An ancient and true PROPHESIE Of all those TRANSACTIONS that have already happened: Also what is to come: Of the Event of the great Actions in being: What Government we are to expect.
In which is contained, excellent Cautions to the Sonnes of Men.
Written in Verse, in the latter end of the Raign of Queen ELIZABETH, and found in Sir ROBERT COTTON'S LIBRARY.
LONDON, Printed for R. Page, living in Barbican, in Three Pigeon-Court, MDCLIX.
An Ancient Prophesie.
NOw I will shew you, by what
Pedigree
That
Government, to you deriv'd shall be;
Which will, at last, these
British Islands blesse
With inward
Peace, and outward happinesse.
It was of late, a brief
Presage of his,
Who, oft, hath truth foretold: And, it is this.
When, here, a Scot
shall think his Throne to set,
Above the Circle
of a Brittish King;
He shall a datelesse Parliament
beget,
From whence a dreadful Armed brood
shall spring.
That off spring
shall beget a wild confusion;
Confusion,
shall an Anarchy
beget;
That Anarchy
shall bring forth, in conclusion,
A Creature,
which you have no name
for, yet:
That Creature,
shall conceive a sickly State,
Which will an Aristocracie
produce:
The many headed Beast,
not liking that,
To raise Democracy,
shall rather chuse.
And, then Democracie's
production shall
A Moon calfe
be; which some a Mole
do call.
A false Conception of imperfect nature,
And, of a shapelesse, and a brutish feature.
All these Descents,
shall Live and Raign together;
So acting for a while, that few shall know
Which of them gets the Sov'raignty;
or whether
There be among them, a Supreme,
or no.
When they with jarrs and janglings have defac'd
Your triple-building,
and themselves nigh worne,
Into contempt; they, of one cup shall tast;
And, into their first elements
return:
Fire
of them, shall subdue the other five;
And, then those five,
shall by a doubtful strife,
Each others death so happily contrive,
That, they shall die,
to live
a better life:
And, out of their corruption,
rise there shall
A true Supreme,
acknowledged by all.
In which the pow'r
of all the five
shall be
With Unity
made visible in three.
Prince, People, Parliament,
with Priests
and Peers,
Shall be, a while, your emulous Grandees;
Make a confused Pentarchy
some years,
And, leave off their distinct claimes, by degrees:
And, then, shall Righteousnesse
ascend the Throne;
Then, love,
and truth,
and peace
re enter shall:
Then faith,
and reason,
shall agree in one;
And, all the Vertues
to their counsel call.
Then, timely out of all these shall arise,
That Kingdom,
and that happy Government,
Which is the scope of all those Prophecies,
That future Truths
obscurely represent:
But how this will be done, few men shall see;
For, wrought in Clouds
and Darknesse,
it will be:
And, ere it comes to passe, in publike view,
Most of these following signes will first ensue.
A King,
shall willingly himself unking;
And, thereby grow far greater then before.
The Priests,
their Priesthood,
to contempt shall bring;
And Piety
shall thereby thrive the more.
A Parliament,
it self shall overthrow;
And thereby, shall a better being
gain;
The Peers,
by setting of themselves below,
A more innobling honour shall obtain:
The People
for a time shall be inslav'd;
And, that shall make them for the future free.
By private losse,
the publike
shall be sav'd;
An Army
shall by yeelding Victor
be:
The Citie's
wealth, Her poverty shall Cause:
The Law's corruption,
shall reforme the Laws:
And, Bullocks,
of the largest Northren breed,
Shall fatted be, where now scarce sheep
can feed.
You may perhaps deride what's here recited,
As, heretofore you other
Truths have sleighted.
But, part of this
Presage you have beheld,
Already in obscurity, fulfill'd:
The rest shall in the time appointed come;
And, sooner, than will pleasing be to some.
The last
nine signes, or symptoms, of the
ten,
Which must precede it, shall appear to men
Of all conditions; But, our
Authour saith,
The
first, is but in
Hope, not yet in
Faith;
And may be, or not be; for, so, or so,
That King, shall have his
lot, as he shall do.
