marks of His Majesties Favour and Confidence in the disposal of all Offices and Places at Court that every third time they should be filled with Scotish men together with other particulars not needful to be mentioned But against all this it was objected that those who had the Ascendant in the Councils at Oxford were either Papists or men of Arbitrary Principles and the Clamours that always follow Generals and Armies where there is no certain Pay were carried to Scotland not without great additions against the Kings Forces to possess people with a deep alienation from them It was likewise said that since the King notwithstanding the Declining of his Affairs in England would not grant what was desired there about Episcopacy it might be from thence gathered what he would do if his Arms were successful and therefore all People were possessed with the jealousies of his subverting the whole Settlement with Scotland assoon as he had put the War in England to a happy Conclusion And though it was answered to this that the Kings putting things to hazard rather than sin against his Conscience was the greatest assurance possible that he would faithfully observe what He had granted to this Malicious people said that it would be easie to find distinctions to escape from all Engagements and if the putting down of Episcopacy was simply sinful according to the Kings Conscience then that alone would furnish Him with a very good reason to overturn all since no Men are bound to observe the promises they make when they are sinful upon the Matter And these Reasons did generally prevail with the Covenanters to refuse to joyn with the Kings Party in England therefore they concluded it necessary to Engage with the Two Houses both because the Cause was dear to them it being a pretence for Religion and Liberty It was also said often that they owed their Settlement partly to the backwardness of the Armies the King had raised against them in England and partly to the Council of the Peers who had advised the King to grant a Treaty and afterwards a full Settlement to them And that Paper which was sent down in the Year 1640 as the Engagement of 28 of the Peers of England for their Concurrence with the Scotish Army that year was shown to divers to engage them unto a Grateful return to those to whom it was pretended they were so highly obliged For though the Earl of Rothes and a few more were well satisfied about the Forgery of that Paper yet they thought that a Secret of too great Importance to be generally known therefore it was still kept up from the Body of that Nation And upon these Pretences and Inducements it was that it came to be generally agreed to to enter into a Confederacy with the Two Houses So Fatal did the Breach between the King and his People prove that even when it seemed to be well made up by a full Agreement there was still an after-game of Jealousies and Fears which did again widen it by a new Rupture which to these men seemed at this time unavoidable otherwise they found the ease of a Neutrality to be such that the Men of the greatest Interest in those Councils have often told the Writer they had never engaged again had it not been for those Jealousies with which they were possessed to a high degree There was a Committee of Nine appointed to Treat with the Commissioners the English pressed chiefly a Civil League and the Scots a Religious one but though the English yielded to this yet they were careful to leave a door open for Independency Thus the Treaty with the English Commissioners went on notwithstanding a Letter the King wrote to the Chancellour to be communicated to the Council requiring them not to Treat with them since they came without His Majesties Order but they who had leaped over all other matters could not stand at this And now came to light that which had been a hatching these many Months among the Iunto's which was the Solemn League and Covenant which follows The Solemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdoms WE Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens and Burgesses The Solemn League and Covenant Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdoms of Scotland England and Ireland by the Providence of God living under one King and being of one Reformed Religion having before our eyes the glory of GOD and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ the Honour and Happiness of the Kings Majesty and His Posterity and the true publick Liberty Safety and Peace of the Kingdom wherein every ones private condition is included And calling to mind the treacherous and bloody Plots Conspiracies Attempts and Practices of the Enemies of GOD against the true Religion and Professors thereof in all places especially in these three Kingdoms ever since the Reformation of Religion and how much their Rage Power and Presumption are of late and at this time encreased and exercised whereof the deplorable estate of the Church and Kingdom of Ireland the distressed estate of the Church and Kingdom of England and the dangerous estate of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland are present and publick testimonies We have now at last after other means of Supplication Remonstrance Protestations and Sufferings for the preservation of our selves and our Religion from utter ruine and destruction according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times and the example of Gods People in other Nations after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and Solemn League and Covenant Wherein we all subscribe and each one of us for himself with our hands lifted up to the most high GOD do Swear THat we shall sincerely really and constantly through the grace of GOD endeavour in our several Places and Callings the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common Enemies the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the Word of GOD and the example of the best Reformed Churches And shall endeavour to bring the Churches of GOD in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and Vniformity in Religion Confession of Faith Form of Church-Government Directory for Worship and Catechising that we and our Posterity after us may as Brethren live in Faith and Love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church-Government by Arch-bishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the Power of Godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to
Chirnside Linlithgow Aberdeen and divers more How can these men now elected be thought fit to be Ruling-elders who were never Elders before all or most part of them being chosen since the Indiction of the Assembly some of them but the very day before the Election of their Commissioners which demonstrates plainly that they were chosen onely to serve their Associates turn at this Assembly Since the Institution of Lay-elders by your own Principles is to watch over the Manners of the People in the Parish in which they live how can any man be chosen a Ruling-elder from a Presbytery who is not an inhabitant within any Parish of that Presbytery as hath been done in divers Elections against all Law Sense or Reason By what Law or Practice was it ever heard that young Noblemen or Gentlemen or others should be chosen Rulers of the Church being yet Minors and in all Construction of Law thought unfit to manage their own private Estates unless you will grant that men of meaner Abilities may be thought fit to rule the Church which is the House of God than are fit to rule their own private Houses Families and Fortunes By what Law can any Ruling-elder be sent to a Presbytery to give Vote in any thing especially in chusing Commissioners for the General Assembly who is not chosen for that purpose by the Session of that Parish in which he is a Ruling-elder And who gave power to the Minister of every Parish to bring with him to the Presbytery for that purpose any Ruling Elder of his Parish whom he pleased But it is well known that divers Elders gave Votes in these Presbyteries to the Elections of some Commissioners here who were not chosen by the Sessions of their several Parishes to give Votes in those Presbyteries and therefore such Commissioners as were chosen by such Lay-elders can have no Vote here By what Law or Practice have the several Parishes or Presbyteries chosen Asâ—essors to their Ruling-elders