Rohan's business to be a General Proposal of an Allyance the Other only a Bare and Particular Intercession for the Hugonots of France The one only makes the Duke acquainted with the Proposal the other Addresses Expressly to the Duke for his Recommendation Now says the Character again This Royal Heir or Masquerader or by what other Title Disguis'd or distinguish'd with a seeming Cordial Friendship Embraces the Poor Hugonots Cause and day after day Receives his Addresses with many Solemn but Airy Promises of Speedy Assistance but in the mean time Disgusted and Gall'd to the Soul at so Audacious and Impious a Petition as the Protestant Prâ—â—ervation and Abhorring so Detestable an Employment Nay 〈◊〉 very Name of the Hereticks Defender instead of his Promised Aid he on the contrary most cunningly laid the Platform of a Revenge as exquisit as so Hainous a Petition deserved Immediately â—e goes to the French Ambassador and tells him how one of the French Subjects had very Arrogantly and Scandalously Calumniated his Great Master with Opprobrious names of Tyranny Oppression and Breach of Faith into which very language he himself before had Exasperated him on Purpose to make his Ruine Secure which the Bare accusation of a suit in behalf of his Religion would not alone have Effected The Ambassador as bound in Duty for the vindication of his Kings Honour desires a further Testimony of the Offence and Offender which the Royal Informer effectually gives him by appointing another Conference with Rohux Where Privately he Plants this Kingly Representative as an Honourable Eves-dropper to overhear a Repetition of the whole Discourse and Confirm his Belief from his own Ears This Conference P. 4. Contriv'd and Manag'd as heart would wish the Ambassador Posts over this Rohuxs Treachery to France whilst he Poor unsuspecting Innocence Continues his Dayly Prayers to his Great Advocate But finding in time so many Dilatory Demurs He luckily at last Discovers he is Betrayed Vpon which Dreading the French King not daring to Return to France He steals away into Switzerland for his Protection but the French King being advertiz'd of his Motions gets him Trepâ—nn'd by an Ambuscado in the night and being by Surprize forced out from thence into France he is broken upon the Wheel Now hear the Letter Mounsieur Rohan hauing acquainted the Duke of York with his Errand after he had in a Private Conference or two transacted with the King about it this Royal Prince out of his wanted kindness to Protestants and the Reformed Religion caused Ruvigni Lieger Ambassador from France at this Court to stand behind the Hangings at St. James while he made this Innocent Gentleman discourse over the whole busness Vpon which Mr. Ruvigny being obliged to acquaint his Master with it M. Rohan who upon some Information that the Duke had betray'd him had withdrawn hence to Switzerland was there seized by a Party of French-Horse and brought to the Bastile whence after some time of Imprisonment he was carried to the Place of Execution and broken on the Wheel Here 's nothing in this Letter of the Seeming Friendship mention'd in the Character the Promises of Assistance the Plot of Revenge the Trepanning of Rohux into Outrages against his Master nor of the Dukes Lewd Contemplations upon the whole matter which 't is Impossible for him to give an account of too and fitter in short for a Stage then a History So that all these Aggravations are only the Old Story Corrected and Amended with Additions for the Credit of his Character And what 's his Authority now for this Diabolical Report but that Infamous Composition of Forgery and Scandal the Letter about the Black Box Wherein after all these Vile Imputations upon his Royal Highness the Duke comes off yet better in 't then the King After his Utmost Effort upon this Romantick Master-piece of Defamation he lets himself down for a while into a vein of Quirk and Cavill and then takes wing again P. 8. into another fit of Rapture and Imagination Were there a Country says he where Commissions of Peace day after day and Time out of mind have been taken away for daring but to lift a hand against a Son of Rome Nay at the same time when all other Recusants have been Prosecuted and that with Encouragement and Reward And all by a Royall Heirs Pretection and Interest c. This way of Trifling might do well enough in a Chimney Corner with a Once upon a time there was a Country c. but Majesty is not to be play'd with at this Idle Rate The Plain English of it is this Look to your selves Good People the King is Popishly affected he will not let any man touch a Papist but the poor Protestant Dissenters all this while they go to pot c and then he thinks to bring it off by casting it upon the Interest or Power of the Duke with his Majesty The very affirming of it is a Scandal for how does he know whether it be so or no Or what if it were so Is it not the Kings Act whoever advises him to 't Or can any man say that the King does an ill thing however influenc'd without reflecting upon his Majesties Honour and Justice Beside the Evident untruth of the matter of Fact the Laws being vigorously Executed against the Papists and the Recusants on the other side Indulg'd till they so far abus'd the Kings mercy by dayly affronts that it was not safe to forbear them any longer His Ninth Page is stuff'd with Reflections upon the Government and first upon the Bench for the Sentence upon Harris for Publishing the Appeal a Libel that excites Rebellion and supports it self in the Encouragement of it upon this Position that He that has the worst Title makes the best King And again in the same Page had the Papists Execrable Blow succeeded the Bloud of Majesty might in all Probability have found the same Inquisition as the firing of London What is this but to Imply an Imputation upon the House of Commons that had the Examination of the whole matter before them and likewise upon his Majesty himself his Ministers and Courts of Justice as if they had not done their parts toward the Discovery of it in their Respective Stations And yet once again Ibid Has not our Late Design against both King Religion and Government in Contradiction of the Vnanimous Vote of the whole Nation in Parliament being Confidently Retorted upon the Presbyterians And that too without the least Proof or shadow for 't And then how easily might the Papal Policy have made a Popish Murther a Fanatick Stab They do ill Certainly that turn the Popish Plot upon the Presbyterians and little better sure that turn the Plots of the Scottish Presbyterians and their Fellow-Covenanters in England upon the Papists And for the Popish Policy of making a Popish murder a Fanatick Stab that 's only a shift they learn'd of the True Protestant Papists that turn'd a Fanatick murder into a
