minde nor knew not before I was taken up that I was rising nor one word of what I said before pronounced I could not but very much admire and so I did both the manner and the matter Well I then prayed and praised God for awake I was as truely as I am now the sequel will prove that I then concluded it was not at all I that did it it was the Lord who would have it so and his Prophesie it was and is Much about half a quarter of an hour after I was taken up again as formerly and spake these words Proclaim CHARLS STUART King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Charls 2 d King of the whole World This CHARLS STUART shall never die the Lady Elizabeth Boyl shall never die the Queen his Mother wife to the late King already blessed shall never die the now Queen of France shall never die the King of France shall never die his Brother the Queens other Son shall never die but shall all be taken up into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that never shall have end This spoken I was laid down again then did one M. Barret a Merchant in Bristol that deals in Leather and Skins who lodged in the same Chamber with me but in another bed call to me asked me how I did and if I was well I replied to him very well He asked me if I was asleep I said no he asked me if I knew what I said I replied yes very well he asked me if I believed what I said I told him he must give me leave to believe what the Lord caused me to speak and would have done There lodged also in the next room one John Marrick the Widdows son of that house aged about 21. With him in bed another Merchant as I take it of Bristol also or thereabouts to them both well known Those in that one bed spake to me also I replyed to them many words we had all I remember not I was anon after taken up again as formerly and spake these words OLIVER CROMVVELL shall never die the Countess of Cork shall never die the Earl her husband shall never die the Ladie Frances Boyl their eldest daughter shall never die the Lord of Broghill shall never die the Ladie Broghill his now wife shall never die but shall all be taken up into the kingdom of Jesus Christ which never shall have end I was laid down again and considered with my self What shall Oliver Cromwell never die it pleased me not But again the Lord reproved me and would have me know he judgeth not as man judgeth neither did his ways admit of any repine or contradiction Here again I spoke to the former parties but little lay still praying weeping and praising God for now I firmly believed and remembered that although these things were mightie strange and wonderfull yet by his Power for his mercie glorie and names sake he had assured me he would bring them to pass and they should be marvellous in our eyes as the Seal of my Commission was And remember I did he was now giving me the matter Again anon after I was raised as formerly and spake these words Thou Walter Gostellow shalt never die thy three Sons shall never die thy wife Anne and daughter Anne Gostellow shall never die but shall all be taken up into the kingdom of Jesus Christ that never shall have end Then shall the bodies of the Saints alreadie dead arise and be taken up into heaven also the Sheep shall go to the right hand and the Goats to the left pronounce this house a blessed house and this chamber shall for ever be called the chamber of the Great Prophet Thus have I set here down every word then pronounced by me but certainly the Dictates and good pleasure of the Lord of hosts that they be published to the world concerned by me Walter Gostellow his unworthy instrument I have not added or taken from one word that I know of nor misreported the manner But as old Eli asked Samuel after called of God by his name 3 times Samuel God had spoken unto him and given him his imploy what it was the Lord had said unto him as you may read in the 3 Chapter of that his first Book and the 17 ver and Eli there charged him that he hid nothing from him but tell him all which Samuel tels you and him in the next verse He did so hid nothing from him What follows it is the Lord let him do what seems him good and the Lord was with Samuel he grew and the Lord let none of his words fall to the groūd So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established a Prophet of the Lord things coming to pass as he had foretold When I heard the word Prophet knew my unworthy self to be the man O Lord thou knowest my thoughts both then and now they are at no time hid from thee I stand amazed O Lord and am silent lay my hand I do upon my mouth and my mouth upon the ground A Prophet I am unworthy O Lord yea I am unworthy to live much more unworthy of this so great honor but O Lord thou hast fashioned me make me I beseech thee always to do thy will not mine own that hath been and now is sinfull yea so hath it been all my days therefore I most humbly beseech thee to have mercy upon me O Lord the greatest of sinners nay thou wilt have mercy for thy compassions fail not and thy mercies as thy ways are past finding out The rest of that night I spent in Meditation and Prayer when day I arose not fully dressed took Pen Ink wrote all spoken but with this addition I began with a Summons and Invitation to whomsoever that they would repair the next week Thursday morning about nine of the Clock being the 12 of January to the Town and Church of Youghal there to hear a Sermon upon this Text He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall finde mercy The Text was given by a Prophet of Almighty God now here in Youghall his name Walter Gostelow which Prophet will then after Sermon that day tell you all in the Church that there is an end of all the Wars in the Christian World And so I went on to finish as before Prophesied and recited Further they should that day see riding out in great state several of those Saints and this Prophet out of Town and upon the Strand of Youghall which to me as well as others was given as a sign or miracle being yet to come for the strengthning of my Faith as also for the conversion and ground of belief to the Sons and Daughters of Men. I there went on The Heathen and the Jews are now fitting by the Lord to come into his Doctrine worship and service and under his Scepter Against which word of God the Holy Bible
