THERE have been few Ages or Regions of the World , which have not produced Monsters of Ingratitude and Cruelty , Treachery and Hypocrisie , the blackest and basest of all Crimes ; Popularity and Ambition have blown from every point of the Compass , and have raised such Tempests throughout the Worlds vast Circumference , that few places can be found , which have not suffered under their violent Effects , the Deluges and Inundations of Treasons , Conspiracies , and Rebellions : The miserable Wrecks of Kingdoms and Empires , shatter'd and broken by their Fury , are still visible in the Maps of History and Chronology ; and if we enquire more curiously into the Fate and Fall of the most Glorious Monarchies and Flourishing Governments that have been in the Universe ▪ we shall find , That treacherous Ambition hath ever undermined the Foundations , and that successful Vsurpation assisted by Popular Frenzie , hath thrown down their lofty Battlements , and laid them level with the Dust . Most wretched certainly have those Places and People been , wherever these two Enemies of Mankind have enter'd ; for these extraordinary Changes and Revolutions , however begun with the most plausible Pretences of The Publick Good , the Redressing of Grievances , Asserting of Popular Liberty , Repressing of Tyranny , or Reforming of Government , have always been managed with vast Expences of humane Blood , have been accompanied with all manner of Outrages , Violence , Cruelty , Injustice , Rapine , Destructions , and horrible Mischiefs ; and have been consummated and finished in the Slavery , even of those , who had so prodigally expended their Blood and Treasure to promote those Vsurpations .

Nor is it necessary to establish the truth of this Assertion , by introducing a long train of Examples , since it is so obvious , as at first sight to occur to the memory and observation of such , as have any manner of acquaintance with the Histories of former Times , or have almost in any sort travelled beyond the Smoke of their own Fires .

But certainly , no Age , no Time , no Country , is able to afford us a Parallel to that horrible Tragedy which was so lately Acted upon our own Theatre : Never was there a more horrid , premeditated Conspiracy , whose Foundations were laid so deep , so secret , and with so much devilish Art : Never was any Treason , after it once came to look abroad , and was fledg'd into the Cockatrice of Rebellion , more furious and impetuous : Never any Rebellion more dismal , bloody , wicked , or outrageous ; and never did Prosperous Treason animate the Traitors to those unheard of flights of insolent Wickedness , so as not only to subvert the Government , and dethrone their Soveraign , but to Arraign and Judge , Condemn and Execute their King , with all the solemn and impudent Formalities of pretended Justice , even in the Face of the Sun , and view of the whole World , as if they would at the same instant defie both the Vengeance of Heaven and Earth .

Nor was it the least degree either of the Artifice or Villany of those Execrable Conspirators , that , like the Devil , they came clothed in Samuel's Mantle , and covered their Rebellion with the Popular Varnish of Religion , which they did with that success , that not Mahomet himself , that prodigious Impostor , ever seduced the wild Arabians , with his Pidgeon and pretended Inspirations , to those degrees , that these Sanctimonious Rebels did the credulous Herd ( for they deserve no better name ) of their Partisans and Followers : Nor was it a few Wild and Crazy Enthusiasts only , that made these pretensions , and that wicked use of them , to such extraordinary Commerces with Heaven , even when they were out-doing Hell in Mischief , but the whole Lump and Mass of the Faction , Presbyterians , Independents , the Assembly of their Divines , the Leading men of the Faction , and the following Crow'd great and small , of what Sects or denominations soever , however mortally disagreeing in other things , all of them according to their degrees , more or less , unanimously laid a claim to Inspiration , and an immediate Familiarity with God Almighty : Nothing was more frequent in their Mouths , than seeking God , and they were sure to find him in their Extempore Effusions , which they arrogantly boasted were the dictates of the Holy Ghost , and which , to depress the Established Liturgie and stated Forms , was , by way of Eminence and Excellency , by them termed praying by the Spirit . The successes , which , for reasons best known to the Supreme Wisdom , followed their Rebellious Arms , they boldly called the Return of those Prayers , and by an impious insolence , peculiar to them , they Intituled God to the most transcendent wickedness , indeavouring to consecrate Murder , Treason , Sacrilege , Perjury and all their most horrible Impieties , by ascribing them to the immediate direction , and almost Miraculous Cooperation of Divine Providence : And with this Devilish Hypocrisie , they so dazled the infatuated Vulgar , and less discerning minds of the People , that what they so arrogantly boasted , came to be almost as easily , and generally believed , That that Cause must needs be Gods , which was carried on by a praying People ; and being successful must needs be blessed ; and that , as they fought for God , which they never failed to proclaim , so he reciprocally ingaged in their Party , and fought for them . Thus the Famous Doctor of the Independents , could , with the utmost Effrontery , harangue the People at this rate , Where is the God of Marston-Moor ? and the God of Naseby ? is an acceptable Expostulation in a Gloomy day . O what a Catalogue of Mercies has this Nation to plead by in a time of trouble ! God came from Naseby , and the Holy one from the West , Selah . ( Owens Eben-Ezer . p. 13. And indeed this was the constant Method of these Impostors , to magnifie themselves and Cause , and to give both Courage and Reputation to their Party , by intituling God to the dismal Consequences of lucky Rebellion .

