The Covenanters Plea Against Absolvers, To the reader
WE are credibly informed, that when his late Majeſty was Priſoner in the Iſle of Wight, he was under ſome fears that Violence ſhould there be offered to his Sacred Perſon, and he ſhould be ſecretly murthered; which fear was no other quàm qui poterat cadere in virum fortem & prudentem, conſidering the Principles and Complexion of the men in whoſe Cuſtody he was; Hereupon he ſends for the Miniſter of the place, to which Carisbrook Caſtle belonged, by name Mr. Jeremiah French, acquaints him with the danger apprehended, and deſired to know of him, whether he would be willing to endeavour his reſcue if ſuch an attempt ſhould be: He told him yes, he would willingly loſe his life to preſerve his Majeſties; only he deſired his Majeſty to direct what way he ſhould ſerve him in: His Majeſty replied, that the way he conceived as moſt probable to do the work: was to prepare and engage the People before hand, that if any ſuch thing ſhould be attempted by that part of the Army that was upon the place, the People might riſe to his reſcue; and to that end, he adviſed to do no more but Preach the Covenant, and preſs the Covenant upon the People. Mr. French did ſo, and thereupon was apprehended, and brought up Priſoner to London, and for ſome time endured very ill handling: This Story we had not from Mr. French himſelf, he living above 100 Miles from us, but we had it from divers credible Witneſſes, to whom Mr. French told it many years before the return of His Majeſty, that now is, to the poſſeſſion of his Throne; And by this it appears, how fully His Majeſty was perſwaded that the Covenant was one of the greateſt ſecurities of his precious Life, and that thoſe of his Subjects would be moſt faithful to him who were moſt faithful to the Covenant.
End of the text · Theophilus Timorcus, The Covenanters Plea Against Absolvers (1661)