of Christians is the best Sacrifice to God and of a like Religion with the Assassines among the Mahumetans who deeme it Soveraign devotion puritie of manners and the readiest way to Paradise for to kill those of a differing opinion to themselves and of the same faith with the Donatists of old who held none to be Gods children but themselves and made it both their position and their practice occidere quenquam qui contra eos fecerit to kill and make away whoever durst oppose their doings or was conceived to be any hinderance to their growing Faction But what warrant you have for these things we know not sure we are you have none from the Old or New Testament delivered by the Prophets and Apostles from God to the Church what to this purpose will be found in your new Bible which as reports goes you are about to set forth we cannot yet tell nor can we imagine how you will escape that threatning of God Bloudy and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their dayes God accounteth mans bloud so precious a thing though you have set a low rate upon it that he requires the unjust spilling of it from the unreasonable creature and would not allow the knowne Murderer the Sanctuary of his Altar Therefore we are confident that when he maketh inquisition for bloud he will remember you to your smart and sorrow for all your Pietie and will call you to an account for that and all your other evills with so much greater severity as Conscience hath been pretended to such high and open violations of Sanctity and Holinesse In a word your Piety is an enemy to Truth for it persecuteth that 't is an adversary to Peace for it opposeth that 't is a foe to Order for it hath pull'd downe that it will allow of no Bishop no King like that of the Pope it must be above all or that of Lucifer it will admit of no Superiour it hath not onely defiled the whole Land with bloud but the whole bloud of the Land with Treason for scarce a Family throughout the whole Nation but some one or other of it has been drawn by you into this Conspiracy insomuch that Norfolke I feare can no longer boast of her 100. Houses of Gentlemen never yet attainted Cheshire I am sure by your meanes has lost for ever her ancient glory which was that it was never stained with the blot of Rebellion but alwayes stood true to their King and to his Crown whose Loyalty Richard the second so farre found and esteemed that he held his Person most safe amongst them and by Authoritie of Parliament made that County for this cause a Principality stiling himselfe Prince thereof doubtlesse when these things come to be considered upon in after-Ages most odious will your names be to succeeding generations To conclude your pietie hath merited for you those Titles which S. Paul bestowes upon Elimas the Sorcerer Act. 13. 10. and it being attended with so much knowldge I feare it hath advanced you to that high pitch which those Pharisees in Christs time were ascended to whom our Saviour intimateth to have committed that sinne which should never be pardoned in this world nor in that to come and so it hath made you capable to be given over ad Hospitalium incurabilium as Erasmus speâ—kes But my prayer for you is and shall be as Peter prayed for Simon Magus that if it be possible you may be pardoned and that the wickednesse of your hearts and wayes may be forgiven you And to this purpose I desire you all who like them Mat. 21. 45. doe conceive your selves concerned in these my words that you would but consider of this short advice which I shall propound unto you and then say Amen to a short Collect which I shall make for you My advice is this that upon your serious thoughts of these things which as Gods Minister I have said unto you you would remember what poor wormes what Grashoppers what graines of dust your selves are in compare with that great God whom you oppose by your endeavours to pull downe his Annointed the King and his Spouse the Church and whose eternall curse hangs over your heads which together with the odium of the whole Nation will o're-whelme you speedily if you doe not by your more speedie and unfeigned Repentance prevent the same And thereupon cast downe your loftie looks and stout hearts lay aside your high stomacks and in an humble selfe-denying way throw your selves down at the feet of your Soveraigne yea if it be in the habit and posture of those men of whom you may read 1 King 20. 32. it will be so much the better for believe it you have farre more reason to doe it in that manner to your King then those Syrians had to doe so to the King of Israel and resolve with your selves that if your lives be granted you will spend the remainder of them solitarily in practising the duties of Penitentiaries this is mine advice to you which by Gods grace may prevent Hell if imbraced by you my Prayer followes in these words O omnipotent and Almightie God to whom nothing is impossible be thou pleased to magnifie thy power and thy mercy in converting these men bring them upon their knees good Lord before thee before their Soveraigne and before the Nation and perswade their proud and rebellious spirits to begge pardon of all for their evils done and to beseech the supplications of the whole Church and Kingdome unto thee for themselves and to this end let them feele that Hell which is in their owne bosomes let the bloud which they have shed cry and the evills they have committed roar within them let them seriously think of those devouring flames of those everlasting burnings upon the worme that never dieth and upon the fire that never shall be quenched as their sinnes have abounded towards thee so let deare God thy grace be more abounding towards them it will be to the greater glory of thy goodnesse at the great day to have pardoned such great sinners as these be when every Saint shall extoll thy mercy to his owne particular selfe if they shall come forth among the rest and say but to us to us God hath been more mercifull then to all others in his forgiving us more and greater evills O remember holy Father thy Sonne came into the world to save chiefe sinners and these are such and his bloud is able to wash away the deepest staines even those of these men therefore for his sake grant pardon if possible unto these bloudy and rebellious persons Amen And thus Gentlemen I have as Christ's Messenger discharged mine office to you in telling you plainly of your transgressions I thought though perhaps others may not be of my mind this time of your height and greatnesse to be fittest for this performance for if not now I know not when had been the season when your night which is drawing
