with another to prevent his utter Overthrow and Destruction and in such a case for wise and politick Ends to stop the exorbitant and dangerous Growth of a potent Neighbour and for the same Prince to take away another Prince's Crown because he is uneasie and ungratefull to his Subjects Yet after such fallacious Inferences our Author with his wonted Modesty adds Let those who now with as much Ignorance as Confidence upbraid Men with Renouncing the Doctrines and Principles of the Church of England read and consider these Passages and if any thing will make them more wise and humble this will He contends all along to prove from those Instances which are of several Independent Governours and so relate to the Law of Nations that this Proceeding of the Prince of Orange is not repugnant to the Doctrines and Principles of the Church of England p. 15. and more particularly afterwards from the Homilies p. 21 22. which say we are bound to obey a Heathen Tyrant and to pray for him from the Jews who were commended to pray for the King of Babylon and for obeying Augustus lastly from our Saviour's acknowledging the Roman President 's Power and Authority as given him from God Nay he argues a fortiori p. 21. from the Homilies thus If they and consequently the Church of England declare we are bound by God's Word to obey a Heathen Tyrant much more ought we by the Doctrines and Principles of our Church to pay Allegiance to good and religious Princes c. This is the full force of his Argument why we ought to pay Allegiance to the present Governours But first We cannot think thâ—m good and religious whilst we see they have wilfully broken and obstinately continue to break God's holy Commandments the Observing of which is the best Test of Goodness and Religion Next he leâ—ves the main Point which Dr. Sherlock mentions out of his Convocations that are better Declarers of the Church of England's Doctrine than the Homilies That the Authority of all those Conquerours was to be thoroughly settled so that there was no morâ—l Possibility the former Governour in case he had been alive could evâ—r by himself or his Friends be restored and therefore we seldom or never hear that any of such ejected or subdued Sovereigns did ever struggle for their Kingdoms or went about to recover them Hâ—w this suits with our preseâ—t Câ—se where the former supreme Governour is living did ever and does still claim it pursues the Recovery of it has a most potent Monarch abroad for his Friend who espouses his Quarrel has engaged his Honour he will either restore him to his Crown or lose his own is easie to be discerned But moreover which is nâ—â—ess material in this Business King Iames has great Parties in each of the three Nations who do not acknowledge thâ— present Governours and look upon them as unjust Vsurpers of their Father's Right Besides which alters the Case extremely here was no Conquest or subduing England by Force nay no War at all exercised upon it His bad Cause forces this mercenary Writer to shuffle to and fro and pretend now one Thing now another but all of them when they come to be scann'd and applied equally to no purpose Conquest he dares not call it in down right Terms for fear of disgusting all England by making us all Slaves yet those Instances of Rightfall Power which he brings and would have us think to be parallel to this New Government and proper to aâ—et it were all true Successes in War and by consequence perfect Conquests 'T is easie to discern by these Hints what he would be at and not hard to conjecture what Title though they have agreed of none hitherto they intend at length to pitch upon finally unless the Patriots of the Subjects Liberty do in time restrain such audacious Attempts Thus far in Answer to his settling King William's Title which being shown to be incoherent and ill grounded in every Regard it follows that Mr. Ashton suffered for a Righteous Cause and for his due Allegiance to his true Sovereign which entitles him to the Honour of a glorious Martyr and this in case he had endeavoured to make way for his Master's Restauration It remains to vindicate his Paper from those other petty Exceptions this Gâ—ntleman makes against it He denies p. 24. that King Iames's Usage after the Prince of Orange's Arrival was very hard severe and unjust Let the World judge A Council was held at Windsor upon Notice of the King 's being in hold at Feversham where it was debated whether or no he should be sent to the Tower And 't is well known who they were that voted in the Affirmative But the Prince having laid his Design feared that if the King staid here some Accommodation would be made so he sent Monsieur Zuylisten to tell him he would have him to stay at Rochester which being a Port Town and towards the Sea might afford him opportunity to escape out of England The Message mist him so he returned to White-hall The next Night the Prince of Orange sent three Lords to him at Midnight to tell him he would have him remove by Ten the next Morning to Ham a place very unlikely to be approved of there being as the King objected neither Furniture nor Provisions for him and therefore as he expected he moved for his Return to Rochester which after his sitting an hour in his Barge waiting his Pleasure was granted And thither he was pack'd away in great State with Dutch Myrmidons now to the eternal Shame of English Suâ—jects their King's Gaolers under whom he suffered Hardship enough but he was not allowed out of his own Exchequer one Farthing to bear his Charges The King had before this sent him a Message by the Earl of Feversham offering to settle all things in Parliament to His and the Kingdom 's Satisfaction Now had the Prince of Orange meant sincerely in what he pretended and come onely for the Good of the Nation what could he have wished more But what would have obliged and sweetened another did highly exasperate him for he relish'd this Condescendence of his soâ—ll being indeed unsuitable to the ambitious Aim he proposed to himself that first contrary to the Law of Nations he made his Ambassadour Prisoner and thâ—n sent his Worshipfull Command at Midnight to his Father to be gone out of his own Palace to a Prison for they told him a Guard was appointed for him at Ham-house whither the Prince of Orange ordered him to go the next Morning enough to let the King see what he was to expect He tells the Prince of Orange could have prevented his going away true But then he feared the Nation would only reduce King Iames not depose him much less chuse another their own King being present it was therefore thought more Politick to fright him away and then pretend Abdication and the Necessity of a new Government which he knew well as he and
may have Learning enough to use those Four ordinary Words none of them being artificial Law Terms but such honest English as every Gentleman that converses with Persons above the lowest Rank is capable of understanding and using But this candid Gentleman seeing his Cause could not be maintained but by Tricks for this whole turn of Government was nothing but a Trick of Policy disjoyns by his Discourse illiterate from unskill'd in the Law and refers the Four cramp Words to the former and his passing a peremptory Iudgment about our Laws to the latter and when he has done he tells us very sadly one may justly wonder at it and indeed it is very wonderful For to play so many jugling Tricks in so little room wresting almost every Word 'till he has made it crooked and then gracing every Flam he gives us with such a demure Hypocrisie is altogether Monstrous He tells us p. 9. That the Loyal Martyr design'd two Things To assert his Principles and to testifie his Innocency and he sets himself to prove that he did neither As for the former he grants that by the Faith of the Church of England Mr. Ashton meant the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and then confutes him most learnedly by telling us That he suffered not for Passive Obedience but for want of it and that had he regulated his Life by this Principle he had preserved it Did ever any Man's Reason turn tail so aukwardly The constant Doctrine of the Church of England was Passive Obedience to a lawful King and he is the lawful King according to the Constitution of our Government who has Title to it by immediate Succession Now comes this acute Gentleman and pretends