THE Dreadful Apprehensions of a future being to Souls so ill-prepared , and the Terrors of Conscience under the Visitatio● of Heaven , are of that sad weight , that no thought can imagine but his th●t groans under it . When I tu●n my Eyes inward , I can look upon my self as no other than the unhappiest of Men , loaded with Infamy , Misery , Imprisonment , and almost Despair ; but above all , with the Universal Hatred of a Kingdom ; so Universal , that I stand the very Center of Shame , whilst every Tongue that reviles , each Eye that loaths , and every Finger that points , seem to terminate in miserable me . Such is my hard Fate , and such my serious Reflections , that I believe , had my Faults been ten-fold greater than they are , it was impossible for me to disoblige Mankind in all my Exalted Glory , but half so much as I have pleased them in my Fall ; so naturally lovely in the English Eyes , does the Distress and Ruines of Tottering Greatness look , where they seem but just .

But all these Accumulated Calamities are but my lightest Burthen ; for , alas , how justly , and more sadly may I cry out with falling Woolsey , Had I served my God with half that Zeal I served my King , He would not have left me thus Wretched ! Wretched indeed , when my weakness of Body calls me to consider , how near I may stand to that Tribunal , before which , the proudest of Earthly Judges , Potentates , and Princes tremble . The Summons from that terrible Judge , is such an Alarm , that what would I do , if possible , to Soften that Almighty Justice that stands arm'd against me ? Could the Confession of my Crimes make the least part of their Attonements ; how happy should I think my self , in Unbosoming my whole Soul , even to my secretest and minutest Thought ? The sence of which , makes me borrow from my Pains , these few favourable , though d ftracted Minutes , to use that Candour and Openness before I leave the World , that may reconc●le it , if possible , amongst all its Odium and Aversion , to at least one charitable Thought of me .

But alas , before I come to the sad Narrative of those numerous Ills I have committed , before I launch down into that deeper Torrent ; my akeing Heart , and sad Remembrance , lead me up to the fatal Fountain Head , from whence they took their Rise : And there , to my Confusion , I am forced to acknowledge my Crimes are scarce so black as the Polluted Source they sprung from : For whereas Ambition , Interest , Honours , those smiling Gourt-Beams , the common Ignes fatui , are those gawdier Snares that mislead the wandring Steps of other Offending Statesmen ; I cannot but shamefully confess , that a Viler and Sootier Coal , Rancour and Malice , warp'd me crooked .

The two famous Occasions of my rising Spleen and bitterness of Spirit , proceeded from the Parliaments bringing me upon my Knees , for my abhorring of Petitions ; and next , the City of London's Turning me out of my Recordership .

The Anger , the Rage , the Spight I conceiv'd at this double Disgrace and Affront , was the first accursed Gall that Poyson'd me ; a Resentment that struck me so deep , and so Canker'd every faculty of my Soul , that what is it I did not study , Contrive , and Plot to be reveng'd ? I profess in the Agony of my Thought , I was a hundred times not only . Thinking , but Resolving ( if no other means ) to turn Wizzard , to wreak my Malice upon my Enemies , had my small Belief ( Heaven forgive me ) of either a God or a Devil , perswaded me there was any such Creature as a Witch , or such an Art as Sorcery .

As for that damn'd Town of London , not Cataline against Old Rome , was half so sworn a Foe , as I , against that Insolent Proud City . Really and sincerely , I could willingly and heartily out of my own Pocket , ( though I sold my last Ragg in the World ) have been my self at the charge of a New Monument , so I had had but the Pleasure of a second same Occasion of Building it . Nay verily , I envied the Fate of the old Erostratus , and that more modern Worthy , Hubart ; and could have wish'd my Own Name , though at the price of his Destiny , Engraven in the very Room of that wisely raz'd-out Inscription , on so glorious an Occasion .

