of the Exploit they rob'd in Red Coats too that they might the better pass for some of his Majesties Guards The Similitude runs upon all Four for it was the very case of our pretended Protestants under colour of hunting for Priests they seized Money and Plate and committed Robberies in the very Livery of the Government This they did in Scotland under the Queen Regent and King James and in England under Queen Elizabeth and twice in Scotland again under the late King and after that in England Two actual Rebellions more in Scotland under this present King and now God bless us from another at home and all this from that sort of people that stil'd themselves Protestants The Principles the Methods and the Pretences the very same from one end to the other The Story of these Phanatical Conspiracies is almost as nauseous as the thing it self is detestable only this last in Scotland methinks seems to crown the Infamy of all the rest For a Party that calls it self Protestant a Party in full Cry upon the scent of Popery a Popish Plot upon Oath too at the same time upon the Life of the King upon our Religion and Government and that Plot at that instant under a strict Examination the same party at the same time also pressing for Justice upon the Conspirators nay and complaining of the remissness of the Prosecution notwithstanding the most exemplary Rigor in the Case that ever was known in this Nation For this Party I say under these circumstances to fly in the face of the Government let the World judge if ever there was a more consemmated piece of Wickedness They raise a Rebellion and make Religion the Ground of it they declare a War against the King and the Church and yet write themselves Loyal Subjects and Protestants They cry out of the Danger of Popery and yet in the same breath draw their Swords upon their Prince in the very attempt of Crushing it and all these Aggravations complicated in one act Is it not high time then after an Imposture that has cost this Nation so dear to learn at last to distinguish betwixt a Religion and a Faction Betwixt what men are and what they call themselves Is a Renegado ever the less a Turk for putting out English Colours Are the Blessed Spirits ever the less pure for the Devils transforming himself into an Angel of Light Is the Kings Broad Seal one jot the less valuable for being counterfeited So neither is our Profession And he that dishonours Religion or invades Authority under the Name of a Protestant is no more to any sober man than a Goth or a Vandal Judas his Betraying of his Master was a most ungrateful and abominable Sin but the doing of it with a Kiss made it by many degrees the more execrable And it was the height of the Prophet Davids Affliction the Circumstance of a Familiar Friend Where 's the harm now of saying Have a care of False Protestants The Author and the Finisher of our Faith is I hope of Authority sufficient to justifie that Caution Does not our Saviour himself tell us that there shall arise False Christs and False Prophets and why not False Protestants And does he not bid us take heed that no man deceive us for many says he shall come in my Name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many Does he not bid us beware of Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing And in his description of the Scribes and Pharisees give us the very Picture of our Impostors We have it upon the Credit of Dr. Tongue and Dr. Oates that the Sedition of 1641. was totally contrived and caryed on by Popish Counsels and that not only the Conventicles in that bloody Revolution but all our Separate Meetings to this day and particularly the Scottish Commotions were and are influenced by Priests and Jesuits under the Masque of Professors of those several Perswasions Have we not reason then to use all possible circumspection that we may not be imposed upon by such as these for Protestants No man has a greater veneration for the memory of those Protestants that suffered Martyrdom for their Faith no man a greater horrour for the Irish the Parisian several other Massacres no man a higher esteem or a more ardent affection for Protestancy it self so far as the Profession of the Church of England is intended by it than I have But for those turbulent Spirits that lay about them as if Heaven were to be taken by actual Violence whose Zeal outstrips Christianity it self imposing upon the world their own corrupt and impetuous passions instead of the healing and pacifique motions of the Holy Ghost These are a dangerous sort of people and their ways are not only a Contradiction to the undeniable Principles of our Institution but to the common Interests of Mankind as well Individuals as Communities for if it be true that Charity is the great Lesson of the Gospel If it be true that Vnity in Faith and Vnanimity in the the things of Civil Government would make up the most perfected Blessing that reasonable Nature is capable of in this Tabernacâ—e of Flesh then must it necessarily follow that the nearer we approach to that Agreement the better Christians we are and