A MESSENGER From the DEAD, OR, CONFERENCE Full of stupendious horror, heard distinctly, and by alternate voices, by many at that time present.  
BETWEEN THE Ghosts of Henry the 8. and Charles the First of ENGLAND, in windsor-chapel, where they were both Buried.  
In which the whole Series of the Divine judgements, in those infortunate lands, is as it were by a Pencil from Heaven, most lively set forth from the first unto the last.  
London, Printed for Tho. Vere, and W. Gilbertson, and are to be sold at their shops, at the sign of the Angel, and the sign of the Bible without Newgate, 1658.   

The Messenger from the Dead: OR, The dreadful Conference between the Ghosts of HENRY the Eighth and Charles the first, King of England.  Henry. 
SAy! Who art thou that presumest by a Sacrilegious Impiety to disturb the ashes of a King, which so many years have been at rest?  
When Henry had spoken these words, there immediately was heard another voice in a softer, but most doleful accent, which seamed to be the voice of King Charles, expressing himself after this manner.  Charles. 
I am that unhappy King of England, the undoubted heive of sixty and two Monarchs, and who did wear myself the royal Crown two and twenty years, and longer.  Henry. 
What you a King! Did you ever wear a Crown on your head, who have not a head on your Shoulders?  Charles. 
I have not always wanted a head, my Subjects, woe is me, did lately bereave me of it.  Henry. 
Your subjects! How could that be? What heinous crime have you committed, that could enforce your subjects to so great a violence?  Charles. 
I know not well what; but this I am most confident of, that I never did Commit adultery with any woman, nor ever deflowered any Virgin, I never axpelled any man from his House, or Lands, of all which Henry the Eighth my Predecessor is condemned to be guilty by all the World; Here Charles made a little pause, to see what answer that Henry would return to him; But when he perceived him to be still silent he thus did prosecute his Discourse; My Father being dead strange Rumours were spread of it; not long afterwards I married with the Daughter of France, and in the beginning of my reign made two unfortunate Wars, the one with the Spaniard, the other with the French, a Parliament being called at Oxford I lost the love of my people, for dissolving it at that instant when the Duke of Buckingham was questioned for having a hand in my father's Death; At this I perceived that the people did repine, but I was too constant always to my own counsels, and although many Parliaments were afterwards called, I dissolved them all. This enforced me to put unusual taxes upon my people; by which and by the enertainment of the Queen Mother of France (a Lady most extremely hated by the generality of the Nation) I wonderfully increased their evil opinion of me; At the last we did proceed to arms (the Parliament then bearing sway, by me not suddenly to be dissolved) and the War not thriving with me, I was brought to London, a Court was called, not before heard of, and I protesting against the unlawfulness of it, and that there was no Power on Earth by which I was to be tried, they passed the sentence of Death on me, according unto which I suffered.  Henry. 
The greatest prejudice that can arrive unto a Prince, is the loss of his people's love. And thus my niece Mary Queen of Scotland, having lost the affections of that Nation, amongst other things suffered for that Indiscretion by the loss of her head in England; but if you are descended from such Kings as you do boast you are, had it not been better for you to have your bones to rest amongst them, then here to interrupt my peace at Windsor?  Charles. 
I dying did desire to be buried at Westminster, but my stars which did shine but Clowdily, and obscurely on me, in my life, were as inauspicious to me at my Death. I suffered many things grievous to relate. At Westminster I received my fatal sentence where my Predecessors were accustomed to be crowned; At Saint James I was kept in Custody, a place much beloved of me by reason of my childhood spent there, and the many innocent recreations of my youth; At White-Hall I was Beheaded, the Scaffold being erected before the Doors of the Court, and I passed through that place in which I was accustomed to be present at Masks and shows, and at the entertainment of the Ambassadors of foreign Princes.  Henry. 
