AT my firſt approach to this City out of the Country, I was ſaluted with this which Dias hath vented againſt the King, Kingdom and City; which peruſing, I was in a great ſuſpence, and my thoughts caſt in dubious ſcales what to think of it: Charity that is candid, and not raſhly credulous, cauſed me to conceit that it was but ſome meer fiction or chymera, invented like many idle Pamphlets, coined news, feigned Paſſages and Declarations, like beggars paſſports made under a hedg, and as the Piae fraudes, the lying legends of Monks and Friers, divulged by our vulgar Mercuries, to ſqueaze monies from the gulled credulities of Plebeians: withall, when I heard that ſome Catilinarians, Church and State-firebrands, did employ their Agents, as the devils working-tools, to coin and mint out of Pluto's forge lewd and loud lyes, ſcandals and ſatyrical invectives, only to ſow the ſeeds of diviſion, and caſt their Atae's brands and balls betwixt King and Parliament, camp and city, to render them ſtill in a further diſtance, I conjectured this pay-ſquib to be of that nature: ſo giving no more credit to it then to AEſops Fables, or a Canterbury tale, I ſlighted it

But two days after diſcourſing with one, what he thought of the truth of it, he gave this hint, that one accidentally meeting with the Copy, printed and publiſhed it; and that there came two men, [which in probability were Croply and Hide, the ſubſcribers to it] who were very inquiſitive after the ſaid Publiſher, being in ſome paſſion that it was divulged without their conſent; adding withal, that he need not to have printed it in corners, nor to have vented it in hugger-mugger; ſince all the paſſages in it were true, as they would confirm by their oaths: This paſſage gave me ſome light into the reallity of it, and was ſome inducement unto me, to think it was not altogether fabulous. Yet, notwithſtanding all this, my charity was of ſo large a ſize, that I thought it was but one Doctor Dulmans opinion, the Ignis Fatuus, or Brutum Fulmen of one Bragadochian ſoldier; the fools bolt ſoon ſhot, of one John Dias, whoſe tongue ran wrong Bias. Hence I thought it as unworthy of my genius to anſwer it, as for an Eagle to ſtoop to a Fly, or an Elephant to a Mouſe: but beſides the urgings and ſollicitings of ſome judicious friends, who ſpur'd me on to give ſome critical obſervations of the fiery and factious paſſages in this ſpleenitive and zeal-drunk diſcourſe: hoping the beſt, that the moſt and the beſt in the Army had neither head, hand, nor heart in theſe deſtructive Menaces ſprinkled now in Print: yet fearing the worſt, that this Di-aſs in preſenti, had ſome birds in the Army of his own bloody feather, who ſung his notes; (in which I was the more grounded by paralelling the particulars here with ſome things in this nature which 〈◊〉 Martialiſts vented even to my ſelf not many 〈…〉 As alſo knowing that oft a man may know by the Market-folk how the Market rules; and that the nature of many wolves may be ſeen in one: ſince alſo abundans cautela non nocet, abundant circumſpection never did hurt; no more then preventing phyſick againſt a feared diſeaſe: I thought good by a warning peece with pouder, ere the threatned bullet be felt, or the match, fire and ſalt-peter unſavorily finelt, to awaken ſecure Troynovant to a cautelous watching of their own Sinons within them, confederate with armed Greeks without, ere the flames be kindled in their houſes, which here break as a ſulphureous Aetna out of the mouth of this Mounſier Malignant, whoſe tongue, fired by Hell, is a world of wickedneſs. Hereupon, ex tempore, as the Printer can depoſe, without any other book or manuſcript then a naked room, in a declarative deſcant on this plain and vain ſong, I porcupined my pen to run at Tilt with this Junior Donquixot, this City-firing orlando furioſo, acting the parts here on a paper-ſtage of an Hercules ſurens, and mad Ajax, or at leaſt of Sir Henry Hotspur, and Sir Ferdinando Flaſh, who here vents his mind with his wind: which windy bladder I thus pen-prick in this ſubſequent ſynopſis, and ſurvey of every black and bloody word in his mouths ſhop, from the warehouſe of his Canniballized heart.

Firſt, he declared, The Reſolution of the Army was to fight for themſelves.

[The Reſolution.] Its an excellent ſpirit to be reſolute in a good cauſe: as Daniel reſolved not to pollute himſelf with the Kings meat; Shadrach, Meſhach, and Abednego, not to bow to the Kings image, more then ſome ex moliori luto; that would not ſo much as bow to an Engliſh Baal, an Altar. So Luther is reſolute to go to Wormes, if every tile on their houſes were a devil; though he ſhould ſuffer as much as Jerom of Prague and John Huſs at the inconſtant Counſel at Conſtance. But to be reſolute in a bad cauſe, like ſome Popiſh Pſeudomartyrs, and the French Byron, whoſe great ſpirit would not ſubmit to the mercy of the French King, no more then Cato of Vtica to Caeſars pardon; or Cleopatra to grace Auguſtus his triumph: this ſavors either of ſwoln pride, or perverſe ſelf-will, or main folly, and childiſh ſimplicity to hold a candle in the hand till it burn the ſingers; or a hardy waſp till ſhe ſting.

