Appearances And what then on God's Name makes them talk over and over and tell the World of the manifest Justice and apparent Righteousness of their Cause when according to their own Account of it it carries the Face and Appearance of Guilt For as I take it manifest Righteousness and seeming Unrighteousness is a manifest Contradiction And what makes them clamour so furiously against the Jacobites for seeing the Revolution by such a Light which they own it hath the Seeming and Appearance of Or for thinking of Things in such a manner which they themselves say they may be thought capable of However the Doctor would have done but honestly if he had told us the Grounds of these Faces and Appearances and what are the Reasons why this Action is liable to Censure and capable of hard Constructions And then the Reader would have judged whether it was only seeming and apparent or real and in truth But he durst not trust his Reader with telling him That these Reasons were drawn from the common Principles of human Nature the constant Tenor and Declaration of Christianity the particular Direction of the Fifth and of the Tenth Commandment Now 't is a little too much for any Man but the Doctor to call the notorious and persevering Violation of all and every one of these meer Faces and Appearances and seemingly Censurable and I doubt so long as the Sense of these remain in the World it will not only be thought capable of hard Constructions but incapable of any other However the Doctor further tells us p. 93. That she saw that not only her own Reputation might suffer by it but that Religion too might be concerned in those Reproaches that she was to look for How can that be Sir according to the magnificent Character that you and the rest of you have given of it heretofore For when you made it the Subject of your flattering Sermons you used to extol it as the greatest most glorious and pious Action that eâ—er was And I hope such Actions as these have no bad Influence either upon Reputation or Religion but the clean contrary so that if she her self had such a Sense of it it is plain she did not believe you but took her Sentiments from better Instructors and from the Principles of that Religion she was Educated in And this you confirm as much as you can when you immediately add This was much more to her than all the Crowns could offer instead of it Now Sir I hope you do not intend to perswade the World That she valued the Opinion or Reproaches of the Jacobites more than the Crown that therefore these Sentiments were raised not from particular and accidental Consideration but from the Nature of the Thing and the general Sense of Mankind about it The Action in its own Nature was neither Reputable nor Righteous and consequently would reflect both upon her Reputation and her Religion For 't is impossible for any Man to think That doing a Thing highly Reputable will endanger Reputation but advance it That performing an Action of heroick Vertue and Piety will reproach Religion but bring an Honour to it So that at last the Doctor hath made a fair Commendation and said much in justification of his Cause by acquainting us that she her self had no very good Opinion of it as seeing that both her own Reputation and the Credit of Religion might suffer by it And this is yet further confirm'd by the Representation he makes of her intolerable Grief and Agonies That she made a Sacrifice of her self in accepting that Elevation which perhaps was harder for her to bear than if she had been made a Sacrifice in the seuerest Sense that the Concealment of her Sorrow was more sensible and violent to her than any Thing that could have been wished her by the most enraged and virulent of all her Enemies p. 96. Now as to the Truth of this I will not dispute with the Doctor if any Man has a mind to believe it upon his bare Word he may do as he please But it was a hard Case that all the flattering Sermons she frequently heard and the daily Converse she had with such Men could give her no ease However if this was the Case it is sure no extraordinary proof of the wonderful Glory and Blessedness of the Cause Men do not use to live under eternal Crucifixions and Mortifications for doing the best Actions in the World I doubt the Path was not so plain and clear but there were Rubs in the way which could not fairly be got over the Duty to Parents and the Injustice of taking what is none of our own are Points that will not easily be weather'd And if as the Doctor says this mighty Sorrow arose from the Duty she bore to her Father there was no other way in the World to relieve her and give her true Quiet but by shewing that either she was was wholy absolved from that Duty or that this Action was consistent with it But neither of these could be done And this is a Point that always hath and always will lye upon their hands and they never spoke one Word to it to give her solid