisdom, 
1 Cor. 13.2.  ever hated the courses of all those giddy ungodly Evangelizers, and said with holy Paul, Though I have the gift of Prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so as I could remove mountains, and have no charity, I am nothing: Now this charity tends to that the Apostle tells us, (as aforesaid) to edification, exhortation, and comfort of others, which his true Prophetic Spirit always observed, and by that inflamed all his people about him so, that his Palace always appeared, as a glorious Temple, and his conversation a very Heaven upon Earth: So I hope this Parallel likewise will not be denied, to be accomplished: Yet we shall see it more clear in the following.    

The three and twentieth Ascent.  
MOses was not only endowed by God, with a most rich and plentiful spirit of Prophecy himself; but he endeavoured to procure it for, and always permitted the exercise of it in, others: nay, encouraged and cherished it in his people, to the discontent of divers about him; for the sacred Text tells us, that when news was brought to the blessed Patriarch, and holy Prophet, that there remained two of the men in the Camp, the name of the one was Eldad, 
Num. 11.26.  and the name of the other Medad, and that the spirit resting upon them, they continued to prophesy in the Camp, 
V. 27. V. 28. V. 29.  and he was solicited to forbid them. Then Moses said to him, that would have had it forbidden, Envyest thou for my sake? would God, that all the Lords people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them. So it plainly appears, that our great Patriarch and Prophet Moses, was absolutely in his own judgement, inclined to favour a liberty of Prophesying, and that his judgement too, was seconded by Divine approbation; for what he then spoke, was from the very mouth, and dictate, of the Spirit of God himself.  

The Parallel.  
Thus we see, what Philosophers assure us, is very true, that Omne bonum est sui diffusivum, All good is diffusive of itself; nothing indeed is so proper to its nature, as to be communicable: much more than must the Spirit of all goodness be so; that is, this Spirit of God himself, the Holy Spirit of prophecy; What else made our great and gracious Patriarch, so willing to part with some of his spirit, as the Text tells us, he did to the seventy, 
Num. 11.24.  that he set round about the Tabernacle? nor only so, but to endeavour, and desire, as we have seen in the Ascent, That all God's people were Prophets too, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them.  
O words worthy to be written in Letters of Gold, with a Pen of Diamond: And was not this the very sense, and true Prophetic Spirit of our second Moses too? Has he not always endeavoured, to impart that spirit of his to, and improve it in, the hearts of all his people, that were capable of it? Has he not always encouraged the free use, and exercise of it, throughout these Nations, whilst some cruel, greedy, envious, and exterminating spirits, were not only striving in private, but enacting in public, to make a monopoly of this holy Spirit, and engross it to themselves? Nor only so, but went about to extirpate, and root out, all those that desired the free use, and exercise of it. O Antichristain Tyranny! But this sufficiently argued, that theirs was not the true spirit of prophecy, neither of, nor from the Lord at all: for that no spirit whatsoever can have a true union with God, that has not a commixture of charity, is evident, 
1 Cor. 13.  by the drift of the whole Chapter of that Epistle to the Corinthians, cited in the last Parallel.  
From whence then must this spirit of bitterness amongst men proceed, is it from the more brutal part of man? An ancient Father, 
Tertull.  in an elegant gradation of his, tells us, no: for Homo homini Lupus, A man is a Wolf to a man; that will not reach it; for Saevis inter se convenit: No beast so savage, that will pray upon his own kind. Is it from any devilishness that may possess humane nature? no, Homo homini daemon, will not reach it; for those wicked spirits do agree well enough within themselves; for our Saviour himself, testifies of their union, when he says, That if their house were divided, it could not stand. From whence then can this spirit of bitterness amongst men proceed? even from men themselves, Homo homini homo, That alone can reach this malice; for nothing is so merciless an enemy to man, as man himself. No creature in the earth, besides Canibal-men, will pray upon their own speices, nor can any but barbarous Christians think, that the God of all mercy, delights in humane sacrifices, like those devilish deities of old, and still in America, that will be propitiated by no other means.  
From whence then must this spirit of bitterness amongst Christians proceed? is it from any principle of faith, or primitive practice? surely no: for the first children, of the Christian Church, bore neither rod nor stick in their hands, wherewithal to plant faith in the hearts of men: How comes it to pass then, that we see some sort of people have published a Religion, all bristled over with swords and pikes, all sooted with the smoke of musket and canon, all sprinkled over, and besmeared with the blood of Christians? Must now the ancient Arms of our Christian forefathers, which were prayers, and tears, be laid aside, and none but kill weapons taken up? no Schools to decide controversies between Christians, but bloody Campanias, nor way to save the souls of men, but by destroying their bodies? Did God refuse to have his Temple built by David, though a man after his own heart, because only his hands were bloody; and can he now be contented, to have the very mortar that is to bind up the stones, and cement the walls of his Church, be tempered with blood, and her breaches made up with skulls and carcases? Will he now suffer the stones of his house, to be all polished with such strokes, 
1 Kings 6.7.  as are smitings of Brethren, who would not endure in that of Solomon's building, so much as the noise of hammer, axe, or iron, or brass tool?  
From whence then can proceed this spirit of bitterness amongst brethren? that the red Dragon should begin again to play Rex, and that Whore prepare to die her Scarlet anew, and the pale Horse of imprisonment and exile, threaten a range about the streets? till his late most Serene Highness, was pleased to oppose himself and all his power, against those cruel, and, as I said before, Antichristian designs. From whence, I say, could arise this root of bitterness between Brethren? from nothing but a mere Machiavillian trick too, a pretence, forsooth, of conformity, or uniformity in the Church, which has been, and is undoubtedly, the greatest cheat, that ever the Devil invented, to make men run a mading in Religion, and to embroile Christendom in direful wars, perpetual confusions, and most bloody ruins.  
The witchcraft of that Jezebel it was, that so long troubled this our Israel, and that our great Jehu, as well as second Moses, so furiously marched against, and, thanks be to God, has pretty well dissolved her enchantments. Her painted face, he has now likewise discovered in its pure naturals, to all the World, and pulled off the vizard of all pretences whatsoever; for let the ends of these conformity-mongers, be never so plausible, to cement the State forsooth, against all division, we find it has been throughout all Europe, the only mother and nurse, of all disturbances whatsoever in matters of Religion, and the greatest occasion of civil bloodshed, that ever was in the World; for there can be no War so passionate, as the War of conscience.  
All these horrid inconveniences, and mischiefs, his Highness' great Mosaic prudence, most timely looked into, and prevented amongst us. How often have we seen the furious Furnace heating by several parties? so could expect no less than a fiery-trial: But he would neither suffer King, nor his Court, though he was the pretended head of that pitiful Body, nor yet Bishops, Arch-Deacons, Deans, Chancellors, and Officials, with their long-tailed, etc. Nor yet any Superintendent with his Classes, and pretended Directories, to impose any thing upon tender consciences; and indeed amongst all the weighty affairs of this Nation, which he like another Atlas, so happily bore about him, the dear indulgent care, he always expressed in the favour of such Christians, who laboured under any scruples of conscience, was as glorious and remarkable, as his undaunted courage to pull down his proud and stiffnecked enemies: and this is most evident likewise, by what it pleased his most Serene Highness to hold forth in the same Speech aforecited in the last Ascent; which most heavenly words I thought necessary likewise to insert here.  
When you were entered upon this GOVERNMENT, ravelin into it (you know I took no notice what you were doing) if you had gone upon that foot of Account, To have made such good and wholesome Provisions for the good of the People of these Nations, for the Settling of such matters in things of Religion, as would have upheld and given Countenance to a Godly Ministry, and yet would have given a just Liberty to Godly men of different Judgements, men of the same Faith with them that you call the Orthodox Ministry in England, as it is well known the Independents are, and many under the Form of Baptism, who are found in the Faith, only may perhaps be different in Judgement in some lesser matters, yet as true Christians, both looking at Salvation, only by faith in the blood of Christ, men professing the fear of God, having recourse to the Name of God, as to a strong Tower; I say, you might have had Opportunity to have settled Peace and Quietness amongst all professing Godliness, and might have been instrumental, if not to have healed the breaches, yet to have kept the Godly of all Judgements from running one upon another, and by keeping them from being overrun by a Common Enemy, rendered them and these Nations, both secure, happy, and well satisfied.  
Are these things done? or any thing towards them? Is there not yet upon the spirits of men a strange itch? nothing will satisfy them, unless they can put their finger upon their brethren's Consciences, to pinch them there. To do this, was no part of the Contest we had with the Common Adversary; for Religion was not the thing at the first contested for; but God brought it to that issue at last, and gave it into Us by way of Redundancy, and at last it proved to be that which was most dear to us; and wherein consisted this, more than in obtaining that Liberty from the Tyranny of the Bishops, to all Species of Protestants, to worship God according to their own Light and Consciences? for want of which, many of our Brethren forsook their Native Countries, to seek their Bread from Strangers, and to live in Howling Wildernesses; and for which also, many that remained here, were imprisoned, and otherwise abused, and made the scorn of the Nation.  
Those that were sound in the Faith, how proper was it for them to labour for Liberty, for a just Liberty, that men should not be trampled upon for their Consciences? had not they laboured but lately under the weight of Persecutions, and was it fit for them to fit heavy upon others? is it ingenuous to ask liberty, and not to give it? what greater Hypocrisy, than for those who were oppressed by the Bishops, to become the greatest Oppressors themselves, so soon as their yoke was removed? I could wish that they who call for Libery now also, had not too much of that Spirit, if the power were in their hands.  
As for Profane Persons, Blasphemers, such as preach Sedition, the Contentious Railers; Evil Speakers, who seek by evil words to corrupt good manners, persons of loose conversations, punishment from the Civil Magistrate ought to meet with them, because, if these pretend Conscience, yet walking disorderly, and not according, but contrary to the Gospel, and even to natural light, they are judged of all, and their Sins being open, make them subjects of the Magistrates Sword, who ought not to bear it in vain.  
O words worthy of the spirit of so great a Prince and Prophet, which I could dwell upon to admire! but I am called now away from that admiration; Yet, in the mean time, I must desire leave to wonder at another Prodigy, With what face these uniformity men, be they King, Court, and Council; Prelate, Dean, and Chapter; Precedent, Superintendent, and Consistory; be it Convocation, Synod, or Assembly, could prescribe Rules to other men's faiths, unless they could make clearly out, that very Junto of theirs, call it what you will, to be the only true Throne of Christ, and that they could demonstrate all the lineaments of their Discipline, and Government, to be truly and naturally derived from the pure Fountain of God's word: otherwise, methinks, such tyrannous impositions should rather affrighten, than satisfy men's consciences, and make them disclaim such a Religion for a monster, than accept it for a well-shaped child of the Church.  
Is it reason for me to run out of my wits, to satisfy a company of unreasonable men, met together? and shall I lay the head of my faith upon the block of any Assembly, to be cut and mangled into what form and fashion they shall please? God forbid: But yet I hold it much more madness to persecute any man because he is not of my opinion; I may as well sure quarrel with those that resemble me not in outward complexion: For since we lost perfection in Adam, whatever knowledge we attain to now, is either Moral, by the improving of those natural endowments, God has given us, or else Divine, which comes by an immediate influence from Heaven upon the soul; therefore when we see any weaker in judgement than ourselves, we should look upon them, rather as objects of pity, than punishment, rather deplorable, than damnable.  
Vain man, what made the difference betwixt thee, and thy weak brother? Was it not free grace? for what hast thou, as the Apostle demands of thee, that thou didst not receive? and that God may reveal to him also, in his due time.  
Is it not a barbarous thing, for people to be stripped of their lives and goods, for difference in opinions only, though our brethren still in Christ? Nay, to lie under so rigid a persecution, that poor Christians should be made accountable for the very goods that have been violently pulled from them, and tributary for the only shipwreck of their poverty. Nor is this course of cruel proceeding in points of Religion, more against Piety, than common Policy: for first it is as impossible to root out any Religion by a persecution, as to put out a fire, with blowing of it, the suffering party always gaining credit to his cause, if it be a matter of Conscience; and therefore we find the Christian Church has always fructified by the blood of Martyrs; and indeed, had no other visible seedplot, but the places of their executions.  
Then it is not a more common, than true Rule, that Malus custos diuturnitatis metus, & frequens vindicta paucorum odium reprimit, omnium irritat: Fear is no good Master, and frequent punishments, provoke more ill blood, than they do suppress. The reason is plain, for men that lie under any oppression, especially if it be for matter of conscience, though they are at some times possibly wise and temperate enough, do ordinarily become mad, and usually trample down all relations, to make way for a deliverance, where they have least hopes given them of a remedy; and as the condition of men's beings alter, so they do most commonly vary their interests, and principles.  
His Mosaic Highness therefore, would not, (as was said before, of him, that Cum victor extiterit lictor protinus evasit) appear at all severe upon Brethren of the same Faith, though differing, it may be, in some Doctrines: he provided more Doctors, than Executioners for them, knowing that the apprehensions of God, and true Religion, are to be instilled into the hearts of men, by the true Spirit of Prophecy, and help of tongues, and not by the dint of swords: he knew that God had not in these days, refused his wont appearance in a soft voice, and chosen to remain in thunder, as our Boanerges', would have it now: as also he considered, that to go about to reform any thing in Religion, by humane strength, is quite contrary to the nature of Reformation itself, and as extravagant a course, as to attempt, the repair of a Castlewall with a needle and thread. He never went about to make decisions of Faith, with the edge of his sword, or determine controversies in Religion, by his armour of proof; No, the sword of the Spirit he knew, did never use to make way to the conscience, by cutting through the flesh; and he that by force of arms, cruelty, and persecution, goes about to reform, or defend any Religion, doth but take such courses, as are condemned by the same Religion, that he would defend.  
His Highness therefore, always took a softer and securer course, like a true Mosaical Prophet indeed, knowing that the true Spirit of Prophecy, like Amber, sweetly draws the slightest straw, and like Adamant, will court and attract, the hardest iron: He had observed likewise, what some Naturalists tell us, That fountains of troubled water, would be cleansed with a Honeycomb, while violent stirring of them, would but foul them worse.  
He reflected frequently upon the Speech of Abner to Joab, 
2 Sam. 2.26.  Num usque ad internecionem hujus macro defaeviet, an ignoras quod periculosa est desperatio? usque quo non dicis populo, ut omittat persequi fratres suos? Shall the Sword devour forever? Knowest thou not, that it is not a little dangerous to drive men into despairation? How long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from persecuting their Brethren? An excellent piece of counsel, and as good an example, and was as well followed by his late most Serene Highness; He ever held those to be best, and most godly Laws, that were least sanguinary, and yet maintained order: all others he accounted mere Phalarismes, and leges Draconis.  
And though it may be objected, that to give factions the bridle, to entertain and propagate new opinions, is the highway to scatter contentions, and sow divisions amongst the people, and as it were, to lend them hand to make a disturbance of the Public peace, there being no bar or obstacle of Laws, to hinder their course; yet it may be as well urged, that to give factions that very bridle, to uphold their opinions, is by that facility and gracious favour, the ready way to mollify and reform them; at least, to blunt their edge, which would be otherwise sharpened, by rareness, novelty, and difficulty.  
Clemency is a virtue sometimes of as great policy, as piety, as we have showed in our former Ascents; because it begets love, and love breeds loyalty, commands the very soul, and lays the body at the feet of the obliger. Mercy kindles fire and zeal in the hearts of Subjects, pity and pardon, as they make the obligation of the offenders greater, so it makes them repent, to have offended him, who hath so obliged them, the reason is infallible, fidelem si putaveris facies; The way to make a faithful friend, is to believe him to be so.  
But what has prophesying to do with faction? that good spirit sure, cannot be guilty of making any public disturbance, for it is a spirit of peace. Several prophetic spirits certainly, and diversities of persuasions, in matter of Religion, may live and cohabit together, without destruction of one another; and though they come not into one Church, Congregation, or Meeting-place, yet may converse together in one Market, City, or Commonwealth. Symmachus though a Pagan, yet a most Learned and Virtuous one, could say, in a Speech, that he made to Theodorick, That in matter of Religion, every man ought to have his rights and ceremonies, as his opinion, free, and gives his reason thus: God is a great Secret, no wonder therefore if we endeavour to find him, so many several ways. And Constantine, though a very good Christian, professed in a solemn Oration, Not to force any man in his Religion, but to leave to every one that, as free as the Elements.  
I would very fain know now, what these men of mighty uniformity, will say to these great reasons, and greater authorities of our first and second Moses, the greatest Princes, and gravest Persons, in the World, and what possibility they can propose, to reduce the diversities of men's spirits, to this their wonderful accord? For it is against common sense and reason, that ever men shall be one in opinion; we know the Heathen could declare, Quot capita tot sensus; So many men, so many minds: So that they which endeavour this specious unity, seem to me, to go about to imprison Aeolus, and his two and thirty sons, in a bag, as it is said, the L●planders use to do, since opinion will blow still from every point of the Compass. And as any confinement of the wind, torments nature with an earthquake, so to rob the soul of its freedom, (which is far more agile and diffusive) must needs cause a colic, with an inflammation, in the bowels of a Kingdom. Till then, these pitiful uniformity-mongers, be pointed at, as the only enemies of a State, and this wretched persuasion be wrought out of the hearts of men, that they ought to make all men walk that way par-force, which their biased Priests cry up for the only right; and till men be less in the Letter, that they may be more one, in the Spirit, (which none but the spiritual can apprehend) and until they leave crying for fire from Heaven, against Brethren in the Faith, we shall always have our Churches, and Country too, in a flame, though perhaps themselves may be first in the ashes.  
In the mean time, it shall satisfy me, and I hope, all the good people of the Land, to contemplate the Idea, and blessed example of our gracious second, as he did always that of the first, Moses, who opposed himself, and all his power, against those envious spirits, that pretended unity for their schismatical breaches of Christ's body, and Faith for their factions; and so suppressing the true spirit of Prophecy in all others would be thought to engross it to themselves; whereas, God knows, they have none at all of it; for the burning heats of their persecutions, and the bright flames of brotherly charity, are lighted from as distant fires, as Heaven is from Hell.  
His Mosaical Highness therefore, in humble imitation of his first Great Master, in this Ascent of his, and in obedience to the Divine exhortations of the Apostle, who chargeth us not to quench the Spirit, nor despise Prophesying; 
1 Thess. 5.19, 20.  and like a true Father of the children of the Prophets, ever supported them, in their their fair, and full liberty, of Prophesying; that we may now cry out, with the Psalmist, Great is the number of the Prophets: and further, we may observe, and bless God, for the great fruits, and effects of that goodness, which we now enjoy by that happy liberty; Peace within, and Honour without, Love at home, Respect abroad, and such a Concord of discords, and sweet Union of divisions, that we can see nothing of strife amongst us, unless it be a religious contention on all sides, for devotion and a good life, for peaceable conversation, obedience to Magistrates, excellency of learning; who shall do most good in the State, and deserve the Prize; and such an Utopia, could he only make in England, that did deserve the Olive branches for Mercy, Peace, and Goodness, as well as the Laurel, for his Victories, Wisdom, Government, and Constancy, (the Crown of all.)    

