unreconcileable quarrell against us and all our fellow Professours of the same faith And what they have determined for the destruction of us all It is worthy the notice of those that have not read it in the Irish Remonstrance and of their remembrance that have read it what order they have agreed upon for our confusion which is this First They have resolved to extirpate all the English out of Ireland as hath been shewed ¶ Irish Remonstrance p. 31. That Kingdome setled and peopled only with sound Catholikes it is their title not mine for in very truth they are neither sound nor Catholike Thirty thousand men must be sent into England to joyne with the French and Spanish forces and the service they should say the Sacrifice for they meane a slaughter of the English in England performed then they will joyntly fall upon Scotland for the reducing of that Kingdome to the obedience of the Pope which being finished they have engaged themselves to the King of Spaine for assisting him against the Hollanders that was their plot discovered by examination taken upon Oath There is then more cause that England Scotland and the Netherlands should be united in a league of mutuall defence then that we of this Kingdome should first breake asunder by division and then breake in upon each other with enraged violence For if all the crafty Counsels of Spaine of the Conclave of the Pope and Cardinals of the Congregations of Iesuites and other Assemblies of pestilent Polititians our sworne Enemies should lay their heads together for an undoing device against us they could not imagne any one more dangerous and desperate then that which we are now acting upon our selves The Lord open the eyes and turne the hearts of those in whose power it is to found a Retreat to this Martiall fury That English valour may be diverted from the ruine of England to the recovery of Ireland or if the Sword of warre must be the Sword of divine Justice to avenge the quarrell of thy Covenant against a rebellious people Let it O Lord we beseech thee doe most execution upon thine obdurate enemies and sway thou the victory upon their side whose cause and persons have better title to thine Almighty protection Thus farre of the Question How long shall I see c. as importing the Prophets strong apprehension of and vehement aversion from the evill of warre Now of the Answer For my people is foolish they have not knowne me they are sottish children they have none understanding they are wise to doe evill but to doe good they have no knowledge They neither know God nor acknowledge or glorifie him as God but set their wits on worke for wickednesse therin having a kind of cunning which the unwise world calleth wisdome while they remaine ignorant inconsiderate dull and stupid towards the doing of good The words are considerable 1. In generall 2. In particular In generall they containe two parts 1. An Accusation My people are c. 2. An Exception They are wise to do evill Under the accusation are comprehended two points of Importance The one expressed The other implied that which is expressed is the cause of the calamities fore-mentioned For my people or because my people is foolish c. And that will direct us to a two-fold Observation First The one of the Malignant operations of sin in procuring heavy punishments upon a people 2. The other the disgracefull denomination of sinners or the contemptible titles given unto them as foolish sottish without knowledge or understanding The particular implied is the continuance of sin for the Question being expressely made of the continuance How long and implicitely of the cause the answer is satisfactory to both shewing not only why the people are plagued but that so long they shall be plagued untill they be reformed untill the cause of their sinfull folly be removed they shall not or not in mercy be eased of their misery as long as they be so bad in their disposition towards God they must looke for no better a condition from God First For the cause in the 18. verse the Indictment against them is framed under other titles Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this thy wickednesse because it is bitter because it reacheth unto thine heart So likewise in the Lamentation of Ieremy Ierusalem saith the Prophet hath grievously sinned therefore shee is removed Chap. 1. ver 8. And that it is not the peculiar case of Ierusalem he sheweth in more generall tearmes Wherefore doth living man complaine and man for the punishment of his sinnes Lam. 3.39 or as the Geneva hath it Wherefore is the living man sorrowfull He suffereth for his sinnes And Ierusalem her selfe as if she made answer to some such Question as this pleadeth not any excuse of her ignorance but cleareth Gods Justice and freely and fully taketh the Accusation of her sinnes upon her selfe The Lord is righteous for I have rebelled against his Commandements Chapt. 