says our Author p. 26. to be so concerned for any one Prince's Right as to Sacrifice the Rights and Libertyes of all the Princes of Europe to his To this Question the Jacobites answer That they will Sacrifice no Mans Right to anothers But if one Man will Invade anothers Right as they pretend the P. of O. did to K J. and if a Confederacy of the Neighbourhood should for their own Ends support the Man who did the Wrong they say that all Honest Men are bound in Conscience to Act against that Confederacy And if this should turn to the Loss of any of the Confederates the Guilt lyes at their own Door The Jacobites wonder we should bring so plain a Case as this And they say that standing by the Oppressed in such a Case as this is asserting the Rights and Liberties of Mankind And that taking part with the Invaders of other Mens Right is Sacrificing the Rights and Liberties not only of all the the Princes of Europe but of every Man in the World But our Author Supports his Position in these following words It is to no more purpose to Dispute with men who do not feel the Force of this Argument at the first hearing than to Reason with Blind-men about Colours And the Jacobites think this may be said as to their Arguments which are founded upon the Natural and Universal Notions of Right and Wrong against which if any Man Dispute he is suppos'd to have Denied First Principles and so to be heard no longer They say That all their Arguments are for Supporting Right and that Ours are for Defending Wrong Therefore I see no Remedy but that we must come to the Right or Wrong of the Cause with them and must suffer our selves to be Determined by the Scripture and by the Laws of the Land as Established in former Parliaments If we Refuse this Test we shall have the Cry of the Nation against us for as yet they are not quite wrought off their Good Opinion of Scripture Laws and Parliaments What follows in our Author upon this Argument is say the Jacobites an Effeminate breaking out into passion when Reason sails viz. They have no Sense left nothing but a Stupid and Slavish Loyalty their senseless mistake of the true meaning of this word Loyalty by which they will needs understand an absolute Obedience without Limitation or Reserve when most certainly it signifies no more than Obedience according to Law Thus our Author In return to which the Jacobites say they pitty his Passion and pass by his Complements of stupid slavish senseless onely Admonish him for the future that it is a certain sign of a Lost Cause for while a Man thinks he has the better of the Dispute he is pleased But he grows angry only at an Argument which is too hard for him he bites that as a stone that is thrown at him because it hurts him But say the Jacobites we will not take that advantage of his passion as to over-look any thing of his Argument He sayes That most certainly Loyalty signifies no more than Obedience according to Law Say the Jacobites No more it needs while the Law makes our Obedience Absolute and without Limitation by Declaring it not to be Lawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take Arms against the King or those Commissionated by him And therefore the Jacobites do humbly mind this Author that the senseless mistake he speaks of concerning the Meaning of the Word Loyalty belongs to the Parliament however he meant it as well as to the Jacobites For several Acts of Parliament do Enact Non-Resistance upon any pretence and if that be not an Absolute Obedience without Limitation then this Author say the Jacobites does wrong us for we never carried Absolute Obedience farther than Non-Resistance where with a safe Conscience we cannot yield an Active Obedience Allow us that say they and we will seek no more But if you will not then Rail at our Parliaments and our Laws say they call them senseless slavish and what you will but excuse the poor Jacobites for following of these till they be Repealed But Secondly the Jacobites Answer That Sir Edward Coke the Great Oracle of our Law tells us in Calvins Case That Allegiance is prior to all Municipal Laws That the World was long without Municipal Laws And yet Allegiance was then Due from Subjects to their Soveraign And this he calls Natural Allegiance because it arises not from the Obligation of any Municipal Law but from the Law of Nature from that Natural Relation there is 'twixt the Governours and the Governed When this Allegiance comes to be Recogniz'd in the Municipal Laws of any Country it is then called a Legal Allegiance not that it was Created by the Law for it was prior to the Law as has been said or that it receives more strength by the Law but it is Published Ascertained and Recogniz'd by the Law which alters nothing of its Force and Obligation which it had before the Law And hence the Natural and the Legal Allegiance are not two Allegiances but the same Allegiance Considered under different Modifications As the King is the same King before and after his being Crown'd or Recogniz'd by Parliament Therefore Sir Edward Coke tells us The Law did allow the Allegiance of the Subjects in Scotland and England to be the same after King James the 1st came into England tho' the Municipal Laws of both Kingdoms did disser in many things So that our Author 's Most