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<P>AN Additional Di&s;covery OF Mr. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">OGER L'ESTRANGE</HI> HIS FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE <HI>Popi&s;h Plot:</HI> WHEREIN Dr. TITUS OATES, And the re&s;t of the King's Evidences ARE VINDICATED From the A&s;per&s;ions ca&s;t upon them in that PAMPHLET. TOGETHER With &s;ome New Ob&s;ervations upon the &s;aid Di&s;covery, not heretofore Publi&s;ht. In a Letter to Dr. <HI>Titus Oates,</HI> By <HI>B. W.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed in the Year. 1680.</P>
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<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Having been lately pre&s;ented by a Friend with a Pamphlet, entituled, <HI>A further Di&s;covery of the Plot, Dedicated to your &s;elf Doctor, by</HI> Roger L'E&s;trange, <HI>and called the Second Edition:</HI> I have peru&s;ed the &s;ame, and weighed it &s;eriou&s;ly, and con&s;idering the Con&s;equences thereof, as it is full of gro&s;s Mi&s;takes, Fal|lacies, Equivocations and Ironies, both in the Title Page and Body of it; I have &s;pent a few lei&s;ure hours to make my Ob&s;ervations upon it, which I re|commend to your better Judgment. In the Title Page is imployed new Fact to deceive the Reader, but the &s;aid Author's Subject is only his own fallacious inferences of part of your Fact, as the Devil did by the Scriptures with our Saviour, for his own Ends. In the beginning of his Epi&s;tle to your &s;elf, as a Theam to work upon, he &s;ets up a man of &s;traw, a &s;pawn of his own brain by charging you with &s;aying, <HI>That you told him he was a Papi&s;t, and that he reported you were a Fanatick,</HI> and upon this Foundation he frames his whole di&s;cour&s;e, good Gentleman, as he &s;ays, <HI>to di&s;charge him&s;elf and you from tho&s;e two Calumnies</HI> (as he calls them) and as a proof of this a&s;&s;ertion (if you will believe him) he tells you, <HI>It was improved by a couple of Non&s;en&s;ical and Seditious Libels,</HI> which he names in his Pamphlet, as al&s;o give you the &s;tyle and character of the Author by hear&s;ay, <HI>a &s;mall thread|bare Sollicitor in the Old Bayly, which,</HI> as he &s;ays, <HI>often u&s;es your name, and makes bolder with it than &s;tands with the Dignity of your Figure in the Government.</HI> It &s;eems he would monopo|lize the abu&s;ing of you; but this I take to be a much more unequal coupling, than was by Doctor <HI>Wilde</HI> between <HI>Mon&s;ueir L'E&s;trange</HI> and <HI>Strange Lee:</HI> For whether or no there be any &s;uch Sollicitor there, or if there be, that he was Author of &s;uch things, or if he was, that it was with your privity or knowledge, which is thereby plainly and &s;trongly im|plied, but a&s;per&s;edly and groundle&s;ly in&s;inuated, is altogether uncertain, and I am &s;atisfi|ed will hardly be found true by a packt Jury (to u&s;e his own Phra&s;e) upon that Evidence of his, and for the truth of it, I doubt he cannot find a Second.</P>
<P>Then the Author proceeds to tell you, <HI>he is reviled by being called a Papi&s;t, a Le&s;&s;ener of the Plot, a Di&s;parager of the King's Evidence, which he cannot bear, but re&s;olves either frankly to acquit him&s;elf, or &s;inke under it,</HI> and I appeal to your &s;elf and every impartial man, if by that Book he merits not the latter, and al&s;o the &s;ame reward he allows due to his fellow Scribler, though upon &s;everal Foundations, and I am &s;ure the unerring Rule is, <HI>he that is not with, is again&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>I think the Author conceives he hath done you Doctor no &s;mall honour, to <HI>make you his Gho&s;tly Father,</HI> and indeed it's enforced very vigorou&s;ly by an imprecation of <HI>his hopes of Heaven,</HI> and therefore he thinks you cannot without breach of the Rules of Charity, but believe <HI>he is a true Son of the Church of</HI> England. Indeed Doctor, I cannot fore&s;ee why you &s;hould doubt of the Veracity of this A&s;&s;ertion, &s;eeing you have it from the mouth of one that never brake Faith with Man or Woman, nor ever betrayed any, unle&s;s you mean to have further and more demon&s;trable Evidence before you lend him your belief; for in the&s;e Ca&s;es I know you generally direct your Judgment by the infallible Rule of our ble&s;|&s;ed Saviour, that <HI>Trees mu&s;t be known be&s;t by their Fruit (not their Leaves;)</HI> if &s;o, then give me your patience further to acquaint you with my Sentiments of this his &s;econd Elaborate Work, and &s;ee what I can find how he hath made good his Title Page or his A&s;&s;ertion, and how good a Son Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> hath proved him&s;elf thereby, to his Mother the Church of <HI>England.</HI></P>
<P>He &s;ays, <HI>he is not without Bowels of humanity to men of other per&s;wa&s;ions,</HI> but I am per&s;wad|ed one that dares not take upon him&s;elf to affirm he de&s;erves &s;uch a Title with that Epi|thite he challenges, yet would &agrave;l&s;o allow them Bowels of Chri&s;tianity; but I know there are various degrees of Members in a true Church&punc; as Babes, and others of a &s;tronger con|&s;titution, but I &s;hall not determine by his expre&s;&s;ions which of them I take, the Author
<PB N="4" REF="3">
but leave that to more di&s;cerning Judgments. He pretends to be mighty plain and open hearted to you, for he tells <HI>you as a Friend,</HI> as he &s;aith, <HI>he hath moxe Charity for a Moral Pagan than twenty Hypocritical Chri&s;tians.</HI> I &s;hall not give you any trouble of my thoughts, who this worthy Author means, either by Pagan or Chri&s;tian, but only a&s;&s;ure you, if it were true, this is one of the main parts of his Di&s;covery in that Pamphlet, e&s;pecially as to me, for indeed I have not learned that di&s;tinction of a Chri&s;tian afore, but always from the Woes pronounced in Scripture again&s;t Hypocrites, I took them not to be Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>This kind Author &s;ays, <HI>he hath a natural Veneration for the Government, and all that love it, the King's Loyal Witne&s;&s;es, and Pre&s;ervers of his Life, he believes the Plot, as much of it as eve|ry good Subject ought, nay, and pawns his Con&s;cience</HI> (which doubtle&s;s is large) <HI>you do not be|lieve more of it,</HI> for all this give me leave to tell you Doctor, I am of a quite contrary o|pinion, for I know you are of a &s;harper &s;ight than to have your Judgment eclip&s;ed with a Fogg; yet truly upon the whole Scope and Matter of his Di&s;cour&s;e in that Pamphlet, I am &s;atisfied he could not (though I know others do and would, and know they ought) have afforded more than a natural veneration for all tho&s;e things; but I may tell you Do|ctor, though not the Author (le&s;t I &s;hould be offen&s;ive to hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> natural Judgment;) That things of God (as I take this in a great mea&s;ure to be) are not to be rightly under&s;tood by meer natural men, and in that capacity only he mu&s;t herein be certainly apprehended, as may more fully be deduced from his following Words, <HI>that he cannot believe what he does not, nor cannot, as that</HI> Bedingfield <HI>is alive again,</HI> and what is this to you, and what can ra|tionally be deduced from it, but that a Crack-fart of the Nation having &s;tuffed it into his Fardel, without any privity of yours, for ought appears, it mu&s;t be made u&s;e of as a Re|flection upon you, and truly this as &s;trongly Seconded by a Learned In&s;tance <HI>of buttered Turnips,</HI> but it's a very &s;lippery one, and indeed as &s;aucy as all the re&s;t, and of as little mo|ment with men of &s;ound under&s;tanding, becau&s;e it plainly intimates your Evidence is as little to be credited as that A&s;&s;ertion, but perchance his opinion may have &s;ome influence upon tho&s;e two &s;orts of Per&s;ons he appropriates to his Party by the&s;e Words <HI>(our crafty Knaves and our fooli&s;h)</HI> but I hope of no other. But when I came to con&s;ider of the Con|clu&s;ion of that Paragraph <HI>(That where Authority had pa&s;&s;ed a Sentence, there is no longer any place for He&s;itation or Demurr)</HI> and an hand of remark upon it by Capital Letters; I had been amazed, but that I did awaken and rou&s;e my &s;elf by calling to mind &s;ome Proverbial Sayings, that there is none &s;o blind as he that will not &s;ee, and that &s;ome &s;ort of Per&s;ons had need have good Memories, and the like; for this made me conclude, that either the Author of that Pamphlet did not under&s;tand what he had uttered in his unworthy Re|flections upon you Doctor, or el&s;e he did not con&s;ider that by this his Conclu&s;ion (which all &s;ober men mu&s;t agree to be true) he had produced and publi&s;hed a full and &s;ufficient proof again&s;t him&s;elf, how he had thereby (I mean his Reflections) put an Affront not to be forgiven or forgotten, not upon you alone, but upon His Sacred Maje&s;ty, the Go|vernment, the Ju&s;tice and Reputation of the Nation; In regard His Maje&s;ty publickly in His Gracious Speech to both Hou&s;es of Parliament had &s;o far owned yours and others di&s;covery of this damnable and helli&s;h Plot, That He was graciou&s;ly plea&s;ed therein to declare His real &s;atisfaction in it, and gave them His Royal A&s;&s;ent and Direction to pro|&s;ecute the &s;ame, which was followed with an Eloquent one of the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor, and pre&s;&s;ed and forced with Cogent Arguments and Rea&s;ons, and in re|gard the Hou&s;e of Peers had owned the &s;ame by their Votes, their Committing of Crimi|nals therein, and other their Proceedings thereupon, as al&s;o the Hou&s;e of Commons by their Votes, their Addre&s;&s;es, their Impeachments, their Committings of Criminals there|in, and other their Proceedings thereupon; the Lord Chief Ju&s;tice his joyning with the opinion of the then Hou&s;e of Commons, and his ready and chearful committing of Per|&s;ons accu&s;ed thereof upon your &s;ingle Oath, his and other the Learned Judges and Ju&s;ti|ces of the Peace in a Judicial manner proceeding again&s;t &s;everal of the &s;aid Criminals, and the Verdicts of many Juries, con&s;i&s;ting of many Loyal Per&s;ons given upon yours and others Te&s;timony, with much more of this kind, which is &s;o well and generally known, that I need not give my &s;elf the trouble of writing, nor you of reading them, and truly Doctor, the con&s;ideration of the&s;e things have given me ample &s;atisfaction, and &s;o I doubt not but it will do every really true Chri&s;tian Engli&s;h-man, or el&s;e to me it &s;eems only &s;trange.</P>
<P><PB N="5" REF="3">
