oats his Case, Character, Person, and Plot: His laying of things together. The Observators Declaration, and Confession. His opinion of the Papists as well as of the Popish Plot.  TRIMMER. 
SO that you are upon a Sure Ground, I perceive, for what you do in Mr. Otes'es business.  Observator, 
I am upon a great many sure grounds, Trimmer; The sure grounds of Authority, Law, Reason, Justice, Truth, Honour and Conscience.  Trim. 
And yet he bears up you see, like another Athanasius. Titus against the World, and the World against Titus.  Obs. 
He'd have taken it better to have been coupled with Judas, than with Athanasius: for they two have formerly had some hard words, you must know, and oats called him a Creed-making Rascal for his pains: But the guineas and the Bottles come in still, they say.  Trim. 
Ay, and he has his friends about him too; and bets ye his money Nine-pins as free as an Emperor. 'Twould do a man good to see how hear he'll laugh at an unlucky Tip: But Peace within is a great matter. This co●●● never be, Nobs, if all were not well at home: and then for so many dishes of Meat, the King himself eats no better.  Obs. 
From whence does all this come, I prithee?  Trim. 
Why, whence came the Prophets Meat in the Wilderness?  Obs. 
From Providence, no doubt on't: But the Prophets meat in the Cage I'm afraid, comes from another Quarter, and we have a roguy Proverb too, in favour of that Opinion, i.e. The devil helps his servants, Though what he does, 'tis true, with one hand, he undoes with 'tother; for as fast as the Ravens bring in Venison Pasties, the Rooks fly away with ' em.  Trim. 
Such another Quibble turns my stomach: But this is enough to show ye, that oats, and Otes'es Plot are not so low in the reputation of the world, as you think for.  Obs. 
As to Otes'es personal credit, thou canst not show me one action or circumstance in the whole tract of his life, so much as to colour for't: Nay, he has employed his Talent from the very Cradle, in lies, scandals, treachery, malice, revenge, and in the love and practise of wickedness, even for wickedness sake.[ Give me the Bible( says he in Cambridge, upon his Taylors bringing a Bill for a Gown) and you shall have my Oath upon't, that I never had any such Gown of him in my life;] though the having of it, and the disposing of it was proved undeniably against him. His Oath against Parker in Sussex was not only proved to be false, but so ridiculously put together, that in four or five particulars are 〈◇〉 of the Tale itself, it was morally impossible to be true. His endeavouring to suborn a perjury against the Father of that Parker, when he charged him before the King and Council, is upon Oath-likewise: To say nothing of his tampering against Coll. digs, and several others, in the same manner. Whenever he had a Pique to any body,[ I'll have the hearts blood of him] was the very form of the menace.[ I'll blow Bellasis's bellows for him; I'll have his hearts blood.][ I'll have the hearts blood of Thimbleby, and of Strange, and of Whitebread,] because they would not admit him into the society. As to his Treachery, I cannot call to mind above one person that ever he was beholden to; but the Charity that put bread in the mouth of this Indigent Varlet, was improved into an Evidence against the Benefactor: And for the Clearness of his manners now, there are so many Witnesses of his pollutions that way, that he has scarce had a Servant upon whom he has not attempted the vilest of abominations. And he has made as bold with God in his holy Sacraments, and in the mockeries that he has put( with Forethought, Counsel, and Deliberation) upon the most tremendous mysteries of the Christian Religion; as he has upon man in the Violation of all the duties of reasonable nature. And for the credit of his Plot n●●●, I will be answerable to show ye forty passages wherein he himself does as good as swear that he is forsworn. But to conclude, Set the passages that we know certainly, and infallibly to be false, against those other passages for which we have Otes's Oath, against reason and com●●● sense, that they are true; and faith tell me yourself then, upon the main, What you think of Otes's Plot? Keep your tongue in your mouth, Trimm●r; or ●●eak according to your Conscience.  Trim. 
Why oats may be an ill man, and the Plot yet, a very good Plot for all that.  Obs. 
Well; but if it be neither credible for the Witness sake, nor for the matter, or coherence of it: What is't, I beseech ye, that you'll bottom your credit upon? Or what if I should ask ye now which part of it you believe? The Narrative was old tongues: young tongue tells ye long since, that the whole contrivance was a Juggle; Part of it written in the Barbican, part at Fox-Hall; that the original design of it was to remove the Queen, and to destroy the Duke of York; that oats was advised by tongue to go beyond Seas, to get Materials toward the framing of it; and I have papers in my hand of Old Tongs Writing, at this instant, to confirm all this to a syllable. I have proofs from several of Tongs Parishioners, of his offering so much a man per week to those that would go over to the Church of Rome before the Plot broke out; which could be with no other design than to find Mercenary Rogues that would come back again for half a Crown a week more, perhaps, and make Evidences. The five Windfor Letters no body denies to be a Cheat; Pickering's Screw'd-Gun, and Silver Bullets is so ridiculous and Impracticable a shame, that every body sees thorough it that does but know a Carabin from a Clyster-pipe; the Story of the Ruffians got a Knock in the Cradle; and came the wrong way into the World, under the Curse of Doublings, and Contradictions; Wakemans poison, and Conyers's Dagger lay too open and Baref-ac'd to do any Execution. The people were haired out of their wits for fear of a Massacre and yet at the same time a greater Army from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland, to make a Descent here, and help to beat out the brains of the English Protestants, when the English Papists had cut their throats, then the Christians brought into the Field against the Turks and Tartars, the Last Summer; and the Project Carried so Open too; As if a Price had been set upon the Kings Head by a public crier. But finally, call to mind( as I  told you t'other day). Oates's scandals against his most Sacred Majesty, and Believe him if you Dare, And take notice, that it is not Matter of Fact, that he pretends to Assert, but onely throws out the Vomit of a Virulent, a Sediticus and a Rancourous Spirit, which Single Circumstance would be sufficient to Destroy his Testimony, even in any other Cause whatsoever.  Trim: 
You are( as a man may say) upon the Point of casting your Skin Nobs; and presenting yourself to the World, in your True Colours Come, Faith out with your Beads, and your Trinkets. Be a good Boy, and let's hear you say Your Office. You have conned your Lesson, I make no doubt on't, by this time. 'Twould be a great deal more Generous, to Own and to Declare yourself a Papist to the whole World, then to lie Wriggling In and Out thus, betwixt two Religions.  Obs. 
