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england_n	high_a	lord_n	treasurer_n	4,230	5	10.7514	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A65439	To the most illustrious, High and Mighty Majesty of Charles the II, by the grace of God King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, etc. the humble declaration of being first a supplicatory preface and discourse of His Majesty, and then humbly shewing the great and dangerous troubles and intollerable oppressions of himself and his family, and the true occasion thereof, in the wofull times of these late most unhappy distractions : wherein the perfect loyalty of a true subject, and persideous malice and cruelty of a rebell, are evidently deciphered, and severally set forth to the publick view in their proper colours, as a caution for England : hereunto are annexed certain poems, and other treatises composed and written by the author upon several occasions, concerning the late most horrid and distracted times, and nver before published.	Wenlock, John.	1662 (1662)	Wing W1350; ESTC R8066	124,478	168

high Treasurer of England and in the Reignes of King Henry the 6th and King Edward the 4th there was another of my name that was a Knight of the Garter and of the Rhodes and also a Noble and warrlike Baron of Wenlock in the County of Salop from which place my Ancestors were first derived and had their Extraction as appears by Antient evidence Records I shall be heartily glad if I can but make your Matie to smile at these my Relations but I entreat your Majestie to beleeve that it is not fondly a vain glorious humour that prompts me to relate these things but my desire is to give a gentle caution to some gilded Mushromes or pursie supercillious Upstarts of the new edition that esteem themselves to be the only brave men d●spising others that are brought low by their sufferings and contemning all learning and loyalty that is destitute of a golden key which they corruptly conceive to be the only means to open the doorlock that leads to preferrment but your Majestie well knows how and when to conferr your Favours and though some of your Majesties suffering Friends are not looked upon so soon as they expected yet their hopes are still firm enough and we know that Deside●●ta diu dulcius obtinentur and we can wait with patience but must not be too negligent pe●entis negligentia reprehend●tur ubi de dantis miserecordia non du●itatur and of your Majesties mercie there is sound experience and it is a prime policie for your Grace in convenient time to reward Loyaltie for in so doing it will give Occasion to others to have the better esteem thereof Regis ad exemplar totus componitur orbis but if vertue be now neglected let pass without regard how few hereafter will ever endeavour to be good in so bad times and one saith that both pitie and sin it were that such whose light the late Aegyptian Darkness could never extinguish should now be suffered to sit in obscuritie Som● perhaps that shall read this book will take my expressions to be rash and violent savouring more of animosity then prudence but when Croesus his life was in danger it made his dumb son to speak and cry out and when the King the Father of our Countrie the Church our Mother and the peace of the whole Kingdom were so treacherouslie exposed to the danger of utter ruine what true hearted Son or Subject could be so supinely silent as not bitterlie to reprove such horrid actions Quitacet consentire vide●ur but such as have tasted any true rellish of Religion do well know they must not be mutes in matters of such moment Dissimulation may serve the turn for a time and in the view of a carnal eye it may seem to procure some good but we ought not to do evill that good may come thereof Hypocrisie is a sin so odious in the sight of God and so contrarie to his divine nature who is truth it self as those that practise the same can never expect to be matriculated members of the celestial Societie but such as wait for their souls comfort must be content to forsake all rather then to part with a good conscience and so endanger the soul But I fear that too many of late have stifled their Consciences to keep their estates and maintain their reputation amongst the Vulgar but such policie will not allways go away with the Garland it was well said of a Noble Spaniard once in England that he would never forfeit his Soul and his Honour to save his Life and indeed some brave Spirits but meer Moralists have thought it a more Noble Exploit to preserve Honour then Life and could never buckle to any dishonourable thing but in despite of Ambition and desire of gain or the pressures of Necessitie they have still resolved to tread in the path●s of Virtue And how many Heathens as Codrus a King of Athens Cur●ius a Noble Knight of Rome and allmost infinite others recorded in Historie have freely exposed themselves to unavoidable danger and death for the good and safety of their Country whose memory ever since hath been immortall and can Christians adventure upon any design too dangerous when