conscience and dutie towards God whose command iâ— when thou art converted strengthen thy Luke 22 32. brethren That Subjects owe obedience to their Soveraign the whole consent of Scripture doth agree The Psalmist resembleth Kings to Gods upon earth and indeed they have their rule and Ps 82. 6. power by Gods appointment Prov. 8. 15. By me Kings reign and therefore to such as rebell against them it may be said as God said to Samuel touching the Israelites They have not cast â— Sam. 8. 7. thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them I hope none are so impudent to compare our King to Saul rejected of God but if any such be had they any touch of the grace in Davids heart then would they yet pray with him Lord keep me from laying mine hands upon the Lords anointed let me intreat them with a single eye and humble spirit to read â— Sam. 26 the historie of Davids carriage towards Saul and to remember the wise counsels of Solomon My sonne fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly The fear of a King is as the roaring of Prov. 20. 2. 3. a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul it is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling an evil man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruel messenger Pr 17. â—â— shall be sent against him The wrath of a King is as the messenger Prov. 16 14. 15â— of death but a wise man will pacifie it for in the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain And again in Eccl. I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement and Ecc. 8. 3. â— 4. â— that in regard of the Oath of God be not hastie to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Let us never forget that divine precept of our Saviour the King of Kings set down in three of the Evangelists Give unto Caesar the thing that are Caesars Remember the Apostle of the Circumcision Fear God Honour the King and submit your 1 Pet. 2. 13 14 17. selves to all manner of Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as unto the Superior or unto the Governours as those that are sent of him Observe the decree of the Doctor of the Gentiles writing to the Romans then governed by Nero a most cruell Tirant Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Rom. 13. â— 2. for there is no power but of God whosoever resisteth the Power resists the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Condemnation And in the Marginall Notes upon the old Translation it is well observed that because God is the Author of this Order therefore Rebells must know that they make war with God himself and cannot but purchase to themselves great misery and calamity For though the King hath not Power over the Conscience of man yet seeing he is Gods Minister he cannot be resisted by any good Conscience And in his Epistle to Tiâ—us he gives a special memento Put them in mind that they be subject to the higher Powers and that they Tit 3. 1. be obedient and the like in divers places of his Epistles The King of England is an absolute Imperiall Monarch by the Law yet he is to govern his Subjects by the Laws and Antient Customes of his Kingdome But the King is the only supreme Power next under God and so acknowledged by all Parliaments and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance do prove as much And by a Statute made in 1 of Elizabeth any man is disabled to sit as a Member in the house of Commons untill he hath taken a solemn Oath upon the Evangelists whereby he doth acknowledge the King to be the only Supreme Governour of these Realmes in all Cases whatsoever And also promiseth that he will to the best of his Power assist and defend all his Majesties Royal Priviledges Prâ—heminences and Jurisdictions graunted or annexed to his Imperiall Crown and yield his Obedience thereunto Which Oath how faithfully some do now observe I leave to the Judgement of God and their own Consciences It is confessed by all knowing men that a Parliament truly understood is a Court of the highest Nature and Authority in this Kingdome and that it hath power to make and alter Lawes And that matters there in question are to be decided or agreed on by the Major part of Voices But it must not be a Parliament without a Head not a Parliament rent in pieces that hath power to do this For to make any Obligatory Act to bind the Subject absolutely either in Life Liberty or Goods there must be a concurrence of the Major part of both Houses with the Kings Royall Assent added thereunto in whom the Legislative power doth alone consist And therefore I know not how any such thing can now be done at Westminster the King being absent and the farr greater part of both houses nay almost all the Lords being also departed and now joyning themselves with the King in all his designes But it will be objected that many things may be done by Ordinance of Parliament I will not deny but that both Houses of Parliament joyntly assembled may possibly have power to make Ordinances for the present good of the Common wealth And that these Ordinances may be binding during the time of that Session Provided that they â—e no wayes contradictory to the known Laws of the Land For the Subject enjoyeth his Life his Liberty his Lands by the antient Customes and Statutes of this Kingdome which are indeed the fundamentall Lawes thereof And therefore the Subject cannot be deprived of these rights but by a Law of as high a nature and that must be a Statute Law at the least How then can any man by an Ordinance contradictory to Law be legally dispossessed of his Liberty or Goods which he doth enjoy by the Power of the Law But some say that these things may be done by Priviledge of Parliament And if there be such a Priviledge come to light that doth over-top all Law Reason and Religion then much may be done But I beeleeve that if any such Priviledge be now found out that it is as new as the inventers thereof for venerable antiquity their betters in learning and knowledge never yet heard of any such matter It is known to all that have but smelt of the Law that both by the Common and Statutes Lawes of this Kingdome it is high Treason to levie Armes against the King or to be Adherent or Assistant to the Kings Enemies and these Laws when they be once
or walk upon hollow and deceitfull Qâ—agmires but upon reasonable sound justifiable Grounds and I have no other certain way or manner of means how to make my Self or my Case truly and effectually known to your Majesty but only thus and I now do cry to your Grace in the words of the Psalmist to his God The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty but O leâ— not the oppressed return ashamed The beloved Sonne of Jacob by the despire and envy of his Brethren was sold into Aegypt for a Bondslave where he lived in long obscurity and endured much pain and penury untill his Case was known and the word of the Lord had tryed him but then the King delivered him the Prince of the People let him go free and after all his sorrows and sufferings his successe was admirable I shall be heartily sorry if in any Passage herein I have given to any one the least occasion of a just offence but if your Majesty please to remember some Considerations written upon the life and services of an eminent Statesman and Counsellour to Henry the Great your Royal Grandfather of Fraunce your Grace will there find that the Offences of Tongues Pens and