to your Soveraigne and there is none that have hazarded their lives and lost their liberties and estates for him their Religion Lawes liberties and propertie but would be ready and willing upon a resettlement of all these without any more blood and other publike calamities to catch at and embrace any reasonable propositions and kisâ—e the beautifull feete of such propounders As therefore yee have tryed many other waies for procuring peace and they have all failed you â—o be intreated for Christs sake who is the Prince of peace and the propitiation for our sinnes to make tryall of this way of acknowledging your sinnes and forsaking them which never yet failed any and which is so infallible as that God himselfe gives that as the reason of his giving over people when their sinnes are come to their full measure and they ripe for ruine to blindnesse and heardnesse of heart least they should be converted and be healed implying that if a people did turne from their sinnes unto him he could not but heale them Turne thou us O Lord and we shall be turned Turne thou us and we shall be healed Let that be your dayly prayer to God Come lâ—t us returne unto the Lord For he hath wounded and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will bind us up let that be your constant exhortation to one another and practise your selves what you shall so exhort others And the Lord heare and accept you in both Having repented of your sinnes and in particular of your Rebellion Blood guiltinesse and other iniquities and impieties attending them The next thing that you are besought to consider is the present state and condition of Religion here in this Kingdome That the Church of England in its Reformed established Religion was not onely a defence and refuge but the glory and honour of all the Reformed Churches in Christendome cannot justly and therefore I hope will not be denyed by any of those Churches if it should wee are able to evince it out of the mouths of their own most learned and eminent Preachers and Professors And had not those unhappy diâ—â—sions breaking out as they did prevented it the Christian world had in all probabilitie ere this seen the happy fruits thereof in the harmonious and of them and us much desired conformity of other reformed Churches especially the more Eastern as well in Discipline as Doctrine so far as conformity in Discipline could have been conveniently observed in severall Nationall Churches This the Tobiahs and Sanballets of the Church of Rome have known and maligned so long that their attempts against this Church and the established Religion thereof have been more and more industriously and eagerly prosecuted then against any Church whatsoever though they have not omitted any opportunitie of practising their complotted designes upon any of the Reformed Churches or the members thereof And having tryed all the other wayes and courses that they could invent and some of them such as I hope will never be forgotten of this Nation Some few yeares before the beginning of this Parliament Cardinall Richeleiu the Politique favourite of France and gracious sonne of Rome used all his art and skill to kindle a fire against us in Scotland which art and skill of his prospered too much there by the unskilfulnes and imprudence of some of our managers of Church affairs here in England No sooner was that fire kindled but Emissaries of Rome were â—ent thither to inflame it and the better to effect it some of them pretended great love and affection to a new Reformation of that Kirke even to a seeming disclaiming and detesting of their own About the same time there were not a few of those Incendiaries dispatcht hither into England to practise upon those of this Kingdome that were disaffected to the established Government of this Church or that distasted some new rites and practises too much favoured and countenanced by some of the Governours thereof and so far had they within a short time crept into the favours and Counsels of some leading men of each sort that this Church and State began to be much distempered Insomuch that our most Gracious and Religious Soveraign next under Christ the prime defender of our Faith and nursing Father of our Church and Common-weale whom they had many other wayes assaulted but found impregnable was perswaded for the peace and safety of both his Kingdoms to call a Parliament and within a while after for the peace and security of all his three Kingdomes the third being also then inflamed to derive unto them greater liberty of continuance but otherwise not of any power then ever Parliament had and as we finde by sad and wofull experience then they had grace to make good use of The Jesuites and Jesuited party finding this advantage and feeling by the Pulse of the chief of the disaffected and discontented part of that great Assembly how their hearts stood inclined they applyed themselves to them in all wayes and services possible One Jesuite well known to the most reverend and Religious the Primate of Ireland his Grace was a constant Tabler and Counsellor to the Lord Brooks an active furious driver on of the mad factious peoples desperate turbulancâ—â—s Others applyed themselves to others whom I forbear to name Only one passage I must not omit Before those worthy members of the honourable Houses of Lords and Commons that held firm to their duty and allegiance were forced from the tions so bold were those Romanists grown that an honourable member of the House of Commons was earnestly importuned by one of them an acquaintance of his to recommend a Pettion to the House in behalf of the Romish party for the taking off all penall laws from them which he refusing to doe and expostulating with the Gentleman about it as suspecting that he came to intrap him and to render him more distastfull to the factious party and so more disserviceable to his King and Country the Gentleman replyed that he was very much mistaken â—â—t â—hat Petition would findâ— better acceptance in the House then he thought for And accordingly it being soon after presented there by another who may be presumed to account it an honour to him to be known by such a motion viz. Mr. MARTIN it was seconded and entertained by some of the greatest pretenders of Reformation in that assembly till one of courage and esteem stood up and said He was sorry that he had lived to see a Petition of that nature finde such favour in that place wherein those prudent lawes against which it petitioned had been upon so good and just grounds and with so much wisdome and deliberation framed and thereupon it was for that time waved and laid aside Since that how far the Jesuites and Jesuited party have proceeded and succeeded in their prosecuting of that designe of a toleration is sufficiently visible in the fruits thereof to every seeing eye But because the greater part of men
Faithfull and faire Warning Humbly presented to the Knights Gentlemen Clergie-men Yeomen and other the Inhabitants of the County of SVFFOLKE And may for the greatest part thereof serve for a seasonable Caution to the whole Kingdome By LIONEL GATFORD B. D. the true but Sequestred Rector of Dinnington in the said County Ezek. 2. â— 6 7. And thou sonne of Man be not afraid of them c. Chap. 22. from vers. 25. to the end There is a Conspiracie of her Prophets in the midst thereof c. Chap. 7. v. 15 16 17 18 19. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby yee have transgressed c. Matth. 11. v. 15. He that hath eares to heare let him heare LONDON Printed for John Gytes Prisoner in the Fleet for his loyalty to his Sacred Majestie 1648. Right worthy worshipfull and the rest most affectionately and intyrely beloved Country-men and Brethren HAving ever reputed that command of God first given in charge to the Prophet Ezekiel cap. 3. of his prophesie from verse 17. to verse 22. Son of man I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel therefore heare the word at my mouth and give 〈◊〉 wâ—rning from me When I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I reâ—â—ire at thine hand 〈◊〉 if thou warn the wicked and he turn not from his wickednesse nor from his wâ—cked way he shall die in his iniquitie but thou hast delivered thy soule Againe when a righteous man doth â—â—n from his righteousnesse and commit iniquitie and I lay â—…ng block before him he shall die because thou hast not given him warning he shall 〈◊〉 in his â—…e and his righteousnesse which he hath done shall not be remembred but his blood will I reqâ—ire at thine hand Neverthelesse if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sinne not and he doth not sinne he shall surely live because he is warned also thou hast delivered thy soul Which command is again repeated and illustrated Chap. 33. from verse 2. 