1. ver 18. We have transgressed and thou hast not pardoned Chap. 3.42 Which is not to be understood of the people only but with them of the Prophets and the Priests for the sins of her Prophets and the iniquity of her Priests did Jerusalems misery come upon her Chap. 4.12 for the Prophets prophecied falsly and the Priests bare rule by their meanes Jer. 5.31 And they ruled with bloudy and unrighteous rigour For they shed the blood of the Iust in the midst of Jerusalem Chapt. 4. ver 13. And in the 30. Chapter God emphatically avoweth his owne Justice against their wickednesse in these words I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy with the chastisement of a cruell one for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sinnes were increased Why criest thou for thine afflictions Thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity because thy sins were inereased I have done these things unto thee ver 14 15. So that we must not take this Text though it impute ignorance unto these Jewes to import any extenuation of their transgressions which may serve to excuse them either a toto or a tanto as sometimes ignorance is pleaded by way of argument or inducement to compassion and pardon as it is by God himselfe in the Prophecie of Ionah Should I not spare Nineveh that great City wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discerne betweene their right and their left hand and also much Cattell and by our Saviour Father forgive them they know not what they doe Luk. 23.34 and as S. Paul giveth instance in his own case I was before a blasphemer and a persecutour and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbeleefe 1 Tim. 1.13 for such ignorance was partly inevitable partly involuntary but this was neither and therefore it is urged rather by way of aggravation to augment their guilt as in the first of Esay Heare O ye Heavens and give
abroad here was the sanctuary of refuge hither was the resort and no other way found for a foundation of peace And for a returne of all loyall and affectionate observances to his Majesty on the Parliaments part you with your right Honourable colleagues have professed your resolution * So in the Declaration of both Houses March 12. 1642. to keepe your selves within the bounds of faithfullnesse and allegiance to his Royall Person and his Crownes ¶ The Parliaments second Remonstrance p 1. to provide for the publike peace and prosperity of his Majesty and his Realmes protesting in the presence of the all-seeing Deity that it still hath beene and still is the only end of all your counsells and endeavours wherein you have resolved to continue freed and enlarged from all private aimes personall respects or passions whatsoever And your * Ibid p. 11. earnest desire of his Majesties returne to London that upon it you conceive depends the very safety and being of both his Kingdomes and therefore you have protested you will be ready to say or doe any thing that may stand with the duty and honour of a Parliament which may raise a mutuall confidence betwixt his Majesty and your selves as you doe wish and the affaires of the Kingdome doe require And to the same purpose againe ¶ Ibid p 13. we intend say you to doe whatsoever is sit to make up the unpleasant breach betwixt his Majesty and parliament By such expressions as these carrying most cleare and legible Characters of your Loyalty and Love to his Maiesty you have righted your Reputations against all iust cause of suspition of Popish tenets or intentions against his Person and his Crowne and have gained the beleefe of all good Subiects that you spake in sincerity when you said * In the third Remonstrance or Declaration of the Parliament May 26. 1642. p. 4. You suffered not such things to enter into your thoughts as all the world knowes the Papists have put into act whereof I shall shortly give instance in my other Sermons upon this Text which some worthy Members of your Honourable Society have required to the Presse And so upon confidence in your fidelity have ingaged their affections and all their Interests both for the present and the future under the conduct of your most prudent Counsels and commands accounting it a most fickle unfaithfullnesse and finally destructive to the foundation of our English Government if they who have voted your Election to places in Parliament should upon any Malignant surmises against you desert either their due obedience to you or just and necessary defence of you though with the hazard of their estates and persons Against such assurance as you have given of your faithfull allegiance to his Majesty your zealous Constancy in prosecution of a perfect Reformation of Court City and Country from prophanenesse and Popery importeth no colour of contradiction at all though some whose condition most requires it distast and desire to wrest it to some such misconstruction but carrieth with it an exact conformity to what you have professed For what better proofe of integrity in what you undertake then your pressing to promote the prosperity of the King as well as of the Kingdome And what meanes more conducible unto that end then Religion and Justice As S. Augustine sheweth where he saith * Neque noâ— Christâ—anos quoâ—â—â—aÌ„ emperatores â—deo foelices dâ—cimus quia vel diutiùs imperarunt c. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 5. c. 24. We account not Christian Emperours happy because they have raigned long or because they have had power to suppresse insurrections or oppresse their enemies nor because they have dyed a quiet death and left their children to raigne after their decease †Sed foelices eos dicimus si justè imperarunt si inter linguas sublimitèr honoranâ—um et obsequia nimis humiliter salutantiam non ex tolluâ—â—uâ— sed se homines esse memnerint si suam potesâ—aâ—eÌ„ ad Dei â—uiâ—uâ— c. â—bid But we call them happy if they rule with justice if among the tongues of those that too highly extoll them or too humbly salute them or too obsequiously serve them they remember themselves to be but men if they apply their power so as to make it most serviceable to the honour of the divine Majesty if they feare and love and worship God and more love that kingdome where they need not feare competitors or consorts then that wherin they may be afraid of them * Sâ—â—uxuâ—iâ—â—aÌ„â—ò eis est castâ—gâ—â—â—â— quâ—nâ—â— possi◠〈…〉 â—upiditatibus 〈◊〉 quam 〈…〉 imperare Ibidem if they so much more refraine from luxury as being without restraint of others they may be more free unto it and bad rather raigne over evill concupiscence then Countries and Nations ¶ Tales Christianos imperateres dicimus esse foelices Ib. Such Christian Emperours saith he we call happy and happy surely are the people who are governed by such an one as so governeth himselfe And for your zeale against the prevailing of Popery and for the advancement of the Protestant Religion it makes most for his Majesties honour and safety not only in respect of piety but of policy for that wise State man the Duke of Rohan in his Treatise of the Interest of Princes and States makes his observation of the State of England in these words ‖ The Duke of Rohan his Treatise of the Interest of Princes and States p 58. Besides the Interest which the King of England hath common with all Princes he hath yet one particular which is that He ought throughly to acquire the advancement of the Protestant Religion even with as much zeale as the King of Spain appears Protector of the Catholick And what zeale that is he hath showed before in the * Ibid â— p 4. ad nonam Interest of Spain Notwithstanding all this there be some men who deeply guilty of deceit themselves will never be satisfied with any evidence of sincerity in other men with such there is no security in the Prerogative of the King nor the Priviledge of Parliament against in urious traducement since nothing beareth sway with them but their self-conceit or particular advantage or which is worse their virulent spleen against the better part which stirreth them up to reproach them as tumultuary busie-bodies who doe but bring some buckets of water to quench a burning which they have treacherously kindled against their own Country and as confidently and not more innocently to cry Sedition Sedition against the most loyall and true hearted Subjects of Royall Maiesty as Athaliah did Treason Treason 2 Kin. 11.14 When Sedition is their raigning sin as treason was hers and that the worst Sedition of all others for what can be worse then that and theirs is such which separateth those in iudgement affection and locall mansion who for the two first should alwaies and for the third should very often
And to this purpose they have impudently given out in Ireland Sometimes o The Irish Remonstrance p. 5 48 4â— 77. that His Majesty was personally though disguised present with the Rebells there Sometimes p Ibid. p. 6. that he was dead and that the young King went to Masse but most commonly that which they did was by the q Ibid p. 45 48 56 Kings authority and that they had the Broad-Seale for it and that it was the Kings pleasure r Ibid p 68. that all the English should be banished and loose their goods because the Queenes Priest was hanged before her face And that there was a Covenant betwixt the Irish and the Scots upon these tearmes that the Irish should never take part with the English against the Scots nor the Scots with the English against the Irish And * Ibid. p. 38. that all the Scottish Nation was joyned with them for the extirpation of the English So that the †Ibid. Scots were to leave never a drop of English blood in England and that the Irish had command to leave never a drop of English blood in Ireland and that for that purpose they had the ‖ Ibid. Earle of Argiles hand together with the hands of the greatest part of the prime Nobility of Scotland And that many might more readily come into an Association in their damnable League and might carry it on with more courage and higher hope of happy successe they coyned such comfortable Lyes as these That there was an Army to come to their aide from Spaine * Ibid p. 10. another of no fewer then 40000. from France another from a Ibid Flanders