not to be altered the Book of Common-Prayer in some things altered and amended as by a Council lawfully called whom God shall direct shall stand and flourish all over the whole World The Doctrine and Faith of the Church of England being the purest in the World against which word of God and his sword put into the hands of this King CHARLS STUART no Power on Earth shall ever prevail that of Rome is now tumbling down and melting away like a mighty Snow-ball The King and Queen of France with that whole Nation shall ere long be converted to this Faith which Kingdom of France and all others upon the Earth under the Sun and Heavens shall be obedient to this Charls the Second and his Rule in the Kingdom of England The Lady Elizabeth Boyl second Daughter to the Earl and Countess or Cork is this Kings Wife The General of all the English Forces Oliver Cromwell shall never die so I here wrote him and could not otherwise though I tried often and varied to give him several Titles but could not the Reason you shall have anon Be pleased to observe in the pronounce of the Prophesie it is onely Oliver Cromwell all other Persons of Dignity Honour by their Titles as Signiories his onely Oliver Cromwell the Reason I promise I went on The Irish Nation should not be removed but possess their own just Rights converted to this true Faith they should be And so praying that God would enlighten them and all men that we might all live in brotherly love and Unity one with another return again into his Courts with praises and there serve him in sincerity of heart and in the beauty of holiness for so his house ought to be fitted for his service that others might be invited by us and with us to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven whose will be done on earth by men as it is by Saints and Angels in Heaven Thus I concluded writing as fast as possibly which done I could not be quiet but hasted immediately to that so every way eminently good Countess of Cork read the Paper to her and after made it my request very often sollicitous I was by my Letters that she would send her Letters abroad to invite in the Nobles Gentry and Countrey to the Town of Youghall against that day the 12 of January my self having read and communicated the whole to her Honour was by her and Doctor Mollines over-perswaded to retire for a time to my Chamber which I did But when there I could not be quiet but wrote and sent abroad to several inviting them to Youghall that 12 of January to hear as before recited all to be divulged by me that day in the Church after Sermon I continued soliciting that Countess that she would do the like untill I knew I became troublesom yea very troublesom even unto two dayes before this 12 of January did I thus be stir my self In Fine my Kinsman M Leonard Gostelow Secretary to the Earl came to me brought me back from her Honour divers of my own Letters told me weeping that the Countess and his Lord with divers others believed me certainly Mad that I would so impertinently to no purpose trouble my self and others He then asked me what I would have I told him onely the Countrey Nobles Gentry and All to come in to hear the Sermon and Prophesie that day the 12 of January He replied to me if it be company you would have trouble not your self there will be enough here for on that day will be several Horse-matches which hearing I was very much joyed and after that time never troubled my self in the least particular in that business to move further which I take God Almighty to witness untill his telling me of it it came not into my minde although I confess I had formerly heard of it but all the time untill then it was no more remembered by me than it was known to the most remortest man in the World But I shall observe to you anon the wisedom and good pleasure of God Almighty in casting and bringing to pass what fell out upon that day the day I was most active upon after the divulge of all I had to say and did say it in the Church I cannot but observe to you that when perswaded to retire to my Lodging and did so the Lord of Broghill's Physician came to me closely attended me sweat I must keep my bed not stir not write at any hand not do any thing but as prescribed all which I now see were clear Artifices of the Lord of Broghill and that otherwise-good Countess of Cork lest I should proclaim in the Church what I had penned in the Paper for to her Honour I made always my first addresses untill it pleased God to direct me to the Lord of Broghill as more considerable for the carrying on of this work of the Lords For it is the Lords and shall and will come to pass though I must tell thee Reader whosoever thou art I have met with very little other then aversness and derision if not scorn from almost All and to be called Mad hath been in many of their mouths Yet I praise God though some have endeavoured to make me the sooner Mad by very uncivil carriages and affronts no man living can say nay I challenge them to it that they divulge it if they ever saw in any of my actions