Laudo manentem, fi celeres quatit And having thus glorified God on high, that they may do all in them lies towards promoting Peace on Earth, they do very heartily declare, and profefs good Will towards all Men; and bear no unkindness to any that were the Contrivers of the undeferv'd Misfortunes of their Noble Father. 1 THE For what Nation is there fo great, who hath God fo nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what Nation is there fo great that hath Statutes, and Fudgments fo righteous as all this Law, which I fet before you this day? Only take heed to thy felf, and keep thy foul diligently, left thou forget the things which thine eyes have feen. thor. HAT Pofterity may not be Deceived, by the The Preface profperous Wickednefs of thofe times of which of the AuI write, into an Opinion, that nothing less than a general Combination, and univerfal Apoftacy in the whole Nation from their Religion, and Allegiance, could, in fo fhort a time, have produced fuch a total and prodigious Alteration, and Confufion over the whole Kingdom; And that the Memory of those, who, out of Duty and Confcience, have oppofed that Torrent, which did overwhelm them, may not lofe the recompence due to their Virtue, but having undergone the injuries and reproaches of This, may find a vindication in a better age: it will not be unufeful, for the information of the Judgement and Confcience of men, to prefent to the world a full and clear Narration of the Grounds, Circumstances, and Artifices of this Rebellion; not only from the time fince the flame hath been visible in a Civil war, but, looking farther back, from those former paffages and accidents, by which the Seed-plots were made and framed, from whence thofe mifchiefs have fucceffively grown to the height they have fince arrived at. Vol. I. Part 1. A AND AND in this enfuing History, though the hand and judgement of God will be very vifible, in infatuating a People (as Ripe and Prepared for Destruction) into all the perverfe actions of folly and madness, making the Weak to contribute to the designs of the Wicked, and fuffering even those, by degrees, out of a Confcience of their Guilt, to grow more Wicked than they intended to be; letting the Wife to be impofed upon by Men of fmall understanding, and permitting the Innocent to be poffeffed with laziness and fleep in the most visible article of Danger; uniting the Ill, though of the most different Opinions, oppofite Interefts, and diftant Affections, in a firm and conftant league of Mischiefs; and dividing thofe, whofe Opinions and Interests are the fame, into Faction and Emulation, more pernicious to the Publick than the Treafon of the others: whilft the poor People, under pretence of Zeal to Religion, Law, Liberty, and Parliaments words of pretious esteem in their juft fignification) are furioufly hurried into Actions introducing Atheism, and diffolving all the Elements of Chriftian Religion; Cancelling all obligations, and deftroying all foundations of Law and Liberty; and rendring, not only the Privileges, but the very Being of Parliaments defperate and impracticable: I fay, though the immediate finger and wrath of God must be acknowledg'd in thefe perplexities and diftractions; yet he who fhall diligently obferve the diftempers and conjunctures of Time, the ambition, pride, and folly of Perfons, and the fuddain growth of Wickedness, from want of care and circumfpection in the firft impreffions, will find all these Miseries to have proceeded, and to have been brought upon us from the fame natural caufes, and means, which have ufually attended Kingdoms fwoln with long Plenty, Pride, and Excels, towards fome fignal mortification, and caftigation of Heaven. And it may be, upon the confideration how impoffible it was to foresee many things that have happen'd, and of the neceffity of overlooking many other things, we may not yet find the Cure fo defperate, but that, by God's mercy, the Wounds may be again bound up; and then this profpect may not make the future Peace lefs pleasant and durable. I HAVE the more willingly induced my felf to this unequal task, out of the hope of contributing fomewhat to that bleffed end: and though a piece of this Nature (wherein the infirmities of fome, and the malice of others, must be boldly look'd upon and mention'd) is not likely to be published in the Age in which it is writ, yet it may ferve to inform my felf, and fome others, what we ought to do, as well as to comfort us in what we have done. For which work, as I may not be thought altogether an incompetent Perfon, having been been present as a Member of Parliament in thofe Councils before, and till the breaking out of the Rebellion, and having fince had the Honour to be near two great Kings in fome Truft, fo I fhall perform the fame with all faithfulness, and ingenuity; with an equal obfervation of the faults and infirmities of both fides, with their defects and oversights in purfuing their own ends; and fhall no otherwife mention fmall and light Occurrences, then as they have been Introductions to matters of the greatest Moment, nor fpeak of Perfons otherwise, than as the mention of their Virtues or Vices is effential to the work in hand: In which I fhall, with truth, preserve my self from the least sharpness, that may proceed from private provocation, and in the whole, obferve the rules that a Man fhould who deferves to be believed. 'I SHALL not then lead any Man farther back in this journey for the difcovery of the entrance into thofe dark ways, than the beginning of this King's Reign. For I am not fo fharp-fighted as thofe, who have difcerned this Rebellion contriving, from (if not before) the death of Queen Elizabeth, and fomented by feveral Princes, and great Ministers of State in Chriftendom, to the time that it brake out. Neither do I look fo far back as I do, because I believe the defign to have been fo long fince formed, but that by viewing the Temper, Difpofition, and Habit, at that time, of the Court and of the Country, we may difcern the minds of Men prepared, of fome to Act, and of others to Suffer all that hath fince happened; the Pride of this Man, and the Popularity of that; the Levity of one, and the Morofity of another; the Excels of the Court in the greatest Want, and the Parfimony and Retention of the Country in the greatest Plenty; the fpirit of Craft and Subtlety in fome, and the Unpolished Integrity of others, too much defpifing craft or art; all contributing joyntly to this mass of Confufion now before us. K Reign. ING James in the end of March 1625. died, leaving View of his Majesty that now is, engaged in a War with the begin Spain, but unprovided with money to manage it;ning of K. though it was undertaken by the consent and advice of Par-Charles I. liament: the People being naturally enough inclined to the War (having furfeited with the uninterrupted Pleasures and Plenty of 22 years Peace) and fufficiently inflamed againft the Spaniard; but quickly weary of the charge of it: And therefore, after an unprofperous and chargeable attempt in a Voyage by Sea upon Cadiz, and as unfuccessful, and more unfortunate one upon France at the Ile of Ree (for fome difference had likewife about the fame time begotten a War with that Prince) a general Peace was shortly concluded with both A 2 King |