the Test of Scotland when he represented his Brother there and lastly from the severe prosecution of the Dissenters in the beginning of his own Reign in all his Kingdoms and as to Scotland the 8th of May 85. he passed an Act of Parliament there making it Death to preach or be present at an House or Field-Conventicle which severity would certainly have lasted to the end could he have brought the Church of England to have complied with his unreasonable Desires in relation to the Test And if we look into his Letter which carried the first Indulgence to Scotland and into the Proclamation itself we shall find several Restrictions that do not seem to flow from that principle He thereby recommends the rooting out of the Field-Conventiclers with all the Severities of the Law and the most vigorous prosecution of his Forces And then except the Papist only the Quakers and the moderate Presbyterians were tolerated which either were so few or by a Court-interpretation might have been declared so that had the matter gone smoothly with the Papists it might easily have been rendred useless to all but themselves and surely no other Reason could be given for restraining them from using their Barns or Out-Houses or building Meeting-Houses a Quaker's Conscience knew no difference between a Barn Church or Meeting-House where-ever the Spirit moved he must hold forth notwithstanding the Restrictions of the Proclamation Thirdly If the easing scrupulous Consciences had been the late King 's only Aim he would have been contented with the Repeal of the Penal Laws and not have insisted so stifly for the Repeal of the Test-Acts also nothing therein being any restraint on any Dissenter's worship unless they believed God would not hear their Prayers unless they were in Scarlet or in an Alderman's Gown And he was so fond of his Design of Repealing the Test-Acts that thô he found how averse the generality of the Nation were thereunto thô he found by Pensionary Fagel's Letter what was the Prince and Princess of Orange's Opinions in the matter how they did concur with him in the Repeal of the Penal Laws but not of the Test-Acts because those Acts had no other tendency but the Security of the Established Religion and keeping the Papists from the means of oveâ—turning it with other plain and solid Reasons yet he still persisted in his Design and was no ways satisfied with the Distinction made of the Test from the Penal Laws as appears by Mr. Stewart's Letter of October the Nineteenth 1687. From hence I think it appears more clearly than from the mouth of many Witnesses that the late King 's main Design was to get the Papists into Both Houses of Parliament where new Creations could have made a majority in the House of Peers and a House of Commons might as easily have been made Popish by force or fraud in the Elections or Returns to facilitate which we wanted neither Sheriffs nor Regulators and then how easie had it been for them to enact Laws to destroy our Religion we having before-hand Repealed all those made for its preservation And to those that require a Witness we have Coleman telling us That a general Liberty of Conscience is the best way to introduce Popery and the greatest blow to the Protestant Religion here that ever it received since its birth that King Charles's Renuntiation of his Declaration for Liberty of Conscience was an injury to the Papists and their Designs And why should we not rather believe him than the Author especially since we know that it is an old Maxime of the Society And further it is not to be imagined that Coleman and his Confederates would have been so zealous in their time in promoting Liberty of Conscience and with the assistance of France barely for the Ease of the Nation The whole Kingdom was lately so sensible of this and so plainly saw whether this Project tended that the Dissenters thô they had not forgotten the smart of the Penal Laws at least the Men of Reason amongst them desired their continuance rather than by Repealing them as demanded to run the hazard of loosing the Protestant Religion after which surely we need produce no further proof to this point Our Author next tells us how much the late King hated Hypocrisie and that he looked upon it as the most detestable Vice In answer to which I shall only say that if he was a Papist so early as most people believe he dissembled many Years with God and Man if attending at the Prayers of our Church and receiving the Sacrament there be so in a Papist I know not how to evade this but by saying he abstained from both as soon as he was a Papist But if this take off one Objection it lays him open to another as ill viz. In so silently parting with his Religion as not to call to one of our many Clergy-men that were at hand for help This shews he had but little value for the Old and if so I should suspect he had not all the Zeal for the New that he pretended but this as it is in the dark so there let it remain until the Secrets of all Hearts are opened But there is another thing looks very like Hypocrisie and a dissembling his Religion when the whole Nation seemed satisfied what it was and that is prosecuting people by Actions of Scandalum Magnatum and Indictments for calling him a Papist many Instances whereof might be given in both Kingdoms this was certainly as much below the Honour of a Gentleman as the Sincerity of a Christian But not to enlarge hereon our Author in pag. 4 tells us That the late King chose the easiest Methods and used all the caution and moderation imaginable to effect his Design which he calls only The making of all Parties live easie under his Government And tells us the Opinion of some Lawyers and the Judgment he had to support his Dispensing Power opened the Door for the admission of both kind of Dissenters to Places of Trust Military and Civil but that he made but little use of it till necessity compelled him to it In answer to which I must say That the Methods the late King took to procure the Repeal of the Penal Laws and Test were not only mean if going round a great part of the Nation to sollicite Votes or closseting to that end were so but also violent if displacing all Men from their Offices and Imployments that would not promise to consent to the Repeal nay they must go further to secure their Places and promise to be aiding and assisting thereunto were not the changes of Corporations as violent as scandalous Lastly The universal inquiry how Men designed to Vote if Elected Parliament-men and what sort of Members they designed to chuse was not only unusual and without precedent but took away and destroyed the very Essence of an English Parliament freedom both of Choice and Debate But now as to the instance by which our Author proves
struggle for Mastery occasioned what was so done It were but a small improvement of this Observation to shew that our Author broaches this Doctrine with the same design now when prudent and pious Endeavours are using to remove all stumbling-blocks out of the Dissenter's way in coming to our Churches which I hope will meet with the wished-for success notwithstanding all the endeavours of Rome and Hell to the contrary Next our Author goes to demonstrate That the overthrow of the Church of England or especially of Protestanism was never designed and this he thinks he does by the King 's so often declaring the contrary and by the sence he and his Juncto had that their Converts were but few and by the late King 's granting a safe retreat and liberal contribution to the French Protestants and by the paucity of the Papists in his Army To which I say that from all these it does not follow that the destruction of the Church was not designed for unless the King's Word were like the Laws of the Medes and Persians unalterable it will be but a loose Consequence the King promised not to do it therefore he will not it conculdes much stronger the Principles of his Religion obliege him to it therefore he will endeavour it When this Argument was used soon after the Gracious assurance given us at the first Council or first Session of Parliament where the same was again repeated it had so much colour of an Argument that it deceived many especially when there was subjoyned to it That these promises and assurances came from a Prince that valued his word so much as never to have broken it Buâ— now that we have seen him break through Laws that he had sworn as well as promised to maintain the very pretence to an Argument is vanished for as there is more Injustice so there is more of Dishonour in the one than the other When we examine his other instances they will prove as inconclusive for he could not deny a