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<DATE>2004-07-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Melanie Sanders</NAME>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P><PB REF="1" MS="y">
REPRESENTATION Of The Threatning Dangers, Impending Over PROTESTANTS In GREAT BRITTAIN.</P>
<P>With an Account of the <HI>Arbitrary</HI> and <HI>Popish Ends,</HI> unto which the <HI>Declaration</HI> for <HI>Liberty of Conscience</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> and the <HI>Proclamation</HI> for a <HI>Toleration</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> are de|signed.</P>
<P><HI>Neque enim satis amarint</HI> bonos <HI>Principes, qui</HI> malos <HI>satis non oderint.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Plin. in Panegyr. c.</HI> 53.</P>
<P><HI>Sedem obtinet</HI> Principis, <HI>ue sit</HI> Domino <HI>locus. id. ibid. c.</HI> 55.</P>
<P><HI>Tantum tibi licet, quantum per</HI> leges <HI>licebit, Pacat.</HI> ad <HI>Theodos. August.</HI></P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<P><PB N="1" REF="2">
THey are great strangers to the Trans|actions of the World, who know not how many and various the at|tempts of the <HI>Papists</HI> have been, both to hin|der all endeavours towards a <HI>Reformation,</HI> &amp; to overthrow and subvert it where <HI>it</HI> hath obtained and prevailed. For beside the in|numerable Executions and Murders com|mitted by means of the <HI>Inquisition</HI> to crush and stiffle the <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> in its rise and birth, and to prevent its succeeding and settlement in <HI>Spain, Italy,</HI> and many other <HI>Territories;</HI> there is no <HI>Kingdom</HI> or <HI>State,</HI> where it hath so far prevailed as to come to be universally received and legally esta|blished, but it hath been through strange and wonderful conflicts with the rage and malice of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome.</HI> The Perse|cutions which the <HI>Primitive Christians</HI> under|went by vertu' of the <HI>Edicts</HI> of the <HI>Pagan Empero<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> were not more sanguinary and cruel, than what through the <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Or|dinances</HI> of <HI>Popish Princes,</HI> have been inflicted upon those, who have testified against the Heresies, Superstitions, and Idolatries, and have withdrawn from the Commu|nion of the <HI>Papal Church.</HI> Nor were the <HI>Martyrs</HI> that suffered for the Testimony of <HI>Jesus</HI> against <HI>Heathenism,</HI> either more nu|merous or worthier of esteem for vertu', Iustice and Piety; than they who have been slaughtered, upon no other pretence, but for Endeavouring to restore the <HI>Christian Religion</HI> to the simplicity and purity of its Divine and first <HI>Institution,</HI> and to recover it from the corruptions, wherewith it was become universally tainted in Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline. How have all the Nations in <HI>Europe</HI> been soak't with the Blood of Saints, through the Barbarous Rage of <HI>Popish Rulers,</HI> whom the <HI>Roman Bishops</HI> and <HI>Clergy</HI> stirred up and instigated, in order to support themselves in their secu|lar grandure, and in their Tyranny over the Consciences of men, and to keep the World in Slavery under Ignorance, Errors, Superstition and Idolatry, which the redu|cing Christianity again to the Rule of the Gospel, would have redeemed mankind from, and been an effectual means to have dissipated and subverted? They of the <HI>Ro|man</HI> Communion, having strangely corrup|ted the Christian Religion in its Faith, Wor|ship, and Discipline, and having prodigiously altered it, from what it was in the Doctrines and Institutions of our <HI>Saviour</HI> and his <HI>A|postles;</HI> they found no other way whereby to sustain their Errors and Corruptions, and to preserve themselves in the possession of that Empire, which they had usurped over Conscience, and in the enjoyment of the Wealth and secular Greatness, which by working upon the Ignorance, Superstition, Lusts, and Prophanness of People, they had skrewed and wound themselves into, but by adjudging all who durst detect or oppose them, to fire and Sword, or to miseries, to which Death in its worst shape were prefer|rable. Nor have they for the better obstru|cting the growth, and compassing the Ex|tirpation of the <HI>Reformed Religion,</HI> omitted either the Arts and Subtlities of <HI>Julian,</HI> or the Fury and Violence of <HI>Gal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rius</HI> and <HI>Di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|cletian.</HI> Whosoever hath not observed the Craft and Rage that have been employed and exerted against <HI>Protestants</HI> for these 170. Years, must have been very little Conver|sant in Histories, and strangely overlook't the conduct of affaires in the World, and the Transactions in Churches and States, during their own time. And tho the <HI>Papists</HI> do not think it fit, to put their <HI>Maxim's</HI> for preser|ving the <HI>Catholick Religion,</HI> and converting <HI>Hereticks,</HI> in Execution at all times, and in e|very place, yet some of their Writers are so ingenuous, as to tell us the reason of it, and that they do not forbear it upon Princi|ples of <HI>Christianity</HI> or <HI>good Nature,</HI> but upon motives of <HI>Policy</HI> and <HI>Fear,</HI> lest the cutting one of our Throats might endanger two of their own. However they have been careful not to suffer a period of <HI>twenty years</HI> to elapse
<PB N="2" REF="3">
since the beginning of the <HI>Reformation,</HI> with|out affording us in some place or another, renewed evidences of <HI>Papal</HI> Charity, and of the <HI>Roman</HI> method of hindring the growth of Heresie, either by a Massacre, War, or Persecution, begun, and executed, upon no other account or provocation, but meerly that of our <HI>Religion,</HI> and because we cannot believe and practice in the matters of God, as they do. And having obtained of late, great Advantages for the pursuing their ma|lice against us, more boldly and avowedly than at an other Season, and that not only through a strange concurrence and conjun|ction of <HI>Princes</HI> in the <HI>Papal</HI> Communion, who are more intoxicated with their Su|perstitions and Idolatries, or less wise, mer|ciful, and humane, than some of their Pre|decessors of that Fellowship were, but through having obtained a <HI>Prince</HI> intirely de|voted unto them, &amp; under the implicit gui|dance of their Priests, to be advanced unto a Throne, where such sometime used to sit, as were the Terror of <HI>Rome,</HI> the Safe|guard of the <HI>Reformed Religion,</HI> and the San|ctuary of oppresed <HI>Protestants;</HI> they have thereupon both assumed a Courage of stir|ring up new and unpresidented Persecu|tions in divers places, against the most use|ful, best and loyallest of Subjects, upon no other charge or Allegation, but for dissenting from the <HI>Tridentine</HI> Faith, and denying Subjection to the Tripple Crown, and are raised into a Confidence of wholly Extir|pating <HI>Protestancy,</HI> and of reestablishing the <HI>Papal</HI> Tyrannies and Superstition, in the se|veral <HI>Countries</HI> whence they had been ex|pelled, or stood so depressed and discoun|tenanced, as that the Votaries and Parti|zans of their <HI>Church,</HI> had not the Sway and Domination. Nor need we any other con|viction both of their Design, and of their Confidence of Succeeding in it, than what they have already done, &amp; continue to pur|sue in <HI>France, Hungary</HI> and <HI>Piedmont,</HI> where|their prospering to such a degree in their Cruel and Barbarous Attempts, not only gives them boldness of entertaining thoughts of taking the like Methods, and Acting by the same measures, in all places where they find Rulers at their beck, and under their Influence, but to unite and provoke all <HI>Popish Monarchs</HI> to enter into a holy War a|gainst <HI>Protestants</HI> every where, that by Con|quering and Subduing those <HI>States</HI> and <HI>King|doms,</HI> where the <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> is recei|ved and established, they may extirpate it out of the World, under the Notion of the <HI>Northern</HI> Heresie. If principles of humani|ty, Maxim's of Interest, Rules of Policy, Obligations of Gratitude, Ties of Royal and Princely Faith, or the repeated Pro|mises, Oaths, Edicts, and Declarations of Soveraigns, could have been a Security to <HI>Protestants,</HI> for the Profession of their Faith and Exercise of their Worship, in the fore|mentioned Territories and Dominions, they had all that could be rationally desired, for their Safety and Protection, in the free and open profession and Practice of their <HI>Re|ligion;</HI> whereas by a violation of all that is Sacred among men, of a binding vertu un|to Princes (except Chains and Fetters) or that confer a Right, Claim, and Security unto Subjects, the poor <HI>Protestants</HI> in those Places, have been, and still are, persecuted with a rage and Barbarity, which no age can parallel, and for which it is difficult to find words proper and severe enough, where|by to stamp a Character of infamy, upon the treacherous, cruel, and savage Authors, Pro|moters, and Instruments of it. Nor do's it proceed from a Malignancy of Nature peculiar to the <HI>Emperor,</HI> the <HI>French King,</HI> and the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>Savoy,</HI> above what is in other <HI>Princes</HI> of the same Communion, or that they are more regardless of Fame, and less concerned how future generations will brand their Memories, than other <HI>Papal Mo|narchs</HI> seem to be, that they have suffered themselves to be prevailed upon, to violate the Promises and Oaths they were bound by to their <HI>Protestant</HI> Subjects; seeing the <HI>Em|perour</HI> is character'd for a person of a meek and gentle temper, and of the goodness of whose Nature, thereremain some shadows
<PB N="3" REF="3">
interwoven with the bloody streaks of the <HI>Hungarian</HI> Persecution. And the <HI>French King</HI> tho he stand not much commended for sweetness and Benignity of disposition, is known to be unmeasurably Ambitious, of having his name transmitted to Posterity in Letters of Greatness and Honor, which his behaviour towards his Subjects of the <HI>Re|formed Religion,</HI> is no way's adapted unto, but calculated to make him hereafter listed with <HI>Nero</HI> and <HI>Julian.</HI> As to the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>Sa|voy,</HI> there seems by the whole course of his other Actions, to be a certain Greatness of Mind in him, not easily consisting with that savage and brutal temper, which the Cruelties he hath exercised upon the <HI>Prote|stants</HI> in <HI>Piedmont,</HI> would intimate and de|note. But it ariseth from the Mischievous|ness and Pestilency of their Religion, their Bigottry in it, and their having put them|selves so entirely under the conduct of the <HI>Clergy,</HI> particularly of the <HI>Jesuites,</HI> who are for the most part a set of men, especially the latter, that through acting in the pro|spect of no other Ends, but the Grandure, Wealth, and Domination of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> do with an unlimited rage, and a pe|culiar kind of Malice, persecute all that have renounced Fellowship with it, and care not if they Sacrifice the Honor, Glory and Safety of <HI>Monarchs,</HI> and bring their Kingdoms into contempt and desolation, by rendring them weak, poor, and dispeopled, provided they may wreck their spleen, and revenge, upon those, whose Religion is not only dissonant from theirs, but should it prevail to be the Religion of the <HI>Legisla|tors</HI> and <HI>Rulers</HI> of Nations, those springs of Wealth would be immediately dried up, by which their Superior <HI>Clergy,</HI> and all their Religious <HI>Orders</HI> are enriched and fed up in idleness. And should the People come to be generally imbued with principles of Gospel, Light and Liberty, they would im|mediately shake off a blind and slavish De|pendence upon <HI>Pope</HI> and <HI>Priests,</HI> and there|by subvert the Foundation upon which the <HI>Monarchick</HI> Grandure of the <HI>Romish Church</HI> and their whole <HI>Religion</HI> is superstructed and destroy the Engine by which they are inabled to Lord it over the Bodies, Estates, and Consciences of men. And if <HI>Protestants</HI> every where, especially under <HI>Popish</HI> Ru|lers, were not under a strange Infatuation, they would look for no fairer Quarter from <HI>Papists,</HI> than what their Brethren have met with in <HI>France</HI> and <HI>Piedmont,</HI> nor would they rely upon the Faith of any <HI>King,</HI> that stiles himself a <HI>Roman Catholick,</HI> seeing Sa|cred Promises, tremendous Oaths, and the most Authentick Declarations, are but <HI>Pa|pal</HI> Arts, and Tricks sanctified at <HI>Rome,</HI> whereby to full Subjects into a Security, and delude them into a neglect of all means, for preserving themselves, and their Reli|gion, till their Rulers can be in a condition, of obeying the <HI>Decrees</HI> of the <HI>fourth Lateran Council,</HI> that enjoins <HI>Kings to destroy and ex|tirpate Hereticks, under pain of Excommunica|tion, and of having both their Subjects absolved from Allegiance to them, and their Territories given away to others;</HI> and till without running any hazard, they may comply with the <HI>Ordinance</HI> of the <HI>Council</HI> of <HI>Constance,</HI> which not only <HI>releaseth</HI> them from all <HI>Obligation of keeping Faith to Hereticks, but requires them to violate it;</HI> and accordingly made <HI>Sigismond</HI> break his <HI>Faith</HI> to <HI>John Hus,</HI> whom in d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|fiance of the Security given him by that <HI>King,</HI> they caused to be condemned and burnt. Nor is the practice and late Exam|ple of the <HI>Great Louis,</HI> designed for less than a pattern, by which all <HI>Popish Princes</HI> are to act, and his proceedings are to be the cop|py &amp; Moddel, which they who would merit the name of Zealous <HI>Catholicks,</HI> and be esteemed dutiful <HI>Sons</HI> of the <HI>Church,</HI> are to transcribe and limn out in lines of force, violence, and Blood, and for the better corresponding with the <HI>Original,</HI> to imploy <HI>Dragoons</HI> for <HI>Missionaries.</HI></P>
<P>And tho I will not say, but that there may be some <HI>Popish Princes,</HI> who through an extraordinary measure of good Nature, and from principles of Compassion, woven into their Constitution, previously to all no|tices
<PB N="4" REF="4">
of Revelation whether real, or pre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ended, and who through Sentiments im|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ib'd from a generous Education, and their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oming afterwards to be under the influence, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd Management, of wise and discret Coun|sellors, may be able to resist the malignant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">mpressions of their Religion, and so be preserved, from the inhumanities towards <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hose of different perswasions from them in the things of God, which their <HI>Priests</HI> would lay them under Obligations unto, by the Doctrines of the <HI>Romish Faith;</HI> yet there appears no reason why an understanding man should be induced to believe, that the <HI>King</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> is likely to prove a <HI>Prince,</HI> of that great and noble temper, there being more than enough, both to raise a jealousie and beget a perswasion, that there is not a <HI>Monarch</HI> among all those who are common|ly stiled <HI>Catholicks,</HI> from whom <HI>Protestants,</HI> may justly dread greater Severities, than from <HI>Him,</HI> or look for worse and more Barbarous Treatments. I am not ignorant, with what candor, we ought by the Rules of Charity and good manners, to speak of all men, whatsoever their Religion is, nor am I unacquainted with what Veneration and Deference, we are to Discourse of Crowned Heads; but as I dare not give those flatte|ring Titles unto any, of which there are not a few in some of the late <HI>Addresses,</HI> presented to the <HI>King,</HI> by an inconsiderable and foolish sort of <HI>Dissenting</HI> Preachers; so I should not know, how to be accountable to God, my own Conscience, or the World, should I not in my station as a <HI>Protestant,</HI> and as a Lover of the Laws and Liberties of my Countrey, offer something, whereby both to undeceive that weak and short-sighted People, whom their own being accom|modated for a Season by the <HI>Declaration</HI> of <HI>Indulgence,</HI> hath deluded into an Opinion, that His Majesty cherisheth no thoughts of sub|verting our <HI>Religion,</HI> and also further to en|lighten and confirm others, in the just appre|hensions they are possessed with, of the de|sign carrying on in Grear <HI>Brittain,</HI> and <HI>Ire|land,</HI> for the extirpation of <HI>Protestancy,</HI> and that the late <HI>Declaration for Liberty of Con|science,</HI> is emitted in subserviency thereunto, and calculated by the <HI>Court;</HI> toward the pa|ving and preparing the way, for the more facile accomplishment of it. And while Mercinary <HI>Sycophants,</HI> by their Flatteries in|fect and corrupt Princes, and by their Re|presenting them to the World, in Colours disagreable from their tempers and disposi|tions, and in milder and fairer Characters, than any thing observable in them, either deserveth, or correspondeth with, do delude Subjects, into such Opinions of them, as be|get a neglect of means for preserving them|selves; 'tis become a necessary Duty, and an indispensable Service to mankind, to deal plainly and above board, that so by descri|bing <HI>Kings</HI> as they are, and setting them in a true and just Light, we may prevent the Peoples being further imposed upon, or if through suffering themselves to be still deceived, they come to fall under miseries and persecutions, they may lay all their Distresses, and Desolations, at the door of their own folly, in not having taken care, how to avoid, what they were not only threatned with, but whereof they were warned and advertised. For as I am not of <HI>Sr. Roger l'Estranges</HI> mind, <HI>That if we cannot avoide being distrustful</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hist. of the Times.</NOTE> <HI>of our Safety, yet it is extreamly vain, foolish, and extravagant to talk of it;</HI> so I am very sensible how many of the <HI>French Mi|nisters,</HI> by painting forth their <HI>King</HI> more like a God than a Man, and by possessing their people with a belief of Wisdom, Justice, Grace, and Mercy in <HI>Him,</HI> of which they knew him destitute, they both emboldned <HI>him,</HI> to attempt what he hath perpetrated, and laid them under snares, which they know not how to disentangle themselves from, in order to escape it. Nor would the <HI>King</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> have acted with that ne|glect of the future Safety of the <HI>Papists,</HI> nor have exposed them to the resentment, and hereafter revenge of three Nations, by the Arbitrary and Illegal steps he hath made in their favour, if he intended any thing less,
<PB N="5" REF="4">
than the putting <HI>Protestants</HI> for ever out of capacity and condition, of calling them to a reckoning, and exacting an account of them, which neither <HI>He,</HI> nor they about him, can have the weakness to think they have sufficiently provided against, without compelling us by an <HI>Order</HI> of <HI>&agrave; la mode France Missionaries</HI> to turn <HI>Catholicks,</HI> or by adjudging us to <HI>Mines</HI> and <HI>Galleys,</HI> according to the <HI>Versailles</HI> President, for our Heretical Stubborness, or which is the more expe|ditious way of <HI>converting three Kingdoms,</HI> to cause <HI>murder</HI> the <HI>Protestant</HI> Inhabitants, according to the pattern, which his Loyal <HI>Irish Catholicks,</HI> endeavoured to have set <HI>anno</HI> 1641. for the <HI>conversion</HI> of that <HI>Nation.</HI> Had his <HI>Majesty</HI> been contented with the bare avowing, and publishing himself to be of the Communion of the <HI>Church of Rome,</HI> and of challenging a Liberty, tho against Law, for the Exercise of his <HI>Religion,</HI> it might have awakened our Pity, and Com|passion, to see <HI>him</HI> embrace a <HI>Religion,</HI> where there are so many impediments of Salva|tion, and in doing whereof, he was become obnoxious unto the imprecation of his <HI>Grandfather,</HI> who <HI>wished the curse of God, to fall upon such of his Posterity, as should at any time turn Papists;</HI> but it would have raised no intemperated heats in the minds of any against him, much less have alienated them, from the Subjection and Obedience, which are due unto their <HI>Soveraign,</HI> by the Laws of the several <HI>Kingdoms,</HI> and the Fundamen|tal Rules of the respective Constitutions. Or could <HI>he</HI> have been contented, with wa|ving the rigorous Execution of the Laws against <HI>Papists,</HI> of whatsoever Quality, Rank, or Order they were, and with the bestow|ing personal, and private Favours, upon those of his <HI>Religion,</HI> it would have been so far from begetting rancor or discontent in his <HI>Protestant Subjects,</HI> that they would not only have connived at, and approved such a procedure, and those little Benignities and Kindnesses, but had the <HI>Papists</HI> quietly ac|quiesced in them, and modestly improved them, it might have been a means of re|conciling the <HI>Nation</HI> to more lenity towa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> them for the future, and might have i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> fluenced our <HI>Legislators,</HI> when God sh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> vouchsafe us a <HI>Protestant</HI> on the <HI>Throne,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> moderate the Severities to which by th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Laws</HI> in being they are obnoxious, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> render their condition as easie, and safe, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> that of other Subjects, and only to take car<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> for precluding them such places of powe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and trust, as should prevent their being ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to hurt us, but could bring no damage or i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> convenience upon themselves. But th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>King</HI> instead of terminating here, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> allowing only such Graces and Immun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ties to the <HI>Popists,</HI> as would have been <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> nough, for the placing them in the priva<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Exercise of their <HI>Religion,</HI> with Security <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> them, and without any threatning dange<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to us. <HI>He</HI> hath not only suspended all th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>penal Laws</HI> against <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> but <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> hath by an usurped <HI>Prerogative,</HI> that is par<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> mount to the <HI>Rules</HI> of the <HI>Constitution,</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> all <HI>Acts</HI> of <HI>Parliament,</HI> dispensed with, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> disabled the <HI>Laws</HI> that enjoin the <HI>Oath</HI> of <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> legeance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy,</HI> and which appoi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and prescribe the <HI>Tests,</HI> that were the Fence<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> which the Wisdom of the Nation ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> erected, for preserving the <HI>Legislative A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> thority,</HI> securing the <HI>Government,</HI> and keep|ing places of Power, Magistracy and Offic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> in the Hands of <HI>Protestants,</HI> and thereby <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> continuing the <HI>Protestant Religion,</HI> and <HI>Engli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Liberties,</HI> to our selves, and the generation that shall come after us. And as if this wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> not sufficient, to awaken us to a considera|tion of the danger we are sin, of havin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> our <HI>Religion</HI> supplanted and overthrown&punc; <HI>He</HI> hath not only advanced the most <HI>viole<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Papists,</HI> unto all places of <HI>Military</HI> comman<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> by Sea and Land; but hath established ma|ny of them, in the Chief Trusts and Offi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of <HI>Magistracy,</HI> and <HI>Civil Judicature,</HI> so th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> there are scarce any continued in Powe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and Employment, save they who have <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> ther promised, to turn <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> who have engaged, to concur and assist <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the subverting our <HI>Liberties,</HI> and <HI>Religion,</HI> u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> der the Mask and disguise of <HI>Protestan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI>
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<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> is already evident, that it is beyond the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">lp, and relief, of all Peaceable and Civil <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eans, to preserve and uphold the <HI>Protestant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eligion</HI> in <HI>Ireland,</HI> and that nothing but force <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd an intestine War, can retrieve it unto, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd reestablish it there, in any degree of safe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">. Nor is it less apparent, from the Arbi|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ary and Tyrannous <HI>Oath,</HI> ordained to be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">quired of His <HI>Majesties Protestant Subjects <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Scotland,</HI> whereby they are to swear <HI>O|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">dience to Him without Reserve,</HI> that our <HI>Re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">gion</HI> is held only precariously in that <HI>King|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">m;</HI> and that whensoever <HI>he</HI> shall please to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">mmand the establishment of <HI>Popery,</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> enjoin the people to enter into the Com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">union of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome, He</HI> expects <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> have his Will immediately conformed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nto, and not to be disputed or controlled. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ut lest what we are to expect from the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing,</HI> as to the extirpation of the <HI>Reformed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eligion,</HI> and the inflicting the utmost Seve|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ties upon his <HI>Protestant Subjects,</HI> that Papal <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ge, armed with power, can inable him un|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">, may not so fully appear, from what hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">een already intimated, as either to awa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">en the <HI>Dissenters</HI> out of the <HI>Lethargy,</HI> into which the late <HI>Delaration</HI> hath cast them, or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> quicken those of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hat zealous care, vigilancy, and use of all Lawful means, for preserving themselves, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd the <HI>Protestant Religion,</HI> that the impen|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ent danger, wherewith they are threatned; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">equires at their hands; I shall give that far|mer Confirmation of it, from <HI>Topicks</HI> and motives of Credibility, <HI>Moral, Political,</HI> and <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">istorical,</HI> as may serve to place it in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rightest light, and fullest evidence, that a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">atter future and yet to come, which is on|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> the object of our prospect and dread, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot of our feeling and experience, is capa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">le of.</P>
<P>It ought to be of weight upon the minds <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f all <HI>English Protestants,</HI> that the <HI>King</HI> of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eat Brittain,</HI> is not only an open and avowed <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">apist,</HI> but as most <HI>Apostates</HI> use to be, a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ery <HI>Bigot</HI> in the <HI>Romish Religion,</HI> and who <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the <HI>Leige Letter</HI> from a <HI>Jesuite</HI> to a <HI>Bro|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">er</HI> of the <HI>Order</HI> tells us, is <HI>resolved either to convert England to Popery, or to die a Martyr.</HI> Nor were the <HI>Iewish</HI> zealots, of whose rage|ful transports, <HI>Iosephus</HI> gives us so ample an account, nor the <HI>Dervises</HI> among the <HI>Turks,</HI> and <HI>Indians,</HI> of whose mad attempts, so many <HI>Histories</HI> make mention, more brutal in their fanatical Heats, than a <HI>Popish Bigot</HI> useth to be, when favoured with advan|tages, of exerting his animosity against those who differ from him, if he be not carefully watched against, and restrained. Beside the innumerable instances of the Tragical Ef|fects of <HI>Romish Bigottry,</HI> that are to be met with in Books of all kinds, we need go no further for an evidence of it, than to con|sult the Life of <HI>Dominick,</HI> the great Instiga|tor and Promoter of the Massacre of the <HI>Waldenses,</HI> and the Founder of that <HI>Order,</HI> which hath the Management of the bloody <HI>Inquisition;</HI> together with the Life of <HI>Henry</HI> the <HI>third</HI> of <HI>France,</HI> who contrary to the advice of <HI>Maximilian</HI> the <HI>Emperor,</HI> and the repeated intreaties of the wisest of his own Councellors, the <HI>Chancellor de l'Hospital,</HI> and the <HI>President de Thou,</HI> not only revived the War and Persecution against his <HI>Reformed Subjects,</HI> after he had seen what Judgments, the like proceedings had derived upon his Predecessors, and how prejudicial they had proved to the Strength, Glory, and Interest of his <HI>Crown</HI> and <HI>Kingdom,</HI> but he entred into a <HI>League</HI> with those that sought to depress, abdicate, and depose him, and became the Head of a Faction for the destroying that part of his Subjects, upon whom alone he could rely for the defence of his person, and support of his Dignity. Nor were the Fu|ries of the <HI>Duke de Alva</HI> heretofore, or the present Barbarities of <HI>Louis</HI> the <HI>Fourteenth,</HI> so much the effects of their haughtie and fu|rious tempers, as of their <HI>Bigottry</HI> in their inhumane and sanguinary Religion. That the <HI>King</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> is second to none, in a blind and rageful Popish Zeal, his beha|viour both while a Subject, and since he ar|rived at the <HI>Crown,</HI> doth not only place it beyond the limits of a bare suspition, but affords us such evidences of it, as that none
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in consistency with principles of wisdom, and discretion, can either question or contra|dict it. To what else can we ascribe it, but to an excessive <HI>Bigottry,</HI> that when the <HI>Frigat</HI> wherein he was sailing to <HI>Scotland anno</HI> 1682. struck upon the Sands, and was rea|dy to sink, he should prefer the Lives of one or two pittiful <HI>Priests,</HI> to those of men of the greatest <HI>Quality,</HI> and receive those mushrom's into the Boat, in which himself escaped, while at the same time, he refused to admit, not only his own <HI>Brother-in-Law,</HI> but divers Noblemen of the Supreamest Rank, and Character, to the benefit of the same means of deliverance, and suffered them to perish, tho they had undertaken that Voyage out of pure respect to his per|son, and to put an Honor upon him, at a Season, when he wanted not Enemies. Nor can it proceed from any thing but a violent and furious <HI>Bigottry,</HI> that he should not only disoblige and disgust the two <HI>Universities,</HI> of whose Zeal to his service, <HI>he</HI> hath received so many seasonable and effectual Testimo|nies, but to the violation both of the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>God</HI> and the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> offer force to their Consciences, as well as to their Rights and Franchises, and all this in favour of <HI>Father Francis,</HI> whom he would illegally thrust in|to a <HI>Fellowship</HI> in <HI>Cambridg,</HI> and of Mr. <HI>Far|mer,</HI> whom he would arbitrarily obtrude in|to the <HI>Headship</HI> of a <HI>Colledg</HI> in <HI>Oxford,</HI> who as they are too despicable to be owned, and stood for, in competition against two fa|mous <HI>Universities,</HI> whose greatest crime, hath been an excess of zeal for his person, and interest, when he was <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York,</HI> and a measure of Loyalty, and Obedience, unto him, since <HI>he</HI> came to the <HI>Crown,</HI> beyond what either the Rules of Christianity, or the Laws of the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> exact from them; so he hath way's enough of expressing kind|ness, and bounty, to those two little contemp|table Creatures, and that in methods as be|neficial to them, as the places into which <HI>he</HI> would thrust them, can be supposed to amount unto, and I am sure with less scan|dal to himself, and less offence to all <HI>Pro|testants,</HI> as well as without offering inj<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to the Rights of the <HI>University,</HI> or of co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> pelling those learned, grave, and vene<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ble men, to perjure themselves, and act <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> gainst their Duties and Consciences. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> late proceedings towards Dr. <HI>Burnet,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> not only contrary to all the measures of J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> stice, Law, and Honor, but argue a stran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and furious <HI>Bigottry</HI> in His <HI>Majesty</HI> for <HI>Po<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ry,</HI> there being nothing else into which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> man can resolve the whole tenor of his pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> sent Actings against Him. Seeing setting <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> side the <HI>Doctor's</HI> being a <HI>Protestant,</HI> and a <HI>M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> nister</HI> of the <HI>Church of England,</HI> and his havin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> vindicated the Reformation in <HI>England,</HI> fro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Calumnies, and slanders, wherewith <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> was aspersed by <HI>Sanders,</HI> &amp; others, of the <HI>Ro|man</HI> Communion, and the approving him|self in some other Writings, worthy of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Character of a <HI>Reformed Divine,</HI> and of tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> esteem which the World entertains of him for knowledg in History, and all other part<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of good learning; there hath nothing oc|curred in the whole tenor and trace of hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Life, but what instead of Rebuke and Cen|sure, hath merited acknowledgments, and the Retributions of Favour and Prefermen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> from the <HI>Court.</HI> Whosoever considers, his constant Preaching up passive Obedience to such a degree and height, as he hath done, May very well be surprised at the whole me|thod of their present actings towards him, and at the same time that they find cause to justify the Righteousness of God, i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> making them the Instruments of his perse|cution, whom in so many way's he had sought to oblige, they may justly conclude that none save a <HI>Bigotted Papist</HI> could be the Author of so infutable, as well an illegal, and unrighteous returns. For as to all whereof he is accused, in the <HI>Criminal Letters</HI> against him, bearing date the 19. of <HI>April</HI> 1687. I my self am both able to assert his <HI>innocence,</HI> and dare assure the World, that none of the persons whom he is charged to have con|spired with against the <HI>King,</HI> would have been so far void of discretion, (knowing his principles) as to have transacted with