or Papers which I have Copies of the most considerable and some Letters returned me ought of Levity if so let them shew it to the World spare me not I beg not their favour I scorn it it is no new thing O Lord to bestow ill and false Appellations in all ages upon men thy servants sent upon the like imploy to turn others from the errour of their ways that delight in general wickednesses To declare ought from the Lord that suites not with their fancies love and over-carnal apprehensions it must be madness in their judgements to advise the Great Rich Covetous Proud High-minded to deny themselves madness it must be Assuredly our portion is like that of our Saviours from the Scribes and Pharisees who were so they heard all that was said unto them yet being proud and covetous they derided him But thou O Lord be thy name for ever praised and so magnified thou assistest thou deliverest me thou providest for me of thy alsufficiencie rich mercie and everlasting loving-kindness which I now most humbly beseech thee may increase in me not onely in a firm dependance on thee but a walking before thee all my days in the true practice of pietie and ways of thy commandments which onely can through thy mercie deliver in all the Inundations of evil and practices of proud and obstinate Sinners from whom good Lord deliver me But I hasten Thursday the 12 of January came in bed I would not stay up I got to the Church I went took a seat in the most
that of Rome into one of whose Chappels at Saint Jermains your Majesty was that day further pleased to Command me when returned from seeing the then Dolphin now King of France your Majesties Son then in his Cradle to wait upon you to that Chappel to hear the Musick and Vespers Madam in obedience I did so be pleased to let me assure your Majesty I have heard very many Sermons and some good ones too in the Churches of France and Spain tending to mortification yet never was I of the Roman Catholick Religion in all things No Madam it is their unwarrantable Innovatious Traditions Superstitions Excesses and Idolatries of the Priests and Factors for Rome and his unholiness the Pope and that Hierarchy That your Majesty and all must turn now from that is the cup of fornication she hath made the Kings and Princes of the Earth drunk with for which wicked acts of hers they and all shall now hate her God hath said it in this his Prophesie down she shall her fatal time is come and her self must drink the dregs of that cup of fornication hers it is and take it she shall the Lord will have it so she shall fall Yet Madam the Lord is good to all his though of that Church for he will purge her as your Majesty shall further read anon Be pleased so excelling Queen I most humbly beseech your favourable allowance that I go on to wait upon my own King and Gods true Church in this his business and my imploy And now O my King rejoyce fully there is no place for sorrow but for sin how like thy Saviour was thy Father who dying prayed his Father in Heaven to forgive those Murderers on Earth that so despitefully used him it is not all the indigne cruelties of men that can rob him of those rich mercies thou my King prayedst for them dying wicked sinfull people you would be miserable but he will not let you Father forgive them they know not what they do Blest art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles who because faithfull unto death I will give him a Crown of life as in the 11 of the Ecclesiastes and the 17. also Revelations the 2. and 10. I am now in Heaven in the this dayes discharge of my duty I fear you Rebels and all evil doers as I do the Devil not at all But I return to thee O. Cromwell the so much beloved of the Lord which we now seeing wonder it should be so But God judgeth not as man doth when he pleaseth the Lion shall lie down with the Lamb 't is so here Oliver Cromwell I expect thee nay I believe thee no more ill byassed if ever no more rebellious no more ambitious except it be of being more just and good in all wayes of Honour and obedience now endeavour thou or encrease to be communicably good to all the high end thou was born for there now lies thy choice and complacencie and for thy former wayes as errors of thy judgement not want of zeal to God's glorie be comforted it offends not that our affections are moved with zeal but that they are inordinate thou art not onely now thy self a detestor of them when inordinate but a dehortor of others from the like phrensie-practises so that of the mercie of God changed or to us made known thou here helpest to make good what our already glorified King Prophesied to his now so Highly Honored and restored happy Son and people That those his Subjects which had erred by the artifice of others or misguided zeal would when they saw the errors of their wayes and the villenous practises of those that had deluded and seduced them their eyes so opened they would then most hate them and best obey their King here is this now fulfilled in our dayes and eyes O you people of this Land and the world also judge now was not my King and Soveraign a great Prophet as well as the best of Kings O you deceivers who traduced him in his Honour that you might the better Murder his Person and divide the inheritance if there yet lives any of you for your time is but short except you repent the bloud-thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out half his dayes Whether can you turn to be in quiet or to be beloved who hates you not that is either wise or good But God is mercifull he is the best of Paterns his mercie is over all his works and his compassions fail not I must obey him and let you know where your