mistaken Act concerning Waggons so the King in that case only declared the Inconvenience which made that Law to be of it self null because it was impracticable It is true the Parliament never questioned this a man would not be offended if another pulled a Flower in his Garden that yet would take it ill if he broke his Hedge and in Holland to which our Author's Pen leads him often when a River changes its course any man may break the Dike that was made to resist it yet that will be no warrant to go and break the Dike that resists the Current of the same River So if a dispensing Power when applied to smaller Offences has been passed over as an excess of Government that might be excusable tho' not justifiable this will by no means prove that Laws made to secure us against that which we esteem the greatest of Evils may be superseded because twelve Men in Scarlet have been hired or practised on to say so the Power of pardoning is also unreasonably urged for justifying the Dispensing Power the one is a Grace to a particular Person for a Crime committed whereas the other is a warrant to commit Crimes In short the one is a Power to save Men and the other is a Power to destroy the Government But tho' they swagger it out now with the Dispensing Power yet rode caper vitem may come to be again in season and a time may come in which the whole Party will have reason to wish that some hair-brained Jesuits had never been born who will rather expose them not only to the Resentments but even to the Justice of another season in which as little regard will be had to the Dispensing Power as they have to the Laws at present then accept of reasonable Propositions VII Our Author's Kindness to the States of Holland is very particular and returns often upon him and it is no wonder that a State setled upon two such Hinges as the Protestant Religion and publick Liberty should be no small Eye sore to those who intend to destroy both So that the slackning the Laws concerning Religion and the invading that State seem to be Terms that must always go together In the first War began the first slackning of them and after the Triple Alliance had laid the Dutch asleep when the second War was resolved on which began with that Heroical Attempt on the Smyrna Fleet for our Author will not have the late King's Actions to be forgotten at the same time the famous Declaration suspending the Laws in 1672. came out and now again with another Declaration to the same purpose we see a return of the same good Inclinations for the Dutch tho' none before our Author has ever ventured in a Book licensed by my Lord President of the Council to call that Constitution pag. 68. A Revolt that they made from their lawful Prince and to raise his stile to a more sublime Strain he says pag. 66. That their Commonwealth is only the Result of an absolute Rebellion Revolt and Defection from their Prince and that the Laws that they have made were to prevent any casual return to their natural Allegiance And speaking of their Obligation to protect a Naturalized Subject he bestows this Honour on them as to say pag. 57 58. Those that never yet dealt so fairly with Princes may be suspected for such a superfluous Faith to one that puts himself upon them for a Vassal Time will shew how far the States will resent these Injuries only it seems our Author thinks that a Soveraign's Faith to protect the Subject is a superfluous thing a Faith to Hereticks is another superfluous thing so that two Superfluities one upon another must be all that we are to trust to But I must take notice of the variety of Methods that these Gentlemen use in their Writings Here in England we are always upbraided with the Revolt of the Dutch as a scandalous Imputation on the Protestant Religion and yet in a late Paper entituled An Answer to Pensioner Fagel's Letter the Services that the Roman Catholicks did in the beginning of that Commonwealth are highly extolled as signal and meritorious upon which the Writer makes great Complaints That the Pacification of Gaunt and the Union at Utrecht by which the free Exercise of their Religion was to be continued to them was not observed in most of the Provinces But if he had taken pains to examine the History of the States he would have found that soon after the Union made at Utrecht the Treaty at Collen was set on foot between the King of Spain and the States by the Emperor's Mediation in which the Spaniars studied to divide the Roman Catholicks of these Provinces from the Protestants by offering a Confirmation of all the other Priviledges of these Provinces excepting only the Point of Religion which had so great an Effect that the Party of the Malcontents was formed upon it and these did quickly capitulate in the Walloon Provinces and after that not only Barbant and Flanders capitulated but Reenenburgh that was Governour of Groening declared for the King of Spain and by some Places that he took both in Friseland and Over-Issel he put these Provinces under Contribution Not long after that both Daventer and Zutphen were betrayed by Popish Governours and the War was thus brought within the Seven Provinces that had been before kept at a greater distance from them Thus it did appear almost every where that the hatred with which the Priests were inspiring the Roman Catholicks against the Protestants disposed them to betray all again to the Spanish Tyranny The new War that Reenenburgh's Treachery had brought into these Provinces changed so the State of Affairs that no wonder if this produced a change likewise with relation to that Religion since it appeared that these Revolts were carried on and justified upon the Principles of that Church and the general Hatred under which these Revolts brought the Roman Catholicks in those Out Provinces made the greater part of them to withdraw so that there were not left such numbers of them as to pretend to the free Exercise of their Religion But the War not having got into Holland and Utrecht and none of that Religion having revolted in those Provinces the Roman Catholicks continued still in the Country and tho' the ill Inclinations that they shewed made it necessary for the publick Safety to put them out of the Government yet they have still enjoyed the common Rights of the Country with the free Exercise of their Religion But it is plain that some men are only waiting an opportunity to renew the old Delenda est Carthago and that they think it is no small step to it to possess all the World with odious Impressions of the Dutch as a rebellious and perfidious State and if it were possible they would even make their own Roman Catholick Subjects fancy that they are persecuted by them But tho' men may be brought to believe
Informations against me which gave the rise to all that has since followed ought to be lookt on as Calumniators and to be punished accordingly and if any ill chosen Expression had fallen from me in the Letter that I writ to the Earl of Middletoune the Privacy of the Letter the Respect that was in it and the Provocation that drew it from me an Accusation of High Treason which is now evidently made out to be a Calumny all these I say give me some reason to conclude that if a secret Animosity of some of my Enemies that have abused their Credit with the King to my Prejudice had not wrought more than a regard to Justice there had not been a second Prosecution when the first was found to be so ill grounded that they were forced to let it fall The Citation is in these Words JAMES by the Grace of God King of Great Brittain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith To our Lovits Heraulds Pursevants Macers and Messre at armes conjunctly and severally specially Constitute Greeting Forsameikle as it is humbly meant et Complaind to us be our right trusty and familiar Councellour Sir John Dalrymple the younger of Stair our Advocat for our Interest Upon Doctor Gilbert Burnet That wher by the Common Law by the Acts of Parliament and the municipall Lawes of this Kingdom the declyning or impugning our Soveraign Authority or putting Treasonable Limitations upon the Prerogatives of our Crown upon the native Allegiance due by any of our Subjects born Scots men whether residing within our Dominions or not are declared to be High Treason and punishable by the Pains due and determined in the Law for Treason Nevertheless it is of verity That Doctor Gilbert Burnet who is a Scotsman by Birth and Education being cited at the Peir and Shoar of Leith at the instance of our Advocat for several Treasonable Crimes to underly the Law by vertue of particular Command from us direct to the Lords of our Privy Council and ane Act of our said Privy Council hereupon ordering our Advocat to Intent the Proces Instead of appeiring before the Lords of Iusticiery Doctor Gilbert Burnet did write and subscribe a Letter dated at the Hague the third day of May last directed for the Earl of Middletoune one of our principal Secretaries of State for our Kingdom of England In the which the said Doctor shows