the devouring Monster in a Night Add to these the successive Villanies of Gunpowder-Treasons Fired Cities with Plots against Kings and Kingdoms which serve to heighten the Protestant Abhorrency And if after all this we must still be converted most certainly his Holiness must follow Nebuchadnezzar's Example and heat his Fiery Furnace seven times hotter than formerly Thus far we are convinc'd that the Jesuits beliv'd it possible and they are too cunning and politick a sort of People to be deceiv'd with Shadows or make Mountains of Mole-hills And that it may not be objected That their Zeal has blinded their Reason let us but rightly consider how far the first Foundations of Popery viz. Arbitrary Power may be laid in England First then if a Papist Reign we very well understand that the Judges Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and all the Judiciary Officers are of the King's Creation And as such how far may the Influence of Preferment on baser Constitutions cull'd out for his purpose prevail even to deprave the very Throne of Justice her self and make our Judges use even our Protestant Laws themselves to open the first Gate to Slavery Alas the Laws in corrupted Judges hands have been too often used as barbarously as the Guests of Procrustes who had a Bed for all Travellers but then he either cut them shorter or stretch'd them longer to fit them to it Well but if the Publick Ministers of Justice betray the Liberty of the Subject the Subject may petition for a Parliament to punish 'em for 't But what if he will neither hear one nor call the other who shall compel him The intail'd Revenues of the Crown are much larger than his Popish Predecessors e're enjoy'd notwithstanding all the Branches of it that terminate with the Life of this present King Besides if this will not do there 's no doubt but he 'll find sufficient Assistance from the Pope English Papists and Foreign Princes And then having but a prudent Eye and a tenacious Hand to manage his Exchequer we shall find he 'll never call that People he shall never have need of And then where are our Parliaments and a Redress for all the Grievances and Oppressions in the World But all this while the Pope is not Absolute there wants a Standing Army to crown the Work And he shall have it for who shall hinder him Nay all his Commanders shall be qualified even by our present Protestant Test for the Employment He shall have enough Men of the Blade out of one half of the Gaming-houses in Town to Officer twice as many Forces as he shall want 'T is true they shall be Men of no Estates nor Principles but they shall fight as well as those that have both For People are ever as valiant that have their Fortunes to raise as those that have them to defend nay of the two they shall be more faithful to him for they have no Property to be concern'd for and will more zealously serve him by reason their whole Interests and Estates lie in him And that this Army may be more quietly raised how many Honourable Pretences may be found Perhaps the greatest and most importunate Preservation of his Kingdom shall call for it and then upon second thoughts in stead of defeating some Foreign Enemy they are opportunely ready to cut our Throats at home if we do not submit and give all that this King shall ask And then I hope none will deny but his Revenue may be as great as he and his Popish Counsellors shall think fit to make it Thus far we have given the Pourtraicture of a Popish King And now let us take a Draught of his Features in his Minority that is whilst he is only a Popish Heir Apparent Imagine then a long and prosperous Reign of a Protestant Prince a Prince so excellently qualified that true Original of Clemency Goodness Honour all the most dazling Beams of Majesty That with all his Sacred Princely Endowments he renders himself so true a Vicegerent of Heaven in his Three Kingdoms so near an Image of God in the moderation of his Temper and the dispensation of his Laws that even the nearness of his affinity to Heaven should entitle him to the dearest Care of it And to prove him the dearest Care of Heaven imagine likewise that Heaven has given him a People of those loyal and grateful Principles looking up with that thankful Allegiance and kneeling with that humble Veneration to the best of Kings the Authour of their Prosperity and the Founder of his Kingdoms Glory that they have made it the greatest study of their Obedience to deserve so good a King Witness in all Exigences their cordial tendring their Lives to serve him and so far endeavouring to strengthen his Scepter and his Sword till perhaps they have added those Gems to his Crown that all his Princely Ancestors could never boast of Being so truly strenuous in rendring their Purses and Fortunes his absolute Votaries till they have made his Revenue more than trebbly exceed all his Royal Predecessors And not stopping here but upon all occasions continuing their generous and unwearied Bounty Nay that too not always where his Peoples Safety and his Kingdoms Glory but where his private