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
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
which they pretend they would inflict upon the Irish Rebells for that Protestant bloud shed by them would but the King give them leave so to do Truly if they would go themselves and fight it out with those Rebels in Ireland we dare affirm they shal have not only free leave but thanks too yea and moreover they shal have not only the usual boon of such Malefactors as act the executioners part upon their fellows viz. the grant of their own lives but by our consent they shal also be the very great Oes of Ireland and they shal hold this Dignity by their dearly affected Irish Law of Tanistry which is That he who is best able by force and violence to wrest unto himself the estates of others shal be the Chief Commander among them We perceive by their doings that they would set up that Law here in England in stead of all others which they have put out of date or use But we conceive it is not so suteable for this Nation where men have bin wont to enjoy their own and to leave their inheritance to their own Children and therfore we suppose it wil be an hard matter for them to introduce and settle the same here But in Ireland it is a custome established to their hand Yea and further yet upon Condition that they wil go thither and so we in this land may be rid of their Companies we wil all supplicate the King for a further favour in their behalf viz. that every great O amongst them may have the Honour to give the Earl of Tyrones own Arms which is a bloudy Hand for their own proper and most deserved Cognizance and that they may also be all Barons of that Strong Iland which Tyrone fortified and called Fough-na-Gaul the Hate of English-men For in very deed no man living did ever better merit that Title then they have done But alas we have read that Ireland harbours no venimous Vipers therfore we are confident the great Oes of Westminster wil never adventure thither in their own persons But if they can get the Militia of the Kingdom setled by the King wholly in their Hands that so they may fear no rising here against themselves they wil therwith force and press all the English people who wil not take their unlawful and ungodly Covenant which is in effect to renounce the Doctrine of Christs Gospel and their obedience to the King for ever and send them thither where they wil expose them to be starved or slaughtered as many thousands have bin already and therfore let all the Countries that have stood out longest in their Loyalty and at last accepted of these New Lords expect to be thus punished for their tardiness in Apostacy And for those lusty Club-men in the Counties of Wilts Somerset and Devon and the like let them look for this reward at the hands of their Militia-Masters for taking part with them against the Kings men Such fellows as wil gather together and make head against those that wrong and abuse them wil be dangerous to live in a New State They that did thus against the Cavaliers may do as much against the Round-heads when they are but a while as wel acquainted with their Conditions They that wil be forced from their Duty to their Soveraign and natural Liege-Lord by such wrongs and oppressions as in these troublesome times are offered to them by the unruly Soldiers wil be easily driven upon a like sensible occasion to make resistance against tyrannical usurpers those Beasts that wil decline from their Allegiance to the Kingly Lyon wil never long rest contented under the obedience of Cat-a-Mountains therfore a timely course must be taken with such persons they shal all be sent into Ireland out of hand and be hampered there for Ireland must be the continual Spain or Carthage to our New Rome to rid her of all such mutinous and tumultuous persons and then shal these Saints these Bloudy Butcherly Saints have free Elbow-room to inherit this land and having neither truth nor King nor Enemy left for to disease them they shal be at leisure if Pride and faction wil give them leave to live at peace together And thus have we seen the scope of the third demand also which concerneth Ireland Now from what hath been said concerning these matters let any man judge whether these men have not reasons to pursue their desires without giving back an hairs bredth from their first proposals and whether the King hath reason or no to consent unto them Nay whether the Subjects of England have cause to wish the Kings complyance with them in all these things for my part I profess sincerely in the sight of God I apprehend their demands to be the most unreasonable that were ever made and therfore do hope that God wil ere long awaken in the Kings behalf for such hath bin his wont formerly in cases of like nature When Nahash the Ammonite required of the men of Jabesh Gilead to purchase a quiet bondage under him that he might pul out their right Eys So when Benhadad required of the king of Israel his Strength Treasures Houses Wives Children and what ever was dear and pleasing unto him when Senacherib required of the people of Jerusalem to forsake their own natural King and to submit their necks under his yoak to yeild up themselves into his hands to be carried from their own good Land they knew not whither We find that God did continually awake in the behalf of each of these distressed and most severely punished every of these unreasonable demanders and doubtless he did so