Poor and left little or no Estate but a most honorable Memory behind him Our Nobility then were of the Old English Stock and it was their Glory then as in ancient Times with a generous Emulation to venture their Persons and employ their Estates for the Service of their King and Country And our Commons then and in ancient Times thought it matter of Duty and Fidelity as well as their Right to take notice of the Miscarriages even of our Kings themselves and to inform them thereof and assert the Rights of their Country against all Invasions and Encroachments The base dishonest no less than dishonorable Arts of packing of Parliaments and corrupting the Publick Trustees of the Nation and false Pretences for cheating the People of their Money were then unknown But what was freely given was as freely remitted if the Occasion ceased Nor was the Publick Revenue then wasted upon Parasites and Flatterers insatiable Cormorants or in excessive Salaries and Pensions to maintain Luxury and Impiety Nor was the Trade then known of Purchasing the Votes of the Rabble with Ale and Roast-Beef and then exposing them for Sale for Pensions Offices or other Gratuities But the Publick Good the Honor and Honorable Service of the Prince and the Honor Service and Prosperity of their Country was the common Study and Ambition of all and the Favor and Blessing of God was with them But her Successors being Persons of mean Spirit forsaking their Dependence upon the Supreme Governor of the World and flying to and taking up with no less deceitful than dishonest Tricks of Craft instead of the more manly and more christian Prudence of the most Generous and most Prosperous of their Predecessors attracted People of agreeable Dispositions from all parts of the Nation and fill'd the Court first and at last our Parliaments too with this base and degenerate Brood no less pernicious to the Kings themselves than to the People and whole Kingdom Whose Loyalty is only Flattery and Tricks and Knavery their greatest Policy having little Sense of Providence and as little of true Humanity will sell their Country to serve their Prince and their Prince to serve themselves A generation more ambitious of empty Titles than industrious in the direct ways of true Honor and more ready to devour the Supplies of their Country raised for Publick Service than to serve their Prince either with their Persons or their Purses after the rate of ancient Times more concerned at a little Breach of their own Priviledge than at a gross Violation of the Rights of their Country and more apt to desert the Honor or Service of the Prince for fear of a Potent Person or to serve a Turn than to encounter the displeasure of either by any generous Act of Fidelity for the Service of their Country or of their Prince himself This is that Wicked Cananitish Generation and these their corrupt Manners which the King of necessity must first cast out or subdue if ever he will be a Glorious Instrument in the Service of the God of Israel His Declaration was Just and Honorable his Undertakings Successful and Glorious and his Proposals to the Convention reasonable and worthy of himself and of his Undertakings But it was as I said his Unhappiness and ours too that he met at first with such degenerate Persons before he well understood them yet will it be forhis greater Honor to extricate himself and the Nation out of the Snares and Intanglements of their pernicious Policies To which the unhappy Examples of his immediate Predecessors and his own Experience are great and special Obligations besides the Obligations of his own Declaration and Undertakings and such as undoubtedly would make his neglect inexcusable and such a Neglect his End unsuccessful and inglorious Never was the Treasure of the Nation more or so much exhausted in three Years time Never had we greater Losses in our Trade nor greater Losses of Men both at Land and Sea without Fighting never braver Fleets nor ever any so baffled and unsuccessful Never a braver Army than this last Campain and a more Couragious and Industrious Prince to Lead them and yet never less effected And what can all this be imputed to but the Displeasure of Providence and Evil Counsels I am for the use of Means as well as others but they must be proper Means and all necessary Means must be well used Armies are necessary and Fleets necessary and Money necessary for all these But if we think nothing else necessary and will still over-look other Necessaries and greater Necessaries we connot rationally expect any better Success this Year than we had the last And of that what other Consequence can we expect but that the People of this Nation will grow weary of their Burden and the Consequence of that expected and possibly designed by some too far intrusted in Counsels or Affairs that they should also grow weary of their King So much Mischief already sustained and so great danger of more for the future doth certainly deserve to be well considered and that good enquiry be made into the Causes and proper Remedies thereof Experience and the Judgment of all Wise Men in