Satisfaction call'd for it as if they were resolved to yield their Hands and Hearts so entire a Sacrifice to Majesty that they would gratifie even his softest Wishes studying to sweeten his Fatigue of Empire with all the Pleasures of a Throne Now let us suppose after a long Tranquillity of this matchless Monarch's Reign That the immediate Heir to his Crown and a part of his Blood by the Sorceries of Rome is canker'd into a Papist And to pursue this Landschape we see this once happy flourishing Kingdom so far as in all Duty and Reason bound concern'd for themselves their Heirs and their whole Countries safety till with an honest cautious prudent Fear they begin to inspect a Kingdoms universal Health till weighing all the Symptoms of its State they plainly descry those Pestilential Vapours fermenting that may one day infect their Air and sicken their World and see that rising Eastern Storm engendring that will once bring in those more than Egyptian Locusts that will not onely fill their Houses and their Temples but devour their Labours their Harvests and their Vintages Thus they so long survey their threatned Countries Danger till with a more than Prophetick horrour they manifestly discover all the inseparable Concomitants of a Popish Successour and like true Patriots anticipate their Woes with a present sense of the future Miseries they foresee With these just Resentments of their dangerous State 't is easie to conclude what follows What is this Popish Heir in the Eye of England but perhaps the greatest and onely Grievance of the Nation the universal Object of their Hate and Fear and the Subject of their Clamours and Curses at whose Door lie their Discontents and Murmurs But 't is Murmurs so violent that they
thrust in amongst their very Prayers and become almost a part of their Devotions Murmurs so bold that they dare approach the very Palace nay Throne and Ear of Majesty And whenever the People of England reflect on this Heir as their King in Reversion they have reason to look upon him as no better than Jupiter's Stork amongst the Frogs Yes notwithstanding all his former Glories and Conquests his whole Stock of Fame is so lost and buried in his Apostacy from the Religion and consequently the Interest of these Protestant Kingdoms that all his Services are cancell'd and his whole Mass of Glory corrupted Suppose likewise this Popish Heir for many happy years so blest in the Tenderness and Friendship of the best of Kings that there is not that Favour or Honour within the reach or wish of Majesty that he has not made it the Study of his whole Reign to confer upon him whilst his Greatness and Lustre have been so much his dearest darling Care as if the promoting his Interest had been the Support of his own till in short he has had so large a share in the Bosom of this Royal Pylades this kindest and most gracious of Princes as if one Soul had animated them both On this Foundation as great Affections are not easily removed and Sympathy is that Bond which Humane Power can ne'er dissolve suppose moreover that this inseparable Tie continues so long notwithstanding all the Changes of Principles and Religion a Byass so heavy that it almost overturns a Kingdom Yet still the force of Nature and Friendship surmounts them all and stands that zealous unshaken Bulwark for the protection and safety of this dearest part of himself till at length he does little less than act so over-fond a Pelican that he exhausts even his own Vitals to cherish him Thus whilst the long and lawful Fears of a drooping Nation have fully and justly satisfied them that the kindest and most favourable Aspect of Majesty that smiles on England thro' the defence and Interest of a Popish Heir shines but like the Sun thro' a Burning-glass whose gentlest morning Vernal Beams thro' that fatal Medium do but burn and consume what otherwise they would warm and cherish what can the Consequence of this unhappy Friendship be but that the very Souls and Loyalties of almost a whole Kingdom are staggered at this fatal Conjunction till I am afraid there are too many who in detestation of that one gangren'd Branch of Royalty can scarce forbear how undutifully soever to murmur and revile even at that Imperial Root that cherishes it Insomuch that those very Knees that but now would have bow'd into their very Graves to serve him grow daily and hourly so far from bending as they ought to a Crown'd Head till they are almost as stubborn as their Petitions and Prayers have been ineffectual Thus whilst a Popish Heir's extravagant Zeal for Rome makes him shake the very Throne that upholds him by working and incroaching on the Affections of Majesty for that Protection and Indulgence that gives Birth and Life to the Heart-burnings of a Nation what does he otherwise than in a manner stab his King his Patron and his Friend in his tenderest part his Loyal Subjects Hearts Which certainly is little less than to play the more lingering sort of Parricide a part so strangely unnatural that even Savages would blush at yet this Religion incorrigible remorseless