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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88254	Strength out of vveaknesse. Or, The finall and absolute plea of Lieutenant-Col. John Lilburn, prisoner in the Tower of London, against the present ruling power siting at Westminster. Being an epistle writ by him, Sep. 30. 1649. to his much honored and highly esteemed friend, Master John Wood, Mr. Robert Everard, ... whose names are subscribed Aug. 20. 1649. to that excellent peece, entituled The Levellers (falsly so called) vindicated; being the stated case of the late defeated Burford troops. And to Charles Collins, Anthony Bristlebolt, ... whose names are subscribed, August 29. 1649. to that choicest of peeces, entituled An out-cry of the young-men and apprentices of London, after the lost fundamentall-lawes and liberties of England. Which said plea or epistle, doth principally contein the substance of a conference, betwixt Master Edmond Prideaux, the (falsly so called) attorney-generall, and Lievetenant-Colonell John Lilburne, upon Friday the 14 of September 1649. at the chamber of the said Mr. Prideaux, in the Inner-Temple.	Lilburne, John, 1614?-1657.; Prideaux, Edmond, Sir, d. 1659.	1649 (1649)	Wing L2182; Thomason E575_18; ESTC R204577	34,784	27

any thing and every thing to any man and crush him to peices and destroy him but he can have no Right or Iustice against you Why will you say so M. Lilburn said he I am sure the Parliament hath given up their Priviledges in answering mens actions more then ever Parliament did Sir said I I say that which is truth It s true of ancient time when Parliaments were often and short Priviledging of the Persons of Parli●men from arrests might have some pretence of Justice and Equity in it BUT IN AN ETERNAL OR A NINE YEERS PARLIAMENT IT CAN HAVE NONE and I tell you Sir I know it is enough to destroy a man though a Member of your House do him never so much wrong if he do but so much as open his lips against him and how many men have bin undone for complaining of the villanous and visible baseness of your Members It is as the sin against the holy Ghost mong you And as for a pet●y inconsiderable Member of your House now and then OF BOON AND CURTESIE to be ordered in point of debt or the like to answer the Law Alas what is it It is no more then a cheat for it is nor only before a Iudge of his own making who with his Under Officers will find tricks enough to ple●se their Lord and Master And besides Sir The thing that I drive is to shew That it is an inherent Principle in you that this is not done out of Right but permited out of Grace and Favor this remaining still at the bottome That there is an inherent Principle of Arbytrariness Vnboundedness and Absoluteness inherent in you at your pleasure to make absolute slaves of the People if you will and to make your selves absolutely nuaccomptable if you please Why M Lilburn would you have no Government Yes M. Prideaux that I would But yet such a Government as hath not at the root and bottom of it all the Principles of Tyranie in the World to make the People absolute slaves at the Will and Pleasure of their Governors But I would have such a Government that is founded upon the Basis of Freedom Reason Iustice and Common Equity and shall so ty the hand of the Governor that he shall not be able at his Will and Pleasure to destroy the Governed without runing an apparent and visible hazard of destruction to Himself Estate and Family I but M. Lilburn who shall be Iudge said he Sir said I Reason is demonstrable of it self and every man less or more is endued with it and it hath but one ballance to weigh it in or one touch-stone to try it by viz. To teach a man to do as he would be done to The Sun is demonstrable of it self by its heat and light and stands in need of no mans Iudgement when it shines to judge whether it doth so or no or of reasons to prove it the Sun Even so Reason is demonstrable by its innate glory life and efficacy and man being a reasonable creature is Judge for himself But by reason of his present corrupted estate and want of perfection he is somthing partial in his own case and therefore wherein many are concerned Reason tels him Commissioners chosen out and tyed to such rational Instructions as the Chusers give them are the most proper and equallest Judges But yet Sir let me tell you That a Commission given unto them against the Rules of common Reason IS VOYD IN IT SELF and a power exercised by the Commissioners beyond the Rule of Common Reason Is not OBLIGATORY or BINDING in the least Well then Sir said M. Prideaux the Parliament now siting are the Commissioners of the People and they have authorised me to ask you whether this be your Book or no By your favor M. Prideaux you are to quick for you take