shining with variety of Flowers and abundant Fruitfulness the Seas their over-joy thinking it no burden to their best and well-rigged Ships to give way and bow down that all she brings from forreign and the rich returns of Trade that plough her Ocean may when so loaden in their best dress also wait upon the Crown peaceably attending suffering themselves to be led by it All which they did being Merchant Ships not Men of War And now tell me is it not pitie the greatest too that whom God hath made the more reasonable Creature Man should onely be averse and stand in Rebellion going on in disobedience to his own undoing But I may not complain as anon I shall let you see He also is or shall come in for who can resist when God will have it so He hath in store nay he is now distributing to you the greatest mercy in the world which I dare not longer conceal from all the Sons of Men but more especially from the so much belov'd of the Lord the Seed of Abraham the Jews Here 's the hope of Israel as also to the Heathen towards whom his Compassions fail not and to this our Orthodox true Protestant Religion for the honour of it to the unparalel'd joy of all good mens hearts These things observed I then applied my self to Doctor Mollines who was one of the ten Persons I desired to be present And because I knew him to be a person of good life believed him of sound judgement I made it my beseech to him That in a short time he would be pleased to give us a Sermon upon this Subject or Text He that covers his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercie For to me it seemed that Gods return is in mercy was onely witheld by our going on in iniquity Here also I may not omit but observe to you that before I came to the Lord of Broghills I was taken from my knees and could not go on to beseech Gods blessing upon what I had to deliver to him untill I turned to the Reading Psalms But as I was cast formerly upon the Prophet Haggai with good success for the rebuild of that Church so here I was cast upon the 84 and 85 Psalms both as full as is imaginable to any that well considers and compares what I observed out of my Dream and desire to the rebuild of Gods House Oh how amiable and how much to be delighted in is thy House how should our Souls long after thy Worship Which when I had read and considered the manner of my being cast upon them having already disputed all I intended or almost all what I would speak to that Company at the Lord Brougills I could not but conclude what I believe every well-observing man will That it was the onely Providence of God Almighty who for my further confirmation gave me those Psalms of Scripture to strengthen me and dispose others to their duty who he was willing should reap the unparalel'd blessings there assured Pray well observe it the one lets you see what desires we should have for the rebuild of worship in Gods House the other his return in mercy blessing the Land when we so fear and serve him Righteousness as that Light shall then go before him Mercy also and Truth shall meet together Righteousness and Peace shall kiss each other and so set us in the way of his steps Full to all Having done all of Interpretation in reference to my Dream I could not pass this lightly over but observe it to them as also how that God had many times shewed me several things in and from Heaven called me to the search and often advised the reading of his Holy Word giving me to understand that by so doing I should be abundantly happy and blessed In particular one time it seemed to me he took me into a great Light when all the World was in darkness he placed on each side of me an Angel of the Lord that on the right hand opened a great Book to me bid me read therein and took an Angel of Gold off that Book into his hand and put it into mine when received I folded my arms and bowed before him believing it was no other but as the Bush of Moses the presence of the Lord He then told me he gave it not to be folded up or hid but to be improved were his Talents given and so advised me to read Another time one night about the hour ten walking at the end of Broad-street in which I then and now live looking up into the Heavens and observing so great a number of Stars I called to minde the promise made to Abraham That his Seed should be as numberless as the Stars in Heaven So praising God I there stood in or near that place about half an hour where I did see the Heavens opened my Saviour on the Throne the Patriarks Prophets Apostles Martyrs Saints and Angels waiting round about it and to my comfort my own Father This I saw when I was awake and really there standing Something hath been shewed me of our ever-blessed King dead but in Heaven glorious this also I did observe to his Lordship but made no other use of it than this That forasmuch as all I ever dreamed or saw of that nature was above in the Heavens or came from thence nothing ever from the bottomless pit the Earth or Seas which gave me to believe it was the further from Delusion and much the more to be believed True because that which is of Heaven is Heavenly And although the Crown was upon no mans head yet being waited upon by the Ships it implied He was to come from beyond the Seas whose undoubted right it was And who that Man was to whom it properly belonged his Star demonstrated which at Pauls Cross appeared when there was a Sermon preached there upon the day he was born on being the same as I conceive our Lord rose on and his our Kings Birth also early in the morning as his our Saviours Resurrection whose Vice-roy certainly he this CHARLS STUART is as ye shall hear anon his Father our late King then present And as the Gentleman that preached about the hour of eleven was giving thanks to God Almighty That to our then Soveraign Lord the King and to us his Subjects was that day born a Son and Prince in whom our hopes were and assurance might be He would prove most Eminent in his Church on Earth to Gods glorie and his Majesties and our comfort So thanking God for this for I present was I looked up to Heaven and there at almost eleven a Clock in the moneth of May a most clear day very near the Sun also did I see that his Star appear which wondering at being just over as it were his place of Birth White-Hall or his Fathers head who was come to give God praise for him at the Cross which was also
