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<DATE>10-6-09</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="treatise">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>The danger of TREATIES WITH POPISH-SPIRITS.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">OR, A &s;ea&s;onable Caveat, and Premonition to our pre&s;ent mo&s;t renowned PARLIAMENT, touching the frail tru&s;t in the Vowes and Prote&s;tations of Popi&s;hly-affected Princes, for Peace and Reconcilement with their Prote&s;tant Subjects.</HEAD>
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<Q>Abundans Cautela non nocet.</Q>
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<P>ALthough it mu&s;t needs be granted, that (as the Poet &s;ings) <HI>pax e&s;t dul|ci&s;&s;imareru~;</HI> Peace (e&s;pecially married to truth) is a mo&s;t &s;weet &amp; pre|cious temporall ble&s;&s;ing, and a mo&s;t amiable and de&s;irable thing; And that, that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>Ro.</HI> 12. 18. is mo&s;t true, <HI>If it be po&s;&s;ible, as much as in you is, have peace with all men;</HI> And although I therfore do mo&s;t ju&s;tly and ingenuou&s;ly acknowledge, that our mo&s;t renowned Parliamentary Worthies doe mo&s;t holily and honourably both before God and all good men in en|tring into Treaties and Propo&s;itions for peace, and thereby doe mo&s;t pru|dently and piou&s;ly <HI>l<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">berare animas &s;uas,</HI> and &s;top the &s;landerous mouthes of malignants: yet it mu&s;t be as nece&s;&s;arily granted that it is a mo&s;t e&s;&s;entiall part of prudence, to be mo&s;t carefull and circum&s;pect in the managing the re&s;ults and &s;ettlement thereof unto &s;uch &s;afe and &s;ecure i&s;&s;ues for &s;ucceeding times, and (if it be po&s;&s;ible) for the more certaine avoyding of future dange|rous after-claps, as them&s;elves, and the Subject may receive certaine content and comfort therein for future times, e&s;pecially after a promi&s;ed and (though mo&s;t deeply) prote&s;ted reconciliation with popi&s;hly affected, and athei&s;ti|cally principled Malignants formerly offended with their Prote&s;tant Peers and people. In which re&s;pect, O the mo&s;t &s;ad and &s;anguine, O the ba&s;e and bloody after claps, and calamitous, cata&s;trophes, and mo&s;t lamentable events which have followed and fallen upon the plain and hone&s;t-hearted peace|defiring people and Prote&s;tant Subjects of popi&s;h Princes, under the name and vicious vizard of pretended and prote&s;ted peace, for&s;ooth, end recon|cilement with them! Mo&s;t worthily, therefore, &s;aies the fountain of truth, the Spirit of God, by the pious Prophet <HI>David,</HI> though he him&s;elfe was a very vertuous and holy King, <HI>Put not any tru&s;t in Princes, nor in any &s;onnes of
<PB N="2" REF="2">
men.</HI> Which is mo&s;t true, not onely in re&s;pect of the brevity and &s;hortne&s;&s;e of their lives, but al&s;o of the incon&s;tancy of their words and promi&s;es; for; how did <HI>Ioab</HI> one of <HI>Davids</HI> Princes or famous war-worthies, under &s;hew and &s;emblance of pretended love and peacefull embracements, mo&s;t treache|rou&s;ly murther both <HI>Abner</HI> and <HI>Ama&s;a,</HI> two other mo&s;t renowned worthies of I&s;rael, whom, otherwi&s;e, in open ho&s;tility he could hardly have wronged? And how was that ancient and famous City of Troy (&s;o renowned by Poets pens, e&s;pecially <HI>Homer</HI> and <HI>Virgil;</HI> we will not di&s;pute the authentickne&s;&s;e of the hi&s;tory, but onely make u&s;e of the morality of it) &s;odainely, even in one night, &s;o ruinated and depopulated, that as they &s;ang of it, <HI>Seges, nunc, ubi Troja&s;uit.</HI> And all under the <HI>Sinonian</HI> deceit, and fraudulent pretence of a holy (or rather hollow) hor&s;e, by <HI>Pallas</HI> or Pela&s;gan art and policy built and brought into the walls of Troy; which in one night, I &s;ay, utterly ruina|ted that mo&s;t renowned City, which ten yeers &s;iege and war before could never conquer or overcome: So that, &s;eeing the Trojans would not timely li&s;ten to <HI>Laocoons</HI> coun&s;ell or wary watch-word, <HI>Timeo Danaos &amp; dona fe|rentes,</HI> they were therefore made a proverb to po&s;terity, by a <HI>Ser&ograve; &s;apiunt Phryges.</HI></P>