retreat to the fugitive Hugonots without allaruming his own Subjects and discovering his Designs too plainly to the most short-sighted and they were not then ripe for such a discovery After such an action who would have believed him that it was his Opinion That Conscience ought not to be forced If he had endeavoured either by fair or foul means to have preserved the Edict of Nantes to have supported that most distressed part of Mankind from their King's Barbarities as Queen Elizabeth did and his Father attempted it would have been a better proof of his love for Liberty of Conscience than either his Declarations or a small Charity afforded to a few fugitives which I must call but small when I consider what the Elector of Brandenburgh did for those poor people that great Man not only offorded them a safe retreat when they came into his Dominions but by a solemn Declaration invited them to take shelter there and to assist them in their Journey appointed his several Agents in Holland Hamburgh Francfort and Cologne to furnish all such of them as should desire it with what Vessels and Provisions they should stand in need of for the Transportation of themselves their Goods and Families to whatsoever Town in his Dominions they should pitch upon for the place of their abode But his kindness did not rest here for he provided Houses and Lands for them and their Heirs and where it was necessary he provided them all Materials for Repairs and Building where Houses were built on new Foundations they had Ten years Exemption from all Taxes and Duties and Six years where they were only repaired And for a further encouragement he made them Free of all his Towns and Corporations without paying any thing for the same and lest they might be oppressed he set over them a Jurisdiction composed of persons chosen by themselves and if any difference happened between them and a German this person was to joyn with the Magistrate in deciding the same and maintained one of their own Ministers for them in every Town with several other great favours If King James had taken this course our Author might have insisted on it at least as an heroick Act but since he did not set out a Fleet or so much as one single Ship to assist those poor people in their flight and when with difficulty they had gotten here he left them to their shifts and the charity of the Nation I do not see what he could have done less especially if we consider one discouragement that went along with it It is true he suffered them to breathe of his Air but would not suffer them to sigh or complain of the usage they had met with in France but at the instance of the French Ambassador ordered the Account they had written thereof to be Burnt by the hand of the Hangman which was accordingly done the fifth of May 86 and the Royal Exchange was made the place of Execution that the account thereof might fly the easier over France by our Merchant's Letters to their Correspondents there which as it proved a discouragement to those in France not to take sanctuary here so it so much frightned those that were then here that many of them thereupon removed to the West-Indies and other places where the French King's Ministers had not so much power being justly jealous that that power might soon be improved to a forcing them back But since our Author lays so much stress on this Act if ye examine the matter a little further we shall find these poor people owe the compleating of their misery to the late King For though the Tyrant began to oppress his Protestant Subjects some years ago which from time to time encreased as his Interest did at our Court yet he never ventured on the total suppression of the Reformed Religion nor revoked the Edict of Nantes until October 85. that the late King was on the Throne for as much his friend as King Charles was yet he did not know how far a Parliament might have influenced him to resent that matter therefore he forbore it until all was sure on this side the Water Next as to the Number of Papists in the Army they will appear very many if we consider two things First that there were fewer of them to be had in England than of other Men fit to be Souldiers and yet their proportion was greater with respect to the Army than to the Kingdom otherwise there had not been above two or three in a Regiment all that exceeded that number seems to be the effect of industry and pains rather than chance Next we must remember the little time the late King had for this mighty business he had little more than three years for the Raising his Army which at first to avoid offence was to be Protestant but a few Officers whose Loyalty he had experienced and having had the benefit of their Services in the late time of need and
thought them too many and endeavoured to make them sewer both by tearing so great a Limb as Magdalen from the University and shutting Twenty-seven of them out of the Church by the cruel Decree of the 18th of October 87. And how little he regarded those good Men that helped our Church to flourish may be seen by the Worthies he preferred to the Sees of Oxford and Chester and his preferring Farmer to Dr. Hough that he did this out of kindness to the Church our Author dare not say but he may tell me and that truly that in the See of Bristol it was otherwise and that therefore the King did not always design a scandal or injury to the Church by those he preferred in it I have too great a veneration for the Christian Courage and Sufferings of that Bishop not to make him an Exception out of that Rule But then we must remember he was preferred before his Fears of opposition from the Nation were quit off him and if we consider how many of the Lay-Protestants preferred by him in the beginning of his Reign were afterwards displaced and his after-carriage to that Bishop we may conclude that his High Commission would soon have rectified that mistake by a Deprivation if his fault was any thing greater than not Suspending Dr. Sharp or as great as the Bishop of Dunkell's giving his Vote in Parliament against the Repeal of the Test had it not received an unexpected dissolution But notwithstanding all his Suspensions Deprivations Imprisonments and other favours to our Clergy our Author tells us that many of the Dissenters were brought into the Communion of the Church by the unanswerable Writings of that time against Popery that these should influence them more than those learned ones set out a little before for their Conviction shews that the terrour of Popery wanted not its force in perswading them to that prudent Conduct But how to draw an Argument from hence in praise of the late King or his Times I see not unless those straying Sheep were brought back to the Fold by the diligence of his Shepherds Was any of those Pieces written by Sa. Oxon or did the famous Rippon's Sermon contribute thereunto Not so much I dare say as it did to the Preacher's Bishoprick I must confess the Reasons for Abrogating the Test Mr. Sclater's and Obediah's Pieces contributed thereunto but it was by setting ingenious Men to write Answers to them Before I close this Section I must again put you in mind of what I sormerly hinted to you That the Indulgence coming at the nick of time when things were healing very fast and when the great Scare-crow the approaches of our Church to Popery was experimentally confuted it looks as if some-body designed to widen our Breaches and to disappoint the Church of that satisfaction which was not more earnestly desired by us than dreaded by them As to the fifth in which our Author tells us That the Church of England is in danger and pretends to prove it by the late Act of Toleration I say first that the late King 's being larger must have endangered it more if the Act let in Turcism as our Author falsly suggests it keeps out Idolatry and at once frees us from God's Judgments due to that crying Sin and in a great measure from Popish Contrivances for now the Jesuits must work in the dark as they did formerly which as it much retards their designs so it occasions many mistakes to the frequent frustrating thereof the Act requires the professing of Faith in Father Son and Holy Ghost and thereby excludes Mahometism which the Proclamation does not Next I say it is pretty strange to find one that has said so much for Liberty of Conscience and a Proclamation granting it making the Act for Toleration dangerous Is it not lawful for their present Majesties to Signalize their Reign on the same Principle our Author pretends King James designed Or is the present Liberty the worse or more dangerous to Church or State becausâ— it comes as it ought to do in a regular and legal