The four and twentieth Ascent.  
MOses being thus blest with all the beautiful embellishments of Body and Soul, that mortal man was capable of, so admirable in the pre-eminencies of his nature, so flourishing in all the ornaments of Art, and extraordinary advantages of a most Noble education, nay, adorned too with Divine dignities: being thus proved to be an absolute good Soldier, complete Captain, and Conductor-General, a most Master-Statesman, perfect Prince, and supreme Magistrate; and yet further, advanced to the most sublime degrees of Patriarch, and Prophet: What can be more expected, or desired, from Heaven in favour of his incomparable person? nothing sure, but what he had in the greatest proportion, that ever man alive had, and that was, a profound, shall I say? or, a high, humility? a matchless meekness of spirit, the Crown doubtless of all his other exaltations; for without that, not all the greatness and glory of the Earth, nor yet the graces and dignities of Heaven, would signify more to a man, than a Medicine composed of many virtuous and vigorous simples, and infected by the infusion of one poisonous drug.  
Humility therefore; as it was the first step of all his greatness, when the Lord found him out in the Desert, so he carried it constantly along with him, 
Exod. 3.  and to Crown all his Actions and Undertake; by this he subjected the pride of Pharaoh, and all the perverseness of his own people, whose frequent insurrections, and mutinous distempers, he suppressed by no thing more, 
Num. 14.  than his mere meekness, and often submissive falling upon his face, as to be seen, in the Rebellion of Korah, and the Sedition of Miriam; after all which, the Lord was pleased to give him, this gracious Character; 
Num. 12.  That he was a very meek man, and humble, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth, Thus was the Lord pleased to sanctify him in his faithfulness, and meekness, 
Eccles. 45.4.  as Ecclesiasticus expresseth it, and so chose him out of all men.  

The Parallel.  
Thus we are at length arrived, within the highest Port of personal perfection, that any Prince can possibly call an Anchor in: the sublimest step that mortal man is capable to mount. The Stars, we know, are beheld in the bottom of a pit, and profound humility, maketh the most radiant splendours to appear in Princely greatness.  
The Sun, we see, that is the Prince of Planets, dispelleth always all the grossest, thickest, and stiffest, vapours, and draweth the thinnest and most subtle to himself. How much more than that we do attenuate, lessen, and annihilate ourselves, which we can do no other way so well, as by the practice of this celestial virtue of Humility, so much the nearer we are sure to approach to the Son of Righteousness, and true Glory.  
Nay, that Son of Righteousness and true Glory himself, was pleased not to render himself, so illustrious to us, in any one particular, as in the practice of this, both profound and sublime virtue; the whole course of his life, from the Crib, to the Cross, being nothing else but a constant moving homily of Humility. It is no wonder then, that the Holy spirit of God, was pleased to take such punctual care, so expressly to describe, this excellency in our great Patriarch; and I doubt not, but upon a strict examen, we shall find our late Princely Protector, and second Moses, his Parallel, in this also, as well as in all his other most heroical perfections.  
As for his humility to Godward, and pure meekness of spirit, in submission to his Will, and Divine Commands, I hope, we have pretty well put out of question already; as for his remarkable humility, and meekness of spirit towards man, his continual conversation cannot but bring in sufficient evidence.  
Is there any man now living, that can with justice tax him of any pride, or imperious distance, that he ever kept with his people? No, it is notoriously known, to all that ever knew him, that he did always communicate himself with so much sweetness, affability, facility, and courtesy, that he did ever augment his respect, by very familiarity; the usual course most commonly to dissolve it, and in that resembled perfectly the most precious Amethyst, which shines so much the more clearly, and orientally, as it has been more often worn. As nothing was too high for his courage, understanding, & piety, so nothing was too low for his bounty, conversation, & courtesy. For God did not only bestow on him, an equal proportion of the Mosaical spirit of meekness; but conferred upon him in like manner, the glorious gift which the Scripture attributes to the Patriarch Joseph, both in the Psalms, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is no small gift of the Spirit indeed, to oblige hearts with sweetness; not unlike those famous Engines of Archimedes, which made water mount by descending; so his most honourable humility vouchsafed to descend, but to make himself re-ascend to the source of the prime sublimity, and so as his virtues upon Earth, have made him Laurels here, they have procured for him most incorruptible Crowns in Heaven.  

