IT could hardly be imagin'd, that the Letter which I presented to your Grace, and which I published of late, should have rais'd so great a storm against me for no other reason then that I beg'd your Grace's favor in behalf of my distressed Country, and implored the performance of publick Faith, shewing the mischiefs that have followed the breach of it. This is done in the dark by an impudent assertor of strange positions. But whoever he be, certainly his passion and immoderation speaks him ignorant of the condition of the present Times, of the actions of former Ages, and, above all, to be a meer stranger to the heroick disposition of CHARLES the Second, and utterly to forget that if it were in your Grace's nature to entrench, for conveniencies sake in the least measure, upon the honor of your Master, or to have formed your self, even by connivance, to a dexterous compliance with those different parties, that made it their design to ruine Monarchy, you would indeed as to the quiet and security of your person, the temporary improvement of your int'rest, have floated calmly on the top of every bilow raised by the tempest of those evil Times. But in so doing, your Grace would have left such a Monument to your posterity, as you had not received from your Ancestors, and such as (although the fate of the times had excused it in others) was unpardonable in the House of Ormond.

In truth, I think there is somwhat more in the Letter, that tends to move pitty, and to implore Justice (which I conceive to be the scope of it) then the Reader will [Page 2] think well pay'd with that brass penny in the heap of rubbish. But there are slights in all Arts. And this of the Answer­ers puts me in mind how the Lord Chancellor Bolton was wont to tell that a witty Lawyer coming before him, and finding himself prest with a throng of Arguments, where­of many were unanswerable, he selected the slightest, al­ledging that those only were of moment; but as to the rest, he would not give his Lordship the trouble of dwel­ling upon the refutation of such impertinencies.

But it being not my intent to perplex so weighty a mat­ter, by descending after a Logical manner, to the particu­lar defects in the Answer, I shall endeavor to keep my self, as near as I can, within those Limits which the Answerers passion and immoderation have made him walk in: and to shew how amongst all his considerations, he minds those things least on which he should have bestowed the most solid reflections.

He that discourses of setling a Kingdom under the Go­vernment of its natural Prince in peace and security, should first consider that a King is Father of his people, and that they are a portion of mankind, whereof no one is ex­empt from Rebellion against Heaven; that the bowels of this King's paternal love, in imitation of God, whose Vice­gerent he is, have compassion for the frailties of his Sub­jects, and mercy for their greatest crimes. The eldest on might repine at the favor done his prodigal brother, but his father made him a feast. Which shows that the affection of Princes to their Subjects in general, moves in another Orb then ours to one another. Our Interest may make us snarll; but our King is our Common Father.

The want of duly weighing this principle, and the im­possibility in a Prince to divest himself of this genuin and natural property of being a Father, hath afforded the Answerer liberty to advance some positions, that (without any just offence, I may say,) do not speak him either a charitable Person, or a prudent States-man.

The Answerer gives your Grace an accompt of a word or a fear which just then fell from him, and in truth the word [Page 3] bears in it self very evident marks that it was precipitat; but how the fear could express it self in that language, I know not. However your Grace will conceive it a sad and severe position, that this contention between the two parties in Ireland will never have an end. And it is no wonder your Grace should startle at it, if you did not consider that the same God, who makes the much opposite qualities of the Elements agree for the conservation of the mixt, who deprest our King to raise him higher, and led him by the hand of his Providence to the Throne of his An­cestors, without other supports then a sense of their duty in his Subjects, hath still a power left him to put an end to the contentions of the two parties in Ireland, and that not by the ways of his omnipotent will or miraculous actings, but by his ordinary concurrence by secondary Causes. For if His Majestie's clemency could make up so huge a breach as lay open before him by the Murder of His Father, ought we not to hope that he may be imitated by his Subjects in laying aside that everlasting contention to which the Answerer would condemn them? Shall no length of time be allowed to set limits to the vengeance this Answerer would have them to expect the one of the other? The Brittains, the Danes, the Saxons, and the Normans are now so incorporated in England, as the memory of all di­stinction is lost amongst them. Yet much blood hath been drawn in their Contests, and the Actions of particular Men of each of those Nations have been such, as they may be justly stiled Barbarous and Inhumane.

Your Grace knowes with what horrour the Irish Nation looks upon those Massacres and Murders in the North, committed in the beginning of the Re­bellion by the Raskal multitude upon their innocent, unwarned, and unprovided Neighbors; but the number of Two hundred thousand, (although this Writer comes short One hundred thousand in his ac­compt of what the Convention-Commissioners gave up to His Majesty in their Answer to the Irish Agents) is so exorbitantly vast, that a stranger who findes the dimen­sions of Ireland in the Map, and understands this certain [Page 4] truth, That there were then in Ireland One hundred Na­tives for each person; these men would pass under the notion of an English man, will readily conclude, That the whole Ireland is but one City so thronged with Inhabi­tants, as men cannot walk in the Streets unjustled.

There is no man who hath a greater detestation for those foul crimes then I have. And yet after exact enquiry, I dare averre there have been more Patritians and Knights of Rome murdered in the Conflicts and Proscriptions between Scilla and Marius, within the Walls of the City, then perished by those infamous Massacres throughout Ireland, In the first two moneths of the Rebellion. And that although the Streets were covered with Roman Carcasses, and the Ken­nels ran Blood, yet a few years buried those Animosities, and both Factions lived after, as peaceably as became Ci­tizens that paid Obedience to one and the same Emperor. We read, that the Hugonets of France, who under Francis the Second conspired against the Government, and then, and in the Reign of several Kings after, were as bitterly bent against the Roman Catholicks, as the Ancient Gawls were against Cesar, and where they had power left to posterity strange Monuments of their Rage and Cruelty; Yet those so divided Affections are so now composed, as both contend who shall best serve their Prince, and the different Perswasion in Religion is so far from lessening the French Kings trust in men of Merit, that Marshal Tu­rein very deservingly commands in Chief the Military Power of France.

John of Leyden for the short time of his reign had a nu­merous party, that laid about them as barbarously and as inhumanely as men could do. Yet many of them were Inhabitants of that City in Germany, where Peace was so successfully treated between the Empire and Sweden, and between Spain and Holland: So quiet was that place and people, then grown, that had been once so miserably distracted.

Even the Catalonians, who not many years since, trans­ferred the Dominion over them to a Foreign Prince, That [Page 5] murdered their Vice-Roy, that imbrued their hands in the blood of the Spanish Council, and all the Spaniards that came in their way, and perpetrated such villanies as we cannot reach to express by calling them Barbarous and Inhumane: Yet His Catholick Majesty hath satisfied His Justice with the punishment of the Principal Incendiaries in tha [...] Revolt & having brought the people back to a due sense of their Obedience, the Spaniards and they fit down as amicably, and with as general confidence, the one in the other, as they did at any time before. The Irish go fur­ther, and out of desire to have the Grounds of future Animosities, utterly removed by the exemplar Chastise­ment of the most Criminal, they have often moved, that no man on either side may be exempt from satisfying the Law for any foul Murder.