way from the Legislative Power Is it the worse because it does not alter the Constitution of our Government Had it been the less hurtful if like the late King 's it had placed the Royal Will and Pleasure above our Laws Does the King in the present Toleration claim an Absolute Power which we are bound to obey without reserve And does he thereby impose an Oath on us not only to submit to that Power but to assist and defend him in the Exercise thereof Since in these several particulars it has the advantage of the late King 's I doubt not but it will be more satisfactory to all people and that the Church will receive Ease as well as Enlargement by it 6. But Episcopacy is Abolished in Scotland and from thence sprung the Covenant that destroyed it here formerly our Author might as well have told us it was so at Geneva What has the Declaration of their Estates to do with the Government of our Church they do not so much as pretend to it only declaring it a Grievance to that Kingdom If the Author had but known how unlike the Scotch Bishops were to ours how unable they were of late to do any thing but mischief how little difference there is between no Episcopacy and Bishops during pleasure he would the less lament the loss but in truth the Abuses might have been redressed by other and easier methods good Laws might have restored Episcopacy to its antient Purity for otherwise and by that Argument we ought to Abolish Judges here because they have abused their Power being like the Scotch Bishops by their tenure Slaves to the Court though this is unreasonable and better methods have been taken but if we had chosen the other course certainly the loss would never have been less lamented than now when we are bleeding of the Wounds they have given us The Scotch I think should have remembred that the Protomartyr of the last Reign was one of those Tenants at Will and that Dr. Bruce was thrust out of the Bishoprick of Dunkell for opposing the Repeal of the Test These Nations ought to remember that it was he set us the glorious Example of despising the Honours and Profits of this World when they came in competition with the Preservation of the Protestant Religion But it is not fitting to be too positive in this matter relating to the Church of Scotland since it is uncertain what expedients his Majesty's Wisdom may find out for the satisfaction of that divided Nation But he tells us there is a Party in our Parliament endeavouring the same thing but who told him so he does not say if we judge of them by their Actions neither the Coronation-Oath nor the Address of the 16th of April last shews any thing of this and in the King's Answer thereunto and in the Speech that occasioned that Address we have his Majesty 's repeated Assurances
of his kindness and care of the Church though those were cheap in the last Reign let us not suspect this only for that reason but rest satisfied until at least one promise to us be broken In the seventh our Author tells us That though our Religion be safer now than it was lately yet we have lost the Doctrine of our Church-Loyalty and Non-resistance and for proof of it gives us his Word so that a bare denial were a sufficient answer But to set the matter in a better light I must desire you to consider that there is a great difference between Aiding our Prince to destroy or enslave his People and the Doctrine of Non-resistance though I should yield that it was not lawful in lawful in October last forceably to resist the late King yet certainly it was both lawful and prudent not to assist him this is sufficiently justified by the practise of the Primitive Christians who did nothing in defence of their persecuting Emperors whilst living nor in revenge of their injuries after their death and does sufficiently excuse the Church in their late Conduct without the Shipwrack of any of its Doctrines Which being so full an Answer to our Author's Objection and seeing they were but few that took up Arms against the late King in respect to the Nation I will not at present insist on the Defence they make for themselves in acting only for their Laws Rights and Religion to which either they had no Right but if they had they had a Right to preserve them especially against him that had not only destroyed them but his own Right also if the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom create them as plainly they do But of this more anon In the last division of this Paragraph our Author objects the total Abolition of our Laws because we have changed our Hereditary Monarchy into an Elective As if the People of England had no Laws worth regarding but those that limit the Succession of the Crown if we have made some changes in that to secure the rest surely it is no ill bargain and is no more than the Wisdom of the Nation aimed at formerly more than once If this had been the first time a change had been made in the Succession I should not wonder that some turbulent Men should make a noise at it for want of a better pretence but since Alterations in the Succession have been frequent in this Kingdom why should people be more concerned at it now than formerly I need not mention the many Breaches of the Royal Line in the Saxon Times or in the time of our first Norman Kings but certainly the Intails of the Crown made in Henry the Eighth 's time and the Statutes authorizing them made a greater Alteration in the Succession than is made at present yet no body dream't that thereby our Monarchy was become Elective Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth successively enjoyed this Crown but what sort of Hereditary Right it was that could serve them both I do not see and after both their Reigns our Monarchy continued as Hereditary as it was before though there was a late Statute of Queen Elizabeth declaring it in the Power of the Parliament to alter it and making it Penal to deny it The interruption that is now given to the Lineal Succession is so remote a possibility that the persons most immediately concerned readily consented to it The Matrimonial Crown such as King Philip had in Queen Mary's time is due to the King on his Wifes ascending the Throne so that unless he out-live the Queen who is about twelve Years younger this terrible Alteration of the Succession ends in nothing unless it be the Exclusion of the pretended Prince of Wales which dissatisfies so few people that his pretence is scarce worth the expoting and were there no Objection against his being Born of the Queen but barely this That she did not during the nine Months time she should have been with Child satisfie the scruples and jealousies of all the Women ever came about her it leaves the reality of his Birth so doubtful that the known and received Heirs ought not to be set aside for him the Queen and her Counsel were not ignorant what opinion the Nation had of her big Belly neither were they so impolitick as not to know of what concern it would be to that Issue to be of an unquestioned Birth and we cannot suppose the Queen so much wanting in her Maternal duty and affection though nothing had been due to her own Honour as not to take some pains for the clearing of both therefore we must conclude since she did not give the World that satisfaction which any Woman with Child might easily have dâ—ne that she was not really so But to return to our Author I say it looks a little suspiciously to find him so much more fond of one part of the Constitution than of the rest whilst he is excusing so many Violations of the Law why should he be severe against what he calls but one when we find him justifying the late Dispensing Power and yet complain of altering our Constitution We must conclude that he either did not understand or not value it and that his concern is for something else than what he pretends which will be very plain if we take but a short view of the English Constitution And this will also be of further use in deciding the Controversie between us The first Fundamental part of our Constitution that I shall mention is That the Government be administred according to Law this is a Trust inseperably annexed to the Royalty of which the Coronation-Oath is a sufficient proof It is another Fundamental part of our Constitution That those Laws by which we are to be governed be made by the King Lords and Commons the Clause of the Coronation-Oath Quas vulgus elegerit proves this taken in either of the Tenses of have or shall chuse besides a practise Time out of mind which is the best proof of the Original contract The last part thereof that I shall mention is That the Representatives of the Commons be legally and freely chosen otherwise they are not the Kingdom 's choice nor do they represent their Electors nor carry their Assent with them to what shall be enacted Now if we take as short a view of the State that these essential parts of our Constitution were in during the late Reign we shall find them all in such disorder that it cannot be said that we then had any more than the shadow of our old Constitution and since the King 's Right to the Regal Estate is solely founded on these Constitutions if he do subvert them he thereby determines and destroys his own Right which is founded on them and does more effectually dethrone himself than the Declaration of the 13th of February did Now that the late King did over-throw the whole Constitution will appear if we examine his Behaviour to the several
