conscience and dutie towards God whose command iâ— when thou art converted strengthen thy Luke 22 32. brethren That Subjects owe obedience to their Soveraign the whole consent of Scripture doth agree The Psalmist resembleth Kings to Gods upon earth and indeed they have their rule and Ps 82. 6. power by Gods appointment Prov. 8. 15. By me Kings reign and therefore to such as rebell against them it may be said as God said to Samuel touching the Israelites They have not cast â— Sam. 8. 7. thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them I hope none are so impudent to compare our King to Saul rejected of God but if any such be had they any touch of the grace in Davids heart then would they yet pray with him Lord keep me from laying mine hands upon the Lords anointed let me intreat them with a single eye and humble spirit to read â— Sam. 26 the historie of Davids carriage towards Saul and to remember the wise counsels of Solomon My sonne fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly The fear of a King is as the roaring of Prov. 20. 2. 3. a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul it is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling an evil man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruel messenger Pr 17. â—â— shall be sent against him The wrath of a King is as the messenger Prov. 16 14. 15â— of death but a wise man will pacifie it for in the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain And again in Eccl. I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement and Ecc. 8. 3. â— 4. â— that in regard of the Oath of God be not hastie to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Let us never forget that divine precept of our Saviour the King of Kings set down in three of the Evangelists Give unto Caesar the thing that are Caesars Remember the Apostle of the Circumcision Fear God Honour the King and submit your 1 Pet. 2. 13 14 17. selves to all manner of Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as unto the Superior or unto the Governours as those that are sent of him Observe the decree of the Doctor of the Gentiles writing to the Romans then governed by Nero a most cruell Tirant Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Rom. 13. â— 2. for there is no power but of God whosoever resisteth the Power resists the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Condemnation And in the Marginall Notes upon the old Translation it is well observed that because God is the Author of this Order therefore Rebells must know that they make war with God himself and cannot but purchase to themselves great misery and calamity For though the King hath not Power over the Conscience of man yet seeing he is Gods Minister he cannot be resisted by any good Conscience And in his Epistle to Tiâ—us he gives a special memento Put them in mind that they be subject to the higher Powers and that they Tit 3. 1. be obedient and the like in divers places of his Epistles The King of England is an absolute Imperiall Monarch by the Law yet he is to govern his Subjects by the Laws and Antient Customes of his Kingdome But the King is the only supreme Power next under God and so acknowledged by all Parliaments and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance do prove as much And by a Statute made in 1 of Elizabeth any man is disabled to sit as a Member in the house of Commons untill he hath taken a solemn Oath upon the Evangelists whereby he doth acknowledge the King to be the only Supreme Governour of these Realmes in all Cases whatsoever And also promiseth that he will to the best of his Power assist and defend all his Majesties Royal Priviledges Prâ—heminences and Jurisdictions graunted or annexed to his Imperiall Crown and yield his Obedience thereunto Which Oath how faithfully some do now observe I leave to the Judgement of God and their own Consciences It is confessed by all knowing men that a Parliament truly understood is a Court of the highest Nature and Authority in this Kingdome and that it hath power to make and alter Lawes And that matters there in question are to be decided or agreed on by the Major part of Voices But it must not be a Parliament without a Head not a Parliament rent in pieces that hath power to do this For to make any Obligatory Act to bind the Subject absolutely either in Life Liberty or Goods there must be a concurrence of the Major part of both Houses with the Kings Royall Assent added thereunto in whom the Legislative power doth alone consist And therefore I know not how any such thing can now be done at Westminster the King being absent and the farr greater part of both houses nay almost all the Lords being also departed and now joyning themselves with the King in all his designes But it will be objected that many things may be done by Ordinance of Parliament I will not deny but that both Houses of Parliament joyntly assembled may possibly have power to make Ordinances for the present good of the Common wealth And that these Ordinances may be binding during the time of that Session Provided that they â—e no wayes contradictory to the known Laws of the Land For the Subject enjoyeth his Life his Liberty his Lands by the antient Customes and Statutes of this Kingdome which are indeed the fundamentall Lawes thereof And therefore the Subject cannot be deprived of these rights but by a Law of as high a nature and that must be a Statute Law at the least How then can any man by an Ordinance contradictory to Law be legally dispossessed of his Liberty or Goods which he doth enjoy by the Power of the Law But some say that these things may be done by Priviledge of Parliament And if there be such a Priviledge come to light that doth over-top all Law Reason and Religion then much may be done But I beeleeve that if any such Priviledge be now found out that it is as new as the inventers thereof for venerable antiquity their betters in learning and knowledge never yet heard of any such matter It is known to all that have but smelt of the Law that both by the Common and Statutes Lawes of this Kingdome it is high Treason to levie Armes against the King or to be Adherent or Assistant to the Kings Enemies and these Laws when they be once