[To fight for themſelves:] In which though many acute and naſuted Criticks are not deceived, thinking no better of it at the firſt then Noah of his ſon, nec de eo melius ſperavi; yet many that did conſide more in them, that they had fought like ſecond Joſhuahs, and Gideons, and Davids, and Jonathans, the Lords battels, and not their own, at leaſt like the beſt Paganiſh Patriots, pro aris & focis, for Religion and the peace and ſafety of the Kingdom, reading now that all their ſtreams run homeward for themſelves and their own ends, they cry quant â de ſpe, de re decidi, we are ſouly deceived in them: if it be true (as perhaps it is not) which this ſoul mouth blatters, but I hope they do not, dare verba (et verbera,) feed us as fools and children with fair words, and delude us as Zeuxis deluded hungry birds with painted grapes; or as Faustus and Apollonius their gueſts with painted diſhes: if it proves thus, all is not gold that gliſters: and in mens hearts are many odd corners (againſt all that ſhould oppoſe them) whether King, Parliament, Church, State, Senate, Synod, or God-himſelf. I ſcarce beleeve they be ſuch Junior Caeſars with Romanized Reſolves, and their Facta eſt alea, to hoyſt fails againſt all ſurging waves: or ſecond Hannibals, to cut the ways to their own ends through Flints and Rocks with fire and vinegar; yea to cut with Alexanders ſword all Gordian knots of difficulties and dangers; though I know withall how virulent and violent ſelf-love is, and ſelf-will, how head-ſtrong boiling paſſions and perturbations, like Bellerophons horſes unbridled with Minerva's bit, of ſollid wiſdom.

[They reſolved not to be governed by a King:] No more did thoſe ſons of Belial who deſpiſed Saul, and brought him no preſents, 1 Sam. 11. nor thoſe that ſaid, To your Tents, O Iſrael, what have we to do with the ſon of Jeſſe, 2 Sam. 20. Nor thoſe in the Pſalmiſt, who ſaid, Let us break their bonds and caſt their cords from us, whom the King of Sion threatens to cruſh as a potters veſſel, Pſa. 2.

[Not to be governed] Kit after kind, its natural for all, both birds, bruites and beaſts, as well as wilde men, to deſire licentious liberty; (like Popery and frenzy) it runs in a blood: 2. withall they ſympathize with their predeceſſors in Saint Peter and Jude; theſe makers of Sects ſpeak evil of dignities and despiſe government. The devil is ſemper idem, no changeling in his ways and ends, he acts ſtill the ſame parts in all ages, only the ſceans, ſtage, and perſons being changed: he hath had always his Levellers, who made no difference betwixt high and low, ſuperior and inferior in Church and State, who have villified, yea nulled both Moſes and Aaron, Magiſtracy and Miniſtry, and have pleaded for, and practiſed an Anarchy, an Ataxy, a Platonical and an Anabaptiſtical community. Oh this government! how degenerate and unregenerate Nature ſnuffs at it, as the wilde Onager in Job ſnuffs up the wind! how every mad colt wrathfully champs the curbing bit, and would caſt his rider! how glad would the frogs be rid of their ſtorks, that theymight croak what poyſond ſtuff they pleaſed, in every corner

[Not to be governed by a King,] But like the Arabians and Tartars, and the Nomades, and the Troglodites, and thoſe about Mount Caucaſus, to wander, and rave, and rake, and ramble, and ſcramble at pleaſure without controu: for had they a King they could not lick their fingers, nor feather their ſilver wings, nor build their neſts on high, nor ſet up a Dagon, a morſtrum horrendum, a hotch-potch of all Religions, call'd Liberty of Conſcience, for the Turks Alcaron, the Jewiſh Thalmud, the Papal Miter and Maſs, yea for Simon Magus and his Hellena, Montanus and his Priſcilla; for Bohemian naked Adamites, Belgick Familiſts and Enthuſiaſts, Germane David Georgians, Arminians, Photinians, and who not, even quicunque vult, as likely to agree together in one Land, as ſo many cocks in one pit, or the heads of the ſerpent Amphiſbena, one fighting againſt another.

[No King,] But an Ariſtocracy, or Democracy of that beaſt with many heads, the multitude, (ruling at beſt by their Tribunes:) no Monarchy, no King, which all Nations, as well as the Iſraclites, have ever deſired; yea, which the bees ſubject themſelves unto in their Amazonian and Platonical Common-wealth.

[No King,] Oh quam multos Dominos habet qui unum non habet: how many Kings ſhall we have, if not one King! In a Turkiſh Tyranny, every luſt will be a Lord Dane; every Sect, Schiſm and Hereſie, a domineering King: as when there was no King in Iſrael: every man will beleeve, ſay, and do, ad libitum & placitum, what he pleaſeth: the ſtrongeſt, like birds and beaſts of prey, feed on the weakeſt; as Pikes in a pond on the leſſer Fry: But if their Reſolution be (as the preſent acts of their Leaders and Governors now ſpeak their intentions) that they will have no evil-counſelled King, ſpurd on at this inſtant, without any modification, by his Junior Achitophels and Court-Hamans; as a Lion grated, batted, and incenſed, with a wrathful paw, to tear his beſt Patriots, and all that have oppoſed, not him, but his illcounſelled late poſtures and paſſages: If they deſire the Lion ſpur'd on to be rampant, to be piouſly patient and paſſant: and ſo making an Act of Oblivion of real or imaginary affronts, writ in duſt, or drowned in Leth, to rule meerly for and not againſt the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah; in this we ſhall be ſtill more beholden to the (formerly well improved) prudence, proweſs, and piety of the General, & his worthieſt Commilitones, not regarding the brayings of this dull Aſs, and of ſome other leſſer blatrant Beaſts of the Forreſt, who would have the Lion ſtil in his grate, and to be no King: as if the Heavens and our Horizon ſhould have no ſun, and the body ſhould be Cyclopical, and Polyphemiz'd without eyes, yea without a head.

And that nothing vexed them more then the Parl'aments recalling their Declarations of making no more Addreſſes to the King.

Vexed them more.] Good men are vexed with the ſins and ſufferings of themſelves, and of others, as was David, Pſalm 119. Lot, 2 Pet. 2. Ieremiah, Chap. 9. 1. and others: but to be vext for well doing, and to be enraged, as Unicorns and Turkicocks, at the fight of red Stammels, at what is legal, or will admit of a good conſtruction, is, for men to fight with their own ſhadows, or as Donquixot with Rams, and windmils for Gyants, or as inraged Ajax with heards of ſheep, for Uliſſes: Vexation and ſorrow be good for nothing but ſin.

