as being the highest councel in the land in this cause I apeale debarred of my liberty before my cause according vnto the word be ouerthrowne The injury which I sustained the last parliament being a suitor in this cause enforceth me to craue this at your hands which otherwise I should haue perswaded my selfe to be a needles suit For wheras the auncient priueledges and liberties of this house do giue leaue during the parliament vnto any that are suitors thereunto quietly to follow their suits without feare of any arrest and being arrested do presently deliuer and set them free I was not suffred to enioy any the former liberties But contrary vnto all religion law equity and conscience to the great derogatiō of the liberties of this noble court was committed close prisoner by some who abused the high commission their dealing might haue appeared more tollerable lesse derogatorious vnto your Hh. worships if they had shewed any cause of mine imprisonmēt their abused authority only excepted which vnto this day is altogether vnknowne vnto me I know that the infirmities and wants of men who deale in good causes are commonly beaten vppon the back of the cause they handle Therefore the Lord knoweth how careful I haue bin to keepe it vnspotted and my selfe out of all vnnecessary danger Setting downe nothing before I had considered what might insue ether in regard of the matter or manner of deliuery But why did I publish a matter of such waight before I aquainted the parliament therewith Whie it is published to the ende that the parliament may bee acquainted with the suite which could not be done by priuate writing And it is but an vngodly shifte of those that woulde smother the trueth to pretend it to be against the law to moue the parliamēt in any suit that is printed As thogh the suits of men vnto that high courte were parliament statutes In deede if the parliament had enacted the remoouing out of Wales all L. Bb. dumb ministers c. Then were it an intollerable part for any to publishe their actes but by their appointment Graunt you the petition and the cauill of committing it to the presse will easily be answered If you do not meane to yeeld vnto the suite neither woulde you haue done it being mooued therevnto by priuate writing The cause I make knowne to the end it may be granted and herein let not my life be precious vnto me vpon the necessitie of the publishing hereof I stande because that the worlde may see when you redresse these things that you did nothing that you durst leaue vndone vnles you would bring swift destruction vpon your selues and the whole lande But what follie is it to thinke that such great matters wil be reformed in our dayes Rather what injurie doe they vnto the whole state who thinke that they wil any longer tollerate the breach of Gods law And in this point let the good opinion that they who alledge such pretences conceiue be wayed with my dutiful perswasions of this honorable assembly and both causes judged accordingly For mine owne part I think the majestie of the cause to be such as they who are the Lordes dare not but entertaine it and tremble to thinke that all this while it hath beene so carelesly attended vpon And it is in the behalfe thereof that I haue presumed to deale with you who otherwise durst not haue suffered my voyce to be hearde in the ears of the princes of my people Let what I haue written bee examined yea by mine aduersaries themselues if I haue any and it shal appeare that I haue made a conscience howe I haue delt with my superiors especially those concerning whom it is said you are Gods lest I should seem to leaue behinde me the least print of a minde in any sort tending to defame them or their gouernement As I haue bene carefull hereof so let the Lorde yea and no otherwise which I speak as far as my corruptions will permit grant this cause and my selfe also if it be his will fauour in your eyes In deed in regarde of the cause I come Mandatorie wise vnto this honorable assembly but in regard of my selfe I come in feare and trembling as vnto the Lords vicegerents entreating most humbly that the dignitie of so high a cause be thoght off nothing the more dishonorably because it is brought in my hands And I protest in respect of my sinnes that the Lorde may justly denie it the fauour it deserueth in your eyes because I am a dealer therein But this should be no reason why the parliament should giue it a repulse For in the eyes and eares of al the world I make it knowne that it is the cause of the liuing god wherin I deal And that if it had beene possible for me to haue written more humblye and dutifully I had done it Or if I had seene anye waye