A Pair of SPECTACLES For this purblind NATION With which They may see the ARMY and PARLIAMENT Like SIMEON and LEVI Brethren in Iniquity Walk hand in hand together. OR A PERSPECTIVE To take a view of the Army, and PARLIAMENTS Political combination in betraying their country's privileges. By H. M. a true friend to this Nations Liberties. Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam. LONDON: Printed in the year, 1659. To the mongrel new Athenian Republican Tyrants, or the pretended Parliament (if it needs must be so called) at Westminster. I Shall assume the boldness to speak a little unto you, (O you men of Westminster) and I pray observe my words, if Providence shall please to bring this my Paper unto your view. And first, let me desire of you not to be angry, if I speak rather to profit then to please you, forbearing altogether those false and clawing expressions which your Adorers use when they address themselves to speak unto you: I dare not tell you of any humble tenders of my small constant devotion to serve you in your way, for I am sure 'tis not the way of Christ and God, nor can I acknowledge your spurious Good old Cause under the pretence of Reformation and preservation of Church and Commonwealth; for I know no such matter, but rather the direct contrary. This being premised, I do now address myself unto you for the present in this manner. Tell us, O unhappy men that have been the principal instruments of all our woes, and have given life and motion to all our miseries. 1. With what impudence could you affirm that there was a necessity to dethrone his late Highness, and to abolish the free choice and election of the people, the Representatives: it hath been observed that in all innovations and rebellions (which ordinarily have their rise from pretences of Religion or reformation, or both,) the breach and neglect of Laws hath been authorised by that great Patroness of illegal actions Necessity. But let that great rule be received, that no man can be necessitated to sin, our Divines generally damn an officious lie, and the equity binds from any officious sin; it would soon cut the nerves of the eighth Commandment, if necessities and urgencies, though real, were propounded a sufficient excuse for stealing; but that (which you) the Jesuitical powder-Traitors call necessity, is no more than necessity of convenience, nor so much, except we interpret that convenience, may favour your own ends, and so is convenient for your design; but you use necessity as the old Philosophers did an occult quality, though to a different purpose; that was their refuge for ignorance, this is your sanctuary for sin. It is a maxim that you have out of Livy to maintain that, That war must needs be just that is necessary, and those arms pious that are all our livelihood; I must confess it was a thing very incongruous in the late interrupted Parliament, to desire that those ungrateful men should leave their crutches, and to walk without them; 'tis no less unnatural to invite these Gentlemen to quit their swords whose lives and fortunes lean entirely upon them, and that this Juncto of Tyrants who will admit of no rule to govern by, but their own wills; we know it was the unhappy misery of Athens, when it suffered under the thirty Tyrants: You that take to yourselves the title of the Lord's worthies, forsooth, but good names do not always prove good men, titles without truth, serve but to enhance and disexcuse damnation. 2. Tell me, you cursed Cannibals, was not his late Highness proclaimed as Protector and supreme Magistrate by the Commanders in chief of the Army, in the greatest solemnity imaginable, first at the Exchange in London, Westminster, and afterwards through the three Nations, with the greatest testimonies of the soldiers good will and liking, and of the people's reception and entertainment with a nemine contra dicente? 3. Have not the Officers and soldiers of the Army afterwards upon more serious deliberation addressed themselves unto the Protector as a supreme Magistrate, and so did further thereby oblige themselves, and by such a kind of transaction subject themselves by way of the most solemn engagements unto him as supreme Magistrate? 4. Did not our addle-brained Senators Fleetwood, Desborow, Lambert, cobbling Hewson, Cooper, thimbling Barkstead, Bury, and the rest of their Confederates, swear to be true to him as Protector, and how hateful to God and men, yea, to the very Heathen have such things been, Ezek. 17. 12, 13, 14, 15. speaking of the faith which the Hebrew Kings had given to the Babylonian, Shall he prosper, shall he escape that breaks the Covenant and be delivered, ver. 16, 18. As I live saith the Lord God, surely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King, whose oath he despised and whose Covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die, seeing he despised the oath by breaking the Covenant, and hath done all these things, shall he not escape. 5. Tell us you sear-souled men that will swear pro and con, tell me what an oath is? is it not a Religious affirmation, a promise with God's Seal, and therefore it should concern Christians to be cautelous before swearing to swear liquidly, and to observe conscionably, 'tis pity such slender evasions should satisfy us as hath been scorned by Heathen? sad experience tell us how that you English Tigers, in propounding of oaths, requiring promises, and other solemnities, have induced multitudes to bind themselves upon some secret, loose and mental reservation, which you have framed to yourselves as a salvo in case of breach: But I see these Babylonian Sprats have advised more with corrupt wit, then sound conscience: 'tis an huge advantage that you (Delphic Devils) have in this world that can easily say and swear to any thing, and yet withal so palliate your falsifications and perjuries, as to hide them from the connusance of most. I know conscionable Lenthal hath