Why then once for all, Trimmer, I am a CATHOLIQUE, and the very Same CATHOLIQUE that I have ever been, and ever Professed myself to Be; That is to say, a catholic of the Church of England. The I am well enough Content, to Own myself a Protestant too, according to the Best Acceptation of the Word, Improperly Speaking, and no Otherwise That Religion, which I owned, and professed upon the Sacrament to the Reverend Dr. Ken, at the Hague;( Now Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells) when I was forced to run away from a Pack of Forswoarn Miscreants here, that would have made a Papist of me; That very Religion do I Declare myself to be of, This Day; and that I never put Pen to Paper, throughout the Whole Course of this Pretended Plot, in Justification of the Papists, with any Regard to their Religion, but out of the very Indignation of my Soul, to see an Outcry against Popery, on the One Hand, made a Cover for a Republican, and a fanatical Rebellion, on the Other; To see the Church of England Struck at in that Popery; and every man that did but Talk like a Christian, a good Subject, or an honest man to be presently stigmatized for a Papist; to see common Malefactors, and prostitute Hirelings, set up for the Saviours of a Church, and a State; and gain Credit, by kissing the Outside of a Bible, without believing one syllable of the Contents: To see three Kingdoms half eaten up by Catchpoles; the lives and Estates of men of Honour sacrificed to the Rabble; and what with Starving Projects, and Bills of Exclusion, the late King, and the Royal Family treated little better then the meanest subjects: Neither, in the presence of God, was I ever transported by any partialities of prepossession, into so much as one thought of Bitterness against the Dissenters, any further, than as upon Knowledge and sure Experience. I was convinced( as I am this Instant) that the Schism is only a Conspiracy; and a League against the Government, under the mask of Religion: If you doubt of this, I can summon ye above an hundred and fifty of their own Doctors to verify this Opinion. I have no interest in this Declaration; but to deliver the truth and simplicity of my very heart; and to confounded the malice of all Slanderers, Impostors, and Gainsayers.  Trim. 
'Tis a wonderful thing that you should have so great a concern and respect for so many Papists, and yet so little for their Religion.  Obs. 
'Tis toward a time of Mortification, Trimmer; and now my hand's in, I'll e'en go through with my Confession. There are some points in the Church of Rome wherein; I verily believe; though we differ in modalities and terms; we agree yet in the same meaning. There are some other points wherein I do as verily believe, the matter capable of such condescensions and abatements, as both sides might very well close upon, with a just Deference to Christian Charity, and without offence to the catholic Faith. And herein I have great Authorities, and no less than Grotius himself to support me. Now as to these reserves, every man stands or falls to his own Master. And this diversity of persuasion in Religion breaks no measures either of Humanity or Civil Government.  Trim. 
So: And what say ye now to the Papists themselves?  Obs. 
Why, I do say, That I have an abhorrence for all the Popish asserters ●f the deposing Principle, equal to the detestation I have for all the Pretended Protestants, that embrew'd their hands in the blood of Charles the First; and conspired against the lives of Charles the Second, and His[ Then] Royal Brother[ Now] ( by the Grace and Providence of God) Our Dread sovereign, James the Second; upon the same Diabolical Principle. But I do again, both in reason and in charity believe, that there's not one Papist in a thousand of that persuasion. My reasons are the proofs they have given to the Crown, of their Active Loyalty, through a course of fanatical B●oils, Conspiracies and Rebellions of above 40 years continuance, to the hazard of their lives and fortunes, without making any advantage of those Commotions, toward the playing of their own Game.  Trim. 
What d'ye make of the Irish Rebellion?  Obs. 
As barbarous a Rebellion as you yourself can make of it: But it was the Scottish Rebellion that lead 'em the way; and the Rebellion afterward of the two Houses that obstructed those reliefs,( and made use of them for the support of the English Rebellion) which would otherwise most certainly have confounded the Irish Insurrection. Now as the schismatics never failed of pinching the Crown themselves whenever they found it under any other sort of distress: So the Papists must have this right done them, that they have born the outrages and injuries that have been multiplied upon them by the tumultuary Rabble, with the resignation of good Christians, and of Loyal Subjects.  Trim. 
Has not oats proved a Plot upon ' em?  Obs. 
Sworn one, you mean; And pray remember against whom he has Sworn Treason besides: And in ●●●sess, some Impossible. others Unlikely and some again, so insolent, and Incredible, together, that no 〈…〉 in his right Wits either Does, or Can or Dares pretend to believe him;  TRIMMER. 
