I know not How brings your Lordship to a Position of Assurance There have been indeed those whose Haughtiness of Mind bearing down all the Rest of their Faculties hath deceived them into a Superlative Idea of their being Above Apology they have perished in Falls Unnatural tho' not Unpitied But if a Bishop a Pattern of Humility One who to be Great among Us is to be our Minister shall Dare give it under his Hand that He always thought next to Committing Offences Nothing can be more Grievous to an Ingenuous Mind than to be put upon the Necessity of making Apologies In English no more but Owning a Miscarriage in Decency of Reasoning to Unload his Conscience if that be so very Grievous to the Ingenuous Mind of a Bishop I take his Apologies to be like his Compliances One the Result of more than Ignorance or Chance the Other of much less than Contrition and without charge upon my Self of any Disrespect either to his Quality or Function Conclude tho' with a Modesty even to Tameness of Expression that the Best and most Ingenuous Part of the Apology Lyes in Confessing the Necessity to make it To what Advantage might an Elaborate Man in Concern for the Injuries done his Country display this Abundant Paper How easily my Lord might a Pen if like yours Incapable of Parting with a Luxuriant Stroak for the sake of Persons or Families take down these Altars of Praise you have Built to Others Contriving to annex your self however without Detraction from the Merit due to any whomsoever I will reduce the Overflowings within Bank bring them to Fact and Qualifie the Magnificent Apology Shewing that your Better Understanding Proceeded not from Argument but Appearance terrible Aspect and dreadful Apprehension your own Words my Lord are very Dogmatical Full Satisfaction may seize People in Lightning and they may be Struck with the Convincing of Thunder Only by the way my Lord whereas you seem to intitle your self to something or other within Guess by incurring the Displeasure of our Two Last Kings in declining to Write against the States of Holland during the First and Second Dutch Wars I humbly desire if any thing in these Papers tempt your Lordship to a Third Apology or a Reply that you will please to let us know if they desired you to Write in Prose for neither of those Wars or Depredations afforded Subject Matter for one Paragraph of Truth How Specious soever the First might be rendred in the Frenchified Heat of our Honey Moon after the Restoration the Effect of Private Sentiments in Religion here tho' he seemingly took part with the Dutch against us I am sure No Man will say but the Second was an Apparent Violation of the Law of Nations the Triple League broke on our side with Grief be it remembred by Us and very unkind in your Lordship not to bury against all the Rules of Mutual Defence and Notwithstanding the most direct Warning of the Fatal Consequences of such a Breach that a Wise Man our Agent abroad could possibly insinuate To our Great Reproach my Lord Opening a Passage to the Common Disturber of Manking and for ought I know too great a Cause of all the Blood that has been and may be shed in Christendom from the Ravage of that Imperious Monarch of France beside a Subjugation of Us here to Popery and Slavery or the Inevitable Fury of a Civil War if in return of Good for Evil the Dutch had not Aided our Deliverance from the Influence of all those Pernicious Counsels and I make no doubt but your Lordship knew then as well as I do now that Invention must have been the Guide of your Undertaking and the Topick Dimunition of Glory if you had obeyed their Commands The Tenth Page of the Letter If I have now given your Lordship any Satisfaction touching my Fair Dealing in my part of that Book I doubt not but what follows will give you more when I shall assure you of my having refused to Write a Continuation of the same History For my Lord it was sometime after the Duke of Monmouth 's Overthrow and Execution that King James the Second required me to Vndertake such another Task and presently set about a Second Part To that purpose his Majesty gave me a sight of Multitudes of Original Papers and Letters together with the Confessions of several Persons then taken in England and Scotland who did seem to Outview one another who should reveal most both of Men and Things relating to the Old Conspiracy as well as to the Duke of Monmouth 's and the Earl of Argyle 's Invasion But finding the Innocence of Divers Persons of Honour and Worth touched in those Papers And by that time beginning Vehemently to Suspect Things were Running apace towards the Endangering our Laws and Religion I must say I could never be induced by all his Majesties reiterated Commands to go on with that Work. Instead of that tho' I had all the Materials for such a Narrative within my Power for above Three Years and might Easily have finished