that Design and his whole Book has no other aim but to make All our Dangers of Popery and a Popish Successor and all the whole Plot against the King Religion and Government to use his own Phrase P. 69. but a Painted Lion upon a Wall and the Opposers of those Dangers a reall Bed of Vipers Is L'Estrange then so great a Friend to the Fanaticks that he Acquits the Papâ—sts in making them Both Criminals alike Or how will it hang together that under the Notion only of Two sorts of Iesuits and Both equally Dangerous the One shall be but a Painted Lyon and the Other a Reall Bed of Vipers Now over and above this Contradiction imply'd how many Impious Impudent False and Non-sensicall Fellows should I have been if I had dealt but half so disingenuously with the Character-maker as he has done with me Take notice first how he has Impos'd upon me in misapplying the Citation for my Words are these P. 69. It were no Ill Embleme of the Original of our Late Troubles to fancy a man in a fright and Leaping from a Painted Lyon upon a Wâ—ll into a Bed of Vipers From hence does he infer my disbelief of the Plot and pronounces upon me as one that makes it his bâ—siness to turn All the Dangers of Popery and a Popish Succâ—ssor into a meer mockery when yet my Reply upon his first Charâ—cter speaks the clear contrary So far am I from undertaking to dispute the danger of a Popish Successor that I 'le compound the matter with him before-hand and take all his suppositions of Difficulâ—ies and Hazzâ—rds for Granted And then again in the same Page I am as much against the Principles and Practises of the Church of Rome wherein the Church of England hath departed from that Comâ—uniâ—n as any man living that keeps himself within the compass of Christian Charity Humanity and Good Manners and so far I shall heartily joyn with the Compilâ—r of the Character by a Previous Concession of the Inconveniences as I have said already that may arrive by reason of that Religion Is this fair dealing or no But you shall see now how he Rivets it You must allow him says he this Great Fundamental that all the Sticklers against Popery and a Popish Successor are Fanaticks and that all Fanaticks hate both the King and Kingly Government and are Tooth and Nail downright Republicans Vpon this Basis his wholâ— Fabrick stands Ibid. The Authour has put a thing in my Head now I should not â—ave thought of and truly I could find in my heart to give him his asking For I would Distinguish betwixt the Litigious Humour of Stickling against Popery as the Fanaticks do and the Modest Iudicious way of opposing it after the manner of the Church of England a Stickler in this case being only a Waspish kind of Common Barreter in Religion But however he must be a Stickler against the Communion of the English Church as well as against that of the Church of Rome to be a Fanatick in my opinion In which case his Zeal on the One hand does not at all Excuse his Schism on the Other And to Gratifie him yet further in his other Point let him name what sort of Dissenters he pleases and let me try if I cannot shew him Anti-Monarchical Principles and Positions Destructive both of Church and State in the Avow'd Writings of the most Eminent of the Party When he has Handy-dandy'd the Character and L'Estrange Just as Puncinello plays his Puppets and given which of them the better on 't he pleases he sets up a Great Fundamental for me and runs away with it for a matter of a Page and a half calling Heaven and Earth to give Evidence to the truth of a Plot which no Mortal denyes and winds up at last in the Definition of a Fanatick of these Times He that values the Safety of himself and his Posterity he that thinks he has an Estate and Liberty worth Preserving a Country worth Saving a Religion worth defending and indeed a God worth Serving it a FANATICK Pref. P. 3. I shall Appeal to the World now which is the True Fanatick His or Mine He that places the safety of Himself and his Posterity in breaking the Laws both of God and man He that makes his Liberty a Cloak for Maliciousness He that Cryes Give the King no Money when his Country is ready to be Swallow'd up and Triumphs in his Majestys Greatest Wants Char. Part. 1. Pa. 11. when his Glory nay his NEAREST SAFETY Calls for Assistance He that Contends for Schism to the Overthrow of Religion and calls Murthering of Kings and Subverting of Governments doing God good service He is a Fanatick He Proceeds in his Preface to the Invalidating of my Parallel betwixt Forty One and Eighty and upon my saying that the very Sound of Popery did the business against the Last King as well without a Ground as with it What 's all this says he but to tell us because a Bugbear Frighted us once therefore a Real Fiend must not Fright us now Because a Judas once Kiss'd and Betray'd and a Joab Embrac'd and stabb'd therefore no man must ever Kiss and Embrace without a Treacherous and Murtherous Intention And what 's all this say I but to tell us on the Other side that though the Bugbear of Forty One prov'd a Reall Friend to us we are yet to take the same Fiend again in Eighty One for a Bugbear And so for Iudas and Ioab If the Same Iudas kisses again and with the Same Words in his Mouth too why may we not suspect the Same Intentions And likewise if the Same Ioab Embraces again and the Old Ponyard be found about him still the Deposing Maxims of Forty One which is the very Case Have we not Reason then to believe that he has Murder in his Heart And Hear him once again now Because a Knot of Achitophels once Pretended Grievances where none was to accomplish their own Wicked Purposes therefore no Subject shall or may Petition or Vote though in a Legall Parliamentary way for the Redress of the Greatest Grievance in Nature and that in the Plainest and most Imminent Exigence of a Nation c. Pref. Pag. 3. My Answer must be still the same that the very same Achitophells Pretending the very same Grievances and Proceeding by the very same Metâ—ods have probably the very same Wicked Designs and Purposes And now to that which follows Bear me Wittness Good People that I meddle with neither Votes nor Petitions but only with Seditious Libells that carry the name of Petitions as who should say Take notice my Countrymen the King is wholly carry'd away by Iesuitical Councills May it Please your Majesty to Call a Parliament His Majesty will never suffer this Plot to be search'd to the Bottom A Speedy Parliament we Beseech ye Sir The King Employs none but Popish and Disaffected Officers Let us have a Parliament we Beseech your Majesty to sit till