But before this Author comes to his full Vindication, he mu&s;t have another fling at you Doctor, for he &s;ays <HI>he hath a great value for your Function, Imployment and Charracter;</HI> what the&s;e are in his Equivocal meaning, no body certainly can tell but him&s;elf, and you need not doubt but he well under&s;tands him&s;elf, or at lea&s;t he would have you and the world to believe &s;o by his Publi&s;hng it, for he &s;till keeps the Staff in his own hands for to make him&s;elf Judge; For he believes you as far as he ought, which according to true enterpreta|tion, is, that he dares not &s;peak plain Engli&s;h, and hath what ever the Author &s;ays, too much of the French droll in him. I mu&s;t confe&s;s I mu&s;t declare my &s;elf, not to have &s;o much Chri&s;tian Charity, as to belive all tho&s;e Characters the Author gives of him&s;elf; that is, I do not believe <HI>he is Friend to down-right dealing,</HI> but I can without He&s;itation be|lieve that he is <HI>a great Friend to Liberty of Speech; to an ea&s;ie Glo&s;s an ea&s;ie Companion,</HI> as much as any man, or el&s;e he is much wronged: but then he tells you Doctor of your calling him Rogue twenty times, for which he thanks you and forgives you; but this is but a Copy of his Countenance, and u&s;ed as a meer Shooing-horn to draw on the like likewi&s;e of calling you Rogue I know its a Word you often u&s;e, and its twenty to one you were right nine|teen of the twenty if not all, but its not to be taken in the Common &s;en&s;e of the Vulgar u&s;age, to a man of vile and ba&s;e Actions; but as a differing Character of an Adver&s;ary to the truth of your's and other's Evidence, in the great matter in que&s;tion; and in that &s;en&s;e only you &s;o frequently u&s;e it, e&s;pecially when your Zeal is too much provoked with op|po&s;ition, and I fear his hopes will fail him in your better acquaintance; for I know if ever it may be it mu&s;t be upon his amendment, and what hopes there is of it that I &s;ee not.</P>
<P>For in his next Paragraph, he tells you barefacedly and &s;hews it in plain terms, how much he is your Friend, <HI>for he &s;lights your Favour, and &s;ets you at Defiance,</HI> and all he hath to ground it upon is, <HI>that Currs</HI> (as he calls them) <HI>Hunt him</HI> and therefore he mu&s;t Snarl at you, as if you Doctor were Confederate with men, of whom and their Extravagant Actions, there is not one tittle of Demon&s;tration you were any way &s;o much as Privy to: Indeed this Di&s;covering Moun&s;ieur is very hardly put to it, to find a way to be&s;patter you; but I am &s;ure the Foundation is &s;o invi&s;ible, that the Spots will never be &s;een, for he would make the World believe, That be|cau&s;e as he &s;ays, <HI>Another of his fellow-Pamphleteers hath Injured him, therefore you are blame|worthy; and to Vindicate him&s;elf,</HI> as he calls it, he hath the Confidence upon Search and Examination, of his fellow-Scriblers works to try the truth of that to reflect upon you, but in which it doth not appear in the lea&s;t you are any way Concerned; But I think you have more wit than to meddle with &s;uch matters, and know how to &s;pend your time to better advantage, both to the Publique and your &s;elf, than to be lead by a <HI>Will in the Wi&s;p.</HI></P>
<P>Now the Author leaves you Doctor, and invites his Reader; and here he begins &s;ome|what to unvail: For he tells him <HI>nothing &s;o difficult as the My&s;tery of this Dete&s;table Plot, a Judgment of our &s;ins, Augmented by our Follies; then he &s;hews him, how by the Difference between Believers, and Vnbelievers, That truth and Chri&s;tianity are in Danger to be lo&s;t; then he Quarrels with his fellow-Scriblers, and Compares it to the late times, and bids us have a care of the &s;ame incantation over again; he tells him nothing was more Narrowly Sifted, or more Vigorou&s;ly di&s;couraged than this Con&s;piracy. Reformation is the bu&s;ine&s;s of Go|vernment, but if begun at the wrong end its Tumult. An Effectual provi&s;ion again&s;t the danger of the Romi&s;h Practices, will not &s;erve their turn, who&s;e Quarrel is barely to the Name of Po|pery: If they cannot find Popery, they will make it; For it is now new thing in a popular Out-cry in the matter of Religion, to have a State-Faction in the belly of it; and then again compares it with the late times,</HI> and &s;o Concludes that Paragraph. What an Hotch-Potch Chimera is this, and as Forreign to the Ca&s;e in hand, as the Ea&s;t is from the We&s;t? What is the Scribling of Pamphleteers, now there is no Licen&s;er (when it was altogether as bad, when there was one) or what is the babling at Coffe-hou&s;es to be regarded, or be thought to have any &s;hare in the Pro&s;ecution of this Di&s;covery? It's bare mat|ter of Fact, and not at all My&s;terious to men of under&s;tanding; and although as the truth of the Evidence is, It doth &s;olely and Principally Centre in the Roman Catho|lique Party, yet I cannot with all the skill I have, with this learned Authors A&s;&s;i&s;|tance to boot, under&s;tand wherein Religion is concerned in the lea&s;t, e&s;pecially, the differences between the Church of England, and the Di&s;&s;enters from it, as he aims
<PB N="6" REF="4">
to inforce it. Nor is the que&s;tion the &s;ame as to the Plot, you have Di&s;cover|ed, nor the Tran&s;actions thereupon, nor in any Po&s;&s;ibility can be Paralelled with tho&s;e of the late times; Nay I know &s;ome of the Roman Catholick Religion, take it quite otherwi&s;e, for a per&s;on of Honour of that per&s;wa&s;ion, lately told me; <HI>That he believed, neither the King nor the Nation, would be happy or &s;afe until they were well rid of the Je&s;uites, and their King-killing Doctrine,</HI> and I think with Mr. <HI>Strange</HI> his favour, it was not mannerly done of him, to arraign the Judgments of the Repre&s;entatives of the Nation in Parliament, to &s;ay nothing was more narrowly Sifted, nor more Vigo|rou&s;ly di&s;couraged (I conceive that was intended (incouraged) but mi&s;taken by the Printer) than this Con&s;piracy; for certainly had it been &s;o, they would never have made the neglect of it, a Con&s;iderable part of their Impeachment again&s;t the Earl of <HI>Dan|by,</HI> and doubtle&s;s they did not make that without due Con&s;ideration of &s;uch authen|tick proofs as they had before them, to make it good.</P>
<P>And the Author of that Pamphlet, having thus by &s;tating a Ca&s;e, that is not in the lea&s;t the Ca&s;e you Doctor have in hand, he draws a Conclu&s;ion Suitable to it; <HI>That it might be u&s;eful, and find Credit upon its own Account;</HI> and then giving an <HI>Encomium of him&s;elf, he ca&s;ts</HI> off the Reader, and enters into the Li&s;ts, with you again. In the beginning of his Book, the Author gave you the allowance, of <HI>a Figure in the Government;</HI> But now he'l make you as little as a Cipher; he thinks you of &s;o little under&s;tanding, that you by his Incoherent Arguments are now per&s;waded out of your Sen&s;es, and of the realli|ty and truth, of that Ca&s;e you have with &s;o much danger avowed and ju&s;tifed, by, and with a fictitious Ca&s;e of his own making, and proved it by Fallacious Arguments: and it is &s;o far unlike yours Doctor, as in&s;tead of four feet, it doth not go upon one of them; and upon the Credence the Author hath, of this &s;uppo&s;ed Conque&s;t over you in a great part, he proceeds to make it compleat, and is re&s;olved in another Point, right or wrong, <HI>to &s;tand fair in your Opinion, and</HI> that is; <HI>That he is free from the Itch of Scribling unle&s;s where his Genius tells him his Pen may be of Publique u&s;e, and where he is Prompted on by &s;uch an In|continence of a publick Spirit as you find in your &s;elf, and he</HI> (Injured Gentleman) <HI>never was but upon the Defen&s;ive part, and received no reply but reproaches</HI> (as he terms them) <HI>of Popi&s;hly affected, or a Villifier of the Kings Evidence.</HI> Indeed this Compari&s;on of his is of the &s;ame Stamp, with the other, but Doctor you may well pardon him, becau&s;e he Pardoned you for calling him Rogue, and this is only out of a great de&s;ire he hath, to be e&s;teemed like you in publick Spiritedne&s;s, but I am afraid his temper is more like <HI>Baals,</HI> that was only Sollicitous to die the death of the Righteous, but I do not remember one Word of his living their life. I think as to the matter in hand, I have had as much Experience of your Actions, and as Seriou&s;ly, and Impartially and Duely weighed them, as another; but its very Probable the Eyes of Mr. <HI>L' E&s;trange,</HI> and my Under&s;tanding differ, which may occa&s;ion from us, Various Inferences and Conclu&s;ions. Its true I have ob&s;erved you of|ten to be earne&s;tly Zealous for truth in the Fact that you have Di&s;covered, and again&s;t all Oppo&s;ers of it, under what Circum&s;tances &s;oever; but that you have in the lea&s;t Promoted it, either for this or the other Party, or again&s;t this or that Party, but only again&s;t particular Per&s;ons guilty, Sparing none of what per&s;wa&s;ion &s;oever, that are within your knowledge, not in the lea&s;t by any overt Act yet occurrs to my knowledge, that you have any wayes made it your bu&s;ine&s;s, either to &s;et up or pull down, or to make divi&s;ion among&s;t Parties of differing Per&s;wa&s;ions. I am &s;ure it hath not yet appeared to be your bu&s;ine&s;s, but rather of an healing Temper, but how much it is that learned Authors is Manife&s;tly apparent, and he that runs may read it, be&s;ides do but ob&s;erve the different Foundations between you and him; For, Doctor, you go upon occular and auricular Ex|periences, and he upon Coffee-hou&s;es di&s;cour&s;es, only &s;econded by a Report of the &s;tre|nuous affirmation of a Lady, and that by hear&s;ay too, and then how naturally it follows that the&s;e malicious Rumors (as he calls them) put upon him&s;elf, mu&s;t needs promote and &s;tir up him to Vindicate you, that was not in the lea&s;t concerned or named in it, nor either wanted or craved his aid to defend you, however with Cau&s;e or without Cau&s;e, he hath no mind to part with you yet; not out of love to prove you no Fanatick, but to other more Sini&s;ter Ends and Purpo&s;es, That is, to get a &s;mall reward for his Pamphlet, and Vindicate the Papi&s;ts, and cru&s;h the Phanaticks (as he calls them) as I hope I &s;hall plainly and Evidently demon&s;trate.</P>
<P><PB N="7" REF="4">
But now warmly clad with the&s;e wonderfully Erroneous Con&s;iderations that incumbred his di&s;turbed Brains, <HI>with the help of taking your Works to pieces;</HI> he had now fallen under &s;uch a Conception from which the World might expect&s;uch a product, as was expected from the Mountain; But you know that proved a Mou&s;e.</P>
<P>Now the Author <HI>Glories in his Acqui&s;ition of Materials to defend you, and now Magnifies his thoughts of his being armed to Suppre&s;s Popery;</HI> and is as &s;ure of his way as any blind man in Town, for he will as certainly hit it, as he that takes the way to <HI>Oxford,</HI> to be the right and &s;trait way to go to <HI>Canterbury.</HI> When this Author hath plea&s;ed him&s;elf with the&s;e In|comprehen&s;ible thoughts, <HI>by your Clue</HI> as he &s;ays, <HI>he enters into the almo&s;t Inextricable Laby|rinth of the Plot, till he found out &s;ome Prie&s;ts you pointed at, lurking in Holes like Foxs, and then he could not forbear Publi&s;hing it to the Nation in his fir&s;t Edition of this Pamphlet,</HI> and all this <HI>upon your Credit,</HI> as he tells you. But if this Author &s;hould fall under this misfortune that neither you Doctor, nor any &s;ober Wi&s;e man, &s;hould approve of his abortive births from his fal&s;e Conceptions, how can he make the Nation a Compen&s;ation for the&s;e abu&s;es; as without all Peradventure, the Ca&s;e will appear to every one that con&s;iders impartially the Plot it &s;elf, that it is not an Inextricable Labyrinth, but in truth is pure and ea&s;ie Matter of Fact, and the E&s;&s;ence thereof lies not at all in any of tho&s;e by-Circum&s;tantials Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> hath made u&s;e of (and as he &s;ays) <HI>For his own ends,</HI> which is certainly true, for they are not in the lea&s;t to the Advantage of the Nation, the Governors or Government, the Prote&s;tant Religion. nor the Kings witne&s;&s;es, but in apparent and great di&s;honour to all.</P>
