A REJOINDER Consisting of TWO PARTS, The FIRST entitled, The BALANCE, OR, A VINDICATION OF The Proceed and Judgement of Parliament and their Ministers,  

In the cases of  
WILLIAM (called Lord) CRAVEN,  
CHRISTOPHER LOVE.   
From the scandalous Allegations, and Ironical Reflections of RALPH FARMER, (a pretended Minister of the Gospel at Bristol) in a late infamous Libel of his, named, The Impostor dethroned, etc. Dedicated to the Former.  
Wherein the Commonwealth's Case as to the One is briefly stated, and the Treasons of the Other are rehearsed as a LOOKING-GLASS for the PRIESTS, and an AWAKENING to ENGLAND.  
The second, EVIL scattered from the THRONE, and th● WHEEL brought over the WICKED: In an EXAMINATION of that part of the Impostor dethroned, as is in way of Reply to the Throne of Truth exalted, etc.  
GEORGE BISHOP.  
He that is first in his own case seemeth just, but his Neighbour cometh and searcheth him.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons, at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1658.   

To the sober READER.  
TO shorten the ensuing Vindication, and to give thee more perfectly to understand the ground of the Contest between Ralph Farmer and myself, I desire thee to take notice that it was not on my part; for though he gave me many provocations, (who had not done him any wrong) yet I began not with him, but rather chose to abide in silence, (knowing the man) then to have to do with such a one, The beginning of the words of whose mouth is foolishness, and the end of whose talk is mischievous madness, as Solomon saith of the fool, Eccl. 10. 13.  
And in the same purpose of mind I determined to have continued, had he not in his Narrative of J. N's coming into Bristol, etc. charged the blasphemies [there] affirmed, upon the truth of the living God, and the many thousands of the friends thereof in this Nation, scornfully called Quakers; and me in particular with matter of fact, as to my public Trust, which with more than ordinary Care, Hazard, and Faithfulness, I have a witness in my conscience as well as amongst men, to have honestly discharged.  
In all which knowing the truth, and those people and myself to be innocent; and being assured that a principal cause of his vilifying of me was Geo. Fox his Letter, sent unto and taken upon J. N. (wherein the spirit that then led him & that company, and their actions, was judged and denied) which being wrote with my hand, he expected would be made use of, and my Testimony therein for the clearing of those people from his slanderous imputations of detestableness and biasphemy; and being sensible that the great design of the Devil in all, was to dis-savor truth, and to make it abhorred with those to whom the Relation should come; I was pressed in spirit (being a● Bristol during the time of this transaction, and well informed in the truth of the particulars) to make answer thereunto, (not purposely in reference to my own particular, as if I were troubled, but) for the clearing of the truth, that all who would, might see it free of the monstrous apparel in which he had clothed it, and that those that should notwithstanding shut their eyes, might be left without excuse in the day that God shall judge the secrets of all hearts by the man Christ Jesus: And that my Answer I styled as it was, viz. The Throne of Truth exalted over the Powers of darkness, etc.  
Whereunto he being constrained to give up the Cause, and being sorely plagued and tormented therewith, and at the discovery of his wickedness, he not only falls upon me with all the rancour lodged within his malicious breast, but having compassed the earth, and rummaged through the unclean bowels of the Nation, and consulted with his black Generation, he grovels up into his bottomless pit what false reports he could meet with among the Enemies of the State and Truth, and having in his first seventeen pages bid defiance to Perfection, (the work of the Ministry for which Christ gave gifts unto men when he ascended up on high) and to those who are made clean by the Eternal Word, the blood of the New Covenant which cleanseth from [all] sin, (Christ Jesus the light of the World, that lighteth every man that cometh into the World) and to conversion from evil, as of the Devil, (to show himself whose Minister he is) he casts up all again at me from the depths of darkness, in the following 100 pages, the whole of his Book, which he calls (such is the fervency of the heat, of his scorched Tongue) The Impostor dethroned, (who is proved to be the man) Or, The Quakers Throne of Truth detected to be Satan's Seat of Lies: (which is not true of it, but is true of himself and his generation) By way of Reply to a quaking railing Pamphlet written by Capt. Bishop, (The slanders are his own, the Truth is mine.) entitled, The Throne of Truth exalted over the powers of darkness; (So it is, and so it shall stand over his head for ever;) wherein is briefly hinted the rottenness of the Quakers Conversion and Perfection in general, (It's the state of his own stock, whose root is rottenness, and whose blossom is going up as the dust, not of those people whose Rock is the Stone of Israel.) Exemplified in this busy Bishop; (The busy Bishop appears to be himself in the behalf of these men's Treasons; what I did was in discharge of my Trust) In special instanced in his practices against the Estate of the Lord Craven, Life of Mr. Love; (The one adjudged by the Parliament, the other by their High Court of Justice, and my duty faithfully done in both, long before I knew the thing that is reproached a Quaker.) By occasion whereof this Truth is asserted, viz. If we may judge of the Conscience, Honesty, and Perfection of quakers in general by this man in particular, a man may be as vile a person as any under Heaven, and yet a perfect Quaker. Which being proved a Lie both in ground and conclusion, this is affirmed of a truth, & made good, viz, That if the conscience, honesty & profession of the Ministers of England in general, may be judged by Ralph Farmer, [and wh●● he writes] in particular, a man may be one of the vilest of mer, yea, a notorious Traitor, and yet a professed Minister of the Gospel.  
This is the sum of the Beast, and the number of its Name, with which, as a Servant to the State, I am now to encounter, like as I answered the Narrative as a friend of Truth, unto which I shall presently apply myself.  
Bristol the 13th. day of the 11th. Month, 1657. G. B.   

THE BALANCE, OR, A VINDICATION, etc.  
BEfore I come to any new Engagement, it is requisite that I first state the old, and briefly show what hath already been, and how it is now; and wherein a Reply is hitherto declined.  
The great Question or Cause in controversy between Ralph Farmer and myself, (in his 
* Sata● Enthroned.  Narrative, and my Answer thereunto) was this:  
Viz. Whether J. N. and those with him (as to his coming to 
The Throne of Truth, etc.  Bristol, and what was done to him by them) and the people called QUAKERS, were one?  
This he affirmed, and for this purpose published his Narrative, 
Satan. Title page, & former part, etc. Impostor, p: 24: Throne, first ten pages.  and called it Quakerism in its exaltation; and concluded what he had said of the one, upon the other.  
This I denied, and proved by plain demonstration, and full testimony of Truth, (which shall stand for ever) That they were not one, not led by one and the same spirit, but seen (to be gone forth) and judged, and denied, and the spirit that led them, long before their coming thither; and consequently, That those people, and the truth they witness, were clear, and unconcerned; and that his Narrative, and its 
Pag. 25.  Title, Design of it, and End, Foundation, and Matter therein contained (so far as it related unto them, whom, and their faith he had taken that occasion highly to charge, revile, and abuse) was a Lye.  
For the clearing of this (being the Axis, or that on which the weight of the whole did hang) I expected [when I heard of his Reply] him to have spoken (had he any thing to say) but when I had viewed it round, I found the field quitted, and the Cause left me without an Engagement.  
The next thing in dispute, was his Narrative, Whether it was a true Relation, or not?  
A true Narrative and Relation it is, saith he in his Title-Page; 
Satan. Title-page. Epistle.  and in his Epistle to the Reader he pledgeth for it his faithful Assurance in these words, But this I can, and do faithfully assure you, That there is nothing here of the one, or the other, but what is real truth, as will be made good upon any occasion.  
[Then which, What higher Engagement can there be of honesty to induce a belief, for which end it is held forth?]  
It is not so, (replied I) for the examination of one of 
Throne. p. 29, 30.  them, which gives the lie to his Conclusion, upon the rehearsal of their Papers and Examinations, he hath wholly left out. 
Pag. 30.   
That Passage of the Examination of a second, which checks the design and drift of his Relation, he hath ommitted. 
Pag. 28, 29.   
The Examination of a third he hath affirmed to say, and produced to prove (contrary to his own Record of his said Examination) that which it saith not. 
Pag. 26, 27.   
All the contents of a fourth Paper he hath neither repeated, (though short) nor in the very words (which clear the matter) but makes up a pack of his own, and then presents it as the language of the Paper, to slander the innocent. 
Pag. 27, 28.   
A fifth Deposition he brings forth clipped of that clause, which renders it false sworn. 
Pa. 2 5, 7, 8. 9   
And a sixth Letter wanting divers words, and a material part of a sentence; and in the close, changed from its own, into such an expression (forged in, and then pointed to with a marginal Note, OBSERVE) as not only quite altered the sense, but rendered it very scandalous, and the life of him liable to danger, had it really been his, whose was the subscription. 
Pag. 25, 31, 32   
Hereupon I concluded his Narrative a lie, and him as a Narrator reprobate to faith and honesty.  
Of this (being the hinge on which turned the whole of his Reputation, as on the other did the Cause) I listened for a thorough Vindication (could he have made it) but throughout the whole Reply I could not hear a whisper of his said Engagement in his Epistle, nor of the words, Reprobate to faith and honesty; Nor of his quotations of his own 
Pag 74.  books, which I had charged upon him to have made to belie one another, and both to give himself the lie, and to prove him a false Prophet in such a business of consequence as foreseeing and foretelling things to come, of which he so highly vaunted: No nor of, nor to my demands, viz. By what spirit didst thou foresee, and foretell? The infallible spirit thou hast not, so thou hast confessed, pag. 34. a●d the spirit of the Lord is infallible. Is it not the Witch, the fallible spirit that is out of the truth, that hath divined? seeing that spirit that doth foretell, which is not the spirit of the Lord, is such.  
Then I considered him as to Religion, and I found (proving it upon him by plain Scripture) That his share in 
a Pag. 61, 62, 63, 70, 71.  Christianity he had renounced. That his [
b Pag. 61. ] hopes to be saved, his [
c Pag. 65, 66. ] happiness, and way to true happiness, was a lie; and that his [
d Pag. 63, 64, 65. ] Ministers, Ministry, Word, Churches, Unity, Orders, Peace, Civility, good Manners, & all [that] Religion which he saith Apollion & Abaddon the destroyer is tearing, laying waste, and confounding is the same; for all that is confounding, tearing and laying waste, (and he saith the [
e Satan. Epist. to the Reader ] destroyer is tearing, laying waist, & confounding ministers, ministry, Word, Churches, Unity, Order, Peace Civility, good Manners, yea 
* O horrible blasphemy! None but Christ Jesus is Truth itself, and Truth itself (saith this Priest) Apollion, etc. is confounding.  Truth itself, and all Religion) is shaken, & all that is shaken is of things that are [made] and that they are shaken, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are [made] that those things which cannot be shaken may remain, Heb. 12. 26, 27. But of these slain heaps upon heaps, I find no mention.  
I also weighed his [
f Pag. 80. to pag 90. ] Profession, his Coat, and Craft, and Generation, his [
g Pag 80. Satan, pag. 34. ] Argument (in his Answer to his own objection) form against the friends of truth as Knaves, Impostors, and Deceivers, and found it and them all too light, and proved them (turning his Argument on his own▪ and the heads of his generation) Knaves, Inter alliis, [they are his own words] Impostors, Deceivers, who say they are Ministers of the Gospel, and yet pretend not to the infallible spirit, which they had who were Ministers of the Gospel, who affirm that their necessary deductions from the Scriptures are as true and certain as the Scriptures; yea, that they are Scripture, and yet deny that they speak by inspiration, (by which all Scripture was given) and as the holy men of God did, (who spoke as they were moved of the Holy Ghost) or that they have infallibility, who declare that they deceive not the people in stretching beyond their line & measure; whereas in stretching beyond their line and measure, in the line and measure of others, is the whole of their Trade of Divination, who confess that they may he deceived, and may err; and say that they do not lyingly and hypocritically pretend to an infallibility, and yet undertake to lead people the right way to salvation; the ground of whose Ministry is no other than according to practice to speak from the Scriptures, [We pretend to no other, we preend not to infallibility, saith R. F.] in which 
Satan, pag. 34.  are found the Devils and false Prophets, and the certainty of whose speaking according to the spirit, is no other than their speaking according to the Scriptures, whose dictates (he saith) they are, of which they are no more sure than were the false prophets and devils aforesaid, who spoke the words of Scripture, and from the Scriptures, and according to the words of the Scriptures, and yet were reproved by Christ, and his Prophets, and Apostles, for so speaking; for it is not the words that are said, nor the actions that are done, but the nature in which they are said and done, and from whence they proceed, that renders them good and accepted before the Lord; and there are but two natures, the Divine, and that which is in the transgression; but two principles▪ the one of life, the other of death; as is the root of either, so is that which proceedeth from it; and he that ministers can minister no other than that principle from which he ministers, nor to any other then to that which is of the same principle, whether of death, or of life. And as for the Scriptures, they are for the Man of God, to be read, to be believed, to be fulfilled, to be practised; they are the things of God, not to be made a trade of for so much a year, or to be talked, or spoken of from, or by the wisdom of this world, no not in the words which man's wisdom, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth— Here his lips are covered.  
Many horrible blasphemies I charged him with, against the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Many notorious lies, slanders, and false accusations; many filthy scoffs, and profane jeers, yea of the spirit, many gross absurdities, confusions, and contradictions, line against line, page against page, one part of his Book against the other, slaying and confounding one another, and he them, and they the end and drift of his work, of which he is silent.  
The justification of the Doctrine and Principles of the people called Quakers, and of Geo. Fox from his foul calumnies and aspersions he hath not informed; nor hath he endeavoured to quit himself of the instances of blood-thirstiness, charged by me on him and his Generation; nor of the assertion, viz. The dog it is that bites, the Lamb doth never. Nor hath he said a word of the great Tumult and Sedition of which I charged him to be the chief stirrer up, and principal mover, nor of many things more; in all which should I be particular, time would fail me, being the contents of the greatest part of my answer; and with what juggling, lying, and sophistication he hath replied to the rest, and how little to the purpose, I shall dissect, and plainly make manifest.  
Now when as Reason would that of these things aforesaid, and the residue of my answer, he should have cleared himself, or have been silent, (and so to have done, had been somewhat becoming the seriousness of man) instead thereof, (as one forlorn and desperate) h● falls violently on my person, pouring forth at it the evil treasures not only of his own, but the venomous hearts of those generations, of whom, and their Treasons, he appears a Patron, and Advocate, who are (and he with them) become mine Enemies for having been instrumental (in the discharge of my Trust) to the detecting and preventing their secret plots and bloody conspiracies against the Commonwealth, and Treasonable Adherencies to the chief and declared Enemies thereof, in the day of its general designment, and greatest conflicts, not considering that amongst wise men Recrimination is always accounted an indicament of a bad cause; and instead of making good a general charge, particularly to asperse, and personally to reflect, is a very foul blemish.  
And here (having gained the Cause) I might withdraw my Pen, and sit down in silence till R. F. shall have quitted himself an honest man in print, and have taken off what is laid by me on him in that my Answer; it being reasonable that he whose honesty as to a Narrator, I have so highly impeached; whose Narrative in the material parts thereof, I have so fully answered; whose Ministry and Religion I have so manifestly overturned; whose share in Christianity himself hath so openly renounced, should so do before he gain credit unto what he hath now wrote, or receive from me thereunto a Reply.  
But forasmuch as the level of his, and the poisoned Arrows of the generation aforesaid, (who shoot under his cover) is laid at my Reputation, as to matter of Fact; and for that his, and their entrance unto me is made through the Authority of Parliament, their High Court of justice, and the Cause of the Nation, for which all the blood hath been spilt in the late Wars, and in regard the Parliament (as is said) have appointed to hear the Case of him whose Cause is the principal pleading of this Impostor at their next Sessions. And because after all the vomitings up of his venomous filth, he saith in his last page, And now from henceforth let none of these Quakers trouble me, I have done with this generation; but if they will be troubling, let them know that I will not be troubled— And as for any further Answers, Replies, Contending or Debating with them or him, I declare this as my Goronis, my farewell to quakerism. (And so I may stay a long day  I appear for clearing of my Innocency, and the justice of the State.) Therefore I shall (waving in this place all other particulars) immediately descend to engage him and his Confederates, in his and their Two great Battalions, the sum and end of his Work, and the strength of his mischief, viz.  

The case of  
William L. Craven,  
Christopher Love,   

in reference to  
My Self. 
* I mention myself first, because I am accused; it being convenient that I clear my own innocency before I appear in the vindication of others.   
The State.   

To the first, viz. Cravens Case.  
Ralph Farmer in his Satan Enthroned, having vilely traduced me in the business of this man, I judged it necessary for the satisfaction of all such as neither desired nor delighted in the defame of others, to declare my innocency therein, which I then did, and do again in these words, I do 
Throne, p. 102.  declare in the presence of the Lord, before whom I fear, who searcheth the heart, and tryeth the reins, and bringeth every work to judgement, That I am clear and innocent therein; nor have I used, nor do I know of any indirect proceeding in that whole business of Craven and Fauconer. At this my declaration he raves exceedingly, and is greatly moved, singling it out in the front, and discharging against it the wrath and fury of the envenomed body of that his Reply, well knowing that if that stand, he is cast in the groundwork of his defame of me, (on which he saith, pag. 117. his discourse and discovery is founded) as my Answer hath overturned the foundation of his blaspheming of the truth.  
But stand it doth before him who seethe all things (in the fear of whom I have spoken this twice) and I question not but stand it will (notwithstanding all this dirt) before the sober and truly wise in heart, who shall read and seriously consider what shall be said in this matter.  
And here I shall not rehearse, nor speak to all he hath written, it deserving neither, nor shall I trouble the Reader with a voluminous discourse (with which of necessity I must, should I be particular in every thing) nor shall I defile my Pen with the repetition of all his unclean and unsavoury language in abuse of me; but shall briefly come to what he calls his Evidence, upon which he saith page 83. Clear he is, That if any Jury in the world (of discreet, sober, impartial, and understanding men) were to pass upon me, they would give in this verdict, That I do know of many indirect proceed in the matter of the Lord Craven and Fauconer, and that I myself hath used them, and that therefore I am not clear and innocent in this matter: Which I shall examine and scan, and then leave it to all understanding, impartial, sober, discreet men, even to that of God in the conscience, which is just to judge, Whether notwithstanding all his Evidence, I am not clear and innocent; yea, whether his said Evidence, viz. the pretended Paper said by him to be signed by Major Fauconer on his Deathbed, and the Book, entitled, The Lord Cravens Case, etc. do not make me so to appear.  For the pretended Paper, said to be signed by Fauconer. 