all Ages of the World abundantly prove that it is in vain to expect any great matters from Force of Men and Armies in the Field if the Counsels at home be either unfound or betrayed For his Majesties Courage and Conduct in the Field it is for ought I can find so far above all Exceptions that it seems to be the greatest Difficulty that his Enemies have to encounter so that the only things to be enquired of are whether there be not some Treachery Unfaithfulness or other great Fault in our Counsels and Managements at home And whether there may not be something which may have provoked the Displeasure and Disfavor of the Divine Providence And to begin at the Root of all I may be bold to affirm that the King hath been betrayed in the principal Point of all that is of his special Duty to God in his Place and Circumstances by some of his Clergy and to offer it to any of them all to answer with a good Conscience and as in the Presence of God my Questions Theological in Relation to his Case so as to clear that Point If he hath not done for the Honor and Service of God what is Circumstances and the Duty of his Place under the Obligation of a Solemn Oath do require though it be principally through the Fault of another how can he expect the Favor and Blessing of the Providence of God to be with him for his own Honor And though I believe there are but few who are actually guilty of this Unfaithfulness yet must all who at any time stand in the place of Watchmen answer for his Blood if he dye in his Sin and they do not faithfully discharge their Duty by plain and timely Warning in the Name of God and with the Authority becoming the Ministers of
of Unfaithfulness before God to whom he must account for his Actions toward Men. And of this Unfaithfulness I doubt there are but few who can acquit themselves before God or Men either while so many things are so much complain'd of elsewhere and even by Members themselves and yet so little thereof is examined or complain'd of in the House I will mention but two Instances of it in particular in which whoever can clear himself to have honestly discharged his Duty may with the more Confidence and better Conscience question me for what I write if he see Cause and I shall as confidently submit to his Sentence The first I have mentioned before a great Misdemeanon of two Magistrates Great Officers and Members of the House contrary to the Duty of Magistrates to a special Duty of the House to a known express Command of her Majesty and that in discharge of her Duty by the Laws both of God and of the Land and this done not in the Absence of his Majesty beyond Sea but as it were in his Presence and the Parliament sitting and so notorious that it was done in the presence of many other considerable Persons and no less than Seven Reverend Prelates who came on purpose to hear the Cause being of great Consequence and concerning the most necessary Reformation of the abominable Corruption of the Manners of the People And tâ—h being so who could acquit himself of Unfaithfulness by his Silence and Neglect of such a Cause as this if no Man out of the House had taken notice of it But that a Petition for such a Cause as this after Copies thereof delivered to many of the Members and the Contents thereof known to most being offered to the House and put to the Vote to be received or not it should be carried in the Negative how can this be answered to God to their Majesties and to the Commons of England and what can such Members as believe a Divine Providence and have deserted their Duty in such a Case expect but some severe Judgment upon themselves and the Nation if some effectual Course proportionable to the Offence be not taken in time to prevent it The other is this That Management alone though incertain whether through Corruption Inability or Negligence and reasonable Suspition being proper and sufficient Causes of Complaint against Persons employed in great Offices of Trust wherein the Publick Service is principally to be regarded not the Honour or private Advantage of any particular Person our Affairs have been so unhappily managed for three Years together and yet there have been no more Complaints in the House or care taken to have Matters of so great Concern for the Honour of the Government and Benefit or even Safety of the Nation enquired into Is nothing to be regarded but Mony Is it not of much greater Concernment and even for the saving of our Mony at last to have Persons employed in other Places besides the Treasury who are unquestionably Faithful Able and Active And what can this Neglect be imputed to but a strange degenerate Fear of Men whatever Prudentials are pretended notwithstanding the advantage of the Laws and a good Cause to support and encourage the faithful discharge of Duty Indeed so epidemical is this Disease now become among our Gentry that the Honest Performance of Duty of Fidelity to God to one's King and Country seems to many no other than Heat Indiscretion and Madness as to me that Motto Pestis Patriae Pigrities seems never to have been more plainly verified then now in