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<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> in matters of that kind; but whether <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Letters since that, to the <HI>Earl</HI> of <HI>Midle|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">,</HI> with the <HI>Paper,</HI> inclosed in one of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">m, have administred any <HI>Legal</HI> ground <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> their <HI>Second Citation,</HI> I shall not take up|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> me to determine, and will only say, that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> I heartily wish, he had not in those <HI>Letters</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">orded them, any probable pretence, for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">oceeding against him, so there are excesses <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Loyalty in them, to attone for the utmost <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">discretions, his words are capable of being <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rested unto, nor can any thing but <HI>Papal</HI> Malice, and <HI>Romish Chicanerie,</HI> construe, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ervert them, so far contrary to his inten|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ons, as to make crimes, and much less to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ake Treasons of them. Now as nothing, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">n be of more portentous <HI>Omen</HI> to <HI>British</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd <HI>Irish Protestants,</HI> than to have a Popish <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">igott</HI> exalted to Rule over them; so thro <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> concurrence of ill nature, and a deficien|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y in intellectuals, met in him with his fu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ious Zeal and <HI>Bigottry,</HI> they are the more <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o expect, whatsoever his Power inables him <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o inflict, that is severe and dreadful. 'Tis possible, that a Ruler may be possessed with a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ondness, and Valuation of <HI>Popery,</HI> as the only Religion, wherein Salvation is to be obtained, and thereupon in his private Judgment and Opinion, sentence all to eter|nal Flames, who cannot herd with him in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he same Society; and yet he may thro a great measure of Humanity, and from an extraordinary proportion of compassion, and meekness, woven into his nature, hate the imbrucing his hands in their Blood, or treating those with any harshness, whose supposed misbelief is their only Crime; and that finding them in all other respects, ver|tuous, peaceable and industrious, He may leave them to the decretive Sentence of the Soveraign and infallible Judg, without di|sturbing, or medling with them himself. Nor is it impossible, but that there may be a Prince so far <HI>Bigotted</HI> in Popery, as to have inclination, and propensity, to force all un|der his Authority, to be of his Religion, or else to destroy and extirpate them, yet thro being of that largeness of Understanding and <HI>Political</HI> Wisdom, as to be able to pe|netrate into the hazards of attempting it, and to foresee the Consequences that may ensue upon it, in reference to the Peace and Safety of his Government, as well as the Wealth and power of his Dominions, he may come to check and stiffle his furious Inclinations, and chuse rather, to leave his Subjects at quiet, than to impoverish, wea|ken, and dispeople his Countrey, either by destroying them, or by driving them to aban|don his Territories, in order to find a Shel|ter, and Sanctuary, in other places. But where (as in the <HI>King</HI> of <HI>England)</HI> a small measure of Understanding, accompanied with a large share of a Morose, Fierce, and ill Nature, and these attended with Insolen|cy and pride, as they usually are in weak and froward people, come to have a <HI>Bigottry</HI> in such a Religion as <HI>Popery,</HI> superadded to them, whose Doctrines and Principles in|stigate, and oblige, to Cruelty, towards all of other perswasions, there <HI>Protestants,</HI> do find nothing, that may incourage to hope for se|curity, and protection, under a <HI>Prince</HI> of that temper and complexion; but all that does affect and impress their minds, bidds them prepare for persecution, and to look for the utmost rigours and severities, that pride, malice, brutal zeal, backt and supported with force and power, can execute and in|flict. And how much such a <HI>Princes</HI> Reli|gion, proves too weak to restrain him from uncleannesses, and other immoralities, by so much the more, is <HI>he</HI> to be dreaded, in that he thinks to compound for and expiate Crimes of that nature, by his cruelty to <HI>Hereticks,</HI> and <HI>his</HI> offering them up in Sacri|fices of Attonement to the <HI>Triple Crown.</HI> Nor are the <HI>Priests</HI> either displeased with, or careful to diswade Princes, from Of|fences of that kind, tho they know them to be great provocations to God, and of mis|chievous example to Subjects, seeing they are Masters of the Art of improving them, to the Service of <HI>Holy Church,</HI> and the Ad|vantage of the <HI>Catholik Faith.</HI> For instead of imposing, upon those <HI>Royal</HI> Transgres|sors,
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the little and Slavish <HI>Pennances,</HI> of Pilgrimages, whippings, and going bare|foot; they require them to make satisfa|ctions for those and the like Crimes, by the pious and meritorious Acts of murdering <HI>Protestants,</HI> and of extirpating the <HI>Northern Heresie.</HI> And as one of the <HI>French</HI> Whore's of State is reported to have been a person that hath principally instigated to all the Cruelties against the <HI>Reformed</HI> in <HI>France;</HI> so no doubt but as she did it under the influence and conduct of her <HI>Confessors</HI> to compensate for her Adulteries, so she advised and per|swaded <HI>Louis</HI> to it upon motives of the same nature. Nor do they who have the guidance of Consciences at <HI>Whitchal</HI> want matter of the same kind, to improve and work upon, and as there are of the licen|tious <HI>Femal's</HI> that will be glad of <HI>attoning</HI> for their filthy pollutions by Acts so agreea|ble to the <HI>Articles</HI> of their <HI>Religion;</HI> so there are some who as they have influence enough upon the <HI>King</HI> to councel <HI>Him</HI> to the like Method's, so they will find <HI>Him</HI> sufficiently disposed to compound for his Loathsome and Promiscuous scatterings at a rate so su|table to his temper, as well as to the Doc|trines of the <HI>Papal</HI> Faith.</P>
<P>If any be deluded into a good Opinion of His <HI>Majesty,</HI> and brought to flatter them|selves with expectations of their being pro|tected in the profession of the <HI>Protestant</HI> Religion, they may be easily undeceived and prevailed upon to change their Senti|ments, if they will but consider his beha|viour towards <HI>Protestants</HI> in the <HI>post</HI> wherein he formerly stood, and what his carriage was to them, while he was fixed in a mean|ner and more subordinate station than now he is. Tho there have been many whose behaviour in their private condition, would have rendred them thought worthy to Rule, if their actions after their advancement to Governing power had not confuted the O|pinion entertained concerning them; yet there have been very few that have ap|proved themselves <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> just and merciful after their attaining to Soveraignty, whose car|riage in an inferior station, had been to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> dammage, and general hurt of mankind, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> far as their narrow power and intere<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> would extend. It ought therefore to lay u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> under a conviction, what we are to expec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> from His <HI>Majesty</HI> on the <HI>Throne,</HI> when w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> find the whole thread and series of his con|duct while a <HI>Subject,</HI> to have been a conti|nued <HI>design</HI> against our <HI>Religion,</HI> and an un|interrupted <HI>plot</HI> for the subversion of our <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Liberties.</HI> 'Tis sufficiently known how active he alway's was to keep up and inflame the differences among <HI>Protestants,</HI> and how he was both a great Promoter of all the severe <HI>Laws</HI> made against <HI>Dissenters,</HI> and a continual instigator to the rigorou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Execution of them: So that his affirming <HI>it to have been ever his judgment that none ought to be oppressed and persecuted for matters of Re|ligion,</HI> nor to be hindred in Worshipping <HI>God</HI> according to their several perswasions; serves only to inform us, either with what little Honesty, Honor, and Conscience H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> acted, in concurring to the making of the foresaid <HI>Laws,</HI> or what small faith and cre|dit is now to be given to his <HI>Declaration,</HI> and to what he hath since the Emission of it repeated both in his <HI>Speech</HI> to <HI>Mr. Penn,</HI> and in his <HI>Letter</HI> to <HI>Mr. Alsop.</HI> And to o|mit many other Instances of his kindness and Benignity to the <HI>Fanaticks,</HI> whom he now so much huggs and caresseth; it may not be amiss to remember <HI>them,</HI> and all other <HI>Pro|testants,</HI> of that Barbarous and illegal <HI>Com|mission</HI> issued forth by the <HI>Council</HI> of <HI>Scotland,</HI> while <HI>He,</HI> as the late Kings <HI>High Commissioner,</HI> had the management of the affaires of that Kingdom; by which every <HI>Military Officer</HI> that had command over twelve men was impower'd to <HI>impannel</HI> Juries, try, condemn, and cause to be put to death, not only those who should be found to disclaim the Kings Authority, but such as should refuse to ac|knowledg the Kings new modelled <HI>Supre|macy</HI> over that <HI>Church;</HI> in the pursuance and execution of which <HI>Commission,</HI> some were shot to death, others were hang'd or drowned, and this not only during the
<PB N="10" REF="8">
conti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Reign of his late <HI>Majesty,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ut <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e a year and a half after the pre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">nt <HI>King</HI> came to the Crown. But what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eed is there of insisting upon such little par|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">culars, wherein he was at all times ready <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> express his malice to <HI>Protestants,</HI> seeing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e have not only <HI>Dr. Oates</HI>'s Testimony, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d that of divers others, but most authen|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ck proofs from <HI>Mr. Coleman</HI>'s <HI>Letters,</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s having been in a Conspiracy several years <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">r the subversion of our <HI>Religion,</HI> upon the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">eritorious and sanctified Motive of extir|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ating the <HI>Northern Heresie.</HI> Of which be|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">de all the Evidence that <HI>four</HI> Successive <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">arliaments</HI> arrived at, I know several who <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nce the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York</HI> ascended the Throne have had it confirmed unto them by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ivers forraign Papists, that were less re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">rved, or more ingenuous than many of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">hat Communion use to be. To question <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">he Existence of that <HI>Plot,</HI> and his present <HI>Majesties</HI> having been accessory unto, and in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">he head of it, argues a strange <HI>effrontery</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">mpudence thro casting an aspersion of weakness, folly and injustice not only upon those <HI>three Parliaments</HI> that seem'd to have re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ained some zeal for English Liberties, but by fastning the same imputations upon the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ong Parliament,</HI> which had shew'd it self at all times more obsequious to the will of the Court, than was either for their own Honor, or the safety and Interest of the Kingdom, and who had expressed a Veneration for the <HI>Royal</HI> Family, that approached too much unto a degree of <HI>Idolatry.</HI> Whosoever con|siders that Train of Councels wherein the <HI>King</HI> was many years engaged, and where|of we felt the woful effects in the <HI>burning</HI> of <HI>London;</HI> the frequent <HI>Prorogation</HI> and <HI>Disso|lution</HI> of <HI>Parliaments;</HI> the <HI>widening</HI> and <HI>ex|asperating Differences</HI> among <HI>Protestants;</HI> the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">irring</HI> up and <HI>provoking Civil Magistrates</HI> and <HI>Ecclesiastical Courts,</HI> to persecute <HI>Dissenters;</HI> and the <HI>maintaining Correspondencies</HI> with the <HI>Pope</HI> and <HI>Catholick Princes</HI> abroad, to the dis|honor of the Nation and danger of our Laws and Religion, cannot avoid being ap|prehensive what we are now to look for at his hands, nor can he escape, thinking that he esteems his Advancement to the Crown, both a reward from heaven for what <HI>he</HI> hath done and plotted against these three King|doms, and an opportunity and advantage ad|ministred unto <HI>him</HI> for the perfecting and ac|complishment of all those Designes with which <HI>he</HI> hath been so long bigg and in tra|vel for the destruction of our Religion, the subversion of our Laws, and the reestablish|ment of Popery in these Dominions.</P>
<P>The conduct and guidance under which His <HI>Majesty</HI> hath put himself, and the fiery temper of that <HI>Order</HI> to whose Government he hath resigned his Conscience, may great|ly add to our fears, and give us all the jealou|sie and dread that we are capable of being impressed with in reference to matters to come, that there is nothing which can be fatal to our Religion or persons, that we may not expect the being called to conflict with and suffer. For tho most of the <HI>Popish Ecclesiasticks,</HI> especially the <HI>Regulars,</HI> bear an inveterate malice to <HI>Protestants,</HI> and hold themselves under indispensable Obligations of eradicating whatsoever their <HI>Church</HI> stiles <HI>Heresie,</HI> and have accordingly been alway's forward to stirr up and provoke Rulers, to the use and application of force for the de|struction of <HI>Protestants,</HI> as a Company of perverse and obstinate <HI>Hereticks,</HI> adjuged and condemned to the <HI>Stake</HI> and <HI>Gibbet</HI> by the in|fallible <HI>Chaire;</HI> yet of all men in the Com|munion of the <HI>Romish Church,</HI> and of their <HI>Religious Orders,</HI> the <HI>Jesuites</HI> are they who do most hate us, and whose Councels have been most sanguinary, and alway's tending to in|fluence those <HI>Monarchs,</HI> whose Consciences they have had the guiding and conducting of, to the utmost Cruelties and Barbarities towards us. What our Brethern have had measured out to them in <HI>France</HI> thro <HI>Father de la Chaise</HI>'s influence upon that <HI>King',</HI> and thro the bewitching power and domination he hath over him in the quality of his <HI>Con|fessor,</HI> and as having the direction of his Conscience, may very well allarm and in|form us what we ought to expect from His
<PB N="11" REF="8">
<HI>Majesty</HI> of <HI>Great Brittain,</HI> who hath surren|dred his Conscience to the guidance of <HI>Fa|ther Peters,</HI> a person of the same <HI>Order,</HI> and of the like mischievous and bloody disposi|tion that the former is. 'Tis well observed by the <HI>Author</HI> of the <HI>Reasons against repealing the Acts of Parliament concerning the Test,</HI> that <HI>Cardinal Howard's</HI> being of such a meek and gentle temper that is able to withstand the Malignity of his Religion, and to preserve him from concurring in those mischievous Councels, which his <HI>purple</HI> might seem to oblige him unto, is the reason of his being shut out from acquaintance with, and interest in the <HI>English</HI> affaires transacted at <HI>Rome,</HI> and that whatsoever his <HI>Majesty</HI> hath to do in that <HI>Court</HI> is managed by <HI>his</HI> Ambassador un|der the sole direction of the <HI>Jesuites.</HI> So that it is not without cause, that the <HI>Jesuite</HI> of <HI>Leige</HI> in his intercepted and lately printed <HI>Letter,</HI> tells a <HI>Brother</HI> of the <HI>Order</HI> what a wonderful veneration the <HI>King</HI> hath for the <HI>Society,</HI> and with what profound submission he receives those Reverend <HI>Fathers</HI> and hear|kens to whatsoever they represent. Nor is His <HI>Majesties</HI> being under the influence of the <HI>Iesuites</HI> thro having <HI>one</HI> of them for his <HI>Confessor,</HI> and several of them for his Chief Councellors and principal Confidents, the only thing in this matter that awakens our fear in what we are to expect from his armed power, excited and stirred by that fiery <HI>Tribe;</HI> but there is another ground why we ought more especially to dread him, and that is <HI>his</HI> being entred and enrolled into the <HI>Order</HI> and become a <HI>Member</HI> of the <HI>Society,</HI> where|by he is brought into a greater subjection and dependence upon them, and stands bound by ties and engagements of being obedient to the Commands of the <HI>General</HI> of the <HI>Iesuites,</HI> and that not only in <HI>Spirituals,</HI> but in what|soever they shall pretend to be subservient to the exaltation of the <HI>Church,</HI> and for up|holding the glory of the <HI>Triple Crown.</HI> This is a Mystery which few are yet acquainted with, and which both His <HI>Majesty,</HI> and the <HI>Order</HI> judgd it their interest to have industri|ously concealed, but whereof the World may ere long receive that convictive intelli|gence, that there will be no room left for suspecting the truth of it, and whereof a <HI>Je|suite</HI> in the late printed <HI>Letter</HI> from <HI>Liege</HI> hath given us already sufficient intimation, both in telling us, <HI>That the King of England stiles himself a Son of the Society,</HI> and how that he wrote to <HI>Father de la Chaise, that he would ac|count every injury done to the Jesuites to be a wrong committed against himself.</HI> Neither is it so surprising as it may seem at first view, that the <HI>King</HI> should list himself a <HI>Member</HI> of the <HI>Order,</HI> seeing there have been <HI>four</HI> other <HI>Crowned Heads</HI> of whose Entrance and ma|triculation into the <HI>Society,</HI> there is all the e|vidence and assurance imaginable. And tho <HI>one</HI> of them is acknowledged to have been in the <HI>Classis</HI> of the <HI>Directors,</HI> while the other <HI>three</HI> are generally believed to have been in the <HI>Form</HI> of the <HI>Directed,</HI> yet such was the power of the <HI>Society</HI> over them all, that a great part of the Cruelty exercised towards <HI>Protestants</HI> both in the last age and in this, is to be ascribed to that implicite and blind O|bedience which they were bound to yield to the injunctions of the <HI>Order,</HI> and to the Com|mands of the <HI>General. Philip the Second</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> who was the first <HI>King</HI> that entred in|to the <HI>Order,</HI> and who did it upon motives of Policy in hopes by their means to have com|passed the Universal <HI>Monarchy</HI> which he was aspiring after, and who thro being in the <HI>Classis</HI> of <HI>Directors,</HI> had advantages of using and improving, and not of being in that de|gree of servitude unto them which the others have been; yet to what barbarous Cruelties did they overrule and instigate him, not on|ly to the destruction of unconceivable num|bers of his Subjects, whose only Crime was that they could not believe as the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> doth, which issued in the depopula|ting some of his Dominions, and his being deposed from the Soveraignty in others but to the sacrificing his <HI>Son</HI> and <HI>Heir Prince Charles,</HI> whom to gratify the <HI>Society,</HI> he caused upon an Accusation of his favouring the <HI>Low Countrey Hereticks,</HI> and the being himself tainted with <HI>Lutheranism</HI> to be murdered in
<PB N="12" REF="9">
is own Court and Palace. <HI>Sigismond</HI> of <HI>Po|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d,</HI> who was the second <HI>crowned Head</HI> ad|mitted into the <HI>Order,</HI> thro complying with he Councels, and serving the wrath, rage <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd passions of the <HI>Jesuites,</HI> in endeavouring <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o suppress <HI>Religion</HI> in <HI>Swedland</HI> to which he was <HI>Heir,</HI> and in striving to subvert their <HI>Civil Rights,</HI> drew upon himself the resent|ment and wrath of that Nation to such a degree, that they abdicated <HI>him</HI> and his <HI>Heirs</HI> from the Government, and advanced an|other to the Throne. <HI>Casimire</HI> who was also <HI>King</HI> of <HI>Poland</HI> is reckoned to be the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hird Soveraign Prince</HI> that entred into the <HI>So|ciety,</HI> and he thro coming under the Domi|nation of the <HI>Iesuites,</HI> and being bound to follow their directions, and to execute whatsoever the <HI>General</HI> of the <HI>Order</HI> thought fit to enjoin for the promotion and benefit of the <HI>Church,</HI> became not only an Instru|ment of a severe persecution against all sort of Dissenters from the Romish Faith, so that many were put to death, and more driven to abandon their Countrey, but through committing many things in the course of his Government that were preju|dicial to the Rights, and thereupon disgust|ful to the <HI>Polish</HI> Nobility, they conceived such an aversion and hatred for him, that to avoid the effects of their resentment and indignation, he was forced to lay down his Crown, and to chuse to end his day's in <HI>France</HI> in no higher a <HI>Post,</HI> and under no more glorious a Character, than that of <HI>Abbot</HI> of <HI>Saint German.</HI> There is a <HI>fourth Prince,</HI> and who is yet in being, that is generally believed to be enrolled into the <HI>Order,</HI> and the per|secution he hath carried on in <HI>Hungary,</HI> con|trary to his natural temper, and to all the: Rules of Interest and Policy, and to the vio|lation of his Promises and Oaths for con|tinuing unto them the Liberty of their Re|ligion, is both too probable an evidence of it, and a strong confirmation of the cruel|ties which the <HI>Iesuites</HI> instigate <HI>Princes</HI> unto over whom they have influence, and whom they have wheedled into engagments of obeying their commands and pursuing their injunctions. And as the desolating of <HI>Hun|gary</HI> thro a long and bloody War, and the tempting the <HI>Turks</HI> to invade the <HI>Austrian</HI> Territories, are some of the effects that have ensued upon the <HI>Emperor's</HI> complying with the fierce and heady Councels of the <HI>Iesuites;</HI> so we have not seen all the mischiefs that the persecution, which they have engaged him in against <HI>Protestants</HI> is like to issue in, tho beside the disgusting several <HI>Electoral</HI> Princes and States in <HI>Germany,</HI> and the fur|nishing the <HI>Ottoman</HI> Potentate with Encou|ragements of continuing the War, there are wonderful advantages afforded by it, to embolden the <HI>French King</HI> in his encroach|ments upon the Empire, which otherway's he would not have dared to attempt, and whereof the result at last may prove fatal to the <HI>Imperial</HI> Dignity and to the whole House of <HI>Austria.</HI> Now what the <HI>Protestants</HI> in <HI>Great Brittain</HI> and <HI>Ireland</HI> ought to dread from the <HI>King,</HI> upon his being entred into a <HI>Society</HI> that hath breathed nothing but fire and blood since its first Institution, I leave to the serious consideration of all men who value their Lives, Liberties and Estates, and that do not think of renouncing their Religion, and turning Papists. Nor is it to be imagined that the <HI>King,</HI> before he can be supposed well setled on the Throne, and while under a declining state of Body, as well as in an advanced age, having the weight of <HI>four and fifty</HI> upon his shoulders, beside something else that he is obliged to the Earl of <HI>Southesk</HI> for, which I shall not mention, would have taken so many bold, wide, and illegal stepps for the supplanting our <HI>Religion</HI> and <HI>Laws,</HI> and for the introdu|ction and establishment of <HI>Popery</HI> and <HI>Tyran|ny,</HI> and this not only to the losing and dis|obliging his former <HI>Votaries</HI> and <HI>Partizans,</HI> but to the strange allarming and disgusting most persons of honor, quality, and interest in the three Kingdoms, were he not beside the being under the sway of his own <HI>Bigottry,</HI> and the strong ballance of a large measure of ill nature, bound by ties of <HI>implicite</HI> obe|dience to the Commands of that extrava|gant
<PB N="13" REF="9">
and furious <HI>Society,</HI> to the promoting of whose passions and malice, rather than his own safety and glory, or the lasting be|nefit of the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> themselves, the whole course of his Government hitherto seems to have been shapen and adapted. The occasion and subject of the late con|test between <HI>him</HI> and the <HI>Pope,</HI> which hath made so great a noise not only at <HI>Rome,</HI> but thro all <HI>Europe,</HI> may serve to convince us both of the Extraordinary zeal <HI>he</HI> hath for the <HI>Society,</HI> and of the transcendent power they have over him, and that 'tis no won|der <HI>he</HI> should <HI>exact an obedience without reserve from his Subjects in Scotland,</HI> seeing <HI>he himself</HI> yields an obedience without reserve to the <HI>Iesuites.</HI> 'Tis known, how that by the <HI>Rules</HI> of their <HI>Institution</HI> no <HI>Iesuite</HI> is capable of the <HI>Myter,</HI> and that if the Ambition of any of them should tempt him to seek or ac|cept the dignity of a <HI>Prelate,</HI> he must for being capacitated thereunto, renounce his <HI>Membership</HI> in the <HI>Order.</HI> Yet so great is His <HI>Majesties</HI> passion for the Honor and Gran|dure of the <HI>Society,</HI> and such is their domina|tion and absolute power over <HI>him,</HI> that no less will serve <HI>him,</HI> neither would they allow <HI>him</HI> to insist upon less, than that the <HI>Pope</HI> should dispense with <HI>Father Peters</HI> being made a <HI>Bishop,</HI> without his ceasing to be a <HI>Iesuite,</HI> or the being transplanted into ano|ther <HI>Order.</HI> And this the old <HI>Gentleman</HI> at <HI>Rome</HI> hath been forced at last to comply with, and to grant a <HI>Dispensation</HI> whereby <HI>Fa|ther Peters</HI> shall be capable of the <HI>Prelature,</HI> notwithstanding his remaining in the <HI>Igna|tian Order,</HI> the <HI>Iesuites</HI> thro their Authority over the <HI>King</HI> not suffering <HI>him</HI> to recede from his demand, and His <HI>Majesties</HI> zeal for the <HI>Society</HI> not permitting him to comply either with the prayers, or the Conscience and Honour of the Supream <HI>Pontiff.</HI></P>
<P>Not only the <HI>Kings</HI> unthankfulness unto, but his illegal proceedings against, and <HI>his</HI> arbitrary invading the Rights of those who stood by <HI>him</HI> in all <HI>his</HI> dangers and difficul|ties, and who were the Instruments o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> preventing his exclusion from the Crown, and the Chief means, both of his advanc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ment to the Throne, and his being kept in are so many new evidences of the ill w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>he</HI> bears to all <HI>Protestants,</HI> and what they a to dread from <HI>him</HI> as occasions are admin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> stred of injuring and oppressing them: a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> may serve to convince all impartial a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> thinking people, that <HI>his Popish</HI> malice to o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Religion</HI> is too strong for all principles of H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> nor and Gratitude, and able to cancel t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Obligations, which Friendship for <HI>his</HI> pers<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and service to <HI>his</HI> interest, may be suppos<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to have laid <HI>him</HI> under to any heretofor Had it not been for many of the <HI>Church <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> England,</HI> who stood up with a zeal and v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> gour for preserving the succession in t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> right <HI>line,</HI> beyond what Religion, co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> science, Reason, or Interest could co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> duct them unto, <HI>he</HI> had never been able <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> have out-wrestled the endeavours of <HI>thr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Parliaments</HI> for excluding him from the I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> perial Crown of England: and had it n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> been for their abetting and standing by <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> with their swords in their hands upon th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>Monmouth's</HI> descent into the King|dom anno 1685. <HI>he</HI> could nothave avoid<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the being driven from the <HI>Throne,</HI> and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> having the <HI>Scepter</HI> wrested out of his han<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Whosoever had the advantage of knowin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the temper and <HI>genius</HI> of the <HI>late</HI> King, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> how affray'd he was of embarking into an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> thing that might import a visible hazard t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the peace of his Government, and dra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> after it a general disgust of his person; wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> be soon satisfied that if all his <HI>Protestant</HI> Sub|jects had united in their desires, and co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> curred in their endeavoures, to have ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York</HI> debarred from the Crow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> that his <HI>late Majesty</HI> would not have on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> scrupled the complying with it, and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> his <HI>Love</HI> to his <HI>dear Brother,</HI> would hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> given way to the apprehension and fear <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> forfeiting a love for himself in the hear<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of his people, especially when what wa<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> required of him, was not an invasion upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the fundamentals of the constitution of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>English</HI> Monarchy nor dissonant from th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> practice of the Nation in many repeated i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="14" REF="10">
stances. Nor can there be a greater evidence <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the present <HI>Kings</HI> ill nature, Romish <HI>Bi|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ry,</HI> and prodigious ingratitude, as well <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> of the design he is carrying on against our <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ligion</HI> and <HI>Laws,</HI> than his carriage and be|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">viour towards the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England;</HI> tho <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> cannot but acknowledg it a righteous <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">gment upon them from God, and a just <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nishment for their being not only so un|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ncerned for the preservation of our Reli|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">n and liberties in avoiding to close with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e only methods that were adapted there|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">to, but for being so passionate and indu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ious to hasten the loss of them thro put|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">g the Government into ones hands, who <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s they might have foreseen) would be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e to make a sacrifice of them to his belo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d <HI>Popery,</HI> and to his inordinate lust after <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">spotical and arbitrary power. And as the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ly example bearing any affinity to it, is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">t of <HI>Louis</HI> the <HI>14^t^h,</HI> who in recompence to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Protestant</HI> Subjects for maintaining him <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the Throne, when the late <HI>Prince</HI> of <HI>Con|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> assisted by <HI>Papists</HI> would have wrested the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">own from him, hath treated them with Barbarity, whereof that of <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">iochus</HI> to|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ards the <HI>Jews,</HI> and that of <HI>Diocletian</HI> and <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">aximian</HI> towards the <HI>primitive Christians</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ere but scanty and impersect draughts; so <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ere wants nothing for compleating the <HI>pa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">lel</HI> between <HI>England</HI> and <HI>France</HI> but a little <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ore time and a fortunate opportunity, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">en the deluded <HI>Church men</HI> will find that <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">er Peters</HI> is no less skilful at <HI>Whitehall</HI> for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nsforming their acts of loyalty and merit <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">wards the <HI>King</HI> into crimes and motives <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> their ruin, than <HI>Pere de l&agrave; Chaise</HI> hath shewn <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">mself at <HI>Versailles,</HI> where by an Art peculiar <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the <HI>Iesuites,</HI> he hath improved the loyalty <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">zeal of the <HI>Reformed</HI> in <HI>France</HI> for the house <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Bourbon,</HI> into a reason of alienating that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">onarch from them, and into a ground of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> destroying that dutiful and obedient peo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">. It will not be amiss to call over some <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> his <HI>Majesties</HI> proceedings towards the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">urch</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> that from what hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">en already seen and felt, both they and all <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">glish Protestants</HI> may the better know what they are to expect and look for hereafter. Tho it be a method very unbecoming a <HI>Prince,</HI> yet it shews a great deal of spleen, to turn the former persecution of <HI>Dissenters</HI> so maliciously upon the <HI>Prelatical</HI> and con|forming <HI>Clergy,</HI> as his <HI>Majesty</HI> doth in his <HI>letter</HI> to <HI>Mr. Atsop</HI> in stiling them <HI>a party of Protestants, who think the only way to advance their Church, is by undoing those Churches of Chri|stians that differ from them in smaller matters.</HI> Whereas the severity that the <HI>Fanaticks</HI> met with, had much of its Original at <HI>Court,</HI> where it was formed and designed upon motives of <HI>Popery</HI> and <HI>Arbitrariness;</HI> and the resentment and revengful humour of some of the old Prelates and other Church men that had suffered in the late times was only laid hold of, the better to justify and im|prove it. And tho it be too true that many of the <HI>dignified Rank,</HI> as well as of the little <HI>Levites</HI> were both extreamly fond of it, and contentiously pleaded for it; yet it is as true that most of them did it not upon principles of judgment and conscience, but upon in|ducements of retaliation for conceived in|juries, and upon a belief of its being the most compendious method to the next pre|ferment and benefice, and the fairest way of standing recommended to the favour of the two <HI>Royal Brothers.</HI> Nor is it unworthy of observation, that some of the most viru|lent writers against liberty of conscience, and others of the most fierce Instigators to the persecuting <HI>Dissenters,</HI> among whom we may reckon <HI>Parker Bishop</HI> of <HI>Oxford</HI> and <HI>Cart|wright Bishop</HI> of <HI>Chester,</HI> are since <HI>Adressing</HI> for the <HI>Declaration of Indulgence</HI> became the means of being gracioully lookt upon at <HI>Whitthall,</HI> turned foreward promoters of it, tho their success in their <HI>Diocesses</HI> with their Clergy hath not answered their expe|ctations and endeavoures. For as these two <HI>Mytred</HI> Gentlemen will fall in with and ju|stify whatsoever the King hath a mind to do, if they may but keep their <HI>Seas</HI> and enjoy their Revenues, which I dare say that rather than lose they will subscribe not only to the <HI>Tridentine</HI> Faith but to the <HI>Alcoran;</HI> so it is
<PB N="15" REF="10">