without Shame or Wit that the Doctrine of the Church of England is not Passive Obedience to the legal King whom all the World did ever acknowledge for such in their clear unbâ—ass'd and 〈◊〉 in us Thoughts but to anoâ—her who has dispossest this legal King of his Kingdom and whose Title is quite annulled by our English Laws nor own'd by any but some of those who got their Advantages in doing so or who dare not do otherwise And then after he had prevaâ—icated thus eg egiously he teâ—ls us very gravely That certainly there must be some gâ—eaâ— mistakes about the Doctrines and Principles of our Church Whereas if there be any 't is manifestly on his side but to say the plain Truth there is no mistake at all even on his side but an open Prevarication and a wilful shuffling and shifting the whole Subject of the Church of England's Tenet making our Passiâ—e Obedience regard not only a wrong but an opposite Object which is to make the Principles of our Church face abâ—ut with the Times and point as a Weather-cock does to the Wind to a Dispossessour of the true Prince so he gets but Power enough to make himself a strong Party and keep under or Murther by his new Laws and new Judges those who dare be Loyal He pretends that The Doctrines and Principles of our Church are to be found in the Articles and Constitutions of it If he means that only some of them are found there it reaches not home to his purpose But if he means that All the Doctrines of Faith which our Church holds are found there he shews himself to be very weak Sure he cannot forget that God's written Word and it only is our intire and adequate Rule of Faith and that the best Interpreter of it for us to follow is the most unanimous Exposition of it avow'd by the Doctrine of our Church-men and the agreeable and constant Practice of our Church If then he would prove that our Church does not hold Passive Obedience and Indispensable Allegiance to our lawful King upon our Rule of Faith that is does not hold it part of her Faith he should have produced such and so many genuine grave and eminent Members of one Church as are beyond Exception who have unanimously declared themselves to understand the Scripture in an opposite Sense and upon that ground held the contrary I except always from that Number Dr. Sherlock who is so flexible a Complier with every side that I fear he is of no side and ready to be of any as God-Mâ—mmon shall inspire him by proposing a good fat Deanry or some such irresistible Temptation As for the Practice of our Church giving us light to know her Faith it cannot be possibly manifested better than by her Carriage towards King Charles II. in the Protector 's days who had Abdicated twiâ—e if the leaving England to avoid danger to his Person might be called Abdicating and there was another actual supreme Governor who had got all the Power into his Hands and so was Providentially Settled in Dr. Sherlock's Sense yet none of the genuine Sons of our Church flincht from their Allegiance to their King in those happy days when honest Principles as yet unantiquated made our Church shine gloriously even in the midst of Persecution but all adher'd to their legal King though all of them suffered in their Estates and many lost their Lives rather than forego their Duty But as our Author told us formerly that Mr. Ashton died for want of that Passive Obedience which the Church of England holds so he tells us here that he might have believed himself obliged by his Religion to look upon his rightful lawful Prince whatever his Principles were or his Practices might be as God's Vicegerent and accountable to God only from whom he received his Power All this says he he might have done and have been alive still because as he contends King William was his rightful lawful Prince So that it seâ—ms let King William be of what Principles he will even though he were as zealous a Papist as King Iames or let his Practices be what they will even to the Subverting all our Liberties Properties nay the most Fundamental Laws of the Land still we are to believe our selves obliged by our Religion to look upon him as on God's Vicegerent accountable to God only and consequently to obey him as such Which ridiculous Partiality overthrows a good part of his Book and makes all the Deserters and fiâ—st Adherers to the Prince of Orange and the whole Parliament that set him up for their King and the Consent of the Nation he talks of to be Irreligious and Wicked For since King Iames was confessedly at that time their rightful lawful King nor can he be pretended to have worse Principles and Practices than those mentioned which comes within the compass of his whatever his Principles are or his Practices might be and this Man confesses that notwithstanding all this they were obliged by their Religion to submit to him as God's Vicegerent it follows unavoidably that we are to believe they violated the Principles of Religion in the highest Degree who deserted him opposed him turned him out and set up a Stranger in his stead Yet this Action of theirs confest
this Had the Prince of Orange pursued only the Ends express'd in his Declaration and obliged King Iames as he might easily have done to redress Abuses here and make a lasting League with the Confederates abroad it had in all likelihood by this time reduced the French King to a low Condition For then King Iames had been able to unite all the Force of England Scotland and Ireland and bend them unanimously against the Common Enemy Whereas now our Men and Money too are employ'd in Fighting against one another in Scotland and Ireland nor only so but England it self whose free Consent he so much brags of is so Distracted that we know not how soon we may fall into the same Misfortunes some out of Conscience not daring to hazard their Souls in Swearing Allegiance to one whose Title the most zealous Adherers to him cannot agree on nor themselves are satisfied with and far more of them being disgusted to see our Countrey beggared to maintain the Quarrel of Foreigners and enrich our greatest Enemies the Dutch so that this Pretence of pulling down the Heighth of France though I doubt not but it was the Intention of the Confederates was far from being the main Design of the Prince of Orange He could then have no other Motive of Invading England Driving out his Father and Usurping his Throne but mere Ambition seconded by Dutch Policy making use of our Rebelliousness silly Credulity and our addictedness to Lying that they might cheat us of our Money make us defend their Quarrel and impoverish us to that degree that we should not dare to resent it when they get our Trade and câ—zen us of our Plantations as they have done often and then to crown the Dutch Jest laugh at us for a Company of dull-headed block headedly Fools when they have done But I must not forget the Instances he brings to prove this Invasion to be agreeable to the Church of England's Doctrine and vouch'd by the Law of Nations and those are these Three First he Instances in Queen Elizabeth giving Assistance to the Dutch against the King of Spain p. 16. Now this hath been so well answered already in the Defence of the Bishop of Chichester's Dying Declaration that I do not see any Reason to concern my self with it and methinks this Answerer should have first answered what had been alledged there before he ventured on this Instance but some Men have a peculiar Confidence to bring in Things over and over though they have been answered sufficiently and yet never take notice of the Answers However it is sufficient here to observe that this is nothing at all to his purpose he tells us but four lines before That what he is to make out is that the then P. of O by his Relation to the Crown had a just Right to concern himself in the Vindication of our Religion and Liberties and that this is not repugnant to the Doctrines of the Church of England p. 15. And I pray good Sir Had Queen Elizabeth any Relation to the Government of the Low Countries And if not how does this Instance prove that which he is to make out that the Prince of Orange by virtue of his Relation to the Crown had a just Right to concern himself and his Instance proves that any Prince whether they have any such Relation or not have a just Right to concern themselves And what I pray is all this to a Title by Conquest Let it be admitted but not