Selected quad for the lemma: state_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	conclude_v	king_n	treaty_n	1,026	5	9.0823	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56213	The substance of a speech made in the House of Commons by Wil. Prynn of Lincolns-Inn, Esquire, on Munday the fourth of December, 1648 touching the Kings answer to the propositions of both Houses upon the whole treaty, whether they were satisfactory, or not satisfactory : wherein the satisfactorinesse of the Kings answers to the propositions for settlement of a firm lasting peace, and future security of the subjects against all feared regall invasions and encroachments whatsoever is clearly demonstrated ... and that the armies remonstrance, Nov. 20, is a way to speedy and certain ruine ... / put into writing, and published by him at the importunate request of divers members, for the satisfaction of the whole kingdome, touching the Houses vote upon his debate.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1649 (1649)	Wing P4093; ESTC R38011	126,097	147

thus removed I proceed to the the second to wit that I am an enemy to the Army and therefore what I shall speak may be interpreted to proceed only from opposition against them and their Remonstrance concerning which I freely uttered my suddain thoughts immediately after its reading in the House To this I answer that I have alwaies been a real friend and welwisher to this Army from their first modelling til now in what ever they have acted in their sphear as Souldiers for the publique safety When they were first formed into a body the Committee of Accompts whereof I was a Member those they engaged advanced about thirty thousand pounds of the fourscore thousand to set them out Since that I have freely contributed towards their pay prayed constantly for their good success joined in all publike thanksgivings for the Victories obtained by them made honorable mention of them and their heroick actions in some of my writings and particularly dedicated one Book I since compiled to the General himself as I had done former Books to others of your Generals for to do him all the honour that possibly I could for his renowned Actions Besides I have lately signed Warrants to get in their Arrears and promoted an Ordinance for that purpose all I could since my entrance into this House All which considered with this addition that some of them have bin my ancient intimate friends never did me the least injury I hope no Member can be so partial as to report me such a professed enemy to them as in this grand debate to go against my judgment or conscience in opposition only unto their desires True it is when the Army have forgot their duty or offered violence to the priviledges Members freedom or proceedings of Parl. or endeavoured to engage them to break their publike faith to the King or kingdom in breaking off the Treaty contrary to their votes and engagement or to infringe their solemn League and Covenant or to enforce them to subvert the fundamental Government Laws Liberties of the kingdom or the very freedom and being of Parl. as they have done in their late Remonstrance and Declaration and some other printed papers since heretofore I have then in discharge of my covenant conscience and duty opposed and spoken against these their exorbitances as much as any not out of malice but out of love to reclaim them from their evill destructive courses and counsels according to Gods own precept Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but shalt in any wise rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him And seeing I have alwayes with like freedome opposed and written against the exorbitances and errour of the King Court Prelates Parliament Committees Presbyterians Independents Lawyers and all other sorts of men in reference to the publick good the Army and their friends have no cause at all to censure me as their enemy but rather to esteem me as their friend for using the like freedom towards them and their exorbitances especially in this House Having removed these two prejudices I shall now addresse my self to the question in debate which hath been thus propounded Whether the Kings answers to the Propositions of both Houses taken altogether upon the whole Treaty be satisfactory or unsatisfactory This being an equivocall question not hitherto clearly stated and debated by those who have spoken to it most of them being much mistaken in it I must crave leave to give you the true state of it before I shall debate it for which purpose I must distinguish in what sense it is not satisfactory to any in this House yet in what respect it will appear satisfactory to all or most of us who are not blinded with passion or prejudice agaisnt the King or misled by affection meerly to please the Army which many have made their principal argument wherefore it is not satisfactory If the question be propounded and intended in this sense Whether the Kings answers to all the Propositions be satisfactory that is whether the King hath granted all the Propositions sent unto him in as large and ample manner as both Houses did propound them then it is certain his Answers are not satisfactory in tha which concerns Delinquents Bishops and Bishops Lands and the Covenant though they are voted satisfactory as to all the rest by both Houses And in this sense only those who have concluded them not satisfactory have stated and disputed the Question But this under favour neither is nor can be the state or sense of the question for these reasons First because these Propositions were sent by the Houses to the King not as Bills of Parliament to be granted in terminis without debate or alteration but only as Propositions to be debated treated upon personally with the King as the Votes of both Houses and instructions to the Commissioners sent to the Isle of Wight resolve past all dispute now it