all power and authority and what ever else is good upon the earth of right belonging unto them as their proper inheritance though hitherto it hath bin kept from them by usurpers such as Kings and Princes are and all others that be not of their Faction therfore if now by any means they can but be stated in their own rights it is very probable that they wil see the whole Kingdom destroyed rather then part with the same again for the Israelites did never deliver back the Aegyptian Jewels after they had once borrowed them nor did they ever resigne to Og the King of Basan his Kingdom any more when once they had gotten possession of it Ergo because these good hands are such sure hands such hold-fasting hands they would have the Militia setled in them Indeed we do remember that for the space of two seven years before this unhappy Parliament did begin vulgar hearts were seasoned with this Doctrine that Gods people only have a right to the things of this life and all others Kings and all are but usurpers of what they do enjoy and therfore may justly be dispossessed of the same by them who call themselves the people of the Lord. But we do not believe this to be a true Doctrine because Christ hath said His Kingdom or that which properly belongs to his people is not of this world Therfore we conceive the Argument and reason built upon the same to be neither substantial nor sufficient but only a bare pretence to gul the ignorant and to seduce the simple 2. They desire as they say to have the disposal of the Militia that so they may go through-stitch with their Reformation as they call it For say they it is an hard task we have undertaken and like to he long in doing for we shal meet with many rubs and therfore have need of Power to remove obstructions Indeed we grant that Rome was not built-in one day it was many years before she had gained her present height of wickedness and before â—he could reach the same she did wrest the Militia out of the Emperours hands wherby she was able to bring her Soveraigns neck under her Popes feet by making him glad to hold the stirrup And now a like design being here on foot it must be pursued in a like method the Militia must first be seised upon beside the doctrine of Christian obedience hath bin so long rivetted into peoples hearts that though it be shrewdly shaken already by these Militia-men yet it is likely to settle and appear again unless they have the strength continued in their violent hands to suppress and keep under the growth therof And then further too that Publick form and manner of worshipping God wherin people have bin bred and nourished in the Church hath bin so decent and Reverend that this beastly and slovenly way which these New Reformers as they call themselves would introduce in the room therof is never like to be wel digested and therfore as the Papists on the one side have need of a bloudy Inquisition to uphold their ridiculous fopperies and superstitious vanities in their worship of God so these on the other side have as much need of the Militia to maintain and force their unhandsome carriages and proud undecencies in their serving of him But these men pretending to reform a Christian Church do they not make use of a wrong instrument Was the Militia of kingdoms ever appointed of God to such an end We have always believed that the Word was the ordained mean for such a purpose the Sword of Christs mouth and not of mens hands must both cut sin from Christs members and subdue his enemies Had these men set up a faithful teaching Ministry in all parts of the Kingdom we might have hoped for some good by them but as that Pope who cast away his Keys and betook himself to his Sword so do they betake them to their iron and steel they desire the Militia of the Kingdom with which they persecâ—te and destroy the faithful Preachers and this they call Reformation Indeed Antichrist and Mahomet went this way to work for the erection of their Religions and our men coveting and exercising a like power to a like end may be truly called their Disciples whom they imitate we would fain have them declare unto us how this course which they take and which it seems by this their desire they are resolved to proceed in can possibly consist with that Religion whose root is truth whose branches are charity and whose fruit is good deeds both towards friends and enemies we find in Micah the Lord complaining of some wicked Heads of the people and false Prophet who jugling together did endevour to build up Sion with bloud and Jerusalem with iniquity and had got the Power and Militia into their hands to that purpose and that the silly people might think that God was wel pleased with that their way they would saies the Text lean upon the Lord and were so impudent as to say the Lord is among us or on our side But how did the Lord take this at their hands It follows in the next Verse For your very sakes saies God to them Sion shal be plowed like a field and Jerusalem shal become heaps and by those unfit means wherwith they pretended to build up the same was brought to pass its destruction Wherfore doubtless this second Reason which is alleaged to get the Militia setled in their Hands is not only weak but extreamly wicked and tendeth not to Reformation but to the destruction and ruine of Christian Religion and of the Nation Thirdly They pretend it would be for the Peoples greater preservation to have the Militia of the Kingdome setled in their own good Hands for say they we stand for the People we are the men whom the People have chosen and therfore it is most likely that we shal imploy the strength of the Kingdom best to the Peoples safety which above all things is to be looked unto Thus they speak and wel have they evidenced their pretended care for us the People since they got the sword into their hands for therwith the first thing they did for our preservation was Mustapha or Mahomet or Amurath-like to cut off fair Irenes head with whom indeed the whole Nation had formerly too much wantonized and what have they done beside but often strewed our fields and high-ways with heaps of mangled carkasses and filled our Channels with the spilt-out bloud of our murdred Country-men O wo wo and alas they have done that quod nulla posteritas probet quod nulla taceat what true English heart without most bitter Lamentation can think or speak of their doings What persecution What banishment What confiscation of goods What corporal bondage Yea What cruel tortures What merciless burnings What secret murders What publick massacres have they committed upon the people of this Nation only because they refused to renounce
notice there-from how the Court hath been Cajold that 's the Authentick word now among our Cabalisticall adversaries by the Papists and we the more beleeving sort of Protestants by the Court The Reader may be abundantly satisfied by these Letters of His Majesties longing desires to see Peace restored to His poor Subjects throughout His three Kingdomes And he may also be abundantly satisfied by their printing of these Letters of that abundance of bitternesse spight and malice which is in the hearts of the Publishers of them against their Soveraigne but for satisfaction in any other matters the Reader if he be rightly affected and lookes onely with his owne eye he must seeke it some where else for here it is not to be found What they intend by Cajold and whom by Cabalisticall Adversaries I stand not to argue for the words are shelly Nec de verbis est disputandum only I cannot but observe the Title which these Wisemen give themselves and their owne Faction We say they the more beleeving sort of Protestants Faith it seemes they have and in their owne opinion great Plenty more then others like them John 9. they say they see and like him Luke 18. they think themselves better then other men they are not like us Publicans who confess our selves to be weak and sinful and to have need to cry daily unto the Lord for mercy and increase of Faith they are past their Creed already and can tel God Lord we believe whereas we are yet but at our Pater noster help our unbelief But in whom or in what is it that they do believe Surely in themselves and their own fictions because they have renounced the Truth of God which they have been taught and are turned persecutors of it God hath given them up first to make and then to believe lies in which respect they are indeed the best believers and in that sense they speak not amiss in calling themselves the most believing sort of Protestants though in another sense they are the most unbelieving for they wil not believe the King in any thing let him promise profess and protest never so oft and solemnly unto them their Tongues Pens and actions proclaim publickly their unbelief yea they glory in their not believing and do all they can that others might be Infidels also in the same respect as wel as they their malicious notes upon his Letters are to this very purpose let them deny it if they can And as for God they believe him as little as they do the King for they dare not trust him for protection they have more confidence in the Militia a great deal and stand more upon it Beside if they did believe God they would also fear him Faith and Fear go together they would regard his word more and not so oppose it in all their ways or endevour to make it of none effect by their sinful Ordinances and traditions Besides faith in God discovers it self by doing the works of God and they are not Hatred Strife Sedition Rebellion Murder Lying Slandring and speaking evil of dignities which these men traffick solely in S. James tels us of Nudifidians who say they have Faith and boast that they have more then others sure these are the very men for they call themselves the more believing sort of Protestants the bare believing sort of Protestants perhaps they are they account good works but marks of Popery We confess our selves no such Protestants for we are of the Apostles mind As the body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without good works is dead also But they tel the Reader further and say If thou art an Enemy to Parliaments and Reformation and made wilfull in thine enmity above the help of miracles or such Revelations as these are then t is to be expected that thou wilt either deny these Papers to have been written by the Kings own Hand or else that we make just constructions and inferences out of them or lastly thou wilt deny that though they be the Kings owne and beare such a sense as we understand them in yet that they are blameable or unjustifiable against such Rebells as we are SECT IX 1. The slander laid upon us to be Enemies to Parliaments and Reformation Confuted 2. Of pretended Miracles Revelations and new Lights the taking the Kings Cabinet in Battle no Miracle 3. The Libellers weak Argument to prove an impossibility of forgery in their Parliament IT seems t is voted and decreed that if a man be not well affected to that cause which the men above board do maintaine He is then no lesse then an enemy to all Parliaments and Reformation yea past all hope of recovery wilfull in enmity beyond the help of miracles For it must be understood that all men being divided into two ranks Elect and Reprobate and the Elect being all on the Parliament side or well affected at least to their cause the rest must needs be all damned creatures enemies to Parliaments i. e. to the Common-wealth and all good Lawes yea and enemies to Reformation too that is to God and all true Religion and therefore away with such fellowes from the earth t is not fitting they should live they that cannot erre have so concluded Here by the way we may see a ground of all these bloody warres which many hitherto are ignorant of a reason of all these cruel declarations and injunctions to kill slay and destroy the forces raised by or adhering to the King why they are all Reprobates men hardned in Enmity against Parliaments and Reformation past all hope of recovery and therefore to be sent to Hell in all haste as to their proper place that so the earth the sole inheritance of Gods Elect ones may be wholly left to the free possession of its proper owners and fully cleared from those Enemies of God and Parliaments Well what we are Heaven knows for their Censures we passe not any more then Saint Paul did to be censured by the Corinthians we say with him He that Judgeth us is the Lord and whom the Lord condemneth shall be the onely condemned men at the great day and our Saviour tells us that then the first may be last and the last first the first in mens esteem the last in Gods and so è contra But let us a little reason the particular with them that thus fiercely charge upon us Must we of necessity be enemies to Parliaments and Reformation because we are not affected to their cause Doth this Parliament contain in it all other Parliaments that ever have been and as they hope ever shall be May not a man possibly dislike the proceedings of this and yet approve of the being of another May not a man wish the dissoultion of this and yet withall desire the convention of another May not the same man obhorre evill and love good hate vice and imbrace vertue May not a man affirme this no Parliament at all
of the Kingdome more frequently taught or better fed did they ever in any Nation under the Sun injoy more Peace and Happiness then they did all the time of His Reigne untill this unhappy Parliament turned all things up-side down and so made us of all Christians in the world well-nigh the most miserable and disconsolate Certainly though the Parliament Ministers are pleased to cry out in their Rethorick O the Affliction the Misery the Wormwood and the Gall of those times Yet Posterity in after Ages will acknowledge that the Nobility Gentry Clergy Citizens and Common-people of this Nation in the General did all arrive at the height of earthly happiness in King Charles his time whilest he alone did sway the English Scepter It is true there were Particular grievances from particular men both in Church and Common-wealth and can it be expected otherwise while we live in this world and some good men haply did suffer some hard usage at the hands of evill but did the King ever stop His eares at any Petition Did He ever deny Justice to any that did require it Or did He ever harden His Heart from shewing mercy where ere it was needful There was perhaps much whispering abroad and murmuring in Corners but was there alwayes a cause Mans Nature is apt some time to complaine for nothing even when there is more reason to be thankfull I will name the main particulars of offence and let the world judge what matter of blame did truly arise from them unto the King 1. The Bishops were cryed out upon to be too Rigorous but hath not the carriages of that faction which the Bishops did oppose since they have gotten Head largely acquitted them of that imputation in the judgement of all wise men surely they forefaw the mischief which we all now feel and did labour as became them in their places to prevent the same Perhaps every of them did not go the best way to work nor did use such apt Instruments as the case and time required I justifie no man in all particulars and perhaps too some of us who are now imprisoned banished and divested of all we have by this Reforming Parliament did in those dayes suffer more molestation from some of their unworthy Officers then many of those did who since that time have been most revengefull Three factious fellows had their ears clipt by the sentence of the Lords in the Star-Chamber and were set in the Pillory and this was exclaimed upon for great cruelty in the Bishops because they having been abused by them did not beg their pardon but how truly their necks also deserved the Hâ—lter hath well appeared by the late temper of their spirits and the little good use they have made of that their too small and gentle chastisement 2. The Star-Chamber and high Commission were two great Eye-sores for many great and heavy fines were layd on men for their sins sake in those Courts by the Kings Nobles and Judges some of whom are now great men with His greatest Enemies But how many of those fines did His Majesty in His tendernesse and goodnesse afterwards remit or cause to be mitigated and since the people would so have it He hath now given way even before the Act of continuing the Parliament that those Courts should be suppressed and so be no more offensive 3. Many people of the Kingdome voluntarily departed hence to New-England and this was pretended persecution from some who differed in opinion from them whom they called their Antichristian Enemies but now t is plainly apparent by that spirit which stayed behind in some of their fellowes that the true cause of their departure was only pride In themselves Cesar-like they could allow of no superiour either in Church or State no Bishop no King perhaps some of them might have tender Consciences through weaknesse or mis-information and some of the plainer sort might be honest men and went for company with the rest they knew not whither in the simplicity of their Spirits But t is well known they had all the countenance of the King and Councell to further them in the voyage and Plantation they carryed their Wealth and Goods with them and had supply of relief sent them continually from this Kingdome afterward untill this Warre caused the returne of many of them to help forward the destruction of their native soile and Country Indeed some are of opinion that they went to New-England only to learn and inure themselves to shed mans bloud we hear of few of the Heathens converted by them but of many masacred and by accustoming themselves to slaughter Infidells they have learned without scruple to murder Christians are better proficients then the Spaniards themselves in destroying those of their own Nation and Religion But as was said when they went first from hence they were suffered to carry their wealth with them they were not used as they and their faction use us who now suffer at their hands for our Conscience and the Gospell sake They take away all our goods make us beggars and then afterward if they do not murder us or starve us in prison they banish us into strange and desolate places with scarce cloaths on our backs to seek our fortunes 4. Great Complaints also there was of monopolies people payed an halfpenny more for a thousand of Pins then they were wont to doe and almost half a farding more for a pound of Sope and Starch then in former times when money was not so plentifull and such like heavy grievances did mightily oppresse them and made them weary of the Kings Government because He did permit of such things And yet the Excize upon bread and beer and flesh and cloathes and such like things as are sold in the market for mans use or spent in families was not then set up the Monopolizers durst not be so detrimental to the poor Subjects of this Kingdom while the King had the sole power in His Hands But since they got to be Members and Favourites of the Parliament they with their fellowes have Epimetheus-like opened this Pandorâ—'s Box and let loose amongst us all those Dutch miseries and they say the people are content to have it so though perhaps when they have been pilled or milked a few yeares longger by these new-State men it will be confessed that the Old Government viz. that of the King was far the better and the more easie 5. But the greatest complaint of all was Ship-money Ship-mony O that was a grievous burden indeed not to be stood under for a twentieth Part a fift Part weekly Contributions billetting of Souldiers seizing on Rents plundring of houses cutting of throats ravishing of women deflowring of Virgins and such like matters were not yet in fashion nor yet felt or known by the people of the Kingdome and therefore Ship-mony that was the great grievance But was not Ship-mony disputed and judged Legall before His Majesty did require it And when