Although the black character which himself hath drawn over the man as one most scandalous and perjured; and his producing the said Paper in the behalf of his Lord Craven, to prove him such, be material Arguments against himself for the invallidating the credit of any thing said to be wrote, or signed, or spoken by Fauconer against me; and although the said pretended Paper, as it is set down by R. F. without date or witness, and with an etc. at th● foot, appears rather as a forged Libel, than a true Record, and so not to be taken notice of, especially coming forth on the single credit of him whom I have proved to be a falsifier of his own Records, etc. yet upon supposition that the Paper is Fauconer●, and that every word thereof as it is set down by R. F. without any variation, interposition, or omission of word or syllable, was wrote and signed by him, and that it is all, and every word and syllable that was so wrote and signed, (which whether it be or not, I shall leave to the sober to judge, and those who are concerned to look after upon what by and by shall be offered to consideration in that particular) I say, Upon supposition, as aforesaid, I shall thereunto thus speak.  
First it saith, And here I dare not say that any man bribed 
Impostor, p, 28.  me; no, none d●d. Whereby I am cleared from that false and slanderous imputation of corrupting Fauconer to swear falsely in the Case aforesaid, which Cravens friends at the trial of Fauconer at the Upper-bench, and the Author of the Pamphlet, entitled, A true and perfect Narrative, etc. and R F. in this his Reply have so industriously sought to fix upon me.  
Secondly, the Words, I dare not say that any one bribed me; no, none did; do plainly intimate, That strong temptations (to affirm the contrary, viz. That some did bribe Fauconer) were on him, who ever he were, that wrote it; but the dread or the righteous God, who pleadeth the cause of the innocent, was such upon him, that he said, I dare not; no▪ none did. Unto the witness of which God of truth, hadst thou R. F. harkened when (as thyself confesses, pag. 18, 19) upon the first reading of the declaration of my innocency, (which thou calls my bold and daring appeal) it caused thee to make a stand, and seriously to observe it, and astonished thee, and made thee to read it again, and to consider whether there might not be some equivocation in the language and expression, [how was thy evil eye abroad R. F searching for iniquity?] which nor appearing to thee, thou then beganst to think that possibly I might not be guilty, this being an age, sayest thou, wherein many things are charged upon many men very slightly and ungroundedly, and sometimes very falsely, which is my case Ralph, in this matter, & that by thyself: I say, Hadst thou still harkened thereunto, & obeyed it, than thou hadst done me right, as hath the other, instead of wronging of me in so high & wicked a manner as thou hast in this thy Reply, for which a strict reckoning thou hast to make with him who is the Judge of all, before whom thou must shortly appear, and then thou shalt know what thou hast done, and what it was that made thee stand, and seriously to consider, and astonished thee, and put thee to reading again; and notwithstanding thy evil eye which searched for equivocation in the language and expression, to set it by, judged in my behalf the second time, and caused thee to begin to think that possibly I might not be guilty, and further to express thyself as hath been said, which is the truth, and which shall stand a witness against, and plead my cause with thee for ever; for I am innocent before the Lord in this thing, and his Witness it was that stopped thee in thy way this twice, and gave judgement for me, and shall do it eternally against thee, the mouth of the Lord of Hosts hath spoken it; though thou heeding, and being guided by that spirit which watched and searched for iniquity against the Witness, didst suffer the evil o●e to get over, and to hurry thee forth into very bitter and violent expressions of me, and didst then, and hast since (through the just judgement of God upon thee) trampled it under foot, and mayest do yet for a little season, till the measure of thine iniquity be filled up; yet shall it revive again, and then shalt thou know that the Lord hath said it, and that thou art the man, and that the things are true of thyself which thou hast uttered forth against, and upon occasion of me in the following lines of the pages aforesaid.  
Now this Paper (which after much travel is procured and made use of as the foundation of this last attempt for the retrival of the said estate, and the blemishing of my Reputation in order thereunto) acquitting me thus manifestly, as hath been said, what need I any further vindication?  
3. The particulars in which I am named in that Paper, are only these:  
And here I utterly renounce, etc. especially a late Pamphlet sent to me by Capt. Bishop; the cause of my writing that Pamphlet was, etc.  
And when I made a demur at the words Barbarous and inhuman Rebels, Capt. Bishop said, If you leave that out, you do nothing.  
True, I had done great services for them, but not by employment; and Capt. Bishop kept me low with small pittances, so that I was at his Bow.  
To the first; I sent him no such Pamphlet as there is intimated, nor put I him in any such, either by myself directly, or by under-actors upon the consideration there mentioned, or any other.  
To the second, I know not of, nor do I remember or believe that any such demur was made by him at any time, or that I returned any such answer; nor that he scrupled his information; nor had I any suspicion that he was not clear in the certainty of any part thereof, [had it been so, I should have stopped his deposing thereof, though himself had offered it] but had he made such a demur, and had I replied as is expressed, doth it therefore follow, or saith the paper, that I bade him swear it notwithstanding, or left him otherwise then to his liberty, either to leave out these words, or to put them in, as he was satisfied in the truth of them, or the contrary, so to have done had been indirect dealing indeed, and such an abominable wickedness as my soul ever abhorred: Besides those words pretended to be spoken in answer, are justifiable according to the common acceptation of that phrase amongst men.  
To the third, it is a further justification of me who by it am made to appear to have been so far from encouraging any such thing as false information, or perjury in Fauconer, that though he had done great services for the State, yet I kept him low with small pittances, so that he was at my bow; What! to swear falsely? nay the contrary, as the reasonable may judge.  
And here by the way the Reader may take notice of the confusion of R. F. who one while seeks to prove that I corrupted Fauconer with [great] sums of money, expressing what they were, and by whom paid, pag. 90. Another by keeping him low with [small] pittances, who affirms pag. 90. That though he were not bribed with money [beforehand] yet it was promised him, and liberty too; and presently saith, Why was it promised him? No doubt, That he might not flintch from his oath; so making it [after.] And a few lines following that demands, But I pray, Why was not the money [paid him which was promised?] and yet (in the next words) instances several sums of money which (he saith) was [paid him by my direction;] and then saith, Why was not the money [promised him, now paid?] Thus as to money, and as to liberty, (having made a slanderous relation concerning my being the occasion thereof, out of Newgate, (thereby endeavouring to prove the performance of the promise of liberty, as of money) and reflected upon me with a heap of notorious lies therein) nevertheless of both, viz. Money and Liberty, he saith thus, But I say, Why was not his liberty procured him now? and the money paid him now? and immediately answers himself, Oh! (saith he) the business was done, the Estate sold, let him hang, let him starve now; it may be the sum promised him was too great, and they could not agree who should pay it, the Estate being sold; (wickedly insinuating a combination to make up his pack of scandalous falsehoods.) And thus like a swift Dromedary, traversing her ways, and as a Bear bereft of her Whelps, he raves up and down with A ●ea and No; and It is so, and It is not so; doubling and redoubling the counter again, and all to bring forth this lie and foul aspersion on me, with which he sorely travels, viz. That I bribed Fauconers' perjury; Which he being not able to compass, (his own say in this point, as so many false Witnesses not agreeing among themselves; but disproving one another with Diametrical opposition) yet such is his Wickedness, that he will have it so, notwithstanding as aforesaid, and that the pretended Paper (his Libels chief Engine raised up against my reputation) clears me (as doth my conscience) of any such thing in these full and express Words, And here I dare not say that any one bribed me, no, none did; as hath been rehearsed: This is Priest Farmer, and the villainy of him who pretends himself to be a Minister of the Gospel.  
The Paper doth not say that Fauconers' information, or those Words, Barbarous and inhuman Rebels, or any other part of it, arose from any one but himself; nor that any one knew that the information, or any particular thereof was false; or that any one, knowing it to be false, used any means, or provoked him to swear it; but it saith, The Words, [viz. Barbarous and inhuman Rebels being once (not but once, as R. F. belies it, pag. 89.) named by me, they were as quickly inserted; Which (granting it to be so, though I know of no such snatching) was no more than what ought to have been done, it freely proceeding from the Informant, and being of such importance to the State, though R. F. keeps so great  in several pages, to wrest it to the contrary: (So by the Paper) the fault, if any, lies on Falconers part who gave the information, and who (it saith) falsely swore it, (as he since remembers, saith the Paper, not when he deposed it) and upon no other; or if it be, it appears not on whom to fix it; for though the Words, [I was hastily after a great sickness provoked to it] seem to intimate the contrary; yet whether it was by inward temptation, or outward suggestion, (to either of which the term Provoke, is convertible) who can determine? or who it was that used such provocation, seeing therein the Paper is silent? For my part I know of neither, nor of any such haste as the Paper mentions; or that the information, or any part of it was false; or that he doubted of the truth of any thing he deposed; The information was wholly from himself, & he was very free in giving it; and time there was enough [Days, and Weeks, and Months] for consideration, had he doubted in himself, between the first Discourse, wherein Falconer mentioned Cravens Name, and the beginning of his information, and the deposing of what he had informed.  
[5. The Paper saith; So that I do here solemnly protest, that I did not then (when he made oath) absolutely remember whether the very words Barbarous, and Inhuman Rebels were expunged; and premises these as the reasons in the foregoing words viz. For after twenty Weeks sickness (saith it) this was done, my body being low, and in much haste, being much enfeebled; and above three quarters of a year after I came over Sea; Which plainly clears his information as to those words (and no other clause was insisted upon at the trial as a perjury) from being a packed, feigned, or designed thing, and himself from being guilty, viz. of Corrupt, Wilful, and Malicious perjury, (the verdict brought in by the jury against him:) And so what doth there remain as a ground of clamour? For on these two hinges, viz. That his information as to these words Barbarous, and Inhuman Rebels was designed, feigned and packed, and that he wilfully and in malice, and being corrupted thereunto, swore it doth turn all the late endeavours for the Retrivall of this Estate; and on these two Pillars is founded all the outcries that hath been made of Fauconers' Perjury, and of the injustice, and indirect dealing of the Parliament Counsel of State, their Committee for examinations, etc. and of myself their secretary in order thereunto, as the only Game they had left to play, and the last stone they had to turn for that purpose; which nevertheless (after all this great a do) is but as aforesaid by their own reckoning; for after twenty Weeks sickness this was done, my body being low, and in much haste, being much enfeebled, and three quarters of a year after I came over, so that I did not then absolutely remember, whether the word Barbarous and inhuman Rebels were expunged; saith the paper: And that Fauconer drew the Petition, and that he put into it those very words, Drury, and Brisca (the only witnesses against him at the trial) confessed on their Oaths, though they said they were afterwards expunged, so that as he solemnly protests, he did not well remember wheher those words Barbarous and Inhuman Rebels, which as I shown you before, he motioned to have put into the Petition, and might therefore have some confused remembrance of them; I say he could not well then in haste (as he saith) remember whether they were expunged, or no; saith R. Farmer, Page 89. Here is the sum of this whole matter, and the Criticism on which it hangs, and the narrow compass into which it is drawn by the friends of Craven, and falconers enemies: And thus hath their evidence over-turned their cause, and their management thereof declared (against their wills) their juggling to Posterity.  
But whether the said pretended paper, and the whole contents thereof be really falconers, and of his hand writing and signing, I shall offer a few particulars to men of understanding to consider (and as I have said) to those who are concerned to look after.  
1. I have by me a Declaration every line of his own hand writing and signing, to the contrary, which he sent to me to publish in his vindication, without any foreknowledge of mine, direction or preocupation either of the thing, or matter therein contained directly or indirectly, which followeth in these words.  
A Declaration of Major Ric. Fauconer, Prisoner in the Upper Bench, humbly tendered to all honourable persons of trust, and employment, and to all other impartial Readers.  
HAving endured a strict imprisonment these two years 
His death prevented the publishing of this Declaration.  and a quarter, being exposed to all wants and extremityes, that possible a prison can reduce a man unto; languishing also in a deep Consumption, contracted by my cruel sufferings; And for that I perceive the malice of my adversaries to be most insatiable, by rendering me daily more & more odious; thereby to invalidate my testimony concerning the Lord Craven: I have therefore after a strict examination and scrutiny into my very soul, issued forth this ensuing declaration, most humbly tendering it to the just censure of all honourable persons of trust and employment, and to all other Impartial Readers.  
And first I declare of myself, that as by Birth and Education, I claim a parity with the better sort of Gentlemen; so my affections were showed most early to the Parliament, when the Feature Mountainous troubles were but an Embryo.  
In the service I continued constant in arms, even to the latter time of the late war; I also expended out of my Patrimony four hundred Pounds, and upwards, in raising Horse in Wales; as hath been and will be attested to by several Officers, under Major General Horton, of all which I never received yet one Penny: After this I undertook my employment beyond Sea, there I run many hazards, traveled many hundreds of miles, through France, Flanders, Holland, jersey, etc. to and again, & performed matters with all vigilant care: On my return for England after a year and a halves time, in the Packet Boat of Ostend, the said Boat was rob, and some seventeen or eighteen Passengers carried Prisoners, and myself only and the Boatmen free; surely in this I observed the hand of Providence then, which preserved me to come safe to London, where I rendered an ample account all of the whole Treaty at Breda, and all the transactions, with divers matters of importance; As my services were many, so I shall instance but one to avoid prolexity, and by that the whole body of the other may be judged; Expede Herculem.  
At Breda, several commissions were granted by the Scotch King, for the raiseing of horse and foot in divers parts of England, by those numerous insurrections to have gained a Body of an Army, whereby to have diverted the Lord General, and the Army, from hindering the Scotch in their design for England; this was carried with much secrecy by the principal Agents there, the chiefest, and most desperate of those insurrections as well as the rest; notwithstanding the great secrecy, I gave a particular account of four Months before it happened; nay of the Colonel who was chief Agent, and taken an actor with several others: By this timely hint the Parliament had time enough to prevent their enemies; which they did, and by crushing them, all the intended insurrections in the West, and Wales, they vanished: The Parliament and council of State did solemnize a day of thanksgiving at Margret's in Westminster, and ordered a day to be observed through the whole Nation for that great deliverance, of which instrumentally under God I was the principal Author; and Judge Jermine was pleased to tell Mr. Maynard, who was most bitter against me, that without that service of mine, and some others, neither he had set there, nor Mr. Maynard pleaded there: I wonder Drury and Brisco, did not acquaint th● State with the intended dangers, they both knew it a● Breda: No, they stayed to see the last man born of all the Royal Games; and then came into England after they could act no more mischief, as good Common Wealths men.  
And now a word or two of them, the chief evidence against me, I have in part related what I have been, what I have acted, and what I am, and let the indifferent man Balance us; Drury was always a Papist in arms against the Parliament; so irreconcilable an Enemy, that after all endeavours at home, he Petitioned the than Scotch King, (as himself confessed at the Upper Bench Court) to be enabled to serve him, as he had done his royal father: one who went from Bredato Antwerpeto place his son there with the Jesuits, this he cannot deny & I am sure divers can testify it: For Brisco, there was enough declared on Oath concerning him viz. that he betrayed and sold his Countrymen for twelve stivers a man, he was always an invetterate enemy against the State, and formerly belonged to the Lord Cravens Regiment; I will spare to touch at their personal vices, although some of them have falsely blasted me, and rendered me odious, and notorious of which I shall speak anon. And now I desire of all honest men to judge, whether my evidence may not stand in Competition with theirs; Drury confirms that I drew the Petition, also, which was presented at Breda, and sure I have then best reason to remember the contents of it; notwithstanding a Copy which he said he preserved in his Sons book, yet that was but a Copy; not the main original Petition, nor can Drury upon his Oath deny, but that himself related to me and others, that the Lord Craven told him, it would not be safe for him to deliver the Petition; but he would speak to the Queen of Bohemia; this he cannot deny on Oath, unless by a mental reservation, he can dispense with any Oath: If this man who hath forfeited his life may stand in competition with me; nay overthrew my evidence, who so long adventured my life, and who have been under God, a means of so great deliverance to the Army and Nation; then I may safely cry aloud, Terras Astraea reliquet; indeed a large and a strange Verdict was obtained against me on their evidence; viz. Corrupt, Wilful and Malicious Perjury; but I would be informed where either of the three were, or on what evidence the jury should ground it, to bring in corruption, Malice & Wilfulness; ● as for corruption Ideclare before God, & to the whole world, that I never was enticed animated, or procured, to put in the information given by me at white H●ll, touching the Lord Craven, by any person or persons whatsoever nor did Jever receive one penny of money, or any moneys or reward to do it, or for doing it: My long & extreme poverty remaining in a perishing condition may easily confirm it. For Malice I am sure the Lord Cravens person was altogether unknown to me, until the Treaty at Breda; & for Wilfulness, it was upon oath attested by an Honourable & an honest Patriot, that it was first accidentally delivered in discourse; of which when I was called before a public authority, I thought in my conscience, and do still think, I was obliged to declare the truth, and in this I will live and die.  
Nor can I omit the subtle malice of my prosecutors, who being backed at home & abroad with potent Friends and large Purses, compassed Sea and Land to gain their Proselytes (whilst I was detained most strictly in prison) by them to blast me in my Repute, so to make way to their Verdict, Knight, the first of those Proselytes, was condemned to be hanged at Tyburn, and was carried in the Cart as far as the Bars in Holborn: The rest were Catchpoles, and Catchpoles-followers; only Mr. Worllage an Attorney, who could not charge me with any particulars: and one Jaques, alias Jackson, the son of a Bailiff, one who by the ruin of many young men and others, from a poor Alehouse, came to be an Innkeeper. These were their good substantial Evidence, as they term them; nay, this Jackson was prosecuted by Mr. W●rllage for cheating a Neighbour of his with false Dice, of a great sum of money. This Jackson was perjured in a deep manner; and if he can produce any one to attest what he falsely swore, viz. That I on my knees drank a health to the Devil at noonday in the Market-Town of Peters-field some six years since, as he falsely and wickedly swore, I will, as I should deserve, suffer the most ignominious death: It is strange that at Noonday, on a Market-day, and in the Marketplace, none should see or hear this; No surely, nor perjured Jackson neither; and I beseech God in his due time to manifest this exemplarily on one of us, either by his mercy or justice.  
