A Voice Tending to the Pacification of Gods Wrath
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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
Vox Pacifica: A VOICE TENDING TO The Pacification of GOD' s wrath; and offering those Propositions, or Conditions, by the acceptation, and performance whereof, in some good measure, a firm and continuing Peace may be obtained. It is directed to the KING, PARLIAMENTS, and PEOPLE of these Islands:
BY GEO. WITHER Esquire, (a Commander in this War ) heretofore their unneeded REMEBERANCER of Plagues and Deliverances past; and their timely Forewarner of the Judgments now come. He hath disposed it into six BOOKS, or CANTO's, whereof four only are contained in this VOLUMNE; and the other deferred to be hereafter published, as there shall be Cause.
To day, if you will hear this VOICE, harden not your hearts,
&c.
LONDON Printed by Robert Austin, in the Old-Bailey M DC XLV.
The meaning of the Frontispiece.
A Trumpet
sounds a parley to this
Isle,
And, over it, a
Hand
displays, the while,
A
Flag of Peace;
that, this new
Sign
at door,
May draw you in, to view a little more.
We hung it forth, that these besotted
Nations
May heed the season of their
Visitations;
And, grow more careful to conform their ways
To what this VOICE, and their known
Duty,
says:
Though, yet, the most, our
words
no more have
marked,
Then if a
Cat
had meaw'd, or
Dog
had barked.
You see the
building;
you have seen the
Sign;
And, if it pleaseth you, may taste our
Wine.
You view the
Type,
and
Title,
of the
Play,
Our
Argument,
and where the
Scoene
we lay;
And, that, for which the
Maker
dearer paid,
May, when you please, for little be survai'd;
Even for as little as you think it worth,
When he, at that low rate, can set it forth:
And, that we offer no unwholesome Wares,
Our
Licence,
and our
Privilege,
declares.
Neglect not
courtesies,
when few are done;
Nor
Opportunities,
till they are gone:
Nor doubt your usage, though abroad you hear,
Our
Author,
in reproving, is austere:
For, they who bring a well-composed mind,
In his most harshreproofs, will mildness find:
And, none have been his Adversaries, yet,
But, they, who wanted
honesty,
or
wit.
When his own failings have to him appeared,
Himself no more then others he hath spared;
And, did, what, he supposeth, him became.
Let every
Reader
strive to do the same,
And shortly, here, in substance will be seen,
What, in this
Emblem,
hath but shadow'd been
[illustration] [map of the British Isles]
PAX VOBIS
VOX PACIFICA
PAX VOBIS
TO THE KING, PARLIAMENTS, AND PEOPLE, OF These BRITISH ISLES.
NOt to petition King, or
Parliament,
Or Court the
People,
suits with his intent
Who sends you this: Nor, is it come to crave
Your
Favors,
or, your
Patronage
to have.
It is almost too late; and 'twas too soon:
At this time, therefore, he expects that
boone
From
One
who better knows him; and from whom
This VOICE, doth to your sight, and hearing come.
And, had he always done so, he had lost
Less labor; and escaped with less cost.
He hath no mind to flatter: if he had,
To flatter at this time, were to be mad;
And, perad venture, also, he hath, now,
As little
cause,
as
mind,
to flatter you:
For, Courtship on that LADY, who bestows,
That poor, despised, deformed and aged grows,
Who slighted him, and left him to despair
When she was wealthy, lovely, young, and fair.
Yet, that those old affections may appear,
With which, by him, you always served were;
And, that he may not give a just offense
(By seeming careless of the reverence
Belonging to your
Greatness
) he professes,
That, merely, for the sake of these
Expresses,
The freedom of
bold-language
he assumes;
And, that he nothing, for himself, presumes:
Nor, means to honor, love, or serve you, less,
For your unkindnesses, or your distress.
The
News
he brings, accepted if it be,
Will warrantize the
Speaker
to be free:
And, if it be despised, he conceives,
Some will grow bold, ere long, without your leaves;
And, make you hear, with ruder complements,
A blunter
Language,
and to worse intents:
For, dreadful things are murmur'd; and unless
Men more conform, to that which they profess,
You will find, ere long, he dareth, without fear,
To speak more truth, then many dare to hear.
What ever
He,
what e're his
Language
seems;
Your
Persons,
none more values, or esteems.
None loves your Honors, or your safeties, more
Then he yet doth, and hath done heretofore.
None, oft'ner his own blame hath ventured on,
That others might not wholly be undone;
Or, is more free from aims, at that which tends
To personal respects, or private ends.
And, thus professeth he, that you might grow
More honorable, by believing so.
He, that hath done GOD'S errand, was, ere now,
Have so been pleased, perhaps, of him to say,
Because he hath appeared in such a way,
As, never, since the
Christian-paths,
were trod,
Was traced, by a
Messenger
from GOD.
But, times have been; and, this is such a time,
In which the People, much regard not them
Who speak in
Ordinary:
And, then must
Some
Ploughman,
or some
Herdman,
forth be thrust
To help awake them; and, He, perad venture,
With
Riddles, Signs,
or
Parables,
must enter;
Or, else, by some unusual strains proceed,
To make his Hearers give the better heed;
And, know, the
Spirit
stoupeth from on high,
Be pleased, therefore, not to under-prize
Him,
or his
Present;
lest (when his disguise
Is taken off) you find him somewhat else
Then you have thought, or his appearance tells.
Permit you not the crafty
Politicians
In either
Faction,
to beget suspicions,
That, he, who wrote this VOICE, hath some
Intents,
For compassing whereof, he, now, invents
A Fancie, and pretends the
public-Peace,
When, really, he aims at nothing less.
For, that his purposes, no other were
Then he professeth, plainly shall appear
To men of ingenuity, or wit,
Who weigh things past, with what he, now, hath writ.
For, whosoe're hath observation took,
With what
impartial-freedom
he hath spoke
To
either side,
(nor sparing
Friend,
nor
Foe;
Nor caring, who displeased, or pleased shall grow)
Can never draw that false conclusion thence,
Without much folly, or much impudence.
Yea, since it is apparent, that his
Pen
Hath spared himself, no more then other men;
Since he hath, now, nigh five and thirty years,
This
Freedom
used; and naught, yet, appears
To be, thereby, acquired, but sad events,
Disgraces, losses, close imprisonments,
Despights and mischiefs; how can you suppose
His folly such, that, now, the world worse grows,
He thinks, this course will him advantage more,
Or, bring him fewer mischiefs, then before?
He knows, there is the self-same
basen
•
sse,
yet,
The same
corruption,
the same
little wit,
And
malice,
which in former times was here;
Though, now, in other habits they appear,
And act another way. He knows, what then
Best pleased; and, what will, now: yet, takes agen
The self-same
Course:
Because, he knows from whom
His
messages,
and
warranties
do come:
And, that it shall be more his reputation,
To be undone, by such a Generation,
For doing of his Duty; then, thereby,
To be advanced for forth'ring vanity,
Till he and they into perdition fall,
Like Sheep, or Bullocks, slaught'red in their stall.
This, hath so steeled him, that he can abide
To hear a
foolish-Gallant
him deride,
And (taking up his
Poem
) grin, and say;
Come, let us hear what novelties we may
Collect from this New-Prophet? and behold,
What future things, are here, by him, fore-told?
This, makes him bold, and resolute, for
you;
Who, for himself, doth bashfully pursue
The meanest favor, while you seem to see
Another, who thereof may worthier be.
And, therefore, now, this one time him regard,
For your own sakes, though never afterward.
Be wary, that this VOICE you truly heed,
Before to any
censure,
you proceed,
Condemning
it,
or
him,
by whom it came;
Lest your, yourselves, incur the greatest blame:
And, thereupon, this also, may ensue;
That, thousands for that
censure,
censure you,
When they perceive, that you a course have run,
Whereby, you are dishonor'd, and undone.
And, to this end; of those, who cause have been
Of all your present Plagues, and of that sin,
Which brought them on you (that
two-horned-Beast
)
Beware of: yea, be wary that no
Priest,
Of either side, make void what this VOICE tells,
By their prejudicating it: Or else,
By shows of
Learning,
or feigned
Holiness,
Make you believe, that this way to express
Divine concernments: Or, for
Saints,
to use
The
Muses
language, some way doth abuse
Their Sanctitie: Or, that this way of Preaching,
Is Heath'nish, and a
Pagan-strain
of teaching.
For, though most
Poets
were, long time ago,
(And yet are) Priests of
Lust,
and
Drunkenness,
They, from their first beginning, were not so;
But, men inspired divinely, to express
The will of GOD; and, by their holy
Songs,
To rouse up that affection in the heart,
Which to the Love of
Piety
belongs;
And, to incline it to the
better-part.
At this our Author aims; and, to restore
That
Gift,
to what it hath been heretofore,
His
Muses
consecrates: and, shows the
way,
That, others (if it please them) follow may.
Permit not then, the rigidness of those,
Who think
Divinity
confined to
prose;
And, Verse ordained, at first, for nothing else
But, carnal fancies, foolish charms, and spells:
Oh! suffer none of those (who have beside
Their ignorance, much envy, and much pride)
Your judgments to pervert, divert your eyes,
Or, fill your ears, with vanities and lies,
To keep off your attention, from this VOICE,
By juggling with Formalities, and noise;
Both to the prolongation of your woe,
And, loss of good effects which thence may flow.
For, if this VOICE be welcome to your ear,
The blessed
way
of
Peace,
it shall prepare:
And by the Charmings of this new-tuned
Song
The rage of
War,
shall be allayed e're long.
That wicked
Spirit
shall be charmed down,
By whom, the seeds of
discords,
have been sown:
The
Hags
and
Furies,
that have danced here,
No longer, to affright you, shall appear:
But, all the sacred
virtues,
and the
graces,
Shall beautify your
Desolated-places.
If you contemn this VOICE, what e're you deem,
Of that it speaketh, (or, what e're
he
seem,
Who now proclaims it) GOD shall spread the same,
In spite of all detractions, to your shame,
And to the honor of that
Instrument,
By whom it comes: yea, as a
Monument,
Even
you,
(and
yours,
who sleight it) shall preserve it
From being lost; your
closets
shall reserve it,
To bear a
Testimoniall
of your crimes,
And your impenitence, to
future times:
Or, for a warning, to some age to come;
Or, to exalt GOD'S
Justice
in your doom:
The least of which, will yield a rich return
For all his pains, though you his labor scorn.
Should you despise these counsels, it will show
So plainly, those events which must ensue,
That, he shall neither value those respects
The world affords, nor care for her neglects:
But (your sad dooms bewailing) shall desire,
That,
he
and
his,
may speedily retire
To that safe
resting-place,
wherein are found
Sure shelters, from those plagues, that will abound:
And, where he never more shall feel, or hear
The scorns of
pride,
the rage of malice fear:
Or, labor, as he hath done, heretofore,
To make a
White-man
of a
Blackamoore.
But, yet he hopes; and yet, a while expects
Some other, and more suitable effects,
To his desires: which (if they should succeed
Accordingly, will bring
him,
or,
his seed,
To see (forth of these
Fires
) that
Phanix
rise,
Which, is the chief desire, of all their eyes,
Who love
Jerusalem.
And, with this
hope,
His heart, he comforting, here, makes a stop;
And signifies, that, He, who doth prefer
This VOICE, is your despised REMEMBRANCER.
GEO. WITHER.
A Postscript.
BE pleased to know, that, though our Author gives,
In these four
Canto's,
fretting
Corosives,
He taketh no contentment in your smart;
But, studies to perform that
Leaches
part,
Who, rather, seeks his
patients
life to save,
Then, how to flatter him into his grave.
If you (with patience) let this
Plaister
lie,
The next that he intendeth to apply,
Shall be a
Balsam,
which will cure and ease;
And (if you be not very hard to please)
Give proof (what ever, knaves and fools pretend)
Why, every honest man, should be his friend.
The Contents of the several Canto's contained in this Volumne
First, here is to your view preferred
When, where,
and
how
this VOICE was heard:
What kind of
Muzings,
were the
ground:
What
worlds,
and
wonders,
may be found
Within ourselves: what
safe-Retreats
From those oppressions, frands, and baits
Which are
without:
how little fear
Of Terrors, which affright us here:
How plainly,
there,
a man may see
The villainies, that acted be
For
private ends,
with
public shows.
How general the mischief grows:
Why, to acquaint you with this VOICE,
GOD,
by so mean a man, makes choice:
Then, shows how our
grand-hopes
deceive us,
And, prays his aid, that must relieve us.
This
Canto's
Preface being done,
The VOICE, to these effects, goes on;
Tells, how unworthy we are, yet,
For
Peace
desired, how unfit:
How vain, how harmful
Treaties
be,
Till both
Sides,
in one
Third
agree;
And (laying by ignoble
ends
)
Use likely means of being
Friends.
Shewes, that the
Peace
which most pursue,
Will be nor permanent, nor true.
Then, that some
Cures
may be applied,
Declares, which
Parts
are putrifi'd;
Which, must be
purged,
without delay;
Or,
cauteriz'd,
or
cut
away,
If we will, e're it be too late,
Recure this weak, this dying
State.
Here, whether you be pleased, or no,
This
Author,
maketh bold to show
That Portion of his
private wrongs,
Whose knowledge, and redress, belongs
To
Public Justice;
that, her eye
May through his
wounds,
her own espy.
The VOCE, then speaks again, and schools,
In
Him,
all other froward-Fools,
Who, with impati
•
ncie do vent
Their private wrongs, or discontent:
As if their Trifles could be heard,
When
Kingdoms
cannot
••
nd
•
regard.
It show
•
, our
Senate
blamplesse are,
Of those Distractions, raging here;
And, where the Fault, and Fountatine lies,
From whence, our present plagues arise.
While here, our
Author
doth recite
His Muzings after
Naesby
fight,
The VOICE returns; and, doth begin
To show us, what must usher in
Exiled
Peace.
Then, told are we,
How kept our
Vowes,
and
Covenants
be:
How we
reform,
and
fast,
and
pray:
What
Thankfulness
we do repay:
What, must in
general
be done;
What, by each
Individual-One:
What course both
King
and
State
must take,
E're they their
Peace
with GOD shall make:
What he expects, from every
Nation,
From every
Town,
and
Corporation,
And every
House,
in some degree,
Before our
Peace
renewed will be.
These faults are discovered in the printing, which the Reader is desired to mend with his pen, and to pardon such other as are over-seen.
PAg. 3. line 30. read rectify. pag. 15. lin. 9. read tezed. p. 18. l. 8. read ye. p. 41. l. 4. read in. p. 50. l. 16. read clean. p. 52. l. 1. r. Treatings. p. 57. l. 23. r. ye. p. 105. l. 36. r. this war. p. 123. l. 36. r. fore-show. p. 128. l. 24. r. you. l. 25. r. your sorrow. p. 130. l. 28. r. inward. p. 142. l. 29. r. winning. p. 144. l. 12. r. Our losses by the Sword werepossesse. p. 145. l. 27. r. invokes. p. 155. l. 3. r. oppressions. p. 159. l. 19. r. though. ibid. l. 28. r. Christian-liberty.
VOX PACIFICA: OR, A VOICE preparing the way of PEACE:
AND, To that end, dedicated to the KING, Parliaments and People of these British Isles.
The Contents, of the first Canto.
First, here is to your view preferred
When, where,
and
how
this VOICE was heard:
What kind of
Muzings
were the ground:
What
worlds,
and
wonders,
may be found
Within ourselves: what
safe-Retreats
From those oppressions, frauds, and baits.
Which are
without:
how little fear
Of Terrors, which affright us here:
How plainly,
there,
a man may see
The villainies, that acted be
For
private ends,
with
public shows:
How general the mischief grows:
Why, to acquaint you with this VOICE,
GOD
by so mean a man makes choice:
Then, shows how our
grand-hopes
deceive us,
And, prays his aid, that must relieve us.
I Who (before my
Harp
was tuned or strung)
Began to play a descant on the
Times.
And was among the first of those that sung
The scorn and shame of VICE, in English
Rymes.
〈◊〉
, that have, now, just half the Age of
Man,
Been slashing at those
Hydro's
heads of sin,
Which are, yet, more then when I first began;
And more deformed grown, then they have been.
I, that have spoke of
Truth,
till few believe it;
Of
taking heed,
till
Folly
hath her doom;
Of
Good-advice,
till no man will receive it;
And, of
Deserved-Plagues,
till they are come:
Once more appear, with an intent, to say
A needful
Word
in season, if I may.
The
Sun
hath run his course through all the Signs,
And, thirteen times the
Moon
renewed her light,
Since last I limb'd my thoughts in measured lines,
Or, felt my heart for
Numbers
tuned aright;
For, ever since my
Musings in the Pield,
The close whereof, a
Voice
of
PEACE
fore-tells,
With such disord'red thoughts I have been filled
As use to thrive where sad distemper dwells:
And, we have,
All,
so broken that Condition,
On which our wished Comforts founded are,
That, of accomplishing our hopes fruition,
Not many certain symptoms, yet, appear;
Though, therefore, I have silent been till now,
My slowness blame not, neither murmur you.
The
Muses
are not still at my command,
Whereby those Informations are acquired,
Which many have expected at my hand;
(And somewhat out of season too, desired.)
The VOICE, there mentioned, was but a
Sound,
Not then, articulated into words;
The perfect Form thereof I had not found,
Nor what interpretation it affords.
If I had spoken, e're I had mine
Arrant,
Beyond my wit, my forward tongue had went;
If I had run, before I had my
Warrant,
Well might I, for my labor, have been shent.
There is, for all things an appointed hour;
And,
Times,
and
Seasons,
are not in my power.
My
Vessel
stirreth not, till that
Wind
blows
Which never blows but when, and where it list:
Drie is my
Cistern,
till that
Fountain
flows,
Whose flowings-forth, I cannot then resist.
Somtimes, in me, so low the
Waters
lie,
That every Child and Beast is trampling on me;
Somtime again, they rise, they swell so high,
That Princes cannot make a Bridge upon me.
Had
King,
and
Parliament,
the other day,
Commanded from me that which now I write,
To save my life, I knew not what to say
Of that, which was inspired yesternight:
And, being, now, as full as I can hold,
Though none they please, my
Musings
must be told.
Mistake not though, as if it should be thought,
That by
Enthusiasm,
now, I write;
Or, that the matter which to me is brought,
By GOD'S immediate dictates, I indite.
Far is that Arrogancie from my Pen:
The Objects of my
Contemplation,
be
The same which GOD affords to other men,
The
Muses
challenge a peculiar phrase
And freedoms, not so well becoming those,
Who are confined to observe the laws
Of common speech, and tell their minds in prose:
For, whereas these have but one work to do,
I have, in my Intentions, often two.
To reason out a
Truth,
is their perfection;
That, so, men's judgments terrify they might:
Thereat, I aim: But, how to move
Affection,
And set the motions of the
Will
aright,
Is my chief work: And; to that end, I catch
At all advantages of
Place
and
Time,
Of
Actions,
or
Expressions;
and, I watch
For every means of well improving them.
By which endeavors (and, for ought I know,
By some aid, more then ordinary too)
Mixt with mine own Conjectures, I fore-show
Some things, which GOD requires, or means to do.
And, when I apprehend such things as these,
They neither are conceall'd, nor told with ease.
As when a portion of new spritly-wine,
Is in a close, and crazy Vessel pent,
Which neither can sufficiently confine
The working Liquour, nor well give it vent;
Even so I far'd: For, (though I felt my breast
With matter fully stored) seven days I strove
My swelling
Thoughts,
in
Words,
to have expressed,
Yet neither could desist, nor forward move.
But, on that night in which our
Monethly-Fast
Had swallowed up our greatest
Festival,
My
Muse
broke loose: And, now the stop is past,
Will run her Course, what ever may befall;
And (since to speak her mind she hath begun)
Resolves, She will be heard, e're She hath done.
Once more therefore, ye BRITAINS lend an ear;
KING, PRIEST, & PEOPLE mark what now I say,
And, if you shall be pleased this VOICE to hear,
Take heed, you harden not your hearts today.
For, if your pride, and folly, shall despise
The gentle VOICE, that now salutes your ear,
Ere long, there shall another VOICE arise,
Which will not such a peaceful note prefer.
It shall not move with so becalm'd a Breath,
Nor be dilated through so mild an air,
But, from the womb of
Hell,
and Jawes of
Death,
Be thund'red forth, with horrors and despair:
And, few shall hear that VOICES dreadful sound,
Without a smarting, and a cureless wound.
Though you my former
Warnings
did abuse,
It brooks excuse: Because, I so fore-told
Ensuing things, as yet, no
Moderne-Muse
Hath done the like; and few in times of old:
But, now, by seeing those
Predictions
true,
You, as it were, an
Earnest
have received,
And an assurance, tendered unto you,
That, what is here declared, may be believed.
By virtue, therefore, of that
Seal,
and
Sign,
I challenge that belief, and that respect,
Which appertaineth to this VOICE of mine,
Till, thence, I seek to draw some ill effect;
By making that, which hath fulfilled been,
An Argument to warrantize a sin.
If an advantage I shall take from thence,
To tempt, from any duty to be done;
To act, what gives the
Deity
offense,
Or any unbeseeming Course to run;
Let me be censured as
Impostors
ought,
That woo the
world,
by seeking
Heaven
in show:
Or as a man that's by delusion taught,
To take more pains for
Hell,
then others do.
But, if this VOICE, by Truth shall stand approved,
And by your Consciences allowed be;
Resist not that, whereto you shall be moved,
Nor of my Hopes, at this time, hinder me:
For, in their prosecution, I will proceed,
How e're you practice, or how ere I speed.
The twentieth
year,
tenth
month,
and sixteenth
day,
With careful thoughts, and thoughtful heart oppressed,
Near to the fruitful Banks of
Thame
I lay,
With waking eyes, whilst others were at rest,
It was that day, on which they
mournd apart,
By whom this
Realm
hath represented been;
(Thereby, instructing every
Single-heart,
Which way, the
Peace
desired, must begin)
With private griefs, I had enough to do,
To rob my body, and my mind of rest:
Yet, I had many public sorrows, too,
By which, my other sufferings were increased:
And, who was ever unafflicted known,
That beareth others burdens with his own?
Were I but only robbed of my estate,
And, thereby brought in danger to be poor;
Or of such other mischiefs, as of late
These wars have brought on me, and many more:
Could I no other miseries conceive,
Then those, which make our carcasses to smart,
Our children cry, our tender women grieve,
Or try the stoutness of a manly heart:
Were but the outward glories of this
Realm,
Or of this
Church,
endanger'd, and no more;
Our wounds had needed but a common balm,
A sigh or two had blown my sorrows ore:
Because, for shells, but little care I take,
Save only for the precious kernel sake.
But, though the happiness of
Realms
and
Men,
Doth not, alone, in outward things consist;
(Nay, rather gains perfection, now and then,
By having some external blessing mist)
Yet, he to his experience little owes,
Who sees not, that defect of needful things,
Breeds incivility; and overthrows
That industry, from whence
well-being
springs.
And, he to our condition is a stranger,
Who knows not, that, by these distractions here,
Reformed-Churches
are (this day) in danger
To suffer, in our sufferings, everywhere:
And, that, if our confusions we pursue,
Meer Barbarifme will (ere long) ensue.
Who, can behold the spirit of contention
Still active; and, all overtures of
Peace
Retarded still; or, poisoned with dissention,
Yet not bewail our miseries increase?
Or, who laments not? that may fear he carries
Within his loins, the seed of Generations,
That may be bred for
Romish-Janisaries:
And, nursed up in their abominations?
For, though GOD may prevent what we may dread,
(And will perhaps) yet none should senseless grow
Of that wherewith our Land is over-spread;
Nor of those
Plagues,
which these may bring us to:
But, rather, labor for, by sighs, and tears
A public Freedom from our private Feares.
For, who now dreads not, that upon this Age,
Worse Plagnes are coming, then as yet, we view?
And, that the things we suffer, do presage
Far greater mischieves, will on those ensue?
Loe, that great
Festival,
which by this Nation,
Was every year observed, upon this week,
With such magnificent solemnization,
That through the world, there hath not been the like:
That
Festival,
which memoriz'd the birth
Of our great
Pastor,
and (for no small while)
Did fill each Temple, and each house with mirth,
Through every
Shire,
and
Village,
of this
Isle:
That
Feast
into a
Fast,
our sins now turn;
And, where we have triumphed, we now mourn.
The
Feast
of
Ashuerus,
was to this
A petty banquet (if considered
In every circumstance) though great was his,
And many people for a long time fed.
The Jewish
Passover,
which did surpass
The most for some respects; in all of them,
By out great
Festival,
exceeded was,
As well in
Plenties,
as in
Place,
and
Time.
For, therein, all Provisions did abound:
It was throughout all places, too, extended;
With some, it ent'rance in November, found;
And not till February, fully ended;
But, universally, twelve days, at least,
Throughout the Land, it was a yearly
Feast,
That
Festival,
(which till it was polluted
With
Bacchanalian
Rites, and
Superstition,
A pious Observation was reputed)
Is now exploded, as a vain
Tradition.
Our
Triumph-day,
by
Providence,
is come
To be the day of our
humiliations.
The
Glory,
now, is quite departed from
This
Kingdom,
for our great abominations.
The
pleasant things,
in which we were delighted,
Are took away. The costly trimmings, which
To Superstition, Ignorance invited,
And which began to cozen, and bewitch,
Are broken down; Our brave rich-Robes are gone,
And, all of us, have
Mourning-Garments
on.
For our abuse of them, GOD, takes away
The chief of our
Melodious-Instruments;
And, they who heretofore did sing and play,
Now, sadly sigh; or, howl forth discontents.
Our
Lutes
and
Violls,
(which were wont to sound
Eare-charming strains) are broke and thrown aside:
Or, by the noise of
Drums
and
Cannons
drowned,
In whose loud thunderings, terror doth reside.
The
Peace,
which we supposed everlasting,
Is fled away: Our
Jubilees
are ended:
Our
Horne of plenty,
every day is wasting,
Our Foes are strong, and we are ill befriended:
Our fruitless hopes, have utterly undone us;
The things we feared, are now come upon us.
Our many great and unrepented crimes,
The Plagues that
Sin
hath multiplied here;
The willfulness and madness of the times,
So represented to my fancy were,
That, through this
Island,
I (me thought) could see
No
Work
secured from being overthrown;
No
act,
or
counsel,
from confusion free;
No
place,
that was not metamorphos'd grown:
No
man,
almost, that had not changed his mind;
No
principle,
that was not called in doubt;
No
course,
in which we might a safety find;
No
virtue,
in all trials, holding out;
Nor any hope of being freed from
Our present evils, for the time to come.
That
Cloud of Plagues,
which filled in Emblem-Wise,
The
Title-page,
of my REMEMBRANCER,
(To set before this heedless Nations eyes,
A glimpse of Judgments, then, approaching near)
That
horrid-cloud,
through all these
Isles
dispersed,
Me-thought I viewed; and showring on these Lands,
The black effects, which I long since rehearst;
And, all the
Plagues
attending GOD'S commands.
Not only
Famine, Pestilence,
and
Sword,
With such, as bring on outward Desolations;
But, Plagues appeared also, more abhorred
By those, who cherish noblest expectations:
For, though these harmful are, more hurt they do,
Which murder us in Soul, and Body too.
I saw so great, so many our Distractions,
Such Discords, rising up between the Nations;
In every
Shire,
in every
Town
such Factions;
In every
Person,
such dissimulations:
Among the
Wise,
I found so little Reason;
So little goodness, left among the
Best;
In fairest shows of
Trust,
such real Treason;
And so much Fraud, where
Truth
was most professed;
That, neither
want,
nor wealth; nor
wit,
nor Folly;
Nor
Vice,
nor
Virtue; Love,
nor
Hatred,
neither,
Nor
sanctified things,
nor
things unholy
Distinguisht were; but, shuffled so together,
That, all things in this world, appeared, me-thought,
Into a Soul-confounding
Chaos,
brought.
Which melancholy Apprehensions reared
Such crotchets, and such whimsies in my brains;
That, many
sights,
and
sounds,
I saw and heard,
Like those which
Fear
begets, or
Fancie
faines:
Before me, as a shadow seemed to pass,
Things
present, past,
and
coming;
till I saw
Quite out of sight, all that which IS, or WAS,
And, to an end things
Future,
also, draw.
Strange
sounds
and
noises,
heard I round about me,
Or, in me rather; such as did begin
From those which rumbled every day without me,
Before a troubled
Fancie
let them in:
Which, though to be uncertain
Sounds,
we grant,
A
Mystery,
not one of them doth want.
One while, me thought,
Wolves, Foxes, Dogs,
&
Swine,
A greedy, crafty, currish, nasty rabble,
Did howl, bark, snarl and grunt; and sometime join
In consort: Music most abominable!
Sometime, as when an Angry
Lyon
roars,
Or, as when
Thunder
breaks out of a cloud,
Or, as when raging
Billows
tear the shoares,
I
Voyces
heard; so shrill, so deep, so loud.
I heard, me thought, the
Voice
of
Desperation,
The crying
Voice
of
Sin,
the
Voice
of
Blood,
The
Voice
of
Death,
and utter
Desolation;
The
Voice
of
Judgment,
from an angry GOD,
And every
Voice,
and every
Cry
and
Sound,
In which amazement, dread, and death is found.
Which, had it sounded to an
Outward-ear,
(As, by my
Understanding
it was heard)
The noise, had made both dead and living, hear:
The Spheres to shake, and Earth, and Hell afeard:
The terror of it, made my
Soul
to fly
Beyond the limits of corporeal things:
Sometimes descending, sometimes mounting high,
To shun the din, which doubt and horror brings.
But, whatsoever way her course she steered,
Confused
noise
did everywhere abound;
Confused
actions
everywhere appeared;
Which caused my strong distempers to abound:
And, almost cureless, made I my disease,
By asking of my heart, such things a these.
Why is this
World
(a Scene of sin and pain)
Fill'd full of shadows, which no substance have?
A place of time and labor spent in vain?
And where we lose our
selves,
a Toy to save?
From thence, where we nor smart, nor grief did feel,
We through the womb come crawling weakly hither;
Then getting strength, we scratch and fight a while;
And, through the grave, pass on, we know not whither.
If we pursue what nat'rally delights us,
And walk that course, which gives the flesh content;
Our
Conscience,
or some
Pour-divine
affrights us,
With inward fears, and threats of punishment:
And, if ourselves we virtuously dispose,
The
World,
and all without us, are our Foes.
Disgracefull slanders, everywhere attend us,
Though none can, justly, anywhere accuse us:
They, who are most obliged to befriend us,
When we expect best usage, most abuse us,
They, who to all enormities are prone,
And make no conscience, of the foulest crimes,
(If they suspect us guilty but of
One
)
Mis-judge us, as off-scourings of the Times.
While for their peace, our studies we employ,
And spend ourselves, to propagate their good;
They, labor our
Well-doing,
to destroy,
And stain their murth'rous weapons, with our blood,
As if those portions they regarded not,
Which were not torn, out of a brothers throat.
Since
Kings,
and
Princes,
were at first promoted,
Nor for their own, but for the
Peoples
sake,
Why, on their trappings, have all Ages doted?
How, did our
Creatures,
slaves of us, first make?
How grew
man-kind
so mad, to flatter them
Up to that needless height, of pomp, and pour,
Which makes their Arrogancies to contemn
Our
Freedomes?
and our
Birth-rights
to devour?
How, are they still so fooled, as not to know
(By that which they have
heard,
and
read,
and
see
)
That,
Tyrants
always have an overthrow,
When greatest their Hopes, and their Oppressions be?
And, justly, lose their Honors, Crowns, and Lives,
By struggling for unjust
Prerogatives?
Since GOD, for MAN, at first, this world did frame,
(And made it principally for the sake
Of those who serve him and adore his Name)
Why, doth his Foe, possession thereof take?
How comes it, that the
Serpent,
and his breed,
Lord's Paramount
through all Earths Kingdoms are?
And, that the promised and the blessed
Seed,
Enjoyes of this vast Globe, so small a share?
Yea, since the
Earth
is GOD'S, and they are
His,
To whom, by free donation, it was given:
Why, is their due infringed, as it is?
And, why are they from their possessions driven,
Scorn'd, injured, and abused, as abject things,
Where they should honor'd be, as
Lord's
and
Kings?
Why is the chosen flock of
Christ
so few,
And, they so numerous, who them despite?
(The
Pagan,
the
Mohammedan,
the
Jew,
The
Papist,
and the
Bosom-Hypocrite.
)
Since GOD made
Man,
for good, and not for ill,
(To be
in him,
and
with him,
ever blessed)
How did his Foe first captivate his
Will?
How, of his
Creature,
is GOD dispossessed?
How, is he glorified, while those Fiends
Do persecute, insult, and domineer
In mischieves? and in ruining his Friends,
Who said, Their
Lives
and
Deaths,
to him are dear?
Since GOD is
good,
why, so prevaileth
evil?
Since he's
Almighty,
how, so thrives the
Devil?
Whilst these Expostulations I pursued,
A BOOKE to me appeared, fairly writ;
In which, I satisfying answers viewed
To all the Questionings of
Carnal-wit.
Wherewith, my Soul remained satisfide,
And drew her self from these wild
Contemplations.
(Which, else perhaps, had carried her aside
From better, and from safer meditations.)
Then, from all outward
Noyses,
to be free,
Into my
Self,
I further did retire;
Even to that
Closet,
which is called in me,
The INNER-MAN, to seek out my Desire:
And, being there, enough I heard and saw,
To teach, to comfort, and to keep in awe.
For, then, my
Heart,
(which did before appear
A little, narrow, lonely, darksome Roome)
Was filled with a
Light,
that shined so clear,
And made the same so visible become;
That
(looking inwardly)
I saw distensions
So boundless, in their
Width,
their
Depth,
and
Height,
That, weighing well a fleshly Hearts dimensions,
It might be thought an admirable sight.
For, were you on that mountain, or high cliffe,
Whence you might farthest round about you see,
(Suppose it were the famous
Tenariffe
)
The
Prospects,
there, to those that
In-ward
be,
To me, no more to be compared, appears
Than that within a
Nut-shell,
to the
Sheares.
It shows a
Place
(if
Place
we call it may)
Within the Concave of whose wondrous
Orb,
The Eye of
Contemplation
may survey
Sights, which no
Bounds,
or
Shaddowes,
do disturb.
There, may be seen the means which doth disclose,
Though not the Essence of
Eternal-things,
So much at least, as every notion shows,
From whence, belief of their true
Being
springs.
There, may the
Soul
that hideous
Downefall
see,
Which leadeth to the brinck of
Desperation:
There, may that Entrance plainly viewed be,
Which guideth to a blessed
Exaltation:
And, there, the
Spirit,
to our knowledge, brings
The
Good
and
Ill,
of all created things.
For, hitherto, I never heard of ought
In Heaven, or Earth, but I perceived it there:
Yea, many
Novelties
from thence are brought,
Which have no
Being,
any other where.
It is indeed, another WORLD within
The
World
without me; and I thither go,
When I to loath external things begin,
And, doubtful am, what in this
World,
to do.
I sometime there have entertainments had,
Like those which may in
Paradise
be found:
Sometime again, 'tis like a
Chaos
made,
Wherein deluding
Fancies
do abound.
Sometime, the
Light
of Heaven there seems to dwell,
And, other while, it is as dark as Hell.
Within our
selves
(as GOD vouchsafes his grace)
That Bliss, and that true happiness is found,
Which men seek after in that
Time
and
Place,
Which have not much relation to this
ROVND:
I being thither guided (by that
Light
Which faileth none) there, found out an abode
Quite out of hearing, and beyond the sight
Of those distractions, which I saw abroad.
There, found I out, a Resting place to hide me
From
scorn of Fools,
and from the
Strife of tongues:
From their despite, who slander and deride me;
From private mischiefs, and from public wrongs;
From all the menaces, my ears have heard;
From all the perils, which my heart h
•
th feared.
There, I with sportive sleightings, did peruse
That, which their
malice,
who these times do flatter,
Have spewed forth against my blameless
Muse,
In lumps of scurrill, base, and witless matter:
And, am content to let the OVRS alone,
Though loud they snarl and bawle; because I find
Those
Beasts
are by their
Masters
seized on;
And, do but bark▪ according to their kind.
Though not their
wit,
their
malice
might, perhaps,
Deserve a Rating; and, I could have flung them
A
Bone,
that would have broke, or gagg'd their chaps;
(Or, thrown the
Wild-fires
of my Brain among them)
But, they in vain shall
bark;
in vain they
rail:
To scratch the
Scabs,
I scorn to foul my nail.
For, I, in that
Retirement,
seemed no more
By such decrepit-
Malice,
to be hurt,
Than is a well compacted
Rockie-shore,
On which, the Billows cast up Foame, and dirt.
There, shown I was, the high prerogatives,
(The privileges) of my
Second-birth;
And, from what noble
Root,
my
Soul
derives
Her Pedigree, though she be clothed with earth.
And, could I still (when I from
Contemplation
Return to
Act
) retain in me that height
Of
Spirit;
and the real estimation
Of that, wherein at those times, I delight▪
I never more, an earthly hope should cherish,
Or, prize the honors, of the
Beasts that perish.
There, on a Throne, above the world I sat,
Beholding, with disdain, Terrestriall things;
The fruitless love of Mortals, and their hate,
The Tyrannies of
Subjects,
and of
Kings.
There, I beheld (without those perturbations,
Which vexed me abroad) how
Pride
and
Folly
Support each other, by their combinations,
In wicked projects, and in works unholy.
There, spi'd I, by what secret Links and Ties,
The
cursed-Counsel
which deludes the
King,
And, that
false-pack
which in our bosom lies,
Their dark Designes together closely bring:
And why so many months in vain are spent,
Their treacheries and treasons, to prevent.
There, can I sit obscured, and spy what ends
Are closely followed by the Politician;
Who, seemingly, the
common-Cause
befriends,
That he may ruin it, without suspicion.
There, I descry, what avarice, what frauds,
What spite, and what hypocrisy doth lurk
In many, whom the
public-Voice
applauds,
As faithful men, in
carrying on the Work.
Without distemper, there, I think upon
Their pride and envy, who had rather see
Three
Kingdoms
universally undone,
Then, waned from their willfulness to be:
Because, I know, GOD'S
Work
will be effected,
In spite of what their madness hath projected.
