all such Laws as were offered Him by His Parliament for the Securing Us against Popery Recolled and particularly for the Qualifying and Distingutshing all Persons in Office or Place of Trust An Act against Popery or Popish Recusants 25 Ch. 2. cap. 2. Which was that Great and memorable Act of which I have spoken of before in another place WHEN that Hellish Design of the Papish Party was happily Discovered How Wisely and Prudently did His Majesty be-have Himself in a Matter of so great an Importance and Surprize A Parliament called upon the Discovery of the Plot. He presently Summons a Parliament and till they could come together He uses all the Means possible for the Searching into and Discovering further the Plot and the Hell-bred Instruments of it to Seize their Persons and Papers and then layes the Whole before them giving them this Assurance His Majestes Speech That He would be alwayes ready to Assist them in the Inquiry into the Plot in any thing where His Concurrence was necessary and accordingly as they desired by several Proclamations Assisting them by some Commanding the Absence of Papists by others Inquiring after Blood with most bountiful Promises of Pardon and Recompence Searching all Counties Securing all Ports to prevent any Flight from and looking into the very Prisons to bring all Malefactors to Justice His Bounty to the Discoverers of the Plot. For the Encouragement of those who came in upon His Proclamation He gave them large Allowances Guards to there Persons c. And this was duly paid at a time when He might have been well excused when His Coffers were empty and His own Faithful mâ—nial Servants went un-paid which was somewhat hard especially when there are some whose whole Subsistence for themselves and Families depends on their In-come from His Majesties Service Those who were Imprisoned and after a long time expect their Trial and therefore Addressed themselves unto Him by their humble Petitions He returned them no other Answer Than that They should receive Iustice in parliament Of this I have spoken of already in another place WHEN the parliament had judged it necessary to have a War with the French All Trade is forbidden for Three Years by which War with the French He deprived Himself of a great part nay a very considerable part of His Revenue and which proved a very Disadvantageous Act to Himself tho by the Intent of the Act it was designed for the French THE French having been so Victorious in the Low-Countries That it was much feared the Spanish Netherlands would have been quite lost and that now the parliament judged it necessary to Raise an Army to go against them The KING is ready to Grant it and a most Incomparable Body of Men are Raised and Mustered in the Spring An Army raised for Flanders and e're they could be Ship't for Flanders they must be Disbanded in July following and in this likewise He complied Disbanded and as far as the Money allowed for that purpose they were Disbanded Thus will we have an Army we have one Will we have none He Disbands it to gratify Us. But one Thing I shall here take Notice of which is the Great Gare His Majesty took The King's Care of the Army That not one Person from the Officer Chief to the very meanest Souldier throughout the whole Army should be a Roman Catholick and therefore every Individual Person must take the Blessed Sacrament and Test the Daths of Megrance and Supremacy e're they were Listed into His Militia to Fight under His Banner by which Method many Relinquish't and left the Field when every particular Name was to be Book't and would not take it as is well known Nay when the time of their Disbanding came every Man whose Name was found in the Books Inter Protestantes his Pay was Deposited to a Farthing and he Discharged none else AND because the best Security of a Nation are good and wholesome Lawes Never resused an Vseful Bill at any time There hath not One Useful Bill been offered to Him but what He hath readily accepted and past AND yet what unsuitable Returns has He had for all these and many more which I could not com-premise within this narrow Compass His Princely Gracious Concessions Vide The Journals of the House of Commons and most Affectionate Condescentions His Gracious Speeches at the Openings of Our late Short-Liv'd-Parliaments shew His Resentments of their Proceedings and how just He is in them therefore I omit particulars His last Speech to the Parliament at Oxford sufficiently Evidences how great Reason He had to Act as He did in their so frequent Dissolutions Nay since that likewise as another great Instance of His Love to His Loyal and Good Subjects He has publish't His Reasons that led Him to it The King publish't a Declaration which hath infinitely satisfied the Subject the several Addresses from every of the respective Counties Shires Burroughs c. giving some ground to believe Which I hope are as real in Fact as they are in Words and if so England will still be happy notwithstanding all the Machinations and Plots of Pope or Jesuit Phanatick or French being United within our selves with the Bonds of Peace with a Fear of God Honour of His Vice-gerent Our Soveraign Charles Out King a Reverence for His Councels especially His Great Council the Parliament and an Awe and Obedience to His Ministers and a Brotherly Love and Charity one towards another Praying That God would bless His Majesty with Peace and Length of Dayes and the Royal-Family and That God would ever so Direct all the Consultations of His Great Councils the future Parliaments that they may tend to the Glory of His Name the Good of His Church and the Safety Honour and Wellfare of their King and Country To which Let every true Son of the Church of England say alwayes Amen THE CONCLUSION THUS Dear Countrymen I have endeavoured to lay before you a plain and impartial Relation of the present Condition and State of Affairs as they now stand in this Juncture of Time and what Measures and Steps we take to hasten that Ruine which hangs over Our Heads and which will inevitably fall upon Us if we do not endeavour with the utmost Diligence and Industry Christian Prudence and our Happiness and Peace oblige Us to I have shewed you in the Opening of this Discourse what Measures our Fathers took in the late Rebellion towards that Ruine and Destruction which they brought upon themselves and their Posterity How furiously Blind Zeal hurried them upon and and Mistaken Liberty plunged them in Blood and Misery How great a sway Parliaments bore under the Notion of Priviledge amongst the unruly Multitude even to the disowning the Regal Power nay Deposing Our Prince and at last to bring Him to the Block I have also shewed you how little the Dissimilitude is betwixt our and their Proceedings and how near