is directly contrary to the nature of all treaties especially such as are personall to tie up the parties of either side so precisely that they shall have no liberty to vary from their first proposals in any particular or if they condescend not to what ever was at first demanded by the stronger party that the condescensions should not be satisfactory though they yeeld to all just things and fall short only in some few of least concernment This is evident by all Treaties heretofore between England France Spain and other forraign Nations if you peruse their first demands which were never condescended to but alwaies receded from and qualified in some particulars on either fide Iniquum petas ut justum fer as being a rule in Treaties amongst Statesmen There have been many Treaties during these Wars between the Officers of the Parliament and Kings party about surrenders of divers Cities and Garrisons wherein the first Propositions on either side have been moderated or changed and yet agreed and accepted at last as satisfactory to both sides In all ordinary Treaties concerning Marriages purchases and ordinary bargains in Fairs Markets or Shops there are usually greater sums of money demanded at first on the one and lesse proferred on the other side then is accepted and given at last and yet both parts close agree and are ful satisfied so may we do now with the King upon the whole Treaty though the King grants not fully all that we at first proposed Secondly because the Houses have already voted the Kings Concessions of the Great Offices of England and Ireland to be at their disposal for 20. years to be satisfactory though their demand was for perpetuity which they would not have done had the satisfactorinesse of the Kings answers depended upon the full concession of that Proposition as amply as it is penned Thirdly because the Houses in their last propositions demand farre more then ever they did in most former Treaties and the King hath granted them

to the peace and settlement of the Kingdome is this That the King do give his Royall assent to such Act or Acts for the raising of moneys for the Parliament satisfying of the publique Debts and Damages of the Kingdome and other publique uses as shal hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament And if the King do not give his assent thereto then it being done by both Houses the same shall be as valid to all intents and purposes as if the Royall assent had been given thereunto To this Proposition the King hath condescended so as those Acts be passed within two years after the Treaty ended which the Houses have now voted to be satisfactory This Proposition secures all moneys lent upon the publike faith all arrears due to Officers souldiers yea all moneys advanced by any who have purchas'd Bishops lands for their losses by reversions after 99 years or any present rents to be reserved to the Crowne for the use of the Church with which those Members who have purchased such lands or advanced moneys upon them declare themselves most unsatisfied all those who have sustained publique losses Yea if the King denies his royall assent thereto it enables both Houses to make a valid Act of Parliament without the King in this case and in case of the Militia likewise which was never challenged by nor granted to both Houses in any Kings Reign before takes away the Kings Negative voice as to these particulars which those who conclude the Kings answers unsatisfatory have so much contended for yet now stand in their own light in not accepting of these Concessions as satisfactory and striking at the Negative voice The next Concession of the Kings for the settlement of the State is the taking away of the Court of Words and of all Wardships and Tenures in Capite or by Knights service which draw on Wardships Primer seisures liveries and such like incombrances to the intolerable vassalage and prejudice of the Nobility and Gentry of England and great landed persons and that only upon giving the King and his successors one hundred thousand pounds yearly for compensations being one principall part of his Royall Revenue This Concession is of so vast consequence to the Kingdome to enfranchise the Subjects from the Norman yoak of bondage as some stile VVardships and Tenures in Capite though others deem them more ancient then William the Conqueror that our Ancestors never enjoyed the like It exempts mens heits under age and their estates from being made a prey for hungry Courtiers or over-reaching Committees of them their estates It exempts them from being married to any against their free consents without any single or double forfeiture of the values of their marriages to which they were formerly liable from marriages to persons of small or no or broken fortunes and different dispositions which have ruined many families from many chargeable suits expences excessive fees gratuities to Escheators Feodaries all sorts of griping Officers in the Court of Wards and from vast expences and extraordinary vexation in finding and traversing Offices suing out Liveries c. and many suits and questions arising thereupon which have undone too many And it deprives the King of such an over-awing Prerogative over the persons and E●tates of the Nobility and Gentry which usually fell into his custody after every Tenants decease as will very much weaken his interest in and their over much dependence on him and make them lesse subject to engage for or with him against the Parliaments or Kingdomes common interest The next Proposition relating to the Kingdomes safety and settlement not so immediately and directly as any of the former is that which concernes Delinquents in which alone as to the State the Kings answers are pretended unsatisfactory not in all but only in some particulars of no extraordinary concernment in my apprehension though so much insisted on by many as to vote all the