him yet we cannot but weep for our selves we cannot but look after him crying Our Father our Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof c. Falsly and wickedly alluding to Moses and Elijah those two for ever to be honoured faithful Servants of the Lord with many other the like fawning blasphemous lying Expressions have they in those wicked Addresses wherein they lye and flatter for the Lord and his faithful Remnant know he was not so especially in his latter days but was rather acted by the back sliding spirit of Corah Dathan and Abiram as also the famous and renowned Princes of the Congregation yea the Congregation it self who rebelled against the Spirit of the Lord in Moses Caleb and Joshua c. and would not press on to Canaan the work of that day but said Let us make a i i Nâ— Captain and return into Egypt and would have stoned Caleb and Joshua because they would have had them gone forward As also by the Spirit of Ahab Jehu and the rest of the back sliding wicked Kings of Israel and Judah The spirit of the Beast and false Prophet in the former and present Monarchs of this and other Nations which the Lord hath and will disown and curse but not the Spirit of Elijah Moses Caleb and Joshua the Lords faithful persevering ones of old as by what is before and afterwards mentioned doth too plainly and sadly appear for he not onely endeavoured to establish himself in this Tyranny but before his departure when he scarce had his sences or could hardly speak appointed as some report though some think otherwise his forementioned eldest son Richard to succeed him in the Government to support and maintain that Apostacy and Wickedness which himself and Thurlo c. had been the first Contrivers and then Actors of thereby to hold us perpetually under the old Monarchical Egyptian Bondage which was no sooner effected and he proclaimed but the aforementioned Addressors as they blasphemously and flatteringly speak in way of honouring his Father so in the same Adresses do they speak of him falsly and wickedly alluding to good Joshua Solomon and Elisha who succeeded Moses David and Elijah after their death saying to this purpose We humbly beg That though your renowned Father who as a designed instrument helpt us out of Egypt having Canaan in his Eye was even then called to Mount Nebo to dye there yet you as another Joshua with his spirit re-doubled upon you may by the efficacious conduct of the Captain of the Lords Host lead us into a more full possession of Truth and Righteousness c. In times of old when God took away Moses from his people in tender Mercy he gave them a Joshua to succeed him Such are our hopes of your Highness Gods aim and end in taking away his Moses was to usher you in his Joshua c. But since it was the Will of God our glorious Sun should set and that even whilst he was ascending we ought to submit unto it it is no little Alleviation to our sorrow that though our Sun be set no Night hath followed but our Evening hath been light by raising your Highness into your Royal Fathers Seat c. You are our great Master the person designed by God and Man to reign over us c. It begets no little joy in our spirits when we behold the Son of that Father by a divine Providence succeed him in the Throne by his own appointment given us as a most choyce Legacy and his last Blessing c. A Pledge of Divine Love and Goodness to these Nations c. Some saying if his Father had not appointed him to succeed him the common interest and peace of the Nation without Gods Assistance had perished together with him c. Happy successour in whom we shall be able to say Mercy and Truth are met together under whose Government Righteousness and Peace hath kissed each other of whose exceeding Vertues and Endowments we have had experience c. God hath been pleased in the midst of Judgment to remember Mercy in appointing your Highness to succeed your Father your most excellent serene Highness a branch of that princely stock on you our hopes rest Richard by the Grace of God Lord Protector your most serene Highness our Soveraign and General the noblest branch of that renowned stock and desire that he might build up unto perfection upon that wicked foundation which his Fathers blessed hand had laid And pray that the spirit of their departed Elijah even the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel might rest upon him c. And a great deal more of this blasphemous flattering stuff which would be too tedious to relate which Addresses The Humble Petition and Advice being so often mentioned and their desiring him to keep the Sword Military in his hand the design in them and strain of expressions so like to other begets a shrewd suspition they were rather hatch'd at the Court by Secretary Thurlo and the old malignant Pamphleter lying railing Rabshakeh and defamer of the Lords people Nedham alias Mercurius Pragmaticus who formerly writ for the King against the Parliament and by their Mercenary Emissaries and Agents suggested to and forced upon the simple people as the Addresses to his Father were formerly upon the Army and elsewhere rather then in their first motion naturally flowing from the Addressors which the Lord in due time will discover And not onely these but also that great Independent Doctor so called Thomas Goodwin he Aaron-like comes in as a Leader or one of the first among them to encourage the rejoycing and dancing about this new Golden Calf and in the speech that he made pretendedly in the name and by the appointment of the Pastors and Messengers of above 100 Congregational Churches from several parts of the Nation as says the Pamphlet says he We come with hearty acknowledgement of the best Liberties enjoyed under your Highness now blessed Father c. all which have been continued to us through the Protection of the great Mordecai that sought the Weal of his people and spake k k Was imprisoning the Lords people for their faithfulness to the Good Old Cause and leaving them there when he dyed a Mordecai's spirit and a speaking peace Well said Doctor peace to all his seed blessed be God for his unspeakable gift c. which we are here come jonyntly to acknowledge to your Highness c. We also come full of rejoycing blessing God for so happy and quiet a settlement of the Nation and Government in your person and succession Solomon though he had his name from peace yet was not his first entrance so peaceable as this of yours c. And after mentioning about what they met at the Savoy and that his Father knew of the meeting beforehand and approved of it and of a Declaration they had drawn up to clear themselves from the aspersions laid upon them and laying down therein what the
principles of the Independents were c. And now says he we present to your Highness what we have done and commit to your trust the common Faith once delivered to the Saints the Gospel and the saving truths of it being a national endowment bequeathed by Christ himself at his Ascention and committed to some in the Nations behalf committed to my trust saith Paul in the Name of the Ministers and we look at the Magistrate as l l To wit Keeper of both Tables Custos utriusque tabulae and so m m Do not these several Churches by their silence hold forth that they consent to what their Pastors and Messengers have done herein so are fallen in with Abettors of the Apostacy of this day And if it be not so ought they not to declare against it commit it to your trust as our chief Magistrate c. and we bless you out of Zion c. Which practice and speaking especially considered as the Case now stands and as to the person to whom it is spoken having also according to the Doctors sence xo footing in Scripture is the practice and Language of Babylon and not of Zion and greatly discovers that the poor Doctor never had a true Tincture within him or taste of sweetness in Communion with God in the discovery of that Glory of Zion and Kingdom of Christ he so largely hath spoken and writ of but had it from Books and hear-say for it is impossible that one who hath truly tasted of that Glory except he be desperately infatuated or holds falling away should bring forth such cursed untimely fruit so contrary to the true light and spirit of Zion as this is Was not the Bishops and the simple Clergy who were acted by their fear or favour formerly condemned by him and others for stiling the late and former Kings Defenders of the Faith and supreme Head of the Church under Christ so generally acknowledged in its original to proceed from Harry the 8. who for self ends not the glory of God dethron'd the Papal power in England and took the Popes usurped Supremacy and Title of Defender of the Faith as well as the Tythes and First Fruits upon and to himself Is it not the general received principle of Independents and other Sectaries so called who are clear sighted and not without ground to pleade against such a Tenent But these things declare that Mr. Goodwin sucks such sweetness from the great Soveraignty Honour and Profit of Magdalen Colledge in Oxford and hath therewith