taken up into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that never shall have end These are the very words of this the Lords Prophesie his almighty dictatings of which words and their strangeness I may say as the prophet Zacharia did in a vision the Lord gave him referring to the rebuild of his Temple restore of his worship and delight in his service to which all are enjoyned to be assisting begging and inviting them as mine doth first to seek the Kingdom of Heaven his glory worship and service on earth This Prophet Zacharia in the 5. verse of that 4. Chapter you may there read having seen that Vision was asked by the Angel of the Lord if he knew what the Vision shewed him was he answered no my Lord. A second time he answered the very same words in the 13 verse no my Lord read on and you shall finde informed he was by the Angel that Prince and Nobels the High Priest and the other Priests under him are the Persons the two Olive Trees betoken and the Candlesticks there lighted let us see the perfection of beauty and brightness the Lord will have to be in his house Certainly where holiness is commanded beauty richness and decency were never forbidden in the house of God And now to do this doth not the two green Olive Trees on each side drop golden Oil to carry on the work King House of Peers Bishops Priests Deacons see here all your duties Prince Priest people must be assisting with purse and hand to the rebuild of Gods house for his publick Worship and service which when done nay doing observe how he blessed the Land never the like before for peace and plenty And here learn also not to wonder if I yet know not in what manner to understand those words they shall never die There was a time untill the Angel gave that so emiment Prophet to understand what himself did reply to he understood not A Prophesie is a wonder sent to posterity least they complain of want of wonders it is a letter sealed and sent which to the bearer sometimes is but Paper but to the receiver and opener is full of power To such another non ultra was the Prophet Daniel brought in his 12. Chapter and the 8. verse where he saith I heard but I understood not what should be the end of these things the next verse tells that Prophet the words were closed up and sealed untill the end the last verse of that Chapter assures him he shall stand in the Lot at the end of the dayes A thousand difficulties might arise out of the particularities of so strange a message as all this his Prophesie is yet observe when things of such nature have been dictated to the most blessed Saints in holy writ as our ever blessed Lady and others from these we hear of no more objections no more interrogations The faithfull heart when it once hears or knows the good pleasure of God Almighty argues no more but sweetly rests in a quiet expectation Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word And thus without all sciscitation we are to go blind-fold whither he will lead us All disputations with God after his will known arise from infidelity Great is the mystery of Godliness and if we will give nature leave to cavil we cannot be Christians as good B. Hall observes T is true we read in holy Writ that wise valiant and good Kings and other persons of Honour have been so eminently just holy communicably good to all here on earth as of them it is said They shall not die Nay we see their renown lives now That is the meaning of not dying there in one place and though to wicked mens sense such Godly persons seem to die as in the book of Wisdom the 3 Ch. second verse yet it did but seem to them so dead they are not their renown shall never die Again we read of Enoch and Elias those good Prophets so lived they with God though here on earth as that he took them to himself most miraculously by translation never suffering them to lie buried in the earth nor their bodies to return to dust whose Souls were all heavenly mindedness and conversation so continually above that the took their bodies thither also they did never die Be it in either of these two senses here is as much honour happiness as mortality is capeable of agreeable to thy word O Lord it must be or it can never stand nor as I believe come to pass But my hand is upon my mouth thy will be done and by man for ever be thou praised O Lord and now seeing the events of things are the best commentaries upon Prophesies the best way for these eighteen persons all others is to walk with God as Enoch did all his dayes on earth in a Godly sorrow for sin weeping for his own and others and then taken up into Heaven also they may be as Enoch was who never died but was translated into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that never shall have end You have heard what the Lord is doing The conversion of the Jews and Heathen at hand also the downfall of the Church of Rome things mighty strange and wonderfull