in mind of what Plutarch relates concerning the peoples Prejudice against Metiochus Metiochus is Captain Metiochus is Surveyor Metiochus bakes the Bread c. evil day to Metiochus So crys Ludlow the Clergy advise the King the Clergy raise the Forces the Clergy pay the Army c. evil day to the Clergy whereas the only Clergyman of our Nation whom the King consulted was Bishop Laud and they that write most in vindication of Hamilton give him a very honourable Character as to whatsoever he advised in those unhappy affairs although neither he nor any of his Majesty's Faithful Loyal Subjects of either Kingdom were satisfied with those unreasonable condescentions he was wheedled into for that it was most visibly apparent the more he yielded the more insolently they persisted in further demands being so far from setting one step forward as to stand back with the greater Obstinacy and consider what was further to be insisted upon in defiance of all Honour Right and Law for as Ludlow relates The King by Commission impowered the Marquess of Hamilton to treat them into a Submission consenting to the suppression of the Liturgy High-Commission Court and Articles of Perth but the Scots insisting upon the Abolition of Episcopacy and the King refusing his consent to it they did it themselves in an Assembly held at Glasco This is a general account and which is very much and rare True but there were several Circumstances in the management thereof very considerable As first they that understood and wish'd best to the King and Kingdoms interest thought Hamilton a very improper person to be employ'd in that affair for that several of his nighest Relations were chief of the Covenant party his Mother more especially so great a Heroine as to ride with Pistols at her saddle Bow and defie both God and the King in defence of so good a cause Secondly there were several other prejudices against him which whether true or false made many honest men move with the less vigor because they expected no good Event from whatsoever he engag'd in and this was most unhappily confirmed by the Concessions he cajol'd the King into as to the Liturgy High Commission c. For after a long and fruitless Treaty with the Covenanters at Edinburgh attended with three several journeys to the English Court instead of Treating them into a Submission as Ludlow words it they Treated the King obtaining all to that time their most insolent demands What is alledg'd in his defence That he knew the Kings condition how unable he was or hard it would be to bring an Army into the Field is no ways valid for he was then as able as afterwards and delays were rather to their advantage than his and since all men of observation concluded the Scots would never give off without blows the Punctilio of first Aggressor was nonsence they never stood upon it when it would serve their turn and that their so grosly abused Sovereign should not take the best opportunity of chastising them is against all Rules of Reason and Policy whatsosoever but to speak freely the King 's great tenderness and regard to those his natural and Native Subjects as he termed them was so unfortunately misplac'd upon the most ungrateful set of people that ever trod upon God's Earth to his and their own ruine as well as all others concerned with them But if Hamilton impos'd upon the King by cajoling him into the most groundless concessions ever any Prince yielded to so doubtless the Covenanters impos'd altogether as much upon him for whether there was any correspondence between them or not as to this particular which for ought I can find remains still in the dark he could not but rationally presume it would be an eternal obligation to procure in one single Declaration a full grant of whatever all their Supplications Remonstrances Protestations c. had hitherto demanded and so indeed the Lords of the Council took it subscribing a Letter of acknowledgment to his Majesty in one of the most Rhetorical Flights I have generally met with owning that such acts of Clemency could not proceed from any Prince saving him who is the lively image of the great God Author of all Goodness Which how the most and most considerable of them kept afterwards would be unhappy to observe The Covenanters on the other side resolved to act without a vizard which they had some time before thrown quite away and for fear the People should cool and forbear assisting in the designed Rebellion repair'd to the Cross at Edinburgh erected a Scaffold under it where a great number of Earls Lords Gentlemen and others mounted with Swords in their hands and Hats on their Heads having that worthy wight Archibald Johnson who never fail'd in any villainy tho as property to Oliver Cromwell and a member in the Committee of safety to read the most Impudent Ignorant Treasonable ay and Blasphemous Protestation that ever was penn'd to make good which last charge it is there expresly affirm'd that their Covenant was seal'd from Heaven and approv'd thence by rare and undeniable Evidences whereas it looks more like a Combination from Hell the undoubted forge of all Faction Sedition and Schism Nevertheless they did not think fit to break out into open Rebellion till they had got the Blessing of their Assembly to the meeting whereof the King had likewise condescended It hath somewhat of affinity with our Convocation only in imitation of Geneva was divided into several Classes and from a Provincial choice sent up to a General These at the beginning of the Reformation play'd Rex and Pope all in one would controul and Over-rule whatever Civil Determinations they dislik'd command the King to discharge such a Minister of State otherways they would proceed to Excommunication and when once upon a time he had engag'd the Magistrates of Edinburgh to entertain the French Embassadours with which Crown he design'd to enter into Ancient Amity the little Class of that City Preachers proclaimed a