on our purpose to amend When thou hast vindicated thy glory by thy Iudgments and hast shewed us how unsafe it is to offend thee upon presumptions afterwards to please thee Then I trust thy mercies will restore those blessings to us which we have so much abused as to force thee to deprive us of them For want of timely repentance of our sinnes Thou givest us cause to Repent of those Remedies we too late apply Yet I doe not Repent of My calling this last Parliament because ô Lord I did it with an upright intention to Thy glory and My Peoples good The miseries which have ensued upon Me and My Kingdomes are the Iust effects of thy displeasure upon us and may be yet through thy mercy preparatives of us to future blessings and better hearts to enjoy them O Lord though thou hast deprived us of many former comforts yet grant Me and My people the benefit of our afflictions and thy chastisements that thy rod as well as thy staffe may comfort us Then shall we dare to account them the strokes not of an Enemy but a Father when thou givest us those humble affections that measure of patience in repentance which becomes thy Children I shall have no cause to repent the miseries this Parliament hath occasioned when by them thou hast brought Me and My People unfeignedly to repent of the sinnes we have committed Thy Grace is infinitely better with our sufferings then our Peace could be with Our sinnes O thou soveraigne goodnesse and wisdome who Over-rulest all our Counsels over-rule also all our hearts That the worse things we suffer by thy Iustice the better we may be by thy Mercy As our sinnes have turned our Antidotes into Poyson so let thy Grace turne our Poysons into Antidotes As the sins of our Peace disposed us to this unhappy Warre so let this Warre prepare us for thy blessed Peace That although I have but troublesome Kingdoms here yet I may attaine to that Kingdome of Peace in My Heart and in thy Heaven which Christ hath purchased and thou wilt give to thy Servant though a Sinner for my Saviours sake Amen 2. Vpon the Earle of Straffords death I Looked upon my Lord of Strafford as a Gentleman whose great abilities might make a Prince rather afraid then ashamed to employ him in the greatest affaires of State For those were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings and this was like enough to betray him to great errours and many enemies Whereof he could not but contract good store while moving in so high a spheare and with so vigorous a lustre he must needs as the Sun raise many envious exhalations which condensed by a popular odium were capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and integrity Though I cannot in My Judgment approve all he did driven it may be by the necessities of times and the Temper of that People more then led by his owne disposition to any height and rigour of actions yet I could never be convinced of any such criminousnesse in him as willingly to expose his life to the stroke of Justice and malice of his enemies I never met with a more unhappy conjuncture of affaires then in the businesse of that unfortunate Earle when between My owne unsatisfiednesse in Conscience and a necessity as some told me of satisfying the importunities of some people I was perswaded by those that I think wished me well to chuse rather what was safe then what seemed just preferring the outward peace of My Kingdoms with men before that inward exactnesse of Conscience before God And indeed I am so farre from excusing or denying that complyance on My part for plenary consent it was not to his destruction whom in My Judgment I thought not by any cleare Law guilty of death That I never bare any touch of Conscience with greater regret which as a signe of My repentance I have often with sorrow confessed both to God and men as an act of so sinfull frailty that it discovered more a feare of Man than of God whose name and place on Earth no man is worthy to beare who will avoid inconveniences of State by acts of so high injustice as no publique convenience can expiate or compensate I see it a bad exchange to wound a mans owne Conscience thereby to salve State sores to calme the stormes of popular discontents by stirring up a tempest in a mans owne bosome Nor hath Gods Justice failed in the event and sad consequences to shew the world the fallacy of that Maxime Better one man perish though unjustly then the people be displeased or destroyed For In all likelyhood I could never have suffred with My People greater calamities yet with greater comfort had I vindicated Strafford's innocency at least by denying to Signe that destructive BILL according to that Justice which My Conscience suggested to Me then I have done since I gratified some mens unthankfull importunities with so cruell a favour And I have observed that those who counselled Me to signe that Bill have been so farre from receiving the rewards of such ingratiatings with the People that no men have been harassed and crushed more than they He onely hath