without whose consent some of the Commissioners here present are sworn not to vote to any thing This introducing of Ruling-elders is a burthen so grievous to the Brethren of the Ministry that many of the Presbyteries have protested against it for the time to come some for the present as shall appear by divers Protestations and Supplications ready to be here exhibited For the Ministers chosen Commissioners hither besides that the fittest are passed by and some chosen who were never Commissioners of any Assembly before that so they might not stand for their own Liberty in an Assembly of the nature whereof they are utterly ignorant choice hath been also made of some who are under the Censure of the Church of some who are deprived by the Church of some who have been banished and put out of the University of Glasgow for teaching their Scholars that Monarchies were unlawful some banished out of this Kingdom for their Seditious Sermons and Behaviour and some for the like Offences banished out of another of His Majesties Kingdoms Ireland some lying under the fearful Sentence of Excommunication some having no Ordination nor Imposition of Hands some admitted to the Ministry contrary to the standing Laws of this Church and Kingdom all of them chosen by Lay-elders what a Scandal were it to the Reformed Churches to allow this to be a lawful Assembly consisting of such Members and so unlawfully chosen Of this Assembly divers who are chosen are at the * That is under a Writ of Outlawry Horn and so by the Laws of this Kingdom are uncapable of sitting as Judges in any Judicatory Three Oaths are to be administred to every Member of this Assembly the Oath for the Confession of Faith lately renewed by His Majesties Commandment the Oaths of Allegeance and Supremacy and whosoever shall refuse any of these cannot be a Judge in any Judicatory of this Kingdom and therefore resolve presently whether you will take them or not You have cited the Reverend Prelats of this Land to appear before you by a way unheard-of not only in this Kingdom but in the whole Christian World their Citations being read in the Pulpits which is not usual in this Church nay and many of them were read in the Pulpits after they had been delivered into the Bishops own hands How can His Majesty deny unto them being His Subjects the benefit of His Laws in declining all those to be their Judges who by their Covenant do hold the principal thing in question to wit Episcopacy to be abjured as many of you do or any of you to be their Judges who do adhere to your last Protestation wherein you declare that it is an Office not known to this Kingdom although at this present it stand established both by Acts of Parliaments and Acts of General Assemblies Who ever heard of such Judges as have sworn themselves Parties And if it shall be objected that the Orthodox Bishops in the first four and other General Councils could not be denied to be competent Judges of the Hereticks though beforehand they had declared their Judgments against their Heresies it is easily answered that in matters of Heresie no man must be patient since in Fundamental points of Faith a man cannot be indifferent without the hazard of his Salvation and therefore must declare himself to be on Christs side or else he is against him but in matters of Church-government and Policy which by the Judgment of this Church in the 21th Article of our Confession is alterable at the will of the Church it is not necessary for any man who means to be a Judge to declare himself especially against that Government which stands established by Law at the time of his Declaration being not onely not necessary but likewise not lawful for him at that time so to doe now this Declaration all you who adhere to the last Protestation have made even since you meaned to be the Bishops Judges Besides even those Orthodox Fathers never did declare themselves against the Hereticks their Persons or Callings by Oaths and Protestations as you have done for that had been a prejudging in them and this prejudging in you makes you now to be incompetent Judges Upon the whole matter then there are but two things left for me to say first you your selves have so proceeded in the business of this Assembly that it is impossible the fruits so much wished and prayed for can be obtained in it because standing as it does it will make this Church ridiculous to all the Adversaries of our Religion it will grieve and wound all our Neighbour Reformed Churches who hear of it it will make His Majesties Justice to be traduced throughout the whole Christian World if he should suffer His Subjects in that which concerns their Callings their Reputations and their Fortunes to be judged by their sworn Enemies If therefore you will dissolve your selves and amend all these errours in a new Election I will with all convenient speed address my self to
and Argyle as also to fix themselves at Sterlin as a secure place and convenient for maintaining their Army and for raising the whole Country on the north of Forth or fighting if occasion should offer At Linlithgow the Earl of Cassilis with about four or five hundred Horse was almost surprized but by the darkness of the night he escaped towards Burroughstownness and the Queens-ferry and so to Edinburgh Lieutenant-General Lesley with his new Army followed upon the others Rear near Linlithgow but was loth to engage having little Confidence in his Men although he was hard pressed to it for preventing the danger Argyle might fall into at Sterlin and Sir George Monro would willingly have turned upon him but that he was earnest once to be at Sterlin where he hoped to fall upon Argyle and his Party and therefore hasted forward At Larbour he was assured that Argyle with about sixty Horse and a thousand Foot all Highlanders was in the Town of Sterlin and fell on Argyle at Sterline keeping a Committee and treating with the Castle wherein was the Kings Garrison commanded by Norman Levingstoun for a Surrender upon that Sir George hasted on with the Cavalry commanding the Foot to follow in order as fast as they could which they did at a good pace A Gentleman coming from Sterlin met Sir George about St. Ninians and told him that the Barras-port was shut and manned and that he must pass through the Park round about the Castle to gain the Bridge and prevent Argyle's Flight and as he came near the Castle the Governour displayed the Kings Colours upon the Walls and caused the Cannon to play upon the Bridge where he perceived some of Argyle's People withdrawing The difficulties Sir George met with in opening the Park-Gate and breaking down some Stone-walls to make a passage for the Horse gave time to the Marquis of Argyle to get himself and his Troopers mounted They pass'd the Bridge in haste a very little before Sir George who with five Horsemen pursued them a good way the Highlanders marching close together to pass after their Lord were assaulted by the first Troop that came up after Sir George they made some sort of confused resistance but were instantly trod down and scattered and forced to call for Quarter about a hundred were killed and drowned attempting to swim the River the rest taken Prisoners being betwixt eight or nine hundred Upon this Orders were dispatched from the Committee of Estates for raising all the sensible men in the Northern Shires to joyn with those at Sterlin and Lanerick went to Perthshire to invite the Nobility to joyn Upon which the Lord Ogilvy and the Lord Drummond came with some Propositions to the Committee of Estates yet all means were essayed to bring the Matter to a Treaty The Earls of Crawford and Glencairn had drawn the Earl of Buckleugh and Mr. Robert Douglas and Mr. Robert Blair two leading Ministers from Edinburgh to a private Conference with them where Crawford and Glencairn moved that the Committee sitting at Edinburgh might come and reside there for perfecting of the Treaty whilst their Forces should continue at Sterlin A Treaty is pursued which was flatly denied them Here the Ministers were very earnest with these Lords that matters might be accomodated The Lords moved That nothing might be done to derogate from the Authority of Parliament and Committee of Estates That the Officers and Souldiers then in Arms by their Authority might be provided for and entertained That at least if there was no further use for