Importunities then their Arguments My confidence had lesse betrayed My self and My Kingdomes to those advantages which some men sought for who wanted nothing but power and occasion to do mischiefe But our sinnes being ripe there was no preventing of Gods Iustice from reaping that glory in our Calamities which we robb'd him of in our Prosperity For thou O Lord hast made us see that Resolutions of future Reforming do not alwaies satisfie thy Justice nor prevent thy vengeance for former miscarriages Our sins have over laid our hopes Thou hast taught us to depend on thy mercies to forgive not on our purpose to amend When thou hast vindicated thy glory by thy Iudgement and hast shewed us how unsafe it is to offend thee upon presumptions afterwards to please thee Then I trust thy mercies wil restore those blessings to us which we have so much abused as to force thee to deprive us of them For want of timely repentance of our sins thou givest us cause to repent of those Remedies we too late apply Yet I do not Repent of my calling this last Parliament because O Lord I did it with an upright intention to Thy glory and My Peoples good The miseries which have ensued upon Me and My Kingdomes are the just effects of thy displeasure upon us and may be yet through thy mercy preparatives of us to future blessings and better hearts to enioy them O Lord though thou hast deprived us of many former comsorts yet grant Me and my People the benefit of our afflictions and thy chastisements that thy rod as well as thy Staffe may comfort us Then shall we dare to account them the strokes not of an Enemy but a Father when thou givest us those humble affections that measure of patience in repentance which becoms thy Children I shall have no cause to repent the miseries this Parliament hath occasioned when by them thou hast brought Me and My People unfeignedly to repent of the sins we have committed Thy Grace is infinitely better with our sufferings then our peace could be with our sins O thou Soveraign goodness and wisdom who over-rulest all our Counsels over rules also all our hearts that the worse things we suffer by thy iustice thâ— better we may be by thy Mercy As our sinnes have turned our Antidotes into poyson so let thy grace turn our poysons into Antidotes As the sins of our peace disposed us to this unhappy war so let this Warre prepare us for thy blessed Peace That although I have but troublesome Kingdoms here yet I may attain to that kingdom of peace in My Heart and in thy Heaven which Christ hath purchased and thou wilt give to thy servant though a Sinner for my Saviours sake Amen 2 Vpon the Earle of Straffords death I Looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great abilities might make a Prince rather afraid then ashamed to employ him in the greatest affaires of State For those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great errours and many Enemies whereof he could not but contract good store while moving in so high a spheare and with so vigorous a lustre he must need as the sun raise many envious exhalations which condensed by a popular Odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and integrity Though I cannot in my judgement approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of times and the Temper of that people more then led by his own disposition to any height and rigour of actions yet I could never be convinced of any such criminousnesse in him as willingly to expose his life to the stroak of Justice and malice of his Enemies I never met with more unhappy conjuncture of affaires then in the businesse of that unfortunate Earl when between My own unsatisfiednesse in Conscience and a necessity as some told me of satisfying the importunities of some people I was perswaded by those that I think wished me well to chuse rather what was safe then what seemed just preferring the outward peace of My Kingdoms with men before that inward exactnesse of Conscience before God And indeed I am so farre from excusing or denying that complyance on my part for plenary consent it was not to his destruction whom in my judgement I thought not by any clear Law gilty of death That I never bare any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a sign of my repentance I have often with sorrow confessed both to God and men as an act of so sinfull frailty that it discovered more a feare of Man than of God whose name and place on Earth no man is worthy to bear who will avoid inconveniences of State by acts of so high injustice as no publique convenience can expiate or compensate I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans own Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calme the stormes of popular discontents by stirring up a tempest in a mans own bosome Nor hath Gods justice failed in the event and sad consequences to shew the world the falacy of that Maxime Better one man perish though uniustly then the people be displeased or destroyed For In all likelyhood I could never have suffered with My People greater calamities yet with greater comfort had I vindicated Strafford s innocency at least by denying to signe that destructive Bill according to that justice which my Conscience suggested to me then I have done since I gratified some mens unthankfull importunities with so cruell a favour And I have observed that those who counselled me to sign that Bill have been so farre from receiving the rewards of such ingratiatings with the people that no men have bin harassed and crushed more than they He only hath bin least vexed by them who counselled me not to consent against the vote of my owne Conscience I hope God hath forgiven me and them the sinfull rashnesse of that busines To which being in my Soul so fully conscious those judgments God hath pleased to send upon me are so much the more welcome as a meanes I hope which his mercy hath sanctified so to me as to make me repent of that unjust act for so it was to me and for the future to teach me That the best rule of policy is to prefer the doing of Iustice before all enjoyments and the peace of my conscience before the preservation of my Kingdoms Nor hath any thing more fortified my â—esolutions against all those violent importunityes which since have sought to gaine alike consent from me to Acts wherein my conscience is unsatisfied then the Sharp touches I have had for what passed Me in My Lord of Straffords Busines Not that I resolved to have imployed him in My affaires against the advice of my Parliament but I would not have had any hand in his Death of whose Guiltlesnesse I was better assured than any man living could be Nor were the Crimes