<P>But, what need &s;o far fetcht and ancient examples, &s;ince we have &s;o many manife&s;t and remarkable ones of this kind, more modern and neerer home? Wherof (for brevities &s;ake) I wil only in&s;tance in two mo&s;t eminent ones, and mo&s;t pertinent to our pre&s;ent purpo&s;e; the one out of France, the other out of Germany: both which being &s;eriou&s;ly read and ruminated, let the wi&s;e reader rightly judge, and truly tell me, whether our pre&s;ent mo&s;t renowned and pious Parliament, both eminent and excellent Lords and Commons, yea and the mo&s;t loyall Senate, and City of London too, with them, have not extraordinary need and great cau&s;e to take &s;peciall care and caution, with all Chri&s;tian providentiall wi&s;dome and circum&s;pection, as our good and mo&s;t wi&s;e God (being fir&s;t &s;ought unto) &s;hall enable them, how they make a peace, and how farre they will tru&s;t and re&s;t on the faire&s;t promi&s;es, and profounde&s;t Prote&s;tations, that Princes or Courtiers can make unto them, e&s;pecially, as I &s;aid, being popi&s;hly, or athei&s;tically, and malignantly princi|pled, and in their deepe&s;t and deere&s;t relations and engagements addicted and devoted to Popery, Athei&s;m, and Malignant, enemies of true piety and hone&s;ty.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t &s;erious example (then) mo&s;t pregnant to this purpo&s;e, &s;hall be that of <HI>Charles</HI> the ninth, King of France, <HI>Anno</HI> 1571 the yeere of that mo&s;t execrable, ba&s;e and bloody ma&s;&s;acre at Paris. Oh the mo&s;t horrid and hateful, the mo&s;t deep and devili&s;h di&s;&s;imulation of the King, and his (then) Queen|mother, meerly and mainly under a colour of love and reconcilement to that mo&s;t famous Admirall of France (a mo&s;t wi&s;e, magnanimous and pious Pro|te&s;tant,
<PB N="3" REF="2">
yea, (under God) the maine pillar and prop of the French Prote|&s;tants) and by deepe&s;t vowes and promi&s;es of peace and high priviledges and immunities, for his &s;ake, to all the re&s;t of the prote&s;tants in France: And yet all this onely to en&s;nare and entrap this mo&s;t renowned Admirall (and with him the re&s;t of the prime prote&s;tant Peers of France) into their pitfall at Paris, there the more commodiou&s;ly, (or rather accur&s;edly) to ma&s;&s;acre and murther them, (as afterwards they did) in a mo&s;t barbarous and butcherly manner; but to give you a few mo&s;t materiall particulars for the mo&s;t full clearing of the thing. Oh how did this King <HI>Charles,</HI> at the fir&s;t, (with mo&s;t exqui&s;ite Machivilian hypocri&s;ie) bind him&s;elfe by mo&s;t deep vowes and prote&s;tations, yea and execrations of him&s;elfe, on the contrary, to give the Admirall full a&s;&s;urance of his faire and cleare intent and re&s;olution to &s;ettle and confirm all acts and edicts, and all de&s;iderable priviledges, for the ad|vancement and confirmation of the league and religion of all his prote&s;tant Subjects in France, backt mo&s;t firmly (&s;o &s;ee to) with the marriage of his daughter to the young King of Navar, a prote&s;tant Prince, and by this meanes al&s;o in a &s;peciall manner got the fore&s;aid renowned Admirall, the King of Navarr, the young Prince of Conde, another Prote&s;tant Peere of France, and all or mo&s;t of the mo&s;t eminent prote&s;tant Nobility of France, joyfully and unjelou&s;ly to a&s;&s;emble together at Paris, (the ap|pointed Theatre of the en&s;uing Tragedy) for the more &s;olemn cele|bration of this mi&s;chievous marriage; How did the King al&s;o at this time (to take away all jealou&s;ies and mi&s;tru&s;ts) receive the &s;aid Admirall (being now, by the&s;e wiles drawne to Court) with all French