ENGLAND'S UNIVERSAL DISTRACTION In the Years 1643, 1644, 1645.  
Left to the World by a judicious and conscientious Author, for the use of his Friends, Children, and grandchildren, when they come to years of discretion.  
And may be very useful for all men to read and practise in these distracted times.  
Printed in the Year of our Lord, MDCLIX.   

ENGLAND'S Universal Distractions in the years 1643, 1644, 1645.  
I Confess I am one of Queen Elizabeth's Protestant's, being above my full age in her time, and now grown an old man, and in all my time we ever believed (notwithstanding the bold and desperate Treatises of some few enemies to Kings and Kingly power, to the contrary) that the Jura Regalia of Kings are holden of Heaven, and cannot for any cause escheat to their Subject; nor they for any cause make any positive or active forcible resistance against them; but that we ought to yield to them passive obedience by suffering the punishment, even though their commands are against the Law of God; and in such case Arma nostra sunt Preces nostrae, nec debemus aliter resistere: for who can lift up his hands against the Lords anointed, and be guiltless? so that in all my time it was conceived that the Jesuists and some Papists only believed that the Pope had authority to depose and destroy Kings. But now some amongst ourselves, who having the jaundice see all things yellow; have their eyes so dazzled by looking after Reformation, which yet they know not cither what it is, or will be, through those cracked and broken spectacles of Innovation, and ambition of singularity and faction: that they think themselves should become stark blind, it they should but cast one good look upon the peace of the Kingdom, and not trample under foot Monarchy and Magistracy, and by floods of popularity drown us in confusion and Anarchy: as if Imperium in Imperio quaerendum esset: this being the only difference between those Papists and them; the former by Gun powder seeking to destroy both King and Parliament together; and the latter, first the King by Parliament, and then next both Parliament and Kingdom by the People. For can it be doubted but time when Appeals are made to the People, and they employed and set on work about public actions, which ought hot to have been done, but by the hand of Authority, they will too soon learn their own strength, that summa potestas radicatur in voluptatibus hominum, and that then Popularis potentia optimorum potentiam superat.  
The Senate of Rome seared it upon a less occasion, when they recalled their Edict, that Slaves should wear a certain Mark to discover them from Freemen, lest by comparing the multitude, of the one, by the paucity of the other, some like great danger might ensue to their Senate, and Republic. And in truth some fear that this Mystery countenanced under the Title [King and Parliament] worketh by such hidden and secret influences, and insinuations, that Solon's decree that every man that in a general commotion was of neither party, should be adjudged infamous, would be now amongst us too severe and penal: for certainly there be some conscientious men, who albeit in respect of their allegiance and love to their King on the one side, and the honour and reverence they own to Parliaments on the other side, they may seem to other to stand at gaze in this via bivia, conceiving it to be via nivea; yet are they nevertheless in truth of the number of those in Amos, Chap 5. Vers. 13. The prudent shall keep silence at that time, for it is an evil time. And howsoever there be divers others of better resolutions, as men both informed and persuaded: yet are there many more of a third sort (of an Ostrich digestion) that are persuaded before they are informed, and now will not be informed, because they will not be persuaded.  
By this confusion, became my thoughts distracted, and myself encountered with such and so many difficulties in my way, which my apprehensions are too narrow to apprehend, or my knowledge to resolve: and the more I strive to melt my brains into an invention of this allay, the more I find them like the Jewels of the Israelites, turned into a Calf, mere foolishness, and therefore so repute, and accept them, as from a distracted man, of a distracted subject, in a distracted time wherein we all now live, and labour sub universali quadam dementia, of which to examine the causes, besides our sins of this Nation, would far exceed the slender capacity of a mean Subject, and is become a question too deep and dangerous, since the same already have long been, and yet are urged with more violent arguments, and sharper Syllogisms then by the weak weapons of Instruments made with paper, and with more forces and distinctions, then can proceed from any legal or logical Engine. It is thou O God, that hast moved the Land and divided it, and hast showed thy people heavy things, and hast given them a drink of Deadly Wine, lettest them to be eaten up like sheep, makest them to be rebuked of their Neighbours, to be laughed to scorn, and had in derision of them that are round about them; the dead bodies of thy servants are given to be meat to the fowls of the Air, and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the land, and those that remain thou hast smitten in the place of Dragons, and covered them with the Shadow of Death.  
