had principally occasioned that Rebellion by opposing and refusing to Consent to the Transportation of those Forces which His Majesty had Granted to the King of Spain For at the Disbanding of the Irish Army He had engaged the Word and Honour of a King to the Three Spanish Ambassadours here then at this Court that they should have the Liberty to Transport such Troops of the Irish Nation as were willing to take Service under their Master and accordingly they Contracted not only with the Officers and Souldiers but had advanced Money and hired Ships for their Transportation But this being represented to the Parliament tho the Lords seemed incâ—mable to comply with it yet the Commons who industriously opposed whatever His Majesty pretended to do without their Advice absolutely refused to give their Consent and framed I know not what Chimaera's of danger and in Fine positively prohibited The passing of any English or Irish into the Service of any Forreign Prince FROM hence it came to pass that many of those People being of Desperate Fortunes fell into Desperate Designs and being Animated and Spirited both by their Religion and the Traditional Animosity against the English and more especially the Scots whom they consider as Invaders Robbers and Incroachers of their Antient and Native Right they were easily perswaded and drawn into a Conspiracy rather than starve Whereas had the Parliament given them leave to have spent their ill humours and lives in Forreign Wars they might probably have prevented whole Rivers of Blood that was inhumanely spilt and have saved all that Treasure that was expended in reducing that Kingdom from one Rebellion to another BUT by this means the Male-contents here at Home got this advantage by that Rebellion which they had been long Aiming at as to Arm all their Factions The Factions seize on the Guards c. during the King's Absence in Scotland and in His Majesties absence to do all the Acts of Soveraign Authority And now they took actually the Guards into their Service which they had Voted for before and appointed Officers to Command them and to Exercise and Discipline the Raw and unexpert Militia of the Countries about London without so much as giving the least Notice of all this to His Majesty or expecting His Royal-Assent THE King being in Scotland when He first received an account of all that had happened in Ireland Sir James Stuart sent for Ireland dispatched Sir James Stuart with Instructions to the Lords of the Privy-Councel there and sent them by Him all the Money His present Stores would supply He likewise moved the Parliament of Scotland as being the nearest for their Assistance but they Excused it because Ireland was a Dependant of the Crown of England but if the State of England would use any of their Men for that Service they would make propositions in order to it THE King finding His stay to be longer than He thought left the whole business of Ireland to the Parliament which without staying for His leave they had took to Themselves and had indeed declared a speedy and vigorous Assistance and Voted Fifty Thousand Pounds for a present supply About which time the King returned out of Scotland The King Returns to London from Scotland and was Entertained and Feasted at London and from thence Conducted to White-Hall After which the King Treated several of the Brincipal Citizens at Hampton-Court where divers of the Aldermen had the Honour of Knight-Hood THEN the King Summons both Houses together and tells them A Parliament is called That He had staid in Scotland longer than He expected yet not Fruitlesly for He had given full Satisfaction to that Nation but cannot choose but take notice of and wonder at the unexpected Distractions He finds at Home and then recommends to them the State of Ireland Next He publishes a Proclamition for Obedience to the Laws and first concerning Religion and the performance of Divine Service without innovation or abolishing of Rites and Ceremonies About Two Months after which His Majesty makes another Speech to them and Conjures them by all that is Dear to Him or Them to hasten the Business of Ireland But notwithstanding this and all the Noise and Out cry that was made of the Cruelties of the Irish Rebellion they prepared their Succours but very slowly and tho His Majesty pressed them with repeated instances to assist vigorously the Protestant Party against the Popish Rebels The Irish Rebellion laid upon the King yet they used their endeavours to place the Odium of that Conspiracy to the King's account insomuch that one of their Members said in a Formal Speech at a Conference with the Lords That several who had passed into Ireland by His Majesties immediate warrant were at the Head of the Rebellion which Speech the House of Commons ordered to be Printed and tho His Majesty cleared Himself of the Scandal yet instead of obtaining a Reparation they publickly justified the Member who was Pym for what He had spoken Besides instead of taking into Consideration the bleeding Condition of Ireland notwithstanding all the indefatigable Zeal and Pains His Majesty had taken to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom they welcomed Him presently after His Return from Scotland with a large Remonstrance The Parliaments Remonstrance wherein they endeavoured to make appear that there was a Design on Foot to introduce to this Kingdom Popery and Arbitrary Government and laid all the Misfortunes of the Reign to the Crowns Account notwithstanding they themselves had occasioned them and His Majesty having made a Gracious Answer to their Petition that was as a Prologue to their Remonstrance He issued out a Declaration to His Subjects by way of Answer to the Remonstrance The King's Answer the Sum of which was That He thought He had given sufficient Satisfaction to His Peoples Fears and Jealousies concerning Religion Liberty and Civil Interests by the Bills which He had passed this Parliament desiring that Misunderstandings might be removed on either side and that the bleeding Condition of Ireland might perswade them to Unity for the Relief of that Unhappy Kingdom BUT instead of Complying with His Majesty who offered to raise Ten Thousand Volunteers for Ireland if the Commons would undertake to Pay them and issued out a Proclamation against the Irish declaring Those that were in Arms with all their Adherents and Abettors The Apprentices Rife and go to White-Hall and Westminster to be Rebels and Traitors They Caused the Apprentices of London to go in an Insolent Tumultuous Riotous manner to White-Hall and Westminster and the King being informed That One of the Lords and Five of the House of Commons had Correspondence with the Scots and Countenanced the late City Tumults He thereupon ordered The King's Order their Trunks Studies and Chambers to be Sealed up and their Persons Seized the former of which was done but they kept too good Intelligence about His Majesty