this Nation And when I consider the Causes of it reflecting upon the gross and impudent Impiety Prophaneness and Debauchery of the one part and the want of Christian Courage and true Magnanimity in the rest to check it either in Common Conversation or by Authority in Parliament I cannot but think it a Special Judgment of God upon the whole Nation That they should be deprived of Courage in things necessary for themselves who have shewed so little for the Honor and Service of God notwithstanding the Advantage of the Laws to back them in the one Case as well as in the other Nor do I believe that either Prince or People can prosper until their Radical Fault be amended but rather that vile Abuse even in and to the Parliament it self will certainly produce some severe Judgment upon both if connived at and suffered to pass without due Correction If Persons Unfaithful and of Skill be imployed with Persons of undoubted Fidelity but Unskilful this gives a notable Advantage to the one sort to betray all with the more Security under the cover of the others And whether this be not so in some Places of great Trust and Moment I leave to them to enquire to whom it most properly belongs having mentioned something to this purpose elsewhere I shall therefore only take notice of some Persons of undoubted Fidelity and Ability who seem to be purposely kept out Some Noblemen thus qualified we see are out while others not equally qualified in both respects are imployed But that I also leave to the Consideration of others Captain Dorrel is a Person well known to be thus qualified 〈◊〉 he gave very eminent Demonstrations of it in that Engagement with the French wherein few did the like yet found he no better Reward or Encouragement than to be offered a Third Rate Ship the last Summer instead of a First Rate which he commanded before and being thus put off hath engag'd in a Voyage to the East-Indies to the no lest Dishonor of our Management than Disservice to Their Majesties and the Nation Captain Breholt had so signâ—â—'d his Courage and Conduct in two Engagements the one with an Algerine and the other with a Dutch Man of War which I have seen certify 〈◊〉 the hands of three Members of Parliament and are though imperfectly mention'd in the Gazets that K. Charles II. gave him a Gold Chain and Medal for it and tho he offer'd his Service by Petition to this King which was referr'd to the Admiralty yet could he obtain no Answer for above a Twelve Month after and then was told there was no Vacancy and at last was ask'd if he would accept of a Fireship But it would be too long to name all the Worthy Persons that 〈◊〉 even offered their Service in the Fleet besides more 〈…〉 ready to accept it 〈…〉 generous withstanding the Arbitrary Practices of the late Reigns it is believed saved the Lives of some of the Lords to the great hazard of his own and almost ruine of his Family and Estate yet can be not obtain any suitable Employment so much as in the other 〈◊〉 the West Indies Laurance Braddon for his generous undertaking to detest a most barbarous Murder as it is believ'd suffered Imprisonment during the â—ate Reigns and is suffer'd to want Necessaries in this and can get no Imployment And to conclude such is the Condition of Mr. Richad Bevat who had taken great pains to detect the Unfaithfulness â—â—ne who is now in Custody for other Acts of Unfaithfulness 〈◊〉 and to detect 〈◊〉 dangerous Practices here and the like now at Jersey These 〈…〉 Pity moved me to mention now to whom many others might he â—â—led no mean Instances of what sort of Persons are most kept or cast out of Employment FINIS
Atchievment and many times when in truth it is not due to them but perhaps to some other more worthy Person who did little regard it This also I have sometimes had occasion to pity and to wish that such dead Flies did not spoil a good Ointment There are others who have neither much of the Vanity of the first nor the Industry to give them any occasion for the last in whom notwithstanding the same root may be discovered if they be but touched with some punctilio of Honor or wherein they suppose their Reputation concerned or but affronted with some honest plain friendly and free Admonition or Advice This will certainly draw out the very same Vanity which only lay a little deeper concealed for it shall be resented to the loss not only of the Esteem of others but of the good Offices of the most faithful and cordial Friends which they willfully deprive themselves of by a greater Folly than the former These are not onely such dead Flies as corrupt the Savour of their Civil Conversation but such living Flies as corrupt the very Essence of their best Actions and diminish their Treasure of Eternal Reward and besides expose such as are not very watchfull against them to become subservient in divers respects to the Designs of that Kingdom of Darkness While they have so lively a Sense of Honor either paid or neglected in respect of themselves or of other mortal men which may be their own ease the impressions of that are apt to divert the mind from the due apprehensions