There, without breach of Patience, I can heed,
How impudently some have sought to seem
Of eminent desert; who are indeed
More worthy of contempt, then of esteem:
How quaintly other-some can mischief do;
And then, by policy, and frauds contrive
To purchase thanks, and pay, and favor too,
For that, which, rather, should a halter have.
Yea, there, without offense, I notice take
How zealously
Malignants
are befriended;
How sleight account of their deserts we make,
Who have, with life, and goods, the
State
defended:
And, with what confidence, we still confide
On those, that will be true to neither side.
There, likewise, without wrath, I view, and hear
How senseless many, who are counted wise,
Both of advantages, and dangers are,
Which every day appear before our eyes.
How needless good
Advice,
by some, is thought
Till 'tis too late; how, to prevent a
Wound
They lose a
life;
and, (to be thrifty thought)
How, they to save a
groat,
misspend a
pound.
How desp'rately they sometime take a
Fall,
To scape a
Slip;
how, other while, to save
Some
Rotten-Members▪
they adventure all
Which we by
Grace▪
or
Natures
Charters have.
All this, in my Retirements, I can see,
Yet, nothing vexeth, or aff
•
igheth me.
For, therewithal, such means appear to show
That both the good Endeavors of our Friends,
And all the Counterminings of the Foe,
Shall work out that, at last, which GOD intends:
And, that, if we contented can become
To bear our Burthens, but a little longer,
His
Grace,
will render them, less troublesome,
Or make us, to sustain them, daily stronger.
Wherewith well pleased, I totally resigned
My
Will
to his; And, by that Resignation,
Delightfull Calmes within my heart did find,
So freeing me, from former perturbation,
That, all
within,
and all
without me,
kept
Such silence, as if all the world had slept.
As at high
Midnight
in a Desert Vale,
Or'e-hung and bordred by a
Double-Hill.
On which there blows not any
whistling-gale,
Down which, there flows not any
murm'ring Rill,
Near which, nor
Bird
doth sing, nor
Beast
doth play,
Through which, no
Travailer
doth ever pass;
By which, there grows no rusling
leaf
or
spray,
In which, no noise of
Creature
ever was;
Such seemed that
Calme,
which, then, I did possess,
(Or deeper, if it might a deeper be)
And, that the
Silence,
which I now express,
May not prove empty both to
You,
and
Me,
In this Retreat, from every other noise,
As from a far, to me there came a VOICE.
A VOICE there came; From whence, I will not say:
Judge yet, to whom I shall report the same;
For, if you mark the sense, conceive you may
Aswell as I, from
whom
and
whence
it came.
So
still
a VOICE it was, that with mine
Eare,
I heard it not; nor made it such a noise
As that, which our corporeal sense doth hear;
Nor was it an articulated VOICE:
But, such a VOICE as when the
Spirit
brings
A Message down from GOD; and, to the heart
Doth whisper those intelligible-things,
Which
words
do but imperfectly impart;
Or, such a VOICE, as from GOD'S written
Word,
The Genuine sense well heeded, may afford.
And yet it spake so plainly, and did show
Those Informations which I gained thereby,
In every Circumstance, to be so true,
That of no branch thereof, misdoubt have I.
Thus, it began. Thou
Off-spring of the earth,
Whom
Providence
designed, in this Nation
To have thy temp'rall Being; and thy Birth
In this D
•
gree, and in this Generation:
Suppose not, that, in any worth of thine
There could a merit, or a motive be,
Which might
Eternal-Providence
incline,
To cast so gracious an aspect on thee,
As to descend so low, as to thy heart,
The knowledge of his pleasure, to impart▪
For, from thy Childhood, he thy thoughts hath seen,
Heard all thy words, observed all thy ways;
Can tell how vain thy youthful years have been,
And, how thou hast defiled thy elder-days.
He knows thy seeming virtues imperfections;
He saw what evil secretly thou didst;
And▪ made thee likewise feel by due corrections,
That, he beheld what from the
world
thou hidst.
The Folly, Fraud, and falsehood of thy heart;
The vices, and the vainnesse of thy tongue;
How false to others and thyself thou art,
How slow to good, how swift in doing wrong,
He truly knows; and, finds thee apt to do
No duty, but what he compels thee to.
And, he observed (though thy guilt he smothers)
That, thou to whom he better things hath taught,
Art in those Crimes as deeply died as others,
Who on this Isle, these present Plagues have brought.
Observ'd he hath, how fondly thou hast striven
With
Wordlings,
in their lusts, to have a share;
Although, to thee, experiments were given,
What empty, and pernicious things they are.
Yea, with some indignation he discerned
That, madly, thou didst many times partake
In provocations, whereof thou hadst warned
This Land (even those thou vowedst to forsake)
And, that, with greediness thou hast pursud'd,
Those vanities that ought to be eschew'd.
Although thy heart informed thee, long agoo
(By an indubitable information)
That, all the services thou couldst bestow
Upon the
Minions
of this Generation,
Should nothing profit thee: Thou, nerethelesse,
(Forgetting what was counsel'd, and resolved)
Didst fawn on some of them, in thy distress;
And hadst, no doubt, thereby thyself involved
Within those
Nets,
which at their
Boords
are spread;
But, that, GOD did permit them to contemn
Thy honest
Muses:
who a plot had laid,
Into those virtues, to have flattered them,
Which they regard not: otherwise that
Course
Which nothing bettered
them,
had made
thee
worse.
When thou hadst, in thy
Poems,
vice reproved,
He searched thy
heart;
and saw it was not, then,
Mere love to
virtue,
whereby thou wert moved;
Or, that thou hadst less guilt then other men.
Somtime, that fickle bubble,
Reputation,
Sometime that hope which thy vain
Fancie
gives thee;
Sometime,
applauses,
sometimes,
indignation,
Into a just reproof of sinners drives thee.
Some other by-respects, oft wrought upon
Thy heart, to rouse up in thee an endeavor
In things, that seemed worthy to be done:
But, thy performances proceeded never
From that true love, and that sincere affection
Which thou didst owe to
Him,
and his perfection.
And, for these things, their mouths wide op'ned be,
Who seek to turn thy
glory
to thy
shame:
Those witless
Railers
are let loose on thee,
Whom, in thy
Measures,
thou didst scorn to name.
For this, thou sufferest by the sharp despights
Of
open-sinners:
and much more, by far,
Through those malicious, and proud
Hypocrites,
Who kindled first, and still foment this war.
For this, thou (who for others couldst espy
Conceal'd events) hast oft so blinded been
In matters of thine own, that what thine
eye
Seem'd fixed on, thy
wit
hath over-seen;
Till, to thy mind, they through those means were brought,
By which each Fool, and every child is taught.
For this, wert thou deservedly deprived
Of blessings, which thou else mightest have enjoyed:
And, for that cause, hast worthily surviv'd,
To see thy hopes, with other men's, destroyed.
For this, thou (with the first) hast plundered been;
For this, thou both by Friends and Foes art torn;
For this, where thou hadst hopes, respects to win,
Instead of honor, thou reproach hast born:
For this, thy best endeavors have been crossed,
By them, whose power could else no spite have done thee;
For this, those pains, and those designs are lost,
Which otherwise had grea
•
advantage won thee;
And, but that whom GOD loves, he leaveth never,
For this, rejected thou hadst been forever.
Yet such is his compassion, that his love
Still seeks to reingage thee by his graces;
Beholding thee with favor from above,
In
wants,
in
sufferings,
in all
times
and
places.
According to thy trust in him reposed,
(When thy
Remembrances
did first appear)
As with a wall of brass he thee enclosed,
From those who at thy
Muse
enraged were.
The
Prelates
and the
Nobles,
who conspired
To ruin thee, and thereto did comply,
Obtain'd no power to act what they desired,
Though open to their fury thou didst lie;
Although some suffered, then, (for milder lines)
By Stygmatizings,
Banishment,
and
Fines.
When thou wert grasped in that
Dragons
paws,
Who sought thy spoil; GOD, strangely charmed his rage:
He from devouring thee restrained his Jawes,
Even while he rav'd, and stormed at thy
presage,
Yea, whereas thou didst imprecate on those,
Who should maliciously thy lines defame,
(And without penitence their Truth oppose)
A
Public Mark,
to brand them for the same;
Even so it came to pass: For, scarcely one
Of those Oppressers are at this day free
From having those just Censures undergone
By which, the
public-Foes,
now marked be;
And, to the chief of them, this
mark
GOD gave,
That,
He
with shame, went headless to his grave.
In all the changes of this toilsome life,
He kept thee with an honest Reputation.
He, was thy comfort still, in times of grief,
In dangers, he hath been thy preservation.
He saved thee from the furioust
Pestilence
That ever in this Clymate did appear;
And, hitherto, hath by his Providence,
Secur'd thee from the
Sword,
yet raging here.
Now, when they lack, who surfeited of late;
When
Bread,
with men more worthy, groweth scant,
(Yea, though the Foe hath spoiled thy estate)
He keeps thy family, from pinching want;
And makes thee hopeful, whatsoever betide,
That, he for thee and thine will still provide.
Moreover, when thy patience was nigh tired;
When thy estate, the world did most despise;
GOD gave thee that which most thy heart desired,
(And, of all things terrestrial, most hath prized)
He, likewise, hath preserved thee to behold
Those things, in thine own life-time verifide,
Which seemed as dreams, when first by thee fore-told;
Which fools did sleight, and wiser men deride.
And, not thus only, was he pleased to do;
But, now, hath also called thee, to prepare
The
Way of Peace,
and, to reveal unto
These
British Isles,
what those Conditions are,
Whereon, it is his pleasure to return
That
Blessing
to them, for which, yet they mourn.
It is not for thy sake, that, now, his eyes
He fixeth, not on persons eminent;
Or, hath not chosen one more learned and wise,
By whom, this weighty
Message
might be sent:
But, rather, to abase and vex their pride
Who carnal Pomp, and outward shows adore,
(Vouchsafing scarce to turn their eye aside,
To heed the suits, or counsels of the poor)
And, that (to humble them) they may be fain
Perforce, to hear, and to accept from
him,
(Whose gifts and person, most of them disdain)
The
Way of Peace,
which he shall offer them;
Or else, through pride, grow hardened in that
sin,
Which bringeth
Desolation
faster in.
This is the
Course,
which
Providence
hath took
When self-conceit, and sin, befooleth Nations;
And Carnal policy, doth overlook
The lowly means, of timely preservations.
Thus, that the
Jewish-pride
he down might bring,
When they the pomp of
heathenish-Kings
affected,
He made, one
Seeking-Asses,
their first King;
And, them unto a
Shepherd,
next, subjected.
When their proud
Pharisees,
and
Priests,
believed,
That
He,
who came the
Kingdom
to restore,
Should from their power and wisdom have received
Chief aid thereto; he raised it by the poor.
From their formalities, his eyes he turned,
And chose the
meek-ones,
whom their pride had scorned.
And, GOD thus dealeth still, when he intends
To purge a
People,
and refine a
State;
Making one motion, move to sev'rall ends,
As it to sundry Objects may relate.
Who should have thought, that saw a while ago
The
Prelacie
in pomp (advancing thorough
This potent
Isle
) it should be baffled so
In height of all it pride, at
Edinburgh?
Who could have then supposed, that a
Stoole,
Flung by a silly woman, in her zeal,
(When policy did labor to befool
Your brethren, and the
Dragons
wound to heal)
Should have, in thousands, kindled such a flame
Of zeal, as from that mean occasion came?
Who would have thought the late despised
Scot,
(A
Nation,
whom your elders dis-esteemed,
A
Nation,
whom your Fathers loved not,
And, of whose friendship, careless you have seemed)
Should first have rouz'd, a passage to have broke
Through that Attempt; which, will (if unrepented
And willful sins obstruct not) break that yoke
Which
Heresy
and
Tyranny
invented?
Who would have been persuaded, but erewhile,
The
Scot
should faithfully for you have kept
Your nigh-lost footing in the
Irish
I will?
And, while the Flame into their borders crept,
Should, brother-like, contribute their chief powers,
To quench the Burnings, which your Towns devours?
Or, who would have believed (having heard
The scandals, and malignant jealousies,
Wherewith some do their love, yet, mis-reward)
That
Scotland
should for
England's
aid arise,
And in their marches through your fruitful lands,
More conscience make, than you yourselves have shown,
Of laying violent, and griping hands,
On them, whose wounds and losses are your own?
But, GOD is pleased these things should come to pass,
To humble and abase that high conceit,
Which falsely of yourselves admitted was;
And, that both
you
and
they
might have a sight
Of his great
Providence,
in so proceeding;
And,
Good,
and
Bad,
confess it merits heeding.
For, by this course, he doth effect his will
Within them, by them,
and
upon them
too.
Both Friends and Foes, all actions good or ill,
Promote the work which he intends to do.
They, who, long time, have willfully persisted
In crooked paths, from which they called have been,
And, in those
Calls,
the
Spirits
Voice resisted,
(Or carelessly proceeded in their sin)
Shall (blind with malice, and obdur'd with pride)
Sleight all the counsels, tendered now by thee:
The Tenour of this VOICE, they shall deride,
And, madly, stubborn in their Courses be,
Till on their heads, those judgments down shall come,
Which are an unrepentant Sinners doom.
And, when with plagues deserved they are stung,
(Instead of Penitence, or filial awe)
As doth a
Dog
at whom a stone is flung,
So they shall snarl, and so the weapon gnaw.
Or, rather, as it was fore-told of those,
For whom, GOD, his
fifth Vial
should prepare,
The greater, still, their fear or torment grows,
The less to be reformed will those men care.
They (to the
Throne
and
Kingdom
of the BEAST
True Vassals being) will GOD'S name blaspheme;
Or, else be stupefied, at the least,
When GOD with stripes, or counsels visits them.
To these, this VOICE, will no good
Omen
sing;
To these, no
Peace,
no
Comfort,
will it bring.
But, they who by their chastisements for sin,
Are humbled so, so school'd, and made so meek,
As to admit that true repentance in,
Which makes them gladly,
Truth,
and
Mercy
seek,
Even they shall from this VOICE, receive content;
And not disdain the
Wine of consolation,
Though in an earthen Vessel it be sent;
But, take it with a thankful acceptation.
And, if of these, that
number
found shall be,
For which, three wicked
Kingdoms
may be spared,
You shall from Rulne, once again be free;
To show the World, that, what few now regard,
Prevents more mischief, and more
safety
brings,
Than potent
Armies, Parliaments,
and
Kings.
For,
Kings,
and
Parliaments,
and
Armies,
too,
When
crying sins
in any Realm abound,
Advantage not, so much as they undo;
As, by a late experience, you have found.
A
King
you had, who was, at first, conceived,
To pity, and to piety inclined;
(Such, he was really of thee believed)
Yet, of those Virtues, now, small signs you find.
The
Cup
and
Fornications
of the WHORE,
Do seem to have bewitched his royal breast:
With bloody sins, his Realms are flowed over,
(Defil'd with crimes, that cannot be expressed)
And, more in danger to be quite undone,
Than, ever since, a
King
first filled this Throne.
He takes a
Course,
which if pursued, will do him
More damages than all his foreign foes:
And all their malice could have brought unto him.
Yea, so improvident a path he goes,
As if by his
Fore-fathers,
or by
Him,
Some sin had been committed, which hath shaken
His very
Throne,
defaced his
Diadem,
And, for which, Vengeance must ere long be taken.
For, though he knows the people's griefs and fears,
Though sprawling in their blood he sees them lying;
Though he beholds the flames about their ears,
And, in their deaths, his honor daily dying?
Yet, seems he nothing to
hear, know,
or
see,
Which for your safety, or his own may be.
The
Royal Power,
that should the Realm have guarded,
Is to the ruin thereof, mis-employ'd;
The
Perquisites,
allowed to have rewarded
Deserving-men, by Ruffians are enjoyed.
The
Dignities,
ordained to have been placed
On them, whose deeds their nobleness declared;
To Slaves are prostituted; and disgraced,
By being on
Buffoones
and
Clownes
confer'd.
His
Council-Table
was become a snare,
His
Court,
a Sanctuary for Transgressors;
The
Judgment-Seats,
were engines to prepare
Advantages, for Bribers and Oppressors:
The
Sovereign,
from the
Subject
is estranged;
And
Kingship
into
Tyranny,
is changed.
But, though the
King
be partner in these crimes,
'It is
you,
who have yourselves, and him undone:
For, as
Idolaters
in former times,
First, made carv'd Images, of Wood and Stone,
(Perhaps, but merely for Commemoration
Of some deceased
Worthy
) and, at last,
Improv'd it into sottish
adoration;
So, Those, on whom the
Government
was placed,
(By prudent Counsel) Base men, by degrees
So idolized, and with flatteries
So long, in servile manner, bowed their knees
To their
Self-will;
that, first, to tyrannize
The people's blockishness, and baseness brought them:
Yea, how to be Oppressors, they first taught them.
And, when
Kings
saw, the people's foolishness
Did make themselves believe, that their own
Creature
Had therein, an inherent awfulness,
Advancing it above the human nature;
They, quickly from that folly, and that fear,
Advantages assumed to improve
Their pow'rs: It made them greater to appear;
And in a more Majestick Orb to move.
The slavish
gestures,
and the servile
phrase
Long used in Court, did thereto so much add,
That, he who like a
man,
declares his cause,
Is judged unmannerly, or somewhat mad:
Nay, to that height the,
Royal claim
is brought,
That none, but
Slaves,
are now true
Subjects
thought.
A
Parliament
you have, which you obtained,
When you were most desirous to have had it;
You, thereunto a privilege have gained,
Which, now, more fixed than formerly, hath made it.
The
House
of
Peers
is of a party cleared,
Whom, leaning to your, Common-Foe you doubted;
Whose power you felt,
whose
policy you feared,
And, whom, long since, some gladly would have outed.
Yet had Corruption over-filled it so
With honor'd
Titles,
worn without deserts;
And, with so many, raised from below,
To sit on
Princely Seats,
with
Slavish-hearts,
That, when your troubles well-nigh cured you thought,
Far greater mischieves, were upon you brought.
Your
House of Commons,
(though when first convented,
It filled you with a hopeful expectation)
Hath every way so truly represented,
The
Common Constitution of this Nation;
That, little hitherto hath been effected
To mitigate your
Feares,
or settle
Peace,
According to the issue you expected;
But, every day your sorrows more increase.
So great an inundation of confusion
Is broken in upon you; that, in vain
You hope or labor for a good conclusion,
Till GOD himself make up the
Breach
again;
And, you (with more sincerity) confess
Your Guilt, your Weakness, and your Foolishness.
Betwixt
You,
and your
King,
there is of late
A cursed
Fire
broke forth, whose raging flame
Each others ruin threatens, like to that
Which from
Abimelech,
and
Shechem,
came.
So damnable a
Spirit
of Contention
Is conjur'd up, that, his designs are brought
Past all those remedies, and that prevention
Which by the wit of mortals can be wrought.
So madly, you each other do oppose,
That everyone consults and acts in vain:
What one rears up, another overthrows;
What one destroys, another builds again:
And nothing is the vulgar expectation
But ruin, if not utter Desolation.
For,
crying-sins
do gen'rally prevail,
The
Rules of Order,
quite aside are laid:
The
prudence
of the
Counselor
doth fail;
The
honestest-Designes,
are most gain-said;
The
Grossest Falsehood,
soonest is believed;
His cause best speedes, who aims at
basest-ends,
The
worst-Transgressour,
shall be soon'st repriev'd;
The
veriest Knave
shall find the Lordliest friends:
And, when
Foundations
thus are overthrown,
What can the
Righteous
do? what likely hope
Have Husbandmen, when all is over-grown
With Briars and Thorns, to reap a thrifty crop?
Or, what can by a
Parliament
be done,
Where all are with Corruption over-grown?
With
Warlike Forces,
too, now strongly armed
You do appear; and Martial men abound,
As though each Township, Be-hive-like had swarm'd,
And
Horse,
and
Arms,
sprung daily from the ground.
But, what have these availed, in regard
Of expectation? Nay, how multiplide
Are these afflictions, rather, (which you feared)
By their dissensions, insolence, or pride?
Your Treasures, Stocks, & Fields, they have nigh wasted,
Their avaritions fury to allay;
Yet, as if they had
Pharaoh's kine
out-fasted,
So greedy, and so hungry, still are they,
That, all the plenties of your peaceful years,
Will hardly quench that vast desire of theirs.
Want of sincerenesse in your chief Commanders,
Too much ambition, much respect of friends:
(Most men that hear this, know these are no slanders)
Fraud, Envy, Cowardice, or private-ends;
And, gen'rally defect of Discipline:
Or, (to be plain) want of that honesty,
Which these Forth-breakings of the
Wrath-divine
Hath, now, required in your
Soulderie,
Have set licentiousness so much at large,
And made most Officers, presume upon
Such looseness; and so slackly to discharge
Their duties; that, you likely are to run,
By your own
Forces
(as the matter goes)
Not much less hazard, than by open Foes.
Your
Common men,
(this will disparage none
Among you Martialists, that blameless are)
Have not in misdemeanors, been out-gone
By many, who the
States
opposers were.
They cheat, rob, lie, curse, swear, blaspheme and roar,
They equally oppress both Friend, and Foe;
They plunder, scoff, insult, game, drink and whore,
And every day corrupt each other so;
That, if this plague continue but a while,
You
and your
King,
so many
Rogues
will arm,
That, throughout every Township of this I will,
This curse brood of
Lice
will crawl and swarm,
Till they have quite devoured those that fed them;
And, pine in that starved Body, which first bred them.
For, though the highest honors temporary,
On
Soldiers
are conferred, whose true worth,
Whose virtues in employments
military,
With an illustrious candor shineth forth:
Though they, who to defend their
Countries
cause,
Themselves to death and dangers do expose,
(Observing duly, GOD'S and
Natures
Laws,
Not only to their friends, but to their foes)
Though
these,
deserve all honors; no expression
Is full enough to make an illustration
Of their ignoble, and their base condition,
Who triumph in their
Countries
desolation:
And, as the raskall sort of
Tinkers
do,
Pretend to mend one hole, and then make two.
For, these four years of
Discord,
have so changed,
The gentleness, already, of this Nation;
And, men and women are fo far estranged,
From civil, to a barb'rous inclination:
They are so prone to mutinous disorders,
So forward in all mischievous projections,
So little moved with robberies or murders,
And, so insensible of good Affections;
That, they whom you have armed for your defense,
Will shortly ruin you, unless preventions
Be interposed by that
Providence,
Which frustates diabolical intentions:
And therefore, now,
Conditions
are propounded,
On which, a
Restauration
may be grounded.
Yea, now, when
Med'cines
(that most sovereign were
At other times) have multiplied diseases:
When all your
Policies
quite routed are;
To intervene, a
Timely-Mercy
pleases.
Now, that your
Armies, King,
and
Parliaments,
Which were your hopefulst means of preservation,
Are made, by
Sin,
imperfect Instruments,
And, leave these
Isles
almost in desperation:
Thou,
shalt once more, to dis-respective men,
A
Herald
-extraordinary be;
And, carry them conditions, once agen,
Whereby they from these troubles may be free;
And, that those
Angels
which now smite these Lands,
From Desolation, may with-hold their hands.
Now, then, for Overtures of
Peace
provide;
Silence thy Trumpets, let thy Drums be still;
Furle up thy Colours, lay Commands aside,
Sheath up thy Sword, resume again thy Quill;
And, make thou such an entry on Record,
Of what thou intellectually dost hear,
That, to these present Times, it may afford
A legible Express, of what they are:
That, thereby, meek men may have information,
What humble service, and what sacrifice
May best promove that reconciliation,
Which will conclude these bloody Tragedies;
And, that it may, by working upon some,
A Blessing, unto all these Isles, become.
To that intent, once more, thyself prepare,
To hear enraged
Tyrants
madly rave;
The envious to detract, the proud to jeer,
And Fools to show how little wit they have.
Prepare thyself, to suffer what disgrace
The spite of secret malice hath begun;
And, all those injuries, which, to thy face,
May, by an open enemy, be done.
And saulter not: but, plainly publish thou,
What is, and shall be spoken to thy heart;
That, if
these
will not,
time to come
may know,
By what good Spirit thou inspired art:
And, that men may, unto GOD's praise, confess,
That, He, in
Justice,
is not
merciless.
And be not swayed by any by-respect
To
King,
or
People,
Persons, or Estates,
From uttering (to thy power) the full effect
Of whatsoever, now, this VOICE relates.
Nor be thou so presumptuous, as to add
One syllable (beyond what shall be true)
Through fear; or, that some profit may be had;
Lest thy vain fears, and thy false hopes thou rue.
But, speak what truth shall whisper forth to thee,
In so impartial, and so bold a strain,
That, to their souls, it may a terror be,
Who still, in their impenitence remain:
And, therewithal, those consolations bring,
Which make the
meek,
and
broken-hearted
sing.
Fear neither
Peers,
nor
Commons,
Friends, nor Foes,
So long as thou thy duty shalt perform▪
Nor fear the threatenings or the frowns of those,
Who, at thy publishing this VOICE may storm,
For, of whatever they shall thee deprive,
Who, therewithal, are spitefully offended,
Thou for the same shalt seventy fold receive,
In life and death, by all good men befriended.
And, if by thy Detractors ought be spoke,
Which this thy warrantable duty wrongs,
Their malice shall quite vanish into smoke,
And for the same, ten hundred thousand tongues
Shall censure
them,
who now mis-censure
thee,
Even while they
are,
and when they shall
not be.
The VOICE, here made a pause: For, though I had
Myselfe,
into
myself
retired, as far,
As a Retreat could possibly be made,
From things, that Bars to
Contemplation
are;
Yet, thither carried I so much about me,
Relating to the
Flesh,
which I have on me;
(And also to the
World
that is without me)
That she, with violence, broke in upon me;
And came so over-joy'd with fruitless news
Of an approaching
Treatie,
and with hope
Of
Peace
thereby; that she disturbed my
Muse,
And brought those
Revelations
to a stop,
Of which, this
I will
shall never hear again,
Till she hath proved all other means in vain.
Your wits, ye
Politicians
therefore try,
Ye
Mightie,
thereunto your Forces join,
And
you,
that with a
Formal-piety,
Or
moral-facings,
your projections line.
Pursue your ways of
Peace,
till you are gone
So far, that you no forwarder can get;
And find, that when your willful course is done,
You, like
wild-Bulls,
lie tumbling in a net:
For, then, perhaps (though but a Moufe it were,
That gnaw'd the snare) your pride would be content,
The means of your deliverance to hear,
By whomesoere the
Message
shall be sent.
When that hour coms, the VOICE that spake before,
Will speak again; and, then I will tell you more.
Mean-while, I purpose to return unto
Those other under-takings, wherewithal
I am entrusted; or, those works to do,
For which, the
Common-danger,
first may call.
And since I ought not wholly to neglect,
Their private wants, who on my care depend,
I will be bold, a little, to respect
My own Affaires, which few men, yet, befriend;
Lest, e're I finish what I have begun,
I may incur some sudden detriment;
Or, else, by my Oppressors, be undone.
For, he that makes no conscience to prevent
His private ruin, shall be seldom heard
In any public matter, with regard.
LORD, by thy power (for, by thy power, alone,
Such Plagues are cured) recure us e're too late,
And, once again, in mercy, look upon
This heart-sick, languishing, and dying
State.
Once more be reconciled: (Once more at least)
To these distracted, these divided Lands,
Let that
Preserving-Mercy
be expressed,
On which, the safety of a
Kingdom
stands.
Abate those Earthquakes, which have made unsteady
The Pillars of this
Church
and
Common-wealth;
Disperse those
Vapours,
which imve made us giddy;
Purge out those
Humours,
which impair our health:
Support the
Limbes,
which must prevent our fall,
Cut off, those
Members,
which may ruin all.
And, give me Courage, Wisdom, Grace, and Power,
So, to discern thy
Will;
so, to express
What is inspired; and in so good an hour,
As, that it may prepare the
Way of Peace.
THOU, that, by
Babes,
and
Sucklings,
dost restore
Decayed
Strength;
and, by despised things,
Advance thy
Kingdom,
and thy
Glory,
more
Then by the Councils, and the Powers of
Kings:
So, make this VOICE to speak; so, make men hear;
That, both
Times present,
and the
Times to come,
May love thy
Mercies,
and thy
Judgments,
fear,
Throughout these
Islands,
till the day of doom:
And, let this VOICE'S good effects be shown
Most clear in
Him,
by whom, thou makest it known.
The second Canto.
The Contents.
This
Canto's
Preface being done,
The VOICE, to these effects, goes on;
Tells, how unworthy we are yet,
For
Peace
desired, how unfit:
How vain, how harmful
Treaties
be,
Till both
Sides,
in one
Third
agree;
And (laying by ignoble
ends,
)
Use likely means of being
Friends.
Shewes, that the
Peace,
which most pursue▪
Will be nor permanent, nor true.
Then, that some
Cures
may heappli'd,
Declares which
Parts
are putrifi'd;
Which must be
purged,
without delay;
Or,
cauteriz'd,
or
cut
away,
If we will, e're it be too late,
Recure this weak, this dying
State.
THe VOICE and
Muzings,
hitherto expressed,
In me, so sad, so serious Thoughts had left,
And, stamped them so deep into my breast,
That, of it health, my
Body
they bereft:
And, e're my former strength could be renewed
(Or those Affaires dispensed with, which deny
To be, at will, delayed or pursued)
Three months of Relaxation passed by:
And, in that space, was op'ned such a
Sluce
To Interruptions, discomposing so
My meditations; that, them to reduce
To their late temper, I had much ado.
Oh GOD! from me, how fast
good motions
fly!
How long are they unborn! how soon they dy!
My heart, that is corrupt enough to know
What any wicked man can think or say,
Before my feet, began harsh rubs to throw,
And, cast great stumbling blocks orethwart my way.
When I had some removed, Loe, (with a jeer)
A thought within me said; If nothing else
But
Virtue
guides thy
Pen,
what needed here,
All that, which of thy
Self,
this
Poem
tells?
Why mention'st thou (as if thou wert afraid
Thy Readers knew not, or forgot the same)
What thou
fore-toldst?
what thou hast thought or said?
And what events on thy
Predictions
came?
And, in a
Magisterial-strain
hast spoke,
As if thou for a
Prophet
wouldst be took?
Indeed, my
Vanities,
I find to be
More then enough, my
Musings
to expose
To mis-constructions; and, to bring on me
The sharp result of such like thoughts as those:
For, never could I fix my mind upon
GOD'S Work so closely, but,
Charrs
great or small,
Have still been there with brought me to be done,
By those old
Haglers,
whom I live withal.
Even in this
Taske,
(though GOD stands over me
With Fire, and Sword) such failings will appear,
And, so imperfect my endeavors be,
〈◊〉
, much I grieve, to think how vain they are;
And feared, they had been but effects of pride,
Till thus, for me, another
Thought
replide.
GOD, pleased seems, to make thy
Vices
do
Those duties, which thy
Virtues
leave undone.
And what though this may add (if it prove so)
Dishonor to thy
self,
so GOD have none?
If thou thy
Thoughts,
hast clothed in such words,
And, them in such a dressing, forth shall send,
As best advantage to thy
Self
affords,
Why should it any other man offend?
Or, if thou addest ought for thine own praise,
Why should an envious Reader grudge the same,
Since
Malice,
and
Dispight,
have many ways,
To turn such empty Glories, to thy shame?
Or, why shouldst thou forbear, if cause thou find,
To make thy
words
help fortify thy mind?
Thine own
expressions,
are sometime the
Charmes
Which waken thy
Resolves
that were asleep:
Thy
Heart,
the repetition of them warms;
Thy
Spirit
from dejection they do keep.
The mentioning what GOD hath for thee done,
Or, what he hath enabled thee to do,
May to his glory be insisted on;
And, otherwhile, to thy advantage too.
Why then, through Fear of witless
Censurers,
(Or, of an airy scoff, shouldst thou omit
Thy self to mention, or thine own affairs,
When thou (on good occasion) thinkest it fit?
Since, if thy
Muses
would be so confined,
They to themselves were traitors, or unkind.
And, to make void what shall well purposed be,
There intervene so many casualties,
By mis-conceiving, or mis-knowing thee,
Sometime, such Inconveniences arise,
As that, it may essentially advance
Thy
Work
in hand, if some few lines be spent,
To add, or to enlarge a circumstance,
Which captious men may think impertinent;
For, when the
Matter
moves not that respect,
Which is desired, perhaps, the
Manner
may:
And, if thou honestly thy hopes effect,
What though
Fools
think, that thou the
Fool
didst play?
Although harsh dooms, this age to thee affords,
The Times to come, will give thee better words.
Thus spake my
Thoughts;
But, little do I care
How I am judged, save only for their sake,
On whom those
Verities,
which I declare,
May thereby, more or less impression make.
The care I took, was how to hear again
The VOICE, which I conceived had much to say,
That to this
Islands
peace doth appertain;
If, what is counseled, men would obey.
For, well I saw, although unseen it was
By many, (and too well perceived by some)
That such a
Time,
was well nigh come to pass,
As my preceding
Canto,
said should come,
Before, the VOICE I heard, the rest would say,
Of that, which was begun the other day.
Yea, I discovered them, on either side,
To be distracted and confounded, so,
By that which falsehood, policy, and pride,
Self-will, and Avarice, hath brought them to;
That, I began to feel myself afraid,
Destruction might or'e-whelme this Generation,
Before there would be means to hear, that said,
Which may, perhaps, prevent out desolation.
As soon therefore, as GOD to me restored
Decayed strength, and my infirmities,
Did Opportunities, and time afford,
I recompos'd my scatt'red faculties;
And, being then retired, and noise alaid,
The VOICE that spake before, thus, further said.
Come
Weakling,
fit thy soul, prepare thine care,
Gird up thy loins, and set thyself apart,
That thou, the more intentively, mayst hear
What, shall be further spoken to thy heart.
That TREATY, now, is at a fruitless end
Which interrupted what I had to say:
That
Hope,
whereon so many did depend,
Is, like a fair bright
Morning,
past away
And, leaves you in a
Cloud,
that seems to threat
A terrible tempestuous
After-noon;
Which, you with many Feares, will round beset,
Before the
Day of Trial,
shall be done:
And, therefore, that which will be now declared,
May, peradventure, find the more regard.
You look for
Peace,
(and he who well can sing
That
Song,
deserveth highly to be prized)
But, who can thither such a blessing bring,
Where all Conditions of it are despised?
Or, what, as yet, have they to do with peace,
Whom these
Corrections,
move not to repent?
Whose Wickedness, doth rather more increase,
Then seem abated, by their chastisement?
Who can expect, the fretting Corosives
Should be removed from your Fest'ring sore
Until the skillful Surgeon first perceives,
It may, with healing salves be plaistred over,
Unless, he rather hath a mind to see
The patient ruined, then cured to be?
How few hast thou observed, whose former course
Is bettered by those
Plagues,
which now are on them?
How many, rather, do appear the worse?
And, to be more corrupt then thou hast known them?
In what perpetual broils are they involved,
Who, for the public welfare, most endeavor?
How friendless are they, who are best resolved?
And, in good resolutions, dare persevere?
How many, into
Parties
quickly band
A questioned
Malignant
to protect?
How few men, for that Innocent, will stand,
Whom Malice doth accuse, or but suspect?
And who now lives, and loves the
Common-Right,
Who suffers not some insolent despite?
Though most men see distractions hanging over
Their giddy heads; their Tragedie begun;
And, round about them, nothing can discover,
But universal Ruin drawing on;
Ambition, Malice, Avarice, and Pride,
Self-will, Self-love, Hypocrisy, and Guile,
As arrogantly still on horse-back ride,
As if no Plague had seized on this Isle.
This man for
Place;
that, striveth for Command;
Pretends the
Public-weal,
but, seeks his
Own;
And cares not, so he profit by the hand,
Though
Law
and
Gospel
too, be overthrown:
And, He that in defense of them doth come,
Findes furious Foes abroad, and worse at home.
In every Shire, in every Town and City,
The
Kingdoms
discords are epitomiz'd:
In every Corporation, and Committee,
Some Engine for
Division
is deviz'd.
Occasions daily spring, each man engaging,
To
side with,
or
stand leaning,
to some
Faction,
And, by new quarrels, more and more enraging
Their Furie, to the heightening of Distraction.
An
Emblem
of which madness, he might draw,
Who saw, within an old thatch'd Barn on fire,
Poor beggars quarrelling for lousie straw,
(Or dunghill rags, new raked from the mire)
Who will nor heed their harms, nor leave to brawl,
Until the Flames consume
Rogues, Rags,
and
All.
How can calm
Peace
be timelie wooed thither,
Where men so brutish are in their dissensions,
And, where the means of knitting them together,
Are still occasions made of new contentions?
How can these
Isles
have
Peace
that are so vicious?
And, who have Factious
Spirits
raised on them,
As willfully disposed, as those
Seditious,
Who brought destruction on
Jerusalem?
How can they look for Peace, while they contrive
Designes,
enlarging, still, their discontent?
While
Policy,
doth wedges daily drive,
Twixt every joint, to make a cureless rent?
And, while to mend the breaches of this
Land
Ther's nothing brought, but pebble-stones and sand?
Who can unite again a
Broken-bone,
Whose parted ends, are set the from ward way?
How long will oil and water mix in One?
Or, things quite Opposite together stay?
There are betwixt you such Antipathies,
And such abhominatings of each other,
That, in no ordinary Power it lies,
To knit you in a perfect League together:
And 'tis not possible, your fest'ring sores,
Should ever heal, while in them there is found
That putrefied flesh, and rotten cores,
Which keep from closing, and from growing sound?
And which will suddenly break forth again,
Augmenting more your hazard, and your pain?
How can these miserable
Isles
have
Peace,
While
Justice,
nor Compassion find regard?
While they who should protect, do most oppress?
Where sin scapes blame, and Virtue wants reward?
How can he hope for
Peace,
that would enjoy
His wish on any terms? And, for the
Shade,
The
Substance
of that mercy quite destroy,
Which might by patient Industrie be had?
Or, how can he be worthy of that
Blessing,
Who (knowing how much, lately it hath cost,
In blood and Treasure) would the repossessing
Of that dear
purchase,
for a toy, have lost?
And, everlastingly, himself undo,
To satisfy his Lust, a year or two?
Who knoweth not, that much more dread you have,
Lest of
Estate,
or
Person,
you should lose
The loved
Freedomes;
then to be a
Slave
To him, whose Tyranny, the
Soul
undoes?
