't will be hard if you will not allow them to imitate something of their Practice The Body of this Monster has already been most accurately dissected by skilful hands and ingenious Lectures read upon every Member Vein and Muscle of it If you think there may be something yet in the Belly of this Trojan Horse that is worthy of your notice at your command I shall venture in to search it We the Knights They were influenced it seems by one of the other House in whose Custody this Instrument was found if he were not rather the crafty Contriver of it A person so well known there 's no need of any new Character to describe him How he has play'd fast and loose both with King and Subject needs no other instance to demonstrate than the shutting up of the Exchequer Having been at the head of so many Seditious Juncto's Trayterous Cabals Councils of State usurped and Tyrannical Jurisdictions you may very well conclude though he hath learn'd the Art of shifting sides he is not over-stockt with Loyalty If any insolency in his carriage has made him jealous that he is obnoxious to a high displeasure no wonder the discontents arising from such Reflections should prompt him to the courses he has taken 'T is natural for the wounded Deer to run into the common Herd for shelter And such is the Spirit of our little Heroe whatever stands in the way of his Ambition he 'll leave nothing unattempted to remove it Let Religion sink or swim among the States General Delenda Carthago is his Motto But let 's proceed We the Knights c. This c. is a fatal Character if we can remember that Et caetera-Oath which made such a hideous noise in the year 40. Thou art the curled lock of Antichrist Rubbish of Babel for who will not say Tongues are confounded in Et caetera Who views it well with the same eye beholds The old false Serpent in his numerous folds The Banes are ask'd and now the times give way Betwixt Smectymnus and Et caetera Something certainly is involved in the subtile twirl of this Dragons Tayl If they be True Protestants in the sense of these Associates they must be such as Protest against the present Church of England the Succession of the Crown and the Brittish Monarchy Here we have the very Spawn of the Presbyterian fruitfulness Independents Ranters Quakers with the rest of the Fanaticks which proceed from the Presbyterian by an equivocal Generation and without all doubt are comprehended within the bowels of this prodigious Character all Schismaticks Rebels Traytors Regicides Tyrants and Usurpers who by their own proper Names and Titles were by no means fit to be dignified or distinguished in such a Pious and Politick Association were cunningly and closely tyed up together with those Knights in the Gordian Knot of this c. And they say Finding to the grief of our Hearts the Popish Priests and Iesuites with the Papists and their Adherents and Abettors have for several years last past pursued a most pernicious and Hellish Plot to root out the True Protestant Religion as a pestilent Heresie to take away the life of our Gracious King to subvert our Laws and Liberties and to set up Arbitrary Power and Popery Here we have a Mask of zeal made up of a double pretence Pro and Con 1. For The Protestant Religion with the preservation of the Kings Life our Laws and Liberties 2. Against The Popish party and their Abettors But that we may not be perpetually bewitcht with these delusions it has been made apparent by a person of unquestionable knowledge and integrity * A short view of the Troubles c. 44. p. 588. That these great pretended Champions for the Protestant Religion the Laws of the Land the liberty of the Subject and priviledges of Parliament for these are taken in too in this Association made use of those specious pretences for no other end than to captivate the People and by that means get the power of the Sword into their own merciless hands And as that Worthy Author expostulates were not there certain Propositions read in their House of Commons P. 590. where this Association was first spawn'd which were found in Mr. Saltmarsh his Trunk near Hull First That all means should be used to keep the King and his People from a sudden Union Secondly To cherish the War under the notion of Popery as the surest means to engage the People Thirdly If the King would not grant their demands then to root him out of the Royal line and collate the Crown upon some body else So that they served themselves of Popery for a pretence and made the Priests and Jesuites but their stalking Horse while they aim'd at other Game If the Popish Priests and Jesuites have a Design to retrieve what has been taken from the Pope and that Church that depends upon him are not these Associators equally intent and zealous to make a spoyl and booty of those Church Revenues which are left Is not their Religion and keenest zeal fed upon the Church-lands which they have got into their possession And why do they stickle so earnestly against the Pope but to maintain that interest If you could secure