at all account it lawful and sit to be used in so solemn a matter as the service of God would have been more tolerable at those times when conceived prayer it self was dishonoured by the Plagiary super-inducements of other mens labours surreptitiously taken out of their printed Books and under a pretence of suddenness of Conception frequently and at large thrust into Publick prayers even by those that were the greatest enemies to common and publick forms Sundry other instances might here be reckoned up whereby it would appear that there was not any thing wherein the Beauty of Holiness had shined out in former times that was not wofully polluted in those dayes of Schism by our Changings and Counter-changings which were such that it might well be said of us notwithstanding all our vain-glorious pretensions to a glorious light surpassing all that had been seen in the Ages before that indeed and in truth we feared not God Alas our Glory was our shame and we like a foolish people and unwise loved to have it so accounting that which was indeed our shame to be our greatest glory But non fuit sic ab initio It was not wont to be thus We had left our first love and zeal for the truth of the Gospel and therefore did God in his just judgment give us up to strong delusions to follow after lies High time then was it for us to repent and do our first Works and to say with those in the Prophet we will go and return to our first husband for then was it better with us then now The streets of Romish Askelon possibly may ring of these our mis-doings and the rather because we are not quite gone over unto them when we were brought very near But they may spare their breath to remove their own stench if they can which is so noisome all the world over We will our selves give glory to God in confessing that our transgressions have been many and our back-slidings have encreased Our sinful compliancy with Anabaptisme Brownisme Familisme c. which in former times were judged by us according to their proper nature to be most abominable Errours hath been so notorious that it doth even fill our faces with shame and blushing when we sadly take it into our consideration that we whom God have made a Nation not to be despised but honourable in the eye of the World and a Church adorned with a glorious beauty surmounting other Churches even by their own confession yea terrible as an Army with Banners to Anti-Christ and his Adherents should make our selves thus naked and bare by entertaining such scurfe into our bosome which was fitter rather to be trod under foot Surely very unworthy have we hereby made our selves of that dignity which God hath put upon us True it is this mischeivous project was first hatched and afterwards fomented by some false brethren among us the spurious issue of John a Leyden and Knipperdolling yet because it did prevail and grew to such a height without any the least control from those that had power in their hands to suppress it to whom the Nation did generally in a manner submit the guilt therefore of a most shameful Apostacy might too justly we fear be imputed unto us But rejoyce not against us O our enemy though we have fallen we are through mercy risen again though our backslidings have been strong yet they are not blessed for ever and ever be the Name of our God either like unto those of Jerusalem or those of Rome perpetual If we have through the sly insinuations of Jesuitical Emissaries who have mingled themselves with us in the late Transactions of our nation and the cunning craftiness of Hypocritical self-seekers been too rash and heady in endeavouring to amend what was judged to be amiss in things pertaining to God we will not when God hath shewed us our Errour be pertinacious in it but return rather to our Obedience from which we have swerved and be better advised hereafter waiting upon the Lord in his own way for the propagating of his Gospel as his word and providence shall direct us In the mean time we will not spare to publish our sorrow for those deplorable wastes which our inadvertency hath brought upon this poor yet excellent Church of Christ Too excellent indeed to be the Mother of such unnatural foolish and disobedient Children as we have been unto her Who though she be comely in the eyes of her Beloved and in the eyes of all the daughters of his people in the world about her yet wo unto us we have blackned her with the spots of our Divisions and brought a cloud over all her excellencies Surely this is a Lamentation and must be for a Lamentation But what then would some say would you have us now to relinquish that glorious Cause which with a Solemn League and Covenant we have undertaken to maintain and return again to profaness and superstition what were this but to deal falsely in the Covenant of our God and to draw the guilt of odious inconstancy upon us It will become us rather according to your former admonition herein to be still the Same and to follow the example of those resolute and faithful Martyrs who of late to the very death persisted in the justifying of so good a cause Now unto this Objection it will be requisite to give a full and clear resolution to the end that it may be made evident who those are among us that come neerest to the pattern here presented in the Text in being still the same whether those that object these things accusing their brethren of I know not what sinful temporizing and tergiversation for not joyning with them in endeavouring to root up the foundation of this Change which the Divine Providence hath brought upon