Religion never shrinks at Thus whilst the Universal Nerves of a whole strugling Nation bend their united force against the Invasion of Pope and Popery in studying to prevent Tyranny they grow jealous of Monarchy And fearing lest their Loyal Aid to the Father of their Country should unhappily contribute to the strengthning of the Subverters of their Peace and Liberty instead of that Tributary gold which once they so cheerfully shower'd at their dread Soveraign's feet now on the contrary the protection of a Popish Successor makes them so far from supplying the real and most pressing Necessities of Majestie that they are rather well-pleased and triumph in his greatest wants and that perhaps when his Glory nay possibly when his nearest Safety calls for their Assistance Thus what does this Popish Heir in tying up the hands of a whole Nation from their just devotion to their King but onely this In return for the accumulated Honours heaped upon him he most inhumanely starves the very hand that fed him An Ingratitude that even an Infidel would be ashamed of But this Religion incorrigible remorseless Religion never blushes at Besides if there can be a Son of that Royal Martyr Charles the First a Prince so truly pious that his very Enemies dare not asperse his Memory or Life with the least blemish of Irreligion a Prince that seal'd the Protestant Faith with his blood who in his deplorable Fate and ignominious Death bore so near a resemblance to that of the Saviour's of the World that his Sufferings can do no less than seat him at the right hand of Heaven If I say there can be a Son of that Royal Protestant of that uncharitable Popish Faith who by the very Tenets of his Religion dooms all that die without the bosome of their Church irreparably damn'd then consequently he must barbarously tear up his Fathers sacred Monument brand his blessed memory with the name of Heretick and to compleat the horrid Anathema he most impiously execrates the very Majestie that gave him being Then in fine provided and granted that we have an Heir to the Imperial Crown of England perverted to the Romish Faith and consequently of that depraved constitution and principles that he has neither charity for the Stock from whence he sprang concern or care for the safety peace glory or prosperity of the best of Patrons Friends and Kings nor lastly any remorse for all the Groans of an afflicted Kingdom What promises can we give our selves of his future Reign when we have all these fatal Prognosticks before-hand Ex pede Hercules Or is it likely he will have greater care and tenderness for a Nations peace when he shall be seated on a Throne and have more power to take it from them But says a Critick to all this Suppose this Popish Heir undoubtedly believes as a Papist must do that there 's no way to Heaven but his own should he so far comply with the glory or interest of his King though a Father or a Brother on the one side and the quiet and safety of a Nation on the other as to renounce his principles of Christianity and conform to theirs What were that but to purchase their peace with his own damnation and to sacrifice his own Soul for their worldly interests And certainly neither Duty nor Allegiance nor any Tye whatever ought to extort that from him And then if all the grievances of a Kingdom lie at his door alas the worst can be said of him is That if he be any occasion of it 't is his unhappiness
Firebrand that should one day set their Troy in flames immediately upon this the afflicted King as a true Father of his Country notwithstanding all the compunctions of Nature and tyes of Blood was so far from cherishing even his own Race and a Branch of himself that he ordered the Infant to be brought up amongst Swains as the Son of a Shepherd where divested of all his Princely Fortunes and ignorant of his own high Blood he should end his days in ignoble obscurity And all this out of the prophetick horror but of a dream that seemed to threaten the peace and safety of his Kingdom And how much more reason has the present power of England for effectually opposing Popery by disinheriting a Popish Successor when under a Popish Monarch our Troynovant has the undeniable assurance of being put into a flame when Priams fear was but a Dream How fabulous soever this Story may appear yet I am certain we have too much reason to esteem the Moral of it Oraculous And surely our present greatest Sticklers for an unbroken Succession of the Crown must of all Mankind set but a very little price upon their Countrey and conclude our England the most inconsiderable part of Christendom when the interest of one man shall outweigh that of Three Kingdoms with the whole safety of Religion itself and the Glory of God to fill up the Ballance But indeed they are resolved to be positive and be the next of Blood a Papist or a Mahumetan yet if he be born to it let him Govern us And truely I cannot forbear to repeat one of their commonest Arguments and as they think strongest which is If the Son of a private Gentleman though a Papist shall inherit and