of the Clock declaring that from thence they intended to Adjourn to the same Place again But that the Reader may have the entire Relation of this deplorable Tragedy I have from the most Authentick Prints inserted at large the interlocutory Passages between the King and Bradshaw of which Mr. Phelpes in his Journal gives only a succinct Account which take as follows His Majesty with his wonted Patience heard all these Slanders and Reproaches sitting in the Chair and looking sometimes on the Pretended Court sometimes up to the Galleries and rising again turned about to behold the Guards and Spectators then he sate down with a Majestick and unmoved Countenance and sometimes smiling especially at those Words Tyrant Traytor and the like Also the Silver Head of his Staff happened to fall off at which he wondered and seeing none to take it up He stooped for it himself The Charge being read Bradshaw began Sir You have now heard your Charge read containing such Matters as appear in it You find that in the Close of it it is prayed to the Court in the behalf of the Commons of England that you Answer to your Charge The Court expects your Answer King I would know by what Power I am called hither I was not long ago in the Isle of Wight how I came there is a longer Story than I think is fit at this time for Me to speak of but there I entred into a Treaty with both Houses of Parliament with as much Publick Faith as its possible to be had of any People in the World I Treated there with a number of Honourable Lords and Gentlemen and Treated honestly and uprightly I cannot say but they did very Nobly with Me We were upon a Conclusion of the Treaty Now I would know by what Authority I mean Lawful There are many Vnlawful Authorities in the World Thieves and Robbers by the High-ways but I would know by what Authority I was brought from thence and carried from place to place and I know not what And when I know by what Lawful Authority I shall Answer Remember I am your King your Lawful King and what Sins you bring upon your heads and the Judgment of God upon this Land Think well upon it I say think well upon it before you go further from one Sin to a greater Therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I shall not be unwilling to answer In the mean time I shall not betray my Trust I have a Trust committed to me by God by old and lawful Descent I will not betray it to answer to a new unlawful Authority Therefore resolve me that and you shall hear more of me Bradshaw If you had been pleased to have observed what was hinted to you by the Court at your first coming hither you would have known by what Authority which Authority requires you in the Name of the People of England of which you are Elected King to Answer King No Sir I deny that Bradshaw If you acknowledge not the Authority of the Court they must proceed King I do tell them so England was never an Elective Kingdom but an Hereditary Kingdom for near these thousand Years Therefore let me know by what Authority I am called hither I do stand more for the Liberty of my People than any here that come to be my pretended Judges and therefore let me know by what lawful Authority I am seated here and I will Answer it otherwise I will not answer it Bradshaw Sir How really you have managed your Trust is known your way of Answer is to interrogate the Court which beseems not you in this condition You have been told of it twice or thrice King Here is a Gentleman Lieut. Col. Cobbet ask him if he did not bring me from the Isle of Wight by force I do not come here as submitting to the Court. I will stand as much for the Priviledge of the House of Commons rightly understood as any man here whatsoever I see no House of Lords here that may constitute a Parliament and the King too should have been Is this the bringing of the King to his Parliament Is this the bringing an end to the Treaty in the Publick Faith of the World Let me see a Legal Authority warranted by the Word of God the Scriptures or warranted by the Constitutions of the Kingdom and I will answer Bradshaw Sir You have propounded a Question and have been answered Seeing you will not answer the Court will consider how to proceed In the mean time those that brought you hither are to take Charge of you back again The Court desires to know whether this be all the Answer you will give or no. King Sir I desire that you would give me and all the World satisfaction in this Let me tell you It is not a slight thing you are about I am sworn to keep the Peace by that Duty I owe to God and my Country and I will do it to the last breath of my Body And therefore you shall do well to satisfie first God and then the Country by what Authority you do it If you do it by an Vsurped Authority you cannot answer it There is a God in Heaven that will call you and all that give you Power to account Satisfie me in that and I will answer otherwise I betray my Trust and the Liberties of the People And therefore think of that and then I shall be willing For I do avow That it is as great a Sin to withstand Lawful Authority as it is to submit to a Tyrannical or any other ways Vnlawful Authority And therefore satisfie God and Me and all the World in that and you shall receive my Answer I am not afraid of the Bill Bradshaw The Court expects you should give them a final Answer Their Purpose is to Adjourn till Monday next If you do not satisfie your self though we do tell you our Authority we are satisfied with our Authority and it is upon God's Authority and the Kingdoms and that Peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of Justice and that 's our present Work King For Answer Let me tell you you have shewn no Lawful Authority to satisfie any reasonable man Bradshaw That 's in Your Apprehension We are satisfied that are your Judges King 'T is not My Apprehension nor Yours neither that ought to decide it Bradshaw The Court hath heard you and you are to be disposed of as they have commanded So commanding the Guard to take him away His Majesty only replied Well Sir And at his going down pointing with his Staff toward the Axe He said I do not fear that As He went down the Stairs the People in the Hall cried out God save the King notwithstanding some were set there by the Faction to lead the Clamour for Justice Painted Chamber 22 Jan. 1648. Commissioners Present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court William Say John Downs Edward Whaley
Murdered him but also by not hindring and preventing the doing of it For it is a most certain Truth Qui non prohibet cum potest jubet For instance Two Thieves bind an honest Man and rob him one is for dispatching him out of the way that he may not ever be in a capacity to prosecute them the other pretends he does not so well approve of that last Extremity while they are in the contest the honest Mans Servant comes up and finding his Master in that condition puts himself in a posture to attempt his Rescue now he who was pretendedly against the Murder though he could well enough dispence with the Robbery if he had meant sincerely ought rather to have assisted the Loyal Servant in his Generous and Dutiful Design and it had then been easie to have delivered the despoiled Prisoner at least from the danger of Death but instead of this he joyns with his former Companion and assists him first to dispatch the Servant who indeavoured his Masters Deliverance and then sits him down while his Companion sends his Fetter'd Master to keep him Company Now do I appeal to God and Men whether both these men were not involved in equal guilt