Restriction so long as the Honour Dignity and Safety of the Crown was their first and immediate Regard and Care as I said before A Parliament is the Magnum Anglie Concilium The Great Council of the Land called together by the King as the proper and most genuine Means for the Consulting or advising of and providing against publick Evils wherein every private Man is concerned and in order to the Administring necessary Remedies And therefore to pretend that their Priviledges enable them to Act contrary to what their Head the King shall propose to them towards the Regulating Misunderstandings Composing Differences and the Securing Peace and Order is if it may be so said a Casting off that Supream Power which gave them those Priviledges and a Breach of the King's Prerogative And if once Regal Prerdgative is invaded the Regal Power will be in great Danger This we have lately had notorious Testimonies of and I hope and pray we may never see the like again THE last Dissolution of the Parliament met at Oxford perhaps doth and may Amuse the World exceedingly and drive them into a profound Admiration Unde hoc Whence proceeded His Majesties Displeasure But the Papers called Intelligences pretended to satisfy Us with a great deal and every Coffes-House Whisper'd out Reasons or at least Suspicions and Surmises upon it For my part I do and shall ever continue my Resolution in this particular which I mentioned but a little before That I think it mine and every Honest Man and Loyal Subject's Duty to Acquiesce in the Pleasure of my Prince and not to Censure the Authority or Reasonableness of His Proceedings in the least I mean so far as my Conscience shall give me leave I shall not therefore any further dilate on this point but Conclude with the saying of a Wife States-Man viz. Many things sayes He in the world resemble Smoak their Beginning is but small their End great And many things resemble the Wind whose Reginning is Boisterous and End Weak He saves himself from the former who suffers them not to Increase from the latter He who suffers them to Blow over Progress of Time may be expected in the One where the Other ought to be Smother'd in the Cradle HAVING thus far run thro Our proposed Parallel under those Three Heads of Religion Liberty and Priviledges of Parliament and therein shewn how dangerous they are to a Common-Wealth when mis-understood and mis-applyed As GOD knows they have been too much of late here in England the more is the pitty and Our shame I shall therefore in this place look back on the large Concessions and bountiful Condescentions of the late King which was so much abused and made as so many Helps towards the subsequent Evils and Ruine to this poor Kingdome of England and see how Our Times have met with the like and what unsutable Returns have been made to the Royal Grace and Favour THE pressing Necessities for Supplies of Money to the empty drain'd Coffers of the Royal Treasury thro a long War which I have spoken of before coming in a Time when the Subject's Purse was full and that now the Parliament City and the Disaffected Parties knew well enough was a fit time to perpetrate their Designs to bring the KING to their Beck to make Him condescend to what Terms they pleased Which to avoid Repetition of I desire the Impartial Reader to consider in the Beginning of this Discourse Where you see after that they had brought the KING to do what they demanded they at last to compleat all perswade the People that the KING meant to introduce Popery Arbitrary-Government destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subject The unwarrantable Practices of the Parliament 1640 41. c. This nettles the Giddy Crowd and induces them to believe that whatsoever the Parliament did was for their Good and according to Conscience and the like They forget their King 's Gracious Concessions and Graunts they stop their Ears to His crying Wants turn their Backs to His friendly and just Demands neglect His Authority despise His Dignity contemn His Administration of the Government thwart His just and lawful Proceedings and thus Topsy turvy per fas nefasque No King no Laws no Religion I mean of the Church of England In exitium rount NOW in brief His now Majesties Concessions Let Us examine Our own Times and here We shall find Mercy Bounty and Liberality still swaying the Scepter of these Kingdomes We see His Sacred Majesty was no sooner sat Him in His Throne and had graspt the Scepter in His Hand but He as soon begins to display the Influences of His Royal Bounty and Mercy by the Act of Oblivion The Act of Oblivion Granted whereby every Individual Person who had been Actors on that late Bloody Stage of Rebellion and Treason the Cruel and Blood-Thirsty Regicides or those who were the Unjust Judges and Murtherers of His Father of Blessed Memory only exempted from the Beginning of the Civil-War unto His Happy Restauration the New Epocha of our English Nation that Annus Restauratae Libertatis Nay to dispossess those who Held their Estates in Capite of the Fears of the just Demands and Pretentions so long a time 's Killing and Slaying had given Him upon their Tenures and Knight Service What vast Sums were coming to Him from the Court of Wards and Liveries c. which unless He remitted would render the Act of Oblivion in effect no Pardon since it gave not their Estates with their Lives His Majesty was Graciously pleased to prevent those Fears by Act of Parliament The Act of Parliament 12 Ch. 2. ca. 24. 12 Ch. 2. cap. 24. depriving Himself of the Richest Jewel of His Crown a Prerogative so truly Royal and so hugely advantagious That in the Judgement of the Learned in the Law The People of England were never truly Free till then WHEN thro repeated Affronts War with Holland Calumnies and Injuries He was forced to make War with the Hollanders for His own Honour We no sooner find Him informed That it was prejudicial to His People but He shuffles up a Peace upon very hard Terms for Himself when had He stood off but a little while the State of His Enemies being such He might have made what Conditions He would Peace made Nay further To shew His Love to His Good Subjects when He entred into a War for Injuries offered to them Vide The Articles of Peace in Aug. 1667. and those 1674. no Considerations neither Plague nor Fire which had then impoverisht the Land by the Loss of so much People and Money would induce Him to a Peace till ample Satisfaction made WHEN He had upon Advice Granted a Tolleration of Religion and was satisfied afterwards by the Parliament of the Dangerous Consequences of such a Liberty He immediately is induced to Recall it and did so The Act for Toleration of Religion made Did He not consent to