promised us the new Religion you will set up amongst us Is this the way to Heaven which you will trace out to your Country-men that adore you Doth your Discipline purchased with the effusion of so much Christian bloud allow of such expressions and persons without correction Indeed this is the way to work an Alteration from what was before the Devil had formerly but his Chappell where God had his Church but from henceforth if you prevail he is likely to have his Church where God shal scarce have a Chapell Wel as an Holy Martyr said to others so say I to you I thank God I am none of you and my prayer is Never let my soul O Lord partake in their Counsells nor my feet tread in their paths but give me I beseech thee thy grace to pray daily against their wickednesse And let it not O let it not good Lord be told in Gath or believed in Askelon that these bitter fruits do spring from the tree of Protestant Religion Let it rather be acknowledged and apprehended that these things are favoured and done by the men of this Nation as they are at this present by Satans working in a deadly enmity and opposition against their Soveraigne and not as they are either his sworn Subjects or Children of the English Church And thus O my God as thy messenger Liberavi animam meam I have dicharged my Conscience towards them SECT II. 1. Of the pretended end of publishing the Libell the true end thereof hinted 2. Their blasphemy against God noted 3. How these Letters of the King might have been made use of as Evidences of Truth and Loyaltie 4. Of what stock and linage the Authours of the Libell discover themselves to be 5. Of their subtilty and of that spirit of meeknesse which they boast of 6. How aptly for themselves they alleadge the Example mentioned by S. Jude I Now come to the Book it selfe whose publication they have Authorized and I observe that the persons for whose sake 't is pretended to be put forth are some whom the Authors call their Seduced Brethren to reclaime them I conceive they are so accounted because they will not concur in breaking their Protestation and opposing their Soveraigne I apprehend my selfe to be reckoned in the number and therefore in the behalfe of my self and the rest I desire these men who are so careful to Reclaim us that they would deal plainly with us and tell us in downe right English whether it be any thing else but our Loyalty our love and obedience to our Soveraigne which they would Reclaim us from let them in the first place declare unto us our transgression and prove out of Gods Word that we are such as they call us and account of us let them shew who hath Seduced us we are of the Prophet Jeremies minde If we be deceived it is the Lord that hath deceived us 't is his Word that hath taught us to Honour the King and to adhere unto our Soveraigne that is the foundation we stand upon and so strong and stable it is that we beleeve and hope these new Teachers shall never be able either to shake it or us from it Nay we have an apprehension that these men are in a Seduced condition themselves because they are gone out from us whereas they were once of us they took the Oath of Allegeance and afterward the Protestation as well as we to defend the Kings Person Honour and Estate against all opposers And now being themselves out of the right way we fear they would draw us into the same danger they tell us we are Seduced onely that we might yeeld so to be We remember that Satan Seduced our first Parents from their duty towards God by proceeding in the direct way and mothod of these men he pretended pity and respect unto them as to his Seduced Brethren and to the same purpose as these do He standred defamed and reproached his Soveraigne wherefore these men must pardon us if but for this reason we are somewhat suspicious of them Beside the Scripture tells us of some men who call Light Darknesse and Darknesse Light Good Evill and Evill Good and what know we to the contrary but these men may be of that number Our Saviour informes us that in the last dayes many wolves should come in sheeps cloathing who by fair pretences should deceive many and should carry their designes so cunningly that if possible they should deceive the very Elect themselves Now as these are the last dayes so these men have fair pretences are crafty in their carriages do deceive many and therefore may peradventure be those very wolves forespoken of Saint John adviseth us not to beleeve every one but bids us try their spirits whether they be of God or no wherefore having this warning if we trust these men before we have tryed them we shall shew our selves as they entitle us Seduced indeed they must give us leave therefore to examine of what spirit they are who thus take upon them to reclaim us whether their doctrine be of God or no we will go by Christs own rule let them except against it if they can or dare By their fruits saith he you shall know them and this their Book is their fruit we will consider whether their speech and language therein doth not bewray them They begin thus It were a great sinne against the mercies of God to conceale those Evidences of truth which He so graciously and almost miraculously by surprisall of these papers hath put into our hands I confesse they promise faire like those Galathians whom Saint Paul writes unto they begin in the Spirit with the mention of Sin and Mercy they have like those Locusts Rev. 9. the faces of men but observe them well we shall finde they have the teeth of Lyons and the tayles of Scorpions my endeavours shall be on purpose to discover them that men may avoid them and not be hurt by them which that I may do I beg of thee O most mighty Jesus who art the Light of lights and doest enlighten every man that commeth into the world to lighten the understanding of thy poore Minister that he may be able by thy light to enlighten thy people so as they may cleerely discerne this work of darknesse which is cast forth by an Hidden Crew to blemish and disgrace the Doctrine of thy Gospel professed in this Church to obscure those beames of Majesty wherewith thou hast decked thine owne Anointed and to seduce those Soules for which thou sheddest thy precious bould into wayes of perdition and destruction that by these my endeavours thy true Religion may be illustrated thy Servant the King Vindicated and thy people preserved to the Glory of thy great Name and to the inward comfort of me thy weak instrument and that for thine owne Merit and Mercies sake Amen Amen It is evident that the ends why these papers were divulged after
their surprisal together with that bitter Preface and perverse Notes upon them was to weaken the Kings reputation among his people to take from him the affections of those that still remaine constant and Loyal and to stir up some already poysoned to act Raviliacks part upon him and yet these men would have us beleeve that it would have been a sin in them forsooth yea a great sin a sin against the mercies of God if they had concealed them Nay further they would have us think that God himself did graciously and even miraculously put them into their hands on purpose yea on set purpose that they might doe with them as they have done We doe confess if God should so far have forgot himself his holy Nature his Word and all his former doings as to put these Papers into their hands to that very end for which they publish them he should have done very miraculously indeed and what he never did since the beginning of the world before But we the Seduced Brethren as we are called should prove our selves Seduced indeed if in this we should beleeve them for we could never finde throughout the whole History of the Bible that God did ever yet allow any man to defame his Brother his equall his inferiour much lesse his Father the Father of his Countrey and Supreamest Magistrate in the Kingdome we finde there a strict precept to the contrary Thou shalt not speak evill of the Ruler of thy People But that God should be partaker also with the Calumniator as these men would have him that he should be chief in the sinne and help the ill disposed with occasions on purpose to render that Person infamous whom himself hath commanded in speciall to be honoured and to whom Allegeance hath been sworn and