And what a justification would this be to all their assassinations what a satisfaction to their desires what a staine and wound to the Protestant Religion and what an advantagious service to the Romish and what vengeance of vengeances must it needs pull upon this whole Nation that have had so often and so loud warnings of it and do not as by severall oaths and manie other bonds they are obliged hazard their owne lives to prevent it but still contribute towards it by assisting those that contrive and complot it 2 Chron. chap. 3 5. Lam. 4.20 It is recorded of Josiah one of the best Kings of Judah that being taken in the pits of the Aegyptians as Jeremies phrase is and slaine by them both the Prophet Jeremiah lamented for him and all Judah even the singing men and the singing women spake of him in their lamentations for a long time after his death and they made them an Ordinance in Israel it seems the remaines of Israel joyned with Judah in that mourning for the lamenting of him And this was such a great mourning that the Spirit of God speakes of the greatnesse of it many yeares after Zech. 12.11 But should our Josiah which the Lord of Lords and King of Kings of his mercy forbid be slaine by those Aegyptians that have him now in their pits not onely our Jeremiahs our great Prophets but all the Prophets and Prophets Sons throughout this Nation the lying Apostatizing Prophets only excepted that have deserted their Religion upon that destructive alteration suggested yea and all the men women and children of these three Kingdomes that wish well to the Protestant Religion and the good of these Kingdomes would excessively lament it unto all posterities though we have too much cause to believe that we should never obtaine an Ordinance for it from those Ordinance-makers that now beare rule beware then in time and that time is very short You have had such triall of King Charles his fidelity and firmnesse to the Protestant Religion as never Prince gave the like and I hope never Prince either in this or any other Nation shall be put to the like for he hath had as great and as strong temptations as prosperity and adversity in the height and depth of both could court or torment with even such as would have made a Luther or a Calvin a Cranmer or a Ridley or anie other of the most renowned confessors or Martyrs of the Reformed Religion either to have sunk or shrunk under them or else would have rendered them far more glorious then their confessions or suffrings did or could render them though they want for no accesse of Glorie on Earth or reward in Heaven Beware then I say in time for if King CHARLES should come to resist unto blood as he hath alreadie often done to the extremitie of hazard of it and that Royall Religious blood of his should be shed by you that professe your selves to be of the same Religion with him if of anie at all either by your contributing money horse armes personall assistance or ought else to those that thirst and hunt after his blood and to the resisting of those that seek with the expence of their own to save it or else by their not contributing what is in your power to the hazzard of your own lives for the preservation of his still in such known hazzard for they that preserve not blood from being shed when it is in their power to preserve it are undoubtedly guiltie of shedding it Besides the deep everlasting staine that you would thereby bring upon the Protestant Religion such a guilt and horror would withall seize upon your soules when God should come to set your sinnes in order before your eyes as doubtlesse he will sooner or later that if ye did not like some Murtherers beleeve that whatsoever ye lookt on Psal 50.21 ye behold King CHARLES his bleeding sides and whatsoever ye eat or drank ye tasted King CHARLES his Blood yet would ye wish ten thousand times over that you had lost everie drop of your own bloods and of the bloods of those that are most yours that ye had but done your dutie in time for the preserving of his Of all blood-guiltinesse take heed of being guiltie of the blood of a King for as he that is guiltie of anie mans blood is in that guiltie of more bloods then the blood of one and therefore the Scripture speaking of the shedding of blood does commonly if not constantly use a word that signifieth bloods in the plurall number so they which are guiltie of the blood of a King are in that guiltie of the bloods of a whole Kingdom everie Subject losing blood in the losse of his Soveraign Yea what if I should say that they which are guiltie of the blood of their King are to be reputed as guiltie of doing their utmost to shed the blood of God if I may so speak after the manner of men or of Christ himselfe I should not need to be put to prove it if what is most true be but confessed namely that Kings are Gods immediate vicegerents and the most representative image of his Majestie Psal 82.6 and therefore called Gods which may be one reason if not the main one why the shedding of the bloods of the most wicked of Kings by anie of their own Subjects hath been alwaies so publikely and severely avenged as in severall stories is recorded But above all abhorre the thought of being guiltie of King CHARLES his blood least in it you prove not only guiltie of what is alreadie told you but also of more Protestants bloods then have yet been shed since the Reformation as well as of the best that ever ran in anie veines And to you my deare Countriemen I adde this one short caution more Take you heed least as your Ancestors the religious Protestants of this Countie are highly honoured in the Acts and Monuments of our Church and in the Annales of our Common-weale for the discharging their dutie in that height of equitie and fidelitie as to be the prime aiders and assisters of Soveraigntie in the setling and establishing the last and for persecuting the professors of the Gospell the worst Popish Prince that ever swaied the Scepter of this Kingdome so ye your selves be eternally stigmatized by all records of Church and State for deserting your dutie and becoming the abetters and maintainers of Rebells and Traitors in the deposing and murdering for that 's known to be their designe of the last for so 't is resolved if they can compasse their resolutions and the best Protestant Prince that ever yet swayed this or anie other Scepter whatsoever Consider what I say and the Lord give you understanding in all things And so I passe from the King to your fellow Subjects and your selves and with the consideration of the severall and joynt present State and condition of both I shall conclude this faithfull and faire warning