Bern.  Well then might blessed Bernard tell us, that Magna virtus est humiltas honorata, Humility in persons of Honour, is a most sublime virtue; indeed it is a piece of excellency, only proper for Princes, and great Persons. I will not deny but poor inferior spirits, may be capable of it; but this, I am sure of, that they which lie buried in a base condition, have nothing of an equal latitude to express it; for the great Ones of the Earth only, are they, that are most roughly assaulted with the storms of Pride, and so consequently must receive more glory and praise from the repulse of it.  
Nay, I will be bold to assert yet further, in the behalf of our Mosaical high Humility, that all the virtues in the World, signify nothing at all, without it, no more, than as was said in the Ascent, a wholesome Medicament would do to a man's health, with a mixture of poison in it: amass all that can be called good in any single person, and let this one thing only be wanting, those very virtues will prove but specious vices, nay, holy traitors to his soul, and betray it to the very worst of impieties. Let a man have all the liberality and munificence in the World, if he be once proud of it, it will presently degenerate into a very foul prodigality; and as the wise Socrates expresseth it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, makes men by the sottish usage, and management of the graces themselves, turn those Virgins, to be prostituts, forgetting, that to know how to give well, is a great Science; and that the distribution of gifts, and graces, is to be made with a prudent oeconomy. Give a man constancy, and let him grow up to a pride of it, the nature of the virtue will be presently destroyed, and soon pass into plain obstinacy, and perversity, the most dangerous condition that a man can possibly fall into, though otherwise he may be, the learnedst, and most knowing person alive.  
It was most excellently well observed therefore of the Learned Gerson, 
Gerson  If you see one to walk, saith he, in the way of his proper judgement, and stiff in it, although he had one foot in Paradise, he must presently withdraw it; for it is better to walk in the shades of death, under the conduct of humility, than to have a Paradise itself, in any pitiful pride, or the pleasures of proper fancy. Nay the virtue of fortitude itself, the most consistent sure with pride, and self-conceit of any virtue; yet if it be but infected with it, it proves presently presumption, and where that once gets entrance, it puffs up so prodigiously, that it makes of a man, as it were, a mere Baloon, filled with wind, a scarecrow of honour, a pitiful temerarious nothing, void of courage, an undertaker without success, a fantastic without shame, which in the end, will become burdensome to itself, and odious to all the World; and makes men come into a field of honour, as it is said some of our neighbours do, with a clattering noise, and fury like thunder, but vanish presently like smoke: and yet such men as these, will think themselves, it may be, valiant, 
Vell. Paterc.  because they fear nothing (as they say) but the wise Velleius tells us, that Nemo saepius opprimitur quam qui nihil timet, and that frequentissimum calamitatis initium, est securitas, To be secure in ones own opinion, and to fear nothing, is the ready way to ruin: fear indeed is most commonly the mother of safety, and the true means not to be afraid of a misfortune, is to fear it always.  
A Motto therefore fit for a true valiant man, to carry in his colours, is, that which I have seen in a Noble hand, Pauca timeo, Pauciora despicio, I fear few things, and despise fewer; Now this unhappy spirit of Pride, is the mother of this cursed security, and what is worse, insolency; with which, true fortitude can no way cohabit, 
Guichard, l. 2.  as the wise Italian tells us, Sempre é congiunto in un medesimo suggetto, l'insolentia con la timiditate, Insolency and timidity are never found asunder; but always accompanying one another in the same subject: So by consequence, without this Mosaic meekness of spirit, no man can be accounted, much less be, truly valiant.  
I have seen a man in like manner, by a ridiculous conceit of his own patience, (which it may be, he had at first, to a virtuous proportion) fool himself into the opinion of a Stoic; but, indeed grew worse than any Stock, or, at least, as stupid.  
I should be infinite to enumerate the many massacres which this unhappy pride of spirit, makes continually upon the whole chained of holy virtues, it is, apparently the plain murderess, and envenomer of them all: So much only as has been said, may serve to show, how this high Mosaic Ascent of Humility, and Meekness of spirit, is the very ratio formalis, as the Schools speak, of all, and every one of the virtues, that can be seated in the heart of man.  
No wonder then, that the All wise Spirit of God, took such particular care to recommend it to us, in the person of our first Moses; and as easy must it be to conceive a reason, why our gracious second, his precious Parallel, should so faithfully endeavour to imitate him in that, as well as his other perfections, they being both preordained by God, to be the greatest Magazines of all virtuous goodness amongst men, that either this, or that Age has produced.  
We have seen them both in their humble retreat from, and modest avoidance of worldly honours & advancements to humane greatness, which after they were so violently compelled unto, by Divine precept, behold, and admire, with what moderation, humility, and meekness, of spirit, they have ever managed them: excellently therefore does holy Cyprian stile this tanscendent virtue of Humility, 
Cyprian de Nativ. Christi.  Primum religionis introitum, & ultimum Christianitatis exitum, The Gate of all Religion, and the Crown or highest Ascent of Christianity; for who can think, that he will be faithful to Jesus Christ, that can be unfaithful to that virtue, which shined so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in him, to wit, that of humility? and truly, I cannot cease from wonder, when I consider the little reason, that any man in the earth has, to be proud of any thing; and it was doubtless the holy consideration of his Mosaical Highness too.  
First the highest pedigree of the greatest man upon Earth, is but to have been an eternity in nothing; for if we mount still upwards, ascending to the prime source and origine of time, when we shall have reckoned millions of Ages, we shall find nothing but inexplicable Labyrinths, and abysses of one great eternity, without beginning or end: and when we shall present to our thoughts, all that time which has preceded, be it real, or imaginary, we shall be ashamed to see, so many millions of years, wherein we had not so much as the being of a rush, a silly gnat, or a butterfly.  
Nay, that blustering insolent Rodomont, be he what, and where he will, that threateneth this day to hew down mountains, and thunderstrike his fellow mortals, and thinks the whole house of Nature was created only for him, and so prepares to swallow it all by avarice, and waste it as fast by riot, thirty or forty years ago, more or less, was not able to contend for excellency, with a pitiful Cater-pillar.  
His Mosaical Highness, I say, considered all this, and a great deal more, to render himself a true imitator of his Master. First, though his Nobility of birth, was very great, as we have seen, he never intoxicated his brains with it, as some do now adays, that make it their business to dig out, and disentomb their Grandfathers, as it were from the ashes of old Troy, 
Auson. in Paneg.  and spend so much time, as Ausonius says very well, In searching out of uncertain Parents, that they many times give occasion to suspect, that they have none certain. No, my Lord, though he knew very well how to value the happiness of a good extraction; yet for any man to be proudly puffed up with it, he accounted no less than madness; for revolving the whole mass of mankind, we shall find, as Plato told us, long ago, That there is no King which comes not from Clowns, nor Clown, who is not descended from the blood of Kings.  
Then for beauty of body, though his Highness had as fair a proportion, as any man, as we have likewise showed; yet he could as little pride himself in that, knowing it to be but a covering for ordures, the blanching of a dunghill with snow, or at the best, but a fadding flower of the field, which hath, as it were, for Horizon, the very instant of its birth, Et dum nascantur consenuisse rosas: no more could any of his great natural, or acquired parts, raise him above his proper pitch, knowing the best learning amongst men, to be but a qualified ignorance, the memory itself to be, but the belly of the soul, and most frequently filled with nothing but wind: the best and most acute wit of man, he looked upon as a poor thin thing, like the spider's web, and fitter to catch flies, than any thing else: and as for the judgement, he knew how dangerous a thing it was to confide in that, little less than a leprosy in the heart of man.  
No more could his Mosaic Soul be elevated with all the honours he enjoyed, and greatness of this world; for he took all them for burdens, and at the best, looked upon them, but as golden Masks, and weathercocks of inconstancy; and for all manner of praises, flattery, complacency, and tickle of some vain men, he ever hated and contemned, as fit only to inebriate shallow brains: for riches he evermore scorned, as the offal of the earth, the nest of rust, and tinder of concupiscence: for Palaces and stately Houses, he valued but as the bones of the earth, piled one upon another, with cement and mortar: for precious Stones, he esteemed as they were, the excrements of an enraged Sea, borrowing their worth only from illusion.  
Much less could his great wisdom be capable of that vanity, wherewith men usually pride themselves, in clothes, mere nourishment for moths, to cover bodies which must be food for worms; he looked upon all bravery of apparel, but as plasters of the scars of sin, to wit, nakedness: borrowed feathers from all kinds of birds, unpunished thefts, witnesses of our poverty, that makes us to beg the assistance of so many creatures, to cover our shame: Moreover, he knew, that Vestitus ut tegit corpus ita detegit animum, Our attire does not more cover the nakedness of our bodies, than discover that of our minds; his Highness therefore purposely did (as all wise men will) avoid any vanity, or ostentation in that. Nor yet could his Mosaic Highness, be taken with that empty piece of pride, which most great ones now adays are possessed withal, to behold behind him, great and gay Trains of servants, who but burden their Masters with their many sins, and make them become answerable for their accumulated follies.  
See here a miracle of men, in the contempt of riches and honours; for the first he never cared to hold, locked up in his coffers, nor ever thought were as they should be, but when they were distributed; for they resembled, as I have heard, he used to say, nothing more naturally, than a dunghill, which stinks when it lies heaped together, but fattens fields when spread abroad: and for the other, he took it for as great a mere mockery, to affect greatness amongst men, as if a Rat should pride himself to be a Lord forsooth, amongst Mice. He was so far from feeding himself with, or priding himself in, glory; that he would often say too, as I have heard, all that, was but the swelling of the ear. Are not these Apothegms worthy of so great a Prince? In fine, his Highness always concluded with the Prophet Habakkuk, Quomodo potentem vinum decipit, 
Habak. 2.  sic erit vir superbus, That as drunkenness was taken with wine, so were the brains of men intoxicated with pride, and proper opinion.  
There is no man will deny sure, but that all those actions, and expressions aforesaid, were very high humiliations before God, and indubitable marks of a pure Mosaic spirit; but where were his humilities to men, and his meeknesses of spirit, in points of government? If this be demanded, by any doubting person, let him tell me, how often he has found any surly, supercilious looks fall from him, or any fastidious, disdainful words, or gestures, which so usually accompany common greatness?  
No, his Highness, besides the great amaenity, and affability of his Noblenature, had better studied the accomplished Cyrus, 
Xexoph. Cyr.  in Xenophon, who tells us, that Fastuosum ac morosum ingenium, quod fastidium sui, aliorumque secum trahit, felix principatus non admittit: Insolency and morosity, are not at all consistent with the condition of a happy Prince: and what Ausonius so highly commends in his Gratianus, 
Auson, in Paneg. Gratiani.  Quod faciles interpellantibus praeberet aditus, nec de occupatione causaretur, quinimo ubi postulata aut querimonias explicassent, percunctaretur, numquid praeterea vellent? That he was a Prince of easy access, and a very patient ear, not expostulating, why men came to trouble him? but when they had said all, would ask still, Whether they had any more to say?  
In short, his Highness was truly that, which the most gracious Emperor Titus, would have every Prince to be careful to be; that is, Sweet, Serene, and Pleasant to all, and Non oportere à sermone Principis quemquam tristem discedere, That it was not fit for any Prince, to send any man from his presence away sad, or discontented.  
His Highness very well understood, that Verba aliquando munera faciunt: and if he were forced at any time to deny a favour, he did it always so, Vt benignis negata res verbis, sit gratior quam concessa morosis, That he would oblige more by his very denials, than some Kings that I have known, would do by their very grants.  
It was observed by a great Critic upon Julius Caesar, that Quamvis eum Clementia, liberalitas, & fortitudo commendarent, odium tamen, conjuratio & praematura mors oppressit, quod elatior populo blandiri, senatoribus assurgere gravaretur aut nesciret, verbis quoque uteretur asperis, etc. Though he was hugely commendable for his Clemency, Liberality, and Courage, yet he fell under a sad Fate, for want of a little complacency with the people, and soothing the Senate with some compliment, and had always too much asperity in his tongue.  
Could any of these imputations ever light upon our Mosaical Protector? No, he was ever as distant from them, as the Sphere of fire, can be from the Centre of the Earth; so that we may securely conclude, that his late Highness has as much outdone Julius Caesar in this, as in all his other glories: never was that great Title of Serenity, so truly given to any Prince, as to him; for it was born with him.  
Thus we have seen these two great Persons of Honour, our first and second Moses, entering this grand Theatre of the World, from the first Scene of their humble retirements to the last issue and Catastrophe of all their happinesses, attired with nothing but humility, that still accompanying and crowning all their Actions; as it was the basis, so it was the vertical point of all their greatness; nay, the very Orb and Element, that all their other Virtues moved in, and by which they arrived at all their glories; so disproving the Philosophy of Seneca, who says that Servitus est magnitudinus, non posse fieri minorem, 
Seneca.  That it is the slavery of greatness, not to be made less; which though may be true in bodies, they have proved to be contrary in souls: and what Pliny assures us, to be more true, that Natura nusquam magis quam in minimis tota est: 
Plin.  nature is most entirely itself, and whole in the least things.  
This sweet littleness of theirs, is that, which has rendered them so great, in the sight of God and man; for by so lessening and annihalating themselves, they have enlarged their glories, and raised themselves so many degrees towards Heaven, as erected eternal Trophies to their honour upon earth, and those as great, as ever were written, or can be, in the Records of Fame.  
Thus we have, I hope, happily finished the whole Staircase of all our Mosaic difficult Ascents: we shall now beg a little breathing-space, upon the top of this holy Mount, before we dare to adventure any higher; and yet we have but half a dozen short and easy Ascents more left us to climb (for they are Ascents of Favour and Prerogative) before we can introduce this glorious Couple, our first and second Moses, within their blessed Tabernacle of Repose; and so we do intend to conclude (though it can never be sufficiently accomplished) this high piece of Mosaic Work.    