Fast to be kept the same day on which three of them severaly preach'd one after another without intermisson Thundering out Curses against the Magistrates and other Noble men who attended the Embassadors Neither stay'd ther Folly here saith my Author but pursuel the Magistrates with the censures of the Church and with much difficulty were kept from Excommunication These insolencies by degrees King Iames put a Check to and for 60 years last past such assemblies were regularly summon'd in Subordination to their Bishop but now they were resolv'd to have all thrown open again and to be the surer of a Party brought the lay Elders to Vote in the Choice of their Commissioners that the sober and honest part of the Clergy which were numerous might not over Balance them in short never was any Election carry'd on with so much partiallity and confusion which continu'd all the time of their Session till the Commissioners patience was so highly
these Remains of his should be Printed and Publickly Sold cry'd up by the whole Party for an extraordinary Piece and swallow'd as such by our many superficial Readers who take what comes fresh from the Press and every New Author are brought over to his Opinion looks very daring as if they were not without great hopes of having their Good Old Cause new Bottom'd and the Rump once more set uppermost All which the Prefacer does more than intimate by giving so great a Deference to his Author and the Cause he engag'd in as if such alone made the Service of their Country the principal care of their Lives and all Government Arbritrary but in their Hands pag. 4. And to excite your Commiseration he adds that when Charles the 2d was permitted to Act his part this Gentleman who had gone through innumerable Hazards for the Liberty of England was stripp'd of his Estate and under the Odious Name of Traytor forc'd to Abandon his Native Country p. 6. Such Language as this we were forc'd to bear with when they had got the Power into their own Hands but sure we are not yet come to 48 or 59. when a company of profligate Villains the Scum and Scorn of Mankind with an Army of Ianisaries to their Assistance took such Care of England's Liberty as to make all Honest Men Slaves and Loyal Men Traytors and whoever is so easy as to believe there is one Syllable of Truth in this Prefaoer's Harangues and flourishes I wish so that others might not suffer with them they were some time under that sort of Free-Government for their better Information That this his Commonwealth-Champion was sent for to recover Ireland out of the Hands of those Papists is a Secret not known before and I fancy they that did it had rather it should have continued so or be quite forgotten than the Reception he found here To be sure the Business was done without him and if this his Admirer would have been so ingenuous as to tell what those Worthy Gentlemen in the House of Commons said when they express'd their Indignation at his Return 't would have been as well worth transmitting to Posterity as any Remarks upon that Conjuncture p. 7. Neither is it at all for his Reputation that his Family was Antient and had an Estate which plac'd him in the first Rank of Gentlemen p. 4. The English Gentry were the main support of the Royal Cause and stood by their oppressed Prince with an Unparallell'd Bravery considering the Necessities they both labour'd under Some indeed were drawn to the contrary Party by mistake or misinformation and left them in due time others persever'd too long but when it came to the Arraignmemt and Murther of the King it was their utmost and universal Detestation this well descended Gentleman had few other Associates in that Horrid Act than Draymen Coblers Tinkers c. the very Refuse of Mechanicks as well as Mankind especially as to the Army Officers who were the chief promoters thereof whilst our doughty Members whatever they thought of themselves serv'd no otherwise than as their Tools and Properties and so indeed were they Cromwell's though much regretted by them when he lay'd aside his Vizard and assum'd all to himself Since therefore this Author of theirs so basely degenerated from most others of his Quality as to become not only Rebel but Regicide I shall have so little regard for his Descent as to give him the bare Name of Ludlow Whether he writ all these Memoirs or more than these is not of moment to enquire The Vindicator of Oliver Cromwell tells us when Blood went to him at Geneva in order to engage him in New Disturbances he found him writing of a History and thought he might be much more proper for that than the Command of General which his Admirers here design'd him the other 's quick and penetrating Judgment soon discovering his blind side and that only his being of the Party gave him the Reputation of Parts And accordingly that Vindicator has as mean an Opinion of his History as the other of his Generalship And so must every one else who regards either Sense or Truth Although 't is likewise said these two Volumes are but the Abridgment of many more Reams foul'd upon this Subject which his Party and Printer thought fit to lick into somthing of Form contract and perhaps alter too as might best serve the present Design of promoting the Good Old Cause As to my particular undertaking the Vindication of our Royal Martyr I doubt not but to satisfy every impartial Reader that he writes not one Syllable of Truth yet withal is such a Common-place Recorder of Falshoods as to mention nothing but those Old Calumnies and Slanders which indeed serv'd the Faction's turn when first started and misled the Credulous Rabble but have been long since detected and evinc'd by the Clearest Demonstration any matter of Fact is capable of for the same Cheat never last's long Truth certainly prevails in the End Upon which account all such as take these indirect Courses must necessarily be qualified with a quick Invention be sure to have a New Trick at