obedience protested truly the Authours of this Libell must not be angry with us whom they call Seduced if for this their assertion we think them guilty of most high Blasphemy for we suppose that Doeg might as lawfully have pretended that Gods mercy gave him advantage by being at Nob to exasperate Saul against the Priests of the Lord and Shimei might as well have said that Gods grace did adminster unto him the occasion of Davids passing by his house on purpose that he might curse him and raile upon him The Papists have often taxed us that we made God the Authour of evill and now these men as we conceive would faine draw us into that Heresie with themselves to confirme that slander of the Adversary but we would have all the world to understand that the true Protestant Professours in the English Church were never yet guilty of this Blasphemy they are rather Scabbs then true Members of the same from whence doth issue this Corruption We remember when Rabshakeh being flesh'd with his masters successe railed upon Hezekiah he uttered himself after the fashion of these men as if God had sent him on purpose to vilifie and defame the King Am I come up saith he without the Lord and God observed it and soon after punished him for it So we hope the Lord hath both seen and heard the Blasphemous words of these men whom their masters the Authorizers of their Libel have set on work to defame the Lords Anointed and to reproach the living God and wil in his due time reprove the words which they have spoken we have a ground for our hopes in Psal. 50. where God taxeth some that were great pretenders to Religion though haters of his word in their practice for they were malicious Accusers and Slanderers of others and like these men to the ful they intituled God to all their villanyes saying he was such a one as themselves But the Lord resolves in the following verses that there should come a time that he would reprove them and cal them to a reckoning for all these things yea saith he I will teare you in pieces and none shall deliver you and so doubtlesse he wil deal with these men like forgetters of God as they be unlesse by a timely repentance they consider of these their presumptions and most ungodly doings The Lord in mercy vouchsafe that grace unto them We their Seduced Brethren as we are accounted do in the mean time conceive from this their beginning what we shal have in their following discourse and we shal wonder the lesse when we meet with their unseemly Language of and against their Soveraigne now we have seen such their high boldnesse against the Almighty himselfe But one thing is to be noted further in those first lines they call those Papers which they Publish Evidences of truth their meaning is of what themselves have reported against the King which they onely call truth and would have all men beleeve for truth We know they have often wrested Gods Scriptures to make them appeare as Evidences of such their truths and therefore 't is no marvail if together with their own perverse notes upon them they use the Kings letters to the same purpose Indeed I beleeve that these Papers might have been Evidences of truth and of Loyalty too had the Surprizers of them been guilty of these vertues and so pleased if after their surprizall finding that by sinister construction they might prove blemishes to the Kings reputation should weak mindes but chance to see them they had presently locked them up in the Cabinet again sent them secretly to the King then indeed they might more properly have said in a private letter to their Soveraigne God hath graciously and in mercy to us put into our hands an occasion to Evidence our truth our honest hearts and Loyall Affections to your Majesty I would have these men ask their own Consciences whether they doe not think that David would have done thus had he met with such an advantage in the dayes of Saul surely they cannot conjecture he would have done after their fashion for when he had as large an opportunity of doing his King a displeasure as this was and some did advise him to make use of it to such a purpose telling him in effect that it would be a great sinne in him against the mercies of God who so graciously and miraculously had put the opportunity into his hand if he should balk the same But David being a man after Gods own heart knew Gods minde better then these men do and being as full of truth and Loyalty as ever he had been in his professions of the same rebuked those who thus advised him telling them plainly that never any could go in that way which they councelled him unto but would prove guilty of High Treason and become liable to Gods curse But sayes he by his actions I 'le make another use of this advantage even to Evidence my truth and Loyalty to discover mine honest intentions unto the King who hath conceived an ill opinion of me I 'le take away his speare and the pot of water that stands at
his head where he lies asleepe then I 'le returne them to him again that he may perceive that I had an advantage to have done him hurt but not an heart or Conscience disposed thereunto and I 'le rebuke Abner the General of his Hoste and the rest of his Captaines for guarding the Sacred person of their Soveraigne and the things that concerned him so neere no better And indeed even thus did David doe and we know what an happie successe he had of his so doing The Kings heart hereupon melted towards him and He yeelds him to be a righteous man a wronged person and pronounceth a blessing upon him Blessed art thou my Son David thou shalt doe great things and also shalt still prevaile We do conceive that if the surprizers and publishers of these Papers had gone in this way of David it would have been more to their credits more becomming that Gospel which they pretend to professe and the duty of Christian subjects then that course is which they have taken and we also beleeve that if they had been as Honest men as David was indued with as innocent and Loyall hearts towards their King as He they would have done after his manner and we desire that they would aske their own Consciences whether in this particular themselves be not directly of our opinion But seeing 't is so apparent that these men are of a contrary spirit unto David notwithstanding their great pretences to Religion and seeing that God hath suffered them thus fully and foulely to discover their false hearts by their publication of these Papers We for our parts may conclude more truely it would be a great sin in us against the Mercies of God to conceale and not to take yea and to give publike notice to the world of this Evidence of the truth of their inward malice and wickednesse against their Soveraigne which he so gratiously hereby hath permitted to us that we might not be Seduced or misled by them But they go on and say Nor dare we smother that light under a Bushell but freely hold it out to our Seduced Brethren for so in the spirit of meeknesse labouring to reclaime them we still speake that they may see their Errour and return into the right way The Apprehension and hope of these men is to discover unto us by this their light which they so freely hold out unto us some nakednesse in their Father It seemes they are of the Generation of Cham for he in like sort did freely hold out unto his Brethren what he ought to have hidden and concealed But because they tell us they dare not doe otherwise we their Brethren before we yeeld