parts thereof And as to the first we will find That he was so far from Governing according to Law that so soon as he thought himself out of the danger of the Monmouth Rebellion by his Victory over him in the West and Triumph on Tower-hill and that his severe Prosecution of the remainder of that Party had secured him against all other opposition his whole Government was a perfect opposition to the Law after that most of the great Employments of the Nation were disposed of by him to persons by Law uncapable of them At Court we had a Secretary and Privy-Seal Lords of the Treasury and Privy-Counsellors with their President of that sort in the Administration of Justice we had Judges Sheriffs Justices of the Peace with a long c. of unqualified persons in the Cities our Mayors and other Magistrates were so the Army which was wholly against Law was made more illegal by its unqualified Officers and the other persons whereof it consisted the Tower in ill hands and the very Church not free of such Vermin the chief Government of Ireland given to one that designed to dismember it from this Crown Were not our Persons imprisoned against Law witness the Seven Bishops Were we not disseised of our Estates against Law and without Tryal witness Dr. Hough Were not Taxes levied on us without and against Law witness the Custom-house Books Were not some of us Hanged up as Criminals without any colour of Law at least less than was for the Dispensing Power or Ecclesiastical Commission so little as could not satisfie him that was well satisfied in both the other These are Instances of the breach of the Law in the case of our Liberties Lives and Properties and that our Souls might be endangered were not Schools and Churches opened to the Romish Clergy Had any of their Converts the reward due to them by Law and to keep us under these Oppressions without redress Were not our Parliaments put off and Prorogued from time to time and not suffered to sit at the end of three years as the Law requires This was the condition of the Executive Power And as for the Legislative it was far worse and wholly over-thrown by the claim of an Absolute power to which we were to submit without reserve the Dispensing with the Ecclesiastical Laws implied a Power of Dispensing with all the rest and the Dispensing with any one was an Usurpation on the Legislative For to what end should the Parliament make Laws if they were to be of force only during the King's pleasure If that were so all their costs and pains could not ensure them one Law for so long time as would be requisite for their Journey home and as the Suspension of one Law is certainly the making of another As for instance the Law imposes Twelve-pence for not coming to Church on Sunday the Proclamation suspending that Act enacts that I may stay at home or go to a worse place without paying any thing so it seems to me that the last is the higher Power for to controle an Act requires more Authority than contributed to the first making of it as the daily experience of our Courts shews us the King's-Bench controles the rest but no inferiour Court puts any check to the proceedings thereof Lastly The Kings of England never claimed nor exercised such a Power before 62 and 72 and then the Endeavours were but faint the Crown wished for such a Power and afterwards on the Remonstrance of the Commons promised it should never be drawn into Consequence or Example The imposing Taxes and Oaths on the Subject was always looked upon as another branch of the Legislative Power but both were exercised by the late King As to the last part mentioned we have seen the late King corrupting the Elections by the meanest Arts a perpetual regulation of the Corporations until they could find a Sett of Men that would engage to chuse such persons as should be recommendeâ— by the Court and daily displacing all persons that would not engage their Votes But this was not all the injury done us in relation to the House of Commons we had Sheriffs and Mayors not qualified for their Offices so not capable of guiding the Elections Formerly under weak Princes and in ill times there has been attempts made against the Constitution of the Kingdom but never so Universal an one or with such success as now neither was it ever attempted before this Reign to pack a whole House of Commons New Creations has done something of that sort on the Peers and there has been Irregularities in particular Elections but it was never attempted before to rob us of the whole House of Commons at present the Crown neither claims nor aims at any of these things now the Law runs in its old channel and that it may still do so the King has given us Judges of the ablest of their profession and the Chancery from a State-Courtâ— is now become a Court of Conscience the Crown pretends to no absolute Authority either in suspending or altering our Laws the King concurs with his People in all Laws they have prâ—pared for his Royal Assent and wishes to be no greater than the Laws of England make him with respect to the House of Commons he has seized on no Charters nor used any Regulations but the present Members of that House are the most unanimously chosen that ever any were And now let the World judge whether our Religion Laws and Liberties are not in a better condition than in the late Reign Our Author tells us that the second Article shews the ways and means King James used to effect what he was charged with in the first which is an assuming and exercising a Power of dispensing with and suspending Laws and the execution of them without Act of Parliament Our Author is so modest as not to deny this or the fatal consequences thereof to the Kingdom but excuses it as done by colour of the Prerogative whereas the Prerogative is nothing but the Law of the Land and a part of it with which the King is intrusted for the good of his People He then tells us That the present Parliament have made some Acts that Abrogate old and others that are new Laws But unless he shews us that the King assumes 〈◊〉 Power to himself the Times are not parallel and that is what he promised to make appear Our Author in this and in other Sections is witty or thinks himself so upon our present Parliament calling them Self-created and that they have assumed God's Prerogative of creating themselves out of nothing as if God had done so For the taking off that Assertion and clearing of that matter I must desire you to remember that the Essential parts of an English Parliament are the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons chosen by the several Shires and Towns of the Nation as their Representatives Now the Convention that met at Westminster the 22d of