And that the World may most apparently behold the machivilian projects, and pestilent divices of my adversaries; I do here declare, that after that false verdict obtained against me, several Agents, and some of them 
Note.  persons of good quality oft times were with me, and solicited me to discover & acknowledge what I was not guilty of, offering me from my chief adversaries indemnity, Liberty, etc. And if any shall say, this is but my bare assertion, and that I will say any thing to help myself in this sad and desperate condition; to them I answer, and to my adversaries, that I defy them in this, and that I have their Letters under their hands kept safe, to this hour; wherein I am offered indemnity, Liberty, etc. So that I would but comply in their devices, with them to the ruin of others, and shipwreck of my soul and conscience: These 
* These Letters I have by me.  Letters I say I have, and it was a long time on treaty, and if I produce not these letters before any authority, than let me be hanged, and spare not: Surely these men have dealt with me, as some Witch-finders do, as I have heard, who have put poor innocent old Women to so great torture, that they have been forced to confess themselves Witches, though nothing so, choosing a present death rather than their continued torments; but let their cruelty be as raging as Hell, and Devil himself, as I am exposed to all wants, and deserted by all, I shall yet rather choose to walk in the direct line of my conscience, than divide from the truth: To conclude, as all and each particular in this my declaration is truth, so I once more declare before God, and to all men, that no manner of person or persons whatsoever 
Ho●e,  did in the least, entice, persuade, move, or procure me to give in the information touching the Lord Craven at White Hall, but as I have declared, I thought myself obliged to declare the verity before a public authority, before which authority I was called after I had accidentally discovered it in discourse to a person of quality, and trust.  
Rich. Fauconer.  
2. He suffered a very sharp and cruel imprisonment in Newgate, and the Upper Bench Prisons, under such deep necessity of apparel, bedding and other Provisions, that he was even eat with Vermin, and wasted with an incuraeble Cough, and Consumption, (as from himself by many sad and lamentable Letters, expressing how his Dogs and horses, stood warmer and cleaner in the days of his prosperity, and by others I have been informed (that he died; dureing which time of his said sad imprisonment, both before and after his Trial, he was treated, tempted, and sought to be corrupted, die in diem from day to day for many weeks together, not only with Threatening, and Terrifying expressions that he should be severely prosecuted, his Cheeks Branded, his Nose slit, & 〈◊〉 such like, but with large offers of Money, Liberty, Indemnity, and the sta●ing of all, to some such thing, of himself and me, as is the intent and drift of the recital, and use made of this Paper: now produced after his death▪ and said by Ralph Farmer to be his, which (when living) he withstood, and chose rather thus by linger cruelty to waste into death, than by yielding thereunto [and so to make himself and others guilty, who are innocent] to live, though in the possession of the largely promised Indemnity, Money, and Liberty.  
Now of this Tampering to corrupt him, I was not only informed at White Hall, from time to time as it was transacting, but I have the Papers by me ready to make i● appear, yea the original Letters (subscribed and wrote all with the same hand) of the copies of which, and the Negotiations of that person and his outward quality; he thus expresses;  
Now Sir, I have sent you a Copy of two Letters, of which I have the originals by me, whereby you may perceive how they have been at me; their spleen being at Coll. Joyce, yourself, and others, etc. I have forborn to affix his name, in regard he is a Gentleman of quality: Assoon as it is known that I have imparted it▪ I shall be surely murdered (which I am confident is far from your desire.) Now I am deeply engaged to secrecy, therefore should the Gentleman be summoned, and I remain here where he hath a Brother Prisoner; I say again I should be surely and out of hand murdered: This Gentleman came in all haste to me, assoon as he understood the Book mentioned their large offers to me before, and since my trial (now, this Gentleman ●●●●●ed with me before, and since my trial) and said it could not possibly be but I had revealed it to you, but I protested you knew not his name, which I am sure you do not, although I wrote to you of the matter in general, but I told him that indeed, one went to you, and told you of some large proffers were made me, which in part pacified him; I have the original Letters subscribed with his hand, and he is a Gentleman of worth and good descent; And in the Postscript he saith, as I shall answer it at the Dreadful day of Judgement, to my knowledge I have not written one false matter or circumstance in this Letter.  
Rich. Fauconer.  
Besides the aforesaid, I have (among the rest) a Paper of another, (whose name I shall forbear to mention) who (he says) is a Gentleman of quality, and an ancient and intimate acquaintance of his, and who came to him, and tampered with him in the same matter, and told him, that he could tell how to put a brace of hundred 
He o● ten expressed himself that he was offered some Hundreds a year if he would say, he was Corrupted.  pounds into his Pocket concerning the Lord Craven. And that a Parliament man assured him (his said friend) that if he would but subscribe who enticed him to it, that the Lord CRAVEN would recover his Estate, and how they were conspireing to have all his creditors to arrest him, &c▪ with much more, which I shall forbear further to repeat: The poor man through extremity of misery (though Chief Justice Rolls, and the Judges of the Upper Bench, saw cause to arrest Judgement; which arrest of Judgement they never took off) is languished and dead, his blood will lie somewhere and be required; for my part I am clear.  
3. Those Passages, [I hear protest before the Almighty God, that I never nudertooke any employment, nor never any one mentioned it to me, but I went over in a poor desperate condition, supported by others;] And [true, I had done great services for them, but not by employment] Renders the said Paper either very unlikely to be falconers or (if R. F. and his fellows will have it to be his yet) that it is not truth, and so the Paper is not to be believed upon the account of the confession of a dying man; for that he was employed beyond the Seas to discover the designs of the enemy against the Common Wealth, Lievt. Coll. Joyce deposed in Court, at the trial, as being discoursed with by him thereabouts before he went over; and Lieut. Coll. Joyce it was that brought him to me (after he returned) to give an account of the discovery he had made beyond the Seas of their conspiracies; and himself hath confessed it under his hand in his Declaration aforesaid, & that he was employed afterwards, others can testify; against which so known a truth to himself and others and by him subseribed, for Fauconer to protest & affirm as aforesaid is most improbable, and hardly to be supposed, as the matter of the said Protestation, and assertion appears to be most notoriously false; which being so in these particulars, so solemnly in words protested and affirmed; what credit is to be given to the rest of the said Paper, as of the words of a dying man pretended to be delivered under the sense (as it saith) of a touched conscience, and from a soul woefully perplexed; Upon the bare reputation of which; (viz.) as the words of a dying man so sensibly expressed; this Paper for the ends aforesaid is dropped into the world as truth to be believed, but is thus proved a lie and blasted.  
And thus much concerning this pretended Paper (Ra. Farmer's main foundation of what he calls his evidence, and indeed, upon the matter, the sum of it) and to what I seem therein to be concerned.  
For the other particulars which he endeavours to fix upon me, as indirect dealing from certain passages out of the Book, entitled the Lord Craven case: etc. picked, parceld, and mangled by him, and then set down as his other ground of (what he calls) his evidence for that purpose: I need no clearer vindication than that very Book, wherein is not only related, stated at large, and argued that whole business of Craven and Fauconer; but objections, & those very things which he lays to my charge answered in a short examination of a certain Pamphlet entitled, (A true & perfect Narrative of the several proceed in the case concerning the Lord ●●aven, etc. The substantialitie and truth whereof he hath not (by any thing that he hath said) infirm, nor can he refel; yea those very passages as related by him, considered abstractively from the particulars of the pretended paper, which by horrible wresting he hath sought to make speak, what they say not, and then hath joined them to those passages to force them (if he could) to pronounce the same, (which I have already cut off and answered) clear me sufficiently; therefore I shall not (being desirous to ease the Reader) rehearse what he hath said therein, nor further answer to it as I might, though so to do would tend much to the infamy of him, and my advantage; but shall refer the unprejudiced Reader to the said Book, & the Pamphlet examined as aforesaid, and that part of R F 's reply, wherein are those passages, & upon serious consideration of the one & the other, with this my defence, let him judge, whether Ineed desire amore fair & fuller vindication? And whether any man (besides R. F. and such as are led by his spirit) pretending to ingenuity or honesty, would not have blushed so to have produced & misused them as he hath done? whose cankered bowels so plainly work to convert against me, what is my justification; and whose black malicious spirit so apparently runs through the body and members of what he hath written as the very source and contagion thereof, that I need not give it any further demonstration; And indeed were it otherwise, yet it is so circularly interwoven with mingle mangles, and wrapped up with such interrogatory uncertainties and Ironical reflections, that there is nothing so positive as might deserve a rational reply; and the ground work or foundation falling, or rather shakeing, of what he hath sought to build thereupon, what he hath endeavoured so to raise must needs come to the ground; True it is, I readily lent him (at his desire) the Book aforesaid partly to try what he would do therewith, & partly to leave him without excuse although I then expected some such wretched mis-use thereof as he hath made, & poisonous extraction which the Book itself corrects, to the recording of his shame and disingenuity for ever.  
And now having (or rather what he hath produced as evidence against me) cleared my innocence from his gross and slanderous imputations, I shall proceed to speak a little more particularly of this matter, the clamour whereof hath made such a ring in this Nation.  
To what hath been already said, I do further declare, that as I have used no indirect dealing, so it hath not been in my heart, or desire at any time to do this man wrong, much less to design the ruin of his Estate, that I might have part, as is most falsely suggested; my soul even abhorred, and my hands have always been kept clear from any such wickedness, (as my whole course in public affairs & many families in this Nation whom I freely endeavoured (as I saw just cause) to keep from ruin, and was instrumental to preserve, (can witness:) But being entrusted by the State I was faithful thereunto, that the Commonwealth might receive no detriment, and did (in the discharge thereof) communicate what came to my knowledge of him (as of others) to those in authority whom it did concern, who considered and did therein, as they saw appertained to justice; And that I neither desired nor designed to do him wrong, but the contrary, I shall give one plain (I may say undeniable) Demonstration, of which I leave the reasonable to judge, viz.  
Drury and Brisco (the two only Witnesses against Fauconer as to perjury) being in custody by virtue of the Council of State's Warrant, as Traitors, and under my Examination; I had then an opportunity (had I desired or designed any such thing as R▪ F. lays to my charge, or had been such a man as he represents me) to have shut the door against this last attempt, (viz. the conviction of Fauconer) for the retriving of this Estate, and consequently to have prevented all that wrong and abuse which (in order thereunto) hath been since done me (bo●h in print and otherwise) by his Agents and Advocates. For these two having been always Enemies to the Commonwealth, and in arms against it; the o●e a Colonel [a Papist] the other a Captain; and having been at Breda in the time of the Treaty there, and the conclusion thereof between the Scotch Commissioners and their King, where (and in those parts) they waited for new Employment (under him) against the State, till they were ready to perish, and then petitioned him to take into his Princely consideration their extremities who had been always ready to prostrate their lives in his Majesty's most royal Father's service, and were no less willing and ready to prosecute the same in what he should command, and that some course might be taken for their present subsistence, that their future endeavours might not be buried in that unavoidable calamity which their known loyalty had reduced them unto, (as the Petition hath it, which Drury upon examination tendered to me as the original draught of the Petition presented by themselves and other Officers, to the said King for the effecting of their desires) wherein they entreated the Lord Cravens assistance. And Drury appearing to me (as did Brisco) by his pleading on Cravens behalf before I asked him one question, or signified the reason of his apprehension, and by his continual interjecting his Plea to the same purpose throughout his examination, to have come over from beyond the seas upon some such Errand, as they were afterwards made use of: And they both having given me in their Examinations under their hands, an account of their bearing arms against the Commonwealth from first to last, and of their being at Breda, and doing as aforesaid, I might either have recommitted them to prison, or in prison detained them, or have procured them to be tried for their lives, and executed as Traitors (they being desperate Enemies to the Commonwealth, and without the Act of Pardon, and coming over without the allowance of the State, and their own Examinations, as well as others, witnessing against them) or have taken from Drury the original draught of the said Petition, wrote (as was said) with Fauconers' hand; and so there had been neither matter on which to raise, or Witnesses whereby to effect what hath been done against Fauconer: But contrary hereunto, I continued their liberty upon paroll, and took not from Drury the said draught of the said Petition; and when I was asked by some why I did so, as foreseeing and being sensible of the use that would be (and which hath since been) made of it against the Commonwealth, and expressing somewhat to that purpose; I replied to this effect, That I did so in regard there were mutterings abroad, as if the Lord Craven had received wrong, and now that there were some which could testify in his behalf, the Council had laid their power upon them. And I added, That whatever were the issue, yet this I had done in uprightness, and that the Commonwealth might not sustain the least blemish upon their proceed. And this is the naked truth as it was in my heart; for it was always my desire, and I often expressed it, That the Commonwealth might not have a Tittle of any man's but what was right; and the same I pursued as I saw just cause, and had opportunity and power, and bore my Testimony against such as endeavoured the contrary.  
Now whereas it may be said, How do these things agree with the remanding Drury to the custody of the Sergeant at Arms, and detaining of him there till the end of that Sessions, wherein the Indictment was found against Fauconer; so that a Trial could not be had before his conviction, and before the next Sessions the vote passed for sale of his Estate? And with the not reporting of Drury and Brisco's Examinations aforesaid, which tended to the vindication of the Lord Craven; when as those that made against him were reported? And with my purchasing a considerable part of his Estate? (all which R. F. hath laid to my charge as indirect dealing, (and therein keeps a great a▪ do) from the Pamphlet, entitled, A true and perfect Narrative, etc.  
I answer, Although that Pamphlet; with all the particulars therein, and the residue of the contents thereof, are at large argued and answered in the aforesaid Book, entitled, The Lord Cravens Case, which, as I have said, I lent R. F. at his desire, that of the truth of things in behalf of the Commonwealth, he might not be ignorant, and unto which (because not refelled or infirmed by R. F.) I have already, to avoid prolixity, referred the Reader for satisfaction; yet that I may not seem to avoid speaking because unable to answer; nor leave the Reader for the clearing of these things, at such a distance as the perusual of those books which he may not have by him; I shall in short Reply.  
1. To the first, Drury was not remanded into safe custody by me for any such intent or purpose in the least, as to obstruct proceed that Sessions, nor was it so much as in my thoughts; but because Drury being a prisoner to the Council for Treason, which he & his fellow Brisco had confessed, & under examination, did suffer himself to be treated, sworn, and examined in a Case wherein the Commonwealth was concerned, without first acquainting the Council or Committee, or me (who had let him have his liberty upon perol) therewith, which he ought to have done; or declaring unto them (who so treated, swore, & examined him,) that he was in such a condition, by which his behaviour he appeared not to be in that indifferency and uprightness as became a Witness, but in combination against the State, whose Prisoner he was: Not that the offence was because he was examined on his Lord's behalf (had that been the thing in design to hinder, it could, as hath been said, easily have been prevented either by keeping him and Brisco prisoners, or taking away the draught of their petition, or having them both tried:) Nor that I apprehended that his Testimony could acquit his Lord of the guilt, for which the Parliament adjudged his Estate to be confiscated; his very examination being a further proof of his Lord's delinquency, not an acquittal, as anon will appear. Nor that proceed should not have been had against Fauconer in a legal way, (had it been so, he would have been detained longer than four days, and his Lords Friends constrained to have passed through the bars and locks of the Authority of the Council (which was by Act of Parliament) thereunto) but for the Reason's aforesaid. Nor had Drury been at liberty, could there [reasonable] have been expected a Trial that Sessions, though the Narrator aforesaid, on whose bottom, or rather falsehood, R. F. hath raised this slander upon me, hath alleged, That Fauconer might have been tried, had not Drury been restrained by me, and lays it before the Reader, as if his not being tried that Sessions, was the ground wherefore the passing of the Bill engrossed, was not prevented: And before the next Sessions, saith he, the Bill of sale of the Lord Craven's Estate to be sold, did pass; For neither was Fauconer (who must have pleaded to the Indictment ere a Trial could have been) summoned to appear; nor was he in custody; nor was there a certainty whether he might be found in that short space of time wherein Drury was detained▪ which was but four days; or had he been found, summoned, or attached, could it be expected that (in a case of such concernment to himself and the Commonwealth) he should have Witnesses, in so short a time, ready, the matter of Fact being done beyond the seas some years before, where none but Enemies to the State were present, (who must be, if any, his Compurgators) and the Parliament's adjudging of the Case, having put by the expectation of any such Trial; or that the chief Justice Rolls would have bound him up peremptorily to have pleaded within that time, and so consequently have constrained him to impossibilities, he having so rational and just ground of Plea for a longer: Nor (had all these things concurred) could it have been tried that Sessions, in regard the Indictment was wrong laid; or if it had been tried, could it have done otherwise then miscarry? for that the original deposition on which the Indictment was grounded and recited in hac Verba, could not be found, as is more at large argued in Cravens Case aforesaid, pag. 31, 32, 33, 34. which R. F. (such is his fallacious manner of dealing where he cannot answer) calls a company of blind supposals, and childish arguings; and bids me print it, and saith he'll be my bondman if it any way help me, nay, if it doth not further discover my folly, and that he would have wrote it, but that, he saith, it is as long as impertinent; and then saith, This is enough. [Priestlike indeed.] But whether his saying so, doth convict the thing, or render me, or him as deserving that which he casts on me, and whether he be not my bondman, let men of understanding upon perusing these passages, and what is here asserted, judge.  
To the second, I neither transmitted, nor reported any of the informations in this affair to the Parliament, nor was I so to do, but to the Committee of the Council of State for examinations and discoveries, who reported them to the Council of State, and the Council to the Parliament; unto which Committee I communicated the said examinations of Drury and Brisco, as I had done the others; but neither from them, nor the Council, received I any order to transmit them, or not, and so had nothing further lying upon me as my duty, but to keep them safe with the rest of the things of that nature with which I was entrusted; nor do I know of any reason wherefore the Council reported them not; perhaps it was (and it is very likely the reason) because the Parliament took not the informations on which they grounded their first vote of confiscation, again into consideration; but notwithstanding the often and long debates afterwards, during the space of full seventeen Months, and what was offered, urged, and earnestly sought to be enforced upon his behalf, still saw cause to adher unto what they had at first voted; and so the Council might judge the reporting of these needless, especially being taken above a year after their first information, as their dates make manifest.  