be avouched and will be by those that know them of the rest of those Worthies that are with them infinitely beyond what can be affirmed of the most select Regiment yea Troop that the adverse Army can cull out But I speake only of those two because the people have spoken most of them and they are best knowne to mee and indeed so well knowne are they to mee that I should have been more guilty of bearing false witnesse then they of raising such a false report had I not vindicated their Honours from such a notorious calumnie And now that they are named suffer me to interpose this one word more concerning them If there be any thing besides their known loyaltie that does exasperate the factious seditious party against them 't is their eminent and approved firmenesse and immoveablenesse in the Protestant Religion And if they should miscarry in this action which I shall with all earnestnesse and constancie as all that wish well to this languishing Church and state ought to do pray that they may not the Protestants would find as great a losse in them as in any of their Peeres within the three Kingdomes But I have severed them too long from their honourable and ever to be honoured society and fellow-Souldierie Are they not all or the most of them men of known tried integrity and honesty and many of them your very next neighbours and have they not so proved themselves by their Declarations Remonstrances and actions Do they not all professe clearly that they have and do ingage themselves in this present undertaking only for the defence and preservation of the established Protestant Religion for the delivering their Soveraigne from bondage and imprisonment and from being murdered therein for the restoring of his Majesty to his lawful Government just rights and throne in Parliament for the maintenance of the known Lawes of the land and the rights Liberties and properties of their fellow-subjects and for the procuring and setling of a firme and happy peace in this miserably divided and all most utterly ruined Kingdome would to God that the Army which call themselves the Parliaments when they please had declared or would but yet declare halfe so much and give such assurance for the performance thereof as those Worthies will give and then it might be hoped that these unnaturall warres would soone be ended But when so many of that Army have so openly declared and proclaimed the contrary to all these and some of them have been bold to say that they fought neither for King nor Parliament and that they had above sixty thousand to be at eight houres warning to fight both against King and Parliament and have given very observable earnests of their having too many in a readinesse by their sudden raising such considerable Troopes and Regiments of such and wholly such within very few daies It is high time for all those that would not bee gull'd cheated or forced out of all those forenamed comforts and honours to betake themselves to their armes for their defence maintainance and continuance And what a staine shame and reproach will it be to you of this Countie and to your Posterities after you That when such men of such knowne honour and integritie and of such approved firmnesse and fidelity to their Religion King and Countrie like those renowned Worthies eternized by the Spirit of God to memory and imitation jeoparded their lives to death in the high places of the field for the defence and maintainance of those very truths and rights Judg. 5. which ye your selves have often sworne and protested and doe still pretend and professe to defend and maintaine and that against the most base perfidious pernicious seditious trayterous bloodie tyrannous professed and proclaimed Enemies thereof yee not onely deserted them and came not out to their helpe To the helpe of the Lord against his and their adversaries but rose up and came out against them and cast in your lot with those Adversaries that lay waite for blood for the blood of Kings Princes Priests and people Prov. 1. and lurke privily for the innocent without a cause not considering that by so doing ye lay wait for your owne blood and lurke privily for your owne lives And so my poore Countrey-men I come a little closer yet to your selves and to the consideration of your owne state and condition and then I shall commend you to Gods mercy if by your repentance ye shall render your selves capable thereof How little you of this Countie have beene sensible of the miseries and distresses of your fellow Subjects and Brethren and how much you have contributed to them I leave to your owne conscience to examine and to your selves to judge your selves for them Only take these two conclusions along with you as two inseparable consequents of those two premises First That mers not being sensible of their brethrens miseries Amos 6. from v. 2. to v. 12. Isa 22. v. 12 13 14. Jer. 4. v. 8 10. u. and chap. 12. v. 11. and so not taking warning by them pulls so much the more certaine and sore judgments upon themselves they that remember not Texts of Scripture enough to that purpose consult those in the margent Secondly That when God hath made use of any people to scourge others by for their sinnes and iniquities as he usually does of the worse to scourge the better he does constantly cast that his rod into the fire and punish that people the more severely by whom he hath severely punished others and one principall Reason thereof is because they whom God makes use of as his scourge to others doe with Gods chastisement or vengeance for their sinnes constantly intermix their owne malice and other iniquities in chastising and taking vengeance on them And this conclusion you have confirmed in each circumstance by many remarkable and cleare examples as one of the Bookes of the Prophets namely in Ezekiels Prophesie As in Gods dealing with the Ammonites the Moabites and those of Mount-Seir the Edomites and the Philistines Ezek. 25. with those of Tyrus chap. 26. with those of Zidon chap. 28. with Pharoah and all Egypt chap. 29. and with the rest of the heathen chap. 36. All which people had beene at severall times scourges to the people of Israel and Judah and are in that relation there called to an account adjuged by God to those judgements And though you may from these sad conclusions see evidence enough of your hastning Calamities yet there are other visible symptomes of your approaching Miseries which may perchance more awaken you as crying yet somewhat louder unto you and at lesse distance either to repent speedily or to expect swift destruction suddainly As first What thinke ye will be the inevitable consequents of your late ingagement against those Worthies of our David before but never too often named to their honour and your shame those English Heroes those Lords Knights Gentlemen Yeomen and others in renowned Colchester