10 verse 10. Having I say ever reputed that command of God to be an universal everlasting rule of Prophesying and so to concerne us Prophets and Teachers in the time of the Gospel as wel as those Prophets and Seers in the time of the Law the frequent and serious meditating thereon sanctified unto mee by Gods Spirit as it made me ever since God honoured me with that Sacred though now despised calling of a Minister to apply the exercising of that calling upon all occasions so requiring as much as I could to the observing that rule notwithstanding the known opposition slanders and reproaches that I met with therein so of late years since the wickednesse of the wicked hath so superabounded in this Nation and the righteousnes of the righteous hath so decayed and the sword of the Lord hath therefore wasted and devoured from one end of the land to the other I have devoted my selfe in a manner wholly to that service both in private and publike by speaking preaching and other wayes of warning as opportunities were offered and God inabled And though very lately upon the calling to minde the successe that I had in some former warnings being therefore with the Prophet Jeremiah smitten by the tongue of those whom I faithfully endeavoured to keep from being smitten with the sword and imprisoned by those whose liberty from that and other judgements I earnestly supplicated I had once with the same Jeremiah resolved to have spoken no more in Gods name to men so perverse and obstinate yeâ— his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay or to use Davids expression I was for a time dumb with silence and held my peace even from good and my sorrow was stirred My heart was hot within mee while I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue or to come neerer to that prophet with whom I began and all three without either boasting or falâ—ifying I remaiâ—ed some daies as Ezekiel did immediately before he received that rule of prophesie but now named astonished among the people astonished at what I saw and heard dayly committed by them astonished at their impudence and haâ—d heaâ—tednesse astonished with sorrow and indign-tion at both and astonished with thinking what I should doe to deliver my own soule from such a wicked generation till at last the same word that came to Ezekiel did from him and I hâ—pe by the same spirit though not in the same manner that it came to him come to my thoughts againe and againe and then God was pleased to râ—â—â—e and quicken my spirit so that my soule could no longer rest till I had once againe delivered her from the guiltinesse of the blood of others by telling those whom it concerned what I apprehend from Gods word hath already pulled on them the guilt of others bloods and will if not speedily prevented pull much more even to the devastation and desolation of this whole Nation and to the inevitable ruine and destruction of their owne soules And to whom amongst all that are concerned should I rather or can I better direct my speech then to you of this County whether I consider mine own obligations or your present state and condition My obligations to this County and to some of you in particular are such and so great that I desire no longer to breath then whilest I shall be willing to spend my breath in the acknowledgement of your favours and in the reâ—urning you the best thanks and service that I am able for them And such and so deplorable is your present state and condition that should I professe with Isaiah That Therefore are my loynes filled with pain pangs have taken hold upon mee as the pangs of a woman that travelleth I was bowed downe at the hearing of it I was dismayed at the seeing of it or should I wish with Jeremiah That my head were watâ—rs and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and right in the lamenting of it I should professe no more nor wiâ—h no other then what your present state and condition require and what I have already in some part performed for you To you therefore to you my Honoured and dearely beloved Country-men doe I here humbly present his faithfull and faire warning and with it my self to suffer or to rejoyce with you for you or by you as God and you shall please and as well beseemes him that seekes you and not yours the Kingdom's peace and not the favour of any in the kingdome the honour of the Church not any dignity in it and Gods Glory and the restablishment of his Truth in and above them all Yours as you please to
use him or make use of him to love serve and pray for you LIONEL GATFORD the true but Sequestred Rector of Dinnington in Suffolke A faithfull and faire warning humbly presented to the Knights Gentlemen Clergie-men Yeomen and other the Inhabitants of the County of Suffolke and may for the greatest part of it serve for a seasonable Caution to the whole Kingdome AS at the first the sinnes of this Nation were the originall provoking cause of Gods inflicting all those fore judgements upon us under which we have these late years groaned and our not repenting of them but adding to them and seeking other wayes of ease and reliefe hath instead of procuring any remedy increased our misery and blasted all our means and endeavours for redresse how probable or hopefull soever insomuch that whereas we Lusted for a Parliament as Israel sometimes did for flesh and sleighted all Gods other great mercies unto us as they did even Manna it self thinking any condition better than our own unlesse we had our longing and that if we had that all things would go well with us which â—o afflicted our Moses that he like theirs of Israel was even weary of his burthen of governing this people alone and was content to have others * gathered unto him to take part of that burthâ—n would God had been pleased to have given them of his spirit also and to assist him in the bearing thereof and then upon that our lusting was condescended unto but like that of Israels whilest the blessing so desired was between our teeth ere it was chewed by that time we had gotten a little smack or taste of a Parliament The wrath of the Lord was kindled against us and the Lord smote us with a very great Plague the sorest that ever befell a people For that became our plague which was longed for as our greatest blessing and that which should have been for our welfare became a trap or to expresse that terrible curse in the words of a former translation of ours the thing that should have been for our wealth was unto us an occasion of falling So to this present 't is the continuing in our sins and the not acknowledging of our Rebellions against God and his Vicegerent but the justifying of them and seeking other wayes of peace and security that incense and inflames Gods indignation against us to the continuing and multiplying of his heavy judgements upon us and to the rendering of all assayes and overtures for the composing and quieting our sad 〈…〉 and distractions the most destructive judgement of all others fruitlesse and ineffectuall For we know who hath said it He that covereth his sins shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy And the Scriptures is in no point more full and cleare then in the asserting of that truth That without acknowledging of sinne repenting of it and turning from it to the Lord there is no mercy to be expected from the Lord in the pardoning and forgiving of sinne and in the removing those judgements which he inflicts for it Yee have had some new teachers of late times and this County at this time swarms with them that have had the impudence to tell you that Repentance is of no use to Beleevers but that it is a derogation to the merits of Christ for any such to repent but then withall they tell you that there is no sin in such and so at once destroy both Law and Gospel I shall not now spend time in refuting them but this I dare be bold to affirm of them and 't is no more then I am able to demonstrate that they which are of that opinion are no true Beleevers and if the mercies or judgements of God or both do not make them to repent and desert that opinion by bringing the sense of sinne home to their Consciences or the punishment of sin home to their doores here in this life 't is to be feared so far as one may judge of another they le be made to see and feele their own errour and blasphemy where there will be no place or space of repentance But set those Hereticks aside I am conâ—ident there is never a Teacher or Preacher amongst you the wholâ— County thorow that is not leavâ—ned with that heresie which dares undertake to shew you any other way for the making youâ— peace with God and so for the removing of his sore judgements already inflicted and the averting those his more dreadfull plagues further threatened then that of confessing and forsaking your sins the undoubted originall cause of all judgements and plagues whatsoever And therefore if ye would not have iniquity to be your ruine Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions And be intreated to deale clearely and freely with God acknowledging not only your unthankfulnesse for former mercies your Pride Luxury unprofitablenesse under the ordinance of God and contempt of them and such other sins of long conâ—inuance whereof some have so often minded you on purpose to keep other later abominations from your thoughts but also your Rebellion and Blood-guiltinesse with your Sacriledge Perjury Blasphemy Lyes Robbery Oppression Cruelty and whatsoever other crimes have accompanied the same whether ye have been actors in or contributors to those iniquities or whether yee have been otherwise consentors to or complyers with those that have acted and continued them Take heed of that guile in spirit as David experimentally called it in thinking to hide your sins The same David paid deare for it for all the while hide your sins The same David paid deare for it for all the while that he kept silence and would not acknowledge his sinne his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long and Gods hand was heavy on him day and night c. but no sooner did he acknowledge it nay no sooner had he resolved upon the acknowledging it but God forgave the iniquity of it and be assured that if you doe not acknowledge your iniquities to Gods glory though to your own shame God will glorifie himselfe in making you to acknowledge them to your greater shame and confusion Take then the shame to your selves and give the glory to God and God will take off that shame againe from you and make your taking shame upon your selves a comfort and glory to your selves For that is Gods usuall dealing with men ye know it is his promise that If we would judge our selves we should not be judged And that other promise to his people of old import as much concerning our taking shame to our selvâ—◠〈…〉 not be ashamed neither be thou confounded for thou shalt no◠〈…〉 put to shame for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth c. and that promise in Ezech. puts it out of all question But if the wicked will turn from all his sinnes that he hath committed c. All his transgressions that he hath