Impressions above all others may be dissembled and winked at and therefore I trust that the sayings and writings of such as intend no hurt but are void of impudency and seek only to illustrate the Truth shall receive a milde and gentle interpretation And thus with my humble and hearty Prayers to God Almighty for the true felicity of your Sacred Majesty and all your Royal Relations I most humbly submit my Self and all that is mine to your Majesties mercy and most favourable censure and clemency craving leave to proceed on in the relation of my services and sufferings where for method and order sake I must begin with my Addresse and Declaration intended to his late Majesty of ever blessed memory which had been presented unto him if I had met with the happinesse of an accesse to his Grace TO THE Kings Most Excellent MAJESTIE The humble Declaration of Your Majesties Written in the year c. 164â— Loyal and Obedient Subject J. W. of L. in the County of Ess Counsellour at Law briefly shewing his Troubles and the true occasion thereof in these Times of Rebellion May it please your Majesty AS I am in duty bound in the first place to render most hearty thanks to God Almighty for his great goodnesse towards your Majesty in blessing and preserving you and yours so graciously in these wofull dayes of distraction So I cannot but esteem it a great mercy of God and a most infallible signe of his favour towards me your poor Subject that he hath alwaies given me a heart so constant and loyal towards your Sacred Majesty as I may boldly say that neither my hand or tongue or thought hath agreed to any thing conducible to the beginning or fostering of this most unnatural Rebellion For when your Majesty sent forth Writs for the summoning of this late Parliament your Subject dwelling upon the Confines of Suff. and hearing what indirect and unlawfull means was used in the election of the Knights there Ignorance and Affectation ambitiously striving to be the principal Electors did begin suddenly to smell a savour of some worse intentions and thereupon when some of his Neighbours requested his company to Chelmsford in Essex to give a voyce to the electing of the Knights of the Shire there your Subject made this Answer That he would not stir a foot upon that occasion because he verily believed that the Parliament would never come to good It was a rash Speech I confesse but I have thought since that surely I spake It by some Prophetical inspiration and God knows I have many times wished that I had not guessed so right And afterwards when your Majesty had granted to an Act that the Parliament should not be dissolved without the consent of both Houses your Subject soon after being at a Publick meeting in the Town where he lived where was then present one that was a Justice of the Peace and a Lawyer who told it your Subject for good News That your Majâ—sty had condescended to such an Act and that now the Parliament would go on very confidently without any obstacles or fears Your Subject made him hereupon this subitain Answer That indeed if your Majesty had granted to such an Act it might possibly conduce to some good end if it pleased God to give to the Parliament the Spirit of Grace and Wisedome that they went on in a legal and moderate way but if they digressâ—d from that method it might then be a means to introduce great Inconveniences and Distractions for that your Majesty would perhaps depart from them and so their Expectations would be frustrated For we that have read the Law said I do know that both Houses of Parliament cannot make nor alter Lawes without the Kings Royal assent Yes quoth he they will make Ordinances Whereat your Subject smiling did again smell some dangerous Project to be in agitation and believed the said Party was one of their Fraternity and that he had sure intelligence of their indirect intentions of proceeding In which your Subject was likewise a remarkable Presager of the event of things for the said Party is since proved one of those good instruments called a Committee-man And in the year 1642. your Subject being come down from Easter Term hapned in Whitsâ—n-week after to be at a Meeting in his Parish where the said Justice of Peace was present and all the Chief Inhabitants thereof and much inquiring there was of Newes concerning the setling of the Militia and your Subject told them That he had heard of your Majesties Proclamation touching the same but had not yet seen it To which one of the Company made answer That he was at London the last week and had both seen the Proclamation and also an Ordinance of Parliament to the contrary and that he had them both there to shew Whereupon the Party pulling them forth your Subject took them and read them before the whole Assembly with an audible voyce then they asked your Subject what he thought thereof and what he intended to do therein To which your Subject remembring his natural and legal Allegiance to your Sacred Majesty boldly answered That he was soon resolved what course to take in that business without any study for that he would by no means disobey your Majesties Proclamation in submitting his Arms to the Parliaments devotion and besides informed them all openly That by the Common and Statute Lawes of this Kingdom it was High Treason to levy Armes against the King Which assertion of the Truth they little esteemed but affirmed notwithstanding that they would all send their Armes and that it would fall heavy upon your Subject if he refused to do the like But your Subject knowing a good Conscience in Adversity to be more
charged for not contributing to the Parliament I answered That your Majestie had declared that none of his true Subjects should furnish the Parliament with Horse Armes or Money and that I had rather offend all men living then the King of England or my own Conscience Then it was urged That I said I would march to the King Why said I if my own house grow too hot for me whither should I go for protection but to my Soveraign But quoth one there be a great many of Rascalls with the King Sir said I take heed what you say for you call in question the best and wisest men in England for I am sure they are with the King Then one cried out That I had said the then Earl of Essex was a Traytor I replied His Majestie had proclaimed him so and as my Learning taught me I doubted that he would hardly answer his doings Then said one that I had called the Ministers Pulpit-Knaves I answered that I did in my heart reverence all honest Divines but such as now a daies came up to preach Sedition and to abuse the King and his Liege people I knew another place more fit for them then a Pulpit Then said one in the crowd You are in the way to Hell But I having a better testimony within me laughed at him and said I hoped better things But said I standing close by the Deputy Lieutenants the Captain and Souldiers hemming me in here is a brave Company about me what do all these people intend to guard me thither at which some could not refrain from laughing and so the terrible Examination ended Then the Gentlemen requested me in and used me civilly though some of the Rascalls had much abused me and after much discourse they wished me whatsoever I thought yet to be sparing of my Speech for they saw my Neighbours were malitiouâ— and so dismissed me But I knowing my own resolutions and thereupon dreading a worse