He Prayed that if he must perish by the Sword that he might perish by the Sword of the Lord viz. the Pestilence and doubtless the Pestilence is a harmless dove if compared to the raging violence of lawless man For who can without horror think what cruel torments and hideous tortures bloudy Tyrants have invented for the punishment of poor Innocents I will not stain my paper with their names being so well known and so ill practised Audax omnia perpeti gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas Nothing comes amiss to them Take a view of the preceding ages and you shall finde some Caines some bad in the best of times no garden without some weeds no roses without some thorns and no field without some tares But take a glimpse of our age and without the help of Spectacles you may see our scarlet sins swiming upon the red Sea of Martyrs blood in every street The whole field is grown over with briers and thistles and all are become abominable there is none that doth good no not one Vir bonus sapiens qualem vix reperit unum Millibus e cunctis hominum consultus Apollo If Diogenes had the Sun to be his Candle and the eyes of the whole world to be his Lanthern he could not finde amongst us the man he lookt for so many ages since All such are become Exuls though not exleges And since we meet with an Exul in the way Let us salute him by his proper name and first describe what he is not and then what and who he is Ovidius Omne solum forti patria est ut piscibus aequor Et volucri vacuo quicquid in orbe patet Though many good and prudent men by the fierce Tyranny of others are forced from their native soil and hunted from place to place like the panting Hart by the multitude of raging hounds yet will they not own the name of Exuls but Travellers esteeming it the part of a pusillanimous Spirit not to make every part of the world their Country and account the whole world as one city Such was Camillus and Marcellus and many other antients whom time and paper would fail me here to Catalogue But I need not rip up antiquity for such examples enough and one too many doth our iron age afford But as little birds though hatched in as little nests make all the earth their habitations so wise and valiant men account the whole world as their private dwelling Fools are banisht in their own Country wise men are in their own Country though banisht and by their travels obtain such learning as if their banishment had been their Vniversity so much for what an Exul is not Let Cicero who best could tell you what and who he is and least you should mistrust that I belye him For Fugiere pudor verumque fidesque In quorum suliere locum fraudesque dolique Insidiaeque vis amor sceleratus habendi Shame truth and faith depart Fraud enters ignorant in no bad art Force treason and the love of wicked gain Is the motto of our times The Father cannot believe his Son nor the Son his Father he is wisest that can forge the most beneficial lies and lies are become the ammunition of our age Therefore hear him in his own Dialect Omnes scelerati impii quos leges exilio affici volunt exules sunt etiamsi solum non mutant All wicked and impious persons which deserve banishment by law are exuls Though they continue upon their native Country Sure I am they are exleges But since there are many in the world that are driven from their own native soil whose virtue will not suffer them to esteem it a banishment but rather a tryal to exercize their fortitude Yet confident I am as an unfaigned lover whose Mistress hath abandoned him from her presence whereby he contemneth her because shee contemneth him yet if once shee open her pleasant arms to receive him forgetting all her former injuries he presently imbraceth her and is capable of no greater joy so they who are so exiled would willingly return if their hard-hearted Country would once receive them For Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos Ducit immemores non sinit esse sui Home is home though it be never so homely Therefore let all those who labour with this disease of banishment apply themselves to reverend Petrack de exilio where they may finde an Antidote let their malady be of what nature soever And since the Physitian is so learned his Physick so good and the disease so obvious behold the Physitian and his patient arguing together assuming the names of Dolor and Ratio and first the Physitian Ratio Terra patris domus est nostri communis inqua Sedibus a patriis exulat omnis homo Dolor Exilio pellor injusto R. Quid tu igitur justo pelli malles exilio Nempe quod ad injuriae cumulum ais in diversum trahitur habes enim injusti exilii solatium comitem Justitiam quae injustos cives destituens te sequuta tecum exulat D. Injusto exilio pulsus sum R. An te rex expulit an Tyrannus an populus an hostis an tu ipse Nam si rex aut injustum exilium non erit aut ipse non justus at que ita nec rex quidem Si