Peace in the time of her Life nor to clear her from the Imputation after her Death But as then so now they are all for telling flattering and daubing Stories and rambling from the true and direct Question which they dare not touch with one of their Fingers Just as the Doctor here p. 32. That the publick Good of Mankind the Preservation of Religion and those real Extremities to which Matters were driven ought to supersede all other Considerations Yes I suppose to supersede the Fifth Commandment and natural Duty and common Justice At this rate a Man may rob and murther or do any Thing to preserve Religion if Matters are come to Extremity For I would fain see a Reason why the same Occasions would not supersede all the Commandments as well as one of them The Doctor goes on She had generous Notions of the Liberty of human Nature and the Ends of Government which was designed to make Mankind happy and safe and not to raise Power upon the Ruins of Property and Liberty nor could she think that Religion was to be delivered up to the Humours of misguided Princes Very good Sir but are there no Notions in the World besides the Notions of the Liberty of human Nature Sure the Notions of the Obligations and Restreints of human Nature are as considerable and deserve as much to be comply'd with and no Man can justify the vindicating the Liberty of human Nature to others by destroying the Restreints of it that God hath laid upon our selves And as I take it 't is no very honest Method for a Man to set himself or others free by knocking his Father on the Head Let the Ends of Government be what they will the Ends of Filial Piety and commutative Justice are every way as Sacred and ought
can with such assuming and reiterated Boldness apply these very Expressions to magnify a mortal Man and him none of the best in the World which our Saviour himself us'd with respect to his own Person But Flattery hath no Bounds and there is nothing so Sacred but must be press'd to serve it and 't is yet worse by many Degrees to translate them to such a Cause in which there is not one tittle of Grammatical Truth even abstracted from the Sacredness of the Expressions themselves For Greater is a Term of Comparison And greater than who is here Why Greater than the French King And are not you now abundantly satisfied that these Men will speak nothing but plain and evident Truth in their Sermons He may say it and say it as often as he please but there is not one single Man on the Earth who believes it nor does he believe it himself And especially as he hath laid the Comparison for to make his own Heroe greater than him he hath made the French King greater than in truth he is For how Great do you think this Prince is Thus you have it from the Doctor himself ibid. p. 2. 8. seq A mighty Prince who hath in Perfection all the Advantages who in the Opinion of some hath passed for many Years for the most Politick and Powerful and Richest Monarch that hath appearâ—d in these Parts of the World for many Ageâ— who has Govern'd his Affairs by the deepest and steddiest Councels and most refin'd Wisdom of this World A Prince Mighty and Powerful in his Preparations for War Formidable for his vast and well disciplinâ—d Armies and for his great Naval Force and who hath brought the Art of War almost to that Perfection as to be able to Conquer and do his Business without Fighting a Mystery hardly known to former Age and Generations And all this Skill and Strength United under One absolute Will Who commands the Estates of all his Subjects and of all his Conquests which hath furnished him with an almost inexhaustible Treasure and Revenue Perhaps Sir you think your self at Paris and this Gentleman is flattering and abusing the French King as he does his own Master But you are very much Mistaken for this is for noâ—hing else but to bring in Four or Five Words Behold a Greater is here That is more Politick Powerful and Rich than the most Politick most Powerful and Richest Monarch in these parts of the World And so it seems his Councels are deeper than the deepest steddier than the steddiest and so forth Well this is great indeed who would have thought it But there is one Thing a little more Natural and that is Conquering without Fighting This Art our Heroe must learn For 't is most certain that he must Conquer that way or not at all for he never yet was able to Conquer with Fighting However when Men are for Comparisons they had as good do it to some Purpose And when his Hand was in he might have made him greater than all the Superlatives in the World wiser than the Wisest better than the Best more righteous than the Justest and humbler than Humility it self For this might have been as soon said and as true as the rest And in truth he offers very fairly for saith he And who hath made it the great study and endeavour of his Life to imitate these Divine Perfections as far as the Imperfection