most certain that they <HI>two</HI> as well as the <HI>Bishop</HI> of <HI>Durham</HI> have promised to turn <HI>Ro|man Catholicks;</HI> and that as <HI>Crew</HI> hath been several times seen assisting at the celebration of the <HI>Mass,</HI> and that as <HI>Cartwright</HI> payd a particular respect to the <HI>Nuncio</HI> at his solemn Entrance at <HI>Windsor,</HI> which some <HI>Temporal Lords</HI> had so much conscience and honor as to scorn to do, so the <HI>Author</HI> of the <HI>leige Letter</HI> tells us that <HI>Parker</HI> not only extreamly favours <HI>Popery,</HI> but that he brands in a man|ner all such for <HI>Atheists</HI> who continue to plead for the <HI>Protestant</HI> Religion. 'Tis an Act of the same candor and good nature in the <HI>King</HI> with the former, and another Royal effect of his <HI>Princely breeding</HI> as well as of his <HI>Gratitude,</HI> when he endeavours to cast a farther <HI>odium</HI> upon the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> and to exasperate the <HI>Dissenters</HI> against her, by saying in the forementioned <HI>letter</HI> to <HI>Mr. Alsop that the reason why the Dis|senters enjoyed not liberty sooner, is wholly owing to the sollicitation</HI> of the Conforming Clergy; whereas many of the learned and sober men of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> could have been contented that the <HI>Nonconforming Protestants</HI> should have had liberty long ago, provided it had been granted in a <HI>legal</HI> way; and the chief executioners of severity upon them were such of all ranks, orders, and sta|tions as the <HI>Court</HI> both set on and rewarded for it. 'Tis not their Brethrens having liberty that displeaseth modest &amp; good men of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England;</HI> but 'tis the having it in the virtu' of an <HI>usurped pre|rogative</HI> over the Laws of the Land, and to the shaking all the <HI>legal</HI> foundations of the <HI>Protestant</HI> Religion it self in the Kingdom. And had the <HI>Declaration of In|dulgence</HI> imported only an exemption of <HI>Dis|senters</HI> and <HI>Papists</HI> from rigours and penalties, I know very few that would have been displea|sed at it; but the extending it to the remo|ving all the <HI>Fences</HI> about the Reformed Do|ctrine and worship, and laying us open both to the tyranny of papists, and the being over|flowed with a deluge of their superstitions and Idolatries, as well as the designing it for a means to overthrow the established <HI>Chur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> is that which no wise <HI>Dissenter</HI> no more t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> a conformable man knows how to digest. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> I am not of <HI>Sr. Roger l'Estranges</HI> mind, w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> after he hath been writing for many yea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> against <HI>Dissenters</HI> with all the venom and m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> lice imaginable, and to disprove the wisdo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> justice, and convenience of granting th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> liberty, hath now the impudence <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> publi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>that whatsoever he formerly wrote; bears an exact confor|mity</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Proef. to h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Hist. of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Times. p. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"></NOTE> <HI>to the present Resolutions of State, in that the liberty now vouchsased is an Act of Grace issuing from the supream Magistrate, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> not a claim of Right in the people.</HI> And as to r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> cited expressions of the <HI>King,</HI> they are onl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> a <HI>papal</HI> trick whereby to keep up heats an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> animosities among <HI>Protestants,</HI> when both th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> inward heats of men are much allay'd, and th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> external Provocations to them are wholly re|moved, and they are meerly <HI>Iesuitick</HI> method's by which our hatred of one another may b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> maintained, tho the <HI>Laws</HI> inabling one part<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to persecure the other, which was the chie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> spring of all our mutual rancour and bitter|ness, be suspended. It would be the sport and glory of the <HI>Ignatian Order,</HI> to be able to make the disabling of <HI>penal Laws</HI> as effectual to the supporting differences among <HI>Protestants,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the Enacting and rigorous execution of them, was to the first raising, and the continuing them afterwards for many years. And if the foregoing <HI>Topicks</HI> can furnish the <HI>King</HI> argu|ments whereby to reproach the <HI>Church of Eng|land,</HI> when he thinks it seasonable and for the interest of <HI>Rome</HI> to be angry with them; I dare affirm he will never want pretences of being discontented with &amp; of aspersing <HI>Fana|ticks,</HI> when he finds the doing so, to be for the service of the <HI>papal</HI> cause. And if the fore|mentioned instances of his <HI>Majesties</HI> beha|viour to the <HI>Church of England</HI> to which he stands so superlatively obliged, be neither Testimonies of his ingenuity, evidences of his Gratitude, nor effects of common, much less <HI>Royal</HI> justice; yet what remains to be in|timated, do's carry more visible marks of
<PB N="16" REF="11">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">malice and design both against the <HI>le|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> established <HI>Church</HI> and our <HI>Religion.</HI> For <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ing satisfied with the <HI>suspension</HI> of all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Laws,</HI> by which <HI>Protestants</HI> and they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the national <HI>Communion</HI> might seem to be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">urious to <HI>Papists</HI> in their persons and E|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tes, such as the <HI>Laws</HI> which make those, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ho shall be found to have taken <HI>Orders</HI> in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> obnoxious to death, or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ose other <HI>Statutes</HI> by which the <HI>King</HI> hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ower &amp; Authority for levying <HI>two thirds</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">eir <HI>Estates</HI> that shall be convicted of <HI>Recu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">cy;</HI> but by an usurped <HI>prerogative</HI> and an <HI>Absolute</HI> power he is pleased to <HI>suspend</HI> all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Laws</HI> by which they were only disabled <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rom hurting us, thro standing precluded <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rom places of power and trust in the Go|vernment. So that the whole security we have in time to come for our <HI>Religion,</HI> de|pends upon the temperate disposition and good nature of those <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> that shall be advanced to Offices and Employ|ments, and does no longer bear upon the protection and support of the <HI>Law;</HI> and I think we have not had that experience of grace and favour from <HI>Papists,</HI> as may give us <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">just confidence of fair and candid treatment from them for the future. Now that we may be the better convinced, how little security we have from his <HI>Majesties promise</HI> in his <HI>De|claration,</HI> of his protecting the <HI>Arch Bishops, Bishops and Clergy, and all other his subjects of the Church of England, in the free exercise of their Religion as by Law established, and in the quiet and full enjoyment of their possessions, without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever,</HI> which is all the <HI>Tenour</HI> that is left us; 'tis not unworthy of observation how that beside the suspending the <HI>Bishop</HI> of <HI>London</HI> ab <HI>Officio,</HI> and the <HI>Vice Chanceller</HI> of <HI>Cambridg</HI> both ab <HI>Officio</HI> and <HI>Be|neficio,</HI> and this not only for Actions which the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>God</HI> and the <HI>Kingdom</HI> make their duty, but thro a sentence inflicted upon them by no <HI>legal Court</HI> of <HI>Judicature,</HI> but by five or six mercinary persons supported by a Tyran|nous and Arbitrary Commission, his <HI>Majesty</HI> in his <HI>Proclamation for Toleration in Scotland,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">earing date the 12. of <HI>February,</HI> doth among many other Laws, <HI>cass, disable</HI> and <HI>dispense</HI> with the Law enjoining the <HI>Scots Test,</HI> tho it was not only enacted by <HI>himself</HI> while he re|presented his Brother as his <HI>high Commissioner;</HI> but hath been confirmed by him in <HI>Parliament</HI> since he came to the <HI>Crown.</HI> Surely it is as easie to depart from a <HI>promise</HI> made in a <HI>De|claration,</HI> as 'tis to absolve and discharge <HI>himself</HI> from the obligation of a <HI>Law</HI> which he first concurred to the enacting of, and gave the creating <HI>Fiat</HI> unto as the late Kings <HI>Commissioner,</HI> and hath since ratified in <HI>Parliament</HI> after he was come to the Throne. As there is no more infidelity, dishonor and injustice, so there is less of ab|solute power and illegality, in doing the one than the other. Nor is it possible for a ratio|nal man to place a confidence in his <HI>Majesties</HI> Royal word for the <HI>protection</HI> of our <HI>Religion,</HI> and the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England</HI> men's enjoying their possessions; seeing he hath not only departed from his <HI>promise</HI> made to the <HI>Council</HI> immedi|ately after his <HI>Brothers</HI> death, but hath violated his <HI>Faith</HI> given to the <HI>Parliament</HI> of <HI>England</HI> at their <HI>first Session,</HI> which we might have thought would have been the more sacred and binding, by reason of the grandure, state and quality of the Assembly to which it was pledged.</P>
<P>If we consider how much <HI>protestants</HI> suffe|red, what number of them was <HI>burnt</HI> at the <HI>stake</HI> as well as <HI>murderd</HI> in <HI>Goals,</HI> beside the vast multitudes, who to avoid the rage and power of their Enemies, were forced to abandon their <HI>Countrey</HI> and seek for shelter in <HI>forraign</HI> parts, and what endeavoures of all kinds were used for the Extirpation of our Religion under <HI>QueenMary;</HI> we may gather and learn from thence what is to be dreaded from <HI>James</HI> the II. who is the next <HI>popish Prince</HI> to her that since the <HI>Reformation</HI> hath sat on the <HI>Throne</HI> of <HI>England.</HI> For tho there be many things that administer grounds of hope, that the <HI>Papists</HI> will not find it so easie a matter to bring us in <HI>shoals</HI> to the <HI>stake,</HI> nor of that quick and easie dispatch to <HI>suppress</HI> the <HI>protestant Religion,</HI> and set up <HI>Popery,</HI> at this time as they found it then; yer every thing
<PB N="17" REF="11">
that occurs to our thoughts, or that can af|fect our understandings, serves not only to persuade us into a belief that they will set upon and endeavour it, but to work us up to an assurance that his <HI>Majesty</HI> would take it for a di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ution of his glory, as well as refle|ction upon his zeal for the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> not to attempt what a woman had both the courage to undertake, and the fortune to go thro with. And there is withal a concur|rence of so many things both abroad and at home at this juncture, which if laid in the ballance with the motives to our hope of the <HI>papists</HI> miscarrying, may justly raise our <HI>fears</HI> of their prospering to a very sad and uncomfortable height. Whosoever shall com|pare these two Princes together, will find that there was less danger to be apprehended from <HI>Mary,</HI> and that not only upon the score of her <HI>Sex,</HI> but by reason of a certain gentle|ness and goodness of nature which all <HI>Histo|rians</HI> of judgment and credit ascribe unto her; than is to be expected from the present <HI>King,</HI> in whom a sourness of temper, fierceness of disposition, and pride joined with a peevish|ness of humour not to bear the having his will disputed or controlled, are the principal in|gredients into his Constitution, and which are all strangely heightned and enflamed by contracted distempers of Body, and thro fu|rious principles of mind which he hath im|bib'd from the <HI>Iesuites,</HI> who of all men carry the obligations arising from the <HI>Doctrines</HI> of the <HI>popish Religion</HI> to the most outragious and inhumane excesses. Nor can I forbear to add, that whereas the cruelty which that <HI>Princess</HI> was hurried into, even to the making her Cities common shambles, and her streets Theatres of murder for innocent persons, for which she became hated while she lived, and her memory is rendred infamous to all Ge|nerations that come after, was wholly and entirely owing to her <HI>Religion,</HI> which not only proclaims it lawful, but a necessary duty of Christianity, and an act meriting a peculiar Crown of Glory in heaven, to destroy <HI>He|reticks;</HI> 'tis to be feared there will be found in the present <HI>King</HI> a spice of <HI>revenge</HI> against us as we are <HI>Englishmen,</HI> as well as a measu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> heap't up and running over of furious <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>zeal</HI> against us as we are <HI>Protestants.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the wrath he bears unto us for our depar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> from the Communion of the <HI>Romish Chu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> and our rebellion against the triple Crow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the war wherein many of the Kingdom wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> engaged against his <HI>Father,</HI> and the issue of it in the execution of that <HI>Monarch,</HI> is what he hath been heard to say, <HI>that he hopes to revenge upon the Nation.</HI> And all that the <HI>City</HI> of <HI>London</HI> un|derwent thro that dreadful <HI>conflagration</HI> 1666. of which he was the great Author and Promo|ter, as well as the Rescuer and Protector of the <HI>Varlets</HI> that were apprehended in their sprea|ding and carrying on the <HI>fire,</HI> is but <HI>earnest</HI> in respect of what is designed farther to be payd them, for the having been the great suppor|ters of that <HI>war,</HI> both by continued <HI>Recruites</HI> of men, and repeated <HI>Supplies</HI> of treasure. Tho it was <HI>Queen Mary's</HI> misfortune, and pro|ved the misery of <HI>Protestants,</HI> that she was under the influence of <HI>popish Bishops,</HI> and of <HI>Religious</HI> of several <HI>Orders,</HI> by whom <HI>she</HI> was whetted on and provoked to those barbarities where-with <HI>her</HI> Reign is stained and reproa|ched; yet <HI>she</HI> had no <HI>Iesuites</HI> about <HI>her,</HI> to whom all the other <HI>Orders</HI> are but <HI>punies</HI> in the arts of wheedling and frighting <HI>Princes</HI> for|ward to cruelty. The <HI>Society</HI> being then but in its infancy, and the distance between its <HI>Institution,</HI> which wasin the year 1540. and the time of <HI>her</HI> coming to the <HI>Crown,</HI> which was <HI>anno</HI> 1553. not affording season enough for their spreading so far abroad as they have since done, nor for the perfecting themselves to that degree in the methods of butchery, and in the <HI>Topicks</HI> whereby to delude <HI>Monarchs,</HI> to serve and promote their <HI>sanguinary</HI> passions, as they have in process of time attained unto. Nor have the <HI>Protestants</HI> now any security for their <HI>Religion,</HI> whereby it or themselves may be preserved from the attempts of his <HI>Majesty</HI> for the extirpation of both, but what our Predecessors in the same <HI>faith</HI> had in the like kind, tho not to the same measure and degree, when <HI>Queen Mary</HI> arrived at the Throne. For tho our <HI>Religion</HI> was of late
<PB N="18" REF="12">
Fenced about with more <HI>Laws,</HI> and we had <HI>Royal promises</HI> oftner repeated for the having <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> preserved, and our selves protected in the Profession of it; yet it is certain that it had not only received a legal establishment under, <HI>King Edward</HI> the VI, but had the <HI>Royal Faith</HI> of <HI>Queen Mary</HI> laid to pledg in a <HI>promise</HI> made to the men of <HI>Suffolk,</HI> that nothing should be done towards its subversion, or whereby they might be hindred in the free exercise of it. But as neither <HI>Law</HI> nor <HI>promise</HI> could prove restraints upon <HI>Mary,</HI> to hinder <HI>her</HI> from <HI>subverting Religion,</HI> and <HI>burning Prote|stants;</HI> so the obligation of gratitude that she was under to the men of <HI>Suffolk</HI> for their co|ming in so seasonably to her assistance against the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>Northumberland,</HI> who was in the field with an Army in the name of the <HI>lady Jean Gray,</HI> whom the <HI>Council</HI> had proclaimed <HI>Queen,</HI> could not excuse them from sharing in the severity that others met with, it being observed that more of that <HI>County</HI> were <HI>burnt</HI> for Religion, than of any other <HI>Shire</HI> in Eng|land. And 'tis greatly to be feared, that this piece of her example, will not escape being conformed unto by the <HI>King</HI> in his car|riage towards those that eminently served <HI>him,</HI> as well as all the rest of it in his beha|viour towards <HI>Protestants</HI> in general. Nor is it possible to conceive that the <HI>Papists</HI> li|ving at that ease and quietness which they did under his <HI>late Majesty,</HI> of whose being of their Religion they were not ignorant, as ap|pears by the proofs they have wouchsav'd the world of it since his death, would have been in so many <HI>plots</HI> for destroying <HI>him,</HI> and at last have hastned <HI>him</HI> to his <HI>Fathers,</HI> as can be demonstrated whensoever it is seasonable, had they not been assured of more to be at|tempted by his <HI>Successor</HI> for the extirpation of <HI>Protestants,</HI> than <HI>Charles</HI> could be wrought up unto, or prevailed upon to expose his person and Crown to the danger and hazard of. For as 't is not meerly a <HI>Princes</HI> being a <HI>Papist,</HI> and mild, gentle, and favorable to <HI>Catholicks,</HI> that will content the fiery zea|lots of the <HI>Roman Clergy</HI> and the <HI>Regular Or|ders,</HI> but he must both gratify their ambition in exalting them to a condition above all others, and serve their inhuman lusts and brutal passions, in not suffering any to live in his Dominions that will not renounce the <HI>Northern Heresie;</HI> so it is not more i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">edi|ble that they should dispatch a <HI>Prince</HI> by an <HI>infusion</HI> in a cup of <HI>Tea</HI> or <HI>Chocolate,</HI> whom tho they knew to be a <HI>Papist</HI> yet they found too cold &amp; slow in promoting their de|signs; than that they should have murder'd another by a <HI>consecrated dagger</HI> in the hand of <HI>Ravailac,</HI> the one being both more easie to be detected, and likelier to derive an uni|versal hatred and revenge upon them than the other. And as the <HI>Kings</HI> being conscious of that <HI>parrici<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"></HI> committed upon his <HI>Brother,</HI> plainly tells us that there is nothing so abo|minable and Barbarous, which he hath not a conscience that will swallow and digest, so the promotion of the <HI>Catholick</HI> cause being the motive to that horrid crime, we may be sure that what is hitherto done in favour of <HI>Papists,</HI> falls much short of what is inten|ded, there being something more meritori|ous than all this amounts unto, needful to attone for so barbarous a villany, which can be nothing else but the extripating the <HI>prote|stant Religion</HI> out of the three Kingdoms. Nor is it probable that the present <HI>King,</HI> who is represented for a person ambitious of Glory, would lose the opportunities, wherewith the present posture of affaires in the world presents him, of being the <HI>Um|pire</HI> and <HI>Arbiter</HI> of Christendom, and of gi|ving check to the grandure and usurpations of a neighbouring <HI>Monarch,</HI> to whom all <HI>Eu|rope</HI> is in danger of becoming enslaved; if he were not swallowed up in the thoughts of a conquest over the Consciences, Laws, and liberties of his own people, and of sub|jugating his Dominions to the Sea of <HI>Rome,</HI> and had he not hopes and assurances of aid and assistance therein from that <HI>Monarch,</HI> as he is emboldned and encouraged thereunto by his pattern and example.</P>
<P>What the <HI>Papists</HI> have all along been en|deavouring for the subversion of our <HI>Religion</HI> during and under the <HI>Reigns</HI> of <HI>Protestans
<PB N="19" REF="12">
Princes,</HI> may yet farther inform and con|firm us, what they will infallibly attempt upon their having gotten one into the <HI>Throne,</HI> who is not only in all things of the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">n <HI>faith,</HI> but of an humour agreeable unto their desires, and of a temper every way suited and adapted to their designes. Tho the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> had obtained some entrance into several <HI>States</HI> and Kingdoms, and had made some considerable spread in <HI>Europe,</HI> before it came to be generally re|ceived, and established upon foundations of <HI>Law</HI> in <HI>England;</HI> yet they of other Coun|tries, were little able to defend themselves from the power and malice of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> and of <HI>Popish Princes,</HI> and many of them were very unsucceful in endeavours of that nature, till <HI>England,</HI> in <HI>Queen</HI> Elizabeths time by espousing their cause and underta|king their Quarrel, not only wrought out their safety but made them flourish. This the <HI>Court</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> and the <HI>Priests</HI> grew immedi|ately sensible of, and have therefore moul|ded all their Counsels ever since against <HI>England,</HI> as being both the <HI>Bulwark</HI> of the <HI>protestant Religion,</HI> and the <HI>Ballance</HI> of <HI>Europe.</HI> All the late attempts for the <HI>extirpation</HI> of the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> in <HI>France</HI> and elsewhere, are much to be ascribed to the confidence the <HI>Papists</HI> had in the <HI>late King</HI> and his <HI>Bro|ther</HI> of their giving no discouragement nor obstruction to so <HI>holy</HI> a design; and there|upon as the first <HI>Edicts</HI> for infringing the li|berty, and weakning and oppressing <HI>Prote|stants</HI> in <HI>France,</HI> and the <HI>persecution</HI> in <HI>Hungary,</HI> commenced and bore date with the Restora|tion of the <HI>Royal Family,</HI> and multiplied, and encreased from year to year as they grew into farther assurance of the <HI>Royal Brothers</HI> appro|ving as well as conniving at what was done; so that for the <HI>abolition</HI> of the <HI>Edict</HI> of <HI>Nant's</HI> and the total suppression of the <HI>Reformed</HI> Re|ligion in <HI>France,</HI> was emitted upon his pre|sent <HI>Majesties</HI> being exalted to the <HI>Throne,</HI> and the encouragement he gave them to a proce|dure, which as he now justifies he will hereaf|ter imitate. It were to suppose <HI>English Prote|stants</HI> exceedingly unacquainted with the <HI>Hi|story</HI> of their own <HI>Nation,</HI> to give a long dedu|ction of what the <HI>Papists</HI> have attempted fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the <HI>extirpation</HI> of our <HI>Religion,</HI> while we had <HI>Princes</HI> on the <HI>Throne</HI> whose belief and princi|ples in Christianity, led them to assert and de|fend the <HI>Reformation,</HI> and who had courage as well as integrity to punish those that conspi|red against it. Their many Conjurations against <HI>Queen Elizabeth's</HI> person, and their re|peated endeavours of bringing in <HI>Forraigners,</HI> and of betraying the Nation to the <HI>Spaniards,</HI> who were to convert the <HI>Kingdom</HI> as they had done the <HI>West-Indies</HI> by killing the In|habitants, are sufficiently known to all who have allowed themselves leasure to read, or who have been careful to remember what they have been often told by those that have inspected the <HI>Memoires</HI> of those times. The <HI>Gunpowder plot</HI> with the motives unto it, and the extent of the mischief it was shapen for, together with the insurrection they were prepared for in case it had succeeded, and the forraign aid they had been solliciting and were promised, and all for the <HI>extirpation</HI> of <HI>English Hereticks,</HI> are things so modern, and which we have had so many times related to us by our Fathers, that it is enough barely to intimate them. The <HI>Irish Massacre</HI> in which above <HI>two hundred thousand</HI> were mur|derd in cold blood, and to which there was no provocation but that of <HI>hatred</HI> to our <HI>Re|ligion,</HI> and furious <HI>zeal</HI> to extirpate <HI>Hereticks,</HI> ought at this time to be more particularly re|flected upon, as that which gives us a tru&egrave; <HI>scheme</HI> of the manner of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome's</HI> converting <HI>Protestant</HI> Kingdoms, and being the <HI>Copy</HI> they have a mind to write after, and that in such Characters and lines of blood as may be sure to answer the <HI>Ori|ginal.</HI> At the season when they both entred upon and executed that hellish conjuration, they were in a quiet and peaceable enjoy|ment of the private exercise of their <HI>Reli|gion,</HI> yea had many publick meeting-pla|ces, thro the means of the <HI>Queen</HI> and many great friends which they had at <HI>Court,</HI> and were neither disturbed for not coming to Church, nor suffered any severities upon
<PB N="20" REF="13">
the account of their profession; but that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ould not satisfie, nor will any thing else <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">less they may be allowed to cut the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">roats, or make <HI>bonefires,</HI> of all that will <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ot join with them in a blind obedience to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Sea</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> and of worshipping <HI>St. Pa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ick.</HI> The little harsh usarges which the <HI>Papists</HI> at any time met with there or in <HI>Eng|land,</HI> they derived them upon themselves <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">y their <HI>Crimes</HI> against the <HI>State,</HI> and for their <HI>Conspiracies</HI> against our <HI>Princes</HI> and their <HI>Protestant Subjects.</HI> For till the <HI>Pope</HI> had <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">aken upon him to <HI>depose Queen Elizabeth,</HI> and <HI>absolve</HI> her <HI>Subjects</HI> from their <HI>Allegiance,</HI> and till the <HI>Papists</HI> had so far approved that <HI>Act</HI> of his <HI>holiness</HI> as to raise Rebellions at home and enter into treasonable confeda|racies abroad, there were no <HI>Laws</HI> that could be stiled severe enacted in <HI>England</HI> against <HI>Papists,</HI> and the making of them was the result of necessity in order to preserve our selves, and not from an Inclination to hurt any for matters of meer <HI>Religion.</HI> Such hath always been the moderation of our <HI>Ru|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ers,</HI> and so powerful are the incitements to lenity which the generality of <HI>Protestants</HI> through the influence and impression of their <HI>Religion,</HI> especially they of a more generous education, have been under to|wards those of the <HI>Roman</HI> Communion, that nothing but their unwearied restless|ness to disturb the <HI>Government</HI> and destroy <HI>Protestants,</HI> hath been the cause either of enacting those <HI>Laws</HI> against them that are stiled rigorous, or of their having been at any time put into execution. And not|withstanding that some such <HI>Laws</HI> were enacted as might appear to savour of seve|rity, yet could they have but submitted to have dwelt peaceably in the land, they would have found that their meer belief and the private practice of their worship, would not have much prejudiced or endan|gered them, and that tho the <HI>Laws</HI> had been continued <HI>unrepealed,</HI> yet it was only as a <HI>Hedg</HI> about us for our protection, and as <HI>Bonds</HI> of obligation upon them to their good behaviour. To which may be added, that more <HI>Protestants</HI> have suffered in one year, by the <HI>Laws</HI> made against <HI>Dissenters,</HI> and to the utmost height of the penalties which the violation of them imported, and that by the instigation of <HI>Papis<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> and their influence over the <HI>late King</HI> and his <HI>present Majesty,</HI> than there have <HI>Papists</HI> from the beginning of <HI>Queen Elizabeth's</HI> Reign to this very day, tho there was a difference in the punishments they underwent. How|ever we may from their many and repeated attemps against us, while we had <HI>Princes</HI> that both would and could chasten their in|solencies, and inflict upon them what the <HI>Law</HI> made them obnoxious unto for their outrages, gather and conclude what we are now to expect, upon their having obtai|ned a <HI>King</HI> imbu'd with all the persecuting and bloody principles of <HI>Popery,</HI> and per|fectly baptised into all the <HI>Doctrines</HI> of the <HI>Councils</HI> of <HI>Lateran</HI> and <HI>Constance.</HI> And it may strengthen our faith as well as increase our fear, of what is purposed against and impends over us, in that they cannot but think that the suffering our <HI>Religion</HI> to re|main in a condition to be at any time here|after the <HI>Religion</HI> of the <HI>State,</HI> and of the uni|versality of the people, may not only prove a means of retrieving <HI>Protestancy</HI> in <HI>France,</HI> and of assisting to revenge the barbarities perpe|trated <HI>there</HI> upon a great and innocent peo|ple, but may leave the <HI>Roman Catholiks</HI> in <HI>Eng|land</HI> exposed to the resentment of the <HI>King|dom,</HI> for what they have so foolishy and im|pudently acted both against our <HI>Civil Rights,</HI> and Established <HI>Religion,</HI> since <HI>James</HI> the II. came to the Crown; and may also upon the Government's falling into good hands, and Magistrates coming to understand their true Interest, which is for an <HI>English Prince</HI> to make himself the Head of the <HI>Protestant cause</HI> and to espouse their quarrel in all places, give such a Revolution in <HI>Europe</HI> as will not only check the present Career of <HI>Rome,</HI> but cause them repent the method's in which they have been ingaged. These things we may be sure the <HI>Papists</HI> are aware of, and that having proceeded so far, they have
<PB N="21" REF="13">
nothing left for their security from punish|ments because of crimes committed, but to put us out of all capacity of doing our selves Right and them justice; and he must be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ll who do's not know into what that must necessarily hurry them.</P>
<P>It being then as evident as a matter of this nature is capable of, what we are to expect and dread from the <HI>King</HI> both as to our <HI>Reli|gion</HI> and <HI>Laws;</HI> we may do more than pre|sume that the late <HI>Declaration for liberty of con|science,</HI> and the <HI>Proclamation for a Toleration,</HI> are not intended and designed for the bene|fit and advantage of the <HI>Reformed Religion,</HI> and that whatsoever motives have influen|ced to the granting and emitting of them, they do not in the least flow or proceed from any kindness and goodwill to <HI>Prote|stant Dissenters.</HI> And tho many of those weak and easie people may flatter themselves with a belief of an interest in the <HI>Kings</HI> favour, and suffer others to delude them into a per|swasion of his bearing a gracious respect towards them; yet it is certain, that they are people in the world whom he most hates, and who when things are ripe for it, and that he hath abused their credulity into a serving his Ends as far as they can be prevai|led upon, and as long as the present <HI>Juggle</HI> can be of any advantage for promoting the <HI>papal cause,</HI> will be sure not only to have an equal share in his displeasure with their <HI>Bre|thren</HI> of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> but will be made to drink deepest in the cup of fury and wrath that is mingling and preparing for all <HI>Protestants.</HI> No provocation from their pre|sent behaviour, tho it is such as might warm a person of very cool temper, much less offences of another complexion admini|stred by any of them, shall ever tempt me to say they deserve it, or cause me to ravel into their former and past carriages, so as to fasten a blott or imputation upon the party or body of them, whatsoever I may be for|ced to do as to particular persons among them. For as to the generality, I do believe them to be as honest, industrious, useful, and vertuous a people (tho many of them be none of the wisest nor of the greatest pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> spect) as any party of men in the Kingdo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and that wherein soever their carriage (eve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> abstracting from their differences with thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> fellow Protestants in matters of Religion hath varied from that of other Subjects they have been in the Right, and have acte<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> most agreeably to the interest &amp; safety of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Kingdom. But it can be no reflection upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> them, to recall into their memories, tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the whole tenor of the <HI>Kings</HI> actings to|wards them both when <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York</HI> and since <HI>he</HI> came to the <HI>Crown,</HI> hath been such <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> might render it beyond dispute, that the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> are so far from having any singular room i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>his</HI> favour, that he bears them neither pit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> nor compassion, but that they are the ob|jects of his unchangeable indignation. Fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> not to mention how the persecutions, tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> were observed alway's to relent both upon <HI>his</HI> being at any distance from the <HI>late King<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> and upon the abatement of <HI>his</HI> influence <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> any time into Counsels, were constantl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> revived upon <HI>his</HI> return to <HI>Court,</HI> and wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> carried on in degrees of severity proportio|nable to the <HI>figure he</HI> made at <HI>Whitehall</HI> an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>his Brothers</HI> disposedness and inclination t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> hearken to <HI>him;</HI> surely their memories can not be so weak and untenacious, but the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> must remember how their sufferings wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> never greater, nor the <HI>Laws</HI> executed wit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> more severity upon them, than since hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Majesty</HI> came to ascend the <HI>Throne.</HI> As it is no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> many years since he said publickly in <HI>Scot|land,</HI> that it were well if all that part of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Kingdom, (which is above half of the Na|tion) where the Dissenters were known t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> be most numerous, <HI>were turned into a hunti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> field,</HI> so none were favoured and promote<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> either <HI>there</HI> or in <HI>England,</HI> but such as wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> taken to be the most fierce and violent of a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> others against <HI>Fanaticks.</HI> Nor were me preferred either in <HI>Church</HI> or <HI>State</HI> for the learning, vertu' or merit, but for the passionate heats and brutal rigours to <HI>Dissen|ters.</HI> And whereas the <HI>Papists</HI> from the ve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> first day of his arrival at the Governmen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> had beside many other marks of <HI>his Grac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI>