But as for concealing these Examinations because they cleared his said Lord, which the Narrator aforesaid, pag. 44. and R F. pag 96, 97▪ 98, 99, 100 and to know the reason of me wherefore the Council of State reported them not; Cravens Council so much insisted upon in prosecution of this question, for that purpose in behalf of his Lord, at the Committee of Parliament fitting in the Star-Chamber Novemb. 23. 1654. to whom his Petition was referred as unjust and indirect dealing, and done in design to ruin his Estate, and of which so much clamour is made. I say, Jt's an abominable and false calumny; for, as I have said, I concealed them not, but communicated them, as I did the other informations; nor have I known nor perceived any such intention in the Council or their Committees in letting them lie unreported, or any thing in them but integrity and uprightness in this whole business, as I then declared to the Committee of Parliament aforesaid, and am now made free to do the Council and their Committee this right in the face of all men; and that this is so, their permitting Drury and Brisco to enjoy their liberties upon what I said to some of them as aforesaid and Drury to keep the pretended original draught of the Petition, and not restraining their liberties afterwards, nor trying them, nor at all hindering the course taken for the conviction of Fauconer; nor interposing with their, or the Authority of Parliament, then sitting: These proceed though of so bold and high a nature (as the like hath not been heard of) and tending in the very foundation of them (as is manifest by the use since made of it) to the scandalising of their proceed, and arraignment of their justice, is a plain demonstration. Had I known to the contrary, I should not have kept silence, but have born my Testimony against it, as having received mercy not to have served (knowing it to be so) the base ends, or unjust commands of any in Authority, or other person upon any consideration whatsoever.  
To conclude this particular, let the impartial understanding men in the Laws (who are Friends to the Commonwealth) read and weigh the Examinations of Drury and Brisco, hereunto annexed, and judge whether instead of clearing their Lord from the guilt of Delinquency, viz. Adherency to the Enemy of this Commonwealth, (the ground on which the Parliament voted the Confiscation of his Estate, of which more by and by) they do no● prove it strongly upon him? And whether they are not sufficient enough in themselves to bottom a sequestration upon, (by the Law) were there no other Testimony? Finally, If so be the said Examinations of those two men (their choice Witnesses for the disproving of Fauconers' Testimony, the grand Wheel on which hath turned all the late transactions in Cravens behalf) do render him guilty, (as upon perusal and weighing, let it be judged whether it doth not so appear) what need there any more to be said for the clearing of the Council, the Committee, and myself from the foul calumnies and false suggestions, as aforesaid, of concealing the said Examinations which they say (and thereupon make such a noise) tended to his justification?  
3. To the last, I did contract for part of his Estate, and why might I not as well as another, being sold by Act of Parliament upon their Judgement of Delinquency? But I withdrew, and went not thorough with my Contract because I foresaw what use (as hath been since discovered) would be made thereof, viz. The rendering of me a party, and so to cut off my Testimony in the behalf of the Commonwealth, (which Testimony of mine is their great trouble, and a principal cause of the s●inging up of all this, and the rest of the dirt in this Libel, and otherwhere upon me) though such my withdrawing and reserving of myself free, was much to my prejudice, as there be that can bear witness; and I could largely make to appear: And he that went on where I left, had it, (as far as I know) at the very same rates as I had agreed to, without any consideration of advantage accrueing thereby to me whatsoever. And so as I am not, nor never was possessed of any part or parcel of his Estate, either in my own, or under any other Name, so I am clear of having carried on any private bargain therein with any one, or of ever having or designing a Title-consideration upon the quitting of that my interest, or upon my Relation to that business directly or indirectly; or of having under pretences of public interest drove on a design of my own private, (with which R▪ F. slanders me, pag. 103.) in this or any other business in relation to the public, and under covert or pretence thereof; Charge me who can, I here bid open defiance to all the World to prove any such thing upon me during my whole course in public Affairs, in which it is well known, I had opportunities and temptations enough, but always obtained this mercy, to be kept clean in heart & hand from any such thing: And so in the presence and fear of the Lord, whose dread was with me, and kept me; I can say I came into, and passed through, and left all public employments, which were neither few, nor inconsiderable; and hereunto I have the answer of a good conscience, even the Witness of him who is greater than all, that my life, and all I had, was never so dear to me as the Commonwealth, nor minded in comparison of it, but for its sake was put to the stress, which is now in my retirement (during this hour wherein all unclean and malicious spirits are let lose) my rejoicing and exceeding great reward, though of man I have, and do receive the contrary.  
But as for denying such my contract, it's a wicked lie, I have not done it at any ●●me; nor did I relinquish it upon any apprehension of scandal that either was, or like to be, (as R. F. by information, as he saith▪ suggesteth p. 103.) for I was always clear on the contrary, but for the reason aforesaid, nor did the Committee of Parliament lay it to my charge, Whether I did contract or no? but only put the question to me at the desire of Cravens Counsel in behalf of his Lord, who thought (but he was mistaken) to have found me a purchaser, and so to have taken off my Testimony in the behalf of the Commonwealth; but I was present there for the information of the Committee, for which cause they had desired, (not summoned as to a charge) my coming to them by their Register as they did at the same time several who were eminent members of the Council of State, and of their Committee for Examinations and Discoveries when that business was transacted; and Secretary Thurloe also (who was then Secretary to the English Ambassadors in Holland, when the Appeal was made to the State's General, and their jurisdiction, in the behalf of Craven in the case aforesaid, from the jurisdiction of the Parliament of England.) And 〈◊〉 that question asked me by the Committee as aforesaid in my answer thereunto; I did neither shuffle nor prevaricate with the Committee, nor put off an answer till I saw those present who were ready to produce the Contracts out of the book, (as R. F. falsely affirms, as he saith, by information) they are all abominable lies, especially the last, which I neither saw, nor came into my thoughts. And as for the rest of what thou sayest thou hast by information, but dost not mention of whom, and thy Queries whether I said not so and so to one in my study at White-Hall, whom thou namest not, when I shall see any thing relating unto me deserving an Answer under the hands of either of them to whom thou pretendest, I may make a Reply.  
To close this particular, Had any thing been in design, as R. F. and his Confederates would fix upon me, otherwise might have been found then by meddling with that Estate, (which could not otherwise be●● expected then to raise a clamour) to have answered such ends, of which neither he nor his Accomplices might have once heard so much as a whisper; but as I was clear, so I proceeded boldly, knowing that innocency would in the end triumph, and my open contracting at that time was not without reason as to the public, it being a demonstration to honest men, that if I had known any thing but honesty in the bottom, on which was grounded that Judgement, I would not have contracted myself for part of the Estate which by that Judgement was confiscated.  
As for Major Fanconer, I neither known him, nor heard that such a man was beyond the seas, till (after his coming from Breda, where he was at the time of the Treaty between the Scotch Commissioners and their King) he was brought to me to give an account of what designs he knew there to have been hatched against the Commonwealth, which I received according to the Trust committed to me by the Council in things of that nature; and finding it to be of seasonable and great importance to the safety of the Commonwealth, it being of designs generally laid over the Nation, and of several of the Heads and chief Actors therein particularly in Norfolk, (which a few months after brake forth into an open insurrection) and it agreeing in many particulars with what I had received from other of my Agents, I gave credit thereunto. And this as I have said, is the first knowledge I had of the man, and that which gave the occasion of my conversing with him; but as for any thing designed by me against Craven; and then sending Fauconer over the Seas to effect and act it (as hath been whispered into the ears of some in chiefest Authority) or corrupting of Fauconer by moneys, or otherwise, to swear falsely; or any knowledge or apprehension that he had in any particular untruly deposed; or putting him upon straits of time, or any other inconveniences whereby he might be surprised in his understanding or memory, or using any provocation for that purpose, or that he might give in a wrong information, I am (in the presence of the Lord who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and coming) clear and innocent.  
And thus much in reference to myself.   

As to the STATE.  
THE question in the Case is not Whether the Words Barbarous and inhuman Rebels, were in the Petition of the Officers presented the King at Breda, in which William (called Lord) Craven, is said to have assisted? or whether what Fauconer gave therein, be a true Testimony? as that on which the Parliament grounded their Vote of Confiscation at first; and afterwards their judgement for sale of his Estate, (though it hath been the design and artifice of his Agents and Advocates (and of R▪ F. in particular) thus fallaciously to state it, and in prosecution thereof, having got a Verdict of Perjury against Fauconer, as to that clause only have thereupon founded this loud lying outcry, viz. That upon the single Testimony of that scandalous and perjured person, the Parliament did give judgement for the sale of his Estate; and have upon this Wheel turned all their late transactions for the retrival thereof, to the undermining the Act of Parliament, and blemishing their Justice.) But whether he the said Craven being a Native and Subject of this Commonwealth, did not repair to the declared Enemy thereof, viz. Charles Stuart,  SON to the late King (then at Breda in Treaty with the Scotch Commissioners, for the instateing of him into the Throne of England, and where it was agreed to instate him by force of Arms into the said Dominion, and where many of his Councillors of State, and Officers were met, and were there hatching and laying designs to be acted throughout the Commonwealth of England, and which afterwards were endeavoured to be put in Execution.) And whether he the said Craven had not then, and thereat, and during the time of the aforesaid Treaty, and the conclusion thereof, (where it was agreed as aforesaid) converse and familiarity with the said King (the declared enemy of the Commonwealth) in his privy chambers, and otherwise, and with his Councillors of State, select Juncto, and Officers? which to do is adherency to the declared Enemy of the Commonwealth, and consequently Treason by the known Laws of the Land. And that he the said Lord Craven hath so done, is positively proved [to say nothing of Fanconers' Testimony, to invalidate which as to what he hath said in this particular, nothing hath yet been offered] not only by four Witnesses, viz. Reyley, Ketchingman, Benson, and Mowbray, sworn before the Vote of Confiscation, and in consideration with the Parliament when they resolved that Vote, but by Bardsey, (sworn before the Council of State, and before the Parliament, when they ordered his Name to be put in the Bill for his Lands to be sold) and by Priswick, sworn before the Commissioners for Sequestrations, Nou. 18. 1●51. and by Drury and Brisco in their Examinations, which they owned upon their oaths at the Upper-bench on the Trial of Fauconer, where they being produced in Cravens behalf as the only Witnesses for Fauconers' conviction of Perjury, proved his Delinquency. And the Aherency aforesaid to the declared Enemy of the Commonwealth, [thus proved] is 
* When I speak of that on which the Parliament grounded such their Vote and Judgement, I speak Ex manifesto, upon what the Testimonies themselves say; but as for that which directed every individual member to give his Vote & Judgement, and what further Evidence might be of, or amongst themselves when they debated and pronounced i●, I meddle not with.  that on which the Parliament have grounded such their Vote and Judgement, as aforesaid, Against which and its proof, nothing hath yet burn offered, as I have seen or have heard.  
So that Cravens Case as it is stated by his Agents and Advocates to have been grounded by the Parliament as to the Confiscation of his Estate on those Words, Barbarous and inhuman Rebels, and on the single testimony of Fauconer therein, [on which particular clause of his information only, they have endeavoured to fix a Perjury] withal they have said thereabouts, the clamours that have been made, the noises raised, are clean out of doors, as is manifest; for neither was the Parliaments Vote and Judgement grounded upon those words; nor on falconers single testimony therein, but otherwise as aforesaid; nor is there any ●eed at all of Faucon●●s testimony to prove that on which their vote, and Judgement was so grounded.  
And thus the Deceptio Visus, Blind or Foggy Mist of Barbarous, and Inhuman Rebbels Corruption, Perjury, etc. (raised to deceive the understandings of men, into an apprehension as if there were never the like horrible injustice, & Indirect proceed used, and exercised) being struck aside, removed, and dispelled, the true and substantial ground of the Parliaments Vote and Judgement is apparently to be seen, and the reason of the justice, to every sober understanding: Thus much for the ground.  
As for that which gave the Parliament occasion at first to take Cognisance of this matter, and their particular Votes thereupon, and the Appeal made in his behalf from the Judgement and Jurisdiction of the Parliament to a foreign power viz the State's General of the United Provinces; instead of addressing himself to the Parliament in his defence, and the particulars thereof, and this whole business, I refer the understanding Reader, to the relation of them all at large in the Book aforesaid, entitled the Lord Cravens case etc. and to the answers of the objections raised therein on his behalf; and upon serious consideration of the whole, let such judge; Whether the manner of the Parliaments proceed therein, be not cleared, as is the ground of their Judgement.  
For though such an Appeal was made (as I suppose) never the like before was hard of, Arraigning, and charging the Justice of the Parliament in their proceed on that cause, and Judgement therein with oppression, and injustice, as grounded on proof ridiculous, and utterly false; or if true, yet frivolous, and not applicable to the cause whereon the Judgement was given against him: And in case that there had been proof, yet affirming that there is no Law in England to warrant such proceed: And so concludeing the Judgement to be unjust, and void; And demanding that the same be annulled, canceled, and revoked; that the Witnesses be as perjured calumniators, and he put into the possession of his estate again, alleging that he was a sworn servant to that State, and therefore not to be condemned by the Parliament, for his courtesy, and duty (as he calls it) towards their Lord. And pressing them thereunto from their usual goodness in upholding, and assisting the oppressed, and for the redress of their own honour, and upholding of their power, authority, and prerogative, etc. And though the Laws, of this nation are so severe, and strict against such as make their Appeals to Foreign Jurisdictions, from the authority and Jurisdiction of their own Country, (viz.) That such Incur Praemunire, which is forfeiture of their Liberty, and estates, and all th●● have but life (this crime being in effect a denial of the supremacy of the Jurisdiction of their own Country, and the Subordinateing, and subjecting it in that particular, to that State to whom the Appeal is made.) And, though the Parliament had a full relation of the said Appeal, from their 
* W● have here with sent your Lordships an appeal in the behalf of my Lord Craven, from the justice of the Parliament of England unto the Assembly here, which as the papers bea●● is intended to be delivered to us, and which whether it be or not, we do intent to take a convenient time to Vindicate the honour and power of the Parliament, and shall do the same upon the other Paper, herewith sent concerning the Queen of Bohemia; whereby the King of Scotland, is asserted likewise to be King of England etc. S●y th● Ambasadors St. John and Strickland in their letter to the Council; dated Hague May 30. 1651. Read 〈◊〉, june 6. 1651. In our Letter to the council, you will see how the Prince El●ct●r, and my Lord Craven have fallen upon the Parliament in a [tender] Point; your Lordship will see all the particulars, and we shall in due time do our duty, here to present it. In my judgement the Elector, and queen, and Craven have given you a good ground to do more than you resolved to do, Saith Ambassador Strickla●d in his Letter dated Hauge May  extraordinary Ambasadors then in Holland, by Letters dirceted to the Council of State, and of the States general taking Cognizance of the cause, and assumeing Jurisdiction, and authority judicially to proceed therein, by receiving all the Papers concerning the particulars aforesaid (though for matters only concerning the Commonwealth of England, and in behalf of a person who was a Subject, Native, and Member thereof) and causeing them to be Registered, and permitting Witnesses to be produced, and examined before them in his behalf, and in ordering their Commissioners, (appointed to Treat with the said Ambasadors) to deliver the said Paper (wherein amongst other particulars, the then King of Scotes is affirmed to be King of Fngland) in the name of the said States, to the said Ambasadors etc. And though the Parliament also received an account as aforesaid, of their said Ambasadors high resentment, of the said appeal, and the reviveing, and owning thereof by the States, as absolutely Derogatory, to the Undoubted interest, Rights, Power, and Jurisdiction of the Parliament, who have absolute power, Jurisdiction, and authority of itself, without depending on any other State, or Prince whatsoever, etc. And of the said Ambassadors, answer thereunto; suitable to their trust, and the Independent Soveraingnty, and honour of the Parliament of England, who in so high a measure were, reproached, and slandered with the falsehoods, and absurdities mentioned in those papers: And of their Protestation therein against the matter of the said Papers, and the State's assumeing the Cognizance, and Jurisdiction; And of their Declaration, that it did not in right, or justice appertain to them to intermeddle therein etc. And of their demands that the said papers and proceed thereupon be cast out, and the registers thereof vacated, that nothing so Degrogatory to the honour, and interest of the Commonwealth, of England, might remain upon their Record to Posterity, or 
Note.  that might give ground to any subject, or member thereof to seem to have cause to justify any Treasonable practice against it, though a sworn Servant to those States, out of his duty to the said States, or from any order of 
Note.  their ministers, which he, the said Lord Crav●n had done etc. I say notwithstanding all these things, and their knowledge of them; yet the Parliament ordered, and caused a Summons to be issued out, Proclaimed and Printed, July 3. 1651. for him to make his personal appearance before them on the third of September following, whereby he had an opportunity to allege what he had to say in his own behalf. And although he neither made appearance at the said time limited in person (it falling out to be the day on which th● King of Scots and his whole Army were routed at Worcester) or by Petition so testified to the truth of his being seen to have subscribed it, as might give the Parliament ground to take cognizance thereof, (for there came along with it so to witness; and therefore the Parliament permitted it not to be read, and if they had, there was no other thing in excuse in that Petition, but that he desired to be permitted to answer by his Friends and Council, in regard the present conjunction of affairs there did not permit him to come in person) yet they took not the advantage to make sale of his Lands till June 22. 1652. above nine months after his said limited day of appearance; at which time [and not before] they voted his Name to be put in the Bill (after the reading of his Petition then presented) for his Lands to be sold, (the Rents and Profits being only received till then, as is usual in Sequestrations.) And although until the said 22. of June there appeared nothing before them in defence and excuse of his not personal appearing then as aforesaid and in his Petition then read not a word thereof, but to be heard by his Council: Yet upon the Petition of his Friends, they took his Case into debate again the day before the Act passed as a Law; and on that very day as it passed as a Law, viz. Aug. 4. 1652. they considered something that concerned the Entail, of part of his Lands, yea upon his own Petition, Read Octob. 29. 1652. (above two months after the Bill passed engrossed, and his Name therein as aforesaid) they took in consideration his tender of a sum of money for the redemption of his Estate, and debated twice thereupon. But neither then, nor at any time before during the space between the first Vote of Confiscation, and the passing of the Bill (which was full seventeen Months) did they upon any debate take the said Vote into consideration again, but (notwithstanding the many great Debates, Overtures, and Influences in his behalf, and the representation of falconers being convicted of Perjury, as the last and great attempt) did see cause to adhere still to the same, and to rank his Name amongst other Delinquents mentioned in the said Act for his Lands to be sold; Upon what weighty reasons and just grounds, the understanding Reader may by this time plainly perceive through all the mists that have been cast before it; for whose right information in the truth of these things (of which such a Dim is made in the World) as well as for the vindication of mine own innocency, and the proceed and Justice of the State (which R. F. in his Epistle to Craven, terms CLUB-LAW, and saith it is the fortune of the Wars, where many an honest man that stands by and means no harm, gets a knock as well as those who began the quarrel. I have been constrained to be thus particular.  
Thus much as to CRAVEN.   

Secondly, for Christopher Love.  