If all his
sins, he heartily repent,
God, will remit, ev'n all his
punishment;
And, him, unto his
Kingdomes, back restore,
With greater honour than he had before.
If he remain impenitent, like
Saul,
God, from the Throne, shall cast both him, and all
His whole
Descent; and, leave him not a man
To fill it, though he had a
Jonathan.
If
Ahab like, his
mourning hath respects
To temporary losses and effects;
Like
Ahab's, then, it therewithall shall carry,
Some benefit, which is but temporary.
A
real penitence, though somewhat late,
The rigour of his
doom may much abate;
By leaving him a
part of what he had,
When he a forfeiture of all hath made:
Or else, by rooting out those, who in sin
With him, have actually partakers been;
And, planting in their steads, a
Branch of his,
Whose
Innocency no way question'd is.
For, this hath oft, with good successe been done.
In Ages past; not, in this
Isle alone,
But, in most other
Kingdoms: And, if you
Will in GOD's
Chronicles, but take a view,
Of his proceedings; you, in them will see,
For what it is, that
Princes changed be:
Why some lose but a part; why some lose all;
Why, for a time; why, some for ever fall;
Why, some shall but for
three descents remain;
And, how they might have had a longer raign:
When
War, when
Pestilence, when
Death, will come
Upon a Land; when GOD will take it from
That land again; and, how, they may foreknow,
When, he will bring a
total overthrow.
They, who have learn'd to contemplate aright
Those old
records, may gain a true foresight
Of many things, whereby to regulate
Enormities, both in the
Church, and
State;
Things to
themselves pertaining; to their Friends,
Their
Foes, their
Policies, their
Fates, their
Ends:
And, if it were not so; what, are to you,
The
stories of the
Kingdomes of the
Jew,
Or of their
Friends and
Foes, more usual than
Those, which concern the Realms of
Powhatan?
Or, so available, as those relations,
Which memorize the deeds of your own Nations?
But all this is but words; there must be deeds,
Ere to perfection any thing proceeds:
You must not everlastingly be stating
The
Question; or, be seven years more debating:
For, ere that time, things will too late be done;
Which many fear, will come to passe too soon.
Expect you, some
third persons, should between
The
King and you, at this time intervene
To make attonement? Pray, who should they be?
Who, wisheth you so well? who doth not see,
That, all, 'twixt
whom, and
you, there be relations,
Them qualifying for such mediations,
May get more, by your
wo, then by your
weale?
Who knows not, how with
Friends most
Friends now deal?
And, who perceives not, that those
Mediators
Have interests, and many weighty matters
Pertaining to themselves, which they'l begin
On such a fair occasion, to hedge in?
And, whereby peradventure they may bring
Great disadvantages, upon the
King,
Or, on the
Kingdomes: and, perhaps on both,
Which to indanger,
wise-men would be loth?
What then can be effected? or by whom
May your desires, now feiseable become?
Since, there is no way open for
[...]ccesse,
Nor any means admitted for addresse?
The
Parliament, conceives it self abus'd,
In that, their offers have been oft refus'd;
And, seems resolv'd that they will never more
Send Messages in vain, as heretofore:
And though the
King, were now as penitent,
As
David and
Manasseh, with intent,
Unfainedly to satisfie, and do
What ever justice doth oblige him to;
What ever, you in reason could require,
To answer, at the full your own desire;
Or, whatsoe're
affections mortified.
A
contrite heart, or
conscience rectifi'd,
Should urge him to: yet, now, there is no way,
Whereby, this, may be manifest, you say.
Despair not,
Friends: mind what I said before;
True
penitence, will find, or make a door:
Though, it be Treason voted, now to bring
Or, carry Message, to or from the
King:
Although his
person be retain'd in ward;
Attended alwayes, with an armed
Guard:
Although strong walls, have round inclosed him:
Though rocks, far stronger, have surrounded them;
Yea, though the raging and the roaring Seas,
Have also, like a
mote, incircled these:
Through all these difficulties, I could find
Conveyances, if thereto he had mind,
To publish his
repentance; and prevail.
