they urge to prove the King a favourer of Popery is his being unwilling to disinherit his only Brother and if his Majesty die before him without Issue his next lawful Successor On this subject out of Doleman's Succession of the Crown though a Popish Book they steal many Protestant Arguments which to be thought Learned men they vent for their own as indeed upon all other subjects their Speeches are nothing but fragments out of old Parliament Pamphlets collected pack'd together and vented for their own Ephemeris Parliamentaria is a Book of main use to them for this purpose But to return to our subject Now let any man make this his own Case and consider whether he should not think it a hard put upon him to be forced to dis-inherit his own Son the objection lying as well against a Son as a Brother only for his changing his Religion and that too as well for turning Presbyterian Anabaptist or Quaker as for turning Papâ—st they being alike Recusants and equally offenders against the established Law and Government of this Land witness the 35 of Eliz. Nay to Sacrifice and deliver up a Brother who hath so often exposed his Life amongst crouds of Bullets and to the raging of the boisterous Seas for the Security and Honour both of King and Kingdom a Brother who was an equal sharer with him in all his late Afflictions as well in the loss of a Father as in other sad effects of the late dreadful Rebellion this must be no small violence to his Nature especially since it was never yet made appear that his R. H. was in the least privy to any Plot or Conspiracy against the Person of his Sacred Majesty nay by Dr. Oates his confession it appears that these bloudy-minded Papists had as well designed to take away the Duke's Life as the King 's had they not found him fitting for their turn which shews that they were never assured of his Highnesses joyning with them but rather that he was altogether ignorant of their Intrigues which made them question his adherence since it may be very possible for a younger Brothers Servant to conspire the death of his Masters elder Brother in hopes to better his Service without ever acquainting his Master with the design Which things considered it seems to me very unreasonable to censure his Majesty for his unwillingness to dis-inherit his Brother purely upon a surmise and no proof also to argue from the ill consequence that must attend the Dominion of a Popish Successor were to disown that Precept of Christianity which forbids us to do evil that good may come of it Nevertheless as the House of Commons voted I cannot but acknowledge that the unfortunate pervertion of his Royal Highness may have been a great encouragement of that Party to hope once more to establish their Superstitious Worship amongst us and for that purpose they may contrary to his Highnesses knowledge enter into Plots and Conspiracies to divide and set us altogether by the Ears when in the mean time like the Kite in the Fable they would come and seize upon us both for the Consistory and Jesuits maintaining throughout the World a Traffick of Sedition and privy Conspiracy have yet had so much wit as to Land it in Presbyterian Bottoms fit Vessels for Rebellion and to cover their disobedience to Governours under the Attempts of the Anabaptists who naturally acknowledge none so that to ruine this Popish Fabrick we must extirpate this Fanatick Foundation Therefore I could heartily wish and I do believe that most moderate men are now of the same opinion that if the Parliament had embraced his Majesties gracious offers of hampering and fettering a Popish Successor by Laws so as to render him as much as was possible uncapable of Altering the Government either in Church or State and that by some Parliamentary expedient they had taken away his Sting since now by refusing to accept any thing because we cannot have every thing we expose our selves both at home and abroad to danger we miss the opportunity of making other good Laws both against Popery and a Popish Successor who might have come upon us in this Interim when we had no Law to oppose Him and his Majesty whom we daily think in so much danger done otherwise then well also for fear of this uncertain danger of a Popish Successor whom with Gods blessing his Majesty may survive we expose not only our selves but also all Holland Flanders and all the Protestants of Christendom to the merciless rage and fury of the French King Whereas did we agree amongst our selves and assist His Majesty in his Alliance with other Protestant Princes and States we might happily prevent the effusion of that Protestant Bloud which will otherways be shed as the Dutch Memorial Complains Moreover excepting this Bill of Succession which never came to his hands what other Security for the Protestant Religion has His Majesty ever denyed the Parliament has he not offered to pass any expedient that could be proposed has he not put out what ever Proclamations they desired either to banish the Papists so many miles or to encourage more Witnesses to come in with promises of Rewards and