the conclusion of lieuten: generall cromwells letter to the house of commons, concerning the taking of bristoll which was contained in the originall, (signed by himselfe) but omitted in the printed copy, which is authorized by the house of commons, (though there was a whole page left blanke in that sheete): whereby the world may know, how both truth it selfe, and that worthy gentleman are wronged (as well as other men) either by the printer or some others. cromwell, oliver, 1599-1658. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a80880 of text r210411 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.10[38]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a80880 wing c7050 thomason 669.f.10[38] estc r210411 99869214 99869214 162578 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a80880) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 162578) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 246:669f10[38]) the conclusion of lieuten: generall cromwells letter to the house of commons, concerning the taking of bristoll which was contained in the originall, (signed by himselfe) but omitted in the printed copy, which is authorized by the house of commons, (though there was a whole page left blanke in that sheete): whereby the world may know, how both truth it selfe, and that worthy gentleman are wronged (as well as other men) either by the printer or some others. cromwell, oliver, 1599-1658. cromwell, oliver, 1599-1658. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [london : 1645] annotation on thomason copy: "7tbr. [i.e. september] 22. this was printed by ye independentes and scattered up and downe ye streets last night by expresly omitted by order of ye house [illegible] ye 4⁰ 7tber. 18. 1645.". imprint from wing. in this edition, the first line of text ends: spirit of. dated: from bristoll this 14th of septemb. 1645. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng great britain -militia -early works to 1800. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -early works to 1800. bristol (england) -history -17th century -early works to 1800. a80880 r210411 (thomason 669.f.10[38]). civilwar no the conclusion of lieuten: generall cromwells letter to the house of commons, concerning the taking of bristoll: which was contained in the cromwell, oliver 1645 320 1 0 0 0 0 0 31 c the rate of 31 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-10 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-11 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2007-11 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the conclusion of lieuten : generall cromwells letter to the house of commons , concerning the taking of bristoll : which vvas contained in the originall , ( signed by himselfe ) but omitted in the printed copy , which is authorized by the house of commons , ( though there was a whole page left blanke in that sheete ) : whereby the world may know , how both truth it selfe , and that worthy gentleman are wronged ( as well as other men , ) either by the printer or some others . presbiterians , independents ▪ all had here the same spirit of faith and prayer , the same presence and answer , they agree here , know no names of difference ; pitty it is , it should be othervvise anywhere : all that beleeve have the reall vnity which is most glorious , because inward and spirituall in the body and to the head . as for being united in formes ( commonly called uniformity ) every christian vvill for peace sake , study and doe as far as conscience will permit ; and from brethren in things of the mind , vve looke for no cumpulsion , but that of light and reason . in other things god hath put the sword into the parliaments hands , for the terrour of evill dooers , and the praise of them that doe vvell ; if any plead exemption from it , he knowes not the gospel . if any would vvring it out of your hands , or steale it from you , under what pretence so ever , i hope they shall doe it without effect , that god vvill maintaine it in your hands and direct you in the use thereof , is the prayer of your humble servant , oliver cromwell . from bristoll , this 14th . of septemb. 1645. eben ezer, as a thankefull remembrance of gods great goodnesse unto the city of bristoll in preserving them from the forces of prince rupert without, and a treacherous plot within, to betray the city to them the seventh day of march 1642. / t.p. dedicates this. t. p. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a90366 of text r212627 in the english short title catalog (thomason 669.f.6[121]). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 4 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a90366 wing p108 thomason 669.f.6[121] estc r212627 99871230 99871230 160981 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90366) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 160981) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 245:669f6[121]) eben ezer, as a thankefull remembrance of gods great goodnesse unto the city of bristoll in preserving them from the forces of prince rupert without, and a treacherous plot within, to betray the city to them the seventh day of march 1642. / t.p. dedicates this. t. p. philipot, thomas, d. 1682, attributed name. 1 sheet ([1] p.) for michael sparke senior, printed at london : 1643. sometimes attributed to thomas philipot. verse "o thou who dost excell the highest praise,". annotation on thomason copy: "march 21". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -early works to 1800. bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643 -early works to 1800. a90366 r212627 (thomason 669.f.6[121]). civilwar no eben ezer, as a thankefull remembrance of gods great goodnesse unto the city of bristoll, in preserving them from the forces of prince ruper t. p 1643 566 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a this text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2007-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-08 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-08 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion official seal of bristol, england eben ezer , as a thankefull remembrance of gods great goodnesse unto the city of bristoll , in preserving them from the forces of prince rupert without , and a treacherous plot within , to betray the city to them the seventh day of march 1642. t. p. dedicates this . exod. 12. 14. and this day shall be unto you for a memoriall . , ver. 42. it is a night to be much observed unto the lord . iudg. 5. 11. they that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water , there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the lord , even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in israel . o thou who dost excell the highest praise , thou wonder-worker , life and length of dayes , thou never-failer in the mount to thine , onely wise , present , in each place and time , what brazen colume , or what marble stone , shall we ingrave thy noble acts upon ? this act , thy strange act , counterplotting those blood-thirsting ( foraine and domesticke ) foes ? o native city how canst thou be still ? what would'st have more thy mouth with praise to fill ? is health , or wealth , or plenty worth the having ? or seed immortall , sent thee for soule-saving ? or life , that blessings make the rest to thee matters of praise ? then sing a part with me . septembers seventh was thankfull for the scots , and we not for our selves , whose lives by lots like hamans bloody prodigy was cast this present march ? it might have beene our last , the rising sunne might warme our frozen brest , more then a falling . scots then , now we had rest . startle the muses , rattle up the quires , of sweetest musicke , citizens bonfires , let bels , and cannons roare , your joyes expressing ; young men and virgins , in your comely dressing , a way to church in flockes , the touling bell toules now for heaven , is not for death or hell : each streete is echoing praise , the sword is staid , the horned rammes in isaaks place are laid : so let them perish and indure disgrace , that traytors prove unto their native place . the king of heaven our gracious king preserv , but those that doe his grace pretend to serve , i wish they may prove upright , faithfull , good , but for to plot to shed their neighbours blood , as some have done , and in this plot would doe , they prove no lesse then king and kingdomes foe . o prince of peace , let it not seeme too great , that prince and peeres , and peoples hearts may meet , and all in unity and peace as one , build zions walls , and downe with babylon , till when , for mercies let us thankfull be , and untill then , never unbend our knee . so praise , and pray , and fast and pray agen , vntill the god of peace shall say amen . printed at london for michael sparke senior , 1643. an exact description of the famous cittie of bristoll and suburbs thereof composed by a scale and tchnographically [sic] described by i.m. 1671. individuell människohjälp (organization) 1671 approx. 2 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a51687 wing m31b estc r43576 27411232 ocm 27411232 110118 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a51687) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 110118) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1725:53) an exact description of the famous cittie of bristoll and suburbs thereof composed by a scale and tchnographically [sic] described by i.m. 1671. individuell människohjälp (organization) millerd, ia. 1 map. printed for ye author & sold by mr. tho. wall bookseller in bristoll, [bristol] : [1671] bird's-eye view. "ia: millerd delin. & scul:" reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bristol (england) -aerial views -early works to 1800. bristol (england) -maps -early works to 1800. 2007-12 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-01 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-03 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion map of bristol the armes of y e see blazon or coat of arms the armes of the cittie blazon or coat of arms an exact delineation of the famous cittie of bristoll and suburbs therof composed by a scale and tehnographically described by i.m. 1671. the 〈…〉 a s t mar● 〈◊〉 b th● 〈◊〉 c s t thoma● d s t nichola● ● s t mary span 〈◊〉 f s t peter ● s t phillip & 〈◊〉 h chri●t church i all saint k s t 〈◊〉 l s t iohn m s t stephen . n s t w 〈…〉 o s t leonards p s t iames q s t michael . r s t augustin . s the 〈◊〉 . t the cathedrall . urbs haec sublime spatiosa fidelis amoena . dulcis & insignis prisca benigna nitens . iura deum regem regionem crimina pacent . servat adorat amat protegit edit habet 1 redcliff gate 2 temple gate 3 temple cross 4 high crosse in high str●●● 5 the telz●● in corn stre●● 6 the market house in wine street 7 newgate 8 castle gate 9 la●fords gate 10 the pithay gate 11 n●●dless gate 12 fr●●m gate 13 the back gate 14 back street gate 15 march street gate 16 s t gyles gate 17 bread street 18 small street 19 wells road 20 bath road 21 london road 22 gl●●●…ler road 23 the road to walles ia : millerd delin● & seul : printed for y e author & sold by m r tho. wall bookseller in bristell the honour of bristol. shewing how the angel gabriel of bristol, fought with three ships, who boarded us many times, wherein we cleared our decks, and killed five hundred of their men, and wounded many more, and made them flye into cales, where we lost but three men, to the honour of the angel gabriel of bristol. to the tune of, our noble king in his progress. l. p. (laurence price), fl. 1625-1680? 1681-1684? approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-iv tiff page image. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). b04817 wing p3368b interim tract supplement guide c.20.f.8[214] 99884892 ocm99884892 183375 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. b04817) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 183375) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books; tract supplement ; a5:2[166]) the honour of bristol. shewing how the angel gabriel of bristol, fought with three ships, who boarded us many times, wherein we cleared our decks, and killed five hundred of their men, and wounded many more, and made them flye into cales, where we lost but three men, to the honour of the angel gabriel of bristol. to the tune of, our noble king in his progress. l. p. (laurence price), fl. 1625-1680? 1 sheet ([1] p.) : ill. (woodcut). printed for i. wrigh[t, i. clark, w. thackeray, and t. passinger, [london] : between 1681-1684] attributed to laurence price. imprint suggested by wing. verse: "attend you and give ear a while ..." imperfect: cropped at foot, with partial loss of imprint. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng ballads, english -17th century. bristol (england) -poetry -early works to 1800. 2008-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2008-06 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-07 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2008-07 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the honour of bristol . shewing how the angel gabriel of bristol , fought with three ships , who boarded us many times , wherein we cleared our decks , and killed five hundred of their men , and wounded many more , and made them flye into cales , where we lost bus three men , to the honour of the angel gabriel of bristol . to the tune of , our noble king in his progress . bristol attend you and give ear a while , and you shall understand , of a battle fought upon the seas , by a ship of brave command : the fight it was so famous , that all mens hearts did fill , and make them cry to sea , with the angel gabriel . the lusty ship of bristol , sail'd out adventurously , against the foes of england , their strength with them to try : well victual'd , rig'd , and man'd and good provision still , which made them cry to sea with the angel gabriel . the captain famous netheway , so was he call'd by name , the masters name iohn mines , a man of noted fame : the gunner thomas watson , a man of perfect skill , with other valiant hearts , in the angel gabriel . they waving up and down the seas , upon the ocean main ; it is not long ago , quoth they , since england fought with spain , would we with them might meet , our minds for to fulfill , we would play a noble bout , with our angel gabriel . they had no sooner spoken , but straight appear'd in sight , three lusty spanish vessels , of warlike force and might ; with bloody resolution , they thought our men to spill , and how'd to make a prize . of our angel gabriel , then first came up their admiral , themselves for to advance , in her she bore full forty eight peices of ordinance : the next that then came near us , was their vice-admiral , which shot most furiously at our angel gabriel . our gallant ship had in her , full forty fighting men ; with twenty peices of ordinance , we play'd about them then : and with powder , shot , & bullets , we did imploy them still , and thus began the fight , with our angel gabriel , our captain to our master said , take courage master hold , the master to the seaman said , stand fast my hearts of gold : the gunner unto all the rest , brave hearts be valiant still ; let us fight in the defence of our angel gabriel . then we gave them a broadside , which shot their mast asunder , and tore the bolt-spret of their ship , which made the spaniards wonder : and caused them to try , with voices loud and shrill , help , help , or else we sink by the angel gabriel . yet desperately they boarded us for all our valiant shot , threescore of their best fighting men upon our decks was got . and then at their first entrance , full thirty we did kill . and thus we clear'd our decks of the angel gabriel . with that their three ships boarded us again with might and main , but still our noble english-men , cry'd out a fig for spain , though seven times they boarded us at last we shew'd our skill , and made them feel the force of our angel gabriel . seven hours this fight continued , and many brave men lay dead , with purple gore , and spanish blood , the sea was coloured red five hundered of their men , we there outright did kill , and many more were maim'd by the angel gabriel . they seeing of these bloody spoils , the rest made hast a way , for why they saw it was no boot , any longer for to stay , then they fled into cales , and there they must lye still , for they never more will dare to meet , our angel gabriel . we had within our english ship. but only three men slain , and five men hurt , the which i hope , will soon be well again : at bristol we were landed , and let us praise god still , that thus hath blest our men , and our angel gabriel . now let me not forget to speak , of the gift given by the owner , of the angel gabriel . that many years have known her , two hundered pounds in coyn & plate he gave with free good will. vnto them that bravely fought , in the angel gabriel . printed for 〈…〉 a copie of the articles agreed upon at the surrender of the city of bristol betweene colonell nathaniel fiennes governour of the said city, on the one party, and colonell charles gerrard and captain william teringham for and on the behalfe of prince rupert, on fiennes, nathaniel, 1607 or 8-1669. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a34506 of text r8115 in the english short title catalog (wing c6203). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 7 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a34506 wing c6203 estc r8115 12090150 ocm 12090150 53836 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a34506) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 53836) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 239:e63, no 15) a copie of the articles agreed upon at the surrender of the city of bristol betweene colonell nathaniel fiennes governour of the said city, on the one party, and colonell charles gerrard and captain william teringham for and on the behalfe of prince rupert, on fiennes, nathaniel, 1607 or 8-1669. 8 p. printed for henty overton ..., london : [1643] reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. eng rupert, -prince, count palatine, 1619-1682. fiennes, nathaniel, 1607 or 8-1669. macclesfield, charles gerard, -earl of, 1618?-1694. teringham, william. bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643. a34506 r8115 (wing c6203). civilwar no a copie of the articles agreed upon at the surrender of the city of bristol. betweene colonell nathaniel fiennes, governour of the said city [no entry] 1643 1161 8 0 0 0 0 0 69 d the rate of 69 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-12 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-12 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a copie of the articles agreed upon at the surrender of the city of bristol ▪ betweene colonell nathaniel fiennes , governour of the said city , on the one party , and colonell charles gerrard , and captaine william teringham , for , and on the behalfe of prince rupert , on the other party , the 26. of iuly , 1643. with a letter hereunto added , in which this copie of articles was inclosed : wherein is manifested how well those perfidious cavaliers have kept the said articles ▪ and may serve as a warning to the whole kingdome , how to trust againe the faith of such cavaliers . published according to order . london printed for henry overton in popes-head alley . articles agreed on , at the city of bristoll , between colonell nathaniel fiennes , governour of the said city , on the one party , and collonel charles gerard , and captain william teringham , for , and on the behalf of prince rupert , on the other party , the 26. of iuly , 1643. that the governour nathaniel fiennes , together with all the officers both of horse and foot , now within and about this city of bristoll , castle & forts , may march out to morrow morning by 9. of the clock , with their full arms , horses , bagge and baggage , provided it be their owne goods ; and that the common foot souldiers march out without armes , and the troopers with their horses and swords , leaving their other arms behind them , with a safe convoy to warmister , and after not to be molested in their march by any of the kings forces , for the space of three dayes . 2. that there may be carriages allowed and provided , to carry away their bagge and baggage , and sicke and hurt souldiers . 3. that the kings forces march not into the towne , till the parliament forces are marched out , which is at 9. of the clock . 4. that all prisoners in the cite be delivered up , and that captain eyres , and captaine gookin , who were taken at the devises , be released . 5. th●t sir iohn homer , sir iohn seymoure , mr , edward steevens , and all other knights , gentlemen , citizens , and other persons , that are now in the city , may if they please , with their goods , wives and families , horses , bagge and ba●gage , have free liberty to returne to their owne homes , or else where , and there to rest in safety , or ride and travell with the governour and forces ; and such of them and their families as shall be left behind , by reason of sicknesse or other cause , may have liberty , so soon as they can conveniently , to depart this towne with safety , provided that all the gentlemen and other persons , shall have three dayes liberty to reside here , or depart with their goods , which they please . 6. that all the inhabitants of this city , shall be secured in their persons , families and estates , free from plundering , and all other violence or wrong whatsover . 7. that the charters and liberties of this city , may be preserved , and that the antient government therof , and present governours and officers may remaine and continue in their former condition , according to his majesties charters and pleasure . 8. that for av●yding inconveniencies and distr●ctions , the quartering of souldiers be referred or left to the ma●or and governour of the same city for the time being . 9. that all such as have carryed any goods into the castle , may have free liberty to carry the same forth . 10. that the forces that are to march out , are to leave behind them all cannon and ammunition , with their colours , and such armes as is before expressed . a copie of a letter sent from bristoll . sir , since my last unto you by the post , and the post hitherward intercepted by the enemie , the case is changed ; for on thursday last wee rendred the citie of bristoll , as by the articles here inclosed you may perceive , but what faith hath beene kept there after , let the robberies and spoyles of every particular person declare ; amongst which , i praise god , i am escaped with my life to the towne of southampton , with my sonne iohn ; but before i could come forth of the gates of the city of bristol , i was deprived of my money , plate , and baggage from behind my servants , who were throwne off their horses , and the same cut off their backes , and utterly lost , and themselves and their horses in like condition , for ought i know , and onely wee our selves , with some other gentlemen , escaped hither with our lives on friday night last ; and on saturday came in also the late governour of bristoll , col. fiennes , and his brother , with the remainder of the whole soulderie , who were served with the like sauce , such is the faith held with the present victors . my wife and family in all this time not knowing whether we are alive , or where we are ; nor know wee which way to send home , in regard all the wayes are full of the enemies sorces , unlesse the carryer of wells hold his course from london thither , which if hee doth , i pray let your man jonathan by that carrier , present his mother with a line or two of our safetie in this place and still beseech you , though our fortunes be altered , to shew your good affection to ionathan and ioseph , with my best respects to my loving gossip and your selfe , remaine your faithfull friend and servaut , i. p. southampton , july 31. 1643. pray let your man ionathan write out two or three copies of this inclosed , and deliver one of them to my son chillingworth , with my love to him and my daughter ; a second to mr shephead , with my commendations , in hope to see him and you all , with what speed wee may , which should be very speedily , did not the kings horse lye in our way to london ; and a third to mr. peter va●depu●t , my commendations also to him and his wife , &c. finis . bristols second address, as it was presented to their late members in parliament, at their return from oxford to the right worshipful sir richard hart, knight, mayor of the city of bristol, and thomas earl, esquire, our late representatives in parliament of for the said city and county of bistol. 1681 approx. 5 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 2 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29585 wing b4801 estc r14174 12390587 ocm 12390587 60983 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29585) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60983) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 933:5) bristols second address, as it was presented to their late members in parliament, at their return from oxford to the right worshipful sir richard hart, knight, mayor of the city of bristol, and thomas earl, esquire, our late representatives in parliament of for the said city and county of bistol. earle, thomas. hart, richard, sir. 1 sheet (2 p.) printed for henry broom, london : 1681. reproduction of original in huntington library. broadside. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bristol (england) -early works to 1800. broadsides 2006-10 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-11 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion bristols second address , as it was presented to their late members in parliament , at their return from oxford . to the right worshipful sir richard hart , knight , mayor of the city of bristol , and thomas earl , esquire , our late representatives in parliament for the said city and county of bristol . i. that you may see the short life of the late parliament hath not influenced us to change by altering our duty to our sovereign or our respects to you ; we now receive you into this city with the same loyal affections that we conducted you out on your journey to oxford . ii. we are neither presbyterians nor any of those sects , who presuming to pry into gods secret counsels , are the less to be wondred at , that they saucily canvass and dispute all the actions of his vicegerent . and therefore we enter not into the reasons moving his majesty unto this sudden dissolution , but humbly acquiesce therein with duty and loyalty becoming honest and peaceably minded subjects . iii. whatever the author of vox populi or other factious and seditious scriblers have with very ill purposes and designs of late falsely insinuated into the people : we are sensible that the power of calling and dissolving parliaments at pleasure , is one of those inseparable prerogatives of the crown , which ( no less necessary for the subjects safety than the prince's grandeur ) we in the third article of our former address assert and defend against all opposers . iv. we are abundantly satisfied that our gracious king , who hath hitherto made the laws the measure of his actions and proceedings , will still continue to us the same just practice ; and being assured by our former experience and his royal promise in his most excellent speech at the opening of the late session , that he himself would neither use arbitrary power , nor suffer it in others ; we therefore take it for granted , that he saw no less just cause for the dissolving this than the preceding parliament . v. had this parliament continued a week longer , we had not ( as now ) wanted an opportunity of vindicating our election of you our true representatives to the great dishonour of your competitors , in the refutation of the many scandalous and notorious falshoods contained in the petition presented ( as is said ) by sir robert atkins , sir john knight , and others , to the late house of commons . vi. and ( here ) we cannot but return you our hearty thanks and acknowledgments for your courage and resolution shewn on this occasion , and doubt not but you will still retain the same constancy and steadiness . vii . we desire , that you will be ready and prepared with us with lives and fortunes to stand by his majesty and the established government both in church and state , doing in your respective stations what in you lies . and wherein your power shall fall short , praying from his majesty assistance and encouragement , countenance and protection for the due execution of the statutes in being , particularly that of the 35 th eliz. made upon most deliberate counsels ( as the history of those times attests ) against all recusants and dissenters whatever , their prosecution being in our opinion the only means ( under god ) to preserve the kings person , our religion , liberty and property from the secret machinations and hellish conspiracies of the wicked and ambitious , whether papists or fanaticks . viii . and in this blessed union , let us all with heart and hand join as one man , and let all honest people heartily say ( as we do ) god save our good king charles the second ; let his and our enemies be confounded : but upon himself and his lawful successors , let the crown be for ever established and flourish , amen , amen . bristol the first of april 1681. this was subscribed by most of the aldermen and common council of the said city , and by several hundred more ( citizens and freeholders there . ) as likewise was their former address , notwithstanding langley curtis had the impudence in his protestant mercury ( number 24. ) falsly to affirm , that the said former address was a forgery , and an abuse put upon the said city , and that they were altogether ignorant thereof : and thereupon took occasion to vilifie mr. thompson ( a reverend minister of the said city ) in scurrilous language peculiar to such common-wealth-protestants ; which said former address ( with this now presented ) is and will be owned not only by those who subscribed them , but by all other his majesties truly loyal subjects within that city . london , printed for henry broom , 1681. mr. peters report from bristol, made to the house of commons, from sir thomas fairfax. the articles treated on for the surrender of bristoll, with the castle and forts, on tuesday last; and with what ordnance, cullers, and armes. as also ruperts propositions, in the behalfe of the bishops, prebends, and queristers there. and the particulars of sir thomas fairfaxes proceedings since the siege; against the false rumours of malignants. together with some intercepted letters from rupert, and others. commanded to be printed, and published according to order. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a90543 of text r200263 in the english short title catalog (thomason e301_4). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 11 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a90543 wing p1715 thomason e301_4 estc r200263 99861069 99861069 113197 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a90543) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 113197) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 49:e301[4]) mr. peters report from bristol, made to the house of commons, from sir thomas fairfax. the articles treated on for the surrender of bristoll, with the castle and forts, on tuesday last; and with what ordnance, cullers, and armes. as also ruperts propositions, in the behalfe of the bishops, prebends, and queristers there. and the particulars of sir thomas fairfaxes proceedings since the siege; against the false rumours of malignants. together with some intercepted letters from rupert, and others. commanded to be printed, and published according to order. peters, hugh, 1598-1660. [2], 6 p. printed for jane coe., london, : 1645. annotation on thomason copy: "7bre. 12" [i.e. september 12]. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng peters, hugh, 1598-1660 -early works to 1800. fairfax, thomas fairfax, -baron, 1612-1671 -early works to 1800. rupert, -prince, count palatine, 1619-1682 -early works to 1800. bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643 -early works to 1800. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -campaigns -early works to 1800. a90543 r200263 (thomason e301_4). civilwar no mr. peters report from bristol,: made to the house of commons, from sir thomas fairfax. the articles treated on for the surrender of bristo peters, hugh 1645 1808 13 0 0 0 0 0 72 d the rate of 72 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the d category of texts with between 35 and 100 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-06 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2007-06 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion mr. peters report from bristol , made to the house of commons , from sir thomas fairfax . the articles treated on for the surrender of bristoll , with the castle and forts , on tuesday last ; and with what ordnance , cullers , and armes . as also ruperts propositions , in the behalf of the bishops , prebends , and queristers there . and the particulars of sir thomas fairfaxes proceedings since the siege ; against the false rumours of malignants . together , with some intercepted letters from rupert , and others . commanded to be printed , and published according to order . london , printed for jane coe . 1645. mr. petrs report from bristoll ; made to the house of commons , from sir thomas fairfax . mr. peters came on munday last from the army , being sent up by the generall upon matters of great importance . upon tuesday morting he was called into the house of commons , and there he spake to two particulars ; viz. first the giving an accompt of the armies marching to bristoll : and secondly , what they had done there , in order ; to the taking of that citie . and for the former ; there were m●ny inducements ( after they had taken sherburn and romney ) thither to go , rather then to the west : as , the intreatie of the people of so●erset , which were strong ; the horrid crueltie of prince rupert , who began to burn all the countrie behinde the armie ; the increasing of his forces , whereby he might with the help of the malignant incensed club-men of dorsetshire , fall upon the rear of the armie : besides , he might have spoiled most of our summers work in these parts ; and the army feared to fall into some other former errors , by onely passing through the country , to leave them in worse case then they found them . but by taking bristoll ( if god would giue that blessing ) the countrie would be cleered from them even to exeter . moreover , rupert was farre more considerable then goring , and of more repute ; and in the west they were very slow in their rising , though all meanes used ; their own differences many , and if our army had followed goring , he had gone into cornwall , where the whole country had been helpfull to him , which they denied otherwise . to all which may be added , that bristoll could not be assaulted in a better time , they wanting all things for food . the armie had lain there 1● . dayes , and though the plague were in the town , and in every village round about , not a souldier was tainted with it , nor above twenty men lost by all the salleys the enemie have made . he also reported , that he conceived great hopes ( through gods blessing ) for taking it , they being even readie for the storme at his departure ; the line of 5. or sixe miles compasse , and the militarie 〈◊〉 no way able to defend so much ground ; our seamen by portshead fort out off , readie to help also . the said master peters being the last week commanded to preach to the clubmen of sommers●t●hire , he met there on merdiffe hill , and there about 4 or 5000. horse and foot appeared , when he preached twice on horse back , and the issue was a generall resolution to come into us , which the next day they did about 3000. he was perswaded though this was not an omnipotent army , yet the lord would owne it and blesse it , there being much diligence used for the taking away evils attending such multitudes , many people mourne and shed teares in their quarters where they part with our honest souldiers ; we very seldome heare the least complaint against any souldiers : doubtlesse god is with them . master peters humble petition from the generall to the house was , that they would please to recruit the army to the first intention of 21000 horse and foot , and he did hope the state would soon have a good account not onely of the west , but also of the kingdome , notwithstanding the kings last march , and our brethrens departure . he left also some intercepted letters , one blasphemous going to oxford which is here inserted . when the iniquityes of the ammorites are full , gods people fall to canaan , let us wait and see the salvation of god , and pray hard for that army , that is willing to do for you , to their utmost . there are also some other papers , which mr. peters presented to the house that were intercepted ; by some that came out of bristoll , and elsewhere ; here followeth the copies of two of those letters ; one from a a collonel in bristoll , to the dutchesse of buckingham , and the other from prince rupert , to the club-men . a copie of collonel crowches letter , to the dutchesse of buckingham ; intercepted as it was carrying out of bristoll , by a scout of prince ruperts . madam , the last letter i writ to your grace miscarried but the losse was but little , to you , seeing their was nothing at all in it worth your care , it was only to let you know that this unlucky siege , hath prevented godson , and your most humble servant , from the happy journey they intended , and in earnest i think it will be all the mischief the enemie will do us , though by their staying here , they may continue their malice , yet if we have your good wishes , i am sure we can never miscary ; and seriously , because without doubt there are above ten righteous persons in this citty . ( * that is such that are wholly dedicated to your service . pray wish us well , and i assure you madam , let the number be never so great , there will be none amongst them , that is not at your devotion , then your graces most humble and most obedie●t faithfull servant , w. crowch . bristoll , wednesday the 27. 