No More Learning

\\. ) Coun. "Jk JTA&er, I give thee warning, Fm going XVJL t0 turn tnee °&> thou'rt grown so very
it be decided ; but it is liberty and property, and all is well ! and experience is a. /W /
dull and nasty.
O. What ! art weary of my company ?
C. That I was before I began with thee.
O. What mad'st begin then ? sure I did not invite thee, I was not ambitious of thy company, I had rather have been without it o however I have lost nothing by and tV. OM hast got as little for thou can'st not dirty me, but
thou has dirty thy self sufficiently in touching me, or
meddling with me.
(2. ) C. That faw before began with thee, and
intended no victory over thee, that was none of my de sign, that had been poor bargain indeed
But now we're upon parting, I'll tell thee alf. had
long observed, with grief and astonishment, the progress, Histories, and atchierv€ments of certain fallen-angel calPd Belial, which signisies without yoke or restraint, that
\freedom from all laws or government. Anglice liberty and
a 2
I !
is,
I
I
it,
d a
I
;
The REHEARSAL.
3o4
and property, ! under which speciou s pretence all liberty and
praperty was taken quite away, except the liberty of de stroying and murdering one another, to the end of the chap
ter, and making all settlement impracticable to the end ofthe world.
The ground and fomdatioK-•wqrk of this Belial was the. notion that all power was originally in the people, and «wr. •i/fyV from them under what rules and limitation: tljey thought sit to yaci and /i<^ GiOvernours, still account
able to the people for their administration, and deposeable and punishabie For it
From hence I faw flow not only the miseries and n»'i> of our own countiy, and in our own and later but the dismal tragedies of former agw, and in many coun tries, particularly of the Grecians and Romans, the best known to us of any other parts pf the world.
This, made me set my self to examine into the bottom of this fair pretence, and to peruse the most celebrated authors for it among the Greeks and the Romans, and our
later Machiavi/ians, making n? y conclusion with the
English, who were voluminous upon in justisication of forty-cne andforty-eight (which are the fame) and upon
some later occurrences.
thought over, till had answer'd all objections as
to my self. conversed with men of the sirst form in these popular schemes, and upon the whole thought
my self master of the argument, at least so far as to pro pose to the world, and see what could be faid against
thescheme take to be demonstrable and infallible.
The method took was to treat of in
according to the gravity and dignity of the subject, from
authority pf scripture from reason and experience the histories of all ag es and lastly, from our own known
laws and constitution.
This receiv'd one answer, with expectation of more,
for which, after due waiting, and none appearing, reply. was given to with all invitations to proceed further in the argument.
But
serious way,
it, h I Iit ly
a
;;
;
;
I
it
it,
I
I it
a.
I
The REHEARSAL.
305 But since that time (now (went years since) all has been
filcace as to anysober defence ofthese popular schemes.
But Belial thus difpojess'd out of the man, has had' his
last recourse to the herd of swine, iae. Observators, Re~ views, and the rest of the scandalous club (which relieve one another, and come out every day in the wee/t) all billow out the original magazine of power in the people. They answer to no arguments, but carry on the cry ! and tbiscarries it with the mohile.
A very wife and grave man afk'd the question, Whe ther these principles of government might not be expressed in so plain and familiar a stile, and method of argument, as to be intelligible to the meanest capacity ? and then to be communicated, not in only, which the mohile will not and less conflder, but in small papers, that may come out weekly, and be dispersed in coffee-houses, where the other pernicious papers spread their poison ?
But then, that it would be necessary, when we speak to the •vulgar, to learn their language, and condescend to some of their common phrases, and unpolish'd way of. talking, to comply with their bluntness, but not their
rudeness, their prophaneness, and their bestiality ; to sup
ply which, we might add something of their sort of plea santry, to gain attention from them, and to come some
thing into their favour, till when you will not be heard
by them. If you begin upon the serious, you're sauted and ridicul'd the sirst word; but if you have got a little credit with them, you may steal in a word of fense now- and then, and as you gain ground, may make more imr
prespsn upon them, and still keeping within the reac, their understanding, may in time do good with them, open their eyes, without their ownperceiving it.
The end I acknowledged to be good, but thought it, impracticable by me, under the load of so many prefures, besides the reflection, ifa man should happen to be found out among such scoundrel company ; but there is pride in> that objection ; and it is not unbecoming a disciple of
Christ, even to wash the feet of the poorest, if there be
any prospect of doing good by it.
