IT was truely said, In Numero, Pondere, & Mensura creavit Deus Omnia. His Majesty, Gods Vicegerent, intending a new Creation to this poor King­dome (for who knows not the Chaos we have been [...]olved in:) hath assembled these honou­rable Persons that now attend your Grace, in Numero, representing the Commons of this Kingdome; in Pondere, qualified with Judge­ment and Experience to treat and advise about the weighty Affairs thereof; in Mensura, according to their Mite, offering to his Majesty Measure prest down, and running over. This As­sembly hath Commanded me, (O that I could wave this word Command, my own Inclination leading me to the ready performance of this Du­ty! but I must not) I have received their Com­mand, [Page 2] a strict one; they have left me no Dis­cretionary Latitude; they have intrusted me with a rich Jewel to present your Grace, and onely recommended the modelling the Case of it unto me: and this under a Limitation too; for they know that Logick sits at the Forge and Hammer, Rhetorick at the File and Polishing: and this in favour of the Laws, they have forbid me; knowing I ought not to practise in that Mystery wherein I have not served out my time. And though this be Vna, it is not Vnica ratio; for Truth, and such a Truth as must be stampt by the Authority of the House, they judge according to the Rules of Heraldry, it must be emblazoned in a plain Coat. Next, Sir, the House in this Address follows not the track of common Principles; for that Beauty of the Universe we behold, arises out of jarring Ele­ments: Discors Concordia foetibus apt [...] est; the most ravishing Harmony is composed of Discords. But when this House raises a Stru­cture, the noise of a Hammer must not be heard in the Building: when they set a Lesson, it must be perfected out of unisons. Nemine contradicente, is the Key for our Descants; and by a Nemine contradicente, I am commanded this Day to publish to your Grace, a ‘Dicite Iô Paean, & Iô bis dicite Paean.’

[Page 3] Welcome, welcome, welcome, great Duke, is the Anthem appointed by the House of Com­mons, for this great Festival: This is Multum in parvo; and according to that Rule, Veritatis syllabas oportet esse breves: This is above the Task of a single Tongue; Non mihi si centum Linguas, centum Ora (que)—No, so many Faces as attend your Grace, are the Volumes in which this Record of Welcome is inrolled: Flesh must be the Parchment, and Blood the Rubrick to Register this Day; without Errata, or any In­dex Expurgatorius.

Our Prayers were, You might come; our En­quiries were, When will He come? our Joys must be compleat to welcome you, now you are come. The Laconism of Caesar's Letter I have heard admired; who wrote, Veni, Vidi, Vici: but, Sir, you may write much shorter, and much truer, Vici, onely: for so forcible an Operation hath your Vertues, that many worthy Persons this Day, of whom you could not write either Veni or Vidi, have entertained an honourable Contest, who should first Resigne the Devotion of their Services to your Commands. So that I may say,

I remember I thrice repeated your Graces Welcome: there is more of Logick then Rhe­torick [Page 4] in it; for there are three Estates concern­ed in it: The Lords Spiritual have welcomed you to the Bosome of the Church: the Lords Temporal have welcomed you into the bed of Honour: the Commons do welcome you into the Recesses of their Hearts, perfumed with Loy­altie to his Majestie, and with submissive Affe­ction to your Person. What hinders then, but that it be Enacted. But here I want expression, when I consider the divided Passions of our So­veraign in giving the Royal Assent. May it please your Majestie, you must either deny your Self, or deny us; and you have rather denied your Self, then you would deny us: you are contented (though under some Impatience) to want his Grace, rather then we should want him under Despair. Then since we have the Royal Assent, let your Graces Welcome be Enacted, not by a temporary Act, but to continue to us and our Posteritie. But what a crowd of In­gredients compound the present Consistencie of our Joys! and even these have their just advan­tages. The Sun breaking forth from an impri­soning cloud, returns with a coveted light; and we are taught many times to inhanse the value of former Enjoyments by their absence: this weak­ness of our Judgement, being recompensed with an improvement of our Affection. Thus when we consider you exil'd from whatsoever might have yeelded you a Sublunary satisfaction; [Page 5] when we consider you divorc'd from your La­dy, whom Grace and Nature had fitted to trans­mit your Name and Honours to future Ages in an Issue like to you both; when we consider you ravisht from those large Hereditary Territo­ries conveyed through the Chanels of ancient, pure and noble Bloud; and not onely thus di­vorc'd from Rachel, but espoused to Leah, to a blear-ey'd Condition; and for what Crimes? your Vertues were your Crimes: this is the imprisoning Cloud. But now to behold you breaking forth with Rays, Rays reflected from the Solar Aspect of his Majestie; Rays that a­waken and call up the sleeping Vertue in the Roots of the several Interests in this Kingdom; Rays that gild the Church, Rays that we doubt not but will segregare Heterogenea, burn up Schisms, Heresies; and congregare Homogenea, wed Doctrine and Discipline: Rays that warm the Civil Government; Rays not contracted to the Cedars of Lebanon, but proportionably influencing the lowest Shrubs. What fitter Return for such general benefits, then the gene­ral Acknowledgement of all the Commons in this Kingdom?