of human Nature in this mortal State will admit and one who never said or did an insolent Thing And now is it possible for any Man to expose such nauseous and rank Flattery spoken to a Man's Face and printed by SPECIAL COMMAND and which the Sermon and Publication is a direct and full Confutation of For a Man of clear and steddy Vertue can never have the Patience to hear himself thus daub'd over and much less to Authorize and Command the sending his own undue and immoderate Praises round about the Kingdom I do not know what Notions some Men may have of Modesty or whether they think it a Christian Vertue However certainly it very well becomes Divines and the Pulpit And when they give themselves up to lash out in this manner whether they advance other Mens Characters to be sure they reproach themselves and become the Scorn and Indignation of every wise and sober Man A flattering Buffoon is a ridiculous mean and contemptible Creature but a flattering Divine stinks above Ground and is nothing but Filth Mire and Dunghil sending forth â—umes to choak and pollute the most Sacred Places and Exercises I do not deny but there may be made tolerable use of Flattery it self in such Cases when Men are too big and too untractable for plain and down-right Admonition and Reproof perhaps in such Cases it may not be amiss for other Persons besides Divines and for other Places besides the Pulpit to come at them as well as they can and enter by that Door which is open For Instance possibly it might not be altogether unuseful to tell a Great Prince That he was the Flower of Majesty the Splendor of the Crown and the Fountain of all Princely Vertues For that in the first place being himself of the Race of Great Kings and born to inherit the Throne of Three flourishing Kingdoms he took no illegal and unnatural Steps to possess himself before the time but stay'd till God and Nature and the Laws had with all the Fairness in the World put the Crown upon his Head A Prince of that great Meekness and Humility that a Throne was no Temptation to him noâ— couâ—d he be prevail'd to accept one that was not his Birthright tho offered him by the greatest Importunity by those who had the most unquestionable Right to dispose of it Of that inflexible Justice that a Flaw or a Doubt will make him startle and he looks upon those as the worst of Enemies who would perswade him to any Thing that is not infinitely clear in Point of Right Of that tender Filial Piety that being incorporated by Marriage into a Royal Family he Honoured his Wifes Father as his own and has done him no more harm than he would have done to his own dear Natural Parents upon the same Opportunities One who hath such a mighty Veneration for Truth that he scorns to slander a Turk and much less his own Uncle or Father that consequently he hath made good and punctually proved every Word of his Revolutional Declaration especially relating to the Prince of W. by a thousand Witnesses A Prince in fine of that Zeal for Religion that he is mindful of all the TEN COMMANDMENTS but hath an especial Regard to the FIFTH the NINTH and the TENTH What need I speak of his Military Vertues when by his pure Wisdom and Conduct he hath saved whole Armies Bag and Baggage and all or of his Personal Valour who always scorn'd to turn his Back upon any Enemies and especially the Puny and Cowardly French but hath
magnify and advance that Interest as much on the other hand but both very shameless and you shall have a Touch of both I. Their goodly Method of Disparaging and Reproaching And this perhaps you may think foreign to the present Matter which concerns their Praising and Commending Faculty But however this though it seems the contrary Extream is in Truth not so wide of the Mark but like Lines drawn from the contrary Sides of a Circle centers in the very same Point For besides that these were designed for Shadows to set off the Picture they are shewing There are some Men in the World who have not one fair Quality to be commended and a Man cannot honestly say one good Word of them and yet it is necessary for our purpose that they should be commended and that very highly too And what is to be done in such a Case Why when you cannot do it directly you must go obliquely to your Matter and that must be done by Comparison which hath no positive Excellency of it self to admit of it As for Instance If I was to commend a Hawk and in particular for its Mildness Mercifulness Compassion That it is a Sweet-natur'd Bird and a great Benefactor Now to say this directly and without any more ado would look a little Scurvily and Men would not easily swallow such a Character of a Bird of Prey But then you must go to work artificially and tell them There is a terrible and rapacious Eagle that hath Talons as long as one's Arm and will swoop up a whole Flock at once and then your Hawk may look like a pretty and lovely Fowl and the Liberty and Property of the Birds are in a hopeful Condition though he eats Three or Four of them at a Breakfast and pulls all the Feathers from the Backs of the rest Now Sir according to this Method if you have a Mind to see the Character of a Great Prince thus it is in plain English (a) Dr. Sherlock before the Queen June 17. 