mischief too soon to ensue within a few daies after forsook my house and have ever since lived a Lawyer itinerant and yet I trust that I have observed the Law justly and also used a very good Conscience for now I am sure that I did not take a Fee for divers months after but many times in my Travells for speaking in your Majesties behalf I have been soon after driven to take a thick Wood for a refuge Since my departure they have taken away some of my Goods sâ—questred my Rents and seized my little Estate so as my poor Wife and Children can hardly get any means to subsist withall whilst I am an exile from them beset with many Crosses but hardly one Crosse of Silver to relieve me As God hath given me a Loyal heart towards your Majestie so I have often grieved that I had not abilities equivalent to testifie the same buâ— I know your Grace will pardoâ— involuntary neglects since by my pen and tongue which are a Lawyers best Weaponâ— I have endeavoured alwaies to do your Majestie the best service I could and I doubt not but your Sacred Majestie will be graciously pleased to take these things into your Princely consideration and to afford your loyal and true Subjects that have been thus unlawfully abused a happy reâ—resse in due time for these intollerable wrongs and oppressions which goodnesse of your Majestie towards us shall for ever engage us if possible in a more reciprocal bond of Duty Love and Allegiance to your Majestie and yours and so I heartily beseech Almighty God to preserve and blesse your Majestie your Gratious Queen and your most hopefull Royal Issue and Alliance with all prosperity in this life and eternal happinesse by Christ Jesus in Heaven Amen To the High and most Renowned MAJESTY OF Charles the II By the Grace of God most Mighty and Famous King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. A Continuation or Exact and very True Relation of divers Passages concerning the Loyal Demeans and injust Sufferings of your Majesties true and faithfull Subject John Wenlock of Langham in the County of Essex Counsellour at Law in the former Declaration mentioned and the miserable distresses of his loving Wife his Children and whole Family occasioned by the Tyranny and cruel Usurpation of the late most monstrous and unparallell'd Rebells MAy it please your sacred Majesty in your royal Clemency to take further notice that within a few dayes after that the aforesaid barbarous Injuries and unlawfull Violences were put upon your said Subject in his dwelling House his apprehension and carrying away as a Prisoner and return home again the said pestiferous Constable formerly mentioned being horribly vexed in his rebellious Stomack because he could not obtain his malitious Will and villanous Intention against your said Subject which was to have him sent to some Gaol or Ship at Sea to be kept in hold as a Prisoner during their pleasures did therefore repair to a Justice of the Peace a man in all probability as well qualified then and of as good discretion for that Office as the other was to be a Constable where he made a most untrue Complaint against your Subject informing the said Justice That he went in fear of his Life and believed that your Subject would either kill him or burn his Houses and also offered to take his Corporal Oath to that effect Whereupon the said Justice in his grave indiscretion very little or not at all as it seems regarding the profession of the Law or the Law it self in the compass of Discretion nor yet common Civilities to be expected and used amongst Gentlemen would not vouchsafe to send for your said Subject in a gentile neighborly way to confer with him therby to hear and observe what your Subject was able to alledge in his own defence against the Complaints of such a paltry Fellow but immediately suffered the said Party without any further examination of the matter to make a most false and wicked Oath against your said Subject and thereupon granted a Warrant of the Peace against him directed to the other Constable of Langham aforesaid peremptorily to apprehend your Majesties said Subject and to bring his Body before him And hereupon the said other Constable did forthwith repair unto your Subjects dwelling House and there made relation of the occasion of his comming at that time Whereupon your Subject did fairly request the said Constable to shew him his Warrant which he presently delivered into your Subjects hand who perusing the same over did inform the Constable That he much marvelled That the Justice would permit such an Oath to be made against him before the matter were better examined on both Partes and that he also understood what excusatory Arguments might be alledged on your Subjects behalf For said I if the Justice had refused to take the Parties Oath for a while untill the Cause had received a further examination yet no danger or prejudice could have accrewed to the Justice
when the Jews in old time were the alone select people of God and his only true visible Church there was a Law or Command given unto them that they should not interweave Linnen with Woollen nor sow any Miscellain upon their grounds and surely there is â— secret mystery in it which I leave to more fit grave and wiser considerations then mine own But a Learned Father saith that in Ecclesia unam vocâ—â— esse oportet and another tells us Tabernaculum Christi â—st Ecclâ—sia and we read that Christ our Saviour his shelter or Coat was without seame or division Indeed Scismes and Controversies in the Church especially in the Discipline or Government thereof the very Basis of our Publick peace do oftentimes prove to be of most dangerous and destructive consequence it is well known who is Seminator litium and therefore I trust that such as would seem to professe more purity and strictnesse in Religion then some others and that pretend to fear God so truly and to detest the Devil so strongly will in time learn to abhor and eschew the sinfull effects of those his so subtle suggestions It hath been observed if it please Your Majestie that the great splendor and eminent degree of Governours doth ordinarily strike a more ample awe and reverence into the hearts of the common people and makes them more tractable and submisse then they would be to others of a far inferiour rank in which respect as your Subject most humbly under correction conceiveth it is very requisite and necessary that the Episcopal Governours of the Church as well in point of policy as Religion should be readmitted as I trust they now are to their full rights power and privileges both in honour and patrimony the Churches Livelihood Revenue or Patrimony in good dayes was accounted to be Gods portion and I have read that Lands at first were given to the Church with an heavy curse annexed and imposed upon all such as should afterwards endeavour to disanull and make void the guist and so frustrate the good intent of the Donors thereof And I do much fear that the antient and modern Sacrilege of some of this Nation hath been none of the least sinnes and occasions to draw down the wrath of God upon us But now that after so long and violent an intermission themost of us have learned again to say that Lesson of truth it self Da Caesaris Caesari let us not forget the latter part of the sentence but give also unto God the things that are Gods And if the once so glorious and full Moon of the