must at one time or other have betrayed a soul or spirit within me fit and adapted for so wicked a purpose But yet the contrary is sufficiently known of me Nay had I been an Enemy to His Majesty my conversation would have been among persons Anti-Monarchical and of disloyal and treacherous Principles and Opinions Whereas I have no near converse or concern with any man of either a Fanatick or Papistical persuasion at all but do chiefly correspond and accompany with such loyal and religious persons who are not afraid or ashamed to own the Interest of His Royal Majesty and that of the Church of England And we know it is an allowed Proverb Homo cognoscitur ex sociis Thirdly If what I have said be not yet enough to acquit me from the guilt of all knowable Crimes against my Liege Lord and Soveraign then let all my Writings since His Majesties most happy Restauration and before also be examined by any impartial and unbiassed Judg and I dare affirm that they will all be found to stand up and fully to justifie for me I spare to mention any thing of my having been always on His Majesties and His most Glorious Father's side in the late unhappy Wars For could I have done more in so good and so just a Cause than I did or was able to do at that time it had been but my dury and such as my Birth and Allegiance bound me to as indeed they do every subject of what degree soever § 9. And here I would have transcribed sundry pages of my own Loyalty out of my several Annual Labours for the better corroborating of the present Argument and the compurgating of my innocency as to the matter in question but that I conceive the same is so well known to all persons generally and believed too by every body but those that are envious and malicious whose eyes I pray God to open that there is scarce any need thereof Besides I am in a great measure herein prevented by the kind pains of a worthy cordial though as yet to me an unknown Friend in his publishing an ingenious acute but most just and true Answer to a wicked nay a murtherously design'd Libellous sheet of Paper wrote lately against me and this contrary to His Majesties late Royal Proclamation which forbids all libelling against any kind of persons c. and called Observations upon the strange and wonderful Prophecies of Mr. John Gadbury c. under the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath therein most humanely and obligingly vindicated my much wounded Reputation for which so courteous and by me unexpected a kindness I hereby return him my very hearty thanks and wish I knew him as to this particular friendship that I might more fully acknowledg his generous and endearing Civilities § 10. But then secondly as I have committed nothing knowingly against the King or the Government so neither have I ever done any thing against the Church of God as it is established in England of which Church I do and ever did and always shall acknowledg my Sovereign Lord King Charles the Second to be the Supreme and none else upon earth besides Away with such Anarchical Creatures who longing to be undone would fain introduce even against common sense a Foreign Head over a Domestick Body § 11. I have taken the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and am ready so to do again if Authority think fit to require it And it is my plain and positive opinion That those men which shall refuse the taking of such oaths as are enjoined by the Law do not deserve to receive any protection either from the King or the Law For it would be strange and little less than monstrous in true Policy that a Soveraign Prince shall generously oblige himself by an Oath as at the Coronation is customary to protect and preserve his people in their just Rights Priviledges and Properties and that the subjects should upon any pretence scruple to take such Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance as by the Law is provided for the declaring their duty and obedience to him again Such Obligations are purely reciprocal and may be termed Oaths of Vnity as well as of Fidelity whereby both Prince and people are married together and Quos Deus conjunxit nemo separet accursed be those that shall endeavour to dissolve the bond § 12. I do and ever did honour the Reverend Clergy of the Church of England and esteem it my duty so to do And I bless God I have most commonly frequented the Service of the Church and am sorry from my soul if at any time I have omitted any duty thereunto belonging I always reverenc'd my Spiritual Guide and with all willingness paid him his Dues as knowing it to be a performing of the Law of God and Man and justly enjoin'd to all mankind as well under the Gospel as under the Law I was born baptized and bred a Protestant of the Church of England and by Gods Grace afforded to me I intend so to dye and although I have been falsely reputed a Papist by many malicious Enemies who being as much void of Conscience as Kindness care not how untruly they scandal me I do most solemnly profess the contrary having never in my whole life been a member of any other Church than that of the Protestant Church of England as it is established now by Law § 13. I never yet had any acquaintance with any Popish Priests as such in all my days and if any such have at any time happen'd to be in my company it hath been beyond my knowledg I never was at Mass in my life nor did I ever incline to any Popish Tenets or Principles as they stand in opposition to the Principles of my Mother the Church of England I have read that most Reverend Prelate Archbishop Laud's Book against Fisher as animated thereunto by the Divine Writings of our late Pious Soveraign King Charles the First of ever blessed memory As