to give any legal security to the publick that they are not Papists these are Protestants the Protestants But those that profess the Primitive Christianity reform'd by our Martyrs from Roman errors and corruptions and establish't by our Laws Those that have publickly bound themselves to this truely Protestant Religion by Subscriptions Oaths Sacraments Tests all the ways that the wisdom of the nation can find out for security these are Papists Popishly affected Papists in Masquerade Sir I speak nothing of this to expose vilify or affront any but out of tender regard to the honour of the Protestant name which must needs needs by such courses I pray God preserve us from the ill consequences of proceedings that are so partial and unjust and that Popery in the event have not the advantages by them that they so fairly offer it I hope you do not understand me as if I intended that all were Atheists Debauches c. that seem now to be over-run with an extravagant zeal and violence and that wrongfully charge the Church of England No I know what allowances are to be made for mens mistakes who are abused by the cunning deceits of crafty designs Many honest and Religious persons are so mislead at this time and those I pity and pray for But that there are many wicked men of the sorts I have described studying and endeavouring the ruine both of Church and State you cannot but apprehend and those it is that I humbly caution you against And if ever Popery have any considerable advantage in this Nation it will be by their means The mistakes of furious Zeal against Popery may effect that which all the direct Zeal in the world for it would never be able to bring about 'T is sobriety that must settle and secure us SIR I Have thus written to you with honest plainness and freedom such as becomes an English-man and a sincere Member of the Church of England To the same purpose I have spoken to others as I have had occasion with no other design but of serving the Government and Protestant Religion by Law Establish'd to which by the Grace of God while I live I will adhere But for this innocent sort of discourse I have suffer'd severely from the fierce Zeal I have described and have been Stigmatized by it as a Papist a denier of the Plot and an Enemy to Parliaments I have reason to think that you have heard these injurious things of me and because you have not seen me of late and do not know how I may be changed I shall trouble you with a short account of my self in reference to these Charges For Popery I always was as hearty an Enemy to it as any man that lives and have declared that Emnity by such zealous frequent and publick oppositions as would expose me to the greatest rigours and persecutions of that Church should it which God forbid ever regain Authority and power in this Nation Besides that I must certainly unavoidably suffer the loss of all under it I say I have publickly solemnly earnestly declared against Popery ever since I was capable of examining and knowing it I have represented the Idolatries Superstitions Heresies Immoralities Novelties Absurdities Nonsense and all the Antichristianism of that Church with as much earnestness and plainness as any man in my station hath or can do I have done it always on all occasions and particularly since the late Plot and often since and our dangers require this Zeal from us Such a Papist Sir I am One that never thought of that Religion but to detest it And this inclination and resolution by the help of God I shall carry to my Grave As to the Plot I have reason'd about Circumstances and spoken of the folly and infatuation of the Contrivance and management by the Papists I have laught at many Coffee-house Stories and Terrors for which there was no evidence I have been sensible of other Plots and Designs built on the occasion of the Popish one and have spoken of those with concernment as in these Papers I have done But as here all along I suppose the grand Popish Plot and own there was such a one so in all Conversations I have acknowledg'd the Plot and see too much cause to believe the late Designs and endeavours of Papists to work our Ruine I know enough of the malignity of their Principles and the vileness of their Practices of this sort to dispose me to receive the Evidence As to the last charge I heartily reverence the Constitution and respect Parliaments as much as any Friend to the Government can do I know their usefulness their necessity and the veneration that is due to the Representatives of a great Nation and of our own But after all this Body how great how venerable soever owns it self to be Fallible and as all men take the liberty to blame what they dislike in publick proceedings and even in theirs so have I sometimes taken notice of such Mistakes and Miscarriages as the violence and designs of ill men have led that Assembly into Notwithstanding which I can truly say I honour Sober Religious and Loyal Parliaments as much as any man And I hope this when it meets will prove it self to be such to the confusion of all Popish and Fanatical Designs and the establishment of our Religion Peace and a lasting Happiness This is my constant Prayer to Almighty God for Them and to this every true English-man will say Amen I have been a little tedious and perhaps impertinent in this Apology but I hope you will pardon it as an effect of the great desire I have to preserve