1691. Great Oppressor Antichristian Tyranny and Powers and one who invades and usurps upon the Liberties of Europe This is in short but if you will have it enlarg'd take it as follows (b) Dr. Tillotson before the King and Queen Oct. 6. 1692. The Pride of all his Glory hath been stain'd by Tyranny and Oppression by Injustice and Cruelty by enlarging his Dominions without Right I pray mark that and by making War upon his Neighbours without Reason or even Colour or Provocation And this in a more barbarous Manner than the most barbarous Nations ever did carrying Fire and Desolation wheresoever he went and laying waste many and great Cities without Necessity and without Pity This is pretty well but you may have it again in other Words thus That (c) Dr. Patrick before the King and Queen Ap. 16. 1690. Grand Oppressor who hath endeavoured to exalt his Nation by nothing but Fraud and Forgery Perfidiousness and Perjury by breaking his Faith and violating Leagues and Solemn Treaties by Wrong and Robbery nay by the utmost degree of Cruelty and Barbarity This haughty Oppressor I say who hath ruin'd many other Countries as well as his own hath highly affronted the Divine Majesty as well as abused all Mankind with whom they had to do Who have been so Atheistical as to advance themselves by all manner of Falshood and Treachery Injustice and Cruelty having mock'd at those Vertues Truth and Honesty c. Once more and then I have done (d) Mr. Fleetwood before the L. Mayor Apr. 11. 1692. Who does not descend to treat Embassadors villanously but their Masters deals with them all as Vassals or as Children does not cut off their Garments to the middle but divests them of the Whole with mighty Scorn and Insolence and cuts not off their Beards but pares them to the Quick Is not at War with all his Neighbours only but with Faith and Honour Truth and Justice and Religion who knows no distinction betwixt Right and Wrong One in a Word That hath almost all the ill Qualities of all the Ancient and Renown'd Sons of Violence without the Shadow of their Vertues or Pretence to any of their Merits These Sir you must needs confess to be very high and extraordinary Flights and cannot chuse but operate and subdue our Faculties and entirely Perswade us But here I know you will ask And Perswade us to what Why that we in England are infinitely Happy and Easy That we know no Want Poverty or Calamity That those who have got the Government are the most Merciful Just and Righteous Persons in the World For thus you must interpret their Words or you mistake the Preachers Now this perhaps may be very Rhetorical but Rhetorick is a very dull Thing to perswade a Man contrary to what he feels Sure these Men think they have got an Ascendant over our Senses as well as our Consciences As if our real Oppressions and Miseries were nothing at all or were transmuted into Glories Bounties and Benefactions because forsooth there are a People on this side the Line who are more oppressed and miserable Just as if you should preach to a Man who hath his Fingers and Toes cut off That he must not Complain nor does he feel any Pain because there is a Man on the other side of the Water who cuts off Men's Legs or Heads Or just as if I should tell you That your Neighbour Lunt and his Tutor A. S. are the honestest People in the World for that there is one T. O. who hath swore through an Inch Board and Evidenc'd I know not how many to the Gallows which the other only design'd and by great Misfortune were not able to effect Alas Sir real and positive Mischiefs will not diminish into Nothing nor change their Natures by all the Degrees of Comparison and Wickedness is Wickedness let the Comparison be what it will And therefore suppose that all that these Men say were true most of which is notwithstanding false What is that to us We have Miseries enough at home without crossing the Seas and looking into other Countries What do they tell us of the Furies and Scorpions of France when we have in England too many Snakes and Vipers that suck our Blood and sting us to Death Let the French King be as great an Usurper as these Men would have him then that is the worse for him but never the better for us who have Usurpation enough nearer hand to make all our Hearts ake We know our own Oppressions and feel them sufficiently And 't is a pleasant Business to plaister us oâ—er with an idle Tale out of the Pulpit of Cannibals and Blood-suckers in the World of the Moon But since these Gentlemen are for the Terms of Comparison if you please we will follow them in their own way and I am very much mistaken if their own Methods does not turn upon them and fly directly in their Faces and those amiable
