How we have kept Courts made all our Processes Summons Citations and Censures in our owne name style it would make a History as long as tedious to the World as shamefull to my abhorred selfe They are written with the point of a Diamond on all the Church windows every letter whereof to mee is a nigrum Theta for it must be confessed that I and my furious faction so ordered all untill all was put out of frame making the Kingdome the object of pitie lacerate with many miseries and distresses and my selfe of too just an hate thereby giving occasion to the Enemies of the Gospel to sing Te Deum and to the Church of England to cry Ichabod And never more justly then now might it be said Men groan from out of the City and the souls of the wounded cry out But I forbeare to enlarge my self and afflict you with the sad relation of these conveyances wherein yee had a great hand to which yee are privy only let me confound my self before the World in this Declaration concerning my tyranny in the Scottish affaires because it is the most eminent and funest act of the Tragedy and has proved most effectuall to my perdition and from thence unde dolor lachrymae put forth a Prophesie to you of these evils which will certainly come upon you likewayes breake you asunder and shake you to pieces if you stop your eares and still hate to be reformed when Hee that is the confidence of all the ends of the earth hath now revealed himselfe so powerfully and answered the expectation of the upright creature by terrible things in Righteousnesse for I know the end of your hopes and gave expansion to my soule to seek the things of this world and not of God but now behold I stand upon the stage of mortality like an accursed tree the miserable object of this age groan under the hatred of three Kingdomes able to crush all the Miters in England ready to be teared by the wrath of mine Enemies who sharpe their eyes against mee Not content with that absolute Power which the errour and consuetude of Times and the indulgence of Princes importuned with restlesse ambition suffered to fall upon mee heere in the English Church I would needes dilate my selfe like a swolne cloud of infection to obscure the light to poyson the aire and to trouble the calme and serenity of other Kingdomes I could not endure that other Churches should looke grievously and a squint upon our manner of government For I must confesse my intentions were deepe and large against all the reformed Churches and Reformation of Religion which through his Majesties Dominions I had wounded to the very soul so that it lay groveling and panting on the ground ready to expire if I had not been removed and our plots detected to the glory of God to the honour of King and Parliament to the terrour of the wicked and comfort of all those who have bin labouring after the beauty of these times and would have bought these acceptable days with many thousands For this purpose I made the first assault on the weaknesse of Scotland as in my light estimation I conceived but was destitute of the Spirit of Prophecie and caused to be compiled a Service booke for their devotion obtruding the same upon their Church which I knew the tenderness of their conscience could no ways endure yet by my owne counsell I was cast down for though I knew well it was nothing else but a strange Rhapsody of all unclean things and unsavoury wch once received in the bowels of Church or State could never give rest till like a virulent poyson it had begotten intestine warre in the body Ecclesiastick and Civill I knew likewayes it overturned from the foundation the order of their Church making a large entry to all Novations to come being repugnant to the Doctrine Discipline and order of their Reformation to their Confession of Faith Constitutions of their Generall Assemblies and Acts of their Parliament establishing true Religion yet would I needs enforce that booke upon a Nation which sooner would have welcomed the Plague the Famine and the Sword Hence did spring this terrible combustion which I feare shall no other wayes be quenched then by the bloud of that faction which caused the same now threatning with open mouth and implacable fury to devoure us all When the Scots affrighted with such an unknown Monster had in most humble manner prostrate themselvs to authority and craved a dispensation from that imprestable obedience not able to drinke that poyson which I had so imperiously presented to them as if Supreame Majesty had been violated Monarchy affronted and a Royall Prerogative many wayes injured I armed Authority against them and made such strange pretences dissembling a Zeale to the honour of the Crowne which meane while I was trampling under-foote that any thing behoved to bee done all the Treasures of Revenge were to be wasted before his Majesties command did not meete with full obedience but the suggestions and motions were ever mine most palpably to blow up all and involve all in conflagration All the Supplications both pious and frequent the Declarations Informations and Reformations to which none of us