Church that hath so lately been obscured under the disâ—all clouds of Tyranny and Persecution and now appears and moves in a serene Air must still for any seeming sound reasons in Religion or State be forced to suffer an Ecclipse in any the least Degrees or Digits which I wish may never be yet in the fear of God and to avoid the foul aspersion of the present and future ages let the same be never contrived acted or done without the full free and legall consent of all such parties whatsoever or at least the Major part of them as by the Antient and Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom in force and use before the embrion of theâ—e late distractions were duly and legally interrested to give their voices of consent or denyall in matters of that nature and consequence And since it is certain that the principall intent and end of all the grand and solemn Assemblies tending to Counsell and advice which are in a legall manner convoked in any Christian Kingdom is or ought to be above all other things for the glory of God and the due maintenance of his Church and true Religion which being taken pro concesso it is paradoxical and much marvelled at by many that such so worthy personages are by common entendment are most versed and best skilled in Transactions of that nature and whose Reverend Learning Wisedom and Integrity do likewise render them without scruple sufficient to be Assistants and Advisers in other things of far more trivial moment should at any time pro ratione ab scondita adhuc incognitae be exempted from or deprived of their just and genuine Rights and antient Privileges so deservedly conferred and so legally granted unto them or their Predecessors by the Renowned Pious and Politick Kings of this Realm ever since Christianity was in England and never yet so much as spurned at but in seditious and turbulent times or be shut out of doors when matters of so deep concernment both in Church and Commonwealth were in agitation and disquisition And if this Holy Order received the least skar or blemish in the time of his late Majesty I do believe confidently that it was compulsive and for some emergent reason of State and not with his Majesties free consent But prudent and moderate men will ever have a greater regard to venerable Antiquity then to the humorous conceits novelties of some giddy heads and I doubt there be some that popularly were thrust on to act a part on the Theatre that if they were truly sensible of their former failings and duly penitent for their so grosse erroneous and dangerous Deviations remorse of Conscience and Humility would not then suffer them at all to be ashamed to give this character of themselves Hesterni sumus Ignor amus c. For it was the saying of an Antient Author and also confirmed by Reverend Judges of great Honour and Antiquity in this Nation Quae praeter consuetudinem morem majorum fiunt neque placent neque recta videntur and I fear that the remembrance of this and some other old Maxims may be an occasion to some men and those none of the least considerable understanding and judgement to apprehend some doubts and jealousies concerning the conscience though not the legality of some of the very late proceedings And yet your Graces true loyall and loving Subjects do alwayes desire to lye prostrate at the feet of your Majesties Clemency and not in the least degree to oppose nor contradict but only in this humble way of Animadversion any of your Councels truly tending to your Majesties honour safety and repose neither can I much fear but humbly hope that your Royal Prudence will not be offended at this my free and yet most Supplicatory Expostulation for it were happy if your Majesty did know the hearts of all your Subjects so well as I do freely manifest mine own and I dare affirm it under favour that it will be a great grief to most of the Judicious Loyal and Freeborn Subjects of this Realm to behold the least overture towards the future infringement or violation either in case Ecclesiastical or Temporal of that Great Charter of the Liberties of England so long since granted and obtained after the sad adventures and deep dangers both of the Head and whole Body of this Realm and so oftentimes since confirmed by the full and
it pleased God to form your Subject of such a temperature as he could see to suffer from the beginning and is like to continue still in a suffering Condition to his latter end if your Majestie prove not a very good Lord and Master to me and my Posterity but my Loyalty did never live without hope either for this present life or my future interest in the World to come and I have thought sometimes that my constellation and Genius did argue something more then ordinary because from my very Childhood ever since that I could well read I have taken an especiall regard and notice of this Proverb My Son fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are seditious or given to change and it had taken so deep an Impression upon my heart as all the Rebells in England were never able to wipe out unlesse they had pulled out heart and all Quo semel est imbuta recenâ— servaâ—iâ—â—dorem testa diu and I blesse my God that it was so with me Nam quod â—â—venture non discitur in matura aeâ—ate saepiùs nescitur and this hath been lately too much verified by sad Experience And when I first began to bend my mind to the studie of the Laws of this Kingdom I did soon perceive in my self a greater proclicity and delight in the apprehension and learning of such passages therein as had referrence to the true and right maintaining of the Royall Majestie of the head thereof rather then to those that meerly concerned the body and inferiour members of the same Many have much marvelled that in the late so terrible times I durst so freely utter my mind upon every occasion and have often advised me to be more wary but my answer was ever to this effect That I did no more then my duty required and I ought not to suffer sin upon my Neighbour but to reprove him for it and if it were not the will of God to protect me in mine innocency and integrity I was sure thaâ— he would quite cast me off if I turned an Hypocrite for there is an woe to the sinner that goeth two wayes and the triumphing of the Wicked is short and the joy of the Hypocrite but for a momenâ— they are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low the light of the Wicked shall be put out and the spark of his Fire shall not shine but who shall abide in Gods Tabernacle He that speaketh the Truth in his heart and in whose spirit and lips there is no guile and to them that rebuke the Wicked shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them and since that propter timâ—rem mortis tacere veritatem impietas est how solicitous every soul of us ought to be in the declaring and justifying of the truth and in the performance of our best duties and endeavours towards the fostering and furtherance of the same Et bâ—â—arum rerum etsi successus non fuerit conatus tamen ipse honestus est and a wise man sayth refrain not to speak when there is occasion to do good and hide not thy Wisedom in her beauty for by Speech Wisedom shall be known and Learning by the word of the Tongue in no wise speak against the Truth but he abashed of the error of thine own ignorance Strive for the Truth unto death and the Lord shall fight for thee Et non solum proditor est