a Lye for commonly when we hear a Story delivered so many several wayes we suspend our belief and give no credit to it in General at all so that for ought we know Julian the Apostate may be living to this very hour nay Conversant as Nebuchadnezzar once among the Beasts with many worthy true Protestants and others here in England where having forgot the past glories of his Empire and contenting himself with the solitary pleasures of Brandy and Mundungus still preserving his name has Condescended to the humble office of transcribing and publishing dull Libels and Lampoons for worse fools to own then the blockheads that make e'm In the next place as to the usage of Julian's memory this precious Author has thought Convenient to write a whole Chapter how they that is to say by Gregory their representative in an Invective call'd him Herod Page the 63d Judas Traytor Murderer c. till after all they Lodged him in Hell and there they left him which I say was very charitably done and so farewel poor Julian Only I must desire to remind our Author of a mighty mistake he has made in matter of truth for whereas towards the begining of his Book page the 14th in the short account of Julian's Life he sayes that some of the Fathers write that he would suffer no Christian Masters to teach but make no mention at all of his forbidding the Youth to learn In this viz. the 7th Chapter and Page the 56th rather then lose the credit of a Miracle as he calls it he makes bold to give all those Fathers the Lye and declares That the News of Julian 's Death was Convey'd Page the 56th and 57th to some of the Christians by Miracle for there was a Christian School-Master at that time at Antioch and he being asked in derision what the Carpenter's Son was doing being fill'd with Divine Grace sayes our Author Another Popish Miracle of our true Protestant Authors reply'd He is making a Coffin A very heavenly Speech truly and the School-Master was a Wagg I 'l warrant him as well as a School-Master This is the Sum total of the Account our Author has given us of the Sence of the Primitive Christians about Julian's Succession and their behaviour towards him where I think it is sufficiently Evident That his whole drift and design has been as much as in him lay to strike at the very root of Christianity by exposing the weakness false dealing and ingratitude of a few intemperate Zealots under the name and title of Primitive Christians and chaâ—ging other principal Members of the Church at that time with no less Crimes then Witchcraft and Murder While Julian all along is represented the most Indulgent forbearing temperate and patient Prince that ever wink 't and turned aside at the Effrontive Insolencies of an unruly people whom his heart pity'd and that this was his drift will more largely appear in the following Chapter Being our Authors own reflexions upon the behaviour of these Christians and here indeed speaking for himself and not having occasion to Quote Gregory fo often we may more particularly distinguish the spirit of the Man for he cannot help shewing us his thoughts fairly and Page the 65th clearly upon the matter but sayes in the very first line of this Chapter and so onward for a whole leaf together which I shall epitomize as well as I can That Julian's persecution was but a Flea-biting to what the Christians formerly had felt that the case of the discarded School-masters Physitians and Souldiers was the greatest severity of all Julian's Edicts that Julian to speak properly was rather a Tempter then a Persecutor and one who wrought upon Mens Covetousness Ambition more then their fear and that whatsoever he ever designed against the Christians was far short of what other Emperors had executed Is not this an Apology for Julian now is not this making Page the 66th him the most equally dealing and Indulgent Prince that ever reigned if the Reader is not so satisfy'd let him but carry his Eyes a very little farther and observe how he treats and justifies those Christians and their proceedings For yet sayes he notwithstanding all this how do the Christians Treat this Emperor One would take them Page Ib. to be the Apostates one while reproaching him ruffling with him and vexing every vein in his Royal heart another while saying all their Prayers backward and calling down vengeance upon his head After that dancing and leaping for joy at his death and insulting over his memory but for the name of Christians he had better have fallen amongst Barbarians And yet sayes our Author farther he often would mildly put them in mind of their christianity too But they call him by the bloodiest names of the Devil for taking advantages of the Christian doctrine in this particular which sayes we must not avenge our Page the 67th selves nor render evil for evil c. Now let any unprejudiced Readers but peruse these two Characters seriously Viz. that first of Julian and this after it of the Christians and thence Judge who set this noble Author to work and the cause he writes for Judge which he has done the best service to by the feats of his triumphing Pen whether Christianity or Apostacy God or the Devil Nor ought his telling us that christianity was then the Established Religion of the Empire at all to prevail upon our belief till he bring better Arguments for it then those I before observed of the mighty number of Seven Thousand that did not bow the Knee to Baal Christianity was indeed a Tolerated Religion of the Empire increased and got strength under the Patronage and Protection of those Christian Emperors before Julian but that it was ever Constituted or Commanded by their Laws to be receiv'd as the universal Religion of their Dominions is a secret which I am afraid our Author's Learning will hardly yet a while from any Histories discover to the World For though those Emperors were Christians themselves we do not find from any thing at least that our Author informs us except we will take his own bare word for the matter that they ever began a general tirpation of Heathenism or Commanded universal Baptism over all their World They made no Laws for bringing Nations under the same Discipline of one Christian Church which had it been a Religion established by Law must and would certainly have been done But whether it were or were not signifies little or nothing to my present purpose it being only my design in these Remarques to let the World see how falsely they are dealt withal by a Scribler that pretends to write a Satyr upon an Apostate when he has taken all the care that 's possible to vindicate and defend him which as he has done sufficiently in contradicting the truth so has he been as Industrious for it in contadicting himself too for when he comes as