or walk upon hollow and deceitfull Qâ—agmires but upon reasonable sound justifiable Grounds and I have no other certain way or manner of means how to make my Self or my Case truly and effectually known to your Majesty but only thus and I now do cry to your Grace in the words of the Psalmist to his God The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty but O leâ— not the oppressed return ashamed The beloved Sonne of Jacob by the despire and envy of his Brethren was sold into Aegypt for a Bondslave where he lived in long obscurity and endured much pain and penury untill his Case was known and the word of the Lord had tryed him but then the King delivered him the Prince of the People let him go free and after all his sorrows and sufferings his successe was admirable I shall be heartily sorry if in any Passage herein I have given to any one the least occasion of a just offence but if your Majesty please to remember some Considerations written upon the life and services of an eminent Statesman and Counsellour to Henry the Great your Royal Grandfather of Fraunce your Grace will there find that the Offences of Tongues Pens and Impressions above all others may be dissembled and winked at and therefore I trust that the sayings and writings of such as intend no hurt but are void of impudency and seek only to illustrate the Truth shall receive a milde and gentle interpretation And thus with my humble and hearty Prayers to God Almighty for the true felicity of your Sacred Majesty and all your Royal Relations I most humbly submit my Self and all that is mine to your Majesties mercy and most favourable censure and clemency craving leave to proceed on in the relation of my services and sufferings where for method and order sake I must begin with my Addresse and Declaration intended to his late Majesty of ever blessed memory which had been presented unto him if I had met with the happinesse of an accesse to his Grace TO THE Kings Most Excellent MAJESTIE The humble Declaration of Your Majesties Written in the year c. 164â— Loyal and Obedient Subject J. W. of L. in the County of Ess Counsellour at Law briefly shewing his Troubles and the true occasion thereof in these Times of Rebellion May it please your Majesty AS I am in duty bound in the first place to render most hearty thanks to God Almighty for his great goodnesse towards your Majesty in blessing and preserving you and yours so graciously in these wofull dayes of distraction So I cannot but esteem it a great mercy of God and a most infallible signe of his favour towards me your poor Subject that he hath alwaies given me a heart so constant and loyal towards your Sacred Majesty as I may boldly say that neither my hand or tongue or thought hath agreed to any thing conducible to the beginning or fostering of this most unnatural Rebellion For when your Majesty sent forth Writs for the summoning of this late Parliament your Subject dwelling upon the Confines of Suff. and hearing what indirect and unlawfull means was used in the election of the Knights there Ignorance and Affectation ambitiously striving to be the principal Electors did begin suddenly to smell a savour of some worse intentions and thereupon when some of his Neighbours requested his company to Chelmsford in Essex to give a voyce to the electing of the Knights of the Shire there your Subject made this Answer That he would not stir a foot upon that occasion because he verily believed that the Parliament would never come to good It was a rash Speech I confesse but I have thought since that surely I spake It by some Prophetical inspiration and God knows I have many times wished that I had not guessed so right And afterwards when your Majesty had granted to an Act that the Parliament should not be dissolved without the consent of both Houses your Subject soon after being at a Publick meeting in the Town where he lived where was then present one that was a Justice of the Peace and a Lawyer who told it your Subject for good News That your Majâ—sty had condescended to such an Act and that now the Parliament would go on very confidently without any obstacles or fears Your Subject made him hereupon this subitain Answer That indeed if your Majesty had granted to such an Act it might possibly conduce to some good end if it pleased God to give to the Parliament the Spirit of Grace and Wisedome that they went on in a legal and moderate way but if they digressâ—d from that method it might then be a means to introduce great Inconveniences and Distractions for that your Majesty would perhaps depart from them and so their Expectations would be frustrated For we that have read the Law said I do know that both Houses of Parliament cannot make nor alter Lawes without the Kings Royal assent Yes quoth he they will make Ordinances Whereat your Subject smiling did again smell some dangerous Project to be in agitation and believed the said Party was one of their Fraternity and that he had sure intelligence of their indirect intentions of proceeding In which your Subject was likewise a remarkable Presager of the event of things for the said Party is since proved one of those good instruments called a Committee-man And in the year 