THe late unparallel'd, presumptuous, unna­tural and Antichristian Proceedings against the Honor and Life of the Best of Kings, our most Dear and Gracious Sovereign, by a Pretended-Legal Trial, Sentence and Exe­cution of Him, by incompetent, interessed, and armed Judges, without either Precedent, Law, Reason or Con­science, at which the ears of everie one that beareth it do tingle, have not unjustly begot your indignation against, and detestation of, so high and insolent a villanie, as was never acted before by the worst of men, nor infused by the Prince of Divels.

The transcendencie of this horrid work of darkness, this Master-piece of Hell, if wee except the Murther of the Son of God, (which was so neerly parallel'd by this, that wee could not but, with a just reflexion on it, ad­mire the disposition of the Divine Providence, which or­dered the Crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour recorded by [Page 2]Saint Matthew for the Proper Lesson of that fatal Daie of the Martyrdom of our Just and Pious Prince) hath so far out-gon the Tragick phancies of the most ingenious witts in Crueltie and Malice; and withall, so far Eclipsed the Glorie of our Israël, heretofore famous and renown­ed among the Nations, admired by our Friends, and en­vied by our Enemies; but now the just derision of the World, and out-cast of the People; that wee cannot but look upon this Kingdom, or rather this Aceldama, with the saddest eie of compassionate affection and sorrow, as once our Blessed Lord and Master did upon his somtime Darling Hierusalem. Nor, indeed, will grief allow us to speak out, what horrid consequences have, in the anguish of our souls deeply afflicted with the contemplation of the eternal ruin of our Name, our Place, and our Reli­gion, been sadly represented to our thoughts. So true is that common saying, Ingentes stupent, that wee can scarce finde breath enough to saie with the Prophet Jeremie, O that our head were waters, and our eies fountains of tears! But are forced to break off with our Blessed Saviour (beholding and weeping over Hierusalem) in His most pathetical ex­postulation and expressions, O, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy daie, the things which belong unto thy peace!

SIR! Wee are confident, your detestation and abhor­rence of this impious Parricide (beyond the worst of Nero's cruelties) hath not so far surprized and invaded your Charitie, (though it hath the bowels of the Nigh­bour-Nations) as to impute so great a guilt to all the Kingdom; wherein the Righteous Judg of all the earth and that's our highest comfort) well knoweth how to distinguish, and to laie this cursed Brat at the true Father's dore. And you may believ it, Sir, the characters of Humanitie are not so defaced, nor the impressions of Christianitie so blotted out among us, but that you are seconded by Thousands, who have not worshipped the Golden Calvs, nor bow'd their knees to Baal, in your just Anathema upon the cursed Authors of this Trage­die, the Heirs apparent of Damnation.

But somwhat more you think requir'd of us, of men of our Profession, then an implicit silent Detestation. And our Calling seemeth to urge an absolute necessitie upon us (lest silence bee interpreted Consent) to clear our Credit, Conscience and Religion (the three great interests of all Christians, and specially Divines) by som Publick Decla­ration of our Judgment concerning the late barbarous and unheard of Practises against our most Pious, Constant, Christian King; the Light of our Isräel, the Breath of our No­strils, the Anointed of the Lord.

And indeed, SIR, if wee had not that to saie by waie of Plea and Vindication of our Silence, w ^ch we hope will bee esteemed rational and just by all intelligent and Loi­al souls (for wee are not verie careful to pleas others) wee should not dare to look for mercie, either from God or Man; but verie willingly expose our selvs as fit objects to the rage & malice of our most implacable and bitter enemies.

Sir, Wee cannot but with all thankfulness and devo­tion acknowledg the manie great and transcendent bles­sings wee enjoi'd, among, if not above, the other Subjects under the happie Reign of his most glorious Majestie. Wee cannot but confess His high merits of us; whom not onely the common Obligations of the Oath of God, and our Natural Allegiance, but the due consideration of His undeserved respects and honors bestowed upon our particular Profession and Priestlie Function must eternal­ly indear unto us. And wee had been the most unworthie creatures upon Earth, had wee prooved Desertores Fidei, had wee faltered in our Faith and Loialtie to Him, whom the Church must ever honor as her most glorious Patron and Protector: and, which is the highest elevation of His Love, (so neer was his to God's upon the Cross) beyond all Constantine's, Theodosius's, or Valentinian's, the most in. vincible Champion and Martyr for Her. Who, when Hee saw all waies of doing good, of improoving His af­fectionate Pietie to Her, barr'd up and utterly precluded by a religious Sacrilege, willingly laid down His Life for Her redemption; And, in imitation of the blessed JESUS, [Page 4]acted what Hee said, If you seek Mee, let these go their waie.

