he is likely to gain in the greater and essential differences of Religion should he attempt any change therein Surely not much from the Pious and sober party of Protestants for I neither matter nor mention the ruder sort and ignorant rable Nay universall experience hath taught the World that where any kind of Religion is powerfull all force against it is weake and contemptible and much more against the true Reformed Religion as that wise and excellent Historian Thuanus shewes in the Preface to his History The other two are Calv. to his Instit Causaâ—â— to Polybius which is one of those three admirable Dedications to the Crown of France that are worthy to be read by all the Kings and Princes of Europe I might add to these the genious of the English Nation which I know to be zealous in what way of Religion soever they take as hath been observed by severall Authors In times of Popery so addicted thereto that they had given most of their means to the Church Anno 7 Edv. 1.18 Edv. 3.15 Rich. 2. if the Statute of Mortmaine had not prohibited them In the times of Libertinisme when a Republick the Fanaticks were so intoxicated that it was not enough for them to push down the Pope but they would break off all Government for being his hornes Polydor. Virgil. l. 17. and make every thing Antichristian that was not to their humor When the King return'd and Episcopacy with him that Party would not abate the three controverted Ceremonies as a wise and moderate Bishop both foretold and lamented for the universal Peace of the three Kingdoms Surplice Cros and kneeling at St. Brownrig Nay the very common rable would overflow both in drinke and devotion kneel at a pillar and reele at a Post Though I know there are as pious sober and serious Christians of severall perswasions Episcopall Presbyterial and Independants as any are in the Christian Worid but I say this to shew that what way soever they take they are not easily diverted But as groundless jealousie is both uncharitableness and folly so where there is just ground not to be jealous is stupidity It may therefore not be amiss for our further satisfaction to enquire into these Objectors grounds And they are these 1. The increase of Papists at Court especially 2. The Kings countenancing and intrusting them with power 3. His tollerating their Religion 4. Joyning with France against us For the 1 and 2d I can say little of my own knowledge it being many yeares since I saw either England or France But I shall take reports uâ—on the publique faith of England and Holland for this once though it be none of the best security 1. Therefore that Papists increase through the Queens Court the extraordinary correspondence with France the dissentions of the Protestants the Atheisme and irreligion of the Age and other wayes and meanes which might be mentioned is not to be wondred at but rather that there are no more Allthough I am well assured that their number is comparatively small and their Intrest in England and Scotland inconsiderable to effect any change And were they more this will not infer the King is one 2. And much les his countenancing and intrusting them For who ever concluded that the French Kings for their kindnes to Protestants who have served them most faithfully heretofore in their wars were Protestants Or the States Papists for employing the French and others in their Armies A Papist may be a loyall subject a wise Statesman a fit Embassador a good Soldjer and merit his Princes favor though of a different Religion 3. Nor will the Kings indulgence of liberty to those of that Religion conclude more against our assertion then for the States of Hollands being of all the Religions they tollerate or for Amsterdam's being Jewes There may be reasons of State sometimes to connive and sometimes to tollerate that which we neither approve nor would willingly allow even as Moses did divorce to the Jewes Or there may be Articles promises and other engagements upon us whereby we are forced to do that which we would not if free as Joshua to the Gibeonites and our Ancestors to Papists Anabaptists c. who assisted them in the defence of the Countrey against Spaine There are two things doe wonders in the world and are the ordinary pretexts and best apologies for the greatest â—aâ—â—bitances viz v. grot An Jure bel pac l. 1. c. 4. §. 7. l. 2. c. 2. § 6. danger and necessity And yet where these are reall and not feigned they are considered both by God and good men Nature dictates that we should hazard the hand rather then the head and lose a part rather then venture the whole I have for above 20 years observed both where I have lived and where I have travelled that Moderation is rather a speculative notion than matter of practise like a vertuous and beautifull poor Lady that all will commend but none will marry Parties that are under call for it eagerly but when they are upmost neglect it shamefully Seeing then the passions of men and iniquities of the age are so great that I exspect nothing in Religion but either an inquisition or tolleration I am more for the latter and would rather reside at Amsterdam or Constantinople then at Rome or Madrid But to come closer to the particular case If his Majesty therefore had no obligation upon him to do this or were it a liberty to Papists only or a liberty for their worship in publick I should grant the objection was very weighty but it is the quite contrary For he tells the world he was obliged in point of gratitude to the Papists for their service to his Father and to the Presbyterians who had been so instrumentall in his restoration in point of promise allso severall wayes made to them both before and after his returne to his Crowne severall times declaring that he would grant indulgence to them and others of tender consciences And we know that if his Majesty had followed his own inclinations they had been better performed And now that he gives a concession of liberty it is neither soly nor principally to those of the Romish Religion but to all others as well as they and that with this manifest difference that it is to the Protestants publiquely and to Papists in their private houses onely and this revocable at pleasure Declar. March 15. 1672. All though some wise men are of opinion that the King and Rulers will not onely find such ease and safety therein but such eminent advantages many wayes and the people generally such content that it will scarce be revoked 4. His joyning with France against us is matter of Intrest and not Religion And if we judge impartially will no more conclude him a Papist then the Emperor and King of Spaine Protestants because they joyne with us Herein let us eye and owne the Providence of God who
