struggle for Mastery occasioned what was so done It were but a small improvement of this Observation to shew that our Author broaches this Doctrine with the same design now when prudent and pious Endeavours are using to remove all stumbling-blocks out of the Dissenter's way in coming to our Churches which I hope will meet with the wished-for success notwithstanding all the endeavours of Rome and Hell to the contrary Next our Author goes to demonstrate That the overthrow of the Church of England or especially of Protestanism was never designed and this he thinks he does by the King 's so often declaring the contrary and by the sence he and his Juncto had that their Converts were but few and by the late King 's granting a safe retreat and liberal contribution to the French Protestants and by the paucity of the Papists in his Army To which I say that from all these it does not follow that the destruction of the Church was not designed for unless the King's Word were like the Laws of the Medes and Persians unalterable it will be but a loose Consequence the King promised not to do it therefore he will not it conculdes much stronger the Principles of his Religion obliege him to it therefore he will endeavour it When this Argument was used soon after the Gracious assurance given us at the first Council or first Session of Parliament where the same was again repeated it had so much colour of an Argument that it deceived many especially when there was subjoyned to it That these promises and assurances came from a Prince that valued his word so much as never to have broken it Buâ— now that we have seen him break through Laws that he had sworn as well as promised to maintain the very pretence to an Argument is vanished for as there is more Injustice so there is more of Dishonour in the one than the other When we examine his other instances they will prove as inconclusive for he could not deny a retreat to the fugitive Hugonots without allaruming his own Subjects and discovering his Designs too plainly to the most short-sighted and they were not then ripe for such a discovery After such an action who would have believed him that it was his Opinion That Conscience ought not to be forced If he had endeavoured either by fair or foul means to have preserved the Edict of Nantes to have supported that most distressed part of Mankind from their King's Barbarities as Queen Elizabeth did and his Father attempted it would have been a better proof of his love for Liberty of Conscience than either his Declarations or a small Charity afforded to a few fugitives which I must call but small when I consider what the Elector of Brandenburgh did for those poor people that great Man not only offorded them a safe retreat when they came into his Dominions but by a solemn Declaration invited them to take shelter there and to assist them in their Journey appointed his several Agents in Holland Hamburgh Francfort and Cologne to furnish all such of them as should desire it with what Vessels and Provisions they should stand in need of for the Transportation of themselves their Goods and Families to whatsoever Town in his Dominions they should pitch upon for the place of their abode But his kindness did not rest here for he provided Houses and Lands for them and their Heirs and where it was necessary he provided them all Materials for Repairs and Building where Houses were built on new Foundations they had Ten years Exemption from all Taxes and Duties and Six years where they were only repaired And for a further encouragement he made them Free of all his Towns and Corporations without paying any thing for the same and lest they might be oppressed he set over them a Jurisdiction composed of persons chosen by themselves and if any difference happened between them and a German this person was to joyn with the Magistrate in deciding the same and maintained one of their own Ministers for them in every Town with several other great favours If King James had taken this course our Author might have insisted on it at least as an heroick Act but since he did not set out a Fleet or so much as one single Ship to assist those poor people in their flight and when with difficulty they had gotten here he left them to their shifts and the charity of the Nation I do not see what he could have done less especially if we consider one discouragement that went along with it It is true he suffered them to breathe of his Air but would not suffer them to sigh or complain of the usage they had met with in France but at the instance of the French Ambassador ordered the Account they had written thereof to be Burnt by the hand of the Hangman which was accordingly done the fifth of May 86 and the Royal Exchange was made the place of Execution that the account thereof might fly the easier over France by our Merchant's Letters to their Correspondents there which as it proved a discouragement to those in France not to take sanctuary here so it so much frightned those that were then here that many of them thereupon removed to the West-Indies and other places where the French King's Ministers had not so much power being justly jealous that that power might soon be improved to a forcing them back But since our Author lays so much stress on this Act if ye examine the matter a little further we shall find these poor people owe the compleating of their misery to the late King For though the Tyrant began to oppress his Protestant Subjects some years ago which from time to time encreased as his Interest did at our Court yet he never ventured on the total suppression of the Reformed Religion nor revoked the Edict of Nantes until October 85. that the late King was on the Throne for as much his friend as King Charles was yet he did not know how far a Parliament might have influenced him to resent that matter therefore he forbore it until all was sure on this side the Water Next as to the Number of Papists in the Army they will appear very many if we consider two things First that there were fewer of them to be had in England than of other Men fit to be Souldiers and yet their proportion was greater with respect to the Army than to the Kingdom otherwise there had not been above two or three in a Regiment all that exceeded that number seems to be the effect of industry and pains rather than chance Next we must remember the little time the late King had for this mighty business he had little more than three years for the Raising his Army which at first to avoid offence was to be Protestant but a few Officers whose Loyalty he had experienced and having had the benefit of their Services in the late time of need and
Taxes and reckons up some Millions I am not so conversant in the Affairs of the Treasury as to tell whether his Computation be right but be it so we had rather pay that and much more than fall into our former misery it is some satisfaction to our minds that when our Taxes are paid the rest is our own But to set this matter right and to discover the Author's disingenuity we must take notice that the Statute taking away the Hearth-money one of the most grievous burthens this Nation ever groaned under Peter-pence and Danegeld not excepted passed the Royal Assent the 24th of April 89. And that our Author in several places of his Book takes notice of Statutes passed and other matters happening afterwards as the Pole-bill the first of May the Declaration of War against France the 7th of May the Ease to Dissenters the 24th of May and the Act for satisfying the States-General the 20th of August 89. But yet he speaks not one word of the other and his reason is because if he had done that the great Taxes he speaks of would dwindle into nothing for if that Duty amounted to 200000 Pound per annum we have not yet given the King Twenty years Purchase for it which is the rate most of his Subjects sell at He tells us next The War cannot be carried on without Money and that at the end of it it must cost in a great Sum to Disband the Army which he would perswade us to save by restoring King James This is a declaring War against the Army and will lessen the number of his Friends if he have any there and then if the Nation by restoring that King will avoid paying their own Army they must pay his which is as numerous and to whom there is as great an Arrear due besides all that is due to the French King So that if any be so sordid as to wish a change in the Government it must be on other Motives than to save his Money the restitution of the Hearth-money being all he is like to get by that bargain He tells us next That we who feared the coming of the French in King James 's time have taken a way by declaring War against them to bring them upon us with a vengeance But I would have him know this Nation would rather see the French here open and professed Enemies than pretended Friends and that we fear them less in the one capacity than the other and surely we never had less reason to fear them than at present though it were too great presumption to guess at the Divine Councils or to say that God now designs to be avenged on him for his Blasphemy and many Oppressions or that he has at last heard the Groans of the Fatherless and Widows though doubtless he will in his own due time inquire and visit for these things yet if we consider how he stands with the Kings of the Earth we may rationally hope that his Glory is near an end for the Emperour and Princes of the Empire are exasperated against him not only by his seizing and barbarously destroying their Territories but by his stopping their Victories over the Turks and by assisting them by so great a diversion But it hath pleased God to bless their just Cause with success both against the one and the other with the King of Spain and the States of Holland he has actual War the Cantons of Switzerland at best but Neutral and some think they are almost over-come by the late Pope's advice to quit it who not only styled him the Common Enemy of the Christian part of Europe but with his last Breath advised the Cardinals to oppose his unjust designs