Answer did not satisfie Him His Graces Answer and that since they trifled he would receive no more Messages from them In the mean time Our Canon with some Horse and Foot was brought down from the Body of the Army and posted not far from the Bridge The particular Account of the Fight being by me I shall Relate it here as I have it Word for Word THe Duke having put himself in the posture above-said A Relation of the Fight in Scotland commanded the Canon to Fire which it no sooner begun to do but the Rebels who were drawn up on the other side upon a rising Ground near the Bridge threw themselves upon the Ground to avoid the Shot Those that were posted upon the Bridge Fired at first pretty briskly but after Five or Six Shot of Canon they all ran away they upon the rising beginning first Our Men immediately seized the Bridge threw into the River their Barricadoes of Stones Cart-Wheeles and the like took a piece of Canon they had and followed them up the Hill but their Number being very small the Rebels rallied and faced them but had not the Courage to come down upon them Our Men came down again to the Bridge and one Shot more of Canon made the Rebels flye to their upper Line where they stood again In the mean time my Lord General passed the Army over the Bridge and drew up upon the Rising which took up some time and before we were quite in order the Rebels advanced upon Us and to appearance in very good Order When they approach't they espied Our Canon at Our Head and thereupon immediately shifted their Order and opened in the middle thinking it seems We were obliged to Shoot strait forward but Our Canon being turned upon them as they then stood and discharged Three or Four times they begun to Run again their Commander Robert Hamilton being one of the first and our Dragoons and the Highlanders advancing upon them it was a perfect Rout and they fled all wayes Our Men pursuing them Of the Rebels there were Seven or Eight Hundred killed and Eleven or Twelve Hundred taken which were afterwards brought prisoners to Edinborough THE Lord General behaved himself with extraordinary Conduct and Bravery and all the Officers Gentlemen and Souldiers carried themselves with great Chearfulness and Resolution But above all the Mercy of Almighty God was most signal in that tho the Rebels were near Seven Thousand Yet were they totally defeated without any loss to His Majesties Forces save of Two or Three private Sentinals Killed and some few Wounded THUS was extinguisht that furious Flame of Rebellion fed by Presbyterian Doctrines and Zeal to the destroying of so many poor Souls who obstinately refused the Mercy of their Prince and Dyed Martyrs as they call them for the Doctrine of King-killing I pray God divert them from such like Practices for the future and make them know That without Honouring the King we do not Fear God NOW to proceed to a Second Remark which is Episcopacy spoken against the great Hatred these sort of Men have had and now have against Episcopacy as well as Monarchy For as in those late Times the Bishops were ever an Eye-sore to the Scots and the Presbyterian Faction here and therefore the Church of England in its Government Liturgy Common-Prayer and Ceremonies was termed direct Popery and could not be entertain'd as any thing else and therefore to throw down this Rome as they called it destroy the Members of this Church and at the last the Head too was what was suitable to a Good Conscience and consistent with the Liberty of the Subject and the Protestant alias Presbyterian Religion So now adayes Men are so bold to call it the like and will not stick to say the King is a Papist and the Professors of this our Religion of the Church of England Romish or Popishly affected Nay it is publickly asserted That there is not one Bishop in England who was advanced to their Episcopal Dignity by any Protestant but Popish Hand And therefore say they They must needs have a great relish of that Leaven And as the Parliament in those times began to throw their Bolts at the Bishops and to shew their Dislike to that Reverend Apostolical Order and to that Authority and Honour which is due to them and their Right of Sitting in that August-Assembly they Vote That no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any Judicial-power in the Star-Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal Matters c. So of late in the Tryal of the Earl of Danby the Commons in Parliament Vote the Bishops useless nay The Bishops Right of Sitting in capital Causes Disputed disown their Right of Sitting there upon Capital Causes c. They Dispute their Right of Sitting at that time and at all times of Session and divers Papers flew about concerning the Right of the Lords Spiritual to Sit in the Lords House or Vote in matters Judicial and others è contra were disperst abroad to the vilifying their Reverence and beating down their undoubted pretensions But the Wisdom and Prudence of Our Gracious Sovereign knowing well enough by sad Experience That they were Treading in the same Steps with their Old Fathers who began at the Church in order to the better subverting the State put an end to the Session After which we have but little News of them the Anti-Episcopates or Presbyters holding their Fingers in their Mouths and standing as mute as Metamorphosed Niobes SINCE the Mutterers against Episcopacy were thus silenced the Clergy have been pretty quiet tho sometimes we meet with a little Piece or two of Controversial Points thrown into their Closets or sent to them by the New found way of Dispatch and that 's the most they can do now They would have their Old Darling bear sway and would be dancing to Westminster to the Assembly of Grave Divines of which some Hugh Peters or Faringdon may be President I should say Moderator But here 's the Plague They have no long Triennial nor meet with such Concessions tho indeed they have had too many very gracious and great ones of late which have been too much abused as we shall take Notice of hereafter as their Fore-Fathes did nor have they a Durante Voluptate Parliament else you would find they would do glorious Things for the Good People of the Land and the Lord's Cause In Truth had these great Antagonists of the Bishops but what they Merit for either their scandalous stigmatizing them in private in their Conversations as well as in exposing them to the World with their spiteful Censures the Punishment which their Patrons Pryn and Burton and Bastwick Suffered in the late Times is too great a Favour and too mild a Resentment AND now I must hasten to Generals only I cannot choose but take Notice That these Times or the Men of them as if they were driven by the pure Dictates of a