Six Transcendental ASCENTS, To the top of the MOSAIC MOUNT, OR BLESSED TABERNACLE OF REPOSE.  

The first Transcendental ASCENT.  
MOses being premonished by God of his approaching end; made his most humble suit unto the Lord, for to nominate his Successor, that the people might not suffer by the vacancy of so great a Charge: and the form of his Petition is very remarkable, which runs thus. Let the Lord God of the Spirits of all Flesh, set a man over the Congregation, 
Num. 27.16.  which may go out before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; 
V. 17.  that the Congregation of the Lord be not as sheep, which have no Shepherd; and the Lord said unto Moses, 
V. 18.  Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, etc. Then we find this testimony of Joshua afterwards, 
Deut. 34.9.  That he was full of the Spirit of Wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him, and the children of Israel harkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.  

The Parallel.  
We have hitherto, throughout all our past Ascents, seen this incomparable pair marching, most amicably coupled, hand in hand together; as well in all their painful actions, as sufferings. And a glorious spectacle, none sure can deny it to be; I am sure, holy Cyprian tells us, 
Cyprian de Mortal.  that it is, To see such invincible courages counterbufft with storms and tempests, on whom it would seem that heaven itself would burst and fall in pieces; to behold two such men, I say, amidst the threats of the air, and the ruins of the world, always standing upright, like to great brazen Colossuses, and scorning them all, as mists, and small flakes of snow. What can we do less in such a case, than exclaim with Seneca, 
Seneca.  Heu quanta sublimitas, inter ruinas humani generis, stare erectum! O what a sublimity it is, to be erect in heart and countenance, amongst the ruins of mankind! and give thanks to God, with Typotius, Quod digni visi sint Deo, 
Typotius in Symbol.  in quibus experiretur, quantum humana natura possit pati, That he hath deemed them worthy, to serve as a trial of humane Nature, to see to how high a pitch it could arrive.  
And truly, if we do but rightly consider the rise, as well as the progress of these two great Personages, we shall find them exactly to correspond, with that ingenious devise of Lewis the twelfth of France, which was a celestial Cup, advanced in rays of Gold, amongst a crowd of eclipses, with this Motto; Inter ecclypses exorior: I rise between eclipses; We have seen, I say, this devise fully verified, in our first and second Moses, and yet their Clemency, and Piety, was always so great, as to pardon and pray for their very eclipsers, and persecutors themselves, like all the ancient Martyrs, who when laden with torments, opened so many mouths as they had wounds, to beg a pardon for the very causers, and inflictors of them, and more like to Jesus Christ himself, now sitting in the midst of those Martyrs, and quickening by the effusion of his blood, even those, who had their hands deep in the shedding of it.  
We have seen this matchless couple, only Parallel to themselves, in all their most elate, stirring, and astonishing, great actions too, wherein they have ever showed their courage like Eagles, confronting all storms; like Lions, which oppose all violences; like Diamonds never to be broken; like Rocks, scorning all waves; and anvils, resisting all the strokes of hammers: and in a word, 
Ambros. in haec verba Genesis 2. Nomen fluminis tertii, Tigris.  like to nothing so much, as to the River Tigris, which as blessed Ambrose observes, Quodam cursu rapido, resistentia quaeque transverberat, neque aliquibus cursus ejus impedimentorum haeret obstaculis: amongst all the streams of the earth, hath a current so swift and violent, that with an unresistible rapidity and impetuosity, it combateth, and surmounteth, all the obstacles that can be opposed against it: So the Courage of these two great and most incomparable Captains, did use to fly through all perils, break through, and work itself a passage, against a whole world of contrarieties.  
We have seen these two superexcellent Persons, in all their eminencies of State, likewise, Supreme Magistracies, and Principalities; we have seen them likewise in all the perfections of their piety towards, and worship of the Omnipotent, and the renunciation of their proper interests, for the service of the Deity: nay, we have seen them brought up by the Divine hand, to the highest pitch of Prophecy itself, and yet their great souls could not make a stop there, but must mount a little higher; and that indeed is the highest step of all Princely perfection, as we showed in our last Ascent, to wit, humility and meekness of spirit.  
It is most certain, that great felicities, are so ticklish, that it is much more easy, to live on the dunghill of Job, with patience, than in the management of great Kingdoms with moderation. He therefore is to be accounted truly great, 
Bernard. in Ep. ad. Eugenium.  as holy Bernard tells us, upon whom, felicitas si arrisit non irrisit, happiness has smiled upon, and not cozened; nay, the Pagan Poet could preach as much as that too, 
Marshal.  when he cries out, Ardua quippe res est opibus non tradere mares, It is a most difficult thing for a man, not to betray his manners, to a great fortune.  
It is doubtless the heavyest burden, to bear a great fortune well; we see how apt the spirits of this Age are, to have their eyes dazzled with a little sparkle of felicity; their skins are presently puffed up, and their souls drenched in some most dismal pride, and a sad deluge of tyrannies and dissolutions: We have seen our Mosaical spirits of another temper, each of them, like another Abdolomin, who did pass from a Garden, into a Royal Palace, 
Abodolomin.  and did handle the Sceptre, with the same humility of heart, without either prejudice to the people, or his own authority, as one would do a spade.  
This is a virtue indeed, which is but very rarely seen here in earth, but is admired in heaven itself; and it is a virtue doubtless which comes immediately from the treasures of God Almighty; and of this, we have seen our incomparable pair of Princes, giving us such an example, as if they were ordained by God, to declare how high Christian perfection may ascend, by planting of a glorious humiliy, upon the Diamonds, Pearls, Emeralds, Rubies, and Sapphires, of Regal Crowns, and leading in Courts, the lives of Hermits, so commanding greatness, and humility, which seldom will admit of any alliance at all, mutually to kiss, and sweetly embrace one another. Have we not seen, I say, all this sufficiently made out already, and that it is, not possible to find more personal perfectious heaped up in mortal men? Have we not seen, I say, this heavenly pair of most incomparable Persons, only Parallel to one another, like another Castor and Pollux, those happy Constellations of Mariners, from the very first Port of their Cradles', to the secure Harbour of a good old age, sailing through a boundless Sea of Bliss, amidst the storms of State and War, making all fair weather about them, and encouraging us to steer our course after them, if we can?  
Nay yet, have we not seen them, what is more strange, like two Phenixes together, yet incorporated, or twined at least, like the Gemini in the Zodiac, fly through a whole heaven of happiness upon earth? Then, whither are we going now? What, are there any Ascents yet higher, for our Mosaic spirits to mount? Surely not, as to their personal perfections aforesaid, we have said all we can, and seen as much as we can know, unless we could take Post upon a Pegasus, and piercing the Empyrean, hire a Convoy of Angels, to carry us into the beatifical Heaven, to see the Crowns, and Glories, that they enjoy. Whither is it then, that this Transcendental Ascent will lead us? why surely, to the sublime consideration of those Divine and Supereminent indulgencies, privileges, and prerogatives, that they enjoyed, by the extraordinary favour of Heaven, towards their later ends, which are no less remarkable certainly, than all their former painful Ascents, before could be; good Princes, like the Sun, shining always forth most gloriously, at their going down.  
Now, the first great favour, and principal prerogative, that we find our first great Moses, had indulged to him by Almighty God, was this of our present Ascent, to have the nomination of his Successor, in so great a Charge: For though the Lord was pleased to elect, yet he commanded his servant Moses to nominate, Joshua to the people, for their Captain, and his Successor.  
Now has not the great goodness of Heaven been graciously pleased to indulge the very same privilege, and prerogative, to his late most Serene Highness, of glorious memory, our second Moses? First for the nomination of this happy Prince, that is at present placed over us, it is evident, was from his Highness himself, though the election of him, as indubitably was from God, as that of the great Joshua before him, was: and this liberty, or supreme power of nomination, was given to his late most Serene Highness, by Almighty God, not only by a private revelation, as the other was; but publicly declared and enacted too, by the Representatives of the people assembled in Parliament, who are presumed to carry Vocem Dei, the voice of God along with them likewise: So that on our parts there remained nothing to be done, but to show our dutiful reception, and active obedience, and to hearken, as the Text of our Ascent expresseth it, to all that he shall say. Sic sui semper erit Arbitrii jubere, sufficiet & nobis sola obsequii gloria, So he shall have the honour still to command, and we will satisfy ourselves with the glory of obeying.  
But now, whether this way of a Divine election to a Monarchy, be better, and of a more ancient right, than to come to it by an Hereditary succession, as to a private Patrimony (as his Highness himself expresseth it) though for my part, I think there is no question; yet I find it to be a dispute, De trop longue haleine, as the Frenchman speaks, of too long breath, and difficult debate, for our present Parallel; So I shall refer it till another occasion, and desire the Reader in the mean time, to accept of his late most Serene Highness his own excellent words (in the Speech before cited) for a full decision of the Controversy.  
For if you had upon the old Government offered to me this one, this one thing, I speak, as thus advised, and before God, as having been to this day of this opinion, and this hath been my constant Judgement, well known to many that hear me speak, if this one thing had been inserted, that one thing, that this Government should have been, and placed in my Family Hereditary, I would have rejected it, and I could have done no other, according to my present Conscience and Light; I will tell you my reason, though I cannot tell what God will do with Me, not You, nor the Nation, for throwing away precious opportunities committed to U S.  
This hath been my Principle, and I liked it when this Government came first to be proposed to me, That it put Us off that Hereditary way, well looking, that as God had declared what GOVERNMENT he had delivered over to the Jews, and placed it upon such persons as had been instrumental for the Conduct and Deliverance of his People; And considering that promise in Isaiah, That God would give Rulers as at the first, and Judges as at the beginning, I did not know, but that God might begin, and though at present with a most unworthy Person, yet as to the future, it might be after this manner, and I thought this might usher it in. I am speaking as to my Judgement, against making it Hereditary, to have men chosen for their Love to God, and to Truth, and Justice, and not to have it Hereditary; for as it is in Ecclesiastes, Who knoweth whether he may beget a Fool or Wise: honest or not, what ever they be must come in upon that account, because the Government is made a Patrimony.  
Thus we see, how his most Serene Highness has put it clearly out of question, that an ordinary fair Election of a Prince, is much better like to prove, than any casual hereditary succession: much more than must an extraordinary, and Divine Election, as ours has been, be more acceptable to God and man, and prove to be more prosperous to the People: But most especially when the whole World, is satisfied in the Divine endowments of the Person Elected, as we have been all, in the behalf of this most gracious Prince, our present Lord Protector, whom his Mosaical Highness, has been pleased to nominate, and bequeath to us, for his Successor; and of whom we can conclude no otherwise, than what the Spirit of God has done concerning Joshua; 
Deut. 34.9  That he is full of the Spirit of Wisdom, for our second Moses has laid his happy hands upon him, so the whole Nation shall hearken unto him, and he shall do as the Lord commanded our second Moses: as we shall see more amply made out, in the following Ascents, and Parallels.    

The second Transcendental Ascent.  
MOses was permitted, and commanded by God, to nominate one for his Successor, that had a very near relation to him, his own household Servant, his Minister, or Menial Attendant in his Family; for so was Joshua, as we find in several places of holy Scripture: 
Num. 11.28.  as first in the Book of Numbers: And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, etc. Then, 
Josh. 1.1.  It came to pass that the Lord spoke unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses Minister, saying, etc.  