veritatis qui mendacium pro veritate lâ—quitur sed qui non libere pronuntiat veritatem quam pronunciare oportet aut non libere defendit veritatem quam defendere oportet Nam qui veritatem occultat qui prodit mendâ—cium uterque rous est ille quia prodesse non vult iâ—â—e quia nocere deâ—iderat May it please your Sacred Majesty I have almost learned Divinity and Philosophy enough to contemn the World and am but very little ambitious of Preferment and yet I confesse that I would willingly imply my poor Talent and the small remainder of my dayes to Gods glory your Majesties honour and service and the good of my native Country and most gladly would I find out a way how to refresh my poor Family that for so many years together by the malice of the Times and in the very despite of my Loyaltie have been exposed to so much hardship and danger of utter ruine and destruction yet I am ashamed to beg so mean a Place as my weak deserts do seem to require It is not for Kings to give Trifles said a Noble Prince but to give royally like themselves In which respect I think it is the best policy for such Suitors to submit wholly to their Soveraigns goodnesse Your Grace in my conceit may well challenge a double Title to be called the most Christian King and in that regard also your Majesty may very fitly be esteemed to be the prime Deputy of God Almighty upon the face of the earth and we know that in the pure eyes of his heavenly Majesty then a true and faithfull heart there can nothing in the world be more acceptable and therefore your poor Subject having no other gratitude at the present doth most humbly presume to present and offer to your Sacred Majesty the true sacrifice of a loyal and loving Heart not fearing to find the fruitfull successe thereof knowing that your royal and religious Majesty will adhere unto and stickle to be of the same mercifull minde with your Almighty Creator Et ille apud Deum plus haâ—et loci qui plus attulit non argenti sed fidei and if your Majesty will vouchsafe and please to look upon me I dare promise that by Gods grace my works and actions in the time of prosperity shall be as full of Faithfullness and Loyaltie as ever my works were in the time of my adversitie Tune enim veraciter fideles sumus si quod verbis promittimus operibus complemus and let the World think or say what it please I do protest that I propound these things not so much for mine own interest and advantage as for your Majesties sake and for the deep imprinting and high advancement of Truth and Loyaltie and the memorie thereof in the hearts of the People for although I do freely acknowledge mine own defection comming far short of my duty towards his late Majesty and your Royal Self yet my Conscience doth urge me to tell your Majestie plainly that my Loyaltie and Sufferings are so remarkable as if I should chance unhappily to be neglected and quite forgotten the consequence thereof would be so bad that Truth and Loyaltie would be esteemed but at a very low rate in our Country be made a meer Ludibrium amongst many in that factious seditious schismatical corner where it hath pleased God to lay out my residence I most humbly beg your Majesties gracious pardon for these my bold expressions and I hope I shall have it for I desired never to rest
would more willingly see thee come to a shamefull end then send thee on such an errand as thou now commest about whereat he hanged down his head and looked ill favouredly yet did his work and so departed with cold entertainment With many such Messages and severall summons to appear and to pay rent for mine own Land I was divers times after sore vexed and put to much trouble and charge But at length by Gods mercy and the meanes of one Mr. Jannyson of Colchester an old Sea Captain that had antient acquaintance with one Mr. Winslow a Commissioner for the compounding of Sequestrations and did freely also without my seeking most friendly offer me his Love and Service in that behalf I obtained after long suit and twice paying for it a full discharge from that Office and who would not think but that I had then been safe enough from that danger and yet my Genius did still misdoubt the worst and could never be truly apprehensive of Security so long as such Hypocrites were in Power as made the pretence of Religion and devotion a Cloak to cover all their Villany and Oppression And so unhappily it fell out that I took not my marks amiss for notwithstanding my discharge aforesaid being as compleat as they could make any yet still I was called upon to bring in the Arrearages of Rents for my Lands that were due to the State forsooth as they pretended and when this my discharge was shewed sorth and pleaded in the Country before their Auditors and Receivers they could take very little or no exceptions against it only they said that the Rents and Profits of my Lands would still be called in question neither could they surcease or forbear so doing untill such time as my said discharges were sent up and inrolled before the Commissioners at Worcester house And hereupon my self being then in Prison by force and colour of their unjust power I was enforced to procure a Friend to convey it up thither where instead of inrolling of the fame they took it quite away from me and left me only a Copy thereof that one of my Sons had formerly written out and afterwards when the Rump recovered their peevish power again they made a sale and graunt of all my Estate notwithstanding the discharge which I had so hardly obtained and all the wofull miseries that they and their fore-runners had formerly so long imposed upon me and my poor Family only in the despite of our Loyall Faithfullness to his late Majesty and because we refused to passe in the rank of Rebells Such was the Charity and Justice of these wretched Miscreants and yet for all their raging and prodigious projects against us we had the good hapand courage to keep the possession of our house during all the time of the late distractions and this I think may be put in Chronicle for a kind of Miracle and if I should make a punctuall Relation of all the Travels and Troubles that we endured and passed thorough in and about this last recited affliction of ours it would produce a large volume of it self And yet I was as much vexed and tormented with another Hobgoblin hatcht in Hell but called an Engagement and for the Non-subscribing of this I was reputed an out-law and no man that owed me any thing would pay me a penny unlesse it were some Conscientious soul that feared God for they knew that I was disabled to bring any action against them And besides I had openly declared divers times that I would hazard to starve before that I would seek the help and relief of such Law-lesse Authority as was then in use And hereupon some perverse and ignorant Wretches did deride me and were the more prompt to work me a mischief and sticked not to say that if any man killed me there was no punishment to be inflicted for so doing Neither could I be permitted to plead so much as in a Corporation Court and upon this sad occasion I continued close and retired at home for a good while being loth to expose my self to disgrace or danger as the violence of the stream did then run â—or I did then evidently perceive that those hypocrites were not contented to captivate our bodies and estates only but that also they endeavoured so far as