Our Fathers slain by their own Sons, they by their own Brothers, they by their own Kindred and Allies, they by their Friends and near Neighbours, and those by their own Nation, of their own House, of their own Faith, of their own Religion. Tacitus reports that in the civil wars between Vitillius and Vespasian, it happened that a Soldier had killed his own Father which was of the Enemy's Army, which thing was no sooner published, but every man gins to Abhor, Condemn and Execrate that War, the cause of such an unnatural fact, though there might have been said, quare fremuerunt Gentes infidiles Romae, yet here it shall be said quare fremuerunt Gentis Christiani Angliae.  
It is become a crime amongst us, to say, Nulla salus bello, pacem te poscimus omnes. When even all, on either part, or Enrolled, Proclaimed or Declared, either for Rebels, Delinquents or Malignants, though many of them (I am confident) fight with no other weapons, but precibus & lachrimis, on their bended knees to their offended and revenging God; incessantly praying for the peace of the Nation. One, that Numa's Temple dedicated to Janus, might not be still kept open; that the Dice of this civil uncivil war, may not still be running, which ever runs hazard on both sides, and draws the heart blood as well of the innocent as nocent.  
It is made an Aphorism, or General Rule in Physic, that in the natural bodies the longer they are in health, the more dangerous is the Disease when it cometh, and the longer in cutting, as having none of those humours spent, which by distemper gave sovent and force to the approaching Malady.  
So in Politic bodies, when civil war once seizeth upon a Country, rich in the plenty of a long peace, and full with the surfeits of a continual ease; it never leaves purging those superfluities, till all be wasted and consumed, quae alia res civiles furores peperit, quam mini●a faelicitas, the Sins of our Peace brought upon us the miseries of man; and now we are denied the Blessing of Peace.  
If a man disengaged and in his right wits, shall seriously ponder the printed passages between King and Parliament; and those hostile Proceed, and Plunderings, rapines and Ruins, Distractions & Destructions on both sides, and then demand unde haec dementia, his Genius cannot readily prompt him to find it out, unless by a Divine Scrutiny, for it is not to be found in this Emblem (as some perhaps do dream of a mad conceit of some of old,) that a huge Giant bears up the Earth with his Shoulders, which he changeth every 30. years for ease. And that such Removal, causes Earthquakes; which they also observen for an Emblem of Kings; because the burden of the whole world lies on the Shoulders of Sovereign Authority. And then we marvalle if they cannot say with King David, Ego sustinco calumnas ejas, that we have such Earthquakes in their change, as turns our brains into this Universalem dementiam, for some in this turning of their brains, began to think in their fi●s, that because by the Law of the land, it is unlawful for a King to give a way his Kingdom from his lawful Heir; so that for a King to give power to hold not for a year, two or three, but a perpetual Parliament, a power inseparably incident to his Crown, had been inconsistent with Monarchy. And albeit that suprema potestas seipsum dissolvere, yet ligari non potest, like as it is in the power of a man, to kill a man, but not in his power to make him alive, and yet to restaine him from breathing. But this new conceit, I hold as mad as that before mentioned.  
O▪ hers would have it in this, that the Sovereign was too blame, too give, and the Subject too bold to ask the perpetual Custody of that key, which shuts and opens the Cabinet of State, wherein all the parts of the Republic are locked up from the making too near approaches upon Royalty.  
Solomon say they, upon a jealousy far more foreign, could deny the suit of his own Mother, for when Bathsheba desired a small petition of him, although he answered he could not say her nay; yet when she said, Let Abisha the Shunamite be given to Adonia● his Brother to Wife, he could not reply, why dost thou ask Abisha the Shunamite for Adoniah? ask for him the Kingdom also. And our Saviour Christ's answer to the Mother of Zebedees' Children, might (say they) have taught the King to have satisfied such a demand of his Subjects, for she with her Sons coming to Christ, and desiring a certain thing of him which was to grant, that those her two Sons might sit, the one at his right hand, and the other at his left in his Kingdom; they received this answer, ye know not what ye a k. And it is observable, that even in this Kingdom, as the Sovereign hath seldom prospered, that trampled down the subjects just liberties, so the subjects as seldom prospered, that climbed up to lop off the King's just Prerogative; for in Truth God so disposeth in Justice, both of King and Subject, that as that of the subjects liberties doth in his own hands breed a comfort to support him in his allegiance and loyalty to his King, yet doth the same in the hands of the King breed a Canker to eat him out of the love and affection of his subjects.  
