assurance that he would comply with them as any man may satisfie himself that converses with the History and Transactions of those times But alas all these Condescentions would not do and tho' he good man flatter'd himself with an easie Belief that he had done what was fitting for a gracious King to do in order to still the voice of further Complaints yet for all that when for necessary reasons he took a Journey to Scotland these men whose Requests he had thus largely answered in his absence to shew their gratitude for what was done before appoint a Committee who being pick'd and chosen men drew up a Remonstrance wherein they made the most bitter Reflections upon his former Government and exposed him to the censure and ill thoughts of his less-discerning Subjects and which was so very unmannerly as well as false that when it came to be delated in the whole House after sitting up all night and thereby wearying many of the ancient Gentlemen and being protested-against by many learned and worthy Patriots in the House and carried only by eleven Votes yet it was ordered to be printed on purpose to enflame the Nation against him Notwithstanding which affront to his Person and Government after he had fairly answered it and vindicated himself from those horrid Aspersions wherewith they had loaded him fairly proving that the present Miseries and future Dangers of the Nation lay at their door and not at his I say notwithstanding this he continues still to sollicite them by Message after Message to offer any thing to him wherein the true Interest of the Kingdom was concerned and he would be ready to gratifie them by giving it the Royal Fiat And when through Tumults and too-much-countenanc'd Riots he withdrew from Whitehall being under apprehension of Affronts design'd to be offered to his Person if not something worse yet he ceases not to call upon them to consider the Nations Good and the settling it upon such Foundations as neither the Monarch might invade the just Rights of the People nor the People encroach upon the Rights of his Crown and Dignity And so he tells them upon their presenting their Petition at Theobalds and afterwards at New-market in the same month when after hearing their Declaration read he expostulated in these words What would you have Have I violated your Laws Have I denied to pass any one Bill for the Ease and Security of my Subjects God so deal with me and mine as all my Thoughts and Intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true Protestant Profession and for the Observation and Preservation of the Laws of this Land Expressions surely that do not in the least savour of that Tyranny and Oppression with which at this time by many wicked persons his Memory is charged 'T is true these Applications from the two Houses at this time were for nothing less than the Militia but Can any man accuse him for a Tyrant because he would not part with that which his Ancestors alwaies enjoy'd and without which a King is indeed but the shadow of a King especially not to part with it at that time when so little a Regard had been paid to his Person nay so many Indignities had not only been promoted but encouraged too by those very men whom nothing now could satisfie but the whole Power of the Sword Well the King continuing stedfast to his Resolutions and deaf to all their Importunities telling them he would not part with his Militia for an hour which any wise man that considered the present posture of Affairs would judge he had great reason to do the Parliament falls into great Passions and Resentments and resolve to be as stiff on the other side and not to abate him an Ace of their Demands and so intent are they upon this very thing that though the King sent to them to digest into one body all the Grievances of the Kingdom and to send them to him promising his favourable Assent to those Means which should be found most effectual for Redress wherein as he says he would not only equal but exceed the most Indulgent Prince words which do not use to drop from the Mouth of a Tyrant as he is falsly called by some at this day Yet all this was nothing the Militia they must have or the Nation is undone and rather than fail they will take it into their Hands by force And so they did after they had sent the King a downright Message That if his Majesty did not agree with the two Houses to settle the Militia that then for his and the Kingdoms safety they shall be constrained of themselves without His Majesty to settle the necessary business of the Militia And they were as good as their words seize it they did in spight of all the King could say or proclaim to the contrary But before the War actually broke out the King was gone to York and made it the place of his Royal Residence hoping thereby to cool the Heats that were at London and in some little time to be invited thither to live with more Honour and Safety than he did before Now while the King staid at York what Protestations he made to the Gentlemen and Citizens of that that County and City what Assurances he gave them of his Resolutions to govern by Law and no otherwise and of his protecting and countenancing the Protestant Religion may be easily known by any man who will but look over the faithful Historians of those Times The same Assurances he gave to the Inhabitants of Lincoln-shire and Leicester-shire and when he was forced to raise an Army which was after the Parliament had voted the Necessity of a War with him and after they had seized his Militia as far as they could why to let the World then see what he aimed at he does assure the Gentlemen whose Loyalty engaged them early on his side Sept. 19.42 and does promise them in the presence of Almighty God and as he hopes for his Blessing and Protection that he would to the utmost of his Power defend and maintain the true Protestant Religion establish'd in the Church of England and by the Grace of God in the same he would live and dye The Truth is to repeat all that he said of this nature in several Counties and to several Parties would be endless and not at all suit with my disigned Brevity And now we come to another Scene of Action and God knows a very melancholly one For through the High and Imperious Demands of the Parliament to which the King could no ways without stripping himself of every thing but the Name of a King the Sword the Unhappy Sword is drawn and the poor Kingdom instead of being an Island of Peace and Plenty is made a Field of Blood and the Father appears against the Son and the Son against the Father our Plough-shares are turned into Spears and our Pruning-hooks into Instruments of Hostility And methinks it should grieve