But 5. It is apparently against his Interest not onely in regard of the danger he might incur of losing his Crownes but the great loss which would inevitably accrew to him by this change The danger we cannot imagine to be small if we rightly consider those Kingdoms I have had an accompt having been a little curious in those enquiries of 1100000 of his Subjects that by Interest and Inclination were carried counter to the Court. Under these five Heads 1. The Purchasers of Crowne and Church Lands that are now restored and they outed 2. Soldiers and Seamen that had fought against him by Sea and Land 3. Magistrates and Ministers that were removed and turned out of their places 4. Commonwealths Men that were Anti-monarchicall in their judgments 5. Fanaticks properly so called as Anabaptists Fifth Monarchy Men Quakers c. And though I could perhaps give as good a guess as another at the rest of the Substantiall Protestants that are of the Episcopall perswasion yet that needs not now These you must thinke however divided in their Interests Judgments and Affections and many of them no doubt very Loyal to his Majesty yet without all doubt would joyne against Popery and never willingly submit themselves to that yoke of bondage Nay some perhaps would be glad of such an Argument and Plea to the people and the Demagogues gaine thereby no small number of Proselytes to their Party if his Majesty was once a declared Papist And as his danger you see is great so his loss I am sure could not be small 1. Of his Honour not onely in changing that Religion he hath now so long profest and blurring the faire copy which his Father hath set him but in admitting the Popes Supremacy which hath beene so Injurious to the dignities of Emperors Kings and Princes that their complaints how they have beene plagued by the Popes are infinite 2. Of his profit and revenues Vid. Bodin de Rep. l. 1 c. 9. in regard that the Peter-pence or Tenths of Livings and other Contributions paid formerly to the Pope are by Law annexed to the Crowne and paid accordingly to the King 3. Of his Subjects affections wherein his safety especially consists For a Prince that hath the hearts of his people hath their purses and persons at his service and raignes more happily by their love then all his owne power though never so great If we therefore consider his education in and his long profession of the protestant Religion his honour and intrest ingaging him to persevere therein I should thinke no man need feare his changing it for the Popish the fopperies whereof he hath so fully both seen and knowne I might ad to these that which further satisfies me that having been at Bruxels Colen and most of those places where his Majesty during his exile did reside I can say bona fide that in all the variety of companies and converse I was ever in I never heard any probable grounds from any one intelligent person that toucht much les stain'd his Majesties reputation in this particular But I will not impose this upon others though it moves me to say the more because I am not willing to annex my name to what I have written Not that I am ashamed to owne what I conceive to be the reall truth which I have published in this treatise to the world and can make good much more largely but because I know who I am and that my name can ad no estimation to this politicall discourse but rather perhaps prejudice some who knowes me not and are used to judge of writings by their authors whereas those that will impartially search after truth must have regard to things not persons and to what is written and not the writers thereof As for his setting up popery I neither thinke that he will for the foregoing reasons nor if he would that he can for these following especially 1. The Protestant Religion is setled in all his Kingdomes by their fundamentall lawes which the King cannot repeale It is true he hath the executive power of the lawes and so can suspend the execution of penalties but cannot rescind any one law much lesse make new ones without the consent of Parliament in his respective Kingdomes And absolute Soveraingty is not there in use For power paramount to all lawes carries too great a top-saile for an English bottom wherein the Subjects liberties are shipt as well as Coesar and his fortunes 2. The lands and revenues formerly supporting the Romish Religion which are many and great are in the possession of the nobility and gentry for the most part and have beene bought by them of the Crowne at the dissolution of Abbies Monasteries c. And the purchases confirmed by law And can we thinke that they will be ever induced to part with them againe or enact any such lawes as shall tend to their owne ruine and the utter undoing of their families If there was so much danger and difficulty to wrest them out of the hands of the poore Votaries as the Histories of those times tell us What will there be to recover them from the powerfull Nobility and Gentry who legally possessing them will doubtless defend