this Nation or those that are thus accused who upon convictions of Conscience are necessitated with the whole strength of their souls to promote and give furtherance unto it In the treating of this subject though I question not but some will be apt to quarrel at my plain dealing yet I shall without upbraiding any particular persons labour as in the presence of God to give satisfaction to those Consciences that in truth desire to be resolved concerning the warrantableness of submitting to this Change in returning to our obedience And shall insert nothing but for what I shall be willing to be responsal to any who shall rationally require an account of me To begin then with the Cause as it was called and a Glorious Cause What was it It was pretended at first that great matters should be done for the King People and Religion The King should be made a great and glorious Prince The People should have their just liberties restored unto them Religion should be established and set free from the invasion of all Heresies and Errours wherewith it was before corrupted All which being done we should finde our selves the happiest Nation upon
not we also grown wanton with our wealth gadding about after vanities that cannot profit us When they were cast out of favour we were reconciled to God who were before strangers yea enemies unto him But have not we also many a time vexed his holy Spirit by our treacherous Apostacies as much as they And how then shall this be remedied Which way shall we have our wants supplyed Our breaches repaired Our hearts more established in the truth Doth not the Apostle who is of counsel with the Almighty in this case and therefore knew best the way of Divine dispensation of grace toward us doth not he I say tell us here plainly how all this shall be brought about to our exceeding great advantage viz. by the reception of this people into favour restoring them again fully to their dignity and preheminence among the Nations Not indeed as a meritorious cause therof that is far from the Apostles meaning but in a way of subserviency to that providence which ordereth all things for the good of Church And now let it be considered How great is that goodness which God hath laid up for his people even before the Sons of Men in the latter dayes May we not then expect a more plentiful effusion of his Spirit in the powerful operations of it upon the hearts of Believers And that all those pestilent heresies wherewith the Christian Churches among the Gentiles have been miserably infested even almost unto death should be thrown to the Moles and to the Bats The jarring and jangling sound of Schisme no more to be heard in their Assemblies and instead thereof both Jews and Gentiles to be united together in a most entire and indissoluble bond of Brother-hood And when this fulness of happiness shall come upon the Gentiles as it will surely happen unto them upon the fulness of the Jews the Apostle himself being witness may it not be reckoned according to the Apostles word as it were a new life from the dead I demand therefore again Are these things so Hath God determined to advance so much the interest of his Church by the Restauration of the Jews and is it meet that we should stand cavilling at it Shall this our Apostle thus magnifie his office and with a paternal care of our good argue so irrefragably in our behalf and should we like a company of wayward children with unkinde Recalcitrations spurn against his office and our own happiness vilifying the one and as much as lyeth in us nullifying the other How these Quaere's may be answered together with many other that might be gathered from the following branches of the Apostles arguing about the facility of the Jews Restauration shall I say be left to their consideration who not onely causlesly call it into question but peremptorily deny that the Nation of the Jews shall ever be reckoned among the Nations of the world any more and so consequently asperse the Lord Jesus Christ with inconstancy towards this his first beloved people as if he would not be ' O' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto them the Same to the end which he hath been from the beginning If any shall say That to put these Quaere's in such a manner is to beg the Question that is To conclude that for a truth which is in controversie whether it be so or no. I must answer If the Apostles arguing hitherto will not satisfie and that neither Possibilities nor Probabilitics heaped together will down with gain-sayers to draw them to a conviction we have a more sure word of Testimony given here in the close whereunto they should do well to take heed least unhappily they be found even to sight against God To the end therefore that no man might in this case plead ignorance which is commonly the mother of arrogance Hear what the Apostle addeth vers 25 26 c. I would not brethren saith he that you should be ignorant of this mysterie lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved c. I know well that these very words of the Apostle are also wrested by some to another sense as there will not want cavils against the clearest demonstrations of Truth to the worlds end And if we should give an ear to whatsoever may be suggested unto us by opposite parties we shall never be free from hesitancies in the interpretation of any Scripture nor in the asserting of any Doctrines though never so fundamental Let this present Scripture be look'd upon but with an unprejudicate eye and be considered in the most plain and grammatical sense of it and then