Tyrant It would be too tedious to entertain the Reader with what His Majesty made by way of Answer to these Propositions and besides swell this Paper beyond its designed bulk therefore I do refeâ—r the Reader to the Royal Papers themselves only thus much I must tell the World That His Majesty thought nothing at this time would so soon conduce to a Peace as a Personal Treaty which therefore he pressed hard for not doubting but by that means they might come on both sides to a true understanding of one another and therefore that he might not fail of having this Request granted him he ends his Letter to them with these words To conclude 't is your King who desires to be heard the which if refused by a King to a Subject he would be thought a Tyrant for it and for that end which all Men profess to desire wherefore His Majesty conjures you as you desire to shew your selves really what you profess even as you are good Christians and Subjects that you will accept this his Offer which he is confident God will so bless that it will be the readiest means by which these Kingdoms again may become a Comfort to their Friends and a Terrour to their Enemies Which words are not the words of a Monster or a Man of Blood as some vile men are now ready to call him the greater is their shame but the words of a truly-compassionate Father of his Country whose Heart bled for the Wounds of his Children and the Miseries of the Nation After all this the Scots notwithstanding all their Promises and Obligations sell him to the English Parliament and His Majesty is put into the Hands of Commissioners appointed to keep and watch his Person and brought by them to Holdenby-House in Northamptonshire where his Conversation was so agreeable and sweet his daily Discourses so strong and convincing that he changed the Opinion of many that were about him so that they became constant Admirers of his Virtues ever after and great Bewailers of having had an Hand in bringing him into those Streights out of which they could not now extricate him Now while he was here let us see what further Offers he made for Peace The first Message to both Houses from this place acquaints us with his bad Condition that his Servants were denied access to him unless it were a very few whom they appointed themselves and that it was a declared Crime for any but the Commissioners or such as were particularly permitted by them to converse with His Majesty or that any Letters should be given to or received from him a condition no man much less a Prince could be proud of Yet he tells them and therefore would not stand upon that That he preferred a Right Understanding betwixt him and his Parliaments of both Kingdoms which might make a firm and lasting Peace in all his Dominions before any Particular of his own or any earthly Blessing And to shew he was in earnest he then makes such Concessions to them as certainly would have been accepted of by any sort of men but such as had not yet satisfied their own Avarice Ambition and other Lusts and therefore were resolved to perpetuate the Distractions of the Kingdom in order to continue themselves in Places of Wealth and Power For he offered to settle their Church-Government for Three Years and at the same time the Assembly of Divines at Westminster and the Directory provided His Majesty and his Houshold were not hindered from the Form of God's Service which they formerly had Further he offers another Act for the better observation of the Lord's Day He consents that the whole Power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for the space of Ten Years be in the Hands of such Persons as the two Houses should nominate giving them a full Power during the said space to change or else to continue the said Persons in their several Offices Which when he had offered he conjures his two Houses of Parliament as they are English-men and Lovers of Peace by the Duty they owe to His Majesty their King and by the Bowels of Compassion they have to their fellow-Subjects that they will accept of this His Majesty's Offer whereby the Joyful News of Peace may be restored to this languishing Kingdom Which Offers had so great an eftect upon the Citizens of London tho' they had none at Westminster that they forthwith petitioned the Lord Mayor and Common-Council and tell them thereby That taking into serious consideration how Religion His Majesty's Honour and Safety the Privileges of parliament and Liberty of the Subject were at present greatly endangered and like to be destroyed and also sadly weighing with themselves what means might likely prove most effectual to procure a firm and lasting Peace without the further effusion of Christian English Blood have therefore enter'd into a solem Engagement and do humbly and earnestly desire that the whole City may joyn together by all lawfull and possible means as one man in hearty Endeavours for His Majesty's present coming up to his two Houses of Parliament with Honour Safery and Freedom and that without the nearer approaches of the