in the matter I shall not be shie in it It is and ever was the Law of England that the sole supream Government Command and Disposition of the Militia and of all Forces by Sea and Land and of all places of Strength is and ever were the undoubted Right of His Majesty and of his Royal Predecessors Kings and Queens of England Or else what means that of Fitz-Herbert Nat. Brev. p. 113. It is the Right of the King to defend his Kingdom To make Leagues and denounce War only belongs to the King 7 Coke 2â— as a Right of Majesty which cannot be conferred upon any other And how can he do it without the power of the Sword that is the sole Command of the Militia To levy War within the Realm without Authority from the King unto whom it only belongeth Id. Coke 3 Inst 9. was High Treason at the Common-Law before the Statute de proditionibus 25 Ed. 3. And a latter Statute not introductive of a new Law but declaratory of the old Law has the very Words touching the sole Command of the Militia 13 Car. 2. c. 2. c. before-mention'd with this farther That both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same nor can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against his Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors Short View c. Fol. 86. And was confest by themselves when they acknowledg'd the Militia an inseparable Flower of the Crown and subject to no command but his Authority And yet contrary to this known Law these two Houses not only Petition the King That the Tower of London c. as before be forthwith put into such Hands as shall be recommended to him by both the Houses but upon his recess from Whitehall send him a Peremptory Petition That unless the King by those Commissioners then sent assure them of their former desires Mar. 1. 1641. Rushw Col. Fol. 92. they shall be enforced to dispose of the Militia by the Authority of both Houses which upon the King's refusal Sir Will. Dugdale 's Short View p. 85. they Vote a Denial and dispose of it themselves And now they begin to unpin the Mask and publish a Declaration wherein they say That what the Houses declare for Law ought not to be question'd by the King That the Sovereign Power resides in both Houses That the King ought to have no Negative Voice That Treason cannot be committed against the King's Person otherwise than as he is entrusted with the Kingdom and discharges that Trust and that they have a Power to judge whether he hath discharged that Trust or not 7 Coke 11. Fine dainty Law And the Spencers Treason in Edward the Second's time but better improv'd In the May following they fall a-branching it into nineteen Propositions Rushw 307. V. The Statutes at large many of which are but the substance of those Acts pass'd by Edward the Third in the fifteenth of his Reign and revoked by him the same Year as derogatory to his Crown and send them to the King which being refus'd by him they Vote The King intended a VVar upon them and thereupon raise an Army and suffering the Mask to drop off make Essex General thereof 12 Jul. 42. and farther Vote They will live and die with him On which the King sets up his Standard at Nottingham the August following Nor will I carry it further at present because I design not a History but only to shew which of the two the King or the Houses intended a Civil VVar and whether they did not undoe what they found well done In short their Endeavours were to strip the King of what God and the Law had given him the King 's was but to keep what he ought to have and therefore viewing both by a true light How can the King be justly charg'd with intending a VVar when it was in a manner but a suing for his own CHAP. VI. Vpon his Majesty 's retirement from Westminster WITH what unwillingness saith His Majesty I withdrew Westminster let them judge who unprovided of Tackling and Victual are forced to Sea by a Storm yet better do so than venture splitting or sinking on a Lee-Shoar And if the Parallel held not in all its Parts our Answerer had done well to have shewn in which it fell short whereas instead thereof he only says He was about to have found fault with the Simile as a garb somewhat more Poetical than for a Statist and finds it the strain of other of his Essays But what 's this to the matter farther than that in the Words His Essays a Truth slipt from him unawares in confessing them to have been written by the King and not by his Houshold Rhetorician as before But to the Argument saith he and I follow him with this by the way to my Reader That he would consider how the Houses had depriv'd the King of his Friends disrobed him of his Power trampled his Authority affronted his Person baited him with a Rabble and left him nothing but what could not be taken from him a good God and the satisfaction of a Conscience founded on a Compositum jus fasque animo Sanctosque recessus Mentis incoctum generoso pectus honesto And then tell me in what condition he was when he left Westminster I stay'd at Whitehall saith His Majesty till I was driven away by Shame more than Fear to see the barbarous rudeness of those Tumults c. a thing so true for matter of Fact that being not able to deny it our Answerer turns it thus That in the whole Chapter next but one before this the King affirms That the danger wherein his Wife his Children and his own Person were by those Tumults was the main cause that drove him c. Whereas what the King and that but in one place of that Chapter says of it is this That he thought himself not bound to prostitute the Majesty of his Place and Person and the safety of his Wife and Children to those who are prone to insult most when they have objects and opportunity most capable of their rudeness and petulancy With this other from Digby as he calls him who knew his Mind as well as any That the principal cause of his Majesty's going thence was to save them from being trod in the Dirt. And where in the name of Goodness lies the Contradiction The Tumults were such they might have been call'd Legion and well make a King asham'd to see them and not be able to disperse them But a direct Fear it could not be in him whom Ille timorum Maximus hand urget Lethi timor and who refused Life at the price of an inglorious Submission And yet in the Case of a private Person was not this ground enough to apprehend a danger and the consequence of it to be trod in the Dirt How much more then in the Case
Governour and upon the King 's coming before Hull attended only with his own Servants and some Gentlemen of the Country audaciously shut the Gates against Him and standing upon the Wall denied him Entrance Upon which the King as by Law he might proclaim'd him Traytor A Cholerick and revengeful Act says our Answerer to proclaim him Traytor before due process of Law having been convinc'd so lately before of his Illegallity with the five Members Goodly goodly and yet at the same time doubts not to tax the King of a Treasonable Act in borrowing Moneys upon his own Jewels Not unlike the Parliament 41 Hen. 3. who took notice of the Lye given to Montfort Daniel's Hist of Eng. 171. and 175. Earl of Leicester by William of Clarence but not of the Lye given the King by the said Leicester But the Point between us lies narrow A Man with Train'd-Bands holds and defends a place of Strength against the King The question is whether this be a levying of War within the Statute of the 25th of Edward the 3d. Sir Edward Coke shall answer for me 2 Inst 10. If any with Strength and Weapons invasive and defensive doth hold and defend a Castle or Fort against the King and his Power this is levying of War against the King within the Statute of 25 Edward 3. And in the leaf before he says It was High Treason by the Common Law to levy War for no Subject can levy War within the Realm without Authority from the King for to him only it belongeth Le Roy de droit doit saver defender son Realm Fitz. N. B. 113. a. c. And therefore this being the Case wherein may it be said that the King was to blame And lastly for what concerns this Gentleman's Catastrophe and whether Hotham were more infamous at Hull or at Tower-Hill no less ignominiously pretended to be answer'd it may be enough to satisfie any Impartial Man that he repented and came in though it were at the last Hour and for the rest he stood and fell to his own Master CHAP. IX Vpon the Listing and raising Armies against the King I Find saith His Majesty I am at the same Point and Posture I was when they forced me to leave Whitehall What Tumults could not do an Army must which is but Tumults listed and enroll'd to a better order but as bad an end To which our Answerer thus replies It were an endless work to walk side by side with the verbosity of this Chapter only to what already hath not been spoken convenient Answer shall be given But what that Answer is see He begins again with Tumults all the demonstration of the Peoples Love to the Parliament was Tumult their Petitioning Tumult their defensive Armies were but listed Tumults and will take no notice that those about him those in a time of Peace lifted in his own House were the beginners of all these Tumults abusing and assaulting not only such as came peaceably to the Parliament at London but those that came Petitioning to the King himself at York Neither abstaining from doing Violence and Outrage to the Messengers sent from Parliament himself countenancing or conniving at them Which is the Substance of what our Accuser says to this verbose Chapter as he calls it An old Figure in Politicks to Calumniate stoutly till somewhat stick to a Prejudice But where lay this Love of the People that they must needs express it in such a Tumultuary way God Almighty is more pleased with Adverbs than Nouns and respects not so much the Justice or Lawfullness of the thing as that it be Justly and Lawfully done and I think the Case was not such here Three or more gather'd together do breed a disturbance of the Peace Mr. Lambert ' s â—irenarchâ— Lib. 2. c. 5. either by signification of Speech shew of Armour turbulent Gesture or express Violence so that the peaceable sort of Men be disturbed or the lighter sort embolden'd by the Example It is Turba a Rout And it has been said Decem So Kitchen page 20. multitudinem faciunt Ten make a Multitude What then must ten times ten not to say Hundreds and Thousands arm'd with Swords Clubbs Staves as many of these Demonstrators of their Love were Chap. 4 and throwing out Seditious Language as I have shewn before the did O but their Business was Petition The same said the Barons and Commonalty at Running-Mead in the 17th of King John But what came these for What but Matters that no way concern'd them Justice Justice against the Earl of Strafford Chap. 2 yet the Parliament of the 14th of Char. the 2d calls them arm'd Tumults as before For putting the Tower of London into confiding Hands Chap. 4 A City Guard for the Parliament And the Kingdom into a Posture of Defence c. But still what was this to them As if a Parliament must be beholding to a Fescue And their defensive Armies saith he were but listed Tumults So that now as a last Shift he turns the Question to a Quis prior induit arma When all the World knows That the Defensive part of it was the King's and the Parliament were the Aggressor's in that they had made their Associations rais'd an Army some Months before and made Essex General thereof the 12th of July 1642. Whereas the King set not up his Standard until the August following But stay say the King in defence of his Right had first drawn his Sword what Law of England warranted theirs When besides what Sir Edward Coke of whom so lately says No Subject can levy War without Authority from the King it appears that the ancient Law of England was ever such or the Parliament had never declar'd That both 1 Cat. 2. c. 2 or either of the Houses of Parliament neither can or lawfully may raise or levy War offensive or defensive against the King c. And will take no notice that those about him were the beginners of those Tumults That the King had his Guards about him was no more than what became the Majesty of a King and that the Loyal Gentry made their Appearances at Whitehall when they saw it beset with a kind of Gebal and Ammon and Ameleck a confus'd conflux of People which also the King had forbidden was but the least of their Duty But when he talks of listing and abusing and assaulting such as came peaceably to the Parliament and doing Violence to the Messengers sent from them it is such a Rapsodie of Stuff that no Man can credit upon his single Authority And therefore I leave it as I do the rest of this Matter it being either such as I have before spoken to or such as no Man that had not a hand in those Mischiefs had ever vented Yet before I go off to another I cannot but take notice how he says The King twits them with his Acts of Grace Proud and unself-knowing Words in the Mouth of any King who
