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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
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<P>A Pair of SPECTACLES For this Purblinde NATION With which They may &s;ee the ARMY and PARLIAMENT Like <HI>SIMEON</HI> and <HI>LEVI</HI> Brethren in Iniquity Walk hand in hand together.</P>
<P>OR A PERSPECTIVE To take a view of the Army, and PARLIAMENTS Political combination in betraying their Countryes priviledges.</P>
<P>By <HI>H. M.</HI> a true friend to this Nations Liberties.</P>
<P>Semper ego auditor tantum? nunquamne reponam.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed in the year, 1659.</P>
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<HEAD><PB N="1" REF="2">
To the Mungrel new Athenian Republican <HI>Tyrants,</HI> or the pretended Parliament (if it needs mu&s;t be &s;o cal|led) at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter.</HI></HEAD>
<P>I Shall a&s;&s;ume the boldne&s;s to &s;peak a little unto you, (O you men of <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter)</HI> and I pray ob|&s;erve my words, if Providence &s;hall plea&s;e to bring this my Paper unto your view. And fir&s;t, let me de&s;ire of you not to be angry, if I &s;peak ra|ther to profit then to plea&s;e you, forbearing altoge|ther tho&s;e fal&s;e and clawing expre&s;&s;ions which your Adorers u&s;e when they addre&s;s them&s;elves to &s;peak unto you: I dare not tell you of any humble tenders of my &s;mall con&s;tant devotion to &s;erve you in your way, for I am &s;ure 'tis not the way of Chri&s;t and God, nor can I acknowledge your &s;purious <HI>Good old Cau&s;e</HI> under the pretence of Reformation and pre&s;ervation of Church and Commonwealth; for I know no &s;uch matter, but rather the direct contrary. This being premi&s;ed, <HI>I</HI> do now addre&s;s my &s;elf unto you for the pre&s;ent in this manner. Tell us, <HI>O</HI> unhappy men that have been the principal in&s;truments of all our woes, and have given life and motion to all our mi&s;eries.</P>
<P N="1">1. With what impudence could you affirm that there was a nece&s;&s;ity to dethrone his late Highne&s;s, and to aboli&s;h the free choi&s;e and election of the people, the Repre&s;entatives: it hath been ob&s;erved that in all innovations and rebellions (which ordi|narily have their ri&s;e from pretences of Religion or reformation, or both,) the breach and neglect of
<PB N="2" REF="3">
Laws hath been authori&s;ed by that great Patrone&s;s of illegal actions <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity.</HI> But let that great rule be received, that no man can be nece&s;&s;itated to &s;in, our Divines generally damn an officious lie, and the equity binds from any officious &s;in; it would &s;oon cut the nerves of the eighth Commandment, if nece&s;&s;ities and urgencies, though real, were propounded a &s;uf|ficient excu&s;e for &s;tealing; but that (which you) the Je&s;uitical powder-Traitors call <HI>nece&s;&s;ity,</HI> is no more then nece&s;&s;ity of convenience, nor &s;o much, except we interpret that convenience, may favour your own ends, and &s;o is convenient for your de&s;ign; but you u&s;e <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> as the old Philo&s;ophers did an occult quality, though to a different purpo&s;e; that was their refuge for ignorance, this is your &s;anctuary for &s;in. It is a maxime that you have out of <HI>Livy</HI> to maintain that, <HI>That war mu&s;t needs be ju&s;t that is ne|ce&s;&s;ary, and tho&s;e arms pious that are all our livelyhood; I</HI> mu&s;t confe&s;s it was a thing very incongruous in the late interrupted Parliament, to de&s;ire that tho&s;e un|gratefull men &s;hould leave their crutches, and to walk without them; 'tis no le&s;s unnatural to invite the&s;e Gentlemen to quit their &s;words who&s;e lives and fortunes lean intirely upon them, and that this Juncto of Tyrants who will admit of no rule to go|vern by, but their own wills; we know it was the un|happy mi&s;ery of <HI>Athens,</HI> when it &s;uffered under the thirty Tyrants: You that take to your &s;elves the title of the Lords worthies, for&s;ooth, but good names do not alwayes prove good men, titles with|out truth, &s;erve but to enhance and di&s;excu&s;e dam|nation.</P>