their fears and jealousies in this point assure your self for the most part of them their Consciences are not so squeamish but the Mass would go down with them as easily as the Directory 'T is very well observed That the Rule for Doctrine Worship and Discipline in the Church of England at the Reformation A Vindication of the Primitive Church p. 275. was at first received with universal joy and approbation none but Papists opposing it But some time after some few discontented men under pretence of zeal against Popery took the part of the Papists against this Rule and it is observable saith that Author that as one faction grew up and gathered strength so did the other that ones right and left hand can hardly grow in evener proportion so that one would fancy that either they advanced by some secret Consent or were nourished from the same common Stomach It may be saith he from him that Ratavicini calls the Stomach as well as the Head of the Church the Pope Have not these pretended Protestants and Et caetera's been eager even to Sedition and Blood to throw down the Enclosure to Repeal those Laws and subvert that Church-Government which have kept out Popery ever since the Reformation Have they not given their Emissaries advantage by their Projected Toleration and Indulgence and shelter'd the Priests and Jesuites whom they pretend to Associate against in their own Conventicles Nay to come home to the business have not these men Rivall'd the Papists in their Treasons Have they not emulated them in their practices of Conspiracy and taken the Hellish work of Destruction out of their Hands and subverted both Church and State while they pretended the Popish party did pursue it For if
THE ASSOCIATORS CASHIER'D PROVING By undeniable Arguments as well as by the Testimony of their own Mouthes That the late Endeavours of some Restless Spirits WERE 1. To enervate MONARCHY 2. To subvert the Institution of English-Parliaments and usher in the Power of the Sword LONDON Printed for Walter Davis 1683. SIR SEEING they have published an Exact Collection of their Debates in the House of Commons I hope the Gentlemen will give us leave to make our Judgment on them And I cannot but observe that they thought themselves concern'd to be provided of such an Army as is design'd by the former Association To this purpose consider what is said p. 244. by Sir H. C. Jan. 7. 1681. Things are so out of order Mr. Speaker and such prevalent endeavours are used to unsettle them more that I am afraid not onely of our Religion but of the very Government and Being of the English Nation For if these things should occasion BLOOD while the French is so powerful He may easily have the Casting Voice and without that onely God knows what may be the end of such Confusions as some men endeavour to occasion But J. B. is more express and positive Sir saith he Will not all the Expedients that have been talked of or can be imagined leave us to contest with our Lawful Prince and that assistance which he is well assured of not onely from the Papists here but in Ireland and from France and Scotland I am afraid enough to make it a Measuring Cast And is the Protestant Interest so low that though our dangers be so great that instead of a Sword to defend our selves we must be content with a Sheath I am not for cheating those that sent me here I think it much more for the Interest of the Nation that we should have no Laws than such as will but Trepan us by failing us like rotten Crutches when we have occasion to depend on them I had rather lose my Life and my Religion because I were not able to defend it than be fool'd out of it by depending on such Laws I take it for granted that seeing the Exclusion-Bill is thought too much for us and such great endeavours are used to preserve the strength and Interest of that Party that we must either submit or defend our Religion by a sharp Contest and therefore I hope we shall not depend upon Laws that will tend to weaken us And 2. That the ASSOCIATION in the time of Queen Elizabeth would not serve their turn is clear p. 183.184 by the Speech of Sir W. J. in these words But I am perswaded Sir if this Association-Bill be made as it should be that we shall have no better Success with it than we had with the Exclusion-Bill For I am afraid that though we are suffered to brandish our Weapons yet that we shall not be allowed to wound Popery but rather do believe that they which advised the throwing out of that Bill will also do the same by this or dissolve the House before it come to Perfection For this Bill must be much stronger than that in Queen Elizabeths dayes That was for an Association onely after her Death but I cannot tell if such a Bill will secure us now the circumstances we are under being very different In Q. Elizabeth's dayes the Privy Councellors were all for the Queens Interest and none for the Successor's now most of the Privy Councellors are for the Successor's and few for the King 's Then the Ministers unanimously agreed to keep out Popery now