that for granted which I absolutely again deny and which your self is never able to prove while you live and I tell you again They are no more a Parliament then I am But admit they were a Parliament They cannot authorise you to examine me against my self and therefore Sir I detest the returning you any answer to your question Without doubt said he M. Lilburn you are mistaken for I never yet knew it an evil or illegal to ask a question But by your favor M Prideaux I say it is against the Law of England to compel a man to answer to a question against himself and your House did so adjudge it in the daies of their Primitive purity in mine own Case in reference to the Star-chamber proceedings against me But said he They never adjudged the Kings Atrurnies General asking you questions to be illegal Yes Sir said I but they did for though in the Star-Chamber I was principally sentenced for refusing in open Court to take an Oath to answer to all the questions that should b● demanded of me the latitude of which oath did not barely extend if I had take it to such questions as the Court siting should demand of me but also to all such questions as the Atturney General by Order from the Court should have demanded of me to whose interrogatories I refused to answer a though he examined me by the Orders of that Court Of which he bitterly complained and I am sure of it The House of Commons and the House of Lords both did not onely judge the Sentence it self but the whole proceeding upon it anteceding as well as following to be illegal most unjust barbarous c. But Sir said he You sent one of these Books meaning the impeachment of Cromwel down to Colonel Ayres at Warwick Castle and ordered the bearer to deliver it to him a● a token from you did you not Sir I scorn to tell you whether I did or I did not it may be I did it may be I did not I will not tell you but if I did this I aver to you I know no evil in so doing So he shewed me the Apprentises Out-cry Sir said he you had a finger too in the making this book had you not Said I it may be I had not onely a finger in it but also a thumb too and what then but it may be I had nor and what then But whether I had or had not I will not tell you But this Sir of mine own voluntary accord I will tell you I have mettle enough in me to set my Name to all Books I write without fear or dread I pray see if you find my name there No Sir saith he it is not but it seems then that all books that hath your name to them are yours Will you own this impeachment for here 's your name to it No Sir with your favor it doth not therefore follow that all books that have my name to them are mine for it is as easie to counterfet my name as to counterfet another mans and it may be it is so now it may be it is not so I will not tell you but this I

will tell you of mine own accord That I have read the Book and there I find the substance of an Impeachment of high Treason against Cromwel that I delivered at your open Bar the 19 of January 1647. for which you committed me to the Tower as a Traytor in general And M. Prideaux I know that you know at your Bar I offered the House upon my life to prove and make good what I said and therefore why did not you or Cromwel then put me to it But it seems he was conscious of his own guilt and durst not do it But M. Lilburn will you own this Book and make it good now for it is yours Sir I scorn to deny any Book that ever I made in my life for I never made a book but upon mature sollid and substantial d●liberation considering well before hand what it would cost me and all the fear in such cases that I am in is onely till I have got it printed that I may keep it close and private from the fingers of your Catch-poles and when it is abroad I have part of mine end and use to tell no body but as many as I can of it and the desperatest book I ever made in my life I was never so unworthy to renounce or deny and I will not say that is not my book neither will I grant it to be mine But me-thinks M Prideaux you are uncivil that you will not receive an answer when again and again it is given you and alas Sir admit it was mine what fair or just play could I expect to fi●d now to make good the things contained in it Seing Cromwel by his sword hath dissolved the Parliament and set up a sew of his slaves among you for a mock-Parliament that dare not do but what he will have you Sir saith he Cromwel is absent and you lay mighty things to his charge methinks you should not be backward to make them good Sir ●aid I if Cromwel were in this room I would tell him to his teeth he is a base unworthy fellow and hath under-hand by base and indirect means for these 2 yeers together sought to take awa● my life and bloud for nothing but my honesty and in his dealing with me hath not so much as manifested