dispose of it by Authority of Parliament desiring also That He would make His Abode near London and the Parliament The King 's absolute Refusal to their Second Petition for the Militia The Parliament's Publick Declaration hereupon and continue the Prince at some of His Houses near the City for the better carrying on of Affairs and preventing the People's Jealousies and Fears All which not being then fit to be granted and therefore refused they presently order That the Kingdome be put into a Posture of Defence in such a Way as was agreed upon by the Parliament and a Committee to prepare a publick Declaration from these Two Heads 1. 1. The Just Causes of the Fears and Jealousies given to the Parliament 2. 2. To consider of all Matters arising from His Majesty's Message and what was fit to be done IN the mean time the Bishops were so threatned and terrifyed by the Tumults and Rabble that Twelve of Them absented themselves from the House Protesting against all Laws Orders Votes The Bishop's Protestation Resolutions and Determinations as in Themselves Null and of Non-effect which had Passed or should Pass during their forced Absence desiring their Protestation might be Registred by the Clerk of the House of Lords But immediately after at a Conference between Both Houses it was agreed That this Protestation of the Twelve Bishops did extend to the deep intrenching upon the Fundamental Privileges and Being of Parliaments and presently after They are Accused of High-Treason seized and Ten of them Committed they were Accused of High-Treason seized and brought on their Knees at the Bar of the House of Peers Ten of them were Committed to the Tower and the Other Two in regard of their Age to the Black-Rod NOW the Parliament proceed to make Great Preparations both by Sea and Land and ordered the Admiral of England The Parliament now makes great Preparations both by Sea and Land Pamphlets dispers'd to Rigg the King's Ships and fit them to Sea and likewise all Masters and Owners of Ships were perswaded to do the like The Beacons were repaired Sea-Marks set up and extraordinary Posting up and down with Pacquets Pamphlets flew abroad and all the Other sad Prognosticks of a Civil War did appear THUS did Our late Execrable Troubles begin That were attended with all the Calamities of Domestick Broyls the Parliament every Day pretending to entertain New Jealousies and Suspicions of the King's Actions that so they might have a Pretext to Arm their Party which having done and provided Moneys for the Defraying the Expences of the War they unmasked Themselves and the King and all the Good People of the Nation began to discover That all their Assurances of making His Majesty the Most Glorious Prince that ever swayed the English Scepter was no otherwise to be understood than that they designed to Crown Him with the Crown of Martyrdom and that all the Out-cry they had made and the Fears and Jealousies they had spread abroad of the Loss of their Priviledges and the danger that Religion Liberty and Property were in was like Pick-pockets who bawl out and accuse Passers by of Picking their Pockets that so they might get a Crowd together and really deprive Them of what they had falsly accused Others of who not discovering the Cheat till it was too late and that all was gone had nothing left them but Regret for having been drawn into their Own and their Friends Ruine and Destruction AND now being come so far as to have a full but sad View of all those Devastations and Horrours of those Torrents of Blood and Mountains of Carkasses which are the usual Effects nay inevitable Consequences of a Civil War I must beg Leave to retire from so Deplorable and Dreadful a Prospect and give you a short Account of the Crew that occasioned all these Desolations and Miseries and from whence they sucked their Poysonous Principles with which they infected the whole State DURING the Reign of Queen Mary The Rise of the Presbyterians several of the Reformed flying the Persecutions of Her Government retired to Geneva where sucking in Doctrine and Principles that were no wayes conformable nor consistent with Monarchy at their return Home under Queen Elizabeth they spoke even with Adoration of the Discipline of that Place assuring and perswading People that It and only It was what was taught and directed by our Saviour and His Disciples and practised in the Primitive Times accusing all others of Impurity Superstition and Popery THE Iesuits quickly took notice of these Weeds in Protestanisme Taken Notice of by the Jesuits and took great Care to humour and cultivate them hoping that They One Day might cause such a Breach in Our Church as that they might enter through it and compleat Our Ruin And indeed these People what by the Forced Modesty and Austerity of their Lives what by the Novelty of their Doctrine and their being opposed by Publick Authority that was no wayes consistent with their Tenets they came at first to be Pittyed and then to be Loved and Admired by the Common People THUS growing at length to be very numerous that ever-tobe-admired Princess Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth's Care to depress them thought fit to hinder this Contagion from spreading and by the Advice of Her Parliament as well as Her Council enacted very severe Laws against them and put several of them to Death as Disturbers of the Peace both of Church and State And though they expected more Favour under the Reign of King Iames King James did the like yet that Wise Prince thought fit to curb their Zeal and bridle their Invading Humour Notwithstanding having once allowed them a Conference and taking upon Himself to be the Arbitrator it rendered them so Insolent and Confident and brought their Party into such Repute that towards the Latter End of His Reign they began to have great Influence in the House of Commons which they dayly augmented and encreased by their seeming Abhorrence of Popery and Superstition But with everto-be-lamented Methods till at length by their Arts and Practices they brought into Ruin and Destruction that Prince and Government they all along pretended their whole Design was to Defend Support and Maintain and under the Cloak of Religion let in all Manger of Impiety Atheism and Superstition THE Great Influences the Doctrines of these Men have had amongst the Factious Parties of this Kingdom of late Times too since the Happy Restauration of His Sacred Majesty to the great Disturbance of the Publick Peace to the Dis-uniting the Members of the Church of England and raising Schism and Divisions in the Communities of Men in Matters of Religion to the utter Subversion of Religion it self nay Morality too I say of the Truth of This we have daily Demonstrations and Experiences of The Iesuits of Geneva and Those of St. Omers I dare affirm in their Damnable Tenets with relation to Monarchy and Episcopacy
would be a Vanity in me to Imagine that this Essay or Compendium can have so great and good an Effect yet I promise my self it may be of some use and perhaps a Means towards the Reconciling Our Differences and the making up Our Breaches which who ever brings to pass raises to himself immortal Monuments of Honour and renders Us as Necessary and Helpful to Our Friends and as Dreadful and Formidable to Our Enemies as We have been of late Neglected and Despised by both the One and the Other I SHALL begin first with the Introduction to the late King's Miseries and Necessities which was the War the Parliament had engaged His Father in with the House of Austria for the Râ—…ry of the Palatinate and which was left Him as a Heavy Incumbrance and Mortgage upon an Estate and finding His Exthequer Empty and His Revenues spent and drained He was forced to take such Courses and Stoop to such Things as He would not have done in another Occasion His Necessities were still increased by the War He was not long after Engaged in for the Defence and in the Behalf of the Huguenots of France wherein having failed of those timely and seasonable Succours from His Parliament as He might Reasonably have promised Himself in a juncture when so great a Part and Branch of the Protestant Communion as was that of France lay at Stake He failed of that good Success that a more ready and willing Relief might perhaps have procured The Factions now begin and the publick Ministers Censur'd This Furnished the Male-contents and the Promoters of Sedition with Pretexts of Censoring and Blaming the Conduct of those at the Helm of Demanding the Heads of some of the Ministers in Favour and the Removeal of Others