K. James owed his Crown to Coleman's Halter POSTSCRIPT WHereas I am in a scandalous Libel suspected to be the Author of the Declaration of the Congregational Divines in and about the City of London against Antinomianism and the preaching of ignorant scandalous Persons I do declare 1. That when I read this Charge against me I had not then read the Declaration 2. This Charge made me soon to do it and I find it true what the Bishop of Worcester and all Orthodox Men of what Perswasion soever say it is a sound and valuable Book God render a thousand sold into their Bosoms who oblig'd the World with so excellent a Confession I say with Mr. Lobb and others almost all the censur'd Errors there are in Dr. Crisp's Book a much worse Book than the Racovian Catechism I cannot but think as well of Sosinus as of Crisp only where it is here said Believers are not to mouvn for Sin confess or beg pardon I acknowledg Dr. Crisp tho he write Blasphemously and Atheistically against mourning for Sin yet not a word against Confession or begging Pardon and the reason may easily be conjectur'd which I gave in my three contending Brethren He could not read Common-prayer without Confession or begging Pardon This old nasty Ceremony monger never intended to turn out for this or to leave the good sat Parsonage at Brinksworth It is however well known some of his Followers are against confession of Sins or begging Pardon who are no Common prayer men 3. Since this Censure of me the Congregational Diviues I thank them have reprinted the Book wherein they declare That all except two or three men to whom they thought it not fit to communicate the matter approv'd of it Was not the Draper one Dr. Chauncy himself to his immortal honour was one of the Approvers this is certified by good Mr. Griffith Mr. Lobb Mr. Mead Mr. Taylor Mr. Nisbet 4. It is believed by some Antinomians as well as others that this Libeller whose Name nor Habitation can I know did not or could not believe I was the Author For 1. Mr. Lobb Mr. Nisbet and others to all Persons declar'd it to be theirs Could not the Slanderer have gone sent or written to them to know whether they disown'd it 2. I would have been not only a wicked Villain but a most impolitick one too who in my Apology for Congregational Divines against the Charge of Crispianism or Antinomianism The countenancing the preaching of incompetent Tradesmen wrote my self a Presbyterian if after all I should write my self an Independent and that in the name of the whole Body of such Ministers here when I might so easily be confuted But see the disingenuity of this skulking Scribler to render me odious he says I wrote against the Reverend Mr. Baxter When many of this Tribe caressed me about that Book the greatest disparagement to it and say which God forbid ever I should They believe he is not in Heaven And I declare undesir'd by any Man I was once thoughtful to recal the Book and give this as the only reason inducing me to it the wicked use these Men made of it Now to blacken me Mr. Baxter shall be a worthy pious Divine which I never denied but these Men do I never said Thare was never any Cause of God going in Church or State but Mr. Baxter would oppose it Nor there was no Sin but he had semething to say for it c. This is ten thousand times worse than for me to cite Mr. Crandon That he would if desir'd prove that not one Flower in his Aphorisms of Justification was his own but all stoln out of Popish Authors Mr. Bagshaw indeed says in his Epistle to him from his Poison You grant I am upright in the main I cannot grant so of you This was never any Language of mine both may be in Heaven for ought I know which way Mr. Baxter might get there I can imagine But for George Fox Muggleton and Dr. Crisp three unlearned Impostors I cannot so imagine if I could I would never question Arius Socinus Bellarmine or Pope Innocent XIV the Protestant Pope I have heard Mr. Baxter one day asking Mr. T.R. what Books he read He answer'd I read this day that an old Woman told St. Austin that if he had begotten as many Children as he had written Books he had done excellent service to the Commonwealth which made the old Gentleman grumble to purpose I am glad for Mr. Gouge that he is one of the Approvers of this Congregational Declaration and as I hear hath given away several of the Books This I have to say in behalf of the London Baxterians that they like Men and Christians rejoice that their Congregational Brethren have at last quitted themselves like Men Would they had done it sooner Now whatever foul Language this Libeller gives me returns on these Divines whose excellent profound Book he makes contemptible as if done by a man of a distemper'd Brain Are the now known Authors such Can no ingenious Discourse come out without a Name but Mr. Trepidantium Malleus as he calls me must be suspected presently to be the Author I never thought the Draper to be the Accuser I never believ'd he could print so much Grammar or Sense tho we are told We feel not what he hath felt No we are honester Men. Heaven forbid we should for it would put a modest Man to a blush to relate Whether the unworthy Branch of Dr. Crisp were the Author I doubt No Lie is too great for him to print that said Mr. Baxter died a Crispian Are the Pinners-Hall Lectures theirs now Was my Apology for