'twas a Thousand Pittys you were Cut-off Last Saturday in the Middle of your panegyric upon the Papist. They are a Loyal People you say; a Patient, and a Resigning People: Pray let's have a touch at their morals now; The Sobriety of their Conversation; and in short; why not the Story over again that we have had so often already of Old acquaintance; Conversation, and the many Obligations they have laid upon you? Nay; Methinks, you have prettily well compounded the matter of Religion with 'em, you have met 'em half way, and left it a measuring-cast, whether you'l come home again a Protestant, or a Papist.  OBSERVATOR. 
Why this 'tis now, for a man to have Eyes in his Head, and not to be mad, for company! He that will not run away from the Sound of Popery at the Breech of him, like a Dog with a Marrow-bone at's Tail, and beat out his brains full-but against Sr. Patients memorial of the burning of the Protestant-City in Pudding-Lane; shall be entered, forsooth, in the Black Book of the [ MEN-WORTHY,] and Popishly-Affected. My Lord-Mayors pack of Hounds may be in the right, I'll allow ye; but the Common Cry of the Mobile, never took a true Scent in this world yet: That is to say; upon a true principle of distinction: what they may do by chance, is another matter. Things can never go well, so long as Religion is made a Cloak for a Faction. And that men take up Articles of Faith, in spite, and Contradiction. The Papists hope to be saved by their Good works. Now if a man goes presently, and robs Churches, and cuts throats upon't, 'tis an admirable invention to keep himself out of that danger. [ I won't believe this, or that, because the papists believe it;] is just as much to the purpose, as if a body should say, I'll go upon my head because the Papists go upon their heels. This is the way to turn the Mysteries of the Christian Faith into Romance; and fright the multitude into an Abjuration of Christianity itself, for fear of popery. The Question is not, what such or such a Society of Men Believe; But Every Sober man, will inform himself the best he may, what it is that he himself Ought to believe; and not stop there, neither, without taking this along with him, that believing, without doing▪ is but the One-half of a Christians Lesson: And that your lively Faith,( according to the Vulgar Understanding of it) will avail ye little, without the Manifestation of it by your works. Now the seeking of peace; the studying of quietness; the doing of good to all Men; and the Exercise o● Offices of Humanity, and tenderness, wherever we find a Subject for them; These[ AGENDA] are duties, I say, in common, to all Man-kind, whether Christian or Pagan: Duties, that we are obliged to, as well by the dictates of nature, as by the precepts of the gospel And the Impulse is no other then a R●y of the divine goodness,  shed into the reasonable Soul, by the Benignity of a gracious providence, to dispose us towards the discharge of those Offices, which, Humanity, as well as Religion, requires at our hands. There may be,( and there is, many time, undoubtedly) an Invincible ignorance, in the matter of Notional truths: But there can be no excuse pleaded for a perverse practise, in opposition to the Light of an universal Impulse: and 'tis a senseless thing, to talk of piety, in the exercise of Rigour, or malic●, against any man, or any sort of men, barely for Opinion, without either Charity or Mercy. Men may help doing; but they cannot help thinking. The Winds from all the points of the compass, never wrought so much mischief to this iceland, in bringing the Sea upon us, As liberty of conscience has done, in the more destructive Inundation, of an unbounded schism, and they have gotten a trick too, of covering all Religions but popery, under the Cant of the Protestant Religion; The reformed Religion; and our Religion:( which is a mighty business I warrant ye) Now let Ten Thousand Millions of Mouths, Open, as many Several ways, to the tune of our Religion: and that same [ Our Religion] looks Fast, West, North, and South; Answers the whole cry, and Stops every mouth or ' em. Pray observe now, that under this Generality, and blind, the Common People are so far imposed upon, as to take every man for a Papist, that will not Subscribe to this protestant; this Reformed; This Our Religion, at large; when, upon the whole matter 'tis nothing but a most Pernicious Imposture, and abuse, wrapt-up in Popular Terms.  Trim. 
Nay faith, Now y'are in the Vein on't; even let the thing itself be an Imposture, and an abuse, as well as the Meaning on't.  Obs. 
Soft. and fair, Trimmer. The expression is good enough, if it does not speak one thing, and intend another: But if it hold forth one thing to the Government, and Another, to the Faction, 'tis, beyond Controversy, no better than a Holy Cheat.  Trim. 
So that if a man cannot prove what he thinks, You are at liberty, to make what Construction you please, of what he says.  Obs. 
No No. I'll set ye Clear of that difficulty; and you shall see, I will do it in away of respect too, after this manner, for the purpose now.  
May it please your Lordship, Your Reverence, or Your Worship,( all after as it happens) to explain yourself upon the Word, PROTESTANT. if you speak of the Church of England, under the care of Episcopal Governors, and as it is by Law established in Doctrine, and discipline, Give that Religion what denomination you please, I'm for it: But if you have a Secret reserve to yourself, of Comprehending Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, and all the other Sects that call themselves Protestants, for protesting against Popery; I am not of that Protestant Religion; and whoever swallows that generality, as a Test of his persuasion, Enters into a kind of Combination( with your Honours, tower, Reveren●es, or Your worships leaves) to confounded the very Religion, which he desires to preserve: And, into little better, then a Confederacy with known, and open Enemies, against his dearest Mother, and Friends: Neither do I take it to be any proof of a true Religion, Barely to protest against a false one: For that may be the case of only combating the errors of one Religion with the more Enormous Im●ieti●s of a thousand worse.  Trim. 
Would you'd bring it to some issue once?  Obs. 