drawn in such a Tincture of that spirit which naturally and usually breaths in persons inhabiting those places as he is loth to be weaned from it and therefore will right or wrong turn in and comply with any thing so he may keep his interest there It will be well for him if I am mistaken But I leave what may further be spoken to this Subject to a better Pen who may take it in hand when his Book comes forth in print And together with him that cringing Court Chaplain Peter Sterry that also bows to what ever is uppermost speaking higher then all this as is credibly reported by several godly men that heard him to their astonishment holding forth his Bible in the Chappel of White-hall he spake to this purpose That if that were the VVord of God then as certainly that blessed holy spirit meaning the late Potector was with Christ at the Right Hand of the Father and if he be there what may his Family and the people of God now expect from him for if he were so useful and helpful and so much good influenced from him to them when he was here in a mortal State how much more influence will they have from him now he is in Heaven the Father Son and Spirit thorough him bestowing gifts and graces c. upon them And a great deal more to this purpose and as he spake thus blasphemously of his Father so the same spirit running in the aforementioned flattering Addresses breath'd from him to his son the now Protector so called which also greatly discovers within what walls he breaths But I shall let the Father pass and speak a little of the Son his Successour and in short a little answer to those flattering blasphemous ungodly expressions couched in the late Addresses to him as if he were a second Solomon Joshua or Elisha Oh you blasphemous lying flattering Cycophant Addressours in City Country Army c. or off-spring of Thurlo and Nedham the Pamphleter who are so ready to cry up Adonijah the false and to cry and keep down Solomon the true spirit of Magistracy give me leave a little to reason with you What eminent appearing work of grace or of the image of God did you ever experience in and upon him or heard of from others not acted by a self-seeking fawning servile spirit but truly fearing the Lord What eminent Action for God his Cause or people did you ever see or hear he did either in his fathers life time or since his death that you so highly speak and allude as if he had a Joshua Solomon or an Elisha's spirit Is Hawking Hunting keeping Race-horses and riding Horse-matches to the endangering of the lives both of Horses and Men wherein for the most part the most carnal of Professors and the worst of men are oftenest exercised and must therefore of necessity be his Companions such a demonstration of those noble vertues and high endowments you so speak of to be in him Pray bear with me that I thus reason with you for my spirit is grieved when ever I read or think of these your late Addresses and it is fully settled in my heart and I can believe no other but that it is a carnal unbelieving selfish filthy spirit by which you are acted and which the Lord by his spirit in his people hath already and will further discover blow upon and consume Doth the following words and action declare him to be what you so speak of him I will tell you what is commonly reported among honest men which I had from a good hand and am fully satisfied is very true yea and more then I shall here relate One Cornet Sumpner in Colonel Ingoldsby's Regiment knowing the wickedness and naughtiness of Major Babington Major thereof to be such as to dis-own and brow-beat the honest men in the Regiment and to countenance drunkards lyars swearers and haters of goodness and good men being for a long time grieved thereat in his spirit at length by the advice of some eminent in the Army drew up several Articles to present to a Court-Martial or elsewhere against him which your most illustrious serene and renowned Protector the inheritour of his Fathers noble vertues hearing of sends for the Cornet to come unto him who when he was come the Major and Colonel Ingoldsby c. being also present your Joshua Solomon and Elisha spake after this manner to him Josh. What have you Articles against
your Major Corn Yes Josh. What are they Corn A pretty number of them Then the Major began to answer to one but nothing to the purpose but before the Major had done your most serene Protector or Joshua unjustly takes part with the Major to help him out saying to the Cornet You Article against your Major because he is for me you are a n n Meaning the officers who often met to seek the Lord and bewail their Apostacy from the Good Old Cause company of Mutineers you deserve a hundred of you to be hanged and I will hang you and strip you as a man would strip an Eele you talk of preaching and praying men they are the men that go about to undermine me And clapping his hand upon Colonel Ingoldsby's shoulder said Go thy way Dick Ingoldsby thou canst neither preach nor pray but I will believe thee before I will believe twenty of them And says he to the Cornet You never owned my Father you have lost your Commission and shall never ride more in this Army c. and a great deal more to this purpose which I leave to Pragmaticus formerly the old now the new Court-Pamphleter more perfectly to relate Is this speaking or action the righteousness and peace kissing each other that you so speak hath been since he took the Government upon him Or would Joshua Solomon or Elisha thus take part with wickedness and wicked men and do so unrighteous and wicked an Action and speak thus profanely and wickedly Surely no VVherefore acknowledge your iniquity and lye low before the Lord for these your blasphemous lying flattering Expressions in your wicked Addresses whereby you have so reproached and wronged good Joshua Solomon and Elisha in making such undue Comparisons wherefore repent you flattering Courtiers Peter Sterry and ye other Court-Chaplains Repent repent Thomas Goodwin and ye Pastors and Messengers of as it 's said above an hundred Congregational Churches in England Repent you Apostate Army Repent you Mayor Aldermen Common Council and Militia of London whose Principles are so base and mercenary and like a Beast looking downward as to side with whether right or wrong whatever is uppermost like your Sword-Bearer and Officers who cry Grace grace and bow to one Lord Maior to day and do the same to the next the morrow Repent also you Presbyterian Classical Ministers of the City c. who by the perswasion of three or four eminent self-interested Cycophants among you were drawn in against your Light and Consciences to carry your bodies to White-hall leaving your hearty good will at home to address your selves to this new Golden Calf as an owning of him and this from unbelief and slavish fear of being frowned upon or losing your Parish places VVill such a practice as this stand good before the Lord in the day of your account Repent also all of you for your spending 50 or 60000 l. about a Heathenish Popish Funeral pomp not onely wicked in it self but at a time when so many tradesmen and others break and are ready to starve and when you had done then following an image of wax to Westminster as if it had been a dead mans body wherein you lyed unto and mocked both God and man Repent also you Country professors and others of these flattering blasphemous lying Addresses and speak nor do no more so wickedly lest the Judgements of the Lord break in upon you as upon back sliding Israel of old and your carcasses fall in the wilderness c. as theirs did for making and then dancing about the Moulten Calf and their desiring to make a Captain to return into Egypt and opposing the Spirit of the Lord in Moses Caleb and Joshua and his work in that day And take heed Oh you Parliament that you do not say or do as these have done whom I so call if you keep close to and endeavour the promotion of the Good Old Cause and cast out the false sp rit of the Egyptian Bond-woman the Protector so called and his Lords and make way for and bring in the Spirit of Zion the Freewoman the true spirit of Magistracy by Judges and Counsellours as at the beginning men fearing God and hating Covetousness and faithful with all the saints If you thus proceed my self and the Lords faithful people will love own live and dye with you if not we shall abhor and dis-own you as we did the former and now Protector and his Lords and shall trust God with our Liberties and not fear your Frowns And now a word for your encouragement my Friends who remain faithful to the Lord in this evil day and are as it were in the Clefts of the Rocks Cant. 2. 14. and secret places of the stairs in pain crying and praying night and day giving the Lord no rest Isai. 6 â— 6 7. till he revive the Good Old Cause and cause the Righteousness of Zion to go forth as brightness and the Salvation thereof as a Lamp that burneth and until he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth whose voyce in his account going forth in the power of his spirit from the sweetness you have tasted in communion with himself in the discovery of this glory is sweet and countenance is comely and unto whom he will in the best time say Rise up my love my fair one and come away for lo the winter is past the rain is over and gone Isa. 26. 