them a Mistake Do not these now justify me as I once apologized for them God make him go weeping to his Grave for printing his Father's Book which will be the damnation of thousands of Souls I am now clear'd or else no man ever was in any Cause whatever tho I confess I much doubt whether Mr. T. who dispos'd of so many of that vile Book Honey out of the Rock Christ subscrib'd bona fide My Defamer censures the Authors for going to the Philistins Forge because they gravely cited Orthodox Dr. South and yet to blacken me could censure me for writing against the Reverend Mr. Baxter accounted by this Company a verier Philistin than Dr. South This is like censuring the Book because the Authors Names are not there when neither his nor Printer's can be found or heard of An Antinomian lately came from hearing one preach Obedience as the way and particularly Repentance call'd so a thousand times in Scripture said Drunkenness is as much the way as Repentance before me and others As for those words in a late Mercury there is come out an Answer to the Rebuke by that Learned Critick Y g of Plymouth in which is neither Wit nor Sense but a Jacobitish Cant c. The Writer was my Brother not I about Physick and Astrology not Divinity I wish him and my Learned Friend Dr. Salmon could better agree or more friendly diffent May I be so hold to direct Dr. Salmon my Brother or others to give them one Prescription how to make their Costive Patients soluble I pray them not to be displeas'd Get Dr. Crisp's Picture when his first Books come out and let them look on it one quarter of an hour or less for I declare it is able to give a man a Stool to see it as it was done truly by Mr. L. not falfly by his unworthy Branch Could any Man imagine I wrote a Jacobite Cant I cannot help it if he did Is he a crack brain'd Man as there call'd If he be some unusual Distemper hath lately seiz'd him I pray the Adorers of this Family to consider how many Heylin in particular Cosmog are forced to confess the Stuarts were a spurious Brood ab origine The Father of the first was a Great Man and Steward in Scotland Therefore his base Child bore the Name of his Father's Office a thing common among Bastards end Bastard-makers Doth Bishop Spotswood in his History of the Church of Scotland say much less than that King James the 6th of Scotland and 1st of England was the Illegitimate Son of David Reese the Queen's Musician Did not the Earl of Lenox the Queen's Husband so believe when he slew David when sitting by the side of the Queen then big with Child of King James Hence it was he when a Man could never endure the sight of a Sword no not in knighting any One. From this invincible Timidity Flatterers gave him the Motto Beati Pacifici For the Old Rowly that filthy Stallion he had his Charles Nelson c. the Son of Charles and Nel. The now ejected King the Duke of Berwick c. Bless God that hath rooted out these and given us a King whose Life is a compendium of the best Morals and Politicks too As for the old Vinegar Bottle his pretended Zeal for Mr. Baxter and the Great K. is but Covetousness the Govering is too thin God forgive him for belying me A Country Tutor and Mr. Short of this City that Excellent Philosopher and Philosopher-maker too to my knowledg He is the basest Adversary I ever had who like an Owl fears the Light His Idol must fall that play'd the madman at Salters-Hall with Mr. S. and Mr. P. two ingenious Divines a Story too shameful to relate FINIS
Plato c. and pructis'd also of late by others besides Mr. Pool against Papists c. R. L. Hang the Church of England I was hastning to the Church of Rome as fast as I could but I broke my Shins by the way the Prince of Orange trig'd me and many more For my part I cannot believe any be such Fools to die at a Stake or any other way for Religion that contrive King James his return No doubt he will bring a French Wheel with him R. F. In troth I think we are all of us too wet to burn But tell me in good earnest Roger Did you ever in the least doubt whether the Earl of Antrim had a Commission from King Charles the First for what he did in the Irish Rebellion Or whether King James had a hand in burning the City c. R. L. Do you think me mad to doubt it No no the worst was he had not countenanced a Massacre in England too and King James had not burnt more Cities than one But what say the Phanaticks of us now R. F. They admire Providence that hath made us at last by our practice to justify them We are now the Dissenters and refuse to come to Common Prayer in the Steeple houses for so we may now call them because we like not a Prayer or two when they could not be excused that liked not one in the Book They say must we escape as we do who refuse to swear Allegiance to their King as no lawful one when they were in Goals for Noncompliance to Ceremonies tho they swore to our King They say what is true Now some of us have thrown up the Doctrine of Non-resistance as well as the new Bastard Church of England Others deny it to be any Work of a King to make Bishops or unmake them or to silence Ministers c. Mr. H. Remember what the Wise man saith There is a time R. L. Stay the Wise man Who do you mean of Malmsbury who had more wit in his little Finger than he that I doubt you mean had in all his Body Solomon is the Fool 's Wise man but the Wise