Loyalties Severe SUMMONS TO THE BAR of CONSCIENCE OR A Seasonable and Timely CALL TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Iuncture of Affairs BEING An EPITOME of the several Praeliminaries or Gradual Steps the Late Times took to Their never-to-be forgotten RUINE by Their Civil Dissentions through a needless Fear of the Subverting Losing and Destroying of Religion Liberty of the Subject and Priviledges of Parliament With a COLLATTERAL COMPENDIUM of Our Own Exactly and Impartially drawn Our Follies and Extravagances Disclosed and laid Open. Together With such Favourable Admonitions and Timely Remedies as will 't is hoped Administer towards the Uniting Our Divisions Composing Our Differences and Healing Our Breaches In Two Parts Discipulus prioris posterior Dies Hor. By Robert Hearne Gent. LONDON Printed by Thomas Milbourn And are to be Sold by Randal Taylor near Stationers-Hall 1681. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY MOST NOBLE LORD John Lord Frescheville Baron of Stayeley c. My Lord WHEN I consider upon what Treacherous Ground Our present State does stand through needless Fears unnecessary Jealousies and hot-brain'd Reflections I think it my Duty and every Good Christian's to call out vigorously for a helping Hand And To whom should we call but to those Men who have shewn Themselves serviceable on the like Occasion To those Men who have ventured their Lives and Fortunes to stem the Tide of Insulting Danger which Our Enemies drove forwards whereof Your Lordship is undeniably One of the most Eminent Upon this Score it is that I dare Affix so noble a Frontispiece to my VVeak Endeavours Upon this Score it is I challenge so Honourable a Patron as Your Lordship who is a Known Example and an Admired Encourager of Those who are truly Loyal to their King and Sincere Lovers of their Country Of which Number I profess my Self One and therefore am the Bolder to enter into Your Honor's Presence to implore Your Favourable Protection It was the Saying of a Learned Politician and a much Esteemed Author That to write of Modern Times or Men is a troublesome Business All Men sayes he commit Errors few having committed Them will hear of it Present Actions are not with Safety related nor are they listned unto without Danger Well may they be Reverenced never Censured VVho puts them in Print seeks after an uncertain Glory and exposes Himself to a certain Danger VVho leaves it to be done by Posterity reaps no other Fruit of his Present Labours than the mear Contemplation of a future imaginary fruitless Glory c. BUT with his Leave If every Private Man is a Member of the whole Body Politick and consequently must bear a Share in the Publick Good or Ill as every Part in the Indisposition of the Body Natural is sensibly touch't I say It is the Indispensible Duty of every Private Person to endeavour the Healing Publick Breaches the Composing Differences and Removing all Mis-understandings which might disturb the Peace of the Government and obstruct the Common Wellfare Though with this Restriction That he shall not pretend either to Instruct his Prince or by prying into His Councel betray the Failures or derogate from His Authority-Poyal My Lord I HAVE Compiled this Short Essay as a small Echantillon of my Love and Zeal for my Country's Good and Peace and have compared Times past with the Times present the several Revolutions of Our Present Affairs with the sad Catastrophe's Forty Years since and as near as may be taken an Impartial View of the various Methods which led us to our Then Ruine and Similibus juxta se positis Surveyed our Own And I think we may say with the Heathen-Poet Etas parenturn pejor Avis This little Piece I have thrown amongst many Others into the Publick Treasury under Your Noble Protection as a small Acknowledgment likewise of Your Lordship's former Favours which You were pleased to Confer upon me Begging Your Lordship's Pardon for This Presumption of Him who is ever obliged to Stile Himself My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Obedient and Devoted Servant ROBERT HEARNE Loyalties severe Summons TO THE Bar of Conscience OR A Seasonable Timely Call TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Juncture of Affairs The First Part. HAVING Acted a long and tedious Part in this World seen and been engaged in Various and Bloody Scenes and being even grown Gray upon the Stage I thought I might be Excuseable and that it would not be improper for me if I undertook to Acquaint the World with the several Transactions I have had Prospects of in my time a Map of which I suppose will not be altogether Unseasonable in this juncture seeing the same Methods and Measures are taken and followed that brought upon Us the late Troubles and in all Appearance the same or worse Tragedies are going to be Played over again Wherefore I think it is the Duty of every True and Loyal English-Man to warn and put his Fellow-Subjects in mind of the Desolations and Calamities the Nation Groaned under in the late Civil Wars that We may so Regulate all our Actions and Resolutions as that they may only tend to Union amongst Our selves and Obedience and Loyalty to Our PRINCE THE Devastations and Ruins the Effusion of Humane Blood and all the other sad Consequences of Domestick Broiles are alas so well and sensibly known by this Nation that it is altogether unnecessary to descant upon them and therefore I shall Content my self with Tracing along the Pretexts and Steps that engaged and led Us to Our Ruin and Desolation This perhaps is but too Seasonable at this time when all seems ready for a general Combustion and that the Storm is seen coming on with that Rage and Fury that whosoever shall be any wayes Instrumental towards his Countries avoiding â—â— will have highly Obliged the whole Kingdom And I am apt to believe the World will easily pardon a Relation of this Nature if it may in any wise Contribute towards the Preventing of Future Evils For if a Man who has been in the most terrible Tempest that even was known wherein the most part of his Dearest Friends and Nearest Relations have lost both their Estates and Lives and all have been in the extreamest Danger nay wherein the Captain himself Suffered the utmost Rigours of Fate was brought to an unparalelled Tragical End and the rest of the Ship only Saved as it were by a Miracle and by the greatest Providence of GOD I say if such a Man who shall have escaped all these extremities shall come and tell me That he sees the Storm gathering in the same Corner or Point Blown by the same Winds and Hurried on with the same Fury and that I shall be inevitably Lost if I continue to Steer on my Course I shall be so far from being displeased with him that on the contrary I shall Value at that Rate the Obligations I have to him as to think my self never capable of equalling them with Acknowledgements I must Confess it