been least vexed by them who counselled Me not to consent against the vote of My owne Conscience I hope God hath forgiven Me and them the sinfull rashnesse of that businesse To which being in My soule so fully conscious those Judgements God hath pleased to send upon Me are so much the more welcome as a meanes I hope which his mercy hath sanctified so to Me as to make Me repent of that unjuâ—t Act for so it was to Me and for the future to teach Me That the best rule of policy is to preferre the doing of Justice before all enjoyments and the peace of My Conscience before the preservation of My Kingdomes Nor hath any thing more fortified My resolutions against all those violent importunities which since have sought to gaine alike consent from Me to Acts wherein my Conscience is unsatisfied then the sharp touches I have had for what passed Me in My Lord of Strafford's Businesse Not that I resolved to have employed him in My affaires against the advise of My Parliament but I would not have had any hand in his Death of whose Guiltlesnesse I was better assured then any man living could be Nor were the Crimes objected against him so cleare as after a long and faire hearing to give convincing satisfaction to the Major part of both Houses especially that of the Lords of whom scarce a third part were present when the Bill passed that House And for the House of Commons many Gentlemen disposed enough to diminish My Lord of Straffords greatnesse and power yet unsatisfied of his guilt in Law durst not Condemne him to die who for their Integrity in their Votes were by Posting their Names exposed to the popular calumny hatred and fury which grew then so exorbitant in their clamours
though thou hast not punished us according to our sins Turne thee O Lord unto me have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted The sorrowes of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my troubles Hast thou forgotten to be gracious and shut up thy loving kindnesse in displeasure O remember thy compassions of old and thy loving kindnesses which have been for many generations I had utterly fainted if I had not beleeved to see thy goodnesse in the land of the living Let not the sinnes of our prosperity deprive us of the benefit of thy afflictions Let this fiery triall consume the drosse which in long peace and plenty we had contracted Though thou continuest miseries yet withdraw not thy grace what is wanting of prosperity make up in patience and repentance And if thy anger be not to be yet turned away but thy hand of justice must be stretched out still Let it I beseech thee be against me and my Fathers house as for these sheep what have they done Let my sufferings satiate the malice of mine and thy Churches Enemies But let their cruelty never exceed the measure of my charity Banish from me all thoughts of Revenge that I may not lose the reward nor thou the glory of my patience As thou givest me a heart to forgive them so I beseech thee doe thou forgive what they have done against thee and me And now ô Lord as thou hast given me an heart to pray unto thee so hear and accept this Vow which I make before thee If thou wilt in mercy remember Me and my Kingdomes In continuing the light of thy Gospell and setling thy true Religion among us In restoring to us the benefit of the Lawes and the due execution of Iustice. In suppressing the many Schismes in Church and Factions in State If thou wilt restorâ— me and mine to the Ancient rights and glory of my Predecessours If thou wilt turne the heâ—rts of my people to thy self in Piety to me in Loyalty and to one another in Charity If thou wilt quench the flames and withdraw the fewell of these Civill Warres If thou wilt blesse us with the freedome of publick Counsels and deliver the Honour of Parliaments from the insolencie of the vulgar If thou wilt keep me from the great offence of enacting any thing against my Conscience and especially from consenting to sacrilegious rapines and spoilings of thy Church If thou wilt restore me to a capacity to glorifie thee in doing good both to the Church and State Then shall my soul praise thee and magnifie thy name before my People Then shall thy glory be dearer to me then my Crownes and the advancement of true Religion both in purity and power be my chiefest care Then will I rule my People with Iustice and â—y Kingdomes with equity To thy more immediate hand shall I ever own as the rightfull succession so the mercifull restauration of My Kingdomes and the glory of them If thou wilt bring Me again with peace safety and â—onour to My chiefest City and my Parliament If thou wilt againe put the Sword of Iustice into My hand to punish and protect Then will I make all the world to see and my very Enemies to enjoy the benefit of this Vow and resolution of Christian charity which I now make unto thee O Lord. As I doe freely pardon for Christ's sake those that have offended me in any kind so my hand shall never be against any man to revenge what is past in