from all Charges and Places of Trust THIS Bustle was Attended with loud Cryes The Bishops for introducing Popery and Detestations of Popery and several were Accused of being Promoters and Abettors of it The Bishops and others of the Clergy of the Church of England were not free from this Aspersion but were said to be of the Party and joyned their Endeavours with those who had a mind and designed to set up the Roman Catholick Religion in this Kingdom This helped to nourish and spread abroad Jealousies and Distrusts occasioned Distractions and Consternations and gave deep Root to Dissention and Rebellion But these Promoters of Mischief did not content themselves with Stigmatizing the Clergy and the Chief Ministers of State for they endeavoured to insinuate into the People underhand that the Crown it self was Popishly Affected The Crown it self Popishly Affected and that it did favour and encourage the Growth of that Religion That it Aimed at Arbitrary Government Arbitrary Government c. and that the Subjects were to be Deprived of their Priviledges The House of Commons Daily found out New Grievances drew up Remonstrances Priviledges of Parliament Cryed out for and Cryed out against most of the Actions of the King and his Ministers as contrary to the priviledges of Parliament But notwithstanding all these Artifices and Contrivances to set the Nation on a Pare they would never have Gained their point had they not found the Scots Aiming the same way being willing to be Instruments for the putting in Execution their Execrable Designs Whereupon they Invited them underhand into England The Scots Rebel The Scots a Hungry and Poor Nation ever ready to be upon the Wing on such Occasions Accepted the Offer came in Swarmes full of Hopes and with fair prospects of Riches and Booty The King Raises an Army to Oppose them They Seized upon the best Towns of the more Northern Parts of England But the King having drawn a Considerable Army together Marched to York to Oppose them and his Forces being much more Considerable than the Scots would certainly have Routed them had they not Tampered and Insinuated into the English that their Ruine would be certainly attended or followed by the Oppression of them themselves and they once Subdued the King would be enabled to use His English Subjects as he thought fit by which Intelligence and Correspondence it was Evident that the English had no mind to Fight though their Army was much Stronger than the Scots A Treaty held whereupon by the Mediation of some Persons a Treaty of Peace was begun and soon Finished Wherein it was agreed that His Majesty should Publish a Declaration whereby all should be confirmed that His Commissioners had promised in His Name that a General Assembly and Parliament be Held at Edenburgh in a short time And Lastly that upon Disbanding their Forces Dissolving their Counsels and Restoring the King to His Forts and Castles c. The King was to Recal His Fleet and Forces and make Restitution of their Goods since the Breach NOW that which made the Scots so ready to undertake this Expedition was not only a prospect of Gain and Plunder but the Fears they were in of losing their Darling Presbitery made them take Arms and Spirited them into this Rebellion The King endeavours to introduce the Liturgy into the Kirk of Scotland For the King in Pursuance of His Father's Design of Establishing the Common-Prayer in Scotland as it was in England did Endeavour to introduce the Liturgy into practice in that Kingdom But the Nobility and Gentry having since the first Reformation of Scotland from Popery thrown out the Bishops and shared their Estates among them by the Instigation of John Knox the great Presbyterian John Knox a great Presbyterian were afraid that if they were again Re-established and Recovered their former Power and Reverence they would likewise quickly find the means of procuring again their Antient Estates and Revenues For the preventing of which they thereupon spread abroad Discontents and Fears foment Jealousies and Distractions and Engage the Clergy on their side who were generally inclined to Knox's Discipline and the Soveraignty which they had for some time enjoyed under the Government of Presbitery The Lyturgy and Episcopal Government Termed Popery the Clergy Influence the People and Terrify them with the Danger of Popery for so they Termed the Liturgy and the Government by Bishops By these means and pretexts they allured the People into a Rebellion notwithstanding all the Care that was taken by those at the Helm to prevent it and the Confederates entred into a Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant and oblig'd themselves to a Mutual Defence against all persons whatsoever not excepting the King himself and then they begun an Actual War An Actual War follows Raised Men and Money Seized His Majesties Armes Magazines Castles Forts and Walled Towns and all this was done for Conscience Sake But to avoid becoming Horrible and Abominable in the Eyes of all the World by being called Traitors and Rebels Tho Varnished with a pretended Design for Petitioning c they Varnished and Termed all these Preparations and
President that might be of such dangerous Consequence But the Factious Spirits knowing that as long as His Head was upon His Shoulders it would be impossible for them to Compass their Designs procured and stirred up the Rabble in a most insolent and tumultuary manner The Rabbles Tumult and Madness against the Earl c. to come down to the Parliament Houses and Cry for Justice It was in vain for the Lords to Complain of the Force that was offered and the violation of the Freedom of Parliament The Commons took no Notice of it insomuch that the Mobile being hereby encouraged proceeded to that point of Insolence as to post up such Members of the House of Commons as had Voted against the Bill of Attainder and Stigmatizing them with the Name of Straffordians as they did likewise to the Lords who had done the same threatning that these and All other Enemies of the Common-Wealth should Perish with Him bawling out Justice and Execution nay One of the Rabble was heard to say If we have not the Lieutenant's Life we will have the King 's The Lords being thus Terrified absented themselves from the House insomuch that there was not half the Number when the Bill passed and of those then present but Seven more for it than those that were against it The King used His utmost endeavours to overcome the Difficulties of signing the Bill But at length through the importunities of those who were continually telling him how requisite it was for Him to please the People and perpetually Alarmed Him with the Apprehensions of an eminent Rebellion but most especially by the generous Request of the Earl Himself who thus concluded in a Letter to the King Sir The Earl of Strafford's Letter to the King To set Your Majesties Conscience at Liberty I do most humbly beseech You for the preventing of such Mischiefs as may happen by Your Refusal to pass the Bill by this means to remove Praised be God I cannot say this Accursed but this Unfortunate thing forth of the way towards that blessed Agreement which God I trust shall for ever Establish between You and Your Subjects My Consent herein shall more acquit You to God than all the World can do besides to a willing Man there is no Injury done I say The Bill passed by Commission principally by this Generous Request His Majesty was prevailed upon to pass it by Commission and therein to do an Action contrary to the Sentiments of His own Conscience and which as Himself tells Us Lay heavy upon Him to His last Breath HE gave likewise at the same time another