<P>In his next Paragraph, he cries out, <HI>what Innocence can Warrant again&s;t Envy or Authority? protect when</HI> Le Strange <HI>comes to be arraigned as a Papi&s;t, for &s;hewing the likelie&s;t was to Extirpate Popery, and yourname cannot Protect him in it?</HI> nay he tells you <HI>it is well if you can uphold your &s;elf, if this goes on,</HI> and concludes, <HI>that none can fall foul upon that Di&s;covery without Wounding your Evidence.</HI> Now certainly had this Author as well believed the truth of this rea&s;on, as he cannot but imagine others do, he would never under this Di&s;gui&s;e of Friend&s;hip to you Doctor, have undertaken thus publickly to Villifie you. Alas he talks of Innocence, that is begging the que&s;tion: I know not of any that can be allowed him by any one in his right Wits, nor do I know nor never heard, but from him&s;elf, that ever he did or could &s;hew any way that is likely to extirpate Popery. I admire at his Confidence to adventure upon &s;uch a &s;ub|ject to the people, which only and &s;ingly appertains to the Magi&s;tracy, and I think he hath cau&s;e to rejoyce that he is not que&s;tioned for a Seditious Pamphletteer, for that his Work in &s;uch a time as this is, which calls. for our Union not divi&s;ion. He &s;ays, <HI>&s;ome call his book Je&s;uitical;</HI> for my part. I think there is no man in his right Wits, that can Judge le&s;s of his Book, than call the Scope and Drift of it, of a Je&s;uitical Stamp: but what is that to you Doctor, does it therefore follow that becau&s;e he hath written a book de&s;erves that Cen&s;ure, you mu&s;t be accounted a Papi&s;t that was no way Privy to it? but this Con&s;e|quence is like the re&s;t, but upon hard Pumping he has indeavoured to bring you in by Head and Shoulders; for he &s;ays <HI>he hath your Word and Oath for it, for you &s;wear the Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uites herd them&s;elves among&s;t the Non-Conformi&s;ts; they denie it, and yet prove them&s;elves in the Plot and di&s;credit the Kings Evidence.</HI> What Hocus Pocus is here? I am &s;ure in no part of your Evidence is it Sworn, they herd with Non-Conformi&s;ts, nor have I yet ever &s;een or heard any proof, that any Non-Conformi&s;ts have proved them&s;elves to be in the Plot; or that any of them what&s;oever, di&s;credited any of the Kings Evidence, but this mu&s;t be accepted upon his Veracity, or el&s;e his &s;train of Wit, by his Sub&s;equent Querie; for thus the Author argues, <HI>if they Shelter not them&s;elves in Conventicles, and field-Meetings, to &s;tir up Broyls in the Government, What becomes of your Te&s;timony? and none but Papi&s;ts would oppo&s;e the Ferretting them out.</HI> What he means, or what he would be at, If you know Doctor, its well, but for my part I under&s;tand not the Sence of it; but becau&s;e you have proved there were &s;ome Je&s;uites, or their Agents &s;ent into <HI>Scotland</HI> to Facilitate their de&s;ign, among&s;t the di&s;|contented Scots, if they could, therefore all the De&s;&s;enters from the Church of England in England, are guilty of the Plot; I am very Confident the meane&s;t of Grammarian School-Ma&s;ters in England, would have whipped the dulle&s;t Boy he had under his tuition, for u&s;ing &s;uch a Non&s;en&s;ical Argument.</P>
<P>In Confirmation of this, the Author further tells you, <HI>nothing can be clearer according to your Evidence of</HI> Wright <HI>and others &s;ent among&s;t the Scots, with other Evidence, to that Purpo&s;e,</HI> and then &s;ays, <HI>all this will not &s;erve to Convince &s;ome of the Prie&s;ts mingled with Fanaticks, till</HI>
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<HI>the Pilgrims and the Forty Thou&s;and black Bills come to open their Eyes.</HI> This Author is in much wrath, that every body does not wear his Spectacles; for I am fully a&s;&s;ured there is not a &s;ober Engli&s;h Chri&s;tian of what per&s;wa&s;ion &s;oever; except &s;uch Sons of the Church of England, as he and God-dam-me Sons (that &s;ee no further than the Church-yard) but do believe your Evidence in that particular, as fully as your Words, or intention there|by extended. Then he concludes that Paragraph, with a Clamorous acclamation. <HI>If the&s;e Infidels</HI> (I pre&s;ume he means the De&s;&s;enters from the Church of England) <HI>Have any Priviledg for the Defaming publick Ju&s;tice, and bla&s;ting the Kings Evidence, above other Peo|ple, they &s;hould, do well to produce it.</HI> But I am &s;ure it would have been better done of him, to have produced &s;ome Proof of the Slander, before he had a&s;per&s;ed the Parties with it; I never heard of their guilt of the one, nor the other, but from his Pen which I take to be as little Slander as his mouth. Then he proceeds to tell you, <HI>he hath read, con&s;idered and &s;tudied you, and what wonderfull things you have done for him in the Dark, and at length brought him into the light;</HI> and when he hathlent you the&s;e Ironical Expre&s;&s;ions, he comends you in the &s;ame Dialect, and further tells you of <HI>his Sen&s;ibility of the roundne&s;s of your Periods, the Luxuriancy of your Invention (where there is Scope for it) the Frankne&s;s of your Stile, and the Har|mony of your C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">ceptions.</HI> Indeed had it been your de&s;ign Doctor, to have made your trade, of Living and getting Dinners by Scribling, or had tho&s;e things which you have publi|&s;hed in Print, been otherwi&s;e than pure matter of Fact, to &s;atisfie the Governors, Government and People of the Nation; and limitted and bounded to the nature and quality of the thing in que&s;tion, and in a great part in the nature of a report; Its morally Po&s;&s;ible you might as well have ob&s;erved your Periods as the Fault-finder; nay I can &s;ay it with &s;ome A&s;&s;ur|rance, It is &s;o in all Impartial mens Judgments, all things duely con&s;idered; which an&s;wers may al&s;o &s;erve you for your Inventions, and Conceptions, for I know not of any &s;uch in all your works; and doubtle&s;s tho&s;e that do as well know you Doctor, and under&s;tand you as Mr. <HI>Le Strange,</HI> are clearly of opinion, that had you Imployed your Genius that way, if it had been but in making a Play again&s;t your own Mother, you might and would have come off with as much Reputation, made as good Syllogi&s;mes, and had as pertinent Coheren|ces as any that have undertaken or performed the like; and for the Frankne&s;s of your Style, it being in the pur&s;uite of truth, Its very well known your Zeal for that, makes you no more &s;pare any one guilty, than you did the Author when you called him Rogue, which he agrees, you did well in, as your apprehended him.</P>
<P>Then he tells you, <HI>This Epi&s;tle had been mon&s;trous in any other age;</HI> but why not in this (when its twice the length of the re&s;t of his Pamphlet) is not Di&s;cernable by any body but him&s;elf; then he tells you <HI>Knavery and Hipocri&s;ie were in Fa&s;hion, Thirty or Forty years ago.</HI> but &s;pares the telling with whom, therefore I cannot give it any particular an&s;wer, but mu&s;t leave it with him and his Acquaintance in tho&s;e times; he &s;ays <HI>now the pre&s;ent Hu|mour of</HI> France <HI>runs upon Poy&s;oning, the Enemies of our Government, altogether upon the Vein of Plotting.</HI> Indeed that's too true, and the Plotters, as the Ca&s;e is are of &s;everal &s;orts, &s;ome have the Helli&s;h and audacious Impudence to contrive his Maje&s;ties death by violence, his Magi&s;trates, his Witne&s;&s;es, the overthrow of our Government, the extirpating of the Pro|te&s;tant and Introducing the Romi&s;h Religion (&s;o called;) and there are another &s;ort which I apprehend, little inferior to the other in the Con&s;equence of it, who by their Poy&s;onous Principles and frothy Strains of wit, with their Paper-Squibs audaciou&s;ly traduce and fly in the Faces of the Governors and Government; and make nothing of turning the Ju&s;tice of the Nation into Ridicule both at home and abroad, and in&s;tead of healings broach divi&s;ions among&s;t the di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> thereby to give all advantage imaginable (according to your Evidence, to weaken the Parties) to our profe&s;&s;ed Ene|mies, without the lea&s;t ju&s;t occa&s;ion, or any other Rationally than to do that for our Ad|ver&s;aries, they them&s;elves could not effect, but by making us Fools, or Knaves, to one an|other.</P>
<P>Then this Author takes it Po&s;itively upon him to tell you Doctor, <HI>that he hath acquitted him&s;elf; That he is no Papi&s;t, and now he re&s;olvedly undertakes &s;o to acquit him&s;elf of the charge upon him by you, and your Father, of his Reporting you for a Fanatick.</HI> In my Opinion, if he doth the one no more than he hath done the other, he might have &s;pared his Labour; I fear if the matter had been true, he will not give you any cau&s;e to thank him, for I do not remember one authentick Proof, nor any other rational Argument yet produced by him,
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that he is not a Papi&s;t unle&s;s &s;uch an Argument which he u&s;ed that took upon him to con|fute <HI>Bellermine,</HI> by telling him it was not &s;o: Is it out of pure kindne&s;s, or at your reque&s;t he takes this pains for you? Truly, I think both alike, for I verily believe, if the thing be true that he &s;aid, you do not e&s;teem it &s;uch a Scandal as you need to be vindicated from it, either by him or any one el&s;e; but he &s;ays, <HI>your exhortation to Indulgence opened the mouths of &s;ome ignorant people to that effect;</HI> I doubt not in this but you may take Mr. <HI>L'|E&s;trange</HI> at his Word, and keeping to <HI>Solomon</HI>'s Rule, not to an&s;wer him in his own way, let it pa&s;s as it is, and although you went no further than as an exhortation, Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> hath the Confidence to take upon him to in&s;truct and to give Judgment too. Then he <HI>exclaims again&s;t a per&s;ecuting Spirit,</HI> how this Coheres with the precedent matter, it's a Riddle to me, and &s;eriou&s;ly I cannot fancy who or what he means by it; certainly he dares not be guilty of &s;o much Confidence, as rather than he would not be&s;patter and traduce you, he will arraign the whole Ju&s;tice of the Nation, for if that &s;hould be his meaning (which to me &s;eems very obvious) I believe not ignorant but wi&s;e people would think he did not lie under any a&s;per&s;ion, but rather take that Character already given him to be far &s;hort of his true demerit; but I am &s;ure the whole drift of his Pamphlet is for cau&s;ele&s;s per&s;ecuti|on, but ble&s;&s;ed be God our Governours are of a more healing &s;pirit,</P>
<P>Now he tells you, <HI>that by this time you &s;ee what a Church of</HI> England <HI>man is to tru&s;t to, when he (the true Son of the Church) is boxed on both &s;ides,</HI> and then he concludes that Para|graph with this Que&s;tion, <HI>With what face &s;hall any man dare to charge him for a Papi&s;t, that hath done &s;o much for the Prote&s;tant Religion, or a Fanatick, that hath done &s;o much for the Church of</HI> England? I think it may be thus re&s;olved, that if it be without cau&s;e, it mu&s;t be with a brazen face; but if the Party he means be one that can tell what the Church-yard Wall is made of and not the Church, he may then lie open to all &s;orts of Cen&s;ures, e&s;pe|cially when he hath acted on all &s;ides, as he puts the Ca&s;e.</P>