begin with the Lord-Keeper Finch Petitions from the City against Church Discipline and Ceremonies c. About that time an Alderman and some Hundreds of Citizens presented a Petition Subscribed by Fifteen Thousand Hands against Church-Discipline and Ceremonies and a while after the House of Commons Voted That the Clergy in a Synod or Convocation The Commons Vote thereupon have no Power to make Canons or Laws without Parliaments and that the Canons are against the Fundamental Laws of this Realm the King's Prerogative the Property of the Subject the Right of Parliaments and tend to Faction and Sedition And hereupon a Charge was ordered to be drawn up against Arch-Bishop Laud as the Principal framer of those Canons and other Delinquencies which Impeachment was seconded by another from the Scotch Commissioners Arch-Bishop Land impeach't and sent to the Black-Rod upon which He was Committed to the Black-Rod and Ten Weeks after Voted Guilty of High-Treason and sent to the Tower The Scots likewise prefer a Charge against the Earl of Strafford then in Custody demanding Justice against them both Five Articles against Sir George Ratcliffe as the great Incendiaries and Disturbers both of Church and State and Sir George Ratcliffe the Earl's Bosom Friend had Articles also drawn against Him to this purpose THAT He had Conspired with the Earl 1. to bring Ireland under an Arbitrary Government and to Subvert the Fundamental Laws and to bring an Army from Ireland to subdue the Subjects of England That He perswaded the Earl to use Regal Power and to deprive the Subjects of their Liberties and Properties 2. That He countenanced Papists 3. and built Monasteries to alienate the Affections of the Irish from the English That He withdrew the Subjects of Scotland from their King And Lastly That to preserve Himself and the Earl of Strafford 4. He laboured to Subvert the Liberties 5. and Priviledges of Parliament in Ireland THE Lord Keeper Finch was the next Person designed to be Censured Lord-Keeper Finch Voted a Traitor and notwithstanding a Speech He made in His own Vindication He was Voted a Traitor upon several accounts but foreseeing the Storm to avoid the Danger He withdrew Beyond-Sea THE House of Commons having by these means removed their Enemies were preparing a Bill for a Triennial Parliament Petitions procured for a Triennial-Parliament to promote which they procured Petitions to come from several Places One whereof was Subscribed with Eight Hundred Hands aiming principally to destroy Episcopacy which the King took Notice of One with 800. Hands and calling Both Houses together tells them Of their Slowness and the Charge of Two Armies in the Kingdom and that he would Have them avoid Two Rocks the One about the Hierarchy of the Bishops which He was willing to Reform but not alter the Other concerning Frequent Parliaments which He liked well but not to give His Power to Sheriffs and Constables and upon their Remonstrances against the Toleration of Papists the King assured them The King protests an Aversion to Popery that the increase of Popery and Papists was extreamly against His Mind and that He would use all possible means for the Restraining of it DURING the Five Months the Scots had Quartered in England a Cessation having been Concluded at Rippon yet the full Pacification was reserved for London and the Commissioners of both Parties fat there to hear the Demands of the Scots and to make Answer thereunto The Scotch Armies great Charge 514128. l 9. s Whereupon the Scots presented the great account of their Charges which was Five Hundred Fourteen Thousand One Hundred Twenty Eight Pounds Nine Shillings besides the Loss of their Nation which was Four Hundred and Forty Thousand Pounds This Reckoning startled the English Commissioners The Loss of Scotlands Charges 440000. till the Scots told them they did not give in that Account as expecting a Total Reparation of their Charges and Losses but were content to bear a part of it hoping for the rest from the Justice and Kindness of England These Demands met with some Oppositions However Moneys were raised at the present from the City of London for the supply of both the Northern Armies as the Parliament had done once before MUCH about this time Four Members of the House of Commons delivered a Message to the Lords of a Popish Design of levying an Army of Fifteen Thousand Men in Lancashire and Eight Thousand in Ireland and that the main Promoters thereof were the Earls of Strafford and Worcester THEN they fell to Accuse Sir Robert Berkly One of the Judges about Ship-Money of High-Treason Sir Robert Berkley accused of High-Treason The Act passed for a Triennial-Parliament and Committed him Prisoner to the Black-Rod About the same time the King passed that Act for a Triennial Parliament and that they might know how much He valued this great Favour He told the Two Houses That hitherto they had gone on in those things which concerned themselves and now He expected they should proceed upon what concerned Him THE King likewise signed then the Bill of Subsidies The Bill of Subsidies likewise passed which so generally pleased them that Sir Edward Littleton Lord-Keeper was ordered to return the Humble Thanks of both Houses to His Majesty at White-Hall Arch-Bishop Land Committed to the Tower for High-Treason Presently after the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury having been Accused of High-Treason by the Commons was Committed to the Tower and now Episcopacy it self was called in Question and notwithstanding several learned and weighty Speeches were made in the Defence of it The Bishops outed from Parliament-Power Judicial or Temporal the Commons Voted that No Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any judicial Power in the Star-Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal Matters THEN began the Trial of the Earl of Strafford which after it had lasted some Weeks The Earl of Straffords Trial. and all the Evidence against Him not amounting to so much as to be Legally capable to take away His Life had they gone the antient Legal way to work of Trying Peers His Enemies be-thought themselves of a New Expedient to take off His Head despairing of ever effecting their Designs as long as He assisted at the Helm they had therefore procured the Parliament of Ireland to Prosecute Him there also as Guilty of High-Treason Whereupon a Bill was brought into the House of Commons to attaint Him of Accumulative High-Treason and tho it passed that House with a kind of surprize yet it so opened the Eyes of several who before had been His violent Enemies that they became His Advocates tho this made them lose that Kindness Esteem and Favour which that House and the People before had had for them And the Lords considering how much it concerned them and their Posterity and that it might come to be their Own Case were not generally so Zealous and eager for a