could ever reply of that afflicted Nation I caused to bee suppressed most diligently not able to stand before such a Light and fearing they should work the overthrow of our cause and procured them to bee answered with terrible Proclamations And when they were constrained to use the remedy of protestation without any scruple or tryall of the busines like an undistinguishing fire that delights to feed it self by embracing all Objects I caused them bee declared and published in all the Churches of England Traitors and Rebells And lastly when they were seeking to possesse their Religion against my strange devices and Novations I Kindled the fatall warre and rather then I should fall from my counsels and have any of my intentions cast back on my face I chosed to cover the whole Island with bloud And therefore having once espoused the Roman quarrell I caused display an open banner and mustered my forces called forth my Squadrons as if religion and the honour Royall had been lying at the stake and set forth an Episcopall Expedition for defence of the Mitre which in end will be covered with ashes in despight of all created powers But ô yee of little providence for what all this fury Where were your souls And why did none of us foresee the black successe of such destructive distempers and unmercifull extremities But this was our houre our very houre wherein wee were wise to our owne destruction Thus when by our working the Land was divided in two Armies advanced and brought in view of each other yet not so much as a Dog to offend When all matters were sweetly composed and by a Pacification as undesired as unexpected of us both Nations had comforted themselves with the hopes of peace
with so strong a Passion as if I had been sent into the world for no other purpose or as if the glory of God had been interessed the honor of the King wounded and all Religion had consisted in Episcopacy This I thought to effectuate two manner of wayes especially first by establishing my self at home in England in the power of Sole and universall Jurisdiction and that I might attain to be a Patriarch for which ye know I have not stuck to plead contentiously 2. By bringing the neighbour Nations of His Majesties Dominions but most particularly that Kingdom of Scotland to me so fatall under my verge and to the obedience of these novations and alternations wherein my Grandeur and this change did essentially consist With what excrbitancy of overdaring pride and what insolency I have swayed all in the Church of England How impudently I laid by the pastorall duty and a care to approve my self to the eternall and secular Powers how I have neglected all fear of Laws of censure and shame since I obtained the chair of Canterbury and begun my Antichristian raign imposing absolute Tyranny on the souls and wils of people shall the after-age be hardly induced to beleeve O bâ—t behold your poor Primitive mother the distressed Church of this Iland if you be the children concerned in her bleeding miseries and look how wofully she is torn how we have opened her tender sides pulled her Crown from her head and trode her under foot Nay she lyes breathlesses all covered with wounds with sores all defiled And those glorious twins Religion and Peace who loved to triumph here sweetly kissing each other spreading over us the beauty of their halcyonian dayes how have we alas so shreudly so undeservedly banished and given place to the unquiet furies of ugly error and bloudy warre so that whiles she lyes labouring like a disgraced Virgin under the throwes of her thick coming sorrows in all the corners of the land may it justly be complained Postquam interna furor discerpere viscera caepit Omnia membra labant soluto defecta vigore Tabescunt tota penitus compage soluta A capite ad calcem vestigia nulla salutis Quippe ubi cor languct vitalia cuncta laborant Quis miserae queat Ecclesiae memorare dolores Vulnera deflere lachrimis mala dicere verbis Nec mihi si centum linguae totidem ora sonarent Nec si Mconii Vatis torrente redundem Nec si mellâ—flâ—i contingat Musa Maronis Haec satis enumerem subsint aut verba volenti But now her cryes have peirced the Clouds and he that said he would come does come full of vengeance with phials of wrath in his hand to poure upon those who have so sore oppressed her I did voluntary forego her wo and Sacrificing to the lusts of my own minde I lul'd the world a sleep that the throne which I was building for the greatnesse of my name might rise more safely I had erected a kinde of Inquisition through the whole Land and none dared so much to look stern upon the face of Episcopacy though they had been most eminent in all the graces of the Spirit but presently behoved to be crushed I had so cunningly interlaced the Image of the Beast with His Majesties Pourtrait that none durst inveyagainst the one but presently behoved to injure the other thus caught within the compasse of Treason by a strange Divinity assuring the world that the Crown could not flourish on the Kings head without the Fellowship of a Miter All my pretentions