long The Characterizer says he tells us P. 3 That in a Bigotted Prince his Moralls shall be Slaves to his Zeal And then I am asham'd that any men that pretend to write sense should endeavour to Perswade us that a Popish Bigot and a man of Courage and Wisdom in a Successor should not go further towards the Establishing of Popery then a Coward and a Fool. I will allow that he that is Daring enough to Attempt any thing and Subtil enough to play his Game to the most Advantage is much mâ—re Capable then a man less Bold and Crafty of bringing his Ends to Pass But what is this Fearâ—â—ssness and Cunning to True Courage and Wisdom that Govern all our Actions according to the Measures of Right Reason and Iustice So that the Authour gets nothing upon this Point unless he can make out Temerity and Breach of Faith to be Virtues But the Great Danger I find is in a Bigotted Papist and either our Popish Successor is That or That Danger does not fall into this Case Had we an Heir Apparent says the Character Ibid of no more Religion then a Julian or a Nero and yet at the same time were Completely Master of the Moral Virtues possibly he might steer c. Now would I fain have the Author of the Character and his Deputy to lay their Heads together upon this Text. We might do well enough he says with a Iulian a Nero c. and why not well enough then as he himself has stated the matter P. 13. in his Reply upon L'Estrange If his Royal Highness says L'Estrange would have plaid the Hypocrite as the Characterizer charges it upon him he would have Render'd himself a Protestant to the Eye of the World though a Papist in his heart That being the only means to have Gain'd him his Point But Behold now with what Indignation the Character-maker Reflects upon such a Supposition I wonder says he to what Readers these Authours write that at this time of day they would make us believe that his Squeamishness against the Test and the Oath of Supremacy made our Conscientious Heir quit his Honourable Employmentn As we better remember 'T was not so much the Test as the Test-makers that Disgusted him His natural Antipathy to Parliaments his Continual Little thoughts of that Great Councell and less of them he will have if ever he comes to the Crown with his Disdain that such Insolent Earth and Ashes should dare to give Laws to his Divinity So that in short his Pride not his Conscience got the Ascendent and whatever Advantages he might have gain'd by-keeping his Employments and swallowing the Oaths yet such is his Perverse and Stubborn Haughtiness that he would rather cry Sink Interest Perish Succession and even Popedom it self rather then Truckle to what I Scorn The Reader will take notice here of the shifting of the Scene and that the Business is no longer the POPISH Successor the BIGOTTED Successor but the PERVERSE the STVBBORN the HAVGHTY Successor The Successor of no Religion at all So that he has Chang'd his Battery from the Opinion and Profession of the Successor to the temperament of his Humour and the same Bolt strikes a Perverse KING to the Heart as well as a Perverse SVCCESSOR Nay the Character lays violent Hands upon it self in this Paragraph and cuts the very throat of its own Arguments What 's become now of all his Expanded Rhetorick and his Embroder'd Allegories One hasty word has laid this mighty piece of Ostentation level with the ground And the Character-man has discharg'd the Successor of the most dangerous point out of his own Mouth Why here 's no Popery in the Case it seems Perish Popedom it self says he rather then Truckle to what I Scorn His Spight as we are told was not at the Test but the Test-maker and 't is the Character-maker Probably too that has the Spight at him And who knows but the Test-maker and This Character-maker may be somewhat akin too Now for the Dukes Antipathy to Parliaments I never heard this charg'd upon him but by those that had an Antipathy for Kings And all this is only Fleshing of a Faction upon the Duke to prepare them for further Attempts upon his Majesty himself After this Gross and Palpable Contradiction of himself First in casting the whole weight of his Argument and of our Danger upon the Religion and Bigottery of the Duke And then in declaring him to be of no Religion at all and so far from Bigotted to the Church of Rome that he would Sacrifice even the Popedom it self to his humour which shews that he writes his Gall not his opinion The Reader will not be surpriz'd I suppose at the boldness of any Calumny after so Malicious and so Shameless an Imposture This is to prepare the Reader for another peice of Confidence and Invention in the Story of one Râ—hux P. 3. Wherein if it were possible he has outdone himself Take notice that this Relation was first expos'd to the World at least I never heard of it before in the Second Letter about the Black Box under the Title of A Letter to a Person of Honour c. The Character calls him Rohux the Letter Monsieur Rohan the one being only an Improvement of the other and the Original came into the world with the Black Box unless possibly the Hint might be taken from the Story of Marsilly the Person that Negotiated the Triple Alliance who having been in England went away again about his Business was taken afterwards by a Party of French out of one of the Cantons of Switzerland carried to Paris and there broken upon the Wheel This Account of Marsilly agreeing with that of Rohux in all the Circumstances of an Agency in England his Seizure and his Execution Now though this Narration carries in the very face of it the most Manifest Marks of Falshood in Respect not only of the Incoherence and Incredibility of the Parts of it but in regard also of the almost Impossibility of the Particulars coming to light which are therein Suggested I shall yet over and above Recommend to the Peruser of these Papers the Disagreements betwixt the Character and the Letter which will abundantly Evince the whole matter to be only a Scandalous Contrivance This same Rohux says the Character P. 3. was Commission'd as an Agent into England to Implore his Majesties Mediation to the French King in favour of the Hugonots of France and apply'd himself to his Royal Highness to Facilitate his Access Now the Letter says that Monsieur Rohan as he is there call'd came into England to treat with the King concerning an Allyance betwixt his Majesty and Forreign Protestants meerly for the Preservation of their Religion and that having acquainted the Duke of York with his Errand c. Wee 'le first observe the Differences as we go and afterward set forth what mov'd the Author of the Character to change his Tale. The One makes