granted and which I suppose will not be easily proved that no Foreign Prince hath a just Right to make War upon another Prince for Invading the Liberty and Religion of his own Subjects hath he therefore a just Right to make a Conquest of these People whose Liberties he pretends to defend and to set himself King over them Or had Queen Elizabeth upon pretence of securing the Dutch Liberties a just Right to make her self Queen over them In my Opinion it is a preâ—ty odd way of rescuing People's Liberties to make a Conquest of them and if this be the Case Princes and their Flatterers may talk of Piety and a Care of the People but all the World will see that the Design is not Religion nor Liberty to the People but a Crown to themselves and it cannot chuse but be very Pious and Religious to gain a Crown His next Instance is in King Iames's time When the Prince Elector was chosen King of Bohemia And how does this prove his Point Why he sent to King James for Advice and he had no mind he should engage in it And therefore the Prince of Orange hath a just Right to concern himself and to make himself King according to the Principles of the Church of England I perceive it is not for every body to make Consequences for who but our Authour could ever have found out how such wonderful Things followed from King Iames's denying his Son to engage in it Well But the Arch bishop wrote a Letter to the Secretary and said that he was satisfied in his Conscience that the Bâ—bemians had a just Cause and that the King's Daughter professed she would not leave her self one Iewel rather than not maintain so Religious and Righteous â— Cause And that may be too but without Reflection on that Princess that is no Evidence of the Righteousness of a Cause for some Kings Daughters will not leave themselves a Jewel rather than not to take away and keep a Kingdom from their Own Father and which is neither a Religious nor a Righteous Cause His Third Instance is in the time of King Charles the First When the King of Denmark had taken Arms to settle the Peace and Liberty of the Germans and was Defeated and King Charles thought himself concerned to assist him and Arch-bishop Laud drew up a Declaration setting forth the Danger and requiring the People's Prayers and Assistance to prevent the growth of Spain c. Now it does not appear whether thâ— King of Denmark's pretence of taking Arms was just or unjust for our Authour has a peculiar faculty of talking of Things at random and never stating them and bringing them down to the matter in Dispute But let that be as it will it makes no difference in the present Dispute for let the Cause of his taking Arms be originally what it will I hope King Charles might assist him to prevent his being over-run thereby securing the Peace and Safety of his own Kingdom And this was plainly the Case The King of Denmark had made War upon the Empire and was defeated and it â— had â—een â—eâ—t without Assiâ—â—ence the Emperour might have wholly subdued him which would not â—â—ely have ruined Denmark but have endangered all the Northern Princes and especially England as the Declaration it self speaks there will be an open way for Spain left to do what they pleased And what is this to our Authour's purpose Is there no difference between Assisting one Prince actually at War
THE Loyal Martyr VINDICATED AFTER Mr. Ashton's Paper had been shewn by the Sheriff to those that sit at the Helm and that it was known there were more Copies of it given abroad so that it was impossible to sham or disguise it it raised in them as I am informed very sollicitous Apprehensions what Effects it was likely to work in the Minds of all the true Sons of the Church of England to see a genuine Member of that Communion with his last Breath admonish his prevaricating Brethren of the enormous Crimes of Perjury and Rebellion in which they they had of late so deeply plunged themselves denounce Prophetically to them the Judgments attending their Apostacy if not timely repented of profess so stoutly his Allegiance to his much injured and unjustly Dispossessed Prince seal our Church's Doctrine of Non-resistance with his dearest Blood and dye so resignedly chearfully nay joyfully in Testimony of that Christian Principle could not but be apprehended to our Statis's to be the most powerful Motives imaginable to reclaim those who had been misled by false Information or seduced by Interest into a Repentance of their Errors and to establish the rest in the Loyal Principles to which they had hitherto adhered Besides the honest unaffected Reason which appears in the Account he gives of his Tenets and Conscientious Proceedings and the Christian Moderation and sincere Piety which he observed throughout his whole Paper Praying heartily for his very Enemies though unjustly thirsting after his Blood the proper Temper of a dying Martyr could not but recommend the Contents of it to the esteem of every indifferent Reader and even be able to shock all such as were not resolutely byass'd Nor can I blame them for being so highly concerned that such a Legacy was left to the Loyal Party Those politick Men were well aware of the successful Methods by which Christianity was Propagated at first and that The Blood of the Martyrs was the Seed of the Church and therefore they judged it very Expedient that some speedy and effectual Means should be taken to stop the prejudicial Effects which it would otherwise produce It was then thought the best way to seem to slight and undervalue the Paper by Printing it themselves and at the same time to endeavour to baffle and confute it by an Answer going along with it penned with as much plausibleness as the Cause could bear But Truth is not easily trampled down His Christian Constancy has made too great an Impression in the Hearts of his Admirers to permit his Meritorious Sufferings to lie under the Scandal of a Treasonable Guilt and has given Courage to some of the meanest of them to vindicate his Cause and Credit against the wicked Slanders and weak Reasons of this mercenary Writer though he foresees that if they be discovered they can expect no other Reward but the same fatal End The Holland Lyon has begun to taste English Blood and finds it so sweet that it draws on an Appetite of shedding still more To fall then to our Reply His First Sham for the whole Piece is a continu'd fardle of such Stuff is That the Paper is none of Mr. Ashton's This if made good would they hoped take off the Authority and Influence of it as noâ— being the proper Act of the Martyr but of some other of that Party â— it required therefore his best skill to make this Credible Let us then examine his Arguments His First Proof is Because 〈…〉 with too much Art and Care to be the Work of one who professes he thought it better to employ his last minutes in Devotion p. 8. What a ridiculous Cavil is this His last minutes were at the place of Execution which the Martyr professeth he thought it better to employ in Devotion and holy Communion with his God than in making Speeches which if they were Loyal and delivered his Thoughts fully were likely to be interrupted and so not attended with the designed Success and therefore he chose rather to deliver what he had to say in Writing Now comes this Gentleman and pretends if his Words have any Tenour or Sense in them that he must have compos'd this Paper of his aâ— his last minutes that is at the Gallows which he says he could not do with so much Art and Care those minutes being taken up otherwise viz. In Devotion and therefore forsooth the Paper is none of his As if he had not time enough between his Sentence and the Execution of it to compose a Paper both larger and more full of Art and Care had he minded such Advantages than this was Or as if good Men whose Piety enclines them to spend their last minutes in holy Thoughts could not in the time anteceding use both their best Art and Care to pen a true Account of their Principles and the Cause for which they Suffered but indeed there is little Art or Care in the Master or Sense of the Paper but a plain and candid Discovery of his Thoughts and Affections both towards God and the World and as for the manner of Writing it if it were indeed such as this Man exhibits it there was neither any the least Art or Care shewn in it but perfect Negligence or rather great Ignorance and Folly throughout