the glorie of God the Honour and Power of his sacred Deputie and the ●eligion and Peace of their native Nation lay all in the dust involved in blood Pardon my presumption I beseech your Majestie in what I have here inserted amiss or unworthy the view of so roial and exquisite an ●i● and then I cannot but be confident that your Grace will take some piti● upon me being now grown into years and disabled by my great sufferings and losses to put on and preferre my self as some others ●● for I finde the Poet to be a true Prophet that long 〈◊〉 said Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusti domi but this defect may soon be supplied by the least glimpse of your Majesties favour and I am sure your Majestie well knowes that it is the Masters honour to take notice of a faithfull s●rvant and that such as dare declare and stand to the truth in bad times of danger are none of the worst subjects And I doubt not but that your Majesty in due time will most roially perform whatsoever your loial and loving subjects may in truth of modestie and justice expect from your gracious bands and that your Grace shall attain unto and accomplish all those happie and blessed intents and ends for the which your Omnipotent Creator hath so justly and mercifully restored and advanced your Grace to the glorious throne of your so eminent Ancestours Where God grant that your Majestie and your Roial posteritie may safely sit and triumphantly reigne to Gods glorie the Churches peace and these Kingdoms happinesse even so long as the Sun and Moon shall shine upon the face of the earth So will ever Pray Your Majesties Loyal Humble and Officious Subject Iohn Wenlock To the Kings Most Excellent Majestie Most Royal and Magnificent Monarch and my Soveraign Lord IT is a Proverb of the Wisest amongst Earthly Princes that righteous lips are the delight of Kings and they love him that speaketh right for he that speaks the truth sheweth forth righteousnesse and all such a● be true in heart shall follow the same and there is good reason for their Encouragement to proceed on in such a Virtuous way as tendeth to eternall felicity for certainly the time will come when that saying of the Psalmist will be verified and made manifest to the World There is sprung up a light for the righteous and joyfull gladnesse for such as be true hearted and the Lord God likewise layeth up sound Wisdome for the righteous and is a sure Buckler for them that walk uprightly for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdome and a good understanding or successe have all they that do his Commandments the praise of it endureth for ever And this was truly experimented in

charged for not contributing to the Parliament I answered That your Majestie had declared that none of his true Subjects should furnish the Parliament with Horse Armes or Money and that I had rather offend all men living then the King of England or my own Conscience Then it was urged That I said I would march to the King Why said I if my own house grow too hot for me whither should I go for protection but to my Soveraign But quoth one there be a great many of Rascalls with the King Sir said I take heed what you say for you call in question the best and wisest men in England for I am sure they are with the King Then one cried out That I had said the then Earl of Essex was a Traytor I replied His Majestie had proclaimed him so and as my Learning taught me I doubted that he would hardly answer his doings Then said one that I had called the Ministers Pulpit-Knaves I answered that I did in my heart reverence all honest Divines but such as now a daies came up to preach Sedition and to abuse the King and his Liege people I knew another place more fit for them then a Pulpit Then said one in the crowd You are in the way to Hell But I having a better testimony within me laughed at him and said I hoped better things But said I standing close by the Deputy Lieutenants the Captain and Souldiers hemming me in here is a brave Company about me what do all these people intend to guard me thither at which some could not refrain from laughing and so the terrible Examination ended Then the Gentlemen requested me in and used me civilly though some of the Rascalls had much abused me and after much discourse they wished me whatsoever I thought yet to be sparing of my Speech for they saw my Neighbours were malitiou● and so dismissed me But I knowing my own resolutions and thereupon dreading a worse mischief too soon to ensue within a few daies after forsook my house and have ever since lived a Lawyer itinerant and yet I trust that I have observed the Law justly and also used a very good Conscience for now I am sure that I did not take a Fee for divers months after but many times in my Travells for speaking in your Majesties behalf I have been soon after driven to take a thick Wood for a refuge Since my departure they have taken away some of my Goods s●questred my Rents and seized my little Estate so as my poor Wife and Children can hardly get any means to subsist withall whilst I am an exile