the happier Men and the further we depart from it the more wicked the more miserable we are This is either true or false If the former there 's no Treason in 't if the latter we may burn our Bibles Before I wade any further into this Controversie it may do well I think to give some Reason why upon this Subject at this Time that the World may not take that for the Leaven of an unquiet Humour which in great truth is only an act of Conscience in the discharge of a sober and a seasonable duty to my Prince and Country To the undertaking of this Office I have been induced by the audacious Liberties of the Press in the matter of Religion and Government endeavouring to possess the Multitude with false and pernicious Principles and Opinions and by artificial Hints and Scandals to dispose them now toward the meeting of this next Parliament to a partial and a factious Choice So that my Business is only to encounter and lay open the Vanity and Weakness of those Libels and without confining my self to any one in particular to sum up the Malice of them all for so much as concerns our present purpose and to submit my self to the Reader in a fair and short Reply It is a Note worthy of consideration that all the Papers here in question even to a single Sheet are the Work of Men exceedingly by assed against the established Government as Republicans Anabaptists and other sorts of Dissenters from the Church for the Publishers of these Papers are known every one of them and most of the Authors Now what advice toward the Honour and Safety of the Government these people are likely to give who are united in common
Principles of defaming discompâ—sing and even of dissolving it let Heaven and Earth be the Judges And what work such a House of Commons would make as these forward Undertakers would have if they were to direct and influence the Election Now if these be the Counsellours let us see next if the Matter of their Writings be not answerable to the Character of the Men and if it be not most evident that it is their very scope and design so far from endeavouring the Peace and Settlement of the Nation to poison the people with seditious Maxims to create Jelousies betwixt the King and his Subjects and to undermine the very Foundation of the Government They support themselves with the Multitude upon two general and popular pretensions Religion and Liberty What Religion or what Liberty they do not say but only fill the peoples â—eads with a confused Notion of things and wild apprehensions of Popery and Tyranny And â—hen their next work is under colour of dating the Priviledges of King and People to erect â—editious Positions and after all to prescribe Remedies infinitely worse than the Disease We â—hall now make it appear that the Religion they talk of leads to all sorts of Impiety and that â—heir pretended Liberty is the ready way to slavery First of Religion As to what concerns Religion they do all of them sing the same Song in their Queries and â—opesals to the Freeholders and Electors of England and unanimously agree in the same meâ—hod of Advice to the people how they are to govern themselves in their next Choice Their first Caution is To pursue the Discovery and Punishment of the Plot the Trojan Horse â—ith an Army in the Belly of it To secure us from Popery and that no Papist may be allowed to well in the Land Nor any man chosen into the House that shall dare to open his mouth for a Popish â—uccessor And all this attended with a dreadful Enumeration of the Massacres Fires Treaâ—â—s and Devastations that have been wrought by the Popish party To this first Point the Replicant most willingly subscribes so far as stands with Christian â—harity and the Law of the Land But then he cannot forget on the other hand that the â—ounterfeit Protestant Horse of 1641. had an Army in the Belly of him as well as the Trojan and â—e that would be safe must look both ways at once Another Caution is not to choose any man that is Popishly affected as another hath it affected But a third proceeds a little more warily and recommends the chusing only of â—ere Protestants and not disguised Papists who are ready to pull of their Mosque when time serves â—d may be known by their laughing at the Plot disgracing the Evidence admiring the Trayâ—rs Constancy c. This same Popishly and ill affected lies open to several Exceptions for one Man is made â—dge of the Thoughts of another which is only the Prerogative of Almighty God I have â—ard of a man that was indicted for Whistling but never till now of any Man that was incapaâ—ated to serve in the House of Commons for Thinking Beside the unreasonable Latitude â—d the horrible iniquity of the Judgment for if this be admitted no man living can be seâ—â—e It involves the Innocent with the Guilty and puts a man out of all possibility to aâ—â—it himself And them forward It is but turning the Tables and the Blot is hit on the â—â—â—side For why should not I be as well allowed to pronounce another man a disguised Protestant as he to judge me a disguised Papist and the same liberty of marking him