1645. here followeth also a copy of a letter sent from prince rupert to the club-men , before the siege was laid before bristoll , or they quelled ; wherein we may see how he then carried himselfe towards them . gentlemen , being informed of your good inclinations for his majesties service , and in order to your late humble addresse u●to him , i thought fit for me to acquaint you with such certain intelligence which i received from good hands , and from persons of eminent credit , as like wise by letters lately intercepted , wherein you are all concerned ; least by the delusive lets and subtilties of the enemies , you may be diverted from those good resolu●ions which you have so freely exprest , and by their faire invitations involved in an irrecoverable ruine . the one is , that there is expresse comm●●d ●●me from the parliament to generall fairfax , by violence and force to suppresse you , if by faire meanes he cannot draw you from your alegiance to adhere to him , but howsoever to seize upon the ring-leaders , who shall and must be conceived to be utterly incapable of their pardon , and with these particuolar expressions , to destroy the seeds of sedition and rebellion sowen by those hollises of wil●s in dorset , for presenting a petition to have justice done , condemning injuries done by the garrisons to club-men , ( least it inforced them to joyne with the kings forces ) which will be a great work , and of at great concern as the victory it selfe . vpon these representaions i doubt not , but you will consider of your present condition , that you cannot disert his majesties cause , without violence to conscience and honour , nor yet partake in their rebellion , but with inevitable ruine to your persons ●●d liberties , and that to be inforced upon you by those that now court you most , and that by superiour command . at which , i referre to your serious considerations , giving you assurance that i shall not be wanting , to doe all those good offices , that shall make me really appeare . your loving friend , rupert . bristoll this 15th iuly , 1645. gentlemen , we have presumed to break up this letter , and are not discouraged by it , for our journey . we have speeded it unto you , and leave it to your considerations . george ha●les . william leigh . john estmond . sir thomas fairfax having sent the last summons into bristoll to prince rupert , on sunday night september the 7 1645. he having all things in a readinesse to storme ; and intending to fall on the next morning , received propositions from rupert , that if he would permit him to march away with 10 peece of ordnanc● , cullers flying , 20 cariages armes and ammunition , bag and bagagge , and all the souldiers and bishops , and prebends , and queristers , gentlemen and others , with a safe conduct , that then he would deliver us bristoll , with all the forts and castles , &c. to this sir thomas fairfax returned answer , that for the termes of honour , he would do what was fitting for his degree ; that is to march away with 3 peece of ordinance , cullers , armes , &c but for his other propositions viz. concerning the protection of the bishops , &c. he desired to be excused . sir thomas fairfax was resolved if rupert would not agree as munday september the 8. that he would then storm , being resolved to admit of no delay . tuesday was the day nominated for the surrender of bristoll , and commissioners of both side were chosen . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a90543e-160 * hereby you may see what the cavaliers fight for ; even for their popish mistresses : the receiving of whose blessings , they think themselves righteous in ; to serve whom , they cast off both god and man . an account of the proceedings of the corporation of bristol in execution of the act of parliament for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city cary, john, d. 1720? 1700 approx. 24 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a35154 wing c724 estc r18319 12039765 ocm 12039765 52963 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a35154) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 52963) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 862:14) an account of the proceedings of the corporation of bristol in execution of the act of parliament for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city cary, john, d. 1720? [2], 21 p. printed by f. collins ..., london : 1700. reproduction of original in bodleian library. signed: john cary. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng england and wales. -parliament. poor -england -bristol. bristol (england) -history. 2006-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2006-09 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an account of the proceedings of the corporation of bristol , in execution of the act of parliament for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city . london : printed by f. collins in the old baily . 1700. to the right honourable and honourable , the lords spiritual and temporal , and commons in parliament assembled . may it please your honours , i humbly make bold to lay before your honour 's an account of our proceedings in the city of bristol on the act of parliament for erecting hospitals and work-houses for the better employing and maintaining the poor of that city , which passed in the first sessions of the parliament begun at westminster the 22nd of november 1695. whereby the power invested in the corporation commenced from the 12th of may 1696. the first thing we did was to choose four guardians for each of our twelve wards , as the statute does direct , which , with the mayor and aldermen , amounted to sixty guardians , and made up our court. the court being thus constituted , at our first meeting we chose our officers appointed by the said act , viz. a governour , a deputy-governour , twelve assistants , a treasurer , a clerk , and a beadle . this being done , we ordered the guardians who dwelt in each parish , to bring in an account of all the poor in their respective parishes , their names , ages , sexes , and qualifications . also an account of the charges expended for maintaining them in each of the last three years , that so we might bring it to a medium . we also appointed certain standing rules for the better governing our debates , and ordered all things done in the court to be fairly enter'd in a journal . we likewise considered which would be most for the advantage of the corporation , to build work-houses , or to purchase such houses , which being already built , might be altered and made fit for our purpose . these things spent much time , and it was about the month of september before we could settle the medium of the poor's rates , in order to certifie to the mayor and alderman what sum was necessary to be raised on the city for the next year . but here we met with an unexpected remora , mr. samuel wallis was succeeded in his majoralty by mr. j. h. and this change made a great alteration in our affairs : for whereas the former had given us all the incouragement we could expect from him , and had done us the honour to be our first governour , the latter resolved to obstruct us all he could . and because the power of raising money was vested in him and the aldermen , he absolutely refused to put that power in execution . this , together with his other endeavours to brow-beat the corporation , kept us at a stand till october ( 97. ) only our court met , and discourst things , and we laboured to keep up the spirits of our friends , who began to sink under these discouragements , and to despair of success , the work seeming difficult enough in it self ; our undertaking being nothing less , then to put to work a great number of people , many of which had been habited to laziness and beggary ; to civilize such as had been bred up in all the vices that want of education could expose them to ; and to clothe , lodge , and feed them well , with the same sum of money which was distributed among them when they begg'd , lay in the streets , and went almost naked . yet all this would not have discouraged us , could we have prevailed on mr. mayor to have joyned with us . we often sought it , and he as often refused us , till his time being expired , his successor granted our request ; and then , having lost much time , we were forced to make large steps . the first we made was , a vote to take on us the care of all the poor of the city ; and as i remember , this vote passed in october or november 1697. though we had then no money raised , nor could we expect any till after our lady-day 1698. so that from the passing that vote to this time is about two years . the next step was to appoint a committee of twelve to hear the complaints of the poor , to relieve them , and set them at work ; six whereof were to go out every month , and to be succeeded by six more , to be chosen by ballating . we had formerly obtained from the mayor and common-council , in the majoralty of alderman wallis , the grant of a work-house , which then lay unoccupied , and the court had appointed a committee to place as many girls in it as it would conveniently contain , both as to lodging and working . this is that we called the new work-house . but all things having stood still so long , we resolved now to lose no more time ; yet we had no money , nor could we expect any in less than six months from the poor's rates ; therefore we re-resolved to make our several loans for twelve months without interest to the corporation on the credit of their common seal ; in which design many of the citizens lent their assistance , whereby we became soon masters of about six hundred pounds stock . likewise our guardians , who were appointed to pay the poor in their several parishes , voluntarily advanced their weekly payments , till they could be reimburst by the treasurer . the other stock we employed to furnish beds and other necessaries for our house , clothes and provisions for our children to be taken in , and materials for their working . we had now two committees ; one for the poor , the other for the new work-house . the committee for the poor met twice every week : and in this committee we proceeded thus ; first , we voted that the poor of the city should be visited in their respective parishes , and that new poor's rates should be made ; and accordingly we ordered the guardians of each parish to bring together the poor on a certain day in some convenient place , where the committee met , and without partiality endeavoured to provide for every one according to their wants . we likewise took notice of all the young girls that were on our poor's books , and of such whose parents took no due care of them ; and these we recommended to the committee of the new work-house , to be taken in , and employed by them . our poor's rates we made in this manner : every one that expected relief came before us with their whole families , except such as were impotent and could not come : in our books we put down the name of the man , the woman , and each child ; together with the qualifications of all , either as to age , health , civility , &c. what each person did or could get by the week , and in what employment . we likewise set down for what reason the charity was bestowed , that when that should cease , or we could find out any other way to provide for it , the charity should likewise cease . having thus seen the state of all our poor , and provided for them , the committee sat twice a week in the publick court , to hear and provide for all casual complaints ; which we did in this manner ; we ordered that the poor in their respective parishes , should first apply themselves to their guardian or guardians , who were to relieve them as they saw fit , till the next sitting of the committee , when they were to bring them up with their complaints , if they were able to come ; and this we did , lest the committee ( three whereof made a quorum ) should be deceived ; who could not be supposed to know the state of all the poor in the city , and by this weans we had the opinion of the guardian of each parish ; nor could he easily deceive us , because he brought the poor with him , and thereby the committee became judges of the matter laid before them . at these meetings care was taken of the various cases and exegencies which offered , and in all things there was a regard , as much as could be , to put people on living by their own labours . to such as were sick , we gave warrants to our physician to visit them ; such as wanted the assistance of our surgeons were directed to them , and all were relieved till they were able to work ; by which means the poor having been well attended , were set at work again , who by neglect might with their families have been chargeable to the corporation ; for some we provided clothes , for others work ; where we found people careful , but wanted a stock to employ themselves and their children , we either lent or gave it ; where they wanted houses , we either paid the rent , or became security for it ; where we found them opprest , we stood by them ; where differences arose , we endeavoured to compose them ; so that in a little time all the complaints of the poor came to this committee , ( which saved our magistrates a great deal of trouble ) and care was taken that none went away unheard . the committee at first sat twice a week , but now only once in a fortnight ; not that we grew slack in the care of our poor , but because their number being so much abated by those received into our several work-houses , the business does not require their meeting oftner . the other committee , ( viz. ) that for the new work-house , having furnished it in order to receive in the young girls , first began with such as were recommended to them by the committee for the poor ; and this method hath been generally observed ever since , both by that committee , and also by the committee since chosen for our other work-house ; not that either of them depends ou the other , but because the first application for relief is made to the committee for the poor . but before we took in the girls , we first considered of proper officers to govern them ; and these consisted of a master , whose business was to receive in work , and deliver it out again , and to keep the accounts of the house , &c. a mistress , whose business was to look after the kitchin and lodgings , to provide their meals at set times , and other things which related to the government of the house . tutresses to teach them to spin , under each of which we designed to put five and twenty girls . a school-mistress , to teach them to read. servants in the kitchin , and for washing , &c. but these we soon discharged , and caused our biggest girls to take their turns every week . we also appointed an old man to keep the door , and to carry forth and fetch in work , and such kind of services . being thus provided , we received in one hundred girls , and set them to work at spinning of worsted yarn ; all which we first caused to be stript by the mistress , washed , and new clothed from head to foot ; which , together with wholsome dyet at set hours , and good beds to lye on , so incouraged the children , that they willingly betook themselves to their work . we likewise provided for them apparel for sundays ; they went to church every lord's day ; were taught their catechisms at home , and had prayers twice every day ; we appointed them set hours for working , eating , and playing ; and gave them leave to walk on the hills with their tutresses , when their work was over , and the weather fair ; by which means we won them into civility , and a love to their labour . but we had a great deal of trouble with their parents , and those who formerly kept them , who having lost the sweetness of their pay , did all they could to set both the children and others against us ; but this was soon over . hitherto things answered above our expectations ; our children grew sober , and worked willingly , but we very much questioned , whether their labours at the rates we were paid , would answer the charge of their maintenance ; and if not , our great doubt was how we might advance it , without prejudicing the manufactures . to clear the first , we supposed ourselves in a fair way , having appointed their diets to be made up of such provisions as were very wholsome , afforded good nourishment , and were not costly in price , ( viz. ) beef , pease , potatoes , broath , pease-porridge , milk-porridge , bread and cheese , good bear , ( such as we drank at our own tables ) cabage , carrots , turnips , &c. in which we took the advice of our physician , and bought the best of every sort . they had three meals every day , and as i remember , it stood us ( with soap to wash ) in about sixteen pence per week for each of the one hundred girls . we soon found the effect of their change of living , nature being well supported , threw out a great deal of foulness , so that we had generally twenty down at a time , in the measels , small-pox , and other distempers ; but by the care of our physician , and the blessing of god on his endeavours , we never buried but two , though we have had seldom less than one hundred in the house at any time . having thus provided for their dyets , we next appointed their times of working ; which in the summer was ten hours and a half every day , and an hour less in the winter ; by which means we answered the two objections raised against the poor , ( viz. ) that they will not work , and that they spend what they get in fine feeding . but we soon found , that the great cause of begging did proceed from the low wages for labour ; for after about eight months time , our children could not get half so much as we expended in their provisions . the manufacturers , who employed us , were always complaining the yarn was spun course , but would not advance above eight pence per pound for spinning , and we must either take this , or have no work . on the other side , we were labouring to understand how we might distinguish , and put a value on our work , according to its fineness . this we did by the snap reel , which when we were masters of , the committee made an order , that the master should buy in a stock of wool , and spin it up for our own accounts , and then proceeded to set the price of spinning by the snap reel , wherein we endeavoured to discourage course work , and to encourage fine , because we saw the latter was likely to bring most profit , not only to the poor , but to the kingdom in general . we likewise ordered some things to be made of the several sorts of yarn , at the rates we had set them ; and on the whole , we found the commodities made of fine yarn , though they were much better than those made of course , yet stood us in little more ; because what the one exceeded in the charge of spinning , was very much made good in abatement of the quantity used . we therefore sent to the manufacturers , and shewed them what experiments we had made ; but finding them still unwilling to advance above the old rate , the committee voted that they would give employment to all the poor of the city , who would make application to them , at the rates we offered to work , and pay them ready money for their labour . we soon found we had taken the right course , for in a few weeks we had sale for our fine yarn as fast as we could make it , and they gave us from eight pence to two shillings per pound for spinning the same goods , for which a little before they paid but eight pence , and were very well pleased with it , because they were now able to distinguish between the fine and course yarn , and to apply each sort to the use for which it was most proper : since which they have given us two shillings and six pence per pound for a great many pounds , and we spin some worth three shillings and six pence per pound spinning . by this means we had the pleasure of seeing the children's labour advanced , which a little before i came up , amounted to near six pounds per week , and would have been much more , but that ●ur biggest girls we either settle forth , or put in the ktchin ; and those we receive in being generally small , are able to do ltitle for some time after . the encouragement we had received on this beginning , put us on proceeding further : the court resolved to purchase a great sugar-house , out of the money directed by the act to be raised for building of work-houses , and fit it up for receiving in the remainder of the poor , ( viz. ) ancient people , boys , and young children ; which was accordingly done , and a committee was appointed to mannage it . this we called the mint workhouse , because it had been lately hired by the lords of the treasury for that use . the committee began to take in the boys in august last ; these we clothed , dyeted , and governed , much after the same manner as we had done the girls , but put them on a different employment , ( viz. ) spinning of cotten wool , and weaving of fustians : we have now about one hundred of them together , who settle well to their work , and every day mend their hands ; they get us already six pounds per week ; they are likewise taught to read , and we shall hereafter teach them to write . we next took in our ancient people ; and here we had principally a regard to such as were impotent , and had no friends to help them , and to such as we could not keep from the lazy trade of begging ; these we clothed as we saw they needed , and put on such employments as were fit for their ages and strengths , having our eyes chiefly on those to which they were bred ; we found it difficult at first to bend them down to good orders , but by degrees we have brought them under government . then we called in all the children that were on our poor's books , and put them under nurses ; those who can speak and go are carried down into the school to learn their a , b , c , &c. as they grow up , we shall put them into the working rooms . the boys are kept at a distance from the ancient people , who do also lodge in distinct apartments , the men in several chambers on one floor , and the women on another ; all do something , though perhaps some of their labours comes to little , yet it keeps them from idleness ; both the old and young attend prayers twice a day , ( except the bedridden , for whom other care is taken ) and go to church twice on sundays . we have now three standingcommittees , ( viz. ) for the poor , for the new work-house , and for the mint work-house : the first gives all directions , and makes all allowances , for the poor , without whose order no guardian can act any thing considerable , except in cases of absolute necessity , which at the next meeting of the committee he must give an account of , and desire their approbation . the other two committees have power to act in the affairs of that work-house for which they are chosen : they receive in both old and young ; they bind forth apprentices , correct , order the dyet as they please , oversee the working , sell the manufactures when made , order the payment of all moneys , which cannot be done unless the note be sign'd by the chair-man ; and generally direct every thing relating to those houses . the accounts are made up thus : the treasurers account is audited every year by a committee chosen for that purpose ; at which time he is succeeded by another treasurer , chosen by the court : the accounts of the guardians who pay the poor in their several parishes are audited every three months , by a select committee chosen likewise by the court , and are then paid by the treasurer : the accounts for each workhouse are audited by the respective committee every month , when the master adjusts , not only his account of cash , but also of each particular specie of goods he hath under his care , the ballance whereof is still carried forward to the next , which when allowed of is signed by the chair-man : and the account for each house is so stated , that it shews at one sight , what the house is indebted ; what debts are outstanding , and from whom ; what goods remain in the house , and the quantity of each specie . at the making up these accounts nothing ( unless very trivial ) is allowed , for which an order is not produced , or found entered in our books , so that 't is very difficult to wrong the corporation of any thing , if any guardians should endeavour it . these committees keep their journal books , wherein all they do is fairly transcribed , and signed by the chair-man . this is what at present occurs to my memory touching our work-houses at bristol ; i have been as brief as the nature of the thing would admit : the success hath answered our expectation ; we are freed from beggars , our old people are comfortably provided for ; our boys and girls are educated to sobriety , and brought up to delight in labour ; our young children are well lookt after , and not spoiled by the neglect of ill nurses ; and the face of our city is so changed already , that we have great reason to hope these young plants will produce a vertuous and laborious generation , with whom immorality and prophaneness may find little incouragement ; not does our hopes appear to be groundless , for among three hundred persons now under our charge within doors , there is neither cursing nor swearing , nor prophane language , to be heard , though many of them , were bred up in all manner of vices , which neither bridewell nor whippings could fright them from , because , returning to their bad company for want of employment , they were rather made worse then bettered by those corrections ; wherers the change we have wrought on them is by fair means . we have a bridewel , stocks and whipping-post , always in their sights , but never had occasion to make use of either . what is done in that city i humbly hope may be carried on by the same steps throughout the kingdom , if the bill for that purpose now depending in parliament , doth obtain the sanction to be past into an act. the poor may be set at work , their wages advanced without danger to our manufactures , and they thereby enabled to live on their own labours , whereby the charge of the poor's rates may be saved , and a great many worthy benefactors encouraged to give , when they shall see their charity so well disposed of . this i have great reason to hope , because we have had near one thousand pounds freely given to us within the compass of one year , and much thereof by gentlemen who dwelt at a distance from us , only were willing to encourage a work they saw likely to be carried on , which might be of good example to the nation . i am , with all dutiful respect , right honourable and honourable , your honours most obedient servant john cary . a true relation of the storming bristoll, and the taking the town, castle, forts, ordnance, ammunition and arms, by sir thomas fairfax's army, on thursday the 11. of this instant septemb. 1645. together with severall articles between prince rupert, and generall fairfax, before the delivering up of the castle. sent in severall letters to the honorable william lenthall esq; speaker of the honorable house of commons, and read in the said house. ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that this relation with the articles, beforthwith printed and published: h: elsynge, cler. parl. d. com. rushworth, john, 1612?-1690. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a57928 of text r200264 in the english short title catalog (wing r2336a). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 36 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a57928 wing r2336a estc r200264 99861070 99861070 113198 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a57928) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 113198) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 49:e301[5]) a true relation of the storming bristoll, and the taking the town, castle, forts, ordnance, ammunition and arms, by sir thomas fairfax's army, on thursday the 11. of this instant septemb. 1645. together with severall articles between prince rupert, and generall fairfax, before the delivering up of the castle. sent in severall letters to the honorable william lenthall esq; speaker of the honorable house of commons, and read in the said house. ordered by the commons assembled in parliament, that this relation with the articles, beforthwith printed and published: h: elsynge, cler. parl. d. com. rushworth, john, 1612?-1690. rupert, prince, count palatine, 1619-1682. fairfax, thomas fairfax, baron, 1612-1671. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. 24 p. printed for edward husband, printer to the honorable house of commons, london, : sept. 13. 1645. signed on page 3: i.r., i.e. john rushworth. reproduction of the original in the british library. eng bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643 -early works to 1800. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -campaigns -early works to 1800. a57928 r200264 (wing r2336a). civilwar no a true relation of the storming bristoll, and the taking the town, castle, forts, ordnance, ammunition and arms, by sir thomas fairfax's arm rushworth, john 1645 6725 7 0 0 0 0 0 10 c the rate of 10 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-06 john latta sampled and proofread 2002-06 john latta text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a true relation of the storming bristoll , and the taking the town , castle , forts , ordnance , ammunition and arms , by sir thomas fairfax's army , on thursday the 11. of this instant septemb. 1645. together with severall articles between prince rupert , and generall fairfax , before the delivering up of the castle . sent in severall letters to the honorable william lenthall esq speaker of the honorable house of commons , and read in the said house . ordered by the commons assembled in parliament , that this relation with the articles , be forthwith printed and published : h : elsynge , cler. parl. d. com. london , printed for edward husband , printer to the honorable house of commons , sept. 13. 1645. a true relation of the storming bristol , and the taking the town , castle , forts , ordnance , ammunition and arms , by sir tho fairfax's army . to the honorable william lenthall esquire , speaker of the honorable house of commons . sir , i send you here inclosed , an account of the last passages about bristol ; i have done it in haste ; i desire it may not be much published till you hear more ( which will not be long ) from your servant , i. r. sept. 7. 12 at night . for his highnesse prince rupert . sir , for the service of the parliament i have brought their army before the city of bristol , and do summon you in their names , to render it with all the forts belonging to the same into my hands , to their use . having used this plain language , as the businesse requires , i wish it may be as effectuall with you , as it is satisfactory to my self , that i do a little expostulate with you about the surrender of the same , which i confesse is a way not common , and which i should not have used , but in respect to such a person ; and to such a place : i take into consideration your royall birth and relation to the crown of england , your honour , courage , the vertues of your person , and the strength of that place , which you may think your self bound , and able to maintain . sir , the crown of england is and will be where it ought to be , we fight to maintain it there ; but the king mis led by evil councellors , or through a seduced heart hath left his parliament , and his people , under god , the best assurance of his crown and family ; the maintaining of this schisme , is the ground of this unhappy war on your part : and what sad effects it hath produced in the three kingdoms , is visible to all men : to maintain the rights of the crown and kingdom , joyntly , ( a principall part whereof , is , that the king in supream acts concerning the whole state , is not to be advised by men of whom the law takes no notice , but by his parliament , the great councell of the kingdom , in whom as much as man is capable of , he hears all his people , as it were at once advising him , and in which multitude of councellors lies his safety , and his peoples interest ) and to set him right in this , hath been the constant and faithfull endeavor of the parliament , and to bring these wicked instruments to justice , that have mis-led him , is a principall ground of our fighting . sir , if god makes this clear to you , as he hath to us , i doubt not but he will give you a heart to deliver this place ; notwithstanding , all the other considerations of honour , courage , fidelity , &c. because of their consistency and use in the present businesse , depends upon the right or wrongfulnesse of this that hath been said : and if upon such conviction you shall surrender it , and save the losse of blood , or hazard of spoyling such a city , it would be an occasion glorious in it self , and joyfull to us , for the restoring of you to the indeared affection to the parliament and people of england , the truest friend to your family it hath in this world . but if this be hid from your eyes , and through your wilfulnesse this so great , so famous and ancient a city , and so full of people , be by your putting us to force the same , exposed to ruine , and the extreamities of war ( which yet we shall in that case as much as possible , endeavour to prevent ) then i appeale to the righteous god , to be iudge between you and us , and to require the wrong : and let all england judge , whether the burning of its towns , ruining its cities , and destroying its people , be a good requitall from a person of your family , which hath had the prayers , tears , purses , and blood of its parliament and people ; and ( if you look on either , as now divided ) hath ever had that same party both in parliaments , and amongst the people most zealous for their assistance and restitution , which you now oppose and seek to destroy , and whose constant grief hath been their desires to serve your family , have been ever hindred or made fruitlesse by that same party about his majesty , whose councell you act , and whose interest you pursue in this unnaturall war . i expect your speedy answer to this summons , with the return of the bearer this evening , and remain your highnesse humble servant , tho: fairfax . sept. 4. 1645. prince ruperts answer . sir , i received yours by your trumpeter : i desire to know , whether you will give me leave to send a messenger to the king , to know his pleasure in it . i rest your servant , rvpert . sept. 5. 