not the King fight with his Enemies at their own weapons and oppose strangers to strangers Papists to Papists Is it so great a sin in him to use such men and are they no whit to be blamed for the same thing may not he with as much dependance upon God do in his necessity what they do in the midst of plenty may they imploy forrein aid to thrust him out of his inheritance and may not he with as good leave make use of the like to keep the possession of what God hath given him surely upon this consideration if the King for his part be worthy of censure they also deserve a portion of the same Condemnation no honest man but is of this judgment This is that advice which I propound to the indifferent Readers and which I conceive to be most agreeable to Christs Gospel if they now please to follow it they may through Gods blessing not only be kept out of a sinful path but also have better satisfaction in the matter discoursed upon then they are likely to receive from these Annotators whom I write against for these High-boys say plainly that all such who are not of their opinion are perfect Malignants and not worthy of any reply or satisfaction at all in this point viz. at their hands And they further proceed saying Our Cause is stil the same as it was when the King first took Arms and as it was when the King made most of these Oaths and Professions Our three Propositions concerning the Abolition of Episcopacy the Setling the Militia of the three Kingdoms in good hands by the advise of Parliament the Vindication of the Irish Rebels being all our main demands at the Treaty in February last and no other then the Propositions sent in June 1642. before any stroak struck wil bear us witness that we rather have straitned then enlarged our Complaints But were our case altered as it is not or were we worse Rebels then formerly c. These words are added to evidence their former And the Argument in them stands thus If our Cause be stil the same as at the Beginning and our selves as bad Rebels as we were at first then the King is such a one as we do repute him or would have him believed to be and those that think better of him are perfect Malignants and as unworthy of future satisfaction as we judge them But our Cause is stil the same as it was at the first and we are as bad Rebels as at the beginning Ergo. The Minor in this syllogisme we shal easily grant But did we not understand how unworthy we are in their account of any reply we should be bold to deny the Major For we conceive not how either the unalterableness of their Cause or their persistency in maintaining it can prove the King who opposeth both it and them to be as they report him Indeed if their reports of him were of a clean contrary nature to what they are the Argument might wel stand for the longer he perseveres to resist Rebellion and rebellious men the more fully doth he approve himself according to his Title and Profession The Defender of the true Faith and a tender Father of his Country for the continuance of their cause and of them in their way speaks a continuance if not an increase of their strength and this must needs infer a decrease of the Kings Power because what they have is taken from him and the Kings weakness affords an opportunity of shewing his own true worth He being debarred of outward assistance and supportments is separated from that which makes disfigured Monsters look handsomly Patience is a more substantial virtue then temperance and he that endures famishing without alteration hath more virtue then he that comes from a feast without a surfeit But I wil not spend words to them that list not to reply wherfore desiring all men to observe the simpleness and insufficiency of their Argument for the proof of what they would have it I shal shew the reason why their Cause is stil the same as at the beginning when the King first took up Arms in his own defence It is in a word because themselves are stil the same Traitâ—rs Heady High-minded lovers of themselves of their own lusts and wils more then of God their King and Country nor indeed can men ever love where they have cause to fear they must stil mistrust without all hope of reconciling whom they have injured beyond all remedy of amends Injuriam qui tulit oblivisci potest qui fecit nunquam though the King in his goodness may forgive yet they in their guiltiness cannot believe and therfore they are stil the same men and their Cause is stil the same Besides they have entangâ—ed themselves in such a labyrinth of mischiefs as in their own apprehensions they have no place left of acknowledging their error without a total ruine both of their Estates and Persons therfore also having learned the wisdome of Spes quisque sibi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are stil the same men and their cause is stil the same And moreover too should they deny themselves in the least particular or retract an hairs breadth from their first position what a Jealousie might it breed in peoples heads of their infallibility how easily might those whom they have led all this while on the blind side suspect them also erronious in other matters and so might they come to be despised in those minds wherin hitherto they have been enshrined with all devotions Peoples love is commonly according to their hope it grows and fades with it therfore should their hopes in these new State-men begin to fail their love towards them might fail too yea and perhaps be turned into hatred of them and so people returning to their former Loyalty might force those grand Imposters that have seduced them to yeild up the Militia to its right owner and betake themselves to the due order of their predecessours in former Parliaments which to do as yet they have no intention and therfore are stil the same men and their Cause is stil the same as at the first when they forced their Soveraign in his own defence to make use of those few Arms his friends brought him even to maintaine that breath which God had given him At which time to disswade if possible from this un natural War which he saw they did intend and foresaw would be destructive to his poor Subjects the King endevoured to heal their ulcered minds with all Princely favours and true shews of trust to which purpose he made many of those promises which they reckon up in a reproachful way as not performed by him at the end of their notes and wanting other means to manifest further the reality of his heart in those his professions they having robbed him of all his power he did for their very sakes that they might have the more assured confidence confirm his
second had neglected to observe his Fathers Testament and therefore as one under Gods curse ought meritoriously to be dealt withall as Edward the second was first deposed and then put to death and so would they make use of that Act of his in fortifying themselves another way to do him a further mischief but God we trust will prevent them and guide him And thus we have seen the true reasons of their first Proposition concerning Abolition of Episcopacy And we hope if His Majesty be forced as Henry the third was to subscribe to any thing against his will he will do as some of the Martyrs have don in a like straite first of all require of them that urge these unreasonable propositions upon him before he signes them to imprecate publikely and in a solemn manner upon themselves and posterities all the demerit of guilt and sin which shall be incurred at Gods Hand by such a subscription If their Consciences think there be no sinne in the matter they will easily doe it but if they refuse it will manifestly appear to the whole world that they are most devillishly minded thus to presse the King to things unlawfull In the next place they require the settling of the Militia of the three Kingdomes in good hands by advise of Parliament SECT XIIII 1. Their unreasonablenesse in desiring the Militia to be in their sole disposall Four weak and dangerous pretences for it 2. Four true Grounds of this their demand 3. How sinfull and dangerous a thing it would be to the Church People and Kingdome if the King should grant it IT is to be noted the Militia not of one but of three Kingdomes they must have all or none as Moses would not leave an Hâ—ofe behinde with King Pharoah so these will not leave a weapon with the King They will have the whole Militia of the 3. whole Kingdomes settled say they in good hands But what Hands are those If gentle peaceable and Religious hands are such then was the Militia of the Kingdome in good hands before untill by the fraud and violence of these demanders it was wrested thence But if by good Hands they mean such as have now griped the same into their possession God forbid that the King should ever willingly yeild it should be setled there or that the people of the Kingdome should ever consent thereto for so they might pull the guilt of that Innocent bloud which hath already and is still likely to be shed by it while so setled upon their owne heads It was alwayes till now without scruple beleeved for an undoubted truth that those hands were the best which Gods Word and the Law of the Land so judged and committed the Militia into and those were only the Kings no law Common or Statute can be shewed whereby it was ever setled elsewhere And in Gods Word Kings though Heathens are intituled Gods sword-bearers in respect of their office to execute punishment upon evil doers In the story of Israels Government we read of King Sauls selected band which himselfe alone made choice of and of Davids Worthies and of his appointing Captaines over hundreds and over thousands the Militia it seemes was in his sole hands then Himselfe made Joab the Generall of his Hoste and displaced him again at his own pleasure Indeed we know that the forme of Government in the Jewish Common-wealth is much slighted and scorned at by our new State-mongers as weak unperfect and unfit for this Nation the Government of Heathen Rome is in their Judgements the most absolute and this is that say they which they aspire after But we are of opinion that God Almighties wisdome is better then theirs is or then that of the Heathens was and we believe that those State-Governments are the only best and most fit for Christians that come neerest unto that which God himself contrived and prescribed unto his own people and we well remember when ours here held a neer conformity unto that we best flourished Nor can we conceive why the same we had should be more unsuteable to the Nation now all upon the suddain then heretofore but only because these Innovators have at the present unfitted people for Gods Yoak by making them Rebellious And for this reason it seemes we must now forsake the direction of Gods Word and of Law established to listen after a certain new advise from these few men who call themselves the Parliament who as if all wisdom were lodged in them must take upon them to Nominate some New good hands to settle the Militia of the Kingdoms in for after-times But we are confident before-hand they wil like him that chose himself Pope determine only for themselves and judge their own hands the best of all others though alas the whole Kingdom hath felt the Contrary by smarting experience But may it not be imagined that men so excessively wise are ful of reason what therfore may the grounds be of this unreasonable demand the like to which I never met with in any story and doubtless should it be granted the King as himself says wel should remain But the outside but the picture but the sign of a King For in the Militia of the Kingdom consists the Kings power his Authority and to yeild to the setling of this in any hands but his own were to yeild up his Crown it self his very Kingdom Now therfore by what right or reason they should claim the Kings Crown I cannot imagine unless perhaps they have bargained for that right which the Pope had therunto by King Johns resignation The story saies that the King received it back of the Pope to hold from thenceforth in fee farm of Him and his Successours for the yearly rent of a 1000 Marks Now perhaps upon the Kings non-payment of the said rent they have gotten the Popes right conveyed to them and do bottom this their demand upon it and that strict intelligence which Lenthall the Speaker brags that himself keeps with the Cardinall Mazarine may peradventure be about the setling of the said conveyance but this is a secret which the people must not know of or wil not believe nor wil I press it upon them and therfore they have other pretences and say they demand it 1. Because those good Hands which the Parliament wil make choice of to settle the Militia in are sure hands that is hands that may be trusted which wil never part again with what they have once griped or laid hold upon never a pack of Knaves in the world shal be able to cheat them of their Magazines their Ships their Towns and Castles if once the whole power of the Kingdom be at their disposing they wil not take mens words nor believe their Oaths nor credit their Honesties as the King hath done nor wil they be so scrupulous as he hath bin of giving occasions of suspicion to his inferior Subjects Besides themselves being as themselves say Gods Children have
nobis esse hic 't is better to stay at home and play 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then to adventure abroad How would the King then appear so abundantly glorious Do they imagine it could be any thing to his glory to have it reported in the Courts of forrein Princes that the Monarch of Great Brittain after twenty years managing his inheritance left him by his predecessours and weilding the Scepter of three Kingdoms to the great prosperity and wealth of his Subjects hath submitted himself to Pupillage under the Command of a few ordinary Gentlemen his own vassals at their requests who think themselves wise enough and therfore take upon them as his Tutors and Guardians to Govern not only himself and his Kingdom but also his very Family and Houshold they appoint him what Servants shal wait upon him and have power to dispose of his Children in marriage without his consent or if they please against his wil. Can any man think that such a report would speak the King in a Glorious Condition Would not Strangers reply and say Is this the Honour of the English King and his great Priviledge above other Princes He may enjoy it sure without Emulation no man wil ever envy him this glory But is this indeed the English mens kindness to their Common Father their gratitude for all their happiness and peace under him Is this the upshot of all their great promises to him Is this that Royal Prerogative that happy freedom which those who stand so much upon their own liberty can in their good nature find in heart to afford unto their Soveraign Would not the meanest of them all disdain to be in that Condition What Neither have Command over his Subjects nor yet over his houshold servants Neither have power to chuse a Wife for his Son nor to bestow his Daughter in marriage Must the Right Worshipful his Tutors and Guardians have the sole disposing of his Children No doubt but they wil have a care to match them into such Haggard stocks that the English Nation shal never more be blessed with any Right-bred Eagles Thus would Forreiners descant upon our Kings Condition should he yeild to the desires of these men and this they would have us believe would be to his great glory Yea and furthermore they have bin teaching the People ever since the Parliament began that the Kings office properly is but only to put in Execution what the Parliament shal Decree to see offenders punished according to the minde and pleasure of his great Councell From whence we learne that there is a preferment waiting for him if he have but a care to please his little Great Masters well and be dilligent to come when they call to go and do as they bid in lieu of his settling the Militia of the three Kingdomes in their hands they will bestow upon him the grand Executionership of the Kingdome which He and His after him shall hold of them and their successours quà m diù se benè gesserint which may be an Office not onely of profit in such Tyrannicall times as we are like to have under their Government but also of pleasure if the King will but put off his mercifull disposition and learne of them to delight in slaughter and shedding of bloud And thus we see what great Dignity and Glory upon his resignation of the Militia is like to be conferred upon Englands King But what man now not void of Reason considering withall the tearmes these Demanders stand in at the present with the King will not conclude this their pretence of making the King Glorious to be onely one of their Flouts which in their pride and bitterness they are pleased to put upon their Soveraigne even for his easiness and goodness in giving credit at first so far to their Oathes and Honesties as to suffer them already to over-reach him truly as a plain scorn we apprehend it for let them Answer us a question or too Would dutifull and loyall Subjects as they call themselves desire any thing in earnest of their Prince and not first lay down their Harness Do not these their weapons speak that by violence or dread they intend to obtain their purpose Have not these very men seized already by fraud and force upon that very thing without the Kings leave which they require of him to grant them Do they not by calling themselves the Militia declare Evidently that they account themselves the everlasting Masters of it Do they intend if the King shall think meet to deny their request to yeeld up presently that possession which they have already of the same We suppose not for they claime in their Tenents all earthly power and Authority to be theirs by right as they are Gods Children They are so bold as to say Gods Providence hath cast into their hands that strength of the Militia which by unjust meanes they have seized upon and they have entred into an Oath and Covenant in effect to keep the same in despight of the King and with it to suppress and destroy all them that shall ayde and assist the King to recover His own again And what is all this but as Micha speakes to oppresse a man and his House Yea a King and his Heritage and to resolve to continue in so doing even because they have gotten a power into their Hands But tell us O you pretenders to Piety where in the meane time is that Subjection to the King for Conscience sake which S. Paul calls for and that obedience for the Lords sake which Saint Peter requireth will you all hold as some of your fellow-members have maintained that these Precepts were onely in date in the Primitive times when the People of God lived under Heathen Persecutors and are of no concernment in these dayes now Gods people have got strength Or do you think the bare calling your selves His Majesties most Dutifull and Loyall Subjects a sufficient observance of those injunctions We beleeve neither of these excuses will satisfie Christ Jesus at the reckoning day But in the interim doth not your desiring the King that the Militia may be setled in your hands plainly infer that in your own Consciences you have done him wrong in seizing already upon it without his leave Surely if the right of settling it be now in him the right of seizing upon it before was not in you but you did a manifest injury to His Majesty in meddling with it against his will and a far greater yet you intend to do him by your resolving still to keep it by force if you may not have it confirmed by his Approbation unlesse you will yeeld that this your demand proceeds from the scorners Chaire you must of necessity grant us thus much But in very deed these men have other reasons for this their unreasonable request though they are ashamed to name them I shall do it for them for mine aymes are like those of Christ my Master in his preaching
