letting them see to their great Cost that even Armed Rebels rarely get any thing but Wo by a Sad Victory over their Rightful Soveraign The Traitors pretended to fight for the Safety of the King's Person for the Protestant Religion for the Liberty of the Subject for the Privileges of Parliament and for the Laws and Rights of the whole Kingdom In every of these respects All were Losers but the King He indeed got Two Crowns for One a Crown of Martyrdom and a Crown of Glory for a Diadem of Thorns But what his Enemies gained besides Infamy and a Curse and a sear'd Conscience with a little Plunder they themselves will find at the day of Final Retribution and what the Nation lost we may reckon a little now We lost a Prince too Good for Us to Keep and Good God! too Sacred to be Destroy'd We lost a Church Beautiful in her Structure Glorious in her Members Militant for her Head and when that was struck off 't was her Necessary but yet Honourable Fate to take her share in the Martyrdom We lost our Laws too That indeed was the first Loss when Irreligion Levied that War against Majesty which in point of Conscience and Law both was downright Rebellion And when our Monarchy our Religion our Liberties and Properties were all gone Vengeance went at last out of the Field to the very Parliament house where all our Miseries had been formed to Invade Privileges too and to let those Butchers of the World see how little even They should get by first Beheading the whole Parliament that others might be enabled to Behead the King too The Fall of the two Hothams Father and Son who were the first that bad Open Desiance to Majesty and gave Him the first Blow but in a little time were Executed themselves by the very Masters that Employed them their Fall I say was an early Praesage of what would afterwards befal the Rest that were the Instruments of the King's Ruine These Two Men denied the King admittance in to Hull though He went thither in Person to Demand it Soon after upon Remorse of Conscience they would have opened the Gates to Him but the Parliament now Hating their own Servants more than they Feared their Soveraign Rewarded them at last with a Scaffold and an Ax and by those their own Proceedings they gave an Unpitied Example to Others a Faction that yet stood behind the Curtain to make even Them and their Accomplices the worst Returns for their Best Services And so indeed it fell out not in the Country and City onely but in Both Houses of Parliament also In the Beginning of the Troubles Petitioning was encouraged under Pretence of being the Subjects Right as a most probable Means to bring the King Low and to lay His Honour in the Dust But though this Popular Method was for some time fiercely cried up as being of dangerous Consequence to Majesty yet when the Faction had served their own Turn by it it was as violently Opposed as being of as dangerous Consequence to the Parliament So that when the County of Surry in May 1648. carried a Petition to the House that tended unto Peace all of them were Abused multitudes of them Beaten many of them Stripp'd of their very Clothes and several of them actually Killed upon the Spot Thus that which one day was the Subjects Duty another day was their Sin and poor People were taught to use Artifices which in the end became their Snares Toyls to catch the People themselves after They had used them to catch their poor Prince This was one but the very Least part of the Countries Reward Did it fare better with the City after all its Friendship Services Zeal Charge Tumults and unparallell'd Wickednesses for a Damned Cause We know indeed how it fared when Vengeance from Heaven struck it down into the Dust to Expiate if it were possible its Sins by Fire But how I pray did Matters go here about the Period and Close of the War Do not many now alive Remember how Miserably I cannot say Vnjustly this City was used in 1647 how it was Over-awed and Harassed even by those very Men whose Hands the City had Arm'd and Strengthned against its Prince Upon the Apprentices Insurrection did not Cromwell Threaten nay Command his Forces to Kill Man Woman and Child and to Fire the City Were not Speeches made in the Commons House to Confiscate the Estates of many the most Eminent and Wealthy Citizens and to take off their Heads Were not the Aldermen and others committed to the Gaol the Posts and Chains pulled up and the whole City left to visible Dangers of a Massacre Was not the Tower seiz'd the Fortifications about the Town demolished the Militia voted out of the Cityhands and every House exposed to the Mercies of an Outragious Enemy that was clothed with Plunder and fed with Blood Did not an Insolent General ride with his Army through the Streets for no other Reason but to Treat Fools at last with Scorn Contumely and Reproach and to Triumph over those who had Assisted so effectually to Beat and Conquer their King These and I know not how many such like Usages more were the Cities Reward not to speak of a Constant and then in a manner the Onely Trade that was here driven of Impositions and Loans and a Thousand Prefidious Tricks to Cheat men at last of those vast Sums wherewith Zeal and Impiety had liberally entrusted the Publick Faith All which Disgraceful and Contumelious Treatments Men though they might be then very sensible of their past Follies were Forced to yield and submit to Tamely a Powerful and Veterane Army lying near the Town to keep People in awe and to hold them by the Throats while their Friends at Westminster pick'd their Purses and