A LETTER FROM Major General LUDLOW TO Sir E. S. Comparing the Tyranny of the first four Years of King Charles the Martyr with the Tyranny of the the four Years Reign of the Late Abdicated King Occasioned by the reading Doctor Pelling's Lewd Harangues upon the 30th of JANUARY being the Anniversary Or General Madding-Day Neque enim satis amarint Bonos Principes Qui Malos non Oderint Plin. Panegyr They can never love Good Princes as they ought who do not perfectly abhor wicked Tyrants Amsterdam printed Anno Domini 1691 A LETTER FROM Maj. Gen. LUDLOW To Sir E. S. SIR MY Love to Old England is such as can never be shaken no not by an Eternal Banishment but I must ever wish and heartily pray for its Prosperity And though 't is not permitted to me to breath my Native Air yet that it is now in a great measure freed from those Pestilential Vapours which poysoned it in the late Reigns and that my dear Country is at length delivered from that intolerable Oppression and Tyranny under which it has long groaned is to me a matter of great rejoycing 'T is with me beyond doubt that the late happy Settlement of the Kingdom is well-pleasing to God and consonant to the Laws of the Land for as Sir Robert Philips affirmed in his Speech in Parliament in the year 1628 it is undoubtedly true that the People of England are under no other Subjection than what they did voluntarily consent unto by the Original Contract between the King and the People And King James the first was greatly in the right when he told the Lords and Commons in the year 1609 That he is no King but a Tyrant that governs not by Law which by the way being true the late King James ceased to be King even before his Abdication And Now Sir you and I being agreed that the late King having broken the Original Stipulation and Contract and becoming a Tyrant by ãâã and annulling the established Laws the Crown is most rightfully placed upon the Heads of the most excellent Princes King William and Queen Mary I shall demonstrate to you That King Charles the First did equal I might justly say transcend his Son whom you have deservedly Abdicated in all his Acts of Tyranny to this Undertaking I am provoked by the reading the many Idle ãâã and Lewd Expressions and Extravagant Encomiums of the first in the Rants of one Edward Pelling who stiles himself Rector of S. Martins ãâã ãâã Person ãâã ãâã ãâã of Spight Falshood and Venome that the Cock being turned upon the thirtieth of January he spouts out a Sea of Calumnies Lyes and Poison He as you shall see paints forth King Charles the First more like a God than a Man talking of him at this rate viz. That great Monarch and Martyr of whom the World was not worthy and perhaps will hardly ever see the like of him again That Incomparable Prince That Mirrour of Princes the Noblest of Martyrs the Wonder of Ages and the Honour of Men That Innocent Vertuous Religious Matchless Prince The Lord 's anointed A Man according to God's own Heart No King could be ever better than this under the Shadow of his Wings we did rejoyce Peace and Plenty was our Portion Every Man was sure of his Right as long as this Religious Prince had his Just Authority every Man was easie in his Cottage as long as he sat at ease in the Throne our Liberties were secure our Laws had Life and Religion never flourished more in this Nation than under him He dyed a Martyr for Religion and a Victim for his People I am of Opinion that if the Blood of any Prince or Martyr could be so valuable as never to be atoned for in this World it would be that Royal that Sacred that Innocent Blood Now To shew the effronted Impudence of this little fawning lying Levite and to set your own with the Thoughts of the present Age right in reference to this Idolized ãâã ãâã I shall endeavour to place him in his true and just Light and not to forget my proposed Method of doing it by way of Parallel I shall first recount the Miscarriages wherewith the last Tyrant was most justly charged and when I have so done I shall proceed to convince you and all the World my Doctor excepted to whom I pretend not to speak in regard I find him telling his kind and Noble Friend the late Bloody Monster Jeffryes in an Epistle Dedicatory to one of his Raving Tracts upon the the thirtieth of Janury 1683 that his Ears are past all feeling how much his Father out-stript him even in the first four Years of his Reign for to that Time I purpose to confine my self in this Letter To begin The late King by his Coronation Oath promised and solemnly swore to maintain his Subjects in the free Enjoyment of their Religion Laws and Liberties Nevertheless he overturned the Religion Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and subjected all to a Despotick and Arbitrary Government and so broke his Oath to the Poople To come to particulars herein I. He assumed to himself a Power to suspend and Dispense with the execution of ãâã Laws enacted for the Security and Happiness of the Subjects and thereby