<P>The Plot indeed is repre&s;ented to be triplicite, <HI>viz.</HI> again&s;t the King, Government and Religion; but what que&s;tion or di&s;tinction this Author will make, we &s;hall &s;ee anon, for there is his <HI>Diana;</HI> but that you Doctor, or any other of the King's Witne&s;&s;es in this ca&s;e have in the lea&s;t occa&s;ioned &s;uch a que&s;tion, is not in my apprehen&s;ion to be deduced from any of your Evidences, and I believe that no man that hath ever heard, read of, or &s;een the Arts of tho&s;e Per&s;ons charged with that horrid Plot in any of their Ma&s;&s;acres, either at home or abroad, that ever they made any di&s;tinction of Per&s;ons that were Di&s;&s;enters from them&s;elves in Doctrine or Practice: From what can it be imagined they would have done it by, or in this Plot, or that they did &s;o intend by it, only to cut off the Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and leave the Di&s;&s;enters from them, or only cut off the Di&s;|&s;enters, and leave the Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> there is no &s;hadow of colour for it, and it's fully proved by you to be intended general to all Di&s;&s;entets from the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P>Now like a knowing Son of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> acquaints you how far he under&s;tands, and <HI>what is Religion,</HI> he fixes it in the Word <HI>Government, in which,</HI> &s;ays he, <HI>is comprehended Regiment, Eccle&s;ia&s;tical and Civil, and inclu&s;ively the Order of Bi&s;hops, and Doctrine and Di&s;cipline of the Church,</HI> and then concludes po&s;itively, <HI>that that and no other is the Prote&s;tant Religion de&s;igned in the Plot;</HI> and he thinks in his &s;econd Po&s;ition he makes it good, for he &s;ays, <HI>they</HI> (meaning the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England) are Religious and their name is Legion;</HI> and his third is as good as that, for therein this Author affirms, <HI>they</HI> (the &s;aid Di&s;&s;enters) <HI>are Chri&s;tian Arbbs;</HI> but the fourth goes beyond all, <HI>That it &s;tands not with Common Sen&s;e for Papi&s;ts to plot the ruine of their own Auxiliaries,</HI> and this he lays at your door, <HI>that it's again&s;t the Rea&s;on of your Depo&s;itions that they &s;hould contrive their De&s;tru|ction, when at that time they are making u&s;e of them to de&s;troy us,</HI> and then mo&s;t abhominably Chri&s;tian-like he briskly lets fly at the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England</HI> with a mo&s;t Di&s;mal Judgment, <HI>that Heaven and Hell is as ea&s;ie to be brought together, as to reconcile tho&s;e People to any terms of Piety or Civil Order, that corruptly &s;tyle them&s;elves Prote&s;tants.</HI> I mu&s;t confe&s;s here perchance the Author may apprehend he hath the whip hand of any one that will undertake to an&s;wer, in re&s;pect of the Law; but I think, without offence, I may put you in mind of the Words of the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Donn</HI> in his Preface to his Grand Exemplar, which are, <HI>That when it appears a Kingdom is converted to Chri&s;tianity, the Common|wealth is made a Church, Gentile Prie&s;ts are Chri&s;tian Bi&s;hops, the Subjects Servants of Chri&s;t&punc;</HI>
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<HI>the Religion turned Chri&s;tian, and the Laws of the Nation made part of the Religion, there is no change of Government, but Chri&s;t is King and the Temporal Power his Sub&s;titute, and is to promote obedience to him.</HI> Now I mu&s;t confe&s;s I am, and I doubt not but every really true Son of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> will be much more inclinable to take Doctor <HI>Tayler</HI> for an Authentick Author in this Point of Religion than Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> (though he does not u&s;e the word Prote&s;tant) and without all peradventure his Judgment is upon Truth, I mean the word of God, which Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> altogether omits (to the great proof of his Son&s;hip) and only grounds him&s;elf in that ca&s;e in my apprehen&s;ion upon &s;everal and Vulgar Errors; as fir&s;t, I take it to be an undeniable Truth from our Saviour and his Apo&s;tles, that there is but one Religion, and not Legions, and that under two Heads; 1. <HI>Loving God with all your heart;</HI> 2. <HI>Love our Neighbours as our &s;elves;</HI> unle&s;s it may be &s;aid that every <HI>Chimera</HI> of mens brains, or every Notion (as the Author calls Religion) or every Form is a Religion. I am of opinion it's Non&s;ence, and I cannot but concur with Dr. <HI>Tayler,</HI> that the Antio|chian or Chri&s;tian Religion is the Religion, <HI>Catexochene,</HI> and what ever Forms in true and due order to that are framed, doubtle&s;s they are prai&s;e-worthy, and ought to be ob&s;erved by all that Love the Kingdom of Chri&s;t (but yet I take it the Form is improperly called a Religion) but for this Author that hath the Confidence to &s;tyle him&s;elf the true Son, and would fain be e&s;teemed the Champion of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> to leave out the only E&s;&s;ential part of a true Church, who&s;e Foundation ought to be upon the Rock of Ages, and to place it only in humane Laws, which as Dr. <HI>Tayler</HI> &s;ays, are but part, and only in Sub&s;titution to that which is really true, is as I &s;aid before, to take the Church-Yard and all for the Church, or in&s;tead of commending the Vine to prai&s;e the Hedge or Fence about it; for as Dr, <HI>Tayler</HI>'s opinion is, the Temporal Power is to be u&s;ed primarily and princi|pally to promote obedience to Chri&s;t, not to its &s;elf, or any thing contrary to Chri&s;t's Doctrine, Practices or Precepts; therefore to me it &s;eems apparent that the Author hath not done right to his Mother, the Church of <HI>England,</HI> which makes me fear in regard the Fathers of the Church &s;eem to be of opinion again&s;t him in di&s;cription of a Church: I conceive it may without &s;training be rationally conjectured he was not &s;uckled by his Mo|thers milk, but by a Fo&s;ter Nur&s;e, otherwi&s;e certainly he would not have omitted &s;o E&s;&s;en|tiala Worth of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and the rather, for that he might with ea&s;e have proved, That when the Body of this Kingdom began to &s;hake off that Spiritual Slavery impo&s;ed on our Ance&s;tors by the Romi&s;h Yoke they then lay under, the alteration that then was made by the Governours and Government of this Nation, was the neare&s;t and mo&s;t agreeable by the Articles, Cannons and Injunctions then agreed and e&s;tabli&s;hed to the Apo&s;tolical Rule, and pur&s;uant to Dr. <HI>Tayler</HI>'s Judgment therein, as they could; For that our Religion &s;hould &s;olely depend upon humane Law, it mu&s;t be and may be as changeable as that of which I am &s;ure we and our Ance&s;tors have had woful Experience, as by Repeals of Statutes for that purpo&s;e in the Reign of Queen <HI>Mary,</HI> witne&s;s. Another Vulgar Errour, I conceive him with &s;ome clearne&s;s gullty of, is, in calling the Church of <HI>England</HI> the only Prote&s;tant Religion aimed at in this Ca&s;e by the Papi&s;ts. Indeed I have heard once the Que&s;tion was debated among&s;t Per&s;ons of an higher Sphere than Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> what the Prote&s;tant Religion was, and it was thought fit to be left undetermi|ned, and doubtle&s;s not imprudently, for if we &s;hould make that the <HI>Ba&s;is</HI> of the Religion of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> it would give our Adver&s;aries the Papi&s;ts a va&s;t and inevitable Advantage; for if Hi&s;tory be in that Ca&s;e to be depended upon, the Lutherans, the Cal|vini&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> were before the Church of <HI>England,</HI> under the denomination of Prote&s;tants, and I do doubt it will appear if it &s;hould be brought into di&s;pute, they differ in many and main Points; but then the Con&s;equence would inevitably follow, that we mu&s;t be put to prove which is the true one, another advantage the Papi&s;ts would have (and which I have heard often made u&s;e of;) That they (I mean the Church of <HI>Rome)</HI> are the Mother Church, and of many hundreds of years before the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and doubtle&s;s they may be too hard for us in that Point, if our Foundation begun only in Prote&s;tanti&s;m, but in truth the Foundation of our Apo&s;tolical Briti&s;h Church, which is fully, clearly and elegantly proved and made out (by the Learned and Judicious Author of the Book intitu|led <HI>of the Heart and its right Sovereign)</HI> to be ancienter than <HI>Rome</HI>'s, e&s;pecially here in this Nation by many Centuries of Years, and for his &s;aying, <HI>by your Evidence it appears the Fanaticks</HI> (as he calls them) <HI>are to be Papi&s;ts Auxiliaries, and therefore its not rational they</HI>
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<HI>(the Papi&s;ts) would work their Ruine:</HI> It's true according to the Common and Vulgar term, you in your Depo&s;itions call it the Prote&s;tant Religion indefinitely; but why this mu&s;t not concern all manner of Di&s;&s;enters from the Romi&s;h Church, I am &s;ure does not in the lea&s;t appear, nor can any other thing rationally be expected, but the extirpation of all Di&s;&s;enters from them of <HI>Rome</HI> without di&s;tinction, nor is it proved by you Doctor, the Je&s;uitical Party endeavoured to make any other u&s;e of them, but as all Conquerors do, to divide their Di&s;&s;enters to facilitate their intended Enterprize; if &s;o, then his unchri&s;tian like Cen&s;ure mu&s;t of nece&s;&s;ity be unwarrantable and groundle&s;s. Dear Doctor, I mu&s;t beg your par|don for my prolixity upon this Paragraph, but finding this the Author's Corner-Stone, I could not pa&s;s it over &s;lightly, being &s;o really zealous for the ancient Briti&s;h Apo&s;tolical Religion, that as God was heretofore plea&s;ed to honour this I&s;land to have the fir&s;t Chri|&s;tian King, and a Briti&s;h Woman to be Mother of the fir&s;t Chri&s;tian Emperour in the World, &s;o to me the finger of God &s;eems plainly to point at, and &s;hew that in this latter Age he intends further to honour this Nation with a King and Government, that will be his true and real Sub&s;titutes to promote &s;incere obedience to his Son, and to bring us with healing under one Shepherd, and all to be of one Sheepfold.</P>
<P>Then taking that forgranted, which is denied him; <HI>That the Prote&s;tant Religion aymed at in the Plot, is the E&s;tabli&s;hed Religion of the Church of</HI> England; the Author tells you, <HI>that you cannot be a Friend to the State without being one to the Church too.</HI> This as I have &s;aid before, is but a begging of the Que&s;tion, and then he concludes from thence, <HI>that he that phancies you Doctor not Canonical and Orthodox, &s;uppo&s;es you build with one hand, and pluck down with the other;</HI> here is begging Que&s;tion upon Que&s;tion to bring &s;omething out that is no way applicable to you; for your bu&s;ine&s;s Doctor, hath been &s;olely and only to ac|quaint the King and his Councils with matters of Fact, and leave the building and pulling down to their Wi&s;doms, and not therein in the lea&s;t to concern your &s;elf as the Author hath done in that Pamphlet too much.</P>