Had England ever a better time to humble his Pride or to force him to do justice to themselves and Allies for the many injuries and provocations he has from time to time heaped upon them If we cannot deal with him now that he has no Allies to support but the Turks Irish and Algerines we must despair of ever seeing an end to the Miseries of Europe The sixth is Keeping a standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament He wisely omits Quartering Souldiers contrary to Law being neither able to say any thing in defence of it nor to retort it on the present Government All that he says to this Article is That his Officers were enriched by his Pay and that they were his delight but he does not tell us they were so because he hoped to over-throw our Religion and Laws by their assistance and to throw off Parliaments those Shakells on his designs He tells us next King James used no Forreign force but contented himself with his Natural-born Subjects But was not there some of them as ill as either Dutch or Brandenburger The Irish are more opposite to our Religion and Civll Interest than either of the other But our Author is angry we have an Army in being not designed to enslave the Nation as the last was but ready to oppose all that shall endeavour to bring us under our old Bondage and some to spare to oppose the French design on Flanders by whose Courage he has already received one defeat and durst his General have stayed and not retreated so very fast he might have had another Our Author in his last Leaf gives us so true a representation of the inconveniencies and burthens the Nation groaned under from the Army that I cannot better express them than in the Author's words Some Rake-hells of the Army took liberty to disgrace the Service who to supply their extravagant Expences put the Souldier's Pay into their own Pockets for which they allowed them under-hand to sharp upon the Country and too often leave their Quarters unpaid to the dishonour of the King and ruin of many an honest Man And to add to that Infamy they forced the Constables by threats to give them Certificates that they had paid their Quarters and behaved themselves well in them when in truth they had done neither But to heal the matter he says further That those that were averse to the King's interest with a design to ruin him in the affections of the People either quite concealed this from him or at least so minced the matter that the difficulty the poor Country-man lay under of being heard or relieved made the remedy often prove worse than the disease Doubtless if there had not been too many instances of the fruitless Complaints of the Nation upon the abuses of the Army we should not have had so full a confession as this from our Author The seventh Article is Causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed But our Author omits the other half That Papists at the same time were both armed and employed contrary to Law What is said to this is so little to the purpose that I scarce know how to Answer it He cannot tell when this was done nor whether those disarmed Protestants were not
of the Geneva-Cuit but sure it does not therefore follow that it was not done I must confess I do not know the time it was done in England but I can tell our Author it was twice done in Ireland before the fears of this last Revolution made them rob us of our Horses and other Goods as well as Arms and both after the suppression of Monmouth's Rebellion If the Parliament have no other Instance to justifie this Charge surely these are sufficient for we were both good Subjects and Protestants And if it be considered that many of us lived in danger of their private Villains a numerous swarm that infest all retired places in hopes of Plunder and that we were all in danger of their publick and general hatred with some other circumstances that might be mentioned the disarming us was the more unkind to us and hazardous to the Protestant Interest He further pretends That the necessity of Self-preservation made the late King at last arm Papists What was done of this sort since October 88 that he heard of the intended Invasion has some colour of a pretence but that is none for what was done before And if enquiry were made into the new Levies which our Author calls 20000 Men I believe but few Papists in proportion to the old Army will be found amongst them and the reason is all the Papists that could be found before were in-listed But as to them I have said enough already The eighth Article is The Violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament To which our Author says That if this be meant by purchasing peoples Votes it might have been rectified by the Committee of Elections but if it be meant of regulating Corporations and the Quo Warranto 's he says King James 's Parliament that would not yield to the taking away the Test was Elected in the same method and that the present Speaker Mr. Powle was Elected by vertue of a late Charter of King Charles the Second To the first of these I say That if the King had purchased but a few Votes that Irregularity might have been remedied as the Author says though not without much charge and trouble But if by such indirect courses he had gotten a Majority of the House it was not remediable because the House would never censure those that were no more guilty than themselves As to the other it is true the service that Parliament did the Nation in that one Act of so early opposing the Growth of Popery has made amends for any Irregularities that were in the Election of them But what had we no more Regulations of Corporations after the Calling of that Parliament Did one Repulse put the King so much in despair of gaining his Point that there was no enquiry what persons Gentlemen would chuse hereafter for Members Were no persons displaced from their Imployments of Honour and Profit for not engaging how to Vote both in the House and at Elections But may be our Author does not think this any Violation of our Freedoms for clearing whereof I need say no more than I have already done which sufficiently shews how little the Author says to this Accusation of the Violating our Freedom in Elections the rest he says gives us a fair instance how inconsistent he is with himself In the beginning he tells us the Committee of Elections may rectifie the Miscarriages of Elections and yet in a few Lines afterwards we find him Mutinying against the Speaker's Election though approved of by that Committee and the House also so that Mr. Powle being declared duly Elected by the proper Judges I need say no more of the matter in Answer to the Author but for the satisfaction of those that are strangers thereto and that they may not be imposed upon by the Author or any of the other Pamphlets that harp on this string I will lay the state of that Case before them And first it is to be observed that there has been many Debates about the Election of New-Windsor from whence the Speaker is Returned And the Question as in this Case has always been Whether the whole Inhabitants of the Town or the Corporation had the Right of Electing their Representatives to serve in Parliament And to say the truth it has been vexata questio and resolved both ways But then I say That if the Author be true to any principle he will lay but little weight on the former Resolutions against the Speaker's Right since they were the Parliaments of 1640 and 79 that so adjudged it But without insisting on the disorders and struggles of those times I say we have the Resolution of the Parliament 61 for us wherein it was Resolved That the Right of Election is in the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses not exceeding Thirty in number So that Judgments being on both sides we are to enquire as in all such cases which is supported by the best Reasons and doubtless they are on our side for the Resolution in favour of the Populace was grounded upon the mistake that Windsor was a Borough by Prescription whereas the Inhabitants were incorporated by a Charter of the Fifth of Edward the First the Clause wherein Quod de cetero sit liber Curgus and the Name Nova Windsor are great presumptions that the Town was not then very Old or a Burrough before which is more plain when we consider that those are really words of Creation not of Confirmation and we have no foot-steps of any return from this Town before this Charter One of the first is the 30th of his Reign and there it is said that the Mayor and Common Burgers elegerunt and so it is in the 29th of Henry the sixth Now if this be not very plain the Community or Body of the Burgesses the subsequent usage puts the matter beyond all doubt where it is expresly said That the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses elegerunt as 35 H. 6. 1 Ed. 6. 14. 30th and 43. of Eliz. 1. 7. 18 and 20. of King James the first 1st and 3d of King Charles the first and the 13th of King Charles the second So that here is a full Jury of Parliaments to justifie what has been done in this case and then all these and some older and darker Returns are under the Common Seal and dated at the Guild-Hall both Evidences of Corporation-Acts From all which I think it very plain That the Right of Election is in the Corporation and that from the beginning it has been so but were it otherwise the Author is a Misrepresenter in this Case because the Contest was not occasioned by a late Charter of King Charles the Second's but was upon a Point contested before his Reign and afterwards in his Reign before the Regulation of Corporations was thought upon Next our Author says This Violation of our Freedom was but intended never put in execution no more was the destruction of our Religion and Liberties God Almighty was pleased in mercy to
