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<DATE>2010-03-19</DATE>
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<NAME>Susie Lorand</NAME>
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<P>THE Fidelity, Obedience, and Valour Of the ENGLISH-NATION, DECLARED, By way of Pacification of His <HI>Maje&s;ty,</HI> and de&s;ire of a re-union between His <HI>Maje&s;ty</HI> and the <HI>Parliament.</HI></P>
<P><HI>As al&s;o,</HI> That the pre&s;ent Forces now ready to bicker here in <HI>England</HI> may be turn'd to revenge the lo&s;&s;e of the Prote&s;tants blood in <HI>Ireland,</HI> &s;hed by tho&s;e barbarous <HI>Iri&s;h Rebels.</HI></P>
<P>Written by <HI>Walter Meredith.</HI> Gent.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>E. Griffin.</HI> 1642.</P>
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<HEAD>The Fidelity, Obedience, and Valour of the Engli&s;h NATION.</HEAD>
<P>_I Drew my breath fir&s;t in the happy raigne of that mo&s;t famous and unparaleld Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> be|tween whom and her people there was &s;o &s;weet a harmony of Con|cord (above foure and forty yeers together) as well by the peoples obedience to Her in admitting of Her ju&s;t Preroga|tives, and &s;he again not trampling on their Liberties and Priviledges, that the whole World admired at their unity.</P>
<P>Out of that heavenly unity, the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Nation, who were naturally valiant and active, (and indeed her times produced great and Noble Actions) were kept from &s;loth and idlene&s;&s;e, for what with her Maje&s;ties a&s;&s;i&s;ting the French King in his Civill warre, her re|leeving the States of <HI>Holland</HI> again&s;t <HI>Spaines</HI> tyranny, Her wra&s;tling in <HI>Ireland,</HI> to civilize and &s;uppre&s;&s;e tho&s;e notorious and barbarous Rebels, and the many
<PB REF="3">voyages made out of this Kingdome to unknowne parts of the world, the Engli&s;h were &s;o imployed (and &s;o well they managed their imployment) that they brought home to their Prince Glory and Ho|nour, and to them&s;elves Renown and Riches.</P>
<P>It plea&s;ed God I lived to &s;ee the period of Her Raigne, after who&s;e death &s;ome great change (be|cau&s;e it was not vulgarly known who &s;hould be her Succe&s;&s;or) was much feared, and expected. But &s;ee the mercy of God, a bright Starre from the North appeared, that enlghtned this Kingdome, and dried up the Teares of &s;orrow, which were &s;hed for Her lo&s;&s;e, and filled our hearts with joy, by &s;ending us a King for a Queen, nay, a King of the Prote&s;tant Re|ligion, a <HI>Salomon</HI> for Wi&s;edome, King <HI>James</HI> the ble&s;&s;ed father of our now Royall Soveraigne Lord King <HI>Charles,</HI> He brought with Him another King|dom, <HI>Scotland,</HI> and &s;o had his temples circumferen|ced with three Crownes, and as <HI>Henry</HI> the &s;eventh His grandfather joyn'd the Ro&s;es, &s;o this <HI>James</HI> joyn'd the Kingdomes in union.</P>
<P>At &s;uch time, as it plea&s;ed God to call Queen <HI>Eli|zabeth,</HI> to the re&s;ignation of Her Crowns here, and to receive a Crown of Immortality in Heaven, an Eng|li&s;h Gentleman and friend of mine was then in <HI>Paris,</HI> and accidently happend to be in the French Kings Court, when newes was brought of Her Maje&s;ties death the King being at dinner&punc; one of His Gentle|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="3+ letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> waited at His Table, told His Maje&s;ty, he had received Letters out of <HI>England,</HI> that Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> had fini&s;hed her daies; at which the King <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> and demanded who &s;ucceeded Her? the
