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<DATE>2008-03-19</DATE>
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<NAME>Emma Leeson Huber</NAME>
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<P>His Highne&s;s SPEECH TO THE PARLIAMENT IN THE PAINTED CHAMBER AT THEIR DISSOLUTION, upon <HI>Monday</HI> the 22<HI>d.</HI> of <HI>Ianuary</HI> 1654.</P>
<P>Publi&s;hed to prevent Mi&s;takes and fal&s;e Copies.</P>
<P>Re-Printed at <HI>Dublin,</HI> by <HI>William Bladen,</HI> 1654.</P>
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<HEAD>HIS HIGHNES Speech To the Parliament, in the Painted Cham|ber, at their Di&s;&s;olution, upon Monday <HI>Ianuary</HI> 22. 2654</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Gentlemen</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_I Perceive, you are here as the <HI>Hou&s;e of Parilament,</HI> by your Speaker, whom I &s;ee here; and by your fa|ces, which are, in a great mea&s;ure, known to me. When I fir&s;t met you in this Room, it was, to my apprehen&s;ion, the hopefulle&s;t day that ever mine eyes &s;aw, as to con&s;iderations of this World: For I did look at (as wrapt up in you, together with my &s;elf) the hopes and the happine&s;s of (though not of the greate&s;t yet a very great, and) the be&s;t people in the World; and truely and unfeignedly I thought &s;o; as a People that have the highe&s;t and the cleare&s;t profe&s;sion among them, of the greate&s;t glory (to wit) Reli|gion; as a People that have been like other Nations, &s;ometimes up, and &s;ometimes down, in our honour in the world, but yet never &s;o low, but we might mea&s;ure with other Nations; and a People that have had a &s;tamp upon them from God, God having (as it were) &s;ummed all Our former Glory and Honour, in things that are Glory to Nations in an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">
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we knew one another at home, and are well known abroad.</P>
<P>And (if I be not very much mi&s;taken) we were arrived (as I, and truely, as I believe, many others did think) at a very &s;afe Port, where we might &s;it down, and contemplate the di&s;pen&s;ations of God, and Our mercies, and might know Our mercies not to have been like to tho&s;e of the Antients, who did make out their Peace and Pro&s;perity, as they thought, by their own endeavours; who could not &s;ay, as We, That all Ours were let down to Us from God him&s;elf, who&s;e Appea|rances and Providences among&s;t Us are not be outmatched by any Story.</P>
<P>Truly this was Our condition and I know nothing el&s;e we had to do, &s;ave as <HI>I&s;rael</HI> was commanded, in that mo&s;t excellent <HI>P&s;alm</HI> of <HI>Da|vid,</HI> P&s;al. 78. v.4, 5, 6, 7. <HI>The things which we have heard and known, and our Fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their Children, &s;hewing to the Generation to come the prai&s;e of the Lord, and his &s;trength, and his wonderful works which he hath done; for he e&s;tabli&s;hed a Te&s;ti|mony in</HI> Iacob, <HI>and appointed a Law in</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>which he commended our Fathers that they &s;hould make them known to their Children, that the Generation to come might known them, even the Children which &s;hould be born, who &s;hould ari&s;e and declare them to their Children, that they might &s;et their hope in God, and not forget the workes of God, but keep his Commandments.</HI></P>
<P>This I thought had been a Song and a Work worthy of <HI>England,</HI> whereunto you might have happily invited them, had you had Hearts unto it.</P>
<P>You had this opportunity fairely delivered unto you; And if a <HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> &s;hall be written of the&s;e times, and of tran&s;actions, it will be &s;aid (it will not be denyed) but that the&s;e things that I have &s;poken are true.</P>
<P>This <HI>Talent</HI> was put into your hands, and I &s;hall recure to that which I &s;aid at the fir&s;t, I came with very great joy, and contentment, and comfort, the fir&s;t time I met you in this Place: But we and the&s;e Nati|ons are, for the pre&s;ent, under &s;ome di&s;appointment. If I had purpo&s;|ed to have plaid the Orator, which I did never affect, nor do, nor I hope &s;hall, I doubt not but upon ea&s;ie &s;uppo&s;itions, which I am per|&s;waded every one among you will grant, we did meet upon &s;uch hope as th&s;e.</P>
<P>I met you a &s;econd time here, and I confe&s;s at that meeting I had much abatement of my hopes, through not a total fru&s;tration. I confe&s;s that that which dampt my hopes, &s;o &s;oon, was &s;omewhat that did look <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> you that the management
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of Affairs did &s;avour of a <HI>not-owning</HI> too too much &s;avour I &s;ay of a <HI>not|owning</HI> the <HI>Authority</HI> that called you hither; but God left us not with|out an expedient that gave a &s;econd <HI>Po&s;sibility,</HI> &s;hall I &s;ay, a <HI>po&s;sibility</HI>? it &s;eemed to Me a <HI>probability</HI> of recovering out of that <HI>Di&s;&s;atisfied Con|dition</HI> We were all then in, towards &s;ome mutuality of <HI>Satisfaction,</HI> and therefore by that <HI>Recognition,</HI> &s;uiting with the <HI>Indenture</HI> that re|turned you hither, to which afterwards al&s;o was added your own <HI>De|claration,</HI> conformable to and in acceptance o, that Expedient, where|by you had (though with a little check) another opportunity renewed unto you to have made this Nation as happy as it could have been, if every thing had smoothly run on from hat&s;irct hour of your meeting.</P>
<P>And indeed (you will give me liberty of my thoughts and hopes) I did think, as I have formerly found in that way that I have been enga|ged as a Souldier, hat &s;ome affronts put up in us, &s;ome di&s;a&s;ters at the fir&s;t, have made way for very great and happy Succe&s;&s;es.</P>
<P>And I did not at all <HI>de&s;pond,</HI> but the <HI>Stop</HI> put upon you, would in like manner have made way for a ble&s;sing from God, that that <HI>Interruption</HI> being, as thought, nece&s;&s;ary to divert you from de&s;tructive and vio|lent proceedings, to give time for better Deliberati us; whereby, lea|ving the GOVERNMENT as you found it, you might have proceeded to have made tho&s;e good and whol&s;ome <HI>Laws,</HI> which the People ex|pected from you, and might have an&s;wered the <HI>Grievances,</HI> and <HI>&s;ettled</HI> tho&s;e other things proper to you as a <HI>Parliament,</HI> and for which you would have had thanks, from all that intru&s;ted you.</P>
<P>What hath hapned &s;ince that time, I have not taken publick notice of, as declining to intrench upon <HI>Parliament Priviledges</HI>: For &s;ure I am, you will all bear me witne&s;s, that from your entring into the <HI>Hou&s;e</HI> upon the <HI>Recognition,</HI> to this very day, you have had no manner of <HI>In|terruption</HI> or <HI>Hindrance</HI> of mine, in proceeding to that ble&s;&s;ed i&s;&s;ue the heart of a good man could propo&s;e to him&s;elf, to this very day.</P>
<P>You &s;ee you have me verie much lockt up as to what you tran&s;acted among your &s;elves from that time to this, but &s;omthing I &s;hall take li|berty to &s;peak of to you, As I may not take notice what you have been doing, &s;o I think I have a very great liberty to tell you, that I do not know what you have been doing, I do not know whether you have been alive or dead, I have not once <HI>Heard</HI> from you in all this time, I have not, and that you all know: If that be a fault that I have not, &s;urely it hath not been mine.</P>