them so that none shall deprive them thereof that have not better courage and sharper Swords then they 3. The great disparity in the number of Protestants and Papists There being not one family of a hundred in England and Scotland Popish and in many and great Parishes not a Papist Now what greater madness can we imagine than that his Majesty should adventure to rely upon the Papists alone against all the Protestants of the three Nations Though their numbers are greater then formerly yet are they comparatively small as we have said to those that profes the Reformed Religion So that it can never enter into my braine that such folly should enter into any Princes brest much les one who hath suffered so much by the former divisions of his Kingdoms 4. The vast difference between a people enlightned by the Gospel and well grounded in their Religion and an ignorant and unprincipled people For the generality of the common people brought up in ignorance as they usually are under Popery are more subject to receive impressions from their Teachers and so by degrees change their Profession Whereas those who are assured from the Word of God that they are in the right will by no means be induced to the same And usually the more force is used the more obstinate they are For a setled Conscience despises dainger and defies all the terrors and torments that their cruellest adversaries can invent If in lesser differences of Church-government the King hath found it so difficult that after all the coercive Lawes and other meanes he hath used he tells the world 't is evident by the sad experience of twelve yeares that there is very little fruit of all those forceable courses Declar. March 15. 1672. what shall we think
absolute and govern only by an Army like the French Kings by an Army of French men is so ridiculous that I thought it not worthy of consideration Can any man in his wits imagine his Majesty of England so senseless as to give his Crown and Kingdoms to the French King For that is all one with this in effect As for that of Revenge either for Chattam or the affronts mentioned in his Declaration of this War or both I considered his Temper which hath so much Clemency that it rather inclines him to lenity than cruelty and revenge As is abundantly apparent not only by passing but even forcing as I know he did against some adicted to the latter extreme the Act of Indemnity or Oblivion for those many and great injuries he had suffered from his Subjects And his government since in conniving at the violation of such Laws as are thought severe in matters of Religion and indulging liberty therein which hath made some that have sufficiently heretofore cried up Parliaments now run into the other extreme and cry them down as fast and instead of the Parliaments formerly now magnifie the Kings favour and Clemency And yet Kings and Princes are men and men subject to like passions with others liable to suggestions from those about them and tender of their honour as the apple of their eye And therefore I will grant this might come in consideration but not so much I dare say as alone to make a War For the Prince of Orange there was not only near Relation and Affection but Interest also to be considered For the Lovesteyns party having been so cross to England upon his account and the correspondent friendship between us so uncertain without his Headship I verily believe that if what is now done therein had been done timously it had wholly prevented this unhappy War Yea besides the extraordinary affection which the people have for the Prince our very Bores had this Policy and were more than ordinary zealous for his promotion as the best means to procure their peace As to the further interest of the Kingdom of England in regard of their Trade and Naval expences I have expressed my thoughts before in the Preface It is true this War was always intricate and hath proved a Game at Hazard for England beyond not only theirs I believe but all the worlds expectation But yet if it be still notwithstanding cautiously played as they may and so far as I can possibly discern mean to play it they can many ways come to save their stakes at the least if not to win more than we imagine by the War and was far fairer at first than France for winning by the game in all humane appearance as I could manifest by many Arguments But because that concerns them two only and us not at all further than our sufferings I shall wave them at least for the present and proceed For I will not hearken to the curious enquiries of those who would here be asking how I think England will play their game for that let them look to it whom it concerns on all sides as doubtless they will for me to express my private thoughts might do more hurt than good which is the only thing I aim at and what I think the issue will be I shall declare hereafter in my Conjectures But here it will be asked seeing it is Englands interest that we fall not into the hands of France and that the Prince is now promoted will they not make peace with us this Winter I must needs say I fear they will not except we should give them such terms as I see we shall not we thinking our condition far better and they thinking it far worse than really it is For the cause of this as of most Wars is complex as I have shewn so that though two of those I assigned may be past yet the 3d of the Kingdoms interest not They are already too far ingaged in the War and with France The Kings Honour is at the stake and the Kingdoms expectation of another issae than the last War And besides all these how can any wise man imagine now that they are engaged with France and have an advantage against us as well as a Hazard from France that if they know how to secure themselves against the latter as I suppose they do they will let go the former For we must needs think they will