Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
kingdom_n	child_n	king_n	lord_n	2,366	5	3.6403	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A40962	An expedient for the king, or, King Charls his peace-offering, sacrificed at the altar of peace, for a safe and well-grounded peace the welfare and happiness of all in generall, and every subject in particular, of his kingdom of England Behold! all ye that passe by, stand stil, and see the wonderful salvation of the Lord, which he hath wrought for the people of this kingdom, by his servant King Charls : Blessed are the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God : Aske of the King, and he shal give you not stones, for bread, nor scorpions, for fish / studied and published for the honour of the King, and his posterity, and the universall happiness of the whole kingdom of England, by Richard Farrar, Esq.	Farrar, Richard, Esq.	1648 (1648)	Wing F520; ESTC R8687	30,129	43

AN EXPEDIENT FOR THE KING OR King Charls his Peace-Offering Sacrificed at the ALTAR of PEACE For a safe and well-grounded Peace the welfare and happiness of all in generall and every subject in particular of this His Kingdom of ENGLAND Behold all ye that passe by stand stil and see the wonderful Salvation of the LORD which he hath wrought for the people of this Kingdom by his servant KING CHARLS Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shal be called the children of God Aske of the King and he shal give you Not Stones For Bread Nor Scorpions For Fish Studyed and Published for the honour of the King and his Posterity and the Universall happiness of the whole Kingdom of England BY RICHARD FARRAR Esq Printed in the Year MDCXLVIII TO The Kings most excellent Majesty Most Gracious Soveraign IT is the saying of Solomon the pen-man of the Holy Ghost and the wisest King that ever was Prov. 21. 1. The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he pleaseth I a poor despicable man despicable because poor do presume out of my sincere loyal affection and duty to Your Majesty and my earnest desire for the re-uniting of You with Your Parliament and Subjects of this Kingdom to offer or rather to sacrifice my weak Conceptions to Your gracious Acceptance or Refusal Sir We are all in an Egyptian darkness be You but pleased to cause the Sun-shine of your Mercy and Goodness to break out upon Your poor Subjects of this Kingdom and there is great hope we may soon be delivered from this fearful Confusion whereinto we are faln For my own part I beleeve Your Majesties not being conscious of the misery Your poor Subjects are in in regard of the unkingly restraint You are for the present unhappily under is the cause You cannot be so zealous as otherwise you would to redress it and that your want of knowledg of the present conjuncture of Affairs is that which renders Your People so infinitely miserable that they are ready every minute to precipitate themselves into the Gulf of Despair It is said of Almighty God There is mercy with him that he may be feared and his mercy is over or above all his works And I beleeve without least flattery I speak it that there is abundance of Mercy and Bowels of Compassion with You towards Your poor Subjects that You may be both loved and feared and that Your Mercy will shower it self down to the amazement reproach of those that seem not to beleeve it Did I say Your Mercy yea and Your Justice also even against Your self in the voluntary clouding of Your own Princely Royalty and that Prince who shadows his own Glory meerly for the good of his Subjects is a rare Pattern And the first giver of so great an unexampled Example must needs render himself glorious to all Posterity Sir in the first place I presume with boldness enough I confess yet will I not flatter you so much as to say I beg Your Majesties pardon for it to remember you that Self-Denial is the only way to happiness Temporal here Eternal hereafter and had it been but a little practised on all hands by the three Estates of Parliament at the beginning or budding forth of these unhappy differences although Malice it self cannot but say that Your Majesty acted Your part and the very Lepers of Samaria shall one day rise up in Judgment against some and say that that was a day of good tydings and they ungratefully held their Peace In Your abolishing of Monopolies putting down the Star-Chamber disannulling the High Commission Court outing of Bishops from the House of Peers Regulating the Councel Table granting of Triennial Parliaments and continuing of This not to be dissolved without the consent of both Houses Your Majesty and Your People had not felt Gods heavy hand as You and They have done for these seven years past and yet do but for me to presume to tell Your Majesty what Self-Denial is were a most unpardonable offence And yet for Your Majesty to beleeve that this Peace-Offering which You sacrifice to the good and happiness of Your People in this sad condition Your Majesty is in and the most miserable one They are plunged into can be happily begun without Self-Denial on Your part first and then all the Peoples part also is so far as I can apprehend in Reason and Religion altogether unpossible and by the sequel of my discourse I doubt not but to make good the Truth of it at the Full Sir look into Your own heart and see whether informer times You were not more Your own or others who abused you then Your Subjects universally The word Proprium is of a neer relation and I doubt whether it sits not as close to the hearts of Kings as of Subjects which your Majesty well knows is not compatible with Self-Denial Sir You are a great Monarch true yet You are but a Steward nomine re a Steward of the great House of the Common-wealth and one day it shall be said to You as to the Steward in the Gospel Redde Rationem Give an Account of thy Stewardship And the Accounts of Kings are of a vast extent Sir You are a Sheepherd also a Sheepherd of a great Flock our Saviour calls himself a Sheepherd the great Sheepherd of Israel and he tells you a good Sheepherd will dye for his Sheep he did so And S. Paul Phil. 2. 