well-being lies you bad men once gave the worst counsel and it prevail'd now take the best and follow it from God me come forth humble your selves leave no sin unrepented of Murder and Hypocrisie are two great ones confess to God and to his glory forsake all that was of the Devil in you contempt of Gods house Ministers Worship and Service violence to Man thy Brother restore to God and Man what is not your own but stollen from both make all possible amends you can for otherwayes I do tell thee whomsoever thou art whether yet in this Kingdom or fled already into another that God will give deliverance to his Church and people but render vengeance to his adversaries both at once Deuteronomy the 32. verse the 43. and this he will do that so wherein the wicked dealt proudly God might shew himself above them Exodus the 18. and the 11. My next observe is how doth God Honour that Religion which to have been of the World hath counted madness The Jews the Heathen the Roman and our sneaking Schismaticks those that either despised Christ or falsly told you with them he was and no where else they are all now truely shewed his delight was and favour is where they thought and taught him not to be with the faithfull Professers of that so ancient true Church of God but lately so much despised and by them contemned Church of England to whom because the purest God is now pleased to give so much Honour beauty and renown for the former contempt persecution and ashes of her glorified Professers and Martyrs of which number it is now demonstrative our late King is the greatest see God judgeth not as man doth This is righteous judgement which himself Prophesied you should have hereafter when falsly condemned him and had provided your selves of those at your backs and about your Bar of Justice for so it was a Bar of Justice where you had placed your Criers for Justice Justice as their fellows did against our Lord Crucifie him Crucifie him spit upon him you did too as I have heard condemn him you did that I am sure of no end of your malice his bloud you thirsted for as also the Ministers of the Lord you had it you have taken them yet see as he prayed you are found besprinkled with the bloud of Jesus when inquisition is made for his and others and thus he prayed for
great and strange things to pass in this Kingdom and Christian World which God will make marvelous in our eyes As the promote of the Protestant Religion and Honour of his King I may not detain you longer nay I dare not from Gods word of Prophesie in this Book agreeable to his own in nothing contrary Proclaim it I must to all concerned and so I do though the unworthiest of my Lords servants a faithfull Communicator of his mercifull loving kindness I am commanded to be unto all the Sons and Subjects of the Protestant Church and Gods Vice-Roy on Earth CHARLS STUART To the Church of Rome and the Rebellious faithfull will I also shew my self that Church shall fall and no Rebellion ever prosper God hath said it and if it come not to pass put me to Death I may not for fear or favour be unfaithfull to my trust that is a sacriledge of the highest nature and therefore in spite of the Devil or danger I tell you wickedness shall not longer prosper on Earth Did not the ground open and swallow quick those first Rebels and Schismaticks Corah Dathan and Abyram and did not Absolons Mule in the midst whilst he was acting of his Rebellion go from under him leaving him hanging by the head Such shall no more prosper than their Church of Rome which shall fall good men shall be Honourable and rule but for the ungodly whilest I pray for their conversion I fear their confusion WALTER GOSTELO THE Protestant RELIGION more conspicuously glorious than ever the Defendors of that Faith CHARLES STEWART and OLIVER CROMVVEL United Sect. I. HAving past from Bristol the Seas and much foul weather in December 1652. I arrived at Cork Where I heard the sentence of death pronounced upon some 30 or more of the Irish Gentry and others for several Barbarous Murders by them committed The last that spoke from the Bench to those unhappy men after sentence of death read unto them was the Lord of Broghill Who well minded them that they were not proceeded against upon the accompt they shed our blouds either as we were English men or else because not of their Religion both unwarrantable We should not kill him we conceive out of the way but rather shew him the way to walk in 'T was murder justly condemned them to suffer not rash zeal with which God is not well pleased who would that all men should live and come to the knowledge of his truth But for the Murderer the Law of God was he should die for it So they suffered not as they were Irish or Roman Catholicks This I could not but observe passing the rather because it tended in that so mixt Assembly highly to the setting right the judgement as I conceive to the glorie of God And indeed the first I ever saw or heard pronounced from those new erected High-Courts of Justice Against which I have heard so many bitter Invectives that they were like Hell from whence is no returning There it was not so where I also saw many acquitted From thence my business commanded me to Youghill in March following A season more fit for travel and observance I removed from thence to Lismore 11 miles off cituate upon the Black-water A Seat very ancient and not a little eminent and honourable Where having well viewed the improvements and good contrivances of the late deceased Earl of Cork who had there purchased caused to bebuilt made many fair and commodious Seats governing in the well mannage of Affairs as born for the publick good for so he was