<P>Then he puts the Ca&s;e the general way, and &s;ays, <HI>the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of</HI> Eng|land <HI>cannot any way be ayding in a Reformation, but by their Prayers and good Wi&s;hes upon pain of Sedition.</HI> It's much &s;uch a man as Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange,</HI> who takes him&s;elf to be of &s;uch profound Parts and Knowledge, &s;hould &s;o much mi&s;take him&s;elf, for certainly as men and Subjects under his Maje&s;tie's Obey&s;ance, they are as capable and legally of &s;erving his Maje&s;ty in any &s;uch Commands, as any other men or Subjects what&s;oever.</P>
<P>I think his Ca&s;e put, <HI>whether or no, and how far Prote&s;tants may unite,</HI> is fully an&s;wered in the Solution to the la&s;t Paragraph, but <HI>what the Di&s;&s;enters</HI> to the Church of <HI>England, meeting and a&s;&s;embling as to Religious Wor&s;hips,</HI> is any way material to the Defence of his Ma|je&s;tie's Per&s;on or Government, or what it &s;ignifies to the Plot I am to &s;eek for, and what offence it is again&s;t Law, I &s;hall not pre&s;ume to meddle with it, and I am a&s;&s;uredly &s;atisfi|ed in all &s;ober mens Judgments he would not have lo&s;t Reputation, if he had not &s;hot his bolt thereat &s;o &s;uddenly; but indeed much better fruit cannot well be expected from one that hath &s;ucked in an Opinion, that he dares tell you Doctor, that <HI>Religion is a Spiritual Notion;</HI> I think no man in his right wits will conceive he knows what he &s;ays, and cer|tainly Doctor, this Author will be extreamly Fortunate, if &s;uch Notions as he hath utte|red in that Pamphlet make not him reputed and legally judged Seditious.</P>
<P>In the Conclu&s;ion of this large Epi&s;tle, in a Jeer and Scoff he tells you, <HI>They are Wonder|ful things you have done,</HI> and would fain have you conde&s;cend to believe, that <HI>he is per&s;wad|ed you are yet re&s;erved for more Wonderful things;</HI> but on the other hand, I am per&s;waded he did not believe him&s;elf when he wrote it, nor de&s;igned any body el&s;e &s;hould, if he could prevent it; but to his &s;hame, if he had any, his betters have done it, and notwith|&s;tanding his flurts of your Name, <HI>being as famous to Po&s;terity as your Vertue hath rendred you to the pre&s;ent Generation:</HI> It may be true that you have not that Stock of Confidence he hath, and to conceit your &s;elf without Per&s;onal Infirmities, and I dare &s;ay, that in Ju&s;tifi|cation of his Innocence in that particular, he will not be &s;o hardy or bold as to adventure to throw the fir&s;t &s;tone at you.</P>
<P>But he tells you Doctor again, <HI>that none in his right Wits &s;hould take you for no Friend to the Church of</HI> England. I concur with him in it, and certainly had he been in his, he dur&s;t not have taken the Confidence to have reflected &s;o much upon you, in regard by &s;o doing he hath much wounded and unworthily traduced the Wi&s;dom and Ju&s;tice of the Gover|nours
<PB N="12" REF="7">
and Government of this Nation, for which he &s;ays, <HI>he hath a Natural Veneration,</HI> by turning all their Tran&s;actions in this Affair to mere Sophi&s;tical ridicule, then he tells <HI>you of the Evidence you have made of the Intrigues in the late times, and now by the Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uits with Schi&s;maticks, and that you have given the Sectaries a great blow, &s;o that they have nothing to &s;ay why they &s;hould not be &s;ifted with all exactne&s;s imaginable.</HI> Doubtle&s;s it's as great a mi&s;take of, and as forreign and remote from the Scope and Drift of your Evi|dence, as is po&s;&s;ible to be &s;uppo&s;ed: For although the Je&s;uits and their Legates are for leaving no &s;tone unturned that may advance their De&s;ign in every or any particular of it, and to that purpo&s;e, as much as in them lies, do endeavour to creep into Societies, and all &s;orts of men: Yet mu&s;t it therefore needs follow, that &s;uch Societies or men are Confede|rate? It's a remote and forreign Suppo&s;ition, it's a meer <HI>non-&s;equitur.</HI> Neverthele&s;s, though I have not asked any of them the Que&s;tion, nor &s;hall make it my bu&s;ine&s;s to open my lips to them further, or other than truth will clearly warrant me; I dare be bold to &s;ay &s;o much for them, that there is not one Society or Sect what&s;oever (called Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England)</HI> but will with all true Zeal earne&s;tly lend their helping hands to find out and be purged from any &s;uch corrupt Member that may lurk among&s;t them, and if that Author, or any other can further them, will well reward them.</P>
<P>Then Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> in his jeering and flouting manner, &s;ays, <HI>that after gleaning up about</HI> 35 <HI>Prie&s;ts in the whole, it was you that informed the Government where they were to be had by Sholes.</HI> It &s;eems he is very exact in keeping the Account of their &s;uffering Members, but whether out of pity or friend&s;hip to them, or for Publick Service, I leave the Doctor upon the whole matter to judge, but he was too exact in charging you with that Information, for I am &s;ure he neither hath or can prove to whom, nor when given, unle&s;s it mu&s;t be taken for granted, becau&s;e he hath &s;aid it, which really I cannot do, nor have any grounds to per&s;wade you, or any other to it. Then he asks &s;ome Que&s;tions, <HI>if it be not true that the Plot goes on &s;till?</HI> I am ju&s;tified by the opinion of the Governours and and Magi&s;trates in the Nation to an&s;wer the Que&s;tion in the affirmative; his next is, <HI>if it be not true that we are all undone if it be not di&s;appointed?</HI> I mu&s;t an&s;wer that affirmatively in part and negatively in the re&s;t, That is, all hone&s;t and loyal men and true Di&s;&s;enting Chri&s;tians from the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> are but Papi&s;ts and popi&s;hly affected, are not, but he making the An&s;wer and Con|&s;truction of the Que&s;tions otherwi&s;e, and without colour of a true cau&s;e upon them, he draws this Inference, <HI>That it's a matter of ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity to fetch the&s;e Plotters out of their Holds:</HI> That is (to u&s;e his own expre&s;&s;ion) he that winks may perceive Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> his meaning, and of what &s;pirit he is of; <HI>That all &s;uch</HI> (guilty or not guilty) <HI>that are</HI> under the notion of <HI>Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of</HI> England <HI>mu&s;t be de&s;troyed as Plotters;</HI> but not one word in all that his Pamphlet again&s;t any one Papi&s;t, Prie&s;t or Je&s;uit el&s;ewhere, for he &s;eems to be &s;atisfied their Number as to Sufferers is full: Then his la&s;t Que&s;tion is, <HI>If it be not true that whoever doubts of the truth of this matter of Fact, or of the nece&s;&s;ity of this way of proceeding, is undeniably a Bla&s;ter of the King's Evidence, and a favourer of the Con&s;piracy?</HI> I think I have fully demon&s;trated to you Doctor, why the Fact as he &s;tates it, and would have it taken for granted, is not true, but altogether fallacious, and &s;hored up with untrue Glo&s;&s;es and Inferences for the by-end he drives at, and therefore cannot in the lea&s;t be ap|prehended to be any ground to judge him that doubts it a Bla&s;ter of the King's Evidence, a Favourer of the Con&s;piracy; but if Doctor you will take my opinion, and that with &s;ome clearne&s;s, I rather judge the Author of that Pamphlet to be &s;uch an one, by wre&s;t|ing the con&s;truction of your Evidence contrary to the words and meaning thereof. Then he clo&s;es his long Epi&s;tle with <HI>de&s;iring you</HI> Doctor <HI>to lay to heart what he hath writ,</HI> but I am glad to &s;ee you do not concern your &s;elf thereat &s;o far as it concerns you alone; then he <HI>de&s;ires you to ca&s;t your eye upon what follows,</HI> which indeed is the Second Part to the &s;ame Tune, and then <HI>prays Heaven and Earth to reward you, and that you may be as happy as he wi&s;hes you;</HI> I doubt not but that you are happier already, and if you expect any further happine&s;s by others prayers it mu&s;t not be by &s;uch &s;ort of people of whom it's &s;aid their prayers will not prevail.</P>
<P>He &s;tiles what follows, <HI>A further Di&s;covery of the Plot drawn,</HI> he &s;ays, <HI>from your Narra|tive and Depo&s;itions:</HI> It is certainly drawn out, but it's by violence enough, and that by Forreign and remote Inferences and Conclu&s;ions: But what ever there is further in that Pamphlet, but in truth it's no further Di&s;covery of your Di&s;covered Plot, but of his
<PB N="13" REF="7">
own it is, and what that is, what I have by my ob&s;ervations already made, to that of which part of this is in matter but repetition, and of that of which I &s;hall make to that which is new; I doubt not, Doctor, but will give you full and Evident &s;atisfaction. The Author tells you, <HI>It mu&s;t not be denied, the Kings Witne&s;&s;es have done as much as men could do to make out the truth of this Plot; &s;o mu&s;t it not be denied that the Ju&s;tice and Wi&s;dom of this Na|tion, hath improved all the Di&s;coveries, by the &s;tricte&s;t Inqui&s;ition and Scrutinie imaginable, and done all Po&s;&s;ible to &s;uppre&s;s it, yet it goes on with Confidence and vigour; as we have it from tho&s;e that wrought in the &s;ame Myre, till better light brought them to other Mea&s;ures</HI> (but to lay a Foun|dation for his next Fallacie) he tells you <HI>the Fact lies in the Dark,</HI> and truly, Doctor, in my opinion it mu&s;t and will do &s;o, unle&s;s we have better light to &s;ee it by than a Meteor. I do not Doctor at all doubt of what the&punc; Witne&s;&s;es have done, and as little of what hath been done by the Ju&s;tice and Wi&s;dom of this Nation, for the finding out and &s;uppre&s;&s;ing this helli&s;h Plot. But I have before told you as in the ca&s;e of the Earl of <HI>Dan|by</HI> all was not done, that might and ought to have been done, or el&s;e the Commons Hou&s;e of Parliament, did mi&s;take in their Charge again&s;t him, which I think becomes no man to pre&s;ume.</P>
<P>But, Doctor, Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> tells you <HI>that after all this Havock made of the Papi&s;ts, the Coffee-Hou&s;e Di&s;cour&s;e is the Plot goes on, as they that mu&s;t be pre&s;umed that know be&s;t &s;ay, but tho&s;e on the Negative ask, if it will work without hands, where are the Papi&s;ts, in the Air, or under ground, or are they Invi&s;ible? for as they a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">e di&s;per&s;ed, be&s;ides the Terrour that over awes them, there are three Thou&s;and Prote&s;tants to one Papi&s;t.</HI> Indeed, Doctor, I am in admiration of his Confidence to call the ju&s;t Proceedings of the Authority of the Nation, an Havock, he &s;hews much of his natural Veneration to the Government, and his true Son&s;hip to the Church of England by it; and then he lays a mighty &s;tre&s;s upon the tatling at Coffee-hou&s;es; and indeed he hath &s;ome rea&s;on, for I perceive he hath been much beholden to them, for matter and Evidence, or otherwi&s;e he had been exceeding barren in both, and in all Probability, I am apt to conjecture and not without ground, either he hath lo&s;t &s;ome Intimate (in the Havock as he Scandalou&s;ly terms it) or his Bowels of Compa&s;&s;ion, are &s;trongly towards that Party, becau&s;e he always expre&s;&s;es their &s;uffering with great re|luctancy, and his Negative Arguments which are for them, are the &s;tronge&s;t.</P>