Take it in a word, then; whoever refuses to expound his meaning, in such a case, does most, certainly mean the worst on't▪ and now may it please your &c. once again; There's the same snare under the word [ reformed,] as under [ Protestant,] and as much need of explaining it, least when a man thinks to declare for the constitution, he be drawn in,( as it was in the one and forty protestation) by an exposition Ex post Facto, to an engagement for the schism: But then comes [ OUR RELIGION,] that( without some explicit limitation, or restriction) raises a very Hubub; fires the Beacons; and takes-in Turks, Jews, and Gentiles into the comprehension. Why our Religion is any Religion; all Religions, or no Religion at all; especially out of so many mouths, of as many several minds: And therefore Religion is not a thing to be trifled with; at this dark, dubious, and unintelligible rate, without fixing some mark, Name, or appellation upon it; And therefore let 'em either say our Popish Religion, or our fanatical Religion; or our Religion established by Law; and a body knows where to have 'em: but to set up a 100 false Religions, in a protestation to oppose one; and then to make one true Religion, out of a hundred contradictions; is to erect a multitude of Gods, and to Set up Altar against Altar; and on the other hand; to extract a compound of Truth out of a confusion of errors. So that let a Son of the Church of Rome be what he will; the Son of a hundred and fifty Churches is at least a hundrd and nine and forty times; worse. And now to go back again; All these together are Ot●'es Mother Church. Well! 'Tis a heavy fellow that! But affliction is a great Clarifier of the understanding; And I fancy; that he will have the wit yet;( if not the Grace to make the world the wiser for him; before he leaves it.  Trim. 
He's resolute; you see; his Friends stick to him: He wants for nothing; and he's in a condition now; let me tell ye; to try who are his Friends; and who are his Enemies.  Obs. 
Away Away Trimmer: Thou hast at least Fifty soft places in that head of thine. 'tis a trial of their discretion; not of their Friendship: For they love him; only as the Indians do the devil for fear he should hurt 'em: For whenever they leave him; he will most certainly tell tales; and so soon as ever the Law shall put him wholly out of condition of being any longer an evidence The very Guinney and Bottle-men; shall be the first to throw rotten eggs at him. 'Tis expedient indeed; for the Faction; that there should be a plot: But yet as to the witness there's not one of a thousand of 'em; when he's put to't in private; that will not call ye oats as many rascals as ever he called the Not-Guilty Lords. This is so true; so manifest; and so notoriously known; that a man needs but set his foot in any Coffee-house; to see it confirmed. Nay oats is a great Rogue;( says one) But certainly he must needs have heard something Nay there's no body can justify oats,( says another) Nay faith,( says a third) If he were turned off the Cart, he should even hang long enough for my part, before I took him down: And these are men,( as oats said in the bitterness of his Spirit, when the brazier arrested him;) that two year ago would as soon have committed a Sin against the Holy Ghost; as have done such a thing. Now if this Poor Devil has but the soul of a Snail, he'll say thus to himself,[ Here am I] a Wicked, a Forsworn, a Murderous, a despised, an Accursed, and an abandoned Wretch. Justice has laid hold of me, and I am become a Spectacle to Men and Angels, to see what will become of me. As to the Sin and shane of the business, the Oaths, and the innocent blood, the malice, the revenge, and other driblets of Concupiscence and human Frailty, the Pillories, and the Capital Letters; the Huzza's of the Mobile, when I mount the Stage, in exchange for the hosannas I had formerly, when I went to give Evidence, &c. All this, I say, breaks no bones; and betwixt my Forehead, my Philosophy, and my Conscience, I am able to digest as much as this comes to, I bless my Stars for't. But then they talk of Whipping-Posts, hot Irons, and other human Inventions of Mortification, that do not agree altogether so well as the other, with my constitution: ( And the Common Law they say has a devilish reach that way.) Why, What if I am a Rogue? It has been for the Service of Greater Rogues than myself: and 'tis One Thing to swear for 'em, Another Thing to Draw and Hang for 'em the Devil! am I to make a Greater Scruple now, of One True Oath, Who set me on; Who paid me my Wages, &c. then I have don all this while of an Hundred False Ones.]  Trim. 
How the Devil dances! Why if it should come to This once; Let him Swear his Heart out, there will no body Believe him.  Obs. 
Dost thou imagine that he is not able to bring a great part of this contrivance to light, by other hands: He'll tell ye, Who wrote the Windsor Letters; Who put him upon accusing the Queen, and the Duke; Where it was that Bedloe and He went to School together to learn their lessons. Why the very Copy of a Second-True Narrative, by way of a Kidderminster Paraphrase upon the Text of the old Old True Narrative, would be worth five hundred pound to him in ready dust: His Alexandrian Version of the Septuagint was nothing to't. He'll tell ye whose Buffoon he was when he spung'd for his passage from Callis to Dover( in June( not April) 1678) when he Canted for his Ordinary; and [ I ha' drunk many a Pot of Good Ale] was the Bob of the Song. For the last word now, He is yet an arranter Fool then ever I took him for, If he falls alone.   

Dublin, Re-Printed, and are to be Sold by William Weston Book-seller in Christ-Church-Lane 1685.   

OBSERVATOR. The Method of our late Troubles.( Meaning the late Rebellion) Clemency and Patience was the ruin of Charles the First. No enduring of Popular Managers, The Peoples Patriots proved their Oppressors. A Factious House of Commons Destroyed the King, the Church, and the three Kingdoms.  TRIMMER. 