THE man is dead, and in his ashes, he hath answered long since the Justice of the State, and before the Tribunal of him who hath with an outstretched arm delivered England from the Traitorous designs, and Bloody Plots of him (whilst alive) and his Confederates. Therefore I shall say little more than I am constrained to what is pretended to be by him charged on me before the time of his Execution, choosing rather by silence to be exposed to the censure of some, then by replying (how manifest soever in my justification) to seem to raise my defence upon the Grave of a dead man, who whether he wrote so of me as is suggested, I know not; this I am sure of, he cannot answer.  
But of his Spirit alive in Ralph Farmer, and the men of this generation, and to the Treasons of him and his brethren and confederates, whereof they were attained, (upon presumption of my having a hand in the discovery of which, and bringing them to Justice, he charges, and seeks thereby to prove me not only a bloodthirsty, but a bloodsucking person) I am constrained in my own, and the vindidication of the State, to speak, and briefly to show,  

First in general; What these Treasons are.  
Secondly in particular, how far they respect Christop. Love.   
First in general, What these Treasons are.  
No sooner was the breath out of the late King's body, but the men of this generation (who before had struggled so much to break in pieces the Army, and the honest interest wrapped up in it, & desperately engaged ENGLAND and IRELAND for that purpose) began to entertain thoughts of setting up his Eldest Son King of ENGLAND, in the subversion and overthrow of the Government of the Commonwealth, newly declared thereupon, (whether out of love and truth of heart to him and his party, or to serve their own Domination and revenge, I leave to him and his Friends to judge.) And the Scottish Nation having the same Game to play, and not knowing how to effect it otherwise then by the discontented interests and influences of these men as an expedient, or third party, (whom they had experienced well enough how to cajole & engage under the pretence of a Kirk & Covenant-interest) acquaint them, That they intended to apply themselves to the King, in which application they would consider the Presbyterian party in England, as themselves; and that the Foundation of the Agreement, should be the Covenant; and desire a constant correspondency, and good understanding between those here, and them in Scotland.  
This overture occasioned the first meeting of the men concerned in the following Treasons, at which the gracious disposition of the Prince was spoken of, & how that loyalty & the sense of his sufferings, engaged them to attempt something in his behalf, if he would close with the Scots and take the covenant; and this produced the first Treaty at the Hague.  
That Treaty bringing forth nothing, the King of Scots sends to these men to procure another Treaty between the Scots and Him, (as the Scots had before for a Treaty with the King) and assures them, That if they could obtain it, and the Scots to moderate their propositions, he would give satisfaction to the Scots.  
This they take into consideration, and send to the Scots to make another application to the King, and to moderate their propositions.  
The Scots returned, That they would make another application to the King; but withal▪ they said it should be upon the same Terms, for that the former breach at the Hague had occasioned rather the heightening of their Propositions, than the moderating of them, and desired them to make use of their interest with the King to give them satisfaction.  
Hereupon these met, considered of, concluded, and sent a Petition to the King for that purpose, and Letters to the Queen, Jerm●n and Percy to persuade the King to give the Scots satisfaction.  
These returned, That however things seemed to them, yet the King was resolved to give the Scots satisfaction, & that to that end a Treaty was appointed at Jersey, & Percy advised them to send one from hence to the Treaty: Furthermore, That if the King and his Privy Council could not agree there, he would remove the Treaty to Breda, & at last cast himself on the Scottish Commissioners.  
Accordingly an Agent was pitched upon and resolved, viz. Capt. Titus, who is sent from these to Jersey, and one hundred pounds raised amongst them to bear his charges; Where he spoke with the King, & Libe●ton the Scotch Commissioner, Tells him from what party in England he was sent, represents the Presbyterian party considerable; had assurance & Letters from the King to the Ministers, and Presbyterian partyhere. That he would give satisfaction to the Scots: That to that end the Treaty was removed to Breda, whither he advised them to send Commissioners, and that he took notice of their noncompliance with the present powers.  
This Treaty being ended, Capt. Titus hearing that the Council of State understood that he had been at Jersey, dares not go to England, but sends a Letter (amongst other things) for one to come to him to Calais, to receive the account of his Agency.  
Upon the reading whereof these agree, and send one of their confederacy to Calais, who having received of Capt. Titus the account of transactions, returned, and to those who sent him gives the relation thereof, and the Copy of the King's Letter aforesaid, (the original being sent to Ald. Bunce in Holland, for fear of miscarriage) and Titus his Narrative also in Writing, which were [all of them] then communicated. Also that Titus was in debt, having borrowed some money of Jermyn.  
This occasioned the drawing of a 
* Note.  Commission, enabling their Lord Willoughby of Parham, Ald. Bunce, Major General Massey, and Capt. Titus, to treat in the Name of the Presbyterian party in England with the King at Breda, and to assist their brethren the Scots; and when it was moved by some, What power they had to send a Commission? It was answered. The King had sent to them so to do, and they had also many secluded members, whose Authority they looked upon to be better than those at Westminster; which together with instructions thereunto annexed, are sent by Mason, P●rcy's servant (who came hither on purpose to give the King of Scots an account of proceed, and at Graves-End had those Papers brought him by three of the correspondents) Letters also were drawn and sent to the Queen, Perey, and Jermyn, Willoughby, Massey, Bunce, etc. to forwatd the Agreement, and to act as authorized, and Titus had more money.  
The business being thus put into a likely way of issue, private 
* No●●.  Fasts were by them appointed to pray for a blessing in the Treaty, and for the continuation of the agreement afterwards; and Percy wrote to them to lend 10000 l. to the King, as that which would add much to the agreement; with how it might be raised, one of the Ministers moved a way, viz. The Ministers thus to move their friends, Sir, you shall give me 20, 30, 40, 50. l. etc. for a charitable use, but you shall not ask me wherefore; but because they were not assured of the Kings giving satisfaction, it was forborn.  
This Treaty having produced the end designed, the King sends his Letters to several of the 
* 
The substance to this effect, To acquaine the said Ministers with his Majesty's agreement with the Scots, and with what he would do for satisfaction in matter of Religion and Presbyterian Government here in England; That confidence of their assistance, was one motive that induced his Agreement: That they would now join hearty with him and the Scots in the endeavour of his restitution: And that they having influence (not only upon their Parishes, but also on other parts of the Kingdom) would stir up not only their several congregations, but also other places where they had interest to join likewise with his Majesty for that purpose; and that they would privately pray for him and his good success.  
The Ministers to whom to be delivered; to Edm. Calamy, James Cranford, Christo●●er Love, and William Jenkins, to be by them communicated to to the rest of the Ministers in and about the City of London.   Ministers, That if 
Note.  they could not live quietly in England, they should come to him. Three or four of them also he desired for his Chaplains, and gave instructions to his General Agent to treat them civilly, to give * Letters to them, and the Presbyterians in the City from him, and to press them to action.  
But the Scots having got the King into their hands, through the mediation and influence of these, and so served their ends, deal with them otherwise: For though they did prepare (as they promised at Breda) to raise arms to put him in the Throne of England; yet not Massy, Titus nor the English (whose interest in the Presbyterian party in England was made use of to bring the King, and them together) were considered.  
Of this, Massey and the rest complain to those here who very ill resented it, and thereupon sent a long Letter to the Kirke, and Commit of Estates, complaining thereof, attributeing it to their pride, laying open in what condition they were; which with much more was wrote with white ink in a Table Book, and sent to Scotland.  
Dunbar Fight follows, after which great Rout (most of the Kirke party) the Scots being in need of their help, court these here again; and the Kirke and Estates, and Massey wrote to them by Sea and Land; signifying the cause of the Rout, adviseing them to stand fast to the cause and Covenant, desiring money, and 3. or 5000 Muskets and Cases of Pistols; and Massey and Titus particularly pressed for money, because of their wants.  
These Letters, the correspondents aforesaid received, considered of, and agreed at that present to raise about three hundred pounds, to send to Massey and Titus, which the correspondents performed by 5. and 10. pounds etc. a man, and Letters were also by them returned to the Kirke, and Committee of Estates, and Massey.  
Hereupon the Correspondencers begun to have life again, the Scots preparations to be in the Field are signified hither; advice also to those here to Caution, Steadfastness, Timeing of a Party seasonably here, and to write to the Kirke for Union etc. These here return the same Cautions to them, and advise Massey to take heed how he came into England, and that he bring with him a strong party: And from Scotland came hither returns of the Receipts of the money aforesaid, and of the Letters to the Kirke and State , how seasonable they were, how much union they effected, how it broke the designs ' of the adverse Party, and how considerable it made them: And ways of settling intilligence were also signified, and made use of.  
At length in March 1650. 1651. came an answer to what was signified in the Table Book aforesaid by Coll. Bamfeilds' man, which gave an account of the State of Sco●land; and in the same Packet, Letters came from Bayly (their former Correspondent, in the behalf of the Kirke) and from their Lords Belcaris, Argile Loudoun, and Lowthian, wishing ●h●m here to give Credit to Bamfeilds' Negotiation (in regard he was a Cavaleire) press for 5. or 10000 pounds in money to buy Arms to furnish, and Ships to bring over from beyond the Seas into England, 5000. old Soldiers; propose a General to be chosen by these here, to command them and promise repayment when (as they said) God should bless their endeavours so as to cause a free Parliament in England. This Agent was returned with money in his Pocket, and a Bill of exchange to Bamfeild.  
Presently upon the coming of this Packet to them, from Bamfeild, ●homas Cook (General Agent for the King of Sco●'s designs in Engla●d) was taken: Capt. Po●ter, (an Apothecary in Blackfriar's Lond●n, one of these Correspondents) was imprisoned; Titu● his Letters and Papers (mentioning the designs, agitated by Bamfeild in England particularly, the 5000. Soldiers from beyond the Seas as aforesaid, expressing at large, the p●rts from whence they were to March; the place on which they were to Land in England; the name ●f him in a cipher, who was to command in chief those force's; with Letters from the Marquis of Argyle, and several Noble men of Scotland, from the Queen concerning Titus his N●gotia●●ons from France,) were brought (with several other things) in their originals by ●i●us his man to our extraordinary Ambassadors in Holland, who sent them to the Council of State; and Christopher Love with divers of his Brethren, and other confederates in the Cabinet Juncto of the transactions aforesaid were apprehended by order of the Council; upon the aforesaid, and other Informations, and upon the report of a large Narrative of those designs, as they had been traced along by a member of the Council and .  
These apprehensions, and discoveries put a stop to the treasonable proceed aforesaid, and gave occasion for the beginning of New, but of an other nature, (viz) the Examining, and bringing to justice the Actors therein as aforesaid, by order of the Council.  
And not only was the matter so highly Treasonable & dangerous, but the manner of transaction was as Private & Subtle: For their meetings were upon pretence of Religious Exercises; the places either in Shops of Commerce, or Ministers 
* Note.  Studies; The way of communication as of news, seldom any Letters produced in their originals, but by Copies, and those mostly in Characters, which for some time were kept in a Book; The person from whom it came as seldom asked, (that being generally known,) nor were any to inquire of names, and the Letters and Papers also were before hand put under a Candlestick: The contribution of money was under pretence of Charitable uses, for the Widow and Orphan's, and poor distressed Gentlemen beyond the Seas: This money generally brought in Baggs, or papers, laid down in Warehouses, Studies, and Chambers, but nothing said when brought, nor any seen to receive it.  
For the Conspirators who agitated, and carried on the Wheel of the design, they were men Tenaciously fixed thereunto upon a mistaken Conscientious, and Religious Principle, having the Ministers in greatest admiration, who were with them in Council, divers of them Soldiers, and some of them such as had served in the Army: These trained up at a Club another generation of such as had be●n Officers, and others where they were instructed, and informed as occasion served, and as it seemed good to the former, some of whom usually resorted thither for that purpose. A third rank consisted of the chief and great men for Purse, Conduct and Interest, of which I shall here be silent, in regard little as to them, was produced at the High Court of Justice; to whose proceed, and what was made there to appear, I have confined for the most part what I have hitherto said of these Treasons in the general.  
Secondly in particular, how far they respect Christopher Love.  
Titus' Letter (to say nothing of what preceded) signifying his fearfulness to come into England, and desiring one to be sent to Calais to receive an account of his Negotiations in Jersey (as aforesaid) was read in his House, where he was present with divers others, and where they concluded to send one to Calais to Titus.  
In his study the person that was sent to Titus, as aforesaid, being returned, gave an account of his Journey, where Christopher Love was present, & many others, and where was read Titus his Narrative in way of a Diary of proceed at Jersey and the Copy of the King's Letter, as is .  
There the Commission and Instructions to Willoughby, Massey, Bunce etc. and the Letters to the Queen, Jermyn, Percy, were read, debated, and concluded, & when some debate arose concerning what Authority they had to give or send a Commission, being private persons; unto which it was answered, The King having sent to them so to do, was Authority sufficient. Christopher Love said, Come, come let it go.  
There the Letters were read which were agreed to be sent to Scotland upon Masseys' complaint for their being neglected in Scotland; there the Letters from Massey, Committee of Estates, General Assembly after the fight ●● Dunbar, were read, which desired Money, Assistance, Arms, etc. There he pressed for the raising of Money upon those Letters from Massey, Titus, Committee of Estates, etc. viz Four or five hundred pounds, saying, if they would not raise it themselves, they must with their Friends; and spoke to some to lend on that account, signifying the Contents of the letter, for Money, Arms, etc. and from whom, which sum was brought down to three hundred pounds.  
There some of the Money was brought in, and laid down in his Room where he was present. There some of the Fasts aforesaid were kept, and he officiated at the same Fasts, and at other places.  
There the Packet from Bampfield was read, (having a Letter [L] on it) the Letters also from their Lords, Belcarris, London, Argyle, and from Bayly their Agent, moving for five or ten thousand pounds, for the furnishing of Arms; and shipping for five thousand old Soldiers to be brought from beyond the seas, the time when it should be repaid, and for a General to be nominated by them for those Forces.  
There forty pounds was thought convenient by him and others to be sent to Bampfield, ten pounds to Bampfields' man was paid, and the other thirty pounds was sent by Bill of Exchange to Btampfield, and a Letter wrote with [B.] on it, brought to Capt. Potter for Bampfield, and said by the party that brought it, That it came from Mr. Love, Christopher Love and another being spoken to before to draw up the Letter.  
These are in brief the Treasons against the Commonwealth, and the manner of their transaction, in which Christopher Love, his Brethren and Confederates in the general, and he in particular were concerned, and for having to do in which he was executed, & unto which Doctor Drake, Capt. Massey, and Coll. Vaughan in one Indictment, and Capt. Potter in another, upon the arraignment for the said Treasons at the Bar of the said Court, pleaded guilty, as the Examinations, Papers, Indictments, and Proceed upon record do make more at large to appear; to which I refer, & to the Book entitled, A short Plea for the Commonwealth, etc. Where they are set down with their effects, and the Trial of Christopher Love, and his Demeanour thereupon; and on his Examination and Sentence, and his application to the Parliament; together with the generation this case respects, their deportment ab initio, their influence, Number, opportunity and Principles, and the danger of the Common Wealth as to all: For should I herein be particular, and draw what naturally would flow from thence, I might fill a Volume; the very confession of one of them (viz. Doctor Drake) upon his examination, which he gave me with many tears, and which I took from his mouth with my own hand, whereunto he signed, being (as I remember) near twenty sheets of Paper wrote on the right side, and Captain Potters as many more.  
Nevertheless through the mediation of the (now) Prorector, whom, and the Army of which he was (then) General they had in the highest hatred, and sought to cut of; they received mercy, and pardon from the State, after such their Arraignment, and confession; though sentenced to die, as did the rest, who were not so much as brought to the Bar, though they were some of the most transcendent acts of high Treason that records witnessed to have been discovered, brought unto, and proved at Barr of justice in this Nation; designing and endeavouring by secret Plots, and open force the total overthrow, subversion and destruction of the Parliament, and Government of the Commonwealth, their Army, friends, yea the very cause of Liberty, in which themselves engaged, and acted (many of them) in the beginning, worthily in their generations: And for this purpose espousing, falling into, and joining with the contrary interest; viz. the King against whom they drew the first Sword, and vehemently sounded out the Alarm of war; and with the Queen, whose Idolatryes as a Papist) they had bewailed publicly on their days of humiliation, and charged to be a cause of the Plagues on the Nation: And with Je●myn and Percy; And with the Episcopalls under whom they had suffered so much, and of whom they cried out so loud, that the sword was awakened, and taken up to avenge their quarrel: And with all the parties of the bad men of these Nations, whose Wickednesses, Bloodsheds, and Delinquencies they had publicly confessed: And with Papists and Rebel●s, (for having espoused the interest, they must needs be partakers with the friends thereof, & Carriers of it on against whom they declared themselves to be in the most Irreconcilable opposition; & with Foreign, Soldiers so highly enveighed against by them in the late King, (viz. the design of the Germans Horse) and laid to his charge. And lastly with another Nation, viz. the Scots, and those People therein, whom they opposed at first, upon the account of their being for the King; to bring whom, and their King, and all these Interests together they become the third Party, to which each apply, and by whose warmth and influence they are all united, and made one, with them they enter into a strong confederacy, and jointly proceed in the laying of the foundation, and carrying on of a New, Desperate, and Bloody War, wherein thousands lost their lives, and the three Nations were hazarded in such a manner, and for such ends as hath been in part expressed.  