The contemplation of the glorious excesses of His tri­umphant Charitie and Devotion (for, Hee loved our Na­tion, and the Zeal of God's Hous had eaten him up) not onely giveth new Arguments for our design'd Apologetick, for clearing up the mists now cast upon us, by reason of our Silence in this Caus, but also supplieth us with rich grounds and materials for a Panegyrick, to the eternal ho­nor of His most pretious Memorie: But here wee are op­pressed with so much light, and such transcendent beau­ties of perfection in all the passages of His blessed Life and glorious Martyrdom, that all wee can conceiv or saie of Him would com as short of His incomparable merits, as doth a Peeble of a Diamond, a Candle of the glories of the Sun, or our unworthie pen of His victorious and Seraphick quil. Wee cannot add a grain of honor to His glories, of which Hee is as full, as the eternitie of Heaven, in the fruition of Christ and God can make Him. Where Hee hath exchang'd His Crown of Thorns for one far more illustrious of Stars; and where His Chari­tie, which was kindled here to verie high and extraordi­narie proportions, hath now attein'd her ultimate perfe­ction, and burneth with ever-living flames.

The influence whereof, wee cannot doubt, will dis­sipate the Clouds of black constructions, which threaten a storm to our Reputation and our Conscience; The One as­saulted with the engine of Falshood, that wee dare not now in Persecution own the Truth of that Doctrine, which, according to the example of the Primitive Chri­stians and Catholick Clergie, wee professed in our Pro­speritie: The Other undermined with the bitter Reproach­es of our insulting Enemies, who triumph over us with cruel Quaere's; Where are the great Pretenders for the King? where is the Roial Partie? (wee take it for Their scorn, but 'tis Our glorie) where they for whom Hee ven­tured Life and Crown? Not one that durst appear, or shew his head in vindication of Him: Not one stood [Page 5]in the gap to make up the breach, to mantein His Honor, Crown, or Life.

Wee cannot but deplore our sad condition, thus load­ed with unjust aspersions. These make such deep impres­sions on our souls, that we cannot but look upon them as an intollerable addition to our manie Sufferings; which, beeing aggravated to the highest pitch by these foul mouths, discover too much acquaintance and familiaritie with Hell, to bee believed by anie who have thoughts of Heaven. And, if we may obtein a little patience of pious and judicious Christians, wee doubt not, wee shall give such satisfaction as shall wipe off the deepest stains of Calumnie; and give in most clear evidence to all the world (whose Charitie wee beg not to impute so great a guilt to our Tribe and Profession) that, as wee can, in the integritie of our souls, wash our hands from having anie agencie in anie Scene of this accursed Tragedie, so wee do abominate and detest the fatal Close and Epilogue thereof; as beeing a most destructive Principle and foun­dation, which must necessarily conclude (without the interposition of God's infinite and miraculous mercie) in the inevitable period and ruin of our Religion, Mo­narchie, Honor, Law, Libertie, Life, and whatsoever is most sacred and dear to God and Man. All which, as it were the highest ingratitude not to acknowledg them to bee concentred and bound up in Him, to have been man­teined and propagated by His gracious hand, and to have lived with Him, so wee cannot but now look upon as dead with Him, and buried in an eternal grave of infamie and destruction.

Which grave as it was not digg'd by us by anie actual concurrence or unworthie compliances, nor otherwise then as wee are involved and concluded in the communi­tie of a finful people, now white unto the harvest, and ripe for the fickle of Divine Vengeance; so the prevention of it beeing endeavored by us, as far as lawfully wee might [Page 4] [...] [Page 5] [...] [Page 6]in our vocation, wee are confident the blame and guilt of the succeeding miseries and mischiefs cannot bee justly charged upon us; who, though wee live among them, are not of them, but, like the righteous Lot, through the necessitie of our cohabitation in this Sodom, are grieved with the presumptuous conversation of these Heaven-daring mis­creants.