regard of any particular injury done to me We have been mutually punished in our unnaturall divisions for thy sake O Lord and for the love of my Redeemer have I purposed this in my heart That I will use all means in the waies of amnesty and indempnity which may most fully remove all feares and bury all jealousies in forgetfulnesse Let thy mercies be toward me and mine as my resolutions of Truth and Peace are toward my People Heare my prayer O Lord which goeth not out of fayned lips Blessed be God who hath not turned away my prayer nor taken his mercy from me O my soule commit thy way to the Lord trust in him and he shall bring it to passe But if thou wilt not restore me and mine what am I that I should charge thee foolishly Thou O Lord hast given and thou hast taken Blessed be thy name May my People and thy Church be happy if not by me yet without me 26. Vpon the Armies Surprisall of the KING at Holmeby and the ensuing distractions in the two Houses the Army and the City WHat part God will have me now to act or suffer in this new and strange scene of affaires I am not much solicitous some little practise will serve that man who onely seeks to represent a part of honesty and honour This surprize of Me tells the world that a KING cannot be so low but He is consideraâ—le adding weight to that Party where he appeares This motion like others of the Times seems excentrique and irregular yet not well to be resisted or quieted Better swim down such a stream than in vain to strive against it These are but the struglings of those twins which lately one womb enclosed the younger striving to prevaile against the elder what the Presbyterians have hunted after the Independents now seek to catch for themselves So impossible is it for lines to be drawn from the center and not to divide from each other so much the wider by how much they go farther from the point of union That the Builders of Babel should from division fall to confusion is no wonder but for those that pretend to build Ierusalem to divide their tongues and hands is but an ill â—men and sounds too like the fury of those Zealots whose intestine bitternesse and divisions were the greatest occasion of the last fatall destruction of that City Well may I change my Keepers and Prison but not my captive condition onely with this hope of bettering that those who are so much professed Patrons for the Peoples Liberties cannot be utterly against the Liberty of their KING what they demand for their owne Consciences they cannot in Reason deny to Mine In this they seem more ingenuous than â—â—e Presbyterian rigour who sometimes complaining of exacting their conformity to laws are become the greatest Exactors of other mens submission to their novell injunctions before they are stamped with the Authority of Lawes which they cannot well have without My conâ—ent 'T is a great argument that the Independents think themselves manumitted from their Rivals service in that they carry on a businesse of such consequence as the assuming My Person into the Armies custody without any Commission but that of their owne will and power Such as will thus adventure on a King must not be thought over-modest or timerous to carry on any designe they have a mind to Their next motion menaces and scares both the two Houses and the City which soone
for Iustice that is to have both My selfe and the two Houses Vote and doe as they would have us that many 't is thought were rather terrified to concurre with the condemning party then satisfied that of right they ought so to doe And that after Act vacating the Authority of the precedent for future imitation sufficiently tells the world that some remorse touched even his most implacable enemies as knowing he had very hard measure and such as they would be very loath should be repeated to themselves This tendernesse and regret I find in my soul for having had any hand and that very unwillingly God knowes in shedding one mans bloud unjustly though under the colour and formalities of Justice and pretences of avoyding publick mischeifes which may I hope be some evidence before God and Man to all Posterity that I am far from bearing justly the vast load guilt of all that bloud which hath been shed in this unhappy Warre which some men will needs charge on Me to ease their own soules who am and ever shall be more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly then to lose my owne But thou O God of infinite mercies forgive me that act of sinfull compliance which hath greater aggravations upon Me then any man Since I had not the least temptation of envy or malice against him and by my place should at least so farre have been a preserver of him as to have denied my consent to his destruction O Lord I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me Deliver me from bloud guiltinesse O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousnesse Against thee have I sinned and done this evill in thy sight for thou sawest the contradiction between my heart and