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To the Reader.
CHristian Reader, having a vacant place for some few lines, I have made bold to use some of Major George Withers his verses out of VOX PACIFICA, pag. 199.
Let not your King and Parliament, in One,
Much lesse apart, mistake themselves, for that,
Which is most worthy to be thought upon:
Or, think, they are essentially the STATE;
Let them not fancie, that, th' Authority
And Priviledges upon them bestown,
Conferred, to set up a Majesty,
A Power, or a Glory, of their own.
But, let them know, 'twas for another thing,
Which they but represent; and, which, ere long,
Them, to a strict account, will, doubtlesse, bring,
If any way, they doe it wilfull wrong:
For, that, indeed, is, really the Face,
Whereof, they are the shadow, in the glasse.
Moreover, thus informe them, that, if either,
They still, divided, grow from bad to worse;
Or, (without penitence unite together)
And, by their sin, provoke him to that course;
GOD, out of their confusions, can, and will
Create a cure; and raise a lawfull-power,
His promise to his people to fulfill;
And, his, and their Opposers, to devoure.
Yea, bid both King and Parliament, make haste,
In penitence, united, to appear:
Lest into those Confusions, they be cast,
Which will affright them both; and, make them feare,
And, know, there is on earth, a greater-thing,
Then, an unrighteous Parliament, or King.
FINIS.