hand as soon as the Old is discovered that the Parties impos'd upon may have no leisure to reflect or otherwise discover the Iuggle And by this Artifice more especially were our 41 Confusions commenc'd and carry'd on about which time a Spirit of Calumny and detraction of Evil Speaking Lying and Slandering seem'd to be let loose as Satan in the Revelations to deceive the Nation and persecute all therein who would not worship that Gog and Magog they were going to set up with this Spirit I say our many Pulpit Beautifews and Lay Demagogues were so cursedly possest as nothing Sacred or Civil could escape their Obloquy or restrain the Madness of the People from believing their forg'd Reports or prosecuting their Rebellious Designs 't is inconceivable the Delusions they impos'd upon them the Contradictions they made them swallow till it became so habitual to the whole Party as every little Mechanick and Blew Apron'd Brother would as naturally tell a Lye for the good of the Cause as the Sale of their Wares and if discovered be as far from Shame as the Devil from a Blush Afterwards indeed the Evil Spirit was for some time conjur'd down confin'd to the Dark Cell of its own Melancholy thoughts and sad regret for disappointed Mischiefs but of late 't is broke forth again and rages most violently prevails to astonishment upon a Reinfatuated Age for from thence more especially it must proceed that Men should have so soon forgot not only God's Mercies but their own Miseries too Among the many other Allays which an impartial Judgment will find to abate much the envied Happiness of Princes 't is none of the least that during their full Gales of Prosperity they are beset with Flatterers instead of Friends their Impunity is their danger and Superiority to Laws leaves their
Earl of Lindsey never attempted to break their Diques open the Passage and put in Relief All which this vile Wretch affirms in one Breath tho' every Historian even to their Authentick Rushworth positively affirm it The continued course of impudent Untruths wherewith these Weeders nay Forgers of History have so long wearied my Patience makes me at last resolve upon this I hope innocent Revenge whenever for the time to come I meet any Person relating a most improbable Malicious Falshood from me he shall not have that common Opprobrium of a Lyer but of a Fanatick Common-wealth Historian CHAP. IX Of the Palatinate Bohemia and that Queen AND here before I leave the Defence by which term I all along mean that Libel which Undertakes to Justify the Parliament of Forty and all their Adherents there is one Stretch must be taken Notice of which as Physicians term it is a Nostrum of his Own never urg'd by any of his Brother Libellers viz. That the Eight Ships for so he will have it tho' really but Seven lent the French were Equipp'd with the Subsidies given for the Relief of his distressed Protestant Sister the Electress Palatine and the poor oppressed Protestants in the Palatinate Pag. 3. 'T is in a Parenthesis and so might have been left out as likewise for another Reason because not true which nevertheless must not pass here lest it should set aside the whole Pamphlet But I would gladly know what Subsidies he relates to those granted King Iames were more than expended upon raising the 10000 Men for Count Mansfield and those of Charles's first Parliament were only Voted not Rais'd when the Ships Lent which to clear the Matter the French Equipp'd at their own Expence and paid moreover for the use of Hull and Rigging 'T is Odd in the mean while to observe what a Compass these Fellows will fetch to gain one Point of Calumny which too after all they fail to Make. But because Roger Coke likewise Throws a great deal of Dirt upon the Memory of these two Kings Iames and Charles the First in Reference to that Unhappy Enterprize and thereby that Unhappy Family I shall here take care to wipe it off in making it appear they both did what possibly could be done to Retrieve so desperate an Affair Mr. Coke very desirous to make the Prince Elector a good Title to the Kingdom of Bohemia rambles into Hungary Poland and whither not And runs into more Mistakes than he pretends to Correct and quarrels at his Friend Rushworth whom he never fails to follow but when in the Right To be sure he stumbles at the very Threshold in saying before Ferdinand Brother to Charles the Fifth That Kingdom was Elective whereas Uratislaus their first King was made so from Duke by the Emperour Henry the Fourth who always after had a right of Nomination but his Power in those troublesome Times throughout Germany being very Precarious and his Avocations elsewhere not Suffering him to attend the Transactions of so many several Districts the People or States oftentimes assum'd that Power to themselves where notwithstanding they generally had regard to the Royal Family though not immediate Successor some other more prevalent with the Mob and their Leaders carried his own Business by promising to carry theirs better Nay to shew further that the greatest Sticklers for the People's Right had regard to the Royal Line when they chose this Unfortunate Frederick Elector Palatine a Descent was fram'd for him from Sophia Sister to Ladislaus the Second 'T is likewise a gross Mistake that the German Emperours were not Chosen till the Turks became great in Europe Charles the Fourth was chosen 1346. at which time the Turks had not set one foot there and so in the same manner his Three immediate Successors Wencislaus Sigismund and Albert when he was not come nigh nor any ways fear'd by the Western Empire though very formidable to the Eastern yet these Four are produc'd as Instances thereof At which rate he runs on without any regard to Truth or History and let them that will follow him I shall not but only observe at this very time when the Elector was made the Peoples Property there had been four Kings successively of the House of Austria