already defended your perjuries with this axiom; that though you swore (Says he) to a thing not materially unlawful, if it impedes a moral good, it becomes void, and though you have taken liberty to swear, yet in my judgement (Says he) the person to whom you swore was incapable of an oath; just as Cicero defends the breach of an oath to a thief, from perjury; and Brutus to a Tyrant; as it is in Appion, the Athenians esteem it an honest perjury to violate their faith with Tyrants. I see it is not difficult for you to cast your desires into such soft glib expressions, as will down with most of you; yea, with many that would absolutely disavow the same thing in rough language. O Countrymen consider whether this way wherein you have gone be not also contradictive to the law of the land, and against common equity, to practise the taking away from any one that which comes unto him by lawful inheritance, succession or just election? whether you would not so judge it, if any should divest you of what was left you by your parents? Indeed if men come to power and authority by fraud and violence, as you our new Masters have done, and for you to concur in oppressing the supreme Magistrate, and in taking from him what belongs unto him, if conscience be suffered to make report, it will be confessed to be the highest injustice; for as to detract from the Standard which is the rule of measures, is the greatest sin; so it is to detract from Carolus Rex, or Protector Richard, who are the Standards of righteousness in this Kingdom; and for these incarnate devils, to subject, dispose both King, Protector and People to their own lawless Arbitrary Power and Government, which is but the product of a rabble of vanished Libertinism, Quakers, monstrous Anabaptists, King-killers, Covenant-breakers, Jesuits, Seminaries and Papists, old Gunpowder Traitors contrived that Good old Cause, Treason beyond the Seas, and in private secret Conventicles here, but now avowed in open general counsels of the Army, by whose design it is and always hath been to alter the whole frame of Monarchy (both of Church and State) which is the best of Governments, Deut. 17. 14. being that of God himself over the whole world, Psal. 10. 16. and of Christ himself in and over his Church, Psal. 2. 6. O God brand these jesuitical, popish, antichristian practices with the highest temporal punishment, eternal torments and condemnation in this and another world. 6. Did the late Protector (for so it seems he must be called) ever give any ground at all for you Gentlemen, to dethrone him and protest against him and his Government. I could wish and many thousands more, the reasons might be seen, for nothing hath passed or been observed by diligent observers, that might render him unlovely or inacceptable to any person whatsoever: however if there be any grounds or considerations that might induce the Army to such a grand transaction as this: first to reject and slight him, and then to give reasons, (if there be any) is to hang a man first, and to try him afterwards, seeing there can be no substantial grounds, as it's presumed there none can be, even as little as you may blame the Sun for running his course, so harmless hath he been: whether then there hath been in any age more unfaithfulness, injustice, greater covenant-breakers, persons so rebellious, men that have rendered the blessed Gospel of Christ, and professors thereof, more uncomely, than this adulterous generation hath done, let the world judge; for indeed they have already given their verdict in the case, which more is the pity. That mammonistical Hypocrite, Hon. Vane, had the impudency to affirm to the rest of his sociates, that they might without want of modesty and duty depose him, & return to the discharge of their trust: is not this a transparent figment! who trusted them, the people? but the people since have delivered their trust elsewhere, for when his late Highness did send out Writs, the people might have stayed at home, there was none forced to choose▪ but freely they have elected others, & if so be the free choice and election of the people make a Parliament, & they are also free to choose, as often the providence of God shall put opportunity into their hands, then it's very doubtful, whether this be any other thing then only a Parliament so called, the people having freely declared otherwise: are these the only persons whom God and the Law hath trusted, and may they do what their own i●clination and fury leads them to? can it be presumed that they were trusted with a power to destroy and dissolve our ancient settled Government by Kings, Lords, and Commons, to a sneaking Oligarchial Tyranny, under the bare name of a bastard Good old Cause, which is as changeable as the addle heads that contrive it, and to make themselves perpetual Dictators over the Protector and his People? what do you intend that the Law itself shall be subject to your votes, and that whatsoever you say or do should be lawful, because you declare it so? Seeing that these hellish designs and actings of a malignant party of this kingdom, working to regard the progress, or subvert the being of the true Protestants, and therein to bereave us of all our hopes of reformation, or future peace or happiness to this Church and kingdom; It shall be a piece of my daily oraizons, that God would brand these jesuitical doctrines with the marks of perpetual scorn and Indignation. 