The Signal Loyalty and Devotion of Gods Saints, To the reader
To the Courteous and Ingenuous Reader.
THe Original occaſion of the Collections compriſed in this Treatiſe, with the general cauſes of its preſent publication, are at large related in the firſt ſix pages; to which I ſhall accumulate one ſpecial motive (more particularly reflecting on my ſelf) …ſsitating me thereunto.
It hath been my portion (as well as theaSee here, P, 1. 2. and ch. 4. throughout. Primitive Christians before me) to be frequently accuſed, and publickly ſlandered, as a profeſſed Enemy to the late Kings Perſon, to Kingly Government, and a juſtifier, an encourager of REGICIDES, and exciter of Subjects, to lay violent hands upon their Princes ſacred perſons in ſome caſes.
This calumny was firſt raiſed and fixed on me by Dr. Heylin and Biſhop Laud, and by their procurements, inſerted into the Information exhibited againſt me by M. Noy (then Kings Atturney) in the starchamber, in June 1633. for my Hiſtriomaſtix (licenſed by Dr. Buckner Houſhold Chaplain to Archbiſhop Abbot) and indeavoured to be proved by ſome wreſted inferences, and expreſſions of Fathers, approved Historians quoted by me in that Book, (b) Hiſtrioma. p 825. E. 26. 943. 516. to 520.though I had in expreſſe terms therein condemned theſe diſloyal Practiſes & Poſitions they aſperſed me withall, as Jeſuitical, treaſonable and Rebellious; & diſclaimed them in my anſwer thereunto upon Oath, as never once entring into my loyal heart, being repugnant to the Oaths of Supremacy & Allegiance I had taken both as a a Graduate in the Univerſity of Oxford, and Barreſter in the Innes of Court; and to the principles of the *See the Homelies againſt Rebellion, and on Whitſunday, Deus & Rex, 3 Jac. c. 1. 4.Proteſtant Religion I profeſſed.
After this I was again ſcandalized and traduced by ſome of our Prelates to the late King himſelf, in the year 1641. out of meer malice, who would needs ſtrain a paſſage in my Epiſtle to the High Court of Parliament prefixed to my Antipathy, &c. or, Hiſtorical Collection of the EXECRABLE TREASONS, Conſpiracies, REBELLIONS, &c. of our Engliſh, Britiſh, French, Scotiſh and Iriſh Lordly Prelates, againſt our Kings and Kingdomes, then publiſhed, againſt the very letter and meaning of my words, and the ſcope of my whole Book, as the King himſelf then anſwered mine Accuſers upon the reading thereof, rejecting their Accuſation as a falſe and groundleſſe calumny.
Upon the publiſhing of my Soveraign power of Parliaments and Kingdomes, in the year 1643. I was again calumniated in the ſelf ſame kind, though therein I at large dicovered, cenſured the Treachery and diſloyalty of Papists to their Soveraigns, both in their Doctrines, and Treaſonable practices, which they ſince would charge me with; whereupon I fully and particularly vindicated my ſelf from this accuſation afreſh, in my Mr. Prynne the Member reconciled to Prynne the Barreſter, and other Treatiſes.
Having ſufficiently cleared my innocency againſt all theſe reiterated aſperſions, coming into the Houſe of Commons, in November, 1648. as a Member, much againſt my will, I did then in three ſeveral extemporary Speeches in the Houſe, upon the Armies preſenting their treaſonable Declaration from Saint Albans November the 20. demanding the King to be brought to publick Juſtice, and the Prince and Duke of York to be baniſhed and diſinherited, &c. and upon the Kings ſeiſure by the Army; and removal from the Iſle of Wight, to bring him to his Trial and Execution; declare my judgement at large againſt theſe their Demands & Proceedings, not onelyonly as illegal and ſeditious, but as TREASONABLE and PERFIDIOUS in the higheſt degree.