as well he who help'd to bind disarm and rob the Master and opposed the honest indeavour of his Servant to deliver him as he who actually imbrued his Hands in their innocent Blood The Case is exactly the same but under this more hainous aggravation that Royal Blood is much more valuable and Sacred than that which runs in Common veins The Zealous Presbyterian Saints began the late Rebellion and the Independents and other Schismaticks being associated with them in that Traiterous Combination or the Solemn League and Covenant they joyntly and unanimously prosecuted the War and by murdering of such of his Loyal Subjects as out of Duty and Conscience came to his assistance having subdued his Forces they got his Person into their Power The Independents having in the mean time gotten the Ascendant of Power over the Presbyterians were absolutely for assuring their Usurpation by the King's death on the other side the Presbyterians more out of detestation of the Independents who now began to deride their Discipline and have their Blew-Cap-Reformation as they termed it in the utmost contempt and hatred than out of true Loyalty and Duty to the King were for shackling of His Majesty with Parliament Fetters and so to let him live hoping under the protection of his Authority and Name to re-establish their own Power and subdue the Independents And for this purpose was all the noise of a Personal Treaty with the King during his Confinement at Cairsbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight in which if they had meant honourably and sincerely they might have had such Conditions as would have brought sufficient advantage and reputation both to their Cause and Interest But so stiff were they in their Demands and so cautious to put strong and lasting Fetters upon His Majesty that the whole Treaty came to nothing In the mean time the Royalists seeing the gasping condition of the King and Monarchy and that nothing but the most abject Vassallage was to be expected from those Men who were resolved to make their King a Royal Slave they summoned their scattered Force to make one Vigorous Attempt for his deliverance Now had the Presbyterians joyned in that generous Design in all humane probability the King had been rescued from his Captivity among the Independents by which means they might have obtained honourable Conditions of Oblivion Security and Accommodation for the Present and Reputation for the Future But so far were they from this that mortally hating the Loyal Party they contributed all that lay in their power to assist the Independent Army under Fairfax or indeed Cromwel for the other was but a Cypher utterly to ruine and subdue the slender Remains of Loyalty which had taken Arms in Kent and Essex which when it was accomplished by the surrender of Colchester and the Execution of the Noble Capel Lisle and Lucas the Independents fell presently upon their Bloody Project of cutting off the King and subverting the Monarchy which they also effected the Presbyterians all this while sitting still and looking on Whereas had they ever heartily opposed such a detestable Wickedness their Party was then so considerable that with the Addition of the Loyal Interest which was not so dead but that upon the least hope it would have revived and joyned them they might have given such a shock to the Independent Faction that they would difficultly if ever have been able to accomplish or execute their Execrable Design against the Life of the King but so far were they from this that there was not the least Attempt to oppose the Traytors or prevent the Treason Nay had the Rabble of the City and Suburbs which were much at the Devotion of the Presbyterian Interest had but half so much Zeal to hurry down to Westminster to oppose the Murder of the King as they had before times to oppose him and cry up Priviledge of Parliament in the beginning of the Tumults it is very disputable whether Cromwel with all his black Myrmidons would have had the Courage to strike the Fatal Stroke But the Presbyterians are only Couragious in Rebellion but perfect Cowards in the Cause of Loyalty But to these little palliating shifts to which the Presbyterians and Independents have been reduced to varnish and guild over their Infamous Actions they have now very lately found out another and that is to vindicate themselves by charging the whole Contrivance and Execution of this hellish Murder of the late King upon the Papists And though nothing in the World is more ridiculous or remote from the truth in most demonstrable Matter of Fact yet it is incredible how much the belief of this senseless Fiction and Romance has gained upon this new Generation of the Vulgar Proselytes of the Dissenters And I speak it of my own knowledge that in Discourse with divers of them when I have made use of this Argument of the Wickedness and Infamy of the most Eminent Patrons of their Religion who as Mr. Baxter confesses of himself when he tells us I have been in the heat of my Zeal so forward to Changes and Ways of Blood that I fear God will not let me have a hand in the Building of his Church Hypocrisie unveil'd R. Baxter 's Letters to Dr. Hill pag. 11. must needs be ill men and worse Guides to Heaven and have from their guilt of the Kings Blood indeavoured to reclaim them from following the Witchcraft of such dangerous Principles and to bring them home to the Communion of the Loyal and Primitively obedient Church of England I have been amazed to hear with what confidence they have vindicated their Leaders and Party from the least share or imputation of the guilt of that Horrid Murder and averred with as much confidence that the late King was murdered by the
and Collonel Sidney professeth boldly that he dies a Martyr that Old Cause in which he had from his Youth been trained up The Dissenters esteem him no less Now do I appeal to themselves if they do not think the Cause for which he Glories that he died a Martyr a Righteous Cause Nay and Gods Righteous Cause too If they do not think so why do they so zealously embrace and so far as they may without danger of the Laws encourage support and defend it by continuing so pertinaciously in their Separation the very Badge and distinguishing Character of those who have devoted themselves to it Most assuredly if they did not think so of it they would for ever abandon it And if they do think and believe that it is Gods Righteous Cause they will judge themselves under the most powerful Obligations in the World upon occasion offered to be assistant with their Persons or Purses to maintain it and even to fight the Lords Battels against the Mighty And were it possible to keep the Two Devils of Fear and Dissimulation from jogging their Elbows and pulling them by the Sleeves to make them conceal the depth of their Hearts I do strongly assure my self that they would boldly tell the World and proclaim it by the sound of Trumpet and beat of Drum That they esteem nothing they possess not their very Lives too precious if they may be instrumental in carrying on the Glorious Reformation of the Old Cause And here are the Dimensions of this late Conspiracy the depth and breadth of the Plot which Walcot mentions which is not one hairs breadth narrower or one inch shallower than the united Strength Power and Interest of the whole Faction of the Dissenters who would once again have adventured not only Bodkins and Thimbles Plate Money Horses and Arms but their Lives also to set up this Golden Calf of their Old Cause had not God been more Gracious and Merciful to them and the