take in those of another Kingdom to their Resolutions who are not bound by our Laws But what violation soever they make of the Laws they are forward to put the King in mind of His Duty and therefore tell Him That He is sworn to maintain the Laws as they are sworn to their Allegiance to Him these Obligations being reciprocal It is true in some sense that the Oath of the King and Subjects is reciprocal that is each is bound to perform what they swear the King as well as the Subjects but he that will well weigh their Letter and make one part have connexion with the other and examine that part of their Covenant whereby they swear they will defend the Kings Person and Authority no further or otherwise than in preservation of their Religion and Liberties may easily find another construction viz. That the Subjects Allegiance is no longer due than the King performs His Duty nay no longer than He in their opinion observes His Duty whereof they themselves must be Judges and if He fail in His Duty they may take up Arms against Him A Principle which as it is utterly destructive to all Government so we believe they themselves dare not plainly avow it lest as they now make use of it against the King so the People finding their failure of Duty and breach of Trust should hereafter practise it by taking up Arms against them and so shake of that yoak of Tyranny imposed by their fellow Subjects which lies so heavy upon them It were well as they still press upon the King maintenance of the Laws they would also know that their Obligation to observe the same is reciprocal and while they here resolve to defend and preserve the full Power of this Parliament which in their sense can be no other than the Power they have exercised this Parliament they would take notice that they are therein so far from observation of the Laws that they desperately resolve an utter subversion of them For what can more tend to the destruction of the Laws than to usurp a Power to themselves without the King and against His will to raise Arms to attribute to their Orders or pretended Ordinances the power of Laws and Statutes to inforce Contributions Loans and Taxes of all sorts from the Subject to imprison without cause shewed and then prohibit Writs of Habeas Corpus for their enlargement to lay Excises upon all Commodities to command and dispose of the Lives and Estates of the free-born Subjects of this Kingdom at their pleasure to impose Tonnage and Poundage contrary to the Law declared in the late Act for Tonnage and Poundage and all this done and justified as by a legal civil Power founded and inherent in them All which are manifest breaches of the Petition of Right and Magna Charta the great Evidence of the Liberties of England which Charter by express words binds them and us though assembled in Parliament as well as the King And though it be not now as heretofore it hath been taken by solemn Oath on the Peoples part as well as on the Kings nor a Curse as heretofore pronounced on the Violators yet they having taken a Protestation to maintain the Laws and the Liberties and Properties of the Subject and inclusively that Charter let them take heed whilst they make use of this their pretended Power to the destruction of the Law lest a Curse fall upon them and upon their Posterity God knoweth and it is too certain a truth that our selves and many other good Subjects in this Kindom even under the Power of the Kings Army have suffered exceedingly in Liberty and Estates during this present Rebellion by many heavy Charges the sad consideration whereof makes our hearts bleed because we can see no way for relief so long as this unnatural Rebellion continues But as these things were first practised by them and thereby necessitated upon the Kings Army so it was never yet pretended that they were done by virtue of a Law but either by Consent or by the unhappy and unavoidable exigences of War and to expire with the present Rebellion which God in mercy hasten For our parts we have the inward comfort of our own Consciences witnessing with us that we have improved all opportunities and advantages for the restoring of this Kingdom to its former Peace and we must witness for His Majesty His most hearty desires thereof And though both His Majesty and our endeavours therein have been made frustrate yet God in his great goodness hath raised up our spirits not to desert our Religion our King our Laws our Lives the Liberties of us English free-born Subjects and by God's assistance and His Majesty's concurrence we do resolve to unite our selves as one Man and cheerfully adventure our Lives and Estates for the maintenance and defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion of the Church of England of which we profess our selves to be for the defence of the Kings Person and Rights of His Crown for the regaining and maintaining the Rights and Privileges of Parliament and the Liberty of the Subjects Person and Property of his Estate according to the known Laws of the Land to repel those of the Stotish Nation that have in a warlike manner entred this Realm and to reduce the Subjects thereof now in Rebellion to the Kings Obedience And we doubt not but the same God will enlighten the eyes of the poor deceived People of this Land like true-hearted honest English-Men to joyn unanimously with us in so just and pious a work And the God of Heaven prosper us according to the goodness of the Cause we have in hand The Names of the Lords and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford who did subscribe the Letter to the Earl of Essex dated January 27. 