Company of Foul-mouth'd Theologues of prostitute Consciences to recreate him once a Week with all the nauseous Scum and Filth they are able to rake together and then puts his own Stamp upon it and publishes it to the Kingdom by SPECIAL COMMAND which is the same Thing as if he had said it himself For though the Sermon or Words are not his the Publication is and he becomes a Party to all the opprobrious Expressions by whose particular and immediate Authority they are Printed and made Publick That is These Gentlemen say all these vile Things to him and he speaks them to all the Kingdom Now Sir what Resentment do you think this Preachment would meet at the hands of the French King I shall not undertake to answer that Question but this I can tell you That if he have no more Generosity nor Princely Vertues than other People the Preacher would certainly be made a Bishop or at least a Dean Thus much for the Character they give of a Great Prince but there are other People of an inferior Rank that they have an aking Tooth at some call them Jacobites and others Non Jurors But here they are as hard put to it as ever Men were they would be glad with all their Hearts that the People should have an ill Opinion of them but then they do not know how to bring it to pass They have the same good Will but there is some difference in the Subject The French King is a great way off and they think the People will rather believe them than trouble themselves to take a long Journey to disprove them But these Men live among us and their Principles and Practices are well known and therefore they cannot be so copious on this Subject However you shall hear what they do say and besides some few canting Expressions as Some amongst us and Kind Friends to the Liberties of Europe as Dr. Sherlock hath it which perhaps may pass for Jibes oâ— Jests but sure they do not expect that the very lowest of the People should take them for Aâ—guments oâ— Proofs All the rest is comprehended in what follows The First is The paucity of their Numbers This is the common Topick and runs through them all and yet there is not one of them but knows full well that this means nothing at all That Truth was never tryed by Polâ—ing and telling of Noses that Numbers were never any Evidence of a Good Cause As if the Doctrines of Religion and Points of Câ—nscience were to be measur'd like Armies by the Strength of their Numbers At this rate the Alcoran will vye with the Gospel and Turcism will be not only better than Popery as Father T. hath it but even than Christianity it self This therefore is nothing else but Cheating and Deluding the People instead of Informing and Instructing them And they are hard put to it sure when to save their own Credit and to blast others they are forced so frequently to inculcate such an Argument which they themselves in their own Consciences if they have any know to be none at all The next is That as they are few so those few are blind and cannot see Providence as Dr. Tilâ—â—â—on hath it * Sermon before the King and Queen Octob 27. 1692. God has of late visibly made bare his Arm in our behalf though some are still so blind and obstinate that they will not see it And here we have got another Turkish Argument Since these Gentlemen can find no Reasons for their purpose in the Bible but however if Mahomet has any they will never want For if Providence be an Argument the Great Turk will be better able to plead it from the Foundation of that Religion than any or all the Christians in the World For I am very sure Christianity never got Footing in any Kingdom by Dispossessing or Rebelling against the Lawful Governors let them be of what Religion they would but by the contrary Methods of Patience and Suffering And therefore we honestly confess That we cannot See that the long Sword is a Christian Argument nor fit to be made use of by any but Infidels Our Author himself but eight Lines before says That meer Success is certainly one of the worst Arguments in the World of a Good Cause So it seems we are so very Blind that we cannot See the worst Argument in the World to be the very best And if that be our Fault I doubt we shall never mend it till we get not only their Spectacles but their Consciences too But if Successes be an Argument so very bad What is it that these Gentlemen would have us to See We are not so very Blind but we See the Successes they talk on We See Usurpation in the place of Right and we See God's Hand in this too in sending Afflictions and Punishments upon a Protestant People for their Rebellion and Apostacy We See further that they have a very bad Argument to manage and they affront the Divine Providence as well as abuse the People by perpetually infusing into the illiterate Multitude such Arguments which themselves acknowledg to