will neither see nor heare or if they doe dare not speak what they see or heare how prejudiciall or destructive soever it be to Religion or ought else that good is I shall in the cause of Religion adventure a little further in the discovery of the designes of those professed enemies thereof I have been assured by a person of Honour that the Protestants of France had towards the beginning of these unnaturall and unchristian wars resolved upon a Declaration against the Parliament and Subjects of England their taking up of Arms against their King and had published it had not the forenamed Cardinall dashed it and underhand wrought them to too much approbation thereof rendering by that one subtill act of his the said Protestants odious to their own Soveraign for approving such Antiregal Antimonarchicall attempts and also advancing thereby his own designe of fomenting our destructive divisions But to return neerer home Who but the Jesuites and Jesuited Papists began that Rebellion in Ireland And who but their favourors here in England drove it on to that height by making those Rebels desperate in selling their lands and Voting them and theirs to ruine past all hope of mercy by detaining the King from going thither in Person to quiet that Rebellion when he so graciously offered it and so piously endeavoured it by diverting those fair full free running streames of bounty and liberality flowing all this Kingdome through towards the reliefe of the distressed Protestants of Ireland into those foule black bloody rivers of Warre and Rebellion overflowing this whole Kingdome to the wasting and weakening if not to the ruining and destroying of the now despised Protestants of England and lastly by the with-holding and delaying all along from the first to the last the necessary supplies of men moneys armes and other provisions from that Kingdome notwithstanding the Kings often and often calling upon the Houses to be mindefull thereof and conjuring them thereto as appears by his many Messages and Declarations to that purpose and notwithstanding the loud and dolefull cryes of the Protestants of that Kingdome from the greatest to the least so constantly ecchoing in their ears If the Jesuites and Jesuited Papists of this Kingdome had not their hands deep in all this and too prevalent a power with those that had the power of ordering that businesse better let any man that knowes one hand from another judge But to come yet nearer those incendiaries of Nations and perturbers of the peace of Christendome are fowly belyed by one whose brother hath been one of them these many yeares and he himselfe is now theirs and was then litle better If there were not in and about the Citty of London and in and neere the Armies about 3 weekes or a month before that heavy blow at Nazeby above sevenscore Jesuites and other Romish Priests known the most of them to him which kept correspondence diverse of them and gave intelligence to them at Westminster and served them both in keeping off assistance from the King from Princes of their Religion and in betraying the Kings counsels and the resolutions of his Army which they by their instruments and favourers crowded into those quarters got knowledge of to the adverse party so that they could draw the kings Army into what part of the kingdome they pleased and there fight them or not fight them as they saw the advantage Insomuch that a Noble Colonell of the Kings Party and a man of good estate and credit being then a Prisoner in the Counter in Southwarke and having there fed at his table and preserved the author of this information that had been a prisoner in the same prison but was then by his Brothers meanes set at liberty was about that time before mentioned advised upon those grounds and some other by the said informer and that in gratitude as he affirmed knowing no other way of acknowledging his bounty and liberality towards him forthwith to make his composition and peace with the Parliament for that the King would without all peradventure yet the King was at that time in as high and hopefull condition as ever he had been in from the beginning of these warres be brought very low Strange propheticall counsaile at that time had not the counselour had too strong presumption to conclude from And now to speake a litle upon mine own more immediate knowledge Travelling beyond the seas in the company of a Romish Priest borne in England and another English Gentlemen of the same religion after some warme dispute between us I was told by the Priest that I need not be so hot and zealous for my religion for so said he we have now as good cardes to shew for our Religion in England as you have for yours for we perceive you are a Protestant of the established Church of England and if you and such as you doe ever enjoy your Religion there againe it must be by a Tolleration and so shall we enjoy ours I replyed that I hoped God would disappoint them of their hopes but since that I found they had too much cause so to presume for I was no soonet arrived here in England but being constrained to attend some Parliament men at Westminster I heard a Gentleman who by his habit and discourse seemed one of credit and trust among the Romanists soliciting another Gentleman whose Father had been a Parliament man but was then dead for the assisting him by his friends in the promoting of a Petition for a Toleration of their Religion and he told him amongst other discourse what progresse he had made therein both with some prime Commanders of the Army and with divers members of the House of Commons whose names for the present I conceale and that he had delivered three Petitions to that purpose into the hands of three of the House of Commons who had uâ—dertaken the recommending them to the House and promised him theâ—… best furtherance therein so that he did not much doubt of the successe but yet should be obliged to him if he would be pleased to contribute thereto 〈◊〉 party solicited replied He should doâ— him any servicâ— and the Petition desired no more then he apprehended to be according to the judgement of the times in point of liberty of Conscience when I heard this and observed how liberty of Consâ—â—â—nce was every where contended for I no longer wondered at the cooling Cards which â—hâ— Priest gave me for I pâ—â—ceived they of his part had plaid their Cards so well that they might affordâ—d any of us the knowledge of suâ—h a triumph not did I then thâ—… it strange which but a few dayes beâ—ore I admired that so many Jesuits and othâ—r Priests did daily flock into this Kingdome from France Flanders and the Countries adjacent and all by the way of Hâ—lland there having been nine or ten such newly shipt at the Briâ—â— under the same â—onvoy if not in tâ—e Vâ—siâ—li that Master Stricâ—laâ—d tâ—e Parliaments Agent for Hâ—llanâ—