their Service the Articles agreed to by the Parliament for these Forces that came from Ireland might be duly kept to them and that some consideration might be given to the rest of the Forces that were to be disbanded That none who had entred into that Engagement might be questioned for it but enjoy still their Offices Honours and Fortunes and other Civil Places That an effectual Course might be agreed on for the Relief of their Friends detained Prisoners in England and finally That the Committee might sit with Freedom in the ordinary Place and by advice of the Church consider of the dangers of Religion of his Majesty and his Posterity and and of the Peace and Safety of his Kingdomes that so by joynt advice such ways might be taken as would best secure Religion preserve his Majesty and his Posterity and quiet the Distempers of the Kingdom The Ministers on the other hand proposed That all Armies whether in the Fields or in the Garrisons of Berwick or Carlisle should be presently disbanded That the securing the Interest of Religion might be referred to the General Assembly or their Commissioners and all Civil Differences to the Determination of a Parliament to be speedily called That in the mean time there should be a Committee of Estates in which none should be admitted that had concurred in the late Engagement but withall they gave them good assurances both for the Prisoners in England and for themselves that no Prejudice should follow on any for their accession to the Engagement and when the Earl of Glencairn said perhaps nothing would be kept of all that should be agreed to Mr. Douglas answered that if but a tittle of the Agreement were broken all the Pulpits in Scotland should declare against it But now Argyle having escaped from these who pursued him was joyned to the Western Forces commonly called Whiggamores and he being irritated with what befell him at Sterlin was for severer Methods They resolved to invite the English Army to their Assistance to which Cromwel was not backward both that he might recover Berwick and Carlisle and destroy all the Kings Friends The Whiggamores did also know well how averse the Committee of Estates were from Engaging into Action and that they intended to make Peace on any terms therefore they grew high in their Propositions and at Sterlin the other Party was much divided for most of the Committee of Estates were for a Treaty and most of the Officers of the Scotish Forces were Capitulating for themselves The chief Arguments proposed to perswade the necessity of this Agreement were the improbability if not impossibility of resistance if Cromwel should joyn the Enemy who had already invited him to Edinburgh by a Message sent him to Berwick by Argyle Elcho and other two Commissioners which they doubted not but he would accept The fear this Conjunction would beget in the Country would hinder their Rising and drive their Army either to a want of Subsistence or to destroy their Friends and turn them Malecontents first and then Enemies but above all some pretended the fitness of preserving the Kings Friends and Favourers to a better opportunity for his Service which they hoped would quickly offer it self It was objected against the Treaty That the Relief of their Prince from such a cruel Captivity was a just cause That they had Law and Authority upon their side and so ought not to be
be said of the Duke Anno 1649. ON the 4th of December Orders were sent to bring him to Windsor and he came thither the 11th of that Month. He was lodged in the House of one of the poor Knights of Windsor and kept under strict Guards yet on the 21th of that Month as the King was carried through Windsor he prevailed so far with his Keepers as to permit him to see his Majesty and as he passed he kneeled down and with a transport of humble Sorrow kissed his hand and had only time to say My dear Master the King embraced him very kindly and said I have been so indeed to you but they were parted and suffered to have no discourse It may easily be imagined with what sorrow he followed the King with his eyes as far as he could see him knowing he was to do so no more nor did he much regrate his present Trouble or imminent Danger all his thoughts being swallowed up in sorrow at the Consideration of his Master's Ruin which was then no more to be doubted the Army and House as it was then modelled or rather forced having avowed their Design against his Person and thrown off the Disguise with which they had long mask'd themselves The Parliament of England had upon the matter condemned the Duke to perpetual Imprisonment Much pains is taken to draw discoveries from him but in vain by setting an hundred thousand pound sterling for his Ransome which sum could not be raised by him at a time when by the Debts he had contracted in the Kings Service his Fortune was fallen so low Cromwel came several times to him to draw from him some Discoveries of his Correspondents in England and gave him great assurances of Life Rewards and Secrecy but he rejected the Proposition with horrour and disdain though often repeated and apprehending they might get his Brother into their hands sent him at that time the following Note which I set down though unfinisht and written with the Juyce of a Lemmon I Vnder the power of the Sword and merciless men no favour to be expected oft examined but nothing discovered being ignorant perhaps you will abide the same Trial beware if you do The thirtieth of Ianuary was that fatal and never-to-be-forgotten Day wherein His Sacred Majesty after the Pageantry of a Trial to add the appearance of Justice to so base and barbarous a Murder was beheaded to the Amazement of all Europe by an unexampled practice in any Monarchy But the particulars of his Royal Constancy and Christian Patience being so punctually related by others I shall not stand to repeat what is already known but having proposed to my self nothing more in this whole Work than to let the World see the great Piety and strictness of Conscience that Blessed Prince carried along with him in all his Affairs and to publish such Remains of his Pen as had not been formerly seen or known I shall therefore insert a Copy of Verses written by his Majesty in his Captivity which a very worthy Gentleman who had the honour of waiting on him then and was much trusted by him Copied out from the Original who avoucheth it to be a true Copy but I shall first present that Royal Martyr to the Readers view in the Posture which was most familiar to Him and then set down those Verses in which the mighty sense and the great Piety will be found to be beyond all the finest sublimities of Poetry which yet are not wanting here An. 1648. Rom. VIII more than Conquerour Bona agere mala pati Regium est Alij diutius Imperium tenuerunt nemo tam fortiter reliquit Tacit. Histor. Lib. 2 c.47 p417 MAJESTY in MISERY OR An Imploration to the KING of Kings Written by His late Majesty King CHARLES the First during His Captivity at Carisbrook Castle Anno Dom. 1648. GREAT Monarch of the World from whose Power Springs The Potency and Power of Kings Record the Royal Woe my Suffering sings And teach my tongue that ever did confine Its faculties in Truths Seraphick Line To track the Treasons of thy foes and mine Nature and Law by thy Divine Decree The only Root of Righteous Royaltie With this dim Diadem invested me With it the sacred Scepter Purple Robe The Holy Vnction and the Royal Globe Yet am I levell'd with the life of Job The fiercest Furies that do daily tread Vpon my Grief my Gray Dis-crowned Head Are those that owe my Bounty for their Bread They raise a War and Christen it The Cause Whil'st sacrilegious hands have best applause Plunder and Murder are the Kingdoms Laws Tyranny bears the Title of Taxation Revenge and Robbery are Reformation Oppression gains the name of Sequestration An. 1649. My Loyal Subjects who in this bad season Attend me by the Law of God and Reason They dare impeach and punish for High Treason Next at the Clergy do their Furies frown Pious Episcopacy must go down They will destroy the Crosier and the Crown Church-men are chain'd and Schismaticks are free'd Mechanicks preach and Holy Fathers bleed The Crown is crucified with the Creed The Church of England doth all Faction foster The Pulpit is usurpt by each Impostor Ex tempore excludes the Pater noster The Presbyter