certainty say the Jacobites that Loyalty or Allegiance signifies no more than Obedience according to Law is most certainly otherwise for tho' our Allegiance be according to Law because it is Acknowledged and Recognized by the Law yet it is prior to the Law and therefore takes not all its Force from the Law and Consequently signifies somthing more than Obedience according to Law viz. That Obedience which was before the Law and which the Law it self owns to be so These are all the Arguments every one in this Author concerning the Resolution of our Conscience as to this Revolution The remaining part of this Letter from p. 26 27. is only Reflecting upon the carriage of the present Jacobites while K. James was upon the Throne which is not Material to our present business for if they fail'd in any thing then that is nothing as to the Guilding of our Conscience now this is nothing but personal Reflection and is below Men of Argument that search after Truth This Author there takes a great deal of pains to Convince the Jacobites that they ought to have Fought better than they did against the Prince of Orange when he came over to Dispossess his Father This the Jacobites will readily Grant and what will this Author gain by it But he makes an excuse for them p. 28. They did not expect says he what followed they desired to have their Laws and Liberties secured but not that the King James should loose his Crown And
Imitute the Divine Perfections as far as the Imperfection of Humanel Nature in this Morral State will Admit And yet in the same Breath p. 34. he says It is Beneath an Honest and a Generous Mind to Flatter p. 31. He Rejoyces mightily at a New Discovery he has made That the Weeping and Wailing Rev. 18.17 was Meant of the French this Sea-Fight and says he did little Imagine this Thirty Years ago But the Lamentations Mention'd in that Text are plainly of the Merchants for their Great Losses at Sea and Decay of Trade And where that will Light I believe he did as little Imagine All this the Jacobites can easily pass by as some of the Bold Strokes which this Doctor thinks his particular Talent But they are Amazed to see this Spirit of Infatuation Possess the Body of our Representatives in Parliament in the Address of the House of Commons to their Queen 10. Nov. 92. Where they call this such a Glorious and Compleat Victory as is not to be Equal'd in any former Age and can never be forgotten by Posterity The Jacobites think these Gentlemen deserve an Answer supposing they ought to know more than other men for if there is no more in it than what is visible to the World The Jacobites say That this is the most surprizing and unaccountable Madness ever seiz'd the Brains of Mankind or to follow the Cant that Ever the Sun saw from his first setting out to run his Course Therefore in Pitty to the Weakness of these Blind Jacobites I beseech you Sir to Explain a little wherein the Miracle of this Victory does Consist Was it so Great a Miracle for a Hundred Sail of English and Dutch to Worst Forty French Had it not been a Greater Miracle if they had not Beaten the French with such odds Was it not a Miracle they had not a Greater Victory over them That they cou'd neither Burn Sink nor Take one of their Ships in Three Days Fight That the French were able to Maintain so unequal a Combat with so much Advantage that if they had had any Ports or but an Hours more Tyde they had left us with the Greatest Share of the Loss Why was Sir John Ashby and other of our Admirals question'd in Parliament for the ill Conduct of this Fight Wou'd you have had more than the Greatest and Cheapest Victory ever the Sun saw Was it not a much greater Victory when the French Beat the English and Dutch Fleets with Equal Number in the Year 90. And Possess'd our Shore Triumphant a whole Month together Had we been able to have forc'd our way into St. Malo's as the Dutch did into Chattam Cou'd we have brought off but one of their Ships for Memory of our Victory tho' we had turn'd it after into a Place of Entertainment like the Folly upon the Thames as the Dutch have done with our Royal-Charles taken from Chattam Had we met the French with Equal Number had we blown their Admiral into the Air as the Duke of York did Oâ—dham and Taken Sunk and Burn'd Eighteon of their Men of War in a Fair Fight Had we let the French feel our Courage at such a Rate as this neither Sun or Moon had ever seen the Like Unless you think it a Greater Miracle that the English should Beat the Dutch at Sea even Hand than that both English and Dutch should cause Less than half their Number of French to Retire tho' without a Ship Lost or Taken in Fight Was not the Destruction of the Spanish Armado Anno. 1588. as Cheap a Victory as this For there we Lost no Men nor had any Ships Disabl'd And the Naval Power of Spain then so Formidable was so Shattered and Broke to Pieces that they have never made any Figure upon the Sea since Whereas France will this next Summer shew us the same Ships that is with the same Names and Equipage of every sort exceeding those Lost in May last great part of them being already Launched He Heals this wound so quickly that the Annals shall not find the Name of a Ship wanting that was upon the Sea last Year So that Posterity may