<P>But now the Author again begins to lay his meaning more open, for (he &s;ays <HI>they</HI> (meaning the Popi&s;h party) <HI>may be any where,</HI> and his rea&s;on is, he &s;ays, <HI>Per&s;ons of great quality have told him they will indure all &s;hapes, exerci&s;e all Pro&s;e&s;&s;ions; they &s;peak of one Je&s;uit cried</HI> work for a Cooper, <HI>another a Shoe-maker, others Read Coats. 'Its ob&s;erved upon bringing the Plot to light all the little French men with their Marionetts, and Puppit-Showes, vani&s;hed, which gave Su&s;picion, they were Agents for the Faction.</HI> I do now, Doctor, plainly preceive why he is &s;o angry with you, for now it appears, much of his lo&s;s this Di&s;covery of this Helli&s;h Plot hath brought upon him, for it &s;eems the&s;e Per&s;ons were of his acquaintance, other|wi&s;e he could not have been &s;o well knowing of their hard Condition: and truly I think he may cry <HI>work for a Tinker,</HI> for in&s;tead of &s;topping one Hole he hath made many, but for the matter, he not charging it upon you, I need not give you the trouble of an&s;wering it, only let me ob&s;erve this to you, that although at mo&s;t the Author can and does make no more of the&s;e A&s;&s;ertions but hear-&s;ays, and no body knows from whom nor can well gue&s;s, for its not to be pre&s;umed that any Per&s;ons of quality (but &s;uch as are in Pri|&s;on for the Plot) u&s;e &s;uch Company, yet he takes it for a granted truth and makes u&s;e of it to be a ground-Work for <HI>what follows,</HI> which he tells you, Doctor, <HI>Shall be &s;up|ported upon your Authority</HI> (for you &s;till mu&s;t come in to help the Lame Dog over the Stile) <HI>With re&s;pect to the validity of your Te&s;timony, and weight of your Ob&s;ervations, you having dived Deeper into it than any other.</HI> Alas, poor Gentleman he is forced to &s;peak truth &s;ome|times again&s;t his will, but his truths and Fallacies do not make good Mu&s;ick, in wi&s;e mens Eares, no more than his Mu&s;ick did in <HI>Olivers,</HI> and I am &s;ure he hath not; and believe he cannot make any further Di&s;covery of this Plot by any thing by you publi&s;hed; nay, its without all Contradiction, ab&s;olute Non&s;en&s;e, that a Di&s;covery can be made out of a Di&s;covery, for without all Peradventure a Di&s;covery mu&s;t and doth imply new Fact, other|wi&s;e its no Di&s;covery.</P>
<P>Then the Author tells you, <HI>That that part of the De&s;ign again&s;t his Maje&s;ties life broke to all Intents and Purpo&s;es; but we are beholden to you, for the Di&s;covery of other and further</HI>
<PB N="14" REF="8">
<HI>Plots in defaming the King and Government, Subver&s;ion of our E&s;tabli&s;hed Religion and Di|&s;turbance of the Peace, &s;o that our Deliverance is but half done.</HI> I &s;tand amazed with what con&s;idence he dares write &s;uch things, but as the Proverb <HI>there is,</HI> is <HI>none &s;o bold as blind Bayard,</HI> for his <HI>&s;o that our Deliverance is but half done,</HI> is his and none of your's, and what you have done is meerly making known matter of Fact, and that long &s;ince and only as to one Plot. And be&s;ides, Doctor, had he con&s;idered the whole truth of the Fact, as to that part of this Helli&s;h Plot; That the &s;ame hands attempted his Sacred Maje&s;ties life Be|yond-Sea; That's its &s;trongly to be pre&s;umed Mr. <HI>Killigrues</HI> man that was Murther|ed at <HI>Wind&s;or</HI> on his Maje&s;ties Couch, was by the &s;ame hands, and intended his Maje&s;ty; That although the Gun is taken that <HI>Pickering</HI> &s;hould have made u&s;e of for that purpo&s;e, yet neither <HI>Coniers,</HI> nor his Dagger, nor the Ruffians, nor many others you have in your Depo&s;itions charged, are, that the Contrivance was as well Beyond-Sea as at home, and that &s;ince your Di&s;covery of, Mr. <HI>Dugdale,</HI> Mr. <HI>Balldron,</HI> Mr. <HI>Jenni&s;on,</HI> Mr. <HI>Danger-field,</HI> and others (which daily come in) have &s;everally depo&s;ed that at &s;everal places and times, and by divers Per&s;ons they have been acco&s;ted to be hired to undertake to at|tempt it. Methinks the Con&s;ideration of the&s;e things which have undeniable truths &s;hould make him Blu&s;h, for that by broaching &s;uch Fal&s;ities among&s;t the Subjects to delude them, he may make them neglectful and carele&s;s in the Pre&s;ervation of his Maje&s;ties life, in which they have &s;o much and great an Intere&s;t; but I only mention this, Doctor, as it is to me a clear Demon&s;tration of the Contrivance, and often repetition of the Je&s;uites and their Parties; indeavouring to put in Execution, their helli&s;h De&s;ign a|gain&s;t his Maje&s;ties per&s;on whom God pre&s;erve. Then he repeats part of your Nar|rative, wherein you, Doctor, as he &s;ays, mention &s;ome Circum&s;tantial Actions the Jeuites do, in order to the Facilitating this their impious De&s;ign; which is, <HI>by making and Promoting differences between the King and his People, and the King and Forraign Princes, and the like; and among&s;t the people in ca&s;e their De&s;ign as to his Maje&s;ties life, took effect, that they might be ready to ri&s;e up in Arms again&s;t one another;</HI> and then in a glorying manner the Author tells you, <HI>We have found your Ob&s;ervations in the&s;e Particulars, &s;o Punctually true, that every Syl|lable is the matter now in Agitation</HI> (as thus,) <HI>not a Day without a Libel upon his Maje&s;ties Authority, belieing the Condition of his Affairs, Indeavouring to create Di&s;tru&s;ts and Jealou&s;ies among&s;t Forraign Princes and States by fal&s;e Intelligence, Animating and exciting turbulent Factions, Anticipating Confederacies, Involving us in Blood upon a remote and &V;ndutiful &s;uppo&s;i|tion of the Kings Death, Sedition preached as well as Written, our Conventicles both In&s;tructed them&s;elves, and In&s;tructing others in the Methods and Principles of Rebellion; this,</HI> he &s;ays, <HI>may Suffice for your Judgment upon the&s;e things, which look liker a Revelation than a Conjecture.</HI> I know not, Doctor, who the Author means by <HI>we;</HI> for my part, I think no man in his right Sen&s;es can clo&s;e with him in his finding, for as I &s;aid before, yours are not ob&s;ervations but only matters of Fact, and tho&s;e charged upon the Je&s;uites and their Party. But if there are any &s;uch Libells holding forth tho&s;e particulars he mentions, but as much as his own, from any man or, from any Society of men, I am very clear in my opinion with all hum|ble Submi&s;&s;ion to the Governors and Government, the Authors may well be &s;u&s;pected to promote the De&s;ign, and may de&s;erve to be called in que&s;tion and puni&s;hed for them, according to their Demerits. And the rather as to him becau&s;e he hath the boldne&s;s in Capital Letters, and of remark to call it,</P>
<P>A REMOTE AND UNDUTIFUL SUPPOSITION OF HIS MAJESTIES DEATH.</P>
<P>If this be not a giving the lie to the Repre&s;entatives of the Commons of the Na|tion, affirming their Credit of your's and other's Evidence in that particular, by their Vote; That if his Maje&s;ty (which God forbid) &s;hould dye a violent Death, they would revenge it on the Papi&s;ts, and this Concurred with by the Hou&s;e of Peers; but the&s;e are &s;uch &s;mall and minute things in Mr. <HI>Le Strange</HI>'s Con&s;ideration, he can ea&s;ily pa&s;s them by, as an Evident and undeniable proof of his natural Veneration of the Government, and his true Son-&s;hip to the Church of England. But as to the Preachings he talkes of; (if among&s;t tho&s;e he means under the term Fanaticks) when he can name the Per&s;ons, I hope I may without offence &s;ay, the Per&s;ons charged or &s;ome body for them, will give an an&s;wer, Satisfactory to the Governours, Government, and the world; in the mean time I believe no man of under&s;tanding will Credit it upon his bare and general A&s;&s;er|tion.</P>
<P><PB N="15" REF="8">
And becau&s;e Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange,</HI> as may be &s;uppo&s;ed, did apprehend the&s;e things had not been &s;ufficient to fini&s;h his intended Fabrick, and that his Pamphlet, he makes &s;ome fur|ther repetition of part of your Preface to your Narrative, in reference to the late Trou|bles: as, <HI>That the Je&s;uitical Party were the Contrivers of the la&s;t War, by their known Diabolical Art of in&s;laming Parties and Pa&s;&s;ions again&s;t each other, and addre&s;&s;ing to the King; of his Ma|je&s;ties Royal Fathers un&s;peakable Sufferings, and barbarous u&s;age: it was tho&s;e brought him to his end, &s;touri&s;hed Swords and Trumpets over his dead Body; the</HI> Putney <HI>Projectors were in mo&s;t, if not all the Councils that contrived his ruine. What broke the</HI> Uxbridge <HI>Treaty, but the</HI> Romi&s;h <HI>Intere&s;t and Policy? who contrived to baffle all de&s;igns of Peace and Settlement to this Nation, Pro&s;perity to his Maje&s;ties Family, but them?</HI> Milton <HI>was a known Frequenter of a Popi&s;h Club. Who more forward to &s;et up</HI> Cromwel, <HI>and crown him with the King's Crown than Papi&s;ts? his Government was contrived by a Prie&s;t, and</HI> Lambert, <HI>a Papi&s;t, for above thirty years.</HI> From whence he concludes in this Point, he &s;ays, <HI>a man may without lo&s;s of Honour believe you to be in a mi&s;take.</HI> I could wi&s;h he Would have given &s;ome rea&s;on for it, that he might have received a more full An&s;wer, than otherwi&s;e can be given to it; for although this is not, nor cannot be &s;aid or depo&s;ed by you, as an immediate part of your Di&s;covery of the pre&s;ent damnable Plot, nor as any thing of your own knowledge, becau&s;e all, or mo&s;t of it was done before you were born, or at lea&s;t, able to judge of things, yet by the acce&s;s you had to the Je&s;uits Memoirs, when admitted among&s;t them, you found tho&s;e things (except the Addre&s;&s;es to the King) which made good tho&s;e A&s;&s;ertions; and you report it only as &s;uch, and yet with &s;uch demon&s;trable Circum&s;tances as might ea&s;ily gain a credit, as to the truth of them, with any man that is a Di&s;&s;enter from the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> and is not &s;uch a Son of the Church, as <HI>Dives</HI> and his Brethren were (as they were lately proved by a Learned and Reverend Doctor) who were not to be convinced but by an Angel, or &s;ome immediate Revelation from Heaven; but as that was denied them, &s;o I believe, it will be the&s;e, &s;ince they will not believe that, which in my appre|hen&s;ion, comes very near it: but in truth, to me it &s;eems obvious and plain, that the Author hath made a very ample and full Di&s;covery of him&s;elf in his &s;aid Pamphlet, but not of you, Doctor, nor of any further Di&s;covery of your revealed Plot; for by his own &s;hewing, and as the truth is, you charge all our mi&s;eries, mediately or immediately, upon the Papi&s;ts, and he affirms you are mi&s;taken. Now on which &s;ide can it rationally be judged he is?</P>