whole Nation than to suffer them by Success in this Wicked Enterprize to run headlong to our Ruine and their own Damnation Let it suffice That all Wise Men know that the strength of this detestable Conspiracy was built upon no other Foundation than the Hopes and Confidence which the Traytors had from some of the Principal of them of the Assistance the Vigorous Unanimous Assistance of the Dissenters and that all Good Honest and Loyal men believe it nay that they who seem most to dispute or doubt it are conscious to themselves of their own good wishes not only to the Principal Traytors but even to the Treason and since it is well known they have long ago abandoned all shame for such Imputations nothing but the disappointment of their hopes and expectations could be the Cause of that Universal damp consternation amazement and dejection which were so visibly painted in their Faces that one might know them by those Marks from other men as they walk't the Streets And though they are somthing recovered out of the trance of their Sorrows and have reassumed some part of their wonted courage and confidence yet even that courage betrays their guilt whilest they wholly imploy it to discredit all belief of the truth of this Conspiracy And it is almost impossible to give a more infallible Demonstration for the certainty of any thing in this World than for this and that they must of necessity be in some sort or other Guilty themselves who Ridicule Extenuate Palliate Applaud Justifie and use all the Arts imaginable not only to make their Party appear Innocent but to make the whole Plot an Artifice and a Contrivance and to arraign the Supreme Power and the Justice of the Nation as Guilty by the Condemnation and Execution of the Principal Traytors and Accomplices in the Treason And certainly they have no thoughts of abhorrence and detestation of such black and execrable Villanies nor any intentions to abandon them who do so warmly hugg and cherish the only Cause of this and so many other Treasons Plots and Conspiracies both against the late King and his present Majestie their wicked Principle of Separation which is the Mother of all those Seditions Insurrections and Rebellions which to their cost these Nations have so often felt For when Men have once separated themselves from the Ecclesiastical they do at the same instant cut the Cords and Ligaments of Obedience to the Civil Government they by usurping Soveraign Power to dispense with the Obligation of any one Law bid open defiance to the very Essence of all Laws and without the consent of King Lords and Commons undertake to Abrogate Repeal and make not only void but unlawful and unjust and intolerable such Acts of Parliament as were by the Common Consent of the King and the Three Estates of the Realm Enacted to retain the Subjects in their due Obedience and cannot without shocking the very Foundations of the Government be cancelled by any other Authority than that which at first gave them being So that they are in actual Rebellion even at the first step though not in actual Arms and open Hostility against the King the Laws and the very Constitution and Life of the Government which consists in the Power and Authority of making Laws and exacting Obedience to them Now this disobedience to the Laws and thereby disowning the Authority which made them naturally leads the transgressors to fear the Penalties of those Laws which they have violated and to dread the threatning edge of the Sword of Justice the Guardian of those Laws with which the Supreme Magistrate is by God intrusted to punish the Disobedient and preserve the Peace and Tranquillity of Human Society Now Fear is only so much the Elder Brother of Hatred as Esau was to Jacob that smooth Supplanter ever lays hold of the Heel of its hairy Brother and when men are once advanced to hate what they fear they do immediately proceed to wish desire and indeavour to put themselves out of the reach of danger from what they both fear and hate When these two Passions thus adopted into the Family of Religion have once taken full possession of Mens Minds it is not long before they Precipitate them into the Search of all Ways and Contrivances how to secure themselves which because they cannot immediately obtain they presently fall to accusing the Laws of Injustice and the Magistrates of Tyranny and Persecution that so their disobedience may find a Refuge under the shelter of their pretended Innocence for which they can have no other Foundation but the Charging the Laws themselves with want of Equity and Justice Nor is the Government only to be thus accused as unrighteous and despised as unjust and obedience to its Laws renounced as unlawful but their fear and hatred put them upon all the Out-side Acts of Hypocritical Piety and dissembled Sanctity that by them they may win both Pity and gain a Party and so intrench themselves in the Fortifications of Numbers hoping for
of the sanguinary desires of the Separatists he may consult a Pamphlet Intituled Justices Plea Printed and Published August 1 st 1644 of which this is the Abridgment The Cruel Miscreant addresses himself to the Assembly of Divines and by that he should be a Presbyterian and vehemently exhorts them to move the High and Honorable Court of Parliament that Justice may be speedily and severely Executed upon all the most Disloyal and Treacherous Enemies of the Kingdom For saith he One if not the main provoking Cause of all our Miseries is that Wrath-provoking Sin of Impunity and not Executing Justice and deserved Punishment upon Eminent Offenders and Malefactors amongst us Then he falls upon quoting and misapplying Scripture and the History of Achan Joshua 7 th and from thence proceeds to charge the Blood of Bohemia the Palatinate Rochel the Isle of Rhee Ireland and England upon the King and Loyal Party whom according to the Presbyterian Rhetorick he Styles Papists Atheists Pontificians and Malignants of all Sorts and Sexes and adds he some of them are put into our Hands as so many devoted Achans accursed ones yet of all of them but one Capital Offender except some Inferiour ones Three in London and as many at Bristol brought by our Renowned Joshua's meaning the Faction of the Two Houses to deserved Death and Destruction P. 1. The Remedy saith he of England's Malady which is a State Gangrene is the serious zealous and unpitying Execution of Justice upon the said Malefactors and by no means out of Pretence of sinful Pity or Partiality to spare the Lives of any whom God hath thus appointed to Death And this he endeavours to prove to be a Duty first from Precepts Gen. Cap. 9. Ver. 6. Whosoever sheddeth Mans Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed This is a general Rule saith he and from one end of the Bible to the other admits of no Exception either of Princes or Peasants Noble or Ignoble So that here you see is a Fatal Blow directly levell'd at the Kings Neck by the Presbyterian Doctrine though the Independents robb'd them of the power of putting it in practice but he goes forward leaving the impressions of his Cloven-footed Tutor upon every step he takes and falls with him to his Scriptum est quoting 1 Sam. Chap. 15. Ver. 2 3. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts I remember that which Amaleck did to Israel how he laid wait for him in the Way when he came up from Egypt Now go and smite Amaleck and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not but slay both Man and Woman Infant and Suckling Oxe and Sheep Camel and Ass The Royalists were the Amalekites and the most Religious King in the World was in Presbyterian Dialect Agag and this was the Doom to which they were adjudged by these pretended Saints and that too as peremptorily as if God had told them his Will by immediate Revelation as he did to Samuel and had declared the King and his Loyal Subjects his unpardonable Enemies and as Wicked Idolaters as were the Amalekites and their King Agag But the killing Blow was alway that passage Revelations Chap. 18. Ver. 6. Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the Cup which she hath filled fill to her double and then to be sure they came to the dashing out the Brains of the Babylonish Brats the Cavaleers against the Stones Lastly adds he that of the Prophet Jeremy which I most humbly and heartily desire all our Grave and Godly Parliamentary Worthies should be most often and extraordinarily minded of Jer. Chap. 48. ver 10. Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully and Cursed be he that keepeth back his Sword from Blood Here 's a Precept cries out this Son of the Horseleech with a witness indeed a Precept under no less than a Curse yea an ingeminated Curse to shew the certainty and severity of Gods displeasure in the neglect of it yea we see it is called a dealing deceitfully with God and Men to do it slightly much more not to do it at all the Lord give those whom it most nearly concerns care and conscience timely and truly to set upon it Page 3. But lest the Authority of perverted Scripture-Precepts should not be sufficient to stimulate and instigate the Heads of the Faction to so much Cruelty and so many indiscriminating premeditated Murders he proceeds to furnish Presidents to fortifie his bloody Doctrine and first saith he affirmatively Phineas Executed Judgment on Zimri and Cozbi Upon which Text adds he as Reverend and Mellifluous Mr. Marshal in his Sermon observes That one man by his Holy Zeal may be a means to save a whole Kingdom how much more then a whole Parliament punishing Offenders in a Legal way by the Rule of Justice Then he produces Jehu Executing Vengeance upon Joram and Ahaziah two Kings and slaying the seventy Sons of Ahab and the two and forty Brethren of Ahaziah King of Judah 2 Kings Chap. 9 and 10. From Positive he proceeds to Negative Presidents as he calls them to shew that God was displeased for neglecting Executing Vengeance upon Capital Offenders instancing in the Quarrel between the Benjamites and Israelites Judges Chap 20 th the whole Chapter being as he saith the very Case of England comparing the King and his Party to the wicked Benjamites who had committed and justified that inhumane Rape upon the Levites Concubine and the Parliament and Faction to the true Israelites Then he tells you the story of Ahab's permitting Benhadad to escape 1 Kings Chap 20. ver 42. And he said unto him thus saith the Lord because thou hast let go out of thy hands a man whom I appointed to utter destruction therefore thy Life shall go for his Life and thy People for his People Then he instances in Saul's forfeiting his Kingdom for sparing Agag King of the Amalekites 1 Sam. Chap. 15. Ver. 23. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord he hath rejected thee from being King A strong push for Deposing and Murdering the King as being rejected of God as Saul was But in regard this was addressed to People who had Pretended most wonderful tenderness of Conscience lest there should be any remains of that he comes now to hardning of them by answering an Objection Obj. What is all this to us of the Ministry Answ It concerns you all very much and you also in the first place even You Reverend Gentlemen Such as are Arch-Enemies to God and his most Righteous Cause who have suck'd the Blood of Gods precious Ones are now held in Prison among us they are only imprisoned but some only pincht in their Purses and set at Liberty at least from danger of Death And this I say nay God says Justice is grievously neglected and the just Wrath of God highly incensed and exasperated against us for the same Now you Reverend Gentlemen are Sentinels and Watchmen Ezek.
they should not I shall take the Liberty to inform Them and the Whole Nation That if Independent Government be suffered at this insolent rate in time it cannot but overthrow all other Sorts of Ecclesiastical Government and Civil too by the same Principles for in reality it destroys all Civil Power Magistracy Corporations Parliaments Courts of Justice for what ever Meekness they may pretend Independency is such a Turbulent Dangerous Unquiet Schismatical Government as will un-King un-Parliament Parliament un-Church a Nation nay un-Nation them For it makes each several gathered Congregation an absolute Monarchy Church Republick and Nation within it self It is a Model of Government more Rigid Uncharitable Unsociable Papal Tyrannical Anti-Monarchical Anti-Synodical Anti-Parliamentary than any Government whatsoever A full Reply to certain brief Observations and Anti-Queries upon Pryn's 12 Queries Printed Oct. 19. 1644. Indep Vnking and Anti-Monarchical Very fine your Worship forgets the Proverb Nay for that commend me to you Presbyterians You are for a King that shall be no King a King of Clouts Have not you taught us That Parliaments are the Supreme Power and that Kings are Subordinate to them That a King hath no Power to impose Taxes to give Portions to his Children That he cannot displace a Judge That he is bound to confirm what is concluded by the States That he is Obliged not to depart from the Parliament That they may Summon him to Appear before them Question him Restrain him Allow him only a Pension to support him Order his House Appoint him Counsellors Appoint him Governors Separate his Queen from him Void his last Will Seize his Revenues Keep his Forts Raise Arms against him Bring in Foreigners Banish him Make Peace and Wars Force him to resign his Right to the Crown Force him to resign his Crown Determine the Right of Succession to the Crown Chuse their own Judges Rescind the Kings Acts Imprison him put out his Eyes strangle him Absolve his Subjects from their Allegiance Depose him Disinherit him Remove him at the Peoples pleasure Elect another Christian or Infidel Pryn's Soveraign Power of Parliaments Ordered to be printed by the Committee for Printing and Licensed by John White Printed for Michael Sparke Jun. June 23. 1643. Presbyt You are very Brisque in Charging us with what if it be a Crime you are as guilty of as We For Independency if admitted ruines not only Monarchy but even our Soveraign Power of Parliaments and cassates all Obedience For you make Laws for your selves which your Congregations must submit to or be Excommunicated and delivered up to the Devil you affirm That every particular Congregation is a Complete Intire Absolute Spiritual Republick Corporation Body and City of God of it self and of absolute Authority within it self subject to no other Jurisdiction than that of Christ and his Word and Spirit and not under any Congregation Synod or National Church or humane Power whatsoever and that the Parliament cannot make Canons or Rules to bind it nor perscribe any Church-Government or Discipline to it And in short Independency is flat Popery holding themselves as the Pope doth subject and accountable to none but Christ as you may see in Alv. Pelag. de planctu Ecclesiae lib. 1. Art 6.13.31.34 35.37 And every Independent Minister is a perfect Pope Pryns Truth triumphing over Falshood supra citat Nay one of your Ministers in the Summer Islands one White was openly pronounced in the presence of