their power could extend to inthrall our souls to eternal perdition and I soon found likewise that my recesse from a little publick imploiment was an occasion of the greater want of means amongst us the consideration whereof did minister a fair opportunitie unto me to flie unto God for counsel and comfort in this so great an exigencie and having implored my Creator for his mercie and direction herein I began to ruminate and resolve to venture upon a design whereby in probabilitie I might be exposed either to more eminent and notorious sufferings then I had formerly met withall or else by some fair and irreprehensible evasion to help and quit my self out of the trapp of that treacherous engagement for I did conceive that few or none of the Countrie Magistrates would seem to be so grosly impudent and irâ—eligious as to make refusal of that which I intended to present and proffer unto them and so it fell out soon after that there was much businesse at a Corporation Court near me and where I had frequently been in practise for above 20. years before and thereupon divers came unto mâ— with a purpose to retain me for their counsel at that time and offered me Fees which I had need enough then to accept of though formerly I had refused many that were offered me in some cases and my memory presenting that old Verse unto me Quis nisi mentis inops oblatum respuat anrum I now entertained their kind offer but withall told them that I feared that I should not be suffered to plead but yet I vvould endeavour to do them the best service I could or else return their Fees again Hereupon I took a fit opportunitie to rapair to one of the chief Magistrates that vvere to sit at that Court and vvhom I never took for a Machiavilian of the deepest die and did inform him hovv I vvas retained to come to his Court but beleeved that I should not be heard because I had not taken the Engagement His ansvver vvas that he intended not to hinder me but that I might speak as freely there as ever I had done before Well said I but if those I shall plead against or any paltrie fellovv in court vvill but urge the exception against mee I doubt you dare not but enjoyne me silence You say true quoth he and therefore it were well that you would subscribe it whereunto I replied thus I hope that you vvill not impose anie thing upon me that is contrarie to the Word of God or the Lavves of the Kingdom No no quoth he not by any means Then said I vvith a reservation to that effect I vvill subscribe it and so vve
vvent together to the house of another Magistrate not of capacitie enough to practise much mischief and there before them tvvo I did subscribe it vvith this protestation so far as it vvas not contradictorie and repugnant to the vvord of God and the fundamental Lavves of the Kingdom and this device of mine did passe for currant though certainly I vvas not thereby any more engaged then I vvas before and yet I continued faithfull unto them in some sort for I dare say that both before and after this I did ever as freely reprove their villanies as any man that lived in England yet I most humbly crave your Majesties pardon for this my seeming in the least degree to yeeld unto them I could hardly have done so had I not learned the rule Sicut subditus teneâ—ur ad obedientiam ita Rex teneturad protectionem and that safeguard I vvas unhappily bereaved of my conscience likevvise relucted lest through 〈◊〉 or fear of danger I should offend God but I believed that in case of extremitie it were better to fall into the hands of God the fountain of all mercie then into the power of wicked men who had shewed themselves almost as void of humanitie as the verie bruit beasts Not long after this I was summoned up to be decimated and there it was ordered again that I should enter another Bond of five hundred pounds but upon what condition or cause I knew not yet by the meanes of some there that pretended some friendship unto me the penalty was drawn down to three hundred pounds and such a Bond I was ordered to enter into at Colchester before some of their Complices but I had the good hap to shufle it over and so escaped that bondage But notwithstanding all these my Troubles and Perplexities or their pretences of kindnesse towards me yet I could never be drawn or daunted from the defence of the truth and the bold and free utterance of my mind therein upon every fit occasion Once as I was pleading in a Court for my Client the cheif Magistrate there and my self began to clash a little whereupon I chanced to say that some courses would never be left untill the Kingdome were quite undone to which he answered me thus you to be sure will be undone in the mean time whereat I clapped my hand upon my Breast and said Gods will be fullfilled but if I be undone yet I shall have an advantage above some others for I shall fall with Majesty and a good Conscience and that too many will miss of at which some of the standers by were not displeased for I heard them whisper and say here is a man of a rare Spirit And when I was in the deepest danger for the sale of my Lands this Magistrate last mentioned had a Son that was interessed about Sequestrations and Sales and I remembred that St. Paul had taken hold of the Law of an Heathen Emperour to save himself from the lash and so I thought it lawfull for me to use the best means I could to preserve my Wife and Children from being turned out of doors To this man therefore I repaired and desired him to speak to his Son on my behalf and he presently called for his Son and charged him before my face to shew me all the curtesie and service that lay in his power and then the old man and I walked together into the Fields where being in discourse he said that he was sorry that it was so with me for if you quoth he would have gone the way that other Learned men did you should never have had need to crave a curtesie at any mans hand for you might have been able to do favours for all your Friends and acquaintance for you might have been a man of great rule and command in the Country and gotten what Estate you had pleased Yes sure was my Answer I might have got the Devil and all Then replyed he to me you will never leave these manner of expressions but they do you no good Yes said I there will be a time when the speaking of truth may stand me in some sted and Sir said I you must give me leave to tell you that if I had gone otherwise then I have done I had been as arrant a stinking Knave as ever pissed against a Wall whereat the man started and said why I hope you will not say that we are all so No sure said I my modesty will not suffer me to tell you on it so plainly but my self had been so howsoever And why you quoth he more then other men The reason said I is apparent for I had then gone against my Conscience in point of Religion and my Judgement in point of Law and he that doeth so I say is an arrant Knave But Conscience said he must be rectified Very true said I but how it must be rectified indeed by the Law of God and Man and not by the opinions and humours of a few factious Schismaticks This man had been a Magistrate near 30 years and I believed that the stream of the Times rather then the strength of his Judgement had now caused him to run the course he did and therefore I think that I gave his Worship such a pestilent rub as he had seldome met withall before but my intent therein was