come to doubt whether this Boasted Victory was not â— Winters Dream since no Loss or Difference but for the Better is found 'twixt this and the last Summers Fleet of France And the Jacobites desire J. Cant. to Consider whether this be not that Wonder which the Sun never saw before That such a Fleet of Great Men of War should be Built and Equipp'd in one Years time where they must send for most of their Materials into other Countries and those who cou'd Furnish-them best are in Actual War with them And add to this That all this is done without any Tax upon the Subject which makes good what the Doctor in his ' foresaid Sermon informs us of the French King viz. That he has An almost Inexhaustible Treasure and Revenue An Instance of which is given in our London Gazzet from 1. Decem. to 5. Decem. 92. which tells us That he has already in Bank for 93. and is now Forming a Fund for the Year 94. I told you this before but that was only what I heard from the Jacobites last Summer when I Wrote this but the Delays of the Press has given me more Informations For it seem'd hard then to believe but now our Gazzet makes it good And if what the Jacobites say be true as it has hitherto prov'd he has before this time his Bank compleated for 94. and is beginning for 95. which perhaps our Gazzer may own next Session of Parliament On the other hand the Jacobites Object to as That the P. of O. has been an Insupportable Charge as well to his own Country as to ours that he was ever a Burthen and Exhausted the Wealth of those over whom he had Power Of which â—…lland was very sensible before they parted with him In the bove quoted Narrative Wrote at Amsterdam Anno 76. it is said in these plain Terms viz. That the P. of Orange is the common Spoiler and Troubler of Church and State That there hath been more Blood and Treasure spent in the Five Years Service of this Prince than in Twenty of his Ancestors So that we see he is given to these Provinces for a Sore Scourge to be Chastised by him The Battle by St. Nuef the Siege of Mastricht of Woerden Oudenard and of Charleroy which were all so scandalously broke up and 〈◊〉 what Blood have they last And that thro' his Simplicity and little Conduct occasioned These are the words of that Narrative And the Jacobites say That his Conduct was as little commended at Steinkirk at Mons or Namur But much better they say at Tergoes where since he cou'd not beat the French he wou'd do some Feats and Advance his Authority at Home The Story they tell thus That he not only Refus'd to Confirm the Magistrates at Torgoes according as they say to the Custome as being Stadt-Holder
an Emphasis and a Brow which fully Satisfied the Gentleman of the Doctor 's Good Intentions towards his Majesty And that he himself was like to have but Cold thanks as it Proved notwithstanding of all he had Acted so Vigourously against K. James for not knowing to Improve such an opportunity to the Utmost He was not so well Read as the Dr. in that Maxim which this Author charges upon the Court-Divines of France p. 29. viz. That an Action in it self Morally Ill becomes Good if the Intention be to serve the King or Extirpate Heresie It is strange indeed Sir that this past the Imprimatur without some farther Explanation Because it Opens the Crying Objection which the Jacobites have against Us even in their own Words viz. That we Dispense with the Fifth Command which none Deny to be Moral to serve K. William and Extirpate what we call Heresie For all People upon the Earth do even from the Light of Nature think it an Immoral and most Wicked thing for Children to Rise against their Parents And have we any other Excuse for it say the Jacobites except to Support K. William and what we call The Protestant Religion And does not this make That Action which is in its Self Morally Ill become Good They Ask us whether Disobedience to Parents Abstracted from such Circumstances as the Present Case be not in it Self Morally Ill And whether the Present Circumstances do not make it become Good And then whether this be not in Terms that Wicked Casuistical Doctrine Charged upon the Franch Court Divines to Patronize the very Worsh of Actions as this Author Speaks ibid. Page 29. The Jacobites think it is not more Observable which is Related of K. Charles I's taking Notice of the Properness of the 27. Matt. the Lesson for the 30. Jan. to his then Circumstances Than that the 13. Mark which Foretells Childrens Rising up against their Parents should be the Lesson for the 13. Feb. on which Day K. James's Children took Possession of his Crown In that Year 1688. it prov'd to be Ash-Wednesday when the Curses were Read against Disobedient Children against him that Smiteth his Neighbour Secretly that Removeth his Neighbours Land-Mark that Misleadeth Foolish People with Fair Pretences and maketh the Blind to go out of his Way against all that are Slanderers and Vnmerciful Upon the same Day viz. 13. Feb. 91 92 Glen-Coe and his Clan were Massacred This was Observed before But as to the Present Argument the Jacobites make this Use of it as an Objection against us that if all these Immoras Actions which are Cursed from the Mouth of God can be so Sanctify'd by their being intended for the Preservation of the Protestant Religion as