to it All our Nonswearers could not hinder the late Revolution nor can they make another They are enow to make a noise especially if the Loud and Zealous Ladies of that Side be reckoned in but other Hands and other Pretences must do their Work if ever they hope to see it done and then no thanks to their Principles for it Whatever Reward their future Services may deserve Princes themselves will not think that their Principles deserve any Let us then now consider the Merit of their Actions and what Opinion the Late King is like to have of that if he should return I suppose they will be contented he should forget their Merits towards him while he was on the Throne especially about reading his Declaration as likewise their Tower and their Westminster-Hall Merits which were indeed very great and did deserve and would have had a better Reward from a better Hand had they not rendered themselves incapable of it But sure they don't expect the Late King should Reward them for such Services He knew that this raised that general discontent which occasioned that General Revolt which cost him Three Crowns And if all their Merits can Expiate this Guilt they come off well and those had need be very Extraordinary Merits which have first so great a Guilt to Expiate before they can pretend to Merit Could their Nonswearing restore him to his Throne again it would but just undoâ— what they had done which is no more than their Duty and therefore cannot merit no not so much as a Pardon though it may make them capable of it if they fall into merciful Hands But still there are Four Years Exile and the loss of Three Crowns and the Expence of so much Blood and Treasure the Dishonour of so many Defeats and the Ruine of Ireland to be accounted for and how can they make Restitution for all this Which yet they must do before they can lay Claim to Merit Let all this then be forgot for it is their Interest it should but they are very sanguine Men if they hope it will Whence then will they date their Merits When it was certainly known that the Prince of Orange now our Gracious Soveraign was ready to Land they seemed as well pleased with it as other Men and refused when they were pressed to it by the Late King to declare their Abhorrence of it but instead of that took upon them to give him Advice and to publish it when they had done In which Advice they recommended almost every Particular of the Prince's Declaration complained of the same Abuses and advised the Calling of a Parliament to redress them as if the Prince's Declaration and their Advise had been drawn by the same Pen and the Advice had been published on purpose to second the Declaration This I suppose they will not reckon among their Merits neither And if they can excuse what was so hastily done at Guildhall before the Late King was gone out of the Land they may very well be contented no more should be said of that The only Merit then they have to pretend is their Refusing the Oath of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary and forfeiting their Ecclesiastical Civil or Military Preferments for it But what is this to the Late King Is this done out of Kindness to him or his Government Would they not have been contented to have lived Peaceably and Quietly as they themselves professed could they have kept their Preferments and have been excused from the New Oaths And how do they merit of him by refusing the Oaths with the Loss of their Preferments if they did it not for his sake but for another and better Reason for fear of being Damned God may Reward this but King James is not beholden to them Will they be better Subjects hereafter Will they read his Declaration when he Returns Will they make his Will their Law Will they submit to his next Ecclesiastical Commission and give up their Colledges and Churches to Priests and Jesuits Will they be content to take him the very same Man that he went away and to serve him in his own way Will they no more fill the Nation with the noise and fears of Popery and Arbitrary Power Will they turn Papists themselves or stand by patiently and give leave to his Priests to pervert Protestants as fast as they can Will they promise to demean themselves with more respect towards the King's Religion and to leave off their old fawciness of Printing and Preaching against Popery This indeed would bid fair for Merit but if they oppose his Methods of Government and his Glorious Designs as much as they do King William's Right if it be only a Title they boggle at if this be all that makes them uneasie at the Change their not Swearing does him no Service He could have kept his Kingdoms upon these terms before but he scorned it and so he will those who to salve their Consciences or their Honours and to recover their Preferments would have him upon these terms again As much as some Men glory in their steddiness to Principles which is certainly a very Honourable thing and an excellent degree of Virtue when the Principles are plain and certain yet few Princes to be sure not the late King like such a steddiness to Principles as opposes their Designs a stubborn inflexible Conscience is a very unruly thing and Kings do not like such Subjects as dare oppose a King upon the Throne whatever the Cause be So that I suspect their very Boldness and