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<DATE>9-24-13</DATE>
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<NAME>John Latta</NAME>
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<PB N="1" REF="1">
<HEAD>THE True Prote&s;tants APPEAL TO THE City and Countrey.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Gentlemen, and worthy Fellow-Citizens and Subjects,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>I Have overcome my &s;elf, for your &s;ake, in two difficulties, which, it may be, have hin|dred many an hone&s;t man from &s;peaking nece&s;&s;ary Truth; the one is Fear, the other, an expectation that &s;ome other Per&s;on, better able to di&s;charge it, would have undertaken the Province. For the fir&s;t, I con&s;idered, why &s;hould any <HI>Engli&s;hman</HI> be affraid to make U&s;e of his Native Liberty to &s;peak the Truth, and di&s;charge his Con&s;cience, e&s;pecially when &s;o many bu&s;ie men are become &s;o bold, not only to whi&s;per, but loudly to proclaim Di&s;loy|alty, and are not &s;atisfied to cur&s;e the KING in their Thoughts, in their Bed-chamber, but are advanced to the confidence, to Print and Publi&s;h &s;uch Reflections upon His mo&s;t Sacred Maje&s;ty and the Government, as now by Law E&s;tabli&s;hed, as makes the Ears of Loyal Subjects tingle.</P>
<P>I confe&s;s, I waited with impatience, to &s;ee &s;ome bold and generous Pen endeavour to arre&s;t the Torrent, and &s;tem the T<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">de, but h<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 span">ted in <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 word"> Expectation; deterred, I &s;uppo&s;e, from what is every true <HI>Engli&s;hman,</HI> and good Prote&s;tants Duty, by a prevailing timo|rou&s;ne&s;&s;e, le&s;t they &s;hould be branded with the infamous Names of Je&s;uit, Papi&s;t, or Popi&s;hly af|fected: I expect the &s;ame Fare; but yet Names, which are only the Scum and Foam of Arbi|trary, and Popular Defamers, &s;hall never affright me, nor ought to do any Per&s;on, out of the Du|ty we owe to God, our King, and our Countrey. I perfectly hate and abhor all Popery, Super&s;ti|tion, and Innovation in the Church; and all that know me, who are not incon&s;iderable, either for number or Quality, know me to be a true Church of <HI>England-Kings-Protestant.</HI> I do no le&s;s dete&s;t and abhor all other Schi&s;matical Practices and Per&s;wa&s;ions, Treacherous and Di&s;loyal Doctrines and Actions of Commonwealth-Prote&s;tants, and all tho&s;e, whether Papi&s;ts or Schi&s;maticks, who though they di&s;claim the odious Doctrine, yet agree in the horrid and abominable Fact of King-killing.</P>
<P>Let them, either, or both, look never &s;o demurely upon the matter, and endeavour to wa&s;h their hands of it, by accu&s;ing one another, this thing was not done in a corner, but in the face of the Sun, and then avowed by Di&s;&s;enting-Prote&s;tants, both in the Publick Memoirs of their U&s;urpation, and in their private Prints; and the Innocent Blond of the Ju&s;t, as well as their own Impenitent Hearts, are Witne&s;&s;es that I am no fal&s;e Accu&s;er: And whatever good Opini|on others may have of this Generation of men, I am not to Di&s;&s;emble, but tell them &s;uch Truths as may prick them to the Heares, and wound them into True Repentance, and that they lye under a more heavy Guilt than the very <HI>Jews;</HI> for the Apo&s;tle excu&s;es them, in a great mea&s;ure, of the Guilt of Innocent Blond; <HI>I know, Brethren, that ye did it ignorantly, for, had ye known the Lord of life and Glory, ye would not have crucified him;</HI> they would have had <HI>Pilate</HI> alter his Super&s;cription, from, <HI>This is the King of the Jews,</HI> into, <HI>That he &s;aid he was the King of the Jews;</HI> But the&s;e &s;hamele&s;s and Unblu&s;hing men, &s;lew their Natural Liege Lord with the impudent For|malities of pretended Ju&s;tice, bani&s;hed the Lawful Heir, and took Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of the Vineyard, till the Lord of the Hu&s;bandmen, with his own wonderful hand, brought him back again in Peace.</P>
<P>I hate all the &s;illy Popi&s;h Arts of &s;hamming Plots upon the Pre&s;byterians, there is no need of it, the whole Nation is &s;en&s;ible of their De&s;ign by their Endeavours; we know the men, and