Restriction so long as the Honour Dignity and Safety of the Crown was their first and immediate Regard and Care as I said before A Parliament is the Magnum Anglie Concilium The Great Council of the Land called together by the King as the proper and most genuine Means for the Consulting or advising of and providing against publick Evils wherein every private Man is concerned and in order to the Administring necessary Remedies And therefore to pretend that their Priviledges enable them to Act contrary to what their Head the King shall propose to them towards the Regulating Misunderstandings Composing Differences and the Securing Peace and Order is if it may be so said a Casting off that Supream Power which gave them those Priviledges and a Breach of the King's Prerogative And if once Regal Prerdgative is invaded the Regal Power will be in great Danger This we have lately had notorious Testimonies of and I hope and pray we may never see the like again THE last Dissolution of the Parliament met at Oxford perhaps doth and may Amuse the World exceedingly and drive them into a profound Admiration Unde hoc Whence proceeded His Majesties Displeasure But the Papers called Intelligences pretended to satisfy Us with a great deal and every Coffes-House Whisper'd out Reasons or at least Suspicions and Surmises upon it For my part I do and shall ever continue my Resolution in this particular which I mentioned but a little before That I think it mine and every Honest Man and Loyal Subject's Duty to Acquiesce in the Pleasure of my Prince and not to Censure the Authority or Reasonableness of His Proceedings in the least I mean so far as my Conscience shall give me leave I shall not therefore any further dilate on this point but Conclude with the saying of a Wife States-Man viz. Many things sayes He in the world resemble Smoak their Beginning is but small their End great And many things resemble the Wind whose Reginning is Boisterous and End Weak He saves himself from the former who suffers them not to Increase from the latter He who suffers them to Blow over Progress of Time may be expected in the One where the Other ought to be Smother'd in the Cradle HAVING thus far run thro Our proposed Parallel under those Three Heads of Religion Liberty and Priviledges of Parliament and therein shewn how dangerous they are to a Common-Wealth when mis-understood and mis-applyed As GOD knows they have been too much of late here in England the more is the pitty and Our shame I shall therefore in this place look back on the large Concessions and bountiful Condescentions of the late King which was so much abused and made as so many Helps towards the subsequent Evils and Ruine to this poor Kingdome of England and see how Our Times have met with the like and what unsutable Returns have been made to the Royal Grace and Favour THE pressing Necessities for Supplies of Money to the empty drain'd Coffers of the Royal Treasury thro a long War which I have spoken of before coming in a Time when the Subject's Purse was full and that now the Parliament City and the Disaffected Parties knew well enough was a fit time to perpetrate their Designs to bring the KING to their Beck to make Him condescend to what Terms they pleased Which to avoid Repetition of I desire the Impartial Reader to consider in the Beginning of this Discourse Where you see after that they had brought the KING to do what they demanded they at last to compleat all perswade the People that the KING meant to introduce Popery Arbitrary-Government destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subject The unwarrantable Practices of the Parliament 1640 41. c. This nettles the Giddy Crowd and induces them to believe that whatsoever the Parliament did was for their Good and according to Conscience and the like They forget their King 's Gracious Concessions and Graunts they stop their Ears to His crying Wants turn their Backs to His friendly and just Demands neglect His Authority despise His Dignity contemn His Administration of the Government thwart His just and lawful Proceedings and thus Topsy turvy per fas nefasque No King no Laws no Religion I mean of the Church of England In exitium rount NOW in brief His now Majesties Concessions Let Us examine Our own Times and here We shall find Mercy Bounty and Liberality still swaying the Scepter of these Kingdomes We see His Sacred Majesty was no sooner sat Him in His Throne and had graspt the Scepter in His Hand but He as soon begins to display the Influences of His Royal Bounty and Mercy by the Act of Oblivion The Act of Oblivion Granted whereby every Individual Person who had been Actors on that late Bloody Stage of Rebellion and Treason the Cruel and Blood-Thirsty Regicides or those who were the Unjust Judges and Murtherers of His Father of Blessed Memory only exempted from the Beginning of the Civil-War unto His Happy Restauration the New Epocha of our English Nation that Annus Restauratae Libertatis Nay to dispossess those who Held their Estates in Capite of the Fears of the just Demands and Pretentions so long a time 's Killing and Slaying had given Him upon their Tenures and Knight Service What vast Sums were coming to Him from the Court of Wards and Liveries c. which unless He remitted would render the Act of Oblivion in effect no Pardon since it gave not their Estates with their Lives His Majesty was Graciously pleased to prevent those Fears by Act of Parliament The Act of Parliament 12 Ch. 2. ca. 24. 12 Ch. 2. cap. 24. depriving Himself of the Richest Jewel of His Crown a Prerogative so truly Royal and so hugely advantagious That in the Judgement of the Learned in the Law The People of England were never truly Free till then WHEN thro repeated Affronts War with Holland Calumnies and Injuries He was forced to make War with the Hollanders for His own Honour We no sooner find Him informed That it was prejudicial to His People but He shuffles up a Peace upon very hard Terms for Himself when had He stood off but a little while the State of His Enemies being such He might have made what Conditions He would Peace made Nay further To shew His Love to His Good Subjects when He entred into a War for Injuries offered to them Vide The Articles of Peace in Aug. 1667. and those 1674. no Considerations neither Plague nor Fire which had then impoverisht the Land by the Loss of so much People and Money would induce Him to a Peace till ample Satisfaction made WHEN He had upon Advice Granted a Tolleration of Religion and was satisfied afterwards by the Parliament of the Dangerous Consequences of such a Liberty He immediately is induced to Recall it and did so The Act for Toleration of Religion made Did He not consent to
