other had not put in to shew the World that These their Celebrated Saviours were Devils Incarnate Their Pretended Plot Supported by Subornation and Perjury Their Evidence-CAPTAINS DOCTORS ' SQVIRES only so many Pick-pockets Cheats and Knights of the Post Rak'd together The Refuse of Pillories and Iayls the Scandal of Christianity and the Shame of Mankind And now Gentlemen of the Next Age to whom These Presents shall come Here 's the Whole Matter laid before ye in These Papers the History of the Times the Merits of the Cause the Reason of the Points in Question Debated Pro and Con the Truth of Things Separated from Falshood and Imposture the Frauds of a Republican Faction Detected Their Methods and Designs laid Open and the Malice of them Defeated the People Caution'd and Instructed both in their Interest and in their Duty for fear of Mistaking their Enemies for their Friends and their Friends for their Enemies This has been my Bus'ness And whether or no I have Discharg'd all these Offices Truly Candidly Faithfully Soberly and in One word as a Good Christian a Loyal Subject an Honest Man and a Hearty Lover of his Country Ought to do be You the Iudges 'T is True I have been Arraign'd by Common Fame of Levity Disguise Hypocrisy Double-Dealing Halting betwixt Two Opinions Inconsistency with my self and by the force of Credulity Calumny and Practice Ground as it were betwixt Two Millstones From April 1681 to the Death of the Late Blessed King I was Worry'd by Common-Wealthe-men and Their Accomplices but with the Wonderfull Kindness and Esteem of All the Profess'd Friends of the King the Monarchy and the Church to Ballance the Outrages of That Aversion I was ever an Infidel as to the Plot and made Consequently a Popish Instrument at least to Downright Papists A Ridiculer of the Kings Witnesses and in the Style of Those Days of the Wisdom of the Nation And This Entertainment of Good and Evil was not without some Colour of Reason neither on Both sides For the Republicans made Good the very Worst of my Surmises and Fore-bodings They never fail'd of Doing what I said they were About to do and I am the Only Man perhaps that in a Tract of Eight and Forty Years Experience they Never Deceiv'd But I had now little more to do then to look Behind me to know what was to Come For there was Nothing New in the very Phrase Air and Course of Proceedings more then the Sublimating of the Old way of Calumniation and Hypocrisy into a Barefac'd an Open and a True-Protestant Perjury and where the Witnesses Bluder'd or happen'd to Interfere whether with One Another or with Themselves they were either brought-off by the Charity of a Well-Affected Comment or otherwise there were Inferences drawn from the Principles of the Religion to the Proof of the Fact and a PRIEST or a PAPIST was taken for Synonymous with a CONSPIRATOR or a TRAYTOR After I had finish'd my Two First Stages with an Vniversal Hatred on the One side and Approbation on the Other For whatsoever Mischiev'd the One must needs do the Other a Service It pleas'd God to call Charles the Second to Himself and Iames the Second whom God long preserve to the Crown Which was in February 1684 where I Begin This Third Volume and from Whence I am to Date the Hard the Vnequal or what if I had said the Unjust Usage I have met withall from That Day to This But the TIME barely without Other Circumstances will signify little to the Enforming of Posterity in the True State of This Matter and therefore I shall in a very Few Words lay Open the Secret Springs and Motions that led to This Vnexpected Change. The Popish Plot was made a Cover to a Republican Conspiracy which tho it Began in a Farce was to be Concluded in a Tragedy The Way was First to make Popery a Bug-bear to the People and Then where they could not get Oaths to make any man a Statutable Papist and to Swoop him into Otes'es Plot they had a Device to bring him into the Toyl under the Latitude of a Reputed Papist or Popishly-Affected which Involv'd the Members of Both Churches alike and we had hardly any Discriminating Mark left us of a Good Christian even from an Infidel or Worst then the Test of Otes'es Narrative and the Belief of it to the very Black-Bills and Mustard-Balls The Project was so Plausible and went down so Glib though never such Sotts as the Tools that Witness'd it that when the King's Life and the Protestant Religion were said to be at Stake He was no longer a Son of the Church of England that Oppos'd it and to be a Friend to the Plot was to be a Friend to Caesar. I am Asham'd to Reflect or so much as to Think upon the Inconsiderate Mistakes the Gross Oversights the Glozing Complyances and the Vngovernable Madness of That Season But upon the whole Story the Application will be This that True or False Credible or Incredible Possible or Impossible It comes all to a Case where the Multitude are taken Captive in their Imaginations and have no longer any other Rule Measure