Taxes and reckons up some Millions I am not so conversant in the Affairs of the Treasury as to tell whether his Computation be right but be it so we had rather pay that and much more than fall into our former misery it is some satisfaction to our minds that when our Taxes are paid the rest is our own But to set this matter right and to discover the Author's disingenuity we must take notice that the Statute taking away the Hearth-money one of the most grievous burthens this Nation ever groaned under Peter-pence and Danegeld not excepted passed the Royal Assent the 24th of April 89. And that our Author in several places of his Book takes notice of Statutes passed and other matters happening afterwards as the Pole-bill the first of May the Declaration of War against France the 7th of May the Ease to Dissenters the 24th of May and the Act for satisfying the States-General the 20th of August 89. But yet he speaks not one word of the other and his reason is because if he had done that the great Taxes he speaks of would dwindle into nothing for if that Duty amounted to 200000 Pound per annum we have not yet given the King Twenty years Purchase for it which is the rate most of his Subjects sell at He tells us next The War cannot be carried on without Money and that at the end of it it must cost in a great Sum to Disband the Army which he would perswade us to save by restoring King James This is a declaring War against the Army and will lessen the number of his Friends if he have any there and then if the Nation by restoring that King will avoid paying their own Army they must pay his which is as numerous and to whom there is as great an Arrear due besides all that is due to the French King So that if any be so sordid as to wish a change in the Government it must be on other Motives than to save his Money the restitution of the Hearth-money being all he is like to get by that bargain He tells us next That we who feared the coming of the French in King James 's time have taken a way by declaring War against them to bring them upon us with a vengeance But I would have him know this Nation would rather see the French here open and professed Enemies than pretended Friends and that we fear them less in the one capacity than the other and surely we never had less reason to fear them than at present though it were too great presumption to guess at the Divine Councils or to say that God now designs to be avenged on him for his Blasphemy and many Oppressions or that he has at last heard the Groans of the Fatherless and Widows though doubtless he will in his own due time inquire and visit for these things yet if we consider how he stands with the Kings of the Earth we may rationally hope that his Glory is near an end for the Emperour and Princes of the Empire are exasperated against him not only by his seizing and barbarously destroying their Territories but by his stopping their Victories over the Turks and by assisting them by so great a diversion But it hath pleased God to bless their just Cause with success both against the one and the other with the King of Spain and the States of Holland he has actual War the Cantons of Switzerland at best but Neutral and some think they are almost over-come by the late Pope's advice to quit it who not only styled him the Common Enemy of the Christian part of Europe but with his last Breath advised the Cardinals to oppose his unjust designs Had England ever a better time to humble his Pride or to force him to do justice to themselves and Allies for the many injuries and provocations he has from time to time heaped upon them If we cannot deal with him now that he has no Allies to support but the Turks Irish and Algerines we must despair of ever seeing an end to the Miseries of Europe The sixth is Keeping a standing Army in time of Peace without consent of Parliament He wisely omits Quartering Souldiers contrary to Law being neither able to say any thing in defence of it nor to retort it on the present Government All that he says to this Article is That his Officers were enriched by his Pay and that they were his delight but he does not tell us they were so because he hoped to over-throw our Religion and Laws by their assistance and to throw off Parliaments those Shakells on his designs He tells us next King James used no Forreign force but contented himself with his Natural-born Subjects But was not there some of them as ill as either Dutch or Brandenburger The Irish are more opposite to our Religion and Civll Interest than either of the other But our Author is angry we have an Army in being not designed to enslave the Nation as the last was but ready to oppose all that shall endeavour to bring us under our old Bondage and some to spare to oppose the French design on Flanders by whose Courage he has already received one defeat and durst his General have stayed and not retreated so very fast he might have had another Our Author in his last Leaf gives us so true a representation of the inconveniencies and burthens the Nation groaned under from the Army that I cannot better express them than in the Author's words Some Rake-hells of the Army took liberty to disgrace the Service who to supply their extravagant Expences put the Souldier's Pay into their own Pockets for which they allowed them under-hand to sharp upon the Country and too often leave their Quarters unpaid to the dishonour of the King and ruin of many an honest Man And to add to that Infamy they forced the Constables by threats to give them Certificates that they had paid their Quarters and behaved themselves well in them when in truth they had done neither But to heal the matter he says further That those that were averse to the King's interest with a design to ruin him in the affections of the People either quite concealed this from him or at least so minced the matter that the difficulty the poor Country-man lay under of being heard or relieved made the remedy often prove worse than the disease Doubtless if there had not been too many instances of the fruitless Complaints of the Nation upon the abuses of the Army we should not have had so full a confession as this from our Author The seventh Article is Causing several good Subjects being Protestants to be disarmed But our Author omits the other half That Papists at the same time were both armed and employed contrary to Law What is said to this is so little to the purpose that I scarce know how to Answer it He cannot tell when this was done nor whether those disarmed Protestants were not
of the Geneva-Cuit but sure it does not therefore follow that it was not done I must confess I do not know the time it was done in England but I can tell our Author it was twice done in Ireland before the fears of this last Revolution made them rob us of our Horses and other Goods as well as Arms and both after the suppression of Monmouth's Rebellion If the Parliament have no other Instance to justifie this Charge surely these are sufficient for we were both good Subjects and Protestants And if it be considered that many of us lived in danger of their private Villains a numerous swarm that infest all retired places in hopes of Plunder and that we were all in danger of their publick and general hatred with some other circumstances that might be mentioned the disarming us was the more unkind to us and hazardous to the Protestant Interest He further pretends That the necessity of Self-preservation made the late King at last arm Papists What was done of this sort since October 88 that he heard of the intended Invasion has some colour of a pretence but that is none for what was done before And if enquiry were made into the new Levies which our Author calls 20000 Men I believe but few Papists in proportion to the old Army will be found amongst them and the reason is all the Papists that could be found before were in-listed But as to them I have said enough already The eighth Article is The Violating the Freedom of Election of Members to serve in Parliament To which our Author says That if this be meant by purchasing peoples Votes it might have been rectified by the Committee of Elections but if it be meant of regulating Corporations and the Quo Warranto 's he says King James 's Parliament that would not yield to the taking away the Test was Elected in the same method and that the present Speaker Mr. Powle was Elected by vertue of a late Charter of King Charles the Second To the first of these I say That if the King had purchased but a few Votes that Irregularity might have been remedied as the Author says though not without much charge and trouble But if by such indirect courses he had gotten a Majority of the House it was not remediable because the House would never censure those that were no more guilty than themselves As to the other it is true the service that Parliament did the Nation in that one Act of so early opposing the Growth of Popery has made amends for any Irregularities that were in the Election of them But what had we no more Regulations of Corporations after the Calling of that Parliament Did one Repulse put the King so much in despair of gaining his Point that there was no enquiry what persons Gentlemen would chuse hereafter for Members Were no persons displaced from their Imployments of Honour and Profit for not engaging how to Vote both in the House and at Elections But may be our Author does not think this any Violation of our Freedoms for clearing whereof I need say no more than I have already done which sufficiently shews how little the Author says to this Accusation of the Violating our Freedom in Elections the rest he says gives us a fair instance how inconsistent he is with himself In the beginning he tells us the Committee of Elections may rectifie the Miscarriages of Elections and yet in a few Lines afterwards we find him Mutinying against