And laid about as hot and brain-fick 80 Till he who had no more to fhow I' th' cafe, receiv'd the overthrow ; And glad to turn itinerant, To ftroll and teach from town to town, 85 95 100 Ver. 78.] W. Prynne, a voluminous writer. Had ftore of money in her purse, When he took her for better or worse : The Independents (whofe first station That ferv'd for horfe and foot at once, 115 The Saracen and Chriftian rid ; Were free of every fpiritual order, To preach, and fight, and pray, and murder) No Ver, 118.] The officers and soldiers among the Independents got into pulpits, and preached and prayed as well as fought. Oliver Cromwell was fam'd for a preacher, and has a fermon* in print, intituled, Cromwell's Learned, Devout, and Confcientious Exercife, beld at Sir Peter Temple's in Lincoln's Inn-fields, upon Rom. xiii. 1. in which are the following flowers of rhetoric: Dearly beloved brethren and fifters, it is true, this text is a malignant one; the wicked and ungodly have abused it very much; but, thanks be "to God, it was to their own ruin. 66 "But now that I spoke of Kings, the question is, "Whether, by the higher powers, are meant kings or commoners? Truly, beloved, it is a very great queftion among thofe that are learned: for may not every one that can read obferve, that Paul fpeaks in "the plural number, higher powers? Now, had he "meant fubjection to a king, he would have faid, ""Let every foul be fubject to the higher power," if "he had meant one man; but by this you fee he "meant This, however, is now well known to be an impofture. N. No fooner got the start, to lurch Both difciplines of War and Church, And Providence enough to run The chief commanders of them down, The common enemy o' th' Saints, 120 And "meant more than one: he bids us be fubject to "the higher powers," that is, the Council of State, "the Houfe of Commons, and the Army." Ib. p. 3. When in the Humble Petition there was inferted an article against public preachers being members of Parliament, Oliver Cromwell excepted against it exprefsly; "Because he (he faid) was one, and divers officers of "the army, by whom much good had been done"and therefore defired they would explain their ar"ticle." (Heath's Chronicle, p. 408.) Ib.] Sir Roger L'Eftrange obferves (Reflection upon Poggius's Fable of the Hufband, Wife, and Ghoftly Father, part I. fab. 357.) upon the pretended faints of thofe times, "That they did not fet one step, in the "whole tract of this iniquity, without feeking the "Lord first, and going up to enquire of the Lord, "according to the cant of those days; which was no "other than to make God the author of fin, and to "impute the blackest practices of hell to the infpira"tion of the Holy Ghost.” It was with this pretext, of feeking the Lord in prayer, that Cromwell, Ireton, Harrison, and others of the Regicides, cajoled General Fairfax, who was determined to refcue the King from execution, giving orders to have it fpeedily done: and, when they had notice that it was over, they perfuaded the General that this was a full return of prayer; and, God having fo manifefted his pleasure, they ought to acquiefce in it. (Perenchief's Life of King Charles I.) And in a while prevail'd fo far, To win of them the game of war, And be at liberty once more Tattack themselves as they 'ad before. For now there was no foe in arms T'unite their factions with alarms, But all reduc'd and overcome, Except their worft, themselves, at home, Who 'ad compafs'd all they pray'd, and swore, And fought, and preach'd, and plunder'd for, 125 130 135 140 They met no fooner, but prepar'd To pull down all the war had spar'd ; 'T' out-cant the Babylonian labourers, At all their dialects of jabberers, And tug at both ends of the faw, To tear down government and law. For For as two cheats, that play one game, 155 And own'd the right they had paid down 165 1700 Ver. 163.] What a lafting monument of fame has our Poet raised to the Royalifts! What merited praises does he bestow on their unfhaken faith and loyalty! How happily does he applaud their conftancy and sufferings! If any thing can be a compenfation to those of that party, who met with unworthy difregard and neglect after the Reftoration, it must be this neverdying eulogy. Butler, alas! was one of that unfortunate number. |