1643. CHARLES P. YORK CUMBERLAND Ed. Littleton C. S. Fra. Cottington D. Richmond M. Hartford E. Lindsey E. Dorset E. Shrewsbury E. Bath E. Southampton E. Leicester E. Northampton E. Devonshire E. Carlisle E. Bristol E. Berkshire E. Cleveland E. Rivers E. Dover E. Peterburgh E. Kingston E. Newport E. Portland V. Conway L. Digby L. Mowbray and Maltravers L. Wentworth L. Cromwell L. Rich. L. Paget L. Chandois L. Howard of Charleton L. Lovelace L. Savile L. Mohun L. Dunsmore L. Seymour L. Percy L. Wilmott L. Leigh L. Hatton L. Jermyn L. Carrington JOhn Fettiplace Esq Sir Alex. Denton Sir John Packington Sir Tho. Smith F. Gamul Esq Jo. Harris Esq Joseph Jane Esq Rich. Edgcombe Esq Jonathan Rashleigh Esq G. Fane Esq P. Edgcombe Esq Will. Glanvill Esq Sir Ro. Holborne Sir Ra. Sydenham Fra. Godolphin Esq Geo. Parry D. of Law Amb. Manaton Esq Ri. Vivian Esq Jo. Polewheele Esq John Arundell Esq Tho. Lower Esq Sir Edw. Hide Will. Allestree Esq Sir Geo. Stonehouse Ed. Seymour Esq Peter Sainthill Esq Sir Will. Poole Roger Matthew Esq Ri. Arundell Esq Ro. Walker Esq Giles Strangwaies Esq Sir John Strangwaies Sir Tho. Hele. Sir Ger. Naper Sam. Turner
if time be unnecessarily lost 5. Now for the fallaciousness of my Argument to my knowledge it was never My practice nor do I confess to have begun now For if the Practice of the Primitive Church and the universal consent of the Fathers be not a convincing Argument when the interpretation of Scripture is doubtful I know nothing For if this be not then of necessity the Interpretation of private Spirits must be admitted the which contradicts St. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 20. is the Mother of all Sects and will if not prevented bring these Kingdoms into confusion And to say that an Argument is ill because the Papists use it or that such a thing is good because it is the Custom of some of the Reformed Churches cannot weigh with Me until you prove these to be infallible or that to maintain no Truth And how Diotrephes Ambition who directly opposed the Apostle St John can be an Argument against Episcopacy I do not understand 6. When I am made a Judge over the Reformed Churches then and not before will I censure their Actions as you must prove before I confess it that Presbyters without a Bishop may lawfully ordain other Presbyters And as for the Administration of Baptism as I think none will say that a Woman can lawfully or duely administer it though when done it be valid so none ought to do it but a lawful Presbyter whom you cannot deny but to be absolutely necessary for the Sacrament of the Eucharist 7. You make a learned succinct discourse of Oaths in general and their several Obligations to which I fully agree intending in the particular now in question to be guided by your own Rule which is when any Oath hath a special reference to the Benefit of those to whom I make the Promise if we have their desire or consent the Obligation ceaseth Now it must be known to whom this Oath hath reference and to whose benefit The Answer is clear Only to the Church of England as by the Record will be plainly made appear And you much mistake in alledging that the two Houses of Parliament especially as they are now constituted can have this Disobligatory power for besides that they are not named in it I am confident to make it clearly appear to you that this Church never did submit nor was subordinate to them and that it was only the King and Clergy who made the Reformation the Parliament merely serving to help to give the Civil Sanction All this being proved of which I make no question it must necessarily follow that it is only the Church of England in whose favour I took this Oath that can release Me from it wherefore when the Church of England being lawfully assembled shall declare that I am free then and not before I shall esteem My self so 8. To your last concerning the King My Father of Happy and Famous Memory both for his Piety and Learning I must tell you that I had the Happiness to know Him much better than you wherefore I desire you not to be too confident in the knowledge of His Opinions for I dare say should his Ghost now speak He would tell you that a bloody Reformation was never lawful as not warranted by God's Word and that Preces lachrymae sunt Arma Ecclesiae 9. To conclude having replied to all your Paper I cannot but observe to you that you have given Me no Answer to my last Quaere It may be you are as Chaucer says like the People of England What they not like they never understand but in earnest that question is so pertinent to the Purpose in hand that it will much serve for My satisfaction and besides it may be useful for other things C. R. Newcastle June 6. 