that in respect the Affairs of the Vnited Provinces falls to his Lordships share in the Ministry Therefore he makes the following Addresses to his Lordship and by him to us and gives ane accompt that he is certiorat of the Proces of Treason execute against him at the instance of our Advocat And for answer thereto the Doctor Writes that he hes bein thretteen years out of the Kingdom of Scotland and that he is now upon the point of Marrying in the Netherlands and that he is Naturalized by the States of Holland and that thereby during his stay there his Allegiance is translated from us to the Soveraignity of the Province of Holland and in the end of his Letter he Certifies that if this decly natur be not taken of his hand to sist the Proces he will appeir in Print in his own Defence and will not so far betray his own Innocence as to suffer a thing of that nature to pass upon him In which he will make a recital of Affairs that hes passed these twenty years and a vast number of particulars which he believes will be displeasing to us and therfor desires that he may not be forced to it which is a direct declyning of our Authority denying of his Allegiance to us and asserting that his Allegiance is translated from us to the Soveraignty of the States of Holland And a threatning us to expose traduce disparage and bely our Government and the publict Actings for twenty years past Tho he acknowledges it will be displeasing to us Yet by a most Indiscret and Disloyal Insolence he threatens to do it in contempt Except forsooth we will acquiesse and suffer the derly natur of our Royal Authorite and pass from the Proces as having no Allegiance due to us from the Doctor c. After this follows the form of Law ordinary in such Citations by which I am required to appear on the 9th day of August in order to my Tryal which was to be six days after that under the Pains of being declared a Rebel and a Fugitive and all bears date the 10th of June 1687. I shall offer only two Exceptions to this in point of Form 1st there is no Special Law set forth here upon which I am to be Judged which as I am informed by those who understand the Law of Scotland makes the Citation null in point of Form since High Treason is a Crime of such a Nature that no Man can be concluded Guilty of it but upon a special Law. 2dly In Criminal matters no Proofs of any Writing upon the Similitude of Hands are so much as admitted by the Law of Scotland so that all such Proofs are only General Presumptions and therefore since there is no other Proof that can be pretended in this case it is not possible according to the grounds and practice of the Scottish Law to find me Guilty upon this Citation Upon my not appearance on the 9th day of August the matter was for some time delayed At last a Writ was issued out against me called in the Law of Scotland Letters of Horning because they are published with the blast of a Horn in which I am declared the King's Rebel but this is not issued out upon the account of the Matter of the Citation of which no Cognizance has been taken But only for my not appearance to offer my self to Tryal and the Operation of this in Law is only the putting me out of the King's Protection and the present Seizing on my personal Estate and after a year the Seizing any thing that I enjoy for Term of Life but this Writ does neither affect my Life nor my Posterity nor can an Estate of Inheritance be so much as Confiscated by it and tho the term Rebel is put in it that word is only a Form of Law for every man that does not pay his Debts is liable to such a Writ and he is declared the King's Rebel just as the Chancery in England issues out a Writ of Rebellion upon Contempts so that if the being called a Rebel in such a Writ gives the Government a right to demand me then every Man that retires into Holland either out of England or Scotland upon the account of a disorder in his Affairs may be demanded as soon as any such Writ goes out against him As for the matter of this Citation I said so much upon it in my former Paper that since no Answer has been made to that I do not think it necessary to say any more than what will occur to me in the account of the Progress of this
would suspect nothing But at the same time that the Church-Party that carried all before them in that Parliament were animated to press things so hard the Dissenters were secretly encouraged to stand out and were told that the King's Temper and Principle and the Consideration of Trade would certainly procure them a Toleration and ever since that Party that thus had set us together by the ears has shifted Sides dexterously enough but still they have carried on the main Design which was to keep up the Quarrel in the Intervals of Parliament Liberty of Conscience was in vogue but when a Session of Parliament came and the King wanted Money then a new severe Law against the Dissenters was offered to the angry Men of the Church-Party as the Price of it and this seldom failed to have its effect so that they were like the Jewels of the Crown pawned when the King needed Money but redeemed at the next Prorogation A Reflection then that arises naturally out of the Proceedings in the Year 1660. is That if a Parliament should come that would copy after that Pattern and repeal Laws and Tests the King's Offers of Liberty of Conscience as may indeed be supposed will bind him till after a short Session or two such a meritorious Parliament should be dissolved according to the Precedent in the Year 1660. and that a new one were brought together by the same Methods of changing Charters and making Returns and then the old Laws de Heretico comburendo might be again revived and it would be said that the King's Inclinations are for keeping his Promise and granting still a Liberty of Conscience yet he can deny nothing to a Loyal and Catholick Parliament III. We pay all possible respect to the King and have witnessed how much we depended on his Promises in so signal a manner that after such real Evidence all Words are superfluous But since the King has shewed so much Zeal not only for his Religion in general but in particular for that Society which of all the other Bodies in it we know is animated the most against us we must crave leave to speak a little freely and not suffer our selves to be destroyed by a Complement The Extirpation of Hereticks and the Breach of Faith to them have been decreed by two of their General Councils and by a Tradition of several Ages the Pope is possessed of a Power of dissolving all Promises Contracts and Oaths not to mention the private Doctrines of that Society that is so much in favour of doing Ill that Good may come of it of using Equivocations and Reservations and of ordering the Intention Now these Opinions as they have never been renounced by the Body of that Church so indeed they cannot be unless they renounce their Infallibility which is their Basis at the same time Therefore tho a Prince of that Communion may very sincerely resolve to maintain Liberty of Conscience and to keep his Word yet the blind Subjection into which he is brought by his Religion to his Church must force him to break thro' all that as soon as the Doctrine of his Church is opened to him and that Absolution is denied him or higher Threatnings are made him if he continues firm to his merciful Inclinations So that supposing His Majesty's Piety to be as great as the Jesuit's Sermon on the Thirtieth of January lately printed carries it to the uttermost possibility of Flesh and Blood then our Fears must still grow upon us who know what are the Decrees of that Church and by consequence we may infer to what his Piety must needs carry him as soon as those things are fully opened to him which in respect to him we are bound to believe are now hid from him IV. It will further appear that these are not unjust Inferences if we consider a little what has been the Observation of all the Promises made for Liberty of Conscience to Hereticks by Roman Catholick Princes ever since the Reformation The first was the Edict of Passaw in Germany procured chiefly by Ferdinand's means and maintained indeed religiously by his Son Maximilian the Second whose Inclinations to the Protestant Religion made him be suspected for one himself But the Jesuits insinuated themselves so far into his younger Brother's Court that was Archduke of Grats that this was not only broken by that Family in their Share but tho' Rodolph and Mathias were Princes of great Gentleness and the latter of these was the Protector of the States in the beginning of their War with King Philip the Second yet the Violence with which the House of Grats was possessed overturned all that so that the breaking of the Pacificatory Edicts was begun in Rodolph's time and was so far carried on in Mathias's time that they set both Bohemia and Hungary in a Flame and so begun that long War of Germany 2. The next Promise for Liberty of Conscience was made by Queen Mary of England but we know well enough how it was observed the