5. speaking of our Saviour Christ and there deducing him from all eternity to time hath these words Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men And being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the Cross Wherefore God highly exalted him c. And shal I doubt Your Majesty will imitate our blessed Saviour in all you can I doubt it not He prayed for his persecutors and taught us so to do He forgave his enemies that crucified him even upon the Cross Father forgive them they know not what they do nay he dyed for them who dyed saith the Apostle for the sins of the whole world You are not desired Sir to dye out of the world or to part with Your Soul by a Sequestration of it from your body for then we were miserable Let the greatest curse that ever fell on the head of any man fall on that head that hath but such a wish or thought in his heart All you have to do or suffer is but to part with a sillable or two from one single word a few letters cut off from that Monster as the People call it although there hath been held out to them for a long time a more Prodigious one

and behold the Candor of my Heart and I do here bury in the grave of Oblivion all things contained in the Act of Oblivion in my soul not desiring to remember it and vowing never to revenge it So help me God and the Contents of this holy Book and this I confirm by the taking of the Sacrament TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LORDS and COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT The humble Petition of Richard Farrar Esq Sheweth THat as an addition to his former Expedient for the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom he is very confident by the mercy and goodness of God he can express something more unto His Majesty so convincing in Reason and Religion whereby there may be a sudden and unhoped for happy settlement of the Kingdom and that in a way unanswerably Rational and Religious for the satisfaction of all Interests whatsoever and of all men not wilfully and wickedly opposite to Peace who have any sparke of Reason or Religion left in their hearts Your Petitioner doth therefore most humbly pray that he may have free liberty from both Houses of Parliament upon the score of his own abundant folly to go to the Isle of Wight and there to present His Maiesty in writing with such particulars as your Petitioner hath long since conceived and prepared for the sudden and happy setling of the Peace of this unhappy Kingdom without further shedding of innocent blood which hourly cries up to Heaven for vengeance on all hands your Petitioner being more confident then formerly if possible it may be that he is capable by the mercy of God who he believes hath enabled him for this Expedient to answer any obiection whatsoever that His Majesty shall be pleased to alleadg in opposition to what your Petitioner shall propound to him for a safe and well-grounded Peace And the whole Kingdom with your Petitioner shal as in duty they are bound dayly pray c. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE Lords and Commons Assembled in PARLIAMENT MY Lords of the House of Peers and you the Members of the Honorable House of Commons the Representative Body of the Kingdom of England since I have taken the boldness as a Subiect and Servant to His Majesty to signifie to him what I conceive his duty to be in the setling or towards the setling of a safe and well grounded Peace Give me leave I humbly pray to say thus much at least that the welfare and happiness of every Member of both Houses as of the whole Kingdom lies at the stake either for good or ill according as God shall move your hearts in the tender and speedy care of the Peace of this Kingdom and this Peace you can neither well begin nor happily end but by following the example of His Majesty Regis ad Exemplum c. in taking out and practising a true Self-Denial of any the least private Interest of your own either of Honor Profit or Revenge making it subordinate to the publike good and welfare of the Kingdom your Nurse and Mother who expects a speedy accompt of you at the present she being wounded all over from head to foot weltring in her blood ready to give up the ghost as God doth likewise look for a strict accompt and will do to all Eternity of your true and faithful performance of your duty for the instant Peace and quiet of the Kingdom To this purpose you were chosen for that end was your Call by God and Man and nothing else but that ought to have been from the beginning to the end your care and study day and night but how you have performed this trust in your Endeavours and eight years sitting and what success hath been let the world not I Judg This I am too sure of the neglect of many in attending their duty at the Houses in the beginning as if they had not been called to any such purpose as to wait there daily the divisions amongst the Members of both Houses from the first sitting to this present time and the absenting of others or worse the breaking out of the pale of Parliament which ought on no terms to have been done hath been no small cause of the Miseries of this unhappy Kingdom who hath been still every way wounded by her own unnatural Children Then after that the great Eruptions the differences of opinions in Church and State the