and regard of the far greater Honor to be given to God when both do concur in the same case and the circumstances of the latter are not so plain and obvious as those of the former And whereas in some such cases there may be just cause a little to neglect the former out of respect to the latter yet cannot that be done without some Censure and Indignation proceeding from a secret byass in such Minds though otherwise well affected to Religion which may easily be heighthned to a direct Opposition of very good Works under an appearance of Prudence Discretion and Duty And nothing is more common than for men in such cases to quarrel at the Manner when they have nothing to say against the Matter This is a subject which well deserves to be more largely treated but this is sufficient to be here briefly noted for my present occasion And therefore I will onely admonish such persons to reflect upon themselves whenever they are concerned for the Honor of Men and consider well whether their concern for the Honour of God be proportionable Nor is it onely from the Heroick Vertue of the Ancient Christians that we are so degenerated but even from the natural Genius of the English Nation The one we have rejected as Popery and Superstition and the other as Moroseness and Rusticity And while we affected a more refined Courtship of the French had almost in effect courted our selves into a French Slavery Nay so base and inconsiderate hath been the Flattery of some men for their own Advantage that it hath not onely corrupted our Court and endanger'd our Civil Constitution but even profaned our Churches and Sacred Offices and brought great difficulties upon our Clergy but greatest of all upon our Princes It is true it hath been the Unhappiness of the Princes themselves to be so ill advised as to give encouragement to such People who are always most forward to obtrude themselves and so to raise up such an Evil Genius But raised it hath been and hath so far prevailed that any thing of the honest plain downright old English Genius and Loyalty which prefers the Honor and Safety of the King and Kingdom before Favour and Preferments or any private Respects cannot but appear like an uncouth thing and little less than Madness to our refined Frenchified Courtiers But Naturam expellas furca licet usque recurrit And though the true English Genius hath withdrawn it self a while it will appear again with so much the greater vigor in due time And that time I doubt not is now come or near at hand For God himself who always favours Sincerity and downright Honesty though he many times permits Evil men to expose themselves and the Wickedness of their own Genius that others beholding the same may so much the more abhor it hath now raised us up a King according to our own temper and though he hath hitherto permitted him to feel the Evil Consequences of such mens Prudentials will I hope henceforward make him sensible thereof and direct him to and by better Counsels But at present whoever shall be so hardy as to offer him his Service in such a case as this in honest and plain terms must expect no mean Opposition Censures from all and Calumnies if no worse from these last prescribed Wherefore since I am Debtor not onely to the Wise but to the Unwise also whose Good and Reformation not hurt in the least I heartily desire I think fit for their better Information and to prevent mistake and remove their unjust Prejudice to give some farther Account of my self and my Endeavours hitherto in this matter And then I shall add with the same Integrity and Plainness what I think farther necessary to be said for the Service of the King and my Country and with the same Freedom I would use if I was now to bid farewell to the World I have lived now near threescore years in the World and before this King came to the Crown have seen besides the troublesome part of a former Reign and twelve years Interregnum two Reigns full of great Miscarriages of horrid Imimpiety against God and the highest Violations of Justice to Man tending to the Destruction of a Noble Constitution and the Enslaving of my Country And I have been from my Youth a great Lover of my Country and an industrious Student of the Good of Mankind even to the neglect and detriment of my private Concerns yet did I never attempt any such Service to either of those Kings as since the late happy Revolution I have done to this And this may serve to satisfie such as know me not that it is not any Humour but some special Cause and Consideration which hath moved me to what I have done of late Again I soon had a great Family and but a small Estate and have met with great Disappointments by persons I have dealt with yet did I never count any Preferment though I have been much in Town and have had such friends as wanted neither good Will nor Opportunity to have given me Assistance But I have always abstained even from those common Courtships which are in use with many in my circumstances and thir principal Means to get into business I have abstained not onely from Dishonest but such common ways of Gain as I thought sordid and more unworthy than meanner Employments or a Mean Condition And I often remembred The Earth