God to forgive him his trespasses as he forgives them that trespasse against him though too many of you have cast out that whole Prayer out of your Closets Families and Churches and therefore doe not yee measure his Charity by your own uncharitablenesse What an injury is it to the Spirit of Grace in another for any to think that because I have been so wicked as to doe another so great wrong therefore that other must needs be so cruell and uncharitable as never to forgive me that wickednes Why Though God did leave thee to thy self and so thou through want of Grace didst deal most injuriously and wickedly with another yet thou canst not without injury to the Spirit of God conclude that therefore he will also leave that other so to himselfe as that he shall revenge himselfe on thee The King is the minister of God Rom. 13. a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill And therefore having done that which is evill yea most abominable evill thou hast cause to be afraid as the Apostle there argues But withall as thou art there told he is also a minister of God to thee for thy good and therefore if thou wouldst not be afraid of the power doe that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same Cease to doe evil and learn to doe good break off thy Rebellion and return to thy Allegiance and thou shalt finde that the King will be to thee not a revenger to execute wrath upon thee for thy evill because that thou hast forsaken and abhorrest thy self for it but a gracious receiver of thee to mercy because thou art returned to thy dutie and art resolved to perservere in that dutie for the King knows well that mercy as well as truth Prov. 20. v. 28. preserves a King and his throne is up holden by mercy But suppose the King were not so eminently inclined to mercy and forgivenesse as he is Remember what he tels you who was a King himselfe The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord Prov. 21.1 as the rivers of water he turneth it whithersoever he will and therefore doe but you turn to the Lord and to your duty and you need not feare but the Lord will turne the Kings heart to you for your good They that despaire of Gods shewing them so much mercy upon their repenting of their iniquity as to turne the Kings heart to them so as to remit unto them what they have deserved to suffer temporally how can they hope for so much greater mercy from God as that his own heart should be so turned within him Hos 11.8 as the Prophets expression is as to remit to them what they have deserved to suffer eternally if they despaire of Gods mercy in the lesser degree how can they hope for his mercy in the greater God does t is confessed oftentimes chastise and afflict and so make use of men as his instruments for that purpose temporally those whose sinnes he pardones and forgives eternally As Daniel Job c. But then they are not such as despaire of finding mercy in a temporall deliverance but such as hope for mercy in a deliverance temporall if God see it good for them and waite in faith and patience Gods will and pleasure in it Gods mercy is infinitely greater then mans and so the cruelty of men may be feared where the mercy of God is hoped for and relied on but that feare where t is as it should be does not banish the hope of deliverance from that crueltie that is most feared David chose rather to fall into the hand of God because his mercies are great then into the hand of man That is when David had sinned 2 Sam. 24. and had his choyse of temporall iudgements for that sin offered him by God he chose rather to have a temporall judgement of Gods more immediate inflicting by his owne hand such as the plague is then a temporall judgement inflicted by the hand of man such as the fleeing before enemies and being pursued by them is and yet by the way when David did at any time as he did often fall into the hand of man he never dispaired of deliverance from that hand but on the contrary patiently waited for it and confidently expected it But David did not chuse so to fall into the hand of God rather than the hand of man as to adventure to doe any thing which was displeasing to God and so to run the hazard of his punishing him either with temporall or eternall judgements rather then to venture the displeasing of man and so to suffer what he could lay on him which is the case of too many in these dayes No Heb. 10. v. 3â— David knew well what I beseech you all to consider that in that sense t is a fearefull thing to fall into hands of the living God infinitely more fearefull then to fall into the hands of the most cruell of men To descend yet lower for men in dispaire descend very low and he that would lend them his hand to recover them must follow them close Let it be supposed as I am confident t is yet but a supposition that the abused mercy and clemency of the King should be turned into the extremity of rigor severity and being injured by thee beyond expression he should execute vengeance on thee beyond moderation T is acknowledged that he that is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evill may himselfe doe evill and pull Gods wrath upon himselfe By his executing wrath upon another for he may soone intermixe too much of his owne wrath with it but if he should thou must willingly submit to the execution thereof and leave the sinne of his executing it to himselfe to answer for and him to God to be called to that answer But t is a crime to be abominated by all men upon feare of anothers punishing thee otherwise then thou wouldest or perhaps then he should for thy wickednesse already committed to proceed on therefore in thy wickednesse and to adde to it the just desert of greater punishment for the preventing as thou thinkest that punishment which is too great Rom. 12. Heb. 10. Vengeance is the Lords and he will repay necompence every one according to their deeds if not by one revenger or executioner of his wrath to bee sure by another and the suffering patiently by the hand of him whom thou hast injured though his hand should be heavy may not only be a quieting to thy conscience in giving such satisfaction to the person himselfe wronged and to the Law but it may be also such an acceptable satisfaction to divine Justice it selfe through him that hath otherwise fully satisfyed it that no further satisfaction shall be required of thee for those injuries thou having made such satisfaction to him unto whom thou didst them And let this suffice in answer to the distrust of the Kings mercy