Now Your Grace, who is better able to call to minde Thousands of Examples, evidencing the little reason men have to despair of the perfect settlement of the most discomposed States, and of the firm Union of different Affections, will doubtless conceive that to say, The Con­tention between the two parties in Ireland, will never have an end, is an Assertion full of diffidence in Gods providence, and full of ignorance of what hath succeeded in this, and in former ages, upon the like occasion.

But that Your Grace may observe, that the Grounds whereupon this Gentleman establisheth his Prediction, are as vain and frivolous, as the Prediction it self is teme­rarious and imprudent; I shall (without search into the Aspect of the Planets, or that of sullying of the Moon, or influ­encing (as he speaks) that climat) descend to the particulars of what he considers in the Case.

And first, he unluckily lays that for a Foundation which either must restrain all Princes from making new acquisitions; or (if they pursue his Politick Precepts) must turn the Territories they have acquired by any pretence of Conquest, into a desolate Wilderness; there being no other mean, in this new doctrine, to secure what they have [Page 6] once gained by the just title of lawful Arms. Had the Romans, who for Six hundred years could not enlarge their Territory beyond the Bounds of Italy, made this their Principle, they must have spent more time in peopling then in conquering that the Seat of their Empire.

Your Grace knows, that the Irish for a long time after the first Colony of Englishmen was planted in Ireland, were not onely stiled, but were actually enemies to those that strove to prevail over them. And certainly that is so Natural a Passion, as Beasts partake with man in it: For if the Invaded and the Invader should concur, as to the end of the work, what needed Contention? Yet Your Grace's famous Ancestors that acted a principal part in spreading the Dominion of the Crown of England over those Irish Enemies, were (if our Histories deceive us not) powerfully and faithfully assisted by those whom they had not long before subdued. And the self-fame men that sharply contended against them, were instrumental in ac­quiring them fame, and extending the Bounds of the English Government.

His two next considerations concern the first English Colony and their Descendents, until the Reign of Henry the Eight. Who without all doubt, were better versed in the knowledge of those after-drops that commonly fol­low the storm of Force and Invasion, then not to expect and prepare themselves for those effects that for some time do attend the resentment of an over-mastered peo­ple. But it is strange, that a man who would establish a new and an unusual method of Policy, did not consider, that when a Nation is once generally compelled to sub­mit to the commands of the prevailing Invader, all after Commotions do rather fix then unsettle the Govern­ment.

But methinks I hear him say, That this last Rebellion was no after-drop, but an universal deluge. And this as­sertion is thus far true, That the Laws having defined it Rebellion to raise Arms against an Authority established [Page 7] by the King, this cannot be denied to have been a Re­bellion, the extent whereof, although it were not uni­versal, yet it spread it self into the far greater part of the Kingdom. But all unbyassed men distinguish between the first Conspirators (that were a handful of Hare-brain'd fellows of broken fortunes, and desperate resolutions, who upon the first noise of the extirpation of their Na­tion, and their Religion, threatned to be executed by the Ministry of a Scotish Army, took up Arms, and made the Crime of Rebellion more horrid by the foul actions, with which the rude multitude did asperse it) and the Noblemen and Gentry, with the rest of the Roman Ca­tholicks: who being sat in Parliament at Dublin, had ap­plication made to them by those Rebels to mediate for redress of their Grievances, and offered to continue their sitting in order to their repressing of them; but were pro­rogued (as some do not spare to say) of Design to encrease the Confusion. Which, I am sure, was the success of that prorogation. And I have heard a shrewd Argument aledged to prove, that such was the intention of the Lords Justices, and those of the then Council who favored the party op­posing the King in England. The truth where of none knows better then Your Grace, who made offer at the Council Board to raise Ten thousand men. With which power, being assisted by the Lords Justices, You undertook to quell those Northern Rebels, and to settle the Peace of the Kingdom. But this being not accepted, and there appearing daily greater symptoms of the aversion to the ways of our late King of ever blessed memory, the Con­federate Catholicks then took upon them for their natu­ral defence (as they alledged) a Government in opposi­tion to the Lords Justices: Whose Authority over them, having not then been revoked by His Majesty, they could not have declined, nor have set up any other of their own without His Majesties Commission, nor have entred into such Confederacy without being guilty of Rebelli­on. But for this, and crimes of this nature, Your Grace hath conveyed unto them His Majesties Mercy in Articles [Page 8] of Peace. Whereof, because they demand the benefit, they are exposed to the odium of every person that detains any part of their Estates, by what title soever. Could Your Grace but remove this incompatibility between mens possessions, there would a word and a hope, as sud­denly fal from this Gentleman, that the Contention between the two parties in Ireland might have an end to morrow.

And now in my turn the Gentleman will give me leave to consider, That the old English, the Posterity of that English Colony first planted in Ireland, are more concern­ed in his reflections, then those in whose favor he writes. For if the greatness of Estates, that have been or may hereafter be conferred, must in his opinion foment irre­conciliable animosities, there can no hope be left, that they and the ancient Irish can ever agree, since it is evi­dent those English have been masters of the far greater part of their Country. What discovery the Articles of Forty eight make of their resolution in cold blood, to unravel the settlement of ages past, I cannot conceive: Nothing appears to me in them which trenches upon His Majesties Prerogative; nor the right which a Subject may claim to his Inheritance. The Roman Catholicks do not by those Articles ingross the places of profit, honor, and trust to themselves, nor impose the exercise of their Re­ligion upon any man of a different perswasion.

When this Gentleman considered the dissimilitude of Customs, Manners, Habit, and Language, between the English and the Irish, I expected he would have laid be­fore Your Grace, (who are to direct the Government of Ireland) the ways how to invite, or inforce the ruder sort to conform themselves in all those particulars to the rules of civility of the English. But Your Grace will of your self finde better ways, and more for His Majesties advantage, then by dispeopling the Kingdom, or beg­gering the people, to communicate this happiness unto them. Which might have been introduced long since, if some former Governors had not made it their studies rather to plant their Estates, then cultivate their mindes.

As for the reflection which he makes upon the manner of celebrating of Funerals with howlings, which indeed is barbarous (although many in Poland and other places in the continent do still continue that savage custom) I hope your Grace, without sending the Natives to the Barbadoes, or forcing them to such indigence as may com­pell them to cry for Almes, will not onely supress the Ditty, if any such be used, but ever abrogate the Tune.