<P N="2">2. Tell me, you cur&s;ed Cannibals, was not his late Highne&s;s proclaimed as Protector and Supream
<PB N="3" REF="3">
Magi&s;trate by the Commanders in chief of the Ar|my, in the greate&s;t &s;olemnity imaginable, fir&s;t at the <HI>Exchange</HI> in <HI>London, We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> and afterwards through the three Nations, with the greate&s;t te&s;ti|monies of the &s;ouldiers good will and liking, and of the peoples reception and entertainment with a <HI>ne|mine contra dicente?</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Have not the Officers and Souldiers of the Ar|my afterwards upon more &s;erious deliberation ad|dre&s;&s;ed them&s;elves unto the Protector as a &s;upream Magi&s;trate, and &s;o did further thereby oblige them|&s;elves, and by &s;uch a kinde of tran&s;action &s;ubject them&s;elves by way of the mo&s;t &s;olemn engagements unto him as &s;upream Magi&s;trate?</P>
<P N="4">4. Did not our addle-brain'd Senators <HI>Fleetwood, Desborow, Lambert,</HI> cobling <HI>Hew&s;on, Cooper,</HI> thimbling <HI>Bark&s;tead, Bury,</HI> and the re&s;t of their Confederates, &s;wear to be true to him as Protector, and how hate|full to God and men, yea, to the very Heathen have &s;uch things been, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 17. 12, 13, 14, 15. &s;peaking of the faith which the <HI>Hebrew</HI> Kings had given to the <HI>Babilonian, Shall he pro&s;per, &s;hall he e&s;cape that breaks the Covenant and be delivered,</HI> ver. 16, 18. <HI>As I live &s;aith the Lord God, &s;urely in the place where the King dwelleth that made him King, who&s;e oath he de&s;pi&s;ed and who&s;e Covenant he brake, even with him in the mid&s;t of</HI> Ba|bilon <HI>he &s;hall die, &s;eeing he de&s;pi&s;ed the oath by breaking the Covenant, and hath done all the&s;e things, &s;hall he not e&s;cape.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. Tell us you <HI>Sear-&s;oul'd</HI> men that will &s;wear <HI>pro</HI> and <HI>con,</HI> tell me what an oath is? is it not a Re|ligious affirmation, a promi&s;e with Gods Seal, and therefore it &s;hould concern Chri&s;tians to be caute|lous before &s;wearing to &s;wear liquidly, and to ob&s;erve
<PB N="4" REF="4">
con&s;cionably, 'tis pity &s;uch &s;lender eva&s;ions &s;hould &s;atisfie us as hath been &s;corned by Heathen? &s;ad ex|perience tell us how that you <HI>Engli&s;h Tigers,</HI> in pro|pounding of oaths, requiring promi&s;es, and other &s;olemnities, have induced multitudes to binde them|&s;elves upon &s;ome &s;ecret, loo&s;e and mental re&s;ervation, which you have framed to your &s;elves as a <HI>&s;alvo</HI> in ca&s;e of breach: But <HI>I</HI> &s;ee the&s;e <HI>Babylonian</HI> Sprats have advi&s;ed more with corrupt wit, then &s;ound con|&s;cience: Tis an huge advantage that you <HI>(Delphick Devils)</HI> have in this world that can ea&s;ily &s;ay and &s;wear to any thing, and yet withall &s;o palliate your fal&s;ifications and perjuries, as to hide them from the connu&s;ance of mo&s;t. <HI>I</HI> know con&s;cionable <HI>Lenthal</HI> hath already defended your perjuries with this <HI>Axiome;</HI> that though you &s;wore (&s;ayes he) to a thing not materially unlawfull, if it impedes a moral good, it becomes void, and though you have taken liberty to &s;wear, yet in my judgement (&s;ayes he) the per&s;on to whom you &s;wore was incapable of an oath; ju&s;t as <HI>Cicero</HI> defends the breach of an oath to a thief, from perjury; and <HI>Brutus</HI> to a Tyrant; as it is in <HI>Appion,</HI> the <HI>Athenians</HI> e&s;teem it an hone&s;t perjury to violate their faith with Tyrants. <HI>I</HI> &s;ee it is not diffi|cult for you to ca&s;t your de&s;ires into &s;uch &s;oft glib ex|pre&s;&s;ions, as will down with mo&s;t of you; yea, with many that would ab&s;olutely di&s;avow the &s;ame thing in rough language. O Countrymen con&s;ider whether this way wherein you have gone be not al&s;o contradi|ctive to the law of the land, and again&s;t common equi|ty, to practice the taking away from any one that which comes unto him by lawfull inheritance, &s;ucce&s;|&s;ion or ju&s;t election? whether you would not &s;o judge it, if any &s;hould dive&s;t you of what was left you by