<PB N="2" REF="2">their Conver&s;ation. All hone&s;t men believe the Popi&s;h Plot, and have a Dete&s;tation, both again&s;t the Principles and Practices of Popery; and it would be more vigorou&s;ly pro&s;ecut|es, if Commonwealth Prote&s;tants did not endeavour &s;o vi&s;ibly to make a hand of it, to play their own Game: and if it either &s;uffers in its Reputation, or by delays, we are obliged to Di&s;&s;enters for it, who, by their mutinous, &s;editious Behaviour, their Elevated Hopes, in&s;o|lent and opprobrious Language again&s;t the Church and Kings Prote&s;tants, have put it be|yond di&s;pute, that they are attempting to play the Old Game again; and having got a real Po|pi&s;h Plot, re&s;olve to make that do the &s;ame Feat, which before they did under the bare Pre|tence of one; <HI>viz.</HI> the Alteration and ruine of the Government e&s;tabli&s;hed both in Church and State.</P>
<P>Let them never think to put out our Eyes quite with the du&s;t which they rai&s;e, and the prefaces of Loyalty which they make; their Predece&s;&s;ors did the very &s;ame, and, I think, were the better bred, and more mannerly of the two: but, if they mean as they &s;ay, why do they look &s;o like the A&s;s mumping Thi&s;tles, at abhorring the Traiterous Po&s;ition of taking up Arms by his Authority again&s;t his Maje&s;ties Per&s;on. It is the Duty of every good Subject, to endeavour all he can to pre&s;erve the Life of his mo&s;t Sacred Maje&s;ty, the Prote&s;tant Religion and Government in Church and State, as it is by Law now E&s;tabli&s;hed, again&s;t all Per&s;ons who &s;hall attempt to take away the one, or alter and &s;ubvert the other; but not one Commonwealth Prote&s;tant that will agree to &s;ay or &s;wear this; and if they neither can nor will do it, Judge all ye People, what Prote&s;tants, what Chri&s;tians they are.</P>
<P>Truth needs no little Arts to &s;upport its Credit, it is De&s;ign that u&s;es Paint and Varni&s;h. We King and Church-Prote&s;tants &s;ay, we love both, and will &s;incerely endeavour, according to our often repeated Sacred Oaths, to &s;upport, maintain, and defend both the King and the Church; but the Commonwealth-Prote&s;tants, are as 'fraid to take the&s;e Oaths, as unwilling to keep them. Quakers will not &s;wear at all, Independents, Presbyterians, Anabapti&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> are abhorrers of the Oath of Supremacy, unle&s;s their Pope <HI>Interest</HI> gives them a Di&s;pen&s;ation to get into an Office or Capacity to affront the Government; they &s;ay, they love the King, and the Prote&s;tant Religion, and the Church, but they equivocate as bad as Je&s;uits in the la&s;t, and, I fear, di&s;&s;emble in the fir&s;t.</P>
<P>Their Tran&s;actions indeed have of late been admirable and incomprehen&s;ible, in Defence of the Government and Prote&s;tant Religion; as for In&s;tance,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, The Government hath been a&s;per&s;ed, and in Print too, and we know by what hands, with a De&s;ign to introduce Popery and Arbitrary Government, and, which is yet mo&s;t incompre|hen&s;ible, a damnable, mo&s;t helli&s;h, and execrable Plot is di&s;covered, &s;worn, and believed of the Papi&s;ts, to take away the Kings Life, and to &s;ubvert and alter the Government both in Church and State. Now, for my part, I believe the Popi&s;h Plot; but who&s;oever believes the other, whatever he pretends, cannot believe that; for they make admirable and incomprehen&s;ible Non-&s;ence of it, that the Papi&s;ts &s;hould be plotting to ruine their own Intere&s;t and De&s;ign, to &s;ubvert a Govern|ment that was endeavouring to bring in <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">opery.</P>
<P>Secondly, In order to the pre&s;ervation and &s;upport of the Government, all Occurrences of State are and have been perverted, to defame the Government, and debauch the People from their Loy|alty. A War is made with <HI>Holland,</HI> that was purpo&s;ely to weaken the Prote&s;tant Intere&s;t; a Peace is concluded, and in defence of the <HI>Netherlands</HI> again&s;t <HI>France,</HI> the King appears in Arms; why, then that was a Popi&s;h Army, and de&s;igned to cut our Throats; the Army is di&s;banded, and the <HI>Presbyterian Whiggs</HI> in <HI>Scotland</HI> rebell. Alace, poor Souls! they are jugled into it by the Oppre&s;|&s;ion of the Government, and the