since they would never be suffered to do us good and in all probability could not fail in doing us much harm The Case is quite altered now as is obvious at first sight our Religion hath the greatest Security our Bishops and Clergy the greatest Protection our Vacant Bishopricks are filled with the most wise and learned of the Clergy Colledges are restored to their proper Owners the Idolatry of Popery dare not shew it self any where the Wind hath blown these Locusts of Priests Jesuits c. beyond the Seas to their former Lurking-Places every one sits safe under his own Vine enjoying securely the Liberty of an Englishman the Property he is possest of our Councils Navies Armies Magistrates are Protestants and a Security to our Religion dearer to us than our Lives our Judges are as at the first and our Counsellors as at the beginning Pray Gentlemen recount with your Selves What was our greatest Hope our only Comfort on Earth in those Days of our Dustress What was it that sustained our Spirits and delivered us from utter Dispair What did we discourse of every-where to one another as the sole Foundation of our Hopes of Freedom and Relief Was it not that the King was a Mortal Man and after him we had a Reserve of the Prince and Princess of Orange for our Security How often then did we cast our Eyes and Hearts upon the Belgick Shore trusting that at last the Providence of God would whaft over that blessed Pair to the lasting Joy of this British Island The Papists knew this very well and could never think themselves safe till these Princes Interests were defeated and thereby as they thought all our Hopes frustrate But God that brings Good out of the greatest Evil by his infinite Wisdom and Power converted that Project by which they intended to perpetuate the Slavery of these Nations to an accelerating or hastening our Deliverance sooner than ever we hoped for it for never was there a juster Cause given any Prince to quarrel with a Possessor than was given the Prince of Orange when he saw not only all our Laws violated and the People of England enslaved but likewise his just Interest in the Crown in Right of his Princess the immediate Heir so violently invaded without any Satisfaction given usual in such Cases of the Sincerity of that Affair of the pretended Prince of Wales in which not only this whole Nation was violently suspicious upon very great Grounds but likewise the intended Fraud was the Discourse of Europe This Matter hath been sufficiently written of and for my part if there were no more to create a Diffidence in me not possible of receiving any Satisfaction this would be more than sufficient that I never heard of any Satisfaction given to the Great and Vertuous Lady the Princess Ann of Denmark in this whole Affair and yet it was highly just she should have received it in respect of her Proximity to the Crown and likewise in regard of that Fruitful Womb God hath been pleased to bless her Highness with whose Children have a very fair Prospect to the Royal Inheritance it had been likewise very easy to have done it because her Highness was perpetually upon the very place where the Scene was acting just till the time of its finishing and then it was most necessary she should have been there and it 's impossible to imagine had it been a real Thing care would have been taken that she should have been present but on the other Hand if it was not real then it was altogether necessary that of all Persons she should be out of the way and such care was accordingly taken And as her Satisfaction was both just and easy so it would have been of mighty advantage to the convincing of the Nation of the Truth of it her Highnesse's Evidence would have been of more weight than all those at Council-Board in respect none will bear witness against their own Interest especially in a matter of so great Moment unless it be very true All the answer ever I could hear to this most material ground of Suspicion is either that there was no Obligation to give any such Satisfaction or that the Princess did not desire it and was not curious of being satisfied To which this is only fit to be said by way of Reply that the first is a desperate and the second a senseless Answer Is it not then a great Favour of God to us that the Deliverance we so earnestly wished and the Persons on whom our Eyes were fixed are thus come to our Deliverance our very Enemies hastening it sooner than ever we looked for it Is it not the Joy of all good Men who love the Prosperity of our Sion and pray for her Peace to see a Protestant King and Queen in England a Happiness Britain hath not been favoured with since the Death of Queen Ann the Wife of King James the First We have no Dalilah in the Bosom of our Sampson to allure him to betray his own and the Nations Strength that we may be the easier Prey to the Philistines The Marriage of our Kings to Ladies of the Popish Persuasion hath been so plain a Cause of the Nations Misery that we have great cause to rejoice in so happy a