THE CHARACTER OF A Bigotted Prince c. THE CHARACTER OF A Bigotted Prince AND WHAT ENGLAND May Expect from the Return of such a One. Licensed May the 9th J. F. 1691. LONDON Printed for Richard Baldwin at the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-lane 1691. THE CHARACTER OF A Bigotted Prince c. IT has been the great unhappiness of the Kingdom of England for some Years last past to be troubled with two very Different sort of Persons of quite contrary Tempers the one Party of so very Costive a Faith that they could believe nothing and the other of so easy a Belief that they could swallow every thing the first of these could not see the Sun of Truth in its brightest Meridian and even Mathematical Demonstration signified nothing in order to persuade them they could not or at least would not see their Native Country hurried to the very Jaws of Ruine and imitated Nero in his stupidity who could unconcernedly Tune his Harp when Rome was in Flames every thing about 'em seem'd pleasant and gay they never suffered their minds to be rufled with anxious Thoughts for the Future so they enjoy'd the present and observ'd in the Literal but corrupted sence the command of our Saviour to take no care for the Morrow the most surprizing Relations mov'd them not a jot and they gave as equal a Credit to an Information or Confession upon Oath as they would have allow'd to a Chapter in Rablais his History of Garagantua The other were of a quite different stamp they could credit the most improbable Stories and the most far fetcht Lyes were with them esteem'd as Oracles they were ever at Coffee-houses or places of such resort still listning to every idle Pamphleteer's Discourse with more Attention than to a Sermon they could not see a Chimney on Fire but immediately some Treachery they believ'd was in agitation and a Drunken Midnight Quarrel in the Streets Allarm'd their Thoughts into the Belief of a Massacre they had nothing in their Mouths but Plots and Designs and Holy Writ it self stood upon the same bottom in their Creed with some Witnesses Depositions their Imagination hag-rid with Suspicious and Fears daily presented them with such frightful Scenes that they were not only uneasy to themselves but likewise to all about them which render'd their Days unpleasant and their Nights unquiet insomuch that some of them durst not go to Bed for fear next Morning they should wake and find their Throats Cut. From these two very corrupt Humours in the late times were produced those two odious Characters of Whigg and Tory which were banded about so long in Jest that they soon turn'd Earnest and he was thought either a Knave or a Blockhead who would not suffer himself to be Dignified or Distinguished by one of those Titles This Humour continued for some Years with great Violence and Disorder during the latter end of the Reign of K. Charles the Second in all which time 't is obvious whoever wore the Crown a great Person then at Court manag'd Affairs at the Helm That great Prince who had seen both the Extreams of a Prosperous and an Adverse Fortune by his Death Yeilded the Throne to his only Brother in the beginning of whose Reign the two Discriminating Names before mention'd seem'd to have been utterly forgotten the former in seeing a Prince the Darling of their thoughts and wishes now become a Monarch and the latter in their mistaken apprehensions of his unexpected Clemency in affording them Liberty of Conscience The Storm was now abated and Mens Tempers grew more compos'd the Virtues of the Soveraign fill'd every Mouth with His Praises His Goodness His Justice and His Piety was the Theme of common Discourse and nothing but the Name of James the Just heard in the most ordinary Conversations It does not become a Subject too nicely to inquire into the Miscarriages of a Crown'd Head but this must be consest very ill things were done even to the Alteration of the fundamentals both of our Religion and Government and this must be own'd by every one whose Ears are not stopt by invincible Prejudice or Partiality 'T would be vain labour to descend to particulars in a Discourse which is design'd to be of another Nature The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles tho' long time Abrogated by the coming of our Saviour hinders not nor forbids me to reflect on the Dangers I escap'd in the Wilderness I may Lawfully I think select such Days in the Year to consider how Corporations were Regulated Bishops Imprison'd and other Irregularities committed in the late Reign without assembling a Conventicle and there in some lewd Harrang swell every Miscarriage to a prodigious greatness The Actions of Princes Evil ones especially are their own proper Heralds and every one of his Subjects carries some short Remarks of his Reign in their Memories I do not believe that History can parallel the Joys and Triumphs of any Nation upon their Deliverance from Oppression with the universal Triumphs of the English upon the never to be forgotten late Revolution they seem'd like Men kept a long time in Durance and now were blest