In&s;tigation of the Papi&s;ts. But <HI>Tangier</HI> was the prettie&s;t Ball; to day <HI>Tangier</HI> is ready to be lo&s;t, and then 'tis worth the Lord knows what, the <HI>Levant</HI> Trade is ruin|ed and lo&s;t: the nex po&s;t <HI>Tangier</HI> is relieved, and the <HI>Alcaide</HI> routed; why then, 'tis not worth the th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">nking on, 'tis a Que&s;tion whether it has done us more good or hurt; another while, <HI>Tangier</HI> is &s;old to the <HI>French</HI> King, for no body knows how many hundred thou&s;and pounds. It were end|l<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;s to recount all that might be &s;aid upon this head: I will add but one in&s;tance more, to &s;hew w<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters"> Arts have been u&s;ed to defame the Government, not &s;paring the very Per&s;on of His Maje&s;ty, whom God pre&s;erve. You might, within the&s;e three Months, have had what odds you would, that the Popi&s;h Lords would never be brought to Tryal at all; when time proved that a Lye, then, t<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters"> to one, <HI>Stafford</HI> &s;hould not dye; and the very warrant for his Execution, was reported to be a P<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter">rdon; well, that would not do: then he would not be <HI>Colemaniz'd</HI> with the Black Box, but would tell <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">aies before he lo&s;t his Head, and much was expected at his going down to the Lords Hou&s;e, and not that he &s;hould talk of a Toleration as an Expedient to bring in Popery: and after all the&s;e Lyes and Forgeries, proved to be &s;uch in the face of the World, yet the trade goes on; and every little mote in the Eye of the Government, is repre&s;ented to the People to be a Beam.</P>
<P>Thirdly, all Arts are u&s;ed to &s;tigmatize the truely Loyal King and Church-Prote&s;tants, with names of Infamy, Ma&s;queraders, Church-papi&s;ts, Pen&s;ioners, Tories, and what not? to prevent their being cho&s;en by the People where they have Voices, and to incapacitate them for places of Tru&s;t in the Government, as a mo&s;t admirable and effectual way to &s;upport it; nay a mo&s;t incom|prehen&s;ible Indictment was either Intended to be, or was pre&s;ented by a Loyal Grand-Jury, again&s;t the Kings Guards, in order to the Pre&s;ervation of His Maje&s;ties Per&s;on in the&s;e times of eminent Danger; and when one of the lying Mercuries of the Tribe, had ju&s;t printed the News, that 12000. <HI>French</HI> were ready to be landed in the Dominions of His Maje&s;ty of <HI>Great-Britain,</HI>
<PB N="3" REF="2">a &s;ea&s;onable time to di&s;arm him, that &s;o the <HI>French</HI> or the <HI>Papi&s;ts</HI> may have the greater Freedom to do their Bu&s;ine&s;s. Oh admirable and incomprehen&s;ible Loyalty of Common-wealth-Pro|te&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1+ letters">!</P>
<P>Fourthly, All the Indu&s;try imaginable, is u&s;ed to repre&s;ent &s;uch per&s;ons to be the fitte&s;t Re|pre&s;entatives of the People, who have been in actual Arms again&s;t His Maje&s;ty, and His Royal Fa|ther: nay, as it is credibly reported, one was recommended to a neighbouring Burrough, who was not only of the Council of State, and had abjur'd <HI>Charles Steuart,</HI> as the breeding of tho&s;e Loy|al Prote&s;tants, men called the King, but had &s;aid beyond Sea, at the time of the Tragical Mur|ther of the late King, that rather than there &s;hould want an Executioner, he would come over, and do the Office; and I think, it was never certainly known who did it: however, the kind offer is an admirable and incomprehen&s;ible Qualification for a Pre&s;erver of His Maje&s;ties Life, and the Go|vernment now by Law e&s;tabli&s;hed.</P>
<P>Fifthly, The People are continually kept waking with repeated Allarms, both by Printing and Coffee-hou&s;e di&s;cour&s;es; nothing is &s;ounded in their Ears but frightful Stories of Dangers, Ma&s;&s;acres, Inva&s;ions, &s;trange Sights in the Air, Apparitions and Vi&s;ions; and though they have been cheated a thou&s;and times over with the &s;ame things, yet they are &s;o weak, to give Credit to the Reports, and confident Reporters, who tell and print the mo&s;t &s;illy Stories, with the &s;ame Forehead that others do the more important Truths, and all this, to prepare the people to expect &s;ome dreadful Revolutions, which mu&s;t by a certain Fatality befal the State.</P>