And for the consideration which he raises from the com­mon conversation of the vulgar, and their brawlings: the Petty Constables, and the Stocks in every Parish, without extirpating the Nation (for his assertion, That the contention between the two parties in Ireland will never cease, always tends to that) will ease your Grace from any great affright of a disturbance in the Government, by reason of the terms of malice, suspition, and contempt; yea in case they did upbraid each other with as much acrimony, as if they were bred under the discipline of the Oyster­wives at Billingsgate.

What he next adds, seems to have more weight in it: and I confess it will be worthy your Grace's care, not on­ly to bring the common Irish to civility, which of it self will rectifie any supine ignorance they may be guilty of in order to their incapableness of distinguishing what con­cerns the Spiritual, what the Temporal Jurisdiction; but to give encouragement to the Roman Catholique Clergy of Ireland, to infuse into the people a true sense of the Catholique Doctrine, contained in their humble Remonstrance, Acknowledgement, Protestation and Pe­tition, Printed at London the third of February 1661. But this Gentleman must give me leave to say, that your Grace, who knows aswell as any man living, the temper and inclination of that people, cannot be of that opini­on, that the most vulgar among them is perswaded, That the Kingdom of Ireland lawfully belongs to the King of Spain. Nay, how little influence the King of Spain, or the Pope had upon them when the Peace was concluded, your Grace best knows, who hath found by experience, that [Page 10] notwithstanding the Nuntio's Excommunication, the most considerable parts of the Nation, made way for his Majestie's Government over the Kingdom, and received your Grace, who was entrusted with his Majesties autho­rity: and notwithstanding that senceless excommunica­tion fulminated by the Prelates at James Town, continu­ed firm in their adherence to the Peace, which by your Grace was convey'd unto them from his Majesty, and in their obedience to his Majestie's authority, which upon your leaving the Kingdom, your Grace did transfer to the Marquess of Clanrickard.

That which the writer of that answer considers next, and endeavors to advance for the end he aims at (which is the extirpation of the Nation) is the most uncharit­able, the most unnatural, and the most ignoble argument that could fall from the Pen of any man that professed a regard of Conscience or Honor: And questionless did proceed from some person, that having himself for his conveniency, and the good of his interest, sacrificed his duty to his King, when God was pleased in some small measure to over-ballance the rights of the Crown, with the power of his prevailing enemies, wonders why all men should not be so wise as to relinquish for the same ends, all Patriotship and sence of their declining Coun­try. But he little knows how unfit a person he hath cho­sen to be entertained with so unworthy a suggestion. For if your Grace, in the Case of the Earl of Strafford, barely upon the score of friendship, is said to have been pleased to answer a person of quality, who laid before you the great hazard you run in, speaking so freely of that great man's merit, and justifying his innocence, at a time when the Parliament of England was so highly incensed against him, That if his head were upon the block, you would profess him your friend: can this writer hope that your Grace, who so early in your youth cherish't a particular friendship with so much courage and gallantry, will not think it a base and abject part in the few of the Nobility and Gentry now in the City of London, to content them­selves [Page 11] with saving their own stake, and leave stickling in the pa­tronage and defence of their common Country? But however they may be lessened in the Gentlemans value, for perform­ing this, which is an indispensable duty they owe to their Country, and to those that justly may claim benefit of the peace in it; yet they could not (in my opinion) have otherwise prevented the clamor of all men of honor, nay of all mankind against them.

Lastly, He considers that this enmity, which he calls implacable, of the Irish to the English, springs from the same root with that of all other subjected people to their Conquerors, and gathers for proof thereof the mischief befaln the Roman Citizens in the lesser Asia, on the French in Sicily, and on the Danes in England; and yet forbears to mind your Grace that the Normans were Conquerors as well as they, and have to this day preserved their acquisitions in Eng­land, as the English have done in Ireland since their first descent in that Kingdom, by those means which have made the work lasting, without breaking for convenien­cies sake, those limits which Mercy, Justice, and Honor, puts to all humane actions. Herein the carriage of your Grace's famous Ancestors, will better instruct you then the Politicks of any interested person. And your Grace having conformed your self to the rules prescribed by Mercy, Justice, and Honor, what need the ballancing inte­rests between English and Irish, or boying up either of them? The Country must at length give denomination to all that inhabit it: and the posteriry of those that proclaim lowdly the English interest, must within an age, admit themselves to be called Irish as well as the Descendants from the first Colony of English planted in Ireland.

Doubtless your Grace's first care will be to secure his Majestie's interest in that Kingdom, and to provide that nothing remain, which under the title of diversity of interests, may prevent all mens affections from meeting in the center of his Majesties service. And your next will be to convey to succeeding ages, the blessings of that [Page 12] peace, which his Majesty after so evil times, and so many sufferings hath given his three Kingdoms.

And now your Grace will give me leave to consider, that this man of separation, in flat opposition to his Ma­jesties paternal and prudent desire, so frequently and so fully expressed in his Letters, in his Proclamations, in his Discourses, both publique and private, to have all seeds of animosities utterly extinguished, imploys his talent wholly in making himself the Trumpet of mens animosities: and least, time should mitigate them, he con­cludes them everlasting. But your Grace hath more re­verence for things recommended with that earnestness to his people by your great Master, then to countenance what he prohibits, or to favor those uncharitable requests that oppose his commands.

My Lord, It shall suffice me instead of all vindication, that I perswade my self your Grace believes that I am in my nature as averse from cogging or clawing, as the Letter in it self, is far from expressing any such humor in me. But men that have an inclination to be bitter rather then fail of exercising their faculty, will create themselves a subject. And he that takes the Nations hope, to be deli­vered by your Grace, for a complement, knows little of the interest you have in them, and of the affection they bear you.

Now, without contending in a case so little disputable whose you are, I shall conjure your Grace, not by his Majesties favor, and the ways to preserve it; not by the means to prefer your children, and to encrease your for­tune; nor by those other politick considerations held forth by the Writer of that answer: but by the mercy and honor of his Majesty; by the nobleness of your own na­ture; by the constancy of the Nation in their sufferings under your Graces command at home, and their wan­drings in waiting on his Majesties fortunes abroad; by the memory of your Ancestors that have been such ha­ters of oppression, as petty Freeholders have held for many descents and still do enjoy, some two, some four [Page 13] Acres, and others more or less, in the midst of your demeasnes, untouch'd by them, or by you, in so long a tract of time: by these I conjure your Grace so to tem­per conveniency, as it may not overthrow his Majestie's promise, and so to be friend the interest of the pretend­ers, as, the proprietors may receive the benefit of his Majesties mercy extended to them in Articles of Peace.