man's Fool. O the depth that is in Leviathan and the best description of Religion in the World An Awe begotten in the minds of Men from Tales publickly told Come what Religion will the old Fox shall never get our Names in his Martyrology Indeed he must excuse us D me Mr. H. I will kick you down stairs if you thus talk before me and d so R. L. I will stop then whilst this fit of Zeal or fanatical Fury is on you For I remember the story of the Quaker That Yea and Nay kickt D me down stairs Mr. H. Will you hear me reason with you R. L. No not I with your long-winded stile like Jovian which we as well as the Phanaticks complain'd of as tedious and contradictory And he said right that said Either you had no Friend or would not use him You could not print Kid and Kings dying Speeches but run none knows where when one complain'd of motions to evil whether the Motus primo primi were evil c. For my part I think if any Pope were infallible it was he that said Quantum nobis profuit haec de Christe fabula If I could believe a Devil and a Hell I should think with King Charles the Second of blessed Memory for Whoredoms Perjuries and Infidelity That Calvin sat at the Devil 's right hand in Hell and Oliver Cromwell at the left R. F. Talk of other things What think you R. of the Doctrine of Resistance Is it so black so unusual as you said When I was an Antimonarchical Man a Whig and then Williamite I thought it not so neither can I now For my part I say of King James as other good Loyal men do I care not if the Devil brought him back so we could get him When you were Old Nol's Fidler and were for deposing Kings did you then and I after talk without Book R. L. Between our selves I will tell you my mind Nothing is more evident than that the old Romans in the best Government in the World depos'd their Kings Emperors c. Romulus the very Founder of Rome and first King was slain in the Senate for his proud Spirit Florus can hardly forbear speaking it out Ob asperius ingenium notwithstanding the Fiction of Julius Proculus his seeing him after his death and that he commanded the People to worship him They all along depos'd banish'd and put to death Tyrannical Princes Tarquinius Superbus as well as Jacobus Superbus after he discover'd his Cruelty by striking off Poppy's heads and other Pranks was forced to flee to Porsenna King of the Etruscans who helpt him to a great Army but in vain Tho not he but Arunta ravisht Lucretia yet the Father must flee for the Son's wickedness So King James went to the French King and all Attempts to bring him back are in vain This is a lively Transcript of that story He that reads Suetonius and other Authors will find Subjects singing Tiberium ad Tyberim A. S. I doubt not but when King James in his last Speech to our Senators said often His Will should take place contrary to the Test and other Laws If he had had his due Julius Cesar with his 24 Wounds in the Senate-house had lookt more lovely than he R. F. We have all sworn to secresy in speaking our minds No one hears us You know Vitellius was with a Spear held up by the Chin when the People flung dirt on him And the Bones of Caius Caligula were melted by the Order of the Senate after his death who said to his Mother disswading him from Injustice Memento mihi omnia in omnes licere No doubt King James could with him have wish'd all the People of England as he of Rome had but one Neck that he might cut it off at a blow His Nurse did not in vain put Blood on her Nipples when she gave him suck He paid dear for his Optimum olere occisum hostem melius sivem Sueton. Mr. H. O Gentlemen talk you as Non-resisters R. L. When we did we only talkt as such as you Preachers have your Priestcraft so some Statesmen theirs Mr. H. Whatever King James hath done he hath made many fair Promises to us Protestants on his Return R. L. Protestants Quodlibetarians we ever were and will be A. S. Yes promiseth just perhaps as that Roman Catholick that in a Storm promised the Virgin Mary a Candle as big as a Mast but after would give one of ten to the pound It is a French Proverb After a storm the Saint is forgotten These are my fears sometimes Claudius Cesar would condemn a Man and after send for him and play at Chess with him and then hang him the next day Mr. H. If after the Storm the Saint is forgotten then let them who are no Saints but the greatest haters maligners and persecutors of
them never expect to be remembred R. L. But seeing we are for once playing the honest Men and speaking our hearts I know not when we shall again pray Gentlemen what think you of the Prince of Orange you Mr. F. whom you once magnified and afterwards vilified R. F. Gentlemen I cannot forbear thinking him to be one of the best of Men one of the best of Princes who would rather be lov'd than fear'd All the World knows he is one of the greatest Souldiers in it as King James is one of the greatest Cowards he was not for an He illic but Venite hic And as another Ego vester Vos mei With Antoninus Pius he is a Cynici Sector and searcheth into things He is so politick as if with Domitian he had every where his Phengites He can see what is done behind him as well as before him as we too well know I can never get or long keep preferment under such a King I wish therefore King James his Return tho I am not such a Fool as