to it All our Nonswearers could not hinder the late Revolution nor can they make another They are enow to make a noise especially if the Loud and Zealous Ladies of that Side be reckoned in but other Hands and other Pretences must do their Work if ever they hope to see it done and then no thanks to their Principles for it Whatever Reward their future Services may deserve Princes themselves will not think that their Principles deserve any Let us then now consider the Merit of their Actions and what Opinion the Late King is like to have of that if he should return I suppose they will be contented he should forget their Merits towards him while he was on the Throne especially about reading his Declaration as likewise their Tower and their Westminster-Hall Merits which were indeed very great and did deserve and would have had a better Reward from a better Hand had they not rendered themselves incapable of it But sure they don't expect the Late King should Reward them for such Services He knew that this raised that general discontent which occasioned that General Revolt which cost him Three Crowns And if all their Merits can Expiate this Guilt they come off well and those had need be very Extraordinary Merits which have first so great a Guilt to Expiate before they can pretend to Merit Could their Nonswearing restore him to his Throne again it would but just undoâ— what they had done which is no more than their Duty and therefore cannot merit no not so much as a Pardon though it may make them capable of it if they fall into merciful Hands But still there are Four Years Exile and the loss of Three Crowns and the Expence of so much Blood and Treasure the Dishonour of so many Defeats and the Ruine of Ireland to be accounted for and how can they make Restitution for all this Which yet they must do before they can lay Claim to Merit Let all this then be forgot for it is their Interest it should but they are very sanguine Men if they hope it will Whence then will they date their Merits When it was certainly known that the Prince of Orange now our Gracious Soveraign was ready to Land they seemed as well pleased with it as other Men and refused when they were pressed to it by the Late King to declare their Abhorrence of it but instead of that took upon them to give him Advice and to publish it when they had done In which Advice they recommended almost every Particular of the Prince's Declaration complained of the same Abuses and advised the Calling of a Parliament to redress them as if the Prince's Declaration and their Advise had been drawn by the same Pen and the Advice had been published on purpose to second the Declaration This I suppose they will not reckon among their Merits neither And if they can excuse what was so hastily done at Guildhall before the Late King was gone out of the Land they may very well be contented no more should be said of that The only Merit then they have to pretend is their Refusing the Oath of Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary and forfeiting their Ecclesiastical Civil or Military Preferments for it But what is this to the Late King Is this done out of Kindness to him or his Government Would they not have been contented to have lived Peaceably and Quietly as they themselves professed could they have kept their Preferments and have been excused from the New Oaths And how do they merit of him by refusing the Oaths with the Loss of their Preferments if they did it not for his sake but for another and better Reason for fear of being Damned God may Reward this but King James is not beholden to them Will they be better Subjects hereafter Will they read his Declaration when he Returns Will they make his Will their Law Will they submit to his next Ecclesiastical Commission and give up their Colledges and Churches to Priests and Jesuits Will they be content to take him the very same Man that he went away and to serve him in his own way Will they no more fill the Nation with the noise and fears of Popery and Arbitrary Power Will they turn Papists themselves or stand by patiently and give leave to his Priests to pervert Protestants as fast as they can Will they promise to demean themselves with more respect towards the King's Religion and to leave off their old fawciness of Printing and Preaching against Popery This indeed would bid fair for Merit but if they oppose his Methods of Government and his Glorious Designs as much as they do King William's Right if it be only a Title they boggle at if this be all that makes them uneasie at the Change their not Swearing does him no Service He could have kept his Kingdoms upon these terms before but he scorned it and so he will those who to salve their Consciences or their Honours and to recover their Preferments would have him upon these terms again As much as some Men glory in their steddiness to Principles which is certainly a very Honourable thing and an excellent degree of Virtue when the Principles are plain and certain yet few Princes to be sure not the late King like such a steddiness to Principles as opposes their Designs a stubborn inflexible Conscience is a very unruly thing and Kings do not like such Subjects as dare oppose a King upon the Throne whatever the Cause be So that I suspect their very Boldness and Resolution in opposing their present Majesties upon a meer point of Law will be thought no Virtue fit to be rewarded by a Prince who would make his Will Superiour to all Laws And if the Merit of the Non-Swearers is likely to vanish into nothing especially when there is no occasion any longer to court and flatter them and Priests and Jesuits have free liberty to comment on their Merits what Merit will those Men have to plead who were forward and zealous in the Revolution have Sworn Allegiance to their present Majesties have served them in their Armies and Navies at home and abroad There is no doubt but they shall have fair Promises and good words at present and shall be remembred hereafter when there is occasion But suppose the Merits of the Non Swearing or For-Swearing Clergy and Laiety who will help forwards another Revolution should be acknowledged to be very great what probability is there that the Church of England should fare ever the better for it when Popery and Arbitrary Power stand in the way past Experience gives no great Encouragement to hope this King Lewis was as much obliged to his Protestant Subjects of France as it is possible for any King to be for they set the Crown upon his Head and how he has rewarded them all the world rings of it The late King was not much less beholden to the Church of England when they so vigorously opposed