3. And
306
The REHEARSAL.
3. And I have had the pleasure of seeing . gWdoneby it ; persons of mean capacity or improvement being able, at a coffec-heuse, to hold it out against the top whigs and disser. ters, only by keeping them close to the Rehearsal, and faying, come leave off your longspeeches and run ning about the bush; here's a Ihort issue, which every body can understand, when did your mob original ofgo vernment begin ? When was it that there was no govern ment in the world, but every man upon the level ? Can you shew us a fairer account of the dividing the world into nations than is given in the tenth of Genefis ? I can' read the hible; are any of your heathen authors equal to that ? Then again, as to the lavas of the land, what lay you to these acts ofparliament here quoted in Rehearsal, which bar all coercion upon the cron/n, either in parlia- ments or people? Are there not such acts ofparliament f Or, are they false quoted'! ' Come, what do you fay? You are
all mum chance, you will not speak a word to the point, but come in with your stories and idle tales ; but we pin you down.
Again, am not I one of the people as well as yon f And have not I as much power to coerce the king as you ? Or, to coerce you as well as the king, and to knock out your brains ? What is all this but mob and confufion f
And where can it end ? qui mobbat, mobbahitur
«
This, is so very plain, so demonstrative, so self-evident, that astripling arm'd with this is able to beat down the
greatest Goliah of popular government.
have taken notice of this' to
O. I
no small vexa tion, which made me fay in mine, Vol. III. N. 83. of this
Rehearsal, That it does more mischief than a regiment of horse can do to the common cause.
C. That's the good old cause—■ 'yet at other times thoa fay'st it is a silly senseless paper ! and that no body will be at the pains of reading it.
O. I fay my self in my Obscrvator, the next before that last quoted, that Vol. III. 82. That take no t$r\ the os the Rehearsal, and that never saw above tv* tf them. . •
my
Vet
C.
1
%
.
is,
/
The REHEARSAL.
3o?
C. Yet thou pretend'st to answer it ! and invitest peo to enter with thee upon the argument, and fay'stthou art •vindicator set up by providence to maintain popular
government against all oppose rs.
can answer books best without reading them for
then am never beaten from my point. {4. ) C. That is, thou answers like
never changes thy note Thus vvhen
upon thee, that the king (or queen)
crates, but the head and sovereign of them all, and sbew'd
demonstrably from the statutes and known laws of the land thou anfwer'st cuckoo, cuckoo——The queen one the estates, Isn't now time for me to have done with
thee!
And every body else must kick thee out when they
iead thy silly chiming over thy nonsensical bubble as thou dost, Vol. III. N. 98. faying, That the three estates (by which thou mean'st the queen and both houses ofparlia ment) cannot deprive Englishmen oftheir liberties. How then comes any man's liberty to be taken from him How comes any man to be imprison d!
0. By the known laws of the land.
C. Who made those laws And can't they alter and repeal them as they please And may they not attaint nun, and take away his life and estate, when no law of the land could other ways reach him Hast thou never heard of such a thing as this
O. caren't what have seen or heard! and will not answer thee, but go on and prove what have faid in the fame Observator, and fay, The laws of God and na ture can be repeaP no human power, and liberty a
fundamental principle nature, sacred from the very first minute time, &c.
C. Thou hast been often afle'd to shew that time of univerfal liberty, when all mankind were upon the level, and no one had power over another and all . the divan
cuckoo— Thou
had fully proved none of the three
of whigs and dissenters can never answer — only cuckoo
—the original power of the people
In" the next place, neither king nor parliament nor any
government
!
;
?
is I a
it
I
I
of
I
dII of by
it
!
is
is
!
I
of
;
it
I0. aple
? ?
?
a?
The REHEARSAL.
ao8
government whatever, can make any law to restrain die
lihtrty of any one man upon these principles; nor can the
staple grant them such a power. What wretched stuff'is
this ? Here's government and no governments a power de- rivd from the people, which never was, nor can be in. their power to grant ! A child that can but spell and put together may baffle all the world upon these principles ; yet these are the erfd up principles ! these the men of nii and sense, and large thoughts! these the patriots and
defenders of liberties ?