<P>If I had any <HI>Melancholy thoughts,</HI> and have &s;at down by them, why might it not have been very lawful to me to think that I was a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word">
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judged <HI>Vnconcerned</HI> in all the&s;e bu&s;ine&s;&s;es: I can a&s;&s;ure you, I have not reckoned my &s;elf, nor did I reckon my &s;elf <HI>unconcerned</HI> in you, and &s;o long as any <HI>Iu&s;t patience</HI> could &s;upport my expectations, I would have waited to the untermo&s;t to have received from you the i&s;&s;ues of your <HI>Con&s;ultations</HI> and <HI>Re&s;olutions</HI>; I have been careful of your <HI>Safety,</HI> &amp; the <HI>Safety</HI> of tho&s;e that you repre&s;ented, to whom I reckon my &s;elf a Servant.</P>
<P>But what <HI>Me&s;&s;ages</HI> have I di&s;turbed you withall? What <HI>Injury</HI> or <HI>Indignity</HI> hath been done or offered, either to your Per&s;ons, or to any Priviledges of <HI>Parliament,</HI> &s;ince you &s;at? I looked at my &s;elf, as &s;trict|ly obliged by my <HI>Oath</HI> &s;ince your <HI>Recognizing</HI> the GOVERNMENT, in the <HI>Authority</HI> of which you were called hither, and &s;ate, to give you all po&s;sible &s;ecurity, and to keep you from any <HI>un-Parliamentary Inter|ruption.</HI></P>
<P>Think you I could not &s;ay more upon this &s;ubject, if I li&s;ted to ex|paciate thereupon; but becau&s;e my actions plead for me: I &s;hall &s;ay no more of this.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, I have been caring for you, your quiet &s;itting, caring for your Priviledges (as I &s;aid before) that they might not be <HI>Interrupted,</HI> have been &s;eeking of God, from the great God, a <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing</HI> upon you, &s;and a <HI>Ble&s;&s;ing</HI> upon the&s;e Nations; I have been con&s;ulting, if po&s;siblie I might in any thing promote, in my Place, the real good of this <HI>Parlia|ment,</HI> of the hopefulne&s;s of which I have &s;aid &s;o much unto you.</P>
<P>And I did think it to be my bu&s;ine&s;s, rather to &s;ee the utmo&s;t i&s;&s;ue, and what God would produce by you, than un&s;ea&s;onably to intermed|dle with you. But as I &s;aid before, I have been caring for you, and for the peace and quiet of the Nations, indeed I have, and that I &s;hall a little presently manife&s;t unto you.</P>
<P>And it leadeth me to let you know &s;omwhat that I fear, I fear will be through &s;ome interpretation a little too ju&s;tly put upon you, while&s;t you have been imployed as you have been (and in all that time expre&s;|&s;ed in the GOVERNMENT, in that GOVERNMENT, I &s;ay, in that GOVERNMENT) brought forth nothing that you your &s;elves &s;ay can be taken notice of without <HI>infringment</HI> of your <HI>Priviledges.</HI></P>
<P>I will tell you &s;omwhat, that (if it be not news to you) I wi&s;h you had taken very &s;erious con&s;ideration of; if it be <HI>news,</HI> I wi&s;h I had acquainted you with it &s;ooner: And yet if any man will ask me why I did it not, the Rea&s;on is given already, becau&s;e I did make it my bu&s;ine&s;s to give you no <HI>interruption.</HI></P>
<P>There be &s;ome <HI>Trees</HI> that will not <HI>grow</HI> under the <HI>&s;hadow</HI> of other <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> a man may &s;ay &s;o by way of allu&s;ion
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to thrive under the <HI>&s;hadow</HI> of other <HI>Trees</HI>: I will tell you what have <HI>thriven,</HI> I will not &s;ay what you have <HI>cheri&s;hed</HI> under your <HI>&s;hadow,</HI> that were too hard, In&s;tead of the <HI>Peace</HI> and <HI>Settlement,</HI> in&s;tead of <HI>Mercy</HI> and <HI>Truth</HI> being brought together, <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;s and Peace ki&s;sing each other,</HI> by reconciling the hone&s;t People of the&s;e Nation:, and &s;ettling the woful Di&s;tempers that are among&s;t us, (which had been glorious things, and worthy of <HI>Chri&s;tians</HI> to have propo&s;ed) <HI>Weeds</HI> and <HI>Nettles, Briars</HI> and <HI>Thorn</HI>; have <HI>thriven</HI> under your <HI>&s;hadow,</HI> di&s;&s;ettlement! and divi&s;ion, di&s;content and di&s;-&s;atisfaction, together with real dangers to the whole, has been more multiplied within the&s;e <HI>five Months</HI> of your Sitting, than in &s;ome <HI>Years</HI> before.</P>
<P>Foundations have been al&s;o laid for the future renewing the <HI>Troubles</HI> of the&s;e Nations, by all the <HI>Enemies</HI> of it <HI>abroad</HI> and at <HI>home</HI>; Let not the&s;e words &s;eem too &s;harp, for they are true, as any <HI>Mathematical Demon&s;trations</HI> are or can be; I &s;ay, the <HI>Enemies</HI> of the Peace of the&s;e Nations abroad and at home, the di&s;contented humors throughout the&s;e Nations, which I think no man will grudg to call by that name, or to make to allude to <HI>Briars</HI> and <HI>Thorns,</HI> they have nouri&s;hed them|&s;elves under your <HI>&s;hadow.</HI></P>
<P>And that I may be clearly under&s;tood, they have taken the opportu|nities from your <HI>Sitting,</HI> from the hopes they had, which with ea&s;ie conjecture they might take up, and conclude, that there would be no <HI>Settlement,</HI> and therefore they have framed their <HI>De&s;ignes,</HI> preparing for the <HI>execution</HI> of them accordingly.</P>
<P>Now whether (which appertains not to me to judge of on their behalf) they had any occa&s;ion mini&s;tred for this; and from whence they had it, I li&s;t not to make any &s;crutiny or &s;earch, but I will &s;ay this, I think they had them not from me, I am &s;ure they had not; from whence they had it is not my bu&s;ine&s;s now to di&s;cour&s;e, but that they had, is obvious to every mans &s;en&s;e.</P>
<P>What preparations they have made to <HI>execute</HI> in &s;uch a &s;ea&s;on as they thought fit to take their opportunity from, that I know (not as men know things by conjecture, but) by certain demon&s;trable knowledg, that they have been (for &s;ome time pa&s;t) furni&s;hing them|&s;elves with <HI>Arms,</HI> nothing doubting, but that they &s;hould have a <HI>Day</HI> for it; and verily believing, that what&s;oever their former <HI>di&s;appoint|ments</HI> were, they &s;hould have more done for them by and from our own <HI>Divi&s;ions,</HI> than they were able to do for them&s;elves. I do not, and I de&s;ire to be under&s;tood &s;o, that in all I have to &s;ay of this &s;ubject, you will take it that I have no re&s;ervation in my minde to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">