Who, that they might securely, uncontrol'd, walk on in the forbidden paths of highest Treason, against the Lord Himself, & His Annointed, took order for the stopping of our mouths, who could not speak the Language of the Beast, nor frame our tongues to their new Shibboleth of Ho­lie Leagues, of Vows and Covenants. Haec Lerna malorum. This was the fountain of our miseries, whence all those bitter streams have issued, with which the Loial Clergie of this Church, for seven yeers past, have mingled both their drink and tears. This the occasion of that cursed Deluge, which, in flat opposition to that other sent by God for the drowning of a sinful World, hath overwhelmed Noah, and the Ark, and saved the posteritie of Cain. This was that Trojan Hors, which usher'd in those armed cru­elties, which, under the specious shews of Reformation, and setting up the Kingdom of Christ, have given the greatest blow to His Religion, undermined the Foundations of Christianitie, and level'd the Throne of Imperial Ma­jestie with the plough-shares and the mattocks of the earth.

Thus, SIR, wee have at last discours'd our selvs up to the bitter springs of Meribah; the source of all our sor­rows; the Mother or the Nurse of these confusions; and, in a word, the Sin and Punishment of this late flourishing, now miserably ruin'd Church and Kingdom.

Our utter detestation whereof, for wee cannot cast our eies upon it, but as upon som blazing Star, or prodigi­ous Comet, portending dire effects of blood and death to us and Christian Religion, (which never own'd the Principles on foot against the Highest Powers for anie Articles of Her Faith) give's clear light and demonstra­tion [Page 7]of our Innocence, which hath not onely been pro­tested by manie of our Brethen, in their Publick Declara­tions of the Churche's judgment in the points of Non-Resistance and Allegiance, but also sealed with the Blood of som, and with the Sufferings of all.

These two, 1 The Protestations of our Judgment, and 2 The manie Sufferings endured by us, in the right­eous prosecution of This Cause, had been enough to have convinced anie of our Uprightness and Integritie; if ei­ther they had learn'd but so much Charitie, as the Prin­ciples of Christian Religion dictate to as or but so much Humanitie as is taught them by the dimmer Light of Nature.

But truly, SIR, the importunate aspersions of our Enemies force us to a seeming neglect of all Humilitie, and a forgetfulness of Modestie. And wee must, by waie of just Apologie, but without all arrogance and self-con­ceipt, saie with S ^t Paul, If wee are fools in glorying, they have compelled us, 2 Cor. 12.11.

And here wee are encompassed with a Cloud of Wit­nesses: and the eminent Examples of the Saints, the Fore-runners of our Faith, will not onely excuse but pa­tronize this our just Defense, and now necessitated boast­ing: Looking unto JESUS, the Author and Finisher of our Faith; who, for the glorie that was set before Him, endured the Cross, and despised the Shame.

Quot vulnera tot ora: Our constant course of sufferings proclaims at once our Judgment and our Innocence. 'Tis true, indeed, wee have not attained to that high Heroïck pitch of the Primitive Martyrs; of whom Saint Paul (by waie of Prophecie, with respect to them that were to fol­low after, no less then of Historie, referring unto them that went before) speaketh those glorious excesses of Faith, and Charitie, and Zeal. They stopped the mouths of Lions. So did these: For wee know the old word was, Christianes ad Leonem. Som were tortured, not accepting deli­verance: It was a crime with them to bee but Libellatici: and they contemn'd their lives that they might preserv [Page 8]their soul and honor, free from the guilt of sin, nay from misprision. Others had trials, of cruel mockings and scourgings: yea moreover of stripes and imprisonment. Not was this much to them, who well remembred that it behoved them to fol­low the High-Priest of our Profession, who was thus conse­crated by sufferings. They were ¹ Stoned, they were ² Sawn asunder, were ³ Tempted, were ⁴ Slain with the Sword. So was the Proto-martyr ^1. St Stephan, the Prophet ^2. Isaiah, the Patriarch ^3. Job, and ^4. Zachariah the Priest, the Father of the Baptist. They wandered about in sheep-skins, and goat-skins: beeing destitute, afflicted, tormented. Their glories were within, their garments mean and suitable to their habitations, For they wandered in deserts and in moun­tains and in dens and in caves of the earth. Of whom the world was not worthie. And wherefore this, quo oculo? For they had a respect unto the recompense of the reward: that they might receiv a glorious Resurrection. And are these the prizes of our Sufferings? These were enough to sweeten bitterness it self: to make them welcom Death, to hug the Cross, to embrace the Flames. Indeed, wee have not drunk so deep as they in the bitter Cup of Gall and Vineger. Wee dare not saie, Our Sufferings equal Theirs, in the degrees or qualitie of torments. They were more noble and ex­ceeded us; triumphing in their Chariots of Fire; dallying with Lions and the cruel beasts, less cruel then their per­secuting Masters; singing upon the Gridirons and Racks of exquisite and new-invented Tortures; tiring the malice of inhumane Butchers with an undanted Christian reso­lution, with a victorious Faith and Patience; spitting de­fiance in the face of Crueltie, pregnant with Heathen wit, and arm'd with power. These were the great exces­ses of those Worthies, who knew no other Arms but these (besides their Praiers and Tears) to fight with and to conquer a world of Tyrants and of Infidels. These things did those mightie men. Did: so wee said; for sure they were not counted Sufferings, which were thus court­ed and embraced by them. Such were the Leaders in the glorious Armie of the Martyrs. Nor have they wanted [Page 9]honorable followers in all the Ages of the Christian Church. Who, though they did not wade so deep in the Red Sea of Blood, yet marched after in their Liveries of Stripes, of Bonds and Persecutions; the lesser marks of the Lord JESƲS, the Captain both of Suffering and Salvation. The difference of whose glorious reward, acci­dental perhaps, but not substantial, an Aureola to one, to one a Crown, will bee abundantly made up and recon­ciled in the blessed fellowship of Saints and Angels, and the eternal fruition of Christ and God; to the full com­pleting of the greatest Hope, and the assurance given by S. Paul That the light afflictions which are but for a moment shall work, [...] (an Hyperbolical expression for an Hyperbolical reward) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glorie. Indeed, wee dare not compare our selvs to these, nor make our selvs of their member who were the glorie of their times. It will bee joie enough for us, if wee can saie