As to those contests that consist of recriminations, I desire never to engage in them. But this Writer must not therefore think he may be at liberty to fill the ears of his Reader, with the vast sound of two hundred thousand, and enlarge the horror of the action, by suppressing the truth, and adding Ciphers to enlarge the number. And truely had this Writer forborn in so despicable and su­percilious a manner to spurn at the Nation, by saying, That the Birds, no not the Flies contributed less to his Majesties Restauration then the Roman Catholickes in Ireland, I should not have put him in mind that the Duke of Albemarle found not a concurrence so general (I mean in the Army) (for the people of England, both Protestant and Catho­lick, opened their hearts in prayers to God and their arms to receive him) as he owes not the glorious success of his Actions more to the dexterity of his conduct, then the strength of his party. And as to that general concur­rence in Ireland, Ludlow and Sir Hardress Waller may tell him how difficult the work had been, but that they were taken napping. No man will say that an unarmed peo­ple, disposed throughout the Goals of the Kingdom upon every rumor that was spread of any attempt to be made by his Majesty for recovery of his right, could have con­tributed other then by their prayers to his Majesties Re­stauration. And in truth it is some mark of Ingenuity in this Writer, that he endeavors not to perswade us that the Irish did not so much as pray for the Restauration of his Majesty. And no Church will deny that prayers are always good, and sometimes effectual.

I do not repine at the Act of Indempnity, granted by the King. And certain I am that his Majesty, whose bow­els [Page 14] of mercy could begin at that end, will in his own good time enlarge it to all his Subjects of Ireland. And I hope that when it is better understood in what nature the Roman Catholicks depend upon the Pope, there will be no cause to reproach them for their tenets in Re­ligion, although they modestly refuse to invest in his Ma­jesty a power of administring the Sacraments, which this zealous Gentleman, by his dependence upon his Majesty in all Ecclesiastical matters, acknowledges to be in him.

Although the Writer in his next Paragraph, pursuing his ordinary method of railing wittyries, speaks of a shew of adherence to the King, which was the next covert they shrunk under for shelter; yet I must confess it will be hard to perswade me that the best and most natural shelter for a Subject faln from his obedience, is not the protection of his Soveraign, and the remission of his crimes. And I cannot but say that the world would be much deceived in that opinion they conceive of your wisdom, if your Grace had suffered your self to be deluded by a shew of the Irish adhereing to the King. Perhaps they fought and were killed in a dream, and that the dints the Bullets made in your Armor, while your Grace having acted all the parts of a General, exposed your self as a common souldier to prevent the defeat at Rathmines, were the bi­tings of the Irish Flies, whereof the Writer makes men­tion. Your Grace best knows, in defence of whose cause you led that Army. And I dare swear Sir William Vaugh­an, Sir Arthur Astowne, and many more of the English Commanders that lost themselves in defence of it, would not have been so prodigal of their lives to justifie Murder­ers and Rebels against the English, and that Nation and Go­vernment. And that Sir Thomas Armstrong, Sir John Stevens, Treswell, Travers, Wogan, Biron, Ballard, &c. had not under­gone the hardship, or the mainfold hazards they did, to maintain the quarrel. And I likewise leave to your Graces remembrance, how great a Friendship and confidence there was grown, by your powerful influence upon both parties between them and the Irish. Which received not the least [Page 15] diminution before the defection of those that betrayed their trust and his Majestie's Interest in Cork, Youghall, Kinsale, and the rest of the strong holds in Munster. Who these were, is known to all parties in that Nation, and you can certifie my Lord, they were not Irish nor Catho­licks. Neither did this occasion lessen the esteem, which those, who by power derived from your Grace, had the principal trust in the Nation. But your Grace, who doubtless did then foresee of what use men of their loy­al principles would in future times be to his Majesty, ha­ving provided for their safty, dismissed them at a time when many accidents, and much refractoriness concur­red to weigh down the scales of his Majestie's declining af­fairs. Yet your Grace dismissed them after such a man­ner, as shewed the Roman Catholicks were very sensible of the loss they were to receive by their absence, and the many good services they had joyntly performed under your Grace's command.

I must now forbear to give your Grace any further trouble concerning any shred of this work, which this Wri­ter says, he hath taken to pieces. And to do him right, I think he hath unrip'd the skirts; but he leaves the Doub­let entire. And we are now as wise as we were before, and as far from knowing the true value of the Stuff, or what it is lin'd with, save that we gather by it that self interest is a rapid Torrent that bears all down before it; and a passion that blinds us into a belief that nothing which advances our ends can be dishonorable, imprudent, or unjust And this makes the Writer to pray in the behalf of the English Interest, that under that covert he or his friends may possess undisturb'd, some honest mens Estates in Ireland. But that Nation, whereof he seems to be, have made and for ever will make it their study to preserve their Dominion by following those principles of Honor, and Justice, which have made their Ancestors famous, and have obtained of God for them, the Reslauration of so unparallel'd a King without blood, or the miseries of War: and that at a time, when all disbanded Armies [Page 16] of Europe, expected but a call to enrich themselves with their spoils. Yet if the Nation of England should even in their wish remit any part of those principles, the observance whereof was so propitious to them and their Country, doth this Writer conceive they would not consider what sett of people they were to introduce, or whom they were to oppress? Would they think it to be an essential part of the interest of England, that Huson the Cobler (suppose him free of that execrable crime of Regicide) should enjoy six or seven thousand pounds per ann. in Ireland, and that so many families descended from the Ancient English Colony, that had a share in enlarg­ing the Conquests and the fame of England, should be extirpated and forc'd to beg their bread? Or that three or four men should by clandestine bargains, at despicable rates, acquire titles to the possessions, and pretences of such kind of persons who were conscious to themselves of their incapacity to be countenaneed by the Nation of England, in advancing even by just means an English In­terest, and suddainly grow to be Cedars, that were but the underwood of the Forrest: while those that main­tained this four hundred years, the Interest of the Crown of England, and the English interest in Ireland, are con­demn'd by the inference which this witty Gentleman makes to be cleavers of wood and drawers of water? No, no. That Nation is too noble, and too just to patronize such requests: and they have a horror for such tenets. And your Grace will give me leave to say that those principles of Justice and Loyalty which you have received from your Ancestors, which you have practiced your self, and your Children by their own natural inclinations, and your Grace's example, are imbued with, and which will be conveyed from hand to hand to your posteri­ty, have been, and will be the sole fortress that could or may defend your family from the wrath or a more suspi­tious Master, then now you have the happiness to serve. Pawns and pledges in England, alas, are but a Cobweb-wrought-defence for a person whom so great a Monarch would [Page 17] ruine. He that holds the hearts of Princes in his hands, can best and will protect those that are faithfull to his Vicegerent on Earth, how suspitious soever he may be, so they make it their next care to be Just to their Neigh­bours, and redeem them from oppression, if they have power.

As to those Texts of Scriptures, when it shall be made appear to me, that they are miscited, misconster'd or mis­applied, no humane respect shall make me oppugne truth: and the same obligation is upon me not to desert it.