For, to that end you
Give,
you
Lend,
you
Pay;
To that intent, strict
Covenants
you make;
To that intent, you sometimes
Fast
and
Pray;
To that intent, much
Paines
and
Care
you take.
Yea, many goodly things to that intent
You daily do, and many moe, intend:
But, your
Peace-offerings,
all in vaineare spent,
Till you direct them to their proper end;
And, till the
Peace,
for which your Suits you make,
Shall be desired for
Truths,
and
Mercies
sake.
Who sees not, that a
Peace
you now desire
For naught, but that you might again enjoy
Your lusts; and, to those Vanities retire,
Wherein you did your former days employ?
Who seeth not, that, like to those
Israelites,
Whom from th'
Egyptian Bondage
GOD redeemed,
You have the pleasing of your Appetites,
Much more than your
Deliverer
esteemed?
Their
Garlic,
and their
Flesh-pots
left behind,
They thought on more, than on that
Servitude,
From which they came; and, more than they did mind,
Those
Wonders,
and that
Mercy,
which GOD showed:
And, you have acted, as in imitation
Of that perverse, and foolish generation.
You have forgot, already, to what height
Of Tyranny and Pride, the
Court
was reared;
What
Projects
for Oppression, were in sight;
What Injuries you
felt,
and what you
feared.
You seem to have forgot, to what degree
Of Insolence the
Prelacie
was come:
How, generally, you began to be
Bewitched, by the Sorceries of
Rome.
You, have not so observed, as you ought,
How near, unto a helpless overthrow,
You (by your Foes confederacies) were brought,
Before their purpose did apparent grow;
Nay, you yet heed not, what will soon betide,
If, now, from
good-beginnings
back you slide.
But, as afore-said, like the sottish
Jews,
(Who, of the
Human-nature,
and of
You,
Are perfect Types) GOD'S favors you abuse;
And, so, your own Inventions, you pursue.
Though like their
Fierie-pillar,
and their
Cloud,
A special
Providence
hath been your Guard;
An unbelieving heart, your deeds have showed;
And, you of every
Bug-bear
are afeard.
Like them (even while the
Law
to you is giving,
And all this
Island,
like
Mount Sinai
smokes)
New
Worships,
and new GOD'S you are contriving;
Like them, you sleight his Benefits, and strokes;
And, in your Provocations, are as daring,
While he is
Rest
and
Peace,
for you preparing.
So, you forget, how great your
Bondage
was,
And whereunto you feared it might increase;
So, those great
Marvailes
you still over-pass,
Which GOD hath wrought, to perfect your release:
So, when by some new
Streight,
your Faith he tries,
You wish that in your
Bondage,
you had staid:
So, your
Deliverers,
you scandalize;
As if by them, your Freedomes were betrayed:
So, murmur you, when anything you lack;
So, you, despair, when carnal props decay;
So, every difficulty turns you back,
And stands like
Seas,
and
Giants
in your way:
And, so, through mis-belief, yourselves deprive
Of Blessings, which your
Children
shall receive.
And, thus it comes to pass, because, like them
You are a stupid and a foolish
Nation,
Who your
Deliverances
do contemn;
And, are like them, without consideration.
Else, grudge you would not, for that, you are more
Imbroyl'd by seeking to preserve your due,
And put to greater charges, than before
Your Vindication you did first pursue:
For,
Prudent men,
will while they are at ease,
Be willingly made sick; and bear the cost
Of Physic, for the cure of that disease,
Through which, ere long, their lives might else be lost:
Yea, every rustic
Seed-man,
sows in hope,
(Advent'ring much) e're he receives a crop.
You justly might suppose, that
Patients
wit
Much craz'd, that when good physic works upon him,
Straight wisheth, he had never taken it;
Cries out, that his
Physicians
have undone him;
Because, they made him sick, e're he was so:
Drinks, eats, and acts, both
what
and
when
he will;
Yea, thereby makes himself more sick to grow,
And causes that which would have cured, to kill.
Yet, this is your condition: and, if, now,
In this distempered, and unto ward plight,
Your kind
Physician
had deserted you,
(As for your peevishness, he justly might)
Your labors past, and those you shall bestow,
Will prove like Arrows, from a warped Bow.
You mark not, what great wonders GOD hath wrought,
To move your hardened
Pharaohs
to relent;
And that from slaveries, you might be brought,
Nor heed you, what your Foes, for you invent.
A thousand things, unthought on, you let go,
Of consequence, which wrought for you have been,
Since your
Deliverer
began to show
An
Outlet,
from the
Bondage
you were in.
As, in what dreadful manner, in one place,
He seized by an
unseen-messenger,
A bold
Transgressor
(who so daring was,
As to provoke the Devil to appear)
And, smoth'red him in loathsome smoke and stink,
Whilst he presumed blasphemous healths to drink.
You do not mark, how oftentimes the
Plot,
Against you laid, hath crossed been by
Him,
When, else, you had no knowledge thereof got;
Nor, to prevent it, either
Power,
or
Time.
You have not memorized, as you ought,
How, GOD himself, when your own strength did fail,
For you, against your Enemies hath fought;
And made you conquer, when they did prevail.
How wondrously, a
Remnant,
for a Seed,
In
Ireland,
he preserves: how oft from spoil,
Your
Garrisons
and
Armies,
he hath freed,
When they have been in hazard of a foil:
Nor do you mind, how oft, him thank you may,
For saving, what, you would have fooled away.
You ponder not, how often he hath saved,
Where no
Salvation
was; how near at hand,
He still was found, when you protection craved;
And, when destruction over-hung the
Land.
You have not heeded, how the Saplesse-breast
Of withered Age, (when raging cruelty
The child of murth'red Parents had distrest)
Did wonderfully, thereto milk supply:
Nor, for how many thousand Families,
He food provides, whom
War
hath quite undone:
Nor, how his
Grace
restrains their
Poverties,
From Outrage, whereinto they else had run;
And which, ere long, attempted you will see,
Unless more
Just,
and
Merciful
you be.
You, hardly yet believe, that, in conclusion
The mischiefs, by your Adversaries done,
Must be the
Ground-work
of their own confusion;
Or, that your
Peace
is by this
War
begun.
You mark not, that when first the sottish
Dane,
Preparing was, your causeless Foes to aid,
GOD, then, to call him to account began,
For all that blood whereon his
Throne
was laid:
Nor how, even then, GOD fastened in his nose
The
Swedish-hook,
and found him work at home,
To show, that He of
Princes
doth dispose;
And, what of
willful-Tyrants
will become,
Though, by permission, for a while, they may
The Fools, or Mad-men, on their stages play.
You mark not, with such thankful observations,
As would become you, that, GOD's providence,
(Though you are threatened by some other Nations)
Hath (by engagements) kept them yet, from hence.
And many other things unheeded are,
Which must consid'red be, ere you aright
Your hearts, and your affections can prepare,
For such a
Peace,
as will be worth your sight.
Yea, many things must be repented too,
And much amended, ere you may expect,
That either
swords,
or
words
this work will do;
Or
Blowes,
or
Treaties,
bring your wisht effect.
The
Peace
of GOD you never can possess,
But, by atonement, with the GOD of
Peace.
You, by a
Treaty,
had a hope to see
A
Peace
concluded on. But how alas!
How possibly may that accomplisht be!
Till means is found to bring it well to pass?
The
Mediums
to that work, are wanting, yet,
By which, the
Parties
who at variance are,
Should reconcile; and they themselves have set
Too far asunder, to be brought so near.
There wants a
Third,
by whom they should unite:
For, most who are imploid as Instruments,
To join them, in
Divisions
take delight:
And,
private-interests,
that work prevents;
Because, when these, the way to
Peace
shall take,
Themselves obnoxious to the
Laws
they make.
The chiefest outward-Instruments, whereby
To join a
King
and
Subjects
disunited,
Was wont to be that Christian Charity,
By which the neighb'ring
Princes
were invited
To mediate, and labor to compose
Their diff'rences. As first, by
friendly Words,
And
prudent Arguments,
persuading those
Who seemed unjustly to have drawn their swords.
By
threatenings,
next: And, if nor argument,
Nor intercession, nor sharp menaces
Prevail'd; they then, to help the innocent,
As they enabled were, would sometimes please;
Lest, an unbounded, and usurped power
Should all oppress, and all at last devour.
But you have no such hope; For, all the
States,
And all the
Kings
and
Princes,
near, or far,
Which were your Friends, and your Confederates,
Neglecters of this pious duty are.
The
Swedes,
the
Germans,
and those other Nations,
Who really compassionate your grief,
Are so engaged, for their own preservations,
That, thence you neither can expect relief,
Nor means of an
Atonement.
From the
Dane,
(Your old Oppressor) you long since, had found
What he resolved; unless, the
Swede
had tane
Occasion to employ him in the
Sound:
And, should the
French,
or
Spaniard
intercede,
Against their own Designments, they might plead.
Th'Vnited
Netherlands,
who to pursue
This duty, are obliged, beyond them all,
And, who (unless they prove both false to you,
And to themselves)
themselves
remember shall:
Even they have hitherto but only sent
Job's
comforters unto you: or, perchance
To practice here, some piece of complement,
Which they have newly learned from
Spain,
or
France:
Ot, else, to see a pattern of that
Plague,
Which must, from hence, translated thither be,
When they have quite forgotten their old league
With you, who spent your blood, to set them free;
When they, in danger were to be enslav'd,
As you are now, and, for assistance craved,
Now, whether these are blinded by some sin
That calls for Vengeance; or, by some poor hope,
New works
on this
Isles
ruins, to begin;
Or, whether
Providence
hath made that stop,
To frustrate such like means, that, you might fly
To him alone; it doth not yet appear:
But, will ere long. Meanewhile, the certainty
Of this, becometh manifestly clear;
That, GOD suspendeth every help to
Peace,
Which foreign Aid, or foreign intercession
Are like to add; and, suffers an increase
Of jars at home, which threaten your perdition:
For, everything
essential
to that blessing,
Are, well-nigh, taken out of your possession.
Most
Circumstances,
thereunto pertaining,
Are missing too. For, on the one side, at least,
There's not so much as willingness remaining,
To further what they have in
word,
professed.
The
Spheres
in which they move, divert them from
A true
Coujunction;
and, from all Aspects,
From whence good
Influences
use to come,
Or, any lasting
peaceable-effects.
It is destructive to their main
Defigne,
And to their
Principles,
to make true
Peace;
Or, with a faithful purpose, to incline
To seek this
Islands
real happiness.
Nor should you think such purposes they had,
Till, in their
course,
you see them retrograde.
As soon shall he that
Westward
always goes,
Meet him, that still an
Eastward
point doth steer,
As your two
Factions
firm together close,
Till they, in their
chief-aims,
approach more near:
For, the one is bent, the other to
enslave;
That other, is resolved to be
free:
The
Last,
would keep what GOD and
Nature
gave;
The
First,
would seize, what ought not theirs to be.
And, these, from reconcilement are so far,
That, all their kindness is but to betray:
When most they talk of
Peace,
they purpose
War;
When they embrace, they mean to stab and slay:
And, when they make you think the War is done,
The greatest mischief will be but begun.
Beside, as yet, nor the one, nor the other side,
Nor
King,
nor
People, Commoners,
nor
Peers,
Nor
Flocks,
nor
Shepherds,
have the course yet tried,
By which you can be saved from your fears.
A TREATIE may complete it: But, before
You venture that, you must be fit to
Treat.
For, then, the work were half-way done, and more:
And, till that be, no step you forward get.
In heat of quarrels, nothing done or spoke,
Can reconcile: a friends words move them not:
The more they talk, the more the peace is broke,
Till they their lost
consid'ring-caps
have got;
Till their hot blood is cooled, till rage is gone;
And,
Reason
doth examine them alone.
Then, peradventure, they with shame will view
Their oversights, their furiousness repent,
Distinguish
Truths,
from things that are
untrue;
And, by that quarrel, future jars prevent.
Thus likewise, when GOD, thereto says
Amen,
Your Disagreements here, shall have an end:
Your Discords will be then allayed agen,
And, he that's now a Foe, shall be a Friend.
But, you must find, before this can be done,
A
Preparation,
and a
Ground-work
laid,
(With such an alteration wrought upon
Your Hearrs) that
Reason
may be more obeyed:
GOD, make this Preparation; For, by none
But by himself, this work may now be done.
When you may hope a
Treaty
will prevail,
Good
Symptoms,
you to usher it shall see;
Inducing you to hope it shall not fail:
And, for a taft, they such as these will be.
Both sides
will to some Course themselves apply
That shall declare their hearts are growing-lean;
Themselves they will endeavor to deny;
Their tongues will nothing speak, but what they mean.
You shall perceive more
Justice,
to be shown;
More
Charity
among you will appear;
They will be meek, who to be proud were known;
Contentions will be fewer then they were;
And, they who on the
Public-Trust
attend,
Will less abuse it, for their private end.
A
Change,
thus wrought; these
Virtues,
in a while,
Will everywhere, beget themselves esteem:
By their
esteem
the
Fire-brands
of this
Jsle,
Will daily more abhominable seem:
That loathing of those
Monsters
will increase
The number of true
Converts:
By that
number,
The growing of
Malignancie
will cease,
And
Newters
be awakened from their slumber:
By their
awakening,
such will be afraid
Who have not gone maliciously astray:
That
Fear
will quickly make them well apaid
To leave their standing, in the
sinners way,
And, when these from that
Station
shall be gone,
It will bring scorn upon the
Scorners Throne.
Thus, as at first,
Malignancie
was bred
By ill example, and mis-informations;
So,
Good affections,
will revive and spread,
And strengthen by their changed Conversations.
Then, will arise a longing to be free
From your Imbroylments; with so true a sight
Of present mischiefs, and of what
may be,
That, in the means of
Peace,
you will delight.
And, then, both
Parties
will be pleased to meet
On one set day, to fall with humbleness,
For their foul bloody sins, before GOD'S feet,
Whose
Mercy,
far exceeder their wickedness;
And he, perhaps, will make that complement,
An earnest of your general assent.
When such like inclinations do appear,
(Both parties moving on, in some such way,
As here is pointed at) they who draw near
At first in generals, will every day,
Assent in some particular or other,
Till they who now so much divided be,
Shall lovingly unite again together,
And in one
Discipline
and
Faith
agree.
But, doubtless, not till they themselves deny,
And more forbear, when they negotiate,
From seeking in their public Agencie,
To serve and save themselves, before the
State;
Whose weal, to all men should be dearer, far,
Then their estates, their lives, and honors are.
Nay, till both
Parties
do, at least, agree
In all those common principles, whereby
Human Society, preserved may be,
With Nations Rights, and Christian Liberty;
All
Treaties
will be mischeevous, or vain,
To men adhering to the better Course:
For, by such
Threatenings,
Politicians gain
Advantages, to make your being worse.
Yea, by that means, these find occasions may
To gain, or give intelligence; to make
New plots, and friends; to hasten or delay,
As cause requires; and, other ways to take
For their avail, which else they had not got:
And which true honesty alloweth not.
Nor can, in any cause, a
Treaty
bring
More mischief then in your; till on each side
The
Parties
treating, are in everything
(Thereto pertaining) rightly qualified:
Because, when
Foreigners
alone are Foes,
It is hard corrupting more then one or two;
Whereas, here want not multitudes of those,
That, willingly, their Country would undo.
Nay, some among you are so void of reason,
To buy their Traytorships; and other some,
By conscience, seem obliged to the treason:
And, these will to a
Treatie
never come,
To make true reconcilement; but, to gather
Advantages, for some new mischief, rather.
You are this way, and many other ways,
Corrupted so, so false, and so unfit
For
Peace
desired; and for those assays,
Whereby you may acquire that blessing, yet,
That you must cleansed be from that pollution
Which brought this curse upon you; and whereby
Those means are vainly put in execution,
Which might procure a blessed
Unity.
There is so little honesty among you,
And your discretion is become so small,
That they who most apparently do wrong you,
(And seek your Souls and Bodies to enthrall)
Have more encouragements, to help undo you,
Then they, who offer means of safety to you.
Instead of being linked fast, in
one,
Against the
common-Foe,
you have permitted
That
band of amity
to be und one,
Whose preservation had these times befitted.
You, that in
Fundamentalls
do agree,
Are so divided about
Circumstances,
(Which might, at better leisure, settled be)
That your
Destroyers
projects it advances:
And, if with speed you cement not the breaches,
That which (ere long) must thereupon ensue,
Experience (which the veriest idiots teaches;)
Will, to your greater sorrow, daily show;
Till you of all, are by those foes despoil'd,
Whom you by good atonement might have foiled.
You are a fickle, and inconstant
Nation,
Your serious
promises
deserve no trust;
Your
words
are full of base dissimulation,
Your
thoughts
are vanity, your deeds unjust.
Your
virtues
are but few, your
vices
many;
Great is your
Folly,
and your
Wisdom
small;
Your
Principles
are such (if you have any)
That, from your best resolves you quickly fall.
With jealousies, each other you pursue;
You misbelieve, and find, as you believed:
You, nor to GOD, nor men continue true:
And, therefore, of much comfort are bereaved,
Which by their friendship might have been possessed,
Who keep to you, that Faith which they professed.
Betwixt you, and your
Brethren of the North,
The seeds of
Discord
secretly are sown:
Much pain some take to make them tillow forth,
Dissensions
coals in every place are thrown;
And these by
Folly,
and by
Malice,
too,
So willfully are blown by
either side,
So scattered, and tossed to and fro,
And so much fuel is to them applied;
That, if the patience of the
Stottish-Nation
Exceed not Common-measure: If more true
They prove not to their
Vowes,
their
Protestations,
And
Christian-principles,
than some of You,
A worse
Division
will betwixt you spring,
Than this, between the People and the King.
For, this will in another Age abate,
But, that, unless GOD'S grace prevent it shall,
Will grow into an everlasting hate,
Or, bring a speedy ruin on you all.
Now therefore, in both
Nations,
let those few
Who faithful are, firm in their Faith abide.
Now, let them to their Principles be
true;
Now, let the Patience of the
Saints
be tried.
His last great
Batt'rie,
ANTICHRIST now rears,
His deepest
Mines,
against you sinking be,
His pow'rfull
Army,
mustered now appears,
His chiefest
Cunning,
now, employeth he.
Oh! let him not by
Force
your Strength dis-join,
Nor, by his fraud, your Counsels undermine.
But, let your Faith and Courage so prevail,
That you may better
Fixed-Stars
appear,
Than they, who daily by the
Dragons-Taile,
Are smitten, or affrighted from their Sphere;
That, you may those
Elected-Ones
be sound,
Who cannot by
Deceivers,
be deceived;
That, with those
Conquerors
you may be crowned,
Who shall not of their
Garlands
be bereaved:
That, of the
Kingdom,
seizure you may take,
Which GOD, on
Perseverers
doth bestow;
And, not be shut from thence, by looking back,
When you have set your hands unto the plough.
In this
Back-sliding,
some already are:
Some, nearer to it, than they are aware.
For, so imprudent are
Men discontent,
That, to avenge their personal neglects,
Complaints for private injuries, they vent
As
National-affronts,
and dis-respects;
Whereas, it is apparent every day,
That, many members of each sev'rall Nation,
Do suffer, by their own, as much as they,
In
Person,
in
Estate,
and
Reputation:
And, that both
Nations,
mutually have shown,
(Unless, perhaps, among the baser sort)
As loving a respect as to their own,
And, therefore, let not
Prudent-men
retort
Mistaken wrongs; or quarrels be begun
'Twixt them, for that, which Fools and Knaves have done.
Let not those
jealousies,
which were perchance
Devis'd by them, who in your spoils delight,
Make you, imprudently, their ends advance,
And you, to their Advantage, dis-unite.
If some of them, discourtesies have shown,
To some of yours; or, injuries have done;
It is no more than you, unto your own
Have offered oft, since first this
War
begun.
An
Army
cannot possibly be free
From all Injustice; and, yet, oftentimes
Ill-will, and men who dis-contented be,
Will make complaints, much larger than the crimes.
But cursed be their malice, and their tongues,
Who Nations would divide for private wrongs.
Your Fathers felt, and some of you have heard,
The
Deadly-Fewds,
between you heretofore;
Which, if your own well-being you regard,
Would make you glad it might be so no more:
And entertain, and cherish with all dearness,
The brotherly Affection, which that Nation
Hath late expressed; and with a true sincerenesse,
Be careful of your mutual preservation.
Yea, if the sons of
Belial,
and of
Blindness,
On either Partie, rightly understood,
How greatly, to perpetuate this kindness
Between the
Nations,
it concerns their good,
(Even in those outward things which they respect)
They would not your
dis-union,
so project.
Believe it, this is not the way to
Peace,
But rather, to an never-ending war;
And likelier new troubles to increase
Then set a period unto those that are.
And, they who willingly shall tind such flames,
Or, willfully foment them, merit well
To be esteemed (to their perpetual shames)
The
Plagues
of earth, and
Fierbrands
of hell.
For, of your
Scottish-Brethren,
wherefore, now,
Ye
English-Britain's,
are ye jealous grown,
Who have expressed more faithfulness to you,
Then you yourselves, unto yourselves have shown?
Or, wherein have they seemingly abused
Your trust, whereof, they may not be excused?
They would appear to be confided in
With less distrust, if ever you had heard
On what conditions, they allured have been
To be dishonorable, for reward.
For, when the
Prelates-War
had them constrained
To arm themselves against the superstitions
Intruded on them; when they had regain'd
Their
Peace
with honor, and on good conditions;
And, when your Army could have been content
Vonat'rally (on promise of reward)
To turn their Swords upon this
Parliament,
(And so had surely done, had they not feared
The
Scots,
then, on their
Rear
) they were the men
who kept you from the mischeef purposed then.
Had they been trustlesse; or, had aimed at ends,
As base as many of your own have had;
Your Foe, e're this, had done what he intends:
And you and yours, perhaps, had slaves been made.
For, to allure them, four brave Northern
Shires
Should have annexed been to Scottish-ground:
To bear expenses (and to pay Arreares)
A paune to be three hundred thousand pound
In Jewels, was designed.
York,
should have had
The Sovereign-Seat of royal-Residence;
The
Scottish General,
should have been made
The chief of both your Armies; and, the Prince
In
Scotland,
should have had his education;
All which, together, seemed a strong temptation.
Yet, more was offered: For, to each
Commander
Revenue, Office, yea, and Honor too
Was promised; and th'invaluable plunder
Of
London,
to both Armies: What to do?
To force the
Parliament,
to make the
King
A Monarch absolute; and you, and your,
Into perpetual slavery to bring,
By an ill-gotten Arbitrary power.
But, these temptations, their brave minds abhorred:
Of which their nobleness, this VOICE shall be
An everlasting
Trophy,
and
Record;
Wherein, these times, and times to come, shall see
How, we to sale were offered; and, how these
Disdain'd to thrive, by base advantages.
If they be faithless, and you shall be true,
GOD, will with shame and vengeance send them home.
If, you unfaithfully your
Vowes
pursue,
Possessors of your Land they shall become.
In spite of all your policies and power,
Here, they shall settle; whither they were set,
To do the work of GOD (as well as your)
Who will requite the kindness you forget.
But, if without hypocrisy and guiles,
You, Brethren-like, shall strengthen one another,
In setting up his Throne, within these Isles,
By, and
in whom,
you seem, now, kn
•
t together;
Both, shall thereby, that happiness enjoy,
Which all the powers on Earth, shall not destroy.
Look therefore, well about you, and persevere
In your vowed union: For, the main design
Is to divide you; and, to that endeavor
Your Foes, withal their Faculties combine.
Yea, and of such like projects, there are other,
Through levity, or malice so promoted,
As if to ruin these three Realms together,
It were almost unanimously voted.
No
Chronicle
hath shown; no age hath seen
An Empire so divided, and yet stand;
Or that a Nation so corrupt hath been,
Whose desolation was not near at hand.
And, if you shall escape it; be it known
To all now living, and that shall be borne,
A greater
Mercy
never was bestowne
On any Kingdom since a Crown was worn:
And that no Nations, who so much profess
In outward show, did ere deserve it less.
Although by
vows,
and
duty
you are tide,
Yet, you are careless in pursuing either;
And play at
fast,
and
loose
on every side,
Fair seeming friends to both, but, true to neither.
He, that's within your Covenants, and conceives
Himself engaged; by those
Obligations,
To bring to trial those whom he believes
Injurious to the safety of these Nations;
Oft into greater danger thereby falls,
Of secret mischiefs, of reproofs, or troubles,
Then they whom justly to account he calls:
And, by this means, your Foe his power doubles,
Takes courage, and accomplisheth his ends,
By making you to ruin your own friends.
▪It is, oft, more safe, to let the
Commonwealth
Be ruined, or betrayed, then to oppose
A
Traitor;
or with freedom to reveal
That, which your vows oblige you to disclose.
Your
personal immunities,
of late,
Are so insisted on, that many fear
The
Public-Privilege
to vindicate;
Least they Infringers of the first appear.
And, if there be not some provisions made,
Whereby free-men their minds may freely say,
When probable suspicions they have had,
That some entrusted, do their trust betray,
Your
Priviledged Persons,
will advance
Their freedoms to the Public hindrance.
Through some obstructions, your most noble
Court
Which is the
Sanctuary,
whereunto
Oppressed men, by multitudes resort,
Yeelds less relief, then it had wont to do.
For, public Greevances are so increased,
That, time and leisure, hardly can be gained,
To hear how men are privately oppressed,
Till they are quite undone who have complained:
Beside (which in
Committees
oft is done)
By making friends, to
come,
or
keep away,
Vnwarranted advantages are won,
To wrong the
Truth,
or
Justice,
to delay,
Thus, when the
Peers
or
Commons
are but few,
A mischief unexpected may ensue.
For, when
Reports
or
Motions
should be made,
If they who make them will deceitful prove,
Occasions doubtless, may be watched, and had,
Injurously both to
report
and
move;
Since they who shall
report
(if to their choice
The times be left) may their designs propose,
And get it passed by a
Major-Voice,
E're their appearing, who the same oppose.
Yea, 'tis nor hard nor strange to watch and wait,
A we
•
k or two, for such advantages,
And gain a
Vote
for that by this deceit,
Which in a
Full-Assembly
would displease.
Thus, by man's wickedness, a mischief springs,
From justest
Courts,
and from the noblest things.
And, if you soon return not from your height,
Of Falsehood and Injustice, that which was
Your
Idol
(and the
Glory of your might
)
Your hope of bringing mighty things to pass;
Even,
that
shall also fail you, in the end:
That,
shall augment your manifold vexations:
That,
shall become unable to defend,
Or save it self, among your desperations.
Nay,
that,
shall by degrees it self corrupt
To such a
Monster,
as will fright you more,
More grieve, and more your quiet interrupt,
Than all oppressing Tyrants heretofore.
For, when in sinning, men presumptuous grow,
GOD makes their strength to be their overthrow.
It was not merely in the
Government
By
Kingship,
that you were oppressed of late:
It was not that, which brought the Detriment
Dilacerating so, both
Church
and
State.
The
Princes
errors, and the
Peoples
crimes,
(Increasing by their aiding of each other
In wickedness) have made them, in these times,
A mutual
scourge;
and both now smart together.
By
godless counsels
you misled your King:
Then kept him,
standing
in the
sinners way:
And to the
scorners throne
him now you bring;
Whereon if once he settle (as he may,
If God prevent not) you, as yet, but see
Beginnings of those plagues that felt must be.
Unless by penitence you break off sin,
Your
Parliamentall Members
(when
long sitting,
And
fewness of the number,
shall bring in
Both means, and opportunity, begetting
Such knowledge of each other, as is now
In some
Committees
) shall much represent
The
Lands
Corruptions; and make perfect show
By
whom,
and from what
body
they were sent.
For, then on
Privileges
to insist
Meer-personal,
more then on
Public-Right:
To say their pleasures; and do what they list,
In
Laws
contempt, and
Equities
despite;
Shall grow in use, till you and they shall run
Another Course to be, yet, more undone.
You, then, shall see (though under other notions)
Your old
Oppressions
to return again:
As much false-play for
profit
and
promotions,
As when you to your
King,
did first complain:
Then, you shall see your monstrous-
high-Commission,
Your
Council-Table,
your
Star-Chamber
too,
New-shapes
assuming to their old Condition,
Revive, and act as they had wont to do▪
That
Insolence,
that
Pride Prelatical,
Those
corporal
and
ghostly Tyrannies,
Which in your
Clergy
lately had a fall,
Shall rise again, clothed with a new disguise,
And act, what they who plaid before did mean.
Although they change their
Habits,
and the
Scoene▪
For, then some
Priestlings,
who as guilty are
Of your Divisions, as the
Prelates-train,
(First kindling, and fomenting, still, this war,
As much as they) will make their meanings plain.
Yea, by
divisions,
and by
subdividing,
According as their
main design
requires,
Opposing some, and with some other siding,
(As best may serve to compass their desires)
Shall
Schisms, Sects,
and
Fancies
multiply.
Beyond compute; and from the truth shall steal
So many hearts by feigned sanctity,
By counterfeited honesty and zeal,
That, all your other Foes shall not disease
Your private, and the public Rest, like these.
For, (though enacted-
Law,
doth now of late
From
Secular-employments
them exclude)
To intermeddle with Affaires of
State,
They will, by many means, themselves intrude.
By gath'ring Parties, they will plots contrive,
To make those greatest, who will them obey;
To make them rich, by whom they hope to thrive,
And to such ends will study, preach, and pray;
Joyne hands, solicit, covenant, petition;
(The
Public-good,
still their chief aim pretending)
And, whatsoever stands in opposition
To their
Design,
shall want no such commending,
As floweth from implacable despite,
Or, from the malice of an
Hypocrite.
And, if e're long, there be not some endeavor,
To keep them to their
Calling,
(and to bound
Their meddling with
Lay-matters
) you shall never
Be free from
Faction,
while the Spheres go round.
Like
Salamanders,
these can never live,
But in a Flame; nor, long themselves conform
To any Reformation: For, they thrive
In
Changes
best, and swim best in a
Storm.
And, many diffring
Sects
of these there are;
Some to an
Independancie
incline,
Some to a
Presbyterian-way
adhere;
Yet, really, themselves to neither join:
But, rather, take advantage to make use
Of that, which to their ends, may best conduce.
To limit these to some
Parochial Charge,
Were to imprison them: For, they well know
From
Congregations gathered up at large,
What Profits, and Advantages do flow.
A
Parish Income,
though they largely grant
Both
Tythes
and
Pensions,
is but very small,
Compar'd to what that
Priest itinerant,
Can gather up, who hath no bounds at all.
A
Parish
is too narrow for his Pride,
Or Avarice: And, in one place, perchance,
Should he be long compelled to reside,
He could not so conceal his ignorance,
Or cover failings in his Conversation,
As, by an
Unconfined-Congregation.
Had these been regulated, and reduced,
To that Conformitie, which
Reason
would,
The
Simple
had not then been so seduced:
Nor, had the
Common-People
so been fooled.
Had these, and their
Antagonists
been charmed
By prudent
Discipline,
and made agree,
Your
King
and
Parliament
had not been armed
Against each other, as this day they be.
Had these been conjur'd down; that
Piety,
That
Prudent-meekness,
and sweet
Moderation,
By which a Part of that
Fraternitie
Doth wrestle for a blessing on this Nation,
Should more be honor'd; and, ere long, prevail,
For curing of those
Plagues
which they bewail.
For,
these,
oft suffer the deserved blame
Of
Demas
and
Diotrophes;
and share,
(By being of their
Calling
) in their shame,
When of their Faults they no way guilty are.
And,
these,
are they, whose
Prayers
and
Examples,
Whose
good advice,
and whose
well-tempered Zeal
Shall keep your
State,
your
Cities,
and your
Temples
From desolation, and your Plague-sore heal.
If therefore,
Wit profane,
or
Scurrile tongue
Shall any of our censurings apply,
To do their worth or innocence wrong,
Let it redound to their own infamy:
Let every check, from which they shall be free,
An augmentation to their honor be.
And, let it not discourage them, a whit,
That, now, those temp'rall Dignities are gone,
Which, oft, in their possessors, pride beget,
And, really, are honor unto none;
Since, by their
lives,
and
doctrines,
they may more
Their
Persons
and their
Callings
dignify,
Then
Wealth
and
Titles
have done, heretofore,
And, reach true honors highest pitch thereby:
For, who, when
Prelacie
did highest seem,
Were honor'd by the
People,
or the
Peers,
With more unfain'd affection and esteem,
Then they are now, whom real worth endeers?
Oh! let this honor still on them attend;
And, let their counsels move you to amend.
For, everyone hath erred in his ways;
King, Priest
and
People
have alike misgone;
As doth the
Flock,
even so the
Shepherd
strayes;
And, there is no man
perfect,
no not one.
It is not in the power of
words
to tell,
How far below esteem your virtues are:
Or, how in wickedness you would excel,
If wholly left, to your own selves, you were.
Could you but look into your hearts, and view
How many villainies those cavernes hide,
Beside all those, which
words
and
deeds
do show,
Or, may by circumstances, be descride;
You could not but unfeignedly confess,
That you are, yet, uncapable of
peace.
Could you permit your blinded eyes to heed,
How, while you smart, you multiply offense;
How, that, which awful penitence should breed,
Hath changed
error,
into
impudence:
Could you perceive, before it were too late,
How fast you fell away, since you began
To fail in your professions to the
State;
And, to be faithless, both to GOD, and
Man;
You would abhor yourselves, and be afraid
Your souls, by
transmigration,
would ere long,
Passe into sottish
Beasts:
For, you have straid
Beyond that blockishness which is among
The noblest
Brutes;
and, hardly do escape
With so much of true manhood, as the shape.
There is no pity of the
Fatherless,
Or, of the poor afflicted
Widdowes
tears;
No charitable heed of their distress,
Whose misery, most evident appears.
They, who have gladly,
lent,
and
spent,
and
given
Goods, Blood,
and
best-assistance,
to defend
The
Common-safety,
(till they have been driven
To want of Bread) have hardly found a friend:
Some other, who oft hazarded their lives,
For your protection (and have quite undone
Their dearest
Children,
and beloved
Wives,
To do you service) have been looked upon
Without regard; and worse, by far, have sped
Then they, who nothing have contributed.
Nay (would it were but so) their, and your Foes,
By your injustice, or your heedlessness,
Find means to spatter, and to ruin those,
Whom, to defend, you did (with vows) profess.
And (though their deeds have through this
Isle
proclaimed
Their faithfulness) you gladly suffer them
By cunning whisperers, to be defam'd;
And,
Falshoods
words,
Truths
actions, to condemn
Before due trials, you (through Avarice,
Or, Envy) with contentedness, can hear
Desert
traduced; and, with such prejudice,
Receive Detractions, as if glad you were,
Of such false
Quittances,
to make a show
Of having paid that debt which, yet, you owe▪
It is, indeed, the
Politicians
way,
Thus, to requite: And, therefore, he that bring
•
Obligements,
greater then discharge they may,
On thankless
Nations,
or on fathlesse
Kings,
Instead of due reward, shall be repaid
With causeless jealousies, and with suspect,
Of having either failed, or betrayed
Their
Trust,
by fa
•
shood; or, by some neglect.
And, then, it must a
Mercy
be believed,
If
He,
for all the service he hath done,
(In lieu of wh
••
he thought to have received)
With
life
and
loss of honor,
may be gone:
And, this, will, now, the portions be of some
Whom better usage, better will become.
And, how can GOD have peace with such a
Nation,
In which this b
•
senesse, and this falsehood lurks,
Which is rejected with much detestation
Among the brutish
Salvages
and
Turks?
Or, how can you to other men be true,
Who to yourselves are false, as may appear
By many practices, which you pursue,
Through willfulness, through folly, or through fear?
For, whosoever tyranny defends,
And sets himself that
Party
to oppose
Which for the Public Liberty contends,
Betrayeth his own person to his Foes:
Or (if perchance, his person free he saves)
Himself,
in his
Posterity
inslaves.
Nay, you, who seem the
better part
to take,
Even
y
•
u,
are to yourselves, as false as they:
The
Price of blood,
a thing of naught you make,
And complement
Advantages
away.
Your
Passes,
and
Protections,
you bestow,
Nor, as though to your safety they pertain'd;
But rather, your Authority to show,
Who gave them; Or, that profit might be gained
To
Clerks,
and
Secretaries.
And, your care
Is not, at all times, how you may supply
A
place of Trust,
with such as fathfull are;
Or, fittest for the
States
necessity:
But, soonest they, those favors do obtain,
Who sell the
Public
for their private gain.
Nor Ablenesse their duty to discharge,
Nor loss, nor sufferings, for the common Cause,
Nor of Integrity, good proofs at large,
Respect to such a man's preferment draws:
Nay, he that by a general assent
Was nominated, (and petition'd for)
Without his seeking, in the
Parliament,
To
services of Trust;
and, which is more,
Had these employments, also, recommended
By
Order
thence; hath, now, a year unheard
For answer, from those
Referrees
attended,
Without so much as hope of their regard:
Because, though to the
Public-weal
it tends,
'It is found it will disprofit private friends.
Your Indiscreet
Indulgence,
suffers those
Who loose their Blood, and Liberties for you,
To lie in worse condition, then your Foes,
To whom an equal usage seemeth due.
Yea, while in loathsome dungeons, they remain,
Who captivated in your service were,
Sweet Lodgings and respect their Foes obtain,
When in your Quarters they imprisoned are.
By which
unequallnesse,
(till their side please
To show more
mercy
) much discouragement,
Your
Partie
finds; and, disadvantages
Which moderate severenesse might prevent:
And, you more
Cruelty,
then
Mercy
show,
When
Mercy
you on
Cruel-men
bestow.
He that to ruin you no spite hath spared,
If he submit, although but to deceive you,
Shall find more courtesy, and more regard,
Then he, who never left, nor means to leave you.
He, that with
Outrage
hath your towns embroil'd,
He, that hath in your blond, his hands imbrew'd,
Your friends of their chief livelihood despoil'd,
And, to his utmost power, that course pursued:
He, if for favor (though constrained) he come,
Shall not alone find means to set him free,
With his
Possessions,
for a trivial sum:
But also quickly countenanced be
With Friends, and Favors, him enabling, too,
Your faithful'st friends, and servants to undo.
False to yourselves you are, in not assaying
To execute the fullness of your
power,
In these
Extremities;
and, in delaying
To take those Freedomes which are justly your.
The
Members
of your
Body
wasted are;
And, such as are of that consumption glad,
(Unless prevented) will the cure defer,
Until it cannot possibly be had.