<P>The next thing he chargeth in Fact, is in <HI>your Page</HI> 8. <HI>touching</HI> Blundel<HI>'s teaching of Youth Trea&s;onable Doctrines again&s;t His Maje&s;ty: Page</HI> 25. A&s;hby<HI>'s &s;ending new Me&s;&s;engers into</HI> Scotland <HI>to promote Commotions there, and inform them of the Tyranny they lay under, by being denied Liberty of Con&s;cience, not to be procured without the Sword, by which means they &s;hould Weaken the Presbyterian and Epi&s;copal Faction, and you heard the Words, and two Me&s;&s;engers were &s;ent into</HI> Scotland <HI>with In&s;tructions to carry them&s;elves like Nonconformi&s;t Mini&s;ters, to preach nece&s;&s;ity of taking up the Sword, which you &s;aw di&s;patched.</HI> Now ob&s;erve his &s;everal Inferences from hence; fir&s;t &s;ays he, <HI>take notice here is a De&s;ign for the De&s;truction of the King, and Embroyling of the Government.</HI> I admit it him in terms and literally, but if he hath any equivocal or fallacious meaning I cannot. Secondly, he &s;ays, <HI>the pretence of the Quar|rel is matter of Liberty and Con&s;cience;</HI> That is an ab&s;olute mi&s;take for it's but a circum&s;tantial Engine &s;o prepared and wrought by the Je&s;uits to carry on their grand De&s;ign by dividing and weakning their oppo&s;ing Party. Thirdly, he &s;ays, <HI>it's to be promoted by Popi&s;h Emi&s;|&s;aries in the Councils of the Non-Conformi&s;ts:</HI> It is the fir&s;t time, and I believe cannot be &s;e|conded, that ever the Non-Conformi&s;ts had any Councils, and as to their being in the Conventicles, as to the charge it's only by you &s;aid to be in <HI>Scotland;</HI> but admit it in <HI>England</HI> too, It is not nor cannot be charged originally upon them, but meerly accidentally and contingently as the Je&s;uites and their Agents could prevail, whereof I am &s;atisfied if the Author could have found but half an in&s;tance to make it good, it's not to be doubted with his Ingenuity he would have &s;tretched it to an whole one, if not more for the good of the Cau&s;e he hath &s;o vi&s;ibly by his Pamphlet e&s;pou&s;ed. Fourthly, he &s;ays, <HI>by making Inte|re&s;ts with the Separati&s;ts under Di&s;gui&s;e of Teachers;</HI> This is an&s;wered in the la&s;t. But fifthly, la&s;tly, and remarkably, he &s;ays, <HI>That you charge none of the Church of</HI> England. What yet more blindne&s;s? Was it po&s;&s;ible for the Je&s;uits and their party to carry on their &s;everal De&s;igns in the late times, without &s;ome of the Church of <HI>England-</HI>Members being
<PB N="16" REF="9">
concerned in it; he, nor any man can &s;ay, that there was not Members of the Church of <HI>England</HI> on both &s;ides in tho&s;e unhappy Wars. But by this you may plainly &s;ee what he drove at by &s;aying, <HI>You were mi&s;taken as to tho&s;e times:</HI> for he could not have otherwi&s;e come off from his A&s;&s;ertion, that you charged not the Members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> though he a&s;&s;umes to &s;ay, <HI>He hath peru&s;ed and con&s;idered all your Works, as to that particular;</HI> yet he hath not rightly judged of them; and although it be apparently the de&s;ign of the Author to put a variance and divi&s;ion between tho&s;e that are Di&s;&s;enters from, and tho&s;e who are Members of the Church of <HI>England:</HI> I know its none of yours, nor &s;hall be mine; for I take the healing way in that ca&s;e be&s;t, and therefore &s;hall not give any further In&s;tances therein than may &s;erve to di&s;prove him.</P>
<P>But Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> taking his mi&s;taken Inference from thence for granted, he draws as er|roneous a Conclu&s;ion, yet very po&s;itively, <HI>That you have altogether cleared the Church of</HI> En|gland <HI>and her Sons, from the Calumny of being either mediately, or immediately guilty of this horrid Plot.</HI> But as I &s;aid before, Doctor, you have not in the lea&s;t in the whole &s;cope of your Di&s;covery &s;hewed your &s;elf partial, by charging, or &s;paring this, or that man, that is within your knowledge guilty, becau&s;e he is of this or that Party, or Faction, as may plainly appear by what is afore&s;aid.</P>
<P>Then Mr. <HI>L'E&s;trange</HI> &s;ays, <HI>It mu&s;t not be any longer a &s;uppo&s;ition, which you have given Oath for: So that,</HI> &s;aith he, <HI>taking it for granted, there is &s;uch a project on foot, the Papi&s;ts are in the bottom of it, and its promoted by the Sectaries; the que&s;tion is, how the Government may di&s;criminate the Prote&s;tants from the Papi&s;ts, being blended in their Intere&s;ts, as well as in their Councils, and not ea&s;ily di&s;tingui&s;hed: but the legal Expedient is the Oaths of Allegi|ance and Supremacy; yet that will not do, for many Papi&s;ts will take them, and many that call them&s;elves Prote&s;tants, will ab&s;olutely refu&s;e them.</HI> I agree it to be true, that what is judi|cially proved ought not, nor cannot be e&s;teemed a Suppo&s;ition; but then it mu&s;t, and ought to be taken litterally, and not with a &s;trained or remote con&s;truction, contrary to the Deponents words, intent, or meaning; for though it may be taken for granted there is &s;uch a project on foot, and the Papi&s;ts in the bottom of it, yet is it not to be &s;o, that the Sectaries promote it from any thing you have &s;worn, but that the Je&s;uitical Party have endeavoured to blow up Sectaries (&s;o called) into a divi&s;ion among&s;t them|&s;elves, and with others the di&s;&s;enting Party from the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> thereby to le&s;&s;en and abate the &s;trength of them, is litterally agreeable with the words of your Depo&s;itions afore-cited by him, that thereby they might weaken both the Presbyterian and Epi&s;copal Faction, it's not in the lea&s;t to be que&s;tioned, or doubted, but that the Je&s;uites, or their Party, are knowingly and willingly the Contrivers and Carriers on of this horrid Plot.</P>
<P>But that the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England</HI> are in any part of it, is both to be que&s;tioned and doubted, and the rather, for that neither by yours, nor any others Te&s;ti|monies is it &s;o proved, nor from thence can be inferred, without a violent, or at lea&s;t, &s;trange Con&s;truction: and for my part, I do not at all know, or &s;u&s;pect that any one true Member of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> is, or will in the lea&s;t joyn with the Je&s;uitical Party in it; but do hope both they and the Di&s;&s;enters from them will unite to defend his Sacred Maje&s;ty, and the Government from it. Then he tells you, <HI>The Law is general in that ca&s;e, there is no relaxation, the Law takes not notice of Hone&s;ty, but Obedience: and this Rule,</HI> he &s;ays, <HI>holds in common as well to the Papi&s;ts, as to the Prote&s;tant Recu&s;ants:</HI> With &s;omething more to the &s;ame purpo&s;e; but truly, I think, to very little purpo&s;e; for, as I take it, tho&s;e Statutes he cites, are by their Title, Preamble and Body, only and litterally again&s;t the Popi&s;h Recu&s;ants. For the Di&s;&s;enters he talks of, or the great|er part of them were not then publickly in being, nor in the lea&s;t mentioned in any of them, and if &s;o, I think they cannot be concerned. But that being under the con|&s;truction of a power above me, I &s;hall not be po&s;itive in it, or determine it.</P>
<P>Then he rivets this, he thinks, by &s;aying, <HI>But what if it be &s;aid, that it is not the thing &s;worn, but the Oath it &s;elf that is &s;crupled at?</HI> This he tells you, Doctor, <HI>is nice, and un|happy to tho&s;e that are &s;o &s;trait-laced,</HI> and from thence he infers, <HI>its dangerous to the Go|vernment, for it lets in all the Prie&s;ts and Je&s;uits in nature under that colour; for they will all flow in thither,</HI> (that is, among&s;t the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England) for &s;helter, and carry on their De&s;igns without trial or danger.</HI> Is not this mo&s;t incomparable Jug|ling? he can blow hot and cold at his plea&s;ure, an excellent Arti&s;t; for ob&s;erve, when
<PB N="17" REF="9">
he had &s;ome trouble of Spirit upon him for the Papi&s;ts Sufferings upon this Helli&s;h Plot, and to take off the edge of the Magi&s;trate, and the opinion of the People, as to the fur|ther and &s;evere pro&s;ecuting of it, that there might not be any more havock made with them, then there was not a Papi&s;t to be &s;een, they were invi&s;ible; but now when the Tables mu&s;t be turned upon the Di&s;&s;enters to the Church of <HI>England,</HI> then becau&s;e of &s;ome of the Di&s;&s;enters &s;cruple&s;omene&s;s in Swearing, his Opinion is changed; for now there is a great deal of danger he &s;ays; but if you will believe the Author before, it mu&s;t be of no body, or at lea&s;t, &s;o few, that they are not worth the looking after, but one to three thou&s;and, if &s;o much; &s;o here is Mr. <HI>Roger</HI> again&s;t Mr. <HI>L' E&s;trange:</HI> and indeed I take the Author's Inference from hence to be altogether foreign and re|mote from your words or meaning in your Depo&s;ition, or the truth of the ca&s;e; for though your Depo&s;ition in fact is true, and common experience joyns with you in it, that the Je&s;uits and their Party are &s;o active, that they will, if po&s;&s;ible, thru&s;t them&s;elves into any Society of Men, to try their skill in di&s;turbance of Governments&punc; and carry on their De&s;ign, yea, even as well where there are Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England,</HI> as where there are none; and according to what he &s;aid, equally &s;afe to them&s;elves. Now to conclude all, he tells you, Doctor, <HI>It mu&s;t be granted, that ei|ther the Papi&s;ts have a de&s;ign upon the King, Religion and Government, and advance it by acting the parts of Quakers, Anabapti&s;ts, Presbyterians and other Sectaries, or not; and admitting your Depo&s;ition to be true, there can be no &s;ecurity to this Government, without either di&s;|&s;olving all &s;eperate meetings, or bringing in all Di&s;&s;enters to this Legal Te&s;t, otherwi&s;e the Pa|pi&s;ts have all &s;orts of liberty and &s;ecurity in herding them&s;elves among&s;t Conventiclers; where upon the beating of a Bu&s;h, it will be an even wager whether you &s;tart a Je&s;uit, or a Fanatick; and in this ca&s;e there is not much difference between them, where the Je&s;uit plays the Fanatick, or the Fanatick the Je&s;uit:</HI> and then &s;ays, <HI>if this main A&s;&s;ertion be true, there is no way of find|ing out the Papi&s;ts but by this Te&s;t; and Di&s;&s;enters cannot chu&s;e but incourage the Propo&s;ition, ei|ther they have Prie&s;ts among&s;t them, or not; if they have, why do they not the be&s;t they can to find them out; if not, why do they &s;ay they have? Either they are influenced by the Je&s;uits, or not; if they be, why do not they purge their Congregations? If not, why do they pretend they are, and &s;o &s;et the Saddle on the wrong Hor&s;e? Either its po&s;&s;ible to clear their Conventicles of this dangerous mixture, or not; If &s;o, why do they &s;till complain, and do nothing in it? If not, then there is no way to extirpate Popery, but by rooting out Fanatici&s;m;</HI> and then he <HI>calls to the world to judge with what inju&s;tice the Orders and Rituals of the Church of</HI> England <HI>are charged with a tincture of Super&s;tition and Popery, when the Calumniators are tainted with this Leaven:</HI> and then concludes, <HI>he is come to the bottom of the Popi&s;h Plot.</HI> I am &s;ure a blind man would be glad to &s;ee it; for I, that have both my eyes, can neither &s;ee top, middle, nor bottom of what he promi&s;ed, of a further Di&s;covery of your di&s;covered Plot: and all he hath &s;aid I take to be but a meer groundle&s;s Phanta&s;m; for in the beginning of his Pamphlet he undertook a further Di&s;covery of the Plot than you di&s;covered; and could you, or any other rational man have from thence expected, or looked for any thing el&s;e but &s;ome new matter, and clearly made out, and evinced either by authentick Te&s;timo|ny, or undeniable Arguments? but in&s;tead thereof he hath &s;poiled three or four Sheets of Paper, by &s;tuffing them full of &s;trained and wre&s;ted Con&s;tructions of, and inferences from &s;ome part of your Depo&s;itions and Ob&s;ervations, many manife&s;t contradictions, and apparent mi&s;taken Conclu&s;ions thereupon. Neverthele&s;s, to do him what right I can, perchance if you take not his litteral expre&s;&s;ion, but his my&s;tical meaning, I am per|&s;waded you will go nigh to judge, he hath made, or really intended to make a further Di&s;covery of a Plot, but not the Plot you have di&s;covered: for if you well and &s;e|riou&s;ly ob&s;erve the &s;ubject matter of his Di&s;cour&s;e and Arguments, and to what they tend, and add to it the time when this Learned Piece came forth, and compare it with the invented Plots of the Earl of <HI>Ca&s;tlemain,</HI> Counte&s;s of <HI>Powis, John Gadbury,</HI> Mrs. <HI>Celier,</HI> &amp;c. I may ea&s;ily &s;uppo&s;e, Doctor, you may without any great &s;tre&s;s readlly conjecture with whom he conver&s;ed, for what Meridian this elaborate Piece of his was calculated, and for who&s;e u&s;e by its Image and Super&s;cription, but the All-mighty Pro|vidence having taken them in their own Snares, both in tho&s;e and other things hath there|by plainly proved to the world the manife&s;t untruth of his A&s;&s;ertions; for although is be undeniably true what you have depo&s;ed, that the Je&s;uits and their Agents endea|voured