it in Six Weeks yet I chose rather to Suppress and Silence as much I could all that New Evidence which if openly produced would have blemished the Reputation of some Honourable Persons Answer Blemishes my Lord are from the Cause nor will I ask Pardon to say 'T is as necessary to live in the Disesteem of some as the Good Opinion of Others The Overthrow of the Duke of Monmouth was in the Name of King and if what our Neighbours assert to be Law in Scotland be Reason in England the late Kings assuming the Regal Power of this Protestant Kingdom being a Papist was in it self a Forfeiture of his Exercise of the Authority If the Eyes of the People had been as Open to apprehend it as his Chappel was Early to declare it their Hands had been Strong enough to have brought a General to Town then Confirming the Bill of Exclusion And placing the Crown where it now is The Generosity of Trust in the English towards their King at his First Accession to the Throne Over-ruling their Jealousie Reasonable from his Conduct of many Years before but Demonstration of Entire Affection to their Kings while any Tolerable Bounds will hold Them very Honourable in Them but very much to be Deplored was the End of that Duke Rebellion had been a Word in his Attainder if he had not taken upon him the Title of King that part of him which Died had perhaps been less than Execution and his Defeat not so much as an Overthrow King James my Lord made good that Cause by the Continuation of his own History to the time of his Departure and King William and Queen Mary whom God for ever preserve by Consent and Authority of the Estates have given it Immortality The Old Conspiracy is not a Language but in those Times when Judges deliver for Law that surprizing a Garrison apart from the King is an Overt Act
of Treason to destroy the Person of a King within the Statute of 25 Ed. 3d. What greater Invasion can there be than when Judges shall Force in upon Express Words of Law and Kill a Man by a Rule of Court. The Statute says That if any Person beyond Sea at the time of an Outlawry for High Treason surrenders himself within a Year after he shall have leave to Traverse the Indictment upon which the Outlawry is grounded and be admitted to Tryal What can be inferred from these Words but if the King will Execute him upon that Outlawry he must have Patience till the Year Expires Otherwise a Fair Tryal must be allowed for who can tell but it may come into his Heart to deliver himself to Justice according to the Forms of that Law the very last Point of the Year And are not those Invading Judges whom the Law Trusts not only to be Councel for the Prisoner but directs them to expound all Penal Laws most Beneficially in favour of Life to send a Subject in Cool Blood Nay which is worse to force the Natural Born Subject of a Free State out of their own Dominions send him out of the World upon these Terms and Sanctifie it with the Name of an Execution this my Lord is Invasion also and Conspiracy Or when the Law is Positive that Men must be tryed in the County where the Facts are Committed and be Executed in the same County where they receive Judgment for the Prerogative Dealers to gratify the Vain Humour of a King and Mount a Chief Justice only to send a Wretch contrary to Law to be put to Death at the Head of a Regiment in Terror forsooth that the Rest may continue more Unlawfully together than he Deserted them These are Invasions my Lord that have been may encountred with that which is no Invasion but Reprisal of the People's Rights and Liberties Such Invasions as made the Renowned Hales Foreseeing our Dangers from Colour of Law say The Twelve Red-coats in Westminster-Hall where capable of Doing the Nation more Violence than Twenty Thousand in the Field But my Lord if so soon after that Kings Ascending the Throne as the Unfortunate Duke of Monmouth's Last Return into England you began Vehemently to suspect Things were Running apace towards the Endangering Our Religion and Laws so that you could not be induced by all his Majesties reiterated Commands to go on with the Work of History because you must have Blemished the Reputation that is Libelled the Innocence of some Persons of Honour One would think That Vehemence of Suspicion might have grown into Satisfaction in less than Three Years and your Lordship have broke loose from the Conspirators long before the Tryal of the Bishops The Twelfth page of the Letter Next my Lord having mentioned my being concerned in the Commission for the Diocess of London in that I had the good Fortune to be Joyned with an Excellent Person my Lord Bishop of Peterborough And we can both truly say that as we entered into that Commission with my Lord of London 's Good Will so we acted nothing in it without the Greatest Respect to his Interest It is well known we continued all his Officers in their Full Profits and