also the Works of the Pious and Judicious Bishop Saunderson and Bishop Williams's Best Religion I have likewise very carefully consulted Dr. Jeremy Taylor 's Dissuasive from Popery both Parts As also the thrice learned Dr. Pieree his most excellent Sermon before the King entituled The primitive Rule of Reformation Neither have I forborn to peruse the Learned Labours of Dr. Stillingfleet Dr. Tillotson Dr. Henry More Dr. Butler Mr. Pelling cum multis aliis c. of the Church of England against Popery and do profess my self to be so fully satisfied with them as to keep me close to the Church of England under which I have been educated in every thing relating to Faith Doctrine or Discipline as also to a full and absolute renunciation of all Popish Errors Idolatries and Superstitions whatsoever More especially of that damnable and most horrid Error and Opinion of Murthering Kings God's Vice-Roys on earth whether theirs or any other pretended Christians who in this come not short of
MAGNA VERITAS OR JOHN GADBURY Student in Physick and Astrology NOT A PAPIST But a True PROTESTANT OF THE Church of England Published for the satisfaction of all such as know not the said JOHN GADBVRY and yet give Credit to all kinds of Scandals and Falshoods that pass upon his much injured Reputation since his late unfortunate Confinement For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a Lying Tongue Psal 109.11 LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. 1680. JOHN GADBURY Student in Astrology and Physick Not a PAPIST but a PROTESTANT of the Church of England c. § 1. AS the Egyptians in their Hierogliphicks painted Death like a Goddess with a Sycle in her hand bearing this Motto Nemini parco I spare no man so we find it true of Afflictions those black Harbingers of the grim King of Terrors They spare none neither there being no man free from them at one time or other Howbeit it is not the manner but cause of Afflictions which imbitters them and renders them painful and uneasie If we suffer for righteousness sake i. e. innocently and by the wickedness of false and malicious men a blessing attends upon our sorrows which will certainly change our Cross into a Crown and procure us an heavenly content beyond the measure of our terrene troubles and adversities § 2. Afflictions are our School-masters and often bring us to God It is good for me saith holy David that I was afflicted for now I have known thy statutes And indeed it is my sufferings principally that have made me to cast mine eyes inward and seriously to examine mine heart how or wherein I have offended against the Majesty of the King of Heaven that this sad Judgment under which I now labour is come upon me § 3. I never was in love with a Pharisaical humour or temper for indeed what hath a poor mortal to boast or to be proud of but yet as the case now stands I may I hope in the strength of Truth and Modesty affirm without being subject to any severe Censure That as for my actions between man and man I bless God they are as little to be taxed as any man 's of my degree or quality I have lived now fifty and two Solar Revolutions in this troublesome World and which I esteem almost miraculous have been so happy therein as never to have had any Law-suit with any man excepting one and that was in behalf of two Orphans committed to my charge and had I not then contended for them they poor wretches altogether unable to help themselves had been exceedingly injured of their Right § 4. As to any Spirit of Contention or Contradiction c. whereby the world is commonly governed and guided I appeal to the Neighbourhood among whom I have lived whether I have ever been guilty of yeilding to any such and whether my demeanour hath not been rather peaceable and preserving than any way dissurbant or troublesome to any of them It is true some scribling differences I have had but I never began a quarrel with any man and men that are assaulted must forfeit their reason if they do not defend themselves Nay I bless and magnifie the God of Heaven who by his good Angels hath so happily conducted me in all my actions of this life that I can justly interrogate with good old Samuel Whos 's oxe have I taken or whose ass have I driven aside or whom have I wronged of a shoo-latchet or a thred Let those that know me speak whether I have not been rather helpful than hurtful to the people among whom I have at any time lived or resided § 5. If this truth be distrusted I am sure the Keepers of the Prison where I am confined will be so just as to witness the same for me from the many sad complaints they almost dayly hear from several poor people of my Neighbourhood by reason of my unfortunate restraint whereby I am incapacitated and debarred from doing the common good I was constantly accustomed to do though I confess it was no more than my duty as a man but much more as a Christian for non nobis nati sumus and even the brute beasts that perish would be as valuable as mankind were it not for these distinguishing acts of our Charity and Reason towards people in distress § 6. Albeit I must and do acknowledg that God's chastising hand is never either upon a Person Family or Nation for nought He is a Just Judg and the punishments he permits to befall poor mortals do naturally imply a guilt in the person afflicted Sin is the common cause of suffering and the Just man falls seven times a day though he by God's Mercy and Providence do rise again and meet a restoration of his former state Yet I say Sin is cause of all punishment and certainly some great and secret sin I must have committed against the God of Heaven that he hath thus permitted nay perhaps commissioned his afflicting Angel thus sorely