for the very unreasonableness of those their requests And shal not we believe that he wil awake now also when all these unreasonable demands proceed together at once and from the same men who first require the Abolition of Episcopacy there is Nahash request to pluck out our right Eies Secondly they require the Militia of the three Kingdoms that is Benhadads request for all that the King and his friends have Thirdly under the title of Vindicating the Irish Rebels they require that the people of this Kingdom should be at their disposal to translate from their own Native Country and never to see it any more there is Senacheribs request Therfore Awake Awake as in times of old O Lord our strength arise for our succour at this present and redeem us for thy mercies sake Behold O God our shield and Look upon the face of thine Anointed as thou art the Judge of all the Earth and helpest them to right that suffer wrong Amen Amen I now proceed to Answer these men who in their Libell go on and say But were our cause altered as it is not or were we worse Rebels then formerly as none can affirm that takes notice of our late sufferings and our strange patience even now after the discovery of these Papers and our late extraordinary success in the field Yet stil this
and precious in all our apprehensions scib. for that she hath been tam partu potens â—tero toties enixa gravi pignora pacis she hath so highly enriched this Kingdome from her fruitful and chast womb with so many sweet and Royal pledges of future happinesse as few Queens before her have done ever the like But O my dear Country thou art fallen thou art fallen from thine ancient glory for thou hast brought forth in this thine unhappy Age a generation of vipers who have laboured to destroy both Religion and good manners in thee and by whose operation Stigii profundi claustra obscuri specus laxantur Hels own self is broak loose into thee The Lord in mercy yet once again vouchsafe a gracious look upon thee But by the way who can choose but admire the strength of malice because these men themselves do hate the King they cannot abide that so much as his Queen should love him they have robbed him of the hearts of his People the Comforts of his Crown and it grieves them they cannot alienate from him the Affections of his Wife the comforts of his bosome they grutch him the enjoyment of her love at a distance How have they by their spightfull promulgation of the 34 Paper which was written twenty years before and no whit concerneth them at all endevoured to work in her an alienation from him and by that they say upon Pap. 11. to weaken the duty of his Son towards him but praised be the majesty of Heaven for it those that are most neerly his own cannot be loosened from him though of all Princes he is most unhappy in too maâ—y of his people yet is he most blessed of all men in his Wife and Progeny never had Husband a more loving Spouse never had Parent more sweet conditioned and respectfull Children then our Soveraign hath of the Prince of Wales and Duke of York and as our prayers so our hopes are that Gods grace wil so preserve and keep those other Princes whom the Rebels have got into their bondage that not all the temptations they can use shall ever make them decline from duty But further as if there were no cause of fear at all on her part they tax the Queen for being jealous of her Husbands safety if He should venture himself to go amongst them Truly considering the spirit they are of if She should in her tendernesse fear they might entertain him Thyestaeis dapibus seeing they have wherewithall to do it I should not think Her worthy to be blamed which thing how horrid and incredible so ever the hear-say of may seem to people before it is done yet should the same be acted by Order from the Lower House and Voted meet in that manner to torment the King many of the Vulgar are in such a Captivity of Judgement to them that they would quickly cry it up for a most remarkable and comely Act of Justice And let Reason speak in the Queens case She hath had ample experience of their inveterate malice against her Husband full Testimonies of their bloudy dispositions both against him and her self besides her own Father was Murdered by an Assassinate of theirs who hold the Principle of King-killing as these men do May not she therfore being a tender Lady and ful of affections be excused by all men if she fears the like may befall her Husband and for prevention thereof desireth he should have a Regiment for his Guard which themselves onely interpret should be a la mode de France Yea and why may he not have a Regiment of Scots for his Guard a la mode France the Scots are his Country-men to defend him from them and their Assassinates who have Authorized this Pamphlet against him for the ends aforesaid But to conclude this particular let these virulent men speak their pleasure against the Queen I hope by this time the world hath sufficient knowledge of them to her Honour she being the object of their Hate cannot but be a Map of goodnesse And most Noble Queen if one of the meanest and most obscure of your Majesties subjects may presume to speak to so great a Princesse let me assure your Highnesse however these English Catalines have censured your virtues and abused you for them yet there be many thousands of true Protestant English hearts who according as our Religion teacheth have you in the most high esteem of all