rendred them of no effect And In order to the obtaining a Judgment in the Court of King's-Bench for declaring the Dispensing Power to be a Right belonging to the ãâã he turned out such Judges ãâã could not in Conscience ãâã in so Pernicious a Sentence and having pack'd Judges for his purpose he obtained the Judgment he required II. He against Express Laws to the contrary did set up ãâã Commission for Ecclesiastical Matters which was executed contrary to all Law III. None were raised to Ecclesiastical Dignities but such Persons that had no Zeal for the Protestant Religion He made Parker Bishop of Oxford and Cartwright Bishop of Chester and Watson Bishop of S. Davids who is most deservedly excepted in their Majesties Act of Indemnity IV. The Bishop of London was suspended only because he refused to obey an Order sent to him to suspend Dr. Sharp The President and Fellows of Magdalen College in Oxford were Arbitrarily and against Law turned out of their Freeholds and the College was put into the Hands of Papists V. Lords Lieutenants Deputy Lieutenants ãâã of the Peace and others in Publick Employments who would not comply with the Design of Repealing the Test and the Penal Laws were turned out VI. The Privileges of some Corporations were invaded and their Charters ãâã And Surrenders of the Charters of other Corporations were procured to be made VII He put Papists into Civil and Military Employments and Trusts VIII The Archbishop of Canterbury and six other Bishops were sent to the Tower for setting forth in a Petition their Reasons why they could not obey an Order requiring them to appoint their Clergy to read the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience IX The Earl of Devonshire was
remind you That both the Tyrants went ãâã ãâã in their Dealing with Westminster ãâã It is before remembred That Yours modelled the Courts of Justice till he got Judges to ãâã his Right to the Dispensing Power but Mine set him the Example for he resolving to subject the Liberties and Estates of the Subject to his Will and Pleasure and finding that the Grave and Learned Judge Sir ãâã ãâã Lord Chief Justice of the King's-Bench had declared himself against the ãâã and would not serve the Turn in that Day to give a Judgment That the King might imprison ãâã ãâã and ãâã leave the Subject in the Goal and Remediless turned him ãâã and substituted Sir Nicholas ãâã in his Room and ãâã gained his Point For Sir Thomas ãâã Sir John ãâã Sir Walter Earl Sir John ãâã and Sir Edward ãâã Five of the Gentlemen imprisoned for refusing the Loan brought their Writs of ãâã ãâã in ãâã ãâã in the Third Year of this King The Warden of the ãâã made Return That they were detained in his Custody by the Special Command of the King We had then an ãâã ãâã Sir Robert Heath little short of your late ãâã ãâã at the Knack of enslaving the People he ãâã and justified this ãâã of ãâã ãâã no Special Cause was assigned and the Lord Chief ãâã Hide who was ãâã on purpose for it did singly as the Practice has also been of late give Judgment for Remanding the ãâã to Perpetual Imprisonment for that Judgment did in effect declare upon Record That by the King's Command a Subject might be ãâã ãâã ãâã for ever To the Imposition of the Loan and the many other Grievous Sufferings and Violent Oppressions under which we groaned This King added the Burthen of Billeting Soldiers of whom many were ãâã they brake out into great ãâã mastered the People disturbed the ãâã of Families and the Civil Government To some Places they were ãâã for a Punishment and where-ever they came there was a General Outcry the ãâã were ãâã and the Markets unfrequented they ãâã a ãâã to all and ãâã to many of the People He also towards the End of the Year 1627 issued ãâã ãâã ãâã under the great Seal to several ãâã Lords with ãâã and Loud Bishops of ãâã and Bath and Wells and others to raise Money by an Excise ãâã to enforce the Payment and which is very probable to ãâã the Parliament which was to assemble the seventeenth of ãâã ãâã â Upon the Thirtieth Day of January 1627 sent a ãâã ãâã to the Lord Treasurer to this effect We command you forthwith to pay to Philip ãâã Merchant Thirty thousand Pounds to be paid by him over by Bill of Exchange into the Low ãâã and Germany unto Sir William Balfoure and John ãâã ãâã for Levying and Providing certain numbers of ãâã with Arms for Horse and Foot to be brought over into this Kingdom for our Service c. Burlemark being afterwards called into the House of Commons and examined about this Matter declared That he received the Thirty thousand Pounds That One thousand ãâã ãâã levyed and those Horses and their Riders ãâã to come over and Arms were provided for them in Holland but he heard a ãâã was gone to stay them In this ãâã third Parliament to which the Extremity of his Affairs brought him much against his Will The ãâã with sad hearts taking notice of the high Oppressions of the People by heavy and illegal Exactions by false and