I Have wondered many a time within myself, as I have been thinking of Our Late Troubles—  OBSERVATOR. 
( The Late Rebellion, thou meanest.)  Trim. 
How it was possible for the men of those times—  Obs. 
( The Conspirators, that is.)  Trim. 
To run-down Charles the First:—  Obs. 
( prithee frame thy mouth to a little Loyal English once; and call it murdering their most Gracious Sovereign, that Blessed Martyr.)  Trim. 
How this was possible( I say) considering that the King had, at that time the whole Strength of the Nation at his Command: He had the Shipping, the Militia, all the considerable Ports, and Strong-Holds, all the Magazines of Arms and Ammunition in his own hands.  Obs. 
Now I have been casting that business in my thought, clear another way, and concluded it impossible for any Prince to preserve himself under the circumstances of that season. For the Rebels here at home had effectually gained the Victory before ever a blow was struck. The Scene opened in Scotland in 1637, and the matter was then concerted betwixt the Conspirators of both Kingdoms. In February, of the same year, they Erected four Tables for ordering the affairs of the Government. 1. Nobility. 2. Gentry. 3. Burroughs. 4. Ministers; and these four were to prepare matters for a General Table, consisting of so many Commissioners selected out of all the rest. Their first business was a Covenant, and by virtue of that Covenant they presently exercised all Acts of Sovereignty, levied men and arms, and broke out into an actual Rebellion. In 1638. the King, at a prodigious expense both to himself, and to his Friends, lead a considerable Army against them; and when he had the Scots at Mercy within two miles of Berwick; he was prevailed upon by some Presbyterian Lords, to come to an agreement upon certain Articles of Pacification; the Scots broke Faith with him upon every point; And the loss of that opportunity, by trusting a party that never kept touch either with God or man, was the foundation of that pious Princes ruin. This Pacificat●on was concluded, June 17. 1639.  Trim. 
Why thou art spinning out an Observator to the length of an History  Obs. 
No, no. I'll come to your Point now in six words; that believing, charitable Prince, went on still trusting, yielding, and hoping the best, till he found his Fathers Protestation verified by ruful Experience, That [ neither Oaths, nor Promises can bind them.] The truth of it is, His Majesty was too tender-natur'd, and too good a Christian to be a happy King over such a people. For they turned all his Royal Bounties to his loss. He gave, and granted, till there was nothing more to ask, or almost to wish for, saving the Crown itself: And that followed by a natural consequence; for the Concessions on the one hand did but serve to inflame, to provoke, and to encourage an endless Importunity on the other. Insomuch, that the King had effectually given away his Power before he came to assert his Prerogative; and the Conspiracy was suffered to come to a Head before there was any vigorous attempt to crush it. Whereas a Constable, a Mess●●ge●, or a Sergeant at Arms would have done more at the beginning then twenty thousand men afterward in the field.  Trim. 
Come, come. There's no resisting the Torrent of the multitude.  Obs. 
Or rather on the other side, There's no trusting of the common people in the hands of popular Managers; No sort of tampering with them is to be endured either in Church or State. He that so much as tells them they are in danger, implies a scandal upon the Government; and all public Insinuations and Complaints are no better than Libels. Whosoever looks into the story of those times, will find that Knaves and Fools were the two principal Actors in that Tragedy. The On's part was to invent Slanders and lies, the Others to believe and publish them; the one to consult, the other to execute; the one to dictate, to direct, and to command; the other to resign, and to obey. The rancours and animo●●●ies of those days in the matter of Religion, were created, heightened, and irritated by an artificial manage of the passions of the multitude; and no men so solicitous for the preserving of their Religion, as those that ran counter to the Principles of all Religions, and effectually had none to lose: And he same freak took 'em again, for fear of their Civil Liberties, under a Prince so tender and merciful, that he lost his Crown and his Life by indulging the Importunities of a Sanguinary and Insatiable Faction. They were Gigg'd in the Head too with the danger, forsooth, of losing their Bibles; when yet their Leaders, with an Ordinance of Parliament made a shift to over-rule the Doctrine of Christ and his A ostles; and the men that put these crotchets in their crown, were much more solicitous for the keeping-up of their fears and jea●o●sies, than for the danger of their Bibles: For when their Imaginations were once tainted, there was no difficulty in the World of making them take any other Impressions: For they saw no longer with their own eyes: They took no measures any longer by their own Understandings; they neither believed, nor acted any ●onger by their own Judgments: But as passive as so many Beasts, they were managed by the Bit and the Spur, at the pleasure of the Rider. I shall not need to tell you, Trimmer, to what degree of Wickedness, and of Desperation, the Visionary Images of a f●lse Holiness, and of false Dangers, transported them, till in the Conclusion, they found too late, and to their miserable cost, that they had cast away their Lives, Souls, Liberties and Estates, for Shadows, and thrown themselves into the Devils mouth, for fear of their best friends.  Trim. 
But there were Grievances, Monopolies, Innovations, several Exactions, and Impositions;( as I have been  told) and things of that kind abundantly to work upon. But all this was before my time; and so I can speak only upon Books, and Hearsay.  Obs. 