My Lord, These are the brief Animadversions, I thought fit, to give at this time on the Irish Colours Displayed: such as indeed my other, although little and private, yet neces­sary distractions, gave me the opportunity to perfect; and which your Grace's most weighty, manifold and publick may afford you the leasure to peruse: having ne­verthelesse by me, however yet unperfected, a more am­ple and more exact reply to all the particulars of that se­ditious, unchristian and very unreasonable piece. Where­in I take notice of his Motto; his pretence; his epithets of bold and wise, wherewith he would flatter me; his great ad­vantage; justice of his case; his Ink or black, and the Crim­son colour he would make ours; the Pamphlet; his difficulty to finde the matter of it, and the easinesse to answer; his brasse penny in a heap of rubbish; his labour to put out your eys and your judgment too, by endeavouring to perswade the matter of my letter could be hardly felt in your hand; his little game; his planets and chaffering vein; his unhappy engraf­ting such numbers of old English Families upon the Irish stock and Interest; his imposing on and abusing of Spencer's View; his next Paragraph after, of Spanish Papists; his displea­sure at our stickling one for another, desiring justice ac­cording to the fundamental laws of both Kingdomes, and his Majesties gracious Promises and Concessions; and yet his inconsequence in the 15. page of his Answer, in stickling himself for all his own gang, without exception of any, and in a cause of manifest in justice, even against all laws both divine and humane; his something more; his scri­bling; [Page 18] his cogging and clawing, and unfortunate proofs thereof, your constant believers, your passionate sticklers, &c. his imposture with charging me to have threatned your fail­ing would lessen your dependencies, his malicious applicati­on of my example of Joseph, even against his own knowledg, and the whole designe and expresse tenour of my Letter in the beginning, prosecution and ending of it; his grosse, wilfull and affected ignorance (or dissimulation ra­ther) of not knowing how the Irish came to be your brethren upon any other kindred: his minding you of your Ancestors and your own unshaken loyalty to the Crown of England, and of your constancy to the old Protestant Religion, so imperti­nent to the end he drove at; his own servile flatteries; his unbelieved affections to, or confidence in you; his love to his mistresse; the forced or feigned smiles he would attribute to you; and the sullen aking jealousies of himself and his party; those passages, without being too much envied and some thing feared, &c. a testimony and a pawn of your Families Loyal­ty, &c. how much the English Nation might be estranged from you by your favour to the Irish, &c. suddenly either forgiven in hea­ven, or forgotten upon earth; his bold slander; his Ravilliack and perhaps half a doozen Jesuites, and perhaps half a dozen more with Cromwel and Ireton, and his outward compliance, &c. his Birds, Flyes and bare intentions; his unreasonable diffe­rence twixt standing on Articles, and Claiming his Majestie's Grace held forth in the Act of Indemnity; his not questioning but the same reasons which then induced His Majesty to grant it them and deny it us, continue still, and will doe so to both our Po­sterities; his Long Parliament's, and the following tyrannous Powers quarrel pursued against the Irish; his not allowing these had fought so long (that is, since the peace made with your Grace) for the King; his having never heard, and his say­ing, that none can believe, the overpowering them with multi­tudes, and he must mean then (if he speak to purpose) when the last towns and places of Ireland were given up: his quitting the field, and running away, and giving up the quarrel, in the next paragraph 14. page of his book, where, in effect, he not only acknowledges no answer gi­ven [Page 19] by him to my letter; but in plain terms tels your Grace so much, that for matter of our Articles in Forty eight, which (saith he) the writer of that Letter presses to be observed, that of Transplansplantation, Corporations, & the disposall of the Irish lands, &c they are particulars he will not meddle with; and yet these are all the particulars of that Letter, he would seem otherwise, or at least was concernd to Answer; his reflection after this, on that passage of mine which relates to the English Army in England, as then composed; and his confidence in them; his other-shred, or will couched threatnings; his other truth, which yet hath nothing more than untruth; his evill Counsel, immediately following; his declining the parrallel, and his flat refusing to answer at the weapon of holy Scripture (although he brags it might be easily done) or try the justice of our quarrel thereby; which manifestly convinces him to have little of an English Protestant, or indeed a Christian in him, be­ing he withall undertakes the patronage of such a cause, or the defence of it in point of Piety and Justice, which a little before, that is, in his 15. page, he obli­ges himself unto; Lastly, the impertinency of his whole discourse, if considered as an answer, having not answe­red any one argument of all my Letter; not even, with satisfaction to the Reader, any one of those very immate­rial passages he singled out; but above all, the close and farr yet more dangerous design this Gentleman drives, (under that which is more overt in his paper) to create new troubles to our Gracious King, to involve his sub­jects in bloody confusions again, and even to destroy his Sacred Majesty at last by ruining first, and for ever, those that have for so many years, and doe yet suffer for him. My Lord, of all these and what ever else is regardable in his Answer, I take a more particular and more exact no­tice in some papers, I have by me, then I can here; be­cause my other occasions will not yet serve me to finish them as I would; nor yours (I suppose) your Grace to read them at this time.

However, my Lord, that reall and dutifull affection, which penn'd my former Letter, gives in the mean time this. And withall craves your pardon; if I minde you here, those truly sage, divine precepts, which this lit­tle politick spirit of earth seem'd not to be versed in, or at least either contemns or neglects. For indeed my Lord he appears to me all along his writing, of the number of those who see heaven, and all the hopes of the other life, as Mathematicians make us behold in a dark Chamber, whatsoever passeth abroad, through a little crany, in such a manner, that all things we see, appear like shadows and landskips turned topsie-turvy. Verily, I take this Gen­tleman to be abused so by himself. And that after he hath stopped up all the Windows and accesses to heaven­ly rayes, he hath made a little hole for the Moon, and all the blessings of the other life have seemed very slender to his distrustfull spirit: and that he hath put on a reso­lution to make a fortune at what price soever, and to build on earth like Cain, after he hath almost renoun­ced the hopes of heaven. Behold, the reason why, with so little regret or shame, he adventures to lay maximes before you, that suppose to hold on a course in all affaires and Governments of the world, which may be crafty, captious, worldly, unjust, yea cruel too, and in­humane (when it is for their interest) and a course (how­ever) which may be alwayes independent of divine laws, if not for some popular apparence

But, my Lord, the proofs you have constantly given of your chast apprehensions of a God, and a Providence ru­ling the Universe, of a strong vertue, and a resolution firm, unchangable therein, both in your prosperous for­tune, as well now as heretofore, and in that condition, which hath been so long most adverse, and hath tryed you like gold in the Furnace, together with your two great successive Masters on earth (whom you have ser­ved most faithfully in all changes, and in obedience to that heavenly One, whom all Servants and Masters too must revere) make all that know you well, be very con­fident [Page 21] this Enchanter hath laboured in vain to charm you. And me no lesse, That you had rather take your maximes, and measures, and rules, and examples of Go­vernment from the Oracles of God, from the equity of the Laws, from the dictates of your own severe Consci­ence, and from the model of so many great, honourable and holy Statesmen, who flourished in the succession of all Ages, and govern'd succesfully their people, then from the vain illusions and wicked policy of a Machiavel or Achitophel, or from the diastrous undertakings, and sad Catastrophe, of either themselves, or of those they tu­tord.