attend it unless I should have neglected the most sacred and necessary part of History Nor could that be noted without as remarkable an Observation upon Success of His Majesty's Affairs now again this third Summer but I must have committed the same Fault in this Particular also and been unfaithful to the great and important Cause in which I was engaged And the concurrence of these two Observables this Year and their Agreement with what I had again and again observed before and the Importance thereof to His Majesty for the future provoked me to represent those few necessary things unto him with that Freedom and Plainness which divers Circumstances required and was most like to excite his most serious Consideration of them Which was as great an Act of Fidelity and Good Will to him I think as a mortal Man could well express And yet for these and these only which come so close to the point of the great business of all have I been encountred with no small oppsition to the Publication by very good Friends and Persons otherwise very well affected to the Work in hand not only by friendly Admonitions and gentle Persuasions but little less than Denunciation of no small Disappointment by a Divine Power These things I took as they were intended in a friendly manner and again and again perused what I had written but the more I considered the more was I confirmed and satisfied in what I had done And perceiving the Temptation and how it entred upon them and so assaulted me without more of doe I ordered the Publication leaving the Success to him whose Work it is but thought fit for the satisfaction of such good People to recommend some few things to further Consideration And the first is How apt an Overvaluation of Ceremonies and of the Pomp and Vanities of the World and of Honours and Respect to Men which is one of the Corruptions of this Age and a great Degeneracy from the Manly Primitive Christianity is to dazle our Eyes and make us less regardful of that Honour and Respect we owe to the Supreme Majesty of God And what Advantage the Enemy thereby gain to impose upon us to the neglect of so great a Duty for which we ought to be very jealous upon all Occasions For those are plainly his Engines wherewith he assaulted even our Saviour himself And in this Case the Question was concerning the Honour of God and the Honour of the King Whether I should give to God the Honour of his remarkable Providence and for the King 's real Benefit or neglect that to save the Honour of the King though in so doing I should be unfaithful to God to the King and to my own Soul This was plainly the Case And suppose I have not Certainty on my side yet where there is so vast a Difference as between the immortal God and a mortal and besides sinful Man so fair a Probability I am certain ought to determine the Question The next may be How apt such an Over-valuation is to dazle the Eyes and make even good Men less regardful of more substantial and necessary Duties even to Men and to give the Enemy the like Advantage to impose upon them in such Case also For here the Question is between a little point of Honour to be saved but with danger of greater Mischief and the Safety of the Person and Success of his Affairs to be secured by a reasonable Humiliation and Self-abasement out of a just Respect to a far greater Majesty And here again though I have not Certainty yet the Difference is so great and the Probability so great that I may be certain it ought to determine it on my side A third may be this How unsafe it is for Princes to relie altogether upon such fine Gentlemen and cautious complaisant respectful Courtiers without some of deeper Consideration and more faithful Resolution for their Service about them They May serve to treat Strangers but certainly they had need of other kind of Courtiers near their own Persons and in their Councils I might here observe how great Mischief this unobserved and indulged Corruption doth to the Persons themselves in whom it prevails and what Advantages it affords their Enemy against them how his Engines and Machinations are thereby strength'ned and made more effectual and so shew the Reasons of the ancient Christians Abhorrence of it But that I suppose not so proper for this place Yet to shew what great Mischief is thereby done to the Nation the Good of which is the King 's great Business and proper Duty I conceive it not beside my Scope but well worth the Consideration of his Majesty and the Parliament of which more hereafter in proper place And these Considerations without more saying I conceive may satisfie all who have any serious Sense of the Honour of God and of the real Service of his Majesty for my inserting that Observation As for such Expressions as may be thought too plain and indecent to be used to a Prince If a Man perceiving or strongly apprehending his Prince to be in any great Danger use such Means for his Preservation as he thinks necessary for that Exigence though otherwise rude and