communicable to the imploy of the poor to the improve of those Lands to the good example of others and to the honour of this Nation That had not War prevented and death put an end to his dayes both broken in upon us as a stream too violent to withstand those inundations of evil heightened by our sins and follies of all sorts the onely inlets of all Gods judgements upon us it might be presumed before this time it had in some measure risen again from the ashes which former Wars I conceive had buried it in A very fair strong built Scholehouse with Almes-houses on both sides of it that Earl lived to finish there And now I believe he really intended to re-build the Church So that like Him that was a man after Gods own heart in this he followed him that he loved the place where his Honour dwelleth And therefore he would so provide for it that in publick he might be worshipped and that youth might early be taught the wayes of godliness Thus being instrumental to well-accomplish them he might best serve God and his Nation in being communicably good to all the end for which we were born This observing I sometimes was prone to think That what he happily begun might in future time by his posterity and others be carried on to the making it what is to be desired and what it once was as informed an University So conveniently is it situate naturally affording the delights and good accommodations that may best commode serve and adorne an University As also that part of the Land in regard of its being well inhabited and remoteness from Dublin called for and stood much in need of the Church indowments being there and thereabouts full for incouragement and invitation fit to help on with so good and pious a work were not the possessors of those profits more lovers of themselves than lovers of God and his service Is it reasonable that our Fore-fathers certainly out of love and zeal 't is possible not misguided too should so largely give and endow for the Glorie Worship and Service of God Almighty and we who have more inlarged Fortunes should have more streitened hearts and more cruel hands Indeed onely strongly bent alwayes ready to pull down and by Thieving Sacriledge Covetousness which is the root of all evil make that ours which neither God Man or law ever meant should Nay they have all forbid it with a curse to the Robber which in the end will prove that Cursed Thing that will make us and our posterity most miserable A Cole from that Altar fires all our ill gotten nay other goods or else fits us and our Posterity for the slaughter which is the end of the ill-advised Into the remain of this Church of Lismore Thursday the 3 of March 1652. I came as well might for it had neither door to keep out the unclean beasts nor in it any thing becoming a House set apart for the worship and service of God Almighty as inform'd this Church had belonging to it 8 thousand pounds per Annum before the War Out of it I often hunted Beasts of several sorts which indeed by their dung recreating themselves in the ruins of it had help to make it with their fellows more like a Den of Thieves than a House of God This seeing I could not but lament and did there kneel down and supplicate God Almighty not
sung by the Quire on the Leads his Star then appearing I my self shewed it to very many hundreds if not thousands witness this So that the Heavens haveing now again demonstrated Him the Seas waiting on him the Earth flourishing under him what remains but that we get our selves into a readiness to receive so great a blessing from so good a God Whom in mercy he hath appointed over us as I firmly believe The Lord of Broghill I confess I advised never to right or draw sword against this King For the war of Ireland I now understood it better than formerly and therefore did believe that to his Lordship who was born there at Lismore too as I conceive and resided in that Kingdom the devices and subtleties of the Church of Rome in that Rebellion or since in the carrying on of that War were better known than to his late Majesty whose goodness by some was too too much abused seeing it not with his own eyes but hearing it by others misrepresented His Lordship who had that great advantage as to be amongst them himself which was denied his late Majesty did see that his Unholiness of Rome had onely a modest design to suppress the Protestant Religion and cheat the King of that Kingdom that he might the better be soon usurper of all the rest This I now firmly believe was the ground of the Lord of Broghills fighting in that Kingdom So never at all against the King but for him And I do the rather believe this because I never had any Commission or desire to treat him other than with all respect as a person of Honour that had great and good accomplishments For I told him that day before I went out of his presence that I believed he never was against the King Further I never had desire to apply my self to any man in that Kingdom but his good self And see now as you shall anon how God honoureth that Man above all the sword-men in that Kingdō as Oliver Cromwel only of the sword-men the most in the Kingdō of England And more than to these two onely did I never apply my self sent of Heaven to these so glorious Saints first on Earth that they may be most glorious ones hereafter in Heaven But thou Church of Rome shalt fall as anon I shall shew you God will down with thee These two Persons of Honour have and shall the most of any two Subjects in the world help down with her I had all most forgot my then last observe to his Lordship A material on it is that although every man stood up bowed and Worshipped God following the Crown and