and severely to buffet me § 7. But for any known or open sin committed either against my dread Soveraign his Person Crown or Dignity or against the Church of God as established in England under Him I openly profess and declare That I am not either wilfully or knowingly whatever I may be ignorantly viz. by an unfortunate concealment of what I thought others ought to have revealed guilty of any in the least and yet I have searched the very secretest corners of my soul as narrowly as it is possible for humanity to do for a discovery of any such latent unloyal or irreligious guests And if in my scrutiny I have passed over any dangerous angle or lurking-hole without a thorow disquisition I humbly beseech God of his great mercy and goodness to illuminate my troubled soul and lead me to a perfect and exact discovery thereof and help me to find the black inhabitants therein residing if at least there be really any to the end I might first eject them their possession and afterwards repent me throughly that ever I gave either being or harbour to such destructive Inmates § 8. That I have not knowingly committed any Crime against His most Sacred Majesty or the Government although I know it is very hard and difficult for any man to prove a Negative I have first God and his holy Angels and a clear Conscience to evidence for me Nay I can most truly say I have not erred against His Majesty so much as in a thought Secondly All my Actions and Expressions among my Neighbours and Acquaintance are most remarkable arguments on my behalf in this matter and which I am sure will be justified to my advantage if occasion require it For were I really guilty of any thing of that kind living so near a loyal Cathedral and among loyal-hearted persons I must have been taken notice of for such and my discourses
them the very thoughts whereof I detest abhor and execrate as being not only against the very essence of all humane and divine Laws but is even the very doctrine of Devils and can have no other original or source but Hell it self § 14. I had well hoped that my having had a Relation to a most Reverend Prelate of the Church of England viz. the late most pious and learned Dr. Joseph Henshaw Bishop of Peterborough deceased about twelve years or upward together would have acquitted me from the false imputation of being a Roman Catholick in which time I had the honour of carrying his Lordships duty and service to the Kings most Excellent Majesty every New-years day and received His Majesties most gracious New-years gift to the good Lord Bishop again The truth of which His Majesties Jewel-Office and Pay-Office will fully evidence for me as having my name there to that very purpose from the later of which Offices I also annually received His Majesties most bountiful Reward as a Messenger for which I never forgot to leave my humble thanks to and a prayer for His Majesties long Life and happy Reign and for the same do still and ever while I have breath shall pray And surely had I been a Papist or any way inclined thereunto I could not have had so great and so long an Honour from so Reverend a Prelate of the Church of England as was this my good Lord and Patron And had not my most unfortunate confinement hindred I should have prayed a continuance of the same Honourable and to me most grateful and delightful Employment from the present Right Reverend Lord Bishop of Peterborough though as yet I have not the happiness of being known to him § 15. I must indeed acknowledg that I have some acquaintance with persons of the Romish Religion and so I have among all kind of Opinions as any man of a popular practice cannot avoid But it would be very hard nay exceedingly unjust if I should therefore be reputed as a man guilty of all Opinions I have laboured somewhat in matters of Controversie for my own satisfaction and have oftentimes read much more than perhaps I have understood I have endeavoured to follow St. Paul's Rule closely viz. Omnia probate quod bonum est tenete Prove all things but hold fast that which is good and therefore have not refused to read Books of all Opinions under the burden of which our English World is too uneasie and of which unnecessary Ware the Shops Markets and Fairs among us are too full fraught in these our unhappy days God in his good time heal our Divisions and once more restore us to unity and good order § 16. Again had I been a Papist or Popishly affected why should I not have shewn it upon so remarkable an occasion as in the to me most unfortunate sickness and burial of my dear Wife but lately deceased viz. scarce four Months before my sad Confinement why should I not rather have had Popish priests than those of the Church of England to have performed all Christian Offices proper to her at such a time as to pray by and for her and to give her the holy Sacrament This had been a time in earnest to have proved my inclinations and good will to Popery in case I had any at all for it but that I had none will most fully appear I hope to all reasonable men from the Certificate following under the hand of a Minister of the Church of England and Curate of the Parish of St. Margarets Westminster the Parish of my habitation and abode A Copy whereof I did likewise annex to a Petition which I presented to His Majesty and Privy-Council for their satisfaction since my unfortunate imprisonment Mr. Barthol Wormell's Certificate THese are humbly to certifie That John Gadbury of the parish of St. Margarets Westminster in the County of Middlesex Gent. did about the beginning of July last past take the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper at his own House in Brick-Court Westminster with his dying Wife