from them beset with many Crosses but hardly one Crosse of Silver to relieve me As God hath given me a Loyal heart towards your Majestie so I have often grieved that I had not abilities equivalent to testifie the same bu● I know your Grace will pardo● involuntary neglects since by my pen and tongue which are a Lawyers best Weapon● I have endeavoured alwaies to do your Majestie the best service I could and I doubt not but your Sacred Majestie will be graciously pleased to take these things into your Princely consideration and to afford your loyal and true Subjects that have been thus unlawfully abused a happy re●resse in due time for these intollerable wrongs and oppressions which goodnesse of your Majestie towards us shall for ever engage us if possible in a more reciprocal bond of Duty Love and Allegiance to your Majestie and yours and so I heartily beseech Almighty God to preserve and blesse your Majestie your Gratious Queen and your most hopefull Royal Issue and Alliance with all prosperity in this life and eternal happinesse by Christ Jesus in Heaven Amen To the High and most Renowned MAJESTY OF Charles the II By the Grace of God most Mighty and Famous King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. A Continuation or Exact and very True Relation of divers Passages concerning the Loyal Demeans and injust Sufferings of your Majesties true and faithfull Subject John Wenlock of Langham in the County of Essex Counsellour at Law in the former Declaration mentioned and the miserable distresses of his loving Wife his Children and whole Family occasioned by the Tyranny and cruel Usurpation of the late most monstrous and unparallell'd Rebells MAy it please your sacred Majesty in your royal Clemency to take further notice that within a few dayes after that the aforesaid barbarous Injuries and unlawfull Violences were put upon your said Subject in his dwelling House his apprehension and carrying away as a Prisoner and return home again the said pestiferous Constable formerly mentioned being horribly vexed in his rebellious Stomack because he could not obtain his malitious Will and villanous Intention against your said Subject which was to have him sent to some Gaol or Ship at Sea to be kept in hold as a Prisoner during their pleasures did therefore repair to a Justice of the Peace a man in all probability as well qualified then and of as good discretion for that Office as the other was to be a Constable where he made a most untrue Complaint against your Subject informing the said Justice That he went in fear of his Life and believed that your Subject would either kill him or burn his Houses and also offered to take his Corporal Oath to that effect Whereupon the said Justice in his grave indiscretion very little or not at all as it seems regarding the profession of the Law or the Law it self in the compass of Discretion nor yet common Civilities to be expected and used amongst Gentlemen would not vouchsafe to send for your said Subject in a gentile neighborly way to confer with him therby to hear and observe what your Subject was able to alledge in his own defence against the Complaints of such a paltry Fellow but immediately suffered the said Party without any further examination of the matter to make a most false and wicked Oath against your said Subject and thereupon granted a Warrant of the Peace against him directed to the other Constable of Langham aforesaid peremptorily to apprehend your Majesties said Subject and to bring his Body before him And hereupon the said other Constable did forthwith repair unto your Subjects dwelling House and there made relation of the occasion of his comming at that time Whereupon your Subject did fairly request the said Constable to shew him his Warrant which he presently delivered into your Subjects hand who perusing the same over did inform the Constable That he much marvelled That the Justice would permit such an Oath to be made against him before the matter were better examined on both Partes and that he also understood what excusatory Arguments might be alledged on your Subjects behalf For said I if the Justice had refused to take the Parties Oath for a while untill the Cause had received a further examination yet no danger or prejudice could have accrewed to the Justice

fair curtesie then I could ever have expected from any man in so soul a function We two withdrew a while and had some conference I shewed my paper aforesaid and left it with him intreating him to communicate it to the rest of his brethren the Committees when they met and desire them to consider of it and that I might soon know the result of their considerations therein all this he promised me faithfully to perform but I heard no more of the Committees nor they of me for 3. or 4. years after And being thus left destitute of all manner of relief from these Religious Rebels although I desired n●t so much of them as was duly and truly mine own both in Law Reason and Religion yet their wretched and perverse wills most vvickedly contradicting all the sound and perfect rules