and the Prophets Then directing his Discourse to the Earl of Oxford who waited then as Gentleman of the Bedchamber with the same Asseveration striking his Breast he said I will do as I would be done by for that is the Law and the Prophets Then speaking to Sir Henry Firebrace Clerk-Comptroller in waiting he continued his religious Protestation smiting his Breast c. as before I saw and heard all this Billy as I hope for Salvation And his Majesty express'd himself so pathetically that we did see as it were his Royal Soul in his Pious Face Vultus index animi if ever it was true 't was at that time And to confirm he spoke his Sentiments a Great Person who is now alive told me then the King had declar'd in Coucil There was nothing his People could ask of him that he would not do to satisfie them yet I am afraid said he 't is 〈◊〉 too late His Lordship is now in Commission and therefore you need not doubt of his Majesty's Integrity since a Williamite avow'd it A Peer of the Realm doth not swear when he gives his Verdict against his Fellow-Peer only puts his Hand to his Heart saying Vpon my Honour and 'ts sufficient His Majesty King James did it three times calling God to witness I hope you will allow him his Peerage Billy Yet infatuated Englishmen would not believe him How many Millions of Money How many Thousands of Lives How many Hundreds of Ships had we saved What Reproaches What Calamities nay What Sinâ— had we avoided by adhering to our pious Soveraign's Promises and Declarations But we blasphemed the Lord 's Anointed and our Soveraign Lord the King saying He is a Deceiver we will not believe him We will not have this man to reign ever us and yet at the same time embraced the P. of Orange as a Saviour sent from Heaven inspired for our miâ—â—culous Preservation and are still going on in our Lethargick Chimera's altho he hath not made out any thing in his Declarations particularly his bringing over the P. of Wales's Mother a poor Baker's Wife as was pretended tho K. James sent Letters to both Houses to examine narrowly into the Birth of that Prince saying It is not to be supposed at this time of day that the P. of Wales back awny Friends in either House yet it was not insisted on because they know the Proofs irrefragable And tho some say that was not in the P. of Orange's Declaration yet 't is well known that such a Woman was every Night exposed on Horselack in Holland where their Circie of Coaches met as ours do in Hide-Park and publickly declared the P. of Wâ—les Mother who was to go into England with the P. of Orange to confront the Juggle as tâ—â—y call'd it of the Birth of the P. of Wales To confirm the truth of this several Persons of Substance who were then in Holland have deserted the P. of Orange's Interest upon that politick Dutch-Trick You may judge of all other Cheats by this If the P. of Orange's Design had been purely to settle Religion and Property by Law and for preventing Popery and Arbitrary Power and to settle the Succession as 't was pretended Why did he not as King James proposed remain in some part of his Majesty's Dominion with his Troops that a Free Parliament might be called to adjust all Jealousies and Grievances This had been a most glorious Atchievment worthy to be engraven in the Roll of Fame ad perpetuam rei memoriam But inftead of giving an Answer to the King his Uncle and Father-in-law by the Lords whom he had sent to him on that Errand he marches directly for Windsor Castle and thence to St. James's And to shew he came positively for the Crown all his Declarations were in the Royal Stile We c. To pursue which Design after the Guards were set by the King he changed them to Dutch Guards and sent three Lords when His Majesty was in a sound sleep at Midnight who rudely wak'd him tho disswaded from it by the Page and Gentleman of the Bed-chamber who told them the K. was not well and had slept very little in two Nights before to tell him the P. of Orange could not think himself safe His Majesty being so near him and therefore he would have him remove that Night too else they might have staid until the Morning either to ham-House or to Hampton-Court O barbarous Insolence You or I could not have endured it from Servants no not from our Parents Will. Odsooks I would have broke their Heads had any served me so Jam. Well then by this time I hope you do not think the King did abdicate us we do not truly understand the word it signifies a free and voluntary resignation of our Right Now pray consider did K. James freely and voluntarily resign his Crowns or was he not forced to make his escape out of the hands of his Enemies to save his Life For they had put a Dutch Guard upon him by which he was made a Prisoner and Death usually is the next step to Monarchs Will. They must go whom the Devil drives I never heard a word of this before Jam. No nor thousands more but the quite contrary for they are true Children of their Father they