A SPEECH Made by Sir Audley Mervyn his Majesty's Prime Sergeant at Law in IRELAND, the 11 th'. day of May in the House of Lords, when he was presented Speaker by the Commons, before the Right Honourable Sir Maurice Eustace Knight, Lord Chancellor of IRELAND, Roger Earl of Orrery, and Charles Earl of Mountrath, his Majesty's Lord Justices of his Kingdom of IRELAND. 11ᵒ May 1661. ORdered, upon the Question nemine contradicente, that Mr. Speaker be desired to cause his Speech this day delivered in the House of Lords to be forthwith Printed and Published. Philip Fernely, Cler. Dom. Com. Dublin Printed by William Bladen, by special Order, Anno Dom. 1661. Sir Audley Mervyns Speech. Most Great and Honourable Lords, THe Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Obedience to Your Lordship's Commands, according to their ancient Custom and Privilege, proceeded to the Election of their Speaker: and passing by many persons of signal Abilities, and long Experience, (for truly that House is furnished with excellent choice,) have fixed their eye of favour and affection upon me the meanest Member of that great Assembly; It were ominous they should thus limine impingere, but that they know such is the prudence and circumspection of that House in the Mannagement of their Affairs, that they can suffer no prejudice by the disabilities of any one Person serving and observing their Commands: Thus have I seen a tender Parent placing one of his little ones before him in the Saddle, and seemingly intrusting the Rains in his hands, when secretly the Command rested in his own, (an act evidencing Affection without impeachment of his Care:) I then offered my aid Prayer, that no further proceed should be herein Rege in consulto, and then blushingly led them into such recesses where my ambashed infirmities had so long secured themselves, (though without drawing of the Curtains the Scene of my Errors was too too visible.) Were it but to design a Pilot to a Fly Boat betwixt Dover and Calais, the Consultation were not of much Importance, but when a Ship of the second rate is to be rigged forth, for a long Voyage (for all that we know) through Flats, contrary Tides, and we are not sure of a Trade wind; it is your care (GREAT LORDS,) though the Mariners hazard their own lives, and Cargazoon with the Pilot of their own choice Communi saluti Prospicere: I hope to hear the voice of your Lordships to them saying, O Navis referunt in Mare te novi fluctus o quid agis! fortiter occupa portum Wherefore most Honourable Lords, with Confidence equal to my Humility, I beg that your Lordships would be pleased to give me a supersedeas and discharge from a burden so disproportiohable to my strength; Give me leave to put off Saul's Armour before You, and be pleased to lay your profitable Commands upon the Commons to improve their second inquiry amongst themselves, (there is many a Saul taller by the head and shoulders than myself hidden amongst the stuff,) and to present a person, upon whose very appearance in this place, your Lordships may warrantably conclude this is the Man whom the House of Commons intends to honour. Here the Lord Prmiate of Ireland Speaker of the House of Lords declared in a short, pithy and eloquent Speech the Lords justices approbation of the Speaker: who then proceeded. Most Great and Honourable Lords: I find my aid Prayer over ruled, and a Procedendo issued: I crave leave to chide myself, I only considered Terminas ad quem when I appealed to Caesar, and reflected not upon Terminus à quo the House of Commons: may this hour of this day guide all the days of our continuance, that the Commons may never present that Prayer unto Caesar, to which Caesar may not cheerfully say, Amen; Now my Devotion instructs me with a mannerly Thesis, Obedience is better than Sacrifice: The Voice of your Lordship's Confirmation hath silenced the whispers of my Fears: The Stamps of Kings pass vulgar Metals beyond their intrinsic value; I humbly submit, and dutifully welcome this pleasing force; Fax grata est, gratum vulnus, mihi grata cataena Me quibus astringit laedit, & urit amor; Sed flammam extingui sanari vulnera, solvi Vincula, non possum, si modo posse velim: And therefore in the first place, (A love principium) I bow my knees, and raise my Heart to Heaven, that he that looseth the stammering tongue, and was a mouth unto Moses, will fill my heart with wisdom, and my mouth with wise say; And thou O Lord, who standest in the Congregation of the mighty, and judgest amongst the Gods, who hast signed the Original Command of this Trust upon