earthly women for your tender Care and constant fastnesse to our Soveraign in these times of trouble your zealous endevours to assist him hath so increased the flame of our Loyal affections towards you that we are confident the whole floud of waters which the many-headed Dragon throws out of his mouth shal never be able to extinguish it in us Yea and by the strength of that grace which our holy Religion hath wrought in us we shal never cease night and day to make you the special subject of our prayers until we see you restored with honour to your Throne amongst us or hear that you are advanced with glory to your seat in Heaven And let your excellent goodnesse I beseech you pardon your Vassal this great boldnesse SECT XXI Of the Kings fault in loving his Wife The manifest and malicious falsifications and perversions of divers of the Kings expressions to his Queen noted THus have I examined the Queens faults and notwithstanding the ponderous aggravations which these enemies of Honour and virtuous Ladies do set them forth withall have found them light and easie I come now to see what they say further against the King whom they do accuse in the first place for loving his Wife again as wel it should seem as she loves him It is manifest that notwithstanding their late extraordinary great successe these mens hearts are not yet freed from jealousies and fears they are suspicious stil of Conspiracies yea that the King and Queen have entred into a Covenant to love each other for to spight them in giving them a good Example in cases of like Nature They tel us that He communicates his thoughts and affairs unto Her and though She be the weaker sex yet he makes her privy to his secrets and takes advise and counsel from her yea and more then this they say He professes to prefer Her health before His worldly affairs for which they bid us see Paper 14. which we have done and the world shall hear what we have there seen That Letter was written by his Majesty to the Queen January 8. 1645. immediately after his taking of Leicester wherein he hath only to this purpose these words I Must tel thee that 't is thy Letter by Fitz Williams assuring me of thy perfect recovery with thy wonted kindnesse which makes me capable of taking contentment in these good successes for as divers men propose several recompenses for themselves for their pains and hazard in this Rebellion So thy company is the only reward I expect and wish for
through their own easinesse they had been perswaded into such bondage under such Masters as did nothing but pill and oppresse them and would afford no justice or remedy unto them upon their complainings Nay and yet this was but the least part of their punishment the worst is behind vers 13. Therefore sayes the Lord viz. because they willingly walked after the Commandement or were so easily perswaded to take a wicked Covenant I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the House of Judah as rottennesse i. e. my Curse shall consume them and their Families as a moth doth a Garment or as rottennesse doth a thing that is already putrified Consider I say whether this may not in some sort concerne you and if you think it may I beseech you deare Countreymen renounce speedily that sinfull Oath which you have too unadvisedly taken least as oppression hath already overwhelmed you so the moth and rottennesse from the Lord doe also seaze upon you Say not you a Confederacy any longer with them that have confederated against your Church and King neither feare you their feare God is yet gracious and will pardon what is past if you repent therefore let him only be your feare let him be your dread And your King also is gracious ready upon your return to Loyalty like the Prodigals Father to remit your unkindnesse and to receive you with gladnesse let him also be the object of your Reverence and let the desires of your soules be to rejoyce his spirit now after this time wherein you have so sadded and afflicted him that so at last yet he may give up his account with joy which will surely be most for your profit And now for those your Teachers who have seduced you both from Gods blessing the warm Sun too of outward prosperitie which did so comfortably shine upon you undoubtedly they were Satans Ministers in Angels shapes as once he made use of Peters tongue to tempt our Saviour so now he hath of theirs to deceive you and observe them well their gilt ere long will fall off and their good report will die before them And deare Countrey-men let me not be thought to boast overmuch if after S. Paul's manner I compare my selfe with them to your cogitations and opinions Are those your Preachers Englishmen so am I are they Protestants at least in your esteem so am I are they Ministers of Christ think you know this that by the favour and grace of God so am I and perhaps may say that through divine assistance I have given as true a proof of my Ministery among some that know mee as they have done I have been in labours as aboundant and in reproaches for Christs sake more in prison as frequent in dangers of death as often in as many perils by Robbers by mine own Countreymen by false brethren as the best of them And therefore I hope I may obtaine credit with you as well as they I tender your salvation I dare confidently say for Christ my Masters sake as truly as they do I have no design at all of mine own upon you to get your moneys or ought you have I aime only God is