1645. sir thomas fairfax's answer to the princes message . sir , your overture of sending to the king to know his pleasure , i cannot give way to , because of delay : i confesse your answer doth intimate your intention , not to surrender without his majesties consent : yet ( because it is but implicite ) i send again to know a more positive answer from your self , which i desire may be such , as may render me capable to approve my self , your highnesse humble servant , tho : fairfax . sept. 5. 1645. september 6. seven in the morning , the trumpet went in , and was detained all that day and night ; every thing was prepared for a storme ; the souldiers had their faggots on their backs , and leaped for joy they might go on : yet about ten at night , it was held fit to give orders to put off the businesse till monday morning two of the clock . lords day , sept. 7. in the forenoon , the trumpet was returned with these propositions from prince rupert , which i send herewith . prince ruperts propositions , to generall sir thomas fairfax . sir , whereas i received your letter for the delivery of the city , forts , and castle of bristol , and being willing to joyn with you for the sparing of blood , and the preserving of his majesties subjects : i have upon those grounds and none other , sent you these following propositions : 1. that my self , all noblemen , commanders , officers , gentlemen , and souldiers of horse and foot , that have served , either his majesty or parliament in england or elswhere : as likewise all persons whatsoever , men or women , now resident in this city of bristoll , castle and forts thereof , shall have free liberty to march away out of the said city , castle and forts , with their arms , flying colours , drums beating , trumpets sounding , pistolls cock'd , swords drawn , matches lighted at both ends , bullets in their mouths , and as much powder and match as they can carry about them ; with all their bag and baggage , horses , arms and other furniture , ten pieces of canon , fifty barrels of powder , match and bullet proportionable . 2. that neither mine own person , nor the person of any nobleman , commander , officer , gentleman or souldier , or any other of mine or of their retinues , be searched , molested or troubled upon what pretence soever , but left to their liberties to depart or stay , as it shall be most convenient for them . 3. that none of your army whatsoever , shall entice or perswade any officer or souldier of mine from their regiments or celours , with any promise of preferment or reward . 4. that all such officers and souldiers that are hurt and sick , and cannot now march out of this city , castle and fort , shall have liberty to stay untill they be recovered , and then have safe conducts to go wheresoever they please , either to any of his majesties armies or garrisons , or their own houses , where they may live quiet , and that in the interim those being sick and hurt , may be protected by you , and have civil usage . 5. that all prisoners taken on both sides since the beginning of this siege , be forthwith set at liberty . 6. that my self , and all those above mentioned , may not be required to march further in a day , then what conveniently we may ; and that a day or two of rest be allowed upon our march , if we shall finde it requisite ; and that we be accommodated with free quarter during our march , and a sufficient convoy to any of the kings armies or garrisons , which i shall name , to secure us in our march from all injury and incivility that shall any wayes be offered unto us : and likewise , that there be one hundred and fifty cariage horses , and forty wains , with sufficient teams provided for cariages of all sorts . 7. that no person here in these articles mentioned , shall be in their march , randevouz , or quarters , searched or plundered , upon any pretence whatsoever : and that two officers be appointed by you ; the one , for accommodation of free quarters for officers , souldiers , and others ; and the other , for providing of horses and carriages for our baggage and train . 8. all noble-men , gentle-men , clergie-men , citizens , resiants , or any other person within this citie , suburbs , and liberties thereof , shall at any time when they please , have free liberty to remove themselves , their goods and families , and to dispose of them at their pleasures , according to the known and enacted laws of the land ; either to live at their own houses , or elsewhere ; and to enjoy their houses , lands , goods , and estate , without any molestation , and to have protection for that purpose ; and this article to extend to all those whose estates are sequestred or not sequestred ; and that they may rest quiet at their abodes , and travell freely and safely upon their occasions : and for their better removall , they may have letters of safe-conduct , with horses and carriages at reasonable rates , upon demand . 9. that all persons above-mentioned may have free liberty to passe to any parts beyond the seas any time within three moneths , as their occasions shall require . 10. that the lines , forts , castle , and other fortifications about or in the citie of bristol , be forthwith slighted , and the city stated in the same condition it was before the beginning of this unnatural war : and that hereafter the parliament , during this war , place no garison in it . 11. that no churches be defaced : that the severall members of the foundation of this cathedral , shall quietly enjoy their houses and revenues belonging to their places ; and that the ministers of this citie may likewise enjoy their benefices without any trouble . 12. that no oathes be imposed upon any person now in this citie , suburbs , and liberties , other then such as are required by the ancient and enacted laws of the land . 13. that the maior , sheriffs , aldermen and citizens within his corporation of the city of bristol , shall be free in their persons and estates , and enjoy all their priviledges , liberties , and immunities , in as full and ample manner as formerly at any time they did , before the beginning of this war ; and that they shall have freedom of trade both by land and sea , paying such duties and customs as formerly they have done , to his majestie : and that no mulct of fine be imposed upon any person mentioned in this article , upon any pretence whatsoever ; or questioned for any act or thing done or committed before the day of our marching forth : that no free quarters shall be put upon them without their own consents . 14. that all other persons whose dwellings are in this citie , and now absent , may have the full benefit of these articles , as if they were present . 15. that all noblemen , gentlemen , and others , who have goods in this citie , and are now present or absent , may have liberty at any time within three moneths to dispose of their goods as they please . 16. that there be no plundering , or taking away of any mans person , or any part of his estate , under what pretence soever ; and that iustice , according to the known laws of the land , be administred to all persons within this citie by the civil magistrates . 17. and for the performance of these articles , i expect such hostages to be given as i shall accept of . and hereunto i desire your speedy answer . sir , by this you may evidently perceive my inclination to peace ; and you may be assured that i shall never desire any thing more then the honour of the king , and safety of the kingdom , and that i may become , sir , your servant , rupert . septemb. 7. 1645. the generalls answer to prince ruperts propositions . sir , i have perused your propositions , wherein some things are doubtfully expressed ; other things inconsistent with the duty i owe to them i serve . notwithstanding , to the end i may give assurance , that i earnestly desire to save effusion of blood , and the ruine of a city and people , that may in time be so serviceable to the crown and kingdom : if it please your highnesse that committees may treat between us , concerning the accommodating of things , i hope to make it evident to the world , that what shall respect the honour of a souldier , due civility to all men , the good and welfare of the people of that city , both in passing by what is past , and restoring them to the priviledges of all other subjects , and to the immunities of their city , will readily be condescended unto by me . and to the end no time may be lost , i have hereinclosed sent you the names of committees , who upon the return of hostages of equall condition unto me , shall attend your highnesse sufficiently instructed , to conclude on my part : provided the said treaty be ●nded by nine of the clock this night . and to this , i desire your answer within the space of an hour , and remain your highnesse's humble servant , t. fairfax . sept. 7. 1645. this answer being returned presently after dinner by the same trumpeter , he was detained till eight at night , and then he brought this answer from the prince , or to this effect , in writing : that he hoped his propositions had been such as need no explanation ; yet , because some doubts were made , he was willing to have the exceptions set down in writing , and his highnesse would return answer . so this night also , though eight men were drawn out and appointed to their severall posts , the storming was put off ; and to morrow a certain hour will be set the prince peremptorily for his positive answer . there can be but two things , in my opinion , induces the prince to offer conditions ; either he is not able to defend the place , and in fear of sir lewis dives conditions , if he be driven for refuge into the fort royall ; or else , he doth it to gain time , till his counter-scarfes and inner-lines be finished , which he is very active in making day and night ; or that he expects aid from the king , or goring , neither of which are moving this way , as our intelligence is ; and therefore ( on that reason ) one dayes time longer is given . no man knows how this businesse may work , especially with the towns-men : if the generals answer be made known to them , or if a treaty be imbraced , the noise of it , and the sight of committees , will make men greedy of conditions , or unwilling to resist , if on the princes part it be broken off . truely , i think , some good will come of the proposition , which i rather wish then by storm ; though by the latter , we shall reduce them to more extremities . god by his providence will order things for the best : i doubt not of good successe , which way soever is taken : for the articles that are point of honour , i beleeve will not be much insisted on , as to grant four peece of ordinance , where ten is desired , and so proportionably of other things ; and all demands of civility . the essentiall articles are : exemption from sequestration : cathedrall men to continue ; against which there is an ordinance : the works to be demolished , and no garison hereafter ; which may be inconvenient : these articles will receive dispute ; if they will agree , the fort and castle may have a reasonable garison , the town perhaps will be exempted . by to morrow night i shall acquaint you more : in the mean time i desire you these may not be too publike , till you hear further from the generall himself , who is so busied he cannot write , neither to your self , nor the committee of both kingdoms . sept. 7. past 12 at night . sir , before i descend to the particulars of bristol , i shall humbly beg leave to offer a word or two , to vindicate the army for coming hither after the taking of sherborn-castle , because some endevours have been , to perswade a belief , that for respect to some particular men , or other self-end , the army was drawn to decline the west , and come hither : me thinks it should be sufficient to convince any ( reasonable ) man , that to adventure naked bodies against an army defended with stone-walls , strong-works , and a castle , and to bring them into apparant danger of being visited with the plague , ( for that they must quarter where the sicknesse was very rife ) was an argument of little self-respect ; and when the city was gained , little could our security be to remain there , where 120 died weekly of the plague . surely sir , it was god that put it into the heart of the generall and his officers to come before this place , and a regard they had unto the publike : and indeed god hath appeared to own our coming hither , in preserving this army from the infection of the plague , considering that the souldiers ( do what we can to prevent it ) run daily into infected houses ; and to this day , not a man in the army dead thereof , that i can hear of , but one . for the reasons inducing this army to come before this place , rather then at that time , to advance further west , had i time , i beleeve i should make it evident unto you , that to come before this city , was most for the service of the kingdom , and the safest and most secure course that could have been taken , to reduce the west to a thorow obedience to the parliament : and this might be laid for a ground , that this army could not ( having a regard to the safety of other parts of the kingdom , on any emergent occasion or accident , and to its own security ) march from sherborne into cornwall , ( as in all probability the army must have done , if the enemy had drawn there together in a body ) leaving bristol a garrison on our backs , and prince rupert at liberty , with neer 1000. horse , and 1000. foot , besides the addition of other forces that might be joyned to his , to range all over wiltshire and dorsetshire , and draw to them the assistance of the ill affected club-men ( we being not able to leave strength to secure bathe , bridgewater , and other garisons , ) and sufficient power to ballance his forces . but this place being reduced , there is no garison in the west of england left behinde us , that can secure or countenance the raising of any considerable force : besides , the reputation in the gaining of this place , may operate so much among men ( that are not void of reason or sense ) as ( perhaps ) without many blows more , to reduce the west of england , and put fair to settle england too , which was once very low when this place was first lost . also , the club-men are hereby engaged , who have declared to assist this army against the enemy . the example whereof , may do much elsewhere , especially in wales , where ( by our gaining of bristol and kings-road ) the people will undoubtedly be our friends . craving pardon for this digression , i now come to the businesse of besieging and storming of bristol . saturday the 23. of august , the army encompassed the city round , both on gloucestershire and somershireside , our horse having been there some dayes before , to prevent the burning of the towns and villages adjacent , whose seasonable coming , saved the burning of stapleton , hanham , and other towns , which the enemy had sent out parties of horse with fire-balls to set them on fire , but that our horse repulsed them ; but bedminster , clifton , and other places , they consumed by fire . from that time , till the 3. of september , the weather was so extreme wet , that both man and horse with hard duty grew weak , and died in the field : during that unseasonable weather , the army was unfit for assault . the weather no sooner changed , but our souldiers ( being refreshed with the warm beams of the sun ) were impatient of falling on , being not out of action the time before , having had severall skirmishes with the enemy , where they took sir barnard ashley , and others ; besides , the taking in of ports-head point fort , and fix peece of ordnance . the generall ( with lievtenant generall cromwell ) having taken , full , and exact views of the line and works , and what places most fit to enter on , called a councell of war ( having first set a day a part for the army to seek god by prayer and fasting , to direct them in what they were to undertake : ) at which councell , it was resolved on , to storm the place , as most necessary to the timely reducing of it , and of having the army timely in a condition to oppose an enemy that should advance towards us : laying this for a ground . that if all the citie and forts were not carryed at first , yet so much would be gained ( by gods blessing ) as a small strength with the assistance of the clubmen , would keepe them in , in a narrow compasse , and the rest of the armie would be at libertie , to meet an enemie ; hereupon , and other weighty ●easons , a summons and friendly advise , was septemb. 4. sent from the generall to prince rupert ( of which i sent you a copie formerly ) and september 5. returned answer , that he desired to know , if the generall would give him leave to send it to the king : who returned answer , he could not , ( because of delay ) give way unto it : and fearing lest the prince intended by this overture of a surrender , to gaine time , rather then otherwise : the manner of storming was agreed on , which was to be after this manner : collonel weldon , with his brigade , consisting of the foure taunton regiments , viz-collonel vveldon , collonel twooldsbies , col. fortescues , and col. herberts regiments , ( whose posts were to make good somersetshire side ) was ordered to storme in three place , viz. two hundred men in the middle , two hundred on each side , ( as forlorne hopes ) to begin the storme , twenty ladders to each place , two men to carry each ladder , and to have five shillings a peece , two serjeants that attend the service of the ladder , to have 20 shillings a man ; each musquettier that follows the ladder , to carry a faggot , a serjeant to command them , and to have the same reward ; 12 files of men , with fire , armes , and pikes , to follow the ladders to each place , where the storme is to be , those to be commanded each by a captaine , and lievtenant ; the lievtenant to goe before with five files , the captaine to second him , with the other seven files : the two hundred men that are appointed to second the storme , to furnish each partie of the , twenty pyoneers , who are to march in their reare . the two hundred men , each to be commanded by a field-officer , and the pioneers each by a serjeant . those pyoners are to throw down the lyne , and make way for the horse : the partie that is to make good the line , to possesse the guns , and turn them . a gentleman of the ordnance , gunners and matrosses , to enter with the parties , the draw-bridge to be let down , two regiments and a halfe of horse , to storme in , ( after the foot ) if way be made : much after this manner was the generalls brigade under col●onel monta●ues command , ( consisting of the generals , col. montagues , col. pickerings , and sir hardresse vvallers regiments ) to storm on both sides of lawfords gate , both to the river avon , and the ( lesser ) river froome . the bridge over froome to be made good against horse with pike , or to break it down . collonel rainsboroughs brigade ( consisting of his own , major generall skippons , col. hamonds , col. birches , and col. barkleys regiments ) to storm on this side the river froome , beginning on the right hand of the sally port , up to pryors fort , and to storm the fort it selfe , as the maine businesse , two hundred of this brigade to goe up in boates with the seaman , to storm vvaterfort , ( if it be to be attempted ) one regiment of foot , and one of horse to be moving up and down in the closes before the royall fort , and to ply hard upon it , to alarum it , with a field officer to command them . the regiment of dragoones with two regiments of horse , to carry ladders with them , and to attempt the lyne and workes , by clifton and vvashingtons breach ; the manner of storme being thus agreed on ( though its probable some more certaine information might change the attempts from some place to another ) the souldiers were drawn out , to try their inclination , in whom more courage , joy , and resolution could not appeare in men . the generall to make good his promise , to reward them for the service at bridgewater , ordered them six shillings a man , which by the care of the commissioners of parliament , was immediatly payd unto them , and put a great obligation upon the souldier . on the last lords day , prince rupert , being prest by the generall for a positive answer to his summons , sent propositions of surrender : the answering of which , and replyes on both sides , spent time til tuesday five in the afternoone , and then the prince appeared in his proper colours , to be a man that pretended one thing , and intended another ; delatorie proceedings , you will the better discerne , by all the letters and answers , which time will not now give me leave to repeat . the prince , noblemen , souldiers , and citizens , being left inexcusable , for refusing such honourable conditions as was offered them , and being guiltie of that blood that should be spilt . the same night , after the treatie broke off , tuesday september 9. at 12 at night , all the armie , horse and foot , round the citie , were set in a posture to fall on ; the signes were to be , to give notice when the storme should begin , by kindling a fire of straw , and shooting off soure great guns . the word during the storme , was david : the word after the lyne was entered , was the lord of hosts : about two of the clock in the morning the storm begun , the souldiers shouted for joy , the service was very hot for a time , especially with collonel rainsboroughs brigade , who with a partie of his force , spent almost three houres in the storming of the pryors fort , a place of great advantage ; which piece of service was as bravely performed , as ever thing was done by man : in re●ard they were put to the utmost , by scaling ladders to win the fort , they cut in pieces most of the forces in the fort , and made the rest unserviceable , they gave no quarter to major price in the fort . this brigade tooke foure great peeces in this fort , and two more in a redoubt ; and collonel montagues brigade tooke sixteen peeces in the severall workes , and halfe moones , which they gained by storming . the other brigade under colonel welden , fell on on s●mmerset-shire side , with a great deale of resolution but when the ladders were sett to the workes , they were to short , the moat being very deepe , so they only alarum'd the enemy : the clubmen they fell on at bedminster , and much terrified the enemy : our losse of men was inconsiderable , not credible almost , i assure you , that in col. rainsboroughs and collonel montagues brigade , not fortie men are lost , our horse entred with the foot . the pyoneers having thrown down the lyne , and beat off the enemies horse , and took col taylor , formerly a member of parliament , being mortally wounded : we had on our part capt. ireton sore wounded , a captain of horse , an honest and stout man , major bethel slightly wounded : major saintleger , and two majors more of the enemie , and divers others are prisoners : we are now planting peeces against the castle , which in 24 houres we hope to have . the enemie hath fired the citie in three places . i am sir your servant i. r. sept. 10. eight in the morning , lawfords gate . sir , since the writing of this inclosed at eight in the morning ; the prince sent out for a parly , which by sixe at night produced these inclosed articles . you see how much god workes for us , beyond expectation . i have writt continually unto you , that i was even well assured of successe upon this place , there is that seeking of god , by our commanders and souldiers , by prayer and fasting , and that unitie of spirit amongst them , and by facile undertaking their dessignes , that a blessing attends their councells and attempts , there is not that striving here , who shall receive most honor , but who is most humble in what successe soever god pleases to give , here is collonel murrey and another knight , come to the generals quarters , as hostages for the performance of the articles , and sir robert pye , and sir hardress waller to go as hostages to the prince , pardon the extreame hast sir of . your most humble servant j. r. september tenth , 1645. eight at night . articles of agreement betweene the commissioners appointed on the behalfe of his highnesse prince rupert , and his excellency sir thomas fairfax for the surrender of the city of bristoll . september the tenth 1645. that his highnesse prince rupert and all noblemen , commanders , officers , gentlemen , and souldiers , and all other persons whatsoever now residing in the citie of bristoll , the castle and forts thereof , shall march out of the said citie , castle , and forts thereof , with colours , pikes , and drummes , bagge and baggage . the prince his hignesse , all noblemen , gentlemen , and officers in commission , with their horse and armes , and their servants with their horses , and swords , and common-souldiers with their swords . the prince his life guard of horse , with their horse and armes , and two hundred and fifty horse besides to bee disposed by the prince , and his life guard of firelocks , with their armes & each of them one pound of powder , and a proportion of bullet let , and that none of the persons who are to march out on this article , shall be plundered , searched , or molested . that such officers and souldiers as shall be left sicke or wounded in the city , castle or forts , shall have lib●rty to stay till their recovery , and then have safe conducts to goe to his majesty , and in the interim to be protected . that the persons above mentioned , who are to march away , shall have a sufficient convoy , provided for them to any such garrison of the kings as the prince shall name , not exceeding fifty miles from bristoll , and shall have eight dayes allowed for their march thither , and shall have free quarter by the way , and shall have two officers to attend them for their accommodation , and twenty waggons for their baggage , if they shall have occasion to use the same . that all the citizens of bristoll , and all noble-men , gentle men , clergie-men , and all other persons , residing in the said city and suburbs of the same , shall be saved from all plunder and violence , and be secured in their persons and estates , from the violence of the souldier , and shall injoy those rights and liberties , which other subjects enjoy under the protection and obedience of the parliament . that in consideration hereof the city of bristoll , with the castle and all other forts and fortifications thereof without any slighting or defacing thereof , and all the ordnance , armes , ammunition , and all other furniture , and provisions of warre . excepting what is before allowed , shall be delivered up to sir thomas fairfax , to morrow being thursday the eleventh day of this instant september by one of the clocke in the afternoone without any deminution or imbezelment , his highnesse prince rupert , then nameing to what army or garrison of the kings be will march . that none of the persons who are to march out on this agreement , shall plunder hurt or spoyle the town , or any person in it , or carry out any thing , but what is property their owne . that upon signing these articles , collonel okey and all persons , now in prison in the city of bristoll , the castle or forts of the same , shall immediatly be set at liberty . that sufficient hostages be given to sir thomas fairfax , such as he shall approve this night , who are to remaine with him , untill the city be delivered . that neither the convoy nor officers , sent with the prince shall receive any injury , in their going or comming back and shall have seven dayes allowance for their returne . that upon the delivering of the towne , sufficient hostages be given for performance of the articles on both parts . signed by us the commissioners on the behalfe of his highnesse prince rupert . io. mynn , w. tillyer , william valuasor . signed by us the commissioners appointed on the behalfe of his excellency sir thomas fairfax , edw. montague , tho. rains-borough , io. pickering . finis . colonell fiennes letter to my lord general concerning bristol fiennes, nathaniel, 1607 or 8-1669. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a41282 of text r628 in the english short title catalog (wing f874). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 51 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 13 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a41282 wing f874 estc r628 12075566 ocm 12075566 53560 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a41282) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 53560) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 239:e65, no 26) colonell fiennes letter to my lord general concerning bristol fiennes, nathaniel, 1607 or 8-1669. [4], 6 p. printed by t. p. and m. s. for thomas vnderhill, london : 1643. reproduction of original in thomason collection, british library. with: mercurius avlicvs, the two and thirtieth week, august 6, 1643. eng bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649. a41282 r628 (wing f874). civilwar no colonell fiennes letter to my lord general, concerning bristol. this is licensed and entred according to order. fiennes, nathaniel 1643 8836 19 0 0 0 0 0 22 c the rate of 22 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2006-11 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-01 celeste ng sampled and proofread 2007-01 celeste ng text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion august . 19. 1643. ordered by the commons in parliament assembled , that this ordinance bee forthwith printed and published . h. elsynge cler. parl. d. com. colonell fiennes letter to my lord general , concerning bristol . this is licenced and entred according to order . london , printed by t. p. and m. s. for thomas vnderhill . 1643. colonell fynes letter to my lord generall , concerning bristoll . may it please your excellencie . since the surrender of bristoll ( of which i desire to give an account before a councell of war ) i could not get any means to send to your excellencie ; and i would not have written at this time , but have my selfe waited upon your excellencie , but that i finde it necessary for me to stay here a day or two , to cleare my selfe of such aspersions as are most unworthily laid upon me in this citie , when i kept the town so farre beyond the enemies expectation , that they began to beleeve we had gotten some fresh forces into the citie , and held a solemne counsell of warre ( the results whereof i have , being found in colonell burkes pocket , whom we slew amongst divers other colonels and officers of qualitie ) whether they should proceed to fall upon the town by way of assault , or by way of approach . my lord , i held that large town with a handful of men against a greater armie then ever yet the king had together , foure dayes , being continually almost assaulted both by day and by night , and stormed by them in eight or nine places together , in so furious manner , as the like was never yet done in england , and the losse that they have received , doth testifie as much : for there are neere a thousand of them slain and maimed , besides a great many of their chiefe officers , amongst the rest , coll-lunsford , coll. buck , coll. trevanian , sir nicholas slaning , and divers others , and yet we lost not above eight men in service , and none of quality . the enemy was provided with all sorts of fire-works , as granadoes , fire-pikes and the like , and with waines full of faggots , and broad scaling ladders , whereon foure or six might climb up on a breast , and they made use of all those in a most desperate way , driving their wains of faggots into the ditches , and climbing up with their fire pikes and granadoes in their hands , to the very portalls of our great ordnance , yet they were beaten back in 8 or 9 places together , and entred only in one place where the works were not perfected , there being no ditch as yet made , nor any foot-bank within side the breastworks ; notwithstanding all this , and that they had entred the suburbs , and drawn the whole body of their foot to that place , yet our souldiers sallied out both horse and foot upon them , as they lay in the suburbs , and beat them back from street to street an hour and halfe together ; but being overlaid with fresh companies , one seconding another , wherein we were not able to answer them , though they beat the enemy back most courageously at the first ; insomuch that many of them ran away , threw down their arms , and cried for quarter , yet being long overborn with fresh men which the enemy still drew down upon them , they were forced to retreat into the town ; and then and not till then , the souldiers began to be disheartned , and whether out of wearinesse , or being discouraged , having been 5 dayes & nights together constantly upon duty , and in fight without any reliefe ( for we could make no reserves ) they began to slink away from their colours and guards , and get into houses , do what their officers could , so that of 14. companies , i could not make 120 men , although i proclaimed that all those that were upon the guards , should repaire to their guards ; and those that were not , should repaire to the marsh , and that there they should receive both money and victuals , but i could not get them to their colours or guards , although the enemy lay ready on the other side of the key ( which at low water , which then it began to be , may be waded over ) to fall over into the town , and no doubt in that condition that our guards were then in , both upon the key , and in the marsh , they might in lesse then halfe an houre , have fallen into the town by force , and used their pleasures both upon the souldiers and upon the citizens . finding our selves in this condition , i called a councell of warre , at which also sir john horner , mr. stevens , and other gentlemen of the countrey , were present , i proposed to them our condition , and besides laid open to them , what store we had of ammunition , that we had not of powder above 25 french barrels ; and of match for above a dayes space ; that the castle it selfe , the works not being finished , was not tenable above a day or two , for that the maine wall would be battered in two severall places , and that we had no expectation of reliefe against such a potent army wherewith we were besieged , in one , two or three workes . at the same instant , mr. major , and the sheriffes did earnestly intreat us , that seeing we could not keep the place , we would not ruine so famous a citie to no purpose , nor expose so many mens persons and estates to violence and plundering . vpon all these considerations , it was unanimously resolved , that we should entertain a treaty with the enemy ; and that if we could have reasonable conditions , that it were far better to save so many commanders and souldiers both of horse and foot , and so many honest mens persons and estates , as well of our friends in the citie , as of gentlemen and others that came out of the countries adjacent , then to expose them all to destruction by attempting in a furious and mad way to defend the towne or castle for two or three dayes ( if we could have held it so long ) without any hope of holding them any longer , for i will put it upon that issue , and without any hope or expectation of any reliefe within that time , or a longer time after . vpon the treaty all things almost which we demanded , we obtained , excepting the arms of the common souldiers , and our colours , which being poynts of honour , i was resolved to have insisted upon , and so we brake off for a while . but upon the earnest suit of the major and citizens , and others , called together my officers , and fell into a serious debate concerning it . and when i was very resolute not to quit the point , very many of my captains came in and told us , that they could not get six of their companies together , and that they ran away apace to the enemy over the key , it being now low water ; whereby they not only shewed to the enemy , that our men were disheartned , and that they should have found but slender opposition ; but also they shewed them the way how they might readily fall over into the towne , so soon as the treaty should break off , which undoubtedly they had done , and given us little leave to retreat into the castle , or anywhere else , i must confesse this castle the ballance in my thoughts , that caused me to yeeld to that article , which otherwise i would never have done , supposing