both of divinitie and humanitie therefore my poor distressed companie must still continue in that irksom and greafie trade of carding and spinning to my no little grief and vexation and yet oftentimes I did encourage them to wait upon God with patience and to remember how their Fathers Loyaltie was the occasion of their present miserie and although that the root which they now tasted of were bitter yet it might produce and bring forth some better and more pleasant fruit in the end and I did oftentimes merrily tell them that upon the matter they were in truth the Kings Spinners and therefore people of a farr better rank and quality then the base World esteemed them to be and thus with as much alacrity as I could I waded thorough a sea of miseries continuing still in my discourse and otherwise as true stout and high a Royalist I beleeve as ever breathed in England insomuch that divers of the blind beetles would say that I was as bad still as ever I had been and that it was pity that I was suffered but I little regarded their censure knowing that it was my duty to speak aloud when the Glory of my God the Honour and Safety of my King and the good and quiet of my Native Country was in so great hazard or j●opardy One Sunday a● I came walking with the Minister from Church and many others following of u● close at the Heels I said unto him that above all men I did much wonder at those of his Coat which had so grossely forgotten themselves for I beleeve said I that if it pleased God to permit the Devill himself to assume the shape of a man and to put on a Parsons Gowne and come up into a Pulpit to preach yet he is so knowing a Spirit and doth so tremble at the Judgement to come as he never durst entertain the impudence to utter so much Blasphemy and Treason as some of yo● have ventured upon Another time I told him that it behoved him to be very cautious of medling in such matters for if he chanced to offend i● that nature his offence would be greater then other men● he asked me why so and I made him answer the reason was aparent for there be many shuttle braind Fellow● that have lately come into a Pulpit who trusting to a confused memory and the volubility of the tongue do often times ex impr●vis● and without any premeditation presume to vent and utter some und●cent and irreligious absurditie● whose rashness ●s to be pitied and doth somewhat extenuate though not excuse their presumptuous folly and prophanesse but you it is well known do study and write down every word in your Sermon and make a constant use of your papers in the Pulpit and therefore if any vain impertinent or ●rronious doctrine doth proceed from you it must of necessity be after your premeditations and so upon malice prepensed which is a sin with a witness and much aggravates your offence and makes it the more unpardonable and certainly my plain dealing did the man no harmor prejudice for he waxed still more and more moderate but I could not endure to come at his Mock fasts and Thankgivings but ever diswaded him therefrom with the best reasons I could remember either out of the Scripture or other Learned or Historicall Authors and once I told him that I much feared I should forsake his Church I hope not so quoth he yes truly said I for I do seldome come there but I see that which doth much offend me I pray Sir what is that quoth the Parson I answered him that whensoever I stood up in my Pew being so near the Pulpit I could not chuse but espy his Directory or Devils story lie still in his Desk and I could not endure to behold such an uggly and deformed Imp of schisme and sedition and then he replyed unto me that if it offended me I might take it away if I pleased not so quoth I for it is a parcell of your Churches goods and so I may be questioned for committing of Sacrilege I will by no means soul my hands by medling with it but if it lies there long I will not come at the Church the next time I went the bable was gone and departed down I think to the place of darknesse where it was first hatched for I never saw any more of it Now about the time that his late Majesty was brought from Holmby to Newmarket there was news spread about that the sad affairs of the Nation would soon be drawn to a better passe and that his Gratious Majesty should be restored to his Regal rights and we that were sufferers to our lands again with some recompence for our former losses and upon these reports the Sequestrators and their Adherents that seldome or never thought upon God did begin yet to be afraid of the law and the Lawyer and thereupon they presently deserted and wholly gave over the possession of my Lands and soon after without any application to the Committees or any of their great Masters that set them on work I made an entry upon the most part of my Estate and held the same untill some were so venturous as to hire some part of the Land of me to farm and the rest I kept in my hands and made hay in my Meadowes and got money for it and took in Cattle to pasture upon my ground for I had not moneys enough to buy anie my self neither durst I procure anie means to have cattel of mine own lest the seditious should drive them away But now by the help of a little Countrie practice in my profession and these monies taken for hay and pasture our condition was much amended and our hearts so well refreshed as we did a little remember our selves and so we did totally desert the cards and the wheel and began to appear and shew our selves in a gentile garbe again in hope that the most part of the storm had been over but alas the worst was yet to come But my courage being high and remembring the cruelties that my poor wife had sustained and undergone by these villains in the