we have too much reason to fear there are many that are for bringing it in In those days they all agreed to keep the Popish Successor in Scotland now the major part agreed to keep the Successor here All which must be considered in drawing up the Bill Hereupon Resolved That it is the opinion of this Committee that the House be moved that a Bill be brought in for an Association of all his Majesties Protestant Subjects for the Safety of his Majesties Person the Defence of the Protestant Religion and the Preservation of his Majesties Protestant Subjects against all Invasions and oppositions and for preventing the D. of York or any other Papist from succeeding to the Crown What Alliance this Resolution has to the fore-mentioned Association let the Reader judge Nay I have observed something farther out of the Arraignment of the E. of Shaftsb p. 34. which makes me highly confident that Seditious and Treasonable Piece was drawn up by a Club of Commoners or a close Committee of the H. of C. Headed by that Lord. I shall for proof transcribe a few particulars viz The Arraignment of the E. of Shaftsbury p. 34. Foreman Mr. Secretary I would ask you some questions If you did not know of a Debate in the Parliament of an Association Mr. Secret I was not present at the Debate but there was a talk in Town of an Association Foreman Did not you hear of it in Parliament Mr. Secret Indeed there was an Answer to a Message from the House of Commons that had something in it that did strangely imply an Association but this particular Association I do not remember to have heard propos'd Foreman Don't you remember in the House of Commons Sir it was read upon occasion of that Bill Mr. Secret I heard such a thing spoke of but at the reading of it I was not present to the best or my remembrance The Paper which was Seized in the E. of Shaftsbury's Closet by Fran. Gwin Esq one of the Clerks of His Majesties Most Honourable Privy Council and Read Novemb. 24. 1681. at the Old Baily before His Majesties Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer WE the Knights c. Finding to the grief of our Hearts the Popish Priests and Iesuits with the Papists and their Adherents and Abbettors have for several years last past pursued a most pernicious and hellish Plot to root out the true Protestant Religion as a pestilent Heresie to take away the Life of our Gracious King to subvert our Laws and Liberties and to set up Arbitrary power and Popery And it being Notorious that they have béen highly encouraged by the Countenance and Protection given and procured for them by J. D. of Y. and by their Expectations of his succéeding to the Crown and that through crafty Popish Councils his Designs have so far prevailed that he hath created many and great Dependents upon him by his bestowing Offices and Preferments both in Church and State It appearing also to us That by his Influence Mercenary Forces have béen levied and kept on Foot for his secret Designs contrary to our Laws the Officers thereof having béen named and appointed by him to the appparent hazard of His Majesties Person our Religion and Government if the danger had not béen timely foreséen by several Parliaments and part of those Forces with great difficulty caused by them to be Disbanded at the Kingdoms great Expence And it being evident that notwithstanding
all the continual endeavours of the Parliament to deliver His Majesty from the Councils and out of the power of the said D. yet his Interest in the Ministry of State and others have béen so prevalent that Parliaments have béen unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved when they have béen in hot pursuit of the Popish Conspiracies and ill Ministers of State their Assistants And that the said D. in order to reduce all into his own power hath procured the Garrisons the Army and Ammunition and all the power of the Seas and Souldiery and Lands belonging to these thrée Kingdoms to be put inco the hands of his party and their Adherents even in opposition to the Advice and Order of the last Parliament And as we considering with heavy Hearts how greatly the Strength Reputation and Treasure of the Kingdom both at Sea and Land is Wasted and Consumed and lost by the intricate expensive management of these wicked destructive Designs and finding the same Councils after exemplary Iustice upon some of the Conspirators to be still pursued with the utmost devilish malice and desire of Revenge whereby his Majesty is in continual hazard of being Murdered to make way for the said D's Advancement to the Crown and the whole Kingdom in such case is destitute of all security of their Religion Laws Estates and Liberty sad experience in the Case Quéen Mary having proved the wisest Laws to be of little force to kéep out Popery and Tyranny under a Popish Prince We have therefore endeavoured in a Parliamentary way by a Bill for the purpose to Bar and Exclude the said Duke from the Succession to the Crown and to Banish him for ever out of these Kingdoms of England and