Popish Stab I proceed now to Page 11. Now in my apprehension says the Authour never did any man so forget himself as Mr. L'Estrange has done here He believes here that that Vnchristian Impression as the Allowance of Perjury is only the Tenet of some profligate wretches wholly lost in Brutality and Blindness But at the latter end of his Book P. 83. he downright contradicts that Belief and says Pope Pius Quintus absolv'd the Subjects of Queen Elizabeth from all their Oaths of Allegiance to her for ever So that now belike it was not only the Maxim of the abovesaid profligate wretches but even of the Great Successor of Peter c. Now in my Apprehension the Author is every jot as much out of the way as L'Estrange for the Same Person may be a Pope and a Profligate wretch into the bargain even by the Concession of Baronius himself and the best of their own Writers In the twelfth Page I am Corrected again Mr. L'Estrange he says forgets himself a little further in this Point and says in the same 83. Page That the Romish Iesuit holds that Dominion is founded in Grace and upon that Principle Deposes Protestant Princes c. then adds that the Pope may deprive a King of his Royal Dignityes for Heresie Schism c. Now by the Authors leave Those Two Words THEN ADDS refer to another Paragraph My business being only to shew Certain Instances wherein the very worst Positions of the Romish Iesuits are Match'd if not Out-done by the Covenanting Iesuits and as much the Tenets of Profligate Wretches on the One side as on the Other He takes me to task again P. 13. for saying That in the Case of a Popish King who is either kept out or Driven from the Exercise of his Right by the tumultuary License of the Rabble an Oath of Abjuration in Case of any fair opportunity for him to Assert his Claim with his Sword in his hand will be so far from Engaging any man against him that yeilded contrary to his Conscience to Swallow it for the saving of his Stake that he will find no Firmer Friends to his Cause or Interest then those men that are stimulated both by Honour and Revenge to the Execution of their Dutyes And upon this Clause he says 't is plain that by those Abjuring-Oath-Swallowing Friends I can mean no other but the Church of England Protestants And afterward P. 14. once again for laying so wretched so Despicable and so cowardly a Condescention at their Dores as the Abjuration of Gods anointed and their Native Sovereign to save a Stake a Cow a Farm or a Cottage Aye But that Abjuration is but a Copy of their Countenance he tells ye Fye Mr. L'Estrange this is worse and worse What the Members of the Church of Englands Communion of Notoriously break a Gospel Precept as to come to a So help me God with a Lye in their Mouths and a Reserve in their hearts to play the Hypocrite and that too even with Oathes and to do so Impious an Ill that Good may come of it What a Stir is here about nothing My Reasoning lyes thus If it comes to a Push the Enemies of the Successor will undoubtedly have recourse to their old Practise of Imposing an Oath of Abjuration for the securing of themselves in their Usurped Possessions And if any say I shall be so weak or so wicked as to take it It will only serve for a Spur to their Revenge so soon as they shall meet with a fair opportunity to Break it without any obligation upon them at all to the contrary So that I do not say either that it is Lawfull to take such an Oath or that any Church of England-men will Submit to do it but that whoever shall be so far Prevail'd upon will find himself both bound in Conscience to break it and Prick'd in point of Honour to Avenge himself upon the Imposers of it I would here desire the Reader to wash his Eyes for the Author is about to shew him one of the most notorious falshoods averr'd that ever look'd Light i' th face P. 15. And this is it L'Estrange says in the Case of Harry the Great The People of France though Roman Catholicks would not submit to the Dispossessing of a Protestant Successor Now says the Character The Roman Catholick People of France were so far from admitting this Protestant Successor to the Throne that 't is Recorded they shut their very Gates against him and so little acknowledged him their King that the Pope and the States of France were for setting up no less then Three Competitors against him c. 'T is very true the Iesuited and the Rebellious Papists of the League did shut their Gates upon him as our Iesuited Covenanters shut the Gates of Hull and other places here in England against our Sovereign But still there was a Party of Honourable and Loyal Roman Catholicks that joyn'd with the Protestants in his Defence and Support And if the Authour of the Character had not been very much to seek aswell in the Civility as in the History of France he would never have call'd that a Point-Blank Falshood which has the Best Authority of France to Vouch it for an Vnquestionable Truth And then so many of his Roman Catholick-Subjects adhering to him notwithstanding the Popes Declaring against him makes it a clearer Case that his Holynesses Deposing of an Heretical Prince does not Absolve all Papists from their Allegiance to him In one word It was upon that Revolution with the Papists in France as it was not long since with the Protestants in England Those that were Factious and Seditious took up Arms against their Prince and those that were Honest and Loyal Assisted him He goes on with a Flourish upon the Instance of Sigismund King of Sweden In whom says he Neither Magnanimity Iustice All the Cardinal vertues that adorn'd him nor all the Promising Perfections and Accomplishments of Nature strengthen'd with all the Bonds of Protestations Oaths or Sacraments could hold the Head-strong Violence of his Religion P. 16. Here is first an Argument drawn from a Particnlar to an Vniversality as if because this Prince brake his Faith no Popish Prince ever did or will keep it Would either the Authour of this Character now or his Deputy take it well to be paid in his own Coin or by his own Measure Here 's an Opposer in truth of his Royal Highnâ—ss rather then of a Popish Successor who to get the fairer blow at his Person has Discharg'd the Point of Religion This Opposer I say of the Duke of York has let fall many Dangerous words as is already prov'd in his two Characters against his Majesties Person Authority and the very Frame of the English Monarchy Does it follow therefore that All the Adversarys of his Royal Highness are Enemies to the King and Government In the next Page upon my saying that Expedients had been offer'd for the Obviating of