with one consent crying out O Lord we praise thee for this Crown is of Heaven come we will follow and obey it yet I say this of all people wherein no one man dissented did not seem for number to exceed four or five hundred persons which occasioned from me then this observe to his Lordship That I feared our sins and the punishment for sin would almost lay waste our Land we having so highly provoked the Lord by our too much delighted in iniquities and rebellions of all sorts which we had just ground to bewail least they consumed us But truely since I have better hopes nay firmly believe I do that if we would turn to God with all our hearts and do the things here God adviseth to by me his unworthy servant in much mercy sent unto you that you might repent finde deliverance and so live abundantly happy this number of men which as I former observed past for the whole people in the Land of which none dissented I now hope and pray will most happily prove to be that number of men which represent the whole people of the Land and yet exceed not 4 or 5 hundred persons now of this Parliament to which purpose I beseech every good mans prayers and every bad mans amendment of life and for dissenting persons in that body believe as I do there will not be found one or not one to hurt us Who can be unhappy when all agree to fear God and honour their King keeping the commandments of the one the wholesom and well constituted Laws of the other in which doing there cannot but be happiness here and ever hereafter into which good old way of thine and ours good Lord be pleased to set us that we may be certainly blest our feet being then found in the way of thy steps Thus ended all I then observed and to my Lodging I retired to the Widdow Marricks house in Youghall SECT III. VEry few dayes past but by accidental rancounter I met and fell into discourse with a Gentleman who had commanded formerly a Troup of Horse in the Parliament service we argued and to this we came whether Kings were made so originally of God or the people the latter he held I the former which I proved to him out of the Word of God that first the Choice next the Anointing of them was of God onely and his Prophets sent by his command as in Saul David and others so not at all in the people 'T is true the people were all along commanded to pray for them and to obey them when thus set up by God So we ended the discourse and quietly parted Some four dayes after one Sunday morning as I best remember having lain most of that night in Meditation Prayer about day I did see sitting at my beds foot behinde the curtain a Man sent of God whilest He continued there sitting there fell a Showre of Fire thick and in drops like Rain all about my beds foot Full in my eye was the Spirit there sitting and the fire falling down Awake I conceive my self to have been for at that very time I called to minde the Fire that came down from Heaven upon the heads of the Apostles to their inablement Anon the Spirit called me by my name Walter Gostellow I indeavoured to reply did open my mouth tried twice but my tongue doubled in my mouth and I could not bring forth my words or speak He called me the second time by my name Walte Gostellow I indeavoured the second reply but my tongue doubled as formerly and I could not speak He called me the third time by my name Walter Gostellow to which I then answered Here I am he asked and said unto me Did you see the fire come down from Heaven as a shore of Rain I replied Yes I did he then strook by the Curtain looked me full in the face so I him He wept and said unto me you do well interpret Scripture clearly referring as I believe to this That the Choice of Kings this of ours especially is onely in God and not at all in the people This over I wrote to the Lord of Broghill that nights Vision for other I cannot call it besought his Lordship that once more he would be pleased to admit me before him there and then to be present also some
ten or twelve persons by me desired He was pleased to afford me the favour so also most of the others By this time it pleased Almighty God to let me know he had deputed me to go to Oliver Cromwell and after to his Majesty that now is CHARLES STUART Charles the Second The imploy he would inform me of and for the Commission it self I must believe that from strength to strength He would inable me untill I came to perfect Peace in Zion And although the things to be done were great mighty strange and wonderfull yet for his Honour Mercy and Names sake he would bring them to pass and they should be marvellous in our eyes Thus began and thus ended my Commission of the Lord. I then bethought me of what I would say to Oliver Cromwell and thus resolved that from God I would reprove him set his sins in order before his face and tell him he was that great Deceiver the scandal of the Protestant Religion the Dishonour of our Nation a Whited wall he was a great and close Hypocrite a Man of bloud and Son of Belial and more than all this for I never loved him all this I resolved to say to him but the Lord reproved me and gave me to remember that my self prayed in my Dream That God would be pleased to let the men of the world who were desirous to do his will know it from Heaven or in the Heavens by a sign which I have given thee and they would readily obey applying themselves to walk in conformity thereunto Having thus altered me and as before again reproved me letting me know God judged not as man did He commanded me to treat and use him kindly the dispose of the heart being in the hand of God So that now from former hating of Him for so I did no man more I now cannot do other than pray for