I have but a few words to adde concerning the Kings Party who are by divers more distrusted then the King and then I close up this first Consideration How the Kings loyal and faithful Subjects who in obedience to Gods command and in conscience of that duty in fidelity to the established Religion of the Church of England in testimony of that fidelity in love to their Soveraignes supereminent Graces and vertues and in gratitude to God and him for his exercising them in his regall and Christian government of them and this whole Kingdome for so many yeares together and which must not be forgotten in the discharge of the many naturall and civill bonds of Allegiance and for the performing of those many sacred and solemne vowes and oathes made to God for the strengthening those bonds have adheared unto and assisted his Majesty in the defence of the established Religion in the preservation of his sacred person Honour and dignity and in the maintainance of his just power rights and prerogatives together with their own and your just lawes liberties and properties How I say those faithfull and loyall Subjects of the King for their adhearing to and assisting of their King upon these grounds in these wayes and to these ends have beene reproached slandered plundered hunted up and down imprisoned sequestred banished sold as slaves and for slaves starved hanged and otherwise murthered their wives and children abused oppressed forced to live upon the charity of others or otherwise made weary of their lives are things so well known to your selves and to the world that if there be any thing that makes you to doubt of the charity of the Kings Party t is the consciousnesse of your owne Parties unchristian unexampled cruel barbarous in-sufferable and with any but God and them unpardonable dealing with them and theirs And therefore if any of you should come into their power and they should exercise that power upon you to their utmost of fury and vengeance they could not deale so ill with you as you have done with them except they should act over your owne Tragicall practises upon your selves and yet still they would come farre short of you because they should doe what they so did but by way of recompence where t is first deserved and they thereunto deeply provoked whereas you did it only in pure malice without any desert or provocation at all more then what your owne false feares and jealousies fained and fancied And if they should march your crucltie as farre as they were able and reward you according to your wayes and according to your doings which is Gods usual way of dealing with men when no other way will doe good on them As it would be most just with God so the most of men would be ready to justifie them in it and so should I if these two cautions or conditions were truly observed 1. If they had Gods command for it 2. And if they could doe it without intermixing their own revenge with it But because they have no assurance of the former and may be assured that they cannot observe the latter and therefore how glorious or just soever it is for God to use whomsoever he please as the executioners of his vengeance upon others yet t is but unhappy and uncomfortable for any to be made such instruments and executioners upon these and such like reasons I tremble to thinke of any such retaliation and I have many other reasons to assure me that they will abhorre to practise it For how ill soever you and your lying Prophets have voyced them or how deeply soever ye have reprobated and damned them the Kings party have to my knowledge been better instructed both from Christ and his Gospel and from those dispensers thereof which you for other ends forced unto them as also from their very sufferings which you without cause have loaded them withall They have beene taught to recompence to no man evill for evill Rom. 12.17 Mat. 6.15 Mat. 18.12 they have beene taught that if they forgive not men their tresspasses neither will their father forgive them theirs They have been taught to forgive their brethren not till seven times but till seventy times seuen They have been taught that how highly soever their fellow servants have sinned against them yet in respect of their sinning against their own Lord and and theirs t is not so much as the debt or dammage of an hundred pence to ten thousand talents Cap. cod and therefore as they hope to be forgiven of their Lord their trespasses so can they from their hearts forgive their fellow servants and brethren their trespasses In a word Mat. 5.44 They have beene taught to love their enemies to blesse those that curse them to doe good to those that hate them and to pray for those which despitefully use them and persecute them Thus hath their Master and his Ministers taught them whilst your Masters and their and your new teachers Jud. 5.23 Ier. 48. v. 10. Exo. 32. v. 20. have corrupted and perverted severall Texts of Scripture to in-courage you in blood and crueltie As Curse ye Meroz Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not c. Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood Consecrate your selves to day to the Lord every man upon his sonne and upon his brother Rase it Rase it even to the foundation or as another translation reade the words Down with it downe with it even to the ground c. Ps 137. And happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones Neither have the sufferings of the Kings party taught them any other lesson For knowing what a double blessing is pronounced and a manifold reward is promised to such sufferers as they have beene As blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousnesse sake for theins is the kingdome of heaven Mat. cap. 5. v. 10 11 12. and againe Blessed are yee when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evill against you falsly for my sake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you They would not part from their clayme to that blessing and their interests in that reward and so loose the honour and comfort of all their sufferings by seeking revenge on their revilers and persecutors for ten thousand times more than you or your estates could advantage them This I know to be the resolution of some of that party and I have good cause to beleeve it will be the practise of very many for they could never have suffered so much and so chearfully had not these and the like principles of Grace beene in them And therefore it may well be hoped that he that hath layde such a foundation in them will perfect the building Phil. r. 6. and he that hath begun so good a worke in them