English Forces but thanks be to God the King of England and the English Forceâ— are now at leisure to attend his Motions those Forces which beat him at the Boyn at Athlone at Agrins at Lymerick in a word which beat him out of Ireland and have now got a habit of beating the French And it is no wonder that he is not fond of such company in Flandâ—rs but endeavours to find some new work for them at home And if he can but send them home again and embroil us in a Civil War that is one great point gained but if he proves successful in his Attempt he makes England his own and will turn their Arms upon the Confederates and what can then stand in his way What should hinder him from being the sole and absolute Monarch of the West And then it is easie to read the Fate of Protestants Thus Sir I have freely told you what I apprehend will be the necessary and unavoidable effects of a French Conquest I pretend not to prophesie nor to demonstration in such cases but what I have said has all the appearances of probabiâ—ity all the degrees of moral certainty thâ—t any thing of this nature can have and that is the only Rule in these matters by which wise men are to judge and act And this has prepared a plain and easie Answer to your Second Question What English Subjects are bound in Conscience to do in case the late King should land in England with French Forces to demand his Crown Now there are two sorts of persons concerned in this question 1. Those who have not sworn Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary but account the late King James as much their King as he was when he sat upon the Throne and that their obligations to him are the same now that ever they were 2. Those who have sworn Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary And there are two parts of this Question 1. Whether they are bound in conscience to assist the late King if he return 2. Whether it be lawful for them to oppose him and fight against him As for the first part of this Question and as far as it concerns the Non-swearers I shall ask them two or three Questions and leave them to answer them themselves 1. The first question is Whether they can think themselves bound in conscience upon any pretence whatever to fight for Popery against the Protestant Faith and Worship that is as they must confess if they are Protestants to fight for Heresie and Idolatry against the true Faith and Worship of Christ or to fight for Antichrist and against Christ Can any consideration make this lawful If nothing can as I will venture to take it for granted that nothing can then whatever duty they may fancy they still owe to their Abdicated Prince it cannot be their Duty to fight for him when they cannot fight for him without fighting against Christ and his Religion though they must not fight against their Prince for Christ because Christ in such cases requires his Disciples to suffer not to fight for him yet it does not follow that they must fight for their Prince against Christ to bring a Persecution upon his faithful Disciples and to contribute what they can to extirpate the Name and the Religion of Protestanâ—s out of Europe Do they think themselves bound in Conscience to fight for their Prince against the Laws and Libeâ—ties of their Countrey as well as against the Faith and Worship of Christ Let the Rights of Princes be nevâ—r so Sacred have the rest of mankind no Rights but only Princes Is there no such thing as Justice due to our selves nor to our Fellow-Subjects Have the Free born Subjects of England no Natural no Legal Rights And is there any Law of God or man to fight for our Prince against the Laws and Liberties of our Countrey which are the measuâ—es and boundaries of that Duty which we owe to Princes that is to fight for our Prince against the rule of our duty and obedience to Princes when our Prince and the Laws and Liberties of our Countrey are on contrary sides tho we should grant them according to their own Principles that we must not fight against our Prince for our Laws and Liberties yet no more must we fight for our Prince against oâ—r â—aws and Liberties It is abundantly eâ—ough to be Passive in such cases but a Nation which fights against its own Laws and Liberties is Feâ—o de se guiâ—ty of the worst kind of Self-Murder Can any â—nglish-man whatever opiniâ—n he has of the late Kingâ—s Right think himself bound in consciâ—nce to maintain his Right by giving up his Countrey to France To make him King and all his Subjects French Slaves For can any Prince have more Right to be King of England than the Kingdom of England has to be England Is it not an unaccountable tenderness and scrupulosity of Conscience to be so concerned for any one Prince's Right as to sacrifice the Rights and Liberties of all the Princes in Europe to his To set him upon the Throne to drive all other Princes from theirs We are Citizens of the World as well as Subjects of England and have our Obligations to Mankind and to other Princes as well as to our own and though our obligation to no one other Prince is so great as to our own yet the publâ—ck good of mankind or of a great part of the world is a more sacred obligation than the particular Interest of our own Prince or Countrey much less then can the Right of any particular Prince be it what it will stand in competition with the Rights and Liberties of our own Countrey and of all Europe besides 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 they have no sense left nothing but a stupid and slavish Loyalty all things tho never so sacred must give place to this the care of Religion the love of their Countrey their Justice and Charity to all mankind must vail to their senseless mistake of the true meaning of this word Loyalty by which they will needs understand an â—bsolute Obedience without Limitation or Reseâ—ve when most certainly it signifies no more than Obedience according to Law 2. I would ask them What they would think themselves bound to do in such cases were the late King upon the Throne again Unless they have chang'd their minds and then they are not so steady to Principles as they pretend to be we may very reasonably guess what they would do by what they did while he was upon the Throne It is certain they so much dislik'd his open designs of Popery and Arbitrary Power that they opposed him as far as they durâ—t and would not Fight for him to keep him on the Throne nay by their Examples and Counsels they had so influenced the Army that
