Author of Peace was to be Propagated by His Ministers by the Sword OH the Blindness and wilful Obstinacy of Man Oh the Proclivity of the depraved Humane Nature to Errors and Abuses How is it that Thou Religion art thus mistaken How is it Thy Dictates and Sacred Rites are thus mis-construed and mis-applyed Dost Thou Teach Men such Horrid and Abominable Doctrines 〈…〉 That to Propagate their Empire and extend their Dominions Subjects should be absolved from Obedience to their Lawful Sovereign Princes impowering them to Depose Them or pull Them down from their Thrones take the Crown from their Heads and at last their Heads from their Bodies Dost Thou warrant Disorders Distractions and Discords in the Socieries or Communities of Men to the utter Subversion of Governments Laws and Liberties and to the totall Ruin of Kingdoms Dost Thou lead Men to Contrive the most Execrable Designes to hatch Treasons and to lay Plots and Conspiracies to Endeavour nay Perpetrate Assassinations Nay if they fail in These to kick at Authority and contemn the Laws asperse the Governor and vilifie the Government Are those Thy Precepts No no not at all nor in any wise consisting with My Nature as I am Profess'd by the Church of England Indeed Rome and Geneva may understand Me so and the World has felt they do ever understand Me so The Religion of the Church of England As I am Profess'd by the Church of England I command Her Preachers to endeavour to implant Virtue in Mens Minds To let Her Doctrine as it truly and purely is be Undefiled Orthodox and Evangelical Teaching Piety or our Duty towards God Justice or Love towards those in Society with us and primarily towards His Vicegerent our Lawful King and Governour and Sobriety or Love to our own Persons in living in the Practice of those Excellent Virtues of Temperance and Soberness which tends so much to the Glory of God and our own Comfort and Happiness Have not we then who have the Church of England for our Mother great Cause to bless God for those daily Influences of Divine Love and Comfort which we receive from Her That nothing but the Pure and Uncorrupt Milk of Sincere Piety and True Religion may be suck't from Her Immaculate Breasts But Alas What the Reverend Pious and Learned Arch-Bishop Laud said in his Speech upon the Scaffold before his Death speaking of the Church of England may be too aptly the more is our Shame applyed to Her at this Time This poor Church of England said that Reverend Prelate has Flourish't and been a Shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when Storms have driven upon them but Alas now it is in a Storm it Self and God knows whether or how it shall get out And which is worse than a Storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to Shivers with Wedges made out of its own Body and that in every Cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is creeping in a-pace Lib. 2. de Vitae Contem. cap. 4. while as Prosper saith Men that introduce Prophaneness are cloak't with a Name of Imaginary Religion For we have in a manner almost lost the Substance and dwell much nay too much a great deal in Opinion and that Church which all the Jesuits Machinations in these parts of Christendome could not Ruin is now fallen into a great deal of Danger by Her Own BUT hold Consider Is it Religion alone that hath thus distracted Men's Brains or is it Mistaken zeal that drives Men into these Madnesses Is there nothing else in the Grass that lyes Latitant and pricks us and makes us so uneasy Yes I fear there is a Serpent that stings us and makes us kick at Authority called as heretofore Liberty of the Subject 'T is this wounds our Stomacks Liberty of the Subject and without a little Aqua Tetramagogicon or an Indubitable Assurance of its being Preserved we cannot be at ease God God! Is there any People or Nation in Europe ever Bless'd with Greater Freedoms and more Undisturbed Libertyes than this Kingdom of England Or Is there found from the One Part of the World to the Other one People bless'd with such a Land A Land whose Constitutions make the Best of Governments which Government is strengthned with the Best of Laws which Laws are Executed by the Best of Princes whose Prince whose Laws whose Government makes Us the Happiest of all Subjects makes Us the Happiest of all People And what a late Learned Writer said speaking in the Praise of a Land and the Admirable Blessings of it may be said of England and I shall apply it according to his Words A Land sayes he of Strength England described as it now flourishes of Plenty and of Peace where every Soul may sit beneath his Vine unfrighted at the Horrid Language of the Hoarse Trumpet unstartled at the Warlike Summons of the Roaring Canons A Land whose Beauty hath surpriz'd the Ambitious Hearts of Forreign Princes and taught them by their Martial Oratory to make