Are you Charles the son of King James, and do you not yet perceive wherefore you are oppressed with such a weight of affliction? do you not plainly perceive the admirable course and tenor of the Divine Justice? It was grievous to you to be in custody at S. James, because in your tender years, you did there delight yourself with innocent pastimes. Do you not call to mind how heretofore I seized upon that place by violence? As indeed what place was free from my cruelties and oppressions, you are not ignorant how most unjustly I brought unto my Exchequer, to satisfy my own avarice, all the Estates of the Carthusian, Bernardine, and Cistercian Monks, and of all the other Orders, but especially of the Order of Saint Benedict, whose Lands and revenues were the greatest, and whose Covents, and houses were the fairest? How many innocent men have I imprisoned, because they would not be subject to my will? It was I that caused some Abbots to be hanged before their own doors, to become a terror to the other Monks. Do you not know that even your own Palace, was heretofore the House of the Archbishops of York, which I extorted from Cardinal Wolsie, whom I advanced to great honours and riches, whiles I found him a profitable Minister to my lust, and afterwards crushed him to pieces when I found it to be expedient for my avarice; It was I who although I never started from the obedience of the Church of Rome, but only in one particular to satisfy my lust; did afterwards compel all the Bishops of the Land, to subscribe to what I commanded, the Bishop of Rochester only excepted, whom because I could not overcome, neither by threatenings, nor persuasions, I made him shorter by the head.  Charles. 
But I was never accused of such enormities; Must I suffer for the offences of others, the steadfastness and unaltered Resolution of my Spirit, was never prejudicicall unto any.  Henry. 
Yes, unto yourself, and to all that had relation to you; Besides, Flatter not yourself, He who receiveth money of a Judge for the seat of Judicature, perverteth Justice. You need not to fear that any private designs or Combinations should dispossess you of your life, for so the punishment would not answer the offence, it is expedient and necessary that public sins should be publicly expiated. I afterwards that I began to offend, did not act fearfully, nor did seek out Corners, for the commiting of Iniquity, but made pretences of Justice for my Impiety. I divorced myself from my lawful wife, and pretended Law for it. On the same account I brought the goods of divers men into my Treasury, whosoever opposed me, I impeached them of Treason, and caused them to suffer accordingly for it, therefore when I did acts of unrighteousness, and pretended Law, I ought not to wonder if I myself should suffer punishment in the same nature.  Charles. 
Should a King suffer by his Subjects?  Henry. 
We deserve greater punishments, because we commit greater offences, they offend against a mortal King, we against a King immortal; but could not you (unless by the divine providence you were destined to be a Sacrifice, for the expiation of the Crimes of your predecessors, and your own) could you not by your own power dissolve the Parliament, and so bring about your own counsels, for the managing of the affairs of the Nations, according to your own will?  Charles. 
I told before that I had dissolved many sever all Parliaments, but understand what followed; My native Subjects the Scots did by force of arms invade England, and whiles I stayed at York to carry on with more vigour the affairs of the War, the Lord of Kimbolton did present me with a Petition, to which twelve of the Nobility had set their hands.  
When king Henry had heard the name of Kimbolton, he fetched a deep sigh, as if from the bottom of his heart, and said,  Henry. 
Ah! At Kimbolton it was, that the most excellent mirror of her sex and the Example of all virtues my first wife Queen Katherine died, whom I divorced from my bed that I might bring into it Anne Bollen an incontinent woman, whom not long afterwards being taken in adultery I caused to be beheaded by the common Hangman; That this divoree from my first wife contrary to all laws both divine and human might remain unquestioned, being not able to defend one wickedness but by another, I did assume unto myself to govern this nation, by an Arbitrary power, which was the original of all the calamities that have since befallen, either to myself, or you, or to our unfortunate kingdoms.  Charles. 