the whole as will be seen shortly His Second Reason to prove the Paper was not the Martyr's is Because Mr. Ashton says he was illiterate and unskilled in the Law and yet uses such Bug-words as Impending Prevaricating Premisses and Consequence and gives such a peremptory Iudgment about the Laws of the Realm in a Case acknowledged by all ingenious Men of his own Party to have a great deal of difficulty in it this Man will say any thing though never so openly false Not one Mâ—n of his Party ever thought there was the least difficulty in this That it was Treason by our Laws to resist a legal Prince or acknowledge any other for King while he lives No not this Writer himself as appears by his not thinking it his best play to alledge the Laws of the Realm buâ— flying off and recurring to the Law of Nations And as for the Law as it relates to his own Case he was far from Peremptory as is manifest from his saying I am told I am the First Man that ever was condemned for High-Treason upon bare Presumption or Suspicion Do not these Words I am told sound as modestly as is possible and bar all shew of his passing such a peremptory Iudgment about the Laws of the Realm as he puts upon him p. 8 What will not this Caviller say But 't is pleasant to observe what Prancks he uses all along 'T is plain Mr. Ashton meant no more but that he was illiterate that is unlearned and unskilful in the Law as appears by his desiring the Iudges to observe for him what might be for his Advantage And sure a Man who has not made the Law his Study for the Word reaches no farther
by himself to be Irreligious is the true Foundation of our new Government Hitherto he has begged the whole Question and supposed the present Governours to be rightful and lawful King and Queen and now after he has done this he sets himself to prove it Certainly this Man's Logick is very extraordinary If it might be supposed it needed not to be proved and if it could be well proved it needed not have been supposed Yet this Gentleman to make this sure Work will needs do both though the Method he takes to do this be very preposterous his special Gift of Reasoning by a neat Figure called Hysteron Proteron sets the Cart before the Horse and first supposes it and then goes about to prove it The Question says he p. 9. is not whether rightful lawful Kings are to be obeyed but wâ—o in our Circumstances is our rightful lawful Sovereign And so he addresses himself to settle King William's Title and put it beyond all dispâ—te which being so rare a Sight and so great a Novelty and Curiosity it may deservedly challenge our best Attention especially it being withal our real-Interest For I cannot think that any Man of the least degree of Wit would undergo outward Disquiets Dangers and Inconveniences in not submitting heartily to this present Government if his Conscience would let him be quiet within Let us see then what we in Reason and Conscience think of this new Title to what was most evidently by Gâ—d's and Man's Law too another Man 's Right That Party that stickled to make the Prince of Orange King do hold that the People have the Power to make and unmake the supreme Magistrate and so they fix his Title upon the Creation of the People and make account the same People by virtue of the same Power can limit his Authority and annihilate it again as one of them profest openly in the House of Commons Nay this was the only Reason and Interest they had or could have to make him King for the Commonalty of whom they pretend to be the best Patrons were not at all burthened with Taxes under King Iames and withall themselves enjoy'd Liberty of Conscience and lastly had more than should have fallen to their share in Places and Offices And what could they wish more except the pulling down Monarchy ten Pegs lower and dwindling it into a Duke of Venice Which could not be while the legal King governed but might they hop'd be easily brought about when themselves had the making and consequently the modelling of their new Magistrate For 't is but reasonable that they who give and bestow a Thing should give as much and as little of it as they please But this Plot was carried too openly which obliged the House of Lords fearing their Ruine by a Common-wealth rather to vote any new King at a venture than become Slaves to the People Nor would a precarious Authority satisfie a Genius that naturally aimed at being Absolute So when they had given all the Money that they thought could well be raised without an extreme Wrong to the common Good of the People they were packs away and home they went gnashing their Teeth that they should be so Silly as to bring themselves into a Noose they could not untie and which in time might come to hang their Liberty Property and if they should dare to mutter too rudely their Persons too Thus that First Title fell which served well enough while the Young Government was yet in its Swaddling-clouts but when it became bigger it out-grow it as Children do their Cloaths After this our Church of England Men who all this while stood Trembling left this new King being in his Inclination a perfect Presbyterian and the Creature of their Adversaries should come to ever-power them and trample on them finding that Things did not coâ—â—on well between the ungrateful Sovereign and these his disgusted Subjects but that they grew weary of one another judged it was now their time to strike in Wherefore they offered him their most humble Serâ—ice which being accepted they laught in their Sleeves at the poor baffled Presbyterians telling them after an upbraiding and scornful Manner You would needs give us a King whether we would or no and now we will keep him up whether you will or no. So all this was done not out of Love to him for he has the ill luck to have few Personal Lovers but for fear of the opposite Party and to secure themselves against their emulous Competitours or revenge themselves upon them If then Title as it ought be that which gives and upholds Authority his best Title after he had now got rid of the hanck the Presbyterians had upon him next to that of the Confederacy owning him for his Money and Assistance which now begins to knock off was in reality The Feud between our Church and Dissenters Which Two made up a Second and a Third Title to prop up by turns this feeble Authority Money then they voted him and to engratiate themselves by out-bidding the others full thrice as much as the Dissenters had done so that the Nation was half begger'd by his Transporting it beyond Sea to hire Foreign Soldiers and bribe the Confederates and yet though they thus pleasured him by lavishing away the Money and Riches of the Nation all the Title he could obtain of them unanimously was to be only King de Facto and not de Iure Which encouraged Dr. Sherlock who stood watching his Advantage to face about and build this New and Fourth Title upon the Events of Providence or to use an Expression less blasphemous and more proper for a Rueling Authority on the Wheel of Fortune But the poor Man was so baffled for this new Notion of his particularly by the Author of the Trimming Court Divine and more largely and unanswerably by those two learned and acute Treatises Entituled The Duty of Allegiance settled upon its true Grounds according to Scripture Reason and the Opinion of the Church and by Dr. Sherlock's Case of Allegiance considered with some Remarks upon his Vindication that 't is his best play to sit down with silence and be content to lull his Conscience with his Deanry without awaking or disquieting it by thinking how to answer them lest it start up in his Face and disturb his peaceful and comfortable Enjoyments of his new Acquisitions for I dare challenge him particularly in the behalf of the two latter of those three Treatises that he is so shamefully confuted that he has not one starting-hole left for his Credit to escape by And yet I must tell him That unless he answers them fully he Cheats the Government and is bound in Conscience to make Restitution of his Deanry For why should he be so bountifully paid for weaving a Piece which when it comes to be well lookt into is so full of Bracks Stains and Holes that 't is useless and good for nothing Thus the Fourth Title of a King de Facto
