English Puritan & Reformed

An Old Parliamentary Prognostication

William Prynne (1600-1669) · 2,626 words · 12 min

The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A91236.0001.001

Project Note

This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.

This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.

Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.

However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.

This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.

Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org

AN OLD PARLIAMENTARY PROGNOSTICATION MADE AT WESTMINSTER, FOR THE NEW-YEER, and YOUNG MEMBERS there assembled in Consultation.

Fore-showing The probable Final issue of all their intended new Moddles, Acts, and Ordinances, from four Old Printed Statutes, and Ahortive nulled Parliaments, not unworthy of their knowledge most Serious Consideration & saddest Meditation; (and the whole three Kingdoms too,) in regard of the present Face of our public Affairs.

Prov. 24. 20, 21, 22.

There shall be no reward to the evil man, the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with those that are given to change; For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Isai 8. 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces, take Counsel together, and it shall come to naught▪ speak the word and it shall not stand: for God is with us. For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people; Saying, say ye not A Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A Confederacy, neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid: Sanctify the LORD OF HOSTS HIMSELF; and let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

Isai. 19. 13. 14 The Princes of Zoan are become fools: the Princes of Noph are deceived, they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the Tribes thereof. The lord hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst thereof, & they have caused Egypt to err • n every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

London printed for the Yeer 1655

An Old Parliamentary Prognostication made at Westminster, for the New Yeer, and Young Members there assembled in CONSULTATION.

Prov. 19. 20.

Hear Counsel, and receive Instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

Eccles. 1. 15:

The thing which hath been, is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the Sun.

7. Henry 4. Chap. 3.

I Tem, Whereas the Monday next after, the Feast of the Exaltation of the holy Cross, the 2 • . year of the Reign of the said late King Richard, a Parliament was summoned and holden at Westminster; and from thence adjourned to Salop; at which Town a certain power was committed by authority of the Parliament, to certain persons, to proceed upon certain Articles and matters comprised in the Roll of the Parliament thereof made, as by the same Roll may appear in which Parliament, and also by Authority aforesaid, divers Statu; tes, Judgments, Ordinances, and Stablishments were made, ordained and given erroneously and dolefully▪ in great disinherison and final destruction and undoing of many honorable Lord's and other l • ige people of the Realm, and of their heirs forever. Our Sovereign Lord the K •• g considering the great mischiefs aforesaid, by the advice and assent of all the Lord's Spiritual and temporal, and of all the Commonalty, hath judged the said Parliament, holden the said 21 year, and the authority thereof (given as afore is said) with all the circumstances and dependants thereupon, be wholly reversed, revoked, voided, undone, repealed and adnulled forever.

31. Henry 6. Chap. 1. Whereas the most abominable Tyrant, horrible, odious, and errant false Traitor John Cade, calling and naming himself sometime Mortimer, sometime Captain of Kent, which name, fame, act and feats, be to be removed out of the speech and mind of every faithful Christian man perpetually; falsely, and traitorously purposing and imagining the perpetual destruction of the Kings said person, and final subversion of this Realm, taking upon him royal power, and gathering to him the Kings people in great number, by false, subtle, imagined language, and seditiously made a stirring rebellion, and insurrection under color of justice for reformation of the Laws of the said King, robbing, slaying, and spoiling great part of his faithful people. Our said Sovereign Lord the King, considering the promises, with many other which were more odious to remember, by advice and assent of the Lord's aforesaid, and at request of the said Commont, and by authority aforesaid, hath ordained and stablished, that the said John Cade shall be reputed, had named and declared a fase Traitor to our sovereign Lord the King, and that all his Tyranny, Acts, Feats, and false opinions, shall be voided, abated, adnulled, destroyed▪ and put out of remembrance forever; and that all indictments, and all things depending thereof, had and made under the the power of Tyrany, shall likewise be void, adnulled, abated, repealed, & holden for none, & that the blood of none of them be thereof defiled nor corrupted, but by the authority of the said Parliament clearly declared forever. And that all indictments in time coming in like case under power of Tyrany, Rebellion, and stirring, had, shall be of no record nor effect, but void in Law: and all the petitions delivered to the said King in his last Parliament holden at Westminster the 6th day of November the 29 year of his reign, against his mind by him not agreed, shall be taken and put in oblivion, out of remembrance undone, voided, adnulled, and destroyed forever, as a thing purposed against God, and conscience, ann against his royal estate and preeminence, ana also dishonorable.

