nced and "captive" to his high and perilous place.

"GENTLEMEN,--It is not long since I met you in this place, upon
an occasion which gave me much more content and comfort than
this doth. That which I have now to say to you will need no
preamble to let me into my discourse; for the occasion of this
meeting is plain enough. I could have wished, with all my
heart, there had been no cause for it.

"At our former meeting I did acquaint you what was the first
rise of this government which hath called you hither, and by
the authority of which you have come hither. Among other things
which I then told you of, I said you were a Free Parliament;
and so you are, whilst you own the government and authority
which called you hither. But certainly that word (Free
Parliament) implied a reciprocity, or it implied nothing at
all. Indeed, there was a reciprocity implied and expressed; and
I think your actions and carriages ought to be suitable. But I
see it will be necessary for me now a little to magnify my
office, which I have not been apt to do. I have been of this
mind, I have been always of this mind, since I first entered
upon my office. If God will not bear it up, let it sink!--but
if a duty be incumbent upon me, to bear my testimony to it,
(which in modesty I have hitherto forborne,) I am, in some
measure, necessitated thereunto: and therefore that will be the
prologue to my discourse.

"I called not myself to this place. I say again, I called not
myself to this place! Of that God is witness: and I have many
witnesses who, I do believe, could lay down their lives bearing
witness to the truth of that, namely, that I called not myself
to this place! And, being in it, I bear not witness to myself
or my office; but God and the people of these nations have also
borne testimony to it. If my calling be from God, and my
testimony from the people, _God and the people shall take it
from me, else I will not part with it!_ I should be false to
the trust that God hath placed in me, and to the interest of
the people of these nations if I did.

"I was by birth a gentleman; living neither in any considerable
height, nor yet in obscurity. I have been called to several
employments in the nation--to serve in Parliament and others;
and, not to be over-tediou