Commission to several Lords to pass another Bill for continuing the Parliament A Bill passed for the Parliaments sitting during their own Pleasure during the pleasure of both Houses which Act of His was the main Foundation of our Subsequent Ruine and the Chief Engine the Malecontents made use of to bring upon the Kingdom those Desolations and Horrous that so long Afflicted it tho He designed it as a Means to Re-instate Himself in the Affections of His People and to remove the very Root of all those Fears and Jealousies which are so uneasy both to Prince and People But what were the Returns they made to all these Unparalelled Acts of Grace and Condescentions to please His People they made Great Vows indeed and Protestations of their Loyalty Duty and Sincerity of their Intentions for the Good of the King and Kingdom and that their main Aim was to render Him the Most Glorious Prince that ever sat upon the English Throne but how different their Designs were from their Words the Sequel made but too Apparent THE Fall of that Great Man the Earl of Strafford so startled several other of the Principal Officers of State Many principal Officers resign their Places upon the Earl of Strafford's Death that many of them resigned their Places About the same time some Discontents arose between the Parliament and the English Army in the North but a while after both Armies were Disbanded The payment of Tonnage and Poundage had been much Questioned since 1628. But now the King at the request of the Commons was content to relinguish His Right to it and afterwards passed a Bill for Pole-Money and two others for putting down the Star-Chamber and High-Commission-Courts And Four Dayes after the English and Scoth Armies were Disbanded the King went towards Scotland notwithstanding all the endeavours and allegations of the Presbyterian Faction in England to hinder that Journey But seeing the King resolute to keep His Word with the Scots being unwilling to disoblige them who seemed Zealous for His Majesties Presence among them they used their utmost Efforts to obtain a Vice-Roy a Creature of their own who in the King's absence might give the Royal-Assent to such Acts as they had then in Hand But upon His Majesties Assurances that His stay there should be very short this hopeful Project was strangled in the Birth THE King was received in Scotland with great Testimonies of Affection by that Nation His Majesty goes for Scotland and Conferred several Places of Honour and Power upon divers of them confirming likewise the Treaty between the two Nations by Act of Parliament assenting to whatever they offered and indeed passed so many Acts of unparalelled Bounty Grace and Condescention as extorted from them the Revival and Confirmation of an Act of their Parliament which they caused to be solemnly published throughout the Realm The Scots Parliament publish a Loyal Act. That it should be damnable and detestable Treason in the highest Degree for any of the Scots Nation conjunctly or singly to levy Arms or any Military Forces upon any Pretext whatsoever without the King 's Royal Commission But the Presbyterians as if their Tenets and Consciences were fuller of Abominations than the Romanists and Jesuits did with as little Tenderness of Conscience not long after violate this promise as if no such thing had ever been made and have made it appear to all the World that No Laws not even of their own making have any Obligation or Power over them to restrain them from a tempting opportunity to Rebel DURING His Majesties abode in Scotland The Rebellion in Ireland there broke out in Ireland a most horrible and notorious Rebellion and which was managed with such Secresy that it was not discovered till the Night before it was to have been put in Execution The great Massacre of 200000. which was in divers Places carried on with such Fury that Two Hundred Thousand English Men Women and Children were in a short time barbarously Murdered by all manner of most Cruel Torments that their Devilish Minds could invent Many were the Conjectures about the Occasion of this Conspiracy but tho the Parliament endeavoured all they could to asperse the Reputation and blast the Honour of His Sacred Majesty and to that intent charged Him with that Rebellion whereas indeed they themselves
had principally occasioned that Rebellion by opposing and refusing to Consent to the Transportation of those Forces which His Majesty had Granted to the King of Spain For at the Disbanding of the Irish Army He had engaged the Word and Honour of a King to the Three Spanish Ambassadours here then at this Court that they should have the Liberty to Transport such Troops of the Irish Nation as were willing to take Service under their Master and accordingly they Contracted not only with the Officers and Souldiers but had advanced Money and hired Ships for their Transportation But this being represented to the Parliament tho the Lords seemed incâ—mable to comply with it yet the Commons who industriously opposed whatever His Majesty pretended to do without their Advice absolutely refused to give their Consent and framed I know not what Chimaera's of danger and in Fine positively prohibited The passing of any English or Irish into the Service of any Forreign Prince FROM hence it came to pass that many of those People being of Desperate Fortunes fell into Desperate Designs and being Animated and Spirited both by their Religion and the Traditional Animosity against the English and more especially the Scots whom they consider as Invaders Robbers and Incroachers of their Antient and Native Right they were easily perswaded and drawn into a Conspiracy rather than starve Whereas had the Parliament given them leave to have spent their ill humours and lives in Forreign Wars they might probably have prevented whole Rivers of Blood that was inhumanely spilt and have saved all that Treasure that was expended in reducing that Kingdom from one Rebellion to another BUT by this means the Male-contents here at Home got this advantage by that Rebellion which they had been long Aiming at as to Arm all their Factions The Factions seize on the Guards c. during the King's Absence in Scotland and in His Majesties absence to do all the Acts of Soveraign Authority And now they took actually the Guards into their Service which they had Voted for before and appointed Officers to Command them and to Exercise and Discipline the Raw and unexpert Militia of the Countries about London without so much as giving the least Notice of all this to His Majesty or expecting His Royal-Assent THE King being in Scotland when He first received an account of all that had happened in Ireland Sir James Stuart sent for Ireland dispatched Sir James Stuart with Instructions to the Lords of the Privy-Councel there and sent them by Him all the Money His present Stores would supply He likewise moved the Parliament of Scotland as being the nearest for their Assistance but they Excused it because Ireland was a Dependant of the Crown of England but if the State of England would use any of their Men for that Service they would make propositions in order to it THE King finding His stay to be longer than He thought left the whole business of Ireland to the Parliament which without staying for His leave they had took to Themselves and had indeed declared a speedy and vigorous Assistance and Voted Fifty Thousand Pounds for a present supply About which time the King returned out of Scotland The King Returns to London from Scotland and was Entertained and Feasted at London and from thence Conducted to White-Hall After which the King Treated several of the Brincipal Citizens at