how unfit I am to arguâ— matters of Religion with your Highness and those subtil Sophisters the Pest of Europe and shame of Christianity which are always croaking about Persons of Quality whom they have perverted to their Idolatries being my self but a Lay-Gentleman of little Learning and in the course of my Life more conversant with the Sword than the Pen And I must wonder with Regret if none of the Right Reverend Fathers my Lords the Bishops or some of our other Learned Divines have not vigorously made Applications to your Highness even in a publick Manner to regain you to the Protestant Communion If they have not charg'd you as they are God's Ambassadors to shew some Reasons why you havâ— broke the League your Baptismal vows with his Church and join'd your self to the Tents of his Enemies If they have not adjur'd you in the Name of our Lord to shew on what offence taken amongst us and for what Beauties observ'd in the Church of Rome you quitted the true Spouse of Christ to follow the Enchantments of a Strumpet whose shameless Adulteries have long since caused an utter Divorce between Her and the Blessed Jesus If they have not solemnly called Heaven and Earth to Record that they are ready to satisfie all your scruples to answer all your objections and to shew That it is not through any default in them for want of Endeavours nor in our Church for want of Truth but that your defection must be wilful as well as unreasonable whereby to render you either convicted or inexcusable Nor do I doubt but several of those Glorious Lights of our Church may accordingly have discharged without fear of flattery their Functions herein in private discourses But certainly a matter of that inestimable importance as wherein not only the Soul of one of the Bravest Princes of the Earth but also the whole Protestant Interest in the World especially within these Three Nations is so deeply and dangerously concern'd might require since I am sure it deserves a Publick and General Application Nor ought any though the meanest of Men to be blam'd for contributing modestlyÌ„ his help to prevent a disaster of such universal influence And therefore who knows but that Almighty Providence who overthrew Iericho's proud Walls of old not with Battering Engines of War but with the blast of contemptible Rams-Horns and is often pleased to make use of the weakest Instruments to effect mighty Works may give a Blessing to these poor uâ—polish'd inartificial Lines which have nothing but the Power of Truth and the Honesty of a sincere Intention to recommend them to your Princely Consideration That you were educated in Protestant Principles is notorious I beseech your Highness therefore to satisfie the World what could induce you to a change I shall not mention your Royal Grandfather whose Learned Pen baffled all the Conclave nor shall I insist on that Curse which he solemnly pronounced on any of his Posterity that should turn Papist I shall only say Had you not the Example and the Commands too of a most Indulgent Pious Prince your Royal Father for perseverance therein who though barbarously murder'd by vile Men yet continued stedfast and even with his last breath discharg'd and â—lear'd the Doctrine of the Reformed Religion from having any share in their Crimes What Impiety is it if you should dare to profess your Fathers Blessed Soul to be eternally damn'd and yet if you are a Papist you can do no less for you cannot be such without believing That there is no Salvation out of the Pale of the Church and that there is no Church but that of Rome and I am confident none can have the Impudence to suggest that He died in the Communion of that Church What follows then or how will you answer this Horrid Scandal on his Sacred Memory when you shall meet his glorified Spirit at the last dreadful Judgment-day Nor can the keenest Jesuit blunt the edge of this Argument by a Retortion from the Consideration of your Highnesses Illustrious Mother For though Papists are so audacious as to place the Keys of Heaven at the Pope's Girdle and uncharitably doom us All to unquenchable flames not affording us so much as a Room in Purgatory yet Protestants are not so unchristian but according to Scripture leave secret things to God and allow grains for Education Prepossessions Ignorance c. which is yet no more a Reason for any Man to turn Papist than 't is for him that stands safe on the shore to leap off into a Vessel so rotten and leaky as just ready to sink upon a presumption that still some of those that are in her may escape the danger Or to chuse an impudent Quack who boasts he only can cure him and refuse a Learned Physician who modestly grants he may peradventure be healed by the other though very improbably but withal that 't is a Million to one but the Patient under such hands miscarries and that in this case eternally But quitting this Argument which is only Personal I beseech your Highness to tell us how you or any Man of sense can so far forget not only his Education and Interest but his very Reason as to imbrace POPERY frightful detestable ridiculous Popery that Chaos of Superstition Idolatry Error