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of <HI>Gue&s;s</HI> and <HI>Su&s;pition,</HI> with things of <HI>Fact,</HI> but the things I am telling are of <HI>Fact,</HI> things of evident <HI>demon&s;tration.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e <HI>Weeds, Briars</HI> and <HI>Thorns,</HI> they have been preparing, and have brought their <HI>De&s;igns</HI> to &s;ome maturity, by the advantages given to them, as afore&s;aid, from your <HI>Sitting</HI> and <HI>Proceedings</HI>; but by the <HI>wa|king ey</HI> that watched over that <HI>Cau&s;e</HI> that God will ble&s;s, they have been, and yet are <HI>disappointed.</HI> And having mentioned that <HI>Cau&s;e,</HI> I &s;ay that <HI>&s;lighted Cau&s;e,</HI> Let me &s;peak a few words in behalf thereof (though it may &s;eem too long a digre&s;&s;ion) Who&s;oever de&s;pi&s;eth it, and will &s;ay it is <HI>Non Cau&s;a pro Cau&s;&acirc;,</HI> the all &s;earching ey before mentioned will find out that Man, and will judge him, as one that regardeth not the <HI>Works</HI> of God, nor the <HI>operations</HI> of his hands, for which God hath threatened to ca&s;t men down and not build them up; that becau&s;e he can di&s;pute, and tell us, He knew not where the <HI>Cau&s;e</HI> begun, nor where it is, but modelleth it according to his own intel|lect, and &s;ubmits not to to the <HI>appearances</HI> of God in the World, there|fore he lifts up his heel again&s;t God, and mocketh at all his providences, laughing at the ob&s;ervations made up not without <HI>Rea&s;on,</HI> and the <HI>Scriptures,</HI> but by the quickening and teaching <HI>Spirit,</HI> which gives life to the other, calling &s;uch <HI>ob&s;ervations</HI> Enthu&s;ia&s;ms. Such men, I &s;ay, no wonder if they &s;tumble and fall backward, and be broken, and &s;nared, and taken by the things of which they are &s;o maliciou&s;ly and wilfully ignorant. The <HI>Scriptures</HI> &s;ay, The <HI>Rod</HI> has a voice, and he will make him&s;elf known, and he will make him&s;elf known by the Judgements which he executeth; and do we not think he will, and does, by the providences of mercy and kindne&s;s which he hath for his People, and for their ju&s;t Liberties, <HI>whom he loves as the Apple of his Ey</HI>? Doth he not by them manife&s;t him&s;elf? And is he not thereby al&s;o &s;een, giving <HI>Kingdoms</HI> for them, giving <HI>Men</HI> for them, and <HI>People</HI> for their lives? As it is in the 43. of <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> Is not this as fair a Lecture, and as clear &s;peaking, as any thing our dark rea&s;on left to the Letter of the <HI>Scriptures</HI> can collect from them? By this <HI>voice</HI> has God &s;poken very loud on the behal of his <HI>People,</HI> by <HI>judging</HI> their E|nemies in the late <HI>War,</HI> and re&s;toring them a <HI>liberty</HI> to wor&s;hip with the freedom of their <HI>Con&s;ciences,</HI> and freedom in their <HI>E&s;tates</HI> and <HI>Per|&s;ons</HI> when they do &s;o. And thus we have found the <HI>Cau&s;e</HI> of God by the <HI>Works</HI> of God, which are the <HI>Te&s;timony</HI> of God, upon which <HI>Rock,</HI> who&s;oever <HI>spilits</HI> &s;hall &s;uffer &s;hipwrack.</P>
<P>But it is Our <HI>Glory,</HI> and it is <HI>Mine,</HI> if I have any in the World, concerning the <HI>Intere&s;t</HI> of tho&s;e that have an <HI>Intere&s;t</HI> in a better World;
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It is My <HI>Glory</HI> that, I know a <HI>Cau&s;e,</HI> which yet we have not lo&s;t, but do hope we &s;hall take a little plea&s;ure rather to lo&s;e our <HI>Lives</HI> than lo&s;e. But you will excu&s;e this long digre&s;&s;ion.</P>
<P>I &s;ay unto you, whil&s;t you have been in the mid&s;t of the&s;e <HI>Trans|actions,</HI> that <HI>Party,</HI> that <HI>Cavalier Party,</HI> (I could wi&s;h &s;ome of them had thru&s;t in here to have heard what I &s;ay) the <HI>Cavalier Party</HI> have been <HI>de&s;igning</HI> and <HI>preparing</HI> to put this <HI>Nation</HI> in bloud again with a witne&s;s; but becau&s;e I am confident there are none of that Sort here, therefore I &s;hall &s;ay the le&s;s to that; onely this I mu&s;t tell you, they have been making great preparations of <HI>Arms,</HI> and, I do believe, will be made evident to you that they have raked out many thou&s;ands of <HI>Arms,</HI> even all that this City could afford, for divers Months la&s;t pa&s;t.</P>
<P>But it will be &s;aid, May we not arm Our &s;elves for the Defence of our Hou&s;es? will any bodie find fault for that? No, for that, the rea|&s;on of their doing &s;o hath been as explicit, and under as clear proof, as the fact of doing &s;o, for which I hope, by the <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> of the Land, &s;ome will, in the face of the Nation, <HI>An&s;wer</HI> it with their lives, and then the bu&s;ine&s;s will be pretty well out of doubt.</P>
<P>Banks of <HI>Money</HI> have been framing for the&s;e, and other &s;uch like u&s;es; <HI>Letters</HI> have been i&s;&s;ued, with <HI>Privie Seals,</HI> to as great Per&s;ons as mo&s;t are in the Nation, for the advance of Moneys, which have been <HI>di&s;covered</HI> to <HI>&V;s</HI> by the per&s;ons them&s;elves; Commi&s;&s;ions for <HI>Regi|ments</HI> of <HI>Hor&s;e</HI> and <HI>Foot</HI> and <HI>Command</HI> of <HI>Ca&s;tles,</HI> have been likewi&s;e given from <HI>Charls Stuart,</HI> &s;ince your <HI>Sitting</HI>; and what the general in&s;olencies of that party have been, the hone&s;t people have been &s;en|&s;ible of, and can very well te&s;tify.</P>
<P>It hath not been onely thus; but as in a <HI>Quinzie</HI> or <HI>Pluri&s;ie,</HI> where the humor fixeth in one part, give it &s;cope, it will gather to that place, to the hazarding of the whole, and it is natural to do &s;o, till it de|&s;troy nature, in that <HI>Per&s;on</HI> on whom&s;oever this befals,</P>
<P>So likewi&s;e will tho&s;e <HI>di&s;ea&s;es</HI> take accidental Cau&s;es of aggravation of their di&s;temper; and this was that which I did a&s;&s;ert, that they have taken <HI>Accidental Cau&s;es,</HI> for the growing and increa&s;ing of tho&s;e <HI>Dis|tempers,</HI> as much as would have been in the natural body, if timely remedy were nor applied. And indeed, things were come to that pa&s;s (in re&s;pect of which I &s;hall give you a particular account) that no mor|tal <HI>Phy&s;ician,</HI> if the <HI>Great Phy&s;ician</HI> had not &s;tept in, could have cured the <HI>Di&s;temper.</HI></P>
<P>Shall I lay this upon your Account, or my own? I am &s;ure I can lay it upon Gods account <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">
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mortal and de&s;tructive; and what is all this? Truly I mu&s;t needs &s;ay, a company of men &s;till, like <HI>Briars</HI> and <HI>Thorns,</HI> and wor&s;e, if wor&s;e can be, of another &s;ort than tho&s;e before mentioned to you, have been, and yet are, endeavoring to put Us into <HI>Bloud</HI> and into <HI>Confu&s;ion,</HI> more de&s;perate and dangerous <HI>Confu&s;ion</HI> than <HI>England</HI> ever yet &s;aw.</P>
<P>And I mu&s;t &s;ay, as when <HI>Gideon</HI> commanded his Son to fall upon <HI>Zeba</HI> and <HI>Zalmunna</HI> to &s;lay them, they thought it more noble to die by the hand of a <HI>Man,</HI> than of a <HI>Stripling</HI>; which &s;hews there is &s;ome contentment in the <HI>hand</HI> by which a man <HI>falls</HI>: So is it &s;ome &s;atisfa|ction, if a <HI>Common-wealth</HI> mu&s;t <HI>peri&s;h</HI> that it <HI>peri&s;h</HI> by <HI>Men,</HI> and not by the hands of per&s;ons differing little from <HI>Bea&s;ts</HI>; That if it mu&s;t needs &s;uffer, it &s;hould rather &s;uffer from <HI>rich men,</HI> than from <HI>poor men,</HI> who, as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;aies, <HI>when they oppre&s;s, they l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">ve nothing behind them, but are as a &s;weeping rain.</HI></P>
<P>Now, &s;uch as the&s;e al&s;o are grown up under your &s;hadow: But it will be asked, what have they done? I hope, though they pretend <HI>Common-wealths intere&s;t,</HI> they have had no encourageme<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">t from you, but that as before, rather taken it, than that you have admini&s;tered any Cau&s;e unto them for &s;o doing, from <HI>Delays,</HI> from hopes that this Par|liament would not &s;ettle, from <HI>Pamphlets,</HI> mentioning &s;trange <HI>Votes</HI> and <HI>Re&s;olves</HI> of yours, which I hope did abu&s;e you. Thus you &s;ee, what ever the <HI>Grounds</HI> were, the&s;e have been the <HI>Effects.</HI> And thus I have laid the&s;e things before you, and you and others will be ea&s;ily able to judge how far you are concerned.</P>