<PB N="5" REF="4">
your parents? Indeed if men come to power and authority by fraud and violence, as you our new Ma|&s;ters have done, and for yon to concur in oppre&s;&s;ing the &s;upream Magi&s;trate, and in taking from him what belongs unto him, if con&s;cience be &s;uffered to make report, it will be confe&s;&s;ed to be the highe&s;t inju&s;tice; for as to detract from the Standard which is the rule of mea&s;ures, is the greate&s;t &s;in; &s;o it is to detract from <HI>Carolus Rex,</HI> or Protector <HI>Richard,</HI> who are the Standards of righteou&s;ne&s;s in this Kingdom; and for the&s;e incarnate devils, to &s;ubject, di&s;po&s;e both King, Protector and People to their own lawle&s;s Ar|bitrary Power and Government, which is but the product of a rabble of vani&s;h'd Libertini&s;m, Quakers, mon&s;trous Anabapti&s;ts, King-killers, Covenant-break|ers, Je&s;uites, Seminaries and Papi&s;ts, old Gun|powder Traitors contrived that Good old Cau&s;e, Trea&s;on beyond the Seas, and in private &s;ecret Con|venticles here, but now avowed in open general Councels of the Army, by who&s;e de&s;ign it is and al|wayes hath been to alter the whole frame of Monar|chy (both of Church and State) which is the be&s;t of Governments, <HI>Deut.</HI> 17. 14. being that of God him&s;elf over the whole world, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 10. 16. and of Chri&s;t him&s;elf in and over his Church, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 2. 6. O God brand the&s;e je&s;uitical, popi&s;h, antichri&s;tian practi&s;es with the highe&s;t temporal puni&s;hment, eternal torments and condemnation in this and ano|ther world.</P>
<P N="6">6. Did the late Protector (for &s;o it &s;eems he mu&s;t be called) ever give any ground at all for you Gen|tlemen, to dethrone him and prote&s;t again&s;t him and his Government. <HI>I</HI> could wi&s;h and many thou|&s;ands more, the rea&s;ons might be &s;een, for nothing
<PB N="6" REF="5">
hath pa&s;&s;ed or bin ob&s;erv'd by diligent ob&s;ervers, that might render him unlovely or inacceptable to any per&s;on what&s;oever: however if there be any grounds or con&s;iderations that might induce the Army to &s;uch a grand tran&s;action as this: fir&s;t to reject and &s;light him, and then to give rea&s;ons, (if there be any) is to hang a man fir&s;t, and to try him afterwards, &s;eeing there can be no &s;ub&s;tantial grounds, as its pre&s;umed there none can be, even as little as you may blame the Sun for running his cour&s;e, &s;o harmele&s;&s;e hath he been: whether then there hath been in any age more unfaithfulne&s;s, inju&s;tice, greater covenant-brea|kers, per&s;ons &s;o rebellious, men that have rendred the ble&s;&s;ed Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, and profe&s;&s;ours there|of, more uncomely, then this adulterous generation hath done, let the world judge; for indeed they have already given their verdict in the ca&s;e, which more is the pity.</P>
<P>That mammoni&s;tical Hypocrite, <HI>Hon. Vane,</HI> had the impudencie to affirme to the re&s;t of his &s;ociates, that they might without want of mode&s;ty and duty depo&s;e him, &amp; return to the di&s;charge of their tru&s;t: is not this a tran&s;parent figment! who tru&s;ted them, the people? but the people &s;ince have delivered their tru&s;t el&s;ewhere, for when his late Highne&s;s did &s;end out Writs, the people might have &s;taid at home, there was none forced to choo&s;e&punc; but freely they have elected others, &amp; if &s;o be the free choice and election of the people make a Parliament, &amp; they are al&s;o free to choo&s;e, as often the providence of God &s;hall put opportunity into their hands, then its very doubtful, whether this be any other thing then onely a Parliament &s;o called, the people having freely declared otherwi&s;e: are the&s;e the onely per&s;ons