Having rashly (as I have said) estranged myself from the love of my English Subjects, and finding the Scots to grow more and more upon me, I was enforced to make use of those counsels which I thought most expedient for my present safety, I observed that my dissolution of so many Parliaments, (called to give redress to the sufferings and complaints of the people) was one of the greatest reasons that at first did pull upon me their suspicion, and afterwards their hatred, they feared also that I would introduce amongst them an Innovation of Religion, which laying a force upon their Consciences they accounted the greatest tire any that could be in the world, therefore to give them a plenary and a thorough satisfaction on the one side, and to be discharged of the Scots Army on the other side, I gave order that a Parliament should be called again not to be dissolved by me without their own liking and approbation; To this many of the most apparent of my counsel did readily agree with me, and amongst others my own kinsman, the unfortunate Duke of Hamilton.  Henry. 
You were more tame (Believe me) than I would have been, had it been in my time, my subjects should have found I would have dealt more roundly with them, but I most plainly do perceive that the measure of my iniquities was completed in you my successor, and the divine vengeance did mark you out for destruction. The houses got by me, by violence and rapine, must be plucked from you, to be established on another that is more worthy of them. Were you so weak, that when it proceeded so far you could not with largesses and honours procure and confirm unto yourself a strong party even in that Parliament?  Charles. 
I did indeed attempt it, but all things did fall out cross to my Expectation, for all the Bishops and the Catholic Lords, who were faithful to me, were cast forth by the adverse party, who were more powerful and numerous. They used their utmost endeavours to promote my Interests. The Catholics hoped that I would mother ate that severity of the Laws which were made against them by you and Q Elizabeth, and King James my Father, laying a great penalty on all those who would not acknowledge them to be the supreme governors, in the Territories of their Dominions. The Bishops and prelates were eager to maintain my cause, that so they might preserve their own Dignities, and Fortunes, that is their bishoprics, and Benefices, which seemed otherwise to be in a most ruinous Condition. Having by this means lost above forty voices in the upper House; those who remained were more flexible, and did conform themselves to the temper and resolution of the rest.  Henry. 
But could you by no printed papers, insinuate into the minds of your Subjects, how much you stood devoted to their safety and prosperity? When I was resolved to use my Arbitrary power, that I might appear unto the world to undertake nothing by force, I caused books to be dictated according to my own pleasure, which were presented to me as if they came from the Monks themselves. If any refused to subscribe unto them I caused them to be hanged up, especially the chiefest of them, to be a terror to the rest. Thus when I was pleased to exercise my will, I caused divers for fear of Death, to subscribe to what I did propound unto them, and that so handsomely, as if it had been their own motion.  Charles. 
But I did deal more gently, nevertheless being resolved at the last to have recourse to arms, I did betake myself to the Northern part of my kingdom, and having erected the royal Standard, not far from Nottingham, the most faithful of my Subjects, did from every part of the kingdom resort unto me, whose number in a short time was so great that they hold out a War for above the space of seven years against the Parliament; It is remarkable to see with what resolution, above all the rest, the Roman Catholics did adventure their lives, and their fortunes for me, and that not only in one field, but wheresoever their War made trial of their valour; but the Army of the Parliamen prevailed, and I being driven to the greatest extremities did betake myself unto the Scots, as to my last refuge, amongst whom I did not long continue but I was delivered to some of Note in the English Army, who carrying me from one place to another, have at last brought me hither in this sad Condition wherein you see me.  Henry. 
The English were always much addicted to their Parliaments, in which they found a constant redress for all their greivances, it is therefore less to be admired that they revolted from you; but how came it to pass that those of your own Nation the Scots should make war against you?  Charles. 
The Revolt of the Scots was the chiefest cause of my ruin, for if I had to deal only with the English, I could have kept them in obedience, or have reduced them to it by the assistance of my faithful Subjects, both in England, and in Ireland; But the Scots fell off from me upon this account; It was my desire that throughout all my Dominions, there might not be only the same form of faith, but of Rights, and Ceremonies, and that the Liturgy of the Church of England, together with the Surplice might be used by the Ministers of Scotland. This I must confess I did by the persuasion of the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom I did reverence as a Patriarch, which when the people of Scotland understood, and perceived that it began to be put in practice, they presently cried out that Papistry, and the abomination of Rome began be introduced, hereupon seditions began to increase which were much fomented by the Pulpits. At the last the Scots were resolved to defend their Religion by arms, and as already I have made mention they invaded England, and possessed themselves of Newcastle.  Henry. 