be at a certainty on one side or the other and not part with France's friendship till they be sure of our satisfaction What it is they demand or how rightly is not now our design to discourse but only matter of Interest all along And yet I can easily foresee that the danger of our becoming French will be a singular advantage to us as an inducement to them for a more easie compliance with us But at present I see no probability of Peace but that they will go through with the War or continue it so long till they have tryed their utmost to obtain their ends I know there are many wise men amongst us that think the King cannot carry on this War as there was that thought he could not begin it The former they find themselves deceived in and will be so in the latter also I have discoursed this with several in Government who argue that the King hath not money of himself to go through with the War and that he will not convene the Parliament or if he do they will not supply him I grant the first but deny the others For if we rightly consider their defign the Parliament must meet and the representation that will be made thereof and the constitution of the Parliament they will grant him supplies though perhaps not with that facility that they did it with in the former War And therefore let us neither flatter nor deceive our selves with vain hopes herein but rather seek timely to accommodate differences before their preparations in the Spring for I fear the longer we delay and the worse it will be with us Sect. 10. Compliance with England the only means of the Common-wealths continuation HAving thus declared the condition that we are in and that there is no probability of peace we come now to shew the consequences thereof and what is to be done by us to preserve our selves from ruine and destruction And here to my understanding one of these three things must necessarily follow That we must either continue the War against them both or comply with them both or with one of them alone if possibly we can We shall first declare our thoughts concerning these briefly and then shew with which we both may and must comply 1. Then whether we should continue the War against them both And herein would we do as we might and should it may be this were better than to comply with either of them especially if they will impose upon us unreasonable conditions and much better than to comply with them
1590 and continually upon all occasions supported him and the intrest of the Reformed Religion in those Kingdoms so that she was publickly prayed for by the Hugonots as their Protectoresse No sooner was this great Princesse dead whose glory yet will never dye Lib. 129. being accounted by her very enemies the Guisians the most glorious that ever swayed Scepter gloriosissima omnium quoe unquam sceptrum gestarunt foelicissima famina as Thuanus tells us adding many great elogiums of her and conluding none ever was or will be like her of that sex and King James called in to succeed in that Crowne but the French though they had underhand opposed the conjunction of those two Kingdoms all they could having still made use of Scotland formerly in their Wars with England for a diversion to them by setting them upon entring that Kingdom at the back doore betwixt them and as loath allso that such an accession of power should accrew to their old enemies the English yet now they are the first that come with a splendid Embassage to welcome him to his new Crownes This King if he had had as much of the Lions courage as he had of the soxes cunning and Kingcraft as he called it how happy had it bene both for his owne family and his Kingdoms But as he was the occasion of the sad disasters that happend to both as is shewne not only by the Historians but particular Authors in the English tongue Rushworth Welden Osburne c. so I shall now briefly shew how he occasioned many and great irreparable losses to the Protestant intrest abroad especially by his pusillanimity How he perswaded this Republick to a 12 yeares Truce with Spaine and how prejudiciall it was to these Provinces is well knowne How earnestly he was prest to assist his son the Palsgrave both by forreigne Princes abroad and his Parliaments at home I need not mention nor how he spent more in Embassies their traines and Treaties then would have done his worke with men of Armes and traines of Artillery I shall onely speak of that relating to the French Protestants as the proper subject of my discourse When Lewis the 13 set upon reducing the Cautionary Townes which the Protestants had in his Kingdome by the grants of severall Kings as we have said and the distressed sought to the Crowne of England for Reliefe K. James according to his usuall custom onely imployes Embassadors the Lord Herbert once and againe whom the French delayd with words till they had done their worke For knowing King James's temper too well Luynes the High Constable of France Howels Hist of Lewis 13. A. 1621. being appointed to give Herbert audience first sets a Gentleman of the Reformed Religion behind the hangings that being an eare-witness of what past might relate to the Reformists what small grounds of hope they had of having succors from the Crowne of England and then in stead of hearkning to his Embassage in a most insolent manner affronted both his Master and himself with menaces which when he could not brooke but roundly replyed His Master then knew what he had to doe and offered the Constable who was chollerick thereat the satisfaction of his Sword the French Embassador misrepresents what past to K. James and procures Herbert to be called home and the Earle of Carlile is sent in his place to as little purpose as before Nor was this the worst for the Duke of Guise obteined 8 English sayle of men of War to joyne with him against the Rochellers and them of the Religion to