as active and subtill in stealing in their leaven into every Parish as any other hereticks could be and a little more able to enforce arguments for the promoting it for the Church of Rome wants no policie nor meanes nor instruments to improve it And if the maintainance of the Protestant Clergie were but as poore and contemptible as is desired by many the Clergie it self would soon be as base and despicable as could be wisht by any and then besides the peoples growing like their Priests which constant observation hath made a Proverb it would be no small temptation to such a Clergie upon hopes and promise of recovering their old ancient honorable portions and revenues to desert that Religion which allows their Ministers such miserable starving pittances and to embrace that which rewards theirs with such liberall plentifull rewards Much more might be said to that point but I touch it onely in relation to the designe of the Popish party who have been and still are the principall instigators to all sacrilegious acts and resolutions in this Kingdome and will be without all peradventure the greatest gainers thereby not that they themselves would practise the same when they should come into power but because they know there is no more ready way for them to come into power then by such practisces of ours which would both render the Clergie of this Kingdome contemptible to the people and the people not a little odious to them as also otherwise fit and prepare both for their working them into what they shall please To tell you that a prodigious rabble of damnable heresies and pernicious errours are crept or rather brought with full sayles at mid-day into this miserably distracted Kingdome and that multitudes are daily bred and hatcht 〈◊〉 within were but to tell you your own dreames the true fathers and mothers of diverse of that spurious issue Filthy dreamers that defile the flesh despise Dominions and speake evill of dignities But who have been the principall factors for the bringing in and the cheife brokers for the venting of those from other parts as also the chief fomâ—â—ters of these started up here at home why who but the Jesuites and their complices who have for that purpose transformed themselves like their great master into all shapes and become Anabaptists to the Anabaptists Antinomians to the Antinomians Familists to the Familists and all things to all men that they might deceive the more And no more probable way of making proâ—elytes to themselves then this For the most of that numberlesse number that have been poysoned or tainted with those heresies and errours are either such as have no principles of Religion at all in them but are like those Saint Jude speaks of clouds without water carried about with windes even every winde of doctrine by the sleight of man and cunning craftinesse whereby they lye in wait to deceive and such are as fit to be carryed about by the winde of Popery as of any other doctrin or else they are such as have in them already good store of Popish principles properly so called how odious so ever for the present the name of popish or papists be or seems to be unto them and of these there are a vast number as will easily appeare to any understanding man that shall but compare the frequent tenets or positions held and asserted in these times with the known principles of Popery truly so called The Gangraena a booke written by Mr Edwards and so intituled will furnish any man with enough and yet he leaves out some Principle ones as THAT T IS LAWFULL FOR THE SUBJECTS TO TAKE UP ARMES AGAINST THEIR SOVERAIGN That Ecclesiasticall Courts are independent on the Civill That officious lying and equivocating is justifiable with many others Now how easie will it be for the Serpent when he hath thus gotten in a part of his body to winde in all the rest and how hard will it be when such poyson and infection hath diffused it selfe through so many parts of the body to purge it out againe Men are too prone of themselves through their pride selfe-love and pâ—rversenesse to defend their own errours to their utmost and will oftentimes deny many known truths rather then be brought to acknowledge one received errour yea will sooner part from those remains of truth that are in them then part from some errours taken up by them what then will such men doe when they shall be backt and encouraged therein by so powerfull and subtill a party as the Romish is Besides if the Popish party should gaine no more proselytes as who sees not that they gaine more in one moneth then they did formerly in seven years and have gained more in these six or seven years last past then they had done in all those other years past since the Reformation yet if they can by their broaching of and by their inviting and inciting to heresies and errours bring but our Church to confusion they hope to triumph and insult upon our ruines like those Foxes upon the defolate mountaine of Zion And if any Church be raised out of the rubbish and ruines of ours or any Religion be generated out of the corruption of ours they presume and not without cause that it will be theirs And that they expect some such day may be many wayes collected and particularly from their sparing ingagements for the King in all his distresse either by their Persons or Estates excepting onely some few loyall and noble spirited ones that were to their honour be it acknowledged as liberall of their Bloods and Estates as Subjects could be as also from their present for bearing to appear for him To all which I must confesse they have been well incouraged for the most of them have enjoyed more of their Estates and made easier Compositions for them then the most known Orthodox Protestants have And here by the way I cannot but recall to your memories some letters sent down to some of you from some members chosen for this County in answer to some of yours concerning the receiving of contribution from Popish Râ—cusants upon the Propositions for Horses Money or Plate at the beginning of these wars In which letters you were told as some of you have confessed That it was the sense of the House that contribution should be received from Popish Recusants provided that it were such as might witnesse their affection to the cause and not argue onely a desire to save themselves or to that effect And whether they did then conâ—ribuâ—e with you or â—ot to the raysing of that curâ—ed warre to be sure except as I said but now some few of them they have from that time to this contributed very little to the King for his dâ—fâ—â—ce against it And I beseech God that that war â—econded by this may contribute no more to the terrible designes of some of that party though there need no other contribution to the 〈…〉 shrone of
Antichrist then the sending of a people 〈…〉 that they should believe a Lâ—e there needs 〈…〉 for the demonstrating how fouly and grosly we 〈…〉 been so dâ—luded and are contented if not desirous still so to be I remember well and shall do whilest I have breath what I heard fall from the mouth of that Apostolicall I wish I might not in that particular say that Propheticall Preacher the matchlesse Primate of Ireland matchlesse for the Graces of God in him as well as for that Grace of Primacy conferred on him in one of his constant Lords day Sermons in Oxford I feare not said he those Feltmakers Weavers Coblers c. that are risen up amongst us sowers of Sedition and broachers of Heresies and Errours but those with whom I feare we shall have the strongest struggling are those Giant-like Jesuits trained up men of warre from their youth these these are they whom we have all cause to feare as those with whom wee shall have the last and sorest pull for our Religion God grant it prove not so But if we go on in the rending and tearing out one anothers thoats and the Hereticks and Schismaticks go on in their rending and tearing the very bowels of our Church who can expect lesse Who is there that hath read or heard of Christs way in planting and propagating of his Gospell of truth and in acquainting men with the mysteries of Godlinesse and of the way of Antichrist in planting and propagating his Doctrine of lyes and in possessing men with the mystery of iniquity that can expect from Seâ—…s of Heresie and Schisme sown by the enemy in the furrows of mens hearts filled with malice and all uncharitablenesse and watered with the bloods of so many thousands of their fellow Christians any other Harvest then of Popery and Antichristianisme Be ye then supplicated O all yee that have any love unto or care of the preservation of the true Protestant Religion to take the sad deplorable condition thereof into your most serious consideration and speedily to apply your selves with all your art and skill and with all your might and power to the resisting and countermining of its openly professed and secretly conspiring enemies and to the ayding and assisting of its known and by these late persecutions and temptations throughly tryed friends Think soberly and sadly with your selves God's cleansing your thoughts from all selfe-favour and brother-prejudice being first implored whether they to whom in the beginnings of these miseries you first adhered and who then made you so many faire and large promises and tooke some solemne Protestations Vows and Oathes in the presence of God to Defend and Maintaine the true Established PROTESTANT RELIGION have made good those promises Protestations Vows and Oaths yea or no If they have what meanes the lowing and bellowing of such herds of notorious abominable Hereticks of all sorts and the bleating and bawling of such flocks of furious Schismaticks of all cuts in every corner of this Kingdome Yea what meane those favourable exeuses and defensive Apologies published to the Kingdome in one of the late Declarations in answer to the Scots that complained thereof What meanes also their suppressing and silencing of all or the most of the known religious Orthodox Protestant Preachers throughout the Kingdome sequestering their livings and clapping them up into Prisons and then setting up Antinomian Anabaptisticall Socinian Jesuiticall and other notoriously hereticall Teachers and lying Prophets in their roomes What meanes the blasting of the established Doctrine of the Church of England as being corrupt and erroneous such as needs Reformation What meanes the blaspheming the Lords Prayer and Apostles Creed commonly so