one bit of a gallant man or that he hath an ounce of Personal Valour in him for a man of mettle and pure Valour would have scorn●d to have dealt so basely with me as he hath done Well then Sir it seems there is a Personal quarrel betwixt you and General Cromwel Yes Sir said I He hath made it partly so but I am onely Defendant and were he here I would let him know I scorn to give him an inch of ground but would answer him upon equal terms in any way he himself would chuse and Sir I tell you he is the man yea the principal instrument that hath destroyed the Peace and Liberties of this Nation yea and by force of Arms hath null'd and destroyed the Parliament and hath left no Majestracy at all in the Nation for which he is upon both the Principles of I aw and reason a Traitor and ought to dy therefore Sir said he I tell you the Parliament by force cannot be destroyed for it s continued by an Act till themselves please to dissolve themselves I tell you Mr Prideauz I have answered that already and shewed the fallacy and weaknesse of it but seeing you will not be answered I will upon your and their own decla●ed principals give it you a little more fully I find in the Armies Book of Dealarations that upon the 26. of July 1647. the Apprentises of London and some other of the rude Rabble but for a few hour forc'd the House with a few threats without Arms and yet they never came down but one part of a day and when they did come they did not pick and cull and keep out five parts of six as the Army hath done and yet the PRINCES of the Army themselves hath declared that Act Treason and the Actors in it Traitors yea and have declared that that force upon the Parliament tends to the dissolution of all Government and though there was but about forty or fifty of both Houses LIKE VALIANT MEN that ran away from the avowed discharge of their Trust to the Army and left abundantly the major part behind them who the next day of their sitting and the other day after-sat quietly without the Apprentices force yet the Army would not own them BVT CALD THEM A PRETENDED PARLIAMENT A FEW LORDS AND GENTS●MEN SITTING AT WESTMINSTER THAT TREACHEROVSLY ACTED AGAINST THE PEACE AND SAFETY OF THE KINGDOM ASSVMING TO THEMSELVES THE NAME OF PARLIAMENT all whose Acts ORDERS AND ORDINANCES they declared to be null and void and not PARLIAMENTARY NOR BINDING See the Armies Book of Declarations most full in all these particulars page 49. 53 54. 67. 82. 100 101. 106 107. 111. 123. 125 126 127. 134 135 136. 138 139 140 141. 143 144. for being Abbettors to that force See Article 4. yea and impeached some of the eleven Members as Traitors nay and the Speaker himself in his Declaration calls their forced Votes NOT THE VOTES OF THE REPRESENTATIVE BODY OF THE KINGDOM BVT THE VOTES OF A TVMVLTVOVS MVLTITVDE Now Sir if a little force of the Apprentises for a few hours-nutrifie the Votes and Orders of Parliament and make them no Parliament that sit under that force being far more the major part in the place where they ought to sit yea and is so infectious as that it tends to the dissolution of all Government abundantly much more upon their and your own grounds must a far greater force of the Souldiers dissolve the Parliament and nullifie all their Votes and Orders and absolutely tend to the dissolution of all Government Sir saith hee it's very true there were such Declarations that did declare the howse that sate in the absence of us that were forc'd to fly to Hounsloe Heath to bee no Parliament and all their Votes and Orders they made in our absence to bee null and void but yet the Parliament was kept on soote by our comming back and sitting and so was not dissolved Why Mr. Prideaux doe you think I have lost all my braines and reason for the forced Parliament as you call it was either a house of Parliament or no hou●e of Parliament but if a house of Parliament you that adhered to the Army were sa pack of Traytors so voted and declared by them and by consequence all the rest of their votes and Orders were Legall and Binding But if it were no house of Parliament then there was none in England for your house as a house never adjourned to Hounsloe Heath but to the usuall place in Westminster and if those that met and sate there were no house of Parliament then your house was sine die and so dissolved and your coming back from Housloe Heath to sit againe could