most self-punishing sin the Ingratitude of those who having eaten of our bread and being enriched with Our bounty have Scornfully lift up themselves against Vs and those of Our owne Houshold are become Our Enemies I pray God lay not their sin to their charge who think to satisfie all obligations to duty by their Corban of Religion and can lesse endure to see then to sin against their benefactours as well as their Soveraignes But even that policy of my Enemies is so far veniall as it was necessary to their designes by scandalous Articles and all irreverent demeanour to seek to drive her out of my Kingdomes lest by the influence of Her example eminent for love as a Wife and Loyalty as a Subject Shee should have converted to or retained in their love and Loyalty all those whom they had a purpose to pervert The lesse I may be blest with Her company the more I wil retire to God and my owne Heart whence no malice can banish Her My Enemies may envy but they can never deprive me of the enjoyment of her virtues while I enjoy my self Thou O Lord whose Iustice at present sees fit to scatter us let thy mercy in thy due time re unite us on earth if it be thy will however bring us both at last to thy heavenly Kingdome Preserve us from the hands of our despitefull and deadly Enemies and prepare us by our sufferings for thy presence Though we differ in some things as to Religion which is My greatest temporall infelicity yet Lord give and accept the sincerity of our affections which desire to seek to find to embrace every truth of thine Let both our Hearts agree in the love of thy selfe and Christ crucified for us Teach us both what thou wouldst have us to know in order to thy glory our publique relations and our soules eternall good and make us carefull to doe what good we know Let neither ignorance of what is necessary to be known nor unbelief or disobedience to what we know be our misery or our wilfull default Let not this great scandall of those my Subiects which professe the same Religion with me be any hindrance to her love of any Truth thou wouldst have her to learne nor any hardning of her in any errour thou wouldst have cleared to her Let mine and other mens constancy be an Antidote against the poyson of their example Let the Truth of that Religion I professe be represented to her Iudgement with all the beauties of Humility Loyalty Charity and Peaceablenesse which are the proper fruits ornaments of it Not in the odious disguises of levity Schisme Heresie Novelty Cruelty and Disloyalty which some mens practises have lately put upon it Let her see thy sacred and saving Truths as Thine that she may believe love and obey them as Thine cleared from all rust and drosse of humane mixtures That in the glasse of thy Truth shee may see thee in those mercies which thou hast offered to us in thy Son Iesus Christ our only Saviour serve thee in all thâ—se Holy duties which most agree with his Holy Doctrine and most imitable example The experience we have of the vanity and uncertainty of all humane glory and greatnesse in our scattering and eclypses let it make us both so much the more ambitious to be invested in those durable honours and perfections which are only to be found in thy selfe and obtained through Jesus Christ 8. Vpon His Maiesties repulse at Hull and the fates of the Hothams MY repulse at Hull seemed at the first view an act of so rude disloyalty that My greatest Enemies had scarce confidence enough to abett or owne it It was the first overt Essay to be made how patiently I could beare the Losse of My Kingdomes God knowes it affected me more with shame and sorrow for others then with anger for My â—elfe nor did the affront done to Me trouble Me so much as their sinne which admitted no colour or excuse I was resolved how to beare this and much more with patience But I foresaw they could hardly conteine themselves within the compasse of this one unworthy act who had effrontery enough to commit or countenance it This was but the hand of that cloud which was soone after to overspread the whole Kingdom and cast all into disorder and darknesse For 't is among the wicked Maximes of bold and disloyall Undertakers that bad actions must alwaies be seconded with worse and rather not be begun then not carried on for they think the retreat more dangerous then the assault hate repentance more then perseverance in a fault This gave me to see clearly through all the pious disguises and soft palliations of some men whose words were somtime smoother then oyl but now I saw they would prove very Swords Against which I having as yet no defence but that of a good conscience thought it my best pollicy with patience to bear what I could not remedy And in this I thank God I had the better of HOTHAM that no disdain or emotion of passion transported me by the indignitie of his carriage to do or say any thing unbeseeming my selfe or unsutable to that temper which in greatest injuries I think best becoms a Christian as coming nearest to the great example of Christ And indeed I desire alwayes more to remember I am a Christian than a King for what the Majesty of one might justly abhor the charity of the other is wiling to bear what the height of a King tempteth to revenge the humility of a Christian teacheth to forgive Keeping in compasse all those impotent passions whose excesse injures a man more then his greatest Enemies can for these give their malice a full impression on our soules which otherwaies cannot reach very farre nor do us much hurt I cannot but observe how God not long after so pleaded and avenged My cause in the eye of the world that the most wilfully blind cannot avoid the displeasure to see it and with some remorse and fear to own it as a notable stroke and prediction of divine vengeance For Sir Iohn Hotham unreproached unthreatned uncursed by any language or secret imprecation of Mine only blasted with the conscience of his own wickednesse and falling from one inconstancy to another not long after paies his owne and his eldest Sons heads as forfeitures of their disloyalty to those men from whom surely he might have expected another reward then thus to divide their heads from their bodies whose hearts with them were divided from their KING Nor is it strange that they who imployed them at first in so high a service and so successefull to them should not find mercy enough to forgive Him who had so much premerited of them For Apostacy unto Loyalty some men account the most unpardonable sinne Nor did a solitary vengeance serve the turne the cutting off one head in a Family is not enough to expiate the affront don to the head of the
come far short of Davids piety yet since I may equall Davids afflictions give Me also the comforts and the sure mercies of David Let the penitent sense I have of my sins be an evidence to me that thou hast pardoned them Let not the Evils which I and my Kingdomes have suffered seem little unto thee though thou hast noâ— punished us according to our sins Turn thee O Lord unto Me have mercy upon Me for I am desolate and afflicted The sorrows of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my troubles Hast thou forgotten to be gracious and shut up thy loving kindnesse in displeasure O Remember thy compassions of old and thy loviâ—g kindnesse which have been for many Generations I had utterly fainted if I had not believed to see thy goodnes in the land of the living Let not the sins of our prosperity deprive us of the benefit of thy afflictions Let this fiery tryall consume the dross which in long peace and plenty we had contracted Though thou continuest miseryes yet withdraw not thy grace what is wanting of prosperity make up â—n patience and repentance And if thy anger be not to be yet turned away but thy â—and of iustice most be stretched out still Let it I beseech thee be against me and my Fathers house as for these sheep what have they done Let my sufferings satiate the malice of Mine and thy Churches Enemies But let their cruelty never exceed the measure of my charity Banish from me all thoughts of Revenge that I may not lose the reward nor thou the glory of my patience As thou givest me a heart to forgive them so I beseech thee doe thou fergive what they have done against thee and me And now O Lord as thou hast given me an heart to pray unto thee so hear