see whether it doth not precisely determine this point viz. That there is a time approaching wherein the Jewish Nation shall be restored and become a glorious converted Nation again which God will own for his Beloved people notwithstanding all their unkinde rebellions against him To afford some help herein observe First the Apostle speaks of this matter as of a mysterie and therefore should the more diligent heed be given unto it A mysterie indeed it is First in regard of the origination of it being sprung out of the profound abyss of Gods infinite wisdom and knowledge Secondly in regard of the progress of it being much opposed by the infidelity of men who are and will be slow of heart to believe it Thirdly in regard of the unsearchable way and manner how it shall be acted when in the fulness of time it shall be brought to pass in the world however therefore men do sleight it the Apostle it seems makes great account of it Secondly He adviseth the Romans to take special notice of it I would not brethren saith he have you ignorant hereof c. As if he should say beware that you do not out of a fond conceit of your priviledges above the Jews cast this mystery out of your thoughts as a thing impertinent to your cognisance for you are concern'd in it and that which is revealed of it will certainly be required of you Thirdly He procedeth to a description of the mystery so far as it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost Non enim est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significat nâ—â—tilationâ— alic jus partis sic in oculis coecitatem sigâ—isicat Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—d indâ—atioâ—eâ—n significat a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 calluâ— five dâ—â—itâ—es in 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. call â—n 〈◊〉 sâ—em 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—ungo Blindness as we read it in part is happened unto Israel untill the fulness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved Where first that we may the better poise this mystery let us a little by the way consider the judgement inflicted upon this people which alas alas we finde to be exceeding great So much doth the word
hath of late been sufficiently cleared by others Mr. Prinn c. Is not the Lord Jesus Christ called the Prince of the Kings of the Earth as being his honour to have those that are of the highest estimation to be Subjects unto him Which being so it should be the desire and ambition of all the people in the world to be ruled by those persons who are entituled to this subjective Regality And when Divine Providence shall with a strong hand and a stretched-out Arm lead them unto it as it hath done us here in this Kingdom and the Nations of our Vicinity for many Generations it will certainly be their sin if they should not submit cheerfully unto it as it was the sin of the people of Israel when they out of a diffidence of Gods care and protection of them and out of an Apish imitation of other Nations would in an unseasonable preposterous and tumultuous manner be catching at it And now all this considered how can a people with any serenity of Conscience profess Godliness and yet speak reproachfully of the Kingly Office yea account it Antichristian as some have done proclaiming open Hostility against it Were it indeed Heterogeneous to the Divine Ordinance of Civil Government or incongruous to the times of the Gospel or prejudicial to the interest of the Saints as it is said to be or an impeachment in the least degree to the Dignity and Prerogative Royal of the Lord Jesus Christ himself either in respect of his Natural or of his Donative Kingdom such persons might proceed upon warrantable grounds to proclaim their dislike in that kind But it may now appear to all the World that the clamour which is raised against Regal Power upon any of these before-named accounts is altogether causeless and of no moment It will not be expedient here to examine them severally for in so doing we should make too large a digression haply we shall meet with them obiter in our way wherein the inadvertency or to say truly the Seditious frowardness rather then the godly zeal of the Authors and Abettors of these Complaints will be made manifest unto all men In the mean time I cannot but protest against that pernicious Paradox which hath been vented by a leading Divine as he was accounted in these late times of Errour and Rebellion amongst us J. O. who in a Sermon preached at S. Margarets Westminster and afterwards Printed saith thus The Lord had of old erected a Kingly Government in the House of David not for any eminency in the Government it self or for the Civil Advantage of that people but that it might be a Type of the Spiritual Dominion of the Messiah and so was a part of their Paedagogy and Bondage as was the residue of their Types every one of them and consequently this form of Government not to be of any use in the time of the Gospel Were this true we then who are now of the Church of God as that people were before us acknowledging this Messiah to be come according to the Promise may indeed have just cause to say of that kind of Government as the Apostle doth of Circumcision If we should allow of it Christ shall profit us nothing the substance being come what should the shadow of a King do unto us But I hope that those who have through the subtlety of Satan been misled into this Opinion will hereafter find cause to retract it when they shall remember that the rule of the Gospel to which they pretend an exact Conformity requires them to pray and to give thanks for Kings which as the Apostle saith is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour 1 Tim. 2.1 2 3. 