up our selves to be led by them desire to know who it is that keepes them in such great awe that they dared not rather to have acted the parts of Shem and Japhet which we conceive had been more to their own credit and benefit and more to the comfort of their posterity We do not remember any punishment denounced in Scripture against those that conceale the imperfections of their Father we are plain men and love to deal plainly specially with those that offer themselves thus freely to guide us and therefore we must tell them that we suspect them from this word we dare not to be under Satans bondage for he it is that rules by feare He it is that compelleth those that be in Captivity under him to doe wickedly according to his lust and will to transgresse Gods Holy word and to run themselves upon his heavy curse yea He it is that forceth his servants so that they dare do no otherwise surely we beleeve these men cannot shew a better reason for their calling us Seduced then this is for us to hold them suspected and therefore by this Title from henceforth we shall be bold to call them our Suspected Brethren And the Light by which they would shew us our Errour as they call it gives us further to apprehend how justly they deserve this Title for who but men whom the God of the world hath blinded would think that the Kings Errours for such onely in their imaginations is the light which they here so liberally and freely hold out unto us should be a glasse sufficiently able to discover to us our faults Gods word and law was wont to be the sole glasse and rule for such a purpose By the Law comes the knowledge of Sin saith the Apostle therefore they must shew us either that the Law is out of date in these times grown faulty and unsufficient or else that the same doth allow us to withdraw our Duty and Obedience frow our Soveraigne upon the sight of his supposed or real Errours that God therein commands us to adhere to him with this limitation unlesse he be guilty of such and such failings except they can shew us this we are resolved not to forsake our old light to be guided by a new thus devised and held out unto us by our Suspected Brethren But by the way why do they call us their Seduced Brethren we conceive because they judge us simple in compare with themselves and in that regard very capable of seduction they make themselves as sure of us as if they had already seduced us and therefore they call us their Seduced Brethren we confesse our inferiority unto them in this respect for as the Serpent was more subtile then all the beasts of the field so they in their generation are wiser then we and do deserve the Title of Subtile and crafty Brethren as well as of Suspected But we must tell them ex magnis ingeniis magni errores great errours have not come but from great wit they were Gyants and Lucifer that highly rebelled against God and S. Augustine adviseth magis tibi metue cum in intellectu habitat Diabolus quà m cum in affectionibus for an erroneous Devil in the understanding will quickly prove a furious Devil in the affections as experience teacheth therefore we will be content to be esteemed simple still yea to be numbred if they please among those whom Plutarch saies were rudiores quam qui poterant decipi for so we hope the Devil will have more to doe to intrap us the Simple then he hath had to captivate and inthrall them the Subtile for as Esay saies their wisdome and understanding hath perverted them and caused them to rebell and from their wisdome doubtlesse their hopes doe arise to reclaim as they call it or rather to pervert us by their Labours for so they tell us they labour to reclaime us viz. from the Errours of Loyalty and Christian Obedience But they tell us they labour in the spirit of meeknesse that they Labour we beleeve their Predecessours have done so before them who have travailed Sea and Land to make others the Children of Hell as well as themselves but that they have any acquaintance at all with the spirit of
also noted the same that this was the course which Julian the Apostate took in his dayes He having a purpose as these have to ruine the profession of Christianity Used not the sword as Dioclesian did though these indeed to make the work more speedy doe act Dioclesian too but he took away the means of the Clergies subsistance knowing full well that if maintenance once failed the number of Preachers would not long continue The said Julian also would tell the Bishops and Pastors when he stripped them of all they had that in so doing He had a speciall care of their soules health because the Gospell commended Poverty unto them Such like flowts at the Doctrine of Christ doth often fall from lips of the Apostates of these days 5. By their pulling downe all Christian order and formes of publicke Worship and Service tending to decency and edification by casting down defiling and defaming the Houses of God turning many of them into Stables Slaughter-houses Prisons and Jakes they have made close-stooles of Fonts and Pulpits and done as bad to Communion Tables they have rent the holy Bible in pieces scorned at the Sacraments Baptized Horses robbed Churches of Sacramentall Utensils as Plate Linnen calling it Idolatrous and Superstitious because it had been only used in Christs service nay the poore innocent Bells because they have been the meanes of calling people together to Worship God and to adore the Saviour of the World must be pulled down and turned into Guns that they may be another while Instruments of destruction to the Members of Jesus this indeed as I read was the manner of the Turkes when they tooke Constantinople they melted the Bells into Ordnances In a word what ever evill or impiety the Enemies were wont to slander our Church withall these men have acted or suffered to be done by those whom they maintaine insomuch that now the Priests of Rome shall not speak only lyes as heretofore when they tell the people That in England they abolish Church Sacraments the meanes of Salvation they either raze or rob Churches wheresoever they come and make Stables of them that they will neither have Temples nor forme of Religion nor doe they serve God any way yea the English Nation is growne so barbarous that they are very Canniballs and devoure one another God knowes my Soul abhorres to thinke much more to name those things that are acted done amongst as nor should my pen be fouled with the mention of them were they not visible to so many eyes and did not necessity of defending impugned Truth and an abused Church restraine me But I would have all the Papists understand for to that end do I thus speak that we who are of the true Protestant Christian Religion do abhor and loath these practices as much as any and are persecuted to death by them that do them for our dislike of them 6. By their suppression and demolition of all Monuments of Christianity that there might be seen no more tokens of it in the Kingdome as if they intended that no man should be able hereafter to say this Land was once Christian The very festivall times when the Birth Death Resurrection Ascension of our Saviour is commemorated which next to the Preaching of Gods Word and Administration of the Sacraments have been the most speciall means to confirme mens faith in the History of Christ these they have inhibited and forbidden as if they hated his very remembrance Gods wisdome appointed the Feast of Passeover to be kept as an