to do him good In the late Tyrants time an Attorney told me of a Lawyer which I knew that was then called up to be a Judge in one of the Courts at Westminster whereunto I answered that I was sorry for him because I feared that he had forgot both his Law and Religion too but alasse said I the pride of the heart is so great that some will hunt after and accept of preferment although it be upon never so evil termes but sure such men are quite out of their wits I wonder you will say so said he why if the Protector should send you a Commission to be a Judge would you not accept of it no surely said I and verily I hope that thou hast not so bad a conceit on me as to believe that I would once entertain such an offer and though I remembred the old Adage which saith That he that speaks the truth may have his head broken yet I proceeded on further and said that I should rather chuse to dye at mine own Gate then take a place under such a power for if ever I be either Judge or Justice I hope at shall be in Gods name and not in the Devils for all Rebells are of the Devil and only from him they had their first original Once again in that time my patience was pitiously put to it for having occasion to be at a Sessions amongst other stingie stuff of cruell consequence I heard it given in charge to the Grand inquest that it was High Treason to say that the Government was Usurpt in truth my heart did rise against such Doctrine and mine eares tingled to hear the people
of Jesus Christ and where and whensoever any true reformation hath hapned it was allwaies set on and brought to passe by the means of a lawfull Magistrate set up and authorised of God and not by the dull endeavours and injust power of a few bestial and serpentine spirits raised and conjured up by the madnesse of the people Such prodigious devices were not in use untill the old dragon begun to rage because his time waxed short but all along the primitive times notwithstanding those bloudie heavie and horrible persecutions imposed upon Christians yet those that were true godly Saints did never so much as dream of rebelling against their Governours for ever still in their strongest extremities their sharpest weapons were preces lachrimae a sure symboll of a sacred heart but all violent courses to protect themselves they utterly disclaimed There is a generation yet amongst us that can never be so soundly sensible of their souls solace as they might be if they were truly convinced of their late errors and seriously sorrowfull and humbled for their former offences but so long as they meet with pardon and preferment they think all is well but alas it is not so for too many still fare the worse for these mens late unjust and impious practises I wish them to remember that God is a righteous Judge and will render just measure in due time for oppression will ever cry to heaven for vengeance there be many matters which they have had a shrewd hand in that will be a bitter blemish in their armes as long as they live and as the vulgar saying is may grieve them in their graves when they be dead or at least stick sore at their souls hereafter if they bring not forth better fruits and effects of true repentance then can hitherto be seen or perceived in them by an impartial eye Such as seek to cover their sinnes cannot prosper and some there be I fear whose sormer faults being now shadowed under a fair pretext do still by their connivancie and countenance encourage others to be more stubborn and refractorie in the yeelding unto and performance of such things as a good conscience will lowdly call for at their hands and by this means also it is probable enough that some of your Maâ— subjectâ— that have evidently demonstrated their love loyaltie to their King countrie are still kept under and had in deâ—ision and contempt being basely abused and discouraged by too many of the late stupidicies to the dishonour and shame of this Kingdom both at home and abroad and clean contrary to your Maties good meaning and most royal disposition and sore against the reputation of a righteous Cause without question and if old Gamesters begin once to belive and find that there is now a dayes no difference at Dice but that cogging and cheating may as well win the Game and go away with the Garland as fairly as honest and square play it may hereafter be a means to induâ—e some to be cowardly and loath again to venture themselves and their estates so valiantly unless it were upon better terms and at such an ill consequence or event the enemies of the truth will be ready to rejoyce but all your Majesties Well-wishers would be most heartily sorry for it In truth it is now time under royal favour if it so please God and your Majesty that your Graces poor suffering friends should be a little looked upon and considered of who have been so couragiously constant in their saddest sufferings abhorring to defile themselves with the least tincture of Treason but alwayes labouring to imprint Loyalty in the hearts of others and frequently and faithfully improving their best faculties for your Majesties service and the good of their native Country Some of my Opposites have said unto me that they believed it was impossible to turn me from the way that I walked in and that although they were not of my mind and that I was their enemy and did them more hurt in their Cause than many that fought against it yet they could not chuse but honor the memory of me in regard that I had ever stood so stoutly to my Principles It was truly said of the Wiseman that when a man is well proved then is his faithfullness known and certainly I may say to your Majesty with a safe conscience that in the time of the late Anarchy my fidelity to your Grace was sufficiently tryed to the proof for amongst all the revolutions and alteration which happened in that slippery State and wherewith the most part of the people being desirous of novelty were well pleased in hope of some melioration thereby yet the Doctrine that I did ever divulge amongst all such as I conversed withall was still to this effect that all those alterations could never conduce to any good but only draw on more and more Confusion untill all were ruined for alwayes my saying was that right must have right and that there could never be the least expectation or sign of any security or settlement of peace here amongst us untill your Majesty were restored unto all your just and lawfull rights and royalties for whilst that came to pass and was happily effected the full wrath and vengeance both of God and man would continually prosecute these rebellious Nations Some factious and seditious Ignorants would now and then be carping at your Majesties title to the Crown of England and affirm that it came in first by William the Conquerour and being gotten by Conquest it might as well in the same manner be lost but my answer to this was that the Case is not the same for William the Conquerour was a forein Prince and by the law of Armes might make a Conquest of this Nation but no Subjects can ever conquer their Soveraign for although they do over-powre him by force and violence yet that is no Conquest but a meer act of rebellion and no wayes justifiable either by the laws of God or man and besides I commonly said unto them that if any of their Ancestors had been seiâ—ed of an Estate in Lands for the time of about 600. years they would then think it to be more than a sufficient prescription to maintain a good and unquestionable Title thereunto But â— had a stronger argument than this to refute that Norman fallacy for I was so good an Historian as to tell them that within a few Discents after the Conquest the antient royal race was again restored and also such an apt Antiquaâ—y and Herauld as to derive your Majesties pedegree ab origant and to shew them clearly how by Gods providence and the policy and good successe of many happy and fortunate Marriages your Majesty was now the true undoubted Heir unto all those famous Princes that ever had any lawfull colour of Competition or right unto the royal Crownes of England and Scotland And sometimes I have related unto them an old story of the Abissines who bragg that