sight as both King and Queen to be of the same Religion and that which is the professed and established Religion of their Kingdoms and it s greatly to be hoped the Wisdom of our Parliament will make it no small part of their Care to prevent the Mischiefs that have so constantly attended our Kings being so unequally yoked Our King and Queen draw not now several Ways their Principles are the same as they are in Bed and at Board one so it 's our great Comfort to see them repair to the same Churches exercised in the same Devotions addressing to the same Altar in a word of the same Faith and Religion to the great encouragement of their Subjects to follow so pious so great an Example So that there are no hopes now of the Philistines plowing with Sampson's Heifer The Royal Interest is now absolutely the same with that of the People for their Majesties and their People are more surely tyed together by the Bonds of that Religion for which both have an equal Zeal than by any Political Obligations whatsoever so that now both rejoice in the mutual Prosperity of each other their Majesties rejoicing in their Peoples Security and they again in the Royal Protection as in all Things so chiefly in that which is the best of all Things Religion Neither are we to neglect the Consideration of that which deservedly makes his present Majesty the Darling of these three Kingdoms nay like another Titus the Delight of Mankind viz. that the King the Prince of Orange had no such great matters to look for as to his own Interest to move him to encounter so great Dangers to undergo so much Trouble He was considerably great in the Low-Countries
themselves but upon their Innocent Posterity For the Word is Now or Never and Now and Ever And that we may never feel the Mischiefs of the last part of this Sentence I hope we will take Care to Secure the first that because not now therefore they never shall prevail upon us I beseech you Gentlemen who seem to be so willing to bereave us of our present Tranquillity and to contribute what in you lies to bring a Deluge of Miseries upon us in which you your selves must certainly be overwhelmed if ever you be truly Zealous for and faithful to the Truth of God profest in this Nation I pray you to consider with your Selves that if your Desires should succeed and you should be aiding and assisting to it what late Repentance and Horror must seize upon you while you shall sadly then when it is to late reflect upon that Destruction you have brought upon your Country and Fellow-Country-Men and it 's not to be doubted but at last upon your Selves too But if Men will continue obstinate in Mischief and are resolved to use their utmost Endeavours to rush us again into Confusions and to set all in a Flame it 's to be hoped his Majesty will have such a special regard to the Welfare of these Nations in which that of his own and all the Protestant Branches of the Royal Family is so closely wrapt up that he will most diligently inspect into the wicked Practices and most villanous Designs of such ill-minded-Men and indeed they ought betimes to bethink themselves what the whole Kingdom must think those Men worthy of who are Haters of their Peace and Contrivers of their Destruction for what ever Eyes they look with and whatsoever Prospective-Glass they make use of they must pardon us who can see nothing but lasting Misery attending their Projects and Designs and therefore however they may hope his Majestys Clemency which by their undutiful Language bold and ungrateful Speeches and insolent Attempts in the Face of a Nation resolved to continue their Happiness by most constantly adhering to his Majesties Interests they have already too much tryed yet they are Fools to imagine his Majesty will suffer his innate Lenity and Gentleness to be the greatest Cruelty to his faithful Subjects by extending it to Persons obstinately bent upon his and their Ruin nor can they dream that a whole Nation now secured of all that 's dear to them will much longer bear the bantering Affronts and not only undutiful but even Treasonable Practices of such Men who so carry themselves as if they longed for nothing more than our Destruction And just as I was writing this came to my Hands that Paper pretended to be a Declaration from King James the Second to all his Loving Subjects in the Kingdom of England Perhaps there was never a greater piece of Insolence acted in any Nation than dispersing of these in a Kingdom where there is a King de facto upon the Throne and the Resentment the House of Commons has shewed is a sufficient proof of what I have just now said but for the Paper it self it carries all the Marks of Forgery that possibly can be for would ever the late King tell his Subjects of England of his kind usage to his Protestant Subjects in Ireland who are so infallibly convinc'd of the contrary For why should so many of the Bishops and Clergy so many People of all Conditions fly out of that Kingdom even since his arrival there and leave their Estates and