Army there to confirm such things as he hath granted in his last Message in answer to the Propositions of both Kingdoms Which Petition you must understand was not presented by them called the Cavalier Party but by such as had ventured their Money and Plate for the Cause and had taken the Covenant and many of them exposed their Persons to fight for that which they through mistake apprehended Religions and the Nations Cause yet these men were so far from thinking His Majesty such a Bad man as some designing men now report him to be that they looked upon his Concessions as every ways answering that for which at first they took up Arms. Well after this the King upon more than ordinary grounds to believe that his Person was in danger at Hampton-Court whither the Army after they took him by force from Holdenby after many removes had carried him makes an escape from them by night but withal leaves a Paper behind him upon the Table wherein he gives an account with what patience he had endured a redious restraint which so long as he had any hopes that this sort of Suffering might conduce to the Peace of his Kingdom or the hindrance of more effusion of Blood he did willingly undergo but finding by too-certain Proofs that this his continued Patience would not only turn to his personal Ruine but likewise be of much more Prejudice than Furtherance to the Publick Good he thought he was bound as well by natural as political Obligations to seek his Safety by retiring himself for some time from the publick view both of Friends and Enemies And after he had appealed to all indifferent men to judge whether he had not just cause to free himself from the hands of those who changed their Principles with their Conditions and who were
both King and Parliament the one to see and hear of the Destruction of his own Children as I may justly call them and the other to hear so frequent Tidings not only of the loss of their Fellow-Subjects Lives but also of the ruine of their Lands and Houses Do not they both strive which should most court each other to Peace And do not they abate of their former Demands as well as stiff Adherencies Methinks the Cries and Losses of the poor innocent Inhabitants of the Kingdom should pierce their Ears and melt their Hearts and make them forget all their former Passions and Resentments Why truly to give the two Houses their due they did at this time send Proposals as if they had been truly assected with the Nations Miseries but in the mean time I am sorry I can say no otherwife they were such Proposals as they could upon all reasonable and fair Considerations and Debates with themselves expect no good Success of because they could not but know before-hand they would be denied insomuch as the King had told them again and again where he would stop and how far he would go especially as to Church-Affairs Nothing less in these Proposals would satisfie them than the abolishing by Act of Parliament the whole Hierarchy to which he was sworn by his Coronation-Oath settling the Militia as they pleased themselves the King 's disbanding his Army made up of the best Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom and withal which was a greater Assront to Majesty than could be supposed to them in coming to demand the five Members He must be obliged as it were and in effect to beg those Members Pardon for wronging them with what he thought and could by good Evidence prove Matter of Truth Which certainly was but to seem to desire Peace and at the same time to resolve to continue the War But now the next thing to be considered is after these Proposals how the King manages himself and what steps he makes towards a Peace and truly I think according to my poor Judgment he now acts according to what he alwaies pretended and solemnly avowed to wit as a true Father of his Country for he proposes That his Revenue Magazines Towns Ships and Forts may be restored to him that what hath been done contrary to Law and his Right may be recalled and that he will consent to the execution of all Laws concerning Popery or Reformation Nay he further tells them That he had given up all the Faculties of his Soul to an earnest endeavonr of a Peace and Reconciliation with his Subjects So that to me hitherto the Fault lies not at His Majesty's door say the Enemies to his Memory what they please for let them but abate of the rigour of their Demands and not ask him things wholly inconsistent with his Honour and Conscience with his Crown and Dignity and the issue of Blood is stopped presently and the Nation restored to its former state of Peace for still he stands ready and prossers again and again to sign any Bill that in his own and the Judgment of many Wise and Good men about him who were true lovers of their Countrys Licerties and Properties was necessary for making the Nation more happy in its Privileges than it had been in all Ages before And truly it so I see no Cause for continuing a Destructive War in the Bowels of the Kingdom nor for standing upon their Points at that rigid rate they did especially when so many of their Brethren and fellow-Members of both Houses upon great dissatissaction at their Proceedings had left their station and took in out of Principles of Loyalty and Duty with their Master's Cause venturing both their Lives Families and Estates upon it which no man can believe wise men would have done if they had not seen great Reason to question the Integrity of the prevailing part of the Parliament So that hitherto there appears no just Reason for those many scandalous Reflections that in Coffee-houses and other places of publick Intercourse or private Communication are made upon this great and excellent man And thus ended the year 42 all the King's Proposals and Condescentions being neglected and slighted The year 43. begins with a Treaty for Peace at