my self in your good opinion which I hope I shall never forfeit by deserving such Characters as the fierceness of some would fasten on me But always continue as I am a sincere lover of the true Protestant Religion an affectionate Friend and Subject to the Government in Church and State as now establish'd And particularly to your self Sir An humble and faithful Servant THE CONTENTS CHAPTER I. THE First occasion of our further danger of Popery considered viz. the weakning of the Church of England The Constitutions of this Church are our old Protestantism This Church our Bulwork against Popery which unavoidably will follow the destruction of it The present sad state of the Church of England described Its diminution the great occasion of the late growth of Popery The way to keep that out is to establish something nothing but the Church of England can with reason or safety be set up not Presbytery not Independency not any new Model The strengthning the Church of England earnestly prest The unwearied designs and endeavours of the Kings and Kingdomes Fanatick enemies against it at this time particularly and always in our dangers An humble offer for security of Protestant Religion under a Popish Prince if such should ever be CHAP. II. The Second occasion of our danger viz. our ill treatment of our Protestant Clergy those
be more there should not be Instances found to give colour to such Reproaches and if there should not be some to deserve very bad Characters But let it be consider'd that the far greatest part of Livings are poor Vicarages of 20 30 or 40 Pounds a Year into such Patrons must put whom they can get and Bishops that admit know not mens ill Lives and the Laws are content with very slender qualifications for Learning nor are great Matters necessary for every Country Village and this poor condition of so great a number of the Clergy sets them into mean Conversation and by their low and bad Company they are tempted and often purposely so to disorders which then are triumphantly publish'd the men are despised and the whole Order for their sakes Some are surprized for some Traps are laid and they are industriously drawn into Scandal on purpose to defame them and the whole Clergy and it cannot be denied but that too many are Clouds without Water spots in our Feasts Diotrephes's Demas's Judas's not only in the smaller Cures but in the more considerable Preferments Many most of those the Laity present to and do not always prefer for worth but for divers other sometimes very undue considerations all which consider'd it cannot be but Scandals must arise among so great a Body of men in such Circumstances and then they having so many Enemies of so many sorts Atheists Papists Fanaticks Worldlings Debauchees who watch for their haltings and rejoyce when they fall who are ready to invent so many malicious evil things of them and to publish and spread what they hear or what they make their interest being to have them and the Church vilified and despised it could not be but that they must suffer under manifold Reproaches though they were all wise cautious innocent how much more when there are divers ill unwise unwary men among them and in all great Bodies in the World in all times even the best such mixtures have been And even the Good the most Excellent have their Faults and Imperfections which when ill-will is to represent and comment upon them are sometimes so heightned and improved as to blacken them all over and to make them appear very vile to the World But after all this it must be said that the Church of England blessed be God for it hath a great number of most Excellent Divines men of great Piety Parts and Learning substantial powerful Preachers Pious Sober Virtuous Livers such as for all kinds of Ability this Nation never had greater better more Let my former Instance of the Clergy of London be consider'd as an evidence of this Their worth is so great and shines so bright that the Adversaries of our Church cannot but acknowledg it Mr Baxter in one of his late Books the most sharp he hath written against us owns that he meets with judicious substantial Sermons almost in every Church in London where he happens to go And up and down in the Country every where one may find very excellent Persons that lie hid and make no publick noise in the World I have said this by way of brief but just Apology in the behalf of our abused Clergy and add that notwithstanding the ill Character they lie under among some and the failings and imperfections they are guilty of yet this Nation never had I believe a wiser learneder Clergy upon the whole since the Beginnings of it And the contempt and ill treatment they meet withal is one of the greatest Reasons why they are not better General disrespect makes men careless and incautious in their Lives Whereas honour and esteem ingageth them to be circumspect and wary to maintain that veneration and regard that is paid them So that the men that most upbraid the Clergy with ill Lives are the principal causes that many of their lives are so obnoxious and they may consider some of them whether they do not themselves for sordid and unworthy Reasons bestow their Livings upon such as they complain of and so make the reason of their own Complaints I have been tedious upon this Head which yet would require larger Animadversions and I shall here crave leave yet farther to note That