Never was there a more refined wit then Achitophel, of whom the Scripture said, Consilium Achitophel, quasi si quis consuleret Deum, That men consulted with him as with a God: Yet never was there any more unhappy in his practice. For having disposed of the affairs of the Kingdom, and those of his own house, there remaining none to be pro­vided for but his own person, he took a halter, and hang'd himself, because they approved not one of his Counsels. Nor ever was any more unhappy then Ma­chiavel in all his enterprizes, notwithstanding his great list of refined precepts. And for those two unfortunate Princes, that were Schollars or patterns to them, Absalom, and Duke Valentinois (besides hundreds more that would not be wise by their fate) we know what end they had. Besides, my Lord, you consider it hath been the judgemet, neer two thousand years ago, even of that very great Polititian Thucidides, and ever since a general observati­on, as it is to day, of all well understanding men, that those curious wits, despoiled of the fear of God, have alwayes been most turbulent and unhappy in the ma­nage both of their own affairs and the publick also: As on the contrary, those who had not so much knowledge and invention, but pursued the general instinct of God, have held their Estates better govern'd in simplicity, more prosperous in the ignorance of evil, and much more in the lasting of their felicity.

And your own reading can furnish you with sufficient proofs, that ordinarily the most unhappy among States have been those, who have made the greatest shew of knowledge, to deceive under humane Policy. That is it which overthrew the Commonwealth of the Athenians. That which ruined the house of Jeroboam, who, revolting against his Prince, having raised a State by ambition, and a Religion out of phantasie, having seen the Altas crack with the horror of his crimes, and his heart still remain­ing more obdurate then stone, in the end he is so chasti­sed by the hand of God, that there was not left so much as one handful of dust of his house upon the face of the earth. Domus Jeroboam eversa est & deleta de supersicie terrae. And even that which undid the very first King of Gods own election. For this unfortunate Prince, while he makes shew punctually to obey the Law of God, under the direction of Samuel, but afterwards learns to become cunning, envious, faithless, plotting designes, consulting Pythonesses, and seeking in all points his own petty interests: poor David (whose life this King judged, without any other cause but envy, incompatible with his own estate) dismounts him, using no other po­licy, but that of making himself an honest man

Holy Scripture, and other Monuments of latter and former times, can further tell your Grace, that consider­ing so many other Politicians, who made profession to refine all the world, who attempted to practice, accord­ing to their own vain Idea's, either you have seen but the first station of their plaistered felicity, or have ever found great labyrinths, horrible confusions, fortunes little lasting, dejection in their posterity, hatred, and the exe­cration of Ages.

And that you may without enquiry or trouble to your thoughts behold with a ready eye, how there is no poli­cy powerful against God, and how he surpriseth the most subtle, making snares of their greatest cunning to cap­tive them, see (my Lord) in the book of Hester, that wicked Aman, the great Favourite of Assuerus, [...]ho pra­ctised, [Page 23] as our Gentleman doth, the ruine of the He­brews, who prevailed so far, as to have the lots cast, and▪ warrants sign'd, and proclamation made thereof in Su­shan, and a day prefixed for the general slaughter of that Nation, young and old, men, women, and children, and Courriers dispatch'd to all Provinces of the Empire, to command the execution, while these forlorn people, dis­persed as they were then among strangers, moved hea­ven and earth to pity with their yellings, because they saw not how the Decree was avoidable; see this wicked Aman resolved on so horrid an act as was the destruction of so many millions, and resolved upon it only to be revenged on Mordecai that saved the King from murder, and, after this, to raise himself with the wealth of the destroyed (all which the King bestowed upon him at the same time.) See this Politician of Hell, yea notwith­standing all his power and favour, ruin'd in a moment, yea within three dayes after the Decree published, and ruin'd by this very Mordecai, a contemptible worm of the earth, till then, in Amans apprehension. See presently a countermand of the bloody Edicts; Aman forced to lead Mordecai's horse, and cry him in the streets of Su­san the greatest Lord of the Empire, next the King; and himself next day after raised indeed, but on a gibbet of fifty cubits high, to humble him for ever, by the most ignominious death could be: while the Jews on that very day, by him designed for utter destruction, saw themselves masters, and (even by the Kings command­ment to all his Lieutenants and other Subjects) execu­tioners, in the Kings own Court Susan, of the ten sons of their great enemy, and of eight hundred more, two dayes continually; and in other Provinces, throughout the Empire, of threescore and fifteen thousand men, who had before conspired against them with Aman.

Besides this, my Lord, see one example more very per­tinent in the book of Exodus. Behold Pharaoh turn'd un­grateful, and forgetful of all the obligations laid by Jo­seph on him. See this Pharaoh becoming crafty, and [Page 24] thinking by ruinating the Israelits his Scepter is through­ly established. But see withall how God surprizeth him in his subtilty, and makes him know the oppression of this poor people is the instrument of his ruine. A little child, which lyeth floating on the waters of Nilus in a cradle of bulrushes, as a worm hidden in straw, and whose afflicted mother measureth his tomb with her eyes in every billow of this faithless element, is delivered from peril by the very blood of Pharao, to turn the Diadem of Pharao into dust, and bury him with all his Nobles, and an army of two hundred thousand men with him, as Jo­sephus writes, all enflamed in a gulph of the red Sea.

But, my Lord, I have almost forgot my self, being tran­sported on this subject, whereon the temerity of my An­swerer hath engaged me to dilate: not that I would in­struct your Grace by these examples of Gods confound­ing evil Counsels, whom I know to need no such anti­dotes against the poison of this Writer, but that I might convince, or confound him.

I know your Grace desires rather I should minde your self those Maximes, or Precepts, and Examples too, that may confirm you in a resolution to be throughly vertu­ous, to be exactly just and benignly merciful (being Ju­stice and Mercy are the Vertues, above all others, must be most proper to your great charge:) then such as for­tifie against the Vices opposite, from which you are by Nature and Education wholly estranged.