Priviledges of their Places We faithfully maintained the Rights of his Bishopprick and Once in the Kings own Presence against his Majesties Express Inclinations in a business of no less Concernment than my Lord Mayor 's Chappel We never invaded any of my Lord Bishops Preferments that fell Void in that Interval We disposed of none but according to his own Directions We used his Clergy with the same Affectionate Care and Brotherly Love as He himself had done who was on that Account as Dear to them as any Bishop in Christendom was to his Diocess And we Appeal to them whether we might not rather expect their Kindness and Thanks than suspect their Ill-will for all our Transactions with them nor can this be thought a vain Boast to any Man who shall seriously reflect on the terrible Aspect of Things from Court upon the London Clergy during the whole time of our Exercising that Jurisdiction The remembrance whereof makes me not doubt to affirm That if my Lord Bishop of Peterborough and I had not then stood in the Gap but some other Persons who were prepared to be thrust in upon our leaving that Commission had got it absolutely into their Power 't is possible the most Learned and Pious Clergy in the World had been somewhat otherwise imployed than they were and too much taken up in defending themselves from the violent Persecutions of the Popish Party to have leisure to Confute and Triumph over the Popish Cause as they entirely did in their Admirable Writings to the Glory and Establishment of the Church of England Answer I am apt to think the Bishop of Peterborough had as far my Lord of London's Good-will in that Commission as was possible for so Faithful a Bishop to consent that any but himself should execute his Trust because from the Character of that Bishop he might under the Necessity of his Affairs hope for Performance and Good Offices but your Lordship of Rochester who sate Illegally in the Grand Commission and in Favour at Court have no reason to flatter your self but the Appearance of my Lord of London's Good-will toward you in the matter was Prevention And we to whose Reading you issue out this Manifesto can take it for no other than a Continuance of your Regard for that Commission which suspended him The Jurnal you present us with of Eine Carriage c. during the time of your exercising that Jurisdiction with the Excellent Bishop of Peterborough has this Melancholy in it too my Lord That the Excellencies of my Lord of Peterborough one way compared at that time with your Excellencies another it may be thought his Excellency carried in the Medium Nor yet could you have done otherwise for the most Pious and Learned Clergy in the World must have concluded you quite out of the Protestant Religion if you had not maintained the Rights of the Bishoprick in the inferiour Respects you mention and every Body living beside would have believed you gone into Utter Darkness or in very great and Personal Hatred to the Bishop of London if a Suspension from which an ordinary submission would discharge him as you have said should lay his Lordship so low in your Esteem Or so Immediate in your Fear of displeasing the Court as to turn out his Officers and Abandon him to that Extremity or render him so Obnoxious as not to be consulted in the disposal of his Vacant Preferments Especially when the Papists did not value what Heretick you put in so the Game was kept on till the Managers were ready to Sweep and Distinguish at once But a Thinking Man my Lord will summ up all this and resolve from it That you sate Knowingly in the Ecclesiastical Commission because you acted Discreetly in
First to Amuse Us by Forms of Justice till they were in a Posture to follow the Example of the Parliament of Paris and after disposing of our Principal Nobility to put all the Rest under Military Reconciliation by the Assistance of France 'T is Pleasant to say the Constant Experience of all Wise Times has shewed that Civil Dissentions and Quarrels are best Ended by the Largest Acts of Indemnity And 't is as Easy to prove the Contrary and to shew that all wise Governments from Sparta down to Rome the Mistress of the World were Supported by the Strict Execution of Impartial Justice That Tyranny took possession of her at last and has ever prevailed more by Flattering the wicked than strength That Civil Dissentions will never Extinguish where there is matter of Faction while some are too Great and others too wise for the Laws of their Country 'T is a very little while since in the late Kings Reign Pardons flew about like Wild Fire and the Act of Oblivion my Lord after the Restauration will shew you that some of All sorts were Excepted Good Nature in England is soon Apt to have Compassion upon the Afflicted but he that says scarce any thing can be more Dangerous to the Party that is Uppermost than to put English-men upon pitying those