Me, Da Domine quod jubes, & jube quod vis. Here I might wind up all with those usual and necessary requests in the behalf of those that sent me, but give me leave to recollect myself. Can I be in this mount of transfiguration and not say let us build 3 Tabernacles, and put on this Inscription, Bonumest esse hic; Your Lordships being 3 Persons of Honour, yet making up the representation of one, and that the best of Monarches, may warrant me to apply Ternarius Numerus est facer: Let no man be offended that I call it a Mount of Transfiguration: Have we not th●se many years been walking through the Wilderness without a Moses, without an Aaron? Hath not our Flesh been torn with Briars, and our Loins whipped with Scorpions? hath not the tale of our Brick been doubled, and provision of Straw exacted at our own hands? Hath not our Fountains, Fountains of living water been dammed up, or poisoned, and not a Prophet left to heal the waters, and We in the interim forced to draw out of Cisterns and muddy pits? Hath not the Parliaments of this Kingdom been carried into Captivity, and our Senators that should be, become Perepateticks and Pilgrims to titulary Conventions: when we asked for Fish, have not they Voted Scorpions? and when we have Petitioned for Bread have they not given us Stones: and is not this place then a Mount of Transfiguration? Hath not Our dread Sovereign Lord the King, (of whom the world is not worthy) been banished into Foreign Countries, so that he might take up that expression, The Foxes have holes, and the Birds of the air have nests, but the Son and undoubted Heir of three glorious Kingdoms, nay the native & lineal King of them had not a place to rest his head in: but praised be that God that at the same time he made a hard stone to be his pilow, sweetened his repose with heavenly visions: and is not this place now a mount of transfiguration? Where were those Regalia we now behold: that robe of Majesty before Your Lordships, was the Garment for which they cast lots: that Sword, of which it may be said, Non est alter Talis, whose edge was sharpened, and whose point steeled by a Heavenly sanction, was transformed into a bloody axe, to behead 3 Kingdoms at one stroke; That single Cap of Maintenance could never fit that Bellua multorum capitum: Thy Lions O England roated not out of Courage but for Hunger: Thy Lion O Scotland was not rampant: The Flower-de luces withered; And thy Harp O Ireland, thy discomposed Hup was hung upon the Willows; But now you hear the Silver strings of it touched by another David sounding Heavenly Anthems: Glory be to God on high: Peace unto Men; Glory be to God on high, the Church settled, Peace unto Men, Your Estates and Liberties secured: and is not this that your eyes now behold a Mount of Transfiguration? Draw near You House of Commons, behold a King! Poets feigned Caelum and Terra to be the Parents of Sovereignty, shadowing out to us its Divine Institution, and Humane approbation: the Nativity of Charles the Second Entitles itself to that truth, jam nova progenies Caelo demittitur alto. there is Divine Institution, It is reported that in that Latitude where the son makes a discontinuance to his Plea of Governing the World for six Months successively, that the Inhabitants at the time of his return clime to the tops of the Mountains, and ravished with his praevius refractions, cry aloud he is coming, he is coming: But how did his Majesty's Subjects upon the guilding of our Horizon by his happy ristitution make Mountains of men, and built up many Stories high upon one another's Shoulders, How did the lame take up their beds and walk, Glorifying God, He is come, he is come; there is Humane approbation: Nay, but behold your King 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Behold your King, that solar Planet culminating in the house of his Exaltation, sitting either Personally or Representatively in his Parliament. Do you not yet see him, why then feel him: what say your Lives? Do they not feel the influence of his Metcy; Hath not every Chest a Pardon as well as a Patent in keeping? What say your Estates, do not they feel him: hath not every Chest a Patent as well as a Pardon in keeping, nay, have not the greatest part of your Estates in this Kingdom felt his power of creation, raising up Estates out of nothing? What say your Liberties, do not they feel him; the Prisons, those living graves have yielded up their dead, an Iron fetters and shackles about the legs, are Metamorphised into Golden Chains, and Collars of SS about the neck: But what if his Majesty's