Hampton-Court where divers of the Aldermen had the Honour of Knight-Hood THEN the King Summons both Houses together and tells them A Parliament is called That He had staid in Scotland longer than He expected yet not Fruitlesly for He had given full Satisfaction to that Nation but cannot choose but take notice of and wonder at the unexpected Distractions He finds at Home and then recommends to them the State of Ireland Next He publishes a Proclamition for Obedience to the Laws and first concerning Religion and the performance of Divine Service without innovation or abolishing of Rites and Ceremonies About Two Months after which His Majesty makes another Speech to them and Conjures them by all that is Dear to Him or Them to hasten the Business of Ireland But notwithstanding this and all the Noise and Out cry that was made of the Cruelties of the Irish Rebellion they prepared their Succours but very slowly and tho His Majesty pressed them with repeated instances to assist vigorously the Protestant Party against the Popish Rebels The Irish Rebellion laid upon the King yet they used their endeavours to place the Odium of that Conspiracy to the King's account insomuch that one of their Members said in a Formal Speech at a Conference with the Lords That several who had passed into Ireland by His Majesties immediate warrant were at the Head of the Rebellion which Speech the House of Commons ordered to be Printed and tho His Majesty cleared Himself of the Scandal yet instead of obtaining a Reparation they publickly justified the Member who was Pym for what He had spoken Besides instead of taking into Consideration the bleeding Condition of Ireland notwithstanding all the indefatigable Zeal and Pains His Majesty had taken to preserve the Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom they welcomed Him presently after His Return from Scotland with a large Remonstrance The Parliaments Remonstrance wherein they endeavoured to make appear that there was a Design on Foot to introduce to this Kingdom Popery and Arbitrary Government and laid all the Misfortunes of the Reign to the Crowns Account notwithstanding they themselves had occasioned them and His Majesty having made a Gracious Answer to their Petition that was as a Prologue to their Remonstrance He issued out a Declaration to His Subjects by way of Answer to the Remonstrance The King's Answer the Sum of which was That He thought He had given sufficient Satisfaction to His Peoples Fears and Jealousies concerning Religion Liberty and Civil Interests by the Bills which He had passed this Parliament desiring that Misunderstandings might be removed on either side and that the bleeding Condition of Ireland might perswade them to Unity for the Relief of that Unhappy Kingdom BUT instead of Complying with His Majesty who offered to raise Ten Thousand Volunteers for Ireland if the Commons would undertake to Pay them and issued out a Proclamation against the Irish declaring Those that were in Arms with all their Adherents and Abettors The Apprentices Rife and go to White-Hall and Westminster to be Rebels and Traitors They Caused the Apprentices of London to go in an Insolent Tumultuous Riotous manner to White-Hall and Westminster and the King being informed That One of the Lords and Five of the House of Commons had Correspondence with the Scots and Countenanced the late City Tumults He thereupon ordered The King's Order their Trunks Studies and Chambers to be Sealed up and their Persons Seized the former of which was done but they kept too good Intelligence about His Majesty
bear alike Proposition and consequently Publick Peace must be a Thorn in their Side too Tho I believe verily That the Presbyterian is but an Instrument in the Roman Catholicks Hands to work the Destruction of this Nation because they know there 's no Sect bears a greater Sway nor admits of a greater Acceptance amongst the Credulous Vulgars than This. How under This Cloak Religion they have walked for these several Years and made it their Stalking-Horse to perpetrate their Designes we all know and therefore I shall enter upon the Second Part of This Discourse and trace along our present Troubles and Distractions beginning with Religion Loyalties severe Summons TO THE Bar of Conscience OR A Seasonable Timely Call TO THE People of England UPON THE Present Juncture of Affairs The Second Part. BUT before we enter upon Generals I shall a little come to Particulars and by this Means lay before you more plainly how exactly Men endeavour in These Times to follow the Coppy which have been drawn by Men of alike Principles and Dispositions in the Late Times AND Here we must observe how like Serpents the Subtle Engineers and Framers of the Late Common-Wealth wrought themselves in to the Accomplishing their Damned Designs and Unparallel'd Contrivances They no sooner found the Late King reduced to urgent Necessities and pressing Occasions for Supplyes to His Exchecquer and Treasury which were Drained and Exhausted by a long involved War abroad but it is as soon taken Notice of by the Factious Parties at Home who promised to themselves now a fit Opportunity to broach their Villanies and begin those Accursed Designs against the King and Government which they afterwards perpetrated and brought to pass They begin then to hang Tall and stand off from any Propositions the King made for Supplyes of Money and therefore without He would be brought to those Concessions and comply with such unreasonable Demands which they would and did make no Money was to be had THE King being of a Good Pacifick and Generous Nature and knowing the Pressures and Necessities which then incumbred Him for a Supply was forced to condescend to such Gracious Unparallel'd Acts which helped to pull down that fair and splendid Structure of the Government which His Royal Predecessors Queen Elizabeth and His Father King James had built Of which I have spoken more at large before THESE Acts and Concessions of the King they managed to that Degree that at length the Scots influenc'd Here by some Leading Parties in England enter upon a strange Way of forcing His Concessions by Raising an Army under the Notion of Petitioning their King c. NOW let us behold how nearly we endeavour to follow these Ieroboams and how close the Shadow follows our Heels In the Year 1679. The Damnable Popish Plot Discovered in England not long after the Discovery of the Hellish Popish Plot which had put England into a Great Combustion and Disorder and that now the Minds of Men were possest with Dread and Horror and an Universal Jealousie and Fear of what would be the Event of so strange and Surprizing an Alarum distracted almost even the most sober Brains The Scots who are a People ever ready to lay hold of any Opportunity to Rebel and knowing This a fit Time to blow up that Fire into a Flame which the Papists and Jesuits had kindled they presently begin to enter upon their Old Theme of Protesting against the Church Government Episcopacy The Scots Rebellion nay Monarchy too and Raise a Considerable Army to further their Execrable Designs BUT before this to shew their Antipathy and inveterate Abhorrence against Bishops which is a Natural Disposition they suck't from the Breasts of the Presbyterian Parents as is before taken Notice of and now 't was never to be Eradicated out of the Flesh of their Posterity they Assassinate and Kill that Reverend Prelate the Arch Bishop of St. Andrews The Reverend Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews killed one of His Majesty's most honourable Privy-Councel by Stabbing him in his own Coach in the Sight of the Sun dragging him out upon the Ground hewing and butchering him as the Cruel Blood-Thirsty Dutch did the De witts in Holland leaving his Body as one Wound Oh crudelis Rabies Populi BUT this was but a small Prologue to their designed Black Cragedy the Death of one Great Person could not satisfy their Bloody Intents but now Fury drives them on to destroy all that oppose them and a Body of Men was got together on the Twenty-Nineth of Mar 1679. to the Number of Eighty The Rebels burn several Acts of Parliament well Mounted and Armed and came as far as Rugland proclaimed the Covenant burnt several Acts of Parliament viz. 1. 