So that if the King's prerogative which in his own hands becomes a Sceptre to protect us from ruin, yet doth the same in the hands of a Subject become a Spade to Grave us to death.  
The truth is, that the best Princes being ever the least jealous, have sometimes for a just satisfaction to their People, been drawn to part with some of their Royal power to them; and the People no doubt demanded the same of their Prince without any evil intent at first, which nevertheless being once obtained, through some after-error, either in the end or in the means, in the motion, or in the moderation thereof, have proved unto them little better than the stolen flesh from the Altar, which by the 〈◊〉 that stuck unto it, consumed both herself and the young ones, with the Nest itself.  
We need not travel into aliena Republica, being not without E●samples here at home of this kind; but now unseasonable, either for recital or application.  
We know that God gave unto the Israelites Quails and Manna, Angel's food, when they lusted in the Wilderness, yet withal sent leanness into their souls, and it came out again at their nostrils, and was sour unto some of them, for they, murmured against Moses their Prince. And it was not to be doubted but that this Act for the continuance of the Parliament was by both Houses at the first generally intended for the sovereign antidote to cure all diseases of the Kingdom. Yet observe its Omen in their Remonstrance of December 15. 1641. It is acknowledged that there seems to be in that Act some restraint of the Royal power, in dissolving of Parliaments, not to take it out of the Crown, but to suspend the execution of it, so then the power shall remain, only the exercise of it is taken away; though some may object that Vdna est illa potentia, qua nunquam venit in actum. And it is also in that Remonstrance said, that without that Act they must have lest the then both Armies to disorder and confusion, and the whole Kingdom to Blood and Rapine: whereas the event hath woefully showed, that upon confidence of that Act (for without it they had never been) are raised many more Armies, which hath already brought to disorder and confusion, to blood and rapine almost the whole Kingdom. So that this Act intended to avoid civil war, hath proved the ready means so to kindle it, as that the flames thereof, are like to consume us all, ta●●● est haec universalis dementia. This Royal Slip, or Root of Monarchy became no sooner to be transplanted into a Popular soil; but from them have in a short time sprung forth all the fears, and jealousies, all the disturbances, and tumults raised by factious, and seditious spirits. The dividing of the King from the two Houses, of the Lords from the Lords, and of the Commons from the Commons, Remonstrances, Declarations, Protestations▪ and Covenants on either part; seizing on the King's Forts, Revenues, Customs, Ammunition, and Navy; the Tenth part, Taxes, Seizures, Sequestrations, Plunderings, Excises, raising of great Armies of Soldiers, Milites Armati, Milites Literarii, & Milites Clerici, the whole Army marching in their several postures.  
First, the Milites Literarii with their distinctions between Monarchy absolute, and limited; limited and mixed; between a Power Radically limited, and not only in the use and exercise of it between a Moral Power to resist, and an authoritative and civil power; between resistance of the King himself, and of his Agents, and Officers; between Resistance positive and active, negative and passive; between Jus Regiminis & Usurpationis, according to God's Law and Man's Law. Also the resistance in such case, is not a resistance of Power, but of his Will; not fight against the Magistrate, but against the Man: And the King not performing his duty, the Subjects are released from theirs, with many more ejusdem farinae, which (they interpret) is to fear God, and honour the King.  
Nex● to them do march Milites Clerici, many of them armed with Firebrands, Tongues of Sedition, having their very Pulpits made chairs of Jugglers; entertaining the people with shameless Pasquil's and Discourses grounded upon the malice of the time, and stuffed with Schisms, Heresies, and Tyranny; and they also becoming Trumpets to sound forth Quaerelas & ambigu●s de Principe Sermons, & quaeque alia turbamenta vulgi, having weekly to follow them, that no excrement be lost (that may averse and bring in odium Majesty and Government) the mendatious Mercuries, and Pamphlets of the time.  