7ly. Are not these our new State-mongers or this Parliament (if it needs must be so called) like to infringe the people's rights, and give less satisfaction than one single person with a Parliament? for my reason is, this Parliament of 40. or 50. or there abouts, and 70 more Senators besides, have every one of them a long train, there is never a one but is a file-leader, that is, hath at least 16. or 20. in a family, to be provided one way or other, and all hungry as hawks, ready to catch at any thing, and nothing will serve but the blood of the people, for they must be fed with something; a reason it is against the standing rules of reason, the professed principles of the Army, for any power or authority to have the Militia and the Command of the people's purses which these Cormorants hath, which is both destructive and pernicious. Though the command of the people's purses was never desired or practised by a single person, and was not the Government settled by Parliament, under one head? To Execute the Laws of the Government so made by Parliament, more pleasing and rational, than to have a body consisting of so many Knaves, Drunkards, and whoremasters, which is monster like. I desire all Christian people to consider also the condition of this factious Generation, that have done more disgrace and wrong to christs Gospel, than ever was offered since Christ's time: never did any in so short a space ascend to that zenith of villainy, as they have done, or pretend more godliness, with the practice of so much wickedness. I confess they promise fair, like those Galathians whom St. Paul writes unto, they begin in the Spirit, with the mention of Sin and Mercy; they have the faces of men, but observe them well, we shall find they have the teeth of Lions, and the tail of Scorpions: my endeavours shall be on purpose to detect their wiles, that men may avoid them, and not be hurt by them, for they have got above board in these times, and style themselves in their scandalous Pamphlets, the Army of God, God's only good Children; but in very deed their works speak them not to be of God. La●my may their name and title properly be. We have two grand Impostors amongst us Rogers, and Canne, who are very zealous in their scurrilous pasquils for that whorish Old Cause, which is only to revive that Tragedy which Mr. Hocker relates of the Anabaptist in Germany; Who talking of nothing but Faith, and the true fear of God, and that riches and honour were vanity, at first upon the greater opinion of their Humility, Zeal, and Devotion, procured much Reverence and estimation with the people: A●ter finding how many persons they had ensnared with their Hypoc●isie, they began to propose to themselves to reform both the Ecclesiastical and Civil Government of State; then because possibly they might meet with some opposition, they secretly entered into a League of Association; and shortly after (finding the power they had got with the credulous people) enriched themselves with all kind of spoil, and pillage, and justified it upon our saviour's promise, The Meek shall inherit the Earth; and declared their title was the same which the Righteous Israelites had unto the goods of the wicked Egyptians. This story is worth the reading at large, and needs no application. For the avoiding of this shadow of Religion, I shall add an Antidote: External holiness invites awful regards: there is no mask that becomes Rebellion, Innovation, so well as Religion; nothing that so much conceals deformity, and pretends beauty. 'Tis an excellent thing so to dissimulate piety, that when we act strongly against it, in that very Arctic of wickedness the people Saint us. Herod would fain worship, when he means to worry. This is that which leads the world in a string, that hallows the most Hellish enterprises: for the Common people (which are the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman}) never see behind the Curtain, a handsome gloss is with them as good as the Text: ('Tis the Ethick of these Hypocrites) Let us enjoy the temporal advantages of Religion, and let others take the eternal; Let us use it for a cloak or a crutch, and let others expect from it a Crown. The River Atheneus is my emblem, whose upper waters were sweet and grateful, but towards the bottom brackish; But let all sober Christians know, that this shell of Religion (which our new Masters do so hotly pursue) though it may be of external conducement, that there is nothing that God's pure and undeluded eye looks on with more abhorrency: we may possibly deceive men, but it is in vain to put Ironies upon God. A counterfeit Religion, shall find a real Hell, and 'tis pity that such a sacred thing should be violenced, and made subservient to rebellious irregular designs. As for you gentlemen, who have conspired with the wrath of God in the stupefaction of your conscierc●s, though you may for a time struggle with those inward checks, yet there will be a day (if not in this life) when that witness, that Judge, that Jury, will not be bribed. God hath fixed it in the Soul, as an internal Register, as an impartial Diary, as the Censor of the affections, and the pedagogue of the passions, and you that have by an inveterate wickedness conquered the oppositions which God seated in your hearts to sin, may possibly consult well with your present advantage and greatness, but not at all with his future comforts, for besides the loss of that intimate pleasure which waits upon innocency. There is another wile that these Gibeonites have to seduce multitudes, and is so prevalent with most people; Their success in all enterpises, as their Demi-God Rogers, the forge and bellows of sedition, Infernal emisary, styles in his Pamphlet against Mr. Prynne, the blessed and successful Parliament. Seeing it is so great a Plea with these men, I will first show, that success is no argument of a good cause; and then, that the wickedest men have most used it. Concerning the first, David in the 73 Psalm, describing the outward estate of evil men, says, they were successful in their affairs; insomuch that the people thereupon came in apace unto them; yea, so prosperous they were in their way, that in a manner, he was nonplus at the matter. And Jeremy the Prophet argues with God about the same thing, Jerem. 12. why it should be so, That they who dealt very treacherously, should be so very happy; whose conditions also in another place he describes more fully in these words, Jeremy 5 chapt. 