Resolution in opposing their present Majesties upon a meer point of Law will be thought no Virtue fit to be rewarded by a Prince who would make his Will Superiour to all Laws And if the Merit of the Non-Swearers is likely to vanish into nothing especially when there is no occasion any longer to court and flatter them and Priests and Jesuits have free liberty to comment on their Merits what Merit will those Men have to plead who were forward and zealous in the Revolution have Sworn Allegiance to their present Majesties have served them in their Armies and Navies at home and abroad There is no doubt but they shall have fair Promises and good words at present and shall be remembred hereafter when there is occasion But suppose the Merits of the Non Swearing or For-Swearing Clergy and Laiety who will help forwards another Revolution should be acknowledged to be very great what probability is there that the Church of England should fare ever the better for it when Popery and Arbitrary Power stand in the way past Experience gives no great Encouragement to hope this King Lewis was as much obliged to his Protestant Subjects of France as it is possible for any King to be for they set the Crown upon his Head and how he has rewarded them all the world rings of it The late King was not much less beholden to the Church of England when they so vigorously opposed
once taught the men of Succâ—th with Briars and Thorns And there never was such an opportunity since the Reformation for a plentiful Harvest of Converts as this would be like to prove And who can bear the thoughts of this who has any compassion for the Souls of Men any Zeal for the Church of England or any concern to pâ—eserve and propagate the true Faith and Worship of Chriâ—t to posterity All this is upon a supposition of the late King's return which I declare to you I am not afraid of though it is fit to mind those men who are so fond of it what they may reasonably expect if he should return which possibly may abate their zeal in this cause and thâ—t may prevent the mischiefs of an attempt for without a hopeful Conspiracy in England the French King is toâ— wary to make such an Attempt But if they have any love to their Countrey any pity left in them for the lives and fortunes of English Protestants I beseech thâ—m to consider what the Calamities and Desolations of Civil War will be for that it must end in if there be an Invasion from abroad strengthned with a powerful Conspiracy at home King William as I said before will not Desert or Abdicate for I never heard of a Prince who had ventured so much to rescue a Kingdom out of so great a danger that would so easily expose it again to the same or a greater danger And surely the late King does not expect he should for he knows him too well So that if they look for such another Revolution to turn King William out as brought him in they will in aâ—l probability be mistaken There are too many Persons of Honour and Fortune engaged in this Cause who know the late King too well to take his Word and were it possible to wheedle men of Fortune and Sense the genius and spirit of the Nation is against them And that which could maâ—e the late Revolution will probably be able to prevent this It must then come to Blows if an attempt be made and the fortune of one Battel may not decide it and those who are too young to remember the desolations which the late Civil Wars in England made let them look into Ireland and see to what a heap of rubbish a flourishing and fruitâ—ul Countrey is reduced by being the scene of a Three Yeâ—rs War It is made a popuâ—ar pretence to raise discontents and to make people disaffected to the present Government that the Taxes for maintaining this War are grown so intoâ—erable and there is no prospect of an end of them Now I must confess that the Taxes fall very heavy upon some and am sorry that the present posture of our Affairs does require it and that there can be no easier ways found to supply the plain and pressing necessities of the State â—ut â—e ought to consider that still aâ—l this is infiniteâ—y easier than Popery and French Slavery if we regard only our Estates The Annual exactions of the Church of Rome besides all the cheating ways their Priests had to get Money while Popery was the Religion of England used to be complained of as a National Grievance and a heavier Tax upon the Subject than all the King's Revenues And if those who complain of our Taxes were but one month in France to sâ—e the Poverty and Misery which the French Government has brought upon them they would come home very well contented to pay Taxes and to fight against the French too We are Free Subjects not Slaves we are taxed by our own Representatives who tax themselves as well as us and this not by the Arbitrary Will of the Prince We pay for our own Defence and Prâ—servation as all peopâ—e ought to do and while we do not pay near so much as our Religion and Lives and Liberties are worth and have left wherewithal to maintain our selves we have no such greâ—t reason to complain But how heavy soever Taxes are are they like a Civil War Like the dread and terrors of an Enemies Army or of our own Are they like having our Houses filled with Soldiers or which is worse burnt or plundered Are they like losing our Friends our