Whereupon on the 4. of December 1648. ſome implacable Enemies to the King, endeavouring his deſtruction (highly incenſed againſt me for my zealous loyalty to preſerve both his Royal Perſon and Dignity from their intended violence) falſely and maliciouſly publiſhed and Printed a CHARGE againſt the King in my name, purpoſely to defame me, and ſtop my mouth from ſpeaking my conſcience freely in the great debate then on foot, touching the ſatisfactorineſs of the Kings Anſwer to the Propoſitions of both Houſes, upon the concluſion of the Perſonal Treaty with him in the Iſle of Wight: which falſe Imposture I meeting with that morning going to the Houſe, did there openly complain againſt it, as a malicious Forgerie, the very ſtile, frame and expreſſions in it, evidencing it to be none of mine. After which I particularly diſowned it in the*Page 27. beginning, and refuted the whole ſcope of it, and the Armies Declaration to bring the King to Juſtice, &c. in the end of my Speech that very day Dec. the 4. 1648. as A MEER deſtructive, JESUITICAL and POPISH DESIGN, by ſundry Arguments from Scripture, Policy and our Laws, the manifold Declarations, Remonſtrances of both Houſes, and the Army officers themſelves, the Oaths of Supremacy, Allegiance, Proteſtation, Vow, Solemn League, Covenant, and other Topicks: which Speech I ſoon after publiſhed in print at the earneſt requeſt of the Members, ſecured and ſecluded with me by the Army, Dec. 6, and 7. for their Vote touching the Kings Conceſsions; all the grounds and Reaſons of this Vote, and anſwers to all objections made againſt it by the Diſſenters from it, during the whole Debate, being compriſed in it. Hereupon this forged Charge was branded by all ſorts for a meer ſpurious Brat, fit for nothing but the Jakes: yet notwithſtanding one William Saunderſon Eſquire (a perſon I never ſaw nor injured to my knowledge) hath inſerted this groſs Impoſture at large into his Compleat Hiſtory of the life and Reign of KING CHARLS,Page 116. from his Cradle to his grave, Printed in London, 1658. reviving its memory afreſh, and fathering it upon me as my genuine Iſſue, p. 1116, 1117. and that with ſo much confidence, and reduplicated Poſitive, invective aſſeverations (at leaſt ten years after its general Diſclaimer, as a moſt falſe and malicious Forgery) that ſome of my friends begin to ſuſpect, and others now believe, report it generally to be penned and publiſhed byme, which all ſucceeding ages will undoubtedly credit for truth, if not now afreſh diſowned by me in Print, & retracted by this calumniating Hiſtorian: Who having read my former diſclaimer and refutation thereof, the very day of its publication in my Printed Speech, and finding it by the ſtile, texture and cloſe, to be collected by ſome other Author, out of my Royal Popiſh Favourite, and other Books, as he pretends therein, purpoſely to traduce me; hath diſcovered his undemerited malice, as well as his injudiciouſneſs & diſingenuity, in fathering that Baſtard upon me in ſuch a confident, ſcurrilous, invective manner as he hath done: for which I demand publick reparations from him, by a Printed Retraction and obliteration of it, out of his Hiſtory, which it doth much diſparage, defile and diſcredit as well as himſelf, and the late King, whoſe life and death he hath recorded to Poſterity.
His Readers may obſerve, that a great part of his Hiſtory is borrowed from Mr. Clement Walker his Hiſtory of Independency; wherein he finds his & my joint Protestation, under both our hands, then publiſhed to the world againſt the Kings impeachment and Triall; together with the joint Proteſtation and diſſwaſion of all the ſecured and ſecluded Members againſt it, in their Vindication, Jan. 20. 1648. to which I was a ſubſcriber: whereby his malice and want of ingenuity herein appear moſt plainly; but more particularly by this, that himſelf immediately after this feigned Charge, in the ſame *Page 1117. 1118.page of his Hiſtory mentions and miſrecites my MEMENTO, to traduce and abuſe me, willingly concealing the Title, Argument and ſcope thereof, which would have convicted him both of Calumny, and Forgery, in fathering this pretended Charge againſt the King, upon me, and making me the prime Actor in the Kings Trial and Tragedy, when as the whole Houſe of Commons and moſt then living knew, I was the very firſt of all others, who ſpake, writ, and proteſted publickly againſt it, as my Printed Speech and Memento, with other Publications both before and ſince abundantly evidence.