The Parliaments recalling their Declarations.] Is not he well ſtudyed in the Statutes, that knows not how many Parliamentary Acts have been repealed in every Kings Raign? 2. Are their acts like the decrees of the Medes and Perſians; yea, as Gods decree, not to be recalled. 3. Have not the learnedeſt Synods and Councels erred? As that of Lateran, of Calcedon, and lately at Trent, with many moe? are all Councels with theſe four which S. Gregory ſo honored, to be equalized with the four Evangeliſts? 4. Are our Patritians Gods or Angels? are they not men? and ſo ſubjected, errare, decipi, to humane frailties, like Elias, lames 5? may they not humani aliquld pati, as well as the beſt of meer men, be in ſome things erroneous, as the clear Sun and Moon are ſubjected to their cloudings and eclipſings? 5. Is not an inconvenience better then a miſchief? better to recal an Error, then to perſiſt in it: better to be Epimetheus, afterwiſe, then not wiſe, ſince errare humanum, preſerverare diabolicum, at all? as its ſaid of the Engliſh and French, that they are wiſe afterwards; and of the Spaniards and Italians, wiſe before: yet beg him for a fool that is wiſe, neither before nor after, that like him who hath bad cards, and bad caſting at dice, (which is now a high Courts Caſe,) doth not help it as he may in after-play.

Sixthly, Though Inconſtancy, to weave and unweave, like Penelope, to act and react, and recall, be a brand or a blot in many men of great parts and great ſpirits, changing their minds every day, as Nero his ſuits, as though they were nought but changeable taffaty; yet may not wiſe men change their Reſolutions, as David did, reſolving to march againſt Nabal, 1 Sam. 25. as Hares and Hedghogs change their forms, as the winds of croſs occaſions blow? If I reſolve a journey, yet being informed, that there is Leo in via, a Lyon in the way, a French Aſſaſſinate, Italian Bandetties, or a plundering Nimrodian, to cut my throat for my purſe, may I not recall my reſolves for travelling that way?

Seventhly, Felix qui potuit rerum cognoſcere cauſas, Can the wiſeſt man foreſee the iſſues and events of all good cauſes? Whether preaching will ſoften a Joſiah like wax, or Sunlike obdurate a Pharaoh like clay, for breaking; as ex malis moribus bonae leges, good Laws proceed from evil manners: ſo who knows what evil conſequences may come of good acts, like bad ſtomacks, which turn good meat into evil humours?

Eightly, As David himſelf ſaid, he was in a great ſtrait, 2 Sam, 24. the beſt and wiſeſt of men may ſometimes be in ſuch ſtraits, ſo ſail betwixt a Scylla and Caribdis, two contrary Rocks, that all their wit and policy cannot evade their daſhing, if not ſplitting, yea oft ſhipwracking, of credit, conſcience, or both: The body Political, (like the body natural, labouring of a dropſie, and a yellow or black Jaundice both at once, from contrary cauſes,) may be ſo diverſifiedly diſeaſed, that the beſt ſtate-Phyſitian knows not how to cure the one, but he indangers killing, by increaſing the other, the ſalve proving alſo oft more dangerous then the fore; as to him who cut off his toes to cure the raging Gout: All theſe may be applyed to Parliamentary Actings, and reactings, and repealings, ſo oft; like Mariners, now hoiſting up ſails in calms, preſent or hoped, now pulling them down, yea cutting down the main maſt, and every man pumping for life, in tempeſtuous ſtorms.

And being asked, why they did not declare, he anſwered, that yet it was no time.

No time,] Omne tempus habet, Every thing hath a time for mirth, or for mourning, for ſolace, or ſorrow, Eccleſ. 3. only there is no time for ſinning; which like ſnow in June, and rain in Harveſt, is ſtill out of time, and as harſh muſick out of tune too; though every time is not fit for every truth to be brosched, (as pearls unfit for ſwine, and holy things for dogs,) yet there is not time for Guſmans cheats, and Jeſuitical Equivocations, or for Judas his treacherous kiſs, or Joabs imbracing ſtab; no time to be watched for miſchief, as Wolves and Lyons for their preys: And indeed this wrtching a time, for baſe or bloody ends, favours ſtrongly of an Eſaus ſpirit, who plumps and fats his ſpleen with the hoped time of his Fathers death, & then he wil wreak his wrath on his ſupplanting Brother, Gen. 27. and on Cain, the murtherers ſpirit, 1 John 3. 13. who watcht his time to butcher innocent Abell, Gen. 4. Yea, it ſympathizeth with all wicked ones, who watch their times (as the Adulterer the twi-light, the ſilent Serpent his opportunity to ſting, and the birding Cat the buſhed ſparrow,) how to execute their peſtilent deviſes: as the Papiſt s hoped a time, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, that all would be their own; then up Moah, and to the ſpoil: In the mean time, rebus ſic ſtantibus, as the caſe ſtood, they have liberty of conſcience from the Pope (the only Monopolizer of that Mungril,) to be religious Hermaphrodites, Papiſts, Proteſtants, either, or neither, as ſtood beſt for their own ends, by pens, pikes, fires, or faggots: See your faces in the glaſſe of that Tyrant, that lies lutking, and couchant for a time, to be rampant. Pſalm 10.

Shortly, he did not doubt but all would be their own.

Shortly.] This ſhort-lye may prove a ſhort or a long lye: as ſome ſluggiſh ſervants preſently, oft proves a preſent lye; as Chriſts Fleſh held really in the Sacrament by Papiſts, is a reall-lye.