and Independent Seed Springs with broad blades to make Religion bleed Herod and Pontius Pilate are agreed The Corner-stone's misplac'd by every Pavier With such a bloody method and behaviour Their Ancestors did crucifie our Saviour My Royal Consort from whose fruitful Womb So many Princes legally have come Is forc'd in Pilgrimage to seek a Tomb. Great Britain's Heir is forced into France Whilst on his Father's head his foes advance Poor Child He weeps out his Inheritance With my own Power my Majesty they wound In the King's Name the King himself 's uncrown'd So doth the Dust destroy the Diamond With Propositions daily they enchant My Peoples ears such as do Reason daunt And the Almighty will not let me grant They promise to erect my Royal Stem To make Me great t' advance my Diadem If I will first fall down and worship them But for refusal they devour my Thrones Distress my Children and destroy my bones I fear they 'l force me to make bread of stones My Life they prize at such a slender rate That in my absence they draw Bills of hate To prove the King a Traytor to the State Felons obtain more priviledge than I They are allow'd to answer e're they die 'T is death for me to ask the reason Why. But Sacred Saviour with thy words I woo Thee to forgive and not be bitter to Such as thou know'st do not know what they do For since they from their Lord are so disjointed As to contemn those Edicts he appointed How can they prize the Power of his Anointed Augment my Patience nullifie my Hate Preserve my Issue and inspire my Mate Yet though We perish bless this Church and State Vota dabunt quae bella
only was her Honour unstained but even her Fame continued untouched with Calumny she being so strict to the severest Rules as never to admit of those Follies which pass in that style for Gallantry She was a most affectionate and dutiful Wife and used to say she had the greatest reason to bless God for having given her such a Husband whom as she loved perfectly so she was not ashamed to obey But that which crowned all her other Perfections was the deep sense she had of Religion she lived and died in the Communion of the Church of England and was a very devout person Many years before her death she was so exact in observing her Retirements to her Closet that notwithstanding all her Avocations and the Divertisements of the Court as the Writer was informed by one that lived with her no day passed over her without bestowing large portions of her time on them beside her constant attendance on the Chappel She bore first three Daughters and then three Sons her Daughters were Lady Mary Lady Anne and Lady Susanna her Sons were Charles Iames and William but all her Sons and her eldest Daughter died young A year before she died she languished which ended in a Consumption of which after a few Moneths sickness she died so that she prepared for Death timeously About a Moneth before her death she called for her Children and gave them her last Blessings and Embraces ordering them to be brought no more near her lest the sight of them might have kindled too much tenderness in her which she was then studying to raise above all created objects and fix where she was shortly to be admitted She died the tenth of May in the year 1638 and left her Lord a most sad and afflicted person and though his Spirit was too great to sink under any burden yet all his Life after he remembred her with much tender Affection She died indeed in a good time for her own Repose when her Lord was beginning to engage in the Affairs of Scotland which proved so fatal both to his Quiet and Life But the Distractions of the following years concurring with the affectionate Remembrance of his Lady which rather increased than abated with time kept him from the thoughts of re-engaging in a married life Neither did the death of his Sons shake him from that purpose since he had so noble a Successor secured for his Family in the person of his Brother and next to him he had two Daughters who were dear to him far beyond the ordinary rate of Children on whom he got his Dignity and Fortune entailed in case his Brother died without Sons His Religion was Protestant and Reformed and as he was a Zealous Enemy to Popery so he was no less earnest for a good Correspondence among all the Reformed Churches His Religion in particular betwixt the Lutherans and Calvinists and therefore was a Great Patron and Promoter of the designs of Mr. Dury who bestowed so much of his travel and so many of his years in driving on that desired Union for I find by many of Dury's Letters to him that as he owed a great part of his Subsistence to the Money and Places were procured for him by the Duke both from the King and my Lord of Canterbury so his best Addresses to the Swedish Court and the Princes of Germany were those he had from him and therefore he continued giving him an account of his success as to his Patron and Benefactor As for our unhappy Differences which have divided this Island he judged neither the one nor the other worth the Blood was shed in the Quarrel and the excess he had seen on both hands cured him from being a Zealot for either He was disâ—atisfied with the Courses some of the Bishops had followed before the Troubles began and could not but impute their first Rise to the Provocations had been given by them but he was no less offended with the violent spirits of most of the Covenanters particularly with their opposition to the Royal Authority As long as the King employed him for the preservation of Episcopacy he served him faithfully and though afterwards he pressed him much for his consent to the Abolition of that Government in Scotland it was not from any Prejudice himself had at it but flowed only from the Affection he had to His Majesty since he saw it could not have been preserved at that time without very visible hazard both to King and Countrey and so he took the National Covenant at the Kings Command Anno 1641 in the Parliament of Scotland He was all his life a great honourer of true Piety where-ever he saw it notwithstanding any mistakes that might have been mingled with it so that whatsoever particular ground of Resentments he had at any who he judged feared God the consideration of that did overcome and stifle it but his first Imprisonment in the year 1643 was the happiest time of his Life to him for there he had a truer prospect of all things set before him which wrought a Change on him discernible by those who knew him best This made him frequently acknowledge Gods great Goodness to him in that Restraint for then he learned to despise at the foolish pleasures of Sin and the debasing vanities of a false World which had formerly possessed too great a Room in his thoughts It is true he chose to be Religious in secret and therefore gave no other vent to it in his Discourse than what he judged himself obliged to which was chiefly to his Children to whom he always recommended the Fear and Love of God as that wherein himself had found his only Joy and Repose The following words are a part of one of his Letters to them which he wrote a little before his last going to England IN all crosses even of the highest nature there is no other remedy but Patience and with alacrity to submit to the good-will and pleasure of our Glorious Creator and be contented therewith which I advise you to learn in your tender Age having injoyed that Blessing my self and found great Câ—mfort in it while involved in the middle of infinite Dangers He was a constant Reader of the Scriptures and during his Imprisonment they were his only Companions other books being for a great while denied him and he making a vertue of that necessity became a diligent and serious Reader of those holy Oracles and studied to take the measures of his Actions from them and not from the foolish Dreams and Conjectures of Astrology though the enquiring after and taking notice of these be among the injurious Imputations Obloquy fastened upon him But so far was he from any regard to them that an Astrologer coming to him in Germany with a Paper wherein he said he should read a noble Fortune he after he had sent him away threw it into the fire without once openinâ— it and indeed he was so far from flattering himself with the