will needs Dispute with us about the conveniency or inconveniency of one let him first prove his Principle let him first shew us his Popish Successor and convince us demonstratively as in all Matters of Fact we ought to be that he is One and when that is allowed once we are content to joyn issue with him but in the mean time though apprehending the worst let us at the utmost but Pray against it not Rebel upon the pretence of it How foolishly a little farther has he thought himself very shrewd in citing the Example of a Man infected with the Plague how they are imprisoned and put under a very close Confinement when they have committed no Fault This indeed where an unhappy Man comes to be so Infected ought to be done for the good of the Town or Village But he is a very vile Christian That will give his Neighbour an ill Name and scandalize him with a dangerous Disease only on purpose to have his House shut up and a Mark set on him to make him odious to his fellow Citizens when at Bottom twenty to one but he 's an honester founder Man and fairer Dealer than his Accuser And that this has been the foul Practice used against the Duke of Tork no Man that reads our Author and his Brethren Pamphletteers of the same slamp but may be sufficiently satisfy'd How has he been Hunted and Halloo'd about the World by the cry of Villains roaring out against him Popery Plot Subversion of Government when their very top Rascal the Salamanchite himself swore upon his first Discovery That his Highness knew nothing of the Matter but if he could not be drawn over was to suffer the same Fate with his Brother Yet as Matters grew riper and riper Bills of Recusancy were to be prefer'd against him and the aforesaid Villain could swear through a Key-hole that was never transparent But how much greater Villains must they be that can basely unspirit themselves to Rake in the foul Excrements of Perjury for dirt to throw continually upon the Innocence of a Prince that may be half of 'em never saw and I am sure none of 'em were ever injur'd by What a shame it is that every Prossigate Rogue whose ill manners and leud life have made a Vagabond should be permitted with Impunity to arraign the Honour and precious Fame of a Prince that has Virtues enough to Attone for all the Sins of his Enemies nay and to do it nonsensically too fulsomly dully with hardly true English and no manner of right reasoning this is a grievance intollerable Let me if I must be defamed suffer by the Tongue or Pen of a Rascal that has at least some Common sence that may please me in some measure by his Wit when he offers at my ruin with his Falshood let not my Reputation be choakt up with the foul muddy defluxions of an undistinguishing crudeheaded Blockhead's Brains that shall make me sick with his Nonsence and only that way disable me from answering his Calumny In short as to our Author in hand it is very palpable from his Book that he is either according to vulgar Expression Very much a Knave or very much a Fool and truly upon considering his Writings I cannot well judge which of those qualities have the Predominancy for they are both very Powerful in his works the Records of his Virtues But I intend fairly to give the World an account what I have observ'd of those two Excellencies in him and leave the Reader to judge which Title he has best pretence to To proceed then Would any but a Knave of the highest form so far betray his Cause as to call those Primitive Christians who lived as I mentioned before in a very latter Century and had already the Heresie of Arrianism crept in amongst ' em or as he has done afterwards would boast of his Quotations that he had not impoverish'd the Subject when he has falsly corrupted it with Fictions of his own and added such silly Falshoods as no honest Man durst have done and any Scholar would have scorn'd This I shall prove in what 's to follow Again Who but as very a Knave would have wrote thus I cannot own my belief of this as a first Principle that the Laws of a Man's Countrey are the measures of all Civil Obedience I would fain be Informed might I be so bold as to offer the Question what it is our Author would obey if not the Laws of his Country How vilely does he Cant afterwards upon the Interpretation of Passive Obedience insinuating as if it were ever taught without regards to Laws for there is no Obedience understood in the World but what is Obedience to some Law or another All Obedience is to Authority But Power indeed and Authority may be abstracted and are in signification abstracted from each other Power in it self is despotick and unlimitable but when Law is added to it then it is softned into Authority and the yielding to it so qualify'd we call Civil Obedience but the yielding to the force of Power is not understood by the term of Obedience but that of Submission and we only submit when we no longer can resist but we obey when we no longer ought to do it Passive Submission is an Effect of Necessity but Passive Obedience is the Effect of Duty His example therefore of St. Paul is falsly instanced where he says he was not for Passive Obedience in that he pleaded and stood upon his Birthright for if it were his Birthright he stood upon that was the Law and by that Plea he refer'd and absolutely threw himself upon the Law which was as much Passive Obedience as the most Patient man could shew 'T is an endless Drudgery to answer the confused Cant of an ignorant mischievous Fool though we are bound to it in Charity to the Publick Tranquillity Again How foolishly has he taken the opportunity to tell us a Story of a Pursuivant sent illegally to Arrest the Body of a Man to appear before the Judges of an Assize which Pursuivant was killed in the Action and says he The Arrest afterwards was adjudged Tortius and by consequence the killing of the Pursuivant proved afterwards no Murder Now all I have to urge in answer to this is Let my Friend Mr. Topham have a care hereafter how he ventures too boldly into the Countrey to dragg up honest Gentlemen upon Arbitrary Votes that have no Authority out of the house they are made in What in the name of Nonsence does he mean by telling us in this place an Impertinent Story how the Church of England divides her Reverence betwixt the Ancient Fathers and the first Reformers of the Church What or who does he mean by those first Reformers I fear upon inquiring into the History of our Reformation I mean not that Written by a Noble Doctor that shall be Nameless but I mean That excellent History Written by a Nobleman of Honour viz. The Lord Herbert
of Cherbury we shall find the first Causes of our Reformation not so Religiously and Conscientiously grounded how good soever the Effect proved as it is convenient for us to believe they were I love and adhere to the Reformation as it is Established by Law withal my heart but I hate an Ignorant Fellow should with his slovenly Fingers once touch so pure so nice and so delicate a piece of Discipline and Gospel Perfection In the next place let us examine to what purpose he recites to us the Example of Mary Queen of Scots There are says he Worthies enough that were Excluders with a Witness Rhetorical Numphs Excluders with a Witness what an Expression is here This Grubstreet Vermin is a worthy Offe to write Comparisons of Popery and Paganism truly But let us see what Excluders with a Witness were they Oh says he such as were for Excluding Mary Queen of Scots not only from the Succession but out of the World I 'll warrant him he thinks he has nickt it here What relation has that Queens Case to ours She was under an Accusation of a Conspiracy against the Queen and the Government nor was ever such thing as a Bill of Exclusion against her thought of But this Case of hers has been a standing false Argument with all our Blockheadly Pamphletteers to this purpose these Three years And our present Author who loves Common places so well as to make a whole Book of them certainly could never miss this though I must beg leave to take notice to what purpose Not only from the Succession