By raising fears of some
supposed-thing,
Which neither
is,
nor
was,
nor
shall be
done,
Upon yourselves, you many mischiefs bring,
Which by a
prudent-Stoutnesse
you may shun:
For, when you make an unexpected
pause,
You weaken your
Assistants,
and your
Cause.
You act not out your parts, as if you thought,
A
Tragedie
in earnest, now, were plaid;
Or, that upon the
Combat
to be fought,
The
Trial
of your whole estates were laid:
For, to advance a frivolous
design,
To please a knave, that is a friend in show,
To feed some lust, whereto they do incline,
Or, shun the fury of a feared Foe;
Advantages
you daily fool away.
Which by no human power can be recalled;
Eternity,
you venture for a
day,
And, when you might with brass be double wall'd,
You seek to fortify the Kingdoms Cause
With paper-works, with rotten sticks, and staws.
Those
Places
and
Employments,
whence arise
The greatest profit, rarely are conferred,
With conscionable care of their supplies,
By faithful men: but, thither are preferred
Those, rather, whose chief aims are how to make
Their private Fortunes; and, to that effect
Know how to move; and how to give or take,
To gain themselves advantage, and respect.
Yea, though there be suspicions, and perchance,
Good evidences too, that some of
these
The Cause of your opposers, will advance
(When they an opportunity may seize)
To
Offices
of
Trust,
you these commend,
Before your suffering and deserving Friend.
Who their estates have now increased most,
But, they who for the public ventured least?
Whose payments and preferment
•
more are crossed,
Then their, who (to their power) have served you best?
In what
Committees
now, or in what
Shires,
Are not, this day, a multitude of those,
Whose faithfulness undoubtedly appears,
Disabled, and discouraged, by their Foes?
How gen'rally do you in every place,
Begin, well-known
Malignants,
now, to trust
With your Affaires? And, suffer, with disgrace.
True
Patriots
from employment to be thrust?
And, by this madness, how are you betrayed?
How open to destruction are you laid?
They, who were first in
Arms,
for your defense;
Who, first, their
Free-will-Offerings
to you brought;
And have continued faithful, ever since,
Even they are now, unserviceable thought.
Contrariwise, they, who at first refused
To lend you aid, in
Person,
or in
Pay,
They, who in word and deed, your cause abused
(And are unfaithful to you to this day)
Even they have now insinuated so
By help of their Protectors: And, of these
So over-confident you daily grow,
That your best friends, you ruin, and displease;
And, on yourselves a greater hazard bring,
Then all the armed Forces of the King.
For, those accursed
Vipers,
are with you,
So intermingled in your consultations,
(Nay, rather, so incorporated now,
In private, and in State negotiations)
That, by a miracle it must be done,
If any good Design to pass be brought,
Or, for the public-safety be begun,
Which will not, e're performed, come to naught:
And, if you are not pleased to have it so
Why did you? and why do you still, permit,
Those men whom faultring (if not false) you know,
In Counsel, every day, with you to to fit?
And, why for those, do you your Friends neglect,
Unless your own perdition you affect?
Why else when
Forts,
or
Forces
to command,
On which the
Public-safety
much depends,
Do you commit them rather to their hand,
Whom neither proof, nor likelihood, commends,
To such a Trust? Why not unto their care
And keeping rather, who have courage shown?
Of whose fidelity, good proofs appear?
And whose experience hath been well made known?
This could not be, but that you do prefer
Your sons, your nephews, and your friends, before
The
Public-weal,
or else persuaded are
That, your Destruction will afflict the more,
Unless, your own devises help undo you;
Or, some who are both near, and dear unto you.
How can there be among you those foundations,
Whereon, your
Peace
or
Safety,
may erect,
While most men, for their own accommodations
Designments to the Public loss project?
And, while to compass their desired ends,
They do not only mischief, and delude
Themselves, their kindred, neighbourhood, and friends,
Or mis-inform the brainlesse multitude;
But, by their cunning, also do contrive
Those
Engines,
which good
Discipline
deface;
The
State
into unstable postures drive,
Raise jars, and jealousies in every place;
And spread abroad the Devils
Axioms
too,
The unity of Doctrine to undo.
These
Engineers,
your power infeeble more,
And weaken more your hands, then all yet done,
By other adversaries heretofore,
Since this unhappy
Warfare
first begun.
These, while to build among you they pretended,
As partners in the work of
Reformation,
Have secretly their private Aimes befriended,
With hindrance to your wished
Restauration.
Sanballat’s,
and
Tobiahs,
you have had,
Who, by dissembling with you, to unite
Have rent you from yourselves; and, thereby made
Both
Parties
feel the common Foes despite;
To be each others whip, and make the
Truth
A theme of scorn, in every drunkards mouth.
There are so many failings in the best,
Such needless, and such willful breach of
Laws;
So careless are you, of your
Faith
professed,
To those, who have been faithful in your
Cause;
So hath your Falsehood, and your folly blended
Both right and wrong, both good and ill together,
That, both must be opposed or defended;
Or, else you must declare yourselves for neither.
And (whether with the one, or toother side
You shall partake, or for a
Newter,
stand)
No
human wisdom,
can for you provide,
A
being,
with true safety, in this Land:
So little wit, hath ordered this
Place,
So little honesty, so little grace.
And, these great mischiefs rose, from giving way
For every man, at pleasure, to deface
Those
Out-works,
which (though faulty) were a stay
Not useless, till some better came in place.
For, he that would prevent an inundation
(By false-built
Sea-banks
) lets not everyone
Teare down the Piles, and break the old
Foundation,
Lest that which he would
make,
might be
undone:
Nor for a
Cobbler,
or a
Fidler,
sends;
But, men experienced in such works, doth call;
And, with such wariness the fault amends,
That, no disaster may, mean-while, befall:
And, that the
Old-work,
and the
New-work,
may
Begin, and end together, in one day.
You thus proceeded not, but (with more heat
Then prudence, hurrying on) in hast, you tore
The
wharfage
down; even while the floods did threat
To drown the fields, and
Billowes
rent the shore.
The furious
Soldier
was, with commendation,
Permitted to reform, as he thought fit;
(Forbidding or affording toleration,
According to the model of his
wit
)
And, he that was not mad enough to run
Their
wildgoose-chase,
and set the world on fire,
To suffer by suspicion, straight, begun;
And, forced was, from employment to retire,
As not right principled, or drawn aside,
By
Balaam's
wages; or, unsanctifi'd.
And, these
Reformers,
not enough content,
To carve out
Discipline,
as they shall please,
(And Doctrine too) will on the
Government,
Unless it be prevented, shortly seize.
For, having no
Foundation,
like a feather,
Which from the body of a Fowl is torn.
They to and fro, are turned with every weather;
Else, up and down, still wrestlesly are borne.
And, by these
foolish Fires,
even as you see
By
shining-vapors,
rising in the night,
Mis-led from safe high-ways, poor people be,
To fall in Pits, and Ponds, by their false light;
So
these,
and
other,
have by their delusions,
Brought on these
Nations,
mischieves, and confusions.
And these confusions, not alone befall
The
Civil State;
but, have disord'red so
Your
Discipline
Ecclesiastical,
That Church affairs, are out of order too.
Each one sets up their private
Idol,
there.
That
man, contends for this;
this
man, for that.
Some, would have new things; some, for old things are,
Some, would have
something,
but they know not what.
Some,
care not what they have:
and some there be,
That would have
nothing,
which might them confine,
In
doing,
or
believing;
but, live free
In everything, a perfect
Libertine.
And, most, in such a posture do appear,
As if the
Tower of Babel
raising were.
Some, to no
Congregation,
will repair,
In which their
duties
are extemporarie;
As if (because some call vain babblings, prayer)
No man possessed that
gift
in ordinary.
Some, do abhor
Set-Forms;
as if they thought
The
Spirit,
whereby they were first indighted,
Dispis'd the words, which by it self were taught,
If more then once, though with true zeal recited.
Some, care not how GOD'S
Fields
are over-grown
With Briars, and Thorns; some others, are so strict.
That, for his
Vineyards,
they no place will own,
But those, from whence all
weeds,
and
stones,
are picked;
As if they, for a
Church,
allowed not,
What hath a scar, a wrinkle, or a spot.
A
Militarie-Church,
was well expressed,
In ancient
Hieroglyphic,
by the
Moon;
To show, that when her light was at the best,
(And when her brightest glory she puts on)
Some
shadows,
or some
Waynings,
will declare,
That, in this world, she hath not her perfection:
And, that the
Sun,
from whom her beauties are,
Conveigheth
light
unto her, by reflection.
Somtime, that
Sun,
doth hide his face away,
Lest men ascribe to Her, what is His due:
Somtime, her proper
motions,
her convey
Too high, or else, too far, beyond the view
Of
private-spirits:
And, sometime, from sight
Earths Globe, and sometime Clouds, obscure her light.
Which, many, not consid'ring, are offended
Without a cause; and indiscreetly mar
That
Beauty,
which to polish they pretended;
And 'twixt her
Members,
raise intestine war.
Some
Weeds,
and
Corn,
are in the blade so like,
That many
Weeders
have deceived been;
And, oftentimes, good
corn
away do pick,
And make the crop, at
harvest,
very thin.
A
spotless Church,
or
perfect Disciplines
Go seek at
None-such:
For, they are not found
In any place, between the
Tropic-Lines,
Or anywhere, upon this earthly
Round;
Though some have shaped modells, in their brain,
Of that, whereto, they never shall attain.
On
speculations,
these have doted so,
(Which their own
Fancies
form) that, they have lost
The
Body
of
Religion;
and let go
That
Form
thereof, which must enshrine the
Ghost.
And, he (who being in the flesh) believes
The
soul
of
Worship
can retained be,
Or known, without a
Form,
himself deceives;
Yea others, with himself, deceiveth he:
And, wanders (restless) in perpetual motion,
In quest of
empty-shades;
and to pursue
Each flitting dream, and every changing Notion,
Which comes within his intellectual view:
Till
Pride,
upon his
Fantasie,
begets
High thoughts of his own
light,
and in his breast
Stirres up, and kindles those distempered
heats,
That keep the
mind
and
body
without rest;
And, then perchance, he to a
meteor
grows,
Which Fools, to be a
Star,
a while, suppose.
But, if you mark such well, their
new-borne-blaze
Is quickly out; and you shall see, ere long,
Some
Evils
follow, whereof they were
Cause
As well as
Signs.
And take you this, among
Your
Notes;
that, when your
Marches
furious be,
Like
Jehu's,
in
Religions
reformation;
(And so pursued, as if you said,
Come see
Our zeal for GOD
) that, but for ostentation,
Or, for your own advancements, you become
So zealous: and, that (when you execute
GOD's mandates,
Jehu-like
) you, for the same
Shall taste, of his false zeal, the
bitter-fruit;
That, other men may learn, his will to do,
For his
own sake;
and, with due
meekness
too.
No few disosters had prevented been,
If in the
Work
now doing, you had learned
With whether part, 'twas fittest to begin:
Which might in GOD's own
works
have been descern'd:
For, though this
World,
in worth inferior be
To
Man;
and, though the
Body
be below
The
soul,
in value; yet, created
He
The meanest of these first: And, that may show
How men should work. For, had
Man
been created
Before the
World;
or, had the
Soul
been made
Before the
Body,
where had they been seated,
To exercise the Faculties they had?
Though
noblest works
should first be thought upon,
Sometime, a
meaner work
should first be done.
A
Common-wealths,
blest being, doth depend
Upon the
Church:
the
Churches Reformation,
You, therefore, principally should intend:
And yet, your zeal may merit commendation,
Though to reform the
Civil-government
You first begin, and waive a while the other;
If there shall happen some such accident,
As hinders the reforming both together.
Else, peradventure, while you are contriving,
Your Form of
Discipline,
there may begin
A mischief, not alone of
Peace
depriving,
But, of a
Country
to profess it in:
And, so, with you it hath almost succeeded;
Because, this freedom was not timely heeded.
For, had you
tim'd,
and
ordered
aright
The
Civil-Part;
and, therewith brought along
The
Church-Affaires
(as by degrees you might)
The
Work
had proved less grievous, and more strong.
Or, had true
Prudencie
directed
Zeal
First, to reform some things pertaining to
The safe well-being of the
Common-weal;
Both, had not been, at once, distracted so.
And, yet, in this, the wisdom of the
State
Deserves no check; but, rather, that
Defection
Throughout the Land, which doth irregulate
The
Works
in hand, and keep them from perfection,
By multipli'd Obstructions; and, sometime,
By streightning, and necessitating them.
For, such is your corruption and your folly,
So false and hypocritical you are;
So brutishly profane, and so unholy,
(Though you
Religious-Nations
would appear)
That, had your temp'rall grievances been eased,
And all those
Privileges
been secured,
For which, to be at cost, you yet are pleased,
(And many Deaths and dangers have endured)
Most would have hazarded nor life, nor limb,
Nor Goods nor pains, the
Church
to vindicate
From her enthralments; but, to sink or swim,
Had left her in a deplorable state:
And, therefore, GOD permitted the pursuit
Of Counsels, which have brought forth bitter fruit.
Even as a
Worldling,
who hath spent his days
In carnal Pleasures; and hath partner been
With lewd Companions, in their wicked ways,
(And in the practice of each crying sin)
When he doth feel the stroke of some disease
Portending Death; and that the self-same hour
Those horrors on his conscience also seize,
Which threaten
Soul
and
Body
to devour;
Desire of
Life,
and fearfulness to
die
Distracts him so, that heat once for aid,
Both from
Physicians,
and
Divines
doth cry;
And, having both, becometh so dismayed,
That he receiveth benefit from neither:
But, hazards
Soul
and
Body
both together.
So, while you labored at once to heal
The desperate Diseases, which of late
Endangered both
Church
and
Common-weal;
Such longings, then, your
double-zeal
begat,
To cure them both together; and so strove
Your
Zealots,
that, from both at once, they mought
The
Cause
of their distemperatures remove,
That, great
Confusions
upon
both,
are brought:
Yea,
both
of them, are now exposed more
To scandals, losses, errors, perturbations,
And hazards of destruction, than before:
That, whether now you seek their preservations
Together
or
apart,
you shall not, yet,
Obtaine that
blessing,
which you hope to get.
For, you must first be cleared of the sin,
Which hinders from enjoying your desire:
And, that which lately might have cleansed been
With
water,
must be purged now with
fire.
Yea, since your follies and your sins have brought
Those great Confusions both on
Church
and
State,
For which the
means,
that might their cure have wrought,
Are now too feeble, and will come too late;
Since, into such a
Chaos
all is changed,
That, all endeavors useful heretofore,
Have, daily, you from
Concord,
more estranged,
And made your mischiefs, and your sorrows more,
No
ordinary-course,
can set you free
From those distractions, wherein, now, you be.
This, being known (and in what great distress
You plunged are) to you it appertains
With penitency, humbly to address
Your suits to
him,
in whom your help remains.
And ere you make approaches to his Throne,
There must be (as was told you) some
purgation,
From those omissions, and those deeds mis-done,
Which make your prayers an abomination.
The
Zimri's
and the
Cozbi's
of the time,
Of whose uncleanness and whose impudence,
You talk of, yet, but as a
Veniall crime,
Or, laugh at, as a trivial offense,
Must with more zeal (more speed) receive their due;
Or, else, their sins, GOD shall avenge on you.
For, these are so impure, that, in their
Sin,
They are unsatisfi'd, unless the same
H
•
th with some
circumstances
acted been,
Which proves them double-guilty, without shame.
They are not pleased in
Simple-Fornication,
Unless thereto,
Adulteries
they add:
Nor seems that, now, sufficient violation
Of
Chastity,
unless, the Crime be made,
Yet more abhominable, by beguiling
Some
Innocent;
or else by (offering force)
The
Bed of Honor,
with bold vaunts defiling:
Nay, there is found among you (if not worse)
Uncleanness more unmanly, and more strange;
Adult'ries by consent,
and
by exchange.
But, these are the defilements of your
Peace,
Where yet they have not felt the rage of
War;
Where, yet, the Course of
Justice
doth not cease,
And where great shows of
Piety
yet are.
And, if such impudence may there be found;
If there, you so corrupt already grow,
Oh I how do those
Uncleannesses
abound,
Where cruel
Outrage
her grim face doth show?
Sure words are insufficient to express
The
Rapes,
the
Ravishments,
and loathsome sins,
Where
War
gives way to all
Vnrulinesse,
And Tyranny and Lust the conquest wins:
When sin and impudence is acted there,
Where
Justice
on her seats doth yet appear.
Behold, this day, even whilst with
Desolation,
The Land is threatened, you have now let in,
A
crying witkednesse,
which to this
Nation,
Was ever thought so hateful to have been;
That, though among the
Jews,
a
Law
they had,
Inflicting Death upon it, you have none;
Because, a
Law
is very rarely made,
Concerning things unlikely to be done.
Who would have thought, there being neither
Bear,
Nor
Wolf,
nor
Lyon
on your
English
ground,
To seize upon your little
Children
there,
That many
Beasts
and
Monsters
should be found,
In
human shape,
to steal and bear away
Your
Infants,
whilst before your doors they play?
Who would have thought, that for so small a price,
So many, could so quickly have been got,
To join in perpetrating of a
Vice,
So horrible, and yet abhor it not?
That, their hard hearts could hear poor
Children
cry
Upon their fathers, or their mothers name,
Till, peradventure, in an agony
Of extreme passion, lifeless they became.
Or (which is worse) preserved them, to be sent
To
Bondage,
whilst their Parents (almost wild)
Were left in everlasting discontent,
By musing, on their
lost-beloved-child?
This Crueltie hath in your streets been seen;
Thus high, have your corruptions heightened been.
In these sad times, while GOD'S afflicting hand
Lies heavy on you, and with
sword
and
fire,
Pursues, through every Corner of the Land;
And, real
Penitencie
doth require.
Instead thereof, the People now begins
To grow more daring, and to practice crimes
(Beside the old, or Epidemick sins)
Which were unheard of here, in former times.
Blasphemous Heresy
among you grows,
Like Sprouts at Spring-tide, from a new lopped tree:
And, so detestable, are some of those,
That, pious men afraid to name them be:
Lest they, who love the sinfulness of
Sin,
Should, thereby, let such mischiefs further in.
Death,
was the punishment, which for this crime
Was judged by the Law of
Moses
due;
And, well it would become you at this time,
That
Law,
among these Nations to renew.
And if you should observe, how little sense
Of
Perjurie,
men seem to have of late;
And what bold use is made of that
Offence,
To serve the will of
Malice,
and of hate;
Or, with what ease,
Oppressors,
thereby may,
(And sometimes do) not only ruinate
And honest Fame, but also take away,
As well their precious lives, as an estate
From
Innocents;
Death, would not seem a
Law
Too strict, to keep those
Wicked ones,
in awe.
The
Land,
through
Oaths
and
Curses,
also, mourns:
For, some have learned new oaths, and imprecations,
Not heard of heretofore; and, GOD returns
On their own heads, their wished-for
Damnations.
In
Cursings
they delighted; and they soke
Like Oil into their bones. They took a pride
In wishing
Plagues;
and, lo, as with a cloke
Therewith, now, wrapped they are on every side.
You loved not
Blessings:
but, when you enjoyed
Peace, plenty, health, and safety, you despised
Those
Mercies;
and behold, they are destroyed,
That they, hereafter, may be better prized.
You, long have partners been in every sin,
And, now, each others
Hang-men,
you have been.
When every neighb'ring house is in a flame,
You store your own, as if no danger were.
In
Honesty's,
and in
Religion's
name,
You credit get; and public Robbers are.
To
lie,
and to be
perjured
for the Cause
Of GOD, your
King,
or
Country,
is a gin
To catch
Opixion;
whereby, most, he draws,
That is most bold, and impudent therein.
By some pretence, to benefit the
State,
Religion
to promote, or aid the
King,
You color your oppressions; slander, cheat,
And, put in practice almost anything:
You, by a show, the
Gen'rall
to preserve,
Particulars,
unmercifully starve.
You wrong the meaning of your
Parliament
When their estates you seize who are their Foes;
To their undoing, who are innocent,
And blameless, though the
Creditors,
of those.
And, were it our
Designment
to accuse
Particulars (as to inform and warn,
In gen'rall terms; that, they, who yet abuse
Their power, more humanity might learn)
We could have instanced in many things,
Discov'ring, that, their number is not few,
Whose Crueltie, Reproach, and Curses, brings
On those Proceedings, which they did pursue
With
Prudence,
and with
Mercy,
should relieve
The
Public,
more; and, private men, less grieve.
One part
of you, contributes to the
King;
The other
Partie,
to the
Parliament:
To these, you personal assistance bring;
To these, you liberally your goods have lent:
Yet, most of you, who thus engaged are,
Are both to
King,
and
Parliament
untrue:
For, many signs your faithlesnesse declare,
And many things your giddiness doth show.
You are most firm to that, which you conceive
Your private weal, or safety, best promotes:
While that is doubtful, you,
Demurs
can weave;
When that is plain, you quickly turn your Coats;
And, to that end, you craftily provide
Quaint shifts, to serve your turns, on
either side.
Some, by
Intelligence,
themselves indear;
Or, by some
service
acted
under-hand.
By secret Favors, Friends you can prepare,
Who in the
Gap,
for you, at need shall stand.
Some, have a
Son,
a
Father
or a
Brother,
Who
Ledger
with your
Adverse-party,
lies;
To make good
Terms
of
Peace,
for one another,
According as Occasions may arise.
And (to advance this
Project
) they, who spend
Their Blood, and Fortunes, with a single heart,
(Indeavouring truly for the noblest end)
Engaged are, to act a desp'rate part;
Which, into present mischiefs, them doth cast,
And, into fears of greater, at the last.
You, have not
Faith
enough, in GOD, to trust;
(Though,
wonder-working Faith,
you do pretend)
And, that, hath tempted you to things unjust:
That, makes you on your arm of flesh depend.
That, makes you
bold,
when you should rather
fear;
And,
fearful
grow, when you should
bolder
be:
That,
makes your
Foe
so vigilant appear;
And,
you,
so many things, to over-see.
That,
makes you, for your
Ayd,
poor tricks devise,
And take that Course which
Scandal
on you draws:
That,
makes you think, that false
Reports,
and
Lies,
Are meritorious in an
Honest-Cause:
And, by these fallings, you your peace delay;
And justify your foes, in their lewd way.
They, who abhor
Pluralities
in other,
And in your
Clergy
hate non-residence;
Can,
Office
unto
Office
join together,
And, in themselves, suppose it no offense.
Some, can heap up
Command,
upon
Command;
Share, or take all the honor, and the pay,
(When but for cyphers, nay for less they stand)
And other men's true value take away.
Some, when the
Public
was in great distress,
(Though they Commanded few, had pay for many)
Yea, some of you (who better minds profess)
Were paid for
soldiers,
when you had not any:
And, some have took, (who yet for payment call)
In
Plunder
and
Free-quarter,
more then all.
Of
Orphans
cries, and of the
Widdowes
tears,
Whose
Fathers
and whose
Husbands
for your sake,
Have spent their lives, and fortunes in these wars,
More heed, more care, more pity, you must take.
When at your doors, and at your feet they lie,
To crave a part of that which is their own,
To feed them in their great necessity,
More Bowells of
Compassion,
must be shown.
And, they who, to contribute, have not spared
Paines, Councils, Prayers, Persons, nor Estates
In
public duties,
must find more regard,
Before the fury of this
Plague
abates:
For, who can hope the GOD of Righteousness,
Will show forth
mercy,
to the
merciless?
They, who in
Peace,
the
blood of War
have shed
As
Joab
did; or, have exposed their friends,
And faithful
soldiers,
to be murdered
To hide their
Plots,
or to effect their
Ends,
Must not be winked at: nor they, who dare
So partial in their judgments to become,
As to inflict on those that
equals
are
In their
transgressions,
an
unequal-doom:
For, of this partial dealing there is found,
A murmur in your streets: and,
Common-fame
Reports, injustice so much to abound;
That, he speedes best, who merits greatest blame:
And, that, for sin, when
Accessaries
bleed,
The
Principalls
find favor, and are freed.
Your
Beasts of prey,
who live upon the spoil,
And, by the public ruins, fat are grown,
Must either quite be chased from this
Isle,
Or, from their dens, be rouz'd, and hunted down.
Your
Ambodexters,
who are neither true,
To GOD, nor
Man,
to
King,
nor
Parliament,
Must learn a better temp'rature to show,
And of their fraud, and fickleness repent.
Those
Rotten-Members,
those false
Officers,
And those
Committee-men,
who have deceived
The
Kingdoms Trust,
must for that guilt of theirs,
Passe other dooms, then yet they have received,
Before those
wrongs,
and
practices,
do cease,
Which keep away your much desired
Peace.
They who have almost perfected the times
For
desolation,
by habituating
Themselves in
Sodom's,
and
Gomorrah's
crimes;
And, by an impudently imitating
Of their
impenitence:
even they, that had
The
pride of life, sacietie of bread,
And lived in
idleness;
must, now, be made
To taft their sufferings, who are hunger-fed:
To feel the pains of their laborious life,
Who,
sweat in good employments;
and the scorn,
Which
humble-men
have long without relief,
By their oppression, and ambition, borne.
These must be humbled, and perhaps destroyed,
Before your expectations are enjoyed.
Your counterfeit and rash
Reformers,
too,
Must change their hearts, and regulate their zeal,
Ere you shall compass what you hope to do,
In matters of the
Church,
or
Common-weal.
Your
Scribes
and
Pharisees,
who by long prayer,
Devour poor Widdowes houses; and by shows
Of honesty (and by pretending fair
To piety) good meaning souls abuse:
They, who in tithing
mint,
and
annise,
are
More strict, then in the
weighty points of Law;
And, burdens great, for other men prepare,
When they themselves will hardly lift a straw:
These, must, e're perfect
Peace
you here shall see,
Be more unvizarded, then yet they be.
Your
petty-Tyrants,
must be likewise fewer,
Then now they are; e're GOD will condescend,
To ease your burdens, or your griefs to care;
Or, bring your dis-agreements to an end.
For, how, in equity, can you expect
Your GOD should free you, from those injuries,
That
Sov'raignty-abused
may inflict?
Whilst you, on one another, tyrannize?
Or, how can, possibly, true
Peace
be there,
Where well nigh all are
Tyrants
to their power?
And, as they get advantage domineer,
Insult, oppress, impov'rish, and devour?
For, this oppression you may plainly see
In some of every Calling, and Degree,
Nigh everyone the
King
exemplifies,
In usurpation of
Prorogatives,
Above his due: Nay, that which he denies
Unto his
Prince;
injuriously, he strives
To take unto himself. The
Peer,
upon
The
Commoner
usurps: The
Husband,
so
Upon the
Wife:
The
Father,
on the
Son;
And, on their
Servants,
thus, the
Master,
do.
In every
Corporation,
thus presume
The
Governors;
yea, thus the
Magistrate
Of lowest rank, doth on himself assume
What, in his
Chief,
he will not tolerate:
And, they who their own
Freedoms,
fain would save,
Are always willing, others to
enslave.
These,
and such
Scabs,
and
Tetters,
must be sear'd
E're they will heal; And, you must cut away
Those
Members,
whereon
Gangrieves
have appeared:
Which, else, this
Kingdoms
body will destroy.
For, multitudes of those, among you, hide
Their Addle-heads: yea, many such as these
(Corrupting, both the one, and other side)
Do keep incurable this Lands disease.
And, to your safety, it would most redound,
(And your desired
Peace,
the more assure)
If, by each party, their own faults were found;
And, they themselves, endeavor'd their own cure:
Which, shall perhaps, begin, when on
one day,
Both
Parties,
for this
Grace,
shall
Fast,
and
Pray.
But, why shouldst thou be kept attending, here,
What further (to this purpose) may be said,
And be the while (when thou no harm dost fear)
Injuriously rewarded, and betrayed?
Lo; they that hate thee, while thou art imploid
To seek their
Peace;
have now prevailed so,
That, if their
plot
thou quickly make not void,
They, whom thou honor'st most, shall thee undo.
That
mischief
to prevent, make therefore speed;
And, mark, when thy endeavor thou hast done,
What
justice
or
injustice
shall succeed:
For, guess thou mayest, by what befalls thereon,
How safely thou hast ventured thy estate
Upon the
public-Faith,
or
public-Fate.
The VOICE here paws'd again; and, forth I went
To see, how I requited was by them,
In whose defense, my
fortunes,
I have spent;
My
life
adventured, and consumed my
time.
If they deceive my hope, my greatest grief
Will be for them; because, I plainly see
Their failing me, of promised relief,
Will more dishonor
them,
then hinder
me.
For, nor on
Peers
nor
Commons,
I depend:
But, on his
power,
and on his
love
alone,
Who, ere I had my being, was my
Friend;
And, shall be, when my
Foes
are all undone.
By
Him,
in all oppressions, I am eased;
With whatsoever he pleases, I am pleased.
The third Canto.
The Contents.
Here, whether you be plea'd, or no,
This
Author,
maketh bold to show
Those Portions of his
Private wrongs,
Whose knowledge, and redress, belongs
To
Public Justice;
that, her eye
May through his wounds, her own espy.
The VOICE, then speaks again, and schools,
In
Him,
all other froward Fools,
Who, with impatiency, do vent
Their private wrongs, or discontent:
As if their Trifles could be heard,
When Kingdoms cannot find regard.
It shows, our Senate blameless are,
Of those Distractions, raging here;
And, where the Fault, and Fountain lies,
From whence, our present plagues arise.
EXcuse me, if your longings be delai'd,
Mine own Affaires, a little, to review;
And, if, here somewhat of my
self
be said,
Before my former Subject I pursue.
For, though I know not many, much encli'nd,
To hear, or speak, of what may profit me,
And see most pleased, when I am as unkind,
Or failing to myself, as others be:
Ye
•
, though sometime I have appeared such,
Yet, now, my meaning to myself is better;
And, therefore, whosoever thinks it much,
My
self,
I finding, to my
self
a Debtor,
Will here presume (because I justly may)
To do myself an Errand, by the way.
I know it will not relish well with some,
When, of myself, they this Digression find;
But (seeing
Charity
begins at home)
When others do not, I, myself will mind.
My wrongs do not alone extend to me;
But, on the
Public Rights
take, likewise, hold:
And, for my sake, since heard they cannot be,
They, for the
Common-Safety,
shall be told.
Most famous
Prophets,
and renowned
Saints,
And many other of approved wit,
When they oppressed were did make complaints,
And in their
Volumes
of themselves have writ.
If therefore, any of my Readers grutch,
The time of reading, some few leaves, to spare,
Concerning me, who have not thought it much,
All this, for his Advantage, to prepare;
I leave him to his pleasure, and his case,
And bold will make, to do as I shall please.
The VOICE dismissing me, as in the Close
Of my preceding
Canto,
you have heard,
From Postures of
Retirement,
I arose,
To see, in what
Designes,
my Foes appeared.
And, saw indeed myself so ill befriended,
That (whilst I mused with a serious thought,
What to the
Common Peace
and Safety tended)
My Ruin had maliciously been sought.
And, that it hath been followed, ever since
My first engagement in these fatal wars;
By reason of an evil Influence,
To me directed from malignant Stars,
Who shining, openly, with fair Aspects,
Produce, in secret, mischievous Effects.
Which, if I should endeavor to express,
The pains, a small Advantage would return;
Since, they who might my Grievances redress,
Might grudge to hear so much as I have borne.
For, by Oppressions, manifold and great,
Remonstrances are often made so long,
That, when Redresses we suppose to get,
Our just Complaints, unheard, away are flung:
And,
Malice
can with so much impudence
Invent, and vent untruths, (in hope thereby
To disadvantage truest Innocence)
That,
Patience
is our cheapest remedy:
And, he who seeks for other Cures, oft doubles
His
Grievance
by Expence, Affronts, or Troubles.
There are so many Passages awry,
In every Action; and, in every Cause,
So many Tricks, to put a
Hearing
by;
To blind the Judges, and pervert the Laws:
So many Fees and Charges, to be paid
To Witnesses, to Clerks, and Counselors,
Which quite are lost, when
Hearings
are delai'd;
(Ten times, perchance, before an end appears:)
Nay, often, Partialitie and Pride,
(Instead of Justice) gives that provocation,
Which no free Spirit, always, can abide,
Without some shows of our ward Indignation;
Whereby, he peradventure, doth augment
That mischief, which he labors to prevent.
At first, I hoped better, and I strove
In humble Supplications, to declare
My suffcings; and, their burden to remove.
Where likel'est means of such achievement were.
But, there I saw such throngings with Petitions;
So small assistance, and so much ado:
There, saw I, in all private Expeditions,
And, in the public, such Obstructions too:
Such waiting, such soliciting by friends;
Such mis-informings, makings, and unmakings;
Such partiality, for private ends,
Such thwartings, such Opposings, and mistakings:
And, had so difficult a Course to run,
That, e're I could be heard I was undone.
A place of Profit, or of Reputation,
I never, hitherto, from any sought,
Until myself thereto by invitation
(From those whom it concerned) I called thought.
And, when I have a matter to be heard,
I can enforce myself to little more,
Than (after I my suit have once
•
eterr'd)
To wait for hearing, at the Counsel door.
Perhaps, when long unheeded I attend,
I give remembrances that I am there;
Or, for dispatch, a word or two can spend:
And, if I speed not, much I do not care.
By which blunt course, I past, with little fruit,
Through many an honest
Cause,
and hopeful
Suit.
When long Attendance, no dispatch affords,
My Passions, peradventure, overflow;
And, boil up into those impatient words,
Which more Corruption, than Discretion, show.
And, then, they who, before, to do me right,
Could find no leisure, straight at leisure be,
To hear enough to do me a despite;
And, to my temper, that reduceth me.
For, though they, with a mischief, send me home;
Yet, many good effects, thereout arise:
Of
them,
and of my
self,
I, there, become
A
Censurer:
and, study to despise
Those Things, and those Affaires pertaining to me,
Wherein, a Fool or Villaine, may undo me.
I cannot, though my life it were to save,
Sollicite, as I see most Suiters can;
And, rather than repulses I would have,
Use every means, almost, to every man.
When I bring in a matter to be tried,
I hope, that all my
Judges
will be just:
And, (though, this way, much failing I have spide)
Till he deceives me, no man I distrust.
To press mere
strangers,
I, too modest am;
Wise men,
regard not much solicitation;
To urge my
Friends,
their friendship seems to blame;
To Court a
Fool,
is my abomination:
And, favors to implore from persons evil,
To me appears, a praying to the
Devil.
This Inclination, ar it keeps me poor,
So, it preserves me out of many Snares:
It makes my inward quiet much the more,
When outwardly, my rest disturbed appears.
And, therefore, when away I have been sent,
With less then
naught,
when more then
all
was due,
One puff blew off, my greatest discontent;
And, e're I slept, I pleased, and merry grew.
But, I of late, before I was aware,
That Object of my Contemplation lost,
Which teaches how affliction I should bear:
And, being with a sudden storm, then tost,
Opprest with wants, and with unkindness too,
It made me vex my
self,
as others do.
And, much ado I had to keep my tongue
From speaking out the murm'rings of my heart;
And wonder not, that, others, having wrong,
Do sometime act an unbeseeming part:
No marvel, though a wiser man then I,
Was causelessly a
mad-man
termed of late,
By reason he had with impatiency,
Oppos'd some gross abusings of the State:
And, that, the wisdom of the
Holy Ghost,
Hath said,
Oppression makes a wise man mad:
For, though true wisdom never can be lost,
A fit of madness may be thereby had;
And, so I think had I: and, so may you,
Who read me, being used as I am now.
For, when I came abroad and saw the spite
Which had been done me: And, when done it was
How much contentment, and how much delight
The
Doers
took in what they brought to pass;
Although I slighted
them,
as foolish men,
(Who had no sense, how I avenged might be,
Nor worth, to move my anger, or my pen)
Vnkindnesses, in others, troubled me.
And, though my service merit not so much
As an Acknowledgement (much less reward)
I thought, my love unto my Country such,
As might, at least, have purchased regard,
And friends enough, for me to have enjoy'd
More grace then he, that would have her destroyed,
Which finding otherwise; as one amazed,
I sat a while; not well discerning whether
Griefe, Shame,
or
Anger,
that demurrer caused
(Or all those passions mustered up together.)
But, when I called to mind how many years
The Brunts of opposition, and of scorn,
Indur'd I have, for what, to me, appears
To be the chiefest work, for which I am borne:
And, when I minded, that, nor
Peace,
nor
War,
Prelatical,
nor
Presbyterian
dries,
Nor
youth,
nor
age,
to me propitious are;
That
King
nor
People,
favor'd my essays:
And, that nor
Friends,
nor
Foes,
nor
Wrong,
nor
Right
Befriended me; it broke my patience quite.
And being much distempered, thus my thoughts
Began to grumble, (having drawn together
A crew, of Riotous
distrusts
and
doubts,
Which, in such cases, call forth one another)
Art thou (said they to me) for all thy pains,
Thy losses, and adventures, thus rewarded?
Is this, the
well-affected Parties
gains?
Are thus, our Vowes and Covenants rewarded?
Have we the tricks of
Hocus Pocus
learned
At our
Committees?
And, can some convey
A mischievous Design, so undiscerned,
That,
Honesty
nor
Wit,
discover may
How impudently they abuse the
State,
For private profit, or through private hate?
Was I, the first of those, who, where I dwelt,
To guard our
Liberties,
and save our
Laws,
An uncompelled Contribution dealt?
And, who first there was armed for this Cause?
Was I, among the first, who did withstand
The secret plottings of Malignants, there?
And, Horse, and Foot, and Castle did command,
When fewer Friends, than Foes, about me were?
Was I, among the first, of whose estate
The furious Adversarie made a prey?
Did I expose myself unto their hate,
Who offered me, a fairer-seeming way;
Wherein appeared, what chance soever came,
A likely means, to get a
saving-game?
Have I, my life adventured often too,
Through much discouragement, and without pay?
Done everything my strength or with could do,
To keep the Weak, from falling quite away?
To help confirm the Strong? To bring them home,
Who by Seducers have been led aside?
To make our
Newters,
Zealots to become?
And mark-out Foes, that, here, as friends abide?
Have I, with patience viewed myself bereft,
In Taxes and Free-quarterings, by our own,
Of what to me, the plundering Foe had left?
And, suffered other Injuries unknown
In public? and (it may be) now concealed,
That, they more seasonably may be revealed?