And in the last rank do march the Milites armati, who as the Sabeans and Chaldaeans did with job, have taken away our Oxen ploughing, and Asses and Camels feeding, and have slain our Servants with the edge of the sword. And as the Prophet complains, have spoilt our Houses, ravished our Wives, Burned our Cities, Desolated our Country, and scattered abroad the inhabitants thereof, and still continue their battles with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood, & non est haec universalis Dementia?  
But thou O God be merciful unto us, under the shadow of thy wings shall be our refuge until this tyranny be overpast, and before the morning they are not: this is the portion of those that rob us. But let no man think that the Parliament hath caused all these things, not surely, for (I am confident) the not being of Parliaments might perhaps bring the Monarch more power, but less glory; more Lords, but few Nobles; more slaves, but fewer subjects; and might perhaps make his Signiories more ample but less royal; and himself in all of them less prosperous and happy: whereas on the contrary, it cannot be denied by any honest English heart, that England's Parliaments are unto her, her Philosopher's stone, which turneth all it toucheth into gold▪ with which it cureth not only the Disease of the Kings-evil, but also all other diseases, as well in Church as State: it cures Schisms, Heresies, Exhorbitances of Prelacy, and maintains the true and Orthodox Doctrine, and wholesome Discipline in the Church: It cures Tyranny and Oppression, and maintains Uunity and Strength in the Monarchy, it cures Factions and Divisions, and maintains just Liberty and Respect of the common good in the Democracy.  
Our Parliaments are the Hercules pillars to every one of our Herculesses, and Princes; and the ne plus amplius both to Aristocracy and Democracy. And in all, either their Excesses or Defects, reduceth them to their Golden Moderation, and just Temper: and such was this present Parliament in its first beginning; Nay the Precedent of all former Parliaments fall much short of what this then brought forth for the Sovereign, in point of Grace and Favour to his people, to whom he denied nothing which they challenge by Law.  
But it is thought by some, that some former Parliaments having been unfortunately blasted, that thereupon the Crown had invaded both upon the Subjects liberty and property; and that albeit they had then a little before obtained a Triennial Parliament, and other Acts to redress all their grievances, so to prevent the like pressures in the time to come; yet, that they finding that the King to be then under a cloud with the people, they the better to pay the debts of the Kingdom, and to discharge the then Armies before the Parliament should be either prorogued or dissolved; pressed for the Act of Continuance, by which (as a Member of the Assembly of Divines in his Sermon Martii 27. 1644. imprinted by their order, and entitled A Prospective-Glass for England 's Case, tells and assures them) they are become fastened as Nail in a sure place. But yet hath it not wrought so kindly as both Parliament and People did expect: and as by the fruits before mentioned which it so plentifully and suddenly produced appeareth, for then as if some few new Statists, or reserved Politicians, who Honours quos quieta Republica desperant, perturbata consequise posse arbritrantur, and who are not always the best servants, either to King or Kingdom, but are in Novandis, quam in Gerendis rebus aptiores, had designed this perpetual Parliament to bear the name of that, which wrought wonders in King Richard the second's time. And in case that failed, then to bear the name of the mad Parliament, as a King Henry the thirds time; and to that end had introduced certain new Ordinances, and strains of Law, pretended Parliamentary, not understood of the people in this Age: and in truth Lex nostra Parliamenti est ab omnibus quaerenda, à multis Ignorantia, à paucis Cognita.  
And yet some conceive it had been much better for those Statists and Engineers (if any such be) Nescire Centrum, quam non tenere Circulum: and thus to run in Meanders and Mazes into this universalem dementiam, whereby (as some think) they have sought to make the cause of the King, and who (saith job) will say unto the King thou art wicked? And as Ecclesiasticus, Who shall say unto him, what dost thou? And as Solomon, He that provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul.  