carried away their Money These were thy Gods O Israel These were London's Patriots London's Tutelar Saints the Deities and Idols that London Worshipp'd and Bowed down to when she Forswore her Allegiance and Raised such Formidable Mutinies first against the Earl of Strafford and then against the King These were Strange Returns one would think for a Confiding City to Receive after all her Perjuries after all those Forces of Men and Money which she had Employed to bring her distressed Prince to the Scaffold for that was the Event and Natural Consequence whatever the Intentions of some were who did not look so far at the First But if we go on now and enquire further into the Story we shall find that the Parliament themselves that Blew the Trumpet and Sent out the Drum gained nothing neither but had reason to weep too and Infinitely more than others considering that their utmost Acquest was Guilt and Reproach and a Perpetual Curse upon their Names For even They were paid in their own Coin and were served Themselves as they had served the Government having soon Lost that which they called the King's Politick Capacity when they had Ruin'd His Person
Wickedness of this kind but from all Possibilities of Guilt He that hateth his Brother is a Murderer and so he that entertaineth any Undutiful and Unworthy Apprehensions of his Prince is in a ready way to be a Regicide Out of the Heart proceed evil Surmises Jealousies Fears Hatreds thence Men go on to Blasphemies and Reproaches of a Princes Actions and Government and the basest Misconstructions that can be made of his Counsels and Administrations though they be for the most part Honourable and in all points Innocent and Just And when the Heart and the Tongue both are set on Fire the whole Kingdom will be presently set on Fire too and 't is twenty to one but the King himself is made at last a Flaming Sacrifice These were the Original sins in the late times From Idle Jealousies which Undutiful Spirits were very Receptive of they went to Hard Words from Words to Blows and at last the War ended in the Barbarous Parricide that was acted upon 〈◊〉 Great Father of our Countrey though to still if it were possible the Madness of the People he was willing to part with any thing but his whole Crown and his Conscience And yet to see what a sad Fate commonly attends an Impatient and Heady Generation when his dangers of being destroy'd were now Open and Manifest all considering Persons that had any regard for Humanity and Religion were presently in a Rage And not onely many Honourable Persons who had ever been Faithful and True to Him and particularly those truly Loyal and Noble Lords Hertford Richmond Southampton Lindsey and some more freely offered themselves to Die and be Sacrificed for him but also very many of those who had been the Unfortunate Instruments of his Ruine Relented when they saw the Ax coming and would have hindred the intended Barbarity being brought at last to a Sense whether of their Sin or of their Misery I cannot tell The Scots Protested against it but alas it was too Late and their strength was now gone before their Prince the Glory of their Nation fell Considerable Insurrections were in several parts of this Kingdom for the Liberty of their Soveraign The London Apprentices took Arms to Atone if they could for their Masters Crimes and to Deliver their Captive Prince The Parliament that now saw the sad issues of their Disobedience voted an Agreement with His Majesty Onely from the Army and the Veteran Faction of the City Petitions came for Justice against Him All other Faces gathered Blackness through Horror and Amazement at the intended Villany nay many of those very Ministers who had thrown Firebrands from the Pulpit would now have Quenched them with their Tears they Repented as Judas did but were at last Despised and Hated by the Faction that had hitherto Abetted them but now could have been well pleased if as they Repented so they would have Hanged themselves too as Judas their Elder-brother did after he had Betrayed the Innocent Blood This is enough to shew what a Dangerous Matter it is for People but to Affect Innovation and to be Dispos'd for it and how Necessary it is for Us that would live Quietly in the Land to Stifle all manner of Disloyalty in the very Beginnings lest by giving way to those things which already have Caused the Subversion of our Government and Laws and the Death of the King we should fall again into Distractions and Outrages till by the Wiles and Artifices of Evil Men we be led like Fools to the Correction of the Stocks and make our selves Captives once more beyond all Hopes or Possibilities of Redemption 2. And in order thereunto let us all be very careful in the next place to keep our Brains from being Infected with those Vicious Principles which the Enemies of our Peace are wont to use as Tools and Instruments to bring all their Bloody and Execrable Conspiracies to Effect I mean such Principles as These That the King's Power is not derived immediately from God but from the People That by their own Voluntary Act the People do make Princes their Commissioners and Trustees That they may call Him to account if they judge him to have failed in the Execution of His Office That if He will not come to Trial with Tameness and Submission the People may use any Force or Violence against Him That upon Proof and Conviction touching His Breach of Trust they may Condemn Depose and Kill Him if they please and Dispose of the Crown according as they shall think best for the Peoples