their Election You are to labour that the Five Articles of Perth be held as indifferent strive that the admissions of Ministers may continue as they are you may condescend that the Oaths of their Admission be no other than is warranted by Act of Parliament You are if you find that it may any wise conduce to Our Service to enact and publish the Order made at Holyroodhouse by Our Council the fifth of July last for discharging the use of the Service-Book Book of Canons and the practice of the High Commission You are to protest against the abolishing of Bishops and to give way to as few restrictions of their power as you can as for the Bishops not being capable of Civil Places you must labour what you can to keep them free You may give way that they shall be accountable to the General Assembly which you shall indict at the rising of this against that time twelve month As for the Bishops Precedence you are not to admit them of the Assembly to meddle therewith it being no point of Religion and totally in the Crown If the Bishop of St. Andrews or any other be accused of any crime you are to give way to it so they may have a free Trial and likewise the same of whatsoever person or Officer of State It is left to your discretion what course Bishops shall take that are for the present out of the Country You are to advise the Bishops to forbear sitting at the Council till better and more favourable times for them Notwithstanding all these Instructions abovementioned or any other accident that may happen still labouring to keep up Our Honour so far as possibly you can you are by no means to permit a present Rupture to happen but to yield any thing though unreasonable rather than now to break C. R. London the 27th July 1638. But with this His Majesty ordered him to see That the Country were again settled before he indicted the Assembly that the Moderators named by Bishops in Presbyteries might be again reponed and according to the Act of the Assembly 1606. they might be held necessary Members of the Assembly that all Ministers turned out since these Stirs began might be again restored and that all Ministers admitted without Bishops might desist from the exercise of their Function That all people might keep their own Churches and that Bishops and Ministers who took not the Covenant might live quietly without disturbance and have their Stipends paid them His Majesty also so gave warrant That if need required he might call a Parliament against April next and with these Instructions the King wrote to the Council the following Letter CHARLES R. RIght trusty and well-beloved Cousin Councellour and Commissioner The Kings Letter to the Council and Right trusty and well-beloved Cousins and Councellours and trusty and well-beloved Councellours We Greet you well The great Distractions which have of late arisen both in Kirk and Commonwealth in that Our Ancient Kingdom of Scotland have much troubled the minds of many good and loyal Subjects there and these Distractions have fallen out among them upon Iealousies and Fears of Innovation in Religion and introducing of Popery and not without some Fears conceived amongst them as if We Our Self were that way inclined Vpon occasion of these Fears they have of late signed a Covenant or Bond for conserving the Religion established and the Laws of the Country but this Bond being not subscribed by Royal leave and Authority as was that in Our dear Fathers time must needs be both null in it self and very prejudicial to the ancient and laudable Government of both Kirk and Common-wealth which though We must declare unto you yet out of Our inborn Love to that Our Native Country and Loyal Subjects there and for the obviating of these causeless Fears and to satisfie your selves and all Our loving People We do hereby under Our hand let you know that We are and have ever been satisfied fully in Our Iudgement and Conscience both for the Reformed Religion and against the Roman and that by Gods Grace and Goodness We purpose both to live and die in the belief and practice of the Religion now established and to preserve it in full strength according to the Laws of that Our Kingdom and to the end that this may appear to Posterity how firm and settled We are in that Our Religion We require you Our Commissioner and Council to see these Letters registred according to course Given at Our Court at Oatlands Iuly 30. 1638. His Majesty signed also the following Declaration CHARLES R. THE great Distractions which of late have risen both in Kirk and Commonwealth in this Our ancient Kingdom and Declaration have so troubled the minds of many of Our good and loyal Subjects there that they have been possessed with Fears as if Popery had been intended to have been introduced and as if We Our Self were that way inclined upon occasion of which Fears a Covenant or Bond of late hath been drawn up intended by the Subscribers as doth appear by their Supplication presented to Our Commissioner the 26th of June last for conserving the Religion and Laws of the Country but it not being done by Royal leave and Authority as was that in Our dear Fathers time must be both null and void of it self and much prejudicial to the ancient and laudable Government of Kirk and Commonwealth Therefore We for obviating those Fears which have been misconceived both against Our Person and Profession for matters of Religion and to satisfie not Our loving Subjects only but all the Christian World that We do and by Gods Grace ever will maintain the true Christian and Reformed Religion established in this Our Kingdom and to let the World see that this shall be done in and with all freedom according to the Laws of Our Country have signed the Confession of Faith established by Act of Parliament An. 1557. with this Bond following in defence of it and Royal Authority Laws and Liberties of the Country and do also require the present Subscription of this Confession and Bond by all Our loving Subjects that it may remain in force to Posterity that they may know how careful We are and have been to preserve the integrity of Religion and the freedom of Our Laws Here the Confession of Faith was inserted which is to be seen in the Acts of Parliament An. 1567. and therefore it being of great length the Reader is referred to the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland Thereafter followed this ensuing Bond. with the Bond to be signed We and every one of us underwritten do protest and swear in the presence of God Almighty that we are truly and fully resolved in our Consciences that this is the Confession of the true Faith of Christ established by the Laws of this Country and that by the Grace of God we will profess and maintain the same all the dayes of our Lives and because the
you are to warn and assist Ruthwen for the defence of the Castle of Edinburgh and to take in general the like care of all Our Houses and Forts in that Kingdom and likewise to advertise all such who are affected to Our Service that timously they may secure themselves And so We bid you heartily farewell The greatest Point gained in the Assembly was an Explication of the Bond of Defence which was conceived in these Words WE do swear not onely our mutual concurrence and assistance for the cause of Religion and to the uttermost of our power The Explication of the Covenant with our Means and Lives to stand to the Defence of our Dread Soveraign and His Authority in the preservation and defence of the said true Religion Liberties and Laws of this Kirk and Kingdom but also in every cause which may concern His Majesties Honour we shall according to the Laws of this Kingdom and Duties of good Subjects concur with our Friends and Followers in quiet manner or in Arms as we shall be required of His Majesties Council or any having His Authority The Clause about Episcopacy was worded That it was unlawful in this Church Episcopacy abjured in Scotland Upon this the Covenant was presented to the Commissioner and Council on the 30th of August with a desire that it might be signed and it was accordingly done which was received with great Joy witnessed by Bonfires and ringing of Bells and all the Pulpits and Streets were full of Traquair's Praises But His Majesty was no way satisfied with this as appears from the following Letter CHARLES R. Right Trusty c. The King displeased with Traquair YOur Letter of September the 27th to Hamilton We have seen and think fit to return Answer thereunto Our Self and the rather because We