Church for the decoring of it according to their old Custom But withal We do here account still as prohibited all unlawful Games to he used upon Sundays only as Bear and Bull-baitings Interludes and at all times in the meaner sort of People by Law prohibited Bowling And likewise We bar from this Benefit and Liberty all such known Recusants either Men or Women as will abstain from coming to Church or Divine Service being therefore unworthy of any Lawful Recreation after the said Service that will not first come to the Church and serve God Prohibiting in like sort the said Recreations to any that though conform in Religion are not present in the Church at the Ser-Service of God before their going to the said Recreations Our Pleasure likewise is That they to whom it belongeth in Office shall present and sharply punish all such as in Abuse of this Our Liberty will use these Exercises before the ends of all Divine Services for that Day And We likewise straightly Command that every Person shall resort to his own Parish Church to hear Divine Sirvice and each Parish by it self to use the sâ—id Recreation after Divine Service Prohibiting likewise any Offensive Weapons to be carried or used in the said times of Recreations And our Pleasure is That this Our Declaration shall be Published by Order from the Bishop of the Diocess through all the Parish Churches and that both Our Judges of Our Circuit and Our Justices of Our Peace be informed thereof Given at Our Mannor of Greenwich the Four and Twentieth Day of May in the Sixteenth Year of Our Reign of England France and Ireland and of Scotland the One and Fiftieth Here follows King Charles II. Corroborating Declaration to have the Recreations and Sports to be used on the Lord's Day NOW out of a like Pious Care for the Service of God and for suppressing of any Humors that oppose Truth and for the Ease Comfort and Recreation of Our well deserving People Wo do ratifie and publish this our Blessed Father's Declaration The rather because of late in some Counties of Kingdom We find that under pretence of taking away Abuses there hath been a general Forbidding not only of ordinary Meetings but of the Feasts of the Dedication of the Churches commonly called Wakes Now Our express Will and Pleasure is that these Feasts with others shall be observed and that Our Justices of the Peace in their several Divisions shall look to it both that all Disorders there may be prevented or punished and that all Neighbourhood and Freedom with Manlike and Lawful Exercises be used And We farther command Our Justices of Assize in their several Circuits to see that no Man do Trouble or Molest any of Our Loyal and Dutiful People in or for their lawful Recreations having first done their Duty to God and continuing in Obedience to Us and Our Laws And of this We command all Our Judges Justices of the Peace as well within Liberties as without Mayors Bayliffs Constables and other Officers to take notice of and to see observed as they tender Our Displeasure And We farther Will that Publication of this Our Command be made by Order from the Bishops through all the Parish Churches of their several Diocesses respectively Given at Our Palace of Westminster the 18th of October in the Ninth of Our Reign God save the King A true Copy of the Commission said to be given by the King to his Catholick Subjects of Ireland with the Warrant and Deposition annexed From our Camp at Newrie this Fourth of Nov. 1641. Philem. O. Neale Rorie Macguire To all Catholicks of the Romish Party both English and Irish within the Kingdom of Ireland we wish all Happiness Freedom of Conscience and Victory over the English Hereticks who have for a long time Tyrannized over our Bodies and usurped by Extortion our Estates BE it hereby made known unto you all our Friends and Country-men That the King 's most Excellent Majesty for many great and urgent Causes him thereunto moving reposing Trust and Confidence in our Fidelities hath signified unto us by his Commission under the great Seal of Scotland bearing date at Edinburgh the first Day of this Instant October 1641. and also by Letters under his Sign Manuel bearing date with the said Commission of divers great and heinous Affronts that the English Protestants especially the Parliament there have published against his Royal Prerogative and also against our Catholick Friends within the Kingdom of England The Copy of which Commission we have here sent unto you to be published with all Speed in all parts of this Kingdom that you may be assured of our sufficient Warrant and Authority herein The Commission CHARLES by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To all Our Catholick Subjects within Our Kingdom of Ireland Greeting Know ye That We for the Safeguard and Preservation of Our Person have been enforced to make Our Abode and Residence in Our Kingdom of Scotland for a long Season occasioned by reason of the Obstinate and Disobedient Carriage of Our Parliament in England against Us who have not only presumed to take upon them the Government and Disposing of those Princely Rights and Prerogatives that have justly descended upon Us from Our Predecessors both Kings and Queens of the said Kingdom for many hundred Years last past but also have possessed themselves of the whole Strength of the said Kingdom in appointing Governours Commanders and Officers in all parts and places therein at their own Wills and Pleasure without Our Consent whereby We are deprived of Our Sovereignty and left naked without Defence And forasmuch as We are in Our self very sensible That those Storms blow aloft and are very likely to be carried by the Vehemency of the Puritan in another Copy Protestant Party into Our Kingdom of Ireland and endanger Our Regal and Authority there also Know ye therefore That We reposing much Care and Trust in your Duties and Obedience which We have for many Years past sound do hereby give unto you full Power and Authority to Assemble and meet together with all the Speed and Diligence that a Business of so great a Consequence doth require and to Advise and Consult together by sufficient and discreet Numbers at all Times Days and Places which you shall in your Judgments hold most Convenient and Material for the Ordering Settleling and Effecting of this Great Work mentioned and directed unto you in Our Letters and to use all politick Ways and Means possible to possess your selves for Our Use and Safety of all the Forts Castles and Places of Strength and Defence within the said Kingdom except the places Persons and Estates of our Loyal and Loving Subjects the Scots and also to Arrest and Seize the Goods Estates and Persons of all the English Protestants within the said Kingdom to Our use and in your care and speedy performance of this Our Will and Pleasure we
that countenanced those two Court Parasites and Ear-Wiggs Mountague and Manwaring who poysoned the Ears of King Charles the First with such infectious Doctrine that proved to be fatal to the King and Kingdoms 'T is true indeed both Montague and Manwaring were doom'd and condemn'd for the same in open Parliament Sentenced and Fined and made incapable of all Ecclesiastical Benefices and Promotions But King Charles was so much in Love with these two wicked Levites and their Doctrines that soon after the Parliament was dissolved he punished them with two Fat Bishopricks That the World may know for what Manwaring was thus Rewarded by the King I shall produce three of his pernicious Assertions out of his two Sermons before the King Printed under the Title of Religion ond Allegiance 1. That the King is not bound to observe the Laws concerning the Subjects Rights but that his Will in Imposing Loans and Taxes without consent in Parliament doth oblige the Subjects Conscience Upon Pain of Eternal Damnation 2. That they who refused the Loan did offend against the Law of God and against the Kings Supreme Authority and thereby became Guilty of Impiety Disloyalty Rebellion c. 3. That Authority of Parliament is not necessary for the raising of Aids and Subsidies and Dr. Sibthorp Vicar of Brackley printed a Sermon which he Preached at the Assizes at Northampton and Dedicated to the King wherein he Poysons his Country with these vile Positions 1. That it is the Prince's Duty to direct and make Laws his Text by the way was Rom. 13.7 Render therefore to all their Dues he justified this by that Opposite Proof Eccles 8.3 4. He doth whatsoever pleases him Who may say unto him what doest thou 2. That all Antiquity is absolutely for absolute Obedience to Princes in al Civil and Temporal Things 3. That if Princes command any thing which Subjects may not perform because against the Laws of God of Nature or Impossible yet they are bound to undergo the Punishment without Resistance and so to vield a Passive Obedience where they cannot Exhibit an Active One. P g Sh k and others have largely since that time obliged the World with these Enslaving Doctrines As this King took great care to Reward such Ministers as these so he was resolved to make Examples of those Pious and Worthy Clergy-men that stood up against the Oppressions of those Times for Brevities Sake I shall instance but two of the many that might be Named The first was that Good Man Dr. Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury because he could not in Conscience comply with the King who with Menaces required him to License that abominable Sermon of Sibthrops before mention'd and thereby make that Good by Divinity which had been done against the Laws And when the Lord Conway Secretary of State was sent with a threatning Message from the King to him this good Old Man persisted in his Refusal saying with the Psalmist I shall not be affraid of any Evil Tydings for my heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. The King instantly Suspended this Archbishop and also confined him and committed the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction to five Bishops all of the New Church of England and Sibthorp's Patrons viz. London Durham Rochester and Oxford and honest Laud of Bath and Wells The second was Dr. Williams Bishop of Lincoln who also felt the heavy Oppression of this Protestant King In the first Year of his Reign he was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal but upon his appearing in Parliament against the Kingdoms great Grievance the Duke of Buckingham he was Disgraced und Sequestred from the King's Presence and Council Table In his second Year he was accused for speaking publickly against the Loan and also for refusing to give way to proceedings in his Courts against the Puritans The King Imprison'd him in the Tower but this good Bishop out-living his Imprisonment upon the King 's throwing the Gauntlet he came to a Tryal of Skill for the Old English Liberties and he resolutely said Nolumus Leges Angliae Mutari and took Command in the Parliament's Army and bravely asserted his Country's Liberties with his Sword If I should proceed to relate how this King dealt by the Nobility and Gentry both Lawyers and others that stood up for the Laws of the Land and Liberties of the People this Tragical Story would swell to too great a Bulk for a Preface I shall therefore give a short Account of the matters contained in the following Treatise viz. that He Favoured Protected and was Ruled by the worst of Men both Clergy and Laity Secondly That He highly favoured Papists Thirdly That He Govern'd by an Arbitrary Power and raised Money upon his Subjects without Act of Parliament which is directly against the Constitution of the Government of England and of a most dangerous Consequence to the People of England for when ever such a Power is Established in these Kingdoms the People may bid a sad farewell to all their Felicity for they would soon undergood the same Miserable Fate the poor People of France have done ever since that King violated their