that might haue bene likelier to preuaile wirh my superiors then this I take the Lorde to witnesse vnto my soule that I woulde not haue vsed this course And I would to God I could tel how to make the cause plawsible So farre I am from setting downe any thing that might cary with it any shewe of occasion to hinder and disgrace the same Well I haue don my endeuour the successe I expect at the Lords hands vnto whome I commend the cause and the saluation of that poore people The sword of iustice reached vnto you by the Lord himselfe to take punishment onely of him that is an euil doer I fear not because I haue not offended If it should be drawne against me for this action the president would be such as they who ment herafter to prophesie vnto you might be aduisedly counseled not to prophesie and the Lord as a token of your iust destruction to ensue would say they shal not prophesie nor take shame If I haue spoken any vntruth beare witnes thereof if a trueth I dare stand to it by the Lords assistance and demand what he is that will presume to obiect and throw him selfe vnto the vengance of God by punnishing me an innocente It is a common manner with some in these dayes to threaten those who deale in this cause nowe in hand but they are to know that it is not so easie a matter to spil their bloud whose daies are numbered with the Lord. The Lord may I confesse with griefe in regard of my other sinnes bringe mine head to the graue with bloud but in this case what haue I offended And therfore vndouted woe wil betide him that shall molest me for this worke Howe soeuer it be thus I haue performed a duty towards the Lord his church my country you of this high court which I wold doe if it were to be done againe though I were assured to endanger my life thereby And be it knowne that in this case I am not afraid of earth If I perish I perish My comforte is that I knowe whither to go in that day wherein the secrets of all hearts shal be manifested the sincerity also of my cause shal apeare It is inough for me howsoeuer I be miserable in regard of my sinnes that yet vnto Christ I both liue and die and purpose by his grace if my life should be prolonged to liue hereafter not vnto my selfe but vnto him and his church otherwise then hitherto I haue don The Lord is able to raise vp those that are of puerer hands and lipps then I am to write and speak in the cause of his honor in Wales And the Lord make them whosoeuer they shal be neuer to be wanting vnto so good a cause the which because it may be the Lords pleasure that I shal leaue them behind me in the world I earnestly and vehemently commend vnto them as by this my last wil testament And haue you R. honourable worshipful of this parlirment poore Wales in remembraunce that the blessing of many a saued soule therein may follow her Maiestie your Hh. and worships overtake you light vppon you and stick vnto you for euer The eternal God giue hir Maiesty you the honor of building his church in Wales multiply the daies of hir peace ouer vs blesse her and you so in this life that in the life to come the inheritance of the kingdome of heauen may be her and your portion So be it good Lord. By him that hath bound him selfe continually to pray for your Hh. and worships IOHN PENRI
A viewe of some part of such publike wants disorders as are in the seruice of God within her Maiesties countrie of VVales togither vvith an humble PETITION vnto this high Court of Parliament for their speedy redresse ¶ WHEREIN IS SHEVVED not only the necessitie of reforming the state of religion among that people but also the onely way in regarde of substaunce to bring that reformation to passe ¶ To all those that faythfully loue the lord Iesus and vnfainedly desire the flowrishing estate of Sion together vvith the vtter razing of vvhatsoeuer obscureth the perfect beutie therof namely to such of my brethren and countrimen as the Lord hath enlightened with a true knowledge the ioy of an vpright and comfortable profession with the encrease of all other the Lords good graces be multiplyed in Iesus Christe our LORD I Am not ignoraunt beloued in the Lord hovv many and great causes there are vvherof the very least might seeme to haue bene sufficiently able to discourage me from this enterprise vvhich vnder the holy hand of my God I haue novv vndertaken J am guiltie vnto my selfe of great corruption and vveakenes The glory of God is not so regarded amongest men as it ought to be The Parliament hath hytherto reiected this cause The enemies thereof are many and strong But as the discouragements are not a fevve so J confesse my self to be dravvn back vvith none more then vvith the consideration