All our Grievances are Redress'd D' ye Call this Addressing or Libelling Or how come these Scandals to wear the name of Petitions He has another Touch at my Parallel in the next Page The Design he says of that Age being to Reduce us to Slavery and this to Free us from it This is more said then he is able to make out for how does he know that the men of Forty One Design'd us to Slavery and that the same men in Eighty One are Designing to Free us from it Does not Popery and Arbitrary Power from the same Lips signifie just the same thiâ—g now that it did then And why may not a man Conclude that the Same Persons with the same Pretences have still the Same Endâ— Th Grievance of the Nation he says is a Popish Successor and That Grievance once Remov'd by a Bill of Exclusion we Counter-mine All the Arts and Subtilties of Rome The King shall have Money and the Entire Affections of All or most of the Commonalty of England which have or can be Alienated or Estranged by his Vnhappy and too Vigorous Defence of a Successor so universally Odious This Clause is to Possess the People that the Excluding of a Popish Successor would do the whole Business It is a Great Blessing to the Party that men of this Kidney are never to be put out of Countenance for the Authour would Blush else at a Suggestion that every man that can read is able to Contradict Here 's the Subject of a Popish Successor Started and the Prerogative of a Protestant King in Possession Invaded by every Pamphleter that Presumes to handle this Question for there are Popish Forts Popish Castles Popish Militia's Popish Guards Popish Courtiers Popish Councellors Popish Iudges Popish Iuries Popish Bishops and in fine Popish Torys and Tantivys as well as Popish Successors And All these Popish Circumstances must be either Remov'd or secur'd to the good liking of the Faction or else the Diverting of the Succession according to the Ordinary language of the Press is as good as nothing And then to Crown the Contumely That Prince is Charg'd with Affecting an Arbitrary Power whole almost Fatal Concessions already have but barely left him Power enough to keep the Crown on his Head But what 's the meaning now of Cramping and Imposing upon the Civil Power what 's that to Religion and the Plot The Solution is this The Faction Designing upon both Church and State finds it Expedient to Attaque both together to the end that the Project upon the score of Religion may hold out till they have Gain'd their Ends upon the Monarchy His next Intimation of the Kings having lost the Affections of the People for asserting the Rights of his Brother though according to Honour Iustice and Conscience as his Majesty himself Declares This Intimation I say is so far from the Report of a Truth as appears by the almost Unanimous Addresses of the Nation to the Contrary that it is clearly an Artifice to Render his Majesty low in the Opinion of his People He Passes now to a Reflection upon Times and Times wherein to my thinking the Reason lyes strong and Directly against him The Miseries of the Late Civil Wars he says are too lively in the Peoples Memorys for them ever to be wrought up again into the same Frenzy Now I fancy on the other hand that the Comig off so Cheap and with so much Profit and Advantage for one Rebellion is a great Encouragement for the same Persons to venture upon another I am the larger upon the Preface because it is somewhat better Colour'd then the Text. Though the Deluded Multitude says he Ibid. were then put out of love with Kings they found too soon by Wofull Experience that the Protectorate was ten times worse and whatever Prejudice they had conceived against the Old Vnhappy King yet the Grievous Oppressions Taxes and standing Armys under Cromwell quickly open'd their Eyes and to their own Sad Cost Assur'd them they had not mended but Marr'd their Condition by Rebelling Ibid. I would he had Explain'd himself whether it was TOO SOON in the Peoples opinion or in his own And then he speaks again as if the Rebellion had been only the setting up of the Protector for he takes no notice of any Grievous Oppressions Taxes and standing Armys till the Protectorate of Cromwell And all the Interval betwixt Driving the King from London and the setting up of that Mock-Royolet under the Blessed Administration of the Lords and Commons was only a Certain kind of method peculiar to the Godly for the asserting of the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subject against the Fears of Arbitrary Power and Popery I come now to the Conclusion of his Preface I will confess says he This present Age has Derived one thing from Forty one and Forty two and that is a Curse they lâ—ft behind 'em The Curse of the Sheperds boy in the Fable Our Crying out so often formerly Help Master Help the Wolfâ—s in the Sheepfold when he was not there has made us Disbeliev'd at last now he is there and like him too be left most Helpless when we most want it The Authour may be pleas'd to take notice that our Business does not lie with the Wolf in the Fable but with the Wolf in the Gospel the Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing and that the very Wolves that Worryed the Flock under the Last King are now again Grinding their Teeth at 'em under This. And so much for his Preface We shall now proceed to his Text. Upon my Arguing that if Christian Princes under Articles of Treaty and Agreement keep Touch even with Infidels much more will Christians keep Touch with one another What Relation says he P. 1. can Christian Princes keeping Touch with Infidels have to a Popish Successors Tyranny and Injustice over his own Subjects And again P. 2. The Fidelity between Prince and Prince holds no Proportion or Affinity with that betwixt Prince and People A King for Breach of Faith with his People Esteemâ— himself only accountable to God but for Breach of Faith with Forreign Princes whether Christians or Infidels he is accountable to man and may draw down a just War upon his Head for such a Violation c. If I had not more Respect to the Rules of Good Mannâ—rs then to the force of his Reasoning I should upon such an occasion as this treat him as Coursly as he does me upon all occasions The Question is not what a Popish Prince will do upon Interest but what upon Câ—nscience and Religion In which Case the Morality is the Same to another Prince and to a Subject so that our Author is quite beside the Cushion But what says he if his Priests shall perswade him that he ought not to keep his Faith And what say I if his Conscience shall tell him he will be damn'd if he does not Is not the Why and the Wherefore here as broad as it is