Self-will they broke down a Wall CHAP. V. Vpon His Majesty's passing the Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and after settling this during the Pleasure of the two Houses PArliaments saith Sir Robert Cotton are the times in which Kings seem less than they are His Reign of Hen. III. p. 1 and Subjects more than they should be A smart Character whether we respect those Paaliaments of Henry the Third of whom it was spoken or that Parliament of 1640. of which we are now speaking And yet they are become so congenial and as it were bred up and embodied with the English Temper which as it naturally relishes nothing but what comes from them so it rarely disputes any thing that is transacted by them that some have thought this might be one reason that inclin'd His Majesty to pass these Bills though for my part I 'll believe no Man against the King when he says That the World might be confirm'd in my Purposes at first to contribute what in Justice Reason Honour and Conscience I could to the happy Success of this Parliament which had in me no other design but the general good of my Kingdoms I willingly passed the Bill for Triennial Parliaments Which as gentle and seasonable Physick might if well applied prevent any Distempers from getting any head or prevailing especially if the Remedy prov'd not a Disease beyond all Remedy And as to the other for settling this during the Pleasure of the Houses An Act saith the King unparallell'd by any of my Predecessors yet granted on an extream Confidence I had that my Subjects would not make an ill use of an Act by which I declar'd so much to trust them as to deny my self so high a Point of my Prerogative c. Whereas saith our Answerer He attributes the passing of them to his own Act of Grace and willingness as his manner is to make Vertues of his Necessities he gives himself all the Praise and heaps Ingratitude upon the Parliament to whom we owe what we owe for those beneficial Acts but to his granting them neither Praise nor Thanks No! and by what Law I would fain know is the King obliged to pass every Bill that is offered him He swears 't is true to defend the Laws i. e. Such Laws as are then in being but that obliges him to no futurity in granting every thing whether good or bad that shall be offer'd him And therefore unless he had shewn at least some one Act of Parliament that had not the Royal Assent to it he might with more Modesty have acknowledged that it was in the King's Option whether to have passed these Acts or not Sir Ed. Coke 4 â—â—nst 25. because neither of the Houses singly not both of them together can make any binding Law without the King's Concurrence which gives the Embryo Life and quickens it into 〈◊〉 Law But saith he The first Bill granted lesâ— than two former Statutes yet in force by Edward the Third that a Parliament should be called every Year or oftner if need were Very well anâ— there being no more in it it is somewhat strange methinks how the King could be necessitated to the passing it or that the Houses eveâ—â— desired it When all that he says to it is Thaâ— the King conceal'd not his unwillingness in testifying a general dislike of their Actions and told theâ— with a Masterly Brow that by this Act he had obliged them above what they had deserved And truly if the King had said it or given thaâ— Masterly Brow for which yet he brings nâ— Voucher but himself those subsequent Acts oâ— Parliament which repeal'd both these Acts have sufficiently evidenc'd their particular dislike of them also in that they nulled them And how well they were pleas'd with their Persons or their Actions the Statute of the 12th of Charles the Second before-mention'd may satisfie any Man And as to the other Act for settling their sitting c. The King saith he had by his ill Stewardship and to say no worse the needless raising of two Armies intended for a Civil War beggar'd both himself and the Publick Left us in score to his greedy Enemies their Brethren the Scots to dis-engage which great Sums were to be borrow'd which would never have been lent if he who first caused the Malady might when he pleas'd reject the Remedy And from thence and other the like dross meerly thrown in to help out Weight which yet he never gives he comes to this That it was his Fear not his Favour drew that first Act from him lest the Parliament incens'd by his Conspiracies against them should with the People have resented too heinously those his doings if to the suspicion of their danger from him he had also added the denial of this only means to secure themselves And now to examine it a little he charges the King with the needless raising two Armies intended for a Civil War What the Houses then intended was afterwards visible by its Effects a Civil War But that the King should intend it and at the same time divest himself of his Power is manifestly ridiculous For as he says himself 1641. this Bill was pass'd in May whereas the King besides his Journey into Scotland retired not from Whitehall till above half a Year afterwards and when he left it considering their respective Conditions might have as truly said Cum baculo transivi Jordanum istum And how then could he intend a Civil War Having as our Accuser says so beggar'd himself For what concerns the King's Enemies and their dear Brethren I refer it to its proper Place And for what relates to the Sums of Money to be borrow'd besides what I have already shewn how they were dispos'd of Chap. 1 I add this That they could not have put the Kingdom into a Posture of a Defence i. e. â—â—â—'d a Rebellion without it And withal considering that the King set not up his Standard till the August following 1642. he must have been much shorter sighted than our Answerer all along endeavours to make him to have design'd a War without Sir Edward Coke's Materials Firmamentum belli Ornamentum pacis which the Houses having taken his Revenue into their Hands all the World knew he wanted But the 〈◊〉 â—ot yet run to the end of the 〈…〉 King taxes them for undoing what they found well done Yet knows they undid nothing but Lord Bishops Liturgy Ceremonies c. judged worthy by all Protestants to be thrown out of the Church But what Protestants were they that so judg'd it Those of the Church of England were I am sure of another Opinion and the temporal Laws of the Kingdom had sufficiently establish'd them And therefore since Interest had so blinded his Intellect that he world not see were he now living I could tell him wherein they had undone what they found well done And because there are many yet in being who perhaps may be willing enough to be satisfied
the Power of levying Money to maintain it for twenty Years 2. That the King justifie the Proceedings of the Parliament in the late War and that all Declarations c. against them be declared void 3. That all Titles of Honour conferr'd by the King since the Great Seal was carried to Oxford in May 1642 be taken away 4. That the Parliament might adjourn themselves when where and for what time they pleas'd But the King refusing to grant them the Parliament Vote there should be no more Addresses made him And upon Cromwell's laying his Hand upon his Sword and telling them the People expected their Safety from them and not from a Man whose Heart God had hardned the Vote of Non-Addresses was made into an Ordinance and that it should be High-Treason to receive any Message from him And now Compassion for the King's Sufferings with the discovery of their Hypocrisie had begotten such a general Indignation against the Parliament that all Wales declare for the King The Surrey Men Petition the Parliament for a Personal Treaty the same was Kent coming up to have done but seeing how evilly those of Surrey had been Treated they threw away their Petition and took Arms under the Earl of Norwich The same did others at Maidstone Black-heath Kingstone c. Which though they were all defeated yet the Houses seeing how the Inclinations of the Kingdom went and Cromwell being out of the way in securing Edinburgh they revoke their Ordinance of Non-Addresses and send the King new Propositions not much easier than the former and upon his Answer to them they sent Commissioners to treat with him at Newport in the Isle of Wight Sept. 2. 16â—â— the Treaty to be transacted with Honour Freedom and Safety in which the King made such Concessions Decemb. 5. 16â—â— that it was resolv'd upon the question by the Commons That the King's Answers to the Propositions of both Houses are a ground for the House to proceed upon for the settling the Peace of the Kingdom But it seems they had been so long dodging about Trifles that Cromwell was come to London before any thing was done Nov. 20. 1648. For Fairfax and the General Officers had remonstrated and amongst other things requir'd That the Capital and grand Author of our Troubles the Person of the King be brought to Justice for the Treason Blood and Mischief he is therein guilty of c. But the Presbyterian Party standing strong to the Resolve aforesaid a Guard is set upon the House the major part of the Members are excluded and the King made a closer Prisoner in Carisbrook-Castle which brings me to these His Majesty's Meditations upon Death In which as from the precedent of several of his Predecessors both of England and Scotland well he might he makes this Judgment That there are but few steps between the Prisons and Graves of Princes And now we 'll see what this Accuser says when having lopp'd off more than three quarters of the Title that he may bring the rest to his own Model he goes on All other humane things are disputed and will be variously thought of to the World's end but this business of Death is a plain Case and admits no Controversie Nevertheless since out of those few mortifying Hours he can spare time enough to inveigh bitterly against that Iustice which was done upon him it will be needful to say something in defence of those Proceedings And makes this his Justice the Justification of that horrid Parricide from that universal Law Whosoever sheddeth Man's Blood by Man shall his Blood be shed And that other of Moses Ye shall not take Satisfaction for the Life of a Murtherer No exception in either of them And well may he call it Iustice when he so often blasphemes God in making him the Favourer of those the before unheard-of Villainies of that Usurpation and Tyranny as here also so wretchedly detorts Scripture to give it a Colour Whereas it was Injustice it self in its very Foundation as being directly contrary to the Law of God the Law of the Land and the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority To the Law of God whereby we are commanded First Negatively not to think ill of the King Curse not the King Eccles 10.20 no not in thy Thoughts Much less then may we speak it Thou shalt not speak Evil of the Ruler of thy People