of my selfe For looking into mine ovvn hart I do from the bottom therof protest so sinful base contemptible and euery vvay so vveak a vvretch as J am to be the vnfittest instrument vnder heauen to deale in so vvaighty a cause Jt commeth into my minde that the Lord in iust iudgments tovvards my sinnes should deny any blessing vnto my endeuors J knovv that my vveaknes in handling the cause might disgrace the same And inasmuch as states for the most part looke vvith fleshly eyes It commeth into my minde that the suit by reason of my base estate should be reiected and cast off But all those likelihoods notvvithstanding yet I see that the Lord vvill haue the cause once againe brought vnto the Parliament in my hands to try vvhether men vvill not acknovvledge the Gopell and the gouernment of his son to vvit the scepter vvhereby alone Christ Iesus ruleth among men to be vvorth the entertaynment in their assemblies thogh it be not accompanied vvith that vvorldly maiesty vvhervvith vvhen it pleaseth him he is able to countenance it And hereby it is in deed that men do truly shâ—vv themselues to tremble before the son of God and to stoop vnto his royall Scepter vvhen they are not ashamed of his vvord hovv base soeuer they be that become suiters in the behalfe therof For mine ovvne part hovvsoeuer I haue iust occasion to lament mine ovvne great corruptions yet J may boldly say in the presence of God al those vnto vvhose consideration these labors of mine are offred publish thus much that this cause as near as I could is altogither separated from those foul staines vvhervvith J acknovvledge my selfe to be defiled And J hope that it so offereth it selfe vnto the publike vievv and consideration of the Parliament as they haue no iust cause by reason of my great vveaknes and base estate to reiect the same Neyther is any man to maruell that J being charged of late by M. Doct. Some in publike vvriting to be not onely a defender of many blasphemous errors but also an vnderminer of the ciuill State durst presume to become a sutor vnto the high Court of Parliament before J had first cleared my selfe of those crimes For my purpose being to haue published an ansvvere to M.D. Some before this cause should be made knovvn I vvas dravvne vvhether I vvould or no to take the opportunity of setting out this vvhich I thought to be most vvaighty least that if I had deferred it vntill th' other had come forth I might haue bin preuented of the means to publish it in any due time Besides the 185. page line 2. 30. of M.D. Somes booke vvherein he hath freely graunted me the controsie betvveene vs vvhich is that vnpreaching ministers are no ministers and consequently not to be communicated vvith do euidently shevv that he did not vvell knovv himselfe vvhat he did in charging me so far beyond christian modesty for defending nothing els in these points but that vvhich his ovvne vvritings do publikely vvitnes against him to be Gods truth So that of al oother causes his bare and by his ovvne vvitnes for the most part false accusations ought least of all to disvvade me from this labour though I neuer ment to aunsvvere him But by the grace of God he shal be ansvvered and that very shortly And the Petition being in the behalfe of Gods honor and the good of his Church the small regard that the Parliament hath had heretofore vnto such suites ought not greatly to discourage me the nomber might povver and authoritie of the enemies of the cause much lesse He that ruleth the harts of men can encline them to the setting forth of his ovvne glory vvhen he thinketh good That vvhich the Lord for some cause seeming good vnto his vvisdome doth not grant at one time he being for the promoting of his honor lightly bringeth to passe at some other season And the attempts of his children for the buylding of his Church haue not alvvayes that successe vvhich they vvish vnder their hands For he vseth the endeuors of some not to finish the building but to be a preparation vnto that vvorke which he meaneth to effect by the hand of others Zerubabel and Ezra labored very hardly in the building of Ierusalem the Lord did not finish the vvorke by their means and yet that vvhich they did vvas a great furtherance vnto Nehemiah vvhose hands the Lord vsed in ioyning the vvall So the endeuors of Gods children in our dayes may haue their effect to the glory of God and the comfort of his Church amongst our posterities It vvas a common demaund the last Parliament vvhere the cause of reformation being then labored for vvas 26. or 28. years agone and vvherfore after so many years of the Gospell enioyed in this land the motion of altering the outvvard state of the Church in the offices and officers therof Came it so out of time to be considered off Least the like obiection should be vsed in the ages to come behold the mountayns of VVales do novv in the 31. yeare of the raign of Queen ELIZABETH call heauen and earth to vvitnes that they are vveary of their dumb ministers nonresidents Lord Bishops c. and that they desire to be vvatered by the devve of Christs holy Gospell and to be compassed about vvith that beautifull vvall of his holy gouernment Be it then granted that the Lord in anger tovvards our sins doth not account vs novv liuing vvorthy to be inuited by hir right excellent Maiesty