their vain Attempts A Land whose Strength reads Vanity in the deceived Hopes of Conquerors and crowns their Enterprizes with a Shameful Over-throw A Land whose Native Plenty makes her the World's Exchange supplying Others able to subsist without Supply from Forreign Kingdoms In it Self Happy and Abroad Honourable A Land that hath no Vanity but what 's the sweetest of all Blessings Peace and Plenty that hath no Misery but is propagated from that Blindness which cannot see Her own Felicity A Land that flows with Milk and Honey and in brief wants nothing to deserve the Title of a Paradise The Curb of Spain The Pride of Germany the Aid of Belgia the Scourge of France the Empress of the World and Queen of Nations In fine England is the Envy of all Nations the Ambition of all Princes the Terror of all Enemies and the Security of all Neighbouring States Thus far I follow the Steps of my Learned Author in this Encomium of the Land whereof we were both †Oh Fortundtâ—s nimium sua si bona norint Anglos Natives BUT Alas I find at the Bottom of the Role a Blot or Blur which as it were oblitterates part of the Account for all these Blessings and Happinesses are but as so many Steps towards her Woe or as so many Gaps to let in Pride Ambition c. as Foxes and Wild-Boars to eat up and tread down these her Flowers For Alas She renders her Self miserable by Not being Compact within her Self in Unity but is apt and prone to Civil and Intestine Broyls Did Her Children but cherish Brotherly Love and Charity Vnion the best Antidore against Evils and endeavour the maintaining a good and right Understanding one with another and not suffer every Private Man's Interest to disturb Publick Peace Utility and Order the Devil himself nor the Pope and all his Instruments can or will ever harm or molest us But that 's the Colliquintida that alwayes spoyls our Pot
Worshippers these Sons of Belial and Children of Darkness c. Thus they asperse the Ministry and endeavour to draw an Odium upon the Clergy which is the readiest means to induce men to have a low regard of Religion it self for as a wise Writer of late times said when once the Dispensers of Religion fall into Contempt it must be a strong Arm and more than that of Flesh that can bear up Religion it self and keep that from falling too I hope and pray with a Reverend Prelate in a late learned Sermon upon this Subject That God will not remove our Candlestick from among us as he threatned the Church of Ephesus tho 't is too much to be feared our Impenitency and the disregard we have of Gods Ministers and the Diversity of Sects and Opinions amongst us may be sufficient enough to occasion it What Judgments the Angel denounced against those Four Churches in the Revelations Chap. 2. I desire every Son and Daughter of our Church to consider Read the Severals and I doubt not but you 'll soon find how little a Disproportion there is betwixt Us and Them Tho I fear the last viz. Thyatira may be too much our lively Image The several Schismes Sects and Divisions which have been broached fomented and continued about Religion in this Kingdom of England have been as I said before the immediate Reasons that brought men to have a low regard of Religion it self and the Causes of the great Decay of Christian Piety in the Land We may attribute what we will to the State and say what we please of the Government when it is the Immorality and Vice of the Cymes which makes the Almighty angry with us and threaten to cut us off And now Impiety Irreligion rides Tryumphant Immorality sways its Scepter in the Hearts of men and therefore let the Charmer charm never so wisely men lend but Adders Cares and will not regard And therefore Admonitions are but vain and Advice but Bubbles Correption and Rebuke pisht at and reckoned but as Childish Flattery or painted Mask Nothing can be then expected but such like Reparties which I will take from the to-be-admired * Vide Quale's Boanerges and Barnabas Boanerges and so conclude Tell not me of Hell Devills or damned Souls to enforce me from those Pleasures which they nick-name Sin 'T is true I have not led my life according to the Pharisaical Square of the Opinions of God's Ministers neither have I found Judgments according to their Prophecies whereby I must conclude that God is wonderfully merciful or they wonderfully mistaken How often have they thundered Torment against my Voluptuous life and yet I feel no pain How bitterly have they threatned shame against the Vaunts of the Vain-glorious Yet find they honour How fiercely have they preach't destruction against my Cruelty And yet I live What Plagues against my Swearing Yet not infected What Diseases against my Drunkenness And yet sound What danger against Procrastination Yet how often hath God been found upon the Death-bead What Damnation to Hypocrites Yet who more safe What Stripes