some members chosen for this County in answer to some of yours concerning the receiving of contribution from Popish Recusants upon the Propositions for Horses Money or Plate at the beginning of these wars In which letters you were told as some of you have confessed That it was the sense of the House that contribution should be received from Popish Recusants provided that it were such as might witnesse their affection to the cause and not argue onely a desire to save themselves or to that effect And whether they did then contribute with you or not to the raysing of that cursed warre to be sure except as I said but now some few of them they have from that time to this contributed very little to the King for his defence against it And I beseech God that that war seconded by this may contribute no more to the terrible designes of some of that party though there need no other contribution to the exalting of the Throne of Antichrist 2 Thes 2. then the sending of a people strong delusion that they should believe a Lie there needs nothing to be said for the demonstrating how fouly and grosly we of this Nation have been so deluded and are contented if not desirous still so to be I remember well and shall do whilest I have breath what I heard fall from the mouth of that Apostolicall I wish I might not in that particular say that Propheticall Preacher the matchlesse Primate of Ireland matchlesse for the Graces of God in him as well as for that Grace of Primacy conferred on him in one of his constant Lords day Sermons in Oxford I feare not said he those Feltmakers Weavers Coblers c. that are risen up amongst us sowers of Sedition and broachers of Heresies and Errours but those with whom I feare we shall have the strongest struggling are those Giant-like Jesuits trained up men of warre from their youth these these are they whom we have all cause to feare as those with whom wee shall have the last and sorest pull for our Religion God grant it prove not so But if we go on in the rending and tearing out one anothers thoats and the Hereticks and Schismaticks go on in their rending and tearing the very bowels of our Church who can expect lesse Who is there that hath read or heard of Christs way in planting and propagating of his Gospell of truth and in acquainting men with the mysteries of Godlinesse and of the way in Antichrist in planting and propagating his Doctrine of lyes and in possessing men with the mystery of iniquity that can expect from Sects of Heresie and Schisme sown by the enemy in the furrows of mens hearts filled with malice and all uncharitablenesse and watered with the bloods of so many thousands of their fellow Christians any other Harvest then of Popery and Antichristianisme Be ye then supplicated O all yee that have any love unto or care of the preservation of the true Protestant Religion to take the sad deplorable condition thereof into your most serious consideration and speedily to apply your selves with all your art and skill and with all your might and power to the resisting and countermining of its openly professed and secretly conspiring enemies and to the ayding and assisting of its known and by these late persecutions and temptations throughly tryed friends Think soberly and sadly with your selves God's cleansing your thoughts from all selfe-favour and brother-prejudice being first implored whether they to whom in the beginnings of these miseries you first adhered and who then made you so many faire and large promises and tooke some solemne Protestations Vows and Oathes in the presence of God to Defend and Maintaine the true Established PROTESTANT RELIGION have made good those promises Protestations Vows and Oaths yea or no. If they have what meanes the lowing and bellowing of such herds of notorious abominable Hereticks of all sorts and the bleating and bawling of such flocks of furious Schismaticks of all cuts in every corner of this Kingdome Yea what meane those favourable excuses and defensive Apologies published to the Kingdome in one of the late Declarations in answer to the Scots that complained thereof What meanes also their suppressing and silencing of all or the most of the known religious Orthodox Protestant Preachers throughout the Kingdome sequestering their livings and clapping them up into Prisons and then setting up Antinomian Anabaptisticall Socinian Jesuiticall and other notoriously hereticall Teachers and lying Prophets in their roomes What meanes the blasting of the established Doctrine of the Church of England as being corrupt and erroneous such as needs Reformation What meanes the blaspheming the Lords Prayer and Apostles Creed commonly so called and rejecting them from being publikely used in anie Congregations And what meanes the casting out and condemning the whole Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments which had so often and so long been found and made use of as one of our strongest out-workes and fortifications against Popery and other Heresies as well as an incomparable and unparallelled rule and forme of publike Worship and Devotion In a word what meanes the entertaining of Petitions for the Toleration of Popery forbearing only the granting them their requests till the people be a little better prepared by that Doctrine of Liberty of Conscience Bethinke your selves also whether they to whom ye now give up your selves to serve with your lives and estates and joyne with in all their rebellions and bloodie enterprizes have not sufficiently declared their disaffection unto yea and their hatred and detestation of the true Protestant Religion What meane else their retaining only such Chaplains amongst them as hold far more principles of the Popish Religion then Protestant and have expressely renounced the established Protestant Religion of the Church of England Or why doe they like those Rebells against the house of David make to themseves both high places to worship in and Priests of the lowest of the people to minister unto them And why do they proclaime the liberty of being of any Religion or of no Religion at all rather then of the established Religion of our Church If there be anie so stupid as to thinke that the leading-men either at Westminster or in the Army or their active adherents are at the present men of other affections and resolutions more then what the present oppositions and their want of power to withstand them and to crush the opposers to pieces do constraine them to dissemble I shall admire their stupidity and lament their weaknesse unlesse they can produce some better evidence of their retracting their former errors of their repenting of their former iniquities and of their returning to their God and to their duties then their own bare words so often broken and contradicted by their actions And yet which of you can shew so much as the Armies words for any good intended by them either to this Church or Common wealth or so much