1. The Act concerning the King's Supremacy 2. 2. The Rescissory Act. 3. 3. The Act for Establishing Episcopacy And 4. 4. The Act appointing the Anniversary of the Twenty-Nineth of May. And that done affixed a certain Scandalous and Traiterous Paper or Declaration upon the Market-Cross and intended to have done the like at Glasgow but were prevented by the King's Forces there The Rebel's Declaration designed to be put up at Glasgow but was actually put up at Rugland was in these Words following AS the Lord hath been pleased still to keep and preserve His Interest in the Land The Scot's Declaration put upon the Market-Cross at Rugland by the Testimony of some Faithful Witnesses from the Beginning So in our Dayes some have not been wanting who thro the greatest Hazards have added their Testimonies to those who are gone before them by suffering Death Banishment Torturings Finings Imprisonments Forfeitures c. flowing from cruel and perfidious Adversaries to the Church and Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Land Therefore We owning the Interest of Christ according to the Word of the Lord and the National and Solemn League and Covenaut desire to add our Testimonies of the Worthies that have gone before tho Unworthy yet hoping as true Members of the Church of Christ in Scotland and that against all Things that have been done prejudicial to His Interest from the Beginning of the Work of Reformation in Scotland especially from the Year 1648. to the Year 1660. against these following Acts As 1. 1. The Act of Supremacy 2. 2. The Declaration whereby the Covenants were condemned 3. 3. The Act for Eversion of the Established Government of the Church and for Establishing of Prelacy and for outing of Christ's Ministers who could not conform thereto by an Act Rescissory of all Acts of Parliament and Assemblies for Establishing of the Government of the Church of Scotland according to the Word As likewise 4. That Act of Councel at Glasgow 4. putting that Act Rescissory in Execution where at one time were violently cast out above Three Hundred Ministers without all Legal Procedure Likewise 5. 5. The Act appointing a Holy Anniversary-Day to be kept upon the
sincere Conscience or else that they held it as an Article of their Faith should think That within Forty Years by a necessary Consequence the same or like Occurrences must needs happen to a Nation and therefore if they acted never so contrary to God's Word Nature nay Common Honesty still it must be look't upon as flowing from the supream Cause or those concurrent hidden Causes which usually attend the Revolutions of States However it be This I must needs confess No one Evil comes alone The late King's time tho attended with continual Vicissitudes and repeated Troubles yet we find still some dreadful Additional Circumstance or other to befall them to hasten their way to Ruine THE Scotch Rebellion His losing His Priviledges dayly His publick Ministers impeach'd His legal Proceeding censured thwarted His Honour beginning to dwindle His Majesty exclipsed His Subjects here at Home Mutinous and Seditious but to add to these a cursed hellish Rebellion in Ireland breaks forth to the Massacring above Two Hundred Thousand of His Subjects in one Night Now do we but look upon our Times We have through the unspeakable Bounty of a Gracious GOD Para'el a hellish Popish Plot which terrified and frightned every poor Soul of this Our English Nation Discovered to Us by those who were to be the Executioners of Our Ruine the Grandees and Pillars of the Government are taken into Custody as Accessories to this execrable Design of destroying Prince and People several others have been taken and Suffered The People have been disquieted and disturbed at such a Surprize The Government aspersed by Incendiaries Loyalty despised Laws contemned Authority neglected Magistracy villifyed c. And to augment the Obscurity of those dark Clouds which hang over our Heads and threatned Subversion of Monarchy Religion and All A Plot in Ireland discoverd a Cursed Irish Plot too is Discovered broached and fomented by the same Ministers whom the Pope and the Devil had employed in that profound Mystery of Iniquity The English Plot. Upon the Miraculous Discovery of which His Majesty was pleased to take all the Care He could for the through detecting This Damnable Plot and Proclamations and Warrants are issued out for the Apprehending the Conspirators upon the putting in Execution of which several betake themselves to Flight leave their Country and get into Forreign Parts Some are taken Prisoners amongst which was those Two notorious Traitors Plunket and Fitz-harris taken the Titular Primate of Ireland Plunket One whose Hands were imbrued in the late Bloody Massacre There So that we see the Old Saying true Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit Odorem Testa diu and one Fitz-barris both which were lately Tryed Convicted and Executed And Others come in and take hold of the Mercy of their Prince and as far as they were knowing give their several Evidences concerning this Hellish Designe Which was for the Murthering His Majesty's Person The Designe of the Plot in Ireland the Destroying and Subverting the True Protestant Religion the Deposing His Majesty from the Crown and Government of that Kingdome and the Establishing of the Roman Catholick Religion there c. Thus as the Wise-man sayes There shall no Reward be to the Evil Man the Candle of the wicked shall be put out My Son Fear thou the Lord and the King and medle not with them that are given to Change For their Calamity shall rise suddenly and Who knoweth the Ruin of them AND Lastly As in those Times the Press was open to receive the Dictates of every Male-content to the Aspersion of the King and His Ministers and the Censuring and Exposing the Government So in these Times we see the like every Day affording us fresh Pacquets But of This more here-after I will therefore desist the Tracing thus Particulars and do what I promised before I entred upon this Digression viz. Lay down in Impartial General Terms The Present State of this poor Nation through the needless Fear of Popery Arbitrary Government and the Subversion of our Religion Laws and Liverties I shall begin then with Religion THERE is no Stuff so proper to make a Cloak on Religion as Religion nothing so Profitable nor indeed so Fashionable It is a Livery How understood now wherein a Wise Man may easily serve Two Masters God and the World and make a gainful and advantageous Service by Either For when once a Man hath got a Publick Opinion of a Holy and Regular Life the Goodness and Sincerity of his Conscience is cryed up to that height that his Trade will lack no Custome his wares want no Price his Words need Credit or his Actions tho never so Enormous and Immoral be destitute of Praise and Applause In Summer this keeps him cool in Winter warm and hides the Nasty Bag of all his beloved Secret Lusts Under this Cloak he walks in Publickly fairly with Applause and in Private sin securely without Offence and officiate Wisely without