complements, and eve<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter"> extream demon&s;trations of love and embracements, yea with large and liberall recompences of all the Admirals lo&s;&s;es, &s;u&s;tained in his wars, by the gift of 100000 Frankes; be&s;ides the pre&s;ent grant (for one whole yeere) of all the revenues which his brother the Cardinall of Cha&s;tillon enjoyed, be|ing then lately decea&s;ed in England, gave him a place in his privy Councell, advi&s;ed with him touching the managing of his greate&s;t wars, then in Flan|ders, and made &s;hew to be governed by his onely advi&s;e and coun&s;ell; yea, honoured him with the mo&s;t plau&s;ible name of <HI>Father,</HI> and treated with him &s;o familiarly, that the popi&s;h party began to murmur and &s;ay that <HI>Charles</HI> their King not onely favoured that Hugonet, (for &s;o in France they nick|name the Prote&s;tants, as our malignants and papi&s;ts in England call true Chri&s;tians, Puritans and Roundheads) but would, they &s;cared, &s;hortly him&s;elf al&s;o become a Hugonet; yea, I &s;ay, &s;o extraordinarily and &s;o extreamly (as I may &s;ay) did the King &s;eem, thus, to hug and honour this mo&s;t Noble and renowned, grave and godly Admirall, to free him from all &s;u&s;pitious and relucting jealou&s;ies, which &s;ometimes were put into him, by the advi&s;ement of &s;ome of his deare and faithfull prote&s;tant friends, that (like hone&s;t hearted
<PB N="4" REF="3">
good <HI>Gedaliah,</HI> touching <HI>I&s;maels</HI> treacherie) he could, now, ta&s;te no admo|nitions, or feare any unfaithfulne&s;&s;e, his hone&s;t-meaning &s;pirit was &s;o tran&s;|ported with the Kings counterfeit countenance and bewitching words. But now &s;ee, how (when all things were ripe for the en&s;uing wicked worke) all tho&s;e favours and faire worde, all K. <HI>Charles</HI> his deep vowes, promi&s;es and prote&s;tations proved but &s;o many &s;ugred baits to &s;wallow down, the &s;mooth|lier, the Kings mo&s;t ba&s;e and bitter pils of horrid and inhumane treachery. For, when as, I &s;ay, the de&s;igned day was now come, and all things ready for plotted and re&s;olved ruine and de&s;truction; Fir&s;t, this good aged Admirall &s;ecurely reading a petition, was &s;uddenly &s;hot at with a Harguebu&s;e, which in&s;tantly tooke off the forefinger of his right hand, and &s;orely wounded his left arme; whereof the King being pre&s;ently certified by the King of Navarr and the Prince of Conde, &ocirc; how he &s;wore and tooke on, for &s;eeming &s;orrow! &ocirc; how he vowed with mo&s;t bitter execrations to take &s;uch &s;peedy and &s;evere revenge on the actors of this outrage, as to make his ju&s;tice exemplary to all the world, and fully &s;atisfactory to the good Admirall and all his friend<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">! Whereupon great &s;earch was made, and the Harguebu&s;e found, but the actor having a brave Spani&s;h gennet at the doore below waiting on him, was fled and gone, and there was all was done. For, all this proved but a prepara|tory to a far more bloody Scene and accur&s;ed Cata&s;trophe, now in&s;tantly intended: for now, the good Admirall being conveyed into a bed-chamber for cure, within a day or two, at mo&s;t, after this, the Duke of Gui&s;e (by the full con&s;ent of King <HI>Charles,</HI> the Queen-mother, and others privy to the plot) &s;et &s;trong guards of Swi&s;&s;ers and &s;uch like bloody villaines about the Admirals lodgings and bed-chamber, whereinto a &s;ervant of the &s;aid Dukes fir&s;t boldly enters, and with a naked Sword runnes at the good aged Admi|rall, as he lay wounded in his bed, and in&s;tantly and de&s;perately thru&s;t him through his body with his Sword, then doubles the blow on his head, ano|ther &s;hoots him into the body with a pi&s;toll, a third &s;orely wounds him on his legs as he lay, and then they ca&s;t that mo&s;t Noble and renowned per&s;o|nage dead on the floore, whom living and in health, the proude&s;t papi&s;t in France