1642. your Subject being come down from Easter Term hapned in Whitsâ—n-week after to be at a Meeting in his Parish where the said Justice of Peace was present and all the Chief Inhabitants thereof and much inquiring there was of Newes concerning the setling of the Militia and your Subject told them That he had heard of your Majesties Proclamation touching the same but had not yet seen it To which one of the Company made answer That he was at London the last week and had both seen the Proclamation and also an Ordinance of Parliament to the contrary and that he had them both there to shew Whereupon the Party pulling them forth your Subject took them and read them before the whole Assembly with an audible voyce then they asked your Subject what he thought thereof and what he intended to do therein To which your Subject remembring his natural and legal Allegiance to your Sacred Majesty boldly answered That he was soon resolved what course to take in that business without any study for that he would by no means disobey your Majesties Proclamation in submitting his Arms to the Parliaments devotion and besides informed them all openly That by the Common and Statute Lawes of this Kingdom it was High Treason to levy Armes against the King Which assertion of the Truth they little esteemed but affirmed notwithstanding that they would all send their Armes and that it would fall heavy upon your Subject if he refused to do the like But your Subject knowing a good Conscience in Adversity to be more
pleasant than a treacherous heart in Prosperity little regarding their Judgements but resolved if the will of God were so to suffer rather for well doing than for evil doing And though your subject thinks himself unworthy to take in hand the legal defence of your Majesties Right yet when he heard their irreligious and undutifull Discourse tending to the slighting and undervaluing of your Majesties Proclamation and the applauding only of the Parliaments Designs your Subject was so jealous of your Majesties Just Royalties Prerogatives and Reputation that he freely reprehended their folly and told them they were too confident in their conceits That the Parliament were many of them but weak men and might fall into grosse errors That it was not to be imagined that all the wisedome in the Kingdome was now ingrossed to the House of Commons for it was able to afford many thousand Assemblies as wise as they That Truth onely must be the square of Christian mens actions and not the fantastical and factious opinions of men and among other Passages also said unto them That they professed themselves to be haters of Idolatry and yet it appeared they were much infected with Superstition a grand limme thereof for they had as Reverend a conceit of their Parliament as the Papists have of the Pope which is that he cannot possibly erre in his Function Within a few dayes after came Warrants to Town to command all our Armes compleat to beat Colchester the next morning The Constable came presently to warn me to send my Armes accordingly I asked him to see his Warrant which he shewed me and when I had read it I told him That he knew my mind already for I had declared it sufficiently at the last Town meeting He confessed that I had so done yet he must come to do his Office Then I asked him If his Authority concerning this matter were derived from under your Majesties Great Seal He answered No it was from the Parliament Then I asked him whose â—oâ—stable he was He replyed That I was a merry Gentleman to ask him such a Question and that I my self knew better than he whose Constable he was and what belonged to his Office I answered him That indeed I have thought I had known something but now the Lawes are so strangely refin'd that my Learning is almost out of date But I prethee said I tell me in good earnest whose Constable thou art He answered The Kings Then quoth I to him Thou art a very Foole for the word of God sayth His Servants ye are to whom ye obey and therefore you having no Authority from the King but doing the contrary to his Royal command are surely the Parliaments Constable and none of the Kings Whereat his Constableship was at a Nonplus Then I told him that I intended to certifie to the Captain the Reasons under my hand why I refused to send my Armes That if I offended the Law therein they should then have my own hand-writing for a Witness against me The next morning I wrote to the Captain to this effect That such a Warrant had been shewen unto me but withall that I had formerly seen your Majesties Proclamation and further intimated that I should be heartily sorâ—y to infringe the Allegiance I owed to my Soveraign or to give a just occasion of offence to others that were in subordinate power but I remembred that long since I had taken the Oath of Allegeance and therefore were it but in that regard how I could dispence with my self in Disobeying His Majesties Royal Proclamation I did not yet well understand but my Armes and Bodie were ever ready to defend his Majesties Royal Person and Honour This Letter was delivered him in the open Field amongst the Trained bands where were present divers Parliament men which I dare say had a sight of it but I heard little thereof only the next week I going to London Newes was brought home that so soon as I came at my Chamber I was apprehended by Order from the Parliament and laid in Prison and should be fined as much as my Estate was worth onely because I refused to send my Armes at the last Traineing But it was but a false Fire to terrifie my Wife and Children and to affright others from their duty and allegeance Then at my return home the Parson of the Parish told me That he heard I was like to fall into trouble