<PB N="7" REF="5">
whom God and the Law hath tru&s;ted, and may they do what their own i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">clination and fury leades them to? can it be pre&s;um'd that they were tru&s;ted with a power to de&s;troy and di&s;&s;olve our Antient &s;etled Government by Kings, Lords, and Commons, to a &s;neaking Oligar|chial Tyranny, under the bare name of a ba&s;tard <HI>Good old Cau&s;e,</HI> which is as changable as the addle heads that con|trive it, and to make them&s;elves perpetual Dictators over the Protector and his People? what doe you intend that the Law it &s;elf &s;hall be &s;ubject to your votes, and that what&s;oever you &s;ay or do &s;hould be lawful, becau&s;e you declare it &s;o? Seeing that the&s;e helli&s;h de&s;ignes and actings of a malignant party of this Kingdome, work|ing to regard the progre&s;&s;e, or &s;ubvert the being of the true Prote&s;tants, and therein to bereave us of all our hopes of reformation, or future peace or happine&s;&s;e to this Church and Kingdome; It &s;hall be a peece of my daly oraizons, that God would brand the&s;e Ie&s;uitical Doctrins with the markes of perpetual &s;corn and In|dignation.</P>
<P>7ly. Are not the&s;e our new State-mongers or this Par|liament (if it needs mu&s;t be &s;o called) like to infringe the peoples rights, and give le&s;&s;e &s;atisfaction than one &s;in|gle per&s;on with a Parliament? for my rea&s;on is, this Par|liament of 40. or 50. or there abouts, and 70 more Sena|tors be&s;ides, have every one of them a long train, there is never a one but is a file-leader, that is, hath at lea&s;t 16. or 20. in a family, to be provided one way or other, and all hungry as Hawkes, ready to catch at any thing, and nothing will &s;erve but the blood of the people, for they mu&s;t be fed with &s;omething; a rea&s;on it is again&s;t the &s;tanding rules of rea&s;on, the profe&s;&s;ed principles of the Army, for any power or Authoritie to have the Militia and the Command of the Peoples pur&s;es which the&s;e Cormorants hath, which is both de&s;tructive and pernici|ous.</P>
<P><PB N="8" REF="6">
Though the command of the peoples pur&s;es was never de|&s;ired or practi&s;ed by a &s;ingle per&s;on, and was not the Go|vernment &s;etled by Parliament, under one head?</P>
<P>To Execute the Laws of the Government &s;o made by Parliament, more plea&s;ing and rational, than to have a body con&s;i&s;ting of &s;o many Knaves, Drunkards, and Whore-ma&s;ters, which is mon&s;ter like.</P>
<P>I de&s;ire all Chri&s;tian people to con&s;ider al&s;o the condi|tion of this factious Generation, that have done more di&s;|grace and wrong to Chrifts Go&s;pel, than ever was offered &s;ince Chri&s;ts time: never did any in &s;o &s;hort a &s;pace a&s;|cend to that zenith of villany, as they have done, or pre|tend more Godline&s;&s;e, with the practice of &s;o much wickedne&s;&s;e. I confe&s;&s;e they promi&s;e fair, like tho&s;e <HI>Gala|thians</HI> whom St. <HI>Paul</HI> writes unto, they begin in the Spi|rit, with the mention of Sin and Mercy; they have the faces of men, but ob&s;erve them well, we &s;hall find they have the teeth of Lions, and the tail of Scorpions: my en|deavours &s;hall be on purpo&s;e to detect their wiles, that men may avoid them, and not be hurt by them, for they have got above board in the&s;e times, and &s;tile them&s;elves in their &s;candalous Pamphlets, the Army of God, Gods only good Children; but in very deed their works &s;peak them not to be of God. <HI>La<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">my</HI> may