that their malice and bloody designs intended against us were causeless and without any provocation on our parts Neither his sacred Majesty nor any of his people did ever before give them any distaste but in harmless Disputes in which they had as much freedom to answer as any Protestant Divine But when this hellish Plot broke out to our great amazement it cannot be judged unreasonable if they are restrained by Authority and the ancient Laws revived against these new Traytors that offer for Religion to rise in Arms against their King and Country It cannot be thought unreasonable if their Leaders and the Chieftains of their Rebellion be secured that they may not put in practice those Inhuman purposes unto which they had encouraged their silly Proselites It cannot be thought unjust if Governours and People require from them security for their good behaviour for the time to come and such Oaths as may oblige them to a peaceable Behaviour if any such there be that hath that good influence upon their wide Consciences and licentious Principles His Majesties care to prevent the mischiefs which they intended against us our Religion and Nation hath been answerable to and no less than his favour and goodness to them before Truth this Conspiracy is so hainous that at the first Relation it may not seem strange if a good Prince who is as much perswaded of his peoples Affection for him as he knows his love and mindfulness of their welfare and safety could not easily believe it it being so unlikely an Attempt that Posterity may look upon this Plot as some in our days do upon the Gun-Powder-Treason as upon a Romantick Story or a Politick Invention or a State Trick and give no more credit to it than to the Histories of Grand Cirus or of Guy of Warwick or of Amadis de Gaule In a matter of so great a moment it did become a Prince of Reason Judgment and Wisdom to weigh the Testimonies examin the Circumstances and consider all particulars before he ought to pass a determinate Sentence in this Case But now the Evidences are as plain as the Sun now that it appears that this Barbarity was really harboured in the breasts of some of the Popish Party now that we see their Malice and Cruelty written with the indelible Characters of the innocent Blood of an eminent Magistrate and Martyr whose only Crime was that he knew theirs and their horrid Proceedings now that we see by his unexpected Murder what our King and People were to receive from the merciless hands of these men who can deny it Certainly God hath infatuated their Wicked Counsels for the good of our People Nation and Religion and suffered their furious Zeal to begin one Tragedy which they intended should have acted many more But by this Cruel Murder they have given us a clearer Prospect of their Diabolical Designs and allarm'd us all in defence of our Persons King and Country against such future Inhumanities They have hereby listed up the Mask and shewn to all the Nation the fearful Features of their disguised Religion and declared to us all what Mallice and Cruelty governs them what Wickedness they would commit if Power and Authority were in their hands O Barbarous Impiety could you offer to strike at a Breast full of tenderness and affection for your persons Could you attempt upon a life upon which depends all our lives and fortunes Your Inhumanity is the more inexcusable and not to be parallell'd amongst the Turks and worst of Infidels whose Principles suffer them not to be wicked to their Benefactors This Circumspection of our merciful Prince deserves our Eternal Praises rather than the Abuses of disaffected people Why should the Papists plot against his life for being our Friend This is an Injustice guilty of the most grievous folly and palpable mistakes proceeding from Ignorance and the not observing the great care that his Majesty hath taken to discover and prevent all the mischiefs intended against us and his Government for upon the first Discovery of the Plot his Majesty gave speedy Orders to his privy Council to proceed in the Examination of this great business According to his Royal Commands they sate regularly twice every Week to sift out the matter and when they found the truth of it by undoubted Circumstances they sent to apprehend divers of the Conspirators examin'd them severally to sift out the matter afterwards they committed others to Custody using in this and all other Proceedings all the Care and Secresie immaginable All persons chiefly concerned or suspected were sought for and as many as were found were sent to Prison to be tryed according to the Order of Law It is true our people laid not violent hands upon them We did not tear them in pieces as they went about nor dis-member them upon bare suspicions of Treason We did not mangle their Bodies nor exercise our rage upon these bloody men The Proceedings of our King and Council were agreeable with the Rules of Humanity Reason and Equity The Malefactors were secured and delivered over into the hands of Justice to be treated according to the Laws of the Land They had fair Tryals for their lives men of Conscience and Worth judged them