setting on foot of Self-Interests of several persons and those not mean ones neglecting the Peace of the Kingdom as if it might have been had with whistling for or at a beck all these put together were no small addition to our common Calamities Add to this the Reproach cast upon Soveraignty the promulgation of contentions and strifes the prosecution of it to a War and so an engaging of the whole Kingdom on both sides in it the taking of a Covenant not of love I fear to the extirpation of that Church-Government that had been so long setled by so many Acts of former Parliaments and the inducing of a new Government more different in name then in essence and truly if rightly examined scarcely differing much in either at least not worthy the making of such bloody differences as have been about it al this without any good success to the Kingdom or content to many of your own particular Members who have varyed many of them even from the Covenant they once took for what ends or Interests I know not I cannot forget to put you in mind or remember you also the several Design of the Army and the Grandies thereof under the Earl of Essex though they were put to a nonplus in it nor of the backwardness to make Peace when it might have been nor of those whose Counsels modelled the new Army which yet for all their successes successes I confess many great and high had they made right use of them for the settlement of the King and Kingdom as they might as they ought to have done who yet not 18. moneths since when the Army was at Newmarket it was a question whether they should have been an Army or no Army kept a foot or disbanded Nor can I omit their rise again if not upon the head yet at least upon the shoulders both of King Parliament City and Kingdom what Designs on all sides and to what ends or how the poor Kingdom hath been shaken with this long and yet terrible Earthquake through Self-Interests and Divisions I press not but this I must say If Designs were well meant and for the good of the Kingdom as I hope they were there was no blessing went along with them for they have not so well succeeded as was by some hoped and by all wished for And then those yet unhappy Votes of no Addresses to nor from His Maiesty which I fear God Almighty is not well pleased with or rather highly offended at God never denyed Addresses to him from the greatest Sinner had he come with true repentance to Cain himself God says If thou

of poor men only and to lay your severe Charge that the Poor the Widow and the Fatherless have speedy Justice 13. That your Majesty will pass an Act That any Judg that shall be found guilty of Bribery shall die for it and his skin to be hanged over the Court for ever 14. That your Majesty wil appoint a Judg in every Court called the poor mans Judg a man esteemed to be an upright man and your Maiesty to allow him 200. l. per annum 15. That your Maiesty will appoint in each Court two Lawyers for the poor who sue in forma pauperis and your Maiesty to allow them 50. l. per annum each Lawyer 16. An Act That every fifth Cause that shal be heard in any Court shal be the poor mans Cause and called on by the Judg for the poor man that sues in forma Pauperis and the party that is overthrown by the poor man shall have a fine set upon him for vexing the poor man and if that the poor man be found a litigious fellow and malicious he shall be punished as shall be thought fit 17. That your Maiesty enact a severe Law against Adultery and a high fine and punishment for whoredom 18. That your Maiesty cause some order way or means by Act or otherwise for a speedy ending of all suits against those wicked Dilemmaes of the Law which are the ruin of thousands and only the inriching of the Lawyers 19. That the Commons in the Country in every Parish be sold and the poor allowed it for many are so poor they can make no use of the Common 20. That your Maiesty cause all Acts for the benefit of the Poor to be put in execution never more need never more poor And upon complaint made to your Maiesty your Maiesty to redress it 21. The Excise to be setled for the payment and satisfaction of all Interests which it will abundantly do in some years if it be farmed out and ordered as in Holland the particulars too large to express here and no bread smal-beer flesh or fish to have any Excise set on them but to be highly advanced on Tobacco Wines Sugar Spices and all outlandish commodities Gold and Silverlace c. 22. That Your Majesty promote the setting on foot the great and most necessary Trade of Fishing as shall be thought best by Corporation or otherwise by free Trade for all men the imployment of People breeding up of Mariners c. it cannot be imagined how much the Kingdom would be the better for it often thought on never set on foot 23. An Act to be passed for the supply of all Poor young and old amongst whom how many thousands of maimed souldiers and people made miserably poor by these Wars on both sides all to be taken care for in a way or means which shall be expressed for the effecting of which the Kingdom shall be at as little Charge as now they are and ever have been and this shall be plainly manifested when occasion shall be too large to express here which will be to the glory of God the education of young Children the maintenance of old decrepid people and a provision for all and every poor man woman or child in the Kingdom though bedrid blind or lame so as this course well observed the reshall not be a Beggar in the Kingdom of England A pious Work 24. That Your Majesty pass a stricter Act then ever for the putting down of Alehouses through the whole Kingdom one for ten that now is in and about this City were too much so numerous they