had principally occasioned that Rebellion by opposing and refusing to Consent to the Transportation of those Forces which His Majesty had Granted to the King of Spain For at the Disbanding of the Irish Army He had engaged the Word and Honour of a King to the Three Spanish Ambassadours here then at this Court that they should have the Liberty to Transport such Troops of the Irish Nation as were willing to take Service under their Master and accordingly they Contracted not only with the Officers and Souldiers but had advanced Money and hired Ships for their Transportation But this being represented to the Parliament tho the Lords seemed incâ—mable to comply with it yet the Commons who industriously opposed whatever His Majesty pretended to do without their Advice absolutely refused to give their Consent and framed I know not what Chimaera's of danger and in Fine positively prohibited The passing of any English or Irish into the Service of any Forreign Prince FROM hence it came to pass that many of those People being of Desperate Fortunes fell into Desperate Designs and being Animated and Spirited both by their Religion and the Traditional Animosity against the English and more especially the Scots whom they consider as Invaders Robbers and Incroachers of their Antient and Native Right they were easily perswaded and drawn into a Conspiracy rather than starve Whereas had the Parliament given them leave to have spent their ill humours and lives in Forreign Wars they might probably have prevented whole Rivers of Blood that was inhumanely spilt and have saved all that Treasure that was expended in reducing that Kingdom from one Rebellion to another BUT by this means the Male-contents here at Home got this advantage by that Rebellion which they had been long Aiming at as to Arm all their Factions The Factions seize on the Guards c. during the King's Absence in Scotland and in His Majesties absence to do all the Acts of Soveraign Authority And now they took actually the Guards into their Service which they had Voted for before and appointed Officers to Command them and to Exercise and Discipline the Raw and unexpert Militia of the Countries about London without so much as giving the least Notice of all this to His Majesty or expecting His Royal-Assent THE King being in Scotland when He first received an account of all that had happened in Ireland Sir James Stuart sent for Ireland dispatched Sir James Stuart with Instructions to the Lords of the Privy-Councel there and sent them by Him all the Money His present Stores would supply He likewise moved the Parliament of Scotland as being the nearest for their Assistance but they Excused it because Ireland was a Dependant of the Crown of England but if the State of England would use any of their Men for that Service they would make propositions in order to it THE King finding His stay to be longer than He thought left the whole business of Ireland to the Parliament which without staying for His leave they had took to Themselves and had indeed declared a speedy and vigorous Assistance and Voted Fifty Thousand Pounds for a present supply About which time the King returned out of Scotland The King Returns to London from Scotland and was Entertained and Feasted at London and from thence Conducted to White-Hall After which the King Treated several of the Brincipal Citizens at Hampton-Court where divers of the Aldermen had the Honour of Knight-Hood THEN the King Summons both Houses together and tells them A Parliament is called That He had staid in Scotland longer than He expected yet not Fruitlesly for He had given full Satisfaction to that Nation but cannot choose but take notice of and wonder at the unexpected Distractions He finds at Home and then recommends to them the State of Ireland Next He publishes a Proclamition for Obedience to the Laws and first concerning Religion and the performance of Divine Service without innovation or abolishing of Rites and Ceremonies About Two Months after which His Majesty makes another Speech to them and Conjures them by all that is Dear to Him or Them to hasten the Business of Ireland But notwithstanding this and all the Noise and Out cry that was made of the Cruelties of the Irish Rebellion they prepared their Succours but very slowly and tho His Majesty pressed them with repeated instances to assist vigorously the Protestant Party against the Popish Rebels The Irish Rebellion laid upon the King yet they used their endeavours to place the Odium of that Conspiracy to the King's account insomuch that one of their Members said in a Formal Speech at a Conference with the Lords That several who had passed into Ireland by His Majesties immediate warrant were at the Head of the Rebellion which Speech the House of Commons ordered to be Printed and tho His Majesty cleared Himself of the Scandal yet instead of obtaining a Reparation they publickly justified the Member who was Pym for what He had spoken Besides instead of taking into Consideration the bleeding Condition of Ireland notwithstanding all the indefatigable Zeal and Pains His Majesty had taken to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom they welcomed Him presently after His Return from Scotland with a large Remonstrance The Parliaments Remonstrance wherein they endeavoured to make appear that there was a Design on Foot to introduce to this Kingdom Popery and Arbitrary Government and laid all the Misfortunes of the Reign to the Crowns Account notwithstanding they themselves had occasioned them and His Majesty having made a Gracious Answer to their Petition that was as a Prologue to their Remonstrance He issued out a Declaration to His Subjects by way of Answer to the Remonstrance The King's Answer the Sum of which was That He thought He had given sufficient Satisfaction to His Peoples Fears and Jealousies concerning Religion Liberty and Civil Interests by the Bills which He had passed this Parliament desiring that Misunderstandings might be removed on either side and that the bleeding Condition of Ireland might perswade them to Unity for the Relief of that Unhappy Kingdom BUT instead of Complying with His Majesty who offered to raise Ten Thousand Volunteers for Ireland if the Commons would undertake to Pay them and issued out a Proclamation against the Irish declaring Those that were in Arms with all their Adherents and Abettors The Apprentices Rife and go to White-Hall and Westminster to be Rebels and Traitors They Caused the Apprentices of London to go in an Insolent Tumultuous Riotous manner to White-Hall and Westminster and the King being informed That One of the Lords and Five of the House of Commons had Correspondence with the Scots and Countenanced the late City Tumults He thereupon ordered The King's Order their Trunks Studies and Chambers to be Sealed up and their Persons Seized the former of which was done but they kept too good Intelligence about His Majesty