Neighbouring Princes will not be denied but whether with more than one of them I question and whether thereby he did not sink the Reputation of his Justice and Honour both abroad and at home will appear by the respect he had at Rome where one would have thought he should have been courted at another rate for a Protestant instance the States denial of Dr. Burnet and not suffering the Doctor to with-draw though he desired it is sufficient and the Carriage of the French at Hudsons-hay shews their kindness as well as respect If our Author had considered these things surely he would not have bragged of the good Correspondence he held with his Neighbour Princes and States or of the Reputation he had acquired to himself abroad When I met the Author praising the late King for his Mercy and Compassion to his Enemies I began to suspect my Eyes and was in hopes that he would have brought us so good news from the West that we should speak no more of the Western Campaign and that the Numbers that were said to be executed there were only in Effigie and that he had the very persons to produce sound and in good health without I could have done this I should not have mentioned the other especially if I had been of the Author's opinion that he was Master of so many other good qualities I should think that the using this had been enough to make people suspect the rest of the Character for if that had been true there had been no need to add this so notoriously otherwise I have read the History of England and upon a serious reflection thereon I believe it may be truly said That so many of the Common people were not put to death by the Hand of Justice and driven into Exile for all the Rebellions of these 600 years as were served for that of Monmouth's which did not last six weeks the weaker Sex not spared But for the Duke of Alva's Government of the Netherlands Foreign Story could not have afforded a precedent but then I do not find that great Man praised for his Lenity in this we are an Original neither do I find that he was more exact in his Scrutiny than we were at Westminster where we were told that the Rebels were 6000 of which 2000 killed and only 2000 brought to Justice the other 2000 our Grand-Jury were directed to find out and yet after all this some people will brag of this Man's forgiving Nature the sobriety of his Life and discountenancing Debauchery may be true as to excessive Drinking but the placing his spurious Issue in the highest degree of Honour is no great discouragement to the other sort of Debauchery For his Assiduity in his Councils and Treasury and the rest of that Paragraph as it is needless to examine them so certainly the truth of them is no proof that the late King intended the happiness of his Subjects in general The next Paragraph asserts That it was the late King's opinion that Liberty of Conscience would be grateful to a great many of his Subjects and would invite Forreigners to fix their Habitations amongst us to our great advantage that it was the best expedient to bring us to a brotherly Love and to prevent the Calamities that befel this Kingdom in his Father's time and that he had this Notion still fixed in him with a design to signalize his Reign thereby In opposition to which I will endeavour to shew that the late King had no such glorious aim and that thereby he only intended to subvert the established Religion of these Kingdoms which will plainly appear if we consider first how different such a method is to the fundamental principles of his Religion as well as the practise of all Ages those that believe there is no Salvation out of the Church which is only one and that theirs if they have any Bowels of Compassion or Charity will endeavour the enlarging the pale of that Church And then that Hereticks are to be extirpated upon the penalty of having their Territories given away to others where this duty is neglected is as essential a part of his Religion as General Councils can make it therefore it were an injury to his Charity and Piety to suspect he would not use his power so as became a zealous and submissive Son of the Church and what could be a greater brand to the sincerity of his Religion than decreeing counter to infallible Councils it were as easie reconciling Toleration to Infallibility as such actions with being a good Catholick unless they were sanctified with a good intention and done for the good of the Church but to say he did not understand so much of the Arcana of his Religion cannot be supposed without saying he understood nothing of it and though he did not it cannot be doubted but he would have been told of his duty by some Monitory Briefs from Rome St. Peter's Successor used to be so kind to Princes as to lay before them the guilt and danger of actions less favourable to Hereticks and to call upon them to avoid both by executing the Decrees of the Church against them if it be said that the Roman Church at least the Guides of it approved what King James did in this matter and that to preserve his Conscience the Decrees of the Councils were suspended as to him I do verily believe it and think that it follows from thence that they knew what hook lay under that gilded bait otherwise I know not how the same persons could approve of the French King's Edict of October 85. annulling the perpetual and irrevocable Edict of Nantes and the barbarous manner of the execution of it and the late King's Declaration in 87. giving a general Liberty of Conscience two Decrees that concur only in one thing that they are both against the Laws of their several Lands In my opinion this would look so like an affront to that mighty Monarch's Conduct that unless he were likewise privy to the plot his Resentment would not be satisfied with less than a solemn Renunciation and taking new measures now he has the late King so much at his devotion And I doubt not if this proceeding had displeased him but in his late Contests with the Pope we should have heard him upbraiding his Holiness with this kindness to Hereticks but since neither of these have followed and that neither the King of France nor the Pope is offended at our Indulgence we may lawfully conclude there was little kindness thereby intended to us Secondly If this Notion had been still fixed in the late King and had he always been of opinion that none ought to be oppressed and persecuted for matters of Religion he would still have acted consonant to this principle which that he did not do is plain from his concurring with and promoting the enacting of the severest Laws against Dissenters in his Brother's time and also from his first Act of Government the rigorous imposing
on the Obligation there of in opposition to his Will if they had he that upbraided them for not reading Mass would never have missed so late an instance But then what was the need of enquiring into Farmer 's qualifications without any the King knew he wanted the chief one requisite the established Religion yet that did not hinder his recommending of him but then if they had stayed where was the mighty savour in easing them of Farmer and imposing the Bishop on them both were equally contrary to their Statutes and Oaths Our Author must excuse me if I cannot take his word for what he says In the last place what had Mr. Walker's Zeal no aim but the good of the Protestant Religion and was not Farmer well qualified for the promoting thereof was it King James's love to Protestants made him disgust the whole Protestant part of the Nation there are some things carry their own evidence with them and few with greater clearness than this For if the King had not designed this Colledge to the Roman Catholicks from the beginning of the Controversie he might have given it to his new friends and this had been a greater proof of his real kindness for them than his famed Indulgence The last thing that I shall observe in this matter is That our Author ought not only to have cleared the King and his Commissioner's Jurisdiction in the case but also have justified their manner of proceeding and should have shewed us how Dr. Hough could justly be deprived without calling him to answer for himself surely those Commissioners had this in their head when they rejected the Bishop of London's Plea that he could not suspend Dr. Sharp without calling him to answer it was ill done of him that he would not set them a precedent how they might deal with such as they feared might be too hard for them and upon what Law or Reason they founded that cruel Sentence rendring them uncapablâ— of any Ecclesiastical Benefice Promotion or Holy Orders I do not see The Reformed Church could afford them no precedent for this and I question whether the Roman Cruelty ever came up to it But of all this there is not a word of excuse the reason may be easily guessed Our Author comes next to the business of the Seven Bishops and what he says on this Head is as lame as what he said on the former First he pretends that the sole design of having the Declaration read in the Churches was That all might be assured of the grounds of it But surely reading it in a Coffee-house a Market-house or in any other place had done that as well as was truly observed by the Author of the Clergy-man's Letter the substance whereof might properly be inserted here but I rather chuse to refer my Reader thereto He next quarrels at some indecent circumstances of their Actions the first he mentions is That the King was not acquainted with their design to be excused until the Friday night before it was to be published in the Churches of London This is otherwise if we will believe the King who at the delivery of the Petition to him told them he had heard of their design before but could not believe it How could the Bishops help that they then undeceived him This he says was excused by waiting for a Welsh Bishop But by his favour I have another excuse which is That the King appointed the Reading of the Declaration so soon after the Order for that purpose that the Clergy had too little time allowed them to consider of so great a matter the Order of Council for Reading the Declaration bore date the 4th of May and was published in the Gazette the 7th and directed the Declaration to be Read in London on the 20th so that the Bishops were but Ten days consulting If they had taken less time the Act would have been censured as rash and that they