Ordinance for ever among the Jewes to minde them of their deliverance from Aegypt and to be a mean to assure their Children in after-Ages of the truth of that great mercy And the Church conceiving that our deliverance from sinne and Satan by the Birth Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ to be as a great a deliverance as that other and to deserve as well to be remembred did also apprehend that way or mean to be the best to convey the notice of it to Posterity which Gods owne Wisdome devised and that was by celebrating Annuall Festivalls in memoriall thereof but these men it seemes have resolved to the contrary for they will not have the same kept any longer in remembrance Nay that miraculous Thorne at Glassenbury which was wont to celebrate the Festivall of Christs Nativity by putting forth its leaves and flowers was cut in pieces by these Militia men that it might no longer Preach unto men the Birth day of their Saviour But what doe I speake of dayes and times and teaching Trees the very Doctrine it selfe which Christ himselfe taught and practised viz. the Doctrine of Peace Patience and passive obedience unto Princes is reckoned obsolete and uselesse by these men it was publickly maintained by a certaine worthlesse Member at a great Committee in the Checquer Chamber that such Doctrines were out of date in these dayes and had been onely proper to former times when the Church was in a low Condition and under the Persecution of Heathen Emperours Nay these men would not that any true Christian Protestant should have leave to live to relate unto posterity the Doctrine of his Saviour as seemeth by their doings their thirst for Protestant Bloud appeareth to be such as if they desired that all of that Profession in the world had but one Head that so they might cut it off at one blow for they have shed already more of it within these foure yeares then ever was shed in Great Brittaine since the world began and that for no other cause that we yet know for they never durst come to dispute it with us then for holding to the Doctrine of Christs Gospell because we will not contrary to that lift up our hands with them against our Soveraigne By these particulars and many others which I might alleadge it is evident what ever they pretend to the contrary that their endeavours are to destroy the Christian Protestant Religion Our Saviour doth warrant us to judge of men by their fruits wherefore t is no marvaile if the Reader being a true Protestant Christian be not well affected to that cause of Liberty and Religion which the two Parliaments of England and Scotland do seeme to maintaine SECT VIII 1. Of the feigned Combination against the Parliament 2. Our judgement of the Papists and of their assisting the King 3. Our abhorment of the Cruelties of the Irish and how they are out-gone by the English Rebells 4. Our Opinion of the Court Faction of what flock we are 5. How the Libellers call themselves the more beleeving sort of people BUt the Reason insinuated by our Subtile Brethren why men should be affected to that their cause is taken from the Consideration of the Persons against whom as they say t is maintained viz. against a combination of all the Papists of Europe almost especially the bloudy Tigres of Ireland and some of the Prelaticall and Court Faction in England That
notice there-from how the Court hath been Cajold that 's the Authentick word now among our Cabalisticall adversaries by the Papists and we the more beleeving sort of Protestants by the Court The Reader may be abundantly satisfied by these Letters of His Majesties longing desires to see Peace restored to His poor Subjects throughout His three Kingdomes And he may also be abundantly satisfied by their printing of these Letters of that abundance of bitternesse spight and malice which is in the hearts of the Publishers of them against their Soveraigne but for satisfaction in any other matters the Reader if he be rightly affected and lookes onely with his owne eye he must seeke it some where else for here it is not to be found What they intend by Cajold and whom by Cabalisticall Adversaries I stand not to argue for the words are shelly Nec de verbis est disputandum only I cannot but observe the Title which these Wisemen give themselves and their owne Faction We say they the more beleeving sort of Protestants Faith it seemes they have and in their owne opinion great Plenty more then others like them John 9. they say they see and like him Luke 18. they think themselves better then other men they are not like us Publicans who confess our selves to be weak and sinful and to have need to cry daily unto the Lord for mercy and increase of Faith they are past their Creed already and can tel God Lord we believe whereas we are yet but at our Pater noster help our unbelief But in whom or in what is it that they do believe Surely in themselves and their own fictions because they have renounced the Truth of God which they have been taught and are turned persecutors of it God hath given them up first to make and then to believe lies in which respect they are indeed the best believers and in that sense they speak not amiss in calling themselves the most believing sort of Protestants though in another sense they are the most unbelieving for they wil not believe the King in any thing let him promise profess and protest never so oft and solemnly unto them their Tongues Pens and actions proclaim publickly their unbelief yea they glory in their not believing and do all they can that others might be Infidels also in the same respect as wel as they their malicious notes upon his Letters are to this very purpose let them deny it if they can And as for God they believe him as little as they do the King for they dare not trust him for protection they have more confidence in the Militia a great deal and stand more upon it Beside if they did believe God they would also fear him Faith and Fear go together they would regard his word more and not so oppose it in all their ways or endevour to make it of none effect by their sinful Ordinances and traditions Besides faith in God discovers it self by doing the works of God and they are not Hatred Strife Sedition Rebellion Murder Lying Slandring and speaking evil of dignities which these men traffick solely in S. James tels us of Nudifidians who say they have Faith and boast that they have more then others sure these are the very men for they call themselves the more believing sort of Protestants the bare believing sort of Protestants perhaps they are they account good works but marks of Popery We confess our selves no such Protestants for we are of the Apostles mind As the body without the Spirit is dead so Faith without good works is dead also But they tel the Reader further and say If thou art an Enemy to Parliaments and Reformation and made wilfull in thine enmity above the help of miracles or such Revelations as these are then t is to be expected that thou wilt either deny these Papers to have been written by the Kings own Hand or else that we make just constructions and inferences out of them or lastly thou wilt deny that though they be the Kings owne and beare such a sense as we understand them in yet that they are blameable or unjustifiable against such Rebells as we are SECT IX 1. The slander laid upon us to be Enemies to Parliaments and Reformation Confuted 2. Of pretended Miracles Revelations and new Lights the