too You shall know him by his Shiboleth for the old Covenant sticks in his Teeth still and the whole mystery of his profession is wrapt up in that Oracle of the Priviledges of Parliament the Kings Iust Power and Greatness the Protestant Religion against Popery and Popish Innovations the first point being wholly incomprehensible and the other two like Jugglers Knots fast or loose at pleasure This equal Freedom being granted on all sides takes away all Faith Confidence and Correspondence in humane Society I know no difference in the world betwixt one mans Infallibility and anothers nor any but in Terms betwixt a private mans infallibile Light and the Popes infallible Sentence Nor is there any one Usurpation in Popery that is either grievous to the Conscience or dangerous to the Government but a man may shew very near an equivalent of it in Schism As to the Marks of distinction betwixt a sincere Protestant and a disguised Papist the Immorality of Laughing at the Plot favours more in my opinion of an unmannerly Fool than of a disguised Papist though for my own part I am so far from Laughing at it that it wounds my soul the very thought on 't Disgracing of the Evidence were something indeed but to â—ake a man a Papist foâ— admiring the Traytors Constancy that methinks is very hard and not answerable to what one would expect from an Advocate for Liberty of Conscience It is much easier to relinquish an Opinion thaâ— for a man to devest himself of natural Affection and more unreasonable to claim a freedom in thâ— one than to refuse it in the other I must confess I do admire that Constancy and if I were to dye foâ— so doing I could not but admire it still And these Impressions are humane and not to be resisted We fall now into the old Track of the whole party They call for Toleration complain oâ— persecution cast all their Sufferings upon their worshipping according to their Consciences and theâ— this lamentable condition of theirs must be remonstrated to the whole Nation Of these four pointâ— in order In the handling of their plea for Protestant Dissenters there are many things to be taken into coâ—sideration First Is it in matters of conscience or only of phansie wherein they desire to be iâ—dulg'd If the latter the upholding of a Law is certainly of much greater concern than the graâ—fying of a Caprice Now on the other side if they demand it upon an exigenâ— of Conscience Firâ— why plurally for Dissenters When one man cannot honestly undertake for another mans Consciencâ— Besides that Secondly they aâ—k an Indulgence for several parties of divided Consciences and Opinion And in short they would have the Magistrate favour all the Consciences that will not endure â—â— anothers Again They should do well to explain what they mean by Protestant Dissenters upâ—â— points of Conscience whether all in general or only such and such parties If all in general Heatheâ— must be tolerated as well as Christians for they have Consciences as well as we Or if it be restraiâ—â— to Christianity it opens a door to Heresies more detestable then Paganism it self So that an Vnivâ— sal Toleration is utterly unlawful a partial Toleration on the other hand is as ineffectual for upâ—â— a plea of Conscince they may all claim alike So that it is an Act of Vniformity
at the same lock again But what are these people for the love of God that are thus miserably us'd all this while Why truly if we may take their own words for 't under Q. Elizabeth they were Loyal Subjects and Gods faithful servants most worthy faithful and painful Ministers learned and godly unreproveable before all men the Strength of the Land and the Sinew of her Majesties Government Under K. James they were men of Conscience preservers of the Churches Right and asserters of the Holy Discipline Under the late King they took up the Titles of men of tender Consciences well-affected men that had the power of Godliness painful laborious preachers of the Word faithful in their Generation and men zealous in the defence of the Protestant Religion the Priviledges of Parliament and of his Majesty in his Iust Rights And in our days they call themselves Lovers of God Ordinances and enemies of all humane Inventions a people zealous of Religion sound in the Faith intelligent sober numerous peaceable orthodox The Ceremonies they look upon as an Excess they dissent from the outward Order of Worship for the Conscience will interpose in the Dictates and Injunctions of men in Divine Worship all these people agreeing in this common Complaint that they are persecuted for worshipping according to Coâ—science Whether they do well or ill whether they speak true or false whether they have Reason on their side or not in these Remonstrances let the Reader judge Let it be first observ'd that the Author dates this persecution from his Majesties Return near these 20 years he sayâ— â—s if there had never been any such thing before whereas from the time of Q. Elizabeths Act above-mentioned to the very Act of Vniformity the late times excepted â—he Church was never without a legal provision