It is clearer than the noon day, and you see all along, what it is to govern by an Arbitrary power.  Charles. 
Too late I perceive it, but I do not yet understand wherefore those Calamities did not overwhelm you, who did first practise it with so much constancy and so much cruelty.  Henry. 
Ah Charles you are much deceived, if you think me free from punishment, punishment doth always follow sin, neither was there ever any one that hath got clearly off, and not paid for his Impiety. Not to speak of the torments which I do now endure; What pangs did I not feel within me whiles I was alive being perpetually scourged with rods of knotted steel by the three Beadles of Avarice, Cruelty, and Incontinency.  
In the first place, my Avarice was so unsatisfied that after I had overthrown three hundred and seventy fix Monasteries, and with one Edict taken away all their Goods and Lands, one year was not fully expired, before I oppressed my Subjects, with greater taxes than before. Being palate-taken by this first morsel, not long afterwards, I brought into my treasury all the other Monasteries of the kingdom, it is not easy to comprehend how many & how rich they were. Whiles I made havoc of these, I did feed my Subjects with vain hopes that the goods thus gotten would so cram my treasury, that they should never have need to fear any more Subsidies, which news was so welcome to the people that they were greatly pleased, and much applauded what I did; But they were so deluded of their expectations, that after this I exacted more upon them than all my Predecessors had done in five hundred years before. After that I had plundered and leveled to the ground, about one thousand Churches, and converted to my use the goods appropriate to them, after that by force I had seized upon their gold, their silver, and consecrated vessailes, and sold the brass, the lead, the stones and timber belonging to them; and out of the Church of Canterbury alone, had taken two great Chests so full of gold, and precious stones, that four men could hardly stir either of them, I was driven to so extreme a penury, that whereas at first by my Proclamation, two ounces of brass were to be mixed with ten ounces of silver, I afterwards gave order that two ounces of silver, should be mighled with ten ounces of brass; After this manner was I tormented by my Covetousness, neither did I suffer less by my cruelty.  
Secondly, for the first 20 years before I exercised any violent & arbitrary power, no King before me did shed less blood; In all that time there were but two Noble men that lost their lives, but after that I began to show myself in my own colours, I was as greedy of blood as I was before of gold, and made a great laughter of all ages, sexes, and orders whatsoever, and for no other trespass but that they opposed my pleasure. Four Queens that successively had been married to me, did lose their lives, either by the Axe, or by a grief as fatal as the Axe. I proscribed two Princesses, two Cardinals, and the third who was not only my Kinsman, but at that time out of the kingdom. I did put to Death by the common Hangman 12 eminent personages who were either Dukes, or Marquesses, or Earls, or the Sons of Earls, two and twenty Barons, and Knights, sixteen Abbots and Priors, seventy seven Priests and Religious men, and others of a lower rank almost not to be numbered. And in this so black a cruelty I was feared by none more than by the most faithful of my won friends, as the Events of Wolsie Norris, of the Family of the Bullens, and of the Howards, have declared.  