which to pass he will bring for his own glory name and mercies sake making these things marvellous in our eyes And did he not also formerly work wonderfull things that we Gentiles might be wrought upon to come into the knowledge of his Law whose fulness is now with the Jews to come in The Heathen a people that have not heard of the Scriptures the Jews not believing in the Gospel who although the beloved seed of Abraham to whom the promise is for conversion yet an obstinate crooked and wilfull generation Even to convert Schismaticks we may also look for signs in or from Heaven all whose conversion we have little hopes to see effected otherwayes than by signs wonders in or from Heaven For this sixteen hundred years past the Gospel not heard of by the one not heeded by the other who remembers not our selves cost our Saviour deer and many wonders he did before the people would confess him the Son of God in Heaven signs on earth opening the Graves the dead bodies shewing themselves to those that knew them himself ascending up into Heaven also in the presence of many witnesses need of all for conversion I have done But remember Reader and all you that hear of what the Lord is doing and bringing by his Almighty power of his good will to pass in the World for the honour of his name and this professed Protestant Religion and good of such as fear him Take warning go not on in your sins break off by speedy and unfeigned repentance and practice you as well as invite others to a more holy obedience than ever least that when God giveth deliverance to his Church and people you be found to be of the number
thee must terminate but the Kingdom thou shalt be taken up into is that of Jesus Christ's that never shall have end Wharton where art thou what the best Astronimer at sometime a Prophet and doth not thy rich sublime Transcendent wit and Pen yet appear make us Te Deums and Laudamus Domine I have left thee a break in this Book more than fill it and the world of good hearts with Gods thy Kings just praises but thy own duty were not those thy verses I have so much inquired after as well as thy most worthy self since returned from Ireland thine or Cleavelands sure but not yet so happy as to see either Verses that Prophesied the King being inbalmed at Windsor the Garter and Spur should lie dormant untill some Prophet sent of God should raise them from there locked up and sealed Wardrop raised they are make haste adorn them thou hast for thy enablement a Mine of Excellencies Cleaveland and thee have all give God and your King the glory of it they have your hearts already pen us Songs and Praises to our God the Quoristers and Church-men did sing us such at St. Pauls Cross upon his Birth-day that good example was given by the Angels who did so at the glorious King of Kings Birth-day who now sends our King CHARLS the Second his Vice-Roy on earth to rule the Sons of men Honours he brings with him from the Almighty fountain to be derived and conferred upon such as fear God Obey and Honour this his Vice-Roy our King C. S. Come now come O Cromwell take not a share but thy full measure God judgeth not as man doth we thought thee not at all worthy now shall that celestial Colour Order Ribbon of the Garter I had the Honour to sell it to my King but never thought the least to be so Honoured as to repossess him of it from God Come I say let this badge of the greatest Honour now on Earth given from the greatest King thine also C. S. let it now be put on thee I said it in Ireland the Honourable and good Souldiery submitting to their King whom God would dispose and over-rule so to do of which thou art found the most eminent they should have honours conferred upon them indempnity forgiveness and large rewards given unto them of by the King when restored put on this rich Garter which hath for its inscription Hony soit qui maly pense the other Order Ribin worn upon the body remembers all Subjects we should not so much as think an evil thought of the King in our hearts And now complain not but rejoyce for ever O Cromwell thou seest with whom God hath ranged thee with the greatest and happiest of Kings Queens and Princes now thy Honour is worth having there was something in it that thy good aged and so lately deceased Mother was as I hear a Stuart she is gone to the common Wardrop of the world the grave Be comforted thy Father is a Stuart too he lives the Father of his Countrey and the King of all good Subjects for their Consolation of which blest number we may not doubt thou art Son and Subject since God hath so declar'd it made you United Sons of the now more visible and glorious Protestant Church than ever in Heaven glorious to all eternity This our King hath now largely given to him of the fountain and as our blessed Saviour came to his universal Dominion not by fighting but winning his Subjects by dying for them so by merit and of purchase had the ends of the Earth for the bounds of his Kingdom which being but earth the rule of it he now gives to his Vice-Roy CHARLS STUART whom in his uncontrolable and unsearchable wisdom and mercy he hath made worthy of as much Honour Command and rule on Earth as Mortality is capable of not of merit but to let us see that he which gives himself to do the will of his Saviour which is in Heaven and denies him not on Earth which thy now blessed Father our King did in obedience to the Commands of his God for such a witness the Almighty made of him and such a Martyr we have put to death and such a glorified Saint was the Crown of your rejoycing my most blessed and for ever happy Queen when he your Majesties on Earth now in