Exod. 22.18 Least of all may we do him hurt Touch not mine Anointed Secondly Affirmatively Psal 105.25 To Honour him as by the fifth Commandment and that with a Blessing annex'd to it That thy Days may be long in the Land To keep his Commandments Eccles 8.2 4. and that in regard of the Oath of God Neither may we give him any cause of Anger Prov. 20.2 for he that provoketh him sinneth against his own Soul And if thus far be true then I am sure it was Injustice to murther him To the Law of the Land Where besides what I have before said to the Soveraignty of the Crown of England to imagine the King's Death Chap. 6 To levy War against him in his Realm 25 Ed. 3. c. 2. or adhere to such as do so that it proveably appear by some Overt Act is high-High-Treason 3 Inst 12. The like is the Preparation by some Overt Act to take the King by force and strong hand and imprison him until he hath yielded to certain Demands And what must it then be to sit in Judgment upon him â— Ed. 3.19 who having neither Equal nor Superiour in his Realm cannot be Judged And greater than this what must it be to murther him And lastly contrary to the Practice of the Jews from whom he draws his Authority The Israelites had a hard Bondage under the Egyptians 〈◊〉 12 37. and yet that Moses whom he quotes and Six Hundred Thousand Footmen with him besides Children and a mix'd Multitude fled from Pharaoh 1 Sam 22.2 but did not rebel against him David in the head of an Army and those if we consider the Persons desperate enough fled from Saul And Eliah from Jezabel Seven Thousand Men yet left in Israel who had not bow'd their Knees to Baal 1 Kings 19.18 So that if Scripture Law or Practice have any Authority I think I need not labour the matter to prove it execrable as well as unjust Besides with what common Modesty could he tax the King with Blood when the Houses had form'd an Army so long before him as I have shewn before And therefore who shall be or was ever said to be guilty of the Blood spilt in a War the Aggressor or the Defendant when the Law chiefly regards the Original act Nor will Success more be able to alter the Nature of it than as says His Majesty The prosperous Winds which often â—ill the Sails of Pyrates do justifie their Pyracy and Rapine And were that true saith he which is most false
should neither censure them rigidly nor deny them the same mildness with which we commiserate the Infirmities of other Men Or at least if we must be prying and poring be so just to our selves as not to publish the Miscarriage and suppress the Vertue In a word let him that would make a true Judgment of this oppress'd King first consider his Circumstances and then tell me whether where he stretch'd his Authority he had not been first necessitated to it by those that murther'd him and whether the worst of his Actions were not superabundantly expiated with many good which our Accuser has so every where endeavour'd to silence and supplied with Calumnies that I 'll close all with that Abstract of Seneca's Epistles Xerxes 's Arrows may darken the Day but they cannot stâ—â—ke the Sun Waves may dash themselves upon a Rock but not break it Temples may be Prophan'd and Demolish'd but the Deity still remains untouch't THE CONTENTS THE Introduction page 1 Chap. I. Vpon the King's calling his last Parliament p. 13 Chap. II. Vpon the Earl of Strafford's Death p. 29 Chap. III. Vpon his going to the House of Commons p. 36 Chap. IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults p. 41 Chap. V. Vpon his Majesty's passing the Bill for the Triennial Parliaments and after settling this during the Pleasure of the two Houses p. 50 Chap. VI. Vpon his Majesty's retirement from Westminster p. 57 Chap. VII Vpon the Queen's Departure and Absence out of England p. 65 Chap. VIII Vpon His Majesty's repulse at Hull and the Fates of the Hothams p. 66 Chap. IX Vpon the Listing and raising Armies against the King p. 69 Chap. X. Vpon their seizing the King's Magazines Forts Navy and Militia p. 73 Chap. XI Vpon the Nineteen Propositions first sent to the King and more afterwards p. 76 Chap. XII Vpon the Rebellion and Troubles in Ireland p. 83 Chap. XIII Vpon the Calling in of the Scots and their coming p. 86 Chap. XIV Vpon the Covenant p. 91 Chap. XV. Vpon the many Jealousies rais'd and Scandals cast upon the King to stir up the People against him p. 98. Chap. XVI Vpon the Ordinance against the Common-Prayer Book p. 10â— Chap. XVII Of the differences between the King and the two Houses in point of Church-Government p. 10â— Chap. XVIII Vpon the Uxbridge Treaty anâ— other Offers made by the King p. 11â— Chap. XIX Vpon the various Events of the War Victories and Defeats p. 1â—â— Chap. XX. Vpon the Reformations of the Times p. 11â— Chap. XXI Vpon his Majesty's Letters taken anâ— divulg'd p. 11â— Chap. XXII Vpon His Majesty's leaving Oxford and going to the Scots p. 12â— Chap. XXIII Vpon the Scots delivering the King to the English and his Captivity at Holdenby p. 12â— Chap. XXIV Vpon their denying His Majâ—sty thâ— Attendance of his Chaplains viz. Dr. Juxon Bishop of London Dr. Duppa Bishop of Salisbury Dr. Sheldon Dr. Hammond Dr. Holdsworth Dr. Sanderson Dr. Turner Dr. Heywood p. 125 Chap. XXV Penitential Meditations and Vowâ— in the King 's Solitude at Holdenby p. 126 Chap. XXVI Vpon the Army's sâ—rprizâ—d of thâ— King at Holdenby and the ensuing Distraction in the Two Houses the Army and the City p. 127 Chap. XXVII To the Prince of Wales p. 134 Chap. XXVIII Meditations upon Death after thâ— Votes of Non-addresses and His Majesty's closer Imprisonment in Carisbrook-Castle p. 135 VINDICIAE CAROLINAE OR A VINDICATION OF 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Introduction IN every Action consider the End so shalt thou not be ashamed of thy Work was a wise Saying and had this Effect upon me That I no sooner resolv'd with my self to make some Reply to this Answer of Mr. Milton's than I began to consider three things and as I thought necessary for the better carrying it on Which in short are these 1. To what End this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was first Written 2. To what End and that after a forty odd Years interval it came to be reprinted at Amsterdam too and with an Advertisement before it 3. What end I propos'd to my self in making this Reply I. As to the first let the Book speak for it self and there are few Leaves in it but visibly declare that Milton's end was To justifie the unparallell'd Villainies of his own time Et quorun pars magna fuit Wherein the best of Monarchies was shook to pieces by the worst oâ— Men A King whose only Crime was his being King disarm'd by one Faction and in thaâ— condition left to the growing Designs of another and the merciless Cruelty of both Thâ— Fountain of all Law Justice and Honour publickly arraign'd sentenc'd and assassinated bâ— the Tail of the People and that too under the false detorted Names of Law Justice and Honour of the Nation and God as impiously brought in against himself to Patronize thâ— Parricide to defend the Tyrranny of an usurping Commonwealth against their naturaâ— Liege Lord and Sovereign to vindicatâ— those dreggs of Mankind from what thâ— World then thought them and a later Statutâ— has since declared them 1. Cor. 2. c. 14. viz. The most traiterous Conspiracies and armed power of Usurping Tyrants and Execrable Perfidiouâ— Traitors And lastly as if it were not enough to have murther'd Him in his Authority as 〈◊〉 King and his Person as a Man to murtheâ— Him over again in His Fame and Memory This Milton the Gall and bitterness of whosâ— Heart had so taken away his Taste and Judgment that to write and be scurrillous werâ— the same with him is dead 't is true and shoulâ— have been forgotten by me but that in thiâ— new Impression he yet speaketh To write and be scurâ—illous I said were the same with him Witness his Pro populo Anglicano Desensioâ— against Salmatius a learned Knight hiâ— Defensionem Regiam and who as such might have deserv'd the Civility of a modest Language Yet thus he begins with him Quamquam tibi vano homini ventoso multum arrogantiae multum superbiae Salmati c. and further calls him Grammaticaster Stramineus Eques and the like stuff which proves nothing but the insolence of the Writer That he wrote good Latin will be readily granted but with this remark That it was Billingsgate in Rome As also That he was a Person of a large thought and wanted not Words to express those Conceptions but never so truly as when the Argument and his deprav'd temper met together Witness his Paradise lost where he makes the Devil Who though fallen had not given Heaven for lost speak at that rate himself would have done of the Son of this Royal Martyr upon his Restauration had he thought it convenient when in his Paradise regain'd he is so indifferent poor and starvling as if he never expected any benefit by it But enough of him and I wish I had not met this just Occasion of having said so much II. To what end it was reprinted c. Glory had departed from the Israel of those
Example of both Fortunes and of a Mind unchang'd in the greatest change of either A Prince Learned Eloquent Affable Courteous and born for the Good of Mankind his Lot had fallen among a better People One iâ— a word who if he had any fault it was hâ— not timely adverting his Father's dear-bough Experience who thus confesses of himself Where I thought by being gracious at thâ— beginning to win all Men's Hearts to a loving and willing Obedience Basilicen Doron p. 23. I on the contrary found the disorder of the Country anâ— the loss of my Thanks to be all my Reward Which how truly it was verified in this Hâ—â— Son will be the Subject of the ensuing Discourse And so I come to this Accuser and hiâ— Book in the examining which I shall follow his own Method and as he pretends to answer the King make him a suitable Reply and thaâ— also with as much brevity as I can for neither needeth so much Barbarity any Aggravation nor so plentiful an Argument as the Vindication of an oppress'd King any Art to inforâ—â— it But I stay too long in the Porch The King's Meditations are thus Intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as the English Title speaks it Thâ— Portraicture of His Sacred Majesty And this Answer of Milton's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the Breaker-in-pieces of that Portraicture Which how he has done Sub Judice Lâ—est CHAP. I. Vpon the King's calling his last Parliament THAT saith he which the King lays down here as his first Foundation Milton p. 1. and as it were the Head Stone of his whole Structure That he called this last Parliament not more by others advice and the necessity of his affairs than by his own choice and inclination is to all knowing Men so apparently not true that a more unlucky and inauspicious Sentence and more betokening the downfal of his whole Fabrick hardly could have come into his Mind And a good mannerly beginning A Man may not say to the King What dost thou and yet it seems may tell him Eccles 8.4 He lyes And without proving any thing but throwing it out boldly that somewhat may stick charges the Court Parasites as he calls them with their averseness to Parliaments and that the King never called a Parliament but to supply his Necessities and having supplied those as suddenly and ignominiously dissolv'd it without redressing any one Grievance of the People And broke off the Parliament at his coming to the Crown for no other cause than to protect the Duke of Buckingham against them who had accused him besides other heinous Crimes of no less than poysoning the deceased King his Father In reply to which it is but necessary to take notice of the condition of that time The Parliament had engaged King James in a War with Spain in which the Parliment 1 Car. 1. deserted his Son He had a large Dominion and a flourishing