A Second Admonition to Edward Bagshaw, Part 2 · Section 15 – Section 16
Sect. 15. E. B. In your Writings you do highly approve of that which was the worſt part of the change, the ſetting up of Cromwell to he Protector?
R. B. This alſo is notoriouſly falſe,10th Notorious Falſhood and a Calumny. as my Writings which have no ſuch word, and as thoſe that I converſt with know. Indeed Oliver Cromwells firſt Troop did under their Officers hands invite me to be their Paſtor, which I refuſed as diſſenting from the way into which I ſaw them entring, and not willing to leave my peaceable habitation at Coventry, where I had the ſociety of very many worthy Miniſters, and leiſure for my Studies, and was out of the heats of War: And after he expoſtulated with me himſelf for refuſing his deſires: But the very firſt hour that I went to his Army, which was after Naſeby fight, he having notice of my words and intentions, from a friend of his of the Coventry Committee, I was entertained by the jeers of his moſt intimate friends, as one that came forſooth to Reclaim the Army, and ſave the Kingdom, &c. And in a year and halfs time while I ſtayed among them, he would never once ſpeak to me; nor was I ever at his Quarters, but kept at a diſtance as one of their adverſaries, and thoſe that I had intereſt in were diſcountenanced for my ſake. And had not a ſudden bleeding brought me very near to death, and ſeparated me from the Army, about the very day that they had their firſt open Conſultation, for the following Treaſonable Changes which they made, I had hazarded my life upon their diſpleaſure, in the contradicting them, and drawing off as many from them as I could, at the time when many did deſert them: For by the advice of a ſecond meeting of the Miniſters at Coventry, I ſtayed with them for that very end, when I had peaceable opportunity to have returned to my former auditors; And I did openly and boldly from that day until Cromwells death, declare to thoſe that I converſt with, that I took him and his Army to be guilty of moſt perfidious Treaſon and Rebeilion, and himſelf for an unqueſtionable Uſurper. And I never ſpake one word to the contrary. And being once before his death (being at London) invited to ſpeak with him, I expoſtulated with him, by what Right our Government was changed, and how he could prove that all the people of England had loſt their own Right to their ancient Government, and laboured to convince him that this change of his, and Inſtrument of Government (which you charge me to approve) was an unjuſt depriving the Kingdom of their ancient and never forfeited right; till I made him ſo angry, that it was time to ſay no more. But let us hear the proof of your accuſation.
Sect. 16. E. B. p. 5. You—hugg and embrace the Traytor.11th and 12th Falſehood and Calumny. For you greatly commend that abſurd tool, The humble Petition and Advice which was Cromwells Inſtruments of Government; And you ſay of it, A more excellent Law hath not been made, for the happineſs of England concerning Parliaments, at leaſt ſince the Reformation.]
R. B. Here is no proof at all of your falſe accuſation, but the addition of two more falſhoods, one expreſt, and the other intimated. 1. That I hug'd and embraced the Traytor. Let the Reader judge by what I have truly ſaid. 2. That I greatly commend the Inſtrument of Government, as making the change and ſetting up of Cromwell to be Protector, when you could not eaſily chooſe but know, that he that will but open my Book where the words are which you cite, may preſently perceive your fraud and falſhood, and that I ſay not a word to commend or approve of that Inſtrument as ſuch, or as making the change, or as ſetting up Cromwell, or a Protector, but only for this one thing, that it excluded Atheiſts, Blaſphemers, Anti-Scripturiſts, Curſers, Swearers, Drunkards, Denyers of Sacraments, Prayer, Magiſtracy and Miniſtry, &c. from being Parliament men. And is not this fallacy a dicto ſecundum quod ad dictum ſimpliciter, a notorious cheat, and falſhood? Is this to approve the ſetting up of Cromwell to be Protector? Do you think by ſuch a rate of Reaſoning as this is, to be accounted a wiſe & faithful Teacher?