pardon In Fine what has he left undone that might tend to promote further Discovery to extirpate Popery and to secure the Protestant Religion Now as to the truth of the Popish Plot in general to subvert the Government both in Church and State introducing the Roman Catholick Religion into this Kingdom c. is a thing beyond all possibility of doubt and hath already been so declared by King and Parliaments Nay the several Circumstances belonging to it which I value more then the Credit of the Witnesses makes it as visible as the Sun at noon-day and besides the interest of the Jesuits who are certainly the wickedest of all sorts of mâ—n 't is natural for all persons to covet to bring over Converts to their own Opinions in Civiel maâ—ters vain glory And in Sprituals the Reward for doing an Act of Charity prompts them to it for if either Papist or Sectary believe their Faith to be the only saving Faith how then say they can we love our Neighbours as our selves unless we endeavour to draw them over to our own perswasion wherein we think men can only be Saved And this I make no question has been one main reason together with their promise of Salvation to the Converter that allured many of the most vertuous sort of Papists into this Conspiracy of introducing Popery amongst us Another reason which may have prompted their Clergy and the most dissolute sort of Papists to this undertaking was perhaps the vast Rich Abbies and Revenues which did heretofore belong to the Church of Rome and the which they cannot but with envy now behold in the possession of their Enemies neither would they give themselves the least trouble for our Conversion were it not more for our Estates-sake then for our Souls
the King as it were against his own inclinations to release such his Enemies or else to put him upon a necessity of disobliging the House by his denial and so on the contrary they too often excite them to Address themselves to his Majesty for the Removal of such Ministers who are chiefly in his favour as if it were a thing of that small concern to a Prince to sacrifice his most intimate Friends to whom he hath unbosomed his most secret Councels and who perhaps is so charged only for executing his Masters Precepts Alas let every man but make it his own Case and see how uneasie he should be to part with or give credit to any evil report against an old Friend Relation or Servant without some convincing undeniable proof made out against him Not but that such Addresses may be lawful and many times expedient also Ministers of State too often faulty Nevertheless such Votes and Petitions ought not to be rashly undertaken but first duly weigh'd and considered with the grounds and evidences against them and this more especially now since his Majesty hath been pleased to declare as he will not govern Arbitrarily himself so neither shall his Subjects one towards another Which puts me in mind of the story of the two Roman Embassadors Valerius and Horatius who being sent by the Decem-viri to the People to enquire of their grievances the People amongst other things complained of the Tyranny of the Decem-viri desiring to have them deliver'd up into their hands that they might burn them alive But the Embassadors not consenting to their demand replyed Crudelitatem damnatis incrudelitatem ruitis you condemn Cruelty and practise it your selves I do not find that the House of Commons was ever Petition'd till about the middle of Henry the seventh's Reign which Petition is inserted among the Statutes But though the Petition be directed to the House of Commons in its Title yet the Prayer of the Petition is turn'd to the King and not to the Commons The Petition begins thus To the Right Worshipful Commons in this present Parliament assembled Shews to your discreet wisdoms the Wardens of the Fellowship of the Craft of Vpholsterers within London c. But the conclusion is Therefore may it please the Kings Highness by the Advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and his Commons in Parliament c. Again I find many Examples to prove that though the cognizance and debating of great State-affairs belong to the High Court of Parliament yet heretofore the Lords have oftentimes transmitted such business to the Kings Privy-Council amongst others let this suffice When one Mortimer who stiled himself Captain Mendall otherwise called Jack Cade came with a Rabble of the Vulgar with a Petition to the Lower House the Commons sent it up to the Lords and the Lords transmitted it to the Kings Privy-Council to consider of But to conclude this point the difference between King and Parliament is that the one represents God the other the People the Consultative power by the Kings permission is in Parliament but the Commanding power remains inseparable in him the results and productions of Parliaments at best are but Bills 't is the Kings breath makes them Laws which are till then but dead things they are like Matches unfired 't is the King that gives them Life and Light The Lords advise the Commons consent but the King ordains they mould