had not well considered of it but if the King had not long enough time to deliberate on the matter or to have signified his pleasure therein to the City before Sunday yet surely he might have been content with the sinful compliance of those that did Read it the first Sunday and had time enough to signifie his pleasure before the second Sunday it was appointed to be Read in the City or before the third of June that it was appointed to be Read in the Countrey and he might afterwards have taken what time he pleased to have considered how to deal with those that did not Read it He next says That they put the proof on the King that they delivered their Petition knowing that none were then present but themselves and insisted thereon until by the Candor of the Archbishop it was owned Those that will look into their Tryal will see what reason they had for so doing and will be able to judge whether it was generous in the King to make evidence of what passed at the Board which passage we shall find mis-represented by the Author if we look into Page 91. of the Bishops Tryal where Mr. Musgrave on his Oath gives an account of what passed there He says That when the Paper was read they were asked if they owned it or if it was their Hands That the Archbishop in the Name of the rest declined answering Upon the account they were there as Criminals and not obliged to say any thing to their own prejudice or that might hurt them thereafter But if his Majesty would command them and if he would promise no advantage should be made of what they confessed then they would answer the question His Majesty said He would do nothing but according to Law that then they were ordered to with-draw and being called in again they were asked the same question and then the Archbishop answered We will rely upon your Majesty and then they did own their Hands Now if silence be giving consent the King consented or made them believe he consented to their just request so that this Debate was only as to their Hands being to the Petition nothing said of the Delivery All the Witnesses the King's Counsel produced could not say that ever any question was asked them about the Delivery or that they either confessed or denied that and at last they were forced to own that there was no positive proof thereof either by confession or otherwise and went about to supply this with circumstances If the Chancellor had thought how material this question would have been upon the Tryal he would not have omitted the asking of it and would have gotten an answer under the same trust with the former This being the state of that matter I appeal to all Men that understand the difference between denying and not owning their Hands Whether there was any Ill in this part of that Transaction Our Author next says That the Law of the Land the benefit of Peerage and the Bishop's insisting thereon was a surprize to the King and
Council and put them upon some difficulty and that there was no expedient to be found but either to acquit or commit them This seems strange and is not only a reflection on the Lawyers of the Board but on those learned Gentlemen that were attending for surely none of the four were so ignorant they could have told the King you may and ought to dismiss them for this time with a Reprimand and acquaint them that as soon as the Term comes which was not far off an Information should be exhibited against them for their Seditious Libel and that if they did not appear to answer the same Process would issue against them those that had been Chief Justices of that Court and the King's Council knew this very well but that did not answer their ends they were in hast and by this method the Term might have been spent without any Tryal And what is more they would not have known how to have avoided the Archbishop's Presence to the affair they were to have in hand soon this looks so like their Politicks that it finds greater belief than any positive proof we have for it deserves The next Assertion is That the Bishop's Tryal was managed favourably and that over-sights were committed in the want of proof and suffering the dispencing Power to be so fully argued These were certainly over sights but they were such as were not to be remedied by any diligence and should have been considered before the Prosecution was resolved on for it was obvious to the meanest capacity that the Bishops would make that defence but their rage blinded them in more particulars than our Author mentions else they had never forgotten that the Archbishop was not at White hall or that he had not done any Act in the County where they laid their Venue I formerly mentioned their want of proof of the publishing and I might here add those other ingredients of a Libel Falsity and Malice had they not been transported with Rage or something more extravagant could they hope that twelve English-men would believe it unlawful to Petition the King had not their former success with Juries been great they would never have attempted so extravagant a thing With what patience the late King endured the rejoycing at the Bishop's acquittal I know not but it would seem by the Proceedings of his Ecclesiastical Commissioners and their Order of the 12th of July to all the Chancellors of the Kingdom to return them the Names of all such of our Clergy as did not Read the King's Declaration on the 16th day of August following that he was not resolved to let the matter end so and though the Jury had acquit them he had a Sett of Commissioners that knew better the sin of disobeying his Majesty's Commands and if destruction had not come suddenly upon them it is not to be imagined what Examples we should have had of his fury if we compute according to the Durham pattern we should have had at least Five thousand suspended Ministers in the Kingdom which does many times exceed the Numbers that were deprived either on King Edward or Queen Elizabeth's Reformation And then as to the King's Justice in the matter of which our Author says none have reason to complain it was making a Petition a Libel and the delivery of it to himself in his Bed-chamber or Closet a Publishing of it and surely there was as little Justice or Clemency in the last part of the Tragedy to displace the Judges for discharging their Consciences and declaring the Law to be as really it was was so arbitrary that the Great Lewis could have done no more if his Commands had been contradicted and to do that so suddenly after the Tryal and to supersede them before they had finished the Circults to which they had been appointed did so much proclaim his rage that few people will be perswaded that he would patiently have endured the Huzza's our Author speaks of if he had known how to help it He supposes we will lay no great stress upon the King 's placing some Roman Catholicks in Colledges it being known that the Kings of England have in all Ages dispenced with Qualifications required by the Vniversity-Statutes especially since the Judgment for the Dispencing Power How this Judgment comes to be urged here I do not see unless it be because the word Dispence is used in both for that Judgment as extravagant as it was had no influence on our Universities for that great reason That nothing ought to hinder the King of the Use and Service of his Subjects has no force here unless we allow that the corrupting the Youth of the Nation was the service the King had for those Popish Emissaries and then that other reason That the Laws of England are the King's Laws does not come up to the present case because the Magdalen-Statutes are also the Founder's Laws and therefore not to be changed without his or his Successor's consent but supposing the King had such a Power by the Law was that the way he swore to support the Church of England was not that trusting our Sheep and Lambs to the Wolf to keep In this particular as in all others of Honour or Profit the Papist had the better much of the Dissenter in whose favour we do not find one Mandate to the University These are the particulars our Author says gave the greatest cause of clamour and the reason was because they shaked the Foundations of our security and vested the whole Legislature in the King in the support of which Usurpation he was resolved to ruin all that thwarted him on the meanest pretence this made his Rule odious and terrible to the Subject How could we account any thing either of Religion or Property our own when the doors were opened and we were only beholden to the Jesuit's modesty for not entring and stripping us of as much of either of them as they thought fit Before I have done with this Head I must desire you to take notice of our Author'â— modesty in reckoning the late King's injuries to the Church of â—ngland if he had pleased he might have instanced more as the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge's Case who for refusing to admit Alban Francis a Benedictine Monk on the King's Mandate to the degree of Master of Arts without taking the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy appointed to be taken by several Acts of Parliament was deprived of that Office and also suspended ab officio beneficio of his Mastership of Magdaten-Colledge during his Majesty's pleasure This sentence was pronounced the 7 th of May 87 and never relaxed until the General Jubilee on the Bishop's Address October 88. His four new Bishops and keeping Bishopricks vacant all that fell in his time in Ireland and making worse use of some in England entertaining a Nuntio publickly at Court setting a Jesuit at Council-Table were no great Complements to the Church of England nor their publick Schools and Mass-houses the