O. Brave sellows ! for all that thou can'st fay, they
give us full liberty to call our representatives to account,
I do, Vol. III. N. where I call the parliament a pack of hounds ; and which is more, fay, that they are run mad too, so that they're
and' treat them as we please, as
97.
I that by their fund dogs. fay,
societies of men well as particular persons.
they shew us may sometimes be mad, as
C. Then v. cren't those people mad that chafe that map
house of commons ? Here we have both people and their
representatives all mad together ! Where shall we go now
for the original of government ?
May we not much more justly conclude that they are
mad who set up such senseless ana contradictory schemes of government ! and that they are not well in their fenses, or
have a very moderate degree of understanding, who are carried away with them, and made imps of BtHat, and
Open opposers of divine right!
proceedings,
From
The
R E H E A R S AL.
309
From &at. July 14, to ,® at. July- 21, 1705. No'ci, """"". . . -»,
i . 'she actors ebang'L 2. How the Rehearfal was re- ceiv'dj and bow be manag'd in his former company.
3. The country man\r accouht 'and reasons of bis con version, as to the power of the people. 4. A neio question started by him concerning tyranny. And of the
greatest security that it is possible for men to have up on the earth. t>etermind in the happiness of our
awn constitution, we woua keep to it. A con dition on ,which the Rehearfal promises to turn whig.
.
C10 ^-"VrOW have got rid of dirt, and turn'd off
X>l my nasty Observator, and struck his name <iut of my paper, wilt thou be content, honest Country
man, to Converse with me in serious manner; and let us inquire into this great matter ofgovernment by sure rule and means, and yet not exceeding very ordinary
capacity
C. am pleas'd with all my heart to change my
master. am quite weary of scandal, ribaldry, pro-
phaneness, ——and dulnefs to boot. That pretending to be vindicator, can neither justify what himself sets
up, nor answer to any objections, otherwise than as you faid, like cuckoo, the same note always, the power, the
original power of the people which having been made, sirst, lie as to fact and then utter nonsense and incon
fistency and, lastly, to the subverfion of all order and government and the perpetual and even necessary de
struction of mankind: No answer has been made, but as you fay, cuckoo cuckoo! repeating over the fame word, ——without daring to explain the meaning of
or giving any fort ofsolution to the arguments brought a-
gainst it.
But now, master, that have inlisted myself with
thee, thou must not expect thatl should be other than a coun
I I
;
I
'5. if
it,
;
I? a
a ;
aI
!
a
a
6.
1
310
The REHEARSAL.
countryman still. I may be inform'd as to some thing! ;
but I cannot alter my nature all of a sadden. I
must be blunt still, though thou shalt sind me always bt-
9tst-.
R. Thou shalt have liberty for all the bluntness, that
thou hast been us'd to. But must bar any
plainness,
thing that borders upon propbane, or jesting with /acred things. In the next place, all tendency towards what
smutty or obscene. And %dly, any reflections upon parti cular persons, as to personal faults or miscarriages, which concern not the principles which we oppose.
C. All these agree to and question whether this
wou'd not be call'd spoiling of conversation among the
ivits and beau esprits, as they call themselves of thefirst, second, and third form Not to name my former dirty
master the Observater, and the rest of ou
lous club whose writings, examin'd by these rules, wou'd be found not to have one drachm offense, and as little ofwit in them.
But since you have allow'd me to speak plainly with you then must tell you what thoughts we have had of you.
(2. ) When you came sirst into our company, we were all surpriz'd. You came with an air offreedom and frank
you crack'd jest with us, as we fay, in our coun try fashion yet was not quite in our fashion. For you kept within all the rules you have now given me;
and thou often reprov'dst us for our broad beastliness for telling standerous stories of our neighbour but most
for our prophanenefs, and jesting with holy things That we stard at thee, and wonder'd what fort of sellow we had got among us or what business thou hadst with us.
Then we concluded thou wert Jesuit; because thou spak'ft sometimes beyond us and wou'dft bring in
little of argument now and then, which we were not us'd to and then didst slide from again, when thou saw'st wo were tir'd with and conclude with some
merry tale or other, that made us laugh, and fay thou wert
ness
scanda
it
?