Ferdinand Maximilian Rodolphus and Matthias Ferdinand the Second Adopted Son of Matthias doubting the Mob's Majority got himself Nominated without them according to the Original Institution and having both Prescription and Possession two strong Titles when those others put in their Claim it was Baffled at the Swords Point and the Kingdom hath been the quieter ever since But not to think with our Enthusiasts that Success is always an Argument of Right I shall refer it to what King Iames told Archbishop Abbot 'T was a Faction in Religion set up his Son there and God would never Prosper them And so likewise the Duke of Saxony sent Frederick word That he had often represented what Ruin was like to attend him by taking another Crown and for his own part he was bound to chastize the Rebels so that it seems he look'd upon them as such and 't is probable refus'd the Crown upon that Account for it was profer'd both him and the Duke of Lorrain which tend little to the Reputation of a Calvinist Prince that he should accept what a Lutheran and Papist whether out of Conscience Policy or both thought not fit to venture upon If this new King took that Crown in hopes of Assistance from his Father in Law here he was much mistaken for whatever Mr. Coke thinks he thought better and had asserted the Right of Crown'd Heads so far as he could upon no account give way to have them transferred upon every Mob Caprice Nay supposing a just Title I cannot imagine what Supply could been have given him Mony must have come from the Parliament who had been very backward upon other Occasions and would have been soon weary here and for Men there was no way of conveying them unless some Dutch Conjurer would have undertaken it in a Cloud through the Air no Neighbour Princes care to have such Cattle march through their Country and half a Score at least must have been treated with in Order to this Expedition most if not all of which might have served us as the French and Dutch did the Ten Thousand sent under Count Mansfield give fair Words but permit them not to come on Shore till more than half were perished on Ship-board So that to spend no more Words nor time upon Suppositions as matters really stood without Good Cause Good Courage or Good Conduct what could King Iames do more than he did treat with the House of Austria for an Accomodation of the most Rash Indiscreet ay and Unjustifyable enterprise ever any Prince engag'd in whatever the Zealous party did then or hath ever since said to defend it amongst which is Arch-Bishop Abbot's Letter so carefully recorded by Mr. Rushworth which after
King making it his Business to be on the defensive till the Queen should arrive with an Army to his assistance p. 58. and when her Army was come with other Necssaries of War the King was in the hopefullest Condition of the whole Four Years for so long the contest was in dispute and had there not been Neglect Treachery or both amongst his Councils either of State or War he had unnestled the Rebels at London and put a final End to any further Blood-shed but what in due course of Law such Villanies deser'vd In relating how the Earl of Essex took Reading it must not be omitted that Sir Arthur Ashton a Papist was Governour therof to which I shall add that Sir Arthur had been brought up a Soldier in Foreign Wars a Person of good Experience who as soon as he found we were running into his Bloody Profession proffer'd his Service to the King more than once who as often reply'd that the Faction had brought such a Slander upon him in reference to those of his Perswasion it would much prejudice his Cause to imploy him at length he came to the King and shewed him a Letter wherein Essex profferd him a Command in the Parliament Army and told his Majesty plainly that he was a Soldier of Fortune and that if he could not be entertained on the one side he would betake himself to the other and by this Means he became Governour of Reading for the Parliament as they had several Papists in their Service so 't was nothing but a vile Interest made them reject the rest force them into the King's Quarters that they might have the benefit of their Estates and the King the Odium of their Company In the mean while I would gladly know whether a Loyal Papist be not a better Man ay and Christian too than a Rebel Protestant to be sure Ludlow and his Gang agreed with them in the most exploded and pernicious Doctrine was ever laid to their Charge and what but few of them and that very clandestinely have maintain'd viz. that of Deposing and Murdering Kings for which Reason I look upon him as a baser Man than Fryar Iacob or Ravillac and the whole set of Regicides the most abominable Assembly that ever met since the Scribes and Pharisees preferr'd Barabbas to be sure they brought upon the Reformation the greatest Reproach Hell its self could suggest and yet for ought I see not only the Reproach but the Practice is like to continue Though Essex was Master of the Field in Spring the King had the Command all Summer his Forces making so great a Progress in the West as to take Exeter Bristol and many other considerable places give a total defeat to Sir Will. Waller at Devizes and so clear'd all those Parts from any Enemy in a Body as indeed they had none at London hereupon it was debated in several Councils of War and private Cabals whether was best to march directly thither or to stay and take Glocester first the only place of any considerable Strength which remain'd to the Enemy in those Parts the general Vogue went for the March and very considerable Reasons urg'd for it both Essex's and Waller's Armies were crumbled away the City of London in Mutiny an Insurrection in Kent for the King the Lords voting a Treaty and the Commons in dismal Frights On the other side it was urg'd how ill it would look to leave such a place behind them that 't was ill situated and not well fortified or provided with Men so