Habitations and cast themselves upon the Charity of England for a present Subsistance if this Libel were true Why even at this very Time do they embrace all opportunities of Transporting themselves into this Island with great Joy and Thankfulness If Protestant Persons Fortunes Religion were in so much Safety what makes the Protestants of Londonderry c. rather venture their Lives in their own Defence and endure the Perils and hardship of a dangerous Siege if the Protestants there were in so great Security Surely the Forgers of this Libel imagine it possible to put out our very Eyes and to hood-wink us to Destruction Can we ever think that Protestants will ever be safe or apprehend themselves so where the French domineer at the rate they must certainly be presumed to do in Ireland For it 's very reasonable to conclude that seeing Men Ammunition Money and whatsoever is necessary for War cometh from the French that King will nay must rule the Roast We will therefore believe our own Intelligence much better then this piece of Forgery viz. that the very Papists of Ireland are so apprehensive of the French Tyranny that they begin to wish for the mild Government of Protestant England rather than ly under the insupportable Tyranny of Popish France As for the large Promises made to England upon a surrender these Forgerers invite us to I have said enough already that Popish Faith can never be more truned by Protestants and we are very well assured that if it were possible for the Host of Heaven to come down upon Earth to be Guarantee for the Fidelity of Papists to Protestants in any Treaties made with them relating to Religion they would notwithstanding upon the first safe Opportunity violate them and if these blessed Spirits should take upon them the Desence of the Guarantee and the Honour of it they would presently disown their Patronage and deprive them of the Honour of their being their Intercessors and charge them with being Favourers of the vilest Hereticks for we would desire but one Instance wherein ever Protestants were used kindly by Papists where ever it was in their Power to use them otherwise Go on then Great Sir in the perfecting of that which your Majesty hath so gloriously begun and so magnanimously undertaken and have had the assistance of the God of Truth to the Joy of these Nations to the Despair and Confusion of your Enemies to the Security of the Protestant World your Majestie hath the Hearts the Hands the Purses of your People at your Devotion you have a Parliament who having engaged whatsoever is worthy of Men of Honour of Fortune of Religion for your Assistance will never be wanting to enable you to compleat Yours Theirs Ours nay Europe's Happiness You have the greatest Security of the Protection of that God who is the Disposer of Kingdoms by whom Kings reign who hath hitherto blessed you with Success to a Miracle You have in fine the best and most Glorious Cause even the preserving of these Nations to which God and Nature and a General consent of your People have given you such a close Interest and near Relation from all the Calamities that could befall either the Souls Bodies or Fortunes of Us and our Posterity This I am sure is the hearty Prayer of all that are lovers either of our Civil or Religious Rights and our secure peaceable and lasting enjoyment of them that your Enemies may be clothed with shame but
Genius of the Nation than hazard his Majesties Honour and Safety in such violent and harsh measures But the truth of it is they saw they had nothing to rely upon but the King's Life and that was as uncertain as any other mans and therefore they were willing to drive at all furiously For say they if we succeed we have our aim the day is our own if not we know the worst of it we are but where we were we can as easily retire to the Cells we crept from as we left them but whether the King sink or swim is the least of our concerns And ah that these Wretches had fallen alone without drawing such a Prince into such misfortunes with them by their precipitate Counsels Let this therefore be for ever another instance of Popish Treachery and Falshood to their Princes for these men always act as if they gloried in being the Instruments of the Destruction of Kings or Kingdoms or Both. And as they were the falsest Men to their Prince so they were the foolishest for never Men took so improper means to attain their Ends as they did In truth they left nothing undone which any man could wish them to do who never so earnestly wished a disappointment of all their Designs as a Reverend Divine and great Man of our Church said in his Sermon on the Thanksgiving-day they were Politicians by Book and never consulted the Genius and Humour of that People they had to do with It may be they are thought very wise Men and great Politicians in other Countreys but they can never in England expect any thing but the reputation of the most imprudent and unpolitick of Men and I hope this great Instance will be sufficient to convince