God and the whole Congregation to be Supreme Head of that Church next under Christ and none above him And your manner of entring into your Congregational way shews your true Temper for after Confession of Sins the Proselytes are admitted and received and enter into Church-Covenant to stand to and maintain their Church and Discipline Orders Governors and Government to the uttermost of their Power and Abilities and to strive therein even unto Blood Letter from Summer Islands from one Richard Beak who at 74 years of age was imprisoned 13 Months for opposing this White and his Independent Congregation But I hope the Parliament will serve you as they did your busie Socinian Teacher Goodwin and stop all your Mouths with a silencing Ordinance Indep They served that precious man so indeed for his Book called Theomachia An excellent recompence for his kindness to them which was if any fault Error Amoris not Amor Erroris in him and designed to prevent their dashing against this Stone which will one day break all Power in pieces Truth Triumphing c. But never trouble your selves for we do not with your Parliament Ordinances which are but Parliament Toyes Martins Eccho the People never trusted the Parliament with Church Government which they themselves have not and therefore cannot give it For what cannot be given cannot be received but had you the Arch-Bishops Power I find you would exceed him in Cruelty of Persecution you are the Parliaments Evil Genius egging and inciting them to Acts of Tyranny against an Innocent People and had you Command you would Censure Fine Pillory Imprison Banish and differ little from Bonner and Gardiner in Queen Maryes Days A help to understand Mr. Pryn for you are neither better nor worse than a company of Prophane Apostates Popish Jesuitical Incendiaries Haters of Gods People and while we are fighting and hazarding our dearest Lives for the Subjects Liberty as Mr. Lilburn too truly said of you we are in danger of being brought into Egyptian Bondage in this and other particulars by the Black-coat Presbyterians who I am affraid will prove more Cruel Task-masters than their dear Brethren the Bishops For what I pray is the inhansing and ingrossing of Interpretations Preachings and Discipline into the Presbyterians Hands but a meer Monopoly of the Spirit and worse than the Monopoly of Sope. The Ordinance That no Unordained Persons Preach is a Patent of the Spirit to get the whole Trade into their own Hands to rob the People with what Ware and Price they please to look in their Faces and pick their Pockets A Fresh Discovery of some prodigious new wandring Blazing Stars and Fire-brands Styling themselves New Lights by W. Pryn 1645. Presbyt Nay you and your un-ordained Independent Preachers have made brave work in the Pulpit It would make ones Hair stand an end to hear what hath been taught by Ignorant Impudent Mechanicks and what Damnable Blasphemies and Heresies have been broached by them among the People for Soul-saving Truths Such as these That Christs Righteousness is a beggarly Righteousness That Christ's Blood did not purchase Heaven for any Man That Christ shed his Blood for Kine and Horses as well as for Men That the Devils and Souls of Men are Mortal and none but God Immortal That we are only to believe the Scriptures as they are agreeable to Sense and Reason That the Scriptures are uncertain insufficient and not an Infallible Rule of Faith That the Scriptures cannot be said to be the Word of God Christ only being so
day of July in the Year of our Lord 1644. at Cropredy-Bridge in the County of Oxon and upon or about the thirtieth day of September in the last Year mentioned at Bodwyn and other Places near adjacent in the County of Cornwall and upon or about the thirtieth day of November in the Year last mentioned at Newbury aforesaid and upon or about the eighth day of June in the Year of our Lord 1645. at the Town of Leicester and also upon the fourteenth day of the same Month in the same Year at Nazeby-Field in the County of Northampton At which several Times and Places or most of them and at many other Places in this Land at several other times within the Years afore-mentioned and in the Year of our Lord 1646. He the said CHARLES STUART hath caused and procured many Thousands of the free People of this Nation to be slain and by Divisions Parties and Insurrections within this Land by Invasions from Foreign Parts endeavoured and procured by him and by many other evil ways and means He the said CHARLES STUART hath not only maintained and carried on the said War both by Land and Sea during the Year before mentioned but also hath renewed or caused to be renewed the said War against the Parliament and good People of this Nation in this present Year 1648. in the Counties of Kent Essex Surrey Sussex Middlesex and many other Counties and Places in England and Wales and also by Sea And particularly He the said CHARLES STUART hath for that purpose given Commission to his Son the Prince and others whereby besides multitudes of other Persons many such as were by the Parliament intrusted and employed for the safety of the Nation being by him or his Angels corrupted to the betraying of their Trust and revolting from the Parliament have had Entertainment and Commission for the continuing and renewing of War and Hostility against the said Parliament and People as aforesaid By which cruel and unnatural Wars by him the said CHARLES STUART Levied Continued and Renewed as aforesaid much innocent Blood of the free People of this Nation hath been spilt many Families have been undone the Publick Treasury wasted and exhausted Trade obstructed and miserably decayed vast Expence and Dammage to the Nation incurred and many parts of this Land spoiled some of them even to desolation And for further Prosecution of his said evil Designs He the said CHARLES STUART doth still continue his Commissions to the said Prince and other Rebels and Revolters both English and Foreigners and to the E. of Ormond and to the Irish Rebels and Revolters associated with him from whom further Invasions upon this Land are threatned upon the procurement and on the behalf of the said CHARLES STUART All which wicked Designs Wars and evil Practices of him the said CHARLES STVART have been and are carried on for the advancement and upholding of a Personal Interest of Will and Power and pretended Prerogative to himself and his Family against the Publick Interest Common Right Liberty Justice and Peace of the People of this Nation by and for whom he was intrusted as aforesaid By all which it appeareth that He the said CHARLES STVART hath been and is the Occasioner Author and Continuer of the said unnatural cruel and bloody Wars and therein guilty of all the Treasons Murders Rapines Burnings Spoils Desolations Dammages and Mischiefs to this Nation acted and committed in the said Wars or occasioned thereby And the said John Cooke by Protestation saving on the behalf of the said People of England the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any other Charge against the said CHARLES STVART and also of replying to the Answers which the said CHARLES STVART shall make to the Premises or any of them or any other Charge that shall be so exhibited doth for the said Treasons and Crimes on the behalf of the said People of England impeach the said CHARLES STVART as a Tyrant Traytor Murderer and a Publick and implacable Enemy to the Commonwealth of England and pray that the said CHARLES STVART King of England may be put to answer all and every the Premises and that