to the Ignorant Yet who more Scot-free What Poverty to the Sloathful Yet they prosper What Falls to the Proud Yet stand they surest What Curses to the Covetous Yet who richer What Judgment to the Lascivious Yet who more pleasure What Vengeance to the Prophane the Censorious the Revengeful Yet none live more unscourged Who deeper Branded than the Lyar Yet who more Favoured Who more threatned than the Presumptuous Yet who less punish'd Thus they run thro a Catalogue of the several Kinds of Enormous Sins which are most predominant in our depraved Natures and believe not what the Church doth pronounce on each of them but as Bugbeares and therefore say they thus we are fool'd and kept in awe by the strict fancies of these Pulpit-men whose Opinions have no Ground but what they gain from Popularity But let these bold blustring Sinners but read the fifth Chapter of Isaiahs Prophecy and there they will find the miserable Woes entailed on the Wicked as likewise Jer. 4. Deut. 29.2 Chron. 34. Perhaps I have played the Divine too long and have tired you with these sad Reflections I shall therefore enlarge no further but only add one word by way of Admonition and conclude Let not O England an improvident Carelesness cast out all Fear of approaching Danger Hast thou not for these many years nuzzled in the Bosome of Habitual Peace when thy Neighbours were in the Flames of War Be not deceived a long Peace makes a Bloody War and the Abuse of continued Mercies makes a sharp Judgment The stalled Oxe that wallows in his plenty and waxes wanton in his Ease is not far from slaughter Didst thou not laugh Invasion to scorn and was not affrighted at Conspiracies Didst thou want good Laws or did those Laws want Execution Didst thou not stand the Glory of the World and the Envy of all Nations Did not thy Prophets give lawful warning and like true Baptists preach Repentance How hast thou lived that now these Prophecies are fulfilled and that now thou beholdest the Vialls of thy angry God ready to be powred forth Didst thou think that Pride could not demolish the Towers that defend thee Nor drunkenness dry up the Sea that Walls thee Nor the Flames of Lust dissolve the Ord'nance that protects thee O England Since mercies could not allure thee let these threatning Judgments now at length enforce thee to a true Repentance Quench the Firebrand which thou hast kindled Turn thy Mirth to true Mourning and thy Feasts of Joy to Humiliation and pray with thy Church That from all Sedition privy Conspiracy and Rebellion from all false Doctrine Heresy and Schisme from Hardness of Heart and Contempt of His Word and Commandments God would deliver us Amen FINIS THE POST-SCRIPT SINCE the Composing the foregoing Discourse the Parliament of Scotland was Convogued where the Duke of York sat Commissioner impoured to touch those Acts with the Royal Scepter which passed there Voted by men of unbyast Principles and Loyal Intentions No sooner do we find them placed in their Seats but satissyed with the Royal Pleasure in the Commissioner and undisturbed with the daily Murmurings about Exclusion Exclusion the English-man's Character of a Popish Successor no way sympathizing with Their Loyal Minds They presently Vote the publication of those Memorable Acts for the Lineal Legal Succession in That and consequently This Kingdom Oh Brave Scots Now you have quitted your selves like Men and have shewed this to be the Year of Regeneration and consequently Salvation Now you shame our Pretended Loyallists who make the world believe that their Zeal and Devotion for the Royal Family deserves Admiration and merits the name of Unparalleâ—'d when the Curtaine drawn it is Squint-eyed and byast Now it is that you have played the true antient Scot not filled with Anti-monarchy and Rebellion or influenced by the Factious Spirits of Disaffected English nor moved with the malicious Thunder-bolt of Seditious and Rebellious Meroz but a Legal Succession according to the Proximity of Blood the Liberty and Freedom of The true Kirk of God as now established is and shall be your Uninterrupted Resolve What doth or will this do but eternize your Names and make you memorable in the Chronicles of Fame Now you have quitted your selves like true Israelites and the God of Israel prosper all your Consultations AH But Brother and Fellow-Subject sayes the Scot to the English-Man Yee make Mickle to dee with yee 'r Evidences c. we Hang them Here as fast as they come in The Dee'l is in yee for Plotting and Swearing In Troth a Man cannot Live with yee for Evidencing wee'se not come among yee Yee speak Treason and yee 'll not be Tryed but when and whare and by what Jury yee please But yee 'r Protestant-Joyner Colledge has found That the Law will have its Force and that tho London could afford him an Ignoramus-Jury Oxford would not Veritas est magna praevalebit