VVHen I consider those unparallel'd acti­ons both of scandal and sedition, those many changes and overthrows in Go­vernment, those strange and horrid Oaths and Engage­ments, which by the subtilty of a few turbulent and se­ditious spirits, we have been seduced to make our selves guilty of, how that by the knacks and pretences of am­bitious Usurpers, we have almost been the ruine of our native Countrey: and under pretence of liberty both of State and Conscience, have almost overwhelmed the Nation with Anarchy in State, and the strangest confu­sion in the Church; whereby not only the glory of the Nation is decayed, but our selves made infamous to all posterity, if by our speedy repentance, we do not re­turn from our backslidings, and with heart and hand joyne together, for the restitution of it to its for­mer happiness. When (I say) I consider these things, I cannot but with the greatest grief and regret detest and abhor those enormous crimes, which by the instigation and delusion of our Superiors we have day­ly [Page 2]been guilty of, and are (it seems) again courted un­to, by those grand contrivers of the Nations ruine, which as they have formerly, so (conceive) once more they shall by their spurious mask of a Good old Cause, and defence of the good people of the Land, the glori­ous pretences of Freedom and Liberty, both as men and Christians, and such like hypocritical cantings, seduce and draw us from the obedience of our General, and the real authority; to the Egyptian bondage of an Anar­chical tyranny, and to the inevitable ruine both of our selves, and the Nation.

Being truly sensible of these their machinations, which are not onely secretly carried amongst us, and the seeds of Sedition privately sowed, but they are bold to give us loud Alarums, and to our no small ignominy proclaim to the world, that they conceive us fit persons for any villany, which can but cunningly be suggested to us, in defence therefore not onely of my self as a Member of the Army, but also of you my fellow-souldiers (whom I am confident will unaimously subscribe to what I have here written) I here present both you and the world with a true Alarum, in opposition to that false fire which was lately shot in by the Rump amongst us.

The Gentleman (or as some say the Villain, T. Scot) begins his Libel with something to our purpose: stan­ders by do often see more then the Gamester, He little considers how ample testimony we can give to the truth of this; not knowing I suppose, that whilst we have re­sided in Scotland, and so have been remote from their actions and undertakings we have had leisure and expe­rience to search them to the depth, and find them to be a crew of Atheistical, perfidious, and traiterous Rascals, [Page 3]who whilst they have by a close and well-carried hypo­crisie made the glory of God, and liberty of the people their outward pretences, have onely bent themselves to encrease their own estates, and perpetuate their pow­er, to the utter inslaving of all English men. He need not tell us he hath discovered more then many of us, when either he hath not yet known, or else pretends him. self ignorant, that we so far detest such villanons usur­pers, that we almost hate and loath our selves, for our ever being seduced and drawn aside by such impudent and juggling Mountebanks

I beseech you Brethren, pardon my transportation, which I confess to be a little beyond the bounds of a mo­derate Reply; but what can a person deserve at our hands, who hath scandalized, and traitorously indea­voured the ruine and destruction of our renowned Gene­ral, who notwithstanding the black-mouth'd envie of such hellish firebrands, will still be found to terminate all his actions in the peace and settlement of his Coun­try and Nation. But least my Gentleman should think he had too hard measure, and call this onely railing at random, I shall take notice of such particular heads of his papers, as may best require an answer, or deserve ta­king notice of.

The Basis on which he builds all the rest of his dis­course, is the old cheat and juggle, wherewith we and the Nation were Gulled in 1648. Wherein, saith he, you ingaged and promised, That you would see the Govern­ment of these Nations established upon the just and secure fun­damentals and constitutions of Freedom: and Safety to the people, in relation as they were men and Christians, and that in the waies of a Common-wealth, and Free-State-Government, [Page 4]without King, single Person, or House of Lords. This is that (which the Gentleman endeavours to perswade us throughout his whole Pamphlet) we are obliged to per­fist in to our lives end; and in this cause undertaking sole­ly, we must (according to his Opinion) onely expect the blessing and assistance of Almighty God; and to recede a jot from this, is to turn Apostates from the cause of God, and to encur the danger of our own ruine and de­struction.