26, 27. Among my people are found wicked men, who lie in wait, and set traps and snares to catch their brethren, their houses are full of deceit and wrong, yea, they do (in their Justice and cruelty) surpass wicked men: they take upon them to be Judges, and yet judge not the cause, no not so much as the cause of the fatherless, or the right of the needy; and yet they prosper, are become great, grown rich, waxen fat, and shine. Here was prosperity we see, here was success, but no honesty, no goodness. In the 11. of Daniel, 36. certain vile persons (so entitled) are prophesied of, who should do much mischief against the holy people, whom they should kill and destroy, and speak blasphemous things against the God of Gods; they should honour only the god of forces, i. e. they should trust only in their Militia, or strength of weapons, for safety and protection: (all these it seems, are the conditions of vile persons, and should prosper for an appointed time, until the indignation be accomplished (Says the Text) which was determined to be done.) We know that Cain prevailed against Abel, yet Abel was the better man, and offered the better sacrifice: nay the Pharisees (we know) prevailed against Christ himself for a season, had their wills of him, got him Crucified by the common vote and consent of the people, even according to the desires of their own hearts. And from hence it was believed by a great many, that Christ was even such a man as his enemies reported him, a deceiver, and a malefactor: & that it was the Judgement of God upon him for his sins. He was despised, rejected of men, Esay 53. 4. Hence it is that some of his Disciples themselves were so staggered at the matter, that even they made a question, whether he were the man whom they took him to be, because of that success which his enemies had against him. Indeed it is the humour of men to pass sentence upon others, from a view of their outward conditions; if they prosper, than they conclude them good, and beloved of God; if not, then wicked presently. When the viper was seen hanging on St. Paul's hand, he was judged a murderer immediately, and the worst of men in all the Company. Does not Scripture throughout, and daily experience both, inform us, that the best men are usually the most afflicted? and thus we see that to argue from success is but a weak kind of arguing. But I shall proceed to the next place, that the worst men have always been wont to plead this Argument; one or two examples amongst many shall be alleged to this purpose. The Scripture tells of Rabshaketh, when he moved the people of Jerusalem (as these men do us) to make a general revolt from good Hezekiah, he pretended that God had set him on work, and had said, Go up against this Land, and destroy it, and his main argument was, his Master's extraordinary great success, isaiah. 36. 10, 19 to which purpose he reckoned up (as our Tyrants do) a great many Cities and Castles which he had taken, as Hamah, and Arphad, Sepharvaim, and Ivah. And so the Turks to this day argue against the Christians, that their Religion excels ours, because they have prospered better, and prevailed more than we have done. Indeed there is no Argument more popular than success, because the bulk of men is not able to distinguish the permission of God from his approbation: and although it be in itself fallations and feeble, yet the misery of the conquered denies them the opportunity to dispute it; for the opposition of the sword will never be confuted by the bare fist of logic. I wonder that any would be so importunate to preach Laws and Moral reasons to these men with swords by their sides; who are like those in Livy; That all Laws are engraven on the hilt of a victorious sword, to whose Mandamus all other Statutes must submit. But our new Masters by quoting the success of their undertakings, besides the plausibleness and insinuating nature of the proposition itself, have the advantage of power to make us believe them; nor is this bait contemptible; many of parts and prudence, yea and of Religion, have been staggered by it. The Heathen could say, happy Piracy is a thing of unhappy presidency; fortunate sins may prove dangerous temptations; But for these men to say that God doth signally attest the actions of their persons, or the Justice of their cause, by permitting it to prosper and taper up in the World, is such a deceit, as deserves our serious abhorrency. And now (Reader) let us mix our prayers, that God would for ever banish this cur●●d policy out of Europe, and the whole Christian world; and Damn it down to Hell, from whence originally it came: and let such as delight to abuse others, think of that self-cozenage, with which in the interim they abuse themselves. God permitting the Devil to revenge the Imposture. And whilst we are busy with politic Stratagems, and tortuous arms to invade the rights of others, let us all consider, that this is not the violence which takes Heaven. It is manifest that we are fallen into the dregs of time, we live in the rust of the Iron age, and must accordingly expect to feel the dotages of a decrepit world: what is become of truth, sincerity, charity, humility, those Antiqui mores, whether are they gone? did they attend Astraea, and have left such degenerous successors, as cruelty, pride, fraud, envy, oppression, & c? O God be thou pleased to magnify thy power, and thy mercy in converting these men, bring them upon their Knees, (good Lord) before thee and before the Nation, and persuade their proud and Rebellious Spirits, to beg pardon for all their evils done, and to this end let them feel that Hell which is in their own bosoms, let the blood which they have shed cry, and the evils they have committed roar within them; Let them seriously think of those Devouring flames, of those everlasting burnings, upon the worm that never dieth, and upon the fire that never shall be quenched. FINIS.