Magna Charta call'd the Edict of Nants c. which is to be Taxed according to that Prince's Will and Pleasure Fourthly That he was not that Pious Prince the mad World without reason would represent him to be of all these you have too many Instances in the following Treatise which for the satissfaction of Mankind contains not onely 26 Articles or Charges against this King but also the following Tracts all of which were never Printed at large in any one Book before viz. The Popes Letter to King Charles I. and King Charles his Letter in Answer thereunto calling the Pope Most Holy Father c. The Articles of Marriage made in Favour of Papists with France King Charle 's Commission to the Irish Rebels and Philem Oneles and Rorie Macquire 's Declaration thereupon King Charles II's Letter to the Court of Claims of Ireland in behalf of that great Rebel the Marquess of Antrim to restore him to his Estate for that the said Marquess had made it appear that what he acted in that Rebellion was done by the Express Orders and Commands of Charles I. His Father King Charles I's Warrant by Secretary Nicholas to the King's Printer Commanding him to Print no more than Forty Proclamations that Proclaimed the Irish Rebels An Abstract of those Strange Articles of Peace that King Charles the First made with the Irish Rebells The two Letters he writ to assure the Rochellers of his relieving them and the miserable and deplorable Remonstrance those poor People made to him upon his Sacrificing them to the Mercy of the French King The Earl of Anglesey 's Memorandum Dr. Anthony Walker and Mrs. Gauden 's Proofs that Eicon Basilice was not Writ by King Charles but by Dr. Gauden Bishop of Exeter That Copy of the Kings and Pamelia's Prayers taken out of Eicon Basilice and Sir Philip Sydneys Arcadia will agree almost
Archbishop of Canterbury was most justly Beheaded The House of Commons having proof that he had a great Hand in all the Arbitrary Proceedings and Dealings with Rome December 18 th 1640. they Voted him to be a Traytor and Mr. Hollis was sent to the Lords to Accuse him of High-Treason which he did immediately assuring the Lords that in convenient time there should be a charge put in against him to make Good the Accusation desiring that he might be sequestred from the House and Committed which was forthwith done by the Lords The Articles wherewith he was charged consist of these Heads c. 1. For that he had Treacherously endeavoured to subvert the Fundamental Laws and Government of the Kingdom of England and instead thereof to Introduce an Arbitrary and Tyrannical Government against Law 2. That he had laboured to Overthrow the Authority of Parliaments and the Force of the Laws of the Kingdom of England 3. That he had laboured to corrupt and pervert the Ministers of Justice 4. That he himself had corruptly bought and sold Justice in his Seat 5. That he had put a New Book of Cannons in Execution against Law Vide 2 Vol. 2 d. Part of Rushworth's Hist Collect. Fol. 1365. sequent 6. That he had Traytorously assumed to himself a Papal and Tyrannical Power both in Ecclesiastical and Temporal Matters 7. That he had laboured to subvert the Protestant Religion and instead thereof to set up Popish Superstition and Idolatry 8. That he had prefer'd notorious Papist to Places of Dignity 9. That he had chosen to himself a Chaplain Popishly affected 10. That he had kept Confederacy and Intelligence with Popish Priests and Jesuits 11. That he had cruelly persecuted Godly Ministers 12. That he had laboured to make Divisions and Discord between us and other Churches 13. That he had stir'd up War and Enmity between his Majesties two Kingdoms of England and Scotland 14. That he had Slandered and Incensed His Majesty against Parliaments 15. That he had laboured to slander Parliaments with the Nick Name of Puritans and commended the Papists for harmless and peaceable Subjects 16. That he had Traytorously indeavoured to advance the Power of the Council Table the Cannons of the Church and the King's Prerogative above the Laws and Statutes of the Realm 17. That he had Wittingly and Willingly Harboured Countenanced and Relieved divers Popish Priests and Jesuits and particularly one call'd Santa Clara alias Damport a dangerous Person and Franciscan Fryar and did also provide Maintenance and Entertainment for one Monsieur St. Gyles a Popish Priest at Oxford knowing him to be a Popish Priest 18. That he had threatningly said there must be a Blow given to the Church such as had not been yet given before it could be brought to Conformity 19. That he punished divers Ministers in Prosecution of the last Cannons made by himself 20. That he had wickedly and malitiously Advised His Majesty to dissolve the last Parliament and presently after it was Dissolved told His Majesty That then he was absolved from all Rules of Government and left free to use all extraordinary Ways for his Supply These were the chief Heads of the Charge against that Proud Popish and Arbitrary Prelate for which he was sent Prisoner to the Tower After some close Inquiries and Examinations taken from the Informations of the late Lord Deputy of Ireland it was sufficiently known that the Archbishop was the Conduite Pipe through which the Popish Party made the pernicious Seed of Division run so smoothly that he was the Wicked Instrument they made use of to stir up the Division between the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland and between the Protestants of the Church of England and the Presbyterians These heavy charges being made good against this Bishop and he most righteously executed for these his notorious Evil Actions Why are most of our Clergy and some of our Laity so wicked as to vindicate him and without the least Reason or shaddow of Truth cry him up for a Blessed Martyr that had violated all the Laws of the Land and was so great a Cause of most of the Miseries of England That to prevent the Peoples being too Religious advised and highly promoted the Declaration of Sports on the Lord's Day a time so odious in the sight of any thing of a Christian that it ought never to be forgotten 21. That after he had compleatly acted the part of a great Tyrant and thereby had justly lost the general Love Esteem and Affection of the best Protestants of the three Kingdoms He willingly consented that Bishop Gauden Bishop Duppa c. should compose a Book and call it His Portraiture or Picture and this Book the King was to own as his that it was composed by him when God knows he had neither so much Piety nor Capacity as that Work re-required though as a Noble Peer lately said Let that Book be Written by the King or by any body else there is little in it that deserves Esteem The design of this Book was three-fold the first was By the Lies thereby to justifie the King 's Arbitrary and Illegal Actions secondly Heavily to load the People of England with Rebellion c. for standing up for the legal Liberties and Properties belonging to them though absolutely forced thereunto to prevent the Inundation of Misery and Popish Slavery that the King and his wicked Court Favourites were then bringing on the three Kingdoms thirdly The cunning drift of the Factious and Defeated Party design'd to make the same Advantage of his Book as they did before of his Regal Name and Authority and intended it not only for a Defence of the King 's former Actions but also for promoting their own future Designs As for the Book who ever is the real Author has no occasion to value himself for that Work two things being with the greatest ease to be prov'd upon him First That he is a most Notorious Lyer both as to his Assertions of the King's Innocency of those sad matters justly laid to his Charge and also of his many unjust Accusations of the People of England and secondly That he was a Thief and had so much Piety as to have recourse to the famous Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia a Romance in the time of his Troubles and from thence to steal the Prayer of Pamelia to an Heathen Diety being under Imprisonment not finding a suitable Form in the Liturgy Psalms of David or any other places of the sacred Scripture And that the Reader may be satisfied of the Truth of this Piece of Thievery I have thought fit to Print both Prayers in Collums one against the other That of Pamelias may be found in Pembrook's Arcadia p. 248. 13 Edit Printed 1674. That of King Charles I's is call'd a Prayer in time of Captivity Printed in a Great Folio call'd the Works of King Charles and also in his Eicon Basilike The King's Prayer O Powerful O Eternal God to whom nothing
not in the least intrench on these present Articles Moreover this Parliament may either Repeal or Suspend Poyning's Law which imports that no Parliament shall be held in Ireland till the Acts are first Certify'd into England 3. That all Acts made to the prejudice of the Irish Roman Catholicks since the 7th of August 1641. shall be null and void and that they be vacated accordingly in the next Parliament and in the mean time they have no Force 4. That all Processes in prejudice of the said Roman Catholicks made since the said 7th of August 1641. shall be made void in such manner as no Memory shall remain thereof and this when ever the said Twelve or the major part of them shall desire the same and in the interim they are to be of no Force and what has already been done upon their Account is to be restor'd or made good 5. The Roman Catholicks shall be deem'd qualified to Set in the succeeding Parliaments 6. All Debts are to remain as they were on the 23 d. of October 1641. notwithstanding any Alliance made on account of these Processes and this to be Enacted by the next Parliament 7. That the Estates and reputed Estates of all the Inhabitants of the Counties of Cannought Clare Thomond Limerick and Tipperary be secured to them according to the 25 th Article of the Grant in the 4 th Year of his Majesties Reign to be held by the same Rents and Tenures as they were in the said 4 th Year And as for the Laws in the Counties of Kilkenny and Wickloe to which His Majesty was Entitled by Offices found for him during the Earl of Stafford's Government the State of them is to be considered the next intended Parliament when his Majesty will Assent to what is Just and Honourable and that the Act for limitation of His Majesties Titles for the security of his Subject's Estates in this Kingdom be pass'd in the said Parliament pursuant to what was Enacted in the 21 st Year of James I. in England 8. All Incapacities impos'd on the Irish Catholicks to be taken away in the succeeding Parliament and they enabled to Erect Inns of Court or Free Schools where the Lord Lieutenant in conjuction with the Twelve or the major number of them shall think fit and the Students and Scholars are to take only an Oath of Allegiance this likewise is to be Enacted by the next Parliament 9. Roman Catholicks are to be deem'd qualifi'd for any Trust in the Army and to be prefer'd according to their respective Merits As likewise to be receiv'd into the Civil Government with the like Priviledges also they are to be entrusted with any Garisons in the same manner And that till full settlement in Parliament 15000 Foot and 2500 Horse of the Irish Roman Catholicks shall be of the standing Army which number may be either Augmented or diminish'd by the power of the Lord Lieutenant and the aforesaid Twelve or their Majority as often as they shall see convenient 10. The King is to receive 12000 Pound annually in lieu of whatever profits may accrue to him within the Jurisdiction of the Court of Wards 11. No Noble Man for the future is to be allowed to make above 2 Proxies in Parliament and all Blank Proxies to be totally disallowed Also where a Baron has not 200 Pound per Ann. a Viscount 400 an Earl 600 a Marquiss 800 and a Duke 1000 they shall be disabled to sit in Parliament and the Commons also are to