1 Tim 2.1 2 3. However seeing that Wisdom puts forth her Voice crying at the Gates at the entry of the City at the coming in at the Doors saying By me Kings Reign and Princes decree Justice by me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the eâ—rth Seeing I say this sound is heard from Heaven every day in the Consciences of men Wisdom will herein be justified of all her children And let this serve to terminate the first part of my Proposition viz. Government is an Ordinance of Divine Authorization Secondly It is ordained to be subservient unto Christ in the dispensation of his power and providence towards the preservation of Mankind 2. Branch For though Christ be All in all Col. 3.11 as the Apostle speaks Col. 3. yet to shew himself to be the Lord of all he hath ordained means to be subservient unto him in all the works of his Providence and hath accordingly made use of them To this purpose saith the Son of Sirach very pertinently Ec. 38.2 3 4 5. Of the most High cometh healing yet the Physician must be honoured with that honour that belongeth unto him The Lord also hath created Medicines out of the Earth and he that is wise will not abhor them He hath given skill unto men that he might be honoured in his marvellous works with such doth he heal men and taketh away their pains of such doth the Apothecary make a Confection c. Hence it is as the Prophet Jeremy speaketh Jer. 23.25 That his Covenant with Day and Night and the Ordinances of Heaven and Earth concerning their disposition motion order influences virtues and operations are inviolable They continue this day saith the Psalmist according to thine ordinance Ps 119.91 for all are thy servants not as if his Paramount Authority and power were thereby any whit diminished rather it is advanced nor as if he were necessitated thereunto for want of power in himself for we may see the course of Heaven c. hath sometimes been inverted by him Indulgentiae est non indigentiae non efficaciam quaerit sed congruentiam Ex. 14.16 John 3.16 2 Reg. 10.1 Dan. 3.25 But of his own free will in the abundance of his goodness it is that he governeth and preserveth Creatures by Creatures using the ministery of second Causes for in their present poor estate wherein they are in this world his own immediate hand and power would soon prove intolerable unto them Who alas among us here can dwell with devouring fire Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings Goodness then and mercy it is that is the ground of this Dispensation from Heaven towards poor creatures of all sorts but there is no creature under the Sun unto whom the Lord hath so much respect as he hath to Mankind all other indeed have their being and their well-being whatsoever it is from him as hath been said before But Man is his Favourite the Masterpiece of his wisdom power and goodness the work of his Faciamus not barely of his Fiat as other Creatures were in him he challengeth a special propriety accounting him his own in a peculiar manner for in that sense I conceive that place of the Evangelist John 1.11 He
earth and Glory should dwell in our Land Unto this plausible sound did multitudes of well-meaning people in the simplicity of their hearts give an attentive Ear and were allured to contribute their assistance to the carrying on of so good a work But if this were the Cause that was so much cryed up and extolled for which the Land was filled with violence from one end to the other How came it to pass that it fell so foulely as it did Who was it that hindered the progress of it Was it not they that absurdly pretend stil an adherency unto it when a sword by their means hath passed through the Soul of it Is not their Hypocrisie Double dealing Self-seeking Treachery in the whole managery of this business discovered plainly in the face of all Mankinde Certainly should all Histories be searched there could not be found a more palpable Cheat put upon a Nation since the beginning of the World The publick faith of the Kingdom to assure the Reallity of these pretenses was through the prevalency of a sort of Traitours to God their King and their Countrey frequently turned into publick fraud Yea the faith of the Gospel was made a Cloak to cover the corrupt projects of self-ended Men. Nothing done of all that was promised but rather very much clean contrary Confusion and Disorder brake in upon us like a Deluge and there was no visible remedy in the apprehension of all Unbiassed men but a swift and overspreading desolation must needs have fallen upon the whole Land All which considered To make boast still of a Cause wherewith they dealt so perfidiously and of which God in his just indignation for the Corruptions both in the birth and growth of it hath said it shall not stand making it a Nehushtan doth it not argue a fighting against God and a design to be still the Same rather in a treachery which all the Christian world cryeth shame upon then in any thing wherein the glory of God or the safety of their Countrey might be concern'd As for the League and Covenant called in scorn the Legal Covenant even by those who do now plead it it was indeed brought on to add a seeming strength to the said Cause and the better to draw inconsiderate people to joyn in the pursuance of it But there are many unanswerable reasons to be heeded that do clearly shew the nullity thereof which being exactly related