Necessities be great, You feel them not, none shall then share in that sense with himself: True it is, that the General Convention in this Kingdom humbly presented his Majesty with 20000. Pound, (but a cluster of those Grapes whereof the Vintage is yet behind,) and hath he not lately returned us 50000. Pounds to pay that Army which secureth Us: If the Servant that improved his Master's Talon had the Eulogium of Euge bone serve,, when the Master improves thus the Servants Talent, shall not We say Euge bone Domine, Rex Carole second: If theer be any yet weaker than Didymus, that neither seeing nor feeling will raise him up; will you hear your King: The voice of a King is like the roaring of a Lion, and yet this voice we never heard, though when he hath been amongst the Beasts of the Forests, he is to be heard in a still voice; If any hot Spirited Disciples move for fire to come down upon Samaritains' (for we have had Samaritains') how gently doth he reprove them: You know not what temper you are of, For I came not to destroy but to save: Will you hear him speaking in his Gracious Declaration for Settling of Ireland, (that Systeme of what are transcendent in him, his Mercy and Justice,) his own hand set that Declaration as the Book. Song for thy Harp O Ireland to be tuned unto, and by it hath improved thee to play broken notes in a harmonious Concord: who ever saw impatience sit in his Royal brow, but when he remembered thee O Ireland, when he remembered that thou wert mourning when his two other Kingdoms were rejoicing: with what exemplary wisdom did he unravel thy complicated Interests, how tenderly did he bind up thy wounds with his own hands: He did not send his Stick to lay upon the dead Child, but stretched himself upon it to bring it to life: thy cure was painful, ay and costly two, to purchase a Kingdom to Us, he gave a Kingdom from himself: But know great Sovereign, such giving, shall be but sowing seed in fruitful ground, and Your Subjects hearts shall lad Your Arms with full Sheaves. I asked one Question, did you see your King? give me leave to add another: Do you not see the King of Kings, for behold, a greater than Solomon is here: when God writes, Faith and Duty must be our spectacles to read; I invite you not ro read a Mene Mene Tekel Peres, but Hephzihah and Beulagh, for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy Land shall be married. Astrologers have made Divinations from the fiery Trigon, and the conjunction of Saturn and jupiter as to the condition of Our King and his Kingdoms: bleer eyed men could you not see when Our King was wrapped up in the swaddling bands of Majesty, and after Worcester Fight laid in a Manger; Can you not see a Star over the place, the Wise men did see it, and did foretell that God had snatched him as a Firebrand out of the Fire, and designed him to be a Crown of Glory in the hand of the Lord, and a Royal Diadem in the hand of his God; Did you not see the Pillar of Fire with the bright side lighting the King in his Dangerous, Wearisome, and dark escape, with the sable side of it to Pharaoh and his persecuting troops? Did you not see the Pillar of Fire by night, and the cloud by day, guarding his Majesty through Flanders, Germany, Spain, France? Did not God hid him in the hollow of his hand, and shut him up like a joas in his Temple, or which is more, shut up his Temple in him: warrantably may he be styled, Defender of the Faith, whose Faith defended him: but here Quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta Tyranni Effera— How did his Majesty's enemies consult with Satan's rules of Policy to have destroyed his Body and Soul: corrupt nature under the pressures of long-visaged necessities, if not restrained by a divine power, will close with the worst of means that may promise a deliverance; Satan knew that after 40. days Fasting, and in a Wilderness, was the Critical hour to foment a temptation; One of the best of men, prayed against adversity, lest he might put forth his hand unto iniquity; Great and Dread Sovereign, must no Nation be at Peace with England that would give you a receptien, must your own natural Members be cut off if they paid but a little sustenance to You their head? It hath been so, and it's as true, that France, Spain and Germany, if You would have fallen down and worshipped, if you would but have exchanged the ancient Apostolic for the Roman Catholic Faith in Your Title, would have paved the way with their Crowns and Sceptres to your throne: Did not the Serpent say, These engagements were fair and pleasant, and if you would