Let the Title and Argument of my Memento alone, and one Foreiners Teſtimony of ſpecial Note concerning it (to omit others) diſplay both the malice and falſity of this Hiſtorians calumny. The Title of it is, A brief Memento to the preſent Unparliamentary Juncto, touching Their preſent Intentions and Proceedings to depoſe and execute CHARLES STUART their Lawful King. By William Prynne Eſquire, a Member of the Houſe of Commons, and Priſoner under the Armies Tyranny: Jan. 1. 1648. The ſubject and ſcope thereof was this, that (being debarred by my impriſonment under the Army from ſpeaking to thoſe then ſitting in the Houſe) I ſent them ten Reaſons in Print, drawn from our Laws, the Declarations and Remonſtrances of Parliament, the Oaths of Supremacy, Allegiance, Proteſtation, Solemn National League and Covenant, Scriptures, the practice of Gods own people of Iſrael, of all Proteſtant Realms and Subjects; the Relations of the late King to Scotland, Ireland and Forein Princes; the Unlawfulneſſe, Treaſonableneſs, and dangerous Conſequences of the Kings Trial and Execution, and other Topicks, to diſſwade them from their intended Charge and Proceedings againſt him, onelyonly to ſatisfie the Army-Officers under whoſe force they ſate: Which 10. Reaſons, as they were highly approved by moſt, and never yet anſwered by any at home; ſo they ſatisfied the Proteſtant Miniſters, Churches and States abroad, being tranſlated into ſeveral Languages. Among others,*See my plea for the Lords and Houſe of peers, p. 461. 462. Samuel Bochartus (one of the eminenteſt and learnedeſt Proteſtant Divines in France) in his Latin Epiſtle to Dr. Morley (one of the Kings Chaplains) Printed Parifi…s 1650. ſect. 3. De jure & poteſtate Regum p. 145. having proved the unlawfulneſs of the Trial, Proceedings, Sentence and Execution of the King, by Scripture, Fathers, and other Authorities, and manifeſted the Engliſh Presbyterian Ministers, and Members profeſſed oppoſition againſt and diſlike thereof, ſubjoins, Ex hoc numero PRYNNIUS, vir multis nominibus inſignis & PARLIAMENTI DELEGATORUM UNUS, è carcere in quo cum pluribus aliis detenebatur, Libellum compoſuit Parliamento oblatum, (to wit my Memento) in quo decem rationibus, eiſque validiſſimis, contendit, eos rem illicitam attentari, (in impeaching and proceeding capitally againſt the King) reciting the heads of my ten Reaſons; then concluding, Haec ille, & multo plura: Scriptor mire nervoſus, cujus verba ſunt ſtimuli & clavi in altum defiri: Therefore that Mr. Saunderſon ſhould brand me for my Memento, impriſonment by the Army, and forcible ſecluſion from the Houſe, and make it a Divine Judgement inflicted on me for this forged charge againſt the King; though this Memento was written profeſſedly againſt the Kings charge, trial and Execution, as UNLAWFUL and UNCHRISTIAN, as Bochartus, a Foreiner, thus ſignally atteſts, muſt be the extremity of malice, and calumny, ſubjecting him to his own friends, Mr. James Howels cenſure, in his Epiſtle to him prefixed to this Hiſtory, That A FALSE ERRONEOUS CHRONOLOGER, is one of the WORST MEMBERS that can be in a COMMONWEALTH, and INDEED OF MANKIND IN GENERAL; for he wrongs, the time post, the time preſent, and the time to come: as he hath done, by fathering this Charge upon me, and his miſrelation of my Cenſure too, p. 218, 219. after it was nulled by both Houſes of Parliaments unanimous Vote, as*A new diſcovery of the Prelates tyranny, p. 141. 142. &c. Cauſeleſſe and Illegal; All which I pray God to give him grace to repent and retract.
Having thus vindicated my Innocency from his falſe calumnies, I ſhall onelyonly recommend the conſideration of the duties preſſed in this Treatiſe, to the daily practice of every Reader, of what party ſoever, in theſe divided factious times.
Art thou a profeſſed Enemy to the exiled King and Royal Family, conceiving them to be Enemies or oppoſites unto thee, thy Interest, or party; or ſuch who probably may prove enemies or perſecutors to thee and them, if reſtored to their Rights and Powers: then pray for them under this Notion, according to Chriſts own precepts and example, Mat. 5. 43. to 48. Luke 6. 27. c. 23. 34. Acts 7. 62. Rom. 12. 20, 21. the Preſidents of the Primitive Chriſtians here ch. 4. and in the Liturgie of our Church, That it would pleaſe thee to forgive our enemies, perſecutors and ſlanderers, and to turn their hearts. And the Collect on Saint Stephens day, Grant us O Lord, to learn to love our enemies, by the example of thy Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his Perſecutors. Doſt thou repute them perſons of little or no real affection to the Proteſtant Religion, and the ſincere Profeſſors thereof (aseIntereſt will not lie. Nedham repreſents them;) or as bad as Turks, Pagans or Infidels, and ſome (I hear) eſteem them, becauſe themſelves are ſuch, yet ſince thou art commanded by God to make ſupplications, prayers, and interceſſions for ALLMEN, yea, for the very worſt of Turks, Jews, Idolaters, Pagans, Infidels, as our Church doth on Good f* Collect. 3.Fryday, that they may be converted, Reformed, ſaved & becom Members of, or Nurſing-Fathers to the Church; (if Kings) let them have as large a ſhare in thy prayers, as any of theſe have or ought to have by Gods Command. And if thou eſteem them as thy lawful Hereditary Kings Princes, Superiors, profeſsing the true Reformed Religion, and Members of the true viſible Church of Chriſt, let them enjoy thy daily fervent prayers, interceſsions, ſupplications and thankſgivings to God for them, eſpecially when they need them moſt, during their exiled, afflicted and diſtreſſed condition, amidſt Papiſts, and ſeducers: and let me have a ſhare in thy devotions for a bleſsing on this Treatiſe, and me.
William Prynne. Lincolns Inne Jan. 30. 1659.