by others we shall not need to insist upon them here Somewhat notwithstanding shall be here added to give satisfaction in this particular It is well known that to incline people to the taking of the Covenant that is to take the Whip with six cords as the six Articles in K. Henry the eights time was called to scourge and torment their Consciences with some use was made of that Restriction in the first Article of it viz. According to the Word of God being interpreted by the politick Conciliatours of those dayes as a Proviso whereby an Out-let was set for any to recede from the Observation of it if afterwards upon better consideration they found it to be otherwise then it was represented unto them But what vile Hypocrisie was this to lead poor people into a snare by such tricks of Legerdemain Nay is it not an impious Mockery of the Holy Ghost thus to make the Word which is the Oracle of the most High God a stale to the politick Interests of wretched men For as it is well observed upon the same account we may subscribe to the Council of Trent yea to the Turkish Alcoran swearing to maintain and defend either of them viz. so far as they are agreeable to the Word of God But much better surely may we now make the said Restriction our Warrant totally to cancel that Covenant by a godly sorrow and serious lamentation for it finding it in sundry respects different from that Righteous Rule according to which all our Actions are to be squared For in such cases that golden Axiom must be our Guide viz. Poenitenda Promissio non perficienda Praesumptio The Covenant must be retracted by Repentance not the Presumption heightened by Continuance As for the Illegality of it throughout from first to last our Famous and Renowned University of Oxford hath with a general Consent in a full Convocation very plainly and faithfully discovered it to the silencing of all Gain-sayers June 1. 1647. and to their everlasting Honour before God and Man Unto whose cleer Argutations I remit all men that are in a capacity to receive satisfaction in this point and to be convinced with Reason Concluding with the Casuist Ne sit Sacramentum pietatis impedimentum pietatis nec vinculum iniquitatis Let not a pious Obligation be a bar to piety nor a bond of iniquity Whereas it is said next that by Deserting the Cause we shall return again to Profaness and Superstition I answer God forbid Rather it is to be hoped that an unanimous Agreement in rooting up the said pretended Cause would be the ready way to remove that Profaness and Superstition which have provoked Gods displeasure against us But let it be considered What returning to profaness can there be now more then the Land was polluted with in the time of the late Schisme when the Name of God was dishonoured by Swearing and Forswearing The Ordinances of Jesus Christ neglected yea despised Gods faithful Ministers cruelly mocked and derided In a word When iniquity did so much abound though it must be confessed it aboundeth still too much amongst us even in these dayes of our Deliverance that scarce any posterity shall be able to add thereunto And as for Superstition which the Holy Scripture calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Fear of false Daemons rather then of the true God What can be greater then that which hath been already set up and spread about the Nation by our Sectarian Seminaries Independents Anabaptists Antinomians Seekers Quakers and the rest of that Rabble who have notwithstanding the struglings of God and Man upon their Consciences been like a company of Superstitious Dotards so mad upon their Idols I mean their Squint eyed Wry-necked Double-tongued Snivelling Daemons of Horrid and Monstrous Opinions and wherein they continue to this very day that it is a manifest token as one said not amiss They are errour-blasted both from Heaven and Hell Nay more Was there ever such a close and cunning Connivence afforded since the Reformation began in this Nation to Romish Superstitions then was under the Regency of the said Cause The great Projectour or at least Protractour thereof himself who made England to sin observing in one of his Proclamations though nevertheless it was after that also Tolerated that Multitudes of Jesuits and Popish Priests did resort unto and remain within this Common-wealth and the Dominions thereunto belonging Apr. 26. 1655. who with great Audacity did exercise all offices of their Profession both saying Masses and seducing the people to the
God Num. 16.10 shall suddenly bring certain ruine upon them as the like sin did on Korah and his Complices therefore Away with it Lastly Away with that evil spirit of Rebellion against Regal Authority which eminently possessed that decemvirate of Traitours who have been justly executed for their Treason A Spirit that appeared like an Angel of Light but proved as black and ugly as any that came out of the bottomless pit A Spirit that hath brought such a stench and smoke with it that the Sun and the Aire of the Gospel is even darkned thereby Yea let all Ages be examined there shall never be found in any Nation such a black vaile drawn over the face of true Religion since it was established in the World as hath been by the treachery of those Persons that were fascinated with this Spirit When a Christian Prince as well deserving of the Church as ever any that sat upon a throne the most able Protectour of the Protestant Profession hath under a pretence of Religion been barbarously murdered by them and made a prey to their ambitious lusts and impious designes Yet these are