<PB N="22" REF="14">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s special Testimony of it, of not having <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>penal Statutes</HI> to which they stood liable <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">t in execution against them; all the <HI>Laws</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> which the <HI>Dissenters</HI> were obnoxious, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ere by <HI>his Majesties</HI> Orders to the <HI>Judges, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">stices</HI> of the <HI>peace,</HI> and all other <HI>Officers <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">vil</HI> and <HI>Ecclesiastical</HI> most unmercifully exe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ted. Nor was there the least talk of lenity <HI>Dissenters,</HI> till the <HI>King</HI> found that he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">uld not compass <HI>his</HI> Ends by the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">gland,</HI> and prevail upon the <HI>Parliament</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">r Repealing the <HI>Tests,</HI> and cancelling the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">her <HI>Laws</HI> in force against <HI>Papists,</HI> which if <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ey could have been wrought over unto, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Fanaticks</HI> would not only have been left <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ttiless, and continued in the hands of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rious <HI>Church-</HI>men to exercise their spleen <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">pon, but would have been surrendred as a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">crifice to new flames of wrath, if they of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e prelatical Communion had retained <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">eir wonted animosity, and thought it for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">eir interest to exert it, either in the old or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> fresh method's. But that project not suc|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eeding, his <HI>Majesty</HI> is forced to shift hands, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d to use the pretence of extending com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">assion to <HI>Dissenting Protestants,</HI> that he may <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he more plausibly and with the less hazard, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">spend and disable the <HI>Laws</HI> against <HI>Papists,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd make way for their admission into all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ffices <HI>Civil</HI> and <HI>Military,</HI> which is the first <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ep, and all that <HI>he</HI> is yet in a condition to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ke, for the subversion of our <HI>Religion.</HI> And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll the celebrated kindness to <HI>Fanaticks,</HI> is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nly to use them as the <HI>Catt's</HI> paw, for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ulling the Chesnut out of the fire to the <HI>Monkey,</HI> and to make them <HI>stales</HI> under whose <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hroud and covert, the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> may undermine and subvert all the <HI>legal</HI> founda|tions of our Religion, which to suffer them|selves to be instrumental in, will not in the issue turn to the commendation of the <HI>Dis|senters</HI> wisdom or their honesty. Nor is there more truth in the <HI>Kings</HI> declaring it to <HI>have been his constant opinion, that conscience ought not to be constrained, nor people forced in matters of meer Religion,</HI> than there is of <HI>justice</HI> in that malicious insinuation, (in <HI>his Letter</HI> to <HI>Mr. Alsop)</HI> against the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England, that should he see cause to change his Religion, he should never be of that party of Protestants, who think the only way to advance their Church, is by undoing those Churches of Christians that differ from them in smaller matters:</HI> forasmuch as <HI>he</HI> is in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">e mean time a member of the most persecu|ting and bloody <HI>Society,</HI> that ever was cloa|thed with the name of a <HI>Church,</HI> and whose cruelty towards <HI>Protestants he</HI> is careful not to arraign, by fastning <HI>his</HI> offence at severity upon differences in <HI>smaller matters,</HI> which <HI>he</HI> knows that <HI>those</HI> between <HI>Rome</HI> and <HI>us</HI> are not, nor so accounted of by any of the <HI>papal</HI> Fellowship. It were to be wished that the <HI>Dissenters</HI> would reflect and consider, how when the <HI>late King</HI> had emitted a <HI>Declara|tion</HI> of <HI>Indulgence anno</HI> 1672. upon pretended motives of <HI>tenderness</HI> and <HI>compassion</HI> to <HI>his Pro|testant Subjects,</HI> but in truth to keep all quiet at home, when in conjunction with <HI>France he</HI> was engaging in an unjust war against a <HI>Reformed State</HI> abroad, and in order to steal a liberty for the <HI>Papists</HI> to practice their Idola|tries, without incurring a suspition <HI>himself</HI> of being of the <HI>Romish</HI> Religion, and in hope to wind up the <HI>prerogative</HI> to a paramount power over the law; and how when the <HI>Parliament</HI> condemned the illegality of it, and would have the <HI>Declaration</HI> recalled, all his Kindness to <HI>Dissenters</HI> not only immedi|ately vanished, but turned into that Rage and fury, that tho both that <HI>Parliament</HI> addressed for some favour to be shew'd them, and <HI>an|other</HI> voted it a <HI>betraying</HI> of the <HI>Pretestant Re|ligion</HI> to continue the execution of the <HI>penal laws</HI> upon them, yet instead of their having any mercy or moderation exercised towards them, they were thrown into a <HI>Furnace</HI> made seven times hotter, than that wherein they had been scorched before. And without pretending to be a <HI>Prophet,</HI> I dare progno|sticate and foretel, that whensoever the present <HI>King</HI> hath compassed the Ends, unto which this <HI>Declaration</HI> is designed to be sub|servient, namely the placing the <HI>Papists</HI> both in the open exercise of their <HI>Religion,</HI> and in all publick <HI>Offices</HI> and <HI>Trusts,</HI> and the getting a <HI>power</HI> to be acknowledged vested in him
<PB N="23" REF="14">
over the <HI>Laws;</HI> that then instead of the still voice calmly whispered from <HI>White|hall,</HI> they will both hear and feel the blasts of a mighty rushing wind, and that upon pretended occasions arising from the abuse of this <HI>Indulgence,</HI> or for some alled|ged crimes wherein they and all other <HI>Protestants</HI> are to be <HI>involved,</HI> (tho their supiness and excess of Loyalty continue to be their greatest offences) this <HI>liberty</HI> will not only be withdrawn and the old <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England</HI> severities revived, but some of the new <HI>&agrave; l&agrave; mode &agrave; France</HI> treatments come upon the stage, and be pursued against them, and all other perverse and obstinate <HI>British Hereticks.</HI></P>
<P>The <HI>Declaration for liberty of Conscience,</HI> being injurious to the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> and not proceeding from any inward and real good will to the <HI>Dissenters;</HI> it will be worth our pains to inquire into and make a more ample deduction of the Reasons upon which it was granted, that the grounds of emitting it being laid under every man's view, they who have <HI>Addressed</HI> may come to be asham'd of their simplicity and folly, they who have not may be farther confirmed both of the unlawfulness and inconveniency of doing it, and that all who preserve any regard to the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> and the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> may be quickned to the use of all <HI>legal</HI> and due means for preventing the mischievous effects, which it is shapen for, and which the <HI>Papists</HI> do promise themselves from it. The <HI>motives</HI> upon which his <HI>Majesty</HI> publi|shed the <HI>Declaration</HI> may be reduced to <HI>three,</HI> of which as I have already made some mention, so I shall now place every one of them in its several and proper light, and give such proofs and evidence of their being the great and sole <HI>inducements</HI> for the <HI>Emitting</HI> of it, that no rational man shall be able henceforth to make a doubt of it. The <HI>first,</HI> is the Kings winding <HI>himself</HI> into a <HI>Supremacy</HI> and <HI>Absoluteness</HI> over the <HI>Law,</HI> and the getting it acknowledged, and calmly submitted unto and acquiesced in by the <HI>Subjects.</HI> The <HI>Monarchies</HI> being legal and not <HI>Despotical,</HI> bounded and regulat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> by <HI>Laws,</HI> and not to be exercised acco<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|ding to <HI>meer will</HI> and <HI>pleasure,</HI> was th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> which he could not digest the though<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of when a <HI>Subject,</HI> and had been hea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to say <HI>that he had rather Reign a day in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> absoluteness that the French King doth, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> an Age tied up and restrained by Rules as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Brother did.</HI> And therefore to persuade t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Prince</HI> of <HI>Orange</HI> to approve what <HI>He</HI> h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> done in <HI>dispensing</HI> with the <HI>Laws,</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> obtain <HI>Him</HI> and the <HI>Princess</HI> to join wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> his <HI>Majesty</HI> and to employ their inter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> in the Kingdom for the <HI>Repealing</HI> the <HI>T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Acts,</HI> and the many other <HI>Statutes</HI> ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> against <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> he used this Arg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|ment in a Message he sent to their <HI>Roy<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Highnesses</HI> upon that errand, that the ge<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ting it done would be greatly to the a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|vantage and <HI>for the increase of the prorog<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> tive;</HI> but this these two noble <HI>Prince<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> of whose ascent to the Throne all <HI>Pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|testants</HI> have so near and comfortable prospect, were too generous as well <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> wise to be wheedled with, as knowin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> that the <HI>Authority</HI> of the <HI>Kings</HI> and <HI>Quee<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> of <HI>England</HI> is great enough by the Rul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of the <HI>Constitution,</HI> without grasping at new <HI>prerogative</HI> power, which as the <HI>La<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> have not vested in them, so it would b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of no use but to inable them to do hur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> And indeed it is more necessary both fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the honor and safety of the <HI>Monarch,</HI> an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> for the freedom and security of the peopl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> that the <HI>prerogative</HI> should be confined withi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> its ancient and <HI>legal Channels,</HI> than be left t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> that illimited and unbounded latitude, whic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the <HI>late King</HI> and his <HI>present Majesty</HI> have e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|deavoured to advance and screw it up unto<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> That both the <HI>Declaration for liberty of Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|science in England,</HI> and the <HI>Proclamation for Toleration in Scotland,</HI> are calculated for ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|sing the <HI>Soveraign Authority</HI> to a transce<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|dent <HI>Power</HI> over the <HI>Laws</HI> of the two <HI>King|doms,</HI> may be demonstrated from the <HI>Pa|pers</HI> themselves, which lay the <HI>Dispensin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Power</HI> before us in <HI>terms</HI> that import n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> less than his <HI>Majesties</HI> standing free an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="24" REF="15">
solved from all ties and restraints, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> being cloathed with a Right of doing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hatsoever he will. For if the Stile of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">yal Pleasure</HI> to suspend the execution of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ch and such <HI>Laws,</HI> and to forbid such <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d such <HI>Oaths</HI> to be required to be taken, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d this in the virtu' of no <HI>Authority</HI> decla|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d by the <HI>Laws,</HI> to be resident in his <HI>Ma|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">sty,</HI> but in the virtu' of a certain vagrant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d indeterminate thing called <HI>Royal prero|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tive,</HI> as the power exercised in the <HI>English <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eclaration</HI> is worded and expressed, be not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ough to enlighten us sufficiently in the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">atter before us; the <HI>Stile</HI> of <HI>Absolute Power <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hich all the Subjects are to obey without re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">rve,</HI> whereby the King is pleased to chalk <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">efore us the <HI>Authority</HI> exerted in the <HI>Scots <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">roclamation,</HI> for the <HI>stopping, disabling, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">spensing with</HI> such and such <HI>Laws</HI> as are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ere referred unto, and for the <HI>granting</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>toleration</HI> with the other <HI>liberties, immu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ties,</HI> and <HI>Rights</HI> there mentioned, is more <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">an sufficient to set the point we are dis|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oursing beyond all possibility of rational <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ontrol. As 'tis one and the same Kind <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f <HI>Authority</HI> that is claimed over the <HI>Laws</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd <HI>Subjects</HI> of <HI>both Kingdoms,</HI> tho for some <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ertain reasons it be more modestly desig|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ed and expressed in the <HI>Declaration for a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iberty in England,</HI> than it is in the <HI>Proclama|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ion</HI> for a <HI>Toleration in Scotland;</HI> so the ut|most that the <HI>Czar</HI> of <HI>Mosco,</HI> the great <HI>Mo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ull,</HI> or the <HI>Turkish Sultan</HI> ever challenged over their respective Dominions, amounts only to an <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> which the King both owns the Exertion of, and makes it the <HI>fountain</HI> of all the <HI>Royal Acts</HI> exercised in the forementioned <HI>Papers.</HI> And as the improving this challenged <HI>Absolute Power</HI> into an <HI>obligation</HI> upon the <HI>Subjects to obey his Majesty without reserve,</HI> is a <HI>paraphrase</HI> upon <HI>Despotical Dominion,</HI> and an advancing it to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> pitch, above what any of the ancient or modern <HI>Tyrants</HI> ever dream't of, and beyond what the most servile part of Mankind was ever acquainted with till the present <HI>French King</HI> gave an instance of it, in making his <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eer will and pleasure</HI> to be the ground and argument upon which his <HI>Reformed Subjects</HI> were to <HI>renounce</HI> their <HI>Religion,</HI> and to turn <HI>Roman Catholicks;</HI> so it is worth considering whether His <HI>Maj.</HI> who glories to imitate that <HI>forraign Monarch,</HI> may not in a little time make the like application of this <HI>Absolute power, which his Subjects are bound to obey without Reserve;</HI> and whether in that case, they who have <HI>Addressed</HI> to thank <HI>him</HI> for his <HI>Declara|tion,</HI> and thereby justified the Claim of this <HI>Absolute power,</HI> being that upon which the <HI>Declaration</HI> is superstructed, and from which it emergeth, can avoid paying the Obedience that is demanded as a <HI>Duty</HI> in the <HI>Subject</HI> inseparably annexed thereunto. That which more confirms us, that the <HI>English Declaration</HI> and the <HI>Scotts Proclamation,</HI> are not only designed for the obtaining from the <HI>Subjects</HI> an acknowledgment of an <HI>Abso|lute power</HI> vested in the <HI>King,</HI> but that no less than the <HI>Usurpation</HI> and <HI>exercise</HI> of such a <HI>power,</HI> can warrant and support them, are the many <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Rights,</HI> which a juris|diction is challenged over and exerted in reference unto in the <HI>Papers</HI> stiled by the forementioned Names. All confess a <HI>Royal prerogative</HI> setled on the <HI>Crown,</HI> and appertaining to the <HI>Royal Office;</HI> nor can the Supream Magistrature be executed and discharged to the advantage and Safety of the <HI>Community,</HI> without a <HI>power</HI> affixed unto it of <HI>superceding</HI> the <HI>Exe|cution</HI> of some <HI>Laws</HI> at certain junctures, nor without having an <HI>Authority</HI> over the <HI>Rights</HI> of particular men in some incident cases; but then the received <HI>Customes</HI> of the respective <HI>Nations,</HI> and the universal good, preservation and safety of the <HI>People</HI> in ge|neral, are the <HI>measures</HI> by which this <HI>prero|gative</HI> in the <HI>Crown</HI> is to be regulated, and beyond which to apply or exert it, is an <HI>Usurpation</HI> and <HI>Tyranny</HI> in the <HI>Ruler.</HI> All the <HI>Power</HI> belonging to the <HI>Kings</HI> and <HI>Queens</HI> of <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> ariseth from an agree|ment and concession of the <HI>People,</HI> where|in it is <HI>stipulated</HI> what <HI>Rights, Liberties</HI> and <HI>Priviledges</HI> they <HI>Reserved</HI> unto <HI>themselves,</HI> and what <HI>Authority</HI> and <HI>Jurisdiction</HI> they <HI>delegated</HI>
<PB N="25" REF="15">
and made over unto the <HI>Soveraign,</HI> in order to <HI>his</HI> being in a condition to protect and de|fend them, and that <HI>they</HI> may the better live in Peace, Freedom, and Safety, which are the <HI>Ends</HI> for which they have chosen <HI>Kings</HI> to be over them, and for the com|passing whereof they originally submitted unto, and pitched upon such a <HI>Form</HI> of <HI>Ci|vil Administration.</HI> Nor are the <HI>Opinions</HI> of particular men of what Rank or Order soever they be, to be admitted as an expo|sition of the extent of this <HI>Prerogative,</HI> see|ing they thro their dependencies upon the <HI>King,</HI> and their obnoxiousness to be in|fluenced by selfish and personal Ends, may enlarge it beyond what is for the benefit of the <HI>Community;</HI> but the <HI>immemorial</HI> course of Administration, with the sense of the whole <HI>Society</HI> signified by their <HI>Representatives</HI> in <HI>Parliament</HI> upon emerging occasions, are to be taken for the sense, paraphrase, and declaration of the <HI>Limits</HI> of this <HI>Royal</HI> and <HI>prerogative Power;</HI> and for any to determine the bounds of it from the Testimonies of Mercinary <HI>Lawyers,</HI> or Sycophant <HI>Clergy|men,</HI> in cases wherein the <HI>Parliament</HI> have by their <HI>Votes</HI> and <HI>Resolutions</HI> setled its <HI>boun|daries,</HI> is a crime that deserves the severest animadversion, and which it is to be hop'd a true <HI>English Parliament</HI> will not let pass unpunished. Now a <HI>Power</HI> arising from <HI>Royal prerogative</HI> to suspend, and disable a great number of <HI>Laws</HI> at once, and they of such a nature and tendency, as the great security of the people consists in their being maintained, and which the whole <HI>Community</HI> represented in <HI>Parliaments</HI> have often disal|lowed and made void <HI>Princes</HI> medling with, so as to interrupt their execution and course, is so far from being a <HI>Right</HI> inherent in the <HI>Crown,</HI> that the very pretending unto it, is a changing of the <HI>Government,</HI> and an over|throwing of the <HI>Constitution. For|tescue</HI> say's, that <HI>Rex Angliae popu|lum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">De Laudib. Leg. Angl. c. 9.</NOTE> <HI>Gubernat non mer&acirc; potestate Regi&acirc;, sed politic&acirc;; quia populus iis legibus gubernatur quas ipse fert; the King of England doth not so properly Govern by a power that is Regal, at by a power that is p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|litical, in that he is bound to Rule by the Laws<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> which the people themselves chuse and Enact.</HI> An<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> both <HI>Bracton</HI> and <HI>Fleta</HI> tell us, that <HI>Rex Angliae habet superiores,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Bract. lib. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> cap. 16. Fle<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> lib. 1. c. 17.</NOTE> <HI>viz. legem per quam factus est Rex, ac Comites &amp; Barones qui debent <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i fraenum ponere; the King of</HI> Eng|land <HI>hath for Superiors, both the Law by whi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> he is constituted King, and which is the measur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of his Governing Power, and the Parliament whic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> is to restrain him, if he do amiss.</HI> And thereupon we have not only that <NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. 3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> cap. 9<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></NOTE> other saying of <HI>Bracton,</HI> that <HI>nihil aliud potest Rex, nisi id solum quod jure potest; the King can do nothing, but wha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> he can do by law:</HI> but we have that famous pas|sage in our <HI>Parlament Rolls, non est ulla Regis prerogativa, quae ex</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rol. Parl. 7. Hist. 4&punc; Num. 59.</NOTE> <HI>justiti&acirc; &amp; aequitate quicquam dero|gat; that there is no prerogative belongs to the King by which he can decline from acting according to Law and justice&punc;</HI> So careful were our <HI>Ancestors</HI> both in <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland</HI> to preserve their <HI>Laws</HI> from being invaded and superceded by their <HI>Kings;</HI> that they have not only by divers <HI>Parliamen|tary Votes</HI> and <HI>Resolutions,</HI> and by several <HI>St<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> tutes,</HI> declared all <HI>dispensations</HI> by the <HI>King&punc;</HI> from <HI>Laws</HI> and enjoined <HI>Oaths,</HI> to be <HI>null and void,</HI> and not admittable by the <HI>Iudges</HI> or other <HI>Executors</HI> of Law and Justice; but they have often impeached, arraigned, and con|demned those to one penalty or another, that have been found to have counselled and advi|sed <HI>Kings</HI> to an usurpation of <HI>Power</HI> over, the <HI>Laws,</HI> and to a violation of established and enacted <HI>Rules.</HI> It would draw this Discourse to a length beyond what is intended, should I mention the several <HI>Laws</HI> against <HI>Papists</HI> as well as against <HI>Dissenters,</HI> that are <HI>suspended, stopt, disabled,</HI> and <HI>dispensed</HI> with, in the two fore-mentioned <HI>Royal Papers,</HI> and it would be an extending it much more, should I make the several <HI>Reflections</HI> that the matter is capable of, and which a person of a very ordinary understanding cannot be greatly to seek for; I shall therefore only take notice of two
<PB N="26" REF="16">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">r three <HI>Efforts</HI> which occur there of this <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oyal prerogative</HI> and <HI>Absolute power,</HI> which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s they are very bold and ample exertions <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f them for the first time; so should the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ext <HI>exercises</HI> of them be proportionable, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ere will be nothing left us of the <HI>Protestant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eligion,</HI> or of <HI>English Liberties,</HI> and we must <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e contented to be <HI>Papists</HI> and <HI>Slaves,</HI> or else <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> stand adjudged to <HI>Tyburn</HI> and <HI>Smithfield.</HI> One is the <HI>suspending</HI> the <HI>Laws</HI> which en|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">in the <HI>Oaths</HI> of <HI>Allegeance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd the <HI>prohibiting</HI> that these <HI>Oaths be at any <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">me hereafter required to be taken;</HI> by which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ngle <HI>Exercise</HI> of <HI>Royal prerogative</HI> and <HI>Absolute <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ower,</HI> the two Kingdoms are not only a|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ain subjected to a <HI>forraign Iurisdiction,</HI> the miseries whereof they groaned under for several Ages; but as the <HI>King</HI> is hereby de|prived of the greatest <HI>security,</HI> he had from <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">is <HI>Subjects</HI> both to <HI>himself</HI> and the <HI>Government,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o the <HI>Crown</HI> is robb'd of one of its chiefest <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ewels, namely an <HI>Authority</HI> over all the <HI>Sub|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ects,</HI> which was thought so essential to <HI>Sove|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">aignty</HI> &amp; <HI>Royal Dignity,</HI> that it was annexed to the <HI>Imperial Crown</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> &amp; adjudged in|herent in the <HI>Monarch,</HI> before the <HI>Reformed Re|ligion</HI> came to be received &amp; established. And it concerns their <HI>Royal Highnesses</HI> of <HI>Orange,</HI> to whom the Right of succeeding to the <HI>Crown<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> of <HI>Great Brittain</HI> unquestionably be|longs, to consider whether his <HI>Majesty</HI> may not by the same <HI>Authority,</HI> whereby he alie|nates and gives away so considerable and inherent a <HI>Branch</HI> of the <HI>Royal Iurisdiction, transferr</HI> the <HI>Succession</HI> it self, and <HI>dispose</HI> the <HI>Inheritance</HI> of the <HI>Crown</HI> to whom <HI>he</HI> plea|seth. Nor will they about <HI>him,</HI> who thrust the <HI>last King</HI> out of the <HI>Throne</HI> to make room for his present <HI>Majesty,</HI> much scruple to put a <HI>Protestant Successor</HI> by it, if they can find another <HI>Papist</HI> as <HI>Bigotted</HI> as <HI>this</HI> to advance unto it. However were <HI>they</HI> on the <HI>Throne</HI> to morrow, here is both a <HI>Forraign Iuris|diction</HI> brought in and set up to Rivall and controll <HI>theirs,</HI> and they are deprived of all means of being <HI>secured</HI> of the <HI>Loyalty</HI> and <HI>Fealty</HI> of a great number of their <HI>Subjects.</HI> Nor will His <HI>Majesties certain knowledg and long experience</HI> (whereof <HI>he</HI> boasts in the <HI>Scots Proclamation) that the Catholicks, as it is their principle, to be good Christians, so it is to be dutiful Subjects,</HI> be enough for their <HI>Royal Highnesses</HI> to rely upon, their <HI>Religion</HI> obliging them to the contrary towards <HI>Princes,</HI> whom the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> hath adjudged to be <HI>He|reticks.</HI> A <HI>second</HI> Instance wherein this pre|tended <HI>Royal Prerogative</HI> is exercised para|mount to all <HI>Laws,</HI> and which nothing but a claim of <HI>Absolute Power</HI> in his <HI>Majesty</HI> can support, and an acknowledgment of it by the <HI>Subj<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">st<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> make them approve the <HI>Decla|ration for Liberty of Conscience,</HI> and the <HI>Pro|clamation for Toleration;</HI> is the <HI>stopping, dis|abling and suspending</HI> the <HI>Statutes</HI> whereby the <HI>Tests</HI> were enacted, and thereby letting the <HI>Papists</HI> in to all Benefices, Offices, and Places of Trust, whether <HI>Civil, Military,</HI> or <HI>Ecclesiastick.</HI> I do not speak of <HI>Suspending</HI> the Execution of those <HI>Laws,</HI> whereby the being <HI>Priests,</HI> or taking <HI>Orders</HI> in the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> or the being <HI>Reconciled</HI> to that <HI>Church,</HI> or the <HI>Papists</HI> meeting to celebrate <HI>Mass,</HI> were in one degree, or another made pu|nishable, (tho the <HI>Kings</HI> dispensing with them by a challenged <HI>claim</HI> in the <HI>Crown</HI> be altogether <HI>illegal)</HI> for as diverss of these <HI>Laws</HI> were never approved by many <HI>Prote|stants,</HI> so nothing would have justified the making of them, but the many <HI>Treasons</HI> and <HI>Conspiracies</HI> that they were from time to time found <HI>guilty</HI> of against the <HI>State.</HI> And as the <HI>Papists</HI> of all men have the least cause to complain of the injustice, rigour, and severity of them, considering the ma|ny <HI>Laws</HI> more cruel and sanguinary that are in <HI>Force</HI> in most <HI>Popish</HI> Countries against <HI>Protestants,</HI> and these enacted and executed meerly for their Opinions and Practices in the matters of God, without their being chargeable with crimes and offences against the <HI>Civil Government</HI> under which they live, so were it necessary from principles of Religion and Policy to <HI>relieve</HI> the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> from the forementioned <HI>Laws,</HI> yet it ought not to be done but by the <HI>Legisla|tive Authority</HI> of the <HI>Kingdoms,</HI> and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">or the
<PB N="27" REF="16">
<HI>King</HI> to assume a <HI>power</HI> of <HI>doing</HI> it in the ver|tue of a pretended <HI>prerogative,</HI> is both a high <HI>Usurpation</HI> over the <HI>Laws,</HI> and a <HI>Violation</HI> of of his <HI>Coronation Oath.</HI> Nor is it any com|mendation either of the <HI>humanity</HI> of the <HI>Papists,</HI> or of the <HI>meekness</HI> and <HI>Truth</HI> of their <HI>Religion,</HI> that while they elsewhere treat those who differ from them in Faith and Worship with that Barbarity, they should so clamorously inveigh against the severi|ties which in some Reformed <HI>States</HI> they are liable unto, and which their <HI>Treasons</HI> gave the rise and provocation unto at first, and have been at all times the motives to the infliction of. But they alone would have the allowance to be cruel wherein they act consonantly to their own <HI>Tenets;</HI> and I wish that some provision might be made for the future, for the <HI>security</HI> of our <HI>Religion,</HI> and our safety in the profession of it, with|out the doing any thing that may unbe|come the merciful principles of <HI>Christianity,</HI> or be unsutable to the meek and generous temper of the <HI>English</HI> Nation, and that the <HI>property</HI> of being <HI>Sanguinary</HI> may be left to the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> as its peculiar Priviledg and Glory, and as a more distinguisting Character than all the other Marks which she pretends unto. That which I am speaking of, is the <HI>suspending</HI> the <HI>Execution</HI> of those <HI>Laws,</HI> by which the <HI>Government</HI> was se|cured of the <HI>Fidelity</HI> of its <HI>Subjecte,</HI> and by which <HI>they</HI> in whom it could not <HI>confide</HI> were meerly shut out from places of power and trust, and were made liable to very small damages themselves, and only hindred from getting into a condition of doing mischief to us. All <HI>Governments</HI> have a Right to use means for their own preser|vation, provided they be not such as are in|consistent with the <HI>Ends</HI> of Government, and repugnant to the <HI>will</HI> and <HI>pleasure</HI> of the <HI>Supream Soveraign</HI> of mankind, and it is in the power of every Legislative Assembly to declare who of the <HI>Community</HI> shall be capable or incapable of publick Imploys, and of possessing Offices, upon which the Peace, Welfare, and Security of the whole <HI>Politick Body</HI> does depend. Without this n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Government</HI> could subsist, nor the <HI>People</HI> b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> in safety under it; but the <HI>Constitution</HI> woul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> be in constant danger of being subverted<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and the Priviledges, Liberties, and Reli|gion of the <HI>Subjects</HI> laid open to be over|thrown. And should such a <HI>power</HI> in <HI>Le|gislators,</HI> be upon weak suspitions and il<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> grounded jealousies, carried at any tim<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> too far, and some prove to be debarre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> from <HI>Trusts,</HI> whose being imployed woul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> import no hazard; yet the worst of that would be only a disrepect shewn to indivi|dual persons, who might deserve more fa|vour and esteem, but could be of no pre|judice to the <HI>Society,</HI> there being alway's <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> sufficient number of others, fit for the dis|charge of all <HI>Offices,</HI> in whom an entire con|fidence may be reposed. And 'tis remarka|ble, that the <HI>States General</HI> of the <HI>Unite<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Provinces,</HI> who afford the greatest Liberty to all <HI>Religions,</HI> that any known State i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Europe</HI> giveth; yet they suffer no <HI>Papists</HI> to come into places of <HI>Authority</HI> and <HI>Iudicature&punc;</HI> nor to bear any <HI>Office</HI> in the <HI>Republick</HI> tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> may either put them into a condition, o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> lay them under a temptation of attempting any thing to the <HI>prejudice</HI> of <HI>Religion,</HI> o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> for the betraying the <HI>Liberty</HI> of the <HI>Provinces&punc;</HI> And as 'tis lawful for any <HI>Government</HI> to pre|clude all such persons from publick <HI>Trusts,</HI> of whose enmity, and ill will to the <HI>Esta|blishment</HI> in <HI>Church</HI> or <HI>State,</HI> they have either a moral certainty, or just grounds of su|spition; so 'tis no less lawful to provide <HI>Tests</HI> for their discovery and detection, tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> they may not be able to mask and vizo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> themselves in order to getting into Offices, and thereupon of promoting and accom|plishing their mischievous and malicious intentions. Nor is it possible in such a case, but that the <HI>Tests</HI> they are to be tried by, must relate to some of those principles by which they are most eminently distingui|shed from them of the <HI>National</HI> Settlement, and in reference whereunto they think it most <HI>piacular</HI> to dissemble their Opinion&punc; Nor have the <HI>Papists</HI> cause to be offended,
<PB N="28" REF="17">