Realm who owned to a Person of known Integrity that he believed the Prince of Wales to be as truly born of the Queen's body as his own Son of his Wife 's and that therefore they were resolved to pluck up both Root and Branch which in other words is to change the Government If I say all these Particulars be true as we dare affirm them to be and are ready to pâ—ove by unquestioâ—able Testimonies and as most of them are most notorious then we may safely conclude that the Birth of the Prince of Wales was no just Occasion of a War nor consequently can be derive hence a Right to the Government by the Law of Nations justifying his Invasion as this Gentleman pretends I pity his Weakness in compaâ—ing p. 15. this open Carriage of things in the Birth of that Prince before Multitudes of People of all sorts indifferently to a Juggâ—e between Three the pretended Father and Mother and a Mâ—dwife to suboâ—n a false Chiâ—d He thinks it too of great Weight That the Juâ—y upon hearing the whole Evidence gave Iudgment that tâ—at Child was supposititious What Straws wil Men catch at when their Cause is sinking But why does he not tell us what Evidence the Jury he speaks of proceeded upon Because it would shame his alleadging it 'T is this as I have been informed The Hereford 〈◊〉 Woman was held Incapable of Children which made the next Heir to the Estate suspect no Child was born A crafty Lawyer who undertook to discover it first made Enquiâ—y what poor Women the midwife ' had delivered about that time and found that â—ne of them had her Child missing having discovered this he fâ—ights the Woman by telling her there was a great Rumour that the had murthered her Child and that she should be hanged if she did not produce it alive or dead Hereupon she made known the whole Intrigue of the Midwife and the pâ—etended Parents and the Juggle came to be consist Is this in any Regard like our Case None were sworn there but the two Persons immediately conâ—erned who hoped to enjoy the Estate and a Countrey Midwife who was to have a share in it for her Project at least we may be sure a good lusty Bribe So that here waâ— in really but One Witness the pretended Parents being barred from witnessing in their own Câ—use Counâ— now the Number of our Witnesses and weigh their Worth and how that they were not Persons 〈◊〉 out but came accidentally as they hapt to hear of the Queen's Coâ—â—ition and it will appear impossible they should be capable of a Confederacy or Subornation Again The Queen was never held to be barren She had had formerly divers Daughters and a Son and it was likely and no more but what by the course of Nature is generally expected that She should at another time have a second Male-Child ' Nor did any Mother of the Child appear to own it as the Lying Parts a goâ—d wâ—â—e pretended she would all those kind of Romances serv'd like Buttâ—esses or Scaffolds to raise this new King to his Height and build up our New Governâ—ent and therefore when things were better settled and could stand without them they were taken down again and laid aside as useless In a word let him bring an Evidence in any degree like that which his Herefordshire Jâ—ry had and we shall acknowledge the Wrong done to the Natioâ— and to the Râ—yal Family and grant the War had there been any just Till then let not such Personages lie under such intolerable Slanders let not Christianity and Duty be so wickedly violated nor the People of England deluded and scandalized with such Talk without Proof and sâ—ch heavy Câ—arges laid without the least colourable Shadow of Evidence to juâ—â—ifie that they are so much as in any degree Probable much less as he mouths it great and violent Presumptions and least of all what they ought to have been absolutely certain Truths Thus much of his great and violent Presumptions c. Next follows for though he be a very slender Prover yet he is still a very big Pretender his Too gâ—eat Evidence of a form'd Design to subvert the Establisht Religion and Civil Liberties of the Nation I suppâ—se he calls it Too great Evidence because 't is so great that it dazles the Night as the Sun does at Noon-day so that no Man can see it or bâ—hold it else why is it too great Now when a Man has too much of a thing 't is very unkind and even ill-natur'd and hard-hearted not to spare a Little of it to his Friends to whom he owes it and who both want it and expect it from him But we mistake his Genius he is a Praâ—ing not a Proving Writer Nor does he evidence the Calumny otherwise than by referring us again to his Alcoran the Prince of Orange's Declaration Whatever he finds there he makes account is a First Principle and so bring of too great Evidence it can need no Proof An impartial Narrative of matters of Fact known to most in England will give us a true Light to judge of this Point King Iames his Religion and the hatred which the generality of the Nation had against it made all those who were of a different Persuasion look with a jealous Eye upon his Actions and apt to make the worst Constructions of every thing he did in favour of Papists Nor is it to be thought that he wanted many Enemies of the Old Excluding Faction who stood watching all Opportunities to bâ—eed him Vexation and disaffect his Subjects by malicious Insinuations Those of our Church who were heartily Loyal did grieve exceedingly to see him give his Enemies too fair occasions to work him Mischief They judged that the setting up the High Commission Court over Ecclesiasticks were there nothing in it but the Novelty of it should not have been attempted in such Circumstances if at all The making one of the Iesuits Men more odious to our Nation than Turkish Mâ—sties a Privy-Counsellor could they fear'd have no other likely Effect but to exasperate all England to the highest degree They conceived that the Dispensing with the Test and putting Roman-Catholicks promiscuously into Offices Civil and Military might have been let alone 'till the Test it self were Abrogated which would certainly have been more easily obtained had not this forward Anticipation put our Church of England out of humour and made them more warily stand upon their Guard and resolve unanimously to part with nothing that could any way he likely to advantage them But that which most Startled our Church was the Design of giving Liberty of Conscience to all Dissenters they had sadly experienced in the long Parliament's Time and in Oliver's Days how those Men had trampled the Church of England under Foot and they feared that this setling them by Law on an even level with themselves might in time give those restless Men opportunity to play the same Franks over again In
though it has been our constant Care since Our first Accession to the Crown to govern Our People with that Justice and Moderation as to give if possible no occasion of Complaint yet more particularly upon the late Invasion seeing how the Design was laid and fearing that Our People who could not be destroy'd but by themselves might by little imaginary Grievances be cheated into a certain Ruine To prevent so great Mischief and to take away not only all just Causes but even pretences of Discontent We freely and of Our own accord redressed all those Things that were set forth as the Causes of that Invasion And that We might be informed by the Counsel and Advice of Our Subjects themselves which way We might give them a further and a full Satisfaction We resolved to meet them in a Free Parliament and in order to it We first laid the Foundation of such a Free Parliament in restoring the City of London and the rest of the Corporations to their ancient Charters and Priviledges and afterwards actually appointed the Writs to be issued out for the Parliament's Meeting on the Fifteenth of Ianuary But the Prince of Orange â—eeing all the Ends of his Declaration Answered the People beginning to be undeceiv'd and returning apace to their ancient Duty and Allegiance and well foreseeing that if the Parliament should meet at the time appointed such a Settlement in all probability would he made both in Church and State as would totally defeat his Ambitious and Unjust Designs resolved by all means possible to prevent the Meeting of the Parliament And to do this the most effectual way he thought fit to lay a restraint on Our Royal Person for as it were absurd to call that a Free Parliament where there is any force on either of the Houses so much less can that Parliament be said to act freely whâ—re the Sovereign