to discover Hypocrites that men might beware of them They are these 1. If the King can be gotten to settle the Militia in their hands all the Injustice and unlawfulnesse of the war on their side will be thereby cancelled and whatsoever they have done against him and his subjects will be Authorized as found and good their crafty seizing upon it at first and their violent use thereof since to the destruction of so many will go for worthy deeds and the King will be judged to have been much to blame in making any opposition against them and for his calling them Rebells His own Act will be the eating of those his own words and speake them to have been His most humble dutifull and obedient subjects all the while they fought against him yea and all they did in that kinde to have been done out of pure love to His Good and Glory and for the benefit of Church and Common-wealth And then too if withall the King shall but confer some new Titles of Honour upon their Chieftaines as when time was he did upon Lesley for this they expect and intend to demand too then they shall appeare White all over and who will dare to say to the contrary and full as good subjects almost as their Brethren the Scots That is one Reason 2. If they can get the King to settle in their Hands that depositum of Power and Authority which God hath intrusted in His they shall bring him as they desire into their own condition and make him such a one to God as themselves have been and are to him whereby Gods displeasure may be so far kindled against him that he may permit them having all the power in their hands to bring their endeavours fully to passe in destroying Him and His posterity and then the world shall be taught to beleeve that Heaven hath punished him for such His sin and confirmed with its blessing all their sayings and doings against him that God was of their minde all the while as now by the success is most apparent Honesta quaedam scelera successus facit saies Seneca the highest Villanies if succesfull shall be accounted vertues and these men care not to obtain truths but opinions warrant 3. They desire the Militia may be settled in their hands quia omnis in ferro salus est their whole safety consists therein it is the Nurse of their wealth and the sole Anchor of their security for O si pateant pectora virûm quantos intus sublimis agit fortuna metus what great feares have these mens High fortunes created in their Bosomes could we but view their insides They dare neither trust the King nor yet the Countrey that trusted them for should the strength be in any hands but their own they might be called to an account for all their doings the Law might be in force again and Justice suffered to shew her face Treason should sit no longer in the seat of Religion Truth might appear above-board and Peace be restored unto the Nation and Order might come again into fashion Yea had the King His power again He might call a Parliament a true Parliament a free Parliament which is a thing that they quake to think on for then like a Company of poore Hope-losts they should stand below and look up to that place of Honour where erst they sat and have so much abused and who in their condition can indure this Nemo Hercule nemo No mervail therefore if they desire to hold fast the Militia in their own hands 4. Should they part with it they should not onely degrade themselves of their present Honour and disarme themselves of safety but of their wealth and riches too for all is now at their Command the Lands Estates the goods and Fortunes of all their Country-men which the Militia of the Kingdome hath invested them with a right in and possession must be maintainted by the same meanes as obtained But should the Militia return into the Hands of the right owner Honest men would enjoy their own as before and they who are now so Gay would remaine stark Naked like Jack-daw in the fable when every bird had re-assumed her own feathers And then further too their pleasures would also cease that sweetnesse they feel in shedding of bloud would be no more which very want would be as bad as death unto them their Natures are now so accustomed unto it In a word as Amos speakes they have gotten them Hornes by their own strength or sleight and the Hornes are the defence of the Head the Militia are these Hornes and should they part with that they fear they should not keep their Heads long after and therefore great reason they have rather to desire the settlement of it for ever in their own Hands But with their favour what reason hath the King to trust them that will not trust Him them with His weapons upon that experience He hath had of their love and kindnesse Who will not trust Him with His own Can it be imagined that they will imploy them otherwise then they have done considering what their delights are Nay may it not be expected that they will make Him the Author of all their Evill which from thenceforth they shall doe when by His consent the power is once settled in their goods Hands Surely they that used His name to the raising of so many men against Himself to the killing of so many of His Subjects when He openly opposed them will not scruple to doe all their mischeif under His Name and Authority when they have so faire a pretence for it Nay should the King doe in this as they would have Him may not the Just and Holy God account Him a partaker with them in Evill His Majesty by His own pious confession hath smarted under the Hand of God for His consenting though doubtlesse against His will to the shedding of Straffords innocent Bloud and should He againe after His Humiliation for that by a new consent make Himself guilty of many more Blouds the continued Anger of the Almighty might be too heavy a burden for Him to beare No doubt but they are and will be the more importunate for His consent now because they see His heart hath smot Him for His consent then for how ever it was blattered much at the beginning by those of their faction against forcing of tender Consciences yet verily we beleeve there were never men that delighted more in offering violence to the Soules and Consciences of the righteous then themselves do wherefore should His Majesty yeild to them in this particular it would be in singultum cordis a corrasive to His Heart for ever and therein a glory unto them and also it would argue too great a distrust in Gods defence of Him and be a mean to delay Gods punishment from falling upon the heads of these lofty Rebells And besides all this His Majesty hereby shall give way to the settling
That 't is an heinous crime and sin in the King to endeavour to maintain Monarchy or to solicite any Princes though Protestants and of his owne nearest bloud and Alliance beside to aide him therein 3. That all Princes are contained and included in the King of Denmarke for in the Kings soliciting him he solicites all them Whence by the way we may also observe how provident these times are in providing for the credit of their future Clergy for 't is doubtlesse for their sakes that an Argument à singularibus ad universalia is here amongst other like stuffe made paâ—â—able and good by Authority and speciall Order of Parliament Concerning the Religion of these men it hath been made apparent already that the fruits and effects of it speake it to be such a one as deserves the hatred of all men though it cannot under any proper name be the object of the Kings opposition for no man can directly say what it is themselves are not yet resolved upon it nor what to call it But whatever is the ground of the Kings opposing them 't is evident that the Cause of their resisting him which I hope all Christian Princes will take speciall notice of is for Monarchy sake he would maintaine Monarchy He will not tamely admit the downfall of Monarchy in this noble Kingdome which these men as appears by their owne words would faine effect and therefore they thus persecute him and exclaim upon him nor are they either ashamed or affraid to intimate the same to the whole world let all the Monarchs of the Earth take it as an open defyance if they please they thinke themselves able to grapple with them all yea they and their faction where ere they prevaile are resolved not to leave a Monarch standing I desire of all you His Majesties Subjects of Great Brittain and Ireland who have unfortunately been seduced by this faction but to observe well this discovery which themselves have made by this passage of their own intentions they have told you oft and perhaps may tell you againe by some impudent speech or declaration that they intend still to maintaine true Religion and Monarchy in this Kingdome to have a King over them and that they be only ill tongues Enemies to Parliaments that say otherwise c. But I beseech you beleeve not a word they say to this purpose for God hath here made their owne tongues and pens to betray their Hearts for your sakes that you might speedily withdraw your selves from their seduction and not be their Instruments to embrew your hands in the bloud of your Soveraigne and to take from him his Inheritance who hath alway defended you in yours with peace and plenty till by their fraud and violence he was disabled and how have you enjoyed your selves and comforts since let your experience speak it to your owne Hearts Be you assured from what you have felt that Monarchy is the Protection of this Nation and of you the good people in it call but to minde the daies past when a Monarch only had the Militia in his disposing quà m placide poâ—ens dominusque vitae how pleasingly powerfull was he in the use of it with what innocent hands did he sway the Scepter How unbloudy was his whole raigne How tender and sparing of the lives of his Subjects Populus iste non bella nôrâ—t non tubae fermituâ— truces non arma gentes cingeres assuêrant suas muris nec urbes we knew not what Warres or Alarums meant nor did we need weapons to protect our selves nor Walls to defend our Cities pervium cunctis iter every man might travaile safely communis usus omnium rerum fuit there was a common use of all Common blessings yea and every man beside without disturbance enjoyed the comfort of his own Labours But since Monarchiall Government hath been obscured by these mens introduction of themselves upon the Stage of Action what hath been in practise amongst us but all kind of Oppression Tyranny Injustice and Villany whereof I heartily wish that your Experience did need my further information wherefore I pray take speciall notice of this passage 't is published you see to the world by Authority of Parliament yea by their speciall Order and therefore you have reason to beleeve it to be the true intent of their Hearts and the rather because 't is so agreeable to all their Actions yea though the contrary should be told you hereafter by the same Authority Be it known I say unto you all and remember it well the end of all these warres and fightings against the King is to destroy Monarchy in this Kingdome and to keepe you the free-borne Subjects of it in this turbulent slavish and underly condition whereunto a few of your Tyrannicall fellow-Subjects have already brought you they tell you sometimes that 't is the Militia of the Kingdome onely which they would have settled in good hands and the King shall be King still but your experience have taught you that no hands are so good as his neither can the Kings bare Title be able to defend you in your possession They tell you that they will defend you but you have payed for so much wit as to judge of what you shall have by what you have had already from them therefore as no man having tasted old wine straightway desireth new viz. if he be also acquainted with the relish of the new for he saies the Old is better so you having had a sufficient tast of both Governments the Monarchicall and the other new one which we cannot yet tell by what name to call have no reason by any meanes to allow of this since you are so sure that the old is better In a word let this Conclusion be rooted in your Hearts which experience hath in part confirmed unto your senses that as the Moone and Starres would fall infinitly short of that bright Lustre which now they have if the Sunne were stripped of his abundant shining so take from the King his Royall Prerogative let him be as a King and no King and all the people great and small will quickly feel that from his flourishing Condition proceeded all their happinesse I shall not here need to spend time in shewing the Excellency of Monarchy above all other Governments and the fitnesse of it for this Nation abler Pens have done that abundantly since the beginning of this unreasonable Rebellion only this I say to introduce any other forme into this Kingdome is a new thing never yet in being here and therefore I apprehend such an Act to be a perfect opposition unto Gods revealed will whosoever be the Agents in it for as the saying is Qui mala introducit voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatum in verbo qui nova introducit voluntatem Dei oppugnat revelatum in rebus and therefore I advise all Statesmen consulere providentiam Dei cum verbo Dei to take Councell of Gods Providence as well as of
and who should be the greatest among them which doubtlesse was no small molestation to his heavenly Spirit nor was this all he met with many unkindnesses from them too he was wounded in the house of his friends forsaken of his Disciples when the times grew black and cloudy yea and afterward his very Appstles themselves fled from him one forswore him and another betrayed him And even in this also hath the King been like unto him there hath been strange divisions and strivings among his Followers for place and preferment to his Majesties great griefe and damage He hath had wounds given him by his friends and deep ones too they have enlarged his sorrowes they that had dependence on him have forsaken him because his afflictions were great upon him His servants have renounced their relation to him yea those whom he trusted have betrayed him they that eat of his bread have lift up the heele against him onely Christ had but one Judas whereas the King hath had many but Christ indeed knew what is in man and therefore did not commit himselfe unto them in which knowledge the King hath been defective and so hath been deceived 12. Christ expected that his three speciall Apostles whom he chose out of all the rest for that purpose should watch and pray with him and for him in his greatest Agony but they even they â—lumbred and slept and left him in that great and sad houre to tread the Wine-presse himselfe alone Even so the best of us from whom his Majestie may expect most speciall services of this nature in his agonies and sorrowes for that we are ordained on purpose in regard of our office and calling to watch and pray Alas we sleep we faile in such our duties for him we have left him in a manner quite desolate that he may take up to himselfe that word of Christ and say of my people there was none with me And as our Saviour notwithstanding that failing in dutie towards him in his necessitie did excuse the weaknesse of his Disciples the spirit sayes he is willing but the flesh is weake so hath our King done even excused the failings of his Subjects towards him How oft hath he been heard to say of many they are willing to help me but are not able and when he heard related the weaknesse of one who Peter-like had saved his life by a recantation the man sayes he I thinke is honest and loves me well only he is affraid to die 13. But to draw to a conclusion as Christ deserved none of this hard measure which he found at the hands of those that offered the same he alwayes merited their greatest respect and loving affections many good workes saith he have I done for which of them doth you stone me Many Sermons had he preached many good Prayers had he made many Diseases had he cured manie Miracles had he wrought yet all was forgotten malice and spight did raze out the remembrance of all So the King hath deserved nothing but good from the hands and hearts of his Subjects He may also say manie good Acts of Grace have I passed for your benefit O my people manie blessings have you enjoyed under my Government manie yeares of peace and plenty under my protection for which of them do you thus hunt me thus persecute and molest me Indeed Christs enemies sinned against their own Consciences in all they did against him as appeares by that their saying if we let this man alone all will believe in him as if they had said he is so holy in his life so true in his sayings so gracious and good in his conversation so mild so sweet and affable in his whole carriage that we are like to lose all our credit with the people unlesse we ruine him and therefore on purpose they belyed and beslandred him yea by all means laboured to engage the people with themselves against him yea they made them their instruments to doe him all the mischiefe and perswaded them that in their so doing they did God good service Thus the Kings enemies also have gone against their owne Consciences in all their doings against him and for the very same reason they know him to be so full of grace and goodnesse that if people were but let alone they would quickly all adhere unto him and so themselves of all men should become the most odious to prevent which they have bedaubed him with lies and slanders and engaged the people to be their instruments to persecute and abuse him yea and made them to think that they serve God in so doing 14. Last of all the Pharisees pretended salutem populi in all these their doings against Christ and that they did all for the good of the Common-Wealth better one man die sayes the chiefe of them then all the people perish yet Pilate easily perceived that all was out of meer envy and malice and therefore askes them what particular accusation they could bring against him but they could alledge none only they tell him in generall termes if he were not a Malefactor we would not have brought him before thee He must take their words and contrary to his own sence believe that they were too holy to harbour envy or to doe any thing against any man without cause indeed afterward they inferred plainly that the reason why they sought to take away his life was because he was their King He makes himselfe a King say they and therefore is not Caesars friend S. Matthew sayes that this was his very accusation which Pilate set over his head on the Crosse Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jewes which was in effect thus much This Jesus was accused and thus crucified as you here see only because he was King of the Jewes The Pharisees indeed would have had him altered the words and set down because he said he was the King of the Jewes but sayes Pilate quod scripsi scripsi what I have written is the truth and so it shall stand in Hebrew Greeke and Latine that all the world may know your Jewish basenesse Thus were their dealings with our Saviour and thus also have our English Jewes in all respects dealt with their Soveraign they have pretended salutem populi the preservation of the Common-Wealth as if that were like to perish if he did not yet one that hath but a Pilates eye a meer naturall eye if not coloured with Rebellion may plainly see that the root of all is meer envy and malice let any body aske the chiefe among them what personall evill or accusation they can bring against the King there can be nothing answered but in generall termes if there were not a cause if he were not a malefactor His great Councell would not doe as they have done against him But what that cause is or wherein he is so faulty cannot be made manifest only their words must be taken