Have I, upon the
Public-Faith
reli'd,
And on the
Commons Order,
fairly granted,
Until my Children might for bread have cried,
If I myself, had private credit wanted?
Have I, to serve my Country, so engaged
My Fortunes and myself, that,
Open Foes
Against me are implacably enraged,
And,
Secret-Ones,
as virulent as those?
Have I, adventured, likewise, therewithal
Hopes present, and in expectation too,
Resolving, with this
Cause,
to stand and fall,
And (though abused) my Duty still to do?
Yea, thus have I resolved? thus done? thus borne?
To be repaid with injuries and scorn?
Behold,
Malignancie
is grown so strong
Within our
Quarters;
and, hath so made void
The
Public Faith,
that, I am lately flung
Quite out of that, which I, thereby, enjoyed:
And, it hath acted with such insolence,
By color of Authority abused,
That, it proceeds to warlike violence;
And like a Foe, the Kingdoms-friend, hath used.
Before I knew, that, any man appeared
Against me there, where I was overthrown;
Before that I was called to be heard,
Before my claim or answer, could be known;
I was expel'd unjustly, from my right,
With all the circumstances, of despite.
For, He that hath been armed to bereave me,
Of what by public Order I possessed,
And, where with (if good hopes do not deceive me)
That, Order shall, ere long, me re-invest;
Seem'd not enough content that he so sped,
Unless by boasting of his Conquests too,
The
Well-affected
he discouraged;
And, showed
Malignants,
what his Friends could do:
Nor was it without much discouragement,
To all the
Faithful-Partie
thereabout;
For, when they saw my hopes had that event,
It made them partly fear, and partly doubt;
Lest he, who for the Public most hath done,
May live, till he shall least be thought upon.
For, nothing was considerable showed,
In him, to whom I did perforce resign;
But, that his hands were in their blood imbrew'd,
For whose defense, I have adventured mine.
I, put on Arms, to serve the Common-weal;
And, for her safety offered all I had:
He, raised Forces, but to rob and steal;
And, to his power, a spoil thereof he made.
Nor, came he hither, as hath been surmiz'd,
With such Repentance, as he ought to bring;
But, to pursue a Stratagem, devised,
To have betrayed my person to the
King:
Which not succeeding, and, he finding friends
Among my Foes, pursued other ends.
For, Friends he found (as most Malignants do)
So forward our Ill-willers to protect,
So pow'rfull, and, withal, so cunning too,
Their ends, by fair pretences, to effect;
That, though I were their neighbor, and their friend;
Though my endeavors had been truly done,
To further that, whereto they love pretend;
And, though before this
War,
I knew not one,
Whose malice, in those parts, suspect I mought;
Nor any person, who suspected me
To them injuricus, in word, deed, or thought:
Yea, though, by Covenant, obliged they be
On my behalf; They, naythelesse, did grow
Confed'rates with this
Stranger,
my known
Foe.
Else, when they heard how first the Plot was laid
For my surprisal; where, it was begun;
To whom, he meant I should have been betrayd;
By whom, and how, and when it should be done,
Averr'd on oath, me thinks, in such a case
He should not, then, so suddenly, have found
So many fav'ring him, to my disgrace,
If all of them had at the heart been sound.
Nor, would you think, if every circumstance
Were fully told, that Charity first drew
So many to afford him countenance,
Who was their Foe, if they to us were true;
And, who may thank the spite they bore to me,
That, they, to him, so kind and friendly be.
And, on some likely Grounds, conceive I may
Those friends of his were they, who first conveyed
Those notions to him, which first showed the way,
How to my Foes I should have been betrayed.
For, from our Quarters, he so far, then, lived,
That, else, our Posture, and Affections, here.
He had not so well known, to have contrived
A plot, which did so feizable appear.
And, when he came (as if his coming thither,
A blessing to the Country had been thought)
To further his Designes, they join'd together;
They strength'ned him, against me, what they mought:
And published of me, to my disgrace,
What neither done, nor spoke, nor purposed was.
And, that they with their
Grandees
might comply,
My
Neighbors
turned about, I also find;
They whom, in Peace, I always lived by,
And, unto whom I never was unkind;
Even they, who true respect from me have had,
And, till this
War,
the like to me did show,
Are of my losses and disgraces glad,
And, to my causeless wrong, befriend my Foe.
They mention me, when they together sit,
As if it hardly could allowed be,
That, of
Religion, Souldieries
or
Wit,
There appertained any share to me;
And speak for truths, what they themselves do know
They may with safety swear, is nothing so.
My greatest wrongs, and sufferings, now, be there
Where best I have deserved: My greatest scorn
And dis-respect, is in those places, where
My dwelling was; and there where I was borne.
They who are most obliged to befriend me,
Have most abused my patience, and desert;
They, who have made a
Covenant
to defend me,
Have with my chiefest
haters
taken part.
Yea, now, when my affronts are to the wrong
Of
Public-Justice;
and, when my defense
Unto the
Public-safety
doth belong,
They have exposed my well-known innocence,
To his despite, gainst whom, erewhile, I thought
I needed not, protections to have sought.
In some respects, their cruelties are more
Then theirs, by whom my dwelling wast was laid;
For, (though they robbed my house, and left me poor)
To bar relief, no spiteful part they plaid.
But, these trod on me, when they saw me down;
And, lest I should find pity in distress,
A false report by them abroad was blown,
As if my well known losses had been less
Then I can prove them; For, I offer here
That if my hindrances (well weighed) be found
One mite below what I affirmed they were;
For every shilling I will give a pound,
If they will my true damages defray
When I have proved that true which they gain-say.
Yet, some, to that intent, did late suborn
The most defamed Varlets of the Shire
To swear against me, and to be forsworn,
By crossing what they formerly did swear:
To that intent, while our Committee sat,
The Kingdoms Foe, had leave in person, there,
To manage witnesses, as for the State,
And, them by leading questions to prepare,
For proof of what they falsely did suggest,
To my dishonor: But, they could not bring
Their witnesses, against me, to attest,
One culpable, or one material thing;
Nor was it worth regarding if they had,
Consid'ring, of what persons, choice they made:
For, one of those, unto that village came
Where now he lives; due punishment to shun,
Or, to escape a just deserving shame,
For what he in another place had done.
He, now, in part by labor, part by prowling,
(With other courses to his neighbors known,
As lawless fishings, and unlawful fowling)
And taking somewhat more then is his own,
Makes shift to live. Another of this
Pack,
Was he, that should have been the Instrument
Of my betraying, who like course doth take;
And, lately, to avoid the punishiment
Deserved long, is married to a whore;
With whom he lived like a knave before.
The third, a Labourer of evil fame,
Whom I five years together had employ'd
(To keep his brats from starving, him from shame,
And, that, he other mischieves might avoid)
This
Beast,
when I was plundered by our Foes
Of what they found, made offer (for a sum,
By him desired) that he would disclose
A parcel of my goods, then hidden from
Those Vultures eyes; who, readily agreed
To promise much: But, when the work was done,
And, this false Traitor came to ask his meed,
Some blows they gave, but, money gave him none;
And, told him, hanging was the fittest pay
For him, that such a master would betray.
The fourth of these, had been my servant too,
Whom (though he had deserved public shame
For doing more then honesty should do)
I put away, without an open blame:
And, at that time his faultiness concealed,
Because he seemed religiously inclined;
But, shortly after, other men beheld
Apparent proof of his dis-honest mind.
For, in the night felloniously he broke
A Colonels Field Waggon of our side
Then quartering at his Masters; and thence took
Some things of worth; for which, he did abide
Correction in the Bilboes, for a day,
And after, by connivance, ran away.
These were the witnesses, which forth were sought
By some who for the Parliament pretend,
In hope their power, should more effects have wrought
On those choice Instruments to work their end.
These
(whom I will prove charactred thus to be
Without the least addition of a lie)
Are they, whom now my foes, to scandal me,
Have rak'd out of the ditch of infamy.
These,
are encouraged to devise and say
Of me their pleasures: and to bring and carry
What ever to my wrong convert they may,
Or to the profit of my adversary;
Whom, to the States dishonor, they protect,
And merely, in dispight of me, respect.
When informations, were against him laid,
And his reply required thereunto;
From just restraint, his person they convaid,
Before cause shown, or order so to do.
On his behalf they have subscribed hands,
Thereby deluding, willfully, the
State:
He had our soulderie at his commands,
To execute his pleasure, and their hate.
And, hath so far prevailed, that unless
The
mercy
of the State vouchsafe with speed
The sufferings of her servant to redress,
And him, and his oppressors better heed;
For ought he sees, his Country he may serve
With faithfulness; and yet his household starve.
Why should my person from that place be driven,
In which I best know how to serve the State?
Of what to me, by public grace was given,
Why should I be deprived, by private hate?
What knew they in him, whom they more befriended,
But that he was this Realms professed foe?
Or why to do me wrong have they contended,
Except because I never will be so?
They who were wont to gloze and fawn upon me,
When I was armed among them; and while they
To their
Designes
were hopeful to have won me,
Now snuff, and turn their nose another way.
And think, that they themselves now quite have freed,
From him, who marked and hindered their proceed.
For, that
Confed'racie
within those parts,
Where then I lived (and maugre whose intent
I there commanded) having rotten hearts
Vnfaithfull, always to the Parliament,
Perceiving me unlikelie to be made
Their Instrument; and, that my presence, there,
(With such repute, and power as I then had)
Might mar their works, which they contriving were▪
They so prevailed, that from my
Garrison
I was removed, if thence not betrayed:
(For many things suceeded thereupon,
Which made me think, that so it may be said)
And all our neigh'bring Country, ever since,
Hath dearly paid, for my removing thence.
When I was gone, a part of those arose
(Encourag'd by some other underhand)
And my estate, (as chiefest of their foes)
First seized; and then, the place of my
Command.
In which
forth-breaking,
some went on so far,
That, ever since, they open foes have been:
Some went as far as fools, and cowards dare;
And then slunck back, in hope they were not seen.
But, some of them so cunningly did act,
That, though they are as guilty as the rest,
By circumstances; yet, by open fact
Their falsehood is not perfectly expressed:
And, these by cunning, such effects have wrought,
That knaves and fools, our faithful men are thought.
These, have a way invented how to arm
The dangeroust
Malignants
of the Shire,
And, make men hope their Foes will do no harm,
Till sheathed in their Chest their swords appear.
These, have a trick to make their neighbors dream,
A double Tax increaseth not their cost,
And, that though their designs have beggar'd them,
Their wit, alone, saved all from being lost.
These, have so laid their Scoene, and acted so,
That, though we daily hear, and plainly see,
What course they bend, and what they mean to do,
(When all things to their purpose rip'ned be)
We strive in vain their projects to prevent;
And, gain but mischieves, for our good intent.
Nay, this new
Junto,
doth so strong become,
By their conferring Offices and Places,
By adding-to, and by removing-from,
By secret-commendations, and disgraces;
And by deluding of a simple crew,
(Who, by these Politicians, may be brought
Their own perdition fiercely to pursue)
That, they have almost compassed what they sought;
And, they will gain the rest, if not prevented;
For, by their diligence, they have removed,
Vndone, discouraged, or discontendted
Most men, whose faithfulness was most approved:
And, they, whose power, these cannot yet destroy,
Do act with small success, and little joy.
Had I conceived, that, now it would have been,
As needful as I find it, to collect
Such proofs of that which I have heard and seen
To prove their faithlesnesse whom I suspect,
Or know unfaithful: that, I might have made
Such proofs to others, as I have whereby
To prove it to myself; I should have had
Enough to make me able to untie
That knot of Vipers, which now to unknit
Is not so easy. But, my aim hath been
To mend particulars, and bend my wit,
In generals, alone, to strike at sin:
And, that hath rendered, now, my power the less,
The mischiefs of this Faction to suppress.
These, having long, and many several ways,
To root me from among them, tried their wit;
And failed heretofore in their assays,
At last, thus happened to accomplish it.
Within that Village, where my Spoilers made
A prey of that estate which I possessed,
A Captain of the
Kings
a Chattle had,
With which, the
Parliament
did me invest.
He, is that person who protected was,
As I have here expressed: had they a thought,
By countenancing him, to bring to pass
Their purpose; and have gained what they sought,
For, I, who served my Country, thence am chas'd;
And he that spoild it, in my room, is placed.
I grudge not
mercy
when it should be shown,
Nor is my heart so churlishly inclined,
As not to spare, a portion of mine own,
Where, Objects fit for mercy, I shall find.
But, when I see myself ungently used,
Those favor'd, who my life would have betrayed,
Authority deluded and abused,
And plots to ruin, and disgrace me, laid,
I cannot think it
Patience
to be mute,
In such a case; or, that with charity,
Or with a manly prudence it can suit,
To pass, at all times, such abuses by:
Or, that we may not, justly, on our foes
Repaire what in this lawful war we lose.
Why should it grudged be, that by the
Sword,
We, by the
Sword,
our losses repossesse?
Why should our
Partie
to their friends afford
Less favor, then to those that merit less?
So well deserving, wherefore should he seem
Who put the State to hazard, and to cost
That all his great estate he should redeem
For less, then at one skirmish I have lost?
Of those reliefes, why should I be defeated,
Which do, by right and grace, to me belong?
Thereof, why should I be dispoil'd and cheated,
Both to the
States
dishonor, and my wrong?
And, wherefor should I not expect, and have
A confirmation, of what once they gave?
For, who will in our Senators confide,
Or prize their
Orders
which are made by them,
If they permit them to be vilifi'd?
And, their
Ioynt-Votes,
loose
Members
to contemn?
To say, they heeded not what things they granted,
So prudent an Assembly, mis-became;
To say, they power to make it good, have wanted,
Would wrong their power, and bring us all to shame:
And, to affirm that they regardless are
To vindicate their grant, for his relief,
Who to advantage them, his life could spare,
Were to aver, what merits no belief.
How comes it then, that, I dispights have born?
And that their favors, now from me, are torn?
Why hath it openly, by some, been spoke
Ere question put, or any vote made known,
That, there is an intention to revoke
What by the
Commons,
was on me bestowed?
How dared he (who rather should uphold
The
Commons
lawful Right in what he may)
How dared he (as soon as it was told
By whom I claimed) in slighting wise to say,
Twas but the Commons Order?
as if that
Were not an Act sufficient to confer,
For my
Recruit,
the personal estate
Of any trait'rous Rebell-Commoner;
Until a time return, in which, men may
Have Justice done them, in a legal way.
Why are false rumors raised and entertained,
As if I many thousand pounds had got;
Whereas, of hind'rances by me sustained,
To me, the tenth as yet returneth not?
How comes it, that attendance, nigh two year
Procureth me (although my wants be great)
No penny of two thousand pounds arreare?
Nor an employment, that affords me meat?
Why speed I thus? And wherefore, notwithstanding
The remnant of my ruins forth I laid,
Thereby to keep my soldiers from disbanding,
Is nothing, in requital, yet, repaid,
But sleights, and slanders? yea, though use I pay
For many hundreds of it, to this day?
Indeed, my house GOD hath refurnished;
And, of his Love, to give me outward shows,
Hath clothed my Body, and my Table spread,
As well in spite, as presence of my Foes.
Yet, when I shall account how I have lived;
Of what I have been hindered, since these wars;
How, much was lost; how little is received;
How, my successive-wants supplied are:
How, my engagements every day increase,
How destitute, my Wife and Children be,
Of outward Portions; and, how merciless
This world, hath all my life time, been to me:
They, who their favors, have on me bestowed,
Shall find no cause to grudge the Mercy showed.
And though (as some conceive) I have obtained
A full repair, and therewith somewhat more
Than my bare losses? what, had I then gained,
Respecting all my damage heretofore?
Against those Traitors to the
Common-Good,
Who, now, apparent Enemies are found,
Nigh thirty years, a Combat I have stood:
So long ago, I to these Isles did sound
A warning Trumpet. So long have I borne
The frowns and fury of the wanton
Court,
The
Prelates
malice, the despiteful scorn
Of wealthy Fools, and of the vulgar sort.
Yea, though I know a path applauded more,
I took the course, I knew, would keep me poor.
And, why should any man be discontent,
That for my damages, and service then,
My charges, pains, and close imprisonment,
I, now have bread, and clothes, like other men?
Why is a trifle thought too much for me?
When, one sleight Officer can in a year,
Cheat up a Sum, that shall sufficient be,
To pay my damages, and my Arreare?
Why, grievous doth it seem, that, out of that,
Which was by him possessed, who compli'd
With those, who robbed me of my estate,
A part of my great loss should be suppli'd?
He having spoil'd my Friends of ten times more,
Than, ten times that small part, he should restore.
Since, we for Traitors, and for Cut-throats, here,
(And for their wives, and their malignant brood)
Provisions make, when Converts they appear;
Why should there not, of raiment, and of food,
For us, our Wives, and Children, some supplies
Be likewise made? yea, since they were the Cause,
That, on our backs, the work so heavy lies,
Of holding up our
Liberties,
and
Laws?
Why are we poorly clothed, while they are brave,
By whose unfaithfulness we are undone?
While we want bread, why should they fullness have,
By whom, these wars and troubles were begun?
And, till a Restauration may be had,
Of what we lost, why should they rich be made?
Since by our Adverse party, our estate
Is given and possessed: Since we are
Assured of their everlasting hate,
So long as we have either peace, or war,
Or Being in this life: yea, since our Cause
Is known unto us, to be just, and right;
Since for our Conscience, Liberties, and Laws,
Against oppressing Tyrants we do sight:
Since to avenge the Saints, we do oppose,
Not merely Canaanites, whom for their sin,
The Land would vomit forth; but, also those,
Who without cause, this war did first begin:
Why should we not out of their Barns be fed,
By whom we have been robbed of our bread?
Nay, since our Charity doth portions give,
To feed their wives and children, while among
Our Adversaries, in that course, they live,
Which this unhappy
Warfare
doth prolong,
Why should not we and ours, as well as they,
Be cared for? since with a willing heart,
We bore the heat, and burden of the day,
And, from our duties, mean not to depart?
Why is our equity, and our discretion
So small, that till our losses be repai'd,
We suffer for a trifling composition,
Their whole estates, by them to be enjoyed?
And, their full freedom, who, for ought we know,
Are here, but Spies, or Agents for the Foe?
He, whom, that true Repentance bringeth home,
Which makes a real Convert to the
State,
Not for his Lands, but Conscience sake doth come;
And, such an one, if we redintegrate,
When, of his penitence good proofs appear;
Of Charity, both to ourselves and them,
An honorable Evidence it were,
Which no man should repine at, or condemn.
But, when we unadvisedly shall part
With large
Possessions,
for a
Person,
which
Brings to us, neither
wit,
nor
honest heart,
Nor
Power,
nor anything to make us rich,
But poorer; and, it may be weaker too,
How reasonless, is then the thing we do?
When we receive to
Mercy,
those who seek
No more, but how they their estates may save;
To compass by that match, what are we like,
But an estate to lose, and find a knave?
They, strength receiving, from our false-ones, here,
Restrengthen them; and are so knit together,
That, we who to this
Cause
most faithful were,
Are much disabled by their coming hither.
And, what advantage had we lost, I pray,
If of those few, who reconciled seem,
None had returned? what lost we, if you weigh,
How useless to that party they did seem,
From whom they came (while they continued there?)
And, what they are to us now they are here?
Who shall at last our private loss repay,
If this course hold? who shall the charge sustain
Of all our future detriments, but they,
Who of the cost already do complain?
Why should a perjured
Commoner,
or
Lord,
(Who, peradventure, did but stay behind,
That some advantages it might afford,
To those departed) suffered be to blind
The
Public Eye,
in favor of our Foes?
Defraud the State? And in our competitions
Sleight, and affront us, for the sake of those,
Who willfully endeavor'd our perditions?
And, only, come (for ought yet known unto us)
That, at our cost, they safely may undo us?
When of my goods, the Foe had me dispoil'd,
(For doing faithful service) and when I,
To seek an habitation was compel'd,
And had provided for my Family,
By public
Order;
why neglected so
Was I, and mine? That (knowing not else where
My wife with her big belly to bestow)
I was displac'd, and forced to habour there,
Where desolation dwelt? And, in that place,
Why was the wife of him that plund'red me
There settled? why, to my disgrace,
Must I the second time removed be,
And made a Shuttle-cock, or Tennis-ball,
For every Fool and Knave to play withal?
As I have hope to live, and see an end
Of these Distractions; and, as ere I die,
I hope to see our greatest Foe our Friend,
(Which are my Hopes, though yet I know not why)
Unless the Civil Justice shall ere long,
Restore my Right; If all the brains I have,
Can in a martial Posture make me strong,
My
Tamenesse,
shall no longer me enslave.
But, what the
Commons
pleased to afford
(My losses in their Service, to repay)
I will repossesse, and settle by the Sword,
Or, in that place, my bones I mean to lay.
No runaway
Commander
of the Kings,
Shall baffle me, although unto his aid,
A Troop of those
Committee
-men he brings,
By whom the best affected are betrai'd;
But, I will make it known, if urged thereto,
I dare do that, none think I dare to do.
My heart thus murmur'd: And, I know not well,
To what it would have stir'd me; for, my blood
Began to boil, my veins began to swell,
And, in mine eyes, a flaming fury stood.
But, ere this great distemper, to it height
Was raised up; I felt into my breast
Another
Spirit
entering, which made sleight
Of all, which in this rapture was expressed.
With many secret checks my heart it struck,
(Which no man but myself do much concern)
Out of my soul repining thoughts it shook,
It taught me my great failings to discern;
And, then, the VOICE late heard, did thus begin,
To speak again unto me, from within.
Impatient, foolish, and forgetful man,
If, now, thou hadst been left to thy career,
To what conclusions had thy folly ran?
And, what wouldst thou have made thyself appear?
These are, indeed, such musings as the times
Are busied in. This, is the common note;
Thus go the City, and the Country chimes;
And, this, without book, now, most men have got.
Your private wrongs, and injuries are minded,
With such a partial, and self-seeking heart;
That, in all public matters, most are blinded,
And, act a careless, or a faithless part.
Yea, so much after private ends men run,
That little public service can be done.
In such a blustering tone, thou here hadst showed
Thy private wrongs, as if thy passion meant,
By fury, some short passage to have hew'd,
Through all Opposers, to thine own content.
This will not be the
Way,
to break asunder
The Lincks of Tyrannie. Among you, be
So many storms of lightning, and of thunder,
Already raised, that no Coast is free.
The calmest tempers, and the sobrest wit,
The self-denying, and the suffering hearts;
The
Work,
the
Time,
the
Place,
now best befit:
And, if by these, you play not forth your parts,
The Tragedies, now acting on your stage,
Prolong'd will be, with an increasing rage.
In every
Public Work
(as here thou dost)
Each one, some way or other, still contrives
How, thereinto he that Design may thrust,
Whereby, his private Trade he forward drives.
Yet, these your failings,
Providence Divine
Employeth, oft, to further his intent,
And, shall by this Digression now of thine,
Make better use, than thy corruption meant.
For, thereby both to others, and to thee,
Occasion will be offered, to discover
Some Observations, which will helpful be,
Your
Wits,
your
Peace,
and patience to recover.
Oh! how can praises due to him be sung,
Who, thus, extracts you gold out of your dung!
By this thy giddy Rage, and blunt relating
A branch of thy oppressions, wise men may
Perceive on what their hearts are ruminating,
Who twice as much have borne, yet less can say.
And, thence, perhaps, their wisdom will collect,
What may succeed, unless their care prevents
The likely consequence, and ill effect
Of Foes prevailings, and Friends discontents;
From thence, it may be, they some hints will take,
To mark proceedings better than they did;
And, for the public safety, notice take
Of Snakes, which underneath fair flowers lie hid.
Thus, otherwhile, the failings of a
Fool,
By Providence, may set the
Wise
to school.
But, why wert thou enraged? what wantest thou,
That, with impatiency, thou dost repine?
What Peer, or Prince, in all these Islands now,
Enjoyes a Fortune that surpasses thine?
Hast thou not bread, and clothes enough, and more
Than for the present day may well suffice?
And, by that
Friend,
who kept thee heretofore,
Assurance (for the future) of supplies?
Hast thou not had a Promise of Protection,
In all thy ways; assuring thee, that neither
The Rage of
War,
of
Famine,
or
Infection,
Nor, all those joined in one Plague together,
Shall do thee harm, if thou in him confide,
Whose aid to no Believer is denied.
Why shouldst thou fear, though thy estate is gone,
(And Mercy fled) that thou, or thine, may want?
Who knowest, man liveth not by bread alone,
And, where, for asking, all things may be had?
What needest thou care, though they at last deceive thee,
On whom thou didst repose an ample trust;
Who hast an able Friend, that will not leave thee,
Though all hopes else were buried in the dust?
Why shouldst thou vex, to see Oppressors flourish,
That hast beheld so many, in thy days,
Arise from nothing, and to nothing perish?
And that the Part which every Tyrant plays,
How gloriously soever he ascends,
In certain shame, and sudden ruin ends?
Wouldst thou be rich? what riches canst thou find
Of greater worth, than truly to enjoy,
At such a time as this, a settled mind,
And such a state, as no man can destroy?
Some thousands, who but few weeks past could say,
That their Revenues, and their Incomes, were
Enough to furnish them, for every day,
With more than thine affordeth for a year;
Have nothing left them now. Why striv'st thou then▪
To seek a certainty, where can be none?
To catch at that which flies from other men?
To save thyself, when all is overthrown?
And (knowing what thou knowest) to desire
To take a house, where all the Town's on fire?
Wouldst thou be honorable? where is he,
That by the Bodily, or Ghostly Line,
Derives his Being by a Pedigree,
That ancienter, or nobler is, than thine?
What more heroical can be atchiev'd,
Than, what no King can give, or take away?
And by the King of Kings to be received
Into that
Order,
whose true
Badge,
none may
So much as know, but he that wears the same,
And was twice borne? What honor is so great,
As his, whom Poverty, Reproach, and Blame,
Still more ennobles? And, who doth beget
His honors out of those, who most contemn
His Reputation; and, in spite of them?
Thou hast been taught; and, thou dost seem to know
This Path to
Honor;
and yet taken art,
With such vain Bubbles, as from fancy flow:
And, whereon, every worldling sets his heart.
Cannot thy contemplations thee enable,
To let the simple people dote upon
Their Hobby-horse, their Fools Cap, and their Bable,
Because thy Fortune will afford thee none?
Canst thou not pass, except a stone thou throw
At every Cur that bawles? Nor, yet, forbear
Impatient, for those vanities, to grow,
Whose emptiness to thee discovered are?
For shame, let more conformity be shown,
In practice, unto that which thou hast known.
Who can exp
•
ct (when they shall see or hear,
With what distemper thou hast here expressed
Thy private wrongs) that other men should bear
Their sufferings well, when they are so oppressed?
If thou who knowest, what comforts do attend
A calm, and patient bearing of the Cross,
What blessing crowns the
Meek man's
latter end,
And with what riches GOD repaies his loss;
Art so inrag'd; no marvel, if nigh mad
Some others grow, who are as greatly pained,
And want th'experiments which thou hast had,
Whereby the wrongs may better be sustained.
Is this the power? is this the strength of him,
Who, sometimes, thinks he could the world contemn?
Is this a time for thee, who hast made show
Of better hopes, to scramble, with the Boys,
For Nuts and Apples? wilt thou struggle now,
With
Fools
and
Slaves,
for babbles and for toys?
Contend thou not with
Children,
in their play;
Nor strive thou their vain longings to possess:
From
Micah
take thou not his
God's
away,
Lest they may bring thee to unhappiness.
Endeavor what is comely to be done,
To reap the profit, which to thee belongs.
Use prudent means
Oppressors
paws to shun;
Or, to remove, or mitigate thy wrongs:
And, to that purpose, having done thy best,
Be patient, and to God commit the rest.
And, to preserve this temper, wary be
(Above all other times) when their despite
And envy shall be exercised on thee,
Who think, the
Public-Trust
belongs, of right,
To so much by the year: These, have so long
Inslav'd the people; that themselves disgraced
They do conceive, if, to do right or wrong,
Inferiors, in Authority be placed:
And, these have lately censured it unfit,
That, with so reverend a thing, as
Wealth,
Such strangers, now, as
Honesty,
and
Wit,
Should called be, to serve the
Common-wealth,
Or lend a helping hand, to save, what they
Have took a course to ruin, many a day.
These, value men, according to the Rent
Their Fathers left them: and, these cannot brook
Without vexation, and much discontent,
That, notice should of other worth be took.
And, therefore, if it must be as these will;
If your besotted people have a mind
To be oppressed, to be fooled, still,
And, to be kept, perpetually blind;
Straine not thyself, to help unlade an
Ass
That loves his burden; nor, his drivers trouble;
But, let them, and their silly creature pass,
Till they have made their scorns and mischiefs double.
For, he that meddles with them, nothing gains,
But kicks, and evil language, for his pains.
Cast quite behind thee, what of their despite,
Or injuries, to thee, hath been reported:
Their open hate, with secret love requite;
For evil, let not evil be retorted.
Fret not thyself, although thou see them jeer,
And Thee, and thy Authority deride:
For, most, to whom their envy shall appear,
Will laugh to scorn, their folly, and their pride.
And, as thou soughtst it not, nor dost, yet, know▪
By whom, that seeming-honor was conferred;
So, whether thou continued be, or no,
In thy employments, give it no regard:
For, thou shalt sit ere long, above their hate,
And, their Commissions shall be out of date.
While thou remain'st amongst them, do thy best
To side with innocence; and do not there
Of wicked profanations make a jest;
Curse those that curse; or swear at those that swear.
Abuse not thy Authority or Place
To favor knaves, or put good men to sorrow:
Plead not for law, this day in one man's case,
What, for another, shall be none tomorrow.
Use not thy power, thy neighbors to enslave,
As many do who bettet things pretend,
And, when thou chargest others, care to have
That they against their Oaths do not offend,
Take heed, thou makest more conscience of thine own
Then others of their oaths, have lately shown.
For, some of those, who fluently can preach
Upon the
Bench,
as though (if need had been)
They could the
Parson of the Parish
teach
To do his duty in reproving sin:
Even some of those, at that time countenance
Known Malefactors, there, indicted for
Crimes then in charge: and, shamelessly advance
In
practice,
what in words, they do abhor.
When there, they have inveighed at abuses,
Occasion'd by permitting an excess
Of licenc'd and unlicen'd tippling-houses,
(And their suppression, urged with earnestness;
(Instead of what they would appear to do)
They seem to put down one, and set up two.
These are not pleased, that an observing-eye
Is placed among them. And, perhaps, to prove
Thy patience, these, their power ere long will try:
But,
Thee
to no distemper let it move.
This, is a time of suffering: and, though men
Are instruments each other to correct▪
Yet, GOD, himself employs them. Suffer, then,
Without repining, what he shall inflict.
Although thy foes oppress, and friends forsake thee,
Let no ill tidings make thy heart afraid,
From thy first principles, let nothing shake thee,
What ere against thee, shall be done or said:
But, further what to
Public-peace
belongs,
And leave thou unto GOD, thy private wrongs.
For, though it may be granted, that, if here
Thou shouldest illustrate all things which concern
Thy usages (but only in that Shire
Where thou hast lived) thy Readers might discern
In what condition many others are
Who truly, serve the
Public:
yet, take heed
Lest following thine own sufferings over-far
May tediousness, or slighting of them breed.
Be watchful too; lest by much musing on
Thy personal affronts, a self-respect
May cause mis-censures to be cast upon
The Public Justice, to her dis-respect.
For men oppressed, and grieved in an extreme,
Look, not alone with sullenness, upon
Those Parties that are thought to injure them,
And on their own oppressions, as if none
Had borne the like; but, also, as if clear
They from all blame, in all their sufferings, were.
And, in a public Grievance, scarce a man
Among a thousand, searcheth out those things
Which mis-befall, so far as they began,
To find the Fountaines, whence the mischief springs.
Most men (and thou among the rest for one)
Can spy out many others, much to blame,
But, few men heed what they themselves have done,
Whereby the
Plague
so general became.
And, whence soev'r it comes, the
Male-content
Though in the Persons he the cause may find,
Fomes out his venom on the
Government,
And, to a
change
is presently inclined.
Whereas, the mischief, still, the same will be
Until there be a change in such as He.
Even some of you, (and many is that some)
Who to the skies, this
Parliament
have raised,
With whom, it was almost a GOD become,
And such, as never could enough be praised.
This
Parliament,
in whose defense you stand
Till all your pretions things, are well nigh wasted,
Till
war,
hath marched quite through all the land,
Till bitterness, in all your sweets is tasted;
Till into pleces, Families are torn,
Until with blood, your ways, and streets do run,
Till Towns, and Towers, and Temples down are borne,
Till Prince and Peasant, are almost undone;
Till Famine, too, beginneth to appear,
Which in long
Warfares,
bringeth up the rear.
This
Parliament,
for which you suffer so,
And for whose preservation bear you would
Ten times as much, might you beforehand know,
What, (if it prospered not) ensue there should;
Even to this Parliament, so highly prized,
You in your former love are growing slack.
This your
Diana,
is by some despised:
Of your Distractions, her the cause you make.
On her, you laid the burden and the blame,
(As if due care she wanted, or fore-sight)
When disadvantage, or dishonor came
By ill success in counsel, or in fight;
And murmured, as if your hearts had said,
That, by your Parliament, you were betrai'd.
Such is your folly, (madness I might say)
That, some among you, so yourselves express
As if you thought it much advantage may
The
Public Cause,
to bring her faithfulness,
Or prudence into question: For, you hear,
Collect, report, and have dispersed, so,
All scandals, and dis-trusts, which malice rear;
And, daily give such credence thereunto,
That, you (who seem to be unfeigned Friends
Unto this
Parliament)
have, thereby, done
Those mischieves to it, which the Foe intends;
And will destroy it, if this course you run:
Yea, this your folly, will more weaken it
Then all your cunning Adversaries wit.
For, this imprudencie will by degrees
Your bones unsinnew, and your joints untie:
By this, you both their hands and hearts will leese,
Who, in your Quarrell, vowed to live and die.
What Devil then hath tempted you, in this,
To sin against your souls? and, blinds you so
That, you observe not whose design it is
Which you now further, and whose work you do?
The honor of that
Senate,
is the power,
And life thereof; and, on the life of that,
Dependeth every Privilege of your,
Belonging to your temporal estate;
And, peradventure, some way doth extend,
That
being,
to concern, which hath no end.
It is your duty, therefore to discern
And labor the defense of that which may
Your
being,
and
well-being
so concern:
And, to that purpose, there is much to say,
For, though it be your strongest
Creature-guard
Against Oppressors; yet, you can expect
No safer Tutelage to be conferred
Thereby, then what a Creature may effect.
It labors your protection; but, alas!
The work is great, and through much opposition,
And many difficulties, they must pass,
To bring this Land, into a safe condition.
For to restore you to your peace agen,
'It is now, a work for GOD, and not for men.
You heed their failings; but, you heed not yet
(Nor fully can conceive) how hard a work
They have to do, nor how they are beset
With enemies; nor what obstructions lurk
In these proceedings, which make show to be
Without a rub, to them who stand a aloof,
And have not opportunity to see
What stops may rise, before they come to proof.
Their own infirmities, as they are men
(And which you ought to wink at) may perchance
In this great enterprize, be now, and then,
Occasions of no little hindrance:
For, who but GOD, alone, can perfect be?
Or, who is fit for such a work, but he?
The heinous sins, and many obdurations,
Of that great Body, whom they represent,
And of those froward, and divided Nations,
Which are concerned in their Government,
Give being unto many sev'rall things,
And actions, whence, ofttimes, an accident
Vnlooked for; or some hid mischief springs,
Which human policy cannot prevent.
When
Israel
sinneth,
Benjamin
that hath
A wicked cause, their Brethren down shall smite,
To expiate the just avengers wrath,
Before the cause prevails, that is upright:
Whilst in the camp an
Achan
doth remain,
These
Counsel,
and your Soldiers
fight,
in vain.
Though
Moses
governed you, though
Joshua
were
Call'd up to be your Armies General;
And
David's
Worthies now revived, here,
To be your Colonels, events would fall
Below your hopes, whilst unrepented sin
Is, willfully, conniv'd at: For, that, made
Your Parliaments unprosprous; that, hath been
Chief cause of all their failings they have had.
And, then, beside this hindrance, and this bar
To their success, they have a powerful foe
Opposing them as well by force of war,
As by what fraud and tyranny can do:
And, that their Faith and stoutness may appear,
A muster of their foes I give you here.
Their
General in chief
is ANTICHRIST,
And, he the main
Battalia,
now, commands:
Which, of those armed
Locusts
doth consist
On whose Activitie his Empire stands.
Lieutenant-General,
is
he
that strives
A conquest of your Liberties to make;
And counts it one of his
Prerogatives,
As he shall please, your goods, to give and take.
He leads the
Van;
in which, with him appears
Those
Princes,
and those
Nobles,
who still are,
And were at first, the wicked Counselors,
Who did encourage him unto this war;
And he of broken Courtiers, up hath made
(And of some beggared Lord's) all this
Brigade.
The
Major-General,
(who bringeth on,
The right wing of this Army) is the
Prince
Of
broken fortunes;
who still falls upon
The Carriages, and Baggage, that from thence
He may recruit. His ragged Regiments
(Beside those lousie, and those tatter'd fellows
Late pressed for him, out of Beggers Rents,
And freed from the prisons, and the gallows)
Were patch'd up, out of
Bankrupts, cast-Commanders,
Cashier'd
Bandettees, Fellowes of the pot,
Debauched
Players, Tapsters, Gamesters, Panders,
With such, as in a drunken fit were got
To bear them company. And, these are they
Who first made
plunder
seem a lawful prey.
The
left wing,
by
Pope would be,
ordered is;
A stately
Prelate,
and one, for whose sake,
(Though he the
Triple-crown
is like to miss)
The war, now raised, did first beginning take.
He, heads a Partie of as desp'rate mates,
As e're drew sword: and, many of them be
Both disciplined to make
Assasinates,
And ready for it, when their time they see.
Among these, march some prudent-seeming men,
Some, that, more honesty then wealth do want:
Some witty fellows; but, not one for ten
Of those, that are extreamlie ignorant;
The openly profane, the closelie vicious,
The Papists, Atheists, and the Superstitious.