any pretence of Crime to my Charge but alwaies released mee as an Innocent and honest man I but Sir said hee that was their lenity mercy and compassion towards you No Mr Prideaux by your favour you are very much mistaken for I never craved any from them but alwaies scorned it continually standing upon my Justification and biding defiance to them as in my present imprisonment I am resolved to the death to doe But Mr. Lilburne why may not you as well owne our Authoritie I meane the Parliament as owne Barron Rigby that is made by us for you have call'd him Barr●n Rigby once or twice and I am sure hee was noe Barron till the present Parliament made him one Truly Mr. Prideaux I heartily cry you mercy forgive mee this crime or errour and I doe assure you you shall never catch mee in the like fault but truly Sir to excuse it I must tell you I have many materiall things in my discourse to think upon and I conceive this but a circumstantiall or accidentall one occasioned by meere forgetfullnesse having many things at present in my head but truly Sir having the other day occasion to write him a Letter at a time when my braine was troubled with nothing else I stiled him only Collonel Alexander Rigby and if you will not beleeve mee I have the copie of it about mee which I will reade to you if you please which though I did not then yet because I was unawares catch's upon the hip take heere the copie of it For my honoured Friend Col. Alexander Rigby at his lodging in Sarjeants Inne either in Fleete-street or Chancery lainc Honoured Sir MY Particular obligations to your selfe in times by past I cannot but in Ingenuitie acknowledge have beene very many and I could wish it had beene in my power really to expresse them in any other manner then words Sir the Reason of my troubling you with these lines is because I understand your man was at my house a few houres agoe as from your selfe as my wife tells mee therefore although I had rather bee silent then my scribling give distast to a man I have found so much reality in as I have done in your selfe yet out of the lowest degree of Civiltie and ingenuitie I cannot doe lesse though I must freely let you know I looke upon you and my selfe as now positively ingaged in two contrary Interests that can never subsist one by th'othe without continuall Warres each with other then tender my hearty respects personally to you and further let you know that I should bee very desirous if you conceive it might not bee prejudiciall to your selfe to waite upon you at the time and place you please to appoint to exchange a few words with you and so I commit you to God and rest Yours particularly very much Oblieged John Lilburne Winchester house this 24. of August 1649. But Sir I must confesse unto you Col. Righy is a man setting his present place aside I have a great deale of cause to love and honour hee hath beene my faithfull and true friend and I have alwaies to mee in particular found him a very just righteous and obliging man and in that regard being my selfe but a fraile man may bee like the rest of the men of the world and out of partiallity give him on a suddaine a stile more then is his due but as I said before Sir so I continue still beging your pardon for this one fault and I doe assure you you shall not catch mee commiting the like So Mr. Prideaux it seemes being almost wearied with discourse takes up my booke against Sir Arthur Haslerig and reads a preparrative to an Hue and Cry after Sir Arthur Haslerig a late Member of the forceable dissolved house of Commons and now the present wicked bloody tyrannicall governour of New Castle upon Tyne Saith hee in Lataine to this purpose good words would have done well and have beene better Mr. Lilburne Beleeve mee Mr. Prideaux for any thing I know those very words are too good for his base actions towards me as I beleeve you will cleerely find it so when you read the booke seriously through which I earnestly intreat you to doe and then it may bee it will take off the heare of your prosecuting me for can any words hee too bad for a man that by his will without legall cause casts another man in prison and when hee hath him there indeavours to hire false witnesses to take away his life yea and robs him of his Estate by will and power that should buy him and his bread to keepe them alive So hee spake another sentence in latine which I being not able to understand intreated him to speake in English for I was but a ba●e English man understanding no Latine but a company of common words and therefore intreated him to speake only English if hee would talke any more but if hee was weary hee might give over when hee pleased but for my part I was not weary nor would not give over the discourse so long as hee pleased to hould it Truly Mr. Lilburne saith hee for my surious prosecuting of you the duty of my place requires mee to doe what I doe and I doe assure you I doe not know that ever personally I did you any wrong did I. Truly Mr. Prideaux at present I doe not remember but if ever you did I doe not call to mind at present that ever personally I gave you a provocation or did you personally any wrong but it is likely Mr. Prideaux when you doe mee wrong