Fathers Husbands or Children by whose kindness or labours we subsisted In a word Are they like the Spoyls of Harvest or the Desolation of a whole Countrey And can we be contented to see England again the Seat of War It is certain in our present circumstances it cannot be made so unless we our selves please France has too many Enemies to think of Conquering England without factions at home and were it not for them we need not fear its united Force and I hope considering men of what Perswasion soever they be will not think it worth the while to ruin their Countrey by a Civil War to purchase a French Slavery and Popery two very dear things could we purchase them never so cheap What I have said hitherto only concerns England but it becomes us to look a little abroad and consider what a fatal Influence a French Conquest of England will have upon the Affairs of all Europe That it is not mere Justice and Honour that makes the French King espouse the Cause of the late King James his Encroachments and Usurpations on his Neighbours will witness He has no scruples of Conscience about the Rights of other Princes all he can get is his own But England was formerly a Friend and Confederate at least not an Enemy and now the Power of England which the French have never had reason to despise is in the hands of a King who owes the French King a good turn and will not I hope dye in his debt This checks his ambitious designs gives life and spirit to the Confederacy threatens to make him restore what he has taken and what he keeps by meer force and violence and to reduce him within his Ancient Bounds and to the Ancient Constiâ—ution of the French Government and he knows while King William possesses the English Throne and keeps up the Confederacy he must not expect to get much more and may be in constant danger of losing what he has gotten This makes the French King so concerned to restore the late King James to the Throne of England to get rid of a Formidable Enemy and to strengthen himself with the Alliance of a Powerful Friend for England will probably turn the scales on which side soever it happens to be And there is no doubt but the Arms of England must be devoted to the service of France if a French Power should place the late King in his Throne again and let any English Protestant who can think coolly of things consider what a malignant aspect this would hâ—ve upon the Liberties of Europe and on the whole Protestant Interest The Arms or the Money of France has hitherto been an equal Match at least for all the Confederates while he has found other employment for the Impâ—rial and
A LETTER to a Friend Concerning a French Invasion To Restore the Late King JAMES to his Throne AND What may be Expected from him should he be Successful in it LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Randall Taylor near Amen-Corner MDCXCII A LETTER TO A Friend c. SIR IN your last you seem much concern'd about the French Invasion and desirous to know what I think may probably be expected from the Late King should he prove so successful as to recover his Throne and what English Subjects are bound in Conscience to do should he Land in England and demand his Right The last is a material Question but I wonder how you came to ask the First as if it could be any Question what the Late King will do if he were restor'd by Power to his Crown For I think it past all doubt that he will do as he did before only in all probability a great deal worse And you remember how that was for Arbitrary Power and Popery are of too great Concernment and have left too frightful an impression behind them to be so soon forgot and this will go a great way towards an answer to your second Question unless you think we are bound to take King James and a French Government and a French Popery with him which I shall not easily be perswaded to and I believe there are not many English Protestants will But to Answer your Questioâ—s distinctly As to the First When we see what the late King Iames has done what reason have we to expect that should he return with Power he would ever do otherwise Is he more oblig'd now by his Protestant Subjects than he was before Can he make fairer Promises than he did before Is he less Zealous for Popery or grown more out of Conceit with Arbitraâ—y Poweâ— Oâ— wiâ—â— he be less able to make himself Arbitrary and set up Popery when he returns a Conquerour For I take it for granted he must conquer first because King William won't abdicate nor steal away and the Power that Conquers will give Laws and Religion to the Conquer'd I know there are two Things pretended as a Foundation for better hopes First That the late King is â—ow sensible that the English Nation will never bear Popery nor Arbitrary Power and that he has suffered so much by these Attempts already that he will never venture the like again Secondly The great Merits of the Non-swearing Clergy and Gentry which will atone for the Church of England and make him their sure and fast Friend Patron and Defender especially if those who have been too forward in complying with the late Revolution shall expiate that Crime by an early Repentance and a vigorous Assistance to restore him to his Throne First As for the first there are too many Answers to be given to it to hinder it from