'Tis too sad
a story, and too much a matter of grief to me, and to all good men, to
renew the blackness of those days, when law and justice was under the
feet of power; the army ruled the Parliament, the private officers
their generals, the common soldiers their officers, and confusion was
in every part of the government. In this hurry they sacrificed their
king, and shed the blood of the English nobility without mercy.
The history of the times will supply the particulars which I omit,
being willing to confine myself to my own accounts and observations.
I was now no more an actor, but a melancholy observator of the
misfortunes of the times. I had given my parole not to take up arms
against the Parliament, and I saw nothing to invite me to engage on
their side. I saw a world of confusion in all their counsels, and I
always expected that in a chain of distractions, as it generally falls
out, the last link would be destruction; and though I pretended to no
prophecy, yet the progress of affairs have brought it to pass, and I
have seen Providence, who suffered, for the correction of this nation,
the sword to govern and devour us, has at last brought destruction by
the sword upon the head of most of the party who first drew it.
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