SO that you are upon a Sure Ground , I perceive , for what you do in Mr. Otes'es business .

I am upon a great many sure grounds , Trimmer ; The sure grounds of Authority , Law , Reason , Justice , Truth , Honour and Conscience .

And yet he bears up you see , like another Athanasius . Titus against the World , and the World against Titus .

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 Otes call'd him a Creed-making Rascal for his pains : But the Guineys and the Bottles come in still , they say .

Ay , and he has his friends about him too ; and betts ye his money Nine-pins as free as an Emperor . 'T would do a man good to see how hear he 'll laugh at an unluckie 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 .

From whence does all this come , I prethee ?

Why , whence came the Prophets Meat in the Wilderness ?

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 , 't is true , with one hand , he undoes with 'tother ; for as fast as the Ravens bring in Venison Pasties , the Rooks fly away with ' em .

Such another Quibble turns my stomach : But this is enough to shew ye , that Otes , and Otes'es Plot are not so low in the reputation of the world , as you think for .

As to Otes'es personal credit , thou canst not shew 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 practice 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 prov'd undeniably against him . His Oath against Parker in Sussex was not only prov'd to be false , but so ridiculously put together , that in four or fiue particulars are 〈◇〉 of the Tale it self , it was morally impossible to be true . His endeavouring to suborn a perjury against the Father of that Parker , when he charg'd him before the King and Council , is upon Oath-likewise : To say nothing of his tampering against Coll . Diggs , 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 improv'd 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 shew 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 your self 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 .

Why Otes may be an ill man , and the Plot yet , a very good Plot for all that .

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 Tonges : young Tong 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 Otes was advis'd by Tong 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 brake 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 Sham , that every body sees thorow 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 Poyson , and Conyers's Dagger lay too open and Baref-ac'd to do any Execution . The people were hair'd 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 sett upon the Kings Head by a Publick Cryer . But finally , call to mind ( as I told you t'other day ) . Oates's Scandalls 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 .

You are ( as a man may say ) upon the Point of casting your Skin Nobs ; and presenting your self 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 Conn'd your Lesson , I make no doubt on 't , by this time . 'T would be a great deal more Generous , to Own and to Declare your self a Papist to the whole World , then to lye Wriggling In and Out thus , betwixt two Religions .

Why then once for all , Trimmer , I am a CATHOLIQUE , and the very Same CATHOLIQUE that I have ever been , and ever Professed my self to Be ; That is to say , a Catholique of the Church of England . The I am well enough Content , to Own my self a Protestant too , according to the Best Acceptation of the Word , Improperly Speaking , and no Otherwise That Religion , which I Own'd , and Profess'd upon the Sacrament to the Reverend Dr. Ken , at the Hague ; ( Now Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells ) when I was forc'd to run away from a Pack of Forswoarn Miscreants here , that would have made a Papist of me ; That very Religion do I Declare my self 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 phanatical 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 stigmatiz'd 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 sacrific'd 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 convinc'd ( as I am this Instant ) that the Schism is only a Conspiracy ; and a League against the Government , under the Masque 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 confound the malice of all Slanderers , Impostors , and Gainsayers .

'T is a wonderful thing that you should have so great a concern and respect for so many Papists , and yet so little for their Religion .

'T is toward a time of Mortification , Trimmer ; and now my hand 's in , I 'll e'n go thorough 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 Catholick 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 perswasion in Religion breaks no measures either of Humanity or Civil Government .

So : And what say ye now to the Papists themselves ?

Why , I do say , That I have an abhorrence for all the Popish Assertors ●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 Conspir'd against the lives of Charles the Second , and His [ Then ] Royal Brother [ Now ] ( by the Grace and Providence of God ) Our Dread Soveraign , 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 perswasion . My reasons are the proofs they have given to the Crown , of their Active Loyalty , through a course of Phanatical 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 .

What d' ye make of the Irish Rebellion ?

As barbarous a Rebellion as you your self can make of it : But it was the Scottish Rebellion that led '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 Schismaticks never fail'd 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 .

Has not Otes prov'd a Plot upon ' em ?

Sworn one , you mean ; And pray remember against whom he has Sworn Treason besides : And in ●●●ses , 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 ;

Why this 't is 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 enter'd , forsooth , in the Black Book of the [ MEN-WORTHY , ] and Popishly-Affected . My Lord-Mayors pack of Hounds may be in the right , I 'le 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 sav'd by their Good works . Now if a man goes presently , and robs Churches , and cuts throats upon 't , 't is 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 'le 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 it self , for fear of popery . The Question is not , what such or such a Society of Men Believe ; But Every Sober man , will enform 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 litle , 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 practice , in opposition to the Light af an universal Impulse : and 't is a Senceless 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 Island , in bringing the Sea upon us , As liberty of conscience has done , in the more destructive Inundation , of an unbounded schisme , 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 impos'd 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 't is nothing but a most Pernicious Imposture , and abuse , wrapt-up in Popular Terms .

