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For, having as Appendants to that Pow'r
Sins unrepented, and as great as our,
Which daily will encrease, when they come in,
SIN, shall do execution upon sin:
Prophaness, joyning hands with superstition,
And, Sanctity dissembled, with Ambition;
They shall so plague each other, that, if ten
Of honest and true-hearted English men
Be left in ev'ry thousand, and, together
Knit in true Charity fast to each other,
They shall be a RESERVE, to make this Nation
More prosp'rous in another Generation,
I, would have said, before this year be gone,
If, I, had now seen Justice better done;
Or, any probability perceiv'd,
That, what I should declare, would be believ'd.
But, peradventure, 'tis a day too late,
This day, on any terms to promise that,
Which yet, expected is, by some of them,
Who, have the means neglected, and the time.
For, Charles those great advantages hath won
By what hath been omitted, and miss-done,
(Which, I long since foresaw) that, though his Pow'r
MONCK shall employ for us; nor his, nor our,
Nor both united; nor a Parliament,
Established with full and free consent,
Of all the People; (if by penitence,
GOD, reconciled be unto that Prince)
Can at this present, make the scale so even,
(Vnless our peace be likewise made in heaven)
But, that there will be ten for one, at least,
To weigh him out his claimed Interest,
And, force us those conditions to receive,
Which he himself shall pleased be to give.