20. The flowers appear on the earth Isai. 35. 2. chap. 51. 3. The time of the singing of birds is come Isa. 35. 6. And the voyce of the turtle is heard in our land Zach. 12. 10. And will rejoyce over you as the Bridegroom over the Bride with joy and singing and will rest in his love Zeph. 3. 17. compared with Isa. 62. 5. VVherefore be not dampt or discouraged in your spirits at the hearing and sight of the late Addresses nor at the great Cloud of VVitnesses therein seeming to own the present and former Governour What though many of them are men of such raised gifts and parts and appearing grace which to such as have not their eyes in their heads and look not within the vail may have an appearance the Lord doth own them and approves of what hath been formerly and lately done for though they are so great a Cloud of VVitnesses yet they are but VVitnesses in the Clouds whose Testimony Carnal Wisdom Policy and Arm of Flesh will pass away like the morning Cloud or early dew for the spirit of the Lord in his people like the waters Isa. 28. 17. hath overflown and looked into their hiding place abhor'd and blown upon them therefore follow not a multitude to do evil What though there be so many Prophets great Scholars learned Astrologers and wise men among them yet know that amongst almost 400 Prophets in the days of Ahab and Jehosaphat but one Micaiah a true prophet that had the mind of God among all the congregation that were going from Egypt
to Canaan among whom were many renowned Princes Priests and famous men yet onely Moses Caleb Joshua c. that truly followed God Numb. 14. Among all the wise men in Babylon but one Daniel a true Prophet Dan. 2. 19 But one Noah a Preacher of Righteousness and faithful in his generation before the Flood Gen. 7. 1. One Lot in Sodom Among the seven Churches Rev. 2. 3. but two to wit Philadelphia and Smyrna whom the Lord approves of but the other so carried it except a few among them as he said it should be manifested they belonged rather to the Synagogue of Satan then to the Churches of Christ When the great destruction comes upon wicked men a little before or upon the call of the Jews but a handful or as the gleaning grapes when the Vintage is done shall lift up their heads and rejoyce and glorifie God in the fires Isai. 24. They onely who speak often one to another when wickedness is set up and they that tempt God are delivered alluding to Israel who would have made a Captain to return again to Egypt or rather the Apostacy of this our day that the Lord owns as those who fear him and have the promise of the Sun of Righteousness to arise upon them Mal. 3. The false spirit of Magistracy in Adonijah aspiring to the Government had the assistance of the Kings sons Abiathar the Priest Joab the General and all the Captains of the Host c. who with slaying of Oxen c. eating and drinking said God save Adonijah and carryed it for a time against Solomon but the spirit of Solomon Nathan the Prophet c. who had the true spirit of Government and Prophesie approved not of or consented to it but were for the true spirit to rule 1 King 1. and so it is at this day and blessed be the Lord that our eyes do see a people crying longing and will not be at rest till the earthy selfish spirit of Magistracy be brought down and the self-denying spirit of Magistracy or Horn of David now budding in Zion come in its room Psal. 132. Wonder not neither be turned aside because of that great multitude on the one hand or smallness of the number on the other that truly and indeed appear for and own the cause of God but stand close and be more refined in the light and spirit of Zion and keep your ground for the Lord hath so appointed That the foot shall tread it down to wit the meanest of the saints for it is very probable that many of the great and wise saints ascording to Rev. 18. 4. shall be found in the borders and supporting the things of Babylon and casting out their Brethren Isa. 66. 5. saying Let the Lord be glotified and having the mist of Babylon before their eyes shall say The Lord delays his coming and will be beating their fellow servants onely the feet to wit the upright conversation of these poor ones who desire to keep close to God and not to touch with Babylon and steps to wit the faith prayers and honest endeavours of these needy ones who long for and cannot be at rest till judgement so visibly return unto righteousness that all the upright in heart may follow it These shall trend down the lofty City Isai. 26. The least of the flock shall draw them out the people that shall bring down the enemies of God in the latter days are a very small and feeble remnant when the Lord comes to destroy Babylon and to build up Zion he will finde but a few upright ones and those very destitute helpless and some of them prisoners too for their witness to the true Magistracy and Ministry of Zion whose prayers he will hear and not despise and bring forth to declare his glory in Zion who shall in a holy triumph and rejoycing say O Lord thou art our God we will exalt thee we will praise thy Name for thou hast done wonderful things thy councels of old are faithfulness and truth c. Lo this is our God we have waited for him he will save us we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Trust in the Lord for ever c. Isai. 25. 1 9. chap. 26. 2 3. Which good and comfortable words shall certainly be made good for heaven and earth shall pass away but not one tittle of the word shall pass till all be fulfilled I the Lord will hasten it in its time Isa. 60. 33. with Jer. 33. 25 26. Hab. 2. 3. Read these Scriptures Wherefore strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees c. Isa. 55. 3 4. And you my dear Friends Commonwealths-men so called who so greatly seem to press for righteousness and freedom labour to bring forth this righteousness not by a commonmoral spirit and principle but by the spirit of Zion a lively spiritual active frame of spirit to wit that frame mentioned 2 Sam. 23. not to be pulled and haled to do the good that lyes before you that is more suitable to the unjust Judge but be as ready to help and refresh and therein be as suitable to delight the oppressed that come unto you as the light of the morning when the Sun riseth without Clouds is to those who have lost their way in a dark night and as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by clear shining after rain this is the Spirit of the Horn of David that shall bud in Zion Psal. 132. The consideration whereof in the first man festation and declaration of it by the spirit unto and by David having thereby a tast of that glory upon his spirit made him to break forth into a holy triumph and rejoycing saying And this is all my salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow to wit in his day Leave no stone unturn'd no means unus'd to let the people who come unto you speedily know one way or other what they shall trust to say not Go and come again to morrow if you can do it to day delayes are burdensome and chargeable Job from the secret of God being upon his Tabernacle and the precious dew of the spirit compassing his root and lying all night upon his branch had much of this blessed frame upon his spirit He put on and clothed himself with righteousness and had more love to judgement then to the robe and diadem and upon that account he was eyes to the blind feet to the lame a father to the poor and the cause which he knew not he searched one chap 29. it concerns you and is worth your reading This will be the frame of the handful of corn in the earth Psa. 72 or mountain establisht upon the top of the mountains Mich. 4. 1 2. the fruit whereof shall shake like Lebanon they shall not be shaken by others but themselves wilshake off their fruit then wil