I shall not perplex the man with multiplicity of words, onely desire him to ponder these two particulars. First, Whether his Masters and fellow partners in iniquity, who were the cause and promoters of this Engage­ment, did not long before (not onely at their entrance in­to the Parliament-house, but also solemnly in the solemn League and Covenant) sware and protest in the presence of God, and the face of the world, that they would main­tain the King in his just Rights and Privileges, and pre­serve his posterity; and whether this was not the onely ground and reason that we, and so many honest men in the Nation were induced to take, up arms and assert their interest. Secondly, Whether it can be made out by the Laws of God or man, that an Oath utterly unlawful in it self, and wholly destructive to the good of a Nation, ought rather to be kept, then repented of.

I suppose neither he nor his Companions can be so im­pudent as to deny (though they have been so impious as to forswear themselves) the first particular; but methinks I hear them presently ready to reply, that they intended no more by the taking that Oath, then the maintenance and preservation of themselves and the people; and that they found it absolutely necessary for the good of the Na­tion, [Page 5]to infringe and forget this their solemn Covenant: That they alwayes reserved to themselves that mental reservation, provided the safety of the King, might be for their own, and the security of the good people of the Land: That where the Liberties of the Nation were so highly concerned, there Salus Populi, suprema Lex esto; The safety of the people must be the onely interpreter of all their reiterated Oaths and protestations; and upon these specious and guilded pretences they proceeded to the cutting off their lawful Soveraigne, and craftily draw us in to be Bauds to their actions, whilest we suffer our selves to be cheated with those Golden baits of Re­ligion and Liberties; and so whilest we mean nothing but good, cause us to perpetrate the height of' mischiefs: Having broken the first Article of their Oath, the pre­servation of the Kings Majesty, they presently conclude there can be no way to maintain their wicked actions, but by committing a second as horrid and villanous, and so proceed to the utter exclusion and banishment of his Posterity; a crime which even the Turks themselves would be ashamed to perpetrate.

And now must we be drawn in to be compartners of their Villanies? they by all the canting terms and spiri­tual expressions, the quaintest of their Independent ad­herents can invent, represent the Kingly Government as arbitrary and tyrannical, and that England could never enjoy a firm peace and security, but by the utter abolish­ing of a Monarchical Government; and we who were only led by the blind faith we had in our (as we thought) Religious Commanders, are easily drawn into the net, and suffer our selves to be caught in that snare, which have since found, did intangle the Nation in such fetters [Page 6]as have not been by any Power to be knocked off.

But now since it hath pleased God of his mercy to o­pen our eyes, and make us (by his blessing upon our Ge­neral's indefatigable endeavours) in some sort instrumen­tal to the restoring of our Countrey from that bondage which she hath by our delusions long groaned under; let not these impious and unparalel'd Traytors think us ei­ther so sottish as to return with the Dog to his vomit, or so seired in our consciences, as not seriously to repent of our former miscarriages. We confess we tooke an Oath to set up a Common-wealth; but we never swore to destroy the Nation, we engag'd to defend the People of God, but never to maintain a crew of Atheistical hy­pocrites: Nay further, We confess we engaged against a King or House of Lords, but did not by that intend the ruine of our Native Countrey; and when these two come in competition, that either we must relinquish and recede from this our Engagement, or else still be made use of to enslave our Countreymen, and utterly destroy our already dying Stare: We cannot be so stupid and sencelessy bewitched, not to think it better seriously to crave pardon of God for this our Engagement, and the Nation for the wrong we have hitherto done them, then by our obstinate persisting in such wicked Engagements, sell our selves to the Devil, and the Kingdom to ruine.

The next point of this pious Gentleman's design, is no less, to make us turn absolute Rebels to our General, and upon this his grand endeavours are, under the notion of Cavalier-Reports, to make him a designer of bringing and restoring the late King's Son. We will not dispute whether this be his insentions, onely we shall take occa­sion to tel the Gentleman in a word, That we are no such [Page 7]Enomies to the Nation as he takes us to be, but do so­lemnly resolve, That if it shall seem good to the Nation and our General to restore the banished Prince to his rightful Inheritance, we shall with one heart and hand readily submit to, and concur with them in it; and as we have been so signal for our disobedience, so for the fu­ture endeavour to testifie our selves true and loyal sub­jects to our Prince, and faithful and loving defenders of our Countrey.