<PB REF="3">Gentleman told him, that <HI>James</HI> the &s;ixth King of <HI>Scotland</HI> was proclaimed King, and &s;etled in Her Throane, and with that produced the Proclamation; which the French King reading, and mu&s;ing there|upon, &s;uddenly brake forth into a pa&s;&s;ion of admi|ration, and clapping his hand on the Table &s;aid, Is it po&s;&s;ible that the King of <HI>Scotland</HI> &s;hould come to the Crown of <HI>England,</HI> and not one box of the eare given for it? The Gentleman made him this an&s;wer, Yes &s;ir, His acce&s;&s;e to the Crown was with &s;o &s;weet and generall applau&s;e, that it might well have been thought, there had never been enmity between the two Kingdomes; whereupon the King advancing him&s;elfe from his Chaire, &s;wore a great oath, That King <HI>Iames</HI> was the happie&s;t King in the World, for that he was become King of a people (meaning the Engli&s;h) who were the mo&s;t faithfull and obedient in the time of Peace, and the mo&s;t valiant in time of Warre.</P>
<P>The&s;e vertues <HI>Henry</HI> the fourth, that magnani|mous French King was plea&s;ed to attribute to the Engli&s;h Nation, out of gratitude to them who had a&s;&s;i&s;ted him in his warre, and had &s;hewen them&s;elves brave men on his part. Certainly, he him&s;elfe was a valiant man, and therefore loved valour in others; and as he commended their valour, he forgot not their fidelity and obedience to their Prince, the Queen, in pre&s;erving Her (under God) often, from the hands of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ho&s;e bloody mini&s;ters, whom the Pope and <HI>Spaine</HI> had appointed, and corrupted to de&s;troy Her. Great pity it was &s;o brave a Prince as he was, had not the like obedience and fidelity in His Sub|jects,
<PB REF="4">the want whereof brought him to an untimely end, for he was by that paracide <HI>Raviliack</HI> murthe|red, by a &s;tab at his heart, pa&s;&s;ing in his Coach through a &s;treet in <HI>Paris</HI> at noon-day.</P>
<P>Our good King <HI>James</HI> much lamented his death, and &s;o did all good men of the Prote&s;tant Religion, of which it was thought he was one, but for &s;ome worldly re&s;pects dur&s;t not profe&s;&s;e it openly, which &s;ome attribute an errour in him, of de&s;&s;embling with God, who therefore &s;uffered him to end his daies by violence.</P>
<P>King <HI>Iames</HI> was no di&s;&s;embler, for he profe&s;&s;ed the true prote&s;tant Religion, and maintained it with His Pen, witne&s;&s;e His Apologie to all Chri&s;tian Prin|ces, and other excellent bookes of His, which are His living Monuments, He was a peaceable Prince, He kept warre out of His Dominions, when all the Princes of the World be&s;ides were in Combu&s;tion; &s;uch was His gentle nature, that he cho&s;e rather to &s;pend a ma&s;&s;e of money in Emba&s;&s;ies and treaties for peace among&s;t forraigne Princes (to &s;ave the effu|&s;ion of Chri&s;tian blood) then with His Sword to &s;ide with any of them.</P>
<P>This kept him from having enemies abroad, and He is to be accounted famous for it; but had He drawn His &s;word in &s;ome actions (as without &s;cruple of Con&s;cience, he might ju&s;tly have done, in that of the Palatinate) the Engli&s;h Nation had not &s;o long (like blades &s;till kept &s;heath'd) ru&s;ted in their &s;cab|berds; for to &s;ay truth, they were grown weake and effeminat for lacke of imployment, but that was not altogether the peoples fault, for had they been per|mitted
<PB REF="4">(as in Queen <HI>Elizabeths</HI> time they were) free|ly to make voyages into all forraine parts of the World where they li&s;t, upon di&s;coveries, or to trade, both they had pre&s;erved their vigour and &s;trength, and this Iland had been inriched more than it is, but they were prevented of this good by a late tricke of binding up the trade and trafique into forraine parts in parchment, the free &s;ubject cannot trade beyond &s;eas for him&s;elfe, unle&s;&s;e he be free of &s;uch and &s;uch a Company, which hath been a meanes that Noble|men and Gentlemens younger &s;onnes have kept home, liv'd idlely and effeminately, and &s;o ruined their fortunes, when they might have done their Prince and Countrey good &s;ervice, and gotten to them&s;elves honour, knowledge and wealth.</P>