;
;
a it
I
I
a
:;
is
;
ly
it a
;; if
;
r
:
J
I
;
;
;
is,
The REHEARSAL.
wert good company. Then at us again, and t'other touch at argument, but not too much at a time ; till at last we were willing to hear thee more at large. And
thou explain'dft things to us, in such familiar compari sons, as suited to our capacity ; that I prosess we were taken before we were aware ; and began to argue these
pcinti among ourselves ; and once a •week thou gav'st us some new help or other, which kept us warm. Thus we were insensibly drawn in to think of things, that had never come into our noddles before.
• (3. ) As for example, I prosess I never had any other
thought than that all power and government was from the people; for I don't read boois. And fay my neigh
bours, What! Don't we choose parliament-men ? And
are they not call'd our representatives ? Did kings drop down from the clouds booted and spurr'd ; and were
the people born with saddles on their backs, to be rid to death ?
But there thou cam'st in upon us, and hast shew'd plainly, as plain as the nose on one's face, that the power pivoting for parliament-men, and the limitation of the
free-holds, who shall vote, and who not; and which towns shall send representatives, and which not, was ne ver from the people, or ever cou'd be ; but that all this was wholly and solely from the crown. And that there can be no other independent and supreme power in the nation, but the crown. From which all other, and sub
ordinate power in the kingdom is deriv'd. And that to
put the supreme or any independent power in the people, is to overturn all government ; and can end in nothing but
cutting of throats to the day ofjudgment!
This thou hast shew'd, and hammer d it into us, till
there is no resisting of it ; till we are all filent, and none of us dare open his mouth against it.
And thou hast made as great fools of all our great writers for popular government, of Lock, Harrington, i&c. as of poor Observator himself ; and thou insults over them, to provoke any to answer thee ; and none appears ! So that we must all come over to thee !
We
3n
3i2 Thfe REHEARSAL.
We cannot still remain so dull as not to see, that-the
Observators calling thee a thoufand names is no answer i And that it is only because he cannot answer.
I have ■fled him several times, why he did not answer to the foint, and shew when there was such an independent state of mankind, and no government in the world? Then he cursed thee by all his gods-; and foarnd at the mouth fox an hbuIr together, till his October set him tofleep.
hifiories, as well the prophane, as the holy scriptures, shew
But
have aft'd others, men of and learning ; sense
and they all fay, that it cannot be shew? d : That all
no time when there was not government in the world; but that this independent state must be supposed, to found the original of power in the people.
What! faid I, suppos'd against- truth and /ai! ? . ' This
! and I faw plainly, that all wa*
,epentd my gws broad
cheat and trick! and that there was no need of great
learning, or depth of understanding, to come at the bottok
of this.
The like answer they gave me, as to the law arid
acts of parliament you have quoted, which tar att-ct* eras*' upon theswwH. They own? d they were a8s df
parliament, - and truly quoted that. stÆi of parliament are the Atk-'s of the land, and these aA still in yir«, and
hot repeasd; and yet not the /aou of the land, as it now stands.
That faid they are laws, and not laws yon may make me believe transubftantiation at this rate
They faid, we got over these laws, by recurring to
the original ofpower in the people which superior term laws.
How faid recurring to that original, which
you only suppose, and that against both truth andsots! ' Here's magazine indeed to blow up all laws wsd «»-
stitutions, and to make all settlement impracticabieto-'the world's end
This easily convine'd man even of my capacity, to set through all these schemes of popular government; and that those who set them up, are truly what you calTd
them,
,
a !
!
is,
a
!
•; 2
s, by
I,
is
!
!
The RE HEAR SAL.
313 them, fins of Belial, the common epithet of rebels in kly scripture, that is, they wou'd be free from all yoke or restraint of government whatsoever ; which wou'd only
be a freedom of destroying one another without end or wf^ji. Of which Poland is a lively example now before our eyes ; not to come nearer home.
Thus, mr,ster, I have given you an account of my
uieverfion, from your plain and familiar, but strong reasons.
(4. ) But I have a word more, if you will give me leave ; for reason may be confine d, and yet prejudice not removed. What shall we do in cafe of tyranny ? For there have been tyrants in the world.
R. While government is administer d by the hands of men, there will be miscarriages and inconveniencies ; there is no absolute security upon earth. Therefore we must weigh the inconveniencies on both sides. To care the
tyranny of a king, by setting up the people, is setting 1 0000 tyrants over us instead of cm? . It is hell broke
/ri//£,, worse than the worst of the devils.