distres them by Sea as the Count of Soissons did by Land for which the Duke of Buckingham was after questioned in Parliament and thus the greatest part of the Protestants power was broke downe and had been wholy but that the French had not then time by reason of the Spanish worke in the Valtolin so that a peace was skind over for a small time till they had leisure to open the wound againe and make the poore Patients bleed their last These things caused great complaints of England every where amongst them of the Reformed Religion and occasioned Deodate's saying that King Jame's sins of omission were greater then all his Predecessors sins of Commission Though the pacification was published at Montpellier yet Richelieu being made Minister of State and chief Director of affaires in France A. 1624 he made it his first worke to go on with the designe of destroying the Protestants power in that Kingdome and though the King was against it at first yet the Cardinal carried it on at last so that afterwards he said He had taken Rochel in spight of three Kings meaning his owne England and Spaine For the accomplishing this worke the Eagle-eyed Richelieu foreseeing that England and these States might stand in his way and obstruct him he resolves to charme us both to a compliance For which end France makes a stricter league with these Vnited Provinces affords us 1600000 franks yearly for the two next following to be repaid the two next years after our peace with Spain agrees for ships for their service c. And for England though they knew K. James would not disturb their designes yet not knowing what the Prince of Wales might doe there were meanes used to ingage him by a Match with Henriette the onely Daughter then unmarried of Henry the 4. K. Iames who was desirous to match his onely son Considerably had for 9 or 10 year beene Courting of Spaine to this purpose that so with one he might have the Palatinate restored to the Palsgrave and the Prince of Wales having past through France incognito into Spaine to make love personally to the Infanta and see with his owne eyes if fame belied not her beauty and being there still delayed but not denyed the Spanish desiring to see all the Daughters of France first matcht to prevent an alliance betwixt England and that Kingdome and the busines of the Palatinate still kept in suspence he is commanded home by his Father K. James But having seen the Lady Henriette at a maske in his passage through France under the notion of an English Gentleman and being taken with her beauty more then the Infanta's overtures are made of a Marriage with her and though some in the French Council were rather for her matching to Lorraigne that so those Territories might be gained to France which had been long troublesom to them yet this reason of State of obliging him not to interrupt their designe of ruining the Protestants and prevent his marrying with Spaine prevailed and in 9 moneths time a Match is concluded Richelieu thinking France secure of these two they most feared falls to worke to reduce the Hugonots Cautionary Townes Upon which Soubeze and Blankart goe for England to implore K. Charles his Father K. Iames being then dead his assistance This good King thinks himselfe obliged in conscience and honour notwithstanding his marriage with the King of France's sister to support them And indeed so he was for the Ambassadors and Agents of the Crowne of England had become Caution to those of the Religion for the King of
whether it be my Melancholly temper only or my fears and cowardise if you please to call it so or my fancy from my observation that the third War as this is with England hath ever proved fatal to the one side as is apparent by many examples or what ever other cause it is I must profess freely that I am of another sentiment this War having so black a visage to mine appearance that I fear we are rather in the midst of a Tempestuous Sea of Troubles then discovering of Land much less a safe Harbour of rest I am not ignorant upon how many pins men hang their hopes Some upon the advancement of his Highness the Prince of Orange hope all will be redrest and well at home and that his relation to the Crown of England and the Elector of Brandenburgh will capacitate him to remedy all abroad Others upon conjectures of his marrying with the Duke of Yorks Daughter or some nearly related to the Crown of England or France which hath been an usual way I confess especially among absolute Princes of accomodating differences Some upon our sufficient numbers of Men and Moneys to defend our selves Othersome upon the Assistance of the Emperor and the German Princes Brandenburgh especially And others upon their opinion that now the Pensionary de Wit and his party are broken so that England can confide more in our friendship that the King will break with France and afford his Nephew and these Netherlands assistance especially because they judge that it is the Interest of England and Germany as well as Spain not to see us fall into the French hands for fear they have only Polyphemus his courtesie to be last devoured But yet all these grouds and divers others which are variously discoursed of prevail not so far with me as that my hopes can ballance my fears For although I grant the strength of the remaining Provinces to be considerable both by Sea and Land and the greatest foundation to build our hopes upon next under God Almighties Protection yet if we duly consider the state and condition we are in there is not that just ground of confidence which may free us from fears as many are apt to imagine He is very short sighted that observes not 1. That there are two different parties amongst us and that a Commonwealth muchless then a Kingdom divided cannot stand 2. That we might do much more then we do or for any thing I yet see will or shall do for our