The Parallel.  
We do not find in any part of Holy Writ, that the great Patriarch Moses, had any son capable of this great Charge, to succeed him, in the Government of God's people: There is indeed, mention of the Circumcision of one, but never any thing more spoken of him; So it is to be presumed, that either he had none living, or at least, as we said before, not capable of so great a Charge.  
God Almighty in the mean time, brings this high favour and prerogative, as near to him, as possibly might be, next to the nomination of a son, which (as it seems) by humane collection, then could not be.  
In the mean time, it may be worth our while, to sit and consider the Transcendency of Divine Favour, and Privilege, that our great Protector, and second Moses, had in this particular, above his Prototype the first; whilst he has been, as we have seen, permitted, and directed, by God, to nominate his own son; nay, his Eldest son to succeed him in the Sovereign Charge, the other being commanded to choose, but his Menial Servant, and Minister, and that was a Divine favour too. Herein, I say, our second Moses has out stripped his pattern; and our Parallel here must overbalance the Ascent itself, For so much as a son, and an Eldest son, aught to be above a Servant, in the respect, and reputation, of any Father of a Family, so much more of favour, and indulgency extraordinary, found our glorious Protector, and second Moses, from the hands of God, than that great Patriarch himself, his first dear Favourite, the former Moses did.  
O stupendious transcendencies of Divine love! O happy Privileges of a Prince, and Prerogatives unexpressible! O Sovereign Favours of Heaven, undeniable! What man living is there now upon the face of the Earth, that can dispute, whether it be not a most sublime instance of the Almighty's affections, to any Fathers, it being granted (which I hope will not be denied) that he is the Sovereign Mover, and Architect of our lives and fortunes; when he is pleased to propagate their greatness, and glories to their children? it being doubtless the greatest temporal dispensation, that men of honour can be capable of upon Earth, to have a flourishing Posterity given them by God, which may make them eternally to live in the memory of men, by those most lively images of their virtues.  
It has been, we know, observed by the virtuous in all Ages, that those Princes and great Persons, that have lived any way sordidly, or viciously, fatting themselves with the blood and sweat of the poor, or have established any Tyrannies in the World, have neither been fruitful, nor fortunate, in their posterities: and as Nature has ever showed itself to be scanty in the propagation of beasts of prey, as Wolves and other creatures, designed only for spoil, and no other use, which would otherwise soon bring the earth into desolation: So Almighty God, by a secret oeconomy of his Divine Providence, permitteth not the Princes, or Potentates, who have made themselves disturbers of the Public peace, and infringers of Laws, both Divine and Humane, (whereof they ought to be Protectors) should make the brutishness of their savage souls, to survive them in their Posterities.  
Now, not to go far from home for an example, nor yet much distant from the present Age; I shall produce for an instance, of this great truth, a late Prince of our own, that was Henry the Eighth, who whilst he lived, made all Laws his slaves, and his passions his Masters, as unquestionable a Tyrant, as ever breathed, who left three children, that all successively sat in the Throne after him, yet none of them had the power to propagate any issue to perpetuate him, nor yet so much as to erect a Tomb for him; and he can to this day, boast of no other Monument to record his memory to the World, but the same which he left behind him, 
Erostratus.  who did make his ambitious brag of the burning of Diana's Temple: and which is most to our present purpose, though hinted before, again to be noted; after his death, as if the Lord would explicate his own indignation, and with his dreadful hand had, written upon the walls of his Palace, Mane, Thekel, Pharez, as his Divine Judgement against him, and all his posterity; all his then hopeful and very glorious stem, and branches, were soon withered away or cut off, without any issue at all, and the Crown and Sceptre was so, quickly translated to another Name and Nation, quite contrary to the Tyrant's intentions, and the projects both of his will, and Statute.  
Then what has been the Catastrophe, or sad issue of that Family too, for treading in his most unfortunate footsteps, we of this Age, have fully seen; for no one of them, that I know of yet, has died a natural death, and the last prince we had of that Line, lost his whole head-ship of the Church, with his Prerogative and Sovereignty over Laws, so much desired and contended for, in those days, upon a pitiful Scaffold, erected before the Porch of that Palace, where his impious Predecessor, that Henry the Eighth, the first of all Kings inhabited, and his body by a strange providence, without any forefight or contrivance of man at all, was carried to Windsor, and there deposited in the same Vault with him. Then look upon his disastrous issue, and we shall find, his whole posterity too, has been so exterminated here, that there is not so much as the print of a foot-step of them left to be seen amongst us.  
This one instance, I say, that we have started, so near our own doors, though it might serve for all; for as the judicious Spaniard tells us, En los casos raros, 
Anton. Perez.  uno solo exemplo haze experiencia, In such rare occasions, one example is enough to prescribe, and to make experience: and the acute Philip de Commines, 
Phil. de Com.  observes, That the example of one sole accident, is enough sometimes to make men wise: yet I could allege a thousand more to this purpose, if the necessity of our main business would permit: but I must hasten.  
Now, on the contrary, observe how Ecclesiasticus prophecies, 
Eccles. 44.11.  With the seed of the righteous shall continually remain a good inheritance, and their children are within the Covenant: 
Ver. 12.  Their seed stands fast, and their children for their sakes: 
Ver. 13.  Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out. And we have as clearly found in our experience, that all those Princes, and great Persons, who have arranged themselves, within the lists of Sanctity, Modesty, and the observation of Laws, the Lord hath as it were, immortalised their bloods, in their happy Posterities, as we do now see it made good, in this our precious Parallel, and might in many thousands more of Royal, Princely, Noble, and Illustrious Families besides, which I have as little liberty at present to produce: so shall refer to every Readers more particular observation: whilst I that write, and every temperate person, I hope, that reads, shall rest abundantly satisfied in the point, that it was a most irrefragable favour of God Almighty's towards us, as well as his late most Serene Highness, to give him leave, and to direct him, to establish his Throne in the best of his own blood, and to leave a Prince behind him, to govern us, that he was certain, was so much of his own heavenly make, that he can never degenerate from those his high, holy, and most heroic virtues; as we may see more at large, in the succeeding Ascent, and Parallel.    

The third Transcendental Ascent.  
MOses drawing nearer towards his death, had the honour and favour, 
Num. 27.18.  to be commanded by the Almighty, to lay his holy hands upon his Successor Joshua, and to bless him, and to put some of his honour upon him, 
Vers. 20.  that all the Congregation of the children of Israel, might be obedient, etc.  
Then the Lord commanded Moses to charge Joshua, and encourage him, assuring him, that he should go over before his people, and that he should cause them to inherit the Land which he should see.  
And last of all, when Moses was upon the point of his departure, 

Deut. 3.27▪  
Vers. 28.   the Lord himself was pleased to condescend, to give to Joshua this particular Charge, before Moses his own face. Be strong, and of a good courage, for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the Land which I swore unto them, and I will be with thee: Now all this could not but be a most extraordinary comfort, 
Deut. 31 23.  as it was a high transcendent prerogative, to the departing Patriarch.  

The Parallel.  
That this was a most Princely, and Supreme privilege, which our first Moses by the favour of Heaven, enjoyed; to lay his hands upon, bless, and put some of his own spirit upon his Successor, in his life time; I presume, none will dispute, and as little can any man, I hope, doubt, but that our second Moses too, was indulged by God a Parallel prerogative, and did the very like, to his most gracious Son and successor: knowing him, as we all have done, to have ever been, a most prudent, pious, and indulgent Father of his Country, and so by consequence, he must have been much more of his own Family, and most of all of his Eldest Son, who was not only to be the Head of that, but of three Kingdoms, and other vast Dominions, and Territories, thereto belonging.  
Nay, that he did actually part with some of his honour, to put upon him, in his own life time, was made notoriously evident, in his resignation of that high Title of Chancellor of the University of Oxford; I say again, high Title, and take it to be the highest, next to the Sovereignty itself▪ that England can afford. Who can imagine it less, that knows that University to be one of the four Cardinal, most Ancient, Famous, and Flourishing Universities, in the Christian World? that has been ever acknowledged by Foreigners themselves, to have been the happy Seminary of the greatest spirits, which have held predominance in all manner of Learning, and Sciences, and was ever looked upon, as the glorious Altar of the Sun, from whence light was wont to be borrowed, to illuminate all other lamps. To be the Head, I say, of this most glorious Body, who can deny to be equal to so great and good a Father to give, and to so hopeful and gracious a Son, as was this our present Protector, and second Joshua to receive?  
Then as to the other part of this grand Mosaic Prerogative, held forth in our Ascent, less doubt sure must be made, that his late Highness was most thoroughly assured of the great worth, and due deserving of his Successor, as also of his great felicity and prosperous successes, in all his future undertake.  
First, by reason of his Highness his great illuminations, and particular revelations, that he had from God himself, (as we have sufficiently seen in all his actions before) which certainly could not fail him now, in so important an affair as this, that so nearly did concern, the happiness of so great a people.  
Secondly, he that had so clear and through an inspection, into the aptitude of all his Officers, that he employed, as we have likewise seen in those Ascents, that treat of his Election of them, how could he choose but have an insight extraordinary into the due merit, and high deservings of his own Son? None sure can imagine his inspired wisdom to be capable of such a defect, that are not themselves like those old Monsters, called the Lamiaes, which were always blind within their own doors, and could only make use of their eyes, when they were from home.  
Then lastly, how could he be unknowing to those perfections, which all the Nation has been so satisfied in, for these many years? that he has been with reverence looked upon, and admired, as an Angel descending from Heaven, and vouchsafing to let himself be inchased, within a humane body: a Prince of so incomparable sweet and excellent disposition, that he may be worthy indeed to be called the dear delight of God, as well as man. And that this was the judgement of all the World concerning him, I shall instance in one person for all, who was not long since a member of that most beautiful body, before mentioned, I mean that most famous, and flourishing University of Oxford; who drew an anagrammatical Prophecy out of Virgil, foretelling the glorious Fate of this happy Prince, now near two years since, and presently upon his acceptance, of that most unvalueable honour, to be their Chancellor; which because has proved so exactly true a Prophecy, I have thought fit to publish my friend's paper, to the perusal of all the World, and insert it here, presuming that neither he, nor any wise man else, will be offended at it.  

Celsissimo ac Gratiosissimo Domino, Domino Richardo Cromvel, Seremissimi Domini Protectoris Filio Primogenito, & Celeberrimae Academiae Oxoniensis Cancellario Honoratissimo. Anagramma Genethliacum, & EPITHALAMIUM.  

O Richard Cromvel, magnus es, & Majori nubis.  
Chara Dei soboles, Magnum Jovis Incrementum.   

SIccine Virgilius, credendus Numine plenus?  
Quis furor inflatus, sacrum rapit usque Prophetam?  
Vt Nobis tua clara, vetus, Natalia, Vates  
Praedicat, simul & sponsam? Quae denique Major  
Cum siet, atque etiam (verè) tu Magnus habendus,  
Quid tua Progenies fuerit, nisi Maxima, Princeps?  
O Fortunatos (Natâ istâ Prole) Britannos!  
Noster Oliverus Magnus, Sic ut usque virere  
Possit, & aeternos, aetate, requireret annos!  
Hoc sceptrum semper quatiat, Cromvellia Proles;  
Vivat, & Imperium teneat, Primo vel ab Ortu  
Solis ad Hesperium Cubile, sic Anglia vivat.   
Sic vovet, optat, & Prohpetizat Amplitudinis vestrae Servus Observantissimus.   