To moralise with that of the lion, who having lost his power and strength, than the Wolf pincheth him, and the Bull goars him, and the very Ass kicks at him, Nam Principis nomen habere, non est esse Princeps, and whereby (some also think) they have made the cause of the people, whose disease was thought to have been a consumption of their properties and liberties.  
First for care of properties, to let them blood, and purge them of their estates.  
And next for cure of their liberties, to open another vein, either by imprisonment or banishment of their persons, from their Wives and Children, and their own habitations; to let out a certain Malignant blood still remaining in them, for that they will not pay more than they are able, and so impossibilities in this reforming generation, non est haec universlis dementia. But admit this perpetuity of Parliaments hath wrought any such change or excesses, yet it is for Reformation in case of Religion, Et summa est Ratio qua pro Religione facit.  
Besides it is a Rule, that the policy of Statebean-not admit any Law, or privilege whatsoever ut in some particular or other (especially for Reformation in Religion) is necessarily broken. But hath it no other ends? what meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine Ear, and the lowing of Oxen I hear, and what meaneth th' s that they have taken, and possessed to themselves, and given to others, several Officer and places of honour, preferment and profit in the Commonwealth, which none but the King himself could lawfully give or dispose of?  
But grant it were for Reformation; yet do we not know, that Reformation is a work of Medicine and Healing, and not of destruction and desolation; That Divine zeal is a benign flame, giving light as well as heat; But an Erroneous zeal all Heat and no Light?  
The Reformation wrought by the former is Reformatio bellicosa, effected per Gladium oris; the latter is, Reformatio bellicosa done per os Gladii: And certainly true Religion, is rather a Settler then Stickler in Policy, and rather confirms men in obedience to the Government established, then incites them to the erecting of a new, which they neither do nor can know till it be discovered and declared; wherein our present Religion is Erroneous. And whether in Doctrine or Discipline, if it be not in Doctrine, but Discipline and matter of Ceremony only of the Essence of our Religion, then whether w●ll the Reformation of it deserve the expense of so much Christian blood; and whether without the shedding of any blood at all, hath it not been graciously offered, that no indifferent and unnecessary Ceremony, should be pressed upon weak and tender consciences, and that both in that and other d fferences in the Church and Synod of Orthodox and Learned Divines should be chosen and consulted with. Those Statists have done well to pull down Images, not so to set up Imaginations, and then make the King's people to kill and murder one another, to uphold them before they can either know or approve them, non est haec universalis dementia? But yet those Statists have another Rule, that to yield to peace before a Victory, were again to trust in whom they cannot confide: Whereunto I answer, that we are to confide in whom the Law hath confided, and if we place Gaurdians over him, than whom shall we place over those Gaurdians?  
And for Victory, should we have it, and have with it also what Laws ourselves please? though it be true, that Leges a victoribus dicuntur & accipientur a victis, yet for how long? for can we think but that Laws, which have too much force in the making, do many times prove to have too little in the binding?  
Doth all binding of a King, upon the advantage of necessities make the breach itself lawful? No peace made by the water of Styx can be longer held inviolable, till that River be dried up. And shall we then keep that River running, by drawing out all the blood of the Kingdom? Nay, think we, that Victories on either part will amend the matter? would they not be like those Victories of Pyrrhus against the Romans; in the first they might Gloriari non Gandere; and in the second he himself said, if we overcome once more, we a e undone.  
Besides, let us consider, he was a wise man that said, the Battle is not of the strongest, nor yet the bread for the wise, nor Riches to men of understanding, nor favour to Men of knowledge. No King or Parliament can be saved by the multitude of an b●ast, neither is any mighty Man delivered by much strength, why then will we prefer Force before Peace? shall we not see order till disorder shows it, nor learn to do but by undoing? non est haec universalis dementia? It is said, that when King Alexander the Great wrote to the Senate of Rome, ut se Deum facerent, and they denying it, one stood up and told them, videndum est, ne dum Coelum nimis custodirent, terram amitterent: Which caveat made them for the peace and safety of themselves and their Country, to decree, quonian Alexander Deus esse vult, Deus esto. But our Carolus desites not, utse Deum facerent, but ut se Restituerent, and that to no other Deity but that which both the Law of God, of Nature, and of our Nation hath bestowed upon him. Yet it seems also to be denied him, unless he will admit some to be partners with him, or Gaurdians over him.  