and Imposture that has no foundation but a Cheat No Ends but to gratifie Pride and Avarice no solid Argument to promote and maintain it but Impudence and Cruelty Popery That depends wholly upon nice and poor uncertainties and unprovable supposals As 1 st That Peter was Bishop of Rome 2 dly That He left there one to be Heir of his Graces and Spirit in a perpetual unfailable Succeâ—sion 3 dly That He so bequeathed his Infallibility to his Chair as that whosoever sits in it cannot but speak Truth so that all who sit where he sat must by some secret Instinct say as he taught that what Christ said to him absolutely without any respect to Rome must be referr'd yea ty'd to that place alone and fulfill'd in it 4 thly That Linus Clements and Cletus the Scholars and supposed Successors of Peter must he preferr'd in the Headship of the Church to Iohn the beloved Apostle then still living 5 thly That He whose Life is oft times monstrously debauch'd his Judgment childishly ignorant cannot yet when in his Pontifical Chair possibly erre 6 thly That the Golden Line of this Apostolical Succeâ—sion in the confusion of so many long desperate Schisms shamefully corrupt Usurpations and Instrusions and confess'd Heresies yet neither was nor can be broken Popery That teaches Men to worship Stocks and Stones and painted Clouts with the fame Honour as is due to our Creator and lest that practice should appear to her simple Clients too palpably oppoâ—ite to God's Law most sacrilegiously stifles one of the Ten Commandments in their vulgar Catechisms and Prayer-Books Popery That utterly confounds the true Humanity of Christ while they give unto it Ten thousand places
at once and yet no place Flesh and no Flesh several Members without distinction a substance without quantity and other Accidents or Substance and Accidents that cannot be seen felt or perceived so that they make a Monster of their Saviour or nothing Popery That utterly overthrows the Perfection of Christ's satisfaction for if all be not paid how hath he satisfied If Temporal Punishments in Purgatory be yet due how is all paid And if these must be paid by us how are they satisfied by him Popery That hath made more Scriptures than ever the Holy Spirit dictated or the Ancient Church received and those which it doth make Imperiously obtrudes upon the World and while it thunders out Curses against all that will not add these Books to God's seems to defie the Curse pronounc'd by God himself to those that add unto his Word Rev. 22. 18. Popery That erects a Throne in the Conscience to a meer Man and many times rather a Monster than a Man and gives him absolute Power to make a sin of that which is none and to dispense with that which is to create new Articles of Faith and to impose them upon Necessity of Salvation to make wicked Men Saints and Saints Gods for even by the Confession of Papists lewd and undeserving Men have leap'd into their Calendar yet being once install'd there they have the Honour of Altars Temples and Invocations some of them in a stile sit only for their Maker Popery That robs the Heart of all sound Comfort whilst it teacheth us That we neither can nor ought to be assured of the Remission of our sins and of present Grace and future Salvation that we can never know whether we have receiv'd the true Sacraments of God becausewe cannot know the Intention of the Minister without which they are no Sacraments Popery That racks the Conscience with the needless torture of a necessary shrift wherein the vertue of an Absolution depends on the fulness of Confession and that upon Examination and the sufficiency of Examination is so fuâ—l of scruples besides infinite Cases of unresolved doubts in this feigned pennance that the pour soul never knows when it is clear Popery That under pretence of Religion plays the Bawd to sin whilst both in practice it tolerates open stews and prefers Fornication in some cases before honourable Matrimony and gently blanches over wilful Violations of God's Law with the favourable title of Venial Crimes Popery That makes Nature vainly proud in joining her as Copartner with God in our Justification Salvation and idly putting her up with a conceit of her Perfection and Ability to keep more Laws than God hath â—ade whence their Doctrines of Merit and Supererogation c. Popery That requires no other Faith â—o Justificâ—tion in Christians than may be found in Devils themselves who besides â— confused Apprehension can assent to the Truth of God's revealed Will and Popery requires no more Popery That instead of the pure Milk of the Gospel hath long fed her starved Souls with such idle Legends as the Reporter can hardly deliver without laughter nor their Abettors be told of without shame and disclamation so that the wiser sort of the World read these Stories on Winter Evenings for sport which the poor credulous Multitude hear in their Churches with devout astonishment Popery That requires nothing but meer Formality in our Devotion the work wrought suffices alone in Sacraments and in Prayers if the number be repeated by Rote no matter for the Affection as if God regarded not the Heart