Will or Liking then what they draw from the Dictate of their Leaders This was the Pretext that brought Charles the First to the Scaffold and that was likewise in a Fair way of bringing his Late Sacred Majesty to the Same End. Now Computing with my self how much more Popular and Dangerous the Same Pretext would be under a Prince in Communion with the Church of Rome then it was in the days of his Two Royal Predecessours Upon the Crisis of That Great Revolution I Chang'd the Biass of my Papers a little and did what I could to Obviate the Hazzards and Distempers that I perceive by This Time I had but too much Reason to Fear In the Two Former Parts of These Dialogues I thought is Reasonable to Caution a sort of Vnwary Short-sighted Well-Meaning Men against the Snares and Practices of the Common Enemy and in this Third Volume I Judg'd it no Less Reâ—sonable to give the Same People the Same Caution over again but with This Additional Consideration that they should have a care of Themselves too as well as their Adversaries For Bigottry is every jot as Dangerous as Luke-warmness and to be Over-Righteous according to the Text on the One side is All-out as Bad as to be Over-Scrupulous on the Other and much the Fiercer Evil of the Two. Zeal must be Bounded by Knowledge Nay it must be Guided by it for it is Knowledge that leads us to Truth and we are never Right but when they do All Three Meet upon the Same Point Short of it Beyond or on Either side of it are onely such or such Degrees more or less of Folly and Error A man may be too Zealous For a Good Thing as well as Against it when That Zeal has more in it of Heat then of Light. They that pretend
to Christianity and call for Fire from Heaven even in the Case of Religion it self do not know of what Spirit they are In One word All Extremes are Stark Naught both in Divinity and in Reason and One Ill Circumstance is Sufficient to Destroy the Merit and to Blast the Glory of the most Honourable Vndertaking and Pretence A man may Cut the Throat of his Own Religion by Contending for 't How many Men have we seen to Set-up and pass for Patriots in Common Fame and Reputation that in the Sight of God and in the Courts both of Law and Conscience have been found no betrer then Arrant Traitors This is no more then to say that we are to Govern All our Actions with a respect to Persons Customs Laws Times Places Duty Good Manners Proportion Measure and Discretion 'T is Possible that a man may Forfeit One Privilege or Title by Invading Another and Lose what he has Already by Grasping at more then belongs to him To say Nothing of the Imprudence of the Weaker Provoking the Stronger the Vnwarrantableness of Subjects Stepping out of their Province to Intermeddle in Matters of State the Sin as well as the Scandal of Irreverent and Contemptuous Innuendo's The Impotency of an Intemperate Ardour of Contention the Affectation of Popular Applause in Setting-up for the Head of a Party c. These and a Hundred other Difficulties came into my Head upon This Occasion and I was Heartily afraid what might come on 't if the Wisdom of the Serpent should not Accompany the Innocence of the Dove for there goes more then Greek and Latin to the making of a Thorough-Wise Man and if States men and Divines would but Respectively Attend to their Proper Functions they would e'en find as much work as they could turn their Hands to in their Own Trade And then the Better the Worse when the Burning Intention of Holiness makes People forget the Indispensable Allegeance of a Civil Duty But to come now to the Point I was thus thinking within my self If the bare Name and Fancy of Popery had the Power to Destroy One Imperial Protestant Prince and to Endanger Another together with the very Foundations both of Church and State in Three Kingdoms and without any Other Aid to the Doing of it then the Artificial Manage of the Imposture What will not the Same Cheat over again under Our Circumstances be able to bring about if any Vnwary Zelots among our selves should chance to Ioyn in the Same Fears and Iealousies and give Credit to the Conspiracy We have the Word of a Prince of Faith and Honour for our Security A Prince of Grace and Clemency A Prince of Power Iustice and Resolution and it will be our Own Fault if we fail of our Own Desires and Wishes Diffidence in the Case is both an Ingratitude and a Provocation Or if we canot avoid Beeing Distrustfull 't is Extremely Vain yet Foolish and Extravagant to Talk on 't for we do not only Betray our Selves but Create Suspicions in Others and where Subjects are the Aggressors 't is Time for Princes to look about them Insomuch that 't is Base to Suspect Foolish to Discover our selves and Bootless to Struggle where we are Sure to be Worsted The Honour of Princes is to be kept Religiously Sacred in Thought Word and Deed And however the Law may Mince the Matter a man may as well in Conscience Defame his Prince in words at length as by a Glance