are that almost every third house in the Suburbs is an Alehouse Victualing-house Cooks house or a Chandler that sells Bear and Ale which ought to be regulated in a strict manner so highly is God dishonored by it the poorer sort undone and so many thousand idle lustly fellows and young wenches and boyes bred up in that way and the most part of the mony gotten by deocit of measure 25. That your Majesty pass an Act that those that are not able to satisfie their Debts their bodies not to be kept in prison giving all they have to their Creditors if less may not serve for if this be not done besides the numberless number of men that now lie and starve in prisons how many thousands yea more who have lived wel and yet meerly by these Wars on both sides are utterly undone not able to pay any thing Shall they lie in a prison and theirs starve or beg If this Law be rightly enacted no man shall deceive or cozen not one of twenty shall break or be Bankrupts or if they do they shall gain nothing by it nor shall any man as many do live in prison and not pay his Debts if he be able but his estate shall be sold This Act rightly ordered is of a great benefit to the State and ought to be done in Reason and Religion 26. That all Fees of Lawyers and Physitians Atturneys Chirurgions and all Fees of all Courts of Justice be brought to a fit rate It is a shame yea and a sin that a Physitian and a Lawyer should have such great Fees 27. That the Estates of all Subjects be liable to their Debts none excepted this is rational and religious 28. An Act that none of Your Majesties Servants be chosen of the House of Commons nor no servant of a Lord who takes wages of him 29. An Act that no Lord or Person of Honor or other shall write his Letters or use any indirect means to procure any man to be a Member of the House of Commons but foly left to the Country and if it shall be proved that any Member hath so tampered by money or friends upon discovery to be turned out of the House 30. That all the Kings Forrests and Chases be so ordered that the Poor suffer not but that the King rather suffer himself for the good of the Poor 31. That your Majesties Ear shall always be open to hear any complaint and to punish it against any Officer that you have placed in Court City Country c. 32. That Your Majesty pass an Act that henceforth Balletting boxes be used in both Houses as in the State of Venice the benefit great the dispatch sudden and little partiality will be then expressed but every man will do as his conscience informs him without Fear or for Favour 33. An Act about Gaming some most severe Act for it is the Ruine of the Nobility Gentry and of the City It is not hard to prescribe a way to abolish it so as that no man shall be prejudiced in his Estate and if any shall break that Law to be highly punished to bear no office in this Kingdom this may seem but of a small consequence but it is upon due examination of a great consequence as the State shall approve so a further discovery may be made with the remedies and limits of Gaming 34. An Act for the calling in and

dost well shalt thou not be accepted c. and how amazed would the soul of any man be unless he were feared up by a total hardness of heart if God should from Heaven tell him Pray not to me come not to me with your Addresses I will not hear you I will shut my ears and be deaf to your Prayers But we all know the contrary of God At what time soever the wicked man forsaketh his wickedness c. and who knows whether the scales may not turn Let not him boast that puts on his armor c. And then if Addresses were sought and refused and that the King should say Did you not hate me and expell me out of my Fathers house How is that you come to me now in the time of your Tribulation as Jephta did to the men of Gilead might not this seem to be a just Reproach or as God in the same Book Go to the Gods whom you have served Remember what Solomon says The Wrath of a King is as Messengers of Death but a wise man will pacifie it And in another place The Kings Weath is as the roaring of a Lyon but his Favour as the dew upon the grass For your own sakes for this bleeding Kingdoms sake proceed to a sudden Personal Treaty with His Majesty God treats with his greatest Enemies nay he invites them continually hourly and minutely in their consciences and cries Return O Shulamite Return Return And again How oft would I and ye would not O yet if in this thy day c. The sum of all is and let it never be sum'd up what is past for actions cannot be recalled such offences or sins against God or man may be repented not repealed but a wilful continuance in such horrid and bloody wars as these are and not to seek and endeavour Peace by all fair means in the world would prove but a sad story to this age and to posterity I hope better things on your part and my poor aime is that all things amiss between King and Parliament for who can free himself from guilt be from henceforth forgotten forgiven and amended on all sides and that by a true and perfect not counterfeit Love and Union to which end I published my poor Expedient for Peace and Safety in Print and I would to God it had an Impression on all those who are opposite to Peace if there be any such which although for the present it be laid aside as not worthy a thought must and shall if ever a Peace conclude it and the all-devouring Sword consume us not totally be made use of Let the Honorable Houses look in Reason and Religion what they can expect more from the King then he doth if he will do them as I am confident he will in these Propositions preceding can you demand more for the good of the Subject he will do it he that will do so much will refuse nothing in Reason