but out of the World How villainously would he here insinuate the Necessity of shedding more Royal Blood when this miserable Kingdom smells too rank of it already And for the Case even of that unhappy Queen It appeared to the eyes of all the World so horrid and prophane a Violation of the Rights of Majesty that the Memory öf it is an Odium upon us all over Christendom to this very day And for the musty Piece of a Journal which he is pleased to quote for the necessity of Cruelty and Bloodshed of a Writing as he styles it Intituled Reasons to prove the Queens Majesty bound in Conscience to proceed with Severity in this Case of the late Queen of Scots By his good leave I think it no Argument at all to the present purpose but the Writing it self Sir Sim. d'Ewes Journ in the quality of its matter Unchristian and in its manner boyish and frivolous foolishly Sophistical without any foundness of Reasoning or strength in Law It sayes in the first place Every good Prince ought by God's Commandment to punish even with Death all such as seek to seduce the People of God from his true Worship unto Superstition and Idolatry For that offence God hath always most grievously punished as committed against the first Table and to prove this they cite a Text of Scripture of Deut. 13. Now to make that Text of Scripture valid and of force to what we have in hand we must First have a Law of the Kingdom for the Punishment of Death in that Case Secondly That Law of the Kingdom must explain what this Idolatry is Thirdly After all it must be such an Idolatry as that Text of Scripture has express'd or else the Chapter is quoted to no purpose As to the first concerning a Law of the Kingdom for Punishment of Death in that Case I believe upon Examination we shall find none for as our Author has justly observed in another place that Law de Haeretico Comburendo is taken away Besides granting there were a Capital Law against the Idolatry mentioned in that Chapter I question yet to put the worst of the Case whether it would reach Popery or no for if we examine Verse the 6th of that Chapter we shall find the Idolatry there mentioned to be explain'd for the turning aside to serve other Gods which we have not known we nor our Fathers Now I never heard but that the Church of Rome served and adored the very same God that we do in the Trinity of Persons and Unity of the Godhead So that of this sort of Idolatry at least she does not appear to be guilty What other Kind for certainly there are different Kinds may be lay'd to her Charge I could wish some Ingenuous Conscientious and Honorable Divine would for the true Information of all honest and truely Religious Children of the Church of England fairly and candidly lay down and determine I am sure the canting falsifying and mis-interpretation of Scripture which such Fellows as the Author of this Libel and his Companions use to serve their Malice or other Ends in Seducing and Imposing upon the Ignorance of the Vulgar tend rather to the bringing Popery in Credit again than any thing else and if the Author of The Growth of Popery were alive to add to that Treatise I know not where he could raise a better Argument for his Theam than from those Scriblers that are suffered to pretend the defence of the best and truest Religion in the World by the falsest and worst Arguments that their Ignorance or Immorality can furnish them withal To be short this Libel against the Christian Religion this Julian the Apostate which has made so much noise in the World I mean amongst the Ignorant since its Publication is so far from being what it would pretend to be viz. An Argument against the D's Right of Succession that it is nothing but a downright Alarum to Rebellion for as an Alarum in War is nothing but a confused Noise and Rattling upon a Drum without any measure method or distinction so this Whole Book from one end to the other is only an indistinguishable lump of Sedition thrown out in a confused heap to amuze and glut the Vulgar withal without any Arguments raised from any principle or tending to any end except that of provoking our Swords into one anothers Bowels drowning our Fields in blood and overwhelming of our Peace for ever How foolishly does he tugg and heave at an Argument which his Brains want strength to set a going against that Popular one as he calls it of our Allegiance sworn to the King and his Lawful Heirs and Successors by telling us what some Lawyers that is to say of his own Set think of the Matter No Man can have an Heir while he himself is alive Which though I think I have confuted in the following Answer to the Tory Plot yet to come a little nearer him here If no Man can have an Heir while he himself is alive how came that distinction to be once urged in Parliament betwixt Heir Apparent and Heir Presumptive The Noble Gentleman that made it understood Law and I hope good Mr. Author you will not accuse so great an Oracle as he has been to your Party of Nonsence For if the King can have no Heir while he himselflives that telling the Duke how he was not Heir Apparent but Heir
the Fathers never knew or heard of such a Name as Gadbury why may be our Author will answer It is a fine thing to be florid with all my heart but has not our Author to his Power afterwards justify'd Julian's relyance on Astrology by telling us how St. Austin has fully exprest the Matter in few words saying That the same God who gave the Empire to a good Emperour gave it likewise to Julian so that for any thing I see the Gadburies were very Honest Gadburies and told him the truth at least how ill use soever he made of it I am sure he has proved Julian did not Usurp it as is said afterwards but that God gave it him Now to sum up this which we have examined all that I can find it visibly amount to is That our Author having a mind nothing should be credited of what he says in his Book against Julian the Apostate has taken the first opportunity to prove Gregory a Lyar and overthrow his Testimony that all the Quotations out of him which are almost the only or at least the most material ones he makes use of in the whole might be esteemed by the Reader of no force as coming from a prejudiced hand and one that in the very beginning had forfeited the Truth I think no man under a kind of Necessity as our Author has it to write against Julian in Publick could have treated him underhand more like a Friend Nay He almost dares bare-faced undertake it for after all this as if he feared we might believe there was something in the Matter to confute the whole he declares the very next Paragraph That the World knew nothing of this no nor the Emperour himself Just as if he would put it into our mouths to ask then how Theodoret Gregory and the Fathers came by the Story or did Julian trust them with it being Errant Christians and his particular Friends and so they kept it as a secret from the World and the Emperour lest it might spoil his Succession This will not agree with the following Chapter as we shall see by and by farther In short Matters as to this Point are much in the dark and I am almost at our Author 's own pass of what shall we do or what can we say All that I can think of it is that Nonsence Incoherency and a mired understanding are a just Judgment upon a Scribling Varlet that has no more Grace than to write against his Conscience The next Account we have of Julian is That being made