In the next place our Libeller craftily endeavours to render our General odious to the Presbyterian party, and like a wise man indeed, hath no other way to bring it about, but by telling them he will and doth intend to bring in King Charles, as if that were such a Bug-bear to a sober Presbyterian: but (saith he) if he be restored, there must necessarily likewise throng in with him Arch-Bishops, Bishops, and the rest of that Hierarchy, and they shall then be accounted no other by them, but Sectarians and Phanaticks, &c. Alas my friend! you are too well known for a lying imposter, to be able to impose any of these forgeries up­on any sober or godly Presbyterian whatsoever; nor is there so great difference between a moderate Episcopal man, and a sober Presbyterian, but that both will jointly meet and kiss each other, for the settlement of the Nati­on in peace and unity. But the man hath yet a fetch far­ther, The Queens Mother will come, and then Moncks, Iesu­its and Priests of all sorts will she bring with her, and so Pope­ry will (cum Privilegio) be again readmitted into the Nation. I perceive that a small supposition is sufficient for this Libeller to build a conclusion on; it is ten to one whether ever the Queen return again, though the King be resto­red to his Right, and should she, yet cannot those hou­shold [Page 8]servants she brings with her, though they should all be Jesuits, Priests, &c. be so dangerous and destru­ctive to Religion as those innumerable multitudes of those people who at present lurk in our Phanatick Con­venticles.

His next particular consists in advice and dehortati­ons from those persons whom he calls our bests friends, and the good people of the Nations, those whom he saith bled with us, prayed for us, and been constant as­sertors of the Interest of the Nation, against King-ship, single person, or House of Lords; and what think my Brethren, are these our so good friends, but those who having made a gainfull bargain by embarking themselves in a quarrel against their Prince, do shiver at all thoughts of a reconciliation, lest a restitution of their ill gotten goods should follow; and would now make us believe it is the Interest of the Nation, though with ne­ver so much expence of blood and treasure; never so ma­ny perjuries and acts of Rebellion, to maintaine these men in their wrongfully gotten, and we might justly say as wrongfully detained Possessions and Acquists.

But to proceed; they tell us, We are the onely Bulwark they must relye upon, and if we fail, the Cause of God must sinck with us; and that to bring our destruction about (and for no other ends) the Militia throughout England is setled in such hands as are perfect haters and opposers of our Interest; and that above all others the Militia of London do threaten (as the Danes were formerly served) to make a black and bloody Night in cutting our throats, and offering whole Hecatombs of our Carkasses to the restitution of Charles, whom they call their King. Surely the Gentleman thinks we have as bad consciences as themselves, and that because we cannot [Page 9]pardon our selves, the Nation can never be induced to pardon us; but let him and his fellow Phanaticks know, That the Army hath no reason to feare the People of England, when they seperate themselves from their cor­rupted interest, and the Army can expect no truer friend, or surer pay-master then the City or London, as long as the army shall truly prove friends to the cause of the Nation; and that this Cause and the Gentlemans are quite distinct things, the Voice of the people, and our own experience, wil testifie.

In the next place he indeavours to fright us to his par­ty, by telling us, that on whatsoever terms the King may be brought in, and whatsoever fair pretences hee may make, yet at last all must terminate in the loss of our friends, wives, and children, and the for ever mis­loving of our posterity. Alas, Sir, the cheat is now stale, and we understand our selves better then so, as to think any man, much less the King, so strange a master, that he must sacrifice us all to his lust and revenge. Now we find where the shoo wrings; 'tis not the souldiery are like to suffer by his restitution; no, 'tis a Scot, a Hasil­rigge, a Walton, and such, who having been already drunk with the blood of the slain, and gorged themselves with the plentiful dishes of other mens estates, do now begin to be terrified in conscience, and to fear the disgorging of their so sweet morsels.