Oxford Commissioners for the Parliament being the Lord Northumberland the Lord Wenmain Mr. Peirepoint Mr. Hollis c. who were civilly treated both by the King himself and many of his great Officers which Treaty was managed not by Commissioners on the King's side but by himself And truly he that reads it over must needs confess that His Majesty deserved the Commendation Mr. Whitlock who was one of them in his Memorials gives of him to wit That in this Treaty the King manifested his great Parts and Ability strength of Reason and quickness of Apprehension with much patience in hearing what was objected against him wherein he allowed all Freedom and would himself sum up the Arguments and give a most clear Judgment upon them This is Mr. Whitlock's Character And to let all the World see his readiness to do every thing which might reasonably answer the Kingdoms Expectation and make it happy he tells these Commissioners That he hath nor denied any one thing proposed to him by both Houses which in Justice could be required of him or in reason expected And the Truth of it is had not their Demands been so very high in this as well as in other Treaties which a man must think were made on purpose by the prevalence of a designing self-interested Party to continue the War I am certain Peace had ensued upon this Treaty for the King still like a tender Father groaned under the Oppressions of his Honour and Conscience were not concerned in order to put an end to that desolating War And therefore that this Treaty had no better effect was not the King's fault but of those that bound up their Commissioners to such narrow limits that His Majesty without doing Injustice to the Essentials of Regality could not comply with the Proposals that were offered And this he complains of himself That they bound up their Committee in that manner as to Time and Power as might wholly render it ineffectual 'T is true after the Commissioners returned home the Lords and Commons put out a Declaration upon the Proceedings of this Treaty which I shall no ways reflect upon but only tell the World the King presently put out an Answer to it which whosoever will be pleased to read will find His Majesty the same person still a man of true Honour and Conscience and ready to serve all the Needs and Conveniencies of his Country and no ways deserving those Reflections which were made by his Subjects at that time to render him odious to his People and I do desire the present Maligners of this Great Person to read over his Declaration in answer to the Parliaments and then tell me whether he designed any Tyrannical and Arbitrary Power and was
prosound Respect to his Royal Grandchildren now happily in the Throne think good to abuse him withal Now after all this the very month following tho' he tells them he needs make no Excuse if he sends no more Messages to them because he knew very well he ought not to do it if he stood upon Punctilio's of Honour yet nothing being equally dear to him to the preservation of his People His Majesty passes by many Scruples Delays and Neglects and once more desires them to give him a speedy Answer to his last Message for His Majesty believes it doth very well become him after this very long Delay on their side at last to utter his Impatience since that the Good and Blood of his Subjects cry so much for Peace Which words how much they look like the words of a Tyrant or a Villain as he is commonly called by our present pretending Patriots I leave any man to judge And in the month following in another Message he says thus Notwithstanding the unexpected silence instead of Answers to His Majesty's many and gracious Messages to both House whereby it may appear that they desire to attain their Ends rather by Force than Treaty which may justly discourage His Majesty from any more Overtures of that kind yet His Majesty conceives he shall be much wanting to his Duty to God and in what he owes to the Safety of his People if he should not intend to prevent the Inconveniencies that may any ways hinder a safe and well-grounded Peace Which words certainly are not the words of a Tyrant Well after these Messages from Oxford His Majesty for Reasons best known to himself leaving Oxford in a disguise and committing himself to the Scotch Army then by Newark pray let us see what he does when in his Enemies Hands Why Good man still he breathes nothing but Peace as you may see by the following account for from Southwell he writes to the two Houses and tells them That he withdrew from Oxford only to secure his own Person and with no intention to continue the War any longer nor to make any Division between his two Kingdoms but to give such Contentment to them both as by the Blessing of God he might see an happy and well-grounded Peace thereby to bring Prosperity to these Kingdoms answerable to the best time of his Progenitors And that he might satisfie them he was in good-earnest and designed no Tricks by way of Postscript he tells them That being dasirous to shun the further Effusion of Blood and to evidence his Real Intentions to Peace he is willing that his Forces in and about Oxford be disbanded and the Fortifications of the City dismantled they receiving Honourable Conditions which being granted to the Town and Forces His Majesty will give the like Order to the rest of the Garrisons And pray let the honest Reader judge where lay the fault now and who rid the Nation and prolonged its Miseries the King or those whom our present Pretenders to the only Loyalty to Their present Majesties call The Old Blades The Brave Fellows The noble Defenders of their Laws and Country though at the same time they trampled them all under their Feet and set up their own Wills in opposition even to Magna Charta if self And surely he that hath but half an Eye may see who were the Continuers of the War and for