arbitrary Imprisonments ãâã and ãâã upon the strange and dangerous Purpose of bringing in German Horse and Riders to change the Frame both of Religion and Government They found it as necessary as just to vindicate our Ancient Vital Liberties and in order thereto They drew up a Petition of Right thereby ãâã of the levying of Moneys without Authority of ãâã Of the Imprisoning the Subject without any Cause shewed and not being delivered by ãâã Corpus as by ãâã they ought Of the Subjects being ãâã to ãâã Soldiers into their Houses and to ãâã ãâã against their Wills And of the Excuting Martial Law contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm Whereupon they prayed as ãâã Rights and Liberties that none should ãâã be compelled to yield any Gift Loan ãâã Tax or such like Charge without common Consent by Act of Parliament And that no Freeman should be imprisoned without Cause shewed And that the People might not be burdened with Soldiers in time to come And that no Commission for procceding by Martial Law ãâã hereafter issue q They further prayed as their Right that the King would declare that the proceedings to the prejudice of the People in any of the Premises should not hereafter be drawn into Example And that in all the things aforesaid All his Officers and Ministers should serve him according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm This highly necessary and seasonable Petition met with great Interruption and violent Opposition The King urged that it trench'd upon his ãâã his ãâã Authority ãâã Power Sovereign Power c. which imported no less than ãâã King's being loose and ãâã from all Ties and Restraints either by ãâã Stipulations or superadded Laws The great Sir Edward Coke said in answer thereunto ãâã ãâã is such ãâã Fellow that he will have no ãâã Let us not yield a Sovereign Power above all ãâã Power in Law as the ãâã Posse Comitatus is taken for a Power with force The King strugled long to shift it off and to avoid the answering this ãâã in a Parliamentary way pressing them again and again by Messages to rest and rely upon his Royal Word The Commons persisting pursued their Petition and to have it pass into a Law and Sir Edward Coke said Was ever a Verbal Declaration of the King ãâã ãâã The King must speak by Record and in particulars not in generals All succeeding Kings ãâã say ye must trust me as well as ye did my Predecessors Let us put up our Petition of Right Not that I distrust the King but that I cannot take his Trust but in a Parliamentary way At length this Petition being unanimously agreed unto by the Lords ãâã was presented to the King who at first gave a lame and uncertain Answer to it and being press'd to give a direct and plain Answer he ãâã ãâã word to the House that he would not alter his Answer but he was afterwards brought to do it by the Importunity of the Lords and Commons and gave a clear and satisfactory Answer and so that Excellent Law pass'd But He had no sooner granted this Petition but We found it notoriously violated by his ãâã of ãâã and levying the Subsidies of ãâã and Poundage which determined by his Father's Death and were never payable to any of his Ancestors but only by special Act of Parliament Hereupon the Commons shewed by Remonstrance that Tonnage and Poundage were always the free Gift of the Subject for guarding the Seas and that the taking
Flattery and Slavish Sycophancy at a most bold wild and impudent rate calls such a Man as this The best of Kings A Man according to God's own Heart therefore to vindicate my self in treating the Doctor as I have done I tell him in his own slovenly ãâã Language in his Sermon upon the thirtieth of January 1683 dedicated to that Viper Jeffryes That such a superlative Piece of Putid Imposture may well stir an honest Man's Choler and provoke him to spit some of it in the Villain 's Face And now Sir wiping my Mouth as good Manners require after this so foul Pollution I take my leave of you declaring that I will ever approve my self King William's and Queen Mary's and my most Dear Country's Most Affectionate Loyal Dutyful and Obedient Subject and Servant Edmund Ludlow Postscript THough King Charles the First hated nothing more than to Govern by Precedent yet he would not pray without it and none of the Liturgies suiting his Fancy he had recourse to a Romance as you may here see The Prayer of King Charles stiled A Prayer in Time of Captivity printed in a great Folio called The Works of K. Charles and also in his Eicon Basilice O Powerful O Eternal God to whom nothing is so great that it ãâã resist or so small that it is contemned look upon my Misery with thine Eye of Mercy and let thine infinite Power vouchsafe to limit out some proportion of deliverance unto me as to thee shall seem most convenient Let not Injury O Lord triumph over me and let my Fault by thy Hand be corrected and make not my Unjust Enemies the Ministers of thy Justice But yet my God if in thy Wisdom this be the aptest Chastisement