and accept this Vow which I make before thee If thou wilt in mercy remember me and My Kingdoms In continuing the light of thy Gospell and setling thy true Religion among us In restoring to us the benefit of the Laws and the due execution of â—â—â—tice In suppressing the many Schisms in Church and Factions in State If thou wilt restore me and mine to the anciâ—nt Rights and glory of my Predecessours If thou wilt turne the hearts of My people to thy self in Piety to me in Loyalty and to one another in Charity If thou wilt quench the flames and withdraw the fewell of these Civill Wars If thou wilt bless us with the freedom of publique Counsels and deliver the Honour of Parliaments from the insolency of the Vulgar If thou wilt keep me from the great offence of enacting any thing against my Conscience and especially from consenting to sacrilegious rapines spoilings of thy Church If Thou wilt restore Me to a capacity to glorefâ—e Thee in doing good both to the Church and State Then shall my soule praise thee and magnifie thy name before my People Then shall thy glory be dearer to me then my Crownes and the advancement of true Religion both in purity and power be My chiefest care Then will I rule my People with iustice and my Kingdomes with equity To thy more immediate hand shall I ever owne as the rightfull succession so the mercifull restauration of My Kingdomes and the glory of them If thou wilt bring Me again with peace safety honour to my chiefest City and my Parliament If thou wilt againe put the Sword of Iustice into my hands to punish and protect Then will I make all the world to see and my very Enemics to enioy the benefit of this Vow and resolution of Christian Charity which I now make unto thee O Lord. As I do freely pardon for Christ's sake those that have offended me in any kind so my hand shall never be against any man to revenge what is past in regard of any particular iniury done to me We have been mutually pnnished in our unnaturall divisions for thy sake O Lord for the love of my Redeemer have I purposed this in my heart That I will use all means in tbe wayes of amneâ—ly and indempnity which may most fully remove all fears and bury all iealousies in forgetfulnesse Let thy mercies be toward me and mine as my resolutions of Truth and Peace are toward my People Hear my prayer O Lord which goeth not out of fayned lips Blessed be God who hath not turned away my prayer nor taken his mercy from Me. O my soule commit thy way to the Lord trust in him and he shall bring it to passe But if thou wilt not restore me and mine what am I that I should charge thee foolishly Thou O Lord hast given and thou hast taken Blessed be thy name May my people and thy Church be happy if not by me yet without me 26 Vpon the Armies Surprisall of of the King at Holmeby and the ensuing destractions in the two Houses the Army and the City VVHat part God will have Me now to act or suffer in this new and strange scene of affaires I am not much solicitous since little practise will serve that man who onely seeks to represent a part of honesty and honour This surprize of Me tells the world that a KING cannot be so low but He is considerable adding weight to that Party where he appeares This motion like others of the Times seemes excentrique and irregular yet not well to be resisted or quieted Better swim down such a stream than in vaine to strive against it These are but the struglings of those twins which lately one womb enclosed the younger striving to prevaile against the elder what the Presbyterians have hunted after the Independents now seek to catch for themselves So impossible is it for lines to be drawn from the center and not to divide from each other so much the wider by how much they go farther from the point of union That the Builders of Babell should from division fall to confusion is no wonder but for those that pretend to build Ierusalem to divide their Tongues and hands is but an ill omen and sounds too like the fury of those Zealots whose intestine bitternesse and divisions were the greatest occasion of the last fatall destruction of that City Well may I change my Keepers and Prison but not my captive condition onely with this hope of bettering that those who are so much professed Patrons for the Peoples Liberties cannot be utterly against the Liberty of their King what they demand for their own Consciences they cannot in Reason deny to Mine In this they seem more ingenuous than the Presbyterian rigour who sometimes complaining of exacting their conformity to laws are become the greatest Exactors of other mens submission to their novell injunctions before they are stamped with the Authotity of Lawes which they cannot well have without my consent 'T is a great argument that the Independents think themselves manumitted from their Rivals service in that they carry on a businesse of such consequence as the
they know not what they did The teares they have denied me in my saddest condition give them grace to bestow upon themselves who the lesse they were for me the more cause they have to weep for themselves O let not my bloud be upon them and their Children whom the fraud and faction of some not the malice of all have excited to crucifie Me. But thou O Lord canst and wilt as thou dist my Redeemer both exalt and perfect me by my sufferings which have more in them of thy mercy then of mans cruelty or thy owne Iustice Natus May 29 An o 1630 AEtatis â— 27 To the Prince of VVales SOn if these Papers with some others wherein I have set down the private reflections of My Conscience and My most impartiall thoughts touching the cheif passages which hath been most remarkable or disputed in My late troubles come to your hands to whom they are chiefly designed they may be so far usefull to you as to state your judgement aright in what hath passed whereof a pious is the best use can be made and they may also give you some directions how to remedy the present distempers and prevent if God will the like for time to come It is some kind of deceiving and lessening the injury of my long restraint when I find My leisure solitude have produced something worthy of My self and usefull to you That neither you nor any other may hereafter measure My Cause by the Successe nor My Judgement of things by My misfortunes which I count the greater by far because they have so farr lighted upon you and some others whom I have most cause to love as well as My self and of whose unmerited sufferings I have a greater sense then of Mine own But this advantage of wisdome you have above other Princes that you have begunne and now spent some years of discretion in the experience of troubles and exercise of patience wherein Piety and all Vertues both Morall and Politicall are commonly better planted to a thriving as Trees set in Winter then in the warmth and serenity of times or amidst those delights which usually attend Princes Courts in times of peace and plenty which are prone either to root up all plants of true Vertue and Honour or to be contented only with some leaves and withering formalities of them without any reall fruits such as tend to the Publick good for which Princes should alwayes remember they are borne and by providence designed The evidence of which different education the holy VVrit affords us in the contemplation of David and Rehoboham The one prepared by many afflictions for a flourishing Kingdome the other unsoftned by the unparalel'd prosperity of Solomons Court and so corrupted