Kingdom left him but as I said a War and an empty Treasury with it beside which King James died in Debt To the City of London One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pounds Vid. Annals of K. Charles 1 â—in Râ—â— 1. and â—â—r Râ—â—w Câ—ileet 1 Paâ—â— Fâ— 179. besides Interest For Denmark and the Palatinate One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pounds For his Wardrobe Forty Thousand Pounds Laid out for his Navy Twenty Thousand Pounds For Count Mansfield Twenty Thousand Pounds For the Expence of his Fathers Funeral Forty two Thousand Pounds For the Queen Forty Thousand Pounds And to equip and pay the Navy for the Expedition for the Palatinate Three Hundred Thousand Pounds And what was worse than all this there had follow'd King James out of Scotland a sort of People whom himself calls Puritans very Pests in the Church and Common-weal whom no deserts can oblige Basâ—â—â—n Dorâ—â— p. 31. nor Oaths or Promises bind breathing nothing but Sedition and Calumnies aspiring without measure railing without reason and making their own Imaginations the Square of their Conscience These Men had by degrees spread themselves through City and Country and watch'd the People like Hawks so long till they could do any thing with them and sow what they pleas'd as they found them napping Nor wanted there some of the same Kidney here among our selves who under the specious pretences of easing the People had got the command of most of their Purse-strings King James 't is true might have helpt it at first if his Beati Pacisici that is Give Peace in our time O Lord had not been too much in his Light by which means all Remedies in his Son's time came too late and joyn'd with the Disease to the destruction of the Body In this Case what could King Charles the First do Monarchy is more Ancient and Independant than Parliaments and yet their Advice and Assistance makes it more compacted He calls a Parliament in the first Year of his Reign which sate not long And another in his Second in which he lets them know his and the Kingdoms condition and particularly that of the Palatinate Instead of answering which they fall into Debates and Reflections against the Duke of Buckingham and at a Conference of both Houses Vid. The 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in 〈…〉 p. 15. â—â— 1. p. 104. the Commons deliver in an Impeachment of thirteen Articles against him the last of which was That the King being sick of an Ague at Theobald's the Duke had given him a Plaister and a Posset-drink without the Advice and Consultation of his Physicians Three days after the King by message to them takes upon himself as having full knowledge of all those transactions to clear the Duke of every one of those Articles Pâ—â—â— Câ—◠〈…〉 However the Duke makes his Defence to the Lords and puts in his Answer and Plea to the Impeachment made against him by the Commons And to the thirteenth Article says That having been recovered himself of an Ague by a Plaister and Posset-drink given him by a Physician of the Earl of Warwick's the King impatiently press'd to have it but was delayed by the Duke who pray'd the King not to make use of it but 〈◊〉 the Advice of his own Physicians nor till it wâ—â— tryed upon one Palmer of the Bed-Chambeâ— then also sick of an Ague which the King said he would do However the Duke being goâ—â— to London the King would have it and 〈◊〉 took it and upon his return hearing a Rumoâ—â— that the Physick had done the King hurt as that it had been administred by him withoâ—â— Advice the Duke acquaints the King with iâ—â— who with much discontent answer'd thus Theâ— are worse than Devils that say it And so having put in his Answer the Duke moves thâ— Lords that the Commons might expedite the Reply Instead of doing which they Petitioâ— the King against Papists and suspected Papist holding Places of Authority and Trust in thâ—â— Kingdom and draw a Remonstrance againâ— the Duke and Tonnage and Poundage
oâ— which that Parliament was dissolv'd by Commission Whereas this Accuser would peâ—swade the World that the King broke off thâ— Parliament for no other cause than to proteâ—â— the Duke against them who had accused him 〈◊〉 no less than the poisoning his Father And trâ—ly I was once wondring why he said nothing touching the Parliament of the third of King Charles till I considered it was in that Parliament that the King past the Petition of Right with Soit Droit sait come il est desire He found it was not for him and therefore resolv'd iâ— should make nothing against him When oâ—â— the contrary he reproaches the King with illegal Actions to get Money least considering iâ— was the Art of that time to reduce the King to Necessity to the end that being forced to extraordinary means he might attract a popular Odium And here also he quarrels at Straws and rather than not want matter he 'll find a Knot in a Bullrush For what other can he make of those Compulsive Knighthoods Milt p. 2. when the King had the Statute of 1 Edw. 2. De militibus to warrant it In like manner for the Ship-money The Dutch in the Year 1634. had encroach'd upon the Royalty of the Northern Seas upon which the King so loath was He to do any thing that might but seem illegal writes to the Judges and demands their Opinions in Writing whether when the good or safety of the Kingdom in general is concern'd the King may not by Writ under the Great Seal command all His Subjects of this Kingdom to furnish a certain number of Ships and Men for such time as the King shall think fit and by Law compel the doing it in case of refusal And whether in such a case he is not the sole Judge both of the danger of the Kingdom and when and how the same is to be prevented and avoided V. The case and all the Arguments on both sides Printed in 4 to As also in the said Annals from p. 550. to p. 600. To which every one of the twelve Judges repeating the very Words of the King's Letter subscribed their names in the Affirmative And though J. Hutton and J. Crooke afterwards fell off yet upon arguing the matter by all the Judges in the Exchequer-Chamber in the Case of Mr. Hambden the majority of them gave their Opinions for the Writs on which the Barons gave Judgment Then for Monopolies every thing is not a Monopoly that may be call'd so and therefore because he gives no particular instance either as to them or the King 's seizing Naboth's Vineyard as he calls it Inheritances under the pretence of Forest and Crown-Lands and Corruption and Bribery compounded for I say no more but this that Generals imply nothing and consequently deserve no particular Answer But this I know that in the Parliament of 44 oâ— Queen Elizabeth a Bill was preferr'd for Explanation of the Common Law in certain cases of Letters Patents V. Sir Simon D'ewe's Journal of the Commons 44. Eliz. viz. touching Monopolies and was strongly bandied on both sides Oâ— this the Queen sends them a Message That a she was not conscious to herself she had granted Letters Patents of any thing that was Maluâ— in se V. Townsend ' s Câ—llections 44. Eliz. so when it should appear that she had made any such Grant it should be revok'd or otherwise redressed on which the Common make her an humble Address of Thanks and a Grant of Subsidies and yet I do not find the Queen ever did any thing in it But what the King did as to the Grievances for that was the Word I shall come to shew presently The next thing he trumps up is The King'â— having the second time levied an injurious War against his Native Country Milt p. 3. Scotland a Waâ— saith he condemned and abominated by the wholâ— Kingdom and which the Parliament judged one oâ— their main Grievances Nor without reason for that was a cover'd Dish and had been long before cooking for their own Tooth They knew it would keep cold for another time and the King was not yet become necessitous enough to have it opened at present But to observe the wording it The King levied an unjust War c. As if a King might not defend himself against the Rebellion of his natural Lieges For such and no other was the case here But the Story is thus The King in the Sixteenth of his Reign had call'd another Parliament which opened 13. April 1640. at which time the Scots with an armed Force lay upon the Borders His Majesty by Sir J. Finch Lord Keeper tells them of the Scots Insurrection the Summer before V. Rushw Coll. 16. Car. 1. which he had pass'd by upon their Protestations of their future Loyalty instead of which they had now address'd to the King of France to put themselves under his Protection and causes an intercepted Letter of theirs signed by the heads of those Covenanters one of whom was then in Custody to be publickly read and therefore demands a Supply The Commons consider of it and pay it with complaints Innovation in Religion Grievances against Liberty Property and Privilege of Parliament The King sends several times to the Houses and presses to them the danger of the Scots Army but the question is which shall have the Precedency The Supply or Grievances The Lords are for the former and that the King ought to be first trusted The Commons are so long a tuning their Instrument that the King in despair of any good Musick from 'em dissolves them the Fifth of May following From which our Accuser thus infers that strong Necessities and the very pangs of State Milt p. 3. not his own Choice and Inclination made him call this Monstrum Horrendum Informe Ingens last Parliament which began the third of November 1640. when yet he brings nothing to back his Assertion but the scurrillous Language of the General Voice of the People almost hissing him and his ill-acted Regality off the Stage That it was impossible be should incline to Parliaments who never was perceived to call them but for the greedy hope of a National Bribe his Subsidies and never lov'd fulfill'd or promoted the true end of Parliaments the redress of Grievances of which himself was indeed the Author Not doubting also to call it a natural Sottishness fit to be abused and ridden And if this be the Reverence due to Majesty this the Respect we pay the Vicegerent of God sure Job was mistaken when he says Is it fit to say to a King Thou art Wicked and to Princes Job 34.18 Ye are ungodly The interrogation is in the Affirmative and concludes in the Negative No certainly it is not fit St. Paul checks a bare slip of his Tongue toward the High Priest Acts 25.5 Jude v. 9. Zach. 3.2 and the Arch-Angel in Jude brought not a railing Accusation even against the Devil And yet when