so poysoned and their Judgements abused and depraved with such Devillish dissimulation and as soon as I could I got my self away thorough the croud and going out at the door an Officer of the Court espyed me and said Sir whither do you go so fast Away said I what should I do here Why quoth he I hope you will tarry and dine with the Justices no surely said I for such doctrine I have already heard amongst them as I am resolved neither to eat nor drink with them this day But I hope now such popular Temporisers will truly see their Errors ere it be too late for every such Proteus or Protogenes that intends to participate of Eternal felicity and to be as well capable of Gods mercy as of their Princes pardon must not think it sufficient to turn a new leaf with the times but they must be seriously sorrowfull and repentant for their former failings and corrupt conversations One of the holy Fathers used to pray unto God to forgive him his other mens sins that is the sins which he had occasioned others to fall into and commit and most heartily I do beseech Almighty God that the whole body of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may obtain the grace to be truly penitent and pathetically pious in the reforming of what hath been amisse God and the World too well knows who were incentively the first founders and fomenters of the late Rebellion and so consequently it is to be feared of all the horrible Murders Rapines and other grosse and Atheistical absurdities and Deviations both in Church and Common-wealth which upon the same so sadly ensued Have not some lately brought to a condign punishment pretended as an excuse for their so wicked an● unparallel'd Treacheries that they were Commissioned Officers under such a man and who had he all his own Commissions from and were there not Votes passed for Non-Addresses to his late Majesty and was not the clause for preservation of his Majesties person quite left out in some of their Commissions Alas I touch not upon these things with a desire to rub or renew the sore but to give a charitable admonition as a Christian salve to the soul that such as are any wayes guilty thereof may be drawen to abhorre themselves and to repent in dust and ashes It is most true if it please your Majesty that I was ever a sore detester of Rebellion but I was as well pleased to endure the yoak of a single Tyrant as of a multitude of the same stamp and yet I could not forbear inveighing against him sometimes in the presence of such as had near relation to him and it is very strange that I was not destroyed amongst some others for many silly seditious So●s would cry out upon me with a why you speak against the Government but these Rurals were ●oth to trouble themselves or travel up so far to accuse me and certainly next to Gods mercy my so seldome comming at London was an Antidote to preserve me out of his clutches For indeed my constant discourse concerning that Tyrant was that God had raised him up as he did Pharaoh to plague his People for their sins and to the in●ent that the Lord might shew his Power upon him in the conclusion For I never looked upon the late Rebells and all their Complices and Adherents but as upon the Aegyptian vermine of Frogs Lice and Caterpillers sent and suffered to torment this Nation for their rebellious offences and therefore I did every day continually expect their ruine For if the Nation repented not then I knew that God was able to punish us some other wayes but I could never doubt but that the Lord in his due time would vindicate his own glorie and truth against such wicked wretches and suddenly send some strong favonian Wind to disperse and drive them all into the red Sea of ruine and utter destruction I have often wondred at the strange Hipocrisie or strong delusions of some reputed wise ones in this Nation for their first pretence of taking up Armes as they held it forth to the People was to depresse and beat down Popery forsooth and yet some of themselves afterwards when successe did seem to favour their factions did put in practise and strive to maintain the opposing deposing and murder of Kings the absolute merit of their own Works and the infallibility of their own dirty decretalls such desperate and dangerous Tenets as no moderate Romanist will now allow of or yield any approbation unto Nay the very written Word of God his ten Commandements the Lords Prayer the Holy Epistles and Gospels and the