An Apologie for the Royal Party; and A Panegyric to Charles the Second | Page 7

no less consequence then
the former, and that is, a seeking to perswade the present Army, that
They were the men, who first engaged thus solemnly to destroy the
Government under which they were born, and reduce it to this
miserable condition: whereas it is well known by such as converse
daily with them, that there is hardly one of ten amongst them, who was
then in Armes; and that it was the Zelots under Essex, and the
succeeding Generals, who were the persons whose perfidiousness{2}
he makes so much use of, and that the present Army consists of a far
more ingenuous spirit, and might in one moment vindicate this
aspersion, make their conditions with all advantage, and these Nations
the most happy People upon the Earth, as it cannot be despaired but
they will one day do, when by the goodness of Almighty God, they
shall perfectly discern through the mist which you have cast upon their
eyes, lest they should discover the Imposture of these Egyptian
Sorcerers.
And now, Sir, if after all this injustice, and impiety on your parts, you
have prosecuted that with the extreamest madness, which you esteemed
criminal in your enemies, viz. _To arrogate the supream power in a
single person;{3} condemn men without Law; execute, and proscribe
them with as little: Imprest for your Service, violate your Parliaments,
dispense with your solemn Oaths; in summe, to mingle Earth and
Heaven by your arbitrary proceedings_: All which, not only your
printed books, this pretended plea; but your Actions have abundantly
declared; have you not justified the Royal party, and pronounced them
the only honest men which have appeared upon the stage, in Characters
as plain, that he which runs may read, whilst yet you persecute them to
the death? _Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O Man, that perpetratest
these things; For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thy
self, seeing thou that judgest doest the same things. But thinkest thou

this O Man, that thus judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the vengeance of God? I tell ye nay, but
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish._
Truly, Sir, when I compare these things together, and compare them I
do very often, consider the purchases which you have made, and the
damnation you have certainly adventured; the despite you have done to
the name of Christ, the Laws of Common humanity which you have
violated, the malice and the folly of your proceedings; in fine, the
confusion which you have brought upon the Church, the State, and
your selves; I adore the just and righteous judgment of God; and
(howsoever you may possibly emerge, and recover the present rout)
had rather be a sufferer among those whom you have thus afflicted, and
thus censure, then to enjoy the pleasures of your sins for that season
you are likely to possess them: For if an Angel from Heaven should tell
me you had done your duties, I would no more believe him, then if he
should preach another Gospel, then that which has been delivered to us;
because you have blasphemed that holy profession, and done violence
to that Gracious Spirit, by whose sacred dictates you are taught to live
in obedience to your Superiours, and in Charity to one another;
covering yet all this Hydra of Impostures with a mask Of Piety and
Reformation, whilst you breath nothing but oppression, and lye in wait
to deceive. But _O God! how long shall the Adversary do this
dishonour, how long shall the Enemy blaspheme thy name, for ever?
They gather them together against the soul of the Righteous, and
condemn the innocent blood. Lo these are the ungodly, these prosper in
the World, and these have riches in possession: And I said, then have I
cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. Yea,
and I had almost said as they; but lo, then I should have condemned the
generation of thy Children. Then thought I to understand this, but it was
too hard for me, untill I went into the Sanctuary of God; then
understood I the end of these Men. Namely, how thou dost set them in
slippery places, castest them down and destroyest them._
* * * * *
O how suddenly do they consume, perish, and come to a fearfull end!

We have seen it, indeed Sir, we have seen it, and we cannot but
acknowledge it the very finger of God, mirabile in oculis nostris; and is
that, truly, which even constrains me out of Charity to your Soul, as
well as out of a deep sense of your Honour, and the Friendship which I
otherwise bear you, to beseech you to re-enter into your self, to
abandon those false