But the Vizard by continual use was at last worn so thin , that the ugly and real Devil began to appear through the painted Angel of Light ; and those Reforming Saints , began to tread so heavy upon the neck of the Nation , that they found they had mistaken shrewdly ; and that it was a Cloven-foot , with which these high pretenders to the Cloven-tongues , trampled upon , and broke in pieces , the Goverment , Ancient Laws , Liberties , Properties , and even Religion it self , and that the Cause , which before was said to be God's , was in reality at last nothing but their Own ; a perfect Foot-stool , by which they mounted themselves to the Throne of Soveraign , boundless , and unaccountable Power . For the Royal Prerogative , the true supporter of the Peoples Liberties and Laws , being gone , and the Royal Party and Power broken , I find * * Tomasin 's Collection of Petitions Anno 1647. a Petition , Dec. 9 th . 1647. from the Counties of Kent , Surrey , Middlesex , Essex , Herts , Berks , Bucks , Oxon , Suffolk , Northampton , Dorset , Sommerset , Lancashire , Lincolne , Cheshire , Durham , Cumberland , Worcester , and Warwick , most grievously and lamentably complaining of Free Quarter , and their Miseries under the Oppression of the Army , and of the Insolence of the Souldiers , who would frequently call them to their Faces , Conquered Slaves , and treat them accordingly ; as also complaining of the Remonstrances , and other Papers of the Army , destructive of all Liberty , and even of their darling Parliaments , which they had so often , and so solemnly Protested , Covenanted , and Vowed to defend and maintain .

But the Faction wholly threw off the useless Mask themselves , when having entirely subdued the scattering Remains of the Loyal Party , the Army by their interest in the Commons-house , most of the Principal Officers having been obtruded upon the Nation , as their Representatives there , and none daring to oppose them , began not only to usurp the Soveraign Power , but to subvert the very Foundations of the Ancient English Government , and by the Destruction not only of the King , but of the Monarchy it self , to erect a new Democratique Tyranny under the name of The Common-wealth of England : In which the People , though nothing less was intended them , were in themselves Originally , and by deputation in their Representatives , pretended to be the Supreme Authority of this Nation ; but in reality these Representatives , who became such by the prevailing Authority of the Sword , and not by free Elections , being just so many boundless and unlimited Tyrants , whose Will was a Law , and to whose imperious pleasure all the rest of the Nation were constrained to submit , and take from their hands the most Arbitrary Yoke of Vassallage and Slavery ; every thing lay at the discretion of their Mercy , the Laws , the Lives , the Liberties , the Estates of all , without distinction or discrimination , the Peer and the Peasant were wholly and entirely subjugated to their uncontrolable Jurisdiction ; and as to Religion , their first and great Pretence , that was left to shift for it self , all men being left at Liberty to chuse any or none ; and it was all one now to these glorious Reformers , whether a man were an Infidel , a Pagan , a Mahometan , or a Jew , provided he had the wit to say it was his Conscience , and make Profession to live peaceably , and acquiesce under to introduce them , to fill the heads of the People with furious Fears , and raging Jealousies , and at the same time both to alienate the Affections of his People from their King , and by Disobedience to his Ecclesiastical Laws , to teach them a Contempt even of his Secular Power , and to put them even into the nearest approaches to Sedition , and to seem to want nothing but a favourable occasion to precipitate them into a new Rebellion ; all this considered , one cannot but be tempted to think that this ingrateful impenitence , and obstinacy , menaces these obdurate Sinners with some Uncommon and Remarkable Vengeance .