and Religion and beyond these I know these Honorable Houses will not demand the honor and restoring of the King how many of your selves have fought for and for the safety of the Kingdom Priviledges of Parliament and liberty of the Subject all have profest vowed it covenanted it sworn it hold to that the work is done the King doing his part as doubtless he will and I take it for granted turn the Tables as the Proverb is and let the Kings Game be yours yours his and then in Gods Name act according to Reason and Religion Remember the Golden Rule Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do that unto them and I am confident the King shall be glorious your selves and the Kingdom happy and for me poor wretch I know you wil censure no worse of me then that I am an earnest desirer and hunter after Peace and the publike good and so he will live and die who is My Lords Yours and the most humble Servant of the KINGDOM Richard Farrar TO THE SYNOD OR THE Assembly of Divines AT WESTMINSTER AND To all the Clergy of the Kingdom of ENGLAND SInce I have presumed to speak to his Majesty the two Honorable Houses of Parliament and the Army why should I spare to say something to you O you sons of Levi You that take liberty to tell all men of their fanlts why should not you be told of your own Sure I am you have as much need if not more to be put in mind of Self-Denial as any profession whatever and it had been happy for this poor unhappy Kingdom if you who profess your selves our shepherds had practised it a little better then you have hitherto done The Accompt that you of the Clergy of this Kingdom for I exempt neither side are to give to God Almighty at the great day will I fear lie heavy on you For sure I am had you been what you would have the world esteem you the Embassadors of Jesus Christ and his Ministers you would never have added so much oyl to this flame as you have done but on the contrary you would have brought the cold water of patience humility love and meekness on all hands to have quenced it And this our Saviour and your Master as you call him taught you and all the world How the Clergy of this Kingdom behaved themselves towards God and the Kingdom in their duty to both before the beginning of this Parliament I leave to God and the world to judg but how unanswerably diametrically contrary to the example and precepts of our Saviour you have demeaned your selves both in the Pulpit and in the Press since these unhappy differences between the King and Parliament and how great Incendiaries and fomenters you have been needs no witness to testifie Had the Clergy on the Kings part and the Clergy on the Parliaments part plainly and truly without fear or flattery told both of them the danger and the devillishness of a War both for soul and body the wickedness and unlawfulness of it on both sides and perswaded them both to love meekness and forbearing one another told the King his own and the Parliament theirs and yet nothing but truth neither according to the Word of God I doubt whether it had ever come to a War at all I am sure they would never have been so forward on either side as they were The truth is I speak to the hearts of all honest men the Clergy on both sides had they been of the mind of Christ and his Apostles should have preached against it printed against it and if that would not have served the turn should have denyed both King and People the Sacrament of the Lords Supper for with what consciences could either side give or take it in the fury and rage of Blood and War wherein they were hourly engaged I understand it not And if that would not have prevailed they should not have afforded the Word nor their Prayers in Publick if they had continued still to persist in

delay not to do it and beleeve me it is better to give willingly what you may spare then to have all you have taken from you who can give you a better hope No man can say who will be the Victor if Peace end it not You see a Forraign Nation come in already and perhaps many of you laugh at it in your sleeve and rejoyce in it Alas poor abused souls Do you think you shall not be the Spoil who ever is the Conqueror Be not so sottish There is no party in Arms already or like to come into Arms belonging to these three Kingdoms but hath just cause to upbraid and reproach you and will certainly ruine you at the last Nulla Fides Pictasque viris qui castra sequuntur Said the wise Poet and a good Christian knows it to be true Buy Peace at any rate but not with a drop of blood take heed of that But first get internal Peace else never hope for external and then you are in the way to eternal Peace And thus he prays you may do who was the Son of a Citizen of the best rank quality and bred up amongst you and heartily wishes and would endevor to his power for the Peace and welfare of this honorable City to whom he professes himself though no Freeman of it a Servant in a peaceful way and ever will be whilest he is Richard Farrar THE COVENANT OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND One with another I A. B. Do here in the presence of the blessed Trinity God the Father Son and Holy Ghost profess to all the world and that without any Equivocation or mental Reservation that I now do and for ever wil forget and forgive all kinds of offences against me either in word or deed and committed by any of my fellow-Subjects of England and contained in the Act of Oblivion from Anno. 1648. to this present day and this of my own free will and desire I do that all my fellow-Subiects may see and behold the Candor of my Heart and I do here bury in the grave of Oblivion all things contained in the Act of Oblivion not desiring to remember it and vow never