Caesar by the Emperour and sent with an Army against some Northern Barbarians who had invaded France he proved very successful and routed the Enemy upon which having got the hearts of the Common Souldiers by giving them Money they declared hiâ— Emperour Now in all reasonable Conjecture those Souldiers might make him Emperour even against his Will or at least without his seeking For Constantius being a favourer of Arrianism and having Banished the Orthodox these Souldiers being as our Author plainly acknowledges Page the 8th Men Principled in the true Religion might do it for the Interest of that Truth in hopes he might recall the Orthodox as he afterwards did Nevertheless do but observe how he uses Gregory again upon this occasion for having done his best to prove him a Lyar before here he 's resolved to make him little better than a Fool too For says he Julian Marching with his Army towards Constantinople Gregory tells us Alas poor Gregory That his pretence was he came to excuse his being made Emperour but the truth was to wrest the Empire out of Constantius 's hands who thereupon waved his Persian Expedition and advanced with his Army to meet him but died by the way else Julian had paid for his Folly Now what is this but Covertly to insinuate to us how far Gregory was behind hand in the account of Common sense to think that so great a Captain as Julian was would venture to March with a new usurped Authority uncertain of the hearts of his Army which he says afterwards he found much difficulty to gain against a Potent Emperour confirm'd in his Authority beloved by his People and secure in the midst of the strength of his Empire What is this but secretly to call Gregory an Ass to think so and confirm the Sincerity of Julian's Obedience in that he came purposely as he indeed pretended to deliver up the Authority which he thought he could not hold without Dishonour what greater Panegyrick can a Parson make upon an Apostate Next says our Author Page the 8th Julian having called home the Orthodox Bishops whom Constantius Banish'd and thus settled himself in his Throne and made the Army sure to him he began to discover his Malice against the Christians Well but how I dare venture to loose odds if this double-dealing Deacon does not bring his Friend the Apostate off again presently Vous avez Page the 9 th He charged the People That they should Injure none of the Christians nor reproach them nor draw them to Sacrifice against their wills Was there ever so impudent a Fellow as this Chaplain of my Lord's Nay so very tender is he of Julian's Reputation in this Point that when he comes to speak of any ill usage which the Christians received He does all that possibly can be done to let us understand Julian had not any hand in the Bus'ness As for instances The Heathens says he ran about the streets and abused the Saints with Scurrility and Mockery and omitted no sort of reproachful and abusive Language Now this as our Author has ordered the matter is so far from reflecting upon Julian that it utterly clears him of the thing For he had before charged his People not to reproach them c. Nor will his pretence of telling us Julian connived at it serve his turn for it is well known Kings and Emperours in those times did not use so to trifle with their Government as to Command their People one thing and then suffer their Subjects to fly in the face of their Authority and commit Riots in spight of them But upon enquiry we shall find this worthy Author had a farther drift which was to expose Gregory for a Mad man as he had done before for a Fool and a Lyar. And he goes about it thus After having told us a Story how the Heathens and Christians used to rail at one another in Streets much like the Scolding of our Watermen upon the Thames till at last they came to blows in which the Christians came by the worst of it he proceeds to tell us a Story of one Cyril a Deacon that was killed for being a hot-headed over Zealous Fool at Heliopolis and breaking down many of the Images which were there worshipped Now I think the Deacon deserved to have his addled Brains beat out as they were for letting his Zeal transport him to the breach of the publick Peace and the Laws I am
at this high noon of Christianity for hanging up all zealous disturbers of the publick I am for hanging up those zealous true Protestants of an adjacent County that lately broke open a Church threw down the Communion-Table defaced the Altar because they thought it an abomination nay afterwards defiled the publick Vessel of Baptism tore the Bible the blessed word of God for the shameful use that followed But to what we proposed this story of Cynril is followed by another Page the 11th of Marcus Bishop of Arethusa who had thrown down a Temple that belonged to the Heathens and built a Christian Church in the stead of it upon which the people of Arethusa demanding of him to rebuild their Temple or pay a certain Summ of Money equivalent he refused and was killed for his pains nay our Author tells us they would have compounded with him for one piece of Gold but he said no. Now if this be true I do not think that this Bishop of Arethusa behaved himself like a conscientious or a wise Bishop For in the first place he had no right that impowered him to throw down the Temple at all and might Twenty to one have found many as convenient places to have built his Christian Church in as that was and have done the publick property no Injury neither Now it may be 't will be objected that it was the impulse of his Zeal to which I answer I am not for that Zeal that blows up Houses and demolishes Temples let the pretence be as plausible as it will we have had enough of such Zeal in England already to our sorrow and our shame This story our Author urges as instance of the persecution Christianity lay under at that time where I desire only the Reader to observe he has taken care not to make Julian appear in it at all he is all along very tenderly careful of Julians reputation and will rather make one of his Primitive Christian Bishops as he calls 'em appear a Fool or a Mad-man then urge any thing that may reflect too closely upon his favourite Apostate But for his old acquaintance Gregory to make him as I said before as much a Mad-man as is possible though he cites this instance of Marcus for an example of cruelty and injustice he tells us Page the 12th Gregory was of opinion and he calls it a sharp saying of him that Marcus justly suffered all this and deserved to have suffered a great deal more for that he once saved Julian Methinks now Gregory had a very odd Notion of Justice according to this Argument but the truth of the matter is that he is mightily beholding to our Author through his whole book upon all occasions But now to close this short account which he gives us of the Life of Julian I desire the Reader to observe if any thing could be more elaborate to raise an Argument in his praise then our Author has been For whereas he urges and Quotes one Socrates for it too how Julian by a Law commanded that the Children of Christians should have no Schooling or Education lest by this advantage they might be better able to oppose the disputants of the Gentiles Page the 14th To oppose and utterly refute this Charge against him he cites Julian Page the 14th himself declaring Juliani Ep. 42. It would be an unjust thing to barr Children which knew