<P>Sixthly, That which is admirable and incomprehen&s;ible even to the mo&s;t &s;urpri&s;ing A&s;toni&s;h|ment, is to &s;ee <HI>Pilate</HI> and <HI>Herod</HI> made Friends, Pre&s;byterians, Quakers, Independents and Ana|bapti&s;ts, who hate each other with a mortal irreconcileable Hatred, united as one man throughout <HI>England,</HI> to bring in, if po&s;&s;ible, into the next Hou&s;e of Commons, per&s;ons that may &s;ecure His Maje&s;ties Per&s;on, the Government, and the Prote&s;tant Religion. But if they &s;ettle that which is now by Law e&s;tabli&s;hed, as I hope, if they &s;ettle any, they will, and &s;ecure the Church again&s;t Papi&s;ts, Hereticks, and Schi&s;maticks, the great Enemies both of Church and State, they will &s;trangely di&s;appoint all tho&s;e peoples Expectations.</P>
<P>Now, that you may unlock all tho&s;e My&s;teries, I will lend you a Key; it is part of a Speech, &s;poken by a late Lord Chancellor, to the Parliament.</P>
<P>My Lords and Gentlemen, Let it not be &s;aid, I be&s;eech you, of us, what was &s;aid of the Senate of <HI>Rome, Excellentibus ingeniis citius defuit ars qua civem regant, quam, qua ho&s;tem perdant,</HI> (they were greater Ma&s;ters in conquering their Enemies, than governing their Citizens) let not tho&s;e Scorpions (&s;peaking of Common-wealth Prote&s;tants) be kept warm in our bo&s;oms till they &s;ting us to Death; let not tho&s;e who hate the Government, and would de&s;troy the Government (I have not heard that they are changed &s;ince) let not them he &s;heltred under the Shadow and Protection of the Government. It is po&s;&s;ible, and God knows it is but po&s;&s;ible, that &s;ome men who are no Friends to this or that part of the Government (for you are not to believe, that they always di&s;co|ver what they are in truth mo&s;t angry with) who would not buy the&s;e Alterations they mo&s;t de&s;ire, at the price of a Civil War; they would bring it fairly about, wait for a godly Parliament, and do all by their con&s;ent: (this is no &s;ham Plot) Yet the&s;e per&s;ons mu&s;t not take it ill, that we cannot de&s;ire they &s;hould ever have it in their power, to bring the&s;e Alterations to pa&s;s by tho&s;e means they now &s;eem to abhor. And I do heartily wi&s;h, I am &s;ure they will not be the wor&s;e men, nor the wor&s;e Subjects for it, that they would a little reflect upon what is pa&s;t remember how much they have once done (as they then pretended) more than they intended to have done, nay, which they did heartily abhor the thought of doing; and they will find, that the only way to pre&s;erve them&s;elves innocent, is to keep their Minds from being vitiated by the fir&s;t Impres&s;ions, by Jealou&s;ies, Mur|murings, and Repinings; and above all, by the Conver&s;ations of tho&s;e men who would &s;acri|fice the Peace of the Kingdom to their own Ambition, Pride, (Revenge) or even to their Hu|mour.</P>
<P>Thus far, he like an Oracle or a Prophet. If therefore you find any per&s;ons to whom this Character does agree, it is your intere&s;t as well as your Duty, to deliberate long before you imbarque with &s;uch Per&s;ons, who, let their pretences be never &s;o fair and popular, yet &s;ail by the compa&s;s of Di&s;content or Revenge: and &s;ince this Lord has put you upon Reflection and Con&s;ideration, which are the methods of Wi&s;dom, let me offer &s;ome nece&s;&s;ary Reflections and Con&s;iderations to your &s;erious Thoughts, in which I appeal to the whole World, whether they are not whol&s;om Truths.</P>
<P N="1">1. Reflect upon the end of things: that is the fir&s;t thing to be con&s;idered by all tho&s;e who pre|tend to be managed by Prudence; whither can the&s;e unlawful Arts of traducing and maligning the Government, lead us at the la&s;t, but to Seditions and Tumults, and the unexpre&s;&s;ible Calami|ties of a Civil War: And what is to be got by that, but certain <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="faint" EXTENT="1 letter">lavery, if u&s;urping Rebels &s;hould prevail? For &s;uch to &s;ecure that Tyranny which they have gotten by the Sword, mu&s;t govern ar|bitrarily and by the Sword, as you have found by former deplorable Experience. Nor can any ra|tional per&s;on &s;uppo&s;e, that they who will