corruption in our nature and practice and for mine owne Name sake saith the Lord I will defer mine anger and for my praise will I refraine from thee that I cut thee not off and againe the second and third time for mine owne sake even for mine owne sake will I doe it and in another place not for your sakes be it knowne unto you will I doe this but for mine owne holy Name sake this Name of God is that strong hold which Zachariah the Prophet directs unto in times of danger and that Tower whereunto the righteous flie and are safe as Solomon tells us But then though our selves indeed be as nothing in this case yet our miseries which are great upon us may be said to have an influence upon Gods pitie to stirre him towards us for the oppression of the poore and sighing of the needy I will arise saith the Lord and will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him And againe because they have called thee an out-cast I will restore health unto thee and heale thy wound thus have they called us thus have they made us and that for Gods name sake which makes the more for us yea and yet they give God thanks for their successe against us as if he approved of their injuries to us and this is further also to our advantage as the Spirit tels us in the Prophet Your Brethren that hated you and cast you out for my name sake said let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed as if he had said the sooner for that And to assure us of this we have a further argument yet scil the engagement of his Gospel with us which is as deeply interessed in our sufferings as we our selves are and doth as equally need deliverance yea that is likely to abide under disgrace and obloquy if the cause we are persecuted for be not supported nay if our enemies meet not with Confusion in their way Christ's whole life and carriage as well as his Doctrine will fall under suspition and condemnation by their prevailing 't is well known that his name is pretended in all their proud rebellious butcherly opinions and proceedings as if he had given some precept or example for such doctrines and doings and had discountenanced that low way of humilitie obedience meeknesse and love to Brethren yea to enemies which we maintain and suffer for But Christ's Gospel is his glory 't is his word which he is resolved to magnifie above all things and to vindicate the Honour of that his Father to whom he cannot be unfaithfull hath committed all Authoritie and power into his hand wherefore we need not feare though we are now down we shall rise again though we sit in darknesse yet the Lord shall be a light unto us he will plead our cause he shall execute Judgement for us Yea and that for his Justice sake also for Christ is King still for all this and Judge of all the earth and his office is to help them to right that suffer wrong to punish ill doers yea his delights are to confound the crafty and to throw down the proud and lofty Bloud guiltinesse he hareth how was Cain branded for it and cursed How were Simeon and Levi in their posterity scattered but for one bloudy act in heat and anger they had not yet arrived at studied or reiterated murther Rebellion he abhorreth and rather then that shall goe unpunished God will create a new thing the earth shall open her mouth and swallow up Corah and his Companions if Moses cannot master them and rather then Absalom and Achitophel shall scape their due demerits the one shall hang himselfe and his haire the other let David doe his best to save his sonnes life he shall not have his will for God is King above him and hath decreed that Justice shall be done upon all Traitours Treachery and falshood his soule loatheth and therefore hath ordained it shall cut its own throat rather then want an Executioner and be the cause of its own ruine in deed what was never true in it selfe cannot be long true unto it selfe Ephraim and Manasseh may be both against Judah but before they have done they will be as much against each other nay rather then faile Egyptian shall be against Egyptian falshood will find enemies amongst those of its own House and herd there may be a Conspiracy in it but no true concord for 't is only righteousnesse and peace that can kisse each other The strongest fire-brands in ill are like the fire-brands of Sampsons Foxes knit but in the tailes not heads nor hearts how sure in the end are they to burn their own knots asunder No Confederacy sayes God nor Association without me shall stand take Councell together it shall come to nought and gird your selves as strongly as you can you shall without faile be broken in pieces the zeal and justice of the Lord of Hosts will bring this to passe for us He hath done the like for his people in times past and he will not leave his ancient custome which may bring to our thoughts another Argument of assurance It hath been Gods wont when he hath beat his child to burn the rod Babilon the Hammer of the whole earth was at length broken Ashurs glory and greatnesse though some years in growing was consumed in a moment the rod of Gods anger is also the object of his indignation the instruments of his judgement scape not his fury the dreggs of the cup fall out to be their portion I will take the dreggs of the cup of my fury out of thy hand saith the Lord to his people with whom he had begun and will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee and have said to thy soule bow down that we may go over The rod of the wicked may be upon the back of the righteous but it shall not rest there namely for ever But perhaps you 'l say when will God doe this How long How long shall we stay before we have experience of it Himselfe sayes after a little while mine indignation shall cease towards thee and mine anger shall end in their destruction God doth all things in due time he gives rain to the earth food to man and fury to his enemies and all in due serson to me belongeth vengeance and recompence saith the Lord their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make hast every thing is most beautifull in its season and a worke of this nature is then in season and most beautifull when Gods hand is so clearly seen in it that all men may confesse and say verily it was his doing But what are the signes of that season I 'le name four and so
a most Heavenly work to rid the earth of him and a service most acceptable unto the Lord when Raviliack was demanded by his examiners to declare the reason moving him to his attempt he answered That the reasons why it was requisite to kill the King they might understand by the Sermons and Pamphlets of the Preachers Wel Sirs we all know the meaning both of you and of your Prophets and therefore as Elias from the Lord did charge Ahab with the death of Naboth because the letters provoking to it were signed with his seal so do I from the same Lord charge you with all those evil opinions and hard conceits which are already kindled in the mindes of any against the King by the meanes of this Pamphlet because 't is published by your Authority Yea if any further mischief shall befall his Sacred Majesty upon the same at your hands will the Judge of Heaven and Earth require it and know you further that the guilt of all the blasphemies reproaches scornes slanders which are spit out against the King either in this book or any other published by your leave and Order without your deep repentance and humiliation shal be heaped upon your Souls at the day of Reckoning even as if your own selves had been the Authors of them for nil interest sceleri an faveas aut facias to favour and to doe in this case is all one nay the Apostle speaks as if those who appove of other folks ill doings were in a degree worse then the Actors themselves and given up in a further measure to a Reprobate sense Qui non vetat peccare cum potest jubet saies the wise Heathen not to prevent a mischief when one may is directly to command it to be done Gentlemen for as your souls friend I would fain have you recover again that Title I charge you before the living God and Jesus Christ who shall one day sit in judgement upon you to ask your Consciences in secret whether it be not a sin and a wickednesse to speake evil of the Ruler of the people to act Shimei's part against Gods Anointed whether to write or publish such Pamphlets as this be the way to Honour the King in the eyes of his people Whether you have thus learned Christ from the Church of England Whether you ever met in Gods word with any saying or example to warrant you in this way of proceeding And I require you also as you will answer it before the Lord to ask your own hearts whether to Authorize such a work as this to the Kings defamation be a Christian work Honourable and becoming the dignity of a Parliament whose actions ought al to be glorious and presidentiall Nay is it an Act prudentiall in you thus publikely to own and countenance this prolem populi this abominable thing which the very Parents and Authors of are ashamed to father What will you say 't is one of the Priviledges of Parliament you fight for to Authorize things against the King against your own Allegeance end Protestation surely ab initio non fuit sic former Parliaments disdained to own such a Priviledge to tread in such pathes Or will you say you are more Omnipotent then those your Predecessours were who never had those brave advantages that you have true nor never did desire them But can your new Omnipotency make that which is evil in it self turn good by your Authorization I pray where had you this large Commission Who gave you this Authority Christ in whose hand is all power never did let your Chaplains prove it if they can or your Consciences affirm it if they dare Nor will that Writ which called you together and fixt you in your Spheare at Westminster tell you that the King the fountain of power under God did place you there in this sort to exercise your Activity against him your Patent therefore by which you have Authorized this work of darknesse must needs come ab Inferno And can you expect that the Judge of quick and dead will at the great day pronounce well done good and faithfull Servant unto you for doing Satans work for executing his Commission O how much better will you finde then it had been if you had wrapt up your Talents in a Napkin and in the meane time how much more had it been to the dignity of that High Court of Parliament which you pretend so much to stand for if you had but left out the name Parliament and said Published by speciall Order of the Rebellious faction in the two Houses at Westminster But now I have begun to take upon me to speak unto you O you lofty men let me ask you a question more to a like purpose What reward or commendation can you expect at Gods hand for maintaining your Beadsman Britanicus to libell against his Soveraigne to teach and excite by his weekly books the ignorant and seduced vulgar throughout the Kingdome to joyn with him in reviling and laughing to scorn their publike Father now your selves have most unjustly thrust him into affliction Dare you say his expressions are not vile O let me beg pardon of my Soveraigne and of all modest men if to the shame of these mens faces and to the increase of indignation in all godly spirits against their courses I doe with detestation repeate over here one of his passages published to the world on Monday the 4. of August 1645. Where is King Charles What is become of him Some say when he saw the storme comming after him as far as Bridgewater he came away to his dearly beloved in Ireland Yes they say he ran away out of the Kingdome very Majestically Others will have him erecting a new Monarchy in the Isle of Anglesey A third sort say that he hath hid himselfe it were best send Hue and Cry after him If any man can bring any tale or tidings of a wilfull King which hath gone astray these four yeares from his Parliament with a guilty Conscience bloudy hands and a heart full of broken vowes and protestations if these marks be not sufficient there is another in his mouth for bid him speak and you will soon know him then give notice to Britanicus and you will be payd for your paines GOD SAVE THE PARLIAMENT O you Men of Westminster is this your Beadsman that prayes for you that works for you that is maintained and cherished by you then these are the scornes of your hearts the flouts of your Spirits that are vomited up by his mouth and pen if not why have you not hang'd the villain or rather torn him in pieces with wild horses Are not you they that call your selves the Kings most Humble most dutifull and most Loyall Subjects Are not you they that would be accounted the Holy just most Christian and unerring Parliament have you not talked much of reforming our Church and Government and will you countenance and favour such persons Is this the Reformation you
large thus That the King or rather he who was once in that office hath voluntarily and freely without being urged by any occasion in the world forsaken his place wherein he ought to have remained and which to His great content He might still have enjoyed had he so pleased being not only obliged thereunto by His Duty but also importuned by the most Humble supplications and prostrate intreaties of His Great Councel But He meerly out of his own ill disposition is departed thence and hath taken up not onely a standing but a Seat yea hath bound Himselfe by obligation entred into a covenant with Hell to sit to sit we say as the Psalmist speake for we would have all the Common people know that we have Scripture for what we say in the Seat of the Scornfull that is as our Prophets interpret to remain for ever in the Highest Throne and degree of wickednesse that man or Devill can reach unto whereby it appeares that Ahab-like he hath sold himselfe to work all evill even with greedinesse and is past all hope of recovery Moreover he hath intentionally and on set purpose been already the ruine almost of three whole Kingdomes and had been so altogether ere this had not His Great Councell a company of most Holy Chast Innocent Wise and infallible good men sitting now at Westminster in their great pitty and commiseration of spirit and out of their abounding piety and meere natural goodnesse interposed themselves whereby thanks only to them the three Kingdomes are yet kept in being which before they put to their helping hands were at the very brim of destruction And yet notwithstanding this wilful King hath left their most Sacred sweet and peaceable society out of a pure hatred to them and to their vâ—rtues and hath not onely stepped unawares but hath even eat and drunk with Publicans and Sinners yea and walked deliberately in the Councels of the wicked and ungodly Insomuch that it is to be thought the total ruine of the three Kingdomes will shortly be accomplished do what the Great Councel can to the contray unless some Noble Brutus some Valiant Cassius out of love to their Countries Liberty will take the paines to stab this Cesar some devout Raviliack in his zeal unto Religion wil do God the service or the kindnesse rather to free the world and Church of this destructive Tyrant for 't is better as Scripture saies that one man should die then that all the People perish then that three whole Kingdomes should be destroyed We refer the matter to their own Consciences whether this be not the true sense of their spirits and whether they would not have the people thus to understand their words against the King And to prevent scruples which may arise in the hearts of any about the Businesse which they would have done they adde to the former the words following saying And though in our Tenents we annex no infallibility to the seat of a King in Parliament as the Romanists do to the Papall Chaire since all men are subject to Errour yet we dare boldly say that no English King did ever from that place speak destruction to His people but safety and Honour nor any that abhorred that seat and Councell but did the contrary These words I say are added to their foregoing description of the King not only to further the Businesse aymed at but also in way of prevention for some might make a scruple of Conscience as David did to kill the King notwithstanding these suggestions because He is the Lords Anointed Wherefore these circumspect mâ—n being ad omnia parati do signifie further in these words that no man need be precise in that respect for say they in effect thus We in our Tenents which are all the truth and the very truth and the truth indeed and so to be apprehended by all men living doe make no more of a King then we do of another man the seat of a King in Parliament it self is no more then the seat of Cesar in the Senate-house it may as well be empty as not were there but no King at all for 't is not so much his Presence there which we desire and quarrell about as his Nullity that He might be no where we hold there is no more virtue in the Seat of a King in Parliament then in the seat of an ordinary Burgesle no nor half so much neither we neither do nor wil in our Tenents annex infallibility to the Kings Seat for should we make a Pope of the King No no He is but a man subject to Errours as others be and therefore liable to be punished for his faults as well as others specially since the Soveraignty is transmitted into the hands of the Parliament which was done as the Parliaments own self judgeth when the Bil of perpetuâ—ty was signed It is granted indeed before that time the Supream power was in Him and we were all his Subjects and then perhaps some might Scruple to out his throat for there were lawes then in force against Regicides but now since his Resignation for so in our Tenents we hold this Act to be there is no scruple to be made those lawes against King-killers are suspended and he is now become as Samson was without his strength even like another man any of the wel affected Philistines may fall upon him mock him kil him or use him as they please if their new Lords that is to say the worthy members of the Parliament do but give leave for he is now but their subject their slave they are able by the infallibility of their Votes to make him a malefactor and then to order him if they can catch him as such a one for infallibly we grant is an Attendant on the Supreame power we do not indeed annex it to the Kings seat because the supreame power is now removed from thence while this was in the King the Parliament it self as appeares in some of their Expresses did use to speak as the Law did modestly of the King and to say he could not erre but now the case is altered with him the Supreame power being transferred unto other persons infallibility stil attends the same and not the Kings person And hence it was that after the aforesaid Act there was a large Remonstrance made which the Authours of durst never make before whilst the power was in the Kings hand it may be called the Parliaments Act of Gratitude for the Kings Act fore-named in which they declare sufficiently their judgement to be that the King may now be imputed fallible and unfit to manage the Supreame power from thenceforth any longer And hence also it is that a new Oath of Allegeance and Obedience to the Parliament is tendred to the People of this Land which plainly shewes that the Supreame power is concluded to dwel in them and that the old Oath is quite void and out of date together with the King And for the Protestation
promises with an Oath but they being otherwise resolved as now appears would themselves believe neither nor would they so much as in them lay suffer any others to credit any thing which the King did say or swear How many loyally disposed Ministers did they imprison and take their livings from only for endevouring to make their Soveraigns honest mind known unto his Subjects by publishing his Declarations upon his Command to that purpose And how many times also did themselves set forth perverse notes and contradictory glosses upon the Kings Books that so the people might learn from them to misconstrue his sincere and good intentions Indeed because they were but new State-men many of us thought it rather an ignorance in them of wars miseries then any resolved purpose of acting Nero in destroying their own Mother Church and Nation which caused them at first to take up Arms for though an easie Capacity might foresee that they could do nothing by such an enterprise but increase their own sins and the sins of the Kingdom yet we were willing to lend what charity we could to the worst handed undertaking but their persistency in their savage course makes us now fear that even Ahab-like they strook at first of all a Covenant with Hel it self and sold themselves to work wickedness But alas alas besides their losse of Christ and God what wil they purchase hereby to themselves not the Titles of Fathers of their Country as they might have done had they behaved themselves accordingly and believed their Soveraign But Masters of a slaughtery wil they be called because they delight so much in the slaughtery of mankind Posterity wil judge them to have bin Satans darlings in their generation the fore-men of his shop whom he imployed to act his most glorious Stratagems his generosa scelera his choicest villanies his divina mysteria iniquitatis his divine mysteries of iniquity Indeed they have Manasseh-like filled the Nation with innocent bloud and made the whole Land a very Acheldama or field therof And oh that it would please the Judge of all the world to deal with them as he did with that Manasseh bring them into Bonds and Chains that so if possible they might be humbled as he was before they go hence and be no more but I return to them It is yeilded as they see that 't was the truth they spake when they said their Cause was stil the same as when the King first took Arms and as when he made most of his Oaths and professions And so in like sort is our God the same stil as when the King was first at Nottingham and there set up his Standerd But they tel us further to their former purpose that their demands at the Treaty in February were no other then those sent in June 1642. before any stroke struck Which Argument they repeat over the second time in the 53. Page of their notes to the same end also our demands say they at Uxbridge in February 1644. were the very same as they were in June 1642. indeed they are as bold as high as unreasonable to the full Ergo say they The King hath no reason to look upon us now any otherwise then as he did then All this is very true who denyes it these men sure love to dispute with their own shadows The King had cause to look upon them then as he doth now though now he hath cause to express himself further against them then he did then It is the course which God himself takes when people