Difficulties and for securing the Protestant Religion If the Parliament at Oxford says he P. 17. were not damnably mistaken or very Lewdly forgetfull they have declared Nemine Contradicente that neither they nor their Predecessors have ever heard or seen one Sillable or such a Frame of Expedients offer'd them The Gentleman under favour forgets himself if he means that there never were any such Expedients offer'd for this Project of Accommodation was Agitated and Modified even in the late Long Parliament And Expedients have been likewise since Propos'd unto which his Majesty refers himself in his late Declaration in these words But coâ—trary to our OFFERS and Expectation we saw that NO EXPEDIENTS would be ENTERTAIN'D but that of a Total Exclusion c. P. 6. Toward the bottom of the Seventeenth Page the Character makes an Invidious Descant upon the hopes the Papists had of a Toleration but not one Syllable of the Persons that started those hopes nor upon what Interest and Consideration the Design was set affoot Now he knows very little of our Affairs who does not understand that none were so forward and so Importune for the Gaining of the Dukes Assistance toward such an Indulgence as those very People that are now so Clamorous against his Royal Highness for it Not that any such Disposition was wrought by his Interest but they Labour'd it however under that Plausible Pretext that Provided the Dissenters might be eas'd on the one side they would do their best also and Content themselves that the Papists might be eas'd on the other The Nineteenth Page smells of the Romance Second Ajax Vlisses Palladium Troynovant Tullia c. as if the Author were speaking to us by his Deputy And then toward the bottom of the Page Enter the True Author again who P. 21. guides his Deputy's hand while he writes these words The Author of the Character is a Person so far from laying his hand on his heart and owing any Benefit to Royal Pardons or Acts or Oblivion that I must say this Truth for him Ianuary 48. was past before he was born I would he had taken in the other two Figures 16. to have told us what Century he speaks of There was a Gentleman of my acquaintance in the late times that would needs make himself the Author of Killing no Murther and had like to have been hang'd for his pains though he never wrote Syllable on 't But if Mr. Deputy has so great a kindness for his Principal as to take the Character upon him the Millers man that was Truss'd for his Master was told I remember that he could never do his Master better Service The Remainder of his Discourse is almost wholly Forrein to the matter in Question Insisting Principally upon two Points the Danger and the Inconvenience of a Popish Successor wherein I have declar'd my self in my first Character P. 3. that I take All his Suppositions of Difficultyes and Hazzards in the Case for Granted not that I think them so great as he Represents them but yet admitting them so to be that very Concession will not do his Business The second Point is Whether the Parliament of England may by the Laws of England Exclude the next heir of the Blood from the Succession of the Crown upon thiâ— Question I have thus deliver'd my self in my Case Put P. 9. Some are of opinion For it others Against it but the Legality or Illegality of such an Act is a Point that I am not willing to meddle with either one way or other For whether the Thing may Lawfully be done or not there may be Danger yet and Inconvenience in the Putting of the Question And so likewise in my first Character P. 53. As to that way which is matter of Parliamentary Cognizance I reckon it my Duty to Acquiesce in the Legal Issue of their Debates as an Authority to which I have ever paid a Duty and Veneration So that it would be utterly superfluous to spend Time and Words upon an Argument wherein I can for Quietness and for brevity sake allow him his asking and preserve the main of the Cause still untouch'd But for such Passages as fall in by the by and properly within the Compass of my Design I shall take such notice of them as I find Pertinent to my Purpose In the 24th Page he makes his Gloss upon that Clause in the Oath of Allegeance where we swear to be faithfull to the Kings Lawfull Heirs and Sucessors There 's nothing in that Oath says he that binds them to the Person but to the Thing to no Particular man any further then he is Heir and Successor Lawfully so and no man truly is either Heir or Successor till he Inherits and Succeeds Now if this Clause binds us not to the Person but to the Thing We swear Fidelity Previously to the Right which takes place before the Succession In the Lowest Line of this Page he Lodges the Absolute Power of the Law in the Three Estates in Parliament And P. 25. Expounds this Position under the notion of the Higher Powers of England King Lords and Commons which is a Flat denial of the Kings Sovereign Power And since he is pleas'd to set up a new form of Government He should do well to furnish us with a New Oath of Supremacy too That instead of Declaring the Kings Highness to be the only Supreme Governour of this Realm We may Swear Faith and True Allegeance to King Lords and Commons and to their Highnesses Lawfull Heirs and Successors This Coordinate Imagination was the Main Pillar of the Late Rebellion See what Work he makes now upon these following words in my First Character P. 60. With Reverence to the Utility and Constitution of good and wholsome Laws it is not presently to Cite a Statute or say there 's a Frecedent for those Laws that are Repugnant to the Light of Nature and Common Right are Nullities in themselves Now says he Here 's one of the boldest Master-strokes of the Pen that ever came in Print This Point once gain'd All the Protestant Laws since the Reformation and the whole Fabrick of the Present Government are Totally Subverted 'T is but a Popish Successor believing and maintaining that all the Protestant Laws ever since Harry the Eight's Perversion are against the Light of Nature and Consequently Nullityes in themselves His Logique I perceive is all of a piece If one Popish Prince be a Tyrant or a Faith-breaker All MVST be so If one Statute BE found against Common Right therefore All MAY BE so And then what fear I say of a Popish Successors Damning All Protestant Laws when 't is a Known Rule that the Judges are the only interpreters of the Law But These Possible Nullityes will find better Quarter perhaps from Walker then from L' Estrange and therefore I shall refer Mr. Deputy to the History of Independency Pag. 116. 117. Printed at London 1648. The Authority of the Iudges is Iudicative whose Office is