they would not Fight for him neither and so possess'd the Country that the Nobility and Gentry took Arms and declared for the Prince of Orange which they thought they might very well do when the Bishops would not declare against him This was then thought consistent enough with the High-Tory-Loyalty and yet if they were not then bound to Fight for him to keep him on his Throne I am at a great loss to know how it comes to be their duty now to Fight for him to restore him to it He was certainly their King then and yet they would not Fight for him no not to defend his Person Crown and Dignity And tho they call him their King still it is certain he is not King of England whatever right they may think he has to be so and therefore to fight for him now is not to fight for the King but to fight to make him King again But to let that pass suppose him to be their King since they will have him so How do they come to be more obliged to fight for him now he is out of the Throne than they were to fight for him while he was in it If they think it their duty to fight for their King against the Religion the Laws and the Liberties of their Countrey it was their duty to have fought for him then if they do not think this it cannot be their duty to fight for him now But they did not expect what followed they desired to have their Laws and Liberties secured but not that he should lose his Crown I believe very few did then expect what followed no more than they do now consider what will follow But since he would leave his Crown Who could help it For no body took it from him 3. Let me then ask them another question Whether they would think themselves bound in Conscience to fight for him did they verily believe that if he recovered his Throne he would as zealously promote Popery and Arbitrary Power as he did before If they say they would not they have been at their non putaram once already a second oversight in the same kind would be worse than the first If they say they would I give them over as profess'd Enemies to the true Religion and the Liberties of Mankind This I hope may satisfie the non-swearers if they will coolly and seriously consider it that they are not bound in Conscience to fight for the late King nay that they are as much bound in Conscience not to fight for him as they are bound not to fight against the Protestant Religion and Civil Liâ—erties not only of England but of all Europe 2. As for those who have Sworn Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary besides all the former considerations they are under the obligations of an Oath not to fight against their present Majesties whose Sworn Subjects and Leigemen they are â—or let them expound Faith and True Allegiance to as low a sense as possibly they can the least that they ever could make of it s to live quietly and peaceably under their Government not to attempt any thing against their Persons or Crowns not to hold any Correspondence with nor to give any Assistance to their Enemies and therefore to countenance a French Invasion or to assist the late King in recovering the Throne which Their Majesties so well fill and which they have Sworn not to dispossess them of must be downright Perjury If they be sure that their Oaths to the late King still oblige them that indeed would make void the obligation of this Second Oath but then they must be guilty of Perjury in taking it and by the breaking of it will declare to all the world that they deliberately and wilfully Perjured themselves when they took it and let them remember this when they take Arms against Their Majesties and let them expect that recompence which they deserve Those who took this only as a Temporary Oath which obliged them no longer than till the late King should return into England again to demand his Crown are guilty of Perjury if they keep it no longer than till they have a promising opportunity to break it For this is to mock God and to deceive the Government by their Oaths For no man can think that the meaning of the Oath was no more but this I do Promise and Swear to bear Faith and true Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary till I have Power and Opportunity by the return of King James with a French Army to join his Forces and to Assist him to recover his Throne Those who will take and keep Oaths at this rate we must leave to God But nothing is more plain and certain than that the New Oath of Allegiance obliges all who have taken it under the guilt of Perjury at least not to fight for the late King against King William and Queen Mary And here I may very fairly conclude without entring into a longer dispute about the lawfulness of fighting against a Foreign Army though the late King were at the Head of it for were those who scruple this satisfied that they ought not to fight for him their present Majesties have Friends enow who are very well satisfied to fight against him especially bringing along with him the greatest Enemies both to the Protestant Religion and to the Civil Liberties not only of the English Nation but of all the Kingdoms and States of Europe France it self not excepted However this Letter is large enough already and if I find you desire farther satisfaction in this matter especially about the late King James's Declaration which is lately come to my hands you may expect a speedy account of it in a Second Letter from Sir Yours FINIS Apol. for the new Seperat