But certainly, if Valentian the Emperor (so chosen by the Soldiers) could say unto them, when they would have joined another with him; no said he, it was indeed in your power to give me the Emp●e whilst I had it not, but now I have it, it is not in your power to give me a partner.  
Much more may our Emperor, for Rex est Imperator in regno suo, not as he by Election of the Soldiers, but by the strongest Title of Succession, after more than twenty descents, demand that there be no sharers with him in the dispensation of his Regal power; but that we do trust him whom God hath trusted with it; the Bed and the Throne can abide no Rivals.  
Non bene cum sociis, regna venusque manent, but how then, shall those Statists and Men so active in this great work, stand in the displeasure of their King and dread Sovereign? why, who reads, unless with bloodshot eyes, the several Expresses and Declarations published to the world, offering both the settling of our Religion, just Liberties of the Subjects, Privileges of Parliament, and also the suppressing of Popery, and preventing of Tyranny, but hath not his Soul been amazed at the continuance of these distractions? Or that can have a thought that the head cannot think to live, where the body is in this great Consumption? but he will rather yield to the feet when they are grieved, (for they lying in fetters, the head cannot be free.)  
If the hand offend the eye, or the tooth the tongue, in such case to punish, would not the head find that the revenge would make all the Members of the body to become, feloes deses, and then what kind of head will remain without a body? certainly Consiliarius nemo melior est, quam tempus, which do now if ever Council Majesty, rather safety than force, and rather pardon then prescription, for Nullum stabile regnum nisi benevolentia munitum. No King can long Reign, who is not Walled and Guarded about with the love of his Subjects. And it is a Rule infallible for a King of England to greaten himself, there is no way so assured as by the love of the People.  
And for the Honourable City of London, (the King's Chamber) who can doubt, but they shall remain honoured, both with all the Immunities, Charters and Privileges, and still with more, be more and more honoured.  
I am persuaded, that they even most desire to forget their glorious Rule by Ordinances and Committees, and will remember what Agesilaus answered a Citizen of Sparta, who desired an alteration of Government, that that kind of Government which a man would disdain in his own house, were very unfit to govern great Regions by; and who is not of his mind that said he had rather live under one wiseman (though cruel) then under the barbarous cruelty of the multitude? And for those in Parliament, are not all they, all those new Statists accepted so Just and Honourable, and the rest so Honest and Loyal, that they will never harbour in their Breasts such monstrous and unnatural thoughts against their K●ng and Country? howbeit, some do think that there are many of them of both Houses, which are used but as Codicils to a Testament, or as small Boats to great Ships, to which they be fastened, and from which they are let lose, at the pleasure of the Testator in the one case, and of the Pilot in the other; but the Mass of the Estate is disposed of by the Testament; and the tall Masts, broad Sails, Tackle and Furniture born by the greatest Ships, which having so fastened their Boats unto them, would enforce them (as some think) to adventure a Voyage to the Red Sea, rather than fail of their prizes, which those great Ships, these new Statists, so much labour for, though they even also as in Charity I am bound to think) if when the Act for perpetuating this Parliament was to have been passed, they could have been informed (as Hazaell was by an Elisha how thereby it would come to pass, that the strong holds of the Kingdom should be set on fire, and their young men slain with the Sword, and so many thousand of souls perish by Blood and Rapine, they would not then have answered with Hazaell, what are are we dogs, that we should do this great thing? Howbeit, since they making no medium inter praecipitia & summa, seem to take delight in that which before they had prosest to detest and abhor, & non est h ec universalis dementia?  
But thou O Lord, stillest▪ the raging of the Sea, and the noise of the Waves▪ and the madness of the people, thou makest wars to cease in all the world, thou breakest the Bow, and snappest the Spear in sunder, and burnest the Chariots in the fire.  