Loyalties Severe SUMMONS TO THE BAR of CONSCIENCE OR A Seasonable and Timely CALL TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Iuncture of Affairs BEING An EPITOME of the several Praeliminaries or Gradual Steps the Late Times took to Their never-to-be forgotten RUINE by Their Civil Dissentions through a needless Fear of the Subverting Losing and Destroying of Religion Liberty of the Subject and Priviledges of Parliament With a COLLATTERAL COMPENDIUM of Our Own Exactly and Impartially drawn Our Follies and Extravagances Disclosed and laid Open. Together With such Favourable Admonitions and Timely Remedies as will 't is hoped Administer towards the Uniting Our Divisions Composing Our Differences and Healing Our Breaches In Two Parts Discipulus prioris posterior Dies Hor. By Robert Hearne Gent. LONDON Printed by Thomas Milbourn And are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1681. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY MOST NOBLE LORD John Lord Frescheville Baron of Stayeley c. My Lord WHEN I consider upon what Treacherous Ground Our present State does stand through needless Fears unnecessary Jealousies and hot-brain'd Reflections I think it my Duty and every Good Christian's to call out vigorously for a helping Hand And To whom should we call but to those Men who have shewn Themselves serviceable on the like Occasion To those Men who have ventured their Lives and Fortunes to stem the Tide of Insulting Danger which Our Enemies drove forwards whereof Your Lordship is undeniably One of the most Eminent Upon this Score it is that I dare Affix so noble a Frontispiece to my VVeak Endeavours Upon this Score it is I challenge so Honourable a Patron as Your Lordship who is a Known Example and an Admired Encourager of Those who are truly Loyal to their King and Sincere Lovers of their Country Of which Number I profess my Self One and therefore am the Bolder to enter into Your Honor's Presence to implore Your Favourable Protection It was the Saying of a Learned Politician and a much Esteemed Author That to write of Modern Times or Men is a troublesome Business All Men sayes he commit Errors few having committed Them will hear of it Present Actions are not with Safety related nor are they listned unto without Danger Well may they be Reverenced never Censured VVho puts them in Print seeks after an uncertain Glory and exposes Himself to a certain Danger VVho leaves it to be done by Posterity reaps no other Fruit of his Present Labours than the mear Contemplation of a future imaginary fruitless Glory c. BUT with his Leave If every Private Man is a Member of the whole Body Politick and consequently must bear a Share in the Publick Good or Ill as every Part in the Indisposition of the Body Natural is sensibly touch't I say It is the Indispensible Duty of every Private Person to endeavour the Healing Publick Breaches the Composing Differences and Removing all Mis-understandings which might disturb the Peace of the Government and obstruct the Common Wellfare Though with this Restriction That he shall not pretend either to Instruct his Prince or by prying into His Councel betray the Failures or derogate from His Authority-Poyal My Lord I HAVE Compiled this Short Essay as a small Echantillon of my Love and Zeal for my Country's Good and Peace and have compared Times past with the Times present the several Revolutions of Our Present Affairs with the sad Catastrophe's Forty Years since and as near as may be taken an Impartial View of the various Methods which led us to our Then Ruine and Similibus juxta se positis Surveyed our Own And I think we may say with the Heathen-Poet Etas parenturn pejor Avis This little Piece I have thrown amongst many Others into the Publick Treasury under Your Noble Protection as a small Acknowledgment likewise of Your Lordship's former Favours which You were pleased to Confer upon me Begging Your Lordship's Pardon for This Presumption of Him who is ever obliged to Stile Himself My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Obedient and Devoted Servant ROBERT HEARNE Loyalties severe Summons TO THE Bar of Conscience OR A Seasonable Timely Call TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Juncture of Affairs The First Part. HAVING Acted a long and tedious Part in this World seen and been engaged in Various and Bloody Scenes and being even grown Gray upon the Stage I thought I might be Excuseable and that it would not be improper for me if I undertook to Acquaint the World with the several Transactions I have had Prospects of in my time a Map of which I suppose will not be altogether Unseasonable in this juncture seeing the same Methods and Measures are taken and followed that brought upon Us the late Troubles and in all Appearance the same or worse Tragedies are going to be Played over again Wherefore I think it is the Duty of every True and Loyal English-Man to warn and put his Fellow-Subjects in mind of the Desolations and Calamities the Nation Groaned under in the late Civil Wars that We may so Regulate all our Actions and Resolutions as that they may only tend to Union amongst Our selves and Obedience and Loyalty to Our PRINCE THE Devastations and Ruins the Effusion of Humane Blood and all the other sad Consequences of Domestick Broiles are alas so well and sensibly known by this Nation that it is altogether unnecessary to descant upon them and therefore I shall Content my self with Tracing along the Pretexts and Steps that engaged and led Us to Our Ruin and Desolation This perhaps is but too Seasonable at this time when all seems ready for a general Combustion and that the Storm is seen coming on with that Rage and Fury that whosoever shall be any wayes Instrumental towards his Countries avoiding â—â— will have highly Obliged the whole Kingdom And I am apt to believe the World will easily pardon a Relation of this Nature if it may in any wise Contribute towards the Preventing of Future Evils For if a Man who has been in the most terrible Tempest that even was known wherein the most part of his Dearest Friends and Nearest Relations have lost both their Estates and Lives and all have been in the extreamest Danger nay wherein the Captain himself Suffered the utmost Rigours of Fate was brought to an unparalelled Tragical End and the rest of the Ship only Saved as it were by a Miracle and by the greatest Providence of GOD I say if such a Man who shall have escaped all these extremities shall come and tell me That he sees the Storm gathering in the same Corner or Point Blown by the same Winds and Hurried on with the same Fury and that I shall be inevitably Lost if I continue to Steer on my Course I shall be so far from being displeased with him that on the contrary I shall Value at that Rate the Obligations I have to him as to think my self never capable of equalling them with Acknowledgements I must Confess it