Discovery c. AT a Fast I cry Geneva at a Feast I cry Rome Under this Cloak I compass Sea and Land to make a Proselyte and no sooner made but He Makes me I most frequent Schismatical Lectures which I find most Profitable from whence learning to Divulge and Maintain New Doctrines they maintain me in Suppers Thrice a Week Charity I hold as an Extraordinary Duty therefore not Ordinarily to be performed c. Thus our Great Religiosi understands Religion but as a Trick they make use of to advance their Interests and Improve their Advantage In fine 'T is Religion which hath been the sole pretended Directrix to the Commission of the most Nefarious Conspiracies and Damnable Contrivances which have for several Years distracted the Peace and Order of the Government of the Kingdom of England Scotland and Ireland The sad Effects of it in those Late Times of Rebellion here in Forty-One we have as is before said to our Sorrow felt and those direful Consequences of Ruin and Destruction of our King and Kingdom brooded and hatch't under her Wings now in these present Times Which would have inevitably followed the Damnable Designs of the Wicked Conspirators of the Hellish Popish Plots had it not pleased the Omnipotent Power to infatuate their Intentions and disclose their Diabolical Secrets I say These Two sad and notorious Instances are sufficient to convince any Reasonable Man how far Religion has blind-folded and carryed Men on thro the most uncouth and execrable Designs to destroy both Prince and People 'T was under her Banner the Boid Regicides flourish't their Colours over the Murthered Body of His Late Sacred Majesty whom they durst not to have approach't when Living 'T was under her Banner the Audacious Heroes of the Romish Party were now Marching on armed with Fury Violence Rapine Murther and Destruction ready upon a Minutes Call to Massacre Prince and People without Distinction of Sex or Family As if the Gospel of Peace which was first Planted by the
Author of Peace was to be Propagated by His Ministers by the Sword OH the Blindness and wilful Obstinacy of Man Oh the Proclivity of the depraved Humane Nature to Errors and Abuses How is it that Thou Religion art thus mistaken How is it Thy Dictates and Sacred Rites are thus mis-construed and mis-applyed Dost Thou Teach Men such Horrid and Abominable Doctrines 〈…〉 That to Propagate their Empire and extend their Dominions Subjects should be absolved from Obedience to their Lawful Sovereign Princes impowering them to Depose Them or pull Them down from their Thrones take the Crown from their Heads and at last their Heads from their Bodies Dost Thou warrant Disorders Distractions and Discords in the Socieries or Communities of Men to the utter Subversion of Governments Laws and Liberties and to the totall Ruin of Kingdoms Dost Thou lead Men to Contrive the most Execrable Designes to hatch Treasons and to lay Plots and Conspiracies to Endeavour nay Perpetrate Assassinations Nay if they fail in These to kick at Authority and contemn the Laws asperse the Governor and vilifie the Government Are those Thy Precepts No no not at all nor in any wise consisting with My Nature as I am Profess'd by the Church of England Indeed Rome and Geneva may understand Me so and the World has felt they do ever understand Me so The Religion of the Church of England As I am Profess'd by the Church of England I command Her Preachers to endeavour to implant Virtue in Mens Minds To let Her Doctrine as it truly and purely is be Undefiled Orthodox and Evangelical Teaching Piety or our Duty towards God Justice or Love towards those in Society with us and primarily towards His Vicegerent our Lawful King and Governour and Sobriety or Love to our own Persons in living in the Practice of those Excellent Virtues of Temperance and Soberness which tends so much to the Glory of God and our own Comfort and Happiness Have not we then who have the Church of England for our Mother great Cause to bless God for those daily Influences of Divine Love and Comfort which we receive from Her That nothing but the Pure and Uncorrupt Milk of Sincere Piety and True Religion may be suck't from Her Immaculate Breasts But Alas What the Reverend Pious and Learned Arch-Bishop Laud said in his Speech upon the Scaffold before his Death speaking of the Church of England may be too aptly the more is our Shame applyed to Her at this Time This poor Church of England said that Reverend Prelate has Flourish't and been a Shelter to other Neighbouring Churches when Storms have driven upon them but Alas now it is in a Storm it Self and God knows whether or how it shall get out And which is worse than a Storm from without it is become like an Oak cleft to Shivers with Wedges made out of its own Body and that in every Cleft Prophaneness and Irreligion is creeping in a-pace Lib. 2. de Vitae Contem. cap. 4. while as Prosper saith Men that introduce Prophaneness are cloak't with a Name of Imaginary Religion For we have in a manner almost lost the Substance and dwell much nay too much a great deal in Opinion and that Church which all the Jesuits Machinations in these parts of Christendome could not Ruin is now fallen into a great deal of Danger by Her Own BUT hold Consider Is it Religion alone that hath thus distracted Men's Brains or is it Mistaken zeal that drives Men into these Madnesses Is there nothing else in the Grass that lyes Latitant and pricks us and makes us so uneasy Yes I fear there is a Serpent that stings us and makes us kick at Authority called as heretofore Liberty of the Subject 'T is this wounds our Stomacks Liberty of the Subject and without a little Aqua Tetramagogicon or an Indubitable Assurance of its being Preserved we cannot be at ease God God! Is there any People or Nation in Europe ever Bless'd with Greater Freedoms and more Undisturbed Libertyes than this Kingdom of England Or Is there found from the One Part of the World to the Other one People bless'd with such a Land A Land whose Constitutions make the Best of Governments which Government is strengthned with the Best of Laws which Laws are Executed by the Best of Princes whose Prince whose Laws whose Government makes Us the Happiest of all Subjects makes Us the Happiest of all People And what a late Learned Writer said speaking in the Praise of a Land and the Admirable Blessings of it may be said of England and I shall apply it according to his Words A Land sayes he of Strength England described as it now flourishes of Plenty and of Peace where every Soul may sit beneath his Vine unfrighted at the Horrid Language of the Hoarse Trumpet unstartled at the Warlike Summons of the Roaring Canons A Land whose Beauty hath surpriz'd the Ambitious Hearts of Forreign Princes and taught them by their Martial Oratory to make their vain Attempts A Land whose Strength reads Vanity in the deceived Hopes of Conquerors and crowns their Enterprizes with a Shameful Over-throw A Land whose Native Plenty makes her the World's Exchange supplying Others able to subsist without Supply from Forreign Kingdoms In it Self Happy and Abroad Honourable A Land that hath no Vanity but what 's the sweetest of all Blessings Peace and Plenty that hath no Misery but is propagated from that Blindness which cannot see Her own Felicity A Land that flows with Milk and Honey and in brief wants nothing to deserve the Title of a Paradise The Curb of Spain The Pride of Germany the Aid of Belgia the Scourge of France the Empress of the World and Queen of Nations In fine England is the Envy of all Nations the Ambition of all Princes the Terror of all Enemies and the Security of all Neighbouring States Thus far I follow the Steps of my Learned Author in this Encomium of the Land whereof we were both †Oh Fortundtâ—s nimium sua si bona norint Anglos Natives BUT Alas I find at the Bottom of the Role a Blot or Blur which as it were oblitterates part of the Account for all these Blessings and Happinesses are but as so many Steps towards her Woe or as so many Gaps to let in Pride Ambition c. as Foxes and Wild-Boars to eat up and tread down these her Flowers For Alas She renders her Self miserable by Not being Compact within her Self in Unity but is apt and prone to Civil and Intestine Broyls Did Her Children but cherish Brotherly Love and Charity Vnion the best Antidore against Evils and endeavour the maintaining a good and right Understanding one with another and not suffer every Private Man's Interest to disturb Publick Peace Utility and Order the Devil himself nor the Pope and all his Instruments can or will ever harm or molest us But that 's the Colliquintida that alwayes spoyls our Pot