to revenge it So help me God and the Contents of this holy Book and this I confirm by taking the Sacrament TO THE VVhole Kingdome OF ENGLAND And to every particular Subject therein IN order to the Peace of this Kingdom I published my first Expedient for the Peace and Safety of all the People of England I refer my self to the world to judg whether better security can be had or hoped for then is contained in that Expedient and in His Majesties Covenant set down in this Book I have you see finished a second Expedient for the King But I desire the whole Kingdom not to mistake me at least all that shall read it as if I in the least intendded that either the Offers which I have set down from the King to his People or his Demands from them should strictly be insisted on in this great work Ear be such a presumptuous thought from my heart No they are only heads of a few such as in my poor apprehension might usher in more from His Majesty as doubtless he will offer and perform all that he can for the good of his People and otherwise I intended them not It will appear to the whole Kingdom that His Maiesty begins with Self-Denial Read his second Peace-Offering and pass not over the first which he offered to you all 1640. And Faithfully beleeve that for the good of his People he will yet deny himself more then ever any King did In the name of God try him but still remember he is your King and forget not that saying of Solomon Fear God and honor the King and give unto Casar that which belongs unto Caesar and Caesar will give you more rather then less then belongs unto you If the whole Nation now will but imitate the King and begin with Self-Denial without which there can be no Peace no Religion How happy shall both Prince and People be If you are not so minded chiefly those who sit at the helm do you hope for Peace by a bloody War Let no man tell me Peace is the end of War Be not deceived my beloved Country-men if you keep your old hearts of Self-Interests and proceed on to a new War you will find the greatest destruction that ever Nation did For as there is no Peace to the wicked saith my God so there is no holiness but hellishness in War The Apostle tels you whence strife and contention proceeds from below says he and do you expect a blessing upon War and blood from above That any man should dare to blaspheme God so highly to pray to God to prosper him in his bloody undertakings daub it over with what specious pretence of Priviledg or Liberty you can what doth that man less then pray to God to bless the actions of the Devil within him Blasphemy worthy the tearing of garments and for which God will amongst other sins sorely visit this Nation The King must if he will prosper begin with Self-Denial and that to some purpose too so must the two Honorable Houses of Parliament the Clergy should begin to all the Kingdom they have most need I will not say they are the most backward The Army great as it is is under the power of the Lord of Hosts and as they have long since in their Declarations promised it God he expects Self-Denial from them if not he will one day deny their entrance into the Eternal Tabernacles of Rest prepared for those only that deny themselves Those blessed Mansions are not to be purchased but by storming of them with Self-Denial Our Saviour saith The Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force I hope no man thinks Christ meant by force of arms by killing plundering and ruining the bodies and souls of men women and children sure it was meant by the violence of the good Spirit of God moving in the hearts of his peaceful Children the earnestness of whose souls is such in resisting and opposing the deeds of darkness and the fiery darts of the Devil which is in them in the old Adam that they have a dayly storming combat and strife with all violence within themselves to dispossess the old Adam of his strong hold and then the Kingdom of Heaven so much is it can be in this life is gotten and obtained for he that gets it not here shall never possess it hereafter as the tree falls so it shall lie The Citie also must go into Self-Denyall my discourse to them tells them no lesss And lastly you the whole Kingdom under whom the four last are comprehended must likewise go into Self-Deniall For all of you in Generall I exempt not my self have and do abound with all sorts of sins yea with the greatest sins and particularly that of Bloody a fearfull and a crying sin which

Bloody Designs and Self-Interests and had you of the Clergy proceeded thus far you had done but your duty to God the King and the People and I am confident both sides would have stood at a gaze and not have been so forward as they were perhaps not at all proceeded to pass through such a Sea of blood as they have done and how many of both sides have perished in that red Sea from this world at the best I judg not of the next But was this course taken by you or if by some for I tax not all yet I never heard of any O no wo is me in stead of imitating our Saviour in these three particulars which all good Christians must imitate him in in his Life in his Love and in his Doctrine all of them imitated strictly by the Apostles I say in all these three the Clergy generally to our view have opposed our Saviour Christ in a strange manner First in his Life that was poverty and contempt all along from the Cradle to the Cross Yours as full of Glory Jollity and Honor as you can advance it Secondly in his Love he was all Love he preached it he practised it My Peace I leave with you That was Christs Legacy How well have you disposed of it or what executors are you of this his last Will and Testament He abrogates the old Law in that particular where it