Truth will prevail Peace must be maintained and Offenders punish't Incendiaries must be suppressed and Murmurers silenced Whatever the Reverend Evidence could deposite in Verbo sacerdotis to invalidate the King's Evidence and to wash off the Ethiopian Blackness of Treason and Villany he still found That Verbum Justiciae Veritatis foyled him and that he ought not as he had set His Hand to the Plough to look back Methinks the Consideration of His Life and Being as one told him should have Taught Him That to say his Prayers Hebrew-fashion was unbecoming His Coat In Troth Yee are all Mad and what shall I say Yee 'll ne're leave Plotting till yee 're all Potted But look upon the fore-going Discourse and yee 'le find necessary Cures to Heal this Plotting-Itch
would be a Vanity in me to Imagine that this Essay or Compendium can have so great and good an Effect yet I promise my self it may be of some use and perhaps a Means towards the Reconciling Our Differences and the making up Our Breaches which who ever brings to pass raises to himself immortal Monuments of Honour and renders Us as Necessary and Helpful to Our Friends and as Dreadful and Formidable to Our Enemies as We have been of late Neglected and Despised by both the One and the Other I SHALL begin first with the Introduction to the late King's Miseries and Necessities which was the War the Parliament had engaged His Father in with the House of Austria for the Râ—…ry of the Palatinate and which was left Him as a Heavy Incumbrance and Mortgage upon an Estate and finding His Exthequer Empty and His Revenues spent and drained He was forced to take such Courses and Stoop to such Things as He would not have done in another Occasion His Necessities were still increased by the War He was not long after Engaged in for the Defence and in the Behalf of the Huguenots of France wherein having failed of those timely and seasonable Succours from His Parliament as He might Reasonably have promised Himself in a juncture when so great a Part and Branch of the Protestant Communion as was that of France lay at Stake He failed of that good Success that a more ready and willing Relief might perhaps have procured The Factions now begin and the publick Ministers Censur'd This Furnished the Male-contents and the Promoters of Sedition with Pretexts of Censoring and Blaming the Conduct of those at the Helm of Demanding the Heads of some of the Ministers in Favour and the Removeal of Others from all Charges and Places of Trust THIS Bustle was Attended with loud Cryes The Bishops for introducing Popery and Detestations of Popery and several were Accused of being Promoters and Abettors of it The Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Church of England were not free from this Aspersion but were said to be of the Party and joyned their Endeavours with those who had a mind and designed to set up the Roman Catholick Religion in this Kingdom This helped to nourish and spread abroad Jealousies and Distrusts occasioned Distractions and Consternations and gave deep Root to Dissention and Rebellion But these Promoters of Mischief did not content themselves with Stigmatizing the Clergy and the Chief Ministers of State for they endeavoured to insinuate into the People underhand that the Crown it self was Popishly Affected The Crown it self Popishly Affected and that it did favour and encourage the Growth of that Religion That it Aimed at Arbitrary Government Arbitrary Government c. and that the Subjects were to be Deprived of their Priviledges The House of Commons Daily found out New Grievances drew up Remonstrances Priviledges of Parliament Cryed out for and Cryed out against most of the Actions of the King and his Ministers as contrary to the priviledges of Parliament But notwithstanding all these Artifices and Contrivances to set the Nation on a Pare they would never have Gained their point had they not found the Scots Aiming the same way being willing to be Instruments for the putting in Execution their Execrable Designs Whereupon they Invited them underhand into England The Scots Rebel The Scots a Hungry and Poor Nation ever ready to be upon the Wing on such Occasions Accepted the Offer came in Swarmes full of Hopes and with fair prospects of Riches and Booty The King Raises an Army to Oppose them They Seized upon the best Towns of the more Northern Parts of England But the King having drawn a Considerable Army together Marched to York to Oppose them and his Forces being much more Considerable than the Scots would certainly have Routed them had they not Tampered and Insinuated into the English that their Ruine would be certainly attended or followed by the Oppression of them themselves and they once Subdued the King would be enabled to use His English Subjects as he thought fit by which Intelligence and Correspondence it was