Guilty by most undeniable Testimonies They had liberty to answer for themselves and to defend their own Cause They were heard with patience and Christian moderation and there was nothing acted against them but was suitable to Christs precepts and his Holy Gospel If all the Proceedings be observed we shall find nothing more reasonable nothing more Christian and just than the Actions of our King and Superiours in this Case They are sufficiently justified from all suspicions of Cruelty on one hand and from all neglect or carlesness on the other Can the Papists now find fault if they are abridged in some respects from that liberty which they intended to abuse in so wicked a Plot Can they blame our Governours for seeking so carefully to preserve themselves the King's Majesty his Dignity Government and Religion from their Inhumanities And on the other side to satisfie all the English Subjects let us observe the care and diligence of his Majesty and of our Governours to secure the nations peace from Popery and the Conspirators After the Plot was fully discovered his Majesty re-inforced his Guards and gave liberty to the Trained-Bands to stand up in their own defence Care was also taken to secure and seize upon all suspected persons About this time the Papists thought to have smothered the noise of the Plot in the Death and Blood of a diligent Inquirer into their proceedings Sir Edmundbury Godfrey whom they inhumanely murdered When he was missing divers Reports were raised and Slanders fastened upon him They that were guilty of this black Crime endeavoured to make us believe the greatest Improbabilities That he hadkill'd himself c. But the manner of his lying with all the Circumstances convinc'd the Coroner and Jury assisted by
Prince have been pardoned suffered to enjoy their Estates in peace protected by his Laws and many of ability preferr'd and imployed Though these kindnesses have been done to private Persons and Families and they have chiefly reap'd the benefit of his Majesties gracious Disposition the whole Kingdom is thereby obliged to his Majesty because in the forgiveness of such Offenders he hath had an Eye to the Publick good peace and satisfaction of all his Subjects rather than to his just Resentment Moses was a Meek Man yet how many hundreds and thousands were made Examples of his Justice and Gods Wrath for their Rebellions few or none pardoned Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour's Name is sacred in the memories of men he forgave his Enemies advanced Religion incouraged Piety yet he imbrued his Fatherly hands in the blood of his own Son and Heir Crispus upon the suspition of a Rebellion Theodosius the Emperour was a brave and an excellent Prince yet the Inhabitants of Antioch complain of the promiscuous killing of their Citizens in the Emperours rage Justinian the Law-giver of the World could not give Laws to his own passions nor save Bellisanius and Narses his two great Generals from the cruel hands of his Empress Theodora I might run over all the Histories of former times from the beginning of the World to this day and mention to you the noblest the rarest and most merciful Princes in forreign Nations and in this yet I dare affirm and do offer my self to prove from a certain knowledge of the Histories of the World that I may say I have perus'd that there was never any King or Soveraign Prince neither in England nor elsewhere who hath been so gracious so compassionate and merciful to his People as our King Charles neither hath any Reign been more free from shedding of blood never any Government more mild and happy never any Prince less ruled by violence and interest nor more govern'd than himself by that Sacred Maxim of his Royal Father The setled Laws of these Kingdoms are the most excellent Rules a King can govern by Where are the Widows and Orphans amongst us that can complain of the unjust murder of their Relations Where is the Family ruined by the Confiscation of its Estate and Patrimony Where can we meet with any particular instance of his Majesties over-ruling the ordinary course of Law and Justice Henry the VIII and our former Kings would sometimes give place to wrath anger and revenge and their Wills sometimes took the place of Laws But where can we meet with any such Example in our days Where is there a person either Condemned or Executed or deprived of an Estate by our Princes Command alone Many have received their Lives and Estates from him which had been forfeited by Law but to this very day none ever lost either Lives or Fortunes to gratifie his Majesties will and pleasure even in this late wicked Plot against his Royal Person he hath not punish'd any man but by course of Law Is not this a happiness for all the English Subjects for Poor and Rich to live under such a reasonable Government and gracious a Governour and where Law and Equity Justice and Conscience sway the Scepter where Power and the Regal Authority are never used but in vindication and for the execution of righteous Laws though the Papists never intended to observe any measures of Reason Conscience or Humanity with his Majesties