true Christian Catholick Beleefe c. are by some sacrilegiously thrust out at the Church doors to the end that ignorance and perversness may yet be nourished and their own weak and neer non-sensicall inventions only applauded amongst the people and for the pleasing and feeding the idle and obstinate humours of a few factious schismaticks And yet whosoever in the late times durst but once open his mouth to speak against such ethnical practises was presently branded with the odious name of a Malignant ill affected person to the state but if all had been so blockish as to be silent and not have spoken a word against such damnable doings I think as our Saviour saith in another case the very stones would have cried out although too many were much offended at those that spake their minds in sinceritie yet I beleeve it was happie for the whole Nation that there were some such persons to be offended at for had there been no righteous Lots therein to reprove the wickednesse of others and that were continually vexed with the unjust conversation of such Sodomites there might have been danger enough for fire and brimstone to have fallen from Heaven upon such a grosse apostatizing Kingdome for I am sure that the sinnes of Sodome never mounted so high nor cried so loud in the ears of Gods vengeance as the bewitched wickednesse of wretched England for many years of late hath certainly done the Lord in his Christ be mercifully appeased with us for the same Indeed for mine own particular I doe professe and have divers times formerly said as much that next to the great hopes that I have for the saving of my poor soul by the mercies of God in the merits alone of Jesus Christ I did never think that my God had afforded me a greater favour then to preserve and keep me by his grace from being an agent in or adherent to the late rebellion for if any thing had been amisse in the practise of religion as was pretended by some yet such as were not wholly given over to a reprobate sense might easily have understood that armed violence could never amend it but rather make all worse then it was before it is grosse ignorance to imagine that reformation in the Church or Religion and Truth it self can be setled in bloud but only in the innocent and precious bloud

conscience and dutie towards God whose command i● when thou art converted strengthen thy Luke 22 32. brethren That Subjects owe obedience to their Soveraign the whole consent of Scripture doth agree The Psalmist resembleth Kings to Gods upon earth and indeed they have their rule and Ps 82. 6. power by Gods appointment Prov. 8. 15. By me Kings reign and therefore to such as rebell against them it may be said as God said to Samuel touching the Israelites They have not cast ● Sam. 8. 7. thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them I hope none are so impudent to compare our King to Saul rejected of God but if any such be had they any touch of the grace in Davids heart then would they yet pray with him Lord keep me from laying mine hands upon the Lords anointed let me intreat them with a single eye and humble spirit to read ● Sam. 26 the historie of Davids carriage towards Saul and to remember the wise counsels of Solomon My sonne fear thou the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly The fear of a King is as the roaring of Prov. 20. 2. 3. a Lion who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul it is an honour for a man to cease from strife but every fool will be medling an evil man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruel messenger Pr 17. ●● shall be sent against him The wrath of a King is as the messenger Prov. 16 14. 15● of death but a wise man will pacifie it for in the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain And again in Eccl. I counsell thee to keep the Kings commandement and Ecc. 8. 3. ● 4. ● that in regard of the Oath of God be not hastie to go out of his sight stand not in an evil thing for he doth whatsoever pleaseth him where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou Let us never forget that divine precept of our Saviour the King of Kings set down in three of the Evangelists Give unto Caesar the thing that are Caesars Remember the Apostle of the Circumcision Fear God Honour the King and submit your 1 Pet. 2. 13 14 17. selves to all manner of Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be unto the King as unto the Superior or unto the Governours as those that are sent of him Observe the decree of the Doctor of the Gentiles writing to the Romans then governed by Nero a most cruell Tirant Let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers Rom. 13. ● 2. for there is no power but of God whosoever resisteth the Power resists the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves Condemnation And in the Marginall Notes upon the old Translation it is well observed that because God is the Author of this Order therefore Rebells must know that they make war with God himself and cannot but purchase to themselves great misery and calamity For though the King hath not Power over the Conscience of man yet seeing he is Gods Minister he cannot be resisted by any good Conscience And in his Epistle to Ti●us he gives a special memento Put them in mind that they be subject to the higher Powers and that they Tit 3. 