being the least probable ground of Hope though Hope it self is Res incertae nomen so very uncertain especially when we guess only at the Inclinations of Princes that Lives and Fortunes and Liberties and Religion are not to be ventured on it against former Experience But to let that pass pray consider what the true Import of this Argument is for it amounts to this that all Men will learn by Experience that Men will not venture on those things a second time which have proved fatal to them once that Princes will certainly for ever after dislike such Counsels and Measures as have already shaken their Thrones and made their Crowns fall from their Heads Now we may Flatter our selves with such Hopes as these which may upon some account be called reasonable Hopes because there is great Reason it should be so but yet they so often fail that there is no Reason to rely upon them The Repentance of dying Sinners and of undone Prodigals who return to their old Sins again if they recover their Health or find new Treasures to waste confutes such Expectations Sufferings rarely cure a vehement Love and fond Passion for any thing which is the Case of old habitual Sinners and no Man can be fonder of any Vice than some Princes are of Unlimited and Arbitrary Power And whâ—n this is join'd with a resolved and inflexible Temper which scorns to yield and had rather be undone a Thousand Times than own retract or amend a Fault Such Mâ—sfortunes do but whet Revenge and make them swell as a River does when its Current is stopp'd which flows with a more rapid and foaming Stream when it has once forced its way Especially when Superstition is the prevailing Ingredient which fires the Spirits and raises imaginary Scenes of Glory out of the Loss of Crowns and Kingdoms And what will such a Prince if he ever recover his Throne and Power forfeiâ— the Glory of losing his Kingdoms again by deserting tâ—e Cause for which he lost them before No Man can certainly tell how Superstition will Act noâ— how it will Reason Especially when the Consciences of Princes are under such Directors as will venture their Crowns for them over and over to carry on their own Designs and know how to Expound Providence to Flatter Superstition And then the Recovery of his Throâ—e may be made a better Argument and a stronger Obligation to revive and prosecute his old Designs than the fear of losing it again can be to make him desist And to make this yet more demonstrative with reference to the Late King we ought to consider That this is not the first Tryal he has had and that this Consideration has done him no good He saw before what his Father King Charles the First suffered only for some Attempts towards Arbitrary Power and for meer Jealousies and Suspicions of his favouring Popery He lost his Kngdoms and his Life and his Sons suffered a long and hard Exile Charles the Second indeed took warning by this and though possibly he might be big with the same Designs yet would he not venture too far nor discover himself too openly for fear of Travelling again as he used to speak But King James had not Patience to conceal his Inclinations till he came to the Crown and that had like to have cost him his Crown before he had it and yet this was not sufficient to caution him against those violent Methods he afterwards used to advance Popery which were so seasonably defeated by the happy arrival of our present Sovereign whom God long preserve And those who are so desirous to try him again in England as they have lately done in Ireland to their full Satisfaction if they could try only for themselves should have my free Consent to make the Experiment Have not the poor Irish Protestants made it to their Cost even since this very Revolution from whence and from the Wisdom he must needs have Learned by it this miraculous Change in Him is now expected And did they find any such Change in him unless for the worse And yet if ever then he was upon his
good Behaviour when he wanted their Assistance to secure his Possession of that Kingdom and to Recover his other Dominions And when in Reason it might have been expected that whatever Resentments he had he would have thought it his Interest to have treated Protestants with greater Tenderness and Respects But if the Necessity of his own Affairs could not obtain this from him what must Protestants expect if he return with Power And though some Protestants here in England seem not to be at all affected with this Experiment yet it hath made such an impression upon the Protestants in Ireland that they are for ever cured of their Fondness and have not the least Curiosity left to make any further Tryals It is pretended indeed in Excuse of this that he was then under the Government of French Ministers and Counsels and under the Power of Irish Priests and Papists and so was not at Liberty to follow his own Inclinations I should be very glad of a good Argument to prove that he had better Inclinations But however what Comfort is this to Protestants that he has better Inclinations but is not his own Master For if he must never shew any Kindness to Protestants it is no matter what his Inclinations are And can any Man imagine That if the French King by Force and Power place him on the Throne he will be less under his Government than he was in