called and rejecting them from being publikely used in anie Congregations And what meanes the casting out and condemning the whole Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments which had so often and so long been found and made use of as one of our strongest out-workes and fortifications against Popery and other Heresies as well as an incomparable and unparallelled rule and forme of publike Worship and Devotion In a word what meanes the entertaining of Petitions for the Toleration of Popery forbearing only the granting them their requests till the people be a little better prepared by that Doctrine of Liberty of Conscience Bethinke your selves also whether they to whom ye now give up your selves to serve with your lives and estates and joyne with in all their rebellions and bloodie enterprizes have not sufficiently declared their disaffection unto yea and their hatred and detestation of the true Protestant Religion What meane else their retaining only such Chaplains amongst them as hold far more principles of the Popish Religion then Protestant and have expressely renounced the established Protestant Religion of the Church of England Or why doe they like those Rebells against the house of David make to themseves both high places to worship in and Priests of the lowest of the people to minister unto them And why do they proclaime the liberty of being of any Religion or of no Religion at all rather then of the established Religion of our Church If there be anie so stupid as to thinke that the leading-men either at Westminster or in the Army or their active Adherents are at the present men of other affections and resolutions more then what the present oppositions and their want of power to withstand them and to crush the opposers to pieces do constraine them to dissemble I shall admire their stupidity and lament their weaknesse unlesse they can produce some better evidence of their retracting their former errors of their repenting of their former iniquities and of their returning to their God and to their duties then their own bare words so often broken and contradicted by their actions And yet which of you can shew so much as the Armies words for any good intended by them either to this Church or Common-wealth or so much as to you of this County that have hazarded your honours estates lives and fortunes And for the promise of those at Westminster call but to mind the successe of that Petition of the Ministers of this County and of Essex presented to both Houses in these dolefull termes That your solemne League and Covenant your great and glorious victories the expectation of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas the longing desires of our Brethren of Scotland the Humble Petitions of the Reverend Assembly and the great City of the Kingdome the pressing miseries of the Orthodox and well affected Ministers and people in the Country here is a Letanie of conjurations indeed enough to conjure any that would come within compasse of any figure cry aloud to your Honours for the settlement of Church-Government according to the word Then followes For the want of this it is Right Honourable that the name of the most high God is blasphemed his precious Truths corrupted his Word despised his Ministers discouraged his Ordinances vilified Hence it is
well as expression of language of the most fluent and passionate of Orators I have heard it objected against a reverend and deare brother-sufferer in these times though without any just cause alledged that he ascends too high when he compares so many of our Kings sufferings with some of our Saviours which I am assured he did neither with the least intent of flattering his Majestie then in no condition to be flattered nor without all due feare of approaching neer the verge of Blasphemy then and ever so much abhorred by him but on the other side with all due honour to our blessed Saviours sufferings and with no small comfort to the King and to all that suffered with them that his sufferings were and are so conformable to them and he himselfe therein to his and our Saviours image And although I sleight the objection yet I shall avoid the occasion of having any such throwne in my way and because I may not without some scandall taken make use of any such comparison I shall not compare them at all with anie other sufferings there being none other that ever I have read or heard of that do in all respects match them Take them therefore in their bare narration thus Charles King of Great Britaine the first of that name the only surviving Son and the immediate successour to his royall Father King James to whom this whole Kingdome by their Representatives in Parliament after a large commemoration of the inestimable and unspeakable benefits as they truly called them powred upon this Nation by his becoming our King and after great and high expressions of joy and rejoying at the same not forgetting their thanks to Almighty God for that blessing as also after a modest repetition of that their Soveraignes personall gifts and graces and the assured fruits and effects thereof which they had tasted in that little time of his Government together with an humble and hearty profession of constant faith obedience and loyalty to his Majesty and to his Royall Progeny made this acknowledgement and promise in these very words We therefore your most humble and loyall Subjects the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do from the bottome of our hearts yeeld to the diuine Majesty all humble thanks and praises not onely for the said unspeakable and inestimable benefits and blessings before-mentioned but also that he hath further inriched your Highnesse with a most Royall Progenie of most rare and excellent gifts and forwardnesse and in his goodnesse is like to increase the happy number of them And in most humble and lowly manner do beseech your most excellent Majesty that as a memoriall to all posterities amongst the Records of your high Court of Parliament for euer to endure of our Loyalty obedience and hearty and humble affection it may be published and declared in this high Court of Parliament and enacted by authority of the same that we being bounden thereunto both by the Lawes of God and man doe recognize and acknowledge and thereby expresse our unspeakable joyes that immediately upon the dissolution and decease of ELIZABETH late Quéen of England the Imperiall Crowne of the Realme of England and of all the Kingdomes Dominions Rights belonging to the same did by inherent birthright and lawfull and undoubted succession descend and come to your most excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heire of the Blood Royall of this Realme as is aforesaid And that by the goodnesse of Almighty God lawfull Right of Descent under one Imperiall Crown your Majesty is of the Realmes and Kingdomes of England Scotland France and Ireland the most potent and mighty King and by Gods goodnesse more able to protect and gouerne us your louing Subjects in all peace and plenty then any of your noble Progenitors And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige our selues our Heires and Posterities for euer untill the last drop of our bloods be spent And do beséech your Majesty to accept the same as the first fruits in this high Court of Parliament of our loyalty and faith to your Majesty and your Royall Progeny and Posterity for euer O the shamelesse degeneration and falsification of these times CHARLES to whom his Subjects each one for himself and in particular every Member of the House of Commons when he was admitted a Member of that House solemnly sware That he did testifie and declare in his conscience that he the Kings Highnesse is the onely supreme Gouernour of this Realm and of all other his Highnesse Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or Causes as Temporall c. And that he would beare Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawfull Successors and to his power assist defend all Iurisdictions Priuiledges Preheminences Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnes His Heires and Successors c. as followes in the Oath of Supremacy as also againe in the Oath of Allegiance That he would beare Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty his Heires and Successors and him and them would defend to the uttermost of his power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoeuer which should be made against his or their Persons their Crowne and Dignity by reason or colour of any sentence of Excommunication or Depriuation made or granted by the Pope c. or otherwise and would do his best endeauour to disclose and make known unto His Majesty his Heires and Successors all Treasons and traiterous conspiracies which he should know or heare of to be against him or any of them Oh the damnable perjury of these times CHARLES whose Person Honour and Estate the same Members of the House of Commons did on May 3. 1641. in the prâ—sence of Almighty God promise vow and protest to maintain and defend as far as lawfully they might with their Lives Power and Estates according to their allegiance and that they would according to their Power and as far as lawfully they might oppose and by all good waies and meanes indeavour to bring to condigne punishment all such as should either by force practise counsell plots conspiraoâ—â—s or otherwise do any thing to the contrarie c. Which Protestation was afterwards recommended by the Vote of the House July 30. 1641. to be taken by everie person well affected in Religion and to the good of the Common-wealth and was accordingly taken by the most of the Kingdome Oh the multiplied perjurie and the sacrilegious breaking of Vowes Promises and Protestations perperated in these times CHARLES whose Supremacy and power over all Persons and in all causes within his Dominions the Subjects of this Kingdome have so many yeares acknowledged unto God in their praiers in their Publike Liturgie and in their praiers before their Sermons and for whom they have pretended to beg so manie mercies and blessings and to returne to God such hearty and solemne