Evident that the English had no mind to Fight though their Army was much Stronger than the Scots A Treaty held whereupon by the Mediation of some Persons a Treaty of Peace was begun and soon Finished Wherein it was agreed that His Majesty should Publish a Declaration whereby all should be confirmed that His Commissioners had promised in His Name that a General Assembly and Parliament be Held at Edenburgh in a short time And Lastly that upon Disbanding their Forces Dissolving their Counsels and Restoring the King to His Forts and Castles c. The King was to Recal His Fleet and Forces and make Restitution of their Goods since the Breach NOW that which made the Scots so ready to undertake this Expedition was not only a prospect of Gain and Plunder but the Fears they were in of losing their Darling Presbitery made them take Arms and Spirited them into this Rebellion The King endeavours to introduce the Liturgy into the Kirk of Scotland For the King in Pursuance of His Father's Design of Establishing the Common-Prayer in Scotland as it was in England did Endeavour to introduce the Liturgy into practice in that Kingdom But the Nobility and Gentry having since the first Reformation of Scotland from Popery thrown out the Bishops and shared their Estates among them by the Instigation of John Knox the great Presbyterian John Knox a great Presbyterian were afraid that if they were again Re-established and Recovered their former Power and Reverence they would likewise quickly find the means of procuring again their Antient Estates and Revenues For the preventing of which they thereupon spread abroad Discontents and Fears foment Jealousies and Distractions and Engage the Clergy on their side who were generally inclined to Knox's Discipline and the Soveraignty which they had for some time enjoyed under the Government of Presbitery The Lyturgy and Episcopal Government Termed Popery the Clergy Influence the People and Terrify them with the Danger of Popery for so they Termed the Liturgy and the Government by Bishops By these means and pretexts they allured the People into a Rebellion notwithstanding all the Care that was taken by those at the Helm to prevent it and the Confederates entred into a Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant and oblig'd themselves to a Mutual Defence against all persons whatsoever not excepting the King himself and then they begun an Actual War An Actual War follows Raised Men and Money Seized His Majesties Armes Magazines Castles Forts and Walled Towns and all this was done for Conscience Sake But to avoid becoming Horrible and Abominable in the Eyes of all the World by being called Traitors and Rebels Tho Varnished with a pretended Design for Petitioning c they Varnished and Termed all these Preparations and
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
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
We are apt to carp at every thing that suits not with our crooked Desires We cannot endure any thing that touches us near but we stile it Arbitrary or that it sinells rank of Popishly-Affectedness and then Authority is contemned and every Non-sensical and half-witted Upstart who is but just got out of Busby's Hands must appear in Print in a Seditious Libel against the King and Government THE Splendor of that Fire which burns our Neighbours deceives the Eye It seems Fair because it Shines It seems Good because it gives Light The Harm thereof is not felt till Loss be occasioned thereby Who is there that 's unsensible or have not heard of the late Troubles in England What Ruin what Confusion what Miseries what Destruction they brought us into when the Son killed the Father and the Father the Son when all Order both of Nature and Government was broken to pieces when Liberty and Property their Meums and Tuums nay Religion too the Chief Cause of so much Effusion of Innocent Blood were totally Subverted and quasi Annihilated And all upon Pretence of Arbitrary Government and a Needless Fear of Introducing Popery Have not our Father's Blood been spilt in this Cause and cryes unto us from the Earth My Sons Give not your selves to Change Prov. 24 2◠And yet Will we be running down the same Precipice to Destruction And Will no Perswasive Arguments and Amicable Suggestions and Perswasions Impede your Hot Careere and turn you like Balaam from Disobeying the Commands of the Great Iehovah But you will continue your Old Thesis Id factum juvat quod fieri non licet 'T IS true there ought a Remedy be had for appearing Dangers The Danger of too much Haste but I do not commend the Repairing of past Errors caused by Delay with New and Greater caused by Impatience Injuries received tend to the Ruin of Men who with the Zeal of Honour do not accompany wisdom they run upon Revenge for past Wrongs and throw themselves headlong upon New Miseries They would