My Lord, I shall then, to that purpose, call to your memory, in the first place, three passages of holy Scri­pture. The first is a Maxime of the ho [...]y Ghost, by the mouth of the wisest King, or man, amongst the children of men; and you may read it in the sixteenth Chapter of Solomons Proverbs. Justitia firmatur solium. It is an abominati­on to Kings to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousnesse. My Lord, even that very Throne, for which you have undergone so many labours, hardships and hazards these twenty yeares past, & for the fixing of which, you are now to undertake the greatest charge that [Page 25] can be laid upon you, and the most difficult to perform wil be established by doing justice. The second is an admo­nition of the same Holy Spirit (even to your self) by the month of Jesus the Son of Syrach. Noli quaerere fieri Iudex nisi justitia valeas irrumpere iniquitatem: ne forte extimescas faciem potentis, & p [...]nas scand lum in aequitate tua Ecclesiastic. 7. Seek not to be judge, if you have not the power to break tho­row all iniquity: lest any time you feare the person of the Mighty, and lay a stumbling-block in the way of your uprightnesse. I con­fesse, my Lord, this Text imports a seeking, and that ac­cording the literal rigour of that first word, it is onely against such; and therefore, insomuch, not properly ap­plicable to your Grace. But you know, my Lord, as well, by natural reason, as by forty clear passages of Holy Bible, the duty of doing justice is nothing lesse incumbent on Judges or Governours, that by injunction or command, they undergo their charge: it being evident that none may tye our conscience to act unrighteously, and that contrariwise by that very command to accept the charge, the obligation to be just is the greater, if this may admit of any encrease. Which is the reason I averre the wise man speaks, even in this very passage, directly to your Grace, advising you either to have sufficient power and a vertuous constant resolution to beat down, trample under foot all obstacles, even that regard of the Powerful or Mighty, which might otherwise hinder you from do­ing justice indifferently to all persons in your great charge: or certainly to lay down (at his Majesty's feet) your Commission, least otherwise it might be a scandall to you, an occasion to lose the favour of Heaven, and the repute you have hitherto preserved so entire on earth, as hereditary to your Noble House & Family. And yet I alledg not this passage, as having the least fear of your being hereafter unjust, or the least hopes that any man living is so fit for that charge as your self, under our gracious Soveraigne, in the present conjuncture, nor so desired of all the different parties in that Nation; but that I would minde you of it as very usefull against this man of sin, [Page 26] who would have you buoy up one Interest wholly, that is the strong and prevalent, and sink utterly the other, against all Divine and Humane Laws. The third passage, and very consequent to this, is a question, which it seems to me, I hear God himself demanding of you here, by his afflicted Prophet, Job 40. c. Si habes brachium sicut Deus? & voce simili tonas? Have you the arm of God? or can you thunder with a voice like his? My Lord, if this Arm, and this Voice, has been ever yet necessary to any man going to command a Countrey of iron and ire, a people that have not these many yeares distinguished betwixt Might and Right, so many different parties, and as op­posite one to another in their demands and their inte­rests, as East and West, the South and North are, it must be to your Grace. And therefore, my good Lord, it is but your duty to beg of God in humble prayer, that he will give you both, in that proportion and respect any mortal can, and one of your Place ought to have them, to overcome so many difficulties and oppositions which lye before you.

In the next place, my Lord, I shall mind your Grace of what you know your self already, That you shall behold under your Government a very great number of simple, poor, innocent, and most afflicted crea­tures, if any such be in the whole world. And that you are to think that God hath principally created you, and hitherto preserved you amidst so many dangers, and now at last inspired our gracious King to send you, for them. And therefore that your greatest care must be to open to them your heart with an amorous compassion, extend to them the bowels of your charity, stretch out affectionately to them your helpfull hands take their re­quests, lend ear to their cryes, cause their affaires to be speedily dispatched, not drawing them along in delayes which may devoure them, strengthen your arm against those that oppresse them, redeem the prey out of the Li­ons throat, and the Harpie's talons.

For this it is, my Lord, that Kings, Princes, States and Governours are made. To actions of this kind it is, that [Page 27] God promiseth all the blessings of Heaven, and admira­tions of earth. For this sort of processes are Crownes of Glory prepared. By this means a man diveth into the bottom of the heart, and good opinion of people. This is the cause that one hath so many souls and lives at command, as there are men, who the more sweetly breath aire by the liberality wherewith they are obli­ged.

And believe it, my Lord, your Greatnesse, before God, will not be to multiply titles of Honour and Com­mand (which yet have followed you still, as the shadow doth the body, and were most deservedly and most just­ly put upon you by His most Sacred Majesty that now is, and by his Father of glorious memory) nor will be to cover the earth with Armies, and make rivers of blood, and to raise up mountaines of dead bodies; but to doe justice to a poor Orphan, to wipe away the teares of a forlorn Widow, to steep in Oyle (as the Scripture spea­keth) the yoke of people which live on gall and worm­wood, who sigh under necessities almost unsupportable to the most savage, who daily charge eares with com­plaints & altars with vowes for their deliverance, & who cry for your Grace at this time as the Fathers of the old Testament did for the Messiah, or as the unborn children of that very Nation are said in Venerable Bede, to have done 1200. years ago, to Him that redeemed them, immediate­ly after, from the slavery of Heathenisme, and power of Devils.

But when shall we expect that deliverance, if not now? Now that our good King is restored by so many miracles and wonders; now that he is established by all that may concur to fix his Throne; now that he is so well dispo­sed to justice, and to mercy both (as he hath ever been) now that he hath neer his person a Councel so sage, a Parliament so zealous for the publick good, so many ho­nourable men endowed with so sincere intentions; and now that your Grace is (the second or third time) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and ready to part hence to your [Page 28] charge, when may we reasonably expect the comfort of that oppressed people, if not at this hour, when miseries are eminent, clamours piercing, and dispositions very good? Alas! my Lord, if there be any thing in the world, wherein you may be seen to oblige the present, and replenish future times with admiration of your ver­tues, it is in effecting this, for which Heaven is in expe­ctation and the hands of a million of poor disconsolate souls are daily lifted to God.

Remember, my Lord, that such, and so many great Governours, for not having had any other aim in char­ges, but the accommodation of their own affaires, have passed away like phantasmes, leaving nought here be­hinde them but ordure, nor bearing any thing with them into the other world but crimes And that they have found that the sould of the wounded have cryed to Heaven against them, and that God hath not let it pass without revenge. Anima vulneratorum clamavit ad Do­minum, & Deus inultam abire non patitur, as holy Job spea­keth in the 24th. chapter, where he at large explicateth both the calamity of the poore, and the chastisement of the rich that oppresse them.

Consider, on the other side, that all those who have constantly addicted themselves to the maintenance of Justice, and the consolation of affl [...]cted persons, besides the Crownes which they enjoy in Heaven, live gloriously in the memory of men. Their mouths, which are open­ed for justice, after they are shut up as Temples, are tru­ly worthy to have Lillies and Roses strewed on the Marble which encloseth them; and that their posterity also may reap the good odour of their noble Ancestors, which hath made it march with up-reared head before the face of the people.