be the worst in the World Our Author indeed tells us ib. p 32. That the Cause must first be manifestly Just before Success can be an Argument of God's Favour to it and Approbation of it Now 't is certain that every Cause that is manifestly Just hath Godâ—s Favour and Approbation whether that Cause hath external Success or no or whether the Persons engaged in it be prospered by Divine Providence which makes it as clear as the Light that the Distinction is to be made not from Providence and outward Successes but from the Justice of the Cause And the Oppressed notwithstanding all the Harangues these Men make of visible Providences may be far more Righteous than their Oppressors And I am very certain that this Man who thus accuses us of Blindness for not seeing of Providences hath not said one single Word to convince us or any rational Man of the Justice of his Cause and much less of the manifest Justice of it And all that he does say you have in those two Hypothetical Propositions as it immediately follows If the Cause of true Religion and the necessary Defence of it against a false and idolatrous Worship be a good Cause ours is so Again If the Vindication of the common Liberties of Mankind against Tyranny and Oppression be a goood Cause ours is so This is what our Author offers to make his Cause appear manifestly Just and in truth all that he offers on that Head And yet both his Propositions are notoriously and scandalously False For you must know that by the necessary Defence of Religion he does not mean a Defence by the Words of Truth and Soberness by Meekness Patience and Suffering which were the Defences of the fiâ—st Christians but a Defence of Swords and Guns a Defence by Arms which is pure and perfect Alcoran and the Doctâ—in of the
to be a Few but they must also be most unworthy unthankful in not considering the large and ample Benefactions bestowed upon them by taking away from the Clergy their Preferments and Livelihoods and from the Laity their Places and Employments and for the additional Favour of paying double Taxes One would think such Obligations as these should make the hardest among them a little more Sensible and Thankful Archbishop Sancroft I doubt was one of the ungratefullest Men in the World for not taking Notice of the great Kindness Dr. John Tillotson did him in Usuping his Place and Turning him out of his House and Home Was there ever such ungrateful Men heard of That when there is such mighty Care taken to oblige them in this Manner and to win them and yet they are so Peevish Stubborn and Obstinate That they will neither Swear nor keep Fasts or Thanksgivings nor make Addresses to stand by with their Lives and Fortunes Upon the whole therefore I find these Jacobites are a very odd Sort of Folks For first of all They are Few in Number Secondly They are Blind and cannot see Providences nor contradict themselves and forsake their Principles as fast as other People And last of all They are wretchedly Ungrateful in being so very Foolish as not to take the most real Injuries and Oppressions for the highest Obligations and Kindnesses in the World And thus I have shewed you their Satyr and Invectives the next Branch of their Eloquence is Panegyrick in which indeed they are not so Large and Copious but full out as Fulsom and void of Truth I shall give you but an Instance or two but by them you may judg of all the rest Now Sir if you purpose to lay down a Foundation for future Greatness you must be Wise and begin betimes and never stick at Flattering the Person you intend to rise by whatever his Merits or Performances are for this shews your Inclination as well as Ability to serve a Cause Thus for Instance you must tell the People at a Thanksgiving Sermon That * Dr. Tillotson at Lincolns Inn Jan. 31. 1688. This is the most illustrious House of Nassau and Orange which God hath so highly honoured above all the Families of the Earth to give a Check to the Two aspiring Monarchs of the West and bold Attemptors upon the Liberties of Europe To the One in the last Age and to the Other in the present As if the Princes of this valiant and victorious Line had been of the Race of Hercules born to rescue Mankind from Oppression and to quell Monsters How do you like this Sir It is thick and palpable and you may even feel it Such Stuff-might do pretty well in a Recorder's Speech or from the Mouth of an Archeâ— or a Killigrew but from a Plump Divine and out of the Pulpit too 't is abominably nauseous and turns the Stomach Had he told that this Family had a Hand in the Revolutions of Europe and fought or run away as they found Occasion Somebody or other might have believed it but as he has laid it 't is meer Bounce and incredible Rhoâ—omantade and in truth he plainly Banters his Heroe What harm hath this illustrious Family done him to be reproach'd by him at this Rate Had he nothing else to abuse them with but Hercules's