larm, and
to inflame their religious antipathies. He enumerated the enemies of the
nation. The first was the Spaniard, the natural adversary of England,
because he was the slave of the pope, a child of darkness, and consequently
hostile to the light, blinded by superstition, and anxious to put down the
things of God; one with whom it was impossible to be at peace, and to whom,
in relation to this country, might be applied the words of Scripture, "I
will put enmity between thy seed and her seed." There was also Charles
Stuart, who, with the aid of the Spaniard and the duke of Neuburg, had
raised a formidable army for the invasion of the island. There were the
papists and Cavaliers, who had already risen, and were again ready to rise
in favour of Charles Stuart. There were the Levellers, who had sent an
agent to the court of Madrid, and the Fifth-monarchy-men, who sought an
union with the Levellers against him, "a reconciliation between Herod and
Pilate, that Christ might be put to death." The remedies--though in this
part of his speech he digressed so frequently as to appear loth to come to
the remedies--were, to prosecute the war abroad, and strengthen the hands
of the government at home; to lose no time in questions of inferior moment,
or less urgent necessity, but to inquire into the state of the revenue, and
to raise ample supplies.

[Footnote 1: Thurloe, v. 269, 317, 328, 329, 337, 341, 343, 349, 424.]

[Sidenote a: A.D. 1657. Sept 17.]

In conclusion, he explained the eighty-fifth psalm, exclaiming, "If pope
and Spaniard, and devil, and all set themselves against us, though they
should compass us about like bees, yet in the name of the Lord we shall
destroy them. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our
refuge."[1]

From the Painted Chamber the members proceeded to the house. A military
guard was stationed at the door, and a certificate from the council was
required from each individual previously to his admission.[2] The excluded
members complained by letter of this breach of parliamentary privilege. A
strong feeling of disapprobation was manifested in several parts of the
house; the clerk of the commonwealth in Chancery received orders to lay
all the returns on the table; and the council was requested to state
the grounds of this novel and partial proceeding. Fiennes, one of the
commissioners of the great seal, replied, that the duty of inquiry into the
qualifications of the members was, by the "i