was preparing by some faithfull Friends to the good Old Cause in and about the City of London which was afterward Printed and signed with many thousand Hands which Petition makes mention of the severall Particulars that were the Grounds of Contest between the late King and Parliament and the good People of the Nation And prayeth The settling those good things fought for as the Reward and Fruit of the Bloud and Treasure so greatly expended in the late Wars c. This Petition was ready to be presented to the Parliament in a peaceable way by the hands of about twenty in the name of the rest desiring to submit the issue thereof to God and the Wisdom of that Assembly The Court hearing of it were so affrighted as they began to consider how they might quell and put a stop to that honest Spirit which so appeared against them the Protector in the mean while calling them Traytors and Seditious persons c. Threatning to cut their Sculls and to tread them down as mire in the streets c. And turned out * Major Packer and most of the honestest Officers of his Regiment of Horse for refusing to serve his Lust therein And apprehending that nothing could do it but a speedy dissolving the Parliament they put on Resolutions accordingly onely waited for a convenient opportunity But something happening that morning that put the Protector into a Rage and Passion near unto madnesse as those at White-Hall can witnesse he gets into a Coach and to the Other House he comes and sends for his son Fleetwood Mr. Nathaniel Fines and some others acquainting them what his Purpose and Resolution was and what he came to do who as its said earnestly endeavoured to disswade him from it but he refused to hearken and in great passion sware By the living God he would dissolve them And so going into the House and sending the Black Rod with a Message to call the Parliament to come unto him He with laying great blame upon them and charging them with great Crimes and Magnifying of himself as his manner is dissolved them And this was the fourth Parliament broken by him in five years Thus the Two Houses fell and perished together their Father their good Father knocking his Children on the Head and killing of them because they were not towardly but did wrangle one with another but what hath he gained thereby Solomon the wise saith Prov. 14. 1. Every wise woman buildeth her house but the foolish plucketh it down with her own hands Vpon the whole it is Humbly Queried as followeth viz. First Whether there may not very plainly be read and perceived a Hand of Displeasure from the Almighty blinding the eyes and infatuing the understandings of those unworthy persons who * Hiel like would have built Jericho again to wit fallen Monarchy in a single Person and a House of Lords with their Negative Voices over the good people of these Lands so as to cause or suffer them to do their work by halves and to rise and leave so Lame Namelesse and Insignificant their New Modell of the Humble Petition and Advice alias Instrument of Bondage to the English Nation Let the Curse of Confusion that attended the Builders of * Babel be considered of Secondly Whether those so very wise Gentlemen who saw it so necessary and ventured so high and took so much pains to bring in again and anew restore fallen Monarchy and Kingship in these Lands could according to the rules of common reason and understanding of men imagine and conclude That the Gentlemen who had formerly been so wronged abused and exasperated by them in being kept out of the House would be so easie and tame as presently without any more ado addresse themselves to lick their new Golden Calf and nurse up that Babylonish Antichristian Brat they had no hand in but were against the begetting of And whether it doth not speak out a very great weaknesse in their Councels and a marvellous shallownesse in the Protector his Council and whole number concern'd in that Design in making no better provision before-hand and seeing no further into the ensuing Danger so likely to attend their whole Device and the namelesse Infant of the Other House which they would have to be Christned and Called by the Name of Lords Thirdly Whether the good people of this Nation have not cause for ever as to abhor the Memory of the afore-mentioned back-sliding persons so that Parliament so called in the first Session of it before their Adjourning that of their own Heads and contrary to their Engagement to the * Instrument of Government by vertue whereof they sate at first and without consulting the respective Counties for whom they served or so much as one Petition delivered to them for that purpose changed the Government and made one worse harder and more grievous to be born then that they put away so fastening their new Iron yoke upon the Necks of the good People of this Land settling great Taxes with the Customes and Excise for ever to keep this Yoke upon them Fourthly Whether those Gentlemen kept out in the first Sitting when those hard things were transacted and afterwards comming in and being present in the second Meeting notwithstanding the so great Reproach and Dirt cast on them by the Court are not highly to be honoured and esteemed for appearing and standing so far as they did for Right and Freedom and against the Bondages which contrary to Ingagements Covenants and Promises were put upon the good People of this Land As well as to be blamed not onely for not declaring at their first Seclusion to inform the People of the wrong and injury done unto them But also when afterward they whre so Arbitrarily and Tyrannically dissolved with the rest of their unworthy Brethren they took it so patiently and went so tamely home and did not in the very time of the Action Protest and Declare against the Tyrant and then retire into their places from whence they ought not to have stirred at first and call him to the Bar or otherwise proceeded against him for so doing Had it not been sutable to and well becoming that noble Commonwealth Spirit so much pretended to thus to have assay'd though they had fallen in it And whether the Army in Honesty Conscience and Duty their former Declarations and Ingagements considered ought not to have assisted them therein as well as they did the long Parliament against the King and his Courtiers upon the like account Doth not the loud Cryes of the Souls of the Saints * under the Altar slain for the Testimony which they held in their Day as also the Blood of the Saints and others slain in the late Wars and the Sufferings of our dear Brethren in Prisons and Banishment call for this their Testimony also If so Ought not this honest word of Reproof for what is past and of excitation for the future to take place Fifthly But since
Judicature was questioned being dissolved and the Protector taking the Government upon him he adventured to comply with the rest notwithstanding the danger that so he might keep his place and interest and avoid a new Storm or Frown from the present Power Men need not seek far or study much to read him and what principles he acts by All things considered he may doubtless be very fit to be Lord of the Rolls being Master already and to be taken out of the Parliament to be made a Lord and to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over the people as well as over the causes in the Rolls being so thoroughly exercised in Negatives at his own will and pleasure as too many have sadly felt 19. Mr. Cleypole Son of Mr. Cleypole in Northamptonshire now Lord Cleypole he long since married the Protectors Daughter a person whose qualifications not answering those honest principles formerly so pretended to of putting none but godly men into places of trust was a long time kept out but since the Apostacy from those principles as also the practise brake in and his Father-in-law the head thereof came to be Protector he was then judged good enough for that dispensation and so taken in to be t Master of his Horse as Duke Hamilton to the King Much need not be said of him his Relation as Son-in-law to the Protector is sufficient to bespeak him every way fit to be taken out of the House and made a Lord and having so long time had a Negative Voyce over his Wife Spring Garden the Ducks Deer Horses and Asses in Jameses Park is the better skilled how to exercise it again in the Other House over the good people of these Nations without any gainsaying or dispute 20. Lord Faulconbridge a Gentleman whose Relations are most Cavaleeres his Uncle formerly Governour of Newark for the King against the Parliament was absent over the water in the time of the late Wars a Neuter at least if not disaffected to the cause came back the Wars being over and hath lately marryed one of the Protectors Daughters and was in a fair way had things hit right to have been one of his Council as well as his Son-in-law however suitable to the times he is lately made a Colonel of Horse his Relation both to the old and new Monarchy may sufficiently plead his worth and merits not onely to have his Daughter but also a Negative Voyce in the other House over all that adventured their lives in the cause formerly and over all the people of these Lands besides 21. Colonel Howard his Interest which is considerable is in the North his Relations there are most Papists and Cavaleeres whom he hath courted and feasted kindly and served their Interest to purpose it 's no matter who lost by it in favour to Sir Arthur Haslerigg was made Captain of the Generals Life-Guard when he was in Scotland wherein he continued for some time in England after he was Protector but not being a Kinsman or a person further to be confided in in that place was shuffled out from thence and to stop his mouth made a Colonel and as the Book says a Major General and had power of Decimation as also made Governour of Barwick Tinmouth and Carlisle hath also tasted with the first of that sweet Fountain of new honour being made a Viscount he was of the Little Parliament and all the Parliaments since is a Member of Mr. Cockains Church and of