delight in and carry on their designs by Lies But what have we gain'd by this Revolution and Rebellion Let us cast up our Accompts Imprimis We have Dethron'd Depos'd Banish'd and for ever as much as in us lies extirpated our Lawful King and his true Heir under whom we enjoy'd Peace Plenty and Prosperity We paid nothing for these Blessings Billy no! not so much as our Prayers and Praises to Heaven for them as we ought if we had God would not have permitted these judgments to fall upon us Our Sins are the cause let us therefore repent and make restitution to our so much injur'd Soveraign Repentance cannot be true without Restitution to repent and yet continue in the same Sin is nonsense 'T is like the Swearing Clergy-men who in the Letany pray From all Sedition privy Conspiracy and Rebellion good Lord deliver us and yet they continue in Actual Rebellion Preaching against their Lawful King and praying for an Usurper Call ye these Prayers and Praises to God No no be not deceiv'd 'T is the sacrifice of Fools and Knaves and God will esteem it no other I fear and tremble at it There were few or no Taxes in K. James's Reign but since this Revolution Rebellion and Usurpation in four years time only more Money hath been drain'd from poor mistaken-abused England than in the two former Reigns from the miraculous Restoration of K. Charles II. more than 28 Years which great Blessing We have quite forgotten too until the Diabolical Abdication of K. James Nay I may safely take in the Reigns of Qu. Elizabeth K. James I. and K. Charles I. In all 129 years in whose Reign what noise did a little Ship-money make
which built the Royal Soveraign a Ship which hath done so much Honour and Service to the English Nation and remains capable to do a great deal more The heat was because the King rais'd it without a Parliament But now a Convention and a Foreign Prince can Dethrone the Lawful King and make a Parliament which gives away almost all the Wealth of the Nation to enrich the Dutch and it goes down glib with us Neither do they so much as enquire how K. William hath perform'd the Prince of Orange's Declarations Will. 'T is true indeed we cannot boast of his Integrity in that But we are freed from Popery that is totally crush'd Jam. And the Church of England too in a great measure which is the only Bulwark against Popery when that Rampart is demolish'd Popery will flow upon us impetuously But we do not see so much Religion to brag of in K. W. Before he came over 't was confidently averr'd that he used to go to Mass and promised the Confederate Popish Princes that he would be kind to the Papists of whom he brought over and continues many thousands in his Army and pays them tho he goes on tick with the English In Scotland he is a Kirksman the Church of England is almost destroyed there In Ireland he would allow of Popery or any thing what the People please to gain that Government In England he is a lukewarm Christian favouring all and truly of no Religion unless Predestination can be call'd Religion Empire is his sole aim and design which he will compass directly or indirectly by Policy Stratagems Dissimulation breach of Promises Protestations and Declarations or by the death of thousands of Soldiers He was earnestly entreated and advised since we Created him King for he was made so out of nothing to decline his precipitate intention of attacking the Enemy because in all probability he would loose 10000 Men before his Army could have equal fighting they being so advantageously Posted What then replyed he so we gain our Point For if we are predestinated to conquer we shall overcome if not we must be beaten O pius Pater Patriae who values not his Subjects Lives and Treasure so he climbs to the top of the Pinacle And to strengthen this Assersion What Popular Acts hath he pass'd since we dub'd him King to recompence all our Bloud and Treasure King James had other Bowels For when his Subjects those whom he had most endear'd had deserted him O English Ingratitude to their Kings he would not venture the remaining Loyalists because they were but an handful to a multitude Oh! call not his Piety cowardise I beseech you Friends and Fellow Subjects 't was true Religion he was truly Religious in his way and only design'd that the Roman Catholicks might have a limited Liberty for their Religion of which His Majesty is a member to be adjusted by Act of Parliament as likewise our Grievances Certainly it had been our Interest to have kept our Old Religion and our Lawful King in his time our Coffers were full and ran over but now they must squeeze to get any thing out of them Will. Odsooks and squeeze very hard let me tell you that they Poll and Poll and Poll every quarter so that I cannot pay my Rent I 'm sure Jam. We are well enough serv'd we brought it on our selves by Abdicating our good Old King and caressing a Petty Prince for whom and our deprav'd fansie we paid the first penny