Treaty unsatisfactory In opening the state of the Kings Answers to this proposition I shall doe these 3. things First I shall shew how far the King and you are both agreed 2dly In what particulars you really or seemingly differ 3dly I shall examine whether these differences herein be of any such moment as to induce the House to vote the answers to this and the other Propositions upon the whole Treaty unsatisfactory and so reject and lose whatever the King hath granted in the rest because he hath not satisfied our demands in this one and two others concerning the Church For the first both Houses by their Votes have thought this Proposition touching Delinquents so needless to beinfisted on in every punctilio for the publick settlement which will certainly more obstruct then promote it merey moderation being the nearest way to peace and union that you have reduced since the Treaty the persons excepted in the first qualification both from life composition from 37 to 7 only six of those are beyond the Seas quite out of your power the 7th aged scarce worth your Execution The King consents that they should be banished during the pleasure of both Houses which is a civill death banishment being next to death the severest punishment and to some men more grievous then present Execution But if that will not satisfie then he leaves them wholly to your justice to proceed against them if you please according to Law and promiseth not to interpose nor pardon any of them if legally condemned only he adds ex abundanti that he cannot in justice or honor assent to any Act to take away their lives by a meer Legislative Power ex post facto if they have done nothing that was formerly capital by the known Laws of the Land by which Hee leaves them to be tryed This Answer many Gentlemen who have spoken have coucluded very unsatisfactory and made many large descants on it because they did not rightly weigh nor understand it when as in truth it Answers the very Proposition in terminis as I shall clearly manifest to all who understand what Law is First it is apparent that one of the first quarrels and cause of taking up Arms on our parts was to bring Delinquents to condign punishent according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm as you have declared to the Kingdom in many printed Declarations and in your Petitions to the King you alwayes desired him to leave Delinquents to the course of Iustice not to cut them off by a meer Legislative Power when as you could not doe it by any known Law Secondly you have professed to all the World and to the King and Delinquents themselves that you have taken up Armes to defend and preserve the Ancient fundamentall Laws and Liberties of the Kingdom and to oppose the introduction of any Arbitrary and Tyrannicall Power Yea your selves and the Army likewise have declared against all extraordinary proceedings and tryals in the Lords House to

stead of setling a safe and well grounded Peace upon their new-fangled foundations of liberty and safety but indeed of slavery and ruine To begin with the first branch of the first of these assertions That our closing with the King upon these Concessions is the only way to settle a firm and lasting Peace between the King the Parliament and his three Kingdoms Not to insist upon this generall that Treaties in all Ages have been the usuall and only way to conclude and settle Peace and Unity between Kings and their People and all dissenting Kingdomes States Persons and therefore this Treaty now is the only way to our pr●sent Peace and settlement I shall pitch only upon particulars First that your selves in this House and the Lords in their House have severally and joyntly voted and resolved over and over heretofore and published to all the world from time to time in sundry Declarations Remonstrances and other printed Papers since the Kings departure from the Houses and the late Warres That it hath been is and alwayes shall be their cordiall desire and sincere unwearied endeavour to settle a speedy firm and well grounded Peace between His Majesty his People and three Kingdomes and that this hath been the only end they have aymed at in all their Warres and Treaties with the King That the Kings presence with and Residence neer his Parliament is of so great necessity and importance towards the removall of our Distractions Feares Iealousies the happy beginning of contentment betweene the KING and His People and the settlement and preservation of the Peace and Safety of the Kingdome and KINGS Person That they thought they had not discharged their duties untill they had declared and backed it with some Reasons That those persons who advised His MAIESTY to absent Himselfe from His Parliament are an Obstruction and Enemies to the Peace of this Kingdome and justly suspected to be favourers to the Rebellion in Ireland That the sending of Propositions and a Treaty with the KING and a good close with Him and His Commissioners thereupon is the only way to settle a firme safe and lasting Peace And this is the only way and meanes you have hitherto pursued to obtaine such a Peace and settlement Secondly the Parliament of Scotland and their Commissioners here imployed have voted and resolved this the onely way and meanes to such a Peace and Settlement both for this kingdom and their own too and have joyned with us in all former Treaties and promoted this Thirdly the generality of the People and all the wisest and most cordiall to the Publique Interest both of the Parliament and kingdome have approved and desired a Treaty and close with the KING as the onely meanes of Peace and settlement as is evident by their frequent and multiplyed Petitions to both Houses Fourthly the KING himselfe and all his party when tyred out with the miseries of War have desired and embraced a Treaty as the only means to close our bleeding wounds and make a firme Vnion betweene the