very complying principles no question to the service of the new Court from whence he received his new honour and having with his fellow Lord Cleypole so excellent a spirit of Government over his Wife Family and Tenants in the Country to be taken out of the House to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House might seem of right to belong unto him being also lorded before hand 22. Lord Broghil his Rise and Relation for means is Ireland a Gentleman of good parts and wit able to make Romance but was not looked on formerly by those of the Good Old Cause as a person fit to be trusted with the command of one Town or Castle in Ireland yet is he now by this happy change become a goodly Convert to be confided in and is made w President of the Protectors Council in Scotland he was of the Latter Parliaments a great Kingling and one that in the Last Parliament so called put on hard that way wherefore it were great pity he being also a Lord of the old Stamp and so well gifted if he should not be one to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over the people of England and Scotland as well as of Ireland it being a good while since and almost forgotten that the Protector said It would never be well and we should never see good days whilst there was one Lord left in England and until the Earl of Manchester was called Mr. Mountague 23. Colonel Pride then Sir Thomas now Lord Pride sometime an honest Brewer in London went out a Captain upon the account of the Cause fought on and in time became a Colonel did good service in England and Scotland for which he was well rewarded by the Parliament with cheap Debenters of his Souldiers and others he bought good Lands at easie rates gave the Long Parliament a Purge fought against the King and his Negative Voyce and was against the Negative Voyce of his Brethren the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being unwilling to have any in the Land but hath now changed his mind and principles with the times and will fight for a Negative Voyce in the Protector and also have one himself and be a Lord for he is a Knight of the new Order already and grown very bulky and considerable it is hard to say how the people will like it However his worth and merits rightly measured will no question render him fit to be taken out of the House to be one of the Other House and to have a Negative Voyce not onely over the Bears but all the people of these Lands though he did formerly so opppose and fight against it and the Noble Lawyers will be glad of his company and friendship for that there is now no fear of his hanging up their Gowns by the Scotish Colours in Westminster-hall as he formerly so greatly boasted and threatned to do 24. Colonel Hewson then Sir John now Lord Hewson sometime an honest Shoomaker or Cobler in London went out a Captain upon the account of the Cause was very zealous fought on stoutly and in time became a Colonel did good service both in England and Ireland was made Governour of Dublin became one of the little Parliament and of all the Parliaments since a Knight also of the new Stamp The world being so well amended with him and the sole so well stitcht to the upper Leather having gotten so considerable an Interest and Means may well be counted fit to be taken out of the
House to be a Lord and to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over all of the gentle Craft and Cordwayners Company in London if they please but though he be so considerable and of such Merit in the Protectors as also in his own esteem not onely to be a Knight but also a Lord yet it will hardly pass for currant with the good people of these Lands it being so far beyond the last neither will they think him fit saving the Protectors pleasure to have a Negative Voyce over them though he formerly fought so stiffly against it in the King and Lords in order to set them free 25. Colonel Barkstead then Sir John now Lord Barkstead sometime a Goldsmith in the Strand of no great rank went out a Captain to Windsor Castle was sometime Governour of Reading got at length to be a Colonel then made Lieutenant of the Tower by the old Parliament The Protector so called finding him fit for his turn continued him there and also made him Major General of Middlesex in the Decimating business and assistant to Major General Skippon in London he is one to the life to fulfil the Protectors desires whether right or wrong for he will dispute no commands or make the least demur but in an officious way will rather do more then his share his principles for all Arbitrary things whatsoever being so very thorough let friends or foes come to his Den they come not amiss so he gets by it yea rather then fail he will send out his armed men to break open honest mens Houses and seize their persons and bring them to his Goal and then at his pleasure turns them out he hath erected a principality in the Tower and made Laws of his own and executes them in a Martial way over all comers so that he hath great command and makes men know his power he was of the latter Parliaments is one of the Commissioners like the Bishops Panders in the Kings days for suppressing Truth in the Printing-Presses an oppression once the Army so greatly complained of is for Sanctuary gotten in to be a Member of Mr. Griffiths Church is also knighted after the new Order and the better to carry on the Protectors Interest among the ear-boar'd slavish Citizens is lately become an x Alderman so that he hath advanced his Interest and Revenue to purpose His Titles and Capacities emblazoned will sufficiently argue his worth and merits and speak him out fully to be a man of the times and every way deserving to be yet greater and Haman-like to be set higher All which considered it would seem a wrong not to have taken him out of the House and made him a Lord of the Other House with a Negative Voyce there as well as where he is the rather for that he knows so well how to exercise the same having used it so long a season as likewise that he may obstruct and hinder whoever shall question or desire Justice against him for his wicked doing 26. Colonel Ingoldsby a Gentleman of Buckinghamshire allyed to the Protector he betook himself to the Wars on the right side as it happened and in time became a Colonel a Gentlemâ—n of courage and valour but not very famous for any great exploits unless for beating the honest Inne-Keeper of Alisbury in White-hall for which the Protector committed him to the Tower but was soon released No great friend of the Sectaries so called or the cause of Freedom then fought for as several of his then and now Officers and Souldiers can witness and although it be well known and commonly reported That he can neither pray or preach yet complying so kindly with the new Court and being in his principles for Kingship as also a y Colonel of Horse and the Protectors Kinsman he may well be reckoned fit to be taken out of the House and made a Lord and to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over the good people of this Land the rather for that he as a Gentleman engaged and fought onely for money and honour and nothing else 27. Colonel Whaly formerly a Woollen-Draper or petty Merchant in London whose Shop being out of sorts and his Cash empty not having wherewithal to satisfie his Creditors he fled into Scotland for refuge till the Wars began then took on him to be a Souldier whereby he hath profited greatly was no great Zealot for the cause but happening on the right side he kept there and at length was made Commissary General of the Horse he was of these latter Parliaments and being so very useful and complying to promote the Protectors designes was made y Major General of two or three Counties he is for a King or Protector or what you will so it be liked at Court is with his little Brother Glyn grown a great man and very considerable and wiser as the Protector saith then Major-General Lambert who having with his fellow Lords Cleypole and Howard so excellent a spirit of Government over his Wife and Family being also a Member of z Thomas Goodwins Church no question need be made of his merit of being every way fit to be a Lord and to be taken out of the House to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over the people for that he never as he saith fought against any such thing as a Negative Voyce 28. Colonel Goff now Lord Goff that would be sometime Colonel Vaughans Brothers Prentice a Salter in London whose time being near or newly out betook himself to be a Souldier instead of setting up his Trade went out a Quarter-master of Foot and continued in the Wars till he forgot what he fought for in time became a Colonel and in the outward appearance very zealous and frequent in praying preaching and pressing for Righteousness and Freedom and highly esteemed in the Army on that account when honesty was in fashion yet having at the same time like his General an evil Tincture of that spirit that loved and sought after the favour and praise of Man more then that of God as by woful experience in both of them hath since appeared he could not further believe or persevere upon that account but by degrees fell off and this was he who with Colonel White brought Musquetteers and turned the honest Members left behind in the Little Parliament out of the House Complying thus kindly with the Protectors Designes and Interest was made a Major General of Hantshire and Sussex was of the late Parliament hath advanced his interest greatly and is in so great esteem and favour at Court as he is judged the onely fit man to have Major General Lamberts Place and Command as Major General of the Army and having so far advanced is in a fair way to the Protectorship hereafter if he be not served as Lambert was He being so very considerable a person and of such great worth there is no question of his deserts and fitness to be taken