all Princes how unsafe it is for them to trust Men of little Honesty and less Discretion If it be again said That the late King in all these things so deservedly decried was inform'd of the Legality of them by his Judges whose Advice in the like Cases all our Kings have relied upon so if he erred it was their fault and besides such as do unlawful things by the King's Command are liable to answer for it notwithstanding but not the King Himself To this the Answer is very easie The whole Nation knoweth very well that when the Judges at any time gave just and good Advice according to the Law and the best of their knowledge if it thwarted the Design intended there was a Quietus ready at hand for their descent from the Bench and thus the whole Reign of King James there was a perpetual Change of the Judges till they were so modelled as to secure the Interest driven at nay in the very last famous Tryal of the Seven Bishops all know that two of the Judges were immediately removed for giving their Opinion contrary to that Interest So that it is extremely plain the King was not advised by his Judges but the Judges by him how they should act at their Perils and he would have no other than such as would serve his design as for such as acted by his Authority either in Civil or Military Affairs it 's plain few or none were allowed of but such as would serve the Popish Interest what meant else the Change of Charters the Regulating of Corporations the so frequent alterations of the Governors of them the removing of all Officers that would not comply the previous Questions put so diligently all over the Kingdom to Deputy-Lieutenants Officers of the Militia Justices of Peace Magistrates of Cities and Boroughs concerning Elections of future Members of Parliament The King then was so far from suffering Persons to be brought to Tryal for their unjust and illegal Actions that as he would have no other Persons in his Service so he avowed their Protection In vain it was to expect a redress of these things since even in the beginning of that Reign when that King was so much obliged to the Fidelity of the Nation for opposing the Duke of Monmouth so vigorously yet that very House of Commons who but a little while before was so highly cajolled and caressed by the King went away with a Repulse to their honest Address against Papists bearing Offices without legal Qualifications and in a sew days after he prorogued them and never met them more Since then the late King would have no other Persons to serve him nor any in places of Trust but such as highly disserved the Nation since he protected such Persons in all their illegal Proceedings certainly all they did is clearly imputable to himself for so he would have it and no otherwise In fine while it 's said King James was lawful King of England accountable to none for his Actions but God only that all we had to do was to submit either Actively or Passively that our Oaths had obliged us against all Resistance of his Majesty or those commissioned by him and therefore let the worst be supposed that can be we cannot justify our reliction of him or transferring our Allegiance from him Now in the first place this is a plain acknowledgment That we had very great cause of complaining and only helps us with this Accumulation of our Misery we have no possibility of Redress Now it 's a desperate Condition a Prince is brought to that the only Justification of his Proceedings consists in asserting an unlimited and uncontroulable Power and indeed it is much the worse when this is done to a Nation that never have nor never will acknowledg themselves to be Slaves to be ruled by the Arbitrary and Despotick Power of their King but are Subjects governed by their King in the Execution of the Laws of the Land. Again There is nothing more certain than this That there is so great reference to be had to Governors and Government that every small irregularity in Government ought not to lessen the Affection or Fidelity of Subjects such as Injuries accruing only to some private Persons or if they be of a publick and general Nature yea even against Laws in force yet if it be in matters of small concern and importance it is rather to be born with than the Peace of the Government to be disturbed it is in such Cases duly to be considered that nothing perfect is to be found under the Sun that Changes and Alterations upon such small accounts would render Government very unsteady and uneasy to the main end of it which is the peace of Mankind But what if the Case be such that there is no less attempted than the ruin of Souls and Bodies and Fortunes of far the greatest part of the Subjects What if those Laws are laid aside and rendred useless which were enacted of set purpose to secure the Religion and Property of all the Subjects without ever consulting the Legislative Power nay after a great part of that Power hath remonstrated against it What if such Courses be taken as perfectly destroys the very being of Parliaments and makes a