Person and People but in a secret and private way intended to fill the Land with Assassinations and Murders nevertheless he observes a Legal Method and proceeds against them by such means as are justifiable before God and Man His Majesty delivers them over to a Court of Judicature to have a fair Tryal for their Lives he suffers them to answer for themselves and leaves them to an impartial Judge and Jury In forreign Nations such Enemies of the Publick Safety would have been pull'd in pieces as the De Witts cut down and mangled by the rude Rabble as Sejanus at Rome and the Assassins of the Prince of Orange and of Henry the III. of France and many others They would not have had the patience to see them alive who had resolved upon so cruel a design as to murder the King and his People without cause But the World sees the moderation of our English Natures the Excellency of the Principles of our Religion and the Justice of our King who is willing to make his most desperate Enemies sensible of it in their own persons without any passion which hath never carried him to act against them but in a regular way And though some of them had forfeited their Estates by Law and it had been but a piece of Justice to reduce their Posterity to poverty who intended to make so many poor Families in this Land yet to the Eternal praise of his Majesty be it spoken he hath not attempted to take ought of their Estates but hath restored since his Restauration to the Children of many Rebels Traytors and Regicides the Patrimonies belonging to their Fore-fathers it is therefore a most unreasonable Aspersion and a wicked Slander proceeding from the Shop of Ignatius and his bloody Jesuits to report any thing amiss of his Majesties most Excellent Government As Mr. Oats hath very well taken notice it hath been the design of those Troublers of Peace to make us stand in fear of an Arbitrary Government and to fasten upon his Majesty and his proceedings the most abusive Lyes but let any man run over the passages of his good Reign he shall have no cause to suspect what there is not the least colour to believe The suspitions and jealousies in relation to Religion are as plainly scandalous and unlikely it is sufficiently known how zealous his Majesty hath always been in the profession of the true Protestant Religion from his Infancy It was the Advice of his Royal Father Above all I would have you as I hope you are already well grounded and setled in your Religion the best Profession of which I have ever esteem'd that of the Church of England In this I charge you to persevere as coming nearest to Gods Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive Examples for Government According to this direction our King hath behaved himself so that neither fear favour nor interest could ever draw him from this Religion In his Banishment his Majesty alone knows the greatness of his Tryals and we and all the World the constancy of his mind Here the whole World might have seen the Religion of King Charles the II. Neither the love nor glory of a Crown nor the honours of the World nor the advantages of Life could prevail upon him to waver in the least from that excellent Religion and Faith for which the King his Father spilt his blood and which Christ and his Apostles have recommended to us or to accept of the Popish Superstitions And since his Majesties return to his Honour
and Dignity which may be look'd upon as a Reward of his Fidelity as a glorious and honourable acknowledgment of Divine Providence of our Prince's faithfulness to the Profession of the true Protestant Religion and a Testimonial from God himself of his reality in his Faith sufficiently evidenced to all the World by the wonderful Circumstances of his happy Restauration I say since his Majesties return how many plain and undoubted Testimonies hath he given us of his sincerity in the Protestant Profession and Resolution to maintain it in his Kingdoms against all Dissenters and Opposers His Royal Father left him this Charge I do require and intreat you as your Father and you King that you never suffer your Heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the true Religion establish'd in the Church of England I tell you I have tried it and after much search and many disputes have concluded it to be the best in the World not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special Notion as reformed c. Therefore as soon as he was settled by the advice of his Loyal Parliament he restored the Orders and Government of the Church of England which in the approved judgment of the King his Father is the best in the World because it is the most conformable in Doctrine and Practice to Christ his holy Apostles and and the Primitive Church as he expresly declares And to secure this most excellent Religion the better by removing all the causes of dissention and Obstacles that seem'd to hinder such as had received contrary principles from embracing it the Kings Majesty yielded to an amendment of certain things which gave offence What could have been desired more from generous and a gracious Prince than was then granted in