to the great diminution both for Peace Honour and Kingdome by those flatteries which are as unseparable from prosperous Princes as Flies are from fruit in Summer whom adversity like could weather drives away I had rather you should be Charles Le Bon then le Grand good then great I hope God hath designed you to both having so early put you into that exercise of his Graces and Gifts bestowed upon you which may best weed out all vicious inclinations and dispose you to those Princely endowments employments which will most gain the love and intend the welfare of those over whom God shall place you With God I would have you begin and end who is King of Kings the Soveraign disposer of the Kingdomes of the world who pullest down one and setteth up another The best Government highest Sove raignty you can attain to is to be subject to him that the Scepter of his Word and Spirit may rule in your heart The true glory of Princes consists in advancing Gods glory in the maintenance of true Religion and the Churches good Also in the dispensation of civill Power with Justice and Honour to the publike Peace Piety will make you prosperous at least it wil keep you from being miserable nor is he much a loser that looseth all yet saveth his own Soul at last To which center of true Happinesse God I trust hath and will graciously direct all these black lines of Affliction which he hath bin pleased to draw on Me and by which he hath I hope drawn me nearer to himself You have already tasted of that cup whereof I have liberally drank which I look upon as Gods phisick having that in healthfulnesse which it wants in pleasure Above all I would have you as I hope you are already well-grounded setled in your Religion The best profession of which I have ever esteemed that of the Church of England in which you have been educated yet I would have your own Iudgement and Reason now seal to that sacred bond which education hath written that it may be judiciously your owne Religion and not other mens custome or tradition which you professe In this I charge you to persevere as comming nearest to Gods VVord for Doctrine and to the primitive examples for Government with soms little amendment which I have otherwhere expressed and often offered though in vaine Your fixation in matters of Religion will not be more necessary for your soule then your Kingdoms peace when God shall bring you to them For I have observed that the Divell of Rebellion doth commonly turne himselfe into an Angell of Reformation and the old Serpent can pretend new Lights When some mens Consciences accuse them for Sedition and Faction they stop its mouth with the name and noise of Religion when Piety pleads for peace and patience they cry out Zeale So that unlesse in this point You be well settled you shall never want temptations to destroy you and yours under pretensions of forming matters of Religion for that seemes even to worst men as the best and most auspicious beginning of their worst designes VVhere besides the Novelty which is taking enough with the Vulgar every one hath an affection by seeming forward to an outward Reformation of Religion to be thought zealous hoping to cover those irreligious deformities whereto they are conscious by severity of censuring other mens opinions or actions Take heed of abetting any Factions or applying to any publick discriminations in matters of Religion contrary to what is in your judgement and the Church well setled your partiall adhering as head to any one side gaines you not so great advantages in some mens hearts who are prone to be of their Kings Religion as it loseth you in others who think themselves and their profession first despised then persecuted by you Take such a course as may either with calmnesse and charity quite remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or so order affairs in point of Power that you shall not need to feare or flatter any Faction For if ever you stand in need of them or must stand to their curtesie you are undone The Serpent will devour the Dove you may never expect lesse of loyalty justice or humanity
that God knows I had not so much as any hopes of an army in My thoughts Had the Tumults been Honourably and effectually repressed by exemplary Iustice and the liberty of the Houses so vindicated that all Members of either house might with Honour and Freedome becoming such a Senate have come and discharged their Consciences I had obtained all that I designed by My withdrawing and had much more willingly and speedily returned then I retired this being my necessity driving the other my choise desiring But some men knew I was like to bring the same judgement and constancy which I carry with me which would never fit their designes and so while they invited me to come and greivously complain'd of my absence yet they could not but be pleased with it especially when they had found out that plasible and popular pretext of raising an Army to fetch in Delinquents when all that while they never punished the greatest and most intolerable Delinquency of the Tumults and their Exciters which drave my selfe and so many of both Houses from their places by most barbarous indignities which yet in all reason and Honour they were as loath to have deserted as those others were willing they should that so they might have occasion to persecute them with the Injuries of an Army for not suffering more tamely the Injuries of the Tumults That this is the true state and first drift and designe in raising an Army against Me is by the sequell so evident that all other pretences vanish For when they declared by Propositions or Treaties what they would have to appease them there was nothing of consequence offered to Me or demanded of Me as any originall difference in any point of Law or order of Justice But among other lesser Innovations this chiefly was urged The Abolition of Episcopall and the Establishment of Presbyterian Government All other things at any time propounded were either impertinent as to any ground of a War or easily granted by Me and only to make up a number or else they were meerly consequentiall and accessary after the Warre was by them unjustly began I cannot hinder other mens thoughts whom the noise and shew of piety and heat for Reformation and Religion might easily so fill with prejudice that all equality and clearnesse of judgement might be obstructed But this was and is as to my best observation the true state of affaires betweene us when they first raised an Army with this designe either to stop My mouth or to force My consent and in this truth as to My conscience who was God knowes as far from meditating a VVar as I was in the eye of the world from having any preparation for one I find that comfort that in the midst of all the unfortunate successes of this VVar on My side I do not think My Innocencie any whit prejudiced or darkned Nor am I without that integrity and Peace before God as with humble confidence to addresse My Prayer to Him For Thou O Lord seest clearly through all the cloudings of humane affaires Thou Judgest without preiudice Thy Omniscience eternally guids thy unerrable Iudgement O my God the proud are risen against me and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soule and have not set Thee before their eyes Consider my Enemies O Lord for they are many they hate me with deadly hatred without a cause For Thou knowest I had no passion designe or preparation to embroyle My Kingdoms in a Civill War whereto I