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
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
may be recommended from the Pulpit as a great Examplar of all Vertue Perfection and Excellence and preached up into Heaven by a whole Sett of Divines without the least guard on this Head or any manner of direction concerning it I doubt rebellious Children will infer for themselves and think they may merit abundance of Praise too and go to Heaven at last although they allow themselves in a visible and standing Breach of a plain and necessary Duty For if unnatural Disobedience be no Impeachment to one Man's Vertue neither is it to another's and God hath not given the Fifth Commandment to common People only and left Princes to their own Liberty in the matter And in good truth these Gentlemen have been such faithful Stewards as to do their best to pray and preach all natural Duty out of the World And therefore The second is To Caution all Men from hence to be very careful how they join with encourage support or commend directly or by consequence any Disobedience to Parents lest the Fate of rebellious Children be derived to them and they also shorten their own Days and bring themselves to an untimely End For 't is a rul'd Case whosoever is Accessary to the Guilt is Accessary to the Punishment too One Man 's personal Vices become another Man 's by his Consent and Approbation and much more by his Applauding and Encouraging them How large and wide therefore this Crime of Filial Disobedience reaches I shall not need to determine so far as this Consent extends to particular Persons the Guilt is Personal and so far as it is National the Guilt also is National and the Threatning and Judgment is also as large and as extensive as the Guilt And there is a Shortning the Days of a Nation as well as of particular Persons by cutting them off from being no more a People or by divesting them of their Ancient Government Constitution Privileges Laws and Franchises which is in truth making them another Nation than they were before and of another Polity I pray God divert his Judgments both from particular Persons and from the whole Nation and give all Men Wisdom to take early Warning by particular Examples that by a timely Repentance they may prevent the Execution of those Threatnings which apparently hang over our Heads and are the declar'd Consequences and Effects of our present Actions For there is nothing more plain than that this Nation hath notoriously violated the Fifth Commandment upon all Accounts upon which it can be violated both in an unjust Rebellion against the Civil Parent and withal at the same time abetting and supporting an unparallel'd Disobedience against the Natural Parent But to return to Providence There are some Circumstances yet to be observ'd particularly as to Time and especially if we shall follow these Gentlemen in their Method of reading and interpreting of Providence and how much such Observations will come home to them you may see by this one Instance of Dr. Tillotson * Thanksgiving Sermon 1688. p. 30. Our wonderful Deliverance says he from the formidable Spanish Invasion designed against us happen'd in the Year 1588. And now just a hundred Years after the very same Year and at the same Season of the Year this last great Deliverance came to us That horrid Gun-powder Conspiracy without President and without Parallel was designed to have been executed upon the Fifth Day of November the same Day upon which his Highness the Prince of Orange Landed the Forces here in England which he brought hither for our rescue And the very same you may find in Dr. Burnet and others mentioning it with mighty Triumph as a Divine Seal and Testimony to their Cause Now Sir if you please turn your Eyes to the Case before us and you will find That the Princess sickned was invaded by a mortal Distemper and struggled with the Grief and Pangs of it in the same Month Days and Moments in the which her Father but Six Years before laboured under the Agonies of an unnatural Invasion and Rebellion That she died the same Month almost the same Day of the Month but the very same Hour of the Day on which her Father was forced into Exile for he withdrew himself from Rochester about One in the Morning And to this you may add That the exposing her Corps to publick View and lying in State happens to be in the same Month of February in which she and her Husband were proclaimed in publick King and Queen And to compleat the Parallel One great Reason if not the only Reason of the delay to this Month was for that the Purple the Royal Colours to adorn the Solemnity was expected from Holland And I doubt not but a critical and curious Observer will find That every remarkable Moment in her Sickness Death Funeral Pomp and Funeral it self will answer to so many several Steps made in the Revolution How far such Things as these are Argumentative either from the Nature of Things the Observations of Men or the ordinary Methods of Divine Providences I shall not now enquire Only I am certain This is Argumentum ad Hominem and these Gentlemen who have used it themselves and with such great Assurance too can never Except against it For if Years and Seasons of the Year and such like are Things so observable as from thence to point out a Determination of the Divine Will or to signify God's Approbation or Dislike here we have them all even to Months and Hours with an Accumulation of Circumstances and their own Arguments turn upon them with this great Advantage That for Days in which Men are to perform any remarkable Actions they are frequently in their own Choice and Fatalists who are Superstitious Observers of Times and Seasons will be sure to pitch upon such Days as they think or have observ'd to be fortunate to them But Death is out of our Choice and Power 't is the peculiar Stroke of God himself Cromwel gain'd two famous and fortunate Victories on the 3d of Sept. but he died on that Day too and all his Hopes were blasted and an End put to his Usurpation which not only eternally confuâ—eâ— all the bold and blasphemous Arguments drawn for him from Providence and Success but turn'd the Edge of them directly upon themselves III. The last Thing I shall observe to you is The Excursion the Doctor makes in Memory of an old Friend of his p. 16. seq This old Friend you must know is Dr. Tillotson between whom and the Doctor it seems were very great Endearments although after the Revolution there might be for some time a Misunderstanding which the Doctor out of his Generosity can forget and if other People would forget it too it would never be the worse for him But even at the same time the distance was not so wide as some People thought for there was another Friend of his and who was Friend to them both who all along kept up the Amity