dispose of it by Authority of Parliament desiring also That He would make His Abode near London and the Parliament The King 's absolute Refusal to their Second Petition for the Militia The Parliament's Publick Declaration hereupon and continue the Prince at some of His Houses near the City for the better carrying on of Affairs and preventing the People's Jealousies and Fears All which not being then fit to be granted and therefore refused they presently order That the Kingdome be put into a Posture of Defence in such a Way as was agreed upon by the Parliament and a Committee to prepare a publick Declaration from these Two Heads 1. 1. The Just Causes of the Fears and Jealousies given to the Parliament 2. 2. To consider of all Matters arising from His Majesty's Message and what was fit to be done IN the mean time the Bishops were so threatned and terrifyed by the Tumults and Rabble that Twelve of Them absented themselves from the House Protesting against all Laws Orders Votes The Bishop's Protestation Resolutions and Determinations as in Themselves Null and of Non-effect which had Passed or should Pass during their forced Absence desiring their Protestation might be Registred by the Clerk of the House of Lords But immediately after at a Conference between Both Houses it was agreed That this Protestation of the Twelve Bishops did extend to the deep intrenching upon the Fundamental Privileges and Being of Parliaments and presently after They are Accused of High-Treason seized and Ten of them Committed they were Accused of High-Treason seized and brought on their Knees at the Bar of the House of Peers Ten of them were Committed to the Tower and the Other Two in regard of their Age to the Black-Rod NOW the Parliament proceed to make Great Preparations both by Sea and Land and ordered the Admiral of England The Parliament now makes great Preparations both by Sea and Land Pamphlets dispers'd to Rigg the King's Ships and fit them to Sea and likewise all Masters and Owners of Ships were perswaded to do the like The Beacons were repaired Sea-Marks set up and extraordinary Posting up and down with Pacquets Pamphlets flew abroad and all the Other sad Prognosticks of a Civil War did appear THUS did Our late Execrable Troubles begin That were attended with all the Calamities of Domestick Broyls the Parliament every Day pretending to entertain New Jealousies and Suspicions of the King's Actions that so they might have a Pretext to Arm their Party which having done and provided Moneys for the Defraying the Expences of the War they unmasked Themselves and the King and all the Good People of the Nation began to discover That all their Assurances of making His Majesty the Most Glorious Prince that ever swayed the English Scepter was no otherwise to be understood than that they designed to Crown Him with the Crown of Martyrdom and that all the Out-cry they had made and the Fears and Jealousies they had spread abroad of the Loss of their Priviledges and the danger that Religion Liberty and Property were in was like Pick-pockets who bawl out and accuse Passers by of Picking their Pockets that so they might get a Crowd together and really deprive Them of what they had falsly accused Others of who not discovering the Cheat till it was too late and that all was gone had nothing left them but Regret for having been drawn into their Own and their Friends Ruine and Destruction AND now being come so far as to have a full but sad View of all those Devastations and Horrours of those Torrents of Blood and Mountains of Carkasses which are the usual Effects nay inevitable Consequences of a Civil War I must beg Leave to retire from so Deplorable and Dreadful a Prospect and give you a short Account of the Crew that occasioned all these Desolations and Miseries and from whence they sucked their Poysonous Principles with which they infected the whole State DURING the Reign of Queen Mary The Rise of the Presbyterians several of the Reformed flying the Persecutions of Her Government retired to Geneva where sucking in Doctrine and Principles that were no wayes conformable nor consistent with Monarchy at their return Home under Queen Elizabeth they spoke even with Adoration of the Discipline of that Place assuring and perswading People that It and only It was what was taught and directed by our Saviour and His Disciples and practised in the Primitive Times accusing all others of Impurity Superstition and Popery THE Iesuits quickly took notice of these Weeds in Protestanisme Taken Notice of by the Jesuits and took great Care to humour and cultivate them hoping that They One Day might cause such a Breach in Our Church as that they might enter through it and compleat Our Ruin And indeed these People what by the Forced Modesty and Austerity of their Lives what by the Novelty of their Doctrine and their being opposed by Publick Authority that was no wayes consistent with their Tenets they came at first to be Pittyed and then to be Loved and Admired by the Common People THUS growing at length to be very numerous that ever-tobe-admired Princess Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth's Care to depress them thought fit to hinder this Contagion from spreading and by the Advice of Her Parliament as well as Her Council enacted very severe Laws against them and put several of them to Death as Disturbers of the Peace both of Church and State And though they expected more Favour under the Reign of King Iames King James did the like yet that Wise Prince thought fit to curb their Zeal and bridle their Invading Humour Notwithstanding having once allowed them a Conference and taking upon Himself to be the Arbitrator it rendered them so Insolent and Confident and brought their Party into such Repute that towards the Latter End of His Reign they began to have great Influence in the House of Commons which they dayly augmented and encreased by their seeming Abhorrence of Popery and Superstition But with everto-be-lamented Methods till at length by their Arts and Practices they brought into Ruin and Destruction that Prince and Government they all along pretended their whole Design was to Defend Support and Maintain and under the Cloak of Religion let in all Manger of Impiety Atheism and Superstition THE Great Influences the Doctrines of these Men have had amongst the Factious Parties of this Kingdom of late Times too since the Happy Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to the great Disturbance of the Publick Peace to the Dis-uniting the Members of the Church of England and raising Schism and Divisions in the Communities of Men in Matters of Religion to the utter Subversion of Religion it self nay Morality too I say of the Truth of This we have daily Demonstrations and Experiences of The Iesuits of Geneva and Those of St. Omers I dare affirm in their Damnable Tenets with relation to Monarchy and Episcopacy