amend One Error and produce a Thousand Too much Haste is as much before Time as too much Delay is out of Time Errors of Impatience are worse than Errors of Delay for it is better to shun Precipices than run upon Them If they be not hindered they are Retarded Wisdome is the Daughter of Cold Violence of Heat Things which have not been done in Times past may be well effected in Times to come Occasions are never wanting to Men but Men are wanting to Occasions They may be expected they ought not to be prevented Generous Spirits address themselves to endure present Injuries out of hope of Future Revenge They reserve their Anger to Vindicate Offences not to Evaporate Passion A Disease that has been long growing is not presently eradicated but deserves the longer Time and the greater Industry to Cure it Difficulties ought not alwayes to be thrust at in Desperate Cases it is better to commit them into the Hands of Fortune than to seek to Remedy them Where we cannot help our selves to be busie can work no other Effect than hinder the Effects of a Cause Superior to our selves That as I said before which hath wrought it self into us by little and little must be wrought out by little and little SINCE the First Discovery of this Late Hellish Popish Plot What Prudent Means and Well-weighed Methods have been used to prevent the Designs and Dash the Hopes of those Damnable Conspitors there is not any reasonable sober Man but will aver He is sensible of Almighty God as the Prime Agent towards Our Deliverance was pleased first to Detect their execrable Treasons and Machinations and to strike the Rock to send forth Streams to save our drooping and Fainting Land or made those who were the Great Sauls Mr. Oaes and Mr. 〈◊〉 c. in threatning the Destruction of Our Church and State to become the most Eminent Pauls in the preserving them And these He placed as most Exquisite Instruments in the Hands of His Sacred Majesty His Vicegerent to work out those Means which might procure Our Peace and Well-fare and remove those Obstacles which impeded that Good which His Royal Bounty and Gracious Love ever wisht His Subjects should enjoy THE Consternation and affright a thing of so important a Nature as a Plot put the whole Nation into was not nor is easily to be removed especially discovered in a time when England was the Sole Seat of Peace and Tranquility and when at the same time all Her Neighbours were in the greatest Conflagration of War and Desolation The sudden Amazement which such a surprize put Us in possest Us then with a Diffidence and Distrust of our Best Friends neither could we think our selves Secure of the Government we lived under either in its Power or Authority We presently suspect the Incredulity of Our Prince in being not easily induced to Believe a Plot might proceed from some more than Ordinary Cause and therefore we imagined the Court-Air smelt rank and thus trusting our Senses The Duke of York impeach't we ran briskly on our Pursuit and found the Duke in the Quarry The Duke in the Plot The Duke in the Plot Is presently the wondring Interrogatory of every Body What! He that was the Alumna the Joy of all true English Hearts the Heir Apparent to the Crown of the Three Kingdoms And the Endeared Brother of Our Sovereign Lord HERE the Scene begins to alter and Revenge and Odium sits Regent on every Brow and like Amnon's Hatred to His Sister Tamar it became greater and more inveterate than the Love they before bare to him For now every Pen is employed in beating down His Pretentions to the Crown and proposing the Reasonableness nay Undeniable Necessity there is for the Exclusion of Him as a Papist from the Succession AND here all Our Miseries began Our Fears and Jealousies of Introducing Popery Arbitrary Government and utter Subversion of Our Religion Laws and Liberties drives Us to distrust Our Prince and His Council and nothing will serve our Turns but we are ready to Affront Authority asperse His Ministers and Contemn His Sovereignty and all this like the Antient Turnus for the Liberty of the Subject and the Maintaining the Protestant Religion GOOD GOD Was there ever Prince more sincere in His Professions and more real and direct in His Promises than Our Prince hath been Was there ever Prince shewed a more Vigilant Care and Indefatigable Diligence in endeavouring the Finding out those nefarious Contrivers of the Popish Plot Hath He not given the greatest Incouragement imaginable to the Discoverers of the Plot and Promoted their Care in finding out those Hell-bred Conspirators to bring them to Condigne Punishment Hath He not taken the Strictest Care in the World that the Laws be duely put in Execution and that Delinquents escape not unpunisht Did He Judges removed and new Ones Chosen Did He not Purge the Courts of publick
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