their name and title properly be. We have two grand Impo&s;tors among&s;t us <HI>Rogers,</HI> and <HI>Canne,</HI> who are very zealous in their &s;currulous pa&s;quils for that whori&s;h Old Cau&s;e, which is only to re|vive that Tragedy which Mr. <HI>Hocker</HI> relates of the Anabap|ti&s;t in <HI>Germany;</HI> Who talking of nothing but Faith, and the true fear of God, and that riches and honour were vanity, at fir&s;t upon the greater opinion of their Humility, Zeal, and Devotion, procured much Reverence and e&s;timation with the people: A<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">ter finding how many per&s;ons they had en&s;nared with their Hypoc<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;ie, they began to pro|po&s;e
<PB N="9" REF="6">
to them&s;elves to reform both the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical and Civil Government of State; then becau&s;e po&s;&s;ibly they might meet with &s;ome oppo&s;ition, they &s;ecretly entred into a League of A&s;&s;ociation; and &s;hortly after (find|ing the power they had got with the credulous people) en|riched them&s;elves with all kind of &s;poyl, and pillage, and ju&s;tified it upon our Saviours promi&s;e, <HI>The Meek &s;hall inhe|rit the Earth;</HI> and declared their title was the &s;ame which the Righteous I&s;raelites had unto the goods of the wicked Egyptians. This &s;tory is worth the reading at large, and needs no application. For the avoiding of this &s;hadow of Religion, I &s;hall add an Antidote: External holine&s;&s;e invites awful regards: there is no mask that becomes Re|bellion, Innovation, &s;o well as Religion; nothing that &s;o much conceals deformity, and pretends beauty. 'Tis an excellent thing &s;o to di&s;&s;imulate piety, that when we act &s;trongly again&s;t it, in that very artick of wickedne&s;&s;e the people Saint us. <HI>Herod</HI> would fain wor&s;hip, when he means to worry. This is that which leads the world in a &s;tring, that hallows the mo&s;t Helli&s;h enterpri&s;es: for the Common people (which are the <GAP DESC="foreign">) never &s;ee behind the Curtain, a hand&s;ome glo&s;&s;e is with them as good as the Text: ('Tis the Ethick of the&s;e Hypocrites) Let us in|joy the temporal advantages of Religion, and let others take the eternal; Let us u&s;e it for a cloak or a crutch, and let others expect from it a Crown. The River <HI>Atheneus</HI> is my embleme, who&s;e upper waters were &s;weet and grate|full, but towards the bottom bracki&s;h; But let all &s;ober Chri&s;tians know, that this &s;hell of Religion (which our new Ma&s;ters do &s;o hotly per&s;ue) though it may be of ex|ternal conducement, that there is nothing that Gods pure and undeluded eye looks on with more abhorrency: we may po&s;&s;ibly deceive men, but it is in vain to put Ironies upon God. A counterfeit Religion, &s;hall find a real Hell,
<PB N="9" REF="7">
and 'tis pitty that &s;uch a &s;acred thing &s;hould be violen|ced, and made &s;ub&s;ervient to rebellious irregular de|&s;igns.</P>
<P>As for you gentlemen, who have con&s;pired with the wrath of God in the &s;tupefaction of your con&s;cierc<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">s, though you may for a time &s;truggle with tho&s;e inward checks, yet there will be a day (if not in this life) when that Witne&s;&s;e, that Judge, that Jury, will not be bribed.</P>