lavvgiuer in his Church vvho hath protested that he vvil not abide to impart the glory thereof vnto any other And vvhom should they then feare in this suite The Lorde hath promised that none vvho trust in him shall perish Psal 34.22 And he hath promised that although the vvicked vvatch to slay the righteous yet he vvill not leaue him in his hand psal 37.32 Yea he hath promised to be vvith those that fear him vvhen they Esay 48.1.2 passe through the vvaters that they should not be ouerflovven and vvhen they vvalke thorough the fire that they should not be burnt VVherefore then shold they fear man whose breath is in his nostrels as long as they sincerely stand to the cause of their God Though they be but a fevv in nomber yet the Lord vvith legions of Angels standeth on their side to d scomfite all those that contende vvith him Oh J vvould that the vvords of the Lord spoken by Isaiah the Prophet vvere thoroughly vvritten in the hearts of as many in this honorable assembly as for the feare of man vvill be the hardliar dravvn throughly to stand to the cause of their God For thus comfortably the Prophet Chap. 51 of his prophesie speaketh vnto all those that vvith an vpright heart seeke the honor of the Lord. Heare me ye that follow after righteousnes and ye that seeke the Lord looke to the rocke whence you are hewen and to the hole of the pitt whence you are digged Consider Abraham your father and Sarah that bare you for I called him alone and blessed him and encreased him Hearken vnto me yee that know righteousnes and the people in whose hearts is my law fear ye not the reproch of men neither be you afraide of their rebukes I euen I am he that comfort you Who art thou that thou shouldest feare a mortall man and the sonne of man which shal be made as grasse and forgettest the Lorde thy maker which hath spredd out the heuens layd the foundations of the earth c. Novv then vvhosoeuer they be that are timerous in the cause of God as alasse vvhat flesh and blood is not too too feareful here is a stedfast rocke for them to leane vnto here is a defender for them vnder the shadovv of vvhose vvings they might be bold to contemne vvhatsoeuer their aduersaries can bring against them Are they but a fevv in nomber let them looke vnto Abraham he vvas called alone and yet the Lord blessed him and encreased him Are they afrayd of the rebukes of man vvhy they seeke the righteous vvayes of the Lord and therefore he commandeth them not to feare Are they povverfull and mighty by vvhom the suit is d scountenaunced yea but notvvithstanding they are but mortall they shal be made as grasse and the time vvill come vvherein it shal be demanded VVhere are they novv that vvithstood the cause of God in the Parliament of England Js not their memory vvritten in vvater and their hope perished together vvith them To desire the free passage of the Gospell in this land together vvith the speedie remoouing of all that hindereth the same is to plead the cause of that God vvho hath controlled kings and great Monarches yea quite ouerthrovvne them their kingdomes for denying the free vse of his seruice vvithin their dominions Euen the cause of that God vvho hath not onely brideled the rage of tyrants entending the suppression of his trueth but also turned that vnto the great good of his Church vvhereby they sought to vvorke the ruine thereof Pharaoh Achitophel Senacherib Haman came to the graue vvith blood vvhen in the eyes of men the most of them vvere likeliest to preuayle and the cause of God and his children vnlikeliest to stand The Lord in this kingdom can do the like vvhen he thinketh good Ezra 4.7.8 5.3 Cap. 6.7 7.23 The accusations and slanders of Mithridath Tabeel Rehum Shimsai Shetherboznai vvith their companions did seeme likely once and againe to hinder the buylding of the holy citie but at the length it broght froÌ„ Darius a most sure strong commandement for the furtherance of the work clean contrary to the expectation of the enemie And vvho knovveth vvhether the Lord at this Parliament