Ireland But the first Means of the King and Kingdoms Safety being utterly rejected and we left almost in Despair of obtaining any real and effectual security and knowing our selves to be intrusted to Advise and Act for the preservation of His Majesty and the Kingdom and being perswaded in our Consciences that the dangers aforesaid are so eminent and pressing that there ought to be no delay of the best means that are in our power to secure the Kingdom against them We have thought fit to propose to all true Protestants an Vnion amongst themselves by solemn and sacred promise of mutual Defence and Assistance in the preservation of the true Protestant Religion His Majesties Person and Royal State and our Laws Liberties and Properties and we hold it our bounden Duty to joyn our selves for the same intent in a Declaration of our Vnited Affections and Resolutions in the Form insuing I A.B. Do in the presence of God Solemnly Promise Vow and Protest to maintain and defend to the utmost of my Power with my Person and Estate the true Protestant Religion against Popery and all Popish superstition Idolatry or Innovasion and all those who do or shall endeavour to spread or advance it within this Kingdom I will also as far as in me lies maintain and defend His Majesties Royal Person and Estate as also the power and priviledge of Parliaments the lawful Rights and Liberties of the Subject against all Incroachments and Vsurpation of Arbitrary power whatsoever and endeavour intirely to Disband all such mercenary Forces as we have reason to believe were raised to Advance it and are still kept up in and about the City of London to the great Amazement and Terrour of all the good people of the Land Moreover J. D. of Y. having publickly professed and owned the Popish Religion and notoriously given Life and Birth to the Damnable and Hellish Plots of the Papists against His Majesties Person the Protestant Religion and the Government of this Kingdom I will never consent that the said J. D. of Y. or any other who is or hath béen a Papist or any ways adher'd to the Papists in their wicked Designs be admitted to the Succession of the Crown of England But by all lawful means and by force of Arms if néed so require according to my Abilities will oppose him and endeavour to Subdue Expel and Destroy him if he come into England or the Dominions thereof and séek by force to set up his pretended Title and all such as shall Adhere unto him or raise any War Tumult or Sedition for him or by his Command as publick Enemies of our Laws Religion and Country To this end we and every one of us whose hands are here under-written do most willingly bind our selves and every one of us unto the other joyntly and severally in the bond of one firm and loyal Society or Association and do promise and vow before God That with our joynt and particular Forces we will oppose and pursue unto Destruction all such as upon any Title whatsoever shall oppose the Iust and Righteous ends of this Association and Maintain Protect and Defend all such as shall enter into it and the just performance of the true intent and meaning of it And lest this just and pious work should be any ways obstructed or hindered for want of Discipline and Conduct or any evil-minded persons under pretence of raising Forces for the service of this Association should attempt or commit Disorders we will follow such Orders as we shall from time to time receive from this present Parliament whilest it shall be sitting or the major part of the Members of both Houses subscribing this Association when it shall be Prorogued or Dissolved and obey such Officers as shall by them be set over us in the several Countries Cities and Burroughs until the next méeting of this or another Parliament and will then shew the same Obedience and Submission unto it and those who shall be of it Neither will we for any respect of Persons or Causes or for Fear or Reward separate our selves from this Association or fail in the Prosecution thereof during our Lives upon pain of being by the rest of us prosecuted and suppressed as perjur'd persons and publick Enemies to God the King and our Native Countrey To which pains and punishments we do voluntarily submit our selves and every one of us without benefit of any Colour or Pretence to excuse us In Witnesses of all which Premisses to be inviolably kept we do to this present Writing put our Hands and Seals and shall be most ready to accept and admit any others hereafter into this Society and Association SIR YOU have turned me to a hard Chapter for so it is to give you my opinion of the Association that lyes under so great debate I must tell you 't is a Riddle not easie to be deciphered The Assertors of it call themselves a Society * The Bond of one Firm and Loyal Society after the Protest And This Society at the end and twice for failing This Sir is the Distinctive Character of the Jesuites and you must imagine an Instrument of such a Make is full of Mental Reserves and Equivocations for seeing they have so auspiciously assumed their Title and Appellative