Unto which should I add, how this spirit ran generally through the men of the same 
* When I so speak I do not intent all that are called Ministers, for those of the Independent and Baptists, and Seekers so called, were faithful to the Commonwealth; and many of them in arms; nor, all that are called Presbyters, for there were divers even in Parliament, and the Council who abominated, denied and acted against this Spirit & those practices of some to the b●inging of Christophes Love to justice.  Principle in this Nation, what designs were hatched, how subtly contrived; how deeply plotted, how strongly laid, by the Cavaleirs and them (in order to the same end) over the Counties, chief Towne●, Garrisons, Feild and Naval Forces thereof, & by the Cavaleirs, on the Parliament, and Council of State, and chief members, and Ministers of each, and of the Army at Land and Sea, (by Assassinations, Poisoning, Murders, firings, Violences, Blood, to have cut them off.) What numbers of thousands of men listed? What Arms and Horse provided? What monies raised and how? What Foreign Princes and Forces treated with, engaged and how prevented? What men of Estates Conduct, In●e●est concerned? What Armies form, how ●imed in all things for general insurrections to answer the S●ots preparations, and motions in the Field, and their Councils and Motions depending upon, and answering unto the intelligence of the state of these designed insurrections, whether as to their perfection or irruption (the Army in the mean time abiding the sharp colds, necessities and Hardships of that naked country during the winter-season, waiting upon their motion and action out of, and from their Fastnesses) or should I be particular how they were discovered, traced from the beginning, certainly known all along, and understood, with their Agents, Heads, Principals, Variations, Extents and limits, and in the Nick of time when they were known to be ripe, and the time of Execution even come, utterly broken in pieces, (and with that junctures of Providence as well beyond the Seas as in these Nations) as were all their Forces in the Field, their King, Nobles, Councillors, great Men, Captains, Ministers and Soldiers; or could this place admit of so large a Discourse, it might prove an astonishment to the World in the Narration, as the total rout of the other was in the Report and evidently manifest that no other thing but the allseeing eye, and outstretched arm, and tender bowels of the Lord did discover, or could deliver the Parliament Council of State, Armies at land and sea and honest people of these Nations from being wholly cut off and destroyed, even our Enemies themselves being Judges; and would prove a warning to all Nations, especially to England (upon whose high places in fields of blood, and the sad calamities of many years' War it hath been sorely experimented) to take heed of, and watch over that spirit and generation who to effect their tyrannical domination over State and conscience (to which they would give the Rule, but will not receive it from any) appear not to care with whom, or with what they join, or to what they turn, or how they engage their country and themselves into ruin and destruction, under the pretence of Religion and Conscience, whereas Christ Jesus saith, My Kingdom is not of this world; if my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight. And his Apostles and Ministers declared, That their weapons were not carnal, but mighty through the spirit; and prophesied that in the last day's men should be 
* Here are Teachers Traitors.  Traitors, whereby the last days should be made perilous; which before our eyes in this very age hath been fulfilled (as aforesaid) in the men of this generation, with whom I have to do, who notwithstanding pretend themselves to be Ministers of Christ Jesus and of his Gospel, and the Successors of his Apostles. O my people (saith the Lord) remember what Balaak King of Moab consulted, and what Balaak the son of Peor answered from Shittim unto Gilgal, [from Scotland into England, from England into Scotland▪ from Scotland to the Hague, from the Hague to England; from England to Scotland again▪ from Scotland and England to Jersey; from Jersey to Br●da; from Breda to Dunbar; from Dunbar to Fife; from Fife to St. Johnstons'; from St. Johnstons' to Worceste●] that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.  
Thus far of these Treasons in the general, and how far they respect Christopher Love in particular, the effects of them, and proceed thereupon: In the rehearsal whereof (through this urgent and necessary occasion▪ I have been the rather thus particular, that those who are concerned may be awakened, and look out ere it be too late; for if this spirit which but the other day was struck down with such an astonishing stroke from heaven, as the like thereof hath not been heard of in these later ages, be so far already recovered out of its swoon, & gathered into such life & confidence as that it dares to appear thus openly in the justification of them in whom it so worked & acted (as it hath in this R. Farmer's Libel) styling them Ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, Servants of Christ whose Names are yet precious in the Churches, [as are the Expressions, pag. 110.] and Christopher Love aforesaid (a chief designer and actor of them, for which he was beheaded by sentence of the High Court of Justice) as a man most innocent, fall'n into the hands of Huckster's, of whom it saith, I'll say nothing of the man, I need not, he was well enough known in England, in his death, bewailed of thousands, and his Name precious with many godly, [as are the very words, pag. 110.] and the detecting, examining, and bringing those their unparallelled Treasons to Justice, Rancour, Malice, Spiteful, and most cruel prosecution, Blood-thirstiness, Bloodsucking, sucking and swallowing the Bloods and Lives of men, Ministers of the Gospel, [as the same page hath it.] And the taking notice of his not bewraying the least grudging or repentance of his death for any thing acted therein, (though such were his actions as aforesaid) a going about most unchristianly to undervalue, debase and disparage that comfort and confidence he professed to enjoy at his death, a kill of his good Name, and endeavouring maliciously to kill him twice, and the latter with more cruelty than the former; with such like, as it is set down pag. 106, 107. And the discovering of those his, and his other fellow-Traytors Treasons, a Trappanning; as it is termed pag. 105; 106.) and spending ten pages thereabouts, and in reviling and abusing the State and their Ministers in the Examination thereof, and doing Justice thereupon, which I shall no further repeat: I say, If this Spirit be so gotten head thus above-board, in print to manifest itself, even whilst those are in Rule whom it sought to cut off, and who were made the Battle-ax of the Lord, and his Weapons of War, to the hewing down, and cutting in pieces the men in whom it appeared and acted. What under-ground-work (upon rational grounds) may hereby strongly be suspected to be forwarded and near perfection? The tender eye of the Lord hath watched over and his outstretched arm delivered England (as hath been said) from its devilish contrivances, and bloody Workings, through the rolling of thousands of Garments in blood, and multitudes of other sharp and sore extremities of War, as the effects thereof: Let those who are concerned look to it now; out of a deep 
* This I felt & wrote before the second Session of Parliament, with an intent to have published it against th●● their coming together; but their s●●ting was short, and their dissolution sudden; and some workings were discovered, and I stop● the publication.  sense upon me do I give them warning; Who may also take it into consideration, Whether such an infamous Libel as this is, wherein the proceed of Parliament, the Council of State, Committee for Examinations, etc. and their Ministers in case of the former, are so highly reflected upon, charged and reproached with such horrible indirect deal, corruption and injustice; and their deliberate Act and Judgement therein, expressly termed CLUB-LAW, (the highest affront that can be given to an Act of Parliament) The fortune of the Wars, etc. in the Epistle to the Delinquent himself, to whom it is dedicated for Patronage, as to a worthy and considerable person, under the Name of Right Honourable, A lover of his Country; wherein the proceed of them all in the case of the latter, is called Trapanning, spiteful and malicious prosecutions, etc. (and that eminent execution done by sentence of the High Court of Justice authorized by Act of Parliament, (in which the whole body of honest men to the interest of the Commonwealth and the Army, (all of whom those Treasons sought to destroy) are concerned) Blood-thirstiness, bloodsucking of a man, intimated as one most innocent, fallen into the hands of Hucksters, etc. (For these Acts of Justice were the Parliaments, and the proceed therein had, were in, and by virtue of their Authority, in order to the safety of the Commonwealth, and nothing was done by me but by virtue thereof, in the discharge of my Trust, wherein I exercised, and have the answer of a good conscience, serving my generation in uprightness of heart: And what is said, concerns and strikes at them and their Authority who gave the Judgement and the Sentence which so much troubles them, and by whose Power they were acted, though the direction be at me, at whom it is revengefully fling, supposing it their safest course, & that for so doing they have now their day and liberty, as is plain to any sober understanding.) And lastly, Wherein that Treasonable spirit which plotted the designs, raised, embodied, and carried on those desperate and cruel Wars, as aforesaid, is warmed and cherished: I say, Those who are concerned may consider whether it consists with their Honour and Reputation, and the Justice of the good and wholesome Laws of the Nation, and due estimation and regard they would have given to their own Acts by the generations to come, and with the safety of the Nations, to permit such an infamous libel to pass up and down without a reproof.  
By this time the serious Reader may plainly perceive who is the bloodthirsty and bloodsucking person, that can suck and swallow the bloods and lives of men; Whether I who had (with others as aforesaid▪) to do in the examination and discovery of those Treasons which had their influence to the actual shedding of the blood of Thousands, and thirstingly sought to swallow the lives of the Parliament, Council, Army and its Friends in these Nations: Or Ra. Farmer who hath thus appeared in the justification of these Treasons, and calls the bringing of one [a chief] of them to execution, and of others to the Bar of Justice, a swallowing of the bloods and lives of men, bloodthirstiness, and bloodsucking? Whose are the malicious, most spiteful, and cruel prosecutions, whether mine (as he presumes) in order to the bringing such Blood sucking Treasons to light (according to my duty) and bloodthirsty Traitors to Justice; or his in seeking to kill my good Name, (which is far out of his reach) and to render me as vile a person as any under Heaven, upon his presumption of my so doing? Who are the Ministers of our Lord Jesus? Whether those who Treasonably design by War and Blood, the ruin of their Country, and the overthrow of a Commonwealth, and this in opposition to the Cause and People they once engaged in, and with, and in the behalf of the contrary, and all its Abettors and Assisters; or those whose Gospel was Peace on Earth, and good will towards men? Who are the Churches of Christ? Whether such in which prayers were made for Kings and those in Authority, that under them they may lead a peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty; or those in whom the Memory of them are said to be precious, who conspire the overturning and destruction of the Government, under which they might lead a peaceable life in all godliness & honesty, and for that purpose had of them full liberty and large protection? And lastly, Whose Name shall rot & perish, or if it be remembered, it shall be with abhorrency & detestation; Whether mine whose actions have been as aforesaid, in the discovery of those Treasons, or R. Farmers, who in the behalf of those Treasons and his Brethren, hath thus appeared and acred?  
Thus much of his Charge in general, and of the Treasons of Christo●her Love, and his Brethren and Confederates, and his spirit, (now alive in R. F. and that generation) in whose behalf I am thus charged and accused, and in discharge whereof I have been constrained thus to draw them forth as a LOOKING-GLASS for the PRIESTS, and an AWAKENING to ENGLAND.  
The ground of the Charge as it is laid down pag. 106. is this.  
Viz. That I was a zealous prosecutor of Christopher Love, UNTO, yea AFTER death.  
First, After death, (for with this he gins, as that which its like, he supposeth he can most positively prove, and may best serve his purpose) and for this his only instance is the Book entitled, Mr. Love's Case; of, and concerning which he saith, and peremptorily chargeth me in these express words.  
That you were a zealous prosecutor of Mr. Love unto, yea, and after death, is so manifest, that as impudent as you are, you will not deny. That you prosecuted him after death, appears by what you published against him when he had no being to answer for himself; wherein you endeavour maliciously to kill him twice, and the latter with more cruelty than the former, killing his good name, & what in you lies, making him a reprobate and an outcast from God and Glory. I suppose you will own that piece called Mr. Love's Case, printed by Peter Cole▪ (as well as the other Books you published against him) wherein you go about (most unchristianly) to undervalue, debase and disparage that comfort and confidence he professed to enjoy in, and at his death, and this upon several accounts, which I will not recount to avoid tediousness; one only I'll mention to show your spirit of envy and bitterness; It is the Animadversions upon the first Section, pag. 34. Mr. Love (say you) it's more than probable was not only vehemently exhorted, encouraged, importuned, but even solemnly by all the sacred Interests of High Presbytery, conjured by his Clergy Companions, to die like a valiant and resolute Champion of the Cause, and not bewray the least grudging of any fear, or repentance for any thing he had acted upon the service thereof, lest it should be said of Presbytery, Her glory was stained and betrayed by the Cowardice of her Fitst-born. And pag. 38. Here we have the second part of the Theatrical Flourishes of Mr. Love's confidence— Much might be animadverted, but I forbear. You have a strange spirit that his comforts and confidence in God trouble you. And then you go on to charge him with hypocrisy and lying, and other base imputations all along, bespattering and bespotting, and besullying him (as you can) even to his last. I know what slight touches of charity you have now and then; and at the close of that Pamphlet, which are inconsistent with that you had charged him before, as that he acted the part of a most unchristian Calumniator upon the Scaffold in the very approaches of death, pag. 38. but pag. 46. You most unchristianly reproach him and his Doctrine, as followeth, Whereas in purging himself [he means Mr. Love] from the aspersion of lying, he saith thus, I hope you will believe a dying man, who dares not look God in the face with a lie in his mouth; intimating (say you) as if his being ready to die was a bridle in his lips to restrain him from lying. The truth is according to that principle of his, That he who once truly believed, can never by any sin or wickedness whatsoever, lose the love and favour of God.— His being ready to die, in conjunction with a persuasion of his Saintship, should rather be a temptation upon him to lie, or commit any other wickedness, than an engagement upon him to refrain lying. Thus you. I have done with that; but I pray that you may find more favour and mercy from God, than he found from you, and to that end let him grant you Grace to repent of these spiteful and most cruel persecutions.  
This is his Charge, Inference, and Conclusion, and every word of it, which is a lie in every particular, a heap of lies and falsehoods; therefore I deny it all, though he is so brazenfaced as to say of me, viz. As impudent as you are, you will not deny it: For I am so far from having wrote the Book aforesaid, entitled, Mr. Love's Case, or from having the least hand therein, that I do not certainly remember that ever I read it over; but writ it I did not, nor had I any hand in it, nor do I know who is the Author thereof; yet how positively, and with what confidence doth this impudent Liar affirm it mine? how oft? about twenty times he falsely charges it on me) with what bitter invectives and reflections, and with what height of impudence and zeal, as one whose life is concerned and touched, and suffers in every word spoken of, or thing done to that his dear Brother, the sober may plainly read in these his Expressions? And by this single instance (had I said, or should I say not a word besides) such may judge, Whether ever man of a more impudent face, flinty forehead, seared conscience, vile and lying spirit hath appeared in Print? And whether he fears God, or regards man, or cares what he saith or doth, or is to be believed in any thing he affirms? This is Ralph Farmer. This is my Enemy without a Cause. This is he that writes against Perfection, of Satan enthroned in his Chair of Pestilence, and then calls it Quakerism in its exaltation; of the Impostor dethroned; and styles it The quakers' Throne of Truth detected to be Satan's seat of lies; of the Rottenness (as he blasphemously reproaches) of the quakers' conversion and perfection in the general, exemplified in this (he saith) busy Bishop, in special instanced in his practices against the Estate of the Lord Craven, life of Mr. Love; who saith, By occasion whereof this Truth is asserted, viz. If we may judge of the conscience, honesty, and perfection of the quakers in general, by this man in particular, a man be as vile a person as any under heaven, and yet a perfect quaker. [Whether I or he be the man of whom the substance of this may be said, and on whom it is found? Reader judge.] This is he that so abominably arraigns, reflects upon, and traduces the Acts and Judgements of the highest Judicature and Court of Justice in the Nation, in the most weighty executions (one of them) as England hath brought forth; and so highly reproaches the proceed of them, their Council of State, Committee, Court of Justice, and Ministers aforesaid. This is Cravens Advocate, in whose behalf he reviles and abuses (as hath been said) in hope of, and in order to the retrival of his Estate, and then dedicates it to him for Patronage, in a Light, Lying, and Frothy Epistle. This is the Champion of Edmund Calamy, Christopher Love, and his Brother Traitors and Confederates as aforesaid, and of them called Ministers of the Gospel, whose Names (he saith) are yet precious in the Churches. This is he, for the b●aring testimony against whose deceit, and speaking and writing in the Name of the Lord, many have suffered long imprisonments, and some have been whipped. This is he that hath poured forth all this filth & rage at me, that talks of making An Agent in the Marches of Wales; of the Machiavellian Maxim, LIE, Calumniate, slander, and do it boldly and with confidence, and some of it will stick; it will take with some or other of the Hebrew Proverb, If all enter not yet hall will; of a common-lyar, a shameless forehead, a profligate spirit, a most supernaturally and God-forsaken hardened heart and seared conscience, etc. Ralph Fa●mer who calls himself A servant of that Josus Christ who was crucified at Jeru●alem 1600 years ago▪ whose blood (he villainously & falsely saith) the quakers (who witness it and its cleansing) trample under foot (this instance proves it true of himself, as a c●mmon thing; and who is called, and calls himself a Minister of the Gospel: A Minister of the Gospel! get thee gone to thine own place, the Gospel denies thee; the children of Light spew thee out. No marvel after all his Trades, he took upon him this Name, and turned thither to shelter him; dost thou say to me, Turn Turk, man, or become a Jew, to whom [thou sayest] the Name and Gospel of Christ, and Christian is odious? Turk and Jew shall rise up in Judgement against thee, & shall condemn thee: This is some of the groundwork on which (he saith, pag. the last) his Discourse and Discovery is founded, and that he is well assured that it will stand firm; and thereforesaith, As for any farther Answers, Replies, contendings, or debatings with them or him, I declare this as my Coronis, my farewell to quakerism.  
What sayest thou now R. F.? Were they No babes in the world, and yet honest; [as thou expresses, pag. 106.] Who advised thee to these things?  
Thus much of the prosecution of Christopher Love after his death, (the killing him after he was dead) most falsely charged upon me as aforesaid, by this Liar Ralph Farmer.  
For those before his death, he saith, page 108. — As for the persecution of him in his l●f●, and of his Trial, I shall not enter upon th● st●ry of— So (as to proof) that's given up, as the other is taken down: Where is then the hypocrisy with which he chargeth me for accusing the Priests, and him in particular, with Bloodthirstiness, the More (as he saith) in th●●r ey●, before I had pulled out th● B●●m (bloodthirstiness, bloodsucking) in mine ow●? I shall not enter upon the story, saith he, etc. And yet in the next page 109. he enters upon the story of that, upon which he said before he should not enter, and spends several pages therein, saying (to palliate the matter) I shall not (as I said) engage to the whole of your prosecutions against him, when as he hath said no such words, but the contrary, viz. I shall not ●n●er, etc. So his own hand-writing proves him a liar, a belyar of his own Record: Doth not, will not this man say any thing? Well, seeing he will enter upon the story, & that he chooses rather with his own Pen to Register himself a false man to posterity, then to miss it, What's then the part of my prosecutions (as he saith) against him, to which he will engage (for it concerns me to sift this matter) and in what pieces finds he it? Why in a Book written and published (says he) by Mr. Love himself, (and yet) finished [but] the last day but one bef●r● his death: ●he Title of it thus, A clear and necessary Vindication, etc. What is that to me to prove prosecutions? Why, I desire you (says he) to take notice that there is a lying Pamphlet put forth, entitled, A short Plea for the Commonwealth; ●n which there are many gross lies, especially in things that rela●e to me. Well, what of all that? Why (saith this liar pag. 111. 112.) He supposes Capt. Bishop wrote the lying Book. He supposes! Supposition is no proof nor sufficient ground to charge, nor reasonable matter for a Reply; nor shall I therefore make any thereunto But to come nearer the matter, (and to search thy bowels R. F. (they are the words of thy Epistle) for a real discovery, that the world may no longer be deceived with a windy conception.—) If Christop. Love did suppose I wrote it (and so sayest thou, page 111. and also the words which thou sayest are his, page 113.) Then how comes I (in the enumeration of those pretended lies, and the observations thereupon said by thee to be Christop. Love's) to be expressly charged therewith, page 111. in these words, — Another thing he charges him with, is a loud lie, etc.— and page 112. — Where he further says, he (Bishop) charged him, etc. no less than four times in the space of twenty eight lines, page 111, 112. Doth he charge me positively by name? Now either these words are Christop. Loves (as is said and pretended) or R. Farmers? If Christop. Loves, than he is one while saying he supposes, at other times absolutely charging what before he only said he supposed, and so he is not to be believed in what he saith (in that his pretended book) No, not as the words of a dying man; and if his words when dying be such, at which time R. F. says, what ever I say, men are most serious, and to be believed; what are they when he is not in that condition, and how to be accounted? If they be not Christop. Loves (which I incline to believe) than they are Ra. Farmer's forgeries foisted after his death, into (what he saith are) the writings of him, who h● accounts his dear friend, and Brother, finished the last day but one before his death, for whom he seems to be as zealous as for his life; and being so forged, foisted, and sophisticated, they are not to be considered, or taken as Christop. Love's writings, but as R. Farmer's forgeries, and so not to be believed or answered. Thy malice at my good name R. F. drew deep, when thus to bespatter it, thou plungest thyself into this Labyrinth. But to proceed a little further, What are those lies said to be in the said Pamphlet, so supposed to be mine, and so observed? Why, It will not, saith R. F. page 111. be to any purpose to set down the particulars, because my Reader hath not the book whereby to judge of the truth or falsehood, I shall therefore content myself to give you what observations Mr. Love ma●es on the man, and his lying stories. If this, viz. to give the observations, and not the thing, to rehearse the conclusion, and not the premises; to charge so and so, and yet to be silent wherein, on purpose to reproach; if this, I say, be fair dealing, fit matter to reply unto, or sufficient proof of such a charge, let the reasonble, yea my enemies themselves be Judges.  