<P>And what have the&s;e men done? They have al&s;o labored to per|vert where they could, and as they could, the <HI>hone&s;t meaning</HI> people of the Nation, they have labored to engage, &s;ome in the <HI>Army</HI>; and I doubt, that not onely they, but &s;ome others al&s;o very well known to <HI>You,</HI> have helped in this work of debauching and dividing the <HI>Army</HI>; they have, they have; I would be loth to &s;ay, <HI>who, where,</HI> and <HI>how,</HI> much more loth to &s;ay, they were any of your own <HI>Number,</HI> but I can &s;ay <HI>Endeavors</HI> have been to put the <HI>Army</HI> into a <HI>Di&s;temper,</HI> and to <HI>Feed</HI> that which is the wor&s;t humor in the <HI>Army,</HI> which though it was not a ma&s;tering humor, yet the&s;e took their advantage from delay of the <HI>Settlement,</HI> and the <HI>Practices</HI> before mentioned, and <HI>&s;topping</HI> the pay of the <HI>Army,</HI> to run Us, into <HI>Free-Quarter,</HI> and to bring us into the inconveniencies mo&s;t to be feared and avoided.</P>
<P>What if I am able to make it appear in <HI>Fact,</HI> That &s;ome among&s;t you have run into the City of <HI>London</HI> to per&s;wade to <HI>Petitions</HI> and <HI>Ad|</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span"> own <HI>Votes</HI> that you have passed? whe|ther
<PB N="9" REF="6">
the&s;e practices were in favor of your <HI>Liberties,</HI> or tended to be get hopes of <HI>Peace</HI> and <HI>Settlement</HI> from you; and whether <HI>debauching</HI> the <HI>Army</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> as is before expre&s;&s;ed, and <HI>&s;terving</HI> it, and put|ting it upon <HI>Free-Quarter,</HI> and occa&s;ioning and nece&s;&s;itating the greate&s;t part thereof in <HI>Scotland</HI> to march into <HI>England,</HI> leaving the remainder thereof to have their <HI>throats cut</HI> there, and kindling by the re&s;t a <HI>Fire</HI> in our own <HI>bo&s;oms,</HI> were for the advantage of Affairs here, Let the World judg?</P>
<P>This I tell you al&s;o, that the corre&s;pondency held with the Intere&s;t of the <HI>Cavaliers,</HI> by that Party of men called <HI>Levellers,</HI> and who calls them&s;elves <HI>Common-wealths-men</HI>; who&s;e <HI>Declarations</HI> were framed to that purpo&s;e, and ready to be <HI>publi&s;hed</HI> at the time of their Common|ri&s;ing, whereof <HI>We</HI> are po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed, and for which <HI>We</HI> have the <HI>Confe&s;&s;ion</HI> of them&s;elves, now in cu&s;tody; who confe&s;s al&s;o they built their hopes upon the a&s;&s;urance they had of the <HI>Parliaments</HI> not agreeing a <HI>Settlement</HI>: Whether the&s;e humors have not nouri&s;hed them&s;elves under your <HI>Boughs,</HI> is the &s;ubject of my pre&s;ent di&s;cour&s;e, and I think I &s;ay not ami&s;s if I affirm it to be &s;o.</P>
<P>And I mu&s;t &s;ay it again, That that which hath been their advan|tage, thus to rai&s;e <HI>di&s;turbance,</HI> hath been by the lo&s;s of tho&s;e <HI>Golden opportunities,</HI> that God hath put into your hands for <HI>Settlement,</HI> Judge you whether the&s;e things were thus or no, when you fir&s;t &s;at down, I am &s;ure things were not thus, there was a very great <HI>Peace,</HI> and &s;e|datene&s;s, throughout the&s;e <HI>Nations,</HI> and great expectations of a happy <HI>Settlement,</HI> which I remembered to you at the beginning of my Speech, and hoped that you would have entered upon your bu&s;ine&s;s as you found it.</P>
<P>There was a GOVERNMENT in the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the People, I &s;ay a GOVERNMENT in the po&s;e&s;&s;ion of the People, for many Months, it hath now been exerci&s;ed near fifteen Months; and if it were needful that I &s;hould tell you, how it came into their <HI>Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion,</HI> and how willingly they <HI>received</HI> it, How all <HI>Law</HI> and <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> were di|&s;tributed from it, in every re&s;pect, as to life, liberty and e&s;tate; How it was <HI>owned</HI> by God, as being the Di&s;pen&s;ation of his <HI>Providence,</HI> after twelve years <HI>War,</HI> and <HI>&s;ealed</HI> and <HI>Witne&s;&s;ed</HI> unto by the People, <HI>I</HI> &s;hould but repeat what <HI>I</HI> &s;aid in my la&s;t <HI>Speech</HI> made unto you in this Place, and therefore <HI>I</HI> forbear.</P>
<P>When you were entered upon this GOVERNMENT, raveling into it (you know <HI>I</HI> took no notice what you were doing) if you had gone upon that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">
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<HI>vi&s;ions</HI> for the good of the People of the&s;e Nations, for the <HI>Settling</HI> of &s;uch matters in things of Religion as would have <HI>upheld</HI> and given <HI>Countenance</HI> to a <HI>Godly Ministery,</HI> and yet would have given a <HI>ju&s;t libertie</HI> to <HI>Godly men</HI> of different Judgements, men of the &s;ame Faith with them that you call the <HI>Orthodox Mini&s;tery</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> as it is well known the <HI>Independents</HI> are, and many under the Form of <HI>Ba|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ti&s;m,</HI> who are <HI>&s;ound</HI> in the <HI>Faith,</HI> onely may perhaps be different in Judgement in &s;ome le&s;&s;er matters, yet as true <HI>Chri&s;tians,</HI> both looking at Salvation, <HI>onely by faith in the bloud of Chri&s;t,</HI> men profe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="3 letters">ng the fear of God, having recour&s;e to the <HI>Name</HI> of God, <HI>as to a &s;trong Tower</HI>; I &s;ay you might have had <HI>Opportunity</HI> to have &s;ettled <HI>Peace</HI> and <HI>Quiet|ne&s;s</HI> among&s;t all profe&s;&s;ing <HI>Godline&s;s,</HI> and might have been in&s;trumen|tal, if not to have <HI>healed</HI> the breaches, yet to have kept the Godly of all Judgements from running one upon another, and by keeping them from being over-run by a Common Enemie, rendered them and the&s;e Nations, both &s;ecure, happy, and well &s;atisfied.</P>
<P>Are the&s;s things done? or any thing towards them? Is there not yet upon the Spirits of men a &s;trange <HI>itch</HI>? Nothing will &s;atisfie them, unle&s;s they can put their finger upon their <HI>Brethrens Con&s;ciences,</HI> to pinch them there. To do this was no part of the Conte&s;t we had with the <HI>Common Adver&s;ary</HI>; for <HI>Religion</HI> was not the thing at the fir&s;t conte&s;ted for; but God brought it to that i&s;&s;ue at la&s;t, and gave it unto Us by way of <HI>Redundancie,</HI> and at la&s;t it proved to be that which was mo&s;t dear to us; and wherein con&s;i&s;ted this, more than in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">btain<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ng that <HI>Liberty</HI> from the <HI>Tyranny</HI> of the <HI>Bi&s;hops,</HI> to all <HI>Species</HI> of <HI>Prote|&s;tants,</HI> to wor&s;hip God according to their own <HI>Light</HI> and <HI>Con&s;ciences</HI>? for want of which, many of our <HI>Brethren</HI> for&s;ook their <HI>Native Coun|treys,</HI> to &s;eek their <HI>Bread</HI> from <HI>Strangers,</HI> and to live in <HI>Howling Wild|erne&s;&s;es</HI>; and for which al&s;o, many that remained here, were <HI>impri&s;oned,</HI> and otherwi&s;e <HI>abu&s;ed,</HI> and made the &s;corn of the <HI>Nation.</HI></P>