't was then alas , Edg'd and Enraged with a Mortal Hate , and an Avowed Vengeance against that accursed and detested City , and more detested Parliaments ; with two such meritorious Qualifications . I applyed my self to the once great Coleman's Greater Master , at that time an early , and indeed almost only governing Pilot at the Helm ; both infallible Recommendations to Entitle me to the highest Hopes of the most Exalted Honours . In short , I Entred , Listed , and Swore my self Engineer General under that leading Heroe's Banners ; and how hugged , and how embraced , my succeeding almost Deluge of good Fortune , Glories , and Preferments will sufficiently Testifie .

And though the World has sometimes wondred at so sudden a Rise , as is little more than seven years , to mount from a Finsbury Petty-fogger , to a Lord High-Chancellour of England ; from bawling at a Hedge-Court-Bar for five Shillings Fee , to sit Equity-Driver with Ten thousand Pound per Annum ( besides P●esents and Bribes unaccountable ) honestly gotten . But alas , to rectify the Mistakes of Mankind , and suppress their Astonishment at so Unpresidented an Advance , I must assure them , that as no History affords a parallel of such a Crown-Favourite as my self ; so no Age ever yielded such a true Crown-Drudge neither , to deserve those Favours . Alas , my Darling Fortune mov'd not half so Rapid , as my dearer Counsels drove ; and all the Caresses of my Glory were thought but the poorest Meed and Reward of those Services that gain'd them .

But to recite my fatal Particulars : Upon my first Entrance ( as I was saying ) of Engineer General , our first great Attacque was against the Charter of London ; and to the Honour of my Premier Effort , what by our terrible Dead-doing Quo-Warranto , my own invented Battring-Ramm , planted ageinst them at Westminster , and the Tower-Hill-Guns , removed and mounted against them on the Tower Battlements ; we soon reduced that Imperious Town , to almost as intire a Subjection and Vassa●age , as our own Hearts , and our Roman Friends , could wish .

Next , for those Prerogative-Crampers , those Cheekmates of Crowns , call'd Parliaments , there our Triumph was Absolute ; we Prorogued or Dissolved , and Danced them from Pillar to Post , from Westminster to Oxford , &c. at pleasure ; and Heaven knowes , with timely , prudent and wise Care , to hush their too impudently inquisitive Curiosity into our Colemans Pacquets , our Le Chaise and Lewis Intrigues , and the rest of our Popish Plots and Cabals ; and all God wot● , little enough to keep our Cloven Foot undiscover'd ,

Flusht with such prosperous Success , even in my Infant Mischiefs , what was it that I either staggered or shrunk at ? My Temptations so allured me , my Rewards so dazled me , and my Felicity so hardned me , that Moderation , Reluctance , or Humanity , were only so many Manacles and Shackles , that my inpatient Soul threw off with Disdain .

Who alas but I , with so much Unrelenting and Pitiless Ba●barity , Triumpht in the Blood of those poor miserable Western Wretches ; and Sanguin'd my very Ermins in their Gore , till even the Air with the Noisomness of their C●rcasses stunk almost as much ( if possible ) as the very Name of Jefferies their Butcher ? Yes , and I acted by the Commissioning Vengeance that sent me thither , to inform the Heretick Enemies of Rome how much their Blood Tickles when it Streams ; and to let them know by the Sample of my Hand , how keen is a Popish Ed●-Tool .

Was it not I too , that with so much Cunning and Artifice , and by so many Rhetorical High-Treason-Flourishes , wheedled poor Cornish to a Gibbet , and Russel to a Scaffold ? Yes , and 't was a Master-Piece ! To give the Trembling World a Timely Warning what Protestant Zeal must trust to , when Popish Malice is pleas'd to be Angry ; and to convince how easily can a Jesuitical Engine wire-draw Guilt , where Popish Rancour is Resolv'd to Destroy .

Who Dissolv'd all the Charters , and new Garbell'd all the Corporations , but Jefferies ? And why , but to prepare 'em to unde●stand that what with our Quo Warranto's , and the rest of our Modelling Tools , we were Resolved at last to have PARLIAMENTS Al-a-mode de Paree , and their Dragoon-Reformers too , soon after .