The
Rear
is brought up by a
Libertine,
That is for any Doctrine or opinion:
For any Government or Discipline,
For Protestant, for Brownist, for Arminian,
Or, anything he pleases. And, he gives
This liberty (so far as they are able
To make it good) to all, whom he receives
Into his Troopes; which are innumerable:
For, all that would their wicked lusts fulfill,
All they, who
Law,
and
Order
do contemn;
All they, that are ambitious of their will,
Even all of these, unite themselves to him:
And, in his quarters, many women too
Are found, who, not a little mischief do.
These Forces, both asunder and united,
Have so obstructed, and so many ways,
This Parliament opposed, and dispighted,
In all their consultations, and assays;
They have by sleight of wit, by strength of hand,
By Treacheries, by Treaties, and by Spies
Abroad, and here at home; by Sea, and Land,
By Protestations, Promises, and Lies,
And, by a thousand other tricks, beside,
Pursu'd such means and courses to distract,
Affright, discourage, weaken, or divide,
And, frustrate what they shall advise oract;
That, 'tis no wonder you have sped no better,
But, rather, that the mischieves are no greater.
For, if beside the disadvantages
Which have occurred to this Parliament,
(By open enemies) you now shall please
To take true notice of the detriment
Sustain'd by them, who seem no adversaries;
Or them, who friend-like in your Quarters live;
Whose hand, at once, both fire and water carries;
And, mean worst actions, when best words they give:
If you shall heed, how they have cheated been
With honest shows, and outward piety,
When there was little, or naught else, within
But rotten falsehood, and hypocrisy,
You would not murmur, as if you had thought,
This Parliament had failed you in ought.
Nay, you their power and prudence would extol,
Or
his
great
wisdom,
rather, and his power,
Whose mercies are exceeding wonderful,
That, quite you were not ruined, ere this hour:
And, marvel that your
Senate
could subfist
Another day; if truly you did know
How many months, a dang'rous Vipers-nest,
Did in the very bosom of it grow;
Or, if you had a perspective, to see
What Engines are still moving to unfix them;
What failings, yet, in their own Members be,
What foolings, in their fav'rites, to perplex them,
And, what a
New Division
now they run,
Vnthought on, when this
Parliament
begun.
For, that divided Clergy, out of whom
(As thou fore-saw'st, and didst, long since, fore-show)
The present Plagues upon these Lands are come,
(And by whose factions they will endless grow,
If not prevented) have betwixt them got
Another
Quarrell,
and another
Creature,
Of which, the world abroad yet heareth not;
And which, till now, among the things of Nature
Had not a
Being.
Nay, it hath not yet,
So true a Being (though it hath a
name
)
That any man may so discover it,
As truly to express, or know the same.
For, 'tis not what it
was;
nor will it stay
To be to
morrow,
what it is to
day.
It is indeed a
Thing,
which neither had,
Nor shall, nor can have any certain shape;
A thing, in making still, but never made,
A Card drawn out of some
Vtopian-Map,
To make your Pilots steer they know not whither,
Till they arrive at the
Antipodes
To saving Truth; or, else be carried thither
By many changing winds, on moving Seas,
Where they shall split upon the rocky shores
Of Heresy; or suffer ship wrack there,
Where melancholy Desperation roars;
Or else, into those Creeks be driven, where
They moored lie in dull
Security,
Or, land upon a Carnal
Liberty.
Your Linsie-woolsie Faction (not appearing
So Jesuited as they are) made use
Of
Simon Magus
(a bewitching hearing)
And, by that
Sorcerer,
did late infuse
This fancy, and it hath occasioned
Such difference in Opinions, and so rent
Men from each other, that the same hath bred
Obstructions, which disturb the Parliament,
In their proceedings. Yet, your enemy,
By whom this late unlooked for Offence
First came, shall not effect his end thereby.
But,
they who are to be approved,
shall thence
Draw Observations, and a pious use
Of means unthought on, which will Good produce
For, at the present, though Offence be given,
And, men of
Belial,
by
Deceiving-lights,
Have, to their power, endeavored and striven,
To work their ends, by cheating of your sights,
With false appearances, and shows of
Good,
And, though right pious men, who see fair shows,
And, have not yet their purpose understood,
Do, for a little while adhere to those;
Yet, when (by trial, and assisting-Grace)
The bottom of it, fully is discerned,
The work desired shall be brought to pass:
Yes, by this wrangling, somewhat shall be learned,
To bring a prudent
Reformation
in,
And make it purer than it would have been.
The
Public Peace,
then, interrupt you not,
Nor vex your private spirits, to promove
Those
Fancies,
which Distemp'rature begot,
And will, at last, not worth your owning prove.
Let not
Demetrius,
to maintain his trade,
Make up-roars in the Land; as if more care
Were of his
Occupation
to be had,
Than, of those things, which of most value are,
But, let
Discretion
teach you to appease
Tumultuous spirits, by some sweet allay;
Which, peradventure, shall prev
•
ile with these,
Not only, to give ear to what you say;
But, also, for the
Truth,
to be ere long,
As zealous as they were, to do it wrong.
So foolish be not, as to shut your eyes,
Or stop your ears, from all that seemeth new;
Or, all things, as new sangles, to despise,
Which, at first sight, seem useless, or untrue.
So furious be not, as to prosecure,
With an uncharitable prosecution,
All those who (in opinion) shall not suit
With
Disciplines,
of your own Constitution.
Nor, be so mad, as, wholly, to deface
All Superstructures, on the true
Foundation,
Which are not uniform, to that which was;
Or, that which shall be settled in this
Nation.
For, to avoid great inconveniences,
Wise-men
will bear with inconformities.
Those
Doctrines,
that make void the
Moral-Law;
Those, that the Fundamentalls do infringe
Of
saving-faith:
Those, that men's hearts withdraw
From
Piety,
or, give the flesh her swinge:
Those
Disciplines,
that break the bands of
Peace;
That interrupt the
Civil-Government;
That sleight the means of
Pieties
increase,
Or, courses, that
Ill-manners
may prevent:
These, are not to be borne with. These, you may,
Nay, these you must, (with all your power) suppress;
And fine, confine, cut off, or send away,
And, so, that you may therewithal improve
GOD'S
praise,
the
Kingdoms Peace,
&
Christian love.
And, if that any one can means propose,
Whereby your duties may be better done;
If any person, can a truth disclose,
Which hath been clouded, since the Day begun:
If he can tell you, or, believes he can
Informe of anything, that may concern
GOD'S glory, or the
saving health
of man;
And, thinks himself (to teach, and you to learn)
Oblig'd in conscience: And, if he shall so
Proceed, (in doing that which he supposeth,
The
Will
of GOD requireth him to do)
That, no ungodly aim his
Course
discloseth,
Or, ought which doth your,
Public-peace
annoy;
Why, such a
Freedom,
should he not enjoy?
If any man a tender
conscience
hath,
Which makes him fearful, to offend the same,
And, therewith walks in so discreet a
Path,
That, he deserveth not a
public-blame,
In any point aforesaid: Why should he
Be wrought upon, by any other course
Save that, whereby the heart may wooed be
By
Grace,
and
Faith,
and
Reason,
without
Force?
How shall the
Gospel's
passage be so clear,
As is desired, and as thereto is due,
If all men be not free to speak and hear,
On such conditions, as before we show?
Since, to the Church, compulsion none invites,
But, some few fools, and many hypocrites.
Coercive power
indeed is to be used
In things which to the
Outward-man
pertain;
And wherein
Words
or
actions
have abused
Those
Laws,
which
words
or
actions,
do restrain;
The
plots
preventing, or the
practices,
Which root up those
Foundations,
whereupon
You are to build up
Piety
and
Peace;
Or, remedy an evil, being done:
Or, for expulsing, or correcting those,
Whose principles, whose practice, and profession,
Doth diametrically, that oppose
Which GOD and
Nature,
puts in your possession;
As
Popelings,
or such like, who do resist
Essentially, the Government of CHRIST.
But, he that dreams, by any
Human-Law,
To force
Belief,
or bind the
Inner-man,
To
think,
to
hope,
to
love,
or
stand in awe;
Dreams, to effect, what none accomplish can.
For, this, would be a tyranny far worse
Then to enslave the
body.
This, doth lay,
Strong fetters on the
Soul;
and, would enforce
The
Reason,
if not, take it quite away.
By this, you, to
dissemble,
may be brought,
Or, else, to
fear:
But, never to
believe,
Or
hope,
or
love
aright, or,
Change
a
Thought.
Nay, this would, rather, so enrage and greeve,
As that, instead of propagating
Peace,
Your
Quarrells
it would every day
increase.
Make then, in things
Divine,
GOD'S
Word
your
Law,
In
Naturals,
let REASON be your
Guide;
And, from no
Civil-Power
obedience draw,
Which doth conformable to these abide.
Hear all; but, give assent to what is best:
Prove all, who in the name of CHRIST shall come;
But, choose that, only, which abides the
Test:
And,
Truth
once found, the same depart not from▪
Let no true Principle be changed, or shaken,
Let not an ancient
Bounder
be removed;
Or,
Ceremonial-Precepts
be mistaken,
For
Moralls;
nor a
Shaddow
be improved
Before the
Substance.
Quarrell not away
The Essence of
Religion,
or of
Peace,
For
Tristes;
which, though them enjoy you may,
Will never bring thee to that happiness,
Which you expect: And, which will make you sorrow,
No less today, and more, perhaps, tomorrow.
Be not so foolish, as to pull down all,
That was set up before; as if you thought
The
Government,
because
Prelatical,
Was not to be adhered to in ought.
For, therein, without question, have remained
(Among their vain Inventions) many things,
Which, to the
Church,
in purest times, pertain'd;
And, whereto, none a just exception brings.
Be not so indiscreet, to sweep out these,
Among their rubbish; or, to take away
Those
Utensils,
or those
Indifferences,
Which for conveniency, still keep you may,
(And edifying too) without abuse;
Or, any vain or superstitious use.
Be not so sottish, as to think, the
Way
Now termed
Independent,
nothing hath
By which the Throne of CHRIST advance you may,
Depresse his
foe,
or else prepare his path:
Or, that, GOD may not, yet, some beam reveal,
Or, branch of
truth,
unto his
Church
disclose,
Which he hath hitherto kept under-seal;
Or, whereof yet, he scarce a glimmering shows.
Nor, let those whom you
Presbyterians
name,
Of their own
structures
be so confident,
As to conceive, there may not to that
Frame
Of
Discipline,
which they to you present,
Additions or substractions, yet, be made,
To make more perfect, that which they have had.
So inconsiderate, let no man grow,
As to believe it ever was intended,
By taking of your
Covenant
and
Vow,
The
Scots-Presbyterie
should be befriended
Without respect, to whatsoever might
Be found, upon due trial, to accord
With those instructions, which to set you right,
GOD giveth, in the
Canon
of his WORD:
Nor, misconceive you so that noble
Nation,
As to suppose, they think their
Church
is grown
To such perfection in true
Reformation,
That, thereon, nothing more may be bestowne:
Or, that; they come to set you one way free,
That, you, another way, inslav'd might be.
Mistake not so their
piety
and
love;
But, be assured that what you and they
Upon deliberate advise may prove,
To be the safe, unquestionable way
Wherein you ought to walk; that they will join,
(Whether unto the
Civil-Peace
it tends,
Or, unto
Doctrine,
or to Discipline)
As your aff
•
ctionate, and faithful Friends.
Nor, let them so mistake you, or these times,
Of public Visitations, as to dream,
That either private weaknesses, or crimes,
Shall hinder GOD'S intended work, in them:
But, let both Nations labor to excel,
In right
believing,
and in
doing well.
The way to
Peace
is rather to be just,
And faithful in yourselves, and to rely
On GOD; than to suspect, or to distrust,
Or quarrel with another's honesty.
The way to Peace, is down along the
Vales
Of
Meekness,
leaving quite behind your backs
The hills of
Pride,
and those partition walls,
Which
Self-conceitedness,
and
Self-love
makes.
The way of
Peace,
is to examine more
Your own Offences, and your neighbors less;
To learn more Charity than heretofore;
To be in
Deed,
what you in
Word
profess;
And not to strive who longest shall keep the field,
Against the
Truth;
but, who shall soonest yield.
Thus far, is this
Discourse,
now, carried on,
That, it may show both what is pertinent
To
Outward Peace,
and what is to be done,
The loss of outward quiet to prevent.
For, as there be
False lights,
of late, set out,
Which give occasion unto some to wander
In giddy paths, to make some also doubt,
Where is no cause; or, else to bring a slander
On sacred
Verities;
even so, there are
True-lights,
of late discovered, which long since
By evil-meaning
Builders,
stopped were:
And, they who would nor give, nor take offense,
Must learn, more perfectly, to understand
(Then yet they do) those things they take in hand.
Desire of
Vniformitie,
doth carry
So great a sway with some, as if it were
Unto the
Church
of CHRIST, as necessary
As VNITIE, or, did the same appear.
But, they are wide: For as within a palace,
There may be more conveniency, more state,
More beauty, and more pleasure for the solace
Of him that builds it, when there are, in that,
Some equal
Structures;
higher some, some lower,
Some pyramids, some flats, some rounds, some squares,
With here a single, there a double tower,
And such like, as in Princely
Piles
appears;
So, in the Church, true
comliness,
may be,
And
Union,
without uniformity.
Nay
discords,
do not generally mar
Essentiall
unity:
For, as you find
Some
notes,
which founded, by themselves, do jar,
Make up, when they are musically join'd,
A perfect
Diapason:
so, may they
The
unity
of
love,
and
faith
retain,
Who walk not uniformly in the
way,
Yet, on the true foundation, fixed remain.
And, as for those poor creatures, who through
pride,
And
ignorance,
have now
impostumations
Of
fancy
broken in them, which they void
At mouth, upon the silly
Congregations
Collected by them; be not discontent
That, they with others, their corruptions vent.
For, such like
bubbles,
still, were wont to rise
In such disordered times: And, they will fall
Of their own selves. The wind that yet supplies
Their tumour, when
Peace
coms, quite break them shall
The
Devil
of their
proud simplicity,
Makes use, at present, to delude that rabble,
Which are in love with their own vanity,
And, in the ways of Piety unstable.
Because, a
Prudent-Preaching
wonders wrought,
And
Carnal wisdom
judged it
Foolishness;
By foolish preaching, these have, therefore, thought,
Their Arrogancie shall prevail no less;
But, GOD, when they repent, will free these Nations,
From all such failings, and Infatuations.
Observe this well, and, in true patience, bear
With one another, till God shall make known,
To what intent these broils permitted are;
And, let your discontents be rather shown,
Upon the Common Foe: Yea, do your best,
(Whilst you have means) to settle outward
Peace,
According to your power; and, for the rest,
Depend on GOD, who sees the faithfulness
Of every Soul: And, suffer not vain jars,
Among yourselves, to multiply contention;
Lest you, thereby, both make these present wars,
To bring forth an incurable dissention;
And, hinder (as you have already done)
That
Work,
which God, among you, hath begun.
Such
differences,
obstructions have begot
Retarding
Peace.
But, doubtless, for the same,
To your great
Senate,
there belongeth not
An imputation of the smallest blame.
Nor, were it faulty, though it could be said,
And proved too, that some among them, now,
Their weighty consultations had betrai'd,
And, to your Foes, their secrets daily show.
Nor, ought they to be blamed, though you see
A
Spider
sent among them, for an
Ant;
A Butterfly, or Hornet, for a Be;
Or, those that wit, or honesty, do want:
For such, when they are found, they still cast from them,
With as much forwardness, as doth become them.
But, they, they only, do deserve the blame,
(Of all those falsehoods, which these Lands disease)
Those brainlesse fellows, who had so small shame,
And little grace, to make their choice of these:
Those (falsely termed) free-men, who, for porredge,
Would sell their birth-right; and, who, to uphold
Their lawful freedoms, have not so much courage,
As to maintain them, though they see they could.
They, whom a petty Justice, by the nose,
May lead to what absurdities he pleases;
And, make them think, he favor to them shows,
When he their loss, and slaveries increases:
These, and their fellow
Burgers,
have undone you;
Their slavishnes, hath brought these plagues upon you.
These, to the House of
Commons,
sent that Rabble
Of
Runawayes,
and
Traitors,
which betrai'd
Your liberties, as much as they wereable:
And, on their heads, the blood is justly laid,
For what you suffer. These were, first, unjust,
In sending in, to be their Deputies,
Instead of men,
Pride, Avarice,
and
Lust,
Oppression, Folly, Fraud,
and
Vanities.
These, having neither honesty, nor wit,
Nor care to make a prudent choice of those,
To whom so great a Trust, they should commit,
Some persons, for the public service, chose,
So like themselves; that, wonder it is none,
To see so many do, as they have done.
For, such a choice they passed, that unless
Some prudent
Boroughs,
and some wiser Shires
Had made elections with more wariness,
And sent brave spirits forth, to balance these,
You had been quite undone; and you, and yours,
Of all the Christian world had been the scorn;
Perpetual Bond-slaves to malignant Powers;
And, hated of your children, yet unborne:
For, ever, therefore, let that
providence
Which so provided for you, be renowned:
And, let there be a blessed difference
On
them,
and on their seed, forever found,
To honor them, and mark them out from those,
Who to the public welfare, now, are foes.
And, let your Burgers, and Free-holders learn
In time to come, how much, how near it may
The public, and their private weal concern,
To be advised, on whom their trust they lay:
For, what is more unsafe or more unwise
Then to commit (as many times they do)
Their goods, their persons, liberties, and lives;
Yea, and the means of their salvations too,
To their disposures, whom they rather fear,
Then well affect? of whom no good they know?
Of whose corruptions, frequently, they hear,
Of whose injustice, sinsible they grow?
Whose worths, are their revenue? and whose wait
Is mere formality, or nev'r-a-whit?
What can be more absurd, then to suppose
They are the wisest men in all the Shire,
And fit'st for public service, to be chose,
Who wisest, in their own opinions are?
Who come uncall'd, and shuffle out their choice
By suit and friends, or having got, perchance,
The overplus of one poor single voice,
With much ado, their purpose to advance?
Or, what a greater indiscretion shows,
Then to elect for Giver of your Laws,
A fellow, that nor
Law,
nor
Gospel
knows?
Nor difference, 'twixt a good, and evil cause?
And, till that day, pursued no other course
But, hunting, hawking, or else somewhat worse?
What, more dishonorable can be thought,
Then, to your Court and Senate most supreme,
(For which the worthiest persons should be sought)
To send a fool or knave, to sit with them,
Whose reverend presence should not be polluted
With such companions? or, what one thing may
A truer sign of madness be reputed,
Then thus to fool their dignity away?
For, since they cannot their debates decide,
But by most Voices, what else will ensue,
(If many places, be with such suppli'd)
But, those events, which all the Land will rue,
When worst designs, are by the most promoted,
And,
reason
shall, by
noise,
be over-voted?
There never was a time, in which you ought
To be more careful of your choice then now,
If you recruit your House: For, men are taught
By this long
Parliament,
so well to know
Each others mind, each others interest
And inclination; that, unless you see
The
number wanting,
in due time increased,
And made complete, by men that worthy be;
You will be as assuredly undone,
As if the King had tyranniz'd; nay, more:
For, to oppress you, there had been but one,
But, then, you shall, perhaps, have many a score.
And therefore, as you here fore-warned are,
In your elections, use more prudent care.
Thy
Letters of Advice,
ere while directed
To those in whom the choice of these doth lie,
Have partly signifi'd what was effected;
And, what events will still ensue thereby,
While such are chosen; And, what Caveats ought
To be observed, that a better choice
May be hereafter; and, that men be sought
Who
wit
and
conscience
have, as well as
voice.
For, these defects breed vip'rous worms within
The very bowels of the Parliament,
More dangerous then outward foes have been.
And, if the
Members wanting,
be not sent
With better heed, then heretofore you took;
For
peace
embracing
truth,
in vain you look.
Let therefore, those true
Patriots
which are left,
Put forth a strong endeavor to complete
Their wasted
number,
e're they are bereft
Of power, and means, themselves to re-beget
Into a
perfect body.
And, let none
By fallacies delude you, with a fear,
It may not now as legally be done,
As when the
Members
first convented were.
For, that they are lawful
Parliament,
(Although the
King
be absent) 'tis confessed
Even by the
King:
In whom, now to prevent
Their being so, the power doth not consist,
Nor ever did, of right; while cause you know,
Why
SALVS POPVLI,
should have it so.
Believe it, whosoever shall pretend
This
Parliament,
hath not a legal power
Her body to recruit; is no true friend,
Nor fit to be a Counselor of your.
For, seeing they have power to make a
Seal,
It were a great absurdity to dream,
They had not legally, a power, as well
To
use,
as
make
it. And, if you in them,
Allow an use thereof, that
private men,
The benefit of
justice
might obtain;
It should much rather be allowed, then,
In things, which to the
Public-right
pertain:
And, most especially, in all affairs
Concerning their own
being,
and
repairs.
If really, a
Parliament
they be
As (without peradventure) they are
One,
Then, without limitation they are feee
To do, what may by
Parliaments
be done.
And, that is, every reasonable thing
Which to their
weal
and
safety
may belong;
(And their ability to pass may bring)
If to
Divinity,
it be no wrong.
And, whosoe're, in these extremities,
Perswade, that they should take upon them less;
Unto the
public peace,
are enemies:
Yea, they defer, or mar your happiness,
By weakening of their hands, who are your friends;
And, strengthening his, who now your spoil intends.
Let them not therefore act, as if they had
But half a power, or seemed to be lame;
Or, as if they a
Parliament
were made,
To be no more, but only, so in
name.
With prudent
conscience,
and with
confidence,
Let them proceed in what they undertake;
And, in what e're pertains to their
defense,
On just resolves, let them no haltings make,
Through want of
presidents:
For, power they have
To make new
presidents,
as well as they
Who lived before them. And, if they will save
Their
Country
and themselves, this is the
way:
Since, in an
extarordinarie Cause,
True
Reason,
binds as firmly, as the
Laws.
And, though it greatly grieve you (as it ought)
Yet suffer not the absence of the
King,
To fool you, with so frivolous a thought,
As that, a diminution it may bring
To their
authority.
For, wheresoe're
He bideth, when his
Parliament
shall sit,
The
Kingship,
virtually, is always there,
And cannot possibly divide from it.
The
Person
of a
King,
may ramble forth,
As his own fancy hurries him about,
Or do things derogating from his worth,
Or die, or from the
Kingdom
be cast out;
And, yet the
Kingdom,
and the
Kingship
too,
Continue still, as they were wont to do.
The life of
Bodies-natural,
indeed,
Departs out of them, when their
head
is gone;
And, thereunto, no other can succeed,
To make it
live,
or, not a
headless-one.
So 'tis not in this
Body-politic:
The
vitals
of it in the
body
lie,
Not in that head-ship: and, though it be sick
When that falls from it, yet, it doth not die.
A
King,
is but a
substituted-head,
Made for
conveniency:
And, if thereby
The
body
seem to be endangered,
(If
Power
it hath) it hath
Authority
To take one off, and set another on;
Aswell, as, at the first, to make it one.
And when that
Body
shall be represented,
As this hath been, according to the
Law,
Or, shall be by
necessity
convented;
Therein resides, that
Sovereignty,
that
Awe,
And
Rule,
whereto the
Laws
of GOD and
nature
Injoyne obedience; and not in that
thing
Corrupted;
which was but that
Creatures
creature,
And, which to serve it, was first made a King.
When, therefore, GOD enjoins you to obey
And honor
Kings;
these duties, are not meant
To those who from their Kingships run away;
But, rather, to th'essential
Government
Of whatsoever kind, by
Law
ordained;
Or, by a strong
necessity
constrained.
For, were it otherwise, the pride, and lust
Of an injurious
Arbitrary power,
Would all men out of their possessions thrust,
And all the
freedoms
of
mankind
devour.
Let therefore, neither
fear
nor
flattery,
Prescription,
or vain
custom,
make you cleave
Unto an accidental
Majesty,
And, that which is substantial, quite to leave.
At this time, chiefly, take a special care
(As, of what very much conduceth to
Your
Peace
and
Safety
) that, as now things are,
Your just advantages you let not go;
Lest, by a faint, and conwardly endeavor,
You loose your freedoms, and be slaves forever.
And, yet take heed, that zeal to
Innovations,
Nor private fears, nor hopes incline your mind
To subjugate these
Kingdoms,
or these
Nations,
To
Governments
of any other kind.
But, rather use your utmost diligence
To rectify those things which are amiss
In that which is established: and, from thence
Cast out or purge, whatever therein is
Repugnant to those
Charters,
which by
grace
Or
nature
were conferred: And, let your care
Be so to settle it, that place you make
The Throne of CHRIST, among you, up to rear;
Lest, when his
Kingdom
comes, you else be fain
To pull your
new-devices
down again.
Take likewise heed, that you no means neglect,
Whereby the
King
may be reclaim'd and won,
GOD'S honor, with your safety to respect;
And do the duties, he hath left undone.
For, by rejecting him, how just soe're
The
Causes
be; you shall delay the
peace,
Which is desired: And make your quarrel, here,
With much more difficulty to decrease:
But, if your industry shall win him home,
And, he return sincerely to his charge,
It shall a blessing to these
Isl
•
s
become;
Your honor, and your joy it shall enlarge,
And, as CHRIST'S
Vice-Roy,
he shall sit upon
A righteous, and an everlasting
Throne.
Walk, therefore, prudently in this straight path,
And, turn not to the left hand, or the right.
That power, which GOD to you committed hath,
Improve for him, according to your might;
Him,
in the
reasonable-means
attend
With
Faith,
and
Patience;
that, he may, at last,
Your
King
new-molded, back unto you send,
Your
King
new-molded, back unto you send,
Or, him, out of his ruined
Kingdom
cast.
If, possibly, he can his course repent,
GOD, will restore him, yet. If you amend,
Then, all these
Troubles,
and this grievous
Rent,
Shall in true
Peace,
and sweet agreements end.
If both conform; Both, shall true Peace enjoy:
If both be willful, GOD, shall both destroy.
But, hark! my
Scribe,
I hear a dreadful cry
Of wounded men; and, therewith, as it were,
The
shouts
of those that have a
Victory,
Of much concernment. Therefore, go and hear,
What now is done: For, somewhat hath been wrought,
From whence, if well it shall improved be,
Enlargements of those means will forth be brought,
Which may effect, what thou desir'st to see.
As soon as thou hast Information had,
Of what is rumoured, and duly weighed,
What profitable uses may be made
Of that, which either hath been done, or said:
Retire thou hither, and give ear, again,
To that, which to your Peace, doth appertain.
The fourth Canto.
The Contents.
While here, our
Author
doth recite
His Musings after
Naesby
fight,
The VOICE returns; and, doth begin
To show us, what must usher in
Exiled
Peace.
Then, told are we,
How kept our
Vowes,
and
Covenants
be:
How we
reform,
and
fast,
and
pray:
What
Thankfulness
we do repay:
What, must in
general
be done;
What, by each
Jndividuall-One:
What course both
King
and
State
must take,
E're they their
Peace
with God shall make:
What he expects from every
Nation,
From every
Town,
and
Corporation,
And every
House,
in some degree,
Before our
Peace
renewed will be.
WHen from attention to that
Silent-tongue,
(heard,
Which, without
words,
reveals what you have
I came abroad; the
Streets,
and
Temples
rung
Of
Victories:
and,
Signalls
there appeared,
Not only, of a valiant Resolution,
In those that conquered; but, of some divine
Disposure of them, too, for execution
Of that, which GOD himself, did fore-design.
The scornful Adversaries rushed on,
To
Policy,
and
Strength,
themselves commending.
The LORD of
Hosts,
our Friends reli'd upon,
With
Prayers
fighting, and with
Faith
defending:
And, lo, GOD gave their Foes into their hand:
For, when he sighteth, who can then withstand?
The
Victory
was great, and everyone
Observ'd what circumstances pleased him best;
But, that, my thoughts did most insist upon,
(Which others, peradventure, minded least.)
These
Royal-Ensigns
from the Field were brought,
The
Lion-Rampant,
and the
Dragon-flying,
The
Roses,
and
Portcullis;
which, me thought,
Were
Pledges,
future
Mercy
signifying.
And, so, no doubt, they shall be, if that Race,
To which GOD calleth us, we now shall run;
And better heed the tokens of his
Grace,
And, Earnests of his love, than we have done.
For, valiant
Fairfax,
now, hath sent us home,
In
Hieroglyphic,
signs of things to come.
The
Ramping-Lion,
(which doth fignifie
A
Raging-Tyrant
) may an Earnest be,
That, GOD will from oppressing Tyrannie,
Upon our
Good-abearing,
set us free.
A
Dragon,
is that most prodigious
Beast,
Whereby the
Holy-Ghost
hath typifi'd
That
Foe,
by whom the
Saints
are most oppressed;
And, by whom, daily, they are crucified.
The taking of that
Ensign,
may fore-show,
That (if we faithfully the work endeavor)
The power of Antichrist we shall subdue,
And, from these
Islands,
cast his Throne forever.
Vouchsafe us power, ô GOD! vouchsafe us Grace,
To drive him, and his Angels, from this Place.
The joining of the
Roses,
doth declare,
That GOD will to those honors us restore,
Wherewith he crowned us, when in peace, and war,
We on our Crest, those lovely Flowers wore.
Their blushing Beauties are, to me, a sign,
Of that delightful, and soul-pleasing grace,
Which will make lovely our
Church-Discipline,
When GOD hath changed our
Discords,
into
Peace.
The
sweetness,
and the
virtues
of the
Rose,
Do seem to promise to us those effects,
And fruit, which from internal Graces flows;
Yea, and their
prickles
are, in some respects,
Significant; for, I by them fore-see,
That his corrections, always, needful be.
By taking their
Portcullis
from the Foe,
It may portend (and if with penitence,
We prosecute the Work, it shall be so)
That, we have taken from them their defense.
It may betoken also, that GOD'S hand
Will bar our
Gates,
and make our City strong,
And, by his Mercy, fortify the Land,
Against all them, who seek to do us wrong.
But, for a surer token of his Grace,
GOD sends us home, among the spoils of
War,
That
Cabinet of Mischiefe,
wherein was
The proof, of what our Foes intentions are:
And, that, their projects, GOD will still disclose,
And fool their Policies, this
Prize
fore-shows.
I then observed, in that
Victory,
(Wherewith GOD'S hand, at that time, magnifi'd
The
Peoples-Tribune
) how much vanity
Is in the Arm of flesh, and vaunts of pride.
And, with what good success, he shall advance,
Who seconded with
Meekness, Faith,
and
Prayer,
Doth fight against the rage of
Arrogance,
Of
Guilt,
of
Self-Dependence,
and
Despair.
I, furthermore observed, that this stroke
Was given, by a
Hand
contemned of those,
On whom it fell; and, that their strength it broke,
When, to themselves, great hopes they did propose:
Yea, when they seemed assured of our fall;
And thought to ruin, and devour us all.
And, they received that amazing-blow,
From those
Vnited-Brethren,
whom they thought,
Their policies had dis-united so,
That, ruin on themselves, it should have brought.
But, this, by their agreement, GOD prevented;
And gave that
victory
to be a sign,
That, if we shall hereafter be contented,
In love, against the
Common-Foe
to join;
And, trust him with our
Conscience,
and our
Cause;
We, by that blessed
union,
shall subdue
Th'opposers of our
Liberties,
and
Laws;
And feel the droppings of
Mount-Zion's
dew
Be sprinkling all these Islands, with increase
Of
saving-knowledge,
join'd with
endless peace.
I mustered up, the many
black-events,
The many jealousies, and new-made factions,
The discontentments, and discouragements,
The frights, the losses, dangers and distractions
That might have followed, and over-whelm'd us all,
If but that day, our
spoilers
had prevailed;
If on that day, GOD had not heard us call,
If on that day, to help us he had failed.
And I desire, that we could thanks express
For such deliv'rances, as well, in
deed,
As in a
Verball-form
of thankfulness;
That, GOD might always our devotions heed,
And answer us, when in distress we pray,
As he our prayers answered, that day.
My heart rejoiced much in that salvation,
Because, I knew it greater then it seemed;
And, that it wrappeth up a preservation,
To few men known; of fewer men esteemed.
So much, I joy not in the
victory,
As in that good, whereto it may conduce:
For, in GOD'S Judgments, as much joy have I,
As in his Mercies, when I see their use.
I laugh not, as when I have outward ease,
When I do feel GOD'S hand correcting me:
Yet, inwardly, it comforts, and doth please
As much, as when more glad I seem to be.
And, more I fear a failing, on my part,
When I am most at ease, than when I smart.
And, I have seen, so frequently, a failing,
In prosecuting public executions;
And, such neglects (upon a small prevailing)
Of good Designes, and prudent Resolutions.
With such a dull proceeding in pursuit
Of those advantages, which GOD bestows:
And find them, still, produce so little fruit
In
substance,
answerable to their
shows;
That, when I should express my joyfulness,
With such a sense as other entertain:
A melancholy doth my soul oppress,
As if it feared my joy would be in vain;
But, at that time, some better hopes I had,
And, in those hopes, my Prayer thus I made.
Eternal
GOD! as merciful, as just,
And, of both these the
Essence in perfection:
Thou knowest my heart, and knowest I nor distrust
Thy
Power,
thy
Providence,
or thy
Affection;
Though outwardly I do not much rejoice,
It is not an unthankfulness to thee,
That sads my
Soul,
or silenceth my
Voice,
Whiles others tuning
Hymns of Praises
be.
For, oft, my
heart,
enjoys thee all the day;
Aloud to thee, my
Spirit
often cries,
When, with my mouth, I not a word can say,
When not a tear will trickle from mine eyes:
And, though I neither
pray,
nor praise thee, then,
As I am bound; I do it as I can.
Thy mercies I confess, and am as glad
Of Thee, and them, this day, as he that sings;
Yet, when I mind what use of them is made,
And, what effects from thy compassion springs,
It mars my mirth: And therefore, now, instead
Of their thanksgiving Psalms, I sacrifice
My heart in Prayer; which, vouchsafe to heed,
And, do not LORD, my humble suits despise.
For, if thou grant them, it shall praise thee more,
Thanif that favor, by ten thousand tongues,
Were, at this present time, repeated over,
And celebrated in a thousand songs.
That hath begot thee, one
Thanksgiving-day.
But, this, shall make thee praised, here, for aye.
The many Mercies, LORD, I do confess,
Which, by thy Bounty, we have here enjoyed;
And, do acknowledge, with all thankfulness,
That, ere this day, we had been all destroyed,
Unless thy Goodness, and thy Providence,
Had curbed the fury of the raging Foe;
Yea, thy Abounding-love was our defense,
Or, we had, else, been our own overthrow.
From thy free favor, and preventing-grace,
It doth proceed, that our despised Host
Fled not before their Adversaries face;
Or, fell not by them, who the field have lost:
And, that, the Joyes which now our City hath,
Are not, this day, in
Askalon,
and
Gath.
But, what will these prevailings be, at last,
If Grace thou, likewise, give not to pursue
Those victories, which thou bestowed hast;
And, to improve the mercy thou didst show?
What will our sad rejoicings, at the length,
And bloody enterchanges, prove, O LORD?
But, an impairing of our native strength,
To make a passage for the Forraine-sword?
And, what from our divisions, and the spoils,
Torne daily from each other, can arise,
But utter devastation of these Isles?
And, (which is worse than foreign enemies)
Self-murders? Or, perhaps, a
Dearth
so great,
That, men shall kill each other for their meat?
Such things have been; and such, for ought I see,
May here befall us, ere these wars be done,
If, thou permit our cruelties, to be
As willfully pursued, as begun.
Thy
judgments
teach us, therefore, LORD, to fear;
So, make us, thy forbearances to weigh;
So, let thy kindnesses our hearts prepare,
That, we no longer fool our
Peace
away.
Let not the sighs, the prayers, and the cries
Of thy afflicted children, be in vain.
Behold, how desolate their dwelling lies;
Look on their wounds, observe how they are slain;
How many, of their Fathers, are bereft!
How many widows, desolate are left!
Or, if this move thee not, mark how the
Foe
Blasphemes thy
Name:
See, with what height of pride
Against thy
Truth,
his malice he doth show,
And, how thy holy things, he doth deride.
Mark, what damned Oaths, and curses forth they roar,
And, with what lies and slanders they do wrong us:
Mark, how they scorn the counsels of the poor,
And, to betray us; how they lurk among us.
Mark, how they play the hypocrites, array'd
Sometime, like
Bosom-Friends;
sometime disguised
With outward
Sanctitie,
while snares are laid,
That, unawares thy
Saints
may be surprised:
And, let not us, who in thy Truth have joy'd▪
By those, who persecute it, be destroyed.
If not on us, yet, LORD, compassion take
On those that shall out of our loins descend▪
If not for our, yet, for thine
Honor-sake,
To these destroying times, impose an end.
Even for the sake of thy
Beloved-One,
Who, through our sides, is wounded by our
Foes,
Behold, what spoils, what mischieves they have done,
And help us, ere our sorrow helpless grows.
Teach us to see, and know, how miserable
We are, and may be, if we persevere,
As we begun; inform us how unable
We are to save ourselves, from what we fear:
And, to consider, too, how worthless, we
Are of that mercy, which I beg of thee.
Vain is the help of Armies, Foot, or Horse;
Vain is the power of Nations, and of Kings;
Vain is united policy, and force;
Vain is the aid of all terrestrial things:
Thou makest
War;
thou only makest Peace,
And, out of nothing, canst create the same;
Nay, out of that, which discords doth increase,
An everlasting Concord thou canst frame.
Although the people, like huge waters, rage;
The mountains, yea, these Islands moved be;
Thou, in a moment, canst the storm asswage,
And, make all quiet, when it pleaseth thee.
O LORD! command a Calme, command a
Peace,
That our unnatural debates may cease.
To us be reconciled, and (to begin
That reconcilement) let us so endeavor,
To break the league, which we have made with sin,
That Thou, and We, may now be friends forever.
Make, for us, an Atonement with our
King,
Let him perceive, in what his course will end:
What Mischeeves evil Counselors do bring,
What Vengeance doth on Tyranny attend.
Give him both sight, and sense, of that huge flood,
Which threatens daily, to o'rewhelme his head;
That roaring torrent, nay, that sea of blood,
Which, in these Isles, hath willfully been shed.
And, with his wronged, and enraged Nations,
Make thou, for him, his Reconciliations.
His heart, is in thy hand; and, if thou please,
Thou canst return him to us, wholly changed.
Thou canst yet make us mutually, with ease,
As dear, as if we had not been estranged.