bear alike Proposition and consequently Publick Peace must be a Thorn in their Side too Tho I believe verily That the Presbyterian is but an Instrument in the Roman Catholicks Hands to work the Destruction of this Nation because they know there 's no Sect bears a greater Sway nor admits of a greater Acceptance amongst the Credulous Vulgars than This. How under This Cloak Religion they have walked for these several Years and made it their Stalking-Horse to perpetrate their Designes we all know and therefore I shall enter upon the Second Part of This Discourse and trace along our present Troubles and Distractions beginning with Religion Loyalties severe Summons TO THE Bar of Conscience OR A Seasonable Timely Call TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Juncture of Affairs The Second Part. BUT before we enter upon Generals I shall a little come to Particulars and by this Means lay before you more plainly how exactly Men endeavour in These Times to follow the Coppy which have been drawn by Men of alike Principles and Dispositions in the Late Times AND Here we must observe how like Serpents the Subtle Engineers and Framers of the Late Common-Wealth wrought themselves in to the Accomplishing their Damned Designs and Unparallel'd Contrivances They no sooner found the Late King reduced to urgent Necessities and pressing Occasions for Supplyes to His Exchecquer and Treasury which were Drained and Exhausted by a long involved War abroad but it is as soon taken Notice of by the Factious Parties at Home who promised to themselves now a fit Opportunity to broach their Villanies and begin those Accursed Designs against the King and Government which they afterwards perpetrated and brought to pass They begin then to hang Tall and stand off from any Propositions the King made for Supplyes of Money and therefore without He would be brought to those Concessions and comply with such unreasonable Demands which they would and did make no Money was to be had THE King being of a Good Pacifick and Generous Nature and knowing the Pressures and Necessities which then incumbred Him for a Supply was forced to condescend to such Gracious Unparallel'd Acts which helped to pull down that fair and splendid Structure of the Government which His Royal Predecessors Queen Elizabeth and His Father King James had built Of which I have spoken more at large before THESE Acts and Concessions of the King they managed to that Degree that at length the Scots influenc'd Here by some Leading Parties in England enter upon a strange Way of forcing His Concessions by Raising an Army under the Notion of Petitioning their King c. NOW let us behold how nearly we endeavour to follow these Ieroboams and how close the Shadow follows our Heels In the Year 1679. The Damnable Popish Plot Discovered in England not long after the Discovery of the Hellish Popish Plot which had put England into a Great Combustion and Disorder and that now the Minds of Men were possest with Dread and Horror and an Universal Jealousie and Fear of what would be the Event of so strange and Surprizing an Alarum distracted almost even the most sober Brains The Scots who are a People ever ready to lay hold of any Opportunity to Rebel and knowing This a fit Time to blow up that Fire into a Flame which the Papists and Jesuits had kindled they presently begin to enter upon their Old Theme of Protesting against the Church Government Episcopacy The Scots Rebellion nay Monarchy too and Raise a Considerable Army to further their Execrable Designs BUT before this to shew their Antipathy and inveterate Abhorrence against Bishops which is a Natural Disposition they suck't from the Breasts of the Presbyterian Parents as is before taken Notice of and now 't was never to be Eradicated out of the Flesh of their Posterity they Assassinate and Kill that Reverend Prelate the Arch Bishop of St. Andrews The Reverend Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews killed one of His Majesty's most honourable Privy-Councel by Stabbing him in his own Coach in the Sight of the Sun dragging him out upon the Ground hewing and butchering him as the Cruel Blood-Thirsty Dutch did the De witts in Holland leaving his Body as one Wound Oh crudelis Rabies Populi BUT this was but a small Prologue to their designed Black Cragedy the Death of one Great Person could not satisfy their Bloody Intents but now Fury drives them on to destroy all that oppose them and a Body of Men was got together on the Twenty-Nineth of Mar 1679. to the Number of Eighty The Rebels burn several Acts of Parliament well Mounted and Armed and came as far as Rugland proclaimed the Covenant burnt several Acts of Parliament viz. 1. 1. The Act concerning the King's Supremacy 2. 2. The Rescissory Act. 3. 3. The Act for Establishing Episcopacy And 4. 4. The Act appointing the Anniversary of the Twenty-Nineth of May. And that done affixed a certain Scandalous and Traiterous Paper or Declaration upon the Market-Cross and intended to have done the like at Glasgow but were prevented by the King's Forces there The Rebel's Declaration designed to be put up at Glasgow but was actually put up at Rugland was in these Words following AS the Lord hath been pleased still to keep and preserve His Interest in the Land The Scot's Declaration put upon the Market-Cross at Rugland by the Testimony of some Faithful Witnesses from the Beginning So in our Dayes some have not been wanting who thro the greatest Hazards have added their Testimonies to those who are gone before them by suffering Death Banishment Torturings Finings Imprisonments Forfeitures c. flowing from cruel and perfidious Adversaries to the Church and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Land Therefore We owning the Interest of Christ according to the Word of the Lord and the National and Solemn League and Covenaut desire to add our Testimonies of the Worthies that have gone before tho Unworthy yet hoping as true Members of the Church of Christ in Scotland and that against all Things that have been done prejudicial to His Interest from the Beginning of the Work of Reformation in Scotland especially from the Year 1648. to the Year 1660. against these following Acts As 1. 1. The Act of Supremacy 2. 2. The Declaration whereby the Covenants were condemned 3. 3. The Act for Eversion of the Established Government of the Church and for Establishing of Prelacy and for outing of Christ's Ministers who could not conform thereto by an Act Rescissory of all Acts of Parliament and Assemblies for Establishing of the Government of the Church of Scotland according to the Word As likewise 4. That Act of Councel at Glasgow 4. putting that Act Rescissory in Execution where at one time were violently cast out above Three Hundred Ministers without all Legal Procedure Likewise 5. 5. The Act appointing a Holy Anniversary-Day to be kept upon the