the Bills but the King makes them Laws Having thus now sufficiently vindicated our most Royal Soveraign against all the malicious aspersions of his Enemies who would falsly and treacherously charge the best-natur'd Prince under Heaven with having a design to introduce an Arbitrary Government here amongst us give me leave in the next place to speak to their no less Devillish and wicked Reproach of his being a Papist which these Traytors cast upon him in Revenge to alienate were such a thing possible the hearts and affections of his Loyal Subjects from that Duty and Allegiance they owe to him They first pretended his Majesty to be in a Plot against his own Life and now because that seems too ridiculous they give out that whereas there were two parts of the Popish Plot the one to introduce Popery the other to kill the King his Majesty was made acquainted only with the former part of it viz the introducing of Popery and not with his own death But here let any Rational man consider for what end they should design to take off the King unless it were that he would not aid and assist them in bringing in the Popish Religion into this Kingdom for if he were as these men say privy and assisting to their Plot of subverting the Government for what purpose should they then conspire against his Person we must therefore either suspend our belief of the one or the other at least Secondly in favour to the Popish Party they would make the world believe that in an unnatural manner his Majesty should for his Royal Brothers sake consent to the destruction of his own natural Son the D. of M. and accordingly possess his Grace with an opinion that he was sent into Flanders on purpose to be destroyed hoping by this means to set the Son against his Father and render him like that worst of Men Darius who together with Fifty of his Bastard Brethren Plotted against the Life of his most Indulgent Father Artaxeâ—xes that good King of Persia in which Conspiracy as the Historian says it was prodigious that in so great a Number Parricide could not only be contracted but concealed and that amongst Fifty of his Children there was not one found whom neither the Majesty of a King nor the reverence of an Ancient man nor the Indulgency of so good a Father could recall from so horrible an Act. Justin lib. 10. We read how Themistocles used to say That such men as He resembled Oaks to whom men come for shelter when they have need of them in Rain and desire to be protected by their Boughs But when it is fair they come to them to strip and peel them Aelian lib. 9. ch 18. In the same manner do the Brotherhood by the D. of M. make all their present Applications to him as thinking him a fit Pole to support those helpless Hops and the only person of whom for Quality and Courage they may make use as a General against a Popish Successor they make him the Claw to take the Chesnut out of the Fire which being done they will as ignominiously cashier him their design being undoubtedly to erect a Geneva Republick and no other Nay did they yet intend a Monarchy their malice would after such a Rebellion reject him even for his Royal Fathers sake Therefore as his Grace must draw his Virtue from His Bloud so I doubt not but e're long to hear the fatted Calf is kill'd especially since he is blessed with so merciful a King and so indulgent a Father But thirdly Another Argument which
against an imaginary suspicion of 2000 Guards to be fetcht for the King I know not from whence and to keep up for himself no less then 40000 to pretend the defence of Parliaments and violently to dissolve all even of his own Calling and almost Choosing to undertake the Reformation of Religion to rob it even to the very Skin and then to expose it naked to the Rage of all Sects and Heresies to set up Councils of Rapine and Courts of Murther to fight against the King under a Commission for him to take him forcibly out of the hands of those for whom he had conquer'd him to draw him into his Net with Protestations and Vows of Fidelity and when he had caught him in it to Butcher him with as little Shame as Conscience or Humanity in the open face of the whole World to receive a Commission for King and Parliament to murther as I said the one and destroy no less impudently the other to fight against Monarchy when he declared for it and declare against it when he contrived for it in his own Person to abase perfidiously and supplant ingratefully his own General first and afterwards most of those Officers who with the loss of their Honour and hazard of their Souls had lifted him up to the top of his unreasonable Ambitions equally to violate his Faith with all his Friends and Enemies to make no less frequent use of the most solemn Perjuries then the looser sort of people do of common Oaths to usurp three Kingdoms without any shadow of the least Pretensions and to govern them as unjustly as he got them to seek to intail his Usurpation upon his Posterity and with it an endless War upon the Nations to pretend when he went upon any mischievous Consult that he went to Seek God