Loyalty and Peace, Title page 1 – To the reader
Loyalty and Peace Or, Two Seaſonable DISCOURSES From 1 Sam. 24.5. viz. David's heart ſmote him becauſe he cut off Saul's skirt. The Firſt, Of CONSCIENCE and its Smitings. The Second, Of the Prodigious Impiety of Murthering King CHARLES I. Intended To promote ſincere Devotion and Humiliation upon each Anniverſary Faſt for the late King's Death.
By Dr. SAMUEL ROLLS. Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majeſty.
LONDON, Printed by Tho. James Mathematical Printer to the King's moſt Excellent Majeſty, for Joſeph Hindmarſh at the Black Bull in Cornhill near the Royal Exchange. 1678.
page missing but ſtand ready for ſuch another? I had dedicated theſe my firſt-fruits in the Church, to him to whom all firſt-fruits are due; but that I conſidered, that Kings, like High Altars, ought not to be approached all at once, but by ſteps and degrees; as alſo that ſuch a Tragedy as I here relate, could not be pleaſant to his Majeſty to read, though very profitable for his Subjects that it ſhould be written. The Loyal Contents of this ſmall Treatiſe may aſſure the world, that your Lordſhip hath admitted into his Majesties Service, a Perſon of as unfained and fervent Loyalty as your heart could wiſh, or as the world affords. And now my Lord, what remains but my moſt ardent wiſhes (in which I know your Lordſhip will joyn with me) viz. That the Soul of our Lord the King may be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord his God (as the Phraſe is, 1 Sam. 25.29.) and the lives of his enemies may be ſlung out as out of the middle of a ſling; that his Enemies may be clothed with ſhame, but upon himſelf his Crown may flouriſh; and that God would cover his head both in the day of Battle, and of Peace. For your Lordſhip, I have no greater thing to wiſh, than that the King of Kings may take your Lordſhip as much into his favour, as the King of England has done; and inſtead of the Star which his Majeſty hath beſtowed upon you, may in due time give you that Crown of Righteouſneſs, which the Lord the righteous Judg ſhall give at the great day to all them that love his appearing, which is the hearty Prayer, of
My Lord, Your Lordſhips moſt humble, faithful and obedient Servant, S. ROLLS.
TO The moſt Reverend Father in God, WILLIAM Lord Archbiſhop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Metropolitan; and one of his Majeſty's moſt Honourable Privy Council, S. R.
The leaſt of all the Servants of the Church, and not worthy to be ſo called, humbly dedicates his poor and unworthy Labours in the enſuing Treatiſe of Conſcience, &c.
May it pleaſe your Grace:
THough ſome Writings of extraordinary men may ſeem to need no Patron, yet I am very ſenſible that mine do, and this of mine above all the reſt (which for the nature of the Subject may pretend to deſerve one) becauſe I do eaſily foreſee it will fall under the diſpleaſure of many, both for the Author's and Arguments-ſake. for the Author's ſake, becauſe he hath given his Service to the Church of England, (which he had done many years ſooner, but for an invincible impediment, not unknown to your Grace) and now doth with as much heartineſs, chearfulneſs, and ſatisfaction, as ever man did, for which there are ſome that do ſtomach him the more, becauſe a doubting, trembling, ſ…upulous Conformiſt, is in their apprehenſion the honeſteſt man that conforms, and in the most ſafe and ſalvable condition, though the Spirit of God ſpeaking by St Paul hath told us, That whatſoever is not of faith is ſin; and that he that doubteth is damned if he eat.