by whose Authority they meet and sit and from whose Royal Assent all their Acts receive their Life and Sanction is under actual Confinement The hurrying of Us under a Guard from Our City of London whose returning Loyalty We could no longer Trust and the other Indignities We suffered in the Person of the Earl of Feversham when sent to him by Us and in that Barbarous Confinement of Our own Person We shall not here repeat because they are We doubt not by this time very well known and may We hope if enough considered and reflâ—cted upon together with his other Violations and Breaches of the Laws and Liberties of England which by this Invasion he pretended to restore be sufficient to open the Eyes of all Our Subjects and let them plainly see what every one of them may expect and what Treatment they shall find from him if at any time it may serve his Purpose from whose Hands a Sovereing Prince an Uncle and a Father could meet with no better Entertainment However the Sense of these Indignities and the Just Apprehension of further Attempts against Our Person by them who already endeavoured to murder Our Reputation by infamous Calumnies as if We had been capable of supposing a Prince of Wales which was incomparably more Injurious than the Destroying of Our Person it Self together with a serious Reflection on a Saying of Our Royal Father of blessed Memory when he was in the like Circumstances That there is little distance between the Prisons and the Graves of Princes which afterwards proved too true in his Case could not but persuade Us to make use of that which the Law of Nature gives to the meanest of Our Subjects of freeing Our Selves by all means possible from that unjust Coâ—fiâ—â—ment and Restraint And this We did not more for the Security of Our own Person than that thereby We might be in a better Capacity of transacting and providing for every Thing that may contribute to the Peace and Settlement of Our Kingdoms For as on the one hand No Change of Fortune shall make Vs forget Our Selves so far as to cond scâ—nd to any Thing unbecoming that High and Royal Station in which God Almighty by Right of Succession has placed Vs So on the other hand neither the Provocation or Ingratitude of Our own Subjects nor any other Consideration whatsoever shall ever prevail with Us to make the least step contrary to the tâ—â—e lâ—â—erest of the English Nâ—â—ioâ— Which we ever did and ever must loâ—k upon as Our own Our Wall and Pâ—â—â—sure therefore is That You of Our Privy-Council take the most effectual Care to make these Our gracious Intentions known to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in and about our Cities of London and Westminster to the Lord Mayor and Commons of Our City of London and to all Our Subjects in general And to assure them That We desire nothing more than to return and hold a Free Parliament wherein We may havâ— the best Opportunity of undeceiving Oâ—r People and shewing the Sincerity of those Proteâ—â—ations We have often made of the preserving the Liberties and Properties of Our Subjects and the Protestant Religion more especially the Church of England as by Law established with such Indulgence for those that dâ—ssent from her as We have always thought Our Selves in Justice and Care of the general Wellfare of Our Peopâ—e bound to procure for them And in the mean time You of Our Privy-Council who can Judge better by being upon the Place are to send Us Your Advice what is fit to be done by Us towards Our Returning and Accomplishing those good Ends. And We do require You in Our Name and by Our Authority to endeavour so to suppress all Tumults and Disorders that the Nation in general and every one of Our Subjects in particular may not receive the least Prejudice from the present Distractions that is possible So not doubting of Your Dutiful Obedience to these Our Royal Commands We bid You heartily Farewell Given at St. Germains en Laye the 14th of Ianuary 1688. And of Our Reign the Fourth Year By Hiis Majesties Command MELFORT Directed thus To the Lords and others of our Privy-Council of Our Kingdom of England His Majesties Letter to the House of Lords and Commons Writ from St. Germains the Third of February 1688. JAMES R. My Lords WE think Our Selves obliged in Conscience to do all We can to open Our Peoples Eyes that they may see the true Interest of the Nation in this Important Conjuncture and therefore We think fit to let you know that finding We could no longer stay with Safety nor act with Freedom in what concerned Our People We left the Reasons of Our Withdrawing under Our own Hand in the following Terms THe World cannot wonder at My Withdrawing My Self now this Second time I might have expected somewhat better Vsage after what I writ to the Prince of Orange by my Lord Feversham and the Instructions I gave him but instead of an Answer such as I might have hop'd for what was I to expect after the Usage I received by his
making the said Earl a Prisoner against the Practice and Law of Nations The sending his own Guards at Eleven at Night to take Possession of the Posts at White-hall without Advertising Me in the least manner of it The sending to Me at One a Clock after Midnight when I was in Bed a kind of an Order by Three Lords to be gone out of My own Pallace before Twelve the next Morning After all this How could I hope to be Safe so long as I was in the Power of one who had not only done this to Me and Invaded My Kingdoms without any just occasion given him for it but that did by his First Declaration lay the greatest Aspersion on Me that Malice could invent in that Clause of it which concerns My Son I appeal to all that know Me nay even to himself that in their Consciences neither he nor they can believe Me in the least capable of so Vnnatural a Villany nor of so little common Sense to be imposed upon in a Thing of such a nature as that What had I then to expect from one who by all Arts hath taken such pains to make Me appear as black as Hell to My own People as well as to all the World besides What Effect that had at Home all Mankind have seen by so general a Defection in My Army as well as in the Nation amongst all sorts of People I was born Free and desire to continue so and though I have ventured My Life very frankly on several occasions for the Good and Honor of My Countrey and am as free to do it again and which I hope I shall yet do as Old as I am to redeem it from the Slavery it is like to fall under yet I think it not convenient to expose My Self to be Secured as not to be at Liberty to effect it and for that Reason do withdraw but so as to be within Call whensoever the Nations Eyes shall be opened so as to see how they have been Abused and Imposed upon by the specious Pretence of Religion and Property I hope it will please God to touch their Hearts out of his infinite Mercy and to make them sensible of the ill Condition they are in and bring them to such a Temper That a legal Parliament may be called and that amongst other Things which may be necessary to be done they will agree to Liberty of Conscience for all Protestant Dissenters and that those of My own Persuasion may be so far considered and have such a share of it as they may live Peaceably and Quietly as English-men and Christians ought to do and not to be obliged to transplant themselves which would be very grievous especially to such as love their own Countrey And I appeal to all Men who are Considering Men and have had Experience Whether any thing can make this Nation so Great and Flourishing as Liberty of Conscience Some of Our Neighbours dread it I could add much more to confirm all I have said but now is not the proper time Rochester Decemb. 