In the last place, my Lord, notwithstanding the An­swerer's quarrel against holy Scripture, to direct State-affaires, and fortifie or clear disputes in matters of pub­lick Justice (which is the most unreasonable saying could proceed from a Christian; since if they be of any use at all, [Page 29] they must be in State-affaires most of all others) I most humbly and most earnestly recommend this Book of books to your Grace, whereby to guide your self al­wayes in your most important determinations of State, for what may relate to right and the law of God. Look upon it as the pillar of clouds and flames, which condu­cted the army of the living God. There it is where you shall learn true maximes of State, scored out with most vigorous reflections of the Wisdome of God: and where you shall trample under foot, with a generous contempt, so many illusions, which wretched soules seek for in the mouth of Sorcerers. Read the book of Wisdome, the Prophets, the book of holy Job, and the Divine Psalms of the King, chosen out according to God's own heart. Con­sider the stream of so many Histories, written in this Theatre of wonders, which are characters of fire, where­with the divine Providence is pleased to be figured to mortal eyes, that we may learn the punishment of crimes and the crowns of vertue.

Represent unto your self often in your idaeae's, those great States-men, who have flourished in the course of all ages: and derive light and fire from their examples, to illuminate and inflame you in the self same list. Behold him who hath been refined above all others in the School of God, I mean Moyses. Who hath been more humble in refusing charges, more obedient in accepting them, more faithfull in exercising, more industrious in executing the commandments of God, more vigilant in government of the people, more severe in correction of vices, more pa­tient in sufferance of the infirmities of Subjects, and more zealous in the cordial love he bare to the whole world?

With these gifts he became the God of Monarchs, he ruined the State of his enemies, he unloosed the chaines of an infinite number of slaves, he opened Seas, he ma­nured wildernesses, he marched in the front of fix hun­dred thousand men at arms, he lived laborious amongst Shepherds, chast in the Court of Kings, temperate in go­vernment, [Page 30] a companion of Angels in his retirement, and as it were a cabinet-friend of God, having continually heaven for object, and all greatnesse in contempt. He had blotted out all that was man in him, by the purity of a conversation wholy celestial. The flesh was in him in such subjection, and the spirit in such Empire, that (as Ambrose speaks, in his book of Cain and Abel) he merited the name of God, in the resemblance of whom he was transformed by the superabundance of his vertues.

Behold that great Disciple of Moyses, Josue. What piety in the service of the Omnipotent, what sweetnesse in go­vernment, what greatnesse of spirit in noble enterprizes, what patience in difficulties, what prudence in direction, what dispatch in expeditions? It is no wonder if in the fight of these eminent qualities, Walls and Cities fell, Giants waxed pale, Rivers retired back, the Sun stood still, and one and thirty Kings underwent the yoke.

Behold Samuel, the Father, Master, and Judge of two Kings, the Doctour of Prophets, the Sanctuary of the poor, the pillar of the Church. Is it not a magnificent spectacle to see him go out of charge, after so long a Go­vernment, and so great a diversity of Affairs, with a heart so untainted, and hands undefiled, as if he had perpe­tually conversed with Angels? Is it not a most heroical action, which he did in the first of Kings, when after the election of Saul, having voluntarily resigned his Dignity, he shewed himself with upreard head in the midst of the people, and gave liberty to all the world, from the least to the greatest, to complain and make information against him, before the King newly chosen? If it may be found that in his Magistracy, he ever did the least wrong to any man, he is there ready to afford all satisfaction, that may be thought fit. But as he had lived most innocently, at this word was lifted up a loud cry, proceeding from a ge­neral consent of the people, which highly proclaimed the integrity of his justice. Is not this a praise of more value then millions of Gold and Empires? But above all reflect often on the Wisdome of God Incar­nate [Page 31] Jesus Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world, as the Prime model of all States-men, whom the Prophet Esay hath exactly represented in the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy; where he figureth the Redeemer unto us in the quality of a Judge, to serve for instruction and ex­ample to all posterity.

First, for as much as concerneth his perfections, he gave him seven sorts of spirits very consonant to a true Poli­tician; the spirit of Wisdome, and Ʋnderstanding, the spirit of Counsel, and Strength, the spirit of Science, and Piety, and the spirit of the Fear of God, wherewith he was wholly replenished. Then, describing the maner of his proceeding, saith, He shall not judge according to humane appearances, by the inconsiderate view of carnal eyes, and the relation of a rash tongue; but he shall do justice to the poor, and fortifie himself with all kind of vigour, for the defence of so many gentle souls, as are oppressed in the world. To this purpose he shall strike the earth with the words of his mouth, using his tongue as a rod of correction, and shall overthrow the wicked with the breath of his lips. Justice shall be so familiar to him, that he shall make use of it as a girdle of honour, or a rich baudrike, which brave Captains wear. The effects of his Government shall be so eminent, that under his raign the Woolf shall be seen to cohabit with the Lamb, the Leopard with the Goat, the Calf with the Lyon, and little Children to play with Basilisks and Aspicks. Willing in these Allegories to signifie how this divine Governour should mollifie the most savage hu­mours, and reduce them to the temper of reason.

I conclude here, my Lord, wishing it may be so in Ire­land under your Government. That you may imitate this great Exemplar to Judges. That you may be ano­ther Samuel, a Joshua, and a Moses to the people under your charge. That in particular you may (in the pre­sent conjuncture) have the charity and compassion of Moses for them all; since you know them (very neer) all, one way or other, guilty transgressors, as ha­ving either made, or followed, or adored the Gods of Gold. And (therefore) that, without losing this last and best [Page 32] opportunity of your departure hence, which now is drawing on so neer, your Grace may be pleased to speak your strongest intercession for them all, to his Majesty, and speak it with that love, zeal and fervour Moses did for his beloved Israelites to God (in the two and thirtieth of Exodus) when they had fallen into the most grievous re­bellion imaginable. And that you may be pleased to speak that intercession, even in the very words of this great Prophetical Commander, this Familiar of God. Either forgive them now their sin, or if not, then (I beseech thee) blot me out of thy book which thou hast written. Aut di­mitte eis hanc noxam: aut dele me de libro tuo quem scripsisti. Wherein (my Lord) prevailing (as I doubt not you will) and obtaining this general Pardon from the most gracious, indulgent, merciful Prince on earth, and afford­ing effectually the benefit thereof to all the Roman Ca­tholick people of Ireland, and to so many other different parties and interests in that Kingdome, without distincti­on, without prejudice to the rights of any of all (ac­cording to that which might be justly claimed by them from such an Act of Indempnity and Oblivion, and, in pursuance thereof, from the equity of the Laws, and from his Majesties other gracious Concessions in Articles of Peace) you will certainly give the most hopeful be­ginning may be to your other glorious undertakings hereafter: as at present evict this confession from all the world, that you have deafned your ears to the Enchanter of injustice, and that, ever constant to your self, you re­member perpetually and follow this more Christian, more humane precept of an Apostle, Vince in bono malum. Which is the vow for you of