find by yours that some Points in the former Letter were not so fully expressed but that you desire more clear Answers First you say that in all your Directions it is condescended that by Act of Assembly Episcopacy should be declared unlawful in this Kirk and that by all the Capitulations of Agreement and Instructions given to you that same is allowed to be ratified in Parliament upon the foresaid terms agreed upon in the Assembly In this Point We must tell you that you are much mistaken for though you have Power for giving way to the Abolition of Episcopacy as contrary to the Constitutions of the Church of Scotland yet you will not find either in your Instructions or any other Direction since sent you that We have consented to declare the same Unlawful We making a great difference therein for many things may be contrary to the Constitutions of a Church which of thâ—mselves are not simply unlawful for whatsoever is absolutely unlawful in one Church cannot be lawful in the other of the same Profession of Religion but there may be many several Constitutions and yet they all lawful Therefore if I do acknowledge or consent That Episcopacy is unlawful in the Church of Scotland though as you have set it down in your consenting to the Act the word Unlawful may seem onely to have a relation to the Constitutions of that Kirk yet the Construction thereof doth run so doubtfully that it may be probably inferred That the same Function is acknowledged by Vs to be unlawful in any other Churches in Our Dominions Therefore as we totally disapprove of your consenting to the word Unlawful as well to the Function as Civil Places and Power of Church-men in the Act of the General Assembly so We absolutely command you not to ratifie the same in these terms in the Parliament but onely as contrary to the Constitutions of that Kirk and to declare that We ratifie this Act meerly for the Peace of the Land though otherwise in Our Own Iudgment We neither hold it convenient nor fitting which you are to declare at the Ratifying of the same And for the rest of your Declaration in the Assembly to be registred in the Books of Council for brevities sake We send you herewith a Copy of the same as likewise that of the Covenant interlined in those places which We disapprove of and conceive to be the contrary to your Instructions and some other Directions As We have formerly written to you We cannot consent to the rescinding any Acts of Parliament made in favour of Episcopacy nor do We conceive that Our refusal to abolish those Acts is contradictory to what We have consented to or to that we was obliged to there is less danger in discovering any future Intentions of Ours or at the best letting them guess at the same than if We should permit the rescinding those Acts of Parliament which Our Father with so much expence of Time and Industry established and which may hereafter be of so great use to Vs. And though it should perhaps cast all loose as you express yet We take God to witness We have permitted them to doe many things in this Assembly for establishing of Peace contrary to Our Own Iudgment And if on this point a Rupture happen We cannot help it the fault is on their own part which one day they may smart for So you have in this Point Our full Resolution We likewise wrote formerly to you that We thought it not fit at this time that the Power of the Lords of the Articles should be defined and that you are to avoid the same and to be sure not to consent thereunto Now your last Letter gives Vs ground to repeat the same again and to declare to you that We remain in Our former Opinion And whereas you say that it is to no purpose to vex Vs with all the indiscreet and mad Propositions that are made since they go about not onely to reform all pretended Abuses of what nature soever but to constitute and define the Power of all Iudicatories from the highest to the lowest and that you are like to agree in few or none of the General Acts If you find that what We have commanded you to doe is likely to cause a Rupture their impertinent Motions give you a fair occasion to make it appear to the World that We have condescended to all matters which can be pretended to concern Conscience and Religion and that now they aim at nothing but the Overthrow of Royal Authority contrary to all their Professions which We can neither with Honour nor Safety suffer And therefore We hope and expect that if a Rupture happen you will make this appear to be the cause thereof and not Religion which you know not onely to be true but must see it will be of great advantage to Vs and therefore must be seriously intended by you We have no Directions of new to give you concerning the Marquis of Huntley Sir Donald Mack-donald or any others to whom Malice is carried for their Zeal for Our Service but again recommend them to your care What hath past betwixt your self and the Earl of Argyle We
the full as it is demanded neither will it be in the power of any in this Kingdom to prevent Affronts and Danger to Your Majesties Person if You should have any thoughts of coming hither Sir I take God to witness I write this with a sadder heart than I would receive a sentence of Death against my self and shall grieve more at the performance of that than I should at the execution of this upon Your Majesties most humble most faithful most obedient Subject and Servant LANERICK Edinburgh December 22th 1646. His Majesties last Message was presented to the Scotish Parliament His Majesties Message rejected in Scotland on the 23th of December by the Earl of Lanerick and backed by him with the warmest language that he could use but nothing that was new being offered by it a Compliance with it was not to be expected It was also sent to London and at London and first presented to the House of Peers whereat all even those who were best-affected hung their Heads and sent it down to the House of Commons without a word and there it met with the same Entertainment The next Debate was about the Kings Person and the mildest opinion was that He should be kept Prisoner some being for the excluding Him for ever from the Government And for the place of His Restraint some were for His stay at Newcastle but it was carried that He should go to Holmby And this passed without communicating it to the Scotish Commissioners But when He was ordained to be kept in Safety for His Person Henry Martin objected that the King had broken the Peace and why must the Parliament bind for His Safety Some moved to preserve His Person according to the Covenant and it was carried which was thought a great point For now it was esteemed that the Covenant was that which must preserve the King though His Ruine had been formerly imputed to it In the end of the year the Scotish Commissioners parted from London and it being moved in the House of Commons to send some with a Complement to them before they went with the Thanks of the House for their Civilities and good Offices those of the Independent Cabal argued much against that of good Offices done by them and reckoned many bad ones since the King went to Newcastle and it being put to the Vote it was carried by 24 Votes to dash out good Offices and only thank them for their Civilities And so all those Noble Characters they were wont to give of the Scotish Commissioners upon every occasion concluded now in this that they were well-bred Gentlemen Thus ended this present year but none saw an end of miseries like to come An. 1647. Anno 1647. IN the beginning of the next Year Commissioners were sent from the Parliament of Scotland Commissioners are sent to the King from Scotland to represent their late Resolutions to His Majesty On the 12th of Ianuary they presented their first Paper wherein they laid out all they could devise for the pressing a satisfactory Answer to the Propositions expressing with what earnestness all Men were waiting for it and that it would be received with more Ioy than had been ever seen at any Coronation in England But after they had delivered this Message and the 14th day was come wherein the King promised His Answer He told them He must be resolved of two things before He could give His Answer The first was if He was a Free-man or a Prisoner adding That if He were a Prisoner it was the opinion of many Divines that Promises made by a Prisoner did not oblige though He did not