my hand Yet cast me not away from thy presence purge me with the blood of my Redeemer and I shall be clean wash me with that pretious effusion and I shall be writer then snow Teach me to learn Righteousnesse by thy Iudgments and to see my frailty in thy Iustice while I was perswaded by shedding one mans bloud to prevent after-troubles thou hast for that among other sinnes brought upon me and upon my Kingdomes great long and heavy troubles Make me to prefer Iustice which is thy will before all contrary clamours which are but the discoveries of mans injurious will It is too much that they have once overcome me to please them by displeasing thee O never suffer me for any reason of State to goe against my Reason of Conscience which is highly to sinne against thee the God of Reason and Iudge of our Consciences What ever O Lord thou seest fit to deprive me of yet restore unto me the joy of thy Salvation and ever uphold me with thy free Spirit which subjects my will to none but thy light of Reason Iustice and Religion which shines in my Soul for Thou desirest Truth in the inward parts and Integrity in the outward expressions Lord hear the voice of thy Sons and my Saviours Bloud which speaks better things of make me and my People to hear the voyce and Ioy and Gladnesse that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce in thy salvation 3. Vpon His Majesties going to the House of Commons MY going to the House of Commons to demand Justice upon the 5 Members was an act which My enemies loaded with all the obloquies and exasperations they could It filled indifferent men with great jealousies and feares yea and many of My friends resented it as a motion rising rather from Passion then Reason and not guided with such discretion as the touchinesse of those times re-required But these men knew not the just motives and pregnant grounds with which I thought my self so furnished that there needed nothing to such evidence as I could have produced against those I charged save only a free and legall Triall which was all I desired Nor had I any temptation of displeasure or revenge against those mens persons further then I had discovered those as I thought unlawfull correspondencies they had used and engagements they had made to embroyle my Kingdomes of all which I missed but little to have produced writings under some mens own hands who were the chief contrivers of the following Innovations Providence would not have it so yet I wanted not such probabilities as were sufficient to raise jealousies in any Kings heart who is not wholly stupid and neglective of the publick peace which to preserve by calling in Question half a dozen men in a fair and legall way which God knowes was all my design could have amounted to no worse effect had it succeeded then either to do Me and my Kingdom right in case they had been found guilty or else to have cleared their Innocency and removed my suspicions which as they were not raised out of any malice so neither were they in Reason to be smothered What flames of discontent this sparke though I â—ought by all speedy and possible means to quench it soone kindled all the world is witnesse The aspersion which some men cast upon that action as if I had designed by force to assault the House of Commons and invade their priviledge is so false that as God best knowes I had no such intent so none that attended could justly gather from any thing I then said or did the least intimaon of any such thoughts That I went attended with some Gentlemen as it was no unwonted thing for the Majesty and safety of a King so to be attended especially in discontented times so were my followers at that time short of my ordinary Guard and no way proportionable to hazard a tumultuary conflict Nor were they more scared at my comming then I was un-assured of not having some affronts cast upon me if I had none with me to preserve a reverence to me For many people had at that time learned to think those hard thoughts which they have since aboundantly vented against Me both by words and deeds The summe of that businesse was this Those men and their adherents were then looked upon by the affrighted vulgar as greater protectors of their Lawes and Liberties then my self and so worthier of their protection I leave them to God and their own Consciences who if guilty of evill machinations no present impunity or popular vindications of them will be subterfuge sufficient to rescue them from those exact Tribunalls To which in the obstructions of Justice among men we must religiously appeal as being an argument to us Christians of that after un-avoidable judgement which shall rejudge what among men is but corruptly decided or not at all I endeavoured to have prevented if God had seen fit those future commotions which I fore-saw would in all likelyhood follow some mens activity if not restrained and so now hath done to the undoing of many thousands the more is the pitty But to over-awe the freedome of the Houses or to weaken their just