Shortly.] How his lips water at the golden prey, which he, and ſuch as he, have gulpht down and devoured in their hopes, as the Foxes lips water at the grapes and pullein, and the Cats at the fiſh, which they have not yet catcht; and indeed (as when the Pope gave Ireland to Tyrone,) if he could conquer it, all the craft is in the catching; win gold and wear it: But as a long man ſaid of a ſhort cloak which he borrwoed, he would make it long enough ere he reſtored it; ſo this fellow, that is one of the Haſtings, in his hot deſires, may perhaps dance attendance long enough, and cool his toes, like the ſchriech-owl, ere he ſee them effected; his muſick with ſilver ſtrings may be ſo long in tuning, as may turn him all into frets, for all his ſhortlye.

He did not doubt.] Indeed the ſtrongeſt faith, even of an Abraham, a Sarah, Gen. 17. a Zachariah, Luke 1. a David, when he diſſembled a madneſs, 1 Sam. 21. a Thomas Didimus, Iohn 20. and of the Apoſtles themſelves, hath been mixt with doubtings; as cold with heat in luke-warm water, and darkneſs with light, in the twilight; which doubting is like ſore lips in a ſickneſſe; a bad thing in it ſelf, yet a good ſign of health; and its the ſtrongeſt faith that reſts and confides in God, in the greateſt exigents, as did Abraham, hoping againſt hope, Rom. 4. and Aſa, 2 Chron. 16. and Iehoſophat, 2 Chron. 20. and David, 1 Sam. 30. 6. But to be confident in evil, as Witches, Conjuerers, and Necromancers, give the Devil a faith, who, is Gods Ape, promiſeth them his aſſiſtance; and as the Collier was wiſht to give the Romiſh Church an implicite faith, and to pin his ſoul on the Popes ſleeve, to carry it to Heaven or to Hell: This bold and brazen-faced folly and preſumption builds but as on an Iriſh Bog, and ditcheth the ſoul in the loweſt Hell.

He did not doubt but all would be their own.] But, festina lente, he may firſt faſt all the turkiſh Lents, ere he feaſt in Apollos with a Lucullus. Curſt Cows have ſhort horns: Iezabel did not doubt but to take off the head of Elias, 1 Kings 21. but the dogs ſhall firſt eat her for Carrion: Benhadab in his drink doubts not but to take the forces of Iſrael alive, but his hopes were ſtrangled in theſe Halters, which his Courtiers wore about their necks, as their beſt Tiffany. 1 Kings 20. Saul doubts not but to take David intrentcht, as in a trap, 1 Sam. 23. And that railing Rabſhekah, and blaſphemous Senacherib, doubt not but to ſwallow up Hezekiah and his people, as the Whale did Ionas; but God had a hook in both their noſes, 2 Kings 19. Goliah doubts not but to give Davids fleſh to the fowls of the ayr, but David, with a ſlinged ſtone, daſheth all theſe hopes, with his brains out of his fooliſh head, 1 Sam. 17. So the Spaniſh Armado, in the year 88, chriſtened invincible, by the Nun of Liſbon, (the Devil being the God-father, and Pride the God-mother,) hoped to make England a Chaos of confuſion; and Ferneſius the Prince of Perma doubted not but to ride his horſe up to the ſaddle in the blood of the Lutherans; but God ſo ſought for the Protestants, yea the winds and the waves, as once for Honorius, as the Red Sea once againſt Pharaoh, the Stars, and the River Kiſhon againſt Siſera, haliſtones from Heaven againſt the Amalakites, and Hornets againſt the Canaanites, that all theſe felt and found what it was to fight againſt God, to kick againſt the prick, and to reckon without their Hoſt, as this fond Braggadocheo ſells the Fox skin before he be catcht, and reckons his chickens before they be harcht.

All would be their own.] All their own? What will not part ſerve? as ſome Gentleman pay their debts, by a kind of Synecdoche, cal'd pars pro toto, a part for the whole; will he and his outſtrip the Pope, that great Participle, who takes part from the Clergy, part from the Secular, and part from both? Will theſe Harpies play ſweep-ſtake, and take all, both ſtock and thwatch, harveſt and gleanings; all from Courts, Carts, and Crown; from City and Country, from Church and State? All? both Gold and Government, Power and Pelf; Will they as Cormorants devour all before them? as the Gothes and Vandals, when they over ran Italy and Lumbardy; will they ſwallow up all as flap Dragons? Gods part and all? Will they rob Altars make with Pompey Temples Stables for Horſes? ſhave off Eſculapius golden beard: reave the Tholous gold: rake not only (as the Spaniards with the Indians, and the Romans with the Iews) into the guts of the living; but as Darius, once, into the ſepulchres of the dead for gold: Oh will theſe Catepillers eat all the green things of the Land, as the Aegyptian Locuſts, called Monks and Fryers oft in this our Albion, our Terra florida: Will they monopolize all? and leave neither the Clergies part, the tenth; nor the widows part, the thirds. Will they rob the ſpittle and ſhear the Ape? Will they make a mad medley of the dogs hair and the wool of a Baboon? Oh, ſure, however ſuch as are the botts and glaunders in the Army, the Achans in the Camp, ſeed on ſuch baſe and ſordid projects, as Scarabean fleas on dunghils; who mayfor all their gaping jaws miſs their fat morſels, as Aeſops dog miſt the ſubſtance for a ſnatched ſhadow; and as Ixion imbraced a Cloud for Iuno; their brag being a good dog, yet catching nothing: yet I am perſwaded, the noble and generous ſpirits in the Army, yea ſtill in my old phraſe the beſt and the moſt, are as far from ſuch dunghil thoughts, and from ſtooping to ſuch baſe Lures, that if Satan or his organs did but dart them into their hearts, they would pump them out again, as Mariners waters out of their ſhips; yea caſt them out as new wines poyſon out of the barrels, and the ſeas their froth to the ſhores: God forbid we ſhould condemn all the Diſciples for ſome Iudaſſes: or all profeſſors for ſome Anani-aſſes and Sapphiraes.