First, the Faction, Created Fears and Jealousies, and then those fears and jealousies created all sorts of Grievances that the Cabal had a mind to; so that in short; you take the matter by the wrong handle all this while; and cast the cause of the Quarrel on the wrong side. The Fault was not the Governments, but the peoples; and that which you take for an Oppression on the one hand, was really a Conspiracy on the other. When the people were once poisoned and stung with ill Impressions concerning the Government, they presently turned their thoughts and applications to the saving of their Stakes by some other Interest; and found no fairer way for the gaining of their Point, then by ranging themselves under the protection of an ambitious, vindictive, necessitous, or Factious Party of malcontents, in one common Band of Confederacy against the present State. The first considerable operation of these fears and jealousies shew'd itself in the choice of a Popular House of Commons, which, for the greater part, were indeed of the peoples Election, but of the Nomination of the Cabal that turn'd-out, and took-in at pleasure; and with the help of the Mobile in the Lobby, laid the foundation of a public ruin.  Trim. 
I have nothing to say to the honesty either of their principles, or their proceedings: But they were men certainly of Brains and Business, and most watchfully industrious for the improving of all opportunities to their advantage. Where they had one friend throughout the Kingdom, a man may safely affirm, that they had ten Enemies; nay, and when they were torn to pieces among themselves, the common Adversary never made any profit yet of their Divisions.  Obs. 
And how came that about, d'ye think?  Trim. 
Why, what party soever was uppermost, the Episcopal men, and the Loyallists were still kept under foot; disarmed, impoverished, and formally unqualified for any Office, or place of Trust Military or Civil: Not a man of 'em to Elect, or be Elected to serve in parliament, or into any other public Business: As for Example now, no man to have a Voice, or be Elected, that shall not first take the Covenant. Dec. 20. 1643. Husbands Collections. Part 2d. Fol. 404. Delinquents disabled again. Oct. 4. 1647. Scobells Collection. Fol. 135. And again also, Oct. 8. 1652. Fol. 209. The same over again, the Proclamation, Sept. 21. 1655. And what do you think of the Parliaments Qualifications, in their Humble Petition, and Advice to the Lord Protector of May 25. 1657. And afterward, of their Additional Petition and Advice of June 16. following, for the choice of Members to serve in Parliament?[ No man to Elect, or to be Elected that had Aided, Abetted, Advised, or Assisted in any War against the Parliament, since the First of Jan. 1641. Without some signal Testimony given afterward, of his affection to the Parliament, or the Protector. None to Elect, or be Elected, that had been engaged in any Plot, Conspiracy or Design against the person of the Protector, or in any Insurrection, or Rebellion in England or Wales, since Decemb. 1653 one and forty Commissioners,( whereof fi●e to be a Quorum) to judge of the qualifica●ions of the person● c●osen: And 1000 l. set upon their heads that should be found ●nqualified. ●●c●bel. Part. 2. 378. 379. 382.] Was no this a very good way now to secure the Peace of the Government? And so their method of disarming all Malignants, and keeping Ejected Ministers, and Fellows of colleges out of all manner of Employment: As was provided by a Declaration of Nov. 24. 1655. And divers Ordinances of Parliament.  Obs. 
Nay, 'twas morally impossible for the Cavaliers ever to do any good on't, under those circumsta●ces.  Tri●. 
And it would have been every jot as impossible to have kept things quit, if they had gone any other way to work. There were no Certificates or Recommendations heard of, in those days, upon presumption, confidence, charitable conjecture, Verily persuaded, or the like: But the Word was,[ show me thy Faith by thy works.] What has he done publicly? Has he abjured, has he bid open Defiance to all his former Confederates? Has he ventured his life, limb, or Estate for the Cause when he might have slept in a whole Skin? I hate to hear people talk of a private, or closet Confession, of a public, crying-Sen. By my troth Nobs, I can never believe any man to be a Convert, that does not go through the whole discipline of a true peni●ent. In a word, I would set up this Rule to myself: never to undertake for any mans honesty, to the public, if I would not venture my Estate upon't in private.  Obs. 
Nay, I have wondered forty times to see a Rascals word taken for the safety of three Kingdoms, that the whole hree Kingdoms together would not have trusted for a Brun●gen Groa● in r●ady Money: but st●ll the case of the poor Cavaliers was very hard, methinks.  Trim. 
No more, then what was barely and absolutely necessary for the preserving of the public Peace. They had no way in th● world to support themselves, but by keeping their enemies out of play, and the Law in their own hands. And then they were as careful whom they trusted, as whom they admitted. Not a man would they suffer to set foot within those L●gislative Walls, but upon the security of Body, Soul, and Estate for his good behaviour. So that by these strictnesses they made themselves all of a piece, and gained their point:( And He's the wis●st man certainly, that works sures●.) The sense of the House was the sense of the Nation: And when they had once set up an Authority not to be disputed, and possese themselves of a power not to be resisted, they might have ruled, and reigned, if i● had not been for their own Divisions, in Saecula Seculorum. And so let it rest till to morrow.   

One Factious House of Commons ruined Three Kingdoms. The Imaginary Power of Votes, and ●riviledges, above established Laws. Reason of State holds One Government as well as in another.  OBSERUATOR. 
TO be Sequestr'd, Imprisn'd, plundered, Disarmed and Unqualify'd for any, public Office, Trust, or business, for a matter of Eighteen or Twenty years together: And throughout some Twelve, or Thirteen Revolutions,( whoever got uppermost( for the Cavaliers to be kept still Under-Hatches, unless they would Swear against their Judgments, and Consciences; Renounce the King, and the Church, and Enter into a Diabolical League with Rebells,! You cannot Deny, Trimmer, but that this was very Hard Measure; And so much the Worse too, for that all this Violence Tyranny, and Injustice was Ex●rcis'd by the Pretended Champions, for the Honour of the King, he advancement of the Church, the Preservation of the Protestant Religion, and the Liberties of the People.  TRIMMER. 