Good They that thus make Court to the People as if all Soveraignty were in Them and would make them believe that They have Really that Power which the Devil pretended to of Bestowing Kingdoms can design nothing else but to Debauch Men out of their Allegiance and to fit them for the perpetrating of any the most Horrid Villanies and whosoever he be that is strongly persuaded of the Truth of those Principles wants nothing but Opportunity and an Ax to make him a Regicide The Faction of the Late Times to Justifie if they could their Proceedings against the King Reprinted a Treasonable Book which had been written by a most violent Jesuit under the Counterfeit Name of Doleman with some few Alterations to Disguise it which very Libel was Lately Printed again entire by the Faction now though it was Condemned by Act of Parliament in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Now Hâ—st of Indep p. 113. the Fundamental Principle in that Book is this That every Commonwealth hath Power within it self to Dispose of the Governours and either to Alter or Abolish any Form of Government according to the Pleasure of the People A little before the King's Tryal the Pestilent Remnant of the House of Commons that were now at the Armies Devotion to Prepare the Kings way first to the Court and so to the Scaffold agreed upon this Vote as if they had been a Conclave of Jesuites That the People under God are the Original of all Just Power And upon this Fundamental Principle they raised these other Positions which were the Natural Consequents of it 1. That the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament have the Supreme Authority of the Nation 2. That whatsoever is declared for Law by the Commons hath the force of a Law 3. That all the People of the Nation are concluded thereby although the Consent of the King and the Peers be not had thereunto 4. That to raise Arms against the Peoples Representatives is High-Treason Thus were these Popular Principles Previous and Preparative for that Horrid Murder which to the Dishonour of Nature to the Reproach of Religion to the Shame of this Kingdom and to the Scandal of all Nations was so barbarously committed on this Day The Charge against that Incomparable Prince ran in the Name of the People He had violated that Trust which the People had reposed in Him Which thing when an Honourable Lady that was present Heard she cried out openly before the whole Court It was a Lie for not the Tenth part of the People would be guilty of such a Crime When the King demanded by what Authority they brought Him to Tryal that most Impudent and Vnjust Judge the Blasphemer of God and His Anointed answered That 't was by the Authority of the People When the King had Solidly and Eloquently refuted that Pretence that Monster of Mankind persisted in it That the People of England were the Supreme Authority of the Nation over King and Laws too that he was an Officer in Trust and that having broken his Compact with the People they might justly proceed against Him even unto Death And this he endeavoured to prove by Arguments and Examples all taken one by one out of the Counterfeit Doleman which I mentioned before Thus did these Treasonable Principles cost that excellent Monarch first his Peace and at last his Life to the Eternal warning as well of every Upright Magistrate that he presume not to Suffer as of every Faithful Subject that he presume not to Listen to those Cursed Principles and Doctrines which were never Formed and Designed but for Blood were never Countenanced and Cherish'd but for Blood were never Obeyed and Followed but by Men that Longed and Thirst for Blood Royal. I have no more to add but my Humble and Hearty Prayers to the God of Order and Power That he would Pardon that Great Sin which this day was acted against Himself and his Anointed and Bless his Present Majesty and the whole Royal Family with a long continuance of Life Health Peace and Honour and that the course of this World may be so peaceably ordered by his Governance that his Church may joyfully serve him in all Godly Quietness through Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Lord of Lords To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Honour and Glory World without end Amen FINIS
under the Common Oppressions We had the Independent the Anabaptist the Fifth-Monarchist the Brownist the Quaker the Seeker the Ranter the Adamite nay the very Atheist himself for Company and all these the Natural Spawn of the Presbyterian that Prolifick and Unruly Leviathan that not content to have taken his Pastime in the Lemain Lake hath troubled the Waters in all Parts of the Christian World So many Sects as there were so many Plagues there were in this little Island and what could we expect would be the Issue of this Complication of Unhappinesses but that the Interest of Religion would be weakned and its Reputation rendred Contemptible so many Bare-fac'd Enemies being Allowed and Encouraged to fall Foul upon the Church pursuant to that Base Example which was given them by a most Unconscionable Parliament Bishops were ready to be torn in pieces as the Limbs of Antichrist Multitudes of the Inferiour Clergy had no other Rewards for all their Labours and Fidelity in the Service of Christ but Sequestrations Imprisonment and all manner of Cruelties beyond the Tyranny even of a True-Protestant Grand Seignior The Vniversities were corrupted with Haeresie and Hypocrisie the Instruments of the Devil having taken his Work out of his Hands by sowing themselves such