be stated and resident within the Kingdom 12. As for the Parliament of Ireland depending on that of England they are left to make such Declaration therein as shall be agreeable to their Laws of their Kingdom 13. That for the future the Council Table is to be confin'd within its own Bounds and to meddle only with matters of State and Weight other Business between Party and Party is to be left to the Ordinary course of Law 14. Several Acts shall be Repeal'd relating to Wool Flocks Tallow c. and divers Officers appointed by the Lord Lieutenant and the aforesaid Twelve or the majority of them to ascertain the Rates of all Merchandize either to be Exported or Imported 15. All Persons wrong'd by Offices found in the first of King James I. or since in the Province of Ulster and other Provinces of this Kingdom may Petition His Majesty and be Redrest upon Examination 16. That as to the particular cases of 16 Persons nam'd they may Petition in the next Parliament and shall be relieved accordingly 17. The former Inhabitants of Cork Youghall and Downegarven shall be restored to their respective Estates where their Number does not endanger the Garrifons and shall chuse and return Burgesses as formerly 18. An Act of Indemnity to pass in the next Parliament to extend to all His Majesties Loving Subjects of this Kingdom and Pyrates on the Sea except such as have been Convicted or Attainted on Record before the 23 of October 1641. it shall not extend to remit any of the King's Debts or Subsidies due before the said time provided that such Barbarous Crimes as shall be agreed upon by the Lord Lieutenant and the Twelve or the Majority of them be left to be adjudg'd by such Commissioners as the said Lord Lieutenant and the Twelve shall Assign and that the power of such Commissioners be limitted to two Years The other Provisoes are omitted for Brevities sake 19. The great Officers of the Kingdom are excluded from being Farmers of the Customs 20. An Act of Parliament to pass against Monopolies pursuant to that Enacted in England in the 21 st of James I. with a clause to Repeal all Grants of Monopolies Likewise Commissioners to be appointed by the Lord Lieutenant and the Twelve or the majority of them to rate the Customs and Impositions on Aquivita Tobacco c. 21. Commissioners agreed upon by the Lord Lieutenant and the Twelve or their Majority were to regulate the Court of Castle Chamber 22. The two Acts prohibiting the Plowing with Horses by the Tail and the Burning of Oats in the Straw to be Repealâ—d 23. That the Grievances Petition'd for by both Houses of Parliament and by Agents sent for that purpose in the 4 th Year of His Majesties Reign shall be Redressed 24. All Sea Affairs to be determin'd in this Kingdom and in case of Appeal it may be only to the Chancery of Ireland or to the Parliament of this Kingdom and until such a Parliament is the Admiralty and all Maritine Causes are to be ordered and settled by the Lord Lieutenant together with the Advice and Consent of the Twelve or their majority 25. That His Majesties Subjects be eased of all Rents and Encrease of Rents raised by the Commission for defective Titles in the Lord of Stafford's Government This to be by Act of Parliament 26. That by Act to be pass'd in the next Parliament all Interest Money not satisfied since the 23 d. of October 1641. until the
A DEFENCE OF THE PARLIAMENT of 1640. And the PEOPLE of ENGLAND AGAINST King Charles I. And his ADHERENTS CONTAINING A short Account of some of the many Illegal Arbitrary Popish and Tyrannical Actions of King CHARLES I. unjustly called the Pious Martyr together with the following Tracts c. 1. The Pope's Letter to King Charles 2. K. Charles's Letter in Ans thereunto 3. The Articles of Marriage made in Favour of Papists with France 4. King Charles his Commission to the Irish Rebels And 5. Philem O Neal and Rorie Macquire's Declaration to the Irish thereupon 6. King Charles II's Letter to the Court of Claims of Ireland in behalf of that great Rebel the Marquess of Antrim to restore him to his Estate for that the said Marquess had made it appear That what he acted in that Rebellion was done by the Express Orders and Commands of Charles I. his Father 7. King Charles I's Warrant by Secretary Nicholas to the King's Printer Commanding him to Print no more than 40 of those Proclamations that Proclaim'd the Irish Rebels 8. An Abstract of those strange Articles of Peace King Charles I. made with the Irish Rebels 9. King Charles his two Letters to the Protestants of Rochel wherein he assured them of Relief against the French K. 10 The Miserable and Deplorable Remonstrance those poor Protestants made to him upon his Sacrificing them to the Mercy of the French King 11. The Earl of Anglâ—sey's Memorandum Dr. Anthony Walker and Mrs. Gauden's Proofs That Eicon Basilice was not Writ by King Charles but by Dr. Gauden Bishop of Exeter 12. A Copy of the Kings and Pamelia's Prayers taken out of Eicon Basilice and Sir Phillip Sydny's Arcadia which agree almost in every Word 13. Twenty Articles against that wicked Prelate Laud. 14. To give a clear Demonstration of this holy Martyr's Religion and Piety see his Declaration for the Lawfulness of Sports and Pastimes on the Lord's Day Printed at large in this Book LONDON Printed 1698. TO THE READER IT is not the least of Man's Unhappiness that he is the greatest Enemy of his own Interest having Opportunities for his own Advantage he lets them slip and by Brutish Incogitancy rather than Natural Impotency as our Parents at first he is soon cheated into his own Misery his present Contentment is his chiefest Atchievement and he will have his Will tho' it be his Woe He is apt to kill his Friends as the Jews did Christ for their Endeavours to Save him and to Court his Enemy as Eglon did Ehud whose Design was to Slay him The great Controversy between the Advocates for King Charles the First and his wicked Favourites and the Friends of the Parliament and People that were necessitated to Resist him could never have been spun out into above 40 Years length had the dim Eyes of dull People been clear'd up to a true discerning of their Friends from their Oppressive Foes How apt have the Idolizers of King Charles the First been with the Army of the Assyrians to travel to Samaria instead of Dothan and with the Jews to gratify Caesar in Crucifying their Saviour Whereas heretofore they generally reputed for Saints those faithful and couragious Barons who lost their Lives in the Field making a glorious War against Tyrants for the Common Liberty Such as Symon de Mamfort Earl of Leicester against Henry the Third Thomas Platagenet Earl of Lancaster against Edward the Second c. I cannot willingly ascribe the Love of Tyranny and Oppression to the Natural Disposition of an English Man but rather to two other Causes the first is the Clergy of all Ranks whose Pulpit Stuff from before 1640 till now hath generally been the Doctrine and perpetual Infusion of Servility and Wretchedness to their Hearers and their Lives most commonly the Types of Worldliness with a slender Pattern of Vertue Righteousness and Self-Denial in their whole Practice The Second is I attribute it to the factious Inclination of most Mendivided from the Publick Interest of their Country by several Selfish Ends and Humours of their Own who may truly be call'd Sacrificers of the Common Welfare of Mankind to their own private Advantage that they might thereby attain to their Ambitious Purposes Dryden as I am inform'd gives this true Character of these Sort of Men viz. Mark those which Dote on Arbitrary Power and you 'l find them either Hotbrain'd-Fools or Needy Bankrupts 'T is a wonderful and amazing thing to find so great a part of Mankind fondly and foolishly Doting nay which is more Unchristian with a sort of Idolatry Idolizing this Prince when they are not capable of giving to the World a clear Demonstration of one good Act he did designedly for the Benefit of his People Certainly if his Virtue and Piety towards God and his Country had been in the least conspicuous his mighty Adorers have been defective in their Panegerical Encomiums of him for I must with the greatest Assurance declare that neither by reading the Defences of him or Conversation with the greatest of his Advocates could I find the least Cause to Esteem him a Saint or to clear him from the Tyrannical Oppression nay from the Blood and Misery of England so justly laid to his Charge by the Parliament of 1640 and those worthy Patriots that join'd with them Let the Advocates for Tyranny and Arbitrary Power say what they will to the contrary I am confident the People of England have a great Esteem and Value for a King that Governs according to Law and in all his Actions aims at his People's Good equal with his own and if at any time they betake themselves to Arms against their Prince 't is his and not their Fault Neither is it rational to believe that the Generality of the Nobility Gentry and Commonality of England would without an apparent Cause and Necessity engage in a Bloody Civil War and thereby run the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes And he that shall consider impartially in a Civil or Religious Sense the Quality of those that espoused that King against their Native Country will find the Parliament and those that joined with them did infinitely exceed in all respects the Party that assisted that King For it is notoriously known that the Popish and Superstitious People throughout the Kingdom were united as one Man for the King against the Parliament and if we consider them in a Civil respect were not all the Pattentees Monopolizers Cruel Usurping Oppressors but Lords Knights and Gentlemen the Pillars of the Star-Chamber Councel-Table High Commission Court c. were not these the great Abettors and Supporters of that Bloody War against the Parliament and People of England Were not his Clergy for the generality of them a wretched Parcel of Court Sycophants that gave vent to those Plaguy-Doctrines of Non-Resistance Absolute and Arbitrary Government after the Mode of France in Loans Free-Quarter Ship-money Monopolies c. during the Oppressive Ministery of Buckingham Stafford and Laud