regulation of Corporations shewed them but little respect with many other things of this sort that might be mentioned I am sorry the Author's indiscretion should have forced me to give so many instances of that Man's failings he fancied had all that could be wished and do now leave it to you and all indifferent persons to judge whether the Author has made out his first Proposition of King James's good intentions The second Proposition laid down by our Author is That the late King's designs were totally frustrated but whether by ignorance or treachery or both is not worth while to examine In his discourse on this Head he mentions several over fights in the then Ministers of State but instead of four he should have given us many more wherewith I will not trouble my self at present my design being to Answer his Book not to Mend it I will therefore hasten to the third Proposition which is That our condition in respect of our Laws Liberties and Properties is now worse than it was or was like to have been under King James In the handling whereof our Author pretends to consider the several Grievances we laboured under in King James his time as they are summed up in the Declaration of the 12th of February last which filled up our vacant Throne and that he will draw the Parallel between the late and present Times impartially This I must confess is a very proper method for his design which is all the good I can say of the undertaking I will follow him through the several Articles as laid down and hope plainly to demonstrate the malice and false glosses of all he says and if that be well done I think little more need be said in Confutation of the rest of the Book The first Article is That King James did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant Religion the Laws and Liberties of this Kingdom the other Articles are only the means which he used to this end In answer to which he says The late King aimed at nothing but Liberty to all sorts of Dissenters and that Roman Catholicks might have their share of ease 2. That few Converts were made in his time 3. And that having armed his Roman Catholicks in his last extremity they did not amount to the fortieth part of his Army nor to the 300 fighting Men in his Kingdom therefore they could afford him small assistance 4. That the Church flourished in his time many Dissenters being then brought into its Communion 5. That now the Church of England and Episcopacy is in danger if Protestancy be not as appears by the late Act of Toleration wherein Turcism is not excepted though Popery be 6. That Episcopacy is abolished in Scotland and they have a Party in the Convention here endeavouring the same thing 7. That we have lost the Doctrine of our Church-Loyalty and Non-resistance 8. That we have seen a total Abolition of the Laws for we have changed the Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective one and destroyed all Government by declaring an Original Power in the People This with some scandalous and unjust Reflections on his present Majesty to which I will not give so much countenance as an Answer is the substance of what he says on the first Article which for Method's sake I have sub-divided into eight Particulars to each of which I will propose some Considerations except to the first of which I have said so much already that it is needless to say more But that if the late King had been as our Author says Master of the Wisdom we could have wished him he would never have done so many mean harsh and superstitious things for no purpose whatsoever unless it were to hinder what our Author says he only designed From hence I think we may strongly conclude that he designed more than Ease for Roman Dissenters To the second no body would have said that few Converts were made in his time that did not wish them more Was there any Order of Men amongst us free Some of the Nobility in all the three Kingdoms some of our Clergy Lawyers Souldiers and of all other ranks had actually declared and it is too much to be feared that many waited only for the Repeal of the Penal Laws though they cared not for their Souls nor stood in awe of Damnation yet they dreaded the Statute against being reconciled But then if their Numbers were but small the fault was not the King 's for he made the full use of the Arguments in his Power discountenancing the stedfast and rewarding those that came over to him the Great Seals of two of the Three Kingdoms were in such hands and surely England will not brag much of their Protestant Chancellor to go to Mass was the certain way to Preferment as might be instanced in many particulars and we cannot forget what took the Treasurer's Staff from the Earl of Rochester To the third That the Papists of Fngland are not the 300th fighting Man I will not dispute but that they were not the 40th Man of the late Army is certainly false if he had told us in plain English that there was but one or two of them in a Company all persons that had been conversant in the places where they were Quarter'd would have known the contrary therefore he chose other words and yet says the same thing which is plain when we consider that our Companies consisted of about 50 Men but for easiness of computation we will allow them to be 60 which by our Author's proportion is only three Papists to two Companies I might here mind our Author that the Irish Army was Papist which multiplied by 40 had made an Army big enough for the Great Mogull But I will yield that our Author did not include the Irish Army when he made the 40th Man the proportion of Papist and yet they ought not to be forgotten when we are speaking of King James's Popish Forces But his Expression being That the Papists armed in his last extremity were not the 40th part of his Army The Party that came from Ireland in October 88 must be included or he was not then or afterwards in extremity Now supposing no Papists in his Army before and that Party being at least 3000 by the Author's Rule of proportion his Army ought to have consisted of 120000 Men but his Army was not so great and the Papists of it more so that another estimate of them must be taken if we throw away the cypher and read a 4th instead of a 40th part I believe we shall be nearer the matter But since that and a much greater force was not sufficient to enslave this Nation we must conclude he had other Tools Forreign or Domestick to carry on the Cause To the fourth That the Church flourished in the late King's time if our Author means that we had many good and learned Men then in it I must grant it but then it must be granted to me that he
thought them too many and endeavoured to make them sewer both by tearing so great a Limb as Magdalen from the University and shutting Twenty-seven of them out of the Church by the cruel Decree of the 18th of October 87. And how little he regarded those good Men that helped our Church to flourish may be seen by the Worthies he preferred to the Sees of Oxford and Chester and his preferring Farmer to Dr. Hough that he did this out of kindness to the Church our Author dare not say but he may tell me and that truly that in the See of Bristol it was otherwise and that therefore the King did not always design a scandal or injury to the Church by those he preferred in it I have too great a veneration for the Christian Courage and Sufferings of that Bishop not to make him an Exception out of that Rule But then we must remember he was preferred before his Fears of opposition from the Nation were quit off him and if we consider how many of the Lay-Protestants preferred by him in the beginning of his Reign were afterwards displaced and his after-carriage to that Bishop we may conclude that his High Commission would soon have rectified that mistake by a Deprivation if his fault was any thing greater than not Suspending Dr. Sharp or as great as the Bishop of Dunkell's giving his Vote in Parliament against the Repeal of the Test had it not received an unexpected dissolution But notwithstanding all his Suspensions Deprivations Imprisonments and other favours to our Clergy our Author tells us that many of the Dissenters were brought into the Communion of the Church by the unanswerable Writings of that time against Popery that these should influence them more than those learned ones set out a little before for their Conviction shews that the terrour of Popery wanted not its force in perswading them to that prudent Conduct But how to draw an Argument from hence in praise of the late King or his Times I see not unless those straying Sheep were brought back to the Fold by the diligence of his Shepherds Was any of those Pieces written by Sa. Oxon or did the famous Rippon's Sermon contribute thereunto Not so much I dare say as it did to the Preacher's Bishoprick I must confess the Reasons for Abrogating the Test Mr. Sclater's and Obediah's Pieces contributed thereunto but it was by setting ingenious Men to write Answers to them Before I close this Section I must again put you in mind of what I sormerly hinted to you That the Indulgence coming at the nick of time when things were healing very fast and when the great Scare-crow the approaches of our Church to Popery was experimentally confuted it looks as if some-body designed to widen our Breaches and to disappoint the Church of that satisfaction which was not more earnestly desired by us than dreaded by them As to the fifth in which our Author tells us That the Church of England is in danger and pretends to prove it by the late Act of Toleration I say first that the late King 's being larger must have endangered it more if the Act let in Turcism as our Author falsly suggests it keeps out Idolatry and at once frees us from God's Judgments due to that crying Sin and in a great measure from Popish Contrivances for now the Jesuits must work in the dark as they did formerly which as it much retards their designs so it occasions many mistakes to the frequent frustrating thereof the Act requires the professing of Faith in Father Son and Holy Ghost and thereby excludes Mahometism which the Proclamation does not Next I say it is pretty strange to find one that has said so much for Liberty of Conscience and a Proclamation granting it making the Act for Toleration dangerous Is it not lawful for their present Majesties to Signalize their Reign on the same Principle our Author pretends King James designed Or is the present Liberty the worse or more dangerous to Church or State becausâ— it