that our English Court Divines should usher K. W. and Q. M. without any stop or stay directly from the Banquetting House after taking Possession of their Fathers Crown Removing Land-Marks Slandering Smiting Secretly c. to the Chapper at White-Hall and there Read over before them all these Actions they had done without thinking that any of the Curses belong'd to them or to themselves for so Officiating and Concurring therein If this Change of Evil to Good can be wrought say the Jacobites by the Intention of English Cours Divines What Grounds have they to Quarrel with the French Court or Court of Rome Divines with those of Mahomet or the Inquisition of Corban or the Covenant Among all whom the Jacobites say that Lord Shaftsbury and the Re-publican Cabal could not find a Casuist so well fitted as the ' foresaid Dr. B t whom they chose to State the Case to K. Charles II. for Divorcing his Queen Katherine in order to Defeat the Succession of the D. of York which the Doctor did Learnedly State and Resolve in the Affirmative for the good of the Protestant Religion which Case the Jacobites say they have and perhaps in the Dr's own Hand to produce upon Occasion But tho' this Resolution otherwise Vn-natural and Extirpate Heresie yet by the Intention to serve the King and Exeirpate Heresie yet that King had too much Honor to be thus Serv'd and Rejected the Proposal with Disdain and such Thanks as the Doctor Deserv'd for setting his Hand to so Honourable and Religious a Project Now after all this to Cry out upon K. J. for acting so Vnnatural a part as this Author words it p. 25. That is say the Jacobites to seek to Dispossess his own Daughter and her Husband his Nephew to have no more Compassion for his own Flesh and Blood Sir You see how we Expose our selves by the Indiscretion of our Advocates and these Reflections on Grandval have led us farther into the Briars The only Salvo I can find for Us is in p. 18. Where it is said That in the printed Account there are many things relating to this Conspiracy of Grandval omitted which his Majesty for some Reasons of State or perhaps out of a Principle of Inimitable Generosity has thought fit not to make Publick Sir these are the Things we want and the Jacobites desire And I beseech you do not spare them for you see they do not spare us Tell out the whole Truth conceal Nothing out of Modesty that may Convince or else Confound them for they are Confident That all this is meer Vapor and Brag and that we have no more to say against them than we have said already and which they have Confuted every word of it as they pretend Our Chief Dependence is now upon your Pen Therefore your SILENCE will CONFIRM these Jacobites and make them Insult will Stagger many who are Well-inclin'd towards Us and give up our Cause for this Generation and perhaps for Ever So expecting your Answer I Kiss your Hands Advertisement PAGE 68. the last Paragr it is said by the Jacobite I cannot Imagine why the Parliament does not take Notice viz. of Gilbert's Pastoral and other Pamphlets setting up the Title of Conquest This is therefore to let the Reader know that that part of this Discourse was Printed last Summer But the strange Difficultys of the Press have Delay'd it so long that some things grow Stale and there is Opportunity to add some Later Occurrances which if all had been done together might have been Dispos'd to better Advantage But Excuses signify nothing You must take them now as they are And the Jacobites say since they have Guess'd so Right as to the Fate of that Pastoral Wrote by the Bitterest Enemy to K. James on purpose to Overthrow his Title and Dis-inherrit his Son This looks say they like the Prognostication of Zeresh and the Wise Friends of Haman Esther 6.13 that if K. James and the P. of Wales are of the Seed of the Stuarts who ought to Inherit the Crown before whom thou hast begun to Fall thou shalt not Prevail against them but shalt surely Fall before them You have Faln more Fatally say the Jacobites by the Vindication of your self which you have Published since the
Guess who are Meant by this and say that those who were Advocates for the Protestant Cause in the Late Reign and Preach'd down the Deposing Doctrine as a Mark of the Beast and shall come about in this Reign and own Publickly that they were Mistaken and both Preach and Practise now bare-Fac'd that same Popery they Damn'd before deserve not the Name of Protestants but Apostates But on the Contrary those who adhere constantly to their Principles which they profest before this Turne do preserve their Authority and Respect in the midst of the Reproaches of those who are Griev'd that they Live to be a Reproach to them And if they should not find Sutable Rewards for their Constancy in this World it is laid up for them in Heaven The Jacobites give us Instances where the Depriv'd do Force Witness and Attestation even from their Deprivers who somtimes forget themselves to Comdemn what themselves have done Which brought an Old Sier as the Jacobites do certainly Assure us to beg My Lord of Canterbury's Blessing and therein his Pardon the Third Day after he had lay'd his Hands upon the Intruder into his Throne But the Arch-Bishop stop'd his Lord-ship as he was Kneeling and ask'd him if he had forgot what he had been doing on Sunday In the following Pages 20. 