that a few Days would certainly make the King Master thereof long before the Enemy could get a Recruit much less March so far to relieve it Of this Perswasion was Prince Rupert and most of the Sword-men which made some suspect they fear'd the War would be done too soon and were the more confirm'd therein for that the Siege was carryed on at such a slow rate so that after a whole Month of precious time lost and Essex appearing unexpectedly with a considerable Army they were forc'd to raise the Siege I have been told a Passage much credited by honest Gentlemen in those times that a little before the King made that fatal halt a certain Peer finding Essex very pensive in the Lords Lobby ask'd him how Affairs went He reply'd very ill and they must be all ruin'd unless the King could be induc'd to lie down before Glocester which he hop'd by one Engine to bring about what or who that Engine was the World is yet to learn but that there were too many such about his Majesty appear'd in most undertakings he engag'd in Neither was the Battle upon their Retreat at Newberry so advantagiously manag'd as it might have been for the Royal Army having happily got Possession of the Town and consequently stood in their way to London should have been wholly upon the Defensive so plac'd their Artillery and lin'd the Hedges that the difficulty should have been on the Enemy's side to force their Passage which they must either have done or starv'd for to my certain information in the Village where they were oblig'd to stop two Miles West of the Town they had neither Bread nor Drink not somuch as Water it having been a dry Season the Ponds were little else than Puddle the Springs low and the few Wells so soon drain'd as several Officers did proffer a handful of Money for a Pint of clear Water so that it must be right down Grinning Honour as Hudibras terms it which put the Cavaliers upon attacquing them in their thick Hedges or otherwise coming within reach of their Cannon which let alone they must have try'd to Eat yet at this rate Things were carryed till having lost a great many Noble and Brave Gentlemen and their Ammunition almost Spent they withdrew into the Town and set the Enemy a free return more than they expected or to be sure deserv'd Our Author ends this Year with bringing in the Scots and relates how prettily Sir Henry Vane trick'd them In removing the last and greatest difficulty about some doubtful Words in the Covenant which was to be taken by both Nations concerning the Preservation of the King's Person and reducing the Doctrine and Discipline of both Churches to the Pattern of the best Reformed For which Sir H. found an expedient by adding to the first Clause In preservation of the Laws of the Land and Liberty of the Subject And to the second According to the Word of God p. 79 and by this Evasion look'd upon themselves as oblig'd by neither but left free to Murther their King and use the Covenant as it deserv'd He saith likewise that for their the Scots Encouragement the Lords and Commons sentenc'd and caus'd Execution upon William Laud Arch-Bishop of Canterbury their Capital Enemy Which nevertheless was not till that time Twelve-month however done it was and perhaps thought a very Christian act by such as had nothing thereof And here to put his Murthers together we are
a Wish of mine yet there is something of a Memento in the Monument which no good Man can behold without reflecting upon the Premisses and let them alter the Inscriptions as often as they please they cannot alter the Decrees of Heaven I shall here further add that two other large Towns N n and W k have since met with the same Fate in the same irresistible manner without the least surmise either of French or Fireballs and I desire it may be enquir'd whether next the foremention'd Metropolis of Rebellion as well as otherwise any two Corporations in England were more zealous for the Factions and consequently more violent against our Royal Martyr's Cause and Person And that the Sovereign Iudge of the Universe still continues his Inquest upon this Righteous Prince's Sufferings with those Generous Loyal Spirits which Sacrific'd themselves or were otherwise cut off upon his Account is no more to be doubted from the Oeconomy of Divine Providence than that Ierusalem was destroy'd for Crucifying our Saviour and Persecuting his Church which nevertheless our Republican Whiggs and Fanaticks will no more believe now than the Iews did then and God grant it be not for the same Reason hid from their Eyes The last thing to be consider'd in this Iust Defence are those Sacred Remains of our Royal Martyr his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which for height of Matter elegancy of Stile and most Devout Addresses of an afflicted Soul equally express the Resignation of Iob and Inspiration of David But 't is not for me to recommend what all Men great and good have ever had in the profoundest Veneration My Province is to reflect upon those railing Shime's who have so impudently traduc'd these Glorious Reliques of his extraordinary Parts and exemplary Piety for that Bradshaw himself was forc'd to acknowledge asking in his Examination of Roiston who Printed it how so bad a Man could write so good a Book No better Character of his Person could be expected from the Monster which pass'd Sentence upon his Life and therefore 't is abominable Stuff in the Defence as ridiculous as impudent though he voucheth a Peer for his Author who saith Let that Book be written by the King or any body else there is little in it deserves Esteem pag. 14 There was nothing shock'd the several Sets of Rebels more nor made a deeper Impression upon the Minds of all such as had any thing left of an ingenious Recognition Upon which and many such like Accounts I always look'd upon that Pamphlet as coming from one of their Grubstreet Scriblers who write for Bread and so must resolve to Sacrifice both Truth