Is there any more yet? Yea, but like the former; They viz. his NO BABES▪ etc. aforesaid, advise me to re●d a book concerning Mr. Loves designs, and his death, written and penned by you, and they say it will give the Reader further satisfaction: But you have dealt as craftily in the printing of this as of the former, printed so few, & kept or given so at your own pispose that I cannot get it, page 106. Which being a lie, and the book neither named, nor got▪ nor seen by him, and it together with the pretended further satisfaction therein, being but matter of hearsay, and that from his No Babes, etc. (they did advise, they say) I shall pass it by as false and frivolous, and not deserving a reply.  
Thus hath this liar rushed, as the horse into the Battle with his — But yet what I find from other pieces, I have met with in this matter. (What matter? the Antecedent is— who did Trepan Mr. Love, and some of that party? the pieces (and I have mentioned all of them) say nothing ●hereof, and of nothing nothing can be found, nor nothing met with) I will communicate to yo●, and the world; and this the rather to show you; what a● hypocrite y●u were in chargeing us Priests (as in 
* I call ye not Priests in scorn, (its a lie, scorning I deny, and therefore thee and thy Generation of scornets) but Priests ye are by profession, who are Tythers, and your old Ordination was by the name of Priest. And the Common-Prayer-Book hath it Priest and Clerk. And page 37. in a scorning manner thou sayest of thy sel●; Is it not pity that any man (much more a Minister of the Gospel, and if you will, a Priest) should, etc.  scorn you call us) with bloodthirstiness, and myself in particular, as in Title of your Pamphlet; you should have pul●'d the be●m out of your own eye, before you reproached us with a mote in ours. I suppose, here I have done, though it be partly done already, you will appear to be not only a bloodthirsty, but a bloodsucking persion.— I say, thus hath he rushed into this case, as the horse into the battle; but to what disadvantage, the sober by what hath been said, may easily perceive: For neither hath he or any of his pieces so much as looked towards the matter, viz. — Who did Trepan Mr. Love, etc. which must be the matter, or what he saith is inconsistent, and nonsense. Nor hath he made so much as one thing hitherto to stand as a beam or mote of bloodthirstiness, or bloodsucking in my eye, as to any prosecutions of Christop. Love, before or after his death; the work it seems he aimed at ●erga Versa, but hath thus missed and hit himself; so what he saith he hath found, and communicated to me and the world from the other pieces; which he saith he hath met with in this matter, shows what a hypocrite himself is, not me and an abominable vile person, who hath charged me with bloodthirstiness, and bloodsucking, (and committed such wickedness in the prosecution thereof) as a mote in my eye, but makes no such thing to appear, and hath not first▪ or at all, pulled the beam of bloodthirstiness (charged and proved, not reproached, that's a lie by me on him, and his Generation of Priests, which he hath not otherwise then by this Recrimination attempted to disprove) out of the eyes of himself and generation.  
And here I might conclude this case, for aught unto which I am obliged any further to reply. But forasmuch as Ra. Farmer hath expressly charged me with practices of forgery in these Words, v●z. I shall discover the ground of your so easy an entertainment of the thoughts (at least suggestions) of forgery in me, from those practices of forgery which I shall declare to have been really acted by you, pag. 106. And for that the Committee for Examinations, and one of the Members thereof in particular is accused, reflected upon, and scandalised, as well as myself, as in that his (as he calls it) Declaration thereof. And because the design of what is so said is to blemish the credit of what should be made public of those Treasons on the behalf of the Commonwealth, which the Author supposed would be, and therefore so speaks, and solicitously beseeches the Reader not to believe any thing that should so be made. And in regard the Charge relates to my trust, and therein as to the lives of men, lest I should seem to any to decline speaking because of guilt, or to take advantage by the dis-reputation of another to cover what may be thought my own; I shall speak to both his instances, viz. Christopher Love, (though parcel of the foresaid attainted vindication) and the nameless Letter, [though it come forth so, and on the single credit of this Liar, soften by me proved Reprobate.]  
The first is this, viz. That whilst he was examined, he faith I did put in six or eight lines into his Examination, which he never said, I supposing he would be so meal-mouthed as not to read it, or to put his hand to my Forgery without any more ; but that he did [to my shame] make me blot out at least six lines in his Examination, which was but very short; and that some of the Committee did ingenuously say sometimes, That he did not speak such Words as I had put in; and that he did refuse to put his hand to it, seeing he was abused by me, but told them if they would give him a copy of it he would subscribe his hand; but that they denied him a copy, which made him to suspect they did not intent to deal fairly with him, as he found true after. And then goes on to show wherein [says this Liar, but gives no instance, yet saith] and that to their conviction; & concludes thence thus, Wherefore I beseech the Reader not to believe any thing that shall come forth, either pretended to be my Examination, or the Examinations of other men against me; they are but the Forgeries and Contrivances of Mr. S. and Capt. Bishop, pag. 113. And further, That the Examinations of the Witnesses were taken from them in private, and patched together by Mr. S. and Capt. Bishop, That they were not ashamed to produce them and read them in open 
* And why not in open Court, the Witnesses desiring it, and referring thereunto (the particulars being many & lon●) and the Court allowing it?  Court. That some of the Witnesses had so much 
† Capt. Potter being the first Witness produced, bogled at what he had wrote, and signed, and se●t from the Tower; but upon his arraignment pleaded guilty to it all; what honesty he had left that so did, let wise men judge.  honesty left, as to disavow them in open Court; and therefore (says he again) believe nothing but what was sworn in open Court, nor all that neither; for some of the Witnesses swore falsely as [he saith] he made 
* He being (as I remember) touched with the words concerning the Commission, Come come, let it go; fl●w out in a rage, and said, That he was against the going of it, or words to that effect. Whereby he discovered himself to be in the principal part of the design, of which himself professed, and others would account him innocent.  appear in his Defence, pag. 110. And that because he was belied about his Examination before the Committee, and may be more abused after he is dead; therefore he was necessitated to discover that juggling and baseness of Mr. S. and me about his Examination, which he thought [as it saith] never to have made public, pag. 112. And thus this Liar brings all this in.  
Among all these lies thus generally hinted, I have reserved one in special, wherein Mr. Love chargeth him not only with lying, but also with forgery, pag. 112. And concludes, And well might Mr Love think how this Bishop injured other men, and that in the like ●ind, pag. 112.  
Vind. Christopher Love being apprehended by virtue of a Warrant from the Council of State for High Treason; and being brought before the Committee to be examined, before any question was demanded of him as to the cause of his apprehension assigned in the Warrant, he voluntarily made such a deep and general profession of his innocency, (as to the Treasons which afterwards were charged upon, and proved in Court against him, and in part by himself confessed) that the Committee were at a stand how to ask such an innocent professor any question of guilt; and so unto him they declared: Whereupon he (supposing (its like) that he and his actions were hid from them, and lay in the dark.) gathered spirit, and said in these, or words to this effect, Gentlemen, I look upon you as honourable persons, ask me any question in particular, and I will ingenuously answer you, as I have made a general profession. Hereupon I put to him (as from the Committee) some questions concerning himself; corresponding with the cause of his apprehension, assigned in the Warrant aforesaid, which giving him to see that the Committee was within his Veil, Instead of making an ingenuous, or any answer thereunto, he fell into a great passion (being closely touched) and particular reflections, and refused to answer, saying he would not accuse himself, and that it was the High Commission Court. It was answered, That it was not the High Commission Court, for he was not put to answer to interrogatories upon his oath, to accuse himself when none did or could accuse him; which was the High Commission Oath, Ex Officio, condemned by the Parliament: But he being in custody, and accused of such High Treasons, and informations being ready to be produced (and I then brought forth two) relating to the matter whereof he stood charged, and unto which he was demanded to answer; by the ancient Law of England he ought to answer, YEA or NAY, thereunto, which was what the Committee required of him. Then he was demanded as to other Correspondents in the same Treasons: To which he answered, He would not be an Informer. This his neither answering to the questions demanded against himself, nor as to others, though he had said, Ask me any question and I will ingenuously answer; and made such a general profession of innocency as aforesaid; I say, This and his other high and peremptory carriage occasioned many Words to pass between the Committee and him; so that there was not such a proceeding in setting down his Examination, as was usual in such cases by the Committee, viz. The question leisurely put, and wrote down, and read, and then the Answer demanded, and wrote, and then read and expessed, and altered as the Prisoner desired, before another question was asked. But amidst the much speaking I took notice of some few things which he said, and having wrote them (after the heat was somewhat over) read it in the hearing of him and the Committee, to the end that he might have it expressed, altered or changed to his satisfaction, (as was usual to every one that was examined, before he be required to set his hand thereunto;) upon the hearing of which read, he liked not some part thereof, whereupon I struck it out, and drew his Examination as he would have it, and then read it, which he not objecting against, the Committee required him to put his hand thereto; but he refused to sign it except he might have a copy thereof, which they thought not fit to grant without an order from the Council, it being not usual in cases of Treason otherwise to do: So he was returned into the custody of the Sergeant at Arms, without having signed his Examination, which (for the contents of it) was not material, nor was any use made thereof at his Trial. This is the truth of the matter.  
Now whether so to take, prepare and draw an Examination in the presence of the Committee, and the sight of the Examinant, and with such changes and alterations as the Examinant doth desire, (suppose I had mistaken in some Words or Expressions, as easily I might (but do not grant) considering the manner of the Examination as aforesaid) be Forgery, Juggling, Baseness? Or whether it be Mr. S. and my Baseness, Juggling and Forgery, or a discovery thereof, who neither dictated to, nor advised with me, as to what I wrote? Or whether this or any other passage mentioned in this case makes to appear, or proves that whatsoever shall come forth as the Examination of him, [Christopher Love] or the Examinations of other men against him, are but the forgeries [as he saith] and contrivements of Mr. S. and me, patched together in private, and so not to be believed? Or, Whether the bare saying of these Words only, Which made me suspect they did not intent to deal fairly with me, as I found true after: And then goes on [says R. F.] to show wherein, and that to their conviction, [but how or in what, R. F. says not] be sufficient to ground such a charge upon the Committee, as of unfair dealing, or makes manifest wherein they dealt so unfairly with him, or convicts them thereof? Or whether the design and end of all this, be not apparently to justify Christopher Love as innocent, and to render the Parliament and their Ministers, and those that prosecuted and gave judgement against him, guilty of his blood? And whether such things ought to be suffered, I leave to the sober to judge, and those who are in Authority to consider.  
Had the Examination been perfected, and he set his hand thereunto, and committed to my custody, and should afterwards have inserted any word or sentence that he had not signed, without his knowledge or consent. This indeed had been forgery in me; & I [had I so done] deserved indeed to have been made a public example; but no such thing did I, nor doth this Instance accuse me of any such; nor did I ever exercise in such things as these, otherwise then a good conscience, doing unto all men [therein] as I would they should do to me, and always abhorring the contrary as a most abominable Wickedness.  
And as for my putting in six lines into his Examination which he never said, supposing he would be so meal-monthed as not to read it, or to put his hand to my forgery (as he slanders) without any more ado. It is false, and a thing (in the understanding of wise men) not likely by m● to be supposed, viz. That he would sign what I had wrote (as said by him in his Examination▪ being concerned as to his life, and making such a stir as he did) without reading of it, or speaking against what was wrote by me, as spoken by him which he had not said, had any such thing been: Nor was any such thing, as to put what was not his, as his Examination, upon the supposition aforesaid, or any other consideration, so much as in my thoughts; nor did I any thing of which I was ashamed, or that deserved it, but the contrary: Nor do I remember that any of the Committee did say sometimes that he did not speak such Words as I had put in, (though they by reason of his passion and prevarication, and the Words it occasioned, not taking such notice of his expressions as I did, who minded them as my business to observe, & set down might express themselves, as not remembering in some things that he so said; & himself by reason of his rashness, might forget; & not liking when he was come coolly to consider what was wrote as said by him, might deny his own expressions; whereby it doth not follow, That what I took as his, was not by him spoken▪ or to such effect.  
Thus much to his first instance, and of the passages at the Examination of Christopher Love, in which I have hitherto been silent, and thought not to have made it public, but R. F. having so highly charged me and the Committee in this Case, pag. 110, 112, 113. and falsely concluded thereupon, pag. 114, 115, 116. I am constrained thereunto for my own, and their necessary vindication.  
The second follows in these Words; I have one instance more under: he hand of a godly, reverend, and faithful Minister of the Gospel now in being, well known to most of the inhabitants of this City, and many in London so to be, who writes to me, That being to be questioned about M. Love's business, (as he was, & imprisoned) Bishop (says he) was Clerk to the Committee of Examinations, and wrote down all that I said, & add a d●vers things, thereby endeavouring to ensnare me, for which I sharply reproved him, telling him that I knew his Birth and Breeding, and therefore I did scorn to be ixamined by such a one as he was, at which both he and the Committee were much offended, threatening to use much severity against me, but the Lord restrained them.  
Vind. What's this to the purpose, as to Forgery? to prove which on me it is produced, (taking it as it is, and for granted that it is so, as is expressed) it saith, I wrote down all that he said; It doth not say that I wrote down more. And should I not have wrote down all he said? What crime is this? Is this Forgery? How doth malice render him void of understanding? For the passage, And added divers things, thereby endeavouring to ensnare me; it manifestly appears by what immediately follows, that it intends Words spoken by way of Examination, not an addition of Words which he spoke not, inserted into his Examination; which latter (had it been so) would have suited his Case, not the former; it seems the questions pricked him to the quick, that he was so wroth at the applying of them, that the Committee saw cause to threaten to bind him (so much he was from it) to the good-behaviour and that the substance of the questions was such truth, and so applicatory to him in the behalf of the Commonwealth, that he reckons the proposing of them matter of Ensnarement; that is to say, if he had answered to the questions as he could, he should have confessed what was demanded. And added (says he) divers things, thereby endeavouring to ensnare me. What a pitiful generation have I to deal with, and how sottishly malicious?  
Now as to the story, I remember that Matthew Haviland sometimes of Bristol) being in custody as a Confederate of Christopher Loves Treasons, and brought before the Committee to be examined thereabouts, manifested much filth and rage at me (but in what particulars I do not perfectly remember) because of some questions that I put that nearly touched him, for which the Committee sharply reproved him, as he deserved, who knew not a bridle for his tongue, and ●et professed himself to be a Minister of the Gospel. Notwithstanding I was so far from being provoked thereby to do him harm, that I (considering him as a froward, peevish, inconsiderable, ignorant weak man, and drawn in through simplicity rather than design) accomplished (of mine own accord) his liberty from that which otherwise might have proved hard upon him; for at some of the meetings aforesaid, at Christopher Loves he was, for which there was proof.  
If this be the man that wrote the pretended nameless Letter aforesaid, and if he so wrote as this Liar hath rehearsed, let the reasonable judge whether he hath returned me well for that my moderation and voluntary kindness: And whether such a one be a Godly, Reverend, and faithful Minister of the Gospel, (as R. F. Epithets) who is not ashamed to express himself under his hand such a Scorner, as that he scorned to be examined by such a one whose birth and breeding he knew, and this in such a manner as that the Committee by reason thereof were much offended and threatened (as he saith) to use much severity against him; and what a one R. F. is, who calls such a scorner, a godly, faithful Minister of the Gospel, and a Reverend, (and blusheth not to print it) whereas of the Lord only it is said; Holy and Reverend is his Name.  
These are his instances, and yet thus this impudent Liar concludes, pag. 114. Oh horrid and dreadful! Not only to be a common Liar, but to forge, to put in, and to add words on purpose to ensnare men. No marvel you catch at falconers words but once spoken, and put them in hastily to take away ones Estate, when you forge and put in words, many words, (whole lines in a short Examination) which were never spoken, and this to take away m●ns lives.  
But where are (all this while) those practices of forgery, which thou sayest thou shalt declare to have been really acted by me, as proof of what thou hast affirmed, and as a plain and just ground for those thy conclusions? Doth all that thou hast produced, prove one practice or tittle of forgery really acted by me? Do thy instances bear thy conclusions? [Let the impartial judge.] Or discover they any thing more than thy false and slanderous spirit, who carest not what thou scrapest together, and sayest, nor mindest thou how it and thee may stand before the Judgements of Wise men, so it may but seem to reflect upon, or any ways prejudice (as thou thinkest) my Name and Reputation. My Trust was great, laid upon me, and faithfully passed thorough in as dangerous and difficult a season as England's Commonwealth hath known. Thou hast charged me Ralph Farmer expressly, (but very falsely and maliciously, as hath been made to appear) with practices (as thou sayest) of forgery really acted by me, with the putting in, and adding words, many words, whole lines in a short examination, which were never spoken, on purpose to ensnare men, to take away men's lives; the lives (as thou sayest) of Ministers of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, in the Cases of High-Treason, whilst I was in the exercise of that my Trust, and to the high abuse and breach thereof. Therefore how canst thou but expect another manner of reckoning with thee for the Vindication of my innocency from these, and thy other charges and ironical expressions of Corruption and indirect dealing, as to Perjury for the taking away of a man's Estate, during, and in relation to that mine Employment, than what is made in these few sheets of Paper, which to check thy lies and slanders, I have at present thus sent forth into the World.  