thanks and praise Oh the abominable juggling with God and mocking of him and lying to him discovered in these times CHARLES the Defender of our Faith the Protector and Patron of our Religion the Nursing father of our Church and Common-weale the light of our eyes the breath of our Nostrills of whom we said as the people of Judah did of Josiah under his shadow wee shall live yea of whom we must confesse that we did live under his shadow for manie yeares together and might have done to this instant had we not run from the Olive tree to a Bramble Bush in that peace and tranquillity in that honour and renowne in that abundance of wealth and plenty of all things that could render us happy save grace to know it and be thankfull to God and him for it that never any people enjoyed greater if anie so great Oh the sordid ingratitude of these times CHARLES not the RELIGIOUS onely or the JUST or the MERCIFULL or the CHARITABLE or the VALIANT or the WISE or the TEMPERATE or the CHAST or the COURTEOUS or the LOVING or the MEEK or the HUMBLE but all these and a compendium of all other graces and virtues and they in such supereminency as that it hath been thought an eternall honor to other Princes to deserve the title of but one such to adorn their other glories and perpetuate their memories O the prodigious wickednesse and impiety of these times This verie CHARLES Be astonished O ye Heavens and stand amazed all ye Nations of the earth This verie KING CHARLES by his owne Subjects by his own Servants by his own professed Friends by his own great Counsell called by his Writ to advise with him and authorised by his power alone to sit in Parliament with him hath been driven from his great Councell forced to flie from one part of his Kingdom to another hunted like a Partridge on the mountaines pursued with Armies fought with in sundrie battailes struck at and shot at with all the force and malice that hands and hearts strenthened and incouraged with rage and furie and compleatly furnished with all the bloodie instruments of Warre could possibly lay on betrayed sold hurried from Prison to Prison separated from his dearest Consort and Children â—…cked scorned contemned railed on libelled in Pamphlets Hâ—es and Cries Votes Declarations Sermons Prayers and robbed of all his revenues plate jewels and regall ornaments deprived of verie necessaries both of food and raiment Gush out O teares or break O heart for I am not able to go on till my head or heart hath given one the other some ease This verie King Charles hath been at the last after all these and many other barbarous cruelties practised on him thrust into close Prison denied the comfort of any Chaplaine the attendance of any other servant and the accesse of anie faithfull Subject treated worse then anie villain or murderer assayed by villaines to be murthered and to incourage them thereunto Votes have been passed in both Houses for no further addresses to be made to him and no message to be received from him but he adjudged unfit to governe And why I beseech you why this King Charles will not break his oath solemnly taken at his Coronation he will not consent to Sacriledge he will not yeild unto a toleration of Poperie and of all other Heresies and Schisms under the title of Libertie of Conscience he will not part from all his power of punishing those that do wickedly and of protecting those that do righteously upon that pretence of setling the Militia in safe hands he will not suffer an Armie of 50. or 60. thousand under that name Militia to be kept and quartered in this Kingdom for the oppressing of himselfe his Posteritie and his Subjects he will not grant Libertie to those Houses to sit where they please who have alreadie so ill requited his former grant of sitting as long as they please least they and their Armie should keep house together and when the Citie will no longer endure them the Countrie be forced to beare them or break under them he will not indure compeeres and copartners with himselfe in his Royall Throne Rights and Prerogatives under the name of a standing Committee or States Commissioners he will not deliver up his Loyall Subjects and faithfull friends and servants to the mercilesse cruelties of his and their implacable enemies and in a word he will not betray that trust that God hath committed to him and that his Subjects repose in him These must be confessed when mens consciences are awakened to be the principal causes so far as concerns the provoking of men why this so supereminently Gracious King hath and doth yet suffer such inexpressibly grievous persecutions And amongst all these causes his not yeilding to a toleration of Poperie other Heresies and Shisms is none of the least provoking as may well be thought if the reflecting upon the principall contrivers and continuers of his Majesties and this Kingdomes miseries hath that inpression in our thoughts that it ought to have for what else can it be that should render so religious and virtuous a Prince so distastefull and hatefull not only to all Hereticks and Shismaticks here at home which everie one knowes but also to all or the most Jesuites and Priests beyond the Seas which is sufficiently known to those men of Honour and worth that have lived among them there being no man more distasted and hated of those of that stampe then the persecuted King of England And if those Kingkiâ—lers can but prevaile with their fellow Jesuites the furious Sectaries of these times as they have throughly prepared them for it to take away his precious life to be sure it shall be suddenly done for no man lies long under their hatred that they can possibly remove out of the way And what a justification would this be to all their assassinations what a satisfaction to their desires what a staine and wound to the Protestant Religion and what an advantagious service to the Romish and what vengeance of vengeances must it needs pull upon this whole Nation that have had so often and so loud warnings of it and do not as by severall oaths and manie other bonds they are obliged hazard their owne lives to prevent it but still contribute towards it by assisting those that contrive and complot it It is recorded of Josiah one of the best Kings of Judah that being taken in the pits of the Aegyptians as Jeremies phrase is and slaine by them both the Prophet Jeremiah lamented for him and all Judah even the singing men and the singing women spake of him in their lamentations for a long time after his death and they made them an Ordinance in Israel it seems the remaines of Israel joyned with Judah in that mourning for the lamenting of him And this was such a great mourning that the Spirit of God speakes of the greatnesse of it many yeares after
But should our Josiah which the Lord of Lords and King of Kings of his mercy forbid be slaine by those Aegyptians that have him now in their pits not onely our Jeremiahs our great Prophets but all the Prophets and Prophets Sons throughout this Nation the lying Apostatizing Prophets only excepted that have deserted their Religion upon that destructive alteration suggested yea and all the men women and children of these three Kingdomes that wish well to the Protestant Religion 〈…〉 good of these Kingdomes would excessively lament it unto all posterities though we have too much cause to believe that we should never obtaine an Ordinance for it from those Ordinance-makers that now beare rule beware then in time and that time is very short You have had such triall of King Charles his fidelity and firmnesse to the Protestant Religion as never Prince gave the like and I hope never Prince either in this or any other Nation shall be put to the like for he hath had as great and as strong temptations as prosperity and adversity in the height and depth of both could court or torment with even such as would have made a Luther or a Calvin a Cranmer or a Ridley or anie other of the most renowned confessors or Martyrs of the Reformed Religion either to have sunk or shrunk under them or else would have rendered them far more glorious then their confessions or suffrings did or could render them though they want for no accesse of Glorie on Earth or reward in Heaven Beware then I say in time for if King CHARLES should come to resist unto blood as he hath alreadie often done to the extremitie of hazard of it and that Royall Religious blood of his should be shed by you that professe your selves to