Nay faith , Now y' are in the Vein on 't ; E'en let the thing it self be an Imposture , and an abuse , as well as the Meaning on 't .

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 , 't is , beyond Controversy , no better than a Holy Cheat .

So that if a man cannot prove what he thinks , You are at liberty , to make what Construction you please , of what he says .

No No. I 'le 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 your self upon the Word , PROTESTANT . if you speak of the Church of England , under the care of Episcopal Governors , and as it is by Law establish'd in Doctrine , and discipline , Give that Religion what denomination you please , I 'm for it : But if you have a Secret reserve to your self , 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 perswasion , Enters into a kind of Combination ( with your Honours , Tour , Reveren●es , or Your worships leaves ) to confound 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 .

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 [ Reform'd , ] 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 Schisme : 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 Phanatical 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 errect 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! 'T is a heavy fellow that ! But afliction 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 .

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 .

Away Away Trimmer : Thou hast at least Fifty soft places in that head of thine . 't is a tryal of their discretion ; not of their Friendship : For they love him ; only as the Indians do the Devill 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 . 'T is 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 Otes as many Rascalls as ever he call'd 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 Confirm'd . Nay Otes is a great Rogue ; ( says one ) But certainly he must needs have heard something Nay there 's no body can justify Otes , ( says another ) Nay faith , ( says a third ) If he were turn'd off the Cart , he should e'en hang long enough for my part , before I took him down : And these are men , ( as Otes said in the bitterness of his Spirit , when the Brasier 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 Despis'd , an Accursed , and an Abandon'd 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 Shame of the business , the Oaths , and the innocent blood , the malice , the revenge , and other driblets of Concupiscence and Humane Frailty , the Pillories , and the Capital Letters ; the Huzza's of the Mobile , when I mount the Stage , in exchange for the Hosanna's 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 humane Inventions of Mortification , that do not agree altogether so well as the other , with my constitution : ( And the Common Law they say has a devillish reach that way . ) Why , What if I am a Rogue ? It has been for the Service of Greater Rogues than my self : and 't is 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 Sett me on ; Who paid me my Wages , &c. then I have don all this while of an Hundred False Ones . ]

How the Devil dances ! Why if it should come to This once ; Let him Swear his Heart out , there will no body Believe him .

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 .

I Have wondred many a time within my self , as I have been thinking of Our Late Troubles —

( The Late Rebellion , thou meanest . )

How it was possible for the men of those times —

( The Conspirators , that is . )

To run-down Charles the First : —

( Prethee frame thy mouth to a little Loyal English once ; and call it murdering their most Gracious Sovereign , that Blessed Martyr . )

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 .

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 gain'd 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 vertue of that Covenant they presently exercised all Acts of Sovereignty , levied men and arms , and brake out into an actual Rebellion . In 1638. the King , at a prodigious expence both to himself , and to his Friends , led a considerable Army against them ; and when he had the Scots at Mercy within two miles of Berwick ; he was prevail'd upon by some Presbyterian Lords , to come to an agreement upon certain Articles of Pacification ; the Scots brake 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 ruine . This Pacificat●on was concluded , June 17. 1639.

Why thou art spinning out an Observator to the length of an History

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 turn'd 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 it self : And that followed by a natural consequence ; for the Concessions on the one hand did but serve to enflame , 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 .

Come , come . There 's no resisting the Torrent of the multitude .

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 endur'd either in Church or State . He that so much as tells them they are in danger , implies a scandal upon the Government ; and all publick 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 , heightned , and irritated by an artificial manage of the passions of the multitude ; and no men so sollicitous 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 sollicitous 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 believ'd , nor acted any ●onger by their own Judgments : But as passive as so many Beasts , they were manag'd 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 .

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 poysoned and stung with ill Impressions concerning the Government , they presently turn'd 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 male-contents , in one common Band of Confederacy against the present State . The first considerable operation of these fears and jealousies shew'd it self 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 publick ruine .

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 .

And how came that about , d' ye think ?

Why , what party soever was uppermost , the Episcopal men , and the Loyallists were still kept under foot ; disarm'd , impoverish'd , 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 publick 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 Engag'd 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 Colledges out of all manner of Employment : As was provided by a Declaration of Nov. 24. 1655. And divers Ordinances of Parliament .

Nay , 't was morally impossible for the Cavaliers ever to do any good on 't , under those circumsta●ces .

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 perswaded , or the like : But the Word was , [ Shew me thy Faith by thy works . ] What has he done publickly ? Has he Abjur'd , has he bid open Defiance to all his former Confederates ? Has he ventur'd 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 publick , crying-Sen . By my troth Nobs , I can never believe any man to be a Convert , that does not go thorough the whole discipline of a true peni●ent . In a word , I would set up this Rule to my self : never to undertake for any mans honesty , to the publick , if I would not venture my Estate upon 't in private .