out of the House to be a Lord and to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House the rather for that he never in all his life as he saith fought against any such thing as a single person or a Negative Voyce but onely to put down Charles and set up Oliver and hath his end 29. Colonel Berry his Original was from the Iron Works as a Clerk or Overseer betook himself to the Wars on the Parliaments side profited greatly in his undertaking and advanced his interest very far who though he wore not the Jesters Coat yet being so ready to act his part and please his General in time he became a Colonel of Horse in the Army afterward a Major General of divers Counties a command fit for a Prince wherein he might learn to lord it in an Arbitrary way beforehand at his pleasure that he is of complying principles with the Court his preferment sufficiently speaks out neither ought any other be believed of him or any of his brethren without a real demonstration to the contrary so that he may well pass for one to be a Lord and to be taken out of the House to have a Negative Voyce over the people being so far advanced and gotten out of the pit above them and if he did formerly fight against a Negative Voyce and lording it over the people it may be forgiven him 30. Colonel Cooper sometime a Shop-keeper or Salter in Southwark a Member of Thomas b Goodwins Church one formerly of very high principles for common Justice and Freedom like his brother Tichborn The Army then in Scotland sending into England for faithful praying men to make Officers of the honest people in the Burrough recommended him to the General in order to have a command who accordingly went down but left his Principles behind him and espoused other was made a Colonel at the first dash and though he began late yet hath so well improved his interest as he hath already gotten as many hundreds per annum as he had hundred pounds when he left his Trade he hath a Regiment of Foot in Scotland and another in Ireland where he is Major General of the North in Venables Room and Governour of Carrickfergus so as he is in a very hopeful way to be a great man indeed he was of the Latter Parliaments and there is full proof that he is every way thorough-paced and true to the new Court-interest so that upon the whole he also may be counted fit to be a Lord of the Other House and to have a Negative Voyce over the good people in Southwark if they please and all the people of these Lands beside it being the Pretectors pleasure the rather he being the Mirrour of the times for thorough change of principles Alderman Tichborn and O. P. excepted 31. Alderman Pack then Sir Christopher now Lorâ—Pack his rise formerly was by dealing in Cloth near the beginning of the Long Parliament was made an Alderman was then very discreet and medled little more like a Neuter or close Malignant then a Zealot for the cause was a Commissioner of the Customs also Sheriff and Lord Maior of London next after Alderman Viner the Protector taking on him the Government the Sunshine of the new Court pleased him and brought him in full complyance he was one of the Last Parliament and zealous to re-establish Kingship in the person of the c Protector and judged the onely meet man to bring the Petition into the House praying him to accept of and take it upon him which though he then refused yet as is reported hath since repented his then refusal However the now Lord Pack deserves well at his hands for that good service who being a true Kingling and of right Principles to the Court-interest hving also been a Lord to wir Maior once before may upon the whole be counted very worthy to be again so called and to have a Negative Voyce in the Other house over London and all the people of these Lands beside 32. Alderman Tichborn then Sir Robert Knight of the new Stamp now Lord Tichborn at the beginning of the Long Parliament when a great Spirit was stirring for Liberty and Justice many worthy Petitions and Complaints were made against Patentees the Bishops and the Earl of Strafford he being the Son of a Citizen and Young fell in and espoused the good cause and principles then on Foot and thereby became very popular and was greatly cryed up by the good people of the City c. His rise was first in the Military way where he soon became a Colonel and by the Parliament made Lieutenant of the Tower of London and though he was a Colonel yet never went out to fight but became an Alderman very timely and then soon began to cool and lose his former Zeal and Principles and left off preaching as his Pastor Mr. Lockyer did the Church to his brother George Cockain He was afterward Sheriff and Lord Mayor in his turn was also of the Committees for the sale of States Lands whereby he advanced his Interest and Revenue considerably out of Zeal to the publick he offered the Parliament to serve them freely as a Commissioner of the Customs whereby he supplanted another and planted himself in his room and then with the rest of his brethren petitioned the Committee of the Navy for a Salary and had it notwithstanding he was so well rewarded for his pains after he had pretended to serve them for nothing yet with his bro her Col. Harvy and Captain Langham came off blewly in the end He was of the little Parliament and helped to dissolve it one of the late Parliament also he hath by degrees sadly lost his Principles and forgotten the Good Old Cause and espoused and taken up another being so very officious for the new Court-interest and such a stickler for them he is become a great Favorite it 's not hard to read his change it being in so great Letters All things considered he is no question fit to be called Lord Tichborn being also so willing to receive and resolve to own that Title whoever maligns it as also of the Judgement that whatever passes from him in any other name will be void in law wherefore to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over London and all the good people of these Lands is very suitable to him and what though he was so great an Opponent to those things formerly it 's no matter then was then and now is now 33. Sir William Roberts a Gentleman who in the time of the Bishops ruffling went into Holland and lived there for a season the Parliament ruling and in war with the King came over again and after the then mode found favour having upon the forementioned account been out of the Land and was made a great Committee-man and in much employment whereby he well advanced his interest and is grown a great man He was of the little Parliament and
in the Other House over all in Oxfordshire the University men onely excepted and over all the people of these Lands besides 40. Sir John Hubbard Knight Baronet of the old Stamp a Gentleman of Norfolk of a considerable Estate part whereof came lately to him by the Death of a Kinsman he was of these latter Parliaments but not of the former had medled very little if at all in throwing down Kingship but hath stickled very much in helping to re-establish and build it up again and a great stickler among the late Kinglings who petitioned the Protector to be King his principles being so right for Kingship and Tyranny he is in great favour at Court as well as Dick Ingoldsby and no question deserves to be a Lord and to be taken out of the House to exercise a Negative Voyce in the Other House over all the good men in Norfolk and all the people of these Lands besides being become so very tame and gentle 41. Sir Thomas Honywood Knight of the old Stamp a Gentleman of Essex of a considerable Revenue he was a Committee-man in the time of the Long Parliament and also a Military man and led as Colonel a Regiment of Essex-men to the fight at Worcester came in good time and fought well against Kingship and Tyranny in the House of the Stewarts was of the last Parliament he is not so wise as Solomon or so substantial and thorough in his principles for Righteousness and Freedom as Job chap. 29. but rather soft in his spirit and too easie like a Nose of Wax to be turn'd on that side where the greatest strength is being therefore of so hopeful principles for the New Court interest and so likely to comply with their will and