though wee bee forced to add

Shee did what shee could, was, to our comfort, compead a good Plea by Christ, and justified in Marie Magdalen. Wee dare not, nay wee need not plead the rigor and intensness of our Sufferings: for, bee they more or less, by Sword or Fire; by Death, or by beeing but Undon; Wee are acce­pted according to that which wee have, not that which wee have not. But, if anie question the Justness of our Cause (a righteous Cause if ever anie) or doubt of the Intention and Preparation of our Souls, Quocunque Dens, to follow whither God shall pleas to call us, Wee speak foolishly, but wee speak it with S. Paul, Whereinsoever anie dare bee bold, wee dare bee hold also. Are they Christians? even so are wee. Are they true Sons of the Church of England? even so are wee. Have they suffered for righteousness sake? even so have wee. Are they the Ministers of Christ? (wee speak as fools) wee are more. In Labers more abundant; in stripes above measure; in Prisons more froquent; in deaths oft. If wee must needs glorie, wee will glorie in the things which concern our af­flictions. [Page 10]The Plunderings, Sequestrations, Imprison­ment, Banishment, Death of thousands, endured by us with so much Patience, Meekness, and Heroïck Courage; Our Constancie and Perseverance in this fierie Trial; still holding our Integritie, and blessing God, in the loss of all, save Faith and a good Conscience, are evidence enough to God and Man, that wee cannot but detest such high impietie, which, striking so immediatly at the Sa­cred Person of the King, God's Vicar upon Earth, will mediately bee found, [...], to strike at God Him­self.

But, becaus the foulest Fiend somtime put's on the fair­est Vizard; and the Prince of Darkness hath been often known to transform himself into an Angel of Light; the furious Donatists cried out of Persecution, and, in a fran­tick Zeal and mad Devotion, ventured upon swords and flames, pretending the Religion of a Holie Cause, (as here their younger Brethren did and do) to warrant their unjustifiable Actions; Groundless suspitions may bee rais'd of us; our Innocencie may bee counted a Malefactor; and our verie Sufferings may suffer. But, if Causa non Paena facit Martyrem bee a truth and ever taken so to bee by men of all Perswasions and Professions, wee shall not doubt to own our Sufferings, and justifie Our selvs and Them by the prescription of a Righteous Cause. Indeed, wee cannot see by their New Lights, which seem to us more black then the Egyptian Darkness. Their Revelations are Obscurities: and their Apocalyps, Apocrypha. Wee dare not give our Faith to their Pretensions; wee dare not trust their Spirit without Trial; since wee have found it, to the woful disturbance of Christendom, run cross and contra­dictorie to the Holie Faith, which was consigned to the Catholick Church in the undoubted Records, and infal­lible volumes of the Sacred Scripture; which, upon better and more certain grounds then the Laws of the Medes and Persians, have the highest privilege and honor, as dictated by the Spirit of Truth, to bee unalterable. Wee know, ndeed, that God spake in them: as for these men wee know not [Page 11]whence they are. It is another Spirit they pretend: It is ano­ther JESƲS, whom they Preach: It is another GOD, whom they Adore. The Holie Spirit wee know: JESUS wee know: and GOD wee know: But who are these? If we may pass a judgment by their works, (and Christ will warrant us by His, Ex fructibus, You shall know them by their fruits) They are not Sheep, but Wolvs; not Doves, but Vultures; not what they call themselvs, the Meek, the Saints: They speak their Father and his works they do, who was a Serpent; is a roaring Lion: who, having ma­naged the highest Treason against his supreme Lord and Sovereign, the King of Heaven and Earth, not onely en­gaged many of his fellow-subjects in that grand Rebel­lion, but hath ever since made it his work to disturb all Kingdoms but his own, (for there hee will endure nec priorem, nec parem) to set the world on fire, to raise up Se­ditions, and to shake the verie foundations of Govern­ment and Order.