facto dissolv'd in this very Position Those Laws that have made us the Envy of the Christian world and the Glory and Bulwark of the Reformation And again if the People may be Judges in This Case they may upon the same pretense be Judges in any Other and as well exterminate a Prince for any other Reason as for his Religion 'T is but for Mr. Deputy to tell the People that the King himself is not fit to Govern and what has his Majesty to expect but to march after his Brother Grant but this Point that the Multitude who are in effect Hands without Heads shall over-rule the Laws where are we then but in a state of Horrour and Confusion and Effectually in the Possession of One Hell upon Earth as the Earnest of Another without any Religion at all and every ones Knife at the throat of his Brother But am I a Subject to the Kings Religion or his Title Or where shall I find the Rules and Bounds of my Civil Duty In the Law Or in the Character The Law makes my Allegeance Absolute the Character makes it Conditional The Law binds me to be True to his Majesty his Lawfull Heirs and Successors without any regard to This or That Religion the Character discharges me in case any of them should happen to be Papists Magno Iudice se quisque tuetur King Lords and Commons are of One Opinion and Mr. Deputy of Another The Law obliges me upon pain of Life and Estate and the Gospel upon pain of Damnation But then comes the Author of the Character with the Serpents Dispensation in his Mouth and supersedes all Hath God sayd ye shall not eat of every Tree of the Garden And the Woman said unto the Serpent We may eat of the Fruit of the Trees of the Garden but of the Tree which is in the midst of the Garden God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye Touch it least ye Dy. And the Serpent sayd unto the Woman ye shall not surely Dy for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof Then Your Eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing Good and Evill Gen. 3. There 's no great Disproportion either in the Appetite or Temptation There 's the Voice of God in both cases on the One hand and the Voice of the Serpent on the Other I cannot find he says by this Text By Me Kings reign c. But that By Me Subjects possess their Lawfull Inheritance might Claim the same Right P. 32. The Question is not the Kings Dispossessing Subjects of their Lawfull Inheritance but the Subjects Disspossessing a Prince of his Lawfull Birthright And by his Argument Popish Subjects may be Dispossess'd as well as a Popish Successor and Phanatical Subjects too as well as Popish If a point of Occasional or Preventional Prudence shall over-rule a Positive Law And according to his Descant By me Kings are DEPOSED that a House of Commons may Reign is as good Divinity as By me King REIGN though the One is a matter of Divine Institution for the Comfort of mankind in General and the other only a Divine permission for the Punishment of some Particular Princes or People And see now how Extravagant an Instance he has brought in for his support Nor can I perceive says he Ibid. that there lyes so much Stresse in Gods giving the Government of the Earth Man and Beast unto whom it seemed meet unto him as to Nebuchadnezzer in the Text but that a MENE MENE TEKEL VPHARZIN written by the Almighties own hand against his Impious Heir the Sacrilegious Idolatrous Belshazzar was as much the word of God and had as much Divine Institution in it as By me Kings reign His Application here is not only Rude and Impertinent to the Highest Degree but the Argument flyes directly in the face of him unless he can shew such another Hand-writing upon the Wall against his R. Highness as is here produc'd against Balshazzar Beside that the Intervening of an Almighty Power in the Case does as good as tell us that the Disinheriting of Princes is a priviledge Reserved by God Peculiarly to Himself He proceeds P 33. to Invalidate as he pretends the Chief Argument of all my Discourse and the Fundamental Design of my whole Pamphlet viz. The Un-alterable Right of Succession And advances Confounding Extraordinary with Common Cases Now so far am I from laying the Stress of my Discourse upon that Text that I have Industriously Declin'd the Question as the last Article to be handled in this Controversy And then he spoils the Cause with the very eagerness of defending it by drawing Conclusions from God's Unaccountable Actings upon Immediate Revelation or Direction to the Practices of men that are under certain Common and Indispensable Rules and Methods of Obedience and Government So Timely a Care says he p. 34. did the Great Founder of Empires the Divine Omnipotence take to shew that the Dispensations of Majesty for his Peoples good and his own Glory were to be preferr'd before the Soveraignty of Birth that Blinder Gift of Chance This does only prove that God Reserves to himself a Freedom of Dispensing with his own Laws but not the least shaddow of any such Power Delegated to the People to Dispense with Gods Laws and let any man Consider whether is the more Competent Provision for the Glory of God and the Good of his People that men should be Ty'd up though with some Inconvenience under God's Appointment to the Orders of Government where the Publick Peace is preserv'd and the Harmony of Humane Society maintain'd or to leave the Multitude the Judges of those matters which only belong to the Supreme Magistrate and at liberty to change Governments and Governours as often as they please which must Inevitably run into Consequences of Bloud and Confusion And if this be not the thing he would be at what 's the meaning of his recommending the Precedent of the Late King of Portugal to the English as a Practicable Example Have we not had says he Ibid. a Late King of Portugal Depofed as Delirious and Frantick and Consequently renderd by Law Vncapable of Reigning and All this done by HIS OWN SUBJECTS and those of HIS OWN Religion without the least Reflection of Treason or Rebellion or the Aspersion of lifting a hand against the Lords Anointed As who should say what a stir is here made about the Duke of York As if it were such a matter to Exclude a Popish Successor I 'le shew ye a way to get quit of the King himself though a Protestant and in the Legal Exercise of his Authority But then you 'l say there must be Delirium or Frenzy in the case Just so much as was found in the Late King will be enough to do the Business Do but possess the People once that the King is a Papist and that single Charge of Popery Includes all Inabilityes For says our Author Ibid. There must go
Great if we cannot avoid it with Honour and Conscience we must resolve to abide it 3ly Here is a Certain and a Greater Danger Incurr'd for the Avoidance of an Vncertain and a Less 4ly Here is a Disturbance wrought in the Present Government of a Protestant King for fear of a Popish King to come 5ly his Majesty having Positively several times Declar'd that he cannot in Conscience or Iustice agree to the Disinheriting of his Brother and that therefore He will never do it the Exclusion of his R. H. which is here aim'd at can never be compass'd but by a Rebellion 6ly In making a mockery of that which he calls the Bugbear of Passive Obedience the very Position that seems to be Levell'd at the Duke Destroys the King 7ly Upon a Fair Collation of the Publique Danger both ways that of Expulsion or Exclusion over and above the Iniquity is Evidently much Greater then the Admittance of him and the Ready way to bring in that Popery and Arbitrary Power which they Pretend to fear Beside that it is Manifestly the Project of the Book and of the Abettors of it to Reduce This King to the straits of his Late Majesty and leave him at Last his Fathers Game to Play Upon the due Ballancing