1646. IV. Mr. Alexander Henderson's Second Paper For His MAJESTY SIR THE smaller the encouragements be in relation to the success which how small they are Your Majesty well knows the more apparent and I hope the more acceptable will my obedience be in that which in all humility I now go about at Your Majesty's command yet while I consider that the way of man is not in himself nor is it in man that walketh to direct his own steps and when I remember how many supplications with strong crying and tears have been openly and in secret offered up in Your Majesty's behalf unto God that heareth prayer I have no reason to despair of a blessed success 1. I have been averse from a disputation of Divines 1. For saving of time which the present exigence and extremity of affairs make more than ordinarily pretious While Archimedes at Syracuse was drawing his figures and circlings in the sand Marcellus interrupted his Demonstration 2. Because the common result of Disputes of this kind answerable to the prejudicate opinions of the Parties is rather Victory than Verity while tanquam tentativi Dialectici they study more to overcome their adverse Party than to be overcome of Truth although this be the most glorious Victory 3. When I was commanded to come hither no such thing was proposed to me nor expected by me I never judged so meanly of the Cause nor so highly of my self as to venture it upon such weakness Much more might be spoken to this purpose but I forbear 2. I will not further trouble Your Majesty with that which is contained in the second Section hoping that Your Majesty will no more insist upon Education Prescription of time c. which are sufficient to prevent Admiration but which Your Majesty acknowledges must give place to Reason and are no sure ground of resolution of our Faith in any point to be believed although it be true that the most part of men make these and the like to be the ground and rule of their Faith an Evidence that their Faith is not a Divine Faith but an humane Credulity 3. Concerning Reformation of Religion in the third Section I had need have a Preface to so thorny a Theme as your Majesty hath brought me upon 1. For the Reforming power it is conceived when a General Defection like a Deluge hath covered the whole face of the Church so that scarcely the tops of the Mountains do appear a General Council is necessary but because that can hardly be obtained several Kingdoms which we see was done at the time of the Reformation are to Reform themselves and that by the Authority of their Prince and Magistrates if the Prince or supreme Magistrate be unwilling then may the inferior Magistrate and the People being before rightly informed in the grounds of Religion lawfully Reform within their own sphere and if the light shine upon all or the major part they may after all other means assayed make a publick Reformation This before this time I never wrote or spoke yet the Maintainers of this Doctrine conceive that they are able to make it good But Sir were I worthy to give advice to Your Majesty or to the Kings and supreme Powers on Earth
my humble Opinion would be that they should draw the Minds Tongues and Pens of the Learned to dispute about other matter than the Power or Prerogative of Kings and Princes and in this kind Your Majesty hath suffered and lost more than will easily be restored to Your self or Your Posterity for a long time It is not denied but the prime Reforming power is in Kings and Princes quibus deficientibus it comes to the inferior Magistrate quibus deficientibus it descendeth to the Body of the People supposing that there is a necessity of Reformation and that by no means it can be obtained of their Superiors It is true that such a Reformation is more imperfect in respect of the Instruments and manner of Procedure yet for the most part more pure and perfect in relation to the effect and product And for this end did I cite the Examples of old of Reformation by Regal Authority of which none was perfect in the second way of perfection except that of Josiah Concerning the saying of Grosthed whom the Cardinals at Rome confest to be a more Godly man than any of themselves it was his Complaint and Prediction of what was likely to ensue not his desire or election if Reformation could have been obtained in the ordinary way I might bring two unpartial Witnesses Juel and Bilson both famous English Bishops to prove that the Tumults and Troubles raised in Scotland at the time of Reformation were to be imputed to the Papists opposing of the Reformation both of Doctrine and Discipline as an Heretical Innovation and not to be ascribed to the Nobility or People who under God were the Instruments of it intending and seeking nothing but the purging out of Errour and setling of the Truth 2. Concerning the Reformation of the Church of England I conceive whether it was begun or not in K. Henry the Eighth's time it was not finished