But ye● it is safest trusting when we take from the King all means of breaking: we have our brethren the Scots with a great Army to assist us. And that Member in the Assembly of Divines in his Sermon 27 Martii 1644 , assures us that the cause is invincible, and that God had smitten the generality of the Land with Madness, Blindness, and Astonishment of Heart; and that it may be feared lest the Spanish, or Irish, or other Foreigners, may beg the whole Land of the King, and obtain it, alleging that the Nation is not Compos Mentis. And that this Work in hand is a Mystery, a Parad x, a Riddle, a Secret that doth require a Revelation and that shallow headed, narrow hearted Carnalists are puzzled in it. But yet I say there is a God that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh D●ines mad; that turneth wise men backwa d, and maketh their knowledge foolish, Isaiah 24.2. Though Balaam was hired to curse, yet he was ●n●orced to say, that the shout of a King is amongst them, Numb. 23.21. And it is true that God by the assistance of our brethren, hath made us prevalent, and that hath also put into the King's heart to trust him with his person, when we proclaimed it Treason to those here that should harbour or conceal him. And that hath also moved the King's heart to do, and consent unto whatsoever the Parliament shall in reason require for the good of his people.  
And do we yet hesitate? It seems that we having done we know not what, we now know not what to do: and is not this Universalis Dementia?  
Oh my soul! come not thou into their secret, into their Assembly, mine honour be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall: Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath for it was cruel.  
But for those Worthies and the rest of the Parliament, bless God for their brethren, who he hath made the happy instruments for our happy peace, so near at hand; if not hindered by those before mentioned.  
However I will rest assured that if this fail, that nevertheless deliverance shall arise to our King from another place, and at another time.  
I confess that with God Dies hora momentum in evertendis omnibus sufficit, quae adamantinis radicibiu videntur esse fundata, and that England's sins deserve these plagues. It is God that changeth the times and the seasons, and removeth Kings and setteth up Kings, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. But yet in this if they should prevail, the best that shall be said of it concerning themselves will be, that for some short time prosperum scelus vocatur virtus, but afterwards the rods themselves shall be cast into the fire, in the mean this of the Poet may chance to be verified:  

Committat eadem diverse Crimina fato:  
Ille Crucem sceleris praetium tulit, hic Diadema.   
But these sad and melancholy considerations hath brought me so far into this Universalem Dementiam, that if I conclude not quickly, I must be committed to Bedlam into Bethlehem: yet who but a Nero can sit and sing when Rome burns? and who but a Faux mourns not at the destruction or his Country, for the transgression of the land?  
Many are the Princes thereof by a man of understanding and knewledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.  
My Son, fear thou the Lord, and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change, for their calamity shall arise suddenly.  
It is high time that in this great press we hasten to come with the Woman in the Gospel, and touch the garment of our Saviour, and so have the fountain of blood dried up, for which we have suffered many things of many Physicians, and have spent all that we had, and are nothing better, but rather grow worse  
And if this land enjoy either a settled peace, or a lasting prosperity until this perpetual Parliament be either ended or limited; then have I not erected my Figure aright, but my Star hath misled me. It w●uld be too too vain for me to go about by guesses, and surmises to say who are the Impostors, new Statists, or the evil Councillors that have continued this Tragedy to be acted in our Nation.  
S. John who was a burning and shining light, did bear record of him who wrought our salvation, and the same light will also in due time bear record of those who have wrought our destruction; only my prayer for the whole Parliament to Almighty God is, that they may be reconciled to the King, and his royal heart to it, that so these flames may be quenched, that do so much threaten ruin to them both, and to the whole Church and State.  
And thus having told you my thoughts, if the time present or future, shows any thing herein serious, account it then to be done in my Lucida intervalla, and till then both that and the rest to be done in my fits of this Vniversalis Dementia: therefore first read them and silence them. Only let my Friends, Children, and Grandchilds know in what faith I died, and in what fear I lived: and so vale, & in haec, & ab haec universali dementia.  
FINIS.   

THere is a very useful book for these times lately printed, Entitled A Legacy left to the World by (that able Lawyer) Richard Creswel Sergeant at Law, late one of the Judges of the Court of Common-Pleas. Addressed (in his life time) to his four Sons in Law: and are to be sold by any unbiased Stationers any where. Wherein is handled the Matters of Government (which hath so much distracted these three Kingdoms so long) and resolves the right out of God's Law and Man's: for the satisfying of all indifferent men.