own defence 3. That we are destitute of succours from abroad for the present except from Spain which we may happily pay dear enough for if we should be drawn into a League Offensive and Defensive with them in a long and tedious War And 4. that we are full of tumults and distractions at home which is to me a greater presage of approaching ruine then all our Enemies weapons of War and makes me fear that as tumults was the occasion of our rising so they will be of our ruine Hist Gal. l. 2. And that Priols observation of two only Nations that have stood firm by defection the Helvetians at the rise and the Hollanders at the fall of the Rhine those founding and defending their Liberty by the Mountains their Poverty and Equality these by the Waters their Riches and the States with a Captain General may shortly be contradicted in the latter if we be not more unanimous and perhaps ere long in the former also I grant likewise That it is very considerable to have so wise a Conductor as the Prince of Orange is for his years and one of such near Relation to two such great Potentates as his Uncles of England and Brandenburgh But yet if we rightly consider we cannot but conclude 1. That it must be Power as well as Policy that can relieve us and that in the Affairs of the World Interest is preferred above all Relations the whole World turning upon the Hinge of Self-interest and all Princes States Families and Persons eagerly pursuing that which they apprehend their Interest although often mistaking it and oftner the means to obtain it no wonder if they miss thereof 2. And that his Civil Dignities come rather to him by Popular Tumults than Regular Proceedings Which is found an easie way to rise by but a hard way to stand by yea Morally impossible if not backed by power For as it is with sick Persons so with sick States if all things be not quickly redressed that is grievous to them they presently cry Turn me again and think they have power to undo that which they themselves have formerly done It being a true Character which Livy gives the Common People Lib. 24. Plebs aut humiliter servit aut superbè dominatur 3. And that though the de Wits be dead their party lives and if things succeed not well under his Highness will have no small advantage not only from the horrid murder of those two Pillars of their party but from the declining of Affairs to cry him down with the people and make him an Insignificant Cypher of State 4. And lastly There are so many Papists and other Sects of Religion and Malecontents who watch for opportunities to Flieblow the Common People and set them upon Sedition that I much question whether that fresh gale of Affection to the Prince which hath blown so briskly through all these remaining Provinces will last long For if they see that his Highness cannot make Peace as they expected and they feel more miserable effects of a stubborn and cruel War and be forced to greater Taxes the Common People being always covetous what ever the cause or necessity be and find their Trade still obstructed and Land drowned to the impoverishing both of Cities and Countrey I fear we shall find the People so restless and unquiet that they will neither know what to do themselves nor be willing to be guided by their Governors that do but when Extremities press upon us bring all into Confusion and consequently Ruine For besides the Jealousies which many have of his Highness which Bentivoglio long since foresaw and foretold That these Jealousies betwixt the State and their Stadtholder would become the cause of our Ruine the needy multitude which are alwaies enemies to good order and Government when distressed will seek occasion to prey upon the richer whom they constantly envie And the midle sort which are the true Basis of a State whose principal aime is Liberty and Plenty when they see these indangered grow jealous of their Governours upon whom all misfortunes are constantly laid and seeke to pull them downe and set up themseves one after another to the ruine of all For the pompe of Government so dasles the eyes of those that know not the Weight of it that when there is any seeming access thereto all are apt to contend for it and every one to thinke himself as capable as his neighbor and vy with one another without end till they
part of them would have fled with their Families abroad rather then have endured those miseries at home Could they now stand up out of their Graves how would they condemn this unfaithful generation And how will our Children have occasion to curse us for betraying the trust reposed in us by our Ancestors and selling the pretious Truths of Religion at so cheape a rate which they bought so deare If the true Religion which we profes be not the Polar Star by which those that sit at the Helme steere the Ship of the Common-wealth what can we expect except we be Atheists and shut out God and his safeguard but to suffer ship-wrack Nay if this be not the Pearle of price to us all which we prefer above all worldly pebles it will be no wonder if our enimies spoile us both of this and them If any be of another judgement Serres in Lewis 11. Bussieres Hist Fra. l. 13. §. 9. 24. Comin l. 6 c. 7. 