Rebell against him He endeauours at first to reduce them by promises and allurements unto obedience but if they slight and contemn these and oppose him the more for his lenity and goodness he then useth to express himself with more wrath and severity against them and hath reason for it we doe not apprehend that the King can transgress whatever these wise men say so long as he walks in the way of God though he did not call them by their proper name at first yet now he may But for this their Argument which they seeme by their often use of it to be so proud of had they any true touch or tast of Christianity in them they would blush to use it The Propositions are the same now as they were two or three years agoe scilâ—ful as high full as unreasonable and is this to their commendation Is it to their praise that the shedding of so much Christian bloud hath wrought no Remorse at all in them no obedience at all to Gods word which commands if possible to live peaceably with all men no submission to their King who hath so often wooed them with the tenders of mercy and pardon to be quiet No Humanity no Piety to their poor native Countrey that lyes a bleeding to destruction is this a matter to be gloryed in now that they are still as stiffe as ever as far from practicing the first lesson in Christs Schoole the point of self-denyall as if they had never heard one word of Christianity surely this their glory will one day be their shame and God grant it may so be before the great day that then if possible they may find mercy Truely this their impenitency and hardnesse of heart may afford us great matter of Admiration that neither all the bloud that is shed nor Gods protection of the Kings person among so many treasons and dangers from their malice and against such multitudes of men who both by secret treacheryes open Hostilityes foul mouthes black pens and bloudy hands have endeavoured his ruine Nor yet those remarkable judgements upon Brook Hampden and Hotham three of the first instruments of motion in this Rebellion together with many other Notable Accidents of Gods providence upon many other of their Associates I say it may well be matter of amazement to us that none of these things have been able to worke any touch of Conscience or alteration unto good in them pray God therefore they be not given up to a Reprobate sense and that the seal of damnation be not set upon them Indeed they say they have rather straitned then enlarged their Complaint of which this their libellous and defamatory book is a sufficient witnesse their propositions also they have straitned from 19 to 3. but it is proportione Arithmeticâ non Geometricâ for these three containe in them fully as much as those 19 and more if possible Well but what be these 3. Propositions which they now stick so close unto themselves say they are these in their order The first concernes the Abolition of Episcopacy or pulling down of the Church The second concerns the settling the Militia of the Kingdome in good hands by the advice of the Parliament or the pulling down of the Kingdome or Kingly state The third concernes the Vindication of the Irish Rebells or the full completion of a perfect Babell Indeed the method is rightly suted for the restauration of a
ingrosse to themselves the title of Filios Coeli Gods Children Heires of Heaven with exclusion of all that be not of their opinions I pray God they may prove so at last but as yet sure we are their actions proclaim them to be Filios inferni rather The Bishops in regard of their office and place in the Church were bound in Conscience as they would answer it to God and the King to suppresse Schisme to keep down Faction and Rebellion and to punish those that were Seditious and they apprehending from some strange positions vented in Pulpits and from the refractorinesse which they found in some spirits unto the Government established that some great mischief was in hatching did endeavour to hinder the sowing of that seed which hath brought forth these bitter fruits which now alas this whole Nation feeds upon and weepes under Now because they would not sleep and suffer those envious ones to scatter their tares into peoples Hearts so quietly as some desired therefore they open the mouth against them as against the Enemies and Persecutors of Gods People Perhaps as was said before every particular of the Bishops might not be so wary and considerate in the management of what they did as had they known the event of things they would have been and perhaps too they imployed some persons of too course or base an Alloy to act in the businesse who pulled up Wheat and Tares together or peradventure sometime and in some places the Wheat alone and not the Tares at all and so the Bishops good intendments became scandalous by the ilnesse of their instruments But I beleeve now experience hath taught it to all sober men that it will be confessed the Bishops were not such great persecutors of Gods People or Hunters of Christs Flocke as was so loudly voyced but rather good Shepheards that endeavoured to keep under those ravenous wolves who now so much destroy it Ask but the Country Farmer and even he will now tell you that since the Abolition of Episcopacy hath been in hand Christs Sheep and his have had but unsafe and unquiet pasturage in compare with that which they enjoyed formerly and thus have we seen the strength of their 3. Pretence or Argument A 4. followes and t is this Episcopacy must be abolished because it hinders the punishment of sinne in that brotherly way which suits with Christs rule in the Gospell which sayes if thy brother offend first tell him of it in private between him and thee if he doe not reform then carry two or three with thee and admonish him the second time if he will not yet hear then Dic Ecclesiae tell it to the Church and make a publike manifestation of his wickedness But by the abolition of Episcopacy this discipline of Christ shall be set up mens reputation may be saved and their monies too which is needlesly spent in Bishops Courts and people may be kept in good awe without charges So they say And the Warre they have raised to punish Delinquents doth sufficiently discover their brotherly way but not to insist upon that let us consider how well they have begun to put their discipline in execution with particulars First in the publication of their so much studyed and unmannerly Remonstrance against the King they begun their discipline at the wrong end even at Dic Ecclesiae or at Dic Mundo rather before they so much as touched upon a first or second Admonition Yea and though His Majesty before-hand by his suppressing offensive Courts and establishing a â—rienniall Parliament had largely testified His resolution of rectifying what was amiss had the things been true which they Charged upon him And 2. how Ecclesiastically have they dealt with him now also in their divulging these his Letters whereby they have done their worst to make him accounted an Heathen and a Publican without ever so much as the least hint or brotherly Admonition before hand But perhaps they 'l say the King is a singular person and considering the state of opposition wherein at this present he stands with them or they with him he is not worthy or capable of any such respect at their hands Let us consider therefore how fairly they have proceeded with others and how according unto Discipline And to this purpose let us but remember one particular which was before mentioned viz. how at their first meeting when they took from the Bishops power of punishing sinne they made a kinde of a publick O yes to the whole Kingdome and put the same in print that none might plead ignorance of it and sent it into all parts and corners of the Land whereby they invited all the Raskality of the Nation to bring up to Westminster all the complaints they would or could against the Ministers of Jesus which were there received with all alacrity and cheerfulness though never so false or so malitious and in their open Committees the man in the Chaire would give the Title of Sir and Master at every word to the basest beggerliest villaine that had but the fore-head to come before them and act the Devills part against his Minister and sometimes also on the other side he would rattle up and be Sirrah the Messenger of the Lord before the rabble and all this before any first or second Admonition yea perhaps before they knew upon proof whether he were guilty of any fault or no onely they saw somewhat written against him in a paper And then further yet lest the negligent world should chance to forget in after-Ages this remarkable Act of Zeal and Discipline in them concerning the Reformation of the Clergy One John White then a choice Member of the Lower House though now gone to his proper place did make a Book and Authorized it his own self wherein the said presentments though never proved were transmitted to posterity and this was his Dic Ecclesiae And to the end that forreigne Nations also as well as the Children yet unborne might the more fully note and know the Christianity of these Abolishers of Episcopacy they Authorized in like manner one William Prin a dear friend we may be sure of the Bishops to write an History in two volumes beside his Commentary upon the Arâ—â—-Bishops Note-Booke wherein all the obliquities of the Bishops that were whispered or could possibly be invented were at large recorded which was a Dic Ecclesiae to the purpose If Prin had made good use of that great Reading which he would the world should thinke him guilty of he might have remembred that the Ancient Councells when they deprived any Bishop never recorded the offâ—â—ce but buried it in perpetuall silence Or had reason bore any sway in him though things â—lameworthy had been in the Bishops yet to ascend from their persons unto their calling and to draw that into question he would have judged it high Injustice but for those his Books I leave him to the torture of his owne Conscience when he writ
that truth and Loyalty which themselves also once professed and we stil maintain truly we have had such an ample experience already of their goodness in our preservation that we publickly profess to all the world we daily find in England what our poor captive Brethren do feel at Argier that there is no such cruel Turk as the Renegado Christian. When the sole power of the Sword or Militia was in the Kings Hand the poor Country-men as wel as the rich and Noble lived in peace slept securely under his own roof and without any fear did eat his bread with gladness he could say that what he had bought and payed for was his own and if any did injure or oppress him the Law was open to do him right But since these new Preservatours as they call themselves are risen up those Golden days are vanished and Iron times are come upon us Judgment is turned away backward and Justice standeth a far off Truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter Yea truth faileth and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey Esay 59. 14. 15. Our Nobles and Gentry are debased our Rich-men are beggered and many thousands of all sorts are killed or starved the whole Commonalty of the Kingdom in the General are in the same Condition with the Asses of France thought fit for nothing but blows and burdens no man can now command the use of his proper goods or the service of his own Children we hear daily of rapes and robberies burning of houses depopulation of Towns violence and oppression reigns in all places and confusion is poured out in ful measure among us insomuch that our wel-ordered Common-wealth that was is translated into a very Conjuration of Tyrannies by the means of these men whose aims and endevours are only to keep us in perpetual slavery Militari Jure by the Militia which yet forsooth they desire may be setled in their good hands for the peoples security and preservation 'T is true the people at first chose them and now they feel them and have cause to know them and to confess of them that they are very Scorpions to them and that their little finger is ten times heavier then the Kings Loynes The people chose them to be Arbytratours on their side against their King to comprimize as it were on their behalf some matter between the King and them for under that notion do the people commonly chuse their Parliament men and such shal only be carried on their shoulders whom they apprehend wil be most stiffe against their Soveraign as if he were the only great Enemy to their welfare and prosperity But by this time the greatest part of them we believe are otherwise instructed and as some of them have confessed their apprehensions of the King and Parliament as they stand now in the tearms contradistinct and opposite is like that which the Heathens have of God and the Devil as those adore the Devil with gifts and sacrifices for fear of mischief from him so do these the Parliament but God say the Heathens is good and wil do us no harm so say these is the King and therfore they neglect to do him service And doubtless might people have but liberty now to speak their minds freely they would utterly renounce the preservation of those their Arbitratours and desire again the Kings protection after the manner of former times And wheras these new Governours desire to have the Militia of three Kingdoms setled in their own hands for our greater security we must needs apprehend from the proof they have given us of what they promised us that this their pretence is but one of those bitter flouts which in scorn at our simplicities for thinking them to be honest men they cast upon us Sed Deus vindex God shal one day sit in judgment on them 4. They have said It would be to the Kings great glory to let them have the whole and perpetual managing of the Militia for then they should be fully able to make him the most glorious Prince in Christendome which thing they have a long time promised purposed and endevoured and all this fighting must be belâ—eved to be to that very end for had the King but tamely at first delivered up into their hands what God committed into his trusted them for ever with that Power and Authority wherwith God hath trusted him Had he but for their sakes denied God to be the only Ruler of Princes and acknowledged them his Governours and Guardians Had he but resigned unto them what King John his Predecessour once did unto the Pope they would have made the Pope their President in this as wel as they do in many other things and have returned it back again to him as he did to King John and so the King holding his Kingdom from thenceforth immediately of them they would have done more for him I that they would then ever his old Land-lord God Almighty either did or meant to do For wheras God made him King but only of England Scotland and Ireland they would have given him moreover all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them so that had not the King stood in his own light they had Conquered for him long ere this the Kingdoms of France and Spain and the Empire of Germany yea and the last year they had pulled out old Antichrist by the ears and burnt the whore Babylon with fire together with all of her Trinkets and at this very instant they had bin stepping over unto Constantinople for to ding down the great Turk and in the next half year the Mogull of Persia had bin taught to submit himself and then also the King of China had bin summoned to an account for his usurping the Title of Filius Coeli which is proper to no man living but only to those of their faction and by that time the Grand Chams of Tartary would have learned so much wit as to forbear calling themselves Domini Dominantium and to leave that stile wholly unto these superlative Abamocchoes And now who wil not say it had bin a Glorious thing to the King for the world to take notice that so great a brood of such mighty Alexanders should like that Cadmeyan Progeny start up on the sodain at one time in his Kingdom But it seems the King wanted faith and thought such great Acts might be sooner purposed then performed or else was jealous of these his Worthies that in their subduing of these Kingdoms they would not have dealt with him as Joab did with David at the taking of Rabbah and yeilded to him the glory of the Conquest Now whether the King were too blame or no in so thinking let wise men judge But let me reason a little with these men about this their reason Suppose the King should settle as they would have him the Militia of the Kingdom in their hands and then they should chance to Vote Bonum est
of all those Sects and Heresies to the destruction of Christian Protestation Religion which by their crafty and violent seizing upon the Militia were but only let in to the Church May it please His Sacred Majesty and all His Loyall Subjects to remember when the Pope of Rome these mens Grandsire for however in words they disclaime kindred with Him yet are they wholly like Him in Conditions they tread in His steps observe His method end in all their undertakings when He I say after the fashion of these His Nephews had fraudulently forceably seized upon the Militia of His Soveraign the Emperour then did all Corruption and false Doctrine make entrance into that Church the light grew dim And when the Emperour afterward gave his Consent that the said Pope and his conclave formerly His Subjects should have that His power and Authority which at first indeed he laboured to recover againe unto himselfe settled in their hands then was all that wickednesse formerly but admitted confirmed and established and the faithfull Church became from thenceforth a very Harlot Let Story be observed and it will be found that the fall of the Empire the rise of the Pope-dome above it and the spring of Mahumatisme happened all about one time and the two last might be permitted of God for a punishment of the first For it is no small sinne for the Supream Magistrate to part with that depositum out of his hands which the Almighty hath intrusted solely with him Histories doe sufficiently testifie what extreame molestations the Emperour hath been put unto and what base affronts have been put upon him by his proud Subjects of Rome Since he gave his consent that the Militia of that City and Country should be settled in their Hands Himselfe is there now but vox non significativa He hath the Title of Roman Emperour and no more And such must be the condition of our King if he be not warned by the Emperours example He must be content to be only an unsignificant voice too in his own Kingdom yea and to be regulated in his expences if he have leave to live yet he shall be so ordered that he doe not live profusely or have wherewithall to dare to practice ought to their prejudice Yea and he must learne to hold the Stirrup too to kisse the Toe to bow the Knee to the Supremacy or Popes of the Lower House if they shall at any time please to frown upon him or to Vote him a Delinquent Well let but these things be seriously and with judgement thought upon by moderate men and then let reason speak whether it be fit that the King should yeild to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they would have him whether it be meet he should suffer the Sword to be carryed before the Gran Concilii rather then still before himselfe and should settle the Militia of the three Kingdomes in their hands which are good onely by their own Testimony But I have been perhaps too tedious in scanning the Reasons of this their second demand we come therefore to advise a little upon the third Proposition which say they concernes the Vindication of the Irish Rebells SECT XV. 1. Of their Vindicating the Irish Rebells How fully they have done it in one sense 2. And how glad should we be if themselves would go and do it in the other Their true intention in that demand opened TO Vindicate in the most vulgar acception is to Justifie and acquit from blame and if they take the word in that sense they have Vindicated them too sufficienly already and much more then hath become men of their Profession For as God by his Prophets tells Jerusalem that she had multiplyed her abominations more then her sisters Sodome and Samaria she had justified them in all which they had done in her going beyond them in wickednesse and that she was a Comfort to them so may it be said of these men they have multiplyed their transgressions more then their Brethren the Rebells of Ireland they have Justified them in what ere they have done they have been a Comfort to them Surely the Irish doings shall not be remembred in the day that the impieties of those of this Nation are reckoned up Did the Irishâ—ob â—ob kill and roste Christians So have these done did they burn Houses strip Men and Women naked scourge them and expose them to the wide world These have not been behinde in such doings did the Irish Rebell against their Soveraigne These have both overtaken and also gone beyond them in this sin for though nothing should cause men to Rebell yet to say the truth the Irish lived formerly under a more hard bondage which might provoke their corruptions whereas these Jesurun-like rebelled out of meere wantonnesse Nor did those Irish execute their savage Cruelty as was noted before on those of their own nation and Religion as these English have done they did not defile their own Churches nor kill and abuse their own Priests but these have delighted to prophane and destroy those places where themselves had formerly met to worship God and have offered most speciall despight to the Ministers of their own Religion who baptized them and preached Gods truth unto them Besides the Religion which the Irish Rebells professe is not so directly opposite to such barbarous Cruelties which they have committed as is that which these of England pretend unto nor have they been so bold as those to entitle God unto all their outrages they think they need a pardon both from God and the King for their inhumanityes and Rebellions whereas these stand upon their Justification and have often despised the Kings mercy when tendered to them nor have they in Ireland persecuted and pursued the Kings Sacred person they have not reviled nor railed upon him as these have done Never any such reproachfull Libell as this which we oppose doe we read was sent abroad by the Rebells of Ireland against their Soveraign nor yet did we hear that ever those Irish took so solemn a Protestation at the beginning of their Parliament as these English did to maintain the Kings person Honour and Estate In a word Those Irish are not so impudent as these hard-fore-headed English are as to call them Rebells and Traitours who according to their Oath of Allegeance and Protestation do labour to maintain the Kings life and right against them but they yeeld themselves to be or to have been in a Rebellion Wherefore who will not say that the English Rebells have out gone the Irish and by committing evils in a more abominable way have even Justified those their Brethren as Jerusalem did her sisters Sodome and Samaria And yet as if all this were nothing these good men desire to be still Vindicating the Irish Rebells and would have the Militia of the three Kingdomes settled in their own good hands to the same purpose But perhaps by Vindication these mean punishment and revenge