Paces towards a Rebellion a Design of Petitioning their Soveraign But the King not able to bear His being Affronted at this Rate does likewise Arm to Defend His Crown The King Raises an Army to go against the Scots and the Lives and Estates of His Subjects here and Recover the Rights and Prerogatives they had Usurped in that Kingdom But notwithstanding the Justice of His Cause and the Gallantry and Vigour of His Army when He came in Sight of the Enemy He was moved out of a Compassion and a Desire to Save so many Lives both of His Loyal and Rebellious Subjects A Treaty is held a Second time to Condescend to a Treaty which He was likewise perswaded to by some of the English Nobility that were Secret Friends to the Scots DURING this Treaty the Factious Spirits of the Two Nations had by Feeling one anothers Pulses found their Tempers to be so alike and their Inclinations so sutable that they easily and quickly agreed of the Measures for a future Correspondence and of the means of putting in Execution their Designs Which however would have been impossible for them to have Effected had they had the least Sense of Religion Loyalty Honour and Honesty But the Scots had no sooner seen the English Army Disbanded and the People Dissatisfied with the Ill Success of that Expedition than that having Broken almost as soon as Signed The Pacification broken and the Scots Raise another Army every Article of that Pacification they Raised a New Army to Petition withal which they were Invited to by their Brethren or Presbyterian Party here who Encouraged them to this Invasion by assuring them That the King was not in a Capacity to make Head against them nor could be without Calling a Parliament wherein they would be sure to find so many Friends in Both Houses that nothing should be done there to their Disadvantage Which proved but too True for the King having Summoned a Parliament and proposed to them the Raising of Money for the suppressing the Insolence of the Scots some of the Members began to Question the Grounds and Justice of the War which they were Resolved to be Satisfied in before Moneys should be Raised In short the Scottish Party had that Influence in this Parliament as to put it to Question Whether the Grievances of the People or the King's Supply should first be Considered And tho the King told that Parliament That if they would Supply Him so as to Suppress the Insolence of the Scots He would Acquit His Claim to Ship-Money and give Satisfaction to their Just Demands They growing still more sensible by these Proposals of the Necessities the King was in instead of making such Returns as so Gracious an Offer merited Voted 1. The Clearing the property of the Subject 2. The Establishing the True Religion And 3. The Priviledges of Parliament and then fell into such Extravagances that the Privy-Council Advised their Dissolving The Parliament's Dissolved being assured the Heats of the House of Commons were so great that they intended that very Day to have Voted against the War with Scotland whereby the King would have been in a worse Condition than before their Sitting Yet though the City of London refused to lend Money to the King the Gentry contributed indifferently freely so that with their Assistance He raised a Second Army A Second Army raised by the King and having with much Difficulty and the great Murmuring of the Presbyterian Party drawn them together as far as York He designed to have Marched in person to the Borders of Scotland But the ill success My Lord Conoway had broke all His Measures for Lesley had no sooner forced His passage over the River Tine and faced New-Castle where the King had reposited His Magazine of Arms and Ammunition and His Stores of Provision for His Army but that the Gates were opened to them they having more Friends than Enemies in the Town The Scots Declaration Hereupon the Scots declare the Intention of the Army to be Not to lay down Armes till the Reformed Religion was setled in both Nations upon sure Grounds and the Causes and Abettors of their present Troubles that is Arch-Bishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford were brought to publick Justice in Parliament Whereupon Twelve English Peers Petitioned the King for the Sitting of the Parliament Some Lords and the City c. do Petition for the sitting of the Parliament and the City of London and several other parts of the Kingdom did the like all centring in this that Nothing else could relieve the pressures of the Nation And now the King condescends to their Desires and Summoned a Parliament A Parliament's called which instead of redressing Grievances defending Liberty Property and Laws Trampled all things both Civil and Sacred under their Feet and the People found at length that instead of the Arbitrary Government they had been so much afraid of they had brought upon themselves the Rankest Tyranny THIS Parliament was no sooner met than that they fell to Impeaching the Earl of Strafford Arch-Bishop Laud The Earl of Strafford and Arch-Bishop Laud impeach't with several others several of the Judges and other Ministers of State But tho the Earl had been forewarned of their Designs against Him yet relying upon His Great Innocence and His Courage rendring Him uncapable of Fear He could not be perswaded to with-draw till the Storm was over least His Flight might be interpreted as Guilt and should blast His Sovereign's as well as His own Reputation Upon this Impeachment He is Sequestred from the House of Lords and likewise His Friend Sir George Ratcliffe is sent for out of Ireland by a Serjeant at Arms In the mean time the Bishop of Lincolne who was Prisoner in the Tower is Released who had been Committed there for some dishonourable Speeches that He had spoken of the King and having endeavoured by some indirect means to Appear Innocent He had been therefore Sentenced Ten Thousand Pounds Fine to the King Imprisonment in the Tower during Pleasure to be suspended Ab Officiis Beneficiis from His Bishoprick and the Profits thereof and to be referred to the High Commission Court as to what concerned them And likewise Mr. Pryn Mr. Burton and Dr. Bastnick who had received a very just Censure for Writing against the Bishops and their Government they being all Three Sentenced to pay Five Thousand Pounds apiece Fine to the King to lose their Ears in the Pillory and to be Imprisoned which they accordingly Suffered were now brought in great Triumph to London and December the Third they presented their Petition against their Prosecutors THEN the Commons fell to Voting Ship-Money with the Opinion of the Judges thereupon to be Illegal who with Noy then esteemed the Oracle of the Law had assured the King of the Legality of it and a Charge of High-Treason was ordered to be drawn up against Eight of them and they resolved to