Promises made by the Queen Regent of Scotland were observed with the same Fidelity After these came the Pacificatory Edicts in France which were scarce made when the Triumvirate was formed to break them The famous Massacre of Paris was an Instance never to be forgot of the Religious Observance of a Treaty made on purpose to lay the Party asleep and to bring the whole Heads of it into the Net this was a much more dreadful St. Bartholomew than that on which our Author bestows that Epithete pag. 15. and when all seemed setled by the famous Edict of Nantes we have seen how restless that Party and in particular the Society were till it was broken by a Prince that for thirty years together had shewed as great an aversion to the Shedding of Blood in his Government at home as any of his Neighbours can pretend to and who has done nothing in the whole Tragedy that he has acted but what is exactly conform to the Doctrine and Decrees of his Church so that is not himself but his Religion that we must blame for all that has fallen out in that Kingdom I cannot leave this without taking notice of our Author's Sincerity who pag. 18. tells us of the Protestants entring into their League in France when it is well known that it was a League of Papists against a Protestant Successor which was afterwards applied to a Popish King only because he was not zealous enough against Hereticks But to end this List of Instances at a Country to which our Author bears so particular a kindness when the Dutchess of Parma granted the Edict of Pacification by which all that was past was buried and the Exercise of the Protestant Religion was to be connived at for the future King Philip the Second did not only ratifie this but expressed himself so fully upon it to the Count of Egmont who had been sent over to him that the easie Count returned to Flanders so assured of the King's
so familiar to them that they can no more be put out of countenance But it seems very strange to us that some who if they are to be believed are strict to the severest Forms and Sub-divisions of the Reformed Religion and who some Years ago were jealous of the smallest steps that the Court made when the danger was more remote and who cried out Popery and Persecution when the design was so mask'd that some well-meaning Men could not miss being deceived by the Promises that were made and the Disguises that were put on that I say these very Persons who were formerly so distrustful should now when the Mask is laid off and the Design is avowed of a sudden grow to be so believing as to throw off all Distrust and be so gulled as to betray all and to expose us to the Rage of those who must needs give some good words till they have gone the round and tried how effectually they can divide and deceive us that so they may destroy us the more easily this is indeed somewhat extraordinary They are not so ignorant as not to know that Popery cannot change its Nature and that Cruelty and Breach of Faith to Hereticks are as necessary parts of that Religion as Transubstantiation and the Pope's Supremacy are If Papists were not Fools they must give good Words and fair Promises till by these they have so far deluded the poor credulous Hereticks that they may put themselves in a posture to execute the Decrees of their Church against them and though we accuse that Religion as guilty both of Cruelty and Treachery yet we do not think them Fools so till their Party is stronger than God be thanked it is at present they can take no other method than that they take The Church of England was the Word among them somst Years ago Liberty of Conscieece is the Word at present and we have all possible reason to assure us that the Promises for maintaining the one will be as religiously kept as we see those are which were lately made with so great a profusion of Protestations and shews of Friendship for the supporting of the other III. It were great Injustice to charge all the Dissenters with the Impertinencies that have appeared in many Addresses of late or to take our measures of them from the impudent strains of an Alsop or a Care or from the more important and now more visible steps that some among them of a higher form are every day making and yet after all this it cannot be denied but the several Bodies of the Dissenters have behaved themselves of late like Men that understand too well the true Interest of the Protestant Religion and of the English Government to sacrifice the whole and themselves in Conclusion to their private Resentments I hope the same Justice will be allowed me in stating the matter relating to the so much decried Persecution set on by the Church of England and that I may be suffered to distinguish the Heats of some angry and deluded Men from the Doctrine of the Church and the Practices that have been authorized in it that so I may shew that there is no reason to infer from past Errors that we are incurable or that new Opportunities inviting us again into the same Severities are like to prevail over us to commit the same Follies over again I will first state what is past with the Sincerity that becomes one that would not lie for God that is not afraid nor ashamed to confess Faults that will neither aggravate nor extenuate them beyond what is just and that yet will avoid the saying of any thing that may give any cause of Offence to any Party in the Nation IV. I am very sorry that I must confess that all the Parties among us have shewed that as their turn came to be uppermost they have forgot the same Principles of Moderation and Liberty which they all claimed when they were oppressed If it should shew too much ill nature to examine what the Presbytery did in Scotland when the Covenant was in Dominion or what the Independents have done in New-England why may not I claim the same priviledg with relation to the Church of England if Severities have been committed by her while she bore Rule yet it were as easy as it would be invidious to shew that both Presbyterians and Independents have carried the Principle of Rigor in the point of Conscience much higher and have acted more implacably upon it than ever the Church of England has done even in its angriest fits so that none of them can much reproach another for their Excesses in those matters And as of all the Religions in the World the Church of Rome is the most persecuting and the most bound by her Principles to be unalterably cruel so the Church of England is the least persecuting in her Principles and the least obliged to repeat any Errors to which the Intrigues of Courts or the Passions incident to all Parties may have engaged her of any National Church in Europe It cannot be said to be any part of our Doctrine when we came out of one of the blackest Persecutions that is in History I mean Queen Mary's we shewed how little we retained of the Cruelty of that Church which had provoked us so severely when not only no Inquiries were made into the illegal Acts of Fury that were committed in that persecuting Reign but even the Persecutors themselves lived among us at Ease and in Peace and no Penal Law was made except against the publick Exercise of that Religion till a great many Rebellions and Treasons extorted them from us for our own Preservation This is an Instance of the Clemency of our Church that perhaps cannot be matched in History and why should it not be supposed that if God should again put us in the state in which we were of late that we should rather imitate so noble a Patern than return to those Mistakes of which we are now ashamed V. It is to be considered that upon the late King's Restauration the remembrance of the former War the ill usage that our Clergy had met with in their Sequestrations the angry Resentments of the Cavalier Party who were ruined by the War the Interest of the Court to have all those Principles condemned that had occasioned it the heat that all Parties that have been ill-used are apt to fall into upon a Revolution but above all the Practices of those who have still blown the Coals and set us one against another that so they might not only have a divided Force to deal with but might by turns make the Divisions among us serve their Ends All these I say concurred to make us lose the happy Opportunity that was offered in the Year 1660 to have healed all our Divisions and to have triumphed over all the Dissenters not by ruining them but by overcoming them with a Spirit of Love and Gentleness which is the only Victory that