vvill not stir vp the spirits of the Sates and especially of her R. excellent Maiestie that they may say vnto the enemies of this cause as Darius did vnto the men aforenamed Therefore Tatnai captaine beyond the riuer Shetherboznai vvith their companions be ye far from them Suffer the vvorke of this house of God to go forvvard And a Ezra 7.23 vvhatsoeuer is by the commandement of the God of heauen let it be done speedely for the house of the God of heauen for vvhy should he be vvroth against the realm c. vvherfore beloued vvhosoeuer you be that at any time shal be imployed eyther as Parliament or othervvise in the sâ—tting forvvard of the cause of reformation stand manfully in defence of the truth the liberty of his Church The practises of the aduersaries I mean of our bishops shevv manifestly that these reliques of cursed Babylon vvhich they maintayne among vs must needs go avvay vvith a noyse as the rest vvas ouerthrovvne They vvill not yeelde to the trueth hovvsoeuer it hath gotten the vpper hande of them The Lord must vse violence to throvv them out as he did against the caterpillers their forefathers Reuel 18.19 They haue manifested hitherto hovv desperate and past recouery the cause vvhich they defend is become in that they haue denyed to yeelde a quiet and a brotherly conference or disputation vvith those vvho are contrary minded vnto them Jf J may but procure this vvith our BB. in VVales I vvill loose my life if they be not ouerthrovven vvhich I speake not vvithout the humble acknovvledgement of myne ovvne vveaknes And let me not be thought by any to deale too confidently for J deale in a sure and a confident cause vvhich is not timerously to be delt in but in the feare of God vvith all boldnes to be stood to and auouched And whensoeuer they or any of theirs shal but aduenture their places against my life they shall perceiue by the grace of God that there is strength in the cause which hitherto they haue withstood to their smal gaine Yea but I might haue dealt more sparingly against them It vvere pity in deed but J should intreat the high court of Parliament to heale the disease of my countrie but so notvvithstanding as they vvould suffer the cause of the griefe and misery thereof still to remaine The Parliament should be sued vnto for helpe against the disease and bane of the country of VVales but so as they vvould fauor the causes thereof And vvhat malladie is there J pray you in our Church vvhereof the dumbe ministers nonresidents our Lord BB. vvith the rest of that vngodly generation are not the cause J should spare them vvho spare not the Church
not onely monstrously maymed the outward face of the church in the matter of gouernement and ceremonies but also grieuously wounded the same in the matters of doctrine and sacramentes vnto the mayntenance of all which corruptions in the gouernment of the Churche in the ceremonies in the doctrin sacraments they haue joyned the crimes of seducing and deceiuing the ciuill state and people by bearing all estates in hand that al hath bene and is well in the Church and in like manner as much as in them lay they haue vexed and persecuted as many of the deare seruants of God as haue but entended to motion the redresse of any of the former corruptions Hereof if I shall not be able to prooue the eyes and leaders of this synagogue consequently the whol house to bee guiltie let mee to the terror of all slaunderers be put to all the torments that may bee invented The Conuocation house cannot here object that I deal injuriously with the whol assembly by laying vnto the charge of the whol those crimes whereof our Bb. alone are guiltie For the whole house neuer as yet disauowed the hierarchie of Bb. their practises in vrging subscription in maintayning the dumbe ministerie nonresidencie c. And vntill the corruptions of the Bb. be ouerthrown in that assembly the whol house shall be still justly subject vnto the former accusations See now my Lords whether they doe not bewray their impietie who think that men weary them selues about small matters when they call for a reformation of the church And see whether there be not many and vrgent causes to inforce the parliament to take the gouernment of the Church out of the hands of these men vnlesse the continuance of the ruinous breaches of our Church would be stil maintined it is not the matter of capp surplice tippet and other beggerlie and popish ceremonies whence al the dissention and dissagreement in our church is sprong vp But the controuersies arise because our Archbb. and Bb. are not permitted with the silence and consent of the seruants of God to smother persecute depraue corrupt the truth