<P>Tho&s;e that were <HI>&s;ound in the Faith,</HI> how proper was it for them to la|bor for <HI>Liberty,</HI> for a ju&s;t <HI>Liberty,</HI> that men &s;hould not be trampled upon for their <HI>Con&s;ciences</HI>? had not they labored but lately under the <HI>weight</HI> of <HI>Per&s;ecutions,</HI> &amp; was it fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> for them to <HI>&s;it heavy</HI> upon others? is it ingenu|ous to ask liberty, and not to give it? what greater Hypocri&s;ie, than for tho&s;e who wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> oppre&s;&s;ed by the <HI>Bi&s;hops,</HI> to becom the greate&s;t <HI>Oppre&s;|&s;ors</HI> them&s;elves, &s;o &s;oon as their yoke was removed? I could wi&s;h that they who call for liberty now al&s;o, had not too much of that <HI>Spirit,</HI> if the power were in their hands.</P>
<P><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 span">
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<HI>Contentious Railers, Evil Speakers,</HI> who &s;eek by evil words <HI>to corrupt good manners,</HI> per&s;ons of <HI>loo&s;e Conver&s;aions, puni&s;hment</HI> from the <HI>Civil Magi&s;trate</HI> ought to meet with them, becau&s;e if the&s;e pretend Con|&s;cience, yet walking <HI>disorderly,</HI> and not according, but contrary to the <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> and even to <HI>natural light,</HI> they are judged of all, and their <HI>Sins</HI> being open, makes them &s;ubjects of the <HI>Magi&s;trates</HI> Sword, <HI>who ought not to bear it in vain.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI> of the <HI>Army</HI> was &s;uch, that a man would not be &s;uffered to <HI>remain</HI> there, of whom we could take notice he was <HI>guilty</HI> of &s;uch <HI>Practices</HI> as the&s;e: And therefore how <HI>happy</HI> would <HI>England</HI> have been, and You, and <HI>I,</HI> if the Lord had led you on to have &s;ettled upon &s;uch good accounts as the&s;e are, and to have <HI>discountenanced</HI> &s;uch practices as the other, and left men in <HI>disputable things</HI> free to their own <HI>Con&s;ciences,</HI> which was well provided for by the GOVERN|MENT, and Liberty left to provide again&s;t what was apparently evil.</P>
<P>Judge you, whether the <HI>conte&s;ting</HI> for things that were provided for by this GOVERNMENT hath been <HI>Profitable</HI> expence of time for the good of the&s;e Nations? by means whereof, you may &s;ee you have wholely elap&s;ed your time, and done ju&s;t nothing.</P>
<P><HI>I</HI> will &s;ay this to you in behalf of the long <HI>Parliament,</HI> that had &s;uch an Expedient as this GOVERNMENT been propo&s;ed to them, and that they could have &s;een the Cau&s;e of God thus provided for, and had by debates been enlightened in the grounds by which the <HI>Difficul|ties</HI> might have been cleared, and the rea&s;on of the whole enforced, the circum&s;tances of <HI>Time</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ons,</HI> with the <HI>Temper</HI> and <HI>Di&s;po&s;i|tion</HI> of the <HI>People,</HI> and <HI>Affairs</HI> both <HI>Abroad</HI> and at <HI>Home,</HI> when it was undertaken, well weighed, (as well as they were thought to love their Seats) I think in my con&s;cience that they would have proceeded in another manner than you have done, and not have expo&s;ed things to tho&s;e <HI>Difficulties</HI> and <HI>Hazards</HI> they now are at, nor given occa&s;ion to leave the <HI>People</HI> &s;o <HI>dis&s;ettled</HI> as now they are, who <HI>I</HI> dare &s;ay, in the &s;obere&s;t, and mo&s;t judicious part of them, did expect, not a <HI>Que&s;tion|ing,</HI> but a <HI>Doing</HI> things in per&s;uance of the GOVERNMENT, and if <HI>I</HI> be not mis-informed, very many of you came up with this <HI>Satisfa|ction,</HI> having had time enough to weigh and con&s;ider the &s;ame.</P>
<P>And when <HI>I</HI> &s;ay, &s;uch an <HI>Expedient</HI> as this GOVERNMENT is, wherein <HI>I</HI> dare a&s;&s;ert there is a ju&s;t <HI>Liberty</HI> to the <HI>People</HI> of God, and the <HI>Ju&s;t Rights</HI> of the People in the&s;e Nations provided for, <HI>I</HI> can put the i&s;&s;ue thereof upon the <HI>Cleare&s;t Rea&s;on,</HI> what&s;oever any go about to &s;ugge&s;t to the Contrary.</P>
<P><PB N="12" REF="8">But this not being the time and place of &s;uch an <HI>Averment,</HI> for &s;a|tisfaction &s;ake herein, enough is &s;aid in a Book, intituled, <HI>A True State of the Ca&s;e of the Common-wealth,</HI> &amp;c. publi&s;hed in <HI>Jan.</HI> 1653. (And for my &s;elf, <HI>I</HI> de&s;ire not to keep it an hour longer than <HI>I</HI> may pre&s;erve <HI>England</HI> in its <HI>Ju&s;t Rights,</HI> and may <HI>Protect</HI> the People of God in &s;uch a ju&s;t: <HI>Liberty</HI> of their <HI>Con&s;ciences,</HI> as <HI>I</HI> have already mentioned) And therefore if this Parliament have judged things to be otherwi&s;e than as I have &s;tated them, it had been huge <HI>Friendline&s;s</HI> between per|&s;ons that had &s;uch a <HI>Reciprocation,</HI> and in &s;o great <HI>Concernments</HI> to the publick, for them to have convinced me in what particulars therein my error lay, of which I never yet had a word from you. But if in&s;tead thereof, your time has been &s;pent in <HI>Setting up</HI> &s;omwhat el&s;e upon an|other <HI>bottom</HI> than this &s;tands, that looks as if a laying grounds of a <HI>Quarrel</HI> had rather been de&s;igned, than to give the People <HI>Settlement</HI>; if it be thus, its well your Labors have not arrived to any maturity at all.</P>
<P>This Government called you hether, the Con&s;titution whereof be|ing &s;o limited, <HI>A &s;ingle Per&s;on and a Parliament,</HI> and this was thought mo&s;t agreable to the Genral &s;ence of the Nation, having had experience enough by tryal of other Conclu&s;ions, judging this mo&s;t likely to avoid the extreams of Monarchy on the one hand, and <HI>Democracy</HI> on the other, and yet not to found <HI>Dominium in grati&acirc;.</HI> And if &s;o, then certainly to make it more than a Nation, it was requi&s;it that it &s;hould be as it is in the GOVERNMENT, which puts it upon a true and equal <HI>Ballance.</HI> It has been already &s;ubmitted to the Judicious hone&s;t Peo|ple of this Nation, whether the <HI>Ballance</HI> be not <HI>equal,</HI> and what their Judgement is, is <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> by <HI>Submi&s;&s;ion</HI> to it, by <HI>acting</HI> upon it, by <HI>re|&s;training</HI> their <HI>Tru&s;tees</HI> from meddling with it: and it neither asks nor needs any better ratification. But when <HI>Tru&s;tees</HI> in <HI>Parliament</HI> &s;hall by <HI>Experience</HI> find any evil in any parts of the <HI>Government,</HI> refer|ed by the <HI>Government</HI> it &s;elf to the Con&s;ideration of the <HI>Protector</HI> and <HI>Parliament</HI> (of which time it &s;elf will be the be&s;t Di&s;coverer) how can it be rea&s;onably imagined, that a Per&s;on or Per&s;ons coming in by <HI>Ele|ction,</HI> and &s;tanding under &s;uch <HI>Obligations,</HI> and &s;o <HI>limited,</HI> and &s;o nece&s;|&s;itated by <HI>Oath</HI> to <HI>Govern,</HI> for the Peoples good, and to make their love, under God, the be&s;t under-propping, and his be&s;t intere&s;t to him, how can it, I &s;ay, be imagined, that the pre&s;ent or &s;uceeding PROTE|CTORS will refu&s;e to agree to alter any &s;uch thing in the GOVERN|MENT that may be found to be for the good of the People, or to re|cede from any thing which he might be convinced <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 word"> the ballance