be of the same Religion with him if of anie at all either by your contributing money horse armes personall assistance or ought else to those that thirst and hunt after his blood and to the resisting of those that seek with the expence of their own to save it or else by their not contributing what is in your power to the hazzard of your own lives for the preservation of his still in such known hazzard for they that preserve not blood from being shed when it is in their power to preserve it are undoubtedly guiltie of shedding it Besides the deep everlasting staine that you would thereby bring upon the Protestant Religion such a guilt and horror would withall seize upon your soules when God should come to set your sinnes in order before your eyes as doubtlesse he will sooner or later that if ye did not like some Murtherers beleeve that whatsoever ye lookt on ye behold King CHARLES his bseeding sides and whatsoever ye eat or drunk ye tasted King CHARLES his Blood yet would ye wish ten thousand times over that you had lost everie drop of your own bloods and of the bloods of those that are most yours that ye had but done your dutie in time for the preserving of his Of all blood-guiltinesse take heed of being guiltie of the blood of a King for as he that is guiltie of anie mans blood is in that guiltie of more bloods then the blood of one and therefore the Scripture speaking of the shedding of blood does commonly if not constantly use a word that signifieth bloods in the plurall number so they which are guiltie of the blood of a King are in that guiltie of the bloods of a whole Kingdom everie Subject losing blood in the losse of his Soveraign Yea what if I should say that they which are guiltie of the blood of their King are to be reputed as guiltie of doing their utmost to shed the blood of God if I may so speak after the manner of men or of Christ himselfe I should not need to be put to prove it if what is most true be but confessed namely that Kings are Gods immediate vicegerents and the most representative image of his Majestie and therefore called Gods which may be one reason if not the main one why the shedding of the bloods of the most wicked of Kings by anie of their own Subjects hath been alwaies so publikely and severely avenged as in severall stories is recorded But above all abhorre the thought of being guiltie of King CHARLES his blood least in it you prove not only guiltie of what is alreadie told you but also of more Protestants bloods then have yet been shed since the Reformation as well as of the best that ever ran in anie veines And to you my deare Countrie-men I adde this one short caution more Take you heed least as your Ancestors the religious Protestants of this Countie are highly honoured in the Acts and Monuments of our Church and in the Annales of our Common-weale for the discharging their dutie in that height of equitie and fidelitie as to be the prime aiders and assisters of Soveraigntie in the setling and establishing the last and for persecuting the professors of the Gospell the worst Popish Prince that ever swaied the Scepter of this Kingdome so ye your selves be eternally stigmatized by all records of Church and State for deserting your dutie and becoming the abetters and maintainers of Rebells and Traitors in the deposing and murdering for that 's known to be their designe of the last for so 't is resolved if they can compasse their resolutions and the best Protestant Prince that ever yet swayed this or anie other Scepter whatsoever Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things And so I passe from the King to your fellow Subjects and your selves and with the consideration of the severall and joynt present State and condition of both I shall conclude this faithfull and faire warning As for your fellow-Subjects I shall dispose them for I abhorre the word divide into two sorts Those in generall throughout this Kingdome and those in particular against whom ye now bear Armes As for your fellow Subjects taken in the Generalitie throughout this Kingdome if you do not know their miserable deplorable state and condition as 't is confessed you of this County have had the least experimentall knowledge of the miserie of this Kingdome of any County within it though you have contributed as much towards it as any be pleased at your leisure to read but those sad and lamentable descriptions of the most distressed and most to be bewailed conditions of other people and Nations as they are for our warning if we had the grace to have taken it here and there drawne ready to our hands by the finger of God in holy records and then lay them together and therein you may behold your poore fellow-subjects distresses and miseries alreadie felt and further threatned as lively represented as if they had been the prototypes and these the ectypes or expresses they the first draughts and these the copies or if you win they 〈…〉 after which our curst school-masters have
taught the inslaved subjects of this Kingdom to write and that in their own blood I will only point ye to some few for your better direction in examining the rest which are very numerous Isaiah Chap. 3. from ver. 1. to ver 10. and from ver. 12. to ver. 16. Chap. 9. from ver 13. to the end Chap. 19. ver. 2. 3. Chap. 24. ver. 1. 2. 3. Chap. 34. ver. 2. 3. 5. 6. Chap. 59. from ver. 2. to ver. 16. Jerem. 4. ver. 20. 21. 22. Chap. 4. from ver. 1. to ver. 18. and from v. 26. to the end Chap. 6. from ver. 7. to ver 16. Ezek. Chap. 22. from ver. 4. to ver. 14. and from ver. 18. to ver. 23. and from ver. 25. to the end Michah Chap. 2. from ver. 1. to ver. 12. and Chap. 3. throughout I have directed you to such places as doe divers of them record the sinnes as well as the punishments of such and such people because they are the sorest punishments where any people are delivered up to commit such sinnes and such sinnes are the assured forerunners of the most destructive miseries as wel as the causes of them And whereas I have cited but here and there 〈◊〉 portion of Scripture you can scarce turne amisse any wâ—… where judgements are mentioned as inflicted or threatned 〈…〉 what is so mentioned is either in part or in the whole 〈…〉 fulfilled upon this Nation or the fullfilling thereof 〈…〉 a little time may be now justly feared there being so little signe of repentance the onely meanes to prevent it to be found amongst us And what County of this Kingdome hath cast in more to the filling up the measure either of this Nations iniquities or their other miseries then you of this And do ye think that ye shall goe unpunished No I pray God that you be not made to drink the very dregs of the cup of Gods fury and vengainee and to wring or suck them out as Isaiahs expression is or as Ezekied expresseth it that thy sisters cup the cup of which the other parts of this Kingdome have alreadie drunk and are now a drinking be not given into thy hand and thou made to drink deep and large till thou be laughed to scorne and had in dirision till thou be filled with drunkennesse and sorrow with the cup of astonishment and desolation Your late madnesse and sottishnesse in imbroyling your selves in a new Warre and in imbruing your hands in your Brethrens blood when you might have avoided it is a terrible simptome of such drunkennesse And this brings me without any interruption from the Consideration of the state and condition of your fellow-subjects in Generall to the consideration of those your fellow-subjects in particular against whom ye now bear armes For Christs sake and your owne consider well who they are against whom yee are now risen with so much and so strange fury and violence Are they not such as besides their being created after the Image of their Creator and yours an Argument of power sufficient to deterre any that bear the same Image from attempting ought against the blood of such especially if that one terrible sentence were but thought on AND SURELY THE BLOOD OF YOUR LIVES WILL I REQUIRE AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST WILL I REQUIRE IT AND AT THE HAND OF MAN AT THE HAND OF EVERY MANS BROTHER WILL I REQUIRE THE LIFE OF MAN WHOSO SHEDDETH MANS BLOOD BY MAN SHALL HIS BLOOD BE SHED for in the Image of God made he man Besides that I say are they not such as for whom Christ who was the expresse Image of his Father shed his most precious blood and doe by their being Christians carry in them the Image of Christ And doe you not tremble to shed their blood for whom Christ shed his or can yee call your selves Christians and yet persecute and murther those whom Christ calls his and that must be acknowledged by your selves to be more his then your selves if you would not measure your selves onely by your selves but by those rules which Christ hath prescribed why Christ accounts the persecuting and afflicting of such as the persecuting and afflicting of himselfe and so the shedding of their blood will be reputed as the shedding of his To come a little neerer you though no relation should be nearer or dearer to you then that of Christian Are they not Christians of the same particular profession of Faith with you at least so many of you as call your selves Protestants and professe to be of the same Faith with the established Church of England And will ye