<PB N="18" REF="10">
to Work among&s;t all Parties what&s;oever, nay, and by his own &s;hewing, as he puts the ca&s;e, they may be as &s;ecure among&s;t the members of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> nay and more than the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England;</HI> for, although he &s;ays, becau&s;e ma|ny of the Di&s;&s;enters will not take Oaths, therefore there the Je&s;uites <HI>&amp;c.</HI> may hide them|&s;elves; &s;o al&s;o he &s;ays many of the Je&s;uites and Papi&s;ts, will take the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and &s;o will the members of the Church of <HI>England:</HI> if &s;o, then what can hin|der the Je&s;uites <HI>&amp;c.</HI> to herd and hide there? Into what Confu&s;ion hath this Author brought us, if all his Suppo&s;itions be true, but certainly had the Earl of <HI>Ca&s;tlemain,</HI> the Counte&s;s of <HI>Powis,</HI> John <HI>Gadbury,</HI> Mris. <HI>Celier</HI> and their accomplices been of Opinion that their Security had lain among&s;t the Di&s;&s;enters to the Church of <HI>England,</HI> they would not have been &s;o injurious to them, as to have endeavoured to have turned the Plot upon them, and be&s;ides its to all rational men a &s;trange Proof again&s;t this Authors A&s;&s;er|tion in that particular; for if the Je&s;uites, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> herd only among&s;t Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and they had been their fellow-Con&s;pirators or Agents in the Plot; It could not be unknown to them, and then certainly there had not been &s;uch ne|ce&s;&s;ity as they conceived, to go about by de&s;perate and fal&s;e Oaths, to make them either Au|thors, Abetters or Contrivers of the Plot; and doth it not evidently and plainly De|mon&s;trate the Contrary? for had tho&s;e A&s;&s;ertions been true this Author would have you, Doctor, and the world believe in that particular, &s;urely there had not needed a Sham-Plot, to bring the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England</HI> into the real Plot, for had it been true it might have been proved by other means, but yet to this day there is not one man of the di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England,</HI> come to my knowledge, that is either charged with, or detected of any &s;uch thing; (unle&s;s the Authors bare word be to be taken for granted) &s;o that though the Je&s;uites and Prie&s;ts have according to your Depo&s;itions endeavour|ed to draw them in, yet have they not prevailed, for what appears; &s;o that for ought I can preceive its undeniable that the Saddle was, and is upon the right Hor&s;e, and then all his Queries of <HI>if's</HI> or <HI>not's</HI> fall to the ground, and needs not any an&s;wer but what is before up|on the like que&s;tions. But that the Di&s;&s;enters from the Church of <HI>England</HI> have Je&s;uites and Prie&s;ts actually among&s;t them, doth not by your's or any other depo&s;ition, proof or ex|perience what&s;oever appear, there is any, or if there be, that they have not wrought a|ny Influence at all upon them, or at lea&s;t &s;uch an one as may from the Government, merit a total Extirpation, which the Author &s;trongly pre&s;&s;es for, but I pre&s;ume an healing Plai&s;ter is better.</P>
<P>But he having been heretofore accu&s;tomed to Write new's-Books, thought his book would not appear authentick or at lea&s;t would not be vendable without an adverti&s;ment annexed to it; which Adverti&s;ment is indeed as much to the purpo&s;e, and Coherent to the Sub&s;equent matter of his Pamphlet as comes ju&s;t to nothing, and truly he is &s;o Inge|nious as to tell you &s;o, for he &s;ays in the clo&s;e of it <HI>that its Forraign to the Subject of his Pamphlet, but more Accomodate to the Sea&s;on.</HI> But for my part I think its Forraign to both, for it is, <HI>that the Subjects right of Petitioning, hath been of late in &s;uch manner a&s;&s;erted, as if his Maje&s;ty had no right of refu&s;ing;</HI> and then an&s;wers it with &s;ome In&s;tances, <HI>from</HI> Ed|ward <HI>the Third, to</HI> Henry <HI>the Eight, of Granting and Refu&s;ing;</HI> I know not his Author nor I believe he did not, for that A&s;&s;ertion, for if he had certainly he would have named him. But if any one did &s;o he was to blame, and was I &s;uppo&s;e as much under a mi&s;take as the Author is in his Pamphlet, and the Subject matter of it; for I take it to be undoubred, that the per|&s;on or Power that may be petitioned to, hath a power of granting and denying: as for in&s;tance; if a Party of his friends &s;hould in a petition to his Maje&s;ty &s;et forth accord|ing to their apprehen&s;ion, his merits by his Pamphlet and pray a reward for him, his Maje&s;ty might refu&s;e it, and on the other hand if you, Doctor, and others by petition to his Maje&s;ty, &s;hould &s;et forth how he hath traduced his Maje&s;ty, the Government and the Kings Witne&s;&s;es in his &s;aid Pamphlet, and pray that the &s;ame, and he, might be left to the Law to be puni&s;hed according to their demerits, the &s;ame might and would be granted; but in regard he could not, or at lea&s;t would not make a further Di&s;covery of that Damnable and helli&s;h Plot Di&s;covered by you; give me leave to tell you, if he could have been convinced by any other Evidence, or Te&s;timony, than <HI>Dives</HI> and his brethren, how he might have done it, by publi&s;hing to the world, as the truth is, that the &s;inger of God hath been in this Di&s;covery of your's throughout; for it cannot proved, be that you,
<PB N="19" REF="10">
Doctor, had the lea&s;t advice or a&s;&s;i&s;tance of any one man, to guide or help you to contrive the way you took, and was to take, (and that with eminent danger and va&s;t hazard, and great difficulty) for the making your &s;elf Ma&s;ter of this Di&s;covery in le&s;s than a year.</P>
<P>That you had not the lea&s;t advice or a&s;&s;i&s;tance of any one man to help you to con|trive the time, the way, and method how to publi&s;h this Di&s;covery to Authority, but came barely and nakedly to it; yea, and with a proof in your mouth, from tho&s;e you were to di&s;cover, you nor any one el&s;e &s;hould be credited.</P>
<P>That when many of the material mea&s;ures you had propo&s;ed to your &s;elf, and de|pended upon to make good, and for the manife&s;tation of your Di&s;covery (as <HI>Coleman</HI>'s latter Papers, <HI>Langhorne</HI>'s Papers, the foreign Pacquets) were removed, and you de|prived of them, and by rea&s;on thereof barely &s;tood as a &s;ingle Witne&s;s, and inevitable ruine and de&s;truction gha&s;tly and grimly &s;taring in your face, yet your Spirits were &s;up|ported, and you not at all di&s;couraged from &s;ticking to the truth. But then the Je&s;uiti|cal Party being infatuated, and raging with madne&s;s, mu&s;t needs, to hide their Villa|nies, as all notorious Sinners commonly do, by committing another Sin; &s;o did they by committing that barbarous and inhumane Murther of Sir <HI>Edmundbury Godfrey,</HI> which proved otherwi&s;e than they de&s;igned it; for in&s;tead of &s;uppre&s;&s;ing the Di&s;covery of the Plot, it did, as it were give a new life to what you had delivered. Then doubtle&s;s, moved by the &s;ame &s;pirit you were, did not the then Repre&s;entatives of the Nation un|animou&s;ly by their Votes te&s;tifie their credit of your Evidence? Then by the &s;ame hand apparently were &s;ent in, to your a&s;&s;i&s;tance and confirmation, Mr. <HI>Bedlow,</HI> Mr. <HI>Dug|dale</HI> and many others, who have proved many other particulars, and concurred in the general to a tittle with you.</P>
<P>That until you, and the re&s;t of the Witne&s;&s;es in this Helli&s;h and Damnable Plot, had been made u&s;e of at a publick Trial, you did not conver&s;e, or a&s;&s;ociate with one ano|ther, as can be proved by a multitude of authentick Witne&s;&s;es, &s;o far as is provable in a negative; and I am confident cannot be proved in the affirmative.</P>
<P>That not any two of you that are the King's Witne&s;&s;es in that Plot, or any part of it; were of any Familiarity or acquaintance, before your being ingaged in that bu&s;ine&s;s, and you all lived remote from one another; and although you do not all &s;wear to the &s;ame particulars, yet do concurr in the whole, as to the generality of the Plot.</P>
<P>That not any one of them but your &s;elf (who for &s;ome &s;hort time was under a ne|ce&s;&s;ity to counterfeit your &s;elf a Papi&s;t.) The&s;e things, Doctor, I only mention to put you in mind by what hand, you, as I conceive, have been &s;upported in this Di&s;|covery, and to &s;hew you according to my apprehen&s;ion, what improbability, nay, I may &s;ay, impo&s;&s;ibility, there is, that this Di&s;covery of yours, of this Helli&s;h Plot, is in the lea&s;t any thing of an invention, or contrived De&s;ign by you, but is pure mat|ter of Fact, and of undeniable verity, and not to be &s;o &s;lighted, as that invention of <HI>Beddingfields,</HI> being alive again. All which I was prompted to, as I conceived as a Duty incumbent upon me, upon and by the obligation of the Loyalty I truly owe to my natural Prince, the real veneration I have for the Government and true Chri&s;tian Religion, and Ju&s;tice of the Nation, the Cordial Love I have to my faithful fellow-Subjects, and my profe&s;s'd and faithful Friend&s;hip to your &s;elf; and therefore keep up your Spirits, and be not di&s;mayed, or in the lea&s;t di&s;couraged; for it is my opinion, and I hope not without good grounds, and pre&s;ume I may with reverence, and without offence &s;ay it (unle&s;s to the tender ears of &s;ome captious Ma&s;querade and &s;trange Sons of the Church of <HI>England)</HI> that God will neither for&s;ake you, nor this Cau&s;e, but in de&s;pite of all oppo&s;ition will therein glorifie him&s;elf, and in truth &s;et up the Kingdom of his Son.</P>
<P>But give me leave to tell you my Judgment, that if this Author's A&s;&s;ertions and Ar|guments</P>
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<SIGNED>Your Cordial Friend, B. W.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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