If a man Preaches upon This Text All Mouths are presently Open upon him with a What Shan't we Defend our Religion I Answer Yes Vndoubtedly He that upon Good Grounds finds himself in Possession of the Truth ought rather to Dye then Relinquish it Fathers Mothers Brothers Sisters Friends Relations Acquaintances Life and Estate are All Nothing to 't where they fall in Competition But then the Defence must be Apostolical Primitive and Christian without Noise Tumult or Force There must be no Drawing of Swords in the Case No not so much as any Grumbling Calumniating or Repining Towards it No Cutting of Ears off No Military Executions For to Trouble Governments under That Pretext is to Renounce the Doctrine of Christianity and Example of our Blessed Saviour Himself What 's the Difference betwixt Actual Violence and Scandalous Provoking Words and Practices that Leade to 't any more then as they are Several Links of the Same Chain 'T is the Heart sets the Tongue at Work The Tongue the Hands And 't is the Devil Himself that blows the Coal of Sedition into a Blaze of Religion How often have I Talk'd and Turn'd These Thoughts and Discourses over and over upon Occasion of Considering the State of our Affairs Why These Animosities say I among Christians upon the Subject of Religion in so Notorious a Contradiction to the Faith that we Profess As if the Salvation of a Nominal Protestant depended upon the Damnation of a Papist Neither are We to Stand or to Fall upon Their Bottom nor They upon Ours but Evesy Man to his Own Master Cannot I Maintain my Own Religion without Waging War against Anothers There 's room enough upon the Points wherein we Agree and upon the Topique of Good Life and Manners for the Christian and Charitable Exercise of Holy Duties And as to the Points that are in Controversy we may Deliver and Assert our Own Perswasion without Lashing out into Invectives against People of a Differing Tast. That Bitterness of Spirit does not become the Disciples of our Blessed Lord. Beside that the Multitude are Prone enough to Faction of Themselves without Incentives to 't and need no Encouragement or Example to Transport them into Distempers Nay it is a Matter of Dangerous Consequence to have them Wonted or so much as Permitted to Rail at Things that they do not Vnderstand For it puts them in Possession of a most Pernicious Liberty which will take the Same Freedom in State that it does in Religion when they are once set a gog by Thiâ— Itch of Meddling upon Controversy and Brawl without any Sense of the Truth and Reason of Things Let the Doctors Sport Themselves like the Lâ—viathan in the Depths and Subtleties of the Schools The Simplicity of the Gospel takes no Delight in High Flights and Figures Neither are the Common People Proper Iudges of Abstruse and Mysterious Points Their Province is Reasonable Resignation and Dutyfull Obedience without taking upon them the Office of the Chair Their Bus'ness is the Plain Truth of Things and not to trouble their Heads about the Cracking of Controversies that are too Hard for their Teeth 'T is a kind of a Protestant Implicit Faith to Assent to they know not what and I take an Vnknown Meaning to be Every jot as Bad as an Vnknown Tongue There can be no Edification without a Due Vnderstanding of the Matter Propounded And it is much about the Same Thing too in Religion as it is in Government I find Little or No Difference upon the
dropt out of his Hand he had Kill'd Himself On Monday Morning this Enformant was led into the House of Lords where one of the Lords bad Richardson bring this Enformant into the Committee where this Enformant saw the same Lords as before and the Lord Shaftsbury spake after This Manner to this Enformant Come says he thou lookest like an honest Fellow tell us the Truth and thou shalt have the same Reward that was promised thee at Wallingford-House and then thou shalt go presently home to thy Wife and Children and we will secure thee from any Harm What dost thou say to us all Now speak Then This Enformant fell down upon his Knees and said I know nothing of it and before I wrong any Man I will Dye Immediately The Lord Shaftsbury replying Thou art such a Peremptory Rogue thou shalt go back to Newgate and lye and Rot there a while And then thou shalt be brought to be tryed at the Sessions and then there will come enow against thee and thou shalt be Hang'd Hadst thou not better Confess the Truth and have that Mony then be brought before the Barr of the Judges and be condemn'd to be Hang'd It will be a Dreadful Hearing for Thee Yes my Lord said this Enformant I know it will be a Dreadful Hearing But my Lord It will be a more Dreadful Hearing for me at the Lord's Bar if I should wrongfully accuse any Man it will be a more Dreadful Hearing when it shall be said Take him away Devil for he hath falsly Accus'd those he knew no hurt by Whereupon the Lord Shaftsbury said I see we can do no good with him take him away and let him