39. Henry 6 Chap. 1 Whereas it hath been shown to the King our sovereign Lord, by his Liege and faithful Commons, in this present Parliament, that divers seditious and evil desposed persons having no regard to the dread of God, nor to the damage of the prosperous estate of our said sovereign Lo • d the King, nor his Realm sinistrely and importunely did labor the said King to summon a Parliament to be holden at the City of Coventry, the second day of the Month of November, the 38. year of his noble Reign, only to destroy certain of the great Nobles faithful and lawful Lord's; and estates of the Kings blood, and other of the faithful leige people of the same realm of England for the great rancor, hatred, and malice, which the said seditious persons of long time have had against them, and of their greedy and insatiable covetise to have the Lands, Hereditaments possessions, offices, and goods of the said Lord's▪ and faithful liege peoyle, by which sinister labor certain Acts, Statutes and ordinances, against all good faith and conscience, in the said Parliament were made finally to destroy the said lawful Lord's estates and liege people, and their issues, as well innocents as other, and their Heirs forever: which parliament was unduly summoned, and a great part of the Knights for divers Countyes of this Realm, and many Burgesses and Citizens for divers Boroughs and Cities in the same appearing were named returned, and excepted, some of them without due and free election, some of them without any election, against the course of the Kings Laws, and the Liberties of the Commons of this Realm, by the means and labors of the seditious persons, whereby many great Jeopardies, Enormities, and inconveniences, well nigh to the ruin, decay, and universal subversion of the said Realm, have ensued; our said • overaigne Lord the King, considering the premises, and that the said Lord's Estates, and other his leige people, against whom the said Acts, Statutes, and Ordinances were made, have always had great and faithful love, to the preferment and surety of the Kings person, according to their duty, and that few of the Acts, made in the said Parliament holden at Coventry were made for the weal of the King, nor of his said Realm, but the greater part of the Acts, Statutes & Ordinances there made, were labored by the conspiracy, procurement & excitation of the said evil disposed persons, for the introduction and accomplishment of their rancor and inordinate covetise; By the advice and assent of the Lord's Spiritual and Temporal, and at the request of the said Commons, in the said Parliament assembled, and by the same Authority hath ordained and established, That the said Parliament holden at the said City of Coventry be void, and holden for no Parliament, and that all Acts, Statutes and ordinances by the Authority of the same made, be reversed, adnulled, undone, repealed, revoked, void, and of no force nor effect.

17 Ed. 4 Chap 7,

Whereas in the most dolorous absence of our Sovereign Lord the King out of this Realm, being in the partis of Holland, before his victorious regress into the same Realm, in a pretenced Parliament, unlawfully and by usurped power summoned, by the Rebell and enemy to our Sovereign Lord the King, Henry 8 late in deed & not of right King of England, holden in the Palace of Westminster, the 26 day of November the 9th year of our Sovereign Lord the King that now is, under the coloured title of the said Henry, the xlx year of the inchoation of his pretenced Reign, and the first year of the redeption of his usurped power and estate; divers and many matters were treated▪ communed and wrought to the destruction and disherison of our Sovereign Lord the King, and of his blood royal, by the labor and exhortation of persons not fearing God, nor willing to be under the rule of any earthly Prince, but inclined of sensual appetite, to have the whole governance and rule of this Realm under their power and domination: which communications, treaties, and workings, doth remain in writing, and some exemplified, whereby many inconveniences may ensue to our said Sovereign Lord the King and his blood royal, which God defend; and all Noble men at this time attending about the King, and all his other leige people and Subjects, unless due remedy be provided in this behalf. Our said Sovereign Lord the King, by the assent of the Lord's spiritual and temporal, and at request of the Commons in the said Parliament assembled, and by Avthority of the same, for the surety of his noble person, his noble issue, and the inheritable success of the same, and for the surety of all the Lord's, Noblemen, and other his servants and subjects, hath ordained and stablished, that the said pretenced Parliament, with all the continuances and circumstances, depending upon the same, be void and of none effect; and that all acts, statutes, ordinances, treaties, communications, conventions and workings in the said pretenced Parliament, treated, communed, accorded, wrought, had, or by the Authority of the same Parliament enacted and ordained; and all exemplifications made upon the same; or any part of them and every of them, shall be reversed cancelled, void, undone, revoked, repealed, and of no force nor effect.

Ezek 17. 26. 27. Thus saith the Lord God; remove the Diadem and take off the Crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high: I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

Isai. 29 14. 15. 16. Therefore behold I will proceed to do a marvelous work amongst this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid; Woe unto them that seek deep, to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, who seeth, and who knoweth us? Surely, your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potters clay.

Psal. 92. 5. 6, 7, 8, 9. O Lord how great are thy works, and thy thoughts are very deep: a brutish man knoweth not, neither doth a fool understand this; when the wicked spring as the grass, and all the works of iniquity do flourish; it is, that they shall be destroyed forever, but thou Lord art most high forever more. For lo thine enemies O lord, for lo thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered, but my horn shalt thou advance, as the horn of an Unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Hab. 2. 9. 10. 12. Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil. Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. Woe to him that buildeth a Town with blood, and stablisheth a City by iniquity.

Isai. 17. 12. 13. 14. Woe to the multitude of many Nations, which make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters. The Nations shall rush▪ like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them, and they shall fl • e far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the Mountains before the wind; and like a rolling thing before the whirl wind; and behold at evening tide trouble, and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoils us, and the lot of them that rob us.

Dan. 8 23. 24. 25. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressions are come to the full, a King of fierce countenance and understanding dark sentences shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty, and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of Princes, but he shall be broken without hand.

Ezek. 13. 5. 10. to 16. Ye have nor gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, peace, and there was no peace: and one built up a wall, and lo others daubed it with untempred mortar.

Say unto them which daub it with nutempred mortar that it shall fall, there shall be an overflowing shower, and ye O great hail stones shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rent it.

Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will even rent it with stormy wind in my fury, and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hail stones in my fury to consume it.

So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempred mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and the shall be consumed in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempred mortar, and will say unto you, the wall is no more, neither they that daubed it.

Gal. 5. 14. Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Psal. 107. 43. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.

FINIS.