what reason namely To ride upon the high places of the Earth to kill and take possession And after this the Great and Good man sends a Letter to the City of London in which he tells them That nothing is more grievous to him than the Troubles and Distractions of his People and nothing on Earth is more desired by him than that it Religion and Peace with all the comfortable Fruits of both they may henceforth live under him in all Godliness and Honesty And this Profession says he to the City we make for no other end but that they may immediately know from himself his Integrity and full Resolution to comply with his Parliament in every thing for the settling of Truth and Peace Words becoming the Excellent and Religious Temper of this Great man After this he sends another Message from Newcastle to the two Houses in which among many other things he desires them That the Propositions of Peace so often promised and so much expected may be speedily sent to him that upon consideration of them he may apply himself to give such satisfaction as may be the founddation of a firm Peace And to convince every man who would be convinc'd that he was in all his Desires for Peace the very same man that is True and in Earnest the same day he writes this Letter to the Houses he sends another to the Governours of his remaining Garrisons telling them That having resolved to comply with the Desires of his Parliament in every thing which might be for the Good of his Subjects and leave no means unessay'd for removing all Differences between them therefore he had thought sit the more to evidence the Reality of his Intentions of settling â—… happy and firm Peace to require them upon honourable 〈◊〉 to quit those Towns Forts and Castles iâ—…ed to them by him and to disband all the Forces under their several Commands And pray what Tyranny is there in all this And upon what account is this Great man so basely accused as he is at this time by Thousands of this Nation Certainly when they read all this they must needs fall foul upon themselves for being guilty of so much Unworthiness and Dishonesty to the Memory of so great and good a man as he was But now some may say You talk all for the King here Pray what said the two Houses to all these Messages Were they wholly deaf to his Offers Did they â—…orn any Answer to his Proposals No no that they might seem to be for Peace they sent Propositions to the King at Newcastle but I must tell the Reader they were such as would make any man that wishes well to his Native Kingdom sick to read them such Demands as no man that had any sense of Honour could possibly grant For first he must justifie by an Act of State all that they had unjustly done to him he must be obliged to take the Covenant and sign an Act for others to do so too he must part with the Power of the Sword and indeed be thereby but a meer Cypher in the Kingdom and that which must needs grate upon a generous and noble Spirit such as his was he must pass an Act to except from Pardon and to lay at these mens merciless Feet the best and truest Friends he had in his Kingdom such as from Principles of Honour and Duty had ventured both their Lives and their great Estates in his Service And Good man because he would not sign all these together with many other unreasonable things he must forsooth be called then and now also a
Peace sake makes such Concessions that the major part of the House after many hours debate came to this Vote That His Majesty's Concessions to the Propositions of Parliament upon the Treaty are sufficient Grounds for settling the Peace of the Kingdom And happy had it been for the whole Nation if they had passed such a Vote some years before upon what the King offered them they had prevented the wasting of abundance of Blood and Treasure but alas their Eyes were in their Heads now too late the Army was now too much poysoned with Common-wealth and destructive Principles and therefore notwithstanding all their former Assurances of Submission and Faithfulness to the Parliament they make bold to let them know they have been under the Jurisdiction of better Masters and have learned another Lesson and therefore when the House met again they very fairly lay violent hands upon their Persons and forcibly pluck them from their Duty and confine a great part of them keeping them under a strict Guard What follow'd after this is known to all the World The Great the Good the Wise the Condescending King his Person is seiz'd by order of the Army he is brought up to London try'd and condemn'd by a Mock-Court of Justice against all Law Justice Honour Oaths and Promises and at last barbarously murthered by his own Palace And thus died Charles the First the Glory of the English Monarchs the Mirror of Patience the great Pattern of Religion and Devotion and whose Name among good and unprejudic'd men hath ever since blossom'd in the Dust and may the Judgments that have followed the Nation since be the last upon the account of that horrid and unheard-of Murther Amen Amen POSTSCRIPT READER I Have reserved an Answer to some particular Objections which are commonly made by this Great Man's Enemies against him by way of Postscript having not had a fair occasion to bring it into the Body of this little Book only before I make it I must beg leave to tell thee what I have observed concerning the men that are now so busie in defaming and scandalizing this Great and Pious Prince namely That they are most of them persons that were not born when the Horrid Murther of the King was committed and that have not read his Story at all but are only put on by old Foxes that lost by the Restauration of Charles the Second what they never had a legal Right to and therefore long to be dabbling again in Crown and Church-Lands which indeed is the true Notion of these mens Liberties and Properties of the Subject