Amongst all their other Arts , so dangerous and destructive to the present Constitution of our Government , I cannot think it either the smallest or least dangerous , which the Dissenters , from the Monarchick Government as well as the Church of England , have made use of ; for though nothing of Fact can be more notoriously true , than that they actually either Murther'd the late King , or were Aiding , Abetting , and Assisting to such as did , yet to preserve some Reputation to their Party , and that they may be able to increase it , by such as they can by their pretensions to Purity and Sanctity delude , they constantly endeavour to shift all the Guilt of this Execrable Regicide from themselves , and charge it upon others ; the Fact , they are well aware , is so ugly and wicked in its own Nature , and accompanied with so many aggravating Circumstances , that there are few Natures , who would not at first sight start at it , as at the Apparition of some terrible Daemon ; this therefore must be totally denied , where it may with success , or palliated by making the King Guilty of the War , and of his own Murder , the Effect of it ; full well do these Deceivers know , that if the poor infatuated People were really perswaded and convinced , that the Leaders of their Party , and the precious Men their Teachers , had been Guilty of such a detestable Murder , even the Dictates of common Sense , Reason , and Natural Religion would instruct them , That such Guilty Miscreants , whose Hands blushed with Innocent Blood , must needs be unfit to lift up to Heaven , the just Avenger of it ; and that such Men must needs be very unfit and unproper Guides and Conductors of others to Heaven , who had travelled so far in Rebellion , the High Road to Hell , without ever looking , or making one step backwards by Repentance .

The Presbyterians therefore in this particular have ever stood high upon their Justification , as being therefore Innocent of the Guilt of this Royal Blood , because then when the Fatal Stroke was given , they were luckily displaced from the Helm of State , by the prevailing Faction and Interest of the Independents : The Independents , when they are charged with this barbarous Fact , they endeavour to transfer all the blame from themselves and Party , by throwing it upon a Junto of ill men , who then Governed , and had gotten all the Power ; and though those very bloody and infamous Traitors , Cromwel , Ireton , Peters , Nye , &c. were , while living , esteemed by them most Heroick and renowned Saints , and would have Pillars and Monuments erected to their immortal Memories , had they Power equal to their Kindness to those Glorious Villains , who are still the Idols of their Hearts ; yet they would make this pass for excuse sufficient for the whole Company of their Perswasion , that they were not every individual man of them actually upon the Trial and Condemnation of the King , or set their Hands and Seals to the Warrant for his Execution : So that consenting to , approving , and applauding the Fact when done , must pass for Innocence , that so they may plead Not Guilty , though after all this , the Survivers of those differing Factions , and their Successors in the same Principles , were never heard or known to manifest so much , as , in the cheap way of words , their unfeigned detestation , and abhorrence of that wicked Rebellion , which brought the King to that deplorable Death ; and I think , without breach of Charity , I may introduce their Famous Baxter , who is the whole Schisme in Epitome , neither Presbyterian , Independent , &c. but both , and all of them , speaking the true sense of the whole body of the Separation ; and I am confident , if they had all one Mouth , and he were the Tongue ( the Office he would chuse ) he would speak for them in his Language of the Holy Common-wealth ; I cannot see that I was mistaken in the main Cause , nor dare I repent of it , nor forbear the same , if it were to do again in the same state of things . ( Baxters Holy Common-wealth , pag. 486. )