Thirdly, Moreover I did so prostrate myself unto Lust, that after the divorce of my best and my first wife, I saw no Lady handsomer than other, with whom I not presently fell in love, neither made I love to any whom I would not enjoy. Was it not for the punishment of my sins, that you and your Father were crowned Kings of England, when I left nothing unattempted, that I might hinder you from the possession of the Kingdom of England, and by some heir of my own might confirm it in my own house. Two wives I did drive out of my bed, and two out of the World, the fifth I caused to be ripped up alive, being then in labour and full of her childing throws, that her child might be preserved, adding to the cruelty these barbarous, and inhuman words, that Wives could more easily be found then Children. I married the sixth wife, and entertained thoughts of taking her our of the World, when not long afterwards I was taken out of the World myself. But in this great care of mine, and iudeavour for posterity, not any of my race lived threescore years after my Death; It is true that a child of mine, of nine years of age, did succeed me in the Government, but not well able to govern himself, much less the kingdom, and who departed out of the World, before he departed out of his nonage, My Daughter Mary, did afterwards receive the Crown, but rejected the Religion of her Brother, I might well expect to have had issue by her, being five years Married to Philip, the Catholic King of Spain, but God the Revenger of so many Murders, and abominations committed, would not that my Race should inherit the Land; for he is not to be mocked, neither doth his word fall upon the ground, which saith, For the sins of the Fathers the days of the Children, shall be shortened. She therefore in a short time dying without issue, the kingdom is translated unto you. It is true that my Daughter Elizabeth succeeded my Daughter Mary, but being never Married she also without issue descended into the sleep of Death.  
Thus do I find true what the Kingly Prophet did foretell me. The seed of the wicked shall perish, Psalm. 37. and in another place. Thou shalt destroy their fruit from the Earth, and their seed from the sons of men, Psalm. 12. By woeful experience, I do say, I have proved the truth of his prophecy, for it pleased God to laugh at the vain counsels of men, And the same Prophet giveth this reason of it, For they imagined counsels which they could not bring to pass. Psalm. 21. For their is no counsel against the Lord. Pro. 21. As now too late I have learned. Will you have me yet further to confirm the truth of this unto you. When I was dying I did leave unto my Son EDWARD twelve Tutors, all of them Catholics, as I conceived, and commanded them to bring him up in the Catholic Religion, the Supremacy of the Church only excepted, which I would have him to continue, and to reserve unto himself, but I who violated the testaments of others, and overthrew so many Monuments of Piety, did not deserve that my own should be kept; Of so many Tutors the Duke of Somerset uncle to Edward, by his mother's side, after my Death was Tutor alone unto him, and brought him up in that Religion, which I forbade him, and hated. I commanded also that a more sumptuous Monument should be provided for me, than was ever raised for any of my Predecessors, and as yet I have no Monument at all, although of all the Kings of England, not one of them had three children that successively swayed the sceptre but myself. But, alas, I need not fear that I shall be ever lost in the memory of men, I have purchased to myself an everlasting Name, by my enormous offences. All sorts of men do strive as it were in emulation who shall hate me most. I am become justly odious to the Catholics because I divided England from the Communion of the Church of Rome. I am abomination to the orders of the Religious, because I have extinguished their Charters and themselves, and have sold their Lands, and houses. I am detestable both to the Clergy, and the Laity, because I have raised a persecution, against even the whole Name of Catholics, which continueth to this day. The Protestants hate me, because through all the course of my life, I did pursue them with fire and Sword; Luther named me a big-bellied Beast, and a Tyrant; Calvin hath written bitterly against me, and brandeth me in his books, as destitute of all fear of God, and the shame of men. All Lettered men will evermore curse my memory, because I have utterly destroyed such excellent Monuments of Learning and Antiquity that the Christian World can hardly parallel. Finally whiles I was alive, most men hated me, all men feared me, no man loved me. In my last days, like Orestes, I was tormented with the Consciousness of my sins, and desired to reconcile myself to the Church, and to make some amends for the injury offered to my wife, the latter I did in some part perform, for I provided in my will, that my Daughter Mary born of Queen Katherine, whom before I had disinherited, should succeed in the kingdom, if my Son Edward should die without children. Oh how often have I discoursed with my friends of the first, but as I deceived many of them, heretofore by the same artifice, so now I myself became suspected to them all, and they grew to be jealous of me, and to shun me, as diving into their secrets. And thus being abandomed by all, I died without the Communion of the Church, repeating oftentimes in my last hour these words, We have lost all. Being dead, I had the same end as Ahab, and it is the more remarkable because it was in the ruins of a Religious house, for as my corpse nasty with excessive fatness, and too great a Belly, was on the way tobe conveyed hither, the Coffin of Lead in which it was put did crack by chance, and opened; To solder which, a plumber being sent for, my corpse was set down in the said ruins of the house, there, whiles the plumber was running from place to place, being very busy at his work, his dog most greadily did lick the blood that issued from me. A Revenge from God for the effusion of so much blood, which in my life time I had soilled. Charles, Do you not now see sufficiently how God hath scourged me in my own person; Never think that I have eseaped unpunished!  Charles. 