To the most Illustrious Lady, of the Thrice Noble Lord, My Lord RICHARD CROMWELL. An Explication of the Virgilian ANAGRAMM.  
Madam,  
THough Virgil bened much your acquaintance, yet  
You must confess, you owe him no small debt,  
Thus to foretell your Princely Husband's Birth,  
His Fortunes, and his Honours upon Earth;  
Your Name and Marriage too; all which does lie,  
Wrapped up, we see, in's Antique Prophecy.  
He calls your Lord, Great Increment of Jove;  
What then must th' issue be of your chaste love?  
He's great we know, and you a Major see,  
How can your Children less than Maxims be?  
On those fair Pillars, our Protector stands,  
You give him Rulers, over Seas and Lands.  
Your swelling Womb's, the Cushion, where he leans,  
And finds himself eternal by your means.  
So may your Olive branches flourish still,  
About Great Oliver, and his Thrones up fill.  
So prays, and Prophecies, Madam, Your Ladyship's most obedient Servant.   
Now, for his most Serene Highness his happy Birth, there is none sure will deny it, to be great as his, that pretended his extraction from mighty Jupiter, and we may more truly say of him, than could be fancied of those old Heroes, that Deus est in utroque Parent, God was apparently in each Parent.  
Then for his blessed Marriage, the next thing pointed at in the Prophecy, that can be comparable to nothing more, than to the sacrifice of Juno, where the gall of the offering was never presented. There was so faithful and pure a love, observed to be on both sides, that the Noble spirit of the one▪ lived wholly in the other; and as the Flowers of the Sun▪ perpetually followed the motions of each others heart, so they still continue to court each the others virtuous dispositions.  
All this, I say, is the Anagrammatical Prediction of Virgil himself; and as to those sublime Honours, and Fortunes, which his Highness has since arrived at, all that proves to be my friends proper Prophecy. Now, whether Virgil, or my Friend, were the greater Prophet, let the World judge, whilst I shall satisfy myself, with that great felicity, which our second Moses took in the contemplation of his most gracious Sons, and Successors perfections: upon whom methinks, I see him in his old Princely, and Fatherly Majesty, now looking down from the top of the holy Mount, encouraging his most excellent son, to climb up after him, and keep the tract of his Ascents. Nay, methinks, I hear God Almighty himself, speaking to his now most Serene Highness, 
Josh. 1.5.  as he did before to Joshua. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee, all the days of thy life, as I was with my second Moses, so I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee; 
V. 6.  Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an Inheritance, the Land which I swore unto their Fathers to give them: only be thou strong, and very courageous, 
V. 7.  that thou mayst observe to do according to the Law, which Moses my Servant commanded thee; turn not from it, either to the right hand, 
V. 8.  nor to the left, that thou mayst prosper whithersoever thou goest. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein, day and night; that thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein; for than thou shalt make thy way prosperous, 
V. 9  and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong, and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.  
Thus was the Lord pleased to discourse with Joshua: And now methinks, I hear all the people of this Land crying out, to our most Serene Prince, and Protector, just as the children of Israel did there, likewise in the same Chapter, 
V. 16.  to their General Joshua. All that thou commandest us, we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go, according as we harkened unto Moses, in all things, so will we hearken unto thee; 
V. 17.  only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. Whosoever he be that does rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words, in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death; 
V. 18.  only be strong, and of a good courage.  
With these Divine speeches, made by God himself, and his instruments the people, upon the inauguration of Joshua, methinks I hear our present Lord Protector, and Princely second Joshua, treated at this very day.  
What Divine documents his sacred Highness has received from the Almighty, are only yet betwixt the Lord, and his own most serene soul but what the people say every where, we are all ear-witnesses sufficient: the people, I say, who have ever looked upon him, as the dearest delight of their eyes: and as the Orator said of his Emperor, Constantine, 
Plin. in Paneg. Constant.  Magis magisque visus expetitur, & (novum dictu) vel praesens disideratur: The more he is seen, the more he is looked after; and, which is more strange, though he be still present with them, yet he is always most greedily desired, and longed for by them: Insomuch, that I dare boldly say, had the election of a Prince been put to the Popular choice, and all the prime spirits of the Nation, had been culled out, to pretend for the Protectorat, his most serene Highness, that now is, would have been the person, that they must have pitched upon by Universal vote, and carried to the Throne, where he is seated now, with General joy, and acclamations. A Prince he is, without flattery be it spoken (for he is known to be so) of most incomparable great piety, & most worthy parts: A Prince, I say, wise as Apollo, beautiful as an Amazon, and valiant as Achilles; and having over and above all that, the sacred spirit of wisdom, courage, and devotion, of a Joshua, and coming to the Helm of this Government, as we have seen, by Divine institution, as he did into that; Who can at all doubt, but at the sight of such supreme, excellent, and most celestial qualities, Walls and Cities impregnable, shall fall before him too; Giants shall wax pale, and be discomfited; Rivers shall retire back, the Sun itself shall stand still, and as many Kings shall undergo the yoke? And to this, all England shall say, Amen.    

The fourth Transcendental Ascent.  
MOses was by the great favour of the Almighty, permitted to see the promised Land: First the Lord commands him Thus; Get thee inup to the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes Westward, and Northward, 
Deut. 3.27.  and Southward, and Eastward, and behold it with thine eyes. Then when the time of his departure came, we find, that Moses did accordingly go up from the plain of Moab, unto the Mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, 
Deut. 34.1.  that is over against Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the Land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Napthali, and the Land of Ephraim, and Manasseth, and all the Land of Judah, unto the utmost Sea, and the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, 
Ver. 2.  the City of Palm-trees unto Zoar: and the Lord said unto him, This is the Land which I swore unto Abraham, 
Vers. 3.  and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying; 
Vers. 4.  I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.  

The Parallel.  
There is no man will deny sure, that this was a very transcendent favour and privilege, indulged by God, to this blessed Patriarch. And has our second Moses received less favourable kindness from the hands of the Almighty? Nay, has he not in this too, infinitely outgone the prerogatives of his Pattern, and great Prototype? Yes certainly, as far, as fruition can exceed an expectation, or a possession surpasseth a bare prospect only; so much more of privilege and favour, did our second Moses find, from the goodnsse of his Heavenly Father, and receive, beyond the former: For the sacred Text most plainly affirms, that the great Patriarch Moses, was permitted only to see the Land of Promise, and take his bare view, of that beloved Country of sweet Canaan, or Palestine, then flowing with Milk and Honey, and towards which, he had been above forty years a marching in the Head of his most mutinous, and troublesome Army, yet not suffered to enter.  
But has not our sacred second Moses made his entry? Has he not only entered, but enjoyed for divers years his land of Promise? Has he not driven out all his enemies before him, and made so happy an end of his great Works, as to have been well and securely settled, in the quiet possession and government of his acquired Dominions, and Territories? Nay how much more advantageous was this favour to his late Highness, in respect of his Successor too, than that which his Archetype, the former Moses had. His late most Serene Highness, we see, has left his Princely Son to succeed him in a clear estate, and free from any encumbrances, either at home, or abroad: and indeed those few foreign broils, that we are engaged in, may be rather called his most Serene Highness his sports, and pretty divertisements, than any matters of troublesome business, and must prove to be more profitable than dangerous: Whereas the former good Moses, left his succeeding Joshua, not a foot of land, but what he was to fight for, and could make him indeed heir apparent to nothing, but his sword: and leave him, as it were, a mere Soldier of Fortune, to cut his way out to his expectations. Though this was very true, that the Divine Patriarch knew full well, that the Lords promises, and blessed providence would be to him a most secure inheritance; yet none can deny, that this favour of Heaven must in any indifferent esteem, fall short of that, which was vouchsafed to our second Moses, as much as an estate that is litigious, and imbrangled with law suits, is to be undervalved to a clear one, that is in quiet and undisturbed possession; or the miserable condition of war, is worse than the most happy halcyon state of Peace. Are not these Transcendencies indeed? so strange and copious privileges & prerogatives, that the great goodness of Heaven, never indulged more to any man, than it has done to our second Moses, in which he has so far outgone his very Original Master, that grand dear Favourite of Heaven himself, our first Moses; that we may securely say, that Moses himself has fallen as short of his late Highness, our unparallelled Protector, in some of these divine indulgencies, as he our glorious second could fail in perfection of Parallel to the blessed first, in any of the former difficult Ascents. But I cannot now insist upon them, for I do find that our discourses have swelled already to too big a volumn, so it is time to withdraw into the Tabernacle of Repose, and there set up, if we can, our rests with theirs.    

The fifth Transcendental Ascent.  
MOses is now mounting of his last living Ascent, for the Holy Text tells us, 
Deut. 34.1.  that he went up from the Plains of Moab, into the Mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, over against Jericho, etc. And after he had satisfied himself with the fair prospect of the Promised Land, he willingly steps into his so much longed for Tabernacle of Repose. 
Ver. 5.  So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, 
Ver. 6.  according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a Valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor, 
Ver. 7.  but no man knows of his Sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old, 
Ver. 8.  when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses, in the Plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.  