by Q. Elizabeth the Father stirred the Humors of the diseased Church but neither the Son nor the Daughter although we have great reason to bless God for both did purge them out perfectly This Perfection is yet reserved for Your Majesty Where it is said that all this time I bring no Reasons for a further Change the fourth Section of my last Paper hath many hints of Reasons against Episcopal Government with an offer of more or clearing of those which Your Majesty hath not thought fit to take notice of And Learned men have observed many Defects in that Reformation As That the Government of the Church of England for about this is the Question now is not builded upon the foundation of Christ and the Apostles which they at least cannot deny who profess Church-Government to be mutable and ambulatory and such were the greater part of Archbishops and Bishops in England contenting themselves with the Constitutions of the Church and the authority and munificence of Princes till of late that some few have pleaded it to be Jure Divino That the English Reformation hath not perfectly purged out the Roman Leaven which is one of the reasons that have given ground to the comparing of this Church to the Church of Laodicea as being neither hot nor cold neither Popish nor Reformed but of a lukewarm temper betwixt the two That it hath depraved the Discipline of the Church by conforming of it to the Civil Policy That it hath added many Church-Offices higher and lower unto those instituted by the Son of God which is as unlawful as to take away Offices warranted by the Divine Institution and other the like which have moved some to apply this saying to the Church of England Multi ad perfectionem pervenirent nisi jam se pervenisse crederent 4. In my Answer to the first of Your Majesty 's many Arguments I brought a Breviate of some Reasons to prove that a Bishop and Presbyter are one and the same in Scripture from which by necessary Consequence I did infer the negative Therefore no difference in Scripture between a Bishop and a Presbyter the one name signifying Industriam Curiae Pastoralis the other Sapientiae Maturitatem saith Beda And whereas Your Majesty averrs the Presbyterian Government was never practised before Calvin's time Your Majesty knows the common Objection of the Papists against the Reformed Churches Where was your Church your Reformation your Doctrine before Luther's time One part of the common Answer is that it was from the beginning and is to be found in Scripture The same I affirm of Presbyterian Government And for the proving of this the Assembly of Divines at Westminster have made manifest that the Primitive Christian Church at Jerusalem was governed by a Presbytery while they shew 1. That the Church of Jerusalem consisted of more Congregations than one from the multitude of Believers from the many Apostles and other Preachers in that Church and from the diversity of Languages among the Believers 2. That all these Congregations were under one Presbyterial Government because they were for Government one Church Acts 11. 22 26. and because that Church was governed by Elders Acts 11. 30. which were Elders of that Church and did meet together for acts of Government And the Apostles themselves in that meeting Acts 15. acted not as Apostles but as Elders stating the Question debating it in the ordinary way of disputation and having by search of Scripture found the will of God they conclude It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us which in the judgment of the learned may be spoken by any Assembly upon like evidence of Scripture The like Presbyterian Government had place in the Churches of Corinth Ephesus Thessalonica c. in the times of the Apostles and after them for many years when one of the Presbytery was made Episcopus Praeses even then Communi Presbyterorum Consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur saith Jerome and Episcopos magis consuetudine quam Dispositionis Divinae veritate Presbyteris esse majores in commune debere Ecclesiam regere 5. Far be it from me to think such a thought as that Your Majesty did intend any Fallacy in Your other main Argument from Antiquity As we are to distinguish between Intentio operantis and Conditio operis so may we in this case consider the difference between Intentio Argumentantis and Conditio Argumenti And where Your Majesty argues That if Your opinion be not admitted we will be forced to give place to the Interpretation of private spirits which is contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostle Peter and will prove to be of dangerous consequence I humbly offer to be considered by Your Majesty what some of chief note among the Papists themselves have taught us That the Interpretation of Scriptures and the Spirits whence they proceed may be called private in a threefold sense 1. Ratione Personae if the Interpreter be of a private condition 2. Ratione Modi Medii when Persons although not private use not the publick means which are necessary for finding out the