by the charitable Protestants of England for their relief in Equipping Ships to be sent to the Assistance of the French King against the poor Protestants of the Isles of Rhee and Rochell 18. That without doubt had a great hand in the Notorious Irish Rebellion wherein above 150 thousand poor Protestant Souls were most Barbarously Murthered and this will more plainly appear by reading the Commission given by this King in the 17th Year of his Reign dated from Edinborough and also the Commission thereupon of Peilem Oneale and Rorie Macguire to all the Papists both English and Irish within the Kingdom of Ireland both which for the Readers better satisfaction are Printed at large in this Book and also a sheet of Paper call'd Murther will Out containing King Charles II's Letter to the Court of Claims in Ireland 1663. Requiring the then Commissioners to restore the Earl of Antrim to his Estate for that he had made it appear he had acted nothing but by Order and Commission from King Charles I. read the Letter at large Take notice this Earl of Antrim had been a very great Rebell yet restored for serving that King in murthering his Protestant Subjects neither can any impartial Men think that King Innocent of this Wicked Act if they consider how Treacherously and Basely he delt with the Protestants of England of the Palatinate of the Isles of Rhee and Rochell What Articles he made with France in favour of Popery upon his Match what a mighty Influence his Popish Queen had over him how he employed in great Places of Trust not only great Favourers of Popery but also many profest Papists and was very much Advised and Govern'd by their Counsels to the great Sorrow and Misery of his poor Protestant Subjects as also that in the Summer before that dreadful October 1641. a Committee of the most Active Papists all afterwards in the head of the Rebellion were in great favour at White-Hall and admitted to many private Consultations there with the King in the Queens Presence and those Irish Priests departed not thence till within two Months before that Bloody Rebellion and Massacre It was at that time I morally believe that King Charles favoured the Irish Massacre and the Irish Papists were so well assured of it that they called themselves the Queen's Army and said they had good Warrant in Black and White for their Proceedings and cryed out against the Parliament of England as the King's Enemies He that has a desire of being satisfied how great a favourer King Charles was of Papists let him read Mr. Pinn's Book called The Royal Court Favourite He was very much advised by the then Parliament to send early Relief to the poor Protestants of Ireland but it is notoriously known how backward he was therein and that he suffered them to be Sacrificed to the cruel Mercy of the Irish Cut-Throats It is also plain that the Parliament had long and often requested the King to Declare the Irish Rebels yet was this rare Protestant Martyr so Tender of the Poor Catholicks Reputation for Acting according to his Commands that no less than three Months past before he would gratifie the House of Commons with Proclaiming them Rebels and when he had against his real inclination thus done he was resolved That but a small number should be Printed and Published and in order thereunto the following Warrant was sent to the King's Printer from his Secretary of State IT is His Majesty's Pleasure that you forthwith Print in very good Paper and send unto Me for his Majesties Service Fourty Copies of the Proclamation inclosed leaving convenient space for his Majesty to Sign above and to affix the Privy Signet underneath And His Maiesties Express Command is Chat you Print not above the said Number of Copies and forbear to make any further Publication of them till his Pleasure be further Signified for which this shall be your Warrant White-Hall Jan. 2. 1641. Edward Nicholas See here what special care was taken that a few only should come to the knowledge of this Proclamation when at the same time it was well observed he dealt far otherwise by the Scots for they were more sharply Proclaimed and those Proclamations with great care and dilligence dispersed throughout the whole Kingdom and ordered to be read in all Churches accompanied with Publick Prayers and Execrations But his Aversion to the Proclaiming and Proceeding against the Irish Rebels is not to be much wondred at for they call themselves The Queen's Army and declared that they Rose to maintain the King's Prerogative and the Queen's Religion against the Parliament much more might be collected from divers Authors of this Tragical Story which for Brevity Sake I shall now omit 19. That to his Eternal Infamy against all Laws both Humane and Divine caused A Declaration to be Published concerning the Lawfulness of Sports Pastimes c. on the Lord's Day and gave Archbishop Laud an Order under his Hand to see that this Declaration was Printed Read the Order and Declaration Printed at large in this Book and also King Charces II's Declaration after his Restoration It is a wonderful and amazing thing that there can be found amongst us such Clergymen and Gentlemen that against all Reason and Truth shall make a Saint nay a Martyr of this as you see Pious King How these Men at the Great Day of Judgment will be able to Answer for the many abominable Lies and Blasphemies they have been Guilty of in Defending this King's Tyrannies and Oppressions and Deifying him after a most scandalous Rate is a Mystery to me The Publication of this Licentious Book was so apparently destructive to Religion and so dishonourable to God and the King That the Pious and Sober Clergy of that time absolutely refused either to Read it or to permit it the said abominable Declaration to be Read and how barbarously and unchristianly they were used for their Refusal is too well known 20 That gave Wicked Arbitrary and Tyrannical Orders Instructions and Commissions to the Earl of Strafford Lord Lieutenant of Ireland all which the said Earl took such care to Execute that the Parliament which was made up of Grave Able and discerning Persons fell so severely upon him that they caused him to be Committed to the Tower Impeached him and soon after caused him to be according to his deserts Beheaded He pleaded the King's Authority for what he had done but the Commons saw no reason to acquit him 'T was observed that tho the King and Queen would not publickly Solicite for his Relief yet several secret Instances were made by them both to save him that had obeyed their Commands c. But the just Cries of the People c. necessitated the King against his Will to sign the Warrant for his Execution And having now given a short account of the Earl of Strafford I think it proper for the satisfaction of all those good People that desire to be rightly informed for what Laud
her Husband had writ that call'd the King's Book it coming at last to the knowledge of Dr. Nicholson then Bishop of Gloucester who desiring to be fully satisfied in that point did put the Question to her upon her receiving the Sacrament and she then affirmed that it was wrote by her Husband This Persons of undoubted credit now living in Gloucester can affirm for a Truth and it is not question'd but the present Bishop of Gloucester will acknowledge that those Persons have related this matter to him that it is well known to Mrs. Gauden's Brother and several of her Relations that Mrs. Gauden constantly in her Conversation Declared That her Husband was the Author of this Book I could if necessity requird produce a great many Arguments more out of Doctor Walkers or other Writings to prove the Truth of this matter but shall conclude it with this one of the Doctors in reference to the Providence of this Discovery Though God had many Holy Righteous and Gracious ends to serve his Providence by in the Publication of this Book yet as I find it expressed in this very Book Chap. the last p. 262. of the first Edition God's wise Providence we know oft permits many Events which his revealed Word in no sort approves And I confess I have many cogent reasons to persuade me that God was not well pleased with Dr. Gauden others or my self for what we contributed to it And though for the aforesaid ends he suffered it to succeed yet I know not but he may have other ends now to serve by suffering this Discovery to be Wrung and rested from me I had almost said by some Bodies viz. Hollingworths Impertinent Affection to meddle with what he understands not Thus spake that good Man I had not enlarged so much on this 21 st Article but that I was desirous of giving full satisfaction to the World of the Real Author of Eicon Basilice That Posterity might not be deceived by the many Impudent Ignorant False and Scandalous Assertions of most of the Clergy and too many of the Laity who to their Eternal Shame have taken more care and pains to defend that Book and its pretended Author King Charles I. than they done to Vindicate the Holy Bible and the Truth of the Christian Religion 22. That caused the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Courts to be made Use of to the general Grievance of the People of England and was unwilling to part with them till he found these Courts were highly offensive to the Parliament and that it was not Seasonable to displease the Kingdom at that time for which Reasons at last he pass'd the Bills to take them away And indeed there were many and great Reasons why those abominable oppressive Courts should be pull'd down and taken away For that Old Serpent Arch-Bishop Laud and divers of his Brethren had cast off all Humanity and were metamorphosed into Ravenous Wolves and these Courts were under their Management The Star-Chamber had abounded in Extravagant Censures whereby the Subjects were oppress'd by Grievious Fines Imprisonments Stigmatizings Mutilations Whippings Pillories Gags Banishments c. And the High Commission Court was grown to such Excess of Sharpness and Severity as was not much less than the Spanish Inquisition To repeat two or three of the many Instances of the Horrid Oppressions and barbarous Cruelty exercised in these Tyrannical Courts Upon the 17 th of February 1629. Dr. Leighton coming out of Black Fryers Church it seems then he was no Conventicler was seized by a Warrant from the High Commission Court and dragged to Bishop Laud's House from thence without any Examination he was carried to New-gate and there clapt into Irons and thrust into a Nasty Hole where he continued from Tuesday Night till Thursday Noon without Meat or Drink They kept him in that loathsome Place where Snow and Rain beat in upon him Fifteen Weeks not permitting his Wife or any Friend to come near him and denyed to give him a Copy of his Commitment then they brought him into the Star-Chamber Court where an Information was Exhibited against him for Publishing a Book call'd Lyon's Plea against the Prelates Dr. Leighton confess'd that in 1628. He drew up the Heads of that Book and having the approbation of five hundred Persons under their hands some whereof were Parliament Men. He went into Holland and got between five and six hundred Printed for the use of the Parliament but they being Dissolved he returned home not bringing any of them into the Land but made it his special care to suppress them In the same information the Doctor was charged with these Words in the said Book We do not read of greater Persecutions of God's People in any Nation professing the Gospel then in this our Island especially since the Death of Queen Elizabeth He confessed the Words and Answered That the thing was too true as appeared by the Prelates taking away Life and Livelihood from many Mâ—nisters and private Men of whom many were pined to Death in Prison and many wandred up and down their Families being left desolate and helpless That besides this the Blood of Souls had been endanger'd by the Removal of the Faithful Shepheards from the Flock this was a cutting Truth And Wicked Laud being enraged Desired the Court to put the highest Censure that could be put upon him which they did to his Content Condemning him to have his Ears cut his Nose slit to be Branded in the Face Whipped at a Post to stand on a Pillory to pay Ten Thousand Pound fine tho' they knew he was not worth so much and to be perpetually Imprisoned This Hellish Sentence being past that vile Wretch Laud was so well pleased with it that he pull'd of his Cap and holding up his Hands gave thanks to God who had given him Victory over his Enemies This Sentence being so miserably severe the Execution thereof was little expected But Laud had his design for upon the 26 th of November 1630. The Censure was Executed in a most cruel manner His Ears were cut his Nose slit his Face Branded with burning Irons he was tyed to a Post and Whipped with a treble Cord to that cruel Degree that he himself Writing the History thereof Ten Years after affirmed that every lash brought away the Flesh and that he should feel it to his dying day He was lastly put into the Pillory and kept there near two hours in Frost and Snow and then after this most barbarous Usage not permitted to return to his Quarters in the Fleet Prison in a Coach provided to carry him but compelled in that sad Condition and severe Season to go by Water After this was kept Ten Weeks in Dirt and Mire not being sheltered from Rain and Snow They shut him up most closely Twenty Two Months and he remain'd a Prisoner Ten or Eleven Tears not suffered to breath in the open Air until that Noble Parliament of November 1640. most happily delivered him When he came
