Echos from the Sixth Trumpet, Part 19
Carmen Expoſtulatorium, Imprinted 1647.
THis was intended to prevent the engaging theſe Nations into a Second Warre, when the dividing of the City and Army was then by ſome endeavoured, and likely to be effected.
The ſame Precautions are at this day pertinent to conſideration; and are therefore here abreviated.
Though I have written heretofore in vain,
And may do now; yet I will write again,
In hope that what by Reaſon and by Rime
Was not effected, may be done in Time;
And, that although my pains be loſt to ſome,
It ſhall not fruitleſs unto all become.
Hark! how the Drums beat, & the Trumpets are
Sounding Alarams to a Second Warre
Before the firſt is done; and whilſt yet green
The wounds upon your bodies may be ſeen.
Behold, that which was coming long ago,
Draws now ſo near, that none ſhall need foreſhow
What at the laſt will thereupon enſue:
For we without a Glaſs may plainly view
Such things in kenning, that unleſs our GOD
To them ſhall pleaſe to ſet a period,
(Or make ſome ſuch diverſion as no man
Conjecture of by any Symptome can)
An Vniverſal Plague will on us ſeize,
Inſtead of Remedies for our Diſeaſe.
How then can I in time of need withhold
That which my Conſcience tells me ſhould be told?
Why ſhould I keep thoſe Premonitions back,
Which I conceive my Friends at this time lack?
A poor mans Counſel once (as we hear ſay)
Did ſave a City; ſo perhaps this may.
Excuſe me therefore if (much grieved at
Your raſh proceedings) I expoſtulate
Concerning that, whereby it ſeems to me
The War may now again renewed be.
Renowned Citizens, what do you mean
To make your City the unhappy Scoene
Whereon there ſhall in probability
Be acted now the bloodieſt Tragedy
That e're this Iſland ſaw? are you grown mad?
And is there no Phyſician to be had
For this diſtemp'rature, but muſt it here
Be Cuckow-moon, or Dog-dayes all the year?
Have you no Drugs that may loſt wits reſtore?
Can Patience, Herbagrace, nor H…lebore,
Nor any other Simple or Confection,
Work out that noyſome humour and infection
Which hath beſotted you, till ye grow fit
For Bedlam, where are no ſuch mad men yet?
Page 3, it thus follows.
Have you not yet diſcover'd who be they
That cheat you, and for whom this Game you play
By your diviſions? And when others find
Their falſhood for you, will you ſtill be blind,
Or wink, as careleſs of the things you heed,
Till by long winking you grow blind indeed? &c.
Cannot you yet diſcover through the miſt,
Thoſe Juglings which the Spawn of Antichriſt
(Falſe Prieſts and lying Prophets) practiſe now,
To raiſe themſelves, and work your overthrow?
Nor with what impudence they publiſh lyes,
(Their bitter jeerings, and their blaſphemies)
To make new breaches, or to widen thoſe
Which Love and Prudency begun to cloſe?
And which ere this time cloſed up had been,
Had they not caſt untemp'red dirt between?
Page the Fourth.
Is it a time your Quarrels to renew,
When all is hazarded that's dear to you?
Obſerve ye not Three Factions like to them
Which were the ruine of Jeruſalem,
At ſtrife within your Walls? Do you not ſee
What ſpightful ſparklings in their eyes there be?
How ſharply they againſt each other whet
Their ſland'rous tongues? how grinningly they ſet
Their gnaſhing teeth? Obſerve ye not how they
With Pens dipt in black poyſon, do aſſay
To re-ingage you, and with curſed words
Provoke the reinſheathing of your Swords,
That ev'ry Son and Father, Friend and Brother,
May ſheath them in the heart of one another, &c.
Have you concluded never to retire
In your Career, till all is on a Fire?
And you and yours lye ſprawling in the plaſhes
Of your own blood, or in your Cities aſhes?
Or till you ſee this goodly ſtately Frame
(The work of many Ages) in a Flame?
Have you ſo often heard it ſaid from him
(Whoſe true Preſages no men will contemn
But Reprobates) what miſerable Fate
Attends that Houſe, that City, and that State
Which is divided? Have his Propheſies
So often been fulfill'd before your eyes?
And are they at this day ſo likely too
To be ere long fulfilled upon you?
And yet will you a New Diviſion run,
As if you ſtudied how to be undone?
Or, as if you reſolv'd to keep that path.
Which to avoid, your GOD forewarn…d …ou hath?
After many other Expoſtulations, and neglected Precautions, tending to their Welfare, and which are now as pertinent to us, the Author thus proceeds again, p. 13.
What makes you, and our Army now to be
So jealous of each other, as we ſee,
But that Self-love and Pride which you and they
Purſue in others? and becauſe each day
You more and more in manners grow like them
Whoſe guiltineſs you rail at, and condemn?
For moſt of thoſe among you who pretend
To Reformation, do but ſeek to mend
Some faults in other men, that they to make
Themſelves thereby, may an advantage take.
When zealouſly they labour to remove
A Tyrant, it proceeds but from Self-love,
That they may by poſſeſſing of his Room,
As active in like Tyrannies become;
As 'twere not probable that we ſhould ſee
Suppreſſed Tyrants ev'ry day to be
Outvi'de by their Succeſſors; and outgone
By thoſe who blamed moſt what they had done.
'Tis not becauſe you ſeek the Publick Good,
That you renew this Warre; for, letting blood
(Eſpecially now when the Dog-ſtar reigns)
So near unto the heart, and in thoſe veins
Now likely to be op'ned, ſeems to me
Not Phyſick, but meer Butchery to be.
'Tis not for GOD that you do now promove
This Quarrel; for you know that GOD is Love:
And, when he doth engage us in a War,
It alwayes evidently doth appear
How it conduceth to the preſervation
Of Amity and Vnion in a Nation;
And, that we cannot otherwayes avoid
The Conſequence of being quite deſtroy'd,
With all that's dear unto us: But in this,
Of ſuch a Common Good no Sign there is, &c.
All your Contentions rather do ariſe
From fleſhly Luſts, and carnal vanities,
Then from the Cauſe pretended; and there's none
Will doubt it, if you wilfully go on
In bloodſhed, not endeavouring for Grace,
By making Fury give Diſcretion place.
'Tis not the errors, or the imperfections
Of your Opinions, but of your Affections,
Which heighten Diſcord; and a will to pleaſe
Backſliding Demas, and Diotrophes,
Which hath ſurpris'd you. 'Tis a diſregard
Of Juſtice in Chaſtiſements, and Reward;
And that reſpect of Perſons which each ſide
Is guilty of, if both be not bely'd.
For if by Symptomes we the truth may gather,
The City and the Army too had rather
Adventure their ſafe being, by denial
Of yeelding up their Minions to a trial,
Then to permit that Juſtice ſhould proceed
Impartially. Both are, it ſeems, agreed,
What ever their Well-willers do propoſe
To ſave their Malefactors, though they loſe
Themſelves and all their Tribe, (as for that Crime
The Benjamites did once in former time)
And (which more aggravates) ev'n thus they do,
Though they have ſeen the King for doing ſo,
Sit half beſide his Throne; yea, though they ſee
This Parliament endangered to be
Ev'n for the ſelf-ſame fault. So hard a thing
It is ev'n for the beſt of men, to bring
Their Will, and their Affections to ſubmit
To Juſtice, though they cannot flye from it.
We will add no more, but leave the reſt to be
peruſed in the Printed Copy, to avoid tediouſneſs.