Tyrannus ab illo te pulsum gaude sub quo boni existant fures imperant Si populus moribus ille suis utitur bonos odit hic quoque multiceps Tyrannus nunquam sui similem pepulisset Non te igitur patria sed malorum caetibus arceri neque in exilium sed in partem bonorum civium cogi putes At si hostis agnosce injuriae levitatem non hostiliter saeviit qui omnia cum possit patriam abstulit spem reliquit Sui tu ipse mores populi peresus aut Tyranni abitum elegisti non modo te doleas sed etiam gloriare virtutem patriae praetulisse non tu flebilem sed honestam prorsus invidiosam bonis atque optabilem non jam exilii sed absentiae causam habes sponte Pythagoras Samon liquit Athaenas Solon Romam Scipio D. Depellor patria R. Pulsum te pessimiâ— optimis insere neque te patria sed patriam te indignam rebus proba Sentiat illa quid perdidit Tu nihil perdidisse sentias mali cives tui odio simulque praesentis odio ac suspitione careant boni autem amore absentis ac desiderio teneantur sequanturque oculis atque animis abeuntem illi se solos linqui doleant D. Mittor in exilium R. Immo in experimentum tui videris quem te in exilio praebeas si succumbis exul verus si consistis exilio clarus ut multi olim qui invicti fulgidi per asperitates incesserunt ut sequentibus rectum iter ostenderent Sine Tyrannos saevire sine populum furere sine hostes ac
the House by the martial violence of the Souldiers their Masters whose Journy-Men they are yet no sooner do they find the door open but in they slip again like Dogs into the Buttery where they sit and eat the fat of the Land and the fruits of our labours for which they now and then shite us an Act of Parliament whereby they destroy our fundamental Laws and Liberties and invent new high Treasons against them such as our Law-Books nor Statutes never told us of by which they maintain themselves in their Robbery and the people in their Slavery As for the oath of Supremary Vows Protestations and Covenants which they made in the presence of God with hands lift up to heaven for vengeance if they did not perform them and all other oathes of Homage Fealty and Allegiance which the People took to be true and faithfull to the King These they discharge themselves and the People of by an Act of Parliament as if these Caterpillers could discharge debts due to the Almighty But to make God amends they passed another Act that the People should swear to be true and faithfull unto them To go about to number their villanies deceits treacheries perjuries and other their wicked Actions were to go about to number the sands of the Sea or the fraudulent devices of Belzebub their Master they being the Genus generalissimum of all Treason Rebellion Murther Blasphemy Hypocrisie Lying Swearing and For-swearing abounding in Wâ—oredom Drunkenness Leachery Treachery Covetousnesse Pride Ambition and all other detestable vices They are a pack of rotten putrefied Members glued together in the stinking body of sin And if I should give you a Character of each Simple wherewith this Compound is contracted it would fright you out of your wits for I speak really I think they are the very Quintessence of all the Devils in Hell And although this beast cannot well agree which horn or legge shall go foremost they being somwhat troubled in dividing the spoil and their usurped authorities which is caused by their pride and covetousness and although they differ in Ceremonies and Ciâ—cumstances yet they make it one of their Fudamentals upon which themselves and all their proceedings are builded to murther Charles the second as they did Charles the first when they can lay their unhallowed Claws upon him and although they hate and bark and snarle at one another like dogs yet in the great work of their Salvation like Pilate and Herod they all agree to be Traytor and Rebels against their King And so long as these Mastives Lord it over us we must never expect peace but alwayes live like dogs fighting and biting for what we have We must with them account vice vertue and vertue vice we must hold their words more canonical than Gods word and say that is law which they say is law though it be neither law truth nor reason Unlawfull wars set them up and we shall alwayes have wars and rumours of wars amongst us untill they are pulled down To be short we must resolve to forsake God and serve the Devil if we intend to keep any thing safe so long as this Phalaris the Tail of the House of Commons domineereth over us For the Children of this world being in their Generation wiser than the Children of Light Luke 16.8 These Worldlings are so wise and subtil to do mischief that when they commit the most deadly sin They make it passe to the world as the best service done to God and when they themselves make plots to murther honest Royalists then they get some of their hirelings to discover it and swear that the Royalists invented the plot against them and presently forsooth