either personally or officially that you shall heare sufficiently of it Whereupon he took up my book and looking upon it said to this effect Mr. Lilburn without doubt you scarce sleep for studying and writing of books doe you Yes Mr. Prideaux that I doe as well and as heartily as you or any man in England and as or such a book as that is if I be well in my health and my eyes and be in the vein of studying I can mak such a book upon any subject in 3 or 4 daies space I but sa●h he preces lacremae in your suffernigs were better I confesse Sir to you it were so for then you might commit all manner of oppression and Tyranny towards mee without seare or dread of ever-beeing told of it againe but Sir I know no man hath so much cause to use Prayers and teares as oppressors and Tyrants for the wrong and injury they doe to other men but Sir this Argument was the Bishops old weapon which they used to keepe the People in peace with but sure I am Paul made use of his Reason to defend himselfe against his adversaries as well as Prayers and Teares yea and with it to save himselfe with it set them together by the eares Act 23.6 7 8 9. But I pray Sir why did not you your selve I mean the house of Commons make use of these weapons and none

Recorded in the 9 10 12 13 pages of my booke of the 31 of May 1647. called Rash Oathes unwarrantable in the 2. edition of my Book of the 9 of June 1649. Intituled The Legall Fundamentall Liberties of the People of England Revived pa. 16 17 and in that most remarkable Epistle of Mr. James Freize Merchant Prisoner in the Fleete to the Generall dated 25 Aug. 1649. and Intituled the Levellers Vindication page 6 7 8. and Promises but seeing you have not nor it seemes never intended really to performe what you engaged but doe intend to cheat both God and Man and then make it good with your Swords for all your Force and Arme of Flesh Mr. Holland I tell you to your face wee will force you in spight of your teeth to the one of these two things first either to doe honest Actions though your hearts are never so base or else secondly wee will by our constant and vigorous endeavors for our freedoms and Liberties put you so to it that you shall judge your selves necessitated for your own base preservation to run such violent and barbarous waies as either in a short time shall breake your neeks or else make you as abhominable to the People of this Nation of all sorts and kinds as ever men on earth were and in the doing of this Sir I tell you plainly make the best or worst use of it you can I will be one of those herein shall leade the Van as long as I have breath And Mr. Prideaux though at that time I knew in a manner as much of your pretended Parliaments nothingnesse as I doe at this day yet being an Englishman that indeeredly loved my native Countrey yea the Peace and Welfare of which I then did and still do value above my own Life or the lives of my Wife and Posterity knowing the danger and mischiefe that in the eye of Reason might probably ensue by Declaring openly and nakedly unto the People That all the Magistracy of England was broke by the Army who had by their Swords reduced us into the Originall state or Chaos of Confusion wherein every mans lusts becomes his Law and his depraved will and forcible Power his Judge and Controller I say I did not then what since I have inavoidibly been forced to doe for it 's true I did the 26 of Feb 1648 at the Bar of the present pretended House of Commons present a Petition or Addresse fronted with a title as if it were as unquestionable a Representative of the People as could be chosen but that was out of the considerations before premised and because without such a stile we could not have had any accesse unto them although our danger was then very great the Petition is since printed and Intituled Englands n●w Chaines Discovered which if you please seriously to cast your eyes upon you will cleerly see that we that made it and presented it understood the condition of that House and that we gave them sufficient hints to understand us that so ours and the Kingdoms safety might speedily by them be provided for without any more strugling or running any more desperate hazards therfore But when we could get no answere unto that I helpt to draw up a second Adresse now in print Intituled The second part of Englands new Chains discover'd wherein we spoke more plain in the last page of which we appealed to the next speedy Parliament Declaring this in effect to be what in truth it is over awed by the Sword and now Mr. Prideaux to speake in plain English whose ●●e●re School-boyes and no better you are But Sir I say the last forementioned Addresse touching Prince Cromwell and his associates to the quick hee most unjustly compelled your mock House in effect to vote mee a