that the <HI>Renouncing the Belief of Transubstantia|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">on</HI> should be required as the distinguishing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ark whereby upon their refusal, they may <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e discerned, when all the penalty upon their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eing known, is only to be excluded from a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">are in the <HI>Legislation,</HI> and not to be admitted <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o Employments of Trust and profit; seeing it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ath been and still is their custome, to require <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he; <HI>belief of the Corporal presence in the Sacra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ent,</HI> as that upon the not acknowledgment whereof we are to be accounted <HI>Hereticks,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd to stand condemned to be <HI>burnt,</HI> which is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">omewhat worse than the not being allowed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o sit in the two <HI>Houses</HI> of <HI>Parliament,</HI> or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o be shut out from a <HI>Civil</HI> or <HI>Military <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ffice.</HI> Neither are they required to <HI>Declare</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uch less to <HI>Swear,</HI> that the <HI>Doctrine</HI> of <HI>Transubstantiation</HI> is <HI>false, or that there is no <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ch thing as Transubstantiation,</HI> (as is affirmed <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">n a scurrilous <HI>Paper</HI> written against the <HI>Loyalty</HI> of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England)</HI> but all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hat is enjoined in the <HI>Test Acts,</HI> is that, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>A. B. do declare, that I do believe that there <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> not any Transubstantiation in the Sacrament <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the Lords Supper, or in the Elements of Bread <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd Wine, at or after the Consecration thereof by <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ny Person whatsoever.</HI> Tho the <HI>Parliament</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">as willing to use all the care they could, for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he discovering <HI>Papists,</HI> that the provision for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ur security, unto which those <HI>Acts</HI> were de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">igned, might be the more effectual; yet <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hey were not so void of understanding, as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o prescribe a Method for it, which would <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ave exposed them to the world for their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">olly, 'Tis much different to say, swear, or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eclare, that <HI>I do believe there is not any Transub|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">antiation,</HI> and the saying or declaring that <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">here is not a Transubstantiation;</HI> the former <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eing only <HI>expressive</HI> of what my <HI>sentiment</HI> or opinion is, and not at all <HI>affecting</HI> the <HI>Doctrine</HI> it self, to make, or unmake it, other <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">han what it is, independently upon my judg|ment of it; whereas the <HI>latter</HI> does prima|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ily <HI>Affect</HI> the <HI>Object</HI> and the determination of its existence to such a mode as I conceive <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">t; and there are a thousand things which I can say that I do not believe, but I dare not say that they are not. Now as 'tis the dis|pensing with <HI>these Laws</HI> that argues the <HI>Kings assuming an Absolute Power;</HI> so the <HI>Addressing</HI> by way of thanks for the <HI>Declaration</HI> where|in this Power is exerted, is no less than an owning and acknowledging of it, and that it rightfully belongs to him. There is a third thing which shame or fear would not suffer them to put into the <HI>Declaration for liberty of Conscience in England,</HI> but which they have had the impudence to insert into the <HI>Procla|mation for a Toleration in Scotland,</HI> which as it carries <HI>Absolute Power</HI> written in forehead of it, so it is such an unpresidented exercise of <HI>Despoticalness,</HI> as hardly any of the <HI>Oriental Tyrants</HI> or even the <HI>French Leviathan</HI> would have ventured upon. For having <HI>stop't, disa|bled,</HI> and <HI>suspended</HI> all <HI>Laws</HI> enjoining any <HI>Oaths,</HI> whereby our <HI>Religion</HI> was <HI>secured,</HI> and the preservation of it to us and our posterity was provided for; he imposeth a new <HI>Oath</HI> upon his <HI>Scots Subjects,</HI> whereby they are to be bound <HI>to defend and mantain Him, his Heirs and Lawful Successors in the Exercise of their Ab|solute Power and Authority against all deadly,</HI> The <HI>imposing</HI> an <HI>Oath</HI> upon <HI>Subjects</HI> hath been always look't upon as the highest <HI>Act</HI> of <HI>legisla|tive Authority,</HI> in that it <HI>affects</HI> their Conscien|ces, and requires the approbation, or disap|probation of their Minds and Judgments, in reference to whatsoever it is enjoined for; whereas a <HI>Law</HI> that affects only mens Estates may be submitted unto, tho in the mean time they think that which is exacted of them to be unreasonable and unjust. And as it concerns both the wisdom and justice of <HI>Law-givers</HI> to be very tender in Ordaining <HI>Oaths</HI> that are to be taken by Subjects, and that not only from a care that they may not prostitute the name of <HI>God</HI> to prophanation when the matter about which they are imposed, is either light and trival, or dubious and un|certain; but because it is an exercise of Juris|diction over the <HI>Souls</HI> of men, which is more than if it were only exercised over their <HI>Goods, Bodies,</HI> and <HI>Priviledges;</HI> so never any of our <HI>Kings</HI> pretended to a <HI>Right</HI> of enjoining and requiring an <HI>Oath</HI> that was not first <HI>Enacted</HI> and <HI>specified</HI> in some <HI>Law;</HI> and it would have
<PB N="29" REF="17">
been heretofore accounted a good plea for refusing such or such an <HI>Oath,</HI> to say there was no <HI>Statute</HI> that had required it. It was one of the <HI>Articles</HI> of <HI>high</HI> Treason (and the most material) charged upon the <HI>Earl</HI> of <HI>Strafford,</HI> that being <HI>Lord Deputy of Ireland,</HI> he required an <HI>Oath</HI> of the <HI>Scotts</HI> who inha|bited there, which no Law had ordained or prescribed; which may make those <HI>Councellors</HI> who have advised the <HI>King</HI> to impose this new <HI>Oath,</HI> as well as all others that shal require it to be taken upon his <HI>Majesties</HI> bare <HI>Au|thority,</HI> to be a little apprehensive, whether it may not at some time rise in judgment against them, and prove a forefeiture of their lives to justice. And as the imposing an <HI>Oath</HI> not warranted by <HI>Law</HI> is a high <HI>Act</HI> of <HI>Abso|lute Power,</HI> and in the <HI>King</HI> an <HI>altering</HI> of the <HI>Constitution;</HI> so if we look into the <HI>Oath</HI> it self, we shall find this <HI>Absolute Power</HI> strang|ly manifested and displayed in all the parts and branches of it, and the people required to swear themselves his <HI>Majesties</HI> most obe|dient <HI>Slaves</HI> and <HI>Vassalls.</HI> By one <HI>Paragraph</HI> of it, they are required to <HI>swear that it is un|lawful for Subjects on any pretence or for any Cause whatsoever to rise in Arms against him, or any Commissioned by him; and that they shall ne|ver resist his power or Authority;</HI> which as it may be intended for a foundation and means of keeping men quiet when he shall break in upon their <HI>Estates</HI> and over|throw their <HI>Religion,</HI> so it may be designed as an encouragement to his <HI>Catholick Subjects,</HI> to set upon the cutting <HI>Protestants throats,</HI> when by this <HI>Oath</HI> their hands are tied up from hindring them. It is but for the <HI>Papists</HI> to come <HI>Authorised</HI> with his <HI>Majesties Commis|sion,</HI> which will not be denied them for so meritorious a work, and then there is no help nor remedy, but we must stretch out our necks, and open our breasts, to their consecrated swords, and sanctified daggers. Nay if the <HI>King</HI> should transfer the Suc|cession to the Crown from the <HI>Rightful Heir</HI> to some zealous <HI>Romanist,</HI> or <HI>Alienat</HI> and <HI>dispose</HI> his <HI>Kingdoms</HI> in way of <HI>donation</HI> and <HI>gift</HI> to the <HI>Pope,</HI> or to the <HI>Society</HI> of the <HI>Iesuites,</HI> and for the better securing them in the possessio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> hereafter, should invest and place them i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the enjoyment of them while he lives; th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Scotts</HI> are bound in the virtue of this <HI>Oat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> tamely to look on, and calmly to acquiesc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> in it. Or should his <HI>Physitians</HI> advise him to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> nightly variety of <HI>Matron's</HI> and <HI>Maids,</HI> as th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> best remedy against his malignant and vene|mous heats; all of that <HI>Kingdom</HI> are boun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to surrender their <HI>Wives</HI> and <HI>daughters</HI> to him with a du'tiful silence and a profound venera|tion. And if by this <HI>Oath</HI> he can secur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> himself from the opposition of his <HI>dissenting Subjects</HI> in case thro recovery of their Rea|son a fit of ancient zeal should surprise them&punc; he is otherway's secured of an <HI>Asiatick</HI> tame|ness in his <HI>prelatical</HI> people, by a <HI>principl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> which they have lately imbib'd, but neithe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> learned from their <HI>Bibles</HI> nor the <HI>Statutes</HI> o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the <HI>Land.</HI> For the <HI>Clergy</HI> upon thinking that the wind would alway's blow out of one quar|ter, and being resolved to make that a duty by their learning, which their interest at that season made convenient; have preached up the <HI>Doctrine of passive Obedience</HI> to such a boundless height, that they have done what in them lyes, to give up themselves and all that had the weakness to believe them, fette|red and bound for sacrifices to <HI>popish</HI> rage and <HI>Despotical</HI> Tyranny. But for my self (and I hope the like of many others) I thank God I am not tainted with that slavish and adula|tory doctrine, as having alway's thought that the first duty of every member of a <HI>Body po|litick,</HI> is to the <HI>Community,</HI> for whose safety, and good, <HI>Governours</HI> are instituted, and that it is only to <HI>Rulers</HI> as they are found to answer the main <HI>ends</HI> they are appointed for, and to Act by the legal Rules that are <HI>Chalcks</HI> out unto them. Whether it be from my dulness, or that my understanding is of a perverser make than other mens, I cannot tell; but I could never yet be otherway's minded, than that the <HI>Rules</HI> of the <HI>Constitution</HI> and the <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>Republick</HI> or <HI>Kingdom,</HI> are to be the measures both of the <HI>Soveraigns Commands,</HI> and of the <HI>Subjects</HI> obedience; and that as we are not to invade what by <HI>concessions</HI> and <HI>sti|pulations</HI>
<PB N="30" REF="18">
belongs unto the <HI>Ruler,</HI> so we may not only lawfully, but we ought to defend what is reserved to our selves, if it be in|vaded and broken in upon. And as without such a Right in the Subjects, all <HI>legal Govern|ments,</HI> and <HI>mixt Monarchies,</HI> were but em|ptie names, and ridiculous things; so where|soever the <HI>Constitution</HI> of a <HI>Nation</HI> is such, there the <HI>Prince</HI> who strives to subvert the <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>Society</HI> is the Traitor and Re|bel; and not the <HI>people</HI> who endeavour to preserve and defend them. There is yet an|other branch of the foresaid <HI>Oath,</HI> that is of a much more unreasonable strain than the for|mer, which is, <HI>that they shall to the utmost of their Power assist, defend, and maintain him in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he exercise of this Absolute Power and Authority;</HI> which being tack't to <HI>our Obeying without reserve,</HI> make us the greatest <HI>Slaves,</HI> that either are, or ever were in the universe. Our <HI>Kings</HI> were heretofore bound to Govern according to law (and so is his present <HI>Majesty,</HI> if a <HI>Coronation Oath,</HI> and <HI>faith</HI> to <HI>Hereticks,</HI> were not weaker than <HI>Sampson's</HI> cords proved to be) but instead of that, here is a new <HI>Oath</HI> imposed upon the <HI>Subjects</HI> by which they are bound to protect and defend the <HI>King</HI> in his <HI>Ruling</HI> Arbitra|rily. It had been more than enough to have required only a calm submitting to the exer|cise of <HI>Absolute Power;</HI> but to be injoined to swear to <HI>assist</HI> and <HI>defend</HI> his <HI>Majesty</HI> and <HI>Successors</HI> in all things wherein they shall exert it, is a plain destroying of all natural as well as <HI>Civil Liberty,</HI> and a robbing us of that freedom that belongs unto us both as we are men, and as we are born under a free and legal Government. For by this we become bound to dragg our Brethren to the Stake, to cutt their Throats, plunder their Houses, embrew our hands in the Blood of our Wives and Children, if his <HI>Majesty</HI> please to make these the Instances wherein he will exert his <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> and require us to <HI>assist him in the exercise of it.</HI> As it was necessary to <HI>Cancell</HI> all other <HI>Oaths</HI> and <HI>Tests,</HI> as being directly inconsistent with this; so the requi|ring the <HI>Scotts</HI> to swear this <HI>Oath,</HI> is the highest reveng he could take for their <HI>Solemn league and Covenant</HI> and for all other <HI>Oaths,</HI> that lust after <HI>Arbitrariness,</HI> and <HI>Popish Bigottry,</HI> will pronounce to have been injurious to the <HI>Crown.</HI> But no words are sufficient to express the mischiefs wrapt up in that new <HI>Oath,</HI> or to declare the abhorrency that all who value the <HI>Rights</HI> and <HI>liberties</HI> of <HI>mankind</HI> ought to entertain for it, nor to proclaim the villany of those who shall by <HI>Addresses</HI> give thanks for the <HI>Proclamation.</HI> There may a <HI>fourth</HI> thing be added, whereby it will appear that his <HI>Ma|jesties</HI> assuming <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> stands recor|ded in Capital Letters in his <HI>Declaration</HI> for <HI>liberty</HI> of <HI>Conscience.</HI> For not being conten|ted to omit the requiring the <HI>Oaths</HI> of <HI>Al|legeance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy</HI> and the <HI>Test Oaths</HI> to be taken, nor being satisfied to suspend for a season the enjoining any to be demanded to take them; he tells us that it is his <HI>Royal will and pleasure</HI> that the foresaid <HI>Oaths shall not at any time hereafter be required to be taken,</HI> which is a full and direct <HI>Repealing</HI> of the <HI>Laws</HI> in which they are Enacted. It hath hitherto passed for an undoubted <HI>Maxim,</HI> that <HI>eorum est tollere, quorum est condere, they can only abrogate Laws, who have Power and Authority to make them,</HI> and we have hereto|fore been made believe, that the <HI>Legislative power</HI> was not in the <HI>King</HI> alone, but that the two <HI>Houses</HI> of <HI>Parliament</HI> had at least a share in it; whereas here by the disabling and su|spending <HI>Laws</HI> for ever, the whole <HI>legislative Power</HI> is challenged to be <HI>vested</HI> in the <HI>King,</HI> and at one dash the <HI>Government</HI> of <HI>England</HI> is subverted and changed. Tho it hath been much disputed whether the <HI>King</HI> had a liberty of Refusing to <HI>Assent</HI> to <HI>Bills</HI> relating to the benefit of the publick that had passed the two <HI>Houses,</HI> and if there be any sense in those words of the <HI>Coronation Oath</HI> of his being bound to <HI>Govern according to the Laws quas vulgus Elegerit,</HI> he had not; yet none till now, that his Majesty doth it, had the im|pudence to affirm that he might <HI>abrogate Laws</HI> without the concurrence and assent of the <HI>Lords</HI> and <HI>Commons.</HI> For to say that <HI>Oaths</HI> enjoined by <HI>Laws</HI> to be required to be taken, <HI>shall not at any time hereafter be requi|red
<PB N="31" REF="18">
to be taken,</HI> is a plain <HI>Cancelling</HI> and <HI>re|pealing</HI> of these <HI>Laws,</HI> or nothing of this World ever was or is, nor can the wisdom of the Nation in <HI>Parliament</HI> assembled, find words more <HI>emphatical</HI> to declare their <HI>Abro|gation,</HI> without saying so, which at this time it was necessary to forbear, for fear of allar|ming the <HI>Kingdom</HI> too far, before his <HI>Ma|jesty</HI> be sufficiently provided against it. For admitting them to continue still in being and force, tho the <HI>King</HI> may promise for the <HI>nonexecution</HI> of them, during his own time, (which is even a pretty bold undertaking) yet he cannot assure us that the <HI>Oaths shall not be required to be taken at any time hereafter,</HI> unless he have provided for an eternal <HI>Line</HI> of <HI>popish Successors,</HI> which God will not be so unmerciful as to plague us with, or have gotten a lease of a longer life than <HI>Methu|salah's,</HI> which is much more than the full <HI>Century</HI> of years wished him in a late <HI>Dedi|cation</HI> by one that stiles himself an <HI>Irishman,</HI> a thing he might have foreborn telling us, because the <HI>Size</HI> of his understanding fully declares it. However here is such a stroke and exercise of <HI>Absolute Power</HI> as <HI>dissolves</HI> the <HI>Government,</HI> and brings us all into a <HI>State of Nature,</HI> by discharging us from the ties, which by vertue of <HI>fundamental Stipulations,</HI> and <HI>Statute Laws</HI> we formerly lay under; for|asmuch as we know no <HI>King</HI> but a <HI>King</HI> by <HI>Law,</HI> nor no <HI>Power</HI> he has but a <HI>legal Power.</HI> Which thro disclaiming by a challenge that the whole <HI>legislative Authority</HI> does reside in himself, he hath thrown the <HI>Gantles</HI> to three <HI>Kingdoms,</HI> and provokes them to a trial, whe|ther he be ablest to maintain his <HI>Absoluteness</HI> or they to justify their being a <HI>free People.</HI> And by <HI>virtu'</HI> of the same <HI>Royal will and plea|sure,</HI> that he annulls (which he calls Suspen|ding) the Laws enjoining the <HI>Tests</HI> and the <HI>Oaths</HI> of <HI>Allegeance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy,</HI> and com|mands that none of these <HI>Oaths</HI> and <HI>Declara|tions shall at any time hereafter be required to be taken;</HI> he may in some following <HI>Royal Pa|pers,</HI> give us <HI>whitehall,</HI> or <HI>Hampton Court Edicts,</HI> conformable to those at <HI>Versailles, which at all times hereafter</HI> we shall be bound to submitt unto, and stand obliged to be Ru|led by instead of the <HI>Common Law</HI> and <HI>Statut<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Book</HI> Nor is the taking upon him to stamp us new <HI>Laws,</HI> exclusively of <HI>Parliamentary</HI> concurrence, in the virtu' of his <HI>Royal pre|rogative,</HI> any thing more uncouth' in it self, or more dissagreeable to the <HI>Rules</HI> of the <HI>Con|stitution</HI> and what we have been constantly accustomed unto, than the <HI>cassing, disabling</HI> and abrogating so many old ones, which that <HI>absolute,</HI> out of date, as well as ill favoured thing upon <HI>Monarchs,</HI> called a <HI>Parliament,</HI> had a share in the Enacting of. I will not say that our <HI>Addressers</HI> were conscious, that the getting an <HI>Absolute Power</HI> in his <HI>Majesty,</HI> to be owned and acknowledged, was one of the <HI>Ends</HI> for which the late <HI>Declaration</HI> was calculated and emitted, but I think I have sufficiently demonstrated both that <HI>such</HI> a power it issueth and flows from, and that <HI>such a power</HI> is plainly <HI>exercised</HI> in it. Which whether there coming now to be told and made acquainted with it, may make them repent what they have done, or at least pre|vent their being accessory to the support of this <HI>Power</HI> in other mischievous effects that are to be dreaded from it, I must leave to time to make the discovery, it being impos|sible to foretel what a People fallen into a <HI>phrenzie</HI> may do in their <HI>paroxism's</HI> of distra|ction and madness.</P>
<P>Nor was the <HI>Seruing himself</HI> into the pos|session of an <HI>Absolute power,</HI> and the getting it to be owned by at least a part of the people, the only <HI>Motive</HI> to the publishing the <HI>Declaration for Liberty of Conscience</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> and the <HI>Proclamation for a Toleration in Scotland;</HI> but a <HI>second inducement,</HI> tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> sway'd unto it, was the <HI>undermining</HI> an sub|verting the <HI>Protestant Religion,</HI> and the ope|ning a door for the <HI>introduction</HI> and <HI>establ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">h|ment</HI> of <HI>Popery.</HI> Nor was it from any com|passion to <HI>Dissenters,</HI> that these <HI>two Roya<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Papers</HI> were emitted, but from his <HI>Majestie<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> tender love to <HI>Papists,</HI> to whom as there arise many advantages for the present, so the whole Benefit will be found to re|dound to them in the issue. We are told (a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">
<PB N="32" REF="19">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ave already mentioned) <HI>that the King is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">esolved to convert England, or to die a Martyr;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd we may be sure that if he did not think <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he <HI>suspending</HI> the <HI>penal Laws,</HI> and the <HI>dis|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ensing</HI> with requiring of the <HI>Tests,</HI> and the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ranting <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>Toleration,</HI> to be means admirably adapted thereunto, he would not have acted so inconsistently with him|self, nor in that opposition to his own <HI>de|signes,</HI> as to have disabled these <HI>Laws,</HI> and vouch sav'd the Freedom that results there|upon. Especially when we are told by the <HI>Leige Iesuite,</HI> that the <HI>King</HI> being <HI>sensible of his growing old,</HI> finds <HI>himself</HI> thereby obliged <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o make the greater hast, and to take the larger steps,</HI> lest thro not living long enough to effect what he intends, he should not only lose the glory of <HI>converting</HI> three King|doms, but <HI>should leave the Papists in a worse condition than he found them.</HI> His <HI>Highness</HI> the <HI>Prince</HI> of <HI>Orange</HI> very justly concludes this <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o be the thing aim'd at by the present <HI>Indul|gence,</HI> and therefore being desired to approve the <HI>Suspension</HI> of the <HI>Test Acts,</HI> and to co|operate with <HI>his Majesty</HI> for the obtaining their being <HI>Repealed;</HI> was pleased to Answer, <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hat while he was, as well as prosesseth himself a Protestant,</HI> he would <HI>not Act so unworthily as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o betray the Protestant Religion,</HI> which he ne|cessarily must, if he should do as he was desired. Her <HI>Royal Highness</HI> the <HI>Princess</HI> of <HI>Orange,</HI> has likewise the same apprehen|sion of the tendency of the <HI>Toleration</HI> and <HI>Indulgence,</HI> and therefore was pleased to say to some <HI>Scotts Ministers</HI> that did themselves the honor, and performed the duty that be|came them, in going to wait upon <HI>her,</HI> that <HI>She</HI> greatly commended <HI>their</HI> having <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o accession to the betraying of the Protestant Reli|gion, by their returning home to take the benefit of the Toleration.</HI> What an indelible Reproach will it be to a Company of men, that pre|tend to <HI>be set for the defence of the Gospel,</HI> and who stile themselves <HI>Ministers</HI> of <HI>Iesus Christ,</HI> to be found betraying <HI>Religion,</HI> thro justi|fying the <HI>Suspension</HI> of so many <HI>Laws</HI> where|by it was <HI>established</HI> and <HI>supported,</HI> and where|by the <HI>Kingdoms</HI> were <HI>Fenced</HI> about, and guarded against <HI>Popery;</HI> while these <HI>two</HI> No|ble <HI>Princes</HI> to the neglect of <HI>their</HI> own In|terest in His <HI>Majesties</HI> Favour, and to the provoking <HI>him</HI> to do <HI>them</HI> all the prejudice he can in their <HI>Right</HI> of <HI>Succession</HI> to the <HI>Im|perial Crowns</HI> of Great <HI>Brittain,</HI> do signify their open dislike of that <HI>Act</HI> of the <HI>King,</HI> and that not only upon the account of its illega|lity and Arbitrariness, but by reason of its tendency to supplant and undermine the <HI>Reformed Religion.</HI> And they are strangely blind that do not see how it powerfully o|perates, and conduceth to the effecting of this, and that in more way's and method's than are easie to be recounted. For there|by our <HI>divisions,</HI> are not only kept up at a time, when the united Councels and strength of all <HI>Protestants</HI> is too little against the craft and power of <HI>Rome;</HI> but they who have <HI>Addressed</HI> to thank the <HI>King</HI> for his <HI>Royal Pa|pers,</HI> are become a listed and enrolled <HI>Fa|ction,</HI> to abet and stand by the <HI>King</HI> in all that naturally follows to be done for the maintaining his <HI>Declaration,</HI> and justifying of the usurped <HI>Authority</HI> from which it is|sues. 'Tis matter of a melancholy consi|deration, and turns little to the credit of <HI>Dissenters,</HI> that when they of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> who had with so great indiscre|tion promoted things to that pass, which an easie improvement of would produce what hath since ensued, are thro being at last enlightned in the designes of the <HI>Court,</HI> come so far to recover their witts, as that they can no longer do the service they were wont, and which was still expected from them; there should be a new <HI>Tribe</HI> of men muster'd up to stand in their room, and who by their <HI>vows</HI> and <HI>Promises</HI> made to the <HI>King</HI> in their <HI>Addresses,</HI> have undertaken to perform, what others have the Conscience, and Honesty, as well as the Wisdom, to refuse and decline. Nor are the <HI>Divisions</HI> among <HI>Protestants</HI> only hereby upheld and maintained; but our Animosities and ran|cours are both continued and enflamed. For while they of the <HI>Established</HI> way are provoked and exasperated to see all the <HI>legal</HI>
<PB N="33" REF="19">
Foundations both of the <HI>Protestant Religion</HI> and their <HI>Church</HI> subverted; the <HI>Addressing-Dissenters</HI> are emboldned, to revenge them|selves upon the <HI>National Clergy,</HI> in <HI>Terms</HI> of the utmost opprobry, virulence, and re|proach, for their accession to the sufferings which they had endured. Surely it would have been not only more <HI>generous,</HI> but much more <HI>Christian,</HI> and becoming good as well as wise men, to have made no other Re|taliations but those of forgiveness and par|don for the injuries they had met with, and to have offered all the assistances, they could give, to their <HI>conformable Brethren,</HI> for the stemming and withstanding the <HI>deluge</HI> of <HI>Popery</HI> and Tyranny that is impetuously breaking in upon the <HI>Kingdoms.</HI> And as this would have united all <HI>Protestants</HI> in bonds of forbearance and love not to be dissol|ved thro petty differences about <HI>Discipline, Forms</HI> of <HI>Worship,</HI> and a few <HI>Rites,</HI> and <HI>Cere|monies;</HI> so it would in the sense and judg|ment of all men, have given them a more triumphant victory over those that had been their imprudent and peevish Enemies, than if they were to enjoy the spoiles of the <HI>conformable Clergy,</HI> by being put into posses|sion of their <HI>Cures</HI> and <HI>Benefices.</HI> The Rela|tion I have stood in to the <HI>Dissenting</HI> party, and the Kindness I retain for them above all other, make me heartily bewail, their lo|sing the happiest opportunity, that was ever put into their hands, not only of improving the compassion, which their calamities had raised for them in the hearts of the genera|lity, into friendship and kindness, but of ac|quiring such a <HI>merit</HI> upon the <HI>Nation,</HI> that the utmost favoures which a true <HI>English Prote|stant Parliament</HI> could hereafter have shewed them, would have been accounted but slen|der as wel as just Recompences. Nor can I forbear to say, that I had rather have seen the <HI>Furnace</HI> of afflictions made hotter for them, tho it should have been my own lot to be thrown into the most scorching flames, than to have beheld them guilty of those ex|cesses of folly towards themselves, and of treachery to <HI>Religion,</HI> and the <HI>Laws</HI> of their <HI>Countrey,</HI> which their present ease, and a shor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> opportunity afforded them of acquiring gain, have hurried and transported so many of them into. It plainly appears with what as|pect upon our <HI>Religion</HI> the <HI>Declaration for liber|ty of Conscience</HI> was emitted, if we do but ob|serve the advantages the <HI>Papists</HI> have already reapt by it. How is the whole nation there|upon, not only overflow'd with swarms of <HI>Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">sts,</HI> and all places filled with <HI>Priests</HI> and <HI>Iesuites,</HI> but the whole <HI>executive Power</HI> of the <HI>Government,</HI> and all preferments of honor, in|terest, and profit are put into <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> hands? So that we are not only exposed to the unwearied and restless importunities of <HI>Seducers,</HI> but through the advancement of <HI>Pa|pists</HI> to all Offices <HI>Civil,</HI> and <HI>Military,</HI> if not <HI>Ecclesiastick;</HI> the <HI>covetous</HI> become brib'd, the timorous threatned, and the prophane are baited with temptations sutable to their lusts, and they that stand resolved to continue ho|nest are laid open not only to the bold af|fronts of <HI>Priests</HI> and <HI>Fryers,</HI> the insolencies of petulant <HI>Popish Justices,</HI> the chicaneries and oppressions of the <HI>Arbitrary Commission Court,</HI> but to the rage of his <HI>Majesty,</HI> and the danger of being attaqu'd by his Armed <HI>Squa|drons.</HI> To which may be added, that by the same <HI>Prerogative</HI> and <HI>Absolute Power</HI> that his <HI>Majesty</HI> hath suspended the <HI>Laws</HI> made for the <HI>Protection</HI> of our <HI>Religion;</HI> he may disable and dispense with all the <HI>Laws</HI> by which it is set up and established. And as it will not be more illegal and <HI>Arbitrary</HI> to make void the <HI>Laws</HI> for <HI>Protestancy,</HI> than to have suspended those against <HI>Popery;</HI> so I do not see how the <HI>Adressers</HI> that have ap|proved the <HI>one,</HI> can disallow or condemn the <HI>other.</HI> For the <HI>King</HI> having obtained an acknowledgment of his <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> and of his <HI>Royal prerogative</HI> paramount to
<HI>Laws</HI> on his exercising it in one Instance; it now depends meerly upon his own will (for any thing these Thanks-giving Gentle|men have to say against it) whether he may not exert it in another, wherein they are not likely to find so much of their ease and gain.</P>
<P>There is a <HI>third Inducement</HI> to the Emitting
<PB N="34" REF="20">
those Royal Papers, which tho at the first <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iew, it may seem wholly to regard <HI>Forraig|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ers,</HI> yet it ultimately terminates in the sub|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ersion of our <HI>Religion</HI> at home, and in the <HI>Kings</HI> putting himself into a condition of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">xercising his <HI>Absolute Power</HI> in whatsoever Acts he pleaseth over his own <HI>Subjects,</HI> whe|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">her after the <HI>French</HI> fashion in comman|ding them to turn <HI>Catholicks</HI> because he will <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ave it so, or after the manner of the <HI>Grand <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eignior</HI> to require them to submit their <HI>Necks</HI> to the <HI>Bow string;</HI> because he is jea|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ous of them, or wants their Estates to pay <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">is <HI>Janizaries.</HI> The <HI>united Provinces</HI> are they whom he bore a particular spleen and in|dignation unto, when he was a <HI>subject,</HI> and upon whom he is now in the <HI>Throne,</HI> he re|solves not only to wreak all his old malice, but by conquering and subduing them (if he can) to strengthen his <HI>Absoluteness</HI> over his own <HI>People,</HI> and to pave his way for over|throwing the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> in great <HI>Brit|tain,</HI> without lying open to the hazards that may otherwise attend and ensue upon the attempting of it. And instead of expecting nothing from him, but what may become a brave and generous Enemy, they ought to remember the encouragement that he gave heretofore to two varlets, to burn that part of their <HI>Fleet</HI> which belong'd to <HI>Amsterdam,</HI> an action as ignominious as fraudulent, and that might have been fatal to all the <HI>Provinces,</HI> if thro a happy and seaso|nable detection and the apprehension of one of the miscreants, it had not been pre|vented. He knows that the <HI>States General</HI> are not only zealous assertors of the <HI>prote|stant Religion,</HI> but alway's ready to afford a <HI>Sanctuary</HI> and a place of <HI>Refuge</HI> to those, who being oppressed for the profession of it else|where, are forced to forsake their own <HI>Coun|tries,</HI> and to seek for shelter and relief in other parts. And as he is not unsensible, how easie the withdrawment and flight is into these <HI>Provinces,</HI> for such as are persecu|ted in his <HI>Dominions;</HI> so he is aware, that if multitudes, and especially men of condi|tion and Estates, should for the avoiding his cruelty betake themselves thither, that they would not be unthoughtful of all ways and means, whereby they might Redeem their <HI>Country</HI> from <HI>Tyranny,</HI> and restore them|selves to the quiet enjoyment of their <HI>Estates</HI> and <HI>liberties</HI> at home. But that which most enrages him is the <HI>Figure</HI> which the two <HI>Princes</HI> do make in that <HI>State</HI> (of whose <HI>Suc|cession</HI> to the <HI>Crown</HI> the <HI>Protestants</HI> in <HI>Brittain</HI> have so near a prospect) and the <HI>Post</HI> which the <HI>Prince</HI> filleth in that Government, so that he dare neither venture to <HI>difinherit Them,</HI> nor impose upon, them such <HI>Terms,</HI> and <HI>Conditions,</HI> as their Consciences will not suffer them to comply with, while either these <HI>States</HI> remain Free, or while such <HI>En|glish</HI> and <HI>Scotts</HI> as retain a zeal for <HI>Religion</HI> and the ancient <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Rights</HI> of their re|spective <HI>Countries,</HI> can retreat thither under hopes of Admission and Protection. And so closely are the <HI>interests</HI> of all <HI>Protestants</HI> in <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> woven and inlaid with the <HI>interest</HI> of the <HI>united Netherlands,</HI> and such is the singular regard that both the one and the other bear to the <HI>Reformed Reli|gion,</HI> the <HI>liberty</HI> of <HI>Mankind</HI> and their several <HI>Civil Rights;</HI> that it is impossible for his <HI>Ma|jesty</HI> to embarque in a design against the <HI>One,</HI> without resolving at the same time upon the ruin of the <HI>Other.</HI> Neither will the <HI>One</HI> be able to subsist, when once the <HI>Other</HI> is subdu'd and enslaved. As <HI>Philip</HI> the II. of <HI>Spain,</HI> saw no way so compen|dious for the restoring himself to the Sove|raignty and Tyrannous Rule over the <HI>Dutch,</HI> as the subjugating of <HI>England</HI> that hel'p to support and assist them, which was the ground of rigging out his formidable <HI>Arma|do,</HI> and of his design against <HI>England</HI> in 1588. so his <HI>Brittish Majesty,</HI> thinks no method so expeditious for the enslaving his own <HI>People,</HI> as the endeavouring first to subdue the <HI>Dutch.</HI> And as upon the one hand it would be of a threatning consequence to <HI>Holland,</HI> could the <HI>King</HI> subjugate his own <HI>People,</HI> extirpate the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> out of his <HI>Dominions,</HI> and advance himself to a <HI>Despotical Power;</HI> so upon the other hand, could he conquer
<PB N="35" REF="20">
the <HI>Dutch,</HI> we might with the greatest cer|tainty <HI>Date</HI> the woful <HI>Fate</HI> of great <HI>Brit|tain,</HI> and the loss of all that is valuable to them as men and Christians, from the same moment and Period of time. They are like the <HI>Twins</HI> we read of, whose <HI>Destiny</HI> was to live and die together; and which soever of the <HI>two</HI> is destroyed first, all the hope and comfort that the <HI>other</HI> can pretend unto, is to be last devoured. Now after the advan|ces which his <HI>Majesty</HI> hath made towards the enslaving his <HI>Subjects,</HI> and the subver|ting the <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> in his <HI>Kingdoms,</HI> he finds it necessary before he venture to give the last and fatal stroke at home, and to enter upon the plenary exercise of his <HI>Abso|lute Power,</HI> in laying <HI>Parliaments</HI> wholly a|side, in cancelling all <HI>Laws</HI> to make way for <HI>Royal Edicts</HI> or <HI>Declarations</HI> of the comple|xion of the former, and in commanding us to turn <HI>Roman Catholicks,</HI> or to be <HI>dragoon'd;</HI> I say he thinks it needful before he pro|ceed to these, to try whether he can subdue and conquer the <HI>Dutch,</HI> and thereby remove all hopes of shelter, relief, comfort, and assistance from his own <HI>People,</HI> when he shall afterwards fall upon them. And how much soever the <HI>Court</HI> endeavoures to con|ceal its design, and strives to compliment the <HI>States General</HI> into a confidence that all <HI>Alliances</HI> between them and the <HI>Crown</HI> of <HI>England</HI> shall be maintained and preserved; yet they not only speak their intentions by several open and visible actions, but some of them cannot forbear to tell it, when their blood is heated and their heads warm'd with a liberal glass and a lusty proportion of wine. Thence it was that a Governing <HI>Papist</HI> lately told a Gentleman after they two had drunk hard together, <HI>that they had some Work in England that would employ them a little time, but when that was over they would make the Dutch fly to the end of the World, to find a resting place. Delenda est Carthago</HI> is engraven upon their hearts, as being that without which <HI>Rome</HI> cannot arrive at the universal <HI>Monarchy</HI> that it aspires after. It was upon a formed design of a war against the <HI>united Provinces,</HI> that the <HI>King</HI> hath for these two years stirr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> up and incited, as well as countenanced a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> protected the <HI>Algerines</HI> in their <HI>Piracies,</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> thro their weakning and spoiling the <HI>Du<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> before hand, it may be the more easie a ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|ter for him to subdue them, when he sh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> think fit to begin his hostilities. 'Tis in o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|der to this, that he hath entred into ne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and secret <HI>Alliances</HI> with other <HI>Princes,</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> purport of which is boldly talk't of in <HI>Lo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|don,</HI> but whether believed at the <HI>Hague</HI> I ca<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|not tell. For as <HI>Monsr. Barrillion</HI> and <HI>Mons<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Bonrepos</HI> present Transactions at <HI>Whitehal</HI> re|late to something else than meerly to the a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|fair of <HI>Hudsons Bay;</HI> so <HI>Prince Georges</HI> erran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to <HI>Denmark,</HI> is of more importance than bare visite, or a naked compliment to hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Brother.</HI> 'Tis upon this design that all tha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> great <HI>Marine</HI> preparation hath been so lon<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> making in the several ports of <HI>England;</HI> bu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to the hindring the execution whereof som<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> unexpected and not foreseen accidents hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> interposed. And it is in subserviency not to be disquieted at home, while he is carrying on this holy war abroad, that the <HI>Declaratio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> for liberty of Conscience in England, and the Pro|clamation for a Toleration in Scotland,</HI> are gran|ted and published. 'Tis well enough known how that after the <HI>French King</HI> had, among many other severities exercised against <HI>Pro|testants,</HI> made them uncapable of Employ|ments and commands; yet to avoid the consequences that might have ensued there|upon, while he was engaged in war against the <HI>Emperor,</HI> the <HI>King</HI> of <HI>Spain,</HI> and the <HI>States</HI> of <HI>Holland,</HI> and to have the aid' of his <HI>Refor|med Subjects;</HI> he not only intermitted and aba|ted in many other rigours towards them, but in <HI>Anno</HI> 1674. restored them to a capacity of being employed and preferred. And that this did not flow from any compassion, tendernes or good will, towards them, his carriage since the issue of that war, and the miserable condi|tion he hath reduced them unto, do's suffi|ciently testify and declare. Nor can we forget, how that the <HI>late King,</HI> after a rigorous execu|tion of the <HI>penal Laws</HI> for several years against <HI>Dissenters;</HI> yet being to enter into an unjust