of these Cases the main Question depends and that which he calls a Defence has not one word of Argument upon any of the Passages above Recited the whole Discourse being rather a Flourish then a Debate To say nothing of the Dangerous Consequences that may reasonably and probably arrive upon the Agitation of this Question by exposing the Life of the Present Prince to a thousand Difficultyes and Hazzards in the Contemplation of either Preventing or Establishing the Successor Whereas in the Regular Course of Order and Government there 's no place for those Extraordinary Deliberations And to me it seems to Imply less Veneration for the Sacred Life of a Prince then we ought to have if we can with so much Indifference think of the Death of our Present Sovereign and yet at the same time enter into Fribbling and Captious Questions about the Successor Nigâ—am Illam Diem Luctusam expectare Peccare est contra Câ—â—iles omnes Naturales Leges Neque certe Disputationem de Regiâ Successione contra Regis ipsuis Volâ—â—tatem Ipse Rege Vivo Institutam unquam viri boni probaverunt It is against the Laws both of Nature and of Nations to stand Calculating in the Contemplation of that Black and Dismal Event Nor did ever any Good man approve of Entring into a Dispute about the next Successor to a Crown during the Life and contrary to the Will of the Royall Incumbent This was the Judgment of a French Apologist for Harry the 4th and not without very great reason too for men grow weary of the Present King Intent upon the Successor Enemies to the Government in Being as Placing their thoughts and Fortunes wholly upon the Reversion Insomuch that they look upon themselves at last as Effectually the Subjects of Another Iurisdiction and Contract a False and pernicious Interest in the removal of their Soveraign And it is not all neither that they are Transported by the hopes of Advantage and Preferment into These Undutifull Deliberations but when they are once In and Pinch'd betwixt the Dread of Revenge from the Injur'd Successor on the One hand and of Legall Iustice from an Embroyl'd Government on the Other there 's no Retreating Nor any other way left them then to attempt the saving of themselves by a Common Ruine How miserable now is the Condition of that State when all these Devills of Avarice Ambition Dâ—spair and Iealousy are let loose upon the Government Now there is none of these Hazzards or Difficultyes upon the Succession of a Prince that comes to the Crown by a Right of Descent where the Government is quietly Devolv'd upon him by the Gentle Methods of Providence without the Irregular and Tumultuary favour of the People and without any Eccentrick Motions or Passions to the Peril or Detriment of the Publique Nay the very Enquiry was look't upon by Antiquity as a thing so Impious Undutiful that the fifth Council of Toledo Punish'd the very Question who should Succed to the Crown after the Death of the King with Excommunication and that Decree was Confirmed also by the next following Council Not but that a man may love the King and the Government and yet out of a misguided Zeal Oppose the Succession But there is also a Designing a Spitefull and Seditious Mixture even in that Composition as appears by the Writings and Practices that are Employ'd in favour of that Interest First as to the Designing Part the Cause is not manag'd according to the Peaceable Methods of Charity and Religion but in such a manner as to Irritate and Enflame the Multitude by Arguments rather of Terrour then of Reason 2ly the spite and Malice of the Humour shews it self manifestly in this That they are little better then Stark mad upon the striking of them in that Vein and forget what they Owe to the Heir of the Crown the Character of an Illustrious Prince to the Brother of their Sovereign to the Bravery the Virtues and the Services of his Person to the Honour the Safety and Tranquillity of their Country to the Clemency Conscience and Iustice of a Protestant Prince to the Dignity of their Profession and to the Duty of Subjects They cast off all Respects to Modesty and Good Manners in their Ribaldry and Revilings and lay themselves so open in these Intemperate Outages that they might with a better Grace Expose themselves naked in the Market-place He that shall compare this way of Desending or Propagating Religion with the Rules and Precepts of the Gospel will easily satisfy himself of what Spirit they are Lastly the Seditious Intent of the Libells that have been Publish'd upon this Subject is as Clear as the Light for at the same time while they are hammering into the Peoples Heads a dread of the Succession they are likewise Practicing upon the Honour of the King and Undermining the Monarchy For what 's the Reason of our Scriblers Insisting so obstinately upon this Particular but First as a Point which the People will most probably take fire at And 2ly as a thing which they are sure before-hand his Majesty neither can nor will ever Consent to And from hence they take their Rise to a Deliberation how the Business may be done without him till by foft and Insensible Degrees they Screw the Government off the Hinges The First Clamour is against the Successor for fear of Popery and against the King himself upon the Rebound for not going their way to work to Prevent it Their next Complaint is either for want of or for Fruitless Parliaments and nothing can be more Scandalous or Dangerous to his Majesty then these two Calumnyes So soon as they have wrought upon the People to Think ill of the King their next work is to Dispose them toward the Treating of him ill And this is done by Provocation and Perswasion for it is a Fair step toward the making of a man believe it Lawfull to do a thing if he can but be brought to have a Mind to do it By Remonstrances and Appeals they Compass the Former and then by Positions and False Principles Insinuate the Other It is First the Kings Duty they say to Call Annuall Parliaments 2ly To let those Parliaments sit till they have Redress'd all Grievances 3ly They Inferr from hence that the Common Hall is to Prescribe both the Time and the Business for these Parliaments 4ly That the King is made for the People and not the People for the King and therefore what he will not they may and must 2ly that Passive Obedience is a Bugbear And Defensive Arms Lawfull in the Case of Popery and Religion 6ly It is but Cares or Ianeways declaring that the Clapping up of the Protestant Ioyner is a Levying of War upon the Commoners of England and the Business is done To Conclude What is the Upshot of all this Libelling Contest but to set up a Popular Faction under Colour of Opposing a Popish Successor and at the Instance of a Pragmaticall Club of Mutineeres to put Three Kingdoms again in a Flame for the Rosting of their Eggs The End