Among all the abuses fastned on our Clergy there is none more unreasonable and unjust than that of their inclination to or no great distance from the Roman Church This reproach our Enemies now every where publish or infinuate to carry on their design of destroying the Church of England which shews that some will say any thing against them any thing that may render them popularly odious though it be never so contrary to all truth and all appearance And I challenge the whole Protestant World to shew a publick Instance of more Zeal against Popery than our Church of England Divines have exprest against the Popish Religion ever since and before the discovery of the late Plot. Every Pulpit can witness their frequent earnest Sermons against those Superstitions and every Stationers Shop can shew their numerous excellent Books against them Or if these were not we may consider that Interest will not lye men especially such as they suppose our Clergy will not act contrary to that Can we think that all the Gentlemen of England that have Abby and other Church Lands will desire and endeavour to promote Popery Are they suppose we favourers and friends of that Religion that in likelihood would divest them of their Estates Can we think that the City of London are for blocking up and hindring the Current of the Thames Or that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen have a plot to translate the Trade to Lincoln or York Have the Merchants any desires or designs for the destroying of Shipping and Navigation Shop-keepers intrigues against Trade or the Lawyers designs against the Business of Westminster-Hall If no one is so foolish as to object such inclinations and endeavours against those why should they then alledg Popery any degree of it any the least inclination to it against the Clergie of the Church of England whom of all men it would most throughly most certainly undo And that there is no Church-man so ignorant but he must know For all the Married Clergy lose their Livelihoods without remedy if that be all All the Prebendaries in the new Churches which were Monasteries of Monks must turn out unavoidably All that have been active in Preaching or writing against Popery which takes in the chief part of the Clergy are in imminent danger of being ruined further than the loss of their Livelihoods amounts too If there should be any that think of saving themselves by Conformity they can look on that only as better than being utterly undone not as a thing otherwise desirable For the uncouth work with which they are unacquainted the servile subjection to their Superiours to which they have not been used and above all the hatred contempt fury of the People to which they will be exposed and by which they will
those men And if any such should have crept into the Parliament it were infinitly to be wish'd that the Zeal of that Assembly would purge them out like dross fit for no use or rather as what is most offensive and destructive They have done so by the Papists all good men desire and pray they may do the same by these If any thing unqualifies for that service one would think Atheism and Irreligion should What blessing can be expected on publick Councils when these are mingled Where they are they will disturb all break all make all ineffectual We are not to look on the Dangers we apprehend as proceeding only from common natural Causes no The Hand of God is in them they are His Judgments as for our other Crying Sins so particularly for reigning Atheism and contempt of Religion And if we expect help and safety from the objects of our Fears we must endeavour to make our peace with Him by repenting of all our Sins and particularly by expressing our Zeal against these greatest worst the root of all the rest And it is vehemently to be desired that our Representatives in Parliament would begin here lay the Ax at the root by effectual Laws crush this daring comprehensive Impiety and make it Capital as of all Crimes it chiefly deserves Let us first settle this Point that we are to have some Religion and then make what further provision we can against a corrupt a bad one Let us vindicate and assert the Honour of God and our Common Saviour and then we may expect the Divine Blessing and Assistance in the rest But besides the fierceness of the Atheists there is an extravagant mistaken Zeal of others that is a great occasion of our Dangers Honest intelligent Zeal is necessary for our Security and Settlement but the excesses of blind ungovern'd Rage are most mischievous and destructive I shall note some unhappy Instances of it that belong to our present state and render it very dangerous viz. Such as have relation to our oppositions of Popery That the Nation is so awakened so unanimous in detesting the false worship and ways of the Roman Church is matter of rejoycing and acknowledgment But we ought to have care that our Zeal do not transport us to Extreams I shall consider one great Instance which is Mens multiplying the numbers of Papists beyond all bounds of truth I would by no means lessen any just apprehensions of our Dangers or say any thing that might tend to the remitting of due Caution or Diligence I know the greatest Prudence and Care is needful But our Fears may be extream and unreasonable and great dangers may arise from those as great from our over-magnifying our Perils as from not duly apprehending