taking the Kings Cabinet in Battle no Miracle 3. The Libellers weak Argument to prove an impossibility of forgery in their Parliament IT seems t is voted and decreed that if a man be not well affected to that cause which the men above board do maintaine He is then no lesse then an enemy to all Parliaments and Reformation yea past all hope of recovery wilfull in enmity beyond the help of miracles For it must be understood that all men being divided into two ranks Elect and Reprobate and the Elect being all on the Parliament side or well affected at least to their cause the rest must needs be all damned creatures enemies to Parliaments i. e. to the Common-wealth and all good Lawes yea and enemies to Reformation too that is to God and all true Religion and therefore away with such fellowes from the earth t is not fitting they should live they that cannot erre have so concluded Here by the way we may see a ground of all these bloody warres which many hitherto are ignorant of a reason of all these cruel declarations and injunctions to kill slay and destroy the forces raised by or adhering to the King why they are all Reprobates men hardned in Enmity against Parliaments and Reformation past all hope of recovery and therefore to be sent to Hell in all haste as to their proper place that so the earth the sole inheritance of Gods Elect ones may be wholly left to the free possession of its proper owners and fully cleared from those Enemies of God and Parliaments Well what we are Heaven knows for their Censures we passe not any more then Saint Paul did to be censured by the Corinthians we say with him He that Judgeth us is the Lord and whom the Lord condemneth shall be the onely condemned men at the great day and our Saviour tells us that then the first may be last and the last first the first in mens esteem the last in Gods and so è contra But let us a little reason the particular with them that thus fiercely charge upon us Must we of necessity be enemies to Parliaments and Reformation because we are not affected to their cause Doth this Parliament contain in it all other Parliaments that ever have been and as they hope ever shall be May not a man possibly dislike the proceedings of this and yet approve of the being of another May not a man wish the dissoultion of this and yet withall desire the convention of another May not the same man obhorre evill and love good hate vice and imbrace vertue May not a man affirme this no Parliament at all
in the truest and best sence because they do not do the workes of a Parliament Those Jewes in the Gospell were not Abrahams Children in Christs sense which was the truest and the best because they did not doe Abrahams Workes they called themselves indeed his Children in respect of the flesh or walls as I may say that did inclose them which they had from Abraham But Christ calls them A Generation of Vipers and Children of the Devill for all that because they went about to kill and destroy Him their King and Soveraigne which thing sayes he did not Abraham may not we esteem of this Parliament as our Saviour did of those Jewes since there is such a similitude betwixt them both in words and manners we know that Christ did well enough approve of those Children of Abraham who did Abrahams Workes notwithstanding his dislike of those in particular whom he speaks against so may we notwithstanding our dislike of this Parliament highly esteem of another which shall do Parliamentary actions Now the Works or actions of a Christian Parliament are to Heal and not to make breaches in a Church or State to settle Religion and peace not to destroy either to make and confirm good Laws not to null them to suppresse all sects and false opinions not to give free liberty unto them to consult for the Kings Honour and dignitie not to countenance and Authorize base Libells to his defamation to advise for the wealth and flourishing condition of the Subjects not to impoverish or to ruine them these and such like have been and properly still are the works of Parliaments and to such conditioned Parliaments we are no enemies we account a true Parliament our Palladium the strength of the Kingdome we have the same opinion of it as the Trojans had of their Palladium they held their City invincible so long as they kept their Palladium inviolate so might our Nation have been reckoned under Gods protection invincible if these unhappy men had not perverted the power and priviledges of that most High and Honourable Court But alas never was Noble Nation so abused and destroyed as this is and hath been per Catulos istos Catilinarios I may truly call them who have been the instruments of infection to this so much desired meeting who if the God of Heaven do not oppose and subdue we are never like to have any more Parliaments which is one of our greatest feares if these men prevail they will assuredly never have any above them that shall call them to a reckoning be they never so lascivious in evill never so mischievous or destructive of good Now must every one that disrelisheth the courses of this Parliament be judged an Enemy to all Parliaments Truly 't is too unreasonable too harsh a censure but 't is our Burden and we must bear it And yet this is not all for we are sentenced to be Enemies of Reformation too an Enemy to Parliaments and Reformation But do these two go always together May not a man possibly be a friend to the one and no wel-wisher to the other We have heard of some that have been well affcted to Parliaments and yet not to Reformation But this we apprehend is only added to exasperate the peoples rage against us that with the more violence and speed they may dispatch us as being Enemies to all that good is Indeed if Parliaments and Reformation were as they ought to be unseparable Companions then He or they who were friends to the one were also friends to both of necessity But these very men will confesse and say that in Queen Maries dayes there was Parliament and Deformation and so wofull experience tels us there is now Yea and Depopulation too of Houses families and men and Devastation of true Religion and Law The Reformation if they so call it by this Parliament is such a one as Nebuzaradan Steward to Nebuchadnezzar made at Jerusalem when he threw down the walls both of the City and Temple we confess to all the world we are enemies to this kind of Reformation and so hope shall ever be But to that which is of sin and evill whether in Church or State we are most affectionate friends do humbly beg of God to this end that he would please to settle the King in his Throne and give him such a Parliament as may have grace truly and intentionally not in pretence onely to go about it sed de his satis onely we doe observe from hence before hand how our Bill of indictment shall run if these men lay hands on us what those Crimes are which the people shall be made beleeve we are put to death for Because we are enemies to Parliaments and Reformation to God and all good men yea and wilfull on our Enmity too we would not be reclaimed by any meanes no not by the help of Miracles or such Revelations as these are But what is this we hear Miracles and Revelations pleaded in these dayes and by these men Are not these of that number who were wont heretofore to cry out against the Papists because wanting the written word to justifie their way they alleadged Miracles and Revelations See the strength of Resolution in these stout