left Complaints of Grievances Innovations in Religion Growth of Popery and Arbitrary Power and single out the Earl of Strafford for an example of their Justice The King I said was got into the matter and had discover'd whose Correspondencies and Engagements they were that had embroil'd his Kingdoms and ordered his Attorney to draw a Charge of High-Treason against the Lord Kimbolton Mr. Pym Mr. Hanbden Mr. Hollis Sir Ar. Haslerigg and Mr. Strode Which was accordingly done and the substance of it is this That they have Traiterously endeavour'd to subvert the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom Saudeâ—sin's Hist of K.C.I. Fol. 473. and to deprive the King of his Power That they have endeavoured by foul Aspersions to alienate the Peoples affections from the King That they have traiterously invited and encourag'd a foreign Power to invade His Majesties Kingdom of England That for the compleating their traiterous designs they have actually rais'd and countenanc'd Tumults against the King and Parliament And that they have traiterously conspired to levy and actually have levied War against the King Nelson 2d Part F. 811. ad idom On this the King having first demanded them of the House by a Serjeant at Arms a Warrant is granted to apprehend them but missing their Persons Id. Fol. 514. their Trunks are seiz'd and seal'd up While this was yet doing the Commons had notice of it and thereupon Vote That on all like occasions for the future any Member might call a Constable to his assistance defend himself and seize all such Persons The next Morning the King goes to the House with part of his ordinary Guard of Pensioners and orders them to stay without and having rested himself in the Speaker's Chair told them He came to demand five Persons whom he had accused of High Treason Id. Sander Fol. 474. And though no King that ever was in England could be more tender of their Privileges that yet they knew there was no Privilege against Treason So Sir Fâ— Coke a â—â—st 25. And looking round him I see faith he they are gone But assured them in the word of a King that he never intended any force but to proceed against them in a legal fair way and therefore expected the House would send them to him and so went off Nor was he yet out of hearing when the general Cry was Privilege Privilege And the next day they Vote this coming of the King a breach of Privilege and adjourn for a Week into London there to sit as a General Committee pretending they were not safe at Westminster and though the King afterwards wav'd their Prosecution would not be satisfied unless he also discover'd who gave him that Counsel to come to the House as if it were not enough that he for bore his Enemies without he also betray'd his Friends Upon this Tumult upon Petition and Petition upon Tumult daily encreasing the King Queen Prince and Duke retire to Hampton-Court the Members in the mean time passing to and from Westminster with Hundreds of Boats Flags Seamen Rabble and Huzza's as they pass'd by Whitehall And now again judge any sober Man between the King and them The King to avoid the ill consequence of a denial gave his Assent to the Bill of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford He demands Justice against the five Members and 't is refus'd him If they were guilty why were they protected against him And if not guilty why did they not clear themselves The King came to the House with an attendance short of his ordinary Guard and it was Voted a Breach of Privilege They had their armed Tumults of Six Thousand at a time to awe the King's Friends and no notice taken of it but rather encourag'd Whereas it is Lex consuetudo Parliamenti That wheresoever the Parliament is holden Sir F. Coke 3 Inst 160. there ought to be no wearing of Armour exercise of Plays games of Men Wothen or Children much less Riots What shall I add They in the Year 1647. submitted eleven of their Members to the impeachment of an Army after that their House to be garbled and when contrary to the Fundamental Laws of this Kingdom they had voted themselves the Legislative Power of the Nation as tamely submitted to be turn'd out by their Journey-Men And yet when the safety of the Nation was at stake insolently contend nay mate it with their Sovereign And therefore weighing altogether in a true Balance judge I say wherein the King was to blame or where lay this breach of Privilege And for what His Majesty's Intention in this matter was besides what has been before urg'd take this further from himself where he says If he purpos'd any Violence or Oppression against the Innocent then let the Enemy persecute my Soul tread my Life to the Ground and lay my Honour in the Dust To which this Accuser thus What needs there more disputing He appeal'd to God's Tribunal and behold God hath judged and done to him in the sight of all Men according to the Verdict of his own Mouth Whereas in Common Humanity as a Man Charity as a Christian Reverence to him as a King and Duty as his King he might and that truly have said 2 Sam. 3.34 As a Man falleth before wicked Men so fell'st thou The Breath of our Nostrils Lam. 4.10 the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their Pits of whom we said under His shaddow we shall live among the Heathen CHAP. IV. Vpon the Insolency of the Tumults WHat and how frequent the Tumults of London and Westminster that follow'd the convening of this Parliament were is obvious enough to every Man that knows the least of our own Story and how aptly His Majesty has compar'd them not to a Storm at Sea which yet wants not its Terror but an Earthquake which shakes the very Foundations of all may be also as visible from the too sad effects of them Earthquakes the more general they are do less hurt by reason of the united weight which they offer to subvert whereas narrow and particular Earthquakes have many times overturn'd whole Towns and Cities And such was the Case here The Kingdom as yet stood well enough witness those the Nobility and Gentry who out of a principle of Honour and Honesty adhered to the King Some humours t is true might glow and estuate in the Body but they were not yet got into the Head That Ricketty Head that was already swoll'n too big for the Body But when they once discover'd that Vent all gather'd to it and shook those Foundations which the Wisdom of so many Centuries had been laying and securing as I shall come to show presently In the mean time our Answerer for what concerns the King's Words says The matter here is not whether the King or his Houshold Rhetorician have made a Pithy Declamation against Tumults but first whether they were Tumults or not next if they were whether the King himself did not
affects not to be a God c. Whereas it was not of his Grace but of his Duty and his Oath to grant them But being neither of the King's Duty nor his Oath Chap. 6 Chap. 6. as I have already shewn it remains that they were Acts of Grace for he might have chosen whether he would have granted them or not And yet his Majesty does not as he maliciously says it twit them but in a kind of Soliloquy to his Soul Is this saith he the reward and thanks that I am to receive for those many Acts of Grace I have lately passed and for those many Indignities I have endur'd Is there no way left to make me a glorious King but by my Sufferings It was the common Protestation of all their Addresses but how well they perform'd it the World is not to learn While they were yet in pursuit it was matter of Grace but once obtain'd it turn'd to a loathing Or taking it in a middle Sense not that he twitted but minded them of what he had done a modest way of refreshing their Memories and wherein can it justly be blam'd Especially considering all he had done was but a kind of Limming the Water to them who like Tiberius when one that had been formerly Serviceable to him thus addressed him You may remember Caesar No says Caesar cutting him short I do not remember what I was Nor must there ever better be expected from Ingratitude which like a vitiated Stomach turns the best Nourishment into the Disease CHAP. X. Vpon their seizing the King's Magazines Forts Navy and Militia HOW untruly saith his Majesty I am charg'd with the first raising an Army and the beginning this Civil War the Eyes that only pity me and the loyal Hearts that durst only pray for me at first may Witness My unpreparedness for a War may well dishearten those that would help me while it argues truly my unwillingness to fight yet it testifies for me that I am set on the defensive Part having so little hopes or Power to defend others that I have none to defend my self or preserve what is my own from their prereption To which one Answerer after his wonted way To put the matter soonest out of Controversy who was the first beginner of this Civil War may be discern'd not only by the first Act of Hostility but by the Counsels and Preparations foregoing in all which the King was the foremost But what he means by that first Act of Hostility unless it were the beating off that Club-rabble from before Whitehall I cannot conjecture and if that be all I have spoken to it before and shewn that the King did no more than what any Private Man might have justified the doing of Chap. 4 And for the Counsels c. he instances in the design of German Horse Billetting of Soldiers c. when yet he knew himself it was to no other end but the carrying on the War for the recovery of the Palatinate wherein the Parliament had engag'd the King his Father The Pulpits sounded no other Doctrine than that which gave all Property to the King and Passive Obedience to the Subject And truly if they did the former they were to blame though till I have better Authority that they did so I shall not believe it And for the latter however the London and Westminster Pulpits thumb'd no Text oftner than that of Curse ye Meroz c. and nuzzled the People into a resisting the King they never applied the Doctrine of Non-Resistance to the two Houses And for Exactions and Disarmings The redress of the former was no sooner pray'd than granted and for the latter it seems strange he should tax the King with that which was the constant Modus of that Parliament Not unlike the Woman that beat her Husband and cry'd Murther to raise the Neighbours And for so much concludes That the King was the first beginner of these Civil Wars as in the Treaty of the Isle of Wight he charg'd it upon himself and acquitted the Parliament A bold Assertion and so contrary to all the King's Declarations and every Man's Knowledge that it is not to be believ'd It was hard press'd on him 't is true but that he did it appears no where Yet if he did so what kind of Men were those Commons that threw by their King's Concessions and made those desperate Votes of Non-Addresses and that it should be Treason to receive any Paper or Message from him Nor wanted they Malice to have urg'd such a Confession if any against himself when they Voted 4 Jan. 45. That the King took Arms against the Parliament and ought to expiate it with his own Blood So easie a thing it was to Murther him with his own Sword having as our Answerer confesses Milton p. 55. wrung the Militia out of his Hands CHAP. XI Vpon the Nineteen Propositions first sent to the King and more afterwards OF the Nineteen Propositions saith our Answerer he names none in particular neither shall the Answer but he insists upon the old Plea of his Conscience Honour and Reason and either of them to all honest Men a peremptory Plea This of the King 's was a discourse to himself and therefore to what End should he say more of them than what he does viz. If nothing else will satisfie I must chuse rather to be as Miserable and Inglorious as my Enemies can make or wish me Whereas our Answerer that knew them so well ought first to have told us what they were and then shewn the Unreasonableness of the King's Refusal But that he knew had been to Undeceive the People and therefore slubber'd them under the General Name of the Nineteen Propositions a Word of many Syllables Men have in their Mouths but how few of them are there that know what it means What therefore he so maliciously suppress'd I have with all Faithfulness summ'd and made such Remarks on them as followeth 1. That the Lords c. of the Privy-Council and all Great Officers of State be removed save only such as shall be approv'd by Both Houses and none put in their Places but by like Approbation The Power hereby claimed was either Originally in the People or it was not If it was they ought to have shown it if it was not the Demand was Unjust and consequently not to have been demanded 2. That the Great Affairs of the Kingdom be Transacted only in Parliament and Privy-Council Matters by such as shall be chosen by the Parliament And that no publick Act of Council be esteemed valid as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be sign'd by the major Part of the Council nor vacant Place therein supply'd without the Assent of the Major Part and that also to be void if not confirmed by the next Parliament This was to set the Cipher before the Figure and make the King a kind of Jupiter in Lucian a Thing of a Swelling Name but bound up to Fate 3.