they vote and command that their three Kingdomes give God thanks for their great deliverance ascribing that which was done by their own providence to the Providence of the Almighty Nay they have their Lillies and other lying Astrologers whom they consult with before they commit any great wickednesse and make them publish to the world that the Heavens ruled and voted what these Beagles please to perform It is as natural for their Judges to judge unjustly if it be for the profit or pleasure of their Masters at Westminster as it is for them to live For how many innocent Gentlemen have they condemned to death for doing their duty in defending the King from unjust violence which we are all bound to do by the law of God Nature and of the Realm They have their Balaam Prophets and Priests too almost in every parish and pulpit which they make the Organs to sound forth their own praises so that the ignorant country multitudes who scarce know that there is a God but that they heard their Minister tell them so thinking that he doth God the best service and credit who hath the finest ribbond on his hat or that weareth the best cloaths on his back at Church these Momusses believe that the Saints at Westminster are the only supreme power on Earth and that no men in the world for some of them think that the sea side is the end of the world are to be compared to them either for wisdome learning or honesty and the only reason of their thoughts is Ipse dixit their Minister said so but last Sunday And this was the chiefest reason wherefore the countrey Peasants flocked in so fast to the Armies of those Neroes at Westminster raised against the King who alwayes made the ignorance of the people their greatest Champion And lest we should see the superiority of the King above and over the Knaves and other Cards they abolish and prohibit Card-playing as a great sin in their Commonwealth Why did they not give the superiority to the Knaves How these godly Villains stumble at strawes and leap over blocks They prohibit innocent recreations on the Sabbath day purposely because they would have the people esteem them zealous in Religion and stricter observers of Gods Commandments than the King But in truth they serv'd God only to serve themselves In nomine Domini incipit omne malum acting all their wickednesse in the name of the Lord. For when they have got a good name amongst the people they think under that shadow to act any wickednesse and yet to the world seem saints Murther their King too and yet be accounted good Christians nay Reformers of the Christian Religion O Religious Impostors To these Quacksalvers belongeth two Speakers alias dictos Lyars viz. the private Speaker Lenthall now called by the common souldiers the Father of their Country Can you blame the little Thieves if they applaud the great Thief and the publick Speaker Needham the one rough hammereth lyes at the forge the House of Commons the other fashioneth them in his Mercurius Politicus Thus they fill our eares with as many lies as their breasts be yet forsooth none must dare not to believe what they publish by authority Now the Presbyterian Judasses when they saw that the King
was condemned repented themselves saying We have sinned in that we have betrayed Innocent blood and were all of them ready to hang themselves But it was not out of any love or allegiance they did bear to the King but because they could not have those ends upon the King which they intended They would have had the King buckled to their bent and it grieved them to see the Independents c. out-knave them foâ— the greatest part of the religion of these factions consists in their animosities one against the other not only the Presbyterians but also the Independents Anabaptists c. are both almost and altogether such as the proud Pharisees were Therefore their greatest care and study is to domineer and master it one over the other which makes the prevalent faction alwayes outragious and that which sinketh alwayes envious So that the Presbyterian being at this time undermost he would fain insinuate himself into the favour of the honest Royalist and because he hath not force to be so much Knave as he would be therefore he is compelled to be honest against his will and would have his injured King to rule over him again But get thee behind me Dagon what hast thou to do with peace Didst thou not in thy youthfull age revile thy Innocent King with thy mouth and persecute him with thy bloudy hand and wouldst thou now in thy old age serve him Thy service is Hypocrisie and thy words but the vapours of a deceitfull head Let the Presbyterians rigid actions judge the rigid Presbyterians Having related of what persons the Parliament doth consist viz. of the King above all and the three Estates sharing no more with the King in the Soveraignity than the body doth with the head and how King Charles the first was most