and that he was sorry I had not done as my Neighbours did I answered him That I was not sorry at all for I had done as my Conscience and the Law directed me But quoth he there will come danger of it Gods will be done said I for I am resolved to be constant and never to turn Rebell for I shall ever account it an honour to suffer in my Princes Quarrell and would fain see the face of that man that durst call me in Question for shewing my true allegeance to my Soveraign Afterwards I was threatned to have my house pulled down and all my goods taken away by Riflers who said they had an Order so to do because I would lend no money to the Parliament Soon after I went upon occasion to the house of a Parliament man none of the meanest St. Roberâ— Crane Knight and Baconet â—ank and he asked me What was the reason that I was threatned to be rifled I told him Because I would lend no money to the Parliament Then belike quoth he you lent none No said I for I have no moneys to lend but had I never so much yet I think I am able to make it appear to you or any man that is of an impartial Judgement why I ought not to lend money to such a design but now a dayes said I men must not speak the truth what they think whereat he clapped his hand upon his breast and said thus Before God I dare not speak what I think my self After he asked What means was used to procure money in our Country I told him The Ministers perswaded much but said I every thing that Parsons now speak in the Pulpit doth not work upon honest mens Consciences that smell of Loyalty and Discretion After this I was too often troubled with their Warrants either about lending of moneys sending of Armes or their nugatory politick Association still roaring in my ears with an Ordinance of Parliament and still I told them That these doings at length would make the Ordinance roar in the Field And I thank God I was so far from obeying any of their Warrants that I still gave them this answer That by Gods grace I would never do my self or posterity that wrong to live or dye a Rebell and that all their projects would surely come to nought and tend to nothing but mischief in the end ever Harping upon this string That it was without all question High Treason to levy Armes against the King c. and sundry times I have laboured to convince them by
Gods word and also read to them the Statutes and other Reports of the Law and Histories which I did think most fit to rectifie their Judgements and though it did them little good yet I trust that therein I did discharge my Conscience and duty towards God and your Majestie And soon after the Battle at Edgehill when your Majesties Forces came towards London the Constable of our Parish came late in an evening and charged me to send away my Armes the next morning with a months pay I asked to see his Warrant wherein it was specified that we should send our Armes to oppose your Majesties Army whereat I told him That his Warrant was somewhat too plain for there was no mention of Cavaliers or Malignants but peremptorily his Majesties Army Then quoth he sure that word is mistaken Yes said I you run too much upon mistakes but you might have spared the labour of comming to me for you know my mind well enough But quoth he a man is not alwayes of one mind 't is not fitting he should Yes said I if a man be an honest man it is not fitting he should turn Knave and for my part I will never meddle in this Rebellion for if I should my Conscience would accuse me for an arrant Traytor But said he what Answer shall I make to the Deputy Lieutenants Why quoth I you may tell them that I have ever been a true Subject to my Prince and so I am resolved to continue and I will also be obedient to all subordinate powers under the King so long as they hold their Allegiance to his Majestie but if they waive their Obedience to the King then must they give me leave to forsake them for Armes or Money I will never send to oppose his Majestie or any that take his part although I be chopt in pieces for it and that is mine Answer Not long after came another of the Constables to my house with a Warrant to search all houses for Armour which I perusing said unto him That his Warrant was generall but I believed that my self was the only man in the Parish that he aimed at Yet said I as the Case standeth I am not bound by Law to obey this Warrant neither will I Neverthelesse because I have heard that some idle people have reported that I have great store of Armes in my house therefore to take away those fears and jealousies from you I will though not in obedience to your Warrant yet in point of Neighbourhood let you see what Armes I have and thereupon I carried him into every room in my house and suffered him to search where he pleased but nothing he could find to take any exceptions at for indeed I had no Armour at all but that I was formerly charged to find Notwithstanding this Treacherous Villain went soon after to the pretended Lieutenants of the Shire and certified them that I was a most dangerous man and had Armes in my house for at least 20 men and that if my Armes were not taken from me I would be ready upon any occasion to do much mischief Whereupon Order was given that a Trained band should be raised to disarm me who soon after Christmass 1642. in â— morning before day-light beset my house and the said Constable who was their conductor when day appeared knocked at my Gate and asked to speak with me And he was answered at a Window that I was not up and requested to come some other time Yet he continued knocking whereupon I arose and went into my study opening against the Gate and asked him what his will was He told me that he was come again to search for Armes Why so said I you have