<PB N="36" REF="21">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ar against the <HI>united Provinces Anno</HI> 1672. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot only forbore all proceedings of that kind, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ut published a <HI>Declaration</HI> for suspending the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">xecution of all those <HI>Laws,</HI> and for the al|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">owing them liberty of Assembling to wor|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hip God in their separate meetings, with|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ut being hindred or disturbed. What <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rinciple that proceeded from, and to what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd it was calculated, appeared in his beha|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">iour to them afterwards, when neither the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">anger the Nation was in from the <HI>Papists,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">or the application of several <HI>Parliaments</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ould prevail for lenity towards them, much less for a <HI>legal Repeal</HI> of those impo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">itick and unreasonable Statutes. Nor does <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he present <HI>Indulgence</HI> flow from any kind|ness to <HI>Fanaticks,</HI> but it is only an artifice to stiffe their discontents, and to procure their assistance for the destroying of a <HI>Forraign Protestant State.</HI> And it may not be unwor|thy of observation, that as the <HI>Declaration</HI> of <HI>Indulgenct Anno</HI> 1672. bore date much about the same time with the <HI>Declaration</HI> of war against the <HI>Dutch;</HI> so at the very season that his present <HI>Majesty</HI> emitted his <HI>Decla|ration for liberty of Conscience,</HI> there were <HI>Commissions</HI> of <HI>Reprisal</HI> prepared and ready to be grantrd to the <HI>English East India Company</HI> against the <HI>Hollanders,</HI> but which were sup|pressed upon the <HI>Courts</HI> finding that they whom the suspending the <HI>Execution</HI> of so many <HI>Laws,</HI> and the granting such liberties, Rights and immunities to the <HI>Papists,</HI> had disgusted and provoked, were far more nu|merous and their resentments more to be apprehended, than they were, whose mur|murings and discontents they had silenced and allay'd by the <HI>liberty</HI> that was granted. Now as it will be at this juncture, when the <HI>Protestant Interest</HI> is so low in the World, and the <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> in so great danger of being destroyed, a most wicked as well as an imprudent Act, to contribute help and aid to the subjugating a people, that are the chief <HI>Protectors</HI> of the <HI>protestant Religion</HI> that are left, and almost the only <HI>Asserters</HI> of the <HI>Rights</HI> and <HI>liberties</HI> of <HI>Mankind,</HI> so it may, fill the <HI>Addressers</HI> with confusion and shame that they should have not only justified an Act of his <HI>Majestys</HI> that is plainly designed to such a mischievous End, but that they should by the promises and vows that they have made him, have emboldned his <HI>Majesty</HI> to continue his purposes and Reso|lutions of a war against the <HI>Dutch.</HI> Which as it must be funestous and fatal to the <HI>Prote|stant Cause,</HI> in case he should prosper and suc|ceed; so howsoever it should issue, yet the <HI>Addressers,</HI> who have done what in them lyes to give encouragement unto it, will be held <HI>betrayers</HI> of the <HI>Protestant Religion,</HI> both abroad and at home, and judged guilty of all the blood of those of the same Faith with them, that shall be shed in this Quarrel.</P>
<P>That <HI>Liberty</HI> ought to be allowed to men in matters of <HI>Religion,</HI> is no <HI>Plea</HI> whereby the <HI>Kings</HI> giving it in an <HI>illegal</HI> and <HI>Arbitrary</HI> manner, can be maintained and justified. Since ever I was capable of Exercising any distinct and coherent Acts of Reason, I have been alway's of that Mind, that none ought to be persecuted for their Conscien|ces towards God in matters of Faith and Worship. Nor is it one of those things that lye under the power of the <HI>Soveraign</HI> and <HI>Legislative Authority,</HI> to grant or not to grant; but it is a Right setled upon mankind ante|cedent to all <HI>Civil Constitutions</HI> and <HI>Humane Laws,</HI> having its foundation in the <HI>Law</HI> of <HI>Nature,</HI> which no <HI>Prince</HI> or <HI>State</HI> can legiti|mately violate and infringe. The <HI>Magistrate</HI> as a <HI>Civil Officer</HI> can pretend or claim no power over a people, but what he either derives from the <HI>Divine Charter,</HI> wherein <HI>God,</HI> the Supream <HI>Instituter</HI> of <HI>Magistracy</HI> has chalk't out the duty of <HI>Rulers</HI> in general, or what the people upon the first and origi|nal <HI>Stipulation,</HI> are supposed to have given him in order to the protection, peace and prosperity of the <HI>Society.</HI> But as it does no where appear that <HI>God</HI> hath given any such power to <HI>Governors,</HI> seeing all the Revela|tions in the Scripture, as well as all the Dictates of Nature, speak a contrary lan|guage, so neither can the People upon their chusing such a <HI>one</HI> to be their <HI>Ruler,</HI> be ima|gined
<PB N="37" REF="21">
to <HI>transferr</HI> and <HI>vest</HI> such a <HI>power</HI> in <HI>him,</HI> for as much as they cannot divest themselves of a <HI>power,</HI> no more than of a <HI>Right,</HI> of be|lieving things, as they arrive with a cre|dibility to their several and respective Un|derstandings. As it is in no mans power to believe as he will, but only as he sees cause; so it is the most irrational imagination in the world, to think they should transferr a <HI>Right</HI> to him whom they have chosen to <HI>Govern</HI> them, of punishing them for what it is not in their power to help. Nor can any thing be plainer, than that <HI>God</HI> has re|served the <HI>Empire</HI> over <HI>Conscience</HI> to <HI>himself,</HI> and that he hath circumscribed the <HI>power</HI> of all humane <HI>Governore</HI> to things of a <HI>civil</HI> and inferior nature. And had <HI>God</HI> convey'd a <HI>Right</HI> unto <HI>Magistrates</HI> of commanding men to be of this or that <HI>Religion,</HI> and that be|cause they are so, and will have others to be of their mind; it would follow that the People may conform to whatsoever they require, tho by all the lights of sense&punc;, Rea|son and Revelation, they are convinced of the falsehood of it: seeing whatsoever the <HI>Soveraign rightfully Commands,</HI> the <HI>Subjects</HI> may <HI>lawfully obey.</HI> But tho the persecuting people <HI>for matters of meer Religion,</HI> be re|pugnant to the light of Nature, inconsistent with the fundamental Maximes of Rea|son, directly contrary to the temper and genious, as well as to the Rules of the Gospel, and not only against the safety and interest of <HI>Civil Societies,</HI> but of a tendency to fill them with confusion, and to arm Sub|jects to the cutting of one anothers throats; yet <HI>Governors</HI> may both <HI>deny Liberty</HI> to those whose <HI>principles</HI> oblige them to <HI>destroy</HI> those that are not of their mind, and may in some measure <HI>Regulate</HI> the Liberty which they vouch save to others, whose opinions tho they do not think dangerous to the peace of the <HI>Community,</HI> yet thro judging them er|roneous and false, they conceive them dan|gerous to the Soules of men. As there is a vast difference betwixt <HI>Tolerating</HI> a <HI>Reli|gion,</HI> and <HI>approving</HI> the <HI>Religion</HI> that is <HI>Tole|rated;</HI> so what a <HI>Government</HI> doth not <HI>approve,</HI> but barely <HI>permitts</HI> and <HI>suffers,</HI> may <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> brought under Restrictions as to time, plac<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and number of those professing it, that sha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> assemble in one meeting; which it wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> an undecency, to extend to those of th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> justified and established way. Now wha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> soever <HI>Restrictions,</HI> or <HI>Regulations,</HI> are E<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> acted, and ordained by the <HI>Legislative A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|thority,</HI> in reference to <HI>Religions</HI> or <HI>Religio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Assemblies;</HI> they are not to be <HI>stop't, disable<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> or <HI>suspended,</HI> but by the same <HI>Authority</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Enacted and ordained them. The <HI>King</HI> say <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> very truely, <HI>that Conscience ought not to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> constrained, nor people forced in matters of me<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Religion;</HI> but it does not from thence follo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> (unless by the Logick of <HI>Whitehal)</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> without the concurrence of a <HI>Parliamen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> he should <HI>suspend</HI> and <HI>dispense</HI> with the <HI>Law<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> and by a pretended <HI>preroragtive,</HI> relieve an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> from what they are obnoxious unto by th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Statutes</HI> of the <HI>Realm.</HI> His saying, that th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> forcing people in matters of Religio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>spoils Trade, depopulates Countries, discour<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> geth Strangers, and answers not the End <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> beinging all to an Uniformity, for which it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> employ'd;</HI> would do well in a <HI>Speech</HI> to th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">
<HI>Houses</HI> of <HI>Parliament,</HI> to perswade them t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Repeal</HI> some certain <HI>Laws,</HI> or might do we<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to determine his <HI>Majesty</HI> to assent to suc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Bills</HI> as a <HI>Parliament</HI> may prepare and offe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> for relieving persons in matters of Co<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> science; But does not serve for what it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> alledged, nor can it warrant <HI>his suspending</HI> th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Laws</HI> by <HI>his single Authority.</HI> And by th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> way, I know when these very Argument<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> were not only despised by His <HI>Majesty,</HI> an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ridiculed by those who took their <HI>Cue</HI> fro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Court, and had wit to do it, as by the pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|sent <HI>Bishop of Oxford</HI> in a very ill natur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Book, called <HI>Ecclesiastical Polity;</HI> but whe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the daring to have mentioned them, woul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> have provok'd the then <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York's</HI> i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> dignation, and have exposed the party th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> did it to discountenance and disgrace. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> question is not, what is convenient to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> done in some measure and degree, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> reference to those whose <HI>Religion</HI> does n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> oblige them to <HI>destroy</HI> all that <HI>differ</HI> fro<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">
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<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">om, when they have opportunity for it; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">t the point in debate is, who hath the <HI>le|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">l power</HI> of doing it, and of fixing its bounds <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">d limits. It was never pretended that the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ing</HI> ought to be shut out from a share in <HI>spending</HI> and <HI>Repealing Laws;</HI> but that the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">le <HI>Right</HI> of doing it belongs to <HI>him,</HI> is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hat cannot be allowed, without changing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Constitution,</HI> and placing the whole <HI>Le|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">slative Authority</HI> in His <HI>Majesty.</HI> And as it is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Usurpation</HI> in the <HI>King</HI> to challenge it, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>treachery</HI> in <HI>English Subjects</HI> to acknowledg|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">; so the inconveniences, that this, or that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">arty, are in the mean time exposed unto, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ro the Laws remaining in force, are ra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">er to be endured, than that a power of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ving case and relief (farther than by con|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">vance) should be confessed to reside in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">y <HI>one,</HI> in whom the <HI>Laws</HI> of the Com|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">unity have not placed it. 'Tis better to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">dergo hardships under the <HI>Execution</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">just <HI>Laws;</HI> than be released from our <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">roubles, by a <HI>power Usurped</HI> over all <HI>Laws.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">or by the <HI>one,</HI> the <HI>measures</HI> of <HI>Government,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> well as the <HI>Rights</HI> and <HI>Priviledges</HI> of a <HI>Na|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">on,</HI> are destroy'd; whereas by the <HI>other,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ly a part of the people are afflicted and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">duly dealt with. While we are <HI>Govern'd</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Laws,</HI> tho several of them may be in|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">st and inconvenient, yet we are under a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">curity as to all other things which those <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">aws have not made liable; but when we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ll under an illimited <HI>prerogative</HI> and <HI>Abso|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e Power,</HI> we have no longer a <HI>Title</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word">, or a hedg about any thing, but all lies <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">en to the lust and pleasure of <HI>him,</HI> in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hom we have owned that <HI>power</HI> to be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ated. A <HI>Liberty</HI> is what <HI>Dissenters</HI> have <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Right</HI> to <HI>Claim,</HI> and which the <HI>Legislative <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uthority</HI> is bound by the <HI>Rules</HI> of <HI>Justice</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d <HI>Duty</HI> as well as by <HI>Principles</HI> of <HI>Wisdom</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d <HI>Discretion</HI> to grant. And I am sorry <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at while they stood so fair to obtain it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> a <HI>Legal</HI> and <HI>Parliamentary</HI> way, any of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">em by acknowledging a <HI>Right</HI> in another <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> give it, and that in a manner so subver|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e of the <HI>Authority</HI> of <HI>Parliaments,</HI> should <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ve rendred themselves unworthy to re|ceive it from them, to whom the <HI>power</HI> of <HI>bestowing</HI> it does belong. Not but that a <HI>To|leration</HI> will be alway's due to their <HI>Princi|ples,</HI> but I know not whether the particu|lar men of those Principles, who have by their <HI>Addresses</HI> betray'd the Kingdom, may not come to be judged to have forfeited all share in it, for their <HI>crime</HI> committed a|gainst the <HI>Constitution,</HI> and the whole <HI>Poli|tick Society.</HI> Nor is there any thing more just and equal, than that they who surrender and give away the <HI>Rights</HI> both of <HI>Legislators</HI> and <HI>Subjects;</HI> should lose all grace and fa|vour from the former, and all portion among the latter.</P>
<P>And how much soever some Protestant <HI>Dissenters,</HI> may please themselves with the <HI>Liberty,</HI> that at present they enjoy in the vertue of the two <HI>Royal Papers;</HI> yet this may serve to moderate them in their trans|ports of gladness, that they have no solid Security for the continuance of it. For should a <HI>Parliament null</HI> and make <HI>voide</HI> the <HI>Declaration for Liberty,</HI> and <HI>impeath</HI> the <HI>judges</HI> for declaring a <HI>power vested</HI> in the <HI>King</HI> to <HI>suspend</HI> so many <HI>Laws,</HI> and for forbearing upon the <HI>Kings Mandat</HI> to execute them; the freedom that the <HI>Dissenters</HI> possess, would immediately vanish, and have much the same destiny that the <HI>Liberty</HI> had, which was granted unto them by the <HI>Declaration</HI> of <HI>Indulgence anno</HI> 1672. Or should the <HI>Parlia|ment</HI> be willing to grant ease and Indulgence to all <HI>Protestants,</HI> by a <HI>Bill</HI> prepared for <HI>Repea|ling</HI> of all the <HI>Laws</HI> formerly made against them, and should only be desirous to pre|serve in force the <HI>Laws</HI> relating to the <HI>Oaths</HI> of <HI>Allegiance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy,</HI> and the <HI>Statutes</HI> which enjoin the <HI>Tests,</HI> of whose Execution we never more wanted the be|nefit in order to our preservation from <HI>Popery,</HI> and which an <HI>English Parliament</HI> can|not be supposed willing to part with, at a time when our Lives, Estates, and Reli|gion, are so visibly threatned to be swal|lowed up, and destroyed by the <HI>Papists;</HI> in that case we may confidently believe, that the <HI>King</HI> instead either of <HI>Assenting</HI> to such
<PB N="39" REF="22">
a <HI>Bill</HI> for separate favour to <HI>Protestants,</HI> or persevering in his Compassion and Kindness of continuing the <HI>Suspension</HI> of the <HI>Laws</HI> a|gainst <HI>Dissenters, he</HI> would from an invete|rate enmity as well as from a new contra|cted resentment, be stirred up and enraged to the putting the Laws in execution with greater rigor and severity, than hath been seen, or felt heretofore. And all that the <HI>Ad|dressers</HI> would then reap by the <HI>Declaration;</HI> would be to undergo the furious effects of brutal rage in their Persecutors, and to be unpittyed by the Kingdom, and unlamented by their fellow <HI>Protestants.</HI> Or should His <HI>Majesty</HI> in favour to his good <HI>Catholicks,</HI> re|solve against the <HI>meeting</HI> of a <HI>Parliament,</HI> or to <HI>adjourn</HI> and <HI>prorogue</HI> them whensoever he shall find, that instead of <HI>confirming</HI> what he hath done, they shall make <HI>null</HI> his <HI>De|claration, vote</HI> his pretended <HI>prerogative ille|gal</HI> and <HI>arbitrary,</HI> and fall upon those <HI>mer|cinary</HI> and <HI>perjured Villains,</HI> who have al|lowed him a <HI>power</HI> transcendent to <HI>Law;</HI> yet even upon that supposal, which is the best that can be made to support mens hopes in the continuance of the present Liberty, the <HI>Protestant Dissenters</HI> would have but slender Security, all the tenure they have for the duration of their <HI>Freedom</HI> being only <HI>preca|rious,</HI> and depending meerly upon the <HI>Kings Word</HI> and <HI>promise,</HI> which there is small ground to rely upon. Nor can <HI>he</HI> be true to them, without being false to <HI>his Religion,</HI> which not only gives <HI>him</HI> leave to <HI>break</HI> his <HI>Faith with Hereticks,</HI> but obligeth <HI>him</HI> to it, and to destroy them to boot, and that both under the pain of damnation, and of for|feiting his Crown and losing his Dominions. And how far the <HI>Promise</HI> and <HI>Royal Word</HI> of a <HI>Catholick Monarch</HI> is to be trusted unto, and depended upon, we have a modern proof and evidence in the behaviour of <HI>Louis de Grand</HI> towards his <HI>Reformed Subjects,</HI> not only in repealing the many <HI>Edicts</HI> made and confirmed by himself, as well as his Ance|stors, for the free exercise of their Religion; but in the method's he hath alway's ob|served, namely to promise them protection in the profession of their Faith, and practi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> of their Worship, when he was most ste<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> fastly resolved to subvert their <HI>Religion,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> was about making some fresh advan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and taking some new step for its extirpati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> Thus when he had firmly purposed, not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> suffer a <HI>Minister</HI> to continue a <HI>year</HI> in t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> Kingdom, he at the same time, publish<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> an <HI>Edict,</HI> requiring <HI>Ministers,</HI> to serve b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>three years</HI> in one place, and not to retur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to the <HI>Church,</HI> where they had first <HI>officiate<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> till after the expiration of <HI>twentie years.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the same manner, when he had resolve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to Repeal the <HI>Edict</HI> of <HI>Nantes,</HI> and had giv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> injunction for the <HI>Draught,</HI> by which it w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> to be done; he at the same season, gave th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Protestants,</HI> all assurances of Protection, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> of the said <HI>Edicts</HI> being kept inviolabl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> To which may be added, that shameful an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> detestable <HI>Chicanery,</HI> in passing his Sacre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> and Royal Word, that no <HI>violence</HI> shoul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> be offered any for their <HI>Religion,</HI> tho at th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> very moment, the <HI>Dragoons</HI> were upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> their march, with orders of exercising a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> manner of cruelties, and barbarities, upo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> them. So that His <HI>Majesty</HI> of Great <HI>Brit<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> tain,</HI> hath a pattern lately set him, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> that by the Illustrious <HI>Monarch,</HI> whom h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> so much admires, and whom he makes i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> his ambition, and glory, to imitate. No<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> are we without proofs already, how insigni ficant the <HI>Kings promises</HI> are, (except to de lude) and what little confidence, ought t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> be put in them. The disabling, and suspen ding, the 13^t^h <HI>Statute</HI> of his <HI>late Parliame<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"></HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> wherein the <HI>Test</HI> was confirmed and his departing from all his <HI>Promises</HI> Re|gistred in his <HI>Letter,</HI> as well as from those contained in the <HI>Speech</HI> made by the <HI>Lor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Commissioner,</HI> pursuant to the Instruction<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> which he had undoubtedly received, toge|ther with his having forgotten and recede<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> from all his <HI>Promises</HI> made to the <HI>Church</HI> o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>England</HI> both when <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York,</HI> and since <HI>he</HI> came to the <HI>Crown,</HI> are undeniable evi|dences, that his <HI>Royal Word,</HI> is no more Sacred, nor binding, than that of some other Monarchs; and that whosoever of the
<PB N="40" REF="23">
<HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rotestants,</HI> shall be so foolish, as to rely <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pon it, will find themselves as certainly <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">isappointed, and deceived, as they of the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ormed Religion</HI> elsewhere, have been. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d while they of the <HI>established</HI> way, find <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> small security by the <HI>Laws,</HI> which the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing</HI> is bound by his <HI>Coronation Oath</HI> to ob|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erve; the <HI>Dissenters</HI> cannot expect very <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uch, from a naked <HI>Promise,</HI> which as it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ath not a solemn <HI>Oath</HI> to enforce it, so 'tis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oth <HI>illegal</HI> in the <HI>making,</HI> and contrary to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">he <HI>principles</HI> of his <HI>Religion</HI> to <HI>keep.</HI> Nor is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> unworthy of observation, that <HI>he</HI> hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot only departed from his promises, made <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England;</HI> but that we are told, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> a late <HI>Popish Pamphlet, Entitled, A New Test <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the Church of Englands Loyalty,</HI> published <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">as it self say's) <HI>by Authority,</HI> that they were <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ll <HI>conditional</HI> (to wit by vertue of some <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">ntal Reservation in his Majesties breast) <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd that the <HI>Conformable Clergy,</HI> having fai|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ed, in performing the Conditions, upon which they were made; the <HI>King,</HI> is ab|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">olved, and discharged, from all Obliga|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ion, of observing them. The <HI>Church of England</HI> (say's he) <HI>must give his Majesty leave <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot to nourish a Snake in his bosom, but rather <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">o withdraw his Royal protection, which was pro|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ised, upon the account, of her constant fidelity.</HI> Which as it is a plain threatning of all the <HI>Legal Clergy,</HI> and a denunciation of the un|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ust and hard measure, thy are to look for; So it shakes the Foundation, upon which all credit unto, and relyance upon, his <HI>Majesties</HI> Word, can be any way's placed. For tho <HI>Threatnings</HI> may have <HI>tacit Reserves,</HI> because <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he right of executing them, resides in the <HI>Threatner;</HI> yet <HI>Promises</HI> are incapable of all <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">atent conditions,</HI> because every Promise vests <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Right in the <HI>Promise,</HI> and that in the vir|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ue of the words in which it is made. But <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> is the less to be wondred at, if His <HI>Majesty</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">y to <HI>Equivocations</HI> and <HI>Mental Reserves,</HI> being <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oth under the conduct of that <HI>Order,</HI> and a <HI>Member</HI> of the <HI>Society,</HI> that first taught and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">racticed this treacherous piece of <HI>Chica|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erie.</HI> However it may inform the <HI>Dissen|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s,</HI> that if they be not able to answer the End, for which they are depended upon; or be not willing in the manner and degree, that is expected; or if it be not for the in|terest, of the Catholick cause, to have them indulged; in all these cases, and many more, the <HI>King</HI> may be pronounced, acquit|ted, and discharged, from all the Promises, <HI>he</HI> hath given them, as having been meerly stipulatory, and conditional. And as he will be sure then, <HI>finem facere ferendae alienae perso|nae, to lay aside the disguise that he hath now put on;</HI> so if they would reflect either upon his temper or upon his Religion, they might now know, <HI>hand gratuitam in tanta superbia comitatem, that a person of his pride would not stoop to such flattery,</HI> (as his Letter to Mr. <HI>Al|sop</HI> expresseth) <HI>but in order to some design.</HI> But what need other proof, of the fallaciousness of the two <HI>Royal Papers</HI> and that no <HI>Protestants</HI> can reasonably depend upon the <HI>Royal Word,</HI> there laid to pledg for the continuation of their Liberty; but to look into these two <HI>Papers</HI> themselves, where we shall meet ex|pressions, that may both detract from our belief, of His Majesties sincerity, and awa|ken us to a just jealousie, that the Liberty, and Toleration, granted by them, are in|tended to be of no long standing and dura|tion. For while He is pleased to tell us, <HI>that the granting His Subjects, the free use of their Re|ligion for the time to come, is an addition to the perfect enjoyment of their property, which has ne|ver been invaded by His Majesty since his coming to the Crown;</HI> he doth in effect say, that His Fidelity, Truth, and Integrity, in what he grants in reference to <HI>Religion,</HI> is to be mea|sured, and judged, by the verity that is in what He tells us, as to the never having <HI>in|vaded</HI> our <HI>property.</HI> And that I may borrow an expression from Mr. <HI>Alsop,</HI> and to no less a person than to the <HI>King</HI> himself, namely,
<HI>that tho we pretend to no refined intellectualls, nor presume to philosophise upon Mysteries of Government, yet we make some pretence to the sense of feeling, and whatever our dulness be, can discern,</HI> between what is exacted of us accor|ding to <HI>Law,</HI> and what we are rob'd of by an exercise of <HI>Arbitrary</HI> Power. For not to
<PB N="41" REF="23">
sist upon the violent seisure of mens Goods, by <HI>Officers,</HI> as well as <HI>Souldiers,</HI> in all parts of <HI>England,</HI> which looks like an invasion upon the properties of the Subject; nor to dwell upon his keeping an <HI>Army</HI> on foot in time of peace, against the <HI>Authority,</HI> as well as without the <HI>countenance</HI> of <HI>Law,</HI> which our <HI>Ancestors</HI> would have stiled an Invasion upon the whole <HI>property</HI> of the Kingdom; I would sain know, by what <HI>name</HI> we are to call his <HI>levying</HI> the <HI>customs,</HI> and the <HI>Additional Ex|cise,</HI> before they were granted unto <HI>him</HI> by the <HI>Parliament,</HI> all the legal establishment of them upon the nation, having been only, during the <HI>late Kings</HI> life, till the settlement of them upon the <HI>Crown</HI> was again renewed by Statute. It were also worth his <HI>Maje|sties</HI> telling us, what <HI>Titles</HI> are due to the suspending the <HI>vice Chancellor</HI> of <HI>Cambridg a beneficio,</HI> and the turning the <HI>President</HI> of <HI>Maudlins</HI> in <HI>Oxford</HI> out of his <HI>Headship,</HI> and the suspending <HI>Dr. Fairsax</HI> from his <HI>Fellow|ship,</HI> if they be not an <HI>Invasion</HI> upon our pro|perty; seeing every part of this, is against all the known <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> and hath been done by no <HI>legal Court,</HI> but by a <HI>Set</HI> of <HI>mercinary villains,</HI> armed with an <HI>Ar|bitrary Commission,</HI> and who do as Arbitrarily Exercise it. And as the <HI>End</HI> unto which that <HI>Inquisition Court</HI> was instituted, was to robb us of ours Rights and Priviledges at the meer pleasure of the <HI>King;</HI> so the very <HI>In|stitution</HI> of it, is an <HI>Invasion</HI> both upon all our <HI>Laws,</HI> and upon the whole <HI>property</HI> of the <HI>Nation,</HI> and is one of the highest <HI>Exer|cises</HI> of <HI>Despotical Power,</HI> that it is possible for the most <HI>Absolute</HI> and unlimited <HI>Mo|narch</HI> to exert. Among all the <HI>Rights</HI> re|served unto the <HI>Subjects</HI> by the <HI>Rules</HI> of the <HI>Constitution,</HI> and whereof they are se|cured by many repeated <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Statutes,</HI> there are none that have been hithero less disputed, and in reference to which our <HI>Kings</HI> have been farther from clai|ming any <HI>Power</HI> and Authority, than those of <HI>levying</HI> money without the grant as well as the <HI>consent</HI> of <HI>Parliament,</HI> and of <HI>Ab|solving</HI> and <HI>discharging Debtor;</HI> from paying their <HI>Creditors,</HI> and of <HI>acquitting</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> from being sued and imprisoned in case of no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> payment; and yet in defiance of all <HI>Law</HI> and to the subverting the Rights of the peo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ple and the most essential <HI>Priviledg</HI> and <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> risdiction</HI> of <HI>Parliaments,</HI> and to a plain chan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ging the ancient <HI>legal Constition</HI> into an <HI>Ab|solute</HI> and <HI>Despotical</HI> Governing Power, the <HI>King</HI> (they say) is assuming to himself a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Authority, both of imposing a <HI>Tax</HI> of five pound <HI>per annum</HI> upon every <HI>Hackney Coach,</HI> and of <HI>Releasing</HI> and <HI>discharging</HI> all <HI>Debtors,</HI> of whom their <HI>Creditors</HI> cannot claim and demand above <HI>ten pound Sterling;</HI> which as they will be signal <HI>Invasions</HI> upon <HI>property,</HI> and lea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing <HI>Cases</HI> for the raising mo|ney in what other instances he pleaseth, by a <HI>Hamp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">on Cour<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> or a <HI>Whitehall Edict,</HI> with|out standing in need of a <HI>Parliament,</HI> or being obliged to a dependance upon their <HI>Grant,</HI> for all <HI>Taxes</HI> to be levied upon the <HI>Subjects,</HI> as his Predecessors have heretofore been; so they may serve fully to instruct us what little security either the <HI>Dissenters</HI> have as to being long in the possession of their present liberty, or <HI>Protestants</HI> in gene|ral of having a freedom continued unto them of professing the <HI>Reformed Religion,</HI> if we have nothing more to rely upon for pre|venting our being abridged and denyed the <HI>liberty</HI> of our <HI>Religion,</HI> than we have had for preserving our <HI>Property</HI> from being <HI>In|vaded</HI> and broken in upon. We may sub|join to the <HI>Clause</HI> already mentioned, that other <HI>Expression,</HI> which occurs in the fore|said <HI>Declaration,</HI> viz. that <HI>as he freely gives them leave to meet and serve God after their own may and manner, so they are to take special care, that nothing be preached or taught amongst them, which may any ways <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">end to alienate the hearts of the people from his Majesty, or his Govern|ment;</HI> which words as they import the price at which the <HI>Dissenters</HI> are to purchase their freedom (whereof we shall discourse anon) so they admirably serve to furnish the <HI>King</HI> with a pretence, of retrenching their li|berty whensoever he pleaseth, nor are they inserted there for any other End, but th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">