abroad to prosecute his Petition in that Parliament he could neither Go See nor Hear This Dismal Story will be an Eternal Blot not only on Laud who was the chief Instrument in that sad Oppression but also upon the pretended Martyr King Charles for permitting such Barbarous and inhumane Cruelties to be exercised on his Subjects I shall shew you something moâ—e of this Bloody Villains Barbarity viz. That upon the first of February 1632. Laud procured Mr. Prin to be sent close Prisoner to the Tower there he lay till the 21 st of June 1633. when an Information without mentioning any particular Passages in his Book was exhibited against him in the Star Chamber Court for Publishing a Book concerning Interludes intitled Histriomastix which was Licensed by a Chaplain of Dr. Abbatts Archbishop of Canterbury Upon the 17 th of February 1633. notwithstanding his Book was Licensed yet he had this heavy Sentence passed upon him viz. To be Imprisoned for Life pay Five Thousand Pounds Fine be Expelled Lincolns-Inn Disabled to Exercise the Prosession of a Barrister Degraded by the University of Oxford of his Degrees there taken and that done to be set in the Pillory at Westminster and have one of his Ears there cut off and at another time to be set in the Pillory in Cheap-side and there to have his other Ear cut off Though many of the Lords never dreamt of the Execution of this Horrid Judgment nay though Queen Henrietta Maria which deserves an Honourable Mention and she shall have it for She was the present King 's Royal Grandmother earnestly interceded with the Biggotted Cruel and Merciless King who was an abominable T to remit its Execution yet on the 7th and 10 th of May it was fully Executed with great Rigour and Mr. Prin remain'd Sundry Tears in the Tower upon this censure Mr. Burton and Dr. Bastwrick were also without the least just cause violently prosecuted after the same manner it will be too tedious to relate theirs and others unchristian uses when Tyranny and Arbitrary Power were Rampant 23. That against the Law of Nature against the Rules of Justice falsely charged those Innocent Men the Noble Lord Mandeville Mr. Hollis Mr. Strode and others with Treason for which in the Face of the Highest Judicature in the Kingdom they were most unjustly Imprisoned the King denying them the Names of their Accusers and which was an Act of Tyranny beyond Parrallel He accused them and yet would produce no Witness he confessed them clear in his own Judgment yet they must not profess their own Innocency for fear of wounding his Honour 24. That was not satisfied with Imprisoning and Oppressing some of the Parliament Men but tempted and incouraged his English Army with no less than the Spoil of the City of London to come up and destroy the Parliament He in an Hostile and inexcusable manner made a most high Invasion upon the Priviledges of both Houses Hereupon many Citizens unarm'd resorted to Westminster to present their Petitions and express their stedfastness to the Parliament whose Lives and Safety by more than slight Rumours they doubted to be in Danger the King having fortified White-Hall and entertained Armed Men not a few planted them at the Gate of his Palace 'T is remarkable the first Blood that was drawn in this Cause was in that very place where the King 's own Blood was afterwards shed 1 K. 21. 19. where they Reviled Menaced and with drawn Swords actually Wounded many of the Citizens as they passed by in a peaceable manner whereof some dyed Nay they went farther and were come to that height of Boldness as to give out Insolent and Menacing Speeches against the Parliament it self and to imbrue their hands in the Blood of the King's Subjects in Westminster-Hall and at the Doors of the Parliament as well as at his own Gate And when the Parliament and People complain'd and demanded Justice for those Assaults the King justified and abetted his own Crew in what they did Nor can the passing by of a multitude of the King's Subjects armed with no other Weapons then Petitions be justly call'd Tumults neither could the Parliament have forbid them without the Breach of the Peoples Freedom Unarmed Petitioners surely could not be formidable to any and it must not be forgotten that a very short time before His Majesty pretended to dread these Tumultuary Citizens the City Entertained Feasted and Conducted him to White-Hall with as pompous Sollemnity and costly Expressions of Love and Duty as ever had been known Nay after he had highly exasperated the People by his Irruption with the House of Commons he went in his Coach unguarded into the City He received not the lest Affront much less Violence in any of the Streets but rather humble Demeanours and Supplications He knew the People so full of Awe and Reverence to his Person as to commit himself single amongst the thickest of them at a time when had most provoked them This shews beyond doubt That all his fear of Tumults was but a meer pretence and occasions taken for his resolved Absence from the Parliament that he might turn his slashing at the Court Gate to slaughtering in the Field In order thereunto the King retires first to Hampton Court commanding his Servants who were then Members of Parliament to leave their service there and to give their Attendance upon his Person Soon after his Popish Queen passes into Holland carrying with her all or the the greatest part of the Crown Jewels which she immediately Pawn'd and with the Money bought Arms and Ammunition for the War which was not yet begun Upon the 1 st of March 1641. Both Houses called upon His Majesty by their Petition presented at Theobalds That for the Dispatch of the great Affairs of the Kingdom the safety of his Person the Protection and Comfort of his Subjects he would be pleased to continue his abode near the Parliament and not to with-draw himself to any of the remoter Parts which if he should do must needs be a cause of great danger and distraction and they pray'd him to accept this humble Counsel as the Effect of that Duty and Allegiance which they ow'd unto him and which would not suffer them to admit of any thoughts intentions or endeavours but such as were necessary and advantagious for His Majesties Greatness and Honour and the Safety and Prosperity of the Kingdom These are Expressions surely that did not in the least savour of that Sedition and Rebellion with which our wicked Clergymen charge the Memory of this Great and Noble Parliament The King willingly giving himself up to the Conduct of Evil Counsellors was deaf to the importunate supplication of the Lords and Commons for his Return they therefore called again upon him more earnestly and sent after him a Declaration to New-Market by the Earls of Pembrook and Holland and a Committee of the Commons wherein they laid before him the Causes of their own Fears and Jealousies
in these particulars 1. That the design of altering Religion had been potently carried on by those in greatest Authority about him the Queen's Agent at Rome the Pope's Nuncio here are not only Evidences of this Design but have been great Actors in it 2. That the War with Scotland was procured to make way for this Intent and chiefly fomented by the Papists and others Popishly affected whereof we have many Evidences 3. That the Rebellion in Ireland was framed and contrived here in England and that the English Papists should have risen about the same time We have several Testimonies c. The Irish Rebels affirm That they do nothing but by Authority from the King they call themselves the Queen's Army the Booty which they take from the English they mark with the Queen's mark and it is proved that their purpose was to come to England after they had done in Ireland 4. The labouring to infuse into Your Majesties Subjects an evil Opinion of the Parliament and other Symptons of a disposition of raising Arms and dividing your People by a Civil War in which Combustion Ireland must needs be lost and this Kingdom miserably wasted and consumed if not wholly ruined and destroyed 5. That Your Majesty sent away the Lord Digby by your own Warrant beyond Sea after a Vote had passed in the House of Commons Declaring That he had appear'd in a Warlike manner at Kingston upon Thames to the terror of your Majesties good Subjects that he being so got beyond Sea he vented his traiterous Conceptions that Your Majesty should declare your Self and retire to a place of Strength and intimated some service which he might do in those parts whereby in probability he intended the procuring of some Foreign Force to strengthen Your Majesty in that Condition into which he would have brought you which malicious Counsel we have great cause to doubt made too deep an Impression in Your Majesty considering the course you are pleased to take of absenting your Self from that Parliament and carrying the Prince with you which seems to express a purpose in Your Majesty to keep your Self in a readiness for the Acting of it 6. The manifold Advertisements which we have had from Rome Venice Paris and other parts That they still expect that Your Majesty has some great design in hand for the altering of Religion the breaking the Neck of your Parliament and that you will yet find means to compass that design that the Pope's Nuncio hath sollicited the Kings of France and Spain to lend Your Majesty 4000 Men a piece to help to maintain your Royalty against the Parliament These are some of the grounds of our Fears and Jealousies which made us so earnestly to implore your Royal Authority and Protection for our Defence and security in all the ways of Humility and Submission which being denyed by Your Majesty We do with sorrow apply our selves to the use of that Power viz. the Militia which by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom resides in us yet still resolving to keep our selves within the Bounds of Faithfullness and Allegiance to your Sacred Person and your Crown And as to the Fears and Jealousies which His Majesty seem'd to have Entertained of them The Lords and Commons thus Answered We have according to Your Majesties desires laid our hands upon our Hearts we have asked our selves in the strictest Examination of our Consciences we have searched our Affections our Thoughts considered our Actions and can find none that can give Your Majesty any just Occasion to absent your self from White-Hall and the Parliament but that you may with more Honour and Safety continue there than in any other place Your Majesty lays a great Charge upon Us if you will graciously be pleased to let us know the Particulars we shall give a clear and satisfactory Answer But what hope can we have of ever giving Your Majesty satisfaction when those particulars which you have been made believe were true yet being produced and made known to us appeared to be false and Your Majesty notwithstanding will neither Punish nor Produce the Authors But go on to contract new Jealousies and Fears upon general and uncertain Grounds affording Us no means or possibility of particular Answer to the clearing of our selves We beseech Your Majesty to consider in what state you are how easie and fair a way You have to Happiness Honour and Greatness Plenty and Security if you will joyn with the Parliament in the Defence of the Religion and publick good of the Kingdom this is all we expect from you And for this we return to you our Lives Fortunes and utmost Endeavours to support Your Majesty Your just Power and Soveraignty over us but it is not Words that can secure us in these our humble Desires We cannot but too well and sorrowfully remember what Gracious Messages we had from You this Summer when with your Privity the bringing up the Army was in Agitation We cannot but with the like Affections recall to our Minds how not two days before your own coming to the Commons House You sent a Gracious Message that You would always have a care of their Priviledges as of your own Prerogative of the safety of their Persons as of your own Children That which we expect which will give us Assurance that you have no thought but of Peace and Justice to your People must be some real effect of your Goodness to them in granting those things which your present necessity of the Kingdom do inforce us to desire and that you will be Graciously pleased to put from you those Mischievous Counsellors which have caused all these Dangers and Distractions and to continue your own Residence and the Princes near London and the Parliament which we hope will be an happy beginning of Contentment and Confidence betwixt Your Majesty and People and be followed with many succeeding Blessings of Honour and Greatness to Your Majesty and of Security and Prosperity to them These are brief Heads of the Declaration to which the King Answered Have I violated your Laws To which both Houses made this pertinent Reply We are heartily sorry We have such plentiful Matter of an Answer to that Question Have I violated your Laws I must also take Notice that in the beginning of the Year 1642. a time when the King was in appearance transacting matters amicably with the two Houses and we seemed to be in a deep Peace a time when he Declared That he had received no other Carriage from his Parliament than what he professed himself satisfied with and that if the Bills he had past were again to be offered he should cheerfully and readily Assent unto them Even then he dispatch'd away Letters and an Agent to the King of Denmark complaing of the Parliament and asking Supplies from thence AD PROPUL SANDOS HOSTES you know the English of that is to Subdue his Enemies and declared himself in these Words Ad allia Consilia Animum Convertendum
