This is to Reprove Those (according to the old Moral) that Stir up Men in
Power to do Public Mischief; which is much Worse then any Man’s Doing a
Private One Himself: And only a Safer Way of Committing greater Outrages.
The _Trumpeter’s_ Plea is so Arrant a Shuffle here, that an _Incendiary_
at the _Bar_, or in the _Pulpit_, has as much to say for Himself. He that
Countenances, Encourages, or Abettes a Mischief, Does it. The Seditious
Lawyer, or Divine, Kills No Body with his own Hand, but by a False Gloss
perhaps, upon a Law, or a Text, he may Cause Ten Thousand Swords to be
Drawn, without Spilling One Drop of Blood immediately Himself. Shall any
Man now, that Wilfully, and Maliciously, procures the Cutting of whole
Armies to Pieces, set up for an Innocent? As if the lives that were taken
away by his Instigation, were not to be Charged upon his Account. He that
Covers Murder, Oppression, Sacrilege, Rebellion, with a Cloak of Statute
and Scripture, makes God and Government, Effectually the Authors of the
Wickedness: And those are the Basest, and Worst of _Bravo’s_, that Employ
_Journeymen Mercenaries_ under them to do the Work. What is This, but to
Engage our Bibles, and our Law Books in a Conspiracy against Themselves?
Shall He that gives Fire to the Train, pretend to Wash his Hands of the
Hurt that’s done by the Playing of the Mine? Humane Corruptions are as
Catching as Powder; as Easily Enflam’d, and the Fire afterwards as Hard
to be Quench’d. That which a Man Causes to be Done, he Does Himself, and
’tis all a case whether he does it by Practice, Precept, or Example. In
One Word, He that Kindles the Passions of the _Mobile_, is Answerable
for the Following Conflagration. When the Men of the Long Robe have once
Preach’d the People to Tinder, the Least Spark sets them a Fire: so that
they have no more to do then to Inculcate the Doctrine of Disobedience,
and then leave the Multitude to chew upon’t. A _Trumpeter_ in the
_Pulpit_ is the very Emblem of a _Trumpeter_ in the _Field_; and the
same Charge holds Good against Both. Only the _Spiritual Trumpeter_ is
the more Pernicious Instrument of the Two; for the Latter serves only to
Rouze the Courage of the Soldiers without any Doctrine of Application
upon the Text, whereas the other infuses Malice over and above, and
Preaches Death and Damnation, Both in One, and gives ye the very Chapter
and Verse for’t.