First They considently say That he was a Papish or at least Popishly inclined and therefore by way of Scorn nothing is more usual than to hear them saying That the late King James was the best of the Three meaning King Charles the First and his two Sons that reigned after him Now by way of Answer to this base and false Imputation I will not trouble thee Reader with any tedious and long Defence for they that hear this Scandal after they have looked into the Life and Conversation of this Great man must both scorn and pity the Malice as well as Ignorance of such as lay such an Aspersion at his Door And for an eternal confutation of it I beg of thee to take good notice of this true Story His Majesty being to receive the Sacrament in 1643 at Christ-Church in Oxford from the Hands of the Lord Archbishop of Ardmagh rising up from his Knees and beckoning to the Archbishop said My Lord I espy here many resolved Protestants who may delare to the World the Resolution I now make I have to the utmost of my power prepared my Soul to become a worthy Receiver and may I so receive Comfort by the Blessed Sacrament as I do intend the Establishment of the True-reformed Protestant Religion as it stood in its Beauty in the happy Days of Queen Elizabeth without any Connivance at Popery I bless God that in the midst of these publick Distractions I have still liberty to communicate And may this Sacrament be my Damnation if my Heart do not joyn with my Lips in this Protestation And he that will continue to scandalize this Great Person after he has read this Story upon this account is resolved to be an incurable Secondly Another thing they lay to his charge at this time is That he set on foot and encouraged the Irish Rebellion Ans They that talk at this rate I am sure have never read his Story or if they have it has been with an invincible and resolved Prejudice His frequent and publick Detestations of it his groaning under the Miseries and Murders of his poor Protestant Subjects there his offering to go in Person to subdue the Rebels are sufficient Vindications of him against this vile Defamation and will ever be received as such amongst good men But to strike this Objection dead over and above all those Defences the King made for himself and the Scorn and Defiance he gave to the pretended Broad Seal to countenance the Rebellion which is Forgery all over give me leave to lay before the Reader these two things The Lord Macquire a great and bloody Rebel being taken Prisoner and conveyed to London and there tryed for his Life at the King's-Bench-Bar for High Treason where being found guilty he had Sentence pronounc'd against him as a Traytor which Sentence was particularly executed in the presence of the Sheriff and it 's believ'd of Fifteen thousand Spectators Now when he came to Execution the Sheriff abjur'd him by the dreadful Tribunal of God before which shortly he was to appear and for the clearing and easing of his Conscience that he would then ingenuously confess whom he knew guilty of the same Crime namely the Irish Rebellion upon which the Criminal though the Rope was about his Neck and he half way up the Ladder yet by Name he acquitted King Charles from being any ways privy to it Nay says my Author being cast off the Ladder and when he had tryed what Hanging in part was being reprieved and had no small hopes given him of a Pardon he still persisted in the same Protestation And that which further convinces me and so it will any unprejudic'd man besides of the truth of this is That when they came to draw up the Charge against him in order to his Trial and Condemnation though their business was to blacken him with all the foul Imputations their Malice could rake up and they did so yet not one word in the whole touching his abetting or countenancing the Irish Rebellion which certainly they neither could nor would have omitted if they had had any Grounds to believe and to charge him with it Thirdly The last Objection against him is his Divine and Holy Book It is not to be imagined with what Industry they have within this last year endeavoured to perswade the World it was a Forgery and not of his compiling and there is a
that if he be not hindered by the Infirmities of Old-Age or Sickness he preach every Sunday in some Church within his Diocess 4. That the Ordination of Ministers shall be alwaies in a publick and solemn manner and strict Rules observed concerning the Sufficiency and other Qualifications of those men who shall be received into Holy Orders and the Bishop shall not receive any into Holy Orders without the Approbation and Consent of the Presbyters or the major part of them 5. That competent Maintenance and Provisions be established by Act of Parliament to such Vicarages as belong to Bishops Deans and Chapters out of the Impropritions of the several Parishes 6. That no man for the time to come shall be capable of two Parsonages or Vicarages with Cure of Souls and likewise that one or more Acts of Parliament be passed for regulating Visitations and against immoderate Fees in Ecclesiastical Courts And that they might be might be wanting in nothing if any thing could satisfie they declare in the close That if their Lordships shall insist upon any other thing which they shall think necessary for Reformation they were very willing to apply themselves to the consideration thereof And now let me ask any man whether these men acted like the Tools and Instruments of a Tyrant of one who was resolved to set up his own Will in opposition to the Nations Good or Contentment But yet all this was nothing the state of things is changed from what it was when they made their Protestation now no Peace no Reconciliation without the King 's taking the Covenant and thereby perjuring himself and signing an Act for others to be perjur'd as well as himself or else wholly to