traiterously murthered by those who have the impudence to call themselves a Parliament though in truth they are nothing else but a den of Tyrannical Traytors and Rebels I will further proceed to explicate the Soveraignity of the King and the legal power of the three Estates with their first institution and creation Sapiens omnia agit cum consilio saith Solomon a wise man doth nothing without counsel Pro. 13.16 Therefore the King of England Ex mero motu et speciali gratia out of his meer good-will and special favour hath vouchsafed his Subjects that honour as to make them his Counsellours not only concerning Ardua Regni but also arcana imperii even in his most privie affairs wherefore As my Lord Cook observeth the King is armed with diverse Councills one whereof is called Commune Concilium and that is the Court of Parliament and another is called Magnum Concilium this is somtimes applyed to the upper House of Parliament and somtimes out of Parliament time to the Peers of the Realm Lords of Parliament who are called Magnum Concilium Regis Thirdly as every man knoweth the King hath a privie Council for matters of State The fourth Council of the King are his Judgâ—s of the Law for Law matters as appeareth in our Law-Books This word Parliament was never used in England untiâ—l the time of William the Conquerour who first brought it in with him For as King David called a Parliament when he intended to build an house for the name of the Lord 1 Chro. 28. and assembled all the Princes of Israel the Princes of the Tribes and the Captains of the Companies that ministred unto the King by course and the Captains over the thousands and Captaines over the hundreds and the Stewards over all the substance and possession of the King and of his Sons with the Officers and with the mighty men and with all the valiant men unto Jerusalem And when they were assembled the King himself shewed the cause of calling that Parliament for then David the King stood up upon his feet and said Hear me my Brethren and my People as for me I had in my heart to build and House of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God and had made ready for the building c. Whereupon all the people offered their Gold and Silver willingly towards the work which made the People and David their King rejoice exceedingly with great joy as you may there read So the Kings of England from the beginning in all extraordinary cases when they intended to make new Laws or abolish old have always convoked an assembly of their Subjects what persons and of what number they thought fit Not because they could not do what they pleased without their Subjects consent but because their Subjects best knowing what shooes would fit their own feet might as they often did by Petitions humbly supplicate his Majesty to grant what they shewed him was most convenient and necessary for them by their requests which he refused or granted at his pleasure Which Councils and Conventions they called Witenage Mote Conventus sapientium Michael Smoth Michael Gemote c. that is to say the great Court or meeting of the King To which the King convened only the Nobles and Bishops The Rustick Commons were not then admitted into the presence of the King And doubtlesse they had then small hopes and lesse thoughts that they should ever take the Regal Diadem from off their Soveraigns head and become Lords Paramount ruling both King and People by no other Law than Hoc volo sic Jubeo stat pro ratione voluntas by their own lusts and unstable except to do mischief wills But I have seen servants upon Horses and Princes walking as Servants upon the Earth saith Solomon And pray who hath not seen as much as Solomon of this For behold Tinkers Taylors Spicket and Fosset makers and those who were Servants even to the basest of the people having murthered their Soveraign Lord the King doe take possession of his sacred Patrinomy and now sit Lords over all ruling and domineering in his Palace at Westminster Feign that the people did intrust the King with his Royal Office yet why should it escheat to these Hypocrites why not to the people And if his Office with the Lands which he held Jure Coronae yet by what Law do they seise upon those Lands which he held in his natural Capacity and those Lands which he purchased For if a man forfeit an Office he only forfeiteth those Lands which belonged to the Office But if all his Lands escheat by what Law do they detain and keep the Queens Dower from her By what Law did I say By that Law whereby they subdue all things to themselves to wit their own wicked Appetites Ambition and Covetousnesse which is all the Law they can shew for any of their Actions to which we must be Slaves so long as they command over us Pro. 30.21 For three things saith Solomon the earth is disquieted and for four which it cannot bear For a Servant when he reigneth and a Fool when he is filled with meat For and