And therefore , if this Argument happens to be started , though the late Statute , which makes some sorts of Language Treasonable , render them more cautious and reserved , yet they will plead for themselves , that Matters were carried to those Extremities , much beyond the intention of those who first took up Arms against the evil Counsellors , and had no ill Design either against the Person of the King , or his just Power and Prerogative ; but they will dye before they will acknowledge , that the War on the Parliaments side , let the pretended Reasons be what they will , was unjust and unlawful , and that the taking up Arms by Subjects against their King , is not only unlawful but damnable : Now the maintaining of this Opinion of the Lawfulness of the War , was that which in reality cut off the Kings Head ▪ And will be the Eternal Parent of future Rebellions , so long as it is propagated and received . For if Subjects may upon any colourable pretensions , which can never be wanting so long as Men are Wicked enough to invent them , be allowed to take up Arms against their King ; it is morally impossible but things must proceed to the utmost Extremities ; for he that draws his Sword against his King , must throw away the Scabbard ; and it is a Crime of so high a Nature , that tho' there should be found a King of so God-like a Temper , as really to pardon the greatest Rebels , yet the Consciousness of their own Guilt , and the perpetual apprehensions of deserved Punishment , will never permit such Rebels to believe his intentions real and sincere , and therefore the uneasiness of their fears , naturally conducts them to cure their Fears , and consult their future Safety , by removing the Cause of their distrust and danger .

But however these two Factions , and the Spawn of them , may endeavour to palliate this horrid Guilt , and , that they may be the better enabled to maintain their Party and increase it , may endeavour to acquit themselves by criminating one another , nothing is more evident , than that both these Factions of the Presbyterians and Independents , and the other lesser Sects and Schismaticks which sprung from their Roots , were actually Guilty of the Kings Murder ; and that not only by their fomenting and carrying on the War against him , whereby he was reduced to those Extremities , that he was forced to throw himself upon the Perjured Scottish Presbyterians , who sold him to the English Independents , who Murdered him , but also by not hindring and preventing the doing of it . For it is a most certain Truth , Qui non prohibet , cum potest , jubet . For instance , Two Thieves bind an honest Man and rob him , one is for dispatching him out of the way , that he may not ever be in a capacity to prosecute them , the other pretends , he does not so well approve of that last Extremity ; while they are in the contest , the honest Mans Servant comes up , and finding his Master in that condition , puts himself in a posture to attempt his Rescue ; now he who was pretendedly against the Murder , though he could well enough dispence with the Robbery , if he had meant sincerely , ought rather to have assisted the Loyal Servant in his Generous and Dutiful Design ; and it had then been easie to have delivered the despoiled Prisoner , at least from the danger of Death ; but instead of this , he joyns with his former Companion , and assists him first to dispatch the Servant , who indeavoured his Masters Deliverance , and then sits him down , while his Companion sends his Fetter'd Master to keep him Company . Now do I appeal to God and Men , whether both these men were not involved in equal guilt , as well he , who help'd to bind , disarm , and rob the Master , and opposed the honest indeavour of his Servant to deliver him , as he who actually imbrued his Hands in their innocent Blood .