assert that to be His own sense the next was whether He might go to Scotland with Honour Freedom and Safety or not They declined long to give an Answer and in that Debate three hours were spent at length being put to it they delivered all their severe Message in the following Paper May it please Your Majesty And deliver the Votes of the Parliament WE are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty the many Inconveniencies will ensue upon Your Majesties Denial or Delay of Granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving a satisfactory Answer to the remanent Propositions and particularly to represent the Prejudice will thereby arise to the true Reformed Protestant Religion abroad and to the Reformation of Religion in these Kingdoms the Danger of Your Majesties Person and to Your Own and Posterities Government If Your Majesty not granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving satisfactory Answers to the other Propositions shall relinquish England we are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty That in that case they find it unlawful for them to assist Your Majesty for Recovery of the Government Your Majesty not granting the Covenant and Propositions as aforesaid We are commanded by the Parliament of Scotland to represent to Your Majesty That they find Your Majesties Coming to Scotland not granting the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and not giving a satisfactory Answer to the remanent Propositions dangerous to the Cause to Your Majesty to Your Native Kingdom and to the Vnion betwixt Scotland and England and that the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to take Course to prevent Your Coming Both Kingdoms will take Course for disposal of Your Majesties Person until such time as Your Majesty grants the Propositions or otherwise agree with Your Majesties Parliaments We are commanded to make known to Your Majesty that until Your Majesty grant the Propositions in manner fore-said or that some Course be resolved by both Kingdoms concerning the disposal of Your Majesties Person Your Majesty cannot be admitted to come or remain in Scotland with Freedom And in case Your Majesty do come we are commanded to represent to Your Majesty That the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to put such Attendants and Guards about Your Majesties Person as may preserve You in Safety and Your Kingdoms in Peace and may prevent all Tumults Insurrections and Gatherings of Malignants We are further warranted to represent to Your Majesty That if You do not grant the Propositions concerning Religion and the Covenant and give a satisfactory Answer about the remanent Propositions the Kingdom of Scotland will be necessitated to continue the Government without Your Majesty as hath been done these years by-past Newcastle 14th January 1647. But the Answer they got shewed The King stands firmly to His Conscience that the King could not be threatned to the Doing of any thing He judged contrary to His Honour or Conscience His Majesties Answer being returned back to Edinburgh on the 16th of Ianuary which was Saturday it was debated in Parliament what should be done with His Majesties Person It is resolved to deliver up the King which the Duke and â—anerick much oppose All inclined to deliver Him up immediately to
raised Regiments of five or six Troops on their own expences And though it is not to be imagined that the publick Expence of so great a Design was not likewise great yet there was a sad want of Money which the Duke and his Brother did all they could to supply as far as their Credit could go and raised above two and twenty thousand pounds sterling for prosecuting of the Engagement and were on all publick occasions so liberal of their own Money as if some Bank had been put into their hands The Curses the Ministers thundred against all who joyned in this Engagement made the Souldiers very heartless being threatned with no less than Damnation This obliged the Lords to use Force in some places for carrying on their Levies and indeed the Ministers counter-acting the State was such that it is hard to judge whether their Boldness or the Parliaments Patience was most to be wondred at The Lords resolved to chastise them to purpose in due time but judged the present time improper for it and to carry on the Levies the better the Parliament adjourned for three weeks So the Lords went to the several places of their Interests leaving a Committee behind them at Edinburgh but before their Adjournment they wrote the following Letter to the Presbyteries The Parliaments Letter to the Presbyteries THe many Scandals that are tâ—rown on our Actions by the favourers of Sectaries and haters of the Person of our King and Monarchical Government invite us to this extraordinary Address to you conjuring you as you will answer the Great God whose Servants you are not to suffer your selves to be possest with unjust and undeserved Prejudices against us and our Proceedings who have since our late Meeting in Parliament preferred no earthly thing to Religion and the promoving all the ends of our Covenant and have constantly used all real Endeavours to have carried on these Duties to the satisfaction of the most tender Consciences and especially by our great Compliance with the many Desires from the Commissioners of the General Assembly we have proceeded to greater discoveries of our Resolutions in the ways and means of managing of this present Service than possibly in prudence we ought to have done having so near and active Enemies to oppose us neither can it with any Truth or Iustice in any sort be alledged that we have in the least measure wronged or violated the least Priviledges and Liberties of the Church or taken upon us the determination or decision of any matters of Faith or Church-discipline though we be unjustly charged with making an Antecedent Iudgment in matters of Religion under pretence whereof great Encroachments are made on our unquestioned Rights for what can be more Civil than to determine what Civil Duties we ought to pay to our King or what Civil Power he ought to be possessed of and if we meet with obstructions and opposition in carrying on these Duties are not we the only Iudges thereof is there any other Authority in this Kingdom but that of King and Parliament and what flows from them that can pretend any Authoritative Power in the choice of the Instruments and Managers of our Publick Resolutions is it a Subject for the Dispute of Church-Iudicatories whether His Majesty have a Negative Voice or not These things certainly cannot be pretended to by any Kirk-man without a great Vsurpation over the Civil Magistrate whereof we are confident the Church of Scotland or any Iudicatory thereof will never be guilty nor fall into the Episcopal disease of meddling in Civil Affairs and if any have already in these Particulars exceeded their bounds we expect the ensuing General Assembly will censure it accordingly and prevent the vilifying and contemning the Authority of Parliament by any of their Ministers either in or out of their Pulpits who shall offer to stir up the Subjects of this Kingdom to disobey or deny to give Civil Obedience to their Laws it being expresly prohibited by the 2 and 5 Acts of King James the sixth his eighth Parliament Anno 1584. That none of His Majesties Subjects under pain of Treason impugne the Authority of Parliament And therefore seeing the Cause is the same for which this Kingdom hath done and suffered so much and that we are resolved to proceed for the Preservation and Defence of Religion before all wordly Interest whatsoever and to carry on sincerely really and constantly the Covenant and all the Ends of it as you will find by our Declaration herewith sent to you we do confidently expect that as the Ministers of this Kingdom have hitherto been most active and exemplary in furthering the former Expeditions so now you will continue in the same Zeal to stir up the People by your Preaching and Prayers and all other ways in your Calling to a chearful Obedience to our Orders and Engageing in the business that you will not give so great advantage to the Enemies of Presbyterial Government and bring so great a Scandal on this Church as to oppose the Authority of Parliament or obstruct their Proceedings in their necessary Duties for the good of