Thou that restor'dst
Manasseh,
canst restore
Him
to
Himselse,
to
Vs,
and to thy
Grace▪
And, it may glorify thy goodness more,
Than to advance another in his place.
Yea, and for us, it shall be better too,
If, with a true forgiveness of each other,
We, that have lately been divided so,
Shall lovingly unite again together.
For, what more sweet, than when unkindness ends,
In reconciling of divided friends?
Thou knowest, O GOD! that we have no desire,
To take from
Him,
or
His,
the Royal Throne,
Or, pull it lower; but, to raise it higher,
And, set him, rather, faster thereupon.
Thou knowest, that though his
courses
we abhor,
We love his
Person,
and would fain prevent
That mischief, which he seems to labor for.
By hunting after his own detriment.
If, by his willfulness, that blood be spilled,
Which we would save; of them require it, LORD!
Who make him to be
Patron
of their guilt;
Or, bring him within danger of the
Sword:
And, keep us, and our children, ever clear,
From all the blood, that shall be spoiled, here.
And, as for me, whom our
Opposers
blame,
As having my first principles forsaken,
(
Because I, now, against the
Royal-Name,
With
Real-Majesty,
a part have taken
)
Thou knowest my heart, had never an intent,
The
Shadow,
for the
Substance,
to adore:
And, that if I, so foolishly had meant,
Discretion,
bids me so to think no more▪
A
Single-Person,
or a
Factious Rabble,
The
King,
by Arms, opposing, acteth
Treason;
But,
Kingdoms
join'd by
Counsels-warrantable,
Against a
Tyrant,
do the work of
Reason.
Yea, 'tis the hand of GOD, that strikes him, then,
Although he doth it by the sword of men.
Thou knowest, O GOD! that, not a hand of our
Is raised against his
Person,
or his Seed;
Or, to diminish any Royal power,
Which to discharge his Office he may need.
Or, for due honor. But, we, rather, fight
(As he would know, if undeceiv'd he were)
To save his Dignity, to do him right,
And, keep him from Destructions drawing near.
Thou knowest, we no offensive
War
intended;
Nor, armed came, for any private
Cause;
But, as our duty binds, to have defended
Thy
Truth,
our
Country's Liberties,
and
Laws:
And, to remove the wicked from the Throne,
That, he may rule, with righteousness, thereon.
And, though to fright us from this duty, LORD,
The sons of
Belial,
whom we pursue,
Cast terms on us, which better do accord
With their proceedings, as to them most due:
Yet, thou canst witness, that we called are,
And, come in true obedience to that
Power,
Of which, He but the name doth only wear;
Whilst he abuseth his own Rights, and our:
Thou knowest his
Wilfulnesse
doth us compel
(
Since nor his
Parl'aments,
Thy
Laws,
nor
His,
Nor, other course prevails
)
now to appeal
(In that, which at this time, depending is)
To thy Arbitrement: and, that, the
Sword
May to our differences, an end afford.
Wherein, we pray thee, pass
•
thy Sentence so,
That, in thy
Judgments, Mercy
may abound;
Lest, though but small
Severity
thou show,
The innocentest party, may be found
Unable to abide it. For, mine eye,
Which only can behold the scam, or skin,
Of our Corruptions (and not much espy
Of those Pollutions, which lie hid within)
Perceives the best so faulty; that, by thee,
If so put off this
Bloodie-Trial
were,
That, we might, now, some other way, agree:
It would the safest course, for both, appear.
But, LORD, thy will be done, though it be that,
Which flesh and blood, most fears and trembles at.
For, who, that loves thy
Attributes
and
Thee,
And sees how they are slighted? who, that views,
How impudently broke thy
Precepts
be,
How spitefully thy foes thy friends abuse;
And, how presumptussly this age goes on,
(Even while th'avenging Angel is abroad)
To do as wickedly as it hath done,
Without regard of
man,
or fear of GOD?
Yea, who, that loves thine
honor,
grudgeth now
Thy saving of it? or, who wisheth good
Unto thy
Saints,
who grieveth to allow
Thy
Justice,
in avengement of their blood?
Or, who can think thy judgments have exceeded,
That hath our great offenses duly heeded?
I do confess, thy coming to this
Nation
In these unlook'd-for
Judgments,
maketh it
To be a sharp and dreadful
visitation
To those, that in security did sit,
And, lived at ease. But, they who long have born
The violent oppressions of thy Foes,
The insolence of
Tyrants,
and their scorn,
At thy approaches, tremble not, like those:
For, their
Deliverer,
and
Friend
appears,
And, therefore, though we stand in awe of thee,
It is with conjug all, and filial fears,
Mixt with whose tartuesse, sweetuesses there be:
Yea, though thy judgments, fright us, when we hear them
Yet, LORD, we love them, more then we do fear them.
Whilest thus, or unto such effects I prayed,
And meditated, by myself alone,
The VOICE began to speak again, and said;
Thy GOD observeth, what thou musest on,
And will not fail thy hopes, if thou believe,
And persevere. For, he is readier far,
His blessings, and his benefits to give,
Then, they, who want them, to desire them are.
And, when he doth deny them, or prolong them,
It is not out of back wardnesse in him,
To condescend; but, that you might not wrong them,
Or entertain them with a sleight esteem.
Most, little prize good things, till much they cost,
Few, know their happiness, till it be lost.
You may perceive, by that, which GOD hath wrought
For these afflicted
Isles,
in their distress;
By many things, which he to pass hath brought,
When mischiefs were, almost, beyond redress:
By those diliv'rances, which you have had,
When to the brink of ruin you were come;
By those escapes, which he for you hath made,
From plots, which none but he could save you from;
Yea, see you may by his oft freeing you,
When, carelessly, advantages you lose;
And by that
mercy,
which he showeth, now,
That, he would soon secure you from your Foes,
Could you so mind, what doth to you belong,
That,
mercy
might not do his
justice
wrong.
Alas! he takes no pleasure in your cries,
By your afflictions he can reap no good;
Your wound, are not delightful to his eyes,
Nor joys be in the shedding of your blood.
He better likes of
Feasts,
then
Fasting-days,
If you could use them, to your more avail,
Your mournings would not please, like songs of praise,
If you had fewer failings to bewail.
He is not such a cruel GOD, as many,
Blasphemouslie, have feigned him to be,
Delighted in the death, or grief, of any;
But,
Love,
and
Joy
essentiallie is he:
And, gave his
Dearest
to be crucified.
A
saving-health
for sinners to provide:
Of him, if peace you rightly seek, believe it,
He will vouchsafe it, when you shall appear
A people qualified to receive it:
And, to expect it sooner, vain it were.
Your pride is not, as yet, enough abated,
Your wisdom, is not, yet, enough befooled,
Your own deservings, are, yet, over-rated,
You, by the rod, are not, yet, thoroughly schooled.
You have some ayerie Castles, yet, in building,
Some false dependencies, yet, undestroy'd,
Some groundless hopes, not to despair, yet, yielding,
Some lusts, and some vain pleasures, yet in joy'd:
And, many such obstructions, making, yet,
These Kingdoms, for that happiness, unfit.
Your
lofty minds,
must, first, be stooped lower,
Your
separations,
must draw, somewhat, nigher,
Your
Forms of godliness,
must get more power,
Your
base affections
must be lifted higher:
Your
headstrong willfulness,
must more be tamed,
Your
Anchor,
must with deeper hold, be grounded,
Your
Charity,
must farther be inflamed,
Your
Faith,
must on the rock, be better founded.
Your
selves,
must, by yourselves, be more denied,
More care of public duties must be took;
Your
wanton flesh
must more be mortifi'd,
And, for your sins, your
hearts
must more be broke,
E're these afflicted
Isles
will repossesse
A safe, a real, and a lasting peace.
Delude you not yourselves, with guileful shows;
For, when they promise most, they most deceive.
To
win,
is, many times, the way to
lose:
And,
Victories,
of safety may bereave.
Security,
may lose you, in a day,
What,
watchfulness
was gaining, many years;
And, in a moment, GOD may take away
Your greatest strength, when strongest it appears.
Were now, your adversaries in your power;
Were not a dog, to bark against you, left,
And,
Peace
confirmed; you might, within an hour,
Of all that happiness, be quite bereft.
Yea, and it should be lost again, e're long,
Unless, on better terms, you made it strong.
Upon the justness of the
Cause,
some trust;
But, that, a vain dependence may be found:
For, if they, who defend it, be unjust,
A righteous Cause, may fall unto the ground.
The
Jews
did fly before the
Canaanites,
While but one
Achan,
in their Camp, remained;
They fell before the wicked
Benjamites,
While, their impenitence they retained.
Some think, because the
Word of Truth,
is here,
GOD'S
Ordinances,
and his
holy-things,
That, you a privileged people are:
But, no security, at all, this brings:
It, rather, calls for vengeance on that place,
Which answers not, in fruits, their means of grace.
The
Ark,
it self, from
Israel,
was borne,
And, they who kept it, slaughtered, for their sin;
Even GOD'S own
House
was ra'zd, and made a scorn,
And, they inthral'd, who served him therein.
GOD, for his
Temples
sake, spared not oppression,
Nor, for that
Worship
which they did profess:
But, them he turned out of their possessions,
For acting sin, in cloaks of holiness.
Do you suppose, that, GOD, will for the sake
Of those few righteous men, that, yet, remain,
The present troubles from these
Islands
take,
And, settle all things here, in peace, again?
How can you such a benefit expect,
Till righteous men, you better do affect.
If you, by them, such blessings may enjoy,
Why are you not, to those, more faithful friends?
Why seek you to undo, or, to destroy
Those men, on whom your weal so much depends?
Though, for their sakes, you reap, at other times,
Great benefit; and often are secured,
From public mischiefs; yet, there have been crimes,
For which, this privilege is not procured.
Though
Noah, Job,
and
Daniel,
interceded
At such a season, grace should not be shown:
They should not get a pardon, when they pleaded,
For any souls offending, but their own.
And, so it may be, for ought yet, you know,
With every unrepentant sinner, now.
Some, of you, have a hope, as vain as this,
Another way; for, many men suppose
To be secured, by the wickedness,
And crying sins, of their blasphemous Foes.
But,
Edom
did
Jernsalem
suppress,
Although the former had transgressed more:
The
Saints,
although their errors may be less,
Are daily murder'd by the
Scarlet-Whore.
GOD'S
Magazine,
hath punishments enow,
To seize on all at once, that him offend;
He
Scorpions
hath for them, and
Rods
for you,
And, both will scourge, if both do not amend.
He, as he lists, can make you whip each other;
Or, spare the one, or, punish both together.
Indeed, a Kingdoms laying-wast, hath been,
And, is sometimes, deferred for the sakes
Of righteous men, inhabiting therein:
But, that, but little for the safety makes,
Of
Individual sinners.
For, you see,
They, by the
Sword,
are picked out every day,
Their habitations daily ruined be,
And their posterities are swept away.
Yea, when, quite round them, all the neighbourhood
Stands unimpaired, they are sometime seized,
That, others may observe it, for their good,
Or, that GOD'S wrath may, thereby, be appeased:
And, otherwhile, the just are taken from
A
wicked-place,
toscape the plagues to come.
But, what, or whom, need you suspect, or fear,
Though both your Horse & Foot, this day were routed?
Of your own selves, you well-conceited are
Of your own courses, nothing is mis-doubted.
You have designs, wherein you can confide,
Though GOD be very little in your thought:
You, in a blindfold hope, can quiet bide,
Though, in
due means,
his aid you have not sought.
You seem so
knowing,
that none must advise;
So
righteous,
that, you reformation hate;
So
holy,
that, your brethren you despise,
So
powerful,
as if you preserved the
State:
And bear yourselves, as if unto these Nations
GOD, were obliged, by special obligations.
And, if but with a superficial look
A view of you were taken, on that side
Which fairest shows, you might be, then, mistook,
For better then you will prove, when you are tried.
You are now frequent in
humiliation,
You are professed Reformers of your ways;
You are become the longest-praying Nation,
And, holiest-talking people, in these days,
Your simplest tradesmen are grown mighty Preachers,
Your soldiers guifted are with double power,
Young silliest women are admired teachers,
And speak, and pray among you by the hour.
The chiefest places in your
Common-weal,
Supplied are, with men of
noted-zeal.
The
godly party,
now preferments gets,
(At least, they who the form thereof put on)
And, when some of them, are proved counterfeits,
The
honest party
will be thought upon.
To keep the
foremost-table
of the LAW
Inviolate, you care, of late, have took;
And, many think, it shows you stand in awe
Of GOD; and, that you at his honor look.
And, peradventure, (if it hinder not
Your lusts or profits) when you are at leisure,
Some
Orders
or
Provisions
may be got,
To make you careful, in some better measure,
To keep the second-Table: wherein, lies
The proof of your fair-seeming sanctities.
You zealously have, likewise, overthrown
The monuments of Popish superstition;
Pull'd Crosses, Images, and Altars down,
Even those things that gave but just suspicion
Of an Idolatrous or fruitless use;
As well appeareth, in not lettting pass
(When you demolished them, for their abuse)
The guilded Organs, and the painted glass.
You have for every week a Sabbath, now;
For every
moon
a
Fast;
in private, more:
Thanksgiving days,
you likewise do allow,
For holy-days, observed heretofore;
Which, of those feasts, will well supply the room,
Until you weary of them shall become.
These works are found among you, and of those
Some part from upright-heartedness doth flow,
And from those rectified consciences,
Which do a real Reformation show.
And, though the works themselves have no deserving
In their own nature, or, through imperfections,
Concomitant: yet, GOD, in you, observing
A
will
renewed, and following his direction,
According to your power, accepteth so
A frail performance, from a weak intent,
That, he as much, by
Grace,
imputes thereto,
As if it perfectly were done, and meant.
And (for a few thus qualified) GOD hath
Deferr'd full prosecution of his wrath.
But, so far off, your Reformations, yet,
And pious shows, are from deserving ought,
Or from a likelihood, that they will fet
The peace, for which, you have both prayed and sought;
That, if more mercies GOD vouchsafe not to you,
Then by your Sanctitie deserved are,
Your
holy-things,
would utterly undo you,
Though all your other sins remitted were.
For, as, before their thrall, the wicked
Jews,
Did act a
seeming-sanctified part,
Approaching near to GOD, in words, and shows,
Yet, kept themselves, far from him, in their heart:
So, most of you have done: And, GOD therefore,
Your
Sabbaths, Fasts,
and
Praises
doth abhor.
To him, your hands you lifted in a VOW;
A serious
Covenant,
with him, you made,
You made it also, not without a show,
As if unfeigned purposes you had
To do, as you professed: And, you have seemed
Not only to have rightly understood
That
League,
and highly thereof to have deemed,
But, thereby, likewise you received much good.
Yet, as if, with well-doing, tired you were,
(Or, rather, as if you besotted grew)
To tender it, you very little care,
Or, thereunto, conformity to show.
A needless duty, this, by some, is thought,
Or, pressed farther, then of right, it ought.
But, if it hath imposed unduly been,
Why were two
Realms,
so unadvis'd, to make it?
If righteo, us in your eyes, the same still seem,
Why is not every man required to take it?
If, necessarily, it was enjoin'd,
And lawfully, why should you suffer them
Both liberty, and favor, too, to find,
Who, therein, shall your
Ordinance
contemn?
Why, is there not a difference put, 'twixt those
Who take it; and all those who shall refuse it?
And, punishment why do you not impose
On them who take it, only, to abuse it?
Since, breach of public Cov'nants is a sin,
Which, always, brings a public vengeance in.
A Cov'nant broke, through with the
Gibeonites,
(Who gained it a surreptitious way)
Brought down a Plague upon the
Israelites,
Which cost, the blood of
Princes,
to allay.
No branch of this, is any way unjust,
Or inconsistent, in the least degree,
With any duty, which perform you must
As
Christians,
or, as moral men you be;
Nor is it (being understood aright)
A bar to any Christians Liberty,
Or, human Privilege; though, at first sight,
To some, these, may appear infring'd thereby:
For, by that Covenant, you vowed no more,
Then, what you were obliged to before.
It binds you no profession to embrace
Of
Doctrine, Manners,
or, of
Discipline,
Ought farther, then conformable it is
Unto the Canon of the
Word-divine:
You vowed nothing to reject, but what
Shall prove, upon due trial, to be found
Destructive, or repugnant unto
that;
Or, to the
Bond,
wherewith you should be bound:
And, as you are obliged, by the same,
To nothing, any way unwarrantable;
So, likewise, you thereby, engaged became
No further to perform, than you are able:
Nor harm, thereby, to any can befall,
But, praise to GOD, and safety unto all.
And, yet, this sacred
Covenant,
and VOW,
Which tendeth to the prejudice of none,
Which
Law-divine,
and
human
doth allow,
Which need constrained you to have undergone;
Which was resolved on, by two prudent
Nations,
Which, by the highest Senates, in both Lands,
Was made, and took, with due deliberations,
And, signed with twenty hundred thousand hands.
Those
Vowes,
which you have sealed with your blood,
Those
Vowes,
which in ten thousand
Congregations
Attested were; and which you called on GOD
To witness too: These
Vowes,
and
Protestations,
Vow'd so religiously, and so attested,
Regarded are, as if you had but jested.
Who dreamed to see a VOW, cried up like that,
Observ'd no better, than conditions made
By Boys, or Girls, at
Push-pin,
or at
Cat?
Who could have thought, that
Christians
should have had
Of conscience, or of credit, so small care,
As to forget, nay, so much to despise
A Duty, wherein so concerned they are?
And, whereupon, Life,
State,
and Honor lies?
He that your
Ordinances
doth peruse,
With your instructions, and marks what is done;
Can find out nothing, whereby to excuse
Your ill pursuit, of what you well begun.
Or why, he should, till you reform your ways,
Much heed, what such a
Nation,
doth, or says.
For, both so negligent, and false are you,
In what you vowed: yea, both to GOD, and
M
•
n,
So foolishly, so shamelessly untrue,
Most have been, since this
Covenant
began:
That (if you soon repent not) this one sin
Will make a cureless
Breach:
yea, this offense
Will bring incurable-Destruction in,
Without a speedy, and true penitence.
Thus, that, which might have much advanced your peace▪
Is like, by your corruption, to procure,
Instead of what you hope for, an increase
Of Plagues, and Troubles, longer to endure:
Yet, this is not the only means of
Grace,
Which is, by you abused, in this place.
Your
Provocations
are as much, or more,
In other sacred things: For, though some few
Have better out-sides, now, than heretofore,
They are not really, the same they show.
The hewing out of
Reformation
makes
Good chips; and, for each Carpenter, such Fees,
That, whatsoever pains therein he takes,
No fear of any outward loss, he sees.
In setting up of public
Disciplines,
There are Devices, to contrive it so,
That men shall thereby act their own
Designes;
And few perceive, what they intend to do:
For, underneath a cloke of
outward-zeal,
More projects are pursued, than they reveal.
And, otherwhile, GOD bringeth so about
His
purpose,
that, he makes men Instruments
To plot it, work it, yea, to fight it out,
Against the current of their own intents.
Sometime, the furious zeal of
Hypocrites,
Or willfulness of
Tyrants,
by the wages
Of
Balaam,
to his service he invites;
And, them, against his enemies engages.
By these, he
Superstition
doth deface,
Pulls down Idolatry, and way doth make
For them, to build his
Church,
up, in that place
Who seek to do his will, for
Conscience-sake.
Yea, thus, he more then once or twice hath done,
Where famous
Reformations
were begun.
Thus
Jehu,
in a
Fierie zeal,
destroyed
Baals Idols,
with his
Prophets:
and, for this,
That Crown, which by his Master was enjoyed,
GOD, for a while, entailed on him, and his.
Thus likewise, in this
Kingdom,
your eighth
Harrie
Made way for that which he intended not:
And, then, from many a wealthy Monastery
Both Lands and goods, for his reward he got.
Yea, many others furthered that work
Beneath whose
outside zeal,
much avarice,
Much pride, with much hypocrisy, did lurk,
And, many another secret lust, and vice.
For which, now draweth near, the fatal day,
Of rooting them, and all their seed away.
Yet, their example makes not These times free
From those corruptions: for, much daubing, still,
With an untemper'd mortar, you may see;
And, with pretence of
good,
much
doing-ill.
Much show of
Reformation,
here, is made
In
civil-matters;
even by them, that steal,
And suck the nourishment it should have had,
From this distrest, and sickly
Common-weal.
Yea, where it is expected, that extortion
Should most be punished; there, now, are fees
Exacted, in the most extreme proportion:
And, He, that every secret action sees,
Will, shortly, find out some among them, too,
With whom, a
Bribe,
can more then conscience do.
Yet, such as these (when they are in the
Chair
Of
Judgment, Equity, Examination,
Or set in some
Committee
) offer fair,
In zealous language, toward
Reformation;
These look big on offenders; threaten
vice,
And make some
honest men,
who come before them,
To take them for the birds of
Paradise;
And ready, for their
Virtues
to adore them.
They grow familiar with your ablest
Preachers;
They hear them often (in appearance gladly)
They thank them, praise them, as most powerful Teachers:
They can bewail the Times; look very sadly,
And seem to be exceedingly affeard,
When they the threatenings of the
WORD
have heard.
Yet, when all this is done, they pass away,
Through all these threatenings, and through all their fears,
To prosecute their lusts, the self-same day,
In which GOD'S wrath was thundered in their ears.
Yea, thus they do, when vengeance on the Road
Is marching towards them, and in their view;
Thus brazen-faced, thus fearless of their GOD,
And thus irrational, themselves they show.
Their
fasts
and
praises
are but complements,
With GOD and men, to furnish out their
scoene,
Or, serve to cover-over their intents:
But, little to that purpose they should mean.
What e're the
Preacher
or the Prophet says,
Resolv'd they are, to follow their own ways.
The Times, which you have either for confessions
Of sins, or public mercies, set apart,
Are solemnized with such dull expressions,
As if they were performed without a heart.
And, though your
Fastings,
as Kings
Ahab's,
had
Some recompense obtained in outward things,
In lieu of
Outward-shows,
that you have made;
Yet, little real fruit that
dutle
brings.
You fast not from
Oppression, Fraud,
and
Strife,
Nor from your
Avarice,
and
base-designs;
You fast not, from a wicked course of life,
Nor from those lusts, whereto your flesh inclines:
Your heads, you, in the morning, humbly bow:
And, look, e're night, with an
imperious-brow▪
GOD cares not for your solemn
Fasting-day,
Except you come before him, more prepared:
You meet, and grant the Preacher leave to say
What he shall please; but, give it no regard.
Once, in a Moon, what is it, to repair
Unto the Church; and, there, sit out a meal?
Sleep out, perhaps, a
Sermon,
or a
Prai'r;
And, then come home, and fill your bellies well?
Or, what availeth it, to sigh, and groan,
And, make a crabbed face, an hour or two;
Or, whine out words, in some affected tone;
Or, yawne out
Lamentations,
as some do?
What will all this avail, if you depart
With an unsanctifi'd dissembling heart?
When, on the set
Humiliation-days,
Your well-affected Brethren fast, and mourn;
When every Congregation weeps, and prays,
That, GOD, in mercy, might, to them, return:
Some (as if in despite of that Decree,
And, in contempt of GOD) dance, feast, and sing;
Or, drinking healths, to their confusion, be,
Who, for the
Public-Weale, Peace-Offrings
bring.
And, many, who would seem to sacrifice
A contrite-spirit, and a broken-heart,
Come, loaded with so many vanities,
That, back, unto their dwellings, they depart,
Not only, less accepted then before;
But, more despised, and polluted more.
It is not to be thought, GOD doth regard
A
Formal-habit,
so you do appear
With hearts reformed, and with a soul prepared,
His
holy-Word
obediently to hear.
Yet, know, that he expects, when you profess
A sorrow for your sins, you should put on
That outward, and that inward humbleness,
By which, the duty may be truly done.
He doth expect, that, when you near shall draw
Unto his Throne, you should approach thereto
With so much reverence, and filial awe,
That, to the same, you no dishonor do;
Nor, make profane Beholders, to contemn
His
Worship,
by your mean esteem of him.
For, some would scarce believe, you served a GOD,
Who hath a power to punish, or to save;
Or, be persuaded, that you feared his rod,
Or, that you need of his compassion have;
If they observed, how clothed to him you come,
Or, heeded your behaviours, in his sight,
Or, saw you, after you returned home,
And, what your conversations were, that night.
For, many, of you, habited appear
Like those, which to the
Revells
are invited;
And, not, as if you men of
sorrow
were,
Or, with GOD's anger, or your sins, affrighted;
But trimmed with toys, which, at that time, and place,
Shewes, either want of
wit,
or, want of
grace.
And, when you should appear, with looks composed.
According to the service you pretend,
Your thoughts, by your deportment, seem disposed.
As if employed to some other end.
Your voice is more imperious, and more loud,
Then, well befits a Fast: you laugh, and grin,
And, often, have those looks, and gestures, showed,
Which fitter for a
Theater
have been,
Then for a
Temple,
in a day of
Fasting:
Which, if GOD should, severely, look upon,
Your days of mourning, would be everlasting;
And, your afflictions never would be done:
For, he would see (not without Indignation)
You come, but, with a feigned
Humiliation.
And, then, among those errors, and presumings,
Which make your
holy-things
abhominable,
(And, which you must repent) are your assumings
Unto yourselves, what you are never able,
Nor, warranted to practice. For, the
Pride,
Which hath begot this Boldness, doth bring on
Those dreamings, and over-weenings, which divide,
Distract, and trouble you, as they have done.
You, missing his true meaning, who hath said,
You should be
Priests,
and
Prophets
to the LORD,
From
Truth,
and Decency, have lately strai'd;
And, made your Pray'rs, and Preaching, so abhor'd,
That in the stead of what you have expected,
Increase of Plagues, and Discords, is effected.
And, some of you, this Ignorance hath brought
To such presumption, that you vilify
That PRAYER, which by CHRIST himself was taught,
And, turned
Devotion
into Blasphemy;
You, have not only offered
strange-fire,
But, also, things unclean: for, you present
Your Lusts unto Him; and, those things require,
Which, make Him with your offerings discontent.
When, therefore, you present the Sacrifice
Of
Prayer,
know, that as you are not bounded
To
Verball-Forms;
so, you should not despise
The
Rule,
whereon that duty should be grounded;
Lest that, which might of
Bliss,
a means have been,
A means become, of letting
Curses
in.
Of GOD, they seem not prudently conceited,
Who think, that those Petitions he despiseth,
Which his own
Spirit
hath, for us, indicted;
And only likes of those, which man deviseth:
Or, that, he will impute it as a Vice,
If in those wants, which formerly you had,
You shall present him one Petition twice,
Or, oftener, though with true devotion made:
Or, that, at all times, all men, should repair
Unto his Trone, with suits extemporarie,
Because, those few that have the gift of
Prayer,
Can, quickly, to fit words, their meanings marry▪
For, this is but a novel-imposition,
Arising out of Pride, and Superstition.
(As of
Virginitie,
long since was said)
Let them to whom GOD gives the same receive it.
But, let it not on any man be laid,
To whom it hath not pleased him to give it.
To speak in public,
Moses
was less able
Than
Aaron;
and, yet, GOD did him endow
With kowledge, and with gifts more honorable;
And, from his
Holy-Spirit
they did flow.
The wisest heart, hath not the nimblest tongue:
Nor is it, still, the
Spirits
inspiration,
Whereby, so many preach, and pray so long:
But,
Memory,
upon premeditation,
And, that, makes oft a fairer show, in words,
Than
Grace,
with gifts more sanctified, affords.
And, by this help of
Nature,
carnal men,
Not only gain esteem beyond their merit;
And, Player-like, act parts, which, now and then
Are, falsely, thought out-flowings of the Spirit:
But, by this quality, have, also, brought
Contempt on better men: and, oft, thereby,
Into their simple hearers hearts, have wrought,
Instead of
Truth,
bewitching
heresy.
Yet, this their
Tongue-craft,
now, hath such esteem,
That he, who to himself, assumeth not
This gift, doth scarce to them a Christian seem:
And, therefore, many, now, the same have got,
Who care not, though these offerings of the tongue
Be wholly
Non-sense,
so they may be
long.
GOD values your
Devotions,
by their strength
Of
Faith;
and by your pious inclination;
And, not by that
tautology,
or
length,
Which hath, of late, begun to be in fashion.
It was a
Pharisaical-Tradition,
Arising partly from hypocrisy,
And, partly, from a Jewish superstition,
Which fooled their Feminine simplicity,
As it doth ours. And, therefore, though he seem
Almost a
Reprobate,
who dares reprove
That custom, (which those men do most esteem,
Who, with their own conceptions, are in love)
Yet, many of them, as your
Savior
said,
Have only
prated,
when they thought they
prayed.
Let, then, your
Praying,
and your
Preaching,
too,
Be such, as may
True-Piety
advance:
And, not the work of your
Destroyer,
do,
By pleasing
Self-conceit,
and
Ignorance,
In giving leave to every giddy brain,
To preach what ever
Fancie
shall invent;
And, heaps of those
false-Teachers
entertain,
Who bring you
Tidings,
which were never sent.
A
mystery,
I will to you unfold,
Whereof, if you take heedful observation,
A glimmering-light, you shall, thereby, behold,
To help promote both
Peace,
and
Reformation;
And, give some hint, whereby you may provide,
Against those Errors, which do much divide.
There were two SIMONS, in the primitive,
And purer times, who typified that
Which doth concern you: For, you do derive
Your
Evil-being,
and your
Good-estate,
From what they signify. The
Name
imports
In English, HEARING; and, these did fore-show,
That, in the
Church,
from
Hearers
of two sorts,
Great
Schisms,
and much
Heresy
would flow.
From SIMON-PETER, which is in your tongue,
Hearing-the-Rock,
the
Faithful-Hearers
came:
From SIMON-MAGVS, all those
Hearers
sprung,
Which were seduced, according to his
Name:
For, by Interpretation, 'tis as much
With you, as if ye said,
Hearing-the-Witch.
As
Simon-Peter,
and the
Sorcerer,
Long since contended, whether of the two,
Should get possession of the Peoples ear,
Even so those
hearings,
at this present, do.
As
Simon-Magus,
until
Peter
spoke,
Had so bewitched the common-people, then,
That, for the POW'R of GOD, they him mistook;
So,
Formal-hearing,
now, bewitcheth men.
So, it is idoliz'd: and, some have thought,
When, formally, that Duty they had paid,
The
Holy-Ghost
might for the same be bought:
But, as then,
Peter
of the
money
said,
Their
Hearing
with them perish, who suppose,
That, GOD his Graces, for such wares bestows,
You, of this itching, this bewitching
Hearing,
Have had Experiments: and, at this day,
There are such bitter fruits thereof appearing,
That, you had need be watchful: and, to pray,
That, GOD would please, to sanct
•
fie the ear,
And, circumcise your hearts, that you may know,
When, you the
Witch,
and when you
Peter
hear,
That, you, in Grace, may edified grow.
And, that this
Information
make you not
Respectlesse of that
Hearing,
or that
Preaching,
Whereby, that Saving, knowledge may be got,
Which no man hath, but by the
Spirits
teaching:
And, that, you so may
Hear,
that GOD may bless
Hearing,
with
Faith,
& Faith with Truth-full-Peace.
Take heed unto your
Prayers,
that they reach not
Their length, that Widows-houses do devour;
Take heed unto your
Preachings,
that, you preach not
The
Spirit
weak; and raise a
fleshly-power.
Take heed in
Giving thanks,
you do not say,
In heart, when GOD hath victories bestowne;
That, of your Foes, his hand did thousands slay,
And, that, there fell ten thousands by your own.
Unto your
Fasts,
and your
Humiliations,
Take, likewise, heed, lest by your negligences,
Those Duties may be greater aggravations
Of your, but, seeming-sorrow'd-for-Offences.
And, take heed, lest hypocrisy may breed
Obstructions in you, of due
Taking-heed.
If truly you desire a
happy-Peace,
Repent your false
Repentance;
and, in haste,
Your suits, with true sincerity address,
Before the
Day of mercy
shall be past.
Reforme your
Public Fasts;
and let them show,
Even in the
Out-ward-man,
so truly sad,
That, others may your inward-sorrow know,
And, by the same, so sensible be made,
Of what you feel; that it may make them find
A change in their own hearts; and, by that change,
Become to pious duty so inclined,
That, them from Vanity, it may estrange;
And, every day, one, thus, draw on another
To Penitence, till all repent together.
To make this duty further to extend,
(And, grow more general) you shall do well,
Unto your Adversaries to commend,
(And unto those, who in your quarters dwell)
This
motion:
That (since both of you profess
One GOD) you might assemble on
one day,
To meet before his Presence, to confess
Your wickedness, wide open, there, to lay
Your
Causes;
And, for judgment, to refer
Your selves to him. For, such an introduction,
A means to draw you somewhat nearer were,
And, to remove, it may be, some obstruction
Which hinders
Peace;
or, else, to bring that, on,
By which, your work, the sooner may be done.
If, they that have the better
Cause,
think fit
(With some such meek and pious invitations
As they might frame) for this end, to admit
That day, whereon their Foes humiliations
Pretended are; it either shall allure
Your Adversaries to that Penitence,
Which will a speedy amity procure:
Or, aggravate, so greatly their offense,
That GOD shall quite reject them, as if they
Refused your
Appeal;
or, to abide
His
Doome:
and did intend some other way,
Or, by some other
Censor,
to be tried:
And, what event will thereupon ensue,
It were a needless matter to fore-show.
When all are thus assembled, on one day,
Or else, of all, so many as GOD's grace
Shall make, therewith, content: (For, though it may
To you, be somewhat, yet nor
Time,
nor
Place,
Are, in respect of Him, considerable)
Yea, when you in his presence shall appear
To this effect (as he shall you enable)
Fall down before him, with all meekness, there.
Together then; with seriousness, begin
The
Fast
anew. In true humiliations,
Let all bewail their errors, and their sin,
Till, in their mournings, and their
Lamentations,
The famous
mourning,
equalize they shall
Of
Hadadrimmon
in
Megiddo
Vale.
Let, jointly,
People, State,
and
King,
unite
In
penitence,
as they in
sin
have done.
Themselves, let them, for all their sins, indite.
(Their
new
and
ancient sins
) before GOD's Throne.
And, forasmuch, as in this
later-Age,
And, in this
place,
he seemeth, as it were,
To bring all things, again, upon the stage,
Which, heretofore, in action, did appear:
(Yea, since they, who will heed it, may behold
All that concerns th'
Estates,
or
conversation
Of
Saints,
or
sinners,
in GOD's Word fore-told,
Epitomized in this
Generation
)
Let not his
warnings,
both by
Word,
and
Deed,
Be frustrated, through want of
taking-heed.
Remember to be wail your
Gentilismes,
Your
Babylonish-whoredoms,
heretofore,
Your
ancient-heresies,
and
moderne-Schisms,
That, GOD, for these, may judge these
Isles
no more.
Observe, and well observe it; that, because:
You governed less by
Law,
then by your
will;
That, GOD, almost, deprived you of those Laws:
And, that, because (your projects to fulfill,
Or, to promote your
carnal-Policies
)
Morality,
and
Piety,
by you,
Were made but
stales:
the worlds
old-Heresies,
And
Heath'nish-manners,
are sprung up anew,
To interrupt, and mar the
public-Peace,
For your dissembling, and unthankfulness.
Remember, that, like
Israel,
you have spared
The
Canaanites,
that should have been destroi'd:
That, like rebellious
Saul,
you had regard
To
Agag,
and forbidden spolles enjoi'd.
Remember, how you staggered off, and on,
Betwixt the LORD, and
Baal,
in ancient-time,
And, how far, you, in later years, have gone
To repollute these
Islands,
by that crime.
Remember, that, like
Judah,
you have made.
Confed'racies, with such as are GOD's Foes;
Though warnings, counsels, and commands you had
To shun their friendships, who the Truth oppose:
And, mindful be, how you on them reli'd,
Whom
Egypt,
and whom
Asbur,
typifi'd.
Remember, that, you have, like
Solomon,
(Though you had his example to beware)
Been careless, those
Alliances
to shun,
Which, both pernicious, and forbidden were.
For, all this Empire, guiltiness contracted,
As well, by heeding not, to have prevented
What, by your Kings, and Peers of State, was acted,
As, in not having, yet, this sin repented.
Repent, that, as in
Judah,
by her Kings,
You have, by halves, reformed Religion too:
Call, therewithal, to mind, what fruit it brings,
The work of GOD, with negligence, to do.
And, humbled be, for every other sin,
Whereof these Isles have, jointly, guilty been.
Let those three Parties, which have made, this day,
These
Islands
wretched, by their great Transgressions,
And, chas'd their
Glory,
and their
Peace,
away,
Make, jointly, and asunder, their confessions:
For, all have much offended, even the best
Are guilty of enough, to have destroi'd
The temporal
well-being
they possessed,
And, all their hopes of what may be enjoi'd.
Let luke-warm
Newters,
those poor-spirited,
Degenerated
Britain's,
without heart,
(Who, as ignobly, have demerited,
As those, who persecute the guiltless part)
Repent, and change their temper, out of hand,
Lest they be justly spu'd out of the land.
Let them, that are supposed best affected,
And, who, the best approved
Cause
befriended,
Examine, how their duties are neglected,
How false they are, in what they have pretended;
How faintly they the
public-Guard
began;
By what ill means, they their
Good-Cause
pursued;
How little trust in GOD, how much in
Man,
(And in an outward aid) hath oft, been showed;
How heedl
•
sse, of their
Covenant,
they grow;
How many of them sleight the
Vow
they took;
How they enlarge, how they contract it, now;
How willfully, how frequently, 'tis broke;
And, how the public sorrow they prolong,
By doing
Pi
•••
,
and
Justice wrong.
Let your
Malignant-party
(or, of them,
So many as are, yet, not gone so far,
That they all timely warnings must contemn)
Remember, of what crimes they guilty are.
Let them consider that to have their will,
Or, that ambitious humors they may feed,
Or, that some other lust they may fulfill,
How, they have made their Country smart and bleeed.
Let them consider, that they have pursued
Their tyrannies, in these unhappy wars,
As if they meant a pattern to have showed,
Of
Rehoboam,
and his
Counselors;
Or, how King
Ahab's party
went to fight
At
Ramoth-Gilead,
as in GOD'S despite.
Let ENGLAND mourn apart, for all those crimes,
Which do poilute her at this present day;
And, those committed in preceding times,
That GOD may take his heavy hand away.