that we should quickly find armes againe , preserving the horses and men of my regiment of horse and foot ( which had conditions been kept with me , i had preserved . ) i have given your excellence a true account of the carriage of this unhappy businesse , and of the causes of the surrendring of that citie and castle , together with the conditions whereupon they were yeelded up . all which being considered and proved , as it shall , by many witnesses , against whom there can be no exception , i hope i shall not only stand clear in your lordships eyes , and the eyes of all the world , but that it shall be acknowledged , that i have done most faithfull service to those by whom i have been entrusted ; and that in truth ( which every indifferent man sees ) the unhappy disaster which befell sir william wallers army , did necessarily involve the fate of bristol , both because i had unfurnished the citie with men and ammunition , to supply that army : and it was necessary for me so to do , because the city was never put into a condition to subsist of it selfe against a royall army , although i was not wanting to represent the importance of the place , and the means how it might be defended in certain propositions which i long since sent to your lordship , and which were by your excellency earnestly recommended to the committee , but they were not brought to any effect . what my care and pains hath been to preserve that citie , having the whole burthen thereof for the providing of men , arms , ammunition , and all sorts of provision cast upon me , having armed 3000 foot , and 300 horse , and paid constantly 2000 foot and a regiment of horse , for foure or five moneths together , without ever having above 4000 pounds from the parliament , and 1700l . of the custome moneyes : what hath been my toil and labour to get moneyes for these uses , without troubling the parliament , how little advantage i have made for my selfe , how ready i have been to furnish sir w. waller with men , arms , ammunition , money , and all sorts of provision , ( that i may say nothing of the hundreds of his maimed souldiers that have been cast upon my care and charge ) i leave to my greatest enemies to speak the truth : for i know there cannot be found in the world so great malice as to deny it ; and i appeal to him that knowes all things , to judge between me and those that expect a greater tale of brick from me , and will not affoord me straw wherewithall to make it ; and i shall appeal to your lordship , and all indifferent men , whether more could have been done by me , when as after the defeat of sir w. wallers army , i had left onely 700 men to defend that citie against two such armies as came aginst it , nor so much as one peny of money to raise more men , provide armes , or pay those men i had already ; yet god inabled me in five dayes , to raise and arm 1000 men more , and with those 1700 men , and that ammunition i had left , i made that defence that i have done , of which i am sure i shall never have cause to be ashamed of , nor do i beleeve that your lordship will be ashamed to own me still , as your excellencies most humble servant , nath. fiennes . we whose names are under-written , do know the narrative part of this letter to be true according as it is here set down . john horner , john fiennes , john clifton , gabriel homes , tho. raulins , henry archbould . john birch , edward tyson , robert johnston chr. stokes , robert bagnall . finis . mercvrivs avlicvs , communicating the intelligence and affaires of the court , to the rest of the kingdome . the two and thirtieth vveeke . sunday . august ▪ 6. you heard last weeke of the affrights and terrours which the prevailing faction in the pretended houses were fallen into , by reason of the sad condition of their affaires in most parts abroad ; and shall now heare of the confusions and distractions they are in at home : the vpper house bandying against the lower , the lower at a rupture amongst themselves , and the army in as great distemper as both the houses . for it was certified this day ( and had beene rumoured two or three dayes before ) that the lords had ordered that the earle of portland and the lord conway should be bayled ( whom formerly they had committed upon a generall impeachment from the house of commons ▪ ) and though it was much pressed by master strode ▪ that there would be no sitting for them , if those lords were released and restored to the freedome of their votes againe ▪ yet the order stood , and the two lords were bayled accordingly : foure of the peeres which heretofore had dearely cherished the proceedings of that house , being bound for them ; which added much unto the heat and fury of their discontent . as also that two bills being sent up to the lords , the one for levying the estates of all whom they stile malignants , according to the newly enlarged ordinance for sequestrations ; the other for the continuance of the weekely assessements , were both rejected by that house . which moved master martyn to propose , as he had done before on the like occasions , that they would passe them of themselves without the lords , whose suffrage and consent he conceived as unnecessary as the kings in things pertaining to the commons : but wiser heads thought fitter to passe by the motion , they being now in no condition for so great a breach . as for the lower house it was also signified , that on the rising of the house on saturday july 29. master pym moved that they would heare some propositions from the earle of essex : but the house having all that day attended the leisure of the close committee without doing any thing , would not be perswaded , but rose immediately ; to the great disgust of that committee , who formerly had beene looked upon with more observance . but this was but the beginning of a greater storme . for at the next meeting it was moved that the close committee should be dissolved , many considerable men inveighing bitterly against it , as the cause of all those miseries which afflict this kingdome . and when that could not be effected ; it was proposed and carried at the last by the major part , that a committee should be nominated to take an accompt of the close committee , and of all others which were trusted with receipts or disbursements of money ; and that none of the close committee , nor any which had fingered any of the publick moneys was to have a voyce in it : it being affirmed in the house , that great summes of money had beene drawne from the citie and country ( to the summe of three millions at the least , as was before alleadged ) whereof although the earle of essex had not received 300000l , waller and fairefax both not above 30000l , yet the armies were continually in want of pay . and though strode and others of the close committee did oppose it openly , saying , it called that power in question which had beene given them by the house ; and used all cunning artifices , and underhand devices not to have it passe ; yet it was carried in the end ▪ the lords concurring also in it , and nominating a committee of their house to the same intent . which hath begot such true fears & jealousies ▪ & raised such a distrust of one another , that it is thought the houses will be too hot for some potent members , who heretofore did governe the affaires of both , and were as uncontroulable amongst them there , as ever were the tribunes in the state of rome . last of all for the armies , it was thus advertised that the earle of essex finding himselfe abused in pictures , censured in pulpits , dishonoured in the table-talke of the common people , and a designe on foot of raising a new army , under the conduct of sir william waller , which would soone put an end unto his authority , made complaint of it to the lords , by them to be communicated to the other house : requiring that his army be forthwith paid , and furnished with cloathes and all other necessaries , his broken and diseased forces presently recruited , reparation to be given him in point of honour , for all the calumnies and scandals which falsely ( as he saith ) have been laid upon him , that waller be called to an accompt for the losse of his forces in the west ; and finally , that no commission may be issued out to any one to have the charge and conduct of any forces , but by his authority . which bold demands , though very unwelcome to the citie-faction in the lower house , who had resolved otherwise amongst themselves ; yet the lords ordered for their parts ( referring the payment and clothing of the souldiers to the care of the commons ) that his army should be first recruited before any other forces raised , that he and his army should have reparation by a declaration of both houses , for all the scandals vented against them , that the miscarriage of the businesse in the west should be examined , and the blame laid on those whom it did belong to ; and finally , that whosoever was appointed to any charge or command , should take his commission from his excellencie onely , and depend on him ; and that he should have power to call backe such commissions , as hee saw occasion . and it is further certified , that though these votes may give content unto the generall , which was the matter most intended , yet doe they yet much displease the faction in the house of commons , and infinitely distast the citizens , who are resolved to raise neither men nor money , if waller may not have ordering and disposing of them , and this they sticking not to say openly as they walke the streetes . and on the other side , waller , and those who have before served under him are so inraged by these votes , that an implacable and deadly feud is very like to grow amongst them , so as there is some hope when these plundering theeves once fall out , true men will come the sooner to their goods . monday . aug. 7. we have beene long in the intelligence of the former day , but shall be breifer in the next ; the most of which comes from london also . for it was certified from thence , that they were more disanimated at the losse of bristol ( when first the newes was suffered to be knowne amongst them ) then at all their former losses in the north and west ; and that assoone as the newes came unto the houses , the prevalent faction there gave exeter for as good as lost , especially since the earle of warwicke was come thence with his fleete , and had done nothing towards the releife of it , but added much unto their desperate condition by being so shamefully repulsed . and it was also certified that they had other feares which did more afflict them , upon the sight of certaine letters from the major of plimmouth to the earle of warwicke , in which was signified that sir alexander carew , and master thomas arundell their governours of the fort & island of plimmouth , were suspected to incline unto the king : which did so startle them , that presently they caused letters to be sent unto them , commanding them as members of the house of commons to returne to westminster , to doe their service to the house . but it was thought the gentlemen had heard too much of hotham , to put themselves into their hands , who shew so little favour unto those that deserved best of them in their present rebellion . it was also certified from bristol that for a speedier ending of the siege of exeter , and the totall reducing of the west under his majesties command , ( that so his armies might unite for some other service ) prince maurice with the cornish forces and some troopes of horse , with many gallant gentlemen who would needes attend him in the action , was gone towards devonshire ; whose going thither , as it was generally conceived , would quickely put an end to that businesse . as also that for the setling of the affaires of bristol , his majesty had made that noble and deserving gentleman sir ralph hopton governour of the towne and castle ; and under him , that valiant colon . vvashington lieutenant governour of the castle , to the generall content of all men . it was also signified from london , that this last weeke hath beene a terrible weeke of newes to that falling faction . for besides the deadly newes from bristol ( the losse whereof doth more astonish them then all the rest of their misfortunes in the north and west ) and that they have given exeter for as good as lost : they have beene miserably vexed with letters from gloucester , coventry , and warwicke , complaining of their severall wants , but specially of the backwardnesse of the people to make good those places , or contribute to the worke , as formerly , since this change of things ; and plainly signifying , that unlesse speedy supplies be sent of men , armes , and money , ( neither of which the pretended houses can afford them at the present time ) they are not able to hold out against his majesties forces , but of necessity must give up those townes on the first assault . tuesday . august 8. it was advertised this day that the prevailing party in the house of commons had refused to concurre to many of the votes , which had beene passed by the lords in favour of the earle of essex ; which breedes ill bloud , not onely betwixt them and the lords , but betwixt the soldierie and them : and that considering that no commission must be granted but by and from the earle of essex , the independent army which was so much talked of , is come to nothing ; insomuch that sir william waller hath not yet listed above 600 of the 20000 which the city promised him . and it is further certified that the towne is very much divided about the businesse of bristol , some imputing the losse of it to fines , and some to waller , according as they stand affected to either party : and that the disputation grew to so great an height betweene sir william and my lord say , ( who you must thinke would not allow his sonne to be a coward , though he can cherish him in a murther ) that the lye passed betweene them . as also , that sir william waller begins to be discontented with his friends the citizens , who so much admired him being absent , and promised him such mighty matters , if he would honour them with his presence . for whereas on the first of this present august , he went into the new artillery yard to list those multitudes of men which had long expected him ; the appearance was so thinne and small , that he was very much ashamed of the disappointment . and when the new committee nominated in the citie petition , told him that was no place to doe the feat in , but they would goe presently to haberdashers hall , and appoint commanders to receive them ; and then hee should see with what alacrity the people would come in unto him : that on the other side did as much offend him , to see he should not have the nominating of his owne commanders . so that , for ought we can perceive by the preparations , the conquerour is like to adde little to his westerne victories by the citie army . it was advertised also that some of the more peaceable lords ( to say no worse ) taking advantage of the slow successe which waller found in raising his army , and of their losses in the west , proposed the renewing of the treaty ; desiring that such propositions might be sent his majestie , as they might reasonably hope would be hearkned to . which being agreed on by the rest , and a committee named for the propositions , they drew them to some certaine heads , such as might give some little shew of satisfaction to his majestie , but more security unto themselves , and a free pardon to all those who have beene either instruments or authors of this rebellion . and yet this pleased not my lord say , who by chance was absent , and therefore when he came next into the house , he laboured very earnestly to have them altered , and prevailed in it at the last . insomuch , that whereas it was first agreed on , that the ships , forts , townes , magazines , and revenues should be delivered to the king , without any condition ; and if the parliament should be adjourned to some other place , being the only points in which there was any shew of satisfaction to his sacred majestie ; he obtained to have both of them altered , and put into such generall termes as might best suite unto the humour of his friends in the other house . but being the businesse stayed not here , but brake out into greater and more publike heats ; you shall heare more of it after a day or two . wednesday . aug. 9. it was advertised this day that the castle and isle of portland ( wherof st edw. sydenham knight marshal was & is governor ) were reduced againe under his majesties command , which had beene taken by the rebells about march last . the manner how it was regained is reported thus . a gentleman well known unto the rebells which had the guard of the castle , and used to be much there for his owne safety and preservation in these dangerous times , came to the noble earle of carnarvon , and gave him very good assurance that if he would trust him with 60 of his men he would forthwith make him master of the isle and castle : the earle considering that the castle and isle were richly worth the adventuring of 60 muskets , having taken so many armes at dorchester , condescended he should have them : which being obtained the gentleman furnished them with parliament colours , and making towards the castle with so confused a speed as if he fled from an enemy , called upon the guards and told them he had brought some parliament forces to make good the place ; but that they were pursued so closely by the earle of carnarvon ; that if they had not speedy entrance they should all be lost . this was no sooner heard by the credulous rebels , but all the hast was made that could be to set open the ports : at which his majesties soldiers entred , and seizing on the guards , who looked not for such unwelcome visitants ▪ made themselves masters of it without further trouble . a place of very great importance , as having the command of the haven and towne of weymouth , against which it lieth , and as the case then stood , of most infinite wealth , all the rich houshold stuffe and treasure which had beene taken by the rebells out of wardour castle with a great deale more of goods plate and money , being stored up there . it was also certified from those parts , that poole melcombe , & weymouth which were in treaty with the earle of carnarvon ( as you heard the last weeke ) upon the yeelding up of dorchester , have since submitted to his majestie : so that all dorsetshire is totally reduced againe to its old obedience ; which cannot but very much conduce to the dispatch of the worke at exeter , and consequently to the absolute and finall setling of all the west . and it was also signified , that a ship of his majesties navy called the charles , being the ship of the second ranke , had left the earle of warwick , and was come to folmouth , according to his majesties proclamation of the 7 of july . nor is it ( in my mind ) without some good omen , that the first ship of strength and burden , which did obey that invitation should be the charles . thursday . august . 10. it was advertised this day that the lord capell with his forces appeared before the walls of namptwich , in hope to finde them in a disposition of returning to his majesties service ; considering how his majesties affaires had thrived and prospered , not only in raising the siege of chester , but in cleering of the north and west from the power of the rebells . but finding them continue in their wonted obstinacy , he fell off againe , and retreated safely to his owne quarters , with the losse of sixteene only of his men . and on the other side to make amends for the defailement of this hope ( for it was no more ) we had intelligence this day , that the lord willoughby of parham being gone from gainsburgh , on his redelivery of that towne , had recovered lincolne . but seeing an impossibility that either cromwell should time enough recruit his beaten and distracted forces , or that hee could receive any seasonable supplies from london ; on the first newes that the earle of newcastle was comming towards him , he forsooke the place , and made what hast he could to boston : leaving the city and close of lincolne , which he had nested in so long , to be the next example ( as we have had very many lately ) of gods great mercy to his sacred majesty . it was also signified this day , that the heates in london ( according to the season ) doe still increase ; and that the discontents which have late beene growing betweene the remaining partie in the two houses , are at the last improved to a sedition , if not unto a civill warre amongst themselves . for howsoever the lord say had so farre altered the propositions , intended by some peaceable lords to be presented to his majesty , as to make them of a better relish to the lower house : yet when they came into that house , they were very eagerly opposed , and the house continued sitting untill nine at night ; in hope such men as durst declare themselves to be well-affected , would be wearied with their long debates ; and they of the malignant faction , might there carry matters upon that advantage as they had done formerly . but finding that they sate it out , and carried it for the propositions by the major part ; they had no other way to effect the businesse , then to returne againe to their former practices , and bring downe their city club-men to awe the members of both houses , and repeale those votes . and so accordingly they did . for the next day , being sunday last , they had so fashioned and prepared their partie in the city of london , that printed bills were set up on the church dores , ( and somewhat you must think was done in the pulpits too ) a copie whereof wee here offer you . all such as desire there may be a generall raising of the people against those irish rebels , and blood thirsty papists now in armes , ( fully purposing to destroy us , our religion . lawes and liberties ) are desired to meet at westminster hall , to morrow morning by nine of the clocke , being the seventh day of this instant august ▪ to move the parliament that this may be put in speedy execution . twenty thousand irish rebels are appointed to come over against us . according to which intimation , the rabble came in such multitudes , and with so great clamour , that such of the lords and commons who had favoured the propositions , were forced to take boate and make hast towards kingston , where the earle of essex then lay with that part of his forces , which gods hand and the kings sword had left alive : conceiving that the declaring of themselves in favour of him ( of which you heard at full before ) had beene sufficient to oblige him fast unto their partie . but contrary to their hopes and expectation they found him so resolved for the other side , as they were faine to dispose otherwise of themselves . and it is said , that , notwithstanding those indignities which have beene offered to him by the city faction , he is so much inclined that way , that upon notice sent unto him , that the women had made an uproare in demand of peace , he sent some troops of horse amongst them , and killed three of them : for which ( and some other former courtesies ) that sex will ever honour him and his posterity . on wednesday last a partee of horse ( about fifty ) were sent out from banbury towards towceter ( commanded by captaine james chamberlaine ) twenty of this number divided and went towards northampton ; the other thirty within lesse then a mile of towceter met with the rebels forces , in number about one hundred and twenty , commanded by captaine lawson , which though they had so great advantage in number , yet captaine chamberlaine very valiantly charged through them with part of his men , ( his rere falling off from him ) and with that small strength maintained a sharpe fight with them above halfe an hower , wherein he received many wounds , and at last was shot dead through the head , and one of his men also . of the rebels there are at least 20 sore wounded , as by intelligence from northampton ( where they are ) is certified , and five were carried away behind them dead from the place . one left on the ground , and captain lawson himselfe wounded . this gentleman was the youngest brother to sir thomas chamberlaine now high shriffe of this county , and was in most of the principall fights , at worcester , keynion , brainsford , &c. where his valour was eminently manifested , and by this last action wherein he lost his life , hath added further to the honour of that worthy and loyall family . friday . august ▪ 11. this day wee were certified by letters from yorke , that about foure hundred of the rebels of lancashire came stealing into yorkshire , hoping to have surprized some of his majesties horse quarters about halifax ; which being timely perceived by sir francis mackworth , he fell upon them and routed them , killed above forty in the place , and tooke fifty , the rest ( as they were taught ) ran away , and escaped by the advantage of the place . at coventry they pull downe many houses of the suburbs , and tell the people that the kings army is marching towards them with twenty pieces of ordnance , and they had some reason ▪ for this day we received an expresse that his majesty yesterday sate downe before gloucester , and sent in a most gracious summons to the city , in these very words , out of our tender compassion to our city of glocester , and that it may not receive prejudice by our army , which we cannot prevent , if we be compelled to assault it , we are personally come before it to require the same , and are graciously pleased to let all the inhabitants of , and all other persons within that city , as well souldiers as others , know , that if they shall immediatly submit themselves , and deliver this our city to vs , we are contented freely and absolutely to pardon every one of them without exception ; and doe assure them in the word of a king , that they nor any of them shall receive the least dammage or prejudice by our army in their persons , or estates ; but that we will appoint such a governour , and a moderate garrison to reside there , as shall be both for the ease and security of that city and that whole county . but if they shall neglect this profer of grace and favour , and compell vs by the power of our army to reduce that place ( which by the helpe of god we doubt not we shall be easily and shortly able to do ) they must thank themselves for all the calamities and miseries must befall them . to this message we expect a cleere and positive answere within two houres after the publishing hereof ▪ and by these presents doe give leave to any persons safely to repaire to ▪ and returne from vs whom that city shall desire to imploy unto vs in that businesse . and doe require all the officers and souldiers of our army ▪ quietly to suffer them to passe accordingly . but this rebellious city answered , that they would obey his majesties commands as they were signified by the two houses of parliament . and now let the world judge if his majestie could have sent a more gracious message to his most loyall subjects , and whether these desperate rebels deserve any mercy , who after so many offers do still refuse a pardon . but since their returning this rebellious answer , they have set their owne suburbs on fire , which surely is not to keepe the city either for the king or parliament . yet his majesties forces quenched the fire , and in spight of the rebells , entred the suburbs where still they are , and have already raised mounts , and digged trenches so neare the city wall , that i dare promise you ( god willing ) a very speedy account of the siege of gloucester . saturday . august 12. this day newes was brought to town of sir william waller's extraordinary progresse in raising the great army intended for him . you heard before how the good women flocked to westminster on tuesday last , to cry out for peace ; three of the which were killed directly in the place , and thirteene or fourteene more most shrewdly wounded . and the next day , to shew the men were better studied in the point then so , came downe some 5 or 6000 of the usuall hacksters , which had beene alwayes ready for such purposes at a minutes warning ; and they cryed no peace . and being told by some who were appointed to returne the answer , that they who were for the continuance of the warre , ( as every one of them seemed to be ) should goe to haberdashers hall , and there list themselves under the conduct and command of sir william waller : it wrought so much upon the courage of those gallant spirits , ( reader , thou canst not choose but wonder at such monstrous forwardnesse ) that of 5000 men which would have no peace , no fewer then fifteene sturdy fellowes ( in words at length and not in figures ) listed their names upon the roll to pursue the warre . and some of those perhaps may see gloucester one day . it was advertised this day also , that 200 of the rebels by the appointment of sir william brereton , have laid siege to eccleshall castle in staffordshire , ( an house belonging to the lord bishop of coventry and lichfield ; ) the greatest part of those who are shut up in it , being ladies and gentlewomen of that county , who purposely came thither to secure themselves in these times of danger . and that they are so gallantly resolved upon it , that though their victuals doe begin to faile already , they meane to stand upon their guard and defend the place ( in hope his majestie will relieve them e're it come to that ) as long as they have horse flesh , water , and old leather left to preserve nature . which as it shewes the bravery and courage of those noble ladies , so is it an infallible argument of the incivility and rudenesse of those barbarous rebels ( who regard neither sex nor quality of persons ) from whom the best that can be looked for , is more unsufferable then the miseries of warre and famine . this day there came to towne from london , the earle of lindsey ▪ lord great chamberlaine of england , and sir george radcliffe ; the first tooke prisoner at edge-hill , the second made a prisoner by appointment of the house of commons at the beginning of this parliament : but by what meanes and accident they are at liberty , is not yet made knowne to mee . but because the rebels are now so farre vanquished , that they dispaire of their designes , they resolve ( like bloudy cowards ) to make use of all base advantages , for which end they are now beginning to ship away beyond sea such of his majesties good subjects as are in their custody ; and wee were this day informed , that mudford alias murford ( that infamous brownisticall governour of southampton ) hath this weeke taken a learned ingenuous gentleman one mr jones of lincolnes inne , and others out of prison , and sent them by sea to new-england , or some such other place as the devill and they think fittest for their punishment , making the said master jones to passe through the streets by his owne doore , but would not suffer him to take leave , or speake with his wife , or any other friend or kinsman to furnish him with linnen and other necessaries for this unexpected voyage ; and that yesterday their brother rebels at london conveyed colonell goring ▪ sir george sands , sir john goodrick and other gentlemen ( three or foure coaches full ) to the water side on ship-board , there to lye under hatches like slaves of argiers , exspecting every hower how this barbarous bloudy faction will dispose of them . nor is this strange if you consider their devotion , for this aforesaid mudford sent up his levite into the pulpit at southampton , to move the people to take the new covenant , who ( like a priest of their religion ) fell on cursing ( praying they call it ) in these very words blesse the king , o lord , mollifie his hard heart which delighteth in bloud , open his eyes that he may see that the bloud of thy saints is deare in thy sight ; he is fallen from faith in thee , and become an enemy to thy church : is it not he that hath sinned and done evill indeed ? but as for these sheep , what have they done ? let thine hand , we pray thee o lord our god , be on him and on his fathers house , but not on thy people that they should be plagued . and ( to let you see both priest and people are of the same profession ) saint-barbe himselfe after he had taken the covenant said aloud before many witnesses , that he had rather see the kingdome in a flame , then that the king should prevaile against this cause they have undertaken . this is pure protestant religion , such as their brother judas scarce findes among the damned . and it was also signified by letters from winchester , that this aforesaid murford in pursuance of his former threats to the prentises of south-hampton ( whereof you heard last weeke ) for refusing to take the rebellious new covenant , sent one thornborough , riggs , and divers others to portsmouth , where they are lodged in such a dungeon , as they are not able to stand upright , but are forced to doe their necessary acts of nature in the same place where the poore men must make their lodging : and yet the newes-men at london have the impudence to tell us in print , that no body hath beene punished for refusing their covenant . and in the same letters it is advertised that the maior of southampton ( a very ancient man ) is so over awed by this murford , that being lately come from the two houses ( whose prisoner he hath beene these eleven weekes for his loyalty to his soveraigne ) hee must not now be suffered to goe out of the towne gates ▪ but every common souldier by murfords command forceth him backe again ; in such contempt is the kings lieutenant amongst this faction ; and all this out of whitehead of portsmouth his malice to the maior , because he would not deliver the keyes of the towne to him when hee demanded them for the two houses ; the good old maior ( being a jer●y man ) answering him , me no hang for you master whitehead , you hang for your selfe . this day also we received a copy of isaack pennington's petition against peace , ( though moulded and penned by john pym himselfe ) desiring the house of commons , or rather commanding them to persist in this warre ( though they perish in the worke ; ) and tendring a forme of an ordinance to presse and force every man rich and poore ( excepting some few ) to take armes for this cause , or pay ten pounds a peece ; which accordingly was voted , and the petitioners had thankes returned them from the house . this day wee saw a printed ordinance from the two pretended houses , for the speedy raysing and levying of a weekly contribution towards the maintenance of their army , to be paid by the severall counties and cities of this kingdome for two moneths together : as for example , the citie of chester is to pay weekly unto the two houses 62l . the county of cornwall 625l . the citie of yorke 62l . the county of salop 375l . the citie of lichfield 5l . bristol 55l . worcester 16l . the county of worcester 500l . oxford 400l . if the worthy members will come to these places , the money lyes ready for them . the earle of northampton this weeke intercepted divers letters from london , wherein we see such pretty devices as the brethren use to cheat one another ; one writes , that 3000 cavaleirs were slaine at the taking of bristol . another , that waller will be 30000 horse , and 20000 foot . another , th●● waller is 8000 strong already . another , that 20000 scot● are come as far as barwicke . another , that the scots will not come , because the citizens have no money . another , that all is lost except spirituall comfort . another , that the earle of essex would have all their souldiers leave their garrisons , and come away with their armes , lest they be all taken by the king . another , that gloucester cannot be relieved . another , that the rotten lords ( a pretty-pretty epithete ) would now have peace . another , that now they must no longer trust in the parliament . another , that the losse of bristol hath discovered many false hearts , who onely had creature-confidence . another , that to vote for peace now , was like the plot of the trojan horse , and like saul , to fly in distresse to the witch of endor ; with a world more of such excellent expressions , as doe trouble me to want paper for them . and the printed newes-men are this weeke turn'd preachers , urging scripture ( in place of newes ) against fainting in tribulation , yet ever and anon sprinkling a lye : as 1. that the lord digby hath one troope of spanish papists : ( my lord thankes you for raising a new troope for him ; but hee thinkes you meane the walloones at fulham , allowed to have masse by the close committee . 