to make them succesfull instruments in his righteous Cause and perhaps till they be cut off the enemies shall prosper and then the wheele shall be turned another way and the truly Loyall and Religious in quos victor victusque furit that suffer by both sides may see betteâ— times We find the Church in her complaint of such men prophesying to this purpose O Lord thy hand scil of Justice is lifted up and they will not see or acknowledge the same but they shall see scil before God hath done with them and feele too yea and he ashamed for their envie or malice at thy people viz. who make better use of the judgement then themselves doe for the fire of thine enemies shall devour them i. e. the fire of rage and power of doing hurt shall be the longer permitted to Gods very enemies untill these wicked and ungodly wretches are devoured scattered or destroyed And till then as is inferred also in that Chapter even the righteous people that keep the truth and wait for God in the way of his judgements must with patience submit themselves and meekly beare the indignation remembring that God hath alwayes had his time to sift and try whom he hath formerly taught and fed and this to them is that season this is Gods threshing time His fan is now in his hand he is taking away his wheat and hath carryed much of it already out of sight the chaffe remaines still in great heaps upon the floore and having received little or no diminution glorieth in its extraordinary great successe not thinking what must shortly be done with it how t is designed to the fire But because Successe is so great a plea with these men and so prevalent with most people I will first shew that t is the weakest Argument that can be alledged to prove the goodnes of a Cause and then that the wickedest men have most used it But of both these briefly Concerning the first David in the 73. Psalme describing the outward estate of evill men sayes they were successefull in their affaires insomuch that people thereupon came in apace unto them yea so prosperous they were in their way that himselfe in a manner was non-plussed at the matter And Jeremy the Prophet argues with God about the same thing why it should so be That they who dealt very treacherously should be so very happy Whose conditions also in another place he describes more fully in these words Among my people are found wicked men who lie in waite and set traps and snares to catch their Brethren their houses are full of deceit and wrong yea they do in their injustice and cruelty surpasse the deeds of ordinary wicked men they take upon them to be Judges and yet judge not the cause no not so much as the cause of the fatherlesse or the right of the needy and yet they prosper are become great grow rich waxen fat and shine Here was prosperity we see here was successe but no Honesty no goodnesse So the Prophet Habakkuk complains of treacherous dealers and wicked persons who devoured men more righteous then themselves They catched them in their nets and gathered them in their drags and thereupon rejoyced in themselves and offered sacrifice to their own nets burnt incense to their drags because by them their portion was fat and their meat plenteous We read in Rev. 12. of the true Church How she was driven by the Dragon into the wildernesse i. e. into a desolate and obscure Condition Delituit in Cavernis non eminuit in primariis sedibus as one saies she was not visible â—as formerly nor had she power and liberty to shew her self in her family or to govern her Children as she was wont to do she was in the very same Condition as our Mother-Church of England is now in the devil had obtained great successe against her but shal we conclude from thence that He was in the right and she in the wrong or Him to be the beloved of God and she the hated we have no sufficient reason for it So in the 7. ver of the next Chap. where that Beast is said to make War with the Saints to overcome them doth it therefore follow that his cause was better then theirs I think not In the 11. of Daniel a certain vile person so intitled is prophesied of who should do much mischief against the Holy people whom he should kil and destroy and against the Sanctuary or place of Gods worship which he should pollute taking away the daily Sacrifice or Common-prayer unto God and setting up the Abomination of Desolation in the room thereof Yea he should exalt himself above Him he ought to obey and speak Blasphemous things against the God of gods He should Honour onely the God of forces i. e. He should trust only in his Militia or strength of weapons for safety and protection all these it seems are the conditions of a vile person yet should he prosper for an appointed time until the indignation be accomplished saies the Text which was determined to be done We know that Câ—in prevailed against Abel yet Abel was the better man and offered the better sacrifice Nay the Pharisees we know prevailed against Christ himself for a season had their wils of him got him Crucified by the common vote and consent of the people even according to the desires of their own hearts And from hence it was believed by a great many that Christ was even such a man as his Enemies reported him scil a Deceiver and a Malefactor and that it was the just judgment of God upon him for his sins He was despised rejected of men saies the Prophet Yea we esteemed him smitten of God scil for his own sins and afflicted Nay some of his Disciples themselves were so staggered at the matter that even they made a question whether he were the man whom they took him to be because of that success which his Enemies had against him we trusted say they it had been he that should have redeemed Israel as if they now feared they were deceived Indeed it is the Humour of men though often warned to the contrary to pass sentence upon others from a view of their outward condition if they prosper then they conclude them good and beloved of God if not then wicked presently When the Viper was seen hanging â—n S. Pauls hand He was judged a Murderer immediately and the worst man in all the company so those whom Pilate sâ—ew while they were at their devotions and those â—n whom the Tower of Siloe fel were thought greater sinners then other men because of their misfortunes which opinion our Saviour himself confâ—teth Yea scripture throughout and daily experience both doth inform us that the best men are usually the most afflicted for this world is the furnace wherin and Affliction is the fire wherwith God neals his people and makes them fit for a
thing covertly in their lives nor seek themselves in any matter But how close and selfish they have indeed been in their proceedings I have hinted already and the world hath too sharp a sense of it Had the King from the beginning bin more close and reserved perhaps ere this he had quite blown them up at least as by a counter-mine had given a check to their proceedings and therein done no other then what became a politick General whose wisdome 't is to out-go his Enemies in their own way and to beat them at their own weapons But the Kings sincere and plain dealing hath added much through their wickednesse to his own undoing and yet now at length writing but a few words in private to his own Wife about his own necessary preservation because he did not acquaint them with it before-hand he is inveighed against and cried out upon for trading in a close way for meer particular advantage But the thing they intend chiefly by these words is to perswade the world which is also the main drift of their whole Libell that the design which the King drives at is to advance Popery to this end he useth clandestine proceedings against them at Westminster the only supporters as must be believed of Protestant Religion and condemneth as they say all that be in any degree Protestants at Oxford granteth tolleration of Idolatry to Papists and indemnity to the murderous Irish which in regard of his many Protestations to the contrary he being ashamed to own openly is fain to betake himself to a close trading way to pursue and accomplish In Answer to which grand Calumny I shal only set down the extract of a Letter closely sent indeed that the world may most truly discern the Kings close trading way by his Majesty to the Commissioners in Ireland immediately after Nazeby Battail when he was in Wales and in a most low condition written by the hand of the Lord Digby his Majesties Secretary I wish I had the ful Letter it self to set it down verbatim for I confesse this to be but the abstract of it which I received from a Gentleman of most approved truth and Candour as he did only bear the same in memory which notwithstanding he is confident is but little if at all differing from the Original My Lords and Gentlemen HIs Majesty hath Commanded me to let you know that according to your promise and agreement with him he long since expected your aide and doth much wonder you should neglect him and your selves so much as to retard it because immediately after His your ruine must necessarily follow but He is informed that taking the advantage of His low Condition you insist upon somthing in Religion more then formerly you were contented with He has therefore commanded me to let you know that were his condition much lower then it is you shal never force him to any further concessions to the prejudice of his Conscience and of the true Protestant Religion in which He is resolved to live and for which He is ready to die and that He wil joyn with any Protestant Prince nay with these Rebels themselves how odioâ—s soever rather then yeild the least to you in this particular I refer it to all mens Consciences whether this be not a sufficient evidence of his Majesties sincerity and affection to the Protestant Religion considering the estate wherein his affairs stood when this Letter was written and also whether it doth not fully confirm the truth of what I said in effect before viz. That what ever concessions were made to the Papists and Irish were rather by the inforcement of the Puritan Rebels then by any inward affection of His Majesty to their Religion But indeed it was needlesse to have alleaged any other of his secret Letters for this Evidence For these which the Adversaries have here published and declared to be Evidences of truth do manifestly speak to this purpose we read in the eighth Paper how the King tels the Queen that He differs from Her in nothing but Religion Are not these the Kings own Words which themselves have published Was not this Letter sent as wel as the rest in a close trading way as they call it Do they think the King ever intended it should come into their hands And when they laid aside many other Papers as not fit for publication at this time was not this thought fit to be divulged by their own wise selves Is not this one of those Evidences of Truth they speak of in the beginning which to have concealed would have bin a great sin against the mercies of God Truly I dare boldly say that neither the King for himself nor any of his friends in his behalf could possibly have given a better evidence to the abused Subjects of this Nation that His Majesty is a true Protestant then this is which his Enemies have given by their publication of that Letter Surely the Finger of God was in it For peoples more clear understanding and notice of it I wil set down the Kings Words as they stand in the Letter Writing to his Queen about that businesse of Ireland fore-mentioned he speaketh thus I need not tel thee what secresâ—e this businesse requires yet this I wil say that this is the greatest point of confidence I can expresse to thee for it is no thanks to me to trust thee in any thing else but in this which is the only thing of difference betwixt us and yet I know thou wilt make as good a bargain for me even in this I trusting thee though it concern Religion as if thou wert a Protestant O what a discovery is here made of the Kings sincerity in his profession When for an obligation upon his Queen to make a good bargain for him he tels her in his most bosome expressions that he trusts her to do it for him a Protestant as if her self were one The world may here see though these Observatours themselves who have helped us wil not that in the closest way of trading according to their own phrase which the King useth he tradeth as a Protestant and acknowledgeth in his most secret Letters to his Queen that there is a difference though it be the only difference between Him and Her in matter of Religion And thus have I vindicated my Soveraigns Honour against this particular Charge also of his enemies and do expect that I have hereby procured to my self though not deserved from these men and their Faction whose basenesse I have in part detected the imputation and Title of the falsest of men a Papist yea of the falsest of Papists a Jesuite for it was voted and concluded before hand that whosoever should do as I have done should be so accounted But notwithstanding all that I have said in the Kings behalf yet this I confesse to these men so much as concerns the position in general I am wholly of their opinion viz. that whoever is guilty of those
These two last lines were scraped by Miles Corbet the Examiner for the Printer to put into a different Character that the Reader might the better observe the Kings fault in them But fearing the dulnesse of mens Capacities if let alone to themselves these quick-scented Note-mongers have put too their helping hand and Collected from them that the King professes to prefer the Queens Health before the Exigence and importance of his own publick Affaires and they hope that people will from hence believe that he prefers his private Affections to his Wife before the care of the whole Common-wealth and therefore will judge it very fit that he be not onely put by his Office for that he is already by his new Masters at Westminster but also kept out for ever and never trusted more with any Affaires of importancy And further they accuse him for avowing Constancy to his Wife and as they expresse it to Her grounds and documents which they would have the Reader apprehend to be to whatsoever the Queen had already or hereafter should propound unto him concerning Religion and the Government of the Common-wealth to which purpose also they say that His Counsels are wholly managed by the Queen though She be of the weaker Sex born an Alien bred up in a contrary Religion yet nothing great or small say they is transacted without her privity and Consent And for this they quote Paper 38. by all which it is apparent they would have it believed that as divers mens Wives being of Masterly dispositions do take upon them to command their Husbands so the Queen doth take it upon her to rule the King and all his Affaires and as many men have submitted themselves to their Wives yoake so hath the King yeilded up himself to his Queens direction and therefore they hope that people have wit enough to conclude from hence that it is not fit the Government of this Church and Kingdom should remain in such hands as heretofore but rather in the hands of his Great and Wise Counsel who are men all of this Nation and bred up in the Protestant Religion and so fitter in all respects then the Queen is Who is one of the weaker sex born an Alien and bred up in a contrary Religion This mischievous suggestion if swallowed for a truth may be of dangerous consequent and therefore I hold it necessary to shew the falsity of it which I shall plainly do both from these letters which these Calumniators have published for their own pernitious purpose and also from their own very words and confessions in another place of these their Annotations 1. The Queen is far from that disposition to take upon Her to rule Her Husband wholly and in all things as they would have it beleeved for the direct Contrary is most apparent in Paper 29. where She submits Her self wholly to His direction and desires Him to send Her His commands concerning a particular business that She was requested to write about affirming that She neither would nor durst do any thing in it without His direction Her words are these I thought it to be a matter of so great ingagement that I dare not do it without your Commnad therefore if it please you that I should do so send me what you would have me write that I may not doe more then what you appoint Had She been of such an imperious spirit towards Her Husband as these Her back-friends report Her and would have Her supposed surely She had never writ so like an obedient Wife for His Commands and particular directions Thus the Queen is cleared Secondly Neither is the King as they suggest of so subjective a Nature as to submit His affaires wholly to His Wives guidance were She as She is not ambitious of the same He is more a man then to forget himself to be an Husband if the 34. Paper be observed it will be clearly Evident that the King was never so weakly uxorious no not the first year of His marriage when in most men affection prevaileth over judgement as to lose any whit of His Husbandly Authority in matters of Houshold Government He would not consent to any thing though of private concernment which was either unfit for Her as a Wife to undertake or for himself as an Husband to permit and is there any liklyhood He should now have submitted all His publick Affaires and Kingly Councells wholly to Her managemeet and disposall no man of wisdome or reason can beleeve it If that which is intimated in the said Letter concerning the Queens disposition when She was young and yet unacquainted with Her Husbands instructions be compared with Her present dependance upon his Commands already proved and that abundant readinesse now in Her to do Him service which these men so tax and blame Her for there will appeare to every Eye not onely the Kings Pious discretion and the Queens Godly obedience but also Gods gratious blessing of his endeavours upon Her spirit and doubtlesse this inward benefit received from him is a ground of Her more strong and fervent affection towards him and makes Her resolve rather to neglect her own health yea to die by Famine then to be failing in Her Negotiations for Him A full compliance in all things but rarely found between man and wife at their first meeting nor is the same so perfectly effected afterward in many persons as is evident to be in this Royall paire for either the Husband wants that Wisdome and care to work it which the King had or the Wife that goodnesse of disposition to be wrought upon as was in the Queen I could name some Lords and Gentlemen too amongst the Kings enemies who were never so notable for wit or honesty as to seek their Wives Conformity in this Christian way as their Prince hath done But I spare them now and return to the thing in hand It is probable at least by this time that the Kings Councels rule the Queen and not the Queens Him as these slanderers say but to put the matter quite out of doubt let us listen to what these very men say themselves to this purpose in the next Page where among other railing expressions against the King forgetting what they had said before they affirm that as He surpasseth the Queen in Acts of Hostility so in the way of managing the same scil with more close and deep secresie and a little after they tell us that He urgeth the Queen to make personall friendship with the Queen of France they do not like the word friendship and say they He doth furnish the Queen with dexterous polliâ—ies and Arguments to work upon the Ministers of State in France All which as I apprehend puts the plain lie upon that their former Charge which they had took such paines about to collect from the fifth and 38. Papers which now also wee will looke into for the further manifestation of their Honestie The fifth Paper from whence they collect that