Truth but follow their own Fancies 3. Ratione Finis when the Interpretation is not proposed as Authentical to bind others but is intended only for our own private satisfaction The first is not to be despised the second is to be exploded and is condemned by the Apostle Peter the third ought not to be censured But that Interpretation which is Authentical and of supreme Authority which every mans conscience is bound to yield unto is of an higher nature And although the General Council should resolve it and the Consent of the Fathers should be had unto it yet there must always be place left to the judgment of Discretion as Davenant late Bishop of Salisbury beside divers others hath learnedly made appear in his Book De Judice Controversiarum where also the Power of Kings in matter of Religion is solidly and unpartially determined Two words only I add One is that notwithstanding all that is pretended from Antiquity a Bishop having sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction will never be found in Prime Antiquity The other is that many of the Fathers did unwittingly bring forth that Antichrist which was conceived in the times of the Apostles and therefore are incompetent Judges in the Question of Hierarchy And upon the other part the Lights of the Christian Church at and since the beginning of the Reformation have discovered many secrets concerning the Antichrist and his Hierarchy which were not known to former Ages And divers of the Learned in the Roman Church have not feared to pronounce That whosoever denies the true and literal sense of many Texts of Scripture to have been found out in this last Age is unthankful to God who hath so plentifully poured forth his Spirit upon the Children of this Generation and ungrateful towards those men who with so great pains so happy success and so much benefit to God's Church have travailed therein This might be instanced in many places of Scripture I wind together Diotrephes and the Mystery of iniquity the one as an old example of Church-ambition which was also too palpable in the Apostles themselves and the other as a cover of Ambition afterwards discovered which two brought forth the great Mystery of the Papacy at last 6. Although Your Majesty be not made a Judge of the Reformed Churches yet You so far censure them and their actions as without Bishops in Your Judgment they cannot have a lawful Ministery nor a due Administration of the Sacraments Against which dangerous and destructive Opinion I did alledge what I supposed Your Majesty would not have denied 1. That Presbyters without a Bishop may ordain other Presbyters 2. That Baptism administred by such a Presbyter is another thing than Baptism administred by a private person or by a Midwife Of the first Your Majesty calls for proof I told before that in Scripture it is manifest 1 Tim. 4. 14. Neglect not the Gift that is in thee which was given thee by the Prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery so it is in the English Translation And the word Presbytery To often as it is used in the New Testament always signifies the Persons and not the Office And although the Offices of Bishop and Presbyter were distinct yet doth not the Presbyter derive his power of Order from the Bishop The Evangelists were inferiour to the Apostles yet had they their power not from the Apostles but from Christ The same I affirm of the Seventy Disciples who had their power immediately from Christ no less than the Apostles had theirs It may upon better reason be averred that the Bishops have their power from the Pope than that Presbyters have their power from the Prelats It is true Jerome saith Quid facit exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter But in the same place he proves from Sccipture that Episcopus and Presbyter are one and the same and therefore when he appropriates Ordination to the Bishop he speaketh of the degenerated custom of his time Secondly Concerning Baptism a private person may perform the external Action and Rites both of it and of the Eucharist yet is neither of the two a Sacrament or hath any efficacy unless it be done by him that is lawfully called thereunto or by a person made publick and cloathed with Authority by Ordination This Errour in the matter of Baptism is begot by another Errour of the Absolute Necessity of Baptism 7. To that which hath been said concerning Your Majesties Oath I shall add nothing not being willing to enter upon the Question of the subordination of the Church to the Civil Power whether the King or Parliament or both and to either of them in their own place Such an Headship as the Kings of England have claimed and such a Supremacy as the Two Houses of Parliament crave with the Appeals from the supreme Ecclesiastical Judicature to them as set over the Church in the same line of Subordination I do utterly disclaim upon such Reasons as give my self satisfaction although no man shall be more willing to submit to Civil powers each one in their own place and more unwilling to make any trouble than my self Only concerning the application of the Generals of an Oath to the