with the sweets of Liberty nay even some of our present Murmerers themselves were most forwardly Active to shew their Zeal for the then Prince of Orange who by his coming seem'd to open the Scene of a new World and restore the English to the Poet's time of the Golden Age again But like true Israelites we long again for the Onions and Garlick of Egypt and would fain be under our old Task-masters once more the Wound which was seemingly Heal'd is now broke out again and what we lost in the Antient Tory we find reviv'd in the Modern Jacobite We were told in a Prophetick Discourse some years since what Treatment we were to expect if a Prince of the Romish Communion should settle upon the Throne the effects of which every one who is not wilfully Blind must acknowledg Did he not drive Jehu-like in a full Carreer to Rome Were not his Emisaries in every great Town in England Regulating Corporations and Poisoning the Minds of the People with Popish Doctrins Were not all places of Trust both Civil and Military fill'd up with those of the Romish Faith or others whom he made use of for his own ends Were they not come to an excessive hight of Impudence both in their Sermons and Discourses Was not the Torrent swell'd so high that they hourly expected the Deluge Were not the Fences of the Law the Security of the Subject attempted to be broke down And Magna Charta when in Opposition to the Princes will be valued no more than a cancell'd Deed of Conveyance Was not an Embassador sent to Rome and a Nuntio Entertain'd here to settle the Protestant Religion no doubt and a thousand other Practices committed as directly opposite to the Interest of the English Nation as Fire is contrary to Water Was all this done in a corner Were not their Actions as
barefaced as the Sun And after all this and the Deliverance we Enjoy must we go into the House of Bondage again and put on those Fetters we so lately shook off Let the seeming warmth of this Parenthesis be a little excus'd yet I must confess such considerations as these are almost valid enough to justify a Passion and make Anger appear no Fault for were the Roman Catholicks the only Asserters of the Rights of the late King James the wonder would be little bodies often Sympathise at a distance and they by several Obligations are bound to wish him Success and while they terminate in empty Hopes let them still regale themselves with their airy Diet I pity the deluded Creatures but cannot blame them because they Act upon their own Principles and 't would be as unnatural for them not to Pray for his Return as for a Cardinal in hopes of the Popedom to wish success to the Protestant Forces or a Calvinist to Drink a Health to Monsieur Catinat But when a sort of Men guided as they pretend by the Dictates of an unerring Conscience shall at this time of day openly declare for an exploded Interest and these Protestants too Men no ways leven'd with Popery or any of her Doctrin's but Zealous Maintainers of the Church of England Devout and Pious Charitable and Just in the chief Employments of the Church and the Brightest of the Golden Candlesticks For these so openly to declare their Aversion to this Present Government and their Fondness for the Last is what does not a little elevate and surprise to use an Expression of Mr. Bays and comes almost as near to a Miracle as Transubstantiation A late very Eminent Doctor of the Church when the Prosecution was Violent against the Dissenters wrote a most Learned Tract concerning the Nicety of a Scrupulous Conscience wherein he very curiously Anatomizes the several Meanders and turnings of that invisible Operation and Proves that Humour Discontent and Interest do frequently wear the Livery of Conscience How nice soever some may be in point of Religion I wish these Gentlemen could acquit themselves from the forementioned Disguise with which they masquerade their Political Conscience One would wonder what strange bewitching Sophistry the Church of Rome makes use of to blind the Understandings of her Votaries to that degree that they are continually mistaking their own Interest and tamely to deliver up their Bodies Souls Reputation and Fortunes for the Reversion of Purgatory hereafter only for the slight gratification of their humours here and I appeal to the greatest asserter of King James his Interest if they can produce any Crown'd Head in England since the Conquest who was half so Infatuated and Bigotted to the Interest of the See of Rome as the late King Indeed we Read of a Religious Edward and a Pious Devout Henry but our English History cannot afford us one Instance of a Prince who would Sacrifice his own Honour his Kingdoms Safety his Interest Abroad and the Love of his Subjects at Home meerly out of a mistaken Zeal to the Advancement of the Romish Faith the most solemn Oaths and Protestations esteem'd no more than words of Course and that which was held Sacred amongst all mankind valued as nothing in competition with a Command from the Apostolick Chair The old Lady at Rome with all her Wrinkles has still some Charms to subdue great