If to performe his part, he should not fail.
Yea, find him means, without an obligation
To any
Party, or to any
Nation,
Or any, but himself; to make his peace,
With honour: and his
Kingdomes to possesse.
Now, let him neither heed, nor hearken to
What other men do say, or what they do;
For whatsoever they shall act, or prattle,
(Will be to him, but fruitlesse title tattle)
But, let him sit down by himself alone;
And set down (as, he reads, it hath been done
By King
Manasseh) most unfain'd confessions
Of all his known offences, and transgressions;
Acknowledge GOD's just dealing in afflicting;
His
Providence, and
mercy, in correcting
So like a
Father, and, for his attending
So long time, for
repentance and amending.
Let him expresse a resolute intent,
To leave to GOD's dispose, the government
Which he hath manag'd ill, and to resigne
Himselfe and
his, to
providence divine,
With full assurance, of obtaining place,
In his free love, and alsufficient grace.
This done; let him,
subscribe the same, and spread it,
Before the LORD; let him with such
teares read it,
As may declare, it was his
act and
deed:
Then, seal it, with a
Heart, which much doth bleed;
And, with a
Lion rampant, so reverst,
That, none may fear, his rage or bloody thirst.
Upon which
acts, by meanes of your relation,
And, by that
spirit of communication,
Whereby, most secret actions, are made known,
(When to good purposes they may be shown)
Ev'n at that point of time, they, who have bin
His opposites, will feel, some creeping in,
First,
hopes; then
Good opinions; and, at last,
That which will blot out all
Offences past;
And make them kill their
fat calf; daunce and sing;
That, they, have found again their
long-lost King.
Oh! that I could behold that happy day
Of Paenitence; and, that behold I may
Both Parliament and People meet therein
So truly; that, their unrepentant sinne
May not, when God hath re inthroned him,
Prolong their woes, or bring new plagues on them.
But, who am I, that, either
you, or
he,
Should on my word rely, or take from me
Those things which I have said? know. I am that
Which is your GENIUS call'd. If, you ask what
A GENIUS is, I will define the same,
According to the
nature and the
name.
So cal'd it is, because it doth incline
With an affection truly Genuine,
To draw to good, and to withdraw from ill,
Those Persons, both in
action and in
will,
Town om it doth relate; and from disgraces,
And spoil, to keep such
Persons, and such
places.
A GENIUS, is an incorporeall creature,
Consisting of an intellectuall nature;
Which at the self-same time, a
being had.
With that, for whose
well being it was made.
And, may be call'd, that
Angel, which designeth,
Adviseth, moveth, draweth, and inclineth
To happiness; and, naturally restraineth
From harm, that creature, whereto it pertaineth:
And, this I am to you. Then, have a care,
My counsels now, with good respect to hear:
For, they, to whom their GENIUS represents,
That, which to safety tends, and harm prevents;
If, then, they shall his good advice neglect,
And, passe it by, with wilful disrespect;
They shall deservedly, be left to those
Ill Angels, whose direction, they have chose:
And, what will then succeed, they shall perceive
When 'tis too late, their evil choice to leave.
Then looking back, he fixt his eyes on me,
And, said, my
Secretary thou shalt be
To Register, and publish to these
Nations,
What counsels, warnings, and what exhortations
God hath vouchsaf'd them; that, what ere betide,
His
Grace, or
Justice may be glorifi'd.
This being said, my FANCY rose, and drew
A Curtain; wherewith, quite beyond my view,
This Apparition
vanish'd. And, I took
My Pen,
to put in writing, what was spoke,
And publish it to others, that it may
Prevent (if possible) your evill day:
For, till amendment,
or destruction
come,
The Beasts
would preach should men continue dumb:
Yea, what their Genius,
now to them doth speake,
If they should sleight it, Stones
would silence break,
To rouze them from their slumbers;
or, to tell
Succeeding - Ages,
how and why they fell.
FINIS.