And whereas thou sayest, I shall discover the ground of your so easy an entertainment of the thoughts (at least suggestions) of forgery in me, from those practices of forgery, etc. Thy ground and discovery is every way false; neither have I really acted practices of Forgery, nor hast thou proved upon me any one such practice; nor was any such thing the ground of my so easy (as thou sayest) an entertainment of the thoughts of Forgery in thee; but thou having publicly declared and professed in the Epistle to thy Satan Enthroned, etc. concerning the matter of thy Narrative in these Words, viz. And this I can and do faithfully assure the Reader, that here (in the said Narrative) is nothing of the one, or the other, but what is real truth, as will be made good upon any occasion. And I finding upon perusal of that Narrative, that in the rehearsal of a principal paper and part thereof, viz. the Letter of G. F. to J. N. taken upon him, thou hadst thus set it down, The Light of Christ in you all I AM— and in the Margin over against it, the Word OBSCURE, as a special note of observation to the Reader, to give him to mind the import thereof; and upon comparing those Words so affirmed and plighted by thee, with the original under G. F.'s own hand-writing, (which I had by me, and out of which I wrote what was so taken) that the Words were not so but these, viz. The Light of Christ in you all I OWN— upon consideration thereof, and the vast material difference between those two words, AM, & OWN, in the ground, especially in that place, and how they turn the sentence, and of the dangerous tendency of that alteration to the life of G. F. (in that season) as a high Blasphemer, and thy noting him thereby to be such; and of thy bold-thirsty and cruel spirit manifested in that thy Pamphlet. I say, upon consideration of all these things, I did in my Answer charge thee with Forgery, and expressed myself as thou hast repeated, viz. You may here see of what a false and mischievous s●●rit this Priest is, and what a devilish wickedness it is to forge in such a wo●d; as for it, were it tru●y so, would take away a man's life: What credit is to be given to what such a one saith? Is not he that can do this past blushing? Is there any wickedness so great that such a one may not be well conceived to be ready to act? Is such a one a Minister of the Gospel? Words needs not further to express such an act, which in its very f●●ce is so manifestly wicked and abominable; A wickedness not found in the Roll of those evils which the Apostle mentions shoul● make the last days perilous. This was my ground of charging thee with Forgery, and this is part of the conclusion I drew from thence, which whether it be not substantial, and bearing what I have inferred therefrom, or whether thine of me be like it in the case, let understanding men judge.  
Thus much in vindication of my innocency, from this liars charge of forgery; there are yet some questions laid in my way, to remove, ere I close my vindication as to this part of his Libel with which he gins, and with which he ends, and in which he wraps it up, and by which his spirit is further made manifest, and the ground and conclusion of all Edmund Calamy, and his Brethren.  

The first Questions are these.  
I was desired to ask you, who did trepan Colonel Andrews into a design, for which he lost his life, when as he had given over all thoughts of engaging, till he was moved thereto by a Trepanner, as he declared before his death?  
; And who it was trepanned Sir John Gell into a misprision of Treason?  
And lastly, Who did trepan Mr. Love, and some of that party? These questions are proposed by those who are No Babes in the world, and yet honest; and they say this Bishop can (if he will) give satisfaction in: You know George what these things mean, and I know what the last means; and they advise me to read a book, concerning Mr. Loves designs, and his death, written and penned by you; and they say it will give the reader further satisfaction. Thus this liar gins the case of Christopher Love; and these are the very first words therein, as they lie together, not a word omitted, page 105. 106.   

The last Questions follow.  
But let me ask you, Were these all whose blood you thirsted after? Did you not write a Letter to a friend of yours in Bristol from White-Hall, that until Calamy, and some others of the Priests were dealt withal as Love was; it would never be well? I hope I shall one day get that book of yours, which you wrote against him, (mentioned before) viz. A short Plea for the Commonwealth. Those who have seen it tell me, it most fully sets forth the fierceness and bitterness of your spirit, not only against him, but that you show your rancour and malice therein against many of the servants of Christ, whose names are yet precious in the Churches, and the memory of whom shall live, when your name shall rot and perish; and if it be mentioned, it shall be with abhorrency and detestation as infamous as poor Fawconers is. Thus he ends, page 115.  
Reply. This is the head and the tail of this Bloody Monster (whose belly I have already cut out) and the feet on which it goes,— viz. — I was desired to ask you who did Trepan, etc. by those who are no Babes in the world, and yet honest; these questions are proposed; and they say this Bishop can give satisfaction in, and they advise me to read a book, etc. And were these all whose blood etc. Did you not write a Letter? etc. that until Calamy, etc. Here's the middle and both ends brought together: I shall proceed presently to dispatch the two ends as the middle, and so finish this case.  
First; the aforesaid Colonel Andrew's, and Colonel Gell, were the early men of this generation, who conspired against the Commonwealth, one of whom, viz. Colonel Androws their High Court of Justice cut off, which stroke, and that upon Christophrr Love, etc. (it seems) this liar, and his No Babesin the world, and yet honest fee●, and call the discovery of their treasonable conspiracies a trapanning of one into a design, for which he lost his life, and the other into a misprision of a Treason▪ Christopher Love, and his Brethren and Confederates were the nex●, who were discovered to take up where they left, and to design and act the Treasons aforesaid, for which Christopher Love was beheaded, as hath been declared. This he and his No Babes etc. call a trepanning likewise. — Who did trepan Mr. Love, and some of that party, saith he; so that in the Treason's aforesaid, he and they were, & the root of the matter was in them, otherwise into what were he and they trepanned? and why is it demanded who did trepan, etc.▪ How comes he and they then to be innocent men, and all the ado aforesaid to be made in their justification, the lamentation of his death, and the admiration o● them as precious? Doth not this liar and his No Babes, &c▪ hereby show themselves to be No Babes in wickedness? Do they not show themselves to be in the same spirit, and one with what that spirit brought forth? Those who are concerned may hereof take notice, and consider, whether the discoveries of such high Treasons, and the eminent execution of Justice on some of the chief actors therein, should be thus publicly arraigned, and grossly abused, especially by one who pretends himself to be a Minister of the Gospel. Is not the Armies fight against, and destroying those who appeared in the field to act the same, and of as high a nature as the discovery and execution of some of those, by Sentence from a Court of Justice who conspired the action? Can the one then be reproached and traduced; and the other clear? Since the cause was one and the same, and the enemy, and the end of his designs, and the deliverance to them who fought in the field, as to those who sat at the Stern. And this I say to the Army, either lay down the cause●, and confess yourselves guilty of all the blood spilt in the war, or let that be reproved as it deserves, which thus spits in the face of it, and of you, and of those who acted with you, and of their Authority and Justice from whence you received your Commission.  
Next, consider the ground, bottom, and foundation of all these clamours of this liar, and his high accusations of me, as aforesaid: Is it any thing of his own knowledge, or that he hath seen, or read under my hand, or doth he name his Informers, or advisers? Nay, but I was desired to ask you who did trepan? etc. These questions are proposed by those who are No Babes, etc. and they say this; and they advise me to read a book, etc. but I cannot get it, and they say it will give the reader satisfaction, etc. I hope I shall one day get that book, etc. those that have seen it tell me so and so. And let me ask you, Did not you write a Letter, & c.? This and such like is all that he hath produced as certainty in this whole matter, and whethet it be a sufficient ground, bottom, and foundation [or indeed any at all] for such his clamours, charges, and accusations, let the reasonable judge.  
Lastlie; in answer to the Questions, to the first and second, I had nothing to do in the execution of Colonel Andrew's, nor the misprision of Colonel Gell, nor in the discovery of either of their Treasons, nor in that whole business, nor can I give so much as a particular account of them. So this liar who hath asked, and those other who he saith desired him to ask these questions of me, (on purpose to render me as a person who hath made it my trade thirstinglie to design the shedding of the blood of men, and the ruining of estates) have shown themselves what No Babes they are in malice and wickedness, and how exceedingly dishonest, not only thus to insinuate, but to affirm that I can, if I will, give in this satisfaction; and how impudent this liar is, as to say positively to me, You know what these things mean: That is to say, that I am the man that trepanned them, as aforesaid, and that I do know myself to have thus designed, who am thus free, as hath been declared  
To the third; I know not of any man that in the behalf of the Commonwealth, either tempted, or drew forth [nor do I believe any did] the Treasons aforesaid, which secretly lodged in the discontented breasts of Christop. Love, and his Brethren, for aught I know [and I am persuaded] his and their own spirit was the father and mother of those Conspiracies; or [to give them their own word back again] the Trepannor of them all: Nor if his bosom friend, who was as his Confessor before his death cannot, do I guests who of his generation, or any other, can give satisfaction to this question, except this liar who asks it, though he saith, I know what this last meaneth.  
To the fourth; I neither thirsted after the blood of these, nor any man; but these and all other who thirsted after the blood of the Commonwealth, and not only endeavoured, but put these Nations into War and Blood to effect it, I sought to discover, as was my place and Trust, and their designs for that purpose; upon which discoveries some of the chief of them were brought to Justice, whereby the spilling of blood was much prevented, my heart being more tender to the blood and being of a Commonwealth (such a one as England) and the hundreds of thousands of innocent persons therein, that it might be preserved, then to one man who sought and designed its ruin and destruction; and to me he that by design, counsel and contrivance, effects that which sheds the blood of men, though he draw it not with his own hand, is a Murderer in a higher degree than he that violently doth the execution; And whoso sheddeth 
Gen. 9 ●.  man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man, is the Law of God, unto which agreeth that of God in every man's conscience.  
Now in case of the Treasons aforesaid, there was one particular which put it out of the capacity of pardon, viz. The assuming unto themselves ● supreme Power within the Jurisdction of the Commonwealth, to give Commission and Instructions to divers persons, authorising them to treat with a foreign State, (the Scots) and the proclaimed Enemy to the Commonwealth (Charles Stuart King of Scots) for the setting of him by force of Arms into the Throne of England; which Treaty they effected, and at which Treaty it was so ●●●cluded, from whence sprang the War aforesaid: Whi●●●eing a most transcendent Act of High Treason, and ●●●king at the very Root of the Authority then in bein●, (for it's impossible that two Supreme Powers in o●e Commonwealth can consist; and if that War had ●●complished the said result of the Treaty, the Commonwealth had not been) the Parliament saw it not only just, but necessary for the safety of the Commonwealth, to make it exemplary in his Execution.  
To the fifth and last, I wrote many Letters when I was at Whitehall, and much business was upon me and went through my hands, it is impossible for me to remember precisely all that I wrote so many years ago; nor do I remember whether I wrote the matter of this Question, but this I say, Produce my Letter, and what I wrote I shall not deny; in the mean time, and for the close of this case, let Edmund Calamy and his Brethren take heed, lest what this Liar hath queryed concerning him and them, they prove it to be a truth. It's good advice, however it be received, from him who knows what he saith, and wishes no evil to him or them, or any man; but an irreconcilable Enemy is to the spirit of darkness, which worketh in the dark by design, war, and bloodshed, to set up its own dark domination over State and Conscience; of which (even of his and their generation, as hath largely been made to appear) England hath been of late made deeply sensible.  
And now R. F. let me ask thee one question, Is not the hand of Joab in this business? were not those of Christopher Loves brethren & confederates (who were lately at Brist.) thy No Babes, in the world, and yet honest, (or some of them) by whom those questions aforesaid were proposed, and who desired thee to ask them of me, and advised thee as aforesaid, or from whom, or by whose intimation, or direction, or instigation thou hast charged, wrote, and reviled as aforesaid? Are not these thy Rowers, and have they not brought thee into deep waters?  
Thus much of the Case of Christopher Love, and in vindication of the Proceed and Judgement of Parliament, and their Ministers, in the Case of him, and of the said William (called Lord) Craven, from the scandalous allegations, and ironical reflections of this Liar R. F. in his Libel aforesaid, as to both, and in conviction of his false charges therein of corruption, as to Fauconers' Information, and other indirect dealing in the Case of the one, and of blood-thirstiness, bloodsucking, etc. in the Case of the other, and of all his mire and dirt cast up at me in the management of each, on purpose to render me (if he could) the vilest of men: Upon serious consideration of all which, the wise and sober may judge whether his Exemplifications (as he terms it) prove me to be such a man as he hath represented me to be, or the rottenness of the (people called) Quakers conversion and perfection in the general, as he blasphemeth; or that I am the busy Bishop, (in meddling with that which I should not) as he affirmeth; or whether that be a truth which (he saith) by occasion of my practices in special instanced against the Estate of the first, and life of the last, is asserted, viz. If we may judge of the conscience, honesty, and perfection of the quakers in general, by this man in particular, a man be as vile a person as any under heaven, and yet a perfect quaker, as his Title-page, and other parts of his Libel hath it: Or whether I have not proved this to be a truth; viz. If the conscience, honesty, and profession of the Ministers of England in general, may be judged by Ral●h Farmer (and what he writes) in particular, a man may be one of the vilest of men, yea a notorious traitor, and yet a professed Minister of the Gospel. And lastly, Whether by any thing he hath said, the Declaration of my innocency in the Case of Craven, is impeached or convict?  
Thus much in reference to the first part of this Rejoinder; for the rest of his stuff as to the cases aforesaid, I reckon it not worth any further Reply▪ but do leave it to fall with its foundation, which is thus razed down, and overturned.    

WHITEHALL, May. 1652. So much of the Examination of Coll. Edward Drury, as relates to the business of Craven.  
HE saith, That whilst he was at Breda; he, this Examinant, and several Officers of the King of Scots, as Lieut. Coll. James Bardsey, Capt. John Brisco, Capt. Tho. Hutt●●, Capt. Tho. Hunt, Major Rich. Fauconer, and others, to the number of five or six and twenty, did join together in a Petition to the King for some relief, which Petition was drawn by Major Richard Fauconer in this Examinants' Lodging, the rest of the Officers being present, which was to this effect, May it please your Majesty, the great sense we have always had of your Majesty's present condition, hath been the prime cause of our long silence; but now our necessities are grown so great and unsupportable, that we are enforced to petition or perish, most humbly desiring your Royal Majesty to take into your Princely consideration their extremities who have been always ready to prostrate their lives in his Majesty's Royal Father his service, & are no less willing & ready to prosecute the same in what your Majesty shall command; Most humbly petitioning your Royal Order that some course may be taken for our present subsistence, that our future endeavours may not be buried in that unavoidable calamity which our known Loyalty hath reduced us unto; And We shall cordially pray.  
After this Petition another Memorial was wrote to the King, to this effect, May it please Your Majesty, We whose Names are subscribed, humbly desire your Royal Warrant in order to your gracions Promise to Mr. Secretary Long, that when the Money was brought in by the Scotch Commissioners, We should be relieved, and that the poor Inhabitants of Breda who have preserved us from perishing, may be paid. And we shall cordially pray, etc.  
The Examinant saith, That being with the King in his Privy-Chamber the day before the King departed from Breda, towards Scotland, the Queen of Bohemia being there also, the aforesaid Capt. Brisco delivered the said Memorial to the King, who laid it upon the Table; presently upon this the Lord Craven came into the Privy Chamber where the King was, as aforesaid, with the queen of Bohemia, to whom the said Brisco went, & informed him that there were several Gentlemen ready to perish, who had presented a Petition to Secretary Lon●, to be presented to the King, and a Memorial delivered by the said Brisco to the King in their behalf, which the King had laid on the Table, and had done nothing therein, & desired his Lordship to speak to the queen of Bohemia to move the King in their behalf, who casting his eye towards the Table, and the memorial that lay thereon, as this Examinant conceives, said to the said Brisco, as he said to this Examinant, Well; and went to the queen of Bohemia; but what he said to her, this Examinant knows not, nor had they any real effect of their desires; only ●he Princess Royal, and the Governor of Breda, ten days after (upon this Examinants' solicitation) discharged their quarters so far as one hundred Gilders came to; but saith, That what the Lord Craveu might say to the other Officers, or they to him before he came to the King, as aforesaid, or what he said to them, or they to him after the said Lord came from the King, this Examinant knows not.  
Edw. Drury.   

, June 10. 1652. The Deposition of Captain John Brisco, aged about forty years.  
Who deposeth, That at the time of the late Treaty between the King of Scots, and the Scotch Commissioners at Breda, he, this Deponent, with several other Officers of the late King, and the King of Scots being in great want, and having nothing to discharge their quarters, met together, and Major Rich. Fauconer, one of the said Officers, as this Deponent conceives, drew a Petition in the Name of the said Officers in Coll. Druries' Lodgings, where the said Officers were met, which was directed to the King to relieve them with some money; but this Deponent saith, That he being very lame of his wounds, tarried not to see the perfection thereof, & therefore cannot further depose, as to any other contents of the Petition.  
He saith, That the said Petition was put into the hands of Secretary Long, who told the Petitioner that nothing could be done in it till the Commissioners of Scotland had brought in some money to the King. He further deposeth, That the said Petitioners understanding that the King of Scots was to departed suddenly towards Scotland, they drew another Paper to remember the King of his Promise to Secretary Long, that the said Petitioners should have some relief; which memorial this Deponent saith he presented to the King himself, his own condition being very sad, who took it into his hand, and carried it into the next Room, and put it down on the Board; this Deponent saith, That he went into the Room where the King was, and seeing the Lord Craven there, he, this Deponent, desired the said Lord to help the said Deponent, and divers other Gentlemen in distress, who had presented a Petition to the King for relief, and also a memorial to put them in mind of his promise to Secretary Long, that he would afford them some relief; whereupon the said Lord said, Well: The Deponent saith, That the queen of Bohemia was in the Room at the same time with the Lord Craven and the King, but whether the Lord Craven spoke to the King, or to the queen of Boh●mia, this Deponent cannot say, but saith that Major Faucon●r, and Lieut. Coll. James Bardsey, were left by the said Petitioners to wait on the King till he took water to see what might be done in point of relief; who sent this Deponent and the other Petitioners notice, That they could get no money. Afterwards the Governor of Breda did cause the said quarters to be discharged.  
The Deponent further saith, That about twenty six Officers petitioned as aforesaid, and that he, this Deponent had served in the same Regiment under Sir Horat●o Vere, with the Lord Craven in the Low Countries, which was the reason wherefore this Deponent spoke to him to present the Petition as aforesaid.  
JOHN BRISCO.