<P>God hath fixed it in the Soul, as an internal Regi&s;ter, as an impartial Diary, as the Cen&s;or of the affections, and the pedagogue of the pa&s;&s;ions, and you that have by an inveterate wickedne&s;&s;e conquered the oppo&s;itions which God &s;eated in your hearts to &s;in, may po&s;&s;ibly con&s;ult well with your pre&s;ent advantage and greatne&s;s, but not at all with his future comforts, for be&s;ides the lo&s;&s;e of that intimate plea&s;ure which waits upon inno|cency. There is another wile that the&s;e Gibeonites have to &s;educe multitudes, and is &s;o prevalent with mo&s;t people; Their &s;ucce&s;&s;e in all enterpi&s;es, as their <HI>Demi</HI>-God <HI>Rogers,</HI> the forge and bellowes of &s;edition, Infernal Emi&s;arie, &s;tiles in his Pamphlet again&s;t Mr. <HI>Prynne,</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed and &s;ucce&s;&s;efull Parliament. Seeing it is &s;o great a Plea with the&s;e men, I will fir&s;t &s;hew, that &s;ucce&s;&s;e is no argument of a good cau&s;e; and then, that the wicked|e&s;t men have mo&s;t u&s;ed it. Concerning the fir&s;t, <HI>David</HI> in the 73 <HI>P&s;alm,</HI> de&s;cribing the outward e&s;tate of evil men, &s;ayes, they were &s;ucce&s;sfull in their affaires; in&s;o|much that the people thereupon came in apace unto them; yea, &s;o pro&s;perous they were in their way, that in a manner, he was non-plus'd at the matter. And <HI>Jere|my</HI> the Prophet argues with God about the &s;ame thing, <HI>Jerem.</HI> 12. why it &s;hould be &s;o, That they who dealt ve|ry
<PB N="10" REF="7">
treacherou&s;ly, &s;hould be &s;o very happy; who&s;e con|ditions al&s;o in another place he de&s;cribes more fully in the&s;e words, <HI>Jeremy</HI> 5 chapt. 26, 27. <HI>Among my people are found wicked men, who lie in wait, and &s;et traps and &s;nares to catch their brethren, their hou&s;es are full of deceit and wrong,</HI> yea, they do (in their Ju&s;tice and cruelty) &s;urpa&s;&s;e wic|ked men: <HI>they take upon them to be Judges, and yet judge not the cau&s;e,</HI> no not &s;o much as <HI>the cau&s;e of the fatherle&s;&s;e, or the right of the needy; and yet they pro&s;per, are become great, grown rich, waxen fat, and &s;hine.</HI> Here was pro&s;perity we &s;ee, here was &s;ucce&s;&s;e, but no hone&s;ty, no goodne&s;&s;e. In the 11. of <HI>Daniel,</HI> 36. certain vile per&s;ons (&s;o intitled) are prophe&s;ied of, <HI>who &s;hould do much mi&s;chief again&s;t the holy people, whom they &s;hould kill and destroy, and &s;peak bla&s;phemous things again&s;t the God of Gods; they &s;hould honour onely the god of forces,</HI> i. e. they &s;hould tru&s;t only in their <HI>Militia,</HI> or &s;trength of weapons, for &s;afety and protection: (all the&s;e it &s;eems, are the conditions of vile per&s;ons, and &s;hould pro&s;per for an appointed time, untill the indignation be accompli&s;hed (&s;aies the Text) which was determined to be done.) VVe know that <HI>Cain</HI> prevailed again&s;t <HI>Abel,</HI> yet <HI>Abel</HI> was the better man, and offered the better &s;acrifice: nay the Phari&s;ees (we know) prevailed a|gain&s;t Chri&s;t him&s;elf for a &s;ea&s;on, had their wills of him, got him Crucified by the common vote and con|&s;ent of the people, even according to the de&s;ires of their own hearts. And from hence it was believed by a great many, that Chri&s;t was even &s;uch a man as his enemies re|ported him, a deceiver, and a malefactor: &amp; that it was the Judgement of God upon him for his &s;ins. <HI>He was de&s;pi&s;ed, rejected of men,</HI> E&s;ay 53. 4. Hence it is that &s;ome of his Di&s;ciples them&s;elves were &s;o &s;taggered at the mat|ter, that even they made a que&s;tion, whether he were the
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man whom they took him to be, becau&s;e of that &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e which his enemies had again&s;t him. Indeed it is the humor of men to pa&s;&s;e &s;entence upon others, from a view of their outward conditions; if they pro&s;per, then they conclude them good, and beloved of God; if not, then wicked pre&s;ently. When the viper was &s;een hang|ing on St. <HI>Pauls</HI> hand, he was judged a murtherer imme|diately, and the wor&s;t of men in all the Company. Does not Scripture throughout, and dayly experience both, inform us, that the be&s;t men are u&s;ually the mo&s;t afflicted? and thus we &s;ee that to argue from &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e is but a weak kind of arguing. But I &s;hall pro|ceed to the next place, that the wor&s;t men have alwayes been wont to plead this Argument; one or two exam|ples among&s;t many &s;hall be alleged to this purpo&s;e. The Scripture tells of <HI>Rab&s;haketh,</HI> when he moved the people of <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> (as the&s;e men do us) to make a ge|neral revolt from good <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> he pretended that God had &s;et him on work, and had &s;aid, <HI>Go up against this Land, and de&s;troy it,</HI> and his main argument was, his Ma&s;ters extraordinary great &s;ucce&s;&s;e, <HI>I&s;ay.