and Monsters and being Honoured above all the Families of the Earth Commend me to the Nonconformist Woman as the honester Preacher of the Two who being desirous to see a Great Prince and being informed which was he lift up her Hands with Admiration and cried out Good Lord What great Things God can do by such contemptible Means But this as it is gross Flattery so it is so very exact and punctual Flattery as not to have one Word of Truth For this Illustrious House of Nassau as illustrious as it is has never yet been so far honoured to check the King of Spain in the last Age nor the French King in this And as I take it there is some difference between Quelling Monsters and Breeding them It is true the King of Spain was sufficiently check'd and quell'd in the last Age but this great Work was a little too illustrious for the Nassau's or any of their Family It was the famous Queen Elizabeth who put a stop to the growth of that Monarch by the Destruction of the Invincible Armada and by several famous Expeditions into Spain it self and in good truth the Nassau's and the poor distressed States had been probably swallowed up by that Monarch had it not been for the powerful Assistance both of Men and Money which She gave them And what I wonder made him forget Queen Elizabeth in a Case so glaring and clear that all the World knows it Why Queen Elizabeth had a long time been Dead and Buried and to celebrate the Grave though it be far the honester and more generous way yet it is but a cold Business and will never edify In the mean time if he had not thought fit to be so just to her Memory as to make an honourable mention of her in a Case in which she made such a mighty Figure he might however have been so just to Truth as not to have wrong'd her by ascribing that Honour to another which was peculiarly her own And especially by ascribing it to such a Person who was himself forced to take Shelter under her Protection and whose then and future Greatness was in a great Measure if not altogether owing to her And just such another Piece of Truth is the Second Branch of quelling the French King in this Age I suppose by taking of Mâ—ns Namur Charleroy and the two Battels of Steenkirk and Landen these are terrible Instances of his being quell'd and crush'd for ever and what he must expect when such illustrious Families and the Race of Hercules undertakes him But I must do this Author Right all these Things have been done since he Preached and Published his Sermon And therefore you are not to understand this as History and matter of Fact but this checking and quelling is Visionary and Prophetick Language expressing not what was done but what would be done hereafter In the mean time this Gentleman is very unlucky at telling of Fortunes he had better have left this Province to his Friend St. A ph who possibly might have found Something in the Revelations but all that I shall observe is That there is a great difference between Prophesy and Flattery the one is always true the other never The next Thing you may take Notice of is usher'd in with these Words * Dr. Tillotson before the King and Queen Octob. 6. 1692. Behold a Greater than He is here And that his Auditory might be sure not to mistake him he adds eight Lines after I say Behold a Greater than He is here Which in the first Place is a very Scandalous Use of Scripture Expressions which shews what Reverence they have when they
their Hands of it They must grow Wiser once more and write new Cases of Allegiance and give some new Reasons for all the old Ones do it as plain as Words can do And if this be a Sign of great and implacable Enmity they must have the Honour among them for let them Pray and Preach and Swear never so much I defy all the Jacobites in Europe to charge her with more Faults on that account than they have done themselves And in truth even in their funeral Sermons where they have endeavoured to speak the best they are able They mention it so gingerly that any Man may see they knew not what to say to it nor how to let it alone which is the next Thing I am to observe to you Viz. 2. When they mention her taking the Crown they do it so nicely and in such a Manner as plainly shews That they think it requires an Excuse and Apology and will not admit of a Justification Dr. Sherlock says p. 13. She was always grieved at the Occasion of taking the Government and as glad to Resign it And again p. 15. She ascended the Throne indeed before she desired it but was thrust into it not by an hasty Ambition but to save a sinking Church and Kingdom I shall leave every Man to believe the Truth of this as he pleases but this strongly proves that the Doctor thought there was something in the Wind which wanted his Rhetorick to make the best of it which yet with all his Skill he is not able to clear up but hath left a black Mark upon it and stain'd it with great and evident Signs of Suspicion