Answer did not satisfie Him His Graces Answer and that since they trifled he would receive no more Messages from them In the mean time Our Canon with some Horse and Foot was brought down from the Body of the Army and posted not far from the Bridge The particular Account of the Fight being by me I shall Relate it here as I have it Word for Word THe Duke having put himself in the posture above-said A Relation of the Fight in Scotland commanded the Canon to Fire which it no sooner begun to do but the Rebels who were drawn up on the other side upon a rising Ground near the Bridge threw themselves upon the Ground to avoid the Shot Those that were posted upon the Bridge Fired at first pretty briskly but after Five or Six Shot of Canon they all ran away they upon the rising beginning first Our Men immediately seized the Bridge threw into the River their Barricadoes of Stones Cart-Wheeles and the like took a piece of Canon they had and followed them up the Hill but their Number being very small the Rebels rallied and faced them but had not the Courage to come down upon them Our Men came down again to the Bridge and one Shot more of Canon made the Rebels flye to their upper Line where they stood again In the mean time my Lord General passed the Army over the Bridge and drew up upon the Rising which took up some time and before we were quite in order the Rebels advanced upon Us and to appearance in very good Order When they approach't they espied Our Canon at Our Head and thereupon immediately shifted their Order and opened in the middle thinking it seems We were obliged to Shoot strait forward but Our Canon being turned upon them as they then stood and discharged Three or Four times they begun to Run again their Commander Robert Hamilton being one of the first and our Dragoons and the Highlanders advancing upon them it was a perfect Rout and they fled all wayes Our Men pursuing them Of the Rebels there were Seven or Eight Hundred killed and Eleven or Twelve Hundred taken which were afterwards brought prisoners to Edinborough THE Lord General behaved himself with extraordinary Conduct and Bravery and all the Officers Gentlemen and Souldiers carried themselves with great Chearfulness and Resolution But above all the Mercy of Almighty God was most signal in that tho the Rebels were near Seven Thousand Yet were they totally defeated without any loss to His Majesties Forces save of Two or Three private Sentinals Killed and some few Wounded THUS was extinguisht that furious Flame of Rebellion fed by Presbyterian Doctrines and Zeal to the destroying of so many poor Souls who obstinately refused the Mercy of their Prince and Dyed Martyrs as they call them for the Doctrine of King-killing I pray God divert them from such like Practices for the future and make them know That without Honouring the King we do not Fear God NOW to proceed to a Second Remark which is Episcopacy spoken against the great Hatred these sort of Men have had and now have against Episcopacy as well as Monarchy For as in those late Times the Bishops were ever an Eye-sore to the Scots and the Presbyterian Faction here and therefore the Church of England in its Government Liturgy Common-Prayer and Ceremonies was termed direct Popery and could not be entertain'd as any thing else and therefore to throw down this Rome as they called it destroy the Members of this Church and at the last the Head too was what was suitable to a Good Conscience and consistent with the Liberty of the Subject and the Protestant alias Presbyterian Religion So now adayes Men are so bold to call it the like and will not stick to say the King is a Papist and the Professors of this our Religion of the Church of England Romish or Popishly affected Nay it is publickly asserted That there is not one Bishop in England who was advanced to their Episcopal Dignity by any Protestant but Popish Hand And therefore say they They must needs have a great relish of that Leaven And as the Parliament in those times began to throw their Bolts at the Bishops and to shew their Dislike to that Reverend Apostolical Order and to that Authority and Honour which is due to them and their Right of Sitting in that August-Assembly they Vote That no Bishop should have any Vote in Parliament nor any Judicial-power in the Star-Chamber nor be concerned in any Temporal Matters c. So of late in the Tryal of the Earl of Danby the Commons in Parliament Vote the Bishops useless nay The Bishops Right of Sitting in capital Causes Disputed disown their Right of Sitting there upon Capital Causes c. They Dispute their Right of Sitting at that time and at all times of Session and divers Papers flew about concerning the Right of the Lords Spiritual to Sit in the Lords House or Vote in matters Judicial and others è contra were disperst abroad to the vilifying their Reverence and beating down their undoubted pretensions But the Wisdom and Prudence of Our Gracious Sovereign knowing well enough by sad Experience That they were Treading in the same Steps with their Old Fathers who began at the Church in order to the better subverting the State put an end to the Session After which we have but little News of them the Anti-Episcopates or Presbyters holding their Fingers in their Mouths and standing as mute as Metamorphosed Niobes SINCE the Mutterers against Episcopacy were thus silenced the Clergy have been pretty quiet tho sometimes we meet with a little Piece or two of Controversial Points thrown into their Closets or sent to them by the New found way of Dispatch and that 's the most they can do now They would have their Old Darling bear sway and would be dancing to Westminster to the Assembly of Grave Divines of which some Hugh Peters or Faringdon may be President I should say Moderator But here 's the Plague They have no long Triennial nor meet with such Concessions tho indeed they have had too many very gracious and great ones of late which have been too much abused as we shall take Notice of hereafter as their Fore-Fathes did nor have they a Durante Voluptate Parliament else you would find they would do glorious Things for the Good People of the Land and the Lord's Cause In Truth had these great Antagonists of the Bishops but what they Merit for either their scandalous stigmatizing them in private in their Conversations as well as in exposing them to the World with their spiteful Censures the Punishment which their Patrons Pryn and Burton and Bastwick Suffered in the late Times is too great a Favour and too mild a Resentment AND now I must hasten to Generals only I cannot choose but take Notice That these Times or the Men of them as if they were driven by the pure Dictates of a