But wee have not so learned Christ: nor can the Principles of Christian Doctrine consist with such Unchristian Pra­ctises. Wee spake openly to the world; wee ever taught in the Temple, whither the people alwaies resort, and in secret have wee said nothing. Ask not of us; Ask them that heard us, what wee have said unto them; Behold, they know not what wee said, S. Job. 18.20, 21. First, wee appeal to God, and next, to them who knew the manner of our Life, and Doctrine, if they would testifie, that after that waie which they call Ma­lignancie (for so they mis-call the Doctrine and Practise of our Christian brethren) so worship wee the God of our Fa­thers; so have wee been taught, as the truth is in JESUS, to Fear GOD and the KING, and not to meddle with them that are given to Change; beeing assured by the Spirit of Truth, who cannot lie, That their destruction shall arise suddenly; and who kneweth the ruin of them both?

Knowing therfore this Truth and terror of the Lord, lest wee should incur the just reward of partaking in the sins of other men (which wee have labored to prevent and hinder both by our Example and Discourses) Wee do, [Page 12]in the Name of God, ad liberandas animas nostras, to clear our souls of the Innocent blood of our Just and Right­eous PRINCE, Declare the late presumptuous Pro­ceedings against his Life and Honor to bee Jesuitical and Antichristian; contrarie to the Faith once delivered to the Saints, and ever professed by the Catholick Church of Christ, and, in special, by the Church of England. Wee acknowledg and declare to all the world, that the KING is solo Deo minor, as in the old Divinitie of Tertullian. That Sub- or Co-ordination destroie the eternal Mishpat, the righteous Law of God, planted in Nature, and con­signed in the Holie Scriptures, for the absolute, indepen­dent, and Supreme Dominon of God's Vicegerent, the Sacred Majestie of His Anointed. That Hee is not, by anie Law of God or Man, accomptable to his Subjects; no, not in the supposed case of male-administration: satis erit ut Deum exspectet ultorem, was thought by the old Christians a sufficient thunder-bolt to keep Him in good order. That Hee hath no Superior upon Earth to exer­cise Jurisdiction over Him. That [Against Thee onely have I sinned] could not bee truly said by King David, upon any other consideration, but His unquestionable Exem­ption from all Humane Judicatories. That Hee is a King by Him alone, by whom Hee is a man: without all Pa­pal or Popular dependence. And that the Cursing of the King, but in our Thought; much more the slandering and reviling with our Tongue; much more the Deposition and Dethroning; but, above all, the Taking of His Life is a Crime of deepest stain, and the highest breach of all the Laws of God and Men.

These, SIR, are no new receiv'd opinions of Yester­daie, or of this later Age; They antedate the Aera of Christianitie, and are contemporarie with Nature: and it were easie work to fill whole volumes with the glori­ous Names of our Fathers who lived and died in the pro­mulgation and mantenance of this Faith, which, now suf­fering under the odious Name of Malignancie, Court-Divinitie, and flattering of Princes, was the chief quar­rel [Page 13]of the world against us, to the dishereson of us in our temporal fortunes; and, which was far more grievous, to the eternal ruin of those pretious souls for vvhich Christ died; vvhom, by the stopping of our mouths, and the per­verting of the Truth by the mouths of Ababs Prophets, substituted unduly and intruded, against all Law and Conscience, into our Cures, it laie not in the power of our Christian Charitie to save from the deep ingagement of the wrath of God upon them, here; nor, which is worse, the entailing of an eternal curse upon their Me­morie, and (without Repentance) upon their Souls.