This is a sad story indeed, and most worthy to be remembered, and seriously to be considered of by all posterity.  Henry. 
But these things which I have rehearsed, although they seem grievous to the ears of the living, yet they are but mere Delights, if they be compared to the Torments which I endure amongst those who inhabit the Regions of Darkness, for besides those punishments which I have pulled upon me by my own sins, whatsoever evils that my posterity hath committed by my Example, it doth increase my sufferings by a new addition.  Charles. 
I would to God that Flattery had never been heard of in the Courts of Princes, would to God that I had never heard that we are above the Law, and are to give an account to God only for what we have committed upon Earth, nevertheless it doth administer some comfort to me, that I have made no innovation in Religion, I have been above my other Predecessors most gentle to the Catholics, and came nearest to their Religion, and used my Supremacy with the greatest moderation. And because in my apprehension it was not fit for a layman, I committed almost the whole Exercise of the ecclesiastical affairs to the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Henry. 
And have not you observed in these late troubles, that none of all the Bishops of England, but the Archbishop of Canterbury, alone did lose his head?  Charles. 
Was I guilty of it? By his Instigations indeed I showed more countenance to some practices of the Church of Rome, then either my Father did, or the Queen your Daughter that reigned before him; I confess myself not to be altogether without fault, nevertheless I would fain understand, being more moderate than any of my Predecessors, and more forward than they in the promoting the peace of the Church, wherefore I am visited with far more grevous punishments than any of them all?  Henry 
Are you still to understand that the jealous God who visiteth the sins of the fathers. on the children, doth most usually exact the punishments of the most enormous offences on the third of fourth Generation, for if the should inflict present punishment upon all sins, men would be apt to believe that they were quickly, and easily expiated, neither doth the defer the punishment unto so many Generations, that the memory of the offender may perish from the Earth, and that we could not know for what enormity the pushment was inflicted. You are the third King from me, and do suffer punishment in the third Generation; For although my two Daughters Mary and Elizabeth did reign successively, yet they do make but one Generation with Edward their Brother and my Son. If therefore you do number the Generations or the Kings, Edward succeeded me, James succeeded him, and you succeeded James. Neither do I believe it is without the providence of God, that so direful a revenge hath fallen on you, the most moderate, and the most innocent of them all, that so all might understand that not so much your sins, as the hereditary Evils, and the wickedness annexed to your Crown and your titles, are taken vegeance of in your person, according to that of the Prophet; The Fathers have eaten a sour bunch of grapes, and the teeth of the Children are set on edge. Ezekiel. 18. Which is not so to be understood, that children altogether guiltless and innocent should be overwhelmed in the punishments of their most ungodly fathers, For the Soul that sinneth shall die, but that Children not so guilty, and as it were innocent in comparison of their fathers, are oftentimes involved in their punishments; for if this punishment had come to pass in the days of some luxurious and wicked King, I should have looked to further for the causes of it, but on the Crimes of so dissulute a Grovernour; But that your Subjects who do call themselves Protestants, should afflict upon you so ignominious a Death as by making you shorter by the head, when your Enemies can accuse you of no gross offence, must certainly be imputed to nothing else, but to the capital sin of my misgovernance, in which though not so visibly, others and yourself, no doubt have partaken with me.  Charles. 