You would fain bring This now, from a Point of State, to a Question of Conscience. I have nothing to say, either to the Equity or Honesty, or the Humanity of the Proceeding: But according to the Ordinary Me sures of Practi●a le Prudence, they had no Other way to Maintain wh●t they had Gotten, then Avo●ding those Rocks upon which the other Party Split, and Miscary'd. As to the business of sequestering, Imprisoning, Plunde●ing, Disar●ing, This was a way indeed to Crush the Cavaliers, when they had 'em Down: But then 'twas not a thing to be Done, till they had first gotten the Power into their Hands, and if you look into the Bottom of the Matter, you will find i● was their Exclusions, Exceptions, Qualifications, and he Reg●l●●ing of their Elections, that did the Work. The Corrupting of a House of Commons is like the P●ysoning of a Fountain, and the Contagion must Work there, before the Pest comes to be Epidemical. The Speaker is as Infallible in St. Stevens Chair, as his Holiness Himself, in St. Peters; and when Religion, Law, and Reason come to be decided by a Majority of Voices; The Vox Populy in the Lobby, passes for Vox Dei in the Chapp●l; And every Vote, for a Sanction, to the Iss●e of the Debate: As I remember very well in the late Case for the Easing of Dissenters V●z.[ That the prosecution of Protestant-Dissenters upon the Penal Laws, was at that time Grievous to the Subjects; a Weak'ning of the protestant Interest; Encouragement to Popery, and Dangerous to the Peace of the Ki●gdom.] That Single[ Resolved upon Question] went further with the People, you see, then I know not how many Acts of Parliament, with as many [ Roy le Veults] to the Contrary; And so for the Impeachment of Fitz-Harris; the Obstructing of the late Kings Supplys: And, betwixt You and Me, Nob●, the Protesting against his Credit, as well as against the Argmentation, or the Maintenance of his Revenue. In One Word; Every thing passes with the Multitude for Sacred, that comes from within Those Walls.  Obs. 
You talk at a Rate, as if the People of England took their Representatives in Parliament, for the Supreme Authority of This Nation.  Trim. 
Well Well! Let them take 'em for what they Will, You know very well, that in our late Troubles they were Any thing to the Multitude, that they Said they were; They assumed, and they Executed the Powers that they Pretended to. They Did in short, whatever they had a Mind to do; and [ resolved upon the Question] was a Supersedeas to all Other Powers, and Obligations. I Defy the Earth, to Point me out Any One Instance( though the most Extravagant in Nature) that did not fall within the Compass of Their privileges. Pray take Notice, that I am not here upon the Honesty of their Practices; but upon the Policy of their Proceedings. Did they not Interpret, Declare, Qualify, Suspend, and Expound Laws as they pleased? Was not the Sense of the House the Test of our Religion, and Liberties? Did they not Seize, and set at Liberty, Impeach or Excuse; Arraign or Condemn, as they found the One, or the Other for their Interest, or Convenience? Did they not do more by an Ordinance then ever any King of England took upon him to do, either by Prerogative, or by Law? Who could call any thing his Own, if they but said the Cause had Need of it? There was but the Thickness of the House-of-Commons-door, betwixt a traitor, and a Patriot, for the very Same Words, or Actions; as if the Chapel, had Consecrated the Treason. Were not all the Courts of Justice resolved into a Close committee? And was not the Casting Voice, in All Causes whatsoever, made the Ultimate Arbitrator of the Controversy.  Obs. 
But do you reckon it Fair Play, all this while, to carry-on a Cause by Conspiracy, Corruption, Oppression, Scandal, and Imposture.  Trim. 
Fair or Foul Play, is not the Question: But so long as they Shuffled and Cut, among Themselves, and Dealt, and played into One Anothers Hands, they made sure of the Game. Now I'll give ye leave to say what ye will of the Cause ' Provided you will but Grant that it wass managed according to Art: For by Excluding all the Adversaries of their Interest, they had a Clear Field to Themselves, and became, both Parties, and Judges. The House was made a Sanctuary, to all Intents, and Purposes; and a Breach of privilege, in those days, was such another kind of business, as the Ridiculing of the Popish Plot, has been made Since. The Five Members were Protected by privilege; Magna Charta broken and, Evacuated, by privilege. Men were plundered Jayl'd, and Hang'd-up by privilege; The King's Authority taken from his Person, and Vested in the two Houses, by privilege: Tell 'em of the Royal power, of an Imperial prince, They make him a Trustee presently, for the Good of the People; His Office Forfeitable; And that is Their part to take care in such a case, Ne quid Detrimenti Capiat Respublica: And the same Colour served them for the Seizure of the Militia, and the public Revenues, into their Own Hands. Now this could never have been, if All their Majorities had not been of the same Leaven, and all the Royalists utterly shut of their council.  Obs. 
Ay, but here are a great many things Supos'd, that are directly Contrary to the Known Law. The Sovereignty of the Crown is brought down to the Bar of the Servants of the Common People; and the Multitude, in the Mean Time, Hoisted on to the Bench, to give judgement upon the Issue. Every body knows that the Kings Prerogatives are Bounded, and Stated; though he's a saucy Subject, let me tell ye, that undertakes to Limit, and to Prescribe them; In such a manner as to say, Thus far a Prince may go, and no further,: For a pri●ate Man is out of his Province, when he presumes to intermeddle with Points that lie only betwixt God and his Sovereign. Let him keep to his Duty of Considering what a Subject Ought to do, without Stretching his Enquirys into the uttermost Terms of what a King may take upon him to do.  Trim. 