Justice by removing those Magistrates and Judges whom He thought Male-affected and fill'd up their Rooms with others Did He not charge them to Officiat Wisely and Discharge their Duties in their several Stations Honestly for the Good of their King and Country And hath not this His Princely Care had this Effect That the Prisons were filled with Popish Recusants Priests and Jesuits and many of them brought to Condigne Punishment Nay Hath He not shewn how far He desires the Plotters in the Tower might be brought to their Tryals and the Law takes its force upon them The Lord Stafford Executed by the Execution of the Lord Stafford And lastly is it not His daily Protestation That upon His Kingly Word the Maintaining the Protestant Religion as it is Establish't by Law the Rights and Liberties of the Subject of England c. is and shall ever be His Study Desire and Care What would Subjects wish for or What can Prince promise or do more WHY All this is Nihil ad rem a Man cannot be in Three several Companies but we shall hear some one more censorious than the rest which pretend to avouch it as the much received Opinion That notwithstanding all This Latet Anguis sub Herba The King inclines to that Religion He so much Persecutes or pretends to do When on the contrary We shall see how Causeless our Fears are in this matter if we will but look back on that memorable Act of 25. Ch. cap. 2d For preventing of Dangers which may happen from Popish Recusants Whereby a Papist was disenabled holding any Office or Employment tho but of so small an advantage or interest as a Noble a Year And it likewise ran in such general Terms that it Reserved no one person but reach't even to some about Him of whose fidelity and sincere Love to His Person and Government He had undeniable proofs and unquestionable Demonstrations Which methinks should be sufficient to be-lye those Rascals who are so bold as to say That He leaned in the least that Way since if it be examined by any Man of Sence and Reason it cannot but be concluded that a Prince in whose Power the refusing a Law is would ever pass one to the utter subverting the Intendments and Designs of a Party whose Practises He favoured and meant to forward their Interests Nay it ran not only to Offices and Imployments but to the Disinheriting those Peers who professed the Romish Religion from taking their Seats in Parliament AND further to satisfy Us let Us but look back on His Gracious Speech to the Parliament 1679. March 6. I HAVE done sayes He many Great Things already Vide The late Journals of the House of Commons as the Exclusion of the Popish Lords from their Seats in Parliament the Execution of several Men both upon the Score of the Plot and the Murder of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey and it is apparent that I have not been Idle in Prosecuting the Discovery of Both as much further as hath been possible for me in so short a time And above all I have commanded My Brother to absent himself from Me because I would not leave the most Malicious Men room to say I had not removed all Causes which could be pretended to influence me towards Popish Councils Why All This doth not satisfie as long as Mordecai sits in the King's Gate The Fear of a Popish Successor possesses our Minds and we shall still be restless Vide That Vnknown-Peer's Speech Printed January last till the Duke is Excluded Let the King's Treasury fill it self and let Tangier take ca5re for it self We must be assured the King is our own and that the Duke shall not succeed Him and then we shall see Golden Dayes and every ones Purse shall be open Pamphlet upon Pamphlet Libel upon Libel are disperst on that Subject and the Streets are filled with the Horrid Noise of the Bawling Vender who makes the Streets Ring with his Foul-Mouth belching out Great News of His Royal-Highness the Duke of York whose Name 's Too Sacred and of a Higher Veneration than to be mentioned by every Scoundrel Dunghill fellow AND to make their Malice appear the more Laudable a Pamphlet must be Published The Character of a Popish Successor is Published Intituled The Character of a Popish Successor and what England may expect from such a One stufft up with all the Arguments and Reasons Malice could invent or suggest to Asperse His Person to Thwart His Pretentions or render his Ligitimate Succeeding in the Throne of these Three Kingdoms to be the only Thing inconsistent with the Safety and Liberty of the Subject the Continuance of the Protestant Religion and the Priviledges of Parliament And therefore in all hast to avoid all these Evils which our Fears and Jealousies of a Popish Successor do at present affright Us with The Duke must be Excluded and then all will be well THIS Pamphlet has been the Work of Two Pens to Answer which has made our ingenious Author to annex his Answers to them both and stile it now Compleat 'T is pitty his to be admired Wit should be employed to such despicable Ends. Every Sentence of it being the very Quintessence of Malice and the Superlative Degree of Boldness and Impudence I shall only add these few words which I leave to your Consideration THAT tho 't is true the Soul of every Man as well Prince as Subject is in the Hand or at the Dispose of the Supream Power God and both Lyable to a Minutes Summons yet let me tell you according to the Natural Conclusions of Humane Understandings if we examine how little the Disproportion of Age is betwixt the King and the Duke His Brother and what Hopeful Appearances there are in the Air Health and Briskness of the King above that Proclivity to Indispositions which alwayes attend His Royal-Highness we must needs conclude That our Fears are but Chymaeraes meer Phantasmes or at least that we would shelter our Sinister Intentions under such a Specious pretence as the Possibility of being Subjugated to the proposed imminent Servitude a Popish Successor would inevitably bring along with Him BUT what should I further dispute or endeavour to heap up Arguments to deter Men from such hot brain'd and Unwarrantable Designs it is done already but Yesterday to my Hand and that too by the Best of Men The King who has endeavoured to allay the Heat the Fear of a Popish Successor puts Us in by telling Us in His Well weighed Gracious Speech to Our last Parliament That to remove all reasonable Fears that may anise from the possibility of a Popish Successor's coming to the Crown if means could be found that in such a Case the Administration of the Government might remain in Protestant Hands He should be ready to hearken to any such Expedient by which the Religion might be preserved and the Monarchy not destroyed Surely this is a Thrice welcome News and what will quell