Duximus We resolve to betake our selves to new Counsels The very Words he used to that Parliament in the Year 1628. Further upon the discovery of his Plot to bring up the English Army against the Parliament he turn'd to the Scottish Army then at New Castle and baited his Temptation with a rich Reward not only to have 300000 l. in hand and the spoil of London but four Northern Counties to be made Scotists Moreover to encourage them to joyn with him he Declared to them That he was to have Money and Horse from Denmark and that he would make York the place of his Residence for the better accommodation of both Nations or fuller Revenge upon London He also gathered Men in London under pretence of raising Forces for Portugal who were to possess themselves of the Tower The Queen in Holland was buying Arms and His Majesty had actually raised Forces in divers Counties The Parliament was all this time Petitioning in Peace and for the Reasons now assigned amongst many others They humbly besought him that he would be pleased to put the Tower of London and the Militia into the Hands of such Persons as should be recommended unto him by both Houses of Parliament The King seemed to comply herein and by his Answer promised them That the Militia should be put into such Hands as they should approve of or recommend to him hereupon both Houses nominated Persons of the greatest Honour as fit for that Trust I shall give you the Names of some of them The Earls of Holland Rutland Bedford Bullingbrook Salisbury Warwick Pembrook Leicester Stamford Essex Clare Northumberland Lincoln Suffolk c. Lords Paget North Strange Roberts Grey of Werk Chandois Dacres Mandeville Wharton Spencer Brook Herbert Fielding Littleton Lord Keeper c. Men Eminent in all Qualifications of Honour and Sufficiency were recommended for several Counties and the King was desired to agree thereunto as he had promised upon his delaying to give a satisfactory Answer they again Petition setting forth That nothing could enable them to suppress the Rebellion in Ireland and secure England but the granting of their Humble Petition which they find so absolutely necessary for the preservation of the King and Common-wealth that the Laws of God and Man injoin them to see it put in Execution They followed him to Theobalds and his several removes to York but he having Abdicated the Parliament and being deaf to all their Importunities they declared That there had been of late a most desperate Design upon the House of Commons which they had just cause to believe was an effect of the Bloody Councels of Papists and other evil affected Persons who had already raised a Rebellion in Ireland and by reason of many Discoveries They could not but fear they would proceed not only to stir up the like Rebellion and Insurrection in this Kingdom but also to back them with Forces from Abroad and thereupon both Houses made an Ordinance for the ordering of the Militia of England and Wales there appearing an urgent and inevitable necessity for putting His Majesties Subjects in a posture of Defence for the Safeguard of both His Majesty and his People and they resolved That in this Case of extream danger and of His Majesties Refusal the Ordinance agreed to by both Houses for the Militia doth oblige the People and ought to be obeyed by the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom They further about that time Resolved That the King's Absence so far remote from his Parliament was not only an Obstruction but might be a Destruction to the Affairs of Ireland These and many other Reasons that may with the greatest ease be given 't is notoriously manifest That King Charles began and carryed on that Bloody Civil War against his poor Subjects without the least Colour of Reason and Justice for which wicked Acts God justly suffered him to be brought to that shameful and untimely End This King studdying and endeavouring by all ways imaginable as he lived without the Love so he died without the Lamentation of most People but those Villains that had been large instruments in bringing him and his People into that miserable War and Division 25. That after he had taken God to Witness of his readiness to Treat at Uxbridge with the Parliament for avoiding of Blood-shed as pretended he took the advantage of a Mist the fittest Weather for Deceit and Treachery and followed at the Heels those Messengers of Peace with a Train of Covert War and with a Bloody surprise falls on the Parliaments secure Forces which lay Quartering at Brentford in the thoughts and expectation of a Treaty He gives his Reason why he seemed for Peace in a Letter to his Queen which was That She must know as a certain Truth That all even his Party are strongly impatient for a Peace which oblidged him so much the more to shew on all occasions his Intentions to Peace but tells her no danger of Death shall make him do any thing unworthy of her Love An excellent Resolution no doubt for the preserving the Protestant Religion made to his Popish Queen At the very instant of this Treaty which was in 1644. the King used all imaginable meams to bring not only Foreign Forces but the Irish Cut Throats against the Parliament To clear up this point and also to shew how insincere he was in his pretended Intentions of Peace I will briefly present his Underhand Transactions as well with Foreign Princes as those Rebels and in the first place I shall take notice of some passages between Him and the Queen in relation to this and other Treaties In a Letter to Her of January 9 th 1644. he Writes thus The Scots Commissioners have sent to me to send a Commission to their General Assembly Which I am resolved not to do but to the end of making some use of this occasion by sending an honest Man to London and that I may have the more time for a handsome Negative I have demanded a Pasport for Phil. Warwick by whom to return my Answer At another time the same Month He tells Her That as for my calling those a * He had agree to Treat with them as a Parliament the Queen upbraided him for so doing and he thus vindicates himself Parliament if there had been but Two of my Opinion I had not done it the calling did no ways acknowledge them to be a Parliament upon which condition and construction I did it and accordingly it is registred in the Council Books Nothing is more evident than that the King was steered by the Queen's Council in the management of this Uxbridge Treaty and that which is call'd the Church of England The Bishops was greatly her care By Letter in January 1644. before the beginning of that Treaty She instructs him not to abandon those who have served him lest they forsake him in his need that She hopes he will have a care of her and her Religion that in Her Majesties Opinion
Petition for Redress of their Grievances 3. In dissolving their Synod and Parliament Burning the Pacification made with them by the Hangman's hands and Imprisoning the Lord 's sent by them to Petitiom him to perform his Sollemn Promises and Redress their Grievances 4. In levying Doctrines against them and raising a Civil War to justify himself in the Violation of their Laws A Civil War it was said the Great Lord Digby seeing we are of the same Religion and under the same King And 5. In attempting to make use of the Love and Affection of the English to Enslave and Ruin the Scotish Nation It is not improper here to observe 1. That the Scotish Covenant was not a new Invention or Innovation but Established by the Law of Scotland and taken by King James the First seventy Years before King Charles the Second took it 2. That Bishops and Clergymen in Conjunction with Papists abetted and assisted this T in the violation of the Laws when the Bulk of the Nobility Gentry and People of England appeared undauntedly in Defence of the Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom 3. That Popery hath greatly spred in Scotland ever since Laud's Superstition was introduced here the Number of Papists not exceeding 600. And therefore Presbetery being now restored by a Law it may be reasonably hoped that it will reduce many who have been deluded into that Idolatry 4. That Princes are not always to trust to the Insinuations and Suggestions of Scotish Bishops seeing that when they instigated King Charles I. to Dissolve the Synod and Parliament he was seduced by them into a belief That the Scotish Covenanteers were a contemptible Number and their Party in Scotland was sufficient to deal with them 5. That the Scots were not Rebells in taking Arms to Assert their Rights and Vindicate the Laws and Liberties of their Countrey That the horrid Imposition of Laud's Popish Liturgy did occasion the Troubles of Scotland is very manifest from Dr. Burnet's now Bishop of Salisbury his Memoirs of Duke Hamilton for he saith Page 30. The Liturgy had some Alterations from the English which made it more Invidious and less Satisfactory The Imposing it really varied from their former Practices and Constitutions Pag. 33. The Lords Petition'd complaining against the Liturgy and Book of Canons offering under the highest Penalties to prove they contain'd things both contrary to Religion and the Laws of the Land pag. 36. The Earls of Traquaire and Roxbourgh by Letter to the King advised him to secure the People of that which they so much apprehended the fear of Innovation of Religion saying that they found few or none well satisfied pag. 33. The Earl of Traquaire went to Court and gave Account that all the Troubles were occasioned by introducing the Liturgy with which scarce a Member of Council except Bishops was well satisfied Neither were all these Cardinals for it for the Archbishop of St. Andrews from the beginning had withstood these Designs and the Archbishop of Glascoe was worse pleased Their Commissioners in their Charge against Laud exhibited to the Parliament of England 1641. say pag. 11. c. This Book inverteth the Order of the Communion in the Book of England of the divers secret Reasons of this Change we mention one only In joyning the Spiritual Praise and Thanksgiving which is in the Book of England pertinently after the Communion with the Prayer of Consecration before the Communion and that under the Name of