But Sir, in the Van of Particulars, your Care of that Religion profess'd in your Mother-Church, opens our Arms, and encircles you in Embraces as fast and durable as those with which you embraced it: that Religion of which you use to say,

And had we no other Instances of his Ma­jesties tenderness to this Kingdom, nor other Evidences of his religious Soul; this, even this single Act were enough to confirm our Affecti­ons and Loyaltie, and to regulate our Imitation. We may well judge his Majestie expects us to write in a Canonical Hand, by sending us over such an Orthodox Copie.

Black-mouth'd Detraction, thou that feedest upon the Consciences of Kings, and gnawest the brests of great Ministers of State, hide thy mouth in the dust; this day thy Tragedie bears date: behold him placed over us by our Sove­raign, upon whom Temptations in the Wilder­ness, in forraign parts, after many days Fasting in a Necessitated condition, left no other impres­sion then their Foam and Malice. And Ire­land, hearken not unto unwarrantable Fears (if any such be:) behold him, that in his single person dared the French Cardinals power and rage, in rescuing that Illustrious Prince, of fresh and glorious Memory, the Duke of Gloucester, from the Snares laid for his tender years. What mayst thou not now expect from him, armed with Power, fenc'd with Laws, and both desi­gned by the most Religious of Kings!

[Page 7]Thus, Sir, you arrived to us Commissioned from God: for, they that honor him, he will ho­nor them.

Religion hath an unseparable Companion, Loyalty: these are like Ruth and Naomi; Wheresoever thou goest, I will go: and God ha­ving joyned them in your Grace, I dare not se­parate them. This was Ariadne's Clue, that led you through all the Labyrinths and Vicissi­tudes of your life: this hath returned you to us with the same countenance and complexion, sic oculos, sic ora ferebat, as when you left us. I wonder at those that wonder at it: for how should the face alter, when the heart and noble parts retain their primitive healthful temper? how can Consumptive impressions seize that body, that keeps within it self a Feast, a Feast (with reverence I say it) drest by Gods own hand: for your good Conscience was a continual feast. God preserved you, and reserved you for this day; therefore your eye must not grow dim, or your natural heat decay. Impregnable Castles, and Walls of Brass, are but Emblemes of this single Vertue.

The Poets feigned that Iupiter, the better to compass his Rapes, transformed himself into se­veral Shapes: ‘Fit Taurus, Cygnus, Satyrus, Aurum (que) ob aniorem.’

Let the Fable go; but the Moral holds, That [Page 8] the usurped Powers at Home, and confederated Powers Abroad, run all those Methamorphoses for the Triumph of a single Rape upon your Allegiance; and all in vain. If we listen to the Syrene-Air of their Promises and Invitati­ons, they are Swans: if we consider the merit and weight of them, they are showres of Gold: they learnt the plausible Dialect from their Fa­ther, All this will I give you, if you will fall down and worship. If we reflect on their Menaces, and (which is more) their Practises, they ap­pear in shapes more fierce and antick then Bulls and Satyrs. But your Grace made good by Pra­ctice, what deserves the praise of a Speculative Fancie: be pleased to attend it; it is the Epi­stle appointed by the House for this present day.

Your Grace knew you were a Star of the first Magnitude in the Guards of Charles his Wain; and those must not be Erratick, but Fixt. Thus you are Commission'd from the King un­to us; and then what shall be said, nay what must be done to the man whom the King intends to honour?

[Page 9]Now be pleased to give us leave to lay aside these general Topicks of Religion and Loyalty, and to recreate our selves with the Remembrance of those Benefits we enjoyed under your Gra­ces Government.

It was not still Musick, or Bonfires lighted for Triumph, that ushered your Grace into your Government: No, it was the Warlike noise of Trumpets, sounding of Drums, neighing of barbed Steeds, and the screeches of the half-slain, that proclaimed your entrance upon a Stage of Bloud. And when you were thus but a Gra­duate in your Government, you were put upon terms of Disadvantage and Necessity to dispute with the Doctors of the Chair: for your Ene­mies wanted neither Dolus, or Virtus. And if we, who in a direct line partake of the prudence of your Counsels, and the success of your Sword, should be silent; even England, that is but collaterally interested, might, nay would upbraid our Ingratitude, since the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament there, pre­gnant with the sense of your merits, were hum­ble Suitors to his late Majestie of ever-glorious memory, as an earnest of his farther favours, to confer on you the Honour and Dignity of a Marquess: and that the rise of that Honour might survive to be at the instance of the Parlia­ment in England, they presented your Grace with a Jewel to be worn upon your brest, the [Page 10] better to direct the esteem of men to the inward Jewel, by the richness of the Case.

Thus we enjoyed, in the heat of War, the shades of Peace, until fatal Divisions among our selves (and a divided Kingdom cannot stand) rent your Grace from us: and then, when the Shep­herd was smote, how miserably were the Sheep scattered?

