Prince have been pardoned suffered to enjoy their Estates in peace protected by his Laws and many of ability preferr'd and imployed Though these kindnesses have been done to private Persons and Families and they have chiefly reap'd the benefit of his Majesties gracious Disposition the whole Kingdom is thereby obliged to his Majesty because in the forgiveness of such Offenders he hath had an Eye to the Publick good peace and satisfaction of all his Subjects rather than to his just Resentment Moses was a Meek Man yet how many hundreds and thousands were made Examples of his Justice and Gods Wrath for their Rebellions few or none pardoned Constantine the Great the first Christian Emperour's Name is sacred in the memories of men he forgave his Enemies advanced Religion incouraged Piety yet he imbrued his Fatherly hands in the blood of his own Son and Heir Crispus upon the suspition of a Rebellion Theodosius the Emperour was a brave and an excellent Prince yet the Inhabitants of Antioch complain of the promiscuous killing of their Citizens in the Emperours rage Justinian the Law-giver of the World could not give Laws to his own passions nor save Bellisanius and Narses his two great Generals from the cruel hands of his Empress Theodora I might run over all the Histories of former times from the beginning of the World to this day and mention to you the noblest the rarest and most merciful Princes in forreign Nations and in this yet I dare affirm and do offer my self to prove from a certain knowledge of the Histories of the World that I may say I have perus'd that there was never any King or Soveraign Prince neither in England nor elsewhere who hath been so gracious so compassionate and merciful to his People as our King Charles neither hath any Reign been more free from shedding of blood never any Government more mild and happy never any Prince less ruled by violence and interest nor more govern'd than himself by that Sacred Maxim of his Royal Father The setled Laws of these Kingdoms are the most excellent Rules a King can govern by Where are the Widows and Orphans amongst us that can complain of the unjust murder of their Relations Where is the Family ruined by the Confiscation of its Estate and Patrimony Where can we meet with any particular instance of his Majesties over-ruling the ordinary course of Law and Justice Henry the VIII and our former Kings would sometimes give place to wrath anger and revenge and their Wills sometimes took the place of Laws But where can we meet with any such Example in our days Where is there a person either Condemned or Executed or deprived of an Estate by our Princes Command alone Many have received their Lives and Estates from him which had been forfeited by Law but to this very day none ever lost either Lives or Fortunes to gratifie his Majesties will and pleasure even in this late wicked Plot against his Royal Person he hath not punish'd any man but by course of Law Is not this a happiness for all the English Subjects for Poor and Rich to live under such a reasonable Government and gracious a Governour and where Law and Equity Justice and Conscience sway the Scepter where Power and the Regal Authority are never used but in vindication and for the execution of righteous Laws though the Papists never intended to observe any measures of Reason Conscience or Humanity with his Majesties Person and People but in a secret and private way intended to fill the Land with Assassinations and Murders nevertheless he observes a Legal Method and proceeds against them by such means as are justifiable before God and Man His Majesty delivers them over to a Court of Judicature to have a fair Tryal for their Lives he suffers them to answer for themselves and leaves them to an impartial Judge and Jury In forreign Nations such Enemies of the Publick Safety would have been pull'd in pieces as the De Witts cut down and mangled by the rude Rabble as Sejanus at Rome and the Assassins of the Prince of Orange and of Henry the III. of France and many others They would not have had the patience to see them alive who had resolved upon so cruel a design as to murder the King and his People without cause But the World sees the moderation of our English Natures the Excellency of the Principles of our Religion and the Justice of our King who is willing to make his most desperate Enemies sensible of it in their own persons without any passion which hath never carried him to act against them but in a regular way And though some of them had forfeited their Estates by Law and it had been but a piece of Justice to reduce their Posterity to poverty who intended to make so many poor Families in this Land yet to the Eternal praise of his Majesty be it spoken he hath not attempted to take ought of their Estates but hath restored since his Restauration to the Children of many Rebels Traytors and Regicides the Patrimonies belonging to their Fore-fathers it is therefore a most unreasonable Aspersion and a wicked Slander proceeding from the Shop of Ignatius and his bloody Jesuits to report any thing amiss of his Majesties most Excellent Government As Mr. Oats