the Speaker's Election though approved of by that Committee and the House also so that Mr. Powle being declared duly Elected by the proper Judges I need say no more of the matter in Answer to the Author but for the satisfaction of those that are strangers thereto and that they may not be imposed upon by the Author or any of the other Pamphlets that harp on this string I will lay the state of that Case before them And first it is to be observed that there has been many Debates about the Election of New-Windsor from whence the Speaker is Returned And the Question as in this Case has always been Whether the whole Inhabitants of the Town or the Corporation had the Right of Electing their Representatives to serve in Parliament And to say the truth it has been vexata questio and resolved both ways But then I say That if the Author be true to any principle he will lay but little weight on the former Resolutions against the Speaker's Right since they were the Parliaments of 1640 and 79 that so adjudged it But without insisting on the disorders and struggles of those times I say we have the Resolution of the Parliament 61 for us wherein it was Resolved That the Right of Election is in the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses not exceeding Thirty in number So that Judgments being on both sides we are to enquire as in all such cases which is supported by the best Reasons and doubtless they are on our side for the Resolution in favour of the Populace was grounded upon the mistake that Windsor was a Borough by Prescription whereas the Inhabitants were incorporated by a Charter of the Fifth of Edward the First the Clause wherein Quod de cetero sit liber Curgus and the Name Nova Windsor are great presumptions that the Town was not then very Old or a Burrough before which is more plain when we consider that those are really words of Creation not of Confirmation and we have no foot-steps of any return from this Town before this Charter One of the first is the 30th of his Reign and there it is said that the Mayor and Common Burgers elegerunt and so it is in the 29th of Henry the sixth Now if this be not very plain the Community or Body of the Burgesses the subsequent usage puts the matter beyond all doubt where it is expresly said That the Mayor Bailiffs and Burgesses elegerunt as 35 H. 6. 1 Ed. 6. 14. 30th and 43. of Eliz. 1. 7. 18 and 20. of King James the first 1st and 3d of King Charles the first and the 13th of King Charles the second So that here is a full Jury of Parliaments to justifie what has been done in this case and then all these and some older and darker Returns are under the Common Seal and dated at the Guild-Hall both Evidences of Corporation-Acts From all which I think it very plain That the Right of Election is in the Corporation and that from the beginning it has been so but were it otherwise the Author is a Misrepresenter in this Case because the Contest was not occasioned by a late Charter of King Charles the Second's but was upon a Point contested before his Reign and afterwards in his Reign before the Regulation of Corporations was thought upon Next our Author says This Violation of our Freedom was but intended never put in execution no more was the destruction of our Religion and Liberties God Almighty was pleased in mercy to
if he had not been diverted would have forced away a Thousand with their effects most whereof as they did in those days must for the old reason have setled in the Low-Countries Would not Persecution here have forced our Labourers and Marriners to take shelter with them which had been a double advantage one by lessening our stock another by adding to theirs They were not so dull-sighted as not to see this but compassion to us and to the Protestant Interest made them neglect that and other advantages they could have made of our home distractions But then it is hard to conjâ—cture how their Trade could thrive or get any advantage of oâ—rs in a joynt War when in all probability the first fury of the Enemy would light on them One would think it were easier for the French to make a Descent on some of the Dutch Territories than on ours unless their Rivers were more unpassable than our Ocean It is not so long since the French were there that one should forget the way or the other the dismal havock they then made although they managed a fairer sort of War than they now do If they had not provided a good Army this Summer the Palatinate had not singly complained of the French Fires But the Tide is turned and I hope we are both equally free If Convoys as he says will secure their Trade that will secure ours as much so that this is only thrown in out of hopes to discontent some persons who have not forgotten the hard words given to the Dutch in the two last Reigns though now it appears that the Wars then carried on against them were the first step of the design laid against the Protestant Religion though Emulation in Trade and some other things were insisted on to keep up the Resentments of the Nation just in the Author's Gant But the cheat being at last though too late perceived we remember how zealous the Long Parliament was for the last Peace with Holland and a strict Alliance with them against France neither have we forgotten how many Prorogations this cost them So that now in relation to Holland we are arrived to that happy Union with them the Nation so long ago desired and that Parliament which gave so many extravagant Sums for the carrying on both those Wars when they were made believe they were either necessary or honourable cannot be supposed to have changed their noat so much out of kindness to the Dutch as out of a just regard to the true interest of the Natioâ— To the same purpose is our Author's complaint of admitting the Dutch into our Harbors viewing our Docks and strong Holds and making our Ports and Shipping intirely theirs For surely our King knows as much of their Harbors and Government as their State-holder does of ours and so we are even with them But indeed we were even before each knowing as much of the other as is requisite and unless Lord Torrington be no English-man and all our Sea-men as well as Captains have lately changed their Country our Fleet cannot be said to be theirs If there be any Factious Men in Holland they may more justly make this complaint since their Fleet has this Summer been Commanded by an English-man and the King of England's Commission Our Author brings in the Name of Piers Gaveston here only to amuse the Vulgar for the having an influence over a Prince is not the harm that is in the ill use made thereof which is not to be done but where our Princes are weak Men As in the Case of the Spencers in Edward the Second's time Father Peters in another Reign and others that might be named But our King has no Favourite but his People norany Interest separate from theirs Page 31. our Author tells us such a delivery up of ones Country was never known before nor acted by any Party of English-men But I can tell him of a worse and that is the delivery up of Ireland to the Irish the ancient and sworn Enemies of the English Nation they were so before Religion came to make any difference and rebelled as often against their Popish as Protestant Princes never missing any opportunity they could lay hold on their hatred is so inveterate and has gone so far as to destroy the English Cattel rather than preserve them for their own use though of a far better breed than theirs and all out of hatred to the Country from whence they came out of the same aversion severe Statutes has not been able to learn them the Language in many Generations nor to Abolish many of their barbarous Customs and let no Man justifie or excuse this by the seeming success for all the relief they can afford him will not keep him long out of the Monastry our Author speaks of But then I say King James could not foresee what has fallen out for as hot as his Zeal is if we may judge by what he did on the News of the intended Invasion he would have taken other measures if his Priests had not fooled him with hopes of better success and that he should be able to accomplish his designs So this was not the reason that induced King James to take a method so different from all his Popish Predecessors with the Irish Next I say that his relying so much as really he did on Succours from Ireland and the expectation of the mighty Power he had there emboldened him to attempt what otherwise he would have thought too hazardous here out of affinity with the matter in hand I cannot omit taking notice of that Assertion of our Authors That divine Providence in consideration as he supposes of the unjustness of the late King's Sufferings hath with little effusion of blood given him the intire possession of Ireland Which is so true that he was not able at the Expence of Ten thousand Lives and three Months close Siege to take in the small Town of Derry And that other part of the Assertion as to the intire possession is so much otherwise that the Protestants of Ireland have all this time had twelve Garrisons in their possession wherein many Protestants were sheltred from the rage of their Enemies and the neighbouring Country secured from their French Tricks When our Author tells us of the Dutch Stivers and the changing our Gold for Brass certainly he did not think of King James's new Irish Coin by which a piece of Copper less than an English farthing with the Royal Image and Inscription passes from him for Six-pence and so proportionably but yet it must not be re-paid to him in his Revenue which is another Invention to rob the Protestants there of all that the Army or Rapperies have left them This is so palpable a Violation of our Property and in so high a degree that no Story can parallel it In former times when Leather-money passed amongst us the inducement to perswade the using of it was That it should be received in the Revenue