And now, SIR, what need of farther witnesses of our Integritie and Innocence? what Reason can object or laie on us the imputation of so great a guilt? what could wee hope might possily prevail, when the engagement of our Fortunes, Lives and Souls, the best and dearest pledg­es wee could stake, could not procure that credit unto us, or mercie to themselvs, as to divert them from those hor­rid waies, which know no end but Hell and despera­tion.

And with these onely wee could very well have satis­fied our selvs in point of Conscience, and have offered them to God for His acceptance. But more wee have to saie by waie of Plea, which like pack-thred and paper wee shall cast into the bargain. And that upon this double consideration. 1. Of the seeming Improbabilitie of the Attempting an Action of so extravagant a nature. 2. Of the Impossibilitie of good Success, in case wee had ap­peared.

1. For the first: what wise and honest man could ra­tionally imagin, that such unnatural, unheard of Thoughts could probably possess the hearts of anie, who had not first cast off Humanitie and Reason, not to speak of Conscience and Religion? What Hazael would not startle at the motion of so horrid, so unparallel'd im­pietie? and utter his detestation of it in his language, Am I a Dog? Wee presumed the Actors in that fatal Tragedie would not bee so injurious to themselvs as to [Page 14]take that for a fault in Us, Our Dis-beleeving of so pro­digious an Intention, the Beleeving of which to have been deliberated by anie, who had respect to Conscience or Honor, was conceiv'd by us too great a breach of Christian Charitie; which wee our selvs, though pre­sent on the Stage, were loth to suffer to be so far invaded, notwithstanding all that terrible pomp, and such extra­vagant Preparations. Wee hoped better things from them who had assumed the Name of Reforming-Christians, and of Saints: Nor durst wee, while wee labored to bee innocent, by questioning or prejudging their innocence, endanger ours. But, indeed, beside our Charitie, which, if S. Paul bee right, Thinketh no evil, which cannot bee it self if but suspitious, had wee not Reason too? Can Christians bee induced to believ that Oaths and Vows and Protestations could bee no stronger ties upon the Saints, then Cords or Withs were in the hand of Sampson? Or els that Regicide, a crying sin, would bee a just satis­faction to an incensed God, for all our former faults and villanies? Or that the breaking of the Fift, the Crown Command, could make atonement for the breach of Nine? [...]; O Sorcerie, how hast thou broke forth to the supplanting of Christianitie and Reason! Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft, wee often heard before, wee see it now.

2. But the second, the Impossibilitie of good success, in ease wee had appeared, vvhich vvas strongly confirmed to us, whether wee reflected on 1 Our selvs, 2 The Managers of the Design, or 3 Others, both of their own Ministers, and of the Loial, and Legal Clergie, was an effectual argument to us, and a sufficient ground for our eternal silence.

1. Reflecting on Our selvs. For, supposing the Legal Clergie could have met, [...], with one mouth, with one minde, and prepared an uniform Pro­test, and back'd it with all the Arguments that Scripture, Reason, Law, or Conscience could have suggested to us (which yet they took an order to prevent and actually [Page 15]effected by the hottest persecution that was ever set on foot by any against their Brother-Christians; witness the general [...], the dispersion, banishment and re­tirement of most, [...], Few or none re­maining, but such as either do precariò vivere, subsist by the charitie and alms of pious, well-affected Christians; or else, not standing, forsooth, recti in curiâ, dare scarce bee known to bee in beeing) Might wee not justly fear the Cause would suffer by the very interposing of such Ad­vocates? Away with such fellows from the earth; 'tis mer­cie, too great mercie that they live: These fellows are but permitted to sojourn here, and they will needs bee Lords. Could Prudence prompt them to bee Mediators, whose very interest carrieth a denial in the forehead? Wee would bee loth to have our Reason questioned, while wee would improve our Christianitie. Good Causes wee have often known miscarrie for want of fitting Instruments to ma­nage them. Nor could wee wish our Enemie a greater mischief, then for the obteining of his purpose to use unwelcom Mediators. Ther's as much truth in This, Hee teacheth to denie that asks amiss, as is in That, That asks but faintly. And, in good sadness, could wee hope for bet­ter, by whatsoever wee could saie or do? Is not the very Name of Roial Partie an inexpiable crime? Is not the ve­ry word Malignant a rub and prejudice to the justest suit? And is not this our case? or do wee stand on any better terms? Wee fear'd the least appearance of our Name might bee interpreted som grand Design; and, instead of finde­ing the success wee sought, seal up the sentence of His condemnation. Beside; would it not intrench upon our Prudence, to irritate the spirit of an adversarie, by the ill choice of Intercessors? Nor have wee yet so far forgot our Reason, as to attempt the quenching of a Flame by the suffusion of Oil. The unacceptableness of our persons and Condition with the great Statists and Grandees, whose [...] and respect of persons discover's they have not much to do with God, give's the first Impossibi­litie [Page 16]of good success, and consequently a Reason of our Non-appearing.