for my unexcusable Transgressions if this ungrateful Bondage be fittest for my over-high Desires if the Pride of my not-enough humble Heart be thus to be broken O Lord I yield unto thy Will cheerfully embrace what Sorrow thou wilt have me suffer only thus much let me crave of Thee let my Craving O Lord be accepted of since it even proceeds from Thee that by thy Goodness which is thy self thou wilt suffer some Beam of thy Majesty so to shine in my Mind that I who in my greatest Afflictions acknowledg it my noblest Title to be thy Creature may still depend confidently on thee Let Calamity be the Exercise but not the Overthrow of my Virtue O let not their Prevailing Power be to my Destruction and if it be thy Will that they more and more vex me with Punishment yet O Lord never let their Wickedness have such a Hand but that I may still carry a Pure mind and stedfast Resolution ever to serve Thee without Fear or Presumption yet with that humble Confidence which may best please Thee so that at the last I may come to thy Eternal Kingdom through the Merits of thy Son our alone Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen The PRAYER of PAMELA to an Heathen Deity being under Imprisonment In Pembroke's Arcadia ãâã Edit 13. printed 1674. O All-seeing Light and Eternal Life of all things to whom nothing is either so great that it may resist or so small that it is contemned look upon my Misery with thine Eye of Mercy and let thine insinite Power vouchasafe to limit out some proportion of Deliverance unto me as to thee shall seem most convenient Let not Injury O Lord triumph over me and let my Faults by thy Hand be corrected and make not mine unjust Enemy the Minister of thy Justice But yet my God if in thy Wisdom this be the aptest Chastisement for my unexcusable Folly if this low Bondage be fittest for my over-high Desires If the Pride of my not-enough humble Heart be thus to be broken O Lord I yield unto thy Will and joyfully embrace what Sorrow thou wilt have me suffer only thus much let me crave of Thee let my Craving O Lord be accepted of thee since even that proceeds from Thee let me crave even by the noblest Title which in my greatest Affliction I may give my self that I am thy Creature and by thy ãâã which is thy self that thou wilt suffer some Beam of thy Majesty to shine into my Mind that it may still depend confidently on thee let Calamity be the Exercise but not the overthrow of my Vertue let their Power prevail but prevail not to Destruction let my greatness be their Prey Let my Pain be the Sweetness of their Revenge Let them if so it seem good unto Thee vex me with more and more Punishment But O Lord let never their Wickedness have such a Hand but that I may carry a pure Mind in a pure Body and pausing a while and O most gracious Lord said she whatever becomes of me preserve the Virtuous Musidorus FINIS ãâã 's first Collections To publish a good was made then a Sin by this Bishop of London and an ill one a Vertue and while one came out with Authority the other could not have a Dispensation So that we seemed to have got in Expurgatory Press though not an Index and the most Religious Truth must be expunged and suppressed in order to the false and secular Interest of some of the Clergy He might indeed have a more early sight of the Cloud than any Man living because 't was of his own raising A Deo Rex à Rege Lex Title-page of Pelling's Sermon 30. Jan. 1683 dedicated to Jefferyes But we find different Doctrin in Bracton and Fleta they tell us That Rex Angliae habet Superiores viz. Legem per quam factus est Rex ac Comites Barones qui debent ei fraenum ponere The King of England hath for Superiors both the Law by which he is constituted King and which is the Measure of his Governing Power and the Parliament which is to restrain him if he do amiss Eraction lib. 2. cap. 16. Fleta lib. 1. cap. 17. Dolbier was a Papist March 17th 1627. This might be the first but 't was not the last time that the University hath made an Election in contempt of the Parliament We here have Dr. Edw. Pelling's MIRROUR OF PRINCES ãâã of Martyrs Wonder of Ages and the Honour of Men laying down his living Opinion of the Constitution of our Government and according to his then Judgment passing a Sentence of Death upon our Parliaments And seeing the ãâã told CAPTAIN SIMMONS of the WONDER TAVERN with his goodly Petitioners ãâã Sissan Owen and ãâã and the rest of his Parishoners upon the Thirtieth of January 1690. That his most Noble Martyr BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH I do put in an early request to him on behalf of the Commons of England that he would oblige them upon the next Madding day the twenty Ninth of May in letting them know what his Matchless Saint now speaks and in particular what he says about their Right to Annual Parliaments for 't is to be hoped that by this Time if he be kept ãâã from ARCHBISHOP LAUD he may be set right in this great Point of English Parliaments