2. that the lord willoughby of parham's souldiers marched out of gainsborough with all their armes : ( you were cudgelled for this the last weeke , and yet you are at it againe . ) 3. that the king commands to kill men for fearing god , ( for labouring to murther him in the feare of god ; feare god , obey the parliament . ) 4. that sir william waller hath many thousands of men : ( yes , at round-way downe . ) 5. that those men are most of them good lusty butchers ( to knocke downe the oxe at kingston . ) 6. that sir william went in triumph to butchers hall neare newgate : ( he went himselfe now , but next time he shall be brought to newgate . ) lastly , that the close committee had newes that dorchester , weymouth , and lincolne , were delivered up to the kings forces , and yet were not disheartned at it : i thinke it would please them to see one another hang'd ; which god for his mercies sake , &c. finis . a manifesto declaring what george bishope hath been to the city of bristoll and the particular persons now in authority therein and what hee hath received from them in recompence occasioned by the late sentence of banishment pronounced upon him by them, 16th, 7th mon., 1665, and other useages for his conscience to god / by george bishope. bishop, george, d. 1668. 1665 approx. 94 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 16 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28236 wing b2999 estc r11093 13571254 ocm 13571254 100368 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28236) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100368) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 836:7) a manifesto declaring what george bishope hath been to the city of bristoll and the particular persons now in authority therein and what hee hath received from them in recompence occasioned by the late sentence of banishment pronounced upon him by them, 16th, 7th mon., 1665, and other useages for his conscience to god / by george bishope. bishop, george, d. 1668. [2], 28 p. s.n.], [england? : 1665. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bishop, george, d. 1668. bristol (england) -history. 2006-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a manifesto declaring what george bishope hath been to the city of bristoll , and the particular persons now in authority therein , and what hee hath received from them in recompence occasioned by the ●●te sentence of banishment pronounced upon him by them , 16th . 7th . mon. 1665 and other useages for his conscience to god. by george bishope . all this have i seen , and applyed my heart unto every work that is done under the sun. there is a time wherein one man ruleth over another to his own hurt . and so i saw the wicked buried who had come , and gone from the place of the holy , and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done . this is also vanity . eccles . 8.9 , 10 , 11. printed in the year , 1665. a manifesto , &c. i ever bore a natural love to the city of bristol , the place of my nativity , and as opportunity , and my understanding gave me leave , i still improv'd it for the advantage thereof . i was very young when the differences began between the late king , and the parliament , yet i inclined to the parliament , as those unto whom drew the more sober people of the nation , which had some influence upon me ; the fear of the lord being with me from a child . when the city was taken by prince rupert i was there , and marched out with the parliament's forces , and returned again when the city was retaken by the parliament . being come to bristol , and setled there again , i made it my business what in me lay , to advantage the good thereof , and in the first place wrought what i could for the procuring of a friendly governour , that so the place which had been miserably torn with warrs and factions , might have some reliefe , and that the necessities thereof might arise in a calme and friendly favour above the sterrility that was over it through the harshness of the rough storms that had compassed it about , and my endeavours herein were not without success , for they produced colonel charles fleetwood ( a man as much to the purpose as could be desired ) to be appointed governour . in the next place in regard the city had been for sometime before sorely visited with the plague , and there died now upwards of one hundred a week , and the well and the sick were promiscuously together by reason of the leagure ; i endeavoured the seperation of the sick from the well in place● convenient , and where the streets or parts were generally infected , watchmen were set to keep them in , which with other endeavours then used , through the good hand of the lord soon ceased the contagion in that place . thirdly , in regard that the city and the country adjacent had been much harassed by reason of the leagure , and the other attendencies of war , i procured an order from general fairfax that no forces but those of the garrison should quarter in , or about the city for the space of six miles , which gave the city and the country in particular , much reliefe , who came thereby to be freed from the hard quartering of the regiments , and other forces designed for ireland , which long lay in the country before they were imbarqu'd . these things in their time put the city into a wholesome and quiet posture , and unity , and love seemed to spring therein , and men began to forget the old engagements wherein they had been mutually exercised to the detriment of each other , and to apply themselves to things that concern'd their own , and the good of each other ; and i may truly say , and i suppose there are yet alive those who can bear me testimony therein , that in a months space after the reducing thereof , there was such a metamorphosis as had been scarcely seen during the warrs in this nation ; and great pitty it was ( and i am sure it was exercise enough to me to see the contrary , as afterwards i found , and therefore opposed that which gave it , as the sequel manifests ; ) that ever it should be turned into winter again and those storms brought over it , which had neer laid it in the dust , i am sure endeavours were not wanting-in me according to my capacity , and as i had opportunity to turn it aside , which produced that which is part of the ensuing relation , in recompence of which some of my neighbours , fellow citizens and countrymen thus concern'd , as the relation makes manifest , have thought fit to place banishment upon me , and other usages , barely for my conscience to god , as to his worship , who is a spirit , and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth , as the frontispiece of this relation , or manifesto instances it ; of which i shall in order speak . long was not the day of this fair sun shine , and promising prosperity of bristol , there was an eye that saw it ▪ and did envy it , and therefore attempted to hinder the progress thereof whil'st it was ( as it were ) the morning , and so drew a cloud over it : col. charles fleetwood though a person without exception ( as then ) saving that his spirit seemed to some who looked a squint , too indulgent , he savouring more of vnity then division , rather to heal then widen differences that had been , though as to his n●●●●●● capacity he was known to be both vigilant and stout , was ●●●●●… a weeks time unworthily laid aside , and m. g. skippon by the sollicitation of some of this place above , who had little known the sharpes of swords , or the the brunt of the battel , was placed in his stead , and they themselves in the capacity of doing what they pleased , being with their favourites and relations most of them instated the men of the committee therein ; who ( with the new governour ) not long after came down to the city . now the state of the city began to alter , and another face to appear upon it : those of the contrary part who thought they had bought their peace in their large proportion of 6000 l. raised , and given as a free contribution to the army for their tenderness to the city , and general forbearance to plunder , and to be secure in the articles of surrender , were called upon to pay their 5 th . and 20 th . parts , and after sometime summon'd to composition , or sequestration ; in order whereunto witnesses were examined as to what they had done during the being of the forces of the contrary part in the city , on the one hand , and on the other ald. humphry hook , and several others of the councel to the number of thirteen , were removed by a vote of the lords and commons , which were the committee for the west , without being called to answer , or any due or legal conviction , through the instigation of those who so carried things below as aforesaid . and alderm . francis creswick who was chosen mayor after the city was reduced ; notwithstanding that he carried things without exception was put out also , and another put in who had acted foot for foot the same that alderman creswick had done when the contrary part had the city meerly out of faction , to serve a private and a particular interest : for alderman hooks abilities being well known to far exceed in the governance of the city any of those who now seemed to bear the day ; he must be removed , and those who were more related and seemed to adhere to him , because otherwise that faction must vaile in the city . and here began that unhappy encounter which gave much sorrow and trouble in the city , and to me much travel . for the rest of the councel were men that had been acting in the same day , the same things ; yet they were kept in , and these were put out ; as hereafter is mentioned . these proceedings were an abomination to me , and i hated them exceedingly , the rather because i saw it was not so much for the advancement of the interest unto which they pretended , as indeed for the seting up of a particular party , or faction , the progress , and issue of which hath tended to the undoing of the city ; for all things hitherto were carried , and whatsoever was the pretence to the contrary ; yet all concentred here , that is to say , the private comodity , and advantage of some particular persons , who as horsleeches sucked the breasts of the opportunity to serve their purpose , dividing the city into factions for that end under the pretence of the publique . i hated also to see that almost intollerable oppression , viz. some of those very persons who in the former day had conjointly acted , and with as much seeming zeal for the interest then on foot , now to sit in the committee as judges of those who with them had acted the same thing . to speak plainly , to see cavileer in shew fitting in judgment upon cavileer for the same things done jointly by each quatenus & quando cavileers , and to behold the body of the counsil who together as one man strenuously appeared for the interest of the king to be reserved as well affected to the parliament ( for so the exclusion spake ) and to act as such , when alderman hook , and those with him were ejected the counsil ; for having done the same did smell so ranck of a faction that it was manifest that it was not because the parliaments interest was in danger of being damnified , if he and they had been continued , but that some of those who now rose up to bear the day over them , conceived themselves in danger by reason of him , and them to be overtopt , that is to say , that not themselves but he and them would rule the city , though for the parliament ; so that the ground of that ilfavoured ( though called ) reformation was , that themselves might bear the sway ; not that they themselves had been together bearing the sway for the interest of the king. and i appeal to those judicious unbiassed men whom the faction swayed not , who then minded those transactions as they then were , and have since observed the issue of those things , whether the measure i have given be not the diameter of those proceedings . i say i hated these things , and they were an abomination to me ; and as i did upon all opportunities bear my testimony against them , foe which they sat in opposition to me , so i endeavoured to out-work them , and the whole interest ; and the understanding i had i made use of to counterwork , at least , to obviate the issue of these things , which i saw must needs be the natural effect : if in all these things they prospered , viz. the ruine of the city , & the particular persons therein that were men of estates , whom the enterchanges of the former day had brought into the capacity of sequestration . in the prosecution of which i met with many notable and great encounters ( as what follows will in part make manifest ) which were they to be attempted with money , could not have been purchased of me at any rate . for the obstractions i met with , the length of time , the most tedious waitings and disappointments were such that ( i speak in truth of heart ) no such consideration could have wrought me over thereunto . nevertheless i set my self to it , and though young ( as i have said ) and not having many to joyne with me , i mean such as would make it their business to tug in such a matter , yet i was determined in the thing , and in the consequence , obtained that which is some ground of this relation . general fairfax being near about the city , and the head quarters of the army at bath , in the year 1646. after the first warrs were over , some of the men opprest as aforesaid foreseeing what was coming upon them , applyed themselves to the general by petition , concerning the interpretation of the articles of surrender , hoping thereby to stemm , if it might be the floud of sequestration that was coming upon them ; who in a letter to the parliament , gave his sence to this effect , viz. that he intended by the fourth article ( which was that unto which they had particular resort ) as much saving to the corporation , and the particular persons concern'd therein as was in his power to grant . which was as much as could be expected at his hands , considering the state he and the army stood in at that time ; ( sc . ) as being thought in principle and otherwise as to religion , not in order to that reformation which those then in power thought to settle in the nation . i was at bath when this thing was in agitation , and i helped it forward with the general officers what i could , on whom i had an influence , but it accomplisht nothing , for it was not made use of . so things stood in reference to this as before , and they lay objected to as much mischief as those that rose against them , were able to do unto them , and their disease was yet without a remedy . and indeed , this matter sprang of themselves through the opportunity of some friend of alderman hooks , who accomplished it with the general ; which nevertheless was assisted by the general officers , whose agitation therein was not altogether useless ; their concurrence being something to the general therein ; with whom i had to do as aforesaid . nor was it altogether unnecessary , for thereby by they came to be so informed in the state of affairs as to bristol , and to be brought into such a sence , that for ever afterwards they assisted the good and benefit of the city what lay in their power . and indeed without them the things that were afterwards could not have been affected , for their valour and success gave them to be something in the ordring of affairs of this nature , especially where their swords had led the way thereunto , and wherein their honour as souldiers was engaged in point of articles . and here i laid the stress of the matter , viz. upon the army , and those who were with them in the parliament , and council , and other places of concernment in the nation ; and the others placed their opposition against me in the interest that was contrary ; and so the rugg became hard , the chiefest men in power in england then on both sides being concern'd in the matter ▪ and so it rose , and fell as the interests prosper'd , who , in other things as well as this , had the competition . nor could i tell where better to place it then so , viz. in the hands of those who had the sword in their hands , whose business it was ( as i have said ) most properly , and naturally to see it brought to pass ; who were best able ; who if they fell , the thing must , but in their standing , which was the most likely of the two , a man might reasonably promise to himself the greatest prosperity . so things stood , and so they were placed , and here began the engagement in the matter . i was considering with my self the condition of the city ; how low it was brought by reason of the warres , how it was a port town ; how the present men that were of estates were ( mostly ) the contrary party ; or such whom the rules of sequestration , if strictly laid , would take hold of , as having had to do in things that by the parliaments orders were sequestrable ; or would make them liable so to be ; how the sequestration of them would be in a manner as a statute of banqueroutisme , how one way , or another , all the inhabitants , and citizens that had been there whilest the city was not taken , were in the capacity of sequestration ; how the noise of this would spoile their reputation ( especially the merchants ) in forraigne parts , and their bills would be worth nothing ; how that trade hereby would fall , and being once lost or fallen into the londoners hands ( who watch't for it ) would not easily , if at all , be recovered ; how that the consequence would be matter of sorrow hereafter not to be recovered ; therefore i bestir'd my self ; and seeing that on this foot matters stood , and clearly too , in my understanding ; i resolved to do the part of a native , and citizen , the son of a freeman ; one that was free-borne ; and rather to hazard my self in the issue , then that thorough any failer of mine , the city should fall not to be recovered . and so mine own natural , and ( i may say ) native love to the city , in which i first drew breath in such considerations as these prompted me ( not any other , or person whatsoever , for it arose in mine own breast ) to what i afterwards undertook , & perfected ; as by , and by shall be made manifest . the committee going on in their examinations for sequestration , notwithstanding their exacting the 5 th . and 20 th . part , i made it my business what i could to take off their edge , and so wrought with some particular persons , as ( to give them their due ) they took things so into consideration that they proceeded with no one effectually in this matter , but suffred things to fall , and the heat by degrees , as the matters of consideration took place , and they had leisure to receive them ; yet this was not presently nor at once , that they so did but they held it on as they pleased , and no one was certain , ( no not they themselves who were more moderate amongst them ) whether they should so hold the matter among themselves , or whether they should not otherwise be compell'd thereunto , because the oath of committee-men seemed to oblige them to the contrary . in the mean time whil'st things lay thus in suspence , neither done nor undone , but in probability , my travel was still continued upon me , and my cares were least some sudden slip might effect it , therefore i carried a wary eye on every hand , least the thing being once done , it should be past recovery . therefore when the election for burgesses to fit in parliament came to be , i endeavoured what i could the bringing into election col. charles fleetwood aforesaid , because he was a man of moderation and interest , and probably in the house might best serve the advantage of the city , whose condition was now brought very low ; at least he might serve for the turning by of that rigidity , which by the means of the instigation of some , might produce a sequestration . for i knew right well that if things in the fountain were not stopt as well as in the stream , what was done , or might be as to the stream , might signifie little . and the rather minded i this thing , because those who on the other hand drove on the election , sought to elect , ( and in the issue carried it , though unduly ) such in that place as would ( and it afterwards proved so , and i felt the effects of it in my after prosecutions ) force the contrary . and here , though major general skippon the then governour , and my superior officer ( for i was in command under him ) and my very loving friend , sat in the hall in order to an election ; yet before his face i prosecuted for the other with the uttermost that my interest and strength was able , and had accomplished it for col. fleetwood had the pole been granted , as neer as a man could well judge by a view in that matter , but the business was otherwise packt , and a return made by the sheriffs presently in the hall for those two , on the foundation of whose after proceedings lay the misery , and unhappiness of the city . i opposed it what i could as aforesaid , as foreseeing that which hath since proved in the end ; and something was sent up against the election which was of weight , but they being returned , and coming to fit in the house , there was a guard against such things as these , so as that the prosecution of things of this nature seldome received any effect , especially where the persons opposed sided with or served the prevailing party in the house , which these did , and so the matter could never come within . there were many sober citizens that were with me in this matter , and many of them such as had suffred much by the contrary party . indeed this encounter put me to some , yea a great trial , for i thereby hazarded my interest with the major general then governour , and the loss of the friendship of that part of the city which i opposed in the election ; and of the men returned themselves ; and moreover ( as it might prove , and so it did as hereafter will more appear ) i apprehended it would lay a bone of contention between me and them , and a ground of prejudice in them against me , which had not the hand of the lord preserv'd me , had been my ruine . for , ever afterwards those then sitting as burgesses in the house look upon me with a squint eye , and as they could with their party wrought against me , and had not the other interest , viz. the army stood it thorough , they had carried it against me : for , with the opposite interest to the army they stood in this thing , which gave a fore encounters , and notable disappointments , and a male interpretation of all that i did to them , and the party unto which th●… did adhere ; and if a hole could have been pickt in my coat , i should have been sure to have had it ; and they and that interest would have served it upon me , but they were disappointed . this struck the stroak between us , and laid a perpetual ground of opposition on their part against me , when they saw that by no means they could court me to turn from that on which i was ; and they wrought at me as they pleased ; and words passed , and actions from some of them , not fit here to be related , but in the summ● of the matter they secretly held me for their enemy , and did against me what lay in their power , though in all that i did i had nothing in mine eye but the preservation of the city from that outrage which malice and wickedness sought to attempt against it , which now arose to a great height , so that i was enforc'd to attend the motions of it higher then this place , even in the parliament it self , whither the heads of this faction were removed , and sat , and where they had their influence . hereunto i was inforced to lay my leagure , that is to say , to attend the motions of these men above , who here below had accomplisht little though it was endeavoured ; and because some principal men of the contrary part ; viz. alderman hook , alderman james , alderman francis creswick , &c. were called upon to composition through the instigation of those of the city who sate as members of parliament , whereby those of this city who were in the like capacity , were ( in effect ) called to the same , therefore i removed the matter higher then this place ; and because i saw what force was engaged , i thought to bring as good as themselves , and so having considered of certain considerations to the number of thirteen , why the citizens , and inhabitants of bristoll should be freed from sequestration , i sent them up to a friend at london to communicate them to the general officers , and to him who was then lieutenant general , to have their judgments whether they were fitting , or feiseable . unto this i had an answer , that they judged them to be both , and encouraged me to a coming up to london , which having provided for that purpose , i undertook , bringing with me a petition which i had drawn to the parliament ; unto which were subscribed the hands of several of the city that had been for the parliament ; unto which were added the reasons aforesaid , desiring , and endeavouring , an indemnity for the city . to the lieutenant general i came , after i was come up to london , who so approved what i had drawn , that he added another consideration himself , and told me that if i had no better a hand , he would present it to the parliament himself . i was very glad of this ; and the then commissary general , and other officers that were members of parliament ; and several others of the house that were friendly to the army being possessed with the business , the lieutenant general took it with him , and had a time to present it to the house ; but such had been the influence , and preoccupation of those , who sate as burgesses , that john ash who was chair-man at goldsmiths-hall , ( whom upon this foot they had made my mortal enemy ) openly said — that i had married a malignant of bristol's daughter , and that i had my wife on consideration of freeing the malignants of bristoll from sequestration . this troubled the leiutenant general , and the commiss . general , and the rest very much , who having not then in particular to remove such an obstruction unthought of , thought fit to with-draw the matter till they had further spoken with me , who finding ( which were their thoughts before ) that it was a meer calumny , and that it was upon no such consideration , but as hath been said , and that in the marriage of my wife , who was the daughter of alderman william canne , then mayor of the city when i married her ; i had answered on my part what was fitting , if not over , and above what was usual , upon my private particular , they were greatly troubled ; and being in great indignation that the opportunity was thus put by , as well on the cities part unto which they were wrought into a great regard , as on mine ; they determined to attempt something else , and because the city had articles , and that by the 4 th . of those articles of surrender the citizens and inhabitants were to be defended from all , manner of force and violence , and to be preserved in their persons and estates , as the said article hath it more at large , which these proceedings seemed to invade ; therefore they determined to endeavour an act of parliament for the establishing a court for articles to stand indifferently between the justice of the parliament , and the honour of the army , as supream judge between them both in p●int of articles , and because this could not be done for bristol alone as seeming too particular , and so a repulse might be received , they resolved to attempt it for the general , viz. as to all articles in which bristols particular might be included . i helped the matter what i could , and forwarded it , and attended the members instrumental therein from time to time , suggesting what was thought material therein , which cost me a very long and wearisom attendance , as it was also chargable , till it was effected ; which act passed and had the general inclusion as aforesaid . the act being passed , and the court coming to fit , of which nathanael brent knight was then president , i procured a letter from some of the chief in the army , and from col. charles fleetwood , in particular to john steel then recorder of london , to be counsil in the matter , which he accepted , and promised ; and i also obtained gen. fairfax and leiutenant cromwell's letters to the court ( who were many of them members of the army , and had to doing in this my friendly assistance ; ) in way of explanation to the articles , and what their sence was , and intended when they granted the same , with other passages to induce them , not fit here to be mentioned . so being prepared on every hand as well as i could , i attended with the counsil aforesaid in the court being the first cause attempted in the court , as it was the cause wherefore the court was attempted to be impowr'd : so when the counsil had spoken , and i had opened matters for a long space of time , as to the leagure of bristol , and my particular knowledge in some transactions , and the state of the city , and the reasonableness of what was proposed , it was very clear to the court , and so , nemine contradicente , they voted , that by the 4 th . article of the surrender of bristol , the citizens ought to be freed from sequestration , for any thing done by them to that time , and therefore ordred that the commissioners at goldsmit● shall should forbear proceeding upon the citizens for any thing done by them to that time , unless any thing of delinquency could be proved against them since the surrender thereof : as by the copy of the order it self , which is ready to be produced , may more plainly appear . this command ( as i may so call it ) was sent to goldsmiths-hall , & upon the petition of humphry hook , alex james , francis creswick and edward caple , ( son in law to the said francis creswick ) which i drew , who were called upon as to composition , as aforesaid , was it grounded , because being called upon as to composition who had articles , there was ground wherefore the court for articles should take cognizance of their being so called upon as to composition : and hereupon the whole contrary party , that is to say , by this act had privilege as to articles to appeal , who , i suppose will confess that many of them received much right , and advantage ; which upon occasion of bristol , was thus brought to effect , and produced . here rested the matter about two dayes time , during which the commissioners at goldsmiths-hall grumbled much at the matter , & john ash in particular , who wrote peremtorily to the court thereabouts . and great muttrings in the house there was about the courts determination , through occasion of the burgesses , who made it their business to incense the house against it , and ceased not till upon one consideration or the other , the house over-ruled the judgment given by the court , and appointed another to be president , and the ( then ) atturny general , to attend the court in the behalf of the parliament . now that the burgesses were instrumental in this matter , and the persons who were the occasion of the forcing of the thing , many of the ( then ) members then informed me ; and john ash in particular , being calmly spoken to by some friends of the aforesaid petitioners , wherefore he drove on things so against the petitioners , and bristol ; said to this effect , that he could not help it in regard that the burgesses had complained to the house , and that he had received a check thereupon for not proceeding therein . this put me to new work again , and the lieutenant general being made lieutenant of ireland , and coming to bristol for transportation , i came down at the same time , and here spake to him about this matter , who spake to me to draw a letter to the court for articles which he would sign for that purpose : so i drew a letter very significant , which he signed , wherein he placed his expedition to ireland to be grounded on what the court should do in reference to what he had wrote ; alledging to this purpose , that he knew not what his expedition thither might signifie , if the honour of the army should not be made good in point of articles . this was sent , and delivered to the court , who hitherto had proceeded little in reference to bristol , and because a starting hole was found out for what the parliament had overruled , viz. that the articles for bristol were not formally confirmed by the house . there being a clause in the act that gave them cognizance of such articles only , as the house had confirmed ; i was constrained to rummage among the parliament rolles , and to take out of them ( which i did my self ) all such passages as had proceeded in the house in reference to the surrender of bristol , viz. the thanks of the house to the generall officers , and army upon col. ingoldsby's narrative in the house of the proceedings of the army as to bristol . the day of thanksgiving ordred throughout the nation for the surrender of the said place , their letter to the general , and sundry other things , which i abstacted and delivered to the court , amounting in the whole to more then a confirmation . for indeed , that surrender considering the season of the year ( being in the approach of winter ) and the reputation thereof , and the armies liberty thereupon to prosecute to the end of that war , was of as much consequence to the parliaments part , as it was against them when it was taken by that party which was contrary . nevertheless , neither the one nor the other could prevaile , neither the letter , nor the abstract , nor whatsoever was offred , to have a salvo to the former order of the court ; the influence of the house through the burgesses sollicitation lying in the way , but still they held it to that clause , viz. the confirmation of the house ; so that the sollications were forced there to cease , without any further advantage then a prompting the parties concerned to goldsmith shall and a recommendation of them thither for an easie composition ; forasmuch as by the said article the petitioners might suppose themselves ( and to have some reason for that purpose ) to be freed from sequestration : and one of the petitioners distrusting the issue of things at last , and being promised favour by john ash at goldsmiths-hall , viz. alexander james , took the opportunity , so did alderman waliis also , who was no petitioner but in the same predicament . and thus this matter came to be broken , and by some of the petitioners own hands at last , which had been brought thus far , and goldsmiths-hall in a capacity of having to do with them ; and indeed it was the design of that time thus to break them ; unto which some of their own hands served . and here matters for a while rested . the truth of it is , there were many lords , and others then in the city at the time of the surrender , that were concern'd in that article , who either had , or were in a condition of compounding for considerable estates ; who if they had been excluded , the order for the validity of that article had not been expunged . and so much for that business . now as a vessel in the sea which had lost her oares and rudder , so were the rest of the petitioners , and other citizens , who thought themselves in the same condition , tossed up and down , serving themselves as they could , sometimes this way , sometimes that , till another expedient came to be pitcht upon , which might give them relief , though yet as to what had been offred the court for articles , and the reason thereof , there was a cessation ; and not with that violence at goldsmiths-hall as to them , were things prosecuted as usual , upon the ground before mentioned . the commissioners at goldsmiths-hall had an exeunt in a short time , and they were forced to give way to a new bill that authorized several new commissioners , who sat at haberdashers-hall who were impowred to all those things relating to sequestration , and particular persons in every county were appointed as subcommissioners for sequestrations , and these applied themselves in discharge of that office , and the rules were very strickt , so that no man who had publiquely to do on the contrary part could ( probably ) escape them ; and those who were appointed for subcommissioners for sommersetshire made their progress to bristol , as included in the county of sommerset , and made demand of the committee the papers that lay before them concerning sequestrations . this appeared as a new furnace , wherein to terrifie those citizens , and to turn aside all