such Proceedings Examinations Trials Sentences and Judgments may be thereupon had as shall be agreeable to Justice Subscribed John Cooke The Prisoner while the Charge was reading sate down in his Chair looking sometimes on the High Court and sometimes on the Galleries and rose again and turned about to behold the Guards Spectators and after sate down looking very sternly and with a Countenance not at all moved till these words viz. CHARLES STVART to be a Tyrant Traytor c. were read at which he laughed as he sate in the face of the Court. The Charge being read the Lord President in the Name of the Court demanded the Prisoner's Answer thereto But the Prisoner declining that fell into a Discourse of the late Treaty in the Isle of Wight and demanded By what lawful Authority he was brought from the Isle thither upbraiding the Court with the many unlawful Authorities in the World instancing in Robbers and takers of Purses pleading his Kingship and thereby a Trust committed to him by God by descent which he should betray together with the Liberties of the People in case he should answer to an unlawful Power which he charged the Court to be and that they were raised by an Vsurped Power and affirmed that He stood more for the Liberties of the People than any of the Judges there sitting and again demanded by what Authority he was brought thither To which it was replied by the Court That had he been pleased to have observed what was declared to him by the Court at his first coming and the Charge which he had heard read unto him he might have informed himself by what Authority he was brought before them namely By the Authority of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament on the behalf of the People of England and did therefore again several times advise him to consider of a better Answer which he refused to do but persisted in his Contumacy Whereupon the Court at length told him That they did expect from him a Positive Answer to the Charge affirming their Authority and giving him to understand that they were upon God's and the Kingdom 's Errand and that the Peace stood for would be better had and kept when Justice was done and that was their present Work and advised him seriously to consider what he had to do at his next appearance which was declared should be upon Monday following and so remanded him to his former Custody The Prisoner all the time having kept on his Hat departed without shewing any the least respect to the Court but going out of the Bar said He did not fear that Bill pointing to the Table where the Sword and Charge lay The Prisoner being withdrawn three Proclamations were made and the Court Adjourned it self to the Painted Chamber on Monday Morning then next at Nine
next day being Tuesday at Twelve of the Clock to the Painted Chamber withal giving Notice that from thence they intended to Adjourn to this Place again Sunday having been spent in Fasting and Seditious Preaching according to the Mode of these Impious Hypocrites who used to Preface Rebellion and Murder with the Appearance of Religion the Illustrious Sufferer was as is before in Phelpe's Journal related placed before the infamous Tribunal vvhere their Mercenary Sollicitor Cooke opened the Tragick Scene thus displaying his Talents of Impudence and Treason Cooke May it please your Lordship my Lord President I did at the last Court in the behalf of the Commons of England exhibit and give in to this Court a Charge of High Treason and other High Crimes against the Prisoner at the Bar whereof I do accuse him in the Name of the People of England and the Charge was read unto him and his Answer required My Lord He was not pleased to give an Ansvver but instead of ansvvering did there dispute the Authority of this High Court My Humble Motion to this High Court in the behalf of the Kingdom of England is That the Prisoner may be directed to make a Positive Ansvver either by vvay of Confession or Negation vvhich if he shall refuse to do that then the Matter of Charge may be taken pro confesso and the Court may proceed according to Justice Bradshavv Sir You may remember at the last Court you vvere told the occasion of your being brought hither and you heard a Charge read against you containing a Charge of High Treason and other High Crimes against this Realm of England you have heard likewise that it was prayed in the behalf of the People that you should give an Answer to that Charge that thereupon such Proceedings might be had as should be agreeable to Justice You were then pleased to make some Scruples concerning the Authority of this Court and knew not by what Authority you were brought hither You did divers times propound your Questions and were as often answered That it was by Authority of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament that did think fit to call you to Account for those High and Capital Misdemeanors wherewith you were then charged Since that the Court hath taken into consideration what you then said they are fully satisfied with their own Authority and they hold it fit you should stand satisfied with it too and they do require it that you do give a positive and particular Answer to this Charge that is exhibited against you They do expect you should either confess or deny it If you deny it is offered in the behalf of the Kingdom to be made good against you Their Authority they do avow to the whole World that the vvhole Kingdom are to rest satisfied in and you are to rest satisfied vvith it and therefore you are to lose no more time but to give a positive Ansvver thereunto King When I was here last 't is very true I made that Question and if it were only my own particular Case I would have satisfied my self with the Protestation I made the last time I was here against the Legality of this Court and that a King cannot be Tryed by any Superior Jurisdiction on Earth But it is not my Case alone it is the Freedom and the Liberty of the People of England and do you pretend what you will I stand more for their Liberties For if Power without Law may make Laws may alter the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom I do not know what Subject he is in England that can be sure of his Life or any thing that he calls his own Therefore when that I came here I did expect particular Reasons to know by what Law what Authority you did proceed against Me here and therefore I am a little to seek what to say to you in this Particular because the Affirmative is to be proved the Negative often is very hard to do But since I cannot perswade you to do it I shall tell you my Reasons as short as I can My Reasons why in Conscience and the Duty I owe to God first and my People next for the Preservation of their Lives Liberties and Estates I conceive I cannot answer this till I be satisfied of the Legality of it All Proceedings against any Man whatsoever Bradshaw Sir I must interrupt you vvhich I vvould not do but that vvhat you do is not agreeable to the Proceedings of any Court of Justice You are about to enter into Argument and Dispute concerning the Authority of this Court before vvhom you appear as a Prisoner and are charged as an high Delinquent If you take upon you to dispute the Authority of the Court we may not do it nor will any Court give way unto it you are to submit unto it you are to give a punctual and direct Answer whether you will answer your Charge or no and what your Answer is King Sir By your favour I do not know the Forms of Law I do know Law and Reason though I am no Lawyer professed But I know as much Law as any Gentleman