Mrs. Elizabeth Gadbury from my hands In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my hand this tenth day of November 1679. Barthol Wormell Curate Vera Copia Nay further I cannot but acquaint the world that my good Father Mr. Oliver Gadbury was always a real Protestant and true subject of his Majesty and son of the Church of England and but few years since dyed such at Wornal in the County of Oxford where his Body now lyes interred his Soul being at rest with God § 17. And for a greater strengthning of this my present Argument or Assertion viz. That I am no Papist but a Protestant c. I aver that the very nearest of my most Honour'd Relations are very real and strict Protestants as Sir Thomas Curson and his Honourable Lady of Waterperry in the County of Oxford which said Sir Thomas is my Honour'd Vncle by my Mothers side and a person that I have very great reason to be careful how I offend either in my Religion or otherways he being not only my Vncle but very great Friend and so also is his vertuous Lady And I think nay am sure that both he and his Honoured Lady will most readily aver me to be a Protestant as knowing me to be such and to have gone to Church with them when at any time I have visited them in the Countrey and to have joined in prayers with them morning and evening as they most religiously and commendably use in their Families always § 18. But one thing more is urged and maketh a great noise against me which I may not forget to give the World some satisfaction in and that is an unhappy omission of the Feast for deliverance from the Gunpowder-Treason on November the Fifth day in my Almanack Unto which I can justly say Truth be my witness that I know not by what unfortunate accident it came to be left out but this I am sure of that it was not omitted wilfully or in design for I do and ever did own the Powder-Treason for a damnable and horrid Popish Plot as I also do the present wicked one under the black effects whereof poor England so sadly groans Neither can it be thought upon a just and reasonable consideration that I should leave it out of my Almanack purposely since what I wrote annually is ever subjest to the inspection and correction also of a Licenser who hath power to defeat my design of that purpose Nor can an Almanack-maker print what he please And if it be possible for a Licenser to pass by a thing so material without correction may not an Author be supposed to be besieged with the same Imperfections or humane frailties § 19. And here I cannot but with all duty and humility acknowledg the Justice of that severe reprehension of my good Lord Bishop of London to me about it at the Council-Table since his Lordship did not know but that I might
have purposely omitted it And I do hereby give his Lordship my most humble and cordial thanks for that he was pleased afterwards to accept of my humble Apology for the unfortunate escape and hold me in some measure excusable § 20. Almanacks are not such contemptible and despicable things as the Vulgar commonly imagine them The Law esteems them as Books of Sanction and therefore they cannot be printed but by the peculiar Authority of the Kings most Excellent Majesty and it is therefore also that they are found commonly annexed to the Holy Bible and Common-prayer-book And if any man offer to write an Almanack out of any other design than for the serious service of the Church and Nation he is most justly punishable for the same And let me be believed I beseech you when I so solemnly protest it Rather than I would willingly offend either His Sacred Majesty the Holy Church of England or the Nation in writing a line of one I would lose the hand that should guide my Pen to so wicked and so malicious a Performance So that I hope this my publickly renouncing of any kind of design or wilfulness in this most unhappy Omission will not only set met me right in the opinion of the Reverend Clergy whom I ever honoured and revered with my heart as I hope all my Writings and Actions will testifie for me but also with His most Sacred Majesty and His Nobility and with the Nation in general likewise § 21. If what I have written be impartially and duly considered I hope I have fully satisfied all such as were any way unsatisfied concerning my Religion towards God and my duty loyalty and fidelity towards my Dread and Gracius Soveraign And what I have here done is ex intimus Medullis and the very Truth of my Soul as I hope to see the face of God in glory and no way expecting that it should make the better for me in this my present Condition but only to take off that most uncharitable as well as most false imputation of my being a Roman Catholick § 22. As for my present misfortunes and unhappy confinement that I to my great loss and sorrow labour under I wholly refer them and my self under them to God Almighty who is the only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or heart-searcher and will no doubt in his own good time bring every secret Truth to light and vindicate my much injured Innocency c. as also to the Mercy and Clemency of my most Gracious Soveraign beseeching him to believe me as in fact I am wholly innocent as to the popular Calumny which passeth upon me as liberally as untruly viz. That I am a Roman Catholick or Papist § 23. To conclude I shall and will ever pray for his Majesties long life and happy and peaceable reign as indeed I ever have done and do really wish both His Majesty and the Church of England as many better subjects and sons than my self as may be but do most heartily pray that neither of them ever meet with worse And as the whole and every part of what is here written is true so I most humbly beg the great God of Heaven to help me and clear mine Innocence and not otherwise Deus non Irridetur JOHN GADBVRY Gatehouse West Dec. 29. 