1. be obedient and the like in divers places of his Epistles The King of England is an absolute Imperiall Monarch by the Law yet he is to govern his Subjects by the Laws and Antient Customes of his Kingdome But the King is the only supreme Power next under God and so acknowledged by all Parliaments and the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance do prove as much And by a Statute made in 1 of Elizabeth any man is disabled to sit as a Member in the house of Commons untill he hath taken a solemn Oath upon the Evangelists whereby he doth acknowledge the King to be the only Supreme Governour of these Realmes in all Cases whatsoever And also promiseth that he will to the best of his Power assist and defend all his Majesties Royal Priviledges Pr●heminences and Jurisdictions graunted or annexed to his Imperiall Crown and yield his Obedience thereunto Which Oath how faithfully some do now observe I leave to the Judgement of God and their own Consciences It is confessed by all knowing men that a Parliament truly understood is a Court of the highest Nature and Authority in this Kingdome and that it hath power to make and alter Lawes And that matters there in question are to be decided or agreed on by the Major part of Voices But it must not be a Parliament without a Head not a Parliament rent in pieces that hath power to do this For to make any Obligatory Act to bind the Subject absolutely either in Life Liberty or Goods there must be a concurrence of the Major part of both Houses with the Kings Royall Assent added thereunto in whom the Legislative power doth alone consist And therefore I know not how any such thing can now be done at Westminster the King being absent and the farr greater part of both houses nay almost all the Lords being also departed and now joyning themselves with the King in all his designes But it will be objected that many things may be done by Ordinance of Parliament I will not deny but that both Houses of Parliament joyntly assembled may possibly have power to make Ordinances for the present good of the Common wealth And that these Ordinances may be binding during the time of that Session Provided that they ●e no wayes contradictory to the known Laws of the Land For the Subject enjoyeth his Life his Liberty his Lands by the antient Customes and Statutes of this Kingdome which are indeed the fundamentall Lawes thereof And therefore the Subject cannot be deprived of these rights but by a Law of as high a nature and that must be a Statute Law at the least How then can any man by an Ordinance contradictory to Law be legally dispossessed of his Liberty or Goods which he doth enjoy by the Power of the Law But some say that these things may be done by Priviledge of Parliament And if there be such a Priviledge come to light that doth over-top all Law Reason and Religion then much may be done But I beeleeve that if any such Priviledge be now found out that it is as new as the inventers thereof for venerable antiquity their betters in learning and knowledge never yet heard of any such matter It is known to all that have but smelt of the Law that both by the Common and Statutes Lawes of this Kingdome it is high Treason to levie Armes against the King or to be Adherent or Assistant to the Kings Enemies and these Laws when they be once

Here the Author did intend to have placed his Effigies and Coat of Armes but the exact Sculpture thereof being so chargeable and his Sufferings so great for which he hath yet no recompence he is enforced to be frugal in expences and therefore intreats the gentle Reader to accept of the Verses that he composed to be printed underneath the same and courteously to correct the Printers Errata These are the Verses This Figure here doth lively represent A Courage bold but clearly Innocent Not prone to injure feeble Age nor Youth But ever zealous to divulge the Truth Who Schisme and horrid Treason did defie And unto Heaven for Truth and Justice crye Who for his love to Englands King and Church Hath been despis'd revil'd and suffer'd much Yet Truth of worth and Honour gained so By being dubb'd the Tyrant R●bell's soe Peruse this Book and you may surely see Some Signal Emblems of His Loyaltie J. W. Fidelitatis Feodum Felicitas To the most Illustrious High and Mighty MAJESTY of CHARLES the II By the Grace of God KING of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. The Humble Declaration of JOHN VVENLOCK of Langham in the County of Essex Esquire an V●ter Barrister of near Forty years continuance in that Honourable Society of Lincolnes-Inne Being first A Supplicatory Preface and Discourse to His Majesty and then humbly shewing the great and dangerous Troubles and intollerable Oppressions of Himself and His Family and the true occasion thereof in the wofull Times of these late most