them And this way the things we fear have been incouraged and promoted People are apt to talk of the numbers and strength of Papists and no doubt design them not any service by it but really they are thereby incouraged they thence flatter their vain hopes thence they are animated to Plot to Attempt being acknowledg'd so numerous so powerful hearing that they have so many open Friends and so many others that will be ready to joyn with them when there is occasion and being apt to believe what they have so much reason to desire they are pufft with vain confidence and are full of restless contrivances to effect that which they are made believe is so feisable Whereas did they know how inconsiderable their real numbers are they must certainly sit down and be quiet They would then understand that their business is unpracticable private Persons would be discouraged and if there should succeed a Prince of their Religion in all probability he also would despond and never think of attempting a thing humanely speaking so impossible a thing the endeavouring which would certainly tear all in pieces Religion Government and all And what the late Designs have done towards it we all sadly see Therefore that they may see their designs are Madness and that they ought to despair of ever succeeding by their strength we should let them know that they have abused themselves and others have abused them by false Musters In the Year 1676 7. Orders came from the Arch-Bishop to the several Bishops and from them to the respective Ministers and Church-wardens in the Province of Canterbury to inquire carefully and to return an account of the distinct numbers of Conformists Protestant Non-conformists and Papists in their several Parishes viz. Of all such men and women that were of age to Communicate I have by me the return from the whole Province which contains all England and Wales excepting only what belongs to four of the twenty five Bishopricks The number of Papists there returned was but Eleven thousand eight hundred and seventy men and women old and young Now though in this account Conformists and other Non-conformists were not so distinctly could not so justly be reckon'd yet for the Papists they being so few in each Parish and so notoriously distinguish'd as generally they are the Ministers and Church-wardens could easily give account of them and there is no reason to suspect their partiality We hear I know that in London alone and in some particular Parishes of that and the neighbour City there are vastly greater numbers But within the Walls they are known to be very few comparatively scarce any such In the Suburbs they are said to be numerous still the great numbers are in places remote or where inquiry cannot be well made In St. Martins alone I have heard of twenty or thirty thousand but the Account was taken there and as exact a one as could be and I am assured by some that should know and had no reason to misinform me that the number returned upon the most careful scrutiny was about six hundred Of Lodgers there might be more but they are supposed to be accounted elsewhere in the several Parishes to what they belong I have found the like fallings short of the reputed number in divers other noted places In one City talkt of for Papists as if half the Inhabitants were such I am assured there are not twenty men and women In another large and populous one a person of Quality living in it told me there were at least six hundred but when the inquiry was made by the Ministers and Church-wardens of each Parish the number was not found to be sixty And 't is very probable such a disproportion would be met between the reputed and real numbers in all other places if scrutiny were made In all the West and most populous part of England they are very inconsiderable I hear frequently from Inhabitants of those Places that in Bristol the second or third City of England there is but one and in the City of Glocester one more or two at most in the other great Towns and Cities Westward scarce any and those that are in the Counties at large are extremely few thinly scattered here one
and at the distance of many Miles it may be another Some few decaied Gentry and here and there an inconsiderable Country-man or Tradesman very few of Note or Riches of either sort And if an exact account were taken of their numbers and condition from London to the Mount in Cornwal Westward the inconsiderableness of both would exceedingly surprise us And I am very confident that of all sorts of men differing from the Church of England in the Kingdom the Papists are the fewest and those that are are so scattered and live so distantly from each other that 't is really very little they are capable of doing in opposition to the rest of the Nation and the less because of the great jealousie and hatred that all universally have conceiv'd of and against them We hear of vast numbers in the North and there are more no doubt in those parts than in the Western but I believe they are much fewer than we hear and no way able by their numbers to make any kind of Ballance for the exceeding disproportion in the West The truth is People are mightily given and generally so to multiply the number of Papists and they do it in common talk at least ten-fold Designs have been and I doubt are still carrying on which this pretence serves A chief thing to be done in order to publick