But when your Grace saw this Royal Vessel sinking, you leapt not into the Long-boat, to make provision for your own Safety: no, you made honourable and secure Articles for those that had imbarqued upon your account.

Many that stand here this day, that owe a last­ing Sacrifice to your Pietie, whose age, wants, fa­mily-dependencies, or the like, onely accompa­nying your Grace with their Prayers, under the Lee of those Articles, in the continued violence of those Storms, embarqu'd themselves and their Fortunes.

And yet when the flagging Sayls carried you unwillingly from this Coast, when you lost the sight, yet you retained the sense of this Land. Length of time, or distance of place, could not abate the Intensiveness of your Spirits for this Kingdoms good. It is said, that upon the disse­ction of Queen Mary, in order to her Embal­ming, Callis was found written on her heart. I shall not dispute the truth: but sure this is, Ire­land at your Graces departure was ultimum mo­riens, [Page 11] and upon your return primum vivens.

I shall pass by that Familiar Reception your Grace afforded to the Commissioners of the General Convention of Ireland: (for the name of it, I can onely say, Aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo) neither shall I mention your frequent and steadable Advices, your constant Readiness upon all occasions to bring them into his Maje­sties presence. I forbear your Graces passionate and repeated Questions, How little Benjamin did? How all things were in Ireland? Whether the old man were living? How our Fundamental Laws were administred? And in the conclusion of all, how careful you were to return us with our moneys in our sacks mouths, with his Majesties gracious Declaration and Instructions: so that the Addresses from this Kingdom, went out like the bowe of Ionathan, that never returned empty. Witness the Address from this House by their Commissioners to his sacred Majestie, in refe­rence (amongst other things) to that great Bill of Settlement, (for that adopted title it retains.)

Sir, I am not this day speaking of his Maje­stie: we still premise, Rex nobis haec otia fecit; of him we say, Omnium domus illius vigilia de­fendit, omnium otium illius labor, omnium delitias illius industria, omnium vacationem illius occupatio. His Majesty is the Spirit that moves the Wheels, and we are now upon one of the Master-Wheels: and happie is the Kingdom, when the [Page 12] Wheels move as the Spirit moves. His Ma­jestie is the Waters of Healing; and we ap­plaud a Tutelar Angel that stirr'd the Waters, and helpt in this Paralytical Kingdom, in the crowd of Patients.

And here give me leave to remember the five­fold mess of your time that you afforded Ben­jamin. Did the morning require your Gra­ces attending in Parliament? Ireland must be first served. Did afternoon-Committees pray in aid to your advice? Ireland must be first ser­ved. Were there particular Causes designed for hearing at the Council-Board? you have successfully employed your Mediation that Ire­land might be first served. When Clauses and Provisoes were offered to be inserted in that great Bill, your first care was to see if they were De­claration-touch; and held them up before it, as the Eagle, to try the legitimation of her brood, dares their eyes with the Sun-beams. And in the throng of such Addresses, I have observed your Grace in Civility to hear all persons, but in Justice to see none. And if upon pretensi­ons of profit, any intrenchments upon the De­claration had been offered, your Grace know­ing the nature of your great Masters Standard, wherein a C [...] of Honour out-weighed pounds of Profit, you endeavoured to transmit the Bill as a seamless Coat.

And now, Sir, I need not have recourse to [Page 13] any Rhetorical Figure to make that great Bill to speak. Your Grace may take notice, that as many days you waited upon it, so it hath to this day waited upon your Grace. It remem­bers how often when it was in the Cradle and Swadling-bands you visited it. It remembers when it was in the state of its Minority, and un­der a Committee of the Council-Board, how faithful and tender a Guardian you were to it. It remembers how powerfully instrumental you were to give it a Body, and now waits until your Grace by the Royal Assent breathe a Soul in­to it.

It is now time to take in my Sayls, and make ready an Anchor, especially since methinks I see a Cloud rising upon your brow. I know your Graces Temper, That you place your Reward, as well as your Recreation, in doing good, and not in hearing of it being done. But be plea­sed to remember, it is the Commons of this Kingdom speak; and then Vox populi, nay more, Vox populi Dei, is Vox Dei. As they are the great Enquest to present Criminals, so they are the great Records to preserve Vertue and Me­rits. Could your Grace have been contented to have acted less, my Commission would have been to have said less: but it is fit we give your Grace an Essay of that Obedience that so unani­mously we devote to your Commands; and therefore I shall onely add, That as this House [Page 14] most submissively acknowledgeth the repeated Obligations from his Majesty; so they look upon this as the Fermentation of them all, That he hath put those Laws and Estates he hath gra­ciously bestowed on us, under your Graces Go­vernment and Protection: And that while it shall seem expedient to his Majesty to continue us in a Parliamentary way, his Majesty shall finde the Effects of his great VVisdom and Goodness, in giving your Grace unto us, a Go­vernour after our own hearts. That so, as we have been happie in your Grace, your Grace may be happie in us; and the union of both those, centre in the ever-prayed-for Happiness of his Majestie and his other Kingdoms.