12. Anti-Machiavel c. and prefer the Reason of State above Religion although in this case they are conjoyned as I shal shew hereafter I wish such would oberve from Lewis the 11 who first opened the pack of fraudulent polices to the Princes of Europe what dismall ends have befallen him and the Atheistical Polititians since those of Italy especially and what disappoyntments their designs have met withall and see if they have any reason to treade in their steps I am jealous I confesse that the atheisme and irreligion of the present age is great which makes me larger herein then otherwise I should be yet I hope not so great amongst us that we should prefer Popish superstition before the true reformed Religion Belial before Christ If so we are fitter to be our enemies asses to be laden with their trumperies and lasht at their pleasure than to be dealt withall by arguments to convince our Consciences If we duly consider that true Religion is 1. The Fountaine of all true Piety and Vertue here and of eternall Felicity hereafter 2. That which rightly teaches every one their duty not onely in reference to their particular practise but publique concerns Magistrates how to governe and people how to obey 3. That which furnisheth us with the strongest Arguments for mutuall affection and assistance to one another courage in dangers hope in extremities patience in adversitie and perseverance in our duty And 4. That which onely can assure a people of Gods favour and being propitious to them and the contempt thereof on the contrary of his displeasure and malediction We must needs conclude that the Magistrate in the first place as Gods Vice-gerent in Governement and all others in their severall Stations ought to endeavour above all things by all lawfull means to preserve defend and secure the same as they tender the honour of God the welfare of his Church the prosperity of the Commonwealth and their own and Posterities temporall and eternall happines I shall not need to enlarge these things in regard they are so well knowne and approvedly verified by so many examples out of Sacred and profane Histories and none that I know have ever had the impudence to deny them in Thesi though they dispute in Hypothesi which is the true Religion Even Machiavel as wicked as his writings are in many things Disp de Rep. l. 1. c. 12. yet asserts as a Politician that true Religion must above all things be regarded by those that desire to preserve themselves and that there is no certius indicium de reip ruina than the contempt of Religion And for fuller conviction let me ad that t is not onely an acknowledged truth but that which all ages of the Word have experienced that Religion is the greatest bond and tye of humane society and therefore must needs be the maine pillar of support to a State and the best walls of defence to a people Hoping therefore what is said in the generall to be sufficient I shall now descend to particulars briefly And herein it is well known that the English and we I speak of the generality of both Nations Rulers and people symbolise being both of the Reformed Religion Whereas the French are for the greatest part Papists to be sure all in power whether civill or military it being the practise now of France to imploy none but such in the management of affaires so that if we be either Governed or Garrisoned by the French we cannot exspect to be so by any but Papists and professed enemies of our Religion But something here will be pleaded for the French and something allso objected against the English Sect. 3. The plea of France's granting us the liberty of our Religion considered FIrst for the French it may be argued that the King will grant us the liberty of our Religion To which I reply by way of concession that I verily believe he will but desire it may be further considered 1. If he grants this liberty according to the custome of France it will be onely to those of the reformed Religion Now besides these there are many others amongst us Iews Lutherans Anabaptists c. The common-wealth consisting both of several sorts of people and severall sorts of Religions and what shall become of those which the common-wealth tollerates though not of the professed Religion of the Land 2. But let it be further supposed that provision be made for the liberty of those allso that dissent from the reformed Religion or for all and that by Articles Edicts or whatsoever way you please yet we know how slightly these are usually observed by those that have the execution of them and how litle Governors and Soldjers regard these For they well know that most cannot many dare not others will not complaine of them and if any doe it will be a wearisome worke and the remedy many times worse than the disease So that a patient suffering is the onely solace to the sufferer and oppressed 3. I might add that it is a maxim with many Papists allthough not all I confes * Molanus de fide haereticis servanda that no faith is to be kept with hereticks Now all Papists accounting us such if those that Governe be of that perswasion how litle account will they make of what conditions soever are made with us but as occasion serves if they dare not openly breake yet will they secretly evade all such as serve for our support and thinke they doe God good service As allso their tenet of the Popes power of dispensation with all oaths Articles Promises and obligations though never so solemn and sacred or if you please for it is all one a power to abrogate Gods laws nul all the faith and bonds of man-kind subvert all humaine Society and in short ex injustitia facere Justitiam as the Canonists tell us De translat Episcop c. quanto in glossa Now suppose we have Governors that measures consciences by ells