Traitor in generall which Sir as you are a Lawyer I know you know to bee nothing in Law for it must bee a particular act as aboundance of your owne Declarations declare that in the eye of the Law renders a man capable of being taxed with Treason Fellony c. without hearring mee speake for my selfe or ever calling mee in●o your house although a good part of that day I was at your very doore seene oft and spoke unto by some of your Members yea I am confident of it my greatest Adversaries I had in the house knew I was at the doore part of that very day for Barron Rigby from some of their Agents at the very doore spake unto me and in their names proffered mee no small thing so I would bee a good boy and learn the lesson they would teach mee which when to his face I scorned with the greatest detestation in the World it was not many hou●es after till I was in generall voted a Traytor without hearing or knowing any Accuser or Accusation which is such a peece of Justice that the very Pagans and Heathen in Pauls time would have blush't at and then the next morning although I over night knew what was done and could have runne away or hid my selfe if I had pleased which I scorn'd I was sent for not by Bayliffes Constables or Justices of the Peace but as if I bad beene a most pestilent or monstrous man that with my breath had brene able to have destroyed an ordinary Generation of men and was hauld out of my bed and house from my wife and Children by a hundred two or three of Armed horse and foote and guarded as a poore Algier slave or captiv● through the streetes by them although alas I had never forcibly resisted the Parliament in my life nor never so much as committed a single contempt against he most Arbirary and Irregular of their Committees but alwaies came at their first sending for me although the Messenger was my professed Enemy and although I had beene severall times imprisoned for nothing by them yet for all this must I now bee dealt with because I had sinn'd against Prince Cromwell as if I had fortified my house against the Parliament or Army or had had three or foure hundred Armed men in it for my guard when as alas Sir the Designe is easily seene through which was no more but this Crowell was resolved to play the knave and I stood in his way and neither by faire words and faire promises nor by threats would bee brought over to a complyance with him in his visible base waies and therefore I must bee taken out of the way in the plausiblest manner hee could and for that end hee got mee prejudged and condemned before hearing and that by a pretended Law made after the Fact committed and then sent hundreds of his Armed and mercinarie Janzaries who are no executers of the Law to apprehend mee knowing I was of a hot spirit and was in my owne Soule glued unto my Freedomes for the maintaining of which he hoped I would have resisted and so should therefore have beene knock's on the head or runne through by his guard which for

great as that it was a totall hazard of destruction to that Interest and to those People for which especially they say the trust was reposed and seeing there is no orderly and open way left for a just succession of another formall and proper Judicature to bee appealed unto in due time therefore they there renounced the then Parliament and with confidence appealed to the common Judgements of indifferent and uncorrupted men exciting all those that yet were faithfull to their trust in the Parliament to come out and joyne with them and in such a case of extreamity the promise to looke upon them not as a Parliament but as Persons materially having the chiefe trust of the Kingdome remaining in them though not a formall standing * and if not a formall standing Power then at most they can pretend to no power at all but to govern according to those wholsome Lawes and Ordinances they found in being at this the Armies finall forcing and disolving of them till a just and unquestionable Representative can bee chosen and sit having by this their owne confession no power in the least to make any new Lawes at all or any Orders to beare so much as the pretended name or stamp of Lawes but they have verified the old Proverb that oportunity makes a theese for their successe hath made them Tyrants and regardlesse of all their promises power to bee continued in them or drawne into ordinary Presidents yet the best and most Rightfull that can bee had as the present state and exigency of Affaires then stood and wee shall say they accordingly owne them adhere to them and be guided by them not in all their commands but in their faithfull prosecution of their trust according to the sence will and mind of the Principles of the Army our Law givers which they there Declare to bee only in order unto marke it well and untill