but taste it, You should be as one of those Gods; But Sir, you know in whom you trusted, therefore are you not ashamed, You read, and believed that place I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him: Thus (My Lords) We have seen, and We do see, and may we ever see, the King of Kings owning our King, he hath sent us Our King without allay, tried at his own beam, Heaven toutch. Now my Lords, give me leave to take a nearer survey of this goodly structure now before my eyes: Did the beholding of the contracted foundation of the second Temple draw tears from he eyes of the ancient men, who considered the Glory and Magnificence of the former, and may not this be a day of rejoicing, when we see our Stakes strengthened, our cords lengthened, an the splendid uniformity of this House such, that we may say, many have done excellently, but this excelleth them all. In the first and highest place, are your Lordships representing unto us the best of Kings, CHARLES the second, by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland; His Majesty in designing this honour to You, was of the same spirit with a great King who enjoined — se nemo prater Apellem Pingeret— But your pleasing task is more difficult, You are to draw the picture of a King's Soul, one of the vastest Souls this day living: Government is the Soul of the body Politic; You have done it, and you have done it to the life; I am glad to see you look up to Heaven with us all, and praise that hand that guided yours, though your hand held the pencil: We have several lights, and you have drawn him so, that in what light soever he is placed, he is amiable and ravishing, and that we all say — sic oculos, sic ora ferebat His Majesty knew the Irish Seas run high, and the stearage was not to be put in foremast men's hands: Few at the time of your Lordship's entrance upon the Government durst take the helm; It was a dark night, a long night, a stormy night, the wind scant and high, a lee shore; Some Coroners and Constables were your best Mariners, not a Sheriff, not a Justice of Peace (strong ligaments of English Government) was in this Kingdom: Every man did what was good, or rather what was evil in his own eyes; for Religion we were Tenants at will: Our Oracles, the Courts of the Law were shut up, and Your Lordships, who have very attentive Ears, could hear now and then some picking of janus his lock A Soldiery under great Arrears, and little or no Money to satisfy them, the greatest part of the Estates of the People unsecured, an universal decay of the Trade: was not this Kingdom full of combustible matter, and darklanthorn spirits in it to put all into flame? What ticklish ground was this for a strange and unsteady hand to have adventured a cast on? But your Lordships have lain near the mark, may you save your own stakes, as you have secured Ours, who have, and still desire to bet upon Your hands; The Soldier's obedience you have improved beyond a Gospel precept, to be content with little or no wages, and you have so sweetly fixed the planetary worship of God (for did not we sacrifice under every green tree,) in its own orb moving with that regular decency, that no sooner the foot is over the threshold, but the tongue saith, sure this can be no other place but the House of God. Vssah was not excusable for putting his hand forth to relieve the tottering Ark; though my intention is, and my actions have ever witnessed, nothing is so dear to me as his Majesty's Interest, yet I know we are to advise de arduis, not the arcanis Regni; but sure I may say, and ground it upon Vox populi Dei, is Vox Dei, that amongst the inestimable favours we have received from his Majesty, this is not the least, that he hath been pleased to give us your Lordships Our Governors (under him,) that are bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, sympathy in sufferings, heightnes not only an Intercession for relief, but propounds the most suitable remedies for it; Non Ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, By your Prudent, Vigilant, and constant care Justice hath run down like a stream, and Righteousness as mighty waters, and we are assured that his Majesty will receive that satisfaction by You, and We in You, that the ages to come (premising Rex nobis haec otìa fecit), will call You the Repairers of Our breaches, and the Restorers of our Paths to dwell in: I have no more to say, but since we see his Majesty here but as in a Glass, You are Glasses without spots. Next are placed upon your right hand, the most Reverend, Learned, (and that which ferments