hath very well taken notice it hath been the design of those Troublers of Peace to make us stand in fear of an Arbitrary Government and to fasten upon his Majesty and his proceedings the most abusive Lyes but let any man run over the passages of his good Reign he shall have no cause to suspect what there is not the least colour to believe The suspitions and jealousies in relation to Religion are as plainly scandalous and unlikely it is sufficiently known how zealous his Majesty hath always been in the profession of the true Protestant Religion from his Infancy It was the Advice of his Royal Father Above all I would have you as I hope you are already well grounded and setled in your Religion the best Profession of which I have ever esteem'd that of the Church of England In this I charge you to persevere as coming nearest to Gods Word for Doctrine and to the Primitive Examples for Government According to this direction our King hath behaved himself so that neither fear favour nor interest could ever draw him from this Religion In his Banishment his Majesty alone knows the greatness of his Tryals and we and all the World the constancy of his mind Here the whole World might have seen the Religion of King Charles the II. Neither the love nor glory of a Crown nor the honours of the World nor the advantages of Life could prevail upon him to waver in the least from that excellent Religion and Faith for which the King his Father spilt his blood and which Christ and his Apostles have recommended to us or to accept of the Popish Superstitions And since his Majesties return to his Honour
and Dignity which may be look'd upon as a Reward of his Fidelity as a glorious and honourable acknowledgment of Divine Providence of our Prince's faithfulness to the Profession of the true Protestant Religion and a Testimonial from God himself of his reality in his Faith sufficiently evidenced to all the World by the wonderful Circumstances of his happy Restauration I say since his Majesties return how many plain and undoubted Testimonies hath he given us of his sincerity in the Protestant Profession and Resolution to maintain it in his Kingdoms against all Dissenters and Opposers His Royal Father left him this Charge I do require and intreat you as your Father and you King that you never suffer your Heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the true Religion establish'd in the Church of England I tell you I have tried it and after much search and many disputes have concluded it to be the best in the World not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special Notion as reformed c. Therefore as soon as he was settled by the advice of his Loyal Parliament he restored the Orders and Government of the Church of England which in the approved judgment of the King his Father is the best in the World because it is the most conformable in Doctrine and Practice to Christ his holy Apostles and and the Primitive Church as he expresly declares And to secure this most excellent Religion the better by removing all the causes of dissention and Obstacles that seem'd to hinder such as had received contrary principles from embracing it the Kings Majesty yielded to an amendment of certain things which gave offence What could have been desired more from generous and a gracious Prince than was then granted in complyance with the peoples weakness and mistakes The Nation was then through the disorders that had been in Church and State split into many pieces and sad divisions Mens judgments were possessed with unreconcileable Prejudices and strange Principles in opposition to the Church of England which they would not nor could not speedily overcome It was therefore judged convenient to grant them time and yet to establish those Law as might both declare to the World His Majesties constancy in the true Protestant Religion and direct them that were Dissenters to embrace it Examine but the Royal proclamations and the Acts of Parliament and see what they say and it will plainly appear that the Kings Majesty never had any design since his Coronation nor before but to settle protect favour and maintain according to his Royal Promise the true Protestant Religion of the Church of England as it was establish'd in Queen Elizabeth's King James's and his Martyred Father's days And if not withstanding out of his royal goodness and wisdom the Laws against Papists were not always strictly put in Execution it was because the necessities of the Kingdom and the good of the Publick did so require it for the preservation of Peace and the better settlement of the Truth Fire and Sword are not always seasonable against Dissenters in Religion It belongs to a King to mitigate his Laws and suit them to Times and Cases He is not always bound to observe them in all their rigour and exactness neither doth such proceedings consist with the general good and happiness of a Kingdom though the surious zeal of inconsiderate Subjects may sometimes wish for the contrary But as in distempered Bodies the Physician doth not always observe the same Rules of his Art nor apply the same Remedies but changeth and