King Parliament and three Kingdoms Fifthly the Generall Officers and Councell of the Army themselves when in their right senses and not intoxicated with selfe-conceit and Iesuiticall Principles have Publikely declared that compliance by a Treaty with the KING and restitution of Him to a condition of Honour Freedome and Safety was the only way to a lasting Peace and settlement yea the Grandees of the Army were so over forward to comply treat and close with Him upon termes more dishonourable and lesse safe then these we are now a closing with him in this Treaty that when they falsly impeached the eleven Members the last Summer in the House of Commons for holding secret intelligence and correspondence only with Him without consent of the House themselves at that very instant without and against consent of the Houses were secretly treating and complying with him upon proposals framed by themselves and perswade the King to reject the Houses Proposition sent to his Maj. to Hampton Court to treat upon those they had tendred to him privately without the Houses privity as more advantagious to him and his party then the Parliaments declaring to all the world that they were as cordiall to the King as desirous to bring him up to London to restore him to a condition of honor freedom and saftey and more favourable to Delinquents in mitigating their fines and punishments then the Houses All which they are not ashamed to acknowledge in their last Remonstrance Novemb. 20. p. 43. 44. yet with this det●stable brand upon themselves That their compliances with him were but negative Secondly what we declared of Moderation was but Hypotheticall with carefull caution and saving for the ●publique interest according to OUR THEN UNDERSTANDING OF IT c. Yet however in that degree of compliance admitted in that kinde we find matter of acknowledgment before the Lord concerning OUR ERROR FRAILTY UNBELIEF and CARNAL COUNCELS THEREIN and we blesse him that preserved us from worse If their compliance and Treaty with the King c. was but Hypotheticall as I fear this very Remonstrance and their acting since all are or at least wise Iesuiticall I hope our Treaty shall be reall and not in their power to make it Hypocritical as they have attempted by endeavouring to force us by this Remostrance and their subsequent advance to London to break it off to render us odious to our King and kingdomes God and all good men and translate the Odium of it from themselves to us And because themselves may discover their owne Apostasie from their former principles which they would falsly father upon us and how justifiable and advantagious to the kingdom our closing with the King upon these Propositions are before all the world be pleased to take notice of these following passages in their own Letters Declarations and Remonstrances made upon mature advice a year before this Treaty In the humble Remonstrance from his Excellency and the Army under his command presented to the Commissioners at St. Albans Iune 23. 1647 p. 12. they print Whereas there has been scandalous informations presented to the Houses industriously published in print importing as if his Majesty were kept as prisoner amongst us barbarously and uncivilly used We cannot but declare that the same and all other suggestions of that sort are most false scandalous absolutely contrary not only to our declared desires but also to our principls which are most clearly for a generall Right and just freedom to all And therefore upon this occasion we cannot but declare particularly that we desire the same for the King and others of his party so far as can consist with common right and freedom and with the security of the same for the future And we do further clearly confesse we do not see how there can be any peace to the kingdom firm or lasting without a due consideration of and provision for the

more now in this then they have demanded heretofore And therefore having granted more then what would have fully satisfied them in former Treaties his Concessions in this may be fully satisfactory to us so far as to close with him to settle a firm peace in the Kingdome now at the brink of ruine though they fall short in somethings which we now propounded which do not much concern our security as I shall prove anon The true state then and sense of this Question must be this and no other Whether the Kings finall Answers to the Propositions of both Houses in this Treaty considered and weighed all together be not so full and satisfactory in themselves that this House may and ought to accept of and proceed upon them for the speedy settlement of a safe and wel-grounded Peace both in Church and Common-wealth rather then reject them as unsatisfactorie and so hazard the life of all and the perpetuating of our wars and miseries In this sense I humbly conceive and hope to evidence them so clearly fully satisfactory that we can neither in point of duty prudence justice honor or conscience reject them as unsatisfactory but ought to imbrace them as the only safe ready way to our peace and settlement though they come not up so fully to some of our Propositions as I could have heartily desired for the avoiding of this hazardous debate For my clearer progresse in this grand debate I shall observe this method First I shal clearly manifest that the King in this Treaty hath granted us whatsoever we can wel desire for the present settlement future security of the Common-wealth or state when ratified by Acts a regal oath as is intended yea far more then ever our Ancestors or any Subjects in the christian world enjoyed or desired of their Ks. for their security preservation against their armed power or legal prerogatives Secondly That the King hath granted as much in this Treaty as will settle and secure the Peace and Government of our Church and Religion against Popery and prelacy on the one hand and prophanenesse on