dur&s;t not (in a martiall w<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">y) looke in the face. This done, the devilli&s;h Duke of Gui&s;e cau&s;ed his dead body to be ca&s;t out of the win|dow to him, into the &s;treet, and tho&s;e butcherly villaines hurld him downe headlong unto him, who having wiped the blood from his be&s;mea|red face, he &s;aid, <HI>Now I know tis he,</HI> and &s;o de&s;pightfully &s;purning him with his foot, he left him, and then &s;et forward the re&s;t of the murtherous and ma&s;&s;acring work all over <HI>Paris:</HI> in which interim, they left not this noble Admirall, thus, but an <HI>Italian</HI> (of the Duke of <HI>Nevers</HI> hou&s;hould, one of the complotters) cut off his head, and in&s;tantly carried it to the King and Queene-Mother, who joyfully cau&s;ing it to be enbalmed &s;ent it &s;hortly
<PB N="5" REF="3">
after, as a choice pre&s;ent to the Pope, for an a&s;&s;urance of the death of his mo&s;t capitall enemy in <HI>France.</HI> Nay the rage of the&s;e French Romi&s;h Tygers re&s;ted not here, but like &s;o many mad-Dogs, the re&s;t of the ignoble rabble ran to his dead Corps, and one cuts off his hands, another his privy-members, and for the &s;pace of three dayes, they dragged his dead carka&s;le (as the Grecians did <HI>Hectors</HI> about the walls of Troy) with all inhumane indignity, through the &s;treets of Paris, and then hang'd up his (thus) poore mangled body, by the heels on a Gibbet, and cea&s;ed not this mo&s;t horrid and helli&s;h ma&s;&s;acre, till they had mo&s;t lamentably murthered at lea&s;t 10000 Prote&s;tants, men, wo|men and children in Paris, be&s;ides many thou&s;ands more in other parts of <HI>France,</HI> at the &s;ame time. Yea and yet to adde more to all the impiety of this popi&s;h (&amp; therfore faithle&s;&s;e) King: He &s;ending, now for the King of <HI>Navarr</HI> and the Prince of <HI>Conde,</HI> gave them both to under&s;tand, even from him&s;elfe, that all this was done by his own &s;peciall command, and with all, perempto|rily re&s;olved the death of both the&s;e young Princes too, if they on his threats had not (as wretchedly they did) renounced their religion, turning Romi&s;h Catholike (again&s;t the light of their con&s;ciences) to &s;ave their lives and en|joy their honours. And thus you have &s;ummarily &s;een the &s;ad effects of this mo&s;t perfidious princes former deepe vowes, promi&s;es and prote&s;tations; And therefore, let all the World judge, whether, in this ca&s;e, that be not mo&s;t true.</P>
<L>Jurat? Crede minus, non jurat, credere noli;</L>
<L>Iurat, non jurat ho&s;tis, ab ho&s;te cave.</L>
<P><HI>That is;</HI></P>
<L>Does thy foe &s;wear? none of his Oathes believe;</L>
<L>Swears he, or &s;weares he not; fear, hee'll deceive.</L>
<P>The other example is little inferiour to this former, for Popi&s;h barbari|ty, and perfidious di&s;loyalty, and that was of <HI>Ferdinando,</HI> late Emperour of Germany, father of the now pre&s;ent Emperour, which in brief was thus.</P>
<P>After that this <HI>Ferdinando</HI> had (for his di&s;loyall violation of the Bohe|mian Lawes &amp; immunities, e&s;pecially by introducing the Je&s;uits among them to tyrannize over their Bodies E&s;tates and Con&s;ciences) been depo&s;ed and di&s;po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of that Kingdom; (over which, being Electorate, the Nobility &amp; whole State of Bohemia had cho&s;en him their King) afterward by the un|animous con&s;ent of the &s;aid Nobles and Magi&s;trates, the Prince Palatine of the Rhine, unhappy &s;on in Law to King <HI>Iames</HI> of England, was in his &s;tead cho&s;en to be their King, according to the fundamentall Lawes and power of that Kingdome: But not long after it &s;o plea&s;ed the Lord (the Almighty and mo&s;t wi&s;e di&s;po&s;er of all things) that at the great battell fought neere Prague by <HI>Bucquoy,</HI> the &s;aid Emperours Generali&s;&s;imo, the Pal&s;grave, the fore|&s;aid new elected King of Bohemia's forces were quite defeated and over|throwne by the &s;aid <HI>Bucquoy;</HI> and, thereby, the famous and ancient City of Prague was reduced by conque&s;t to the obedience of <HI>Ferdinando,</HI> this being