2. But, secondly, when wee reflect and cast our eies up­on the Managers of the late and present Agitations, wee think that Argument enough to stop our mouths, and patronize our Silence. Wee would not willingly incur the censure of speaking to no purpose, to men resolved and inflexible: to men whose Principles are to them as true, as they are fals in themselves: to men who presume upon their own Dictats as infallible Oracles: who rear huge buildings upon sandie grounds, and raise Conclu­sions on none or most deceiving Premises̄: who, in the very Principles they somtime pretend to own (for ask their Presbyterian Brethren whether they could ever get them to stand to any) are as slipperie as Eels, as variable as the Moon, and constant onely in inconstancie. Have they not justjfied their excentrick motions and highest irregu­larities with the decried Principles of special Providence and Impulses of the Spirit? Have they not own'd and practis'd the Assertion, that Faith is not to bee kept with Enemies? And, on that score, abus'd the wisest Head in Christendom? Not keeping faith with any, God or Man? Have they not perverted Holie Scripture, and the heroick actions of som Saints, assisted by immedi­at inspiration, to authorize the highest villanies? And are wee still to learn the fetches of Sathan? or can wee bee ignorant of their devices? Quo teneam nodo? If wee could yet but guess what lock to have them at, what weapon to fight with, perhaps they would not seem so wise, not so invincible. But, indeed, it is no matter for the Means, they are resolved on the End, per fas, per nefus; and, rather then miscarrie or come short of their purpo­sed Defigns, run madly upon the pretended unpardon­able crimes of those truly Honorable and worthie Patri­ots, who formerly sate at the helm, and managed the great affairs in Church and State: And, (that wee may throughly know the meaning of their Canting-language, Pro REGE, Pro Parliamento, Pro Religione, and I know [Page 17]not what) nothing now conducing to their Ends, though never so much decried by themselvs and spoke against in others, must bee omitted for the punishment of a foolish people flatter'd into miserie; and for the esta­blishment of an Absolute, Independent and Arbitrarie Domi­nion, over the Fortunes, Lives and Consciences of their late fellow-subjects, now their vassals; who, of the most Free people in the world, under a pretence of Libertie are cheated into Slave­rie, far worse then the Egyptian Brick-kilns, or the Gal­lies of Argire.

And having such as these to deal withall, Quibus non persuadebis etiamsi persuaseris, had not our Application been in vain, much like the washing of an Aethiop? Can a Leopard change his spots, or a Black-More his skin? Then, saith the infallible Oracle that cannot lie, may they that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well. Believ it, SIR, the grasping at a Crown was not to bee dissvaded by our ar­guments; and that destructive Principle alone which drive's them on (Of a pretended special Call from heaven) outvies with them the highest Demonstrations of Rea­son, Law, or Religion. To which if wee shall add (what wee conceiv the Truth, and the ground of these Presumptions) the Real, not Imaginarie Fears and Jea­lousies, which, questionless, lie heavie on their souls, and egg them on, Scelera sceleribus tueri, to fortifie and man­tein what they have don; as doubting of the issue of their former sins, but by attempting greater; you will bee soon induced to believ, that, as their resolution was to stop their ears against the voice of the Charmer, charm hee never so wisely; so, all our words and arguments had been no better then Sibyllae folia, the sport of the windes, or the barking of a dog against the Moon.

3. In which opinion wee have the greater caus to bee confirmed, when wee call to minde the fruitlesness and non-success of those many Applications, which have been made to these great Masters of the world, not one­ly by som of the Antient, Orthodox and Legal Clergie, but also by many of the Presbyterian persuasion; who, [Page 18]though we cannot excuse their too great activitie in pro­moting these unnatural distempers by their compliance and encouragement, have yet, though like very ill Logi­cians, after such Premises as they laid themselvs, which were necessarily productive of these horrid consequences, utterly denied the Conclusion, and flung the dirt of this detestable action in the face of their somtime Brethren, now cruel persecuting Enemies.