complyance with the peoples weakness and mistakes The Nation was then through the disorders that had been in Church and State split into many pieces and sad divisions Mens judgments were possessed with unreconcileable Prejudices and strange Principles in opposition to the Church of England which they would not nor could not speedily overcome It was therefore judged convenient to grant them time and yet to establish those Law as might both declare to the World His Majesties constancy in the true Protestant Religion and direct them that were Dissenters to embrace it Examine but the Royal proclamations and the Acts of Parliament and see what they say and it will plainly appear that the Kings Majesty never had any design since his Coronation nor before but to settle protect favour and maintain according to his Royal Promise the true Protestant Religion of the Church of England as it was establish'd in Queen Elizabeth's King James's and his Martyred Father's days And if not withstanding out of his royal goodness and wisdom the Laws against Papists were not always strictly put in Execution it was because the necessities of the Kingdom and the good of the Publick did so require it for the preservation of Peace and the better settlement of the Truth Fire and Sword are not always seasonable against Dissenters in Religion It belongs to a King to mitigate his Laws and suit them to Times and Cases He is not always bound to observe them in all their rigour and exactness neither doth such proceedings consist with the general good and happiness of a Kingdom though the surious zeal of inconsiderate Subjects may sometimes wish for the contrary But as in distempered Bodies the Physician doth not always observe the same Rules of his Art nor apply the same Remedies but changeth and altereth them according to the Diet Humour Pulse Country Air and other Circumstances of the Patient So it becomes a wife Prince to handle the Distempers of Church and State in such a manner as may answer the universal good the chief end of Government and prevent the increase of the Disease It is therefore a grand presumption for every petty Fellow and ignorant Mechanick to exclaim against his Superiours Actions in such a case when he is not capable to understand the great Reasons of Sate that govern them Besides the Papists did scemingly express their Duty and Allegiance to the King out of a design as it is now supposed by some when he was in his Banishment when many Protestants were unable to do him service but with their Prayers and Wishes After his happy return could he do any thing less than grant them some freedom under his good Government for which many of them had taken up Arms against Rebellion It was but just whiles they confined their Religion within their own Breasts and professed to live as peaceable Subjects and quiet in their Offices and Estates that they should reap some of the Fruits and taste of the sweetness of that Reign for which many of them had ventur'd their Lives and Fortunes As they had a share in the sufferings it was but just that they should have also a share in the happiness that succeeded As they have been concerned in his Majesties Calamity Reason and Conscience obliged him at first to suffer them to have an Interest in his Restauration and happiness This is sufficient to justifie our Kings gracious Proceedings towards the Papists from all jealousie and suspicion and to make it appear that his Grants and Allowances proceeded not from any approbation of the Popish Idolatries and Superstitions but from a Principle of Justice not from an allowance of their Religion and Abominations but of their Persons and faithfulness to him in his distress which had obliged him in requital to shew them some favour And not only to them his Majesty hath given several Expressions of Royal goodness but also to all Dissenters from the Religion of the Church of England Though the Laws are severe against Conventicles and Conventiclers whiles they are peaceable and not mutinous though their Practices are of ill consequence and not agreeable with Law yet so great is his condescention as to suffer them in their way without disturbing their Meetings according to this Christian Speech which hath been often heard from his Majesty I will never trouble any for his Conscience but let no Man trouble nor disturb my Government If the Papists had not plotted the Nations ruine and agreed together to murder both Prince and People they might have yet continued freely in the enjoyment of their Religion and of as much priviledge as they could reasonably desire under the Government of so favourable a Monarch No person would have dream'd to disturb them in their Privacies and secret Devotions They might have lived and died without any fear of the Execution of the Laws in the fruition of their Estates and Places with as much liberty as the Protestants themselves We all began to look upon them with kindness to esteem them as our Brethren and good Countrymen and to favour them in many respects But how strangely have we been mistaken and deceived let the World judge However this is our comfort