comes as it ought to do in a regular and legal way from the Legislative Power Is it the worse because it does not alter the Constitution of our Government Had it been the less hurtful if like the late King 's it had placed the Royal Will and Pleasure above our Laws Does the King in the present Toleration claim an Absolute Power which we are bound to obey without reserve And does he thereby impose an Oath on us not only to submit to that Power but to assist and defend him in the Exercise thereof Since in these several particulars it has the advantage of the late King 's I doubt not but it will be more satisfactory to all people and that the Church will receive Ease as well as Enlargement by it 6. But Episcopacy is Abolished in Scotland and from thence sprung the Covenant that destroyed it here formerly our Author might as well have told us it was so at Geneva What has the Declaration of their Estates to do with the Government of our Church they do not so much as pretend to it only declaring it a Grievance to that Kingdom If the Author had but known how unlike the Scotch Bishops were to ours how unable they were of late to do any thing but mischief how little difference there is between no Episcopacy and Bishops during pleasure he would the less lament the loss but in truth the Abuses might have been redressed by other and easier methods good Laws might have restored Episcopacy to its antient Purity for otherwise and by that Argument we ought to Abolish Judges here because they have abused their Power being like the Scotch Bishops by their tenure Slaves to the Court though this is unreasonable and better methods have been taken but if we had chosen the other course certainly the loss would never have been less lamented than now when we are bleeding of the Wounds they have given us The Scotch I think should have remembred that the Protomartyr of the last Reign was one of those Tenants at Will and that Dr. Bruce was thrust out of the Bishoprick of Dunkell for opposing the Repeal of the Test These Nations ought to remember that it was he set us the glorious Example of despising the Honours and Profits of this World when they came in competition with the Preservation of the Protestant Religion But it is not fitting to be too positive in this matter relating to the Church of Scotland since it is uncertain what expedients his Majesty's Wisdom may find out for the satisfaction of that divided Nation But he tells us there is a Party in our Parliament endeavouring the same thing but who told him so he does not say if we judge of them by their Actions neither the Coronation-Oath nor the Address of the 16th of April last shews any thing of this and in the King's Answer thereunto and in the Speech that occasioned that Address we have his Majesty 's repeated Assurances
of his kindness and care of the Church though those were cheap in the last Reign let us not suspect this only for that reason but rest satisfied until at least one promise to us be broken In the seventh our Author tells us That though our Religion be safer now than it was lately yet we have lost the Doctrine of our Church-Loyalty and Non-resistance and for proof of it gives us his Word so that a bare denial were a sufficient answer But to set the matter in a better light I must desire you to consider that there is a great difference between Aiding our Prince to destroy or enslave his People and the Doctrine of Non-resistance though I should yield that it was not lawful in lawful in October last forceably to resist the late King yet certainly it was both lawful and prudent not to assist him this is sufficiently justified by the practise of the Primitive Christians who did nothing in defence of their persecuting Emperors whilst living nor in revenge of their injuries after their death and does sufficiently excuse the Church in their late Conduct without the Shipwrack of any of its Doctrines Which being so full an Answer to our Author's Objection and seeing they were but few that took up Arms against the late King in respect to the Nation I will not at present insist on the Defence they make for themselves in acting only for their Laws Rights and Religion to which either they had no Right but if they had they had a Right to preserve them especially against him that had not only destroyed them but his own Right also if the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom create them as plainly they do But of this more anon In the last division of this Paragraph our Author objects the total Abolition of our Laws because we have changed our Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective As if the People of England had no Laws worth regarding but those that limit the Succession of the Crown if we have made some changes in that to secure the rest surely it is no ill bargain and is no more than the Wisdom of the Nation aimed at formerly more than once If this had been the first time a change had been made in the Succession I should not wonder that some turbulent Men should make a noise at it for want of a better pretence but since Alterations in the Succession have been frequent in this Kingdom why should people be more concerned at it now than formerly I need not mention the many Breaches of the Royal Line in the Saxon Times or in the time of our first Norman Kings but certainly the Intails of the Crown made in Henry the Eighth 's time and the Statutes authorizing them made a greater Alteration in the Succession than is made at present yet no body dream't that thereby our Monarchy was become Elective Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth successively enjoyed this Crown but what sort of Hereditary Right it was that could serve them both I do not see and after both their Reigns our Monarchy continued as Hereditary as it was before though there was a late Statute of Queen Elizabeth declaring it in the Power of the Parliament to alter it and making it Penal to deny it The interruption that is now given to the Lineal Succession is so remote a possibility that the persons most immediately concerned readily consented to it The Matrimonial Crown such as King Philip had in Queen Mary's time is due to the King on his Wifes ascending the Throne so that unless he out-live the Queen who is about twelve Years younger this terrible Alteration of the Succession ends in nothing unless it be the Exclusion of the pretended Prince of Wales which dissatisfies so few people that his pretence is scarce worth the expoting and were there no Objection against his being Born of the Queen but barely this That she did not during the nine Months time she should have been with Child satisfie the scruples and jealousies of all the Women ever came about her it leaves the reality of his Birth so doubtful that the known and received Heirs ought not to be set aside for him the Queen and her Counsel were not ignorant what opinion the Nation had of her big Belly neither were they so impolitick as not to know of what concern it would be to that Issue to be of an unquestioned Birth and we cannot suppose the Queen so much wanting in her Maternal duty and affection though nothing had been due to her own Honour as not to take some pains for the clearing of both therefore we must conclude since she did not give the World that satisfaction which any Woman with Child might easily have dâ—ne that she was not really so But to return to our Author I say it looks a little suspiciously to find him so much more fond of one part of the Constitution than of the rest whilst he is excusing so many Violations of the Law why should he be severe against what he calls but one when we find him justifying the late Dispensing Power and yet complain of altering our Constitution We must conclude that he either did not understand or not value it and that his concern is for something else than what he pretends which will be very plain if we take but a short view of the English Constitution And this will also be of further use in deciding the Controversie between us The first Fundamental part of our Constitution that I shall mention is That the Government be administred according to Law this is a Trust inseperably annexed to the Royalty of which the Coronation-Oath is a sufficient proof It is another Fundamental part of our Constitution That those Laws by which we are to be governed be made by the King Lords and Commons the Clause of the Coronation-Oath Quas vulgus elegerit proves this taken in either of the Tenses of have or shall chuse besides a practise Time out of mind which is the best proof of the Original contract The last part thereof that I shall mention is That the Representatives of the Commons be legally and freely chosen otherwise they are not the Kingdom 's choice nor do they represent their Electors nor carry their Assent with them to what shall be enacted Now if we take as short a view of the State that these essential parts of our Constitution were in during the late Reign we shall find them all in such disorder that it cannot be said that we then had any more than the shadow of our old Constitution and since the King 's Right to the Regal Estate is solely founded on these Constitutions if he do subvert them he thereby determines and destroys his own Right which is founded on them and does more effectually dethrone himself than the Declaration of the 13th of February did Now that the late King did over-throw the whole Constitution will appear if we examine his Behaviour to the several