for the Prince's Oath it was an Obligation to the States and was intended even by those who framed it only to hinder all Caballing for obtaining any such Offer to be made him But when they were brought to that Extremity to which we helped to drive them so that there was a change made in the greatest part of the whole Government they Unanimously found the necessity of Vesting the Prince with the full Authority of Statholder and therefore the Oath being made to them it was in their power to give it up So that here was no breach of Oath but only a Relaxation of the Obligation that was made to the States The Reflections end with a piece of Railery which might pass if it were either witty or decent But if the things that are objected seem irregular I fancy that Mr. Pen's writing for Popery and Mr. Stewart's for Tyranny are things every whit as Incongruous as any of these with which the Reflector diverts himself Printed for John Starkey 1688. THE CITATION OF GILBERT BVRNET D.D. To answer in Scotland on the 27th of June Old Stile for High Treason Together with his Answer And Three Letters writ by him upon that Subject to the Right Honourable the Earl of Middletoun his Majesty's Secretary of State. I Know the Disadvantages of pleading ones Innocence especially when he is prosecuted at the Suit of his Natural Prince to whom he owes so profound a Duty and this has kept me so long in a respectful silence after I had seen my Name in so many Gazettes aspersed with the blackest of all Crimes But there is both a time to be silent and a time to speak And as hitherto I have kept my self within the bounds of the one so I do now take the Liberty which the other allows me But I was not hitherto silent where I ought to speak for I have made many humble Addresses to his Majesty by the Earl of Middletoun his Secretary of State hoping that my Innocence joined with my most humble Duty would have broke through all those Prejudices and false Informations with which my Enemies had possessed his Majesty against me Upon the first Notice that I had of his Majesty's having writ to the Privy Council in Scotland ordering Process to be issued out against me for High Treason I writ my First Letter In that I could enter into no Particulars for in the Advertisement that was sent me it was said that there was no special Matter laid to my Charge in the King's Letter Some days after that I received a Copy of my Citation to which I presently writ an Answer and sent that with my Second Letter to the same Noble Person to both these Letters I received no Answer but I was advertised that some Exceptions were taken at some words in my First Letter and this led me to write my Third Letter for explaining and justifying those words I have kept my self thus within all those Bounds that I thought my Duty set me and am not a little troubled that I am now forced to speak for my self I have delayed doing it as long as I had any reason to hope that my Justification of my self was like to produce the Effect which I most humbly desired and which I expected But now the Day of my Appearance being come in which it is probable Sentence will pass against me since I have had no Intimations given me to the contrary I hope it will not shew either the least Impatience or the want of that Submission which I have on all Occasions payed to every thing that comes to me from that Authority under which God had placed me that I publish these Papers for my own Vindication If it had been only in defence of my Life and Reputation that I had been led to appear in such a manner I could have more easily restrained my self and have left these to be Sacrifices to the Unjust Rage of those who have so far prevailed on his Majesty's readiness to believe them as to drive this Matter so far but the Honour of that Holy Religion which I profess and the Regard I bear to that Sacred Function to which I am dedicated lay such Obligations on me that I am determined by them to declare my Innocence to the World which I intend to do more copiously within a little while but in the mean time I hope the following Papers will serve to shew how clear I am of all the Matters that are laid to my charge There is one Particular which is come to my knowledg since I writ my Answer that will yet more evidently discover my Innocence I have received certain Informations from England that both Sir John Cochran and his Son and Mr. Baxter have declared upon many occasions and to many Persons that they cannot imagin how they come to be cited as Witnesses against me that they can scarce believe it can be true since they know nothing that can be any way to my Prejudice and that they must clear me of all the Matters objected to me in this Citation and the two Witnesses that as it seems are cited for that Article that relates to Holland have solemnly declared that they know nothing relating to me or to the Matters specified in this Citation which one of them has signified to my self in a Letter under his hand so that the Falsehood of this Accusation is so evident that it serves to discover the Folly as well as the Impudence of those who have contrived it But it is yet too early to set on a Persecution for Matters of Religion therefore Crimes against the State must be pretended and fastned on those whom these Men intend to destroy And as foul and black Scandals are invented to Defame me and put in the mouths of those who are ready to believe and report every thing that may disgrace me without considering that they do a thing that is as unbecoming them as it is Base and Injust in it self so all Arts are used to destroy me but I trust to the Protection of that GREAT GOD who sees the Injustice that is done me and who will in his own Time and Way vindicate my Innocence and under him I trust to the Protection of the HIGH AND MIGHTY STATES OF HOLLAND AND WEST-FRIESELAND My First LETTER to the Earl of MIDLETOVNE May it please your Lordship THe Affairs of these Provinces belonging to your Lordship's share in the Ministry leads me to make this most humble Address to you and by your Lordship to his Majesty I have received Advertisement from Scotland that the King has writ to the Privy Council ordering me to be proceeded against for High Treason against his Person and Government and that pursuant to this the King's Advocate has cited me to appear there If any thing in this World can surprise or disorder me this must needs do it For as few have writ more and preach'd oftner against all sorts of Treasonable Doctrines and Practices
Affair Mr. d' Albeville his Majesties Envoy did in the Month of July last put in a Memorial against me which being already in Print I shall only offer here the abstract of it In the Preamble it sets forth That whereas I had obtained Letters of Burgership in the Town of Amsterdam In the Vertue thereof these Letters being presented to the States of Holland by the said Town I had obtained the Protection of the States with which I was not satisfied but by my Libels I defamed the King and his Government of which it offered two Instances one that I represented my self as Persecuted upon the account of Religion which was so false that all Religions were tolerated by the King. The other was that I pretended that my life was in danger for which If I had any grounds I ought to have represented it to the King's Ministers in England or to his Minister bere and that it was Notorious that the greatest of all Criminals were in safety here for fear to draw upon themselves his Majesties displeasure who abhors such practices tho by the King's Laws every one of his subjects was warranted to seise on them here in what manner soever Upon all which it concluded That the States ought to punish both me and my Printer without naming him I hope I may without being wanting to the respect due to his Character make some observations on this It is well known that I was never made Burgess of Amsterdam so that all the Preamble falls and it appears that the Envoy has not taken the pains that forraign Ministers ordinarily do to be rightly informed of this matter when he began to move in it I applied my self immediately to the States of Holland in order to my being Naturalized and in my Petition I set forth the Reason of it which ever since Solons Laws has been thought the justest ground for it and that was a Marriage and this was no pretended colour for I was contracted the same day I had lived before that a year at the Hague and I saw clearly a storm coming upon me yet I had used no precaution to cover my self from it but when a Marriage and a settlement in Holland made it necessary for me to desire the Rights and Priviledges of the Countrey it cannot be thought strange if I petitioned for it and the States who know how long I had both lived and preached publickly at the Hague under the eyes of two of the Kings Ministers one after another saw no sort of reason so much as to deliberate upon my petition but granted it to me as a thing of course As for the matter that His Majesties Envoy objected to me I said nothing in the paper I printed but what plainly contradicts the first point my words relating to it are that it is yet too early to set on a Persecution for matters of Religion and therefore Crimes against the State must be pretended and fastned on those whom these men intend to destroy Now it is plain that by these men I intend those who had Informed against me the matters that are in the first Citation and that being let fall as a Calumny too gross to be any longer supported I had all reason to pass that censure