that had been on the contrary before , so i looked on the act , and finding there that the subcommissioners must be men of the same county , and considering that bristol was a city and county of it self , i thought there was a hole in it , and that upon this ground those subcommissioners had nothing to do in bristol , being not ( all of them though one was ) inhabitants of the city . this flaw i shewed to my cozen haggatt ( who was both a councellor at law , and a member of the committee , who before , and then , and afterwards vigorously acted with me , and with whom i particularly corresponded in this freedom of the city , who here acted what lay in him , as i did above , though now by some of the men concern'd , as ill rewarded ) and told him that i thought it would be well if he would communicate it to the committee . he was of my mind in both , and so wrought that the committee denied the papers that lay before them to these subcommissioners as not being capacitated by the act thereunto , being not inhabitants . nevertheless on they proceeded on their own legs , and part of alderman hooks estate in sommersetshire was sequestred , and part in gloucestershire by the subcommissioners of that county , and one came to his house to inventory his goods in the city . now i was put to it , for the matter was precidential to all , for though the burgesses to wave the business of the articles , suggested , that there was only two or three malignants , hook , &c. that were in prosecution , and no others intended ; thereby making the matter little , yet having broke the ice on them , the rest must have followed ; for the same rules served for the one as for the other , and the leading men being overcome , the rest must follow : the commissioners at haberdashers-hall having about 200. on the list : though with this dawberry , their emissaries thought to charme the residue so concerned in the city into an opinion that the matter was not of that moment , nor would have reflection ( at least in intent ) upon them , so as that they needed to fear . hereby turning aside their general sence and appearance in the matter , and endeavouring the lessning of that which was attempted for them . to those of gloucestershire , viz. capt. buck , and hancolk , col. nath. rich. ( at my desire ) and my self wrote , who thereupon took off the seizure in order to sequestration on hook's estate , and for those of sommersetshire i so wrought that they were soon turned out , and such men put in their places , as upon whom i had an influence , whom by letters and otherwise i kept off from bristol , least they should run themselves into a premunire as acting in cases where they were not commissionated . this stemm'd the tide again , and gave some respite ; nevertheless the endeavours of the other part were not wanting to bring it on afresh with haherdashers-hall , and from the fountain as it were , to cause their suffring . with haberdashers-hall i was forced now to work , and several of the commissioners i engaged with the reason of the thing not to act ; and of this number three there were , a fourth was newtral , and cared to do little in the matter : so that the orders from them to the subcommissioners lay sometime a moneth together unsigned , there being but seven of them , and the signing required a majority of the commissioners . one while i held them with one thing , and another while with another ; and sometimes i wrote to them , and made use of the then state of the nation that required there should be no irritation , especially of such a city , in such a time , which might turn much to prejudice : and because i knew not what might be the consequence , at last i got the matter in the house again as to the particular of alderman hook and the rest , which being not so well timed by the speaker , it being early in the morning , and the members that were to assist it , not being present , one of the burgesses crusht it in the bud , and so it died . the motion arose from a letter general fairfax wrote to the house in that particular , which i procured , and gave to the speaker who presented it . then i wrought in the counsil of state , ( i being then at white-hall , and in the nature of a secretary of state , though they being then in the form of a commonwealth , they gave no such appellation , such an appellation being to a state improper , yet secretary i was , and such was the term that by their order they gave me . ) i say , i wrought with the counsil of state , and exhibited considerations to them according to the nature of things , and the reason of the times , and so accomplished that some of the commissioners were sent for by the counsil to appear before them , where we had a hearing ; but neither here could any thing be accomplished by reason of the workings of the burgesses with some of the counsil , though the ( then ) president and others did what they could : the matter indeed , not so properly relating unto them to judge in , seeing the law was as to sequestration , otherwise then as to a prudent suspension of putting the law in execution , where ( probably ) such execution might return to a greater prejudice , and to commend the consideration of the whole to the parliament . this gave a little breathing , the commissioners being found no otherwise acting , but in reference to their oaths in the discharge of what they had undertaken according to the rules that were set them , which being prompted to by others instigation , and such as were members of parliament , it could be expected to have no other influence . nevertheless , things ended not here , but new sollicitations to sequestration produced new orders , and a peremptory letter by the commissioners was sent down to the committee in reference to their non-sequestration , demanding the copies of the papers that were before them , for that purpose threatning to lay a fine upon their heads , and that a serjeant at armes moreover should be sent for creswick's land also at langford in the county of sommerset was sequestred . to this the committee gave a manly reply , my coz. haggat being instrumental therein , who drew it ; and as for john creswick i informed the commissioners that his father alderman creswick aforesaid was dead , who in his life time was not sequestred , and now his estate was devided among his children , and this particular part of it to his son john , whom none of their rules had included for sequestration : so that the matter fell to the ground , and the sequestration was taken off ; as did the other by the return to the letter aforesaid . so this tide was stemm'd again , and a pause there was . now drew neer the time wherein the king and his army marched out of scotland into england , which was not an ordinary time in england : the counsil of state then bestir'd themselves , and intelligence they had from all parts of the nation every day ( for so it was laid ) of what was done therein , and how their militia advanced . from bristol also they received an account amongst the rest , of what was done in that city , which the counsil so took and i was careful so to improve that they ordred it to be reported to the house by henry vane kt. then high steward of the city ; who being willing to do it a kindness , and having been assistant unto me in my endeavours for the city , so managed it that a letter of thanks was ordred by the house to be sent to bristol for their good affection unto them : and that the city might not be put to charge at that time , i procured a bill of 500 l. to be sent also by the counsil upon the account of the state , towards what should be done therein . well , worcester business was over , and the parliament were upon an act of indemnity , and i thought it high time now to look about , and to finish what i had with so much travel , and more then three years expence of time , endeavoured to bring to pass . therefore least this act should be closed with an exclusion of bristol , i drew a third petition to the house in the name of several citizens and inhabitants of bristol that had been well affected to them , who had signed the first petition aforesaid , and i adjoyned thereto certain considerations wherefore the parliament should grant bristol an indemnity ; and i engaged in the delivery and prosecution thereof , the most leading men that then were in the house ; as the then lord general , lord commissioner whitlock , lord grey of groby , sir henry vane , sir arthur hazelrig , col. hen. martin , major sallaway , the lord commissioner lisle , the lord chief justice st. johns , &c. with many others ; who well timing the thing , took their opportunity , and being presented the house , so spake , that the parliament voted to this effect , that if the instructions for the act of indemnity , and general pardon in the general did not reach bristol in particular , bristol should have a particular act of indemnity for it self ; and ordred the petition and considerations annext , to be left in the hands of the clark of the house for that purpose . this i thought pretty well , yet i could not judge the matter secure whilst there was any thing between this and the thing done , i having received so many disappointments , and well knowing that votes of parliament many times admit of alterations ; and as ships at sea are forced oft times according to the winds ; but principally was i jealous of haberdashers-hall , and the workings of the opposite party there that hitherto had given me that exercise in the matter ; least that now upon the closing of the thing , they should struggle to undo my work , and to finish their own . and the rather was i confiderate in the matter , because when the vote aforesaid passed the house , i being in the lobby attending what should be done , i saw one of the burgesses come out , as not able to stay therein , when he saw it like to be carried when the vote passed ; so least any thing should again come between the cup and the lip , ( as they use to say ) between the vote and the finishing , least haberdashers-hall should yet interpose , or be driven thereunto , i drew a few lines unto them , , signifying what the parliament had done , because , being not enacted , these commissioners were not bound to take notice of what was voted in the house , and desiring them to forbear any further prosecutions on bristol till what the parliament would do in the thing might come to be understood : which some of the members aforesaid signed , particularly the lord commissioner whitlock ( whom upon the withdrawing of edmund prideaux to be atturny general , i bespoke and procured to be recorder of bristol , that so by his relation he might have the more open opportunity to do that good which was in his heart to do for the city ) sir hen. vane , with some others , but as for the burgesses one or both of them ; but i am sure one of them refused to put his hand thereunto . this had its effect on haberdashers-hall , at least they did nothing further in the sequestration of bristol , and so one of the general instructions of the act of indemnity , having this clause in particular , viz. that all those that were not actually sequestred before such a day of september 1649. should be freed from sequestration ; those of the city who had been on the contrary party were freed from sequestration , they not being actually sequestred before the said day of september . and so the keeping off the actual sequestration of bristol during those years wherein the matters were tossed up and down as aforesaid , and thorough such difficulties wrought in order to this time , which finisht the matter , and freed those who had so much resolution as to hold it out ( which was the whole except some few particular persons aforesaid ) from sequestration . and so i made an end of my work , which i began as aforesaid , out of mine own particular consideration of the good of the place , and the particular persons therein , without the influence of any other persons whatsoever ; and which ( through many sore and long attendances , disappointments , abuses , and oppositions , sometimes waiting six , sometimes eight weeks together from bristol upon them , then when at whitehall , applying the whole of my interest , besides what else of trouble and anxiety of spirit did intervene , and other troubles in a thing of that nature , which i have chosen rather to forget , then by remembring to renew my sorrows again . ) i finished , not with greater advantage to the citizens , and the city it self , being considered as aforesaid , then satisfaction to my self , and gladness of heart that i had ( though with all the appendices aforesaid ) accomplished the peace and welfare of my native place , and the citizens therein concerned , as hath been said ; hoping at least justly expecting that in the peace thereof i might enjoy peace , and that such a thing as this being done for them , which no place in england obtained but themselves , and thus freely by me , ( for they to this day never asked me what it cost me ? nor gave me consideration therein , nor did i ever receive any thing at their hands , directly or indirectly , for what i so did for them therein ; and what charge and trouble i was at ; wise men may guess , but cannot thoroughly understand ; ) i say , hoping at least justly expecting that in the peace thereof i might sit down in peace , and that such a thing as this being thus freely done by me , which had been done for no place , i might in the love and good will of those for whom i had acted , and from whom ( i may modestly say ) deserv'd it , have my future recess , and being in that place when opportunity called me to return , and to have my retirement therein . but i have found it other wise as aforesaid , which hath given the occasion of this adjusting of accounts with them , already hitherto , and hereafter to be mentioned . for being put on this foot of banishment in the eye of those who do not understand me , nor know the ground and reason wherefore it is so come to pass , nor what i have been to this place , and the particular men therein who have sentenc'd me thereunto , i am rendred and bespoken ( as the thing it self signifies ) such a person , and that in the judgment of those with whom i live , as deserves not a being in my native country ; whom therefore the lawes and those in power with whom i live , sent me from thence : therefore it lay upon me as a necessity to my own reputation and credit among men to this generation , and to the ages to come , thus to do my self right , that so it may appear that it was for no evil deed , but having done many good things among them , i am thus banished . and in what i have already , and have yet further to say i have , and shall say the truth , and in the contrary thereunto disprove me who can : for , i have only minded as aforesaid , to do my self this necessary right , whereunto had i not been thus compelled , i had been in silence , and these things together with my person had in process of time when i had finished my work in my generation ( for ought that i know should ever have proceeded from me , of these kind of reckonings ) been laid in the dust : but ( as i have said ) i am compelled hereunto , and those who are concern'd must hear their reckoning which they have thus compell'd , which must stand from generation to generation on record against them , which shall never be bloted out ; and let the witness of god in all men's consciences , even in them of their own principle judge when they have considered this throughout , whether have proved natural to bristol , they or i ? or whether they have done to me as they would be done unto themselves ? or whether they have rendred unto me a recompence that is meet ? i am not ignorant how even this that i have said may come to bear a misconstruction , and how it may be judged that i do this either for ostentation , or to bespeak my self with them , with whom i have to do , and so to fall under , or seek favour from them . but i am satisfied in that neither the one nor the other thus stand with me , but only as aforesaid , being ( i say again ) thus compell'd thereunto : and let him that is most envious , but put himself in my stead , and make the case his own , as is mine , and i dare stand to his judgment therein ; i say it is only because this thing of banishment in the nature of it , renders me as aforesaid in the eye of those who know me not to have so deserved , that i so write ; and for the decision hereof i leave it to the lord who knows my heart and uprightness therein , and to his witness in men , as he shall please to give it opperation in them , being sensible of his presence which is with me herein , without whom and his motion thereunto i had not written . but to proceed , thus were things finished as aforesaid , but this was not all , but rather one act for the advantage of the city , which in process of time through many changes and various interruptions and difficulties was thus brought unto effect , my natural love to my native city ended not here , nor was it herein only terminated , but as i had opportunity , and was in the place of power , my love led me to serve it , and the particular citizens and inhabitants thereof , and i think there are few men that then were judged to be men of estates , and had business but found the benefit of my endeavour one way or another , and of my being in a capacity to do them service . the company of merchants , i suppose will do me right herein , who being pursued by one lewis upon the patent for calve-skins , and butter , and endeavour'd to be brought under great damage , found my help . oft times they had addresses to the then committee for the navy in that case : their delegates can witness how ready i was to assist them there , as oft as they came up , and with what suc●…ess : then when that particular came to that height , that notwithstanding all the endeavours and suspensions , a peremptory day was set , them to plead in the exchequer , or judgment would be given against them , their then alderman ( those of them that are yet alive ) and others that were then of that company are able , and i suppose will testifie ( if not the generality of the company ) that i gave them notice from whitehall of this peremptory rule , which without their knowledge ( having not so minded that business as they ought ) was so set , & how that when they came up to me i so wrought that in the morning by nine of the clock i got the matter of judgment by the parliament taken off , which had it not been so done , had been given in the afternoon in the exehequer against them , to the damage , as was then said , of above twenty thousand pounds . there are also i suppose , yet alive of merchants that then were not of the company , who can testifie , that being pursued by the same lewis upon the foot of treble damages , which amounted to a great height upon particular persons , because that the taking off of the judgments aforesaid was upon petition of the company of merchants , and they being not actually of the company were not concern'd in the order of parliament , which was a mistake ; for upon their petition of the company of merchants it was granted which had reference to all merchants whatsoever that had to do in calve-skins and butter , not that it was granted only to those merchants who were of the company , which was the critisme , or rather than which was sought to evade the judgment so far as to them . i think there are yet alive of them , as i have said , that can witness that having put their matters into the court of indemnity , which was then at haberdashers-hall , i appeared there of my self without their desire , and pleaded their matters so , none of them being present , nor any one of councel for them , when the council on the other side pleaded i say , i so accomplished it with the commissioners that they were freed therefrom , it amounting to some in the summ of 800 l. a piece , and to some 1200 l. as was then said , i am sure that they cannot say that they so much as paid for my comeing thither . then when in the time of the little parliament ( so called ) the company of merchants were summon'd before a committee of them to answer as to that whole business upon the same suggestions in the painted chamber , and i was retired from whitehall , i judge there are yet in being those of them that can bear me record , that at their desire in the midst of winter i rod up with them , and when the time of hearing was come , their opponents seeing me appear with papers in my hand ( for i told the merchants that i would if they pleased , and so they were , plead the matter my self without any councel ) with-drew their information , the matter falling thereby to the ground , and how that i put them to no other trouble that journey , ( if so be my being with them at their desire was a trouble ) then to bear up and down and there my own charge . afterwards since that parliament , having the shew of some trouble again , i drew the state of that case , and gave to the late alderman joseph jackson , ( who had been up about the other , with the other aldermen , and i suppose was then master of the company , when i so stated the case ) and desired him to shew it to whomsoever that hereafter should question them thereabouts , and it would satisfie them , which proved the effect ; so that to this day they have thereabouts received ( as i know of , and i judge i should have heard of it if it had been so , having been their friend therein , and in the city ) any further trouble : as the said alderman jackson ( were he alive ) for his time ( and others since ) could ( at least ) the paper it self will ) testifie . all that i received in consideration of that whole business for the said company was , they did of themselves ( for i am sure there was therein no influence of mine ) make me free , or gave me the freedom of the company . then when virginia came to be discoursed of , which was then held by the contrary party , and ships were talked of to be sent thither to reduce it ; some merchants of london would have excluded bristol , which of my self i then opposed and prevented , none of the city being there with me , they indeed not knowing thereof : and so the exclusion of that trade was prevented , which now is become the principal forreign trade of the city . in the business of english tobacco , i assisted the bringing forth of that act against the planting thereof , being discommodious to a greater benefit to the nation , and destructive to land , which in england hath better uses ; and in procuring the act for navigation , i bore a share which had its influence on the good of the city . when edward caple was sequestred in gloucestershire , and so called upon to compound in his absence at sea , and his wifes sollicitor had elap'st the day appointed for such as were in his qualification , and she was hard bestead with trouble in the thing ; i laid by mine own occasion then in london , ( which then was of some considerable loss to me ) and pittying her condition , seeing her in danger of distraction if her matters could not be retrived ; i went to the court , and being within the bar had some ruffle with the then chief baron , who desired me to let them alone , and not hinder them in the doing of justice ; i told him that i was not there to hinder them in the doing of justice , but that they might do it : for , what justice ( said i ) is it for a man to loose the benefit of composition , who really intends to comply with the law , because the negligence or falshood of his solliciter had brought him within the expiration of the day , and so excluded him the benefit of composition , as was the case of edward caple , which to me was a hard case : at length i so wrought what with the one baron , and what with the other , and the sequestrator , that she was dismist : the matter in question being 50 l. a year free land , which ( as i remember ) was her jointure , and seven years arrears thereof , which was as much as if i had given it her in her pocket , besides it saved her from distraction . the woman was sister to henry creswick now alderman , eldest son to alderman francis creswick aforesaid ; who in recompence of what i did ( as hath been said ) for his father , and his fathers house , and his brother john , and this his sister sarah caple , and hir wifes father , alderman humphry hook , ( as aforesaid ) then which no man had done more for a family in this nation ; having not only saved him a composition , but delivered him from the force of the burgesses , and the strength of the great men of that party in the nation , notwithstanding that his estate was in part under sequestration , and the very goods of his house inventoryed , who had a very great estate ( as aforesaid ) and consequently to himself in the quiet enjoyment of what he had by his own father , and his wives , which i think was some thousands of pounds thick , he having the more of their estates , by how much the state had none , and his being freed himself with the rest that had been on the contrary party , as at large hath been declared ; i having been alwayes a tender friend to him and them never having given them so much as the least just personal cause of offence , but having been alwayes in love and tenderness to them as aforesaid , i say in recompence he caused me to be taken from a meeting , wherein we were quietly waiting on the lord without offence to any , with divers of my friends and fellow citizens , men of quality and reputation in the city , in the year he was mayor , and then committed me to the guard at the guildhall , where with the rest of my friends i lay all night on the boards in georges chapel , then to the marshalsey , an old pittiful house , ready as a man would think to have fallen about one's eares , when we had large houses of our own neer , which lay for the most part empty . and ( to add no more ) signed the warrant for my third conviction upon the first bill of which i stood indicted , and sate on the bench as one of the court that sentenc'd me to banishment , and signed the warrant for my transportation , though an alderman that sate by him refused so to do , to whom i had done no such kindness , there being only the relation of brother in law between us , whose name is tho. langton . and to shew what an ingrate spirit lay in his breast , and how unworthy he was , when i was upon the first indictment aforesaid , and in the words of soberness , and moderation desired , as it was reasonable , a copy of my indictment , and the convictions , that i might not be put to plead to a thing of that weight , as was that of which i stood indicted ; the consequence of which might remove me from my native country , my family , children , estate , relations , &c. barely upon the hearing of a paper read ; minding them that they also , as i said , we all must appear before the judgment seat of christ ; and therefore it behoved them and us so to do , as that we might be able to give a good account before him ; telling them also that if the case were theirs ; and if they stood where i did , which for ought they knew ( i said ) they might , and that for their consciences , as was my case ; they would , if it fell within their consideration , desire the same ; which drew teares from some in the hall , into a great rage he fell , and in great bitterness of spirit ; unprovoked , unexpected , unthought of , when all were silent , very falsly , and maliciously , and with the highest ingratitude , and unworthiness , said to this effect — that i , and my complices had sate in judgment upon their estates , and his in particular — who never sate in judgment upon him , or them , or their estates ; or was one of the committee , but helped them , as hath been declared , to whom i replyed — i never sate in judgment upon you , but have saved you , and this is thy gratitude — and i added , some such like kind of payment , i shall have from some more of you by and by — the court was offended with him for this retaliation , and alderman knight himself , who sate next him , thought it but an unworthy payment ; and that therefore he was too blame , and so jogged him to be silent , though at the same time in other things , he there shewed himself bad enough and in particular to me . when the isle of man was reduced , one child of this city was concern'd in a ship there taken , and sent to me thereabouts ; i spake to the council , who so much credited what i said to them about the vessel , that without so much as a deposition , or further testemony , they ordered the ship , and her appurtenances to be ( and which was ) delivered to him , i am sure it cost him not a farthing as to me . my kinsman john wright being summoned peremptorily to appear by such a day before the lords and commons for sequestration , which was within three or four dayes of the time when the summons was left him , which was with-held from serving , on purpose that he might be surpriz'd , it being in the depth of winter , and neer pauls fair , his wife also miscarrying on the fright thereof ; wrote up to me , who appeared for him before the lords and commons , and publiquely charged a member then present , of that committee , that he served that matter in the behalf of a brother of his who was in suite of law with one whitehead about a parcel of land , whom john wright assisted ( he being a man of estate , and a merchant ) to with-draw him from which , or to make him suffer , if he would not , this was offred : whereupon , and upon what else was suggested by me in that matter , he was discharged ; and an order made , that for the future , no person should be required to appear before them untill matter of delinquency was first sworn , and made good , which was of advantage to all that were concern'd in such matters as well as john wright : and i do not remember ( nay i am certain it is so ) that it cost john wright so much as the charge of his post-letter to me . the lady st. johns wife to 〈◊〉 arundel of warder castle ( who was here , i mean the man under some distemper of melancholy ) being in great distress , ( and a very stranger to me ) in so much that she was constrained in a strange place to sell off the little goods she had to give her bread , and speaking with me , i was so sensible of her condition , making it my own case , that i never left till with the committee here and above she had a clearing , and enjoyed her estate and land again ; which that noble woman ( for i call her as she was ) if alive , or her then husband , or eldest son , can at large testifie : she was a papist ( so called ) and her husband , and great oppression was exercised on her , out of which i saw her delivered , which was my only recompence . nor was i here limited , or did limit my self , but my tenderness extended it self to others that suffred : some monies i gathered and gave to bishop howel's wife , who with her children , when this city was taken , was found in distress ; and several of the then ministers had their relief from me , who were not prosecuted when articles were sent against them ; in particular henry jones of stevens , and who being cast out , i got in again , as was richard pounal at john's in particular . the time would fail me if i should instance all : the city was under a great blur of malignancy , the burgesses held it on as they could as aforesaid ; all matters ran athwart , and through the fire were drawn , that were accomplished , by reason thereof , for the city , till after the time of worcester i never gave over whil'st i had time or opportunity to serve its welfare , till all was accomplished . i never thought it too much that i did , nor of what i have done , ever did i , or do i repent ; i had no sinister end in my eye , that would now have shewn it self ; i did it whil'st i had opportunity , to do good to them , who i knew would requite me evil . i have my desire , viz. the prosperity of the place , and of these men in particular , for whom so to do , i never received from them an obligation : i am glad i had the opportunity , and that it is done . the welfare of the city , not the destruction thereof , have i sought . well may it prosper say i , and be multiplied , and that in the peace and prosperity thereof , the nation may have peace , and prosper , though for my love , and being thus in order thereunto , i am banisht my native city , and country to barbados , ( with many more of my brethren ) for my conscience to god in recompence ; which no law pointed me but to , for i was not named therein , but to them that it gave power to execute the law , and to their discretion it is by law lest , whom to take , and whether to take any or no , that they found at our meetings ; which discretion of theirs hath been thus exercised to me , who have been thus to them , who have alwayes carried my self civil , and a friend to them ; who with as much integrity of heart , and more industry have endeavoured their , and the prosperity of the city then ever i did to get penny for my child ; in recompence of which they will not suffer me to breath in my native country for my conscience , though the foot of the prosperity of them , and the city stands upon what i have freely done for them and the city ; i say , as to my particular , well may the city prosper , and be multiplied , and that in the peace and prosperity thereof the nation may have peace and prosper , but i fear , nay i am certain , that the lord wil● visit for these things ; and that he whose is conscience , and the dominion thereof , for which we suffer , will lay bristol , as it hath done london an heap for this thing ; which i would not have had , and therefore wrote to their mayor john lawford therein : for , that which led me to save it when i had power , gave me bowels over it , when i was not in the capacity to save , nor have i had so much as a rising thought in me of revenge to them herein , but is tears have wept over it and them , desiring that in this their day they would know the things that concern their peace : and so have sought their peace , when they my ruine ; and it hath been no small occasion of my suffering that they on his foot who hath saved th●● should come to split , which will be the consequence , the lord hath spoken it. newgate prison bristol the 25 th . of the 8 th moneth 1665. where i remain as a banished person waiting who shall be my executioners therein . george-bishope . the end . iehovah iireh: or, gods providence in delivering the godly. opened in two sermons in the citie of bristoll, on the day of publike thanksgiving in that citie, march 14. 1642. for the deliverance of that citie from the invasion without, and the plot of malignants within the city, intended to have been acted the tuesday night before. with a short narration of that bloody and abominable plot. preached by iohn tombes, b.d. it is this two and twentieth day of aprill, anno dom. 1643. ordered by the committee of the house of commons in parliament concerning printing, that this booke intituled, johovah jireh, or gods providence in delivering the godly, be printed. john white. tombes, john, 1603?-1676. this text is an enriched version of the tcp digital transcription a94736 of text in the english short title catalog (thomason e100_31). textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. the text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with morphadorner. the annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. this text has not been fully proofread approx. 78 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 17 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. earlyprint project evanston,il, notre dame, in, st. louis, mo 2017 a94736 wing t1809 thomason e100_31 99859164 99859164 155875 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a94736) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 155875) images scanned from microfilm: (thomason tracts ; 18:e100[31]) iehovah iireh: or, gods providence in delivering the godly. opened in two sermons in the citie of bristoll, on the day of publike thanksgiving in that citie, march 14. 1642. for the deliverance of that citie from the invasion without, and the plot of malignants within the city, intended to have been acted the tuesday night before. with a short narration of that bloody and abominable plot. preached by iohn tombes, b.d. it is this two and twentieth day of aprill, anno dom. 1643. ordered by the committee of the house of commons in parliament concerning printing, that this booke intituled, johovah jireh, or gods providence in delivering the godly, be printed. john white. tombes, john, 1603?