<PB N="6" REF="4">
about 24 or 25 yeares agoe. Now the Emperour though thus re-e&s;tated, by the &s;word, and in &s;ome mea&s;ure re-e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Bohemian throne, yet, in the fir&s;t place, to weave and in&s;inuate him&s;elfe the more into the hearts and affections of the Nobility (for the more &s;ure and infallible effecting of his &s;ecretly intended devili&s;h de&s;igne) and the heads of the Inhabitants of that City, which was the metropolis of that whole Kingdome; he thought it mo&s;t fit, and accordingly put in practi&s;e with dexterious Machivilian craft and policy, to make mo&s;t deepe vowes, prote&s;tations, and promi&s;es of full and free pardon and mercy for what was pa&s;t, and a fuller fruition and en|joyment of his love and favour and of their rites and priviledges, than ever formerly they had enjoyed from any of his predece&s;&s;ours: which hee accordingly forthwith performed with all pre&s;ent po&s;&s;ible confirmations, and carried him&s;elfe in a very plau&s;ible and exceeding well plea&s;ing deport|ment, every way, to them, for the &s;pace of above one halfe yeare, at the lea&s;t. But, at la&s;t, about the expiration of a &s;uch like di&s;tance of time, the Emperour pretending &s;ome important and weighty affaires of the Kingdome to be con&s;ulted of and con&s;ented to by him and his whole Nobility, for the more &s;ucce&s;&s;efull and peacefull &s;ettlement of the &s;tate of the Kingdome and their immunities, he &s;ummoned them all that were, then, ab&s;ent from the City, to make their appearance at Prague, at a day and time prefixed, who (by rea|&s;on of the Emperours &s;o faire and friendly carriage to them, all this while, and there &s;o full and free enjoyment of their promi&s;ed priviledges and law|full immunities) not &s;u&s;pecting any evill, much le&s;&s;e &s;uch a bloody Trage|dy to be acted on them, as afterward they found and felt, in obedience to his Imperiall Maje&s;ties command and gratitude for his great favours, they readily and cheerefully a&s;&s;embled together according to their &s;ummons at Prague; where being met, together with the magi&s;trates of the City, and mo&s;t kindly &s;aluted and entertained with all expre&s;&s;ions of &s;eeming love and affection, within a day or two after, they were all by a &s;trong guard of armed &s;ouldiers, prepared and appointed thereunto, unexpectedly brought upon a great &s;tage, privately built up and prepared for this purpo&s;e, where the head&s;man &s;tood ready; and they all, thus &s;odainly en&s;nared and utterly unarmed, both prime Nobility and chiefe Magi&s;trates of this City, who had had a hand in the Emperours former depo&s;ing and expul&s;ion, did every man of them &s;uffer the lo&s;&s;e of his life, by the fury of a treacherous &s;word; and (which makes the abomination of this perfidious cruelty and treach|ery the more odious and execrable) the Emperour had appointed and pla|ced about 60 D<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ummers underneath the &s;tage, who (much like the cruelty of that tyrannicall Emperour <HI>Phalaris,</HI> with <HI>Perillus</HI> his roaring brazen-Bull) &s;hould with ince&s;&s;ant importunity, beat upon and rattle their D<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">ums, du|ring all the time of the Execution, that &s;o the noi&s;e, cries or complaints
<PB N="7" REF="4">