</HI> 36. 10, 19. to which purpo&s;e he reckoned up (as our Tyrants doe) a great many Cities and Ca&s;tles which he had taken, as <HI>Hamah,</HI> and <HI>Arphad, Sepharvaim,</HI> and <HI>Ivah.</HI> And &s;o the Turks to this day argue again&s;t the Chri&s;tians, that their Religion excells ours, becau&s;e they have pro&s;|pered better, and prevailed more than we have done. Indeed there is no Argument more popular than &s;uc|ce&s;&s;e, becau&s;e the bulk of men is not able to di&s;tingui&s;h the permi&s;&s;ion of God from his approbation: and al|though it be in it &s;elf fallacions and feeble, yet the mi|&s;ery of the conquered denies them the opportunity to di&s;pute it; for the oppo&s;ition of the &s;word will never be
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confuted by the bare fi&s;t of <HI>Logick.</HI> I wonder that any would be &s;o importunate to preach Laws and Moral rea&s;ons to the&s;e men with &s;words by their &s;ides; who are like tho&s;e in <HI>Livy;</HI> That all Laws are engraven on the hilt of a victorious &s;word, to who&s;e <HI>Mandamus</HI> all other Statutes mu&s;t &s;ubmit. But our new Ma&s;ters by quoting the &s;ucce&s;&s;e of their undertakings, be&s;ides the plau&s;iblene&s;&s;e and in&s;inuating nature of the propo&s;ition it &s;elf, 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 &s;tag|gered by it. The Heathen could &s;ay, happy Pira|cy is a thing of unhappy pre&s;idency; fortunate &s;ins may prove dangerous temptations; But for the&s;e men to &s;ay that God doth &s;ignally atte&s;t the actions of their per&s;ons, or the Ju&s;tice of their cau&s;e, by per|mitting it to pro&s;per and taper up in the World, is &s;uch a deceit, as de&s;erves our &s;erious abhorrency. And now (Reader) let us mix our prayers, that God would for ever bani&s;h this cur<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="2 letters">d policy out of <HI>Europe,</HI> and the whole Chri&s;tian VVorld; and Damn it down to Hell, from whence originally it came: and let &s;uch as delight to abu&s;e others, think of that &s;elf-cou&s;enage, with which in the interim they abu&s;e them&s;elves. God permitting the Devil to re|venge the Impo&s;ture. And whil&s;t we are bu&s;ie with politick Stratagems, and tortious arms to invade the rights of others, let us all con&s;ider, that this is not the violence which takes Heaven. It is ma|nife&s;t that we are fallen into the dregs of time, we live in the ru&s;t of the Iron age, and mu&s;t accor|dingly expect to feel the dotages of a decrepit VVorld: what is become of truth, &s;incerity, chari|ty,
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humility, tho&s;e <HI>Antiqui mores,</HI> whether are they gone? did they attend <HI>A&s;traea,</HI> and have left &s;uch de|generous &s;ucce&s;&s;ors, as cruelty, pride, fraud, envy, oppre&s;&s;ion, &amp;c? <HI>O God be thou plea&s;ed to magnifie thy power, and thy mercy in converting the&s;e men, bring them upon their Knees, (good Lord) before thee and before the Nation, and per&s;wade 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 bo&s;omes, let the blood which they have &s;hed cry, and the evils they have committed roar within them; Let them &s;eriou&s;ly think of tho&s;e Devouring flames, of tho&s;e everla&s;ting burnings, upon the worm that never dieth, and upon the fire that never &s;hall be quenched.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