Princes and tho she has Abus'd Depos'd and Murther'd so many of her Lovers yet she finds every day some new Admirers who are proud of her Charms a Practice which comes as near a Miracle as any that Church in her Legends can boast of and I hope some passages in the late Reign are not so forgotten but they may serve to justify the truth of the Assertion Indeed for our amusement we were once told by a popular Pen That allowing a King upon the English Throne Principled for Arbitrary Government and Popery yet he was Clog'd and Shackl'd with Popular and Protestant Laws that if he had ne're so great a mind to 't there was not a Subject in his Dominions would dare to serve him in his Design How true this Assertion has since prov'd let any indifferent person judge the late King himself both dar'd and found no small number of his Subjects as resolute as their Master to alter the whole Frame of the English Government he found not Men only of his own Communion but Men of all Religions or rather of no Religion at all whose desperate Fortunes push't'em on to the most daring Enterprises his single Command added Life to their Motions and no wonder he found Tools to Work withal when all the Obligations of Law were shrunk into the small compass of a Princes Will and the musty Lines of Magna Charta dwindled to a Sic volo sic jubeo Several other artifices were us'd to let us conceive a Popish Prince no such terrible Bugbear as common Fame represents him as that the Idolatrous Superstition of the Church of Rome was by a long series of time so worn off the minds of the People and the Reformation so strongly Rooted the Church of England so firmly Establish'd the Romanists so detested for their Innovations in Doctrin and Absurdity in Ceremonies c. that it was impossible ever to fix Popery here But alas 't was meer Delusion we quickly saw through the Juggle and the State-Quacks discover'd their Leigerdemain tricks too openly and had not Almighty God by a most surprising and almost unparllel'd Providence Deliver'd us I know not by this time but that the Name Protestant had been as odious in England as the Term of Hugonot is now in France and the Dominicans and Franciscans left their Cells in Lincolns-Inn-Fields and the Savoy to have Sung their Regina Coelorum in all the Cathedrals in England I am not Ignorant how some Persons do still Magnifie the Merits of the late King as to his Private Virtues as his being Descended of the Blood Royal his Inviolable tenderness for his Friend the exact Correspondency of his Mouth and Heart his Courage against the Dutch c. but these were glimmering Rays of his which shin'd upon some few only for when he came to his Meridian they chang'd their Nature and the scorching Beams of his Zeal for his Religion got the Ascenednt of all his other Accomplishments which so clouded his discerning Faculties that he mistook his Friends for his Enemies and his Enemies for his Friends the most sage and deliberate Advices given him in opposition to beloved Jesuits were censur'd as intrenchments upon his Prerogative and the single Ipse Dixit of Father Peters valued above the Joynt Council of the Realm the Colledges of Oxford and Cambridg esteem'd as Nurseries of Hereticks and the President and Fellows of Magdelen Colledg most illegally Ejected from their just Rights to receive upon the Foundation a sort of Sparks who were neither Schollars nor Gentlemen Priviledg was swallow'd up by Prerogative and Know
I am your King was a Supersedeas to all manner of humble Petitions and Remonstrances his Priests those fatal Scorpions he so hugg'd in his Bosom were the chief Incendiaries and contrary to our known Laws swarm'd over from Doway and St. Omers greedily gaping after Preferments which they needed not have wanted could his Will alone have placed them in Ecclefiastical Dignities they must be humbly content with Titular and Imaginary Bishopricks in Nubibus till the stubbern Hereticks who Enjoy'd 'em would at once part with their Reasons and their Livings together But the greatest occasion of his Arbitrary Government and the Aera from whence he may date all his late Misfortunes was his Friendship with the French King a right Son of Ishmael whose Hand is lifted up against every Man's and every Man 's against his a Man who has not one single Virtue to counterballance that prodigious stock of Vices which harbour in his Breast a Man who has built a Reputation upon the Ruins of his Neighbours Kingdoms and yet with this Gallick Nimrod did the Uunfortunate King James contract a most lasting Alliance I perceive I am stopt in my Assertion and a little Dabler in Politicks challenges me to prove the Contract 'T is true we cannot shew the Original Deed with their Signets and Names affixt to it but he must surely be Delivered over to Unbelief who cannot credit such Circumstances as serve to clear the matter from all doubt or hesitation Who Promoted the Marriage of the Duke with the Princess of Modena Who Defraid the Charges of her Journy and Paid the greatest part of her Fortune but the French King If this will not