The Case is exactly the same , but under this more hainous aggravation , that Royal Blood is much more valuable and Sacred , than that which runs in Common veins . The Zealous Presbyterian Saints began the late Rebellion , and the Independents and other Schismaticks , being associated with them in that Traiterous Combination or the Solemn League and Covenant , they joyntly and unanimously prosecuted the War , and , by murdering of such of his Loyal Subjects , as out of Duty and Conscience came to his assistance , having subdued his Forces , they got his Person into their Power . The Independents , having in the mean time gotten the Ascendant of Power over the Presbyterians , were absolutely for assuring their Usurpation by the King's death ; on the other side the Presbyterians , more out of detestation of the Independents , who now began to deride their Discipline , and have their Blew-Cap-Reformation , as they termed it , in the utmost contempt and hatred , than out of true Loyalty and Duty to the King , were for shackling of His Majesty with Parliament Fetters , and so to let him live ; hoping under the protection of his Authority and Name , to re-establish their own Power , and subdue the Independents : And for this purpose was all the noise of a Personal Treaty with the King , during his Confinement at Cairsbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight ; in which , if they had meant honourably and sincerely , they might have had such Conditions as would have brought sufficient advantage and reputation , both to their Cause and Interest : But so stiff were they in their Demands , and so cautious to put strong and lasting Fetters upon His Majesty , that the whole Treaty came to nothing . In the mean time the Royalists , seeing the gasping condition of the King and Monarchy , and that nothing but the most abject Vassallage was to be expected from those Men , who were resolved to make their King a Royal Slave ; they summoned their scattered Force to make one Vigorous Attempt for his deliverance : Now , had the Presbyterians joyned in that generous Design , in all humane probability , the King had been rescued from his Captivity among the Independents ; by which means they might have obtained honourable Conditions of Oblivion , Security and Accommodation for the Present , and Reputation for the Future : But so far were they from this , that mortally hating the Loyal Party , they contributed all that lay in their power to assist the Independent Army under Fairfax , or indeed Cromwel , for the other was but a Cypher , utterly to ruine and subdue the slender Remains of Loyalty which had taken Arms in Kent and Essex ; which when it was accomplished , by the surrender of Colchester , and the Execution of the Noble Capel , Lisle , and Lucas , the Independents fell presently upon their Bloody Project of cutting off the King , and subverting the Monarchy , which they also effected , the Presbyterians all this while sitting still and looking on : Whereas , had they ever heartily opposed such a detestable Wickedness , their Party was then so considerable , that , with the Addition of the Loyal Interest , which was not so dead , but that upon the least hope it would have revived and joyned them , they might have given such a shock to the Independent Faction , that they would difficultly , if ever , have been able to accomplish or execute their Execrable Design against the Life of the King ; but so far were they from this , that there was not the least Attempt to oppose the Traytors , or prevent the Treason . Nay , had the Rabble of the City and Suburbs , which were much at the Devotion of the Presbyterian Interest , had but half so much Zeal to hurry down to Westminster , to oppose the Murder of the King , as they had before times to oppose him , and cry up Priviledge of Parliament , in the beginning of the Tumults , it is very disputable , whether Cromwel , with all his black Myrmidons , would have had the Courage to strike the Fatal Stroke . But the Presbyterians are only Couragious in Rebellion , but perfect Cowards in the Cause of Loyalty .

But to these little palliating shifts , to which the Presbyterians and Independents have been reduced , to varnish and guild over their Infamous Actions , they have now very lately found out another , and that is , to vindicate themselves , by charging the whole Contrivance and Execution of this hellish Murder of the late King , upon the Papists : And though nothing in the World is more ridiculous or remote from the truth in most demonstrable Matter of Fact , yet it is incredible , how much the belief of this senseless Fiction and Romance has gained upon this new Generation of the Vulgar Proselytes of the Dissenters : And I speak it of my own knowledge , that in Discourse with divers of them , when I have made use of this Argument of the Wickedness and Infamy of the most Eminent Patrons of their Religion , who , as Mr. Baxter confesses of himself , when he tells us , I have been in the heat of my Zeal so forward to Changes and Ways of Blood , that I fear God will not let me have a hand in the Building of his Church , Hypocrisie unveil'd , R. Baxter 's Letters to Dr. Hill , pag. 11. ) must needs be ill men , and worse Guides to Heaven , and have , from their guilt of the Kings Blood , indeavoured to reclaim them from following the Witchcraft of such dangerous Principles , and to bring them home to the Communion of the Loyal and Primitively obedient Church of England ; I have been amazed to hear , with what confidence they have vindicated their Leaders and Party , from the least share or imputation of the guilt of that Horrid Murder , and averred with as much confidence , that the late King was murdered by the Papishes , as they call them , as if it had been true beyond all contradiction .

