Echos from the Sixth Trumpet, Part 24
An ADDRESS to the Members of PARLIAMENT in their ſingle Capacities. Imprinted 1657.
THE Author having been compelled to make uſe of ſuch Extravagant Means as this, during the ſitting of the Long Parliament and thereby left unrelieved; was conſtrained to proſecute the like ordinary and extraordinary Expedients during thoſe Parliaments which were called by Oliver Cromwel, and his Succeſſor; among which, this was one, left at their Threſhold, thus ſuperſcribed, To that Member of Parliament who ſhall take up this Paper.
SIR, if you are not of this Parliament,
Hereby to greet you, 'tis not my intent.
But, if a Member of this Houſe you are,
Your taking up theſe Papers (as it were
By Lot) engageth you to manage thoſe
Petitions, which I therewith did incloſe,
As you would have another uſe his Pow'r
For your avail, if now my Caſe were your:
Whereof take this Account why I thus play
My Cards confus'd, in this unuſual way.
I ſhall hereby at leaſt gueſs at the length
Of my Oppreſſions, or how well my ſtrength
May be improv'd to bear them; how Contracts,
Sales, Bargains, and your other Publike Acts
Will be perform'd; That as I by preſage
Of many things to come, foretold this Age
Before fulfill'd; ſo I might likewiſe tell
The next Age what I ſaw done ill or well.
I have oft wooed you to entertain
My juſt Requeſts, but hitherto in vain;
Though I have many ſev'ral ways aſſay'd,
To gain reſpect to what was humbly pray'd.
Now therefore, having at your door attended
Six Months at leaſt together unbefriended;
And ſeeing to obſtruct me, ev'ry day
New Suitors ſo encreaſe to ſtop the way,
That I had little hope with Friends to meet
To hand this in, I laid it at your feet
Who paſs in thither, hoping that it may
For an Admiſſion make the quicker way,
And not be kept here waiting at your Gate,
Till hearing and relief ſhall come too late.
He who ſhall take this up, and get it read,
Where it ſhall with reſpect be anſwered,
An Obligation will (by doing ſo)
Impoſe both upon me, and many moe:
For, if my Suits obtain deſerved heed,
Some other will have hope as well to ſpeed,
Who now almoſt deſpair Relief to have;
And, future Coſt and trouble I ſhall ſave.
Three Parliaments (the eldeſt of which three
Might, had it pleas'd our Lord, have outliv'd me)
Are dead and gone, ſince firſt I did complain
Of Grievances, which unredreſt remain:
And now to ſee a Fourth I have ſurviv'd,
Which I fear hath it ſelf almoſt outliv'd,
Unleſs GOD grant it Pow'r and Will to do
What they in duty are oblig'd unto;
That they from wrongs the wronged may releaſe,
Proceed with Honour, and conclude in Peace.
To ſuch Atchievements there's a middle way
'Twixt This and That; 'twixt Haſte and long delay'd:
Which if miſtaken, or not timely found,
May (as it hath done) lead into a Round,
(Or Labyrinth) whereby we may be brought
To Pits and Snares, which have no paſſage out;
And multiply diſtractions, till our Pray'rs
Are turn'd to Indignation, or Deſpairs;
Which is their drift, and not their leaſt Deſign,
Who ſeek our Liberties to undermine.
When Publike Wants with ſpeed muſt be ſuppli'd,
A Private Plaint may then be laid aſide;
But not too long defer'd, leſt it become
A feſtring ſore, not meanly perilſome.
For ſince an univerſal Weal conſiſts
Of many Individual Intereſts,
A perfect Body cannot be enjoy'd,
Where one by one the Members are deſtroy'd;
And when the Eye or Ear unheedful grows
Of what afflicts the Fingers and the Toes:
Much leſs when they neglect what appertains
To keep it from an Ulcer in the Brains.
The Cures therefore, of private Wants, betwixt
Publike Tranſactions, ſhould be intermixt
(At leaſt ſometimes) in thoſe emergent things,
Wherein delay of Juſtice, loſſes brings
Beyond Repair; or when the State at laſt
Muſt bear the damage, when the Care is paſt;
Or elſe in point of Honour, ſuffer more
Then all the Publike Treaſure will reſtore.
I grudg not, when GOD's Glory is at ſtake,
That they who of his Honour Conſcience make,
Should take the freedom to debate at large
What may their duties unto him diſcharge;
Or, when the Common Safety doth appear
In hazard, though my Life in danger were:
But, when thoſe brunts are over, if men pleaſe
For their meer pleaſure, profit, or their eaſe,
To leave us in a periſhing condition,
Then of their Faithfulneſs they give ſuſpition,
And I more griev'd for what I thereby ſee
Befalls my Countrey, then for wrongs to me.
There's time enough in all ſtreight whatſoe're,
For all things, if it well divided were:
And, for our not opportioning aright
The Time we have, (as wiſe men know we might)
GOD cuts off half the dayes we ſhould have had,
And our Deſignments are abortive made.
As we from week to week, from day to day,
Do put off thoſe who for our ſorrows pray,
So likewiſe we our hopes and ſuits put by
By him on whoſe Aſſiſtance we relye.
An hour therefore, ſhould other-while be ſpent
To give Reward, as well as Puniſhment:
As well to make Repayments, as to borrow:
To think on them who help us in our ſorrow,
We are oblig'd, and forth our fruits to bring
In ſeaſon, like trees planted by a Spring;
Not nine or ten years after they are dead,
(Who by our timely fruit ſhould have been fed)
Leſt we be felled by the Wood-man's hand,
Or, like the Fig-tree, wither where we ſtand.