would be a Vanity in me to Imagine that this Essay or Compendium can have so great and good an Effect yet I promise my self it may be of some use and perhaps a Means towards the Reconciling Our Differences and the making up Our Breaches which who ever brings to pass raises to himself immortal Monuments of Honour and renders Us as Necessary and Helpful to Our Friends and as Dreadful and Formidable to Our Enemies as We have been of late Neglected and Despised by both the One and the Other I SHALL begin first with the Introduction to the late King's Miseries and Necessities which was the War the Parliament had engaged His Father in with the House of Austria for the Râ—…ry of the Palatinate and which was left Him as a Heavy Incumbrance and Mortgage upon an Estate and finding His Exthequer Empty and His Revenues spent and drained He was forced to take such Courses and Stoop to such Things as He would not have done in another Occasion His Necessities were still increased by the War He was not long after Engaged in for the Defence and in the Behalf of the Huguenots of France wherein having failed of those timely and seasonable Succours from His Parliament as He might Reasonably have promised Himself in a juncture when so great a Part and Branch of the Protestant Communion as was that of France lay at Stake He failed of that good Success that a more ready and willing Relief might perhaps have procured The Factions now begin and the publick Ministers Censur'd This Furnished the Male-contents and the Promoters of Sedition with Pretexts of Censoring and Blaming the Conduct of those at the Helm of Demanding the Heads of some of the Ministers in Favour and the Removeal of Others from all Charges and Places of Trust THIS Bustle was Attended with loud Cryes The Bishops for introducing Popery and Detestations of Popery and several were Accused of being Promoters and Abettors of it The Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Church of England were not free from this Aspersion but were said to be of the Party and joyned their Endeavours with those who had a mind and designed to set up the Roman Catholick Religion in this Kingdom This helped to nourish and spread abroad Jealousies and Distrusts occasioned Distractions and Consternations and gave deep Root to Dissention and Rebellion But these Promoters of Mischief did not content themselves with Stigmatizing the Clergy and the Chief Ministers of State for they endeavoured to insinuate into the People underhand that the Crown it self was Popishly Affected The Crown it self Popishly Affected and that it did favour and encourage the Growth of that Religion That it Aimed at Arbitrary Government Arbitrary Government c. and that the Subjects were to be Deprived of their Priviledges The House of Commons Daily found out New Grievances drew up Remonstrances Priviledges of Parliament Cryed out for and Cryed out against most of the Actions of the King and his Ministers as contrary to the priviledges of Parliament But notwithstanding all these Artifices and Contrivances to set the Nation on a Pare they would never have Gained their point had they not found the Scots Aiming the same way being willing to be Instruments for the putting in Execution their Execrable Designs Whereupon they Invited them underhand into England The Scots Rebel The Scots a Hungry and Poor Nation ever ready to be upon the Wing on such Occasions Accepted the Offer came in Swarmes full of Hopes and with fair prospects of Riches and Booty The King Raises an Army to Oppose them They Seized upon the best Towns of the more Northern Parts of England But the King having drawn a Considerable Army together Marched to York to Oppose them and his Forces being much more Considerable than the Scots would certainly have Routed them had they not Tampered and Insinuated into the English that their Ruine would be certainly attended or followed by the Oppression of them themselves and they once Subdued the King would be enabled to use His English Subjects as he thought fit by which Intelligence and Correspondence it was Evident that the English had no mind to Fight though their Army was much Stronger than the Scots A Treaty held whereupon by the Mediation of some Persons a Treaty of Peace was begun and soon Finished Wherein it was agreed that His Majesty should Publish a Declaration whereby all should be confirmed that His Commissioners had promised in His Name that a General Assembly and Parliament be Held at Edenburgh in a short time And Lastly that upon Disbanding their Forces Dissolving their Counsels and Restoring the King to His Forts and Castles c. The King was to Recal His Fleet and Forces and make Restitution of their Goods since the Breach NOW that which made the Scots so ready to undertake this Expedition was not only a prospect of Gain and Plunder but the Fears they were in of losing their Darling Presbitery made them take Arms and Spirited them into this Rebellion The King endeavours to introduce the Liturgy into the Kirk of Scotland For the King in Pursuance of His Father's Design of Establishing the Common-Prayer in Scotland as it was in England did Endeavour to introduce the Liturgy into practice in that Kingdom But the Nobility and Gentry having since the first Reformation of Scotland from Popery thrown out the Bishops and shared their Estates among them by the Instigation of John Knox the great Presbyterian John Knox a great Presbyterian were afraid that if they were again Re-established and Recovered their former Power and Reverence they would likewise quickly find the means of procuring again their Antient Estates and Revenues For the preventing of which they thereupon spread abroad Discontents and Fears foment Jealousies and Distractions and Engage the Clergy on their side who were generally inclined to Knox's Discipline and the Soveraignty which they had for some time enjoyed under the Government of Presbitery The Lyturgy and Episcopal Government Termed Popery the Clergy Influence the People and Terrify them with the Danger of Popery for so they Termed the Liturgy and the Government by Bishops By these means and pretexts they allured the People into a Rebellion notwithstanding all the Care that was taken by those at the Helm to prevent it and the Confederates entred into a Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant and oblig'd themselves to a Mutual Defence against all persons whatsoever not excepting the King himself and then they begun an Actual War An Actual War follows Raised Men and Money Seized His Majesties Armes Magazines Castles Forts and Walled Towns and all this was done for Conscience Sake But to avoid becoming Horrible and Abominable in the Eyes of all the World by being called Traitors and Rebels Tho Varnished with a pretended Design for Petitioning c they Varnished and Termed all these Preparations and