a-lumping-all-to-make-a-penny-worth the sum of 600000 l. Sterling Item In Taxes most part of which is carryed out of the Land never to return again except some Half Crowns which are so Clip'd they hardly weigh 22 d. and yet they do it in Holland openly in their Shops a Crime with all Capital but there a Trade the Taxes are computed at about 20000000 l. Sterling but I do not pretend to be exact because a true account thereof will be published by way of Debtor and Creditor to present to the Houses of Commons next Sessions I shall only advise my Country men to consider that when the Bloud ceases to circulate the Body cannot live Money is the Bloud of the Body-politick that being exhausted no Gold or Silver Mines are in England to repair or replenish it and our Trade is so much impaired that but little Bullion is imported to answer he vast exportation of our Coin 3. When Ships arrive richly laden which is but seldom we have not Money to buy those Commodities if we can cover our Nakedness decently and cheap and put food into our Bellies to sustain nature it is all we can reach to now And when our Merchants have cast up their Accounts of double or treble wages to the Seamen double time in waiting for Convoys c. Treble Insurance Money c. and their Goods laying dead upon their hands with the mighty Losses they have sustained at Sea I hope at last they will be of my opinion that Honesty is the best Policy and Godliness the truest gain and â—hew it too by petitioning the Council now and the Parliament the next Session to bring home our Lawful King 4. The number of Ships taken and lost is computed at 2500 Sail the value of which at 500 l. each Ship a modest computation the cargo included amounts to 4000000 l. not reckoning the Men of War lost Lastly The number of brave Men killed by this dismal change is not easily computed 't is guessed at 100000 but if they could be exactly numbred 't is impossible they should be valued especially their precious Souls Will. Well in the main I am of your mind that we have done a hair-brain-hasty-unadvised-action But now we are in we are obliged to go through for if K. James returns by the Force of France then we shall inevitably be overwhelmed with French-Arbitrary-Power and Slavery be servile to Strangers and Dragoon'd into Popery and we were better continue as we are then we part with a great deal of our Riches then totally to loose our Religion which is dearer to us than our Lives Jam. The ills which I have done cannot be safe but by committing greater said wicked Cataline but Christians have another method Repentance turn ye turn ye from your wicked ways for why will ye dye O house of Israel saith the Lord You say we have done a hair-brain-hasty-action but you mince the matter for we have perpetrated a very wicked and sinful deed Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft saith God 2. You say we must go through c. as above To which I answer King James cannot in prudence endeavour to be re-established in his Kingdoms by a Foreign Force unless we compell him for that way his People would be destroyed his Country laid waste and his Subjects beggar'd and 't is next to a King of Clouts to be King of a debilitated and ruined Nation at the best he could expect to be but a Vice-Roy during pleasure by your bugbear
supposition No King James says otherwise in his Declaration The Most Christian King hath according to our desire declined to send over Troops so numerous as may raise jealousies in the minds of our good Subjects See K. James's Declaration of his intending to take the Work wholly out of their hands or depriving any true â—nglishman of the part he may hope to have in so Glorious an Action as is that of restoring his Lawful King that but so many Troops should come as are sufficient to untye the hands of our Subjects and make it safe for them to repair to Our Standard which Troops shall be sent back as soon as we shall be fully settled in Possession of our Kingdoms without the least injury to the Persons or Possessions of Our Subjects c. But we may prevent these surmises and fears by addressing to the Parliament to recall Him that His Restoration may be as Glorious as his Royal Brothers Let all unbyassed Englishmen revolve how flourishingly we enjoyed our Religion Laws Property and Trade after that miraculous Restoration and God would restore the same Blessings had we the same repenting Hearts 3. As to our Servility to Strangers c. Your K. W. hath forty Papists in this Army to one that K. James had in his and a much greater number of Strangers than our lawful King design'd to bring with him for his and our necessary Assistance Remember the Danes in the days of yore now they Lorded it over us and were from thence called Lordanes and if we go on or go through as you call it to have our best Men killed in the Dutch Quarrel and to support the Ambition of K. William we shall be so weakned that Dutch Strangers will