<P>Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> and King <HI>Iames</HI> both had the wi&s;domes and happine&s;&s;e to keep the Woolfe from their owne doores, and to live in great peace and tranquility, within them&s;elves. Next to the ble&s;|&s;ing of God, I mu&s;t attribute that happine&s;&s;e to the Accord of Soveraigne and Subject, (woe be to them that have now cau&s;ed a di&s;cord.) And that ble&s;&s;ing God gave for the great care both Princes and peo|ple had to Religion, and cleering the true light of the Go&s;pell out of the mi&s;ts and darke clouds of po|pery and &s;uper&s;tition. And in tho&s;e times, I mu&s;t tell you, I ob&s;erved tho&s;e Venerable and Reverend Fathers of the Church who&s;e Name and Title is now de&s;pi&s;ed, (I meane the Bi&s;hops) were great actors and in&s;truments in the practice of piety and preaching.</P>
<P>It was then frequent with the Bi&s;hops to preach
<PB REF="5">at the Court, <HI>Pauls</HI>-Cro&s;&s;e, Spittle, nay and in pri|vate Pari&s;h-Churches, at &s;uch time, as either they were called to Parliaments, or had other bu&s;ine&s;&s;e in <HI>London;</HI> and from their lips the people &s;uckt both Milke and Honey, &s;o that then there was as much running and crowding to heare a Bi&s;hop preach, as now there is to heare &s;uch as would abo|li&s;h our Common-prayer-booke, and make men beleeve the Lords Prayer is not to be u&s;ed. Some of tho&s;e reverend Fathers are &s;till living, and tho&s;e that are dead, live in their workes which they have left to po&s;terity, as monuments of their learning and vertues.</P>
<P><HI>England</HI> then received much delight and comfort by their &s;ound and orthodox doctrine, for as then I mu&s;t tell you tho&s;e Bi&s;hops did not in Pulpits either blow up the Princes Prerogative, nor infringe the Subjects priviledges, neither did they teach any &s;e|ditious doctrine, no, their Sermons were in&s;tructi|ons of a good life and conver&s;ation, to do good and e&s;chew evill, mingling mercy with ju&s;tice, and &s;et|ting forth the rewards of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and the puni&s;hments of vices and wickedne&s;&s;e. They &s;pared not at Court to teach good government, and abroad to in&s;truct the people in obedience to that govern|ment. They were valiant Champions for Chri&s;t, and &s;tood &s;toutly out for the maintenance of the truth of the holy Go&s;pell, and as their Texts &s;erved, they never came out of (their &s;tand) the Pulpit, before they had given Popi&s;h doctrine &s;uch wounds, as all their papi&s;ticall Holy-water mixt with the Milke of <HI>Mary,</HI> could never yet cure, nor will &s;o long as the
<PB REF="5">Pope claims the &s;upremacy Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall out of his own Dioces. But of late (with griefe of heart I &s;peake it) &s;ome of that venerable and holy calling, by parti|cipating too much with temporall affaires of &s;tate, as too ambitious of Lordly titles and dignities, which withdrew them from the true exerci&s;e of their pa|&s;torall Calling, and in their Prelaticall government u&s;ed too much au&s;terity, introducing aboli&s;ht cere|monies, and pre&s;&s;ing the u&s;e of them too hard upon nice con&s;ciences, and &s;o failing to pur&s;ue the good pre&s;idents of their predece&s;&s;ors, have drawne upon them&s;elves, and that holy Calling, &s;candall and contempt.</P>
<P>And &s;ince by chance I have toucht upon the word Ceremony, I cannot but grieve, that now, &s;ome &s;o &s;trive to have no Ceremonies u&s;ed about the &s;er|vice of God, that they would al&s;o bani&s;h all decency and &s;eemly ge&s;ture of reverence and honour in the performance of our duty and &s;ervice to the Maje&s;ty of Heaven. The&s;e men looke for reverence to be done to them&s;elves, and yet they will deny it unto God; for which of them would not think his &s;ervant a &s;awcy companion to wait at his Table, or come to require &s;omething at his hands with his cap on his head? &s;hall we then be ruled by &s;uch? No, let others do as they will, the &s;aving Name of Je&s;us &s;hall have my reverence, whil&s;t I have an Eare to heare, and a Knee to bow. And as at the rehear&s;al of the Creed (in ancient times) the people &s;tood up, and every man drew his Sword, intimating thereby they would de|fend their faith with their lives, I hold that &s;tanding up &s;o excellent a po&s;ture that I will u&s;e it al&s;o when|ever