so spirited away but some part of them may and have been found out but little Restitution to the Proprietors and less of Punishment on the Offendors Then again though Robberies might have been in the Country and at a distanâ—â— from him yet it is something strange that he could not pâ—serve the place of his own Residence and the Country about it from such Violences for which he has done so little that no part of the Kingdom has greater reason to complain than they From these Considerations I am as much satisfied that the Royal Assent accompanied these Rapines as that it did that far greater one the Repeal of the Acts of Settlement How the Advocates of King James will maintain this Treatment of his Protestant Subjects I cannot tell neither can I tell how to reconcile his Speech to his pretended Parliament on the 7th of May proposing their relief against the Acts of Settlement as he softly phrased it and his Declaration to his pretended Subjects in England dated the day after that most Gracious Speech wherein he tells us That the Priviledges and Properties of his Protestant Subjects was his Care unless they say it was his Care and Endeavour how to destroy them We have heard of Mr. d'Avaux's demand That all Protestants should be dismissed the Council-Board for otherwise he could not disclose his Master's Secrets there which was immediately done We have heard from one of his Lords That both the late King and his Popish Council would rather hazard and lose Forty Crowns than be obliged to the Protestants for the possession of the Kingdom and design to re-gain his Dominions by the Arms of good Catholicks and the glorious Monarch of France and their reason for this is very comfortable to all English-men and Protestants being that in the first Case he must be tied and fettered with Conditions but in the other Case he would come in free and boundless and like an Absolute Conqueror might do what he pleased I thought I had done with our Author when I cast my Eye on a line as true as most of the rest That the King never tempted any of the Men of Honour to change their Religion I never had the honour of being Closetted so know not the Discourses usually practised there but it would be some disparagement to his and his Father-Confessor's Zeal to think that always forgotten But without insisting on that it is not to be imagined that so many turned Apostates without temptation or that the Treasurer's Staff carried none with it Our Author makes him kinder herein than his Promise in the Scotch Declaration not to use invincible necessity The Reflections due to this have been done by so much a better hand that I will forbear And having thus done with the Author it is time to draw to a Conclusion In order to which I will only observe upon the whole matter That the Subjects of this Kingdom during the Reign of King James were in so miserable a condition that they could call nothing their own but their Fears and sad Apprehensions of the worse things that were preparing for them When we heard we were to Obey without reserve we could not forget the Times of our happy Ancestors whose Obedience was guided by the known Laws of the Land and lament our own and Childrens fate that were to be ruled by the Arbitrary Will of one Man for whose Prudence and Moderation we could have no security When we saw a Power to Suspend some Laws put in Execution we could not but look on all the rest as lost since our Tenure was so precarious When we saw our Clergy so much oppressed in those early days we did not doubt Father Peter's Will or Power to improve that Spirit of Persecution as far as a blind Zeal or the French Pattern could carry it When we saw an Army maintained in time of Peace we could not forbear thinking sometimes on the French Dragoons and their way of Propagating the Faith In a word when we saw the strange Methods that were taken to procure a right House of Commons we could not but fear that our Misery would be perfected by those we formerly thought the Preservers of our Liberties and Properties And now that it hath pleased God to put an end to all these things and that we are not only free but have a long prospect of Happiness before us not to be destroyed but by our selves not to be lessened or impaired but by the influence of such Discourses as the Author 's on weak or unwary Men. Let us remember how much it concerns every one of us to oppose those designs which tend only to bring us into the same slavery we have so lately escaped The same did I say Alas as ill as we were before the Abdication upon his return that would be a desirable State unless we believe he has learned Mercy in France or that he is less a Papist than he was or of less Arbitrary Principles When Gratitude for the highest Obligations both the setting and keeping the Crown on his Head could not preserve us our Laws or Religion what must we expect from his Anger and Revenge And if we consider with what severity the weak Endeavours of Monmonth and his Party to Dethrone him were punished It is hard to imagine what Punishment is reserved for those that have actually displaced him or taken him at his word which he accounts the same thing and we must not think that his Thunder would only pursue those that have been active in the late Revolution but the whole Nation must be struck with it that it may not be in their power to do the same thing again and it would be a mighty Army he would think big enough to secure him from the like affront and of what sort they must be is not hard to determine I know it is needless to inlarge on these hints because you are fully perswaded that it is the most prudent as well as just Course to remain contented with the present Government and to contribute in our several Stations what in us lies to the support thereof FINIS ERRATA PAg. 3. Line 31. for October Read November P. 4. l. 32. r. so served P. 7. l. 34. r. November P. 37. l. 3. r. December P. 40. l. 19. after another r. Commandment In the same Line dele of the Commandments P. 41. l. 17. r. Commissioners P. 43. l. 10. r. twig instead of way P. 44. l. 36. r. support him P. 48. l. 11. r. Burgus P. 49. l. 5. r. Magnifies P. 52. l. 26. dele first of BOOKS Printed for Jâ—seph Watts at thâ— Angel in St. Pauls Church-yard THE History of Ireland from the First Conquest of it by the English to this time in two Parts Folio The Trial of the Lord Russel c. Of Colonel Sidney Folio Of Edward Fitzharris c. An Exact Diary of the late Expedition of his Majesty into England Quarto Representation of the Threatning Dangers Impending over Protestants in Great Britain before the coming of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Treatise of Monarchy in two Parts 1. Concerning Monarchy in General and second concerning this Particular Monarchy Wherein all the Questions occurrent in both are stated disputed and determin'd Discourse of the Opposition of the Doctrine Worship and Practice of the Roman Church to the nature designs and characters of the Christian Faith by Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury Quarto The True Test of the Jesuits or the spirit of that Society Disloyal to God their King and Neighbour Quarto Monsieur Jurieu's Account of the Extasies of the Shepperdess of Saou in Dauphine Quarto Reformed Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week and every Holiday in the Year Twelves Cro. C. 114. Cro. C. 220.