altereth them according to the Diet Humour Pulse Country Air and other Circumstances of the Patient So it becomes a wife Prince to handle the Distempers of Church and State in such a manner as may answer the universal good the chief end of Government and prevent the increase of the Disease It is therefore a grand presumption for every petty Fellow and ignorant Mechanick to exclaim against his Superiours Actions in such a case when he is not capable to understand the great Reasons of Sate that govern them Besides the Papists did scemingly express their Duty and Allegiance to the King out of a design as it is now supposed by some when he was in his Banishment when many Protestants were unable to do him service but with their Prayers and Wishes After his happy return could he do any thing less than grant them some freedom under his good Government for which many of them had taken up Arms against Rebellion It was but just whiles they confined their Religion within their own Breasts and professed to live as peaceable Subjects and quiet in their Offices and Estates that they should reap some of the Fruits and taste of the sweetness of that Reign for which many of them had ventur'd their Lives and Fortunes As they had a share in the sufferings it was but just that they should have also a share in the happiness that succeeded As they have been concerned in his Majesties Calamity Reason and Conscience obliged him at first to suffer them to have an Interest in his Restauration and happiness This is sufficient to justifie our Kings gracious Proceedings towards the Papists from all jealousie and suspicion and to make it appear that his Grants and Allowances proceeded not from any approbation of the Popish Idolatries and Superstitions but from a Principle of Justice not from an allowance of their Religion and Abominations but of their Persons and faithfulness to him in his distress which had obliged him in requital to shew them some favour And not only to them his Majesty hath given several Expressions of Royal goodness but also to all Dissenters from the Religion of the Church of England Though the Laws are severe against Conventicles and Conventiclers whiles they are peaceable and not mutinous though their Practices are of ill consequence and not agreeable with Law yet so great is his condescention as to suffer them in their way without disturbing their Meetings according to this Christian Speech which hath been often heard from his Majesty I will never trouble any for his Conscience but let no Man trouble nor disturb my Government If the Papists had not plotted the Nations ruine and agreed together to murder both Prince and People they might have yet continued freely in the enjoyment of their Religion and of as much priviledge as they could reasonably desire under the Government of so favourable a Monarch No person would have dream'd to disturb them in their Privacies and secret Devotions They might have lived and died without any fear of the Execution of the Laws in the fruition of their Estates and Places with as much liberty as the Protestants themselves We all began to look upon them with kindness to esteem them as our Brethren and good Countrymen and to favour them in many respects But how strangely have we been mistaken and deceived let the World judge However this is our comfort
AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE PRESENT FEARS AND JEALOUSIES OF THE NATION By an Impartial Hand With Approbation LONDON Printed by R. E. at the Seven Stars in Ave-Mary-Lane 1679. AN ANTIDOTE c. VVHen I consider the present Condition of this Nation the seditious endeavours of our Enemies of all sorts the slanderous Reports in City and Country and the strange Jealousies which men of corrupt and wicked designs foment to the great disquieting of our minds and to the prejudice of the Religious and unspotted Intentions of a most Gracious King I judge it not unseasonable to offer to the Publick these few Lines as well to prevent the mischiefs of discontent and seditious fears as to encourage all persons to those duties and that Loyal behaviour which our Heavenly Profession and our Worldly Interest require from us and the rather I have been perswaded to this attempt because there are such numbers every where of men of divers Principles and Designs busily employed in undermining the Nations Tranquility by labouring to alienate the Peoples Affections from their Superiours by aspersing his wisest Proceedings and Actions and by spreading abroad the dangerous Seeds of Distrust Suspicions and Rebellion chiefly in this juncture of time since the Discovery of the Popish Plot now that Mens minds are apt to take ill impressions the Malice of some is unsufferable in divulging the greatest Improbabilities which nevertheless have ill Effects and Consequences attending them It is not long since we have smarted under the woeful Sequels of such Unchristian Practices which should oblige all men of reason to be cautious how they entertain and give encouragement to any thing that may lessen the Reverence to Government or divert us from our Duty for let the Idolaters of