<PB N="13" REF="8">
too much to the &s;ingle Per&s;on? And although for the pre&s;ent, the keeping up, and having in His Power the <HI>Militia</HI> &s;eems the mo&s;t hard, yet if it &s;hould be yielded up at &s;uch a time as this, when there is as much need to keep this CAUSE by it (which is mo&s;t evident at this time impugned by all the Enemies of it) as there was to get it, what would becom of all? Or if it &s;hould not be equally placed in him and the <HI>Parliament,</HI> but yielded up at any time, it determins his power, ei|ther for doing the good he ought, or hindring <HI>Parliaments</HI> from perpe|tuating them&s;elves, or from impo&s;ing what <HI>Religions</HI> they plea&s;e on the Con&s;ciences of men, or what Government they plea&s;e upon the Na|tion, thereby &s;ubjecting us to <HI>Dis&s;ettlement,</HI> in every <HI>Parliament,</HI> and to the de&s;perate con&s;equences thereof; and if the Nation &s;hall happen to fall into a ble&s;&s;ed Peace, how ea&s;ily and certainly, will their charge be taken off, and their Forces be disbanded, and then where will the danger be to have the <HI>Militia</HI> thus &s;tated?</P>
<P>What if I &s;hould &s;ay, If there &s;hould be a disproportion or disequa|lity as to the power, it is on the other hand, and if this be &s;o, wherein have you had cau&s;e to quarrel? What Demon&s;trations have you held forth to &s;ettle Me to your opinion? would you had made me &s;o happy as to let me have known your <HI>Grounds.</HI> I have made a free and inge|nuous confe&s;&s;ion of my <HI>Faith</HI> to you, and I could have wi&s;hed it had been in your hearts to have agreed that &s;ome friendly and cordial de|bates might have been towards mutual Conviction; was there none among&s;t you to move &s;uch a thing? No fitne&s;s to li&s;ten to it? No de|&s;ire of a right under&s;tanding? If it be not folly in Me to li&s;ten to Town|talk, &s;uch things have been propo&s;ed, and rejected, with &s;tifne&s;s and &s;everity, once and again; Was it not likely to have been more advanta|gious to the good of this Nation? I will &s;ay this to you for My &s;elf, &amp; to that I have my <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> as a thou&s;and Witne&s;&s;es, and I have my com|fort and contentment in it, and I have the Witne&s;s of Divers here, that I think truely &s;corn to Own me in a Lie, that I would not have been aver&s;e to any alteration, of the good of which I might have been con|vinced, although I could not have agreed to the taking it off the Foun|dation on which it &s;tands, &amp;c. <HI>The acceptation and con&s;ent of the People.</HI></P>
<P>I will not pre&s;age what you have been about, or doing in all this <HI>time,</HI> or do I love to make <HI>Conjectures,</HI> but I mu&s;t tell you this, That as I undertook this <HI>Government</HI> in the &s;implicity of my heart, and as be|fore God, and to do the part of an hone&s;t man, and to be true to the Inere&s;t which in my <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> is dear to many of you (though it is <PB N="14" REF="9">
not alwaies under&s;tood what God in his wi&s;dom may hide from Us, as to Peace and Settlement) So I can &s;ay, that no particular Intere&s;t, ei|ther of my <HI>Self, E&s;tate, Honour,</HI> or <HI>Family,</HI> are, or have been prevalent with me to this Undertaking.</P>
<P>For if you had upon the old Government offered to me this one, this one thing, I &s;peak, as thus advi&s;ed, and before God, as having been, to this day of this opinion, and this hath been my con&s;tant <HI>Judgement,</HI> well known to many that hear me &s;peak, if this one thing had been in|&s;erted, that one thing, that this <HI>Government</HI> &s;hould have been, and placed in my Family <HI>Hereditary</HI> I would have rejected it, and I could have done no other, according to my pre&s;ent <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> and <HI>Light</HI>; I will tell you my rea&s;on, though I cannot tell what God will do with Me, nor You, nor the Nation, for throwing away precious opportuni|ties committed to US.</P>
<P>This hath been my Principle, and I liked it when this Government came fir&s;t to be propo&s;ed to me, That it put Us off that <HI>Hereditary</HI> way, well looking, that as God had declared what GOVERNMENT he had delivered over to the <HI>Jews,</HI> and placed it upon &s;uch per&s;ons as had been in&s;trumental for the <HI>Conduct</HI> and <HI>Deliverance</HI> of his People; And con|&s;idering that promi&s;e in <HI>I&s;aiah,</HI> That God would <HI>give Rulers as at the fir&s;t, and Iudges as at the beginning,</HI> I did not know, but that God might begin, and though at pre&s;ent with a mo&s;t unworthy <HI>Per&s;on,</HI> yet as to the future, it might be after this manner, and I thought this might u&s;her it in. I am &s;peaking as to my <HI>Iudgement</HI> again&s;t making it <HI>Heredi|tary,</HI> to have men cho&s;en for their <HI>Love to God,</HI> and to <HI>Truth,</HI> and <HI>Iu&s;tice,</HI> and not to have it <HI>Hereditary</HI>; for as it is in <HI>Eccle&s;ia&s;tes Who knoweth whether he may beget a Fool or Wi&s;e,</HI> hone&s;t or not, what ever they be mu&s;t come in upon that account, becau&s;e the <HI>Government</HI> is made a <HI>Pa|trimony.</HI></P>
<P>And this I do perhaps declare with too much <HI>Earne&s;tne&s;s,</HI> as being my own <HI>Concernment,</HI> and know not what <HI>Place</HI> it may have in your <HI>Hearts,</HI> and of the good people in the Nation, but however it be, I have comfort in this my truth and plainne&s;s.</P>
<P>I have thus told you my thoughts, which truly I have declared to you in the fear of God, as knowing he will not be mocked, and in the &s;trength of God, as knowing and rejoycing that I am kept in my &s;peak|ing; e&s;pecially when I do not form or frame things without the com|pa&s;s of the <HI>Integrity,</HI> and <HI>Hone&s;ty,</HI> that my own <HI>Con&s;cience</HI> gives me not the <HI>Ly</HI> to what I &s;ay, and then in what I &s;ay I can rejoyce.</P>
<P>Now to &s;peak a word or two to you, Of that I mu&s;t profe&s;s in the
<PB N="15" REF="9">
name of the &s;ame Lord, an I wi&s;h that there had been no cau&s;e that I &s;hould have thus &s;poken to you, and though I have told you, that I came with <HI>Ioy the fir&s;t time,</HI> with &s;ome <HI>regret the &s;econd,</HI> that <HI>now</HI> I &s;peak with <HI>mo&s;t regret</HI> of all.</P>
<P>I look upon you, as having among you many per&s;ons, that I could lay down my life individually for, I could through the grace of God, de&s;ire to lay down my life for you; So far am I from having an unkind or un-Chri&s;tian heart towards you, in your particular capacities.</P>
<P>I have that indeed as a work mo&s;t incumbent upon <HI>Me,</HI> I con&s;ulted what might be <HI>My Duty</HI> in &s;uch a <HI>Day</HI> as this, ca&s;ting up all Con&s;ider|ations. I mu&s;t confe&s;s, as I told you, that I did think <HI>occa&s;ionally</HI> this Nation hath <HI>&s;uffered</HI> extreamly in the re&s;pects mentioned, as al&s;o in the <HI>Disappointments</HI> of their <HI>Expectations</HI> of that <HI>Ju&s;tice</HI> that was due to them by your &s;itting thus long; and what have you brought forth?</P>
<P>I did not, nor cannot apprehend what it is, (I would be loth to call it a <HI>Fate,</HI> that were too <HI>Pagani&s;h</HI> a Word) but there is &s;omething in it, that we have not our Expectations.</P>