all such Laws as were offered Him by His Parliament for the Securing Us against Popery Recolled and particularly for the Qualifying and Distingutshing all Persons in Office or Place of Trust An Act against Popery or Popish Recusants 25 Ch. 2. cap. 2. Which was that Great and memorable Act of which I have spoken of before in another place WHEN that Hellish Design of the Papish Party was happily Discovered How Wisely and Prudently did His Majesty be-have Himself in a Matter of so great an Importance and Surprize A Parliament called upon the Discovery of the Plot. He presently Summons a Parliament and till they could come together He uses all the Means possible for the Searching into and Discovering further the Plot and the Hell-bred Instruments of it to Seize their Persons and Papers and then layes the Whole before them giving them this Assurance His Majestes Speech That He would be alwayes ready to Assist them in the Inquiry into the Plot in any thing where His Concurrence was necessary and accordingly as they desired by several Proclamations Assisting them by some Commanding the Absence of Papists by others Inquiring after Blood with most bountiful Promises of Pardon and Recompence Searching all Counties Securing all Ports to prevent any Flight from and looking into the very Prisons to bring all Malefactors to Justice His Bounty to the Discoverers of the Plot. For the Encouragement of those who came in upon His Proclamation He gave them large Allowances Guards to there Persons c. And this was duly paid at a time when He might have been well excused when His Coffers were empty and His own Faithful mâ—nial Servants went un-paid which was somewhat hard especially when there are some whose whole Subsistence for themselves and Families depends on their In-come from His Majesties Service Those who were Imprisoned and after a long time expect their Trial and therefore Addressed themselves unto Him by their humble Petitions He returned them no other Answer Than that They should receive Iustice in parliament Of this I have spoken of already in another place WHEN the parliament had judged it necessary to have a War with the French All Trade is forbidden for Three Years by which War with the French He deprived Himself of a great part nay a very considerable part of His Revenue and which proved a very Disadvantageous Act to Himself tho by the Intent of the Act it was designed for the French THE French having been so Victorious in the Low-Countries That it was much feared the Spanish Netherlands would have been quite lost and that now the parliament judged it necessary to Raise an Army to go against them The KING is ready to Grant it and a most Incomparable Body of Men are Raised and Mustered in the Spring An Army raised for Flanders and e're they could be Ship't for Flanders they must be Disbanded in July following and in this likewise He complied Disbanded and as far as the Money allowed for that purpose they were Disbanded Thus will we have an Army we have one Will we have none He Disbands it to gratify Us. But one Thing I shall here take Notice of which is the Great Gare His Majesty took The King's Care of the Army That not one Person from the Officer Chief to the very meanest Souldier throughout the whole Army should be a Roman Catholick and therefore every Individual Person must take the Blessed Sacrament and Test the Daths of Megrance and Supremacy e're they were Listed into His Militia to Fight under His Banner by which Method many Relinquish't and left the Field when every particular Name was to be Book't and would not take it as is well known Nay when the time of their Disbanding came every Man whose Name was found in the Books Inter Protestantes his Pay was Deposited to a Farthing and he Discharged none else AND because the best Security of a Nation are good and wholesome Lawes Never resused an Vseful Bill at any time There hath not One Useful Bill been offered to Him but what He hath readily accepted and past AND yet what unsuitable Returns has He had for all these and many more which I could not com-premise within this narrow Compass His Princely Gracious Concessions Vide The Journals of the House of Commons and most Affectionate Condescentions His Gracious Speeches at the Openings of Our late Short-Liv'd-Parliaments shew His Resentments of their Proceedings and how just He is in them therefore I omit particulars His last Speech to the Parliament at Oxford sufficiently Evidences how great Reason He had to Act as He did in their so frequent Dissolutions Nay since that likewise as another great Instance of His Love to His Loyal and Good Subjects He has publish't His Reasons that led Him to it The King publish't a Declaration which hath infinitely satisfied the Subject the several Addresses from every of the respective Counties Shires Burroughs c. giving some ground to believe Which I hope are as real in Fact as they are in Words and if so England will still be happy notwithstanding all the Machinations and Plots of Pope or Jesuit Phanatick or French being United within our selves with the Bonds of Peace with a Fear of God Honour of His Vice-gerent Our Soveraign Charles Out King a Reverence for His Councels especially His Great Council the Parliament and an Awe and Obedience to His Ministers and a Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Praying That God would bless His Majesty with Peace and Length of Dayes and the Royal-Family and That God would ever so Direct all the Consultations of His Great Councils the future Parliaments that they may tend to the Glory of His Name the Good of His Church and the Safety Honour and Wellfare of their King and Country To which Let every true Son of the Church of England say alwayes Amen THE CONCLUSION THUS Dear Countrymen I have endeavoured to lay before you a plain and impartial Relation of the present Condition and State of Affairs as they now stand in this Juncture of Time and what Measures and Steps we take to hasten that Ruine which hangs over Our Heads and which will inevitably fall upon Us if we do not endeavour with the utmost Diligence and Industry Christian Prudence and our Happiness and Peace oblige Us to I have shewed you in the Opening of this Discourse what Measures our Fathers took in the late Rebellion towards that Ruine and Destruction which they brought upon themselves and their Posterity How furiously Blind Zeal hurried them upon and and Mistaken Liberty plunged them in Blood and Misery How great a sway Parliaments bore under the Notion of Priviledge amongst the unruly Multitude even to the disowning the Regal Power nay Deposing Our Prince and at last to bring Him to the Block I have also shewed you how little the Dissimilitude is betwixt our and their Proceedings and how near