Champions rather then submit to Scripture to their Soveraigne to the Truth to Reason they will joyn hands in this also with the Papists whom they have formerly so much condemned and being brought to a like strait will make use of like Arguments to warrant their own proceedings I confess Astonishment did much possess my spirit for a great while at their courses so directly contrary to Gods plain word till at last I met with a certain Sermon preached by one William Bridge and ordered to be Printed by a Committee of the House of Commons subscribed by John White wherein the Preacher speaking of Reformation now so much talked on teacheth the people that 't is a sin in them to look that it should be effected in Gods ordinary way or to expect that Gods assistance should come as in former times to the furtherance of it for saies he now God is working extraordinarily and to tie him to ordinary ways and means in such times as these is to tempt and to limit God this he repeats over three or four times for peoples better observance and then concludes positively that ' t is the second great sin that hath made a stoppage in Englands mercies this tempting of God by expecting reformation in an ordinary way though it was wont to be accounted a tempting of God to expect his help in ways extraordinary His ful sense I suppose in those his expressions is as if he had spoken more fully out thus My beloved Brethren Gods word was indeed heretofore the rule and square to order your course by and because therein you find no warrant to rebel against your King to kil slay and destroy your Brethren to go in such ways as the Parliament hath voted
promises with an Oath but they being otherwise resolved as now appears would themselves believe neither nor would they so much as in them lay suffer any others to credit any thing which the King did say or swear How many loyally disposed Ministers did they imprison and take their livings from only for endevouring to make their Soveraigns honest mind known unto his Subjects by publishing his Declarations upon his Command to that purpose And how many times also did themselves set forth perverse notes and contradictory glosses upon the Kings Books that so the people might learn from them to misconstrue his sincere and good intentions Indeed because they were but new State-men many of us thought it rather an ignorance in them of wars miseries then any resolved purpose of acting Nero in destroying their own Mother Church and Nation which caused them at first to take up Arms for though an easie Capacity might foresee that they could do nothing by such an enterprise but increase their own sins and the sins of the Kingdom yet we were willing to lend what charity we could to the worst handed undertaking but their persistency in their savage course makes us now fear that even Ahab-like they strook at first of all a Covenant with Hel it self and sold themselves to work wickedness But alas alas besides their losse of Christ and God what wil they purchase hereby to themselves not the Titles of Fathers of their Country as they might have done had they behaved themselves accordingly and believed their Soveraign But Masters of a slaughtery wil they be called because they delight so much in the slaughtery of mankind Posterity wil judge them to have bin Satans darlings in their generation the fore-men of his shop whom he imployed to act his most glorious Stratagems his generosa scelera his choicest villanies his divina mysteria iniquitatis his divine mysteries of iniquity Indeed they have Manasseh-like filled the Nation with innocent bloud and made the whole Land a very Acheldama or field therof And oh that it would please the Judge of all the world to deal with them as he did with that Manasseh bring them into Bonds and Chains that so if possible they might be humbled as he was before they go hence and be no more but I return to them It is yeilded as they see that 't was the truth they spake when they said their Cause was stil the same as when the King first took Arms and as when he made most of his Oaths and professions And so in like sort is our God the same stil as when the King was first at Nottingham and there set up his Standerd But they tel us further to their former purpose that their demands at the Treaty in February were no other then those sent in June 1642. before any stroke struck Which Argument they repeat over the second time in the 53. Page of their notes to the same end also our demands say they at Uxbridge in February 1644. were the very same as they were in June 1642. indeed they are as bold as high as unreasonable to the full Ergo say they The King hath no reason to look upon us now any otherwise then as he did then All this is very true who denyes it these men sure love to dispute with their own shadows The King had cause to look upon them then as he doth now though now he hath cause to express himself further against them then he did then It is the course which God himself takes when people Rebell against him He endeauours at first to reduce them by promises and allurements unto obedience but if they slight and contemn these and oppose him the more for his lenity and goodness he then useth to express himself with more wrath and severity against them and hath reason for it we doe not apprehend that the King can transgress whatever these wise men say so long as he walks in the way of God though he did not call them by their proper name at first yet now he may But for this their Argument which they seeme by their often use of it to be so proud of had they any true touch or tast of Christianity in them they would blush to use it The Propositions are the same now as they were two or three years agoe scilâ—ful as high full as unreasonable and is this to their commendation Is it to their praise that the shedding of so much Christian bloud hath wrought no Remorse at all in them no obedience at all to Gods word which commands if possible to live peaceably with all men no submission to their King who hath so often wooed them with the tenders of mercy and pardon to be quiet No Humanity no Piety to their poor native Countrey that lyes a bleeding to destruction is this a matter to be gloryed in now that they are still as stiffe as ever as far from practicing the first lesson in Christs Schoole the point of self-denyall as if they had never heard one word of Christianity surely this their glory will one day be their shame and God grant it may so be before the great day that then if possible they may find mercy Truely this their impenitency and hardnesse of heart may afford us great matter of Admiration that neither all the bloud that is shed nor Gods protection of the Kings person among so many treasons and dangers from their malice and against such multitudes of men who both by secret treacheryes open Hostilityes foul mouthes black pens and bloudy hands have endeavoured his ruine Nor yet those remarkable judgements upon Brook Hampden and Hotham three of the first instruments of motion in this Rebellion together with many other Notable Accidents of Gods providence upon many other of their Associates I say it may well be matter of amazement to us that none of these things have been able to worke any touch of Conscience or alteration unto good in them pray God therefore they be not given up to a Reprobate sense and that the seal of damnation be not set upon them Indeed they say they have rather straitned then enlarged their Complaint of which this their libellous and defamatory book is a sufficient witnesse their propositions also they have straitned from 19 to 3. but it is proportione Arithmeticâ non Geometricâ for these three containe in them fully as much as those 19 and more if possible Well but what be these 3. Propositions which they now stick so close unto themselves say they are these in their order The first concernes the Abolition of Episcopacy or pulling down of the Church The second concerns the settling the Militia of the Kingdome in good hands by the advice of the Parliament or the pulling down of the Kingdome or Kingly state The third concernes the Vindication of the Irish Rebells or the full completion of a perfect Babell Indeed the method is rightly suted for the restauration of a