That the Lord High-Steward of England Lord High-Constable Lord Chancellor Nine other Principal Officers the Two Chief Justices and Chief Baron be always chosen with the Approbation of Both Houses and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Major Part of the Council The same may be said to this as to the First with this farther that though the like had been often attempted it never continued longer than the Rebellion that set it on foot 4. That the Government of the King's Children be committed to such as Both Houses shall approve of and in the Intervals of Parliament by the Privy Council And the Servants then about them against whom the Houses have just Exception to be removed This had been to abridge the King of that Privilege which the meanest of Subjects has in his Family nor had themselves yet try'd it in theirs 5. That no Marriage for any of them be treated or concluded without Consent of Parliament The same also here as to the Fourth 6. That the Law in Force against Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants be strictly put is Execution And where had the King ever refused it 7. That the Votes of Popish Lords in the House of Peers be taken away This had been to take away their Birth-right a Right as ancient as any thing but the Monarchy it self 8. The the King will be pleased to reform the Church-Government and Liturgy as both Houses shall advise This had been already settled by several Acts of Parliament 9. That he would rest satisfied with what they have done for ordering the Militia and recall his Declarations and Proclamations against it This confesses an Usurpation upon the King 's Right and in that who began the War For if it were not so what need was there for the King to recall his Declarations c. when in doing it he had made himself Guilty of the War and all the Blood therein spill'd 10. That such Members as have been put out of any Place or Office since this Parliament began be restored or have Satisfaction But how does this agree with the Self-denying 11. That all Privy Counsellors and Judges take an Oath to be settled by Act of Parliament for the Maintenance of the Petition of Right and certain Statutes made by them The Judges are ex Officio oblig'd to take notice of a General Act of Parliament and such the Petition of Right is but who knew what those Acts of this Parliament might be 12. That all Judges and Officers plac'd by Approbation of the Houses may hold their Places quamdiu se bene gesserint To the intent that if any Confiding Person how Ignorant or Factious soever had been approv'd by them it should not be in the King's Power to remove him without a Sute at Law in which themselves or their Creatures were sure to be Judges 13. That all Delinquents whether within the Kingdom or fled out of it and all Persons cited by either House may appear and abide the Censure of Parliament That is all such Persons as upon an innate Honour according to their Duty and the Statute of the 11th of Henry VII had stood firm and Loyal to the King against their Usurpation 14. That the General Pardon offered by his Majesty be granted with such Exceptions as shall be advised by Both Houses But who knew what those Exceptions might be Saving this that they intended them not to any of themselves A thing that carried Rancour and Venom in it and which was his Majesty's whole drift to take off 15. That all Forts and Castles be put into such Hands as the King with Approbation of Both Houses shall appoint That is to keep them in their own Hands as they were when yet the Undoubted Right was the King's and the Grant of it had given away the Sovereignty An old Trick which together with the Three first Propositions they borrow'd from Montfort's Rebellion in Henry III.'s Time 16. That the King 's Extraordinary Guards 〈◊〉 discharg'd and none rais'd for the Future but according to Law in Case of actual Rebellion and Invasion Like the Wolves in the Fable that would come to no Terms with the Sheep unless they first discharg'd their Dogs Whereas his Majesty had not rais'd those Guards but according to Law in the Case of an actual Rebellion a◠Home and a then threatning Invasion from the Scots 17. That his Majesty enter into a more strict Alliance with the Vnited Provinces and other Neighbour Protestant Princes and States The King is the only Supream Arbiter of Peace and War and what honourable Alliance with any of them had he ever refus'd 18. That his Majesty be pleased by Act of Parliament to clear the Lord Kimbolton and the Five Members If they were Guilty why should they be less brought to Tryal than were Canterbury and Strafford And if they were Innocent what need of an Act of Parliament to clear them 19. That a Bill be passed for restraining Pears made hereafter from sitting or voting in Parliament unless they be admitted with Consent of Both Houses The King is the Fountain of Honour and to have granted this Article had been if not to damm up that Fountain to turn it into another Channel Nor could the King have done it without a manifest Contradiction to himself I have blessed him said Isaac and he shall be blessed Such were these Propositions this at Least the true Substance of them which if his Majesty had conceded to what other were it than as himself says of it As if Sampson should have consented not only to bind his own Hands and cut off his Hair but to put out his own Eyes that the Philistines might with the more Safety Mock and Abuse him He had rendred himself not a half Duke of Venice nor much better than that Inutile lignum of which Horace speaks who Serm. l. 1. Sat. 8. tho' he were God of the Gardens could not keep a Crow from muting upon his Head Nor ought they says his Majesty to have been obtruded upon him with the Point of a Sword nor urg'd with the Injuries of a War To which our Answerer in his bold Way And which of the Propositions were obtruded upon him with the Point of the Sword till he first with the Point of the Sword thrust from him both the Propositions and the Propounders Which how egregiously and scandalously False it is let any Man judge Rush 2. part 307. when these Propositions were not sent the King till the Second of June 1642. Five Months before which they had not only forced him from Whitehall but disposed of the Militia as appears by the Ninth Proposition where they pray the King that he would rest satisfied with what they ordered in it As resolv'd it seems that Will or Nill he should And thence he runs off again to the Coronation Oath and That the Parliament is the King 's Superiour Chap. 6 Touching which I have said so much already and not from any
single Opinion of my own but the Authority of the Law that I think it needless actum agere Only when he says The Noblest Romans when they stood for that which was a kind of Regal Honour the Consulship were wont in a submissive manner 〈◊〉 go about and beg that Highest Dignity of the Meanest Plebeians which was call'd Petitio Consulatûs He would have done well to have cover'd his Hook a little better if he ever expected to catch any Fish If he had said they chuse their Consuls as we do our Knights of the Shire he that has most Voices carries it bating the Ambitus it had been well enough But when he speaks of a King of England what Mischief brought it into his Head to confound the Irregular Practices of a Democratical State with the settled Constitutions of an Hereditary Imperial Monarchy which this of England is or those several Statutes as well as Common Law of which before are grosly mistaken And therefore for the rest it bring but mere catching at Words whereby to wrest the Sence I had as good leave it and go to somewhat else CHAP. XII Vpon the Rebellion and Troubles in Ireland IT is the Nature of Flies to be ever buzzing and blowing upon any thing that is raw and has been the only design of our Answerer throughout his whole Book not to deliver Things as they truly were but to rake together old exploded Forgeries that having dress'd up the King as like a Tyrant as he can he may have the more to say in Defence of the Parricide It is the Way of Witches to foretell those Storms themselves intend to move Nor had the Contrivers of ours been wanting to that Part of it but the Earl of Strafford's Watchful Eye lay so close for them that nothing could be done unless they first brought his Masts by the Board And having gotten that Point of him and the Rebellion of Ireland falling close upon it they only make an advantage of it and buzze the People that it was done with the King's Privity at least if not by his Commission Whereby to represent him to the World as the more Inhumane and Barbarous Nor is this our Accuser less wanting to insinuate it over again when he says That it cannot be imaginable that the Irish guided by so many Italian Heads should have so far lost the Vse of Reason and common Sense as not supported with other Strength than their own to begin a War so desperate and irreconcilable against both England and Scotland at once without some Authority from England or great Assistance promised them and assurance which they had in private that no remedy should be apply'd against them All which being merely conjectural by the same Reason it may be true by the same Reason also it may be false without there were somewhat more than Words to evince the Truth of it And so taking that for granted which should have been first proved he audaciously Charges the King as the Prime Author of that Rebellion though both here and elsewhere he denies it with many Imprecations but no solid Evidence And how solid his on the other hand are may be worth the viewing It is most certain saith he that the King was ever friendly to the Irish Papists and in his Third Year against the plain Advice of Parliament sold them Indulgences for Money and engaged them in a War against the Scotch Protestants What he means by that Sale of Indulgences I know not nor does any History of ours that I yet met direct me to it The Irish were his Majesty's Subjects as well as the Scots and if he was friendly to them though Papists he did but the part of a prudent Father who seldom chucks one Child more than another for fear of breeding a Quarrel in the Family And besides though the Scots were Protestants there is not any one English Law against Papists i◠Force in Ireland and Sanguinary Law none◠But that the King engaged them in a War against the Scots wants Proof and as such I pass it To this he adds That several of the most active Papists all since in the Head of that Rebellion were in great Favour at Whitehall and in Private Consultations with the King and Queen and that he gave them more than Five Irish Counties at an inconsiderable Rent And for the Proof of all this quotes a Scotch Author but says not a Word who or what this Author was Tho' if he had call'd him Squire Meldrum the Cherry and the Sloe or David Lindsey against Side-Tails it had past not a Jot the worse with the People If they were in great Favour at Court it was no more than what the Scots also were if they had private Consultations c. Charity would have presum'd the best and that it was in order to the Quiet and Peace of that Kingdom and if the King gave them Five Counties he gave but his own which if he had shared among the Five Members we had not perhaps heard a Word of the Story But that they should ungratefully rebel against him how could he more foresee it of them than he did of the Scots And after this if any Vnderstanding Man yet doubts who was the Author and Instigator of that Rebellion I referr them saith he to that Declaration of July 1643 concerning this Matter Very good The Word of a King is but the bare denial of one Man and what is one Man against the Credit of Both Houses though they were Judges Witnesses and Parties I offerred saith his Majesty to go my self in Person upon that Expedition But happy it was that his going into Ireland was not consented to saith the other for certainly he had turn'd his intended Forces against the Parliament Whereas it seems more probable that without this Rebellion in Ireland they could never have rais'd their Rebellion in England For upon the Credit of the Acts for the borrowing of 400000 l. for the necessary Defence of England and Ireland Both of them 17 Car. 1. and for the Encouragement of Adventurers for the reducing the Rebels in Ireland they got ready Moneys into their Hands V. His Majesty's Answer to their Irish Papers In his Large Book f. 537. and rais'd Forces as was pretended for the Relief of that Kingdom but in truth fought the King with them at Edge-hill But enough of this Matter CHAP. XIII Vpon the Calling in of the Scots and their coming AND here again our Answerer lays his Foundation to this Chapter upon what he has so often run off to before and been by me and I hope fully answered That the first Original and Institution of Kings was by the Consent and Suffrage of the People and calls them the entrusted Servants of the Commonwealth but in his wonted way says not a Word how they came by this Power of choosing i. e. whether it were given them by God or they took it themselves If God gave it them he ought one