had least temptation as knowing I must adventure more then any and could gaine least of any by it Thou O Lord art my witnesse how oft I have deplored and studied to divert the necessity thereof wherein I cannot well be thought so prodigally thirsty of my Subiects blood as to venture my own life which I have bin oft compelled to doâ— in this unhappy Warre and which were better spent to save then to destroy my People O Lord I need much of thy grace with patience to bear the many afflictions thou hast suffered some men to bring upon me but much more to bear the uniust reproaches of those who not content that I suffer most by warre will needs perswade the world that I have raised first or given just cause to raise it The confidence of some mens false tougues is such that they would make me almost suspect my own Innocency yea I could be content at least by my silence to take upon me so great a guilt before men If by that I might allay the malice of my Enemies redeeme My People from this miserable Warre since thou O Lord knowest my Innocency in this thing Thou wilt find out bloudy deceitfull men many of whom have not lived out half their dayes in which they promised themselvs the enioyment of the fruits of their violent and wicked Councells Save O Lord thy servant as hitherto thou hast and in thy due time scatter the people that delight in War Arise O Lord lift up thy selfe because of the rage of mine Enemyes which encreaseth more and more Behold them that have conceived mischief travelled with iniquity and brought forth falshood Thou knowest the chief designe of this Warre is either to destroy my Person or force My Iudgement and to make Me renege my Conscience and thy Truth I am driven to crosse Davids choice and desire rather to fall into the hands of men by denying them though their mercy be cruell then into thy hands by sinning against My Conscience and in that against thee who art a consuming fire Better they destroy Me then thou shouldest damne Me. Be thou ever the defence of My soule who wilt save the upright in heart If nothing but My bloud will satisfie My Enemies or quench the flames of My Kingdomes or thy temporall Iustice I am content if it be thy will that it be shed by Mine owne Subiects hands But O let the bloud of Me though their King yet a sinner be dashed with the bloud of My Innocent and peace-making Redeemer for in that thy Iustice will find not only a temporary expiation but an eternall plenary satisfaction both for my sins and the sins of my People whom I beseech thee still owne for thine and when thy wrath is appeased by my Death O Remember thy great mercies toward them and forgive them O my Father for they know not what they doe 10 Vpon their seizing the Kings Magazines Forts Navy and Militia HOw untruly I am Charged with the first raising of an ARMY and beginning this Civill Warre the eyes that only pitty me and the Loyall hearts that durst only pray for me at first might witnesse which yet appeare not so many on my side as there were men in Arms listed against me my unpreparednesse for a War maâ— well dis-hearten those that would help me while it argues truly my unwillingnesse to fight yet it testifies for Me that I am set on the defensive part having so little hopes or
he hath done The confiscation of mens estates being more beneficiall then the charity of saving their lives or reforming their Errours When all proportionable succours of the poor Pretestants in Ireland who were daily massacred and over-borne with numbers of now desperate Enemies were diverted and obstructed here I was earnestly entreated and generally advised by the chief of the Protestant Party there to get them some respite and breathing by a cessation without which they saw â—o probability unlesse by miracle to preserve the remnant that had yet escaped Go knows with how much commiseration and solâ—citous caution I carried on that bnsinesse by peâ—sons of Honour and Integrity that so I migâ— neither incourage the rebells Insolence nor discourage the Protestants loyalty and patience Yet when this was effected in the best soâ— that the necessity and difficulty of affaires woulâ— then permit I was then to suffer againe in mâ— reputation and Honour because I suffered nâ— the Rebels utterly to devoure the remainiâ— handfulls of the Protestants there I thought that in all reason the gaining 〈◊〉 that respite could not be so much to the Rebeâ— advantages which some have highly calumniâ—ted against me as it might have been for tâ— Protestants future as well as present safety during the time of that Cessation some men hâ— had the grace to have laid Irelands sad conditio more to heart and laid aside those violent mâ—tions which were here carried on by those thâ— had better skill to let bloud then to stanch it But in all the misconstructions of my actioâ— which are prone to find more credulity in mâ— to what is false and evill than love or charity 〈◊〉 what is true and good as I have no Judge 〈◊〉 God above me so I can have comfort to appâ— to his omniscience who doth not therefoâ— deny my Innocence because he is pleased far to try my patience as he did his servant Iobâ— I have enough to doe to look to My own Conscience and the faithfull discharge of My Trust as a KING I have scarce leisure to consider those swarmes of reproaches which issue out of some mens mouths hearts as easily as smoke or sparks do out of a Fornace Much lesse to make such prolix Apologies as might give those men satisfaction who conscious to their owne depth of wickednesse are loath to beleive any man not to be as bad as themselves 'T is Kingly to do well and heare ill If I can but act the one I shall not much regard to bear the other I thank God I can hear with patience as bad as my worst enemies can falsly say And I hope I shall still doe better than they desire or deserve I should I beleive it will at last appear that they who first began to embroyle my other Kingdomes are in great part guilty if not of the first letting out yet of the not-timely stopping those horrid effusion of bloud in Ireland Which what ever my Enemies please to say or think I look upon as that of my other Kingdomes exhausted out of my own veins no man being so much weakned by it as my selfe And I hope though mens unsatiable crueltiâ—s never wil yet the mercy of God wil at length say to his justice It is enough command the sword of civil wars to sheath it self his mercifull justice intending I trust not our utter confusion but our cure the abatement of our sins or the desolating of these Nations O my God let those infinite mercies prevent us once againe which I and my Kingdomes have formerly abused and can never deserve should be restored Thou seest how much cruelty among Christians is acted under the colour of Religion as if we could not be Christians unlesse we crucifie one another Because we have not more loved thy Truth and practised in Charity thou hast suffered a Spirit of Errour and bitternesse of mutuall and mortall hatred to rise among us O Lord forgive wherein we have sinned and sanctifie what we have suffered Let our repentance be our recovery as our great sins have been our ruine Let not the miseries I and my Kingdoms have hitherto suffered seem small to thee but make our sins appear to our consciences as they are represented in the glasse of thy judgements for thou never punishest small failings with so severe afflictions O therefore according to the multitude of thy great mercies pardon our sinnes and remove thy