21. you shew the Miseries of a Civil-War which you say must follow if the Jacobites should Assist K. James for that K. William will not Desert nor Abdicate And you are resolv'd to Assist him against K. James The Jacobites Laugh at this Argument It is like the Old Saying The second Blow makes the Quarrel I Turn you out of your House and desire you to make no Disturbance about it because I am Resolv'd not to part with it The Jacobites say That if we will not Assist K. William but let K. James Deal with him and his Forreign Troops we shall have very little Civil-War Now which of us is in the Right or the Wrong must depend upon the Justice of the Cause And that is the Issue to which the Jacobites alwaies Press to bring us But Indeed Sir you have given a very unlucky Instance p. 20. where Aggravating the Miseries of a Civil-War you bid us look into Ireland and see to what a Heap of Rubbish a Flourishing and Fruitful Country is Reduc'd by being the Scene of a three Years War Here the Jacobites desire us to take a Specimen of the Advantage of a Civil-War and Rebellion to Defend our Rights c. when that Country could not have Suffered so much in the Reign of Twenty Tyrants as by that Short Civil-War of Three Years They desire us then to think of the Consequences of Entailing many Years Civil-War for ought we know upon these Nations York and Lancaster lasted a Hundred Years and this War in all probability will not cease while K. James or the P. of Wales or any of their Issue stand nearer to the Crown than the present Possessors Which may be till England be Reduc'd to a Heap of Rubbish like Ireland Therefore they desire and request that we would Consider in time for the Preservation of England and the Peace of our Selves and our Posteritys before it be too late And not to Flatter our Selves into our own Ruin by the Notion of our Draining France in the Lengthing out of this War for we have try'd Three Campaigns and find it is not to be done suddenly by Force unless Lewis would lend us some of his Generals It being said Publickly in the House of Commons that England had not a Man fit to make a General of Horse I think we must have a little of his Mony too for he is not half Drain'd so Low as we are nor has this War made him such Miserable Subjects no not in Dauphiny so Poor so Harrass'd so Ruin'd as they are in Ireland almost says Lord Sidney in his Speech to the Parliament there 5. Octob. 92. to an utter Desolation of the Country And yet he tells them That the Necessity of his Masters Affairs Compels him to Ask a Supply from them at a time when the Kingdom is in so Low a Condition and hath Suffer'd so much in the War On the other Hand Grand-Lewis has as the very Dutch News tells us not only freed Dauphiny from all sort of Taxes for Ten Years to come but sent them Great Quantities of Corn and other Supplys that his Subjects may not feel the War which he has carry'd on to this Day without Imposing one Tax upon his People For he has sound a way to make War at his Enemys Cost and cause them to bear his Expence at least so much of it as to make the Rest very easie at Home He lets us Fortify Towns and then takes them from us without Trouble with all our Magazines Stores c. He Trades with our Ships which our Merchants send abroad and is at no more Charge than to Conduct them into his Ports There is hardly a Post but brings us News of the Increase of this Branch of his Revenue which by their own Losses the Merâ—hants have Computed to several Millions Sterl in Cargo besides the Loss of above Two Thousand of their Ships some of Great Force carrying some Forty sone Fifty Guns little Inferior to Men of War Nor have our Men of War escaped much better Last 13. Nov. 91. There came a List into Parliament of more than Thirty Men of War taken by the French and otherwise Lost by several Accidents and Eight Disabl'd since the Year 88. and the List is well Increas'd since that time To Ballance all this the French had one unlucky Accident at Sea last May 92. Whereby they lost the Hulks of Sixteen Ships the Guns and Rigging Sav'd but not one Sunk or Taken in Fight tho' we were twice their Number And I must tell you that the Jacobites think us Horrible Ridiculous even to Madness and that it must appear so to all Mankind to see us so Transported with this as to Equal it to the Miraculous Deliverance of Israel and Overthrow of Pharaoh c. in the Red Sea as you have heard from Dr. Sherlock But that his Predecessor in Paul's has learnt to Cant as far beyond him as he has got in Dignity before him In his Thanks-giving-Sermon 27. Octob. 92. p. 25. He says it was The Greatest and Cheapest Sea Victory that ever the Sun saw from his first Setting out to Run his Course This the Jacobites say they can Forgive in him for several Reasons And because he makes an Humble Apology for it in the same Sermon p. 8. in these Words viz. The Excess of Knowledge and Wisdom if attended with Pride is very Dangerous and does many times Border upon Distraction and Run into Madness For Example p. 33. He Flatters K. William to his Face even to Blasphemy giving as High a Character of him as could be said of CHRIST Himself with Relation to His Humane Nature viz. That he does