indecent yet in such Case no wise Man would censure it as Rudeness or Indecency but approve it as sincere Fidelity But I say plainly that he was not only in Danger but actually damnified already and in further Danger in the ways wherein he hath been misled and a softer Voice at such distance as I stand was not like to be so taken notice of as was necessary for him to perceive the Mistake Besides if well considered it doth not savour of Insolence or Indiscretion as may seem to vulgar Apprehensions but of Honour being a plain Argument of an Honourable Opinion of his Virtue Of his Generosity to take well so much Old English Plain Dealing being mix'd with so much manifest Fidelity and Affection And of his Prudence and Discretion to apprehend it aright Whereas to a Person of less Generosity and Prudence it had indeed been great Indiscretion to have used it But this is not all there is a greater Honour yet done him in this Treatment by an Honourable Opinion of greater Vertue than all this residing in him and of a more Honourable Estate to which he is raised than barely that of a King That is of his serious Apprehension of the Excellence of that Majesty whose special Service is the greatest Honour that any Creature is capable of and that he hath been raised and conducted to such a special Service Other Treatment had been below the Excellency of that Majesty whose Cause it is and inconsistent with that Fidelity which ought to be performed to such a special Instrument of his and not well becoming a faithful Servant of both Had I been concerned in a Cause for my Prince wherein the greatest Person in the Nation was questioned for some Offence or Default I might and ought to
that it will certainly turn to Ten times a greater Disadvantage to him than the Advantage he expected by it And he must study to know himself well that he is a dependent Creature hath no Power of himself is so easily overpowered by other Creatures that he hath not the Command of his own Faculties or Thoughts for a moment without the Favour of his Master upon whom he depends and therefore be very careful to walk humbly before him that his Heart be not at any time lifted up above himself or above his Fellow Creatures unless in the Case of his great Master but in his Cause he must be as cautious not to fail of the greatest Generosity and Magnanimity possible without Fear of Men or Devils And these things he must endeavour to know not by a superficial speculative Knowledg but by so effectual a Practical Knowledge as may equal an Experimental lest he be sent to the common Mistress to learn in better as I have been for a more effectual Knowledge of what I studied and desired to have acquired at a cheaper rate But now I know indeed from whence my Strength cometh and how little I am able to do even at home if destitute of that Aid These things being well known it is farther to be consider'd that the Service of God in relation to the present business is two-fold the principal the Good of his Creatures but by accident it may be the destruction of some And for these he hath his different proper Instruments For the latter ordinarily Devils and Wicked Men but his Glorious Instruments are principally employed for the Good of Men their Real Good whereby they are made better And this is the proper Service and Business of a King And in this is his Fidelity Generosity and Virtue principally to be exercised If it fail or flag in this it must needs degenerate in all the rest and make him more like a Butcher Executioner or Serjeant than a Pastor Governor or Tutor And if he neglect this though he may notwithstanding be an Instrument of some Drudgery yet a Glorious Instrument he cannot be This therefore is the first and principal thing to be intended and most vigorously prosecuted and that not only as a Common Duty upon all occasions but in this Nation at this time by K. William upon very considerable special Occasions and Obligations The great Corruption of the Manners of the Nation and the Impudence of Impiety are such as make it a special Obligation and a special Provocation to a Generous Mind to check and subdue it And the extraordinary Providence which hath raised him to the Throne for this very purpose undoubtedly as much as for any is another special Obligation And the Providential Admonitions and Corrections of his Neglect hitherto which he hath since met with a farther The Judgments denounced in the Gospel against Fear Shame Negligence Unprofitableness in the Cause of Christ and Work of the Lord are very severe and these being aggravated by such special Obligations must needs make the Case very dangerous indeed And here by the way it is very fit that all those who are called to the Office of Watchmen whether Ordinary or Extraordinary or upon any special Occasion should be minded of their own Danger in case of neglect of their Duty in that respect This great and fundamental Service is to be perfomed by earnest recommending the enacting of such new Laws as are necessary for supply of those that are wanting or defective by commanding and strictly requiring