in England and therefore under favour I do plead for the Liberties of the People of England more than you do and therefore if I should impose a Belief upon any man without Reasons given for it it were unreasonable But I must tell you that by that Reason that I have as thus informed I cannot yield unto it Bradshaw Sir I must interrupt you you may not be permitted You speak of Law and Reason it is fit there should be Law and Reason and there is both against you Sir The Vote of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament it is the Reason of the Kingdom and they are these too that have given that Law according to which you should have Ruled and Reigned Sir You are not to dispute our Authority you are told it again by the Court Sir it will be taken notice of that you stand in contempt of the Court and your contempt will be recorded accordingly King I do not know how a King can be a Delinquent but by any Law that ever I heard of all men Delinquents or what you will let me tell you they may put in Demurrers against any Proceeding as Legal and I do demand that and demand to be heard with my Reasons if you deny that you deny Reason Bradshaw Sir You have offered something to the Court I shall speak something unto you the Sense of the Court. Sir neither you nor any man are permitted to dispute that Point you are concluded you may not demur to the Jurisdiction of the Court if you do I must let you know that they over-rule your Demurrer They sit here by the Authority of the Commons of England and all your Predecessors and you are responsible to them King I deny that shew me one Precedent Bradshaw Sir You ought not to interrupt while the Court is speaking to you This Point is
not to be debated by you neither will the Court permit you to do it If you offer it by way of Demurrer to the Jurisdiction of the Court they have considered of their Jurisdiction they do affirm their own Jurisdiction King I say Sir By your favour that the Commons of England was never a Court of Judicature I would know how they came to be so Bradshaw Sir You are not to be permitted to go on in that Speech and these Discourses Then the Clerk of the Court read CHARLES STVART King of England You have been accused on the behalf of the People of England of High Treason and other High Crimes the Court have determined that you ought to Answer the same King I will Answer the same so soon as I know by what Authority you do this Bradshaw If this be all that you will say then Gentlemen you that brought the Prisoner hither take charge of him back again King I do require that I may give in my Reasons why I do not Answer and give Me time for that Bradshaw Sir 'T is not for Prisoners to require King Prisoners Sir I am not an ordinary Prisoner Bradshaw The Court hath considered of their Jurisdiction and they have already affirmed their Jurisdiction If you will not answer we will give Order to Record your Default King You never heard my Reasons yet Bradshaw Sir Your Reasons are not to be heard against the highest Jurisdiction King Shew Me that Jurisdiction where Reason is not to be heard Bradshaw Sir We shew it you here The Commons of England and the next time you are brought you will know more of the Pleasure of the Court and it may be their final Determination King Shew Me where ever the House of Commons was a Court of Judicature of that kind Bradshaw Serjeant Take away the Prisoner King Well Sir Remember that the King is not suffered to give in his Reasons for the Liberty and Freedom of all his Subjects Bradshaw Sir You are not to have Liberty to use this Language How great a Friend you have been to the Laws and Liberties of the People let all England and the World judge King Sir Vnder favour it was the Liberty Freedom and Laws of the Subject that ever I took defended My self with Arms I never took up Arms against the People but for the Laws Bradshaw The Command of the Court must be obeyed No Answer will be given to the Charge King Well Sir Then Bradshaw Ordered the Default to be Recorded and the Contempt of the Court and that no Answer would be given to the Charge The King was Guarded forth to Sir Robert Cotton's House The Court Adjourned to the Painted Chamber on Tuesday at Twelve of the Clock and from thence they intend to Adjourn to Westminster-Hall at which time all Persons concerned are to give their Attendance His Majesty not being suffered to deliver his Reasons against the Jurisdiction of their Pretended Court by word of Mouth thought fit to leave them in Writing to the more impartial Judgment of Posterity as followeth HAving already made my Protestations not only against the Illegality of this Pretended Court but also That no Earthly Power can justly call Me who am your King in question as a Delinquent I would not any more open My Mouth upon this Occasion more than to refer my self to what I have spoken were I in this Case alone concerned But the Duty I owe to God in the Preservation of the True Liberty of My People will not suffer Me at this time to be silent For how can any Free-born Subject of England call Life or any thing he possesseth his own if Power without Right dayly make New and abrogate the Old Fundamental Law of the Land Which I now take to be the present Case Wherefore when I came hither I expected that you would have endeavoured to have satisfied Me concerning these Grounds which hinder Me to answer to your Pretended Impeachment But since I see that nothing I can say will move you to it though Negatives are not so naturally proved as Affirmatives yet I will shew you the Reason why I am confident you cannot Judge Me nor indeed the meanest Man in England For I will not like you without shewing a Reason seek to impose a Belief upon My Subjects There is no Proceeding just against any man but what is vvarranted either by God's Laws or the Municipal Laws of the Countrey where he lives Now I am most confident This Days Proceeding cannot be warranted by God's Law for on the contrary The Authority of Obedience unto Kings is clearly warranted and strictly commanded both in the Old and New Testament which if denied I am ready instantly to prove And for the Question now in hand there it is said That Where the Word of a King is There is Power and who may say unto Him What dost Thou Eccl. 8.4 Then for the Law of this Land I am no less confident That no Learned Lawyer will affirm That An Impeachment can lie against the King they all going in His Name And one of their Maxims is That The King can do no Wrong Besides The Law upon which you ground your Proceedings must either be Old or New if Old shew it if New tell what Authority warranted by the Fundamental Laws of the Land hath made it and when But how the House of Commons can erect a Court of Judicature which was never one it self as is well knovvn to all Lavvyers I leave to God and the World to judge And it vvere full as strange that they should pretend to make Laws vvithout King or Lords House to any that have heard speak of the Lavvs of England And admitting but not granting That the People of England's Commission could grant your Pretended Power I see nothing you can shew for that for certainly you never asked the Question of the Tenth Man in the Kingdom and in this way you manifestly wrong even the Poorest Ploughman if you demand not his free Consent nor can you pretend any colour for this your Pretended Commission vvithout the Consent at least of the Major Part of every Man in England of vvhatsoever Quality or Condition vvhich I am sure you never vvent about to seek so far are you from having it Thus you see that I speak not for My ovvn Right alone as I am your King but also for the true Liberty of all My Subjects vvhich consists not in the Power of Government but in Living under such Laws such a Government as may give themselves the best Assurance of their Lives and Property of their Goods Nor in this must or do I forget the Privileges of Both Houses of Parliament vvhich this Days Proceedings do not only violate but likevvise occasion the greatest Breach of their Publick Faith that I believe ever vvas heard of with which I am far from Charging the Two Houses for all Pretended Crimes laid against Me bear Date long before this Treaty at Newport