-1676. england and wales. parliament. house of commons. aut [8], 24 p. printed by rich. cotes, for michael sparkes senior, london : 1643. annotation on thomason copy: "may. 8". reproduction of the original in the british library. eng bristol (england) -history -siege, 1643 -sermons -early works to 1800. great britain -history -civil war, 1642-1649 -early works to 1800. a94736 (thomason e100_31). civilwar no iehovah iireh: or, gods providence in delivering the godly.: opened in two sermons in the citie of bristoll, on the day of publike thanksgi tombes, john 1643 14307 13 15 0 0 0 0 20 c the rate of 20 defects per 10,000 words puts this text in the c category of texts with between 10 and 35 defects per 10,000 words. 2007-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-09 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-09 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion iehovah iireh : or , gods providence in delivering the godly . opened in two sermons in the citie of bristoll , on the day of publike thanksgiving in that citie , march 14. 1642. for the deliverance of that citie from the invasion without , and the plot of malignants within the city , intended to have been acted the tuesday night before . with a short narration of that bloody and abominable plot . preached by iohn tombes , b. d. it is this two and twentieth day of aprill , anno dom. 1643. ordered by the committee of the house of commons in parliament concerning printing , that this booke intituled , johovah jireh , or gods providence in delivering the godly , be printed . john white . london printed by rich. cotes , for michael sparkes senior , 1643. to the noble and right worthy patriots , colonell nathaniel fiennes governour , colonell richard cole , colonell alexander popham , and to the rest of the worthy commanders , and souldiers in the city of bristoll . as it is a certaine truth , that no events happen without god , so it is most certaine that all events are ordered by gods wisedome to excellent purposes . the utmost and meet end of all gods actions is himselfe , that as all things are of him , and through him , so all things may bee to him , rom. 11. 36. the subordinate and nearer ends are many and various as the almighty sees conducible to his glory which is the utmost . and thus are wee to conceive that in the ordering of the present commotions of this land the lord hath sundry ends , whereby he will in fine shew himselfe great in counsell , though as yet we can hardly discerne whereto they tend . among many other ends he hath , these two seeme most apparent , the discovery of men , and the discovery of himselfe . for whereas on the one side the bloody minded papists , the proud sensuall libertines , the jugling deceitfull priests and prelats had gotten the reputation of honest men , and on the other side the sincere , zealous and faithfull christian suffered all indignities under the imputations of hypocrisie , covetousnesse , faction and such like calumnies ; now by these present tryalls the integrity , faithfulnesse and courage of the one , the hypocrisie , falsehood , and wickednesse of the other are made manifest . and whereas the frequency of prophane oathes , and atheisticall perjuries , the scorne of religion , derision of piety , and contempt of holinesse had worne out the apprehensions of god , and imboldned men to play with him as a contemptible name , god hath begun to discover himselfe , and yet further will in time appeare to be the great lord of hoasts , and the protector of his despised , and oppressed people . in reference to the later of these forenamed ends god hath vouchsafed to discover many plots , to give many deliverances , to doe great things in these few yeares last past for the vindicating of his owne name , the worth and innocency of his people ▪ and declaration of the malignitie of ungodly spirits . among which that which he did in preserving of this city in the late deliverance hereof is not the least , being in the apprehension of those that know all the circumstances and the concurrence of gods providence therein , a very remarkable & memorable thing . in the commemoration and acclamation thereof it pleased god that by the appointment of one of you i should have a part , having by gods providence bin driven hither for shelter against the unreasonable & impetuous violence of superstitious people enraged by the instigations of bloody minded papists , corrupt priests , and loose libertines . since which time i have been sollicited to publish these subitany meditations : though the matter deserves a more full discovery and an exacter commentary . neverthelesse that the remembrance hereof might not die , and that some light might bee added to them that seeke out gods workes as having pleasure therein , i have yeelded to their request . and forasmuch as the deliverance in the first place belonged to your selves as first destinated to slaughter , and my worke in the t●anksgiving proceeded from you , i have conceived it meetest to tender these sermons to you for your acceptance and use , praying the almighty still to preserve your persons and to direct your wayes for the publike good and your own salvation . in both which to serve you continueth yours in all humble observance , john tombes . a short narration of the late bloody and abominable conspiracy against the city of bristoll , as appeareth by the examination of the parties thereunto . 1642. amalignant and treacherous party within this city , having long endeavoured to bring in the forces of the enemy into this city , they hoped that they had gotten an opportunity to effect their designe on tuesday night last being the seventh of march , when by their invitation prince rupert having drawne a great party of horse and dragoones with some foote to durdum downe , within two miles of this citie , the evening before that night , these treacherous and bloody persons within the towne had framed a party to fall upon the backes of the guards , and to surprize them and cut them off , and to let in the enemy , who upon the ringing of two bells , viz s. iohns and s. michaels , were to give on upon the towne without , as the conspirators were to fall upon the guards within . the ringing of these two bells being a common signe unto them both within and without the towne . for the better effecting of this trayterous and wicked conspiracy , the chiefe heads thereof had that night assembled together in their houses those of their confederacy , with divers saylers and halliers with all sorts of armes , muskets , pistolls , swords , clubs , and barrells of old nayles to charge the ordnance withall after they had furprised them . and these severall companies under their severall leaders were to have fallen upon the severall courts of guards ; master robert yeomans ( who is the head of this conspiracy and pretendeth a commission from his majesty for what he hath done ) being to fall upon the maine guard , and master george butcher with his company was to have fallen upon the guard at froome gate , and to have opened it for the enemy to enter by : others no doubt had their parts to play , and the better to distinguish themselves from those that were destinated to destruction , those that were of their party had a word which was ( charles ) and certaine markes of white tape tied upon their breasts before , and their hats behind , and such as were to be spared within doores had certaine markes set upon the inside of their doores ; for the rest ( if we may believe the speeches of an officer amongst the enemies forces ) one of them was heard to say that prince rupert had commanded them to give no quarter , but to kill man , woman and child that had not those markes upon their persons and houses . and that at the same time that they were to fall into the towne , the saylers were to set the towne on fire in severall parts ; ( which is conceived should have been captaine boones part ) but god of his mercy delivered us from this dangerous and devillish conspiracy , by some notice that we had given unto us of their meeting at yeomans his house , about an houre or two before the plot was to have beene put in exeeution , which was to have been upon the ringing of the bells about one or two a clocke in the morning . having seized on master robert yeomans with his company , and after , butcher with his company , the necke of the plot being broken within the towne , the enemy without ( whose designe as it should seeme depended much upon it ) having showne themselves upon the downe the next morning after two or three shot of canons made against them from our worke upon brandon hill , they wheeled off , and so god put a hook into their nostrills , and turned them back againe : for which great mercy of his in delivering us from a dangerous invasion of the enemy without , and from a damnable conspiracy of some traytorous inhabitants within the city ; both this towne and the whole kingdome ( so far as it is concerned in the preservation of this city ) hath great cause to give thanks to almighty god , unto whom alone the glory thereof is due . this is a short narration of the late detestable and bloody plot against this city , whereof no doubt more hereafter will appeare , the matter being yet under examination , onely one writing which was found in robert yeomans his house , i thought fit to adde , which was as followeth . all inhabitants of the bridge , the high-street and cornestreete , keepe within your doores upon perill of your lives : all other inhabitants of this citie that stand for the king , the protestant religion and the liberties of this city , let them forthwith appeare at the high crosse with such armes as they have for the defence of their lives , their wives and children , and follow their leaders for the same defence . there was also a protestation taken amongst them to this effect , that they would oppose to the utmost of their power , all forces whatsoever that were , or should be amongst them , or that should come in without the consent of the king . iehovah iireh . 2 peter 2. 9. the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation , and to reserve the unjust to the day of judgement to be punished . this passage containes two consectaries deduced from the 5 , 6 , 7. verses ; the apostle had advised christians to take heed unto the sure word of prophecy , chap. 1. vers . 19. as being a light shining in a darke place , not from a private delivery by the will of man , but by the motion of the holy ghost , vers . 20 , 21. withall he foretells , chap. 2. 1. that as there had been false prophets among the people , so there should be false teachers among them , whose practise he declares , vers . 1 , 2 , 3. and their judgement , vers . 3. which he confirmes by three instances . 1 of gods not sparing the angels that sinned , ver. 4. 2 his bringing in the flood upon the world of ungodly , but saving noah a preacher of righteousnesse , vers . 5. 3 his overthrow of sodom and gomorrah , and delivering just lot , vers . 6 , 7. from these instances he inferres by an induction two rules to be observed in the course of gods proceedings . first , that he knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation . secondly , that he knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgement to be punished . the particle [ {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} , for if ] vers . 4. shewes these instances to be brought as a medium to prove a conclusion , and the argument is thus . if god even then when he cast the angels that sinned downe to hell , yet preserved the guiltlesse angels , and even then when he brought the deluge on the wicked world , saved noah a preacher of righteousnesse , and even then when he overthrew sodom and gomorrah , delivered just lot , & sic in caeteris , then it followes as in my text , the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation , &c. the former of these two consectaries i have chosen this day to insist on , being a day set apart for the commemoration of a late deliverance of this city from a blood , and abominable conspiracy within it , wherein god hath added one more memorable instance to verifie this rule of saint peter , the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation . two conclusions may from hence be gathered . first , that the godly while they live among unjust men upon the earth be in temptation . deliverance from temptation presupposeth a being in temptation . secondly , that god knowes how to deliver them though they know not ; noah and lot knew not how they should be delivered , but god knew how to do it . to confirme the former of these we need not many scriptures , it being proved by continuall experience , yet i shall produce some , luk. 22. 28. our lord christ saith of himselfe , yee are they which have continued with me in my temptations . our lord christ when he lived on earth , was in continuall temptations , and what was christs estate is the estate of all christians comformably ; saint paul of himselfe , act. 20. 19. saith , that he served the lord with all humility of mind , and with many teares and temptations which befell him by the lying in waite of the jewes , and heb. 11. 37. among other things that befell the saints it is said they were tempted . temptation then is one of those things that are the lot of the godly . i shall endeavour to open this truth , by inquiring ; first , who are to be accounted godly ; secondly , what temptation they are under ; thirdly , why it is so with them ? in answer to the first we may take notice that the word we translate godly in grecke {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} is as much as in english right worshippers . so they that be right worshippers are godly persons ; the etymology fitly expresseth the thing : now by worship is meant the honour and service that is done unto a god . for godlinesse implies religious service , and all that religious service we performe to any thing under the notion of a god , that is worship : and it is mediate , or immediate ; mediate service is that which is directed to man , yet by reason of respect unto god . for this is a cleare truth , that even all the duties of righteousnesse we performe to men , if they be done in obedience to god , they are part of his service and worship , not in respect of the matter wherein , but in respect of the motive by which they are performed . thus when a servant doth discharge his duty faithfully to his master as doing the will of god from the heart , hee is said to doe service to the lord , ephes. 6. 5 , 6 , 7. colos. 3. 24. every servant that obeyes his master , every child that honours his father , every souldier that obeyes his commander out of conscience to god , not for wages , portion , applause or the like respects onely , therein hee worships god . immediate worship is that which is directed onely to god . and this hath by use engrossed the name of worship . now when this is not right worship , though men bee never so devout in it , yet they are not godly persons : when the priests of baal called on the name of baal from morning even till noone , saying , o baal heare us , though they cryed aloud and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances till the blood gushed out upon them , 1 kings 18. 26. 28. yet there was no godlinesse in all this . in like manner though the papists and other superstitious persons are very devout in their way , spend much time in prayer after their manner , fast often , and doe many laborious works for satisfaction of their sinnes , yet because they worship not god aright they are not godly persons . if it be then asked who are they that are right worshippers ? i answer . to right worshipping these things are requisite . first , they that are right worshippers worship onely the true god ; whosoever he be that gives religious worship of any sort to any other besides the lord jehovah , whether it be inward worship of the soule , as trusting in it , loving it , fearing it , magnifying and extolling of it in their hearts , or outward worship , as by gesture of the body , kneeling , falling downe before it , bowing , lifting up the hands or eyes , kissing , or by offering of gifts , bringing oblation , incense , sacrifice , first fruits , tithes , or by swearing by them , praying to them , making vowes to them , blessing them , singing hymnes in their praise , consecrating temples , making priests , keeping holy dayes to them , ( for all these are religious worship ) whosoever i say gives any or more of these or any other sort of religious worship not mentioned to any besides the true god , is an idolater , and therefore not a right worshipper ; for this is the true definition of an idolater : whosoever gives divine worship to a creature is an idolater : as may be gathered from the apostles description of idolaters , rom. 1. 25. where it is charged upon them that they changed the truth of god , that is , the invisible power and majesty of god , which they knew by the things that are made , vers . 18 , 19 , 20 , 21. into a lie , that is , into a lying resemblance , and worshipped and served the creature , {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} {non-roman} more then the creator , so our last translation hath it , but the better and true reading is , besides the creator . for it is plaine by the words , vers . 23. that they changed the glory of the incorruptible god into an image made like to corruptible man , and vers . 25. that they changed the truth of god into a lie , and therefore they worshipped the creature more then the creator : but this was their idolatry that they worshipped the creator by a lying resemblance , and so worshipped the creature besides the creator . so then this is the first note of a right worshipper , that hee worships with religious worship none but jehovah the true god . secondly , they that are right worshippers as they worship onely the true god , so they direct this worship only by the true mediatour , which is jesus christ the son of god . he onely is a right worshipper , that worships god in christ , whosoever he be that makes any other mediator unto god , let him be called mediator of redemption or of intercession , it is against the true worshipping of god , and an high violation of the glory of jesus christ . for as the apostle tells us , 1 tim. 2. 5. there is one god and one mediator betweene god and man , even the man christ jesus ; no more mediators are acknowledged by the apostle , then there be gods . to us there is but one god the father , of whom are all things , and we in him , and one lord jesus christ , by whom are all things , and we in him , 1 cor. 8. 6. therefore the true worshippers are described to be such as rejoyce in christ jesus , phil. 3. 3. that glory in him as their lord and mediator . thirdly , they that are right worshippers , worship the true god by the true mediator according to the true rule , that is , they worship the true god according to his owne prescription , and appointment , not according to mens devices and inventions . for as our saviour tells us , matth. 15. 9. in vaine doe they worship god , who teach for doctrines the commandements of men . hee that shall goe as far as hierusalem to visit christs sepulchre , that shall sprinkle himselfe with holy water , keepe reliques of saints , observe old customes of former christians , abstaine from eating flesh , if he could keepe all the traditions of men , not faile in any point of ceremony , and thereby thinke to please god as if hee did him honour , thereby shall not onely misse of his end , but also instead thereof provoke the wrath of god against himselfe through his superstition . let all superstitious persons who are very devout in their way , know this for a certaine truth , that god doth not esteeme them as godly persons , because they are not right worshippers of god . the godly have the law of god in their heart , psal. 37. 31. and according to it , endeavour to walke in all duties of his worship . fourthly , right worshippers worship god for a right end , that they may honour him and exalt him in their soules , and give him glory . the pharisees matth. 6. 5. prayed to god , gave almes , and no doubt also brought their sacrifices to gods altar , yet neverthelesse they were adjudged hypocrites , because they did these things that they might bee seene of men . and the same censure belongs to all others that shall pray , preach , heare , or performe any other duty of gods worship that they may gaine a name of religious persons , and not chiefely for the glory of god that his name may be sanctified , whosoever misseth the right end of worship , loseth the title of a godly man . fiftly , right worshippers worship god from a right principle . two principles of our worship are necessary that our worship be right . first , the spirit of god ; no man can worship the lord in truth , unlesse the spirit of god dwell and act in him , 1 cor. 12. 3. no man can say that jesus is the lord but by the holy ghost . secondly , a right faith , without which a man cannot worship truely , for the doctrine of our lord jesus is the doctrine which is according to godlinesse , 1 tim. 6. 3. the mystery of godlinesse , 1 tim. 3. 16. the faith of gods elect , the acknowledging of the truth , which is after godlinesse , tit. 1. 1. whence i inferre that to godlinesse is requisite an acknowledgement of the truth , and that onely the true faith is that which begets godlinesse . wherefore all hereticall persons that hold falsehoods against the fundamentall truths of the gospell cannot be right worshippers ; a corrupt faith doth beget a corrupt worship . sixtly , right worshippers must worship god with right affection . they that worship god truely must worship god in spirit and truth , joh. 4. 23 , 24. we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit , phil. 3. 3. that is , that worship god , not onely with the outward man , but also in the inward man , with knowledge , love , zeale , reverence , obedience , &c. secondly , these godly persons you heare are under temptations . temptation is as much as tryall . by temptations are meant sinfull and evill practises , and that both as sinfull and harmefull . for the conclusion being drawne from the instances before , vers . 5 , 6 , 7. it is to be conceived that the temptation that god knoweth how to deliver from , is the same with which noah and lot were exercised . now lot was exercised with the evill practises of the sodomites as they were sinfull , that righteous man dwelling amongst them , in seeing & hearing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds , vers . 8. in like manner noah was tried by the corrupt doings of the old world . the sinfull and impure actions of evill men are temptations to the godly that live among them . likewise lot was exercised with their evill practises as they were harmefull . so you may reade gen. 19. 4. 9. that the sodomites compassed lots house , and would have broken in upon him , and violated the strangers that came into his house . and accordingly , to deliver from temptation , is not onely to deliver from the infection of sin , but also to deliver from mischievous massacres , violations , breaking open of houses , spoyling , persecution , combinations , reproaches , taunts and all other injurious usages godly men are in danger to meete with . now these are called temptations . first , partly because they are provocations to sin , for a man that lives among wicked men is not onely by example provoked to imitate them , but also by continuall and incessant molestations , driven to doe as they doe , for their owne ease , quiet , and security , and drawne by their flatteries , and wiles to comply with them , and thereby tempted . secondly , partly because they are exercises of patience , and constancy whereby the strength and stedfastnesse of beleevers is tryed . now for the reasons hereof . first , the first is from the innate hatred and malice that is in the heart of all unrighteous men towards the godly . there is a venomous malignity in the heart of wicked men towards the godly , be they as neere to them as the wife in the bosome , or the childe that is the fruite of their loynes : though it may be smothered a while in the heart , yet it lurkes in the heart , and will flame forth when that which covers it is removed , and some occasion bring it forth into act . thus our saviour informes his disciples , joh. 15. 19. if yee were of the world the world would love his owne : but because ye are not of the world , but i have chosen you out of the world , therefore the world hateth y●u . and after him saint john 1. epist. 3. 13. marvell not my brethren if the world hate you . even as there is a naturall antipathy between some beasts , as a wolfe will worry and devoure a lambe , though it lye downe quietly by it , so there is a secret antipathy betweene an ungodly and a godly person , though never so willing to live in peace . hence it is a sport to them to doe mischiefe , a contentfull thing to vex them . if they heare evill of them , they will beleeve and divulge it ; if they have ascoffe to flout them with , they will vent it ; if they have a desire to harme them , they will practise it . and that they hate them because they are godly , appeares by the falshood of their pretences for their hatred . they pretend they hate them for censuring them , sometimes for faction , turbulency , sedition , sometimes for hypocrisie and such like pretences . and yet who more censorious , factious , turbulent , seditious , fals-hearted than themselves ? or whom doe they favour more than such persons ? doubtlesse if the godly were such , they would love them as being like themselves . search the matter to the bottome , and it will appeare that these are but colours to cloke their hatred with from the eyes of men . it appeares by the universality of their hatred to godly persons . if their hatred were particular to some , it might be surmised it came from some particular cause of difference . but experience shewes it to be generall , their spirits are imbittered against those that they never had any dealing with , their hearts rise against those they never saw , if they heare or conceive them to be precisians , puritans , round-heads , or if there be any other appellation by which they denominate godly persons . though the same persons were delightfull to them before , though they were esteemed & praysed by them , yet when once they begin to be godly they loath them , vilifie them , abuse them . it appeares further , in that they hate them notwithstanding neare relations , by reason of which nature teacheth them to love them . an unrighteous father or mother will not brooke a righteous child , an idolatrous , husband will not agree with an holy wife : they that agree not in the true worship of the same god , cannot agree among themselves . besides this hatred is implacable , without mercy : there must be no favour shewed to a puritan , when a papist , a drunkard , a thiefe , a wandring rogue shall finde favour , come off easily in any tryall , be remitted any wrong ; but no plea , no intercession , no deprecation shall prevaile to save a godly person from the extremity of oppression . secondly , ungodly men are of unquiet spirits , they are like satan that never rests , matth. 12. 43. the wicked , saith the prophet , isay 57. 20. are like the troubled sea , when it cannot rest , whose waters cast up mire and dirt . they are still surmising some evill , or inventing some evill , or speaking some evill of them , or acting some evill against them . it is wages enough for them to doe hurt to godly men , though they hazard life , estate , credit , and their soules too , yet they are furiously carried to doe them mischiefe , come say they , jer. 18. 18. let us devise devises against jeremiah ; come let us smite him with the tongue . they devise mischiefe on their beds ; they set themselves in a way that is not good : they ab●erre not evill , psal. 36. 4. they sleepe not except they have done mischiefe , and their sleepe is taken away unlesse they cause some to fall , prov. 4. 16. thirdly , they be injurious . the best of them , saith the prophet , is a briar ; the most upright is sharper then a thorne hedge , micah 7. 4. take the best , that is , the most civill , ingenuous , regular , of unregenerate men , superstitious people , carnall worldlings , lukewarme formalists , they cannot brooke a zealous religious person , if they cannot wound deadly they will scratch and teare their flesh , if they cannot bite , they will barke and snarle at them . fourthly , they are proud , high conceited of themselves : but the godly are of no account in their eyes ; they conceive themselves gyants , godly men as pygmees ; now pride begets disdaine , and insolent behaviour . when pride compasseth them about as a chaine , violence covereth them as a garment , psal. 73. 6. when pride is in the heart there will bee spurning and trampling upon with feet . lastly , ungodly men are acted by satan , ephes. 22. he is the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience . and they that are ruled by satan must needs doe what hurt they can to godly persons . when the devill entred into judas his heart he could not stay but goes out presently about his worke of betraying his master , john 13. 27. no sooner have they a commission from satan , but they are presently ready to execute it . and therefore it cannot bee but that while the godly live among the unjust they should be under temptations . applic. for application of this truth , we may be informed in the reason of the present mischievous carriage of unjust men towards the godly , why they now tempt them , not onely by perswasions to sinne with them , but also by scorning , contemning and injurious dealing , yea and ( as the present experience proves it true ) by mischievous plots to destroy them , and to root them out of the land of the living : the late example of their practises , which occasioned this dayes solemnity is a most remarkable instance of the malignity of spirit that is in the hearts of wicked men against godly persons . what the plot was you have heard from the relation read to you . i hope you thereby sufficiently apprehend the certainty and manner of it from their owne confessions , the mischievousnesse of it , how great it would have beene , if it had taken effect : and by something in the relation , as the securing of some persons and houses by privy markes , who were like themselves , and the destinating of others to a panolethrie , it appeares that it was carried with a hatred and enmity against godly persons , whom they have branded with the name of round-heads . i deny not but it hath beene alleadged , that the reason of this plot was loyalty to the king , that they might expell out of the citie , those that rebell against him , and admit his forces into it : concerning this matter it is needfull something be spoken . the constant protestation of the commanders and souldiers here is , that they will maintaine to the utmost of their power with their life and fortunes the kings majesties royall person , honour and estate . if any shall keepe this citie against the king , undoubtedly that person should be made an example by some heavy end . i hope none here have any such thoughts or purposes ; but that their ends are right to protect it for the king , and not against the king . but it will be said , how can that be , sith it is against his will ? his command is to the contrary ? concerning this , thus much is said , that even by the judgement of those persons against whom lies no exception it hath been granted , that sometimes it may not bee rebellion to resist the personall will and command of the king . i will alleadge three instances . the first out of a booke intituled the true difference betweene christian subjection and antichristian rebellion , composed by thomas bilson afterwards bishop of winchester , and in great power at court in king james his dayes , dedicated to queene elizabeth , and for ought can be gathered by the frequent printing of it , and the preferment of the author adjudged orthodox . in it there are these words . if a prince should goe about to subject his kingdome to a forraine realme , or change the forme of the commonwealth from imperie to tyranny or neglect the lawes established by common consent of prince and people to execute his owne pleasure : in these , and other cases which might be named , if the nobles and commons joyne together to defend their ancient , and accustomed liberty , regiment and lawes , they may not well be accounted rebels . and a little after . as i said then , so i say now , the law of god giveth no man leave to resist his prince : but i never said that kingdomes and common-wealths might not proportion their states as they thought best by their publike lawes , which afterward the princes themselves may not violate . by superiour powers ordained of god wee understand not onely princes , but all politicke states and regiments , somewhere the people , somewhere the nobles having the same interest to the sword that princes have in their kingdomes . and in kingdomes where princes beare rule by the sword , we doe not meane the princes private will against his lawes : but his precept derived from his lawes , and agreeing with his lawes : which though it be wicked , yet may it not be resisted of any subject with armed violence . marry when princes offer their subjects not justice ; but force : and despise all lawes to practise their lusts ; not every , nor any private man may take the sword to redresse the prince : but if the lawes of the land appoint the nobles as next to the king to assist him in doing right , and with-hold him from doing wrong , then bee they licensed by mans law , and so not prohibited by gods to interpose themselves for the safeguard of equity and innocency and by all lawfull and needfull meanes to procure the prince to be reformed : but in no case deprived where the scepter is inherited . the second instance is in king james , who in his answer to cardinall peron his oration to the three estates of france , speakes of the protestants in france , who had sundry times in the dayes of francis the second , charles the ninth , and henry the third , kings of france , taken up armes against the oppression of the guisian faction at court maintained by those kings , as of the kings best subjects , and that their civill warres was not taking up armes against their king , it was but standing on their guard ; which the event proved to be true . the third instance is the act of parliament confirming the treaty with the scots commissioners passed by our present king this very parliament , in which it was enacted , that the scots covenanters who had seized on edenborough castle , raised an army in scotland against the kings will , and entred england therewith , were neverthelesse on september 7. 