the introducing of a more full ●nd formall Power in a just Representative to bee speedily indeavoured and ratified by an Agreement and subscription of the People thereunto O vile Apostates never seriously to think of this more after they had Declared but Crush Murther and Destroy all those that effectually shall put them in mind of it which short Declaration is so fully fraught with glorious expressions of Truth Justice Honesty and selse denyingn●sse as that they call God to witnesse they did not seeke themselves in their then Proceedings but were even Resolved they would not take advantager to themselves either in point of profit or Power but rather lay downe themselves That it was enough to ravish the heart or any ingenious man in the World and to seale it after them and I confesse unto you Sir it did mine But besides those Declarations I must truly tell you Sir upon their forementioned first overtures and invitations of Conjunction of Interests with my forementioned friends the nick-named Levellers I was chosen by them to bee one of their foure Commissi●ners to goe to windsor to Treat with the Princes of the Army who upon the place openly constantly and avowedly called the then Parliament a Trayterous Apostatised Parliament that had but the name and was but the Carcase Shaddow or Shell of a Parliament having againe and againe broke and forfeited their Trust and confessing that those they should pick out of them could bee no Parliament in any sence either in Law or Reason but only at most a mock Power or a mock Parliament which th●y said they must bee forced for a little time to keepe up to keepe the People in quietnesse as the fiction or shaddow of Majestrates seeing the People so much doted upon and looked after such kind of outside things and this was not only I●etons and Harrisons frequent expressions but also Mr. Cornelius Hollands not only at Windsor but also at London both before and after their breaking and by force dissolving your House to the two first of which if they shall bee so unworthy and base as to deny what now I say and averre to you I will make it good as a Souldier with my Sword in my hand in any ground in England to the teeth of them both or either of them and for the third and last of which I know if hee and I were face to-face hee durst not bee so unworthy to deny it but if hee should I could easily by pluralitie of honest witnesses prove it to his face and I believe Sir I might safely produce your acquaintance and my by past faithfull friend Barron Rigby for the proofe of a great part of it Nay Sir I say further unto you That they engaged and contracted with us as solemnly as could be That they would keep up the men they picked out of the Paliament to joyne with for no other end in the World but for the avoiding of a new Warre for the better easier and speedier obtaining of a new and equall Parliament or Representative which they Declared againe and againe their Soules as much thirsted after as any of ours And truly Sir upon this score and account as the safest and unhazardablest way that I could possibly see to settle the Freedoms and Liberties of the Nation I was willing and desirous in a crowd to goe along with other men and not to be singular to give the Name and Title of a Parliament to their againe and againe Declared mock-Power or shadow or shell of Power and if I did evill in so doing I am sure my intent was the quietnesse of the Nation and my sin and evill in so doing I have seen and Repented of and am heartily sory for it and hope I shall have strength enough for the future to doe so no more But Sir when I cleerly and visibly saw that when they had accomplished their own ends by all their faire and smooth Promises and Declarations and made use of them for no other end in the World but meerly to enable them to bee Princes over the People and to have their Lives Liberties and Estates at their be●k and Command and began to challenge a right to Rule over them at their will and Pleasure my Souse began to loath and abhominate them for the vilest and gross●st Apostates that ever the Sun did shine upon and with the same indignation I began to loath their mock-Parliament whose fictionated Power I thought it my duty and to render my self faithfull and upright in my generation to discover to my friends and Countrey-men which when a Member of the pretended House viz. Mr. Holland perceived in the inner Court of Wards he took me sharply to taske and told mee wee were not able to move them for they had an Army strong enough to stand by them to back them but I told him to this effect That I thought they had had Consciences which would have compelled them to have made good their many solemn Engagements * see those notable instances of God's vengeance upon Faith and Covenant breakers