and inforcing the Execution of such as we have already and by notable Examples of good Discipline Of all which I have said so much already more than once that I shall need to say no more here As the Foundation and Stability of Regal Power depends upon the Favour of God and the Affections of the Subjects so each doth require continual Demonstration of Vertue in them who are invested with it God who is the Searcher of Hearts doth not withstanding require it and frequently leads them to occasions of Tryal and much more may Men who cannot otherwise judge of the Heart expect it God doth require it not only in matters of Religion for his Honour but also in matters of Justice to Men wherein the Honour of his Supreme Authority also is concerned And Men expect it not only in matters of Justice and Benefit to themselves but also in matters of Religion and Honour to God So that what I have hitherto said concerning the Means of acquiring and securing the Favour of God hath a farther consideration also in respect of Men which even Aristotle hath taken notice of whose Politicks have more of that Right Reason which Christianity recommends than most of the Politicks of our Modern Statists And that this was a principal part of our old English Policy as is very manifest in our old Laws and Historians But to come to our Civil Politicks It hath been observed by Wise Men that there is a certain Natural Disposition in most Nations and in many very apparent to some certain Form of Government peculior to their own Genius by which they are more easily to be governed than by any other And if the Governors act sutable to that disposition of the People it usually makes all very happy We have now a Prince very agreeable to the Natural English Genius but he may easily be mistaken by reason of the Corruptions of the last Reigns which as they began at the Court so have they most infected those who most resort thither So that I know nothing of greater importance to him than good information and due consideration of the Natural Genius of the Body of this People and how to distinguish that from the Degenerate Dispositions of those who have most access to him Their Natural Genius is Honest Plain-dealing yet considerate and very Provident as manifestly appears in our Constitution of Government and Common Law if rightly considered Industrious Couragious Constant and Faithful and which I will mention as the great commendation of all addicted to sincere and substantial Religion but abhorring Dishonest despising Tricks and Craft and disdaining Violence and Oppression and accordingly in matters of Religion equally abhoring Hypocricy and Formality and despising Superstition This might many ways be proved but would require a particular Tract to do it as it should be And though it might seem otherwise to such as converse most with the most degenerate part of the Nation yet even in them may be discerned the Natural Principles of these Dispositions not totally extirpated which makes them in many things more easie to be cured And these Natural Dispositions are so agreeable to uncorrupted Reason and to Genuine Primitive Christianity that it is not only Civil Prudence but an indispensible Duty to God to treat such a People accordingly and to endeavour not only the Restitution but Exaltation of this natural Temper according to the most excellent Means of our most Holy and
Admirable Religion and no less imprudence and indiscretion than Impiety to do otherwise But there are two Temptations to which a Prince naturally Magnanimous and Prudent may be obnoxious which would certainly make his Government of such a People very uneasie and therefore ought to be avoided with great Caution and a pious and prudent Resolution The one is an Obstinate Wilfulness which often runs and especially by opposition into a Gygantick Insolence without due regard to Reason Justice or Religion that is without due regard either to God or Man Which is not true Magnanimity for that is apt to exert it self on all occasions in a generous and Free Submission to Reason Justice and Moderation and rather to part with its own than usurp upon another's Right But the other is a mere Brutish Resolution odious both to God and Man as inconsistent with Prudence as different from true Magnanimity and ordinarily of most pernicious Consequence of which England in this last Age hath had very remarkable Examples And for this purpose it is absolutely necessary to beware of Flattarers and Parasites and abandon them or keep them at a great distance when they are once perceived for ever after as most dangerous and pernicious Persons The other is a Subtil Craft which often imposeth upon Men under the appearance of Prudence but in truth is as far different from genuine Prudence as it is inconsistent with true Generosity of Mind This likewise is very odious both to God and Man and however it may prevail for sometime yet usually proves of pernicious Consequence at last as by Experience in the last Race of our Kings is easily observable in these Nations Nothing is more necessary to a good Accord between