iudgements which are very many and very heavy Yet let our sinnes be evermore grievous to us thaâ— thy Iudgements and make us more willing to repent then to be relieved first give us the peace of penitent consciences and then the tranquillity of united Kingdomes In the Sea of our Saviours bloud drowne our sinnes and throngh this red Sea of our own bloud bring us at last to a state of piety peace and plenty As my publique relations to all make me share in all my Subiects sufferings so give me such a pious sense of them as becomes a Christian King and a loving Father of my people Let the scandalous and uniust reproaches cast upon me be as a breath more to kindle my compassion Give me grace to heap charitable coales of fire upon their heads to melt them whose malice or truell Zeal hath kindled or hindred the quenching of those flames which have so much wasted my three Kingdoms O rescue and assist those poore Protestants in Ireland whom thou hast hitherto preserved And lead those in the wayes of thy saving Truths whose ignorance or errours have filled them with Rellellious and destructive principles which they act under an opinion That they do thee good service Let the hand of thy Iustice be against those who maliciously and dispitefully have raised or fomented those cruell and desperate Wars Thou that art far from destroying the Innocent with the Guilty and the Erroneous with the Malicious Thou that hadst pity on Niniveh for the many Children that were therein give not over the whole stock of that populous and seduced Nation to the wrath of those whose covetousnesse makes them cruell nor to their anger which is too fierce and therefore iustly cursed Preserve if it be thy will in the midst of the fornace of thy severe iustice a Posterity which may praise thee for thy mercy And deale with Me not according to mans uniust reproaches but according to the innocency of my hands in thy sight If I have desired or delighted in the wofull day of my Kingdoms calamities if I have not earnestly studied and faithfully endeavoured the preventing and composing of these bloody distractions then let thy hand be against me and my Fathers house O Lord thou seest I have enemies enough of men as I need not so I should not dare thus to imprecate thy curse on me and mine if my Conscience did not witnesse my integrity which thou O Lord knowest right will But I trust not to My own merit but thy mercies spare us O Lord and be not
all men in their own case esteem injurious unreasonable as being against the very natural and essentiall liberty of our souls yet it should be invalid and to be broken in another clause wherein I think my self justly obliged both to God Man Yet upon this Rack chiefly have I been held so long by some mens ambitious covetousnesse and Sacrilegious Cruelty torturing with Me both Church and State in Civill dissentions till I shall be forced to consent and declare that I doe approve what God knowes I utterly dislike and in My Soul abhorre as many wayes highly against Reason Justice and Religion and whereto If I should shamefully and dishonourably give My consent yet should I not by so doing satisfie the divided Interests and Opinions of those Parties which contend with each other as well as both against Me and Episcopacy Nor can My late condesending to the Scots in point of Church-government be rightly objected against Me as an inducement for Me to consent to the like in My other Kingdoms For it should be considered that Episcopacy was not so rooted and setled there as 't is here nor I in that respect so strictly bound to continue it in that Kingdom as in this for what I think in My judgement best I may not think so absolutly necessary for all places and at all times If any shall impute My yeelding to them as My failing and sin I can easily acknowledge it but that is no argument to do so again or much worse I being now more convinced in that point nor indeed hath My yeelding to them bin so happy and successefull as to incourage Me to grant the like to others Did I see any thing more of Christ as to Meeknesse Justice Order Charity and Loyalty in those that pretend to other modes of Government I might suspect My judgement to be biased or fore-stalled with some prejudice wontednes of opinion but I have hitherto so much cause to suspect the contrary in the manners of many of those men that I cannot from them gain the least reputation for their new wayes of Government Nor can I find that in any Reformed Churches whose paterns are so cryed up and obtruded upon the Churches under My Dominion that either Learning or Religion works of Piety or Charity have so flourished beyond what they have done in My Kingdomes by Gods blessing which might make me beleive either Presbytery or Independency have a more benigne influence upon the Church and mens hearts and lives than Episcopacy in its right constitution The abuses of which deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to primitive uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober people so as Church affairs should be managed neither with tyranny purity nor popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbiters despised nor People oppressed And in this integrity both of My judgment Conscience I hope God will preserve Me. For Thou O Lord knowest My uprightnesse and tendernesse as thou hast set me to be a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of thy Church so susser me not by any violence to be overborn against My Conscience Arise O Lord maintaine thine own Cause let not thy Church be deformed as to that Government which derived from thy Apostles hath been retained in purest and primitive times till thâ— Revenues of the Church became the obiect of secular envy which seeks to rob it of all the incouragements of Learning and Religion Make me as the good Samaritan compassionate and helpfull to thy afflicted Church which some men have wounded and robbed others passe by without regard either to pitty or relieve As my power is from thee so give me grace to use it for thee And though I am not suffered to be Master of my other Rights as a KING yet preserve me in that liberty of Reason love of Religion and thy Churches welfare which are fixed in my Censcience as a Christian Preserve from sacrilegious invasions those temporall blessings which thy providence hath bestowed on thy Church for thy glory Forgive their sinnes and errours who have deserved thy iust permission thus to let in the wilde Boar and subtill Foxes to wast and deforme thy Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the dew of Heaven so long watred to a happy and flourishing estate O let me not bear the infamous brand to all Posterity of being the the first Christian KING in this Kingdom who should consent to the oppressions of thy Church and the fathers of it whose errours I would rather with Constantine cover with silence and reform with meeknesse than expose their persons and sacred functions to vulgar contempt Thou O Lord seest how much I have suffered with and for thy Church make no long tarrying O my God to deliver hoth me and it from unreasonable men whose counsels have brought forth and continue such violent confusions by a precipitant destroying the ancient boundaries of thy Churches peace thereby letting in all manner of errours schismes and disorders O thou God of order and of truth in thy good time abate the malice aswage the rage and confound all the mischievous devices of thine mine and thy Churches