1641. to bee declared in all churches of this kingdome of england no rebells : from which also they were acquitted by our present king in their parliament of scotland . but it will bee said , that though things are carried never so violently or unjustly , yet christians are taught to suffer , not to resist . answ. it is true , wee may not resist authority ; but suffer under it , though proceeding unjustly . we are forbidden to resist not only the supreame , but also the meanest person in authority proceeding according to authority , that is , in a way of law judicially , though the proceedings be unjust , yet while the proceedings are according to authority , there is no resistance allowed but by suffering . but if so be that the proceeding be by meere violence , spoyling men of their goods , destroying , restrayning their persons without any legall charge , surely gods law hath not debarred men of the use of the law of nature , which directs a man to defend though not to revenge himselfe against violence ; suppose a prince should take with him a company of robbers and cut-throates , and set upon a subject by the high way , i would have it considered whether a traveller might not defend his person and goods : and in like manner may it be said concerning breaking into a mans house . though davids heart smote him when he cut off the lap of sauls garment , yet we reade not that he repented his gathering a band of men to him , his getting into strong holds for defence of himselfe against saul . if there were now any that had a hand in this wicked plot here present , i would speake to them by way of expostulation . what have the godly done , or what do they that there should bee such devices against them ? if it be said they are factious , and disturbe the land by their faction ; i would further know what is their faction ? doe they make a side or party to engrosse wealth , honour or secular power to themselves ? they strive much you will say to prevaile ; true , they strive , but for whom ? for themselves , or for god ? what is it they are earnest for ? is it not for a necessary reformation ? is it not that the holy ordinances of christ may bee kept from prophanation by the promiscuous admittance of all forts of open ungodly persons , drunkards , swearers , &c. unto them ? is it not that those inventions of men which are by many thought parts of gods worship , without which gods service is not well performed , and consequently superstitious in their use , may be removed ? is it not that gods worship may be reduced from a meere empty formality by saying prayers , & reading out of a book , to a lively & fruitful performing therof ? is it not that in stead of a swarm of ignorant ministers , that have not knowledge or skill to teach the principles of christian religion , of licentious , and lewd ministers that by their evill life are a shame to our religion , of meere worldlings , of proud ambitious ministers that seeke their owne things , and not the things of jesus christ , of corrupt ministers that are corrupt in their opinions , as in the doctrine of grace , christs presence in the eucharist , &c. there may be placed over the church of christ godly , able , painefull , orthodox ministers that may guide the people of god into the way of peace ? it it not that in stead of that kinde of discipline which all the world knowes hath beene used onely to draw mony out of mens purses , to oppresse godly persons , and holy exercises tending to promote knowledge and pietie under pretence of conventicles , to domineere and lord it over gods heritage , there might be a right way of discipline set up , tending to the right ordering and furthering of gods worship ? is it not that in stead of the increase of popery and the masse ( which are likely in time unlesse prevented to overgrow true religion ) preaching of christ may be promoted ? if this be their faction , so farre as i can conceive it is a faction for god , and they that ayme at their oppression for this cause , aime at the oppression of godlinesse and godly persons . secondly , wee may hence learne that they doe ill provide for their peace , that doe favour such unrighteous persons . if yee aske who doe so ? i answer ; first , they that choose to dwell neare them for worldly advantages : this was lots sinne and folly , gen. 13. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13. who chose his habitation in sodom , because it had a pleasant and fruitfull situatuation , though the inhabitants were exceeding wicked before the lord . yee know how ill he sped by going to sodom , thinking to get more wealth he lost all . secondly , those that make marriages , leagues and bonds of amitie with them . usually such persons finde their marriages to be their misery , their friendship to be their snare . they that were mingled among the heathen learned their workes , and they became a snare to them , psal. 106. 35 , 36. jehosaphat his joyning in affinitie with ahabs house occasioned the breaking of his ships , the corrupting of his family , and the destruction of many of his posterity . thirdly , those that connive , bolster up , plead for such men , it is usuall with god to make them a vexation in the conclusion to those that have upheld and pleaded for them . fourthly , those that commit power to them by choosing them to be magistrates and officers of trust ; they that put into imployment malignant spirits against the godly , must look to have a temptation and a snare by them . thirdly , it should warne us to take heed of unnecessary societie , with unjust and ungodly men : we are commanded not to be unequally yoaked with unbelevers , 2 corinth . 6. 14. there must bee a separation from them , vers. 17. i cannot now examine the severall sorts and cases of separation both civill and ecclesiasticall . this in the generall may be said , he that heeds not to avoyd societie with ungodly men which is not needfull , doth certainly cast himselfe into temptation . fourthly , it should warne us how we deale with such kind of men when we are necessitated to have any thing to doe with them . it was the saying of david in his cygnea cantio , his last words , 2 sam. 23. 6. 7. but the sonnes of belial shall be all of them as thor●es thrust away , because they cannot be taken with hands . but the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron , and the staffe of a speare . he that must have to doe with wicked men had need be fenced with iron . if you aske how ? i answer . 1. be armed as lot was , with the spirit of mourning , ye must mourne for their sinnes as lot did here , 2 pet. 2. 8. that righteous man dwelling among them in hearing and seeing vexed his righteous soule from day to day with their unlawfull deeds . if yee must be in their company , yet yee must not delight in their company : if yee doe , it is a signe yee are of the same disposition with them . there is sometimes a necessitie of their company by reason of naturall relation , neighbourhood , trading ; but there is a greater necessity that we mourne for their swearing , scoffing , lying , prophane speeches which we cannot remedy . 2. take heed of trusting them or hearkning to them , make them not of thy privie counsell , unlesse thou wouldst be betrayed by them . it is the prophet micah his use , mic. 7. 4 , 5. because the best of them is a briar , trust not in a friend , put yee not confidence in a guide , keepe the doores of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosome . and the prophet jeremiah , chap. 9. 4. take yee heed every one of his neighbour , and trust yee not in any brother ; for every brother will utterly supplant , and every neighbour will walke with slanders . 3. thou must be wise in speaking to them , psal. 39. 1. i will keepe my mouth with a bridle , saith david , while the wicked is before me , when wee are in the company of evill men we have need looke to the motions of our tongues . 4. get patience , and meekenesse in bearing their injuries and reproaches . in such company thou shalt meete with temptations , and therefore shouldst be fitted to encounter with them . 5. be wise how thou doe reprove them : though reproofe bee a duty , yet it must bee well managed ; our saviours direction is , matthew 7. 6. give not holy things unto the dogs , neither cast pearles before swine lest they trample them under their feet , and turne againe and rend you . 6. endeavour by all good meanes to convert them . take heed of complying with them in their wayes , under pretence of turning them . that 's the ready way for them to glory and insult over thee and to harden themselves . but bee thou as a light shining before them to convince them , philippians 2. 15. 7. if wee cannot convert them , yet let us endeavour to restraine them by our authority , prayers and power with them . fiftly , it should admonish us to prepare our selves for these temptations : while yee live on earth yee shall not live in a heaven of saints , but in a world of ungodly men , and therefore make account of temptations and fit your selves for them ; yee that be here of this citie because god hath given you deliverance now , doe not grow secure , but thinke ye may have more trialls . remember the spirit of wicked men is restlesse , though they misse in one plot they will attempt another ; according to the spirit by which they are guided , as satan goes about seeking whom hee may devoure , so doe wicked men his agents . sixtly and lastly , herein is manifested the gratious providence of god for the godly , that though they are under temptations , yet they are delivered from them , though they walke among snares , though they are placed as christ saith as sheepe in the midst of wolves , a few weake sheepe in the middest of a great multitude of ravening wolves , yet the church is preserved , this is gods work ; so it was at this time in this city , a small company of godly persons preserved from a great number of malignant spirits within and without it : o let us admire the goodnesse of our god herein . it is the businesse of this day : doe it fully , let your spirits be raised up in admiration of gods care and working for his people . let your hearts and tongues magnifie god , and say , great is the lord , and great are his workes ▪ and great deliverances giveth he unto his people . happy o people saved by the lord . happy are they that be in such a case : yea rather happy are they that have the lord for their god . 2 pet. 2. 9. the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation , and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished . wee have considered in the morning the estate of the godly in respect of unjust men among whom they live : they are under temptation . we are now to consider their estate in respect of gods care and aspect to them . the lord knoweth how to deliver them . the truth emergent from hence is this . though it be that the godly while they live among unjust men be in temptation : yet god knowes how to deliver them . this is the expresse assertion of the text . the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation . the phrase [ the lord knoweth ] imports both care , providence , and vigilancy to deliver , and also skill and wisdome how to contrive it , and consequently , certainty of deliverance . to like purpose are many other places of holy scripture , psal. 9. 9. the lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed , a refuge in times of trouble , psal. 33. 18. behold the eye of the lord is upon them that feare him : upon them that hope in his mercy , to deliver their soule from death . to make this truth a little more explicate , we are to consider , that this skill , vigilancy and providence of god in delivering the godly out of temptation , first , hath reference to divers sorts of deliverance . there are divers kinds of deliverance , and divers degrees in those kindes . there is a deliverance of the soule from the wrath of god . jesus that delivereth from the wrath to come , 1 thess. 1. 10. a deliverance from the power and guilt of sinne , from the anguish and horrour of conscience , from desertion and apostasy . there are deliverances of the body , of the naturall life , from death , from teares , from sicknesse , from wants , from danger . the lord knowes how to accommodate his deliverance , to give deliverance according to what kind & degree he thinks meet . sometimes god delivers from death , psa. 116. 8. thou hast delivered my soule from death . sometimes by death , isa. 57. 1. the righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart ; and mercifull men are taken away , none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come . see , the lord knowes sundry wayes of deliverance , not onely by keeping them from the hands of unjust men , but sometimes by letting them fall into their hands . secondly , it hath reference to the persons delivered . sometimes the lord delivers many , sometimes few , sometimes whole cities and people , sometimes a small remnant in them , rom. 9. 27. isa. 10. 22. though the number of the children of israel be as the sand of the sea , a remnant shall be saved : though there be great multitudes of men , yet a few shall be delivered . thirdly , it hath reference to the meanes of deliverance . sometimes the lord delivers by a visible power , sometimes the lord delivers by an invisible working , sometimes god delivers by putting a meere fancy into the mind of the enemy , somtimes by a reall accident unthought of : 1 sam. 23. 26 , 27. saul and his men , had encompassed david and his men round about to take him . but there came a messenger unto saul , saying , haste thee and come : for the philistines have invaded the land . wherefore saul returned from pursuing after david , and went against the philistines . sometimes the lord delivers by an angell , sometimes by men . that which the prophet speaketh , isa. 28. 29. is true of the meanes of deliverance . this also commeth forth from the lord of hoasts , who is wonderfull in counsell , and excellent in working . that we least dreame of , is oft times the meanes of deliverance ; that which we most hoped in , is oft times most unprofitable to us . fourthly , it hath reference to the case of the persons delivered . sometimes the unjust persons be many , strong , cunning , active , malicious : on the other side , the persons delivered are few , weake , distracted ▪ fearefull , simple , yet notwithstanding the lord knowes how to deliver them . even these poore ones are preserved , and those strong , cunning and active men misse of their prey ▪ fifthly , it hath reference to the time of delivery . gods skill , vigilancy , and providence is clearely seene , in the season and opportunity of deliverance , isa. 64. 3. then didst terrible things which we looked not for : when the case of persons rescued is in appearance hopelesse , yet the lord knowes how to deliver even then . sixthly , it hath reference to the fruits and consequent of the deliverance . there is a deliverance which is but incompleate : persons are delivered from one judgement , but reserved to another . the king of sodom was delivered from the kings that came against him , but reserved to fire and brimstone . sometimes god gives a compleat deliverance that procures a continued peace . jehoshaphat was delivered from the invasion of the moabites , and the fruite of it was , the realme was quiet : for his god gave him rest round about , 2 chron. 20. 30. sometimes god gives a deliverance which ends in triumph and glory ; sometimes a deliverance which leads to more temptations . god it may be gives a deliverance to shew what he would doe if wee would cleave to him : but because of our forgetfulnesse of god , our not rendring againe according to his mercy , we may be delivered from one conspiracy so as to fall into another , from one evill so as to be reserved to a greater . the reasons why god doth thus providently and skilfully deliver the godly out of temptation are ; first , because of his promise , god hath ingaged his word for the deliverance of his people , psal. 50. 15. i will deliver thee , and thou shalt glorifie mee . secondly , because they pray to him : in the same place he saith , call upon me in the day of trouble , and i will deliver thee . god will not be wanting to the prayer of the poore destitute , he will heare their cry . though it be that proud atheisticall persons make no reckoning of prayer , as if it could doe any thing for deliverance , yet sure prayer is a mighty engine with god , it is of singular force for deliverance . the effectuall servent prayer of the righteous avayleth much , jam. 5. 16. thirdly , because of his love ▪ for that makes him imploy his wisedome and power for the deliverance of the godly , deut. 33. 3. yea hee loved the people ; all his saints are in thine hand . because they reciprocally love god , and are tempted for his sake . for thy sake we are killed all the day long and counted as sheepe for the slaughter , psal. 44. 22. therefore he must needs favour their cause , and be engaged in point of honour to deliver them , psal. 91. 14. because he hath set his love upon me , therefore will i deliver him . a good master will not suffer his servant to miscarry for his fidelitie in doing his businesse . surely god that is the best master , who hath farre more goodnesse then all the creatures , will not faile to protect and rescue his servants , his children , that are in danger for his sake . besides it concernes god to shew himselfe just , in righting the innocent , that he may make good his title , the god of judgement . the lord knoweth the way of the righteous , psal. 1. 6. and therefore is by his righteousnesse bound to helpe them . fiftly , the rage of the enemies is a sufficient reason for god to deliver his people , and to imploy his providence and power for their rescue ▪ deut. 32. 27. saith god , i would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men , were it not that i feared the wrath of the enemy lest their aduersaries should behave themselves strangely . the lord intends to use wicked men as his rod often times to scourge the godly : but he intends they should correct them , not destroy them , he would not have them altogether unpunished yet corrected in measure : hee would not have them lost though chastised . therefore hee gives deliverance at last though the enemy rage much ; the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the let of the righteous : lest the righteous put forth their hand unto iniquity , psal. 125. 3. because he knowes the enemy is implacable , unmercifull , knowes not how to put bounds to his rage , but acts in his fury ad extremum virium , to the utmost of his power , therefore god sets bounds to his rage and curbs his fury , psal. 76. 10. surely the wrath of man shall praise thee : the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine . sixtly , the presumption and boasting of the enemy is a great motive to god to deliver his people . thus the psalmist urgeth god to remember the reproach of the enemy , the voyce of the enemy , psal. 74. 18. 23. because they conspire together , they say , come let us destroy them all together , let us out them off from being a nation , that the name of israel may be no more in remembrance , psal. 83. 4. they say let us persecute and take him , there is none to deliver him , they magnifie their owne power , they deride the poore godly man , as if there were no helpe for him in god , they promise to themselves satisfaction of their rage , malice , covetousnesse , therefore god will disappoint them . because of senacheribs blasphemy and reproach god delivered hezekiah and hierusalem . because thy rage against me , and thy tumult is come up into mine eares : therefore will i put my hooke into thy nose , and my bridle in thy lips , & i will turne thee backe by the way by which thou camest , saith god , isa. 37. 29. not onely by reason of the cries of the oppressed , but also by reason of the bragges of proud tongues that have said , we will prevaile , who is lord over us ? therefore saith god , i will arise , and set him in safety from him that p●…ffeth at him , psal. 12. v. 5. applic. for application . first , this may serve to abate the presumption and boasting of unrighteous men in their practises against the godly . it is usuall with ungodly persons when they have hatched a plot , when they have gathered a power , to insnare and crush the godly to promise themselves certainty of prevayling because of their cunning , confederacy , secrecy : because they conceive the godly have no power , or no wit to withstand them . and therefore in the laying of all their plots , in the pursuing of all their designes they make god as a cipher , and vilifie godly persons , as if they were a contemptible poore nothing . and all is because they have no acquaintance with this truth that god knowes how to deliver the godly out of temptation . wherefore they vaunt and boast themselves : all their speech is of their great multitude , great partie , strong power , good commanders , wealthy men , cunning plotters , firme union , these and such like things they glory in . senacherib makes no other account but to take jerusalem by reason of his multitude of chariots and horsemen , sends word to hezekiah by rabshakeh to this purpose . thinkest thou that thou shalt be delivered out of my hands ? i will give thee two thousand horses if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them . as if he had said , thou hast so few men as not to bee able to furnish two thousand horses with able riders , and how then canst thou stand against me who bring into the field hundreds of thousands ? the same thought is in other ungodly persons , they make no account but to prevaile and carry the day because of their multitude and confederacie . god is secluded from their thoughts , as if he were but a looker on that did nothing . but as we use to say , they that reckon without their host must reckon againe : they that reckon without god make up an easie reckoning , but a foolish one : they please themselves in a vaine presumption which cannot hold . experience might enforme them , that when men presume most , they faile most , and that gods people are then nearest to deliverance when they are in appearance in the most hopelesse condition ; the reasons hereof are evident . god knowes how to deliver when man doth not , and when men say there is no helpe for him in his god , then it is that god doth most certainly appeare with deliverance . out then with all these atheisticall thoughts , as if the godly and their cause were lost , when forces faile , enemies grow potent , and are many in number . let this one experiment of this cities deliverance teach you to see the presumption of men to bee a vaine thing . when almost was there a time wherein a city was nearer spoyling and destruction , and yet preserved ? the narration read to you may easily give you to conceive how neere it was to be taken , how great the presumption of the plotters was of the successe . yet loe in this one instance this truth verified , the lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation : by his skill , and vigilancy we have had deliverance . let not then proud spirits vaunt of their plot and power , but remember what jethro said concerning the deliverance at the red sea , exod. 18. 11. now i know that the lord is greater then all gods : for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly hee was above them . secondly , this should strengthen our faith , and encourage us to seeke unto god and rely upon him , even then when in our owne apprehension we be at the weakest , and the enemy most potent . so did jehosaphat , 2 chron. 20. 12. o our god wilt thou not judge them ? for wee have no might against this great company that commeth against us : neither know wee w●at to doe : but our eyes are upon thee . and a little after , vers. 15. bee not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude : for the battell is not yours but gods . be it that wee be brought to great straights , so that we see no way of escape , no meanes of helpe , yet let our eyes be fixed on the power that is above , still keepe up your heart with prayer in dependance upon god . and let me tell you , that faith is as good as a whole army , yea it is more then great forces , by it the saints have obtained victories , escaped the edge of the sword , heb. 11. 34. marke what hanani the seer told asa , 2 chron. 16. 7 , 8 , 9. because thou hast relied on the king of syria , and not relied on the lord thy god , therefore is the hoast of the king of syria escaped out of thine hand . were not the ethiopians and lubins a huge hoast with very many chariots and horsemen ? yet because thou didst relie on the lord he delivered them into thine hand ? for the eyes of the lord run to and fro thoorow out the whole earth to shew himselfe strong in the behalfe of them whose heart is perfect toward him . the truth is : faith is our greatest strength ; armies be of no power without god , and when god makes an army to be a scourge to a people , it is likely because they want faith in god for deliverance . oh that then our hearts might be established upon god , whatever straights wee are brought to , that wee could learne to cling , and rest , and hang upon him by faith , though outward helpe faile . he is the lord of hosts , the god of all power and wisedome : let our faith in god be strong , though the arme of flesh wee use bee weake . thirdly , if god be so expert in deliverance , we should learne to waite upon god , and to stay his time for deliverance . god doth not deliver according to thy will , but according to his owne purpose , and therefore we should quiet our selves in his wisedome and care , patiently staying till he be pleased to send deliverance . we are ready to anticipate gods worke , to prescribe the way and time of deliverance , and if they faile to begin to grow weary with waiting , yea to draw desperate conclusions therefrom , and all is because wee have not learned this lesson , that the lord knoweth how to deliver when man doth not ; that his wayes are unsearchable and past finding out by us , that he reserveth the ordering of meanes , the time when , and the extent of deliverance how farre it shall reach . learne then to bee contented though hee disappoint thee in the way of deliverance thou fixest thy thoughts and hopes on , and keepe up thy confidence in god his faithfulnesse and power . remember that of the prophet , isa. 28. 16. he that believeth shall not make haste . fourthly , if it be the lord that knowes how to deliver , then when we have deliverance , we must remember to magnifie his wisedom , goodnesse , care , vigilancy and providence . and this is the proper businesse of this day . god hath given a great deliverance to this citie . and i beseech you to consider to whom it can bee ascribed but to him . it were extreame sottshnesse for any man to imagine that such a deliverance came by chance , that it was hap-hazzard , uncertaine blinde fortune that did so discover and prevent a plot so long before contrived , and so neere the accomplishment , nor can it be conceived to have been by the foresight of men . the truth is , all sorts of persons were in a dubious and trembling condition . a plot was feared , but what it might be , or what way to discover it , i suppose the agents in the discovery knew not till god directed some unexpectedly to give intelligence . those that sate at the sterne here will acknowledge they were at a stand , and knew not what to doe : those that seemed best to understand the state of things , here conceived them in a hopelesse condition . if then it cannot be ascribed to fortune , or to men , to whom shall wee ascribe the delivery but to god ? doubtlesse they shew themselves arrant fooles , grosse doaters , sottish persons , stupid wretches , that will not say , digitus dei est hic , herein is the finger of god . that a plot contrived with so much cunning , brought on so neere to an issue , should even then bee discovered , even then be prevented when it was to be acted , with such a mercifull preservation of those against whom it was intended , bindes us to give great praise unto god . let us then with our whole heart acknowledge , that great hath the wisedome , providence and vigilancy of god beene over this place in discovering and preventing this plot . to make us more sensible hereof , let us consider the greatnesse of the delivery by the number of persons delivered , even many thousands of lives in all likelihood , a whole city , and a great city preserved . yea doubtlesse those that conceived themselves safe enough have cause to acknowledge their deliverance . let men dreame of a word or a signe as a securitie for them ; alas ! in a furious concourse , while men are in heate of blood , doe yee thinke they can attend to observe and marke a word , a little white tape in the bosome or in the hat ? alas ! who may not easily conceive that in such a confusion as must needs have been at the rising up and entring of so great forces into a city , in such hurly burly , in such fighting there would have beene little distinction made of inhabitants , yea possibly ( as is usuall in such fights ) their owne forces some of them might have suffered as enemies . it is easie to conceive that not onely goods , but also persons would have perished together . and therefore they that imagined themselves safe enough by reason of the good will they thought the parties plotting and invading did beare to them , yet have reason to acknowledge a great deliverance of them in the disappointing of this plot , not onely the persons particularly designed to destruction , but also many hundreds of those who thought themselves safe enough , would have beene involved in the common slaughter . secondly , let us consider the greatnesse of the deliverance in the fulnesse of it . though many thousands were destinate to destruction , yet not the haire of one mans head lost , not one drop of blood shed , not one person that we know of lost , no not so much as one peny : this was a great deliverance . thirdly , let us consider the greatnesse of the deliverance by the smalnesse of the meanes . a deliverance in a manner without any helpe against a great power : without any foresight against a vigilant enemy : that god might have all the glory , and man onely the knowledge of his owne weakenesse . fourthly , a deliverance in a desperate case , when the enemy was confident , when the preserved were fearefull . fiftly , a deliverance in the very nicke of time , immediately before the plot should have beene acted . sixtly , a deliverance that hath vouchsafed to make for the present , the place safe , the inhabitants in a better posture for the future , which may in probability tend to the peace of the whole kingdome . however it bee that things succeed , yet surely there could not bee a way in likelihood that might have tended to the shortning of this warre , and so consequently to the peace and quietnesse of this kingdome more effectuall then this , that god was pleased to deliver this city : and which is of all the most blessed effect , it hath redounded to gods glory by many thanksgivings to him , which we this day with the acclamations of our soules give unto him : and i doubt not but that it will tend much to the undeceiving of the people from those hard thoughts they have had of the godly as turbulent , and discover the deepe wickednes that is in the hearts of malignant spirits , notwithstanding all their pretences , so that i hope in time it shall be that as in the dayes of joshua , so god will bring it to passe that no dog shall move his tongue against his people , and all will see a necessity of reformation in the discipline of the church , which is the great desire of all the godly in the land . i will expresse my conceits unto you . i have conceived this plot in the intention of it , and many circumstances in it very like that ever to be abhorred massacre at paris in france under charles the ninth of france , and the discovery and disappointment like unto that of the castle and citie of dublin in ireland somewhat more then a yeare since , by which although the warre and misery of that kingdome hath not beene altogether prevented , yet hath beene through the almighties sole power in a great measure lessened . doubtlesse the same spirit of antichrist hath moved in all these plots , and this present warre is set on foot by the same jesuiticall achitophels , by the same catholique league . it is the same plot that began in scotland , but lighted on ireland , and now in a heavy manner of england . it is plaine enough to every one that will consider the agents , the circumstances of it that it is the plot of papists , and jesuited spirits to root out the protestant religion under other pretences . and god doth begin now to discover it , and i doubt not but will more discover it , and cleare the innocency of his people , and adde deliverances to them , but ruine and downefall to that antichristian state . what are wee to doe this day but to acknowledge the greatnesse of this deliverance , to magnifie god our deliverer , and cause the voyce of his praise to bee heard ; to rejoyce in gods worke which he hath done ? though we may not rejoyce in the misery of any man as delighting in it , though we are not to insult over them , but to pity them , who did not pity us , though we are not to reproach them , but to pray for them , that god would soften their hearts and open their eyes , that they may see against whom they strive ; yet for as much as the scripture saith , the righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the venge mee , he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked , psal. 58. 10. that god may bee magnified wee are to rejoyce that they are cast downe , and that god hath vouchsafed unto his people a day of deliverance , and ( blessed be his name ) a day of thanksgiving without any interruption . i beseech you let not this mercy be lost , keepe a yearely memoriall of it , let not this day be lost , spend it not onely in ease from labour and carnall mirth , but remember that deus nobis haec ●ti● fecit , god hath done this great thing for us , and let our rejoycing be in god , our prayses of him , oh prayse our god all yee people , and let the voyce of his praise he heard , which endues our soule with life , and suffereth not our feet to slip . and in your praises observe these directions . first , remember the great deliverance of all deliverances , even the deliverance which the lord jesus the great captaine of our salvation hath gotten for us by his death over hell and death . every deliverance we have from the inferiour instruments of satan the great adversary should lead to the remembrance of the grand deliverance from hell eternally to be remembred . secondly , let this deliverance confirme your faith , & erect your hope in expectation of those great diliverances which all gods people long for , even the great deliverance from antichrist when god will judge the whore , and avenge the sea of blood that hath beene drunke these many hundreds of yeares by that cruell dominion of the papacy , which all that love jesus christ doe earnestly pray for and endeavour : the deliverance from gog and magog when their great multitudes shall bee overthrowne : the deliverance from the grave , when the earth and the sea shall give up their dead . learne we to argue as the apostle doth , 2 cor. 1. 10. who delivered us from so great death , and doth deliver ; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us . god hath delivered this citie and therefore will deliver his church which is his owne city . it is the argumentation of the apostle here . god delivered noah from the old world at the deluge , he delivered lot out of sodom , and therefore , god knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation . one deliverance is enough to conclude a succession of deliverances . all gods deliverances are grounded upon the same reason , and therefore the assurance of one is a confirmation of our faith concerning all . thirdly , learne to delight thy selfe in god , learne to glory and make thy boast in him . say as nebuchadnezzar himselfe acknowledged , dan. 3. 29. there is no other god that can deliver after this sort . we that hope in the living god , that trust in christ jesus should raise our spirits to an high and holy magnanimity and courage in our god , despise the idols that superstitious persons magnify . hath god delivered us ? hath the sonne of god saved us ? away then with crosses , crucifixes , dead saints , images , reliques , breaden gods ; they are but dead things , they cannot deliver , they are but vanitie and lies , there is no breath , there is no trust in them . let us exalt our god and say , our god is the living god & an everlasting king , the portion of jacob is not like them , israel is the rod of his inheritance , jerem. 10. our god is a god that can deliver , and doth deliver , and will deliver . let the experiment of gods deliverance raise our hearts to an high apprehension of the power , and excellency and worthinesse of our god . lastly , let us cleave stedfastly to our god . hath god stood to us ? let us stand fast to him : stand to his truth by professing , to his commands by obeying them , stand unto his people by appearing for them , stand to his cause by engaging our selves in it , stand to gods name by trusting on it . doth god deliver the godly ? oh prize godlinesse then as great gaine , as profitable for all things . doth god heare prayers ? oh then let us use prayers to god . let us contradict sinners , and say , it is not in vaine to serve god , that there is profit in keeping his ordinances , and that we walke mournfully before the lord of hoasts , mal. 3. 14. let us returne and discerne between the righteous and the wicked , betweene him that serveth god and him that serveth him not , v. 18. to manifest which i should proceed to handle the other conclusion in the text , the lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to the day of judgement to be punished ; but time will not permit . finis . 