him for so I should and for all others that God would be pleased to inable him for the overcoming of all his enemies more especially his corruptions And firmly believe I do that the Lord will make Him highly instrumental for the promote and carrying on things of very high concernment for his glory to his Honour and the astonishment of the world For I know what apprehensions the most have of him both at home and abroad but God judgeth not as man doth Before the Lord of Broghill I came the second time and so began with him as you read upon Oliver Cromwell I then told him what I firmly believed the Lord put into my heart and tongue by his dictates and Visions and how that the Souldery men of Valour and Honour should submit to the King who would not onely forgive them but give unto them all so doing Indempnity Honours Preferments Lands places and Hereditaments Seal and confirm them unto them in the surest Tenure of this Kingdom as at or after that of East Greenwich Further that as the Light came on in Heavens from the East haveing in it the richest Crown ever eyes beheld the Bayes rooted and flourishing standing in that Crown as the three Plumes of Feathers in his own Arms Coronet upon which Bayes was store of Berries which implieth a provision for Posterity both waited upon by good store of Shipping so the King should come from beyond the Seas Land in the East of Kent or thereabouts and come on towards the West See thus comes the Lightning in the 24 of Matthew the 27 verse out of the East and shineth even unto the West so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be O my God and my King well I go on This would fill the Men of the Kingdom as the Heavens with rejoycing the people praising God and the Souldiery for their good affections to Gods glory and the Kings interest the Earth giving her encrease All Animosities thus taken away we should agree better than ever dwell together in brotherly love and the most sure bond of peace and great should be the praise of God Honour of the King and the Souldiery also the true Protestant Religion receive its Lustre upon the Earth and flourish beyond compare Among the Persons present I then told the Lady Frances Boyl eldest Daughter to the so excellent Countess of Cork lamed in her infancy to so much debility that she halteth the deepest imaginable but God Almighty hath been pleased to more than recompence that debility by the more noble endowments of her Soul and minde which speak her not onely in them the lively image of her most excellent Countess Mother but the dearly beloved of God her Father which is in Heaven To this Lady I say I applied my self and told her what I believe God Almighty had put into my heart and tongue That if she were present when the King came into England and so received with content in State which would not be long ere it was so she should then see waiting on him whom God had deputed for her Husband a Man unspotted of the flesh with whom she should be abundantly happy I after besought her second Daughter the Lady Elizabeth Boyl to stand forth before her I kneeled told her if she were then present she should see Him the Lord had deputed for her Husband CHARLS STUART Charls the Second King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith Here I could not for bear but seeing the glory of God and the Honour of this his Vice-Roy on earth to be so great I fell on my face as in the first of Corinthians the 14 and 25. And so falling down on his face he will worship God I take the God of Heaven to witness I know no other reason of it it never was the least in my intentions Since I have read the Prophet did so as in the 43 of Ezekiel the 2 verse and because the words matter and manner of his Government there is so very full to my business give me leave to observe them to you the rather because All of mine whether of Action or Interpretation are so long since past and by me this never observed untill Thursday the fourth of August 1654. as we accompt I look upon it as a further confirm to me of my so interpreting the Vision and over-ruled deportment in that action of falling upon my face the words are these And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the East and his voice was like a voice of many waters and the earth shined with his glory and it was according to the appearance of the Vision I saw and I fell upon my face And so he goes on that the glory of the Lord filled his House See what his Providence hath guided me to do and all to observe to you were there but this in it it migh confirm you it is no delusion O Lord let the World as I do stand amazed love thee and fear thee for ever This done I told them I should go into
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
of his adversaries to whom he renders vengeance at the same time Remember I have warned you and believe me also I could not have any quiet untill I had done so Thus in all ages God hath sent his Prophets to forewarn before he consume a people or in mercy deliver them I have done my duty do you yours repent and live The number was but few I told you though all that were then in being who when they saw this Crown in heaven worshipped God and said This is of Heaven we will follow it Which when done with my self hear we did pleasant sounds in Heaven and saw the earth shine with plenty amongst men good will all praising God and participating those blessings I once more tell you they were but a small number make haste be you of it Before judgement is gone out repentance is seasonable but you may cry to late From this Citie was the Kingdom fyrced let O Lord if it be thy good pleasure the inhabitants tears and