But ſtill to follow them and to overtake them as the Hound the Fox in ſlow running: Commeating further; [That if the Army ſhould thus declare, the City and Kingdom would riſe] as Dias was told.

[Would riſe,] Elſe they had an aſinine patience; a ſleepiſh ſimplicity without any mixture of ſerpentine calidity, to lie ſtil in a ditch til the ravens pluck their pelts, and pulld out their eyes; yea their right eyes, as Naaſh the Ammonite projected to thoſe of Iabes Gilead, 1 Sam. 11. ſince nature teacheth the worm turn again if ſhe be trod on, the crows to chatter, and wrens to wrangle if their neſts be pulld down; elſe where were the old Engliſh valor, if cowed and over-awed (as the Britains once) with a Daniſh, a Popiſh, an Aegyptian yoke: ſome being fit to be abuſed, yea to ſleep to Mecanas, like a ſawning Courtier, a timerous Traveller, and a Coriatized odcomb, to receive injuries and give thanks; but an Engliſh-man, rightly bred, is not fit to be abuſed: though a grated Lion may perhaps be pluckt by the beard, yet its dangerous to anger his whelps abroad, and to provoke them too far, if by any fair and ſquare way of Truce or Treaty they may be appeaſed. [He anſwered,] Anſer is Latin for a Gooſe.

[They regarded not the City,] But the City hath both regarded and rewarded them; and is ſhe now ſhaken off, as the ſpaniel ſhakes off the water when he hath uſed it to ſwim to his deſired duck? Have they climbed their own ends by her, and will they now throw her by like broken Ladders? Have they no more need of her men, nor of her moneys? (the nerves and ſinews of War.) Nor of her Ammunition which they carry away in Cartloads full of kindneſs? even many a man that makes Matrimony a matter of money, regards the ſilver feathers, if not the fleſh of the bird which he takes into his neſt: but this is not commune malum.

[But could fire it at pleaſure,] At pleaſure: Oh Gunpowder ſpirits, Jeſuited Ignatians, who would conclude all in ferio, in ferro & flamma: as the Spaniſh inquiſition, and Bonner once, and Gardner (all are not guilty of this: thoſe who are gracious in the Army are alſo grateful,) in their invincible arguments of fire and faggot: When Iames and Iohn would have fetcht fire from heaven to burn the Samaritans, Chriſt told them they knew not of what ſpirit they were, Luk. 9. But without being at coſt with a. Herald, we may derive ſome ſpirits from the torrid Zone; from the pedigree and hot line of Thais, that hot harlotrcauſing Alexander to burn Perſepolis; of the mad Greeks firing Troy (fired firſt by the luſt of Paris;) of Nero firing Rome, and ſinging funeral Elegies to it, as to ſecond Troy; of the Tartars firing the great city Moſco; of Faux the firebrand (in his deviliſh intention and invention) of a Parliament. But to proceed where they exceed, [Fire the City,] Alas its fired already! Firſt, by wilde fire Sects and Schiſms, flaming like a ſulphureous Aetna, unquenchable as the coals of Jumper, yea wel nigh as hell-fire, either by the milk of the Word, or the waters of the ſanctuary, ſtill fuellized by zealous ignorance and arrogance: the diviſions of Reuben being great thoughts of heart, Iudges 5. Moſt blinded Sectaries, rather breaking like Oaks (chiefly Hereticks, like Arrius, Neſtorius, Anaſtaſius, Valens, Marcion, Manes, and others, who all came to tragical ends,) then bowing like Reeds, ſhutting their eyes againſt the Sun of truth. Secondly, fired by wilde-fire wrath and ſpleen, burning and raging inwardly, like fire cloſe ſmothered, in divided hearts, breaking out into fiery factions and fractions in houſes and families amongſt thoſe that are neereſt united in the bonds of blood, marriage, nature, conſanguinity and affinity.

Withall the phraſe of firing the City, makes me ſtart back, as Moſes from his rod turn'd ſerpent, makes my hand ſtupid, et vox faucibus haret, and my tongue ſpeechleſs, as if I had ſeen a fiery-eyed Wolf, and it ſpeaks demonſtratively to me, that there is no ſin ſo groſs, ſo grievous, ſo hainous, ſo horrible, but a graceleſs and godleſs man, an unregenerate man out of Chriſt may commit it. The murthering not only of a brother, with Cain and Abſalom, but of a mother as Nero did Agrippina: the killing of a father perpetrated by the two ſons of Senacherib, 2 King. 19. the impriſoning of a father, as the Duke of Geldria his aged Sire: Rebellion againſt a father as Abſalom againſt David; murthering of their own children, as did Manlius Brutus, Progne and Medea: Firing of Temples, as Eroſtratus the Temple of Diana: Aſſaſſinating Kings, as Ravillack and Jaques Clemens, the two French Henries: ripping up the bowels of women with child, as Hazael, 2 King. 8. and our Iriſh Rebels: yea roſting ſome at lingring fires, as the ſame Rebels did Mr Watſon a Preacher: and here, as you ſee, ſome threatning to fire one of the moſt glorious Cities in Chriſtendom: what worſe acts could the Sodomites do if they were here on earth: yea what worſe could the devil himſelf do, if he were viſibly in the ſhape of man?