were deeply guilded with the Beams of Authority which through Inadvertencie and fashion of Times I made Usher in such strangers as deflored the Church abused the State and dishonoured the whole Dominion When the seeds of Arminianisme Superstition and Popery by my Episcopall law more tendering the honour of Hierarchy then the Gospels integritie simplicity had been very Luxuriant and over-run the whole Vineyard I knew that as Rome was now filled with joy for the fair hopes of our return to her so was England and all the Churches reformed choakt with fear and sorrow For alas even as the Earth looks sad and sullen at the Sunnes departure and every Tree every flower puts forth a tear when he renews his comfort Why do not we conceive the lovers of the Spirit of truth must be dismayed wounded in heart and cloathed in sorrow when truth is banisht from out the face of the Earth Yet would I never make scruple out of zeal to that Spirituall Monarchy to tread down all those who were bold to speak against the calamities of Times iniquities of the Times and the injuiries done to the Gospel though we must all confesse the Spirit of Truth did powerfully dwell in them I suppressed them removed them and send them in banishment beyond Sea thereby depriving Church and Common-wealth of their Christian help both in Religion and Policy But my own Creatures willing Instruments to promote my Counsells and Projects were most solemnly advanced to the places in Church and State Thus We went on kept our correspondence and ordored our game by such a strange cunning and violence that there remains a black History for our deeds which will hardly meet with belief in other Churches By the whole Current of my carriage by my practises wayes motions and intelligence ye knew alas that I was about that great work of the Whore of Rome in such sort that some of the Pasquils of the time have Charactered me Her laborious Pander to make the possession of World Hers and derogate from the glory of the Gospel and honour of Kings O be ashamed for so miserably prostituting your selves and your souls to the domineering pride of my humor in fomenting my Popish intentions constantly followed by you as if we had joyntly conspired to the overthrow of Truth and Religion And because the Printers Presse did often speake the times and tell the world the mystery of my Episcopising therefore did I arrogate to my selfe the keys thereof and making the power of Printing depend on me did shut and open the same at my pleasure Neither durst any booke though never so richly embellisht with the treasures of piety and wisdome once appeare untill by a supercillious license my Canonicke Secretaries had first found it relish deeply of the Romish and Arminian poyson And as I was the rule of doctrine intending and remitting the qualities of Sermons as the conditions of times required So were many Pulpits prophaned with Heresies Revilings and Scurrilous reproches Nay wherein have I restrained my insolent and unbridled minde in the pursuit of my superstitious follies What Statute Civill or Ecclesiasticall cannot rise up against mee and argue guilty To shew how I have framed new Constitutions Ceremonies without number which infest the world daily more and more Canons and Articles and Oaths printed published and forced upon the people How wee have dared to grant Licenses and make presumptuous Dispensations
strange revolution and that the powers of heaven are shaken as if it had been mystically foretold in the 111 Psalme Verse 3. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 400 4 40 70 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 6 400 100 4 90 6 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 6 30 70 80 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 200 4 5 6 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 46. 5 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} 4 70 30 whose numerall Letters produce directly the strange yeere even the yeere 1640 wherein by the dread Covenant of Scotland most especially and ever since by the deportments of the children of peace and terrour the God of Truth seemed to make a vow against us This computation doth hold in English As in the Hebrew HIs Worke Is honoVrabLe anD gLorIoVs anD hIs rIghteoVsnesse enDVrech for eVer Which cannot be but strange and joyned with the consonancy of times abroad and at home and the congruity of spirits and humours of men might charge you with this sad acknowledgment and beget in you a curiosity to observe what God is doing We must indeed be forced to acknowledge from the sense of our losses from the daily decreasing of our glory and the advancements of our enemies since that great yeere 1640 which by after ages shall be observed as the times of Babylonish confusion That the Lord has beene with them wonderfully that wee have beene deserted in every particular and tumbling from a precipice day by day so that it were madnesse to thinke wee shall recover our game or attain to the tops of the Mountains from whence wee are falne This assistance and the very time of the beginning of this reformation is observed by the more curious to have been promised as it were and intimated in the 2 Chron. 