all such Laws as were offered Him by His Parliament for the Securing Us against Popery Recolled and particularly for the Qualifying and Distingutshing all Persons in Office or Place of Trust An Act against Popery or Popish Recusants 25 Ch. 2. cap. 2. Which was that Great and memorable Act of which I have spoken of before in another place WHEN that Hellish Design of the Papish Party was happily Discovered How Wisely and Prudently did His Majesty be-have Himself in a Matter of so great an Importance and Surprize A Parliament called upon the Discovery of the Plot. He presently Summons a Parliament and till they could come together He uses all the Means possible for the Searching into and Discovering further the Plot and the Hell-bred Instruments of it to Seize their Persons and Papers and then layes the Whole before them giving them this Assurance His Majestes Speech That He would be alwayes ready to Assist them in the Inquiry into the Plot in any thing where His Concurrence was necessary and accordingly as they desired by several Proclamations Assisting them by some Commanding the Absence of Papists by others Inquiring after Blood with most bountiful Promises of Pardon and Recompence Searching all Counties Securing all Ports to prevent any Flight from and looking into the very Prisons to bring all Malefactors to Justice His Bounty to the Discoverers of the Plot. For the Encouragement of those who came in upon His Proclamation He gave them large Allowances Guards to there Persons c. And this was duly paid at a time when He might have been well excused when His Coffers were empty and His own Faithful mâ—nial Servants went un-paid which was somewhat hard especially when there are some whose whole Subsistence for themselves and Families depends on their In-come from His Majesties Service Those who were Imprisoned and after a long time expect their Trial and therefore Addressed themselves unto Him by their humble Petitions He returned them no other Answer Than that They should receive Iustice in parliament Of this I have spoken of already in another place WHEN the parliament had judged it necessary to have a War with the French All Trade is forbidden for Three Years by which War with the French He deprived Himself of a great part nay a very considerable part of His Revenue and which proved a very Disadvantageous Act to Himself tho by the Intent of the Act it was designed for the French THE French having been so Victorious in the Low-Countries That it was much feared the Spanish Netherlands would have been quite lost and that now the parliament judged it necessary to Raise an Army to go against them The KING is ready to Grant it and a most Incomparable Body of Men are Raised and Mustered in the Spring An Army raised for Flanders and e're they could be Ship't for Flanders they must be Disbanded in July following and in this likewise He complied Disbanded and as far as the Money allowed for that purpose they were Disbanded Thus will we have an Army we have one Will we have none He Disbands it to gratify Us. But one Thing I shall here take Notice of which is the Great Gare His Majesty took The King's Care of the Army That not one Person from the Officer Chief to the very meanest Souldier throughout the whole Army should be a Roman Catholick and therefore every Individual Person must take the Blessed Sacrament and Test the Daths of Megrance and Supremacy e're they were Listed into His Militia to Fight under His Banner by which Method many Relinquish't and left the Field when every particular Name was to be Book't and would not take it as is well known Nay when the time of their Disbanding came every Man whose Name was found in the Books Inter Protestantes his Pay was Deposited to a Farthing and he Discharged none else AND because the best Security of a Nation are good and wholesome Lawes Never resused an Vseful Bill at any time There hath not One Useful Bill been offered to Him but what He hath readily accepted and past AND yet what unsuitable Returns has He had for all these and many more which I could not com-premise within this narrow Compass His Princely Gracious Concessions Vide The Journals of the House of Commons and most Affectionate Condescentions His Gracious Speeches at the Openings of Our late Short-Liv'd-Parliaments shew His Resentments of their Proceedings and how just He is in them therefore I omit particulars His last Speech to the Parliament at Oxford sufficiently Evidences how great Reason He had to Act as He did in their so frequent Dissolutions Nay since that likewise as another great Instance of His Love to His Loyal and Good Subjects He has publish't His Reasons that led Him to it The King publish't a Declaration which hath infinitely satisfied the Subject the several Addresses from every of the respective Counties Shires Burroughs c. giving some ground to believe Which I hope are as real in Fact as they are in Words and if so England will still be happy notwithstanding all the Machinations and Plots of Pope or Jesuit Phanatick or French being United within our selves with the Bonds of Peace with a Fear of God Honour of His Vice-gerent Our Soveraign Charles Out King a Reverence for His Councels especially His Great Council the Parliament and an Awe and Obedience to His Ministers and a Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Praying That God would bless His Majesty with Peace and Length of Dayes and the Royal-Family and That God would ever so Direct all the Consultations of His Great Councils the future Parliaments that they may tend to the Glory of His Name the Good of His Church and the Safety Honour and Wellfare of their King and Country To which Let every true Son of the Church of England say alwayes Amen THE CONCLUSION THUS Dear Countrymen I have endeavoured to lay before you a plain and impartial Relation of the present Condition and State of Affairs as they now stand in this Juncture of Time and what Measures and Steps we take to hasten that Ruine which hangs over Our Heads and which will inevitably fall upon Us if we do not endeavour with the utmost Diligence and Industry Christian Prudence and our Happiness and Peace oblige Us to I have shewed you in the Opening of this Discourse what Measures our Fathers took in the late Rebellion towards that Ruine and Destruction which they brought upon themselves and their Posterity How furiously Blind Zeal hurried them upon and and Mistaken Liberty plunged them in Blood and Misery How great a sway Parliaments bore under the Notion of Priviledge amongst the unruly Multitude even to the disowning the Regal Power nay Deposing Our Prince and at last to bring Him to the Block I have also shewed you how little the Dissimilitude is betwixt our and their Proceedings and how near