Withal ſee this ſurious ſin of Firing aggravated, cui bono, to what end, what good doth it but only to fuellize revenge, which the Italians make the ſweeteſt thing tinder the Sun, as in that fiery faction in Jeruſalem betwixt Simeon and Jehochonan, in damnable ſpleen they fired a magazine of 20 years proviſion of corn, only to plague the City and themſelves, conquered by this means by the belly more then the blade: ſo homo homini lupus & demon, one man ſo is a wolf, yea a devil to another, in doing miſchief only, and doing themſelves no good, againſt the dictate both of Reaſon and Religion.

Moreover conſider this fellows phraſe, in firing the City at pleaſure.

[At pleaſure,] Oh the further aggravation of ſin! its pleaſure to a carnal heart, as carrion to a dog or vulture, mire to a ſwine, and filthy mud to a frog: that which is the ſorrow and vexation of a gracious heart, to a combating Paul, Rom. 7. to a mournful Jeremy throughout his Lamentations, yea to a tenderhearted David, Pſa. 6. & 38. is a pleaſure and a paſtime to a graceleſs wretch; even as Sampſon a holy Nuzarite is a mocking-ſtock to the Philiſtines, Judg. 16 Iſaac to Hagar and Iſmael, Gen. 21. Holy David to Michal, 2 Sam. 6. Lot to the Sodomites, Gen. 19. Paul as a babler to the Athenians, Act. 19. and Chriſt himſelf both in his Sermons and Sufferings to the carnal Jews, Mat. 19. &c. 27. Yea here you ſee is a paſquil mad-cap that joyns the firing of a City and pleaſure both in oneline: as if he would warm his hands in the flaming, as now his heart in the conceited kindling of ſuch a fire. But its a paſtime to a fool to do miſchief, and the ſeat of the ſcorner being height of ſin, Pſa. 1. 1. there wants nothing but a cuſhion to that ſeat, which is damnation, unleſs ſpeedy converſion prevent ſubverſion. Laſtly, premoniti premuniti, forewarned, let Troynovant be forearmed, to be cautelous, to take heed how ſhe entertains or retains any ſuch brands into her City as would burn her: any ſuch hotſpurs (though blind and bloody Zealots) as would fire her: any ſuch ſnakes into her boſom as would deadly ſting her: any ſuch mice into her bowels as would deſtroy her: in plain terms, if ſhe diſcover let her diſcard any ſuch ſpirit or ſpirits as would betray her, as Zopirus did Babylon, Sinon Troy, York Devoutree to the Spaniards: for my part had I but a ſuſpition of ſuch a ſojourner in my houſe as would cut my throat or my child's, or any way by treachery abuſe me, as Paris did Menalaus; or by cruelty, as the two young Lacedemonians the daughter of Schedaſus, they ſhould not neſtle under my rooſe one night longer: But in this caſe I preſcribe nothing, for that were to teach Eagles to fly and Dolphins to ſwim; the City is ſo punctually wiſe, even by experiments. I need not light my candle to their ſun: withal far be it from me to put any jealouſies and panick fears into their heads and hearts, either of the fame-worthy General, whoſe actions have hitherto ſpoke him both juſt and noble, or of the Army in general, who were fair-conditioned even when the ball was at their foot to have pludered with more opportunity then perhaps they may have again; yea and with more power too as poſſeſſors of the Tower. But when I conſider again the fearful Tragedies in Antioch, Gaza, Alexandria, Olyſcopon, and elſ where, yea in Belgia, in the Rustick Wars of Munſtsr, and John à Leiden, which have been acted and writ by Hiſtorians rather with blood then ink, by blind zeal, bloody ſuperſtition, and factious Schiſm and Herefie, paraleling our new Seekers, Shakers, Lay-preachers, Leaveners, Enthuſiaſts, Familiſts, Anabaptiſts, with their predeceſſors, their Cozen-Germanes in now ruinated Germany, and with our Norfolk Ket, Hacket, Jack Cade, Tiler, Straw, and other firebrands of Rebellion at home: I cannot but dicere & praedicere, propheſie truly (though perhaps like Chelcas and Caſſandra, not beleeved) if ever London be paſſive in blood or goods in this age, it will be, not by forreign power (for Seleuchus his rods cannot be broken ſo long as they are faſt tyed and bundled together) but by the factions and fractions of her own home-bred, in-bred Hereſies (like a diamond cut in its own duſt) by her preſent regnant ſins, ripening her ruine with other Nations, chiefly her preſent distractions, haſtening and hurrying on her deſtructions, Quod omen avertat Deus! Meliora ſpero, pejora timeo: Et ſerò ſapiunt Phryges: ſerò medicina paratur: which to prevent what you may after repent, though I may be thought in politicals to be out of my element, even piſcis in arido, and as unfit to councel you, as once Phorimo Hannibal, Yet, ſi quid mea carmina poſſun • , if my wiſhes were not in vain, I could deſire, that as you have a care in electing & ſelecting of your Maiors, much more the Rectors of your Militia, leſt Militia turn into Malitia: (plus in duce quàm in exercitu.) The Athenians had a great care to truſt none with the keyes of the City but Solon, a wiſe and juſt man, for a Pagan: Oh for a Solon to this City • Si non Sinon: all is not gold that gliſters: many a nut with a fair ſhell is deaf, rotten and worm-eaten: for my part, give me the nut called the brown leamin, as moſt ſollid, maſſy, and ponderous, found in the kernel, and hardeſt to be crackt in the ſhell. If any be ſuſpected, much more detected, in place and grace, with you to be looſe in the haſt, to ſhrink like ſome Weſtern cloth in the wetting, to ſide with Sectaries, to liſt whom he liſt, even Church and State-firing Schiſmaticks; admit not ſuch a raſh phaeton to ſit as regent: ſuch withall as the ſons of Brutus, who would keep in, or bring in, any proud and pernitious Tarquins, are to be expulſed: The very Geeſe and Ganders are not ſo unwiſe as to chuſe the Fox for their Governor, pereat unus; non unitas: Its better many Gangreend or rotten Members to be cut off, then the whole City infected: In this caſe, above any of Merlins or mother Shiptons Propheſies, the Proverb may be verified, fooliſh pitty ſpoils the City.