And besides, it admits of no remedy ; we have no
prospect of the end. There is nothing but eternal revo
lution and corfvfion, in advancing the power of the peo~ pie. One party -worrying another; and another un
dermining, and then worrying that ; for each party axa equally the people. As it is now in Poland; and ae it was in England before the restoration 1660.
A tyrant must dye ; or God may mend him, and change m's m/W. G&•/ tells us, that the hearts of are ia his hand, and he turns them as he pleases. That he fends good princes to a good and obedient people; but suffers others, for their fins, to be evil entreated through tyrants, and rxeak and foolish princes. Therefore, as our Homily of rebellion fays, Let us either deserve to have a good prince set over us, or bear such as we deserve. It
is suffering in Gods way, and in his hand, by him whom he has set over us. But to rebel against him, is rebel lion against God, and provokes him to plague us more and
more. To give us up to our own inventions, the ma- Voi. . I. P gamut
The REHEARSAL.
gaaine of original power in the people ; which, ifnot re strain d by the goodness of God, wou'd i/ra up the whole earth, and set all mankind a massacring one another while there were but two men left. All this is the natural con
3t4
sequence of that principle ; and if God should permit it to
prevail universally, dama.
the whole world wou'd be one Acel
C. Bless us ! You fright me ! the consequence is ex ceeding plain, it cou'd be no otherwise upon this princi ple. Pray God deliver us from this spirit of Belial; and *ssisl those that wou'd dispossess him out of this country, which he has turn'd into a heap of ruins before, upon this fame principle. And all upon pretence of liberty and property! That men cou'd be so bewitch' 'd 7 It looks really like possession, fox there is no reason in the case. Our lives and liberties must always be in the power of
some or other, while there is government ; and of every body, when there is none. The wrath of a king is faid to be like the roaring of a lion ; but that of the people is like the roaring of the sea ; it is an inundation which sweeps all before it. And to from the king to them,
running into the ocean, for sear of little rivulet, or to us from shower of r«z'a. leaping over
precipice to avoid flumbling-block.
(5. ) Since therefore there no security that absolute
upon far/A and while we lire here, we must expect v to meet with inconveniencies ant fully convine'd, that
the greatest security and liberty ot which mankind ca pable, is, where the king absolutely free from all co- ireion, either parliament or people, and the militia or power of the sword, wholly and ya/? ^ in the «w a;
for power cannot be divided) and the king head :nd
sovereign of the parliament, and not one of their efiatts, (which puts him upon the level with them, makes him
and not sovereign according to the acts parliament you have quoted, ,/«// of and express upon all these points And where the people accept of their lava as limitations of concession from the prince, but not of «-
er^erf over him for that will bring in Belial, and all
subject,
:
;
a
(
is
; by a aa
)
is I; is
fly
of
is
is
is
is
a
It a is
The REHEARSAL. ji5
his cursed train : I fay, this is the greatest security of government we can have upon earth. And by every de
gree that this authority is lessen'd, our security is lesserid with it, and a dfcar open'd to confufion.
ie. I will end with this: That, setting aside th«
(6. )
authority of holy scripture, and the attestation of OUB laixis to all this ; if any man can mew, that in reason, or
any scbeme or frame of government he can invent, there can be no greater security than this, or so great, I do hereby promise to turn whig ; and to unsay all that I
havefaid upon this subject.
From •? >at. July 21, to ctat. July 28, 1705.
(1. )i? f. TN our last converfation, honest countryman, X tnOu gav'st me a full account of thy conver
fion as to the state point. But thou faidst nothing as to the church. Have I made no impression upon thee as to
that ?
C. It was only want of Time that I faid nothing a«
to that. There is as much done on that side, as on the other. Tn thy Rehearsal, N. 20. thou hast brought the matter of the church, ofschism, and of occafional con
formity so home to our own doors, in such eas1 and fami tiar a manner, as the dullest of us cannot but see nay, we feel it. We have often batteWd among ourselves in our own blunt way and there not one of us, that
an husband, father, or master, but are all on thy fide.
N°5z.
1 .
An account the countryman gives of his conversion, as -to the notion of the church, of schism, and of oc casional conformity for places. With his bold chal lenge to all the dissenters to answer him. 2. His de
scription of the effects the Observators, Wc. have a~ fnong the common people. 3. The Rehearfal'/ applica- cation. With the attestation of two kings, and a par
liament, to justify the necessity of his undertaking.