unhappy Distractions Wherein the perfect Loyalty of a true Subject and the perfideous malice and cruelty of a Rebell are evidently deciphered and severally set forth to the publick view in their proper colours as a Caution for England Hereunto are annexed certain Poems and other Treatises composed and written by the Author upon several Occasions concerning the late most horrid and distracted Times and never before published Nemo plus videtur aestimare virtutem nemo magis illi esse devotus quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderet Sen. 72. Ep. Fortitudo tua fiducia fidelis conscitnciae Bern. Conscientia mala benè sperare non potest Aug. London Printed by T. Childe and L. Parry for the Author and are to be sold at most Booksellers shops in London and Westminster-hall 16●2 ERRATA IN Page 9. l. 2. for are read us in p. 13. l. 23. for happily r. unhappily in p. 14. l. 11. for for any r. or for any in p. 18. l. 1. for gratitude r. gratuitie in l. 6. for stickle r. strive l. 11. for works r. words l. 19. for defection r. defects in p. 29. l. 11. for months r. twelve months p. 30. in the title for demeans r. demeanour in p. 34. the last line but one for to themselves r. to the ruine of themselves in p. 35. l. 14 for to honoured r. to be honoured p. 37. l. 21. for four r. fourty p. 38. l. 12. for there r. and there p. 40. for very proper r. prime and proper l. 19. and p. 52. for nor r. and. p. 56. l. 1. for fanings r. failings p. 64. l. 37. for coarse r. course The Epistle Dedicatory To the High and Mighty Majesty OF Charles the II. By the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain c. Defender of the Faith c. Most Royal Religious and Sacred Soveraign WHen I had first most humbly presented my petition to your Majesty upon the Long Gallerie stairs towards St. James his park in Trinitie Term 1660. I did presently implore your Majestie to be pleased but to peruse the same and then my self your poor subject should reap abundance of satisfaction therein and your Majesties gracious answer unto me was with a reiteration of these words I shall I shall and within lesse then an hour after I did hear that your Majestie had performed your princely promise for which I have ever since desired to render to your Grace the most humble and hearty thanks of a loyal and gratefull subject And now most humbly prostrating my self at the feet of your Maj●sties clemency again I do most submissely and earnestly begg at your gracious hands one favour more beseeching your Majesty to be pleased to accept of and to patronize these my weak endeavours which most humbly and thankfully I do Dedicate and present to your Grace beseeching your Majesty to vouchsafe the perusal of this Treatise at some time when the heavie burden of those so serious and urgent affairs imposed upon you will admit of an intermission and so your Majestie shall be truly informed what my condition is and hath been which being once known to your Grace I shall rest in abundance of quiet and with alacritie submit to such success as the good Providence and will of God and your gratious Pleasure shall thereupon suffer to be produced Royall Sir I am one of those that have been a Cordiall loving and obedient Subject in my Dutie and Allegiance to your Royall and Religious Father and Grandfather of glorious and blessed Memorie yet my Fate was never hitherto so propitious as to afford me any further favour then the common protection of a Subject and if the unhappinesse of the Times by the occasion of our sins had not late deprived us of that royal Favour then in all probability I might have been in such a posture before this time as I should not now have been necessitated to seek an Office to maintain me in my old Age But I have almost been bereaved of all my means and practise from my Age of 40 years to 60. the best time of proficiencie in all a mans life and yet I praise God for it I can with a good comfort and courage say to your Majestie that I am no absolute Beggar but only in Relation to God and your good Grace that is his lawfull and undoubted Deputie here upon the Earth for by means of Gods mercie and your Majesties so happy and Fortunate Accesse to your just and Royal rights I am still in lawfull possession of an Estate in Lands which although it be but small yet it is of a Noble Tenure being late holden of your Majestie by a whole Knights Fee and which hath lineally been enjoyed by my Ancestors and continued in my name for the space of near 500. years ever since the Reign of King Henry the 3d. and that is more then some great Ones are able to assert and certainly a blessing hath been upon it in the so long continuance thereof being at first honestly bought with their Money and a Bargain I think more justifiable then some kind of purchasing either of Honour or Offices And although my name be at present and of late in some obs●uritie yet it hath not been allwayes so in the times of Antiquit●e for in the Reign of that Valiant and Famous Prince King Edward the 1. there lived one of my name which had the Honour to be Lord