all,) pious Prelates, They have not only Bells to make a sound in the Pulpit, but Pomegrannets to bear fruit answerable in their lives. When God completes a blessing unto a Nation, he restores not only David their King, but their Teraphim; Sad experience hath stamped an observable truth upon a Proverb, No Bishop, no King: Many years we flourished under both consenuere pares: and one fatal blow destroyed them both, una duos nox perdit amantes: It is observed of the Heliotrop, it opens upon the Sun's rising, and contracts itself upon the Sun's setting, whatsoever the Fable is, the Moral is true, Sol occubuit nox caca sequta est, a sad night when the Screech-owl's laid their Eggs in the eagle's nests. These are the Golden Candlesticks filled with the Oil of Spikenard, These are the Spiritual Champions that stand in the breach. and with Reverence, I may say, combat God Almighty when our National sins alarm him to vengeance: Hold up their hands and Israel prevails, but if you will not support them, (have we not found it so) Ameleck prevails: These with a sacred violence bind up the omnipotent hand, They are Princes that prevail with God: These are Stars in Gods right hand, mad men: (Pardon me my Lords, I hope there are none such here, but mad men they are that think to pull a star down, a star in God's hand, a Star in God's right hand; Are you not yet satisfied, when you had buried our spiritual fathers, and rolled a stone upon the Sepulchre, and seated it, and set guards of Soldiers to watch the Sepulchre, that beholding their Resurrection this day, you will not confess digitus Dei est hic; Now no rude hand snatches up the holy Censer, and smokes Heaven with unhallowed Flames; This is Aaron's rod that eats up the Magician's rods: what is the affluence of all worldly enjoyments, when we lie under a spiritual famine: Lord though thou give us the bread and water of affliction, let never Our Teachers be any more driven into corners: And blessed be thy womb O Church of England, the superfaetation of thy womb, that hath supplied us with such a recruit, whose faces shine as having talked with God in the Mount: If your Lordships will have Religion to be a Target to you, be sure you be a Buckler to it. On your left hand are ranked the Nobles: of these it may be said, they are ornamentum belli & firmamentum pacis: their Robes are fit for Counsel, their Swords for War, they are medium conjungendi tincturas nearly related to the King in honour to the Commons in their Liberties and Substance, in that aequidistancy placed as they overshadow not Royalty, nor oppress not the Commonalty. Great Peers, I may say of our unsettlement, aliquisque malo fuit usus in illo: Never had you such an advantage given you to perfume and embalm your memories to posterity, as to exert your wisdom and courage in this juncture of time: Blazon your coats destinct, but during this Parliament have one only motto, Pro Rege, lege Grege: You are rich jewels in yourselves, but never so well set as in this House. A fence and outwork to the Throne sit the grave and learned Judges, while these Fortifications are kept in good repair, the Citadel of strength and Majesty is safe: these keep the perpendicular beams of exalted prerogative, (but praised be God we fear it not in our temperate zone) from scorching, and sprinkle such distillations of Grace from his Majesty's Goodness that Our Liberties Bud, Blossom, Knit, and are in a perpetual Spring Tide; These have studied upon Mount Ehal and Gerasim, They can denounce and make the nocent feel the rigour of the Law, and the innocent the blessings of Peace; You are the King's feoffees in trust, and the people are the Cestique use: you govern the two most comprehensive syllables in the World, Meum & Tuum; You are the Lion's supports, Solomon's throne, justitia firmatur solium, & nusta est tam misera servitus quam ubi jus est incertim & vagum. But stay! I see a glittering Constellation, though of lesser Stars the Knights, Citizens and Burgesses, the representative of the Commons of this Kingdom: These are the Guards of CHARLES Wain, and move upon the poles of Loyalty and Love: These are no Planets or Erratic Stars, but such as will fight in their order against every Sisera: of these Stars it may be said Astra negunt Homines— Of these Stars it may be said Sed negit Astra Deus. In this body politic, the Head cannot say it stands not in need of the Feet, keep the Feet from stumbling, and we may secure the Head, and all other parts of the Body from falling: Of these Feet we cannot say, they are like Nebuchadnezars