was said of old An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth c. But I say unto you it shall be so no more You shall love your enemies c. And behold I bring you a new Commandment that you love one another This was spoken to all the world of Beleevers much more to you who profess to be the Embassadors of Christ as you do You take Texts out of the Old Testament in opposition to Christ Curse ye Merosh and you incourage to fight and cry The Cause is good it is Gods I speak to both sides yea and you conjure the people to fight in the name of the Lord tell them they are Martyrs they cannot miss Heaven if they dye for the Cause such Martyrdom God deliver me from The Conscience not the Cause makes a Martyr and if that be not purged by the blood of Christ in true Faith and Repentance though a man suffers Martyrdom for Christ he is no Martyr He whom God calls to be a Martyr he fits him first and makes him a Martyr to the world in crucifying the lusts of it and sure men that fight for power though Kings or Subjects for Priviledges Liberty are not so wel seasoned with Self-Denial as is requisite to make a Martyr And for the Doctrine of Christ it was humility Learn of me for I am humble meek OGod have you of the Clergy practised this humility and meekness Nay have you not boldly to the world exprest the contrary in most of your conversations Had there been a Palsie in your tongues your tongues set on fire from hell as the Apostle speaks and in your hands this Kingdom had been happy Ye take too much upon you ye sons of Levi Did I say you do You ever did and you will do till the time come that Malachi the Prophet speaks of I hope neerer at hand then you beleeve were you true Prophets you would tremble at the Text and by the Spirit of Prophesie discern the time Malachi 3. 3. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of Silver and he shall purifie the sons of Levi And doubtless that is not the Reformation that you pretend to you do but take up the Stone and turn the other side It is you that have put us all in a flame your Tribe hath done and doth it all the world over Is there any evil in a Kingdom or rather this great evil in this Kingdom and have not you done it You have either done it or had the greatest share in doing it or not hindered it when you might you seek your own and not the things of God God forgive you why do you not imitate Saint Paul Be ye f●llowers of me as I am of Christ if he had erred that way which he could hardly do yet he forbids to follow it and must we follow you when you command things contrary to Christ But great is your Diana and you voyce her high up she is for all your roaring but an Idol she cannot stand she is falling she is falling Our Saviour says He that is greatest amongst you shall be the least and he that is least among you in the Clergy would be greater then the Civil Magistrate if he could Oh the ambition of the Priesthood Read the Prophets of old against the Priests and is not the Priesthood of these times worse compare them together What Aaron before Moses it was not so of old Nor will God ever have it so where his Spirit governs The Luciferian Pride Ambition and Covetousness of the Clergy is not the least quarrel God hath with this Nation what will you say or answer When God comes to make inquisition for blood where is the Vrim and Thummim in Aarons brest-plate it was purity of Doctrine and Integrity of Life I fear it is not to be found in your hearts in your Doctrine nor Life Open your eyes the time is yet Repent and amend Great would be the joy in Heaven for such sinners more then for any and great would your glory be here and hereafter Return O Shulamite return return and be not ashamed to do it Your example on all hands I am perswaded if sincere would strongly build us up in a better way A worse then you have taught us and a worse then we are in out of hell is not If the Apostle say Contention strife debate is carnal earthly divellish What is Plundering Murdering Ravishing Robbing and Confounding How can a man of God appear in a Pulpit and not Preach and speak against it pray against it print against it and lo you have done the contrary Shall I praise you I praise you not God forgive you with my soul I beg it To conclude for Gods sake inform me I am a poor weak man What warrant in Religion to Fast for strife and to give thanks for Victories and shedding blood both sides King and Parliament have done it God have mercy on them for it How can you approve of it ye sons of Levi Look into your Consciences those Glasses which will not cannot flatter and say How comes this to pass Where are you O God That I a poor ignorant man am forced to tell you and the world this Amend and that suddenly Preach love and practise it Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he comes shall finde so doing or as the sin now lies at your door and the whole Kingdom it is to be feared will curse you for it so a heavy and sad unexpected punishment here and hereafter must happen to you without Repentance