of that true religion which in name they professe to vndermine and captiuate the church of God in this land Those who withstand their vngodly procedings haue hitherto dutifully kept them selues within the bonds of the calings wherin the Lord hath placed them they haue in al submission and duty entreated that the cause of God might be equally hard and that her Maiestie and the parlament would amend the things proued to be amis they haue neuer as yet presumed theÌ„selues to take in hand the correction of any thing But how quietly on the other side haue the leaders of the conuocatioÌ„ house behaued them selues wheÌ„ a redres hath bin caled for at the hands of the ciuil state Surely they haue alwais hitherto preseÌ„tly betakeÌ„ theÌ„selues to imprisonments and bonds and would neuer suffer the truth to haue the hering nor any man with quietnes to stand in the defence therof And therefore also al the tumults that hereafer are like to arise in the Church of God within this land about these controuersies the leders of the conuocation house are the causes thereof for they wil not yeeld vnto the truth but labour by all meanes possible to smother the same Gods seruants cannot winke at their procedings vnlesse they would betray Gods truth and the libertie of his church The least parte of the sinnes of our Bb. hath bin in the maintenance of vnprofitable supersticious and corrupt ceremonies If they would but yeeld free passage vnto the truth and hir authority vnto the church in other matters they should not be gretly molested for these things And woe be vnto them if they had rather prouoke god and his church to battel against them for the defence of the truth then receiue the light grant peace vnto the church Concerning her Maiestie who as it is thought can neuer be induced to aulter the established gouernment I answere that if it be made known vnto her and proued out of the word that the established regiment of the church is traiterous against the Maiestie of Iesus Christ that it confirmeth the popes supremacie O therfore it is dangerous vnto her crown that it is besides the commission giuen by our Sauiour Christ vnto his apostles and therefore accursed that it sheweth them to be void of all care of reâ—igion who wittingly countenance the same and that it calleth for the judgments of God against her and her kingdom and then if shee yeeld not vnto the razing of all sinful callings out of the church I will not desire to liue if this be thought a matter worthy of death for a man to be dutyfully perswaded of his soueraigne Be it that her Maiestie hath bin moued by some of this house for the redresse of the church you should moue her againe and againe and neuer leaue vntil you be heard Great matters are neuer brought to passe without great and mighty endeuours Our sinnes haue otherwise deserued then that the Lord should at the first encline mercy vnto vs in the sight of her highnes Would any of you alter any part of the gouernment of his family being perswaded by leud flatterers that all were well vnlesse the abuse were shewed and you earnestly dealt with for a reformation And can you then maruel that our soueraigne is hardly drawne to reforme the church whose estate in her hearing is daily said out of the pulpit to be most florishing wheras the deformity therof is not made knowne vnto her I know it is no smal perswasion that should driue a monarch to abrogat the receued constitutions and establish new vnles the vnanswerable necessiry thereof were made knowne vnto her or him I am perswaded that her Maiestie knoweth not the exacting necessitie that lieth vppon her sholders of reforming the church Shee knoweth not the estate of her vntaught and damned subiects to be as it is Wherefore serue parliament men if her eies must be in al places to see euery thing and what doe you see if you do not see our miserie and lament it I grant indeed that of this point she ought to be most careful but if of oversight the waightiest matters be omitted shoulde not you put her in mind hereof And in submission entreat her and neuer leaue entreating vntill shee yeeld to turne away the wrath of God from her and her kingdome by abollishing vngodly ordinances and restoring beauty vnto Zion Well I haue forged the most notable slanders that euer were coined or els the state of my cuntrey vnder her Maiesties gouernment is very miserable yours no lesse lamentable if it so continue And if you make not the same knowne vnto her Maiestie and see it be speedely amended the Lord make Quene Elizabeth and her crown free from the bloude of her destroyed people And I pray God if it be his will that their soules be not required at your