Wee have read indeed, SIR, the Vindications, which have com forth from som particular Members, and from som Bodies (or, as they love to speak, som Classes) of them. Wee cannot but approve and saie Amen to their abhorrence of so traiterous an Attempt. But when wee weigh the grounds they go upon; their voluntarie Oaths and Covenants, of which wee may well ask, Quis requisivit? What Law of God or Man required them? When wee remember not a word or argument urged by them from their former Legal Oath of Allegiance to their Undoubted Sovereign; as if there had been no tie or obligation upon their Souls, till that accursed thing, the Covenant, came out to the disturbance of Three Kingdoms: When wee consider that their chiefest Motives are drawn from their Implicit Faith of the pretended (so they now appear) Pro­fessions, Protestations, and Declarations of the Gentlemen at Westminster, to bee very tender of the Rights, Honor, and Life of their Sovereign, and to make Him a Glorious King; and so indeed they have, by Suffering: when wee reflect upon the Rise and grounds first laid and still per­sted in by them, which infallibly begat that fatal stroke, which was given immediatly, indeed, by other hands, but consequentially by theirs: (For, if it bee resol­ved in point of Law, that there are no Accessories, but all are Principals in high Treason, no question they have as much to answer for, that bound the Hands, as they that cut off the Head of His Sacred Majestie) When wee con­sider these and many more, which highly aggravate their guilt, wee cannot think them so innocent and free from participation in that horrid crime of shedding the preti­ous [Page 19]blood of our Blessed Sovereign, but that they are in­sinitely beholden to the Pardon and Praiers of the high­est Charitie, That God would not impute His blood to them fur­ther then to convince them, what need they have of Christ's blood, to wash their souls from the guilt of shedding His. In confi­dence of the efficacie of which praier, as wee hope they will at last perceive their Error, and upon sight thereof bee pricked at the hearts, and bring forth the worthie fruits of Penance, so wee shall with a willing minde imitate the Father of the Prodigal, bee readie to enter­tein them with the embraces of peace, and to salute them with the holie kiss of Charitie.

In the interim, the cold or no-reception of them, who had gon so far along with these Usurpers, was such a cool­ing-card, so poor an encouragement to us, who are look'd upon as altogether [...], and wholly opposite to their destructive Grounds, Waie, and End, that wee thought it wisdom to sit down and weep by these waters of Babylon, as despairing of any sutable entertainment, or probabilitie of good success.

Especially, when, being lately warned that the charita­ble service offered in the Humble Address of our Reverend and Learned Brother was either not accepted or not re­garded, wee had too great reason to conclude, that the light of Nature beeing wholly extinguished, and the Bowels of Christian Charitie (as their Brother Judas's) gushed out, all further Counsels or ghostlie admonitions would bee but giving Holie things to Dogs, or casting Pearls to Swine.

Thus, SIR, wee have at last discharg'd our thoughts into your charitable bosom: and hope that one or all of these will set us right in the good opinion of all Judici­ous honest men. Yet as wee cannot but acknowledg with all thankfulness your great favour and tender respect in the communication of your fears, lest our honor or Con­science should bee thought to lie too open to the unrea­sonable descants of censorious and ill-affected men, so we must ever think our selvs bound to your goodness, as for [Page 20]your own charitable construction of us, so for giving us this opportunitie of discovering our sense and judgment: which as wee have hitherto, cum bono Deo, attested by our Sufferings, and still shall, God assisting us, with our Lives, and, which is dearer to us, with our Souls, so wee trust this free and publick Declaration will for the future preclude and stop up the way of all uncharitable surmises, and confront the least suspitions of our appro­bation and compliance; and confirm in you a fair con­struction not onely of our Profession but of our Suffer­ings; which, wee beseech you to believ, wee are so far from thinking much of, or repining at, that, on the contrarie, wee cannot but rejoice and triumph in them as our great­est honor and our Crown; esteeming the reproaches of Christ greater riches then the threasures of this world; and glorying with the Apostles that wee were counted worthie to suffer for His Name, in the Profession of our Faith, Dutie and Allegiance to the Best of Kings, our late most Dear and glorious Sovereign, S ^t CHARLS the MARTYR.