15. 2. in these The LorD Is with yoV WhILe yee bee WIth hIM whose numerall letters fulfill the same yeer But howsoever those curiosities hold prophesies are no more mysteries when mysteries are unvailed and become Histories for we have found those times the beginnings of a revolution which tend to great and effectuall alterations which have given such a swing to the whole fabrick of our Kingdome that the ligatures thereof are shaken Nay though we should use all nature and art to cement the same it shall not avail it shall not prosper because the finger of God is against us Wee need not straine arguments afarre to bring this home to your indocile soules and possesse you with this assurance that there is a great work begun which shall be consummate with glory to the joy of the friends of the Gospell and utter confusion of the enemies of Peace and Truth and that in the Church of England likewayes there is certainly a Reformation to be looked for as in the Church of Scotland which has to the great emulation of the dis-heartned people here in this houre of hope promising to themselves a certain relief so restored Religion and Truth to their splendour and purity through the particular finger of God that this day it is the measure of the desires and the height of the wishes of all distressed Churches to be established in the comforts of such a Reformation as they now enjoy If the purpose of God by the condition of these times and this strange working be not manifested to you advise with Politike probability yee that are Jesuited Statists and behold how every thing strugles for our confusion The winds are let loose from all the corners of the earth and spread themselves furiously All mens affections decay almost and are loosed to the Leaders of that great cause for which we have poured out our souls but unprofitably as waters spilt on the ground For though to the gloriation of Papists which they have openly and insolently declared in print the face of our Church was changed and the language thereof altered yet now consider the temper of mens minds the strength of their wishes and power of their affection Nothing but universall detestation and aversenesse from us and our wayes nothing but an inclination well followed with the maturity of times to the contrary in all points For the people like a field of standing corne moved by a stiffe gale do all bow their heads one way or like a strong tyde chased by the winde do all make but one current There is likeways a certain quickning and agitation and expectation in the spirits of men to believe and hope for the beauty of Reformation and our utter removall according as they have been no question effectually praying and of late in an extraordinary manner reporting the comfort of a sure confidence Now tell me if yee conceive it possible that so great a work so eminently assisted by him who holds the ends of the world in his hands can be deserted but that it shall be crowned with the Copestone else they had losed their prayers and the strength of their wit by which wee confesse they prevaile for Hee that is the God of their Covenant marches on like a man of war and wil notstay till the Antichrist be puld down and his Enemies be made his footstool and the Jews and Gentiles call'd in Wee have seene the goings of God the King in the Sanctuary This is the day and the worke of the Lord terrible in our eyes wherein the Judgement of the great Whore that sits over many waters shall be shown Moreover the fautors and instruments of this great work have pâ—inted their truth and their actions with a Sun-beam and so strongly seized the judgements of the World that now every soule is warmed fill'd with wonder and rests sweetly convinced With us and our faction nothing but a benummed sullennesse and a profound silence We are all given over to the spirit of slumber Our pens are plagued with a lethargie Though your Prelacie be now lying gasping yet there is none almost that dare owne it not any to encounter those papers which come forth in Squadrons displaying the Banner of Truth to captivate every understanding and will to the obedience thereof Lay your hands on your mouth for we are not all able to restore that Monster to its wonted dignity and height of power nor fetch its pedigree from Heaven or shew how the same ought to bee welcommed in the World or can be usefull and expedient in a Christian Republike no we should fail though wee concentrat our wits and alambique our spirits There is one indeed who hath afflicted his understanding and wearied his pen in the defence thereof and now of late with a new assault tendred his Remonstrance to the Parliament humbly entreating the Honorable Court to let the poor miserable torn thing breath a while but alas thinke not that noble Senate to whose wisdome all Europe doe pay their tributary gazes will any longer nourish such Snakes keep Serpents in their bosome for it cannot be but they must resent