Restriction so long as the Honour Dignity and Safety of the Crown was their first and immediate Regard and Care as I said before A Parliament is the Magnum Anglie Concilium The Great Council of the Land called together by the King as the proper and most genuine Means for the Consulting or advising of and providing against publick Evils wherein every private Man is concerned and in order to the Administring necessary Remedies And therefore to pretend that their Priviledges enable them to Act contrary to what their Head the King shall propose to them towards the Regulating Misunderstandings Composing Differences and the Securing Peace and Order is if it may be so said a Casting off that Supream Power which gave them those Priviledges and a Breach of the King's Prerogative And if once Regal Prerdgative is invaded the Regal Power will be in great Danger This we have lately had notorious Testimonies of and I hope and pray we may never see the like again THE last Dissolution of the Parliament met at Oxford perhaps doth and may Amuse the World exceedingly and drive them into a profound Admiration Unde hoc Whence proceeded His Majesties Displeasure But the Papers called Intelligences pretended to satisfy Us with a great deal and every Coffes-House Whisper'd out Reasons or at least Suspicions and Surmises upon it For my part I do and shall ever continue my Resolution in this particular which I mentioned but a little before That I think it mine and every Honest Man and Loyal Subject's Duty to Acquiesce in the Pleasure of my Prince and not to Censure the Authority or Reasonableness of His Proceedings in the least I mean so far as my Conscience shall give me leave I shall not therefore any further dilate on this point but Conclude with the saying of a Wife States-Man viz. Many things sayes He in the world resemble Smoak their Beginning is but small their End great And many things resemble the Wind whose Reginning is Boisterous and End Weak He saves himself from the former who suffers them not to Increase from the latter He who suffers them to Blow over Progress of Time may be expected in the One where the Other ought to be Smother'd in the Cradle HAVING thus far run thro Our proposed Parallel under those Three Heads of Religion Liberty and Priviledges of Parliament and therein shewn how dangerous they are to a Common-Wealth when mis-understood and mis-applyed As GOD knows they have been too much of late here in England the more is the pitty and Our shame I shall therefore in this place look back on the large Concessions and bountiful Condescentions of the late King which was so much abused and made as so many Helps towards the subsequent Evils and Ruine to this poor Kingdome of England and see how Our Times have met with the like and what unsutable Returns have been made to the Royal Grace and Favour THE pressing Necessities for Supplies of Money to the empty drain'd Coffers of the Royal Treasury thro a long War which I have spoken of before coming in a Time when the Subject's Purse was full and that now the Parliament City and the Disaffected Parties knew well enough was a fit time to perpetrate their Designs to bring the KING to their Beck to make Him condescend to what Terms they pleased Which to avoid Repetition of I desire the Impartial Reader to consider in the Beginning of this Discourse Where you see after that they had brought the KING to do what they demanded they at last to compleat all perswade the People that the KING meant to introduce Popery Arbitrary-Government destroy the Protestant Religion and the Liberty of the Subject The unwarrantable Practices of the Parliament 1640 41. c. This nettles the Giddy Crowd and induces them to believe that whatsoever the Parliament did was for their Good and according to Conscience and the like They forget their King 's Gracious Concessions and Graunts they stop their Ears to His crying Wants turn their Backs to His friendly and just Demands neglect His Authority despise His Dignity contemn His Administration of the Government thwart His just and lawful Proceedings and thus Topsy turvy per fas nefasque No King no Laws no Religion I mean of the Church of England In exitium rount NOW in brief His now Majesties Concessions Let Us examine Our own Times and here We shall find Mercy Bounty and Liberality still swaying the Scepter of these Kingdomes We see His Sacred Majesty was no sooner sat Him in His Throne and had graspt the Scepter in His Hand but He as soon begins to display the Influences of His Royal Bounty and Mercy by the Act of Oblivion The Act of Oblivion Granted whereby every Individual Person who had been Actors on that late Bloody Stage of Rebellion and Treason the Cruel and Blood-Thirsty Regicides or those who were the Unjust Judges and Murtherers of His Father of Blessed Memory only exempted from the Beginning of the Civil-War unto His Happy Restauration the New Epocha of our English Nation that Annus Restauratae Libertatis Nay to dispossess those who Held their Estates in Capite of the Fears of the just Demands and Pretentions so long a time 's Killing and Slaying had given Him upon their Tenures and Knight Service What vast Sums were coming to Him from the Court of Wards and Liveries c. which unless He remitted would render the Act of Oblivion in effect no Pardon since it gave not their Estates with their Lives His Majesty was Graciously pleased to prevent those Fears by Act of Parliament The Act of Parliament 12 Ch. 2. ca. 24. 12 Ch. 2. cap. 24. depriving Himself of the Richest Jewel of His Crown a Prerogative so truly Royal and so hugely advantagious That in the Judgement of the Learned in the Law The People of England were never truly Free till then WHEN thro repeated Affronts War with Holland Calumnies and Injuries He was forced to make War with the Hollanders for His own Honour We no sooner find Him informed That it was prejudicial to His People but He shuffles up a Peace upon very hard Terms for Himself when had He stood off but a little while the State of His Enemies being such He might have made what Conditions He would Peace made Nay further To shew His Love to His Good Subjects when He entred into a War for Injuries offered to them Vide The Articles of Peace in Aug. 1667. and those 1674. no Considerations neither Plague nor Fire which had then impoverisht the Land by the Loss of so much People and Money would induce Him to a Peace till ample Satisfaction made WHEN He had upon Advice Granted a Tolleration of Religion and was satisfied afterwards by the Parliament of the Dangerous Consequences of such a Liberty He immediately is induced to Recall it and did so The Act for Toleration of Religion made Did He not consent to