but his Majesty has given such ample Satisfaction as supersedes all attempts of the like Nature For What can the Man do who cometh after the King Eccles 2.12 He that cannot acquiesce with great Contentment in such a Gracious Declaration let him understand the Sense of all Loyal Subjects in their solemn Addresses of Thankfulness upon that account Do they not own it as an undoubted Copy of that Original and transcendent Goodness which the Finger of God has impress'd upon his Royal Bosom A Declaration so full of Princely Grace and Wisdom and generally so suitable to their Wishes that it did but anticipate what of Duty as well as Interest and Inclination should have been their own Petition and that it left them no room but for the lively Expressions of their Joy and Gratitude And he that has not joyn'd his Suffrage with his Fellow-Subjects in such a dutiful Acknowledgment must certainly be a Member of this Society or a well-Wisher to it Though we have as great a Reverence for Parliaments as we ought yet we cannot but reflect upon 't with Grief that the Composition of those Assemblies have not of late proved so harmonious as the state of Affairs required which puts me in mind of what the Author of that ingenious Essay upon the Reign of Henry the Third has observed Compendium politicum pa. 36. of such a Convention of those Times Thus saith he Parliaments that were ever before the most infallible Medicine to heal up any Distempers or Malignities are now grown worse and almost less desirous than the Maladies themselves since malevolent Humours and factious Spirits did most of all sway in them and the well composed Tempers had the least share and prevalency in all their Consultations The Fruits and Effects of their unlimited Session who were call'd to Parliament in Forty One we cannot but with bleeding Hearts remember And whatever respect they pretend to have for Parliaments 't is as formerly but to serve their own ends for if they may have their own Will according to the Project and Design laid in this Association all Parliaments for the future as they were once already in my own Memory will be reduced without a King or a House of Lords to a select Pack of well-flesh'd Rumpers to do the Drudgery of their Army The Bill of Exclusion and Banishment is so unreasonable and so absolutely unjust that we cannot look upon 't as a means of the King and Kingdoms Safety And if the D. be of such a vindictive Spirit as they suggest nay allow him but the Magnanimity that becomes his Highness or the common Resentments of Humanity and the passing such a Bill had been so great and just a Provocation it must needs have exposed the King's Person to great hazard and the Kingdom to the lamentable Fate of a Civil War if not an inevitable Invasion thereupon And when we reflect upon the Rise and Progress of our late Confusions so black and dismal in the Event and so fresh in Memory all good men cannot but be deeply sensible of his Majesties great Care and Princely Wisdom in keeping us from the more dreadful Rage of such a Rupture as the restless Malice of ill men study to promote whether for the Accomplishment of their own Ambition or the setting up of their Darling Common-wealth Whereas they say They are persuaded in their Consciences that the dangers they suggest are so eminent and pressing that there ought to be no delay of the best means in their power to secure the Kingdom against them We comfort our selves that they are no Prophets though 't is no hard matter to fore-tell what they do project if it be in their Power to effect it and that this is not the first time they have attempted very ill things if not out of Malice Ambition and Design to make the best on 't upon the account of an erroneous Conscience And whereas they say They are intrusted to advise and act for the preservation of his Majesty and the Kingdom We are satisfied that they are no farther intrusted by the Laws and Loyal Commons of England than may consist with their Duty and Allegiance that is no farther than the King shall please to require their Advice and allow them to act by his Direction or Consent Whereupon the so much Renowned Queen Elizabeth commanded the Speaker to tell the then House of Commons thus in her Majesties Name In the 35. of her Reign 1592. Townshend's Historical Collect. p. 63. It is in me and my power to call Parliaments and it is in my power to end and determine the same it is in my power to assent or dissent to any thing done in Parliament Consequently hereunto though they call this Association the best means that are in their power to secure the Kingdom we are well assured that it is not in their Power at all when the King forbids it Sed tantum possumus quod jure possumus and as in Reason and Justice in this Case he may and ought declares it a Design to subvert both his Prerogative and Government For to be plain with you in this detestable Contrivance which is here recommended under the specious Title of an