would think to have prov'd where when and how at least rendred it probable that there was once some such thing done though the Grant be lost And if they took it themselves it was Unjust in its Original and consequently they had no more Right to chuse their Kings than Children have to chuse their Fathers And yet from this false Position magisterially determines That Kings do no Acts of Grace and Bounty but in discharge of their publick Duty The Sum of the King's Discourse saith he is against settling Religion by violent Means and yet never did thing more eagerly than to molest and persecute the Consciences of most religious Men and made a War and lost all rather than not uphold an Hierarchy of persecuting Bishops That Consciences are not to be forced but to be reduced by force of Truth aid of Time and use of good Means of Instructions and Perswasions was his Principle as well as Queen Elizabeth's but saith Sir Francis Walsingham concerning the Queen's proceedings in the like Cases Causes of Conscience when they exceed their Bounds V. Hist of the Reform Part 2. f. 418. and grow to be matter of Faction lose their Nature and Sovereign Princes ought distinctly to punish their Practices and Contempt though colour'd with the pretences of Conscience and Religion And according to this saith he the Queen proceeded And if the King also did distinguish Faction from Conscience and Tenderness from Singularity blame the Law not him But He obtruded new Ceremonies upon the English and a new Liturgy upon the Scots with his Sword Saving the Reverence of the Thing it is Indifferent whether a Man Preach with his Hat on or hung upon a Pin the Hugonots have one way and the English another The same also may be said of Ceremonies but how indifferent soever they are in themselves when they are once commanded the indifferency ceases in the Law that enjoyns them And for that other of the Liturgy upon the Scots the King obtruded it not on them much less with his Sword because it was sent them at their own Request as I have shown before But admitting their Kirk liked it not what had they to do with a Church that did Or what Authority had Tweed to reform Thames least of all to give Law to their King and that too with beat of Drum and Colours displayed Especially when one of their own Acts of Parliament says Continuation of Sir R. Baker f. 514. That it should be damnable and detestable Treason in the highest Degree to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any pretext whatever without the King 's Royal Commission Nor is this all For their National Covenant oblig'd them to his Defence or else what means this Expression in it Sir W. Dudg his short View f. 132. That whensoever his Majesty's Honour and Interest should be in Danger they would as one Man obliged by the Laws of God and Man apply themselves to his Succour and Defence And the Chancellor and others the Lords of that Kingdom had by their Letter of 1. July 1643. assured his Majesty That no Arms should be raised without his special Commission And after all this and contrary to the Common tye of Nature to run into open Rebellion against him What may it mean I 'll tell ye This Matter had been hatching ever since the Third of his Reign and though the Chick appear'd not till the Year 1637 yet it could run about with the Shell upon its Head and it wanted not Friends in England to keep it alive till it could feed it self and if it liked not one Barn-door take to another The Metaphor is too visible to need Application There was a kind of a Kirk Party in England that finding the King firm to his Principles knew there was no better way to deal with him than by reducing him to Necessities to the end that being forc'd to extraordinary means for Supply he might disgust the People and consequently attract an Odium But what 's a Bow without a Bowman The Scots and they made but one Kirk Money was the Nerve that would keep them together and what need many words among Friends Nor were they long without the occasion of shewing their Fidelity The new Liturgy as before had been sent to Edinburgh The Scots presently take the Alarm are quieted again but lost nothing by it and in return make the King all Protestations of future Loyalty How comes it then you 'll say that it was not long after that they invaded England and after that took Arms for the Parliament against the King The Case is plain the King had no Money the Houses had or at least knew where to get it Nor will it be unworth any Man's while to see what that was They had as a Relief to the Scots for their Losses 17 Car. 1. and a supply of our Brethren of Scotland for so the Act words it 220000 l. rais'd for them by Act of Parliament By an Ordinance of Lords and Commons Vid. Hughes's Abridgement of Acts and Ordinances p. 92. 27 Octob. 43. 66666 13 4. for their Brotherly Assistance in the defence of the common cause of Religion and Liberty By a like Ordinance Feb. 20. 1644. 21000 l. per Mens Id. p. 178. for the maintenance of the Scots Army under the Earl of Leven Further confirm'd Id. p. 197. June 13. 1645. Continued for four Months more Id. p. 220. 25 Aug. 1645. By a like Ordinance Id. p. 201. June 20. 1645. 130000 l. for enabling the Scots Army to advance Southward And by a like Ordinance Decem. 3. 1645. 31000 l. Id. p. 237. for payment of the Scots Army Besides all which I find in the continuation of Sir Richard Baker Fol. 611. Several other Moneys rais'd for the Scots which because they agree neither in Sum nor time I thought fit to transcribe and leave it to my Reader to judge of it as he thinks fit Taxed by them in 16 Car. 1. 350 l. per diem on the Bishoprick of Durham and 300 l. per diem on the County of Northumberland on the penalty of Plundering In the 20th they were impowered by Parliament to assess for themselves the twentieth part of the North c. In the 21st sent them 30000 l. to induce them to besiege Newark In the 22d 200000 l. more for delivering up the King And another 200000 l. secur'd them out of the publick Faith And 16000 l. allowed them for the charge of their Carriages All which I leave as I said to my Reader to judge and whether notwithstanding all that cry of Religion and Loyalty it far'd not with them like Atalanta in the Fable Declinat cursus Ovidâ—◠〈◊〉 l. 10. Fâ—â— 15. aurumque vâ—luâ—ile tollit And truly considering all if they were not well paid for their Pains I wish they were CHAP. XIV Vpon the Covenant UPON this Theam saith our Answerer his Discourse is long his Matter little
I have already shown And therefore for answer to what he says Chap. 14 That many Western Churches settled above Four Hundred Years ago in France c. have not admitted of Episcopacy among them The reason is obvious not that they would not admit Episcopacy but that they liv'd in a Catholick Country and so must either have Catholick Bishops or govern themselves as well as they might And if they have no Bishops they have something else that has the Power of Bishops though it be in many and thirty single Pence with us make a Half-Crown In a word they that would pull down Bishops and erect a new way of Government do as he that pulls down an old House and builds another of a new Fashion there 's a great deal of doe and a great deal of Trouble the old Rubbish must be carried away and new Materials must be brought Workmen must be provided and perhaps the old one might have serv'd as well CHAP. XVIII Vpon the Uxbridge Treaty and other Offers made by the King I look upon Treaties saith his Majesty as a retiring from Fighting like Beasts to argue like Men. And though I could seldom get the Opportunity I never wanted either desire or disposition to it And if says our Answerer he look'd upon Treaties as a retiring from Bestial Force to Humane Reason his first Aphorism here is in part deceiv'd for Men may treat like Beasts as well as fight When through dilatory purposes they come from fighting to undermining Thereby insinuating that such and no other was the end of all the King's Treaties But whos 's that degenerous way was and whether the King 's or the Houses we come to examine with this by the way that the Houses never desir'd any Treaty but when they were making their Recruits or foresaw the King would be upon them before they were ready for him if they could not divert him by a Treaty And such was this their Petition to him at Colebrook to vouchsafe a Treaty The Story lies thus The King had set up his Standard at Nottingham at which time Essex lay with his Army at Worcester to attend his Motion who finding his Forces not sufficient enough to give Essex Battle he went to Shrewsbury where he was quickly furnish'd and having appointed the Earl of Lindsey to be General marches towards London Essex seems to take no notice of it and makes no offer to stop him but as soon as he was gone by keeps close in his Rere The King to avoid being hemm'd in between Essex and the City of London turn'd upon him and gave him Battle at Edgehill in which whoever had the better of it Essex thought fit to get back for London which was so frighted that they had shut up their Shops and the Houses caused all the Train'd-Bands and Auxiliaries to be drawn together The King on the other hand unfortunately struck off to Oxford but continuing his former Resolves for London he again advances towards it and is met with the Petition before-mention'd at Colebrook but finding it nothing but a design to get time he forceth his way at Branford where he cut off three of their Regiments and by what Fate or Council I know not was again diverted for Oxford whither the North being generally reduc'd to his Obedience the Queen return'd from Holland His Arms successful in the West their own affairs half under Water and they Scots not yet come to their Assistance they send Commissioners to Treat but with such Propositions as they were sure would protract time but never be yielded unto And if he will not Essex and Waller had two Armies and they appear before Oxford but the design having been smelt before the Queen is sent into the West and himself marched towards Worcester on which Essex and Waller divide their Armies Essex goes into the West and Waller follows the King who turn'd upon him at Copredy Bridge and gave him a total Rout and forthwith follow'd Essex into Cornwall from whence Essex got off in a Boat for Plimouth and his Horse having broke through in the Nigâ—t the Foot were forc'd to lay down their Arms and upon conditions never more to bear Arms against the King were suffer'd to depart The King before this time had from Eveshaâ— desir'd and propounded a further Treaty for the full ending the matters in question July 4. 1644. but they had two Armies as was said before and thought it below them to return him an Answer However the King after this double Success thinks it no dishonour to renew his desires of a Treaty Sept. 8. 1644. and by a Message from Tavestock does it but to no purpose For what with the remains of Waller's Army Essex's Horse that broke through and the Foot whom they had Preach'd into new Arms by perswading them the Conditions were unlawful and consequently invalid the Train'd-bands and Auxiliaries they had form'd a considerable Army before the King could get out of the West but there also being disappointed in the Success a Treaty is appointed at Vxbridge Jan. 30. 1644. where the Commissioners on both sides met but those for the Houses limited to twenty days This Treaty is the Argument of this Chapter and though I have been longer in coming to it than might regularly become the shortness of a Reply yet because it contributes much to the discovery of the Intrigue and where the fault lay and whether the King or the Houses may be charg'd more justly with it I may be the more excuseable To be short the Treaty began and the King made such large Concessions that if they had met him one third of the way See the Treaty at large in the Folio Book of the King's Works Ecl. 512 it was impossible but it must have concluded in a Peace For it was as also says our Answerer come to these three Heads Episcopacy the Militia and Ireland To which His Majesty's Commissioners thus answer'd That the first as it was propos'd took off all dependency of the Clergy upon His Majesty proposing only the Bishops Lands to be settled on him subject nevertheless to the disposal of the Houses whereas all the Lands of Bishops Deans and Chapters c. if those Corporations must be dissolv'd belong to the King in his own Right As to the Militia as it was proposed the King was so totally divested of the Regal Power of the Sword that he would be no more able to defend any of his Allies than his own Dominions from Rebellion and Invasion and consequently the whole Power of Peace and War the acknowledg'd and undoubted Right of the Crown is taken from him And as to Ireland the Power of nominating the Lord Lieutenant c. and other Officers there and in that the dependency of that Kingdom would as it was propos'd be taken from him And to add to all it was farther propos'd to bereave him of the Power of a Father in the Education and Marriage of