not be governed by the old and known Laws of the Land, will &s;ubmit to any, when they are the Legi&s;lators by virtue of the longe&s;t &s;word; and if Right &s;hould prevail, as 'tis odds but it will, not many Rebellions have been pro&s;perous, con&s;ider how many Immunities, Charters, Grants and Liberties, may be forfeited, which you now enjoy; and that though a gracious Oblivion may pardon Life, yet it will not be obliged to re&s;tore tho&s;e Franchi&s;es which royal Bounty has conferr'd upon your Ance&s;tors, and that po&s;terity may cur&s;e th<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="missing" EXTENT="1 letter"> Memory of tho&s;e who gave the occa&s;ion of their Lo&s;s.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="4" REF="3"> 2. Reflect, how good, gracious, ju&s;t and merciful a Prince you have, how happy you may live under His ea&s;ie Government, how willing He is to comply with His People, in whatever is con|&s;i&s;tent with His Safety, Honour, Con&s;cience, and His Coronation Oath; to de&s;ire more, is not only ingratefully to di&s;oblige Him, but unrea&s;onable, and which, no private per&s;on, not the mean|e&s;t Subject, but would think it injurious to be impo&s;ed upon, in point of Honour or Con|&s;cience.</P>
<P N="3">3. Reflect, e&s;pecially &s;uch as have been guilty of the late Rebellion, how great an Arrear you are in the gracious Act of Oblivion; and if you have not made the Scores even betwixt God and you by true Repentance, how much you are run behind hand to the Avenger of Innocent Blond, and do not by running further upon the Score, pull down divine Vengeance upon your Heads. There is a &s;trange Fatality in the number Forty, <HI>Forty years long was I grieved</HI> (&s;aith Almighty God) <HI>with the wicked Generation of Murmurers and Rebels in the Wilderne&s;s, and at la&s;t, he &s;wore they &s;hould, not enter into his Rest.</HI> Forty years pa&s;&s;ed over the wicked <HI>Jews,</HI> before the overflowing Flood of Vengeance overtook them for the Innocent Blond of the Son of God, but then it came to purpo&s;e. It is now near forty years, &s;ince the late horrid and unnatural Rebellion began, wherein our Royal Soveraign was murdered by the barbarous hands of U&s;urping Common-wealth Prote&s;tants; and let them look to it, and a&s;&s;ure them&s;elves, if they break out into Tumults, Sedition, or Rebelli|on, his Prophetick Threatning will fall upon them. I believe (&s;aith he, &s;peaking of the Tumults) the Ju&s;t Avenger of all Di&s;orders, will in time, make tho&s;e men, and that City, &s;ee their &s;in in the Gla&s;s of their Puni&s;hment. 'Tis more than an even Lay, that they may one day &s;ee them|&s;elves puni&s;hed by that way they offended; I pray God avert it, however, out of pure Com|pa&s;&s;ion, I recommend it to your &s;erious con&s;ideration, and that though there is a future State wherein Puni&s;hment may be differed as to private Per&s;ons, yet Communities and Bodies poli|tick being not capable of that, u&s;ually meet their Puni&s;hment in this World, when they of|fend.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, permit me to tell you this home Truth, which you &s;hall mo&s;t certainly find ju&s;tified by Experience. That you may run the &s;ame Circle of Mi&s;ery (but do not make your &s;elves &s;ure of Succe&s;s, for you will be mi&s;taken, let not him that putteth on his Harne&s;s, boa&s;t like him that putteth it off) you &s;hall never &s;ee this Nation &s;ecured in a happy Peace, till Sober, Wi&s;e, Ju|dicious and moderate men, by Moderate, Cool, and healing Councils, re&s;cue both the Church and State from the Attempts of Popery on the one hand, and the Inva&s;ions of Common-wealth-Pro|te&s;tants, Schi&s;maticks, on the other, which however, &s;ome may look upon as impo&s;&s;ible; yet there is a Power that is able to effect great Wonders; and &s;ure, none ought to be tempted to di&s;pair, who can remember His Maje&s;ties happy and miraculous Re&s;tauration, and how the Sword fell out of the hands of His Enemies: Remember this, and believe there is the &s;ame Providence to Protect Him &s;till, and to confound all the Attempts of His, and the Enemies of our Peace and Happine&s;s.</P>
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<P><HI>Edinburgh,</HI> Re-printed in the Year, 1681.</P>
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