us to over-throw their Babel when they had almost brought it as they fancied to perfection And urges further That the King being willing to have his last intended Parliament as free as his People could desire had actually restored the old Charters to all the Corporations in England long before the Prince Landed Here the Author nifies the King's good intentions to us and would have us look upon his last Acts of kindness as the sole effects of his Goodness when alas they proceeded only from his Fears which will appear plain if we consider the Times of the several Passages relating to this matter The 9th of September New-Stile Mr. d' Avaux's Memorial to the States-General telling them of the strict Alliance between the two Crowns tells us of the Preparations making against us and came to our Court the 10th of September Old-Stile After ten days Consideration a Parliament is resolved on and the 21st the King by his Proclamation assures us of his kind Intentions to the Nation and Church and therein tells us he is willing the Roman Catholicks should remain incapable of being Members of the House of Commons a mighty favour The 26th of September the Lord-Lieutenants were authorized to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from the Lieutenancy and such Gentlemen were to be restored to the Commission of the Peace as had been lately laid aside The 28th of September his Majesty by Proclamation acquaints the Nation with the intended Invasion and recalls the Writs for the Parliament The 2d of October the King declared he would restore the Charter of London and gives us a General Pardon of the same date The 5th he Dissolves the Ecclesiastical Commission The 17th of October the other Corporations of the Kingdom are restored all which favours were conferred on us after they were terrified with the News of the Invasion so that we may rest fully assured they were the first fruits of that blessed design and the meeting of the Parliament was discharged Twenty days before the Restitution of the Corporations which by our Author's computation is a long time otherwise the Corporations were not restored long before the Prince Landed as our Author says they were The 9th Article is against Prosecutions in the King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognisable only in Parliament and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses The last Clause is omitted and so might all our Author thinks fit to say in answer to the first being only That be doubts not but those Judges câ—n justifie their Proceedings and that some Parliaments have brought matters before them that were not properly cognisable by them But what those things are he does not tell us but be it so and let them and their Advocates justifie them if they can But in the mean time does it follow that because one Court exceeds its bounds sometimes that therefore the King's-Bench may or how does this make the Parallel between the present and the late Times If he had told us that our Speaker had been Prosecuted in the King's-Bench for his Actings as such and Fined 5 or 10000 l. he had said more to the purpose than he has done in the whole Book The Author says the tenth Article is about partial corrupt and unqualified Juries But he should also have added That divers Jurors in Tryals for High Treason were not Free-holders He knew the consequence of this matter in the brave Lord Russel's Case and therefore thought fit to pass it over in silence but tells us That the noise against Graham and Burton for such practises is now ouer for want of proof To which I say the thing is obvious though the steps of those that managed this work of darkness is not yet made plain and no wonder though the same should never happen considering how few persons but those concerned can have any knowledge of it it is not likely the party corrupted will proclaim his own villany and shame so that if the said persons if they were the managers do but keep their own Counsel no positive Witnesses can be had against them But then considering the Nature of the Case the great Sums of Money said to be laid out privately at Law will satisfie Men not over-credulous But if our Author will have a little patience he may hear what proof there is against those Gentlemen the House of Commons having lately ordered a Charge to be brought In against them which was not done sooner because they had matters of far greater importance to dispatch The eleventh Article is requiring excessive Bail in Criminal Cases to elude the benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject The truth of this is not denied neither is it justified only the late Acts suspending the Habeas Corpus Act are exclaimed against which I must say is one of the greatest favours imaginable to those most concerned in it if it but prevent them from running too far in dangerous courses it had been a great Blessing to the Lord Dundee and his Family if the Estates of Scotland had committed his Person when they first observed him tampering though my kindness for some of those unfortunate persons then in custody makes me hope they were kept there as well to secure themselves as the Government yet I believe there are not many of them dare pretend to that innocency It must not be forgotten in this place how his Majesty like him whose Vicegerent he is mingles Mercy with his Justice and that he sent one of these Prisoners a considerable Sum of Money to support him from want not knowing how plentifully he might be provided from his own Estate with which it was not easie for him to hold any Communication our Author will find it hard to give me such an instance of Generosity in his King I have only one Remark more on this matter which is That if all Princes were endued with such Moderation and Clemency as our present King there would be but little need to secure us by Laws against that Wolf the Prerogative and that it is much better trusting Power with some Kings than others The late King could commit seven of our Peers at one time without and against the Law whereas his Majesty though encompassed with avowed Enemies in two of his Kingdoms and some as discontented as the Author in the third And though by the late Statutes he had Power to commit I may say at his pleasure yet I believe those so committed by him will scarce exceed the number lately carried to the Tower at one time so that upon experience of his prudent Moderation and that he does not use his Power for the Oppression of those that do not love him I see not why the Parliament may not continue this Trust for some time longer at least until Ireland be as well setled as the rest of the Kingdoms The 12th Article is by our Author made up of two I suppose on purpose to lessen the
if he had not been diverted would have forced away a Thousand with their effects most whereof as they did in those days must for the old reason have setled in the Low-Countries Would not Persecution here have forced our Labourers and Marriners to take shelter with them which had been a double advantage one by lessening our stock another by adding to theirs They were not so dull-sighted as not to see this but compassion to us and to the Protestant Interest made them neglect that and other advantages they could have made of our home distractions But then it is hard to conjâ—cture how their Trade could thrive or get any advantage of oâ—rs in a joynt War when in all probability the first fury of the Enemy would light on them One would think it were easier for the French to make a Descent on some of the Dutch Territories than on ours unless their Rivers were more unpassable than our Ocean It is not so long since the French were there that one should forget the way or the other the dismal havock they then made although they managed a fairer sort of War than they now do If they had not provided a good Army this Summer the Palatinate had not singly complained of the French Fires But the Tide is turned and I hope we are both equally free If Convoys as he says will secure their Trade that will secure ours as much so that this is only thrown in out of hopes to discontent some persons who have not forgotten the hard words given to the Dutch in the two last Reigns though now it appears that the Wars then carried on against them were the first step of the design laid against the Protestant Religion though Emulation in Trade and some other things were insisted on to keep up the Resentments of the Nation just in the Author's Gant But the cheat being at last though too late perceived we remember how zealous the Long Parliament was for the last Peace with Holland and a strict Alliance with them against France neither have we forgotten how many Prorogations this cost them So that now in relation to Holland we are arrived to that happy Union with them the Nation so long ago desired and that Parliament which gave so many extravagant Sums for the carrying on both those Wars when they were made believe they were either necessary or honourable cannot be supposed to have changed their noat so much out of kindness to the Dutch as out of a just regard to the true interest of the Natioâ— To the same purpose is our Author's complaint of admitting the Dutch into our Harbors viewing our Docks and strong Holds and making our Ports and Shipping intirely theirs For surely our King knows as much of their Harbors and Government as their State-holder does of ours and so we are even with them But indeed we were even before each knowing as much of the other as is requisite and unless Lord Torrington be no English-man and all our Sea-men as well as Captains have lately changed their Country our Fleet cannot be said to be theirs If there be any Factious Men in Holland they may more justly make this complaint since their Fleet has this Summer been Commanded by an English-man and the King of England's Commission Our Author brings in the Name of Piers Gaveston here only to amuse the Vulgar for the having an influence over a Prince is not the harm that is in the ill use made thereof which is not to be done but where our Princes are weak Men As in the Case of the Spencers in Edward the Second's time Father Peters in another Reign and others that might be named But our King has no Favourite but his People norany Interest separate from theirs Page 31. our Author tells us such a delivery up of ones Country was never known before nor acted by any Party of English-men But I can tell him of a worse and that is the delivery up of Ireland to the Irish the ancient and sworn Enemies of the English Nation they were so before Religion came to make any difference and rebelled as often against their Popish as