Pa *
is
a
;
is
it
it,
The REHEARSAL.
3i6
lide. They fay, that none of them can sleep safe in their beds one night, or have any sort of order or government in their own families, if the plea of the non-cons be al- low'd, especially of these occafional conformists for places. Unless we suppose, that Christ our Lord had less regard to his church, purchas'd with his own hleod, out of all the nations of the earth, as a peculiar people to himself, and members of his own of his flefh, a»d of his bones ; and A«>o of God, through him, xheve elder brother; and against whom he has promis'd, that the gates of hell shall not prevail ; I fay, unless we think, that our Lord Christ has less regard for this church, for its support,
peace, and unity, than he has for the meanest farmers fa- jnily; we must acknowledge the smile you have given there, to run oh all four, and to be exactly parallel. i'or the church is call'd afamily, of which G&r^i is the
head.
I have ask'd our non-con teachers, what they had to
fay to it ? They could give no answer, that my child of ten years old cou'd not make afool of. That wou'd net justify my wife, my child, my servant, to run away from me. Nay more, to assault me, to turn me out of my own doors, and to cut my throat, if they cou'd do no
better. And if they cry'd conscience ! all was well.
This rais'd an abhorrence in me ; I have gone round them all, and can sind no other answer. And I desire thee to put it in print, to see if all of them put together can give any answer to or shew wherein the cases are
not exactly parallel.
dear love to have things made thus plain to us.
Here's no intricacy of learning, nor long quotations out of books we don't understand but persect picture made
of that nothing but downright obstinacy can hold out against and shews, that riot conscience, but some intrigue and design at the bottom.
R. give thee leave to make thjs challenge to them all. And will stand thee in let them answer
that single Rehearsal. This may be thought self-conceit: but do on purpose, as dp with the whigs on the
point
I it
O ;
I I
it,
by
I it;
it,
it ;
is
a
is
! 1
The REHEARSAL.
317
point os government, to provoke them to answer, which I know they cannot. And then to expose them for their
filence, and to gain over more of my countrymen, as I have done thee. And I tell them, that is my defign, and that I have gain'd several already, and will do more ; till the dissenters that remain become the contempt and abhorrence —of the nation, unless they repent, and join
with us to bury their horrid principles in eternal oblivion.
till then . . have
And then and not we shall peact
and union.
If they will not answer, we will write over them ;
and gain the nation from them, as we did before. They have not forgot it; and we tell them, that we will do it again ; and that this is the defign of this paper, as it is ; we are now about it. If this be not provocation sufficient, let all the world see them self-condemn d, beat down, and
humbsd! They bellow and roar, like a spirit disi-os- sess'd ; but have not a word to fay. The case is plain ; and there is not a country farmer in England but can see through it. We are above them, and will keep above
them, let them do what they can ; for they can do no thing. There is neither sense nor reason on their side. We Know all that they can fay; they have faid it a thou fand times in Queen Elizabeth's time, and ever since.
And all that they have faid put together cannot anjwir
that single half-sheet of a Rehearsal, or shew that their case difsers in one tittle from the case there put. They have had many and learned answers to all their pretences. To which they never did or cou'd reply any thing; but, as I faid before, like the cuckoo, by repeating their old
objections over and over again, without taking any no tice of the solid and substantial answers which they had already receiv'd. Of this I spoke before, N. 16, is'c.
And sinding nothing wou'd do with them ; I made a brief flate of their case, N. zo. familiar, as thou fay'it, countryman, to thy undirstanding. And this sticks in their throat to this day ; which is the thing I now am provok ing them to answer. But have little hopes ! for they know it is a true state of their case, and their very case.
P3 And
The REHEARSAL.