One day is as well ſpar'd ſometimes to ſave
An honeſt man, as nine to doom a Knave.
Of uſeful Plants we ſhould have as much care,
As from the good Corn to weed out a Tare.
Some private acts of Juſtice, with our zeal
To Piety, and to the Publike Weal;
And Works of Mercy ſprinkled here and there
Among them, like Embroydries would appear
On Flowers of Gold, with Silver interwove,
And helpful be your Grand Work to improve.
But, where few Private Grievances are heard.
God gives their Publike Prayers ſmall regard;
And few are in that Commonwealth much joy'd,
By whom their whole well-being is deſtroy'd;
Or which is ſenſleſs of their ſad eſtate
Who did help ſave it from a ſadder Fate.
Among ſuch Suffrers, I may ſelf am one,
Who gladly would be better thought upon;
I have as many years already ſpent,
As are to two mens lives equivalent,
To ſeek for Juſtice, with ſuch coſt, ſuch trouble,
And loſs of time, as makes my Loſſes double.
So that if but one Suit more at this Rate
I had depending, ten times my Eſtate,
And ten mens lives, would not afford me time
And means enough, whereby to finiſh them:
For, my Petitions either were defer'd
From month to month, from year to year unheard,
Or anſwer'd ſo, that when my Suit ſeem'd done,
My Caſe prov'd worſe then when it firſt begun:
And to obſtruct the Juſtice I implore,
They voice me to be rich, who make me poor.
With mock-ſhews of Relief I have been fed,
With ſtones in my diſtreſs, inſtead of bread,
Which had ere this day ſtarv'd me, but that GOD
Turn'd many of them into wholſome food,
And rais'd me a ſubſiſtance out of that
Which was deſign'd to ruine my Eſtate.
If I who had a few Friends, have thus far'd,
Alas! how ſpeed poor men whom none regard?
And who from none can claim an obligation,
Either by Friendſhip, Faction, or Relation?
But now new Miſadventures me beſet,
Which by delay of Juſtice do beget
Increaſing Miſchiefs, that admit no cure
Save what muſt from a Legiſlative Pow'r
Derived be; and this befalleth ſo
Perhaps, that I in ev'ry Change may know
The gen'ral temper, by the pulſe that beats
Both in Superior and inferior Seats;
That I and other men may timely ſee
How little confidence repos'd may be
In Lords or Commons, Parliaments or Kings,
Or in the beſt of all Terreſtrial things;
And that henceforth we might depend upon
GOD's Providence, and upon him alone.
If this diſpleaſe, it cannot make me more
Expos'd to ſuffrings, then I was before.
They who to neither ſide, nor back, nor further
Can move themſelves, need no Reſtraint by Order:
Nor greatly be afraid what next will come,
Their juſt Reſolvings to divert them from:
And that whereto Neceſſities compel,
Is done excuſably, though not done well.
If much Oppreſſion cracks a wiſe man's brain,
Who knows whereto it may a fool conſtrain?
Or how it may the meekeſt men provoke
To that whereby the Common Peace is broke?
They whom delay of Juſtice doth make poor,
Do loſe but their Eſtates, and may get more;
If otherwhile they are of Life depriv'd,
They feel not what to feel they might have liv'd:
But he who doth in life-time, thereby loſe
Eſtate and Credit, ſhall to Friends and Foes
Become a ſcorn; whereat if mad he be,
And makes ten thouſands grow as mad as he,
Who knows whereto it may at laſt extend,
Or what will thereon follow in the end?
The fault is theirs who without Mercy ſtretch
A weak man's Patience further then 'twill reach,
As if he of his Suffrings, ſenſe had none,
Becauſe they no more feel them, then a ſtone.
My Principle (for which I am abus'd)
Injoins me, when I ſcurvily am us'd,
Where I expect Relief, to ſhow my wrongs,
And Vengeance leave, to whom the ſame belongs;
But all men cannot be content to ſtay
GOD's leiſure; or, for Juſtice in his way:
And, what their Wants, Neglects, and Indignation
May tempt them to, is worth conſideration.
There is to all things an appointed date,
And they are not wiſe, who are wiſe too late.
"One ſin remains unacted to the height,
"Which when compleat, will ruine all outright.
"And that is this; There are yet in the gap
"Some ſtanding, who with life do yet eſcape;
"If theſe remov'd were, that Abomination
"Which next precedes an utter Deſolation,
"Will be ſet up; and then ſhall be inflicted
"At full, all thoſe Plagues heretofore predicted.
"Oh God! prevent that Grand, that fatal Guilt,
"I humbly pray; and I believe thou wilt,
"By raiſing ſtill to ſtand before thy face,
"An acceptable number in this place,
"For whoſe ſake thou wilt ſpare it from the dooms
"Now threatned, till our great Deliv'rer comes;
"And keep them conſtant to true ſelf-denial,
"Faith, Love and Patience in their fiery trial:
"For, nor thine, or their Glory it advances
"So much, as when they have deliverances
"From Suffrings in their height, and when they are
"Within a burning Furnace, as they were
"Who had it heated for them ſeven times more
"Then ere it was at any time before.
This, as were all this Author's other Addreſſes, were tendred to the late Parliaments without ſucceſs, whether expreffed in a ſerious or extravagant Mode. And thereby perhaps the true conſtitution of thoſe times will the better appear to the glorifying of GOD's Juſtice; becauſe the perſonal experience which he had by feeling thoſe oppreſſions whereof many others complained, were to him much more evidenced thereby to be real, then they could be, by what he ſeemed to ſee, or to hear onelyonly by report.