a Prince and People and for the Prosperity of both than Mutual Confidence And nothing doth more destroy or debilitate such a mutual Confidence than such crafty Projects and Practices which are the more carefully to be avoided by how much the more they have been practised here and with such unhappy Success And no less are the Instruments thereof to be avoided and abandoned Both these as they are carefully to be avoided by a truly Magnanimous and Prudent Prince upon the General Considerations aforesaid so are they much more upon this special Consideration of their Contrariety and Disagreement with the natural Genious of this People Such violent and unnatural Means can never produce any durable Effect of Prosperity and Happiness but sooner or later will be disappointed and make the Memory of those who use them odious and dishonourable with all Posterity And besides all this there is a farther special Consideration of great moment in relation to the Prince hmiself upon their Inconsistence with his own Declaration and the Gratitude I will be bold to say it which he oweth the People of these Nations though I deny not in the least his Merit for the Honour they have done him And upon this occasion I cannot but take notice of that late Emblem at the Hague of a Balance with a Sword preponderating Three Crowns and Praemia non aequant for a Motto as a piece of mean pedantick Flattery below the Gravity and Prudence of such a State and too light a Complement for real Worth and Merit As it is our Happiness to have a Prince so agreeable to our narural Genius so it s some Vnhappiness to him to meet with so many among us so much degenerated from it But then nothing can make him a more Glorious Instrument than to restore us to our ancient Vertue nor any thing give him greater Advantage for farther Honour And this being so Fundamental a Matter both for the Honour of the King and the Good and Happiness of the Nation besides that it is a principal End of Government no Man who is well affected to either can be offended if I consider it with that Freedom and Plainness which a Matter of such Importance doth deserve But if any be I suppose he will think it too great an Evidence against himself that he is not such to discover it This certainly is no more than necessary since so subtil and powerful is the Venom of this Corruption that there is danger otherwise lest it should invade even the Prince himself e'r he be aware and hath already approach'd him with very evil Effects It began apparently soon after the Decease of Q. Elizabeth by her supposed wise but in truth weak Successor who being a timorous Person and as is natural to such addicted much to Craft wherein he gloried though it often failed him and indeed fool'd him attracted most of that Temper to him and tainted others And Prince Henry who was of another Spirit being unhappily taken off by an untimely Death this kind or Courtiers and Politicians most easily insinuated themselves into the naturaly disposed Humour of his Successor who had he been directed by Persons of the right English Genius might have been more happy The same Spirit though cast out for a while returned again and with greater Force possess'd his next Successor and from thence hath this sort of Policy greatly prevailed but with such Issue as the World hath seen Nor is it yet extinct but offers fair to re assume its former Place and Power So that were not this King a Person of more Generosity and Vertue he would certainly be carried away with the Stream of our degenerate Politicks But besides those Vertues natural to him he hath had Three years Experience of notorious Disappointments to warn him of the Danger of their Counsels Only having been so little resident amongst us it cannot be expected he should presently be sensible of the secret Causes of his Disappointments or the pernicious Effects of their Counsels and therefore no greater Service can be done him and by Consequence to the whole Kingdom than by laying these things as plain and naked before him as possible and to detect or sufficiently point out the principal Agents For it concerns him little less to beware of this Generation and their Policies than it did the Israelites to avoid the Canaanites and their Manners But first it may be fit to explain the Nature of this Degeneracy and of the Humours by which it is fed and nourished Which are plainly a Composition of Atheism Infidelity Covetousness and Ambition with some other such kind of Ingredients which make up that Corrupt and Diabolical Humour called Self the very Sperm and Spirit of the Serpent The Propensions and Motions of all things in Nature as hath been well observed by that great Philosopher Sir Fra. Bacon are more strong and vigorous to the Common Good than to the Private Good of Self And it is apparent that no Sect Religion or Philosophy of Men doth so much exalt the Common Good above the Private Good of particular Men as the Christian Whence as that subtile observant Philosopher doth well infer it plainly appears that it was the same Author who so wisely and powerfully ordered