and lastly to die hardned mad and unrepentant with the Curses of the present and detestation of all future Ages Having thus now Gentlemen shew'd you the miseries of our late Civil Wars as well as of the Long Parliament's and Vsurper's Tyranny together with the unsoundness of Presbytery I hope it may be the more easie to disswade you from running into the like miseries again for we are just upon the brink of them insomuch as the Church of England beâ—â—â—â—t Popery on the one hand and Fanaticism on the other seems now to be in as much danger as Susanna betwixt the two Elders who would ravish her both of her Doctrine so dear to her Professors and of her Lands so dear to her Priests or like Flanders betwixt France and Spain to be the Seat of War betwixt Popery and Presbytery As pretended Religion hath now produced these threatning Clouds so heretofore likewise was it the chiefest occasion of those Storms which in 12 years space caused such a Revolution of the Soveraign Power from King Charles the First to the Long Parliament from thence to the Rump from the Rump to Oliver Cromwell from Oliver to Richard from Richard Cromwell back again to the Rump thence to the Long Parliament and thence to King Charles the Second where God continue it many years Optima Libertas ubi Rex cum Lege gubernat The fears and jealousies of Popery as well then as now was the Stock on which the Ambitious the Covetous and the Revengeful grafted all their Treasonable designs of prosecuting their own private Intereâ—â—s under the pretence of the Publick and let any impartial Judge but narrowly examine the Proceedings Lives and Principles of our hottest Anti-Courtiers who at this time pretend most to censure the King and Government and he shall find them either vain-glorious lovers of Popular Applause more then the real good of their Country or necessitous and beggarly persons of broken Fortunes extremely in Debt and men run out of their Estates which they hope to repair by Crown or Church Lands as was done heretofore or men full of Revenge to see others preferred and themselves neglected And all these generally men of no Moral honesty or Religion let them pretend what they will but Drunkards Whoremasters and Atheists men of the worst Conversation themselves who yet have the impudence to blame others for that which they themselves stand convict of If a Magistrate shews any countenance to his Under-Officers or Servants they complain against his being a Slave to Favourites never looking into their own private Family where some Favourite Steward Waiting-woman or Valet de Chambre cheats him and makes Slaves of all the rest of the Servants If a Magistrate casts his Eye upon a handsom Woman how do they censure his Effeminacy as a meer Sardanapalus when the very same persons themselves do oftentimes keep Wenches to domineer over their own virtuous Wives spend their whole Estates upon Strumpets and supplant their own Legitimate Children with Bastards The truest pattern of one of these pretended Country Patriots I beheld at the first breaking out of this Plot enter into a Coffee-house in a ragged Suit extremely drunk and swearing most bloudily That he heard there was a design to introduce Popery but damn him and sink him he would sooner part with his Life then his Religion Such a main Pillar was he of some Church though of what 't is difficult to know His Majesty is most happy in his Enemies for if rational men would but seriously consider what a mad generation they were few would value what they said but justly suspect whatever Cause they espouse Men of the same stamp were Catiline's Associates in his Conspiracy for so the Historian describes them Catiline entertain'd a Rabble of most wicked and dangerous persons as if they had been the Guard of his own Body for whatsoever Russian Leacher or Glutton had consumed his Estate with Gaming Banquetting or Whoring whosoever was deeply engaged in Debt for redeeming some punishable Offence besides all Paricides Church-robbers convicted persons and such as did fear conviction moreover all such whose hands and tongues got them maintenance by their Perjuries and Civil Bloud-sheddings and lastly all those whom wickedness want or a guilty Conscience did exasperaâ—e became Catiline's bosom Friends and Familiars Of the same stamp I say are these men who Veil their malice to the King under the Reproach of his Councel well knowing that Sedition like a screw'd Gun that is given to mounting upwards must be levell'd below the mark they shoot at they feed upon the Plot like Vermin upon Carryâ—â— and are as innanimate and heartless during the Recess of a Parliament as Wasps and Hornets in the Winter time That His Majesty would comply with His Parliament in what may be for the good of both ought to be the prayers of every true English Protestant I am sure they are mine but some of these perhaps desire such a fatal Complyance as was that of the Assyrian King Ninus to his Queen Semiramis who granting her the Regency but for five days she did in that short time make a shift to destroy him or as