but the Tongue and Hands and while he understands us cared little whether we understand our selves Popery That hath been often dyed in the Blood of Princes that in some cases teaches and allows Rebellion against God's Anointed and both suborneth Treasons and excuses pities honours and rewards the Actors Popery That overloads Men's Consciences with heavy burdens of infinite unnecessary Traditâ—ons far more than ever Moses Commented upon by all the Iewish Rabbins imposing them with no less Authority and exacting them with more Rigour than any of the Royal Laws of their Maker Popery That cozens the vulgar with nothing but shadows of Holiness in Pilgrimages Processions Offerings Holy Water Latin Services Images Tapers rich Vestures garish Altars Crosses Censings and a thousand such like fit for Children and Fools robbing them in the mean time of the sound and plain Helps of true Piety and Salvation Popery That cares not by what wilful Falshoods Equivocations Perjuries and Abominations it propagates it self and maintains its credit And therefore being conscious of her own Villainies goes about to falsifie and deprave Authors that might give Evidence against her to outface all ancient Truths to foist in Gibionitish Witnesses of their own forging and leaves nothing unattempted against Heaven and Earth that might advance her Faction and disable her innocent and just Accusers This this is the true figure of Popery through whatever false Opticks your Highness may have view'd it This is that for which you are resolv'd to hazard a Crown of Glory and three temporal Diadems to boot and to which you sacrifice both your own Fortunes and the Tranquillity of many Millions of Souls What then can the World that knoâ—s the clear light of your Highnesses Elevated Understanding imagâ—â—â— can be the Cause of your Revolt Will they not be apt to conceive that you have not espoused this Mock Religion purely for its own sake but for some promised Dowry of an Absolute Monarchy or Arbitrary Power which she might pretend to bring one day with her to your Embraces But as this is far below the Justice and Generosity of your Highness so 't is unworthy the thoughts of any considerate Politician For suppose any Prince to whom the British Sceptre may hereafter devolve intoxicated with the Tinsel Glories of the French Monarch's blustering Grandeur should be so vain as to hope to subjugate the English Liberties and destroy the Constitution of the best Establish'd Government on Earth by assuming to himself the whole Legislative Power raising Money and draining his Subjects at Pleasure without their common Consent in Parliament c. and should be so extravagantly enamour'd on this fatal Project fatal I say because for above Five hundred years it has shipwrack'd all that coasted that way as to be content to shift his Religion and exchange his Faith and turn Papist on a presumption that the same might facilitate and accomplish his Enterprize As King Iohn 't is said resolv'd once to embrace Mahumetism rather than not to be reveng'd of his Barons claiming their just Liberties Suppose I say all this should be and that the present Papists to get their Religion publickly establish'd should comply with his Designs yet still is it not most reasonable to believe That having once gain'd their Point therein they or their Posterity will soon recal to mind their Birth rights and Privileges due to them as English-men and will they not then be perpetually
than all other Princes do on the like occasions and when the King after this was taken and brought back by force he was no longer then bound to consider him as one that was but as one that had been King of England and in that capacity he treated him with great Respect and Civility how much soever the King complained of it who did not enough consider what he had done to draw upon himself that usage But when all is said that can be said there may possibly be some Men to whom may be applied the Saying of Ioab Thou lovest thine Enemies and hatest thy Friends for thou hast declared this day that thou regardest neither Princes nor Servants for this Day I perceive that if Absolom had lived and all we had died this Day then it had pleased thee well Had the Protestant Religion the English Liberties the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation been all made an Holocaust to their Reputations and Humours their Scruples and School-niceties and the Prince of Orange perished or returned Ruin'd or Inglorious into Holland we should then have had the Honour of cutting up our Religion our Laws and our Civil Rights with our own Swords and we should have been the only Church under Heaven that had refused a Deliverance and Religiously and Loyally had Destroyed it self In truth the Men would have purchased Popery and Slavery so dear ought to have enjoyed both to the End of the World. The REASONS of the Suddenness of the Change in England THE true Reasons of the Swiftness of this Change may easily be assigned by shewing the Temper and Designs of Iames the Second the Temper of William the Third our Present Soveraign and the Nature of the English Nation