For let the Occasion be what it will let there be grief or no grief Men do not use to be very glad to resign any Thing and much less a Throne which they fairly and honestly come by and if she was so joyful to resign the Crown as this Gentleman would make us believe I doubt it will prove a Sign that she her self thought she could not very innocently wear it But to whom I pray was she so glad to resign it Why to her Father And if this was the Case Why did not she first Consult him and try whether there were any fair ways to save the Church and Kingdom and preserve the Crown upon her Father's Head This would have sav'd her Father and the Church and Kingdom too and moreover would have saved her the Trouble of that terrible grief the Doctor talks on Or why did not she afterwards when he had lain some Years in Exile and Affliction which must needs augment her grief if she had any before or any Spark of Duty to a tender Parent endeavour to compose the Differences and Distractions and reconcile her Father to his Subjects and his Subjects to him to gratify her joy and put an End to her grief But this joy is a very fruitless and unactive Passion and serves to talk on in funeral Sermons but is good for nothing at all besides And I perceive meer grief and aversion and no desire operate more strongly than all the Joy in the World Nay it seems those wonderful Passions operate the clean contrary way as every Thing else does in Usurpation For according to the Doctor she was grieved and had no desire to take the Crown and yet she took it and kept it she was glad to resign it and made not the least step towards it It seems these Scepters and Crowns are nothing but Mortification from one end to the other the Occasion was grief the Desire to take it none at all and to be depriv'd of it the only Comfort left in such Cases the joy of resigning it is very lamentable And I wonder these Gentlemen forgot to tell us of her Five Years severe Tryal and Affliction and her incredible Patience under them For in good truth as grievous as they were she bore them handsomely and the most critical and piercing Eye could see nothing outwardly but the greatest Gaiety Pleasure and Complacency imaginable But perhaps the grief might be the greater being kept within and because no body could perceive it The next Thing the Doctor tells us is That she was Thrust into it This is a Metaphor and means it was by Compulsion and against her Will. So that we are still upon the diminishing Point but this is an Apology with a Reflection in the Belly of it For if the matter had been clearly and manifestly Just what need is there of such thrusting and force Do Men offer violence to their Faculties when they do a very fair and honest Action or as some call it a very great and glorious One Well but she was thrust into it to Save a sinking Church and Kingdom And suppose that That is at the best but a good End and if the Means be not as good as the End the Action is stark nought and the Doctor knows well enough There was a Person who thrust out his Hand to save the Ark but because he had no Authority it cost him his Life and by the immediate Judgment of God himself Princes perhaps may mistake themselves and think themselves qualified to save Churches and Kingdoms but if they so far mistake as to thrust themselves through the Bowels of their Parents to do this I doubt they take a very wrong Course And all the Savings he can think on will not justify the Violation of the Laws of God Nature and Nations The Doctor therefore ought first to have proved at least to have said whether he could prove it or no That it is very lawful for one Prince to seize and Patrimony and Inheritance of another That 't is very lawful for Children to turn their Parents out of Doors and take their Revenues to themselves That 't is very lawful to stigmatize and brand an Infant Prince as supposititious contrary to their own Knowledge and then it was time enough to talk of Ends and Designs which no body knows but themselves whatever the Pretences may be to bring about those Ends. For let them have as many Ends as they will the Laws of God and Nature are too Sacred and Inviolable to be broken for any Ends let them be good or bad plain or mysterious and no Man can honestly do it to save himself and much less to save other Folks And this is fine Doctrine for the Pulpit and Funeral Sermons A Man may take another Man's Estate for the Good of the Tenants and a Child may trample on the Neck of his Father and send him a Begging for the Benefit of the Family However this shews that the Doctor is in great Perplexity he would fain say something but cannot tell what He hath raised an Objection and leaves it just as he found it Implacable Enemies had no other Fault to charge her with but her Throne To let Implacable and Enemies alone as being out of the Question it is certain that Fault she was charged with and by them