<P>I did think al&s;o for my &s;elf, that I am like to meet with <HI>Difficulties,</HI> and that this Nation will not (as it is fit it &s;hould not) be <HI>deluded</HI> with pretexts of <HI>Nece&s;&s;ity</HI> in that great bu&s;ine&s;s of rai&s;ing of money, and were it not that I can make &s;ome <HI>Dilemmaes</HI> upon which to re&s;olve &s;ome things of my <HI>Con&s;cience, Judgement,</HI> and <HI>Actions,</HI> I &s;hould &s;ink at the very pro&s;pect of my Encounters; &s;ome of them are general, &s;ome are more &s;pecial, &s;uppo&s;ing this <HI>Cau&s;e,</HI> or this <HI>Bu&s;ine&s;s</HI> mu&s;t be carried on, either it is of <HI>God,</HI> or of <HI>Man,</HI> if it be of <HI>Man,</HI> I would I had never touched it with a finger; if I had not had a hope fixed in Me that this <HI>Cau&s;e,</HI> and this <HI>bu&s;ine&s;s</HI> is of God, I would many years ago have run from it. If it be of <HI>God,</HI> he will bear it up. If it be of <HI>Man,</HI> it will tumble, as every thing that hath been of man, &s;ince the World began, hath done. And what are all our <HI>Hi&s;tories,</HI> and other <HI>Traditions</HI> of actions in <HI>former times,</HI> but God mani<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">e&s;ting him&s;elf that he hath <HI>&s;ha|ken</HI> and <HI>tumbled down,</HI> and <HI>trampled upon</HI> every thing that he hath not <HI>planted</HI>? And as this is, &s;o the all-wi&s;e God deal with it.</P>
<P>If this be of humane Structure, and invention, and it be an old <HI>Plot|ting</HI> and <HI>Contrivance</HI> to bring things to this <HI>I&s;&s;ue,</HI> and that they are not the <HI>births of Providence,</HI> then they will tumble. But if the Lord take plea&s;ure in <HI>England,</HI> and if he will do Us good, he is able to bear us up; Let the difficulties be what&s;oever they will, we &s;hall in his Strength be
<PB N="16" REF="10">
able to encounter with them. And I ble&s;s God I have been inured to <HI>Difficulties,</HI> and I never found God <HI>failed</HI> when I <HI>tru&s;ted</HI> in him; I can laugh and &s;ing in my heart when I &s;peak of the&s;e things to you, or el&s;|where. And though &s;ome may think it an hard thing without <HI>Par|liamentary Authority</HI> to rai&s;e <HI>money</HI> upon this <HI>Nation</HI>; yet I have an|other Argument to the good people of this Nation, if they would be &s;afe, and have no better <HI>Principle</HI>; whether they prefer the having of their <HI>Will,</HI> though it be their <HI>De&s;truction,</HI> rather than comply with things of nece&s;&s;ity; that will excu&s;e me, but I &s;hould wrong my na|tive Countrey to &s;uppo&s;e this.</P>
<P>For I look at the People of the&s;e Nations, as the ble&s;&s;ing of the Lord, and they are a People ble&s;&s;ed by God. They have been &s;o, and they will be &s;o by rea&s;on of that <HI>immortal &s;eed,</HI> which hath been, &amp; is among&s;t them, tho&s;e regenerated ones in the Land, of &s;everal Judgements, who are all the Flock of Chri&s;t, and Lambs of Chri&s;t, though perhaps under many unruly pa&s;&s;ions, and troubles of Spirit, whereby they give dis|quiet to them&s;elves and others; yet they are not &s;o to God, as to Us, he is a God of other patience, and he will own the lea&s;t of truth in the hearts of his People, and the people being the ble&s;&s;ing of God they will not be &s;o angry, but they will prefer their &s;afety to their pa&s;&s;ions, and their real &s;ecurity to forms, when nece&s;&s;ity calls for &s;upplies; had they not well been acquainted with this principle, they had never &s;een this day of Go&s;pel-Liberty.</P>
<P>But if any man &s;hall object, It is an ea&s;ie thing to talk of necc&s;&s;ities when men create nece&s;&s;ities; would not the <HI>Lord Protector</HI> make Him&s;elf great, and his Familie great? doth not He make the&s;e nece&s;&s;i|ties? and then he will come upon the People with this Argument of nece&s;&s;itie.</P>
<P>This were &s;omething hard indeed, but I have not yet known what it is to make nece&s;&s;ities, what&s;oever the Judgements or thoughts of men are. And I &s;ay this, not onely to this A&s;&s;embly, but to the World, that that man liveth not, that can come to me, and charge me that I have in the&s;e great Revolutions made nece&s;&s;ities; I challenge even all that fear God: And as God hath &s;aid. <HI>My glory I will not give unto another,</HI> Let men take heed, and be twice advi&s;ed, how they call his Revolutions, the things of God, and his working of things from one Period to another, how I &s;ay, they call them nece&s;&s;ities of mens crea|tion, for by &s;o doing they do vilifie and le&s;&s;en the works of God, and
<PB N="17" REF="10">
rob him of his Glory, which he hath &s;aid, he <HI>will not give unto another,</HI> nor &s;uffer to be taken from him. We know what God did to <HI>Herod</HI> when he was applauded, and did not acknowledge GOD; And GOD knoweth what he will do with men when they &s;hall call His Revolu|tions, humane De&s;igns, and &s;o detract from his Glory, when they have not been foreca&s;t, but &s;udden Providences in things, whereby Carnal and Worldly men are enraged, and under, and at which many I fear (&s;ome good) have murmured and repined, becau&s;e disappointed of their mi&s;taken Fancies; but &s;till they have been the wi&s;e di&s;po&s;ings of the Almighty, though In&s;truments have had their pa&s;&s;ions and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">l|ties; and I think it is an Honor to God to acknowledge the nece&s;&s;ities to have been of Gods impo&s;ing, when truely they have been &s;o, as in|deed they have, when we take our &s;in in our actings to our&s;elves, and much more &s;afe, than judge things &s;o contingent, as if there were not a God that ruled the Earth.</P>
<P>We know the Lord hath poured this Nation from Ve&s;&s;el to Ve&s;&s;el, till he poured it into your Lap, when you came fir&s;t together: I am con|fident, that it came &s;o into your hands, was not judged by you to be from Counterfeited, or feigned nece&s;&s;ity, but by Divine Providence and Di&s;pen&s;ation. And this I &s;peak with more earne&s;tne&s;s, becau&s;e I &s;peak for God, and not for men; I would have any man to come and tell of the transactions that have been, and of tho&s;e periods of time, wherein God hath made the&s;e <HI>Revolutions,</HI> and find where they can fix a feigned nece&s;&s;ity.</P>
<P>I could recite particulars, if either My &s;trength would &s;erve Me to &s;peak, or yours to hear; if that you would revolve the great hand of God in his great Di&s;pen&s;ations, you would find that there is &s;carce a man that fell off at any period of time when God had any work to do, that can give God or his work, at this day, a good word.</P>
<P>It was, &s;ay &s;ome, the cunning of the Lord Protector (I take it to my &s;elf) it was the craft of &s;uch a man, and his plot that hath brought it about. And as they &s;ay in other Countreys, There are five or &s;ix cun|ning men in <HI>England</HI> that have <HI>skill,</HI> they do all the&s;e things: Oh what <HI>Bla&s;phemy</HI> is this! becau&s;e men <HI>that are without God in the World,</HI> and Walk not with him, and know not what it is to <HI>pray,</HI> or <HI>believe,</HI> and to <HI>receive</HI> return from God, and to be <HI>spoken</HI> unto by the Spirit of God, who <HI>Speaks</HI> without a written Word &s;ometimes, yet according to it: God hath &s;poken heretofore <HI>in divers manners,</HI> let him &s;peak as he plea|&s;eth.