be laid aside as useless and unprofitable Members of the Body-Politick and to be wholly uncapable of any Place of Trust or Profit either in Church or State And here I now appeal to all impartial and unprejudic'd Readers who were in fault and who stood betwixt the Kingdom and a Compleat Happiness and what reason there was to continue such a bloody and unnatural War when a Peace was offered and might have been concluded upon such fair and agreeable Terms as these were And they therefore that at this time censure and reproach the Memory of King Charles the First must be men either of Resolved Prejudices or else of Profound and Stupid Ignorance who never gave themselves Leave to read his Story and thereby to be acquainted with true Matter of Fact The Truth is had such things been granted as to Church-Affairs when King Charles the Second was restored I am sure those men who at this Treaty scornfully refused these Offers would have thought themselves happy in the enjoyment of them and have blessed God for such healing Abatements and Condescensions but God's Justice reckoned with many of these men in 62 for their Cruelty to the Episcopal Clergy in 43. The other great thing that came under debate at that time was the Militia and what Moderation the King's Commissioners shewed and what fair Offers they made let any man read the Conference and then judge In short they consented That the Militia for three years should be in the Hands of Twenty Commissioners the one half by the two Houses which certainly considering the King 's Right to it and his Ancestors having alwaies enjoyed the whole Power of disposing of it was a very great Condescension on the King's part But alas it was nothing the Instructions on the other side were to have all or none and here they broke and certainly any Prince or any Noble Person deputed by him as these were would have broke with any Enemy rather than to have submitted to such slavish terms as these were For as the Commissioners told those that appeared in the Parliaments behalf that upon these Terms His Majesty for himself and his Posterity too would have parted with their peculiar Regal Power of being able to resist their Enemies or protect their good Subjects and with the undoubted and never-denyed Right of the Crown to make War and Peace He that reads over the whole Conference will find it was managed on the King's Commissioners side in all other things with the same Spirit and the same great Abatements of the Royal Power so that if there had been any real Inclination to Peace on the other side a Blessed and Happy Peace would have ensued and the future Miseries and Desolations of the War had been prevented but God did not see it good neither was the Nation worthy of such a Blessing at that time her Sins cried aloud for further Vengeance and she had it in very great proportions Well after this by the assistance of the Scots and the new-modelling of the Army the Parliaments Arms prosper at a great rate and the King's Affairs consequently went backward But however His Majesty upon all promising Opportunities or at least to gratifie the Tenderness of his Bowels towards a distracted and oppressed People left not off to shew his Zeal for Peace that his poor Subjects might not live in those continual Fears and Dangers they were in and therefore he sends from Oxford and tells them how deeply-sensible he was of the Continuation of this bloody and unnatural War and that he cannot think himself discharged of the Duty he owes to God or the Affection and Regard he hath to the Preservation of his People without the constant application of his earnest Endeavours to find some Expedient for the speedy ending of these unhappy Distractions Which Message when neglected and not answered His Majesty Good man ten days after send another to them extreamly wondering that they after so many Expressions on their part of a deep and seeming sence of the Miseries of the Afflicted Kingdom and the Dangers incident to his Person during the continuance of this unnatural War should delay a safe Conduct to the persons mentioned in the last Message who were to treat of Peace And again this Message being slighted within a few days after he follows them with another and tells them Notwithstanding the strange and unexpected Delays which can be Presidented by no former Times to his former Message therefore he will lay aside all Expostulations as rather serving to time than to contribute any Remedy to the Evils which for the present do afflict this distracted Kingdom And therefore he offers to put things into such a posture as certainly if they had designed an End of the Nations Confusions would have terminated in an happy and settled Peace But this taking no effect he presently in a few days sends another Message with such solemn and religious Professions of his Desire for composing the present Differences betwixt them that truly he that reads them must upon necessity unless he be all Will and Prejudice conclude that this Great King is very wrongfully blamed and barbarously used when he is called by such Names as very many of this Nation out of great Good manners and also