the other hand and more then we or any Protestant Churches ever enjoyed or demanded heretofore for their security and settlement When I have made good these particulars and answered the Objections made against them I hope every one of us who have any ingenuity reason or conscience in their brests and are not transported with passion or private engagements to the contrary will and must of necessity vote these Answers satisfactory in the sense forestated I shall begin with the first of these namely the Kings Answers to all these Propositions which concern the present settlement and future security of the State and Republike against any armed force or invasions of the Regall Prerogative to the enslaving or prejudicing of the Subject which in my poor judgement are so full and satisfactory that little or nothing can be added to them and if we well consider them we have cause to say O fortunati nimium bona si sua norin● I shall give you a full view of them all because many of them have not been so much as once remembred in this debate and apply them to our present settlement and future safety as I mention them The first Proposition for the settlement of a safe and wel-grounded Peace is that which concerns the justification of the Parliaments War declaring it by an Act of Parliament to be passed to be in their just and lawfull defence justifying the Solemn League and Covenant in prosecution thereof and repealing all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or hereafter to bee had against both or either Houses of Parliament their Ordinances or proceedings or against any for adhering unto or executing any Office Place or Charge under them and all Judgements Indictments Outlawries Attainders Inquisitions in any of the said causes and all Grants thereupon made had or to be made or had to be declared null suppressed forbidden and never put into execution And this to be published within all Parish Churches and all other places needfull within his Majesties Dominions To this proemiall and advantagious proposition the King hath fully and readily condescended at first in every tittle as was desired By this concession the Parliament hath gained sundry considerable advantages tending to their present honour and future security First a full publick acknowledgment of the justnesse of their Warre and Cause to be ratified and perpetuated to posterity by the highest record that can be an Act of Parliament and that to be read in all Parish Churches throughout England Ireland and other the Kings Dominions and proclaimed in all Counties Cities Corporations and at Assizes and Sessions of the peace that so all men may take publick notice of it Which is such an honour to and justification of them and their Cause as was never condescended to by any King that took up arms against his Subjects since the creation to this present and so low a humiliation and Legall disclaimer in the King of his Warre against the Parliament and disavowing of his Cause and Party as could possibly be imagined or expected Secondly It secures the Lives Liberties and Estates of all the Members of both Houses engaged in these Wars and of all persons whatsoever that have adhered to or acted for them against all former present and future Impeachments Prosecutions and Judgments whatsoever and makes void and nul what ever hath been is or may be objected against them Which coupled with the Act of Indempnity and Oblivion proposed by the King and agreed to by the Houses wil extraordinarily secure pacifie content all wel-affected Members and persons who have adhered to them in this Cause and preserve them from the danger of 25 E. 3. and other Laws concerning Treasons which otherwise upon any revolution of times and affairs might by corrupt Judges and Instruments be extended and rested to their prejudice aud undoing Thirdly it laies a foundation for the lawfulnesse of a defensive War by Authority of both Houses upon the like occasion in all future ages without incurring the guilt of Treason or Rebellion which will be a great encouragement and security to the Subjects and engagement to them to adhere to the Parliament in after-times Fourthly It wil very much discourage and deter all kind of men from taking up Arms in the Kings His Heirs and Successors behalfe against the Houses of Parliament when they shal cast their eyes upon this Act and behold the King himselfe passing such a censure upon all his own proceedings and retracting his own Oaths Proclamations Commissions Inditements Grants against such Members all others who have now taken up arms against him for the Houses Kingdoms defence So as this very first Proposition only if well weighed without any others added thereunto being so fully and freely consented unto by the King tends very far towards our present settlement and future safety

this to depose and bring the King to Justice disinherit the Princes and Kings posterity dissolve the present Parliament and pull all future Parliaments and ' their Priviledges up by the roots subvert the Fundamentall Government of the Realm and set up a new representative to dash all these in pieces and destroy Religion Magistracy and Ministry Did they not all abhor and disclaim in Publique all such thoughts and intentition as these and when objected by the King and his party out of jealousie amd fear did not the Houses presently resent and remonstrate against it as the grossest scandall and their adherents too Or would ever a man have engaged with the Houses or the Houses with them in this War or enrolled his name even in this New Model'd Army had he been told at first That he must fight to depose and bring the King to execution to dis-inherit his posterity dissolve this Parliament and the very Rights Priviledges and being of all future Parliaments to set up a new Government and representative in our Church and State to alter and change all things at their