Memorial or Oblation for no other ends but that the Memorial and Sacrifice of Praise mention'd in it may be understood according to the Popish meaning Bellarmin de Missa Lib. 2. Chap. 21. not of the Spiritual Sacrifice but of the Oblation of the Body of the Lord. The Corporal Presence of Christ's Body is also to be found here for the Words of the Mass-Book serving to this purpose which are not to be found in the Book of England are taken in here Almighty God is incaâ—…'d That of his Almighty Goodness he may vouchsafe so to Bless and sanctifie with his Word and Spirit these Gifts of Bread and Wine that they be unto us the Body and Blood of Christ On the one part the Expressions of the Book of England at the delivery of the Elements Of feeding on Christ by Faith and of Eating and Drinking in Remembrance that Christ died for thee are utterly Deleted To prove that Laud did send this Liturgy to Rome to be approved of Read a Book of Good Credit Entitled New Survey of the West Indies Wrote by a Reverend Divine of the Church of England Mr. Thomas Gage Minister of Deal in Kent 't is in pag. 280. in the Folio Edition He there tells you That being a Fryar he went to Rome with Letters of Recommendation to Cardinal Barbarini the Pope's Nephew Entituled The Protector of England That coming acquainted with Father Fitzherbert of the English Colledge of Jesuits he highly praised Archbishop Laud and said That he not long since sent a Common Prayer Book which he had composed for the Church of Scotland to be first viewed and approved by the Pope and Cardinals and That they liked it very well for Protestants to be Trained up in a Form of Prayer and Service yet the Cardinals first giving him thanks for his Respect sent him word that they thought it was not fitting for Scotland that Father Fitzherbert told him he was Witness of all this being sent for by the Cardinal to give him his Opinion about it and of the Temper of the Scots And that Laud hearing the Censure of the Cardinals concerning his Intention and Form of Prayer to ingratiate himself the more in their Favour Corrected some things in it and made it more harsh and unreasonable for that Nation This Good Man Mr. Gage after he had here related the matter as above expresses himself thus This most True Relation of Archbishop Laud I have oft spoke of in private Discourse and publickly in Preaching and I could not in Conscience omit it here both to vindicate the just Censure of Death whiâ—h the Parliament gave against him and to reprove the ungrounded Opinion and Error of some Ignorant Spirits who have since his Death highly exalted and cryed him up as a Martyr 'T is worthy of Notice that these Passages making Laud to appear a great Villain were by the means of Priest Craft left out of the Impression in Octavo Something like this of Mr. Gage may be found in Bishop Burnet's Memoirs of Duke Hamilton fol. 83. he relates That in the Year 1638. one Abernethy who from a Jesuit turned a zealous Presbyterian spread a story in Scotland which took wonderfully of the Liturgy of that Kingdom being sent to Rome to some Cardinals to be Revised by them and that Seignior Con the Popes Nuncio to the Court of England had shewed it to Abernethy at Rome and though Con denied it afterwards as is pretended yet it doth not follow that what Abernethy asserts was false for
strict Inquisition into his Actions declare unto you That We do find him Innocent from any Malice or Rebellious Purpose against the Crown and that what he did by way of Correspondence or Compliance with the Irish Rebels was in order to the Service of Our Royal Father and warranted by his Instructions and the Trust reposed in him and that the benefit thereof accrued to the Service of the Crown and not to the particular advantage and benefit of the Marquess And as We cannot in justice deny him this Testimony so We require You to transmit Our Letter to Our Commissioners that they may know Our Judgments in this Case of the Lord of Antrims and proceed accordingly And so We bid you heartily farewel Given at Our Court at White-Hall July 10. in the 15 th Year of our Reign 1663. By His Majesty's Command HENRY BENNET Entred at the Signet-Office July 13. 1663. To Our Right Trusty and Right entirely Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor James Duke of Ormond Our Lieutenant General and General Governour of Our Kingdom of Ireland and to the Lords of Our Council of that Our Kingdom King Charles I. his Order to the Archbishop of Canterbury for Printing his Declaration concerning Sports on Sundays CHARLES R. Canterbury See that Our Declaration concerning Recreations on the Lord's Day after Evening Prayer be Printed The KING'S Majesties Declaration to His Subjects concerning Lawful SPORTS to be Used By the KING OUR Dear Father of Blessed Memory in his return from Scotland coming through Lancashire found that his Subjects were debarred from Lawful Recreations upon Sundays after Evening Prayers ended and upon Holy Days And He prudently considered that if these times were taken from them the meaner sort who labour hard all the Week should have no Recreations at all to refresh their Spirits And after his return he farther saw that his Loyal Subjects in all other parts of his Kingdom did suffer in the same kind though perhaps not in the same Degree And did therefore in his Princely Wisdom Publish a Declaration to all his loving Subjects concerning Lawful Sports to be used at such times which was Printed and Published by his Royal Commandment in the Year 1618. in the Tenor which hereafter Followeth By the KING WHereas upon Our return the last Year out of Scotland We did publish Our Pleasure touching the Recreations of Our People in those parts under Our Hand for some Causes Us thereunto moving We have thought good to Command these Our Directions then given in Lancashire with a few Words thereunto added and most appliable to these parts of Our Realms to be Published to all Our Subjects Whereas We did justly in Our Progress through Lancashire Rebuke some Puritanes and precise People and took order that the like unlawful Carriage should not be used by any of them hereafter in the prohibiting and unlawful Punishing of Our Good People for using their Lawful Recreations and Honest Exercises upon Sundays and other Holy-days after the Afternoon Sermon or Service We now find that two sorts of People wherewith that Country is much infected We mean Papists and Puritans have Maliciously traduced and calumniated those Our just and Honourable Proceedings And therefore lest Our Reputation might upon the one side though innocently have some Aspersion laid upon it and that upon the other part Our Good People in that Country be misled by the mistaking and misinterpretation of Our meaning We have therefore thought good hereby to clear and make Our Pleasure to be manifested to all Our Good People in those parts It is true that at Our first entry to this Crown and Kingdom We were informed and that too truly that Our County of Lancashire abounded more in Popish Recusants than any County of England and thus hath still continued since to Our great Regret with little amendment save that now of late in Our last riding through Our said County We find both by the Report of the Judges and of the Bishop of that Diocses that there is some Amendment now daily beginning which is no â—…all Contentment to Us. The report of this growing Amendment amongst them made Us the more sorry when with Our own Ears We heard the general Complaint of Our People that they were barred from all Lawful Recreation and Exercise upon the Sundays Afternoon after the ending of all Divine Service which cannot but produce two Evils The one the hindering of the Conversion of many whom their Priests will take occasion hereby to vex perswading them that no honest Mirth or Recreation is Lawful or Tolerable in Our Religion which cannot but breed a great Discontentment in Our Peoples Hearts especially of such as are peradventure upon the point of Turning The other Inconvenience is that this Prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of People from using such Exercise as may make their Bodies more able for War when We or Our Successors shall have occasion to use them And in place thereof sets up filthy Tiplings and Drunkenness and breeds a number of idle and discontented Speeches in their Ale-houses For when shall the Common People have leave to Exercise if not upon the Sundays and Holidays seeing they must apply their Labour and win their Living in all Working Days Our express Pleasure therefore is that the Laws of Our Kingdom and Cannons of Our Church be as well observed in that County as in all other Places of this Our Kingdom And on the other part that no Lawful Recreation shall be barred to Our Good People which shall not tend to the breach of Our aforesaid Laws and Cannons of Our Church Which to express more particularly Our Pleasure is That the Bishop and all other Inferiour Church-men and Church-wardens shall for their parts be careful and diligent both to instruct the Ignorant and Convince and Reform them that are misled in Religion presenting them that will not Conform themselves but obstinately stand out to Our Judges and Justices Whom We likewise Command to put the Law in due Execution against them Our Pleasure likewise is That the Bishop of that Diocess take the like straight Order with all the Puritanes and Precisians within the same either constraining them to Conform themselves or to leave the County according to the Laws of Our Kingdom and Cannons of Our Church and so to strike equally on both Hands against the Contemners of Our Authority and Adversaries of Our Church And as for Our Good Peoples Lawful Recreation our Pleasure likewise is That after the end of Divine Service Our Good People be not disturbed letted or discouraged from any Lawful Recreation such as Dancing either Men or Women Archery for Men Leaping Vaulting or any other such harmless Recreation nor from having of May-Games Whitson-Ales and Morris-Dances and the setting up of May-Poles and other Sports therewith used so as the same be had in due and convenient time without impediment or neglect of Divine Service And that Women shall have leave to carry Rushes to the