The Parallel.  
Thus we see, how our pious Patriarch has no sooner taken order for a sufficient successor for himself, and a convenient Captain for his people, but he does most readily dispose himself for his last great journey, and Ascent, and most cheerfully marcheth up the fatal Mount, whilst every step that he took, drew blood from the hearts of his poor, disconsolate, and most afflicted people, who followed him with their eyes, where they could not with their persons; nay made their tears to reach him, when the sight of their eyes had lost him, forcing those floods, contrary to the course of other waters, to run violently upwards, and with an ascending stream, bedew every footstep of their precious dear Prince, and beloved Patriarch. All the happy joys, and through contentments that they did receive from their brave new Master, and Captain General Joshua, could never make them forget their old dear deliverer, and conductor, Moses. So true it is, what is observed by all Astrologers, that every Planet which has its exaltation in one Sign, finds ever its counterpoises in another; nor can there be any good success in humane affairs, on one side, but it is presently paid on the other, with some discontent. Just thus, and no otherwise, did our great Protector, and gracious second Moses depart from us: who receiving from the Almighty the summons of his approaching death, whilst he was in the plains of Moab, in his House or Palace of Country retirement, as speedily and cheerfully as the former Moses did; prepared himself to march up to this Metropolitical Mount, even to the top of Pisgah, his own Palace here: where after he had appointed his happy Successor, and taken careful order about the affairs of these Kingdoms, as well as of his own Family, and taken leave of all his Friends and Familiars, and dearly beloved Army, her rendered up his soul to his God and Saviour, as sweetly as little children use to fall asleep, upon the breasts of their Nurses; leaving us in the mean time drowned in the deluges of our own tears: and the sorrow was so general, that one would have thought that every house was bearing of their first born to burial, nothing was to be seen amongst us but tears, nor heard but groans, yell, horrors, astonishments, and representations of death. And whereas the people of Israel, mourned but thirty days, for their Moses, we have lamented the loss of ours, more than thrice thirty days, and yet are not wearied with weeping, but dolori etiam fesso, stimulos addidimus novos, we have set spurs to our tired sorrows, and upon any occasion of his mentioning, those floodgates are so continually open, that they have almost made an inundation upon us, and we may still see him sailing through all the good people's eyes of the Nation, and floating upon the salt waters, that himself has made. For my part, I must profess that whilst my Pen is passing over this story, I cannot choose, but commix the sorrowful water of my eyes, with my mourning ink, so may be pardoned, I hope, if at present I write any thing disorderly, as indeed I have done all, but cannot doubt that the candour of those spirits, which are touched with the like passion, will out of pity pardon mine. Nay, indeed, what English man is there that would not be out of love with life, since he has pleased to embrace death, satis enim vixit, qui vitan cum Principe tanto explevit, 
Tatitus.  for has he not lived long enough in this world, that can be so happy, as to march out of it, in the company of such a Prince? But I must confess I am to blame, nor can I but rebuke myself, as it is fit I should, before I can reprove others for this unruly, unchristian, and, indeed, unreasonable passion.  
For first it is a most manifest repining both against the hand of God, and him, for the Lord has now placed him in his happy Tabernacle of Repose, and absolved his immortal soul from all the toilsome fetters and ligaments of flesh, as the divine Plato, though a Pagan, well expresseth it, when he says, Pater misericors illis mortalia vincula faciebat, God herein, saith he, 
Plato in Timao.  hath most mercifully provided, like an indulgent father; for seeing that the soul of man was like to be shut up within the body, as in a prison, he hath in his great mercy, made its chains to be mortal. How much more, then, ought we Christians to apprehend the happiness of death, that know that very day, which we account the last of our lives, is to be the first of our felicities; nay it is to be the birth of another eternal day, which must draw aside the Curtain, and discover to us the greatest secrets of nature: it is the day that must produce us, to those great and divine lights, which we behold here only, with the eye of faith, in this vale of tears and miseries. It is the happy day, which must put us between the arms of the Heavenly Father, after a course of an unquiet life, turmoiled still with storms, and so many disturbances.  
Who is so sottish as not to see, that we are at this present, in the world, as in the very belly or womb of nature, like little infants destitute both of air and light, and can only look towards, and contemplate the happiness of blessed souls separate from bodies. What pleasure must it be then to go out of a dungeon so dark, a prison so straight, from such infinite ordures and miseries, to enter into those spacious Temples of eternal splendours, where our being never shall have end, our knowledge shall admit no ignorance, nor love or joy suffer a change.  
The old Poets themselves did always fancy, 
Juven. sat  that there was some happiness extraordinary in death, which the gods, as they said, did cunningly conceal from us, that men should endure to live; they are the very words of one of them, Mortalesque, dii caelant, ut vivere durent, felix esse mori. Other Heathens there were, that by meet force of Philosophy could tell us, that the body was to the soul, 
Lucan.  as the shadow of the earth in the eclipse of the Moon: and do we not see how this bright Planet, which illuminates our nights, seems to be very unwillingly captivated in the dark, but labours and sparkles with striving, to get aloft, and free itself from those dull earthly impressions: So did his late Highness his most illustrious and faithful soul, most readily untwine and disengage itself from his body; well knowing it had a much better house, in the inheritance of God, which is not a manufacture of men, but a monument of the hands of the great Artificer, where he will be much more delighted, to see the Sun, Moon, and stars, and all the Elements under his feet, than he could possibly be here, with beholding them over his head. In short, who would think it much (I am sure his Highness did not) to give up the life of a Pismire (for the greatest Princes upon earth, is no better) in exchange for immortality? he had always, we know, like a good Christian, death in his desire, and life in patience.  
This truly I should presume sufficient to satisfy and comfort any reasonable Christians, for the loss (as we call it) of his late Highness:  
But setting Christianity aside, methinks it should be satisfactory enough for common men, to consider, that as the Poet tells us, Lex est, non paena perire, 
Ovid. Senec. natural quaest. l. 2.  and what the Philosopher assures us; that mors naturae lex est, mors tributum officiumque est mortalium, death is a law of nature, no punishment, it is the very tribute, and duty of mortals: And what Plutarch, not more elegantly, than truly, concludes, Homines sicut poma, aut matura cadunt, 
Plut. in vita Pomp.  aut acerba ruunt, Men, like Apples, must either fall ripe, or be pulled down green and sour.  
Now I would fain know, what have we to complain of? Did not his Highness live to a very fair, and good old age, to a true Mosaic maturity, For, as was said before, if by Chronological Computation, our second Moses, his forty years, were parallel to the fourscore of the former when he came into public employment, than his threescore and upwards, when he came to die, stands still parallel with the others hundred and twenty: and as for their strength of body and mind, none can affirm him to be less his parallel to the very last: For his Highness' eye was not dim, nor any of his natural force abated.  
Thus his gracious God, and benign nature plentifully provided, for that great and most incomparable person, that his most invincible spirit, should never quail under any sensible decay of flesh.  
What more of favour, I would fain know, could his most Serene Highness receive from the bountiful hands of Heaven? Yet some spirits there are, so disposed to quarrel with the Almighty, that they will not yet be satisfied in the divine dispensation, but think, and say, (I pray God not impiously) that the heavenly and eternal Father, should have permitted some more time of life to a person so deserving it; but let them remember, that mors aequopede pulsat, 
Senec. Tray. Senec, epist. 100 idem. epist. 67.  and that intervallis distinguimar, exitu aequamur, greatness nor goodness neither can give any privilege from death, mors omnium par est, per quae venit diversa sunt, id in quod desinit, unum est, death, though by several ways, brings all to the same end. These considerations sure, though drawn from mere Heathens, would be enough to satisfy any common understandings of men: but these quarrelsome persons, that we speak of, sure are of opinion, that all happiness is determined to this poor life; and are, I fear, very near akin to those, whom Plato calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Plato:  whose souls are so great lovers of their bodies, that they would tie themselves to their flesh, as closoe as they could, and after death would, as he prettily expresseth it, still walk round about their bodies, to see if they could find a passage into them again. How much is this pitiful humour of Christians, below the divine Philosophy of Pagan's themselves? Amongst whom we find, that there were a certain people, who by positive laws, forbade any man of fifty years of age, to make use of the Physician, saying, that it discovered too much love of life: and yet some Christians we find at the age of fourscore, who will not endure to hear a word of death: but of this sad sottish temper, we know his Mosaical Highness was not, he never valued the putting off his life, more than the shifting of his shirt, and when he received his citation from Heaven, he as readily obeyed, as his Master Moses did, to ascend his fatal Mount: I pray you then be quiet you cruel friends, and do not disturb his honoured dust, now sweetly resting in his Tabernacle of Repose; for if you consider rightly, you are bound, as the Orator tells you, 
Plin. Paney  Non tam vitam illi ereptam, quam mortem donatam censere, not so much to think him bereft of life, as to have been endowed with death, in a ripe old age, and after the enjoyment of the fruits of all his labours.  
Hath not this most incomparable person, resembled truly the great Ark in the deluge, which after it had borne the whole World in the bowels of it, amongst so many storms, and fatal convulsions of nature, at length reposed itself, in the Mountains of Armenia? So this most admirable Prince, after he had carried in his heart, and entrails a spirit, great as the universe itself, amongst so many tears, dolours, and cruel acerbities of contradictions, and had delivered himself of that painful burden, that is, had brought forth our most happy and established peace, he stopped upon Mount Nebo, and from thence went to take his rest, in the Mountains of Zion.  
Thus the Lord, like an indulgent Father of a Family, sends his servants to bed, so soon as they have done their work: it being all the justice and reason in the World, that they who rise betimes to serve him, and work hard all the day for him, should go in as good time, to sleep with him.  
Let us I beseech you therefore pass over this death, in the manner of holy Scripture, which speaks but one word only of the death of so many great personages. Let us never so much as talk of death in a subject so wholly replenished with immortality. O what a death is that, to be esteemed, to see vice and sin trodden down under his feet, and Heaven all in Crowns over his head, to see men in admiration, all the Angels in joy, and the arms of God ready to receive him, and fully laden with recompenses for his great services.  
Nay, that the Lord did purposely and expressly intend to make his Highness his death appear to be a most signal reward and perfect victory to him, and that he should carry off the spoils of life itself with more triumph, than ever mortal did, is made manifest in that it pleased his divine Majesty to take him to himself, upon that most memorable day, the third of September, the greatest day of all his humane glories: that he was pleased to put an end to his life, in this World, that very day that he had got such an immortality in fame: to set a period to his labours that very day, that he had performed so many Herculean ones, for the glory of his God, and his Country's good; and to crown his days with so glorious a close, nay to give him a heavenly Crown, that very day that he had gotten so many earthly ones, and loaden his Victorious Temples, with so many flourishing Laurels of eternal renown,  
Then for the glorious burial of our second Moses, though we cannot hold up our Parallel to the height of that honour, which the first had, to be conveyed to his grave by God himself, and put into the earth by those Almighty hands, which had made him out of it; yet we may say, that he was interred with as much state, and carried to his mother earth, with as much solemnity, and magnificence, as ever person in the World was; nay his very Effigies was honoured, with so great a reverence, as if some divinity had attended the Royal procession.  
And yet this is not all the glorious Sepulture that his Highness had, for what the Orator said of his Prince, we may, mutato nomine, most aptly conclude of him. Totum nec capiet Olivarium, brevis ista tumuli clausura, Britannum nomen & pectus unumquodque nobile, vivum stabit defuncto monumentum: vivet ipse suo letho superstes, multam aetatem feret etiam mortuus, gloriaeque plenus deducetur ad Posteros, etc. The whole great Oliver cannot be contained, within so scanty an enclosure, as is the vault that holds his body, the British Name itself, and every noble breast of the Nation, shall stand a living Monument to his memory.  
Thus shall his Highness outlive his death, and grow great in glory, whilst he is consuming in his grave, and be conveyed into the arms of posterity, with everlasting acclamations. Good Princes, as well as Poets, find their honours to swell from their last ashes, and like Phoenixes spring afresh, from their funeral Piles, as we shall more at large make out, in our next, which is our last Mosaical Ascent, and closing Parallel.    

The sixth and last, Transcendental Ascent.  
MOses built himself a Monument in the hearts of all his people, and left a blessed Memorial behind him; and all this was attested, by the Spirit of God himself, after his death, expressly assuring us, that there arose not a Prophet since in Israel, 

Deut. 34.10.  
Ver. 11. Ver. 12.   like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face: in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the Land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and all his servants, and to all his Land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all that great terror, which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.  