I have no design , to turn Advocate for the Romish Religion , and profess my self to have a most deep detestation and abhorrence for Sanguinary , Traiterous , Seditious , Disloyal , and King-killing , or deposing Principles , in any Religion or Perswasion whatsoever , and do firmly believe , that , That Religion which holds , justifies , or tolerates such Principles , is so far Erroneous , False , and Damnable : But this being a perfect piece of Leger-de-main , purposely calculated to deceive the Common-people into a good opinion of the worst , and most dangerous Enemies of the Monarchy , the Dissenters , and thereby to enable them still to spread the Venom of their Principles , under the Vail of Innocence , and to make this Innocence appear by transferring the Guilt of their former Actions upon others , I think it of so mischievous Consequence , that it ought to be obviated , and the falshood detected and made evident by the Beams of most irrefragable Truth .

And therefore , for ever to silence all these foolish and frivolous Arts and Palliations , and to take away the Fig-leaves , which these guilty sinners have so Artificially patch'd together , and to shew to the whole World from their Own Memoirs , that it was the very real Presbyterians , Independents , and other Sectaries , their Associates , and no other , who were actually guilty of the whole Scene of this horrible Murder of the King .

The Orignal Journal of the whole proceedings of that detestable Murder , and the previous Tryal , which was drawn up by the Order of the Regicides , and presented then to the Commons-House , and there publickly read , and approved for a true Record , and which is attested under the Hand of Phelps , the Clerk to that pretended High Court of Justice , having by pure accident , shall I call it , or particular Providence come to my hands , and having the opportunity to take a true Copy or Transcript of it , I thought my self bound in Conscience , by the Duty which I owe to my King , and the Peace and happiness of my Country , to make it publick ; that , if it were possible , all true English-men might be made sensible of the horrid Guilt and danger of such Men , and such Principles , and so far consult their own , and the Interest of their Posterity , as to endeavour such a true and thorough Reformation , as can only make the present and future Ages happy , which can never be hoped for , so long as the Whoredoms and Witchcrafts of this Painted Jezabel of the Old Presbyterian and Independent Cause , are continued and cherished among us : And most assuredly , it is the Duty of every good Christian and Loyal Subject , to contribute the utmost of his endeavours to suppress the Growth of such dangerous Principles , as drive men so furiously headlong , with the pretences of Religion , to the most daring and desperate Extremities of Treason and Rebellion , and to the very Precipice of Damnation .

I do not herein pretend , to exceed the Limits of a private Person , or hereby foolishly to undertake to prescribe Measures to the Government in the Management of this Important Affair ; but within my own Sphere , I cannot but think my self and all other private Persons , according to their Capacity , Opportunities , and Power , under an indispensable Obligation to oppose and indeavour to stop the Impetuous Torrent of these wicked , bloody , and unpeaceful Opinions and Principles , which have once before drowned this Nation in Bloodshed and Misery , and who by their swelling and breaking over all the banks of Law , Duty , and Obedience , threaten us with continual danger and apprehensions of a more cruel and dreadful Inundation : and I esteem my self warranted to oppose them , by their Example , since the diligence , assiduity , and restless endeavours , with which they do , to a single man of the Party , pursue their Ends and Wicked Interest , makes it absolutely the Duty as well as Interest of all such as are Loyal , who love their Country , Church , and King , as heartily , unanimously , and zealously to make head against them , and endeavour to crush this Cockatrice in the Egg , which otherwise will most certainly disclose a fiery flying Serpent . And I cannot see any Expedient so probable to succeed , as the exposing them naked and stript of their Artificial Trappings , Painting , and Counterfeit Gems of Sanctity and Innocence , with which they are wont to impose upon the Minds of credulous and easie People . I shall only therefore bring them to be surveyed by the light of Nature , Reason , Interest , and Religion , and that I may do them the most Impartial Justice , shew them to the World in the Glasses of their own making ; and , if there they do not like the Figure and Image which they make , they ought only to quarrel their own deformities , which will not in any Glass , except that of their own flattering and false Opinion , afford them any Shape less Monstrous and Ugly .