such cause only they made use of that suggestion to further their mischievous designe of murthering the innocent had at last the Romans brought upon them indeed and were utterly ruined by them The factious tumultuous people of this Nation have in all other things the most resembled the pharisees that ever did any people God of his mercy grant that they do not also resemble them in this 3. Next to the consideration of the dangerous and deplorable condition of Religion here in this Kingdome be pleased as many of you as have any spark of Religion in you timely to consider the state and condition of your King I forbeare the assaying any description of his condition because 't is so well knowne and so far beyond the being comprehensible in a description by the best of Artists as I likewise abstaine from all Epithetes or Periphrases to set it out by or to set mens passions on worke to condole it the condition of our King being above all sympathie of passion even of his most loving and compassionate Subjects as well as expression of language of the most fluent and passionate of Orators I have heard it objected against a reverend and deare brother-sufferer in these times though without any just cause alledged that he ascends too high when he compares so many of our Kings sufferings with some of our Saviours which I am assured he did neither with the least intent of flattering his Majestie then in no condition to be flattered nor without all due feare of approaching neer the verge of Blasphemy then and ever so much abhorred by him but on the other side with all due honour to our blessed Saviours sufferings and with no small comfort to the King and to all that suffered with them that his sufferings were and are so conformable to them and he himselfe therein to his and our Saviours image And although I sleight the objection Phil. 3.10 Rom. 8.29 yet I shall avoid the occasion of having any such throwne in my way and because I may not without some scandall taken make use of any such comparison I shall not compare them at all with anie other sufferings there being none other that ever I have read or heard of that do in all respects match them Take them therefore in their bare narration thus Charles King of Great Britaine the first of that name the only surviving Son and the immediate successour to his royall Father King James to whom this whole Kingdome by their Representatives in Parliament after a large commemoration of the inestimable and unspeakable benefits as they truly called them powred upon this Nation by his becoming our King 1. Jacob. 1. and after great and high expressions of joy and rejoying at the same not forgetting their thanks to Almighty God for that blessing as also after a modest repetition of that their Soveraignes personall gifts and graces and the assured fruits and effects thereof which they had tasted in that little time of his Government together with an humble and hearty profession of constant faith obedience and loyalty to his Majesty and to his Royall Progeny made this acknowledgement and promise in these very words We therefore your most humble and loyall Subjects the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled do from the bottome of our hearts yeeld to the diuine Majesty all humble thanks and praises not onely for the said unspeakable and inestimable benefits and blessings before mentioned but also that he hath further inriched your Highnesse with a most Royall Progenie of most rare and excellent gifts and forwardnesse and in his goodnesse is like to increase the happy number of them And in most humble and lowly manner do beseech your most excellent Majesty that as a memoriall to all posterities amongst the Records of your high Court of Parliament for euer to endure of our Loyalty obedience and hearty and humble affection it may be published and declared in this high Court of Parliament and enacted by authority of the saute that we being bounden thereunto both by the Lawes of God and man doe recognize and acknowledge and thereby expresse our unspeakable joyes that immediately upon the dissolution and decease of ELIZABETH late Quéen of England the Imperiall Crowne of the Realme of England and of all the Kingdomes Dominions Rights belonging to the same did by Inherent birthright and lawfull and undoubted succession descend and come to your most excellent Majesty as being lineally justly and lawfully next and sole Heire of the Blood Royall of this Realme as is aforesaid And that by the goodnesse of Almighty God lawfull Right of Descent under one Imperiall Crown your Majesty is of the Realmes and Kingdomes of England Scotland France and Ireland the most potent and mighty King and by Gods goodnesse more able to protect and gouerne us your louing Subjects in all peace and plenty then any of your noble Progenitors And thereunto we most humbly and faithfully submit and oblige our selues our Heires and Posterities for euer untill the last drop of our bloods be spent And do beseech your Majesty to accept the same as the first fruits in this high Court of Parliament of our loyalty and faith to your Majesty and your Royall Progeny and Posterity for euer O the shamelesse degeneration and falsification of these times CHARLES to whom his Subjects each one for himself and in particular every Member of the House of Commons when he was admitted a Member of that House solemnly sware That he did testifie and declare in his conscience that he the Kings Highnesse is the onely supreme Gouernour of this Realm and of all other his Highnesse Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or Causes as Temporall c. And that he would beare Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Highnesse his Heires and lawfull Successors and to his power assist defend all Iurisdictions Priuiledges Preheminences Authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Highnes His Heires and Successors c. as followes in the Oath of Supremacy as also againe in the Oath of Allegiance That he would beare Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty his Heires and Surcessors and him and them would defend to the uttermost of his power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoeuer which should be made against his or their Persons their Crowne and Dignity by reason or colour of any sentence of Excommunication or Depriuation made or granted by the Pope c. or otherwise and would do his best endeauour to disclose and make known unto His Majesty his Heires and Successors all Treasons and traiterous conspiracies which he should know or heare of to be against him or any of them Oh the damnable perjury of these times CHARLES whose Person Honour and Estate the same Members of the House of Commons did on May 3. 1641. in the presence of Almighty God promise vow and protest to maintain and