Heaven glorified Be not troubled Madam they were Villains and Rebels that aspersed your Honour and his Majesty you see it as also your no otherways vertuous and for ever happy Sister now Queen of France See how the Lord loves your Souls Honours your Persons and establisheth your posterity to you Madam Behold the Lord now gives his and your Son but our so much Honoured and ever blessed Soveraign to be King of the whole World and to you Madam the best of France's Queens whose two Sons good men saw what God did for you gave you them both from Heaven 't is true to make your patient expectancies hopes and faithfull dependencies on him the Almighty visible to the World as they were to Heaven he defers it in his wise delayes which are always the best for 23 years untill your glorified King also was going thither in whose last dayes his graces as his blessings were at the highest for your comfort Madam and the Worlds thankfull and happy acknowledgement had they but grace to see it as now all may Was there ever two such Kings and Mother Queens on Earth yet see how the Devil and his instruments would eclipse them and hath aspersed both but God witnesseth for you and hath now declared you and yours beloved in Heaven and to be obeyed on Earth Most excellent Queen of France you were pleased some sixteen years past my self being at Saint Jermains I came thither with the now Lord Jermain your Majesty after honours and favours by your most excellent and good self afforded did interrogate me what Religion I was of I then humbly satisfied your Majesty I was a Catholick your Majesty further demanded of me what Catholick I answered the best said your Majesty it is then Roman Catholick is it not I bowed before your Majesty as in duty and replied it was Catholick è Protestant a la mode d' Angleterre point de Rome Your Majesty whom God hath made to your power communicably good to all pitying my condition was pleased to offer me a Letter to your Kings Confessor of good will desiring my conversion I humbly acknowledge the favour but replied my Religion I liked so well as not to change it Madam be pleased to see now how God more than retributes and no otherwayes recompenseth this your good will to Gods glorie and my good as intended my unworthy self Madam is now sent unto you by the Lord not onely to your so pious and so eminently good self but also to more than your whole Kingdom to bring your Majesty and them into his only true Church that Church which is not
to suffer us longer who pretend to the most and best of Piety to carry on a War and continue such actions as should prove so scandalous to the Protestant Religion deterring from the profession of it Such as there lived among us who could not certainly be drawn to the profession of it by our so bad example living as it were like men of dispositions onely born to cruelty and irreligion Beseeching that he would be pleased to return to us in mercy set every mans sins in order before his face to the detest of them resolving never to return to folly And that of his goodnes he would cast theÌ„ all behind his back that we might once more come into the Houses built for his Worship and Service with prepared hearts devout Souls forgiving one the other all desirous to be taught of God that we might live hereafter more according to his will revealed in his word and so knowing his good pleasure we might readily apply our selves to do it Further that the Ministers appointed to officiate in those places might be men sent from God who understanding his word aright might to us so divide it And that we might all harmoniously agree together not onely to Preach and talk down Sin but that we might all live for the time to come to serve him in sincerity of heart and in the beauty of holiness So that others observing Gods mercies towards us and our amendments towards him might also with us be drawn to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Sometime of that Thursday after-noon I spent in that Remain of Church so praying meditating and reading and could not do otherwise Indeede the more I prayed the more I wept the more I wept the more I joyed and from my Devotions I remember not that I ever went away with a better return being very highly comforted and so assur'd that God would hear and have mercie and from thenceforth and in that place bless me giving me for consolation that a well-guided zeal for his House Worship and Service made great our own and establish'd it also That night I went home to a little House I then and there lodged at and had this dream Me thought there was a very gross and thick Darkness over the face of the whole Earth dark beyond compare I then heard a very terrible Thunder which more affrighted me and looking up to Heaven I saw a glimering Light not clear about the bigness and of the proportion of a round Table some two yards over In that Light there appeared to me as the Body of an Oak about a yard long Root it had not nor Top nor Leaves nor Fruit Full of Sangs it was and offensive Knots not fit for Timber or other use than the Fire This soon vanished yet the darkness continued but grew greater than the â—ormer and the Thunder answerable indeed so terrible that it seemed to me to waken and rouze up all the people of the Land which when risen I prayed in these words O Lord the people are now risen up and stand in readiness to do thy will wouldst thou be pleased to let them know it I beseech thee O Lord give them a sign in Heaven or from Heaven of thy good pleasure and we will readily obey thee There then appeared as formerly such another Light not clearer but bigger and as the