fancies and to break every clauses and article of the Solemn League Conant If not one of these was the true end of our Wars and Engagement against the King at first and all along till now but the clean contrary to them then how can they now be propounded as the only fruits of our wars and means or conditions of our Peace and Settlement Will they not all say if the Houses or Army proceed in their Proposals for Peace and Settlement mentioned in their last Remonstrance that they engaged and took up Arms to doe quite contrary to what they now propose to the Houses and endeavour to enforce them to put it in punctuall execution And will they not now say That they are by their originall Engagement and Covenants obliged with their lives and estates to oppose and oppugn the Army in all these particulars that having thus declared and resolved they cannot pray for but against the Armies late successes herein that they cannot henceforth contribute towards their future pay and support in point of conscience or prudence but must withdraw and withhold their contributions and resist them to their Faces declare their Commissions null and not look on or take them as an Army but as a tumultnous rout of persons assembled without Commission to act over Iack Cades Treasons again and quite pull down that frame of Government and Order which they have been building up and supporting these many years with such vast expence of Treasure and bloud Better then displease the ARMY then that all these Covenanters and Engagers should suffer to theirs the three Kingdoms hazard Ireland's certain losse and this very Armies overthrow which these Jesuiticall designs wil certainly destroy in a very short space if they Iehu-like drive on so furiously in prosecution and execution of them as they have done of late Consider I beseech you of the desperatenesse and excessive unavoidable destructivenesse of these monstrous wayes to the speedy peace and settlement of our Church and State and of the safety and security of the things your selves have pitched on for Peace and Settlement in and by the Treaty and Lord guide our Hearts and Votes a right therein that we choose not death in stead of life the wayes of misery and destruction in stead of the way of Peace which Armies seldom know or prescribe to themselves or others Mr. Speaker HAving thus demonstrated to you the unavoydable destructivenesse and confusion of those Counsels and pretended wayes of settlement which the Officers of the Army have propounded and would imperiously and forcibly thrust you upon to the Kings Kingdomes Parliaments Religions their own our and Irelands certain and most speedy ruine I must now crave leave with much sadnesse of heart to unbosome my very soul unto you and discover you that secret which God hath so clearly manifested to my understanding that I dare not under the highest penalty but acquaint you with That the Jesuites and Roman Priests and Catholicks are the originall contrivers and principall somenters of the late and present distempers and undutifull mutinous proceedings and counsels of the Officers and Army and chief contrivers of the new Babel or model of confusion which they have tendred to you in their late Remonstrance as the only way to peace and settlement And if I shall clearly demonstrate this unto the House I hope every Member present and the whole Army and Kingdome when they know it will eternally abhor and renounce it and never henceforth countenance or promote this Jesuiticall and Romish designe which I am perswaded the Generall and most of the Officers and Souldiers in the Army in the simplicity of their hearts with honest and publick intentions of Justice and common Freedom have been ignorantly drawn into by over-reaching pates and Machiavilian Policies of these cunning Iesuites who can metamorphose themselves into any shapes and invisibly infinuate themselves into their counsels and actings to promote their own interest and our destruction I do not prosesse my self to be any great Statesman or exactly to know what ever is secretly transacted among us But this I can say without disparagement to others or vain-glory to my self That I have for many years last past been as curious an observer of all the great transactions of Affairs in Church or State and of the instruments and means by which they have been covertly contrived and carried on as any man in this House or Kingdom and that God hath honoured me in being one of the first discoverers and opposers of the Jesuites and Papists plots to undermine our Religion and usher in Popery by degrees into our Church by making use of our Popish and Arminian Prelates and Clergy-men as their Instruments and broaching one Arminian and Popish Doctrine and introducing one Popish Superstition and Innovation after another of which I have given this House and the Kingdome the fullest and clearest discoveries of any man and likewise of introducing Tyranny Arbitrary power and civill combustions in our State of which I likewise made seasonable discoveries and opposition the ground of all my sufferings close imprisonment and banishent to prevent the like detections and oppositions And since my return from exile I have in my ROME'S MASTER-PIECE The ROYALL POPISH FAVOVRITE HIDDEN WORKS OF DARKNESSE BROVGHT TO PVBLICK LIGHT The ANTIPATHY OF ENGLISH PRELACY TO VNITY and MONARCHY and The HISTORY OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBVRY's TRY ALL and other Writings given the World such an exact account of the Iesuites and Papists plots and influences upon our Church State Court Councels Prelates corrupt Clergy and all sorts of people to reduce us back to Rome supplant Religion subvert Parliaments set up tyranny and involve us in civill Wars both in England Scotland and Ireland concealed from most and scarce known to any before these discoveries as none else before or since mee have done all