on these men But these words cannot be supposed to have any relation to the King unless in that part of them that it is yet too early to Persecute for matters of Religion which import that my Enemies dare not attempt to carry his Majesty to that so that this period in my paper is evidently contrary to the Inference that is drawn from it The 2d point is no better grounded since I published nothing relating to the Danger in which I was but my Letters to the Earl of Middleton so that I had begun my Complaints to him but I was never encouraged to go to the naming of particulars As for that period that the greatest of Criminals are here safe from such Attempts for fear of drawing upon themselves the King's displeasure de peur de s'attirer certainly the Envoy was in haste when he drew it for the want of a clear sense in it is such that it cannot be carried off by an Ignorance of the French tongue since sure those Criminals are not afraid to Draw upon themselves the King's displeasure by attempting on themselves So that some such words as these all his Majesties good subjects avoiding such practices for fear of drawing upon themselves his Displeasure must be supposed to make the period Clear sense But if I had any apprehensions of Danger before this Memorial they are justly encreased by it since the Envoy concludes the paragraph by saying that every one of the King's subjects were warranted by his Laws to seise on such here in what manner soever a s'y emparer en quelque maniere que ce soit in what manner soever does always on such occasions signifie either Dead or Alive Now when the Kings Envoy did in a Memorial to the States which was afterwards printed assert that this was Law It is easy to Infer from hence what just apprehensions this might suggest to me As for his desire to have me Punished for that Libel he did in that Appeal which he made to the Justice of the States acknowledge me to be their Subject but if I have by printing of that or any other Paper made my self liable to the punishment of the States the Complaint ought to have been made in the form of Law to the Court of Holland as it would be in England to the Kings Bench since the States themselves do not not enter into the prosecutions of Justice and to that Court I most humbly submit my self and acknowledg that if I cannot justify my self of every thing that can be laid to my Charge they ought to punish me with the utmost severity of Justice Since a man of my Profession as he ought to be an Example for his good behaviour so he ought to be made an Example of Justice when he brings himself within the compass of the Law. This was the first step that was made in my affair which lay in this state till the Envoy's return from England in December last upon which he gave in a long Memorial of which I was made one Article He set forth that I being now Judged a Rebel and Fugitive in Scotland the States were bound to deliver me up or to banish me out of their Dominions and so he demanded that this might be executed Upon this I was called before some of the Deputies of the States and both the Envoys Memorials being read to me I was required to offer what I had to say upon them I could not but first take notice of the great difference that was between them The first complaining of me as a subject of the States and demanding that I might be punished by them and the second demanding me as the King 's Subject To the first I answered according to
the Reflections that I have already mentioned To the second I said I could not be a Fugitive since I had come out of Scotland fourteen years ago and after eleven years stay in England had come out of it three years ago by the King's leave As for my being a Rebel I could answer nothing to that till I saw the Judgment that had passed upon me but I was now the Subject of the States and as I humbly claimed their Protection so I pretended to no Protection against Justice but offered my self to a Tryal if any thing was laid to my charge This being reported to the States of Holland they were so far satisfied with my Answer that the substance of it was put in the form of an Answer to the two Memorials The whole amounts to this that I was become their subject by being naturalized before this process was begun against me so that I am now under their Protection But if there is any thing to be objected to me that can bear a Tryal they will give order that full and speedy Justice shall be done upon it in the Court of Holland Upon this a 3d Memorial was given in to which the Articles of the Treaty between the King and the States were annexed relating to Fugitives and Rebels and it was said in it that the States were bound to execute these with relation to me without taking upon them to examine the grounds upon which the sentence was past And because here lies the strength of the whole matter I shall offer such Considerations upon it as will I hope satisfie all persons 1. No Sentence is either passed or produced against me for I am not declared by any Judgment either Rebel or Fugitive and by the 7th Article all Condemnations ought to be notified by publick and Authentical letters which must be understood of a Record of the sentence that ought to be produced whereas there is nothing shewed in my case but only a Memorial 2. All Treaties especially in the odious parts of them are to be understood according to the common acceptation of the terms contained in them and not according to the particular forms of any Courts of Justice the common acceptance of Fugitive is a man that flies away after a crime committed from the prosecution of Justice and a Rebel in the common acceptation is a man that has born Arms against his Prince since then I am not so much as charged with either of these I cannot be comprehended in the Article of the Treaty for this must be the only sense according to which the States are bound to deny harbour to Declared Rebels and Fugitives 3. That which puts an end to the whole matter is that before I writ that Letter upon which I am now prosecuted I was become a Subject of the States and by Consequence was no more in a Capacsty to be either the King's Rebel or Fugitive And the point of Naturalizing Strangers is now such an universal Practice that the right of granting it is inseperable from Soveraign Power so that either the States have this Right or they are no more a Free and Soveraign State. And the obligations of honour that all Soveraigns come under to protect those whom they naturalize against every thing but their own Justice is no dark point of Law but is that which every Prince knows and practices as oft as there is occasion for it The King of France has used all the Naturalized Srangers in the same manner that he has used his own subjects in the point of Religion and tho the French Protestants that are gone into England are according to the severity of the Edicts passed against them made Criminals for flying out of that Kingdom so that according to the Letter of those Edicts they are Fugitives yet the King has received them all owned them for his Subjects naturalised some and supplied others of them by a Bounty truly worthy of so great a Prince and if the King does this to those of another Religion that do fly out of the Dominions of a Prince with whom he is in peace The States could not with any colour of reason refuse to Naturalise me who am of their own Religion when after so long a stay among them it appeared that the King had nothing ro lay to my charge and they having Naturalised me if they should withdraw their Protection before I had forfeited it by any illegal Action of mine they should make a Breach upon the Publick Liberty upon which their Government is chiefly founded And it is to be observed that the Treaty between the King and them as to the Articles concerning Rebels and Fugitives is Reciprocal as all the Ancient Treaties between the Crown of England and the Princes of these Provinces before the formation of the Commonwealth ever were as to this particular so that they can be no more bound to the King by it than the King is bound to them Now let us suppose that the King Naturalises a Dutchman by which he is admitted to all the Priviledges of an Englishman if the Dutch should after that condemn this person as guilty of Rebellion the King could not upon the States demanding of him deliver him up or banish him at his pleasure since this cannot be done arbitrarily to any Englishman without a legal tryal by his Peers and therefore it is plain that my case does not at all fall within the Articles of the Treaty so that in this whole matter the States have acted as a free State that was careful to maintain its Honour and to assert its being an Independent Soveraignty and for my own part I can appeal to all the Members of the States of Holland if I made any applications to them as if I would value my self on my being supported in opposition to the Envoy's Memorial I staid at home while the thing was under consultation without making Addresses to any one of them as to my own particular It is true I would not withdraw of my own accord from my own house which I thought would have been a forsaking the Rights of the Countrey a mistrusting the Protection of my Soveraigns as well as my own Innocence and an abandoning of the post in which God by his Providence has placed me And I am resolved rather to run the risque of all that with which I am threatned than show the least unbecoming fear I thank God I make use of that common but Noble expression that I am neither afraid to dye nor ashamed to live I will not go further into dark thoughts tho I know enough of of the contrivances against me by an order of men whose souls are as black as their Habits Tho for a great while I thought that the meanness of my person was such that even success in any design against me could not have counterballanced the Infamy of it Thus I hope those hard words of high treason or Rebellion will make no impressions on