satisfie pray examine Coleman's Letter to Sir William Throgmorton the Duke 's then agent at the French Court where he tells him That when the Duke comes to be Master of our Affairs the King of France will have all reason to promise himself all that he can desire for according to the Dukes mind the Interest of the King of England the King of France and his Own are so closely bound up together that 't is impossible to separate them one from the other without the ruin of them all three but being joyned they must notwithstanding all opposition become Invincible There are other Letters between Mr. Coleman and Father le Chaise which carry such undeniable Marks of a Contract between King James when Duke of York and Louis le Grand that none but those Devested of common Sense can have reason to doubt it If this is not throughly convincing let any one consult the Memorial given in by Monsieur d' Avaux the French Embassador at the Hague Sept. 9th 1688 which if the curious Reader desire to see at length I refer him to the 1st Vol. of Mercurius Reformatus or the New Observator No. 5. wherein the Ingenuous Author of that Paper does prove it beyond all possibility of Contradiction There are several other Arguments as unquestionable as the former which for brevity's sake I omit And now 't is time to breath a while and consider what are the those Regal Virtues of which if a Prince has not a share he will hardly answer the expectations of his People nor the ends of Government they are generally recon'd to be Piety Prudence Justice and Valour but if his Piety degenerates into Biggottism his Prudence into unsteady Timerousness his Justice into acts of Cruelty and Severity and his Valour into Rashness and Obstinacy what ever his Flatterers may say of him yet certainly he is unfit to Govern Let the Reader apply the Character where he pleases and find a Crown'd Head whereon to fix these four Vices by another name call'd Virtues How much of the Comparison may fall to the King's share we know not but of his Bigottry Zeal or what other Name you please to his Religion I believe by this time the World wants not to be convinc'd for if for Arguments sake we should allow what we cannot believe viz. a Merit in Religious Actions certainly the late King has bid the fairest for Cononization after his Death of all the Crown'd Heads who have liv'd these two Centuries who would Sacrifice three Kingdoms to the Capricios of a Priest but be it unto him according to his Faith and indeed it is but just he should expect a Crown in Heaven if for its sake he has lost one on Earth This in a few Lines we have given the Character of a Bigotted unfortunate Prince But leaving him at his Devotions let us a little return homewards and observe a sort of Men who are so very Impatient under this Government that their very Looks express their Discontent they are as uneasy tho in the Sun-shine of Liberty as the Slaves at Algeirs are with their Chains they cannot take an Oath to a Government that will Protect 'em and nothing will ever satisfy them but the Return of their Old Master Good God! to what stupidity is Mankind arriv'd To dislike the most easy Government in the World to Espouse that which is the most Barbarous in its Nature A Government that in measures of Cruelty exceeds ev'n the most Savage Communities on the Coast of India A Government so debauch'd with false Religion that considering the Interest of Mankind and the ill usage it exposes Mens Persons and Fortunes to it could be almost wisht that such a Religion had never been known in the World In the name of Wonder what would these Gentlemen have They were many of them at least many pretended to be uneasy under the last when Popery and Arbitrary Government seem'd to come as an Armed Man and now they are almost beyond the possibility of such Fears they Murmur Of what Mercurial Temper are the English compos'd that they can never be setled Popery was once their Terrour and now that is remov'd they fear they know not what like Men in Feavers they are Restless in this Bed and when remov'd to another are as uneasy in that I appeal to any of them if the pressures that gawl their Shoulders either in their Persons or Fortunes was not brought upon themselves by their own perverse Obstinacy for which Conscience is still the pretence the Government would have them Live easy and enjoy their Estates and Preferments both Civil and Ecclesiastical nor would molest them while quiet they might sit under their Vines and under their Fig-Trees but they will not and if Men will turn themselves out of all in compliance to a humour who can help it It must be confest that when once the Persons of Kings grow Contemptible or little in the Eyes of their Subjects their smallest Miscarriages are Magnified to that degree as very often Terminates in their Ruin But there is an Errour on the other hand when the worst Actions of Princes shall be thought Innocent for according to some persons Creed a King can do no wrong and the belief of Passive Obedience is carried so high that even his Arbitrary Proceedings shall