particular case now in hand under favour I conceive not how the Clergy of the Church of England is or ought to be principally intended in Your Oath For although they were esteemed to be the Representative Church yet even that is for the benefit of the Church Collective Salus Populi being Suprema lex and to be principally intended Your Majesty knows it was so in the Church of Scotland where the like alteration was made And if nothing of this kind can be done without the consent of the Clergy what Reformation can be expected in France or Spain or Rome it self It is not to be expected that the Pope or Prelates will consent to their own ruine 8. I will not presume upon any secret knowledge of the Opinions held by the King Your Majesty's Father of famous Memory they being much better known to Your Majesty I did only produce what was profest by Him before the world And although Prayers and Tears be the Arms of the Church yet it is neither acceptable to God nor conducible for Kings and Princes to force the Church to put on these Arms. Nor could I ever hear a reason why a necessary Defensive War against unjust Violence is unlawful although it be joyned with Offence and Invasion which is intended for Defence but so that Arms are laid down when the Offensive War ceaseth by which it doth appear that the War on the other side was in the nature thereof Defensive 9. Concerning the forcing of Conscience which I pretermitted in my other Paper I am forced now but without forcing of my conscience to speak of it Our Conscience may be said to be forced either by our selves or by others By our selves 1. When we stop the ear of our Conscience
the whole Kingdom And if any factious Merchant will affront Us in a thing so reasonable and wherein We require no more nor in no other manner than so many of our Predecessors have done and have been dutifully obeyed let them not deceive themselves but be assured that We shall find Honourable and just means to support Our Estate vindicate Our Sovereignty and preserve that Authority which God hath put into Our hands And now having laid down the truth and clearness of Our proceedings all wise and discreet men may easily judge of those rumors and jealous fears that are maliciously and wickedly bruited abroad and may discern by examination of their own hearts whether in respect of the free passage of the Gospel indifferent and equal administration of Justice freedom from Oppression and the great Peace and quietness which every man enjoyeth under his own vine and fig-tree the Happiness of this Nation can be parallel'd by any other of Our neighbour Countries and if not then to acknowledge their own blessedness and for the same be thankful to God the Author of all goodness By the KING A Proclamation for suppressing of false Rumours touching Parliaments WHereas notwithstanding Our late Declaration for satisfying of the minds and affections of Our loving Subjects some ill-disposed persons do spread false and pernicious Rumours abroad as if the scandalous and seditious Proposition in the House of Commons made by an outlawed man desperate in mind and fortune which was tumultuously taken up by some few after that by Our Royal Authority We had commanded their Adjournment had been the Vote of the whole House whereas the contrary is the truth for it was then decried by the wisest and best affected and is since disavowed upon examination by such as were suspected to have consented thereunto and affirmed as well by them as others who served in the House that day to be a thing of a most wicked and dangerous consequence to the good estate of this Kingdom which appeareth to be so by those impressions which this false Rumour hath made in mens minds whereby out of causeless fears the Trade of the Kingdom is disturbed and Merchants discouraged to continue in their wonted Traffique We have thought it expedient not only to manifest the truth hereof but to make known Our Royal pleasure that those who raise or nourish such false reports shall be severely punished and such as chearfully go on with their Trade have all good incouragement not purposing to overcharge Our Subjects by any new burthens but to satisfie Our selves with those Duties that were received by the King Our Father of blessed memory which We neither can nor will dispense withal but shall esteem them unworthy of Our Protection who shall deny the same We intending to imploy it for defence of Our Kingdoms Dominion of Our Seas and safeguard of Our Merchants specially by such Shipping as are now making ready and such further preparation for aid of Our Friends and Allies as need shall require And whereas for several ill ends the calling again of a Parliament is divulged howsoever We have shewed by Our frequent meeting with Our People Our love to the use of Parliaments yet the late abuse having for the present driven Us unwillingly out of that course We shall accompt it presumption for any to prescribe any time unto Us for Parliaments the Calling Continuing and Dissolving of which is always in Our own power and We shall be more inclinable