former was over our heads about the height or distance of the Clouds having in it such a Body of an Oake as the other in this onely differing 't was bigger and more offensive As we stood thus gazing anon the Heavens began to grow light in the East as approach of day and Sun We standing as it were in the midst of the Kingdom of England the Light encreased and came on And with it rose and came toward us the most glorious Crown ever eyes beheld the richest for Jewels the most transparently cut every way the beautifullest imaginable Having in it and through it standing as the three Plumes of Feathers in the Princes Arms a bunch of Bayes or small Bay-trees beautifull for verdure bearing Berries as having Root Waiting upon this Crown came many goodly Ships which Crown Bayes and Ships came all along thus together in the Light from the East toward us the people who with fixed eyes stood looking into Heaven All which we perfectly discerning and being come almost over our heads we the people all of us with one voice gladness and consent cried out O Lord we praise thee this is of Heaven we will follow it I then looked behinde me for the former Glimmering Light and Offensive Oake in it and I saw them flying away so fast that immediately they were gone and no more to be seen The people seeing it so gone out of the Heavens reitterated the former words and said all with one consent Come this Crown is of Heaven we will follow it so bowed down and worshipped praising God The Light then went over all the Heavens towards the West and great was the Light the Crown Bayes and Ships continued in the Heavens now light all over After this immediately from the Heavens I heard most sweet and pleasing Sounds as the voice or murmur of many waters and on the Earth shining appeared nothing but Beauty and Plenty amongst the people of the Earth loving kindness and good affections all with one consent praising God Thus ravished with an over-joy I wakened and found my self very wet with tears My greatest joyes and greatest weepings seldom are divided I spent most of that night in Meditation and casting what this dream might import for truely this is but one though the most considerable as I conceive of the many I have had from Heaven demonstrating several things The next day being Fryday a day in the week which for some seven years past I have set apart though not alwayes spent God be pleased to have mercie upon me and forgive me as I ought or should for fasting and examination of my self That as I am one Fryday nearer my end so I may in one measure or another grow fitter for it in regard of the many mercies God Almighty hath been pleased to afford me from my Cradle hitherto As that he hath been pleased to preserve me from the noisom Pestilence from the violence of the War where be pleased to observe I have been committed and taken into custody three times on the Kings side and five times on the Parliaments yet never was in action or imploy on either part from so many great and eminent dangers both by Sea and Land from Men lying in wait particularly for my bloud And lastly that the Lord hath not cut me off in the midst of my sins and already given me my portion with that so sad company in Hell from whence is no returning These were certainly grounds enough for every mans Fasting and Prayer especially living in a Time when wickedness seemed to be practiced by a Law at least it was not
Death or otherwise of undoing them And what to do I pray but to commit Idolatry that those ye prefer may set up Imaginations of their own and you as they worship that Calf But you will say This is no Idolatry if so then let it go for Idiotrey and that hath but one Letter difference pray let it go for both as being guilty of both Those Calfs you set up after them you low and run but continue to neglect Gods Ministers whom you will neither hear nor prefer lest you should be converted and so become poor What out of love would you have us with that seeming righteousness zeal and godly party which to be of will certainly prefer us No bewitcht we are with it and for these reasons will be of no other judgement It is you that talk foolishly we profitably And this kinde of Idolatry in all ages hath caused Gods wrath to continue even against his own people How long did these disobediencies keep them from entering into the promised Land which indeed was so near them as we may truely say even at hand Moses goeth but up to the Mount to converse with God the people mutiny and will have him no more govern as King And for Priest and Prophet why not others as well as those God onely had set over them seeing they took too much upon them What is the event of this madness up goes a Calf presently worship it they will they will have Governours and Teachers of their own making as well as a God which shall not take so much upon them yet ruled they will be too but it shall be by themselves Tell not us say they of Gods Mission of your Prophets or Ministers onely we know better he that can do all without book learning or reason then he is sent if so gifted if we like him also it is good warrant Thus your contempt neglect and persecution of those men who undoubtedly would teach you from Heaven and better things than you either hear or practice on earth is another good reason in all ages it hath gone for a good one And yet one of your little ones must not be offended but if he cries and bawls for the life and estate of the most considerable in the Kingdom to please it must be given him or them Babes of Grace for you say the fat of the earth is for you the seeming Saints But you shall finde and know