enemies That I and all that love thy Church may sing praises to thee and ever magnifie thy salvation even before the sons of men 18 Vpon Vxbridge-treaty and other Offers made by the King I Look upon the way of Treaties as a retiring from fighting like Beasts to arguing like Men whose strength should be more in their understandings than in their limbs And though I could seldome get opportunities to Treat yet I never wanted either desire or disposition to it having greater confidence of My Reason than My Sword I was so wholly resolved to yeeld to the first that I thought neither My selfe nor others should need to use the second if once we rightly understood each other Nor did I ever think it a diminution of Me to prevent them with Expresses of My desires and even importunities to Treat It being an office not onely of humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek peace and ensue it As I was very unwillingly compelled to defend My self with Arms so I very willingly embraced any thing tending to peace The events of all War by the sword being very dubious and of a Civill VVarre uncomfortable the end had hardly recompencing late repairing the mischief of the means Nor did any successe I had ever enhance with Me the price of Peace as earnestly desired by Me as any man though I was like to pay dearer for it then any man All that I sought to reserve was Mine Honour and My Conscience the one I could not part with as a KING the other as a Christian The Treaty at Uxbridge gave the fairest hopes of an hapdy
all meet in our hearts and so dispose us to an happy conclusion of these Civill Warres that I may know better to obey God and governe my People and they may learn better to obey both God and me Nor do I desire any man should be further subject to me then all of us may be subject to God O my God make me content to be overcome when thou wilt have it so Teach me the noblest victory over my self and my Enemies by patience which was Christs conquest and may well become a Christian King Between both thy hands the right somtimes supporting and the left afflicting fashion us to that frame of piety thou likest best Forgive the pride that attends our prosperous and the repinings which follow our disasterous events when going forth in our own strength thoâ— withdrawest thine and goest not forth with our Armies Be thou all when we are somthing and when we are nothing that thou mayst have the glory when we are in a victorious or inglorious condition Thou O Lord knowest how hard it is for me 〈◊〉 suffer so much evill from my Subjects to whom I intend nothing but good and I cannot but suffer in those evills which they compell me to inflict upon them punishing my self in their punishments Since therefore both in conquering and being conquered I am still a Sufferer I beseech thee to give me a double portion of thy Spirit and that measure of grace which only can be sufficient for me As I am most afflicted so make me most reformed that I may be not onely happy to see an end of these civill distractions but a chief Instrument to restore and establish a firm and blessed Peace to my Kingdoms Stir up in all Parties pious ambitions to overcome each other with reason moderation and such self deniall as becomes those who consider that our mutuall divisions are our common distractions and the union of all is every good mans chiefest interest If O Lord as for the sins of our peace thou hast brought upon us the miseries of warre so for the sins of war thou shouldst see fit still to deny us the blessing of peace and so to keep us in a circulation of miseries yet give me thy Servant and all loyall though afflicted Subjects to enjoy that peace which the world can neither give to us nor take from us Impute not to me the blood of my Subjects which with infinite unwillingnesse and grief hath been shed by me in my just and necessary defence but wash me with that precious blood which hath been shed for me by my great Peace-maker Iesus Christ who will I trust redeem me shortly out of all my troubles For I know the triumphing of the Wicked is but short and the joy of Hypocrites is but for â— moment 20. Vpon the Reformations of the Times NO Glory is more to be envied than that of due Reforming either Church or State when deformities are such that the perturbation and novelty are not like to exceed the benefit of Reforming Although God should not honour me so far as to make me an Instrument of so good a work yet I should be glad to see it done As I was well pleased with this Parliaments first intentions to reforme what the iudulgence of Times and corruption of manners might have depraved so I am sorry to see after the freedome of Parliament was by factious Tumults oppressed how little regard was had to the good Lawes established and the Religion setled which ought to be the first rule and standard of reforming with how much partiality and popular compliance the passions and opinions of men have been gratified to the detriment of the publique and the infinite scandall of the Reformed Religion What dissolutions of all Order and Government in the Church what novelties oâ— Schismes and corrupt opinions what undecencies and confusions in sacred administrations what sacrilegious invasions upon the Rights and Revenues of the Church what contempt and oppressions of the Clergie what injurious diminutions and persecutings of me have followed as showres do warme gleames the talk of Reformation all sober men are Witnesses and with my selfe sad Spectators hitherto The great miscarriage I think is that popular clamours and fury have been allowed the reputation of Zeal and the publique sense so that the study to please some Parties hath indeed injured all Freedome moderation and impartiality are sure the best tempers of reforming Councells and endeavours what is acted by Factions cannot but offend more than it pleaseth I have offered to put all differences in Church affaires and Religion to the free consultation of a Synod or Convocation rightly chosen the results of whose Counsells as they would have included the Votes of all so it 's like they would have given most satisfaction to all The Assembly of Divines whom the two Houses have applied in an unwonted way to advise of Church Affaires I dislike not further then that they are not legally convened and chosen nor Act in the name of all the Clergy of England nor with freedome and impartiality can doe any thing being limited and confined if not over-â—wed to do and declare what they do For I cannot think so many men cryed up for learning and piety who formerly allowed the Liturgy and Government of the Church of England as to the maine would have so suddenly agreed quite to abolish both of them the last of which they knew to be of Apostolicall institution at least as of Primitive and Universall practice if they had been left to the liberty of their own suffrages and if the influence of contrary Factions had not by secret incroachments of hopes and feares prevailed upon them to comply with so great and dangerous Innovations in the Church without any regard to their own former judgement and practice or to the common interest and honour of all the Clergy and in them of Order Learning and Religion against examples of all Ancient Churches the Lawes in force and my consent which is never to be gained against so pregnant light as in that point shines on my understanding For I conceive that where the Scripture is not so clear and punctuall in precepts there the constant and Universall practice of the Church in things not contrary to Reason Faith good Manners or any positive Command is the best Rule that Christians can follow I was willing to grant or restore to Presbytery what with reason or discretion it can pretend to in a conjuncture with Episcopacy but for that wholly to invade the Power and by the Sword to arrogate and quite abrogate the Authority of that Ancient Order I think neither just as to Episcopacy nor safe for Presbytery nor yet any way convenient for this Church or State A due reformation had easily followed moderate Counsells and such I believe as would have given more content even to the most of those Divines who have been led on with much Gravity and Formality to carry on other mens