<PB N="18" REF="11">
Hath he not given us <HI>liberty</HI>? nay is it not our dutie to go to the <HI>Law and to the Te&s;timonies,</HI> and there we &s;hall find that there have been impre&s;&s;ions in extraordinary ca&s;es, as well without the written Word as with it, and therefore there is no difference in the thing thus a&s;&s;erted, from truths generally received, except we will exclude the <HI>Spirit,</HI> without who&s;e concurrence all other Teachings are <HI>ineffectual</HI>; He doth &s;peak to the Hearts and Con&s;ciences of men, and leadeth them to his Law and Te&s;timonies, and there he &s;peaks to them, and &s;o gives them double teachings, according to that of Job. <HI>God &s;peaketh once, yea twice</HI>; and that of David, <HI>God hath &s;poken once, yea twice have I heard this.</HI> Tho&s;e men that live upon their <HI>Mump&s;imus</HI> and <HI>Sump&s;imus,</HI> their <HI>Ma&s;&s;es</HI> and <HI>Service-Books,</HI> their dead and carnal Wor&s;hip, no marvel if they be <HI>&s;trangers</HI> to God, and the <HI>works</HI> of God, and to <HI>&s;piritual dis|pen&s;ations.</HI> And becau&s;e they &s;ay and believe thus, mu&s;t we do &s;o too? we in this <HI>Land</HI> have been otherwi&s;e in&s;tructed, even by the <HI>Word,</HI> and <HI>Works,</HI> and <HI>Spirit</HI> of God.</P>
<P>To &s;ay that <HI>men</HI> bring forth the&s;e things, when <HI>God</HI> doth them, judg you if God will bear this. I wi&s;h that every &s;ober heart, though he hath had temptations upon him of de&s;erting this CAUSE of God, yet may take heed how he provokes, and <HI>falls into the hands of the living God</HI> by &s;uch Bla&s;phemies as the&s;e, according to the 10^t^h of the <HI>Hebrews, If we &s;in wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more &s;acrifice for &s;in</HI> (it was &s;poken to the Jews, that having profe&s;&s;ed Chri&s;t apo&s;tatized from him) what then? nothing but <HI>a fearful falting into the hands of the Living God.</HI></P>
<P>They that &s;hall <HI>attribute</HI> to this or that <HI>per&s;on</HI> the contrivances and production of tho&s;e mighty things God hath wrought in the mid&s;t of us, and that they have not been the revolutions of Chri&s;t him&s;elf, upon who&s;e <HI>Shoulders</HI> the GOVERNMENT is laid, they &s;peak again&s;t God, and they fall under his hand without a Mediator, that is, if we deny the <HI>Spirit</HI> of Je&s;us Chri&s;t the <HI>glory</HI> of all his works in the world, by which he <HI>Rules</HI> Kingdoms, and doth <HI>admini&s;ter,</HI> and is the <HI>Rod</HI> of his &s;trength, we provoke the Mediator; And he may &s;ay, I'll leave you to God, I'll not intercede for yon, let him tear you to pieces, I'll leave thee to fall into Gods hands, thou denie&s;t me my Soveraignty and Power commit|ted to me, I'll not intercede nor mediate for thee, thou falle&s;t into the hands of the living God. Therefore what&s;oever you may judge <HI>men</HI> for, and &s;ay, This man is cunning, and politick, and &s;ubtil; take heed,
<PB N="19" REF="11">
again I &s;ay, how you judge of his <HI>revolutions,</HI> as the <HI>products</HI> of <HI>mens</HI> inventions.</P>
<P>I may be thought to pre&s;s too much upon this Theme, but pray God it may &s;tick upon your hearts and mine; the <HI>worldly minded man</HI> knows nothing of this, but is a &s;tranger to it, and becau&s;e of this his <HI>Athei&s;m</HI> and <HI>murmurings</HI> at <HI>in&s;truments,</HI> yea <HI>repining</HI> at <HI>God him&s;elf</HI>; and no wonder, con&s;idering the Lord hath done &s;uch things among&s;t us as have not been known in the world the&s;e 1000 years, and yet not withstand|ing is not owned by us.</P>
<P>There is another nece&s;&s;ity which you have put upon us, and we have not &s;ought; I appeal to God, Angels, and Men, if I &s;hall rai&s;e Money according to the Article in the GOVERNMENT which had power to call you hether, and did, and in&s;tead of &s;ea&s;onable providing for the Ar|mie, you have labored to overthrow the GOVERNMENT, and the <HI>Army</HI> is now upon <HI>Free-Quarter,</HI> and you would never &s;o much as let me hear a tittle from you concerning it, where is the fault? has it not been as if you had had a purpo&s;e to put this extremity upon us and the Nation? I hope this was not in your minds, I am not willing to judge &s;o; but this is the &s;tate unto which we are reduced: By the <HI>De&s;igns</HI> of &s;ome in the <HI>Army</HI> who are now in <HI>Cu&s;tody,</HI> it was <HI>de&s;igned</HI> to get as ma|ny of them as could, through discontent for want of money, the Army being in a Barren Countrey, near Thirty weeks behind in pay, and up|on other &s;pecious pretences, to march for <HI>England</HI> out of <HI>Scotland,</HI> and in discontent to <HI>&s;eiz,</HI> their <HI>General</HI> there, a faithful and hone&s;t man, that &s;o another might head the Army, and all this opportunity taken from your delays, whether will this be a thing of feigned <HI>nece&s;sity</HI>? What could it &s;ignifie but that the Army are in <HI>di&s;content</HI> already, and wee'l make them live upon <HI>&s;tones,</HI> wee'l make them ca&s;t off their <HI>Governours</HI> and <HI>Di&s;cipline</HI>? What can be &s;aid to this? I li&s;t not to un&s;addle my &s;elf, and put the fault upon others backs; Whether it hath been for the good of <HI>England</HI> while&s;t men have been talking of this thing or the other, and pretending <HI>liberty,</HI> and a many good words whether it hath been as it &s;hould have been? I am confident you cannot think it has, the Nation will not think &s;o. And if the wor&s;t &s;hould be made of things, I know not what the <HI>Corni&s;h men,</HI> or the <HI>Lincoln&s;hire men</HI> may think, or other Counties, but I believe they will all think they are not &s;afe. A temporary &s;u&s;pen&s;ion of caring for the greate&s;t <HI>Liberties</HI> and privi|ledges (if it were &s;o, which is denied) would not have been of
<PB N="20" REF="12">
that damage, that the not providing again&s;t <HI>Free Quarter</HI> hath run the Nation upon. And if it be my <HI>liberty</HI> to walk abroad in the <HI>Fields,</HI> or to take a <HI>Iourney,</HI> yet it is not my wi&s;dom to do &s;o when my <HI>Hou&s;e is on fire.</HI></P>
<P>I have troubled you with a long <HI>Speech,</HI> and I believe it may not have the &s;ame re&s;entment with all that it hath with &s;ome: But becau&s;e that is unknown to me, I &s;hall leave it to God, and conclude with that, that I think my &s;elf bound in my <HI>Duty</HI> to God and the People of the&s;e Nations, to their <HI>&s;afety</HI> and <HI>good</HI> in every <HI>re&s;pect.</HI> I think it my duty to tell you, That it is not for the <HI>profit</HI> of the&s;e Nations, nor for <HI>Common</HI> and <HI>Publick good,</HI> for You to continue here any longer, and therefore, I do Declare unto you, <HI>THAT I DO DISSOLVE THIS PAR|LIAMENT.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