my witnesse to free you from the snare wherein you are intangled I am a stranger to you and so am content to be untill the great day when we shall all meet before the great Judge to have our hearts opened and our works manifested And I doe beseech you God knowes I write this with teares and begge of you even in the bowels of our Saviour and for the sake of those your precious soules which he purchased with his dearest bloud that you would but be advised to consider seriously of what I have said unto you my prayer to the Almighty is and shall be that you may but accept of the same with a like heart and spirit as 't is propounded say but you Amen to this my petition and we shall be againe of one mind and judgement And O let us not let us not my deare Brethren thus continue fighting one with another or divided one from another for if we do we shall ere long be destroyed one by another but let us lay aside all malice against one another and all evill speaking one of another Sirs we are Brethren why should we strive and quarrell after this sort to the sport and scorn of all that dwell about us and to the obloquie and disgrace of our Holy Religion O let our contention I beseech you only be like that of the Vine and Olive which of us shall beare best fruits and not like that of the Bryer and Thistle which of us shall be most mischievous and unprofitable And so Countreymen I conclude my speech unto you with this Prayer for you Pater ignosce illis quia nesciunt quid faciunt Father of mercies forgive the people of this Land who have been seduced into this Rebellion against the King their sinnes committed in the same for they know not what they have done lay not the evill unto their charge but wink at their former ignorance and open their eyes now at length and henceforth to see their errour and blesse these considerations unto them to that end and purpose for Christ Jesus sake Amen And be you assured Sirs that not only my selfe but also many others whose bloud you have thirsted for whose Estates you have gaped after and whom divers of you have been wont to entitle with the odious names of Malignants Papists Devils and Dogges doe dailie pray to this purpose in your behalfe for we apprehending you to be in the same condition and state as S. Paul was in while he yet went breathing out threatnings against the Church of Christ doe thinke it our dutie to approve our selves such as he was when he prayed for the persecuting Israelites his Brethren according to the flesh that they might be saved we conceive of you as he did of them that you have a zeale though not according unto knowledge this our Religion teacheth us to doe and thus to think And so God be with you SECT XXVIII A faithfull and Ministeriall Admonition to the Troublers of our Israel scil the Factious Members of the pretended Parliament at Westminster who are Evidenced to be neither Patriots to their Country Wisemen nor good men Their Religion discovered to be nec una nec vera nec bona IN the next or second place I shall assume the boldnesse to speak a little unto you O you men of Westminster and I pray observe my words if Providence shall please to bring this my Book unto your view And first let me desire of you not to be angry if I speak rather to profit then to please you forbearing altogether those false and clawing expressions which your adorers use when they addresse themselves to speak unto you I dare not tell you of any Humble tenders of my constant Devotion to serve you in your way
on hath overtook you and brought you under hatches into bonds and prisons it will not be then so proper for a man of my condition to torment you further with the remembrance of these things and the truth is I am not base enough to act Prynnes part or to visit you as some of your Ministers did the Bishop of Canterbury in the Tower to triumph and insult over him in his miseries I abhorre to set my foot upon the neck of a fallen foe to widen wounds or to greaten sorrows I blesse my God I can look upon mine enemy in his affliction with an eye of pity and weep for him yea and I hope when that day of darknesse comes upon you to be one of those that shall indeavour to bring balme from Gilead to you and indeed if God would but please after all my sufferings at your hands to vouchsafe me but that honour I should conclude it were enough for a poor mortall and should say upon it with that Simeon in the Gospel Lord now let thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation thy rich thy great thy plenteous salvation unto thy people that wait for thee and so till then Gentlemen Adieu SECT XXIX A consolatory Speech to the Loyall-hearted that suffer for Conscience sake in these times Arguments to assure them of Gods helpe in due time 4 Marks to know the approach of that time How they are to demeane themselves in the meane time living and dying I Have now but a word more to adde and that shall be to those Loyall men who for Conscence and duty sake have adhered to their Soveraign and kept themselves unspotted from this sinne which like the Arian Heresie hath so suddenly orespread the whole Nation and for this cause have been persecuted and hated by these evill men who have also deprived them of all their outward comforts And what shall I now say unto you most worthy and approved shall I bewaile your sad condition or lament over you for the wrongs suffered this would be an endeavouring to bring you lower then you