us to over-throw their Babel when they had almost brought it as they fancied to perfection And urges further That the King being willing to have his last intended Parliament as free as his People could desire had actually restored the old Charters to all the Corporations in England long before the Prince Landed Here the Author nifies the King's good intentions to us and would have us look upon his last Acts of kindness as the sole effects of his Goodness when alas they proceeded only from his Fears which will appear plain if we consider the Times of the several Passages relating to this matter The 9th of September New-Stile Mr. d' Avaux's Memorial to the States-General telling them of the strict Alliance between the two Crowns tells us of the Preparations making against us and came to our Court the 10th of September Old-Stile After ten days Consideration a Parliament is resolved on and the 21st the King by his Proclamation assures us of his kind Intentions to the Nation and Church and therein tells us he is willing the Roman Catholicks should remain incapable of being Members of the House of Commons a mighty favour The 26th of September the Lord-Lieutenants were authorized to grant Deputations to such Gentlemen as had been lately removed from the Lieutenancy and such Gentlemen were to be restored to the Commission of the Peace as had been lately laid aside The 28th of September his Majesty by Proclamation acquaints the Nation with the intended Invasion and recalls the Writs for the Parliament The 2d of October the King declared he would restore the Charter of London and gives us a General Pardon of the same date The 5th he Dissolves the Ecclesiastical Commission The 17th of October the other Corporations of the Kingdom are restored all which favours were conferred on us after they were terrified with the News of the Invasion so that we may rest fully assured they were the first fruits of that blessed design and the meeting of the Parliament was discharged Twenty days before the Restitution of the Corporations which by our Author's computation is a long time otherwise the Corporations were not restored long before the Prince Landed as our Author says they were The 9th Article is against Prosecutions in the King's Bench for Matters and Causes cognisable only in Parliament and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses The last Clause is omitted and so might all our Author thinks fit to say in answer to the first being only That be doubts not but those Judges câ—n justifie their Proceedings and that some Parliaments have brought matters before them that were not properly cognisable by them But what those things are he does not tell us but be it so and let them and their Advocates justifie them if they can But in the mean time does it follow that because one Court exceeds its bounds sometimes that therefore the King's-Bench may or how does this make the Parallel between the present and the late Times If he had told us that our Speaker had been Prosecuted in the King's-Bench for his Actings as such and Fined 5 or 10000 l. he had said more to the purpose than he has done in the whole Book The Author says the tenth Article is about partial corrupt and unqualified Juries But he should also have added That divers Jurors in Tryals for High Treason were not Free-holders He knew the consequence of this matter in the brave Lord Russel's Case and therefore thought fit to pass it over in silence but tells us That the noise against Graham and Burton for such practises is now ouer for want of proof To which I say the thing is obvious though the steps of those that managed this work of darkness is not yet made plain and no wonder though the same should never happen considering how few persons but those concerned can have any knowledge of it it is not likely the party corrupted will proclaim his own villany and shame so that if the said persons if they were the managers do but keep their own Counsel no positive Witnesses can be had against them But then considering the Nature of the Case the great Sums of Money said to be laid out privately at Law will satisfie Men not over-credulous But if our Author will have a little patience he may hear what proof there is against those Gentlemen the House of Commons having lately ordered a Charge to be brought In against them which was not done sooner because they had matters of far greater importance to dispatch The eleventh Article is requiring excessive Bail in Criminal Cases to elude the benefit of the Laws made for the Liberty of the Subject The truth of this is not denied neither is it justified only the late Acts suspending the Habeas Corpus Act are exclaimed against which I must say is one of the greatest favours imaginable to those most concerned in it if it but prevent them from running too far in dangerous courses it had been a great Blessing to the Lord Dundee and his Family if the Estates of Scotland had committed his Person when they first observed him tampering though my kindness for some of those unfortunate persons then in custody makes me hope they were kept there as well to secure themselves as the Government yet I believe there are not many of them dare pretend to that innocency It must not be forgotten in this place how his Majesty like him whose Vicegerent he is mingles Mercy with his Justice and that he sent one of these Prisoners a considerable Sum of Money to support him from want not knowing how plentifully he might be provided from his own Estate with which it was not easie for him to hold any Communication our Author will find it hard to give me such an instance of Generosity in his King I have only one Remark more on this matter which is That if all Princes were endued with such Moderation and Clemency as our present King there would be but little need to secure us by Laws against that Wolf the Prerogative and that it is much better trusting Power with some Kings than others The late King could commit seven of our Peers at one time without and against the Law whereas his Majesty though encompassed with avowed Enemies in two of his Kingdoms and some as discontented as the Author in the third And though by the late Statutes he had Power to commit I may say at his pleasure yet I believe those so committed by him will scarce exceed the number lately carried to the Tower at one time so that upon experience of his prudent Moderation and that he does not use his Power for the Oppression of those that do not love him I see not why the Parliament may not continue this Trust for some time longer at least until Ireland be as well setled as the rest of the Kingdoms The 12th Article is by our Author made up of two I suppose on purpose to lessen the