Tares and Cockle in the Seminaries of Religion as in a little time would have destroyed the very Life and Being of Christianity had not God himself been the Husbandman The Liturgy which they solemnly Protested that they would onely Reform was soon thrown out of doors to make room for Blasphemies and Enthusiasm which made the Worship of God an Abomination Pulpits that were erected for the Sons of the Prophets were made the Trading places of Mechanicks and the Basest of the People who were onely skilful in Cheating Men of their Money and such another Famine was in the Church as was once in Samaria when every Asses Head was sold for Fourscore pieces of Silver Sacraments were neglected and almost given over and the People were so Frighted and Discouraged from their Duty that in some Places of the Kingdom the Holy Communion was not used for almost Twenty years together A Glorious and Blessed Reformation Those Lands which the Piety of our Ancestors had so solemnly set apart for the Encouragement of Learning and for the Edification of Souls were made the Price of Rebellion and Blood and a Booty for the most Faithless and Perjur'd Villains upon the Earth Truth Honesty Justice Obedience Love and other the Essential Parts of Religion were all Trampled under foot and when God and his Worship were thus Scandalously Dishonoured I do not wonder that some of God's Houses were Filthily Polluted too When the Creed was Contaminated when the Lords Prayer was Despised when the Decalogue in all its Parts was Broken when the Orthodox Ministry was Cashier'd when Fonts and Altars were Defiled and when the Church was Plunder'd and Stripp'd within and without it is no marvel that many Oratories were so Profaned too as to be Turn'd at last into Stables for Horses by those Beasts of the People that before had made them Sanctuaries for Traytors Nurseries of Rebels and Regicides and Dens of Thieves 3. Well might we Weep when we remembred Sion whose ways did now mourn because her Children could not come to her Solemn Feast her Gates were desolate her Priests sighed her Virgins were afflicted her Beauty was departed her Princes were pursued like Harts her Persecutors overtook her her Enemies Prosper'd and she her self was in Bitterness as the Prophet spake Lam. 1. But yet the Church did not suffer alone nor was Religion the Onely bleeding Sacrifice though the Wounding of That was infinitely Reproachful to those who sold their very Consciences pretending a Design to Redeem and Rescue it The State went Partnership with the Church in its Losses and we soon saw what it was to want a King whose Loins were not half so heavy as the Little Finger of that Tyrant who Vsurp'd His Throne and was such an Hardned Reprobate as first to Kill and then to take Possession Liberty the Darling of the Nation the Blessing of Kings but the Engine of Traytors Liberty that Fools never think Secure till they sue for it in the Field though they have it in Possession and no Man questions their Title Liberty that was used to Destroy and Pursue Prerogative was at last Confined within the narrow Compass of a Goal and a Dungeon Nor did it fare better with Property neither for no Man enjoyed so much of That as the Beggar and the Bankrupt that had little to be robb'd of but the Latchet of his Shoe Sequestrations Decimations Plunders Forfeitures Contributions Taxes Loans and vast Offerings to the Publick Faith some or all of these devoured all that was either Inheritance or Purchase and we could call nothing our Own but those Sins and Follies that had made us Miserable at least no man could promise himself any long Enjoyment of what he had Violence and Rapine being all over the Nation the great Trade of those Times so that what a Mercenary Souldier Left a Rapacious Committee-man would be Sure to Take unless a man would Barter away his Honour and a Blessed Eternity by giving up his Conscience as a Composition and Ransom for his Estate And the Reason of all this was because the whole Kingdom was Plunder'd of its Birth-right I mean the Law which while it was in the Hands of the King was every ones Security from the Peer to the very Meanest Subject and of this the King was so Tender to the last that just before His Martyrdom when He was offer'd His Life if he would Yield to some Conditions which were Inconsistent with His Conscience and the Laws He answered That He would chuse to die a Thousand Deaths before He would Prostitute His Honour or Betray the Liberties and Rights of His People Every man was Sure of his Right as long as that Religious Prince had His just Authority But when once Vsurpation was the Regent first in the Parliament-House and then in the King's Palace we had no Law but the Pleasure and Lust of Tyrants whose Oppressions were Vnsupportable because their Power was Arbitrary and their Tyranny Boundless What was Magna Charta worth when it hung at the Hilt of the Sword And what did you talk of Laws when Votes were too Hard for Statutes when Tryals were Removed from Westminster-Hall to the Camp and Sentence was given at the Mouth of the Cannon Not that this was the Fate onely of the Honest Royalist Though His Miseries were beyond measure intolerable and he knew not Poor Wretch what to do more but to shed his Tears when his Dread Soveraign the Master of his Dearest Affections had now shed a whole Stream of Blood yet the Generality of the whole Nation began now to be Sensible what a Miserable Bargain was made by the Unhappy Change of the Times God shewing at once his own Justice and Mens Follies by