[It was likewiſe inquired how the General had performed his word with the King and Kingdom, in re-eſtabliſhing the King, and reſtoring the Kingdom to Peace; he anſwered, the General never intended any ſuch thing.

Did he never intend it? Did he ever acquaint this Dias with his intentions? Sure if he had, after the curteſie of the French King to Scoggan, he had been fitter to be of his Privy, then of his Cabinet Councel; for you ſee he is rimarum plenus, a leaking veſſel full of holes; he keeps Councel as well as Scoggans wiſe, or Fabius once the divulged ſecrets of Auguſtus Coeſar; he reveals what he knows of the Army, and of his General, and perhaps ten times more: (it being the Devils Arithmetick to make lyes by addition, as un juſt plunderers ſteal by ſubſtraction; and the family of Love or Luſt ſpawn baſtards by multiplication:) Sure though this Souldier be no Epheſtion, yet a ſeal had need be ſet on his lips.

He did never intend it.] Into his ſecrets let not my ſoul enter; perhaps, primum in intentione ultimum in executione, what was firſt in intention, may be at laſt in ex cution: He that reads Shepards Jubilee in his encomium, were he as ſnakiſhly envious againſt his wel-deſervings, as ever any emulating Serpen s againſt the famous Themiſt ocles, Alcibiad s, Miltiades, the two Scipioes, or any other renowned Martialiſts, cannot but ſay, that he hath done much fame worthy, and that God hath done much by him; yet pace tanti viti, to interpoſe my opinion, if not judgment, had be brought his King to an interview and perſonal Treaty with his Parliament, which was ſo projected, and ſo ſtrongly ſtill expected, as the moſt probable means of a ſetled Peace, (as Diſcuſſions bring forth truth and unity, as the repercuſſions of the ſteel and flint bring forth fire:) I ſay, when the ball was at his foot (as perhaps it may be again, or is) to have brought his Prince to his Peers, and as a moderate Caſſander, to ſet the ſtrings that were out of tune, to thoſe that were in tune, in an Harmonious diapaſon; he had then, as wiſe men think, joyned Uliſſes his head to. Ajax hand, policy to proweſſe, as a pearl in gold, and for ever aeternized his name, like Auguſtus, the late famous Sweed; yea he had been held to England, as Camillus and Fabius to Rome, the reſtorer of her to a new life; yea the Atlas mainly propping a declining ſtate.

Both ſaith Dias, he did never intend it.] His General is much beholden to him, to brand him, to blow hot and cold, as the Satyres Hoſt with one breath, yea to ſympathize with Pope Alexander, and his good ſon Coeſar Borgias, the one of them never ſpeaking as he thought, the other never thinking as he ſpoke, (their words and works like Germans lips, as the phraſe is, being nine mile a ſunder,) theſe two, the old Fox, and the young Cub, being Matchavils, perfect patterns, and Ideas of his right moulded politick Prince; which Matchavil many Polypragmateſts have ſtudyed, more then Moſes.

And that for the Perſonal Treaty, the Army would not ſuffer it.] More is the pitty, that now Gowns muſt give place to Guns; that cedant arma togae, is held no true Syntaxis, at leaſt a Pſeudodox, not an Orthodox Tenet; that Achilles armour is judged from Ʋliſſes to raſh Ajax, though leſſe worthy; yea, that any free Parliament ſhould be limited, bounded and obſtructed, like thoſe that are in a ſhip, or in a Coach, who muſt go either as the wooden Seahorſe, and the Land Chariot carrieth them them, or if they leap out of the firſt, they indanger drowning, or out of the ſecond, a neck or a leg breaking, or bruiſing. Can the Councel of Trent be held a free Councel, or rather a Conventicle, who (as learned and judicious Doctor Brent, in his worthy book in folio, hath turned the inſide of it outward,) did not, nay durſt not decree any thing, but what they had from their Popes? as the moon her borrowed light from the Sun; from whence the Sarcaſm was, that the Holy Ghoſt was ever brought to them from Rome, as a Bee in a box: But why would not, or wil not, the Army ſuffer this Treaty?

[Becauſe the City would think they gained the honor of it.]

Would think.] Hath this Momus any windows to look into the hearts of the Citizens, what they think? Will he enter into a premunire againſt God, to be Cardiognoſes, the ſearcher of hearts? Muſt any Joſeph be above Pharaoh in the throne? He meaſures the City by his own Laſt, and makes concluſions, yea confuſions from the deluſions of his own thoughts; as we ſay in Yorkſhire, juſt as the fool thinketh, ſo the Bell clinketh, Come again Whittington; as for the City, as there be many things, que non niſi per acta landantur, which are not praiſe-worthy till finiſhed: So I perſwade my ſelf, the City would be glad at their hearts, of ſuch a Treaty to be the husband as would marry with Peace, as once the white Roſe with the red, in a bleſſed Union, after many bloody Combuſtions; yea, there be millions of Mephiboſheths, who prefer the Kings ſafe reducing to his Crown, Peers and People, above their own lives and liberties, and would bleſs God for any one that ſhould be that happy Inſtrument to effect it; even as a ſincere Preacher with Pauls ſpirit is glad howſoever that the Goſpel is preached, without emulation of the Organ of the converſion of ſouls: as if a man be pulled out of the pit as Joſeph, or out of the dungeon with Jeremiah; or as a brand out of the fire, what makes matter who he be, whether friend or foe, that doth the good work? Let the Army do the great work, the great duty, and let them on Gods Name receive the great Dignity, the City will yeeld them the Bucklers the great Honors of Patres Patria, the Patriots of their Country: Onus et bonos, officium et beneficium ſhall both be theirs: But let us trace him further.