quietly possess his hereditary Estate is it not hard nay barbarous Injustice That the Son of a King and the Heir of a Crown should lose his Patrimony of Three Kingdoms for being a Papist Though this Argument as Argumentum à Fortiori has mighty sound in 't yet how feeble will it appear when the Analogy shall be examin'd The Papist Gentleman that 's born to an Estate may peaceably inherit it yes and with some reason for it For he 's a Subject of a Protestant Kingdom and as such has Protestant Laws to rule him He can neither force his Neighbour or his Tenant to Mass or imprison or burn 'em for Hereticks nor seize their Estates as forfeited to Rome whilst he is a Papist His Religion is only to himself and if he takes any violent or unlawful course to propagate his own Perswasion he 's not so big but he may be brought into Westminster-hall to answer for it Nay possibly the Papist Subject under a Protestant Government may sometimes behave himself as a more harmless and quiet Common-wealths-man than a Protestant himself if for no other than his own preservation as not daring to awaken that Justice that may inflict the penal Statutes against him for his Recusancy But how directly contrary to all this is the influence of a Romish Heir when there is not one of all these destructive qualities of which a private man can ne're be guilty that he on the other side shall not vigorously and undoubtedly put in execution when once the acquisition of a Crown has Enabled him for it as we have at large discoursed before And if the Princely Popish Heir be disinherited when a private Gentleman escapes 't is not for his Religion for that may be alike in both but for his uncontrolable power of establishing that Religion which a Royal station will inevitably give him Alas the Protestant strength is above the fear of any little Popish Beasts of prey It only behoves their safety to hunt the Imperial Lyon down If then the English Blood boils so high and the access of a Papist to a Throne must necessarily meet a passage so difficult with all these solid Bars between if his Religion were as Honourable as 't is invincible what deathless Fame and what eternal Trophies might a Popish Heir atchieve if the welfare of a King and Kingdoms could so far influence him as freely of himself to make the union of King and people a work of his own creation by slacking the fatal strength of a too generous Brothers over-violent Friendship and so rendring our universal peace his inclination and not necessity I remember in the old Roman History when a long Plague had reigned in Rome and an Earthquake had opened a prodigious Gulph in the middle of the Forum their Consulteo Oracle told 'em that neither the Plague should be stopt nor the breach closed till the most noble Victim in Rome had appeased their angry Deity When Curtius a Noble Youth of Rome of the best and highest Roman quality most princely adorn'd and most gallantly mounted on Horseback with a look so gay and so cheerful more like that of a Bridegroom than a Sacrifice amidst a thousand wondering tender eyes around him rode headlong into the yawning pit Thus falling unterrified at so dreadful a precipice for his Countries deliverance he extorted the promise of the Oracle for the Pestilence ceased and the closing Earth sealed up his Grave The voluntary resignation of a Popish Heir would be no less a signal National service in the present exigence of England than that of Curtius in Rome only 't is attended with milder circumstances Our State as dangerous as it is does not require any Sanguinary Sacrifice The Cure he might make to all our plagues would be only the easier oblation of quitting the doubtful prospect of a remote and Craggy Throne and that too to refix a shaking Crown to regain the hearts of a whole Nation and build himself that Pyramid of Honour which would outshine the wearing a Diadem Besides let Plotting but once end and the Pendant Sword which like that of Damocles hangs but by a Hair o're our Soveraigns Head be safely sheath'd and give Nature fair play the little disparity of their years considered the resigning of a Crown in all humane probability would not appear at so much distance and such uncertainty altogether so extravagant an offering especially when 't is made for a King and Brothers safety and glory a Kingdoms peace and prosperity nay indeed the whole repose of Christendom when the concordance of the King and Parliament is the greatest means for strengthening those Forreign Alliances that may give check to the fatal growth of France Nay above all this what Immortal Glory would it bring even to the Romish Religion it self when a Prince so immediately Allied to a Crown shall voluntary lay aside the hopes and pretensions to a Temporal Diadem for an Immortal one And how many more at least more Hearty Converts would so transcendent an example of piety make beyond the utmost severer influence of a Throne Nay I may even without flattery say the deed would make him so adorable that for losing a Crown he would almost raise himself an Altar But Rome