pleasure no doubt need be made of his fitness to be a Lord and to be taken out of the House to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House over all the good men in Essex the now Lord of Warwick the Protectors Brother-in-law excepted and all the people of these Lands besides 42. Lord Ewre a Gentleman of Yorkshire not very bulky or imperious for a Lord he was once well esteemed of for honesty and therefore chosen to be one of the Little Parliament hath also been of all the Parliaments since the Yorkshire men happily may like his being new Lorded and that he should have a Negative Voyce over them the rather because they never chose him to any such thing the Protector being so well satisfied with his principles and easiness like his fellow-Lord Honywood to be wrought up to do whatever their will and pleasure is and to say No when they would have him it is very meet he also pass for one to be taken out of the House to have a Negative Voyce in the Other House not onely over Yorkshire but all the good people of the Commonwealth beside being a Lord of the old Stamp already 43. Mr. Hampden now Lord Hampden a young Gentleman of Buckinghamshire son of the late Colonel Hampden that Noble Patriot and Defender of the Rights and Liberties of the English Nation of famous memory never to be forgotten for withstanding the King in the case of Ship-money being also one of the five impeached Members which the said King endeavoured to have pulled out of the Parliament whereupon followed such feud war and shedding of blood This young Gentleman Mr. Hampden was the last of sixty two which were added singly by the Protector after the choice of sixty together it is very likely that Colonel Ingoldsby or some other Friend at Court got a Cardinals Hat for him thereby to settle and secure him to the Interest of the new Court and wholly take him off from the thoughts of ever following his fathers steps or inheriting his noble vertues as likewise that the honest men in Buckinghamshire and all other that are lovers of Freedom and Justice that cleaved so cordially to and went so cheerfully along with his Father in the beginning of the late War might be out of all hopes of him and give him over for lost to the Good Old Cause and inheriting his Fathers noble spirit and principles though he doth his Lands He was of the latter Parliament and found right saving in the design upon which he was made a Lord after all the rest and the Protectors pleasure It is very hard to say how fit he is to be a Lord and how well a Negative Voyce over the good people of this Land and his Fathers Friends in particular will become the son of such a Father and how well the aforesaid good people now called Sectaries will like of it but being it is as it is let him pass for one as fit to be taken out of the House with the rest to have a Negative Voyce and let him exercise it in the Other House over the good people for a season Sir Arthur Haslerigg Lord No stop there not Lord Haslerigg a Knight of the old Stamp a Gentleman of a very large Estate and Revenue was one of the Long Parliament and one of the five impeached Members whom the King endeavoured to have pulled out of the House with the other but was hindered from doing of it was a Colonel in the Army and adventured far in the Wars continued of that Parliament till the dissolution thereof was also chosen of these latter Parliaments but not permitted to sit at the first he was by the Protector as may be seen in the printed List cut out for a Lord of the Other House and to have a wooden Dagger to wit a Negative Voyce with the rest but he missed his way and instead of going into the Other House among the simple Negative men the f Off-spring of the Bastard of William the sixth Duke of Normandy he went into the Parliament-House among his fellow Englishmen and there spake freely bearing a good witness in behalf of the Good Old Cause the Rights and Liberties of the people of England at which the Court were vexed and sore displeased However for all this losing of his way and the loss sustained by it his Fame and Name amongst all true English spirits will be higher and more honourable then the simple Title of a New Lord could make him and instead of a Negative Voyce in the Other House he will be honoured by after Ages as a rare Phoenix that of forty four was found standing alone to his principles and the Good Old Cause so bled for Oh sad and wonderful but one of forty four to be found standing firm to so noble a Cause as ever was on foot since the world began Let all true English Spirits love and honour him and that will be better then a Feather in his Cap or a wooden Dagger His Name for ever in the Chronicles will live as one that was a true Patriot of his Countries Liberties which noble action if he persevere and be more refined in that honest spirit may deservedly obliterate all humane frailties and
you be do according to the heart of God and having this excellent spirit so freely to make it your meat drink to execute judgement and therein to make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noon-day to the oppressed you will abhor to bewray to wit give up their right and freedom into the hands of Tyrants and Spoylers Tole to the oppressed as a hiding place from the wind a covert from the tempest as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land and as rivers of water in a dry place standing open ready to refresh those that are thirsty will be the frame of Christ and the Saints the Horn of David that shall reign in righteousness c Isa. 31. 1 2. Then those that dwell under your shadow shall return from their oppression revive as the corn and grow as the vine and your savour among both good and bad concern'd in you will be as the wine of Lebanon Hos. 13. and shall say The Lord bless thee thou habitation of Justice c. and wait for to wit desire after you as the dry ground for the rain and open their mouths wide as the mowed parch'd ground for the latter rain Job 29. 23. The foundation of the eternal welfare of your souls being first laid thorough faith in Christ and an holy unblamable conversation without which you cannot attain unto the other it will then be your crown and rejoycing to forget the things behind and to come up hither for herein doth the Lord delight as also will be the great glory of the latter days and as you are in the power glory and sweetness of his spirit herein exercised will he delight in and rejoyce over you and you will live as it were in heaven while you are upon the earth and he will be for your protection as a place of broad rivers streams wherein shall go no gally with oars or gallant ship pass thereby c. Isa. 33. Yea your bow as Jobs renewed in your hand to shoot at your enemies upon all occasions The presence of God being thus with you your terrour will be upon all both at home and abroad that have a mind to hurt you according to Psa. 48. God is known inâ—er palaces for a refuge for lo the kings were assembled they passed by together they saw it and so they marvelled they were troubled and hasted away fear took hold upon them there pain as of a woman in travel thou brakest the ships of Tarshish c. This salvation and forementioned righteousness is the righteousness and salvation of Zion spoken of Isa. 62. 1. which those who understand and taste the glory and sweetness of cannot will not hold their peace or to be at rest till it go forth as brightness or as a lamp that burneth This is the true spirit Be growing up in your light and in the frame of your spirit to these things in order to which pray for the dawnings of that measure of the spirit which the Lord hath promised to pour forth in the latter days The ordinary measures of the spirit relating onely to the work within will not do it therefore is it that so many saints at this day turn in with the spirit and things of Babylon Do not like Alderman Tichborn pretend to serve your Country freely and afterwards take great Salaries the people are poor and it is your duty that have Estates to take nothing from them except they freely give it so ought also the Ministers of Christ to do With other Scriptures read Micha 3. A word on the behalf of that faithful servant of the Lord Mr. John Portmans now close prisoner under lock night and day in the Tower of London so that none may come with freedom to visit him Prov. 31. 8. Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction THe Reader may take notice That Mr. Portmans formerly Secretary to the Navy could not in conscience continue his employment under this Apostacy though it were worth more then 300 l. per annum and for his faithfulness to the cause of God his people and the Nation hath amongst others been a sufferer unto Bonds in the Tower this 17 of the 11 month 1658 a year wanting 3 weeks never hearing what was laid to his charge or that there was any to accuse him of evil having demanded of Col. Barkstead his Jaylor when first brought in by his Souldiers what his Crime was could get no answer neither was there any exprest in the Warrant by which he was apprehended the substance whereof was That he should be brought into the Tower to be kept until the further pleasure of the late Tyrant whom the Warrant blasphemously stiled his Highness the Lord Protector who being lately dead Mr. Portmans took notice of it in a Letter to Col. Barkstead delivered to his hand by two faithful Brethren meekly demanding If he had any further Warrant to continue him a prisoner if he had that then he might have a Copy or at least the sight of it which if he had not in some short time he must conclude there was none and therefore his occasions to go forth for the well-being of his Family urging him to it he should assay to attend upon them but if upon Tryal he found the force continued he must consider what might be his further duty This for substance but with more plainness was intimated in the Letter and accordingly a week after not hearing from him about three in an afternoon not disguised but in his constant habit he went to the gate expecting to be stopped rather then otherwise but finding the passage free went forth to his Brother-in-laws house not with an intent to conceal himself from whence he was again taken within an hour This is briefly and truly the matter of Fact and may it 's hoped justifie him in his attempt not to be left to any thing unbecoming a sober Christian yet was he the rather induced thus to do upon words not long before spoken by Col. Barkstead viz. That he might go out if he would asking some friends If there were no way to perswade him to it c. There needs nothing be said to such as know that foul-mouth'd Malignant Nedham to wipe off the reproach he hath raised in his Pamphlet that Mr. Portmans should say He would not go out if the gates were open until he was satisfied for his imprisonment to go about to do it were to imply that the Pamphletter did sometimes speak truth which should he do he would be utterly disabled to serve his Masters who make lies their refuge and hire him at no small charge as a means to uphold their own reputation to asperse the faithful in the Land yet considering the report may come to those that know him not such may be assured That Mr Portmans never spake any such thing but hath ever declared That he should not continue
mis-carriages of his during the sitting of the Long Parliament and the free people of England may doubtless for ever bury them in oblivion No question the Protector found he was mistaken in him and that he was not fit to be a Lord or to have a Negative Voyce being of no more complying principles to his interest and Designes and the then New Model of Government and will scarcely adventure to give hâ—m a second invitation to that great Honour and Dignity he so ungratefully and disdainfully slighted There was one or two more of the new Champions that with their wooden Daggers went into the Other Horse to fight against the Rights and Liberties of the good people of these Lands but their Names being wanting and not worthy the enquiring after nothing can be said of their noble Vertues save that in all likelyhood they were of such worthy principles as their fellows were of and such as would concur to carry on any design or interest they should be put upon and would say No with the rest when any thing came in question that seemed to be against the Protectors height and absoluteness or interest of the new Court which he that hath but half an eye may see was the onely designe of calling them thither as a Balance of Government to the Parliament so greatly though falsly pretended for the good of the people There were also of this chosen number of Sixty two some of the old Earls and Lords called Peers which stood off viz. three Earls Warwick Musgrave and Manchester and two Lords Say and Wharton and sate not at all disdaining as some thought to sit with these new Up-start Lords though others again apprehend that this their forbearance was onely out of their old State-policy till they saw whether a House of Lords formerly so abominated and thrown down by the consent and desire of the good people would again be resented and established and then intended to come in but I shall leave it Some werein Scotland viz. General Monk Earl of Cassils Lord Warriston and Sir William Lockhart which persons may also discover to him that hath but half an eye what a pitiful carnal low design they are carrying on Some in Ireland viz. Harry Cromwel Lord Deputy so called Recorder Steel and Colonel Tomlinson some it may be had no great mind to it to wit Colonel Popham Mr. Peirpoint others it 's probable were letted by political or State-illness or other occasions viz. Chief Justice St. Johns Mr John Crew Sir Gilbert Gerrard so as they also appeared not there being not above forty four or forty five of that worthy choyce of Sixty two that appeared and sate there and it 's very likely some think there were too many of them Thus far the Description and Narrative Three or four General Queries are further proposed for a Close to the whole and it is humbly offered to all ingenious people and queried First Whether if it should come to pass as how soon we know not that that noble spirit should like a Lyon raised from sleep rise again in the English people such as it was in forty one or forty two or about that time whether these Champions with their Feathers in their Caps and their Wooden Daggers and those fifty three persons who pretended to settle the Government by the Humble Petition and Advice would be able to fight with stand against and overcome the same any otherwise then their Predecessors the Lords Temporal and the Bishops the Lords Spiritual did then And whether it would not in all likelyhood fare with them and their Dependents the Patentees of the Excise and all others employed by them that so oppress and impoverish the Nation as formerly it did with them if not far worse They may please to think of it at their Leasure Secondly Whether in these five years now past of the Protectoral Government that blessed Reformation which the Protector then General and other Grandees of the Army so often promised and for not bringing forth of which they pretend they dissolved the old Parliament hath so been set upon as to make any the least proceed therein Or rather hath there not been a gradual and an apparent relapsing into those very Evils and Enormities formerly so greatly shaken and in some degree broken but now healed again of their wound and flourishing afresh with open face the spirit of wickedness and profaness being risen very high even among Professors like the unclean spirit cast out and entring again And in particular that abominable corruption and abuse in the Law and Administration of Justice touching which the Protector so called sometime said It was not to be endured in a Christian Commonwealth that some should so enrich and greaten themselves in the ruine of others So likewise that often complain'd of Grievance of Tythes touching which he also said as was lately attested in an open Court of Judicature several standing by to witness the truth thereof to whom the words were spoken That if he did not take away Tythes by the third of September next to wit 1654 or such a time they should call him the greatest Juggler that ever was and would juggle in all things else Yet is there any thing done in either of these or any thing gone about tending thereunto now in these five years as if it were so that no fruit would ever grow upon such a tree viz. the Monarchical Foundation which the Lord hath pulled up and cursed as the barren Fig-tree was onely there is one goodly amendment to wit a confirmation of the Act for treble damages to the undoing of many an honest man that upon conscientious grounds do scruple the payment of them And as for the Law and the Lawyers they are as before if not much worse and is there any ground of hope that the next five years should he continue so long will produce any better fruit then the five that are already past Thirdly Whether this Calculation of these ignoble Lords of the new Stamp being of several complexions and standing in the aforementioned Capacities and Relations having also such dependence upon and lying under so great Engagements unto the Protector so called as his Sons and Kindred Flattering Courtiers corrupt Lawyers degenerated Sword men and a sort of luke-warm indifferent Country Knights Gentlemen and Citizens most of them self-interested Salary-men be not likely according to the very specious pretence to prove a brave Balance of Government And whether the good people of this Land are likely to have their just Rights and Freedoms or religious men the Liberty of their Consciences by this Constitution any otherwise then according to the pleasure of the Protector and the Court Or then they had in the time of the late King And whether this Calculation were made to any other end then so Lastly Whether all things soberly weighed and considered the times be now so happy and blessed as some do londly bespeak them to be And whether