not which way to turn themselves from the right way and saying expresly that their Children were not prohibited But mark the subtilty of the Man how craftily he couches this Apology for Julian by saying who would send their Children to Heathen Masters where they should be principled in Heathenism And that this Liberty forsooth was one of Julians Traps wherein consisted the true spirit of his persecution Now durst our Author have spoken out I fancy he would have told us Ah Beloved Julian 't is true was an Apostate but indeed a moral man and a very merciful Prince he persecuted the Christians t is true but how Ah Beloved not with Constables and Militia-men disturbing their Conventicles not by a Statute of the 35th of Elizabeth he persecuted them by Indulgency by Liberty of Conscience My Beloved 't was in that consisted the true spirit of Julians persecution Julian was a merciful Persecutor but c. Nothing is plainer if meaning be to be gathered out of words then that this was our Authors drift in what he delivers us concerning the Apostate how wide soever he pretends to fly and squeek from the matter the Lapwings Nest is not where the noise is made yet he has not so closely cover'd his cheat neither but that a discerning eye may easily discover what I observed before in the beginning of these remarkes that his whole book from one end to the other is but a defence of Paganism and an Apology for Apostacy Thus I have done with this short account of Julians life wherein I think I have sufficiently discovered and made appear that our Author has been much his friend and recounâ—…d nothing that Julian has done setting aside his Apostacy to render his Character odious to any charitable Reader or to charge him with the least persecution of Christianity through his whole Government though I should not have taken this way of answering such a Book or perhaps not medled with it at all But that the vile seditious design and villanous of it provoked me to expose the Ignorance and Folly of an Arrogant Dunce that would needs be wasting Ink and Paper without a common portion of Logick to argue from any principle or raise though we should be so civil to grant what he knows not how to propose the least reasonable consequence The whole Book being but a few chew'd scraps and mammocks of Gregories cholerick invectives which perhaps he had better have set alone then ever published and certainly would have done so had he foreseen what a ridiculous use such a little greecling as this Scribler would have made of them But because the little peevish insect would fain by its buzz insinuate into the world that this Impertinent Collection may in some measure bear a Parallel with the present case of a Prince whom I will not dishonour so much as to name upon an occasion so unworthy his meanest consideration I have taken upon me for the rectifying and disabusing of the understandings of a great many poor deluded people that I am informed have been led away by the speciousness of the pretence without considering the weight of the argument to wash off the Guelt from this shining piece of Nonsence shew the vile unvaluable dross it is composed of and let them see what a Knave they have to deal with for putting such false Metal upon them and what a Fool he was too that could counterfeit the Stamp and Coyn of sence and honesty no better And to this end I shall proceed in the Examination of his Second Chapter which he calls
advantage according as it is delivered by our Author I hope our Author will be so ingenuous the next time he has occasion to appear in Print upon the behalf of Paganism as fairly to throw off the Hypocrites Cloak declare to us freely how much he is an Apostates humble Servant and tell us whose Chaplain he is And thus it begins Valentinian being a concealed Christian Collonel of Horse under the Apostate Julian and waiting upon his Master once in a Procession to the Temple of Page the 39th Fortune The Chaplains stood on both sides of the Doors cleansing with sprinklings those that entered in But when Collonel Valentinian saw this Holy Water coming near his Cloaths he struck the Chaplain with his Fist Page the 40th saying It would not cleanse but defile him Now all I can discover out of this first part of the Story is that Valentinian may be was a very spruce Collonel and did not love to have his Embroider'd Coat used too familiarly For example suppose even at home here in our little England nay at Whitehall an Officer newly having bought his Place going upon his Duty with a fine Beaver Hat and a dainty unfully'd white Feather in it this Hat cockt too à la Francois and under it a Perruque essenced and Curled in defiance to the smell of Match behind him under his Chin an exquisite Crevat made up as dext'rously as if he had done it himself by his own great Rules of Fortification adorned moreover with a strutting String that shews the exact Diameter of the Hero's Physiognomy Upon his Martial Body a more Martial Coat Round his fine Wast a heavy Scarff that loads his feeble bending Loins and by his doughty jetting strutting Side a little pretty short Sword that would not hurt a Worm Suppose him thus with all his fierte about him Marching in Querpo for the defence of the Court and the terrour of its slovenly Enemies and grant some Brewer's Dray just rumbling by the frothy matter working from the Bungholes of the Barrels and at every jolt squirting as wonderfully as Sir S's Engine grant too that some of it by accident might Contaminate the outside and better part of this Noble Commander ought not a well-drest Centurion upon this occasion to exert himself shew his Indignation of new Ale and Value for new Clothes Oh but our Author will tell me there is difference between the sprinklings of holy Water and spoutings of Yeast If he does I confess he will be in the right and Valentinian was but an impudent unmannerly fellow to offer such an act of Violence in the presence of his Emperour and against the Sacred Person for so the Government then esteemed them of a Priest in the Performance of his Office But to proceed what said Julian to all this Why Julian seeing what passed sent him away to a Garrison lying by a Desart or as our Author quotes St. Austin for the purpose turn'd him out of the Guards Now all I can discover out of this second Part of the Story is that when this sawcy Companion had flown in his Master's face Page the 41st he turn'd him fairly out of his place but gave him no leave to sell So that making Money of ill Manners was not in fashion at Julian's Court. Nor can Valentinian's being a Christian and Zealous against the Idolatry of the Pagans in any manner excuse him for if his Conscience was too squeamish for his Employment he ought honestly to have quitted his Command and so have avoided the occasion of either consenting to those Superstitious Idolatrous Ceremonies or committing a rude Irreverent act in the Presence and against the Dignity of his Prince his known Pleasure and his Lawes For it is false which our Author in several places of his Book endeavours to insinuate That Christianity at that time was the Established Religion of the Empire For the Empire at that time being Universal and of all the World it cannot be imagined that Christianity then but in it's Infancy could already have prevailed so far as to be confirmed by the general Law of the World when even in these our