of all the&s;e innocent Nobles and Gentlemen dying on the &s;tage above, might not be heard or pittied, in their ju&s;t exclamations of the Machavilian and mo&s;t abominable craft and cruelty executed on them. But, in vaine did this faithle&s;&s;e Emperour <HI>Ferdinando</HI> thinke to keep that from the eares and knowledge of men which had already with a crying noi&s;e (like murthered <HI>Abels</HI> innocent bloud) reached the eares of the omni&s;cient and bloud|avenging God, who &s;oone cut &s;hort the thread of his life, and ever &s;ince and before his Death made hiswhole mo&s;t unhappy Empire to him and to his bloudy Son after him a lamentable Golgotha and &s;tage of little el&s;e but ra|pine, ruine and de&s;truction. Now, both the&s;e &s;o pregnant pre&s;idents and ex|amples, &s;o eminently pertinent to our pre&s;ent times may be (me thinks) mo&s;t remarkeable Memento's and worthy warning&punc;peeces to us in England, even to our mo&s;t renowned Lords and Commons in Parliament, and to the mo&s;t loyall and active eminent Citizens of <HI>London,</HI> to take &s;peciall and extraor|dinary care, and with great wi&s;dome and circum&s;pection to be very cautious and heedfull what Peace they make, and what vowes, promi&s;es and deepe&s;t prote&s;tations (though backt with ever &s;o heart-amazing cur&s;es) and execra|tions they tru&s;t and re&s;t on, whereof already the rotten-hearted Royali&s;ts and Athei&s;ticall crew of impious Oxonian Malignants have not been wanting, and all in the Kings Name, at lea&s;t, to cheat, gull, and abu&s;e the Kingdome and bring our precious Patriots into their ba&s;e and bloudy &s;nares, and all for&s;ooth under a colour and pernicious pretext of Peace and future &s;afety and &s;ecurity, whereas indeed they intend nothing le&s;&s;e, and ayme at nothing more, than the ruine and de&s;truction of their precious Lives and E&s;tates, and (which is mo&s;t deare to them, and us all) the extirpation of the true religion. And &s;o much the rather do I the more &s;eriou&s;ly de&s;ire to pre&s;&s;e this &s;ea&s;on|able caution, at this time, becau&s;e, even now already (as indeed it hath beene the con&s;tant practi&s;e of our Oxonian adver&s;aries in all the times of their pre|tended Treaties) they apparently &s;hew they goe but about to cheat and gull us to our faces, with bare &s;hewes and pretences of peace and all well meaning towards us, having, indeed, honey and butter (an acknowledgement of our Parliament at <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter</HI> to be the parliament of <HI>England)</HI> on the tip of their Tongues, but gall and wormwood at the root of their hearts: nothing but pence, pacifications and priviledges, at that time, when Branford &s;orely bleeds, Bri&s;toll mu&s;t be betray'd and divers dangerous <HI>Fine-de&s;ignes</HI> are &s;et on foot, yea, &s;o many and &s;o mi&s;cheivous, that they know not which to &s;et upon fir&s;t, thus, heretofore and all along. And is it better or is there <HI>fairer play above board,</HI> now ad<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ies than hath been heeretofore. If it be &s;o, let Reding, Lyn-re|gis, Plimouth, Abington and Dover, at this time witne&s;&s;e, even now in the nick of time of this pre&s;ent pretended, accommodation and treaty of peace wherein, let all the World judge (with us) if they aim at any thing els, than
<PB N="8" REF="5">
gro&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">y to gull <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="blotted" EXTENT="1 letter">s, and (as the &s;ad and bad Cata&s;trophe of all) to get us into their treacherous trap and pernicious pit-fall, for certaine ruine and a mer|cile&s;&s;e ma&s;&s;acre even of all the be&s;t and mo&s;t hone&s;t and loyall &s;ubjects of the whole Kingdome; and hereof, truly, we have had, I &s;ay, too foule and fre|quent experiences, namely, that their di&s;&s;embled words of peace have ever done us more mi&s;chiefe than all their &s;harpe&s;t &s;words of War. And if they have been thus hot, ha&s;ty and fool-hardy after the murther and ma&s;&s;acring of the Kingdomes mo&s;t innocent ones (witne&s;&s;e, with the re&s;t, that de&s;perate and mo&s;t bloudy de&s;igne of <HI>Ianuary</HI> the fourth 1641 in the hou&s;e of Com|mons in Parliament, countenanced and attempted with our King <HI>Charles</HI> his own per&s;on) apparently to our faces, even then, and now (though now