must at least acquiesce tho they are not Infallible there being still a sort of an Appeal to be made to the Soveraign or the Supream Legislative Body so the Church has a Subaltern Jurisdiction but as the Authority of inferior Judges is still regulated and none but the Legislators themselves have an Authority equal to the Law So it is not necessary for the Preservation of Peace and Order that the Decisions of the Church should be Infallible or of equal Authority with the Scriptures If Judges do so manifestly abuse their Authority that they fall into Rebellion and Treason the Subjects are no more bound to consider them but are obliged to resist them and to maintain their Obedience to their Soveraign tho in other matters their Judgment must take place till they are reversed by the Soveraign The case of Religion being then this That Jesus Christ is the Soveraign of the Church the Assembly of the Pastors is only a Subaltern Judg If they manifestly oppose themselves to the Scriptures which is the Law of Christians particular Persons may be supposed as competent Judges of that as in Civil Matters they may be of the Rebellion of the Judges and in that case they are bound still to maintain their Obedience to Jesus Christ in matters Indifferent Christians are bound for the Preservation of Peace and Unity to acquiesce in the Decision of the Church and in matters justly doubtful or of small Consequence tho they are convinced that the Pastors have erred yet they are obliged to be Silent and to bear tolerable things rather than make a Breach but if it is visible that the Pastors do Rebel against the Soveraign of the Church I mean Christ the People may put in their Appeal to that great Judg and there it must lie If the Church did use this Authority with due Discretion and the People followed the Rules that I have named with Humility and Modesty there would be no great danger of many Divisions but this is the great Secret of the Providence of God that men are still men and both Pastors and People mix their Passions and Interests so with matters of Religion that there is a great deal of Sin and Vice still in the World so that it appears in the Matters of Religion as well as in other things but the ill Consequences of this tho they are bad enough yet are not equal to the Effects that ignorant Superstition and obedient Zeal have produced in the World witness the Rebellions and Wars for establishing the Worship of Images the Croissades against the Saracens in which many Millions were lost those against Hereticks and Princes deposed by Popes which lasted for some Ages and the Massacre of Paris with the Butcheries of the Duke of Alva in the last Age and that of Ireland in this which are I suppose far greater Mischiefs than any that can be imagined to arise out of a small diversity of Opinion and the present State of this Church notwithstanding all those unhappy Rents that are in it is a much more desirable thing than the gross Ignorance and blind Superstition that reigns in Italy and Spain at this day IX All these reasonings concerning the Infallibility of the Church signify nothing unless we can certainly know whither we must go for this Decision for while one Party shews us that it must be in the Pope or is no where and another Party says it cannot be in the Pope because as many Popes have erred so this is a Doctrine that was not known in the Church for a thousand years and that has been disputed ever since it was first asserted we are in the right to believe both sides first that if it is not in the Pope it is no where and then that certainly it it not in the Pope and it is very Incongruous to say That there is an Infallible Authority in the Church and that yet it is not certain where one must seek for it for the one ought to be as clear as the other and it is also plain that what Primacy soever St. Peter may be supposed to have had the Scripture says not one word of his Successors at Rome so at least this is not so clear as a matter of this Consequence must have been if Christ had intended to have lodged such an Authority in that See. X. It is no less Incongruous to say that this Infallibility is in a General Council for it must be somewhere else otherwise it will return only to the Church by some Starts and after long Intervals and as it was not in the Church for the first 320 years so it has not been in the Church these last 120 years It is plain also that there is no Regulation given in the Scriptures concerning this great Assembly who have a right to come and Vote and what forfeits this Right and what numbers must concur in a Decision to assure us of the Infallibility of the Judgment It is certain there was never a General Council of all the Pastors of the Church for those of which we have the Acts were only the Councils of the Roman Empire but for those Churches that were in the South of Africk or the Eastern Parts of Asia beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire as they could not be summoned by the Emperor's Authority so it is certain none of them were present unless one or two of Persia at Nice which perhaps was a Corner of Persia belonging to the Empire and unless it can be proved that the Pope has an Absolute Authority to cut off whole Churches from their right of coming to Councils there has been no General Council these last 700. years in the World ever since the Bishops of Rome have excommunicated all the Greek Churches upon such trifling Reasons that their own Writers are now ashamed of them and I will ask no more of a Man of a competent Understanding to satisfy him that the Council of Trent was no General Council acting in that Freedom that became Bishops than that he will be at the pains to read Card. Pallavicin's History of that Council XI If it is said That this Infallibility is to be sought for in the Tradition of the Doctrine in all Ages and that every particular Person must examine this Here is a Sea before him and instead of examining the small Book of the New Testament he is involved in a Study that must cost a Man an Age to go thorow it and many of the Ages through which he carries this Enquiry are so dark and have produced so few Writers at least so few are preserved to our days that it is not possible to find out their belief We find also Traditions have varied so much that it is hard to say that there is much weight to be laid on this way of Conveyance A Tradition concerning Matters of Fact that all People see is less apt to fail than a Tradition of Points of Speculation and yet we see very
and the Act was so little acceptable to him whom he calls its Author that he spake of it then with Contempt as a Trick of the Court to lay the Nation too soon asleep The Negotiations beyond Sea were too evidently proved to be denied and which is not yet generally known Mr. Coleman when Examined by the Committee of the House of Commons said plain enough to them that the Late King was concerned in them but the Committee would not look into that matter and so Mr. Sacheverill that was their Chair-man did not report it yet the thing was not so secret but that one to whom it was trusted gave the late King an Account of it who said That he had not heard of it any other way and was so fully convinced that the Nation had cause given them to be jealous that he himself set forward the Act and the rather because he saw that the E. of S. did not much like it The Parliament as long as it was known that the Religion was safe in the King 's Negative had not taken any great care of its own Constitution but it seemed the best Expedient that could be found for laying the Jealousies of His late Majesty and the apprehensions of the Successor to take so much care of the two Houses that so the Dangers with which men were then allarm'd might seem the less formidable upon so effectual a security and thus all the stir that he keeps with Perjury and Imposture ought to make no other impression but to shew the wantonness of his own Temper that meddles so boldly with things of which he knew so little the true Secret For here was a