22d 1688. But finding this Letter not to be taken to be Ours by some and that the Prince of Orange and his Adherents did Maliciously Suppress the same We Writ to several of Our Privy-Council and directed Copies thereof to divers of You the Peers of the Realm believing that none durst take upon them to intercept or open any of Your Letters But of all these We have no Account But We wonder not that all Arts are used to hinder You from knowing Our Sentiments since the Prince of Orange rather chose against all Law to imprison the Earl of Feversham and by Force to drive Vs away from Our own Palace than receive Our Invitation of coming to Us or hearing what We had to propose to him well knowing that what We had to offer would content all Honest and Reasonable Men and was what he durst not trust You with the Knowledge of Those False and Wicked Reflections on Vs relating to the French-League and to Our Son the Prince of Wales We require You to examine into and thereby satisfie Your Selves and all other Our Subjects where the Imposture lies We hope God will not permit You to deprive Your Selves of a lawful Prince whose Education shall be such as may give a Prospect of Happiness to all Our Kingdoms hereafter We are Resolved nothing shall be omitted on Our part whenever We can with Safety return that can contribute towards the redâ—ess of all former Errors or present Disorders or add to the Securing the Protestant Religion or the Property of every individual Subject intending to refer the whole to a Parliament Legally Called Freely Elected and held without Constraint wherein We shall not only have a particular Regard to the Support and Security of the Church of England as by Law Established but also give such an Indulgence to Dissenters as Our People shall have no Reason to be jealous of not expecting for the future any other Favour to those of Our own Persuasion than the exercise of their Religion in their own private Families And because many of Our well-meaning Subjects whose unnecessary Fears for the Protestant Religion and the unhappy Mistakes of the Prince of Orange's Ambitious Designs which they did not sufficiently see into time enough have been Fatally led beyond what they first intended viz. the Preservation of their Religion c. to the Breach of all Laws and even to the total Dissolution of the Anâ—ient Government it self and knowing themselves thereby to be Obnoxious may despair of Our Mercy We do therefore declare on the Word of a King That Our Free Pardon shall not only be extended to them but to all Our Subjects to the worst even those that Betrayed Us some few Excepted Resolving in that Parliament by an Act of Oblivion to cover all Faults heal all Divisions and restore Peace and Happiness to all Our Subjects which can never be effectually done by any other Methods or Power Having thus firmly Resolved on Our part whatsoever Crimes are omitted whose Posterity shall come to suffer for these Crimes We shall look upon Our Selves as Justified in the sight both of God and Man and therefore leave it with You expecting You will seriously and speedily consider hereof and so we bid You heartily Farewell Given at St. Germains en Laye the Third of February 1688. And of Our Reign the Fourth Year The Letter to the Commons was Verbatim the same To the Officers and Souldiers of the Army JAMES R. THe Regard We have for you as Gentlemen and Souldiers obliges Us to endeavour to restore you to that Reputation for Courage Loyalty c. which has till now been inseparable from English men which by your late fatal Defection from Us your lawful Prince whose particular Care you ever were is now become Contemptible even to those you joyned with against Us nor can any thing restore you to your former Character but a sudden and hearty return to
from doing what he pleases though they cut off from the Sinner all reasonable Hopes of the Relaxation or Mitigation of them p. 16. Of what comfortable Importance this Doctrine may be to some and how necessary under our present Circumstances let any one judge 'T is impossible Men should have perpetrated such abominable Villanies as have been lately transacted to the Amazement of all that have the least Sense of Piety or Honour left unless their Minds had been first debauched with these or the like Principles He that will audaciously violate the sacred Commands of God acknowledged such by the Church of England his own Subscriptions Oaths and Preaching must necessarily fansie some secret Reserves of Mercy in the Breast of the Almighty for the Authors and Abetters of such horrid Crimes upon some Occasions which will not suffer his Justice to pass upon them in another World or some extraordinary Relaxations or Mitigations of future Torments The first seems to be despaired of because there is small Hopes of Repentance left the Scriptures for that very Reason perhaps amongst many others comparing Rebellion to the Sin of Witchcraft the latter therefore is pitch'd upon as most congruous to carnal-minded Men who to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season and not willing to go to Heaven through Tribulations and Afflictions do rather chuse to undergo a future Puâ—ishment especially if it consists onely as to its Perpetuity in a bare Exclusion from Eternal Happiness Serm. p. 15. Now I say such a Series of Villany as has been hitherto and shall be farther exposed being altogether inconsistent with the Principles of Christianity which this accursed Generation of Monsters had not long since most zealously professed they found it as necessary to Abdicate their Saviour and his Precepts as well as their King and his Rights as far as they durst The first thing they did was to ridicule and blasphemously expose the Doctrine of the Cross and if they could have drawn over the Majority of the Convocation to their Party the next thing they design'd was to have expunged out of the Liturgie the Athanasian Creed which was in effect to have denied the Divinity of our Saviour leâ—t they should have been charged with Rebellion against God as well as their King if all Power be derived from the second Person of the Trinity as Mediator and all lawful Kings whether Christians Heathens or Mahometans be his Vicegerents and he hath the Dispâ—sal of their Crowns and the Command of their Power and doth actually employ and makes use of it in the Prosecution of the righteous Ends of â—is Government as Doctor Scot has learnedly proved in his Christian Life Part. 3. As it appeared necessary to reform the Doctrines of Christianity to make them square the better with their late Practice so likewise to procure an Alteration amongst our Ecclesiastical Governours too it being as much for the Interest of this upstart Government the Metropolitan should be an Vsurper as the supreme Governour in the Civil State Like Bishop like King being as true a Maxim now a No Bishop no King heretofore If the Metropolitical See had been realâ—y void this present nominal Archbishop was unqualified for it being esteem'd an Heretick and by the 84th Canon of the Apostles as being an actual Rebel who ought to be deposed or degraded from his Priesthood and though in the present juncture he cannot be convicted and sentenced yet his Crimes being so notorious all that understand them ought not in Conscience to own him as a Christian Bishop or hold Communion with him according to the 33d Canon of the Laodicean Council that we ought not to pray or communicate with Schismaticks or Hereticks Of what grand Concern these particulars are let every good Christian seriously consider and lay to heart Now it is that Poison is poured out into our Church therefore it 's high time for us to avoid the Contagion according to that excellent Advice of St. Cyprian Keep at a Distance from the Infection of such Men by fleeing from them and shun their Conversation as you would the Cancer or Plague according to the Premonition of our Lord Mat. 15.14 They be blind Leaders of the blind and if the blind lead the blind c. Let them perish by themselves who are willing to perish let them alone remain without the Church who have forsaken the Church Epist. 