<PB N="42" REF="24">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">on a plea, of their having abused his Gra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">us Indulgence <HI>to the alienating the hearts of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> his people from him,</HI> they may be adjud|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d to have thereby deservedly forfeited, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">th all the benefits of it, and of his Royal <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">our. Nor is it possible for a <HI>Protestant <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nister</HI> to preach one <HI>Sermon,</HI> which a <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ish Critick,</HI> or a <HI>Romish Bigot,</HI> may not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ily misconstrue, and pervert, <HI>to be an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">enation of the peoples hearts, from the Kings <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">son, and Government.</HI> And of which as we <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ve heard many late Examples in <HI>France,</HI> so <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> will be easie to draw them into <HI>president,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d to imitate them in <HI>England.</HI> I might add, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e observation of the ingenious <HI>Author</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Reflections on his Majesties Proclamation for <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Toleration in Scotland;</HI> namely, that where|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s the <HI>King</HI> gives all assurance to his <HI>Scotts <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ubjects,</HI> that he will <HI>not use invincible necessity</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gainst any man, on the account of his per|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uasion, he does thereby leave himself at a li|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erty, of <HI>Dragooning,</HI> torturing, burning, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">oing the utmost violences, all these being <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">incible to a person of an ardent love to God, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd of a lively faith in Jesus Christ; and which accordingly many thousands have been <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">riumphantly victorious over. Nor is it likely that this new and uncouth <HI>phrase</HI> of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot using an invincible nec<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">,</HI> would have found room in a <HI>Paper</HI> of that nature, if it had not been first to counceal some mali|cious, and mischievous design, and then to justify the consistency of its execution, with what is promised in the <HI>Proclamation.</HI> More|over, were there that security intended by these two <HI>Royal Papers,</HI> that <HI>protestant Dissen|ters</HI> might safely rely upon; or did the <HI>King</HI> act with that sincerity, which he would de|lude his people into a belief of, there would then be a greater agreeableness than there is, betwixt the <HI>Declaration</HI> for <HI>liberty of Conscience in England,</HI> and the <HI>Proclamation for a Tole|ration in Scotland.</HI> The principle his <HI>Majesty</HI> pretends to act from, <HI>that Conscience ought not to be constrained, and that none ought to be per|secuted for meer matters of Religion,</HI> would oblie|ge him to act uniformly, and with an equal extention of favour to all his Subjects, whose principles are the same; and against whom he hath no exception, but in mat|ters meerly Religious. Whereas the dispa|rity of grace, kindness, and freedom, that is exercised in the <HI>Declaration,</HI> from that which is exerted in the <HI>Proclamation,</HI> plainly shews, that the whole is but a <HI>Trick</HI> of <HI>State,</HI> and done in s<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bserviency to an end, which it is not yet seasonable to discover and avow. For his circumscribing the <HI>Tolera|tion</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> to such <HI>Presbyterians</HI> as he stiles moderate; is not only a taking it off from its true bottom, <HI>matters of meer Reli|gion,</HI> and a founding it upon an <HI>internal qua|lity</HI> of the mind, that is not discernable, but it implyes the reserving a liberty to <HI>himself</HI> of withdrawing the benefits of it from all <HI>Scots Dissenters,</HI> thro fastning upon them a contrary <HI>Character,</HI> whensoever it shall be seasonable to revive persecution. And even as it is now exerted to these <HI>moderate ones,</HI> it is attended with <HI>Restri|ctions,</HI> that his <HI>Indulgence</HI> in <HI>England</HI> is no ways clog'd with. All that the <HI>Declaration</HI> requires from those that are indulged, is <HI>that their Assemblies, be peaceably, openly, and publickly held, that all Persons be freely ad|mitted to them, that they signify and make known to some Justice of the peace, what pla|ces they set apart for these uses; and that nothing be preached or taught amongst them, which may any ways tend to alienate the bear<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">s of the people from the King or his Govern|ment;</HI> whereas the <HI>Proclamation,</HI> not only re|strains the <HI>meetings,</HI> of the <HI>Scots Presbyterians to private Houses,</HI> without allowing them either to build <HI>meeting Houses,</HI> or to use out-houses or Barns; but it prohibits <HI>the hearing any Mi|nisters,</HI> save such as shall be willing to swear, <HI>that they shall to the utmost of their Power, assist, defend, and maintain the King, in the exercise of his Absolute power against all deadly.</HI> Nor is it difficult to assign the reason, of the diffor|mity that appears in His <HI>Majesties</HI> present Actings, towards his <HI>dissenting Protestan<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> Subjects</HI> in those <HI>two Kingdoms.</HI> For should there be no Restriction upon the <HI>Toleration</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> to hinder the greatest part of
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the <HI>Presbyterians</HI> from taking the advantage of it; the <HI>Bishops</HI> and <HI>Conforming Clergy</HI> would be immediately forsaken by the generality if not all the people, and so an <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ssue</HI> would not only be put to the <HI>division</HI> among <HI>Prote|stants</HI> in that Kingdom, but they would be|come an united, and thereupon a formida|ble, Body against <HI>Popery,</HI> which it is not for the interest of the <HI>Roman Catholicks</HI> to suffer, or give way unto. Whereas the more un|bounded the <HI>Liberty</HI> is, that is granted to <HI>Dissenters</HI> in <HI>England,</HI> the more are our <HI>di|visions</HI> not only kept up, but increased and promoted, (especially thro this Freedom's arriving with them in an <HI>illegal</HI> way, with|out both the <HI>Authority</HI> of the <HI>Legislative Power,</HI> and the approbation of a great part of the People) it being infallibly certain, that there is a vast number of all ranks and conditions, who do prefer the abiding in the <HI>Communion</HI> of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> be|fore the joining in fellowship with those of the <HI>Separate</HI> and <HI>dissenting Societies.</HI> Upon the whole, this different method of procee|ding towards <HI>Dissenting Protestants</HI> in <HI>matters meerly Religious,</HI> shews that all this <HI>Indul|gence,</HI> and <HI>Toleration,</HI> is a <HI>Trick</HI> to serve a present juncture of Affairs; and to ad|vance a <HI>Popish</HI> and <HI>Arbitrary</HI> design; and that the <HI>Dissenters</HI> have no security for the conti|nuance of their <HI>Liberty,</HI> but that when the <HI>Court</HI> and <HI>Jesuitick</HI> end, is compassed and obtained, there is another course to be steered towards them; and instead of their hearing any longer, of <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>Tolera|tion,</HI> they are to be told, that it is the in|terest of the <HI>Government,</HI> and the <HI>safety,</HI> and <HI>honor</HI> of his <HI>Majesty,</HI> to have but <HI>one Reli|gion</HI> in his <HI>Dominions,</HI> and that all must be <HI>Members</HI> of the <HI>Catholick Church,</HI> and this because the <HI>King</HI> will have it so, which is the <HI>Argument</HI> that hath been made use of in the making so many <HI>Converts</HI> in <HI>France.</HI> They who now suffer themselves to be deluded into a confidence in the Royal word, will not only come to understand what Mr. <HI>Cole|man</HI> meant, in his telling <HI>Pere de la Chaise,</HI> that the <HI>Catholicks</HI> in <HI>England had a great work upon their hand, being about the extirpation <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> that Heresie, which hath born sway so long <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> this Northern part of the world;</HI> but they wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> also see and feel, how much of the desig<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of <HI>Rome</HI> was represented in that passage <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the <HI>Popes Nuncio's Letter</HI> dated at <HI>Bruxel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Aug.</HI> 9. 1674. wherein upon the confidenc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> which they placed in the <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York,</HI> whic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> is not lessened since he came to the Crown he takes the confidence to write, <HI>that the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> hop'd speedily to see the total and final ruin <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the Protestant Party.</HI></P>
<P>And as <HI>Protestant Dissenters,</HI> have no secu&punc; rity by the <HI>Declaration,</HI> and <HI>Proclamation,</HI> fo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> the continuance of their Liberty, so the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> that have by way of thanksgiving <HI>Addresse<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> to the <HI>King</HI> for those <HI>Royal Papers,</HI> have no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> only acted very ill in reference both to the <HI>Laws</HI> and <HI>Rights</HI> of the Kingdoms, and of <HI>Reli|gion</HI> in general, but they have carried very unwisely in relation to their own interest, and the avoiding the effects of that resentment, which most men are justly possessed with, upon the <HI>illegal</HI> Emission of these <HI>Arbitrary</HI> and <HI>Prerogative Papers.</HI> I shall not enter upon any long Discourse, concerning this new practice of <HI>Addressing</HI> in general, it having been done elsewhere some years ago, but I shall only briefly intimate, that it was never in fashion, unless either under a <HI>weak</HI> and <HI>pre|carious Government,</HI> or under <HI>one</HI> that took <HI>illegal courses,</HI> and pu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">sued a <HI>different interest</HI> from that of the People and Community. As he who <HI>Ruleth</HI> according to the standing <HI>Laws</HI> of a <HI>Countrey,</HI> over which he is set, needs not seek for an Approbation of his Actions from a part of his <HI>Subjects;</HI> the <HI>Legality</HI> of his pro|ceedings being the best <HI>Justification</HI> of him that Governs, and giving the truest <HI>Satis|faction</HI> to them that are <HI>Ruled;</HI> so he who en|joy's the love of all his people, needs not look for promises of being assisted, stood by and defended, by any one Party or Fa|ction among them; there being none from whom he can have the least apprehension of opposition and danger. It was the want of a <HI>Legal Title</HI> in <HI>Oliver Crom<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">el,</HI> and his <HI>Son Ri|chard</HI> to the <HI>Government,</HI> that first begot this
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<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">vice of <HI>Addressing,</HI> and brought it upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e stage in these <HI>Brittish</HI> Nations; and it was <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Arbitrary</HI> procedures of the <HI>late King,</HI> as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">is of his <HI>present Majesty,</HI> and their acting <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">on a <HI>distinct bottom</HI> from that of the three <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ingdoms,</HI> that hath revived, and does con|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nue it. Nor is there any thing, that hath <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ndred those two <HI>Princes</HI> more contempti|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e abroad, and proclaimed them weaker <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> home, than their recurring unto, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">lliciting, the flatteries and aid, of the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ercinacy, timorous, servile, and for low <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nd personal ends byass'd part of their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ubjects, and thereby telling the World, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at neither the generality nor the most ho|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">orable of their People have been united in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">heir Interest, nor approvers of the Coun|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">els that have been taken and pursued. And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">f any thing did ever cast a dishonor upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">he English Nation, it hath been that loath|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ome flattery, and slavish Sycophancy, wherewith the <HI>Addressers,</HI> both now, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">or some years past, have stuff't their ap|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">lications to the two <HI>Royal Brothers.</HI> The <HI>Thr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> that is sustained and upheld by the <HI>Pillars</HI> of <HI>Law</HI> and <HI>Justice,</HI> needs not to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">hew out unto its self other <HI>Supporsers,</HI> nor <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">lean upon the crooked and weak <HI>s<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">lts,</HI> of the insignificant, and for the most part de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ceitful as well as b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ib'd Vows, of a sort of men, who will be as ready upon the least disgust, to cry <HI>cruci<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y</HI> to morrow, as they were for being gratified, may be in their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">usts, humours, and revenges, and at the best in some separate concern, to cry <HI>Ho|sanna</HI> to day. I shall decline prosecuting what concerns the honor, or dishonor, of him, to whom the <HI>Adresses</HI> are made, or how politick, or impolitick, the counte|nancing and encouraging them is; and shall apply my self to this new <HI>set</HI> of <HI>Addressers,</HI> and endeavour to shew how foolish as well as criminally they have acted. Nor is it an argument either of their prudence or ho|nesty, or of their acting with any consistency to themselves, that having so severely in|veighed against the <HI>Addresses,</HI> that were in fashion a few years ago, and having fast|ned all the imputations and reproaches upon those that were accessory to them, which that rank of <HI>Addressers</HI> could be supposed to have deserved, they now espouse the pra|ctice which they had condemned, and in reference to as <HI>Arbitrary</HI> and an unjustifia|ble an <HI>Act</HI> of His present <HI>Majesty,</HI> as the most <HI>illegal one</HI> the late <HI>King</HI> was guilty of, or the worst exercise of <HI>prerogative,</HI> for which any here<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ofore either commended, or promised to stand by him. For tho the mat|ter and subject of the <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">bitrary Act of him</HI> now upon the <HI>Tbrone,</HI> be not as to every branch of it so publickly scandalous, as some of the <HI>Arbitrary</HI> proceedings of the late <HI>King</HI> were, (as relating to a favour which man|kind hath a just claim unto) yet it is every way as <HI>illegal,</HI> being in reference to a pri|viledg, which His <HI>Majesty</HI> hath no <HI>Authori<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y</HI> to grant and bestow. And were it not that there are many <HI>Dissenters,</HI> who preserve themselves innocent at this juncture, and upon whom the temptation that is admini|stred makes&punc; no impression; the world would have just ground to say, that the <HI>Phanaticks</HI> are not governed by <HI>Principles,</HI> but that the <HI>measures</HI> they walk by, are what conduceth to their private and personal be|nefit, or what lyes in a tendency to their loss and prejudice. And that it was not the late <HI>Kings</HI> usurping, and exerting, an <HI>Ar|bitrary</HI> and <HI>illegal</HI> power, that offended them; but that they were not the <HI>Objects</HI> in whose favour it was exercised. 'Tis also an aggra|vation of their <HI>Folly</HI> as well as their <HI>Offer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">c<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> that they should revive a practice which the Nation was grown asham'd of, and whereof they who had been guilry begun to repent, thro having seen that all the for|mer <HI>Declarations, Assurances,</HI> and <HI>Promises</HI> of the <HI>Royal Brothers,</HI> which tempted to ap|plications of that kind, were but so many juggles, peculiar to the late <HI>Breed</HI> of the Fa|mily, for the deceiving of mankind; and that never <HI>one</HI> of them was performed and made good. But the transgression, as well as the imprudence, of the present <HI>Addres|sers,</HI> is yet the greater, and they are the more
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criminal and inexcusable before God and men, in that they might have enjoyed all the benefits of the <HI>Kings Declaration,</HI> with|out acknowledging the Justice of the <HI>Au|thority</HI> by which it was granted, or ma|king themselves the scorn and contempt of all that are truely honest and wise, by their servile Adulations, and their gratula|tory <HI>Scribles</HI> unbecoming <HI>Englishmen</HI> and <HI>Protestants.</HI> They had no more to do, but to continue their <HI>meetings,</HI> as they had sometimes heretofore used to do, with|out taking notice that the present <HI>Suspen|sion</HI> of the <HI>Laws,</HI> made their Assembling together more safe, and freed them from apprehension of fines and imprisonments. Nor could the <HI>King,</HI> how much soever displeased with such a conduct, have at this time ventured upon the expressing displeasure against them; seeing as that would have been both to have proclaimed his hypocrisie, in saying, <HI>that Conscience ought not to be constrained, nor people forced in matters of meer Religion,</HI> and a discove|ring the villanous design in subserviency to which the <HI>Declaration</HI> had been emitted; so it were not possible for him, after what he hath published, to single out the <HI>Dissen|ters</HI> from amongst other <HI>Protestants;</HI> and to fall upon all, before matters are more ripe for it, might be a means of the abor|tion of all his <HI>Popish</HI> Projections, and of saving the whole <HI>Reformed</HI> interest in <HI>Great Brittain.</HI> Neither would the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>En|gland</HI> men, have envied their tranquillity, or have blamed their carriage; but would have been glad that their <HI>Brethren</HI> had been eased from oppressions, and them|selves delivered from the grievous and dis|honorable task of prosecuting them, which they had formerly been forced unto by <HI>Court</HI> injunctions and commands. And as they would have by a Conduct of this nature had all the <HI>Freedom</HI> which they now enjoy, without the guilt and reproach which they have derived upon themselves by <HI>Addr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ssing;</HI> so such a <HI>carriage,</HI> would have wonderfully recommended them to the <HI>Favour</HI> of a true <HI>English Parliam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> which tho it will see cause to condem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the <HI>Kings</HI> usurping a <HI>power</HI> of <HI>suspending</HI> t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Laws,</HI> and to make <HI>void</HI> his <HI>Declaratio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> yet in gratitude to <HI>Dissenters</HI> for such a be|haviour, as well as in pitty and compassio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to them as <HI>English Protestants,</HI> such a <HI>Par|liament</HI> would not fail to do all it could to give them relief in a <HI>legal</HI> way. Where as if any thing enflame and exasperate t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Nation, to revive their sufferings, it wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> arise from a resentment of the unworth<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and treacherous carriage of so many <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> them, in this critical and dangerous ju<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> cture. But the <HI>Terms,</HI> which thro their <HI>A<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> dressing,</HI> they have owned the receivi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> their <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>Indulgence</HI> upon, does in peculiar manner enhance their guilt again<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>God,</HI> and their <HI>Countrey,</HI> and strangely ad<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to the disgust and anger, which lovers <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Religion,</HI> and the Laws of the <HI>Nation</HI> hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> conceived against them. For it is Hot onl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> upon the acknowledgment of a <HI>preroga<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> in the <HI>King</HI> over the <HI>Laws,</HI> that they hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> received and now hold their <HI>Liberty;</HI> b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> it is upon the <HI>condition, that nothing be preach<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> or taught amongst them that may any ways tend <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> alienate the hearts of the People from his Majesti<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> person and Government.</HI> He must be of an u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> derstanding&punc; very near allied unto, and ap|proaching to that of an <HI>Irish man,</HI> who do<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> not know what the <HI>Court</HI> sense of that clau<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> is; and that his <HI>Majesty</HI> thereby intends, th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> they are not to <HI>preach</HI> against <HI>Popery,</HI> nor t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> set forth the <HI>Doctrines</HI> of the <HI>Romish Church</HI> i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>terms</HI> that may prevent the peoples being i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ected by them, much less in colours th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> may render them hated and abhorred. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> accuse the <HI>Kings Religion</HI> of <HI>Idolatry,</HI> or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> affirm the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> to be the <HI>Apoc<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> lyptick Babylon,</HI> and to represent the <HI>Articl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> of the <HI>Tridentine Faith,</HI> as faithful <HI>Ministers</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Christ ought to do; would be accounted a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>alienating</HI> the <HI>hearts</HI> of their <HI>hearers</HI> from t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>King</HI> and his <HI>Government;</HI> which as they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> in the foresaid <HI>Clause</HI> required no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to do, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> they have by their <HI>Addressing</HI> confessed t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Iustice</HI> of the <HI>Terms,</HI> and have undertaken <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word">
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<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">old their <HI>liberty</HI> by that <HI>Tenor.</HI> And to give <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">em their due, they have been very faithful <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">itherto, in conforming to what the <HI>King</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">xacts, and in observing what <HI>themselves</HI> have <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ented to the equity of. For notwithstan|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ing all the danger from <HI>popery,</HI> that the <HI>Na|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">on</HI> is exposed unto, and all the hazard that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Souls</HI> of men are in, of being <HI>poysoned</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ith <HI>Romish</HI> principles; yet instead of <HI>prea|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ing</HI> or <HI>writing</HI> against any of the <HI>Doctrines</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> they have agreed among <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">emselves, and with such of their Congre|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ations as approve their procedure, not so <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">uch as to mention them; but to leave the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rovince</HI> of defending our <HI>Religion,</HI> and of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">etecting the falshood of <HI>papal Tenets,</HI> to the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">astors and Gentlemen of the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>Eng|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nd.</HI> And being ask'd (as I know some of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">em that have been) why they do not preach <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">gainst <HI>Antichrist,</HI> and confuse the <HI>papal Do|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rines;</HI> they very gravely reply, that by <HI>prea|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ing Christ,</HI> they <HI>preach</HI> against <HI>Antichrist;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nd that by <HI>Teaching</HI> the <HI>Gospel,</HI> they <HI>Re|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">te Popery;</HI> which is such a piece of fraudu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ent and guilful sub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">erfuge, that I want words <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">o express the knavery and criminalness of it. What a reserve and change have I lived to see <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">n <HI>England,</HI> from what I beheld a few years <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">go. It was but the other day, that the <HI>Con|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">rmable Clergy</HI> were represented by some of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">he <HI>Dissenters,</HI> not only as <HI>favourers</HI> of <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">opery,</HI> but as endeavouring to hale it in upon <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">s by all the methods and ways that lay within <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">heir circle; and yet now the whole <HI>defence</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> must be entirely de|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">olved into their hands; and when all the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ces</HI> are pulled up, that had been made to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">inder <HI>Popery</HI> from overflowing the <HI>Nation,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ey must be left alone, to stemm the inun|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ation, and prevent the deluge. They among <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Fanaticks</HI> that boasted to be the most avo|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ed and irreconcilable Enemies of the <HI>Church</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">f <HI>Rome,</HI> are not only become altogether si|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ent, when they see the <HI>Kingdom</HI> pesterd with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>swarm</HI> of busie and seducing <HI>Emissaries;</HI> but <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e both turned <HI>Advocats</HI> for that Arbitrary <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">aper</HI> whereby we are surrendred as a prey <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nto them, and do make it their business to detract from the reputation, and discourage the laboures of the <HI>National Ministers,</HI> who with a <HI>zeal</HI> becoming their <HI>Office,</HI> and a lear|ning which deserves to be admired, have set themselves in opposition to that <HI>croaking fry,</HI> and have done enough by their excellent, and unimitable Writings to save people from being deluded and perverted, if either unan|swerable <HI>consutations</HI> of <HI>Popery,</HI> or demonstra|tive <HI>Defences</HI> of the <HI>Articles</HI> and <HI>Doctrines</HI> of the <HI>Reformed Religion,</HI> can have any efficacy upon the minds of men. Among other fulsom flatteries adorning a <HI>Speach</HI> made to his <HI>Majesty</HI> by an <HI>Addressing Dissenter,</HI> I find this hypo|critical and shameful <HI>adulation,</HI> namely, <HI>that if there should remain any seeds of disloyalty in any of his Subjects, the transcendent goodness exer|ted in his Declaration would mor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">isie and kill them;</HI> to which he might have added with more truth, that the same <HI>transcendent goodness</HI> had almost destroyed all the seeds of their ho|nesty, and mortied their care and concern|ment for the interest of <HI>Iesus Christ,</HI> and for the <HI>Reformed Religion.</HI> Their old strain of zealous preaching against the <HI>Idola<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ry</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI> and concerning the <HI>coming out of Ba|bylon my people,</HI> are grown out of fashion with them in <HI>England,</HI> and are only reserved, and said by, to recommend them to the kindness, and acceptation of <HI>forraign Prote|stants,</HI> when their occasions and convenien|cies draw them over to <HI>Amsterdam.</HI> Who|soever comes into their <HI>Assemblies,</HI> would think for any thing that he there hears de|livered from their <HI>pulpits,</HI> that <HI>She</HI> which was the <HI>Whore</HI> of <HI>Babylon</HI> a few years ago, were now become a <HI>chast Spouse;</HI> and that what were heretofore the damnable <HI>Doctrines</HI> of <HI>Popery,</HI> were of late turned <HI>innocent</HI> and <HI>Harm|less opinions.</HI> The <HI>Kings Declaration,</HI> would seem to have brought some of them to a <HI>me|lius inquirendum,</HI> and as they are already arri|ved to believe a <HI>Roman Catholick</HI> the <HI>best King,</HI> that they may in a little time come to esteem <HI>Papists</HI> for the best <HI>Christians. The keeping back nothing that is profitable to save such as hear them, and the declaring the whole Counsel of God;</HI> that are the <HI>Terms</HI> upon which they receiyed their
<PB N="47" REF="26">
<HI>Commission</HI> from <HI>Iesus Christ,</HI> and wherein they have <HI>Pauls practice</HI> and <HI>example</HI> for a <HI>pattern,</HI> would seem to be things under the <HI>Power</HI> of the <HI>Royal prerogative,</HI> and that the <HI>King</HI> may <HI>su|percede</HI> them by the same <HI>Authority,</HI> by which he <HI>dispenses</HI> with the penal <HI>Statutes.</HI> Which as it is very agreeable unto, and imported in his <HI>Majesties Claim</HI> of being obeyed <HI>without reserve;</HI> so the owning this <HI>Absolute Power</HI> with that annex of challenged <HI>obedience,</HI> does ac|quit them from all obligations to the <HI>Laws</HI> of <HI>Christ,</HI> when they are found to interfere with what is required by the <HI>King.</HI> But whe|ther <HI>Gods Power,</HI> or the <HI>Kings,</HI> be <HI>superior,</HI> and which of the two can <HI>cassate</HI> the <HI>others Laws,</HI> and whose wrath is most terrible; the judgment day will be able and sure to instruct them, if all means in this world prove insuf|ficient for it. The <HI>Addressers</HI> know upon what <HI>conditions</HI> they hold their <HI>Liberty;</HI> and they have not only observed how several of the <HI>National Clergy</HI> have been treated for <HI>preaching</HI> against <HI>Popery;</HI> but they have heard how divers of the <HI>Reformed Ministers</HI> in <HI>France</HI> (before the general suppression) were dealt with, for speaking against their <HI>Monarchs Religion;</HI> and therefore they must be pardo|ned, if they carry so, as not to provoke his <HI>Majesty,</HI> tho in the mean time thro their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">|lence, they both betray the <HI>Cause</HI> of their <HI>Lord</HI> and <HI>Master,</HI> and are unfaithful to the <HI>Soules</HI> of those, of whom they have taken upon them the spiritual guidance. As for the <HI>Papers</HI> themselves that are stiled by the name of <HI>Addresses,</HI> I shall not meddle with them, being as to the greatest part of them, fitter to be exposed and <HI>ridicul'd,</HI> either for their dul|ness and <HI>pedantry,</HI> or for the adulation and sy|cophancy with which they are fulsomly stuff<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">; than to deserve any serious consideration, or to merit reflections that may prove instru|ctive to Mankind. Only as that <HI>Address</HI> wherein his <HI>Majesty</HI> is thanked for his resto|ring <HI>God to his Empire over Conscience,</HI> deser|veth a rebuke for its <HI>blasphemy;</HI> so that other which commends <HI>him</HI> for <HI>promising, to force the Parliament</HI> to ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">y his <HI>Declaration,</HI> (tho by the way all he says is, that <HI>he does not doubt of their concurrence,</HI> which yet his ill succ<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> upon the <HI>closetting</HI> of so many Member<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and his since Dissolving that <HI>Parliament</HI> shews that there was some cause for the doub<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ting of it) I say that other <HI>Address,</HI> merits severe Censure for its insolency against th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>legislative Authority.</HI> And the <HI>Authors</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> ought to be punished, for their crime com<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> mitted against the <HI>Liberty</HI> and <HI>Freedom</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the <HI>two Houses,</HI> and for encouraging th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>King</HI> to invade and subvert their most essen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> tial and fundamental <HI>Priviledges,</HI> and withou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> which, they can neither be a <HI>Council,</HI> Judi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> cature, nor <HI>Lawgivers.</HI></P>