shall perceive your wonted Duty and Allegiance unto Us which We shall accept and reward in due time Witness Our self at Edinburgh the first day of October in the Seventeenth Year of Our Reign More of these secret Intreagues of King Charles the First and Second you will find in a Book Entituled Great Britain's Miseries in a short History of the manifold Difficulties this Kingdom has laboured under these 40 Years last past A LETTER From Pope Gregory XVth to Charles Steward Prince of Wales and since King of England during the time of his being in Spain As likewise the said Prince's Answer Both taken out of the History of England at the Pages 1162 1163 1164. Written by the Sieur Andrew du Chesne being the Third Edition printed at Paris in the Year 1641 by William Loyson at the Pallace in the Middle of the Prisoners Gallery and which are also to be met with in the French Mercury of the Year 1623 when these Letters were Written both which the said King never Disown'd Most Noble Prince AFter wishing you all immaginable Health and the Illumination of Gods Divine Grace We give you to Understand That whereas Great Britain has always abounded in Virtues and in Persons of singular Merit and Esteem and consequently fill'd both Worlds with the Glory of its Renown so she has also very frequently exacted the Consideration and Commendation of the Apostolick See And indeed the Holy Church was but yet in its Infancy when the King of Kings pitch'd upon it for the Portion of his Inheritance and which he did with so great Zeal and Affection that scarce the Roman Eagles got possession of it before the Cross And we may withal Observe that many of its Kings likewise being instructed in the surest means of their Salvation have all along prefer'd the Holy Cross to the Regal Scepter and the Doctrine of Religion either to Ambition or Covetousness transmitting thereby Examples of Piety both to foreign Nations and Posterity So that having sufficiently merited in Heaven the Privileges and Preeminences of Beatitude they have also Obtain'd on Earth the Triumphal Ornaments of never-dying Sanctity And now altho' the Church of England has for some time been born and seperated from the true Catholick Faith yet at the same time we perceive the Court of Great Britain adorn'd and embellish'd with so many Moral Virtues that we cannot but be encourag'd in our Love towards her and should Acknowledge her as one of the chiefest Ornaments of the Christian Name provided she were but Qualify'd and Influenc'd with the Orthodox and Universal Truth For which reason and so much the rather as we have the deepest Sence of and the sincerest Respect for the Glory of your most Serene Father and your own great Natural Abilities so we heartily and passionately desire that the Gates of Heaven may be set open to you and the Tenets of the True Church be receiv'd by you Moreover whereas Gregory the Great Our Glorious Predecessor of most pious Memory first taught the People of your Nation to obey the Law of the Gospel and to submit to the Apostolic Authority so we tho' Inferiour to him both in Piety and Virtue yet of the same Name and Dignity with him do think it but reasonable that we follow his holy Steps and endeavour to procure the Salvation of your Country especially at thsi Juncture when your happy Intentions Most Noble Prince have rais'd in us hopes of a successful Event Therefore as you are at present at the Court of the most Catholick King with Inclinations to make an Alliance with the House of Austria we cannot but extreamly commend Your Design and the rather by reason that we are satisfy'd that your principal end in it is the promoting the Advantage of our Supream Prelacy and Dignity For since you seem so earnestly to desire the Infanta of Spain in Marriage we may easily infer that in all probabily the ancient seeds of Christian Piety which have formerly flourish'd so prosperously in the Hearts of the Kings of Great Britain may revive and recover their pristine Glory in you and we cannot think that he who professes so sincere an esteem for such an Alliance should be an Enemy to the Catholick Religion or be ever enclin'd to molest the Holy See In pursuance whereof we have commanded continual and most humble Orations to be put up to the Father of Mercies that it would please his Divine Goodness to establish you as the blooming Flower of Christendom and the Sole Hopes of Great Britain in the Throne of your Noble Ancestors who for the most part have all made it their chiefest Business to Assert the Authority of the Soveraign Pontificat and to combat the Monsters of Heresy Propose to Yourself the Modells of former Ages inspect the Behaviour of your Fore-fathers and they will shew you what Method you are to take to get the Throne of Bliss and what Policy Temporal Princes have always made use of to inherit an Eternal Kingdom Behold your gloriours Predecessors Enthron'd above Who formerly waited on by Angels went to Rome to Honour and do Homage to the Lord of Lords and to the Successors of his Holy Apostle St. Peter Their Works and Examples are of so many Voices whereby God Exhorts you to imitate their Lives to whose Empire you shall one day arrive Is it possible that you can suffer the Hereticks to Profane and Condemn those Holy Men whom the Faith of the Church enjoyns us to believe to Reign above the Clouds with Jesus Christ and to have command and Authority over all the Principalities and Potentates of the Earth See these blessed Saints stretch out their Arms to Conduct you safe to the Court of this most Catholick King and behold with what Ardour they desire to lead you to the Bosom of the Mother-Church That Church which is often suppliant with inexpressible Agonies before the Throne of Almighty Wisdom for your Reformation and Safety and which even now tenders its Apostolick Charity with all imaginable Christian Affection to receive you to her self You that are her Darling Son You that are her most desir'd tho' hitherto her too misguided Off-spring Certainly you can never be more Obliging to the Christian State than to put the Prince of Apostles into the possession of your most noble Island which has almost all along hitherto approv'd its self the most potent Arbiter both of Church and State The most glorious Work will the easier be Effected if you first shew an Example by Opening to God that knocks at the Door of your Heart and wherein consist the Absolute Happiness and Salvation of this Kingdom This is so great Charity occasions us to desire that You and your most Serene Father should be qualify'd with the glorious Titles of Deliverers and Restorers of the Ancient and Paternal Religion of Great Britain which we hope may be speedily Effected by means of the great Power and Goodness of God in whose Hands the Hearts
of Kings are and who causes the People of the Earth to receive Relief and which we shall always be ready to Favour and Encourage to the utmost of our Power In the mean time be pleas'd to understand by the Contents of this Letter that for Our parts We will omit nothing that may anywise tend to procure your Happiness and that We shall never repent of having writ it if it may be but so efficacious as to raise the least Spark of the Catholick Faith in your Breast whose Benefit we so much desire and to whom We wish long Life and an endless Encrease of all Christian Virtues Given at Rome in the Palace of St. Peter the 20th Day of April 1623 and in the Third Year of Our Pontificat This Letter was deliver'd to the said Prince by the Pope's Nuncio accompany'd by all the Italian Lords who were then at the Court of Spain King CHARLES I's ANSWER Being then PRINCE of WALES TO THE POPE'S LETTER Most Holy Father I Have received Your Holinesse's Letter with infinite satisfaction paying all imaginable respect to the Piety and Good Will with which your Holiness writ it But what has occasion'd me inexpressible Pleasure was to read of the generous exploits of the King 's my Predecessors in whose deserv'd Commendations Posterity hitherto has not been a little Niggardly I am willing to believe Your Holiness set their Example before my Eyes that I might endeavour to imitate them in all my Actions for in truth they have often exposed both themselves and their Dominions for the Exaltation of the Holy See insomuch that their Courage with which they attack'd the Enemies of the Holy Cross has ever approved it self as vigorous as my endeavours shall always be to introduce Peace good Intelligence which have hitherto been so much wanting into Christendom for as the common Enemy of Peace labors incessantly to insult Hatred and Dissention into the hearts of Christian Princes so I am of Opinion that the Glory of God requires indispensably that they should be united and I do not value my self in being descended from so many great Princes on any account so much as in my Unfeigned and true Zeal to pursue the footsteps of their Piety To support me in which design it is no small advantage to me to be back'd by the Will and Pleasure of my most Honour'd Lord and Father and the pious Intention of his Most Catholick Majesty both who are more than ordinarily concern'd to think of the great Calamities that must necessarily proceed from a Disunion among Christian Princes This the unexampled Prudence of Your Holiness has foreseen while you deem'd the Marriage between me and the Infanta of Spain to be so absolutely necessary for the Publick Good and nothing is more certain than that I shall be always most passionately desirous of an Alliance with a Prince who has the same Sentiments of the true Religion with my self wherefore I earnestly beg Your Holiness to believe that I have always been very far from encouraging any Novalties in Religion or from favouring any Faction opposite to the Interest of the Apostolick See but on the contrary have sought after all occasions to take away any suspitions or jealousies I might lie under being resolved to employ the remainder of my Days in the practise of one Religion and one Faith since we ought all to follow alike in Jesus Christ in pursuance whereof I shall for the future avoid no hazards and cheerfully undergo all manner of Inconveniencies even to the Exposing of my Life and Fortune upon an occasion that will undoubtedly be so acceptable and well-pleasing to God Nothing more remains but that I humbly thank Your Holiness for admitting me to this unworthy Address and I also earnestly beseech Almighty God to grant Your Holiness Health in this World and Eternal Happiness in that to come after so many Labours and Fatigues which your Holiness has undergone for the Propagation and Preservation of the Holy True Church Signed CHARLES R. The substance of the Articles of Peace made and concluded with the Irish Papists and Rebels by James Lord Marquess of Ormond for and on the behalf of His Majesty King Charles I. THE Substance of the Proclamation is That whereas the Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by virtue of an Authority given him by King Charles I. had agreed to a Peace on his said Majesties account with the General Assembly of Roman Catholicks of that Kingdom all the Inhabitants are obliged to take Notice thereof and to be Obedient to the same at their Peril Also that the Motives which induced that King to such a Peace were the Benefit and Traffick of his Subjects and to put a stop to the Miseries which they had so long undergone Sign'd Ormond and Dated from the Castle of Kilkenny the 17 th June 1648. The Substance of the Articles are That in consideration of his said Majesties having been acknowledg'd Rightful and Lawful Sovereign by his Dutiful and Loyal Subjects the Roman Catholicks of Ireland and for their hearty Proffers of doing him all imaginable service that King was pleas'd to Grant 1. That that they shall have the free Exercise of their Religion without being subject to any Penalties for the same That they shall not be forc'd to receive any other than what is Agreeable to their Conscience That they shall not be oblig'd to take the Oath of Supremacy but only bind themselves to be True and Faithful to the King as their Temporal Lord. Nevertheless the Lord Lieutenant does not pretend to alter the Established State of Spiritualities having no Authority for that purpose but however promises that the said Roman Catholicks shall not be interrupted in any of their Possessions and Jurisdictions till His Majesty upon a full consideration of their desires shall declare his further Pleasure in the next Free Parliament wherein also these gracious Confessions are to be Enacted as Laws 2. That a Free Parliament shall be call'd in Ireland within 6 Months or as soon after as 12 Persons nam'd in this Article or the major part of them shall desire and that in the mean time these Articles shall be inviolably observed as Laws Yet in case a Parliament be not held within 2 Years after the Date hereof then is the Lord Leiutenant at the Request of the said Twelve to Convene the General States for the better settling of Affairs in that Kingdom and that the Contents of these Articles are to be transmitted into England according to the usual Form to be passed in Parliament there and that no Alterations to the prejudice of the King 's Catholicks or Protestant Subjects shall be made either here or there other than what His Majesty shall declare his Pleasure in for the satisfaction of his Subjects or than such Matters as the then Lord Leiutenant shall propose to both or either Houses for the Advancement of His Majesties Service and the Peace of the Kingdom but which must