again armed with power will have a very large construction by the Judges of the Law There is a Parliament to be found in historie that did seem to wage warr against a King in this Realm but what ill successe it had I had rather the Historian should tell you then my self sure I am there is an ignominious brand laid upon is to all posterity for it is still stiled Parliamentum insanum Let no man hate instruction nor be too wise in his own conceit be Prov. 3. not high-minded but fear a prudent man saith Solomon foreseeth Prov. 27. 12. Numb 16. the evil and hideth himself but fools passe on and are punished forget not what became of Korah Dathan and Abiram that rebelled against Moses yet were they no obscure persons but princes of their families and men of great estimation amongst the vulgar remember what was Absolons portion for rebelling 2 Sam. 18. â— Sam 20 against David and what became of Sheba the sonne of â—ichri that lifted up his hand against the King and many such examples in holy Writ Nay look but into our Chronicles here at home and observe how Gods judgements have still prosecuted all them and their posteritie that have had any hand in the deposing or opposing of Kings upon any fair pretence whatsoever To abuse the picture of an earthly King hath been taken to be a great indignity how then shall the God of heaven take it at the hands of such as despitefully use and contemn the King himself a good King that is Gods image and Vicegerent upon earth but the times are come that the Apostles foretold that â— Tim. 3. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 10 Jude 8. many in the latter dayes would be traitors headie and high-minded presumptuous and stand in their own conceit despise Government and not fear to speak evil of them that are in dignity But some say that this war is not against the King neither do they intend him any wrong indeed they ought not to wish him the least hurt for God commands us not so much as to think an evil Eccl. 10 20. thought of the King but these men do more then think for they openly reviled the King by reproachfull and scandalous speeches saying that he is led by bad counsell and intends to set up Poperie and can there be any greater aspersion laid upon a Prince for Solomon saith A divine sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in judgement And it is Prov. 16. 19 20. abomination to Kings to commit wickednesse for the throne is established by righteousnesse It is the part of a Christian to judge charitably both of King and of people but where the subjects go about in hostile manner to invade their Soveraign and his friends and forces under his command and also use with extreme crueltie such of the Kings faithfull subjects friends as they can get into their power and yet will aver and maintain that they warr not against the King neither intend him any wrong What to make of their reason or argument I know not but a meer solecism yet the late Oathes imposed upon such as had so little Grace to take them do make the meaning both of the matter and manner of their evil intentions of proceeding to be somwhat more plain to be perceived It is most true that the King and many of his true Subjects are much abused for truth is hid in darknesse and it is the misery of miseries that men are so wilfully blinded and besotted as their eares are stopped to all good Counsell Wise men that know the truth of things are much discouraged to impart the same to others because they see many are so wedded to their wilfull Errours that he which in charity goes about to advise them for the best may sooner himself fall into a snare for his good will then pull any of them out of the danger that hangs over their heads for he that now a dayes dares venture to speak the truth is presently snapt at for a Malignant But God that knoweth all things knows that the Kings Majesty hath raised his Forces and doth maintain this War only for the beating down oâ— Faction Schism and Sedition and for the upholding of the true Protestant Religion established in Queen Elizabeths dayes and under which this Kingdom hath long flourished and for the setting and maintaining of the true and genuine Laws of this Kingdom But some dream of a great Reformation now in hand I am sure there is already a great Deformation both in Church and Common-wealth I wish these Reformers would in time un-hoodwink themselves and see what successe they have had and learn ere it be too late to be obedient to God and their Prince following the counsell the Angel gave to Hagar Return to thy Mistris and Gen. 1â— 9. humble thy self under her hands and let them endeâ— vour the due Execution of the good Laws that are now in force lest while they fondly presume to amend that which is well already they make the word Parliament have an ill savour and open a gap to greater desolation and so marre all Indeed it were to be wished there were a more generall Reformation from sin and God when it pleaseth him will afford us that happinesse and incline the Kings heart to all occasions plyable thereunto For the Kings heart is in the hand Prov. 21. 1. 25. â—5 of God as the Rivers of Water he turneth it whither soever he will And by long forbearing a Prince is perswaded we must therefore wait the Lords leisure and seek no Reformation by unlawfull means for we must not do evil that good may Rom. 3. 8. come thereof But some will now be wiser then Gods word or at least take Gods power upon themselves they will have the Kings heart in their hands and the Government in Church and State must be turned upside down at their beck and the most deserving bodies in the Kingdom left without heads at their command and pleasure or else to Armes they must forgetting the counsell of the wise With good advice Prov. 24 6. Exod. 7. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 8 9 Prov. 21. 30. shalt thou make Warr Alas these men may a while resist the King and in the King Gods Ordinance but it will be to as little purpose as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses for there is no wisdome power nor policy against the Lord of Hosts And if God for the sins of this Nation should lay that heavy scourge upon us to take away the Kings Majesties life and the lives of all his posterity and alliance which the Lord in his mercy forbid then may these men have some likelihood to prevail in their purposes or otherwise never Beloved Countrymen delude not your selves any longer the Kings Majesty hath sent forth many Declarations to open the eyes of your understandings and to inform you in the truth and equity of