assuming My Person into the Armies custody without any Commission but that of their own wil and power Such as will thus adventure on a King must not bethought over-modest or timerous to carry on any designe they have a mind to ' Their next motion menaces and scares both the two Houses and the City which soon after acting over again that former part of tumultuary motions never questioned punished or repented must now suffer for both aud see their former sin in the glasse of the preseut terrours and distractions No man is so blind as not to see herein the hand of divine Iustice they that by Tumults first occasioned the raising of Arms must now be chastened by their own Army for new Tumults So hardly can men be content with one sinne but adde sin to sin till the later punish the former such as were content to see Me and many Members of both Houses driven away by the first unsuppressed Tumults are now forced to fly to an Army to defend themselves against them But who can unfold the riddle of some mens justice the Members of both houses who at first withdrew as my selfe was forced to doe from the rudenesse of the Tumults were counted desertors and outed of their Places in Parliament Such as stayed then and enjoyed the benefit of the Tumults were asserted for the only Parliament-men now the Flyers from and Forsakers of their Places carry the Parliamentary power along with them complain highly against the tumults vindicate themselves by an Army such as remained and kept their stations are looked upon as Abbettors of tumultuary insolencies and Betrayers of the Freedom and Honour of Parliament Thus is Power above all Rule Order Law where men look more to present Advantages then their consciences and the unchangeable rules of Justice while they are Judges of others they are forced to condemn themselves Now the plea against Tumults hold good the Authors and Abettors of them are guilty of prodigious insolencies when as before they were counted as Friends and necessary Assistants I see Vengeance pursues and overtakes as the Mice and Rats are said to have done the Bishop in Germany them that thought to have escaped and fortified themselves most impregnably against it both by their multitude and compliance Whom the Laws cannot God will punish by their own crimes and hands I cannot but observe this divine Justice yet with sorrow and pity for I alwayes wished so well to Parliament and City that I was sorry to see them do or suffer any thing unworthy such great and considerable bodies in this Kingdome I was glad to see them onely scared and humbled not broken by that shaking I never had so ill a thought of those Cities as to despaire of their Loyalty to Me which mistakes might eclipse but I never believed malice had quite put out I pray God the storm be yet wholly passed over them upon whom I look as Christ did sometime over Ierusalem as objects of My prayers and teares with compassionate griefe foreseeing those severer scatterings which will certainly befall such as wantonly refuse to be gathered to their duty fatall blindnesse frequently attending and punishing wilfull so that men shall not be able at last to prevent their sorrows who would not timely repent of their sin nor shall they be suffered to enjoy the comforts who securely neglect the councels belonging to their peace They will find that Brethren in iniquity are not far from becomming insolent enemies there being nothing harder then to keep ill men long in one mind Nor is it possible to gaine a faire period for those notions which go rather in a round and circle of fansie than in a right line of reason tending to the Law the onely center of publique consistency whither I pray God at last bring all sides Which will easily be done when we shall fully see how much more happy we are to be subject to the known Laws then to the various wills of any men seem they never so plausible at first Vulgar compliance with any illegall and extravagant waies like violent motions in nature soon grows weary of it selfe and ends in a refractory sullennesse Peoples rebounds are oft in their faces who first put them upon those violent strokes For the Army which is so far excusable as they act according to Souldiers principles and interests demanding Pay and Indempnity I think it necessary in order to the publike peace that they should be satisfied as far as is just no man being more prone to consider them then My selfe â—though they have fought against Me yet I cannot but so far esteem that valour and gallantry they have sometime shewed as to wish I may never want such men to maintaine My Selfe My Laws and My Kingdoms in such a peace as wherein they may enjoy their share and proportion as much as any men But thou O Lord who art perfect Vnity in a sacred Trinity in mercy behold those whom thy Iustice hath divided Deliver me from the strivings of My People and make Me to see how much they need My Prayers and pity who agreed to fight against Me and 〈◊〉 are now ready to fight against one another to the continuance of My Kingdomes distractions Discover to all sides the wayes of peace from which they have swarved which consists not in the divided wills of Parties but in the point and due observation of the Lawes Make Me willing to go whither thou wilt lead Me by thy providence and be thou ever with Me that I may see thy constancy in the worlds variety and changes Make me even such as thou wouldst have Me that I may at last enioy that safety and tranquility which thou alone canst give Me. Divert J pray thee O Lord thy heavy wrath iustly hanging over those populous Cityes whose plenty is prone to adde fewell to their luxury their wealth to make them wanton their multitudes tempting them to security and their security exposing them to unexpected miseries Give them eyes to see hearts to consider wills to embrace and courage to act those things which belong to thy glory and the publique peace lest their calamity come upon them as an armed man Theach them That they cannot want enemies who abound in sinne nor shall they be long un-disarmed and un-destroyed who with a high hand persisting to â—ight gainst thee the clear convictions of their own consciences fight more against themselves than ever they did against Me. Their sinnes exposing them to thy Iustice their riches too ther 's injuryes their number to Tumults and their Tumults to confusion Though they have with much forwardnesse helped to destroy Me yet let not my fall be their ruine Let Me not so much consider either what they have done or I have suffered chiefly at first by them as to forget to imitate My crucified Redeemer to plead their ignorance for their pardon and in my dying extremities to pray to thee O Father to forgive them for