Consideration on the Present Distempers

SOME FEW AND SHORT Considerations On the present Distempers; By J. P.

T He tie which I have as an honest man, and the right which I have as a free man, of speaking what I think conducible to the weal public, hath invited me in the crowd of others who blot paper, Commodare vocem, commodare operam, et si nihil profuturam forsan, conaturam tamen prodesse, and in the Exigents which now press us, to commend to all men, specially to the wisdom of our great Council, these few particulars.

First, we having at present a Commonwealth, in which, as Tully said, Nihil mali est, nihil adversi, quod non boni metuunt improbi expectant, and matters being now reduced to that extreme article of time, on which depends misery or prosperity, that they would be pleased with one eye to look up to His Majesty's gracious inclinations, his readiness for, may his desire of any honorable transaction, his pretensions to no greater latitude nor altitude of Prerogative, then what his Ancestors (as he conceives) enjoyed actually or virtually; with the other to look down to the ground they stand on, the depth of that precipice, on the skirt of which they (and in them the Commonwealth) are, to remember that of an Ancient;

Though the Propositions be not in every circumstance as they wish, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , (a thing expedient, and suitable, not to policy only, but Christianity, Rom. 12. 11.) especially to weigh well that of the same Cicero, Omnis pax bello civili utilior.

Secondly, what probability or rather possibility there is of recovering Ireland, if the time to be employed in the restitution of it be expended in the composing of our own distractions, the monies for that Countries relief be exhausted in the protraction of civil discord, and the persons who should quell Rebellion abroad, be ministers in a war at home here. And if that Kingdom should be lost, in what state this would be, in how desperate, how deplorable a condition, how unable long to defend itself.

Thirdly, if the Votes of whatsoever they pass, though in a complete body, without His Majesty's ratification, be doubted whether efficacious and obligatory, how much rather then, when that body (as at present) is so mutilate and defective, as not to want the head, but so many Members too. What some Books have, Quod major pars curiae effecit, pro eo habetur ac si omnes egerint, I confess is true, but (among other restrictions it receives) is to be understood of a full Assembly, or where who are not present, are absent Reipublicae causa, (a thing held ever equivalent to appearance personal) or by reason of some other casualties and emergents, not where there is a deliberate separation out of a dislike, a contrariety of sense, a Schism (as here too visibly) and of persons in quality and number so considerable.

Fourthly, what hath reference to Hull, that they would vouchsafe to have in mind, that the Axe is now laid to the root of the tree, (a tree in the forest of this Island not the least considerable:) squeez'd and extorted things in the commerce of life are not welcome to us: what willingly we accept of, must come willingly; how much better then to leave that place rather upon demand, then by violence, to make the restitution of it a work of election, then of necessity, especially having those inducements, His Majesty's formerly being seized of it, and his present full pardon to all within it.

Fifthly, for the Commissions of Array on His Majesty's part, and the Militia on theirs, they being in the Theory (in a well-ordered state) inconsistent, but in the practique part (the wretched condition we now are in) to a Commonwealth utterly destructive, his Majesty (at least what concerns the safety of the time present, the thing which in these imminent calamities chiefly is to be looked at) hath shewn a ready way to end that controversy, by declaring that he will lay his preparations of War aside, if they please to do so. If this be assented to, the only thing disputable in this main particular, is, who should first begin; which, whether it become him or them to do, as for matter of fact to their will and wisdom, so for matter of 〈◊〉 is left to every prudent man to consider of.

Sixthly, for the Navy; if his Majesty (as I hope no Subject will doubt) be Lord of the Seas circumjacent, it might follow (and by no stretched inference) that he is Lord also of the Ships that walk on them. By Lord here, is understood, not he who hath directum, but utile dominium, a power in public occasions to command, and to dispose of them. By Ships, not only his own, (a thing before these rimes never controverted) are meant, but those of any of his Subjects. Solo (as some speak) superficies cedit, a building, though of another man's, on my ground, passeth into my propriety. And though the solidity of earth being so contrary as it is to the instability of that other element, the authority may to some seem not so fitly alleadg'd, by way of Analogy however it is appliable, and by an argument a fortiori, we may make use of it; for here no Subjects Ships, but the Kings own are treated of, the vessels not which any common stock built, but His private Treasury, and consequently seem no less his then the cloak he wears.

Seventhly, what concerns these present preparations which carry a face of war with them, (no man entertaining such purposes, but he sits down first, and consulteth whether he be able with 10 thousand men, to meet him that cometh against him with 20 thousand) that they would likewise vouchsafe, seriously to consider whether competent and equal forces can be levied.