and Reputation in gratifying their Party with groundless Stories and malicious Lyes Neither was I much beside the Mark if it came as by a late View I have Reason to Conjecture from the Author of Milton's Life where I find this excellent Piece treated in the like rude and foul-mouth'd Manner in many Places even to the same Expressions That the Person wants no Assurance his other Treaties speak both as to Matter and Management but that he should repeat all those vile Calumnies to render it Spurious which either Dr. Walker's Ignorance or from him the Faction's Impudence have so lamely urg'd and take no notice of the Vindication which so clearly so fully refels every Particular as groundless and false argues a very broad Forehead and most profligate disregard of whatever tends to Reputation good Manners or civil Esteem But this is not the first Time by many that Person hath discover'd how naturally he abounds with such bad Qualities And therefore as a worthy Divine lately observ'd We may cease to wonder that he should have the Boldness without Proof and against Proof to deny this Book 's Authority since for several Years last past he hath endeavour'd to do the same with Holy Writ whereas were it for no other Reason than that it is the Establish'd National Religion even Heathen Rome would have before this given him a toss into Tyber And surely those to whom it belongs will sometime or other awake and call him to Account for both When his Majesty we are now discoursing of had so far baffled Henderson in that grand Point of Episcopacy as the peevish old Fellow in the end would not vouchsafe him a Reply He pleasantly tells him you may have something of that which Chaucer saith belongs to the People of England What they not like they never Understand the common Practice of Fools and Knaves Prejudice of Iudgment upon Conviction becomes Perversness of Will the Conclusion they are resolv'd to stick to though convinc'd their Premises prove nothing And hence it is that these abominable Fellows have the Confidence still to insist upon Pamelia's Prayer though the Vindicator hath made it fully appear that many Impressions were wrought off and Sold before that appear'd as likewise how Bradshaw and Milton impos'd upon Dugard to put it at the end of his Edition I remember when a Boy to have heard some Relations of mine say that Dugard had lost them and all his honest old Acquaintance by that vile Complyance as likewise that besides the King's Book He in his Private Press had Printed Dr. Bates's Elenchus Motuum c. which gave a due that is severe Character of many Rebels more especially the Regicides upon Detection whereof they had got the School-Master under their Lash and would not take the Rod from over him till gratified in this abominable Foregery So likewise for the Author they would assign of that incomparable Book Bishop Gauden to repeat the several Testimonies of Dr. Walker Madam Gauden c. and take no notice with how irrefragable an Evidence the Vindicator hath reply'd to every the least Particular urg'd by them is a Modern way of managing Controversies the World was never before acquainted with and hath some Affinity with what I have heard related of a no very wise Judge in those Times of Rebellion who having heard the Council on one side thought it very clear and took up such as spake on the other for perplexing so good a Cause Nevertheless according to Civil Law Testes Domestici are adjudg'd invalid which will wholly exclude the two aforemention'd who relate nothing but what they had from the Bishop himself a Person so Ambitious Popular and vainly Affected as because his Lady a rich Widow and of some Quality fell in Love with him fondly conceited all others must have the like Admiration whereas indeed his Composition was of such an unhappy Eantre deux as to fix him no where he had too much of a Gentile Good-natur'd Humor to be a Presbyterian and too little of a Solid Divine for the Church of England however being patroniz'd by and match'd into Puritanical Families he ran with that Stream and took it very ill Thomas Goodwin was trick'd into the Assembly of Divines when he was design'd for the same Place and County Although about the same time he fell
Council were generally Members in one House or other and as well able to acquaint them with the true State and Interest of the whole Nation as any particular Member of that private Burrough he Represented and were credited accordingly which produc'd an exact Concord and Harmony between every Part of the Constitution On the contrary when the Members divide and jar one with another when all the King advise with must be suspected for Enemies to the Publick tho no such thing can be prov'd and he upbraided for consulting or imploying them and that by such as affect their Places or design to abridge his just Power what an Ocean of Mischiefs must this toss us in What but a Shipwrack can be expected at last As indeed it happen'd 'T is a pretty Remark and Simile of Sir W. T. who tells us he had observ'd All set Quarrels with the Age and pretences to Reform it by their own Models to end commonly like the pains of a Man in a little Boat who tuggs at a Rope that is fast to a Ship it looks as if he resolv'd to draw the Ship to him but the Truth and his meaning is to draw himself to the Ship where he gets in when he can and does like the rest of the Crew when he is there But this would not do in King Charle's Time there was not Room enough to hold all that pull'd to come in at leastwise Provision to support them when there For however Ludlow upbraids the poor King with the Profuseness of his Court the standing Revenue of the Crown was about 400000 l. per Annum too little by far to supply his great and urgent Occasions Would they have given him Mony plentifully some new Places might have been made or other Ways and Means found to gratify their Kindness but as they knew the King's Honor and Integrity