Ireland The French King among many other wise Maxims has this I am sure for one Never to make a King without making him his own Vassal and the Power that can make a King can make him his Slave So that it is to no purpose to enquire what King James will do but what King Lewis will do if King James returns Secondly As for the great Merits of the Nonswearing Clergy and Laity I greatly suspect that neither the Late King James nor King Lewis will think them so great as they themselves do Their Merit must consist either in their Principles or in their Practices And we will briefly consider both Their meritorious Principle is this That the Rights of Princes especially of Hereditary Princes to their Thrones are so Sacred and Inviolable that as they cannot forfeit them to their own Subjects by any Male-administration so neither can they by any Provocations or by any success of War forfeit them to any other Princes That while such a Prince or any Legal Heir is living no other Prince can have any Right to his Throne nor must his Subjects own and submit to any other Prince as their Soveraign Lord. Now as much as this Principle seems to Flatter Princes and to make their Thrones Eternal I am apt to suspect that no Prince who considers the just Consequence of Things can think it so very meritorious for it is a very dangerous Principle to Weak and Unfortunate â—rinces and an intolerable Restraint upon the Aspiring and Ambitious It is Dangerous to the Unfortunate because it lays a Necessity upon the Conquerour to take away his Life if he can as well as his Throne since he cannot lose his Throne without losing his Life though most Princes would rather chuse to have them parted than lose both together And how do they think King Lewis will like this Principle which stands in the way of his Glory and preaches Restitution to him of all those Dominions whose legal Heirs are living which teaches the Subjects of other Princes to deny him Fealty and Obedience and to Conspire with their Legal Princes against him I doubt not but he likes the Principle as little as he would like the Practice and that our Nonswearers would quickly understand were they the Subjects of his New Conquests which God grant England may never be Indeed how great a Complement soever this Principle may be thought to Princes it can have no Merit because though it may in some junctures do them hurt it never did and never can do them any service It never yet hindred a Revolution and never can make one and the Reason is plain because no Princes and very few Subjects do believe it and practice upon it If a Prince have a just Cause of War against another Prince he makes no Scruple if he Conquers to take his Crown and the Subjects of such a conquered Prince make no Scruple of Conscience to submit to the Conquerour though sometimes a personal Kindness for a Just and Indulgent Prince and a Concernment for their own Liberties and Fortunes may make them uneasie under it and glad of the first Opportunity to do themselves and their Prince Right The Truth is Princes have no Reason to like this Principle for were it true they could have no Remedies against the Injuries of Neighbour Princes they might indeed Fight and Conquer but they had better let it alone if they must not take the Throne which their Sword has won for it is only the Fear of Conquest and losing their Crowns when they are Conquered that can keep Princes in Awe and bring them to Just and Equal Terms and if no Prince must lose his Crown because no Prince must take it it will be impossible to beat an Injurious and Obstinate Prince into good Terms and I believe Princes will as soon be perswaded That it is Unlawful to make War as that it is Unlawful to seize a conquered Crown and will think one as meritorious a Principle as the other And it is certain Subjects have less Reason to like this Principle because it makes them Slaves and Sacrifices even to the Misfortunes of their Prince A Prince when he is Conquer'd or sees that he must be Conquer'd may escape by Flight but a whole Nation cannot run away and if they could have no Reason to leave their Country and their Fortunes behind them And yet according to this Principle they must not submit nor swear Allegiance to the Conquerour while the Prince who has forsaken them lives though they cannot Secure their Lives and Fortunes without it But Nature and Common Sense is too powerful for the Sophistry of such Principles and those who cannot Reason can feel what they are to do in such Cases The Loyalest Subjects when no personal Obligations or secret Interests determine them otherwise will save themselves by Submission when they cannot defend their Prince by their Arms and do not think they do ill in it And I suppose Princes do not think so neither because they expect the same from the Subjects of other Princes in the like Circumstances and such an Universal Consent both of Princes and Subjects when there is no Law of God or Nature against it makes it a standing Law in all Revolutions which both Princes and Subjects must submit to So that this Principle were it never so true can do no Service and therefore can have no Merit in this World because there are so few that believe it that they are not hands enough either to keep a Prince on his Throne or to restore him