reproved so sharply their hypocrisie and base carriages and even thus hath the King been dealt withall His actions have been watched his words misconstrued his graces neglected yea obscured and himselfe censured for his followers by them that have forced him from their own society for his not allowing their unjust proceedings when Christ was at Jerusalem those his Enemies stirred up the people to be tumultuous against him and to throw stones at him when therefore he had withdrew himselfe from thence they whispered surmizes and suspitions of him what thinke you say they that he will not come up to the feast so that whether he were present or absent he could not please them they were never content till they had him in the condition of a Prisoner and then how they used him the Scripture shewes And even this hath been directly the Kings condition when he was at Westminster Tumults were raised and stones and blasphemies cast against him when he was retired from thence they mouth it as fast in suggesting misprisions what think you say they that he comes not to the Parliament nay let him but offer to goe thither again why they will none of him but are ready to cry He comes to torment us before the time unlesse they may seize upon him in the nature of a Prisoner nothing will give them satisfaction and how they will use him then we may easily conclude by their former dealing with him and language of him 7. Christs Doctrine though uttered with better Authority then that of the Scribes was lesse regarded he and that too were both slighted and despised his complaint was if I tell you the truth you will not believe me nay they forbad the people to heare him the Devill is in him cry they why heare you him they would have their owne example the sole rule for all men to go by in their regards and thoughts of him Have any of the Rulers or Pharisees believed on him because they had not they expected that no bodie else should thus they dealt with our Saviour and have they not even so done with our Soveraign are not his Dictates and Commands though uttered with farre better Authoritie then the Votes and Ordinances of his Enemies of lesse observance are not they and himselfe too slighted and contemned may not he also complaine though I tell you the truth you will not believe me do not the Heads of this Faction against him expect that all mens credit to him and carriage towards him should be ordered by the square of their owne example Hath it not been cried doe any of the Worthies of Parliament believe him or give respect to any thing that proceeds from him Are not all men brought into a wretched and cursed condition that doe not in this conforme themselves and their judgements to the Parliament practice I would to God all these particulars were not too evident 8. Christs enemies not only hated and abused him but for his sake all that loved him all that were instruments of others believing in him it is said Joh. 12. that they consulted how they might kill Lazarus also because by reason of him many believed in Jesus and most urgent were they with our Saviour about his Disciples asking him of them because they would have had him betrayed them into their own hands which he knowing their malice would by no meanes do nay this was his onely request when he delivered up himselfe into their hands that his Followers might but have their lives spared I say unto you I am he and if you seeke me let these go their way And in this the King also is Christs direct Parallel for all his friends are hated in like manner for his sake those that are instruments of working a good opinion towards him are persecuted to the very death and to the end they might wreake their malice upon such they have been urgent with his Majestie to deliver up his friends into their hands which the King according to Christs example thinks by no means he ought to doe yea and when he hath offered up himself unto them as wee know he hath done he hath made only Christs request that his friends may go away in peace and safety but this would not be granted for 't is Bloud Bloud Royall Bloud and Loyall Bloud and Christian faithfull Bloud which these bloudy and deceitfull men thirst after nor will a little measure of it satisfie their greedy appetites 9. Yea and as those enemies of Christ would have no man to love or confesse him so not to conceal or hide him from themselves who desired above all things to lay hands upon him and therefore they set out an Ordinance against harbouring or concealing of him requiring and commanding that if any man knew where he was they should discover him And truly so have the Enemies of our King done set out a like Order to a like purpose though with farre more severe and cruell penalties to the contemners of it witnesse their very words Die Lunae May 4. 1646. Ordered that it be and it is hereby declared by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled That whâ—t person soever shall harbour and conceal or know of harbouring and concealing the Kings person and shall not reveale it immediately to the Speakers of both Houses shall be proceeded against as a Traytor to the Common-wealth and forfeit his whole estate and die without mercy 10. In a word as Christ was belyed slandered betrayed bought and sold for money reviled mocked scorned at spit on numbred among transgressors and judged to be such a one from his great misery and from the successe his enemies had against him and at last put to death even so hath the King been used in all respects by his rebellious people who have alreadie acted all the parts which the Jewes acted upon the Son of God the last of all only excepted which may also be expected in the end from them when oportunity is afforded they have baited him weekly for four years space at the stake of scorn emptied the froth of their scurrilous wits upon him and spit out the scum of their ulcerous lungs against him they have crown'd him with Thornes and then derided at his sorrows fastned him to his Crosse as I may fitly speak and then bad him come downe from it no man could possibly be more vilely used then he hath been numbred he is to this very day among transgressours and crucified between Theeves on both sides yea many of those that suffered with him have been tormentors also and abusers of him and like that wicked Thiefe even because he did not help them when he could not have rail'd upon him 11. And further as Christ was thus afflicted by his open enemies so to greaten the burthen of his sorrowes he was too much troubled with the contestations of his own followers who strove for places of preferment
trembled at his word yea and for their successe against them in these their mischiefes and unjust doings they praised God and said The Lord be glorified they had dayes of Thanksgiving to that very purpose Therefore since it hath been the usuall custome of the grandest Hypocrites to doe after this fashion you have no reason now to think any whit the better of these men for their outside professions Last of all consider the relation which these men the Members of the Commons House I mean do stand in unto your selves whom they command and to your Soveraign whom they oppose to your selves they are publick Servants chosen by you to agitate for you in Gods way and according to Law your common affaires scil to confirme your Religion Peace and Possessions to you and not to raise warres to the destruction of all these To the King they are sworn Subjects bound by Oath and Protestation to preserve his Person Estate and Honour safe and intire against all people in briefe they are the grand Jury-men of the Kingdome and nothing else and their office is not to judge or passe sentence against any persons but to enquire after the grievances of the Countrey and to make presentment of them with all humility unto the King who is the Judge so deputed of God and to the Nobles of the upper House who are with him as Justices upon the Bench and to supplicate of them in whom the only power judicative is resident a redresse of things amisse and then when a good Law is made to give their assent unto it and notice of it to the Countreys or places whose Deputies they are and to stirre them up to honour their King and to praise God for him who is so ready to do Justice and to shew grace unto them this is the proper office and work of the House of Commons in the discharge of which only you are to shew countenance unto them but if they shall doe things out of spleen or unbecoming their places you are to withdraw your favour from them and to bestow your frowns upon them for if the Grand Jury at an Assizes in stead of doing that duty whereto by Law they are designed should fall to pull the Justices from the Bench and to beat the Judge out of Town and to imprison and kill their Neighbours as good men perhaps as themselves would you think it fit to take their parts in such their doings would you not rather all joyn to lay hands upon them and bring them to be punished for their misdemeanours and desire to have them put out of their places and wiser men appointed in their stead that know how to behave themselves better I pray consider well of these things and remember at length what you have done and what you have now to doe under whose fealty you were born and to whom you have sworn Allegiance and observe what intimation our Saviour gives in that saying of his if my Kingdome were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jewes or to them that seek to take away my life doth he not plainly inferre thereby that the Subjects of earthly Princes who have Kingdomes in this world ought to fight for their Soveraign to endeavour his deliverance from injustice and wrong and not to suffer him in any sort to be rendred up into the hands of his enemies and be you certain of it that so long as the King Gods Deputy and your Protector under God is thus abused and kept from his Rights you shall never enjoy peace or prosperity nor the quiet possession of what is yours for Gods heavie Curse will so long hang over this Nation and Kingdome Well think of it well and doe accordingly Confident I am Brethren that the major part of you did Associate your selves with these ill disposed men as they of old did with Absalom and Achitophel in the simplicity of your Hearts by giving too much credit as they did to those false reports which in their wicked policy they cast out against the King and Government you were perswaded before you were instructed and in your good zeale you have walked thus far to the extirpation as you hoped of Popery and prophanenesse which alas you have exceedingly increased though sore against your wills and are likely to thrust your selves into it or into other as deep errours you have heard say that zeale without knowledge is very dangerous and let me tell you further that the highest Heresies have risen from misguided zeal Arrius upon detestation of Gentilisme least he should seem to acknowledge more Gods then one by confessing a Co-equality of Christs Divinitie with his Father denied the same and Sabellius in detestation of Arrius fell into the other extreme and denyed the distinction of Persons And be your selves the Judges do not many of you measure what is good and holy by its opposition to the Constitutions of the Church of Rome accounting most perfect what is most opposite thereunto and that polluted which participateth in any thing with the same doe you not thinke your selves rightest when unlikest the Papists and nearest to Heaven when furthest from them though perhaps then you may be nearest to them in substance even when most opposite in Ceremony somwhat in this Book hath been discovered to this purpose but that is not the right rule to go by well consider I beseech you of what I have said unto you and desist from having any further hand against your King and from labouring the extirpation of that Government you were born under which to doe doubtlesse is a most heinous sinne if a man were borne in another Land where is a Government lesse perfect then ours is he ought not by any meanes to joyne in fighting for the destruction of it nor is our Posteritie so strictly bound by such strong engagements of Conscience to endeavour the restauration of this if by these violent and unlawfull courses it should be altered which God forbid as we are now to uphold and maintaine the same or to prevent the Change thereof Wherefore I beseech you all remember your selves think what you have alreadie done what you are in doing and stay your hands Object Perhaps some of you will say but we have taken an Oath a Covenant which our Preachers put us often in minde of to persevere in our way and not to forsake those men with whom we have entred into Association Answ. Master John Goodwin one of your Ministers doth enform you in his 12. Serious Considerations that to violate an abhominable and an accursed Oath out of Conscience to God is an holy and blessed Perjury Now therefore if I prove that your Oath and Covenant is abhominable and accursed then it will follow that as it was an high sinne to take it so is it an higher to keep the same and according to the Doctrine of one of your own Teachers an holy and blessed Perjury will
it be to breake it But this I shall make good and thus I argue That which is ungodly and unlawfull both in respect of matter and form is abhominable and accursed But such is that Oath and Covenant which you have taken therefore you ought to breake it and in no hand unlesse you will run upon your owne damnation to keep the same This I shall evidence in both particulars that 't is ungodly in respect of matter and unlawfull in respect of form First An Oath is ungodly in respect of matter and so by consequent unlawfull when it is to performe ungodly and unlawfull things viz. things forbidden of God and formerly disavowed by us But of this nature is this Oath and Covenant For 1. 'T is to oppose the King and Forces raised by Him whom God hath forbidden you to resist and commanded you to fear honour and obey and whom you have sworne Allegeance unto and Protested to defend in his Estate and Dignity against all Opposers with your lives and fortunes 2. 'T is to kill slay and destroy your Countrey-men and Brethren which as a work of the Devil you renounced in your Baptism and is directly opposite to the sixth Commandement viz. Thou shalt not kill which then also you vowed and promised to keep and observe 3. 'T is never to lay downe Armes or to be quiet so long as there is any left on the Kings side for you to oppose whereas strife and contention are works of the flesh disclaimed also in Baptism and forbidden in Gods word which commands you to live peaceably with all men to study to be quiet to love your Enemies and to conquer them by patience and well-doing and not by killing of them or fighting against them Now Therefore this your Oath and Covenant being of this nature 't is utterly ungodly and so unlawfull in respect of the matter of it 't is of the same kind with that which the fourtie men entred into neither to eat nor drinke till they had killed Paul which none of you will grant had been fit to be kept nay rather 't is of a farre worse kind then that was for 't is a Vow or Covenant not only to breake Gods Commandements and to kill your Brethren but also to slight your Promise in Baptism and to renounce all your Oathes and Protestations of Loyaltie and Obedience formerly taken yea and to persist in so doing think I beseech you how you will answer this at Gods Tribunall Secondly An Oath as I apprehend is unlawfull in respect of the form and so by consequence ungodly too when it is not expressed administred and taken in such verie words as by Law are prescribed or when it is not enacted by full and compleat Authoritie But of this nature is this Oath or Covenant which you stick upon Ergo 't is unlawfull and by consequence ungodly for confirmation of this let it be remembred how before this unhappie Parliament begun at a meeting in Yorkshire about the first coming in of the Scots the King tendred an Oath of Loyaltie to the Lord Say and some others who refused the same upon this ground It was not lawfull in respect of form for the words method or frame thereof had not been agreed upon settled or established by Act of Parliament viz. by the King and the two Houses And so the alledged reasons why those Oaths tendred by Bishops and Archdeacons at their Visitations were condemned by this verie Parliament for unlawfull was in respect of their formes they were not administred in the precise termes and direct words which by the King and whole Parliament were prescribed and Authorized Now if this be so then this verie Oath and Covenant which you have taken being as you all know defective this way cannot be legall the King and whole Parliament never enacted it as a Law for you to take and observe But onlie that corrupt Faction in Parliament who having themselves deviated from the wayes of God and Lawes of the Land have imposed and forced the same upon you to the end that with your lives and fortunes you might stand in the face of dangers for their sakes and be as a strong wall to hedge and defend them in their wickednesse and well they will requite you for this service And for your Preachers who perswaded you at first to take this Covenant and now to keep it they being in the same condition with them that imposed it no marvell if they labour to hold you still under the bondage of it But why doe not those your Preachers answer those Books which have been written against it wherein the impietie and unlawfulnesse of it is fully evidenced foure severall Bookes have been written against the same and not one of them yet answered which very thing if well considered discovers their resolution in evill they perswade you to take and keep a Covenant which themselves are not able to maintaine to be lawfull by Divinity or Reason or anie other Argument but onely Club-Law Nay one thing more let me mind you of do but think with your selves how God hath manifested himselfe against this Covenant in breaking asunder manie of those that were knit together by it How are they divided How bitterly the Presbyterians and Independents write and speak against each other a rotten Covenant it must needs be that cannot hold the spirits of the Takers one three yeares together doth not God hereby plainly manifest his dislike of it hath he not visibly made good his word against it by this breach among them Es. 8. 9. Associate your selves O ye people and ye shall be broken in pieces give eare also you of a farre Countrey you Scottish Covenanters gird your selves altogether yet shall ye be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces 'T is worth the marking how the words are doubled in the Text which according to the interpretation of Joseph in whom the Spirit of God dwelt is to shew the certaintie of the thing that God hath established it and will shortly and surely bring it to passe One place more let me remember you of 't is Hos. 5. 12. and I pray consider whether the same may not fitly be applyed unto you Ephraim is oppressed and broken in Judgement there is his present misery the cause of it followes because he willingly walked after the Commandement scil of Jeroboam and his Rebellious Faction who by some new Ordinance of their own devising had tendred some Oath or Covenant to the people against their King whom they opposed and against the right and old way of worshipping God at Jerusalem this it seems the people at first had consented willingly unto and for the same were soundly oppressed by their new Masters that had imposed it on them Now oppression makes even wise men mad especially when it falls unexpected and hence it comes to passe that they were broken in judgment they became even like distracted men because