And being put in the per/on of another, wherein every body is concern'd, it appears ridiculous and abhorrent to
every body ; and every body is capable ofjudging it. There fore I think we may leave them, and that we shall hear no more from them ; they are cut at the root, and must wither, with all men of common fense or honesty. Nay, with themselves ; for there is not a dissenter in England wou'd endure himself, that is, another in his own shape,
and with his pretences, to stay an hour under his rocs. For which I appeal to every dissenter, and to every single man in England, or in the world, according to the state of the case, N. 20. and likewise, whether the case be not truly put ? So that I think this cause cannot be fufb'd further. plain,
(2. ) C. Thou hast made things so
that he that runs may read ; which if thou hadst not done, it had been of little use to us poor ctuntry-folks, who read no books, and learn only by conversation ; which being mostly among ourselves, we seldom grow wifer. For how shou'd we ? all the information we had was from the Obfervators, and the like. We met every night that the news came in, at a coffee-house, an alt- house, or sometimes a barn. And some one among us that cou'd read, took out Mr. Observator, and read ita- loud to us all, who —hearken'd to it more attentively than to a sermon. Then the discourse began, and every
for we knew no otherwise. The fame course was taken
have seen there an old cobler sitting in his flall in the street, lay by his auls, put on his spectacles,
and gravely reading the Observator . aloud to a listning ting of mob. And when any thing smutty or propbane came out, they set up a laugh you might have heard to the end of the street. But when the government and ad
came to be exposed, they look'd wife, and
5i8
in London :
I
ministration
shook —their heads, and wou'd fay, Come, come, this •u>ill
not do All is wrong,
repeat.
But their mirth and indignation were join'd, when the
Oi-
— and so forth, which I dare not
master,
the side ; one pass'd his verdict All on Observator's
The REHEARSAL.
319
Objer<vator sell upon the church and the clergy. When Squintifego came out, or reverend father in Satan, they wou'd cry, That again ! and it wou'd be echo'd through the crewd. When they heard out of the Observator, that whenever a clergyman went into any house, it was
either to pick the man's pocket, or to cuckold him ; they wou'd clinch their fists, and fay, my oaken towel shall be upon any black-coat that comes near my house. When the Obfervator argues, that the clergy are all beggars, they live merely upon the alms of the people, and ought
neighbours, he is in the right ; and we keep our alms- folks too fine ! 'tis time they were reduc'd.
to have no votes for parliament-men ; they cry'd, Mass I
But when getting ready their Marstoio-moor and
Edge-hill swords and guns was read they put on
a difserent air. They clapt their wings, and cry'd, Ha !
my boys
I will not take upon me to fay what consequence there
may be in all this to the church or to thestate ; to be thus made vile in the eyes of the meanest of the people ; but surely they who can lead them into such open contempt of their gavemours, both in church and state, can lead them into the fietd too. They have done it before, when
••.
reverence to government is lost, obedience sits very loose. Is it nothing to have the mtb of a nation enflam'd,
corrupted, and debauch'd in their principles and affection to both church and state ; that that which shou'd be their reverence is become their jest and their averr
fion ! Is there no harm to let them be made tinder, to take
at ? every spark
fire — —I
R. It
the people. There is none to do justice — Wou'd
made a judge Just the fame doings were before the rebellion offorty-one ; as silly pampblets and papers as a-
ny now came out. The cobler of Gloucester, and others
so senselfs, that men offigure thought it a refieftion upoa them to meddle with them, and that they cou'd do no hurt. The king was minded of it then, and thought the fame ; but was convine'd of his error, when k was
P 4. to*
(3. )
is that
by
which s Absalom
tole the hearts of
were
320
The REHEARSAL.
1
too late, when he issu'd his di cleration of May 5, 1 642 fcfl down in Lord Clarendons history ,Vol. I. p. 408. whereTM he attributes the chief cause of those trouble. ' to these ,c9 ry papers, which, fays he, was before the high and royrl aignity wherein God bad plac'd kin:, to tab: no. 'ire os'
[For which reason they noticed off his hie,*/! ] but he adds, Notwithstanding bis mijesty's earnest dc jlre Jo osten,
departing
in vain, press d for a reformation. His defire ! Why
?
It was his offxe to have reform d it j and his
from that pewer wherewith God had invested him, and
becoming a petitioner to his subjects for jus ice, was realty
a divesting of himftlf, and a betraying of the authority cl Gcd, which he bore. But there were faults in others, as he goes on in the faid declaration, That whilst the fresfes
swarm d with, end every day produc'd new tracts against the cste,b! ij/Sd government of the church and state, mest mm wanted the courage or the ccvsciince to . write — [that
is, in opposition to them] either to preserve the minds of his good iubj,cis from such inferiors, or restore and recover tbsm when they were infected. And the objcctian was then, as now ; they are nasty, scoundrel papers, and it is below any man of charactcr to engage with them ! It was below the king to take notice, or the clergy to answer, for sear of dirtying their fingers, or defiling their cka- racters !