Eighthly, If leavyed, what assurance there is that they will be as valiant in the field, as in the Palace-Yard at Westminster; as constant in a pitched Battle, as in the Streets of London. A smooth and eloquent Oration may convert them. Friends, Covntreymen, fellow-subjects, and such loving Compellations, may work strange changes in them; so mutable things always having been multitudes: reflecting on their inst ••• may stir up a quicker sense in them then before they had, make them enter into a nearer disquisition of the justness of that they stand for, and of the legality of that cause they appear in. Passages of these kinds are in Story frequent: And though none of these; when they shall see their undoubted and undaunted Sovereign in the head of an adverse Army, shooting forth Rayes of Majesty, and thundering out a Durum est contra stimulos calcitrare, what man can promise that they will not be appall'd, dazzled, blinded? That their hearts will not fail, and their weapons fall, both in one instant? Their hands which were expected to fight, not be held up for pardon, and those knees in the strength of which it was thought they would have marched forward, will not tremble, not knock each other, and bow for mercy?

Ninthly, If God in his unscrutable providence, and uncontrollable counsels, should deliver this Kingdom up unto such extremities, how miserable that War would be, which would make us a spectacle to men and Angels, a prey to ourselves at home, an obloquy to those about us; and where whoever remains Victor, must of necessity want that honor which Antiquity did so triumph in, I mean, that which commonly it stilled, Observatos cives. By the memory of that blessed peace maker who rests in Paradise, by seventeen continued years of his Sons Raign, spotted with no act of Tyranny, By the numerous and remarkable deliverances God hath heaped upon this our Island, By the strength and vigor of the love they bear to the safety of their own persons, the tenderness they justly have over those near pledges, their wives and children (who all in the common Fate will be involved inevitably) suffer themselves, that honorable and great Council, to be in some measure conjur'd to convert their designs of War into the delights of peace, not to cut asunder this Gordian knot of our distempers with the sword, but to undo it by milder counsels, and instead of that universal desolation which like a Meteor hangs over us, to conserve us in our ancient possessions of security and of serenity.

Lastly, For the interval which hath divided his Majesty from them (and in them from all of us) so unhappily, so continuedly, though it have not been (God be thanked) like the gulf in the Gospel, so great, that they who would pass from hence thither, could not, nor they pass to us, that would come from thence; yet during this distance of his, this resentment, we live in a kind of twilight, a cloudy and foggy clime of sadness and uncertainty, in which (if in no other) regard, whatsoever may induce him to draw nearer; O let us embrace with cheerfulness, & pursue with industry. His Majesty, like a Royal Dove, in a former return of his from the North parts of his Dominions brought us back an Olive-Branch, a token of peace with our Neighbors, and their reconcilement to us; an assurance that the Torrent which had swollen high, was fallen and dried up; if readily and humbly he be complied within his now-proposals, his next return hither will bring better tidings, That the waters of his own displeasure are abated, a deluge more formidable then that other, to loyal and obedient hearts (such as we all profess to have) it being more dreadful to suffer under the indignation of their own Sovereign, then to perish by the inundation of hostility; this (I say) this only Consideration (like a parch'd soil for rain) should make us all thirst for his return to us: but there is more besides in it; for had we the warmth again of that Sun to bask in, that we should have God's blessing concomitant, we need not doubt. God in the riches of his goodness confer this on us, that after this sad rupture, both sides into one body united, may choke (like a massy gobbet) any adversary who shall attempt to swallow them, & as a peec'd arrow (now made the stronger) they may fly against a common enemy more effectually.

Such is the weak, but hearty and most humble assistance, which instead of Plate, Money and Horses, is presented, if not from the head of an able man, from the heart (at least) of an honest man, one whom no apprehensions of possible private losses (regard had to the mediocrity of that condition wherein God hath placed him, he having as little to part with as hath any man) no by-respect of advancing his peculiar interest, nor adulation of Monarchique power hath moved in this way to speak himself, (it having been still his course, and he resolving it shall ever be, Inter abruptam contumaciam et deform obsequium iter pergere, and never by sinister & indirect means to gain either the least or the greatest preferments) but a lively and deep sense of the common danger, a foul laboring with Anxiety from the just and too certain estimate of impendent ruin. If what he offers, as to the general, so in particular to the consideration of that High Assembly seem to be tendered by an obscure hand, he humbly desires them to remember that when a wrack is imminent even the poorest contribution of help is not deprived, and for the quenching of a beginning fire, even the vilest hands are not thought unuseful. If lamely & in an unpolished way it have fallen from him, it may by a favorable construction be esteemed therefore the more cordial, and in that regard only find acceptance. Endeavors of speech in infants, and their inarticulate sounds, are commonly more operative, on the parent then the language of his elder children, stir up his affections more powerfully, vehemently, efficaciously, and leave an impression in him above all eloquence. And our devotions are most dear to God, most accepted, not when they are patient of words and admit vocalitie, but when the spirit makes intercession with groans that are unexpressable. The God of peace and concord make their meetings Apostolical, that they may not only be in one place but with one accord, restore them in a blessed union to their Head, our Sovertig • e, the Vine whose branches they are, and in whom while they are fast rooted, the fruit of their consultations will be truly pleasant, join them (and speedily) to that corner Stone, to which while they are close cemented, not this, nor His other Dominions shall fear (by God's holy assistance) foreign or Domestic Enemy. By the former as a wall of brass, be impenetrable by the latter, as a continued rock e unmineable.