Who invented that Ensnaring Command to the Bishops , of Reading the Declaration , and put their Refusal to the stretch of High Misdemeanor , if not High Treason , but the Chancellor ? And why , think you , but to satisfie them what Romish Eye-sores are the Protestant Lawn-Sleeves ; and that they shall want neither J●stles nor Stumbling-Blocks to trip their Heels up , and their Heads off too , when they stand in our way ?

Who but the Great Jefferies , in Defiance of the very Fundamentals of Humane Society , the Original Laws of Nature , and to the Face of MAGNA CHARTA it self , got the Bishop of LONDON Silenc'd and Suspended , without so much as that Universal and Common Right , Sacred even amongst Heathens and Infidels , viz. the Priviledge of making either Plea or Defence , Condemn'd Untry'd and Unheard ? Yes , I did it ; to instruct the World what feeble Cobweb-Lawn are the Bonds of Justice , Law , Liberty , Common Right , &c. in the hands of an Imperial Popish Sampson Agonistes ?

Was it not I too , by my Ecclesiastick High-Commission-Supremacy , not only against the Statutes and Customs of the University , but the Positive Laws of the Land , turned Maudlir-Colledge into a Seminary of Jesuites , and in spight of that Bulwark of the Church of England , the Act of Uniformity , converted a Collegiate Chappel into a Mass house ? And by the same Justice , might not every Collegiate , Cathedral , and Parochial Church , had the same Conversion ? And both the Fountains of Religion and Learning , the Mother Universities , been deprived of all her Protestant Sons , and repeopled with the whole Race of St. Omers and Salamanca ?

Who did all this ? The Chancellour ! Yes , and he sav'd the Church of England , and the whole English Liberty , by it . The Nation was lull'd into so profound a Sleep , that they wanted such Thunder-Claps , and such a Boanerges , to awaken them from their Lethargy .

With these serious Reflections , That these Rapid and Violent Motions of the Romish Cause , are and have been the Destruction of it ; who has been the Protestants Champion , but I ? Who has pull'd off the Vizor from the Scarlet Whore , and exposed the Painted Babylon Prostitute , but I ? And if I drove like Jehu , 't was only to the Confusion of a Jezabel . Who call'd in the Deliverer of our Church and Laws , that second Hannibal , the mighty Nassau , but Jefferyes ? Who has Re-mounted the sinking Glory of our Temples , till their Pinacles shall kiss Heaven , but Jefferyes ? Who has United . Two such formidable Protestant Neighbours , with that Eternal Link of Interest , as shall render us once more the Arbiters of Europe , and Terrour of the World ? Who but Jefferyes and Jefferyes . Conduct , has joyn'd those Naval Forces , those Floating Walls that shall one day mew up that French Antichristian Monster , till in Despight and Despair , he bursts his Soul out at his Fistula ?

In fine , Who has cut off the very Entayl of Popery and Slavery from three happy Kingdoms , but Jefferyes ? Three Kingdoms did I say ? Yes , possibly has laid that Foundation to the Protestant Cause , as perhaps shall one day m●ke her over-top , the Seven Proud Hills , and strike her Dagger into the very Gates of Rome .

With this Confession of my Crimes , which under the Afflicting Hand of Heaven , I think my self Obl●ged to give the World , I beseech my E●emies themselves so to represent my C●se , as that at least . Out of the Devourer may come forth Meat ; and out of the Strong , Sweetness : And by Ballancing the Services of my Actions against the Guilt of them , give me some small dawn of Hope , that the Approaching Parliament , my Judges , my Accusers themselves , may be softned into some Commiseration and Forgiveness . I assure them , if Heaven spare me Life to ask it , they shall want neither Confession , Discovery , nor Contrition , to obtain their Absolution . And Black as I am , I beg , even my most Hard-hearted Adversaries , to Consider , that still I am not Blacker then Judas . And alas , there was some Merit even in Judas ; for there wanted his Betraying of his God , for the Saving of the World .

With Allowance .