ada<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">es more craftily) when we have power to oppo&s;e them. O what may we fear for the future, when they may have fully or ra|ther foulely and faithle&s;ly got our famous Patriots (by a fallacious accommodation) into their re&s;i&s;tle&s;&s;e pawes and power, as tho&s;e forementioned mo&s;t memorable examples have remarkably manife&s;ted, tis po&s;&s;ible may be. Certainly a little length of time is not like to le&s;|&s;en their inte&s;tine malice and malignity, but believe that to be mo&s;t true which the Poet &s;ung of <HI>Juno,</HI> (with a little inver&s;ion) <HI>Manet alta mente repo&s;ita, Invidia Principum.</HI> And let, I &s;ay, all popi&s;hly and athei&s;tically principled Princes, and their &s;emblable adherents prote&s;t and pre|tend what they plea&s;e and what they can, let us in the &s;trength and wi&s;dom of our God, &s;tand wi&s;ely alwaies on our guard, and &s;till look on them all with ju&s;t and mo&s;t jelous vigilancy, &s;u&s;pition and circum&s;pection, having oft in remembrance that pretty and pertinent apology (which I have read) of the Cat and the Mice, with which I will conclude all I have h<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">erin to &s;ay, which is thus related. The Cat having along time craftily preyed upon Mice, the poore creatures, at la&s;t, for their &s;afety contained them&s;elves within their holes; but the Cat finding his prey to cea&s;e, as being too well known to the Mice that he was their inveterate enemy, and a Cat; he devi&s;eth this cour&s;e following, viz. He changeth his hue, getteth on a religious habite, &s;haveth his crown, and walkes gravely by the holes: And yet, perceiving that the Mice &s;till kept their holes, and looking out &s;u&s;pected the wor&s;t, he mo&s;t formally &amp; fatherly &s;aid un|to them <HI>Quod &s;ueram non &s;ii, frater, caput a&s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">ce ton&s;um;</HI> that is, <HI>I am not (brothers) as I was want to be, No more a Cat, my coat and &s;horncrown &s;ee.</HI> Hereupon, &s;ome of the more credulous and bold mice among them ventured forth; and were pre&s;ently &s;natch'd up and devoured: But the re&s;t &s;eing this, when afterwards the Cat came, thus, to intice them againe, to come forth, they would no more adventure out, but when he call'd unto them, as before, they kept in and an&s;wered, <HI>Cor tibi re&s;tat idem, vix tibi prae&s;to &s;idem. Talke what you can, we will you not believe, you &s;till retaine a Cats heart to deceive.</HI> Thus let us (as Solomon advi&s;es the &s;luggard to learne of the Pi&s;mire) learn vigilancy of the&s;e Mice; And when we deale with di&s;&s;emblers (as now we do) let us wi&s;ely and warily con&s;ider, that the be&s;t, &s;afe&s;t and &s;ure&s;t way (by Gods ble&s;&s;ing and a&s;&s;i&s;tance) is, that old and plain well known rule, <HI>fa&s;t bind, fa&s;t find.</HI> Yet, tru&s;t and &s;eek God herein, above all; But, put no confidence in popi&s;hly affected Princes or Machivilianly principled Courtiers or malignants. Now the God of grace and wi&s;dom make us all wi&s;e unto &s;alvation, and give our mo&s;t honorable and pious Patriots under&s;tanding in all things. <HI>Amen</HI> and <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><L>Tuta frequen&s;que via e&s;t per amici fallere nomen:</L>
<L>Tuta frequen&s;que licet &s;it via, crim<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">n habeat. <HI>That is</HI></L></Q>
<Q><L>A &s;afe and common way it is through friend&s;hip to deceive:</L>
<L>As &s;afe and common as it is, tis knavery by your leave.</L></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>I. V.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="imprimatur">
<P><HI>Imprimatur</HI></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Ja. Cranford.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="colophon">
<P>LONDON, Printed for <HI>I. Rothwell.</HI> 1644.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