on hath overtook you and brought you under hatches into bonds and prisons it will not be then so proper for a man of my condition to torment you further with the remembrance of these things and the truth is I am not base enough to act Prynnes part or to visit you as some of your Ministers did the Bishop of Canterbury in the Tower to triumph and insult over him in his miseries I abhorre to set my foot upon the neck of a fallen foe to widen wounds or to greaten sorrows I blesse my God I can look upon mine enemy in his affliction with an eye of pity and weep for him yea and I hope when that day of darknesse comes upon you to be one of those that shall indeavour to bring balme from Gilead to you and indeed if God would but please after all my sufferings at your hands to vouchsafe me but that honour I should conclude it were enough for a poor mortall and should say upon it with that Simeon in the Gospel Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation thy rich thy great thy plenteous salvation unto thy people that wait for thee and so till then Gentlemen Adieu SECT XXIX A consolatory Speech to the Loyall-hearted that suffer for Conscience sake in these times Arguments to assure them of Gods helpe in due time 4 Marks to know the approach of that time How they are to demeane themselves in the meane time living and dying I Have now but a word more to adde and that shall be to those Loyall men who for Conscence and duty sake have adhered to their Soveraign and kept themselves unspotted from this sinne which like the Arian Heresie hath so suddenly orespread the whole Nation and for this cause have been persecuted and hated by these evill men who have also deprived them of all their outward comforts And what shall I now say unto you most worthy and approved shall I bewaile your sad condition or lament over you for the wrongs suffered this would be an endeavouring to bring you lower then you are to draw you down to basenesse to weaken your spirits and to expose you to be more despised and so to do you a greater injury then hath yet been done you for Pity is the poorest and most helplesse salve of misery and by noble minds farre more abhorred then the worst of fortune Away therefore with such feminine and feeble Cordialls which women use and children relish let me tell you that you are more then men you are Christians chose out of many by Almighty God to suffer for his sake to be in your Age the glory of Religion and the honour of your Nation you are no chaffe the wind hath not blown you away nor can the flaile hurt you as they fancie that afflict you they think they rob you in taking from you what God gave you but they think amisse for he can make them vomit up againe that wealth of yours which they have swallowed or can return it in specie another way all the substance and riches of the Earth are at his disposing who observes and notes who they are that lose all for his sake at least doubtlesse he will and doth repay outward losses with inward graces And be confident of it the more damage and affliction Gods truth brings you the more felicitie and joy abideth for you 't is Gods cause for which you stand 't is the honour of the 5. Commandement which you maintaine as the Martyrs in Queen Maries daies did of the second and hence 't is that you are spoiled and have your lives sought after but what an high dignitie is it in the meane time which God hath here called you to It was the confession of blessed Mr. Bradford in a case of like nature that himselfe had deserved the miseries he lay under at Gods hand and not only them but even Hell too notwithstanding sayes he so loving hath God been that he hath converted the punishment of my sinnes into a testimoniall of his truth and verity which indeed the Prelates persecute in me and not my sinnes and therefore they persecute not me but Christ in me who I doubt not but will take my part unto the end put but Parliament instead of Prelates and the words may be your own without alteration of a syllable So Bishop Hooper in those daies being at the stake appeales to God in these words ' T is knowne to thee O Lord wherefore I am come hither and why the wicked doe persecute thy servant not for my sinnes and transgressions committed against thee but because I will not allow of their wicked doings to the contaminating of thy bloud and the deniall of thy truth received each of you in your condition may make a like appeale and also adde what another Martyr said in the behalfe of himselfe and others If we would but seek to please men in things contrary to thy holy Word we might as others doe enjoy the Commodities of Wife Children Goods and Friends Besides 't is not for Gods truth only that your engagement is but for your Countrey too dulce est pro patria mori it hath at least in old time been so accounted nay what good man can wish life to see his Countrey buried vitae nimis est avidus quisquis non vult mundo secum pereunte mori saies wise Seneca they are over greedy to live that think it not an honour to die at the funerall Celebration of Church and Kingdome which to the eye of over-timerous and doubting nature may seeme perhaps to be neare approaching And were it so that a generall destruction should come yet how happie shall you be above those other men who having first made ship-wrack of a good conscience are forced afterward to lose all things else But our dutie is both to hope and pray for better for God is now the same he was of old as gracious still as ever nor must we as many doe trouble our selves with Gods Decree and grow dull upon it for himselfe sayes if the same at any time be gone forth for the plucking up or pulling downe a Nation or Kingdome an Humiliation or turning from sinne shall suspend the execution so did that of Ninive in like case and that of Hezekiah when word was brought him that he should die 't is Gods custome to Moses-like may stand in the gap upon such occasions he had spared Sodome it selfe had there been but ten righteous in that City his bowels are no whit contracted in these Gospel-times and there are no doubt manie thousands in this Land whom himselfe is pleased to account righteous Nor doth God regulate his dealings by what is in us but by what is in himselfe and there is mercie in him though no merit in us Christ is full of righteousnesse though we be full of sinne Holinesse and Truth are in Gods nature and promise though there be nothing but
leave you 1. When Humane helps are gone and no power left among men no reserve of succour to be looked for at their hand from whence formerly it was wont to come no second causes to be seen then will God arise and judge for us so we are told The Lord shall judge for his people and repent himself for his servants when he sees their power is gone and trere is none shut up or left and therefore we are advised in another place when we are in darknesse and see no light then to trust in the Name of the Lord and to stay our selves upon our God David did so and found the comfort of it 1 Sam. 30. â— c. God's use is not to reach out his hand till Peter be almost sunke but then he failes not 2. When the wicked that pretended to us but were not of us are scattered and destroyed when they that envyed at us maliced us and abused us because we durst not be so vile as they to run with them into the like excesse of riot but were more affected then they would be with our Kings sorrowes and Gods judgements upon our Nation when these I say are come to nothing and so likely to have no part of the glory of the work when done then will God himselfe appeare for us and this is intimated to us as was noted once before in Esay 26. where speaking of such a prophane and wicked crue who when God's hand was lifted up in judgement would not see it nay they maliced and envyeâ— as it seems those that did see it and layed it to heart but the fire of thine enemies O God shall devoure them for it saies the Prophet i. e. rage shall continue powerfull even in their hands whom thou hatest till those other wretches are consumed or blown to nothing and then it follows O Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us yea thou shalt then work all our works for us 3. When the sin of the enemy is high and himselfe higher in his own opinion then ere before when he puffeth at his opposites as too farre below him for to reach him and promising himselfe securitie thinkes the work done dares affront God his Word his Name and Glory and prophane what ever hath his mark upon it then will the Lord rouze up himselfe against him It is time for thee Lord to work for they have made void thy Law sayes David When Balthazar was bold with those Vessels appointed to holy use the hand-writing appeared against him when Rabshakeh and his Master were so bold with Gods name as to entitle that to their villanies the Lord put an Hook into their noses and a bridle into their lipps soon after when the proud Philistine disdained Davids littlenesse his own ruine was nigh at hand when those Amalekites that took Ziglag were eating and drinking and dividing the spoiles and dancing for joy of their great booties they lost all againe upon the suddain and their lives withall and the Apostle speakes it positively of all ungodly and self-promising men that when they shall say peace and safety then suddain destruction commeth on them as travail upon a woman with child which they shall not escape yea the day of the Lord shall come upon them as a Thiefe in the night suddainly unexpectedly when they are at rest and look for quiet 4. When the Stomacks of Gods afflicted people be down and they not only made like mire in the streets but contented with it in as much as they see Gods hand in it Behold saies the Lord I have taken the cup of trembling out of thy hand and thou shalt no more drink of it but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee and they shall drink of the dreggs thereof even they which have said to thy soul bow down that we may go over and thou hast laid thy body as the ground as the street to them that went over when the people of this Land have been content to bow their backs so low as under the name of Delinquents meekly and patiently to buy over at the hands of the Rebels those Lands and Inheritances left them by their Fathers then may the Lord make good his word unto the peeled and oppressed people of this wofull Nation In a word as when the wise Parent hath brought his child to kisse the rod then he gives over beating him and burns that so perhaps will God deale with us beat us with the rod till he hath brought us for to kisse it and this we do when with appeased spirits we can supplicate him to pardon them that have thus abused us when we have layed aside all thoughts of revenge towards them all purposes of crying quit for quit with them if God restore us and bring them into our condition Wherefore friends and fellow-sufferers we now see what we are to doe even to resolve by Gods grace if we live and thrive not to doe to them as they have done to us but to return rather good for evill for thus it becomes us to do as we are Christs members nos pati poenas decet non esse poenas we must be ambitious to be conditioned in this case like that good Archbishop Cranmer of whom it was said Do my Lord of Canterbury a shrewd turn and you shall have him your friend ever after but of all people we must take heed of being like our enemies of whom it may be said on the contrary Doe them a good turn and you shall have them your enemies ever after their custome you know hath been when we have fallen into their power to interpret the same to be by Gods providence to the end that they might torment mischief and abuse us which they or some of them have not failed to doe in full measure and when they on the other side have fallen into ours and fared well to insult thereupon and say no thank to us therefore for we would fain have done them hurt but God would not suffer us but restrained us by holding our hands whether we would or no and delivered them from us to the end they may do God service in punishing us afterward if they can but get us Now perhaps they may be of the same opinion still when hereafter they shall be at our mercy but we must look to God and not to them remembring alwaies though they deserve no favour from us yet God deserves to be obeyed by us and for his sake we must shew mercy we have heard of Josephs kindnesse to his brethren that had evill thoughts to him-ward we must resolve to doe like him and if the conditions of Joseph be in our carriage the blessing of Joseph shall be our portion this must be our resolution if we live And if we die by their despightful hands before God doth turn the wheel upon them we must resolve to conclude our daies as Christ
and precious in all our apprehensions scib. for that she hath been tam partu potens â—tero toties enixa gravi pignora pacis she hath so highly enriched this Kingdome from her fruitful and chast womb with so many sweet and Royal pledges of future happinesse as few Queens before her have done ever the like But O my dear Country thou art fallen thou art fallen from thine ancient glory for thou hast brought forth in this thine unhappy Age a generation of vipers who have laboured to destroy both Religion and good manners in thee and by whose operation Stigii profundi claustra obscuri specus laxantur Hels own self is broak loose into thee The Lord in mercy yet once again vouchsafe a gracious look upon thee But by the way who can choose but admire the strength of malice because these men themselves do hate the King they cannot abide that so much as his Queen should love him they have robbed him of the hearts of his People the Comforts of his Crown and it grieves them they cannot alienate from him the Affections of his Wife the comforts of his bosome they grutch him the enjoyment of her love at a distance How have they by their spightfull promulgation of the 34 Paper which was written twenty years before and no whit concerneth them at all endevoured to work in her an alienation from him and by that they say upon Pap. 11. to weaken the duty of his Son towards him but praised be the majesty of Heaven for it those that are most neerly his own cannot be loosened from him though of all Princes he is most unhappy in too maâ—y of his people yet is he most blessed of all men in his Wife and Progeny never had Husband a more loving Spouse never had Parent more sweet conditioned and respectfull Children then our Soveraign hath of the Prince of Wales and Duke of York and as our prayers so our hopes are that Gods grace wil so preserve and keep those other Princes whom the Rebels have got into their bondage that not all the temptations they can use shall ever make them decline from duty But further as if there were no cause of fear at all on her part they tax the Queen for being jealous of her Husbands safety if He should venture himself to go amongst them Truly considering the spirit they are of if She should in her tendernesse fear they might entertain him Thyestaeis dapibus seeing they have wherewithall to do it I should not think Her worthy to be blamed which thing how horrid and incredible so ever the hear-say of may seem to people before it is done yet should the same be acted by Order from the Lower House and Voted meet in that manner to torment the King many of the Vulgar are in such a Captivity of Judgement to them that they would quickly cry it up for a most remarkable and comely Act of Justice And let Reason speak in the Queens case She hath had ample experience of their inveterate malice against her Husband full Testimonies of their bloudy dispositions both against him and her self besides her own Father was Murdered by an Assassinate of theirs who hold the Principle of King-killing as these men do May not she therfore being a tender Lady and ful of affections be excused by all men if she fears the like may befall her Husband and for prevention thereof desireth he should have a Regiment for his Guard which themselves onely interpret should be a la mode de France Yea and why may he not have a Regiment of Scots for his Guard a la mode France the Scots are his Country-men to defend him from them and their Assassinates who have Authorized this Pamphlet against him for the ends aforesaid But to conclude this particular let these virulent men speak their pleasure against the Queen I hope by this time the world hath sufficient knowledge of them to her Honour she being the object of their Hate cannot but be a Map of goodnesse And most Noble Queen if one of the meanest and most obscure of your Majesties subjects may presume to speak to so great a Princesse let me assure your Highnesse however these English Catalines have censured your virtues and abused you for them yet there be many thousands of true Protestant English hearts who according as our Religion teacheth have you in the most high esteem of all earthly women for your tender Care and constant fastnesse to our Soveraign in these times of trouble your zealous endevours to assist him hath so increased the flame of our Loyal affections towards you that we are confident the whole floud of waters which the many-headed Dragon throws out of his mouth shal never be able to extinguish it in us Yea and by the strength of that grace which our holy Religion hath wrought in us we shal never cease night and day to make you the special subject of our prayers until we see you restored with honour to your Throne amongst us or hear that you are advanced with glory to your seat in Heaven And let your excellent goodnesse I beseech you pardon your Vassal this great boldnesse SECT XXI Of the Kings fault in loving his Wife The manifest and malicious falsifications and perversions of divers of the Kings expressions to his Queen noted THus have I examined the Queens faults and notwithstanding the ponderous aggravations which these enemies of Honour and virtuous Ladies do set them forth withall have found them light and easie I come now to see what they say further against the King whom they do accuse in the first place for loving his Wife again as wel it should seem as she loves him It is manifest that notwithstanding their late extraordinary great successe these mens hearts are not yet freed from jealousies and fears they are suspicious stil of Conspiracies yea that the King and Queen have entred into a Covenant to love each other for to spight them in giving them a good Example in cases of like Nature They tel us that He communicates his thoughts and affairs unto Her and though She be the weaker sex yet he makes her privy to his secrets and takes advise and counsel from her yea and more then this they say He professes to prefer Her health before His worldly affairs for which they bid us see Paper 14. which we have done and the world shall hear what we have there seen That Letter was written by his Majesty to the Queen January 8. 1645. immediately after his taking of Leicester wherein he hath only to this purpose these words I Must tel thee that 't is thy Letter by Fitz Williams assuring me of thy perfect recovery with thy wonted kindnesse which makes me capable of taking contentment in these good successes for as divers men propose several recompenses for themselves for their pains and hazard in this Rebellion So thy company is the only reward I expect and wish for