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
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
Cheswell and she liv'd in Clarkenwell and died in Bridewell and so Sirs farewel I 'll tell you old Nol's Fidler was not the only Man that would fiddle for Money To the sober and truly conscientious Jacobites for such there are tho deluded ones I Know you have been impos'd on in the two last Reigns by designing Clergymen and Statesmen about Non-resistance and you call'd this New Turcism Old Christianity I have compassion on you because I once imbib'd your Notions and was a great pleader for them twenty Years since hearing and reading so many Discourses about it But the Political Catechism first made me at a stand and greater Writers fully convinced after Some of you appeared at first in the Cause of K. William and rejoiced for the Successes he had when you knew what King James did to some of you and intended to do to all But now they seem to repent and plead that of the Wise Man Oppression maketh wise Men mad when some of us answered them that Oppression rather then made mad Men wise I know you are not infected with Atheism who when you urge the Instance of Abraham the twelve Patriarchs the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea and Wilderness into Canaan The Miracles and Resurrection of Christ to prove the Truth of their Religion shall meck and say to this or the like effect So we read how Saturn swallowed up a Stone given by Ops his Wife instead of Jupiter and afterwards by a Drink she gave him vomited up his two Sons Neptune and Pluto How Bacchus was taken out of Jupiter's Thigh and therefore called Bimater How when Juno was jealous of Lecherous Jove she made Argus to watch him who had Eyes before and behind The old Fornicator made Mercury play him asleep and then slew him for which Juno turn'd Argus into a Peacock That Mercury was the Messenger of the Gods the God of Eloquence Physicians and Thieves too by his cunning stealing Sheep from Apollo and was the guider of Souls to Hell Mereuri foecunde Nepos Atlantis c. Horace He hath all this in few words And this Infection they got by reading these Fables monstrous vile Stories in Schools when young against which practice Mr. Norris hath well written in his Conduct of Humane Life as others before him How many of you loath the Name of Roger L'Estrange who led you hoodwink'd to the Gates of Rome Beware of all Scepticks among you who ridicule Religion as if nothing certain Would you disregard History on any such Pretences I have often thought of the various Opinions about Cesar why so call'd Leigh speaks of Some said from Caesarie his Bush of Hair with which he was born Some a cecis oculis from his gray Eyes Some a ceso Elephanto because he flew an Elephant Some ceso matris utero because they say he was ript out of his Mother's Belly the like is said of Edward the Sixth but question'd by Dr. Burnet in his History of the Reformation when it may be after all it is a Primitive word So may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be for ought I know for all what is said about its derivation will it follow the History of Caesar is therefore a Fable and that there is no God Rochester Oldham or such vile Poems shall be read more than Scripture Would all did as little care for the former as he himself before he died who caused them to be burnt before him or as the pious wise Non-conforming Father of the latter whom I knew who cares not to see the Book or hear of it Let them get but a little Story as of the Wilde Poet and Lilly the Astrologer when C. Love was beheaded in a terrible day of Thunder Lightning c. Wilde made the Heavens put on mourning to weep and groan Lilly to shoot off his Cannons for joy such a Traytor 's Head was upon the Block they laught at Providence I know to your commendation you love the Persons Piety and Books of holy Bishop Vsher Bp Hall Mr. Bolton and other great Men tho accounted Puritanical You that will not be laught out of your Health nor Money be not so out of Religion good Company or Heaven I cannot but value you being conscientious Non-jurors more than such as have complied only for preventing Trouble or getting Preferment Most of them are content with the saving Conformity such as Mr. L. of Exon c. some for getting Conformity such as Dean S. and others I pray you Brethren for I refuse not yet so to call you as true serious Protestants Make it your daily Work herein to exercise your selves to have Consciences void of Offence towards God and towards Man So if any of you need my Charity you should have it whilst not Plotters and live peaceable Men. You say of the Jurors they are a pack of Knaves and they say of the Non-jurors they are a pack of Fools and perhaps both say true But however it is better be a Fool than a Knave at any time Had all the Non-resisters been Non-jurors Nonconformists had been long ago in our publick Churches then had the King seen no longer his Enemies preferr'd and Friends supptest but his Enemies supprest and Friends preferr'd Would in any Dialogue between Satan and Sherlock the Devil had never helpt him to a rotten distinction of a Providential King or a King de Facto only after Dr. Sanderson which still made the best of Kings a Usurper but got him preferment and that was enough I do believe on long and close observation that there is not one Dissenter to five but is guilty either of notorious Covetousness which is idolatry or of an implacable irreconcileable unforgiving Spirit which Christ makes a certain sign of not being forgiven by God or of officious Lies to further Trade which is not consistent with common Honesty much less Christian Piety or secret Drunkenness if not Uncleanness and such cannot inherit the Kingdom of God or of secret Insidelity which makes them so cold in works of Piety and Charity and that that Man knows them not who will always trust them because they are Dissenters Yet I do as firmly and heardily and impartially believe that where there is one Man in the Church of England that hath gotten above these reigning Lusts there are ten Dissenters that have so done and this I think on as long and close observation of them every where as of the Dissenters And I do also believe that where one Jacobite is serious and upright ten Churchmen are so You cannot but know that your Gracious Sovereign when Duke of York ever hated an Englishman and said England was a good Country if new peopled And that if he thought he had one spoonful of English Blood running in his Veins he would not be quiet till he had let it out But no wise Man that observ'd times and seasons believ'd he had any there His Brother by the Mother might be honestly begotten