Her fickleness, in faith, and in attire;
Her great abuse of
plenties,
by excess;
Her persecutions, both by sword and fire,
Of those who did the
holy faith
profess.
Her wantonnizing with the means of
Grace,
Her thanklesnesse for that long
Peace
she had,
Her slighting it when she forewarned was
Of that great
breach,
which GOD on her hath made.
Yea, all her other sins let her lament:
Let her, all
National-defaults
repent.
Let SCOTLAND mourn apart, and search, wherefor
Her sins upon her face, and on her back,
GOD, at this present, doth so deeply score,
Now, when she doth of sin most conscience make.
Let her examine, if she hath no End
To seize on some advantage, for her
own;
While, her distressed
Sister
to defend,
She, piously, a readiness hath shown.
If she be guilty, of so base a thought,
Let her repent it, e're GOD search it out:
If she be clear,
Truth
shall to light be brought;
And, they who of her faithfulness, now, doubt,
Shall praise her Children; if they have a care,
Their
lying,
and their
bragging
to forbear.
Let IRELAND mourn apart; and, not, alone,
For her late
Trecheries,
and for the guilt
Which her inhumane
Natives
brought upon
Their heads, for blood of
Innocents
new-spilled;
But, also, for the sins of all those
Nations,
Within her borders, who, for their oppressions
Were cast out of their
ancient-habitations;
And, lately, driven from their
now-possessions.
Let her, that brutish
Ignorance
lament,
Where with, she, many ages, was polluted;
That
Heath'nish-Christianity
repent,
Which, her blind
Children,
piety reputed;
And, her
Rebellions,
and
Idolatry,
Let her bewail, with true humility.
Let her observe, what her Transgressions be;
That She, unto the praise of GOD, may say;
In all his judgments truly just is he,
And, that, with
Mercies,
he did them allay.
For, if a strict inquiry he had made,
For all the Blood, th' Oppression, and the Guile,
Of which, he, Information might have had,
There had not one been living in that
I will.
Both
Scot,
and
English,
very studious were,
To plant themselves upon her fruitful plains;
But, how,
Religion
might be planted there,
They took but very little care, or pains.
To save the
Soul,
not many were employed,
And, therefore, many
Bodies,
were destroyed.
Had her late
Planters,
as industrious been,
Her
Natives,
with
Religion
to enrich,
As how to make themselves great men, therein,
(Or, if their care had been but half so much)
Some hundred thousands had, this day, possessed
Their lives, and livelihoods; who, at their cost,
For times to come,
Examples
have increased
Of
goodly-hopes,
through want of
Prudence,
lost.
And, therefore, let them learn, who yet survive,
Not to neglect CHRIST'S Kingdom; if they would,
Their
Kingdom,
or their
Heritage
should thrive;
Or, that, their
Hopes,
or
Labors
prosper should.
Yea, if they seek on Earth a firm possession,
Let them not build their houses by oppression.
For, not a few of her
Inhabitants,
Both out of
England,
and from
Scotland
came,
Mean in esteem; oppressed with many wants;
And, many of them, many ways to blame;
Some, with projections, nor discreet, nor just;
Some, to defraud their Creditours, and Friends,
Of their estates; some, to enjoy their lust,
And, other some, for other such like ends,
Came over to that
Kingdom,
nor much known,
Nor much regarded; who, in little space,
Were not alone exceeding wealthy grown,
But, made both
Earls,
and
Barons
of the Place:
And, they, who suddenly, aloft did clime,
Were pulled to the ground in shorter time,
They, whose
•
bundance, over-night was more,
Then they could value; e're the following day
Disclos'd it self, were made exceeding poor;
And, glad from all their wealth, to run away:
Scarce leisure had they (lest they lost their lives,
With their estates) to take, of all they had,
Enough, wherewith their children, and their wives,
Might clothed be, when their escapes they made.
The
loss,
the
frights,
the
blond-shed,
and the
cries,
Felt, suffered, seen, and heard, in those
black-nights,
Present O
Ireland,
still, before thine eyes:
Stil, I let thy
children
keep them in their sights.
That
Visitation,
let them so bewail,
Especially, the sins that caused it,
That, they, nor their posterity, may fail
To mind the same; and, let them not forget
To
mourn apart,
for that sad
desolation,
Nor to be thankful, for their
Preservation.
Let every
Corporation, Town,
and
City,
Within these
Islands
also
mourn apart;
That, their Inhabitants may find more pity,
Then may be challenged, by due desert.
Some, of them, have the benefit enjoyed
Of GOD'S protections, both from fire, and sword:
Some of them, have been touched, but not destroyed,
For which, what can they less then thanks afford?
Let them acknowledge his
preventing-Graces,
Who, yet are safe; and, that, GOD pleased hath bi
•
To keep
Dstroyers
from their
dwelling places,
So oft, so much polluted, by their sin:
And, let all those whom he began to smite,
Be thankful, that, they were not ruined quite.
For, great are those oppressions, which, of late,
Have cried for vengeanch, on some Governors,
Of
Mysteries,
and
Towns-incorporat
•
,
Who have abused both their
Trust
and
Powers.
Those
Privileges,
which to them were deign'd,
With chief respect unto the
Common-good,
Are oft insisted on (yea, and maintained)
As if their
Granter
should be understood,
To mean some favors to particular
Places,
With damage to the
Public;
which, makes void
His CHARTERS,
ipso facto:
For, such
Graces
Are by their own excessiveness destroi'd,
If
Reason
may be Judge; which, heretofore,
The greatest sway, in human Actions, bore.
Yet, you have
Cities, Towns,
and
Mysteries,
Which do not only, by such
Grants,
as these,
Oppresse the
Public,
without Remedies;
And, injure
Strangers,
by their
Franchises:
But, also by
mis-usage
of their
Grants,
And, by their
Power
do many times oppress
The poorest of their own Inhabitants;
Enslaving them, by wrongs, without redress.
For, of those profits, which conferred were
(As well their needy members to sustain,
As, decently, that port and charge to bear,
Which, to those Corporations do pertain)
Most part is swallowed, by a private purse;
Or, spent in Feastings, which is somewhat worse.
And, when so bad a
Corporation
grows,
As to oppress a
Stranger,
or their
own,
He, that their tyranny then, undergoes,
Is irrecoverably overthrown,
For, to a
Body-politic
belongs
No
Soul:
And, if no
Soul,
what
Conscience,
then?
And, if no
Conscience,
how can it, of wrongs
Be sensible? when it had wronged men?
It doth consist of many, and can raise
The larger
Bribe;
the sooner find a friend;
Or, search out, by what persons, or what ways,
It may (him whom it profecures) offend:
And, which is worst (when other enemies;
Time, slays;) This, is a Foe that never dies.
Let, therefore, all your
Bodies-Politike
Lament their sins apart, lest GOD destroy
Those
Privileges,
which, without desert,
And, to the wrong of others, they enjoy.
Among the rest, let every
Academ,
Lament apart, till they, are purged from
Their great corruptions, lest, from out of them,
Your bane, as from a poisoned Fountain come:
For, their pollutions one main cause have been,
Of all your present mischiefest yea, from thence
Proceeded not alone much of that sin,
Which hath desil'd these
Isles;
But, that offense,
And, those divisions, also, which of late,
Have almost ruined both Church, and State.
For, there, through want of prudent
Government;
Good principles, and pious education,
Your youth, which were, for knowledge; thither sent,
Lost civil manners, wit, and reputation.
Thence was it, that your Clergy-men became
Such Roarers, and such Tosse-pots, as they were.
Their
Life,
and
Doctrine,
grown so much to blame,
Was first corrupted, and perverted there.
There, they were taught to fawn, and flatter, well,
For their preferment; and, how to become
Fit Priests for
Ahab, Baal,
and
…
abel.
Or, Pimps, and Panders, for the Whore of
Rom
•
s
GOD grant, that for their sins, they so may mourn,
That, they to GOD; and, GOD, to them may turn.
Let your Assembly of Divines,
••
part,
Repent and mourn; themselves, examining,
What aims, what hopes, what purposes, what heart,
And, what desires, they to their meetings, bring.
Let them consider, whether, none advances
Traditions
of their own, to be received,
And to be practice'd, as God's
Ordinances;
Which are; in truth, not such to be believed.
Let them examine, whether they do carry
A due respect to
Christian-Liberty,
If they enforce those things, as necessary,
Of which there is no true necessity;
And, whether, they have not removed hence,
What, might have edifi'd, without offense.
Let it be heeded whether they have care,
As CHRIST himself, and, his
Apostles
had,
What things the people, and the times, can bear,
E're they impose them; lest; they make them mad,
Instead of right reforming: Let them try,
Their
spirits
well, and search, if there be none
Who dare pretend divine Authority
For that, which GOD commands, not to be done.
Let search be made, if any
Discipline
Hath been projected, for a private end,
Or, to advance a politic Design,
Which needlessly, weak Christians might offend;
Or, which may causeless jealousies increase,
Inlarge your troubles, or defer your
Peace.
Let all their
Brethren of the Clergy,
too,
In every Faction, seriously repent,
And mourn apart; This, let them chiesly do,
Who looked one way, while they another went.
Let them consider, whether they pretend not
Great diligence, and zeal, to bring to pass
That just, and pious work, which they intend not
So much, as that, which therewith covered was;
Let them examine, also, if the while
They cozen others, others will not seek,
With falsehoods, their Deceivers to beguile,
And, to requite their practice, with the like,
Till all these
Kingdoms,
and these
Churches,
rue
The paths and vanities, which they pursne.
For, as they had designs upon the
State.
Their aims to further; so have others had
Designes on them, whereby they have, of late,
To wicked purposes, advantage made.
Some, to the
Presbyterian-side
adhere,
Some to your
Independents:
But, with those,
Who, busiest, in partaking, do appear,
Another
Faction,
secretly, doth close,
Which parts it self among them, and, thereby,
Spies out the strength, and weaknesses of either;
Foments their quarrellings, and, doth comply,
As friend to one side, yet, is true to neither;
But, covertly, by means of those two
Factions,
Increaseth public dangers, and distractions.
These, by this craft, have made the zeal of those,
On either side, whose purposes are good,
The Kingdoms peace, unheeded, to oppose,
With such, as, openly, the same withstood.
So that, if
Envy, Avarice,
and
Pride,
Whence sprung that
Aconite,
that
Clergic-bane,
Which hath your
Clergy,
lately, giddifi'd,
Shall not, by penitence, away be tane,
Your quarrels will perpetuated be;
And, neither
Church,
nor
State,
nor
Corporation,
Nor
Families,
be from divisions free.
Now, therefore, in a true humiliation,
Let everyone of them, prepare his heart,
For his transgressions, to lament apart.
Your
Militarie-Men,
apart, must mourn,
Aswell as these. And, therefore, that, they may,
With true compunction, from their ways return;
Let them, to heart, their many failings lay.
Let your
Commanders
mourn, for all those harms,
Which have been suffered, under their Commands,
By their neglecting of that
Law of Arms,
Whereon, the honor of a Soldier stands.
Let them bewail the plunders, rapes, and murders,
The Breaches of Laws-moral, and Divine,
The violences, riots, and disorders
Commited though of Di c
And, for their Avarice, and their Ambition,
Whereby, they do prolong your sad condition.
Let them not think, that none so worthy are
To be advised withal, (or of esteem)
For
Soldiery,
as they that boast, and swear,
Or arrogate to be, what they, but seem.
Let them not think, they better may confide
In
Officers,
who have not so much brain
To keep their legs from slaggering aside,
Then in a
Soldier
of a sober-strain.
Or, that this
War
had e're the worse went on,
Had all been countenanc'd in their
Command,
Who, for the work-sake, ventured thereupon;
And did, as well as others, understand
The
moderne-Discipline,
and, therewith, too,
Knew what the
Greeks,
and
Romans
use to do.
Let them repent their treacherous complying
With your professed foes; their favor-showing
To men suspected; and their grace-denying,
Where be
•
ter trust, and more respect was owing.
Let them be sorry, that the faithfulness,
Or, at the least, the prudence, which they wanted,
Made public charge, and dangers to increase
By Passes, and Protections, lightly granted.
And, let their hearts of adamant, and steel,
Be pricked with such remorse, and penitence,
That, in themselves, a loathing they may feel
Of their inhumane spoils, and insolence
Committed in that Country, which hath bred them;
And, on their friends, who paid, armed, & fed them.
Moreover, let the
Gentry
of the land
Bewaile their many vanities, apart;
The duties of their calling understand,
And lay their many failings more to heart.
For, most have lived, as if to idleness,
And to debaucherie they had been borne,
And large estates, for nothing, did possess,
But, for supplies of lust, to serve their turn.
A die, a cock, a hound, hawk, horse, or whore,
Were chiefest objects of their contemplation:
Their sins alone, are, though you had no more,
Enough to bring a Land to desolation:
And, they have been chief cause, and instruments
Of all these Plagues, for which this
Realm
laments.
But, much will want of perfecting a peace,
Until your
Men of Law
persuaded be
To mourn apart. For, they will re-increase
Your quarrels, else, as soon as you agree.
By their formalities, and slow proceeding,
Your remedy, for injuries is made
A mischief, the disease, oft times, exceeding:
And, if some eye, unto them, be not had,
So many places in your
Parliament
They will supply, and fill so many
Chaires
In your
Committees;
that, much derriment
Unto the Subject; and some close impaires
Of public freedoms, (e're you be aware)
Which slip upon you, if you have not care.
They have, already, made the common way
Of Trialls, very greatly, to enlarge
Your troubles, by impertinent delay,
And circumstances, to the suitors charge.
So strong a party they have always had,
That your
Great-Charter,
which doth interdict
Delay of
Justice,
was, in that point, made
(E're since the grant) a
Law
without effect.
But when their
Courts,
and practices have reached
Oppressions height; They, as the
Clergy
were,
Shall down, into another Orb, be fetched,
And taught to keep a constant motion there.
This
Work,
upon some
Courts,
hath been begun;
Another time, it shall be fully done.
Let every
Oiconomick-Government,
And every single person, through the Nation,
In every
Family,
apart lament,
And take his ways into examination.
For, all
Estates
and
Common-weals,
that be,
Consist of these: And, whensoe're you shall
Those
Pettie-Governments
reformed see,
You, then, are in the way, of mending all.
If every
Household-Prince,
and
Officer,
Within his Jurisdiction, would but please,
To make complete a Reformation, there,
The
Work-desired,
should be done with ease.
Let each one, therefore, take the same in hand,
In all relations, wherein he may stand.
Let every
Master,
prudently direct;
And, every
Servant,
faithfully obey:
Let every
Husband,
husband-like affect,
And, every
Wife,
a wife-like love repay.
Let
Parents,
parent-like, their hearts enlarge,
Their filial duties, let the
Children
do;
Let, singly, all of these their parts discharge,
Both to the
Family,
and
Strangers,
too.
Yea, let each person, individually,
Now, take himself, apart, and, all alone,
His heart examine, what Impiety,
By him, hath been occasioned, or done,
Whereby your
Peace
was broke; and, then assay,
To help renew it, by what means he may.
But, chiefly, let the
Royal-Family
Admit this Discipline, that others may
Receive encouragement, and light, thereby,
To find a
Penitentiarie-way.
Oh I let the
King,
if ever he expect,
To see the City of his Throne, in peace,
Go mourn apa
••
; and, let his thoughts reflect
Upon his folly, and unrighteousness.
Let him like
David;
(and not
Ahab
-like)
Take meekly those reproofs, that GOD shall send,
And, let them on his heart so kindly strike,
That, he enraged grow not, but amend.
With that great Pattern, of true
Penitence.
When he, like sheep, beholds his people slain;
Let him not look, too much, on their offense,
But, rather, let him of his own complain,
That, they may do the like; and, GOD perceiving
True penitence, quit both, by free forgiving.
Let not the
Jezebel
of
Rome
delude him,
With her black witch-crafts, and her fornications,
The cup of her delusions; if in vain
His warnings prove, the deepest he shall sink,
Into that Lake, whence none can rise again.
Because, he hath not only had a sight
(Beyond them all) of her seducing ways;
But, also, hath acknowledged that Light,
And, willfully, himself to her betrays:
Yea, and to make his sin, and shame the more,
Betraies the blood of others, to the
Whore.
Yet, that he may have all the means to fetch him
Back from perdition (if he be not gone
So far, by willfulness, that none can reach him)
Let him be personally called upon,
To look unto his ways. And, since you know,
His
Flatterers,
present him their false glass,
Himself, thereby, unto himself, to show,
And make him seem the man he never was;
Help thou to undeceive him; lest he may,
With his three earthly Kingdoms (now half lost)
Fool desp'rately, a heavenly Crown away
And, think, he shall redeem it, at the cost
Of trimming up the Western end of PAUL'S,
By Fines, extracted from afflicted Souls.
First, bid him call to mind (with mourning for them)
The sins which did his
Fathers-house
pollute;
And, in his heart, so seriously, abhor, them,
That, it may bring forth penitential fruit.
The blood of
War
that hath in
Peace
been shed;
The manifold uncleannesses therein;
The superstitions, thereby, cherished;
Offences known, and those that hid have been:
The prosecution of the royal-blood
In
Arabella;
(guilty of no crime,
Except it were offensive, to be good,
And, to have had her being, in his time.).
The matchless profanation of a Day
For
Gowries
death: his many great oppressions;
The fooling of the Kingdoms wealth away,
And Subjects lives, by cheating Expeditions:
With whatsoever offenses, of this kind,
He shall, upon a strict inquiry, find.
Wish him, with like affections, to recall
The slips of his own Reign, and of his life;
The mischiefs, which to Him, and you, befall,
In hunting for a superstitious
Wife:
His making of
Nobility
a scorn,
By dignifying men of
base-condition;
By choosing Counselors, to serve his turn,
In settling things, unworthy his fruition.
By suffering of his royal Proclamations
To be abused to injurious ends;
By making shows of verbal Reformations,
For public good, when rapine he intends.
By feigning fears, when cause of fear, none give him;
And, by protesting, until few believe him.
Let Him consider, that, all those, for whom
Against two Kingdom, he, in Arms, appears,
And, whose Protector He is now become,
Are men, whom nothing, but their sin, endears.
Let Him consider, what a sea of blood,
In his three Kingdoms, hath, of late, been spilled,
For those, who share among them all his good,
And, make him culpable of all their guilt.
Let him consider, that, what, now, he strives,
And fights for, is, but, power to be undone;
Or, that he may, by his Prerogatives,
Without control, unto the Devil run:
For, unto him, that power, or that supply
Which may be for his good, none shall deny.
Let him remember, what the
German-horse
Should have been sent for: Let him call to mind
Distressed
Rochelle:
And, that, which will worse
Afflict him, when his feeling he shall find,
Poor gasping
Ireland;
whose wide-gaping wound
Calls out for vengeance, and, his honor taints
With deep-died stains. His flat'rers feign a sound
From
Straffords
blood; and other such
black-Saints;
But, that Illusion will not keep him long
From hearing
Ireland:
For, two Kingdoms more
Have sent in blood, to make a
triple-Song;
Which, will, so dreadfully, so loudly roar,
That, he shall hear (unless repent he do)
Ere long; and hear it, with a vengeance, too.
Let him repent, his having, long, attempted
His loving-people, to enslave, and grieve:
For, he from vengeance will not be exempted,
By pleading an usurped
Prerogative.
Let him repent, the cov'ring his intents
With Protestations, and religious shows:
Since, these are made such thread-bare complements,
That, everyone, almost, their meaning knows:
Nor let him longer fool himself, to think,
The World perceives not, what his projects be:
For, he is blind, or, willfully, doth wink,
Who cannot, at a hundred loop-holes see,
That, many years, before this war begun,
He purposed the course, he, now, doth run▪
Then, that he may, without despairing, hear,
Let him, with penitence, before it comes,
To all those wholesome Counsels lend an ear,
Which, timely, may prevent ensuing dooms.
To mollify his heart, let him present
Before his understanding, and his eye,
How spoiled, and how miserably rent
His three late-happy-Kingdoms, now, do lie.
Let him give ear unto those just complaints
Which his distressed Subjects have preferred;
Let him regard the sufferings of the
Saints;
Let living-moans, or, dying-groans, be heard:
The Widdowes prayer, and, the Orphans cries,
Lest, GOD, to hear him, in distress, denies.
Let him remember, that, they, who complain,
And, of whose Towns, he, now, doth ashes make,
Are those, who, for his safe return from
Spain,
Made joyful-Feasts, and Bonfires, for his sake.
Let him consider, that, these are the Nations,
(Even these, whom, now, he tramples under-feet,)
Who him received with glad acclamations,
And him did, oft with love-expressions, meet.
Let him consider, that, they, who enjoy
His presence, now, are those that prey upon him;
Even some of those, who lab'red to destroy
His Fathers house; and, those that have undone him,
Both in his reputation, and, estate;
And, merit not his favor, but his hate.
Let him take notice, that, by his digression
From prudent Counsels, his most cruel Foes
Have so imprisoned him in their possession,
That, of himself, he cannot, now, dispose.
And, since all
Europe
knows it, let him know,
That, though they flatter, and, upon him fawn,
He, despicable, in their eyes, doth grow;
And, is, by them, esteemed but as a pawn.
Yea, let him also know that, he hath got
So little credit, upon either side,
That, as the Parliament, now, trusts him not.
So, but few other much in him confide.
Nor will his lost repure, to him return,
Till, for his errors, he shall truly mourn.
Let him consider, that, whereas he sought
To multiply wild-beasts, within his land,
That, GOD, in justice, now, the same hath brought
Almost into a Desert, to his hand.
To nourish
Beasts,
his
Huntsmen
took away
His people's birth-right: And, behold, now, he
Is, therefore, hunted, like those Beasts of Prey,
By which, the neighb'ring towns molested be.
When he was in his artificial-heaven,
Which flatring
Poets,
and his
Painters
made,
Let him re-mind, what Attributes were given;
With what high Epithets, they made him glad;
What joy, in vanities, he, then, did take;
And, what a GOD of him, his Priests did make.
Let him take notice, that, there was a doubt,
His
Father
came not, fairly, to his end;
And, that, when means was made to search it out,
And, Witnesses commanded to attend,
The Parliament, abruptly, up was broken;
And, no proceeding, afterward, therein.
Let him consider, what this may betoken,
What jealousies, it, justly, might let in.
If any were suspected, without cause,
Their Innocence, by trial, had been cleared:
If justly tax'd; why had not, then, the Laws
Their course? why was not that accuser heard?
Clear, or not clear, somebody was to blame,
That, such an accusation quasht became.
Nay, these three
Kingdoms
did neglect, in this,
Adutie, which they, questionless, did owe:
And, partly, for that negligence it is,
That, GOD, for blood, doth make inquiry, now.
For, of each
Subject
of the meanst respect,
Even of the Beggar, by the high-way side,
The King hath an accompt, upon suspect,
That, by the hand of violence he died.
And, should a
King,
that, living, had protected
So many millions, dying, so be fleighted,
That, when he to be murder'd was suspected,
Not one should be examined or indicted?
Believe it, this Neglect is, now, rewarded:
For, thousands die, and petish, unregarded.
In all three Kingdoms, was there never a one
To second, the Physicians,
Eglesham
And
Ramsey?
had he not a powerful
Son?
And his Beloved servant,
Buckingham?
Were there not some about him, who then had
No hopes, but those which on his life were laid:
Had he not Lord's, and Earls enough, then, made,
Who, by this duty, might have partly paid
For his respects? Could none of all those things
Call'd
Bishops,
upon whom in life he doted;
Whom he esteemed the Angel-guard of Kings,
Whom he, out of the dung-hill, had promoted,
To sit with
Princes?
could of all these, none
Repute him worth regard, when he was gone?
Let him remember, and consider well,
What judgments, have, on that neglect, ensu'd;
How suddenly, the
Duke,
soon after, fell;
What direful vengeance hath this Land pursued
Even to this day: and know, there is a GOD,
Who (though Kings do neglect it, or, assay
To hide it) will be searching after blood;
And, all concealed mischiefs open lay.
This, let him do; lest, he, that might have worn
The glorious'st Christian Wreath, ere long, become
To be abroad,
〈◊〉
laughing-stock, and scorn,
And, past regaining honor, here, at home.
For, yet, he may return; and, if he do,
He shall recover all his Honor, too.
There is a way (if he will seek to find it)
To greatest
Honors,
thorough this
Disgrace:
There is a means (if he will, truly, mind it)
By which, this wonder may be brought to pass.
To no worse end, this VOICE doth, now, discover
His failings, but, to drive him to this course.
To no worse purpose is he, thus, blackt over,
But, that, he might not be defiled worse.
And, this VOICE prophesies, that, if he shall
With upright-heartedness, pursue that Path,
He shall not only be restored to all
His honors lost, and be redeemed from wrath,
But, also, far more honorable grow,
Then all the Kings of
Europe,
reigning now.
Belief works greater wonders; let him then,
Believe it may be; and, it shall be done.
He hath, too much, believed many men,
Whose
Word
was less to be reli'd upon.
The precious'st Pe
•
rles lie deepest in the Seas,
The richest stones from hardest recks are hew'd,
The darkest mornings have proved glorious days.
Great mercies to great Sinners, have been showed.
When, to repentance, GOD was pleased to call
Manasseh,
few were better Kings then he:
When he converted perfecuting
Saul,
A glorious change in him, the
Church
did see;
And, so there may be, now: For, who can tell,
But, that, to make you rise, your
Sovereign
fell?
If he suppose, that, he may find evasions▪
From anything, against him, here, expressed;
Yet, of offenses; since he gave occasions,
Let him not, in his own uprightness, rest:
But, since GOD, both with
Scandalls,
and the
Sword,
Pursues him at the heels, let him repent.
Let him endeavor, in a true accord,
To meet him in his lawful
Parliament:
For, if, with humbleness, he can submit
To GOD's corrections, he will, soon, forgive him:
He hath another blessing; for him, yet;
He, unto favor, will, again receive him:
And, when his
Sovereign
shall, thus highly grace him,
With their old love, his Subjects shall embrace him.
But, ere this reconcilement can be had,
His
Parliament,
reformed must, also, be;
And, their Atonement, must, with GOD be made
For, him they have provoked, as well as he.
And, though the better
Cause
their party hath▪
And, prosecutes it, stoutly, now and then,
Their failings, also, have deserved wrath;
And, many of them, are no better men.
The greatest Counsels, in the world, may err
In Judgment, and in Fact: For, they consist
Of many men, among whom, some there are,
Who do not what they should, but, what they list.
And, such, have, in your choice Assemblies, been
Occasions of much error, and, much sin.
Then, let the
Bodies-Representative
Of these three Kingdoms; but especially,
Thy
Parliament,
O ENGLAND, now, receive
This summons to a true humility.
Let every Individual Member, there,
Lament apart. Let him, both as a
Man
And, as he qualified, doth appear,
For public service, do the best he can,
To purge out, by an humble penitence,
What guilt soever, he, by willfulness,
Or weakness, hath incurred, ever since
A place in that
High-Court,
he did possess:
And, let him not disdain, who ere he be,
To take this counsel, though it come by thee▪
Remember him, if he be of the
Peers,
The duty of his
Peerage:
For, between
The
Sovereign-Person,
and the
Commoners,
He standeth, as an Honorable
Mean,
The
Body-Politike,
to temper so,
That, every Part, and Member, of the same,
May, to that due, and fair proportion grow,
Which will be most convenient for the same.
For, while they keep their
Station;
and so long,
As, in the
Three-Estates,
there is retained
A comely Symetrie; there can no wrong,
By either, from the other, be sustained:
Nor, can all human policy invent,
A nobler, or a safer Government.
But, if those
Parts
encroach upon each other,
Or, act to other purposes, than those,
For which they were ordained, they'll fall together,
Into that Chaos, from which first they rose.
If therefore any
Peer,
through some distrust
Of others, or corruption of his own,
Math any way been failing, in that Trust,
Which GOD, by birth-right, hath on him bestowne,
Or, if for his advantage, he hath sought,
To gain a power, or privilege, whereby
A damage, on the Public, may be brought;
Let him repent him, of that injury;
Lest else GOD'S
justice,
and the
Peoples
wrath,
Teare from him, that poor honor which he hath.
Bid them not think, that their Immunities,
And their large Privileges granted were,
That, they the common people might despise;
And, wrong that power, with which they trusted are.
Bid them take heed, they do not so comply,
To help enlarge an
uncontrolled Power,
That, they at last, enable
Tyranny,
The
Lord's,
as well as
Commons,
to devour.
For, by that means, they shall not only bring
The
Commons
into bondage; But, make way
For him, that is a
tyrannizing-King,
Their honors, also, in the dust to lay;
And, to advance those
Vndeserving-Groomes,
That, shall out-brave them, and possess their rooms.
Isit not enough, that some of them, of late,
Were lifted to their
Station,
from among
The
Commons,
for their falsehood to the
State?
And doing
Innocence,
and
Virtue
wrong?
For, some of them, at this day, had not won
The honor of a
Lordship,
had they not,
With stoutness, for the
Common-wealth,
begun;
And, by betraying it, their
Titles
got.
Isit not enough, that, by such means as these,
They have attained to that high degree,
Those Freedomes, and those Princely Privileges,
Which due unto the noblest Virtues be;
Unless, now they are up, it seemeth meet,
To let them tread the
Kingdom,
under feet?
Isit not sufficient, that nigh forty years,
Most Honors, prostituted did become
To sale? and, that so many of your
Peers
Have raised been, out of the very scum
Of all mankind? Can they not be content,
With what they have acquired, to go away?
While they are wink'd at, cannot they repent?
That, what they have, they may, in peace, enjoy?
But, will they, still, endeavor to oppress,
And, to encroach upon the public right?
Until the People, stir'd with furiousness,
Deprive them of their
May-game-Honors
quite?
Let them, with wisdom, rather be content,
To save what they have gotten, and repent.
For those exorbitancies, let them mourn,
Whereby they have irregularly moved.
Let them, with meekness, now, to GOD return,
And not be mad, because they are reproved:
Lest, if this VOICE displease them, they enforce,
E're long, the sending of a
Messenger,
Which will afflict them, and enrage them worse,
Than he, whom at this present, they shall hear.
Let them, their
Persons,
and their
Families,
Hereafter, with that vertuousnesse ennoble,
Which getteth favor in good people's eyes;
And, spite of envy, makes their honors double:
So, they a
real-Honor
will possess;
And, none shall thrive, who seeks to make it less.
Let every Member of the
Commons-House,
For his Transgressions, also, mourn apart.
Let him, in secret, by himself, peruse
The thoughts, and inclinations of his heart.
Let him examine, how he first came in,
To be of that
Great-Council:
whether he
Was not begotten, and conceived in sin,
A
Member
of this
Parliament
to be.
And, if it hath been so; then, all alone,
Let him that
Crime-Original
repent;
And, all that he hath actually mis-done,
Since he hath sitten in this Parliament:
For, till these be repented, all the fruit
Of his endeavors, will be like the
Root.
As, he were very foolish, who supposes,
Where he but Brambles, or but Nettles planted,
To gather Tulips, Violets, and Roses;
So, out of question, they no folly wanted,
Who could conceive, that
Burgess,
or, that
Knight,
Whom, first,
corruption
chose (and who still dotes
On that which gave him power) can be right,
To
Piety,
or
Justice,
in his Votes.
Let him search, whether that strict
Oath
he took,
At his
Admittance,
and the VOW, since made,
Hath not been either negligently broke,
Or, willfully, some violation had:
And, if he find it so, let him condole
His failings, with repentance, and be whole.
If he hath more pursued his own ends,
Than public services: If he hath striven
For fear, for gain, or for respect of Friends,
That, an injurious
censure
should be given:
If he hath found himself, since his
Election,
Puft up with that intolerable pride,
Or, that opinion of his own perfection,
Which is in some of them, with scorn, espi'd:
If he hath, by his Power, or by his Place,
Occasion took, on absent men, to throw
Aspersions undeserv'd, to their disgrace;
Or, damage, e're themselves they wronged could know;
Let him be sorry for his impudence,
And, seek to make amends, for that offense.
If he hath injured any, by delay;
Or, by unfit advantages, or times,
Procured
Votes,
a surreptitious way;
Or justified sinners in their crimes:
If he hath crossed Virtues due reward,
By plotting, packing, siding, or partaking;
By hiding that, which ought to be declared,
By cowardly, an honest Cause, forsaking:
If, he hath under blame, or censure, brought
Those innocents, who, merely, out of zeal
Unto the Public, have, sincerely, sought
His folly, or his falsehood, to reveal;
And knew it true, (although their proofs did fail;)
Let him, his cruelty, in that, bewail.
And, let your
Parliament
take special care
Of this abuse; lest, else, a ground be lai'd,
Whereon, their cunning foes may engines rear,
Whereby, they may be wronged, if not betrai'd.
For, though in justice they should vindicate
The honor of their Members, whensoever
Rash levity, malignancy, or hate,
To injure or asperse them, shall endeavor;
Yet, when good
probabilities,
induce
The well-affected, to mistrust, or fear,
Some public damage, danger, or abuse,
By that, which they shall either see, or hear,
By any
Member,
either done, or said;
Why should it not, unto his charge be laid?
If, where, it ought, a secret be revealed;
If, for the
public,
without private spleen;
If, past due time, it hath not been concealed;
If, probability thereof hath been;
If, he that speaks it, be no way defam'd,
And, of concernment if the same appears,
Why should the speaker, be reproved or blamed,
For thus disclosing, what he thinks, or hears?
If it be false, th'accused, need not fear it;
For, if he be not otherways suspected,
None, without proof, unto his wrong, will hear it.
And, if he blameless be, and well affected,
The zeal of his accuser, he'l commend;
And, count him his, because, the
Kingdoms
friend.
Your
Senators,
their privileges have,
Not for their own, but for the
public
sake;
And, they abuse the trust their
Country
gave,
Who, any further use, of them shall make.
And, who can judge it reasonable, then,
To make the people more afraid to wrong
The privileges, of your Single-men,
Then those, which to the Commonwealth belong?
Were it not fitter, to adventure on
Dishonouring a
Commoner,
or
Peer,
Then suffer all of them to be undone,
Through want of speaking that which you shall hear?
Let them, who
Freedoms-personal
would cherish,
To public damage; with their freedoms, perish.
This way, the
Royalists
did first begin
To screw up their
Prerogative,
to that,
Which, made it more indulgent to have been,
To serve their turns, then to secure the
State.
And, if there be not still a prudent care
That,
Privileges
clash not; and, that they
Which are subordinate, may not appear
In force, until their Betters, give them way;
Destruction will succeed. Let, therefore, so
Each
Member,
on his Privilege insist,
That, both by claim and practice, he may show,
They are not to be used, as men list;
Or, turned into
Bug-bears,
to affright
The
Common-wealth,
from claiming of her right.
Let, therefore, care be took, and, quickly too,
That, her due rights the
Common-wealth
enjoy;
That, private men their duties better do;
And, that,
divisions
do not all destroy.
Let not those foolish Toyes, who do besot
Themselves, with arrogance, presume to prate,
As if a Parliament had them begot,
To be the heirs-apparent to the State.
Permit you not
Religious-Melancholy,
Phlegmatick-Av'rice,
or,
Zeal-Cholerick,
Nor an excessiveness of
Sanguime-Folly,
To make both
Church
and
State
grow deadly sick,
Nay, rather mad; and, in their mad distractions,
To tear themselves, into a thousand fractions.
Let not your
King
and
Parliament,
in
One,
Much less apart, mistake themselves, for that,
Which is most worthy to be thought upon:
Or, think, they are essentially, the STATE,
Let them not fancy, that, th'Authority
And Privileges upon them bestowed,
Conferred, to set up a
Majesty,
A
Power,
or a
Glory,
of their own.
But, let them know, 'twas for another thing,
Which they but
represent;
and, which, ere long,
Them, to a strict account, will, doubtless, bring,
If any way, they do it willful wrong:
For, that, indeed, is, really, the
Face,
Whereof, they are the
shadow,
in the glass.
Moreover, thus inform them, that, if either,
They, still, divided, grow from bad, to worse;
Or, (without penitence unite together)
And, by their sin, provoke him to that course;
GOD, out of their confusions, can, and will
Create a cure; and, raise a
lawful-power,
His promise to his people to fulfill;
And, his, and their Opposers, to devour.
Yea, bid both
King,
and
Parliament,
make hast,
In penitence, united, to appear:
Lest, into those Confusions, they be cast,
Which will affright them both; and, make them fear,
And, know, there is, on earth, a
greater-thing,
Then, an unrighteous
Parliament,
or
King.
More might be said; but, that which is behind,
Requires another season: Thou, therefore,
Another opportunity must find,
If, thou desir'st to be informed more.
Perhaps, thou hast, already, more expressed,
Then many will approve, if thou reveal it:
Yet, if thou look for any
temp'rall-rest;
Let hopes, nor fears, compel thee to conceal it▪
Thy
Scorners,
in derision, lately, said,
Thou art a
Prophet;
but, when all is told
Which is behind, their pride will be afraid,
Tha
•
, some ensuing things, thou didst behold,
And, that, what e're thou art, thou hast declared
Those
Councils,
whereof notice should be took;
Those
warnings,
which are worthy of regard;
And, like a
true-man,
and a
free-man
spoke.
Let it be therefore, spoken, without fear:
And,
Let him, that hath ears to hear it, hear.
The
VOICE
here, left to speak; and, here, will I
For this time, leave to write; and, fit, and mourn
For
Britain's,
and mine own iniquity,
Until, that
VOICE,
with perfect
Peace,
return.
O GOD! return it, quickly; and, let not
This portion of it, be divulged in vain;
Or, so despised be, or so forgot,
That,
Words of Peace,
we never hear again.
Speak
Peace,
how ever, to thy
Servants
heart;
Speak to his
Soul,
in grace and mercy, LORD!
That, from thy
ways,
he never may depart;
Or, dis-obedient be unto thy Word.
Forgive him, all the
vanities,
that lurk
Within his heart; All
deeds,
by him, misdone,
And every
word,
and
thought,
whereby this
work
Defil'd hath been, since, first, it was begun.
Of
outward-mercies,
and, of some more
ease
From his
afflictions,
too, he should be glad:
But, since there's as much bane, as bliss, in these;
Give, what thou knowest fittest to be had.
And, let an
Echo,
from this
VOICE,
redound
Unto thy
praise,
an everlasting-sound.
Amen.
FINIS.