The Parallel.  
Thus the Lord is pleased to make the memory of his Saints precious (in the language of the Spirit) as sweet ointment poured forth; for we see here, how he will make his dead servant Moses to ascend still in this World, by the fragrancy of his memory: and indeed it is the last Ascent, that humane perfection is capable of; to mount up, after a blessed death, to a happy and honourable remembrance amongst men; a most particular grace and prerogative, which the Divine goodness indulgeth to none, but to his most dear servants.  
For some there are (as Ecclesiasticus not Apocryphally observes) which have no memorial at all, 
Eccles. 44.9.  who are perished, as though they had never been, 
V. 10.  and are become, as though they had never been born, and their children after them; but the righteousness of merciful men, hath not been forgotten, &c, Then again their bodies are buried in peace, but their name liveth for evermore; 
V. 14.  nay further, the people will tell of their wisdom, 
V. 15.  and the Congregation will show forth their praise.  
Has not our most Serene second Moses, received this precious Transcendental favour likewise, from the hands of his gracious God? has he not so filled the minds and mouths of all the good people, of the Nation? that they have nothing almost left to think, and speak on, but the memory of their late great Protector? Insomuch, that we can compare this glorious Ascent, of his Highness his happy death, to nothing so properly, as to the expiration of the Phoenix, upon the Mountain of the Sun, in the sweet odours of his heroic virtues.  
O what a memory has his Highness left us, of his unspotted piety, and undefiled policy, amidst all the depravations and corruptions of the Word! O what a memory has he left us, of his arriving to the highest honours, and dignities, by flying them, and to have ennobled all his Charges, by the integrity of his manners! O what a memory of a life lead truly according to Christianity, that has always daunted the most audacious Libertins, and like a Divine Mirror, killed Basilisks, with the repercussion of their own poison! O what a memory has he left us, of having governed a Church and State, so as if it had been a clear copy of Heaven, and an eternal pattern of holy Policy: holding himself always to those heavenly Poles of piety and justice, that support the great policy of the Universe; esteeming them, as Democritus did, the two divinities of Weals public, or great wheels, upon which, all the affairs of the World were to move, so establishing himself still upon those holy Columns; as the one, has given him immortality with God, so the other has perpetuated his memorial amongst men!  
O what a memory has he left behind him, of having borne upon his shoulders so happily, all the interests and glories of this Nation, and the very moveables of the House of God O what a memory has he left, of having so many times trampled the heads of Dragons under his feet, and rendered himself the wonder of the World! For who indeed is it, but must remember, how this brave, valorous, and Princely person, who was to join the kingdom of his virtues, to the force of his arms, was always of so vigorous and sublime a spirit, that he measured still, all his most difficult undertake, by the greatness of his own courage, and like a Caesar indeed, but more like a true Moses, resolved to break through all obstacles, to Crown his inspired purposes.  
O what a memory of a blessed death, in a good old age, and full fruition of all his labours! to have died, as in a field of Palms, and all planted with his own hand, manured with his constant industry, and watered with his own painful sweats!  
O what a memory after death, to be acknowledged by all, to have built himself before his death, a most stately Tomb, stuffed with the precious Stones, of his own most goodly and incomparable virtues! all which rightly now to represent, would require a recapitulation of all our Parallels, and take up a bulk bigger, than this small Volume is intended to bear. And it is enough I conceive to our present purpose, to say, that this Nation, shall for ever preserve the memory of him, as of a Prince, that has proved it possible, though miraculous, to hold a conjunction of piety, with the Supreme power, and Sovereign authority, sweetly tempered with goodness, things before thought utterly incompatible in Kings; and truly I know not, what just quarrel any man can have against his memory, but that he hath showed a path to mortal men, and trod it by his own example, to prove it possible, to arrive at so much perfection, and that may be a fault indeed, and worthy of exception, in so debauched an age, as this.  
But let such unsavoury breaths as these, blow how, and where they please, whilst all the sweet ones of the Nation, shall preserve a fragrant memory of their departed Protector, and second Moses; ever acknowledging their lives and fortunes, nay the liberties of their very souls, to have been the pious purchase of his Princely pains.  
Some impious great ones, we know, have brought a period upon the greatest Empires, ruined whole Kingdoms, their people, and themselves: have we not seen, I say, to instance in one for all, the great Roman Empire itself, which had so many times, caused its victorious Chariots, loaden with Palms and Laurels, to pass over the heads of the most puissant Monarches of the World, that so often have been shaken, and so many times established by concussion; at last, by the interposition of one wicked unlucky Prince, or two, to be most irrecoverably entombed. How much are we engaged then to the precious memory of our late Lord Protector, who in the staggering conditions, that our tottering state at last, and Kingdom before was in, has not only established but augmented the glories of our Nation; eternising himself more amongst us, and rendering himself more honourable to all the World, by those his great actions, than all the Monarches of Egypt could do, in all their rich Marbles, Pyramids and Obelisks.  
What memory now, I would fain know, has that great Egyptian King Cleopes left behind him? who prostituted his own daughter, to raise himself a Pyramid for burial, and it was so enormously great, as we read, that the earth seemed too weak to bear it, and Heaven not high enough, to free itself from its importunities: yet that, doting with age, has now forgot its founder, and he retains the stink of a rotten reputation, and is proclaimed by all the World, but a sottish Prince for his pains.  
Pompey on the other side, we see, after he had measured three parts of the World, more by his triumphs than travails, comes to be killed at length, by the hand of a half man, and the earth which seemed too scanty and narrow for his conquests, was seen to fail him for a Tomb: and what memory have all his great actions acquired to him, but of a proud, bloody, imperious Commonwealths-man, that could endure no corrival in greatness.  
We have seen again in story, a great Manlius, precipitated, from the Capitol, which once he had so bravely defended, that the Theatre of all his glories, might be turned into the scaffold of his dismal punishment: like that insolent Pharaoh, whom we have so often spoken of, which thought by the help of his false gods, to command the waves of the Sea, and to walk upon stars: yet perished in those his very attempts, and was buried in execration and horrors. What which memory have any of these, or other wicked Princes left behind them, better than Erostratus before spoken of? No, nothing can erect a true monument of eternal memory, but pure Mosaic piety.  
Our glorious second Moses full well saw, that Royal Crowns themselves, did lose their lustre on heads without brains, and brows without Majesty; and did much less regard a King without piety, than a blind Cyclops, in an hollow cave.  
Princes he knew there have been, and are still in the World, born like Diadumenus, with a Diadem of honour in their foreheads, but most of them, we see, appear like Josias, with a leprosy there too. O what a memory than must his late Highness have left behind him? who is well known, to have been of the Lords own election, & so much according to his own heart, that his servant Moses and he, may stand in line Parallel; for just by such means as he, we have seen how he came into the Government, became the God of Monarches, ruined the state of his enemies, opened stormy Seas, manured Wildernesses, and cleft Rocks, with as small a thing as a twig: just as he, he has been laborious amongst Shepherds, sanctified and exemplary in Cities, temperate in principalities, a Companion of Angels in his retirements, and as it were a Cabinet friend of God. Nay has our gracious second Moses showed less piety in the service of the Omnipotent, less sweetness in government, less greatness of spirit in all noble enterprises, less patience in difficulties, less prudence in the direction of his affairs, or less dispatch in his expeditions? And to conclude in short, has he been less blest in all his battles, having ever had, as it were, good hap, and victories, under his pay? and can we do less than fall down, and worship divinity in all this, and give him the immortality of our memories at least, in lieu of those eternal obligations, that his most Serene Highness has laid upon us? Nay have we not seen him all along, like his old Master Moses too, holding Heaven continually for object, and all greatness of this World in contempt? How like him too, he has always showed himself full of the spirit of all Prudence, Piety, and Prophesy itself; and over and above all that, crowned with a most sovereign high humility? How he like him too, but most especially toward his later end, had blotted one almost all, that was man within him, by a conversation wholly celestial, reducing his flesh into so much subjection, & exalting his spirit to such an empire over it, that he might deserve the name of God too, as his old Master Moses did, in resemblance of whom, he was so transformed, by the superabudance of his most excellent, and celestial qualities? And has he not deserved an immortality upon earth, for all this, as well as Crowns in Heaven? Yes sure, for the most malicious enemy that his Highness has in the World, cannot deny him to have died, under the shadow of so many Palms, of his own most noble and heroical virtues, that they must spring still to all eternity, and grow green with very age: his Laurels can never wither, nor his Bays be blasted; the resplendent rays of his honour, can never lose their lustre, nor the odours of his holy conversation, ever fail of sending forth their precious perfumes.  
Thus has his most Serene Highness, our second Moses, like the former, perfectly changed his Sepulchre into a Cradle, and even drawn life out of his Tomb. O what an immortallty is this, to survive eternally in the mouths of men! But how much more happy an eternity is it, to have a perpetual life in Heaven, enjoying the very knowledge, love, life and felicity of God himself?  
Come hither then all you Princes, and mighty Persons of the earth, and make haste, to take out your copy and pattern here, betaking yourselves betimes to the glorious Temple of Honour, by that difficult one, of holy virtues, which will prove themselves to you in the end, as they have done to our first and second Moses here, like Elias his heavenly Chariot, all flaming with glory, to render you, not only most illustrious and eternal here upon earth, but to transport your brave, Princely, & most purified souls, above the height of the Empyrean Heaven.  
Come hither, I pray you likewise, all you malcontented spirits of this Nation, that have so long maliciously repined, and impiously opposed yourselves, against his late most Serene Highness his Mosaical Person, and Government, and still do continue to malign his most precious memory, together with the power of his most gracious Son and Successor, set over us now, by God himself, and his own divine virtues: repair hither, I say, with all the ingenuity of judgement, and Christian candour that you can, and I doubt not but by such an impartial perusal of our happy Parallels, you will find all your aversions and distastes alleviated, and that the loathe and nauseousness which you had before, did spring from the disease of your own palates only, or Malos gustos, as the Spaniard calls them, and from no other cause at all. If that remedy will not serve your turns, to divert the violent stream, of your old animosities, I would earnestly desire you again (if you are not yet stark mad with judaising) to reflect with horror, upon Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all his complices, with the rest of that mutinous Nation, the murmuring Israelites, & by a serious soliloquy with your own souls, you may correct that cursed spirit of contumacy, which has so long possessed you, 
Cicero.  Quorum facta immitamini eorum, exitus per horrescendo, by a due consideration of the direful effects of their devilish doings, whose steps you still pursue. And if all this prove but counsel cast away, let me humbly beseech you once more, through the blessed bowels of our gracious Lord and Saviour, to make your earnest and often addresses to him, and holding some such divine discourses with him, as I shall here set down in a form, that I have sometimes used myself upon like occasion, and I cannot doubt, but by his all-healing grace, you shall all be reduced to a better temper, and most ample complacency with the present government.  
O most gracious Lord God, which guidest the lives, estates and conditions of all men living in this World, and makest a perfect music in the universe, which thou composest of many accords; or let us take this great All, and government of thine, as a Table of many colours, or a body of many members: why should I, be it one, or be it another's, make myself a false harmony in so sweet a Consort; an extravagant colour, in so complete a Table, or a prodigious member, of so beautiful a body. It shall suffice me, O Lord, to be a part in this Music, this Table, or of this Body: set me high, set me low, let me be white, let me be black, make me head, make me foot. My God, it is in thee to give me my part, and in me only to play it well; why should I kick against the spur, like a paltry Jade? Why being but a miserable earthen pot, should I argue against my Potter, for the fashion, that he has pleased to put me in? If the men whom I envy, or bear malice to, merit their good fortunes, and happy advancements, I wrong thy divine justice, O Lord, to malign, or oppose them; And if they deserve them not, they more merit my compassion, than envy; since all their greatness, will serve them but for a burden in this life, and a far deeper condemnation in the other. If the stars, by contribution of their rays, do strengthen the activity of hell fire, as we are informed they do, how much more then, will those great lights of honour, and sparkling advantages of greatness, increase the torments of a reprobate Prince, or great person? Besides, O Lord, why should I be guilty of so strange a malignity against myself, as forgetting the preservation of my own person, to which I am by nature obliged, go about to ruin any other man, a thing, that nature itself abhors from? & if by loving my very enemy, all will make for me, as thou, O Lord, thyself hast told me: Why should I, through want of love, deprive myself of so great advantage to myself, or so great a power over him? and this way of revenging by love, being of all things most easy: Why should I go obout to create a hell within myself, where thou, O my God, hast a gracious purpose, to erect a Paradise? So, Good Lord, of thy mercy, send us all a happy peace, and true Christian complacency, one with another, and to thine own name give the glory, for so it properly belongs.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.     

The Heads of the Ascents, wherein his late HIGHNESS, our renowned PROTECTOR, deceased, stands Parallel with the great Patriarch MOSES.  

THe first Ascent made Parallel, In their Nobility of Birth, and great extraction. p. 1.  
The second, In their remarkable Beauty of body, and gacefulnesse of of Person. p. 6.  
The third, In the great particular providences of Heaven over them, in their miracluous preservations, from their very infancies. p. 16.  
The fourth, In all the eminent advantages of their most Liberal and Noble education. p. 21.  
The fifth. In their long Privacy, and happy retirements of themselves. p. 29.  
The sixth, In their miraculous and divine calls to public employment. p. 36.  
The seventh, In their great modesty, and unwillingness to accept of their great charges. p. 43.  
The eighth, In their many most stupendious deliverances of their people. p. 53.  
The ninth, In the many mispirisions, and ungrateful murmurings of the common people. p. 64.  
The tenth, In the malicious oppositions, frequent seditions, and dangerous rebellions of some of the Elders themselves, and Princes of the Assembly. p. 73.  
The eleventh, In their great courage, and all high personal accomplishments requisite to good Soldiers. p. 83.  
The twelfth, In their proportion of years, and ability of mind and body, when they came first into office, and public command. p. 91.  
The thirteenth, In their great skill in military conduct, and all accomplishments requisite to Captain's General. p, 97.  
The fourteenth. In their constant felicity, and most victorious successes. p. 106.  
The fifteenth, In all the parts and abilities requisite to the accomplishment of great Statesmen. p. 115.  
The sixteenth, In their great care, and prudent caution, in the election of honest and able Officers, and Ministers under them. p. 125.  
The seventeenth, In their extraordinary clemency, and sweet temper of their government. p. 138.  
The eighteenth, In their great pity and piety towards the very purses, as well as persons of their people. p. 149.  
The nineteenth, In their great piety towards God, and exemplary zeal for his glory and worship. p. 159  
The twentieth, In their most extraordinary gift and spirit of prayer. p. 168  
The one and twentieth, In their most exemplary practical parts of true piety, and renunciation of proper interests, for the service and glory of their God. p. 182.  
The two and twentieth, In the divine dignity, and gift of the spirit of Prophecy. p. 201.  
The three and twentieth, In their endeavours to procure that holy spirit of Prophecy for others, and indulging that divine liberty of prophesying. p. 216.  
The four and twentieth, In their high humility, and matchless meekness of spirit. p. 233   

The Heads of the six Transcendental Ascents, and Parallels.  
THe first Transcendental Ascent made Parallel, In the happy power of nomination of their Successors. p. 251  
The second, In the nomination of Persons of their nearest relations, to be their Successors. p. 261.  
The third, In the imparting of some of their spirit and honour to their Successors, in their life time, and the assurance they had of their virtues, and prosperous successes. p. 267.  
The fourth, In the fair prospect of the fruits, and fruition of the effects, of all their labours. p. 279.  
The fifth, In their happy departure out of this life, and glorious funerals. p. 283.  
The sixth, In the magnificent memorial, and eternal monuments that they have erected in the hearts of all good men. p. 295   
FINIS.