be our Masters and English Freeholders their Slaves I beg religiously that all Free-born English-men would weigh this point truly like brave old English-men 4. Our Religion will be guarded by Acts of Parliament as I told you I heard our gracious K. James promise and you have seen in his Declaration which he will keep inviolably tho the P. of Orange broke his in every Particular Will. If this be true as I know a great part of it is sure we are not wise to be thus led by the nose I have read in a Book intituled A Discourse written by Sir George Downing the King of Great Britain 's Envoy Extraordinary to the States of the United Provinces shewing how cruelly barbarously and inhumanely the Dutch treated us at Amboyna Jam. Ay and when 't is in their power they will use Us just so in England The Lord open our eyes that we may foresee and prevent our ruine for we are on the brinck of a Precipice Yet notwithstanding our loss the other day about 14000 by Namur we have sent more Recruits 12000 Men the Soldiers who were to form a Descent into France this Summer to Crown K. William there as the Prophecy tells you the Son of Man meaning Him must be this notable fourth Year of his Reign O infatuated English-men to believe such Stuff Yet as the Doctrine now in vogue speaks If the P. of Orange is predestinated to be King of France it must be so and if the People of England are predestinated to Rebell and continue in it they must do so and be damn'd So that by this Dutch Doctrine we make God the Author of all our Villanies O horrible Blasphemy Will. Pray what may that pretended Descent cost the Nation Jam. About 3 or 400000 l. A Trisle Will. Trifle me no Trifles I see we must be undone at this rate Jam. If we do not repent it is very visible we shall perish And truly I see but little hopes of true Repentance and thorow Reformation for about three Weeks since I discours'd with one who is a zealous Williamite concerning the Premises hoping to convince him as God be thanked thou art but his Heart was unmalleable His chief Argument for their being in the right was Success He began with the Prince of Orange's Arrival in the Winter how the Winds and Seas favoured him how he missed our Fleet how the Hearts of the People were open to receive him his Conquest in Ireland the beating the French Fleet c. I urged David's Complaint how the Wicked flourished in his time Then said he I have cleansed my self in vain and washed my hands in innocency The Success of the Wicked amused holy David it was too hard for him to understand until he went into the House of the Lord then he knew the end of these Men namely That they stand in slippery places and shall be cast down and come to a fearful end That Success is not the Christian's Rule the Word of God the Scriptures are our guide If an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Doctrine to you than what you have received from us let him be anathema saith the Apostle Now the Scriptures say Honour thy Father and Mother Thou shalt not Steal Thou shalt not Covet Fear God and honour the King Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm Mine Anointed not the Peoples and much more Then to weaken his Argument founded on Success and Prosperity I conjur'd him to confider religiously the terrible Earthquake at Jamaica in July last in which so many Thousands were swallowed quick they went down into the Pit not having time to say Lord be merciful to us Sinners about four Milliâ—â—s of Trcasure was buried and destroyed And this Island is the best Plantation the English have in the West-Iudies and is now as much subject to K. William as his other Dominions Surely then this Earthquake must be esteem'd a great Judgment and must put a Remora to the celebrated Success and Prosperity so much boasted of c. He returned That Earthquakes proceed from natural Causes that they were a wicked People Sodom and Gomorrha were not more sinful and their Destruction was but the effects of God's Justice That We in England were true Protestants and lived up to the Religion We profess and therefore he feared no Earthquakes here 't is Terra firma in Old England I told him That God could shake the Foundations of the whole Earth and would his Terra firma if We continued in our Sins That the Pharisee thanked God he was not so wicked as the penitent Publican but that Publican was justified rather than he That our Saviour said they were not greater Sinners on whom the Tower fell than those who escap'd but if they did not repent they should all likewise perish That this Judgment was sent on Them to warn Us That Jamaica could not be guilty of greater Sins than we have perpetrated We did Behead our lawful pious King and do yet continue in a Wicked Rebellion at which Word he pish'd and so we parted O Billy what hope is there of Repentance in them who are so far from owning their Sins that they applaud their own Righteousness and bring God himself to justifie