Law passed of which all made great use that opposed the Bill of Exclusion to Demonstrate to the Nation that there could be no danger of Popery even under a Prince of that Religion but as he would turn the matter it amounts to this That that Law might be of good use in that season to lay the Jealousies of the Nation till there were a Prince on the Throne of that Communion and then when the turn is served it must be thrown away to open the only door that is now shut upon the Re-establishment of that Religion This is but one hint among a great many more of the state of Affairs at the time that this Act of the TEST was made to shew that the Evidence given by the Witnesses had no other share in that matter but that it gave a rise to the other Discoveries and a fair Opportunity to those who knew the secret of the late King's Religion and the Negotiation at Dover to provide such an effectual Security as might both save the Crown and secure the Religion and this I am sure some of the Bishops knew who to their Honour were faithful to both The third Reason he gives for Repealing the Act is the Incompetent Authority of those who Enacted it for it was of an Ecclesiastical nature and here he stretches out his Wings to a Top-flight and charges it with nothing less than the Deposing of Christ from his Throne the disowning neglecting and affronting his Commission to his Catholick Church and entrenching upon this sacred Prerogative of his Holy Catholick Church and then that he might have occasion to feed his spleen with railing at the whole Order he makes a ridiculous objection of the Bishops being present in the House of Lords that he might shew his respect to them by telling in a Parenthesis that to their shame they had consented to it But has this Scaramuchio no shame left him Did the Parliament pretend by this Act to make any Decision in those two Points of Transubstantiation and Idolatry Had not the Convocation defined them both for above an Age before In the 28th Article of our Church these words are to be found Transubstantiation or the change of the substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthrows the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many superstitions and for the Idolatry of the Church of Rome that was also declared very expresly in the same body of Articles since in the Article 35 the Homilies are declared to contain a godly and wholesom Doctrine necessary for those times and upon that it is judged that they should be read in the Churches by the Ministers diligently and distinctly that they may be understood of the People And the Second of these which is against the Peril of Idolatry aggravates the Idolatry of that Church in so many particulars and with such severe Expressions that those who at first made those Articles and all those who do now sign them or oblige others to sign 'em must either believe the Church of Rome to be guilty of Idolatry or that the Church of England is the Impudentest Society that ever assumed the Name of a Church if she proposes such Homilies to the People in which this Charge is given so home and yet does not believe it her self A man must be of Bays's pitch to rise up to this degree of Impudence Upon the whole matter then these points have been already determined and were a part of our Doctrine enacted by Law All that the Parliament did was only to take these out of a great many more that by this Test it might appear whether they who came into either House were of that Religion or not and now let our Reasoner try what he can make out of this or how he can justify the Scandal that he so boldly throws upon his Order as if they had as much as in them lay destroyed the very being of a Christian Church and had profanely pawned the Bishop to the Lord and betrayed the Rights of the Church of England as by Law Established in particular as well as of the Church Catholick in general p. 8 9. All this shews to whom he has pawned both the Bishop and the Lord and something else too which is both Conscience and Honour if he has any left When one reflects on two of the Bishops that were of that Venerable Body while this Act passed whose Memory will be blessed in the present and following Ages those two great and good Men that filled the Sees of Chester and Oxford he must conclude that as the World was not worthy of them so certainly their Sees were nor worthy of them since they have been plagued with such Successors that because Bays delights in figures taken from the Roman Empire I must tell him that since Commodus succeeded to Marcus Aurillius I do not find a more incongrous Succession in History With what sensible regret must those who were so often edified with the Gravity the Piety the Generosity and Charity of the late Bishop of Oxford look on when they see such a Harleguin in his room His Fourth Reason is taken from the uncertainty and falsehood of the matters contained in
he writ on that occasion But finding that the Prince had already declared himself in those Matters he resolved to insist no further yet his Friend insinuating that he had still hopes to get a more distinct and satisfying Answer from a better hand though without naming the Person he attended the Issue and about the beginning of November almost three moneths after his first writing he received the Pensioner's Letter though he had not writ to him which is repeated again and again and in it an account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts about the Repeal of the Tests and Penal Laws which he had not desired upon which he took some care to prevent the publishing of it But when he saw it in print he clearly perceived that it was printed in Holland and so wonders how the Pensioner could say that it was printed in England which he found in his printed Letter to Mr. d' Albeville He knows not upon what Provocation the Pensioner writ that Letter but in it he finds that he writ that he was desired by himself to give him an account of the Prince and Princess of Orange's Thoughts and that these pressing Desires were made to him by His Majestie 's Knowledg and Allowance this being so different from the Letters he had writ of which he is sure that the account he has given is true in every point he was forced to vindicate the King's Honour and his own Duty He writ not out of any curiosity to know their Highnesses Thoughts which were already known they having been signified to the Marquis of Albeville and therefore he had no Orders from the King for writing on that Subject but only a Permission to use his little Endeavors for the advancing of his Service but it was never moved to him to write either in the King's Name or in the Name of any of his Secretaries This is Mr. Stewart's Account in the first nine Pages of his Letter and is set down in his own words Now in opposition to all this it will appear from the following Extracts that Mr. Stewart writ to his Friend as the most proper Interpreter for addressing himself to the Pensioner that he repeated his Proposition frequently finding his Friend unwilling to engage in so Critical a matter He gives great Assurances of His Majesties Resolutions never to alter the Succession which is plainly the Language of a Treaty he presses over and over again to know the Prince's Mind whose concurrence in the Matter would be the best Guarentee of the Liberty He by Name desires his Letters may be shewed to the Prince and Princess of Orange though he says he only ordered them to be shewed to Friends at the Hague so it seems he has the modesty to reckon them among the number of his Friends but it is a question whether their Highnesses do so or not he says in one Letter That what he writ was from his Majesty himself and enlarges more fully on this in two other Letters and he desires that the Princes Answers with his Reasons might be understood which very probably gave the occasion to all the reasoning part of the Pensioner's Letter and it appears by that Letter that the Return to all this was expected by the King and in almost every Letter he presses for a Return And in Conclusion upon his receiving the Pensioner's Letter he expresses likewise a great sense of the Honour done him in it that he had so far complied with his Insignificant Endeavours he mentions his acquainting both the King and the Earls of Sunderland and Melfort with it and in another Letter after new Thanks for the Pensioner's Letter he laments that it was so long delayed But all these things will appear more evident to the Reader from the Passages drawn out of Mr. Stewart's own Letters which follow Mr. Stewart seems not to know upon what provocation the Pensioner writ to Mr. d' Albeville and yet the Pensioner had set that forth in the Letter it self for the Pamphlet entituled Parliamentum Pacificum that was licensed by the Earl of Sunderland contained such Reflections on his Letter to Mr. Stewart either as a Forgery or as a thing done without the Princess of Orange's knowledg that the Pensioner judged himself bound in honour to do himself