too anon God will do something for the thus persecuted but penitent Sinners Turn you turn you you great Hypocrites and you shall see these things come to pass in a short time And therefore gave I that Text to that worthy Doctor Mollines to let you all see that he which covers his sins shall not prosper but who confesseth and forsakes them shall find mercy and there is the reason It is true that good man Mr. Evans goes on to tell you one fault more an error it may be I think it is I am sure it makes way for a great one in giving the year its beginning from the Conception which should take it from the Birth of our Lord. And because you may fill the world with confusion you keep no day for the Commemoration of that neither which helps to make that ever to be observed good day no otherwise apparent than your charity whose right hand never yet knew what the left did But you trouble me and I long to be rid of you Are not these reasons if you have any for the wise delay of Gods mercies and restore of our so much desired King who if he comes not yet years months of which opinion I am not yet I will wait and believe for God hath said it He whom you have persecuted shall shortly come and that in Honour too and because he sowed in tears he shall reap in joy and bring his sheaves with him Oh! could I but perswade every man that reads me or hears of what the Lord is in mercy doing for these Kingdoms the King and Protestant Religion but to turn to him with all his heart and Soul for that is the taking way in new obedience and to leave no sin unrepented of and no commandment unconform'd unto in sincerity of heart and true obedience you would then All see that suddenly come to pass and be fulfilled in your dayes and eyes which I do as truely believe will come to pass and I shall see it nay I do already and enjoy it also as I do believe the Heavens to be over my head and the Earth under my feet Which if it fail I am content that you take me and put me to death These Reasons given for its Defer I am brought from what I had of Vision or my own Dictates to that which is most certainly Prophesie and the word of the Lord. Which although spoken out of my mouth by my tongue pronounced yet the matter no more my conceptions than I now dictate or write unto you the words or thoughts of the most Remote King or Emperour in the World for I never so much as had things of that nature in my minde Hear the manner and the matter they are both of the Lord To whom be given for ever Honour Praise Glorie Obedience and Thanksgiving Amen O Lord Amen And now before I proceed give me leave to tell you that this Fryday the 5 of August is come to my observe this of Jeremiah the 23 Chap. and the 28 vers The Prophet that hath a Dream let him tell a Dream and he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the Chaff to the Wheat saith the Lord. O Lord this being thy command I will obey thee So help me God for now I come to thy own words SECT IV. SOme three dayes after I returned the second time from the Lord of Broghills to my Lodging the Widdow Merricks house in Youghal upon the 3 or 4 of January 1653. lying there in bed and having spent most part of that night in Meditation and Prayer rejoycings weepings for of that nature were my weepings the fullest of joy imaginable that indeed I often conceived not feared I might sooner die of an over-joy than any grief In that night I say from lying in my bed I was upon a sudden taken up that is to say made to sit up somewhat bowing and when so I did then with a loud voice somewhat altered from my ordinary speaking pronounce these words which words I say are the words of the Lord of Hosts God Almighty are these There is an end of all the Wars in the Christian World The Jews shall come in also the Heathen and shall be converted to the true Religion The Church of Rome shall fall The Irish shall not be transplanted This said I was laid down and wondring with my self that I should be thus taken up made to speak what I knew I uttered yet not have any of those thoughts or conceptions in my
convenient place quietly demeaned my self until Sermon was ended Here I cannot but observe to you that although Doctor Mollines had his Sermon in readiness yet by reason of a sore throat preached not but the ordinarie Lecturer for that day And yet as if he had been in some measure privy to my Prophesie and Intentions which be could not be his Sermon was very much for amendment of life And observe also he did that Enoch and Elias were translated into heaven having walked with God and kept his commandments on earth so that as I after observed to him his Sermon seemed to me to be a Prophesie of a Prophesie But I have had many of these to my consolation as formerly observed from a mercifull God Sermon ended I then desired the people to stay and suffer me a few words I told them I had to communicate unto them which was certainly of the Lord consisting of Dream its observe and interpretation Vision also and Prophesie all of the Lord. I then reached to me the Church Bible kissed it and did promise upon that holy Evangelist I would not speak other to them than I did believe the Lord had spoken to me no man living ever dictating a word to me or disposing me thereunto nor now to this which as I could not do other then but speak so now here but publish by Printing unto them and all those concerned of the World Begin I did as you have heard declared my Dream its Interpretation my Vision and other dictates of mine own which I penned not yet so to them related as here recited the Prophesie I read to them as I wrote it verbatim the morning after the Lord