into her hands as she was offered the absolut protection of these Provinces But that is not so clear to me nor will be so I think to others who rightly consider the circumstances of those times for we must not judge by the following wherein this Common-wealth grew up beyond all expectation under such Wars as many feared would have been our destruction But yet though she refused for several reasons both of Conscience and State mentioned by Cambden in her Annals A.D. 1575. yet it plainly appears by the forementioned places in Thuanus that rather than the French should she would have done it And could she have foreseen what we have known I am apt to think she would have adventured it although I must tell you it would have been a great venture Spain being both so potent at that time and spightful against her as was quickly after perceived by the Spanish Armado in 88. and besides the enmity of Spain she had thereby incur'd the envy of France infallibly and was uncertain not only of success in the War but of what support of men and money especially the Dutch should be able to contribute for the carrying on the War which was easily foreseen would be long and bloody Nor can any one think that England is not sensible of the danger they are in if we be under France that either considers the Reasons of State or obeserved that which was obvious to every eye and that is how the English was startled at the progress of France What posting was made too and again Was not the Lord Vicount of Hallifax hasted over when they feared their approach to Vtrecht And hearing it was over was not his Grace the Duke of Buckingham the Lord Arlington with several other Commissioners posted after At which time having the honour to wait on my Lord of Hallifax and telling him the Town talk of the D. of Buckingham c. coming through the Fleet and being gone to the Hague he could scarce credit it having not had the least notice thereof they coming away in such haste for fear the French should overrun all And no wonder if we consider the Consequences thereof for England which are so great that they had better lose either Scotland or Ireland And if any English think I overlash I shall desire them first carefully to compute these several particulars and then censure 1. The loss that the King will have in his Customs and the Kingdom in their Trade which neither of those Nations can compensate 2. The constant charges of maintaining a Navy which that Kingdom must be at to maintain their traffick far greater than will secure them against either of those Kingdoms 3. The great injuries they are always liable unto from such potent enemies by Sea as the French and Dutch conjoined more than from the other by Sea and Land 4. The Wars that are likely to fall upon them in a few years both by Sea and perhaps Land also which would prove far heavier than either of those Kingdoms can make with them 5. The hazard they run of being baffled and beat out of their Trade by such a War It is true this is not so easie as many of the Dutch imagine as I have already proved nor yet so difficult much less impossible as perhaps some of the English may fancy I shall not now stand to draw these out of their close order into an open yet if any of the English think me weak in this I have a Reserve which I think will sufficiently secure me from being routed It will be said to me why then should England commence this War Truly let me say it freely for I know it that the scale of War very hardly cast that of peace and the difference was so small that it came upon two or three grains only I have weighed this as exactly as I possibly could first distinguishing pretexts from real causes and then distinctly considering these one by one There were these 5 variously discoursed of His Majesties designing to introduce the Popish Religion to alter the government of those Kingdoms to revenge himself upon us to advance the Prince of Orange and the Interest of the Kingdom of England For the two first which made the loudest noise in some mens mouths I soon found them frivolous and only calumnies cast out by his enemies at home and abroad to make the King odious and his People jealous As to that of changing Religion I have formerly shewn and I think sufficiently that he neither will nor can if he would effect it As for the 2d I considered the Kings years as being past any such youthful and vain ambition his being destitute of a Child that can challenge the Crown his former miseries and sufferings by War and his wisdom too great to set upon a design so wholly impracticable especially in England and Scotland For by the constitution of his Kingdoms though he have the Militis for the execution of the Laws authority without power being a vain scare crow and insufficient to suppress the audacious exorbitances of the multitude yet the people have the purse to ballance that power and whence then would he pay his Armies Nor let any one stop me with saying the Long Parliament contested with his Father for the Militia for that was only temporary they challenging it only for that time of the danger they apprehended in the Kingdom and not as their constant right and not belonging to the Crown as may be seen by those who will rightly read their Declarations which they published to the world concerning that War collected and printed together by Husbands at London 1642. And besides this a Parliament in being though not sitting which hath some kind of radical power though not to be exerted but when legally congregated But suppose them dissolved it being in the Kings power to do it at his pleasure yet hath he not the City of London on his back and both Kingdoms about him to oppose him especially considering that the jealousie of Popery would be taken into the quarrel And what Ministers of State durst suggest such designs they know well the maxim of the Commons and their practice as the great means of preserving their freedom is to ruine such as would infringe their Liberty And that they are so jealous of and zealous for their rights herein that some of them still have the courage and resolution to venture their own heads to break the necks of such men and such defigns as would prejudice their Priviledges I have observed in the Histories of former times and in my own time also that there were seldom any of the noblest Stags of State how much soever imparked in the Kings favour and how strongly soever impaled with power but if the Commons of England singled him out and set upon him though he might hold them at an abay for some time yet they still hunted him down at last And for the King to think of making himself