and of the Times all concurring with Wonderful Harmony to produce this wonderful Effect For had Iames the Second undertook any thing but the subjecting England to Popery and the Exercise of Arbitrary Power to that end his vast Revenue his great Army and the Reputation he had gained at Home and Abroad by the defeat of the Monmouth-Invasion would have gone near to have effected it and after all this if he had in the beginning of October frankly granted all the Ten Proposals made by the Bishops and suffered a Parliament to have met and given up a considerable Number of his Ministers to Justice and suffered the pretended Prince of Wales his Birth to be freely debated and determin'd in Parliament It would in all probability have prevented or defeated the then intended Invasion But whilst he thought to save the Pretended Succession the Dispensing and Suspending Power and the Ecclesiastical Commission to carry on his former Design with when he had baffl'd the Prince of Orange the Nation saw through the Project and he lost all Had a Prince of less Secresy Prudence Courage and Interest than the Prince of Orange undertaken this business it might probably have miscarriâ—d but as his Cause was better so his Reputation Conduct and Patience infinitely exceeded theirs he would not stir till he saw the French Forces set down before Philipsbourgh and then he was sure France and Germany were irrevocably ingaged in a War and consequently he should have no other opposition than what the Irish and English Roman Catholicks could make against him For no English Protestant would fight his Country into Vassalage and Slavery to Popish Priests and Italian Women when a Parliament sooner or later must at last have determin'd all the things in Controversy except we resolved once for all to give up our Religion Laws Liberties and Estates to the will of our King and submit for ever to a French Government A Nation of less sense than the English might have been imposed upon of less bravery and valour might have been frighted of a more servile temper might have neglected its Liberties till it had been too late to have ever recovered them again But none but a parcel of Iesuits bred in a Cloister and unacquainted with our Temper as well as Constitution would ever have hoped to have carried two such things as Popery and Abitrary Power both at once upon so jealous a Nation as the English is which hates them above any other People in the World. The cruel slaughter they had made of the poor wretches they took after the defeat at Bridg-water ought to have made them for ever despair of gaining any credit with the Dissenters who rarely forgive but never forget any ill treatment Yet these little Politico's had so little sense as to build all their hopes on the Gratitude and Insensibility of these Men as if they should for Liberty of Conscience arbitrarily and illegally granted and consequently revocable at the will of the Granter have sold themselves to everlasting Slavery They were equally mistaken in their carriage towards the Church of England party for when some of them had pursued both Clergy and Laity with the utmost obloquy hatred oppression and contempt to the very moment they found the Dutch storm would fall upon them Then all at once they passed to the other extream the Bishops are presently sent for the Government intirely to be put into their hands and all Places Presses and Papers fill'd with the Encomiums of the Church of England's Loyalty and Fidelity who but three days before were Male-contents if not Rebels and Traytors for opposing the Kings Dispensing Power and the Ecclesiastical Commission And which was the height of folly the same Pen which had been hired to defame and blacken the Church of England the Author of the Publick Occurrences truly stated was ordered to magnify its Loyalty By which they gained nothing but the intire and absolute disobliging the whole Protestant party in the Nation so that for the future no Body would serve or trust them To compleat their folly and madness they perswaded the King to throw up the Government and retire into France pretending we would never be able to agree amongst our selveâ— but would in a short time be forced to recal him and yield to all those things we had so violently opposed or if not he might yet at least force us to submit by the Succours he might gain in France without ever considering how possible it was we might agree and how difficult it would be to force us by a French Army which was equally contrary to the Interest of England and all Europe besides and to all intents and purposes destructive of the Interest of that Prince they pretended thus to exalt and re-establish Had France been now in Peace there might yet have been same colour for this but when all Europe was under a necessity to unite against him for its own preservation then to perswade the King of Great Britain to desert his Throne and fly thither for succour upon hopes of recovering his Kingdoms again by the assistance of the French the mortal and hereditary Enemies of the English this was so silly a Project that there seems to have been something of a