lye there and Rot. This Enformant Pleading that he had a Wife and Children the Lord Shaftsbury Answered Let his Wife and Children starve This Enformant lay in the Condemn'd Hole with Heavy Irons Six Weeks and Three Days and afterwards Seven Weeks on the Common Side upon Bords without Irons This Enformant saith also that He Complaining at a Time uncertain of his Ill Usage one Richard and one that was commonly call'd John-Come-Last said that their Master had Power from my Lord Shaftsbury and the Committee to torment this Enformant if he would not Confess This Enformant saith likewise that a Tall Man in a Ministers Habit was with him in the Condemn'd Hole Pressing him to Confess and Pressing him This Enformant several times to Confess after that he had Imprecated himself that he knew Nothing of the matter And saith That this Enformant as he was reading the 20th Chapter of the Revelation aloud in the Hole He this Enformant heard of a sudden the ratling of Chains and Roaring like that of a Bear Believing it to be an Evil Spirit and that the Door had been Open In this Fright This Enformant let his Candle fall and in the Dark he was more affraid the Noise continuing near a Quarter of an Hour This Enformat had been now about a Fortnight in the Hole and afterward telling one Harris and some others of the Keepers how this Enformant was Terrify'd They made him Answer If you do not Confess the Devil will have you There are so many Instances of this Kind that the Proceedings at length would make rather the History of a Persecution then the Narrative of a Conspiracy But in one Word He had Two Great Holes worn in his right Leg One in his left He was Eight Weeks after his Discharge before he was able to Drive a Coach again He got Salve for These Wounds at Sir Thomas Witherley's and likewise of Mr. Knolles the Surgeon He is able to produce Forty Witnesses that saw These Wounds But it must not be omitted that his Misery gave the Earl of Clarendon a great Tenderness for him insomuch that he Viewed his Vlcers himself took Compassion of the Man and gave him Mony. There are Two Objections that I expect will be made to This Account of the Hard Usage both of Prance and Corrall The Former while he was under the Power of the Lying Spirit and went on without either Fear or Wit was brought a Witness at Mrs. Celier's Tryal where his Evidence in the Colloquy or Context was as follows Mr. Bar. Weston Mr. Prance Pray were you ever Tortur'd in Prison Mr. Prance No I never saw any such Thing there in my Life Mr. Bar. Weston How were you used Mr. Prance Very well I had every thing that was fitting Captain Richardson did take great Care of me c. And a little after Mr. Prance again Dr. Lloyd was with me many times for half an hour together and if any such thing had been he would have seen it Celiers Tryal p. 25. Now This was a Cast of Mr. Prances Civility and Good Nature but he was Mightily Overseen to Appeal to Dr. Lloyd in 't who found him Roaring under his Pains and Allmost Kill'd with the Misery of his Condition but all this while the Keeper had his Orders how to use him Corrall was Also to be made use of for the same Iobb but This shall Suffice Unless I shall be Absolutely Forc'd to say more on 't that the Marks he Carries to This Day are Ten Thousand Witnesses of the Hardship he Endur'd But in the End when Prance came to stand to 't that the Body was Carry'd a Horse-back Corrall upon very Good Security was Discharg'd for not Carrying him in his Coach. This was their Way of Compassing Witnesses where People were not Wicked Enough to go to the Devil of their own Accord And the same Method went thorough the Whole Tract of their Proceedings in All such Cases and with all Persons therein Concern'd The Choice was short Either Stand out and be Hang'd or Confess and be Damn'd But to take up where we left We brought Prance to his New Lodgings on the 11 th and there we find him with Mr. Boyce at his Bedside on the 12 th of Ianuary 1678. According to his own Relation and upon the Preparatory for the Tryal of the Persons whom he had Accus'd He had even at That Time some Grudgings of Another Relapse Exclayming sometimes by Fits that he had Sworn False and that he was Vtterly Ruin'd But being still Ply'd with the Memory of what he had Confess'd Allready and the Hammering of it into his Head that he would be Hang'd if he went off And that if either Green Berry or Hill should come to Confess Before him he was a Lost Man beyond Recovery His Heart would not serve him to go thorough with his Resolution He had several Messages from Bedloe about the Periwig and that if he did not Own the Periwig the Three Men would not Dye He was seldom without an Ammanuensis or a Dictator rather in the Chamber with him And the way was This He was asked what Papists he knew where they Liv'd and what he could say of them and so the Most was made of Those Minutes 'till they came to be Emprov'd into Narratives He is positive that