times so many Ages since it has much ado to keep the little ground it has gotten within the narrow bounds of Europe the least fourth Part of that Empire which he sayes it was Established in Nay if we look but backward to the 8th page in the first Chapter we shall find our Author himself Acknowledging and still Quoting Gregory for it too that of all this Established Religion there was indeed above 7000 left that did not bow the Knee to Baal A Mighty Number to Establish the Religion of the World withal No I am afraid the Religion according to Law at that time was the Religion of the Emperour and when Valentinian Broke the Laws by affronting of it Julian according to our observation in the beginning of this Chapter did like a Just Prince to punish him Yet like a Merciful Prince to punish him so mildly Like a Prudent Prince never farther to Employ or Trust him Yet like a Temperate Ruler too to Qualify the Passions that probably so great a provocation might raise in him with knowing well how to apply the Vertue and Authority of his Laws And this Praise I think our Author has taken a great deal of pains to give him by telling the World the Story of Valentinian The next Instance is how old Gregory of Nazianzum our Author's Friend Gregory's Father deny'd Entrance to a Captain of Archers sent by Page the 41st the Emperour to take possession of a Church upon which the Officer withdrew I suppose according to his Orders too Now all I can gather from hence is The old Bishop being refractory the Emperour in pity proceeded with no farther Violence against him for it cannot be supposed that Julian could want force had he pleased to have taken the Fortress Oh but sayes our Author Examine Gregory 's Funeral Speech upon his Father's Death and you shall find that had not Julian got out of the Old Gentleman's way he might have gone away Kickt Tho this if truly Quoted sounds to me rather like a Braggadochio of Gregory for the honour of his Father then any thing else For I cannot believe that an Emperour would go himself in person to storm a poor old doating decrepit Bishop out of a little Parish Church yet our Author is very positive in the point and sayes He had much a do to refrain making Soloecisms in the Greek to avoid the greater Soloecism of An Emperour of the World awed and terrify'd with the fear of a Kicking This we are to understand is a merry Page the 43d Conceit But our Author who loves to be sure gives us a Comment of a certain Metropolitan of Crete upon the place which being too long to recite here the Reader at his leisure may peruse where he will find mention of the Captain of those Archers indeed but if
delighted him that he was sorry when he was taken off from the Rack Quis haec recitando temperet à Risu Now all I say to this is that one Miracle may be as good as another and if this be true I know not why we should doubt of St. Dennis's Carrying his head so far as it is said he did after it was cut quite off or a great many others which when ever they fit his humour of scribling I suppose our Author won't boggle at delivering for Orthodox for all his Comparison between Popery and Paganism As for Old Mrs. Publia when she received chastisement for her insolence to the Emperour Odds fish she shew'd her self a Woman of spirit and Page the 49th gave him as good as he brought ay marry did she she shot at him sayes our Author Well but how did she shoot at him why she ply'd him with her small shot of Spiritual Songs as she us'd to do And this is a very hopeful account of our Author's Fifth Chapter concerning the Devotions of the Christians namely how a few Mad-men and an Old Woman turned the Praises of God into Curses upon the Emperour For which indeed we are told a Story of one Theodorus's being rack't for it but with a Popish Lye tack't to the end of it that we might be sure not to believe it for it is the only instance of Julian's Cruelty we have hitherto met with through the whole Book and our Author had spoyl'd his main * Viz. The Apology for his Apostare design if he had not seasoned it with an improbability which he was morally certain no body could give credit to And thus in the next place we shall survey his Sixth Chapter and what he sayes concerning their Prayers and Tears And truly upon the strictest Enquiry I could make I cannot find that Page the 52d he sayes any thing of them at all He recites indeed several fragments of Devotions penned in the Plural number as if they had been the Prayers of Page the 53d Congregations but tells us afterwards how Gregory sayes they were his former Thoughts and Cryes to God So that sayes our Author himself it is possible they were his own private Devotions but concludes however very Learnedly from thence That it is evident the publick Devotions of the Christians ran in the same strain Now how it is evident because they were Gregory's private Devotions that therefore they must be the Publick Prayers of the Church too I cannot for my heart discover But the Scribler has all along a particular way of arguing which I perceive satisfies himself how much soever in the dark it leaves his Readers And all that I can find for my life that this Chapter amounts to is that it was thought to be much for old Gregory's honour that he helpt to Pray Julian to death whence all the conclusion I can raise is That our Author has done his utmost to make Page the 40th Gregory's Prayers no other then like the Enchantments of a Witch for Praying People to death is at best but a holyer kind of Witchcraft and if our Author thinks to bring that Practice into fashion in these our dayes of Devotion I would not give him nine pence for his Project for I am confident the secret of it is Quite lost and irrecoverable And dare swear referring my self were it possible to all the Bills of Mortality for these 600 Years and upwards that there has not been one man Pray'd to death since the Conquest This perhaps some men may think a bold Proposition but I 'll stand to it And more then that upon examining the Seventh Chapter how Julian came by his End I 'l hold an even wager he was not Pray'd to death neither For says our Author in the very first Paragraph of this Chapter After Julian had Reigned about Nineteen Months being in Persia and his Army Page the 56th suddenly attaqued by the Enemy he made such hast from place to place to Relieve those Troops which were most hotly Engaged that he forgot his Armour and while he thus exposed himself was struck with a Horseman's Spear which pierced his side and stuck in the bottom of his Liver of which Wound about Midnight he dyed So that by this it is apparent he was not Prayed to death whatever our Author was pleased to say before but is very remarkable through the whole Book that he generally has a way of changing his Opinion with his Chapter neither do we find in any Histories mention made that Julian vomited any crooked Pins or Needles or Balls of hair before he dyed which if old Gregory and Madam Publia had bewitched and pray'd him to death he must certainly have done Yet let not any one think that I too forcibly detort and wrest the sence of our Author here for he sayes himself Page the 66th That these Christians sometimes said all their Prayers backward to fetch down Vengeance upon his head Which according to the Opinion of Learned Writers upon that Subject is a great part and ceremony used in the Enchantments of