caused me to speak it When I came to proclaim the King away goes the Governor Colonel Saunders after him the Major of the Corporation When of the Protestant Religion I spake and the flourishing of that again and how that none should ever prevail that rose up against the word of God and his Discipline now to be established and his Sword also put into the hand of his King CHARLS STUART away goes as I conceive the disaffected to both for certainly Congregations are now adays made up of Goats and Tares lovers of our selves we are more than God and yet be we must together until the Harvest come then the Prophesie as the most sure written word of God tels you the Goats must to the left when the Sheep onely go to the right hand Chaff and Tares to their own home In this Church although a Sermon-day but one Servant of the Earl of Corks not one of the Lord of Broghills as I saw and remember and why that one and who must that Servant be but my Cosin their Secretarie one whom they knew I loved and would be much ruled by Well how governs he I suspect by their order too he comes to me almost as soon as I was entered upon what I intended and had to do desires me to desist weeps to me I refuse him he after pulls me by the Cloak and Arm uncivil more than enough hales me by both prayes and weeps to have me out I took faster hold told him if they would burn me they might but I would not stir from that place nor from that imploy of the Lords untill I had done that work the Lord commanded me of his Then crying like a great yet Childish Kinsman he went away whilest I was over-joyed being so well rid of him so thanking God I went quietly on to do all I intended to a word without any other violence offered me Yet my Congregation grew very thin in the end It is the unhappiness of these times that where He stands up that is not sent thither the people run to which ill advised we may fitly use that of the Spaniard who when he sees one do so observe saith he what haste that man makes to leave his wits behinde him Yet to the comfort of those that hold out to the last though but a few if in well-doing the blessing is to them But its prayers must remedy this not conceits the loving kindness of the Lord must do it Which when he shall be pleased to restore to us wiser Teachers we may then hope to see In the mean time it calls for our prayers and tears that we see it not It was a witty one of long since deceased Mr. Shuit officiating in Lombard street I heard it from him indeed he married me may his memory and his works ever live in us in a Sermon complaining of these Times which he foresaw hastning upon us for such are the true Prophets of the Lord and therefore as I conceive called Seers The age is now grown so Chimical said he that from a Tailers shop-board or Weavers loom we have those now will extract Learning enough to stand 3 hours in a Pulpit before an apron'd giddy Auditory with applause too that should a wise Man put his head in at the Church-dore he would judge the Famine to be very sore among us to see an Asses head valued at so many pieces of silver Mais donne aux ausnes le Chardons let Asses feed on Thistles But I must go on Of a like nature was one I heard praying in the Pulpit for a Reformation in those over-active times dispairingly say How can we hope for it to Gods glory when there is not one in our Universities or Cathedrals but what are Factors for that Whore of Babylon Sure he was never there he was so ignorant mistake me not I mean the University if otherwise give him the Whet-stone having thus preach'd for it Truely I would not make these Aberrations but for this Reason There was with me all the time of my imprisonment at Youghall and a prisoner also a person of great Honour as I firmly believe M. David Rooche the Eldest Son of the Viscount Lord Rooche a Gentleman of very great integrity and faithfulness where trust and devoir lies upon him He is a great Devotery and admirer of the Church of Rome and hath often told me how like I was to be deluded because part of my Prophesie was that the Church of Rome should fall which he laboured to have me believe the Gates of Hell should never prevail against as being what Christ promised to his Church That being it and no other He told me We could shew no Church neither were we any since fallen from them the onely Conspicuous in all ages visibly shining as upon an hill That with him was the strength of his argument any thing that ever was in Ours that looked like a Church see because it was but like one how God had now annihilated that also And for the Preachers of our Church as we would have the World yet misbelieve we were a Church now amongst us what were they but men unsent who filled the world with Schismes Falshood Heresie strange and lying Opinions few or none of them agreeing whereas Unite was the best devote