would not Stoop to such indirect Courses so 't is probable 't was considered on the other side this would put them upon a worse extream instead of giving nothing they must give more than all Nevertheless some were taken in Sir Thomas Wentworth Mr. Noy and a while after Sir Dudly Diggs who had their several Posts assign'd them and behav'd themselves with great Honor and Resolution there which so incenc'd the rest as they became more implacable than ever plotted all Ways imaginable to seize upon the Vessel which at length having obtain'd they first threw the King and his whole Crew overboard and then sunk it All which the Good Man was advis'd of long before for in the heat of their Prosecution against the Duke there was a Letter put into his Hands ab Ignoto whereof Mr. Rushworth gives only a sneaking Abridgment like a partial Somewhat as he is for the whole deserv'd to have been Transmitted as well as any one thing in all his Volumes however 't is at large in the Cabala giving him an Account of their several Parties and dangerous Designs that King Iames had given too much way to their popular Speeches and Parliamentary Harangues which since the time of Henry the VI. were never suffer'd as being the certain Symptoms of subsequent Rebellions Civil Wars and Dethroning of our Kings Amongst others he tells him the Lawyers in general fomented these Heats for that as Sir Edward Coke could not but often express our Kings have upholden the Power of their Prerogatives and the Rights of the Clergy whereby their comings in have been abated And therefore the Lawyers are fit ever in Parliaments to second any Complaints against both Church and King and all his Servants with their Cases Antiquities Records Statutes Presidents and Stories But they cannot or will not call to Mind that never any Noble Man in Favour with his Sovereign was question'd in Parliament except by the King's leave in Case of Treason or unless it were in the Nonage and Tumultuous Times of Richard II. Henry VI. or Edward the VI. which happen'd both to the Destruction of King and Kingdom And that not to exceed our own and Fathers memories in King Henry VIII's Time Wolsie's exorbitant Power and Pride and Cromwell's Contempt of the Nobility and Laws were not yet permitted to be discus'd in Parliament though they were most odious and grievous to all the Kingdom And that Leicester's undeserved Favour and Faults Hatton's Insufficiency and Rawleigh's Insolence far exceeded what yet hath been tho most falsly objected against the Duke Yet no Lawyer durst abet nor any else begin any Invectives against them in Parliament This is clear Matter of Fact an impartial Account both of the Distemper and its true Original Cause I wish he could as easily have prescribed the Cure but it was now too late to remove what was so deeply rooted and become habitual King Iames might easily have prevented its rising to so high a Crisis had he observ'd that one Maxim of the Precedent Reign kept up his Prerogative and those other Arcana Imperij which were his Peculiar with as much Majesty and Resolution as Queen Elizabeth did who found this Pragmatical Spirit at work in her Time But so observ'd and kept it down as had the same Course been continued no Danger could have accrew'd thereby To ascribe any thing of Divinity to Princes above other Mortals will I am sure at this time of Day be censured for a gross piece of Pedantry yet really there are several Inducements would go a great way to perswade that this happy Queen was so far inspir'd as to see further into the Thoughts and Designs of Men than any or all about her especially that these busy Reformers affected a Parity in the State as well as Church design'd not only the Mytre but the Crown to be under their Check and Control which made her on all Occasions exert so briskly in defence of her Prerogative and other just Rights Insomuch as Roger Coke owns there were three things she was impatient of having debated in Parliament The Succession of the Crown after her Death Her Marriage and attempting any Alterations in the Church from its Establishment in the first Year of her Reign For the last of these I have had occasion already to mention how Morris burnt his Fingers by meddling therewith and the Iournal gives the like Account about the former how one Wentworth and some others were sent to the Tower for concerning themselves with the Succession but whereas Roger Coke saith they were soon discharg'd is one of his own Maggots and a shameful perhaps willful Blunder since the Iournal would have inform'd him that the House becoming humble Sutors to her Majesty for the release of such Members as were under restraint It was answered by the Privy-Counsellors then Members of the House That her Majesty had committed them for Causes best known to her self and that to press her Highness with this Suit would but hinder those whose Good it sought That the House must not call the Queen to an Account for what she did of her
Royal Authority that the Causes for which they were restrain'd might be high and Dangerous that her Majesty lik'd not such Questions neither did it become the House to deal in such Matters Upon which saith my Author the House desisted from interposing any farther in their behalf but left them wholly to the Queen by whom Wentworth was continued Prisoner some Years after 'T is probable indeed the others viz. Bromly Welch Stephens might be discharg'd sooner Thus did this Wise Princess hold the Reins of Government with so streight a Hand as whenever she found it biting the Bit and attempting to take head a suddain Check put a stop to the design'd Curreere Whereas King Iames was no sooner mounted but he left them strangely Loose and in effect gave them up his first Parliament where Roger Coke tells us the Commons in their Apology to him took notice of the Queen's Restraining their Debates as to several Matters and pray'd it might be no precedent