Mischief is to affright the People with the number and strength of Papists And I believe if there were but ten of that sort in the Nation it would be the same thing God forbid I should diminish the real force of our Enemies or endeavour to render us secure in Dangers The malignity and principles of Papists their unwearied Zeal and diligence to overthrow our Religion I very well know and thank God that the whole Kingdom is awakned to apprehend these but I think we shall incourage them and dishearten our selves if we over magnifie their strength and thereby give occasion to other Plots of as dangerous a nature as theirs But to all this I know some will say that though their numbers here are not considerable yet they are very formidable upon the account of foreign Friends and Correspondents And our danger from Abroad is really great but not much the more on the account of Domestick Papists whatever they vainly persuaded themselves If our Neighbours should invade us They if they should be so disposed could do them but little service we know their assistance in the late Wars where they joyn'd was not very considerable And now their numbers being so small and they being so disperst and mingled they being so hated and every Neighbour having so watchful and concern'd an Eye upon every one of them they could scarce signifie any thing yea it may be thought considering how things are that in such a Case the fury of the People would offer them immediate Violence and prevent their doing that little they otherwise might All this Sir I say to shew how little sense and reason there is in the Popish Plots and how much better it would be for them for ever to desist and to sit down in desperation of success And if a Popish Prince should come to rule over us if he knew the real state of things and the weakness of that party he would never think of reducing the Nation to that Religion which cannot be effected but by Miracle The very attempt would hazard the ruining him and the Monarchy for ever The meer jealousie though most groundless ruined one Protestant King and we see in what danger it hath put another And if things are thus as I am confident upon examination and trial you will find let us take care that we promote not Popery by strengthening the hopes of Papists let us not hearten them by false accounts of their numbers and their strength and thereby inspire them with courage to Plot against us The better way I think would be to let them see we despise them and to know how phantastical and sensless their hopes are This would really disable them break their Courage and in likelihood put an end to their audacious Projects from which we have such frequent disturbance But we hear and they are told they have many secret friends Papists in their hearts who will be ready to help them when time shall serve By this way the number of Papists is supplied and those that have ends to serve by it may make it what they please I shall not deny but that they may have some under-hand secret favourers or that there may be divers such in Masquerade among the Sects But is it likely that those whose caution and interest hath kept them all this while from appearing or declaring in times when they safely might have done it should venture all against the excited rage of the whole Nation in so desperate a Cause Or if the number of these were added would it make any proportion to the open declared Enemies of that Religion If they should lean upon such hopes I doubt not but they would prove broken Reeds that would fail and suffer them to sink to the Ground And here I cannot but take notice of an intolerable Practice extremely prejudicial to the Protestant Interest and Religion every where now prevailing it is the Stigmatizing every one that we dislike or hate or design against with the brand of Popery If a Gentleman stands to be a Member of Parliament that is not a Fanatick he is in their Mouths presently a Papist If one speak but an earnest word for the Government and establishments either in Church or State that crosseth and stops some mens contrary violence he is a Papist If a Minister preach up the Peaceable healing Christian Spirit and Principles in opposition to Madness and wild Rage he is a Papist If a man doth not believe every seditious lye that is publish'd in the Domestick Intelligence and Coffee-house Letters he is a Papist So that I am afraid the time is near if seasonable stop be not put to this Rage when every Friend to the King and Church shall be a Papist If there are not real Papists in the Nation enough to keep us in eternal frights till these Plotters have done with us what they please they will make more and we shall have enough ere they have done First They make the Bishops and all the Conformable Clergie such We know they had concluded all the former but three a pretty while ago and they are continually labouring by scandalous Reflections and downright Reproaches in their common Discourses and their more publick lying News to blast the whole Regular Clergy as Papists in Masquerade as they phrase it or favourers of Popery at least And though these have been always and still are as I have shewn the stout zealous defenders of the Protestant Cause though they are the only significant opposers in their way of Popish Errors and Superstitions though they expose them daily by their learned Books and Sermons and no