It was not to him, but to the houses of parliament, that the war and all
its evils should be charged. The parliament had first invaded the rights of
the crown by claiming the command of the army; and had provoked hostilities
by issuing commissions for the levy of forces, before he had raised a
single man. But he had forgiven all, even those, whoever they were (for he
did not desire to know their names), who had brought him to his death. He
did more than forgive them, he prayed that they might repent. But for that
purpose they must do three things; they must render to God his due, by
settling the church according to the Scripture; they must restore to the
crown those rights which belonged to it by law; and they must teach the
people the distinction between the sovereign and the subject; those persons
could not be governors who were to be governed, _they_ could not rule,
whose duty it was to obey. Then, in allusion to the offers formerly made
to him by the army, he concluded with, these words:--"Sirs, it was for the
liberties of the people that I am come here. If I would have assented to an
arbitrary sway, to have all things changed according to the power of the
sword, I needed not to have come hither; and therefore, I tell you (and
I pray God it be not laid to your charge), that I am the martyr of the
people.
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