for the preventing suppressing of Conventicles and the much Law more rigorously put in execution Beside that as they were more or less indulged the Nâ—tion was still more or less at quiet Observe again that there 's no notice taken of the Liberty of the late times or the deplorable Effects of that Licence though the Presbyterians little Fâ—nger was heavier then the Loyns of the Bishops in the point of Restraint as we have shew'd already from the mouths of the other Sectaries But they are too prudent to fall foul one upon another when their business is to joyn in a Consederate party against the Government so that they are now One and All and every separate Opinion sticles for all the rest And then comes on the Cry of the Oâ—phans and Widdows against the cruelty of the Oppressor Sixty pouunds distrain'd for twelve Two hundred for Sixty c. Methinks the Plaintiff should have been so ingenuous as to have reflected upon the persecuâ—ions that other men suffered even from these people that now complain of a persecution that they suffâ—red for worshipping according to their Consciences too and they had not only Religion on their side but Law also whereas the other founded a Rebellion upon a pretended scruple of Religion and opposed the Rules of Christianity and Civil Authority both in one But it is a persecution to them to be kept from persecuting Neither does this Clamour keep it self within the bounds of spiritual matters but breaks in upon the Civil Administration and alarms the multitude with the terrible apprehensions likewise of Tyranny Slavery Wherefore we are enforced to oppose the sensible Experiment of an actual Tyranny and slavery to the artificial and imaginary fears of it to leave all mortals without excuse that shall read these plain and well-meaning Papers if ever they should fall into the same mistakes again The taking away of mens Goods and Liberties the forcing of their Consciences and tying them up to an implicit Obedience to the Decrees of Government are terrbile things I must confess But yet much worse sure where they run directly against the Stream of a receiv'd Authority and Vsage then where the so doing is warranted by known Laws and uninterrupted Practice There are several sorts of persecution A persecution in matter of Conscience Good Name Propriety of Goods and Estate freedom of person and that is the most odious aggravation of persecution when it is set up in defiance of a publick Law and introduced under a colour of kindness to all these Interests We will be as short in these particulars as we can and leave the Reader to say where the Odium of the Persecution lies First to the point of Conscience It was the judgment of the late Royalists that they were obliged in conscience and duty to pay Obedience to the Laws both civil and ecclesiastical and with the hazard of their Lives and Fortunes to endeavour the preservation both of the Church and State The Protestant Dissenters pretended the same respect for the King and Church with the Royal party And when by popular pretexts they had ingraâ—iated themselves with the multitude they plaid their Game the contrary way and took up Arms against the Government which they swore to defend Now see at what a rate they treated not only the Friends of the Government but the Government it self There were a hundred and fifteen Ministers ejected within the Bills of Mortality beside Pauls and Westminster and in proportion all the Nation over for refusing to comply with the Schism and they were not so much as suffer'd to take the Employment of either a School-master or a Chaplain but under heavy penaltie Several of our Divines were choak'd up and poison'd in Peter-House and other Goals either for worshipping according to their Consciences or refusing to act against them No man admitted to compound or so much as live in the Parliaments Quarters without swearing Men were sequester'd for not joyning in the Rebellion for assisting the King according to the Law and for not Covenanting though in express Contradiction to the Oath of Allegiance Upon the Abolition of the Common Prayer severe penalties impos'd upon any man that should use it and their own Directory impos'd upon a Forfeiture too nay they would not allow the King himself in his Distresses the Comfort of any of his own Chaplains nor so much as the benefit of a Common-Prayer Book And at Fife in Scotland there was an Oath given at the Communion not to taâ—e the Kings Oath nor any other then their own Was all this an Invasion of the Liberty of Conscience or not Touching a persecution now upon the point of Good name Though the whole course of the History is full of virulent and unchristian Reflections I will only refer my self to that Diabolical Libel of Whites Centuries of scandalous Ministers wherein without any regard to truth or modesty they have expos'd so many reverend Names to Infamy and Dishonour In one word After they had represented the King himself for a Tyrant and an Idolater it was but Consonant that they should cast Reproaches upon his Party Touching the Freedom of our