defond as far as lawfully they might with their Lives Power and Estates according to their allegiance and that they would according to their Power and as far as lawfully they might oppose and by all good waies and meanes indeavonr to bring to condigne punishment all such as should either by force practise counsell plots conspiracies or otherwise do any thing to the contrarie c. Which Protestation was afterwards recommended by the Vote of the House July 30. 1641. to be taken by everie person well affected in Religion and to the good of the Common-wealth and was accordingly taken by the most of the Kingdome Oh the multiplied perjurie and the sacrilegious breaking of Vowes Promises and Protestations perperated in these times CHARLES whose Supremacy and power over all Persons and in all causes within his Dominions the Subjects of this Kingdome have so many yeares acknowledged unto God in their praiers in their Publike Liturgie and in their praiers before their Sermons and for whom they have pretended to beg so manie mercies and blessings and to returne to God such hearty and solemne thanks and praise Oh the abominable juggling with God and mocking of him and lying to him discovered in these times CHARLES the Defender of our Faith the Protector and Patron of our Religion the Nursing father of our Church and Common-weale Lam 4.20 the light of our eyes the breath of our Nostrills of whom we said as the people of Judah did of Josiah under his shadow wee shall live yea of whom we must confesse that we did live under his shadow for manie yeares together and might have done to this instant Iudges 9. had we not run from the Olive tree to a Bramble Bush in that peace and tranquillity in that honour and renowne in that abundance of wealth and plenty of all things that could render us happy save grace to know it and be thankfull to God and him for it that never any people enjoyed greater if anie so great Oh the fordid ingratitude of these times CHARLES not the RELIGIOUS onely or the JUST or the MERCIFULL or the CHARITABLE or the VALIANT or the WISE or the TEMPERATE or the CHAST or the COURTEOUS or the LOVING or the MEEK or the HUMBLE but all these and a compendium of all other graces and virtues and they in such supereminency as that it hath been thought an eternall honor to other Princes to deserve the title of but one such to adorn their other glories and perpetuate their memories O the prodigious wickednesse and impiety of these times This verie CHARLES Be astonished O ye Heavens and stand amazed all ye Nations of the earth This verie KING CHARLES by his owne Subjects by his own Servants by his own professed Friends by his own great Counsell called by his Writ to advise with him and authorised by his power alone to sit in Parliament with him hath been driven from his great Councell forced to flie from one part of his Kingdom to another hunted like a Partridge on the mountaines pursued with Armies fought with in sundrie battailes struck at and shot at with all the force and malice that hands and hearts strenthened and incouraged with rage and furie and compleatly furnished with all the bloodie instruments of Warre could possibly lay on betrayed sold hurried from Prison to Prison separated from his dearest Consort and Children mocked seorned contemned railed on libelled in Pamphlets Hues and Cries Votes Declarations Sermons Prayers and robbed of all his revenues plate jewels and regall ornaments deprived of verie necessaries both of food and raiment Gush out O teares or break O heart for I am not able to go on till my head or heart hath given one the other some ease This verie King Charles hath been at the last after all these and many other barbarous cruelties practised on him thrust into close Prison denied the comfort of any Chaplaine the attendance of any other servant and the accesse of anie faithfull Subject treated worse then anie villain or murderer assayed by villaines to be murthered and to incourage them thereunto Votes have been passed in both Houses for no further addresses to be made to him and no message to be received from him but he adjudged unfit to governe And why I beseech you why this King Charles will not break his oath solemnly taken at his Coronation he will not consent to Sacriledge he will not yeild unto a toleration of Poperie and of all other Heresies and Schisms under the title of Libertie of Conscience he will not part from all his power of punishing those that do wickedly and of protecting those that do righteously upon that pretence of setling the Militia in safe hands he will not suffer an Armie of 50. or 60. thousand under that name Militia to be kept and quartered in this Kingdom for the oppressing of himselfe his Posteritie and his Subjects he will not grant Libertie to those Houses to sit where they please who have alreadie so ill requited his former grant of sitting as long as they please least they and their Armie should keep house together and when the Citie will no longer endure them the Countrie be forced to beare them or break under them he will not indure compeeres and copartners with himselfe in his Royall Throne Rights and Prerogatives under the name of a standing Committee or States Commissioners he will not deliver up his Loyall Subjects and faithfull friends and servants to the mercilesse cruelties of his and their implacable enemies and in a word he will not betray that trust that God hath committed to him and that his Subjects repose in him These must be confessed when mens consciences are awakened to be the principal causes so far as concerns the provoking of men why this so supereminently Gracious King hath and doth yet suffer such inexpressibly grievous persecutions And amongst all these causes his not yeilding to a toleration of Poperie other Heresies and Shisms is none of the least provoking as may well be thought if the reflecting upon the principall contrivers and continuers of his Majesties and this Kingdomes miseries hath that inpression in our thoughts that it ought to have for what else can it be that should render so religious and virtuous a Prince so distastefull and hatefull not only to all Hereticks and Shismaticks here at home which everie one knowes but also to all or the most Jesuites and Priests beyond the Seas which is sufficiently known to those men of Honour and worth that have lived among them there being no man more distasted and hated of those of that stampe then the persecuted King of England And if those King-killers can but prevaile with their fellow Jesuites the furious Sectaries of these times as they have throughly prepared them for it to take away his precious life to be sure it shall be suddenly done for no man lies long under their hatred that they can possibly remove out of the way