done that already Ay but quoth he we have a Warrant to apprehend your body Nay then quoth I take it if thou canst get it With that a Parliament Captain that was hidden behind the Pales shewed himself and said Sir open your doors for we must have ye Sir quoth I thou art like to tarry a while Upon which denyal the Souldiers that were Ambuscadoed about the house began to appear and cryed Give fire whereat there rattled such a peal of Musquets against the house as were alone enough to have converted a Coward to the Round Religion whereat my little Boyes starting out of their beds to dresse themselves the Bullets peircing into their Chambers did beat the materials of the walls about their faces insomuch that the Eldest but 14. years of age came running to me and said O Father they shoot Bullets let us shoot at them again although we die for it every one of us But the Father had no considerable Force to equal the Childs Valour and therefore thought it no policy to provoke such obstinate hare-braind Rebells and it was Gods great mercy that I was so patient for they reported themselves afterwards that if we had but shot off a Gun we had been all killed and the house pulled down Again I went to the Window and askt them what they intended They presented their Musquets and Pistols at the very face of me and charged me to open the doors I replyed That if they had any Authority from the King I would They said No but they had order from the Parliament To that quoth I I will not yield Then they said they would break the house I wished them to be advised for my house was my â—astle and I was in the Kings peace and if they did any more then Law would justifie they must look one day to hear of it Then as fast as they could they broke open all the doors seized upon me searched every Trunk and Chest in my house to find Plate tumbled about my Bedding and Apparell with their Musquets in their hands and Matches light took away all my Armour and Weapons leaving me not so much as a Rapier and forcibly carried me away saying that for ought they knew I might be charged with Treason for these sots think every man a Traytor that abhorreth to be so As we rode along the Captain wished me to submit I said that I had not offended the Law and therefore would make no submission For these riotous Rebells said I that have abused me and my house have greater reason to make a submission then my self When we came at the place where these Deputy Lieutenants were much people was assembled on a Green before the house to see what should become of this horrible Malignant then issued they out to examine me before the multitude where it was laid to my charge that I refused to send my Armes to the Trainings 'T is well known said I that I have ever been as sedulous to send them as any man till now of late But there is now most need said they I answered That his Majesties Proclamation commanded the contrary and when there is an Order for it under his Majesties Great Seal then will I send my Armes before I will not Then was I
I hope that hereafter all those that are truly Religioâ—s and lovers of virtue and Loyalty will not suffer the light thereof to go out and be quenched thorough negligence or disrespect or the vigour thereof to be utterly extinguished in Oblivion but that they will lend a principal eye of regard thereunto and justly and duly encourage and advance the same both for the glory of God and their own special interest and concernment and in truth I do believe under favour that if those two little Books last mentioned were revised and reprinted by Order of Authority and so freshly exposed to the publick view they would do much good and operate very well upon the minds and affections of the youthfull and vulgar people of this kingdom and indeed this Nation hath need enough of good and wholesom counsels and cautions to rectifie their so long depraved judgements and of such religious animadversions as may totally deterr them from the practise of that uggly horrid and diabolical sinne of rebellion and from the least hunting after the track scent or savour of such seditious and schismatical delusions as of late they were so grosly and abominably infected withall considering also the lamentable and fearful consequences that have ensued thereupon both in Church and State and the most horrible and prodigious tragedies that have been acted upon the theatre of this Kingdom by occasion thereof being even more bloodie vile and villanous then the seditious Jewes that Josephus writes of who wrought the ruine and utter subversion of their famous City and countrie did ever enterprise or intend as I could instance in some particularâ— which are so odious and notorious to the world as I shall not now need to dâ—file this paper therâ—with But in truth the carriage or dâ—meanour of some people still is so pâ—evish and perverse as my conscience doth urge me to relate some passages that concern my self which I would willingly omit and passe over were not my charitie to reform their â—rrors greater then my desire to defame their actions for certainly my self and others were of a blind belief and stupid understanding if we did not palpably perceive the dolefull and dangerous defect of contrition and the crooked conversation that yet remains in these men who seem to be of the Spiders nature sucking poyson out of the same flower from whence the harmlesse Bee doth gather honey and it is to be feared that some acts of grace which might well have served for their present advantage will in the end by the bad influence of their corrupt nature conduce and redound to their future and â—verlasting overthrow for in the very place where the constancie and integritie of my truth and loyaltie