No leſs diſtaſteful to many prejudiced and malecontented people is the Argument of the latter part of this Fook: For they cannot endure to hear that Fact called a horrid and bloody Murther, which they have look'd upon as a gallant and heroick Enterprize, not unlike the ſignal Atchievements of Jael againſt Siſera, Ehud againſt Eglon, recorded in the Book of Judges. I doubt too many had rather that Act had been made a Precedent, than the Actors thereof an Example. My Lord, If I fly not to your Grace's Protection, men of that ill Character will be ready to ſwallow me up quick, whilſt their rage is kindled againſt me. For having preached but one 30th. day of January upon the ſubject of this Book, I know to my ſorrow, what it, and a few more expreſſions of my Conformity coſt me; and how I was made to run the Gaunlet for it, and from ſome men could have no quarter. But my comfort is, that I have fully ſatisfied my own Conſcience in this that I have written, and if your Grace's Judgment ſhall be alſo ſatisfied therewith, I ſhall value it more, than I ſhall regard the cenſure and clamor of a thouſand diſaffected perſons, who for want of Capacity, Learning, and Integrity, are not the thouſandth part ſo able to make a judgment of it. I therefore beſeech your Grace, to take both it and its Author under your wing, at leaſt the Author for his good and loyal Intentions, which may extend far towards the covering of his weakneſſes, who will eaſily own that he hath nothing to be proud of (if he may be proud of any thing) but that he had the honour to have been ſometime of the ſame Univerſity and Colledge with your Grace, and admitted thereinto upon your Grace's perſonal Examination and Allowance. I write not this as preſuming to invite your Grace to water what you have planted, but only to make a hedge about it, that no wild Creatures may root it up. Now that he whoſe right hand hath fixed your Grace in that place of Eminency, where you now ſhine as a Star of the firſt Magnitude, would always hold your Grace as a Star in his own right hand, and make you as hitherto your Grace has been, a burning and ſhining Light, ſhining forth more and more like the Sun towards the perfect day, is the hearty Prayer of
Your Grace's Moſt Devoted Orator, Humble Servant, and Obedient Son, S. ROLLS.
To the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Arlington, Lord Chamberlain Of His Majeſty's Houſhold, and one of His Majeſties moſt Honorable Privy-Council, &c. S. R.
Humbly dedicateth the enſuing Treatiſe, wiſhing it may prove in any meaſure worthy of your Lordſhips acceptance.
May it pleaſe your Lordſhip:
HAving lately received more immediately from your Lordſhips hand an Honour too big for me to mention in print, I hold it my bounden duty thankfully to acknowledge it. Were I able to write any thing that might be worth your Lordſhips reading (which I can ſcarce preſume to think) that were one proper way of doing it: for the Calves of Mens Lips are as uſual a Thank-offering as any, and the Calves or Sacrifices of their Pens, are almoſt the ſame thing: For Pens are a ſort of Lips wherewith men ſpeak ſo loud that the world may hear them. My Lord, within the compaſs of this Book I have endeavored to expreſs my hearty Loyalty firſt to the King of Kings, in ſpeaking highly and honourably of his Vicegerent upon Earth, which is Conſcience; and nextly to my good Lord and Maſter, the King of England, by attempting to make the ſin of Regicide as odious in the eyes of all men, as it is in its own nature, that all After-ages may fear and dread it next to the ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt, and for ought I know, it is a ſin of the ſecond Magnitude, and next to that. Now if every man ſhall become ſo perſwaded, ſurely for time to come, men will as ſoon throw themſelves into caldrons of ſcalding Oyls, or into hot burning Furnaces, as either directly or indirectly contribute to the death of their King; whereas whilſt men make nothing of that firſt fact, what do they page missing
Reader,
I See no neceſſity of pre-advertiſing thee touching any more than one thing in this Book, viz. the Title if it, Loyalty and Peace, which I have given it, becauſe I am well aſſured, that if men ſhall revere Conſcience, more than they regard Intereſt, and entertain thoſe dreadful apprehenſions of the Sinfulneſs of murthering Kings, which this Treatiſe doth beſpeak, and receive the due impreſſion of ſome other paſſages therein contained, as ſoon may a Camel go through the eye of a Needle, as they find in their hearts to be diſloyal or unpeaceable.