that b Ibid p. 54. Dublin was taken and that the distressed in Ireland might have no hope of succour in England or Scotland they told them that there was the like c Ibid. p. 35. stirres in both these Kingdoms meaning that the Papists pursued and prevailed over the Protestants there as they did in Ireland a thing then no doubt both in their desire and designe and like to be also in their indeavour when they might begin with hope to goe on with successe And that they might have the more colour for their bloody combination these seditious Seeds-men gave out that the Puritane Parliament in England was the cause of all this in that they have made an d Ibid. p. 4â— Act that all Papists in Ireland must goe to Church or otherwise be hanged at their owne doores and therefore they began with the Protestants first least they should begin with them who had resolved to e Ibid. p. 35 45. murther all the Papists throughout the Kingdome and yet like odious hypocrites as they be they sometimes f Ibid. pretended that if the Lord Lievtenant of Ireland that last was had not been put to death by the Parliament they had not made this Insurrection whereas indeed they held and hated him as the most heavy-handed Deputy that was set over them though Protestants had as great cause to complaine of the weight of his hand as Papists had if not greater and plotted this mischiefe as upon Confession is recorded g Ibid. p. 35. â—â— seventeene yeares before their Rebellion brake out Their hatred of the best Protestants under the name of Puritans is notorious throughout the three Kingdom of England Scotland and Ireland but they hate them most where they thinke they are most able to doe them hurt that 's in Parliament and therefore they have been alway forward to falsifie their Acts and Intentions to blast that venerable Assembly with the blackest calumny they can conceive and to doe as desperate acts against them as the Devill himselfe can put into their heads h King Iames premonit p. 328. King Iames chargeth them with three Lyes together of the Act of Parliament concerning the Oath of Allegiance and all the Kingdome yea all the Christian world knoweth their devillish malignity towards that most Honourable Court in the Powder-plot i King Iames his second Speech in Parliament p. 501. purposely devised against the place of their meeting that where the crull Lawes as they call them were made against their Religion both place and persons should be blowne up at once which plot had it taken effect they purposed to have laid it on the k Speeds Chron. lib. 10. p. 1252. col 2. Puritans And what they could not then bring about by that secret satanicall treachery they have of late attempted and undertaken by open Warre and the Warre we now see translated out of Irish into English and their hate and spight written in Capitall Letters with the blood of English Protestants I am not so vainly presumptuous as to present such particulars as these to instruct the sage and prudent Senators of this most High and Honourable Court who see and fore-see a thousand times more and further into the Popish mistery of Iniquity with all the Engins that are working under it then many thousands of such private persons as my selfe can possible conceive but by such a breviate as I have brought in to make some more cautelous resentment of Popish plots in the common people and of their common perill thereby if there be not a very watchfull jealousie in the great Counsell of the Kingdome over them and a zealous and unanimous industry of all true-hearted Protestants to disappoint them but I shall meete with them againe before we part Thirdly The Miseries and Mischiefes of Warre being such as have been shewed it cannot but well become every good and wise man to shew himselfe disaffected to it and much troubled for it as well as by it So did the Prophet when he bewailed the condition of his time by the oppression and desolation of Warre as out of this Chapter I have told you and to doe all good offices they can to promote peace as the Parliament by their many humble and pressing Petitions and other prudent addresses to his Majesty have indeavoured to doe yet so as well became their piety and prudence as to desire no peace but such an one as whosoever treats of it admits of God to be of the Quorum in it and in ballacing the conditions on both sides will suffer his glory and the conscionable discharge of their trust to the King and Kingdome to make downe weight in the finall determination thereof against which an agreement would prove but a conspiracie for betraying of trust But for a peace upon such tearmes as those we now mentioned that Englishman who would not like Ionah when to appease a tempest and save a Ship from splitting he was content to be cast into and swallowed up of the Sea Ion. 1.12 willingly lay downe his life is not worthy to live And the more zealous should every one be of making up the breach of peace by how much more worthy they are who are divided and betwixt whom the neerest Union that can