plead for your selves or who will regard your plea Againe as it is to be feared that some will deliver ye up to God for his avenging their sufferings and wrongs on you and yours so it is not to be slighted what others may doe in prosecuting their owne revenge on you for how may every Countie of this Kingdome be inraged against you when they shall see that you thus desert them in all their endeavours and labours for Peace and Truth and joyne with those that are the vowed enemies of both Who knowes whether all the other Counties may not like those other Tribes of Israel when the Tribe of Benjamin struck in with those sonnes of Belial that had abused the poore Levits Concubine and refused to deliver them up to Justice when their Brethren demanded them Judg. 20. arise as one man and come against you to battaile And though perhaps like those Benjamites you give them a foyle or two at the first yet at the last being the more incensed smite you with the edge of the Sword as well the men of every Village as the beast and all that come to hand and set on fire all your habitations that they come to The like sinnes in Israel and England have beene often and often punished with the like punishments In the next place thinke of the evill that is comming to you though we hope it will be to the good and peace and happinesse of this whole Nation besides out of the North and that great destruction Lift up your eyes saith the Prophet unto them of Judah and behold them that come from the North What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee for thou hast taught them to be Captaines and chiefe over thee Shall not sorrowes take thee as a woman in travaile Jerem. 13. v. 20.21 The same may I say to you word for word and every one of you if you will may see cause enough why I should say so 'T is often threatned in Scripture as an aggravation of judgements That God will give up such or such a people into the hands of strangers And it must be confessed That 't is most just with God to give you up into the hands of strangers who have so unworthily deserted your owne King and fellow Subjects and the justice of God will be somewhat the more remarkable in his giving you up to those Northerne strangers of all others because they were they whom ye your selves formerly called in and contributed so liberally to their comming in to your assistance against your King though ye pretended to them that it was to fight for him And therefore now it must needs be the more observable justice both in God and them that they should come in of themselves to the assistance of the same King and his faithfull Subjects against you that deserted him and them so shamefully and have thereby discovered your former hypocrisie other iniquitie so notoriously And let me further tell you That if those Strangers should not avenge the King and Kingdoms wrongs sufficiently 't is to be believed some other Strangers more fierce bloudy cruell shal do it For remember I beseech you that famous and pertinent Story of Gods dealing with the men of Judah when they deserted their King though the most wicked of Kings Ahaz by name because he was brought low and made a confederacie with those two tayles of those smoaking fire-brands Rezin and Pekah For that very cause as God by his Prophet gives the Reason Isa 8. did the Lord threaten to bring up upon the men of Judah the King of Assyria and all his hosts called there his glory compared to the waters of an over-flowing river strong and many and that he and they should passe thorow Iudah and should over-flow and goe over and reach even to the neck c. which was all accordingly done as you may finde by comparing Isa chap. 7. and 8. with 2 Chron. chap. 28. and 32. And do but observe further how God Isa 8. from v. 9. to v. 16. scornes and mocks at the men of Iudah's associating themselves and joyning their forces with others against their owne King and how earnestly he calls upon his Prophet not to walke in the way of that people himselfe and to instruct others not to joyn in confederacie with them nor to feare their feare nor be afraid which is the principall cause of such Rebellious Confederacies but to sanctifie the Lord of Hosts and to let him be their feare c. promising them safetie that shall avoyd such a Confederacie threatning ruine to such Confederates and to those that joyn with them So spake did the Lord then and he is the same Lord still changeth not and they that commit the like sins may justly fear the like punishmens And now answer to that question which God by the same Prophet though in another chapter propounds unto you unto you my lamented Countreymen who have joyned in a Confederacie with those who as the Prophet describes them with a woe to them prefixed Isa 10. decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousnesse which they have prescribed to turn aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poore c. that widowes may be their prey that they may rob the fatherlesse What will ye do in the day of visitation and in the desolation which shall come from far to whom will ye flee for help and where will you leave your glory Jer. 17. v. 5. Psal 5. v. 6 Will you flee to the Army for succour Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arme especially such men and such flesh that are themselves so neer a curse But ye shall not need to flee to them for they will flee to you or come to you and will be the first that will helpe to devoure you For if the Army should swallow up Colchester which God of his mercy keepe them from and so Essex be wholly worsted where must they give themselves and their Horses the next bait but in the well stored houses and faire pastures of Suffolke And who must recruit their consumed army with more men but they who have furnished them with so many Give the Devill or any of his Imps but a little that gives them power over all that ye have and now that they have gotten you into the same way with them they 'l find allurements enough to draw you on or fears enough to frighten you on or force enough to drive you on as far as they please Then if other Counties rise up against them joyn with the Northern Army which private as well as publike interest will perswade them to unlesse God should give them up to a reprobate sense as he hath done some of you Suffolke must then be the Stage of War at least Suffolke-men must be the chiefe Actors on that Stage and to be sure the most desperate parts of that Tragedie