Protestant Princes never missing any opportunity they could lay hold on their hatred is so inveterate and has gone so far as to destroy the English Cattel rather than preserve them for their own use though of a far better breed than theirs and all out of hatred to the Country from whence they came out of the same aversion severe Statutes has not been able to learn them the Language in many Generations nor to Abolish many of their barbarous Customs and let no Man justifie or excuse this by the seeming success for all the relief they can afford him will not keep him long out of the Monastry our Author speaks of But then I say King James could not foresee what has fallen out for as hot as his Zeal is if we may judge by what he did on the News of the intended Invasion he would have taken other measures if his Priests had not fooled him with hopes of better success and that he should be able to accomplish his designs So this was not the reason that induced King James to take a method so different from all his Popish Predecessors with the Irish Next I say that his relying so much as really he did on Succours from Ireland and the expectation of the mighty Power he had there emboldened him to attempt what otherwise he would have thought too hazardous here out of affinity with the matter in hand I cannot omit taking notice of that Assertion of our Authors That divine Providence in consideration as he supposes of the unjustness of the late King's Sufferings hath with little effusion of blood given him the intire possession of Ireland Which is so true that he was not able at the Expence of Ten thousand Lives and three Months close Siege to take in the small Town of Derry And that other part of the Assertion as to the intire possession is so much otherwise that the Protestants of Ireland have all this time had twelve Garrisons in their possession wherein many Protestants were sheltred from the rage of their Enemies and the neighbouring Country secured from their French Tricks When our Author tells us of the Dutch Stivers and the changing our Gold for Brass certainly he did not think of King James's new Irish Coin by which a piece of Copper less than an English farthing with the Royal Image and Inscription passes from him for Six-pence and so proportionably but yet it must not be re-paid to him in his Revenue which is another Invention to rob the Protestants there of all that the Army or Rapperies have left them This is so palpable a Violation of our Property and in so high a degree that no Story can parallel it In former times when Leather-money passed amongst us the inducement to perswade the using of it was That it should be received in the Revenue
so spirited away but some part of them may and have been found out but little Restitution to the Proprietors and less of Punishment on the Offendors Then again though Robberies might have been in the Country and at a distanâ—â— from him yet it is something strange that he could not pâ—serve the place of his own Residence and the Country about it from such Violences for which he has done so little that no part of the Kingdom has greater reason to complain than they From these Considerations I am as much satisfied that the Royal Assent accompanied these Rapines as that it did that far greater one the Repeal of the Acts of Settlement How the Advocates of King James will maintain this Treatment of his Protestant Subjects I cannot tell neither can I tell how to reconcile his Speech to his pretended Parliament on the 7th of May proposing their relief against the Acts of Settlement as he softly phrased it and his Declaration to his pretended Subjects in England dated the day after that most Gracious Speech wherein he tells us That the Priviledges and Properties of his Protestant Subjects was his Care unless they say it was his Care and Endeavour how to destroy them We have heard of Mr. d'Avaux's demand That all Protestants should be dismissed the Council-Board for otherwise he could not disclose his Master's Secrets there which was immediately done We have heard from one of his Lords That both the late King and his Popish Council would rather hazard and lose Forty Crowns than be obliged to the Protestants for the possession of the Kingdom and design to re-gain his Dominions by the Arms of good Catholicks and the glorious Monarch of France and their reason for this is very comfortable to all English-men and Protestants being that in the first Case he must be tied and fettered with Conditions but in the other Case he would come in free and boundless and like an Absolute Conqueror might do what he pleased I thought I had done with our Author when I cast my Eye on a line as true as most of the rest That the King never tempted any of the Men of Honour to change their Religion I never had the honour of being Closetted so know not the Discourses usually practised there but it would be some disparagement to his and his Father-Confessor's Zeal to think that always forgotten But without insisting on that it is not to be imagined that so many turned Apostates without temptation or that the Treasurer's Staff carried none with it Our Author makes him kinder herein than his Promise in the Scotch Declaration not to use invincible necessity The Reflections due to this have been done by so much a better hand that I will forbear And having thus done with the Author it is time to draw to a Conclusion In order to which I will only observe upon the whole matter That the Subjects of this Kingdom during the Reign of King James were in so miserable a condition that they could call nothing their own but their Fears and sad Apprehensions of the worse things that were preparing for them When we heard we were to Obey without reserve we could not forget the Times of our happy Ancestors whose Obedience was guided by the known Laws of the Land and lament our own and Childrens fate that were to be ruled by the Arbitrary Will of one Man for whose Prudence and Moderation we could have no security When we saw a Power to Suspend some Laws put in Execution we could not but look on all the rest as lost since our Tenure was so precarious When we saw our Clergy so much oppressed in those early days we did not doubt Father Peter's Will or Power to improve that Spirit of Persecution as far as a blind Zeal or the French Pattern could carry it When we saw an Army maintained in time of Peace we could not forbear thinking sometimes on the French Dragoons and their way of Propagating the Faith In a word when we saw the strange Methods that were taken to procure a right House of Commons we could not but fear that our Misery would be perfected by those we formerly thought the Preservers of our Liberties and Properties And now that it hath pleased God to put an end to all these things and that we are not only free but have a long prospect of Happiness before us not to be destroyed but by our selves not to be lessened or impaired but by the influence of such Discourses as the Author 's on weak or unwary Men. Let us remember how much it concerns every one of us to oppose those designs which tend only to bring us into the same slavery we have so lately escaped The same did I say Alas as ill as we were before the Abdication upon his return that would be a desirable State unless we believe he has learned Mercy in France or that he is less a Papist than he was or of less Arbitrary Principles When Gratitude for the highest Obligations both the setting and keeping the Crown on his Head could not preserve us our Laws or Religion what must we expect from his Anger and Revenge And if we consider with what severity the weak Endeavours of Monmonth and his Party to Dethrone him were punished It is hard to imagine what Punishment is reserved for those that have actually displaced him or taken him at his word which he accounts the same thing and we must not think that his Thunder would only pursue those that have been active in the late Revolution but the whole Nation must be struck with it that it may not be in their power to do the same thing again and it would be a mighty Army he would think big enough to secure him from the like affront and of what sort they must be is not hard to determine I know it is needless to inlarge on these hints because you are fully perswaded that it is the most prudent as well as just Course to remain contented with the present Government and to contribute in our several Stations what in us lies to the support thereof FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. Line 31. for October Read November P. 4. l. 32. r. so served P. 7. l. 34. r. November P. 37. l. 3. r. December P. 40. l. 19. after another r. Commandment In the same Line dele of the Commandments P. 41. l. 17. r. Commissioners P. 43. l. 10. r. twig instead of way P. 44. l. 36. r. support him P. 48. l. 11. r. Burgus P. 49. l. 5. r. Magnifies P. 52. l. 26. dele first of BOOKS Printed for Jâ—seph Watts at thâ— Angel in St. Pauls Church-yard THE History of Ireland from the First Conquest of it by the English to this time in two Parts Folio The Trial of the Lord Russel c. Of Colonel Sidney Folio Of Edward Fitzharris c. An Exact Diary of the late Expedition of his Majesty into England Quarto Representation of the Threatning Dangers Impending over Protestants in Great Britain before the coming of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Treatise of Monarchy in two Parts 1. Concerning Monarchy in General and second concerning this Particular Monarchy Wherein all the Questions occurrent in both are stated disputed and determin'd Discourse of the Opposition of the Doctrine Worship and Practice of the Roman Church to the nature designs and characters of the Christian Faith by Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury Quarto The True Test of the Jesuits or the spirit of that Society Disloyal to God their King and Neighbour Quarto Monsieur Jurieu's Account of the Extasies of the Shepperdess of Saou in Dauphine Quarto Reformed Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year Twelves Cro. C. 114. Cro. C. 220.