hath been eminent enough and where the sufferings both of my self and family for the same have been such and so great as many of mine enemies have had once a little compassion upon us yet even there have I found lately but few Samariâ—ans to bind up my former wounds but some passe by without regard thereof and too many are prompt enough to make my sore the deeper by their peevishnesse and malice for but a little time before your Majesties most happy accesse to your royal government I was required to pay some assessments which for the present I did refuse to do in regard the payment thereof was ordered by an illegal power and for that I was in good hope of your Majesties sudden approach to right and protect us and after that your Majestie was so happily landed and come to London the Collectors again did demand the same of me and said that if it were noâ— presently paid there must come troopers to â—evie the same To which I made answer they might come if they would but there was no need of any such trouble for if I could have the least notice or intimation that your Majesty had commanded or consented to the payment thereof it should then be very soon discharged but otherwise I would not pay it as yet untill I heard more and were better satisfied in the matter to which they had little to say but went their way and for divers weeks after whilst I remained at home in the Countrie I never heard any more of them but the very next day after that I was come away towards London to petition your Majesty about my former sufferings these Collectorâ— came to my house with â—bout a dozen or more Fooâ—-souldiers whereat my Wife in my absence was much affrighted and yet they left half of them there to quarter untill the money were paid who behaved themselves basely enough and would tarâ—y there in spite of her teeth to her great disturbance and she not having the money was enforced to maintain them all until she could procure the whole sum which they demanded and at this the contemners of my loyaltie did laugh not a little and please themselves to see my house thus abused and so suddenly after my Kings comming which I had so long hoped for and so much rejoyced at aâ— was sufficiently seen and made manifest And since the sitting of the late Parliament or Convention and but a little time before your Majestieâ— most blessed accesse into England there came a gallant Gentleman to my house and desired to speak with me and when we came together he civilly requested me to excuse him for he thought he had brought a Message that would not be very pleasing unto me and yet he believeâ— that it would do me no great hurt but a friend of his had earnestly enjoyned him to tell me of it and to hear my answer thereunto Well Sir said I what is the matter I pray It is quoth he a Rump businesse How so said I is not the Rump Plagâ—e over yet what is the news with them now Why said he this Gentleman that intreated me to do this Errand hath laid out monies about the Purchasing of your Land and I think that he would willingly learn how he may come in to his monies again Yes marry said I that were well for as yet there is a Fool and his money soon parted for if it be laid out upon such termes as you do intimate then your friend if he meets with his lawfull and due desert may very fairly totter for his pains for in truth had there not been such sottish and covetous Contractors for the purchasing of honest mens Estates there had never been such unjust and impious wretches as would once have offered to make Sales of the same But I pray tell me said I who is this your friend that hath made such a blind bargain for himself he is said the Gentleman a Barrister at Law and hath a place in the present Parliament and he hath sent down Letters of Attorney to one here in the Country to demand the Rents of your Lands and to fore-warn your Tenants from paying you any more Rent Indeed said I he is a pretty Lawyer and hath proceeded well doth
not he deserve to be degraded or worse that thinks Gentlemen can forfeit their Estates for refusing to be Traytors the Law tells him That it is the committing of Treason and not the disclaiming or refusall thereof that brings men within compasse of the forfeiture either of their Lives or Estates and therefore surely his Learning in the Law or rather ignorance therein doth deserve far more punishment then preserment Yet truly quoth the Gentleman he is an honest man and was drawn in to lend money and to obtain the same again he was offered and enforced to take a grant of your Lands but he desires to do â—ou no wrong but will gladly accept of a reasonable composition Then I asked him how much money his friend had disbursed about the bargain and his answer was with a specification of many hundred pounds Well I am sorry for him said I for the truth is that I will never give him so much as the skin of a Lowse and I much marvell that any man now dares be so impudent as to talk of any Rump businesses considering that we hope the Kings Majesty will be amongst us ere it be long Yes it may be so said he if this Parliament will allow of him They allow of him said I why is that the chief point to the purpose I trust these will approve themselves to be wiser then some of their Predecessors or else they must look to find the like fortune for his Majesties Motto is Dieu mon Droit and that in Gods good time will bring him to his Crown in spite of all opposition Thus I so lectured my Gentleman that he much commended of my resolution and discourse and said that he was of my mind and so we parted in a very friendly manner And yet these and other numerous pranks of the like nature that for so long a time together have been played upon me were sufficient