Cause of withdrawing that then the Lord President do command the Sentence to be read but that the Lord President should hear the King say what he would before the Sentence and not after And thereupon it being further moved Whether the Lord President should use any Discourse or Speeches to the King as in the case of other Prisoners to be condemned was usual before the Publishing of the Sentence received general Directions to do therein as he should see cause and to press what he should conceive most seasonable and sutable to the Occasion And it was further directed That after the Reading of the Sentence the Lord President should declare that the same was the Sentence Judgment and Resolution of the whole Court and that the Commissioners should thereupon signifie their Consent by standing up The Court forthwith Adjourned it self to Westminster-Hall 27 Jan. 1648. post Merid. Westminster-Hall The Lord President and the rest of the Commissioners come together from the Painted Chamber to Westminster-Hall according to their Adjournment and take their Seats there as formerly and three Proclamations being made for Attendance and Silence The Court is called The Commissioners Present John Bradshaw Serjeant at Law Lord President of this Court John Lisle William Say Oliver Crowwell Henry Ireton Sir Hardress Waller Knight Sir John Bourchier Kt. William Heveningham Isaac Pennington Ald. of Lond. Henry Marten William Purefoy John Barkstead Matthew Tomlinson John Blackistone Gilbert Millington Sir William Constable Bar. Edmond Ludlow John Hutchinson Sir Michael Livesey Bar. Robert Tichbourne Owen Roe Robert Lilbourne Adrian Scroope Richard Deane John Okey John Huson William Goffe Cornelius Holland John Carew John Jones Miles Corbet Francis Allen. Peregr Pelham Daniel Blagrave Valentine Wauton Thomas Harrison Edward Whalley Thomas Pride Isaac Ewers Tho. L. Grey of Groby Sir John Danvers Sir Thomas Maleveâ—eâ— Bar. John Moore John Alured Henry Smith Humphrey Edwards Gregory Clement Thomas Wogan Sir Gregory Norton Bar. Edmond Harvey John Venn Thomas Scot. Tho. Andrews Ald. of Lond. William Cawleâ— Anthony Stapeley John Downs Thomas Horton Thomas Hamond Nicholas Love Vincent Potter Augustine Garland John Dixwell George Fleetwood Simon Meyne James Temple Peter Temple Thomas Waite The Prisoner is brought to the Bar and Proclamation is again as formerly made for Silence and the Captain of the Guard ordered to take into his Custody all such as should disturb the Court. The President stood up with an intention of address to the People and not to the Prisoner who had so often declined the Jurisdiction of the Court which the Prisoner observing moved he might be heard before Judgment given whereof he received assurance from the Court and that he should be heard after he had heard them first Whereupon the Court proceeded and remembred the great Assembly then present of what had formerly passed betwixt the Court and the Prisoner the Charge against him in the Name of the People of England exhibited to them being a Court constituted by the Supream Authority of England his refusal three several days and times to own them as a Court or to answer to the Matter of his Charge his thrice recorded Contumacy and other his Contempts and Defaults in the precedent Courts upon which the Court then declared that they might not be wanting to themselves or to the Trust reposed in them and that no mans Wilfulness ought to serve him to prevent Justice and that they had therefore thought fit to take the substance of what had passed into their serious consideration to wit the Charge and the Prisoners Contumacy and the Confession which in Law doth arise upon that Contumacy the Notoriety of the Fact charged and other the Circumstances material in the Cause and upon the whole Matter had resolved and agreed upon a Sentence then ready to be pronounced against the Prisoner But that in regard of his desire to be further heard they were ready to hear him as to any thing material which he would offer to their consideration before the Sentence given relating to the Defence of himself concerning the Matter charged and did then signifie so much to the Prisoner who made use of that leave given only to protest his respects to the Peace of the Kingdom and Liberty of the Subject and to say That the same made him at last to desire That having somewhat to say that concerned both he might before the Sentence given be heard in the Painted Chamber before the Lords and Commons saying it was fit to be heard if it were Reason which he should offer whereof they were Judges And pressing that Point much he was forthwith answered by the Court and told That that which he had moved was a declining of the Jurisdiction of the Court whereof he had Caution frequently before given him That it sounded to further delay of which he had been too much guilty That the Court being founded as often had been said upon the Authority of the Commons of England in whom rested the Supream Jurisdiction the motion tended to set up another or a co-ordinate Jurisdiction in derogation of the Power whereby the Court sate and to the manifest delay of theif Justice in which regard he was told they might forthwith proceed to Sentence yet for his further satisfaction of the entire Pleasure and Judgment of the Court upon what he had then said he was told and accordingly it was declared that the Court would withdraw half an hour The Prisoner by command being withdrawn the Court make their recess into the Room called The Court of Wards considered of the Prisoners Motion and gave the President Direction to declare their Dissent thereto and to proceed to the Sentence The Court being again set and the Prisoner returned was according to their Direction informed That he had in effect received his Answer before the Court withdrew and that their Judgment was as to his Motion the same to him before declared That the Court acted and were Judges appointed by the Highest Authority and that Judges were not to delay no more than to deny Justice That they were good words in the great old Charter of England Nulli negabimus nulli vendemus nulli differemus Justitiam vel Rectum That their Duty called upon them to avoid further Delays and to proceed to Judgment which was their unanimous Resolution Unto which the Prisoner replied and insisted upon his former Desires confessing a delay but that it was important for the Peace of the Kingdom and therefore pressed again with much earnestness to be heard before the Lords and Commons In Answer whereto he was told by the Court That they had fully before considered of his Proposal and must give him the same Answer to his renewed desires and that they were ready to proceed to Sentence if he had nothing more to say Whereunto he subjoyned He had no more to say but desired that might be Entred which he had said Hereupon after some Discourse used by the President for vindicating