the men whose example our objectours propose as a pattern of courage and constancy for their imitation If indeed to encourage themselves in an evil matter so as not to be terrified in the prosecution of it by the approaches of death and their appearance before the great God hath made them fit to be exemplary to those that undertake to be their Advocates let them be canonized for Saints whom the World not onely Christian but Heathen hath hitherto abhorred as bloud-thirsty and deceitful men But so long as the Word and Statute law of the most high God is in force and remains unretracted it is not their constancy in their treason to the death nor their smooth language how spiritual soever it seemed to be wherewith they left the World that shall come up in remembrance before God at the last day to their comfort if they died in the justification of that guilt for which they were condemned No unclean thing saith the Holy Ghost must enter into Heaven And amongst all pollutions that of bloud upon the conscience is in the sight of God most filthy True it is they neglected the body to use the Apostles word but what advantage will that be to them if they likewise neglected the soul History will tell us it is no newes to hear of a resolved obstination and obsirmation of mind in the suffering of death There was Attilius Regulus and Cato Vticensis and Anaxarchus and many more who for their Countreys sake or some such worldly respect Tunde tunde Anaxarchi fellem non enim tundis Anaxarchum have been very prodigal of their lives Some of them with admirable patience contented to endure most exquisite torments Of them we may say in the words of our Saviour they had their reward Their highest aime was to be reckoned good Patriots or men of valour and accordingly hath same fixt upon them a marke of renown to this very day But what reward shall be given unto these who cannot be reputed by any that are rational fit to triumph in their death upon any honest account in the least degree What I say shall be done unto such false tongues and false hearts and hands full of bloud We must leave the determination thereof to the righteous judge who will render to every man according to his doings We should not I confess have thus stept aside to make this rehearsal of the flagitious wickedness of such unworthy persons whose memory will be odious to all Generations had it not been necessary to undeceive others who are prone to applaud and justifie them because of their seeming fortitude at the time of their death In which regard neither will it be amiss to minister a little eye-salve to such poor deluded people that their eyes may be opened to see their folly and to convince them by some clear demonstrations of the falsehood of those men whom they so highly magnifie I called it a Seeming Fortitude which these Traitors shewed at their death and well I might For notwithstanding all the vainglorious flourishes of holiness and constant perseverance in their Cause reall it could not be Besides the failing of virtue in it which is essential to all true Fortitude and which the very Heathen have judged to be inseparable from it Plutarchus in vita Coriolani insomuch that they conceived there could be no Virtue without Fortitude nor no Fortitude without Virtue What constancy or Christian fortitude could be in them when after they perceived that the Law did take hold upon them to bring them to their condign punishment they would then all on a sudden pretend to an undantedness of spirit in their justification whereas some few dayes before while they were upon their Trial the greatest number of them did sue for mercy pretending a claim to his Majesties pardon which must needs carry with it an Implicite acknowledgment of guilt With what face could Axtell at his death make his boast of the Cause professing that if he had a thousand lives he could lay them all down for it when at his tryal as he said he had endeavoured to obtain the mercy and favour of his Majesty And that when some witnessed against him that he did beat the souldiers because they did not at his bidding cry out against the King for justice and execution he shifted it off thus saying That it was more probable because they did cry out for justice and execution he did therefore strike them using these words I 'll Justice you I 'll Execution ye And what constancy did appear in Cook the most zealous of them all when the words he uttered at his death contradicted his pleadings at his tryal for his life as the book set forth with too partial a respect unto him doth relate At his death he exprest himself in this manner I am satisfied that the Cause that is that which was maintained against the King is the most noble and glorious Cause that hath been agitated for God and Christ since the Apostolical times Such a Cause that the Martyrs would gladly come again to suffer for if they might And though too many object against me that of the Apostle 1 Pet. 4 15. Let none of you suffer as a murtherer yet I look upon it as a most noble and high act of Justice that our Story can parallel And so far as I had a hand in it never any one action in all my life comes to my minde with less regret or trouble of conscience then that doth Now compare this with what was sworn against him at his tryal and those excuses and evasions he then used to shift off his Charge One of the witnesses that appeared having been of his intimate acquaintance affirmed upon oath Mr. Natley That when he understood that the said Cock was employed as a Solicitour against the King he desired