to meet in Parliament again when Our People shall see more clearly into our Intents and Actions when such as have bred this interruption shall have received their condign punishment and those who are mis-led by them and by such ill reports as are raised upon this occasion shall come to a better understanding of Us and themselves Given at Our Court of White-hall this seven and twentieth day of March in the fifth year of Our Reign of Great Britain France and Ireland God save the KING MDCXXIX His MAJESTIE's Letter to the Judges concerning Ship-money To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir John Bramston Knight Chief Justice of Our Bench Sir John Finch Knight Chief Justice of Our Court of Common Pleas Sir Humphrey Davenport Knight Chief Baron of Our Court of Exchequer and to the rest of the Judges of Our Courts of Kings Bench Common Pleas and the Barons of Our Court of Exchequer CHARLES R. TRusty and Well-beloved We greet you well Taking into Our Princely consideration that the Honour and Safety of this Our Realm of England the preservation whereof is only entrusted to Our care was and is more nearly concerned in late than former times as well by divers counsels and attempts to take from us the Dominion of the Seas of which We are sole Lord and rightful Owner or Proprietor and the loss whereof would be of greatest danger and peril to this Kingdom and other Our Dominions as many other ways We for the avoiding of these and the like dangers well weighing with Our self that where the good and safety of the Kingdom in general is concerned and the whole Kingdom in danger there the charge and defence ought to be born by all the Realm in general did for the preventing so publick a mischief resolve with Our self to have a Royal Navy prepared that might be of force and power with Almighty God's blessing and assistance to protect and defend this Our Realm and Our Subjects therein from all such perils and dangers and for that purpose We issued forth Writs under Our Great Seal of England directed to all Our Sheriffs of Our several Counties of England and Wales commanding thereby all Our said Subjects in every City Town and Village to provide such a number of Ships well furnisht as might serve for this Royal purpose and which might be done with the greatest equality that could be In performance whereof though generally throughout all the Counties of this Our Realm We have found in Our Subjects great chearfulness and alacrity which We graciously interpret as a testimony as well of their dutiful affection to Us and Our service as of the respect they have to the Publick which well becometh every good Subject nevertheless finding that some few haply out of ignorance what the Laws and Customs of this Realm are or out of a desire to be eased in their particulars how general soever the charge be or ought to be have not yet paid and contributed to the several Rates and Assessments that were set upon them and foreseeing in Our Princely Wisdom that from thence divers Suits and Actions are not unlikely to be commenced and prosecuted in Our several Courts at Westminster We desirous to avoid such inconveniences and out of Our Princely love and affection to all Our People being willing to prevent such errors as any of Our loving Subjects may happen to run into have thought fit in a case of this nature to advise with you Our Judges who We doubt not are well studied
and Dishonour by what is committed whereby in all Policy Reason and Religion having least cause to give the least consent and most grounds of utter detestation I might be represented by them to the World the more inhumane and barbarous like some Cyclopick Monster whom nothing will serve to eat and drink but the flesh and blood of My own Subjects in whose common Welfare My Interest lies as much as some mens doth in their Perturbations who think they cannot do well but in evil times nor so cunningly as in laying the odium of those sad events on others wherewith themselves are most pleased and whereof they have been not the least occasion And certainly 't is thought by many wise men that the preposterous rigor and unreasonable severity which some men carried before them in England was not the least Incentive that kindled and blew up into those horrid flames the sparks of Discontent which wanted not predisposed fewel for Rebellion in Ireland where Despair being added to their former Discontents and the fears of utter Extirpation to their wonted Oppressions it was easy to provoke to an open Rebellion a people prone enough to break out to all exorbitant violence both by some Principles of their Religion and the natural desires of Liberty both to exempt themselves from their present restraints and to prevent those after Rigors wherewith they saw themselves apparently threatned by the covetous Zeal and uncharitable Fury of some men who think it a great Argument of the truth of their Religion to endure no other but their own God knows as I can with truth wash My hands in Innocency as to any Guilt in that Rebellion so I might wash them in