Full Vindication and Answer of the 11 Accused Members, Conclusion
The Concluſion.
UPon the whole matter we doe ſay, that it is our Misfortune, not our Miſdoings, that we ſtand in this manner accuſed: Power may ſeize upon us and deſtroy us, but not Juſtice; we meane, the Juſtice of Man, for, and in reſpect of theſe pretended Crimes; not the Juſtice of God, which we tremble at, and ſubmit unto, and ſee it reach unto us for our ſins this Cup of perſecution and affliction by the hands of men, the men of the world, who are themſelves but the hand of God to correct his children for their good; their good in the end, though for the preſent it be grievous unto them, and befalls them many times occaſionally and in the eye of men where they think themſelves to be leaſt deſerving it, to make them examine themſelves, and enquire where man cannot come, into their own hearts, to finde out the true cauſe which hath provoked their God to afflict them, and ſo come to the knowledge of thoſe evils and repent of them, which otherwiſe would have lain undiſcovered and like a ſleeping Serpent awaken afterwards to do them a greater miſchief; which is at the preſent our caſe, and we truſt God will give us the grace to make this uſe of it. For certainly upon the ſtricteſt ſcrutiny of our conſciences, and enquiry into our paſt actions and intentions, we cannot finde we have deſerved this return from any that can pretend themſelves, to be well-wiſhers to the Parliament and to the Peace of the Kingdom; We can ſpeak it for a truth, We are of thoſe who are peaceable and faithfull in Iſrael; We never ſought great things for our ſelve; We have mourned for the deſolations of this Kingdom (of three Kingdoms;) We ha…e endeavoured our utmoſt according to our ſeverall Talents, as it hath pleaſed God to enable us in our ſeverall places and callings, as Members of the Parliament, as Members of the Common-Wealth, to do all the good we could, to procure a ſettlement in Church and State, We have deſired a Peace, We have laboured for Peace, and willingly have never done the leaſt thing to keep it off; We have all of us taken the Covenant, we dare not ſay we have kept it to Godward ſo well as we ſhould, but we will ſay, no man can lay the breach of any part of it, as to the King, Parliament, or Kingdom, to our Charge, nor we hope ever ſhall: Nothing in this World, that we have more heartily deſired, then to ſee a happy and firm Reconciliation between the King and his People, him in his Throne, them in their Liberties, both of them encompaſſed with Righteouſneſſe and Peace, and glorying in the Parliament, as the foundation of both their happineſſes.
Yet how we are aſperſed and miſrepreſented, let the World judge, by ſeverall Pamphlets and Papers concerning us, and by this printed Charge: We dare appeal even to the Conſciences of our Accuſers, if they would ſpeak out: Perhaps with ſome it is in truth our Crime, that they know us to be ſo as we are; perhaps we ſtand in the way and prevent ſome deſtructive deſignes: therefore we muſt be removed; and that we may ſo be, we muſt be repreſented to be Hinderers of Peace, Obſtructers of Juſtice, Invaders of the Liberty and Freedom of the Subject, Abuſers and Miſleaders of the Parliament; In ſumme, Whatſoever is amiſſe in the Kingdom, we are made the Cauſe, and muſt bear the blame of it.
Chriſtianos ad ignem, What publike Calamity ſoever befell in the time of the Primitive Perſecutions, the poore Chriſtians were ſaid to be the Cauſe, and muſt be the expiatory Sacrifice.
But let men ſay what they will, Eliab was never the more the Troubler of Iſrael, becauſe he was ſo called.
We will ſay with Job, Our Witneſſe is in Heaven, and our Record is on high; This is our Comfort and our Confidence: We ſhall be acquit before the Tribunall of Heaven; and we truſt in the Divine Protection to have our Deliverance and Juſtification even here upon Earth by the Judgement of man, that is by the Juſtice of the Parliament, notwithſtanding the malice of all our Enemies.
Denzill Hollis, Phil. Stapleton, William Lewis, John Clotworthy, William Waller, John Maynard, Edw. Maſſie, John Glyn, Walter Long, Edw. Harley, and Anth. Nicholl, Members of the Honourable Houſe of Commons.
FINIS.
End of the text · William Prynne, Full Vindication and Answer of the 11 Accused Members (1647)