that suffer under it Articles with a Sword in his Hand and Threatens while he Desires Certainly it can neither become the Honour nor Consist with the safety of any Revolution to let such Language pass where Good Nature is Demanded And tho' I presume to join in this part of your Advice my Lord that the Revolution may be mild in the Event yet not for the same Reasons of being Bloodless in the whole Course of it or believing there was much danger of Bloodshed but Principally to oblige the Merciful Disposition of the King whose Goodness recommended the Act and then to try if Marks of Reproach with Confusion of Face may not strike deeper and more lasting Impressions into the Minds of the People restraining them from Villanous Attempts for the Future than Sanguinary Dispatches the Work of a Minute Forgot in an Hour Last Pages of the Letter I Will say no more My Lord but this that after great and unexpected Changes That hath been always found the firmest settlement of any State or Government where the Prevailing Party hath look'd but very little backward and very much forward where Private Animosity and Revenge have wisely given way to the greater Benefits of Publick Pardon and Indulgence Perhaps towards the beginning of great Reformations a warm Impetuous Spirit may have its Use But to Compose Things after sudden Commotions to Calm Men's Minds for the Future to settle Affairs in a secure and Lasting Peace most Certainly a gentle generous charitable Temper is the best Answer Private Animosity and Revenge are not to be imagined in the Supream Assemblies of a Kingdom My Lord 't is a great Oversight or a higher Vanity to Mention them The Impetuous Spirit of Reformation is not English Unless Affection pass for a Crime and Indifference a Virtue To Compose Things after Sudden Commotions to Calm Men's minds for the present a Generous Good-natured Charitable Temper is Best because a Sudden hot-headed Tumult ought to be Quickly Appeased and no more thought of But when Conspiracies have been of long Standing Obstinate Carried on against the Laws of a Nation by Inches the Growth of Many Years the Intriegue of Ages to Ripen and Effect they bear no likeness to Sudden Commotion Nor can Affairs be Settled in a secure and Lasting Peace upon any such Revolution without Deliberate Councels Steddy Resolutions and Bold Execution The Firmest Settlement of any State or Government after Great Changes is when the Prevailing Party goes to the Root of the Evil as well in the Instrument as the Design The Surest Method of Composing Things within and Preventing Temptations to Berray from Abroad is to let all Mankind see no Injuries from thence shall pass Unaccounted for because no Offenders at Home can Escape without Punishment If Ministers of State were brought to Understand that according to our Laws they gave their advice at their Peril Kings would be well serv'd and Subjects live Happy Favourites would not only Examine Themselves before they Entred upon those Important Trusts but seriously Consider how to Carry Themselves when Engag'd Nor would they Ever Attempt to accumulate Honours and Fortunes by gratifying the Unreasonable Desire of their Master if they were Once well Satisfied beyond words That the Powers of the Prince were not Strong enough to protect Them while they live nor Death it self to secure the Plunder to their Posterity Thus my Lord you see according to the Premise of my First I am no Dealer in the Art of Language Nor Accuser I do assure your Lordship but a plain Ordinary Man a Reverencer of Publick Honesty Impartial Justice and Naked Truth The Dearest Friend I have cannot charge me with an Approach to Flattery nor my greatest Enemy Justly yet with any Act of Private Animosity or Revenge Love for my Country raises me to Warmth but no Impetuous Spirit When I find a Man Acting against her Interest before Forward in Advising her out of his Station now I cannot help being Jealous and Satisfied in my own Breast the Notions laid down are Disagreeable to her Safety in General however they may be taken for granted with reference to his Particular am so much an English-man as not to let them pass for Unanswerable Maxims and Standing Rules without Opposition of which the World is to Judge between Us. Persons are not my Courtship but Things my Industry I Honour the Great pay Respect to the Deserving and Share with the Really Afflicted But he that lays hold of Ignorance in so many Remarkable Transactions of his Life can be no sure Adviser Nor in my Humble Opinion ought your Lordship to have Pleaded so Liberally for all the Criminals in the Kingdom Unless you thought your self the last Man upon Earth to be Forgiven My Lord Your Lordships most Humble Servant May the 25th 1689. FINIS p. 6. p. 7. Pag. 6. 6 Ed. 6. Page 3. Page 21. Page 27 28 29 30. Page 59º Page 60. Page 60. Page 61. Page 61. Page 61. Page 61.