image, whose Head was Gold, but the feet of Clay; But We can truly say of them, How beautiful are their feet that bring us the glad tidings of peace; Their purses are not tied with Gordian, but True-love's knots: Some have their hearts where their treasure is, we have our treasures where our hearts are, and truly our hearts are so comfortably lodged in his Majesty's hand, as we are resolved to take our lives in our own hands to assert this truth: In one word I may warrantably say, Since Ireland was happy under an English Government; there was never so choice a collection of Protestant fruit, that ever grew within the walls of the Commons House; Your Lordships have piped in your Summons to this Parliament, and the Irish have danced; How many have voted for, and signed to the Returns of protestant Elections, so that we may hope for, as we pray, that japhet may be persuaded to dwell in the Tent of Sem. Now what remains, here is water, what hinders but we may be baptised: here are all the promising instruments that can make this Kingdom happy: You have the best of Kings, the most Religious of Clergy, the most Honourable of Nobles, the most learned of Judges, the most Loyal of Commons: would you have protection, seek and find it in the King, would you have Piety your field, and Honour and plenty your Supporters, and Heaven your Crest, these Spiritual Heralds will blazon you a Coat of immortality: would you be truly Noble, ask and inquire amongst the Peers, and you will have choice of Originals to copy after; would you learn Christian Obedience, and submission to Authority, not for wrath but for Conscience sake, knock at the door of Commons and it will be opened to you, and you shall see them building with trowels in one hand (exercising a profitable industry to support the Wealth, and cement the Peace of this Kingdom,) and with Swords in the other hand, to defend their David and their Teraphim. Most Great and Honourable Lords, I said Bonum est esse hic, but I promised only to build Tabernacles; I fear I am not only guilty of a purpresture, but that I have held over beyond my term, I shall leave this Mount of Transfiguration, and retire into Our Valley, a Valley I hope of Vi●●ons, a Valley joining to the foot of this Mount; We are two Houses, but both under one roof: One of the Belgic Provinces gives 2. Earthen Pots floating in the Ocean, with this Motto Si Collidimur fraugimur. But I trust there shall be no noise of a hammer in our building: No, Shiboleth must be put to the Question. But the God of peace grant that we may hold the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace, and establish our hearts in unity one towards another, and in Duty and Loyalty to our Sovereign and natural Lord the King, for whom we pray, Serus in Caelum redeas diúque, Laetus intersis populo Britanno Neve te nostris vitijs iniquum Ocyer aura Tollat hic ames dici pater atque Princeps: I have but one word to add in the behalf of those from whom I am entrusted, that are humble suitors unto your Lordships. That in respect we are elected here to attend the weighty Affairs that may be cognisable before us, which will require our united not distracted thoughts, that neither our Persons, or our Servants, or our Asses that we leave at the foot of the Mount, (the allegory will hold, for if obedience be better than sacrifice, we are offering up a sacrifice) may be molested, but that we may be freed in our persons and goods from all arrests according to our ancient privileges. In the second places, that since such will be the weight and intricacy of matters debatable before them, and that Parliamentary truths are hid as fire in flints, only visible by collision, that we may according to our ancient privilege have liberty and freedom of speech; it is liberty not licentiousness we ask for, the moderation and wisdom of that house, desires no further a legitimation of their language, than what is the natural issue of sober reason and discretion. Lastly, that when the nature of their affairs are such, that further proceed cannot be until the Golden Sceptre be held forth, that your Lordships upon their humble suit will afford, them (with respect to your better leisure) access unto you. But here it troubles me that the consciousness of my own guilt forces me, that am entrusted with the Orders of that House, to make the first inroad upon them: Free and general Pardon should be a closing Act, but such have been my errors already committed, (crimes I would not willingly own,) that I humbly beg your Lordship's Free and General Pardon. FINIS.