his Children and of a Master in rewarding his Servants And so what between pretended want of Instructions and the twenty days spun out to nothing the Treaty broke off as well it might with them that came prepar'd not to yield any thing However his Majesty's Commissioners desir'd an Enlargement of time but it would not be granted And to Salve it on their side our Answerer runs to his common Topick That the King had nothing no not so much as Honour but of the People's Gift yet talks on equal terms with the grand Representative of that People for whose sake he was made King And is one of the modestest Expressions of his whole Book and which I have so fully answer'd before Chap. 6 that I need not add any thing farther to it here CHAP. XIX Vpon the various Events of the War Victories and Defeats THIS Chapter relates nothing to the History of those times and is a brief but pathetical Account of his Majesty under those varieties of Events wherein he acquitted himself Justum tenacem propositi virum Quem Civium ardor prava jubentium Mente non quassit solida And verified his own Words That he wish'd no greater advantage by the War than to bring his Enemies to Moderation and his Friends to Peace As also those other That if he had yielded less he had been oppos'd less and if he had denied more he had been more obey'd And if the Word of a King may not pass in his own Case take in all Histories of him and you 'll find him so little made up of Accidents or subject to them that he sacrific'd his Particular to the advantage of the whole and more regarded an honest Life than a safe one Nor has our Accuser's railing given me Ground to take notice of him in this Chapter other than when he says His Lips acquitted the Parliament not long before his Death of all the Blood spilt in this War which also he had said before and to what I then urg'd I only add this now That His Majesty at the Treaty of the Isle of Wight seeing the unreasonableness of their demands made some Queries upon them of which this was one See tho King's Book in Folio Fol. 608. Whether his acknowledgement of the Blood that had been spilt in the late Wars nothing being yet concluded or binding could be urg'd so far as to be made use of by way of Evidence against him or any of his Party And whether this be an acquitting the Parliament for other I am sure there is none I appeal to any Man His Majesty came as near the Wind as with Honour he could till finding at last that nothing would do as stripp'd as he was of every thing but his Vertue and the Freedom of his Mind he justified to the World that however he was within the common Chance he was not under the Dominion of Fortune CHAP. XX. Vpon the Reformations of the Times I Need not tell my Reader the Argument of this Chapter the Title speaks it and As his Majesty was well pleas'd with this Parliament's first Intentions to reform what the indulgence of Times and corruption of Manners might have deprav'd so saith he I am sorry to see how little regard was had to the good Laws establish'd and the Religion settled which ought to be the first Rule and Standard of Reforming But our Answerer will by no means hear those two Bugbears of Novelty and Perturbation an Expression his Majesty uses in this Chapter the ill looks and noise of which have been frequently set on foot to divert and dissipate the Zeal of Reformers Aâ— it was the Age before in Germany by the Pope and by our Papists here in Edward the Sixth's time Whereas Christ foretold us his Doctrine would 〈◊〉 be receiv'd without the Censure of Novelty and many great Commotions But with his Favour he neither shews us that this Parliament had the same Authority which our Saviour had or that they proceeded his way For besides that He came not to destroy the Law Mat. 5.17 but to fullfil it in all Righteousness he commanded this to his Disciples Habete sal in vobis Mar. 9.50 pacem inter vos Have Salt i. e. Wisdom in your selves and Peace one with another And as he knew God was the God of Order not of Confusion he left the Care of his Church to his Disciples but no where that I find to reform it by Tumults or under the Face of Religion to destroy the Power of it as must inevitably follow when against known settled establish'd Laws Men shall take upon them to reform by the Lump without discerning what things are intermingled like Tares among Wheat Lord â—â—â—on which have their Roots so wrapp'd and entangled together that the one cannot be pull'd up without endangering the other and such as are mingled but as Chaff and Corn which need but a Fan to sift and sever them And that his Majesty was not averse to a due Reformation appears in this when he says I have offer'd to put all differences in Church-affairs and Religion to the free Consultation of a Synod or Convocation rightly chosen So offered saith our Answerer all Popish Kings heretofore And let it be produced what good hath been done by Synods from the first times of Reformation And truly if he knows none I offer none Though methinks he ought not in Gratitude to have forgotten their own Assembly of Divines Men of unknown Parts and so Instrumental to the carrying on of the Cause that if they had not kept blowing the Coals the Fire would have quickly gone out of it self But what talk we of Gratitude to a Man of those Times the Fish was caught and what more use of the Net And yet if the Houses had with the King submitted those differences to a Synod rightly chosen where had been the hurt Flannel-Weavers I must confess are not the best at making Love yet we have an old Proverb fabrilia fabri Every Man in his own Trade And who more fit to judge of Church-matters than Churchmen But this had been to uphold an Antichristian Hierarchy and what need that when scarce a Man of our Reformers but was a Church by himself Câ—mb Brit. Fol. 509. And why might not they bid as fair now as the Army of God and the Church in King John's time the Holy League in France the Sword of the Lord John Knox and Gideon in Scotland John of Leyden and Knipperdoling in Germany Tantum Religio potuit That successful Pretence of Mankind Religion Absalom mask'd his Rebellion with a Vow at Hebron and Herod his design of Murther with another of Worship CHAP. XXI Vpon His Majesty's Letters taken and divulg'd I Have heard of a malicious Stab that contrary to the intent of the hand that gave it open'd an Impostume And such was the barbarity of this Action of which also it may be as truly said Vna eademque manus
to say no Answer belongs to it He knew there was none to be given and therefore Magisterially slighted it He holds it also neither wise nor comely that the falling out of Brethren be debated before a Common Enemy and tacitly implies his Reason least the Uncircumcised rejoice But I think I can tell ye a better When Presbytery rode the fore-Horse no one kept up with it more than himself but when he found it began to faulter he was loth to lose Company and jogg'd on with the rest The first leading Men that carried on the War were Presbyterians and their General upon the New-Model was as right as they could wish to have had him And yet he was in the Hands of the Army and that Army in the Hands of his Lieutenant-General Cromwell A grand mistake of theirs in thinking to Settle Presbytery with an Army of Anabaptists Independents Fifth-Monarchy-Men and what not Bone of their Bone and Flesh of their Flesh 't is true but as Mortal Enemies to them as were the Jews to the Samaritans and yet both of them had Abraham to their Father And for Cromwell though no one could say of what Religion he was besides that he ever match'd the Colour that was in Fashion he still protested Obedience and Fidelity to the Parliament and by that Means got his Ends of the King and them And whether our Answerer took it not right judge when he says Some of the former Army touch'd with Envy to be out-done by a New Model and being prevalent in the House of Commons took advantage of Presbyterian and Independant Names and the War being ended thought slightly to have discarded them without their due Pay and the reward of their invincible Valour But they i. e. the Independants who had the Sword yet in their hands disdaining to be made the first Objects of Ingratitude and Oppression after all that Expence of their Blood for Justice and the Common Liberty seiz'd the King their Prisoner whom nothing but their matchâ—ess Deeds had brought so low as to surrender his Person By which we see the Bottom of this Good Old Cause when the only quarrel was about dividing the Spoil And truly when they that once had it could not keep it what had our Answerer to do to gape after them any longer And brings into my Head that Story of the Friars Crucifixus est etiam pro nobis But to go on with the Matter The King is now in the Army's Hands but our Answerer thinks not fit to say a Word to the Distractions in the Two Houses the Army and the City that ensued it but has left it out of his Title And why but that it must not be spoken in Gath when yet every Man here is not a Dweller of Askalon Cromwell found that the Parliament out-carded him as having gotten the King their Prisoner May 4 1646. and put the Militia of London into the Hands of a Committee of Citizens whereof the Lord Mayor for the time being to be One and therefore unless he could give them the Cross-bite and bring the Army to mutiny against their Masters he knew he must expect no better of them than what Essex had found from them To this purpose he and Ireton his Son-in-Law take advantage of a Vote of theirs 25. May 1647. for Disbanding the whole Army excepting Five Thousand Horse and One Thousand Dragoons and some Fire-locks to be kept up for the Safety of the Kingdom and some to be sent for Ireland and spread a Whisper through the Army that the Parliament now they had the King intended to Disband them to cheat them of their Arrears and send them into Ireland to be destroy'd by the Irish And it ran like Wild-fire for the Army were so inrag'd at it that they set up a new Council among themselves of Two Private Soldiers out of every Troop and Foot Company to consult for the Good of the Army and to assist at the Council of War and advise for the Peace and Safety of the Kingdom And these they called Agitators or Adjutators it matters not which for whatever Cromwell who yet stood unsuspected by the Houses had a mind to be done there needed no more but putting it into these Agitators Heads And the Effect of their first Consultation was to take the King from Holmby where upon his being deliver'd up by the Scots Feb. 16. 1646. the Parliament had lodged him with Colonel Graves and bring him to the Army Amongst these there was one Joyce a stubbed bold ignorant Enthusiastick Journey-man Taylor who from the Service of Denys Bond had gone out to the Assistance of the Lord against the Mighty and much about this time made a Cornet of Horse And however the matter was contriv'd for Commission he had none he went off by Night in the Head of a Thousand Horse and having surpriz'd the Parliament-Guards at Holmby early in the Morning importunately demands admittance into the King's Bed-Chamber as from the Army and was hardly prevail'd upon to stay so long as till the King could get up but being come in told his Majesty he was sent by the Lieutenant-General to secure his Person from his Enemies and bring him to the Army On which the King demanding to see his Commission Joyce opens a Window and points to the Body of Horse that stood drawn up on the Side of the Hill before the House An undeniable Argument says his Majesty and so went with him who brought him to the Head-quarters at New-Market Cromwell seems no less surpriz'd at it than the King however since he was among them assur'd him he should have no Cause to repent it and in a seeming passionate Manner promis'd him to restore him to his Right against the Parliament On this the Parliament send to the General to have the King redeliver'd to their Commissioners and this the rather for that the General by his Letters to them had excus'd himself and Cromwell and the Body of the Army as ignorant of the Fact and that the King came away willingly with those Souldiers that brought him And yet instead of giving them an Answer Jun. 23. 1647. the Army send a Charge against Eleven of their Members all active leading Men and require them to appoint a Day to determine this Parliament and in the mean time to suspend the Eleven Members sitting in the House to which last they only answer and say they could not do it by Law till the Particulars of the Charge were produced and were soon replied to with their own Proceedings against the Earl of Strafford and the Archbishop of Canterbury The London Militia had been yet in the Cities Hands till Cromwell taking the opportunity of a thin House Jul. 26. 1647. procures the Ordinance of the Fourth of May aforesaid to be revok'd and the Militia put into other Hands more favourable to the Army On which a Rabble of Apprentices and Disbanded Soldiers headed by the Sheriffs under the