But to track him a little further, he seems already som­what like mad Tom, but now turns right Tom Fool, and tells us that his Majesties re-admission must be necessa­rily destructive to the welfare of the Nation; and to prove this, he asserts the vaste charge the Nation must groan under, by the debts of his father, and himself, [Page 10]which remain unsatisfied. But see what a ridiculous ac­count he makes. As first, the Arrears of the King in his warr against the Parlament: but I beseech the Gentle­man to inform us where those Armies are which should receive those Arrears, or those souldiers which should demand their pay, or who ever knew that routed forces had ever any right to demand their salaries.

Th [...] next is the young Kings charges in Scotland, and at Worcester, to which what I have already said is suffi­cient answer: so that the Gentleman must already be fain to substract above half of his twenty years doubled impositions. The rest, as the debts the King hath con­tracted beyond seas, the dowry of the Queen Mother, and the debts of his Brothers and Sister, are such imagi­nary trifles, that it is more then probable that less then the summe of a six months Assessments, will defray the charges with an over-plus.

And for the next particular, furnishing and maintain­ing of his Court and Train, I would desire the Gentle­man to consider what was said in the Parlament House, by a person, who demanded of one of these pretended Common-wealths men, what he thought the charge of maintaining themselves, and keeping out the family of the Stuarts would yearly amount to; his answer was, To twenty hundred thousand pounds; Very good, repli­ed the other, and I dare undertake, that half that summe would bring him in, maintain him in a just splendor and dignity, and defray the charges of the Nation besides. And yet these impudent Cozeners would make us be­lieve, that it were far better to keep him out with the intollerable oppression and taxation of the people; then by bringing him in to release them from the greatest part of their burdens and misery.

But to make up his bill of fare, he adds in the next place, That those Dukes, Earls, Lords, &c. whose e­states have been sold and disposed by Authority of Par­lament, must either be restored, or satisfaction given for the same: Yes, here is that which bites to the quick, and this is the real definitiod of their Good Old Cause. But I desire Mr. Scot and his friends to consider, whether, if they should lose all their ill-gotten purchases, they can any way repine against God's just judgment, who sel­dom or never continues such unjust possessions to a se­cond or third generation. But yet if these men can pati­ently be quiet, and not by their new acts of treason against the quiet of the Kingdome, irritate and incense the people against them, there will doubtless be found out such a medium as may make them no loosers, and yet the Estates return to the right owners; for I would fain know, if that money which they purchased these Lands with, be returned to the purchasers, whether they will not be sufficient gainers by having them so long in their hands; or if this be too much, as indeed it is to be reason granted, I would fain know whether the time they have already possessed those Lands, hath not already paid them both principal and interest; but there is another thing which these men fear, that is, divers of them have purchased Crown, Church, and Delinquents Lands, and have agreed to pay at several payments, & some of them have never satisfied above the first portion; and these are the men which fear (if account should come to be ta­ken) they might justly be adjudged to part with these Lands at as trifling a price as they bought them; but I shall say no more as to this particular, having (I doubt) too far intruded into matters of State, for a man of the [Page 12]profession of a private Souldier, but shall with the rest of my fellow-brethren acquiesce, as to this and all other points, in the determination of the joint body of the Na­tion.

I shall not proceed much further, or meddle any long­er with the rest of his rabblement, which contains no­thing but motions to Seditition, and the ready way to make us deserve a halter; but for his comfort do tel him, that we really protest against all such mutinous thoughts and are resolved to live and dye with our worthy Gene­ral.

But before I conclude, seeing the Gentleman hath been pleased to say so much to us, let me be so bold as to de­mand a question of him; Whether one grand reason of their being Enemies to the King and a free Parliament, do not proceed from the consciousness of their notorious cheating of the State, and privately pocketing up the Wealth of the Nation which was raised and paid for discharging the arrears of the Souldiery, who in the mean time have undergone all hardships and penury; and yet these Gentlemen can have the impudence to think that we should leave the assured hope of our pay, and be contented once more with their imaginary promises, and that we should forsake the service of the nation in general, to make our selves slaves and Janizaries to the arbitrary wills of such blood-sucking tyrants. I have done with him; and if he conceive I have handled him too sharply, let him know I have discharged but the part of a Gentleman and a Souldier, to vindicate my self and my fellow-souldiers from those detestable Titles of Vil­lains and Mutiniers.