Note 1 — Chapter I

Note (written by the author at a later date than the passage to which it refers).—Little did I think that the downfall of the Bishops, with their courts, canons, and ceremonies had been so near, when first I began these scribbled writings,—which was about the year 1630, and continued as leisure permitted,—or that I should have lived to see and hear it. But it is the Lord’s doing, and ought to be marvellous in our eyes.... Do you not now see the fruits of your labours, O all ye servants of the Lord that have suffered for his truth, and have been faithful witnesses of it, and ye little handful amongst the rest, the least among the thousands of Israel? You have not only had a seed-time, but many of you have seen the joyful harvest. Should you not rejoice, then, yea, and again rejoice, and say Hallelujah, Salvation, and Glory, and Honour, and Power be to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are His judgments (Rev. xix., 1, 2).... The tyrannous bishops are ejected, their courts dissolved, their canons forceless, their service cashiered, their ceremonies useless and despised; their plots for Popery are prevented, all their supersititions discarded and returned to Rome, whence they came, and the monuments of idolatry rooted out of the land. Their proud and profane supporters and cruel defenders (the bloody papists and wicked atheists and their malignant consorts) are marvellously overthrown. And are not these great things? Who can deny it?

But who has done it? Who, even He that sitteth on the white horse, Who is called faithful and true, and judgeth and fightest righteously (Rev. xix., 11), Whose garments are dipped in blood, and His name was called the Word of God, for He shall rule with a rod of iron; for it is He that treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty. And He hath upon His garment, and upon His thigh, a name written: The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Anno Domini, 1646. Hallelujah.