Association every man of Sense may observe with half an Eye what the Hypocrisie and Subtilty of those ill men have projected to set up themselves upon the Ruins of the Royal Family the English Protestant Church and Nation For 1. To secure his Majesty's Sacred Person they 'll disband his Guards and remove his Faithful Ministers 2. To preserve his Royal State and Dignity they 'll cut off the Succession and banish his dear and only Brother out of his Dominions 3. To support his Crown they 'll usurp the Government into their own hands and turn it into a Military State of Sasety 4. For the Honour of their Country they 'll subvert that which to all Loyal Subjects and in the Estimation of all wise and sober persons is the happiest Monarchy under Heaven 5. That out Properties Laws and Liberties may be kept inviolable they 'll set up an Arbitrary Power and some Regiments of Janizaries to rule over us and make us Slaves to our Fellow-Subjects 6. To defend Religion they 'll not consult a Legal and Learned Convocation but they 'll lay aside the decent and distinctive Garment of the Minister they 'll take away the Cross in Baptism that ancient Badge of Catholick and Primitive Christianity they 'll abandon kneeling at the Sacrament with all external Adoration they 'll turn the Reverend Bishops out of the House of Lords and repeal those Acts by which Vniformity in the Worship and Service of God stands established and so destroy the Bulwark of the Reformation the best Protestant Church in Christendom All which Particulars here enumerated are the visible and avowed Designs of this Society and their Association To effect all this they 'll wrest the Sword out of the King's hands and appoint
him to be hector'd by them into an Approbation of their Fanatical Delusions But his Royal Highness is so well satisfied with the Church of England as by Law established that he professeth a great Kindness and Veneration for it for the very Loyalty remarkable in her Religion above all others and for that Reason upon all occasions he declares his Readiness to preserve and support it Nor have we only his Highness's bare Word or Resolution to relye upon his eminent Deeds are such a signal Exemplification hereof in Scotland that the Bishops of that Kingdom have made their Profession to my Lords Grace of Canterbury in these Words We should prove very defective in Duty and Gratitude if upon this occasion we should forget to acknowledge to your Grace how much this poor Church and our Order do owe to his Princely Care and Goodness Edenburgh March 9. 1682. that his Majesty and the worthy Bishops of England may from you receive the just Accounts thereof Since his Royal Highness's coming to this Kingdom we find our Case much chang'd to the better and our Church and Order which through the cunning and power of their Adversaries were exposed to extream hazard and contempt sensibly relieved and rescued which next to the watchful Providence of God that mercifully superintends his Church we can ascribe to nothing so much as to his Royal Highness's gracious owning and vigilant protection of us Vpon all occasions he gives fresh Instances of his eminent Zeal against the most unreasonable Schism which by renting threatens the Subversion of our Church and Religion and concerns himself as a Patron to us in all our publick and even personal Interests so that all men take notice of his signal Kindness to us and observe that he looks upon the Enemies of the Church as Adversaries to the Monarchy it self nor did we ever propose or offer to his Royal Highness any Rational Expedient which might conduce for the Relief or Security of the Church which he did not readily embrace and effectuate If Officers have been named and appointed by his Royal Highness none can blame it but such as have an Ambition to get that Power into their own hands And if it were lodged in the hands of these Associates would the hazard of the King's Person or of our Religion and Government be any whit less or less apparent Nay we have learn'd by sad Experience that the danger would be greater if their Ruine would not be inevitable But they say his Highness has created many and great Dependents upon him by his bestowing Offices and Preferments both in Church and State A great Crime doubtless in a Person that stands in that Relation the D. has to his Majesty The Church and State would be well served if all Offices and Preferments were at their Disposal which is that their Avarice and Ambition thirst and aim at But we hope his Highness has created no Dependents that is neither made choice of any Servants for himself nor recommended any Officers to the King but such as are according to the Standard of his Wise and Renowned Grandfather who adviseth his Son thus Choose such as come of a true and honest Race and have not had the house whereof they are descended Basilicon Doron p. 47. to 49. infected with Falshood such as come of a good and vertuous kind For 't is most certain that Vertue or Vice will oftentimes with the