He would not have the City to have the honor of bringing the King to a Treaty, but the Army.

Oh what a conteſting is here about Honor? as the ſeven Cities once about Homer: the Lady Honora, and that pale-faced Pecunia, like the Corinthian Lais, is Courted of all in Cities, Courts and Camps; all would ſhine in the Orb of Honor; moſt in any place or office, would like Coeſar have no equals; or like Pompey no Superiors; all would be aut Caſares, ant nihil Caſars or nothing, Kings even of molehils: How innate it is to the nature of all, eſpecially of Artiſts and Martialiſts, to emulate rather the Honors and Dignities, then imitate the deſerts of others! as Themiſtocles cannot ſleep for the envied Trophies of Miltiades, and Alexander weeps at the Tomb of Achilles, ſo famouſed by the Muſe of a Homer. O doxa, doxa, oh glory, glory, cries the Orator, how doſt thou boyl in the hearts of men? Oh how the honor of men hath been, and is aymed at by ſuch Souldiers as Dias, and his camped fellows, more then the Glory of God? Immenſum gloria calcar babet: Oh what a ſpur hath this vain-glory, to be the ſubject of a ſtory! This is the whetſtone to the Decians, Horatians, Scipioes, Codrus, Timoleon, Anstogiton, Scevola, and millions moe of all other Heriock acts, not ſo much undergone for the love of their Country, as for the luſt of vain-glory: For this purchaſe Hannibal makes his way through the Alpes, Ceſar pitcheth ſo main battails, the three Herods, our Richard the third, and thouſand moe, ſwim to Crowns through Hecatombs and Seas of blood: the Aegyptian Kings build their Pyramides, Abſolon rears a Pillar, and every man doth ſomething, from the Court to the Cart, for this aery bubble, this windy blather, this vulgar vote, this Plebeian puff, called honor. Some in the Army you ſee (if Dias be not Monſieur Mendax,) will croſs the publike good of a Kingdom in reducing the King, rather then the City ſhould monopolize this poor Punctillio of honor from them, on which they ſtand ſo much; as on their tiptoes; as many Victories have been obſtructed, many Battails loſt, many Armies routed, yea often Expeditions of Chriſtian Princes againſt the Turk annihilated, (as I could bring in a Cloud of Histories,) meerly by the wild-fire Emulations of commanders about the Honors of ſeveral ſervices: Oh that as Iordan was turned bickward, we could turn the ſtream of our boundleſs ambitions after humane Honors, meerly to the Honor and Glory of God: then in a good Cauſe ſhould the ſwords of our Martialiſts, like the ſwords of Ionathan and Saul. return gloriouſly with the blood of the ſlain, if, with David and Jaſhuah, they ſought the Lords battels and not their own, ſought his honor, not their own.

[And that the Parliament did vote the Perſonal Treaty only to delude the people.] But how knows he this? hath he ſome Mephiſtophiles like Faustus, ſome familiar ſpirit, as ſome Italian, in a ring; ſome devil, like Cornelius Agrippa in the form of a dog: or ſome lylng ſpirits like Ahabs prophets, to acquaint him with this; or is it his own mad imagination (or, as the Country-man miſ. called it, madg-maſon;) but till he prove this, what ſlit deſerves the ſcandalizing tongue of this reviling Shimei, this railing Rabſhekah: if ſcandalum magnatum, in ſlandering one noble man, be ſo poenal, what is it for this whelp of Cerberus, to bite with his Theonine teeth a whole Parliament; for this malevolent to caſt his ſoul aſperſions on ſo many ſelected Senators throughout the Kingdom? but mens tongues are now more then ever their own: what Law, yea what Lord can controul them, Pſa. 12. this were to tame Panthers, and to ſhackle the Helleſpont

[He likewiſe ſaid, He ſhould (or hoped) to ſee the City on fire ſhortly.]

Yet more fire, more ire: ſtill the ſame Arminian Dragon ſpitting fire! At dabit Deus his quoque funem: God will caſt on ſuch a ſpirit lightening and thunder, ſtorm and tempeſt, fire and hail, Pſa. II. Satia te ſanguine quem ſatiſti. Neſtorius tongue that fired that world was ſcorched in his mouth: Valens that fired ſo many Chriſtians, was at laſt fired by the Gothes.

[But he hopes to ſee it fired.] His is ſuch a hope as will never help him to heaven; it will melt as ſnow to dirt, and periſh with himſelf, as an embrio, or the graſs on the houſe top, which withereth. Oh the poor hopes of the wicked (like the Romanized Religion) founded in blood and watered with blood!

[He further ſaid, That if the Kings revenue were ten times ſo much the more, in were the better for them, for the Crown Land would make many of the Souldiers Gentlemen.] And ſo indeed it would make not only Jack, but Jackie too, a Gentleman, if he had the conſcience to purſe it.

Laſtly, this windy-bags venting, That if they conquer us, we ſhall be their ſlaves, even ſlaves to ſuch as he, as Sicilian Lords once were oppoſed by their ſervants, Soepe bilem, ſoepeque riſum veſtri movere tumultus: the humor of this fellow perſonating that bragging Thraſo in Terence, and Peripolinices in Plautias, and of Bragauacheo in Spencers Fairy Queen; I know not whether I ſhould laugh at him, pity him, or be angry with him. Thus having in this Rapſody gathered ſome grapes of political obſervances from his thorns, and ſome gold of good counſels from his droſs, I ſheath my pen from running any further Tilt with the pike of his tongue, having unhorſſed (though not un-aſſed) him enough already, for abuſing, as a bold Buffoon, even his own Army, as well as King, Kingdom and Parliament.