<PB REF="6">I heare, <HI>Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the holy Gho&s;t</HI> pronounced.</P>
<P>The pre&s;ent troubles of the times with us here in <HI>England</HI> doe much amaze me, and tho&s;e troubles have brought to my memory the attributes given to the Engli&s;h Nation (by <HI>Henry</HI> the fourth of <HI>France</HI>) of valiant, faithfull and obedient people; there was never a more fit time to &s;hew the&s;e vertues then now. For con&s;ider well between whom the pre&s;ent di&s;tractions in <HI>England</HI> are, Is it not between Sove|raign and Subject? Whats the cau&s;e? a mi&s;-under&s;tan|ding between His Maje&s;ty &amp; the Parliament. Is the fault in His Maje&s;ty, or the Parliament? I &s;ay in nei|ther, for under Heaven there is not a &s;weeter Prince of nature and di&s;po&s;ition; nor ever was there a more faithfull &amp; wi&s;e Councell a&s;&s;embled in Parliament. Sure there are &s;ome <HI>Achitophels</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> that un|der hand have incenced His Maje&s;ty and made him angry, it behooves us Subjects to beware, for the anger of a King is like the roaring of a Lyon, and the raging of many waters. But I hope my Lord the King will neither &s;hew the fury of the one, nor the mercile&s;ne&s;&s;e of the other upon His Subjects; and that His Maje&s;ty may be the better appea&s;ed let us all like true hearted Engli&s;h men (as we are) &s;hew our obedience and fidelity to His Maje&s;ty and Par|liament, they cannot, mu&s;t not, ought not to be &s;e|parated; for they that profe&s;&s;e them&s;elves &s;ingly for the King, with an intention to &s;et a &s;eparation be|tween Him and His Parliament, are but meere Syco|phants, and for the time doe but flatter for their own ends; let the King come to any di&s;tre&s;&s;e (which
<PB REF="6">God forbid) he &s;hall &s;oone finde them like vermin &s;teale from him. And they that are only for the Par|liament exempting the King are fooles that dote upon a body without a head; God hath joynd them, let no man &s;eparate them.</P>
<P>But woe is me, what doe I &s;ee? great preparation for battaile: with whom? even with our &s;elves; if God prevent it not, our Engli&s;h Nation is at the point of de&s;troying one another, when all the force of forraigne Princes from abroad could never pre|vaile to do it.</P>
<P>Oh where are our reverend Divines to &s;tand in the gap for us? Have we not one Father of the Church left to intercede between the King and us his Subjects, as <HI>Abraham</HI> did with God for &s;infull <HI>Sodom</HI> and <HI>Gomorah,</HI> and &s;ay, wilt thou &s;lay the righteous with the wicked?</P>
<P>Let not my Lord the King be angry if I put Him in mind of the day of His returne from <HI>Spaine,</HI> I re|member it was a day of much raine, but I conceive the Heavens wept for joy; however I am &s;ure, there was &s;uch an expre&s;&s;ion of love to him, by all true Engli&s;h Prote&s;tants, man woman and child, that I have never &s;een heard or read of the like in <HI>England;</HI> the Bels in &s;teeples chaunted, the flames of Bonfires a&s;cended even to the region of fire, and the people &s;o fea&s;ted them&s;elves, that I can witne&s;&s;e for one little Village within five miles of <HI>London,</HI> where I then was, there was not any from the age of ten to three|&s;core, but at night after their mirth and jovialty all the day in the wet without, that went to bed dry within for very joy, the then Prince, our hopes, and
<PB REF="7">now our Soveraigne Lord the King, was &s;afely re|turned among&s;t us. And as for the Cities of <HI>London</HI> and <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> and the places adjacent thereunto, they began their Chri&s;mas then, and never ended their mirth and joy for having their Prince again, till Lent came that they mu&s;t make them&s;elves apt by prayer and fa&s;ting to condole the &s;orrows of our Sa|viours &s;ufferings for our &s;ins.</P>