Heretage be transferred from the Parents to the Posterity and run on a Blood as the Proverb is the Sickness of the Mind becoming as kindly to some Races as these Sicknesses of the body that infect in the Seed The King advises further See they be of a good Fame and without Blemish and endued with such honest Qualities as are meet for such Offices as ye ordain them to serve in that your Judgment may be known in employing every Man according to his Gifts But here I must not forget to remember and according to my Fatherly Authority to charge you to prefer specially to your Service so many as have truly served me and are able for it trusting and advancing those farthest whom I found faithfullest So shall ye not only be best served but ye shall kyth your thankful Memory of your Father and procure the Blessing of these old Servants in not missing their old Master in you And as I wish you to kyth your constant Love towards them that I loved so to kyth in the same measure your constant Hatred to them that I hated I mean bring not home nor restore not such as ye find standing banished or fore-faulted by me for how can they be true to the Son that were false to the Father I hope that both his Majesty and his Royal Highness may follow this grave and sage Advice in the Choice of their Officers and Dependents whether design'd to serve in Church or State and then I am well assured that few of these Associators will hereafter be Candidates for Court-Preferments We shall see the Duke's great Fault at last will be only this That he is wise and valiant just and well-beloved steady to his Word and faithful to his Adherents but that which is worst of all in the Opinion of these Associates is That he is Presumptive Heir to the Crown and will suffer no Republican to pick out the Jewels or pluck off the Feathers of it But so long as he has so high an Affection and Respect for the King's Person and gives Countenance and Encouragement to none but such as are truly loyal and serviceable to his Majesty I hope 't will be no Crime in His Royal Highness to make much of such as own and espouse his Hereditary Interest after the King's Example While these men boast of their continual Endeavours to deliver his Majesty from the Councils and out of the Power of the Duke they do but upbraid the King as they did his Father of ever Blessed Memory of Weakness as not able to discern what belongs to his own Interest and Safety nor to distinguish betwixt his Friends and Enemies Under favour this is but a course Complement to his Majesty the Wise Man hath taught us a better Lesson Prov. 16.10 That a Divine Sentence is in the Lips of the King and his Mouth erreth not in Judgment Had it not been for this Holy Oracle we should have been many times surprised at the celebrated Prudence of his Majesties Conduct when the Case has been most difficult in turning our Disappointments into a Satisfaction Has not his Wisdom appeared to Admiration in stemming the Tyde and checking the Waves of Popular Rage and Fury when they seemed to threaten us with an Inundation Has he not taken the Seditious in their own Craftiness and made their own Tongues and Pens to fall upon themselves till they have been glad to take Sanctuary in an Ignoramus Jury That Parliaments have been unreasonably Prorogued and Dissolved is another of their specious Allegations
Officers of their own to levy discipline and conduct Forces how far they 'll be Mercenary we desire not to make experiment without his Majesty's Consent and to pursue to Destruction all such as shall oppose them And for all this we have not only their Lives and Fortunes engaged under their Hands and Seals but their solemn Promise Vow and Protestation in the Presence of Almighty God So that here is a Design and Train laid to act over again the same Scene of Treason and Rebellion which has once already and within our Memory turn'd this our flourishing Kingdom into an Aceldama and smothered the Glory of it in Confusion An Association this is so hypocritical in the Disguise so devilish in the Design and so destructive in the Tendency of it That what Knights or Et Caetera's soever they be that pretend to give it Countenance in the Front of it we are sure it could no more be subscrib'd or tendered to Subscription by Subjects that have any Sense or Conscience of their Duty than assented to by any Prince that has Regard to his own Prerogative or the Welfare of his People and the Church of God In a sad Resentment whereof we find that all Loyal Subjects do humbly protest their utter Abhorrence of the said Association with all other Plots Designs and Practices of the like Nature and we see also they resolve not only to deprecate them in their Litany wherein we beg Deliverance from all Sedition Privy Conspiracy and Rebellion but also to engage their Lives and Fortunes under his Majesty and his Lawful Successors to suppress them 'T is true as you observe the pretences of Zeal and Piety for Religion King and Country are too apt to gratifie the good meaning of