O how just are the judgements of God, and his ways past finding out? For in whatsoever a man sinneth, he either sooner or later shall be punished by it, either in himself, or in his posterity. I would to God when I was alive and in my prosperity, or that in the time of my Imprisonment when I had leisure enough, that I had seriously thought on these things. O that in the bitterness of my soul I had observed the proceedings of the divine Justice, owe slowly it came on, and how long it did hang over my devoted head. An incomparable scholar, and highly esteemed in the days of my Father and Q'een Elizabeth, hath left recorded that God doth most for Kings, and Kings, again do least for God. But be wise O you Princes, and learn righteous judgement, O you Judges of the Earth; O that the flattery of being obove all Laws had never sounded in my ears; O that I had never been accused of Arbitrary Government; O that I had known that my highest Prerogative had b●en the love and the obedience of my Subjects! I had leisure enough to write and to compose a whole Book on other Anguments, as on the overthrows of my armies, on my own miseries and calamities, and on the insolences of other men; But these things which I ought to lay most near unto my heart, and on which above all things I ought most to meditate, did never enter into my thought. I would to God that the Bishop of London, honest Juxon, for so I was accustomed to call him, or he who entirely loved me, and was to me a faithful counsellor in all other things, and who laid down his life for my sake, William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had advertised me of these things either by Letters from himself, or by words of mouth from his friends; he had before his Death, the tedious leisure of three years' Imprisonment, to meditate and to ruminate on them. But they were hid from their eyes. O how blind were my seers! But,  
Jam sero sapinus, sed sine fruge Phriges.  
True Trojans we, whose hapless Fates,  
Is to grow wise when'tis too late.  Henry. 
You do confess that you came more near in your Religion to the Church of Rome, the either your Father or Queen Elizabeth, if you had been absolutely a Catholic I do believe it had been better for you; for what doth it profit you to have inclined to the Roman Catholic Faith, unless you altogether did profess it. It doth not suffice to sit down in the porch unless you enter into the Church. It was not sufficient to Salvation for King Agrippa that he was almost a Christian, nay because he was not wholly converted when Paul preached, he is now howling with me in the kingdom of Darkness. You acknowledge that you were more inclined to the Catholic Church, then either of your two Predec effors that immediately swayed the sceptre before you, had you been wholly devoted to it, it is likely that it might have been better for you.  Charles. 
It is likely that my Armies were the more unfortunate, because I was so indulgent to it. The super stition of the Papists, and the most petulant probhaneness of the other part of my Army, have rendered me a greater Subject of Calamity and Contempt than I believe I should have otherwise appeared to the World. I have bled enough already. Think not to give new wounds unto me by striking at me in my Religion. What the sacred Authority of the Word of God, and the light of my own Conscience hath convinced me unto: What neither the frequent solicitations of foreign Princes, nor the hourly Importunity of my dearest Wife, could dissuade me from; What (dying) I commanded my children to embraces, I shall never after Death be induced to retract. In this resolution I do expect the day of a joufull resurrection, the Morning air whereof I do already feel refreshing me. The unrighteous shall then tremble at the sound, and the summons of a Trumpet from Heaven; they shall wish that the Rocks and the Hills might cover them, that sobeing hid from the presence of the Lamb, they might lie for ever confined to the dull peace of a Grave.  
The End.   

In malevolos hujus narratiunculae obtrectatores.  

ZOile me laceres morsu mea Scripta canino,  
Neve meris dicas omnia suta dolis,  
Extimus historiae cortex (volo) fictus habetur,  
Vera sed huic intus ligna subesse scies.  
Istaque corporeis licet auribus invia nostris,  
Mentis at internae sensibus hausta putes.  
Fia, age, mendacem me, carptor inepte, Poetam  
Occine; narranti, res dabitipsafidem.  
R. P.   

DEtractor, tear not with a dogged tooth  
These leaves, nor yet upbraid them with untruth,  
Though counterfeit the bark without be found,  
Know that the Tree within is good, and sound.  
And what's not obvious to the outward ear,  
More deep Impression in the mindn doth bear;  
The tax me not that Poet-like I feign,  
This Story, to its Speaker, truth will gain.