take the Swords Pâ—stolls Poynadoes and other bloody instruments out of the Jesuites and Jesuited Papists hands and clap them into your fellow-Protestants sides that they may hereafter with their knives cut your throats Ye have indeed divers of you that you might render them the more odious and those whom ye have ingaged against them the lesse suspicious and the more bloody raised rumor upon rumour lie upon lie and slander upon slander and cast them all upon them particularly that grand cheating slander wherewith the poore people have been so often fooled into blood that the principall men among them by name the Earle of Norwich and the Lord Capell are great Papists whereas the Kingdome knowes and so do many of you that raised and fomented that lie that both these right honourable personages are as sound firme religious Protestants as any in this Nation and if you were but as farre from Poperie as they you would both abhorre so to bely them and tremble to appeare in Armes against them And what I say of those two may I am confident be avouched and will be by those that know them of the rest of those Worthies that are with them infinitely beyond what can be affirmed of the most select Regiment yea Troop that the adverse Army can â—ull out But I speake only of those two because the people have spoken most of them and they are best knowne to mee and indeed so well knowne are they to mee that I should have been more guilty of bearing false witnesse then they of raising such a false report had I not vindicated their Honours from such a notorious calumnie And now that they are named suffer me to interpose this one word more concerning them If there be any thing besides their known loyaltie that does exasperate the factious seditious party against them 't is their eminent and approved firmenesse and immoveablenesse in the Protestant Religion And if they should miscarry in this action which I shall with all earnestnesse and constancie as all that wish well to this languishing Church and state ought to do pray that they may not the Protestants would find as great a losse in them as in any of their Peeres within the three Kingdomes But I have severed them too long from their honourable and ever to be honoured society and fellow-Souldierie Are they not all or the
most of them men of known tried integrity and honesty and many of them your very next neighbours and have they not so proved themselves by their Declarations Remonstrances and actions Do they not all professe clearly that they have and do ingage themselves in this present undertaking only for the defence and preservation of the established Protestant Religion for the delivering their Soveraigne from bondage and imprisonment and from being murdered therein for the restoring of his Majesty to his lawful Government just rights and throne in Parliament for the maintenance of the known Lawes of the land and the rights Liberties and properties of their fellow-subjects and for the procuring and setling of a firme and happy peace in this miserably divided and allmost utterly ruined Kingdome would to God that the Army which call themselves the Parliaments when they please had declared or would out yet declare halfe so much and give such assurance for the performance thereof as those Worthies will give and then it might be hoped that these unnaturall warres would soone be ended But when so many of that Army have so openly declared and proclaimed the contrary to all these and some of them have been bold to say that they fought neither for King nor Parliament and that they had above sixty thousand to be at eight houres warning to fight both against King and Parliament and have given very observable earnests of their having too many in a readinesse by their sudden raising such considerable Troopes and Regiments of such and wholly such within very few daies It is high time for all those that would not bee gull'd cheated or forced out of all those forenamed comforts and honours to betake themselves to their armes for their defence maintainance and contiâ—uance And what a staine shame and reproach will it be to you of this Countie and to your Posterities after you That when such men of such knowne honour and integritie and of such approved firmnesse and fidelity to their Religion King and Countrie like those renowned Worthies eternized by the Spirit of God to memory and imitation jeoparded their lives to death in the high places of the field for the defence and maintainance of those very truths and rights which ye your selves have often sworne and protested and doe still pretend and prosesse to defend and maintaine and that against the most base perfidious pernicious seditious tray terous bloodie tyrannous professed and proclaimed Enemies thereof yee not onely deserted them and came not out to their helpe To the helpe of the Lord against his and their adversaries but rose up and came out against them and cast in your lot with those Adversaries that lay waite for blood for the blood of Kings Princes Priests and people and lurke privily for the innocent without a cause not considering that by so doing ye lay wait for your owne blood and lurke privily for your owne lives And so my poore Countrey-men I come a little closer yet to your selves and to the consideration of your owne state and condition and then I shall commend you to Gods mercy if by your repentance ye shall render your selves capable thereof How little you of this Countie have beene sensible of the miseries and distresses of your fellow Subjects and Brethren and how much you have contributed to them I leave to your owne conscience to examine and to your selves to judge your selves for them Onely take these two conclusions along with you as two inseparable consequents of those two premises First That mers not being sensible of their brethrens miseries and so not taking warning by them pulls so much the more certaineand â—ore judgments upon themselves they that remember not Texts of Scripture enough to that purpose consult those in the margent Secondly That when God hath made use of any people to scourge others by for their sinnes and iniquities as he usually does of the worse to scourge the better he does constantly cast that his rod into the fire and punish that people the more severely by whom he hath severely punished others and one principall Reason thereof is because they whom God makes use of as his scourge to others doe with Gods chastisement or vengeance for their sinnes constantly intermix their owne malice and other iniquities in chastifing and taking vengeance on them And this conclusion you have confirmed in each circumstance by many remarkable and cleare examples as one of the Bookes of the Prophets namely in Ezekiels Prophesie As in Gods dealing with the Ammonites the Moabites and those of Mount-Seir the Edomites and the Philistines Ezek. 25. with those of Tyrus chap. 26. with those of Zidon chap 28. with Pharoah and all Egypt chap. 29. and with the rest of the heathen chap. 36. All which people had beene at severall times scourges to the people of Israel and Judah and are in that relation there called to an account adjuged by God to those judgements And though you may from these sad conclusions see evidence enough of your hastning Calamities yet there are other visible symptomes of your approaching Miseries which may perchance more awaken you as crying yet somewhat louder unto you and at lesse distance either to repent speedily or to expect swift destruction suddainly As first What thinke ye will be the inevitable consequents of your late ingagement against those Worthies of our David before but never too often named to their honour and your shame those English Heroes those Lords Knights Gentlemen Yeomen and others in renowned Colchester the most inferiour of which companie carries better blood in their veines because untainted then the proudest Adversarie that fights against them and I trust God will preserve it as preciously and the Citie wherein they are High exceeding high alreadie is the Honour of that Citie for being the Citie wherein Lucius Helena and Constantine the first Christian King Empresse and Emperour in the world were borne And it may please the Lord in his mercâ—e notwithstanding our multiplied iniquities crying so loud for the contrarie to rayse its honour yet much higher by making it the Citie wherein King Charles the most Religious of Christian Kings the Established Religion of the Church of England the Helena or Empresse of Christian Religion and the Incomparable Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome which for equitie and Christianitie deserve the Crowne Imperiall of the World shall be preserved from ruine and be restored to their priâ—â—inâ— glory The same Almightie God that wrought that first great Work in that Citie is all-sufficiently able there even there to accomplish this second And we humbly beseech him that neither their nor our â—innes may separate betweene his blessing and their Loyall and Christian indeavours to that purpose and whatever the successe be that that Citie nor those Worthies that are in it may never want their due honour nor his gracious protection and comforts But suppose the worst Suppose that by your ingagement against that Citie and those