Liberty say what they will a Kingdom can never flourish whiles Authority is dis-respected and a Government is never safe when People give themselves the liberty to cast all manner of abuses upon the lawful Governours The contempt of Laws is the next door to Rebellion and the Slanders fastened unjustly upon those that execute them are near a-kin to Murder and Assassination If the tongue wounds the Name the Hand will scarce spare the Person if opportunity were offered and the rather we should take heed how we entertain or are instrumental in spreading abroad ill Reports of the Sacred Persons of our Governours or of their Government because we see confirmed to us that this is the Method which their Enemies and ours observe to bring us to our ruine That we may therefore better secure our selves from such dreadful Calamities hereafter and now from the wicked impressions of disaffected Persons that we may quiet the Clamours and Fears of jealous Souls and encourage men to a right esteem and respect of our truly Religious King and to the duties that tend to his preservation and ours from the Fury and Malice of our irreconcileable Enemies I shall first give my Reader a short Narrative of several Instances observable in our Princes Reign of his love to his People of his gracious Disposition and of his sincerity and care in the preservation of the Protestant Religion 2. I shall examine what Duties our own interest and the present condition of the Nation in relation to our Enemies abroad and at home require from us Never any Prince hath suffered more from Rebellious Subjects than ours never any more disobliged and more cruelly handled By the late Civil Wars he was driven out of all his Inheritance forced to seek for shelter in Forreign Nations after that he had seen his Royal Father barbarously murthered his Nobles and faithful Servants massacred his Friends and Relations persecuted and their Estates sequestred and yet never any more merciful to his greatest Enemies When God was pleased to restore his Sacred Majesty to his Throne and Kingdoms and with him Religion and Peace how gracious hath he shewn himself to his fiercest Persecutors He hath not diminish'd any thing of their Estates who endeavour'd to take all from him He hath not attempted upon their Lives who labour'd to deprive him of his Nay in all his Majesties Actings in relation to publick or private concerns since his happy Restauration we may all take notice of his rare and Christian disposition and of his constant endeavours to oblige the Nation At his first appearance upon the Throne of England of his own accord he granted a General Act of Oblivion to silence all our fears to stop the mouth of our Jealousies to prevent the active mallice of some men to secure our lives and fortunes to heal up all National Wounds which had been bleeding too long and settle that Peace and Tranquillity which we have enjoyed at home ever since His just resentment might have taken notice of those who had enriched themselves with the Plunder of his people and the Spoils of his Imperial Crown The laws of Retalliation would have justified the Sequestration of the Sequestrator's ill-gotten Goods but his majesty's Wisdom and Goodness smothered all his Displeasures in a gracious Pardon and gave to the peace and quietness of hâ—â— People those Estates and Riches which he might have justly and lawfully taken to himself by a due Execution of Justice He was content to lose the great advantages which Divine Providence put into his hands out of a special regard to the good of the Nation and in Imitation of his Royal Father that couragious Martyr act in this occasion more like a good Christian than like a powerful King Amongst all the Princes mentioned in holy or prophane Literature I find none so gracious so merciful and so ready to forgive offences as ours hath been I find none more provok'd by the Cruelty and Rebellion of his Subjects and none so willing to spare the lives of Offenders Augustus the Emperour in whose peaceable Reign the Prince of Peace the Lord Jesus was born was dignified by the Roman Senate with this Honourable Title The Father of the People because he was of an admirable disposition But we all know how cruel his Triumvirate was and the beginning of his Empire was stained with the blood of the Noblest Families of Rome Vlpius Trajanus was an excellent Prince not guilty of the extravagancies of his Predecessors and yet he could not pardon the offences of his Subjects without a bloody Compensation His Successor Adrianus was so merciful that he offered his Diadem to a Noble Traytor who had harbour'd the ignoble thought of murdering his Prince yet in several occasions he gave liberty to his Passion and Revenge to spill the blood of the guilty Likewise amongst the people of God who more Religious and devout than David a Man after Gods own Heart yet his Vengeance would not suffer the gray hairs of Joah and Shimei to go down in peace to their Graves though the latter had acted against him but with his Tongue whereas many of this Nation whose Hands and Tongues if not their Hearts have been acting against our merciful