some and to impose upon the weakness of others And I am not ignorant that such Insinuations have prevailed so far with many as to make them ready to submit their Necks to the same Yoke which gall'd us formerly and to become Slaves a second time to the Designs of Faction and the Lusts of their Fellow-Subjects But when a stupid Infatuation has prevailed with such easie men to put on the like Chains with their own hands we esteem it not the least of our happiness that 't is still in his Majesty's Power to knock them off and reprieve us from that Thraldom I tell you not my own single Sense but the Sense of all Loyal and Sober men that being taught by so late Experience that such as snatch at the Jewels of the Crown can never think themselves secure of that Booty till our Property becomes their Prey too as it was in the late Rebellion which began with an Association we are highly obliged to his Majesties Fatherly Care and Tenderness that he will not more suffer an Arbitrary Power to insult over his Subjects Liberty than to invade his own Prerogative And the Sense his Majesty is pleased to express of our sad Affliction or Bondage under the late Tyranny of Hypocritical Reformers gives us an assured Confidence that so Divine a Clemency as shines in him can never delight to hear us groan under the like oppressions And His Royal Word to secure us against the Attempts of it in others as well as against the practice of it in his own Dispensations is a Supersedeas to all our Doubts and Scruples upon that account And having the same Security for the full Fruition of our Religion in this Church established the most steady and inflexible Prop and Bulwark of the Throne which therefore makes it no less his Majesties Interest than his Obligation and Piety to support it we cannot conceive it in any Danger unless betray'd by a Latitudinarian Neutrality or our own froward Schisms and Dissentions And we should be secure enough in this point too if we could be timely awakened to consult our own Safety and unanimously agree to make the known Laws the Standard of our Duty as his Majesty has graciously resolved to make them the Rule of his own Government After such Agonies as we have conflicted with through the neglect hereof the concurrent Practise of this Rule would be the best Atonement of our Differences and the Ensurance of our Concord This would extinguish all our present Plots and prevent the Emergency of the like Projects for the future then the Kingdom would be setled in Peace the Church in Order and all sorts of men become conformable in a due Obedience Succession would be no more disputed the Government no more libell'd Loyalty no more defam'd nor the Dutiful persecuted by the Tongues or Pens of the Malicious the Pillow of the Crown would be no longer stuff'd with Thorus His Majesties Throne would become safe and easie his Sword victorious and his Royal Scepter had in Veneration And seeing His Majesty has even prevented our most early Addresses Peruse His Majesties Gracious Declaration in professing that to be his Royal Will and Resolution which should have been our Prayer and Option and having his Sacred Word published in the face of all Congregations before the Presence of the Almighty to secure All we can account dear to us there remains nothing for us to Act but the part of Loyal and Obedient Subjects to inable His Majesty to triumph in a serene Felicity maugre the petulant frowardness and treachery of all undermining Factions To this end our Gratitude and bounden Duty puts us under these several Obligations 1. To abandon those Fears and Jealousies which crafty and Designing-men whether out of Avarice or Ambition are wont to suggest and raise to poyson us with Discontents and bewitch us into Tumults 2. To reley upon His Majesties Royal Word His Princely Wisdom and Watchful Conduct to protect us in our Persons in our Laws in our Religion and Liberties 3. To assist His Majesty with due Supplies and the utmost Endeavours that the highest Loyalty and Affection can contribute to make his Reign Glorious 4. To exalt His Majesties Esteem and Grandeur that He may still be courted to hold the Balance and to establish the General Peace of Christendom 5. To make our Acknowledgments legible in our Practice by a Regular and Vniform Obedience and a hearty Compliance with all emergent Advantages that may promote his Ease and Royal Satisfaction 6. To supplicate on His Majesties behalf a long Life and a vigorous Health and a Divine Assistance that for the good of these Nations the thred of his precious Life upon which our Happiness so much depends may be twisted with all the Blessings of Heaven and Earth and drawn out in an even line of Contentment to the utmost extent and period Amen ISA. 8.12 13 14. Say ye not A Confederacy to all them to whom this People shall say A Confederacy neither fear ye their Fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts Himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread And he shall be for a Sanctuary FINIS