thy mercy spare it from an heap of ruin a City that hath been and yet is the harlot mother of Bastard conceptions and prodigious births confusion she hath brought forth that hath filled the world and land to her dishonour with God and men Spare us O Lord we beseech thee and have mercy upon us even upon us also thy most unworthy servants Here I have ended but because God hath as I formerly observed to you of his wise delay suspended the publishing of this book for his own time which certainly is the best and fittest as also that my Dependency on him may be the more as his mercies the greater when deliverance afforded us I must yet a little go on and one insert more be pleased to allow me it being for the General good Let me therefore present your eye and entertain your ear as of Gods mercy he hath done mine for your benefit upon the day and night of the 5. of November last being our Lords day on which we did commemorate Gods deliverance afforded us from the Gun-powder Treason I dare not but do it mark it it is considerable of the Lord himself being the Lord of Hosts who hath delivered us doth deliver us and will deliver us all good grounds to trust him and a set Text of Scripture it is for that day to be Treated on A good Act of Parliament we have for the thankfull and perpetual commemoration of that so great a mercy that God was pleased then and so to deliver Our so good so wise so well-accomplished King and his posterity to sit upon his Throne and to sway the Scepter of these Kingdoms for ever as we see God hath now so appointed whose ways admit of no variation or shadow of turning Deliver he did we see the house of Peers and Persons of Honour in duty waiting upon their King Deliver he did the wise and learned Authors of the Protestant Church and Religion with them also the Judges both together the best interpreters of his word and his Laws Deliver he did also those Worthies of the house of Commons called thither by their King and sent thither by the wise obedient and then quiet people of the land who were and because so shared in that deliverance and long enjoyed they and we the Blessings that succeeded of peace order riches beauty in Religious worship of God Almighty in his Churches to the wonder as well as to the envie of the world Here was a Parliament of Gods and good mens choise and blessing For Majesty and Honour well met together And this when so he delivers from that horrid unparrall'd Treason until those times the like not heard of And what to do I beseech you but to let us see how precious in his sight we are when met together as those to fear God honour our King love brotherly love all applying our selves to live and do according to his will revealed in his word and our known Laws the onely rule we should go by and conform unto applying our selves to these not to our own willdered thoughts for confusion covetuousness rebellion irreligion murder of those people whose persons peace and propriety we come to preserve and maintain not for our self-ends to kill that we may divide the spoil Something like him I have heard of in the Church of Rome who upon the words spoken in a vision to the Apostle S. Peter Arise kill and eat all things are now Common to please the then Pope of Rome at difference with the Venetians gave this gloss upon that Text that is saith he your Holiness may make War with the Venetians kill them and devour their estates up and do it arise take kill and feed upon them Thus his unholiness suitable Cleargy force mis-interpretations of holy Writ to their own and others destruction Peter's successors they pretend to be and in the worst of things they certainly follow him nay exceed him draw their sword they do cut not off the ear onely with Peter but the heads of Kings and Potentates which wicked action our Lord reproves healing the person wounded when but an ear to let us see his Kingdom was not to be carried on by the sword and shew us he doth he had no need of a fighting Clergy he made no Apostle to offer violence no Bishop in Buff with back-sword to help on with Presbytery no Priest or Deacon to kill and supplant that he might get his more pious and therefore more peaceable brothers living because it is better than his own which when he hath by violence gotten he inricheth himself but starves or poysons those he pretended to feed better and do more good for both in body and soul No these are not the men fit to build God a Church he needs no such hackers or hewers in Field or Pulpit such furious fighters and rash zealous Clergy Go on to imitate Peter further the very next apprehension of danger they deny their Lord and Saviour for swearing him also if once in custody or times of persecution come upon them then they are Sidonians or Samaritanes no more Jews and they have a Temple not yet dedicated to any God which you their profitable master so they get by you shall call them and it what you please for they are resolved to side with the seeming strongest to get by so doing Cura Romana non capit ovem sine lana Oh! and have not we such Peters if but one too many but the more the pitie well I have shewed you what those furious boote-feux have done set us and the Christian World on fire I would to God I could shew you them imitating that blessed saint Peter repenting which would be not onely ours the Churches and their own rejoycing at the conversion of such sinners there is joy in Heaven and though by words actions misunderstood they have engaged us with Curse ye Meros so carried on the cause falsly perswading they are the Lords
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
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