thing covertly in their lives nor seek themselves in any matter But how close and selfish they have indeed been in their proceedings I have hinted already and the world hath too sharp a sense of it Had the King from the beginning bin more close and reserved perhaps ere this he had quite blown them up at least as by a counter-mine had given a check to their proceedings and therein done no other then what became a politick General whose wisdome 't is to out-go his Enemies in their own way and to beat them at their own weapons But the Kings sincere and plain dealing hath added much through their wickednesse to his own undoing and yet now at length writing but a few words in private to his own Wife about his own necessary preservation because he did not acquaint them with it before-hand he is inveighed against and cried out upon for trading in a close way for meer particular advantage But the thing they intend chiefly by these words is to perswade the world which is also the main drift of their whole Libell that the design which the King drives at is to advance Popery to this end he useth clandestine proceedings against them at Westminster the only supporters as must be believed of Protestant Religion and condemneth as they say all that be in any degree Protestants at Oxford granteth tolleration of Idolatry to Papists and indemnity to the murderous Irish which in regard of his many Protestations to the contrary he being ashamed to own openly is fain to betake himself to a close trading way to pursue and accomplish In Answer to which grand Calumny I shal only set down the extract of a Letter closely sent indeed that the world may most truly discern the Kings close trading way by his Majesty to the Commissioners in Ireland immediately after Nazeby Battail when he was in Wales and in a most low condition written by the hand of the Lord Digby his Majesties Secretary I wish I had the ful Letter it self to set it down verbatim for I confesse this to be but the abstract of it which I received from a Gentleman of most approved truth and Candour as he did only bear the same in memory which notwithstanding he is confident is but little if at all differing from the Original My Lords and Gentlemen HIs Majesty hath Commanded me to let you know that according to your promise and agreement with him he long since expected your aide and doth much wonder you should neglect him and your selves so much as to retard it because immediately after His your ruine must necessarily follow but He is informed that taking the advantage of His low Condition you insist upon somthing in Religion more then formerly you were contented with He has therefore commanded me to let you know that were his condition much lower then it is you shal never force him to any further concessions to the prejudice of his Conscience and of the true Protestant Religion in which He is resolved to live and for which He is ready to die and that He wil joyn with any Protestant Prince nay with these Rebels themselves how odioâ—s soever rather then yeild the least to you in this particular I refer it to all mens Consciences whether this be not a sufficient evidence of his Majesties sincerity and affection to the Protestant Religion considering the estate wherein his affairs stood when this Letter was written and also whether it doth not fully confirm the truth of what I said in effect before viz. That what ever concessions were made to the Papists and Irish were rather by the inforcement of the Puritan Rebels then by any inward affection of His Majesty to their Religion But indeed it was needlesse to have alleaged any other of his secret Letters for this Evidence For these which the Adversaries have here published and declared to be Evidences of truth do manifestly speak to this purpose we read in the eighth Paper how the King tels the Queen that He differs from Her in nothing but Religion Are not these the Kings own Words which themselves have published Was not this Letter sent as wel as the rest in a close trading way as they call it Do they think the King ever intended it should come into their hands And when they laid aside many other Papers as not fit for publication at this time was not this thought fit to be divulged by their own wise selves Is not this one of those Evidences of Truth they speak of in the beginning which to have concealed would have bin a great sin against the mercies of God Truly I dare boldly say that neither the King for himself nor any of his friends in his behalf could possibly have given a better evidence to the abused Subjects of this Nation that His Majesty is a true Protestant then this is which his Enemies have given by their publication of that Letter Surely the Finger of God was in it For peoples more clear understanding and notice of it I wil set down the Kings Words as they stand in the Letter Writing to his Queen about that businesse of Ireland fore-mentioned he speaketh thus I need not tel thee what secresâ—e this businesse requires yet this I wil say that this is the greatest point of confidence I can expresse to thee for it is no thanks to me to trust thee in any thing else but in this which is the only thing of difference betwixt us and yet I know thou wilt make as good a bargain for me even in this I trusting thee though it concern Religion as if thou wert a Protestant O what a discovery is here made of the Kings sincerity in his profession When for an obligation upon his Queen to make a good bargain for him he tels her in his most bosome expressions that he trusts her to do it for him a Protestant as if her self were one The world may here see though these Observatours themselves who have helped us wil not that in the closest way of trading according to their own phrase which the King useth he tradeth as a Protestant and acknowledgeth in his most secret Letters to his Queen that there is a difference though it be the only difference between Him and Her in matter of Religion And thus have I vindicated my Soveraigns Honour against this particular Charge also of his enemies and do expect that I have hereby procured to my self though not deserved from these men and their Faction whose basenesse I have in part detected the imputation and Title of the falsest of men a Papist yea of the falsest of Papists a Jesuite for it was voted and concluded before hand that whosoever should do as I have done should be so accounted But notwithstanding all that I have said in the Kings behalf yet this I confesse to these men so much as concerns the position in general I am wholly of their opinion viz. that whoever is guilty of those