to penetrate the patience of a more patient and lesse passionate man then my self but it pleased God to make me remember Qui patitur vincit patientia sola triumphat And I most humbly beseech your Majesty to believe and be confident that all your Loyal and Loving Subjects that have been constant sufferers in the late unhappy times will never in the least degree go about to nourish or flatter themselves in the repining against that which is your Majesties good will and pleasure for we are well content still to endure any thing that may truly tend to your Majesties safety and advantage and we do fervently desire and incessantly invocate the Almighty Majesty of Heaven in whose hands the hearts of Kings are that he will be pleased in his abundant mercy and goodnesse so graciously to direct and dispose of your Majesties Councils and Affairs as may be most requisite and pliant to the performance of his blessed will revealed in his word and for the maintenance and upholding of the true Doctrine and Discipline of the Orthodox Church of England as the same was setled and established at the Reformation thereof by regal lawfull Authority And I doubt not but that your Majestie is well pleased with us in these our good desires for alas it is too manifest that the late counterfeit though specious shew of Reformation and the crying down of the Church-government was a great instrument to beget and breed up that furious and giddy generation of Scismaticks that have so long troubled and almost confounded the whole Nation And it is to be feared that some will think it now scarce consonant to distributive Justice that such as have been so much hindred and almost undone for their Loyalty in the late times should still be oppressed in their Purses to help to beare out other Mens misprisions and perversities or that constant Loyaltie and his inveterate opposite and antagonist though in a changeable coloured Coat should yet walk together in aequipage and be equivalent in countenance and respect And yet notwithstanding we are content and do rejoyce only in submitting to your Majesties good will and pleasure therein and though perhaps for some serious considerations of State not yet well known or apprehended by us we are at present debarred from something which the benefit of the Law our birth-right might very fairly have afforded us yet we gain this honour and satisfaction thereby that it is now manifest to all the world that can see and will not be wilfully blind that all the Rapines Wrongs and Oppressions so lately imposed upon us were utterly illegal and that we had a good and just right of recompence for the same both in point of Law Equity Reason and Religion and especially such of us as had been constantly loyal and wrought no detriment to others or else to what purpose was there any new Law made to deprive us but pro tempore of that legal Legacy and inherent Inheritance which the great Charter of England the continued will of so many famous Kings and Parliaments for so many hundred years had in lawfull manner bequeathed to our Ancestors and in them to us and our Posterities But I touch not upon this string to any other end or intent then only to restifie how I do believe that some others as well as my self have met with occasion clad or dressed in a more discontented habit then was expected for none of us are so deficient in understanding but that we are apprehensive enough not only of the greatnesse of the grievances we have endured but also of the smallnesse of the regard and countenance which at some mens hands we have received for the same and yet as we cannot but be sorely sensible of our Sufferings and slightings and the slender notice that is taken thereof So we will not at any time be emulous to accomplish the right of our desires not so much as in thought otherwise than the correspondent good will and pleasure of your Sacred Majesty and the known Laws authorised by the same shall give us free liberty and we are sufficiently confident that upon the true resenting of our Loyalty and Losses and the due consideration of the nature and of other passages thereupon now so fast knit to our Obedience your royal Majesty will soon conceive that in point of honour and conscience your Grace is the more engaged to look upon us and without that favourable aspect we not only fear but find it too evidently hitherto for a truth that the Chamelions of this age who feed upon the Utopian aire of their own frothy inventions and conceits will never come near us and so be adapted to turn themselves into our colours and constitution but rather with reproach abandon us and so totally deprive themselves of that good which our Councell and Conversation might minister amongst them and were it not great pitty that so worthy Qualities and Faculties as Loyalty and Courage should unhappily prove and become the Ushers in of Obloquy and Contempt or that so rare and precious a