1679. Postscript THE foregoing discourse being written in a Prison where I had neither the use of Books nor yet the free Converse of any Friend to advise with will I hope incline all Just and Loyal Readers to the exercise of so much Candor and Charity as to pass by any Imperfections that they shall meet with therein It is only the Copy of my troubled mind labouring to be deliver'd from the popular scandal which so liberally passeth on me concerning my Religion under pretence whereof my Loyalty hath been wounded and things laid to my charge that I not only execrate and abominate but even tremble to name And certainly if there be a time at all for a man to write an Apology or to appear publickly in his own just defence it is when his Reputation is thus prodigiously assaulted Albeit I do not go about wholly to excuse my self for I do with great sorrow acknowledg that I have been nescio quo fato guilty of concealing some Crimes which too nearly endanger'd my Life But this I did not thorow any malice or prejudice or disaffection to his Sacred Majesty or the Government both which I ever did and always shall Honour as it is my Duty but truly and really in simplicity like Absaloms Two hundred followers or rather through Ignorance of His Majesties Laws Inadvertency and a passionate zeal to Friendship c. All which Imperfections Offences Errors and Frailties his most Excellent Majesty of his Princely Clemency upon my humble acknowledgment of my Errors c. and Penitence for them hath been most graciously pleased to pass by and pardon which said Royal Mercy I shall always most dutifully remember And it shall be a just warning to me for ever how I make my Breast a Cabinet of dangerous Secrecy for any one or yet to concern my self with things above my Capacity Condition or Station Obedience is better than Sacrifice But of these matters I may perhaps more amply treat in a fitter place hereafter if God shall give me life and his most Gracious Majesty permit me leave In the Interim I shall pray leave most humbly and truly to affirm That I have no acquaintance with any one of the Lords in the Tower nor yet with the Right Honourable the Countess of Powis Nor did I ever see the Face of any One of them to my knowledg in my whole life-time God forgive them that have affirm'd against me the contrary and those too that animated or encouraged them so to do Those persons do run a monstrous and disproportionate adventure who endeavouring by unjust means and ways to send me to my Grave which a small portion of time would save them the trouble of designing do at the same Instant send their own Souls to a worser place except God in his great Mercy prevent which from such desperate and illicite Actions and Courses they can never have any real assurance of Neither do I only disown all kind of knowledg of any of those Honourable Personages but also deny that I have ever had any thing to do for them or either or any of them either directly or indirectly Being as I said an absolute stranger both unto their persons and affairs otherwise than by the Information I may have received from the publick Prints or popular report of which the whole world are partakers equally with me Were it otherwise I would never dissemble the matter No! although it related to the nearest and dearest Friend and Kindred I had I aim at Truth in all my Actions not Interest and shall always to my power do so in all things especially where the Honour of my Soveraign Lord the King and Peace of the Kingdom is concerned Howbeit I have been most grosly abused in Print as to this very matter as well as to many others and the Truth hath been injured also and my name made a property for the Avarice and Malice of Mercenary Scriblers and Venders of their filthy ware who in this Age of Scandals are so bold and daring that the very best of men nay even Magistracy it self cannot escape their envenom'd Pens Such Calumniators never considering That a good name is better than precious Oyntment and more to be coveted than great riches Nay further I must in the strength of Truth aver That I have not so much as been in the Tower of London above once this Three years and that was above a Twelvemonth since When I went to make a visit to my Honour'd Friends Sir George Wharton * Sir George Wharton being then ill I could not see him so wrote a Letter to him only and Sir Jonas Moor which latter is since deceased in the company of Mr. Bromwich a Bookseller near Ludgate and Mr. Partridge Author of the late Astrological Vade Mecum which Book I prevailed with the Honourable Sir George Wharton to Patronize And that was my sole and alone business in the Tower at that time besides the paying of my due respects unto those my truly Honour'd and Loyal-hearted Friends God preserve his most Sacred Majesty and grant him a long and happy Life and Reign over us and bless all the Royal Family from the malice of all such as think and wish them ill Protect the Nobility Clergy Gentry and Commonalty of this Realm and give Peace unto these Disturbed Kingdoms in these our troublesome and unquiet days if it be his blessed Will Amen So prayeth and so hopeth An earnest Implorer of Englands happiness and a Renouncer of all kinds of Interests or Parties that are opposite to His Majesty and to the Government of these Nations whether of Church or State as now Established by Law JOHN GADBURY ERRATA FOl. 5. l. 6. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fol. 10. l. 16. for wrote r. write and for subjest r. subject l. 18. for my r. any fol. 11. l. 8. blot out met l. 17. for intimus r. intimis