Religion Honour and Happiness of the King and his Royal Posterity and the true Peace of His Dominions Signed by Order of Parliament Alex. Gibsone Clerk Regist. Edinburgh May 11 1648. The Parliament having resolved to raise an Army for the Kings Relief The Parliament sends for the Scotish Army in Ireland found it expedient for encreasing the number and strength of their Forces to send to Ireland for a part of their Scotish Army there which as was told An. 1642 had been sent from Scotland thither by Commission from the King under the Great Seal and upon a Treaty and Establishment betwixt the two Nations for suppressing the Irish Rebellion and for perswading them to desert for so Noble an Undertaking their Interest in Ireland which was very considerable for there was above seven hundred and seventy thousand pound sterling of Arrear resting to them upon a stated Accompt fitted by Persons intrusted by the Parliament of England and Commissioners from them preceding the 16th of Iune 1647 besides a year more until Iune 1648 not at all reckoned they sent over three of their number two Knights Sir Iames Macdougal and Sir William Cocheran now Earl of Dundonald and Mr. Crawford Burgess of Linlithgow with Letters and Instructions to that purpose They were kindly received by such of the Officers as had chief Power there but most unwelcome to a contrary Party who had notice how averse the Kirk to which they were addicted had declared themselves from the Designs of that Parliament nevertheless it was quickly agreed to that about twelve hundred Horse and two thousand and one hundred Foot should be provided and regimented and transported to Scotland to be conducted by Sir George Monro in the quality of a Major-General and to be joyned with the Dukes Armie At Westminster they were in great Confusion fearing that the General
while you are on Earth and thereafter Crown you with eternal Happiness Time will permit me to say no more so the Lord bless guide and preserve you which is the Prayer of Your most loving Father HAMILTON St. James's 9th March 1649. Let this remember me to my dear Sisters Brothers and other Friends for it is all I write He did also apprehend that they might either be hindred to speak their Consciences freely on the Scaffold or that the noise and disorder there might make him be ill-heard or perhaps occasion disorder from the Souldiers which might provoke Passion or Discomposure and therefore delivered the following Speech before all in the Room which his Brother published from the Original he sent him I Know you that are here to be true and faithful to me I will therefore in your hearing say somewhat in order to my self His Speech before his Death and to my present Condition and give you also this Copy of it which after I am gone may perhaps be thought necessary to be published as the last Testimony of my Loyalty to my King for whom I now die and of my Affection to my Country for the pursuance of whose pious and loyal Commands I am now to suffer That my Religion hath always been and still is Orthodox I am confident no man doubts I shall not therefore need to say much to that particular only that I am of the true Reformed Protestant Religion as it is professed in the Church of Scotland I take God to witness that I have been constantly a loyal and faithful Subject and Servant to his late Majesty in spight of all Malice and Calumny I have had the honour since my Child-hood to attend and be near him till now of late and during all that time I observed in him as eminent Virtues and as little Vice as in any man I ever knew and I dare say he never harboured thought of countenancing Popery in any of his Dominions otherwise than was allowed by the Laws of England and that among all his Subjects there could not be found a better Protestant than himself and surely also he was free from having any intent to exercise any Tyranny or Absolute Power over his Subjects and that he hath been so unfortunate I rather impute the Cause of it to the sins of his People than to his own For my own part I do protest never to have swerved from that true Allegeance which was due to him and that hath constantly been payed to my Comfort I speak it to his Progenitors by my Ancestors for many Ages without spot or dishonour and I hope shall be still by my Successors to his Posterity I do heartily wish well to and pray for his Royal Issue and shall die a true and loyal Subject to his eldest Son Charles the Second the unquestionable King by right of all his Father's Kingdoms I hope though I do not live to see it that God's Justice and Goodness will in his own time establish him on the Throne of his Father which I doubt not some of you will see come to pass and I am confident till then and so long as men deeply plung'd in Guilt and Self-interest usurp Power and Government these Kingdoms will fall short either of Peace or any other permanent Happiness I speak this from my just Affection to the Royal Race and much Compassion to his Majesties Subjects but not from any Malice Anger or desire of Revenge against any for what I have or am to suffer for I forgive all men It is well known what Calumnies and Aspersions have been thrown upon me by men of several Parties and Interests not excepting those who would seem to carry much Affection to his late Majesty as if I had expressed Disservice or Disloyalty unto him the which how malicious and groundless they were I appeal to God who with my own Conscience clearly beareth witness of my Innocency therein and I shall beg Mercy from him to whom I am now to give an account of all my Thoughts and Actions as I have still had a faithful and loyal Heart to my Master It hath been a General Complaint that I perswaded His Majesty to pass the Act of continuing this Parliament I dispute not whether the doing of it at that time might have been reputed good or bad but surely it was not I that did perswade it Neither did I at all deal with His Majesty for his Consent to the Bill of Attainder for taking away the Life of the Earl of Strafford whose great Parts and Affection 't is known I highly valued yet some have been pleased to attribute to me the cause of that Concession but were His Majesty now living I am confident he would publickly clear me in both these as He hath been pleased many times in private formerly to do And truly I am not conscious to my self though I have been for many years a Privy-Councellour to him of ever giving him any Advice that tended to other ends as I conceived than the Good and Peace of His Majesty and His Dominions It hath been rumoured since my last Imprisonment that I should confess my self to be the greatest Instrument under His Majesty by making use of his Scotish Great Seal for authorizing the War in Ireland a Report so false and simple as in my opinion judicious and honest men will not believe it And truly as I am free from having hand therein in any manner of way so I am of nothing more confident than that His Majesty was also absolutely free thereof and that he was not in any case a Causer or Countenancer of those Irish Troubles I have been often examined touching Persons of several qualities within this Kingdom that as is supposed did invite into England the late Army from Scotland or promised Assistance after their coming and of late much Perswasion hath been used with me to that purpose as that upon my Discovery thereof depended the only means of my Preservation I will not say that I had any thing to reveal which would have been satisfactory but this I desire you to attest to the World that I have not accused or said any thing that may reflect on any man of what degree soever within the Kings Dominions and indeed it was so contrary to my Conscience and so derogatory to my Honour that if I had been able yet should I never have prejudiced any in that nature though it had been to save me a hundred Lives Touching that foul and senseless Slander that I betray'd the Army under my Conduct the care and pains I then took to prevent the loss of it and the near approach of my suffering for it will I suppose abundantly contradict this Aspersion I was satisfied with the Justness and Necessity of that Engagement upon the grounds of the Declaration of the Parliament of Scotland fearing then the sad Confusions which have since followed here both in Church and State and particularly the fatal Fall of