<P>After all, I hope the <HI>Nation</HI> will be so <HI>in<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> genuous,</HI> as not to impute the miscarriages <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> some of the <HI>nonconformists,</HI> to the whole <HI>part<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> much less to ascribe them to the principles o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Dissenters.</HI> For as the <HI>points</HI> wherein the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> differ from the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> are purel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of another Nature, and which have no re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> lation to <HI>Politicks,</HI> so the influence, that the<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> are adapted to have, upon men as member<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of <HI>Civil Societies,</HI> is to make them in a specia<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> manner regardful, of the Rights, and Fran<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> chises, of the <HI>Community.</HI> But if some nei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ther understand the tendency of their ow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>principles,</HI> nor are true and faithful unto them these things are the personal faults of thos<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> men, and are to be attributed to their ig<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> norance, or to their dishonesty; nor are thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>carriages</HI> to be counted the effects of thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Religious Tenets,</HI> much less are others of the party to be involved under the reproach an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> guilt of their imprudent and ill conduct<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Which there is the more cause to acknow<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ledg, because tho the <HI>Church</HI> of <HI>England,</HI> ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> all the reason of the World, to decline <HI>Ad|dressing,</HI> in that all her <HI>legal Foundation,</HI> a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> well as <HI>Security,</HI> is shaken by the <HI>Declaration</HI> yet there are some of her <HI>Dignitaries</HI> and <HI>C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> gy,</HI> as well as divers of the <HI>Members</HI> of he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>Communion,</HI> who upon motives of Ambition Covetousness, Fear, or Courtship, hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> enrolled themselves into the <HI>Li<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"></HI> of <HI>Addre<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> sers;</HI> and under pretence of giving thanks <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the <HI>King,</HI> for his promise of <HI>protecting <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Arch-Bishops, Bishops, and Clergy, and a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">
<PB N="48" REF="27">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">erof the Church of England in the free Exer|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> of their Religion, as by Law established;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ve cut the throat of their <HI>Mother,</HI> at <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ose breasts they have suckt till they are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">own fat, both by acknowledging the <HI>usur|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> prerogative</HI> upon which the <HI>King</HI> assumes <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> Right</HI> and <HI>Authority</HI> of Emitting the <HI>De|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ration;</HI> and by exchanging the <HI>legal</HI> stand|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">g, and Security of their <HI>Church,</HI> into that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ecarious <HI>one</HI> of the <HI>Royal word,</HI> which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ey fly unto as the <HI>bottom</HI> of <HI>her Subsistence,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d trust to as the <HI>wall</HI> of <HI>her defence.</HI> And <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> most of the Members of the <HI>Separate So|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ties,</HI> are free from all accession to <HI>Ad|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">essing,</HI> and the few that concurred were <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">eerly drawn in by the <HI>wheedle</HI> and impor|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nity of their <HI>Preachers;</HI> so they who are <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> the chiefest <HI>Character,</HI> and greatest repu|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tion for Wisdom and Learning among <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Ministers,</HI> have preserved themselves <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">om all folly and treachery of that kind. The <HI>Apostle</HI> tells us, <HI>that not many wise, not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">any noble are called;</HI> which as it is verified <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> many of the <HI>Dissenting Addressers,</HI> so it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ay serve for some kind of <HI>Apology,</HI> for their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ow and sneaking, as well as for their in|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">iscret and imprudent behaviour in this mat|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">er. And it is the more venial in some of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hem, as being not only a means of ingra|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">iating themselves (as they phansie) with <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he <HI>King,</HI> who heretofore had no very good <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">pinion of them; but as being both an easie <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd compendious method of <HI>Attoning</HI> for <HI>Offences</HI> against the <HI>Crown,</HI> of which they were strongly suspected; and a cheap and expenceless way of purchasing the pardon of their Relations, that had stood actually <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ccused</HI> of high <HI>Treason.</HI> Nor is it to be doubted, but that as the <HI>King</HI> will retain very little favour and mercy for <HI>Fanaticks</HI> when once he has served his Ends upon them; so they will preserve as little kind|ness for the <HI>Papists,</HI> if they can but obtain relief in a legal way. And as there is not a people in the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> that will be more <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">oyal</HI> to <HI>Princes,</HI> while they continue so to govern, as that fealty by the Laws of God <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">or man remains due to them; so there are none of what principles or communion soever, upon whom the <HI>Kingdom</HI> it its whole interest come to ly at stake, may more assuredly and with greater confidence depend, than upon the generality of <HI>Dis|senting Protestants,</HI> and especially upon those that are not of the <HI>Pastoral Order.</HI> The se|verities that the <HI>Dissenters</HI> lay under before, and their deliverance from oppression and disturbance now, seconded with the <HI>Kings</HI> expectation and demands of thanksgiving <HI>Addresses,</HI> were strong temptations upon men void of generosity and greatness of spirit, and who are withall of no great <HI>Political</HI> Wisdom, nor of prospect into the Consequences of Councils and tricks of State, to act as illegally, in their <HI>thanks,</HI> as His <HI>Majesty</HI> had done in his <HI>bounty.</HI> So that whatsoever animadversion they may de|serve, should they be proceeded against, ac|cording to their demerit; yet it is to be ho|ped, that both <HI>they,</HI> and the <HI>Addressers</HI> of the former stamp, may all find room in an <HI>Act</HI> of <HI>Indemnity,</HI> and that the <HI>Mercy</HI> of the <HI>Nation</HI> towards them, will triump over and get the better of its <HI>Iustice.</HI> As it would ar|gue a strange and judicial infatuation, should they proceed to farther excesses, and think to escape the punishment due to one Crime, by comitting and taking Sanctuary in an|other, thro improving their compliments into actions of treachery; so all their hope of pardon, as well as of lenity and modera|tion, from a true <HI>Protestant</HI> and rightly con|stituted <HI>Authority,</HI> depends upon their conduct and behaviour henceforward, and their not suffering themselves to be hurried, and de|luded, into a co-operation with the <HI>Court,</HI> for the obtaining of a <HI>Popish Parliament.</HI>
All their endeavours of that kind would but more clearly detect, and manifest, their treachery to <HI>Religion</HI> and the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> it not being in their power to ontvote the honest English part of the People, so as to help the <HI>King</HI> to such a <HI>House</HI> of <HI>Commons</HI> as he desires; and were it possible, that thro their assistance, in conjunction with violence and tricks used in Elections and Returns by the <HI>Court,</HI> such a
<PB N="49" REF="27">
<HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ouse</HI> of <HI>Commons</HI> might be obtained, as would be serviceable to <HI>Arbitrary</HI> and <HI>papal</HI> Ends; yet neither the <HI>King</HI> nor they, would be the ne<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rer the compassing what is aimd at; it being demonstrable that the <HI>Majority</HI> of the <HI>House</HI> of <HI>Lords,</HI> are never to be wrought over to justify this <HI>illegal Declaration;</HI> or to grant the <HI>King</HI> a <HI>Power</HI> of <HI>Suspending Laws,</HI> at his pleasure; nor to give their <HI>Assent</HI> to a <HI>Bill</HI> for <HI>Repealing</HI> the <HI>Test Acts,</HI> and the <HI>Sta|tutes</HI> that enjoin and require the <HI>Oaths</HI> of <HI>Al|legeance</HI> and <HI>Supremacy.</HI> And if they should be so far left of God, and betrayd by those among themselves whom the <HI>Court</HI> hath gai|ned, as to become guilty of so enormous an Act of folly and villany; and should the <HI>E|lection</HI> of the next <HI>Parliament, be the happy juncture they wait for,</HI> and the improving their interest, as well as the giving their own votes, for the Choice of <HI>Papists</HI> into the <HI>House</HI> of <HI>Commons,</HI> be what they mean <HI>by an essential proof of their Loyalty and of the sincerity of their humble</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>See</HI> Mr. Al|sops Speech <HI>to the</HI> King.</NOTE> <HI>Addresses, and that whereby they intend to demonstrate, that the greatest thing they have promised, is the least thing they will perform for his Majesties service and satisfation:</HI> as in that case, they will deserve to forfeit all hopes of bei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> forgiven; so it would be an infidelity to Go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and Men, and a cruelty to our selves <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> our Posterity, not to <HI>abandon</HI> them as <HI>betray<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> of <HI>Religion; expunge</HI> them out of the <HI>Roll</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>Protestants; strip</HI> them of all that where<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>free Subjects</HI> have a <HI>Legal Right;</HI> and not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <HI>condemn</HI> them to the utmost <HI>punishment<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> which the <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>Kingdom</HI> adjudg th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> worst of Traitors and Malefactors unto&punc; There are some, who thro hating of them do wish their miscarrying and offending t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> so unpardouable a degree, that they ma<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> hereafter be furnished with an advantage both of ruining them, and the whole <HI>Di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">|senting</HI> party for their sakes. But as the lov<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> that I bear unto them, and the perswasio<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and belief I have of the truth of their <HI>Reli|gious principles,</HI> do make me exceeding solic<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> tous to have them kept and prevented, from being hurried and transported into so fata<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> and criminal a behaviour; so I desire <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> make no other excuse for my plain dealin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> towards them, but that of <HI>Solomon,</HI> who tell us, <HI>that faithful are the wounds of a friend, whi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> the kisses of an Enemy are deceitful;</HI> and that h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> <HI>who rebukes a man, shall find more favour af|terwards, than he who flattereth with the tongu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"></HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="postscript">
<HEAD>POSTSCRIPT.</HEAD>
<P>SInce the fore-going <HI>Sheets</HI> went to the <HI>press,</HI> and while they were <HI>Printing</HI> off, there is come to my hands a new <HI>Procla|mation</HI> Dated at <HI>Windsor</HI> the 28. of <HI>Iune</HI> 1687. for granting further <HI>Liberty</HI> in <HI>Scotland,</HI> and which was published there by an <HI>Order</HI> of the <HI>privy Council</HI> of that Kingdom bearing <HI>Date</HI> at <HI>Edinburgh</HI> the 5. of <HI>Iuly.</HI> This <HI>Super|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">tation</HI> of one <HI>Proclamation</HI> after another in reference to the same thing, is so apportio|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ed and parallel to the late <HI>French</HI> method of Emitting <HI>Edicts</HI> in relation to those of the <HI>Re|formed Religion</HI> in that Kingdom, that they seem to proceed out of one <HI>mint,</HI> to be cal|culated for the same End, and to be desig|ned for the compassing and obtaining the like effects. For as soon as an <HI>Alarm</HI> was ta|ken at the publishing of some unreasonable and rigorous <HI>Edict,</HI> there used often to fol|low another of a milder strain, which was pretended to be either for the moderating the severities of the former, or to remove
<PB N="50" REF="28">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">d rectify what they were pleased to call <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">isconstructions unduly put upon it; but <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e true End whereof was only to stiffle and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tinguish the jealousies and apprehensions <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at the other had begotten and excited, and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hich had they not been calmed and allayd, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ight have awakened the <HI>Protestants</HI> there <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> provide for their safety by a timely with|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">rawing into other Countries, if they had <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ot been provoked to generous endeavoures <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">f preventing the final suppression of their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">eligion, and for obviating the ruin which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at <HI>Court</HI> had projected against them and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">as hastning to involve them under. Nor <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">es my suspition of his <HI>Majesties</HI> pursuing <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e same design against <HI>Protestants,</HI> which <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e great <HI>Louis</HI> glories to have accompli|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ed, proceed meerly from that conjun|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ion of Counsels that all the world observes <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">etween <HI>Whitehall</HI> and <HI>Versailles;</HI> nor meer|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> from the <HI>Kings</HI> abandoning his <HI>Nephew</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">nd <HI>Son</HI> in <HI>Law</HI> the <HI>Prince</HI> of <HI>Orange,</HI> and not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> much as interposing to obtain satisfaction <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> be given him, for the many injuries, dam|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ages, spoiles, and robberies, as well as <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">fronts done him by that haughty <HI>Monarch;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">hen one vigorous application could not <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">il to effect it; nor yet meerly from that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">greeableness in their procedures, thro the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing</HI> of <HI>Englands</HI> imitating that forraign <HI>Po|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ntate,</HI> and making the whole course that <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ath been taken in <HI>France</HI> the <HI>Pattern</HI> of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ll his actings in <HI>Great Brittain;</HI> but I am <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">uch confirmed in my fears and jealousies <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">y remembring a passage in one of <HI>Mr. Cole|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ans Letters,</HI> who as he very well knew what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e then <HI>Duke</HI> of <HI>York,</HI> had been for many <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ears ingaged in, against our <HI>Religion</HI> and <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ivil Liberties,</HI> and under what Vows and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">romises he was, not to desist from prose|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ting what had been resolved upon and un|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ertaken; so he had the confidence to say <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at his Masters design and that of the King of</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ance, <HI>was one and the same;</HI> and that this <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">as no less, as he farther informs us than <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>ex<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters">pating the Northern Heresie.</HI> Had the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing</HI> of <HI>England</HI> acted with sincerity from <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">at noble principle, <HI>that conscience ought not to be constrained, nor people forced in matters of meer Religion,</HI> as he would delude weak and easie people to believe; and had not all his Arbitrary and illegal proceedings in gran|ting <HI>Liberty</HI> to <HI>Dissenting Protestants,</HI> been to subserve and promote other designes, which it is not yet seasonable and convenient to discover and avow; he would have then acted with that conformity to the Principle he professeth to be under the influence and Government of, and with that consonancy and harmonious agreeableness, in all the de|grees of Indulgence, vouchsased to those of the <HI>Reformed Religion</HI> in <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> that differ from them of the established way, that there would have needed no second <HI>Proclamation</HI> apporting new measures of <HI>Li|berty</HI> and favour to <HI>Scotts</HI> Dissenters, seeing they would have had it granted them at first in the same latitude and illimitedness, that it was bestowed upon the <HI>English noncon|formists.</HI> But when <HI>Princes</HI> carry on and pur|sue mischievous designes, under the pallia|tions of Religion, publick good, and the Right of Mankind; it comes often to pass thro adapting their methods to what they mean and intend, and not to what they pre|tend and give out, that their crafty projecti|ons, by being not sufficiently accommodated to their purposes, prove ineffectual to the compassing what was aim'd at; and this for|ceth them to a new game of falsehood and subtilety, but still under the old varnish and gloss, and obligeth them to have re|course to means that may be more propor|tioned than the former were, for their rea|ching the End that they ubtimately drive at. Thence it is that those <HI>Rulers,</HI> who are en|gaged in the prosecution of wicked and unju|stifiable designes, are necessitated not only to apply themselves to opposite Methods to|wards different <HI>parties,</HI> and those such as must be suited and apportioned to their discrepant interests, without the accommodating of which they can neither hope to mould them to that tame and servile compliance, nor work them up to that active and vigorous a|betting of their malicious and crasty proje|ctions
<PB N="51" REF="28">
as is necessary for the rendring them succesful; but they are forced to vary their proceedings towards one and the same <HI>Party,</HI> and that as well when the ways they have acted in towards them are found inadequate to the End unto which they were calculated, as when the mischief hid under them comes to be too soon discovered. This weak and short-sighted people fancy to arise from an uncertainty in <HI>Princes</HI> councels, and from their being at no consistency with them|selves; but they who can penetrate into affairs and that do consider things more nar|rowly, can easily discern, that all this va|riation, diversity, and shifting of methods in <HI>Rulers</HI> actings, proceed from other cau|ses, and that it is their stability and perseve|rance in an illegal and wicked design, that compels them to those crooked and con|trary Courses, either for the gaining the unwary and ill applyed concurrence of their Subjects, to the hastning distress and deso|lation upon themselves, or for the throwing them into that lethargy, and under that su|piness, as may hinder them from all endea|vours of obstructing and diverting the evils, that their Governours are seeking to bring upon them. Nor is there a more certain indication, of a <HI>Princes</HI> being engaged in a design, contrary to the good and happiness of the <HI>Society,</HI> over which he is set; than his betaking himself to illegal ways, upon pretence of promoting the ease and bene|fit of his people; or according as he finds his Subjects to differ in their particular in|terests, his applying himself to them in me|thods, whereof the contrariety of the one to the other, renders them the more pro|per and adapted to ensnare the divided fa|ctions, thro accosting each of them with something that they are severally fond of. <HI>Legal means</HI> are always sufficient to the pur|suing and compassing <HI>legal Ends:</HI> and what|soever is for the general good of the <HI>Commu|nity,</HI> may either be obtained by courses, wherein the generallity find their united in|terest and common felicity, or else by appli|cation to a <HI>Parliament</HI> freely and duly chosen, which as it represents the whole politick Society, so there may be expected most com|passion and tenderness, as well as wisdom and prudence, for redressing the grievan|ces, easing the troubles, and providing for the benefit and safety of all that are wrapt up in and represented by them. And as every <HI>Prince,</HI> who sincerely seeks and pursues the advantage of his People, will so adjust and attemper all his actions towards them, that his whole carriage shall be uniform, and all the exercises of his Governing power, meet in the benefit of the <HI>Community,</HI> as so many lines from a <HI>circumserence</HI> uniting in their <HI>Centre;</HI> so there needs no other proof that these <HI>two</HI> or <HI>three</HI> late <HI>Actions</HI> of His <HI>Majesty,</HI> which a foolish sort of men are apt to interpret for favours, and to ac|count them effects of compassion and kind|ness; are but to conceal his malice, and to subserve as well as cover some fatal and pernicious design, that he is carrying on against <HI>his Protestant Subjects,</HI> than that while he is gratifying a <HI>few</HI> of them in <HI>one</HI> thing, <HI>he</HI> is at the same time robbing <HI>all</HI> of them of <HI>many;</HI> and that while he is indulging the <HI>Dissenters</HI> with a Freedom from the <HI>penal Laws</HI> for matters of <HI>Religion,</HI> he is invading the <HI>properties,</HI> and subverting the <HI>Civil Rights</HI> of the three Nations, and changing the whole Constitution of the Government. He that strips us of what belongs unto us as we are <HI>English</HI> and <HI>Scotts men:</HI> cannot mean ho|nestly in the savours he pretends to vouch|safe us as we are <HI>Christians;</HI> nor can he that is endeavouring to enslave our persons, and to subject our Estates to his Arbitrary lust and pleasure, intend any thing else by this kindness granted to <HI>Fanaticks</HI> in <HI>matters</HI> of <HI>Religion,</HI> than the dividing them from the rest of the People, in what concerns the <HI>Civil Interest</HI> and external happiness of the <HI>Com|munity,</HI> and to render them an engaged Fa|ction to assist and abet him in enthralling the Kingdoms. Whosoever considers the whole Tenor of his <HI>Majesties</HI> other Actings, in proroguing and dissolving <HI>Parliaments,</HI> when he finds them uncompliant with his
<PB N="52" REF="29">
<HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">pish</HI> and <HI>despotical</HI> Ends; his keeping on <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ot a formidable <HI>Ar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">,</HI> against all the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">aws of the Land, and upon no other in|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ention, but to maintain <HI>him</HI> in his Usurpa|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ons over our <HI>Rights,</HI> and to awe us into <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tame and servile submission to his <HI>Preroga|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ve</HI> will; His filling all places of <HI>Judicature,</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ith weak as well as <HI>Treacherous</HI> persons, who instead of administring Justice may be <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">he <HI>Instruments</HI> of <HI>Tyranny;</HI> his robbing men of their Estates, by judicial <HI>forms,</HI> and under <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">retence that <HI>nullum tempus occurris R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">gi,</HI> af|ter they have been quietly enjoyed by the Subjects for several hundred years; <HI>his</HI> advan|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ing none to <HI>Civil</HI> or <HI>Military</HI> Employs, but whom he hath some confidence in, as to the finding them ready to execute his <HI>despotical</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">njunctions; and his esteeming no persons <HI>Loyal</HI> and <HI>faithful</HI> to himself, save those who <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">re willing to <HI>be<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="3 letters">y</HI> their <HI>Countrey,</HI> and be <HI>Rebells</HI> and <HI>Traitors</HI> against the <HI>Legal Constitu|tion:</HI> I say whosoever considers all this, and a great deal more of the same Hue and com|plexion, cannot imagine (unless he be un|der a judicial blindness and a strange insa|tuation) that any thing arriving from the <HI>King,</HI> tho it may be a matter wherein they may find their present ease and advantage should proceed from compassion and good will to <HI>his Protestant</HI> Subjects, but that it must be only in order to promote a distinct interest from that of <HI>his</HI> people, and for the better and more easie accomplishing of some wicked and unjustifiable design. And tho his <HI>Majesty</HI> would have us believe, that the rea|sons moving <HI>him</HI> to the Emission of this <HI>2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters"> Proclamation, were the s<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">istruous Interpreta|tions which either have, or may be made, of some Restrictions in his former;</HI> yet it is not difficult even without being of his privy Council, to assign a truer motive, and a more real and effectual cause of it. For as that of the <HI>12^t^h</HI> of <HI>February,</HI> came forth attended with so many limitations, not casie to be digested by men of wisdom or honesty, lest if it had been more unconfined and extensive, and should have opened a Door for all <HI>Scotts Dissenters</HI> to have gone in and taken the be|nefit of it, the generality of Protestants in that Kingdom, abstracting from the Bi|shops, <HI>Cura<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">es,</HI> and a few others, should have joined in the <HI>separate</HI> interest, and thereby have become an united Body against popery; but upon finding that hardly any would pur|chase their freedom from the <HI>penal</HI> laws, at so dear a rate, as to do things so unbeco|ming Men and Christians, as the confor|ming to the <HI>Terms</HI> therein prescribed obli|ged them unto; and that as they of the <HI>Na|tional Communion</HI> were alarm'd and disgusted, so few or none of the <HI>Dissenting fellowships</HI> were pleased; and that both were not only angry at the many illegal favours, and threatning advantages, bestowed upon the <HI>Papists,</HI> but were grown so sensible of the design carrying on against the Protestant Religion, and the liberties and priviledges of the Subject, that tho they could not re|nounce their respective tenets in the matters wherein they differed, yet they were wil|ling to stifle their heats and animosities, and to give that encouragement, aid, and assi|stance to one another, as was necessary for their common safety: upon these <HI>con|siderations,</HI> his <HI>Majesty</HI> (if he would have spoken sincerely) ought to have said, that he had published this <HI>new Proclamation,</HI> in order to hinder <HI>Scots Protestants</HI> from uni|ting, for their mutual defence, against Tur|kish Tyranny, and Romish Idolatry, and in hopes thereby to continue and exasperate their undue and passionate heats, and to keep them not only in divided and oppo|sit interests, but to make them contribute to the suppressing and ruining each other, or at least to look on unconcernedly, till he have ripened his designes against them both, and be prepared for extirpating the Reformed Religion, and for subverting the fundamental as well as Statute Laws, and for bringing such to the stake and Gibbet, as shall have the integrity to assert the one, or the courage to plead for the other. And yet in this <HI>last Proclamation,</HI> wherein he grants a more illimited freedom, than in the former, and promiseth to Protect <HI>all
<PB N="53" REF="29">
in the exercise of Their Protestant Religion,</HI> as he disdainfully and ignominiously calls it; there is a clause that may discourage all honest men from owning their <HI>Liberty</HI> to the Authority that bestows it, and from which it is derived and conveyed to them. For not being satisfied to superstruct his pretended Right, of <HI>Suspending, S<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">pping,</HI> and <HI>Disabling Laws,</HI> upon his <HI>Soveraign Au|thority and Prerogative Royal,</HI> but as knowing that these give no such pre-eminence and Iurisdiction over the <HI>Laws</HI> of the <HI>Kingdom,</HI> he is pleased to challeng unto himself an <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> as the source and spring of that exorbitant and Paramount Claim, which he therein exerciseth and exerts. And forasmuch as <HI>Absolute Power,</HI> imports his <HI>Majesties</HI> being loose and free from all ties and restraints, either by fundamental <HI>Stipu|lations,</HI> or superadded <HI>Laws;</HI> it is very na|tural to observe, that he allows the Go|vernment under which we were born, and to which we were sworn and stood bound, to be hereby subverted and changed, and that thereupon we are not only absolved and acquitted, from the Allegiance and fealty, we were formerly under to his <HI>Majesty,</HI> but are indispensably obliged by the <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ies</HI> and en|gagements that are upon us, of maintaining and defending the Constitution and Govern|ment, to apply our selves to the use of all means and endeavours against him, as an Enemy of the people, and a subverter of the legal Government, wherein all the in|terest he had, or could lawfully claim, was an <HI>official Trust,</HI> and no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> an <HI>Absolute <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"></HI> or a <HI>despo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">icat Dominion,</HI> the first whereof he hath deposed a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">d abdicated himself from, by challenging and usurping the latter. And should any <HI>Scots dissenter,</HI> either in his entrance upon the <HI>Liberty</HI> granted by this <HI>Proclamation,</HI> or in <HI>addressing</HI> by way of thankfulness for it, take the least notice of this freedom's flowing from the <HI>King,</HI> which cannot be done, without <HI>Recognising</HI> this <HI>Absolute Power</HI> in his <HI>Majesty</HI> as the fountain of it, he is to be lookt upon as the worst of Traitors, and deserves to be procee|ded against both for his aecession unto, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> justifying the subversion of the Laws, Libe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ties, and Government of his Country, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> for betraying the Rights of all free-bor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> men. For those few Reflections in th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> fore going Sheets, which this New <HI>Procla|mation</HI> may not only seem to render useless and frustrate the end whereunto they wer<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> intended, but may make the publishing an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> animadversions upon that, which the <HI>Kin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> by departing from, does himself Censure an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> condemn, be esteemed both a faileur i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> in genuity and candor, and a want of rega<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> to those Measures of Justice, which ough<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> to be observed towards all men, and mor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> especially towards Crowned Heads; I shal<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> only say that as the <HI>Proclamation</HI> arrived wi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> me too late, to hinder and prevent the communication of them to the publick; so I have this farther to add in justification o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> their being published, that it will thereby appear, that what his <HI>Majesty</HI> stiles <HI>sinistruo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> Interpretations made of some Restrictions mentio|ned in his former,</HI> are no other than the just, natural, genuine, and obvious constructi|ons, which they ly open unto, and are ca|pable of, and which a man cannot avoid fastning upon them, without renouncing all Sense and Reason. And while the <HI>King</HI> continues to disparage and asperse all sober and judicious <HI>Reflections</HI> upon that Royal Pa|per, by charging upon them the unjust and reproachful Character of <HI>sinistruous Interpre|tations;</HI> it is necessary as well as equal, that the whole matter should be pl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">ly and im|partially represented to the World, and that the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 word"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">be re<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">tted and l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="2 letters">t to the un|derstanding and<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> ass'<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span"> part of mankind who are the calumniators and Slanderers, they who accuse the <HI>Proclamation</HI> of impor|ting such principles, consequences, and tendencies, or he and his <HI>Ministers,</HI> who think they have avoided and answered the imputations fastned upon it, when they have loaded them with hard and uncivil terms. For tho he be pleased to assume to himself an <HI>Absolute Power, which all are bound to obey without reserve,</HI> and in the virtue of which
<PB N="54" REF="30">
<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">e <HI>Suspends, Stops,</HI> and <HI>Disables</HI> what Laws he <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">leaseth, yet I do not know but that his <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ntellectuals being of the size of other mens, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nd that seeing neither his Soveraignity, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">or <HI>Catholicalness,</HI> have vested in him an <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">nerrability, why we may not enter our <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">lea</HI> and demurr to the dictates of his Judg|ment, tho we know not how to withstand the efforts of his <HI>Power.</HI> Nor shall I sub|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">oin any more, save that whereas his <HI>Ma|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">esty</HI> Declares so many Laws <HI>to be disabled to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 span">ll Intents and purposes,</HI> he ought to have re|membred, that beside other <HI>intents</HI> and <HI>pur|poses</HI> that several of them may hereafter serve unto as the Papists may possibly come to have experience; there is one thing in re|ference to which, he cannot even at pre|sent, hinder &amp; prevent their usefulness and efficacy, and that is not only their raising and exciting all just resentments in the minds of free-born and generous men, for his challenging a Power to <HI>Suspend</HI> and <HI>Cassate</HI> them, but their remaining and continuing <HI>Monuments</HI> of his Infidelity to the Trust re|posed in him, of his departure from all pro|mises made at and since his entring upon the Government, and of his invading and sub|verting all the Rules of the Constitution.</P>
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<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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<DIV1 TYPE="errata">
<P>Pag. 4 col. 2. lin. 3. after <HI>Court</HI> put. ibid. lin. 41. r. <HI>knew.</HI> P. 5. col. 1. l. 3. r. <HI>account.</HI> ibid. l. 30. r. <HI>inpemperate.</HI> ibid. col. 2. l. 35. r. <HI>in.</HI> P. 6. col. 2. l. 18. aite<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter"> <HI>Order</HI> put. P. 7. col. 2. l, 39. for <HI>an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">. as.</HI> P. 11. col. 1. l. 32. r. <HI>stirred up.</HI> ibid. l. penult. 1. <HI>judg.</HI> P. 25. col. 2. in the margin r. <HI>Rot. Parl. 7. Hen.</HI> 4. P. 31. col. 2. l. 11. r. <HI>obsole<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="apex" EXTENT="1 letter">e.</HI> P. 40. col. 1. l. 38. r. <HI>Promisee.</HI> P. 47. col. 1. l. 27. r. <HI>reverse.</HI></P>
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