again armed with power will have a very large construction by the Judges of the Law There is a Parliament to be found in historie that did seem to wage warr against a King in this Realm but what ill successe it had I had rather the Historian should tell you then my self sure I am there is an ignominious brand laid upon is to all posterity for it is still stiled Parliamentum insanum Let no man hate instruction nor be too wise in his own conceit be Prov. 3. not high-minded but fear a prudent man saith Solomon foreseeth Prov. 27. 12. Numb 16. the evil and hideth himself but fools passe on and are punished forget not what became of Korah Dathan and Abiram that rebelled against Moses yet were they no obscure persons but princes of their families and men of great estimation amongst the vulgar remember what was Absolons portion for rebelling 2 Sam. 18. â— Sam 20 against David and what became of Sheba the sonne of â—ichri that lifted up his hand against the King and many such examples in holy Writ Nay look but into our Chronicles here at home and observe how Gods judgements have still prosecuted all them and their posteritie that have had any hand in the deposing or opposing of Kings upon any fair pretence whatsoever To abuse the picture of an earthly King hath been taken to be a great indignity how then shall the God of heaven take it at the hands of such as despitefully use and contemn the King himself a good King that is Gods image and Vicegerent upon earth but the times are come that the Apostles foretold that â— Tim. 3. 4. 2 Pet. 2. 10 Jude 8. many in the latter dayes would be traitors headie and high-minded presumptuous and stand in their own conceit despise Government and not fear to speak evil of them that are in dignity But some say that this war is not against the King neither do they intend him any wrong indeed they ought not to wish him the least hurt for God commands us not so much as to think an evil Eccl. 10 20. thought of the King but these men do more then think for they openly reviled the King by reproachfull and scandalous speeches saying that he is led by bad counsell and intends to set up Poperie and can there be any greater aspersion laid upon a Prince for Solomon saith A divine sentence is in the lips of the King and his mouth transgresseth not in judgement And it is Prov. 16. 19 20. abomination to Kings to commit wickednesse for the throne is established by righteousnesse It is the part of a Christian to judge charitably both of King and of people but where the subjects go about in hostile manner to invade their Soveraign and his friends and forces under his command and also use with extreme crueltie such of the Kings faithfull subjects friends as they can get into their power and yet will aver and maintain that they warr not against the King neither intend him any wrong What to make of their reason or argument I know not but a meer solecism yet the late Oathes imposed upon such as had so little Grace to take them do make the meaning both of the matter and manner of their evil intentions of proceeding to be somwhat more plain to be perceived It is most true that the King and many of his true Subjects are much abused for truth is hid in darknesse and it is the misery of miseries that men are so wilfully blinded and besotted as their eares are stopped to all good Counsell Wise men that know the truth of things are much discouraged to impart the same to others because they see many are so wedded to their wilfull Errours that he which in charity goes about to advise them for the best may sooner himself fall into a snare for his good will then pull any of them out of the danger that hangs over their heads for he that now a dayes dares venture to speak the truth is presently snapt at for a Malignant But God that knoweth all things knows that the Kings Majesty hath raised his Forces and doth maintain this War only for the beating down oâ— Faction Schism and Sedition and for the upholding of the true Protestant Religion established in Queen Elizabeths dayes and under which this Kingdom hath long flourished and for the setting and maintaining of the true and genuine Laws of this Kingdom But some dream of a great Reformation now in hand I am sure there is already a great Deformation both in Church and Common-wealth I wish these Reformers would in time un-hoodwink themselves and see what successe they have had and learn ere it be too late to be obedient to God and their Prince following the counsell the Angel gave to Hagar Return to thy Mistris and Gen. 1â— 9. humble thy self under her hands and let them endeâ— vour the due Execution of the good Laws that are now in force lest while they fondly presume to amend that which is well already they make the word Parliament have an ill savour and open a gap to greater desolation and so marre all Indeed it were to be wished there were a more generall Reformation from sin and God when it pleaseth him will afford us that happinesse and incline the Kings heart to all occasions plyable thereunto For the Kings heart is in the hand Prov. 21. 1. 25. â—5 of God as the Rivers of Water he turneth it whither soever he will And by long forbearing a Prince is perswaded we must therefore wait the Lords leisure and seek no Reformation by unlawfull means for we must not do evil that good may Rom. 3. 8. come thereof But some will now be wiser then Gods word or at least take Gods power upon themselves they will have the Kings heart in their hands and the Government in Church and State must be turned upside down at their beck and the most deserving bodies in the Kingdom left without heads at their command and pleasure or else to Armes they must forgetting the counsell of the wise With good advice Prov. 24 6. Exod. 7. 12. 2 Tim. 3. 8 9 Prov. 21. 30. shalt thou make Warr Alas these men may a while resist the King and in the King Gods Ordinance but it will be to as little purpose as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses for there is no wisdome power nor policy against the Lord of Hosts And if God for the sins of this Nation should lay that heavy scourge upon us to take away the Kings Majesties life and the lives of all his posterity and alliance which the Lord in his mercy forbid then may these men have some likelihood to prevail in their purposes or otherwise never Beloved Countrymen delude not your selves any longer the Kings Majesty hath sent forth many Declarations to open the eyes of your understandings and to inform you in the truth and equity of