not ashamed openly to intend the Destruction of the Nobility and who had changed and put strict Guards upon him with the discharging most of all those Servants of his whom formerly they willingly admitted to wait upon him After he had said all this with a great deal more â—s the Reasons of that Retirement he concludes the Pâ—… with these words Let me be but heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew my self really to be Pater Patriae And here I cannot forbear again to ask What Tyranny is there in all this and With what Face is this Great man reflected upon so barbarously at this day as he is by some men in all parts of the Kingdom an unheard of thing considering that those that sprung from his Loins are in the Throne Certainly they either never read his Story or if they did they are resolved against Conviction and keep alive in their Breasts such Resentments on purpose to help them to serve another turn when opportunity which God forbid shall offer of the same nature The next News after this we hear of His Majesty is from the Isle of Wright under the Command of Hammond the Governor into whose hands he had committed himself And pray let us see how he carries himself there and whether he did not make all Essays for Peace and the Settlement of the Nation upon a firm and lasting bottom that so King and People might enjoy what belongs to them both without future fear or danger Yes yes we find him again at the same Work labouring with all his Might for Peace For tho' he left Hampton Court but the 11th of Nov. 47 yet on the 17th he sends Propositions for Peace wherein he grants again what he had done before so greatly to the Contentment and Satisfaction of the Citizens of London but alas it seems to be too late now for he had lost his Power and the Faction resolved never to part with it again they had tasted the sweetness of Usurpation and the relish would not casily go out of their Mouths and therefore as he sell low in his Offers so they rose higher and made bigger Demands and to shew their great Desires of Peace or indeed which hath more Truth in it of continuing themselves in Places of Trust and Honour which they thought they could not do without making the Breach betwixt the King and themselves wider and wider therefore the more crafty and subtile Party of the House of Commons which were the Independent Party who had got at that time too great a sway both in the House and Army procure four Bills and Propositions to be sent to the King to sign ready drawn up together with the Heads of 23 more which whosoever will be pleased to read may easily judge of the Spirit that then reigned and the wicked and destructive Designs then on foot Bills that they were assured beforehand if the most solemn Protestations on the King's side could convince them he would never pass and indeed which upon bare Principles of Conscience he could never pass without an utter overthrow of the Peace and Satisfaction of his Mind And so cunning were they to make Demands at this time that might have no effect that the Bills they sent which they could not but foresee the Scots Commissioners protested against to the King and therefore they proposed ahem so high that the King might deny them and the War be thereby prolonged The Answer His Majesty makes to these four Bills is great and admirable to transcribe the whole would be too tedious in short he tells them That he believes it clear to all Understandings that these Bills contain as they are now penned not only the divesting himself of all Soveraignty and that without a possibility of recovering it either to himself or Successors except by repeal of those Bills but also the making his Concessions guilty of the greatest Pressures that can be laid upon the Subject as in other particulars so by giving an Arbitrary and Unlimitted Power to the two Houses for ever and after much more said upon that Subject he concludes his Answer thus That His Majesty is very much at ease within himself for having fulfilled the Offices both of a Christian and a King and will patiently wait the good Pleasure of Almighty God to incline the Hearts of his two Houses to consider their King and to compassionate their fellow-Subject's Miseries Which Answer and Refusal of his to sign these four Bills so causelesly enslam'd the then Lords and Commons that as if they were sole Masters in Israel they vote That they will make no further Addresses or Applications to the King nor that any Address be made to him by any other persons without the Leave of both Houses And to shew their Absolute and Uncontroulable Power they vote That whoever shall make Breach of this Order shall incurr the Penaties of High Treason Nay to pin the Basket up they vote They will also receive no more Messages from the King and enjoyn all persons to receive and bring none from him Here is your Loyalty indeed This is to act as becomes humble and dutiful Subjects with a witness what pity it is that these great Heroes Statues are not set up in every Corner of the Kingdom with this Label at their Mouths No more Addresses to our King But What says the Good man to all this What Resentments hath he upon this great Honour done to him thus to be as it were dethron'd by those who were under the Obligation of Oaths of Fidelity to him and his Posterity Good man he presently makes a Declaration in Answer to these Votes and begins Am I thus laid aside and must I not speak for my self No I will speak and that to all my People and so goes on with Reflections upon his Condition enough to melt the Hearts of any but those who made those hard-hearted Votes or those of the same Principles Now I am under a Necessity of of Brevity or else I would transcribe the whole whereby I am sure I should force Tears from all tender persons Eyes I referr therefore the Reader to the Papers themselves only tell him he concludes it thus It may be easily gathered how these Men intend to govern who have used me thus And if it be my Hard Fate to fall together with the Liberty of this Kingdom I shall not blush for my self but much lament the future Miseries of my People the which I shall still pray God to avert whatever becomes of me After this how these Votes were recalled and a fresh Treaty agreed upon in the Isle of Wight how the Treaty was managed what Strength of Reason and Judgment the King manifested both in his Debates about Church as well as State-Affairs any man may satisfie himself that reads the Accounts from August to December in the year 48 where he will find at last His Majesty for