to say with Agrippa when she was told Nero would reign but would kill her Occidat modo imperet Hang him before I should have such a thought I am sure it cannot be said of me I am neither Guelph nor Gibeline I have been both Those two Dutch Brethren acted one for the Emperor the other for the Pope I can do all the Feats my self allow me time Now what think you of the Prince of Wales was King James guilty and of the Design with France R. L. I will tell you a Story that every Man doth not know A plain Man among the Dissenters seeing the King walking in a melancholy Fit at the Success of the Prince be came up to him and said Sir be advised by a plain Man If you are not guilty about the birth of the Prince of Wales c. never stir a hair of your head will not fall to the ground But if guilty go away as soon as you can and save your life This Dissenter was often with him before K. James went away a day or two after I doubt not in the least but we had had the French Government and Religion too ere this time had he staid But I am clean Paper Kings may write what they will on me I hate all Religion and look on it as a Cheat. Mr. H. Pray Sir give over you may with Rochester cry out before you die O that God had made me a Toad crawling in a Ditch or that I had been a Link-boy rather than what I was when I scoft at Religion God no doubt had mercy on him I wish he may on you Remember Buckingham's Cry O that God would give me a heart to repent but I cannot repent I am undone to all Eternity R. L. Pray Sir hold your tongue I think you are such a Prophet in Divinity as in Politicks You know you told the World in that wordy Book Jovian That notwithstanding all that you had said for Non-resistance of a Popish Arbitrary Prince yet the people of England had as good security for their Religion and Civil Rights as any could desire for 1. It must be suppos'd Princes are Men of Conscience as well as others 2. The Duke of York in particular was a Man who never broke his Word and had made many Promises to the Church of England 3. The strength of our Laws Test c. 4. The danger his Ministers would be in that should act contrary to Law after his decease I cannot exactly write your words it is above fifteen years since I read the Book Now you know you were hooted at by Church Tories as well as Whigs when the Bishops were sent to the Tower c. Nay you there ask Whether it could be suppos'd the Duke of York was a Papist who in Scotland had a Protestant Minister to say Grace at his Table tho so many Parliaments had declared him so long before to be a Papist and propos'd Bills of Exclusion against him because as such he had countenanced the Popish Plot. This sticks according to the French Proverb for you are frenchified too as well as I as the Dirt of Paris For Lutetia a Luto Hold you your peace And what is your Opinion my Lord of Salisbury of the new Church of England May it please your Grace to tell us in a few words A. S. Her Priests are Jeroboams Priests It is an Apostate Church Sherlock is a notorious Apostate with his Providential King tho he talkt after Sanderson with his Providential Government when he wickedly pleaded for taking the Engagement Burnet is a temporizer not only they but William Penn and other active Quakers are apostatized too tho we and they with some Roman Catholicks once took sweet counsel together R. L. Never be concern'd for many Clergy-men that have sworn Allegiance to the little Man of the Hague have since answer'd King James that they did it only to be in a greater capacity of serving him And some of them you know have written to us with a God be merciful to us Sinners Tho we have been as the Phanaticks say lately taken as wild Birds or Birds of Prey from fleeing in the open Air taking the lesser but best Birds and have been clapt up in a Cage together Yet Qui nil potest sperare desperet nibil Sen. Med. Si fortuna volet fies de Rhetore Consul Si volet hac eadem fies de Consule Rhetor. Juv. Mr. H. O but little hopes now is left whatever was in the time of the War Now is a time of Peace occasion'd by the Valour and Wisdom of Prince of Orange And I cannot but grant God's Blessing with both as if the Golden Age were return'd again Non Galeae non ensis erat sine militis usu Mollia securae peragebant otia gentes However the beginning of this Usurpation and long continuance was troublesome yet the Williamites are now ready to sing Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane Divisum imperium cum Jove Caesar habet R. F. Give not over all hope A. S. Qui spe aluntur pendent non vivant Sometimes I have hope I do already in many places look and act with such state tho a very poor Man's Son and a poor Serviture in Oxford as if I were already consecrated and sat down in my Episcopal Chair We have found King James to be Rex Diabolorum as all Kings of England are said to be R. L. I swear he might well be said to be so that hath no better Subjects than we Come come a Health to the Confusion of the Fanaticks and to the worst sort of them the now call'd Church of England the perjur'd King-dethroning Church Here is an Epitaph made for her long ago and you know by whom when T. the Archbishop was alive who was never Christned Hic jacet Ecclesia Anglicana Cujus Rex Batavus Cujus Patriarcha Ethnicus Non Romanorum nec Fanaticorum furore Sed