Person yet to this good King was laid the false charge of his being guilty of all the bloudshed in the three Kingdoms To witness this truth in my Kings defence when his Majesty was upon his Trial I being near a hundred miles from London heard of their quick proceedings against him and had the Saturday night before his death a very strange Vision concerning him I made haste towards London that he might have the benefit of this my witness in that killing and false charge but upon the way met with the sad news of his being Martyred so that in this action the wickedness that was done was quickly done but I will not wound afresh or grieve a man of you that did it or had a hand in the bringing to pass what God would have done that his name might have the more glory and you now no less happy in his Sons rule over you can you but repent of this as of all your other sins God forgives and of the Kings forgiveness you may not doubt the Stuarts as the Kings of Israel are very mercifull Kings King James a Beati Pacifici King CHARLS of ever blessed memory praieth God to forgive all his Enemies when inquisition is made for bloud then O Lord let them be found that shed mine be sprinkled with thine I beseech thee CHARLS the second our King will not consent that his seeming greatest Enemy in the World Oliver Cromwel shall privately be taken off an act pleasing enough to many when the remove but of that one man onely might probably without more bloud-shed set him upon his Fathers his own Throne yet see how he Governs he will not so much as hear of it you have it observed to you in the wise Admonition to Oliver Cromwell when Wiseman and others proposed his murther to him no at no hand he allows it not he will wait upon God in all his lawfull wayes contenting himself to be Charls the good if not Charls the Great And being thus principled see what is the happy successes of his so doing God gives to him the Crown for ever and Oliver Cromwell his ready subjection this is counsel I have given him but first given me of God his Majesty had it from me in April last as I take it to forgive all his Enemies even O Cromwell and to refer all to Gods own times way it may be thou O Cromwell doth owe me something for thy well being at this day I am sure thou doest to God Almighty give him the glory and praise of it in thy better obedience for the times to come and I have all I desire I have but done my duty and my reward is above in Heaven whither I most humbly beseech God of his infinite goodnes and never to be dispaired of mercie take my good King thee me and all men even the greatest sinners now on earth Whom though the greatest yet how often is God pleased to make of such the most glorious Saints when repenting their former wickedness then it is turn and live for ever you have the opportunity lay hold on it If any man now distrusts his own safety and forgiveness it is onely he that keeps close his sins or as Hypocrites seem onely to repent he that covers his sin shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsakes them shall finde mercy of God and his King I fear you think me too long before I give you the reasons promised why plain Oliver Cromwell and no more in the over-ruled dictate of Prophesie when all others by their known Titles and Signiories I will onely shew you the Crown on the other side and there Proclaim my King as in Gods Prophesie commanded that done go on to let you read what follows more of my observe as also Gods disposing of Oliver Cromwell to the well liking of all good Subjects these worthy Gentlemen I hope now met in Parliament with them also assisting readily to the bringing in of his Majesty CHARLS STUART whose unquestionable the Crown is right When given unto him the joy of all good men the Protestant Religion then more gloriously conspicuous than ever as clearly appearing to bring forth good fruits not pretensions onely by which our Saviour lets us know we cannot judge and thus in the end as well as in the beginning you have C. S. and O. C. United This my so long and just defence you must forgive I know God hath put me upon it though thus late that his name may have the more glorie my self with you the better esteem and your selves the clearer satisfaction that I am sent of God with others to the Worlds happiness as his Prophet for this very imploy of my God my King whom God preserve Amen CHARLS the Second KING of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith KING of the whole world To this Charls the good and Charls the Great is Oliver Cromwell by God also Honoured to be General of all his Forces Long live my King and his Lieut. O. C. Amen Amen Yea let all the people say Amen BUt I am to give you what I promised why Oliver Cromwel and no more in the dictate of the Lords Prophesie when as all others have accompanying them their Titles and Seignories and further why I could not pen him by any other Title than the General of all the English Forces although I did upon the then writing of that Prophesie so much endeavour it yea I tried and varied it several times but could never do it forthwith when done was given me this for reason which indeed I have already given the General himself when I declared the whole to him as now to you the Reader The fountain of honour is Originally in God derivative in Kings not at all in the people for proof of this you have the written Word of God his most holy Scriptures confirmed to me further by God when the fire fell down from Heaven in that Vision all about my Beds feet and his messenger called me three times by my name Walter Gostelow also spake to me saying you well understand the Scriptures Kings are of God especialy yours from thence issues true honour not from the people for this reason is it in the Prophesie Oliver Cromwell and no more by him that ers not the Lord. See it is then true honour and worth having onely when conveyed in its right Channel otherwayes it is just as the Calf the people set up which wise-men know is not of God and therefore worship it not Sleep yet a little in Windsor Chappel my most glorious and immortal King for dead thou art not Garter Spur and Star yet lie still in your Beds of Honour untill your Son arise we see already his Aurora as plain as we did his day-Star at his birth so visible to us is his and all your resurrections Welcome my King welcome now for ever thou shalt set no more the day and year that brings