my Tears as to the sad apprehensions I had to see it spread so far and make such waste And this in a time when Distractions and Jealousies here in England made most men rather intent to their own safety or designs they were driving than to the relief of those who were every day inhumanly butchered in Ireland whose Tears and Blood might if nothing else have quenched or at least for a time repressed and smothered those sparks of Civil Dissentions and Jealousies which in England some men most industriously scattered I would to God no man had been less affected with Ireland's sad estate than My self I offered to go My self in Person upon that expedition But some men were either afraid I should have any one Kingdom quieted or loath they were to shoot at any mark here less than My self or that any should have the glory of my Destruction but themselves Had My many offers been accepted I am confident neither the Ruine had been so great nor the Calamity so long nor the Remedy so desperate So that next to the sin of those who began that Rebellion theirs must needs be who either hindred the speedy suppressing of it by Domestick Dissentions or diverted the Aids or exasperated the Rebels to the most desperate resolutions and actions by threatning all Extremities not only to the known Heads and chief Incendiaries but even to the whole community of that Nation resolving to destroy Root and branch men women and children without any regard to those usual pleas for Mercy which Conquerors not wholly barbarous are wont to hear from their own breasts in behalf of those whose oppressive Fears rather than their Malice engaged them or whose imbecillity for Sex and Age was such as they could neither lift up a hand against them nor distinguish between their right hand and their left Which preposterous and I think un-evangelical Zeal is too like that of the rebuked Disciples who would go no lower in their revenge than to call for fire from Heaven upon whole Cities for the repulse or neglect of a few or like that of Jacob's sons which the Father both blamed and cursed chusing rather to use all extremities which might drive men to desperate obstinancy than to apply moderate remedies such as might punish some with exemplary Justice yet disarm others with tenders of mercy upon their submission and our protection of them from the fury of those who would soon drown them if they refused to swim down the popular stream with them But some kind of Zeal counts all merciful moderation Lukewarmness and had rather be cruel than counted cold and is not seldom more greedy to kill the Bear for his skin than for any harm he hath done the confiscation of mens Estates being more beneficial than the Charity of saving their Lives or reforming their Errors When all proportionable succors of the poor Protestants in Ireland who were daily massacred and overborn with numbers of now desperate Enemies was diverted and obstructed here I was earnestly entreated and generally advised by the chief of the Protestant party there to get them some respite and breathing by a cessation without which they saw no probability unless by Miracle to preserve the remnant that had yet escaped God knows with how much Commiseration and solicitous Caution I carried on that business by persons of Honour and Integrity that so I might neither incourage the Rebels Insolence nor discourage the Protestants Loyalty and Patience Yet when this was effected in the best sort that the necessity and difficulty of affairs would then permit I was then to suffer again in my Reputation and Honour because I suffered not the Rebels utterly to devour the remaining handfuls of the Protestants there I thought that in all reason the gaining of that respite could not be so much to the Rebels advantages which some have highly calumniated against Me as it might have been for the Protestants future as well as present safety if during the time of that Cessation some men had had the grace to have laid Ireland's sad condition more to heart and laid aside those violent motions which were here carried on by those that had better skill to let blood than to stanch it But in all the misconstructions of my Actions which are prone to find more credulity in men to what is false and evil than love or charity to what is true and good as I have no Judg but God above Me so I can have comfort to appeal to his Omniscience who doth not therefore deny my Innocence because he is pleased so far to try my Patience as he did his servant Job's I have enough to do to look to My own Conscience and the faithful discharge of My Trust as a KING I have scarce leisure to consider those swarms of reproaches which issue out of some mens mouths and hearts as easily as smoke or sparks do out of a furnace much less to make such prolix Apologies as might give those men satisfaction who conscious to their own depth of wickedness are loath to believe any man not to be as bad as themselves 'T is Kingly to do well and hear ill if I can but act the one I shall not much regard to hear the other I thank God I can hear with