40. ad Plebem c. How can these Men pretend to be Guides to others who keep to no certain Path themselves What certainty can there be in their Doctrines when they vary thâ—m with their Interest and ever calculate them to serve a turn Therefore none ought to communicate with them who value the Salvation of their Souls and are not willing to partake of their Guilt and Punishment The Doctrines and Duties of our holy Religion have the Spirit of Truth and Holiness for their Author and like him are always the same without any shadow of Change But from what Spirit must these bold Attempts upon Common Christianity proceed Holloixius in his Defence of Origen lib. 3. cap. 6. cites several Passages out of his Writings wherein he assigns a different evil Spirit to every Vice or Sin which he calls inimicas adversarias Virtutes and delivers this Notion among the rest There seems to me says he to be an infinite number of contrary Powers or Spirits because in almost every Man there are certain Spirits which incite and provoke him to the Commission of divers Sins E.g. There is a Spirit of Fornication and a Spirit of Anger a Spirit of Avarice and a Spirit of Pride and if it happens that any Man be acted by all these or more Sins he is to be look'd upon as possessed by so many or more Enemies or evil Spirits Surely then according to this Opinion of Origen Legion must have taken Possession in some of the Grandees of this new schisinatical Church of England How obvious is it for any but those who are infatuated and spiritually blind to discern the Spirit of Rebellion Ambition and Emulation the Spirit of Heresie Schism and Persecution the Spirit of Blasphemy Lying Slandering and Apostacy reigning and triumphing among them This word Apostacy I am very sensible will found very harsh in their Ears but let any sober and unprejudiced Person seriously consult the several Acceptations of the Word among sacred and prophane Authors and he will soon be convinced that it will be no easie Task for these Gentlemen to purge themselves from the imputation of it Grotius in his Appendix to his Commentaries de Antichristo tell us thâ—t by Apostacy is understood all kinds of Hostility or Conâ—umacy against a Superiour who has the Right of Commanding and proves it from several Texts of Scripture Sometimes it signifies a Defection or a Revolt see Suidas and Stephanus In its common acceptation amongst Christian Writers a Departure from the Faith by going over to Heresie c. Maimonides as he is
cited by Hottinger in his Thesaur Phil log l. 1. c. 1. s. 3. amongst the several Distinctions of Apostates among the Iews reckons those who taught or sollicited others to sin I shall not make a particular Application of these significations of the word Apostacy to the forementioned Persons I onely refer the Reader to their Sermons and other Discourses their very Prayers and Practices it being so easie to be observed by the meanest Capacity but shall onely add this following Remark as an Illustration of what has been just now charged upon them If the Abrenunciation and the solemn Stipulation to keep God's holy Will and Commandments c. before Baptism were the real Tests of the Faith and Sincerity of the Candidate by which he was obliged to deny himself and to take up his Cross i.e. to forsake Father and Mother Wife and Children Lands and Possessions and to lay down even his very Life when ever they should come in competition with his Duty and we cannot ordinarily be called to the Performance of this our Vow and Covenant but under unrighteous and persecuting Princes then it follows clearly that by our entring into Christianity we have tied up our hands by our own solemn Act from making any forcible Resistence against our supreme Governours upon any pretence whatsoever and that the Doctrine of the Cross or Passive Obedience is a fundamental Doctrine or Principle of the Christian Religion and lastly that whosoever teach or practice otherwise are Renegadoes and Apostates from Christianity it self This was very near the Assertion of Dr. Burnet himself in his Sermon on Rom. 13. v. 5. p. 36. But blessed be God our Church hates and condemns this Doctrine viz. of deposing and resisting of Kings from what hand soever it come and hath established the Rights and Authority of Princes on sure and unalterable Foundations enjoining an entire Obedience to all the lawful Commands of Authority and an absolute Submission to that supreme Power which God hath put in our Sovereigns Hands This Doctrine we justly glory in and if any that had their Education in our Church have turned Renegadoes from this they proved no less Enemies to the Church her self than to the Civil Authority so that their Apostacy leaves no blame on our Church If this be the Case as we have all the Reason in the World to think so it 's plain and evident to any ordinary Understanding That these Men are not true Church of England Divines as they would have all the World believe neither is the Church in Possession any more to be esteemed the True Legal Ancient Church of England than the Donatists of Old were to be accounted the only Catholick Church Their Priesthood is now become Schismatical having erected Altar against Altar their Liturgy Blasphemous and Diabolical wherein they address themselves to God as the Author and Fountain of all unjust Power the Patron of Injustice and the grand Protector and Encourager of the Notorious Violators of his most sacred Laws What is this but with the most impudent and horrid Blasphemy that ever was heard of to beseech the Almighty to divest himself of his most glorious Attributes and to enter into a League with Hell it self for the support and maintenance of all their detestable Impieties What have they now to say Confusion and Shame must cover them who are the Scandal and Reproach of the Pure and Undefiled Religion they should profess Thousands of these could not say though in reality the well known pretence of most that they swore for Bread God forgive them they durst not trust Providence wanted the Courage to give a good Example or to teach their Flocks the danger of Perjury They sinned against God and his Anointed and their own Souls and knew they did so In the preceeding Age we can scarce name a Dignifi'd Clergy-man or any Person Eminent for Piety and Learning in either of the Universities in City or Country who were not outed their Benefices for refusing to take the Covenant or Engagement but now the great Body of the Clergy have been observed to renounce their Allegiance and worship the Idol of the Hogans Indeed out of this Number we must except the Most Reverend the Metropolitan and Seven of his Right Reverend Brethren and the other Clergy and Loyal Fellows in the Universities who have not defiled themselves with the Abominations of their Apostate Brethren whose Virtue and Piety is the only Thing left to attoneâ— for these loud and crying Sins of our Clergy and who incessantly like Abraham intercede with Almighty God to avert his Judgments from this sinful Nation and which the Perjury and Apostacy and the general Defection gives but too sad an occasion to fear hangs over our Heads In short whatever hopes we may conceive of ever seeing the true Church of England flourish in its true Lustre and Purity we must owe it next to the infinite Mercy of God to those never enough applauded Heroes of our Church the true Arch-bishop of Canterbury and those ejected Bishops c. who have stood in the Gap of Schism and borâ—â— up Loyally against the all over-bearing Torrent of the prevaricating Party who have preferred the Peace and Comfort of a good Conscience before all wordly Honour and Interest and fear'd the offending their good God more than their own certain Ruine from ill natured Men. How will these glorious Lights of our Church and true Servants of the living God shine after their Tryal is over past when the Adorer's of Mammon those interloping Arch bishops Bishops and those other mean spiritted Worldlings who preferred their Profit before their Honesty shrink look dim and pale with Guilt and at length their Candlesticks being removed from them come to be utterly extinguish'd and go out like an ill scenting Snuff Some Instances he brings p. 26. to shew we are not singular in Perjury and Rebellion He tells us that the Law of the Land and of Nations require us to swear Allegiance to him who is in Possession Which lame Pretence is answered fully over and over in the forenamed Books against Dr. Sherlock only this Gentleman's Assertion is more raw than his for he proceeds upon quiet Possession as do also our Lawyers whom he speaks of and would have quoted if he durst But this Man makes account that bare Possession however qualified gives Title to our Allegiance nay obliges us to swear it too which we cannot do unless we can safely swear that this Discourse of his is Convictive which Iâ—le be sworn is most pernicious Nonsense and would if followed pervert all the settled Order of Mankind and all Right in the World To assert that mere Possession of a Thing gives a Man Right to it is enough to encourage all Men to be Rebels Vsurpers Robbers Thieves and Cheats It cries aloud to them all Catch that catch may my Masters all that you get is your own by the Law of the Land and of Nations of once you get