are to draw you down to basenesse to weaken your spirits and to expose you to be more despised and so to do you a greater injury then hath yet been done you for Pity is the poorest and most helplesse salve of misery and by noble minds farre more abhorred then the worst of fortune Away therefore with such feminine and feeble Cordialls which women use and children relish let me tell you that you are more then men you are Christians chose out of many by Almighty God to suffer for his sake to be in your Age the glory of Religion and the honour of your Nation you are no chaffe the wind hath not blown you away nor can the flaile hurt you as they fancie that afflict you they think they rob you in taking from you what God gave you but they think amisse for he can make them vomit up againe that wealth of yours which they have swallowed or can return it in specie another way all the substance and riches of the Earth are at his disposing who observes and notes who they are that lose all for his sake at least doubtlesse he will and doth repay outward losses with inward graces And be confident of it the more damage and affliction Gods truth brings you the more felicitie and joy abideth for you 't is Gods cause for which you stand 't is the honour of the 5. Commandement which you maintaine as the Martyrs in Queen Maries daies did of the second and hence 't is that you are spoiled and have your lives sought after but what an high dignitie is it in the meane time which God hath here called you to It was the confession of blessed Mr. Bradford in a case of like nature that himselfe had deserved the miseries he lay under at Gods hand and not only them but even Hell too notwithstanding sayes he so loving hath God been that he hath converted the punishment of my sinnes into a testimoniall of his truth and verity which indeed the Prelates persecute in me and not my sinnes and therefore they persecute not me but Christ in me who I doubt not but will take my part unto the end put but Parliament instead of Prelates and the words may be your own without alteration of a syllable So Bishop Hooper in those daies being at the stake appeales to God in these words ' T is knowne to thee O Lord wherefore I am come hither and why the wicked doe persecute thy servant not for my sinnes and transgressions committed against thee but because I will not allow of their wicked doings to the contaminating of thy bloud and the deniall of thy truth received each of you in your condition may make a like appeale and also adde what another Martyr said in the behalfe of himselfe and others If we would but seek to please men in things contrary to thy holy Word we might as others doe enjoy the Commodities of Wife Children Goods and Friends Besides 't is not for Gods truth only that your engagement is but for your Countrey too dulce est pro patria mori it hath at least in old time been so accounted nay what good man can wish life to see his Countrey buried vitae nimis est avidus quisquis non vult mundo secum pereunte mori saies wise Seneca they are over greedy to live that think it not an honour to die at the funerall Celebration of Church and Kingdome which to the eye of over-timerous and doubting nature may seeme perhaps to be neare approaching And were it so that a generall destruction should come yet how happie shall you be above those other men who having first made ship-wrack of a good conscience are forced afterward to lose all things else But our dutie is both to hope and pray for better for God is now the same he was of old as gracious still as ever nor must we as many doe trouble our selves with Gods Decree and grow dull upon it for himselfe sayes if the same at any time be gone forth for the plucking up or pulling downe a Nation or Kingdome an Humiliation or turning from sinne shall suspend the execution so did that of Ninive in like case and that of Hezekiah when word was brought him that he should die 't is Gods custome to Moses-like may stand in the gap upon such occasions he had spared Sodome it selfe had there been but ten righteous in that City his bowels are no whit contracted in these Gospel-times and there are no doubt manie thousands in this Land whom himselfe is pleased to account righteous Nor doth God regulate his dealings by what is in us but by what is in himselfe and there is mercie in him though no merit in us Christ is full of righteousnesse though we be full of sinne Holinesse and Truth are in Gods nature and promise though there be nothing but
corruption in our nature and practice and for mine owne Name sake saith the Lord I will defer mine anger and for my praise will I refraine from thee that I cut thee not off and againe the second and third time for mine owne sake even for mine owne sake will I doe it and in another place not for your sakes be it knowne unto you will I doe this but for mine owne holy Name sake this Name of God is that strong hold which Zachariah the Prophet directs unto in times of danger and that Tower whereunto the righteous flie and are safe as Solomon tells us But then though our selves indeed be as nothing in this case yet our miseries which are great upon us may be said to have an influence upon Gods pitie to stirre him towards us for the oppression of the poore and sighing of the needy I will arise saith the Lord and will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him And againe because they have called thee an out-cast I