Witches But are we sure after all this that Julian was killed by the Dart of a Persian No for sayes our Author One Callistus who was then in Julian 's Page the 59th Service and has given us the History of that War sayes it was a Daemon that did it Now this I must Confess is apt to lead ones opinion back again and make a man believe there was a little Incantation and Sorcery used in the business but I am resolved to the Contrary and let our Author do his Worst he shall never root it in my faith that two such Eminent Primitive Christians as Old Gregory of Nazianzum and Publia the Mother of an Antiochian Bishop would give their Souls to the Devil for the destruction of any Body Besides the Prince of Darkness our Author may know I believe is a Politick Prince and would not easily be wheadled withal to destroy one who was in a way of doing him such Service as Julian might have done by utterly extirpating the Religion of Salvation and giving Hell title to all the Souls of Mankind In few words as to this Chapter concerning Julian's death I defy any any body who is not otherwayes satisfy'd of the matter to make any right judgment out of it what manner of death he dy'd or whether indeed he ever dy'd at all for first Mr. Author tells us he was killed by a Dart from a Persian Horseman then he tells us that it was not a Persian who did it but a certain Devil incognito that rode Volunteer in the Army o' purpose And last of all to Confound and Entangle the matter utterly tells us how one Libanius a Sophist Insinuates in his Writings That Page the 60th he who kill'd Julian was a Christian Now according to the common weight of reports the main of the thing it self upon the whole matter may be
sayes the Page Ib. Gentleman farther if he does not persecute Hereticks with fire and sword he lyes at the Popes Mercy to have his Kingdom taken away from him Indeed Mr. Author and that 's a very weighty Consideration But do you think in your Conscience that he will part with it so Truly a deep foresight into politick Consequences is a great blessing to one that is to write much upon Supposes Though if a man might be so bold as to put in a word with you really it seems unto me Noble Sir Poll. that you do please to speak of more then need be done for if you dare to Engage this Popish Successor after you have established your Interest by your project from bringing in his Religion to let us poor Protestants live in Peace and Quietness as I believe you may I 'l Engage the Pope shall be very favourable to him and for a very small Quit-Rent let him keep the Copyhold of his Kingdom Bless us how things will be managed when the Reader of Covent Garden comes to be a primiere Minister and I Ambassadour Extraordinary to his Holiness but till that time comes I can foresee no fear of a Popish Persecution nor very great danger of the Popes disposing of these Three Kingdoms Well but what are we to think now if as our Author sayes into the Page Ib. bargain that besides the danger of being dethroned by the Pope if he does not persecute Protestants he runs also the hazard of being served as the Two Henry 's of France were Why truly nothing is Impossible but we hope it is not altogether so probable that a King should be stabb'd in a Protestant Country for not persecuting its Religion let him keep the Enemies of the Church from hurting the Protestants and certainly the Protestants will be able to keep their Enemies from hurting of him or the Pope from taking away his Kingdom either 100000 Protestants will be too hard for all the Pope's Bulls in Christendom This Policy I believe Any Successor let his private Perswasion be what it will may find very necessary in England and Twenty to One be wise enough to practise it too for Henry the Fourth of France it is very observable was not Kill'd by Ravillac till he left the Protestant Religion and encouraged Popery had he kept it under still and Establish'd the Reformed above it it is an even wager but he might have dy'd in his Bed and been gather'd to his Fathers in Peace Besides it is not absurd to imagine that it was not so much an Ecclesiastical as a Temporal Policy which sent the Villanous Dagger to that Brave Prince's Heart But our Author has indeed a most extraordinary Rule of Policy of his own and we may perceive it plainly enough by that which follows For says he Let things fall as they will though some persons may be so happy as to think he will not persecute yet every body must grant that he may persecute that the thing is Possible Now from this hour Thou most Confounded Author do I declare Immortal enmity with thee nor will ever be Ambassadour to the Pope nor shalt thou be ever a Minister of State It is possible in the Devil's name that a Popish Successor may persecute And is this the Mouse that thy Mountain of a Book has brought forth at last and ought a Bill of Exclusion to pass for this because Thou say'st it is possible that a Popish Successor may persecute hadst Thou stuck to thy first Argument That our Religion can never be in a condition of Persecution but by our own Treachery to it in parting with those good Laws which protect it and in agreeing to such as shall destroy it hadst Thou kept to that Foundation thou mightest indeed have raised some discourse of Reason but that the possibility that an evil may happen is sufficient for any reasonable men to raise their fears of it upon or a lawful cause to use unnatural and unequal means to prevent it is an opinion I would gladly see thee put in practice It is not impossible but that thou mayest come to be a Slave in the Turkish Galleys one day and compelled to live a wretched painful life for several miserable years together why dost thou not generously hang thy self for a remedy against it for such an accident may happen to thee the thing is possible Or if since it is possible that a Popish Successor may persecute that it would be therefore just and reasonable to exclude him why thou vile blunderer it is possible too if that be all that a Protestant Successor may persecute as well as a Popish one that a Protestant Successor may turn Papist it is possible that the best Prince may change his Nature and turn a Tyrant neither of these accidents but are possible in Nature so by thy Argument all Heirs to the Crown ought to be therefore Excluded and no more Kings reign over us because 't is possible they may one way or other prove persecutors I am very much afraid indeed that 's the vile false consequence thou wouldest dispute for But to come closer to thee in thy rule of possibility it is not impossible but that such a Parliament may come as to Vote a Bill for the rooting out of our Religion and Establishing Popery or a Worse in its place were it therefore reasonable to pass a Law that never any more Parliaments should Sit in England nay as thou hast stated it it really carries the more specious pretence of danger of the two for it being impossible that our Religion in its lawful Establishment can be peaceably altered if any way by any other means then an Act of Parliament the King too being but one man and the Parliament many it is more reasonable that the opinions of the many should sway the will or inclination of one then that the will of one should over-rule the opinions and inclinations of the many since therefore it is impossible that any Successor can lawfully violate the Protestant Religion but by the concurrence and consent of a Parliament All thy Argument amounts to is Take away Parliaments and our Religion in law is safe For ever the Nation is beholding to thee for thy parts and by the service thou art fit to do the State by thy Policy we may guess what the Church may hope from thy Divinity Well but after all sayes our Author Since it is possible that a Popish Successor may persecute it is even high time that we look about us and see what we have to trust to The Gospel doth not so much as allow any means when we cannot escape by Flight betwixt denying and dying for the Earth Well but by what Law must we dye By none sayes our Author that I know but Parasites Sycophants and Murderers may Now I dare venture to hold this Author of ours Fifty pound to a shilling that amongst all his Noble acquaintaince there is not