which God grant and is heartily prayed by Richard Farrar To the Right Honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax Captain General of all the Forces Of the PARLIAMENT And to the Lievtenant General and to all the Commanders and Officers and every Souldier in the Army NExt to His Majesty the two Honorable Houses of Parliament and the Clergy I presume to make my address to you The sons of Mars I would I could say The sons of Peace That which I aym at in this my Discourse with a peaceful mind God knows not wishing ill to any man but desiring to have peace with all men is to perswade you in whose hand the power of the Sword is that you would remember you are Englishmen that we have one Common Mother the Kingdom wherein we live whose bowels are dayly ripped up by this bloody unnatural War When the Soldiers in the New Testament demanded of John What shall we do he said unto them Do violence to no man neither accuse any falsly and be content with your Wages If any Soldier now high or low Commander or Officer should demand of me what he should do I should first answer him as S. John did but in regard you are Christians which those Soldiers were not nor Jews neither but Romans I shall take the boldness to say much more then S. John did there to those Soldiers and yet no more then our Saviour left in Command For your Pay to begin there God forbid you should not have it at the full and that quickly You have ventured hard for it body and soul My former Expedient for Peace and Safety expresses my desire in that As for Liberty of tender Consciences I wrote it not out of Fear or for Flattery but what I did and do beleeve ought to be But I must profess I am infinitely afflicted to see the high calamity like to be greater which by a most bloody intestine War this poor Kingdom groans under and fain I would find an Expedient for it at least I would spend my poor talent to make some stop of this great issue of blood And therefore I take this boldness to speak to your Excellency the General and all subordinate Officers of this great Army of the Parliament not leaving out all those who have been and now are in Arms against you for my discourse is to all but my chief aym and hopes are in you for I am perswaded it is in your power next to the King under God to procure a sudden Peace if you will have it the right way who dare oppose it and so suddenly to still the raging and furious fire of this most unnatural War If you will but practise that lesson which I have dictated to his Majesty the two honorable Houses and the Clergy of Self-Denial how examplary will ye be to all posterity and how well will it become you in the midst of all your strength and power to decline it I mean not to lay all down instantly and let your enemies who God knows I beleeve are far from desiring peace theright way cut your throats or subject your selves to them it were folly in you to trust them and wickedness in me so to counsel you but you to begin first though more powerful and to desire Peace and endeavor it If therefore you will begin as I said with Self-Denial of all Self-Interests be it honor or profit or what ever it be Peace I think may be easily obtained Why do we fight kill and ruine one another Are not we brethren May not Treaties end it better then the Sword Remember I pray you what Abner said to Joab Shall the Sword devour for ever Knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the end And God saith He will not pardon innocent blood and I am sure there can be no War where many Innocents yea those that know not the right hand from the left do not suffer God will not be answered by your saying It is the inevitable fate that accompanies War it cannot be avoyded The question will then be Who bid you go to War S. John bid you Do violence to no man and Christ he comes but a very little after the Baptist with Forgive your enemies Away saith he with an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth c. that is wrong for wrong Bless them that curse you c. And surely it were the best Christian Courtship to appease all differences by Peace The blood-thirsty man saith the Scripture shall not live out half his days and if he do grow old in blood here as few do yet shall he never see the Lord in the Land of the living unless he get it with a hearty repentance and what hope can he have that dyes in a battel killing and killed whose soul in the instant of separation is wrapped and enveloped with rage revenge blood horrot and height of fury against his opposite as the body for the most part at the same time is environed with dreadful sounds howlings and shriekings with fire and smoak the very Emblem of Hell it self And what sayes our Saviour As the Tree falls so it lyes I would to God every souldier would think of this hourly and beleive it ever Suppose I pray you A common drunkard whose practise it is dayly so to be dyes drunk by a fall or other accident as we have had many such fearfull examples doe or can you in any charity hope well of such a soul shall he be received into the everlasting joyes the like of Adultery or fornication I speak of a common adulterer and fornicator whose God is his lust who dyes in the arms of his Dalilah can you hope well of him I am sure it is a high presumption so to speak sure I am his case is Fearfull and by the Rule of Scripture we may be hold to judge no hapinesse could arrive that soul so dying The Case is the same with those that dayly fight battells nay who long for it if but a little retarded if war be unlawfull I dispute it not I take it for granted and I am sure by the new Testament utterly condemned Now if so he that dyes killing and killed as I said before what a most miserable condition is that soul in for their works good or bad follow them saith the scripture doe they so in what a state then is that soul in dog'd and clog'd with such deeds of darknesse before at after the expansion of it what time is there of repentance when the outward man is in such a Confusion and horror for battells afford not many quiet and calme slumbers Sure I am he that is lives by the mercy of God most strictly with S. Paul mortifies himself and dyes dayly to the world yet such a soul works out it is salvation with Fear Trembling and finds it not too scarce well prepared for its seperation Iudge then ye Men of war E. Contra Remember for Gods sake for your souls sake