Hark ye, Nobs, 'Tis an Idle Thing to city, or to pled, either Law or Scripture, to people that have the Power of Interpreting Both in their own Hands. Nay let the Text be never so Explicit, there are Certain Impl●'d Conditions, of the Law of Nature, and self preservation, that they still made use of, as an Exception to the General Rule: Touch not mine Anointed, was applied to the People. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers; If Mr. Baxter had been the Paraphrast, would have been Expounded, Let every Body be Subject to the Longer Sword. And then a Nemine Contradicen●e has one Mark( Unity that is) of an Indubitable Truth. Ask them [ how Laws are to be Understood, and Obedience Yielded] Their answer is [ That there is in Laws, an Equitable, and literal sense; and when there is certain appearance, ●r Grounded suspicion, That the Letter of the Law shall be Emprov'd against the Equity of it,( That is, the public Good, whether of the Body Real, or Representative) then the Commander going against it's Equi●y, gives Liberty to the Commanded to refuse Obedience to the Letter. Exact Collect. P. 150.] This was the Doctrine of April 1642. And it held through all the Charges in our Late Revolutions.[ We have( we have says cronwell) in our own judgement such Clear, and Convincing Grounds to Justify our proceedings wi●h[ The Cavaliers] which could scarcely be expected in Cases of Secret Treasons, and Conspiracies: a Bare correspondence, wherein, hath been always accounted capital: And if the Supreme Magistrate were in These Cases tied up to the Ordinary Rules, and had not a Liberty to proceed, upon Illustrations of Reason, against Those who are Continually Suspected, there would be Wanting in such a State the Means of Common Safety. A Declaration of his Highness by the Advice of his council. Oct. 31. 1655. p. 36.] And then he says again.[ That character of Difference between them, and the Rest of the People, is Occa●ion'd by Themselves, not by us. There is nothing they have more Industrously laboured in then This; To keep themselves Separated and Distinguished from the well affencted of this Nation: To which End they have kept their Conversation a-part,( as if they would Avoid the very Beginnings of Union) They have bread, and Educated their Children by the sequestered and Ejected Clergy Ib. p. 38. And therefore we leave to all Mankind to Judge, whether we ought not to be Timely Jealous of that Separation; And to proceed against them, as They may be at the Charge of those Remedies which are required against the Dangers they have bread. Ib. p. 3●.] And once again.[ Admit that some of that party were as Innocent as some would have it believed they were, Enough hath been done by their Fellows in a Common Cause( which hardly any of them know how to Disown; which they Love and of which they Glory) to draw the Whole Party uner a Just Suspicion, and the consequence thereof. All that are peaceably Minded in the Nation are ready to say [ These are the Men of whom we go in danger:] And certainly It is both Just, and Necessary, that All those of whom the People have reason to be afraid,( not only as their professed Enemies, but also Numerous) should pay for securing the State against That Danger, which they themselves were the Authors of. Ib. p. 37.] This was published in Justification of an Extraordinary Tax; upon the Cavaliers; And I city These Passages as so many Instances of their political prudence: And what was it that Enabled the party to do so many great Things, but the keeping of their parliaments, their councils and all Offices and Places, that were Considerable, either for Trust ' profit, or Reputation, Clear, not only of known, and open, but of doubtful, and Suspected Enemies. To make and end on't, if they had not barred the royalists out of their councils, and Parliaments, they could never have kept themselves One six month above Water.  Obs. 
prithee Turn the Tables now, and bless the Providence of being under so merciful a Government, that renders only Good, for Evil. The Royalists, 'tis True, were Perpetually at work some way or Other, to distracted, and to confounded the Rebells; But then they had the Scriptures, and the Law on their side; and all their Endeavours were warranted, by an indispensible Duty, to GOD, their KING, and their COUNTRY; while the oppression, and Tyranny that was Excis'd over them by the Other Party, had all that could be Impious, in the very Foundation and Aquisition of their power; Beside the Arbitrary the Malicious, and the bloody Methods of execting it. Take the very Reason of the case now abstracted from the Qualifications of it; and there's the Same Argument for excluding the Faction at this day that there was formerly for excluding of Honest Men: I do not speak of it as a thing needful, as Matters now stand: For 'tis reasonable to presume that people will have the Brains, and the Good Manners, not to make choice of Men, of Known diaffections, either to the Person of h s Sacred Majesty, or to the Frame of the established Government: Because ' t●s past that time of day, for me to set up themselves barefaced, in a Spitfull Opposition against the Constitution. Nay, or to put it so much as to the Hazard, even of a doubtful Case, and ru●ning the risk of a Mistake, where they may be Morally sure They will have the Conscience also, as well as the wisdom, to Reflect upon't, that Charles the F●rst and Three Kingdoms, were ruined by the Vulgar Error, and imaginations That the Government wanted Reforming, till their Fears were brought upon them by their Follys and that the very Men that they adored, as the most Eminent Protestants, and Pa●●i●●s, carried their Religiion only betwixt their Teth, while in their Manners, and practices, they were no other then Down right Atheists. They will consider, that Tumultuary Elections. brought forth Tumultuary Debates and Resolutions and that the Peace and pr●sperity of the publ●que, will never be promoted by the Enemies of our Prince & our Religion.;;;;   

DUBLIN, Reprinted for William Weston, Book-Seller in Christ-Church Lane.