for the future but that their Debates in Parliament might be free which the King however charg'd by the foremention'd Roger with Rehoboam's Stiffness so far comply'd with or was negligent in as that designing Faction got ground upon him every Day to his own and all his Ministers great Uneasiness with his Son's and Kingdoms ruin And this the foremention'd Letter too prophetically foretold that prevailing in one thing would but encourage them to attempt another till they had pull'd out all the Feathers of his Royalty and from impeaching his Ministers call him to an account for any thing he undertakes which doth not prosperously succeed For thus at last he himself was the Evil Counsellor and charg'd with all those Villanies and Mischiefs these Sons of Violence had brought upon the Nation CHAP. VI. Innovations in Religion never design'd BUt our pretended Patriots could not thoroughly have express'd their care unless they had made it the concern of God as well as the King for which Reason Religion must be taken in and every thing call'd an Innovation which tended to support the Church or conduc'd in any respect to Decency and Order in the Externals of Divine Worship And this Clamor of Redressing Religious Grievances altho by degrees it threw all open and brought in upon us an universal Deluge of Licentiousness Prophaneness Enthusiasm Atheism and what not yet the Factions are so impudent as to continue the Charge and with that false Mother care not how the Church be torn or cut in pieces so they may have their spiteful Wills Thus Ludlow will have it that the Clergy's influence upon the King was alwaies greater than could consist with the peace and happiness of England p. 2 d. whereas it was never happier than then and nothing but a regular Establishment in the Church could continue it so as the King knew very well which made him so earnest to Support it and the other Party knew it too which made them so earnest to pull it down Roger Coke likewise inveighs as much against the Arminian Bishops and Clergy of this King's Reign as his Grandfather when Attorny General did against Sir Walter Rawleigh Who is said by Osborn and the Tryal speaks as much to have Bawl'd him out of his Life And so in the same Manner the little Pamphletteers like Country Curs bark for Company Ye take too much upon you was that General and grand Charge Corah and his Accomplices brought against Moses and Aaron the Prince of the People and Priest of God And notwithstanding the Almighty's Vengeance so signally appear'd in that Quarrel as to send them all quick into Hell yet the Terror thereof hath not been able to affright such Children of Disobedience from Repeating their Provocations The Gates of Hell are continually Opening upon the Church and though never able to prevail against the whole may have sometimes Permission to chastise a part and do whatever else God in his Secret purposes hath resolv'd upon to which Unsearchable Will alone it must be referr'd That the Anointed of the Lord the great Defender of our Faith who best understood and best practis'd the Christian Religion of any Prince since the Prince of Peace was taken in their Nets and as the other Crucified so this by such like wicked Hands most barbarously slain And if the same Sovereign Disposer in this his great Displeasure proceeds farther to remove our Candlestick declare he hath no pleasure in us neither will accept an offering at our Hands we must notwithstanding acknowledge he is Righteous in all his Ways and Holy in all his Works For unto very nigh these Circumstances the many Sub and Super-Reformers have reduc'd what under the Auspicious care of its Royal Defender was the Glory of the whole Earth That therefore it may be known there was such a thing as the Church of England and as I said in a most flourishing Condition till these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many Physitians or Quacks rather would be shewing their Skill I shall take leave to make a Retrospect and represent upon what bottom she was first fix'd at the Reformation what false Brethren they were who interrupted and disturb'd this Establishment and likewise by what Arts and Degrees they engag'd I may say bewitch'd the People to assist them in such Confusions as were at length brought upon her Though the Reformation of our English Church was founded and carried on upon those infallible Truths the Primitive Times and Antient Fathers had practis'd from Scripture without any regard to Foreign Proceedings or if any rather Luther and Melancthon than Calvin and Beza had the Preference yet the two latter would be frequently putting their Sickle into our Harvest and partly by Corresponding but more especially by conversing with several Exiles both Clergy and Lay retired into those Parts during Queen Mary's Persecution gain'd too many Admirers who returning home upon Queen Elizabeth's coming to the Crown cry'd up the Geneva Model as the very Pattern which the Lord had shown from that Mount and according to which the whole Reformation must be carried on or no Blessing from him would attend it It would be here too tedious to relate what Arts they us'd and what Interests they made in Country City and Court As they began to think of setting up their darling Discipline and that in so insolent a manner as to declare That if the Government would not assist therein they must do it whether the Queen and State will or no insinuating how many Thousands their Party consisted of and threatned if not comply'd with such Courses as should make all their Hearts to ake Queen Elizabeth had too great a Value for her own well weighed Estalishments to have them Superseded by every Factious Caprice and thereupon resolv'd firmly against them And nothing but that steady Resolution of hers could preserve both Church and State from being even then ruin'd For these pretended Children of Light had so much of this World were so wise in their