out of it and I hope Hang'd too and all I humbly conceive no breach of Privilege neither But our Noble Author to shew how fit an Advocate he is for his Party will needs be at it and Juggle in his very Preface which should be his Apology None shall be questioned out of Parliament for any thing spoken or transacted in it That is None shall be liable to the Law for what he says in Parliament provided he keep the bounds of Privilege which I humbly conceive is limited notwithstanding the late new started Doctrines That they are the only Judges of it themselves why else do they desire the Continuation of their Privileges every new Sessions by their Speaker The King is the Judge of those Provileges then for how can any Man grant what is fitting that is not suppos'd the Judge what is so Though therefore none be liable to the Law for what he says in Parliament provided he keep the bounds of Priviledge yet I hope any Corporation that sends up a Member to Serve for them in Parliament being sensible that that Member has abus'd or not discharg'd his Trust by proceeding unwarrantably in his Station running into a faction to do nothing the King desires of them to vex him with Bills for Dis-inheriting a dearest Brother with a thousand other Contrivances to perplex the good of the Kingdom and Embroil rather than Settle it I hope such a Corporation in an honest sence how they have been misrepresented by the Servant that they have sent to the King may have liberty to censure the Proceedings of such an unfaithful Servant and to Vindicate themselves too by any humble Address to His Majesty to assert their constant and loyal Adherence to his Government and if need be Abhorrence of any Transactions either of their own Servant or any else that would grow their Master tending to the Disturbance or Dissolution of it Oh But have a care says the Preface a little farther when His Majesty shall say to those dry Bones Live and they shall stand upon their feet they will be the fittest to declare their resentments c. Now do but mark this facetious Gentleman rather than lose his Jest what will he not do Just now he was Pleading the reverence and deference due to the Memory of the Parliament and here he scurrilously calls â—â—m a Company of dry Bones can there be any thing more Prophane than that the dry Bones of a dead Carcass commonly stink in the Nostrils of the living a very civil Metaphor and a great Complement to the Representatives of a Nation truly Oh but look to it they will be fittest to declare their resentments I hope it will never come to that that we of the Country who send up Members to Serve for us in the great Convocation of the Kingdom shall stand in awe of the Power we trust 'em withal I hope they are to sit there for our good and our peace not for our terror But more of this hereafter And now To the first part of his Pamphlet let us see how far he has proved the rise growth and discovery of a Popish Plot Have at it He sayes If the declaration of the common or publick Judgment be not a competent ground for us to settle our belief upon he knowes not what can be suppos'd to be for if ever the King be infallible he would the readiliest expect him to be so when he has the concurrent Advice and Consent of the whole Nation Nay he sayes there is infinitely greater cause for conforming our belief to the Opinion of the King Lords and Commons in a matter of fact throughly examin'd then to obey the Lawes they make To this I answer That King Lords and Commons are not nor can be infallible As they are Men they are liable to errors and may be deceived in matters of Opinion by the imperfections of their humane Nature in matters of fact by the false Informations of Perjur'd and profligate Villains who are to swear for bread and have no longer hopes to eat then their Evidence is useful For could any Government or Authority upon Earth be Infallible one might as well as another and Consequently our Author would make a good Argument for the Church of Rome and the Pope in Cathedrà may with as much reason pretend to be Infallible as any Prince in Christendom in his Senate I hope our Pamphleteer is a better Protestant then this Argument amounts to Granting then that King Lords and Commons are not Infallible he has not yet by his argument prov'd the rise growth and discovery of a Popish Plott But now he comes to supposing well let us see what he supposes Supposing sayes he that the aforesaid Resolves and Proclamations were not made nor issued without the maturest deliberation and fullest assurance of the truth of those Testimonies and Evidence that occasioned them it cannot be reputed too great credulity to believe that Popery was to be introduced by those Means and Methods that the Discoverers of the Plott attested very good Here he supposes that the aforesaid Resolves and Proclamations were not without the fullest assurance of the truth of the Evidence and yet not three lines farther he tells us that as to Scotland and Ireland in which the Design was laid as well as in England Affairs have been so managed that it is still as to us kept in a great manner secret Was then that Vote of the House of Commons that there was a Popish Plott in Ireland as well as here made upon the maturest deliberation and fullest assurance when affairs have been so managed that it is yet a Secret why was this Fellow trusted with Pen and Ink Well but now look too 't now let us look about us He has been but tuning his Instrument all this while now he 's resolv'd to tickle it away indeed as for Example Old sturdy England being as he sayes a Nation alwayes Jealous of their Rights and Liberties it was despaired that she would be wheedled to put on the Roman Yoke and therefore there was no hopes of bringing that about but by force The Author of this Book must be some Jesuited bewhiggify'd and privy to all their Councels he could never give so round an account what they thought else And now sayes he there wanted a plausible pretence to get up an Army Politick Worm and therefore that we may Epitomize his long-winded Impertinent story he tells us there was a Sham War propos'd with the French and the Parliament induc't to comply with the design he makes a very Worthy Parliament of it the mean while For if a Sham-War were to be impos'd upon the Nation he makes the Parliaments as guilty of the Imposture as any Minister of State he would pretend to blacken Then he goes on how An Army of 30000 men was appointed to be raised and a Tax levied for their Pay Well and they were pay'd as far as the Tax would go and what harm