will restore health unto thee and heale thy wound thus have they called us thus have they made us and that for Gods name sake which makes the more for us yea and yet they give God thanks for their successe against us as if he approved of their injuries to us and this is further also to our advantage as the Spirit tels us in the Prophet Your Brethren that hated you and cast you out for my name sake said let the Lord be glorified but he shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed as if he had said the sooner for that And to assure us of this we have a further argument yet scil the engagement of his Gospel with us which is as deeply interessed in our sufferings as we our selves are and doth as equally need deliverance yea that is likely to abide under disgrace and obloquy if the cause we are persecuted for be not supported nay if our enemies meet not with Confusion in their way Christ's whole life and carriage as well as his Doctrine will fall under suspition and condemnation by their prevailing 't is well known that his name is pretended in all their proud rebellious butcherly opinions and proceedings as if he had given some precept or example for such doctrines and doings and had discountenanced that low way of humilitie obedience meeknesse and love to Brethren yea to enemies which we maintain and suffer for But Christ's Gospel is his glory 't is his word which he is resolved to magnifie above all things and to vindicate the Honour of that his Father to whom he cannot be unfaithfull hath committed all Authoritie and power into his hand wherefore we need not feare though we are now down we shall rise again though we sit in darknesse yet the Lord shall be a light unto us he will plead our cause he shall execute Judgement for us Yea and that for his Justice sake also for Christ is King still for all this and Judge of all the earth and his office is to help them to right that suffer wrong to punish ill doers yea his delights are to confound the crafty and to throw down the proud and lofty Bloud guiltinesse he hareth how was Cain branded for it and cursed How were Simeon and Levi in their posterity scattered but for one bloudy act in heat and anger they had not yet arrived at studied or reiterated murther Rebellion he abhorreth and rather then that shall goe unpunished God will create a new thing the earth shall open her mouth and swallow up Corah and his Companions if Moses cannot master them and rather then Absalom and Achitophel shall scape their due demerits the one shall hang himselfe and his haire the other let David doe his best to save his sonnes life he shall not have his will for God is King above him and hath decreed that Justice shall be done upon all Traitours Treachery and falshood his soule loatheth and therefore hath ordained it shall cut its own throat rather then want an Executioner and be the cause of its own ruine in deed what was never true in it selfe cannot be long true unto it selfe Ephraim and Manasseh may be both against Judah but before they have done they will be as much against each other nay rather then faile Egyptian shall be against Egyptian falshood will find enemies amongst those of its own House and herd there may be a Conspiracy in it but no true concord for 't is only righteousnesse and peace that can kisse each other The strongest fire-brands in ill are like the fire-brands of Sampsons Foxes knit but in the tailes not heads nor hearts how sure in the end are they to burn their own knots asunder No Confederacy sayes God nor Association without me shall stand take Councell together it shall come to nought and gird your selves as strongly as you can you shall without faile be broken in pieces the zeal and justice of the Lord of Hosts will bring this to passe for us He hath done the like for his people in times past and he will not leave his ancient custome which may bring to our thoughts another Argument of assurance It hath been Gods wont when he hath beat his child to burn the rod Babilon the Hammer of the whole earth was at length broken Ashurs glory and greatnesse though some years in growing was consumed in a moment the rod of Gods anger is also the object of his indignation the instruments of his judgement scape not his fury the dreggs of the cup fall out to be their portion I will take the dreggs of the cup of my fury out of thy hand saith the Lord to his people with whom he had begun and will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee and have said to thy soule bow down that we may go over The rod of the wicked may be upon the back of the righteous but it shall not rest there namely for ever But perhaps you 'l say when will God doe this How long How long shall we stay before we have experience of it Himselfe sayes after a little while mine indignation shall cease towards thee and mine anger shall end in their destruction God doth all things in due time he gives rain to the earth food to man and fury to his enemies and all in due serson to me belongeth vengeance and recompence saith the Lord their foot shall slide in due time for the day of their calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make hast every thing is most beautifull in its season and a worke of this nature is then in season and most beautifull when Gods hand is so clearly seen in it that all men may confesse and say verily it was his doing But what are the signes of that season I 'le name four and so