right As for Mr. Stewart's criticalness in knowing that the Pensioner's Letter was first printed in Holland and his Reflection on the Pensioner for insinuating that the Letter was first printed in England it is very like that Mr. Stewart after so long a practice in Libels knows how to distinguish between the Prints of the several Nations better than the Pensioner whose course of Life has raised him above all such Practices But it is certain that wheresoever it was first printed the Pensioner writ sincerely and believed really that it was first printed in England This is all that seemed necessary to be said for an Introduction to the following Extracts July 12 1687. AND I assure you by all I can find here the Establishment of this equal Liberty is his Majesty's utmost Design I wish your People at the Hague do not mistake too far both his Majesty and the Dissenters for as I have already told you his Majesty's utmost Design and have ground to belive that his Majesty will preserve and observe the true Right of Succession as a thing most sacred so I must entreat you to remark that the Offence that some of the Church-of-England-Men take at Addressing seems to me unaccountable and is apprehended by the Dissenters to proceed so certainly from their former and wonted Spirit that they begin to think themselves in large more hazard from the Church of England's Re-exaltation than all the Papists their Advantages And next that the Prince is thought to be abused by some there to a too great Mislike of that which can never wrong him but will in probability in the Event be wholly in his own Power I hope you will consider and make your best use of these things I expect an account of this per first I mean an Answer to this Letter and pray improve it to the best Advantage The Second Letter without a Date THat it is a thing most certain that his Majesty is resolved to observe the Succession to the Crown as a thing most Sacred and is far from all thoughts of altering the same and that his Majesty is very desirous to have the Prince and Princess of Orange to consent to concur with him in establishing this Liberty So that upon the whole it may be feared that if the Prince continue obstinate in refusing his Majesty he may fall under suspitions of the greatest part of England and of all Scotland to be too great a Favourer of the Church of England and consequently a Person whom they have reason to dread And many think that this Compliance in the Prince might be further a wise part both as to the conciliating of his Majesty's greater Favour and
the begetting of an understanding betwixt the King and the States and the Parliament will consent to the Liberty so much the rather that they have a Protestant Successor in prospect I cannot on these things make any Conclusion but simply leave them to your Reflection and the best use you please to make of them I will expect your Answer per first Windsor July 18. 1687. THE Hints that I gave you in my two former Letters I shall now explain more fully in this And therefore I heartily wish that the Prince and Princess may understand all that you think needful on this Subject it troubles his Majesty to find them so averse from approving this Liberty and concurring for its Establishment so that in truth I cannot see why their Highnesses should not embrace cheerfully so fair an Opportunity to gratify both his Majesty and the far greater and better part of the Nation Now upon the whole I expect that you will make all I have written fully known at the Hague especially with the Prince But the main thing I expect from you is to have your Mind whether or not his Highness may be so disposed as that a well chosen Informer sent to himself might perfect the work And this Answer I will expect per first where-ever the Prince be you know who are to be spoken and how I again entreat your Care and Dispatch in this with your Return London July 29. 1687. MIne of the 9 / 19 July with my last of the 26th July V. St. will I am sure satisfy you fully for therein I have indeed answered all can be objected and have given you such an Account of the Confirmation of all I have writ from his Majesty himself that I must think it a Fatality if your People remain obstinate And I again assure you if your People be obstinate it will be fatal to the poor Dissenters and I fear productive of Ills yet unheard of and therefore pray consider my Letters and let me know if there be any place to receive Information by a good hand but however let us endeavour Good all we can and I assure you I have my Warrant Haste your Answer Windsor Aug. 5. 1687. AND in a word believe me if the Prince will do what is desired it is the best Service to the Protestants the Highest Obligation on his Majesty and the greatest Advancement of his own Interest that he can think on but if not then all is contrary but pray haste an Answer Windsor Aug. 12. 1678. I Have yours of the 5 / 15 Instant long look'd for your Remark that you have received mine of the 26th of July but say nothing of that of the 19th which was my fullest and which I assure you was writ not only with permission but according to his Majesty 's Mind sufficiently expressed our Religion ought certainly to be dearer to us than all Earthly Concerns It is very true what you say that Mistakes about its Concerns especially in such a time may be of the greatest Importance which no doubt should perswade to a very scrupulous caution But yet I am satisfied that the simple representing of what was wrote to you which was all I required was no such difficult Task But to be plain with you as my Friend your return was not only long delay'd but I observe such a Coldness in it different from the strain of your former that I think I mistake not when I understand by your Letter more than you express I wish the P. may see or hear this from end to end London Aug. 22. 1687. I have yours of the 16th Instant When I said your last was more cool I meant not as to your Affection but as to your Diligence in that Affair for I am perswaded that the establishing of this Liberty by Law is not only the Interest of Protestant Dissenters above all others but that his Highness consenting to it would be its secure Guarantee both against Changes and Abuses As you love the quiet of good Men and me leave of Complements and Ceremonies and discourse his Highness of all I have written I am now hastning to Scotland but may return shortly for the King is most desirous to gain the Prince and he will be undoubtedly the best Guarantee to us of this Liberty and also to hinder all your Fears about Popery Newark Aug. 26. 1687. BUT now I must tell you that though I know to be my very good Friend yet he hath not answered my Expectation for you see that to seven of mine he gave me not one word of Answer although I told him that the Substance of them was writ by the King's Allowance and a Return expected by him besides the Answers he makes are either Generals or Complements whereas my desire was that the Prince should know things and that his Answer with his Reasons might be understood but my Friend has delayed and scruffed things From Scotland Septemb. 24. 1687. I Have yours of the 30th of August but have delayed so long to answer because I had written other Letters to you whereof I yet expect the Return my most humble Duty to my Friend at the Hague Edinburgh Octob. 8. 1687. AS for that more important Affair wherewith I have long troubled you I need add no more my Conscience bears me witness I have dealt sincerely for the freedom of Gospel I had certainly long ere now written to Pensioner Fagel were it not that I judged you were a better Interpreter of any thing I could say I know his real Concern for the Protestant Religion and shall never forget his undeserved Respects to me but alas that Providences should be so ill understood London Novemb. 8. 1687. I Have yours of the 1st of November the enclosed from the L. Pensionary surprize me with a Testimony of his Favour and Friendship and also of his sincere love to the Truth and fair and candid reasoning upon the present Subject of Liberty beyond what I can express he hath seriously done too much for me but the more he hath done in Compliance with my insignificant Endeavours the more do I judg and esteem his noble and zealous Concern for Religion and Peace which I am certain could only in this matter be his just Motive I hope you will testify to him my deep sense of his Favour and most serious profession of Duty with all diligence until I be in case to make his L. a direct return I shewed the Letter to my Lord Melfort who was satisfied with it London Novemb. 6. 1687. which it seems is by a Mistake of the Date I Have your last but have been so harrassed and toiled that I have not had time to write to you much less to my L. Pensionary yet since my last I acquainted the Earl of Sunderland with his Answer as the King ordered me but I see all hope from your side is given quite over and Men are become as cold in it here as you are positive there London