<P>All this joy (I confe&s;&s;e) was but our duties, and I hope my gracious Lord the King, like to Almighty God (who&s;e Vicegerent over us here on earth he is) will accept it graciou&s;ly, though it were our duties, and remember it proceeded out of a faithfull and cordiall love to him, and remembring it now in his greate&s;t anger, may alay his wrath, and move him to love and imbrace us like a loving and graci|ous Soveraigne. And then he &s;hall &s;ee the fidelity and obedience of the Engli&s;h Nation towards him is not one jot abated, but much encrea&s;ed for His honour and &s;afety. Oh royall Soveraigne try, and if it prove not &s;o, hang me up for a lyer.</P>
<P>And let not my Lord the King be angry with me for &s;peaking this one time, for I &s;peake out of the aboundant de&s;ire of my heart to pre&s;erve my King and Countrey from de&s;truction. I have hitherto ob|&s;erved Gods wonderfull pre&s;ervation of His Maje&s;ty and this Kingdome, and that God hath done by us as our Saviour did in the Go&s;pell, when he cured the blind man, by applying that to re&s;tore his &s;ight, which (to mans &s;ence) would have put out his eyes, Spitle and Clay; &s;o by contrary meanes, God hath wrought honour to our King, and happine&s;&s;e
<PB REF="7">to our Nation. I thus apply it, the Kingdome of <HI>Scot|land</HI> lately i&s;&s;ued forth an Army upon us, and His Maje&s;ty (offended at it) rai&s;ed a Counter-Army here again&s;t them, there wanted nothing but to charge the on&s;et: then &s;ee the wonders of the Lord, the Engli&s;h continuing &s;til their love and obedience, petitions the King for admittance of a treaty, He heard them, and by Gods ble&s;&s;ing an everla&s;ting peace (we hope) between us and that Nation was confirmed. So that as it is truly &s;aid, <HI>Henry</HI> joynd the Ro&s;es, and <HI>Iames</HI> the Kingdoms, I may ju&s;tly &s;ay that <HI>Charles</HI> hath joynd the hearts; So that what was left unperfected by His Royall Father, is now perfe|cted by him. Glory be to God, and honour to His Maje&s;ty for the &s;ame.</P>
<P>Here are now our weapons drawn, &s;hall we &s;heath them in our own bowels (God forbid) upon the ben|ded knees of my heart, I be&s;eech God His Maje&s;ty will daigne to accord and hearken to His Councell the Parliament in this conte&s;t, as he did to his Eng|li&s;h Lords in that; and no doubt but another great addition of fame and honour, will thereby redound to His Maje&s;ty. Speedy love and peace here in <HI>Eng|land</HI> will doe it, otherwi&s;e not: Let my Lord the King, and Parliament con&s;ider, there is now ready in the North a great Army, and preparation for other force here in the South, if they cla&s;h, they cannot long con|tinue, but as was well ob&s;erved, by an Honourable per&s;on in this Kingdome, that the one mu&s;t &s;uddenly ruine the other, or both de&s;troy the Kingdome: If King and people joyne here in peace, the co&s;t of tho&s;e preparations need not be lo&s;t, for God hath
<PB REF="8">given us an opportunity to turne the points of our Swords another way, I meane toward <HI>Ireland,</HI> the &s;afety whereof much concernes all His Maje&s;ties o|ther Kingdomes. There is ju&s;t cau&s;e of revenge for the blood of &s;o many poore Chri&s;tian Prote&s;tants of this our Engli&s;h Nation, &s;pilt by tho&s;e barbarous and cruell Rebels, who&s;e &s;avage cruelties cannot be paralleld; So may my Lord the King perfect that worke there which his Noble Progenitors left un|perfect, that is, to root out that hollow-hearted peo|ple, the popi&s;h Iri&s;h (who as long as they adheare to the Popes &s;upremacy, can never be loyall &s;ubjects to their King) and plant good men there, that truly fear God, who may &s;erve his Maje&s;ty with all fidelity and obedience in times of peace, and valourou&s;ly in time of warre, as his loyall Subjects the Engli&s;h have done and ever will doe to the worlds end. And &s;o God &s;ave the King and Parliament.</P>
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